People think that being a goalie is just about stopping shots. But what they don’t see is the pressure, the mental battle, or how one goal can stick with them long after the game. Senior boys lacrosse goalie, Jace Barnhizer, explains what the game means to him, the highs, the lows, the intense moments, the big wins, and how it’s important to not only work hard physically but also mentally as well.
Guarding a shot in any sport can come with high emotions: the big fear of letting the team down during a close game or the excitement of an amazing save. Through it all there’s always a team and coaches to lean on. And the most important part of the strong emotions is staying mentally tough and being a resilient player.
¨I think being a goalie is one of the hardest positions in lacrosse, if not the hardest. Mentally, you have to put yourself in front of a net and willingly be hit by rubber balls that are coming at you at easily 80 mph. Being bruised and broken is your job,¨ Barnhizer said.
Being an athlete in any sport will always come with mental challenges, but being a goalie and having to focus and recover fast from your mistakes seems to be a position that only the most mentally tough athletes can handle.
¨Whenever I get scored on, I really just try to keep my head up and just shake it off, and any goalie coach will just tell you to have a goldfish memory and don’t think about it or harp on it,¨ Barnhizer said.
Having a positive mindset is the most critical part of being a goalkeeper. Goalies must have a ¨short memory¨ and immediately move on to the next play to avoid consecutive errors. If they don’t have a steady, calm, and optimistic mindset, they don’t have much at all because that is the most important part of remaining steady during a game.
¨Visualisation is really important to me, and visualizing myself saving the next shot and kind of like shadow saving helps me to move on to the next play. As well as thinking happy thoughts. Just like being in your happy place. For example if it’s like 40 degrees cloudy, mentally you want to be at 70 degrees around the beach and sunny like you’re having the time of your life. You just want to be at a good spot mentally so you’re confident in the next shot,¨ Barnhizer said.
Most goalies start training for their position at an early age to build skills while they are still young, but it is not necessary to be a successful player. It’s working hard everyday to become better that gets someone to their big successes and their big goals.
¨Originally from fourth to eighth grade, I played attack, but at the end of eighth grade, the high school coach came up to me and said, ‘The B team doesn’t have a goalie. Would you like to try out?’ No one else volunteered, and I was like it can’t be that bad, I can try it out. And from that day, I fell in love with the position. I think one regret I have is that I wish I would’ve started playing goalie earlier because I could have been so much better than I am now with the extra time, but I think I’ve made up that time by putting in so much work in the off season,¨ Barnhizer said.
Success never just comes with the amount of time spent in a position, and Barnhizer is proof of that. He had a late start to an incredibly tough position but has spent so much time catching up to goalies that have been working for it their whole life. The amount of effort and hard work can determine the outcome of an athletic career. It’s not just a few days a week that will take an athlete from good to great, but having a full lifestyle devoted to wanting to be better.
“What I’ve done to be a successful player is just putting time in during the off season. There are these camps that are held at Ignatius that I love, and you get shots from Cleveland State’s lacrosse team. They know how to shoot, and you probably get 1000 shots each session you go. I also just work hard in the summer and play lacrosse all year round to make me more successful as a goalie. And I keep active. I’m a big fitness guy and go to the gym five days a week when I’m not in season. When I’m in season, I try to go at least three to four days a week. I just think staying active and getting reps all year round has led to my success,” Barnhizer said.
Being a goalie can seem disconnecting and isolating, considering he is on his own little island across the field. When playing well a goalie can be considered a hero, but during tough games, a goalie be at the forefront of the blame for the team’s failure. Staying in a unit with your team while being so far from them is super important when needing to protect the ball from the net.
¨Talking to your defense is so important. Your defense is your best friend, and that’s another thing I get from lacrosse is the friendships. I am so close with the people that are in front of me, and they keep me in good spirits too,¨ Barnhizer said.
There are a lot of times when goalies seem to not be super helpful during slow games, but during intense fast games against really good teams or even rival teams, a goalie is needed the most. Those big and intense moments can lead you to a big team win or even a personal highlight.
“The biggest highlight of my goalie career was the only year we won against Medina. I think I had an outstanding game, and we wouldn’t have won without me in my opinion. I played an amazing game and that whole game is a highlight,¨ Barnhizer said.
For Barnhizer, his high school lacrosse career is soon coming to a close, but that isn’t without all of the memories, big wins, and amazing team moments he gets to take away with him. As his season nears the end, he is still working to achieve a bigger impact when leaving his goalie legacy.
¨Records I am working towards are the total number of career saves, as well as most saves in a game. I think the most achievable one is the career saves because I did start varsity my freshman year for a few games as well as every game sophomore, junior, and now senior year. I feel like that record is definitely achievable because I only need 179 saves, and I think that is very doable with what we are going against. I get around that many saves every year so I think I can definitely do it. Training for these goals I really just mentally see myself saving the shots as well as putting my body on the line. It’s my last year and I only have seven more games left. I just have to leave it all out on the field and there is nothing to lose,¨ Barnhizer said.
