Latest / The BIG LIFE / Kicking Off Season Three: Soccer Preseasons, Olympic Dramas, and Pro Soccer Adventures

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Kicking Off Season Three: Soccer Preseasons, Olympic Dramas, and Pro Soccer Adventures · The BIG LIFE

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Hey big life listeners we hope you are just excited
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about your upcoming soccer season as we are for the
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big life's new season and since it's pre-season for all of us sponsor i the
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sports is ready to help us kick off season three with a little fun game of two
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truths and a lie i know it's been a second jordan but let's see if you remember
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me as if i could ever forget okay so So which one of these is true out of the three statements?
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I just love how hot the turf is in August when we're running those preseason sprints.
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Burpees are my favorite way to get into shape and do a little something extra.
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And I always rock a new pair of cleats when the season gets going.
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That's tough because I think you are just crazy enough to want to do burpees
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to get in shape. But I think it's got to be cleats, right?
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It's got to be cleats. I mean, come on now. Who doesn't want to start the season with fresh boots?
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It's the best way and best part of soccer is when you get those fresh cleats
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on your feet to go ahead and start the season, right?
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Absolutely. And because Ida knows preseason is getting underway,
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they've given us a special code.
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So Big Life listeners can get 15% off cleats, turfs, or indoor shoes when you
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use code Big Life or visit idasports.com slash discount slash Big Life. That's amazing.
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I really do love my Idas. What's great is that I know when I put them on,
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these are the cleats that are designed by a woman and made specifically for
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the shape of a woman's foot.
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I'm happy and proud to have them and have them back as a sponsor.
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Yeah, I feel the same way. Go ahead and do your back to soccer shopping at idasports.com
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Ida cleats, perfs, indoor shoes, whatever it may be, or visit idahsports.com
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slash discount slash Big Life.
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Hey, everyone. We are back with Big Life season three.
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You know we missed us. Like, you know you missed hearing our voices in your phone.
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But Jordan and I are back.
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Jay, how are you feeling? I'm feeling good. It's been a minute since we've been
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together, I feel like. So there's a lot to catch up on.
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Exactly. And we went in solid. We pressed record once we joined the Zoom.
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So because of that like everything is new
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information for Jordan and myself so I'm excited
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to hear about the extent of everything life feels like it's crazy right now
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I don't know if it's just my perception but I feel like the world is changing
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I feel like there's just so much going on and every sort of aspect and it's
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been interesting it's been interesting I'm not gonna lie Jay how was your summer though?
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It, uh, it's been a roller coaster of a summer. One, it went by so fast.
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Like you blink and it's over. I feel like last week I was taking my finals and
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now you're telling me we're back into it.
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Second day of preseason here. First day of real training. Like that's not real. That can't be right.
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Summer did not last nearly long enough, but it was definitely a roller coaster.
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I think last time we touched on my injury and that's pretty much been the main
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focus of my summer is being able to rehab and get back to there.
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I had quite a few setbacks throughout the summer in terms of getting back to my play.
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Originally, we went through it. We thought it was a partial tear in my PCL.
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We did the lockout brace, got the mobility brace then, and had a return to play
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kind of protocol from there.
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It turns out I have a full tear in my PCL. And then, you know,
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a lot of my summer was spent figuring that out through the process and then
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figuring out what to do with that information.
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Information i can go on a little rant here afterwards about i
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think the way the medical world should work within athletics because
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i do think there's way too much pressure and there's
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way too many umbrellas that a athletic trainer
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has to wear and i think somewhere throughout all this
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there was a breakdown either communication or lack of knowledge about my injury
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and return to play protocol where we were not doing quad and hamstring strengthening
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after i got out of that lockout brace when we should have been and because of
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that i think i had a lot of the issues where where the back of my knee was popping
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and it felt like I got shot. Like I was hurt. I was down.
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And then every time that happened, I was out for a week. And that happened three
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times throughout the summer.
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And that kind of three and a half month period from where we were doing a return
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to play to when we found out I had a full tear in the PCL.
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So we go through all this. I don't think we rehabbed properly,
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even though I was here all summer.
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I think we should have known better considering everything that happened.
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And a lot of the effects were from me being in a lockout brace that my hamstring
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and quad weren't up to where they needed to be.
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But because of that, like we weren't doing it and I had these issues.
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And then I find out about a month ago, maybe six weeks ago now,
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we got an additional MRI.
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They had thought I tore my meniscus and that's what the popping was.
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We got the imaging back. Meniscus is fine, but it was a full tear in the PCL,
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not a partial. So then you're talking about surgery options and things of that nature.
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Surgery would be over a year and a half recovery from it. It's one of the hardest
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knee surgeries to kind of return to play from.
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And it was presented to me almost like it was like a 50-50 option where I can
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either decide to play without a PCL or get surgery on it.
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I got a second opinion outside of MSU at the Cleveland Clinic where,
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you know, and the more we talked about it, the less of an option surgery really
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seemed like it would be. I mean, one, it would be the end of my career.
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I'm not going to come back after missing two seasons and into my seventh year
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of college at at that point. But it turns out you don't need your PCL, really.
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You can compensate with your hamstring and quad strength, and it will hopefully do the job of the PCL.
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And because nothing else was torn, it was isolated, I don't really...
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Have a whole lot of instability within my knee. It was more about the strengthening
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of it. So that was an emotional roller coaster, obviously, where I'm here.
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It presented to me as a 50-50 debate. It was emotionally draining where I'm
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like, is this the end of my career?
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Can I come back from this? Can I play without a PCL? Because I've been having
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all these issues throughout my entire summer.
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I can't play right now. What's going to change? And then going through all that,
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it was just so emotionally draining.
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Anyhow, there's my rant. But now we're at a point, I've been rehabbing it.
