Latest / I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth / I Hate Soccer #110 - Tony Casali, Varsity Girls Coach at Troy High School

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I Hate Soccer #110 - Tony Casali, Varsity Girls Coach at Troy High School · I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth

0:00
SPEAKER_01: I hate soccer.
0:02
SPEAKER_01: I can't get over how many sports are offered here in terms of like and you're still able to have two teams.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
0:11
SPEAKER_01: Which isn't not everybody does.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we had um this year I made some cuts.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
0:20
SPEAKER_00: Um we caught I think seven or eight girls.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Um but we still had I had twenty two on J V or 22 on varsity and I think twenty on J V.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: Um our numbers were just a little bit too skewed to how many come out for tryouts?
0:44
SPEAKER_00: We were right around 50.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
0:47
SPEAKER_00: Um so forming three teams is a little difficult.
0:51
SPEAKER_01: I know.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: And and that's there's a big push of wanting to do that, right?
0:55
SPEAKER_00: It used to be just freshmen soccer, and now it's JVs.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and now they do the JVB, so you can have freshmen and sophomores on there.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: JVA is freshman sophomore juniors, and then varsity can have anybody.
1:07
SPEAKER_00: But it's just there's not even a ton of JVB teams.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: That's the thing.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: So how do you fill that schedule?
1:13
SPEAKER_00: Like how you're gonna be the JVB boys covered.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: So I was, I'm gonna be the JVA for the girls or for the boys now.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: For the boys, yeah, okay.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: But see, boys, it's different.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: Boys tons of teams.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're getting 80 kids at tryouts, 90 kids.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: You know, so you're gonna have uh three teams no matter what, and you might even still cut kids.
1:32
SPEAKER_00: Why do you think that is?
1:34
SPEAKER_00: Why is it bigger on the boys side?
1:35
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
1:36
SPEAKER_01: Because I think I think there's more boys in the country playing soccer than girls.
1:41
SPEAKER_00: Oh, sure.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
1:43
SPEAKER_01: I mean, but there's so many schools that can't field a freshman team.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: Did you have a freshman team when you were playing in high school?
1:49
SPEAKER_01: No.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: We did one year.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: We had a freshman JV in varsity.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: Then I think by the time I was a junior, I think there had to be a JVA and a J V B.
2:01
SPEAKER_01: And I never even heard of that.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: You know?
2:04
SPEAKER_01: Did you guys have pay to participate?
2:06
SPEAKER_00: No.
2:07
SPEAKER_00: Do you right now?
2:08
SPEAKER_00: We do now.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: How much is it?
2:10
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
2:11
SPEAKER_00: I want to say maybe like a hundred and sixty bucks or something like that.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: And then if you're like a multi-sport athlete, they give you discounts.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: And okay.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: If you have more than one, you know, if you're a family that's got like two kids that play sports in the high school, you'll get discounts.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: Um so they they do have they do have that.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: In fact, I think most schools do.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: I think I don't know anyone now that doesn't.
2:33
SPEAKER_01: See, okay, so I spent the last 11 years in New York, and it's like the wild, wild west.
2:37
SPEAKER_01: It's like a time warp to 1995.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: They don't do that, they don't pay to get into the games.
2:43
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: Most most schools.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: You don't pay to get into the games, they send a bus home because so like on away games.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how you guys do it, but we when I was coaching at Lake Orient, we would only have bus one way, yeah, and then parents take home because it saves because bus drivers get paid hourly.
3:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: So they're sitting for four hours if there's a JV aniversity, especially if they're you know working in the morning at six o'clock picking up kids to go exactly to school, and then they come back, they drop kids, you know, drop kids off, and they sit.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: No, it was the same.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: No matter where I've been as a as a coach, it was always the same.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: The the transportation's just been one way.
3:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, now there are things you can always ask for like exceptions if you you know have uh you know a game that's you know an hour away, right?
3:29
SPEAKER_00: And you can kind of figure something like that out, but most of the time everything is one way, with the exception I think of football.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: Right.
3:36
SPEAKER_00: Um you know, you got so many kids, you got all that equipment, it's impossible to have that.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: So you have to have the two-way busing there.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: Right, and I hear like horror stories from some high school coaches in New York, like, yeah, we don't have the budget, we don't have the budget.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: It's like, yeah, I know, because you guys you do all the things that we just talked about.
3:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it drives me up the wall.
3:57
SPEAKER_01: How and one thing that they say is assistant coaches can't get paid in New York.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: How is it here?
4:03
SPEAKER_00: So assistant coaches, I can I have to I pay for the kids or the co assistant coaches out of the country through like fundraising money that we do, you know.
4:13
SPEAKER_00: So we'll fundraise and and we can do that.
4:15
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I I think that's one of the hard things to do is because you you want to have assistant coaches, right?
4:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's a need, you know, it's it's tough to run a program, just you know, even being a varsity coach, you know, having your hand in the in the JV and just understanding what's going on there.
4:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, you want to be a part of that show face, be around as much as you can so that way they know, but you also got to make sure you're attending to the varsities team.
4:40
SPEAKER_02: Right.
4:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, so assistant coaches are are key.
4:43
SPEAKER_00: I had I had two assistant coaches and a goalkeeper coach this year.
4:48
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, and and sometimes they'll do it, you know, they'll volunteer, right?
4:52
SPEAKER_00: Like there are some people that just want to do it.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: I remember when I first started coaching, I did my first two or three years, I just volunteered.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: I was a volunteer assistant at Henry Ford with their J or with their freshman team.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: It was just a freshman team.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: That's how I started out at Lake Orient.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: And I was just and I just wanted to be around, I just wanted to, you know, I didn't I got no money, nothing.
5:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's all I wanted to do.
5:14
SPEAKER_00: So I you still get people who are willing and wanting to do that, right?
5:17
SPEAKER_00: And let's be honest, there's you're not coaching high school soccer to make money.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: Right.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: You know, like you're coaching high school soccer because you love the sport or you love the environment or you want to make a difference, you know, like you're not coaching to make a ton of money because there's just there isn't.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: How do you make sure that like you have your fingerprints on the JV as well?
5:41
SPEAKER_01: And like you're building a program and you're not just the varsity head coach.
5:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm so I'm at every single JV game.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm there every game.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: Um our practices overlap.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
5:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, so our JV coach is a teacher in school, so he practices you know 2 30-ish, 3 o'clock.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm not a teacher, so by the time I get here around 3 34, um, we got maybe a little half hour overlap or so.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I'm you know, watching his training sessions as I'm setting up for mine, or I'll walk over to his and again let my assistant coaches you guys, you guys take the warm-up, you guys do this.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go over here.
6:18
SPEAKER_00: I want to see what's happening with our JVs.
6:21
SPEAKER_00: So that way, I mean those kids are that's my pipeline.
6:24
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
6:25
SPEAKER_00: Those are the kids that I'm gonna want in the next year or two, you know, and and that's where you build those successful programs, which is what Troy's had here, right?
6:33
SPEAKER_00: Like absolutely they've had those successful programs and it's all coming through the pipeline.
6:38
SPEAKER_00: So that that's what I do.
6:39
SPEAKER_00: I I you know I I know every single JV kid's name.
6:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I'm at all the games.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I when it's JV time, I'm I'm the assistant coach.
6:50
SPEAKER_00: I sit on the bench, and if the head, if the head coach, you know, asks me a question, I give him my two cents.
6:56
SPEAKER_00: I'll I'll give him my opinion.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: If I see something, then I was like, hey, why?
7:00
SPEAKER_00: I think if you try this, you know, move Layla over here and put Nora this, right?
7:04
SPEAKER_00: It might work, you know, and and we'll we'll talk about that stuff.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: But you know, half times it's it's his show.
7:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, I'm I'm just there to be supportive and show some face, and and I think it just kind of helps the girls understand.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: And then he does the same thing for me on on the varsity side.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: He's he stays at all my games, he comes to everything.
7:24
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I want it to be so if he has something to say during a game on a varsity team, I want the girls to listen and and understand, you know, like his voice is just as important as mine, right?
7:34
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and I think from uh a coaching standpoint that's how you get a group together that you guys can you know be successful.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: I mean, how many games does the JV play?
7:46
SPEAKER_01: They play the exact same amount as we do.
7:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I would say 18.
7:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we we had 18 scheduled, we played 16, um, we lost a couple games.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: JV lost a couple games because like we played country day, they didn't end up having a J V team.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: Um they didn't have one.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: Um How'd that game go?
8:06
SPEAKER_00: It was awesome.
8:07
SPEAKER_00: It was it was really weird.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: It started off uh it was at Country Day, so there was water that had pooled on one side of the of the field.
8:16
SPEAKER_00: There was like the corner, there was water, and they couldn't get it off, and and Laura's like, Well, what do you want us to do?
8:22
SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm like, just let's play.
8:24
SPEAKER_00: And the refs wouldn't let us play.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: So they said, Okay, well, you guys got two options.
8:30
SPEAKER_00: We either wait to see what happens, and we can like see if it dries out, or we can work through it.
8:36
SPEAKER_00: And we're like, Well, there's another storm coming in like three hours.
8:40
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, Well, the next option is we can just play lacrosse lines and we just bring the field in.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I don't know how I feel about that.
8:49
SPEAKER_00: And I was talking to Laura and she's like, I'm fine with it.
8:51
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you know what?
8:52
SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: So we did.
8:53
SPEAKER_00: So we played lacrosse lines, and it's weird because oh, I mean it shrunk the field maybe 10 to 12 yards.
9:00
SPEAKER_00: Oh god.
9:01
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was it was tight.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's it one I was on the field coaching, and I'm like, I you know, it's weird because you're standing on the field and and then you you still got another five yards ahead of you because that that those are the lines you're playing.
9:13
SPEAKER_01: That's unbelievable.
9:14
SPEAKER_00: And you know, Laura, she's knows her stuff, right?
9:17
SPEAKER_00: So she for her, it's like, oh, this is a huge advantage for us.
9:20
SPEAKER_00: Compacts it and blow blah.
9:22
SPEAKER_00: Like it was great for her.
9:23
SPEAKER_00: You know, we we get we get zero zero at halftime, and you know, I'm like, what is happening?
9:29
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're we're playing well, there we're dominating, but we just couldn't, you know, she had that system set, and that shrink in that field helped her.
9:37
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I'm looking at her like, okay, yeah, I tons of respect for that, right?
9:43
SPEAKER_00: Because we ended up winning the game 2-0.
9:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, but it wasn't like a 2-0 that was you know dominant.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they hit the crossbar with you know two minutes left in the game, and so sh they they played well, they were very smart, right?
9:58
SPEAKER_01: Do you think that okay?
9:59
SPEAKER_01: So you said that there's not really any D1 private schools.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: I don't and I don't think so.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: I I could be wrong, but like I think most of the private schools, like even on the boys' side, I know, like DSL, they dropped a D2.
10:13
SPEAKER_00: They did because of their enrollment.
10:15
SPEAKER_00: Okay, that you know, like so all of it is based off of MHSAA does this all based off of enrollment.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: So what's your school size?
10:23
SPEAKER_00: You know, we have 2,300 kids or something like that, 2,400 kids in the school.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, we're you know, I think we're in the top ten for enrollment in division one.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: Do you think okay, so there's uh a guy in Missouri that I'll I always talk to, and he's a high school coach, successful, but he thinks that if you're a private school and you win, you should get promoted into the division, like the next division, regardless of your school size.
10:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I I don't know if I agree with that.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: I don't think I do either.
10:58
SPEAKER_00: That's that's hard, you know, like public school and private schools.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're they're apples and oranges.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: You know, like I I don't know if I necessarily agree with that.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: Now they're like we have like on the girls' side, you have uh Hudsonville Unity Christian, you have Marion, you know, like you have Country Day.
11:15
SPEAKER_00: Um you know, but you you know, Regina, you know, we played Regina this year.
11:20
SPEAKER_00: Um we played Regina, Stefano's a guy that I've known for a really long time.
11:24
SPEAKER_00: I know he's been coaching there, so we went and played Regina, you know, and and I I know I don't know how many kids they have in their school.
11:30
SPEAKER_00: It's a couple hundred, yeah.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: It's very small.
11:33
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think like our senior class is probably bigger than their entire school.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, you know, so it I I wouldn't say and and they were in the state finals two years ago.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: Of what, D three?
11:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're in the D3 state final two years ago.
11:47
SPEAKER_00: You know?
11:48
SPEAKER_00: So like it is it fair for them to get bumped up because they were in the state finals or they they let's say they would have won.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: They lost, let's say they would have won.
11:56
SPEAKER_00: That's not fair for those kids to get bumped up, at least not in my opinion.
12:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like it's it's tough.
12:02
unknown: Yeah.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: There's a big difference when you start getting into, you know, like a lot of it also comes to like the pool of kids you have, right?
12:08
SPEAKER_00: So like I, you know, again, we have 2,400 kids or whatever it is that we have, 10th largest school in the state.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: Right.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: My pool of kids.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: Really?
12:17
SPEAKER_00: I think so.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think we're like the tenth largest in the state.
12:20
SPEAKER_00: Even with Troy Athens.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think how big is Troy?
12:24
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: Big.
12:26
SPEAKER_00: I think between the two schools, I I would guess that you got like 5,000 students between the two, somewhere around there, maybe a give or take.
12:34
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, and and the crazy thing is, is between Troy and Athens, you're looking at two schools that in a lot of sports are dominant, yeah, very competitive, right?
12:47
SPEAKER_01: And then you got Rochester right next door, too.
12:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Rochester, Rochester, Adams, and Stoney.
12:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:52
SPEAKER_01: Are they all D1?
12:53
SPEAKER_00: Yep, all three of them.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think Stoney started off because they're the newest of the schools, right?
12:58
SPEAKER_00: So they started off in D2 just as they were getting going, but yeah, they've been D1 for a while now.
13:05
SPEAKER_01: Man, how is your pool of players?
13:09
SPEAKER_01: Like, like where do they come from?
13:11
SPEAKER_01: Where do they play uh soccer outside?
13:13
SPEAKER_01: Do all of them play outside?
13:15
SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah, like all these all all the girls here are playing, you know, Liverpool, Hawks, MDA, Nationals, Star, like they're all doing, they're all playing.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you know, and and it's in Oakland County, like I you know, I I came from the Mac, right?
13:30
SPEAKER_00: So I was at Stevenson, and I I came from the Mac, and and sitting in the Mac, I'm always, you know, I was always the guy yelling about, you know, oh Oakland County gets all this love and Oakland County this, and then I come here and I'm like, oh my, Oakland County is so you do think that it's a huge difference.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're every single game that you play in in the OAA red, you're playing against a team that has a legitimate chance of winning the state title.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: Everyone.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then they all have to play each other in stupid playoffs.
14:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if you if you look at if you look at since COVID, right?
14:06
SPEAKER_00: So let's go 2021 till now, uh, there's been an OAA red team that has either won or played in the state finals every single year, except for last except for not this past season, but the one before.
14:19
SPEAKER_00: So look, 24-25, and Athens lost in the state semis.
14:24
SPEAKER_00: So I think in 21 you had Athens lost in the state finals.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: I think 22 Stoney won.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
14:33
SPEAKER_00: 23 or 22, I think might have been Bloomfield Hills, 23 Stoney, something like that.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: Right.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: And then 24 Adams.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: Adams won it.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: Adams won it.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: Stoney won, Adams won, and Bloomfield Hills.
14:47
SPEAKER_00: So those three schools won all three years in a row.
14:50
SPEAKER_00: And then 24-25 was Byron Center and Saline.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: But Athens Athens was in the state semis.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: I never even heard of that school coming up.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: I didn't until last year.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: And then Laura was like, oh, that's where I'm from.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, where is this high school?
15:06
SPEAKER_01: She went to East Kentwood, though.
15:08
SPEAKER_01: But um did Todd ever win one with the girls?
15:12
SPEAKER_01: I know he won with the boys.
15:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think he won with the girls at Rochester.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: I don't think at Athens, I don't think he I know he's got the appearance.
15:22
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if he did.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
15:24
SPEAKER_00: I know he did with the boys.
15:26
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
15:27
SPEAKER_00: And I know at Rochester he did boys and girls.
15:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
15:32
SPEAKER_00: Um I mean Yeah, the I mean the OAA, and now you're you're adding in the 27-28 school year, you're adding Northville into the OAA.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: What?
15:43
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: Northville, Novi, and Grand Blanc.
15:46
SPEAKER_00: Those three are three.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: Those are three soccer powerhouses.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: Novi, Northville, and and Grand Blanc are going into the OAA.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
15:58
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
15:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: So that just all happened recently.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: Like that's all been within the last six to eight months.
16:07
SPEAKER_00: I I you know, changes with conferences and stuff.
16:10
SPEAKER_01: I understand Grand Blanc because they want to be sharp for playoffs, but you're going to be dead for playoffs.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:18
SPEAKER_01: Because that's always been my argument, is that all the all the east side teams, they just beat each other up, and it's a physical battle, war every single time.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: And then East Kentwood comes up, or even in like Division III, like Hudsonville, Unity Christian.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: Here they come.
16:36
SPEAKER_00: And now Byron Center.
16:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's this side of town.
16:39
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's that's what it is.
16:40
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you have that one, you have the district that has Rochester, Rochester, Adams, Stoney, Romeo, Eisenhower.
16:47
SPEAKER_00: I think this year there was Lake Orion and like Utica.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: I think those were the seven teams that were in it.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: And Lake Orion didn't, and Lake Orion was good in like last year, and then they lose their first district game this year.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: I mean and and that's the thing is like you have teams that are losing in that game that could win a state title.
17:08
SPEAKER_00: They could make a run.
17:10
SPEAKER_00: They can make it to regionals or you can have a matchup in that re in that district that is you know a good state final.
17:18
SPEAKER_01: So did I still don't understand the New York system because it's so weird.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, I understand the classes and everything, and then they don't have districts.
17:29
SPEAKER_01: It's like one game and you're and you win your sectional.
17:32
SPEAKER_01: It's like how can you imagine winning one game and you win districts?
17:37
SPEAKER_01: No, that's how it is sometimes over there.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so you sometimes you get a buy, right?
17:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but most of the times it's three.
17:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, it just depends on if your district's eight teams, seven teams, six teams.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: You know, obviously in some of these areas where you don't have enough schools where you can have uh eight team district, right?
17:56
SPEAKER_00: You know, if you're up north and you can only put six teams together in the Traverse City area or five teams together, you're gonna have some buys.
18:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, down here it's always either seven or eight teams.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, your first if you're seven team, number one seed, like the Rochester, Rochester Adams district, they had seven teams.
18:12
SPEAKER_00: Adams got the first round by.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Our district, we uh we had eight teams, so everyone played.
18:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, like you get there's no first round buys, so you you basically get like um whatever the the pre-district game, if you will.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: Right.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: Because those games are usually hosted at you know of the higher seeds facility.
18:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then you know your semifinals and finals are hosted at whoever's hosting the district.
18:37
SPEAKER_00: Like for us, it was Royal Oak this year.
18:38
SPEAKER_00: Does Division I have RPI?
18:40
SPEAKER_00: MP MPR.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: MPR.
18:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
18:43
SPEAKER_00: So when did that start?
18:45
SPEAKER_00: A couple years ago.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: Which I think is is a is a step in the right direction, if you ask me, right?
18:51
SPEAKER_00: Because it encourages teams to play difficult schedules.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: And it encourages you, especially if you're one of these teams like in our district or that Adams district or you know, uh a district that you got teams you don't want to play, like I don't want to play Troy Athens first round.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: Don't want to do that, right?
19:09
SPEAKER_00: So the old way is you know, you get all these athletic directors to just sit in a room and you know, you draw a name out of a hat and you just start filling out the form that way, and that's how it used to be done.
19:18
SPEAKER_00: So now with this MPR, their original thought was let's put, you know, hopefully the top two teams will put them on opposite sides of the bracket, and then it's just a random draw from there.
19:29
SPEAKER_00: And then just recently they started seeding everybody one through eight or one through seven, so then it turns into more of like NCAA tournament style, where like one plays eight, two plays seven, three plays six.
19:39
SPEAKER_00: And there's you know, definitely more parity when it comes to that.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: And then does it reseed?
19:43
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't.
19:45
SPEAKER_01: See, that's another thing.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: I don't like that.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so when you get reseed.
19:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when you get into the regional, you just have your four teams and it doesn't reseed.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: It's it's like, you know, district uh 11 plays 13 and 12 plays 14.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: So do you think that we'll get to a point where districts aren't set until the end of the regular season?
20:10
SPEAKER_01: Or is it because everybody gets in, they always set it up preseason.
20:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's ridiculous.
20:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I don't know.
20:20
SPEAKER_00: I I would, you know, I understand the idea of wanting everyone to get in, right?
20:26
SPEAKER_00: But I I was just I sat in my first OAA meeting this year.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: Um and Todd was telling me it was it was good, right?
20:33
SPEAKER_00: Like it's it's intimidating sometimes, you know, like especially for me, the new guy on the block, and you come in, you know, you got Todd Hugh who's running this meeting, and it's like and you're trying to like support your girls making yeah, you know, you got Brian Middlestad over here, you got Alan, you know, even Rochester now, they got uh Kevin, Kevin Tapchum to just replace Doug, you know.
20:52
SPEAKER_00: So you got like some coaches, yeah.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: You do, yeah, you know, so like you're in this room and you're you know, you're meeting people and you're talking to people, and I'm you know, my first first season this past year, right?
21:05
SPEAKER_00: And so my uh as I'm playing teams, I'm you know introducing myself, like hey Alan, I know who you are, you don't know who I am, you know.
21:13
SPEAKER_00: So like it's it was it was crazy, it was fun, but sitting in those meetings, you know, there there's that discussion because you know there's there's teams that are lower level that aren't as good as some of these big powerhouses that like like us, like Athens, like Rochester, and and you know, you have these first round games in districts and you're losing, you know, to rock lopsided teams.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right, right, like the lopsided games with some of these first round games, yeah.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: Right.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: So the discussion was, you know, how do we eliminate that?
21:43
SPEAKER_00: And you know, the you don't have to play, you don't have to play in districts, you can opt out.
21:48
SPEAKER_00: And there are coaches who do because they don't want their season to end on a 10 0 loss, knowing that you know, you're a smaller school and you're stuck playing Troy your first game or You're playing Athens or you're playing Eisenhower your first game, you know, like you're one of these smaller schools and you're going up against a you know top state ranked team.
22:08
SPEAKER_00: Team with all ECNL and RL and GA plays, and they might have kids that don't even play, you know, or they may have one ECNL kid, or whatever the case may be, and you know it's tough for those kids.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: So they go through the entire season, they have a great season, or maybe they they're enjoying themselves, and then the last taste of their mouth is they you know go out.
22:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: Who was it that you played?
22:30
SPEAKER_01: Southfield?
22:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we played Southfield AT.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, it didn't go well.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you do, but that's the hard thing.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you make it to the state final.
22:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh, what were you supposed to do?
22:41
SPEAKER_01: Right.
22:42
SPEAKER_01: Tell a girl that hasn't scored all year not to score.
22:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's that was the tough thing, right?
22:47
SPEAKER_00: Like, we we had some time off.
22:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, like my starters, so we played Troy Athens was like our last regular season game, and we we played them, and I mean it was it was a two-two tie, it was a heck of a game, it was awesome, right?
23:03
SPEAKER_00: Like it was my first experience in it, and there were times I felt we play them once now?
23:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
23:07
SPEAKER_00: So now everyone we play everyone one time, which is good.
23:12
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I can't again coming from the Mac, I played everyone twice.
23:16
SPEAKER_02: Right.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: And then we were giving we were given a game.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: So like if like Stevenson, when I was coaching there, we were in the Mac White.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: So we would play everyone twice, so we'd have we know played 12 games, and then we were given one game up and maybe one game down.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: So you're given a 14-game schedule, so you can't really build a schedule like that.
23:34
SPEAKER_00: Here, you play everyone once.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: So we play, you know, you play Adams once, Rochester once, Athens once, Lake Orion once, Stoney once, you know, Bloomfield Hills once, you know, you and you you play one time.
23:47
SPEAKER_00: So you're given, I think there's there were seven teams in the division, so you're basically given six games.
23:53
SPEAKER_00: And it's like build you get to build your schedule.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: That is nice.
23:57
SPEAKER_00: It is nice, right?
23:58
SPEAKER_00: Especially now with this MP.
24:00
SPEAKER_00: As long as people will play you.
24:01
SPEAKER_00: Well, that was a thing.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: I started reaching out to people.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to play.
24:05
SPEAKER_00: We don't want to play.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: Why am I scheduling a loss?
24:07
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, wait a minute, what do you mean you don't want to play?
24:09
SPEAKER_00: Like it's the first that's ever happened to me.
24:11
SPEAKER_00: Team saying that they didn't want to play us.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, because again, first year, I'm a little bit naive to what I'm getting myself into, maybe.
24:20
SPEAKER_02: Right.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: And I'm reaching out to schools and I'm reaching out to coaches, and they're like, no, I don't want to play, or oh, we don't want to do that, or we can't play that late in the season because I don't want to like ruin any momentum we might have.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then you have, you know, like all these OAA teams.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: It's like, yeah, we'll play.
24:38
SPEAKER_00: We all we all basically just play each other, right?
24:40
SPEAKER_00: Like I played Clarkston, I played Royal Oak, um, played Sea Home the last game of the season, yeah, and that game was irrelevant, and it was like eight days before districts.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: So I remember walking on the field and Manny, their coach, was like, We'll see you in a couple of weeks, right?
24:59
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Yeah.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: He goes, I'm not playing, you know, he's like, I'm not risking injury or playing any of my starters.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Yeah, I I didn't either.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: I gave I gave a ton of opportunities.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: I I don't think I had I didn't play a lot anyone in my starting lineup that would normally play.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: I think I gave a bunch of kids opportunities.
25:17
SPEAKER_00: I I think pulled three kids from JB, let them play, give them some chances and opportunities, and it was a great game.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: It was a fun, entertaining game still, you know, 2-2 draw, and it was fun.
25:27
SPEAKER_00: And then fast forward a week and a half later, we play them in the second round of districts.
25:32
unknown: Yeah.
25:33
SPEAKER_00: And how'd that go?
25:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh we beat them 3-0.
25:36
SPEAKER_00: So it was it was good.
25:38
SPEAKER_00: It was competitive.
25:39
SPEAKER_00: That's the thing, is all these games are competitive.
25:41
SPEAKER_00: The OAA red, it it blows my mind.
25:45
SPEAKER_00: We my first OAA red game was Bloomfield Hills, and at one point we were up three-nothing.
25:51
SPEAKER_00: And the next thing you know, the game's 3-2.
25:52
SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking at my assistant coaches like, what's happening?
25:56
SPEAKER_00: And I'm looking over like down there, and like for them, it was like no big deal.
26:00
SPEAKER_00: They just kept going, right?
26:01
SPEAKER_00: And and I quickly learned that when you're in the OAA red, there's no game that's ever over.
26:06
SPEAKER_00: It's like playing Argentina.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: Yes, exactly.
26:10
SPEAKER_00: It's exactly like that.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: There's no game that's ever over.
26:13
SPEAKER_00: Like you, you're you're getting everything.
26:15
SPEAKER_00: And then if you play like a team like you know, a Clarkston or a Royal Oak, who who's in the white and they're awesome, right?
26:20
SPEAKER_00: Clarkston was ranked most of the year this year.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: You go and play um a team like them, and they're you know, they're they're giving you your best shot, right?
26:32
SPEAKER_00: Who's pushing the girls on uh Clarkston?
26:35
SPEAKER_01: I can't think of what his name is off the top of my head right now.
26:38
SPEAKER_01: It's not it's not Damon or Damien.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, it is.
26:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
26:42
SPEAKER_01: Okay, got it.
26:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's crazy.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: And do you think it's just OAA is because of club?
26:50
SPEAKER_01: Uh I can't be.
26:52
SPEAKER_01: I don't because I don't know because McComb has nationals, that's where all their uh girls are coming from.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: Well some most you know.
26:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's oh it's Oakland too, but yeah, you know.
27:02
SPEAKER_00: I I don't honestly like I don't know.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: It is it's just the size?
27:07
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the facilities that all these schools have are awesome, right?
27:10
SPEAKER_00: Like our facility is unbelievable, Athens is unbelievable.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: You have schools like you know, Stoney, who's hosting state semifinal games and regional finals, and you know, like this year the regional, regional final, the regional was at Athens, the state semifinals was at Stony.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: And for us, it's great, right?
27:26
SPEAKER_00: It's and the final was at Michigan.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: All four.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: All four of them.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they do all four.
27:33
SPEAKER_00: They do two on Friday and then two on on Saturday.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: So they did Division Four, played at like two or something like that.
27:41
SPEAKER_00: One or two o'clock on Friday.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: We played, I think it was like a four o'clock kick, and then they do it again on Saturday.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: It's a super, I don't know if you've ever been there, awesome environment during the state finals time, right?
27:52
SPEAKER_01: I haven't been there for a state final.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: I coached on that field a couple times.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:57
SPEAKER_01: One with the girls and one with the boys at uh University of Detroit.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
28:00
SPEAKER_00: So go go during an MHSA finals in the spring, because you will have their the way that their complex is set up, is you have, you know, you have DeMartin Field, and then you have their softball fields right next to it, and their baseball field.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: So when you walk in, you have every single state final going, right?
28:18
SPEAKER_00: And you can feel the energy of like teams getting, you know, teams losing.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: And like you can like you, you you see, you see it and you can feel it.
28:27
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: You know, like teams winning, you can hear the roar of the crowd that's happening, you know, over in the softball because someone just hit like a walk-off or whatever the case may be, right?
28:35
SPEAKER_00: It's so cool.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: The environment that they create is awesome.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: Like it, I've again my first time being a part of it, and it was it was absolutely awesome.
28:46
SPEAKER_01: What's the furthest that you made it when you were with Stevenson?
28:49
SPEAKER_01: District semis.
28:51
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so who's in when who was in that?
28:54
SPEAKER_00: Like Ford, Ike?
28:56
SPEAKER_00: No, so what would change, right?
28:57
SPEAKER_00: Usually it was like an Eisenhower or it was Ford, um, and then almost every other year you would have like a Troy or Troy Athens in it.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, Frazier would be in there, um, you know, maybe Lakeview or Lake Shore, one like Lakeview, I think, would be in there.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, like you would have most of those teams in that, like Sterling Heights, Cosno, Warren Mott, stuff like that.
29:23
SPEAKER_00: So you'd get like those northern Warren Con schools and your you know, Sterling Heights schools that would be in there.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then it was most like every other year you'd get you know Troy or Troy Athens and they'd get bumped into the into your into your district, and you know, you you try to prepare as much as you can, and you know, like it's tough.
29:46
SPEAKER_00: It's tough.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: How long were you there?
29:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I went to Stevenson, graduated from Stevenson, graduated in 01, um, played, played for let's see, my I had Bob Mondu started off as a coach there for my first couple years or my first year, and then my sophomore junior years, I had Dale Garish.
30:10
SPEAKER_00: Really?
30:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:11
SPEAKER_00: So he was a teacher in at the school and he took over as the coach there.
30:15
SPEAKER_01: Um so he never knew he coached high school.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so so he was my high school coach for two years, and then he stepped away from coaching, I think focused on like club stuff and you know, teaching, yeah, all that shit.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: Back in the day.
30:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: So um, and then Bob Mondu came back, and then Mondu was the coach there for a really long time with the boys, um, and then the girls, he did that as well, but Chris Cortag was there for a little bit.
30:40
SPEAKER_00: He was at Stevenson?
30:41
SPEAKER_00: At Stevenson.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: He had a short stint there at Stevenson.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: After Ike?
30:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think it was before Ike, maybe.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then he went to Ike because I played for Court I played for Cortag at Macomb.
30:54
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: I coached with Cortag coming up.
30:57
SPEAKER_00: He was one of the guys that like he was one of the reasons I wanted to coach.
31:00
SPEAKER_00: He's great.
31:01
SPEAKER_00: He was.
31:01
SPEAKER_00: He you know, he taught me a lot about life, about the game, you know, and it it it was a different era, right?
31:09
SPEAKER_00: He he was hard on me like he was my dad.
31:12
SPEAKER_00: He's old school, you know, but it it it was a different time.
31:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I can tell you when I got to the state finals, one of the first calls that I got was from Chris Gortag.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: Of course, you know, and he you know, I got the job here, one of the first calls was him.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: Like he called me and he keeps in touch and knows what's going on, and he's super relevant, and you know, like I don't know, I think locally he's considered like a legend.
31:38
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, you know, you know, and he's uh he was he's been I mean he's out of it now, but Lake Orient, he was at Lake Orient for the longest time, yeah.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: You know, on the girl side and the boy side for a bit.
31:49
unknown: Wow.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so so I stuck well, I ended up so my coaching journey through high school has been a little bit all over the place.
31:56
SPEAKER_00: Like I started off as a volunteer assistant at Henry Ford, um, met like 2004, something like that, like long ago.
32:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, did that for a couple years, um, went to Gross Point North and was like a JV coach there for a couple years, um, left Gross Point North and took a Stevenson job, and I was the freshman coach for girls, and I had nothing to do with boys, and then Trevor Foster got the boys coaching job at Stevenson in maybe like 2015 or 2016, 2015, I think.
32:33
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then he brought me on as a JV coach.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: So then, and then from there I just started I I was like JV coach for both boys and girls, and then in 20 the COVID year, COVID year would have been my first year coaching varsity with Stevenson and the girls' team.
32:49
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then I just did that after COVID.
32:53
SPEAKER_00: I I've been at Stevenson for you know since 21 as their varsity coach.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: Um on the boys side I stayed.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: Um Dan Chun, guy who owns the Michigan Stars, yeah, he um took over for the boy or the boys at um at Stevenson.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
33:12
SPEAKER_00: So him and I worked together at Stevenson, and then I had an opportunity that came up uh at Lawrence Tech, where I went over and jumped ship and left the boys program, took a job at Lawrence Tech with you know Andy Richards and Doug and Trevor, who got me in at Stevenson, was also the goalkeeper coach at Lawrence Tech, and he brought me over at Lawrence Tech.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: And then I did a couple waited three years there.
33:34
SPEAKER_01: Who was the varsity coach at uh Gross Point North when you were there?
33:38
SPEAKER_00: Um it was a friend of mine, his name's Chris Alston.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: Him and I, him and I did it together.
33:42
SPEAKER_00: So we both replaced uh Chip Stencil.
33:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:45
SPEAKER_00: So he was the guy who was a coach, and then Chris came in and and he brought me because he was a coach at Ford and he took the job at Gross Point North, and then he called me, he was like, You gotta come be my JV coach.
33:57
SPEAKER_00: So I did.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, him and I have kind of had a a path together in the high school world.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, neither one of us have done club by choice.
34:06
SPEAKER_00: We just have just opted not to do it.
34:08
SPEAKER_00: Just love the high school environment.
34:10
SPEAKER_00: Go into that more.
34:11
SPEAKER_01: Like, why you know I'm with you.
34:14
SPEAKER_01: I haven't been in the club game for 12 years.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think I'm ever going back.
34:21
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I want to.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: Um my daughter's six, and she's just starting to play off, you know, play right now.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: She's actually on middle stats team.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
34:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, Brian's got a team with the Michigan Stars and his daughter's on it.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, so my daughter's not my daughter's playing on that team.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: So I'm, you know, obviously gonna dip my toe back into the club world as far as up as a parent goes.
34:40
SPEAKER_01: Right.
34:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, but as a coach, you know, I I love high school soccer.
34:46
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's my biggest thing.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: I think it is there's nothing better, you know, for like here on a Thursday night and you're playing a state, you know, you're playing Rochester Adams, and you know, these girls are so excited and they're so pumped, and you know, you got two of the best teams in the state, and when you put on that jersey, it doesn't matter what club you play for.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: Those girls don't care.
35:08
SPEAKER_00: They don't care when they put that Troy High School jersey on teammates in the club game.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, like they're they're playing against kids that they play club soccer with.
35:16
SPEAKER_02: Right.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: And you wouldn't know that when they step onto the field.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: You know, like they step onto the field and it it's it's battle.
35:22
SPEAKER_01: And that's why it's still so good.
35:24
SPEAKER_01: It's awesome, especially on the girls' side.
35:26
SPEAKER_01: On the boys' side, we don't see it as much because of MLS next, they're not allowed to play.
35:30
SPEAKER_01: And then Hawks, and I think nationals, they don't allow girls to play.
35:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the top tier, uh top tier teams on nationals, they their ECNL, their blue team, they don't play.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, I they I think they've started where like there's girls now their senior year who come back.
35:46
SPEAKER_00: Um, I had a girl this year, Marin Swan, who's absolutely awesome.
35:50
SPEAKER_00: You know, she's been an ECNL blue kid, hasn't played high school, she came out this year.
35:54
SPEAKER_00: Um and was she already committed?
35:57
SPEAKER_00: Yep, she she's going to Butler.
35:58
SPEAKER_01: And how did like Roberts and those guys take it?
36:01
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think it was fine.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: I think they're starting to see that that's a little bit of what it is, right?
36:06
SPEAKER_00: Like these girls want to play.
36:08
SPEAKER_01: Just let them play their last year.
36:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, and and it's great.
36:12
SPEAKER_00: I I try to stay away and I don't get involved in any of that stuff because at the end of the day, it's like, you know, we're living in two different worlds between what club is and high school, you know.
36:23
SPEAKER_01: And this doesn't need to be combative, it doesn't need to be a war.
36:27
SPEAKER_01: It's not like and then the biggest knock would always be like, oh well, they come back with all these hat bad habits because they're allowed to get away with murder.
36:36
SPEAKER_01: It's like, wait a minute.
36:37
SPEAKER_01: First of all, the coaching now is way better than it was 10 years ago, let alone 20 years ago, 30 years ago, it's not the same.
36:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I couldn't agree with that more, right?
