Latest / The BIG LIFE / The BIG LIFE S5E1 | Meet Paige Thompson & Jaiden Rodriguez + Preseason, Pressure & Big Goals
Transcript
- 0:04Hi guys and welcome to the very first episode of this season's big life podcast
- 0:08jayden how are you feeling about starting this week super excited i definitely
- 0:13don't know whatever happens at alabama so i'm super excited to get to know what's going on,
- 0:18this episode of the big life podcast is proudly sponsored by sagility go if
- 0:22you want to get like quality touches outside of practice and stuff i I would
- 0:26really recommend y'all check them out.
- 0:27It's a rebounder, basically. It's like an interactive one.
- 0:30It has a virtual coach in its app. It has like guided training sessions and
- 0:34it gives feedback through the actual rebounder.
- 0:36It was pretty cool. For both of us being midfielders, like whether you're working
- 0:39on your first touch or sharpening your footwork in general, just getting those
- 0:42extra reps are extremely important.
- 0:44And Sagility Go helps you train with purpose and helps you develop each and
- 0:48every single day, which honestly is key for both of us. Yeah.
- 0:52To learn more, go visit sagilitygo.com and follow them on social media,
- 0:55see how players across the country are training, and you might see us using it too.
- 1:01So today we're going to be talking about our preseason and our exhibition games
- 1:05that are about to start, and we're also going to go over kind of like things
- 1:08that we've learned last season and our goals for this upcoming season.
- 1:11Who do you guys play like coming up? We are playing LSU, bro.
- 1:15LSU, okay, okay, okay. We play San Diego State on.
- 1:18Wednesday and i'm from san diego
- 1:22obviously best city ever so i'm super excited to go down to san diego down the
- 1:27down the coast and go play them so we'll see how it goes but you gotta drive
- 1:31i don't even know how long it is we're driving tomorrow.
- 1:34Tonight yeah that's gonna be exciting and then who do you guys play for your
- 1:37guys first game like actual game because like right isn't that the next our
- 1:40next game is duke so we play
- 1:42dang duke already yeah duke we play them already which is like big and also
- 1:47i know so many girls from that team so it's gonna be actually insane but what about you we're,
- 1:50playing st louis and then we're playing memphis so we're literally gonna spend
- 1:54all of next week like we're just gonna be gone the entire week well we should
- 1:58go over last season then so we can start out this season a little bit better
- 2:02tell me how your season went because my season went very insane so yeah a little different.
- 2:07So for my season my team we were
- 2:10kind of like under like top 50 obviously but like we were in the top 30,
- 2:15you know like we were 25 at some point I don't even know we were like we were like 18 at some point,
- 2:20that we were locked but our first round obviously we made it into our sec tournament
- 2:26we did all right in that then we made it to the NCAA tournament
- 2:30and we played northwestern first and we beat them in the first round in pks
- 2:34it was actually like crazy my keeper she made three freaking saves like good
- 2:39and i was sixth i was in south sixth,
- 2:42oh my god i didn't have to go because i was so nervous i was so nervous i was
- 2:46literally standing there like.
- 2:49Oh let's go guys let's go and then we got killed by stanford in the second half
- 2:54talking about getting killed by stanford,
- 2:57you know what it's okay stanford's a really great team like very good team they're
- 3:01so good they made it to the national championship show right yeah that was a our game didn't,
- 3:06on paper looked bad but I promise you the game wasn't like that like I swear
- 3:11but how did it go for you individually I would say for like obviously my freshman
- 3:15year like I didn't do as crazy good as I thought but,
- 3:20I think it was so pretty solid just like first coming in and it's it's so new
- 3:25you're on a new team you're with new players and all the players on your team
- 3:28they're all like the best players from their teams they're all basically your
- 3:32competition while they're your teammates and your sisters,
- 3:35it's just really different almost like camp but like
- 3:39right like every day so like honestly I struggled with that a little bit just
- 3:42because I came in because I was younger than other girls and obviously like
- 3:46I wasn't tapped in mentally I was like okay well I'm I was very good at my club.
- 3:50Like, my club was very good. So I was like, okay, this low-key might be cake.
- 3:54Just because of how good my team, my club team was, like, really good.
