Latest / I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth / I Hate Soccer #123- James Murphy, what does it take to be a pro soccer player in the USA?

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I Hate Soccer #123- James Murphy, what does it take to be a pro soccer player in the USA? · I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I hate soccer.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Matt Sheldon, who played in the USL for Rears, and he does his uh whole content and stuff like that.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I did his back in Detroit, and I he don't think I did headsets in his.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: He had like a little home studio that was good.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_01: Did you play with Matt when he was a tier?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, spent one year together.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Matt is one that uh I want to have on as well because I wish that he was still in Michigan, but I think he's like back home wherever he's from.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think he moved back to Oregon.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then did you see what happened to him this week?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I did actually.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: I did.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_01: So he has he has like 730,000 followers and he got locked out of his YouTube.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: Of everything.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_01: I think I can't imagine how much money he makes.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: I I think I think a good amount he puts a lot of time and effort into it.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'll give him that a lot of time and effort into it.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_01: Really good.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: As far as I was concerned, when I played with him for that year, so at some point during that year, because I believe his wife got pregnant with their second child and stuff, it was the first time that he hired someone to help him with his social media, was during at some point during that season.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that's thinking 12, 13 years into his social media and playing Journey.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he just now got someone, and that was only to cut clips for his TikTok and Instagram at the time.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: So he was still doing all the YouTube and everything on his own.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it takes a lot.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, every episode that I do, I put about six hours into it.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: Imagine because it's it's uploading all the footage and then it's all cutting back and yeah, but thanks for doing this.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh so I spent the last 11 years in Buffalo, started the podcast just talking to my former players about their recruiting process so I can share it with others.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_01: And the first episode like blew up, and the the first couple clips blew up.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, you know what?
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna I'm gonna try to do this.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_01: And then I'm originally well, I'm originally from Kansas City, but I grew up here, played here, okay, uh coached here.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um and there's so many more people to talk to in DCFC.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_01: DCFC, whenever you guys are in town, I'm trying to contact every single USL club that's here and have a staff member, have a player, and you're the first player that I'm talking to, which I love.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just a different perspective because okay, let's be honest.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: I go out to MLS Next Fest, and now I'm being called an MLS profiteer.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I'm like, you know what?
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Screw you guys.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Bounce around.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm gonna have I'm gonna have everybody on.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna have ECNL guys on, I'm gonna have USL guys on, and it's like you can now I'm a USL profiteer, I guess.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll take it.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: It's so dumb.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: But let's talk about you, let's talk about New Jersey.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Let's just start talking about New Jersey because we already talked about Harks, Tab Ramos, Tony Miola, like Tobin Heath.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't Carly Lloyd from New Jersey too?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: She's from the New Jersey area, yep.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: She's from New Jersey.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Is that from like uh near you?
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think she's for further south, Jersey.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I think if I'm correct on that.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: But yep, she's new, she's New Jersey.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: I've never been to New Jersey.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how close are you to like New York City?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so like where I grew up is a little bit further north.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: It wouldn't be all the way in uh northern Jersey, it would probably be more central, Union County, Scotch Plains, particularly.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: I could get to New York City in 30 minutes, give or take traffic.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: You get to the middle of the city in 40 minutes, a train ride takes 40 minutes.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm pretty local to it.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: Got it.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_01: And then how far are you from Kearney?
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like 15, 20 minutes.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're in the same county.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, what is it?
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Is it just because your dad's and and and their dads?
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, I think so.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a lot to do with it.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: The immigration community that wound up in Kearney, and honestly, in New Jersey as a whole.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if you go across Union County, which is where I grew up, where you have your Carneys, your Elizabeth's, your Scotch Plains, and and stuff like that, you have Irish, Polish, Scottish, British, Italian, you know, it's just it's a whole hotbed of of immigrants who, you know, I guess came here and brought soccer in before a lot of other people maybe did, and it just ran through generations and stuff.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_01: And you were born in 97.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: When did you start at PDA?
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: I started at PDA.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, essentially when I was starting to walk really.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because when I was coached there.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: So as soon as as soon as I was my dad started coaching there in 98, I believe.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think PDA was established in 97 or somewhere out.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: I might have blurred those lines a little bit.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: PDA was established around 98, 97.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think my dad started pretty much from the beginning with PDA, maybe a year into it or so.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he was always on the boys' side because they started as a girls' club only.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, really?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then, yeah, and then they added a boys' program within the first year or two, and that was back in the late 90s.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so my dad was on board there pretty early on.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: And from there, I was just there all the time.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I was there all the time.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: I was still playing kind of local recreation, you know, at three or four years old was my start, and then played the first couple years of like travel soccer with my local travel soccer team with my buddies.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, I kind of come from a soccer community, so it was like it wasn't just kind of like a kickabout travel soccer team.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: We had good players and stuff like that.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then I would bounce around to PDA, playing a lot of summer tournaments with PDA and stuff like that, and then full-time.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: I think I was uh 11, 10 or 11 when I really started playing full-time with PDA.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I spent a couple years with my local travel and then uh got to PDA, yeah, I think when I was 10, but I was playing with them since I started playing.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's PDA has been involved for sure.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that's something that a lot of areas in the country don't have.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: Like when you are nine years old and a game is like intense and it's competitive.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas when I got to Buffalo, the the best like 11-year-old girls team that the Flash had, they had to play against U-4 teams because they the area just didn't have that much quality.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas in Michigan, it's more like it's not New Jersey, but it's more like New Jersey because you had a Vardar, you had Wolves, you have, you know, now you have Jags and some other clubs and whatnot, but yeah.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, what okay, so you were 10 when the DA started, so you played your entire career in the DA.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, essentially.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: I yeah, I think uh is that right?
