In every sport, there is that one position. A position that often determines the success or failure of a team. A position that very few people can play, and even less can play well.No other player can experience as much joy in a win or feel as much despair in a loss. The weight of the pressure placed upon this one single person is enough to destroy the nerves of even the most grounded athlete (just ask Robert Green).
For Wisconsin goalkeepers Max Jentsch and Ciro Martinez, this is what they live for. But for these two, it wasn't always that way.
Both Jentsch and Martinez, like many youth soccer players, would play whatever position their coach told them to, regardless of whether it was what they wanted. In fact, it was not until their late childhoods that either picked up a pair of gloves.
"When I tried out for my first select team, they needed someone to play goal," Jentsch said. "I played for a half and they wanted me to play goal for them."
Thus was the start of Max Jentsch's goalkeeping career, as new role he embraced, seeing as it was an opportunity for some playing time.
"I was just happy I made the team," Jentsch said.
Jentsch, a native of Heartland, spent his entire life living and playing soccer in the Dairy State. For him, there was no other choice but the UW-Madison.
"If soccer wouldn't have worked out, playing in college, I would have come [to Madison] no doubt," Jentsch said.
Max had one word to explain his reasoning for choosing UW-Madison: everything.
Everything was his reason, and many others have said the same. Ciro Martinez, who transferred from Florida Atlantic University prior to this season, had the same thought process.
"I'm a business major here," Martinez said. "[Madison has] a great business school. You really can't top the athletics: It's a combination of both."
Taking a slightly different path to becoming a keeper, Martinez first stepped into the net in his early teen years.
"I was a forward until I was around 13," Martinez said. "When I came to the United States, it was my first position [my coach] put me in and that was the position I stayed in."
Both Jentsch's and Martinez's routes to becoming goalkeepers are not uncommon in the world of youth soccer, but to have the ability and talent to take that to the next level is what makes these two special in the soccer world.
Goalkeepers feel the most pressure on the field. They are put into situations that most athletes would not be able to perform well in.
"Being a goalkeeper, you could have a half an hour without any action," Martinez said. "It's hard to keep mentally focused."
One way that both keepers stay focused in game situations is by being vocal. Communication between themselves and others on the field is important not only to organize those in front of them, but to keep their minds focused on the game.
"If you're communicating to the guys in front of you and around you, you're keeping yourself more in the game as well," head coach John Trask said. "That's a hard thing to do as a goalkeeper."
Having one keeper at the level of talent of these two is something that every collegiate team wishes, but for Wisconsin to have two, makes the coaching staff very happy.
"I think it's huge," Trask said about having two talented keepers. "You strive to have depth at every position on the field but it's 10 field players and one goalkeeper and I think that's all you have to say."
Having two keepers of this caliber makes for some fierce competition for the starting job. However, this competition has only fueled both Jentsch and Martinez to become the best that they can possibly be.
"If you have somebody behind you that's pushing you to be better, you're ultimately going to do better," Martinez said. "That competition is good for you."
With both keepers getting starts this year, both have had their chance to prove themselves. By giving everything they've got on the field in practice and when game time comes, both Jentsch and Martinez feel that the coaching staff will go with whomever they feel will give the team the best shot at winning.
Despite losing the starting job to Jentsch after his return from an injury, Martinez harbors no ill feelings towards his teammate, understanding that what is done is done with the team in mind.
"[Jentsch is] starting now," Martinez said. "I started the beginning of the season. The team's doing better with him."
Martinez not starting does not mean Trask and the rest of the coaching staff have lost faith in him.
"I don't think we've even seen the best of Ciro," Trask said. "I think that if he got back in the game for whatever reason, that we would let him be Ciro Martinez."
Regardless of who starts in the net for the Badgers, it is safe to assume that the effort given will be at the highest level. And with all the pieces around these two keepers falling into place and performing at their very best, this Wisconsin team has remained undefeated in Big Ten play this season.
On top of an already great situation both Jentsch and Martinez are sophomores. The talent in net will not be going away anytime soon.
"We have some stability in goal," Martinez said about the future of Wisconsin goalkeeping.
