The other day I talked with a goalie parent who wondered if it was too late for his 14-year-old to start playing goalie.
My response was, too late for what?
If a child has interest in playing goal, in my opinion it’s never too late. Who knows how it is going to turn out. If possible, you want to give your children a chance to chase their dreams.
The key is for the parents and child to manage the expectations.
Will the late start affect whether the child makes their high school team? Maybe..maybe not…who knows..Should that be a goal in the first place? There a plenty of benefits for participating in a team activity regardless of what level they play at.
Maybe the teenager will fall in love with the position and continue to play the game when he is an adult. Again, who knows.
After our discussion, the parent emailed me back to let me know that he is going to let his teenager start playing goalie this summer and register for a team in the fall. He also added that he was going to enroll his first-year goalie in our summer camps to learn some goaltending fundamentals.
I think it’s great! I look forward to working with him! And I would guess he’ll be eager to learn!