- 3:57So I was like, okay, this might be cake. But then showed up and I was like,
- 4:00wait, this is actually calm.
- 4:01And then whatever, like, we got into the – our season didn't go so well, like, as a team.
- 4:05But I learned a lot individually. And also, like, I give myself grace just because
- 4:10I'm younger. I'm not using that to any excuse. But, like, that was something
- 4:13that I had to learn a lot about who I was, like, what college soccer was.
- 4:19And like everything that comes off the field which is like yeah college itself
- 4:23every and like the two the two games is like a different story like,
- 4:27thursday sunday is actually low-key insane which yeah look i look i didn't even
- 4:31think about that yeah it's low-key insane because ours like we would play obviously
- 4:35when you're younger when you're like 14 you play the saturday sunday monday
- 4:38like the little surf cup tournaments or like the tournaments
- 4:41but then you never you never end up really playing two really good teams in
- 4:45the span of four days and like they're always super competitive so,
- 4:49yeah I learned a lot but I was also in between like national team a lot I would
- 4:52get called up for my age group and then come back here and have to get back
- 4:56in the group so it was honestly just really hard for me but I learned a lot
- 5:00and in spring this last past spring was actually really good for me.
- 5:04I decided for the next so we'll see how that goes.
- 5:07Was there anything else that you learned though like being in college itself
- 5:10like as a division one athlete and like seeing how there's people that don't
- 5:14play a sport and then there's people surrounding you that do play sports that
- 5:17like aren't even like your sport you know what I mean yeah yeah I think like for me,
- 5:21one thing that I've honestly realized and I honestly realized it too late is like,
- 5:27I go home a lot so I see my friends a lot and I see.
- 5:30People that aren't going to play D1, people that are going D2,
- 5:34people that play D1, guys that play D1.
- 5:37So I'm honestly surrounded. And then people here, obviously,
- 5:39I'm surrounded by all of it. So it's kind of just like, I learned like what
- 5:43to associate myself with.
- 5:45And obviously, those are my friends. But at the same time, like their habits could weigh on me.
- 5:49And I think in the spring, I
- 5:53honestly, like I learned a lot about the fall that I took into the spring.
- 5:56But I also, since spring is a lot less taxing like there's you don't really
- 6:01have you don't like you don't have training you don't have 20 hour weeks all
- 6:04the time like you have the eight hour and then you go in 20 hour weeks,
- 6:08but for eight hours like we were off a lot and I would spend time with people
- 6:11that aren't really benefiting me so like yeah I guess learning my group and learning.
- 6:16What benefits me most is something that I took away at least from like being
- 6:22in college in general is like what actually benefits me every single day and
- 6:25like something I took into account is like the little things that I do every
- 6:28single day are going to add up over time.
- 6:30So if you think about it, like your life that you've, like the life that I have
- 6:34right now is because of every single little thing that I've done that took me
- 6:37out the game, the whatever, like whatever.
- 6:39For example, for me, my fitness is something that's not at its peak.
- 6:44And it's because of the little habits that I've done. So like now when I think
- 6:46about it, like all those little, little things that are unimportant are actually
- 6:51massive. So I don't know, that's something I've learned is just like the people around me.
- 6:54And the little things that I
- 6:56do every single day obviously add up and they have created who I am today.
- 7:00I totally get that. And for me, like I came a semester early.
- 7:04So I graduated high school. You graduated a full year.
- 7:08Obviously, I graduated half a year, but I didn't come in the fall.
- 7:12So it's like it's kind of a different way to get into it. And when I came last
- 7:16spring, my team had not made it into the tournament that fall before.
- 7:21When I first came in that first day, it was a beep test. And I failed it.
- 7:25So actually, okay, I got 29 and it was 30 to practice. But I actually did get
- 7:3030. I just didn't know how the skip worked. So I missed 29. Oh,
- 7:33the mulligan, the mulligan, so you couldn't use it?
- 7:35No, I missed 29, but I made 30. But I thought I had to make 31.
- 7:40It's the last like... But it's just, I made 30. But I didn't know that.
- 7:43And then I couldn't practice that one entire week.
- 7:45They literally sent me inside. Obviously, there was like seven other people
- 7:48that didn't make it to. So it wasn't like I was the only person.
- 7:51But like getting there and thinking like, oh, like this is about to be my college.
