Coaching youth goalkeepers

[Anonymous]

Has anyone had a travel coach for U12 sub out goalkeepers as punishment every time they get scored on?

Blame each loss on goalies during the team chat?

[Anonymous]

No. Should go without saying that is horrible.

[Anonymous]

If you feel your player is not being served well by the coach, it is best to find another team. Don't bring it up with other players/parents. Quietly look for another club within a reasonable range and start the process of checking out some practices. Check out the teams you are playing and pay close attention to the coaches and parents, especially when the game is going south for them.

No reason to pay for something that is not working.

[Anonymous]

That’s harsh. My son is a GK. We have seen all kinds of coaches. I don’t ever remember my son being subbed out for being scored on. However one year he moved to playing CB and the coach knew my son was a good GK. He would threaten the current GK with being subbed out by my son in front of the team which we thought was inappropriate. That player definitely was playing on the wrong level team but the coach chose to roster him and failed to provide constructive feedback that would have helped him improve and succeed. The whole situation was hard to watch and toxic. I would have pulled my son if he’d been treated like that.

My GK has some great games but he also has some pretty terrible ones. Usually the coach and team recognize the loss can’t be attributed to him alone. If the entire game is played on his half, he can make a dozen saves and still lose because eventually he makes a mistake or there’s a great shot that’s not stoppable and his team hasn’t scored. This is not to say he’s never had a coach criticize him but it’s usually done in a constructive way.

[Anonymous]

He'll no, not ok. Besides, the ball got past 10 other players (or 8 if playing 9v9) before it got through your 12 year old goal keeper!

[Anonymous]

That’s pretty bad. The cardinal rule of soccer is you don’t blame the keeper. I say this as a former defender and parent of a CB.

Every other player on the field will mess up at some point, but really only GKs (and CBs, to Rome extent) result in a goal given up when they make a mistake.

Not fair to jump on them when a forward puts a sitter over the crossbar and no one bats an eye.