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 10 or 12, somewhere around that range.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because I did I played my first few years of like playing 11v11, which is I guess starts when you're 12, 11 years old.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: We had like our NJYSA State Cup and moved on to regionals and stuff like that.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: But I think by the time I was 13, it started with USDA pre-academy.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: So you had like your U-15 pre-academy team, and then the 16s was your academy, and there was maybe a 14s pre-academy, but then your 16s and 18s were like your primary USDA uh age groups, right?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I yeah, I've been there since the start of US uh USDA was my whole kind of academy upbringing, pre-academy to academy upbringing.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then you played two years in high school?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: I played how'd that work?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I played my freshman and my sophomore year.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it would to be honest, it was almost like a dream of mine to play for Scotch Plains Family High School.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: It it really was.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh their longtime coach, he's passed away in recent years, so rest his uh soul, Mr.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Tom Bresnitsky.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: He was kind of a mentor, a friend of my dad's.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: My when my family moved to Scotch Plains, my dad got involved with coaching in the high school.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: So even when I was young, I would go over to high school games.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: My dad was an assistant coach for just a couple years.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_00: But then from then on, I would go and watch the guys who were older than me.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I ran up and down the lines as a ball boy and stuff like that.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I would just see high school games with like 1,200 people there, you know, 1,500 people there, packed out all on the bleachers and and the grass fields and the hills next to the soccer field.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: So, like there was like a lore about you know playing for Scotch Plains Family uh soccer.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: So when I went into my freshman year, I knew that there was going to be a decision to make, but there was like no doubt that I was playing for one year at least.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we had a really good team.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think there's probably six or seven guys that went from my freshman year of high school team at some point played division one college uh over the years.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: There was a couple different pros, guys who ended up having Division II, Division III careers.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like we had a very good high school team and we had good coaches.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, my coach Tom Braznitsky, and then our assistant coach, our coach Joe Motorulo, who's currently an assistant over at Ruckers, and played soccer himself through the New Jersey ranks and stuff like that.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, like we had good coaches, we had a good team.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, there was playing games in front of a thousand people, you know, once every couple weeks and stuff.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: So the whole environment for high school soccer was a no-brainer for me for at least that one year.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then the end of that year came and I just kind of filled back into the under 16s into the USDA.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: I was one of those kids that they kind of let be hybrids just because they didn't follow the rules as strictly as others, you know.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then uh, you know, it's funny, if I really look back, what was going on is I was playing really well and stuff like that at the time in my age group, and there was like a couple year period where I wasn't getting brought into the youth national team, and so I had like a little bit of a grudge or whatever you want to call it about that.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: So when sophomore year came around, or the start of my second year of under-16s in the USDA came, I made like a final second decision to play for my high school team again.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I ended up playing for my high school team, my sophomore year.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Again, had a good team with a good coaching staff, and it honestly was a year that ended up helping me in leaps and bounds in my career and stuff like that.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: How so?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I guess didn't you get like player of the year or something?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: I did, yeah.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I as a sophomore.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I wanted personal awards, yeah.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I was New Jersey Gateway Player of the Year, my sophomore year.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was New Jersey State Player of the Year, I was all American.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: So a handful of these kind of individual accolades and awards came in, and I was just loving it so much.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Just loving playing and stuff with my friends and everything.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: So by the time I went back into USDA that second U16 season, I was just I was flying.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: I felt so good about my game.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was really having fun that whole year.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: I was kind of careless to those other little grudges I had about the national team setup and stuff like that.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so I just played really well.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: And by the end of that season, I was up with our uh under 18s who ended up winning the US DA championship that year in 2014 in the under 18's age group.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a team that had Brian White, who's gone on to make US men's national team camps, had Jared Stroud, who's been in the MLS for the last I want to say seven years.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it's had a couple other pros who are now in the USL or I've gone through the USL and moved on and stuff.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I was just always in really competitive environments.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: So kind of that there was there was definitely a line between high school and academy, right?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, of course.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: But I was I both of them were good enough environments for me that I was able to gain enough from both that my development, my progress never would have wavered while I played high school.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Have you been home in the fall like over the past call it three years?
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: I have been, yes.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Have you been to the games?
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I've been to a few, yes.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_01: Is it the same?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's not quite the same.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's not quite the same.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's maybe digressed a little bit every because of the MLS Mets guys not playing?
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think so.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think that probably has a lot to do with it, and that goes back a few more years too.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: It even as USDA grew and became more stable, less and less guys played for their high school teams.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think it was looked down on.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know in my experience, like a youth national team guys didn't want players playing for their high school teams and stuff like that, or youth national team coaches and staff didn't want players playing for their high school teams.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: Why do you think that was?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Was it because of injury, or was it because of you can develop bad habits because you can get away with a lot more than what you can in the DA?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, I I think it was probably a little bit of that stuff.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like they didn't want you picking up bad habits, they maybe thought the level was a big drop-off.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was also for them to keep their best players in the USDA season the whole time, you know, and not lose any to high school players.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think also like USDA was under that same US soccer umbrella where the USDA DA was supposed to be the best quality, the best competition for youth soccer in the US.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously, you want your best players playing there full time for a full season if you're uh marketing it as the best product in US youth soccer at the time, you know, and which I think made enough sense.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was it was tough for me because, like I said, I loved the high school scene so much.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: I grew up on it.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: New Jersey is a really uh strong, yeah, rugged hotbed for soccer.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: So there's strong high school athletics, strong high school soccer, the crowds and the environments.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's really it's a once-a-lifetime experience for me in that in terms of that.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I was really fond of high school soccer.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: I I always had a desire to play it.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: And looking back, I if I played, well, I I ended up not finishing my senior year of high school, but if I played another year of high school, it wouldn't have done any difference to me.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm sure of it.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, think about the we have basically a a generation of high-level players that have never experienced high school soccer.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's kind of crazy.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: It is, it's it's tough.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: It is, it's it's it's tough.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it I think it depends on where you are and the you know the geography of it and everything.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: But for me, like I said, if if New Jersey still had high school soccer, we'd be seeing some really, really competitive high school soccer games.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we still do, to be honest.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, I do go back in the fall, and I think the level has probably dropped off in certain areas for sure, but I still go somewhere and watch some games, and you get really good players still in those environments, you get good coaches, uh, and stuff like that.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, again, it depends on your environment, depends on your on your setup and uh what the sport and stuff means to your area and to your school.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I I like to think there's still life in college soccer, especially in the area that I grew up in, you know.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's get into that.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: You you didn't, and you didn't even finish high school, you went over when when did you go over?
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_01: Was that Sheffield Wednesday, or where did you go?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I bounced around a little bit.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_00: It first started when I was uh probably around 16, uh, is when I kind of at the back end of my sophomore season.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: So after I played high school and then played with the USDAA team at PDA again, like I said, I was part of that team that won the national championship with the under-18.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: So that was like the 95-96 age group that I was with.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And after that is when I kind of got back on the youth national team radar and was going on some trips with that under 18's age group at the time.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I also I just I mean, I had coaches at PDA who were just really pushing me to try something different, and you know, they had connections through uh whatever, maybe agents and clubs and stuff that were able to get me into different trials and training environments over in the UK.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: I had a really dis real desire and kind of dream and goal to make it in English football, if you will, or to at least start my career there and see how it goes.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: So I bounced around.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: I was on trial at some super big clubs, I was at the trial at some smaller clubs, got a few yes, no's and maybes along the way.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_00: But uh after going on a couple trials and stuff, I ended up spending two different stints with Sheffield Wednesday.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I was there for a little bit in the summer.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: They had uh offered me my first pro contract then.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: That was in 2016, 2015.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then I was kind of bouncing around, wanted to try out some other places.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of mentioned that I was uh training with MLS teams for a little bit at that time too in the area, you New York City FCs, uh under Jason Christ at the time, and then there was Philly Union under uh Jim Curtin.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: So a couple of those more local uh MLS teams were giving me some chances to come in and train and stuff.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: So I really had a lot going on and was kind of just navigating how I wanted to try and start my pro career at least.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And uh I ended up going back to Shuffle Wednesday for a couple weeks just to try it out again, and they kind of stuck with the offer that they gave me, and so I signed it and ended up over there in uh full time at least because I'd gone back a few times, but ended up over there full time right at the around the middle of 2016.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_01: When you were over there, I mean it's kind of gone now, but what was everybody's like perception of American players?
