That's a lot to handle, right? Being told that you only have one job, so you better do it, and you better do it right.
Goalie, goaltender, goalkeeper, or whichever name you refer to the member of the team that defends the goal, only if you've been fortunate enough and you've built up enough courage, have you been able to experience the exhilaration of making a save during a sporting event. There’s just simply something about being a goalie and saving the ball that’s much sweeter than playing attack and scoring a goal.
Even in other sports such as basketball, there’s something that’s that much better about getting a rebound, passing to one of your teammates as an outlet, and watching them score on the other end. I think it’s safe to say that I personally tend to enjoy being more of a defensive player rather than an offensive one. Don’t get me wrong, scoring baskets and goals is awesome, but saving the ball, kicking the ball away from the attacker, making a steal or a rebound just feels different. This is the story of one of my greatest passions.
“Hey, we need a goalie, want to try?” the JV lacrosse coach said. I played soccer goalie in middle school and I was pretty good, so I decided to give playing goalie for lacrosse a shot, and then took more than a few shots to the thigh, literally. I didn’t really know what I was in for or what I even got myself into. I knew it would be painful if I got hit with the ball again, but a bruise is a save, right?
Being a goalie involves an insane amount of pressure. Not just because the goal is right behind you, but because your position is replaceable. If the job isn't done, that is if the goalie cannot make a save, a new goalie will have the opportunity to show what they've got. There's not much that a goalie can do to keep them on the field besides showing their raw consistency of making saves one game to the next. A coach and the players of a team don't want a goalie who shows up for one game, but not for the next.
Goalkeepers in any sport, in my opinion, have by far the toughest job. The position is as much mental as it is physical. One of the biggest challenges is using quick reactions after standing still for minutes at a time, while your teammates are running frantically trying to run a play to score down on the other end. Being a goalie in any sport requires fortitude and pure physical strength. To put the team on your back in any situation, because you know that you have to stop the other team from getting ahead of your own, and that is why there is such an insane amount of pressure associated with the position. It’s all on you to keep the team where they are. If one goal is allowed, the team has to try that much harder to score again.
The goalie never gets all of the credit, the players who score do because they are the ones who actually get the "points." Being a goalie is an entirely different game, separate from the rest. Typically, the other positions on the field don't know the first thing about the position. Understanding the footwork, stick work, and/or hand motions to properly save a ball is a skill on its own that requires consistent repetition and concentration. As a goalie, your job is to defend for your team and do your job to get the ball to the other end so that they can do theirs. To make a save is to show that you've got your team's back. You'll protect the goal while your teammates do their job at the other end.
So, let's talk about two of the greatest goalkeepers, in my opinion, in our country today: Hope Solo and Henrik Lundqvist. How do you think that these two famous, well-known, celebrity goalies do it? Not only do they have the pressure on their backs to step up for their team at all times, but they have eyes on them not just from the sporting arena, but all their games are televised, their stats are recorded, and there are millions of fans that they never want to let down.
During the World Cup tournament, Hope Solo only allowed 3 goals in 7 games and held opponents without a single goal for 540 minutes.
In a single match, in Game 7, against the Capitals, Lundqvist made a whopping 35 saves resulting in a 5-0 victory during the 2013 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Recently, he guided his team to the 2015 Stanley Cup Semi-Finals. In the end, they fell short, to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals, but if it weren’t for Henrik’s solid, consistency throughout the season, they would have been unable to reach the semis.
The truth is: there are players on the field that hold important positions. However, being a goalie takes a special person. No one wants to be shot at. No one wants to deal with the insane amount of pressure, but in the end it’s totally worth it. For that rewarding feeling, the glorious feeling after a win, a painful feeling after a loss, the adrenaline rush, and to show that: hard mental and physical work off the field can truly pay off on the field. The feeling after making a save is simply, indescribable.
