Size has a lot to do with the determining positions for players in youth sports.
In basketball, the taller boys and girls usually play center or forward to maximize their ability to get rebounds and to play closer to the basket so they can use their height to shoot over players.
The same thinking exists in soccer, where taller players typically are asked to play goalkeeper so their team has someone in place who can cover the upper reaches of the goal.
As those players get older, some gravitate to other positions based on skill or a desire to affect the game in another way.
Eli Hemphill isn’t one of those players.
After his height earned him a spot at goalkeeper during his park league soccer days, Hemphill has learned how to make the position his with a work ethic that has fueled the Caledonia High School boys soccer team. Hemphill, a 5-foot-10 junior, has helped anchor a defense that has produced eight shutouts en route to a 12-2-1 record.
Last week, Caledonia defeated Itawamba Agricultural High 2-1 and beat Amory 4-0 to wrap up a 6-0 run through Class 4A, Region 2, District 1. The victories helped the Confederates secure the top seed and a first-round home match for the Class 4A North State playoffs on Jan. 27.
For his accomplishments, Hemphill is The Dispatch’s Prep Player of the Week.
“He has been there, not just last year but this year, too,” Caledonia coach Mark Box said. “He has been real solid, works hard, tries hard. He is pretty tough on himself if he misses a ball. He really analyzes it and tries to make improvements.”
Box said Hemphill has been a constant in a season in which the Confederates have dealt with an assortment of nagging injuries. Those injuries have forced Box to juggle his defensive positions and mix and match players like Chandler Lester, Sam Young, Andy Blakney, Will Rollins, Daniel Longmire, and Robert Mims. Through it all, Hemphill has been behind all of them, directing traffic and adjusting to the differences in styles of his teammates.
“We have been playing together for multiple years, at least three or four years, so we have figured out each other’s style of play,” Hemphill said. “(The injuries)really didn’t make that big of a difference.”
Hemphill has been playing soccer for about eight years. He joined the Caledonia High program in the seventh grade. Last season, he moved into the role as
starter and continued his maturation process. He credits his hand-eye coordination for allowing him to succeed in a position that requires a variety of skills to help keep a defense organized.
Hemphill’s height might be on reason why he said he never has played another position. He credits his teammates for making his job easier. He said the Confederates have good size and strength on defense, which takes the pressure off him to make save after save.
When Hemphill is called on to make a stop, he said his ability to catch helps him do his job.
Still, Hemphill acknowledges he can’t stop everything. He admits that is the frustrating part of playing the position because he wants to stop everything because he feels that is his job. He said Box has worked with him the past two years to help lighten the mood when he gets too hard on himself.
“I just try to forget about it and go on with the next play,” Hemphill said. “I think that is my biggest area of improvement from last year.”
tied 1-1 at end of regulation (they beat Confederates in shootout) Box said the coaches agreed to go right to the shootout following the end of regulation.
Box said he likes to tell Hemphill jokes when he feels he gets too hard on himself. He said he has played well this season in helping Caledonia go undefeated in the district for the first time in several seasons.
“He does use (the fact he can’t stop every shot) as motivation,” Box said. “There have been several times he has asked me for the film to watch so he could see his saves and look at his positioning. A lot of people don’t realize how much goes into keeping the goal. A lot of people think, ‘I can jump and dive and stop that.’ That is about 10 percent of the job of a goalkeeper. You have people coming in at you, you have corner kicks, you have free kicks, and you have to line up guys and direct guys here and direct guys there. You have to make split-second choices to come out or to stay in. You have one-on-ones. There is a lot more to it than being able to jump far and high or to catching the ball or to kicking it.”
Box said Hemphill has showcased all of those skills and stayed focused despite all of the movement in front of him. He said Monday he hadn’t considered how much Hemphill has had to adjust given all of the position changes on defense, but he said Hemphill hasn’t let all of those things affect him and has remained a source of strength for the program.
“He has really stayed consistent through all of that and has been able to know how all of the guys play,” Box said.
Caledonia will play today at Starkville and will play host to West Point on Thursday.
Follow Dispatch sports editor Adam Minichino @ctsportseditor
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
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