Maize Soccer's Blake Andrews

By Jeffrey Lutz

No one physical attribute makes a good goalkeeper. A prototypical one is tall with good hands and quick feet, but not every goalie fits that mold.

Southeast's Rhodes is tall and has a gigantic boot. One who doesn't fit the height mold is Maize's Blake Andrews. He has good hands and quick feet. But tall? Not so much. He makes up for it with other skills.

"He has great technique and he comes off the line well," Maize coach Mike Darrah says. "Quick. He's got great foot skills for a goalie."

While it's common at the pro level to have a goalkeeper with field-player skills, such an "eleventh man" is rare in high school. Andrews, a junior, has the ability to help the team maintain possession as a safety net.

A goalkeeper also can offset a lack of a certain physical tool with superiority in leadership.

"Usually the goalie can read the game well because they see the whole field," says Southeast coach Tom Rhodes. "They're kind of like the quarterback of the defense - they direct the defense and tell them where to go and who to mark up. Hopefully they can stop the attack before it happens.

"They have to have good knowledge of the game to be a good keeper in addition to the physical skills."

"Some kids are better at (dealing with pressure), at handling that," Darrah says. "Having a kid that can coach back there is important, because he sees the whole field. He has to kind of coach you, so he has to be one of the most vocal kids on the field."

Also a club coach, Rhodes uses two goalkeepers so his young players can experience playing the field. Goalkeepers have to know how to play the game.

"I generally have two goalies up until about age 14, just so they can get on the field half the game and be in goal half the game and are not tied down to the goal and they can develop all those skills," says Rhodes. "I would say a good coach, until players get to the high school years, will probably try to develop them as a whole player, not just a goalie."