Day 4:
Unlike the past few days, this post starts Last Night! roughly midnight of last night while everyone was asleep, we wake up to a loud alarm saying " There has been an emergency in the building. Everyone needs to evacuate the building as quickly as possible." So Im now upset and semi worried that our hotels on fire. So theres 100-200 people outside the hotel when all of a sudden, hotel manager walks out with a stupid light bulb in his had and said "false alarm, it was a burnt light bulb..." WOW! beyond ticked. So now that all the english mates are cursing and everyone else is wide awake, we all finally got to go back to bed around 12:45.
The real day started and again we had two matches. The first match was against arguably the best team here. It was 0-0 for a while until they slipped on past on a crazy dribbling frenzy. About 10 minutes later, the other team was awarded a Penalty Kick. My mind started racing and i then thought to myself that I had a cool opportunity to turn some heads. So the kicker lines up and approached the ball and i read the run and eventually saved the shot. Pretty surprising if you ask me. I over heard someone yell out "Make the save and you get a contract!" right before the kick, which i though was hilarious. But we again ended up losing. The second game was very similar to the others. played hard played well but again lost. I played second half and didnt allow any goals in. So all in all, i let in 3 goals all combine which is great. I have to thank richie, tom, matt, mandy, jordan,and ryan for shooting on me and giving me a real tough workout. and also taking PK's on me! it helped SO much! Also I want to thank everyone who prayed and sent awesome texts to me this week, I cant appreciate it enough. And Im very thankful that yall have actually read my blog. over the past four days Ive had close to 500 hits on the blogsite and i am overwhelmed! Please continue to pray for me and what the future may hold. There's a chance that i could be picked up or contacted within the next month to have a direct private tryout with some big named clubs. It hit me once I was standing next to a Seattle Sounders (MLS) scout when i realized that this was a big deal! I love you all and look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow and next week!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Day 3 of Combine
Day 3:
Its Wed, and the first full day of actual games. My team got the short end of the stick and had to play the early game at 10am, and also the 1:30 game. For those who dont know the feeling, One soccer game is real real tiring. Now playing two games in a day is even tougher tan that but with-in four hours of each other?!!? a little crazy! The first game was a tough one. I was picked to be the starting goalkeeper and played pretty well. I and 5 saves in the first half and had one goal against me on a break away. The Rutgers keeper played second half and we ended up losing 2-0 to a tough opponent... The second game was where our team really started to feel the pain and exhaustion from the past 3 days. Again I started the match but this time Our team scored first and at the half, I kept the shut out to have a halftime lead of 1-0. The second half, our boys played tough but the fatigue and heavy legs caught up to us and we eventually lost 2-1. The team we played was playing their first game of the day so they had the upper hand. Also it was my roommates team, and he scored, so of course i got to hear it from him later on. Luckily for me i had a shutout and he never scored on me (thank the lord). We are back at the hotel. just finished dinner. The combine bought us about 25 of the Pizza Hut Pasta boxes. they were very very good! I never thought id say this but lately ive been going to bed very early. its 9 something now, and Ive been in bed for an hour. We have another two games tomorrow (11:30 and 3) and then I will officially be done at this place. Heading back to Nashville Friday. looking forward to seeing everyone! Thanks again for all the texts and tweets. Love yall!
Its Wed, and the first full day of actual games. My team got the short end of the stick and had to play the early game at 10am, and also the 1:30 game. For those who dont know the feeling, One soccer game is real real tiring. Now playing two games in a day is even tougher tan that but with-in four hours of each other?!!? a little crazy! The first game was a tough one. I was picked to be the starting goalkeeper and played pretty well. I and 5 saves in the first half and had one goal against me on a break away. The Rutgers keeper played second half and we ended up losing 2-0 to a tough opponent... The second game was where our team really started to feel the pain and exhaustion from the past 3 days. Again I started the match but this time Our team scored first and at the half, I kept the shut out to have a halftime lead of 1-0. The second half, our boys played tough but the fatigue and heavy legs caught up to us and we eventually lost 2-1. The team we played was playing their first game of the day so they had the upper hand. Also it was my roommates team, and he scored, so of course i got to hear it from him later on. Luckily for me i had a shutout and he never scored on me (thank the lord). We are back at the hotel. just finished dinner. The combine bought us about 25 of the Pizza Hut Pasta boxes. they were very very good! I never thought id say this but lately ive been going to bed very early. its 9 something now, and Ive been in bed for an hour. We have another two games tomorrow (11:30 and 3) and then I will officially be done at this place. Heading back to Nashville Friday. looking forward to seeing everyone! Thanks again for all the texts and tweets. Love yall!
