U.S. coach’s tips aid Old Town goalie

Danielle Folsom, goalkeeper for the Old Town Indian soccer team, is not shy. If she wants something, she just comes right out and asks for it.

And, if she doesn’t get just exactly what she wants, she’ll take what’s offered and be happy with it.

That attitude has served her well of late, especially if you look at her soccer game.

In a recent game against Orono, she recorded her first shutout. The Indians were 4-2-1 through Sept. 25, after a bit of a sluggish start, but picking up momentum just like their goalie.

What Danielle Folsom really wanted, back at the beginning of the month, was for United States men’s national soccer coach Bora Milutinovic and U.S. team player Marcelo Balboa, to come to one of her games and give Folsom and her teammates some pointers.

She had gone to the national team workout at the University of Maine campus in Orono, just to watch the men practice. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Folsom said.

As the coaches were leaving the field, Folsom was encouraged by a couple of teammates to speak to them, so she invited them to a game. While Milutinovic thought making arrangments to watch her game might be a little complicated, he did make other arrangements that proved a plus for the Old Town keeper.

She told him how much she liked soccer and he responded to that enthusiasm by inviting her to an evening practice.

“I told him I’d be there,” Folsom said. “I worked out with them, and then they gave me 15-20 minutes, one-on-one, at the end of practice.”

Asked if working with individuals who may well be part of the host U.S. World Cup team had helped her, Folsom said, “It has made a big difference, although I didn’t quite see it at first.”

Folsom learned a new technique – a forward dive for the ball – and she learned coaches at that level are very intense.

“They were really nit-picking at how I dove, and made me keep doing it until I got it right,” she said. “If I didn’t do it right, the other goalkeeper would do it right to show me how it should be done. Learning that dive changed my technique. It changed my game. I do think differently now.”

Folsom hopes her improvement will continue, and that the team’s will continue as well. She admitted being worried about what she was doing right, or doing wrong, when the season started.

“We had a really bad first two games,” she said, “but I came to realize it wasn’t just me; it was our whole team. Now we’ve started playing as a team and I’m getting used to what I’m doing.”

Asked if she would boldly walk up to a national coach and ask for advice again, or if she’d recommend that procedure to others, Folsom was adamant.

“I don’t think anyone should give up a chance like that,” she said. “I don’t think you should be rude or anything, and if they say no, that’s okay. All you can do is ask. I think it’s worthwhile to try.”