Blog 22: Senior Presentation Reflection

1. Positive Statement

• I'm probably most proud of the way I handled myself during the presentation.  Even with glitches from the powerpoint/computer, I was still able to continue with my presentation without a hitch. I was able to control my speed and volume, while still keeping the audience's attention.

2. Assessments

• Block Presentation – P+
• Overall Senior Project – P+/AE-

3. What worked?

• I would have to say the way I handled problems.  I was able to overcome problems like losing contact with an interviewee, and other things I've mentioned in previous blog posts.  Through slowing down, taking a deep breath, and thinking of a solution, everything worked out as planned.

4. What didn't work?

• If I had a time machine, I would probably transport myself back to the beginning.  I would figure out a plan on how to remember to post certain blogs on time, and while this hasn't been a big problem, it's worse than I would have liked.  I. Don't. Turn. Things. In. Late.  That's not how I like to be, I'm not content when things are late.  A timeframe is a timeframe, and not meeting my goal is a failure in my eyes.

5. Finding Value

• Spending 9 months on a single project was eye opening.  It's shown me that slowing down and really taking a look at the inner workings of things, in this specific case, goalkeeping, really allows you to grow my knowledge base to places I never thought possible.  For example, my best answer, "A goalkeeper can best avoid having goals scored against her during a soccer game by being psychologically prepared," was something I never thought of before the project.  For me, when I made a mistake I just brushed it off, but I never really understand the true power of sports psychology and being a good coach.  Of course, if I wish to continue coaching, but I will see where life takes me, I have numerous new contacts I could get in touch with to get a job doing what I love. 

Blog 21: Mentorship

Literal:
Mentorship Hours: Vanna White will direct you to the link on the right hand side of my blog.

Interpretive:
Through my mentorship, the most valuable thing I have gained would have to be my use of networking.  Of course, I learned a multitude of things about soccer and goalkeeping more specifically, but the networking aspect has been invaluable.  Through finding a Summer mentor, interview subjects, and other goalkeepers to talk to, I have learned the skill of networking.  I know how to get in touch with individuals I've never met before and subsequently ask them for more resources.  These people, especially my 3rd Interviewee, Janet Cassidy, have given me opportunities to meet many new people that may end up helping my coaching when I'm older.

Applied:
Independent Component is what gave me the answers, and mentorship showed me the details of all my answers.  These details were acquired through numerous hours of coaching and watching the game.  For instance, "...being psychologically prepared" was given a backbone when I helped the Girls Under 14 team's goalkeeper get past a major mistake.  "...having tactical awareness" was further explained by the mistakes that the goalkeepers made and were pointed out by my mentor, Kim Nemeth. "...having strong technical ability" was shown through the training with both the Under-14 and Under-16 girls teams.  I watched the technical abilities of the goalkeepers skyrocket while Kim and I were training them, identifying what worked and what didn't.

Blog 20: Exit Interview

What is your essential question and your answers?

• How can a goalkeeper best avoid having a goal scored against her during a soccer game?
1. A goalkeeper can best avoid having goals scored against her during a soccer game by:
• being psychological prepared
• having tactical awareness
• and strong technical ability

What is your best answer? Why?

• Psychological Preparation
• The psychological aspect of the game is evident throughout every stage.  Goalkeepers need to be mentally prepared days before the game even starts.  Without the mind in the right place, mistakes are made that can lead to goals.  This preparation is also evident in the way goalkeepers handle mistakes and other mishaps during a game.  Without the right mind set and the ability to give themselves their own pep talk, there is no way a goalkeeper can prevent goals.

What problems did you face?  How did you resolve them?

