Latest / I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth / I Hate Soccer #111 - Dan Brower, USL League Two Head Coach with Steel City FC

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I Hate Soccer #111 - Dan Brower, USL League Two Head Coach with Steel City FC · I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_03: Dan Brower is the head coach of Steel City FC that plays in the USL2.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_03: I caught up with him last week when they were in Michigan playing in the round of 32, and they won and played in the round of 16.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_03: We go in depth about the setup of Steel City, how they promote from within, and how they have players from the Academy playing with their full USL2 team.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_03: And we talk about the future of US soccer.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_03: We talk about how to build a proper club.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_03: Could promotion and relegation actually work in the United States?
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_03: And we cover it all.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_03: And we talk uh we talk about everything and we cover almost everything in the game within the game, and it's great conversation.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I love just hearing how uh yet another club just does things just a little bit differently, and you're gonna take away a lot of great ideas from this episode.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_03: As of this recording, we are sitting at 4,740 subscribers on YouTube.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_03: I want to get to 5,000 by Christmas.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're new here and you're watching this episode, please hit that subscribe button so you always know when a new episode is up.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_03: Over the last 90 days, 70% of our viewers are not subscribed.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_03: So please let's increase that number and really help the show so I can so I can continue to talk to people like Dan.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: I hate soccer.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_03: But what is your role outside of the USL to head coach at Steel?
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my role is simple.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um I help out my son's team and and the guys are his age in 2011's.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I directed a club for for many, many moons years.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was probably from 2001 to 2019, 2018, right before COVID.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: I directed the club.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I was I've been involved in the in the scene for for many years.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_03: What club was that?
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: At Arsenal.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: Arsenal FC at PA and then we consolidated with the Hotspurs.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so we had Arsenal and Hotspurs get together.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's unique.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it made uh we we developed a uh a new and and bigger and better club, still City FC.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: It took two or three years to get this, I mean a lot of hard work to get those two clubs together and some great leadership and the owners worked it out and the the directors and the and the staff have uh done a great job in in aligning themselves to to make sure that it's it's in the right doing the right things for the for the players.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_03: How do you guys when that happens, when clubs merge, air quotes, how do you make sure that like it's not a takeover?
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_03: Because I know I've been part of mergers and they're really just takeovers.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_03: And then some mergers work beautifully.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if yeah it could be difficult.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we were talking to River Hounds, and we were talking to Bealing, and we were talking to North Stars back in the day with Bobby, and and um it can be challenging for sure.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: It took us probably 15-20 years to find the right people, and but you what you know is the right people, and they they're they're speaking the same language as you.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: They they want a first team, they want a pyramidal structure.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they they're they're all about grassroots and and developing a pathway for our players.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: It it becomes you know it's it's real, you know it's genuine.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And and then we have uh once I left as a director and and Jonathan Vellata came in on the scene at Arsenal, he came in in 2014.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's uh he's a wonderful guy, uh, has a vision as well.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: And and Tom on the Hotspur side, he has a vision, and and we got together and and those be those two guys became the the owners.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And they they're running the show and they're doing a great job.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_03: All right.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: They're in Pittsburgh?
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and they're MLS next.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: MLS next and G A.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yep, exactly.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, G A.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly and then you guys uh on the girl side are ECNL R L.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_03: What are you guys on the boys side?
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: ECNL R L?
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_03: Okay, got it.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_03: And and you only have one other ECNL club in Yeah, Riverhouse.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_03: The Riverhounds.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_03: Got it.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_03: And how so in Michigan, another reason why I came back is that yeah, they're competitors, but everybody is kind of cordial and tight, and like whenever we would all go to the convention, it's called the Michigan Mafia.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, because like everybody just kind of gets along.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, is pit and then when I go to Buffalo, it's not like that at all.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_03: People don't get along, yeah.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_03: People within the same club don't get along.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: So how is it in Pittsburgh?
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's closer to Buffalo than probably Michigan, you know.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: You you have a but but we do have a a pretty decent relationship feeling uh over the years.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I know they're highly competitive, and so are we, and you're competing for the same players, and some of those players are are looking at MLS next.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, uh for sure.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: But what we do is fantastic and and the words out, and we we've been around the block for a while, and uh we educate our parents and educate the community, and a lot of people stay with us.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: We have good retention.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I don't I don't you know it because of the Pittsburgh Derby recently, because the fact that we're competing with the River Hounds a little bit on the field as well, uh we've grown to develop a uh a pretty decent relationship with their um their president, owners, yeah, uh Tuffy and and and of course uh the guys uh that work behind the scenes and and they've been pretty pretty cordial as well.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: But it's there's you know you can tell there's there's still a um uh an edge.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah for sure.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_03: How how is like underneath you guys and Beadling and uh Riverhound?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_03: How is how is the structure?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_03: Like, are Pittsburgh teams going all the way to Philly and uh for a for like state well state cup and stuff like that?
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_03: Or is it separated into two or how is it?
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean we're we're traveling mostly in Ohio.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean you'll you'll see some, I guess, Western New York teams and some Ohio teams and Indiana teams, and that's kind of where we're uh uh more Midwest now.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Got it.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_03: How are you do you guys have any mega clubs coming into the area?
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_03: Because we have Ontario Surf.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_03: It is like, and then and then the Flash are trying to go.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_03: Well, they went into Erie, yeah, they're in Binghamton for sure, and they're trying to cast a wide net.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_03: And it is Riverhounds doing in uh any of that, like it's getting smaller clubs underneath their wings.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, everybody's trying to trying to consolidate, you know, grow and and and work with some of the community clubs for sure.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we were we're at 1,500, 1,600.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think the River Hounds are less than that, but maybe about 1200, 1300.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: So our clubs have grown over the course of the last 20 years.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jason, it it wasn't only maybe 20, 15, 20 years ago where we we didn't have multiple teams at age groups.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was just one team.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it it's grown a great deal.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I remember myself and Eddie Ellsworth, we were at my computer in probably 2005 saying, you know, these dinosaurs, we gotta change the state office, we gotta change the bylaws, the the rules, and we gotta get multiple teams.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: We get you know, club development is the tool for for player development.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: So let's grow these clubs and let's make sure that our it's more professional and and and find a um a pathway for all players.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: So that was that was only 20 years ago.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_03: Do you miss it?
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_03: Do you miss how it used to be with like one team and not not at all?
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Not at all.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, it's it's not in the best interest of our players.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, what's in the best interest of the interest of our players is to have player pools is to make sure that that coaches, well-educated coaches, thoughtful coaches, experienced coaches, licensed coaches, guys that that that have been around the block and and communicate to each other daily, professionals uh are thoughtful in how we develop our player pools and and and give more permutations and more combinations for for training pools, uh, training teams, training, training groups.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, things that can help out our players that they're not just stuck on one team for 12 months.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, they're selected for a team in June, and here they're expected to play on that at that same level when players, pre-pubescent players grow at different ages.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we know the cognitive, emotional, social, physical, mental, it's all everywhere.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, for a young 11, 12-year-old.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we need to be able to understand that, realize that that okay, a player that's maybe on a B team in August has the opportunity to move up, and players that are maybe struggling a little bit has an opportunity to move down in certain windows of uh of time.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, six-week windows, eight-week windows, and you know, I do I miss keeping things simple and having one roster for the entire 12 months?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's simple, that's easy.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, everybody wants to have just a cookie cutter, here we go, here's my team, and we're we're competing, and here we but that's not in the best interest of the game.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's not in the best interest of the player, especially when they're prepubescent.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: If we're talking about U17, U19, U21, you know, of course, U20s, different ball game, less, much less movement, of course, but um yeah, you you when you're talking about prepubescent uh you know players, you need the opportunity to l allow them to grow at their rate.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: And when they're ready, they can they can find their their level because there's late developers and and you never know.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: I had girls during COVID that I didn't see obviously for those six months in lockdown, and then they came out and they were like different different players, their size spiked up, and they were working on the ball every time, and they were kind of like late developers.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_03: And if you didn't have those, I guess, identification, if you didn't have those B teams, yeah, that that girl would never have made the first team, and now she's at well, one of them's at Kentucky.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: So right, spot on.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And and it's not just about A teams and B teams and C teams, it's about training pools, it's about heterogeneous at times.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's a route, it's about homogeneous at times, it's about mixing up, it's about having a games day with A, B players.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's about having a games day with B and C players on certain types of certain days of the training week.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: It's about having, you know, your yeah, your A teams are together sometimes and getting prepared for a league match or an event.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: But there's also times where it has to be, you know, heterogeneous and mixed, and you know, allowing players to to model and lead and be led and and see other players and not just be in a certain level the entire year.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: You know, allow these guys to to stay and and the the boys and girls need to be able to work with others.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_03: And you're trying to give the same experience to everybody in the pool, not just the first team.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: Because we've all been part of clubs of where it's just the first team and nobody cares about the others, right?
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_03: And and there isn't much movement or opportunity for even training and that in s in some clubs.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_03: So man.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_03: So okay.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_03: You're in Michigan, USL, USL.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_03: Is this what what is is this I know it's playoffs, but like what bracket of playoffs is this?
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Round of 32.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_03: This is the round of 32.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_03: And then you're playing Indiana, wait.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Northern Indiana.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_03: Northern Indiana.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Out of South Bend.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then in the other side of that, you're gonna have uh Flint and FC Buffalo.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_03: FC Buffalo.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_03: Is FC Buffalo in your regular conference?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_03: And you guys went undefeated.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_03: We did.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_03: What's your roster?
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_03: What's your what's your makeup of your roster?
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_03: Is it do you have any like college grads, or do you is it all college age players and all of them play in college, or is it a mix?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let's connect that with what we were just talking about.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people would would listen to what we're what I was just saying about homogeneous and heterogeneous and and finding that right balance and and that cocktail is is the key to youth development.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: And and a lot of people say, well, that's that's recreational, Dan.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this this doesn't, it's not gonna work for it's not gonna work for for my my area or my club.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: No, it works.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we we have players that have just been drafted.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: Two players in two years have been drafted coming out of our club, guys that have that have grown up, and at certain points when they're prepubescent, they need to they need to develop in a certain way, and then when when they're 15, 16, 17, there needs to be a different cocktail, different percentage.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: And those guys grow up and they eventually play for our first team if they're ready for it.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's not only just talent, but if they're physically, emotionally, socially, cognitively ready for that, and we have the right balance in our first team.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: So we have, you know, our our goal is to have 50% of our academy players, you know, involved in the first team training pool.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_03: So, you know, I mean This episode is brought to you by the North American Soccer Expo.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_03: If you remember last year when I had Alexi Lawless on, so many of you were blown away and kept on messaging me like, how did you get Alexi Lawless to talk to you?
