Players in soccer all pretty much
have the same mission: score and don’t be scored on. They can’t use their
hands, can’t be offsides, can’t punch, hold, or purposely injure other players.
Then you have your goalies. These crazy
people are also referred to as goal keepers (or “keepers” or “keeps” for
short). They can punch, catch and carry the ball, and get away with basically
every foul that field players would get called for. If a player is dribbling towards a goalie,
the goalie has almost complete freedom to do whatever necessary to stop the
ball from going in the net. I’ve seen
slide tackles, full-on American football tackles, legs swept out from under
players… you name it, a goalie has done it to stop a shot.
I say crazy though because these players are
basically playing a different sport than the rest of their soccer team. Soccer is all around a contact sport, but
goalies are in a completely different sports league than field players. I don’t mean they are better, I mean they are
simply a little bit insane. Instead of just
accidentally getting kicked in the course of a game like their teammates,
goalies purposely put their entire bodies in the path of a ball moving at
upwards of 75 miles per hour and the foot behind it. Sure, ideally you catch it in gloved hands,
but in reality, with attacking players within just a few feet, goalies have to
block the ball with any body part they can get in front of it in time.
Last night, (Thursday, April 25) I
played keeper against Monticello High School.
I’ve only played in goal 3 games, so I am far from experienced or even
good (we lost 7-0 if that says anything), but if there is one thing I try to
stay away from in soccer, it’s being scared of the ball. So, when that one tall girl, #18, swung her
foot back to take a shot, I did what any (bad) goalie would do and… stood
there. To make a long story short, she didn’t score and I couldn’t feel the
right side of my face for a couple minutes. But that’s a goalie’s job, to
sacrifice their bodies for the sake of a game. Sounds like a worthy cause,
right?
