When i get more time I will go into great detail regarding how goalies are receiving goalie advice from their coaches who never once stepped foot in between the pipes or were ever hit by a ball. I am extremely annoyed by the fact that I have students who come to me telling me "My coach told me I was stepping all wrong" or "Who told you to make the stop that way, you need to do this...". When I ask them who told you this, they would say their coach. I proceeded with, "Okaayyy, where did they play at in college...wait let me ask you this, were they a goalie?" They would always say 'No". So i proceeded with asking them "So how do they know which way to step is better, or what's a better way to stopping the ball, because between myself and all the other goalie coaches will tell you differently."
Coaches get so wrapped up thinking they know everything about lacrosse because they watched some You Tube videos or went to a single coaches convention and they automatically feel they know all about lacrosse. I ALWAYs have to remind them that if the coach told you something to try it, and if it works fine, but do what feels comfortable to you, based on what you have been told by other goalie coaches. Goaltending is NOT black and white. It's full of color, because well goalies are not all the same. We have tall goalies, short goalies, skinny goalies, bigger goalies, some that are athletic and some that are less than agile. Anyways I digress, please remember to take things in stride and when in doubt if something your coach told you doesn't make sense , PLEASE reach out to Goalies Matter and look up one of the Goalie Supporters and contact them for help. At least I can attest that the Goalie Supporters listed on our site are respectable resources and they all have a wealth of knowledge.