- 7:55Like I'm going to come in fit. Like I'm going to come in. I had this like confidence
- 7:59in myself and all that just went.
- 8:02Right out the window dang and like I just kind of learned after that like I
- 8:06told myself that I was not gonna
- 8:09fail another beep test like I was gonna come in like super fit and I am a pretty
- 8:12fit naturally a pretty fit person so
- 8:15it's very much a mental thing to the beep test itself like it's very much a
- 8:18mental thing I'm a great but like in when I came in the fall like I passed it
- 8:22like right like right away I got like 36 and and then.
- 8:27And then in the spring this spring I got 37 and so my goal for this fall
- 8:32when we came in we didn't have to do it right away so it was a little bit better
- 8:35and they honestly didn't put as much pressure on us to like actually do crazy
- 8:38but because of my summer and because I was training so much and playing so many games I was fit,
- 8:43and I told myself okay you're gonna get a 38 and I got to 38 and I saw people
- 8:47drop and I was like you know what I feel let's get to 40 and so I got 40 this
- 8:51time and like like it just made,
- 8:53it just made me feel a lot better about myself more confident in myself because I knew like,
- 8:58Like, fitness is such a big thing in college soccer, especially in my conference, the SEC.
- 9:03I agree. We've got some teams that are just, like, five, nine-plus giants. Just screwed.
- 9:09We watched Tennessee. Are they in the SEC? Yeah. We've watched them play UCLA, and I was like, wow.
- 9:15Because they played here at UCLA, and I was like, okay.
- 9:19I've never seen an SEC team play. Like, we've only seen the ACC.
- 9:23When we saw Stanford come here, like, that was the only team that we've ever
- 9:25seen, that I've ever seen from a different conference. So I was like,
- 9:28wow. And they were like, that was when they were like on their roll when they
- 9:31beat North Carolina. And like, well, actually, but it was, it was honestly just
- 9:35a crazy, like different.
- 9:37It's so different. Yeah, it's so different. For us, like we played,
- 9:41I guess fitness for me is also a different topic.
- 9:44Like when I came into college coming from surf, like we were a very position-based
- 9:48team. So we never ran, never lost the ball, never ran, never did anything.
- 9:53Also, I never had to defend. So like the different, I never defended ever in
- 9:58my entire life. Like I literally just camped at the top of the box or like camp
- 10:01in the middle of the field and they just give me the ball.
- 10:03So like coming into college, that was a big slap in the face for me.
- 10:07And then also like when you don't play, you lose fitness. So like throughout
- 10:10the season, I wouldn't, I would play, but I wouldn't play enough minutes to
- 10:14maintain that fitness or accelerate my fitness. So honestly, it just kind of died.
- 10:20And then me i also get injured a lot because my ankles are just can't do anything
- 10:25about them but um so they're over the summer,
- 10:28i hurt my ankle again so i was injured and then i failed my b test when i got
- 10:32here once and then we ran it again and i failed twice it's okay.
- 10:37I had to do it twice no i had to do it twice i had to fail twice right because third time's term,
- 10:43exactly then we wrapped it in and like I don't know what it was but I honestly
- 10:48just started implementing like although it sounds stupid when you say like I
- 10:51can do something you can actually do it like genuinely,
- 10:54like genuinely when it's like I can't write for school for example I can't write
- 10:58this paper but that paper,
- 10:59always gets ended that paper ends up like getting done every single time right
- 11:02it's like it's there's no point even saying it anymore and like dude it got
- 11:06to the point in the spring where like one of my coaches would run with me
- 11:10because I could not like I just couldn't get myself to push myself like I was
- 11:15just putting myself at a level like I was just capping myself
- 11:18knowing like there is more in the tank but like I would just personally just
- 11:22cap myself because I was tired but I ended up passing it last year we didn't
- 11:26have a pass to play but this year since we didn't do so well
- 11:30we're like as a team like we agreed like strict strict yeah like you cannot
- 11:34play we have two fitness tests and I was like honestly stressing I knew I was
- 11:38gonna pass one because one is like a 1k test and you run around the field a
- 11:42couple times whatever 1000 meters is under sub four.