• My main venue for independent components was dissolved due to an argument.  This caused me to panic about my Fourth Interview.  Luckily, I had already finished Independent Component 2, so that wasn’t the major issue, the only thing I had to solve was my Fourth Interview.  I had originally planned to interview the goalkeeper coach who warms my team’s goalkeepers up before games, but due to the argument I had with another coach I lost the contact.  I had no way of coming up with his information, I had to solve my problem, and quick.  With some deep thinking and a realization about the number of goalkeepers I actually know, I made a quick call and had my interview scheduled for the next day.  My problem was solved, and I may have been more successful with this individual than I would have been with my original choice in interviewees.

What are the two most significant sources you used to answer your essential question? Why?

• Source 35: Mind Gym: An Athlete's Guide to Inner Excellence by Gary Mack and Davis Casstevens
• A eloquently written book about a sports psychologist’s experiences and the connections he’s made between what works and why.  This book housed the majority of the hardy information I gathered about the psychological aspect of goalkeeping.  This research is what drove me in my decision about making “...being psychologically prepared” my best answer.
• Source 49: The Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance." Anticipation From Biological Motion written by Gabriel J. Diaz and colleagues
• This PhD dissertation perfectly explained the thinking behind goalkeeper’s decision making.  Although this was specific to penalty kicks, he broadened the findings to include other thoughts that goalkeepers run through when deciding what kind of save to make.  This article helped me with both tactical and technical, but mostly tactical.  The tactical argument he makes is quite thorough.  

Blog 19: Independent Component 2

Content: 

LITERAL
(a) Statement saying: “I, Sarah Solar, affirm that I completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work.”
(b) Best Source: Kim Nemeth: Mentor (909) 573-6378
(c) Log posted on right side of blog and here.
(d) I completed 30+ hours of team, and personal training.

INTERPRETIVE These trainings involved the use of tactical and technical skills (my 2nd and 3rd answers) and proved useful in my 4th interview for developing questions.  I learned more about goalkeeping in the last two months than I ever have through training, coaching and watching all skill levels play the game.  For a few photos, you may view the prior blog entry on "Beating the Mind".  These detail the most major breakthrough I learned while training and playing.

How did the component help you answer your EQ? The first component basically provided me with my 2nd and 3rd answers.  This 2nd component has allowed me to explore them further and take into account the order and magnitude of the skills involved.   Tactical awareness was taught during games I've both played and watched. During play I came across many different sets of skills I've never used or learned how to apply them properly. By working on these techniques during practice I also finished off my 3rd answer.

Additional Post: March Part 2: Beating the Mind

As a goalkeeper, there are situations you have to be able to handle that most would consider scary, even borderline crazy.  Several times throughout the game keepers are challenged one-on-one and are required to dive at the attackers feet.  Other times the keeper might be called on to make a big save that requires you be close to flying.  For this instance, it's the flying that has always scared me.

The ball is flying to your right, nearing the point where the cross bar and the post meet.  You need to make the jump to get your hands high enough to catch the ball, and the only way to do that is to take the leap of faith.   You have to have total trust in your body and skills that you know how to land properly and hold on to the ball.  It took a very long time for me to be able to know that everything would be okay.  I'm not going to break anything in the process because I know how to land.  I have been taught how to dive.  I can do that in my sleep (well, maybe not.  But you get the point).  I know how to land and how to hold on to the ball, the next step was diving to high balls.

Essentially, you need to make a rainbow with your body.  My coach (and mentor) used to have me jump over cones, ball bags, anything that was high enough for me to dive over.  I have never been able to do it.  I get scared, I jump over it instead of let my body fly.  Finally though, I conquered it.  It took a new technique, rope between 1 and 2 feet off the ground, and about 30 more minutes.  Then I got it.  I broke the mental barrier, and also led myself to what is most likely my best answer.

The following is a picture of me making the leap of faith (and fall of doom), catching balls I never would have previously been able to save.  These pictures are without the rope since my photographer didn't show up in time for that demonstration (thanks, Dad).  However, you can see my feet off the ground.  This is towards the beginning of my dive, so I was still on my way up.  With the rope you can really see how high I get.

