GK not getting field time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Two things, first -- practice time working on field skills is more important than game time on the field. As long as your GK is regularly practicing with their teammates and working on foot skills, passing, etc. during practice (and outside of practice), they should continue to develop. Passing drills and small-sided games are great places for your kid to get "field" touches outside of games.

Second, the reason why GK coaches recommend field playing time at younger ages is because young teams don't play through the keeper like older teams do. If your kid's team plays out from the back and through the keeper (like they should be doing at u13) your keeper should be getting a lot of "foot" touches during the games. If they don't -- that could be a sign to look for another club/team.

Of course, getting field playing time when your keeper is not in goal is ideal, but it sometimes isn't feasible as the keepers get older. While the adage that the keeper should "at least be able to make the team as a field player" is true, "make the tam" and "play regularly" are very different things as things get more competitive.

Finally, I'm not sure I fully agree with the GK coach's reasoning on field playing time. I've always been told play in the field to develop footskills. Playing in the goal in game and game-like situations allows the keeper to best develop their sense of how plays develop and where dangerous shots and crosses come from, with the added advantage that they see it from the right perspective and get to learn from their successes or failures in reacting to that situation. While seeing the play develop from the other perspective (ie as the attacker) could be helpful, I don't think its an experience keepers necessarily need on a regular basis.

I agree with all of this. Also, if this is a travel team (which I assume it is since we’re even having this discussion), some clubs are really strict about kids who try out as GKs playing as GKs rather than splitting once they reach U13. If they aren’t, they end up with kids who have decent GK skills trying out as GKs when their real goal is to be a field player and they use GK as a way to back door onto a team they wouldn’t otherwise make. Holding a hard line on GKs playing as GKs reduces the gamesmanship.

Which would be fine, if they'd said that to me when they approached me about moving him up to this team. We would have turned them down, and there would be no hard feelings. But we didn't engage in any gamemanship here.

If you made this deal, you should just move your child back down or ask if your child can get field time with one of the lower teams.

It’s too late to make that shift. The other team found new goalies. Plus, I am a single mom, and my work schedule for the next few months and my other kids’ extracurriculars are set around this team’s practice schedule.

[Anonymous]

I have no idea why the OP even posted this before talking to the coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:GKs are a premium if your team is lucky enough to have a decent GK the coach should work with him/her as much as possible to keep them from jumping clubs. 1,6,and 9 in that order hardest positions to replace when you lose them.

+1. In my experience, a lot of coaches don't seem to value good GKs nearly enough. Not sure why that is but if I were a coach and I had a talented GK, I'd do whatever I could to keep that player on my team or at least, in my club. Every team needs one and it's not easy to find good GKs especially as kids get older.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GKs are a premium if your team is lucky enough to have a decent GK the coach should work with him/her as much as possible to keep them from jumping clubs. 1,6,and 9 in that order hardest positions to replace when you lose them.

+1. In my experience, a lot of coaches don't seem to value good GKs nearly enough. Not sure why that is but if I were a coach and I had a talented GK, I'd do whatever I could to keep that player on my team or at least, in my club. Every team needs one and it's not easy to find good GKs especially as kids get older.

It seems like that's how OP's child ended up in this situation -- they asked OP's child to move up because they didn't have a keeper (or a at least a good keeper). OP agreed with the understanding that her child would also get field playing time, but that hasn't really happened.

On the one hand, if the kid really wants to play keeper, the situation is pretty close to ideal -- talented keeper playing with tougher/older competition and performing well. On the other hand, if the kid isn't sure they want to play keeper and wants to keep their options open, then they aren't really getting that opportunity, despite being promised field playing time.

At some point, the kid will have to decide whether they want to be a keeper or not. If they do, this situation sounds pretty ideal. If not, then a new club might be in order so that OP's child can develop as a field player. U13 is pretty close to the age when clubs expect to have fully committed keepers.

[Anonymous]

Look, I am sympathetic to being told one thing and then it not happening. But, if your child is playing up, he's a U13 for all intents and purposes, and generally, keepers only try field play for very short times during games by that age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Even if your talented goalie is standing around with not much action, other parents will feel he has played the whole game. Hard for coaches to justify subbing your kid into a field position when there are others who may not be getting any playing time

I don't think that should be the case. They would likely swap a goalie in for a defensive position, which tend to get subbed out less.

On DC's team they tend to sub the goal into the mid field and all the field player families are really upset about this because it's a full roster. A few parents were fuming about it last game.

OP here,

I don't really understand this.

If my kid is in the goal, then the other goalie is in the rotation on the field. If the kids trade places, it's not leading to more kids competing for spots on the field, because someone else is taken out of that competition.