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: Shit was it hard to like earn your respect?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, maybe a little bit.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think it depends on where you're at and stuff, and the particular person maybe as well.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it was interesting because back then there really wasn't too many people doing it still, like it was kind of still a little more rare for a kid to skip college, or not even that many guys were signing homegrowns and stuff.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, if I think back to my under-18 national team, some top, top players who have had great careers since in that group, but some guys were going into college and other guys were just joining youth academies, and a couple guys had their homegrown already and stuff.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: But it wasn't like that under-18s or even under-20s team just had 20 pros on their roster.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like there was a good combination of different guys at different stages in their career.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like it was probably maybe two or so years after when your Christian ballistics and Westons made the jump to Germany that people thought all of a sudden saw, whoa, there's really something there, you know, because those guys had a kind of fast-track situation with their ability and stuff into the first team.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: So I think those two, you know, I could think of many others also, maybe before them and soon after them.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: But to me, at least from my memory, those two really opened up a different kind of uh pathway or vision into Europe for Americans.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: For me, it was kind of almost just a random thing.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Some guys went and tried it, other guys didn't, and some guys still went to college.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I just really wanted to try it.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it it wasn't it wasn't the safest route, but it was what I had set my mind to.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, I'd been to a couple of clubs, I'd gone there and back.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: I have I tried the college scene, the crew recruiting scene at least a little bit.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: And for me, it was always just my desire to wind up in England.
• 17:56
  SPEAKER_00: I had the opportunity in front of me, and so it just made sense for me.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then you've played in the MLS, and then you've played in the USL for what now?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: Six years?
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I want to say seven seasons.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Seven seasons?
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, seven seats, seven seasons, I think.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: No, seven and a half if you count my loan to Vegas.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, who loaned you?
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: LAFC?
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: LAC, yeah.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: So that was like your first stint in the USL, right?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_01: Zach Carroll wasn't there when you were there.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: He was not, I missed him by a year, but I've I'd played against Zach Carroll maybe a time or two.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, my our careers.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: Got it.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_01: And then uh, okay, go through the list.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: So Vegas, and then back to LAFC.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: And then and then not it wasn't Detroit yet.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: No, it wasn't.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: It was a few stops in between.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: I actually ended up going back to uh the UK after my year in LAFC.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: So I come back from Shuffle Wednesday, uh, after I was there for about two and a half years.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: The opportunity came up at LAFC.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: They were a brand new team in 2018, and I had some relationship with Bob Bradley, the coach.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: I had a little bit of a relationship with uh Coach Sorber, who was at Philly back in the day as well, and stuff.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Mike Sorber.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Mike Sorber.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Isn't he a New Jersey guy too?
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, he's a New Jersey guy, yeah.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: As is Bob Bradley and his son Michael and stuff.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, so you know they'd had some phone calls with them at the time.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't necessarily looking to leave the UK, honestly.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: I was pretty happy at Shuffle Wednesday.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: I had a little bit of frustration at the time because I was doing really well in the reserves and I wanted to try and get a loan, and it was kind of getting blocked off at the time.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: So I was a little frustrated.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: And at the same time, this opportunity in LA came on.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: That just honestly seemed too good to be true, and probably was in the end, but just seemed like such a good opportunity, and it was kind of a chance to get a little closer to home, at least, even though it was still far away.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I was just kind of ready for maybe a change and to jump on this newer opportunity.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so I went there, like you said, I went on loan to Vegas for a little bit, didn't just quite pan out uh good enough at LAFC.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then from there I decided I want to go back to the UK.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, I was unsure when I left, you know.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_00: I had the year at LAFC, just didn't exactly go my way.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, I want to go back to the UK, I want to give it a try.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: Ended up signing with a Scottish Championship team, uh, our broth, who's still currently in the Scottish Championship current uh right now, and it went great.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_00: I played, I was still only 21 years old, 22 years old, I think.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: I played like my first probably 25 games as in like real men's football.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, I had my experience in the USL and I you know had an appearance here there at Shuffle Wednesday, and you know, I think I got played a couple friendlies at LAFC, but there was a lot of reserves games and stuff in that in that two to three year period.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I got back to the UK, joined the Scottish Championship Club again.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: Wasn't the best situation ever.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was they had just been promoted and stuff.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: They were, you know, obvious uh where as far as like the money goes and stuff, some teams have it, some teams don't, type of deal.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: So, but it was an opportunity.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I took it, I played the games, and then COVID hit with about 10 games to go in that season.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: So once I got over there, my mind was like set.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, Yep, I'm staying here, I'm gonna do the gauntlet again, try and make it in the UK, see how far I can go.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then once COVID hit, it was like, all right, well, I I guess I'll come home to see what's gonna happen, and ended up just never going back.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: COVID.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, how many how many careers do you think were like stopped in their tracks like that because of this stupid COVID?
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it probably uh affected a lot of guys.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: I know uh college kids and stuff like that with the recruitment and stuff, some pros, guys with like contracts in the USL and the MLS to put a pause.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: It was a very interesting time.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: But that for me, yeah, was the reason that I ended up moving back to the States again after the second little stint in the UK, and then it's been the USL ever since for me.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: And what was your first stop when you got back?
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Rio Grande Valley.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Who is not not a part of the league?
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_00: No, they're gone, right?
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Did yeah, I did two seasons there, two seasons at Monterey, and then have been bouncing around the last couple.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: You just said about Scott.
• 22:05
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_01: You were talking about Scottish.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_01: About some people have money and some don't.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_01: USL is the same way.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Same way.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_01: Look at what's going on with the Oakland Roots, right?
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_01: The Oakland Roots like owed the Coliseum like one million dollars or they were gonna get kicked out.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_01: And then Vegas, when I when they were here, their stadium got torn down.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've heard about that as well.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, okay, where are you playing the games?
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_01: They're playing at like a baseball stadium or something like that.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like it's so crazy that but it happens over there too.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it happens everywhere.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: We we're like these clubs aren't making that much money.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: How is how is like the game day environment at loud?
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's good, it's growing, it's definitely growing.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: How close are you guys to DC?