This next picture is of the fall of doom (as mentioned earlier).  I've got to land with my arms outstretched, ball first.  As you can see in the picture, the my hands are more on top of the ball.  This is so I can hit the ground with the ball first.  My legs then follow, one up to protect myself, and the other sliding along the ground.  This is the end of the high dives I was never previously capable of stopping (I can thank my height for that one).

Blog 18: Third Answer

Content:

EQ:How can a goalkeeper best avoid having goals scored against her during a soccer game?

• Answer 3: A goalkeeper can best avoid having goals scored against her during a soccer game by having a strong technical background.
• There are many different kinds of saves needed to properly prevent a goal.
• Diving v. Jumping v. Attacking
• Goalkeepers can't step out onto the field for a game with no technical background.
• Without technical ability, anyone could step on the field.  Technique is the basic physical ability to play any sport.
• Knowing a wide range of skills allows for better on field judgement
• Having a wider array of saving styles to choose from allows you to identify which one is the best for a specific situatioThe research source (s) to support your details and answer
• Sources: 
• Source 6: The Importance of Goalkeeper Specific Training
• Source 18: Goalkeeping: Defending the Soccer Goal
• Source 39: Areas of Concern in Youth Goalkeeping by Phil Wheddon
• Concluding Sentence:
• A goalkeeper can better prevent a goal by having a strong foundation in technical ability.

Additional Post: March Part 1: The Many Faces of Goalkeeping

Here is a compilation of faces I make during the course of a single training for my Independent Component.  Part Deux will be more related to my actual EQ answers. I just felt the need to share the, "Many Faces of Sarah Solar."  I should publish a picture book.

The "I'm focusing and you can't stop me now" Face
Also, The "normal concentration" Face

The "calm before the storm" Face

The "ball replaced my head" Face

The "ugh, I just hit the ground...hard" Face

Look Closely. This is the "I hit the ground and my face jiggled around like in a slow motion video" Face

Blog 17: Fourth Interview Questions

1. How do you position yourself to have an optimal angle against an oncoming shooter?
2. When coming towards an attacker (say in a 50/50 scenario) how close do you get to the play?
3. In regards to the last question, when you position yourself do you measure the distance from the ball or the player? Why is that your preference?
4. What do you tell yourself after you made a mistake?
5. I’ve been faced with a potentially career ending injury.  When you’ve suffered an injury bad enough to take you out of the game for an extended period of time, what do you do to keep your mind positive?
6. After coming back from an injury, what do you tell yourself after your first game back?
7. What do you feel is more important, the tactical or technical skills a goalkeeper learns?
8. What type of training do you feel you’ve benefited from the most, watching, teaching, or straight up training?
9. When your training has plateaued, what do you do to get yourself out of the rut?
10. Distribution is an important part of goalkeeping, but there are a few different techniques used by different goalkeepers.  Which do you value more, speed or accuracy?
11. What visual cues do you use to stop penalty kicks?
12. How do you analyze the players you’re going up against?  And with that information, how do you use it to your advantage?
13. When organizing your defense, do you focus more on the front post or the back post?
14. What do you feel is the proper way to set up your defense on a set play where the player is 30 yards out and close to the sideline?
15. How much should a goalkeeper depend on their defense to clear deflections?
16. Can a short goalkeeper with good jump height ever compare to a naturally tall keeper?  Don’t worry, I won’t take offense to your answer either way.
17. Is there something you do before a game that if you were to not do it, you would be taken out of your game?  How important do you think the idea of a pregame ritual is to your mental game?
18. When you realize that something is going wrong with your game, how do you change it?
19. Do the best goalkeeper come from alternate playing positions?
20. What do you see in a keeper’s mentality that is different from a field player’s mind?
21. How can a goalkeeper best avoid having goals scored against them during a soccer game?

Additional Post 7: Understanding Weaknesses

A few weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to sit in on a one-on-one training evaluation done by Jeff Tackett, the goalkeeping coach I mentored under over the Summer.