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_03: And to be honest with you, it was the North American Soccer Expo.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_03: The expo has workshops and seminars and field presentations from top coaches and industry experts.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_03: I will be there this year.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_03: 100%.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_03: I'll be set up on podcast remote.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_03: In addition to the podcasts that I'm going to be filming there, I'm also going to have an open hour where any coach at the expo or anybody at the expo can come sit down at the chair and have a one-on-one, 15-minute chat with me, and you guys can just come and chat and talk about whatever you want.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_03: North American Soccer Expo, July 30th to August 1st, Novae, Michigan.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_03: I'll see you there.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_03: Is it the number right now?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: I know we got a game coming up, so I don't want to spend too I mean I could be here for hours, you know, talking about you know what we do, but basically I have about 95 guys on my on my team snap and and and organizing about 90 some players over the course of the last 12 months.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean it's great.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's great because you know over 12 month period, you're gonna have different uh events for your first team.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, you look at the fall.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: The fall, you know, if you don't automatically qualify for US Open Cup, which is which would mean you know top six in USL2.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you were the MPSL, it'd mean top you know six to eight to ten.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh back in the day when we were in the MPSL, we we automatically qualify for US Open Cup.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um because of our standing.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we've been, you know, we're we're undefeated this year, but this is an expectation.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we've lost one one ring or season game in the last four years.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: So we're doing things the right way.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: But the things that we do is we bring up the academy players for sure.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And and so the academy players, they're probably anywhere from probably a dozen academy players that helped us qualify for the US Open Cup in the fall.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: So if you don't qualify for automatic, um automatic qualification in the summer leagues, then you you have to go through the old school techniques and and rightly so let's let's qualify.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we played, you know, three matches in the fall.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: We had friendlies, uh training almost every day, bringing guys into our performance center.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: We have a great facility just just outside our performance center.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: We have multiple fields.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: We have, like I said, 1,500 players in the club.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, we're we're well organized, and we need more facilities, and we're we're gonna continue to grow and and whatnot.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the fact is is that we're we're uh we have a we have a nice calendar and and some of our high school players still play for us in the fall.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: So they'll play for their high school teams and they'll but they'll come in afterwards and train with with our first team.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Now, our first team, you asked a question like, what's the makeup?
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: You might have in the qualification period that that September, October, November period, you might have a dozen Akabi players, right?
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then a lot of non-college players because they're in they're in the season.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we had you know a 31-year-old neuroscientist that's playing for us, that's that's working in Pittsburgh, Matt Perry, who's phenomenal, you know, his dad's uh, you know, George Berry from from Indiana and played for Yagley, and and think there's a lineage there.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_00: So Matt, Matt and Rami Bensasi and all these guys that are in their 30s, they develop uh their own amateur sides.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's it's uh it's based out of an Arsenal, an old Arsenal team from back in the day that that Mark and I kind of developed back in you know late nineties, uh early two thousands.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: And and uh but get getting back to the point, you have you have all these postgraduate players, late twenties, early thirties, guys that coach for the club, and now we have a dozen or so amateur uh uh academy players that are working with working with the guys during that period.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to qualify.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Done.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Check that box off.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: Then you have a you know, you'll have a December tryout period, and guys come in, but really it's more about word of mouth.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Our guys that have been with us for years, our core players know this player from Chicago, know these guys.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: So they're all coming in, they know what we're about, so they want to train, they want to play at the highest level, they want to win games, they want to be in a shop window.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we got two guys this year that could get drafted, you know.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: So there's there's gonna be there's a reason why we're successful, and it's because of our culture, and it's because of our uh our core players, our leadership group, and and and bringing players in that that do the right thing, that have the right attitude, that behave the right way.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, but that's all great for our academy to see that.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you're talking 12 during the um during the qualification period, but then after the tryouts, we're getting ready for the cup.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we're playing RMU, we're playing Duquesne.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're so fortunate to have you know the Pittsburgh colleges, you know, in town, grade schools, and we're very fortunate to have Jay.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Jay at Pitt and you know, and the and you know, Chase and John at at Duquesne and Robert Morris, and we're making connections with our Division I uh programs.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if we're not in the cup, they probably don't play us.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they probably don't want to, you know, just in case, but because we're in the cup, you know, they they they want to play us this year and and uh get ready and and allow us, help us to get ready for that Pittsburgh Derby that we've been talking about for for years.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_03: I mean and you're helping them get ready for their season.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Sure.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we have Duquesne players, we have RMU players, we have Pitt players.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all it's all a part of with trying to have this symbiotic relationship that we were just talking about a few minutes ago, where we're helping each other out.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it does doesn't need to be so many fences, and we don't have to protect as much.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's grow the game and let's grow each other's clubs and and school programs for sure.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: So when you get into the the spring and and getting ready for the cup competition, you're working with now 20 players, 25 Academy players.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: They're coming up.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: We have 15-year-olds, 16-year-olds, seven all the way up.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, it's it's important for our guys to see that there's a pathway.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that this should be normal.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: It should be.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: It should be.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's not, unfortunately, I don't think clubs understand the importance of a pyramidal structure.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's really only a few in in there's just what two in Pittsburgh that has a first team right now on the on the men's side, on the men's side.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's going to be, you know, a few others on the on the women's side.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think, you know, Bealing has their first team and and whatnot, but Still City has been doing it for years.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_00: We did it in the in the amateur leagues.
• 21:28
  SPEAKER_00: We are we were always, like I was saying, since early 2000s, bringing up 15, 16, 17-year-olds to play against Met.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's we knew you had it's all about who you're playing against, and you want to play against the best and and work with the best.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_03: And and that and that sets them up uh for whenever they want to go to college, too.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, for sure.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_03: And then they come back and play for Steel City.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you look at you know, Luke Fiskus two years ago when we're in the cup, um, you know, in in twenty four, two thousand twenty four, we're playing against.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: the Michigan Stars, which were the rating champions in Nisa.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, Fisk wasn't uh recruited heavily out of call, you know, out of high school.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: And he's a player, he's a winner and um you know a good ball player and and a great teammate and a and a and a a you know great family you know had has it all you know uh but he wasn't heavily recruited and here we're gonna be playing against the professional side and we're gonna be playing our 17 year old Fiskus he's gonna be playing as a he's gonna be starting the center guy and we we're bringing 1500 to the to the um to the stands it's a big day you know we're playing an Ambrose at Pitt and um Fisk is the player of the match and and from that he gets a Division I offer and and the rest as they say is history.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: So we're putting players in the shop window because of us being ambitious and disruptive and not saying hey we're not going to just stop at under 18 under 19 our players are going to continue to play with I mean the beautiful thing about Still City we're we're experienced and we have some great leaders you know that are that are thoughtful and and are always pushing the envelope and trying to find new programs and new ways and new pathways for our players so the first team is just one of those one of those things uh that we offer and and and and then this year Sean Regan another center back 17 year old 18 year olds uh high school senior same it's it's almost identical to Fisk we're playing the River Hounds the reigning champions and USL championship and and uh we need we need a derby we know that every city should have one MLS understands it at that level okay so you you're gonna have the New York teams you're gonna have Texas you're gonna have the North you know the great northwest the Seattle Vancouver and everybody's gonna have their derby and they understand the importance of it everybody in in football understands the importance of it you need a blue and a red in every city let's get these let's get these emotions fired up let's let's let's make sure that we're you know football is is always a search for emotions let's get our people to be excited about a big mash and here we are playing the river rounds and and here we have a high school senior that's that's also having a uh a hell of a game and he's because he's a he's a wonderful player and and person great family as well Sean Regan and these guys grow up like Fisk they're growing up in our club since they were nine ten years old they know the way that we want to play and he was phenomenal in that match and and uh we unfortunately lose the match 2-1 but it still put our players on a on a in in the shop window and so he got recruited from mayor and that's that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what we can do and what what we can provide to our players and the city of Pittsburgh and given given people something to to be excited about and and and uh yeah we we wanted our DARBA we got it do you guys like market promoting from within and the the pathway of hey you're uh you 14 boy and you're right on the cusp of being able to train with the first team or the second do you guys have a second team we have a second team or or the second team and do you guys like market that to your families or is it more just like the coaches telling the players and their individual parents a little bit of both.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I mean I think we have to educate in in a variety of ways for sure.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: So it it is it's important that you know when we have our awards night and we have the women's team and men's team playing at Foundersfield and we're bringing you know close to 2,000 people in and the youth players are getting their awards and there's you know everybody's got their you know their team tent and and uh every you know everybody's watching the first team and um yeah they they understand that there's there's a path you know they see it and that's that's critical and then our coaches are are there to support us and we need to even have more support as the as the years go on.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: We need more coaches in the club to to set assignments for their players.