- 11:46And then the other one's the yo-yo you have to get we do the yo-yo so it's 17 to play,
- 11:50And I was like, oh, my God. Like, when I left spring, I was like,
- 11:53I was really debating. I was like, do you think you can make that?
- 11:55Because knowing my previous, like, my best one was, like, 16.5.
- 12:01This is not even, like, peak fitness. Like, this is, like, whatever.
- 12:04For me, that's good. But it was, like, 16.5, and I was like,
- 12:07oh, my gosh, I'm close. Then summer comes.
- 12:10I'm training with Wave. Get injured ASAP. I was out for six weeks,
- 12:13and I was, like, devastated because there was nothing I could do.
- 12:16Like, and then I was like, oh, wait, I forgot. Like, we low,
- 12:18you have to hit 17 to play.
- 12:20Like, to be available for game selection. And then, yeah, so we worked hard
- 12:25fast. I worked hard throughout the July that we were here, and yeah, that was hard.
- 12:30But, like, you got to be mentally, it's, like, all mental, and,
- 12:33like, I learned that a lot from last year, was just, everything is damn near
- 12:37mental in college soccer.
- 12:39Yeah, no, I learned that too, and especially because I was playing a lot in
- 12:43the beginning of the season, and then towards the end, like,
- 12:46I went off to national team camp,
- 12:49and I came back and I all of a sudden wasn't playing as much and I was like
- 12:52just confused and I was like what is going on I kind of like put it all on myself
- 12:56I'm like am I not doing this am I not doing that
- 12:59the coaches need to see this coaches need to see that and just putting a lot
- 13:01of pressure on myself that wasn't needed and so like I started to go and talk
- 13:05with a sports psychologist
- 13:07and honestly like that has been.
- 13:09Probably the most helpful thing for me.
- 13:12Obviously, like we're done playing and I started talking to a sports psychologist.
- 13:17But when I went home for winter break, I was just playing pickup with my friends
- 13:21and I wasn't thinking about like, you know, putting pressure on myself and things like that.
- 13:25And like I came back in the spring, I came fit and I just played very well off
- 13:30spring because I was focusing on like the little things that my sports psychologist was telling me.
- 13:34That was like probably the biggest thing I learned. Your confidence in your
- 13:39mental state, it's like only you can control that.
- 13:41And It's the biggest part of your game. Yeah, if you don't feel good,
- 13:44you're not going to perform good. I definitely do struggle with that.
- 13:47And it's just like a doubt of yourself. But it's also like you have to know
- 13:51what you offer to the team.
- 13:54I think soccer goals we should start with. Do you want to give your top three?
- 13:58I'd say my first one is probably to score my first collegiate goal.
- 14:01Because I got like eight? Twin?
- 14:04Me too? I scored in the spring game, but I scored two in the spring game.
- 14:09But I need one. I swung and missed in the spring. Okay, that's why it's the spring.
- 14:14Right, right. That's why it's the spring. Right, you learned.
- 14:16But I got a couple assists. But, you know, get a little more.
- 14:19Get some stats on mine. Hey, that's mine too. Go on.
- 14:22Give your next one since we have the first my second one's just like keep having
- 14:26like a like a growth mindset and like not putting too much pressure on myself
- 14:31and knowing like kind of like my worth and I know I'm a good player and like
- 14:35I don't need to prove that to anyone but myself I'm,
- 14:38on that bro I'm on that I've actually started doing that as well but not as
- 14:42one of my goals just like implementing into like a daily but that's.
- 14:46Extremely important mine is to excel my fitness levels because I think like
- 14:52what I struggled with last season was like just being fine with the minutes
- 14:56I was getting and then attending reserves and doing that but it's like
- 15:00what else can you do that's more than what everybody else is doing yeah if I
- 15:04want to if I want to exceed because honestly both of our goals at least is to
- 15:08go pro and be on college soccer so like having friends in the league my age like knowing how much,
- 15:14they do like extra to be excelling in the fitness aspect because technical like
- 15:20technical is a different
- 15:22it's different like it's special to everybody it's it's like whether you like
- 15:26that could be your control yeah that's something that's like manageable whatever.
- 15:31You can excel you can de-sell quickly so like being able to manage my load but
- 15:34as well as just excelling in my fitness something that I actually did last year
- 15:38when like there were games that I didn't get as many minutes and I was like,
- 15:41you know what, I need to get that running in still.