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: So if you put where our stadium is Sugar Field, it's about a 40-minute drive to DC.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we're a little bit further north than the DC area, uh Audi Field where DC United plays.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: So it's probably like 40 minutes between the two.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we're a little further north, we're in Leesburg, technically, and in a really good soccer area, actually.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of good uh little clubs in that area, one being Virginia Roof Revolution, who's tied into us with Loudoun United, like guys like actually myself, uh Pedro Santos and the team, both kind of coach in their academy setup and stuff.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a good tie between our first team and that academy, and then there's a handful of other good uh academies in the area too, with you know, MLS Next teams or ECNL teams and stuff.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: And it's always been a good area for uh soccer down here and kind of your DMV extended, if you will.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I still see that now that I'm here and playing, doing a bit my coaching and stuff too.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: You can see uh the kind of talent and and love for the game actually in in this whole area.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_01: Is that what you're gonna do after you're done playing?
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: I I would like to.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like calling you.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I know.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh it's all I've ever done.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm one of those guys.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I feel like I was born in a soccer field and my dad coached for a little bit.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: My dad I didn't even say he played like he went to Seaton Hall in the uh late 80s and went to an Elite Eight and uh won a couple biggies tournaments and stuff like that.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: So like he always played at a pretty high level himself, and then he coached at a really high level.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I was just always in and around it.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it was not anything that he threw me into, it was more like I threw myself at it too, and he just kind of let me ride it for as long as I I've you know desired, pretty much.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so the whole soccer thing, it's just kind of been a lot of my makeup and a lot of what I've spent obviously my time and energy and and uh uh I guess work ethic towards, right?
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so I mean I do the coaching now, I do some of private coaching, I do some club coaching and stuff.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: I really enjoy it.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: I plan to get uh get my badges and stuff and start working on that in the very near future.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's something I think about a lot.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: I know I'm getting closer to 30 at least, so you know the career the career is only gonna last so so long.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, it's it's something I look into.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: I look at the college game and stuff like that a lot, right?
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, that that kind of environment and maybe being something I would really like to do.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I definitely uh I give it a lot of thought.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_00: I definitely I'll stay in soccer, that's for sure.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I got a lot to offer to coaching as well with my experience and stuff like that.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's you know, it could be an easy transition for me, let's put it that way.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that you would do something like what RC does?
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_01: Does RC do any uh teams like coaching?
• 25:20
  SPEAKER_01: He's not part of clubs, is he?
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_01: Technically, he's not he'll train part of clubs be trained in clubs.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the clubs in the New Jersey area, like there's some PDA teams involved and stuff.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're some Cedar Stars teams, Matchfit, who we spoke about.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, even uh other teams like Princeton Soccer Academy, who's over there in that area.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_01: Who runs that?
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm actually not positive.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm going blank.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, if you said his name, I would know it right off the top of my head right now.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: But um, because he was he was a PDA guy for a little bit himself.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh back.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: Geez, I'm blanking too, but I've known him for years.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, so all a lot of those times, particularly especially in the uh like winter seasons up there and stuff, they'll send their teams to RC's facility to do his sessions during a winter periodization and stuff like that.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of teams do come in.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: He brings in groups of uh uh like MLS Next Pro players and stuff, or even MLS Next players who are in the younger age group, and he'll put them through a week-long like clinic and and those kind of things.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: So he does a lot of work in the in the team environment, also a lot, right?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: Because like, so I came up in Michigan coaching club.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: I always wanted to be at the the DA and the ACNL level, so I went to Vardar.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then I wanted to coach college, so I coached at University of Detroit.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_01: Then I was like, you know what?
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_01: I want to be I want to coach pro.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_01: So I went and took the job with the Western Europe Flash and the NWSL, but then I ended up just doing what RC does and being the most happy, yeah, because like the technical focus was was what all of my mentors kind of drilled into me, and that's where my focus has always been in terms of player development, individual player development, I guess, more than team environments and whatnot.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's there's definitely a uh a greater market for it, I guess is the word for it.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_00: There's a huge market for the independent trainer and stuff like that now, you know, the technical trainer, the physical trainer.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it's definitely uh it's it's a world where I could see myself working.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoy it a lot.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoy the individual development.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I enjoy working on on specific techniques and details and stuff like that.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's a really fun process of of coaching.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but it's hard to say.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I could speak for the you know kind of people I've worked with, and there's others.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: And if I go back to some of my younger days, and there was a guy, Coach Mark Williams, who I worked uh with with years and years, and he was a soccer guy as well as kind of a strength and conditioning coach that helped me at a point in my career where I needed to get uh physically better and stuff when I was younger.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_00: And he was kind of the first individual trainer that I'd ever worked with, and he kind of tied soccer into the physical part of it.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then again, like our RC is a guy that I known for a long time and I work with and I coach with and train with, and he's so so detail oriented and down to the specifics, and it's about your movement and what translates to better touches and everything.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: And it's such a I guess a broad uh market in the individual training business, I guess.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: Like you can go into your step details or your first touch, second touch, half turns, full turns, like all these little details that when you really break it down, and like I see the guys put this kind of work into it where you watch your film and you study the players you're training and stuff like that, and you can really drive home different things that can change a player's real ability and and and development status and stuff.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a cool part of it.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't know, I've always kind of just loved the coaching of a like the team environment and stuff, and going to win things and and that kind of idea and stuff.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: And uh for me, the perfect kind of median is bringing really top-tier individual development into uh team coaching and a team environment, which I think is totally uh feasible and possible with the right time type of coaching and stuff like that.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that you look at the game like a coach already, or do you still view it as a player?
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: I would say for me, more as a player.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think I've always kind of had a coach's view to it, if that makes some sort of sense.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like the position I play, the way I kind of play the game and stuff like that, you could see it as kind of just like a thinking game almost.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: So in that sense, I I'm sure a lot of people probably, or a lot of coaches that I've played for teammates would say, like, oh, he's plays like a coach or whatever.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: But I still still think I see the game as a player, you know.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: The way I play, it's it's it's still not ever like too tactically thought out first, you know what I mean?
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm thinking of playing before I'm right.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's more instinct, right?
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's more instinct and awareness and uh decision making, and it's not always it doesn't always go exactly to plan.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you know there's times where you obviously are, but at this point at least, I'm not always looking across to the other side of the field and thinking, like, oh, what's the way to break them down, right?
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm still like play individual brilliance, like, or what's my part on the field right now?
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't think I think too broadly at this time, maybe in training.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think as a coach, I see the game a lot more, or I see the game from a coach's perspective a lot more.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I spend a lot of time thinking about the training sessions we do as teams.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: I've done this for the last couple years now.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: I find myself doing it, thinking a lot about the training sessions, like reviewing the training sessions afterwards and stuff, seeing different coaching points in that, especially in kind of like game prep now, where you're looking forward to the next game and you watch film together and stuff like that.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think throughout the training week, I definitely maybe have a little bit of a coach's uh perspective to it.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to game to game, I still think I try and see the game as a player.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: Even when I'm watching, you know, your Premier League or La Liga or Champions League or MLS or whatever it may be or other USL games, you know, literally whatever.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: I still think I look at it from more of a player's view.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'll watch specific players or I'll I'll watch the ball more than I'll watch the full screen, if that almost makes sense to an extent.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I still think I have a player's view to it, but I definitely keep a coaching perspective in the back of my mind, I would say for sure.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: You watch training tape?
