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The BIG LIFE: Beyond the Injury — USC's Murphy Walsh on ACL Recovery & Resilience · The BIG LIFE

• 0:06
  Hi guys, welcome back to another episode of the Big Life Podcast.
• 0:09
  We're switching things up this week and starting with our guests instead and
• 0:12
  saving our part for last.
• 0:14
  Okay, today we have my USC teammate Murphy Walsh joining us.
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  Murphy's currently seven months post-op from ACL surgery and while recovering,
• 0:21
  she also fractured her foot.
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  We're going to talk about her recruiting process, what she thought college would
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  look like versus what it's been like, and what it's been like dealing with another
• 0:30
  setback while she's already been working on getting back towards the field.
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  And we also want you guys to get to know murphy outside of soccer and rehab
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  she's kind of cool and anyways murphy welcome to the podcast hello thank you
• 0:42
  thank you guys yes okay so to start tell us about your,
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  soccer journey like when did playing college soccer become a goal for you i
• 0:52
  don't know i feel like it's always been,
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  a goal i feel like for anyone who plays club soccer like as,
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  intensely as we do it's like just always i've always wanted to play college
• 1:02
  soccer How was your recruiting process?
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  Like how did USC come into the picture?
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  Like was that a top? Honestly, so my mom went to Sanford So USC is a big no-no
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  in my house Because of the whole rivalry thing.
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  But it was like towards the end of my recruiting process, I already gone on
• 1:20
  a bunch of visits and then USC reached out and I was like, this is where I belong pretty much.
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  So, OK, what was the biggest things you looked for when you were looking at
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  schools and soccer, academics?
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  Obviously, soccer was one of the biggest parts of it, but also obviously academics
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  and then location like this location is close enough to home to where I'm like,
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  I could go home if I wanted to.
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  But then also far enough away to where like I get my independence kind of was
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  there a specific moment besides when they hit you up when you knew USC was where
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  you wanted to go well yeah after
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  my visit yeah after seeing everything and talking to the coaches and like,
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  I don't know it just made it more like real because you talk to them on the
• 2:00
  phone and it's kind of like this is kind of like every other phone call I've
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  had with every other coach and then you go on your visit and then and then that's
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  when you realize it's like wow this is like where I want to spend,
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  my next four years okay looking looking back like for any like youth players
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  listening what's something you wish you would have known like during recruiting.
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  Don't stress you out i mean the whole process is in itself like incredibly stressful
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  but at the end of the day it's like you will end up where you are meant to be,
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  so putting that extra stress on it is only going to make it a harder process
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  dude i can second that i feel like kids nowadays are just,
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  recruiting they're like getting don't committed so fast yeah yeah like take your time,
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  like find what is right for you don't just hop on the first opportunity like,
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  where you're supposed to be will find you so so if you were not stressed then
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  was there anything that did actually stress you out.
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  Dude phone calls phone calls were literally the nearest experience of my entire life.
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  As you know, I'm kind of an awkward person, so hopping on phone calls with strangers
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  who I'm supposed to be trying to impress is kind of my nightmare experience, but it got better.
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  Dude, I feel like the worst was the emails, like sending the repetitive emails.
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  You're like, oh, I have to send this email to their coach. I do this.
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  I literally would make my mom do it.
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  Dude, same. okay when you committed murph what did you picture your first in
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  college experience to look like both on and off the field oh,
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  i don't know i knew it was gonna be tough i mean when they sent out the like
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  summer workout packet and that was the worst thing i've ever done in my entire
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  life i was like i really need to lock in now and then even then even doing that
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  when i came in it was still really hard but i knew ally that was it,
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  yeah it's kind of good to call it to come to college when you have like a buddy
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  buddy i had my buddy buddy but,
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  can we talk back to your acl because guess what page
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  i come back from freaking vacation and our alien trainers like oh your friend
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  got hurt or your teammate got hurt and i said oh and i walk in i turn and i
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  see her on the table with her knee up and i said no i literally scared i was
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  like no not murphy not murphy,
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  yeah anyway walk us through what happened walk us through okay so basically
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  spring practice right were scrimmaging,
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  it honestly I think it counts as like a contact,
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  like injury because you know with ACL there's contact and then non-contact mine
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  was like contact but it was like.