36:47
SPEAKER_00: Like, I was fortunate enough, you know, when I played in the early 2000s in high school, where you know, I had someone like Dale Garrish, right?
36:55
SPEAKER_00: And that's incredible.
36:56
SPEAKER_00: There are schools that, you know, there are schools that don't have the Dale Garish's.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: No.
37:01
SPEAKER_00: You know, or didn't.
37:02
SPEAKER_00: And there are many, many times that growing up, your high school, you know, you may have had uh, you know, uh a teacher of some sort who didn't know much about it, but you know, maybe was a good athlete, or maybe had a kid or someone that played it, or or whatever the case may be.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: Um now, like if you look at you look at what we have, especially like in the OAA, you look at these Mac, you know, like the Mac red coaches, Mac White coaches, these guys all have like soccer pedigree.
37:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
37:29
SPEAKER_00: You know, like these guys are soccer guys.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: And like you're you're not you're not gonna come play high school soccer, and it's it's not gonna be a walk in the park, right?
37:37
SPEAKER_00: Like you, you my training sessions are structured, they're they're they're they're they're thought out, you know, like I can have conversations with these girls with you know, the same way that they're having conversations with their coaches and talking styles and techniques and right.
37:52
SPEAKER_01: And what I I'm gonna post something like this, right?
37:57
SPEAKER_01: I'll clip this up and I'll post on Instagram, and then people in the comments will be like, high school coaches suck.
38:01
SPEAKER_01: It's like, yeah, because you're still uh in Buffalo, New York, and it's time warped and it's not the same.
38:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right, or wherever they are in the country, because here it's been pretty good for the last 10, 15, oh 20 years.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:16
SPEAKER_01: Coaches, I mean, and and I'm sick of coaches getting the blame or the blunt force from our men's national team uh like failures.
38:26
SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh yeah, if our coaching was better.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: We have a lot of really good coaches.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: That's one of the reasons why I wanted to really start interviewing coaches on this podcast so that people can see that, like, hey, we have some really good people in the game.
38:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
38:42
SPEAKER_00: And you know, for me, I look at high school soccer, and again, you're not gonna get rich coaching high school soccer.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: Of course not.
38:47
SPEAKER_00: So I think the people who are coaching high school are the guys that are coaching high school because they absolutely love it, right?
38:52
SPEAKER_00: They want to make a difference either with with kids, they they're impacting stuff.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: Like for me, there's no greater reward at the end of the season, and I got my seniors coming up to me and they're giving me like invitations to their grad parties.
39:02
SPEAKER_00: Bingo.
39:02
SPEAKER_00: You know, like that's awesome.
39:04
SPEAKER_00: You know, and and and you get to show up to their grad parties, and they think of you as someone who's made an important impact or difference, so they want you to be there on an important moment for you know a 17-18-year-old, right?
39:16
SPEAKER_00: And exactly, and that's that's the way that I have continued to try to build what I want to see as success.
39:23
SPEAKER_00: And the soccer side of it will that will naturally come right because especially at a school like here, these girls they'll come out and you know, like I was new, right?
39:34
SPEAKER_00: And and I remember the first meeting that I had with the girls.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, I met my four four captains maybe two weeks after I got the job, and we met they already in place, yeah.
39:44
SPEAKER_00: Okay, they were already in place, and I had met them, and we went uh we went to Panera.
39:48
SPEAKER_00: And I remember and I had like a laundry list of questions of like, why do you guys do this?
39:53
SPEAKER_00: What's your thought process behind this?
39:55
SPEAKER_00: Talk to me about, you know, whatever, right?
39:56
SPEAKER_00: Like, talk to me about the reason that you guys stand the entire game.
40:01
SPEAKER_00: Troy high school, they stand, the girls on the bench stand the entire game.
40:04
SPEAKER_00: And I'm you know, I played them, listen, Troy High School ended my Stevenson career as a coach.
40:10
SPEAKER_02: Right.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: I played them at Troy Athens High School in the district semifinals, and they beat us six to one.
40:16
SPEAKER_00: And that was the last game I coached at Stevenson, and then I come here and I coach, right?
40:20
SPEAKER_00: So for me, it was like fresh into my mind.
40:22
SPEAKER_00: Like I just watched you guys dismantle my team, and we had a great team.
40:27
SPEAKER_00: Like at Stevenson, it was one of the best teams they've had in years.
40:29
SPEAKER_00: We had just won the MAC White, one of the most successful teams that we've had in a really, really long time at Stevenson, 20 plus years.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, so we were feeling good.
40:39
SPEAKER_00: We scored six seconds into the game against against Troy, and then they won off and scored six in a row.
40:46
SPEAKER_00: And then you sat back like England?
40:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, basically hold on for dear life.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: It was like, okay, can we make this last for another 79 minutes?
40:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
40:55
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it didn't.
40:57
SPEAKER_00: So they had just you know, I had just played them, so I asked them a bunch of questions, and you know, and and and I remember I remember them asking me questions, right?
41:06
SPEAKER_00: And and they were interviewing me just as I was interviewing them.
41:09
SPEAKER_01: Love that.
41:09
SPEAKER_00: And and it was awesome, you know, and and and the whole process that came from getting the job here for me was an experience like I hadn't had, right?
41:18
SPEAKER_00: Like meeting with the district athletic director.
41:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, the amount of support and involvement that the facilit like that the school has, that the district has, you know, like Todd, for instance, Todd's an Athens guy.
41:32
SPEAKER_00: Is he the is he the Troy uh total athletic director or is that somebody else?
41:37
SPEAKER_00: That's someone else.
41:38
SPEAKER_00: That's um Matt Jansen.
41:39
SPEAKER_01: Matt Janssen.
41:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's involved in like the uh the Blackhawks thing that's going on in like Troy or whatever.
41:47
SPEAKER_00: So I think he's trying to like build the community, yeah, right?
41:50
SPEAKER_00: Like the sports through the community.
41:51
SPEAKER_00: Yes, all the sports.
41:52
SPEAKER_00: He's and on both schools, yes, not just Troy or Athens.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and to be honest with you, I think it's great, right?
41:59
SPEAKER_00: Like he's he's doing he's done a great job.
42:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, the amount of support, I could call him right now, and we can have a 30-minute conversation, no question asked, right?
42:08
SPEAKER_00: And he he was at games, he would come to games, not just the Troy versus Troy Athens game.
42:13
SPEAKER_00: He would show up to a random Tuesday night if we're playing, whoever, and he'd show up to a game and support.
42:18
SPEAKER_00: He knew the kids' names, he knew all my staff.
42:21
SPEAKER_00: Like he was so involved.
42:24
SPEAKER_00: And then you flip over, and you know, when we play Athens, I see him, he does the same thing at that there.
42:30
SPEAKER_00: He knows their kids' names, he knows all their staff, he talks to them, like and that's I think part of the reason that you look at athletics here in Troy, and it's awesome.
42:42
SPEAKER_01: Is that why you came here?
42:43
SPEAKER_01: Is that why you did you do what went into your decision to leave Stevenson?
42:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, when obviously that's hard to do, it's always hard to leave.
42:54
SPEAKER_01: Yep, and then you're leaving for the team that just knocked you out.
42:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
42:58
SPEAKER_01: Like what went into that?
43:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I remember um I got a call from Doug um when he you know he was still at Rochester at the time because it was before Wayne State made the announcement that he was taking over.
43:11
SPEAKER_00: Um and he had he had called me and he goes, So the Troy job opened up.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I think you should apply.
43:17
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Ah, like there, you know who's gonna apply for that job?
43:20
SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be like good people, like there's gonna be like the who's who's of people who are gonna apply for that job.
43:25
SPEAKER_00: Do you know how many people?
43:26
SPEAKER_00: I don't, I don't offhand.
43:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I know that there was quite a few.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: For sure, you know, so I was like, uh I talked to my wife about it, and she's like, go for it.
43:35
SPEAKER_00: Just try, you know, what's the worst that's gonna happen?
43:38
SPEAKER_00: So I did, and I applied and you know, went through the first interview, went through a second interview, did a third interview, like super thorough, right, with what they're doing.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: Um and I remember I got the call and they I said I got it, and I was like, For real?
43:54
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, Yeah, like I was I was surprised, and and I was like, I know, you know, like I know.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: There had to be people who applied for their job that probably have a longer resume than what I do.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, maybe are super more involved where they're soccer's their full-time job, right?
44:10
SPEAKER_00: Soccer's not my full-time job, right?
44:12
SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I I wasn't sure what was happening, but when I got the call and they offered me the job, you know, it was like, you know, we we called all your references, and all your references, you know, had nothing but positive things to say about you.
44:24
SPEAKER_00: You know, like we we saw you as you tried coaching, you know, you coached your your tail off last time we played you, you know, and you know, like no one's got anything negative to say.
44:33
SPEAKER_00: And and and again, I I someone like Todd Hugh, who I've always thought, you know, I'll sit here and argue with anyone.
44:40
SPEAKER_00: I think Todd's probably one of the best high school soccer coaches that have ever been in the state of Michigan.
44:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, like what he's been able to do at a bunch, you know, at Rochester, at Athens, um, both boys and girls.
44:52
SPEAKER_00: You know, like his teams are always competitive.
44:54
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I I you know, I remember talking to Todd, and I called him and I asked him, I'm like, Can I do this?
45:00
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, Yeah, man, you can do it.
45:02
SPEAKER_00: He encouraged me.
45:03
SPEAKER_00: He's like, You should do this, like it'll be awesome.
45:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and and he's at the rival school.
45:09
SPEAKER_00: Um we got to the state final and I sent him a text message.
45:14
SPEAKER_00: I was like, hey, can I ask you a couple questions?
45:16
SPEAKER_00: And he goes, Yeah, gave me a call.
45:18
SPEAKER_00: I was like, I've obviously I've never done this.
45:21
SPEAKER_00: What do I do?
45:22
SPEAKER_00: What do I do?
45:23
SPEAKER_00: How do I plan this?
45:24
SPEAKER_00: And he, you know, he gave me like, here man, like this is what I did.
45:29
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, you know, have like a team breakfast in the morning with your your team.
45:33
SPEAKER_00: Try to get, you know, a charter bus so you guys are all riding together.
45:37
SPEAKER_00: And and I'll I won't forget one of the things that he said when where he goes, you're gonna get a bus.
45:42
SPEAKER_00: He's like, ride with the girls, get that charter bus, ride with the girls.
45:44
SPEAKER_00: He goes, You guys win, it's gonna be the most magical bus ride you ever have.
45:48
SPEAKER_00: He goes, You guys lose.
45:50
SPEAKER_00: He goes, the first 40, 45 minutes of it, it's gonna be dead silent.
45:53
SPEAKER_00: These girls are gonna be so sad and so upset.
45:55
SPEAKER_00: He's like, but then I think it starts setting in what you guys just did and how magical it still was.
46:01
SPEAKER_00: Right.
46:01
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, he was spot on.
46:03
SPEAKER_00: An hour in.
46:04
SPEAKER_00: We're driving home, we got you know an hour left to come to come back here to Troy, and you start hearing, you know, some laughter, you start hearing some chatter.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: You some of the girls come up and would like come talk to me, and you know, we start talking about like you know what they've done.
46:18
SPEAKER_00: And I told these girls, like, regardless if you won or lost today, like you've left a legacy in this program.
46:23
SPEAKER_00: All right, like we Sabrina Gall scores a goal in double overtime in the district final against Athens.
46:31
SPEAKER_00: No one's gonna forget that.
46:32
SPEAKER_00: No, you know.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh Olivia, Olivia Yeshnevich, who's going to Wayne State.
46:36
SPEAKER_00: Both those girls going to Wayne State.
46:38
SPEAKER_00: OJ scores a goal against Skyline with a minute and a half left, and we we pull off in Argentina where we were, you know, we were down the entire game, and for fit the last 15 minutes, we scored two goals in 15 minutes, and we we come back and win, and you know, we're off in the state finals.
46:56
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, OJ, you're that like that's a goal that people will remember forever.
47:01
SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
47:02
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I remember walking up, I was leaving Stony Creek, and I was with my wife and my kids, and I was getting into my car, and this parent walked up to me and started talking to me.
47:13
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, I know you have no idea who I am.
47:14
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, Nope, I'm I'm so sorry.
47:16
SPEAKER_00: And he he was like, My daughter graduated two years ago.
47:19
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I just I had to be here, I had to come support this.
47:22
SPEAKER_00: And it was awesome.
47:23
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
47:24
SPEAKER_00: You know, and then I got people at grad parties who are walking up to me, and they're like, My daughter's coming and playing at Troy in two years.
47:31
SPEAKER_00: We we knew that we watched everything, we were at all your home games, like it's just different, things are just different.
47:38
SPEAKER_01: Right.
47:39
SPEAKER_00: So it was crazy.
47:41
SPEAKER_01: When okay, so the furthest you get is a district semifinal with Stevenson?
47:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
47:48
SPEAKER_01: So the district final, think about this.
47:50
SPEAKER_01: So the district final game is argu arguably the biggest game of your life.
47:54
SPEAKER_00: That I've ever coached, right?
47:55
SPEAKER_00: Like I've coached, so again, I you know when I was at Lawrence Tech, I was like the head coach for the reserve program.
48:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, we won the reserve championship game.
48:03
SPEAKER_00: You know, up until that point, that was probably the biggest game that I've ever coached.
48:07
SPEAKER_00: Um that I you know I coached in.
48:10
SPEAKER_00: And and then I get to this and it just it felt different.
48:14
SPEAKER_00: It felt different, you know.
48:16
SPEAKER_00: Like played Athens?
48:17
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, in the middle of the Athens, yeah, and we had just played them like two and a half weeks ago.
48:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, we were up 2-0 on them during the regular season, and then they score two goals in the second half, the game ends in a 2-2 draw, right?
48:29
SPEAKER_00: And it's like it was it, my girls are all upset feeling like they lost the game, right?
48:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, and I'm walking away feeling like I lost it.
48:37
SPEAKER_00: Like, and and you know, here we are, we we tied.
48:39
SPEAKER_00: So then we get into the districts, and I mean it was a battle.
48:44
SPEAKER_00: It's exactly what you expect out of Athens and Troy when they play each other, you know, like no physical, fast, skill all over the field.
48:53
SPEAKER_00: Um we get uh we get a PK in the second half, score go up one-nothing, and you know, there's probably like 10-12 minutes left in the game, and they're just throwing everything they got at us.
49:06
SPEAKER_00: Um we unfortunately get an own goal with like three minutes left in the game.
49:11
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
49:12
SPEAKER_00: They throw a big ball into the box, we try to clear it, ball gets headed, goes into the back of the net.
49:17
SPEAKER_00: Um one, we go in and double overtime.
49:20
SPEAKER_00: We're going into overtime, nothing happens in overtime, we get the double overtime.
49:23
SPEAKER_00: The girl who scores, the girl who gets the own goal is the girl who starts the play that leads to the game winning goal.
49:30
SPEAKER_00: So super happy for her.
49:32
SPEAKER_00: It was Z it was Z's daughter.
49:34
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, Glenn.
49:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
49:36
SPEAKER_00: So she knows super, you know, a full 180 moment for her, who, you know, scores the own goal, is devastated, and she just picks herself back up and and we just we go right back at it, and then she she starts the playoff in the second overtime that that leads to the goal that that wins it for us.
49:56
SPEAKER_00: And then and then you play Skyline?
49:59
SPEAKER_00: No, so then after the district, we went to regionals.
50:02
SPEAKER_00: Um that game we played Henry Ford.
50:04
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Udica Ford.
50:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how are they these days?
50:08
SPEAKER_00: They're okay, they were good.
50:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, they got a first year coach.
50:11
SPEAKER_00: Okay, you know, uh they they did their one, they won their district, you know.
50:16
SPEAKER_00: So anytime anyone wins your district, it's it's tough.
50:19
SPEAKER_00: That's a that's an accomplishment.
50:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
50:21
SPEAKER_01: Um I think that people don't realize people don't realize like that is an accomplishment.
50:27
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
50:27
SPEAKER_01: Winning a district is an accomplishment in Division I think.
50:32
SPEAKER_00: It is, and I don't think enough people realize how difficult it is to win a district.
50:37
SPEAKER_01: That is that the hardest trophy to win, do you think?
50:40
SPEAKER_01: I mean it I mean it's state titles, it's really hard.
50:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, but like the district, it it's it's like that one that you're you're always chasing, right?
50:48
SPEAKER_00: Like that that's the first one you get, right?
50:50
SPEAKER_00: So you're always chasing that one, and and you know, like for me, that was the first district final that I had played in.
50:57
SPEAKER_00: It was the first trophy I've won in high school, right?
50:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, so like I felt like that was that was the elusive one that we were going after.
51:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, but you come, you know, here and I think Troy's won 18 districts, something like that.
51:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, so they for them, you know, like the expectation is to win a district, and you know, again, I come in and I'm like, this is my first time in it, and I'm just I'm excited, I'm happy to be there, and this is great.
51:22
SPEAKER_00: And then we win.
51:23
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, this is awesome.
51:25
SPEAKER_00: So then we play Ford and we get out to a hot jump, you know, we we scored 12, 17, something like that, 12 to 15 seconds into the game.
51:33
SPEAKER_00: We we we they they turn the ball over, we capitalize, and boom, we just score.
51:38
SPEAKER_00: Um, so it was one-nothing right off the bat, and and that I think, you know, I think for any team that's usually a tough start, and especially a team like us, you know, we defend well, we're really organized, knew what we were supposed to do, and and the one led to two and two led to three, and then you can see like their heads going down, and it was it was just a hole for them to dig out of.
51:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then we played Adams in the regional final.
52:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we had played Adams earlier in the year, um, they beat us 2-0 at our field, so they beat us 2-0.
52:12
SPEAKER_00: They won the OAA red, they were undefeated all season.
52:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, I think they were like 15-0-4 when we played them.
52:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, but we came in like feeling like like I told the girl, like, we I think we're the favorite.
52:27
SPEAKER_00: Like, we should be winning this game.
52:28
SPEAKER_00: And they're like looking at me like you're crazy.
52:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, listen, go back and watch the game that we played against them.
52:33
SPEAKER_00: Like, you guys played really well, and they're a really good team.
52:36
SPEAKER_00: I go, Do you know how hard it is to beat someone twice in a season?
52:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
52:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, they had just gone through this gauntlet of their district.
52:42
SPEAKER_00: They they beat Rochester in the district final.
52:46
SPEAKER_00: That game went to double overtime, right?
52:48
SPEAKER_00: So that's a taxing game.
52:49
SPEAKER_00: Their regional semifinal, they played Lance Cruz North, who they had the best team that they've had in probably ever.
52:55
SPEAKER_02: Right.
52:56
SPEAKER_00: And that game went to double overtime.
52:58
SPEAKER_00: So that, you know, you you have they just got done playing back-to-back double overtime games, and now they got to come in and play against us.
53:05
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're already upset that they beat us.
53:07
SPEAKER_00: Kind of rusted.
53:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
53:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
53:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, so we went in and um it was it was a heck of a game.
53:15
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was the game was at Troy Athens, which is interesting enough as it is, right?