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I do.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: I do.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: I I always have.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: I like watching stuff back.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: I as now I'm like kind of coaching younger teams and stuff and looking towards my badges and what I want to do next too.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: I like to review sessions to see what I like, what maybe I didn't like, what I would use in my uh teams, what maybe I would do differently if I was coaching my teams, how can I translate this to my U17 boys, or you know what I mean, or how can I keep this in my memory bank for my coaching career and stuff, or all these kind of different things.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_00: I enjoy that part of it.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where you could say I guess like a coach's perspective comes in.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: But when I'm playing, I still think it's a play first thought process to me.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: I wish I wish that I kept like a journal of the drills and coaching points that were given to me while I was still playing because I played for some brilliant coaches, and I don't remember any of it.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'm sure you uh you did too, and there wasn't VO and there wasn't Huddle yet.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, yeah, if we had those recorded, it would be phenomenal.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, no doubt, no doubt.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's so funny now when I go over, like I said, I coach over at clubs called Virginia Revolution, who's our kind of our youth club at Loudoun United, and I coach my teams on you know Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and you go, and some coaches have their VOs up recording training, and there's VOS at every single club game and stuff like that.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I think back then I was like, oh, I I didn't get a game recorded until I think I was playing reserves games that you know at Shuffle Wednesday and stuff like that.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: I look back to that and I'm like, I wouldn't say I'm jealous because it's almost like a uh I would have loved to see myself at 17 and 18 type of deal.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: But it's just the thought of like, how funny is that?
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like now you 14s are having their games recorded, nine-year-olds are having their games recorded, and it was a it never even came into like thought back in the day.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: So it's just a very funny, different kind of uh I don't know, environment, different world to an extent as well.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: So but I try and keep as much as I can.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: But like you said, like if I could think back, some of my probably most enjoyable and sessions could probably be back when I was playing under 16s or under 18s and stuff, and I maybe have forgotten those as time went on.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: But if I could have like a book of those, it'd be incredible.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_00: But I try and keep as much as I can now, you know.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like we are lucky, like us to the extent where we get everything recorded and all of that, and it's available for us, you know, mostly on the same day that we train, right?
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: And everything.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I do enjoy going back and looking.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's not an everyday thing, but pick and choose sessions maybe you know, once or twice a week, depending on what the sessions were or you know, out in feeling, whatever it may be.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think you want to go back to New Jersey?
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I would love to.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: I always say I I am Jersey.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_00: Why wouldn't you?
• 33:54
  SPEAKER_00: Jersey till I die.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: Go to coach PDA.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, you have your choice, Cedar Stars or Matchfield, or whatever, and you can and then maybe MOS Academy someday, or whatever you want to do.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all that stuff uh definitely kind of goes through my mind and stuff.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: Is there's so much that I think about wanting to do, and then you know, one day I feel less inclined to do academy coaching and more inclined to do college coaching.
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Or one day I look and I'm like, dang, being a technical director at an academy would be really cool, or one of those jobs and stuff.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll definitely try and get back to New Jersey and be involved to some extent.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: I still have some deep-rooted ties to uh PDA and would love to be back involved with with those guys one day to any capacity, uh, really.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever, whatever the guys at PDA need me to do, I'll do it.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: You want me to take over the under eights and I'll step right in because uh I do I love that club for everything that they've done for me over the years, and I know some really good people who still coach there and and run things on the boys and the women's side.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: And my youngest brother uh is there as an assistant coach for all their MLS next programs.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: And okay.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, we're still uh there's still some deep ties with PDA.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: I would love to be back in that environment one day down the road.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: But uh yeah, it's it's probably gonna be New Jersey for me.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_00: I will say I've I'm engaged currently to my fiance and I'm sure she'll have a good heavy word on where we end up.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: But she loves it, she's a West Coast girl, but she loves New Jersey herself, so convincing shouldn't be too hard.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_01: When you were overseas, how much feedback did you actually like receive?
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you were released or whatever, yeah.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_01: Because I've I've talked to some people and they're like, there is no feedback, there's no feedback, and it's like you're either in the starting 11 or you're not, or you're uh on the on the roster and or you're not, and there's no real feedback.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: Is that your experience?
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh no, actually, not necessarily.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't say that was my experience.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was definitely different.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I was thrown into it, you know, like again, coming from even though you know Shuffle Wednesday, it's a big big club as far as status and stuff in England, but it's it's not necessarily like a you know tier one academy, like your you know, top Premier League clubs, clubs with all the facilities and stuff like that.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like at the time, at least I don't know what it is now, but there were two different tiers of academies based on club status, like facilities and everything, how good they were.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: So Sheffield Wednesday was definitely tier two at the time, but you still played against other big Premier League academies who just again were in the same boat, a little bit less money into the academy, a little bit uh lesser off facilities and stuff.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: So if you look across at, you know, it wasn't like I was going to uh you know Liverpool or uh Arsenal or something, you know.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: I was joining Sheffield Wednesday's academy.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: So it was definitely still like you know, not the highest of levels that you could play at as a 17 or 18-year-old, but it was a big club and full-time professional status, obviously.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it was an opportunity.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_00: So I went there and it was a big change because it was full-time.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I went from training four days a week at PDA, playing a game on the weekend to you're in five days, your off days mean you're in, like those kind of things, you know, get in at 8:30 in the mornings, not leave till 3:30 in the afternoons and stuff like that, doing chores for the first team and uh pumping balls for the next day, whatever it may be.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: But our coaches were very hand-on, and that kind of from the reserves and from the first team.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like there was a lot of video review, from my memory at least.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: There was a lot of like updated meetings and where you're at and and stuff like that, and what they see for you in the future.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, I never got to the point there at least where I was being released, so I never had kind of one of those conversations when I left, kind of I guess on my terms, if you can call it that, to go to LAFC.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_00: Like there was some pushback from them because they didn't exactly want me to leave at the time when I was leaving and stuff, but they were very hands-on.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_00: Very there was, you know, their coaching, it's you know, it's different with your experiences.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's some coaches are better, some coaches that you come across you don't enjoy working with as much.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_00: But for me, they were pretty hands-on, they were big with their feedback.
