Interview #12- Bakie Goodman

 Bakie Goodman is an American professional soccer player for Detroit City FC of the NPSL Members Cup (4th tier) and NISA (3rd tier) Bakie played for Georgetown in NCAA D1. He's a product of the IMG Academy, and has played in the USL (2nd tier) Bakie is a versatile player, and is a great player with loads of talent. Expect big things from him this season.      

The Bakie Goodman Interview

1. What was your time at IMG like? What did it teach you?
   

IMG was a great experience during my junior year of high school. It was my first time playing Academy soccer and it was my step towards playing much more competitive soccer. I'd say the main thing my time there taught me was a lot of dedication and commitment to my game. Almost every player on my team lived at the school already except for me, which meant I had to leave my high school early to travel an hour each day to spend basically the hours of 2-8 pm every day between the conditioning workouts, actual practices, strength and lifting sessions, and the travel home. And then I had to finish all my schoolwork as soon as I got back home each night. It wasn't easy maintaining that schedule all year but it helped teach me how to balance soccer and school and prepared me for the future.

2. Playing at a great school like Georgetown, what did you learn from playing at that level?
I learned so much from Georgetown and it's still the best soccer experience I've ever had to this day. We played some amazing soccer and I was fortunate to be a part of some fantastic teams that were filled with current pros and awesome teammates. It was definitely a big step up in terms of the level of soccer from high school there but I had terrific coaches that did a great job of teaching us how we needed to play and how we were going to get better at doing it. I really learned the most from Georgetown out of any soccer experience I've had and the program taught me so much about how to play the game the right way.

3. You’re currently with Detroit City, what’s the atmosphere like in those home games?
The Detroit City home games are unreal and you really can't do it justice just by talking about it or seeing it on video. You only truly understand how crazy the games get once you experience it in person for the first time. I knew the fans were wild and rowdy and passionate from seeing them in videos but I remember it being so much more than I could have imagined when I played my first home game at Keyworth Stadium. It was unbelievable. There were flares and smoke bombs and singing all game long without a single second of silence. The smoke covers up half of the field most of the time and you can't even see while the game is going on. It's a surreal experience.

4. What did playing with Pittsburgh teach you?
My time with Pittsburgh taught me how to be a pro. It taught me that soccer was no longer just a hobby or something I would do for fun, but it was my job and profession. I needed to treat it that way every single day because that's how every other player saw it. That meant complete focus and effort at every practice and every soccer situation no matter what. That meant competing in every possible situation because other players were fighting for their livelihoods as well. It becomes a much different environment when you realize people are playing for their jobs/money/families every single day and you need to keep up and compete with them just as much. We had a great group of guys fortunately that played some good soccer and lessened those burdens a bit but it was always about competing each and every day.

5. Biggest tip for aspiring pros?
My advice is to just always keep playing and that things are never as bad as they seem. There have been some points in my career where I've really struggled and wondered if I could make it at this level or thought I might be good enough after a couple of bad practices. But all you can do is keep playing and eventually you'll come out of it in a much better place as long as you learn from your mistakes and just keep playing the game. You'll never become a pro if you just quit or give up at the first complication or struggle. Those moments sometimes make you a lot better and teach you some things about yourself as long as you keep playing and moving forward.

6. Craziest story from your career?
I can't say that I have too many crazy stories from my career but I'd say my proudest moment was probably the day I was drafted by the Seattle Sounders after I had finished college. It was a great feeling knowing all my work and sacrifices throughout my life had been recognized and that moment truly made it all worth it.

7. What separates a pro from an amateur?
The main attributes that really help make a pro are just their dedication and determination. Dedicating your life to your sport is an absolute must if you want to be a professional athlete and you have to build your life around it. It's also important to always be ready to take advantage of any opportunities that come your way as that's often the difference between a coach deciding they want you or someone else. There are so many talented players out there that haven't reached the professional level unfortunately and in some cases, it's just due to not being ready at the right moment.

8. What are your goals for the future?
My goals for the future are to just keep playing the sport I love and improving each and every day. I just want to play at as high of a level as I can and I'm happy to strive for that goal for as long as I can.

9. If you could go back to one moment from the past, where would you go?
I’m a huge University of Tennessee football fan and that's my other passion along with soccer so I'd have to say the year they won the National Championship in 1998. I was born in 1995 so I was too young to remember it and I wish I could have been older and experienced the day they won it all.

10. Any last words for the readers?
Thank you for reading! I hope my words help some of you aspiring players out there to keep reaching your goals and trying to achieve anything you want with soccer or any other sport. Just make sure you always enjoy it most of all!

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​Interview by Chris Dailey

Big thanks to Bakie for the amazing interview! Good luck this season and in your future endeavors! A great player on the pitch, and even better person off of it! Good luck, and thanks again!

photos via  https://www.detcityfc.com/news_article/show/891630 and https://twitter.com/bakiegoodman10