The process goes like this:

Tackett attends a few games of each of his players and rates their tactical play (the in game "tactics" that are needed to produce a winning team).  During training sessions he takes note of their technical skills (the depth and spread of the "technique" used during each drill).

He basically grades each of the players on a 10 point scale in about 45 different sub groups falling under Tactical, Technical, and Personality.  He expects his younger keepers to be in the 7 range and his older keepers in the 9 range.  He requires a high level of intensity and skill, and at the very least, a high level of improvement.  Without either one of those things, his coaching career would be over.

After he's scored them, he sits with the athlete and her parents and goes over each and every skill.  He goes over problem areas, areas of great improvement, and explains things the keepers may not understand.  Tackett opens the floor for questions after each explanation so the keepers get the most out of their session.  Few coaches do this, and that's part of what sets him apart.

Blog 16: Advisory Meeting #2

EQ: How can a goalkeeper best avoid having goals scored against her during a soccer game?

Answer #2:

A goalkeeper can best avoid having goals scored against her during a soccer game by having a strong foundation in tactical ability.

3 (actually 4 since I couldn't narrow it down) details:

• Goalkeepers need to know when to dive or move to the ball.  If you dive too soon you won't be able to get back up in the case of a shot getting rebounded back into play.

• Goalkeepers need to offer strong communication to the team.  Goalkeepers need to line up their defenders in the case of an oncoming attack.

• Goalkeepers can't act, they need to react.  In a one on one situation you wait for the attacker to make a mistake.

• Goalkeepers need to know when to come off their line.  Waiting too long to come off your line allows the attacker more time to figure out their next move and chip a shot over your head.

Sources to support my answer:

Source 28: "Extending the Goalkeepers Range - Sweeper Keeper." Serious Goalkeeping - Goalkeeper Tactics. Serious Goalkeeping, n.d. Web. 09 Jan. 2014.

Source 17: Benjamin, Jeff. "JB Goalkeeping - Positioning." JB Goalkeeping - Positioning. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. <http://www.jbgoalkeeping.com/position.html>.

Source 12 A/B: Wade, Allen. "Chapters 1-6." Positional Play: Goalkeeping. Spring City, PA: Reedswain Videos, 1997. 2-15. Print.

Blog 15: Independent Component Approval 2

1.  I plan on using my own training with Legacy Soccer Club.  Along with the training I will include any game time I play so I get the full experience of the game.  During training I work both by myself and with my team.  Training both independently with a coach and with a team gives a full perspective on the pre-game scenarios.  Then my work during actual games will provide a tactical view of the game from both the perspective of a player and an onlooker.  I will be training primarily with Kim Nemeth, my mentor, but also with Andre de la Rambelje as he is the head coach of the Girls Under 18 Legacy Team.  (My team)

2.  I will have someone take pictures of me while I'm training and during games.  These images will be candid shots of me training and playing.

3.  The way to learn the most about any sport is to actually play it.  By immersing, then subsequently analyzing, myself in the plays, I am learning the most.  In fact, I have come up with the most possible answers to my EQ through training and watching others play.  Training gives the best technical perspective of the game.  Through that you are learning skills and proper technique that propel your athletic prowess.  Through playing games you are learning the tactical side of the game which includes any sort of game scenario.  The only way to improve yourself and prevent mistakes is to actually make the mistakes.  By allowing a goal and then analyzing what I did wrong, I am coming up with possible answers to my essential question.

4. The log has been posted on the right hand side of the blog.

Blog 14: Independent Component 1

Literal:

• "I, Sarah Solar, affirm that I have completed my independent component which represents 30 hours of work."
• My mentor, Kim Nemeth, and my coach, Andre De La Rambelje helped me the most, since they're my coaches.  They were the ones that coached me through my training from the start of the year for this particular component.
• [here is the link to my hours]
• I completed over 30 hours of personal and team training as a goalkeeper.  I worked on both tactical and technical skills that improved my knowledge of the game and the position.

