February 2016
A publication of the Keeper! Club
Written and edited by Jim Walker
TRAINING IN FEBRUARY
Keeper Club training continues in February on Mondays with Jim Walker at 5:30pm for Junior Keepers (10 years and younger), and 6:30pm for Intermediates (10 years and older), and Thursdays with Roland Sikinger at 6:30pm for Seniors.
TO JOIN: Make check payable to “Keeper Club” and mail to: DeNiece Herrod, 5827 Pinellas PK, Spring, TX 77379. Fee for Junior Keepers $50 (thru late May); $100 for all other Dynamos/Cy-Fair Youth Soccer Club players; $200 if not a Dynamos/CFYSC player. For information, email jwalker@dynamossoccer.com or dherrod@me.com, or phone 281-217-1612.
Calendar for keeper training at Dyess Park in February:
1—5:30pm, Junior Keepers (10 and under); 6:30pm—Intermediates (14 and under)
4—6:30pm, Seniors (14 and over)
8—5:30pm, Juniors, 6:30pm--Intermediates
11—6:30pm, Seniors
15—5:30pm, Juniors; 6:30pm—Intermediates
18—6:30pm, Seniors
22—5:30pm, Juniors; 6:30pm—Intermediates
25—6:30pm, Seniors
29—5:30pm, Juniors; 6:30pm--Intermediates
FREE WORKSHOP, BYOK
Keeper Club members are encouraged to attend the upcoming BYOK (Bring Your Own Keeper) workshop—Sun., Feb. 21, at 3:30pm at the Dyess Park gazebo—as assistants and demonstrators for Coach Walker’s presentation. It’s free and fun, and there will be lots of touches for all goalkeepers attending. Coaches and parents are invited to bring one or more players (of all skill levels) and join in exercises that will assist in game preparation. It's a great opportunity to learn effective ways to warm up keepers, help boys and girls deal with successes and failures, and grow in the position. There is no charge, but registration is requested by emailing jwalker@dynamossoccer.comwith names and ages of keepers, and coach or parent, who will be attending.
MANN’S THE MAN
Former Dynamos player and longtime Keeper Club member Braden Mann (Keeper Club pals called him “Striker”) was lauded in a Houston Chronicle article by Adam Coleman as a five-star placekicker AND five-star punter. “Braden did more than just showcase his leg during the Under Armour All-American game (played in early January),” wrote Coleman, “the former Cy-Fair kicker and Texas A&M early enrollee made a touchdown-saving tackle after a booming punt.” Striker was an outstanding keeper for the Dynamos, also played soccer at Cy-Fair HS.
LOOKING BACK
1999—Brandon Renken, a charter member of the seven-year-old Keeper Club, is undergoing an intensive fitness and technique training program prior to reporting for his first collegiate practice at Harvard University. Other club members have benefitted by joining Brandon for some of the training, which has included more running than you care to hear about and loads of technique work.
2003—On the coldest and windiest Sunday at Dyess, seven keepers reported to work on positioning and point-blank shots. Same day, too, that a dozen cows from a neighboring farm found an opening in the fence and toured DyessPark before they were shooed home. The bovine munchers returned several times to see how training was going and left numerous souvenirs to assure fields one and two will have green grass in the spring.
