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Navigating the Postseason: Big Ten Tournament and End-of-Season Reflections · The BIG LIFE

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Welcome back to The Big Life. With the Big Ten tournament now underway,
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things are getting intense.
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And let me tell you, nothing compares to the rush of game night.
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The stadium lights beaming down on us on the field, the fans cheering,
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the referees whistle blowing, everyone's hearts pounding.
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The energy is simply unmatched.
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But on the other hand, nothing really prepares you for what comes next because
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before you know it, it's all over.
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And at the end of the day, I go home, just me and my oversized water bottle.
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Honestly though i am so thankful for those moments of silence away from the
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high energy on the field it's a good reminder that as an athlete it's okay just to relax sometimes,
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and with it being fall let's be real being cozy just hits different this time
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of year after a long day you'll always find me kicking back and just relaxing
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i don't know about y'all but personally i have my post-game ritual down to a
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science and especially during these colder Michigan months,
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my Snuggable is a must-have.
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always let's soccer on but also remember to
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take time to soccer off in your downtime and enjoy some cozy self-care in your
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snuggable if you know you know all right everyone welcome back to the big life
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and we have half if not more college soccer teams done it is officially postseason.
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Jordan, how are we feeling?
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Nostalgic. Definitely very nostalgic. I think the last guaranteed home game
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that we had here at DeMartin, I know me and Justina were talking about it,
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getting a little emotional.
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It's sad. It's sad to see it all kind of being wrapped up and you get kind of
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lost in all the emotions of what the last four years have been.
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So trying to stay reminiscent to that and appreciate
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every moment that we have left while still staying very much
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locked in knowing that there's lots of games left to play
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still in this postseason here is it's a weird
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thing to kind of balance those emotions with it and especially with
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our team and the setup we've had we've had a long turnover throughout the last
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four years so very few of us have gotten to experience it from the beginning
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and just the way our programs turned around and the incredible journey we've
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had over these last few years to be able to sit there and reminisce on that
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which only few of us get to do I think has been really incredible and you know
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I'm definitely excited.
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Feeling, feeling a good, reminiscent and good about the career I've had thus far.
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So it's a mix of emotions here as we move forward, knowing it's,
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it's heading towards the end, but also really excited about the postseason and
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the setup we have here going into these next couple, couple games.
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Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, I think we can say safe to pay,
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like fair to say that Michigan State will be in the NCAA tournament with everything
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y'all have done this year, which is amazing.
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But I remember like this time last year, I
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kind of took some time to think about it we played Michigan
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State and thought our season was done for like a hot
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second until another score came in and we barely got
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our way into the Big Ten tournament obviously from there things
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kind of turned around for us but that's the hard thing about this time of year
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for a lot of teams is like you lose and you might be done you know you kind
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of like are now on that last strand of life for a little bit and I remember
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especially as a fifth year like in my last year Like that was really hard because
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you're so focused on the moment, but also the moment means so much.
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And so I'm excited for us to kind of like do, you know, go through this,
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but like, I remember it last year and I remember like, it was crazy tough trying to balance everything.
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And I think honestly, that first game at Michigan state, knowing what was on
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the line was probably one of my worst college games just because I got too caught up in things.
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And so, yeah, big moments, big 10 conference is done.
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This conference is wrapped up. We have a Big Ten tournament. The bracket is set.
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Jordan, how are we feeling about the bracket?
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Yeah, I'm super excited with our lineup and kind of the timing of it all.
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So the way it works is the bottom four teams are playing here on Halloween.
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So they'll play on Thursday.
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And then us and Iowa will play on Saturday versus we play Rutgers, Iowa plays Washington.
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And then you go ahead and have USC and UCLA play the winner of those bottom
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four teams in their bracket on Sunday.
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So I'm actually really excited to play on the Saturday, you know,
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assuming hopefully we win.
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That's our plan and our goal here as we move throughout the postseason.
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But I think it'd be really nice to have that extra day of rest and kind of be
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able to get yourselves together as you go into the semifinals and finals of
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the tournament. So I'm excited about that. I think once you get into kind of,
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Big Ten postseason, it doesn't really matter who you play.
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Everyone is good and everyone can win on any given day. You just throw a story
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a couple of years ago, where an Iowa team went from the eighth seed to winning it all. You never know.
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Exactly, exactly. You have no idea. So I think it doesn't really matter who we're playing.
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I'm not super caught up in that. Rutgers is a great team. If we were to play
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any of the other nine teams involved, I think that we'd have the same mentality going forward.
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Through you know like you said Penn State's the number 10 team like
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they're an incredible program so it's everyone
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in here and everyone in postseason is good so I'm excited about the the
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timing of it but as far as who we play everyone's good
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so you just gotta you gotta be locked in no matter what yeah you know so looking
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back at last week you know like we said the Big Ten tournament who was in was
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kind of was set already you know we knew who was going in we knew who was leaving
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but the one thing we didn't know what who who was gonna walk away with that
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number one seed and you know It whiz out in LA.
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It was between UCLA and USC, USC winning that game.
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So they have been named conference champions of the Big Ten and now are the
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one seed going into the tournament.
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And overall, I think that there's some really interesting matchups that I'm
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excited to kind of see how things shake out.
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Like you said, Penn State finishes with their... In the last five years,
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Penn State is the lowest seed they've had.
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They've never finished 10th, but they haven't won a game since October 13th.
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So they're kind of, they're in a little struggle period. And so the tournament,
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I think the tournament really does bring new life. It's an end of a chapter
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and a start of a new one. We saw it last year with Iowa.
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So I think like you said, anything can happen in big 10 tournament play.
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There's a couple other ones I'm really excited about. I think the Washington,
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Iowa matchup can be really good.
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Iowa only won one zero at home. And so I think that was a huge advantage of
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having that as a home game for Iowa.
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And they lost to Minnesota in at Minnesota,
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Minnesota has the highest fan base
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that they've ever had they upset number 11 Iowa and
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now they're going into that game with Penn State so that's going to be an interesting
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one Ohio State and Wisconsin is the only mashup we haven't seen already so I
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think that's going to be an exciting one I think Ohio State is probably my favorites
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but looking at the Bradbury Jordan who what four teams do you think are going to St. Louis.
