About going from a starting kicker in D-IA and an all-conference performer to having to work his way up the depth chart on his soccer team, Kelly said:
"And down the weight column. I've got to lose some weight. One thing in Hawaii that I never did really have was competition. I never did. My freshman year, there was a junior there, Nolan Miranda, who was kind of off and on the team. A guy named Jeremy Shibata, who was a great kid, a really nice guy, but he wasn't there with power and accuracy. And I literally was handed the job. I had to perform to get the job, but basically I was given the job.
Sophomore season came around, and I had a little competition with a guy named Briton Forester. But for the most part his attitudes off the field kept him off the field. But for the most part I always had the strongest leg. I always had the most accurate leg. The problem I had was height, and he did have height over me. He ended up taking PATs for the last four games of the season, which I ended up earning back for the bowl game.
And then my junior year we had that terrific year, and basically solidified my starting role. And then they brought a kicker in from Temecula, and he was young, and his off the field antics probably kept him from replacing me when I was going through some rough stages. So realistically I never had any competition the whole four years I was there. Which made me kind of slowly start to deteriorate in my talent, and my work ethic started going down because I knew I wasn't going to get jumped. No one was going to jump me. I was going to be the starting kicker no matter what. And I fell into that kind of lull of just doing whatever I wanted and just thinking my natural, God-given talent would just kind of see me through." (RPE)
Which it didn't, and that's something that people should learn from, definitely.
And here, with Jeff (Redinger), he's a tremendous goalkeeper ... I came here thinking, 'I'm going to come here and start third and have to work my way up to one. And if I want one I need to earn it.
And now that I'm at one I need to keep it, because there's a good goalkeeper behind me looking to try to jump me. And to be in front, I can't get jumped. So I'm actually looking forward to this season. I actually enjoy having a goalkeeper, or another player at my position, who can challenge me and can make me better, can push me to be better.
I waited. I waited for my starting spot. I waited for my opportunity ... And now it's just my job not to screw it up. And that's all you can do as an athlete, just play your best and not screw it up." (RPE)
Asked if his time away from soccer has helped him or was a hurdle he had to overcome getting back into the routine, Kelly said:
"There's definitely two different answers to that, and the first one, there is a hurdle, and it's the physical hurdle. I was 6-4, 225. I'm a big kid, and I'm ... I'm agile, but I'm not the smallest guy. And I need to lose weight. And I weighed myself this morning and I'm down to 218. I'm losing the weight. I'm getting down to a better playing size. So that was definitely one of the hurdles. And also the technique of diving and distribution and all that stuff comes with being four years off. I was going to be rusty, and it's something I had to deal with. I struggled with that, and I'm still working on it to this day. But I'm enjoying battling.
On the opposite side of that, I was able to step away from the game and grow as an adult, and see a game from a different light, and see a game that ... you didn't always have to be in the game to learn about the game. I see other things ... I see things that could develop before they develop. My decision-making is wiser because I'm older and I feel like that alone, just being older and keeping my emotions in check, keeps me from making those little mistakes that come back to bite you.
So I would rather have had it this way than any other way. Yeah, I would have loved being in great shape. That goes without saying. But I would rather have had my age than my fitness. I would have switched it. I can only look up and thank God for that. I was offered a scholarship to go play at Cal State Dominguez Hills before I went to Hawaii. I was offered Division III schools ... not scholarships, but to go play there. I had opportunities to go to other places. I didn't. I went to Hawaii, and I gained the weight and I learned the life experiences, and ultimately I came back here and Cal Baptist was thrown in my lap." (RPE)
Feeling that he was meant to kick for Hawaii to make him a better goalie, Kelly said:
"I look back now and think there's a reason why everything happened. And I really do think the reason I went to Hawaii is to better prepare me to be a better goalkeeper in the future. And I know football players and football fans are going to hate to hear me say that. I still have people in Hawaii that still think I should go play football, still think I'd be a great NFL kicker. You know, hey, Tony Meola did it. Maybe I'll do it one day. He went and played for the (Jets) after his goalkeeping days were over. So who knows? Maybe I'll get a chance to do that one day. But for the most part, football definitely led me in a direction that made me a better goalkeeper, I think." (RPE)
http://blogs.pe.com/collegesports/2009/09/kelly-its-nice-to-be-pushed-to.html
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