KeeperTalk
Keepers, don’t forget to thank your parents for delivering you to Keeper Club training. You yourself are to be complimented for taking on the extra session (in addition to your regular team training), but remember, in many cases it’s an extra trip for them as well. Let them know you appreciate it!. . .Longtime Keeper Club regular Jonathan Kauffman, freshly graduated from Central Arkansas University, attended the first keeper training session of the year and promised to return again soon.. . .Sinus and double ear infections caused Claire Juenke to miss Jan. 18 keeper training. But Claire, whose attendance at keeper training has been near-perfect the past few years, bounced back to help her team win the Eclipse Cup title in the following weekend’s tournament. Claire saved a penalty during regulation and her keeper mate, club member Samantha Nichols, made shootout saves in the final. . .Ashlyn Brewer, junior varsity keeper at Cy-Fair HS, assisted Coach Walker at the Jan. 25 session of Junior Keepers and the Intermediate session that followed. Ashlyn already has agreed to assist with the BYOK workshop on Feb. 21. . .Former longtime Keeper Club member Kennedy McGill, the varsity starter at Cy-Fair HS, was selected as first-team goalkeeper on the Houston Chronicle’s pre-season All-Houston high school team. . .Scene at Katy Park: A reunion between Coach Walker and Kaitrin Miller, a Cy-Falls HS senior who will be attending the University of the Cumberlands in Kentucky in the fall. A former longtime Keeper Club member, Kaitrin spent many long hours at Dyess Park training with Coach Walker. , . Lydia Williams has been signed by the Houston Dash for the 2016 season. The 27-year-old Williams, who played for Canberra United in Australia and the Western New York Flash in the U. S. National Women's Soccer League , is a dual citizen of Australia and the United States. She earned 46 caps with the Australian women's national team and registered two clean sheets in the 2015 World Cup. . .Quiz question for January was: what year did the Keeper newsletter begin? Answer is 1993 and Steven Franke wins a $25 gift certificate as winner of the drawing. Samantha Nichols gets a prize, too, for answering the question: do you have any superstitions about how you know you’re ready to play in goal? Her response: “I really don't have a superstition for being ready. I just make sure I'm warmed up for the match.” This month’s quiz question: regarding the upcoming goalkeeper workshop (Feb. 21), what do the letters “B Y O K” mean? Answer can be found elsewhere in this newsletter. Email your reply to jwalker@dynamossoccer.com to be entered in the February drawing for a $25 gift card.
KEEPER LOG
Goalkeepers who attended Keeper Club training during January:
11—Grace Ehrenfeld, Isobel Herrod, Samantha Nichols, Claire Juenke, David Graham, Alli Thompson, Assisting: Steven Franke, Jonathan Kauffman
14—Krysten Rhodes, Maddie Saucedo, Ethan Urrutia, Casey Jones, Mateo Munoz18—Junior Keepers: Andrew Nelson, Victoria Finidori, Sophie Wilkinson; Intermediates: Samantha Nichols, Grace Ehrenfeld, Zac Cannon, David Graham
21—Steven Franke, Casey Jones, Mateo Munoz, Maddie Saucedo, Krysten Rhodes
25—Junior Keepers:Andrew Nelson, Daniel Bridges; Intermediates: Alli Thompson, Samantha Nichols, Claire Juenke, David Graham, Zac Cannon, Grace Ehrenfeld, Ashlyn Brewer, Isobel Herrod.
28—Ethan Urrutria, Casey Jones, Mateo Munoz, Autumn Driskell, Krysten Rhodes,and Maddie Saucedo.
QUOTABLE
“The buck stops here.”--That was a sign U. S. President Harry S. Truman (1945-1953) kept on his desk in his White House office. Legendary English keeper Gordon Banks commented about the sign: “Goalkeepers should have that carved on their backs.”
TIP OF THE MONTH
You can't hide your lyin' eyes And your smile is a thin disguise I thought by now you'd realize There ain't no way to hide your lyin’ eyes
--The Eagles' lyrics by Don Henley and Glenn Frey
On facing penalty kicks, a goalkeeper must take the approach that those lyin' eyes of the penalty-taker aren't going to disguise which way the ball is going. We urge keepers not to guess, but there are some calculations that can aid in the reaction to the kick. Sometimes the kicker will betray themselves with the angle of their kicking foot, or how they plant their standing leg. So the keeper has about half-a-second to decode the clues from leg positioning and decide which way the ball will go, and get there. Training and practice can cut reaction time by crucial milliseconds. But don’t bank on those lyin’ eyes for success.
KEEPING SECRETS
Keepers trained January 21 in weather that Roli the Goalie called a “blue northern.” So he put the senior keepers to the test of handling crosses. “In the big wind,” he related, “keepers sometimes have to judge the flight of the ball two or three times before they know where it’s going to land.” Reading the spin of the ball is important on crosses, added Roli. “The clockwise, counter-clockwise, backspin, and top spin will determine where the ball will go,” he explained, “It’s best you parry the ball to safety when there is no spin (a knuckle ball) rather than try to catch it because it’s anybody’s guess where it will go.”
Read more http://dynamossoccer.com/KeeperClub/Keeper/tabid/375/newsid744/1389/KEEPER-Vol-23-No-2/Default.aspx