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Yeah, I think I agree with a lot of your takes.
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I think it'll be interesting to have Minnesota be at their own place,
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be at home playing all these games here for the first two rounds.
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I think that's definitely a huge advantage that will help propel them forward.
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However, I think the top four teams I would put going in, I want to have an
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upset Ohio State-USC. I think Ohio State will be at Wisconsin.
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When you have Ohio State versus USC then in that second game there.
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I want it to be Ohio State, I think.
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And maybe this is just my own personal experience because we've always done
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well. And we've won, obviously, the conference back-to-back years now.
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We've kind of dropped the ball in the tournament. I think you have a little bit of security.
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You've played a long season. You gave it your all that sometimes.
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And historically, it's really hard to win.
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I don't know the last time it's ever been done was winning conference and winning the tournament.
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But I'm going to go with an upset with Ohio State-USC.
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Obviously, Michigan State's going to be in St. Louis. Gotta.
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And then I think you'll have Iowa and UCLA.
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Yeah. So the only upset really being that Ohio State game. You know what?
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I actually completely agree.
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I know this is really boring from a podcast standpoint to have the same opinion,
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but I have the same idea on those four teams. We've proven over and over again
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that Iowa's Big Ten tournament team.
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They've done it twice with the historic Cinderella season. So I think putting
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them in a matchup with UCLA could be a really fun matchup, knowing that those
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are two teams that haven't played.
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And then, like you said, I think the Pac-12 teams have never had a conference
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tournament. So I think there is something different to tournament play.
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This is my other hot take. I'm not saying USC or anyone does this by any means,
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but there also is something to finishing first in conference and then having a weekend off.
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Because if you think about it, like the St. Louis games will play that Thursday,
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Sunday, and then it's NCAA tournament time. They know they're going to the NCAA tournament.
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So is there something mentally to know like, shit, we get a weekend off?
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Like, you know, so I think that it does subconsciously factor into some things too.
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And I think I would venture to gamble, every single one of these Big Ten teams
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is going to the NCAA tournament.
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And I think with that being said, that's where it's going to be interesting
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of like, is there an advantage of having a weekend off and not playing in St. Louis?
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Like I said, I don't think anyone actually is saying that. I think it would
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be more of a subconscious thing, but it's something to note that I don't really know.
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Yeah. Something else too is like you get not only is a weekend off,
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it's Halloween weekend off.
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You have like, I think that adds a little bit where you have this holiday going on,
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you're in college like you get to have a little bit
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of maybe like fun with it and you get to start if
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you have a separation here and between starters
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and non-starters if you have separation between people who
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maybe want the season to kind of be done they know they're going
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to transfer they know they're moving on with their lives they're not really playing seeing
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the minutes they want they get to celebrate this holiday go out
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have kind of the college experience they
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haven't had for so long because they have this time up I think
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you can start to get that disconnect and frustration between those groups
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here especially like I said with it
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being Halloween off and you having all this time to kind
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of step step away from it I think it's really easy once you're in the momentum
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you're in it Thursday Sunday Thursday Sunday Thursday Sunday you don't have
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time to kind of realize what you're missing out on that once you do it can be
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hard to get back into it so this is a specific story sorry to jump in Jordan
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but I think you just nailed something on the head.
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I feel a bit more confident talking about iowa now
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that i'm gone you know i i can get i can air out some dirty secrets
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or some realities to things that people don't realize in
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postseason once you start this that disconnect
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i think separates what teams are successful and what teams aren't it's really
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hard to show up every day when you're not one of the people that are directly
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benefiting from showing up every day you know if you're someone that may not
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be getting into the games like may not even be on a travel squad,
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it's really hard to keep wanting to support that team.
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I am fully aware that that must be a really big struggle.
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You know, and then you add onto it, it's like, oh, like we lost,
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we'd be done and I could go on a break and I could get my own mental separation
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that I may want and I may need.
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I will say like there was issues at Iowa last year.
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We won the Big Ten tournament, but it was kind of one of those like if we didn't
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win the Big Ten tournament, we weren't guaranteed going to the NCAA tournament.
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So it was we had to kind of keep winning.
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And there were some people that were like, oh, my God, I wish we would lose
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already because like for themselves and their situation and their season, that was reality.
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On top of that, this is where I think people
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like the travel squad and the not travel squad as
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a member who does not travel this is where you can separate yourself
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as the ultimate teammate i think that's how i want to
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say it meaning we won the big 10
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tournament in ohio last year we were not able to travel
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everyone that created a massive disconnect in the team like who got the pictures
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celebrating the moment half the team got hats that night and t-shirts and like
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of course we all got together to celebrate and another chunk of the team didn't
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have a big 10 tournament hat I'll say it.
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I remember as a fifth year celebrating my big 10 tournament wins spending that night,
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With a freshman who was would not stop crying because they didn't get a hat
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and I had a hat And as a fifth year,
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I wanted to punch that girl in the face because this was everything I had worked
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for And that's how she was acting but I also get it You're 18 and you just want
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to be done with something that like you need a break from And so If you're that person,
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I think that's my biggest thing I want to say is like if you're that person
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that's not there that wishes they were.
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I totally get that. But this is how you stand out as a member of your team and
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as a teammate, because this is where a divide is.
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Yeah. Yeah. I agree. I think I've been in both sides where I've,
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you know, with injury and this season, we've talked about my career to extensive amount,
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but like I've been on the side where it's really hard to
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stay connected and feel that personal connection to things
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when you're just watching and you feel almost more like a
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fan of it so I definitely understand
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where people are coming from luckily I've been able to
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carve out you know a big impact role throughout my four years every season here
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and I've gotten the chance to have those celebrations and when we win we won
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with our whole team we were able to travel them all to Ohio because we knew
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we got an exemption for it we knew we were most likely going to win the conference
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that day my sophomore year so we got our whole
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team to go in and celebrate don't actually get the opportunity to
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celebrate it much after that because we were still in season we still had games
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to go and we won at home our junior year which was nice and then you know you
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have a week before you're still into the postseason so it hasn't really been
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like this this thing like I think it would be this year where winning it and you have that.