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We're about 93% symmetry in my right knee to my left knee.
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I have been going 100% without a brace.
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We tape it up, but full contact, full running, everything like that now for the last two weeks.
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I'm definitely still feeling some of the effects because overall,
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I tore this back in March.
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It's been five months of this process of getting back to play.
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So I'm still feeling some of the effects of that, obviously, in my fitness level
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and just some of the rust but for the main part my knee I
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feel like is holding up fine you know obviously it hasn't been tested in
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game scenarios yet really but between practice
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between you know running everything like that I'm happy with where we're at
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we've done all the strength testing everything like that you know behind the
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scenes biodex and all those fancy machines to see the actual numbers behind
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the symmetry of my my two legs my hamstrings and quads so it's looking like you know it's going
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to be good in the end but it was a roller coaster
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over summer for sure and I think I have a lot of
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frustrations with the way that it was handled yeah I
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mean wow I really don't even
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know what to say to all of that that's right emotional and intense and I can't
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honestly imagine how you feel dealing with all of that and now going into what
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is your final season of college athletics and everything there's a lot emotionally
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going on to balance as well as what you want out of of your senior year.
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So I can only imagine and say that myself as well as our community is ready
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to support you in whatever way that is.
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Yeah, thank you. Thank you. I think the best thing that came out of this,
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though, is like when you're looking at retirement early, like I'm looking at
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that because that's what my reality was at the time.
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You just you have a whole new level of gratitude to just be here.
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Like I feel like in the past, I was
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so focused on my what I was able to accomplish and fulfilling this
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potential that I had as a soccer player and especially we
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talked about going into my senior season like the
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idea that the potential dies the day that last whistle blows that's as good
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as you ever were there is no more potential left for you to accomplish like
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that is as good of a player as you ever were so I was chasing this goal in this
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timeline and and I was so stressed about the fact that the clock was ticking
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down and I wasn't ready for it.
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I feel like now I have a whole new lease on it where I'm just,
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I'm happy to be here. Like every single day I get to be here is added bonus
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time from that decision.
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You know, and we'll see. We'll see how the season goes.
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I still have high hopes and expectations for myself to accomplish.
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And I do think it's still possible.
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However, like I'm just, I'm happy to still be a Spartan.
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I'm happy to still wear the jersey and represent and to be a part of this team
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because I am not ready to retire. Like I need those six months.
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No, it's all fair. that's totally and it's a
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reality you know I don't want to say I'm excited for
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this but it's going to be very interesting to cover you know your last season
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and how it differed from mine and different perspectives and potentials
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you know obviously the future for you is unwritten I mean
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there's so much potential like that can be but it also may be
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the last six months whereas I kind of always knew I was going to continue
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so it's going to be an interesting journey to follow and I'm
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excited for that to see your growth
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already through it it's going to be it's going gonna be good
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how is preseason day one start of
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that you know first last I remember
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going through it how has that been for you it's weird it's weird the way I feel
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about this now as a senior looking at it like this is my last beep tester running
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this is my last time I have to sit through the meetings and learn what defenses
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or what offenses like these are all lasts but also I've I've already done them three times.
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So like all that anxiety or build up all the stress from it,
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like senior year just feels so different.
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Like it just, there's a different attitude about it where you just,
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there's nothing left to worry or care about.
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This is it. Like, this is the end.
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The second that whistle blows and I step foot on the field, my eligibility is
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over and we're in our last season.
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You know, that's, that's it. You know, there's nothing left to really hold on
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to and to have that anxiety for,
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to worry about like stepping on toes or doing these different things and kind
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of those you know social dynamics of things where you know it's senior year
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it's just it's so different and it's so weird to.
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Do these things now and being like, okay, this is the start of the end, start of the last.
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We've been here for two weeks already doing conditioning, lifting,
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training, all that good stuff.
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So it doesn't really feel like day one, really. We had all our meetings yesterday.
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We got our gear. We've already done media day, a bunch of meetings with compliance,
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all that stuff before our official start.
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And then today was the first day of actual practices where we ran our fitness
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test, did some possession drills.
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And then I believe tomorrow we're just playing and kind of getting a real feel
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of where everyone's at and more of a game-like scenario with the coaching staff
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present and, you know, a little bit higher intensity than probably what we've
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been able to accomplish on our own.
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Yeah, that's definitely, that's what I remember. I remember my last season just feeling different.
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You know, there's a different emotional and weight, but also like,
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like you said, relief to everything.
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It's kind of like you're, you've done this, you've been here before,
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you know, where everything is, you know, what preseason is going to look like,
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you know, and so there's so much more, I think, focus on the,
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you know, the things that feel.
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More important, and you kind of know what's more important, what's not,
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you know, I don't know how you obviously feel, you said you're in the fitness
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test, I feel like every athlete's like worst nightmare is that fitness test
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of some sort, you know, that anxiety that you get.
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And I remember my last season, I was just kind of like, I know I can do this.
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I know I'm in shape, let's just freaking run it.
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And so how did that go for you and the team and everything like that?
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Yeah, I think like a month ago, I was having issues. I couldn't sprint.
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I would run and then my shin would separate from my knee and I'd be on the ground.
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Like that was, I got an eight. I ran a fitness test in a PT session and I got
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an eight. You know, my record is 43.
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So you're looking back six weeks ago when we started this process after figuring everything out and.
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That's where I was at. So I'm really happy with how I performed now.
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I'm way more fit than an eight. I promise that was the start of it.
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But yeah, I mean, it wasn't my best test by any means, but I also I've been
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out for five months and we just started this process going back.
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But I'm happy with my score.
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I'm happy with where I'm at, knowing that we still have time.
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Season is still very long. There's still plenty of time to get fit and to catch up.
