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From College Fields to Professional Pitches: The Journey of a Soccer Player! · The BIG LIFE

0:04
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to the Big Life Podcast.
0:08
All right, I'm not gonna lie, that was a take two on the intro.
0:11
Words are coming out a little hard today. So, Jordan, how are you?
0:16
I'm doing good. A little bit better than you. It sounds like you had a really
0:19
long day where mine's like barely started at this point.
0:22
That's like, I don't think Jordan and I will ever quite get the time difference between us.
0:26
You know, mathematically, the amount of times like I've scheduled
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meetings and like have been off on the time conversion or we
0:32
like realized that like my day's over and hers is just beginning right now
0:35
so we're working through it we're growing we're learning it's
0:38
only been like you know six months at this point so
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oh yeah sam's definitely had to take one for
0:44
the team here because i messed up the conversion so often
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that now everything has to be in eastern time so she has
0:49
to do the math because i just kept getting it wrong we try
0:54
you know it happens it happens to the the best of us but
0:56
now been a long day here I was just saying to Jordan my long
0:59
days are Tuesday so I was at the soccer facility from
1:03
7 30 this morning to about 4 this afternoon didn't
1:06
come home during any of that so super excited to be back on here talking about
1:10
more soccer but this is the big life and there's some big things to talk about
1:14
and I know I'm happy to be here with Jordan and you guys so Jordan big moments
1:19
in the big life this week let's recap the weekend what came off the news headlines for you.
1:25
Yeah, yeah. I think, unfortunately, our last guest had a little bit of a tough
1:30
week with UCLA going 0-1-1, playing two SEC schools.
1:35
Yeah, that was definitely... So last year, we had the podcast and the kind of
1:41
curse of the podcast that we were kind of talking about.
1:43
I don't know if it's back, so we're really sorry, Marguerite, about this.
1:47
But But yes, UCLA went 0-1-1, tying Tennessee and then losing 2-0 on the road to Kentucky.
1:54
So definitely not the result they wanted. And I don't know, the first thing
1:58
that kind of struck me about this was we know that UCLA is having injury issues.
2:02
You know, Marguerite talked about it very openly last week. But also,
2:05
you know, there is a very big difference going from West Coast to SEC style soccer.
2:09
And I wonder if that had anything to do with the results on the road for a really
2:12
tough road stretch for UCLA.
2:14
Yeah, yeah. We talked about it
2:15
too with them missing. I think it was three players to the U-20 World Cup.
2:19
So how kind of those reinforcements help just numbers wise and talent wise on a roster.
2:24
It's hard to tell and like really speculate what this means for their future
2:28
in terms of standings and things of that nature.
2:30
But it'll be interesting to see how they bounce back going into USC for the
2:33
first week of conference play this coming week.
2:36
Absolutely. And we will get into more of that. But, you know,
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Jordan, we have to give them our due.
2:41
I feel honestly a little bad about the amount we've talked about Michigan on
2:44
this podcast. And they're not great start to the season.
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And then they went and they tied on Thursday. And I was like, whoa, they got a tie.
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It was 0-5-1. one. They tied Iowa State, which, you know, me being a Hawkeye,
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I'm more than happy with that.
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And then I looked at my phone on Sunday and they beat number 24, Alabama, 1-0.
3:01
So they have their first win against a ranked opponent.
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Jordan, what do you think this win means to this Michigan squad?
3:08
I think it means terrible things for Alabama, but I think this is what we talked about.
3:15
It was kind of a turning point for them. They could either choose to fight it
3:18
out and really try and salvage this season for them.
3:21
And I think that's exactly what they're doing.
3:24
You can band together and you can go one way, or they could have given up and
3:27
just kind of called it quits on the season.
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So I'm really happy to see this and this result for them.
3:32
I mean, it was a tough start to the season and that kind of fork in the road
3:36
where they had to make a decision.
3:37
I think hopefully that decision was made and you start to see some more success from them coming, but.
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You know, it'll be it'll be an interesting week to see what they do with this.
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If, you know, they're able to still kind of fight through it or if this was
3:50
just almost like a fluke for them, which I hope not.
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But yeah, I think this couldn't have come at a better time for Michigan.
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You have a ranked opponent at home. I believe it was their senior night,
4:00
too. I could be wrong about that.
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And now you're going into Big Ten play this week, which we'll talk about.
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Big Ten conference starts this upcoming week. So your next game is against a Big Ten opponent.
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This is kind of where the line in the season in a way restarts.
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So yeah, we care about non-conference. We care about stuff like that.
4:16
But it's your conference that really means everything.
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So I feel like for them to have this momentum after a big win going into Big
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Ten play is probably the best thing they could have done to really move that
4:26
second half of the season moving forward.
4:29
Absolutely. And as Marguerite said, once you get into conference play and things
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of that nature, even though Michigan had a tough start, every team is so talented.
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And soccer is one of those games where it also takes one goal and you can win
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the game regardless of the rest of the stats.
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So I don't think anyone's out of the question in terms of conference play and
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having this momentum going into that is really good for them.
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And it'll be interesting to see what they do.
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And speaking of momentum, one of the teams that came out to a really hot start
4:57
this season was Ohio State.
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However, they did get their first loss of the season to an Auburn squad.
5:02
And listen, I know we talk about the big time. We don't really talk a lot,
5:05
but I think Auburn has really been turning a lot of heads this season as they've
5:09
been a team that isn't always talked about in the SEC, isn't one of the heavy
5:13
hitters, some people might say, but have not conceded a goal this season.
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And they kept that streak going as they beat Ohio State 1-0.
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So, I mean, I think that this is just a tough game and I didn't watch the game,
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but the box score kind of alludes so the game could have gone either way in
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terms of shots and competition.
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But Ohio State getting its first loss obviously isn't great.
5:33
However, they've had a really solid non-conference going into Big Ten play.
5:37
Yeah, absolutely. I don't have really much to add on that. I think they're two
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talented teams. Auburn not letting in a single goal is so impressive.
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That is so hard to do going seven games deep right now.
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So, you know, props to them. But, yeah, tough result by Ohio State,
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but, you know, still a very, very talented program, and I think they'll have no issue bouncing back.
5:58
Completely agree. And now one of my favorite little tidbit facts I did is I
6:02
did some sleuthing into the Big Ten.
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This one is just as random, but really interesting, I think.
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So the two teams, when you look at Big Ten standings right now that are sitting
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on top of Big Ten, just based off of their non-conference record right now,
6:15
sorry, sorry, bud, is Minnesota and Indiana. Vienna.
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So two teams that you really don't talk about in the Big Ten a ton.
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I think they're two very, very competitive programs, and I've played very hard-fought
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games against both, but they're not your heavy horse predictors.
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And both teams have won all of their games except one tie. They have zero losses.
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So one's 4-0-1 and one's 5-0-1.
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But that one for tie came against the same opponent. Both teams have tied Brown University now 1-1.
