How To Find Your Next Great Goalie

I get this question a lot. “Jonathan, how do I find a goalie for my (high school, middle school, youth) team?”

This isn’t an easy question to answer because much of it has to do with the stock that you’re picking from. Also, you really need a kid who loves the position.

Not everyone wants to sign up to get balls hurled at their head, or worse, the soft spots on their body. The goaltending decision is usually one part who-the-heck-wants-to-play-goal? And one part Man!-you’d-make-a-good-goalie-would-you-puhleeze-play-goal?

For every coach that says, “Put your best kid in the cage.” There is a coach who says, “Put your fattest kid in the cage and with any luck the ball will hit him.”

For every coach that says, “If you put your best kid in the cage, who is going to score?” There is a coach on the other side who says, “If you’ve got a good kid in the cage who can make some saves it will keep the morale of the team up.”

Let’s start with reality shall we?

If Your Team Sucks It Doesn’t Matter Who Is In The Cage

Seriously. If you’ve got eleven kids on your team and no one can really catch and throw it’s not going to matter who you put in the cage. Your focus is on finding someone, anyone who will stand in the cage and who will be positive about it. Otherwise you need to rotate players in the position and you need to make sure they have great equipment that keeps them safe and makes the game fun.

Here Are a Couple of Guidelines If You’ve Got More Kids To Choose From

1) The Goaltending Position Needs To Be “Cool.”

If you’re the type of coach who just needs anyone in the cage as target practice, and you run one on one’s all the time and your goalies hate practicing for you, you’re not going to have any goalies.

You need to make sure your goalies are safe and are having fun and you need to build them up as a vital position on the team even if they aren’t the best player on the field.

Get your top shooters working with your goalies and building some rapport. Keep it happy and fun and you’ll get a ton of kids who want to play that position.

2) If You’ve Got a Big Kid on Your Team With Great Hands…

You might want to put him in the cage or…you might want to put him at attack where he can protect the ball and score goals. Your choice.

3) The Kid Has To Have Good Stick Skills

There is nothing more frustrating than watching a goalie make a save, and then not be able to clear the ball.

You have to make sure you’ve got a goalie who can throw and catch.

To be honest, throwing and catching is the “base” to great goaltending so at minimum your goalie should be able to throw and catch with the best of them.

4) At the Youth Level You Should Definitely Rotate Your Players.

Even if you have a kid who just loves to play goal you should rotate your players so that they learn, and understand, all positions.

Your attack needs to know what the defense should do.

Your middies need to understand what the defense is going to do. And your defenders need to know what the goalie neets. And on. And on. And on…

I don’t care if you’ve got some kid who has been a goalie since he was six. You tell the parents that in ALL rules of Long Term Athlete Development the kid that specializes early does NOT become the champion.

It just doesn’t happen. Here in North America we refuse to learn from our European counterparts so don’t let it happen.

This may mean you win in the first half but then lose in the second half. Do what’s best for your athletes and develop athletes who are goalies, not just…goalies.

5) Should You Put Your Best Athlete In The Cage?

Well…in a perfect world ,yes. I always say that I can turn any athlete into a great goalie. I can’t turn a goalie into a great athlete unless that kid is very motivated to be a great athlete.

No matter what, that player MUST be willing to play goal. If he’s not willing then you leave him where he is.

When I was in high school they actually put me on the man-up. I had a great stick and could shoot a cannon. I played the top of the box. If we lost the ball I hustled back on defense. But this was a band-aid solution to a team that was lacking some skilled players.

6) A Communicator Would Be Nice

A lacrosse goalie needs to have a level of communication skills that not every kid has.  If you can find a natural leader who is vocal, that’s great.  But you probably won’t get that.

With some work you can help any goalie learn the skills to communication. It’s a process but getting a goalie to find their voice is one of the most empowering things that a coach can do for an athlete.

7) But What If My Goalie Isn’t Any of These Things

Well…

You’ve got a big coaching job on your hands now don’t you.

Listen, we all wish it could be easy.  That we’ve got the great athlete with the great hands who speaks loud and clear and wants to be incredible.

But we might just end up with…your goalie.

Every year I work with families across the whole spectrum of lacrosse goaltending.  From D1 to U8 and just starting.

And I will tell you that some of those goalies started with the most mediocre beginnings.  Kids who coaches didn’t think would turn into much.

But then they did.

It’s not up to you to decide.  It’s up to you to coach.  To put in front of them the information to get better. To demand more from them in a way that they want to get better and don’t want to quit.

I wish this could be an easier decision. Unfortunately, there is no blanket solution to all teams in all areas. Personnel. Experience. They all affect what your choice might be. I don’t think there is a right and a wrong choice. Just coach them up and things will fall where they may.

Just remember this. If a kid is having fun he will continue to play. If he is getting the crap kicked out of him with balls shot from too-close range he’s not going to want to play anymore.  It’s up to you to make that happen.