- 15:45And say we'd be at a hotel and we'd have, like, the gym open,
- 15:48I would literally go run two miles on the treadmill.
- 15:50Like, it would be, like, after practices that I, because BC are low.
- 15:54Like, we have those. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're not catapult.
- 15:57They're not catapult. They're the something. It's, like, the same thing.
- 15:59We use player data. I don't know what we use. That one? Statsports.
- 16:03Statsports. Stats, period. But, like, if I saw that, like, I didn't run as much
- 16:09or, like, if I felt like, oh I could probably do more like I would go and just you know yeah
- 16:13run just like two miles I feel like is like just like just good distance it's just a good no yeah it's
- 16:19just a little extra yeah we have reserves the day after so like whatever we
- 16:24travel we travel right after the game we have reserves the next day even just
- 16:28running top ups after the game I'm a fan of top ups because when I would run
- 16:32with the proteins like that was what it was like you would just run and you
- 16:36wouldn't have reserves, the whole team would take the off day.
- 16:39Like that was how it works. So I'm kind of just used to the top ups.
- 16:42But, and honestly, I like that type of running instead of like,
- 16:45I'd rather just do that to get my fitness in and enjoy my off day rather than
- 16:48doing small-sided games.
- 16:50But that's just my personal opinion. But like for us, we do reserves after.
- 16:53So I'm a fan of top-ups. So like whether that's like eight runs,
- 16:57box to box, that again adds up over time. And then where are you?
- 17:02That's three games already. What is that? Eight, 16, 24, yeah.
- 17:06I was out of butchering my math so bad. My third one, I've actually been doing
- 17:11this like already since we've started.
- 17:13It's to do like 10 15 20 minutes after practice just working on like a specific
- 17:18thing and for me it's recently it's been corner kicks because i've i've set
- 17:23plays are such a big part of the game and like,
- 17:27if you don't have a good set play taker you're not going to score on set plays
- 17:31and yeah it's just a waste of opportunity scoring
- 17:34and so the biggest thing with corner kicks too is being consistent like at first
- 17:38i just like would ask some of my like teammates i would go in and be like hey
- 17:42does anyone want to do this you know hey.
- 17:45Hey and like as I kept doing them like I've done I've probably done it every
- 17:49single practice now since we've started that's good and now people like those
- 17:54people come to me and be like hey Paige are you gonna hit any more corners and I'm like,
- 17:58heck y'all hit some oh my gosh yes you want me to hit some corners exactly that's
- 18:02what I'm saying that over time literally pays off and then like in the game
- 18:06like you're gonna Yeah, I see it too.
- 18:08And like, the next thing I need to work on is free kicks too.
- 18:12But I actually have been doing it. It's not about the coaches,
- 18:14but you. It's not about the coaches, but like. But like, that's the place.
- 18:18You know, they're just there. No, I'm doing it because I want to get consistent on it.
- 18:22My next thing is actually hitting Olympicos. I'm going to try and get those. Whoa.
- 18:27That's okay. Crazy pool. That's a crazy pool. But you keep doing that.
- 18:31I low-key agree with that. I always do extra. That's not one of my goals.
- 18:35That's kind of just like, what? But like a lot of my teammates,
- 18:37like after training, we just hit around some balls. It's also like the fun.
- 18:40For me, fun is like very important. Like before training, it is a must that
- 18:44I play soccer tennis because...
- 18:47I just... Really? Every time? Before. If it's up, I'm playing.
- 18:52If it's not, I'm still juggling.
- 18:54But I need to have some sort of fun before we lock in. So that's nowhere near a goal. But.
- 19:02Me and my teammates, we need to have me, me, my teammates join.
- 19:06Allie, we're on a team. We play, and we actually destroy everyone.
- 19:10So if anyone wants to make a team. If I come to... You can win-lose.
- 19:16I 1,000%. I go on this gap. You can ask any one of my teammates.
- 19:19You can ask any one of my teammates who the heck owns that net.
- 19:22I literally have a net in my car. Trust. I'm biking it on you.
- 19:25It's like, you're working on quarter drinks? I'm working on biking a soccer
- 19:30tennis game, bro. Like, I take that so seriously.