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And we shouldn't be be remiss in saying that Brown was a sweet 16 team last
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year. They had a very, very talented squad.
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And so I think it's honestly kind of humorous that they tied the same team.
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But I think that also says a lot about their depth of the squad,
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meaning that they've won all their games. They're undefeated and they're one
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ties against a very good opponent and a mutual opponent.
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Yeah. Yeah. I think very, very impressive record.
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I'm not quite sure their strength of schedule for the rest of their games,
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what that looks like, but they've got to feel good going into
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this conference play with with that record and the tie
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to brown is nothing to be you know ashamed of by any means like
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a talented program and top 16 like you said from
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from last year so although i don't i
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don't think they're the top of the conference necessarily i might put like a
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green school maybe at number one but it is what it is you know all right all
7:37
right well okay as we transition into big 10 conference starting this week jordan
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you know you're in your locker room all the time you You hear it from your coach all the time,
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but you've also lifted. This is now your fourth season in the Big Ten.
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What is the focal point or what can athletes be doing as you transfer from non-conference
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to conference to kind of like change that mentality?
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Or what does that shift mean to a player?
8:01
Yeah. You know, honestly, I think the way we've learned to handle ourselves
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in non-conference play, especially this season, having such a competitive schedule,
8:10
playing so many ranked teams and good opponents, that there really shouldn't be much of a shift.
8:16
You play every game to win, and that's that.
8:20
That's how you go about your season. I do think there is a little bit of added
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pressure when it comes to Big Ten play, knowing how competitive of a conference
8:28
this is and knowing how talented it is, that every game from now on out is going to be hard.
8:33
It's going to be competitive, where maybe some other schools or your non-conference
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play you have, like we played Queens, you know, like you have those kind of
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breaks in your schedule where you have an easy opponent.
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That is now done. Like that is gone. You will always have a competitive team to play.
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So I do think there's a little bit of getting your mind used to that adversity
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day in, day out, Thursday, Sunday, every single week. There's no more breaks
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in that schedule for you, really.
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But other than that, I mean, I think there's the added pressure with conference counting more.
9:05
When you're looking at making a tournament, you're looking at the NCAA tournament,
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every game that you go farther into your schedule, there's less and less opportunity
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to continue to prove yourself.
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That block gets smaller and smaller and smaller for you to make a name for yourself
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and for those rankings to get moved and adjusted.
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So I do think there's a little bit of added pressure with it.
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But at the end of the day, I think competitive teams will go out there to win
9:29
non-conference, conference, whatever it is.
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And that's how it will look. It'll be a lot of the same mentality moving forward.
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There's going to be added diversity
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with travel because we've been at home pretty much the entire time.
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Our only away game was Notre Dame, which is not a far bus ride at all.
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So our first actual travel trip will be this week. So that'll be interesting.
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Something we haven't really done as a team. We haven't flown yet anywhere. So...
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That'll be interesting to see how we handle that. But for the most part, it'll be the same.
9:59
Yeah, it's interesting. You know, I look back at my time at Iowa and now that
10:03
I think about it, there's like almost a weird curse at Iowa with that first
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game back from a non-conference shift.
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If I remember right, we've had very successful non-conference a lot of times.
10:15
I remember last year, for example, we were 6-0-1-1, I believe,
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going into conference play.
10:20
But that first game, I don't know if it's just getting used to Big Ten style
10:24
again, but we always seem to struggle.
10:27
I know last year, I believe we lost to Wisconsin, but I know for fact the year
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before we lost to Wisconsin, but we lost to Wisconsin bad.
10:34
Like we were up one zero at half. And so 45th minute, we're up one zero second
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half starts by the 50th minute. We are down three to one.
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So just some crazy things that have happened.
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And I think a lot of it is the intensity of the big 10 and games mattering so
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much more when you're not used to that, or when when you're not prepared for that, it can bite you.
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And I've been a part of a program where it has before. And that first game doesn't tend to go well for Iowa.
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So I truly, truly hope they break the curse coming up in their next game.
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But I remember in my times, it was different. And I don't know necessarily why
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it didn't really go positive for us a lot.
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But I don't know if it was that shift, if it's the competitiveness, if it's the fact.
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The one thing that's true about the Big Ten and any sort of intense college
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soccer environment is you have to be intact hash from minute one to minute 90.
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And if I look back from those, it's those little lapses. It's you can be punished
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for something for tuning out for 30 seconds and boom, all of a sudden you're behind.
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And I think the attention to detail has to be so much greater.
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And if you're not ready for that, then it can really easily sneak up on you.
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Absolutely. And I think I'm talking as more of like a seasoned player now.
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I'm trying to remember what it was like when I was a young freshman going into all of this.
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And I'm sure it was a different mentality and a lot scarier to do.
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Luckily, we have a very seasoned team with a lot of seniors and fifth years on the field.
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Which I think will definitely help with those nerves and things of that nature.
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And honestly, we're a team that plays better against better competition.
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I think we're a lot more nervous going into a game versus like a Loyola or an
12:04
Ohio who are still good programs, but ones that, you know, ranking wise,
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we should definitely beat.
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I think there's almost more pressure to those games for us because we don't
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know how we're going to perform versus Penn State or, you know,
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some of these top programs where, you know, it's going to be a good game,
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you know, we're going to give it everything we have.
12:22
I think we definitely do perform better under harder pressure,
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which bodes well to a Big Ten conference play.
12:28
Yeah, absolutely. And speaking of, there's a lot of really big matches that
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I know I'm excited to tune into and see results.
12:34
So for our fans who listen and watch Big Ten Network and everything,
12:38
the matches that I know I have highlighted this week in Big Ten play,
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one of which we look at two teams that unexpectedly, in a lot of ways,
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are towards the top of the standings right now.
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Indiana will play against Ohio
12:49
State. And I think that that has potential to be a really fun matchup.
12:53
Indiana was notorious, even Marguerite called it out last week,
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for not letting in a lot of goals, but tying a ton of games last season.
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I'm pretty sure they led the NCAA in ties.
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And Ohio State's offense has been off to a really elite start, led by Kayla Budich.
13:07
And so I'm super excited to see those two teams face off. And who is your projected
13:11
winner out of those two teams?
13:13
Yeah, I think this is going to be something that either Ohio State's going to
13:16
come up with like a 1-0 tie or Indiana's going to tie it up with like a 1-1 game.
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So I don't think it will be super high scoring. And I think it's either going
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to go in Ohio State's favor or a tie from my predictions, but I don't know.
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It'll be a fun game to watch.
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Completely agree. And then the other ones, of course, the highlight,
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we get to see our new West Coast additions to the Big Ten face off this week
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as UCLA will play Oregon and USC will play Washington.
13:43
I think one of the really interesting things to think about is one thing we've
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heard from these teams that are excited to join the Big Ten is that they're
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excited for new opponents.