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they were harsh, definitely they were harsh and stuff.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: They they told the truth, they didn't make you think anything uh that wouldn't be true, you know.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like there definitely wasn't anyone telling you you were better than you were.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it was very much the opposite in that sense.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_00: But they were definitely hands-on, they were realistic, you know, guys that um deserved opportunities to get in and around the first team usually got their opportunities, at least to go into training and stuff like that.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: So uh again, it was a little bit of a smaller club in the sense of you know, less people, less teams, less academies, less people in the building.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: So you were looked over, you know, and there was no hiding, that's for sure.
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: But uh, I mean for me it was it was a pretty good experience.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: They it was probably everything that I wanted it to be, you know, in terms of playing soccer every single day, having to go to the gym, having to be disciplined and all of that stuff, being coached uh truthfully and harshly and stuff.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was it was all what I probably saw as like the pro soccer experience as a 17-year-old or 18-year-old, you know.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_01: Go into like the pressure, like the pressure.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: You you said you were were you when you were in Scotland, were you a part of like a relegation battle or anything?
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: So that was fully the expectation, yes.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said, I signed for a club called Arbroath, right?
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_00: A football club who's still is in the uh championship in Scotland to this day.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_00: So when they got there, they were first promoted, and technically they were like a hybrid team, so essentially like a part-time team.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: Some of their players had second jobs and stuff like that.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: They trained in the evenings a couple times a week so that said players can go and do their second jobs.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't have uh much money behind it because again, in the Scottish Pyramid, it's not maybe like the English pyramid where leagues through leagues one to maybe four or five these days, yeah.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: There's still good money and good contracts and good investment into the clubs and stuff.
• 39:55
  SPEAKER_00: There's people that love love their football and love the club and want it to do well.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: There's just not as many resources as you would see at some other clubs, even in the Scottish Championship or in lower leagues and stuff.
• 40:07
  SPEAKER_00: So the expectation was, yeah, definitely a relegation battle.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we just kind of ended up getting in.
• 40:13
  SPEAKER_00: We started the season relatively well, won a few handful of games, was able to manage draws and stuff, and just not kind of losing.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we were holding on at the beginning, and then we went on a good run and never really saw ourselves in that relegation scrap, which was funny.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: I remember my coach there, he's this uh legendary Scottish coach named uh Dick Campbell, and his twin brother Ian Campbell was the assistant coach, and then another kind of Scottish folklore coach, his name's uh John Young, and that was the three coaching staffs, and honestly, like icons amongst the lower leagues of Scotland for getting promotions and just kind of being playing careers and stuff in the 70s and all that, so there's just kind of these like Scottish lower league icons, and that was my coaching staff, and he always said he was like, as soon as we know we can't be relegated, that's when we're comfortable.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then we got to like kind of like probably like 12 to 13 games in, and we were up in like the top four or five that whole entire time essentially, and it was probably right around before Christmas, where we're on the way back after on the bus after getting a good win, and he's like, Boys, we're not getting relegated, and from like there, the it was like a joke that, like, yep, we're in the league again next year, but we're also sitting in a playoff position at the time, and then so I never actually experienced the the relegation battle, and it's funny, like the pressure of it probably comes away a little bit when it's like the expectation.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like, we were odds-on favorite by a long shot to be relegated at the bottom, right?
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so it's like, and like I said, some of the boys had other jobs and stuff like that.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: Guys were school teachers who then went and played in the evening and played on Saturdays and stuff, and you know, engineers, whatever it may be.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_00: There was a handful of different careers within the team.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it was like we'd get to training at night and it'd just be a little bit of banter, a little bit of training and stuff like that, talk about the game on the weekend, and then you just go out and play on Saturdays.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_00: We had these old school coaches that didn't think much tactically or anything like that.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: You got to the change room, they picked the team, they told you to get out there and play.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: And so it was almost like just a very freeing uh environment.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: So the pressure of relegation, I don't think, ever like loomed over the team's head.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: But then once we were like in and around to playoffs, we were like, Well, this is a bit nuts.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how far is this gonna go now?
• 42:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then guys started thinking, and then some of the guys were getting offers midway through the season from other bigger clubs and stuff, and they were like, Do I pass up my full-time job just to go join another club?
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what's my wife think?
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the kids and all that stuff.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: So it was kind of just like a free environment where all whatever was like outside kind of just stayed outside, and we were just kind of enjoying ourselves.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: It was a great group of boys, and they were doing better than everyone had expected, obviously.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it was just kind of like playing each week and seeing where it would go.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: Do you feel obviously it's gonna be different pressure, but like, do you feel you've got to feel pressure every single year here?
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely, but it's just a different, it's in more individual pressure versus team pressure.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think there's probably an extent of that.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like, there's a lot of uncertainty in the USL, that's for sure.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, now we're seeing a little bit of a transition into multi-year contracts and longer-term deals, which is great, but I mean, my entire USL career essentially, and a lot of others that I know have been the one year contracts or two year contracts, one plus an option kind of thing.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say, yeah, I mean, the the the individual pressure, I think, especially for guys who really care about their career and playing as long as they can and everything, and you know, getting into the next year with the club and stuff, I think the individual pressure can definitely mount up.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you could say individual versus team pressure, but for me they directly correlate because if you feel individual pressure, then you need your team to do well.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: So you should be feeling pressure to do well as a team.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: And if everyone in the team is feeling that little bit of individual pressure to do well, to get the best contract they can next year, to stay in the team next week or whatever it is, then there should be a little bit of team pressure built up to go and do well because everyone wants to do well for themselves, which means doing well for each other at the same time, because a successful team then breeds better contracts, new deals, other clubs coming in for players and stuff like that.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I do think the two tie in together, but there's probably definitely a little bit of a driving force of individual pressure behind that.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: I would say in a lot of players and teams in the USL.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_01: And there's like a viral clip of uh some Italians at an MLS game, and they're like, This is shit, this level is shit, all these players are shit, and like I played college and we could beat them and wait a minute.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's like and then people will chime in and blame like the failings of the men's national team because we don't have promotion and litigation.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, hold on, yeah, we don't have that cutthroat pressure, but the you guys are are going through so much pressure, yeah, to get your next contract, to get uh you know, uh just another year in the league.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_01: And that's for MLS guys, that's from for USL guys, that's for League One guys, that's for everything.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it just it's uh it's frustrating because everybody's like they'll crap on a level, they'll uh they'll shut on the USL.
• 45:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's like hold on.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: If you trained a kid at nine years old and they're playing in the USL championship, you're gonna flaunt that kid, yeah, and you're gonna pun, you're gonna be like, I developed that kid.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's like so we it can't be both ways, it can't be uh one hand, it's an awful level, but then you're celebrating every kid you ever worked with that's playing at that level.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's so frustrating for me because I think it's a great I think is it perfect?
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_01: No, but I don't think it's perfect over there either, right?
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I for me, I'm someone who's like I I'm just kind of a soccer junkie in the sense that if there's a game on, I'll watch it.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like we can go nitpick every league in the world why one's better than the other, or this one's no good, or anything like that.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_00: But everything's relative, you know what I mean?
