{"id":41715,"date":"2022-12-15T06:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-15T11:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelandmark.com\/?p=41715"},"modified":"2022-12-15T06:01:00","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T11:01:00","slug":"rettig-knows-demands-of-being-goalkeeper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/2022\/12\/15\/rettig-knows-demands-of-being-goalkeeper\/","title":{"rendered":"Rettig knows demands of being goalkeeper"},"content":{"rendered":"
By John Orrell <\/b>
\n Landmark Correspondent<\/i><\/div>\n

HOLDEN \u2014 Being a goalkeeper, and bearing all the weight and responsibility that come with it, just isn\u2019t for the faint of heart, experts say. There is stress aplenty, both physical and mental, that go into the job. It takes a special skillset to adjust to the rigors of the job. Those lacking need not apply.<\/p>\n

One keeper who knows a thing or two about the position is Wachusett Regional High\u2019s Renee Rettig, who has tended goal since those early days when her interest in the sport began. Her journey began at the tender age of 4, when she participated in Holden Youth Soccer, before progressing into travel and club teams through middle school and into high school. She has established herself as the varsity squad\u2019s senior team co-captain and anchors the goalie position as the team\u2019s starter.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy freshman year I started playing club with a higher age group, so I played with a lot of girls who were one and two years older than me; a lot of them were looking to play college soccer,\u201d said Rettig, who hails from Holden. \u201cThey would talk to me about the recruiting process, and that became my goal, too. I wanted to play college soccer, so I kept pushing myself so I could be a lot like them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team gets along really well and whenever we have practice, we try to plan things to be together, like pasta parties or team breakfasts. We look forward to those. We welcomed a new freshman to the team about halfway through the season, and she adapted perfectly. I think our getting along so well reflects out on the field. Everyone\u2019s always cheering for each other when we\u2019re out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The nuances of the game can wear on keepers at any level. Knowing when to shake off being scored on and other survival tactics come in handy when the chips may be down, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting scored upon is very challenging to come back from, but you have to be there for your teammates. You\u2019re the last one that the ball gets through, so you tell yourself that you\u2019ll save the next one or do things differently.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell myself that this ball is not going past me. I\u2019d say I\u2019m pretty strong on the one-versus-one, and I think that\u2019s one of my better qualities. I go out on attack and often win the ball there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get a little nervous going into games because we want to come out with the win. I think it\u2019s better to go out with confidence rather than with a lot of nerves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The closeness and the friendships motivate her the most, she says. Her ability to be an effective leader among her teammates makes the team work just that much harder.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like being able to lead the team,\u201d said Rettig. \u201cI feel like I can keep things organized, and I also think I have a positive attitude that affects others. Even if we have a bad game, I like to be there for everybody. As long as I put my best effort out there, I expect my players to put out their best effort as well.<\/p>\n

The pitch is not the only place Rettig can be found during the school year. She is a member of the National Honor Society, Spanish Honor Society, Cancer Awareness Club and Future Students of Medicine. She will be taking her skills and ambition to Maine\u2019s University of New England where she will major in physical therapy. In the meantime, she\u2019ll enjoy her remaining Wachusett days and the pride in donning the Mountaineer uniform.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really do love representing my school,\u201d she said. \u201cI coach through Holden Youth Soccer over the summer, and I love having them look up to me. It makes me fill the shoes that I wanted to fill.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HOLDEN \u2014 Being a goalkeeper, and bearing all the weight and responsibility that come with it, just isn\u2019t for the faint of heart, experts say. There is stress aplenty, both physical and mental, that go into the job. It takes a special skillset to adjust to the rigors of the job. Those lacking need not apply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41718,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devcherryroad.com\/news2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}