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And they get to start off Big Ten play with not new opponents playing against
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people that were also in the Pac-12 with them.
13:56
So it'll be very interesting to see this West Coast kind of square off as they
14:00
jockey for position of the newcomers to the Big Ten and how that kind of looks
14:04
as they then join the Midwest, maybe even a week later than we thought.
14:08
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. What are your predictions for these games? yeah I
14:11
think I gotta go with the favorites here Oregon didn't have
14:14
a strong Pac-12 season last year they've been looking to turn
14:17
that around they've had some success but I gotta go with UCLA and Washington
14:21
has had some really great ones and USC is coming off of a two-to-one loss but
14:25
they're losing to Stanford they lost to Stanford two-to-one on Sunday so a ton
14:29
of experience going into that game so I gotta pick both UCLA and USC to win
14:33
that game yeah I think I have to agree.
14:36
So into our main topic for this week, as Jordan and I kind of discussed,
14:40
you know, I was trying to think about like, what is something that we haven't gotten into in this pod?
14:44
And that, frankly, I'm still trying to figure out a lot of.
14:47
And I feel like we've been talking so much about college soccer recently,
14:51
which is 100% valid. And college soccer is at an all-time high.
14:55
We've had amazing guests on and talking with Jordan's journey.
14:58
But I wanted to tap in a bit into mine and talking about the stuff that being
15:02
a professional soccer player you don't necessarily realize or think about.
15:06
So I'm excited to get into this, Jed.
15:08
Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, as someone who we've talked about,
15:12
my journey is not going the way I would have expected for my senior year.
15:16
And one of kind of the issues I'm having or facing right now is that I can't
15:20
have an agent to really see what options are like for me outside of this collegiate season,
15:27
knowing that it's not ideal and kind of figuring out my future.
15:32
So I know I I have personally a bunch of questions and cannot wait to hear your
15:35
answers and kind of dive into the Sam Carey brain of it all.
15:38
But I mean, to start it off, like, what are the differences that you feel going
15:43
from collegiate pressure to the pro life?
15:48
Like, is there an increase? And we talked about non-conference to conference
15:52
games and that kind of shift and maybe added pressure. But when your job's on
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the line, what is that like?
15:57
Yeah, I think you just hit the nail on the head. And it's something that I'm trying to balance.
16:03
And I've talked to a lot of my teammates about this. And I think they kind of think I'm crazy.
16:08
And if anyone knows me personally, they know I am an overthinker that I do like
16:12
to play out every possible scenario in my head.
16:14
But we'll even be watching a game
16:16
where there's a low team in the table playing a mid team in the table.
16:20
So realistically, as a team, we'd want the low team to upset the mid table team
16:24
because that takes away points from them as we're looking at our seedings, let's just say.
16:28
And in my brain, I'm like, no, I want the mid table team to win.
16:30
And everyone's like, why? And I'm like, let's just keep the low teams low.
16:33
Because in European football, as you know, so many other parts of the world,
16:38
it's a relegation promotion system.
16:40
So we have 14 teams in our league.
16:44
And every year, the bottom two teams go down to the B division.
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And then the top two teams, the B division go up to the A division.
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And if your team goes down, you lose funding, you lose sponsorships,
16:57
you lose is honestly contracts.
17:00
There will be contracts cut. There will be so much impacts of your team going down.
17:05
So for us right now in the table, we have one team that just promoted from what's
17:11
called the Elite-a-ton.
17:12
So that's the team under the Don Mills-Vonskin
17:14
or the league under the Don Mills-Vonskin or the two leagues.
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And there you have two points on the year. They've tied two games and that's it.
17:21
And so every time they play, we're like, oh, we want them to get an upset.
17:24
I'm like, keep them down. Just keep them down. So I know there's a lot of rambling in it.
17:29
If you don't necessarily know what I'm talking about or can look at my hand
17:32
gestures, that may not make sense.
17:33
But the biggest thing is you've got to stay out of the bottom.
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And winning or losing is quite literally for me. It's my job.
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It's my livelihood. It's my community. It's my contract. and so much.
17:47
And so there is an extra pressure.
17:49
And then there's also expectations. And so for the club this year,
17:53
I'm on a team that promoted last year.
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So they started five years ago, have slowly worked their way through the system.
17:59
So last year was the first year in the top division.
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And they finished in ninth place with 24 points.
18:06
This year, we are currently tied for fifth place and
18:09
we have 20 30 points with eight games
18:12
left to go so significantly better showing we're
18:15
on the up and up and we're competing we're tied it's fifth and
18:18
fourth place are tied and the other thing that's really
18:21
exciting about playing in europe and playing in the league that i am is the
18:24
top three teams in your table then go to the champions league so i feel like
18:30
as it's almost any player growing up starting to play champions league that's
18:34
so the champions Champions League is basically a tournament or a league of the best teams.
18:39
So it's the winners of every country of Europe then play to like kind of battle
18:44
to see who is the best team in the world, as they call it.
18:47
And the people who won Champions League last year was famously Barcelona.
18:51
They played against Chelsea in the final. There is the final four of PSG,
18:56
Olympic Lyon, Chelsea, Barcelona, like all these incredible clubs.
19:00
And it's like, oh, my gosh, I want to be there one day. I want to play in the
19:03
Champions League. So finishing top three gets you there.
19:06
So just every win, everything means so much more. And when it means so much
19:11
more, there's so much pressure.
19:13
I think the interesting thing for me right now is like, I get more nervous,
19:17
kind of like what you just said, playing against teams that we should win,
19:20
because you cannot give up points there.
19:22
Like you, if you're one of the teams that tied that last place team that has
19:26
two points, like that's bad.
19:28
That's, you know, like I said, that's bad publicity. That's bad on the team.
19:32
That's bad on the program.
19:33
And with women's sports being in a growing yet fragile state,
19:37
it can be bad on so many aspects.
19:39
And so there's a lot, and that was a really, really long answer to your question,
19:43
but winning and losing, I thought meant a lot to me in college,
19:46
but when it's your life, it's a whole nother level.
19:50
Yeah. Yeah. I have a couple of questions with that one. It's really interesting to see here.
19:55
You say like the pressure of winning and losing and the attachment you have to it.
19:59
Cause I think that's something I'm going through right now where I kind of lost that, to be honest.
20:05
When I used to lose a game, I would replay every single touch I had in my head
20:11
after college, and it would keep you up at night watching film, doing these things.
20:15
Same thing with a win, where I can still feel the crowd against the Michigan
20:19
game my sophomore year, beating them for the first time.
20:22
I can still feel the ball hit my head and scoring those goals.
20:25
Or the Penn State game, where we went from one of the worst teams in NCAA to
20:29
the first time beating a ranked opponent in program history.
20:32
Like, I can still almost relive those games moment for moment. And they meant so much.
20:37
Versus now, like...
