Kyle Gillingham '23 Recruiting Profile

Hello,

My name is Kyle Gillingham. I am a Junior at Oshkosh North High School (WI) and will be graduating in 2023. I have been playing soccer for as long as I can remember, and my goal is to continue playing at the college level while earning a degree. Throughout my time playing soccer I started playing in our youth recreation league, moved on to the East Central Classic League and have now progressed to the Wisconsin State League (First Division and Premier Division). Currently I play on the 04/05 White Elite team for Oshkosh United Soccer Club. Besides playing club soccer, I also play for my high school team and have been the starting Varsity goalkeeper for the past two seasons. During these two high school seasons my team voted me as the Most Valuable Player twice, as well as having received Honorable Mention and Second Team All-Conference honors, respectively, from the coaches of the Fox Valley Association (FVA). This fall season we were one game away from making it to the State finals. I have also been involved in ODP for the past four years, making it to the state pool team.

I started playing as a goalkeeper at an early age and after playing this position, I realized that I really enjoyed it. I have primarily played as a goalkeeper since U12 and once I started playing, I took it upon myself to learn the skills of this challenging position. My Exact Camp evaluation states that I have strong hands, good technique when diving, did well seeing the first level of pressure, making the appropriate decision on the ball, was good on my feet and not getting knocked off the ball as well as doing a great job challenging for balls in the air.

There are many things enjoy about being a goalkeeper: I like being able to see the whole field so I can direct my teammates to the ball, being the last line of defense, the one-on-one challenges, and my ability to stay calm in the moments when the game is on the line. Overall, I love everything about being on the field, but the thing I love the most are the relationships and bonds formed with teammates. This has been important to me and is something I look forward to when playing at the college level. Outside of soccer, I enjoy spending time with family, hanging out with friends, playing basketball and exercising/lifting weights.