Keeper playing the field

I have a Keeper who has never played the field. What is the opinion of playing the field making a better keeper. She has the opportunity for field time this year. Thanks!

Yes, yes, and yes...

Anything that gives the keeper a chance to work on foot skills and to see the pitch/game from a different perspective will only help.

If your team does any small-sided, futsal, or indoor during the off-seasons, I would also insist to your coach that your keeper DD does NOT play keeper in those games (or simply takes her turn rotating through GK with every other field player on the team).

Mine was just forced to spend 3 months practicing and playing in the field only due to a hand injury. She's just recently stepped back in between the pipes without skipping a beat, but you can see that her field vision, the direction of her defenders, and her distribution, have all improved due to the time she spent on the field.

This is really good news. She has a great opportunity with her new team. Just not sure how to split the time. She is enjoying something different but don't want her to lose her edge

Ideal is if you can split 50/50, either by playing one full half per game in goal, or by switching off between goal/field every other game.

Splitting time within a half is less ideal.

Both Tim Howard and Hope Solo didn't become full time keepers until mid to late teens respectively. Gigi Buffon didn't play keeper at all until late teens.

Yes, absolutely keepers must play in the field. That's the only place they can get a true sense of team defending/attacking tactics. Will help her set defenses and anticipate attacks better.

I have a keeper, still in academy, who just switched teams last spring and finally got to split time between the field and goal.  I've seen a drastic improvement in foot skills and field awareness.  I would definitely say its a great opportunity.

Is this when we start asking why don't they protect the keepers anymore?

Couldn't resist.

Keepers should practice like the field players except when needed in the goal and playing the field if possible makes them better soccer players/keepers. Don't really see how it could be argued that playing in field is bad for them.

anchor dad wrote:This is really good news.  She has a great opportunity  with her new team.   Just not sure how to split the time. She is enjoying something different but don't want her to lose her edge

the edge doesn't come from games where she may get a few save opportunities. the edge comes from hours and hours of practice, which should not be affected by practicing on the field. practice starts at home

My thoughts on this are well documented

If you have a chance for your DD to play something other than keeper I highly recommend it. It will only make her better.

I might have missed it though but what age group is your DD?

yep play the field, your daughter may at one point get the" talk". sorry too undersized, we are going with a taller more physically suited goalkeeper and then all those years she spent in practice blocking shots are wasted and she is years behind her peers in footwork.

So is she getting the "talk" because she played the field, or is she getting the "talk" because she actually is too undersized and the team wants a taller more physically suited goalkeeper.  Because the latter scenario actually happens.  Coaches want bigger stronger more athletic goalkeepers.  The smaller less athletic kids often drop by the wayside in competitive soccer, either in the goal or in the field.  if you are trying to argue that playing the field will get your kid cut from the keeper position, you are not really supporting that argument.

tschlurker wrote:So is she getting the "talk" because she played the field, or is she getting the "talk" because she actually is too undersized and the team wants a taller more physically suited goalkeeper.  Because the latter scenario actually happens.  Coaches want bigger stronger more athletic goalkeepers.  The smaller less athletic kids often drop by the wayside in competitive soccer, either in the goal or in the field.  if you are trying to argue that playing the field will get your kid cut from the keeper position, you are not really supporting that argument.

nope, i am saying have a back up plan,your daughter may not grow suitably to be a keeper. too many keeper parents are wrapped up in their kid being a keeper imo.

My comments are only going to repeat what everyone has stated already.

Coming from a Keeper parent of a younger child!
"KEEP THEM AWAY FROM THE KEEPER POSITION AS LONG AS POSSIBLE"

You are better off served with the "Foot" skills than Keeper" skills while there young.  Don't make the mistake of her only playing keeper...because something has to give and what gives will be her FOOTSKILLS.

As a player moves up in age, keepers are HEAVILY UTILIZED and its a must for them to have Foot Skills.  If a coach does not have confidence in their footskills, they will start to look for that for that child.

