Finders Keepers

While most athletes across a wide array of sports can relate to one another in some fashion, there are some that remain in relative obscurity. Immediately coming to mind is the kicker on a football team, often the proverbial punching bag for other players. Everyone else risks life and limb on nearly every down, while the kicker rarely feels contact and rarely even requires a uniform washing. Or take the infamous right fielder in Little League baseball, mindlessly picking dandelions in a sea of green grass until the third out of the inning calls for a sprint to the bench. But at least those positions are understood by most. You know the kicker's job is to not shank the ever-important point after touchdown, and to knock a field goal between two tall posts. You know that, once you get out of Little League, the right fielder has many responsibilities and usually one of the best arms on the team. Yet in soccer, even though millions of Americans played as a child, the position of goalkeeper not only remains in relative obscurity, but also is vastly misconstrued by most. Not only by the casual fan tuning in to see the arrival of David Beckham, but even the coaches who are responsible for all 11 players on the field. "We are definitely off on our own a lot during practices, not doing the same things the team is working on," says senior Nathan Sprenkel, one of the top goalkeepers in the area for Zionsville High School who is headed to Division-I Duquesne University next fall. "Your coach in high school can help you, but chances are they don't know the position very well." At Lawrence Central, senior keeper Joey Peglow helped lead the Bears to a 6-0 start and No. 1 ranking after early wins over No. 8 Cathedral, No. 3 Pike and No. 1 Carmel (all rankings were at time of game). Peglow agreed that relating to a keeper can be difficult at times. "It can be hard to talk to the guys on my team about what I'm doing," explains Peglow, who allowed just one goal through those first six games. "Sometimes it's hard to even talk to the coaches because they might not know much about it." Enter Miles Glynn. The founder and director of Indiana Goalkeeper Academy, Glynn runs private training sessions for several goalies around the area along with duties as the keeper coach for the Butler men and IUPUI women. The clientele of his "elite" group includes Sprenkel and Peglow, along with senior Tyler Keever at Cathedral and junior Austin Fish at Brownsburg. The idea of private training for goalkeepers is not all that new, as Glynn was mentored by Mike Sanich who also coached Sprenkel at one point. But as the group of four - Sprenkel, Peglow, Keever and Fish - have trained together, new relationships have been built and new ways of group training have developed their skills. "The nature of the position is that it's so separate from the rest of the team and the field players, and it helps to be with like-minded people and create the training environment that is necessary," says Glynn, who mainly trains with the group through the winter and spring. "A lot of people just don't understand and aren't sensitive to their needs, so it's common that they don't get the attention they need from the team coach. They have 10 other players they need to worry about and chances are, he or she wasn't a goalkeeper themselves." As a group, the four are able to get through a training session with Glynn and focus on the little details that aren't frequented at high school practice. They work on repetition, anticipating scenarios and refining their skills so that things come naturally on the field. So why is it so important for goalkeepers, in particular, to have this training? Most of it has to do with the fact that it's nearly impossible to simulate a full session during the high school team's practice, but there are other factors, too. "Keepers, more so than field players, have to work toward being as close to perfection as possible," explains Glynn. "Keepers can save 10, miss one and lose the game and be the goat. Field players can miss 10, make one and be the hero of the game." The way Glynn deals with this fact is, through providing the training, the constant repetition allows his students to be prepared for what might lie ahead. He can give them the proper constructive criticism, which is a rare circumstance at a high school practice. "When you're training with your field players, they will have their good shots on you or maybe score a couple goals," Keever says. "But if you do something wrong or even make a good save, if you didn't do it correctly there's not the consistent help in order to make it right." The other aspect of the group training that has proved beneficial, as Glynn explained, is creating an atmosphere for like-minded people that encourages them to work off each other and learn from each other. Keever and Peglow have played on the same club team (Indy Burn) and so have Sprenkel and Fish (Carmel United Academy 90), but the four coming together has led to vast improvement and off-the-field friendships. "I'm probably the one who communicates with my players the best out of the group, but I look toward (Sprenkel, Peglow and Fish) to communicate to me the things I need to work on and develop," Keever says. "I've really enjoyed getting to know those guys and when I go to a training session, I know those guys are going to make the environment what it needs to be," adds Sprenkel, who had 64 saves and four shutouts through eight games. "It makes everything so much more competitive, especially since we're not on the same high school team and we're not going to lose our spot. There are no real hard feelings during training sessions, which allows it all to come out on the field. It's nice to have guys around the area that I can talk to and share experiences with who understand me." And Fish echoed those sentiments, expressing how his friendships with the other keepers are the reason for his improvement - and the reason he looks forward to meeting at each training session. "That's what makes it fun," he says. As for Glynn, he thinks the dynamic of being competitive while also encouraging during the group sessions is what leads to true improvement and a shot to play at the next level. "When those guys are training, they are pushing one another and it's an understood rule that they'll push one another every time out," he says. "They are very supportive of each other, but they understand that they have to be hard on each other in order to get the most out of it. They find the line of being competitive and being supportive." Goalkeepers just might remain in relative obscurity, but at least they understand each other.