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And I think it's about the same fitness wise as I was coming in last year after
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an ankle injury where I was at.
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So it's not, I'm not too concerned about it this on day one.
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I think overall people were a little surprised with their scores considering
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what we've been doing, just kind of all over the board.
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You had the anxiety of the freshmen running it for the first time.
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And you had the people who maybe performed really, really well in the spring
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who didn't break their records like they thought they were coming into this.
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Or overall, I think it was just a lot of mixed emotions all over the board of
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people being super pleased with it.
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Some people not being super pleased with it, but as a team aspect,
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I think it's just, it's day one. It's the standard of where we're at now.
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And then you can just improve from there because we're only going to get better
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and more fit. So it really, it just depends on who you're asking, I guess, for how it went.
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Everyone has a different opinion on it. Some people performed well,
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some people didn't. But at the end of the day, it's day one.
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That's fair. That's fair. We had a whole session, like a whole layout when this
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is going to go, but I think we are already in the nitty gritty of college athletics.
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So let's just stay there.
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Jordan, I have been following the news. Obviously, I'm across the world still.
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It's weird, obviously, starting preseason and not being in Iowa and seeing everything happening.
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And that's a lot going on.
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And then I scroll through Twitter and I look at the news and so much is changing.
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Can you go into some detail about what you're hearing on your end about all
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of these new changes, not starting this year, but next year in college athletics
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and your perspective on how that's going to affect women's college soccer.
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Yeah, I'm trying to even remember what everything is. It's hard to knowing that this is my last season.
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I think I keep up with it a little bit less because I'm... This doesn't affect
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me at all. Yeah, pretty much.
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It's like, okay, like, it'll be interesting to watch it happen.
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But keeping up with it now, like, I'm trying to remember what all the rule changes were.
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So obviously, we had the realignment, which we talked about that's affecting us this year.
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Going into next year, you have, I mean, from a business standpoint of Michigan
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State University, you got the revenue sharing, you have the roster caps,
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which also affects scholarships.
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So instead of having 14 full-ride scholarships now,
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I believe everyone on a 28-person roster can receive scholarship,
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either partial or full-ride, depending on how the university funds it.
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And you can only have up to 28 people on your roster. That's the max cap.
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I think some of this affects other sports like football who was either full
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ride or nothing a little bit more with the roster cap because now they can receive
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partial scholarships as well instead of just full ride or nothing.
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Women's soccer has always been, you can receive a percentage,
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so that doesn't really affect us as much. The roster cap will.
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Right now, Michigan State has 32 players. Next year, we'll have to be at 28
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in order to meet those standards.
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I think with a lot of this too, you're getting NIL situations where it's still kind of a gray area.
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I'm not sure all the details. I don't think anyone really does.
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It just keeps changing more and more every year, every month even.
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But I believe the university is now allowed to pay athletes directly.
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So originally you were able to receive scholarship and then there was an Austin
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scholarship that you can receive up to $6,000 a year, a little bit less,
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but essentially $6,000 a year for each student athlete for being on the roster.
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And your school can choose to opt into that or not. Luckily,
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Michigan State for us does.
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So we receive that money. But now in addition to that, your university can pay
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you directly almost like a salary or I don't even think it's an NIL deal.
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I think it's literally just salary basis.
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They didn't just pay you to be on their team and pay you directly for that, which is very, very new.
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I think you're already starting to see some of the effects, at least here in Michigan State.
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I think we've had some budget cuts in some areas for sure with the idea that
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they're going to take that money now and pay it directly to their athletes.
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We used to have a director of ops. Now one of our coaches kind of handled that area now as she left.
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You've had people in the weight room kind of leave and you're dispersing that
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job throughout the rest of the workers now.
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You're definitely starting to see some of those budget cuts.
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And I think they'll happen more and more as players are trying to be competitive,
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especially with football, or teams are trying to be competitive with football,
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as they want to pay those athletes.
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And then hopefully the idea is you start off, you pay the athletes,
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you do well in your season, and then you gain back that money and go from there.
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I think that's kind of the biggest extent that I'm going to see is some of those
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budget cuts to helpfully pay those athletes.
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The rest of it, though, doesn't really affect me.
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And it won't, luckily, because I think it's going to be completely different.
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And they're still coming out with more and more rules.
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They're far from done figuring out what the 2025 season is going to look like.
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So it'll be interesting to watch for sure.
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But I believe that's where we're at right now I could be I could
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be missing a whole legislation though no you are
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spot on with what I am aware of going on and
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it's something that I know Jay and I are going to continue to follow
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and we hope that this season we have someone even more educated than us come
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on and talk about all these changes because I think that this is something that
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is just showing how college sports especially the impact of women's sports and
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non-revenue women's sports has
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evolved and And the impact is just kind of unknown in a lot of regards.
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And I think that it's showing that college sports is turning way more business centric.
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It's a lot more focused on the business than maybe we'd like to talk about or see in the past.
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I've blatantly said it a lot of times, but I'll say it again.
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I'm thankful I graduated when I did because all of this new stuff is getting crazy.
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But yeah, we'll hopefully have someone a bit more educated than us come on and
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we will We'll be following everything going on with that situation as we can.
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Absolutely. The other thing that's like super unique that I wonder I'm interested
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to watch is Michigan State is one of the only self-funded athletic programs.
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So we don't receive any money from Michigan State University to fund our athletics.
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We are self-funded in that aspect.
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All of our scholarships, everything that we do as an athletic department comes
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from donors, grants, and self-revenue throughout the season.
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So I'll be interested to see if that's still possible with all these rule changes as well as like.
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The revenue sharing aspect, how that's going to affect, Big Ten will be fine.
