How do I stop being our team’s permanent goalkeeper without making everyone else miserable?

I joined an adult indoor soccer team as a field player. In our second game, the person scheduled to play goalkeeper was late, so I put on the gloves. I was not great, but I was calm, I did not flinch, and we got through the night.

That temporary solution has lasted almost a year.

Every week, the lineup conversation goes the same way. Someone asks who is taking goal. People inspect their shoes, refill water bottles, or suddenly become very interested in stretching. Then somebody looks at me and says, “You’re the only one who’s actually good back there.” It is meant as praise, and sometimes it even feels like praise. Goalkeeper is a real position, not a punishment. The problem is that it is not the position I joined to play.

I miss running. I miss making a pass and continuing into space. I miss being tired for the reason I expected. In goal, I am involved in bursts and then left alone with every mistake. If we win, I hear that I saved the team. If we lose, I remember the one shot that went under my arm long after everyone else has forgotten the score.

I have asked to rotate. Everyone agrees in principle. The next game arrives, someone says their wrist is sore or they have never played there, and I give in because I would rather play goalkeeper than spend ten minutes arguing beside the field. Once, I refused and we rotated three people. They complained after every shift, our shape collapsed, and by halftime a teammate asked whether I could “just finish this one.” I did.

The team is not exploiting me in a dramatic way. They are following the easiest path I keep making available. I am also benefiting from being needed. There is a small ego reward in hearing that the team trusts me, and I suspect that reward has made me slower to set a boundary.

Next season registration is open. I want to return, but only if we either recruit a goalkeeper or adopt a real rotation that does not dissolve at kickoff. One teammate says I should accept that adult rec teams put people where they help most. Another says I should simply show up without gloves and force the issue. That feels satisfying in imagination and terrible in a real game.

Would you make returning conditional on a written rotation, ask the organizer to recruit for the position, or leave for a team that needs a field player? And if I agree to cover goal occasionally, how do I stop “occasionally” from becoming the default again?