Learning the position of goalie in any sport is a long and difficult, but these paths vary between one another with different altitude changes and lengths depending on what sport a person is competing in, which begs the question of “Which path is the hardest?” I would like to clarify beforehand that I am only covering sports where I have played as a goalie for at least 1 season for the sake of simplicity.

The goalies from soccer, lacrosse, and hockey, positions that I have played for at least 1 season each (Soccer for 1 season in 6th grade, lacrosse for 1 season in 10th grade, and Ice hockey for 8 seasons from 3rd grade and still ongoing). To compare these I have made a table for these sports:

My reasoning for these choices are as follows:

While all 3 positions require insane reflexes, the speed and small size of a hockey puck pushes the hockey goalie to #1 in the reflex department. The story is similar with lacrosse, but knocked down to #2 because the ball is larger, and moves slower. I put soccer at #3 because while reflexes are a part of the position, it’s mostly predicting where the ball will go, then diving in that direction, while this is an aspect for all 3 positions. Hockey and lacrosse rely significantly more on reaction saves.

Athleticism is pretty obvious, with Soccer at #1 because almost all of the saves made are by dives and jumps, hockey at #2 because of  toe saves, pad stacks, multiple rebounds, and diving saves and lacrosse at #3 because 90% of goaltending is just spinning the stick and moving back and forth across the net.

For mental fortitude, lacrosse takes the #1 spot due to the lack of protective equipment required compared to hockey. In hockey you need a helmet, chest protector, gloves, elbow pads, leg pads, cup, knee pads, and neck guard. All you need in lacrosse is a helmet, neck protector, chest guard, cup, and gloves, leaving significant parts of your body open to getting hurt. I remember last season while playing lacrosse for Roose, I blocked a shot with my upper arm that left a bruise for the next month. I put hockey next because, despite having the most protective gear of all 3 sports, hockey players face the hardest shots, with the puck being made of vulcanized rubber, and also being the smallest, making it easier to sneak past your protective equipment if you’re unlucky. Soccer is at #3 because despite having less gear, the ball is softer than the puck and lacrosse ball, and at a slower velocity.

For technical skills, I am counting the number of individual skills required to play the position. In hockey, a goalie must learn stickhandling, skating, positioning, stance, butterfly, and how to make a full recovery. In lacrosse, you need to know cradling, postitioning, stance, and sprinting. In soccer you need to sprint, dive, and catch.

For the net-to-ball ratio, I checked to see how large a ball/puck was compared to its net, this makes lacrosse the hardest in the category, with the ball being able to fit into the mouth of the net ~141 times, a soccer ball fitting into the mouth of its net ~122 times, and a hockey puck fitting into its net mouth ~120 times.

For average speed, hockey pucks move at around 100 mph from slapshots, lacrosse shots in general tend to move at around 85 mph, and soccer shots are usually calculated at around 70 mph.

In total, ice hockey wins with a total of 14 Points, with lacrosse at a close second with 13 Points, and soccer in third with 9 points.

I would like to reiterate that all of the positions mentioned above are incredibly difficult, and due to the nature of these sports, it’s hard to accurately quantify skill levels fairly. I also have a slight bias towards hockey because it’s the sport I’ve played the longest, but anyone willing to be a goal tender shows incredible skill.