Interpretive:

• I spent several hours each week during the season to complete these hours.  During the games I played, I definitely learned the definitions of tactical vs. technical training.  I trained or was playing during every single minute of the hours I have submitted.  During games I was both playing and analyzing what could have been done better.  During my training I was learning the ways that focus and the psychological aspect of goalkeeping needs to be overcome.
• Here are the images showing some of what I did during independent component.  Please excuse the poor quality of a few of the images, the person taking the images was using a device they had never used before.

Applied:

• I furthered my knowledge of the foundation of my topic my immersing myself in the actual activity through games and training.  The best way to gather knowledge of a sport is to actually play the game, and that is exactly what I was doing.
• Example 1: During my training I entered the psychological side of goalkeeping during high diving.  I was required to dive over a rope (approximately 2 feet off the ground).  This is a drill I've always had trouble with, and my mentor, Kim Nemeth, has constantly reassured me that if I forget about everything and stop thinking, that I will finally make the jump to proficiency.
• Example 2:  During my mentorship one day, I was introduced to the difference and associations of tactical vs. technical training.  During a game shortly after I learned that, I actually experienced it and thought about it.  During the game you use tactical (in game) moves.  You don't focus on the technical (or proper technique) during saves.  In fact, you don't think about it much at all.  But both are extraordinarily important.

Additional Post 6: Pain is Only Weakness Leaving the Body

One word.  Pushups.  Three different methods means three new breeds of pain I am purposefully inflicting upon myself.  Some may call it crazy; I call it training.

In the past two weeks, my mentor has started a new training regiment with me involving pushups.  I am required to do as may as I can.  I'm supposed to go until my arms get so tired I can't possibly do any more.  This training regiment is among other things, meant to strengthen my arms and core.  Developing your pushup ability is crucial to power and stability as well.  By optimizing those skills I am allowing myself to get to the ball quicker and stay steady on my feet, all things that are optimal for preventing a goal from being scored.

These sets are repeated every time I have practice, and sometimes on my own time.  After several weeks I will hopefully have increased the number of reps and subsequently my strength.  This torture is only in place to make me better.

The following images show the 3 different varieties of pushups I do for this drill.

I start out with my hands in a diamond position as shown.  Then I do as many as I possibly can.  I am currently just over 20. Once my arms fall out from beneath me I am allowed a 1 minute rest.

The next style of pushup is a tricep pushup.  I am definitely not accustomed to these yet and can only produce 5-7 at a time.  These are the most difficult for me.  Normally my arms bend out and away from my body.  With these, your arms are required to stay by your side.  Some people call them the military pushup.

After my last minute of rest, I continue on with the 3rd and final pushup style.  These are just normal pushups you're taught in gym.  If done by themselves without the other two kinds of torture I can churn out 40 or more at a time.  But by the time I've passed out hit the ground twice, these become more difficult and I can usually only produce 10 or so.

 And repeat...Everything...Yes, everything.

And now that you're exhausted from purely reading this, I sign off.

Until next time.

Blog 13: Lesson 2 Reflection

1. Positive Statement

• I am most proud of my ability to engage the audience.  I came through with a few surprises, like dropping an egg on the floor and making references people understand like Finding Nemo.  Getting a serious grasp of my classmates' attention was a top priority of mine.

2. Assessment

• Speaking to the fact that I'm not entirely sure how to reach an AE at this point in the project, I would give myself a strong P+.  
• My activity and hook were entertaining and allowed for plenty of audience interaction.  I hit time and all of the other P considerations.  The audience seemed really engaged while I was presenting.

3. What worked?

• I think the thing that worked the best for me was linking the sources and research to what I was speaking about in my presentation.  Many people just through out their research at the end, I incorporated it throughout my presentation.