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I think Power Four conferences will be fine. How that's going to trickle down
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and affect some of those lower conferences, NAIA schools, D3,
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things like that, who are getting a huge cut from the NCAA in terms of what
19:46
they're receiving to fund these programs and sports.
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So a couple of years, it's going to look completely different than what me and Sam did.
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You're lucky you got out last year. I'm lucky I'm getting out this year because
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it's definitely not going to be the same soccer and the same setup we signed up for.
20:01
It's going to be way different. I know I'm definitely hearing and seeing on
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social media and stuff that like coaches are going to be way more hesitant in
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recruiting their 2026 class because they have to see,
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you know, I know at one point in my IO career, I have no idea what roster number they're at now.
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We were at 35. So you already have to get down from 35 to 28 and you have to
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weigh in your 2025s coming in who aren't signing their NILs till November and
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you have your recruiting going on.
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So my sympathy is with all of these coaches also trying to balance these as
20:36
I'm sure they don't know all that information either.
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And yeah, it's an interesting jungle, but also you have to get ready for the 2024 season.
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And on top of that, in the big 10, we're going to add four more teams.
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So Jay, I know we haven't really talked about this on the pod.
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Can you talk a bit about your Michigan state schedule and what you've heard.
20:54
I know one of the biggest questions is how is Big Ten going to travel?
20:58
All of the different schools and adding for West Coast schools, all of this.
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So what does that look like from your standpoint for your 2024 schedule?
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Yeah. So we, I'm going to pull this up so I don't mess it up because things
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have changed. But that's fine. I'd only bully you a little bit.
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It would be embarrassing indeed. And it would be something I would do.
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Absolutely. So our Michigan Michigan State's schedule is our first game is an
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exhibition against DePaul.
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It's the only exhibition we're having this year. Normally, we have two.
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This year, we're only having one.
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And then you go and you have our home opener August 15th against Notre Dame.
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Those are both pretty normal.
21:38
We go through then our non-conference schedule.
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And then our first conference game is at Maryland Thursday, September 12th.
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After that, our main trips, we're doing a Oregon-Washington trip,
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which is the new teams that were added, and then Ohio State-Penn State?
21:58
Okay. I don't know. I mean, yeah, Penn State's Sunday, and then Ohio State's Thursday.
22:05
That would be the only other big trip we would have this year.
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The rest are pretty much home games or single away games where we would go and
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come back pretty easily.
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And I don't even know if they would make that a trip or if we would just come
22:18
back and then bust Ohio State, which is what I would assume they do.
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But I don't know. I don't know about that. I will figure that out in September.
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That's above my head right now.
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But yeah, our big trip that we have is Oregon and Washington. We don't play UCLA.
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I think we got, I don't know if we're unique in this way or if we just got lucky,
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but it doesn't really change much for us in terms of our travel schedule.
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Usually you have one big week-long trip at least.
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Occasionally you'll have two but usually it's about one week-long
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trip that you go that's how the ncaa or
22:52
big 10 likes to structure it and then
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the rest are a mix of just home and away games depending on who you play and
22:57
you try to structure it in a way where you're balancing that between both you
23:02
and the other schools you're playing so there's an even amount of home and away
23:04
games through that i think the most interesting thing that i still don't have
23:10
answers on i don't know know if our coaching staff even does or if the Big Ten has decided,
23:14
is if there's going to be a conference champion this year. Next question. Okay.
23:20
I think there's going to be a conference champion, just less weight on it.
23:26
Whereas in previous years, probably your normal season conference champ had
23:31
a little bit more weight when you're talking NCAA rankings, just because it's
23:36
a balanced schedule. You're playing everyone.
23:38
It's a longer period of time to judge performance. performance now I think a
23:42
lot of that decision making a lot of that weight's going to be held on the tournament
23:45
because you have such an unbalanced schedule throughout the season there's so
23:50
many teams we're not playing this year where in previous years you only don't play,
23:54
two teams so yeah we now
23:57
we don't play several teams throughout the season so there's going to be a lot
24:00
more weight on that tournament I still don't know the structure of the tournament
24:03
how many games we're playing dude I don't I don't know we have meetings later
24:09
today where maybe Maybe they'll fill us in or I don't even know if our coaching
24:12
staff really knows at this point because things keep getting restructured and changed like.
24:16
Every day okay you heard it here first dropping on
24:19
the big life what is the big 10 soccer tournament gonna
24:22
look like this year because yeah it's i mean i'm sure you're adding four new
24:27
teams how are we gonna extend because originally it's only the top eight went
24:30
through there's a lot of questions and once again i'm happy to be watching from
24:34
across the world but it's gonna be really interesting to see it go down and
24:39
you know i'm sure jordan wanted to casually remind you that
24:42
she was the 2023 conference champion.
24:45
And one of the things... And 22.
24:47
Oh, 22, 23? Yeah. Remember what year it is before you start talking, sis.
24:55
I just... I know there's two of them, and they were back-to-back.
25:01
And on top of that, I know, obviously, this is season three,
25:05
I guess, of The Big Lies now, but all the way back in season one,
25:09
Jordan and I found ourselves playing back-to-back, And if I'm right,
25:12
I don't even think I will place Michigan State this year.
25:15
So it would have been so sad not to have that kind of mashup that we had last time.
25:19
So at least we got to make up for it. You know, they decided to get it back
25:23
to back and we're good for the next couple of years.
25:26
Honestly, honestly, we're solid up. You guys, I was in East Lansing too, too many times.
25:33
It's all right. I think I've only been to Iowa once. I went my freshman year
25:38
and I don't believe I've been there since.