• 26:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean you know next year I'll be working a little bit more like I said with the 2011s my with my son's group and whatever the club needs really you know but but you you know darn well that I'm talking to Jimmy and Jimmy's my number seven or you know he could be playing as a seven or as a two or maybe as an eight and he's gonna be watching he's gonna be watching Jackson Irvin he's gonna be watching Ryan Copa he's gonna be watching Xander you know Ashman he's gonna be watching some of those first team players I'm gonna give him an assignment they're gonna have to they're gonna have to solve some problems for me they're gonna have to watch the game they're gonna have to be thoughtful about it and that growth and they're not gonna just be watching on ESPN or Fox or you know whatever whatever channel we want to look at anymore and and and you know because the game is we know when we grew up there was there were hardly any games on TV no now there's a game on on Telemundo.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean you can you can find the game at any time but it's not you know it's not about just looking at that game it's about watching our players watching our first team players watching this Herman Trophy Award finalist that's that's that's right around the corner.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean this guy can play I mean honors can play and and we're watching our goalkeeper that could be drafted easily like Josh Lane is a is a wonderful goalkeeper.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: He's given up what three goals and this year is absurd.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know the amount of um the amount of goals that he's given up three in in in the entire summer season he's a wonderful wonderful player and person and and our our youth our Academy needs to be able to see those players I mean why don't more I kind of know the answer but why don't why doesn't every club have a first in yeah they don't know what they don't know I mean it plus you know the as you know it's gonna be investment and you're gonna have to throw you know that's what Tom O I mean he he's been able to see that have that vision when they called him up a few years ago and they said you know what we're losing we're losing the uh MPSL team it was the uh the Fort Pitt regiment and the PA West state office kind of ran that not kind of they ran that club they ran that MPSL team for for years and they lost they lost some money because of it and and the state association didn't want to they say well we're not gonna do that anymore.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: But it was it was in you know not to get off on a tangent but that was something that needed to do because of of the Riverhounds and and their antics during that particular time and you talk about a uh a battle between clubs and and ideology and philosophy and and we're talking probably 15 years ago.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: So the PA West state office they they thought well let's put our own first team out there and that didn't go that well and they were losing cash and and uh it's it's difficult at that time to make cash you know I mean right really challenging so of course you were going to lose money but Tom was like no no no we're we're gonna invest in this first team we might lose a little bit early but if we have you know if we have a vision and and have that as their the top of our pyramid over time 2000 here we go fast forward to 2026 you might be able to monetize it you might be able to to make some cash you might be able to get sponsorship you might be able to break even at least and still have the the project there for your for your players and that's the key as long as we're breaking even then we we have that opportunity for our players to to to play against and with the top talent the top collegiate talent and the top amateur talent in the in the country plus you have opportunities to play against the pro professionals in the US Open Cup.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_03: Does the uh youth academy help fund the no the USL2?
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely not see that's good because a lot of a lot of USL2 clubs will try to build the academy just to supplement right the and it I mean in the rest of the world it's the other way around where you have the pro team you know feeding in the academy so it's completely separate.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_03: Correct right and and and in the business sense.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_03: The business sense of course and everybody wants Pearl Rail but people don't know the price of the travel I mean it's really just the travel is the biggest cost right for sure.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_03: And I had FC Buffalo's owner on last year and he talked about how his budget is forty thousand dollars for travel.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_03: He said well what if playoffs are in San Diego that that one trip is forty thousand dollars so how how can and then everybody's pro uh talking about promotion and relegation and it's like I want promotion and relegation as much as anybody but I'm also I I know how big the country is yeah we would have to really regionalize it.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah but then everybody would have to have a senior team and nobody and not everybody wants to do that no or knows how to do that.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_03: Correct and they don't want to lose money the Flash got rid of their girls uh their UWS team or whatever it was at the time and this is after the NWSL moved and they sold that but and and to be honest with you the and their NWSL and their academy were treated as completely separate which I didn't like I wanted it to be like what you guys have and let's promote these girls into it and be like hey there's Carly Lloyd she's just walking by there's Abby Dollcamper there's Sam Muis that and and and these girls grew up seeing all these pros and like that had a profound impact and that's one of the reasons why the Flash are what they are on the on the girls side but then they then they sell the NWSL team they had a UWS team that was pretty successful and then they just it's gone I don't understand why because they lost money sure I mean how hard is it to make money in the USL2 or the UWS or USLW like yeah almost impossible right yeah and so that's what I'm so worried about is like I want I want the USL project of ProRel to work I just because the buy-in is still so high I don't know what the uh exact number is but last I heard it was like 25 million to get into the USL USL yeah nuts it I mean how the and I've tried to get sponsors and I've tried to get you know investment that's really hard to do and everybody's like well just go get a sponsor go get a local business it's like not everybody loves soccer yep so who's gonna pay for it exactly and and but uh going back to my original uh question is does the academy feed and pay for the top and it it and it to be honest with you it can't if you want to be a sustainable right correct oh god do you think that the pro row can work yeah could it could be but it has to be your model it has to be steel city's model it can't be it can't be just teams without the academy underneath correct because how are you gonna where are you gonna get the players you have to put butts in the seats that's true you guys already have 1500 or correct 2000 yeah I mean we play in Pittsburgh uh the the Riverhounds just you know in March and there's five thousand people close to five thousand people in the stand so watch that Pittsburgh garbage right that's what needs to happen yeah you need to have Ivory's yeah yeah yeah for sure I hope but what I think is gonna ultimately happen is that the USL system is going to work and then the MLS is gonna see it and then they're gonna come calling for a merger.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_03: Most likely I I think that's the only way this happens.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_03: People want the MLS to just go away it's like yeah good luck having billionaires just go away.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: So is it NFL AFL from back in the day?
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Is it ABA NBA?
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_03: Is it I was born in Kansas City yeah so I'm a huge Chiefs fan since I was five years old Lamar Hunt yeah Lamar Hunt is huge in soccer right that's what the open cup is called right and and that's exactly what it happened is they didn't give him a team there was gatekeepers to get into the NFL and so he's like okay I'll just start my own league.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yep and then boom yep yeah and and it's just so challenging I I'm not really even uh experienced enough to to know the ins and outs of will it happen won't it happen I know the history of these leagues and I know that it could happen will will the owners share the money will they will they want to have a closed system you know we know that MLS started with a lot of NFL owners in in NFL stadiums that have a closed system so are they gonna want to eventually do that but to your point if USL can uh develop a prom a promotion relegation system and it can cap it can catch on and we can have grassroots clubs come up but really is USL you know is USL two any clubs able to to make that jump and and head into USL one or see that's the thing too is that people don't realize the level difference of USL two because most of the rosters are just college kids.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah but we competed we competed with the rote rounds I mean it was a it was a two to one match I mean take a look at the match um you know if if if you have good training and you and you have really you know you have good players these players they're not that much different than than the players that are USL championship I mean they're we have quality players I mean we we have guys that like I said they're gonna get drafted guys that can play the the game at a high level they just need to train daily they need to train weekly they need to be put into environments that challenge them and and Still City can do that.
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_00: So they're gonna be able to compete with with professional clubs there's no doubt about it.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_00: You watch us over the next several years in U.S.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: Open Cups um you know we're gonna be able to to knock off professional teams because of our professional approach we might be an amateur club but that doesn't mean that we can't have a professional approach right we can't have professional training we can you know we do and because uh of our experience and our and our leadership and and we have really good coaches around I think you know uh our one of our owners Jonathan Ballada he'll be more involved in the first team and that's going to be uh on the men's side and then our other other owner Tom Obe then he's you know running the the women's first team so we have the owners that are you know highly invested not just with with their cash but with their time and energy and and and making sure that we we can monetize it and and make sure that we can we can push it forward even and grow it even more within the next five to ten years.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be it'll be exciting to see we're in a wonderful city we're we're in a we're a a city that has uh we love our we love winning we love our sports um you know surely surely there's there's people in Pittsburgh that uh that want us to to succeed and we'll maybe put some put some money behind our project because it is a it is a worthy project and and it's just the top of the of the pyramid we have so many other great things that's going on with our community with our soccer community and our 1500 players and families that they'll they'll be able to to be a part of as well how what how often do you guys train the first team well before you know be three four times a week we'll have our midweek game we'll have our Saturday you know you once you have your Wednesday Wednesday match if you have a Wednesday Saturday you know you it's Thursdays.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah it jamps it up a little bit so right but if it's a regular Keynes of preseason we'll go you know four times a week and um guys will be able to come in work out get some extras in uh you know we have the facility is theirs whatever they need to do whatever they need to get done um but yeah for team training it's it's at least three four times a week do you guys own your own facility no yeah no how hard is that that's in Pittsburgh well that's just around a corner just around a corner our our our owners are working um you know morning noon and night to get that done and that will get done here very shortly and and we'll have our own uh our our home and our stadium and and uh you know it it will be uh a beautiful thing for the club yeah I mean I when I was taking my B license the instructor we're talking about club development yeah and they were saying okay what's what's most important facilities staff uh curriculum and some other stuff and we had to rate or rank them and everybody would rank like curriculum one and then staff two and then facilities three is like you guys are all wrong yeah it's facilities should be number one because coaching can come and go coaching staff can come and go curriculums change but as long as you have that home you're gonna have something to go to and something to fall back on.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_03: So but the problem with a lot of clubs that uh especially in western New York the clubs that have their own facilities they have to rent it out to make money right because it's so difficult.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_03: Well if you had okay let's go back to the to the B license uh exercise yeah okay jason you have your magic wand what do you want out of a out of a youth club in America go I want to be able to train whenever we want check I don't want to be I don't want to have to be kicked off a field because another team is coming in or certainly not another club right that's the as and that's just me as a coach I hated that right I can't stand being rushed off the field because in other countries what do kids do after sessions yeah when I was with the NWSL that was one of the first things that I saw Cindy LaRue after training one of his so okay I get I get to uh uh Western York flash in February the girls most of the girls they report second week in March so we have it's all rookies and it's all you know younger younger players as soon as practice is over peace out they're gone right Sydney LaRue and Whitney Engen who were on the national team that year 2015 they come in and as soon as as soon as the session is over their very first session hey Jason get a bag of balls and I want to work on one certain thing.
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_03: The next day the next session every single player was working on their own and that's like and that's what we're missing we're missing the opportunity uh because of facilities we don't have kids that can just go and hit it set pieces or work on corner kicks or or whatever.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_03: Spot all so the to answer your question yeah that's that's I I think that's if it could be perfect.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_03: I mean in a perfect world yeah I'd want one system for everybody.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_03: I want one system for every youth there are no gatekeepers there's nobody keeping you out of the ECNL or the MLS nets or GA or whatever.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_03: And I want every single player which means every single club or every single team every single club every single coach is under one system.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_03: And then it's just merit based like why can't we have why can't we have a system where let's say there's a hundred clubs per tier let's have 10 tiers we could have 15 tiers and then the top 10 go up the top bottom go down and we already do club rankings.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_03: ECNL does them right and a Michigan hawks is top five all the time right yeah well we could just do club rankings and move clubs up move clubs down and yeah but that's utopia.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well yeah let let's well league you know the the discussion of leagues and and rankings quite honestly bore me.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_00: Let's you know honestly let's get into because you know darn well that there's going to be multiple leagues in America there everybody's gonna protect their own um there's gonna be the name elite attached to this tournament or that league Or that club, and everybody's trying to show somebody, you know, the the the consumer, hey, come on over here.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is where you need to be.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: I want to talk.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let's talk about the actual club itself and the programs, because those are things that sometimes coaching staffs, I mean, not sometimes, we just can't control that.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: That that's something that we can't control the can, you know, only control the controllables, right?
