The Weight of a Mistake

No soccer position is easy, but goalies face a particularly high degree of stress compared to most of their teammates. This might come as a surprise because it’s not uncommon for a goalie to only make a few saves throughout a match.  

Regardless of their activity level, goalies play a tremendous role in their team’s success. In fact, the entire team’s performance is often a reflection of the goalie’s capacity to play their position.

Goalies Can’t Make Mistakes

As Greg will always tell you, soccer is a game of mistakes. Players are constantly making decisions at lightning speed, and it’s just not possible to make the right decision every time. Since mistakes are inevitable, players are frequently advised not to beat themselves up when they do something wrong because it’s just part of the game.

When a goalie makes a mistake, however, the consequences are usually a lot more serious than losing the ball to a defender, or missing a shot.

Unlike other players, goalies only have a few opportunities in a match to show their skills. That means that just one wrong decision could have dire consequences and cost the team a result.  

So, while other players are expected to make mistakes, goalies are expected to be as close to perfect as possible.

Players Perform When They Trust Their Goalie

Keepers are the last line of defense and the start of the attack. Because of this, a good goalie instills a confidence in their teammates that no other position does. To paraphrase Johan Cruyff, “The goal is seven meters wide. The goalie covers five meters; the defenders have to cover the other two.” When you have a good keeper, you trust them to cover their five meters of the goal – so if you can force the striker to take an average shot, your keeper has it. When you can play like that, your team has such an amazing advantage.

When the team isn’t as confident in their goalie, it has the opposite effect. Players take fewer risks because they’re more cautious about losing the ball to the other team, especially in their own side of the field. If you don’t trust the keeper to be able to cover their five meters, you play defense differently.

One Mistake Can Haunt You

Despite the incredible standards they set for themselves, goalies are only human and make mistakes all the time. Though no goal is ever 100% the goalie’s fault, an experienced goalie knows when they’ve missed a save they should have made.

Since a single error can be the difference between a win and a loss, mistakes can haunt goalies for much longer than any other position. It’s much harder to tell themselves, “Well, it’s just part of the game” and quickly move on than other players. The consequences of their actions are just too significant.

The Bottom Line: Goalies Have it Rough

The point is, being a goalie is unbelievably stressful. When you watch goalies play, you can see the stress they’re under. Many of them don’t smile and joke around as much as their teammates because they’re so aware of their actions, constantly making sure they’re doing the right thing.

How Goalies Can Benefit from Mentorship

If this is the general stress level for a goalie, you can just imagine the stress they place on themselves to try to move up a level.  

For Keepers, growing their mental resilience is a necessity so they don’t quit the game entirely – and that’s a key part of the work we do with our mentees that are Keepers. 

Want to learn how to thrive under pressure? Let’s set up an introductory session to talk it through today.