20:41
I mean, we haven't lost yet, luckily, but I mean, we've tied some teams that
20:44
maybe we wish we wouldn't have
20:46
or unfortunate results or when you're playing bad or any of that stuff.
20:49
Like you don't have the same attachment to it. I feel when I'm not playing like
20:54
those results while it's my team, I almost feel like I'm more of a fan than a player.
20:59
I don't have that same same attachment to it that I used to where it's like, yes, we won.
21:04
But like, I don't feel like I won. like I
21:07
feel like this team that I'm cheering on and watching one
21:10
it's a whole different set of feelings and emotions that is
21:14
really interesting to kind of like go through because this is the
21:17
first time in my entire career I've ever been in a position where I
21:20
haven't played in a game because I wasn't good
21:24
enough to you know I've been I've been injured before
21:27
once I've only ever missed one game last
21:30
year when I strained my hamstring and then
21:33
I sat three games this season maintaining my eligibility so knowing
21:36
I wasn't going to play but the mindset between those versus like
21:39
sitting on the bench looking at your season because you're not good enough to
21:43
be out on the field according to your coaching staff is like a whole different
21:46
whole different feeling so it's really interesting to see like the difference
21:51
in attachment to results versus a collegiate player who's playing someone who's
21:57
not playing and then you have the whole different
21:59
level of a pro-life where your job is required to have those results and to
22:04
have that attachment to it.
22:05
But my question for you is, you mentioned the difference in funding between levels.
22:09
What do you feel like the difference in funding is between a big 10 college
22:14
program versus the pro-life that you're experiencing in Sweden?
22:18
That's a really good question.
22:20
I think the difference in funding comes from different aspects,
22:26
and that doesn't necessarily so it makes sense.
22:27
But I think one thing that the US in general does well, whether this be Big
22:32
Ten College, whether this be the NWSL, even the USL Super League,
22:37
I've seen it to a very, very strong level, is marketing and flair.
22:42
I think that with this, you know how to sell things.
22:45
We know how to make things look good on camera. I swear, I have seen more really
22:50
cool highlight sizzles before games and media day photos and all these things
22:55
that you see in like high school nowadays.
22:57
Like it is something ingrained in American culture to be very flashy.
23:03
And I think the funding, but also the culture difference doesn't really allow
23:09
or accept that, especially in Sweden.
23:11
It's very much focused on your football. Like if I need anything for football,
23:15
I have it. I have recovery.
23:17
I have all the equipment. I have a great field. I have great facilities.
23:21
I have great trainers, great coaches, all of those things that impact my football.
23:25
I no longer get 13 pairs of shoes, which is really sad. My closet is very thankful,
23:31
pole, but it's really sad.
23:31
I no longer get all the teen gear and the swag out. I have a travel outfit and
23:36
I have my practice outfit.
23:38
And I think I have like a winter coat. Like I don't, I don't have all the flashiness
23:44
that a lot of things in the U S tend to be.
23:47
I don't have media day photos. We took one headshot and left.
23:49
Like no one cares about that in the European for the most part.
23:53
Even when I resigned my contract, they're like, we can use old photos of you.
23:56
We don't need it. it's actually funny.
23:58
I feel like every time I do an interview, whether it be with the newspaper in
24:01
town or even branding or stuff like that in Sweden that I've been starting to
24:05
do, people have attached to me because they think you're really good at media.
24:09
You're really good at talking. You're so energetic.
24:12
And I'm like, yeah, but that's probably every American ever.
24:15
We're all extremely better than you Swedish people at this kind of stuff.
24:19
And that's my teammates joke with me about it all the time. They don't really know.
24:23
I don't even say they They don't know. They don't care to talk to the media.
24:26
That's just it's not their personalities to be in front of cameras and do that.
24:30
And I think because of that, it's half the reason why a lot of Americans,
24:33
I want to say, look down on European football only because we don't market it
24:38
like American football and American soccer and college athletics and all of the same thing.
24:43
It's not the same, but I think the values are absolutely the same.
24:47
It's the extras. That is where the funding would definitely,
24:50
I would say, differ. That's really interesting.
24:54
Women's soccer is a non-revenue generating sport in college,
24:57
right? We get our money and our funding from our football.
25:00
And if you have a good basketball team that generate revenue,
25:03
that then fund all of our flashiness.
25:06
I mean, I literally just came from an NIL meeting learning how to do voiceovers
25:11
and create content around it and do all these extra things that you do in college.
25:16
Do you feel like it was was
25:19
a drop-off in terms of some of
25:22
the stuff like did you feel like I don't
25:25
know like it was a step up for me from high school to college I got all these
25:28
extra gear I felt more professional I felt like there was more attention on
25:32
it I there was extras involved with it with all of the stuff that came with
25:37
being a collegiate athlete do you feel like it was maybe a step down because
25:42
you have some of the less funding and less flashiness when becoming a pro out,
25:46
I think, once again, it goes back to the difference between Europe and the U.S.
25:50
I don't think any NWSL player or even USL player might feel like that.
25:54
For me, I think the biggest difference is, I wouldn't say I felt like a step
25:58
down, but you also have to remind yourself that you're getting paid.
26:02
It's kind of an expectation that they don't need to give me two pairs of shoes
26:06
because I can go buy them.
26:08
And they give me cleats. If I need cleats, I get cleats.
26:11
If it's anything pertaining to football, hands down, 100% it's accessible to
26:15
me. But like I don't need the newest pair of adidas shoes.
26:18
For example, we're an adidas team I've never been in adidas team in my life.
26:22
So I didn't get shoes to travel and they just Kind of like go buy adidas shoes
26:27
And so I think a lot of it is like anything I need I can get but i'm getting
26:32
paid and yes Iowa paid for my school and all that but you know,
26:35
it's a whole separate thing i'm making money So it's kind of an expectation
26:38
that if I need it I can spend the money that they're giving me for my salary
26:41
for those things And so, yeah, it's a little bit different in those regards,
26:45
but it's more of a like you have a right and responsibility to be an adult,
26:48
unfortunately, and you don't need 18 pairs of shoes.
26:51
So I don't know, man, my feet might disagree. I like my style definitely has, I swear.
26:59
No, that is that's really interesting. It's something I always kind of wondered
27:02
after I went to England last winter break and I got to see some of the facilities
27:07
and things of that nature.
27:08
Year I was like honestly not that I don't
27:11
think Michigan State has maybe the top line locker room
27:14
out of everyone in the Big Ten but I mean some of these schools are so
27:17
well funded and they have some of the flashiest facilities I've ever seen that
27:22
the difference between going to these WSL teams that you grow up watching and
27:27
hearing of and that you think are the best of the best you know to see the difference
27:31
in funding where it almost looks I don't know how to like not less
27:35
than in terms of play, but less than in terms of funding.
27:39
It looks cheaper, not as well kept or things of that nature.
27:43
It was really interesting to see because I always just assumed it was going
27:45
to be another step up where you get even flashier with the pro-life, especially in Europe.
