This story initially appeared on Behind the Whistle, the official blog of the IWLCA, and is being republished with permission from the organization. Amy Martin is the associate head coach at Niagara University.
We have all heard it before: “Coaches wear many hats.”
We are career counselors, tutors, editors, listeners, travel agents, caterers, mental health advocates, van drivers. Some of us play the role of geek squad, and sometimes we need to be Excel wizards ballin’ on a budget. In 2021, we played the role of global health experts, bus and room coordination experts and quick draws on our hand-held thermometers. This year, I have been lucky enough to frequently play the role of crowd control to our bench to keep their celebrations contained to the sideline and not the field.
In watching our most recent game, something at the very end caught my eye, and it definitely wasn’t my lack of wingspan holding our sideline back as they inched towards the field to celebrate a huge comeback victory. Nope, it was the way our backup goalie beelined to our starting goalie and celebrated the win with her; they smiled and laughed together as they joyfully walked back to the huddle. This image got me thinking about a hat (or helmet) no one wants to wear: backup goalie.
Goalkeepers are a unique breed as it is, labeled the weird kids, the wild ones, who are just crazy enough to step in front of a hard rubber ball so it doesn’t go in a net that is always going to be bigger than we are. Constantly hearing the refrain from our field player counterparts, “I could never do what you do,” but as our special position group knows, there’s something unique about our job. Our secret island getaway in our crease, “goalie world,” as it’s commonly called, is sometimes the quietest, most peaceful place in the entire world. Our job? Simple. Stop the little yellow ball from going in the big orange square, but what is not simple is the role itself. There’s one of us. One of us plays. One, two, or sometimes three of us don’t, and if you’re a backup and you get time, it’s usually limited minutes or when s**t is really hitting the fan, and the expectation is you go in and do your best to clean up the mess. Sounds fun, huh?
If you were the backup, it would be easy to hate the starter, right? To see her as the enemy, as the one who plays over you, who you are constantly competing with, for reps, for attention, for saves. It would be easy to not want to be friends with the starter or the other backups. It would be easy for everyone just to be on their very own island, doing their own thing, waiting for their turn. How could you possibly be someone’s biggest competitor AND someone’s biggest supporter?
Well, here’s the other thing that’s weird about goalies; on a goalie island that flourishes and helps the team succeed, that’s not how it is.
We need each other to thrive, and as a starter, there’s no one more vital to your success than your backup.
The truth is that no one knows how it feels to be a goalie except your fellow helmet heads. No one knows the sting of a ball on the inside of your leg on a cold day. No one else truly knows what to say between quarters to pump you up or calm you down. No one else cheers louder for you on an eight-meter free position than a fellow goalie. No one else knows what it feels like to immediately want the ball back when you make a bad clear, or what it feels like to get smoked in the face with the best shooter’s shot, or even what it’s like to be pulled at your weakest moment.