PS...
To repeat what "Silent Parent" mentioned (perfect comment):
"...yep play the field, your daughter may at one point get the" talk". (TSCHLUKER:  strictly talking about the keeper position) sorry too undersized, we are going with a taller more physically suited goalkeeper and then all those years she spent in practice blocking shots are wasted and she is years behind her peers in footwork."

PSS...
Also if your saying to yourself "She can learn the foot skills along the way, but for now I want her to learn Keeper the most".  Well yes she can learn along the way, but her peers are also getting better and as time goes on, her peers will probably be better.  It does takes longer to learn and use foot skills than it does keeper skills.  Now I am not saying that keeper skills are easily taught either....GOD knows, I have spent many extra hours and extra money to prove so.....

PSSS...
If I had $5.00 for every time I heard a coach tell a kid "...She has great Keeper skills, but she needs work on her footskills".  Well I wouldn't be rich, but I would have enough money to trade them in for a Benjamin.
Word of advice, at the younger age, if keepers had GREAT footskills...they wouldn't be the keeper  

Silent Parent, I get you now. Good point. Keeper parents can be interesting...

One aspect of the keeper playing in the field: politics. Keeper playing in the field can really only work if you have two. If it is a one keeper team, but the parents push the coach to get the keeper on the field (in blowouts), it can cause drama. Playing time is a zero sum game and the keeper playing the field in a blowout (and many can only play forward) is taking time away from kids who get most of their PT in a blowout. Trust me, in that scenario, no one else cares about the keeper getting time in the field.

SocDad wrote:My comments are only going to repeat what everyone has stated already.

Coming from a Keeper parent of a younger child!
"KEEP THEM AWAY FROM THE KEEPER POSITION AS LONG AS POSSIBLE"

You are better off served with the "Foot" skills than Keeper" skills while there young.  Don't make the mistake of her only playing keeper...because something has to give and what gives will be her FOOTSKILLS.

As a player moves up in age, keepers are HEAVILY UTILIZED and its a must for them to have Foot Skills.  If a coach does not have confidence in their footskills, they will start to look for that for that child.

PS...
To repeat what "Silent Parent" mentioned (perfect comment):
"...yep play the field, your daughter may at one point get the" talk". (TSCHLUKER:  strictly talking about the keeper position) sorry too undersized, we are going with a taller more physically suited goalkeeper and then all those years she spent in practice blocking shots are wasted and she is years behind her peers in footwork."

PSS...
Also if your saying to yourself "She can learn the foot skills along the way, but for now I want her to learn Keeper the most".  Well yes she can learn along the way, but her peers are also getting better and as time goes on, her peers will probably be better.  It does takes longer to learn and use foot skills than it does keeper skills.  Now I am not saying that keeper skills are easily taught either....GOD knows, I have spent many extra hours and extra money to prove so.....

PSSS...
If I had $5.00 for every time I heard a coach tell a kid "...She has great Keeper skills, but she needs work on her footskills".  Well I wouldn't be rich, but I would have enough money to trade them in for a Benjamin.
Word of advice, at the younger age, if keepers had GREAT footskills...they wouldn't be the keeper  

DANG GINA! "If keepers had great footskills...they wouldn't be the keeper". C'mon now Socdad, thats the "put the fat kid in goal mentality". All things equal some kids don't have what it takes to play keeper "effectively". Not many players can pass the fear factor and to bw a great keeper you can have NO FEAR.

The keeper should be working on footskills with the team in practice. I don't see the point of forcing a kid to play on the field if thats not what they want to do. No all keepers are just tall or frustrated field players. Some kids are keeper because it's what they want to do and its what they enjoy about soccer

Cleansheets wrote:
DANG GINA! "If keepers had great footskills...they wouldn't be the keeper". C'mon now Socdad, thats the "put the fat kid in goal mentality". All things equal some kids don't have what it takes to play keeper "effectively". Not many players can pass the fear factor and to bw a great keeper you can have NO FEAR.

After re-reading it......I am sorry, thats not how I meant it.

In my mind I look at players by skill level:
Great, Good, Average, Below Average and Poor.
And I was meaning the GREAT when I spoke great footskills

I would not say that at U7-U10 most keepers are not the "Great" skilled players...those....are the ones on the field.  But in contrast, I'm also not saying they are the poorly skilled fat kids either.

