Written and edited by Jim Walker
-- October, 2013
A publication of the Keeper! Club
Written and edited by Jim Walker
OCTOBER TRAINING
at DyessPark, with Roland Sikinger and Jim Walker
Keeper Club meets each Monday and Thursday evenings during October.
Mondays: Senior Keepers at 5:30pm and Junior Keepers at 6:45pm
Thursdays: Senior Keepers at 8pm
Fees are due for first package, ending Oct. 10, or for the fall season, ending Dec. 19: Regular Keeper Club training (Seniors--ages 10 to 18) is $50 per eight-week package ($100 if not playing for the Cy-Fair Youth Soccer Club or the Dynamos) or $75 for entire Fall season. Fee for Junior Keepers is $25 per eight-week package, or $50 for entire Fall season. Fall packages: 1) August 19 until October 10; 2) October 14 until December 19. Please make check payable to "Keeper Club" and mail to: Dynamos, attn: Loree, 10924 Grant Rd., #224, Houston77070. If you have questions, email jwalker332@aol.com or call 281-217-1612.
Training at DyessPark in October:
1-Makeup for Sept. 30: Seniors, 5:30pm; Juniors, 6:45pm
3—Seniors, 8pm
6—Bring Your Own Keeper workshop, 3:30pm (Gazebo)
7—Seniors 5:30pm; Juniors, 6:45pm
10—Seniors, 8pm
14—Seniors, 5:30pm; Juniors, 6:45pm
17--Seniors, 8pm
21—Seniors, 5:30pm; Juniors, 6:45pm
21—Photo Day for all keepers, time to be announced
24—Seniors, 8pm
28—Seniors, 5:30pm; Juniors, 6:45pm
31—Seniors, 8pm
BYOK OCT. 6
Coaches and parents are invited to bring one or more goalkeepers and join in the activities at the Bring Your Own Keeper (BYOK) workshop Sun., Oct. 6, at 3:30pm at the DyessPark gazebo. BYOK offers tips on preparing keepers of all ages for games, and how to practice fundamentals along, and ways for coaches and parents to warm up keepers prior to games, how to deal with keeper successes and failures, and how to help them grow in the position. It’s free for everyone, hosted by Dynamos’ keeper trainer Jim Walker and members of the Keeper! Club. Please register with an email that includes names and ages of keepers you will bring, to jwalker332@aol.com. Keepers are asked to bring water and a ball; coaches and parents are requested to participate in workshop activities.
PHOTO DAY OCT. 21
Dynamos’ team photos will be taken at DyessPark during training hours on Mon., Oct. 21, and Tues., Oct. 22. The Keeper! Club photo (all goalkeepers are invited to the shoot) is scheduled for Mon., Oct. 21, time to be announced. Each keeper who appears in the photo will receive a free group shot; individual keeper pix require a fee and may be ordered at the field from the photographers. Wear your brightest jersey and broadest smile that day and join the keeper group photo!
BIG FOOT
It happened, let’s say, in a big match at DyessPark. The Elephants (yes, the same ones who complained about the White Elephant gift exchange at the club Christmas party!) were playing the Mosquitos (yes, the same ones who chew on us during humid September training sessions) on Field #1. A Mosquito broke loose with the ball on a furious breakaway, entered the penalty area and cranked up for the shot, but the Elephants’ goalkeeper charged out and stomped on the Mosquito. While stretcher bearers carried off the crushed body, the Elephants scolded their clumsy teammate: “Dumbo, why didn’t you just dive for the ball instead of killing that poor Mosquito?” The unhappy Elephant goalkeeper’s trunk dropped to the ground. “Honest, guys,” he sobbed, “I didn’t mean to step on him, I just tried to trip him!”