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Combine Day 2
Day 2
Today was one of those days where the coaches and trainers decide to kill the goalkeepers. We started the first practice with a 3v2 drill then went into a 2v1 exercise. If your not sure what that means... basically means tons of shots. tons of goals all from very close range. So needless to say, the goalkeepers were getting beat up. We then had a 3 team 1v1 shooting competition, again... goalies were killed. But all in all it was a lot of fun and very challenging. We had about a 2 hour break before session two began. In that session, the 5 teams all played a big 7on7 tournament. Typically in these games you see a lot of scoring and hard defensive plays. My team started off pretty well, winning the first game, losing the second, and winning both the third and fourth games going 3-1 in the tournament which was good enough for a first place tie. I played pretty well. only giving up one goal the entire tournament, and that was to a first team All American player who is beyond incredible. After the tournament, the college boys had the opportunity to put on a coaches clinic to some of the local youth teams. about 50-75 teens came out for some coaching tips and lessons. it was a neat experience and im glad we did it. If I was ever picked up by a professional team, that will be something i could look forward to. Pro team do a lot of community service or appearances so it was good to see that first hand. The local soccer clubs then cooked dinner tonight for all the combine fellas. It was awesome! right in my element, a home cooked meal just what i needed. Also had a amazing glass of sweet tea which was the first thing ive had other than water in the last week! I am really tired and pretty scratched up but tomorrow is when all the fun begins. The full field 11v11 games start up and we will play two full games tomorrow and another two on thursday. In front of professional scouts and in the nice stadium here at the complex. If you would like to watch the live video feed. the website is www.tourbeausportsgroup.com my team plays at 10am and also again at 1:30pm. If you do tune in, my team is the white jerseys. the only white team there. PLease continue to pray for me and i still appreciate ALL of you who have sent out the encouraging words and texts. please keep those rolling! Love yall!
Today was one of those days where the coaches and trainers decide to kill the goalkeepers. We started the first practice with a 3v2 drill then went into a 2v1 exercise. If your not sure what that means... basically means tons of shots. tons of goals all from very close range. So needless to say, the goalkeepers were getting beat up. We then had a 3 team 1v1 shooting competition, again... goalies were killed. But all in all it was a lot of fun and very challenging. We had about a 2 hour break before session two began. In that session, the 5 teams all played a big 7on7 tournament. Typically in these games you see a lot of scoring and hard defensive plays. My team started off pretty well, winning the first game, losing the second, and winning both the third and fourth games going 3-1 in the tournament which was good enough for a first place tie. I played pretty well. only giving up one goal the entire tournament, and that was to a first team All American player who is beyond incredible. After the tournament, the college boys had the opportunity to put on a coaches clinic to some of the local youth teams. about 50-75 teens came out for some coaching tips and lessons. it was a neat experience and im glad we did it. If I was ever picked up by a professional team, that will be something i could look forward to. Pro team do a lot of community service or appearances so it was good to see that first hand. The local soccer clubs then cooked dinner tonight for all the combine fellas. It was awesome! right in my element, a home cooked meal just what i needed. Also had a amazing glass of sweet tea which was the first thing ive had other than water in the last week! I am really tired and pretty scratched up but tomorrow is when all the fun begins. The full field 11v11 games start up and we will play two full games tomorrow and another two on thursday. In front of professional scouts and in the nice stadium here at the complex. If you would like to watch the live video feed. the website is www.tourbeausportsgroup.com my team plays at 10am and also again at 1:30pm. If you do tune in, my team is the white jerseys. the only white team there. PLease continue to pray for me and i still appreciate ALL of you who have sent out the encouraging words and texts. please keep those rolling! Love yall!