25:40
Yeah I do feel like we often play in East Lansing it's
25:43
always a weird balance like of how that shakes out and
25:46
yeah now adding more teams it's gonna be it's gonna be even
25:49
more so it'll be interesting to see our commentary but
25:52
Jordan do we have a vibe on the Big Ten this year we're adding four new teams
25:57
you know there are some like prediction polls going out of how Big Ten soccer
26:00
is gonna look obviously the big thing is you know USC UCLA joining the Big Ten
26:05
how do we feel about you know the overall structure of the big 10 strength and schedule wise i mean,
26:13
i can't considering how little i know as
26:15
a senior going into this i can't imagine what it's like to be
26:18
a freshman in the big 10 right now and truly have no knowledge
26:22
of what's happening and no experience to back anything
26:26
up really i don't i
26:29
don't know honest obviously michigan state's gonna win it all like naturally
26:34
and then you're talking to through you know the rest of whatever makes you don't
26:40
even know how many make the tournament this year though i was gonna say tournament
26:44
makers but i don't even know how many there are this year,
26:48
But I think it'll be interesting to see how these new teams fit in.
26:52
I mean, there's four new teams.
26:53
I think UCLA is obviously the biggest one coming in that everyone's watching.
26:58
They always perform really, really well.
27:01
However, the performance they had in the NCAA tournament last year,
27:04
it'll be interesting to see how they come in starting this season in a new conference.
27:09
Guns a-blazin', I'm going to assume. Something to prove after getting out in
27:14
the first round of NCAA last year.
27:16
So I think that's the most interesting team I want to watch this year.
27:20
I think you have the obvious teams that always perform really well, Penn State.
27:24
I don't think there's been a huge amount of turnaround in a lot of these Big
27:30
Ten teams where you're looking at new coaching staff or whole new rosters like that.
27:34
I think it's kind of the same. I could be wrong here, but I believe it's kind
27:38
of the same Big Ten you have seen in previous years just with the addition of
27:41
these four new teams and to see how this all plays out and how they fit in.
27:44
I don't know who's playing who from other schools.
27:47
I don't know who's playing UCLA or who else is going to the Oregon-Washington
27:52
trip, but we'll see. I mean, honestly, I have no idea.
27:56
I barely know what's going on here at Michigan State, much less the rest of
27:59
the Big Ten at this moment.
28:01
So I don't know. I think I'm just excited to watch to see how this all plays
28:04
out because truly, I just want answers at this point.
28:08
Yeah, that's fair. I think my biggest question marks, it's going to be interesting
28:12
to see the impacted the class that graduated last year.
28:15
Of course, that's one of the classes I'm most familiar with being a part of it.
28:18
But I think you have a lot of incredible talent that has graduated and moved
28:23
on, you know, whether it's Emma Jaskinick from Wisconsin,
28:26
Eleanor Dale, who is the NCAA leading goal scorer from Nebraska,
28:30
plenty of names at Penn State, Pete Linehan, Kate Wiesner, Samantha Carey from
28:35
Iowa, you know, a lot of big names from the Big 10 have graduated.
28:40
So I think it's going to be really interesting to see that impact.
28:42
Celia Gaynor from Michigan State, you know, there's going to be an impact of
28:45
that class leaving, and it's going to be really exciting to see who fills some
28:49
of those shoes that I feel like were names that were known across the Big 10.
28:53
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think you get that every year.
28:57
And it's always kind of a scramble to see where everyone falls in,
29:01
especially I think Penn State, now that you're mentioning it,
29:03
like probably had the biggest loss of that, that talent from that class,
29:07
biggest turnover from the players that graduated and went pro.
29:11
Throughout the rest of the season, we have plans to hopefully bring on,
29:14
you know, coaches and players from these four new schools and talk about how
29:18
the integration into the Big Ten is going and different perspectives from that standpoint.
29:22
And, you know, following this ever, ever fluid, ever changing role that is college soccer.
29:29
That being said, Jay, you know, we'd be ignorant if we're not talking about it's Olympic season.
29:34
I have the huge perk for the first time in my life to be watching the Olympics
29:39
in the same time zone as the Olympics are going on.
29:42
So all games are in prime time for me. Everything I get to see and eat dinner
29:46
at night and watch everything and at a normal time instead of like waking up
29:50
at 4am like I feel like we have in years past.
29:52
Jay, have you been watching any of the women's women's soccer coming from the Olympics?
29:59
I have not been keeping up as much as I have in previous years.
30:03
Yeah, I know. I've been slacking here. But honestly, I probably watch more gymnastics, to be honest.
30:09
Valid. I mean, as we're recording the women's team events going on.
30:14
So I have a pause that way.
30:16
It doesn't get spoiled with me. But I'm watching some mobiles as we speak.
30:21
I mean, three of my roommates are gymnasts. So I feel like naturally I have to. too.
30:25
But we have Canadians on our team.
30:29
I think that's the biggest conversation within it right now is that whole scandal
30:35
and how that's playing out and how it's going to play out with them.
30:38
And I have been keeping up with that quite a bit, but I think I've seen a lot
30:42
of clips and stuff on social media and I've watched bits and pieces of the games
30:46
here and there, but I haven't been able to sit down and fully watch a game yet this Olympic season.
30:51
So I promise I will, but
30:54
you probably have more insight than i do in terms of the performance
30:57
of our olympic team right now yeah you know there's so
31:00
many questions that this olympics have brought so far i think
31:02
you know one of the biggest ones you hit the nail on the head the canadian scandal for
31:06
those who maybe don't know i'm assuming if you listen to this podcast you
31:09
keep up with women's soccer enough to know what's going on in canada but the
31:12
new zealand national team reported a drone recording
31:15
their practices on two separate occasions at the
31:18
olympics it got investigated that it was Canada's drone
31:21
and so the coaching staff has been
31:24
removed from the Olympics as well as FIFA placed a negative
31:27
six point punishment on them basically meaning
31:31
for Canada to advance to the next round they have
31:33
to win all of their games and other you
31:36
know dream scenarios have to align that has happened so
31:39
far at this point obviously the tennis podcast airs hopefully
31:43
we're not out of date Canada upset France in a lot of ways and you know one
31:48
two to one which is getting them in position should still advance even though
31:51
this punishment has occurred and there's a lot of debate about whether this
31:55
is a just punishment and you know as players we really have no say what our
31:58
coaches do you know this on so many aspects so.