27:51
So that's really interesting to kind of hear and see. But you mentioned last
27:55
week the difference between putting down roots and being able to decorate a
27:59
home versus not decorate a home or things of that nature.
28:03
What is, I'm curious in the pro-life, some of the things with injury?
28:08
Like if a player on your current roster gets injured, are they still traveling with the team?
28:15
Do they still do all these types of things? Because we've gone through our fair
28:18
injuries in college right now for Michigan State, but they're still very much
28:21
a part of our active roster and they will still travel with us and do all these things.
28:26
But in a pro life, it becomes a lot more competitive and you have different
28:29
roster caps and things of that nature. So what does that mean as a pro?
28:32
Yeah, that's a great question. And I think it means a lot lot of impacts of life.
28:37
And very unfortunately, your question comes at a great time because we did have
28:40
our starting left forward who has had a phenomenal season, Tara ACL,
28:44
in our game this weekend.
28:45
We actually just found out about 30 minutes ago that she tore ACL.
28:48
So when it comes to being a pro, the first thing is understanding roster sizes.
28:54
Every league, every place is going to have its own rules. For example, it's 26 in the NWSL.
29:00
In the Damalsvanskan, so in Sweden, in, there really is no roster cap into how
29:06
many players you can have on your roster.
29:08
But your game day roster can only be 18.
29:11
So because of that, when we travel, we only travel 18.
29:14
For us, we have, there's been a bit of change during the windows of different,
29:20
you know, movement going on, but we have normally around 23 girls on our roster.
29:25
So that is five people consistently not traveling.
29:28
So typically, those spots would go if you're injured, you're not going to travel.
29:32
Also, once again, it is relatively a funding thing.
29:35
They're not going to add an extra hotel room for someone who can't fly if we're
29:38
staying in a hotel that night or different things like that.
29:41
So unfortunately, it is a matter of if you're injured, you're likely not spending
29:45
that away time with the team.
29:47
The other thing you have to think about, especially when we're talking about
29:50
serious injuries such as an ACL or a season-ending injury, is your contract length.
29:55
And this is where you really hope you have
29:58
a good gm or empathy in
30:01
a lot of regards that isn't always the case in professional soccer
30:04
so for example you take the usl i
30:07
know someone who unfortunately signed a usl contract and in
30:11
like the two weeks in between leagues she was back at her place in torre acl
30:15
she is with that team in the usl even though she knows she's out for the season
30:19
but she's under contract so they are helping her pay for her medical fees her
30:24
rehab They are still giving her a salary because they've committed to doing that through contract.
30:28
That is the nice thing is everything is through contract and it's legal documents
30:32
that you can't really maneuver in a lot of ways.
30:35
There's some ways that people will find, you know, ways to waive people and so like that.
30:39
But in most situations, if you have a cease and ending injury,
30:42
you know, it's things are taken care of still.
30:45
The poor girl that I was talking to earlier today, she's 28.
30:49
She's played with North Shipping, so my club, for the last, I want to say, three or four years.
30:55
And her contract ends this year. So now she's panicking. If she had another
30:59
year on her contract, it would be simple.
31:01
They would be required to keep her at North Shipping. They would be required
31:05
to help her through this process to get her back on the field and all that stuff.
31:09
And I'm sure they will. I'm not saying anything like that. But theoretically,
31:12
in November, they're not required to resign her.
31:15
So now any other club that would resign her is taking a risk because she would
31:20
be coming in injured, rehabbing that ACL cell.
31:22
So for her, tearing her ACL at this point in her life is one of the worst things
31:26
that could happen because it's leaving so much of her future uncertain.
31:30
Her contract's up. If Northrop King chooses not to resign her,
31:33
then she's kind of in this limbo land and not sure where she could get picked
31:37
up or what could happen. in.
31:38
So that is, once again, the unfortunate thing about being a pro is when you
31:42
go to college, obviously stuff happens.
31:44
There's transfer portal, there's a ton of stuff, but you are pretty much guaranteed
31:47
to know where you are or hope you know where you're going to be for the next four years.
31:51
That is the goal, at least, when you commit to a college that you're going to
31:54
stay there and finish out there.
31:56
When it's with a professional setting, your contract could be six months,
31:59
your contract could be one year, it could be two years.
32:01
And we've seen in so many situations, your contract's three years,
32:04
but it doesn't matter, we're going to trade you anyway. way.
32:06
And we're going to do, we're going to waive you from your contract,
32:08
which apparently means we can just rip up the contract and waive you.
32:10
And the contract never happened.
32:11
There's so many different ways to get out of stuff, whether it be certain leagues
32:15
have certain rules, vice versa.
32:16
And so I think the really scary thing about injuries is once again,
32:19
it is impacting your life. It is impacting your income. It is impacting your
32:22
job. For me, it impacts my visa.
32:25
So there's so many severe factors in that regard. How does your visa,
32:29
are you, you're on a work visa?
32:30
Yeah. So I'm on a work visa. So my visa is tied to my employment through IFK North shipping.
32:35
So theoretically, if I were to have a season-ending injury and I get released
32:39
from my contract, I get deported.
32:42
So there's a lot of serious life impacts of different things.
32:45
If you wanted to, like, in your off time or whatever, like, get a part-time
32:49
job or something, are you able to through your visa?
32:52
I am not. So IFK North Spain is the only people in Sweden that are allowed to employ me.
32:57
I am lucky in the sense I have a husband who, through being my spouse,
33:03
also gets granted residence and a work visa for the same length as my visa.
33:08
So he can go get a part-time job in Sweden. He can get any kind of work in Sweden.
33:12
But the only work I am allowed to have is through IFK Norshipping.
33:16
Wow, that's really interesting. I mean, I guess you mentioned that they don't
33:19
really do media or things of that nature.
33:22
If you were to get a brand deal or something like that, would you still be allowed to?
33:26
Or is that no good because you're not employed by?
33:30
Yeah, I can do brand deal because it's kind of an independent contractor situation.
33:34
So there is like some loopholes and different things. So yeah,
33:37
I am allowed to do brand deals. And I even have my local coffee shop.
33:41
Secret drop here. Anyone from Sweden's listening to this, This Cafe Tappan is
33:45
making the Scary Carrie because there's no pumpkin spice lattes in Sweden.
33:50
And I'm going absolutely nuts about it.
33:52
So I've talked to a coffee shop that I go to all the time and I get free coffee from.
33:57
And they're making a Scary Carrie, which is the American pumpkin spice latte.
34:01
And I'm very excited about it.
34:03
That, I think, may be the coolest thing I've ever heard. So we have collaborations
34:07
going on. That's what I'm talking about.
34:10
Okay. Yeah, you're chill. Wow. Okay. Way to go, Sam.
