What do I do about a bad goalie?

U12 club team and this goalie just can't stop a ball. All of our losses fall on his shoulders because he just didn't have any strength to stop a shot or it fell out of his hands. The defense does their best to get the shooter in a position that best helps the goalie.

If a ball is Eve slightly above his head, not full extension of his arms, the ball is in. If it is outside of his side step, the ball is in.

I am not a goalie coach but I keep watching videos trying to help but I cannot spend an entire practice on training just him. I just don't know how I can constructively talk to him to get him better. A large majority of the goals scored against him at his lack of effort or strength.

What can I do?

Top replies, most upvoted first

• (+57) “All of our losses fall on his shoulders.” This is not true even with the worst goalie in the world.
• (+23) That statement about "All of our losses..." is saying a lot more than you probably think it is.
• (+15) Put him in offense and get a different player in goal. At least half the game. Maybe he's better at something else. I make my U14 switch positions because I think they are too young to be stuck in one slot because they played that spot in 4th grade.
• (+15) Honestly? Quit and hand over the team to someone who doesn’t whine and blame 11 year olds.
• (+13) What can you do to avoid these losses? Have your field players score more and not lose the ball. You’re making a better keeper. Give it time and appreciate the kid that sits between the posts. My kid let in 5 goals and they lost 1-5 last year. Parents bitched about how the keeper sucked. They ignored my kid had over 30 saves in the game. A friend of theirs is a keeper who won their game 5-4 but only had like 10 shots on goal…who’s the better keeper? Keepers are never measured solely on their goals allowed.
• (+11) I actually believe you when you say you have a goalie problem. But I don’t believe that is your team’s only problem. In fact I wouldn’t be surprised if it wasn’t even your team’s biggest problem. I think your inability to understand what this comment thread is trying to tell you says a lot. Even on the surface level you could concede on poor phrasing. Admit you worded it wrong and move on. Instead… And what’s more important is the way you actually think. It will come out in ways you might not suspect. Your team can pick up on this stuff. 12YOs are surprisingly perceptive. If that happens, the...
• (+11) Lord. Even my U11 girls know "We win together, we lose together". It never ever rests on one person. How many times has your striker taken a shot and missed? How many times have your midfielders failed to win the ball? How many times have your defense stabbed at a ball and missed, allowing the attacker to get past? The goalie missing the ball is something everyone notices, but there were a lot of "misses" by the entire team to get to that point.
• (+6) 100% It had to get through 10 other players to get to the keeper. This is just common coach knowledge
• (+6) Yep. We could also start with whomever selected him at tryouts, said he was qualified to play goal, keeps putting him there, the offense, defense, and so on. To say it's this kids fault is somewhere between lazy and ignorant.
• (+6) I had a kid like that and discovered that what they lacked was an understanding of what their position should do based on what was happening in the game. So we scripted when the keeper should come out of the goal, when they should back up when they should shift, when they should charge an attacker. Once those cues were there, this keeper played better and actually made saves. I think at 12 you might still have kids who really don’t understand the game. It might not be that he is lacking Drive, but it’s just lacking and understanding of what he should be doing in or out of the goal depending...
• (+5) This was my thought. Why arent you changing him out then and getting him in the field? With a coach who is saying the losses are entirely the goalies fault, I imagine this kid is demoralized.
• (+5) I should add that I had an assistant coach that would help me run the scrimmage and I literally stood by this keeper during the scrimmage and talk through what they should be seeing what they should be doing as it was happening, shifted together, etc. etc. I think that really unlocked some of the decision-making latency that myself and other others could easily misinterpret as no drive or skill