53:20
SPEAKER_00: You got uh a Troy school playing at Athens, um, you know, so their their booster club has their their uh concession stand open, arguably one of the best concession stands that I've ever been a part of.
53:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, grills everywhere, and you know, it's awesome stuff.
53:36
SPEAKER_00: And again, the way that things are just done here, our concession stands brand new, and I'm walking into this, and it looks like you're you know, like at like a supermarket.
53:43
SPEAKER_00: You know, you got all these choices, and you know, everyone, you know, it it was crazy.
53:48
SPEAKER_00: But yeah, we we play we play Adams, we get um get the halftime at 0-0.
53:55
SPEAKER_00: Good game.
53:55
SPEAKER_00: Both teams going at it.
53:57
SPEAKER_00: Our goalkeeper.
53:58
SPEAKER_00: Um I think what people don't realize is speaking of my goalkeeper, my goalkeeper that I played the entire run that we had through the playoffs was our backup.
54:09
SPEAKER_00: Our starter goal, our starting goalkeeper, the game against Seahome.
54:13
SPEAKER_00: Um, ball got played back to her.
54:15
SPEAKER_00: She went to go clear it, and when she cleared it, she kicked the ground and then kicked the ball, tore her quad.
54:22
SPEAKER_00: So she came she came off at halftime, and I put our backup goalie in, and she went on and beat Seahome and then Athens and then uh Ford and then Adams and then Skyline.
54:38
SPEAKER_00: And I mean it was it was awesome.
54:40
SPEAKER_00: Like, and the girls just we just picked up and just kept going.
54:43
SPEAKER_00: It was like next man up, and you just keep playing.
54:46
SPEAKER_00: And that's I think something that is crazy.
54:48
SPEAKER_00: What happened in the final?
54:52
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, you know, I haven't I haven't even gone back and watched it yet.
54:57
SPEAKER_00: Still a little bit uh upset and salty about it.
55:00
SPEAKER_00: Um you know, Rockford, I think they had like 16 seniors.
55:08
SPEAKER_00: Um they I think nine out of their eleven starters were seniors.
55:15
SPEAKER_00: Um a lot of them all played club together growing up.
55:18
SPEAKER_00: And they, you know, this year, like it was almost like they had it pinged like that was gonna be their year.
55:25
SPEAKER_00: Um they were rolling through people.
55:28
SPEAKER_00: They won their semifinal game, I think, four or five nothing.
55:31
SPEAKER_00: They're won the regional final, like six-nothing, five-nothing.
55:35
SPEAKER_00: They were steamrolling teams.
55:38
SPEAKER_00: Um where do they all play?
55:40
SPEAKER_00: What clubs is that?
55:41
SPEAKER_00: MFA, I think, Midwest, something like that.
55:44
SPEAKER_00: I think Midwest.
55:45
SPEAKER_00: That makes sense.
55:46
SPEAKER_00: So they, I mean, and they're again their population, I think they're like a top five school with like their student enrollment.
55:53
SPEAKER_00: They're massive.
55:54
SPEAKER_00: I mean, look at their football trophies.
55:56
SPEAKER_00: Right.
55:56
SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah.
55:57
SPEAKER_00: You know, so we um I wasn't sure what to expect.
56:02
SPEAKER_00: I wasn't sure how we were gonna respond, right?
56:04
SPEAKER_00: We we watched a ton of film on them and we were ready to go, and I just kept telling the girls, like, listen, they're good.
56:10
SPEAKER_00: They haven't seen a team like you.
56:12
SPEAKER_00: They haven't seen a team like you.
56:14
SPEAKER_00: And we go out there and in that first half we outshoot them 15-5.
56:19
SPEAKER_00: We completely dominate possession, we do everything we can except score, and their goalkeeper made like three or four great saves, great saves in that first half.
56:33
SPEAKER_00: I mean, that game could have been a three-nothing game at halftime.
56:36
SPEAKER_00: I mean, you we go up three-nothing, that game's done, you're not scoring three goals on us.
56:39
SPEAKER_00: We didn't give up three goals all season.
56:41
SPEAKER_00: Like, in in a game.
56:42
SPEAKER_00: Like most goals we score we got scored on in a game was two.
56:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, so you know, you we get we get to two, we get to three, like we even get to one, you're probably not scoring.
56:52
SPEAKER_00: Um, but we didn't.
56:54
SPEAKER_00: It was one it was like that cruel reality of, you know, it's why the game, why you hate it and why you love it.
56:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
56:59
SPEAKER_00: You know, because it was it was one of those where it's like we we we played so well.
57:05
SPEAKER_00: Their coach, um, their coach Stu, um, I don't know, he's been there for five or six years.
57:11
SPEAKER_00: Um he at the end of the game, super class act.
57:16
SPEAKER_00: Game's over.
57:17
SPEAKER_00: They had they scored a goal and like the like maybe like 15 minutes left in the game.
57:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, good goal, you know, whatever.
57:24
SPEAKER_00: It was a good goal.
57:24
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna take anything away from that.
57:26
SPEAKER_00: They score a goal, they're up, we're pushing, we're pushing, we're pushing, they get a late one, you know, minute left in the game, and you know, we got 10 out of our 11 girls up, and basically it's our keeper back, and they get they get a late one.
57:38
SPEAKER_00: Um make it 2-0.
57:41
SPEAKER_00: They're ref the game ends.
57:43
SPEAKER_00: Stu walks right up to me, shakes my hand, and he goes, No team has done that to us.
57:48
SPEAKER_00: He's like, You guys were the better team, like you guys deserved.
57:52
SPEAKER_00: He's like, You didn't deserve this result.
57:54
SPEAKER_00: And I and and you know, like it's rewarding hearing that, but it's still you know, it's still tough.
58:00
SPEAKER_00: Like because they weren't they were good.
58:03
SPEAKER_00: They were good, right?
58:04
SPEAKER_00: Like they were they were strong, they were fast, they were big, you know, like they played.
58:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, and and so like that's I think the awesome part when you get to like that level is you know, I remember people like a couple days they're like, Well, is are they any good?
58:20
SPEAKER_00: Is Rockford any good?
58:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, they're in the state final, yeah.
58:24
SPEAKER_00: Of course they're good, right?
58:25
SPEAKER_00: Like, you don't win six games in a row on accident, no, you know.
58:31
SPEAKER_00: So it was uh it was tough.
58:34
SPEAKER_00: It was a tough one.
58:35
SPEAKER_00: I I you know my girls were super upset.
58:37
SPEAKER_00: It was the obviously the number one goal, and what I'm understanding is like it's the number one goal here every year is to win a state title.
58:46
SPEAKER_00: You know, like that's the biggest thing.
58:48
SPEAKER_00: We always talk about adding another star, right?
58:50
SPEAKER_00: Like that's what they want is to add that fourth star.
58:53
SPEAKER_00: They want to be the team that does that.
58:54
SPEAKER_00: And you know, I don't think anyone thought in year one of a new coach, a new a no a new regime.
59:00
SPEAKER_00: I don't think anyone thought that it would happen.
59:02
SPEAKER_00: Like you're gonna come in and win, go to the state finals in your first year.
59:06
SPEAKER_00: Right.
59:07
SPEAKER_00: Um when did you think that that could happen?
59:10
SPEAKER_00: Is it why when you took the job or is that you know, honestly, like it was like I remember talking to the girls and and and I told four captains.
59:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I remember telling those four captains at Panera's like, uh, if you guys don't believe in yourselves, like there's something wrong because I believe in you and I don't even know you guys, you know.
59:27
SPEAKER_00: I I know what you're all capable of doing.
59:29
SPEAKER_00: And to me, like there's no reason that every single year you should be competing to win the state title.
59:35
SPEAKER_01: Right.
59:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then when we after tryouts, I I said the same thing.
59:39
SPEAKER_00: Um I was like, if you guys don't think that we're gonna be playing on June 12th at Michigan State, then you know, no hard feelings, but that's what we're all striving for.
59:47
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't want to be a part of it, no big deal.
59:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, but that's what we're that's what we're trying to get to.
59:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh and and these girls, they just bought in day one.
59:57
SPEAKER_00: Was it the level of the girls that you were coaching?
1:00:00
SPEAKER_00: Like what what else was it?
1:00:02
SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, I think I think, you know, like I came in and and you know, like, you know, how anytime a new coach comes in, that coach is trying to establish their culture, what they want, right?
1:00:15
SPEAKER_00: Like, like look at Dan Campbell, right?
1:00:16
SPEAKER_00: Dan Campbell comes in to the Lions, may not have a lot of success right off the bat, but he stuck to what he wanted and stuck to what he needed to do, and you know, like it's at least put the lions back on the map.
1:00:28
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
1:00:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, for me, uh I just took everything that I was doing at Stevenson and just transitioned it over here.
1:00:36
SPEAKER_00: And and you know, these girls bought into it.
1:00:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, they they did everything.
1:00:41
SPEAKER_00: And I I think also having the fact that, you know, I I was you know, I coach college soccer for three years at Lawrence Tech.
1:00:47
SPEAKER_00: I I learned a ton under Andy and Doug.
1:00:50
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I look at Doug as one of the best young soccer minds in the game.
1:00:55
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
1:00:56
SPEAKER_00: Right?
1:00:56
SPEAKER_00: Like he's I'm I'm older than he is, and I still call him like, what do you think I should do in this situation?
1:01:02
SPEAKER_00: Or what are your thoughts on this?
1:01:04
SPEAKER_00: Or like I'll run an idea, I'll buy him like what do you think about this idea?
1:01:07
SPEAKER_00: And then you know, he either like tells me yes, but like, here's what here's how I would defend it if I was playing against you, right?
1:01:14
SPEAKER_00: You know, so I think having people like that that I've been able to communicate and talk to and build friendships and relationships with, um, and then coming in and just kind of sticking to what I've been doing, and then having the support, like our athletic director, our athletic director Karen, right?
1:01:32
SPEAKER_00: She's she's been a college softball coach.
1:01:35
SPEAKER_00: She was she was at Eastern, she was at Oakland, she was at Lawrence Tech.
1:01:38
SPEAKER_00: Like, she she was a college softball coach, like that's where she made her living.
1:01:42
SPEAKER_00: Right, you know, and you know, so I get her, and you know, I I come into her office and I was like, I'm running ideas by her, and not even necessarily soccer, but maybe it's like, hey, I'm thinking about doing this with the program, and you know, she's full support, you know, and and she can sit in and talk to me and I can look at her and and understand that she gets it.
1:02:02
SPEAKER_00: Right, she's been in my shoes, you know, like she's been in higher shoes, right?
1:02:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, so I think that's some of the cool things, you know, that I can I I I can do here is the staff, the support is awesome.
1:02:16
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I've never seen people like during our run, principals, assistant principals, our district AD, they're all at the games.
1:02:26
SPEAKER_00: They're all at the games, and they're not there because they're you know, crowd control.
1:02:30
SPEAKER_00: They're there like wearing their shirt and cheering.
1:02:33
SPEAKER_00: And like one of the one of the best parts that we when we were in film, we would discover is you know, you're watching film and you see everything that's going on, and one of the best things that we would discover is every time we'd score, you would see our admin jumping and they're fist pumping, hugging each other, high-fiving each other.
1:02:49
SPEAKER_00: And like the girls see that and and they realize like they're making a difference for the school, right?
1:02:54
SPEAKER_00: You know, and I think that's the super cool part about playing high school sports.
1:02:58
SPEAKER_00: How much film do you guys do?
1:03:00
SPEAKER_00: Every week.
1:03:01
SPEAKER_00: Every week, yeah, every game, or just yeah, so we I mean all the games are recorded, right?
1:03:06
SPEAKER_00: So we'll watch IL or whatever.
1:03:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we will do Huddle, um, Huddle VO, whatever.
1:03:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, I I think now ninety-eight percent of the schools are basically got Huddle cameras.
1:03:18
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:03:18
SPEAKER_00: So all I gotta do is hop into my Huddle account and say, hey, we're playing uh Rochester Adams.
1:03:23
SPEAKER_00: And then I I log in and that Rochester Adams film just gets downloaded right into my account.
1:03:29
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, so it it makes life easy.
1:03:32
SPEAKER_00: Um and then I make I sent I make all the girls sign up for it, right?
1:03:37
SPEAKER_00: So I when they sign up, it's literally because they're playing soccer for me, I send them an invite.
1:03:41
SPEAKER_00: So they sign up, and we would you know, it's tough because you you need to find time to watch film, but you also try to, you know, play.
1:03:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you gotta get out there and train.
1:03:52
SPEAKER_00: Um and and the high school the high school schedule is so condense.
1:03:56
SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes, you know, like you're you're March, you know, whatever, March 10th, March 12th is when you start and the finals is June 12th, and then you have a a week off with spring break that's built into there.
1:04:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah you know, so you're trying to squeeze, you know, 18 games into this short period of time, and then you know, districts are starting the week before Memorial Day, so you gotta make sure you you factor in a time frame for that.
1:04:20
SPEAKER_00: Um so you know, you'd be playing you know two games a week.
1:04:24
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we would have three games, sometimes we'd be playing on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, you know.
1:04:29
SPEAKER_00: Um that's tough.
1:04:31
SPEAKER_00: But I also think the high school game mimics the college game, right?
1:04:36
SPEAKER_00: Because you're you're looking from a schedule standpoint, that schedule in college is short.
1:04:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:04:40
SPEAKER_00: You're you're playing, you know, at Lawrence Tech we played Wednesday, Saturdays.
1:04:45
SPEAKER_00: You know, so you could be traveling Wednesday to, you know, Aquinas at a 7 o'clock kick in Grand Rapids.
1:04:52
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're not getting back to LTU until 1 a.m.
1:04:56
SPEAKER_01: What does your schedule look like?
1:04:58
SPEAKER_01: Like, let's say you we always did OAA, you know, it was seemingly always Tuesday, Thursday.
1:05:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:05:03
SPEAKER_01: And then the Wednesday session was kind of like recovery slash walkthrough slash just let's get in, let's get out.
1:05:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that's what we would do is we would do um, I think, I think every Tuesday we had OAA games, and then there were some days that were sprinkled in where it was like a Tuesday, Thursday.
1:05:22
SPEAKER_00: But we would have a game every Tuesday and every Thursday we had games.
1:05:25
SPEAKER_00: So that Wednesday was primarily film day, right?
1:05:28
SPEAKER_00: So we would watch film every day.
1:05:30
SPEAKER_00: We'd get into a room here at the school, um, I'd pop the laptop on, you know, iPad, we get onto a TV and we're we're watching.
1:05:37
SPEAKER_00: And it started off where I would just break the film down, right?
1:05:41
SPEAKER_00: I'd break the film down and I'd, you know, take 15, 20 clips that I noticed of the film of things that I felt like we needed to change or correct, or things that I thought we did really well and want to continue to build on.
1:05:52
SPEAKER_00: And then once we did that, I started noticing that some of the girls were just kind of like, okay, yeah, I get it.
1:05:56
SPEAKER_00: This is what we're doing.
1:05:57
SPEAKER_00: So then I pivoted, and then halfway through the season.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_00: I broke the team down into groups.
1:06:02
SPEAKER_00: So I had each each group of like had five to six people on it, and I'd give everyone a 10-minute segment of the game.
1:06:09
SPEAKER_00: And they would watch the 10-minute segment and then they'd talk about it.
1:06:13
SPEAKER_00: And then at the end of everything, I would talk to the girls, be like, okay, so do you notice in this 10 minutes, this 10 minutes, and this 10 minutes, there was a common denominator.
1:06:21
SPEAKER_00: Like you all talked about this.
1:06:23
SPEAKER_00: So if you're all talking about this, either positive or negative, we gotta either fix or continue to do.
1:06:30
SPEAKER_00: And then once I started doing that, then they were able to take their player hat off and almost look at it more of like a coaching side.
1:06:37
SPEAKER_00: So it gave them more of an input on what we were doing because I would say to them, hey, this is what I want it to look like, and they would do it, but then they're seeing themselves or they're seeing their teammates, you know.
1:06:49
SPEAKER_00: And the best part of for me, the whole thing was sometimes you'd get girls that maybe didn't play as much as some of these starters did, and they're they're just as invested as everyone else.
1:06:58
SPEAKER_01: Right, and it's buy-in and it's skin in the game, and it's feeling like hey, this is our team.
1:07:04
SPEAKER_01: This isn't just her team or her team, it's our team.
1:07:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:07:10
SPEAKER_00: And it turned into like it turned into like these sessions would go great.
1:07:15
SPEAKER_00: You know, like it they, you know, I I uh each one of them would bring like their you know iPad or like their school laptop or something, and I'd be like, okay, this group you guys are doing from the opening kickoff to the you know 12-minute mark.
1:07:27
SPEAKER_00: This group is doing from 12 minutes to 24 minutes, this group's doing 24 minutes to halftime, and then you know, they'll do the same thing in the second half, and then they'd go through and they'd break it all down, and you know, we'd we'd watch that film together, or like if they had specific spots that they wanted to highlight, we would highlight those things, um, and we'd just we'd have open dialogue about it, and it turned into you can hear what a coach is saying.
1:07:54
SPEAKER_00: That doesn't necessarily mean you always are gonna comprehend or like follow through with it, right?
1:08:00
SPEAKER_00: 100%.
1:08:00
SPEAKER_00: So when they started doing it to themselves, now they're almost like it was a form of like holding each other accountable a little bit, where it's like this girl's saying this, and it's like, okay, well, if I'm gonna say this, I need to make sure I'm doing this too, right?
1:08:15
SPEAKER_00: Like, if I'm gonna say you need to make this back shoulder run, I need to make sure that I'm making that back shoulder run, you know, because you you see it and you want to do it.
1:08:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, and it it it I think that was a big changing point for us with watching our film sessions.
1:08:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, I think that made a huge difference for them all.
1:08:33
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I love that.
1:08:35
SPEAKER_01: What's the furthest that they came or uh okay, let's say la since let's say since COVID.
1:08:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:08:41
SPEAKER_01: What's the furthest that they made it before you got here?
1:08:44
SPEAKER_00: Um I think regional finals.
1:08:46
SPEAKER_00: Regional finals.
1:08:47
SPEAKER_00: I know I think the last time that they won a region was in 2019.
1:08:52
SPEAKER_00: 19.
1:08:53
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then they lost in the semifinals, and then prior to that was 2013 when they won it all.
1:08:58
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:08:59
SPEAKER_00: And then they had that little run of of I know that they did three straight state finals in a row.
1:09:05
SPEAKER_00: That was Z, right?
1:09:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
1:09:06
SPEAKER_00: It was 11, 12, and 13.
1:09:08
SPEAKER_00: And then 13 they won.
1:09:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:09:11
SPEAKER_00: He he's been a huge help for me, you know.
1:09:14
SPEAKER_00: Like, he's done a great job.
1:09:15
SPEAKER_00: It's got to be difficult for him, you know.
1:09:17
SPEAKER_00: But he's not coaching at all anymore.
1:09:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
1:09:19
SPEAKER_00: He's a principal in the district.
1:09:21
SPEAKER_00: Oh, he is?
1:09:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:09:22
SPEAKER_00: I didn't know.