34:14
Bring it in the NIL experience into pro hell
34:18
yeah love to see it so I think one of the big questions that we talked about
34:23
last week or two weeks ago now I guess and just the injury and the way my season
34:27
has gone is the idea of what's next as I mentioned I can't get an agent I don't
34:31
know if there's really what opportunities outside of college are for me what that would look like.
34:37
I don't know like you're in between all these different ideas do I go get a
34:40
job do I stay in school? Do I get a mask?
34:42
Like, what is what do I do? Like my career in college with MSU ends in like, four months.
34:49
So it's kind of like go time to kind of start planning almost,
34:53
especially if I'm not really playing.
34:55
So my question is for you, Sam, as someone who has transitioned already to the
34:59
pro life, and you've signed a contract for another year in Sweden.
35:03
What's next? What are what are your goals and aspirations? Like what is what
35:07
comes after the pro life for you? What's.
35:10
What's next? You've hit like the most existential crisis question that I've
35:15
been dealing with in the back of my head for a little bit.
35:18
And I think why is frankly, in a lot of ways, my whole life,
35:23
I've been chasing something.
35:25
You know, when you're in high school, you're chasing making your college career
35:27
the best thing you can dream.
35:29
And then I played college. And then in college, I was like, I want to be a pro.
35:33
I want to be drafted. I want to be a professional soccer player.
35:37
And I literally, like, I didn't even care how cheesy this sounds.
35:40
There is quite literally times like that last sprint, that last push.
35:44
Like I was thinking like, this is to get me a pro contract. This is to get me
35:49
as a pro, like this is what I'm doing it for.
35:51
And I think anyone at Iowa could tell you, especially the last two years of
35:55
my career, everything in my brain was driven to how is this going to make me a pro?
36:00
What is this going to do to make me a pro? and I did it.
36:03
I got drafted. I'm on a pro contract. And frankly, on the field,
36:08
I have played every single minute of the season.
36:11
And I literally could not have asked for a better rookie year.
36:14
People do not get the rookie years that I have gotten this season.
36:17
And I'm so, so thankful for that.
36:20
But I think one thing I am kind of struggling with is I don't know what to chase anymore. more.
36:26
And the interesting thing about being a pro that I'm learning very,
36:31
very quickly is it's not really realistic to make a dream of,
36:36
I want to play on this team or I want to be here.
36:39
And I think what I mean by that is, yeah, I can maybe say like,
36:43
I want to play in this league.
36:44
I want to do this, but movement and all those things depend on your age and
36:48
depend on needs, depend on so many any factors.
36:52
Like literally my one friend that I'm really close to here has an EU passport.
36:56
She is about 10 times more likely to ever get a contract in a European country
37:01
that's not in Sweden because she has an EU passport than me.
37:05
And there's so many just different factors that kind of play into making goals
37:11
as a pro that, you know, one thing we're always taught when it comes to making
37:15
goals is make goals that are attainable and controllable and that you can physically we control.
37:20
And I can't control as so-and-so signs me into a contract.
37:23
You know, going pro was a wide enough scope that in a lot of ways I could control that.
37:28
I don't know that I can control fully what my next move is.
37:31
So I think one thing I'm having to learn what to do is I can no longer set goals
37:37
three years into the future, four years into the future. Like I had done my entire higher life.
37:42
My goals now kind of revolve around next week.
37:46
My next game. And I think that's done both really good and really bad things for me.
37:53
I think in the good, I'm kind of, you know, taking back fully what I can control.
37:58
I think in the bad, I'm taking back fully what I can control.
38:03
And what I mean by that is when you're so fixated on your goals,
38:06
being like, I want to increase my passing accuracy and I want to do this and I want to do that.
38:11
Like, I feel like I've become so hypercritical of my game game because that's in my control.
38:17
And I don't know, it's this huge balance I've been kind of struggling with.
38:21
I'm not chasing a big picture.
38:22
When you have a big picture, you can have your bad game because on the scale
38:26
of 100 games you play in your college career, that one bad game is not going
38:29
to impact your ability to go pro.
38:31
When you measure your goals week by week, that one bad game matters.
38:35
And so I think I'm too zoomed in, frankly, on my goals right now.
38:39
And I need to figure out where the lens needs to be because it can't be too
38:42
big and it can't be too zoomed. And And I think I'm kind of struggling with
38:45
what's next in that regard.
38:47
Yeah, that's really interesting to hear. And it's not something I really thought about.
38:52
I mean, you always talk about and we talked about how changing the NWSL from
38:57
draft to non-draft gives you more control over where you go and things of that nature.
39:01
But at the end of the day, you have very limited power in that regard.
39:06
So that's really interesting and that's something I really thought about.
39:10
So I have a question about your relationship with your coaching staff.
39:13
Because there's some people who I think you and Mr. Dave Diani are like very friendly, right?
39:21
You're almost pals with it. And other people have a very professional relationship with their coach.
39:25
And there's everywhere in the middle. What is it like going from Iowa with Dave
39:31
to now a pro coach in a pro lifestyle? How does that relationship with your coaching staff change?
39:37
Yeah, for me, it's been a 180. 80. I'm sure it wouldn't be as stark of a change for everyone.
39:43
But as you mentioned, David Deani and I were really tight.
39:46
And of course, we were really close in college, but we were literally texting
39:50
15 minutes ago. I'll be completely honest.
39:52
David and I still chat. We still talk. We're tuned into each other's lives.
39:56
I'm planning my trip back to Iowa City when I'm home.
39:59
So yeah, it's interesting.
40:01
I think I knew it was going to be a change, and that helped me,
40:05
but I still haven't been great because the thing about Dave and I's relationship
40:09
is he was my coach for five years.
40:11
He knew me for eight years of my life at this point.
40:15
He knew with one blink what I was thinking and I could read his mind.
40:19
And so like, especially towards the end of my career, like I think he gave up
40:23
at like yelling at me because he knew I knew like why yell at someone who's
40:26
like, I know, like we could read each other's minds. We could fix each other's brains. It was simple.
40:30
I think having to relearn a coach has been extremely difficult for me because
40:35
I no longer almost have that trust with a coach.
40:39
For me, you know, Dave didn't have to yell at me because he knew I knew.
40:42
My new coach doesn't necessarily know I know. He doesn't even know what language I speak half the time.
40:47
So, you know, those extra comments are made, you know, little things like that,
40:51
that I have to get used to again.
40:53
You know, frankly, one thing that happened to me last week is I had a little
40:56
tweak in my quad, just a really bad dead leg that got pulled a little bit in
40:59
the bad way. And I was having a lot of pain.
41:01
I knew I was going to be ready for Saturday's game. I knew I could play in it.
41:05
But I knew I also needed some time on Thursday and Friday to build me back into it.
41:09
If it were Dave, I would have had a relationship that said, Dave,
41:12
I will be 100% by Saturday.
41:13
Just trust me to get my process there. I was concerned because I don't have
41:18
built up trust with this coach yet. He's known me for six months.
