Hi Goalkeepers!!

My name is Kendall McIntosh and I play for the Portland Timbers! Aviata sports and I thought it would be fun to share a little bit of my journey from youth soccer to now and some of the fun stuff I did on the way.

I started out playing soccer pretty early, but didn’t really start playing competitively until around age 9. Initially I was HORRIBLE, which is generally frowned upon in competitive sports, but because I was pretty comfortable using my hands from baseball and basketball, I was thrown in net. Around age 11 I started to understand the position and getting my technique down soundly. I had a coach at the time, Messias Souza, who would have me and a group of kids come out

From 8-12 and 4 until dark every day in the summer which really accelerated my personal growth in the sport. Technique and repetition was paramount from that time until about 16 when I went off to Residency.

Residency, in my opinion was one of the most important pieces of my development in terms of the mental and physical side of the game. To play with the best 40 players in the country every day for almost 2 years was an unbelievable experience. During this two-year period I would have a lot of ups and downs on and off the field. I would fluctuate from the number 1 to the number 3 Keeper and have both unbelievable and humbling matches along the way. The two years of residency culminated with me getting the knockout round matches in our CONCACAF qualifying tournament and four u17 World Cup appearances.

After the u17 World Cup I attended Santa Clara University to grow as a goalkeeper under the goalkeeper coach Eric Yamamoto. My first year in college didn’t go quite as well as I had dreamt it would. I would sit that year behind Larry Jackson (great guy and goalkeeper) who went on to play professionally after his senior year.

I would then leave school on an Olympic waiver for the remainder of my freshman year to play full time with the u20 MNT as the #2. Which ended in a 2nd place finish in the CONCACAF qualifying tournament, and a group stage exit in the u20 World Cup in Istanbul.

(Bonus points if you can tell which p art of the picture are photo shopped)!

After My senior year in college, which ended with a wcc championship and a second round tournament exit I was hopeful that I’d get selected for the MLS Combine, but it wasn’t to be. I would however be fortunate enough to join New York Red Bulls for their preseason before making the cross country trip to join Timbers 2! I came to T2 as the 5th goalkeeper in the club and was incredibly fortunate to get a chance to play midyear. I made my USL debut against the Tula Roughnecks in Tulsa and have had a large run of games since then. At the end of my first year the club offered me a first team contract and I’ve been able to experience a lot that

Portland has to offer (especially a sold out stadium with by far the best fans in the MLS)

     Thanks for reading! #RCTID! Kendall McIntosh!

Team Aviata