so im a junior and im on my 3rd year of being the starting varsity goalie. im a very good goalie, it just comes naturally to me. the only problem is is that my teams offense sucks they never take shots and the ones they take are bad. therefore no matter how hard i try, we never win, and its so frustrating to me. i feel so helpless. in 6 games ive made 51 saves and allowed 6 goals. im trying to stay strong but im just getting so frustrated and i want my team to win so badly but nobody else really cares. ive been playing soccer since i was 5 and never thought this is what my hs team would be like. and the fact that my team does poorly also effects my personal achievement for awards. i feel im one of the top 3 goalies in the league but they base all the awards on the teams success. i really wanna get recognized for what i can do. i live for soccer and get the biggest rush in games. also i never get a good game or anything from my coach i feel unrecognized. what can i do or what will help
also, im not trying to complain or make people feel bad for me i just want to know if like other keepers have ever felt this way? what ended up happening? is there anything they could do? how did they make themselves not care about that stuff anymore?
i guess its not that i NEED recognition i just need someone to tell me im doing a good job, positive reinforcement i guess. i dont know i cant explain it.
this is exactly what im talking about, the person who answered "if you were any good they wouldnt have put you in goal"..goalies get no respect

Good athletes don't need to talk about how their team would win if everyone else didn't suck so much.

I've been a goalie for 18 years now, and I agree that they are the most under appreciated player on the team. I was on a pretty good team, so I was able to make 1st team all conference, but that isn't what i played for. I played because I love the game, and i wanted to challenge myself every day. Goalie is the hardest position on the field, and it has the least amount of rewards. You can make 20 saves in the game, but if you allow one goal and your team looses 1-0, all the saves you made are forgotten, and they look at the goal that lost the game, instead of the failure of the offense to score win. Also if you allow 1 goal and your team wins 2-1, you get no credit because you let them score and the offense had to scrap it out for the victory. The only time you get any credit is for a shutout, but even that is short lived. You sound like a good keeper, and you just have to go out and play for yourself, you can't worry about the other players,or praise, or rewards, you have to play for the love of the game at this position or your never going to make it. Good luck.