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: As we say, right?
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_00: So what can we control as a club?
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: How what kind of programming can we put together for our players in our club?
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, and how can we develop our players?
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because eventually those players are, you know, if we do it the right way, they're gonna find their path, they're gonna find their college, they're gonna find their professional, um, yeah, their professional pathway.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: So what are you doing as a as a club director?
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_00: You have your magic wand, you want your own facilities.
• 45:02
  SPEAKER_00: Got it.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're close to that.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_00: Still cities, very close to having our own facility, and we have good leadership and thoughtful uh managers and owners that carve out plenty of time.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, sure, it's always it's always a difficult uh week, training week, and and trying to you know put everyone in hundreds of teams and I mean you know, 1,500 players in that training week.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I think we can we're at it, we're at a position where, yeah, guys can stay after and get some extras in.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: Guys can get double sessions in.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_00: They, you know, there's a boy or a girl that you're in 2011 and you want to train with the 11s, you can also train with the tens tomorrow when it's when you're it's your off day for 2011s.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's a club, it's your club.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: You're not just paying for your team, it's not just your team membership and your your team dues, it's your club dues.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: You go out and and and get what you need throughout the week.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: You want to play up, you want to play down, talk to the coaches, get it done.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_00: But what else?
• 46:09
  SPEAKER_00: What up what other type of programming do you need in order to develop the player?
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if we're talking about player, team, and club, what's more important?
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: To me, player.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: Right, but but we don't do that.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, our are we develop teams.
• 46:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we don't develop clubs either.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: You're right, you're right, the spot on.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's team first, yep, crap.
• 46:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we there's gonna be time for teams.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: There's gonna be time for a team.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_00: Let's let's develop the player.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: Let's work on the on the principles, let's work on first, first, uh, uh, uh first attacker, first defender, second attack.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, let's work on our one, twos, and threes.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_00: Let's play our ones, let's play around twos, let's play on threes.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: We don't do that enough.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: We we have too many pep boreolas, too many jose marios, too many guys that are thinking, okay, I'm gonna win some sort of you know national championship at U12, U13.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm preaching the choir.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: We get that, but let's really get into the programming.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like, for instance, I'm I'm you know, we're all copiers, we're all cheaters.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: Here I am, I'm cheating, I'm copying from from Wimbledon and England.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're gonna have a a player-led game.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna we're the coaches are not gonna coach the game.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_00: The the players are gonna coach the game, the players are gonna coach the training, they're gonna do the team talks, they're gonna do the pre-match, they're gonna do all that halftime.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's player-led.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_00: Why is that important?
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_00: That that's an important program in Still City.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_00: That's something that we instituted recently because that's gonna develop more coaches, that's gonna develop more leaders.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't we do that?
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: Why, why, why do we have to control everything as coaches and say, it's, you know, I'm gonna tell you how to play, I'm gonna tell you how our style is going to be.
• 47:52
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna, you know, we're gonna dictate terms, it's gonna be coach-centered.
• 47:56
  SPEAKER_00: We understand in America it's gonna be coach-centered.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it more player-centered?
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: Why isn't it more player first?
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it team first?
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: Because of all these, you know, these guys that think that they have to win, win these championships.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a program we've instituted.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: What's another program that we've instituted?
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're we're looking at um, you know, in in uh at Still City, a premier league where we've we've gone away from the state association.
• 48:25
  SPEAKER_00: We we don't put our players you know in those leagues anymore and and and under their rules anymore because they're archaic, they're dinosaurs, and and they, you know, the state association has has done a wonderful job at times, and they've also failed miserably at times.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we understand that there's there's pluses and minuses to to our leaders in the past.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_00: But one thing is for sure, the club is the vehicle to develop the player, and we have to we have to set the rules.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_00: We have to control more of the games.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_00: We have to say, no, it's not a 5v5.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're not doing 7v7 at this age.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: We're doing 3v3.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_00: This week we're doing two v2s, or the next six week, next six weeks, we're working on you know, man-to-man principles because we want more dueling.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we condition the games and we set the field dimensions, we do that.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's some people would say, well, it's an in-house program, Brower.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's all you're doing.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it's a it's a much more thoughtful in-house program with metrics.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_00: Something that we could say, okay, well, we're we're not looking at just the score here under 10 parent, under eight child and parent, under 12 family.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: We're not looking at just the score.
• 49:40
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking at different things here.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_00: Still see, we're different.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_00: We're um, you know, certainly ambitious, but we're disruptive, highly disruptive, and for a good reason, because we're sick and tired of how things were done.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's not good for our player.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_00: We're we are more experienced and educated.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_00: I got I got people in Pittsburgh saying, what's the importance of licensing?
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: What's the importance of education?
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_00: Licensing doesn't matter.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it does.
• 50:08
  SPEAKER_00: And when you're growing and you're trying to drive your club and drive your players forward, you need education.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_00: And this is something that we've been pushing for the past two decades here at Still City.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: And and we have we have coaches that understand the child, and they know the importance of of allowing the child to to um to develop at their rate.
• 50:32
  SPEAKER_00: And and these this league that we've developed here recently, which is all Still City uh players, basically.
• 50:41
  SPEAKER_00: A few clubs come in, they want to be involved in it as well because they understand the the progressiveness of it and the development, um, the positives of it.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: So what do we do?
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_00: We look at, you know, maybe maybe for a a season we look at first half interceptions, regains.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we're looking at bucks or balls inside the box under control.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking at certain metrics and we can share those metrics to our players and to our families every so often so that they can see where we're heading and where we've been and where we're going.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: And it's not just the final score.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: Please, please, let's educate our our families and let's develop a culture.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to, you know, we talk about the importance of culture, and you know, Tom Byer, I just I just um, you know, doing my little research on you and and and your and the and the people that you have on.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: You're doing a fantastic job.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: I applaud you.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there was a gentleman from Michigan, um, you know, that was being coached uh by by uh uh Greg, right?
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so and he's talking about Tom Byer a little bit.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_00: And we had him, we had him involved in during COVID.
• 51:56
  SPEAKER_00: We brought him on.
• 51:57
  SPEAKER_00: There's some connections with him and Pittsburgh because of futsal and uh back in the day.
• 52:02
  SPEAKER_00: So I called him up.
• 52:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, Tom, you gotta be involved in in Still City and what we do during COVID because everything was shut down.
• 52:10
  SPEAKER_00: And here Tom's talking to our to our families, and he's developing a program for us because soccer does start at home.
• 52:17
  SPEAKER_00: And and it's all about that culture and developing that that love for the ball and that love for the game.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_00: And and then you had another you had another uh person on talking about how important it is to have, I think it might have been the same gentleman talking about, you know, how if your dads and grandmothers, yeah, grandfathers, your mothers are playing, you're having you know, you're gonna have the uh a great opportunity to develop in the game and love the game.
• 52:42
  SPEAKER_00: And and and that's what that's what we need to educate, to educate.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we might not have a lot of moms and dads that play still, unfortunately.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we're gonna do it.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_03: We're still we're getting better.
• 52:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's all about multi-generational talent, as we know.
• 52:57
  SPEAKER_00: We know we need moms and dads playing, we get it, but in the meantime, you're gonna have to educate the moms and dads, you're gonna have to educate them on what you're looking at on a Saturday or a Sunday.
• 53:09
  SPEAKER_00: What are you looking for?
• 53:11
  SPEAKER_00: What is the important piece in this?
• 53:14
  SPEAKER_00: And we're not looking at final score, we're looking at X, Y, or Z.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that's difficult for people to realize.
• 53:20
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's difficult for the vast majority of coaches to realize.
• 53:24
  SPEAKER_03: And that's all coaching education right there.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_03: You know, being able to so many coaches don't want to talk to parents, but it's funny, I mean correct.
• 53:35
  SPEAKER_04: And why scare?
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_00: Not nothing.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's scary.
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_03: I think it they don't believe in their own convictions, yeah.
• 53:45
  SPEAKER_03: They don't know their own convictions, correct.
• 53:47
  SPEAKER_03: They feel I mean, I remember me being a young coach, I didn't necessarily know what the hell I was doing.
• 53:55
  SPEAKER_03: There's an imposter syndrome, yeah.
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_03: And they and then if a parent comes at them and you're a 24-year-old coach, yeah, you might second guess yourself because you don't have the self-awareness of like, no, this is this is how it needs to be.
• 54:09
  SPEAKER_03: And you you said so much, and it's most issues.
• 54:15
  SPEAKER_03: I love I love getting my DMs and it's like ECNL sucks because of this.
• 54:21
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like, that's a club issue, right?
• 54:23
  SPEAKER_03: That that has nothing to do with the ECNL or MLS Nets this, and it's like, nope, that's a that's your club's fault.
• 54:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's not it has that has nothing to do with it.
• 54:32
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the people that I just had on, we talked for like an hour after, and he said something brilliant.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_03: He's like, basically the same thing you said.
• 54:41
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, I don't care about these leaks because you know what?
• 54:44
  SPEAKER_03: There's no guarantee that the MLS Nets is gonna survive.
• 54:47
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, look at DA.
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_03: We thought DA was gonna last forever, yeah, and they closed it down, or the girls GA.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_03: Like, there's no guarantee the ECNL lasts forever.
• 54:57
  SPEAKER_03: So, what you need to do is focus on your club.
• 54:59
  SPEAKER_03: You need to focus on a bulletproof club that is going to exist in any ecosystem, and that's how you do it.
• 55:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 55:08
  SPEAKER_01: But control the controllables.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_03: Exactly.
• 55:11
  SPEAKER_03: You can't control the decisions of what a board ring says that you're good enough to be in this league.
