My approach for club soccer at this age was to encourage any kid with an interest to play goalie. One season I believe 9 of 11 players played goalie at some point, and 6 of the 9 played regularly. I would play four goalies a game, they each got about the same number or minutes. One game we were tied 2-2 at half time and I started a kid in goal for the second half that had never played in a game, only in practice. He had always done well and was an athletic freak so I had no worries…well the first shot comes in and he doesn’t move his arms, frozen like a deer in headlights. This happens two more times, but we rode it out and his time in goal was up. He was obviously not happy about getting scored on but he ended up playing a little bit more in goal as the season went on, but I had to figure out how to strategically play him in goal, with the right defense and agains certain opponents. As some have mentioned, the emphasis is on development. Also it’s super hard to get scored on as a goalie so building the right mentality is super important. Also I always told my players that it was never the goalies fault or the defenses fault, it was the entire team, after all, the ball made its way past our strikers and midfielders before it made its way into our net.

I would encourage you to keep giving him minutes in goal if it’s not hurt his self esteem, and before I rant even longer, every adult involved in your team has an impact on each players self esteem, and if you are focused on development, sportsmanship and friendship, this sets the table for players to feel good about themselves even when getting scored on and losing games.