My daughter is a U13 GK, just starting U13. She plays hard during games. Work hard during practices. Her club has sent her to US national training and she has made the cut. ( no call up to the US national team just more training) She does ODP and makes the cut. Our frustration with her is when she is home. She never wants to do any extra work. A GK needs to do extra work for the position. She never wants to do anything. We try to get her to go out and practice, she goes but doesn't seem to like it. I know we shouldn't push her she should want to do it herself. She tells us that she loves soccer and wants to play in college. We just don't understand why she doesn't practice more or do more work outside what she is expected to do. We try to talk to her and she bottles up. Did anyone else run into any issues like this with their kids? Is it her age? Are we expecting too much? Thanks for the input.
Having a son that is a GK I think I have seen the same thing. The things he enjoys working on in practice are tough to replicate alone, it is tough to work on handling crosses, diving, etc. by yourself. My son is the oldest in the neighborhood by quite a bit so getting quality players to work with locally is tough but he has enlisted the neighborhood rug rats to at least get some shots and a little work on his own in, plus the kids love scoring on an older kid occasionally. One thing we did, at about the U13 age, was found the keeper at a local division 3 college and paid him to work with our son once or twice a week to supplement his club training. The college keeper had access to practice facilities and the extra money helped him. It was a great set up to get a little more work in and have a "quality" opponent, so to speak, to challenge him in this extra training.
Keeper dad, thanks for the input. I never thought of looking at a local college to see if a GK would want to earn some extra money. She does have a private GK but he has a busy schedule. He is a former MLS GK and coach. He is on the US National staff, so he is busy. He is also 45 min away. Maybe if I can get a local college woman GK to work with her it would be good. I wold think they would give insights on what it would be like to play college soccer also. Thanks
Keeper practice is much harder then what a keeper does in a game. Totally exhausting especially the secondary or the third save after the first save. How is her foot skills? She needs to have them to be a good sweeper/keeper. Has she watched the German keeper? A true sweeper/keeper. Does she leave her area to cut off opponents through passes when she anticipates them? It might be something new for her to work on. Working on something new my hold her interest more. She needs to practice with and against players. Not just with two keepers and a keeper coach.
Regardless of the position, solo practice need to be something that is done if she hopes to advance. Even if it's only working out with weights or cardio, it's a necessity. My daughter was never blessed with raw talent. She was regularly chosen for the 2dn/3rd teams at her club from u8-u11 but her love of the game and work ethic has enabled her to move up to the top team in club and is getting varsity attention as a sophomore in HS in a very good HS program. I have always told her the work would pay off but never had to push her to do the extra work. Those kids that had all the natural talent in the early years are now being passed on the depth chart by the kids that put in the extra work. It's a great life lesson, too.
GKparent2019...your daughter sounds exactly like mine except she is not a goalie and is U16. She is a full time starter and consistent scorer for a top ranked club team ( and at U16 the Gotsoccer rankings are more accurate) and was all state for her HS soccer team as a freshman. We have NEVER been able to get her to do anything extra outside of practice and it has been a constant source of frustration. We keep telling her that she can't get by on natural ability, other kids will catch up, etc, etc, etc. But, as a HS Sophmore, is that really the case anymore? Are some kids just naturally talented and can skate doing the bare minimum? She has offers from a number of D1 schools and I just dread how shocked she will be when she has to train every day. Her work ethic at practice and at games is excellent but she has never picked up a ball to practice her skills or ran a mile or two on her days off. I have given up and I wish I could give you some advice but I can't. All the other parents on the team tell me that my daughter is 'such a hard worker' and I want to laugh. Is it me? Do I expect too much? Is it time to let go? Sorry for the fact that this post is all over the place but that's how I feel when I think about this topic.