1:09:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, he's a principal at a middle school in the district.
1:09:25
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
1:09:25
SPEAKER_00: He's got his daughter that plays here for us.
1:09:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, and he's done a great job, right?
1:09:29
SPEAKER_00: Like, he he would reach out to me and he would, you know, it was more of it was less about coaching and more about like, hey, you're doing a great job here, right?
1:09:41
SPEAKER_00: Like, I I understand, I've been in your shoes, you're doing a great job.
1:09:45
SPEAKER_00: And like they're, you know, after a tough loss, right?
1:09:47
SPEAKER_00: Like, we went through this period where we you know, we we played a brutal schedule, right?
1:09:52
SPEAKER_00: You play the OAA, it's tough enough, and then you go in and you know, we schedule non-conference games against like Northville.
1:09:57
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, so we we lost against Adams, um, Rochester, and Northville.
1:10:04
SPEAKER_00: So those were our three losses on the season prior to the state final.
1:10:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, he did What was your final record?
1:10:12
SPEAKER_00: 15 17, four and two.
1:10:16
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:10:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we we lost two games due to weather.
1:10:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh we were supposed to play Dakota the first game of the season.
1:10:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, but like when it's you know 35 degrees.
1:10:27
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's you just never know if you're gonna play that game or not.
1:10:30
SPEAKER_00: And then we lost the game uh to Brighton uh in a rainout.
1:10:34
SPEAKER_00: We were supposed to play at Brighton and lost lost that game out there.
1:10:37
SPEAKER_00: Didn't didn't get a chance to make it up either.
1:10:40
SPEAKER_01: What does your preseason look like?
1:10:41
SPEAKER_01: Because I mean the boys have such an advantage, they could be training today, you know, they could be training this morning, yeah, and they could be fine.
1:10:51
SPEAKER_01: Girls, it being in the spring kind of sucks.
1:10:55
SPEAKER_01: It does.
1:10:56
SPEAKER_01: Because you don't get that, yeah, unless you're in the auxiliary gym and that's what we used to do at Lake Orion.
1:11:01
SPEAKER_01: And and but we had rules where we couldn't like bring the balls out.
1:11:05
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:11:05
SPEAKER_01: Is that still exist?
1:11:06
SPEAKER_00: It's like one ball every four players or something like that.
1:11:10
SPEAKER_00: And now they do have things where you're allowed X amount of training sessions throughout the year.
1:11:15
SPEAKER_01: Throughout the school year, yes, but then in the summer you can do whatever you want.
1:11:19
SPEAKER_00: I think so.
1:11:20
SPEAKER_01: I think that's still there's still 15, or is it like the 15 dates or something?
1:11:28
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, this year, my I got the job in June.
1:11:34
SPEAKER_00: Um so it was great because I was able to have the entire year to kind of be around the girls, the program, get to know I came out to a couple of the boys' games.
1:11:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I would go check out some of the girls' basketball.
1:11:47
SPEAKER_00: I got girls that play basketball.
1:11:48
SPEAKER_00: I got, you know, we were just in volleyball.
1:11:51
SPEAKER_00: You saw them, you know, waving to me in volleyball, right?
1:11:53
SPEAKER_00: So it's like we got girls that play volleyball, girls that play basketball, um, which I think is awesome.
1:11:58
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:11:58
SPEAKER_00: For you know, just going back on that, like I think the multi-sport athletes are, you know, I can knock on wood.
1:12:04
SPEAKER_00: We had no injuries this year that sideline people.
1:12:08
SPEAKER_00: Now they were other than the goalie.
1:12:09
SPEAKER_00: Other than our goalkeeper.
1:12:11
SPEAKER_00: That's a fluke.
1:12:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that that was something that it's like, whatever, you know, you you can't control that.
1:12:15
SPEAKER_01: But like that's flukey.
1:12:17
SPEAKER_00: You know, we had some girls that were maybe banged up, and I would make a decision like, uh, like if it was I again, there are tons of times where I would look at this girl and like, if we're playing, if this was the Troy Athens game, would you be able to play?
1:12:26
SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah.
1:12:27
SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, there are times where I would make a decision, like, you know, you've been banged up, played a lot of minutes, let's just get you some rest.
1:12:34
SPEAKER_00: So I would sit somebody for that, but like I had nobody that missed aside from our goalkeeper at the end of the season with that fluke, you know, quad injury.
1:12:43
SPEAKER_00: No one missed any significant time because of that.
1:12:46
SPEAKER_00: Because of that.
1:12:46
SPEAKER_00: And I I attribute a lot of it is, and I know you and Laura talked a little bit about the dual sport athletes.
1:12:51
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:12:52
SPEAKER_00: You know, like Olivia was a she was a starter on the basketball team, like all conference, like awesome basketball player.
1:12:59
SPEAKER_00: I have tons of girls that played basketball.
1:13:01
SPEAKER_00: I have girls that played uh, you know, girls that played volleyball, girls that played flag football, you know.
1:13:07
SPEAKER_00: So like to me, I think that's the way to go.
1:13:09
SPEAKER_01: When is flag football here?
1:13:11
SPEAKER_01: In the fall.
1:13:11
SPEAKER_01: Thank God.
1:13:12
SPEAKER_01: I know.
1:13:13
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, it's coming.
1:13:15
SPEAKER_01: That sport, it's in the spring in in New York.
1:13:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there is because the girls' high school soccer is in the fall, which is a very good thing.
1:13:24
SPEAKER_00: I think there's also a girls.
1:13:26
SPEAKER_00: I think there's also a girls spring flag football.
1:13:30
SPEAKER_00: Oh, really?
1:13:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, but I yeah, I I know I know some some schools have it, and I think this was the first spring that they were doing it.
1:13:38
SPEAKER_00: And all the best players are girls' soccer players for the most part.
1:13:42
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:13:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:13:43
SPEAKER_00: But like we have you know, we have girls across, right?
1:13:48
SPEAKER_00: So like I you would think that I'd be losing a ton of like some of these kids, the girls across.
1:13:53
SPEAKER_00: I know that was a big problem.
1:13:54
SPEAKER_00: It's amazing that you still have two teams.
1:13:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:13:57
SPEAKER_00: But like the girls across has two teams.
1:14:00
SPEAKER_00: Again, when you have you know, over 2,000 students in your school, and you have a reputation in sports where I mean from an academic standpoint, Troy's top-notch, right?
1:14:12
SPEAKER_00: I think they're like top three in the country or in the state.
1:14:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's all something where you know very high.
1:14:18
SPEAKER_00: And so from an academic standpoint, you got arguably one of the best schools in the state.
1:14:21
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
1:14:22
SPEAKER_00: And then like all of my girls basically have like 3.5 GPAs or higher.
1:14:26
SPEAKER_00: They're all considered scholar athletes.
1:14:28
SPEAKER_00: I talked to some of these girls, I'm like, what class are you taking?
1:14:31
SPEAKER_00: And they're, you know, this pre-college, and I'm like, I don't even know if that was around when I was in school.
1:14:37
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
1:14:38
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:14:38
SPEAKER_00: And they're just they're basically they're like college students.
1:14:41
SPEAKER_00: You know, they're they were college.
1:14:43
SPEAKER_00: I remember at my banquet, I said there were, I was talking about one of the girls who's like, she's probably gonna be my boss one day.
1:14:47
SPEAKER_00: You know, like they're just so smart.
1:14:50
SPEAKER_00: And then you put the fact in that they're willing to put all that time and effort into playing sports, and how good sports are here, you know, and same thing with like Athens.
1:15:01
SPEAKER_00: When was the last time you heard about like a bad sport at any of those schools?
1:15:07
SPEAKER_00: You know, like it's it's not something that happens very often.
1:15:10
SPEAKER_01: When or go into your team like makeup.
1:15:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:15:16
SPEAKER_01: How many seniors are you losing in?
1:15:18
SPEAKER_01: Nine.
1:15:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:15:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm losing nine seniors.
1:15:22
SPEAKER_00: How many are playing college soccer?
1:15:23
SPEAKER_00: Any of them?
1:15:25
SPEAKER_00: Two, three, four, I think five.
1:15:28
SPEAKER_00: Five of them?
1:15:29
SPEAKER_00: Uh Marin Swan's going to Butler.
1:15:31
SPEAKER_00: Um Sabrina is going to Wayne State.
1:15:34
SPEAKER_00: OJ's going to Wayne State.
1:15:36
SPEAKER_01: Wayne State, yeah.
1:15:37
SPEAKER_00: Um Emma.
1:15:37
SPEAKER_00: Uh Emma Rosick's going to Hope.
1:15:39
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:15:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, and Serena, Serena Hua is going to Messiah.
1:15:45
SPEAKER_00: Oh, really?
1:15:46
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:15:47
SPEAKER_00: D3.
1:15:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:15:48
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
1:15:49
SPEAKER_00: And they're like a D3 power.
1:15:50
SPEAKER_00: They're really good.
1:15:52
SPEAKER_01: Have you read that book?
1:15:52
SPEAKER_01: I haven't.
1:15:53
SPEAKER_01: The Messiah Method?
1:15:54
SPEAKER_01: No.
1:15:55
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty good.
1:15:55
SPEAKER_01: Really?
1:15:56
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:15:57
SPEAKER_01: It's about culture, about like their their history and everything like that.
1:16:01
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty good.
1:16:02
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's honestly, like, I I I I I love hearing that because I think culture is something that can can bring you to a next level, right?
1:16:12
SPEAKER_00: Like it's people want to be a part of that because of your culture.
1:16:16
SPEAKER_00: And I think that's something that I've came here and tried to do.
1:16:20
SPEAKER_00: Like, that was a big primary focus for me.
1:16:22
SPEAKER_00: Is I wanted to establish the culture that I've wanted.
1:16:25
SPEAKER_00: Um, that I, you know, brought to Lawrence Tech, the one that I brought to Stevenson.
1:16:30
SPEAKER_00: Like, that's what I wanted to do was just establish that.
1:16:33
SPEAKER_00: And I wasn't, you know, I don't not willing to change because for me I thought it worked.
1:16:36
SPEAKER_00: How would you describe your culture?
1:16:38
SPEAKER_01: Is it the ownership?
1:16:39
SPEAKER_01: Is it going into the you know, everybody has a role regardless of how much you play?
1:16:44
SPEAKER_01: You all have a role.
1:16:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:16:45
SPEAKER_01: And you guys all help us.
1:16:46
SPEAKER_01: Like the guy, the girls on the bench might see something in the film and contribute something that they see that maybe nobody else saw, and like, hey, we should probably listen to this or something like that.
1:16:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and that's you know, for me, so one of the things I preach to the girls is is I as I tell them this, I'm like, if if I if you look at me and I am strictly viewed as your high school soccer coach, then I'm doing something wrong, right?
1:17:14
SPEAKER_00: Because I'm not just a high school soccer coach.
1:17:16
SPEAKER_00: Um I'm a dad, I'm a husband, I'm a son, you know, I'm a brother, I'm an uncle, and I wear many different hats.
1:17:23
SPEAKER_00: And so do they.
1:17:25
SPEAKER_00: So if I view you as just a high school soccer player, then I'm not I'm not viewing you for who you are.
1:17:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm looking at you in this box, and I don't want to put you in that box because you're a daughter, you're a sibling, you're a student, you're a niece, you know, like you know, like you you have more than just that hat that you're wearing as a soccer player.
1:17:46
SPEAKER_00: So once I was able to break that down, right, and then we um we brought in, I brought in these two guys to help work us, work with uh our our mental health side of things.
1:17:56
SPEAKER_00: Um I think that was a huge thing, huge difference.
1:17:59
SPEAKER_00: Um there's these these two guys, I'll give them a little shameless plug here.
1:18:02
SPEAKER_00: They're pillars of performance.
1:18:04
SPEAKER_00: Um Justin Newcomb and Mark Lacomb.
1:18:06
SPEAKER_00: They're these guys, they were their high school football coaches.
1:18:10
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I met them through Stevenson because that's where they were at.
1:18:13
SPEAKER_00: And now they've they've transitioned, they went to Lance Cruise North.
1:18:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, they they're dads, they get their girl dads, um, and they're just great people.
1:18:23
SPEAKER_00: And they started this program where they just tried to work with high-level athletes, high school athletes, college athletes, where they're trying to take you to that next step mentally.
1:18:35
SPEAKER_00: And we brought them in and we did a three-day session with them.
1:18:38
SPEAKER_00: They were here for three days, um, and we talked about resiliency, we talked about like overcoming, you know, like negativity, we talked about the pressure that everyone that you know people put on you, or the pressure you put on yourself.
1:18:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, some of the things that they talked about, which I thought was a huge thing, is they they said, How many of you are are leaders on this team?
1:18:57
SPEAKER_00: And like the four captains are raising their hands, and they're like, Nah, every single one of you are a leader on this team.
1:19:02
SPEAKER_00: You're all leaders on this team.
1:19:04
SPEAKER_00: You all should view yourself as leaders on this team.
1:19:06
SPEAKER_00: And then that kind of pivoted a little bit of that mindset because then girls weren't afraid to speak up, regardless if they were playing 80 minutes or or three minutes, you know, like they knew and they felt like they had a role on that team.
1:19:20
SPEAKER_00: Um, and and I would listen to everyone, you know, like if someone brought up something to my attention where we're watching film and someone was like, hey, this is I I think about this, and and uh yeah, you're right.
1:19:31
SPEAKER_00: Great, you know, like the way that I view the game is different than how you view it and different than how someone else views it.
1:19:37
SPEAKER_00: Of course.
1:19:37
SPEAKER_00: As a player, you're viewing it one way because you're going through it.
1:19:40
SPEAKER_00: As a coach, you have a viewpoint of what you think it should look like and what you're doing.
1:19:45
SPEAKER_00: So I, you know, I'm super open-minded to to hearing all of that.
1:19:50
SPEAKER_00: You know, like I would call Doug at the end of the game and say, like, hey, did you watch this game?
1:19:54
SPEAKER_00: Did you see you know did you see anything?
1:19:55
SPEAKER_00: What can what feedback can you give me?
1:19:56
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'd call friends, I would ask people, right?
1:19:58
SPEAKER_00: So that's that's the way that I always learned and wanted to get better is I would do that.
1:20:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, sit in the parking lot with my assistant coaches for 45 minutes after the game, you know, and you're talking about what happened, and you know, and and I go home and you know, I get home at 10 30 at night and I, you know, eating dinner, watching film on my phone, laying in bed watching film, and my wife's like, dude, go to bed.
1:20:22
SPEAKER_00: It's one o'clock in the morning.
1:20:24
SPEAKER_00: She's like, you gotta work, you know, and and you know, like so it, you know, like when I show, for me, going back to the whole culture thing is is I put everything that I got into it.
1:20:36
SPEAKER_00: I put all my time, energy, effort, blood, sweat, tears, I put everything into it.
1:20:40
SPEAKER_00: And I just expect the girls to match that.
1:20:43
SPEAKER_00: And I tell them, like, there's there's gonna be there's gonna be ups, there's gonna be downs where you know we spend a lot, we spent six days a week together.
1:20:52
SPEAKER_00: We were always together.
1:20:54
SPEAKER_00: You know, basically Saturdays were like the only days that we had off.
1:20:58
SPEAKER_00: So you guys trained Sundays?
1:20:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we would do Sunday nights.
1:21:01
SPEAKER_00: I would do uh I do a Sunday night non-contact training session um where it's just all you know, like maybe like just technical stuff, passing, shooting, stuff where the girls can just kind of get them back into like a little routine or you know, like it's almost like a reset session.
1:21:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and it's an hour, yeah.
1:21:19
SPEAKER_00: Super light, you know, no guards, and and it's just let's go out and have fun, you know.
1:21:24
SPEAKER_00: We'll play like horseshoes or something like that, or you know, we'll do some fun shooting games and just keep things super lighthearted and have fun with it.
1:21:32
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:21:33
SPEAKER_00: And then that means when we come to Monday, we've had our fun session.
1:21:36
SPEAKER_00: And Monday, it's let's refocus.
1:21:39
SPEAKER_00: We got the game on Tuesday.
1:21:40
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
1:21:41
SPEAKER_00: And then Wednesdays, you know, Wednesday's a film, and then Thursday we play, and then Friday, you know, Friday might be a walkthrough.
1:21:48
SPEAKER_00: Friday might be, you know, hey, let's I'm gonna order some pizzas, let's just go sit and chat.
1:21:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, do you ever that was gonna be my like next question?
1:21:57
SPEAKER_01: It's like always because you guys coaches have to read the room and they're like, you know what, that was a tough week.
1:22:03
SPEAKER_01: We maybe played Athens and let's say uh Stony or something like that.
1:22:07
SPEAKER_01: And it's like Friday, we're gonna take you're gonna have the day off.
1:22:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because like just because the funny thing is, is I would try to give them day offs and they wouldn't want day-offs.
1:22:17
SPEAKER_00: They would not want a day off.
1:22:18
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
1:22:19
SPEAKER_00: I would I would cancel how good does that make you feel as a coach?
1:22:23
SPEAKER_00: I loved it.
1:22:24
SPEAKER_01: They just want more.
1:22:25
SPEAKER_01: And Laura was talking about that.
1:22:26
SPEAKER_01: It's like they just want more, they don't want this to end, they don't want this run to end.
1:22:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, and that's I mean, we we'd have, you know, I I'd be checking weather, and I'm like, listen, it's supposed to thunderstorm right as we got practice.
1:22:39
SPEAKER_00: And they're like, well, let's go inside.
1:22:40
SPEAKER_00: Let's go in the gym.
1:22:42
SPEAKER_00: Like, don't cancel.
1:22:43
SPEAKER_00: Like, let's all get together.
1:22:45
SPEAKER_00: So we would we would get together, and you know, maybe we'd show up with, you know, I'd show up with some pizzas, or we'd show up with something, and and sometimes it would be we just sit down and we're hanging out, we're chatting, right?
1:22:55
SPEAKER_00: The girls are telling me about their day, they're talking about school, exams, or whatever the case may be, and and like that would be our our get-together time, you know, and and and you start seeing the friendships and relationships that these girls are creating, and they're they're like sisters.
1:23:09
SPEAKER_00: They're they love being together, and then when they leave here, they're still together.
1:23:14
SPEAKER_00: They go to each other's houses.
1:23:16
SPEAKER_00: They're the amount of times it's like, hey, we're we're all going to 7-Eleven to grab Slurpees or something, we're gonna grab a drink, we're gonna grab snacks, and you know, 18 of them go.
1:23:26
SPEAKER_00: They're all going together, or they have pasta parties, not a single kid missed.
1:23:31
SPEAKER_00: Right?
1:23:31
SPEAKER_00: Like they all they all do it.
1:23:32
SPEAKER_00: Team dinners are the best.
1:23:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, so like that was that was awesome.
1:23:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's that's the part of like the culture that I try to instill, right?
1:23:42
SPEAKER_00: Like, I the togetherness, the you know, because I feel like if we're together all the time and and I'm getting I'm getting mad at you or I'm getting on you in a game, you're not gonna get upset with me.