• 55:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it just takes it it takes our focus away from what we're good at, what we can be good at.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: And there's there's staff coaches that are just focusing on letters, acronyms, uh, you know, frustrated in the game.
• 55:34
  SPEAKER_00: We were talking about that before we got on air, you know, frustrated about all the things that that we can get frustrated about in the the the gatekeepers, and but but right now you're in you're in charge of 20 to 25, 30 players, maybe even 40 players in a player pool.
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're we're big on player pools, it's still city, and and we we we discussed that and the importance of it.
• 55:57
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, you might you might not have um, you know, you you might have what 30 games in a season, 40 games in a season, and you might have 30 or 40 rosters to to take care of if you're a typical average coach in America, not us.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_00: There's many more rosters that we're gonna have to sort through because of the player pools and whatnot.
• 56:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're you you have a job to do and you gotta do it better.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta you have maybe 40 players that you're you're you're focused on.
• 56:29
  SPEAKER_00: Let's focus on the programming, the training week, the periodization that that we can put together for our players, and and what other things that the club has to offer?
• 56:39
  SPEAKER_00: How can we connect ourselves to the first team uh for the women?
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_00: How can we connect ourselves to the men's first team?
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_00: What kind of assignments that I can can we put together?
• 56:48
  SPEAKER_00: So all these things, you know, if you have a full service club, you have um many different ways to to help that child develop in the game.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_03: How so you guys are big on pools?
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_03: How do you guys organize your staff?
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have like U12 and U11 coaches and they just stay in those age groups or do they move on, or is it just it's just coach by coaches?
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: For the most part.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's no uh absolutes, as as we say.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_00: No, but for I'd say for the most part, they they stay and uh they they're experts in their field, they're experts at that level.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_00: They need to stay at that level, and and here comes another group, and they're they're working with with those players for what would be two or three years.
• 57:34
  SPEAKER_00: You might have an under eight through under under 12 staff, you might have an under-13 through under 15 staff, you might have an under-16 through an under-19 staff.
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, with the new age groups, I think, I think it might change a little bit in you 15 and 16.
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: It might be a little bit, maybe it's just 13s and 14s that are working mostly together.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_00: But then you have, you know, you were talking before as a 24-year-old coach, and you you might not be, you know, you don't have the experience.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're weirded out about this soon-to-be coach, uh, parent postgame meeting deck that your director asks you to do, but you should have a mentor there.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_00: You should have somebody that that's there helping you along, and that's the key, not to have these coaches on an island by themselves.
• 58:22
  SPEAKER_00: And I think we do a pretty good job in making sure that there's a one and there's a two, and there's a mentoring system there.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_00: So the 24-year-old can maybe take the lead of the meeting, but you might have a 45-year-old there just keep an eye on things and making sure that, okay, yeah, he missed he missed the point here or there.
• 58:41
  SPEAKER_00: He can come in and talk to a parent about about maybe something that the 24-year-old coach missed.
• 58:47
  SPEAKER_00: But the mentoring is crucial, and that's what we miss here.
• 58:51
  SPEAKER_00: But but we miss it because we don't have professional staffs.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_00: Why don't we have professional staffs?
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're we don't have enough money to to provide that maybe for our profession for our coaches so that they can oversee, you know, two or three or four uh staff members, or maybe even more.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, some some uh some clubs are struggling and trying to find an identity and trying to find um you know a method, a process to help to mentor, to make sure that there's coaches that are that are underneath others that can um that can learn from the more experienced coaches.
• 59:31
  SPEAKER_00: But I think I think we have that still city for sure because again, we're we're not just following a team.
• 59:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's nonsense, right?
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're we we might have we have what we do is we have a north site, we'll have an eight.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_00: You have yeah, a few locations.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, city.
• 59:49
  SPEAKER_00: So we have our you know, we have our sites, and then they'll train maybe on certain days of the week together, but then they'll come together, we'll have games days, and they'll also there'll be a regional team as well.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_00: So you might have within your site, you might have an A, a B, and a C team teams, and and then maybe the North A and the East A and the Metro A, they're all gonna come together a certain amount of times throughout the year and and have their their regional team.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:00:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and then that regional team at the A level, there's gonna be a regional team at the B level, etc.
• 1:00:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so there this is another way to get that cocktail right and get that player who, okay, you know, they're playing with their mates, with their friends, maybe the same community members, maybe guys that have been friends with them since their birth at their site, but then at a certain age, 15 or so, they're now with a regional team with other players from other sites in Pittsburgh.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, they know each other, but they're not buddies since they were young.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_00: But they're they're like-minded, they have the same kind of they're ready at a certain level, maybe, you know, they're they're ready to take the jump to the next level, so to speak, play at a higher level.
• 1:01:13
  SPEAKER_00: So we group those guys together a certain number of days out of the year or a certain number of days out of the week as well.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not just site teams and only working with your with your player, with your friends.
• 1:01:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, we develop other other regional teams and other opportunities to have to play with uh, you know, uh, like I said, a uh a player that might be um equal to you, so to speak, in in and cognitive and and physical maturity.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_03: Who were your mentors?
• 1:01:46
  SPEAKER_03: Like I'm trying to think about my coaching development and yeah, I did the licensing and everything, but it was really my mentors.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_03: It was but I was self, I was a self-starter where I would just go and watch sessions of you know the older coaches and just be like, you know, I like how he handled this or did this, or I went uh and sat on his bench during games and watched him coach and see how hard he can push kids because you know I came up, I was never really pushed, right?
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_03: I was never really pushed as a player, and then I got to a higher level and I'm like, oh, you can push kids a little bit harder than I thought.
• 1:02:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and I think not everybody wants to be a mentor.
• 1:02:29
  SPEAKER_03: I don't think everybody wants to help coaches, but I think that if if you know what you're doing, and if you're a very, very good coach, you will do more good if you develop coaches than develop players.
• 1:02:44
  SPEAKER_03: Correct because those coaches can spread out and so many more players than you'll be able to ever coach.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_03: So, like, how did you develop coaching trees?
• 1:02:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about coaching trees, bingo, yeah, and and that's what we're saying about you know, having a leadership group at the first team and and and the you know, player-led games and player-led practices, and having a leadership group that's running the show at certain occasions and going through those guys that are adults.
• 1:03:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're not talking about a leadership group maybe at you know, pre-pubescent, but we're talking about you know, 25-year-olds, 23-year-olds, college, um, college players, 20-year-olds, 21-year-olds that are on the leadership group that that can push you know some ideas across to the team.
• 1:03:28
  SPEAKER_00: And we we have leadership group meetings every week to to get these guys to start thinking about, okay, how do we organize a team?
• 1:03:35
  SPEAKER_00: How what's the process this week?
• 1:03:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, how are we gonna get better this week?
• 1:03:41
  SPEAKER_00: What's the 1% that we're gonna get done here uh today?
• 1:03:44
  SPEAKER_00: How are we gonna add stuff to our game?
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because those guys are gonna develop as coaches later on as they as they start, you know, stop playing, and and everybody's gonna wear their different hats as they work through this game, this beautiful game of ours.
• 1:03:58
  SPEAKER_00: There'll be, you know, uh trainers and coaches and and and mentors themselves and administrators eventually, and yada yada yada.
• 1:04:06
  SPEAKER_00: So um, yeah, this is stuff that we do, but you know, when when you look at my background, I'm a teacher, and I've been teaching uh at Pine Richland High School, which is in northern suburbs of Pittsburgh for for 28 years.
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so um I understand the importance of studying and and uh uh educating yourself and getting the books out and and watching the videos and um you know just grab as much as you possibly can and go into the NSCAA back in the day and and you know watching Paul Marco work and and taking my my licenses and and yeah, getting all my certifications and and you you know you you got so many people that are there to help you along the way as you take your certifications and you know whether it was those guys in in uh you know in in in in certain coaching communities or my dad, you know, my dad was my first my first coach, and I mean you know, so you know, just the guy that you know taught me how to how to beat and how to how to how to train and how to um put put teams together.
• 1:05:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I would say I would say that would be my first my first mentor, yeah.
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_03: I love it.
• 1:05:24
  SPEAKER_03: I mean coaching's crazy.
• 1:05:28
  SPEAKER_03: Because you know we never know it all.
• 1:05:31
  SPEAKER_03: And like that's one of the reasons why I love this podcast, is that like I'm seeing well, first of all, I am sick of failures of the Hughes men's national team getting blamed on youth coaches, right?
• 1:05:45
  SPEAKER_03: Stop.
• 1:05:46
  SPEAKER_03: Like, there's a lot of good coaches, stop just it's such a lazy response because there are a lot of good coaches in this country, and that's one of the reasons why like I want to have you on.
• 1:05:56
  SPEAKER_03: I want there's a lot of good clubs in this country, but then like some.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_03: People are good.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_03: Well, they're they're not clubs.
• 1:06:02
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, well, stop.
• 1:06:03
  SPEAKER_03: Please just stop that.
• 1:06:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
• 1:06:05
  SPEAKER_00: What do you think about what do you think about the Belgian uh USK?
• 1:06:09
  SPEAKER_03: Uh well, I don't think Balogun should have started.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I whoops.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_03: I think that once I don't think Balogun should have started because it got so it was so late in the process.
• 1:06:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:06:21
  SPEAKER_03: Think about your smart.
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_03: Think about your game.
• 1:06:24
  SPEAKER_03: Think about your game install, right?
• 1:06:26
  SPEAKER_03: So we beat, so we win Wednesday.
• 1:06:29
  SPEAKER_03: He's on a red.
• 1:06:31
  SPEAKER_03: You're already game planning.
• 1:06:33
  SPEAKER_03: Immediately.
• 1:06:34
  SPEAKER_03: Immediately.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_03: Immediately.
• 1:06:35
  SPEAKER_03: And then wait a minute.
• 1:06:37
  SPEAKER_03: We play Monday, Sunday morning.
• 1:06:39
  SPEAKER_03: Some people some people will chime in and be like, well, U.S.
• 1:06:43
  SPEAKER_03: Offer knew.
• 1:06:44
  SPEAKER_03: Stop it.
• 1:06:45
  SPEAKER_03: The players didn't know.