- 19:33And like, bro, when I go home, San Diego, we do like tournaments.
- 19:36Like, my trainer and like my whole, like where I grew up training,
- 19:39like we're so competitive with that. We literally put money on it.
- 19:43Chill. This is before any NCAA things.
- 19:46This is before you're here. This is before time.
- 19:49What about some off the field goals? I actually, so I had off the field goals that I set.
- 19:55Like, I have a whiteboard in my room and I have like every month I like write
- 20:00something down. Beginning of the spring in January, I had like goals for that year.
- 20:05And one of them was like to not cuss as much because
- 20:09i look you have a little bit of a cussing problem i just when i get a little
- 20:12feisty and aggressive i just just kind of like you know comes out it's kind
- 20:16of like when you're driving and like someone just well it's not too often you're like.
- 20:21But like just add in some cuss words you know no yeah no that i kind of have
- 20:25to redact but i'm doing five push-ups every cuss word games are redacted don't
- 20:31count don't count games you're gonna be buff as heck i would be,
- 20:35i would be insanely ripped that's not a good thing see that's not a good thing
- 20:40good thing is the physique but like if you know why i'm doing it i'm,
- 20:44pretty buff already but you guys aren't gonna yeah you are you are you are you
- 20:48are you are i can't lie she mugs me there recently my like main one is just
- 20:53personal development like,
- 20:55i know like how much that affects me that's definitely something i've struggled
- 20:58with is like getting back and it's like it's not that far away but it feels
- 21:03so far away so like something that's been big for me is literally just like,
- 21:07learning more about myself learning more what what can benefit me what only
- 21:12benefits me like as long as I'm good then I can help my team but if I'm not
- 21:16good I can't help anyone that's not that me is not you don't want to be around that so,
- 21:21yeah that's like literally my
- 21:23main like off the field goal just just to excel mentally I love that one,
- 21:28our first game obviously is coming up we should set goals for each game and then the next one.
- 21:36We come back. No, I like to. And see if we hit those. I would say,
- 21:41so, my goal for my first game is, no matter what, if I start or if I don't start,
- 21:47just literally play my game.
- 21:49And I would say my, just my regular goal is just, like, no matter what,
- 21:54just, like, playing my game.
- 21:56And then with numbers is get three shots. Three shots off.
- 22:00Because I'm a six. I hear you. Obviously, I'm not going to get that many shots
- 22:02off. That's, yeah. But that means I'm trying to put an effort to get forward
- 22:05and get into the tack, you know?
- 22:07Hey, I like that. I like that. Mine is to sprint back when I get broken because...
- 22:15I think, like, bro, one of my coaches, my coach yelled at me in training.
- 22:19She was like, I don't want to see the sixes not spring back anymore.
- 22:23And it was so obviously me.
- 22:25And then the next, like, I never, never not sprinted after that.
- 22:27That's what I'm saying. Like, I don't, I was like, no, I'm going,
- 22:30I'm going. I full sent back.
- 22:31But it's like, it's like a, it's like a mental thing. Like, obviously you could
- 22:35do that. It's just like, it's not flipped in my head.
- 22:37I also have been rotating in between six and 10. So I don't know what I'm going
- 22:40to play. I hope I play 10. So yeah, obviously, whether I don't start or start, like, same thing.
- 22:46Just playing me. Not hesitating is a massive thing. But if we're talking numbers,
- 22:51I haven't thought of that quite yet.
- 22:53But I want to score, and I think I'm going to score because I've been shooting a lot training.
- 22:57Okay. So we'll see. Your goal is to score a freaking goal. My goal is to score
- 23:02a freaking goal or get an assist because in 11s, I sold a 1v1. I should have scored.
- 23:08But then I could have had, like, a couple assists, but, you know.
- 23:12This is me, then the person. I scored a free kick in R11s. Working on the set, please, right?
- 23:18Anyways, guys, thanks for joining our first episode of Big Life.
- 23:23We're so excited to take you guys through the next one.
- 23:25If you guys listen all the way to the end, if you have any questions,
- 23:29you can comment on the Instagram. Or any ideas you guys want to hear about.
- 23:33Anything you want to hear about, let us freaking know. Yeah.
- 23:36Anyways, guys, thanks for joining.