Senior goalkeeper Chad Smith shared his thoughts on a few different things, including what it’s like to save a penalty and what his role in the Student Athlete Advisory Committee is:

Q: What’s your favorite part about being a goalkeeper?

A: “Making saves. I mean it’s a unique position. It’s a sport within a sport, but we just go off on our own, and we develop a relationship [with each other]. We go into games and into training and make saves, and no one else can do what we do, but we can do what the field players can do, or we think so at least.”

Q: What was going through your head immediately before and after saving a penalty kick last season against Lindenwood?

A: “Right before the penalty was called, I was like ‘shoot, we just got scored on’ with about 20-25 minutes left I think, and then when Felipe [Kerr-Lourenco] stopped the ball going in with a handball, it was a moment of relief, and then my mind just went blank. I trust myself on penalties; I love them. There’s no pressure on me; they’re supposed to score, so I feel a sense of confidence every time I go into penalties. I felt that I was going to save it, I knew I was going to save it, and then from there we just kind of had to do what we can to get a result, and we did. It ended up being a point, which we needed to qualify for the postseason, so just a lot of emotion after the fact as well.”

Q: What is S.A.A.C and what is it like being the president of Eastern’s S.A.A.C?

A: “S.A.A.C. is the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, which has goals of giving voices to student athletes, which is awesome. I had the opportunity to go to the NCAA Division I S.A.A.C over the summer, and you really get to see our voices as athletes being heard with different legislation, like the transfer portal and different things going on like that. I saw that and wanted to bring that here, to the OVC, to EIU and really give student athletes a voice as far as within the athletic department and making their student athlete experience as best as they can. I want to be a guiding personality for that and help them and us achieve our goals in that sense”

Q: Soup or salad?

A: “Soup all day. When we go to Olive Garden, for me, the Zuppa Toscana soup.”

Q: Which one of your teammates would you let use the aux and why?

A: Casey Welege, every day he has something different. He can read the room, get the vibes going, and he always knows what to play.”

Q: Do you ever go golfing with Casey Welege?

A: “I try. I can swing a club, but the ball has its own mind. Casey on the other hand is pretty good at golf. I respect him for it.”

Q: What professional soccer team do you support?

A: “I’m a huge fan of Arsenal and Bayern Munich. My family is German, so obviously I grew up finding my favorite team and obviously the best team in Germany, and then Arsenal because I had to pick a Premier League team. They had a really good German midfielder named Mesut Özil when I started becoming a fan and with the German heritage I was like ‘Alright, that’s it for me, Arsenal it is.’”

Q: What’s your favorite professional soccer moment of all time?

A: “Probably watching Germany win the world cup in 2014. I was just starting to get into watching soccer, and I remember when Mario Götze scored the goal, took it off his chest, put it past Argentina and I was 11 years old, and I just started running around the room like it was the greatest thing that ever happened. I get chills even thinking about it, even though I’m not a goal scorer, I’m not a field player, but seeing that goal on that big of a stage, greatest memory of all time.

Q: What is your favorite food?

A: “My mom makes really good Manicotti. It’s an Italian dish. It’s like a tube of pasta with spinach, sausage, parmesan cheese and sauce and its like the greatest thing that she makes. Whenever I go home or whenever I have a birthday, I’ll always ask her to make it.”

Q: What’s your favorite movie?

A: “I love ‘Unbroken’ with Louis Zamperini, the Olympic runner and he was a prisoner of war during World War II. Just the message, the cinematography, everything comes together for me with that movie.”

Q: What’s your favorite video game?

A: “I’m actually not a big fan of EAFC [formerly called FIFA], but for some reason, I really love Rainbow Six Siege. I don’t know why. I’m not very good at all at any video games but I play it with my friends at home. It’s an escape from any stress, any soccer that’s going on.”

Q: If you had to pick a player from any point in time, dead or alive, to score a penalty kick to save the world, who are you choosing to take the penalty kick?

A: “I’m gonna put my faith in a teammate, in Sam Eccles. I train with him everyday, go against him in PKs sometimes. I’m gonna trust him, even if there are professional players who might have a better penalty but, I don’t care. I’m trusting my teammate here.”

Q: If you had to pick any goalkeeper to save the world by saving a penalty kick, who would you choose?

A: “As much as I have mixed feelings about him a goalkeeper, I’m going to pick Emi Martinez. I mean he has these antics that mess with player’s mentality and they just get confused and don’t know where to put it. He plays mind games from the very beginning. So I’m gonna take him. He’s a big guy in goal and I trust him to save the world I guess.”

Q: What’s your favorite song/artist?

A: “I like Sam Fender. He’s a British artist, R&B, Indy type of music. My favorite song from him would probably be ‘Hypersonic Missiles.’ It also really gets me going on gameday. I have a lot of different artists that I like, but right now I’d probably put him at the top.”

Q: Do you believe in any conspiracy theories?

A: “Not really, I’m not a conspiracy theory guy. I think the moon landing was real, I know that’s a big one that people go against. I don’t actually, I’m disappointed with myself.”

Q: Do you have any pregame rituals or a pregame meal?

A: “Some of the things I do pregame are, about three or four hours [before], I eat and then do a 30-45 minute yoga session just to relax my muscles, relax my mind, and just mentally prepare for the game. Then, when I get into the locker room, I just kind of do what I have to do. I tape my fingers in the exact same order every single time. I don’t know where it came from but it just kind of  happened. I have one song that I listen to that kinda gets me going and gets me in the mindset of ‘ok were about to play,’ and that song is ‘I Need a Hero’ by Bonnie Tyler.”

Q: What would you tell Chad Smith five years ago?

A: “I’d say just keep at it. You have a really great relationship with your family and really good friends. Keep getting after those dreams that you have because you will, if you dream and believe in them enough, you’ll get there. I’m living them now and I’m hopefully going to continue living them in five years, and I can tell myself that five years from now.”

Gabe Newman can be reached at 581-2812 or at ghnewman@eiu.edu.