• 1:06:46
  SPEAKER_03: What does that do to a team psyche when this is our game plan going in?
• 1:06:50
  SPEAKER_03: For sure.
• 1:06:51
  SPEAKER_03: And this is our plan.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_03: I would have loved to see what the original plan was.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_03: Right.
• 1:06:56
  SPEAKER_03: But brilliance from Belgium.
• 1:06:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_03: Because what they did, they didn't start Doku, they didn't start De Bruyne.
• 1:07:05
  SPEAKER_03: They had wingers, young players on.
• 1:07:07
  SPEAKER_03: And I think not only did we scrap our game plan, what we studied Belgium for for four days, three days, they did something completely different.
• 1:07:19
  SPEAKER_03: And then they see the team she an hour before kickoff, and they're like, uh oh.
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_03: And they didn't have a plan B.
• 1:07:27
  SPEAKER_00: No, smart.
• 1:07:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I th I think you're spot on.
• 1:07:29
  SPEAKER_00: I also think that Belgium was was excellent in their in their dueling.
• 1:07:33
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they oh they their 1v1 dueling was unbelievable.
• 1:07:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they won probably four out of every five duels.
• 1:07:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and this is something that that I don't think the American coach coaches.
• 1:07:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, we we say all the 1v1 and and and you know it's in a it's a part of our curriculum, but do we really get into it?
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_00: Is there sparring at practice all the time?
• 1:07:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it there has to be sparring all the time at practice.
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're not good enough in the 1v1.
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_00: We're not good enough.
• 1:08:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not talking about taking somebody on.
• 1:08:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about, you know, in the repress, there's a 50-50 ball.
• 1:08:11
  SPEAKER_00: How are we using our hips?
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_00: How are we using our legs?
• 1:08:13
  SPEAKER_00: How are we using our arms?
• 1:08:14
  SPEAKER_00: How are we protecting the ball?
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_00: What surface of the foot are we using?
• 1:08:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's got to be constant, yeah.
• 1:08:19
  SPEAKER_00: Constant, constant with our players.
• 1:08:22
  SPEAKER_00: And from youth all the way up to our first teams.
• 1:08:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're we're working it all the time.
• 1:08:28
  SPEAKER_00: We'll work with it all the time before to get ready for a match.
• 1:08:32
  SPEAKER_00: We'll we'll we'll do 1v1 dueling and sparring all the time.
• 1:08:35
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it's it's it that was a that was a major factor.
• 1:08:40
  SPEAKER_00: We lost a lot of possession because of it, and and and Belgium was able to control the match.
• 1:08:44
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, the psychological um uh effect was huge from the beginning.
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you're spot on there, and then on the field, we just got um absolutely run over.
• 1:08:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I was there.
• 1:08:57
  SPEAKER_00: I was there.
• 1:08:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, my son and I, we we we were in Seattle, we went up to Banff, we took a family vacation.
• 1:09:02
  SPEAKER_00: I really I took two weeks off from this summer.
• 1:09:06
  SPEAKER_00: That is before the fires.
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, before the fires.
• 1:09:09
  SPEAKER_00: And this the the the Still City first team, we didn't skip a beat.
• 1:09:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the the the assistant coach Stevie Rarick and the staff, they all, you know, they took the reins and the leadership group took the reins and to leave the group to have a head coach leave the group for two weeks and still have them pick up seven important points and play some good football along the way and go undefeated, etc.
• 1:09:33
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:09:33
  SPEAKER_00: And now here I come back, you know, from from Canada.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_00: But to get back to the point, I'm up there, we're traveling over Vancouver.
• 1:09:40
  SPEAKER_00: I knew I was gonna be in the Northwest, and then here there's gonna be a match play, U.S.
• 1:09:45
  SPEAKER_00: men's national team gonna play in a round of 16 Seattle.
• 1:09:47
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, we got to get there.
• 1:09:49
  SPEAKER_00: So Jack and I, my my son and I, we went to the game, and here we are, we're all pumped up, ready to roll.
• 1:09:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's a little bit of momentum, we see that we're playing some good football.
• 1:09:57
  SPEAKER_00: We all saw what what they did against Paraguay, and um and then to lay an egg like that.
• 1:10:05
  SPEAKER_00: But spot on, I mean, you know, we had some somebody that got involved, and and here Balogun comes in and and uh that was not the match plan from the from from what you jump, yeah.
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's ridiculous.
• 1:10:21
  SPEAKER_03: What was Banff like?
• 1:10:22
  SPEAKER_03: Beautiful, unbelievable.
• 1:10:24
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I want to go so bad.
• 1:10:26
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta get up there.
• 1:10:27
  SPEAKER_03: I want to go so bad.
• 1:10:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was my wife's 50th, so we get up there and and we hit Moraine Lake and Lake Louise on her 50th, and just like the hiking was unbelievable, heading up to all these glaciers and and beautiful vistas.
• 1:10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Gotta get up.
• 1:10:44
  SPEAKER_02: I want to go so bad.
• 1:10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Highly suggest.
• 1:10:46
  SPEAKER_00: You guys drove?
• 1:10:48
  SPEAKER_00: No, we flew into Calgary and then and then got our rent of card sheet.
• 1:10:52
  SPEAKER_03: Got it, and then probably flew home from Seattle or something.
• 1:10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, flew out from Seattle.
• 1:10:57
  SPEAKER_03: Got it.
• 1:10:57
  SPEAKER_03: What you were saying about the duels, though, that's Tom Bayer, too.
• 1:11:01
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, Tom Bayer teaches that it's not a kicking sport.
• 1:11:04
  SPEAKER_03: Stop teaching somebody will have like a three-year-old and they okay, kick it.
• 1:11:08
  SPEAKER_03: Don't have them try to protect the ball and okay, um, protect the ball and don't allow me to steal it.
• 1:11:16
  SPEAKER_03: Then if he if I if I have it, okay, steal it from me, and then uh and then you're working on that.
• 1:11:22
  SPEAKER_03: And it's just like that just little change in philosophy and mentality can go a long way.
• 1:11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what he's done in Japan and Australia, and you know, well, it's you know, it it's it's a bunch of 1v1s we know, and we know that man to man's coming back and and zonal would um especially yeah, it's all cyclical, so we know that a lot of a lot of teams are playing hybrid, and there's a little bit uh of course man-to-man on strong side and some zonal on the weak sides, and and and but you know, we see the man-to-man coming.
• 1:11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh is coming back.
• 1:11:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's coming back, and and we're playing a lot, we play a lot of man-to-man as well.
• 1:11:59
  SPEAKER_00: But so you're gonna have to duel, you're gonna have to, what what are boxers gonna do?
• 1:12:03
  SPEAKER_00: What a karate, you know, if you're if you're into karate and you're working with with somebody, you're you're sparring, boxers are sparring.
• 1:12:10
  SPEAKER_00: There's got to be time to to work in those environments in a controlled environment and allow allow your players to to get comfortable in that 1v1 setting.
• 1:12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know how many how many 50-50s, how many challenges there's gonna be in a in a match?
• 1:12:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna have to win those battles.
• 1:12:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's gonna be important tonight.
• 1:12:31
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, when we play, you know, Northern Indiana tonight, you know, when we lose possession of the ball, can we repress?
• 1:12:37
  SPEAKER_00: Can we get on the correct shoulder?
• 1:12:38
  SPEAKER_00: Can we win that battle?
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Are we able to regain that ball so we can keep that pressure on?
• 1:12:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty simple.
• 1:12:44
  SPEAKER_00: We all know that, but how do we teach it?
• 1:12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, how do we get it how you know, how do we plant that, um, organize that, you know, that that environment into our training environments every week, every training session, so that that the players get more comfortable in those in those 1v1 settings, 2v2s, 3v3s, etc.
• 1:13:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, how many times are you gonna get, you know, we're talking about flank overloads, and you're gonna I mean, we're gonna have to work on the twos and the threes and and and passing and moving and passing and cutting and replacing, and there's gonna have to be some movement there.
• 1:13:19
  SPEAKER_00: We we just don't have, I think, enough time developed, uh carved out into our training sessions for that, for those moments, those small-sided, small-sided games.
• 1:13:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Belgium was big on the 2v2s.
• 1:13:35
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I know that we're talking, you could talk Belgium double pass and the you know, yeah, that that's for another day, but you know, there there's there's a um uh a Belgian curriculum recently, a lot of 2v2 work, and that's the game.
• 1:13:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna always come down to that.
• 1:13:54
  SPEAKER_00: You look at the you look at Norway and how they got knocked out in in uh you know against England.
• 1:13:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they're they're on top of the game.
• 1:14:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, England has a good good start to the match.
• 1:14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh hydration break hits, Norway comes out, they press a little bit more effectively, they have their way, they score their goal, they're on their two versus one, and they're unable to score with Holland.
• 1:14:18
  SPEAKER_00: Holland on the left, he was unable to pick up the ball, and and and um they they were ineffective in that two versus one, and they missed the chance to go up two goals against England on that two versus one at the professional level.
• 1:14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you know we gotta continue working on that in in our in our curriculum?
• 1:14:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know I'm I'm preaching to the choir, but you gotta keep at it, you gotta keep at it, you gotta keep at it.
• 1:14:43
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, and everybody's obsessed with pattern play and the building out of the back, but I feel that we lack the patience in the final third against organized defenses.
• 1:14:56
  SPEAKER_03: I think it always comes down to like everybody talks about Spain and you know, get the ball back within three seconds.
• 1:15:04
  SPEAKER_03: But do you ever watch like what happens when Spain doesn't win it in three seconds?
• 1:15:08
  SPEAKER_03: They get so compact and they get so organized, and they are impossible to break down.
• 1:15:14
  SPEAKER_03: I wish we would have beat Belgium because I just want to see what Spain would have done to us.
• 1:15:18
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it would have been would we have touched the ball?
• 1:15:23
  SPEAKER_03: And I I I just get frustrated with that at times, and like the 2v2.
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, look at what the FA is doing.
• 1:15:30
  SPEAKER_03: Supposedly they're switching to not playing 11v11 until U15.
• 1:15:36
  SPEAKER_03: Why?