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like the Premier League is what it is because of so-so-and-so, right?
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like the La Liga, it is what it is because of so-so-and so.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_00: MLS, it is what it is because of so so and so, and you can break that down to the rules, the promotion relegation, the salary caps, whatever you want to do.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: But it's the league that we have here.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: So accept it for what it is.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: Look at the actual quality that's on display, and and then make your kind of observation or whatever it be.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_00: But to compare and contrast and this, that, and the other, it doesn't make sense, first of all, right?
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because of all the different factors that go into every league across the whole entire country.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: But it's just I'm sure like MLS probably feels it that they're just like someone to bully because it's the American Soccer League and Europeans or whoever anti-MLS people can just say, Oh, there's no promotional relegation, or if there's no pressure.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I know players can just come out with their quotes sometimes as well and be like, yeah, this pressure isn't the same compared to where I came from, which may be true, but again, it's all relative.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: If if these players wanted to feel the pressure, or if promotional relegation like decided where this player was going to play, they wouldn't have signed for an MLS club, right?
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_00: They would have gone somewhere where they have promotional relegation, but instead we have some supremely talented, young and experienced players in the MLS who are given their best each and every week for the MLS, and so we have to take it as for what it is and it enjoy what it is because it's a good league that's growing and getting better and getting more attention, and then that trickles down to the USL and USL League One and as well.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I know there's you know the talks of the USL and breaking into the promotional relegation setup, and again, I think that would be great for the country to see a league uh pyramid like that.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I I hope it's successful for something different and for something new, but again, it it's not the end-all be-all of soccer, you know, promotional relegation is great for what it is and for what it offers and the different things that it brings.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_00: But if if it's not feasible within the uh MLS or the US ecosystem of soccer, then it's not feasible.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we have to make the absolute best of what is feasible for us because that's how we're gonna improve the league and get better players into the league or out of the league, so to speak, for young Americans and what have you.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_00: And so the more people kind of try and talk down on it and make out everything that it's not, I think we're wasting time for one, and we're not actually supporting US soccer or US youth soccer or soccer in America in general.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's really what it is, is that just can we be just a little bit positive?
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I think that and that's one thing that this podcast has taught me is that I get to talk to so many different uh types of people, and it makes me I was the pessimist.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I used to blame everything on like not having pro rel and stuff like that, but then I started talking to people, and it's like US soccer is in a lot better spot than I thought it was.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I personally believe that.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then like you're come from New Jersey, and it's always been good, right?
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, I'm I'm a little bit lucky in in that sentence.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I've I've grown up around some of the best you can get in the country, but it it's true, the US soccer.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_00: For one, I have a thing about US soccer, it's never as bad as people think it is, and we're never as good as people think we are, sadly.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it's managing that in between to get to as good as we think we can be or as good as we can be, but there's gonna be this middle ground for us, and it's gonna be there for a long, long time.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: And just calling out the extremes of the highs and the lows, again, it's not really doing anything for us, you know.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then everyone wants to be the problem solver when it goes bad, or everyone wants to be the biggest fan when it seems like we're flying, and then it's just like that middle ground, no one thinks they could stand there.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_00: We're really we've got some really good players, we do have a good league, and it's just not all at the very top at the minute.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like those two things can be true at the same time.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, are we ever gonna be the best league in the world?
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_00: Who knows?
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: Is like even you know, for us in the USL, some guys have played in for a long time.
• 50:25
  SPEAKER_00: The USL was not paying some guys to play in their league as recent as seven, eight years ago and stuff like that.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_00: Now those guys getting six-figure contracts left and right, and multi-year deals and and clubs investing in new stadiums and stuff like that.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like this, like I think I said the word ecosystem a few minutes ago.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, the ecosystem of US soccer is different than anywhere in the world.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_00: There's no doubt about that.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it's gonna grow kind of at its own pace, and it's gonna have hiccups like in the USL.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: We see teams that have to fold, or the NWSL has seen teams fold, and MLS in the past have seen teams fold come back and stuff.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like there's gonna be hiccups, and we still have to let us grow and fail at our own speed as soccer as a whole in America, but definitely you know, the professional game and our national team and stuff too.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 51:14
  SPEAKER_01: What's your like day-to-day like?
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_01: Like when you're at home, it's like a Wednesday, you don't have a game until Saturday.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like what are you?
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I know you're coaching on a side, but like what else are you like?
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_01: When is what's your training schedule like?
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we since it's been hot this summer, we report.
• 51:30
  SPEAKER_00: Well, everyone has to report by uh eight.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, eight is our latest report time.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I'm one of the early guys, I'm one of the old guys at this point.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm up early, I'm over there in the facility early.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: All the guys are in at 8.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_00: We usually have a meeting at around 8.15.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, whenever the meeting wraps up, we'll make way for some like you know, activation or pre-training stuff in the gym.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then we're usually on the field by around 9.15, the latest through the summer.
• 51:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it's definitely early mornings to get started.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then we'll wrap up.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_00: We usually have a team gym session directly after training in our gym.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: We'll get some lunch, and usually, like you have some scattered meetings in the afternoon sometimes, depending on the day.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like Wednesday, for example, we might have like a set piece specific meeting where you know, maybe six or seven guys have to go in, or three or four guys go in, whatever it may be.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_00: You get your scattered meetings, but then kind of like our full-time day wraps up by like one o'clock, you know, if you're doing uh if you're really kind of dragging it out with some extras and stuff.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it can be an early day in the summer when we're training early.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but after that is honestly when I get busier.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_00: I my training day wraps up, and depending on the day or the week, I'll maybe do one, two, probably probably one or two private sessions if if I'm busy and stuff like that.
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then I said Monday, third, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, I've got my under 17 boys uh from 8 to 9 30 every evening.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I get into that in the evening.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so yeah, part outside of that, you know, my schedule's pretty light outside of that.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_01: And and like somebody was saying uh one of my friends, she's friends with like a lot of pros, and like they're always on their phones because they're oh like if I text them, I it's an immediate text back, or if if she'll post something on Instagram, it's immediate like because you're just on your phones all the time.
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because there's so much downtime.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_00: There is there is a lot of downtime, and probably when I was younger, I probably filled that up with a lot more phone time and stuff like that.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm guilty to this day, too, but really it was actually once I got uh here to Detroit, which was 2023, is when I first like really got into the coaching and stuff like that.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_01: Were you doing it with DCFC?
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was doing a uh a club team with DCFC, but oh actually, I think uh uh Dan Trosper, yeah.
• 53:43
  SPEAKER_00: You did have him on a podcast, right?
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_00: I remember seeing a clip of that.