4.  What would I change?

• Assuming the time machine allows time around me to stop and me to continue to get things done, I would have liked to have more time between lesson approval and the day I actually presented.  Having an entire week between presentations seems kind of unfair.  Had I had more time to prepare my presentation I feel the quality of the actual powerpoint could have been better.

5. Potential Answer?

• I've contemplated using concentration, technical training, and tactical training.  I haven't worked out the kinks yet, but I think at this point tactical training will be my best bet for the next answer, however, I will see how my mentorship changes this point of view.

Blog 12: Third Interview Questions

1. How can a goalkeeper best avoid having a goal scored against her during a soccer game?

2. What training type do you feel is more successful, technical (technique) or tactical (game scenarios? Why?

3. With that in mind, what training regime is more important, the psychological (being able to get back up after a mistake) or physical training (actual hands on goalkeeping)? Why?

4. What is the best form of training (having a coach tell you what you’re doing), watching (seeing a higher level athlete perform at peak performance), or teaching (giving the goalkeeper the knowledge to show someone what they are doing wrong)?

5. Hope Solo spent a lot of her youth career playing forward, she didn’t become a permanent goalkeeper until she was in college. Do you feel the best keepers come from alternate positioning backgrounds? Why or why not?

6. I’ve always been taught never to go on my knees, and that I will be less likely to have balls go over my head in the case of an unsuspected bounce.  What side do you take in this argument?

7. In the case that a goalkeeper is scored on, what is the best thing to tell them to prevent another goal from being scored?

8. How much of the game (a keeper plays) relies on natural born talent, like height, over talent that’s taught, like diving.

9. In current conditions, coaches don’t put as much time into coaching goalkeepers at a younger age.  How much does this hurt the teams’ chances of having a shutout, and the goalkeepers’ chances of becoming an elite athlete?

10. Do you feel that perhaps more training on the field is what has lead to the game’s current status quo of keepers being more of a “sweeper keeper”?

11. Some say it’s easier to dive, but I feel it both expends more energy and results in more rebounds and turnovers.  Some say footwork is a better option because the same ball the diving keeper had to save would be ran over to, then collapsed on by the keeper with better footwork. Which fundamental skill do you think is more important?

Blog 11: Mentorship 10 Hour Check

1. I am completing my mentorship wherever Kim Nemeth trains.  She follows her clients so some days we are in Chino Hills (Community Park and Grand Avenue Park) and others we are in Diamond Bar (Peterson Park and Pantera Park).

2. Kim Nemeth

3. Including the hours over the summer I have completed 49 hours of mentorship.

4. The 10 hours over the summer included working with Jeff Tackett, he is a goalkeeping coach local to the area.  I worked with ages ranging from 9-18, so I got a well rounded start to my senior project.  I worked in areas he needed me, especially taking slower keepers to the side and working with them.

5.  I will include the contact information in the email.

Blog 10: Senior Project, The Holiday

1. During the break, I completed several sources for my working bibliography and got in a few hours of mentorship.  I also continued my training for my independent component.  I feel I got a lot accomplished over this 2 week break.
2. One of the most important things I learned over the break, is that training with someone you used to coach is difficult.  I do my personal training with Kim Nemeth, my mentor.  She coaches me during practices twice a week.  While I was her assistant coach for the Girls Under 14 team, I coached a young girl named Alexa.  Now that her season is over, she is training with me, under Kim, to keep her fit during the off season since she will be starting club this Spring.  One day during practice I noticed I was coaching her rather than being more of an equal.   At that point I realized I really do enjoy coaching and hope to continue with that hobby after I complete college.
3. To answer my EQ, I feel my best sources would be my Mentor, Kim Nemeth, and the Cal Poly goalkeeping coach, Janet Cassidy.  Janet Cassidy helped train the England National Team Goalkeeper when she was a player in Chino Hills and surrounding areas.  She has has experience with all age levels and ability levels making her a well rounded coach.  She also played on the USA Under 13 Academy Team.