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  So little like a hair our male practice players yeah so basically he like pushed
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  me and then my knee kind of like twisted and I heard it pop and I knew that was bad but,
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  right after they tested everything and they were like oh it seems fine and then
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  they sent me to the doctors and they were like oh it seems fine,
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  so I was like okay maybe I just like I don't know it sounded bad but maybe I
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  just did something little and then I got an MRI and it was completely torn so
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  yeah and then I had surgery like a month later maybe and then,
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  started recovery it was the first thing that went through your mind when you
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  found out what the injury was,
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  because obviously you know like when it happens you know like yeah I was genuinely
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  scared when I hurt my MCL because I heard a pop and I said it's wraps yeah I
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  said it was wraps so like I can only imagine personally I've never had any like
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  big injuries really like,
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  I've had little like I've twisted my ankle or like so I've never like heard
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  an injury happen which so hearing it I was like.
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  I don't know I like trying to get up and walk it off and then I was I stood
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  up and I was like no it's really bad I mean they told me my major ligaments
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  were fine so I was like trying to be
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  positive and be like okay maybe it's not exactly what like maybe it's not as
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  bad as like something minor like what you have or something but no
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  before it actually like happened though like what did you think ACL recovery
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  would be like And then how has it been actually going through it?
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  Honestly, I mean, I feel like when everyone thinks of like an ACL injury,
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  it's kind of like the end of the freaking world.
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  It's like nine to 12 months out. It's from soccer. Like it feels like your freaking
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  world is ending. But like once you're finally in it, it's kind of more you like
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  realize life goes on. Like your goals shift from like.
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  Where before it was like you wanted to get fast or whatever like they shift
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  from like learning to walk again and then,
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  like even that's where the early stages of that is actually nice because it
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  gives you so many things to look forward to to the point where like as hard
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  as it is it does like you just you just keep pushing forward and you have different
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  milestones like flexion.
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  Extension riding the bike for the first time walking for the first time it's like,
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  you just have so many new things to look forward to that I think it's not as,
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  hard as like you would think it would be you know,
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  what did you need from people because obviously you go from
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  doing everything on your own to not being able to walk so what did you need
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  from people that was difficult to ask for
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  I mean dude honestly everything is hard to ask for as you know I'm not someone
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  that's like I don't like asking for help and I don't like even before my injury
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  I literally never went into the training room like ever like I didn't like using
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  up people's time when I felt like I didn't need to be using up people's time
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  so like going from that to now I need help with walking I need help opening doors
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  I like I'm in the training room every day being super independent and not liking
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  to ask for help and then having to like I don't know it was just like a big change for me and I have
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  I think gotten better with that okay well while recovering from your ACL surgery
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  you also back to your foot yes explain what happened i was doing my acl,
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  when you're coming back from acl all you do is sprint work all you do is skips,
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  and and yeah sprint work so i was doing my like warm-up skips and on the first
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  one i like went down and my foot just like twisted in the middle and i heard it crack and,
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  obviously with my track record i know hearing injuries probably means no bueno slain.
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  I sat down, took a second, and then I got back up and walked to the training
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  room, and I was like, I think I just messed up my foot.
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  And yeah, and I didn't tell anyone. What changed about your rehab and your everyday
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  routine because of the foot?
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  I basically just was reset back to square one, like back to non-weight bearing.
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  I can't work out like I was before. My calf strength is gone after seven months
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  of trying to get it back to after seven months. And it's the same foot, same leg.
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  Yes, same leg, which is, like, even more frustrating because the whole thing
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  with ACL recovery is you're trying to, like, get symmetry back,
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  basically, with your quad and your calf and everything.