• 1:15:37
  SPEAKER_03: Because because of what you just said about Belgium, the 2v2 is the 4v4.
• 1:15:41
  SPEAKER_03: I think then it goes to 7v7 and 9v9, and it's like well part of me wanted England to win the whole thing because then we would it's a copycat, it's we we always copycat, you know, and that's one reason why I don't want Spain to win because we're gonna be going back to oh my god, I posted something about that, and uh some young coaches are like we need to develop our own philosophy, and like we're not gonna just copy Spain.
• 1:16:09
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, were were you coaching in 08 to 2012?
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_03: And he's like, Well, no man, I was still playing.
• 1:16:16
  SPEAKER_03: I'm like, Yeah, all of your coaches copied what Pep was doing and what Spain did from those four years, right?
• 1:16:24
  SPEAKER_03: And it's like those four years that we won't get back, and the DA was uh mandated everybody needs to play four, three, three, our entire country needs to play four, three, three.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_03: It's like, how'd that last?
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, I mean, we used to do sweeper stopper, then it was a flatback four, and then it was like a three, four, three, now it's wing backs and three, five, two, and it's like, what is it gonna be in four years?
• 1:16:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's the it's principles, yeah, it's for sure.
• 1:16:49
  SPEAKER_03: It's principles and it's and it's small groups, it's one v ones, it's two v twos, it's three v threes, it's triangles.
• 1:16:57
  SPEAKER_03: Somebody Thierry Henry was explaining comparing uh like Phil Jackson's triangle system to what like Spain does.
• 1:17:06
  SPEAKER_03: Sure.
• 1:17:07
  SPEAKER_03: And it's yeah, it's it's all that's all it is.
• 1:17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:17:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you're talking, you know, you counters, I mean, the IAX team of the 70s and total football, like their and their um their movement off the ball, and then what do you what are you gonna counter?
• 1:17:21
  SPEAKER_00: And Satchi counters it with zonal defending and the AC Milans in the 80s of zonal defending, and then how are you gonna counter that?
• 1:17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then eventually a lot of teams are in their zonal defense, you know, zonal defense all the way until the 2000s, and and then that's when the sweeper system, you know, we lose the sweeper system because of it, and then who who shows up to to counter the zonal defending, and that's pep with his positional play and sitting between those lines, and okay, I'm a genius, and and so he counters that.
• 1:17:53
  SPEAKER_00: And then how are we going to counter you know this positional play?
• 1:17:56
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna we're gonna counter it with man-to-man marking.
• 1:17:59
  SPEAKER_00: So you have the Jose Mourinhos and you know, uh you know, the Real Madrid and the Barça Days and Pepe and uh you know the the center back stepping in that hole to deal with Messi.
• 1:18:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so you have more man-to-man marking coming into the scene because of the positional play.
• 1:18:18
  SPEAKER_00: And okay, so now we have man-to-man marking.
• 1:18:20
  SPEAKER_00: So now how how are we going to counter that?
• 1:18:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that's gonna be relationism, and that's gonna be, you know, Jamie Hamilton's pushing that, of course, and and and you know, the South Americans are are more relational as well.
• 1:18:34
  SPEAKER_00: And and we need to, you know, be able to make eye contact and work in twos and threes and overload, and and the movement, the movement of our players and twos and threes are gonna be critical against man-to-man to the pull them apart inside diagonals, are gonna be critical.
• 1:18:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, once you get the ball into the touch, you know, you can overload.
• 1:18:56
  SPEAKER_00: So there's field tilt.
• 1:18:57
  SPEAKER_00: There's this discussion of field tilt that we use.
• 1:19:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm not talking north and south field tilt, I'm talking east and west.
• 1:19:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if it's yeah, if it's an 11v11 game and we're gonna we're gonna tilt the field, and because it's a lot of man-to-man marking on strong side, then what are they gonna do if we bring nine players, nine field players over on one side?
• 1:19:16
  SPEAKER_00: What are they gonna do?
• 1:19:17
  SPEAKER_00: Are they gonna bring over their nine and we're gonna they're gonna leave a 1v1 on the backside?
• 1:19:21
  SPEAKER_00: So here's here's that one v1.
• 1:19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get it on to the weak side, let's let's have our creative players.
• 1:19:27
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're today we're gonna be starting a a 17-year-old senior in high school on the left side.
• 1:19:33
  SPEAKER_00: And he deserves a start, I mean, because he's a player.
• 1:19:36
  SPEAKER_00: And and, you know, so Nikki is gonna pick up balls and run at players, hopefully, all day because of our field tilt.
• 1:19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, but why is that come about?
• 1:19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because of, you know, we're just countering and it's all cyclical and it's not gonna come back, you know, and there's gonna be more zonal marking.
• 1:19:54
  SPEAKER_00: There'll have to be more zonal marking, but then, you know, can I teach my players?
• 1:19:59
  SPEAKER_00: Can I teach the leadership group?
• 1:20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Can the leadership group teach each other?
• 1:20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Can we work out problems to solve problems?
• 1:20:06
  SPEAKER_00: There was just a great video uh between um the Argentine uh uh coach and the center back.
• 1:20:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:20:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that type of great communication.
• 1:20:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's all about communication, listening to one another and solving problems.
• 1:20:21
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, if they go zonal on us, we'll we'll can't do we have to come uh do we understand a little bit more about positional play?
• 1:20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Can we have a plan B?
• 1:20:29
  SPEAKER_00: Do we have a plan A, plan B, plan C?
• 1:20:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, if they break our crest, can we drop back into our blocks?
• 1:20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Can we can we be be compact and and and and uh organize enough?
• 1:20:41
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, there are all these different phases in the game that we're trying to teach our our young players and our young coaches and trying to understand a game model that makes sense and playing cycles that make sense.
• 1:20:54
  SPEAKER_00: And can we challenge our opponents to uh can we challenge ourselves physically?
• 1:21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Can we challenge ourselves spiritually, uh, emotionally, and and by doing so, by playing through these playing cycles over and over and over again, like a Klopp team did.
• 1:21:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, amazing what he he did for the sport and and um you know for his players and for his community and it for his for that city uh for that club, it's amazing because he had an idea.
• 1:21:25
  SPEAKER_00: He has an idea, he has a purpose, uh, they they're bought in.
• 1:21:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's no one way to your point.
• 1:21:32
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this there's no one way.
• 1:21:34
  SPEAKER_00: But let's find our way and let's be disciplined enough to to stick to our way, let's train our way, let's look in the layers so that we understand that we're not we don't understand everything.
• 1:21:49
  SPEAKER_00: I work with you know, uh over the years, as a 20-year-old and as a 30-year-old, I knew everything.
• 1:21:56
  SPEAKER_00: I knew it all.
• 1:21:57
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, we're starting to figure out that, you know, don't know uh much, but you know, what we have to continue to try to figure out is, you know, where we're heading, where we're gonna where we are and where we're gonna be.
• 1:22:12
  SPEAKER_00: And um, you know, that's leadership and and trying to explain a vision to to some young players that will eventually be coaches someday.
• 1:22:21
  SPEAKER_00: They will be, but they'll grow the game.
• 1:22:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I know, I know that these guys that we've had for the past I've been working at the first team for the past seven years.
• 1:22:30
  SPEAKER_00: I know that that my guys, our guys, are gonna get out into the communities and and and love the game of football and pass that love and pass that passion and and also have some ideas.
• 1:22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:22:45
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and not just one idea.
• 1:22:47
  SPEAKER_03: I love how you said that because like in the when I started out, it was imposter syndrome, but then it something switched and it was like I know everything, and everybody else doesn't know anything, and now it's like, oh, it's like this game's a lot bigger than I thought.
• 1:23:02
  SPEAKER_00: And just say you don't know.
• 1:23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:23:05
  SPEAKER_00: Please, just please say I don't know.
• 1:23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:23:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's okay not to know.
• 1:23:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let's discuss it, let's communicate about it.
• 1:23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Let's not be so certain about our ideas because you know that it's just not one way that exactly.
• 1:23:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:23:22
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have an opinion on the final?
• 1:23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I mean, it what a final it's gonna be.
• 1:23:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, I mean, you you're talking about um the Argentines that just uh so passionate about the Spanish, they're so passionate about their football, uh, two different styles.
• 1:23:42
  SPEAKER_00: You're you know, I mean, this is gonna be amazing, amazing match.
• 1:23:45
  SPEAKER_00: I can't wait to watch it.
• 1:23:46
  SPEAKER_03: I want to know if Argentina is gonna come out and try to like literally punch Spain because well, they literally punched England, exactly, you know, we saw right in the back of the neck and no cough, but um, it's not a booking, at least, but um and I worry about Spain to just because they don't have those enforcers anymore, they don't have the Puyol, they don't have Sergio Ramos anymore, right?
• 1:24:13
  SPEAKER_00: And and in the years past, but they do surround the referee, they do have their ways to influence the referee as well.
• 1:24:23
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen that over the years with great Spanish teams, um, whether it was a Barça or or a Real, you know, they do surround, they do influence the referee.
• 1:24:34
  SPEAKER_00: They have, you know, it's gonna be amazing.
• 1:24:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's you like you said, it's gonna be uh a physical battle, and how are they gonna deal with it?
• 1:24:42
  SPEAKER_03: And they're not gonna do what England did.
• 1:24:44
  SPEAKER_03: They're not gonna if they get a one-goal lead, they're gonna go for a second, they're not gonna go into a five-back.
• 1:24:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just disappointed in two, cool.
• 1:24:53
  SPEAKER_00: I'm disappointed in in that whole uh situation.
• 1:24:56
  SPEAKER_00: I I thought that he threw, you know, we all heard him throw the players under the bus.
• 1:25:01
  SPEAKER_00: England had a difficult, very difficult path.
• 1:25:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I was talking to the to the first team players the other day about it.
• 1:25:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, my my my whole two cents on that is, you know, they're they're sent on to Azteca, they have to play with that, you know, in in in altitude, they have a short uh acclimatization period to get to you know to deal with the that altitude.
• 1:25:24
  SPEAKER_00: They get through that match, an unbelievable uh match it was for England.
• 1:25:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um then they go to Miami and they have to go to Dallas and play Hunt's 102-degree weather.