41:21
He doesn't know that I know I'm going to be 100% and when I mean that I say that.
41:25
And so it was kind of a testing the water and everything worked out. He did trust me.
41:29
I did play all 90 minutes in our last game. So everything worked out,
41:33
but there's a balance of learning someone new.
41:35
However, with all of that being said, the biggest difference is it's a professional environment.
41:40
And one thing that I don't think everyone fully understands is in the pro pro
41:44
environment, the GM is in charge in very, very, pretty much every scenario.
41:50
And then the coach, and then the players. There's a hierarchy.
41:53
In the same way, in a kind of messed up way, my coach and I have the same boss.
41:58
Obviously, there's a couple steps to get there for me compared to him,
42:01
but there's different things like that. As much as winning impacts my job,
42:05
it impacts my coach's job.
42:06
It impacts everyone's job. Different things like that.
42:09
And so it's a balance. I think a coaching is way more of a conversation at the pro level.
42:15
It is, Hey, as a coach, this is what I'm seeing as a player.
42:18
What are you feeling? How do we fix it? It's no longer X moves here.
42:21
Wise moves here. You have to pass here.
42:22
I think at this level, they trust everyone to be a pro, to be good enough to
42:27
be a pro and have a say in read situations.
42:29
And they trust players guts as much as they trust their own to read situations.
42:33
And it's more of a joint effort to solve problems than I ever was in college
42:36
when it was X moves here, wise moves here. or this is how we solve it. Duh, of course.
42:41
The other ways though, is it is starkly less personal. You know,
42:45
I had a relationship with Dave in the sense of he could yell at me on the field.
42:49
And then the next day, if I failed the math test, I could go into his office
42:52
and cry about it. And I knew I could.
42:54
It was a very personal relationship that means a ton to me and to help me develop
42:59
the last years of my life. Fully, fully thankful for it.
43:02
I would never go to the sky if my husband and I were in a fight and talk about
43:06
it. I love him. He's a great guy, but it's a professional relationship.
43:10
And so I I think for me as someone who loves to have genuine personal relationships
43:15
and understand the way people think and understand everything they've been through,
43:18
you do also have to understand that this is a professional environment and it's a job.
43:22
And as much as you wouldn't ask your random coworker everything about their
43:25
life, those are kind of boundaries you have to have with your coach too.
43:28
And so I'm sure every coach is different and every situation is different,
43:32
but there are definitely moments where it reminds you that this is no longer
43:36
college and this is no longer the guy that's known me for the eight years of my life.
43:39
This is a professional switch.
43:42
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And like you said, I think there's definitely a range
43:45
of it, even at the collegiate level, between those very friendly types of relationships
43:51
and then the professional types of relationships that you have as well.
43:54
You mentioned that the, does the GM decide what players are on the team or is that the coaching?
44:00
So the GM decides contracts, decides what players we bring in, all of that.
44:04
That coaching decides the starting 11 in a
44:07
lot of regards the x and o's the formation all that
44:10
kind of stuff I'm sure there's influence now and then from the GM
44:12
as well but all scouting all contracts all negotiations
44:16
the players on your roster is mostly by your GM oh
44:19
wow I didn't know that I figured it was still the coaching staff who had
44:22
all that type of power yeah so it's a kind of
44:25
a crazy divide so then the interesting thing is you
44:27
know I can be more friendly and personal with my coach a lot
44:30
of time then the GM walks across the room and it's like
44:33
the air gets sucked out everyone's like okay where is he looking who's he talking
44:36
to what's going on and I really do enjoy our DN here Dennis is great but it
44:41
is you know it's a different factor it's like that's the boss and as much as
44:45
I love and respect my coaches I can kind of you know we tease we joke around
44:48
all that stuff but it's like you know who's in charge and it is not your head coach it is your GM.
44:53
Wow. Well, yeah, that's really interesting. That's kind of crazy.
44:55
Yeah. You know, Jordan, I think one of the best things is when we were discussing
44:58
like the main topics, you keep saying like, wow, I didn't know that.
45:01
And so much of this, I didn't know.
45:03
You know, I knew I wanted to be a professional soccer player.
45:06
I knew I wanted to get paid to play the game I love, but there are ins and outs
45:10
that you simply just kind of learn over time.
45:13
And it reminds me back to one of the first conversations I actually had when I was in Louisville.
45:19
I got drafted, obviously, as we know, I get to Louisville, and it was day one,
45:23
and I was shitting my pants.
45:26
I didn't know how to be in a locker room with people that I've watched on TV
45:29
and looked up to. And I'm like, I have to go into training and compete with these people.
45:33
And, you know, some people are extremely smiley and welcoming to newcomers,
45:36
and other people are like, earn your spot on the team first,
45:38
and then we'll have a conversation.
45:39
So I was trying to figure out who I can make eye contact with or not.
45:43
And one person who immediately was a really warm and welcoming face to me was
45:46
a girl named Ellie Jean, who is now a starting center back with racing Louisville.
45:51
And I'd played against her in the big 10. She played at Penn state.
45:54
She was a senior when I was a freshman.
45:56
So I had, she had no idea who I was, but I remembered, you know,
45:58
scouting her and I went up to her and I was like, okay, I'm a rookie.
46:03
I have never played professional soccer in my life. I have no idea what is about to happen in my career.
46:08
What advice do you wish you would have told your rookie self?
46:12
And the first thing she said to me was keep your blinders on.
46:15
And that is something that over the last seven, eight months of this last journey
46:20
I've been on has stuck with me wholeheartedly is the importance is as a pro,
46:26
the biggest difference as a pro is you have to keep your blinders on.
46:31
And I can tell you that's probably been one of the things I am the worst at.
46:35
It is so incredibly difficult. And what she means that this is like every journey
46:42
is going to be different.
46:43
And I know we always talk about we talk about this college recruiting.
46:46
We talk about this through college soccer. Every every journey is different. Yeah.
46:50
But especially at the pro level, it's so true because things like getting drafted
46:55
to a city that you really didn't have a say in and didn't necessarily have a
46:58
roster spot for you happens or season ending injuries happen or death chart happens.
47:05
And there's so many factors of life that we know can put us on different paths.
47:09
And the best thing is you have to know as a pro is your path is the right path,
47:14
but it's the only, only other person that's ever going to have the same path as you.
47:17
And whether that be, I spent two years in this league, I spent five years in
47:21
this league. I never played. I only ever played in the U S I only went overseas.
47:24
There's so many different varieties of paths. And I think that's one of the
47:28
incredible things about all the opportunities we have in women's sports.
47:31
That being said, there is no way to compare whose path was better or whose path was different.
47:37
One thing I have decided wholeheartedly is that I needed this year to play in
47:42
Europe, not only for my maturity, not only for my growth, but also I think I
47:46
need a stepping stone from what could be considered that highest level in Iowa.
47:49
I need somewhere in the middle.
