SOCCER: Between the pipes

Arbor View goalkeeper learns from experience

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By KEVIN STOTT

VIEW STAFF WRITER

The only way to get experience as a goalkeeper in soccer is to face as many shots as possible.

To that end, Arbor View High School senior Chris Grasso decided to transfer to the first-year school from Shadow Ridge after his sophomore season and begin to help Aggies coach Rick Kazee form the new program.

Although Arbor View went just 2-12-1 in its inaugural season, Grasso grew as a player while getting plenty of opportunities between the pipes and was named to the Northwest Division's first team -- the only Arbor View player honored. Grasso also was named the Aggies' Defensive Most Valuable Player and the team's overall Most Valuable Player.

With a season of play under its belt, the Aggies team should be improved but still has just two seniors and will likely work toward the future, according to the 17-year-old Grasso.

"Our players have definitely gotten better," he said. "We have this guy named Josh Lopez up front. He's always been a good player but I think he got better this year.

"We're going to do a lot better this season. I'm not saying we're going anywhere but I'm saying we're going to do a lot better."

Grasso, who played for Bishop Gorman's junior varsity team his freshman year, said he liked the idea of going to a school where he would be tested as well as playing for the renowned Kazee who coached at Centennial and Cheyenne for six seasons each.

Grasso, who carries a 3.8 grade-point average, said Kazee is very serious about developing a solid soccer program at Arbor View.

"I think we run harder than most teams out there during training," Grasso said. "My friends that go to different high schools, they train 5 to 8 (p.m.) every day and we train 8 to 1 (p.m.) every day -- that's like five hours of soccer. And sometimes it's like 2 1/2, three hours of straight running. He's a good guy but when he's on the field that's the way he has to be. He yells at us and makes us do duck walks and bear crawls across the field."

Grasso said there's no one like Kazee -- who is also Arbor View's athletic director -- in town.

"Rick Kazee, in my opinion, is the best high school coach in the valley," he said.

Grasso sharpened his skills over the summer when he was named to be the goalkeeper for the Nevada Olympic Development team which represented the state at the Western Regional Olympic Development Camp held July 22-30 at Linfield College in McMinnville, Ore. Some 225 players from 13 Western states participated.

Grasso said the combine helped him realize how much he has improved in the last year.

"My best thing about it was when I went last year -- it was my first year and it was all new for me and stressful and on top of everything they give you an evaluation and last year I got a 'D' -- the guy said, 'You can really improve,' " Grasso said. "And this year I came back and had a better attitude and the same guy was training me and when I got my evaluation I got like a high 'B' and he said, 'There was a lot of improvement.' He said I have a lot of potential to play college soccer and beyond, and I was like, 'Wow.' "

Earlier in the month, Grasso, who also works as a coach in the Lil' Kickers program at Las Vegas Indoor Soccer, attended the UC Irvine College ID camp after training as part of the Nevada Senior ODP team with UNLV coach Mario Sanchez on July 8-16.

Grasso said something Anteaters head coach George Koontz said really stuck with him.

"The head coach from UC Irvine spoke and said, 'We all have to look at ourselves as professionals although we're not really getting paid,' " Grasso said. "And I had never really thought of it that way."

Grasso, who has played for teams like Mission SC (San Francisco), the Anaheim Soccer Club Express and the Tempe (Ariz.) Pros, said he also improved his game playing for a local soccer club.

"I played on the Rebels Select but then the coach left and a lot of the people left so basically the team broke up and now I'm looking to find a new team," Grasso said.

At 6-feet-4-inches, Grasso, who said he "works out every other day at his house," said being tall really helps in goal.

"The height definitely helps," he said. "It helps getting to higher balls and being stronger in the air but I think that shorter goalies ... try to be more athletic, they try to make these amazing saves that they don't have to when I can take two steps over and just grab the ball out of the air. The way I look at it this year is if I have the ball, we're safe."

Grasso said besides all the expertise he's received from all the coaches in his young career, it's his dad Gabe who is the reason he is a goalie and immersed in the world's most popular sport.

"I don't think any coach has helped me as much as my dad," he said. "If a coach says something to me I'd always turn to my dad and say, 'Hey, is this right?' He might not be a professional coach but he's the reason why I'm playing soccer at this level and why I aspire to go higher."

Grasso thinks his senior season at Arbor View will be his best.

"I think this year I can do a lot better," he said. "I can be as athletic as I want to be in goal, and I have a lot more experience. Now maybe I can make some of the saves that maybe I didn't make last year."