32:01
Is it fair to punish the players and potentially not have them advance in the
32:04
Olympics that they deserve to advance in because of something that they can't control?
32:08
And yeah, there's a lot of questions that this has brought on.
32:12
You know, what are your Canadian friends back in Michigan State saying to all of this?
32:16
I think they're just like heads down, like, you know, we're obviously giving
32:22
them a bit of crap for it because they're Canadians and like, come on, guys.
32:25
And they're They're like, we have literally nothing to do with this.
32:29
But I think the hope for them is that they deduct from, instead of six points,
32:34
they go down to three points and that they'll still make it through all this.
32:38
Because like you said, the players don't have the ability to really control
32:43
what the coaches do at all.
32:45
And it doesn't seem like they had any knowledge that this was going on,
32:48
considering they wore their shirts and stuff inside out for their next game,
32:52
not representing the Canada logo or anything like that.
32:55
So I think they're just hopeful that this will all work out still for them in
33:00
the end. And it'll be interesting to kind of watch and continue.
33:03
But what's your take on it? Do you think that the punishment is just or do you
33:07
think that it's a bit extreme?
33:09
You know, it's a really hard situation just knowing players and knowing that,
33:14
you know, it's not something that they had anything to do with. And so many regards.
33:17
I do think that there should be punishments against the Canadian Soccer Federation.
33:22
Then again i don't think it should be taken out on the players representing the
33:25
country and so i i agree that the negative six point
33:28
man feels harsh and it's casting an
33:30
unfortunate look on canada soccer that the
33:34
players don't deserve in so many regards that being said you know it's really
33:38
interesting being in sweden right now because a lot of the story is that this
33:42
taping has gone on well before the 2024 olympics and it's been happening years
33:47
throughout and in the The 2020-2021 Olympics,
33:52
Canada beat Sweden on penalty kicks in the final.
33:55
And so Sweden's like, well, was there something going on at ours?
33:59
We practiced PKs the day before the final.
34:01
You know, did they know where our shots were going to go? And so hearing a Swedish
34:05
person's perspective, they definitely feel like it's just because they feel
34:09
like, and obviously I'm not speaking for a ton of Swedish people.
34:12
I'm speaking for the Swedish people I talk to. you know it could
34:15
potentially feel like they got robbed of their olympic win years
34:18
ago so there's there's a lot to the story but it's
34:21
definitely something very i feel like women's soccer is normally
34:24
the conversation in a lot of regards in in terms of
34:27
the olympics and i feel like it has this time unfortunately yeah i wish it was
34:31
in a more positive light that we were the conversation or topic of but it's
34:36
it's just a hard situation for everyone involved like i have like you said I
34:40
have no idea what the right answer is or how far and how deep this goes and
34:44
how many people knew about it or condone this.
34:47
But well, it'll be interesting to see how it plays out. And if they do stick
34:51
with the six point penalty or deducted to three, I think that'll make a huge, huge difference in how.
34:56
How they perform and how this all turns out in the end. But how's our USA team
35:00
doing? What are your thoughts on that, our performance?
35:03
USA, to this point, has played two games. They have won 3-0 against Zambia and
35:08
4-1 against Germany going into the final game against Australia.
35:14
They are looking strong.
35:15
I know I saw a couple people a little worried that we only scored three against
35:19
Zambia considering they were down a man for a large portion of the game and
35:23
we didn't score once they were down a man.
35:24
I think the more crazy conversation out of our pool has been who might take
35:30
that second place, especially with the Zambia-Australia game,
35:33
which was absolutely nuts.
35:36
Zambia at one point winning the game 5-2 and the final score being 6-5 for Australia. yet.
35:43
So that game was just highlight after highlight and goal after goal shows,
35:48
you know, a lot of fight in Australian team to be able to come back like that.
35:51
So will they able to secure a spot in the next round?
35:54
A lot of questions are going to be had about that. But overall right now,
35:57
I mean, when you have an offensive line with Trinity Rodman,
36:00
Sophia Swift, and while mouse wants an operating on the cylinders,
36:03
I apparently can't talk either operating on the cylinders that they are.
36:06
I think Rose Lavelle during the last game stood out a lot to me just to like
36:11
extra gritty, extra tough, running all over.
36:14
You know, I was with people that know nothing about soccer and they're like,
36:17
dang, like they, she impressed her.
36:19
And so I think that there's a lot to say moving forward. And I'm excited about,
36:23
you know, potentially getting out of pool play and what's going to happen next.
36:27
Absolutely. You know, while I may not have watched full games,
36:30
I had been watching a whole lot of TikToks from the Olympic athletes.
36:34
And let me tell you, I love the Olympic Villa. It is so fun. Yeah.
36:40
So fun to sit there and watch these athletes that you watch perform and are
36:43
so serious in representing your country do like some of the cringiest,
36:47
like just silly things on social media.
36:50
And it's been so fun to really feel like you're a part of the journey.
36:52
And I think that's been the biggest difference between this Olympics and the
36:55
previous Olympics is I feel like I have a lot more of an insider knowledge of
37:00
how this is all working and going down because of the use of social media.
37:04
I think that's just been it's been so fun. Have you been getting the TikToks?
