Coaches Guide To Coaching New Lacrosse Goalies

Here's a quick article I wrote to help coaches with new goalies. How you handle a young goalie will set them up for the rest of their career. And contrary to popular belief a goalie who is "nuts" does not necessarily make a good goalie. Let me know if this article helped you out.

A Fast Start Guide For Coaches With New Goalies

1) Help him/her understand that in lacrosse goals go in. And sometimes a lot too. It's not like hockey. Or soccer. Some games are 20-18 and some are 20-0.

2) Focus on building his/her confidence. This is vital in practice. Make sure that your shooters are shooting from far enough away that he feels safe and is able to react to the ball. For new goalies, they are focusing on so many things that it's important to keep it simple. For example: a new goalie is trying to figure out where the ball is going. Then they are trying to remember how to move to the ball. And with all of that they are doing it while trying to NOT think about how much the ball can hurt if it hits her. If your goalie is thinking about pain first then nothing will work right. Which leads me to...

3) Make sure she has enough of the right equipment. There is nothing wrong with a new goalie wearing enough equipment. When I started it was a school rule that goalies had to wear hockey pants, shin quards, elbow pads, shoulder pads, a cup, a chest protector, gloves, a helmet and a throat guard. I couldn't move very well but that ball didn't hurt one bit! Although it was hot, and uncomfortable, I was able to focus on the things that matter and that is seeing where the ball is going and then moving to the ball. It's the simple force equation. In order to move the stick fast enough to the ball a certain amount of force needs to be applied to the stick. If the goalie isn't strong enough to do that then playing goal is going to be very very frustrating. So make sure that she is strong enough to even play the position. Sometime the best coaching move is finding a different goalie. You may have a great athlet on your team who plays well elsewhere but she may be a tremendous asset to the team if she plays goal. And if your goalie is the slowest girl on the team my heart goes out to you. That goalie is a trooper but it's going to be a long haul for you and your team.

4) Spend a lot of time with your goalie. The twenty minutes you spend with her one on one at the beginning of practice is gold. All goalies need this time. As coaches there is so much to do at the start of practice I understand, but try to get some uninterrupted time when you and she can work alone on the basics.

5) The basics: I don't have enough room to write here but you may have seen some posts of mine on a proper warm up. This is where the coach shoots about ten balls to each of the critical spots of the goalie working on form and technique. This is vital. The goalie needs to know where the ball is going so 1) she feels safe and 2) her body can focus on how to move. The key is that you are "wiring" the goalie like a computer. Your are programming her body to move correctly to the ball. That way, in a game, her eyes recognize where the ball is going and her mind is able to shut down so the body can do what it knows to do. Hopefully that makes sense, if not just email me and I'll clarify.

6) A great drill with new goalies is to have them get in the cage, throw their stick behind the cage, and throw a soccer ball instead of the lacrosse ball. This reinforces how to move the feet and move the hands to the ball. I find when new goalies get a stick in their hand they tend to forget about their feet and the rest of their body. By using the soccer ball it, again, eases their mind so they can focus on moving properly.

7) Progression. Progression. Progression. I'm a strength coach and I have a saying that is, "There is no such thing as a bad exercise. just an athlete who isn't ready for that exercise. If you shoot on your goalie from five yards as hard as you can she's going to be afraid, and she's not going to stop much. But if you back up to 20 yards she'll probably do ok. She'll feel safer knowing she has plenty of time to get her hands onto the ball and not just her body. Do a hundred shots from there and then the next day move in a bit. There will be a point when they are too fast and you're too close. Back off a bit if that happens.

8) Help her be a better athlete. Many female goalies I see are simply not physically strong enough to move effectively to the ball. I'm not trying to be sexist or derogatory in any way but it is just something as coaches we have to deal with. If you can help her get stronger physically then she will be a better goalie.

9) Pain with a purpose. Many goalies are horrible in practice but in games the are great. IT's one thing to take a painful shot in practice and another in games. Keep your goalie safe in practice and then let her loose in games. If she's self concious about wearing equipment just make her do it in practice. Then in a game she can take stuff off if she wants to. But if you see her ducking or cringing at shots make her put the equipment back on again.

10) Don't over work her. Don't force her to take shots that are too close because that is what she will see in games. Trust me, it doesn't work like that. You aren't making her tougher by standing in front of shots like that you're just making her fearful and stunting her development. Be patient and think long term. She'll be better off in the long run.