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  So now I'm, like, only walking on my left leg.
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  But, yeah, now I'm also doing PT, like, every day.
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  I want to know what's something teammates can do that actually makes a difference
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  when you're injured. Because, dude, obviously not comparing me to you because
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  we're very – our injuries are very different. But I struggled on my own in my
• 8:55
  month out, so I can only imagine.
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  Yeah, I don't know. I feel like people are different. Like some people need
• 9:02
  a lot of support and then others, I would say myself, I'm not,
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  I don't know. I don't like attention very much. So.
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  What does game day feel like to you when you like want to be out there, but you can't play?
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  I don't know loki i thought it was gonna be harder than it was than it actually is because
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  no it's not it's not fun but it's like you kind of get used to it the first
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  few were kind of rough because it was like i should be here and i should be
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  playing also because i worked so hard to get on the freaking field last year just to,
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  you kind of like distract yourself from the fact that you're not playing with
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  like i mean i could when i started running actually i would run before the games
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  and that would make me feel like i'm more,
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  like a part of things i don't know okay has not Not being able to play kind
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  of changes the way you see yourself outside of being a soccer player, like your identity?
• 9:49
  Well, I mean, soccer is like such a big part of like who we are as people.
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  Like I feel like all of us.
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  So like losing that is kind of like it's definitely a big change.
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  But at the same time, it's like I also started making more friends.
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  I started talking to more people with the injuries. So like as much as I felt
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  like excluded from things because I physically couldn't play.
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  I also like like I talk to the team managers all the time now like and like I I'm,
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  good friends with a bunch of people in the like the training room so like you
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  kind of lose some things but you also gain other things from like this experience so well anyways.
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  Thanks for coming on with us and being so open with us it's been really good
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  to hear about your experience even from someone who sees you actually every second of the day.
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  Appreciate you sharing. Thank you for having me, games.
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  Yeah, wait, before we go, hey, where can everyone follow you?
• 10:49
  What is it called? Murph Walsh. Murph Walsh.
• 10:54
  Guys, get on that.
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  Okay, now that Murphy's gone, we still need to catch up on our week.
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  Yes, okay, so do you want to focus on your games? What happened this week?
• 11:03
  Well, aren't we going to start with our one word? Come on now,
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  bro. My one word is finally.
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  I finally scored again, and we finally won. Wow, yeah, good word. Mine's all key, Ugg.
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  Yeah. Damn, we're on different paths. Yeah, because we won one game, lost one game.
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  The game we won, I played the least amount I've played.
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  And then the game we lost, I played even less. And we lost, so.
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  Double whammy. I feel like a chud. Yeah. Dude, I'm sorry.
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  It's okay, bro. Well, yeah, how did those two games? You played Georgia and Vandy, no?
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  Yeah, so Georgia, well, we played both of them at home, so it was good to be home.
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  And my family came in town, so they got to watch. And Georgia,
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  we won 3-0. It probably could have been more, too.
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  I got like 26 minutes, and I played well when I went in.
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  Did what I could with the time that I got, and we won, so it was a good result.
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  And then Vandy, the ref was not on our side, I will say that.
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  Gave them a PK that we scored first, and then they got a PK that shouldn't have.
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  If they got that PK, we should have gotten a PK as well, if that makes sense.
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  It was kind of soft in the sense that we had challenged them,
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  and they didn't give it to us.
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  So it was kind of like, oh, you're in it. So it was 1-1. And then in the second
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  half, they got another goal.
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  And I came in in the second half and I like helped our team kind of get a little
• 12:28
  more momentum, but we didn't win. So it was kind of frustrating.
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  But how was your game? Oh, we finally won!
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  We scored in the first minute again, which was low-key. Best goal we scored all season.
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  It was freaking insane. We built very well. I was watching the game,
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  and I saw you score, bro. Hey, thanks, dude. Dude, I love the sport.