KEEPERTALK
Welcome to new member Raul Rosas. . .Keeper Club regular Kennedy McGill came up very big for her U16 Dynamos Sept. 22, making key second-half saves to preserve a 3-0 victory over Eclipse after her teammates scored three first-half goals. It was her team’s first win this season in tough State Classic League competition, balancing their record at 1-1-1. . .Many thanks to Keeper Club alumnus John Kowalczyk, who appeared at Dyess Park out of nowhere Sept. 23 to assist at both the senior and junior sessions, mixing in catching and diving tips, and overseeing breakaway work. John, who began with the Keeper Club at an early age, has continued to play goalkeeper at all levels while acquiring his law degree and recently passing the bar. . .Another loyal Keeper! grad, Michael Sicola, was scheduled to direct both sessions on Sept. 16 while Jim Walker was vacationing in the cooler climes of North Carolina, but didn’t get the chance when rain rubbed out all training at DyessPark. “I was bummed we couldn’t practice,” declared Michael, who played for the Texas State University men’s club team and now is the goalkeeper trainer for St. Thomas High School in Houston. “I was really looking forward to this.” So, expect Michael out for some non-rained-out sessions this fall!. . .Braden (Striker) Mann kicked a 46-yard field goal in his first varsity high school football game. The Cy-Fair HS sophomore also delivered seven kickoffs and four punts in the Bobcats’ victory over Katy Taylor. . .Aly Crouch missed the first three weeks of the season with a broken thumb, suffered during team practice at the end of August. . .U. S. Army Captain Mya Morrison, a Keeper! Club grad now serving in Afghanistan, is looking forward to returning home in the near future and is planning a Texas wedding next May. . .Soccer America reports that Stanford senior goalkeeper Emily Oliver, picked as a pre-season All-American, has retired from soccer because of a series of concussions, the latest of which was suffered against Portland on Aug. 31. The 2011 All-America and College Cup Defensive MVP, who never lost a regular-season match, retires with the third-lowest goals-against average (0.36) on the all-time NCAA Division I list. . .Payton Salinas is a Keeper! drawing winner for the second month in a row, correctly completing veteran goalkeeper Jon Busch’s quote that “good thing come to you if you work harder than anyone else!” Payton, a club regular, will receive a $25 gift card to wherever she likes. The question (answer elsewhere in this newsletter) this month is: on what day is the annual Keeper! Club photo scheduled to be taken? Email your answer to jwalker332@aol.com to enter a drawing of those with correct replies to determine the award of a $25 gift card for whatever the winner wants!. .Goalkeepers, coaches, and parents are urged to share photos and items of interest for possible use in Keeper! and KeeperTalk--Simply email to jwalker332@aol.com.
TRAINING LOG
3—Payton Salinas, Bryce Hinze, Michaelyn Wilkinson, Ansley Blake; Junior Keepers: Carl Hallgren, Claire Juenke, Georgia Williams, Grace Seloover, Megan McAfee, Elizabeth Corken, Assisting: Izzy Tullier.
5--Jorge Rodriguez,Ethan Uruttia,Ethan Brasher,Marissa Mills, Payton Salinas, Steven Frank and Cameron Rieth.
9—Steven Franke, Payton Salinas, Michaelyn Wilkinson, Ansley Blake, Aaron Austin, Izel Fernandez, Kennedy McGill, Maddie Saucedo, Isobel Herrod, Raul Rosas, Cedric Cook, Junior Keepers: Maison Bell, Claire Juenke, Georgia Williams, Grace Seloover, Ian Herrod, Megan McAfee, Elizabeth Corken, Bryce Hinze, Carl Hallgren, Tyler Crumpton, Assisting: Izzy Tullier
12—Ethan Brasher, Ethan Urrutia, Marissa Mills, Payton Salinas, Kaylee Barrett, Jorge Rodriguez, Raul Rosas.
16—Evie Raines, Lotta Lightning, Tom Thunder
19—Ethan Urrutia, Ethan Brasher, Steven Franke, Jorge Rodriguez, Raul Rosas, Marissa Mills, Chance Bullard, Payton Salinas, Kaylee Barrett
23—Aaron Austin, Raul Rosas, Izel Fernandez, Kenzie Peterson, Steven Franke. Payton Salinas, Kennedy McGill, Mia Posey, Michaelyn Wilkinson; Junior Keepers: Claire Juenke, Georgia Williams, Elizabeth Corken, Bryce Hinze, Carl Hallgren, Tyler Crumpton, Izzy Tullier, Madeline Villareal. Guest instructor: John (Stix) Kowalczyk
26—Jorge Rodriguez, Marissa Mills, Chance Bullard, Raul Rosas, Payton Salinas, Jason Marsh, Ethan Urrutia, Ethan Brasher, Kodi Garcia, Steven Franke, Kaylee Barrett
30—No training, golf tournament (Makeup session Oct. 1)
QUOTABLE
“First we make our attitudes; then our attitudes make us.”—Dennis Waitley
TIP OF THE MONTH
Decisions, decisions, always decisions! Sooo, it is important to focus on the variables learned during training, so that decision-making will become easier in games--confronting attackers one on one, coming or staying on crosses, selections made on distributions, catching or parrying high balls. These decisions keepers make in games all begin with training. . .the game demands that keepers learn to make those decisions with regular training repetitions, and executing those reps with good technique.
KEEPING SECRETS
The ability to “coach” your teammates. . .instruct and demand without carrying on or belittling can go a long way in getting the players in front of you to work toward keeping a clean sheet. The unselfishness needed to be a team player and focus beyond the individual demands of the position to assist and lead others is paramount for success.—John Murphy, “The Full Season Goalkeeper Training Program.”