1:23:53
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:23:53
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna think you're not gonna think coach hates me.
1:23:56
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
1:23:57
SPEAKER_00: You're not gonna think, you know, coach doesn't think I can do it.
1:24:00
SPEAKER_00: Because I've built that relationship.
1:24:02
SPEAKER_00: I view you as more than just a soccer player.
1:24:04
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
1:24:04
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'll check in with these girls.
1:24:06
SPEAKER_00: Like I do it this summer, you know, check in with them, like, hey, you know, you're getting ready for your club season, or or you know, if it's a junior, I'm like, hey, this is a big year, you know, are you looking to play college?
1:24:16
SPEAKER_00: You know, let's get that ball rolling.
1:24:17
SPEAKER_00: Um, seniors, you know, like have you figured out what you're doing yet?
1:24:21
SPEAKER_00: And you know, uh, are you gonna are you guys going on any vacations or something like that?
1:24:25
SPEAKER_00: Like the the group that we have and and like the environment that I want to try to create is that this is a a long, a season-long thing, it's a year-round thing.
1:24:35
SPEAKER_00: And just because we might might not be in season, we're not touching a ball, we're not getting together, that doesn't mean that we can't still form these relationships and get together.
1:24:43
SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, they when the school season starts, I think usually around November you'll start seeing like these girls will try to do captain practices and they'll do like a Friday after school, and you know, they might get 15 kids that show up.
1:24:57
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
1:24:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, in September, you know, they'll they'll do it and they'll get 15 kids coming to these captain practices.
1:25:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, and then they'll do like off-season stuff, right?
1:25:07
SPEAKER_00: Like they'll do they all they they all got their club stuff, but then they'll try to do some you know technical training stuff somewhere, and you know, they'll do something elsewhere, and and then in January there's like a 7v7 high school soccer league.
1:25:21
SPEAKER_00: Um, and we played in that.
1:25:24
SPEAKER_00: This was the first year that that Troyes played in it.
1:25:26
SPEAKER_00: I used to put my Stevenson team in it all the time.
1:25:28
SPEAKER_01: Where's that?
1:25:29
SPEAKER_00: Um it's at Elite.
1:25:30
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:25:31
SPEAKER_00: Um, and I mean this year.
1:25:35
SPEAKER_01: Open Yard used to do stuff like that.
1:25:37
SPEAKER_00: Whippler uh Ultimate used to do stuff like that.
1:25:39
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:25:40
SPEAKER_00: So this year they had there were two divisions.
1:25:42
SPEAKER_00: They had like a varsity and a JV division, um, and they had, you know, like Lake Orion had a team in there, um I think Bloomfield Hills had a team in there, Athens had a team in there, Ford, Stevenson, um there were you know, there were eight eight to nine teams.
1:26:00
SPEAKER_00: So we would do that, and that those games run like Sunday mornings, you know, 7v7, and the girls would just show up and you know they police themselves.
1:26:07
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'll I'll you know show up, go sit in the stands with some parents and you know, watch and talk, you know, and I go over at the end of the game and I have the same message I give over every single time.
1:26:17
SPEAKER_00: One, do you guys have fun?
1:26:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, great, awesome.
1:26:20
SPEAKER_00: Two, make sure you guys got your physicals because when the game season starts in March, yeah, that's what we need.
1:26:24
SPEAKER_00: And then it's like off you go, right?
1:26:26
SPEAKER_00: Like there's there's no coaching during that.
1:26:28
SPEAKER_01: Like, do you do any preseason like fitness uh regimen and stuff like that?
1:26:33
SPEAKER_00: Or do you just like let them kind of I have a little bit of a different approach, right?
1:26:39
SPEAKER_00: Like these girls, like I say this all the time to my to the girls, like they they this year where they're like, we feel like we're not in shape, we're not prepared, and it's the first game of the season, you know?
1:26:49
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, wait a minute.
1:26:51
SPEAKER_00: Not just that, but didn't you just get done playing club?
1:26:54
SPEAKER_00: Didn't your season just end last week?
1:26:55
SPEAKER_00: You know, like some of the things.
1:26:56
SPEAKER_01: How are you not fit after exactly after after a year of club or season of club, how are you not fit?
1:27:03
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:27:03
SPEAKER_00: And that's what they don't realize is you are fit.
1:27:06
SPEAKER_00: You're fine, you're okay, you can go play.
1:27:08
SPEAKER_00: And if anything, you might need a week off.
1:27:10
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a thing.
1:27:11
SPEAKER_00: So, like, you know, with with high school soccer is you have that you have your your tryouts on like a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then you can't play your first game until that following Wednesday.
1:27:19
SPEAKER_00: So you get like you know, a week to prepare.
1:27:21
SPEAKER_00: But during that week, it's you you never know what that weather looks like, right?
1:27:24
SPEAKER_00: I remember the first time in here we you know played soccer tennis.
1:27:27
SPEAKER_00: It's a foot of snow.
1:27:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like there's not much you can really do.
1:27:30
SPEAKER_00: Foot's all like you're you're in the gym and you're trying to do something, and you know, how are you supposed to go over like shapes?
1:27:36
SPEAKER_01: How are you supposed to if you really and this is your first year, right?
1:27:40
SPEAKER_01: Really identifying the talent, like you can't always see that on a gym floor.
1:27:45
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I can tell you from from when we the the game that the first game of the season that we started and the last game that we played, like our formation changed drastically.
1:27:55
SPEAKER_00: Like we, you know, like it took me some time to figure out how to play and what we want it and and I'm not a coach who's someone that's like this is the system.
1:28:03
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna play four forty three.
1:28:04
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna build out of the back.
1:28:06
SPEAKER_00: No like it's I the way that I view things is I got to adjust for the kids I have.
1:28:12
SPEAKER_01: And that's how high all high school is and it should be.
1:28:14
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:28:15
SPEAKER_01: And really club is too because they the kids come to you.
1:28:19
SPEAKER_01: It's not like you're a college coach and you get to recruit for your system.
1:28:23
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
1:28:24
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:28:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah so you know like we started off in a 4-3-3 and our first game was against Romeo.
1:28:29
SPEAKER_00: You know we we won the game 3-1.
1:28:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm like okay you know we'll see how this goes and I don't remember next game I don't remember I think we played uh like Plymouth or something like that.
1:28:39
SPEAKER_00: And we won that game.
1:28:40
SPEAKER_00: I think that game was like a five to one game.
1:28:42
SPEAKER_00: So like we're playing in this 4-3-3 and I I just still felt like it wasn't like I didn't think we were playing good soccer.
1:28:49
SPEAKER_00: You know we're we're winning games we're you know we beat clutched in 4-0 like we're winning games we're playing and I just felt like we weren't playing good and I thought we could do better.
1:28:59
SPEAKER_00: So I I I switch our formation and and we play into this little diamond formation and the way that I like to play in my diamonds and I played everything really tight.
1:29:07
SPEAKER_00: I I kept a really tight diamond in the middle of the field and like I'd have 442 or a three four I would play like a four diamond so literally like I'd play with a six and and two sides of the diamond like it was a true diamond situation in that midfield and those girls that played on my side of the diamond like if the ball was on this side of the field my far side girl in the diamond was all the way shifted over.
1:29:28
SPEAKER_00: Tuck in all the way and I mean teams struggled figuring out how to play and then the girls started figuring this out and then next thing you know like as they're figuring out how to play like I can see other coaches trying to like what should we do?
1:29:46
SPEAKER_00: Even games like we you know games that we're losing and you know maybe they get like uh like Northville Northville beat us two to one and they scored two goals and I mean both their goals were like just upper 90 bangers from like 35 yards out and it's like hats off that's a great you know you you tip your cap.
1:30:06
SPEAKER_00: But you know like when you're playing in these games and and you can see teams trying to adjust to you like then that that made me realize like okay this is how we need to play and and that's what started you know taking us into that that next level and and the girls were able to they they bought in and I could plug in plug and play kids you know like okay you know Kendall go play as a 10.
1:30:29
SPEAKER_00: And you know doesn't you know Kendall's a freshman she was the one that waved to me in volleyball Kendall go play as a 10.
1:30:35
SPEAKER_00: And she like yep and she'd go in and the system didn't change right like we're we're playing the exact same way the system didn't change.
1:30:43
SPEAKER_00: I had a girl Dylan Duncan she was like my my utility knife Dylan go play here.
1:30:48
SPEAKER_00: Dylan go play here Dylan go play right back Dylan go play on the side of the diamond Dylan go like and it was like yep got it and usually it was like not even there were times where I'd have to put her in like I had to put her in the state finals like you know one of my girls got a yellow card four minutes into the game and I'm like Dylan and she's like got it and no questions like not what am I supposed to do where do I go who am I marking what position Dylan and she was like yep I'm in.
1:31:14
SPEAKER_01: Is it still 10 minutes for a yellow card or is it just off and back on?
1:31:18
SPEAKER_00: Off and back on.
1:31:19
SPEAKER_00: That's so weird.
1:31:20
SPEAKER_00: I try to give them depending on what the card is like I'll try to give them a little bit of like a cooldown session.
1:31:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah you know like okay just go sit down I'll let you know when to come back.
1:31:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah um but for the most part you know it's a lot of these cards that they're getting you know maybe a tactical foul or or maybe you know something stupid.
1:31:40
SPEAKER_01: Foul I don't care you know I used to have a rule that like if you got it for language towards a ref, I treated it like it was a red oh yeah I was like you're done yeah like and it was obviously more on the boy side than on the girl side but like if you do anything towards the ref or or a an opponent just just sit down.
1:31:59
SPEAKER_00: Like I I I'm not gonna tolerate that.
1:32:01
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't yeah we didn't do we didn't have any you know we we got cards we we got plenty of cards this year because fouls yeah the girls play hard and smart tactical fouls yeah it's like wow that was genius yeah you know pulling someone's shirt and you know exactly stopping something at the 50 as opposed to letting something go you know at at you know deep in your end so you know and and we got some dumb fouls that resulted in cards um but we got you know nothing for like descent no no no one talking back to referees I think the referees did a really good job I don't think that they get enough credit.
1:32:30
SPEAKER_00: I think some of the a lot of the referees we had um have done a a pretty good job with like their communication during games with players and um well at the Wayne State thing everybody was wearing headsets yeah it's like I'm at ML MLS next whatever fast and they don't have headsets and the high school uh refs do.
1:32:52
SPEAKER_01: I like it.
1:32:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah it's good.
1:32:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah I mean it's it's it's good and and for the most part like you know you get to know these officials you get most of the same officials of course you know so like you start building a little bit of rapport with them and and you know if I get on to somebody like they get it right and I don't see things the same way that I that they do sometimes and you know I I can get on to some refs and it's like okay yeah you good now Tony let's go move on like move on to the next one um so it it it's good um you know I I loved I've loved this entire year that I've been here it's been awesome and I just I can't even wait for the next one to start so you have 13 coming back yeah six out of the 11 that started in the state final are coming back.
1:33:33
SPEAKER_01: That's good.
1:33:34
SPEAKER_00: It is good including goalkeeper.
1:33:35
SPEAKER_00: Including goalkeeper yeah she's my backup goalkeeper she she's coming back and then the one that got hurt is graduating she graduated yeah I mean yeah what are you gonna do for an encore that's that's the question I mean now it's like hopefully like that taste in your mouth of losing that final and then being able to build off that's like your foundation I mean realistically like let's be honest like you're not gonna get to a state final every year.
1:34:01
SPEAKER_00: No right like it's not happening.
1:34:04
SPEAKER_00: No.
1:34:04
SPEAKER_01: So because every team is different.
1:34:06
SPEAKER_01: Yes that's what's crazy about high school soccer yeah it's not like club soccer where you have the same 18 girls for the most part for at least five years.
1:34:16
SPEAKER_00: Six years exactly yeah no it's it's true and and even from like this year's team at Troy compared to last year's team you know like I had a bunch of girls who were first year high school players for you know whatever reason you know maybe they they didn't play high school because they were focusing on something or they were you know um you know like I had a girl that that basically didn't play high school because she wanted to do like turn she basically did tournament teams during the summer or during the the spring.
1:34:41
SPEAKER_00: You know like she would just go to like different showcases or or hop on teams and you know so she didn't do anything like that.
1:34:48
SPEAKER_00: But yeah like you know like you you don't know you know you don't know who's coming out you don't know and girls in and girls soccer that's the thing too is like freshmen in girls soccer can step into a varsity and and they can play.
1:35:01
SPEAKER_00: Yep like if they can be impactful make a difference you know I had two freshmen on varsity this year.
1:35:07
SPEAKER_00: You know they they they didn't play a ton but even them just being in the environment with you know five college girls going to play at good colleges and then like understanding what that expectation is and that level is when they come in next year and they're starters they're ready to go.
1:35:24
SPEAKER_00: Like there's there's no there's no deer and headlights there's no you know nerves they're they're ready to go because they did that right like you put them in that position and they're they're they're ready um you know like I I've already got I think there's already like eight incoming freshmen who have contacted me about next year you know and and school hasn't even started yet like I I I put out like a flyer in the school like welcome to you know packet that they have and like a meeting it's got like a yeah it's got like a Google Forms link and then they fill out and it comes to me and I just start gathering contact information for people.
1:35:59
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:36:00
SPEAKER_00: And then you know in September, you know late September we'll have like a meeting at the school for anyone interested in girls soccer and that's where you start meeting some freshmen.
1:36:07
SPEAKER_00: You have another one of those meetings maybe in like December and then you have like a final one before the season starts.
1:36:13
SPEAKER_00: You know so you have a couple of touch points with them and you know you try to get the word out and I think I had sixteen freshmen this year or something like that.
1:36:24
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
1:36:25
SPEAKER_00: Like we had a good number right and I mean I had one sophomore on varsity um so my my entire team was made up of juniors seniors and the two freshmen.
1:36:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah um you know and we had one sophomore on varsity um but you know next year I'll have a couple sophomores who play JV who will step right in and and play on play on the varsity team and fill in those gaps.
1:36:51
SPEAKER_01: Do you do anything in the um in the middle schools at all?
1:36:56
SPEAKER_01: Other than the meetings?
1:36:57
SPEAKER_00: So when I was at Stevenson I used to like I used to go to like their lunches and would meet with them because like at Stevenson their ninth graders weren't in the building.
1:37:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh really?
1:37:07
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
1:37:07
SPEAKER_00: So is it seventh eighth and ninth or sixth seventh it was like seventh eighth and ninth were at some of the junior highs and like some some depending on like what programs that they were involved in like if they're like made into like a like the mage program or something some freshmen would be involved or be at Stevenson where others wouldn't be.
1:37:26
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:37:26
SPEAKER_00: Um where here you know like everyone's in the school so like I don't gotta necessarily worry about you know I don't gotta worry about anything and and these girls do these girls they know right like they they know I can I can talk to my freshmen and be like what what girls are coming in that are you know that are gonna be ninth graders next year.
1:37:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah and they're like you got this this and they know Liverpool girls you got this you got that and like yeah it's not like because do you remember um who was it Dan Fife the basketball coach at Clarkston right yeah and he would get into the middle schools and the elementary schools and he would just build everything up and that's what turned Clarkston into a juggernaut for all those years you know and then Fife Dugan's daughter is like freaking national team scored four goals in the in the C and L national final and whatnot and it's like and I always wonder like what if soccer did that but then but the clubs do that kind of for you is that yeah I mean I want to get I want to get into a spot where I'd love to have like a like a youth camp yeah here right um I have a friend of mine that coaches at Dakota and he's a baseball coach um and they do a youth baseball camp.
1:38:41
SPEAKER_00: Right and they get like the varsity players help run it.
1:38:44
SPEAKER_00: Exactly and these kids come in and they you know they're elementary kids you know like second third fourth graders yeah and and you know you start building that because you know I I remember when I was in elementary school like I have two older brothers I got a brother who's nine and eleven years older than me so I'd watch them go play high school soccer.
1:39:00
SPEAKER_00: Right and you know it was always like well I want to go play high school soccer like you always think about like oh I want to be at the stadium you know and and and we you know you go on this little run that we're on and now you get people from the community who are coming in and they're watching games or you get you know girls who are going to be you know who are seventh graders and they're in the stands with their parents watching and you know like is there in my opinion is there a better feeling than uh you know Thursday night Tuesday night under the lights national anthem playing you know like you're playing you're you're you're you know you're you're ranked fourth in the state and you're playing the third ranked team in the state or you know like it's awesome you see all the girls out there lined up and it's awesome.
1:39:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah you know like I don't know you don't get that in club no no you know and and there's just something about that feel of like playing for your community and playing for your school and you know maybe some of these kids their parents are alumni of Troy high school and maybe they played you know like it there's just something about when you're here and you're playing for your school and you're playing for your community and and you know like we had a police escort from Troy high school to I-75 that when we left for the state finals are you serious Troy police gave us a an escort to I-75 like that's awesome it was awesome right like the whole community bought into it and I think and I'm looking at this golf trophy of like Troy School District Golf Championship.
1:40:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah do you guys have a trophy between you and Athens?
1:40:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah we do um so they they so the game ended in a draw so it goes to the retainer yeah and they had it from the year before playoffs count it does not play it's just regular but it's you know it's okay we you know we won a trophy still wasn't the Troy trophy the Troy Cup right um but you know we we we we we got a couple of them back here that we're we're happy with um but like that right there right like that's awesome it is my first I remember so that game against Athens it was here right and it ended in a 2-2 tie um and there were some girls that I had coached at Stevenson who came to that game and and I and and I I will give those girls like that that also helps like make me realize that I'm doing I'm doing something right when I'm building like my culture in my state final I had I think like seven girls that I coached at Stevenson were there.
1:41:31
SPEAKER_00: And some of them had graduated four or five years ago.
1:41:34
SPEAKER_00: How did they do this year after the the year after you not so wealth it was a tough it was a tough year.
1:41:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah um you know it was it was they were in a difficult situation because they got bumped to the Mac red um I mean the Mac red when you got teams like Lance Cruz North this year was awesome Eisenhower is always awesome you know Romeo's awesome um and then they graduated some of their their top top end players and then you got a new you know a new coach coming in so you know they they struggled a little bit this year um but I tried to stay in connection with them and you know I I still went to a couple of the grad parties that I got invited to and those girls would come out and support you know my teams and they'd watch our our team and I remember after the Troy Troy Athens game one of the one of the um Stevenson girls was like I've never seen anything like this I'm like I know she's like I can't believe how many people are here I can't believe like the environment I can't believe anything in fact there was a game when we played them in the finals in the district final um my wife was telling me about this my wife comes to like all the games right my wife my daughters they come to all the games my my six year old she's on the field she's you know she's taking pictures with the trophies we're going to grad parties and my daughter's like you know holding like I brought all the trophies to all the grad parties yeah right and my daughter's holding pitch you know in pictures with them and you know like my my my my girls look up to this these these girls right of course you know like they see what they're doing and they're built in babysitters too oh yes yes I forgot who told me that maybe it was Laura some of them are already like giving me their resume I watch these three kids they're all under the age of this and I'm like okay this is great I told my wife I'm like I got 22 girls who are willing to come over and babysit yeah um but you know we were at we're at uh in playing Athens at Royal Oak and um I was getting onto a ref, right?