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  But yeah, and then I got a goal, and then we closed it out 3-0.
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  And that's genuinely how our game should be going. We dominated the game.
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  My friend Allie played, which was nice. Our friend Allie played,
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  which was nice. A lot of people got rotations.
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  Northwestern wasn't the best team. But, and yeah, and we won.
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  So it was a lucky fire. But, and we have three more games left,
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  probably. So we traveled to Nebraska and Iowa.
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  We have Tennessee at home this week, and then we go to Mississippi State.
• 13:19
  Ooh, that'll be a good game. Obviously, you're not happy with your minutes.
• 13:22
  I played, like, 70 minutes, which is lower than normal. But to be fair,
• 13:27
  dude, let me tell you, we trained this week, like, or this past week.
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  We did a lot of team culture things. Obviously, I told you a little bit,
• 13:34
  like, off camera. But we did a lot of team culture things. But you guys were nice.
• 13:37
  Yeah, I know. That's why I'm looking frustrated, because I feel less fit,
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  because we didn't do any training, and we didn't do any soccer.
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  But we played perfectly fine, so.
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  How'd you feel about your own performance?
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  Good. I was just tired because you didn't run. I ran severely less than I normally
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  run and I just didn't run like at all in the previous week. So like in fitness
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  already for me, I have to be running a lot in order to keep to maintain something.
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  And like I was not running a lot at all. And also like the accumulation of like,
• 14:04
  playing 90s on 90s was hurting my body. So like it was good to get the rest,
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  but at the same time I was losing fitness. I lose fitness in the span of two
• 14:11
  days. So I think I did pretty well. I can't lie.
• 14:14
  Technically, technically could be cleaner and use my left foot,
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  but physically I can't. So it's fine. So it's fine.
• 14:20
  Okay. Well, before we close out, King, what's one soccer goal and one thing
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  you're looking forward to doing outside of soccer?
• 14:27
  I would say one soccer goal is to, when I get on the field, kind of get myself
• 14:35
  more involved on the attacking side of the field.
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  Like, I feel like, like, when I went in, I do a good job of keeping us,
• 14:41
  like, the ball and circulating it.
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  But once he gets from one side to the other and we're, like,
• 14:46
  up in the attack, like, I don't really do as much. Which, given I'm a six,
• 14:50
  like, I'm not really supposed to do as much. But I think I can still get more involved than I am.
• 14:55
  No, yeah, you can. You are like a dictator. If it's, like, from a type of field
• 14:57
  or, like, getting it underneath the 10s.
• 15:00
  But I think soccer thing. And then one thing I'm looking forward to outside of soccer.
• 15:05
  This is so bad. Just eating food.
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  Dude, mine's the same thing. I'm looking forward to hanging out with my friend
• 15:11
  Murphy that was on the thing. Because we leave her and then it'll be me and my normal friends.
• 15:16
  Soccer goes to score more, bro. I need to be more ruthless. Like,
• 15:20
  it's actually pretty cake. It's just, like, technical errors that I don't normally
• 15:23
  make that need to be cleaned up. Yeah, keep it up. Essentially.
• 15:27
  Dude, I almost scored from, like, 40 yards out. I needed to hit it a little
• 15:29
  bit harder and then I was there. I saw the keeper made a save and I was like, oh, no, Jade.
• 15:34
  Dude, I know. I don't even know how that.
• 15:36
  It was, like, going and it went like that. I was like, oh, okay, nice. But yeah.
• 15:41
  All right. Thank you guys so much for listening to this week's Big Life episode.
• 15:44
  And thank you again to Murphy for joining us. And make sure to follow Girls
• 15:47
  Soccer Network on Instagram for more content. And you can find me on TikTok
• 15:51
  and Instagram at phanichthompson underscore 30.
• 15:54
  Okay. And you can find me on Instagram and TikTok at jadamrodriguez.7.
• 15:58
  And we'll talk to you guys next week.