College Soccer (Part 1)

Now that I am officially done with college! I want to share my college soccer experiences and helpful tips for those goalkeepers that are currently playing in college or are going into college soccer. I wanted to split this into two parts so I can share both experiences and tips without having you guys read too much at once. This first part will be dedicated to my top 5 most favorite and most exciting moments/experiences as a college player.

1) 2016 Conference Final
This game is at the top of my list because it was a total team effort in such an important game. Down 1-0 for most of the 2016 Conference Tournament Final to Cardinal Stritch (WI), and with 30 seconds left in the game our center-mid throws a long ball into the box that gets cleared out by the defense. Then out of nowhere our forward hits the best half volley you've ever seen to beat the All-Conference goalkeeper top corner. Being at home you can just imagine how the crowd reacted, and we went on to win the game 2-1 in overtime on the golden goal rule. It was the best team performance and the most exciting comeback game I had ever been apart of.

2) Freshman year game vs Roosevelt
This game is number 2 for me because of its importance to the school program and my performance individually. Never had winning a season conference title before, the only team that really stood in our way my freshman year was Roosevelt (CHI). It was one of those games where you knew goals would be flying in left and right, but as a goalkeeper you need to come up big when it matters most. If there was ever a game I couldn't count on both hands how many saves I had it was this game. Winning the game 4-3 in overtime, which ultimately helped us win the first season conference title in school history, I received praise from my coaches, players, the other team's players and coaches on how big of an impact I had on the final result. This was truly one of the best games of my career.

3) Junior year vs Davenport
The total opposite to my number 2 moment, this game my junior year vs Davenport (IA), was one to remember because it was one of those games where you make every save possible but still come up short. As a player I was never one to rate my success per game, but this game I would've given myself a 10/10. It ended in a 1-0 lost, but after the game I received praise from my coaches, players, and more importantly the respect of the other team's goalkeeper who had just won a National title only a year or two before. During this game I would say I even came up with the best goalkeeper save of my entire soccer career. Even though this game was awesome for me individually, it is as number 3 because it is still a team lost and soccer is a team sport.

4) Freshman year preseason
My freshman year I didn't know what to expect going into college soccer. All I knew was that I had about 2-3 teammates I personally knew, and that everyone else was probably going to be better and more experienced to me. The reason I loved this preseason so much was because it was probably the hardest preseason I had in that as a freshman I felt that I had to prove myself. Also, the teammates I met and the relationships I built during that preseason set me up for a successful 4 years with the program. Everyone was welcoming and assured that I knew what my role was to help the team be successful. Even though I felt I worked my hardest that preseason and didn't get the starting spot (which I eventually would after so many games), I put myself into a position where if I got the chance I would be the coach's next best pick and I was.

5) My goalkeeping teammates junior year
I have to include my other goalkeepers in this top 5 list because as a unit we pushed each other harder than I had ever been pushed before my teammates. We would have competitions against each other during finishing sessions to see who let in the least amount of goals, or we would see who can punt the furthest. There was always something within that group my junior year that made us competitive with each other, and the best part about it was it made us better as individual players which helped me translate the competitiveness onto the field. My favorite moment that year was our fitness test during preseason because I remember we all tried so hard to beat each other, and by the end we were dead. And I remember I finished first, and as we leaning over, breathing hard, trying to catch our breath I look over to my other goalkeeper Colin and say, "I really tried to whoop your asses out there." Most would take that as an insult, but I believe that group was so tight and loved competition that that was the reason why Colin just started bursting out laughing. Needless to say that was the year we had won our second season conference and tournament title, and it also happen to be my best year statistically on paper.

I'm sure I have many other great moments over my four years as a college goalkeeper for Olivet Nazarene University, but these are the first 5 that came to me. Part 2 of my college soccer experience I will be listing my top 5 tips on how to be successful when participating in college soccer.

Weekend Goalkeeper Coaching Course Review

While most people spent this past Easter weekend at home with family and friends, I spent Easter day driving home from Kansas City while coming back from a goalkeeper coaching course. Although I am not complaining because most of the Level 2 goalkeeper coaching classes are two days and usually nine hours, I found this one for my Tiger Goalkeeping Academy coaches and it was one day and only five hours. Through this post I just want to give my experience and opinion of the course, as it was my first ever goalkeeper coaching course that I physically attended.

At Tiger Goalkeeping Academy one of my biggest things as the director is to make sure all my coaches are licensed and knowledgeable about the latest goalkeeper position fundamentals and trends. Some programs don't care that their coaches are licensed and I respect that, because if you played the position for so long and after taking this course on Friday I thought me and my other coaches should all be Nationally licensed already. Level 1 was about fundamentals, but Level 2 just seemed to be about fundamentals but more in depth. So, in my opinion I was not really able to take away much of what the course taught as it was basic review. However, I did like the opportunity I had to talk with other coaches while sharing ideas, methodology, and new drill concepts/ideas.

I was never a classroom student as I was always more hands on, so sitting on a field for 5 hours just watching the instructor teach was not my most favorite thing in the world, but I did come back to Chicago with new drill ideas, new training concepts, and from talking with other coaches, some more activities that I believe will help my players become better. I do not think I will be getting my Level 3 until the end of the year or early next year, so I will the takeaways I received from this course and implement them into our Tiger Goalkeeping Academy training program this upcoming summer in Chicago.