• 53:46
  SPEAKER_00: So he had um I'm blanking on uh Seven Peaks.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, uh Seven Peaks.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so I did a bunch of training for him during my time here as well.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I did some private stuff with him, and then I was doing the DCFC club stuff on the side as well.
• 54:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I really was busy doing it, and you know, for the extra cash, it you know, it is what it is too.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_00: But I that's where I actually kind of enjoyed like doing the privates and planning sessions and getting involved in the coaching environment on team level too.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then I got to indie last year and I did a little bit more of the same.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, indie 11.
• 54:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I scaled back on the I didn't do a team last year, but I did a lot of private coaching in the indie area and again filled up my hours, which was nice.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's another really good area, great area, great soccer area, and good people in that area too.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I was doing a ton of coaching last year too, and then kind of just transitioned and kept into it.
• 54:37
  SPEAKER_00: When I first spoke to Loud in the offseason, one of the things they brought up to me was a question if I was interested in coaching or not.
• 54:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Yeah, I've been doing it the last handful of years and stuff.
• 54:46
  SPEAKER_00: I like it.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_00: I was, you know, it was like a question I was gonna ask to them.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_00: They explained to me the Virginia Revolution ties and everything and how a coaching role would be easy for me to fill.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so I got into it about yes, I got here in January, was coaching by March and stuff, and then the club season's just starting back up again at that youth level.
• 55:04
  SPEAKER_00: So back into it full time now, right?
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_01: Is that part of your contract to coaching, or is it completely separate and you're paid by Virginia Revolution?
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's separate, it's separate.
• 55:14
  SPEAKER_00: It's technically, I guess, all the same entity because club owns Virginia Revolution, or you know, part of the club owners own Virginia Revolution.
• 55:24
  SPEAKER_00: So but it is it's separate, it wasn't part of like my contractual talks when I was getting here or anything.
• 55:30
  SPEAKER_01: Awesome.
• 55:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for doing this.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_01: No problem.
• 55:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, uh, it wasn't Patrick, but it was uh who's the other, who's the other Matea?
• 55:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, Matea.
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, can you give me my like some questions?
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, I don't know what I'm gonna say.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'd seen I'd seen a handful of your uh clips and stuff like that, and I know you covered a lot of the youth soccer and stuff.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I I figured it was just gonna be like a good old soccer chat, but I just texted her just in case.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, all right, once I gotta get beyond my P's and Q's about the youth soccer scene.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_00: So let me know.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_01: No, it's really just a conversation.
• 56:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's like if we were having a beer or coffee or whatever, it's just perfect showing.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_00: As you can tell, I can talk US soccer and youth soccer and the whole landscape for hours.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_01: I want to get out to New Jersey so bad.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to set up some stuff.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_01: I RC is on my are you familiar with the yard, the new indoor facility that's around there.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I don't think so.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's it's like black turf and like black walls, and it's pretty cool though.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_00: Do you remember the town or the area as in?
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_00: Did you see that?
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_01: No, I don't.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_00: If I look it up, I'll I'll send it to you.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's there's so many over there.
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like RC is one of them, or you know, RC performance training.
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then I mentioned the guy that I worked with growing up was Mark Williams, soccer training, and then like uh another one you might have seen is uh AP2T training.
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and good friend of mine.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_01: What was the name?
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_01: Kristen Edmonds.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_00: I coached her at Flash.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, no kidding.
• 56:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all right, yeah, small world there.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, AP2T again run by some really good friends of mine and stuff.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_00: And like we get out there in New Jersey when I get back home, and my brother who plays it for uh won Knoxville in League One, and a bunch of guys from the area.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, all winter long we run pickup games like two, three times a week.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_00: One of those pickup games like oh, it's the best, it's the absolute best.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_01: Is it five aside or is it eleven?
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_01: Is it eleven?
• 57:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's usually seven, seven.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we get like three teams of seven, and it started years ago, and the level's just gotten better and better and better, which is funny.
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, used to be, you know, just kind of the best college guys and pros in the area, and then it's like college guys have to split up because there's too many pros that want to get in on the session and stuff.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like anyone and everyone from New Jersey kind of get consolidates into these two training facilities throughout the winter, and you just have like the best pickup games going ever.
• 57:45
  SPEAKER_01: So, how did you set it up?
• 57:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, was it was it for time, like 10-minute games, or was it a first to two winner stage?
• 57:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty much both.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_00: So uh my my good friend Matty Nigro, he kind of runs that scene now at AP2T, and then another friend of mine who was a USL player himself, Jake Ehrman, kind of runs the uh RC performance side of it.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, like I said, these two different facilities, one's a little further north, one's a little further south.
• 58:11
  SPEAKER_00: And they just at this point they don't have to reach out to guys, guys reach out to them, but you get as many guys in, you split into three teams, you play a five-minute game or first to two goals, winner stays on for as long as for like a two-hour window, and you just go and play.
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_01: So, my facility in Buffalo was perfect for five aside.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and I would do college pickup with all of my college players, but I would do so.
• 58:32
  SPEAKER_01: If there was 15 players there, I wouldn't make three teams, I would make four teams, so it'd be five, five, three, and two, and then the three had to whoever lost those three had to pick two players to run with, and then it just rotated.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_01: So then you were not on a team and bitching about like, well, my team sucked the whole time.
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's like no, and then what I would do is I had a point system, yeah.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_01: So each player, every game that they won, they'd have an individual win, get out of course, and then first to ten wins, and we'd have like a prize, and then we did cash games sometimes, and those were fun.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's the best.
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's that's essentially what we do.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_00: We get in there, we run winner stays on, and then I mean you get your competitive nature and stuff, guys being pissed that they lost and everything.
• 59:18
  SPEAKER_00: But it's like it's become funny in the last couple of years, like you know, everyone gets their picture huddled up after winning or whatever, and it goes up on the uh Instagram page at the facility and everything.
• 59:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, like that's been like the thing at the end.
• 59:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, everyone wants their picture so that it can go up and everyone else can see who won the day and that kind of stuff.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_00: So it's again, it's it just all kind of I think we started this conversation talking about New Jersey, and it all kind of circles back to that New Jersey tri-state area, you know, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, even like that whole area, it just breeded a lot of players who still kind of circle back into the New Jersey area to keep playing, really.
• 59:55
  SPEAKER_00: So it's uh yeah, I was very lucky to grow up in the area I grew up in with kind of the mentors and the father and the people around me that I had because I was just immersed in it from day one.
• 1:00:07
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks for the chat.
• 1:00:10
  SPEAKER_00: Nice to meet you, brother.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_00: Good luck.
• 1:00:11
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me on.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:00:12
  SPEAKER_00: I see we got a new Loud United fan, right?
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, good news.
• 1:00:16
  SPEAKER_01: DCFC won't talk to me.
• 1:00:18
  SPEAKER_00: I hate soccer.