@nicklaino - I know and I am pretty sure she knows that she needs to improve and work on new things. The problem is she is a perfectionist, so when something doesn't come easily to her gets frustrated at herself. It is a constant battle I watch her have. I try my best to help her with that but I am not a psychologist. We do watch english premier league soccer so she sees what the GKs do there. @stranger - That is great that your daughter works like that. I always love when kids put there all into it and achieve something they want. I was always told that my daughter had natural atheletic ability but I never saw it. When she was younger she ( We) really worked hard at her learning how to play GK. We try to tell her there is always someone out there better then you, which is why you need to improve. Sometimes it gets through and sometimes it doesn't. @left foot mom - It is always good to hear that someone else goes through the same thing you do. My daughter has slowly been coming around to working outside of her practice. I think because she had what she calls a bad US National session last time. She got a call back for another session so it could not have been as bad as she thinks. I hope she continues to work outside of her practices. The other problem is she has 3 team practices a week, a GK practice and games usually on both weekend days. So sometimes I understand wanting to be a 12/13 yr old kid. I am trying to let her be that kid but I know her dreams and I can help her get there. I just can't do the work for her that is what is frustrating. I sincerely hope everything turns out great for your daughter. Thanks to everyone for their input it is all appreciated.
A perfectionist works on things that does not come easily until they get it and beyond. Maybe she needs a sports psychologist to help her? My nephwe uses one and she has really helped him. How many dominate sweeper keepers are their in the premier league?
I never pushed my daughter - and I would consider her a slow starter. This season she has asked at least 1-2 times a week to pop on down to the park and practice. She in fact already has a schedule ready for me by the time we get there. - Left foot passing & shooting - Keeper training - Distribution (keeper - basically drop punting into the keeper net) - Cross shooting (redirection) This Winter she has asked to play in our clubs tehcnical training and 3v3. This on top of keeper training, dev games and 2 regular practices. That's quite a bit so I may let her play hookey a bit. I think I have a future soccer coach in the family! In anycase it's really nice to see them grow into a passion for the game and want to do more on there own. I see often too many parents pushing - now I am having to pull back.
My U16 GK daughter sounds a lot like your daughter. She is not normally motivate to do work on her on, never was, but she will go to almost ANY practice she is invited to. Right now she is doing 8-10 sessions (combo of games, scrimmages, practices with 2 teams, GK training) a week . 1-2 days off. Some sessions she barely does anything. Others she comes off the field wiped. I am not pushing her to do any more. She and her body need down time. Sounds like your daughter is playing a lot. I like the idea of the collage keeper. Could even do a HS keeper if you can find a good one. My daughter wants to help with a U8 team. I just don't know how she can do it with her schedule and school. WOW, U13 National team??? Didn't realize they were doing it so young. Why not U8? no pressure right? LOL sorry.
As my daughter goes off to play D1 soccer one of my biggest regrets is that I did not make her training fun enough. She did extra training, but too often when I was involved we fought about it, and while she is hard headed I'm the adult. We have both mellowed, however, and she actually has asked me a few times to work with her this summer, her last at home. Tossing the ball to her feet, riding my bike to pace her on fartleks and even playing soccer tennis. I stink at it, but she takes it easy on me. I let her bring a mini soccer ball in the house and she will do footskill with it while watching TV, juggling or kicking it against the sofa (when my wife is not around, of course). For a goalie, try cross training as well with things that are fun... maybe going to a batting cage together where she can work on hand/eye coordination without knowing it... kickboxing to strengthen the legs... maybe a Spartan race for conditioning... shoot some hoops. Make it so she does not even know she is training. One of the things my daughter pointed out to me is that I did not have "rewards" which I do now. For example, at the end of her fartleks we'll stop by the local gas station for an icey and just hang out. I won't say she loves fartleks, but she will actually ask me to go pace her for this, probably more for the "hanging out" as much as for the icey. Finally, as others pointed out see if you can find someone to work with her. At the same time after the initial few sessions to check it out don't force this on her. If she hates it, back off. But again, try to make this time fun. Before you blink it will be gone and you won't be able to get it back. Soccer will some day fade for her, but hopefully she will have fond memories of working with you.
I think she saw it as spending a lot of time with her father. I used to play soccer in and out of the house with my oldest son he is in his 40s now. Wife would go wild when we did that but he became a great dribbler because his mother would go nuts if he broke anything in the house while dribbling the ball. When he was 8 we would play street soccer in a Haitian area. I was still an adult player. It was great some of the best times I ever had with him was in those years playing with him. I never thought the kids loved me because I was a selfish and only thought if myself as they were growing up. But as it turned out they all loved me I was amazed by that. Maybe, because I never actually loved myself. I do have fantastic kids and fantastic grand children. I have been very lucky.