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That issue with the travel, not everyone being there. We haven't had that yet.
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I can't imagine how hard that would be for those people that were not traveled.
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I definitely can see how that can create a huge divide as you're trying to move
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forward into the NCAA tournament.
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What I'm really happy about this year is, from a Michigan State perspective,
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we still, I think at least, have the opportunity to fight for possibly a two-seed
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in the NCAA tournament, which means we're fighting to stay at home.
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You're not just fighting to get the ring or to win the tournament,
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which I can think can be a little bit harder for people who aren't playing to
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kind of have that motivation and things of that nature.
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We're fighting to stay at home, which directly impacts them.
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If they don't want to do the travel and they don't want to have to go a while
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and, you know, spend these weeks away from class or school and they want to
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be able to have this like normal life and all that stuff.
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They want us to win because they want us to stay at home more than they want us to lose, be done.
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And we already know we're making the NCAA tournament and then we have to travel additionally.
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So it actually, it benefits them by
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us winning versus in some cases where teammates just want you to be done.
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So then your season's over, which I think is good for us.
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Not that I think anyone here wants us to lose, hopefully not,
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but I do think that's an added kind of motivation for people who maybe are starting
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to feel that disconnect for us.
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And I think the other thing as we move forward and we talked about we talked
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with the UCLA head coach is like the weather impacts and implications for these
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top two teams who maybe haven't had to really struggle it's been super nice
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in the Midwest recently but as we move later and later into the season having
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them go and travel to Minnesota and maybe be a little bit colder than they're
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used to I think that can definitely impact them and their performance.
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Yeah overall I know it's going to be interesting you know you talked about that two seed and I think,
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A lot of projections I've seen say that the two Big Ten teams at play to get
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a two seed are Michigan State and Iowa.
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I find that very interesting because they're the ones that finish three and
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four in conference. And so, of course, like UCLA, USC finished higher than them.
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And so that's where like non-conference factors and so much factors in.
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So I think what happens in the Big Ten tournament is going to be very telling.
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I definitely think at least one Big Ten team will get that two seed,
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but I really it could go honestly four different teams could be up for hiding
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for that spot did iowa play usc ucla no.
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Okay so neither did we which i think exactly
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that's where it's like it's very big ambiguity of like
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who actually is that top team between those four
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and that's what the tournament has an opportunity to settle potentially yeah
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i think whoever wins this tournament will have that spot kind
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of solidified for them pretty solid rpis and
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moving forward throughout it i've seen the rankings have
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changed depending on who's posting them like there's four
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different places that rankings are posted with four different
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top eight teams so it's been it's been
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really interesting much but not really because it all it's so
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different it really doesn't matter until the tournaments and the next day is
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the selection show and that's when it all gets figured out and solidified here
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absolutely and speaking of this kind of puts us into our topic for the main
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chunk of the episode so we're talking about all these teams that are still in
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season but like i said at the start, you know, about half,
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if not more college soccer team seasons are over.
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I've started to, you know, scroll through Instagram and you see the classic,
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like goodbye posts to people in their programs.
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I did the same. I can't judge anyone. I, you know, I have a goodbye post on
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my Instagram. You need to do it for closure sake.
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But you know, it's weird to think that the season is over for a lot of people.
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And one thing that season's ending brings is that classic, you're walking into
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an office to go talk to your coaches meeting.
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So we want to we wanted to do a quick recap or quick advice session from someone
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who some people who have lived through a lot of end of season meetings.
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I actually just had mine with my pro coach earlier this week to kind of talk
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about how to tackle and really how to go into an end of year meeting to get
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the most out of it for both parties.
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Yeah. Yeah. I think this is a great topic. It's something that we kind of had
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to fumble through and figure out throughout our years in college and not professionally.
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I think it changes depending on your situation and what you want to get out of it.
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But the biggest thing I think when you go into the end of your meeting is you have to be honest.
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I feel like so many kids, they try to be, especially when you're younger,
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you have all these questions that you want
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to ask and answers that you need in order to move on with your
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life and figure out what's the best course of action for you
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yet you're too scared to ask them whether it was because you
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don't want to know their answer you're scared of what their answer may be you
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think you already know it or you feel like they'll be offended by
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the question or take it the wrong way or any of these scenarios but I think
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you're always worse off for not asking it's always better to ask and know and
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if they or you can go ahead and explain yourself I feel like they never really
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do the biggest piece of advice I'd ever have to someone going into the end of
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their meeting is be honest with where you're at and the questions you want to ask.
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Yeah. And I completely agree. I have not had an end of your meeting.
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I can say like we had them in club. We had a couple. I had them in college and
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now I've had them at a pro level.
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I think a large every coach I've experienced, I'll say it that way.
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Every coach I experience respects and expects that bluntness.
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If you want to have a direct meeting where you get answers out of your end of
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your meeting, you have to go in being direct.
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And every time I've asked a question that is asked very directly,
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I either get a direct answer or I know an answer based on how they're answering,
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if that kind of makes sense, if they're dodging the question or what.
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And honestly, call them on that too.
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I think every end of your meeting I've heard as a success story,
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meaning someone that got out of
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it what they wanted, comes from being very honest and direct about that.
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And I think it's respect all around from the coach's standpoint and from yours
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that that's what you want out of this meeting.
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Absolutely. I will say I think I'm hopefully a little bit unique when a lot
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of people, I think our teammates, our meetings are usually like 30 minute blocks.
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I've never really had a meeting under an hour and a half with Jeff ever throughout
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my collegiate career, my sophomore one, I think was like two and a half pushing three hours almost.
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And the only reason it ended is because I had to pee. Like I had to go to the bathroom.
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That's the only reason our meeting came to an end. It was just like very,
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very long meetings I have with him.
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So I agree with the bluntness. I think my freshman year, I was definitely more reserved.
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I didn't know what to ask really. I didn't know what to expect going into it.
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And at that point, it was nobody knew you know there was nobody to look to for
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advice of what this was going to look like because this was the first year jeff
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was holding in their meetings you know his first year as a coach with us so
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i think that was definitely a scenario where everyone's kind of fumbling through
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it and then going into my sophomore year i think i just.