37:07
Oh, it's my entire For You page. I want to go to Olympian Village and switch pins so bad.
37:11
So yeah. I want Simone Biles or Snoop Dogg.
37:14
Yeah, where's Flava Flav and Snoop Dogg? There's a lot going on.
37:19
Once again, going back to my previous statement about how the world feels chaotic, that's why.
37:23
So anyway, I want Simone Biles pin. I don't remember personally voting for Snoop Dogg to be our mascot.
37:28
However, I'm not mad about it. It seems fitting in a lot of regards.
37:33
So I'm just going to take it and run with it. I'm glad we're all on the same page with that.
37:38
Exactly. the one thing the nation unites on
37:40
is snoop dogg as our mascot but all we
37:43
need exactly so we covered the college talk we covered olympics now come on
37:49
sam what have you been up to how has your summer been what is life in sweden
37:54
like for you now i saw you went on a pretty amazing vacation so it seemed so
37:59
give us all the details all the updates incredible vacation incredible little holiday day.
38:03
No, life has been good since we last talked. I am officially halfway through
38:07
my first pro season, which is insane and exciting and, you know,
38:12
so many different cylinders.
38:13
So yeah, we have played 13 games in the Don Mills Vonskin.
38:16
I don't know how it became that many that quickly. It just kind of,
38:19
I feel like I blink and it happened.
38:21
So yeah, 13 games in a Don Mills Vonskin play. We're on our holiday break,
38:25
basically being back in preseason right now.
38:27
So we got back, back to work last week after a little two day or two week holiday,
38:32
which was So it's very well needed to reset, you know, recoup and now get back into it.
38:37
And we'll play 14, 14 more games, I think 15, 15 more games before the season ends.
38:43
I know I'm great, too. At least I know when my games aren't who I'm playing.
38:48
So our first game back is officially on August 11th. So that's when we'll fully
38:53
kick back into gear of Domos Vonskin play.
38:55
We'll play through November 9th is our last game.
38:58
So, yeah, no, things are good here in so many regards. A lot of my summer was
39:01
playing through it and playing all these games.
39:03
You know, I think we ended the first part of the season on a four-game home stint.
39:08
So that was incredible just to, you know, be home again and not have to leave.
39:12
And during that stint, both my parents were able to come and visit.
39:15
And so I got some family time in Sweden, which was absolutely amazing.
39:20
And then during our little, you know, two-week holiday, Trey and I did honeymoon
39:24
part two, figured while we live in Europe, we might as well travel Europe.
39:27
So I went from Sweden to Zurich, hiked in the Swiss Alps, and then took a train
39:33
down to Italy, spent some time in Rome and Venice,
39:37
and then got on a seven-day cruise through Greece, stopping in Santorini, Athens,
39:43
Mykonos, and Olympia.
39:45
So, I mean, you really, really can't ask for a better vacation than that.
39:49
That was pretty much my entire bucket list checked off into two weeks.
39:52
Had an absolute blast doing all of that. And yeah, now refocused,
39:57
rejuvenated, ready to go back to work.
39:59
We had, you know, our fitness testing and so much going back last week.
40:04
Which is interesting. I feel like, you know, once again, like college preseason
40:07
is back. So I have to be in preseason at some extent.
40:10
And yeah, I'm kind of back at it. I've been fortunate enough to have the play
40:14
that I wanted to play in Sweden.
40:16
I've been fortunate enough to be doing a lot, like really well with it.
40:18
And so I've played 90 minutes at every Donbass-Wanderskian game, started all 13 of them.
40:24
Embarrassing positions depending on what formation we're playing
40:27
kind of switching in this hybrid left back left center back
40:30
role that i did for the last five years at iowa so nothing nothing
40:34
really new with that regard and yeah it's just a lot of really exciting things
40:37
going for further i've heard a lot about what a swedish summer would be and
40:42
it's everything i could have dreamed of and more so i think the high we got
40:46
we maybe got into the 80s on a handful of days most day Today is 77 and sunny and perfect weather.
40:53
I know I feel like when I go back to the US, I'm going to die of heat because I'm not used.
40:59
We've had family and friends come and visit us. Shout out to GSN's Maddie Sabatier
41:04
coming to Sweden, hanging out with me for a week.
41:06
And GSN got featured at some EFCO Nora shipping practices when they came hang
41:12
out and did some social media content there. So that was super fun.
41:15
And yeah, overall, it's just kind of good to be back at it.
41:18
It doesn't feel like much has changed over in my life, but moving forward and yeah,
41:24
it feels really weird not being in the Iowa jersey
41:27
not being in Iowa right now I still text
41:30
with the staff and the girls and I feel like I've still connected in a lot of
41:35
ways but it's definitely it's definitely odd so I think just kind of figuring
41:38
out what this life post-college is like and getting through pro season number
41:43
one is the biggest goal yeah absolutely I didn't okay Okay.
41:49
Not that I haven't embarrassed myself already this podcast.
41:52
So you are in summer now, because when you first got there, there was snow on the ground.
41:58
Yes, there was snow on the ground. So we just, spring, I would say didn't really exist.
42:03
We went from, there was snow in April, like six feet, like six inches of snow in April.
42:08
And then it was like, boom, summer. So summer, like it's the same as,
42:12
you know, the U.S. of Autoguards.
42:14
It was like a mild June and then a nice July and now going into August.
42:20
It'll start to get a little bit cooler. The days, I think, is what trip me up
42:24
the most. In the summer, the sun doesn't go down.
42:26
That's because in the winter, the sun doesn't really come up.
42:29
And so I think it would be like the sun rose at 3.30 in the morning and set at 11.45 at night.
42:37
So there's barely any time the sun was down. It was bright all the time.
