Written and edited by Jim Walker
-- February 2015
A publication of the Keeper! Club
Written and edited by Jim Walker
TRAINING IN FEBRUARY
Mondays, 5:30-6:30pm—Junior Keepers (10 years and younger)
Mondays, 6:30-7:45pm—Intermediates (11-13 years old)
Thursdays, 8pm—Seniors (14 years and older)
The Schedule
Training at Dyess Park in February
2—Junior keepers 5:30pm; Intermediate keepers, 6:30pm
5—Seniors (high school keepers), 8pm
9—Junior Keepers, 5:30pm; Intermediates 6:30pm
12—High school keepers, 8pm
16-Junior keepers, 5:30pm; Intermediates, 6:30pm
19—Seniors, 8pm
23—Junior keeper, 5:30pm; Intermediate keepers, 6:30pm
26—Seniors, 8pm
BYOK SLATED FEB. 22
Bring Your Own Keeper (BYOK), a free workshop for youth coaches and parents and their goalkeepers, will be held at Dyess Park Sun., Feb. 22, at 3:30pm. Coaches and parents are invited to bring one or more players who are playing or aspire to play the position and join exercises that will assist the keeper to prepare for games and get effective touches on the ball. Coaches and parents also will gain tips for dealing with young keeper successes and failures, and how to help them grow in the position. Moderated by Dynamos goalkeeper trainer Jim Walker, the session is free and runs about one hour and a half. Registration is requested--to sign up, please email JWalker@dynamossoccer.com or call 281-217-1612 with the keeper's name and age, and name of parent or coach accompanying him or her. It's fun, both for keepers and their partners! Keeper Club members are encouraged to participate in this event as helpers, demonstrators, and/or servers.
BY THE NUMBERS
0--traditionally seen on a goalkeeper jersey
1—also worn by many keepers
2--goalkeepers in a game
3—keeper sessions per week—Juniors, Intermediates, Seniors
4—what keeper golfers yell when they tee off
5—highs of which signal end of each keeper training session.
6—pounds of Big Bertha, the Keeper Club’s heaviest medicine ball
10--number of weeks in Keeper Club training packages
12—real dozen
13--baker’s dozen (old-time bakers added a donut or roll to avoid miscalculating weight, which is the way they were sold).
15--keeper’s dozen (keepers are special--they get five ground balls, five flighted balls, five shots on goal in training activity)
16—age when keepers drive into DyessPark at the wheel of the family vehicle
17—age for keeper-driver’s special safety course 101—DyessPark stop signs, left turns, one-way streets, parking, speed zones, parked constables
18—high achiever’s version of keeper’s dozen (“one more. . .one more. . .one more”)
19--proposed date in December for the 2015 Keeper Christmas party
22—years Keeper Club has been a gathering place for boys and girls seeking goalkeeper training.
30--times “getting on the ground” in Keeper Club standard warmup
39--Coach Roland’s age (that’s what he claims)
50—number of catches in “hitting the eyes” warmup activity
70--sprinting yards in every keeper’s favorite fitness activity
90—the upper of which keepers prefer shots not to be
90—also, it’s the 90th minute. . .do you know where your goal is?