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I felt like I had nothing to lose. And I was able to sit down and ask all these
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blunt, hard questions about where I stood, what he wanted for me.
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And when we sat there and we were able to kind of figure it all out as we moved
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forward into my junior year.
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And I think it was the closest I've ever felt to him.
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It's the best our relationship has ever been after that meeting was we laid
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it all out there, good, bad, ugly.
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And we were able to walk away with kind of a clear picture of what each other
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wanted and was trying to get out of this, who we were as people and players
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and coaches and how to move forward with it.
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So I 100% agree. You need to be blunt. You need to be honest with it and you need to be prepared.
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You need to have an idea of what you want to ask going into this because it's
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not going to come to you in the meeting.
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If anything, you're going to walk away and you're going to be like,
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I forgot to ask questions one through four on my list and wish you could go back in.
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You're going to forget most of those things as you sit down in that office,
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because it's very intimidating and scary.
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So make sure you have something as you walk in there and be prepared and have
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them written down even so that you know what you want to ask as you move throughout the meeting.
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Jordan, you're stealing all of my bullet points. So you're really just buzzing
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through all of them for me.
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I was going to say, my biggest thing about meetings, we're talking about being
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blunt. We're talking about being honest.
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The first thing you need to do when you find out you're having an individual
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meeting is be honest with yourself.
22:48
What do you want out of this meeting? There's players in every different situation.
22:53
There's players that want to know
22:55
if their coach will ever play them or if they're like in that picture.
22:58
There's players that start all 90 minutes and want to know what their future
23:02
looks like in the program. There's players in every spectrum.
23:05
You have to know what you want out of a meeting to figure out what questions
23:09
to ask and bluntly know if you leave the meeting, it's a success.
23:14
I've had plenty of meetings where I walked out and everything felt very positive
23:18
about what people said, but they didn't feel like a success to me because I
23:21
really didn't get out of it what I needed or what I wanted.
23:24
And so I think if you're going to be honest with your coach with these questions,
23:28
the first thing you have to do is be honest with yourself about what do you
23:31
need out of this meeting?
23:32
Do you need validation from your season? Do you need goals moving forward?
23:36
Do you need a check-in about where you stand in a program?
23:38
Do you need a blunt conversation about some of the things you've been struggling with?
23:42
Those are all completely valid and all things that can and should come up at end of your meetings.
23:47
But you have to know what you personally need to direct the conversation.
23:51
You, the player, are often in charge of these meetings. And that's one thing
23:55
I don't think players understand.
23:57
Coaches want to have them and they often have things built or things prepared.
24:00
Players dictate where this meeting goes. So you have to decide where it goes.
24:04
And Jordan, you just hit on my second point. I think the biggest advice I have
24:08
is write down your questions and walk in with a notebook.
24:11
First thing, it will make sure that you don't skip over any of your questions
24:14
or, oh shoot, I forgot to write this.
24:16
Second, it organizes your thoughts beforehand. But also I can tell you,
24:21
I walked into every single meeting I have with Dave with a notebook.
24:24
He knew I was prepared for this meeting. He knew that I had expectations out of this meeting.
24:28
And then frankly, he always gave me opportunity. He'd be like, oh, I see your notebook.
24:32
What did we miss? What did we not talk about?
24:34
So having that notebook of questions always gave me something to be like,
24:38
hey, I have something more on my list.
24:40
So I think overall it's a professionalism standpoint, but also it ensures and
24:45
it's your safety net that you will get everything in that you want in.
24:48
Absolutely. I think that the other thing is that you have to know kind of relationship
24:55
you have with your coach.
24:56
But I almost with Jeff, I feel like the need to debate him on certain topics,
25:02
not argue with him, right?
25:03
Because a debate is something that comes out of a level of mutual respect and understanding.
25:07
But if he's saying something that I don't agree with or that I feel like his
25:11
actions didn't portray that throughout the season or,
25:15
you know, I'm still confused about a subject, I have to be able to push back
25:19
with him and be like, so then why, if this is how you're feeling and thinking,
25:22
why did this happen or how did this happen?
25:24
Or then how do I change this?
25:26
Or then, you know, different things like that where you have to be able to kind
25:29
of push back on the things he's saying and make it more of a conversation or
25:33
going back and forth with him and be able to challenge him on certain perspectives
25:37
or things that happen throughout the season rather than just kind of just taking
25:40
everything and let him ask a question,
25:43
him answer it, go on a monologue and then go back.
25:45
Because I feel like a lot of times then you still walk away confused as to why
25:49
certain things happened the way they did if everything he's saying is true throughout that season.
25:54
It's easy to sit down in a meeting and look at everything hindsight and be like,
25:59
this is how the season ended.
26:01
But if you have notes about how the season started and in the middle and all
26:05
the way throughout it, I think you're going to have some of those topics where
26:07
you need to go back and forth a little bit about –.
26:11
You know, the different intricacies that happen throughout those seasons. Yeah.
26:15
The other thing I want to talk about with end of year meetings and like Jordan,
26:18
I'd love to hear your experience with this is I think every coaching staff handles them differently too.
26:24
And that also like the way that they handle them may evolve over time.
26:29
And like as a player, I think I would have like loved to know what my coaching
26:33
staff was doing before a meeting to prepare as well.
26:38
For example, I will say I had a couple end of your meetings in club.
26:41
I actually really liked it just
26:43
because as a player, like you're always chasing this big goal in club.
26:46
I wanted to play college. So my end of year check-ins were, where am I in the
26:49
recruiting process? Talking about that.
26:51
But one thing my club did was they divided soccer into four aspects,
26:57
the physical aspect, the technical aspect, the tactical aspect,
27:01
and the mentality aspect.
27:02
So those were the four ways that they divided the game. And they gave me a score
27:06
one to five on each of those four aspects.
27:09
For me, often it was my physicality was a five. My mentality was a five.
27:14
My tactical was probably about a three. And my technical was about a two,
27:17
especially when I was 13.
27:19
So for me, that gave me clear direction of where I needed to work and compare other things.
27:25
And in college, it was different. In college, I will say there was one year
27:30
I actually loved this, but also this is kind of the geek I am.