I was just trying to make a point that most coaches want thier cake and eat it too by wanting both:
A keeper with GREAT Keeper skills and GREAT Footskills
Which normally doesn't come as a package at such a young age.

go99:
Yes I agree with you.  If a player wants to play keeper...then by all means let them play GK.  I tried like h3ll to get my DD to play the field, but all she wanted to do was play keeper (which makes her happy) so I let her play GK.
But, I will acknowledge that her foot skills have diminshed, so we now have her in a seperate footskill sessions.  BTW, she is not the frustrated, poorly skilled fat kid either

My son plays keeper...his coach has him do all the same drills & gives him no quarter when it comes to them. He prefers to play GK especially in big games; and to reply to tschlurker (nice name btw) our parents cheer when he goes into a field position.

His team must have another kid willing to play GK, but good that it works for him. I think their age makes a big difference as to whether a keeper playing out of the goal makes sense (but they should always do the regular drills) -- by U12 you don't see that much. Keepers have to commit at some point, and when coaches have a good one they don't want them hurt in the field, which is more likely (for girls particularly) when they get older.

tschlurker wrote:His team must have another kid willing to play GK, but good that it works for him.  I think their age makes a big difference as to whether a keeper playing out of the goal makes sense (but they should always do the regular drills) -- by U12 you don't see that much.  Keepers have to commit at some point, and when coaches have a good one they don't want them hurt in the field, which is more likely (for girls particularly) when they get older.

The last portion of your post sums it all up. "Keepers have to commit at some point, and when coaches have a good one they don't want them hurt in the field". All this talk about keepers playing on the field, splitting time in goal, blah, blah, blah. That's fantasy land talk. Sure, in a perfect world the keeper would get plenty of field time to keep their foot skills up to par with the rest of the team. It ain't happening. If a coach has a good keeper....for the sake of argument lets say great keeper, the only field time they gonna be seeing is what the field looks like from in goal. Their foot skills will come from practice.

most of the teams i have been associated with or watched closely. the coach has a field player that the coach uses in goal sometimes. i have had many conversations where coach admits the field player is his best goalie BUT NEEDS HIM/HER IN ANOTHER POSITION. it's always best to be a good field player because when push comes to shove and these athletes get cut from #2-#11 duty, #00 or #01 will be easy for them to fill

the keeper should be getting their footskills in practice right along with the rest of the team. It keeps them connected to the rest of the group and gives them the training. DD's team the keeper is not on the field in the game but spends a majority of practice on the drills with the team, same goes for my sons Development academy team. So even at the top level of u16 the keeper spends much of the practice on the field with the rest of the team

When looking into specific keeper training for my DD, I talked to a number of different clubs' keeper coaches and they all echoed the same thing...all keepers need to learn the field first. My DD loves to play keeper, but we knew that for her development that she needed to gain the experience in the field. We ran into problems with one of our coaches because she wouldn't let our DD get any field time (in the game or in practice). Needless to say we parted ways with that coach and went with another one who recognized the importance of field development. Now he doesn't even want her playing keeper (even though she is the best one) because she has proven herself more valuable in the field.

Okay now that is everyones mistake. Unless your dd is banging in multiple goals a game nobody is more valuable than the keeper. Keeper is the position that will sink or carry your team more than any other player. The keeper should be practicing on the field with all the other players but there is no additional gain by having them take game minutes away from the field players (learning is done in practice not games). That being said if the kid is unsure and wants to play field also then they should be allowed too as long as their skill level allows them to compete for those minutes.

go99 wrote:Okay now that is everyones mistake.  Unless your dd is banging in multiple goals a game nobody is more valuable than the keeper.  Keeper is the position that will sink or carry your team more than any other player.  The keeper should be practicing on the field with all the other players but there is no additional gain by having them take game minutes away from the field players (learning is done in practice not games).  That being said if the kid is unsure and wants to play field also then they should be allowed too as long as their skill level allows them to compete for those minutes.

Preach it Brother Go.