42:42
Super crazy. I know there are parts of Sweden, especially northern Sweden,
42:44
where the sun doesn't go down and it's like two in the morning and it's bright, like it could be noon.
42:49
So that's super, that was weird to get used to in a lot of regards,
42:52
but the days are getting shorter again.
42:54
And, you know, there's actually like a sunset coming around a normal time right now. So.
43:00
All the goods. But yeah, life is good here in Sweden in the pro season.
43:04
So yeah, I'm looking forward to it and can't wait to keep competing.
43:07
Yeah, absolutely. So you're this second portion of it. It kind of follows the
43:11
same timeline as the college season. Yeah.
43:14
Yeah, exactly. So our season is basically like if this college season was like time to.
43:19
And so, yeah, we have our main or we have a half stint that goes from April
43:23
to July and then August to November.
43:28
Gotcha. And And did you sign a one-year contract with them?
43:32
I did sign a one-year contract. So technically my contract ends in November.
43:38
However, I believe at this point it'll be public news that I have officially
43:42
been offered a contract extension and I have signed.
43:45
So I will be in Sweden times year two back at EF Co-Nurshipping for next year.
43:51
And I'm really excited about it.
43:52
Oh my God, that's awesome. Congratulations.
43:55
Yeah. Yeah, no, it's been a long time coming. I got offered,
43:59
yeah, a contract extension and I'm excited to be back in Sweden.
44:02
I think for me personally, for me, for my career and a lot of regards,
44:06
I think it makes a lot of sense to stay where I'm at and keep growing and keep
44:10
getting, becoming a better player overall.
44:11
And I have a team and a club and a city that believes in me and it's exciting
44:15
to be able to know that I'm going to stay here.
44:17
I think for a long time, it's just like, you know, a six month period,
44:21
I was in Iowa and then I was back home and then I was bouncing around in so
44:24
many different places. So, you know, I bought a plant for my house today because
44:28
I'm like, I'm going to be here a year so I can buy a plant.
44:31
And just a lot of things like that. So it's really exciting to know I'm going
44:34
to be back in Sweden and I'm excited about it. Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome.
44:38
So what's the end goal for you now? Is it to come back to the U.S.
44:43
Or are you thinking about maybe becoming Swedish?
44:47
You know, that's a big question. I think right now it's through year one.
44:51
I know where year two is going to be. I think my goal right now is year one,
44:55
figure out what being a pro is like, get better. Year two...
45:00
We're going all out. Not that we haven't in year one, but that's,
45:03
that's, we're going both the walls there.
45:05
And then year three, we'll see what happens. I think that's,
45:07
you know, one of the biggest things about, you know, of course I have goals.
45:10
I have trajectories of where I see myself, but also football is so weird and
45:15
so many opportunities come up in so many different ways.
45:17
And also like we've kind of touched on, you also never know when that final
45:21
whistle is going to blow.
45:22
And so I don't want to catch myself looking too far and not,
45:25
and not living in the now. And so I'm excited about being able to live in the now right now.
45:30
Yeah, absolutely. I love that. It's part of the Swedish lifestyle. It's adapted to me.
45:34
We're a lot chiller in Sweden, apparently. So it's been, I've caught myself
45:38
slowing down a lot more here, which is amazing.
45:41
You know what? I think you probably needed it considering the chaos that was
45:46
ensuing your last couple of months there.
45:48
You could use some chill time, some downtime.
45:50
Yeah, a little bit. But Trey, happy to say Trey's happy to say Trey is,
45:56
you know, Sweden's number one rover.
45:58
I feel like in North shipping, we got a new dog in our house at all times to
46:01
keep our puppy loving since we can't really get one.
46:03
We got, oh, we've got dogs around. Our current one's name is Simba. He's adorable.
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If you ever caught me laughing on this video streams, cause Trey was behind
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the camera lifting up Simba like.
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It happens a lot. So yeah, maybe we won't be George Figgins' number one rover after this.
46:17
And anyway, beyond that, I think we're both really excited about where the community
46:21
is, you know, Trey's involvement. And yeah, it's going to be really good.
46:25
That's awesome. I'm so happy to hear that. And breaking news here on the Big Life Podcast.
46:31
We're just dropping bombs all the time. Keep tuning in to figure out what the
46:34
heck the Big Ten's going to be and Sam's contract status.
46:40
Simple things. They might know before I do what the Big Ten will look like.
46:44
I have a strong feeling I will. I'm not even going to lie.
46:47
I feel like that's exactly what's going to happen. And I can't wait to hold it over your head.
46:51
I mean, just please, like, rip the bandit off and let me know.
46:56
Because I'm definitely not going to find out first at this rate.
46:59
Like, I have no idea what's going on.
47:01
But I almost like it better that way. I'm like, our next game is August 10th.
47:06
You know, tee-hee. I don't know.
47:09
Something's never changed. all right i am way up all of that being said we're
47:16
so happy to be back i'm so happy to have my weekly therapy talks with jay that
47:20
we just happen to record and other people listen to,
47:22
we're so excited for what this season can hold we have fun guests
47:25
in the making you know we even hear that maybe some people
47:28
from the current olympics may be on wink wink
47:31
notch notch it's the only hint i'll give about that we have
47:34
a brand new soccer league starting in the u.s in august
47:38
you know the usl super league we didn't even talk about that so excited
47:41
to start covering that seeing you know hopefully getting some
47:44
guests on from the super league get some inside look about what's
47:47
going on in the usl as well as always covering other pro soccer
47:50
other pro events and we got we got to get the roster of guests lined up for
47:53
this season so stay tuned guys as always i'm at sam carrey j is at jordan underscore
48:00
wickus find us out for questions contact girls soccer network all of the above
48:04
we can't wait to hear from you and soccer on Bye, guys.