27:33
Dave had to work hard for us. Like it was kind of divided in similar aspects,
27:38
but it was specific to like ability to shoot a ball on frame,
27:43
score one through five, ability to hit an accurate long ball over 25 or 25 yards,
27:48
score one through five, ability to 1v1 defend, ability to do this.
27:51
And then it went into things like a teammate, ability to impact a program, ability to be a leader.
27:57
And this was probably about a 45 column spreadsheet of all of these different
28:01
aspects of a soccer player.
28:03
And for me I got to look at this data but I could understand if I'm a player
28:07
that didn't know that this was about to happen that could be so overwhelming
28:11
and so like almost mentally,
28:14
deteriorating for me and the way my brain works I did hang that on my fridge
28:18
and highlight all the areas of growth that I needed to make that a specific
28:21
goal for me but also not every player
28:23
is like me and I could see how that could really impact a lot of people negatively
28:27
so I think like knowing what you need out of a player and also mentally preparing
28:32
like okay hey, my coach is about to give me a report card.
28:35
I got to listen, but I also got to know when I've had enough listening,
28:39
if that makes sense, because it's the reality of the situation.
28:42
And so I think like there's different tools that a coach will do to develop
28:46
or talk about a season and being prepared for what your coach is is unique.
28:51
Have you had anything like this, Jordan?
28:53
Yeah, I will say like in club, I don't think we ever had really end of the year meetings.
28:58
Honestly, the only meeting I ever remember having in club was the conversation
29:02
about like, I need to stop playing left back immediately. Yeah.
29:08
And other than that, I mean, I'm sure I had conversations with the coaching
29:12
staff, but nothing like it is now in college.
29:14
I think that was something I definitely had to get used to was having sort of
29:17
that connection and opportunity to sit down and have these blunt conversations
29:21
so often with the coaching staff that I have the ability to now in college and those resources.
29:26
It definitely, I don't think club was something, my experience that prepared
29:30
me for that and for these end of year meetings.
29:33
I will say that, you know, I think my conversations with Jeff have definitely
29:39
adapted throughout the years.
29:41
I think when he has something tangible or statistics or like a report card for
29:46
you has come in moments where I'm what I feel is different than what he's saying or what he's seeing.
29:53
And you're having sort of that debate or that conversation or
29:56
back and forth that we're then able to go into what was
29:59
in stat why scout now I
30:01
think it is and pull up kind of the stats of the
30:04
season or certain clips or plays or things of that nature and we're able to
30:08
kind of go through that or he'll have me sit down and we'll talk about like
30:11
almost rankings of players of where I stand in terms of different things and
30:16
we like you know we know make let's talk about speed like Like we know Meg Hughes
30:20
is definitely the fastest forward out there. Like for us, like where do you stand in this?
30:24
Like do you see why when we're playing, you know,
30:27
in an area where we want to get more through balls or over the top,
30:30
like why we decided to go this way or why we would decide to do something different
30:34
if it's an aerial dominant game or something like things of that nature,
30:38
we're able to kind of have those rankings and statistics and see clips to back it up.
30:43
But for the most part throughout my career with Jeff, A lot of our conversations
30:48
have just been me and him and his office kind of talking through things.
30:53
And a lot of ours have been very clear about expectations and what the conversation
30:58
is going to be like, other than my redshirting conversations with him that I
31:02
think caught him by surprise this year. I think everything's been super clear.
31:07
We're in page as a big picture topic, but we're always disconnected in some
31:11
of the little things about how the season went and what he's doing and the,
31:17
interpretation I have that comes from his actions, which I think has been the
31:22
biggest thing trying to learn.
31:23
He'll move different players or do different things. I interpret it a certain
31:27
way that's completely different than the way he's thinking about things.
31:30
I think learning that has been something that through my end of the year meetings
31:34
has been the biggest blessing in coaching and becoming a player I am today is being able to learn that,
31:42
you know, expectations do not always mean reality for me or my interpretation is not always correct.
31:48
No, but I think that really hits on my next point. And at the end of the day,
31:53
these goals of individual meetings tends to be to reflect on the season that
31:57
just happened and guide a relationship and decisions going forward.
32:03
And so one thing I think when you're coming up with your list of questions,
32:07
they should echo both. You should reflect on the season.
32:10
You should talk about what happened with this decision in this game,
32:14
or where have I grown throughout the year?
32:17
Or, you know, did I perform this season within expectations?
32:21
Where did I do better? Where did I do worse?
32:25
Different questions like that. But also they need to look forward.
32:28
You know, a lot of times this is like you're going into December,
32:31
you're going into offseason, and then you have literally January through May
32:35
to really hone in on specific things before going into season again.
32:40
So this is when you should say like, hey, what do I really need to focus on?
32:45
And you want to try to walk out of this meeting with tangible things,
32:49
three things, you know, going forward that you are going to try to focus on.
32:53
That was one thing I always tried to make sure I had, you know,
32:56
whether that was getting better with my right foot was something that came up
32:59
after my freshman year individual meeting.
33:01
Great. When I had free time, I knew that that was something to focus on.
33:04
And that was something that both myself and Dave agreed I should focus on.
33:08
So that way, you know, if Meg Hughes is the fastest on your team and you want
33:13
to be up for that debate, I need to spend that extra time I have focusing on
33:17
my speed more than my headers, which I know I'm already great at.
33:20
You know, different things like that to channel in.
33:23
And frankly, we all know your coaches do decide your play time in a lot of regards.
33:26
You know, a lot of things, decisions depend on that coach.
33:29
They want to see you work on the things that they think you should work on.
33:33
You know, it's not even like if Dave says I should work on my right foot,
33:35
but I really think I need to get better on my 1v1 defending,
33:38
maybe that's a reality check that I should get work, spend the time on my right foot.
33:42
And so I think leaving the meeting with tangible things that you both agree
33:47
upon that you need to work on and leaving with a plan on how to get better is
33:51
the best thing that you can do from these meetings.
33:55
Absolutely. This is a really interesting thing about soccer,
33:58
where it's not like we run track or we have this sort of number attached to
34:01
us, right? Track's very, very simple and straightforward.
