<p>A certain level of pressure and expectation come with the territory when you’re the starting goalkeeper for the Center Grove boys soccer team.</p><p>After everything Garrett Wade has gone through to get into this position, though, he’s not about to buckle under that weight.</p><p>Wade, a senior, has not only had to wait his turn for the last three years behind a state champion and an All-State keeper, but he also had to overcome a heart ailment that threatened to end his soccer career before he ever played a varsity minute.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>In March of 2016, Wade found out that he had a 3-centimeter hole in the septum of his heart. He underwent a catheterization to close up the hole and was cleared to return in time for his sophomore season, when he was the junior varsity netminder.</p><p>Nearly losing soccer, he says, made him appreciate the game — and everything else — a lot more.</p><p>“It made life even more valuable,” Wade said. “It was an eye-opener, and it just makes me love the game even more.”</p><p>It has also taught Wade not to get as worked up over small problems. When you’ve been faced with never playing again, giving up a goal here and there doesn’t seem like such a crushing blow.</p><p>“The ball goes in, he doesn’t freak out on people,” Center Grove coach Jameson McLaughlin said. “He just gets back up, plays again, and I think that attitude helps him a lot. He’s got the perfect demeanor for a goalkeeper.”</p><p>The ball doesn’t go in all that often — Wade allowed just 16 goals in 16 regular-season matches, posting seven shutouts along the way.</p><p>He’s a big reason why the third-ranked Trojans are feeling good about their chances of winning their second state championship. The first came in 2015, when Garrett’s older brother Logan Wade was the starting goalie.</p><p>“I looked up to my brother a lot,” Garrett Wade said. “They won state, so it’s kind of in the family — I need to do it too.”</p><p>He’ll have his chance beginning next week, when Center Grove opens sectional play at home against a Southport team that it just beat, 4-1, last Thursday.</p><p>The younger Wade will head into the tournament without the luxury of any postseason experience, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be prepared.</p><p>During the last two seasons, even as he sat behind All-State goalkeeper Jacob Cooley, Wade was quietly preparing himself to be the guy.</p><p>“Sitting behind Cooley was probably rough, but he never complained once,” McLaughlin said. “He’d always ask me, ‘What do I need to do to make sure I’m ready when the time comes?’”</p><p>Based on what he’s been able to accomplish so far during the regular season, it’s clear that Wade did whatever he needed to do.</p><p>And he’s got a greater appreciation than most for the fact that he’s able to do it at all.</p>