92--Coach Jim’s age (that’s what he says)
100--per cent effort given by Keeper Club members
110—per cent effort given by Keeper Club members who have failed math
WASCALLY WABBIT
Witton Albion goalkeeper Jon Worsnop, while preparing to take a goal kick, had a good excuse for the delay of game that earned him a yellow card. “I saw a hole emerge in the six-yard box and there it was peeping at me,” he said of the baby rabbit. A teammate carried the bunny off the field, and the rabbit hole was filled. Club director Mark Harris said, “Our main concern was that the rabbit had managed to get in without paying.”—from Soccer America
KeeperTalk
Welcome to new Junior Keeper member Anthony Posada. . .Junior Keeper Johan Martinez’s dad played soccer with legendary Dynamos star Chris Gbandi at Cy-Falls HS. Gbandi won college soccer’s highest honor, the Hermann Trophy, while at the University of Connecticut and played professionally. . .Good luck to all goalkeepers playing in the Dynamos’ Puma Cup Feb. 7-8—games will be played at Dyess, Zube, and Meyer parks. . .Longtime Keeper Club member (and Candy Jar manager at the annual Christmas party) Kaylee Barrett racked up several shutouts as her Cy-Woods HS team opened the season on a winning note. . .New member Luz Lopez is a junior varsity keeper at Cy-Creek HS. . .Happy Birthday, Dr. Heather Koudelka! Heather, longtime Keeper Club member (she started at 10 years old), much-decorated as a keeper at Cy-Falls HS and St. Edward’s University, earned her doctorate in physical therapy now working at Children’s Hospital, and who returned to Dyess Park many summers as a keeper camp instructor, celebrated her umpty-umph birthday Jan. 31. . .Samantha Nichols walked off with a new soccer ball for repeating Anatole France’s claim that dreaming and believing, in addition to acting and planning, are necessary to achieve great things, as a goalkeeper or otherwise. . .For your chance to win a new soccer ball, answer this question: How heavy is Big Bertha? Simply email the answer, in pounds (answer elsewhere in this newsletter), to jwalker332@aol.com to be entered in the January drawing.
KEEPER LOG
Goalkeepers who attended training in January:
12—Junior Keepers: Johan Martinez, Anthony Posada; Intermediates: Matthew Shaw, Krysten Rhodes, Autumn Driskell, Claire Juenke, Samantha Nichols, Steven Franke
15—Lotta Raines, Muddy Waters
19—Junior Keepers: Zac Cannon, Anthony Posada, Johan Martinez; Intermediates: Autumn Driskell, Krysten Rhodes, Claire Juenke, Samantha Nichols, Matthew Shaw; Assisting: Steven Franke.
22—Hy Levee, Soggy Fields
26—Junior Keepers: Zac Cannon, Alli Thompson, Johan Martinez, Anthony Posada; Intermediates: Autumn Driskell, Samantha Nichols, Luz Lopez, Krysten Rhodes, Isobel Herrod, Ian Herrod, Claire Juenke. Assisting: Armando Lopez
29—Luz Lopez, Steven Franke, Payton Salinas, Sam Dominguez, Ethan Urrutia
KEEPER’S PENALTY DECIDES IT
West Ham goalkeeper Adrian was so confident he would score his decisive penalty against Everton he threw his gloves aside. With the FA Cup third-round replay tied at 8-8 on spot-kicks, the 28-year-old stepped up to send the hosts through. "I didn't have nerves. I thought 'I'll take off my gloves, this game is over' and I struck the ball," he said. Regulation and extra time finished 2-2 and his penalty sent West Ham through to the fourth round. "I never took a penalty before--only in training for a joke, but not serious," added Adrian.
QUOTABLE
“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer."--Albert Camus, French Writer (who, coincidentally, was a goalkeeper for his university team in Alberia
TIP OF THE MONTH
“The greatest mistake a keeper can make is to continually fear you will make one.”—with apologies to Elbert Hubbard
KEEPING SECRETS
In Keeper Club, we urge goalkeepers to strive to be "perfect within their range." That is, focus on holding everything they should catch, dive every time they need to dive, find the correct position in facing every shot, stay in touch with the game every minute. Of course, the ultimate goal then is to extend their range, fly for balls out of their range, prevent shots when possible, never getting caught flat-footed. But there are other ways for players to be "perfect" too. How about labeling efforts? How many times were you late to practice? Talk when your coach was talking? Arrive late for a game because you failed to make the effort to be on time? Fail to respond to your team’s loss of possession? Refuse to come strong for a high ball? Fail to apply proper technique in collecting a ground ball? Suddenly the quest for zero-defects makes a lot of sense!
Read more http://dynamossoccer.com/KeeperClub/Keeper/tabid/375/newsid744/331/KEEPER-Vol-22-No-2/Default.aspx