The past few months, Kenna has been training with Emalee. She gets one-on-one keeper training with an amazing keeper who is also the coach of the Clearfield High girls soccer team and who took the CHS girls to state for the first time in 10 years...she is awesome! Kenna works very hard at these trainings and comes home covered in mud...and exhausted, but she loves it! :)
Lately, she has been watching college soccer just to study how the keepers approach the ball, how they slide and dive and when they decide to take on a player one-on-one. Last week, Garrett was talking with Kenna about soccer and especially about being the keeper. Teaching her to take responsibility for the goals that get past her and get mad about a goal, not to just blame her defenders or someone else for a goal. It's a tough job, really the hardest on the field. She needs to know how to approach the ball, when to approach the ball or an oncoming player, how to cut off the angle, she has to direct all the players on the field and she needs to stop the ball from entering the net. Last night, Garrett read an article about the BYU goal keeper and printed it off for her...it was exactly what he had talked with her about earlier in the week. Often Garrett sees things differently than I do and I'm so thankful he takes the time to teach the kids.
Kenna has decided to try out for the ODP team. If she makes the team this will be a huge opportunity for her. She begins try-outs on October 29 in Logan from 1-4 and then the following three Saturdays from Layton to Provo. Her coach thinks she needs to be seen by national coaches and get keeper training at a higher level. Hopefull she'll do well at try-outs and this is something that can take her to the next level as a keeper. It's a huge time and money commitment, and as Garrett and I discussed this he kept saying "I never want to hold her back"...she's ready for this!
