A certain level of pressure and expectation come with the territory when you’re the starting goalkeeper for the Center Grove boys soccer team.
After everything Garrett Wade has gone through to get into this position, though, he’s not about to buckle under that weight.
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.
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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.
Nearly losing soccer, he says, made him appreciate the game — and everything else — a lot more.
“It made life even more valuable,” Wade said. “It was an eye-opener, and it just makes me love the game even more.”
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.
“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.”
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.
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.
“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.”
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.
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.
During the last two seasons, even as he sat behind All-State goalkeeper Jacob Cooley, Wade was quietly preparing himself to be the guy.
“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?’”
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.
And he’s got a greater appreciation than most for the fact that he’s able to do it at all.