1:43:27
SPEAKER_00: Like there's a situation there's a collision uh I didn't agree with the call that the referee was doing so I was getting on the ref and my wife was telling me after the game she's like there was a guy in the stands who was yelling you're not at Stevenson anymore coach like almost like I felt like it was like an introduction to like the big boys like welcome to the big leagues you know like you're not at Stevenson anymore and I and I look at her and I was like really she goes oh I was so upset with him and I wanted to go over there and yell at him um but like again at the end of the day we we won right we we won that game and their head coach Jason you know he's the first guy to come over here hey man awesome go get him like you know like there's no yeah it's a rivalry there's no like I don't hate them right you know I don't I don't hate Jason I don't hate Todd Jason's wife came up to me after the game and you know like congratulated me and was like good luck welcome this is gonna be so exciting for the next few years right like that's to me like yes there's a rivalry yes you want to beat Athens you win one game all season as long as it's Athens great right you know but like at the end of the day we're all doing this we're all going through this together you know and and we want to create an environment and an experience that it's gonna continue to draw girls in.
1:44:46
SPEAKER_00: Right and and you want these girls to come and and play and so that way they can experience those types of things.
1:44:51
SPEAKER_00: Is Troy school of choice?
1:44:54
SPEAKER_00: So I like yes and no I think they have some really strict rules okay with like how they do things.
1:45:01
SPEAKER_00: Like I don't think you get to choose if you want to go like Athens or Troy.
1:45:03
SPEAKER_00: Do you get do you how is the middle school set up?
1:45:07
SPEAKER_01: Is it four middle schools and each high school gets two or is it one middle school goes right into the I'm not sure.
1:45:14
SPEAKER_00: I think that it's it's lines like everything else right like you know depending on where you live will determine where you go.
1:45:20
SPEAKER_01: And it's not even the school you go to necessarily it's the line.
1:45:24
SPEAKER_00: Essentially yeah I think so okay.
1:45:27
SPEAKER_00: Because I have a couple girls who I think live close to Athens and I think just the way that it goes through their subdivision like they go to Troy you know or something along those lines and or like you know the it's I mean that's how Rochester is.
1:45:40
SPEAKER_00: Right there's a school district in Buffalo that has three schools and it's like half of the neighborhood is in at one school half of the neighborhood is at another is like I mean that's happening over at like Utica Community Schools right like that's where Ike and yeah my I live in that area you know and where I live my daughter if we stay where we're at she'll go to Ike but then there's a house that there's like kitty corner of the subdivision across the street they're going to Utica so it's like well what sense does that make like you know but like you gotta fill you got to try to fill like where people are living you gotta understand you know like the population of where things are going so you gotta you know from a district standpoint you gotta navigate that and make sure that this you know you don't can't you can't have one school with 4,000 kids in it and one school with a thousand right so you gotta figure out how to make that work.
1:46:31
SPEAKER_00: But here having the two high schools you know I think it it's not easy but you know it just is like okay you're either going to Troy or you're going to Athens and you know if you're at this middle school all everyone from this middle school goes into here you know I'm assuming that's kind of how it goes.
1:46:46
SPEAKER_00: I I I haven't haven't been around long enough.
1:46:48
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:46:48
SPEAKER_00: Still trying to to learn how all that works.
1:46:51
SPEAKER_00: Who's the old coach here?
1:46:53
SPEAKER_00: Uh at Troy.
1:46:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah Dan Tricoli.
1:46:56
SPEAKER_00: And then he just wanted to step away?
1:46:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah I think that you know he's he he was here for a long time.
1:47:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah you know I I I ever since I can remember um and I think he you know at some point it ends right like I I'm even you know talking to friends and you know like I'm not gonna you know would I love to coach for 20 years?
1:47:18
SPEAKER_00: Like sure am I able to?
1:47:21
SPEAKER_00: I have no idea you know like and then you know it gets to a point where you know you have different things going on you know like you know my kids start playing soccer or they play high school or they're getting into this and you know like then you start having to make those decisions on you know your family stuff over what you're doing.
1:47:39
SPEAKER_00: You know so you just gotta kind of take what you have and for as long as you're here and and try to be as impactful as possible and leave a leave a little bit of a legacy if you can.
1:47:51
SPEAKER_00: You know like I know like I said Dan every I never I never beat Dan you know like every time I played him at Stevenson right I never beat him um you know so that's that's I think the beauty here is when you look at when you look at the OAA especially you look at like the OAA red you know you got like Josh Hickey been there forever.
1:48:15
SPEAKER_00: Forever right you have you know Mitty over at at Stoney you know Brian's been there I mean he won in 16 and then in 22 or 23 right like state titles you know he he's been there forever um you know Alan over at Bloomfield Hills has been there for a long time um you know this year was a little bit of an anomaly you have me and Kevin two new coaches in the OAA you know Kevin taking over for Doug and me stepping in you know when Dan retires so like that's that doesn't happen.
1:48:49
SPEAKER_00: No job two two OAA jobs open at the same time doesn't happen that's not it's not the norm.
1:48:56
SPEAKER_01: No it's not um you know so it's it's you know when you get here you're you're you're cementing yourself in for a long time you know when you did get here and the four captains were already set did you like have any second thoughts about like no I'm gonna name the captains or like no I am definitely keeping it.
1:49:21
SPEAKER_00: You know I didn't um and and part of the thing is is again you know I I want to I got to adapt to the players that I got right and and the way that I think things have been done here and and I didn't I wasn't coming here to change everything right like I'm not coming here to change everything that we do.
1:49:39
SPEAKER_00: You guys have certain traditions and things that you guys do and and I want to respect those things and I want those things to carry on because obviously you guys have had a program that's been pretty successful for a long time.
1:49:51
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:49:52
SPEAKER_00: You know it's not like there's been success for just you know four years.
1:49:55
SPEAKER_00: It's you know 20 30 years that they've been Success, you know, and and and I'm not here to change that, right?
1:50:03
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm here to kind of build off of that.
1:50:05
SPEAKER_02: Right.
1:50:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, so when those four came and those were the captains, like okay, those were the captains.
1:50:11
SPEAKER_00: How were they selected?
1:50:12
SPEAKER_00: They voted, so yeah, they're voted on based off of off of the players.
1:50:16
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
1:50:16
SPEAKER_00: Um, and so I kept that.
1:50:18
SPEAKER_00: I kept that.
1:50:19
SPEAKER_00: That's what they've done, that's what they wanted to do.
1:50:21
SPEAKER_00: And and I think, you know, I think if your peers are choosing you as uh to be a captain, then you know, I think that uh you should be rewarded for that.
1:50:30
SPEAKER_00: Um I will say like the four the four new captains that we have are probably four captains that I probably would have picked.
1:50:38
SPEAKER_00: So like these girls know, right?
1:50:39
SPEAKER_00: Like they have an understanding.
1:50:41
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and and it's all you know, I let them do it all like anonymously, I send them a form, and you know, it's like it all comes to me and I see who votes for who, and then you you total it up, and you know, like that's gonna be what your captain the who your captains are.
1:50:55
SPEAKER_00: Um and it it you know it worked this year.
1:50:58
SPEAKER_00: I I think the only thing that I did do was I changed what that word meant to them, right?
1:51:06
SPEAKER_00: Because I I explained to them what I thought a captain meant, not necessarily what a captain meant maybe prior, or like on like their club teams, or you know, like I told them what I thought leadership looked like, you know, and like like for me, one of the big things that I think for about leadership is if I say, you know, like like we end a drill, hey, let's let's pick these cones up.
1:51:28
SPEAKER_00: You four captains better be the first ones running over there to pick that up because you're setting the example.
1:51:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't want this to be uh, you know, like when I was in high school, it was like sophomore or the youngest.
1:51:39
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when I was in when I was in high school, it's like we gotta move that net 50 yards.
1:51:44
SPEAKER_00: Great, you're gonna put the you know, freshman who's 90 pounds.
1:51:48
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
1:51:49
SPEAKER_00: Like that's what they did, yeah, and that's what it was, you know.
1:51:52
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, oh, there's a soccer ball that went 200 yards over there because someone just kept kicking it.
1:51:58
SPEAKER_00: Like, go get it.
1:51:59
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, oh my goodness, really?
1:52:01
SPEAKER_00: Um you know, but like that to me was one of the small things that that I I kind of told them.
1:52:08
SPEAKER_00: Like, hey, if we're if I gotta carry gear back to my car, we're putting gear back in the shed.
1:52:14
SPEAKER_00: I want I don't I don't want this to be like I have to ask you.
1:52:19
SPEAKER_00: I just want you guys to be like, hey, do you need help?
1:52:22
SPEAKER_00: And so they started doing that, and then I started noticing that when those four started doing that, two, three weeks go by, and now you're getting other girls be like, oh gosh, I'll go do that for you, I'll go get it.
1:52:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, I'll do this, I'll do that.
1:52:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, and it was like, okay, so you guys are seeing, like it, it's it's rubbing off.
1:52:39
SPEAKER_00: Like it's it wasn't just the four that were doing that.
1:52:43
SPEAKER_00: They say they see that you guys are willing to put in that time and that that extra effort, and now they're also mirroring what you're doing.
1:52:51
SPEAKER_00: And I think that was a a big a big help for the program.
1:52:56
SPEAKER_00: Again, that's just part of like little things of like the culture that I I I try to instill.
1:53:01
SPEAKER_00: Like it's not one person's job to pick up pennies or one person's job to pick up cones or one person's job to you know go move nets or whatever, like that.
1:53:11
SPEAKER_00: Like, and it shouldn't be one person or a single, like, you know, first year varsity member or freshman, like just go do it, you know.
1:53:19
SPEAKER_00: Like my boss at work doesn't get to say, like, well, you're the newest, so you do this, you know, like it doesn't work that way, you know, like it's you know, like that's just not how things operate.
1:53:31
SPEAKER_00: So that's one of the things that uh that was how I kind of talked to them about okay, if you guys are gonna be the captains, here's what I think of my captains, and here's what we should do.
1:53:39
SPEAKER_00: Um, and there was no questions, no problems.
1:53:44
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we we talked all the time, my captains.
1:53:48
SPEAKER_00: We it was always always talking, and we'd have difficult conversations um about maybe like you know, maybe like I wanted to change something, or maybe like someone wasn't playing well, and I was like, hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna make a change, you know, and I don't want this to be a big shock to you guys or to everybody.
1:54:04
SPEAKER_00: So I tried to keep them in the loop.
1:54:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, and I built a trust with them.
1:54:09
SPEAKER_00: And you know, and I and I knew that they could come talk to me if there was any sort of problems.
1:54:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, but they handled everything.
1:54:16
SPEAKER_00: Like I I can honestly say I had not a single problem come to my attention this year.
1:54:22
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
1:54:24
SPEAKER_00: Nothing.
1:54:25
SPEAKER_00: Players, parents, nothing.
1:54:29
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy.
1:54:30
SPEAKER_00: That's rare.
1:54:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:54:32
SPEAKER_00: But you know, like we have we have a parent meeting, you know, like it's one of the things that Troy Hutt that the district does, right?
1:54:39
SPEAKER_00: Like, we had a spring meeting at Troy Athens High School for all spring sports.
1:54:44
SPEAKER_00: All spring sports.
1:54:45
SPEAKER_00: And it was the district athletic director, Matt, would go up there and he'd set like an expectation for the entire district.
1:54:52
SPEAKER_00: Here's what the entire district expects.
1:54:55
SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't matter if you're at Athens and you're playing, you know, tennis, or if you're at Troy and you're on the lacrosse team.
1:55:02
SPEAKER_00: This is the expectation of how we're gonna handle ourselves as parents, as athletes, as coaches.
1:55:09
SPEAKER_00: And then from there, once he gets done, then we break off and we do meetings, you know, each team, right?
1:55:16
SPEAKER_00: So you get like assigned a room.
1:55:17
SPEAKER_00: Like girl soccer, you're going into this place.
1:55:19
SPEAKER_00: And then anyone who's playing girl soccer at Troy comes to that, you know, like their parents are at that meeting, and you sit there and you kind of talk about what the expectations are, and you know, like I'll have like a little do's and don'ts of like don't coach from the stands.
1:55:35
SPEAKER_00: You know, like don't be yelling, kick it, you know, do you know whatever.
1:55:39
SPEAKER_00: Because while I understand that's something that you might want to do, like don't put your daughter in that position where they gotta do I listen to my coach, do I listen to mom and dad?
1:55:50
SPEAKER_00: And that's something that we talked about, you know, like preseason stuff with with like that Mark and Justin that came in, right?
1:55:56
SPEAKER_00: Where it's like, hey, you got you get into the car and you know, mom or dad is saying, Well, why didn't you do this?
1:56:01
SPEAKER_00: Why didn't you do that?
1:56:02
SPEAKER_00: Why didn't you do this?
1:56:03
SPEAKER_00: You know, like that's that's pressured.
1:56:05
SPEAKER_00: Like, how are you gonna handle that?
1:56:07
SPEAKER_00: Because now you gotta do what's best for your team, or maybe you know, like maybe in club you play this position and coaches putting you in a different position, and you know, parents disagree with it, and you gotta work through that.
1:56:19
SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, I'm super open and available.
1:56:23
SPEAKER_00: Coaches, you know, players want to come talk to me, they can, no problems.
1:56:27
SPEAKER_00: You know, parents want to come talk to me, sure, great.
1:56:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, what I found was you know the parents that would come talk to me, they started realizing that again, they started looking at me as more than just I had a dad at the end of the season at our banquet.
1:56:46
SPEAKER_00: He like shook my hand and he said, Thanks for being a dad.
1:56:50
SPEAKER_00: Right?
1:56:51
SPEAKER_00: Like, my daughter saw you being a dad out of the field, right?
1:56:55
SPEAKER_00: Right, like like he he appreciated that, right?
1:56:58
SPEAKER_00: And and it to like them, it showed that there's yes, this is the most important thing that's going on right now.
1:57:03
SPEAKER_01: You're not identified as a soccer player, but yeah, it just comes always back to that.
1:57:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, like my my daughter, my six-year-old, again, she loves coming to these games, right?
1:57:12
SPEAKER_00: And you know, she's on the track and you know, she's waving and pre-game starting, and you know, it was state finals, pre-game, and I see her in the stands, I walk over, talk to her, you know, give her a fist bump, all right.
1:57:26
SPEAKER_00: Say, you know, talk to my wife.
1:57:27
SPEAKER_00: Like, I can do that.
1:57:30
SPEAKER_00: That's my wife, you know.
1:57:31
SPEAKER_00: That that's my daughter.
1:57:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I get it.
1:57:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm in the state finals, it's the biggest game that I've ever been in in my life.
1:57:36
SPEAKER_00: Right.
1:57:37
SPEAKER_00: That's my wife, it's my daughter.
1:57:39
SPEAKER_00: Like, they're the most important things to me.
1:57:41
SPEAKER_00: And I think it just sh shifted the focus a little bit for these girls of understanding that, like, yeah, this is super important what we're doing, and this is the might be one of the most important things that we're doing right now, but you're gonna look back at this and you're gonna have great memories, and you're hopefully.
1:57:59
SPEAKER_00: Regardless of the outcome, yeah, and and you're hopefully gonna think about this as like some of the best times in your life, and and hopefully, like I've like laid an example for you of what you know being a parent looks like, or you know, when you see if your mom and dad have done something like this, and then you see me doing the exact same thing that your mom and dad have done, you know, like maybe you start thinking to myself, okay, you know, like maybe my parents are cool, or maybe I want to be around them, or you know, like you it just my hope is I can just set some sort of example, right?
1:58:27
SPEAKER_00: That's all I want to do.
1:58:28
SPEAKER_00: Set an example, be positive, have an impact on them, you know, stay connected.
1:58:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, I I just had someone who graduated college.
1:58:38
SPEAKER_00: She just graduated college, and I coached her many years ago, and she was like, Hey, I'm gonna can I put you down as a reference for this job I'm interviewing for?
1:58:47
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, absolutely, you know, like and those are the things I want.
1:58:50
SPEAKER_00: That's I think what's important.
1:58:52
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
1:58:53
SPEAKER_00: I'll never forget the soccer stuff.
1:58:54
SPEAKER_00: Don't get me wrong.
1:58:55
SPEAKER_00: Of course, I'll never forget that.
1:58:57
SPEAKER_01: I saw I forget, I keep on saying this, but somebody said that you are ultimately judged by a coach or as a coach by how many weddings of former players you're invited to.
1:59:10
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, I I think I agree with that so much.
1:59:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:59:15
SPEAKER_00: I remember sitting here, I remember sitting in in the interview at Troy, and one of the questions that was asked from our district athletic director, and he said, uh, how do you identify success at the end of the season?
1:59:27
SPEAKER_00: And like I said to you earlier, and I go, Well, how many grad parties am I getting invited to?
1:59:32
SPEAKER_00: And he looks at me, he's like, That's how you identify success?
1:59:34
SPEAKER_00: I go, Yeah, absolutely.
1:59:36
SPEAKER_00: Because if I have gotten invited, if I got nine seniors and I get invited to nine grad parties, I think that's a success.
1:59:44
SPEAKER_00: I agree.
1:59:45
SPEAKER_00: If I have nine seniors and I get invited to zero, then they don't like me.
1:59:48
SPEAKER_00: I've done something wrong.
1:59:50
SPEAKER_00: You know, like they they they view me as the head coach of Troy High School.
1:59:56
SPEAKER_00: They don't view me as a mentor or you know, like a role model or someone who's made a difference in their life.
2:00:02
SPEAKER_00: You know, and I think listen, on the field, success is pretty clear what it is, right?
2:00:07
SPEAKER_00: Like in soccer, there's wins and losses.
2:00:09
SPEAKER_00: And you know, there's trophies.
2:00:11
SPEAKER_00: Are you are you playing deep?
2:00:12
SPEAKER_00: Are you is your season ending?
2:00:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, like obviously, like that's the success of measurement on the field, you know, but if you look more if you look at it from a hole, it's it's that, right?
2:00:25
SPEAKER_00: Like these girls are leaving.
2:00:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how many of these girls are gonna come back and and be a part of it?
2:00:29
SPEAKER_00: Like, like that's the stuff that I love.
2:00:31
SPEAKER_00: When they come back, and you know, I already got these girls that are graduating, they're like, can we come back and sit on the bench?
2:00:37
SPEAKER_00: We promise we won't be a distraction.
2:00:39
SPEAKER_00: Can we, you know, when when the sea when our college season's over, can we come sit on the bench for you?
2:00:44
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you know, like that that's what I want.
2:00:47
SPEAKER_00: You know, like they they then turn into the number one cheerleader for the program.
2:00:51
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
2:00:51
SPEAKER_00: And and I think that's awesome.
2:00:54
SPEAKER_00: I think that that to me is again, that's what high school sports is.
2:00:58
SPEAKER_00: You know, like that's why I just I keep coming back to this idea that that there's there's nothing like it.
2:01:05
SPEAKER_00: There's nothing like it.