34:04
Whoever crosses that finish line with the lowest number, whoever's the fastest,
34:07
that's who you're going to run. Like, that is your best player in that event.
34:11
Soccer is one of those things where so much of it is up for debate or interpretation
34:15
to your coaching staff. It depends on the style of play.
34:18
It depends on the scenario in the game. It depends on your relationship with
34:21
the coaching staff. If they trust you in certain scenarios or positions.
34:25
Game management, all of these things are up to interpretation of your coaching staff.
34:29
And I think the end of your meetings is one of those situations where you start
34:32
to build that relationship and connection and you start to build this bridge
34:36
with you and your coaching staff so that you can have these conversations about
34:39
what looks like, what your expectations, where you fit in in their head and their lineup.
34:43
I think it's what makes soccer so unique at times, but I think it's because
34:48
statistically it's so different.
34:50
Like you don't have something, even basketball, like you have a very clear stat
34:55
lineup at the end of a game or gymnastics. They get a score track or all these other sports.
35:00
Soccer is strictly up to interpretation of your coaching staff.
35:03
And sometimes it's obvious if you played well, other times not so much.
35:06
And you don't really get that kind of validation with numbers the way you do in other sports.
35:10
So a lot of it is super dependent on the relationships you have with your coaching staff,
35:15
which starts in these kind of end-of-the-year meetings or beginning-of-the-year
35:18
meetings where you're able to sit down and have these open, honest,
35:21
blunt conversations about where you stand and what the expectations for you are.
35:25
I will say that Jeff has been good. Something that he kind of implemented throughout
35:30
the years now is that we have to send him an email at the end of our meeting.
35:33
Like you said, you want to get a couple things that you need to work on out of.
35:37
So he'll make you send, I think it's like what you discussed,
35:40
a little blurb, a summary of it, and then expectations of what you're already good at,
35:45
what you need to work on and improve on, and expectations for the spring or
35:49
if it's in the spring for the summer and fall of the year.
35:52
An action step, an action plan of how you're going to execute that,
35:56
which I think has been super helpful.
35:57
And it also ensures that both you and him are on the same page and heard the same meeting.
36:03
Because sometimes that doesn't always happen. You can have a conversation with
36:07
someone and he can think it went one way and you think it went another way.
36:10
So having it written down like that ensures that you're both on the same page.
36:14
Yeah, no, that's completely a fantastic point.
36:18
And I think in these meetings, one thing that's really easy to do is to get
36:22
bogged down on the soccer.
36:24
You know, of course you want to talk about your one-v-one defending or your
36:28
shots on goal average of the season, all these things.
36:31
But I think we all know, especially being a college athlete,
36:34
there's so many more aspects.
36:36
And one thing I would challenge is make sure all of these aspects are hit in these meetings.
36:41
Yes, you want to talk about on the field performance, but you also do want to
36:45
talk about what you bring to the team off the field.
36:48
I always talk to Dave about how I could be a better leader in the program.
36:52
And frankly, it was a goal of mine to be captain of the Iowa team.
36:55
So my sophomore year, I was like making it clear to him. He knew it was a goal of mine to be captain.
36:59
And what should I work on in his perspective to be a better leader,
37:03
to potentially be a captain?
37:05
I think that these are all different areas. You know, talk about your school
37:09
life balance, what went well, what maybe didn't go well, and how you can talk
37:13
about that or be better at that going forward too.
37:15
There's so many aspects of your life as a college athlete. And I think it's
37:19
doing you a disservice if you only hone in on the soccer specific portion in
37:24
these meetings, because so many other things impact your life or impact your
37:27
role and responsibilities on the team.
37:29
So discuss all of those roles and responsibilities.
37:33
Absolutely. That is a great point that you bring up. You know,
37:36
it's, wow, we've talked about the trajectory of college soccer and how it's
37:40
going to look more and more professional.
37:42
You still are a college student and a collegiate athlete. There are so many
37:45
aspects to your life that you have to balance.
37:47
Like you said, the academic, the social, all balancing that with soccer.
37:51
And I think you'd be surprised that maybe some of the advice or coaching staff
37:55
could give you if they've seen it, they've been around it.
37:58
They've coached thousands of girls just like you in the same scenario.
38:02
So they've seen it all and they know kind of maybe how to help you navigate
38:06
these things if you're struggling with it.
38:08
Yeah. I think I have a couple more tips that I always did really going into
38:12
these meetings that I think really did me a lot of success.
38:15
One of them is we talked about know what you want out of the meeting going in,
38:19
but we've also talked a lot this year about like, what is their big goal?
38:22
What is your thing you're chasing? For me, it was going pro.
38:26
Frankly, it was said in my freshman year, end of year meeting that I was going
38:31
to be the first Hawk I drafted.
38:32
That's where we spoke it into existence. And that came true.
38:36
Every meeting, end of year meeting until then, it became, Dave,
38:40
where am I on track to that goal?
38:42
And it was something we bluntly discussed. And it was very intentional.
38:46
One, I wanted to hear his answer. To be honest, most of the time he laughed
38:49
at me and said, stop asking me that question.
38:51
But it was a reality. I wanted to know his answer, but I also wanted to keep
38:57
reminding him that this was my goal.
38:59
It was me actively putting it in his brain that I am still chasing this goal.
39:04
It is still my guiding motivation. That is my North star that is guiding me in every direction.
39:09
I wanted him to challenge me on all the decisions I made that maybe didn't line
39:13
up with that path, but also I wanted his help in setting me up for opportunities.
39:17
If I didn't bring this up at meetings, maybe he wouldn't make some of the phone
39:21
calls he made for me. Maybe he
39:22
wouldn't set up some of the summer opportunities that he helped me set up.
39:25
I think those are all things that by speaking your big goals and what you're
39:29
chasing into your existence and letting your college coaches know,
39:32
you get immediate feedback on your trajectory towards those goals,
39:36
but they're also aware of those goals.
39:38
And those are very important things for them to know as well.
39:41
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think this is one of those topics too that goes
39:43
back to just knowing your coaching staff. It's definitely something that could be wrought up.