Monday, December 5, 2011
Day 1 of Combine
Day 1
Started off the day right, with a good breakfast and a quick conference with the 75 guys in attendance. There's something real intimidating about 75 athletes sitting in a small space all eating apples and bagels. And real weird when no one is talking because we all are nervous or anxious about the training. Well in the conference, we were introduced to the coaches and were all placed on our respective teams. I was placed on team #1 (my lucky number) coached by Matt H from Grace College. I'm real excited because 3 of my defenders are All Americans, One of which is the National Player of the Year, given to the best player in the entire country. We started training as a team this morning. The fields that we are playing on are absolutely incredible. Grass resembles that of a golf course, perfect. We had a goalkeeper session today and it was the first time to see what i was going up against for the week. There's a wide variety of goalkeepers here. Short, tall, muscular, athletic, all of which are very good. To start off the training, we did footwork and agility. Next was a low dive high dive combo drill and then off to a crossing/shooting drill. A lot of fun so far and I'm feeling pretty good about where i stand right now. There were also 3-4 scouts that actually showed up to practice today, which was unexpected. Most scouts will be at the full field games and/or watching the live video being provided. After training, lunch was catered by Guthries chicken, which was incredible! Then we were off to a classroom seminar where all the coaches had the opportunity to put in their two cents about the next level, how to get there, and what we could look forward to. Also in the seminar, we had the chance to skype two professional players and get to hear their stories and were able to take away some advice from them. We had the night off but first came dinner time! Catered by a local company, we had grilled/marinated shrimp, chicken wrapped in bacon, along with two pastas, and homemade dessert bites. Great food. That wraps up day one. Looking forward to tomorrow! I appreciate all the texts/messages ive been getting. Please keep them coming and please continue to pray for me! Love Yall!
Started off the day right, with a good breakfast and a quick conference with the 75 guys in attendance. There's something real intimidating about 75 athletes sitting in a small space all eating apples and bagels. And real weird when no one is talking because we all are nervous or anxious about the training. Well in the conference, we were introduced to the coaches and were all placed on our respective teams. I was placed on team #1 (my lucky number) coached by Matt H from Grace College. I'm real excited because 3 of my defenders are All Americans, One of which is the National Player of the Year, given to the best player in the entire country. We started training as a team this morning. The fields that we are playing on are absolutely incredible. Grass resembles that of a golf course, perfect. We had a goalkeeper session today and it was the first time to see what i was going up against for the week. There's a wide variety of goalkeepers here. Short, tall, muscular, athletic, all of which are very good. To start off the training, we did footwork and agility. Next was a low dive high dive combo drill and then off to a crossing/shooting drill. A lot of fun so far and I'm feeling pretty good about where i stand right now. There were also 3-4 scouts that actually showed up to practice today, which was unexpected. Most scouts will be at the full field games and/or watching the live video being provided. After training, lunch was catered by Guthries chicken, which was incredible! Then we were off to a classroom seminar where all the coaches had the opportunity to put in their two cents about the next level, how to get there, and what we could look forward to. Also in the seminar, we had the chance to skype two professional players and get to hear their stories and were able to take away some advice from them. We had the night off but first came dinner time! Catered by a local company, we had grilled/marinated shrimp, chicken wrapped in bacon, along with two pastas, and homemade dessert bites. Great food. That wraps up day one. Looking forward to tomorrow! I appreciate all the texts/messages ive been getting. Please keep them coming and please continue to pray for me! Love Yall!
Sunday, December 4, 2011
NashDallOBeach
Well, I finally made it. I'm finally in Orange Beach laying down and letting it all sink in. I left Nashville this morning at 7am, flying to Dallas Texas for my connecting flight to Orange Beach. My flight landed around 1 and by 3 oclock I was at the hotel after being shuttled by the combine staff. The hotel we are staying at is a brand new 4 star hotel that opened its doors in April of this year. Everything is modernized and brand new. Not to mention it is right on the beach! I'm on the 8th floor and have a wonderful ocean front view from my balcony. As for the other players; I have already met some cool people from all over the country. Michigan, Texas, Virginia, and Rhode Island. My roommate is an All American from Mid America Nazarene (ironic i know). We have the night off however, tomorrow morning the 75 players are up and out at the training sessions. I'm really looking forward to the competition, there are some REAL talented athletes here. Please continue to pray for me. I love you all and thank you for your support!
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