• 1:25:35
  SPEAKER_00: It was a short uh turnaround as well for that match, very challenging uh you know, knockout stage, and then they got to go and play Messi and the and the Argentinians.
• 1:25:49
  SPEAKER_00: So uh challenging for them.
• 1:25:52
  SPEAKER_00: Tuchel throws him under the bus, and then you know, he was not that genuine after the match when he said, Well, you know, no regrets.
• 1:26:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm paraphrasing it basically.
• 1:26:04
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, if I would have played with three forwards and we would have lost the match, then everybody is is gonna be on it, you know, gonna be critical on that.
• 1:26:12
  SPEAKER_00: But no, we're not asking you to play with three forwards, we're asking you to to maybe change Kane, maybe maybe allow us uh allow England to get out.
• 1:26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Kane had no legs, yeah.
• 1:26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Bellingham had no legs.
• 1:26:24
  SPEAKER_00: But but this but to get back to the point, can can somebody just put their hand up?
• 1:26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Can King Tuchel just put his hand up?
• 1:26:31
  SPEAKER_00: But it's ego, yeah.
• 1:26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, can they just say, yeah, um this is a this is a like this is full foot football is life.
• 1:26:40
  SPEAKER_00: Football is life.
• 1:26:41
  SPEAKER_00: Can we just say that you know what?
• 1:26:44
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't have the answer there.
• 1:26:46
  SPEAKER_00: I probably should have done this, but you know what?
• 1:26:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the beautiful thing about like uh uh some of the managers we've seen recently, like a Klopp who is genuine.
• 1:26:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think he would have maybe, you know, said, hey, yeah.
• 1:27:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, maybe there was another another opportunity for me to do something like this or that.
• 1:27:05
  SPEAKER_00: There were there could have been another choice I could have made.
• 1:27:08
  SPEAKER_00: I could have probably done that.
• 1:27:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know if he would have said it in those words, but I think there's just a little bit um, you know, Tupel is is abrasive and and uh he's strong-minded.
• 1:27:21
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we I don't think we need that in the game.
• 1:27:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that's uh a good model at all.
• 1:27:27
  SPEAKER_00: Let's put our hand up.
• 1:27:28
  SPEAKER_00: Let's um and our coaches need to understand that we'll, you know, and that's where the to go all the way back to the youth game, when you have meetings with parents and you show yourself to the parents, they get to know you, then then you can be genuine and you can put your hand up and you can say, Yeah, I was right.
• 1:27:47
  SPEAKER_00: And I effed up there, that was a bad decision.
• 1:27:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna move on from it.
• 1:27:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna move on from it.
• 1:27:52
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna be a better coach.
• 1:27:54
  SPEAKER_00: I've explained to the to the players that it's not their fault.
• 1:27:57
  SPEAKER_00: I'm taking the responsibility, but this.
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_00: guy doesn't want to take the responsibility and that's disappointing and and other other coaches are watching that and seeing that I'm hoping that that we can see through the the this um this uh this disguise that he wants to put on yeah and I think people would have forgiven him uh yeah if he just said I got the tactics all wrong and I'm or we went too early.
• 1:28:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and I'm that's all he had to say I'm sorry but and I'm gonna be uh many playtime incorrect here but I'm I'm the guy I've I've been preaching for years now you know I think an English manager should be the an English uh you know an English citizen should be an English manager I I want an American coach to coach the American team I mean this is this is Argentina versus England this is United States versus Belgium culturally yeah you gotta know the culture of the of the country and once again and once again a we're not gonna have a foreign manager win I don't know if it's ever going to happen and somebody said I I posted that way before uh the World Cup started I go what's more likely a foreign coach winning or or um one of the eight that have already won it when it well seven because Italy's out but one of the seven and really it's six I don't count Uruguay somebody who's already won it winning it what's more likely and there's like it it's a no brainer it's a no-brainer and I was thinking about this and if I live to be a hundred okay if I live to be a hundred there are only sixteen world cups left in my life okay do that's a lot of world cups do we get to twelve total nations before I die I don't think we do I'd have to study it a little bit I'd have to study a little bit but yeah I think we get to 10 maybe who's it gonna be who's a night I thought it was I thought it could be Portugal and I thought it could be um the Netherlands but Netherlands not anymore Belgium certainly not they're they're the golden generation's gone they weren't gonna win with call uh Ronald Coleman no no that wasn't gonna happen I don't know the Dutch yeah the Dutch with Ronald it was not gonna happen what a player but Japan struggled I would love to see Japan do it but I don't think they have a chance ever I don't think we have a chance honestly culture right culture you know it has to be a who's the next United States men's national team coach do you keep Bajatina I would keep him I would keep him for another cycle and then bring in Michael Bradley yeah there you go let Bradley shot there a really good shot he was my favorite player back in like 2010 and you know Bob 2014 he's been in it since birth yeah let Michael Bradley do some more in the MLS or maybe go to overseas and then and then I would like to see him someday.
• 1:31:19
  SPEAKER_03: Someday someday maybe not right now I would like to see maybe Quachatino get another two years and if I would like to be in the Copa America again.
• 1:31:29
  SPEAKER_03: Enough of the gold cup the gold cup forget the gold cup what's your schedule like for the rest of the day you guys get on the bus at what like one yeah one thirty and then meeting before that or no or do you guys already do the meetings meeting here at 12.
• 1:31:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay yeah awesome man so and then you guys kick off at four but you know what we're gonna do we're doing lunch at 12 and then we're meeting after lunch 1245 here got uh we'll have the team talk we'll we'll show a little bit of um film film we we watch a little bit of northern Indiana i don't like talking too much about the other team obviously you know there it it's it's more 80-20 us you know I can't stand and that's just about uh mentally checking in about your job and you control the controllables yeah we think that we can exploit a little bit here they think that they can exploit a little bit I'm sure in some areas we're gonna we're gonna see if we can um you know take apart that their 352 or their three four three we'll see how they set you know we have a couple little couple little picks to show set pieces a little we'll do that um yeah we've done a lot of good work over the over the summer and I think the guys are already but we're missing our wingers we're missing our starting wingers and the one got injured um just just this week uh did his did his ankle and then the other one left for old dominion and we would have loved to already be sporting Jake and Jax were were great for us but that's why your 17 year old is starting yeah but you know he he's he started matches he was in the uh the road rounds match okay uh he he's he was been with us since he was you know yeah 10 years old so for sure yeah he's always wanted to play for the first team and he's getting his chance in the past two years to to play with us when you're going into a weekend like this are you already I mean you of course you're not looking ahead but do you already do a little bit of research on Flint and and FC Buffalo but you know FC Buffalo more you have to but you know you only have so much staff um you have a pretty good staff I mean shoot you got five six guys on our staff and and how many did you bring here we brought five that's awesome yeah not everybody does that no no not everybody has that yeah but we'll we'll get into I mean once the game's over if we're lucky enough to advance then then it will be full tilt on Flint or Buffalo we'll watch the match afterwards right in the 7 7 30 right yep yep awesome man thanks for doing this thanks for everything brother yeah man yeah it was great to meet you Jason I wish you well in your project man this is thank you this is phenomenal and and keep at it man keep at it keep I'm hanging asking the difficult questions I I you i I just want to learn I mean people are like well what about your what are your audit what is your audience saying I'm like I love my audience but I'm more selfish i want i want the knowledge and the it's me it's it I want to learn all this stuff and if the audience learned something then that's positive for sure I'm looking forward to uh to seeing how how it progresses and still stay with stick with still city I know that maybe you and Rami possibly okay was it Rami Bensasi that you're that you're talking to maybe through Instagram or whatnot I don't know who it was he's a man he's a man Rami's great and and he he understands um he understands a lot he understands about about us he understands about where he understands that that medium that you're in yeah right he gets that uh he he can convey messages to through you know to you through that medium yeah through these different channels that I would not be able to do this is the this is the the most high tech that I'm gonna get you know yeah um but yeah uh we we have some really young I mean he he's not that young he's 30 he's probably about 35 but he's like grown up in the uh you know the the the X the Twitter of course Instagram generation he he he gets he played for me okay um with it for the first team like he gets what we're doing he can send out information to you as well stay connected with us I you know we're trying to do the right thing for the game and uh it's difficult as you know it's challenging but um yeah we're just gonna keep putting left in front of right that's it that's all we can do and then we got a game today and a big match and a big match for our 17 year old we have and you know we have uh the other a few other 17 18 year olds on the bench ready to come on and I think we'll play with I think today there's gonna be about six Academy players.
• 1:36:30
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 1:36:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah or or academy products I should say academy players or academy products how many did you travel with total 18 22 24 24 for the two matches love it yeah and if you win today you play tomorrow or is it Sunday?
• 1:36:45
  SPEAKER_00: Sunday at least they at least they give us a day off NPSL would never give us a day off right back to back but it was a little bit different of an animal usl two everybody and their mother wants wanted to play in USL too that's why they have about 150 teams now uh all the college coaches thought that was the league that you had that that you that my player yeah air quotes my player had to play in USL2 so they pushed push pushed those players in the USL2 and I'm like guys yeah we might be in MPSL and that's a great league too and that was a a league where we used to jump you know make a jump to USL2 but we're doing the same it's the same training week it's it's the same process you know yeah we might be playing one less one less very important you know and that's what we're talking about bulletproof yeah but it's the club put the club first build a bulletproof club and it doesn't matter in NPSL or USL or USL2 or whatever.
• 1:37:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah I mean our guy you're the player that they have you know that plays for them in college they want them to come back with good training habits good reactions good positive reactions how do you how do you deal with a referee how do you deal with uh a loss how do you deal with a loss of possession how do you deal with these things and still city can teach that can help your your player so that when they come back they're healthy and they're they're more mature and they are ready to take their game to another level because that's what we do.
• 1:38:30
  SPEAKER_00: Our players go to another level our players are drafted our players I didn't I didn't give you the names of the players but yeah I mean our our we're gonna have more draftees next year we'll have probably three out of three or four out of three years and we're gonna keep pushing because you know of the fact that we challenge our players weekly no matter what freaking league they're in.
• 1:38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly you know I love it.
• 1:38:56
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you everything yeah thanks awesome I hate soccer