39:48
I think Dave and Jeff may have, depending on who you are, two different theories around that.
39:54
I think Jeff's would be more focused on the now in order to go pro,
39:58
oh, you have to be the best collegiate player you can be. Like,
40:01
we'll worry about the rest later.
40:03
Where versus Dave and you guys are kind of manifesting it and building it together,
40:06
I think those are just goes to show like the different coaching staffs you have
40:09
and the different perspectives on different topics and things of that nature.
40:12
So I do think that's a really interesting point that you brought up.
40:17
And it's definitely not something that I think I've ever been able to do.
40:21
Like I've always been super short term cited, like what is going on,
40:25
what's going on the next semester.
40:27
The rest of it is like future Jordan's problem, which I think goes to show like
40:30
the difference between me and you as well as players.
40:33
No. And I think final two advice. The one thing I want to say is no matter how
40:38
this meeting goes, I truly hope for all players.
40:41
It's not all negative, but it's also not all positive.
40:45
I remember feeling bluntly I'll
40:48
say I felt frustrated after some meetings because I felt like
40:51
okay yeah they were saying all great things again but did I really get anything
40:55
out of that yes I know I was the golden child that had very positive end of
40:59
year meetings but it was true and I was like okay but like that was great and
41:03
all but I almost had a hard time trusting end of year meetings because they
41:07
were positive and I'm like well are they just telling everyone great things or are these.
41:11
You know, are they just gassing me up or what's going on?
41:13
And so I think as a player, as a coach, anyone going into these meetings,
41:17
like they can't all be positive, but you also can't be negative.
41:20
You can't just bog someone down in a ton of negative stuff and shove them out the door.
41:24
You know, I think there's always things that can be growing moments and things
41:27
that we can highlight as glows.
41:29
And so as a player, don't get too high of, oh, I had a great individual meeting.
41:34
I'm fine. I can put my foot off the gas, but also know
41:37
that there were good things if it's only bad things so it's also
41:40
from a coaching perspective of like layer in both good
41:43
and bad no matter the athlete you're talking to absolutely i
41:46
think that goes true to being just a teammate in general it's what
41:49
used to be called the losada
41:52
zone where you have to have a certain number of compliments for every insult
41:55
in order for the player to take it well i think it's something
41:58
that that they definitely try to implement in
42:01
end of the year meetings in order for you to walk away feeling like both
42:05
you weren't just totally destroyed in
42:07
that meeting but also that you're able to walk away with things to
42:10
work on and fix and to be a better player coming out
42:13
of it but I think that's advice as a teammate as well as
42:16
knowing kind of that ratio that your teammate needs and whether they need validation
42:20
or they need to that constructive criticism piece and how to kind of layer that
42:23
stuff in so that they take it the best way possible but my question to you Sam
42:27
as you go through this like what is the difference between a collegiate end
42:31
of the year meeting versus a professional end of the year meeting?
42:34
Yeah, that's a great question.
42:36
So it's something I'm kind of navigating right now, to be honest.
42:40
I had my end of year meetings as a pro last week with my coach.
42:45
The very unique thing, and this is really nothing to do with being a pro,
42:49
but just the part of the unique situation I'm in, my coach will not be our coach next year.
42:53
It has been announced that he's not returning as our coach.
42:56
So frankly, a lot of the meeting was a lot of really good stuff reflecting on the year.
43:02
But it's not like you can say, OK, like, and this is how I want you to play
43:05
moving forward because we have a whole new coach that I haven't met yet. I think that,
43:09
My answer is TBD, because we do still have two more games to play.
43:14
And I think it's going to be the meeting with my GM that I get a lot more out of.
43:17
And we kind of talked about the difference here between coaches at a college
43:21
level and coaches at a pro level.
43:23
One of the biggest differences is your coach at your college level is your coach and your GM.
43:27
Your pro situation, you have a coach and you have a GM. And yes,
43:31
you want to play good for your coach. You want to learn for your coach.
43:35
The GM makes a lot of decisions, at least in the situation I'm in.
43:38
And so having that relationship and being blunt with my GM when it comes to
43:43
contracts when it comes to reality of where I stand in this program when it
43:46
comes to my future that all comes from the GM and I think a lot of those questions
43:51
are what get answered in an individual meeting,
43:53
yes in my individual meeting with my coach we talked about where I can get better
43:56
we talked about my first touch we talked about being dynamic in the attack all
43:59
these things where I can grow as a player in his opinion but the big questions
44:04
that I feel like you always want answered in the meetings, that's going to come from the GM.
44:08
So I think my biggest answer is TBD because it's now two separate meetings.
44:12
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think that
44:15
is a really interesting and unique scenario, like I said, to be put in.
44:20
And then, yeah, my last advice, I think, for an end-of-year meeting,
44:23
the way that I would leave this is you never want to leave anything unsaid,
44:27
whether this be club, whether this be college, any situation you're in.
44:32
If you're done in November and you're not going to see your coach again realistically
44:37
till January and you have such a long period off.
44:41
You do not want stuff left unsaid. So being, if your coaches don't initiate
44:45
end of year meetings, you initiate one.
44:48
You totally have that right to text your coach for an end of year wrap up.
44:51
Be bold and send that text. Ask for this. I think end of year meetings are needed
44:55
for all players. So if your coaches don't initiate it, you initiate it.
44:59
If there's something on that tip of your tongue or on your mind, say it.
45:03
These are chances for you to clearly, like we've said, be honest,
45:06
clear the air, be blunt. And so if it's on that tip of your tongue,
45:11
I say, like, don't leave anything unsaid.
45:13
Don't walk in that room saying, I wish I would have said this.
45:15
And that is the biggest thing.
45:17
That is that is great advice. Yes.
45:20
You don't want to have any regrets as you walk away of what if or what could
45:24
have been at the end, if only you would have been more honest or open with with
45:28
what you were feeling and what you were thinking.
45:30
Like we said before, I think honesty and bluntness is the biggest two things
45:33
that you can have going into it and making sure that you say it all and leave it all on the table.
45:38
I think there's only good things happen from that and you can only walk away
45:43
with clear answers and a better picture of where you stand and what's going on.