2:01:07
SPEAKER_00: You know, like there, there's it's there's something that you just can't replicate, you know, and that's why I've just decided to commit to coaching high school.
2:01:17
SPEAKER_00: Don't get me wrong, I still do all the same things, you know, like like the North American Soccer Expo.
2:01:21
SPEAKER_00: I'll be there.
2:01:22
SPEAKER_00: Right.
2:01:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go to sessions, I'm gonna learn, I'm gonna watch, you know, I'm gonna network with people.
2:01:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'll be there.
2:01:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, right?
2:01:30
SPEAKER_00: Like I'm gonna do all these things.
2:01:31
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
2:01:32
SPEAKER_00: I want, I want to do these things because if I stop, then I'm not bettering myself off as a coach.
2:01:37
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, you know, and and with the level of talent that you have and and where you're at, like you have to keep doing this.
2:01:44
SPEAKER_00: I Brian Middleseck, right?
2:01:46
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
2:01:47
SPEAKER_00: We played them, and it was, you know, in in his eyes, they probably didn't have the year that you know he was hoping for, right?
2:01:56
SPEAKER_00: They're not winning a state title or competing in the OAA red, they didn't win the OA Red or anything like that.
2:02:01
SPEAKER_00: So for him, you know, that's you know, obviously probably not not good enough.
2:02:05
SPEAKER_02: Right.
2:02:05
SPEAKER_00: We're playing them.
2:02:06
SPEAKER_00: We got a better team than they do.
2:02:08
SPEAKER_00: We're we're playing at Stony, and it's 0-0.
2:02:12
SPEAKER_00: And it's 0-0, and it's you know, second half, it's 0-0.
2:02:16
SPEAKER_00: 20 minutes left, it's 0-0.
2:02:18
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, what is happening?
2:02:20
SPEAKER_00: Like, what is going on?
2:02:22
SPEAKER_00: And what I thought they were gonna do, what uh everything I seen on film, everything I thought, I come out here, he does something completely different.
2:02:32
SPEAKER_00: Puts together a whole new in like three days, puts together a whole new system, everything brand new, something I've never seen on film before.
2:02:41
SPEAKER_00: And I'm trying to like coach through it.
2:02:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, okay, wait a minute.
2:02:44
SPEAKER_00: So he's doing okay.
2:02:45
SPEAKER_00: So I'm pulling girls off.
2:02:46
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, here's what we're doing, here's what they're doing.
2:02:48
SPEAKER_00: We got to adjust it, you know.
2:02:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to make the adjustments.
2:02:50
SPEAKER_00: We score a goal, you know, with you know, whatever, 15 minutes left, go up one-nothing.
2:02:55
SPEAKER_00: Middle and I go out after the game, and I look at him and I go, What was that?
2:02:59
SPEAKER_00: And he starts laughing, pulls out a napkin, paper, starts drawing.
2:03:03
SPEAKER_00: This is what we started doing, and I like and that's what I love, right?
2:03:07
SPEAKER_00: Like, I love that, that side of things, right?
2:03:10
SPEAKER_00: Because, like, I to me that was a learning experience.
2:03:13
SPEAKER_00: You know, he's Brian Middlestaff, you know, he's won two state titles, he's the head coach of Stony Creek, the Division I chair.
2:03:20
SPEAKER_00: Right.
2:03:21
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sitting across from him, and we, you know, I just played him, and I'm trying to like, what where did you come up with this?
2:03:27
SPEAKER_00: Like, how did you do this?
2:03:28
SPEAKER_00: How did you put this in in two days?
2:03:31
SPEAKER_00: And he's just like, This is what we did at training, and he just starts drawing stuff out.
2:03:35
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, dude, like that's awesome.
2:03:38
SPEAKER_00: I loved it.
2:03:39
SPEAKER_00: I loved every minute of that.
2:03:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, like I was the student.
2:03:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
2:03:42
SPEAKER_00: I was the student at that point, and that's that's where for me, like, I'll never, I'll never stop.
2:03:48
SPEAKER_00: You know, like I'll never stop learning, and when I do, then that's when it's time to hang it up.
2:03:52
SPEAKER_01: Right.
2:03:53
SPEAKER_01: And the whole like theme of all of this is just relationships.
2:03:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's relationships with your players, it's you being able to call Todd Hugh, uh, you know, before the state final, and like what do you do?
2:04:04
SPEAKER_01: Like, how do I do this?
2:04:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, what am I doing?
2:04:07
SPEAKER_01: You know, and and that, and that's what the game is.
2:04:11
SPEAKER_01: It's just all relationships.
2:04:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's all it is.
2:04:13
SPEAKER_00: And and that's and that's the part of high school soccer that I think is great.
2:04:17
SPEAKER_00: Like, I I truly do.
2:04:18
SPEAKER_00: And and and I think that's the that's the part that that I don't think gets enough credit, right?
2:04:25
SPEAKER_00: Like, let's be honest, like Oakland County soccer is awesome.
2:04:28
SPEAKER_01: Right.
2:04:28
SPEAKER_00: Like, you're playing the OAA red, again, like we talked earlier, you're you got a team that's in the state finals almost every year, right?
2:04:35
SPEAKER_00: Like one of these teams is gonna you know, and here you want to hear a wild stat.
2:04:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
2:04:40
SPEAKER_00: A team that has gone to that state final from the OAA red, not a single one of those teams has won the OAA red.
2:04:49
SPEAKER_01: Right.
2:04:50
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that worth it?
2:04:51
SPEAKER_00: So we we finished third this year in the red.
2:04:55
SPEAKER_00: Adams, Rochester, and then Troy finals.
2:05:01
SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
2:05:02
SPEAKER_00: So do you go into the season like that's not even the goal?
2:05:05
SPEAKER_00: Well, it's so funny because that's what I've Doug and I were talking, and he goes, You don't want to win the red.
2:05:10
SPEAKER_00: Because he's won the red a bunch of times, wouldn't even make it out of districts.
2:05:14
SPEAKER_00: You know?
2:05:15
SPEAKER_00: And the years that these OAA teams are making it to the finals, like Stony Creek when they made it to the finals, they didn't win the red.
2:05:22
SPEAKER_00: They think they finished second.
2:05:24
SPEAKER_00: Bloomfield Hills finished third when Athens lost in the finals.
2:05:28
SPEAKER_00: I think they were like second or third.
2:05:30
SPEAKER_00: Adams, when they won it, third.
2:05:32
SPEAKER_00: Second, like these like did they so the funny thing is the year that Adams won the state title, they beat Troy in the regional final.
2:05:42
SPEAKER_00: Troy won the OAA red that year, and then lost to Adams in regional.
2:05:49
SPEAKER_01: That is a wild step.
2:05:50
SPEAKER_00: And then this year, we finished third, play Adams, who was undefeated, won the OAA Red, and we beat them, and then we go on to the state final.
2:06:00
SPEAKER_00: So a team that's won the OAA Red has not played in the state final in the last six years.
2:06:06
SPEAKER_00: It's been another team from that conference.
2:06:09
SPEAKER_00: So it does.
2:06:10
SPEAKER_00: It almost turns into like, well, I don't want I don't want one of these.
2:06:13
SPEAKER_00: I don't want one, I don't want one of these.
2:06:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let's just let's let's just like coast into playoffs and peak then.
2:06:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
2:06:21
SPEAKER_01: Because you don't want to peak too early.
2:06:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, absolutely.
2:06:24
SPEAKER_00: And that's hard.
2:06:25
SPEAKER_00: It is hard.
2:06:27
SPEAKER_00: It was it it's something that's you know, like you never want to lose a game.
2:06:32
SPEAKER_00: But but there's a lot of growth from it.
2:06:35
SPEAKER_00: Again, going back to Todd's.
2:06:38
SPEAKER_00: Going back to Todd.
2:06:39
SPEAKER_00: I remember there was a year back with the boys, he was undefeated, going to district's, I don't know, district final or something.
2:06:48
SPEAKER_00: And I was at the game, and uh, they were playing Ford, and I think uh Terry Steinwasher was coaching there, and my my friend Chris, who is the boys' coach there now, he was on that staff and he was like taking that over from Terry.
2:07:03
SPEAKER_00: It was like the transition year that she was walk she was leading.
2:07:06
SPEAKER_00: Right.
2:07:07
SPEAKER_00: And Athens was undefeated, whopping teams all year, and they lost.
2:07:13
SPEAKER_00: Ford beat them.
2:07:15
SPEAKER_00: And Todd walked in.
2:07:17
SPEAKER_00: This is districts.
2:07:17
SPEAKER_00: This isn't districts, their season ended 18-1, right?
2:07:21
SPEAKER_00: Same thing like Eisenhower this year with their girls, lost to Rochester first, second round of districts.
2:07:26
SPEAKER_00: Adams lost to us, right?
2:07:29
SPEAKER_00: Todd comes into that meeting and says, I hope I never have another undefeated season again.
2:07:37
SPEAKER_00: He goes, We went down and the guys didn't know what to do.
2:07:40
SPEAKER_00: Like they what they didn't know what it was like to be punched in the face and how to recover and how to react.
2:07:44
SPEAKER_00: And that stuck with me.
2:07:46
SPEAKER_00: You know, like that was one of those that's like, yeah, I would love to go undefeated.
2:07:49
SPEAKER_00: How many teams are going undefeated and winning a state title?
2:07:52
SPEAKER_00: Like never.
2:07:53
SPEAKER_00: It's not happening.
2:07:53
SPEAKER_00: I don't think it's ever happened.
2:07:54
SPEAKER_00: Like Byron's maybe you know, Byron centers last year or two years ago, they were really good.
2:07:58
SPEAKER_00: Rockford had two losses this year.
2:08:01
SPEAKER_00: Like you're gonna lose two, three games, right?
2:08:03
SPEAKER_00: Like you're gonna, I mean, you're not gonna go and you're not expecting to lose like seven to ten games.
2:08:10
SPEAKER_00: Right.
2:08:10
SPEAKER_00: But you know, you're you're gonna lose.
2:08:12
SPEAKER_00: If you're doing it right as a coach and you're scheduling teams that are quality, right, you're gonna lose, you know, two, three games a year just because like the teams are good.
2:08:22
SPEAKER_00: Right.
2:08:23
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the ball doesn't bounce your way, like there's there's crazy things that can happen, you know, but like you learn a lot from these losses.
2:08:31
SPEAKER_00: And and and that's that's just it's crazy.
2:08:35
SPEAKER_00: It's crazy to me that in the in the OAA that these teams that have won.
2:08:38
SPEAKER_00: I know on the boys' side, I don't know if it's like that.
2:08:40
SPEAKER_01: I don't think it is.
2:08:42
SPEAKER_00: On the girls' side, it's 100% like that.
2:08:45
SPEAKER_00: That's wild.
2:08:47
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for doing this.
2:08:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
2:08:49
SPEAKER_00: It's fun.
2:08:50
SPEAKER_00: It is.
2:08:50
SPEAKER_00: I like high school soccer is the best, man.
2:08:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I mean I love being home too because high school soccer is different here.
2:08:59
SPEAKER_01: Everything's different here.
2:09:00
SPEAKER_01: And all the clubs and all the colleges, and then all the high schools, and it's just it's just a different level.
2:09:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just a uh it's a and people don't understand it that they're not from here, you know, and there's other hotbeds in the country, but I do think that this is a soccer hotbed.
2:09:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, I think soccer in Michigan is I mean it it's so good.
2:09:21
SPEAKER_01: And then you were talking about earlier about like, I mean, Rochford and East Kenwood and Byron Center and all those schools too.
2:09:28
SPEAKER_01: It's like Midwest and and MFA and everything that they're doing, or ACGR or whatever it is.
2:09:34
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like that's the thing.
2:09:37
SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's nuts.
2:09:39
SPEAKER_00: You know, like it it makes no difference.
2:09:41
SPEAKER_00: Like, there's again, Northville, awesome, right?
2:09:44
SPEAKER_00: Like we played.
2:09:46
SPEAKER_01: Northville, Nova, and Grand Blanc are adding into the OAA red.
2:09:49
SPEAKER_01: That makes it even worse.
2:09:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't so I don't know if they're all gonna go into the red, right?
2:09:53
SPEAKER_00: Like, I think there's gonna be like Northville's obviously for girls' soccer gonna go into the OAA red.
2:09:58
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I think that there's gonna be we're gonna have to uh the powers that be are gonna have to figure out how to do that.
2:10:06
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna do a north and a south or like east, west?
2:10:09
SPEAKER_00: How are they gonna do this?
2:10:10
SPEAKER_00: It's tough already, you know.
2:10:12
SPEAKER_00: Like we we traveled away to Oxford this year, you know, like a league game and we're driving out to Oxford.
2:10:17
SPEAKER_02: Right.
2:10:17
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it's a 40-minute drive out here.
2:10:20
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
2:10:21
SPEAKER_00: You know, like what's what's that gonna look like when we got a league game uh away at Northville on a Tuesday night?
2:10:28
SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, at least at least it's not uh winter, right?
2:10:32
SPEAKER_00: Like think about basketball, right?
2:10:33
SPEAKER_00: It's the same thing.
2:10:34
SPEAKER_00: We look look at like the Big Ten.
2:10:35
SPEAKER_00: You got Oregon, you know, obviously like football is the big driving factor, right?
2:10:40
SPEAKER_00: In in the in the Big Ten.
2:10:41
SPEAKER_00: So you got you got Oregon playing against Rutgers and you're traveling across the country.
2:10:46
SPEAKER_01: Stanford is in the Atlantic in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
2:10:51
SPEAKER_00: Right.
2:10:52
SPEAKER_01: That doesn't make sense, right?
2:10:54
SPEAKER_00: You know, but maybe on the football side they think about it.
2:10:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like you just said, we got Maryland and we got Oregon in Washington, yeah.
2:11:03
SPEAKER_01: In USC, UCLA.
2:11:05
SPEAKER_00: So ridiculous.
2:11:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, but they don't think about the soccer programs or the baseball programs that have to travel cross country, and you know, that's hard.
2:11:14
SPEAKER_00: Now, obviously, this is a significantly smaller scale.
2:11:17
SPEAKER_00: Of course, you know, but like a Tuesday night same concept night in December for boys' basketball, and you know, there's snowing outside, you gotta get out to Northville.
2:11:25
SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be tough.
2:11:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
2:11:27
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be tough.
2:11:29
unknown: Man.
2:11:29
SPEAKER_00: But I mean, we'll we'll see.
2:11:31
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited.
2:11:32
SPEAKER_00: It's only gonna make us better, right?
2:11:34
SPEAKER_00: Like bringing in Janine at Northville, you bring in Novi, like it's only gonna make us better.
2:11:39
SPEAKER_00: You're playing.
2:11:39
SPEAKER_01: And then you get those one or two losses, and then you're you can go win a state title.
2:11:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, that's that's that's the whole that's the goal.
2:11:47
SPEAKER_00: That is not the reason why I came.
2:11:49
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
2:11:49
SPEAKER_00: Told told my wife, you know, I want to chase that crazy dream of winning a state title.
2:11:54
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to do.
2:11:55
SPEAKER_00: Very hard.
2:11:56
SPEAKER_00: You know, puts you into a different category.
2:11:59
SPEAKER_00: You know, so that's uh I I I want to put my my my picture up on the wall over there.
2:12:06
SPEAKER_00: I want to be on that coach's legacy, you know, join join Henry and Z.
2:12:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, get on that.
2:12:13
SPEAKER_00: I I told Z we were walking out of our coaches' meeting, or walking out of the parent meeting, and him and I were talking, and I just said to him, I go, I'm coming for you.
2:12:22
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna do it.
2:12:23
SPEAKER_00: And he's like, I hope you do.
2:12:27
SPEAKER_00: And and that's like that's the difference, right?
2:12:29
SPEAKER_00: Like I think I think everything here is there's so much support.
2:12:33
SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
2:12:34
SPEAKER_00: And he he's a parent, but he's also an administrator, right?
2:12:38
SPEAKER_00: Like he's an administrative he's a principal in a district in the district.
2:12:40
SPEAKER_00: And he's bought into this town, yeah, city, yeah, raised his family here, exactly, you know, like it's awesome.
2:12:49
SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
2:12:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
2:12:52
SPEAKER_01: Alright, man.
2:12:53
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
2:12:54
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it.
2:12:54
SPEAKER_01: Appreciate it.
2:12:55
SPEAKER_00: Come back to Troy anytime, man.
2:12:56
SPEAKER_01: You gotta come check out an Athens game.
2:12:59
SPEAKER_01: I will.
2:12:59
SPEAKER_01: Todd I I saw Todd at the expo last year, and then we talked about him getting on because, like you said, he's the legend, and just hasn't happened yet, but I'm definitely and then he's like, You need to come to a Troy, Troy Athens game.
2:13:15
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, I know.
2:13:16
SPEAKER_01: And I've I've been to several, you know, but that was years ago.
2:13:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
2:13:21
SPEAKER_00: But it's awesome, man.
2:13:22
SPEAKER_00: It's it's so good.
2:13:24
SPEAKER_00: Come out to East Lansing.
2:13:25
SPEAKER_00: We're uh this Saturday, they're doing the the All-Star game.
2:13:28
SPEAKER_00: Are they?
2:13:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh the uh all the seniors, you know, like the Coaches Association All-Star Game.
2:13:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm supposed to have Jeff on soon, Hostler.
2:13:36
SPEAKER_01: Oh, okay.
2:13:37
SPEAKER_01: From states.
2:13:38
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're doing it's at the East Lansing Soccer Complex.
2:13:41
SPEAKER_00: It's for the boys and girls.
2:13:42
SPEAKER_00: Okay, yeah.
2:13:43
SPEAKER_00: Um, so they're doing like the girls, they there's four teams for each.
2:13:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, so they just break them down by like regions, and it's division one through four.
2:13:51
SPEAKER_00: So it's anyone who's basically was like on an all-state team.
2:13:54
SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
2:13:54
SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, I think just a couple years ago.
2:13:58
SPEAKER_00: I think that like maybe two or three years ago.
2:14:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's new.
2:14:01
SPEAKER_00: I like it.
2:14:02
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's so cool.
2:14:03
SPEAKER_00: Just you know, you you get these invites and these kids get invited.
2:14:07
SPEAKER_00: And yeah.
2:14:08
SPEAKER_00: So they're doing uh it's a Saturday.
2:14:10
SPEAKER_00: This Saturday they're doing uh 12 and 2 o'clock.
2:14:13
SPEAKER_00: So like 12 o'clock, there'll be two girls' games going on at once, and then at um two o'clock the boys play, and then at four o'clock the winners of the first two girls' games play, and the losers of the first two girls' games will play against each other, and then six o'clock, same thing happens with the boys, and you know, you just get out there and go represent your high school one last time and have some fun and play with some of the best players in the state who are going all over the place.
2:14:39
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
2:14:40
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's cool.
2:14:41
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
2:14:42
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited for it, it'll be good.
2:14:44
SPEAKER_00: Alright.
2:14:45
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, brother.
2:14:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man, appreciate it.
2:14:48
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
2:14:48
SPEAKER_00: I hate soccer.