Peninsula senior Keller embraces LOUD voice for good of program

After a big win, Peninsula High senior center back Brad Keller usually takes to Twitter. And he doesn’t hold back either, sending out tweets in all caps.

“4-1 WIN BABY LETS GOOO,” Keller wrote after the Seahawks routed Enumclaw on March 30.

There are many other tweets like this. Keller exudes a confidence and excitement that the Seahawks soccer program lacked in years past.

“I don’t know how the (all caps) started,” Keller said. “I think it was after a game we won in overtime last year, everyone was so hyped on the bus. I was like you know what, I’m tweeting all caps for everything that’s going on with our games. Anything that has to do with Peninsula soccer is all caps. I want everyone to see it. I feel like, ‘I’ve gotta say this louder. Everyone’s gotta hear this.’”

Keller, who recently signed his letter of intent to play soccer at Northwest Christian University in Eugene, Oregon next season, has been a vocal leader for the Seahawks this season, and was named to the SPSL 3A first team last season. He didn’t start playing soccer until seventh grade, so high school soccer has been a learning experience.

“I feel like I’ve improved a lot mentally,” Keller said. “Freshman and sophomore year were really weak for me. I got rattled a lot easier than I do now.”

Especially during games against Gig Harbor High School. While Peninsula dropped this year’s rivalry game to the Tides, 2-0, Keller wasn’t going down without a fight.

“That game is huge — you’re going to get trash talk from either side,” Keller said. “I didn’t let that get to me. In the previous years, that got to me a lot and affected my performance.”

Keller has helped the Seahawks off to a 5-2 overall start. At 4-1, Peninsula sits in third place in the league, with a big road match looming on Wednesday (April 6) against first-place Auburn Riverside. He believes this year’s group is better equipped to stay near the top of the standings than last year’s group, which suffered a late-season collapse.

“The expectations we had last year got really, really high,” Keller said. “When we had that tumble, I feel like now, this season, we’re almost under the radar. That’s helped a lot with us mentally. This year, we’re a lot more bonded as a team. We work better together. With the loss to Gig Harbor — usually a loss, that would’ve just made us lose all the (following) games. We have this mindset now — we’re able to bounce back better. We’re a lot more positive this year.”

Keller isn’t too concerned about individual accolades. Like his all caps tweets show, he’s more interested in helping the program gain exposure and excitement.

“I just want Peninsula soccer to be bigger in five years than it was when I was here,” Keller said. “I feel like my legacy would be to help that.”

This story was originally published April 6, 2016 at 11:03 AM with the headline "Peninsula senior Keller embraces LOUD voice for good of program."