45:47
I think end of year meetings can be extremely, extremely intimidating.
45:50
So another thing that I always did is I chose the last possible slot.
45:56
So I had all that time to really reflect on what I wanted to say,
46:00
what I was going to do and have all that time to really kind of reflect and
46:03
decompress the season before I went into the end of the year meeting and I had
46:06
time to kind of prep myself for it so it wasn't nearly as intimidating as you
46:10
go through and you see all your other teammates going through it as well you
46:13
know that they've already it's already been done.
46:16
You know, you're number 32 on the list. Like it's been there,
46:19
done that. It's not nearly as scary at that point. I think at least it wasn't for me.
46:23
And I needed that extra time to kind of reflect and decompress the season.
46:26
So the timing of your meeting as well, if it is up to you, sometimes coaches
46:30
will just send you a time and be like, this is when we're meeting.
46:32
But if you do have that choice, I think picking a time that works within your
46:37
schedule and your timeframe, some people need it immediately so they can move
46:40
on with their life and get it all out of their head and figure out what they need from it.
46:45
Where others like myself need that time to decompress and reflect on the season.
46:49
So timing of it, I think can be very important as well. Cause I know for me,
46:53
as those that week went on or two weeks went on, I just came up with more and
46:57
more questions and pictures became clear and clearer to me where I know,
47:01
like I said, Sam or other people maybe start to forget the questions they want as the time passes.
47:07
So it depends on who you are. I mean, I think it's also super important with those meetings.
47:11
Absolutely. Well, we wish everyone best of luck in their end of year meetings.
47:16
I think overall, they're scary.
47:20
Jordan hit it on the head. They're scary, but going forward,
47:23
I think they're also needed and they're a massive opportunity.
47:25
When you view it like that, it becomes a lot less scary. But I do hope our advice
47:29
is people that have been through them, you walk in the room.
47:32
For us, all four coaches are sitting at one side of the table.
47:35
You pull up your awkward chair i always had
47:38
like a coffee or something to make it a little less intimidating like
47:41
my pumpkin spice latte made my my meetings a little bit better
47:44
there was like something on the screen that was like stats for the year where
47:49
we think you've grown where we think you could get better they're scary every
47:53
everyone was all four coaches all four coaches plus a strength and conditioning
47:57
coach five coaches plus one but it was a 5v1 whoa ours is just us and Jeff in a little office.
48:03
Yeah, I don't know which one's better or which one's worse. That could be worse
48:06
to me. But no, you sat on a table.
48:08
It was Dave, Cato, Kyle, JP, and Andre ready to give everything that they thought about you.
48:14
I don't know if I'd want my strength and conditioning coach in my meeting.
48:17
That just doesn't seem necessary to me. That doesn't feel...
48:22
I could do without that. Every once in a while, they threw the academic advisor
48:25
in there just to get crazy. Or if you had been injured, the athletic trainer was jumping in there.
48:29
Oh, no. Get them out of there. I do not want them in my end-of-the-year meeting at all.
48:34
I love the separation between my athletic trainer and the coaching staff.
48:39
If she were to hop in on my end-of-the-year meeting, I think I would actually cry.
48:43
She can't be involved in that side of the world for me. I need her as an outlet
48:48
outside of my coaching staff.
48:50
That's yeah and that's really interesting you guys do it very very differently it
48:53
seems like yeah no so also know your setup know who you're about to walk into
48:57
a meeting with if i had no idea i was about to walk onto a 5e1 that could be
49:01
scary so i think being aware asking teammates get that last time slot ask the
49:06
teammates who were in on it you know different things like that like know what
49:09
setup you're about to get into because that definitely changes the energy of a meeting,
49:13
yeah absolutely i like mine i think a lot more than yours so.
49:17
That's that's a lot it was a lot hey there
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all right but jordan we're pushing off these end of year meetings
50:22
as long as we possible can we got a huge big 10 tournament coming up this weekend
50:26
like you said you feel good about red curse give us the preview with what what
50:31
do we feel going to the weekend yeah yeah like i said we feel good you know
50:34
we had off yesterday so today is the first time training getting back into everything on the Tuesday.
50:40
Mondays are off day, so we're recording this on a Tuesday.
50:44
We'll start kind of prepping for the weekend and for Rutgers as we just found
50:48
out we were playing them before.
50:51
I think it's one of those things where it didn't really matter who we played
50:54
once we knew we were going to have that bye week and kind of plan that Saturday regardless.
51:00
It's super exciting to have the opportunity to play them again.
51:02
They're an incredibly talented team. Obviously, we liked...
51:06
You know, the setup with it being on Saturday versus Sunday,
51:09
I think that that adds a little something to I like playing on Saturdays.
51:13
We played Michigan on a Saturday and we had the biggest crowd we've ever had.
51:16
And that was an awesome environment to be a part of. So I think just trying
51:19
to hold on to kind of those little details of it and really just figure out
51:23
the prep and what the setup is for the week, which we'll start today and get
51:27
ready for it as we move forward.
51:28
And just knowing how much this means to us, especially because we didn't win
51:31
conference, which in the least braggy way possible is like relatively new to 90% of the team.
51:38
They've never lost a conference game. There's only like, I know it sounds ridiculous,
51:43
but it's true. Like we, we won the conference the last two years.
51:46
So it's a different situation to be in where the tournament does have so much meaning.
51:50
And especially with such an unbalanced schedule in the normal season where the
51:54
tournament has a larger emphasis on it and knowing what we're playing for and
51:57
kind of those home games in the NCAA tournament. So we're really excited moving
52:01
forward with it and really get into this postseason as we. Yeah, that's awesome.
52:05
We have our second to last game, our last away game of the season,
52:08
going up to the Arctic Circle, like northern Sweden.
52:11
So that's going to be a journey and a half.
52:13
Playing my future new coach. So a lot of a lot of weird storylines on the line
52:17
for me. But yeah, looking forward to the week ahead.
52:20
Looking forward to tuning in to Big Ten Plus on my weekend travels to watch
52:25
all the Big Ten tournament, as I encourage everyone else to do.
52:28
And as always, stay tuned to Girls Soccer Network and soccer on, guys.