Goal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I play goalkeeper for our coed soccer team. It is the worst job on the team. I am not saying that I do not enjoy aspects of it. I certainly do. But, it brings with it a certain amount of anxiety and angst which do not seem as prevalent in other team members.


My brother-in-law, K, was goalie before and he used to get quite upset. We would try to tell him to just calm down and relax. He would hit the wall with his hand or yell out some primal scream when a goal would go in. One time he picked up another team's player and body slammed him (the guy had done some cheap shots). I could not understand why K was feeling like this, since the rest of the team was doing much worse than he was, but was not expressing the pressure as much. Now I do.

Being goalie is basically the idea of being Customer Service at a company. You take all the crap people can give you. And, it just keeps coming. The other team is constantly trying to get the ball past you. Some of them are nicer. Like, some do not kick you when you go for the ball. Some say nice things when you make a good play. But some are not so nice. Some are just trying to score at all costs.

It is also very physically demanding and requires a tough mind to be able to constantly out-think the other team. Some pointers have come my way too like sticking to the post and making the opposing player kick to the outside. When cradling the ball on the ground, don't land on top of it causing it to bounce out from underneath you. Keep the hands up. Keep the knees bent. Drop a knee down to make sure the ball does not get past.

But they keep coming anyway. And after the same customer has come in to score for the tenth time, the frustration mounts up. Suddenly, it is not fun anymore to be doing it, so you just start mouthing off. The other team appear to be poor sports and are just running it up.

So, it requires quite a lot of toughness which I need to demonstrate more of. Our last game of this two month season is this Saturday. Hopefully, I can stay focused and concentrate on the good plays and feeling better about myself despite the rude phone calls which keep coming my way.