47:50
I need to learn at this level so I can succeed at the next level.
47:53
I think for me as a person,
47:57
I don't want to say I think I can thrive in a lot of settings.
47:59
I also know I like being on the field.
48:01
And I have found an opportunity in a space where they trust me enough to be on the field a lot.
48:05
And I'm thankful for that every single day.
48:09
But that doesn't mean that if you were to go pro right now that you would have
48:12
the same environment and the same thing.
48:14
Putting your blinders on, though, I've deleted social media,
48:17
I think, four times in and out, going on different hiatuses because I can't
48:22
see who traded who next or this person's going there.
48:26
That news is the worst for me because I always go to shoot.
48:30
Should I have signed there? Should I have made this decision?
48:32
Should I have done something worse?
48:33
I've had to unfollow all of those different accounts.
48:37
Putting my blinders on meant I literally went five months without watching any US soccer.
48:41
I watched your NWSL. I watched your USL. I watched your college soccer.
48:44
I could not do it because that was not what was best for me to stay focused on me and my journey.
48:48
I was too caught up in the comparison of who's doing what and who's doing how.
48:52
Putting my blinders on has been at practice when our GM is walking up and cracking
48:56
jokes with certain people and it's not you.
48:58
You can't just assume that he hates you and that he is trying to promote other
49:03
people or talk to other people about opportunity that aren't you.
49:05
Because I've caught myself doing that. We've all kind of caught our college
49:08
coaches, you know, talking to one person at the other.
49:11
Putting my blinders on has meant when a couple of girls go out to a cup of coffee
49:15
after practice and don't invite you, that doesn't mean that they're just talking
49:17
crap about you. And it means that you're living your own journey.
49:20
And as someone who overreads a lot of scenarios, who kind of goes to those worst
49:24
case scenarios, it has been the hardest thing for me to focus on me and just
49:29
kind of follow my journey.
49:31
And I think that that is one thing I wish I would have known as a pro.
49:35
I wish I would have started earlier. It's honestly not doing all the intense
49:39
research that I do and not doing all of the social media stalking and that,
49:43
because I mean, we all know like the thief of joy is comparison and all of those
49:47
different sayings, but that is so true.
49:51
And as a pro, the number one thing you have to do is put your blinders on and
49:54
focus on your journey. And that has been the hardest part of it.
49:58
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's great advice for someone at any level, right?
50:02
Is to kind of have those blinders on. I've definitely caught myself when Jeff
50:05
is over here making a joke with someone else or doing
50:08
whatever I'm like oh my god like they're definitely
50:11
this is the worst thing that's ever happened to me like you know
50:14
and and you do I am
50:17
definitely I think we're very me and you are very very different
50:19
people I think this is one of the unfortunate things that
50:22
we probably have very very much in common where I do read very deeply into situations
50:27
and somehow like the path was this and you know I connect dots that probably
50:34
aren't there and make an assumption that aren't true and do all these different
50:38
things and read into situations way too deeply.
50:40
So I think that's great advice for someone at any level, especially,
50:43
like you said, in the pro life where things are a lot more serious and a lot
50:46
more professional than college or club or high school or things of that nature.
50:51
Absolutely. So Jordan, thank you so much for asking me a couple of questions about my life.
50:56
And I'm so happy that we kind of got to dig a bit deeper into,
50:59
like I said, not necessarily negative parts of being a pro, but just the different
51:03
parts of what goes on in a professional atmosphere, in a professional life that
51:07
I've had to adjust to over the last couple of months.
51:10
Absolutely. Unfortunately, I think they may become, you know,
51:12
a lot more applicable to the college team, too, as we talked about all these
51:15
rule changes and things of that nature. So who knows?
51:17
I mean, I think college will become a lot more professionalized.
51:20
And this advice will probably translate to a lot of a lot of kids who are listening
51:24
right now when they go to college. I agree.
51:27
But Jordan, big week ahead.
51:29
We've talked about it. Big Ten Conference starts.
51:31
What is on your weekend agenda? agenda.
51:34
Yeah. So like I said, this is our first away trip that we've really had.
51:38
We're actually flying out on Wednesday and going down to Maryland.
51:43
We plan Thursday and then we actually don't fly back until Friday.
51:46
This is also the first time we've flown commercial in over a year.
51:52
Like we've charted all of our away flights. So this is like,
51:56
I mean, I sound so spoiled saying that because I I never would have thought
51:59
I would ever be on a chartered flight
52:01
in my life period, much less pretty consistently throughout last year.
52:05
So it'll still be a new experience for the team, especially this group,
52:09
our first actual away trip and, you know, a commercial flight going there and
52:15
then flying back the day after, which is pretty rare because usually you fly
52:17
back that Thursday night.
52:18
So it'll be interesting to see, but we feel good going into conference play
52:24
undefeated right now. Now, unfortunately, a couple of ties going into it, but...
52:29
Yeah, good week against Maryland. Love to hear it, love to hear it.
52:32
And we actually have a very, very exciting week in North Shipping, which I'm excited for.
52:35
We have a home game against BK Haken.
52:38
And the interesting thing is, so Haken is a team that is very,
52:42
very strong in our league.
52:44
They're currently in second place, meaning that they have that spot to Champions
52:48
League going for next year. But Champions League's on an interesting cycle.
52:51
So if I win the league this year, then I play in Champions League next year
52:56
type of system. So, and Champions League overlaps with all of the European leagues,
53:02
meaning that Haken plays us on Saturday.
53:05
But four days later, they have the kickoff to their Champions League season.
53:10
So they start battling in what a lot of people would deem a more serious game
53:14
than our game when they kick off against Arsenal.
53:17
So the hope is that Haken might be a little bit more focused on their game against
53:22
Arsenal that's coming up four days later after they play IFK North shipping.
53:26
So it'll be very, very interesting, but honestly, just to be on a field with
53:30
so many talented level players that they're going to go from us to playing Arsenal
53:33
says a lot about the league and the level of competition.
53:36
And I know I'm super excited for a little home upset action before they go into
53:40
Arsenal. They can have a little like bump in the road before they go to those big games.
53:43
So So I'm super much looking forward to it.
53:46
It's a big, it's actually a rematch of my first professional game way back in April.
53:50
When I first kicked off, we kicked off against them and we had a really upsetting
53:53
last minute loss. So hoping for a better result at home and very,
53:57
very excitedly looking forward.
53:58
Absolutely. Hoping for another Sam Carey header here. There we go.
54:01
Sam Carey, it seems like the perfect time. It's only happened once and everyone
54:04
keeps asking me when it's going to happen again.
54:06
So very, very much looking forward to it. I think this is your game.
54:10
Awesome. All right, guys, as always, there's so many platforms.
54:13
To be streaming College Talker on. There's ESPN+, Big Ten Network,
54:17
Big Ten Plus, and so many more.
54:19
Stay tuned with College Talker and we will see you next week.