I can understand that if the other goalies don't actually want to play goalie (and I don't know if this is true or not) that kid/family would be upset. I think part of the problem is that the coach told us my kid would be one of several goalies. In reality, he seems to be the only specialist.

There are kids who don't play a full half of the game and if the goal keeper was getting field time in addition to playing goalie for half the game and sometimes playing the full game this would for sure make me furious with the club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Even if your talented goalie is standing around with not much action, other parents will feel he has played the whole game. Hard for coaches to justify subbing your kid into a field position when there are others who may not be getting any playing time

I don't think that should be the case. They would likely swap a goalie in for a defensive position, which tend to get subbed out less.

On DC's team they tend to sub the goal into the mid field and all the field player families are really upset about this because it's a full roster. A few parents were fuming about it last game.

OP here,

I don't really understand this.

If my kid is in the goal, then the other goalie is in the rotation on the field. If the kids trade places, it's not leading to more kids competing for spots on the field, because someone else is taken out of that competition.

I can understand that if the other goalies don't actually want to play goalie (and I don't know if this is true or not) that kid/family would be upset. I think part of the problem is that the coach told us my kid would be one of several goalies. In reality, he seems to be the only specialist.

There are kids who don't play a full half of the game and if the goal keeper was getting field time in addition to playing goalie for half the game and sometimes playing the full game this would for sure make me furious with the club.

For me, it would depend on how good he was in goal, and how good he was in the field.
My kid is on a very good 2nd level team, without a goalie.
I would 100% be OK with getting a really good goalie on the team, even it it meant he only played a half in goal, and most of the second half in the field, assuming he was at the same level as the other kids in the field.
If he hurt the team by playing the field, that would be another story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:GKs are a premium if your team is lucky enough to have a decent GK the coach should work with him/her as much as possible to keep them from jumping clubs. 1,6,and 9 in that order hardest positions to replace when you lose them.

+1. In my experience, a lot of coaches don't seem to value good GKs nearly enough. Not sure why that is but if I were a coach and I had a talented GK, I'd do whatever I could to keep that player on my team or at least, in my club. Every team needs one and it's not easy to find good GKs especially as kids get older.

I agree with this so much! DS's team had a talented GK last year but the coach was very critical of him (especially if a goal was scored). The GK's parents talked to the coach more than once but apparently he was very defensive and basically told them that he was the coach and they didn't have the right to question how he ran the team. Needless to say, they pulled their son from the team and we didn't have a full-time GK through the end of the season which obviously sucked.

[Anonymous]

To the OP,

If your son is dedicated to playing in the goalkeeper position, let him play the full games in goal for his team, but request that the club let him guest play in the field for their lower level teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the OP,

If your son is dedicated to playing in the goalkeeper position, let him play the full games in goal for his team, but request that the club let him guest play in the field for their lower level teams.

This makes the most sense bravo PP.

[Anonymous]

Many coaches mistreat their GK players from a development standpoint and abuse them in order to win games. I saw this with my own kid, who the coach put in goal 100% of the time. My son won games for the club with his goalkeeping, and the coach would apologize for not putting my kid in the field but would say he “needed him in goal.” But then as time moved on and players got weeded out, my kid became the #2 keeper because the other GK’s foot skills were better. That GK had been on another team in the club, where the coach emphasized his overall development and not just making saves to win games for the team.

OP, bottom line is stick to your guns and listen to your son’s GK trainer. Don’t expect that your son’s coach cares about your son and his development.

[Anonymous]

Also, don’t assume that practice time is going to be sufficient on its own to help your GK kid develop foot skills as some pps have suggested. Especially when the coach doesn’t care about your GK kid’s foot skills development and isn’t giving any attention or feedback to him. Not to mention the countless passing/shooting drills where your kid is stuck in goal but not getting any feedback from the coach on your kid’s goalkeeping form and technique, if the coach is even qualified and capable to train keeper skills in the first place. “Nice save” is not actual coaching. 😂

[Anonymous]

Also, don’t assume that practice time is going to be sufficient on its own to help your GK kid develop foot skills as some pps have suggested.

This is true of practice time for any position. When my son (now a U15, midfielder) started playing travel, I thought that practice would be where he learned the skills he needed to succeed at soccer. But it is actually where the team learns to work together as a unit. To learn the skills he needed as an individual, we did private training and a year round futsal program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:...if the coach is even qualified and capable to train keeper skills in the first place.

Very few "head" coaches are truly qualified to dispense GK training or advice.

Anonymous wrote:“Nice save” is not actual coaching. 😂

LOL. So true!