Latest / The BIG LIFE / The BIG LIFE S5E4 | The Transfer Portal, Going Pro & Betting on Yourself

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The BIG LIFE S5E4 | The Transfer Portal, Going Pro & Betting on Yourself · The BIG LIFE

• 0:03
  Welcome back to the Big Life Podcast. Last week was yet another crazy long week.
• 0:07
  Jaden, what are we going to talk about today?
• 0:09
  Yeah, it was a pretty packed week for the both of us. We're going to give you
• 0:12
  guys a recap of our weeks and the new NCAA rankings, upcoming games,
• 0:17
  our first week of class, and then what we want to do after college.
• 0:20
  And we also have our first guest of the season, Alex Kloss, who's a graduate
• 0:24
  that played at University of California that we interview at the end.
• 0:28
  So let's start with a little question for discussion. Give us your rose and thorn of the week.
• 0:32
  My rose of this week is in our like stats for like how much like we do.
• 0:38
  I was second on the most running. So I ran 24 miles last week.
• 0:44
  The number one run 26, but she's always like top of everyone.
• 0:47
  But I was like, like second, I
• 0:49
  wasn't too far and I was kind of far from everyone else so I was like okay
• 0:53
  okay but my thorn is because I ran so much I am so sore I got a massage like
• 0:59
  on Friday before or after our TCU game
• 1:03
  and he killed my calves my calves were hurting until our next game and after that game so and a bud,
• 1:11
  my playing time's been looking pretty good and hopefully keeps up like that
• 1:14
  I got like 84 minutes in my game and we won and we're 4-0 so okay now go to
• 1:20
  your Rose Thorn okay my Rose is,
• 1:25
  no I'm going with my Thorn we lost.
• 1:28
  But my Rose is that we genuinely went toe-to-toe with them,
• 1:33
  BYU is a team that is like dude we played in their sick ass stadium it was so
• 1:38
  cool so cool like honestly like they started the game off with a prayer and
• 1:43
  it was it was very respectful honestly I didn't I didn't know what to excite going to BYU like.
• 1:48
  So it was definitely different, but that was the rose was like our energy was
• 1:51
  matched because of Like the underdog like fuel, you know, but we literally went
• 1:56
  toe-to-toe with them So i'm proud of our team for that.
• 1:58
  Like obviously we didn't get the results. So that was my thorn but Rose wise
• 2:02
  like we were we were we were there like the team was there The energy was there
• 2:06
  was felt from the bench like I honestly was on the bench like ah I'm never like that ever.
• 2:11
  So yeah, and then my bud would be This next game we have tomorrow because match
• 2:16
  day one and we have another game on sunday so another two-game week so i'm excited for that,
• 2:22
  but if you want to describe your week in one word go on rising okay,
• 2:28
  because we are kind of like going up in rankings you know so we're rising and
• 2:32
  my playing time is rising and,
• 2:34
  you know my our i feel like our team morale is rising you know i just feel like
• 2:38
  it's just been a good like we're just building up and hopefully we don't hit
• 2:42
  a plateau hope and then drop off hopefully we should keep going up but obviously,
• 2:47
  But for now, we're rising.
• 2:48
  Mine would probably be like, like bumpy.
• 2:51
  Because we just started class. So, and I've been like switching out my classes
• 2:54
  and stuff. So I've been like, I've only been to two classes and it's been three days.
• 3:00
  So I haven't skipped any though. Like it's because they're dropping.
• 3:02
  Like yesterday I was supposed to have two classes, but one of them got canceled.
• 3:06
  So I only had one. And then the first day of school, I had a class that then I dropped the class.
• 3:12
  So now I don't ever have that class ever again. So like just bumpy.
• 3:15
  And then soccer, like, again, we did well against BYU. We just didn't get the
• 3:20
  result, which is frustrating. So it's like, it was good, but then it was also
• 3:23
  bad because we didn't get the result that we wanted. But, yeah.
• 3:25
  What about a sound? Okay, you did the sound first. I've never done that one. You go, you go. Like…,
• 3:32
  yeah like like not happy but like like yeah because like yeah you take it as
• 3:38
  you will that's my sound the other week mine was like like the other day i was
• 3:42
  like oh okay i guess mine would be like.
• 3:48
  You know okay okay and wrapping up okay well i kind of went over my typical
• 3:55
  day but do you want to give us a typical day for you this week?
• 3:59
  I never get treatment like ever and we usually ask and this week I've gotten
• 4:05
  treatment all three days.
• 4:08
  Because I'm like kind of so I've woken up and then gone to treatment and then
• 4:13
  class and then after that
• 4:16
  we had film and then we practice and I'm stupid I forgot to put my tracker in for practice.
• 4:23
  Oh so you would have I had like 27 miles. So we didn't get any of my stats and I ran so much yesterday.
• 4:29
  When is your guys' practice block again? I mean, it's not really like a block.
• 4:32
  We have like, it's like two hours is our practice or whatever.
• 4:36
  And then like our lift is like 45. So it's basically like three hour block.
• 4:41
  I guess for me, I had training at eight, like technical. We did shooting. It was honestly fun.
• 4:46
  And then I had breakfast and then now I'm filming this. And then I have a meeting
• 4:51
  and then I have treatment and we have training. and then, or then we have film
• 4:54
  and training, then lift.
• 4:56
  I don't know why we have lift. And then class. So if you ever wondered what
• 5:00
  a D1 life is like, it's pretty chaotic and let's see. Should we go into like
• 5:04
  our performance in our games versus our team performance?
• 5:08
  Yeah. Let's start with like, how did you feel about your performance this week?
• 5:12
  And like, what are you proud of? I got a lot of shots off.
• 5:14
  I think on my thing, I had like six and then like four on goal.
• 5:18
  So like one of them, oh my gosh, I'm so mad because I shanked it with my left.
• 5:23
  Don't ever put the ball on my left foot, but if it's on my right,
• 5:25
  I promise you it's going somewhere near the net.
• 5:27
  But the left, I like beat a player. I like cut, cut, cut, and then...
• 5:31
  I shanked it and like it low-key could have been a freaking goal,
• 5:35
  but I missed but honestly, I'm proud
• 5:37
  of my shots and Being attack like attacking I think one of the weeks.
• 5:41
  I said I wanted to like drive at a back line And I got that this week.
• 5:44
  So yeah, I'm proud of that. What about you? We played TCU and so TCU was ranked
• 5:49
  15th and we're 18 So it was our first home game matched rank up crazy game.
• 5:54
  It was like we beat them three to two but
• 5:58
  in the first half i don't think i've ran more because they are really good at possessing
• 6:03
  and so they were just passing it back through their back line they didn't they
• 6:06
  only got four shots off in the first half but they had like 60 of the possession
• 6:11
  but it's okay we only let four shots off so it's fine and then the second half
• 6:14
  like we actually started playing
• 6:16
  and keeping it when we won it and we won that game and then we played nebraska
• 6:20
  this weekend and that'll be a good game.
• 6:22
  Yeah, we scored in the first like five minutes. So it was good.
• 6:26
  We went up early and then we kept getting a couple shots off.
• 6:29
  And then they started pressing us really hard and we kind of were freaking out.
• 6:33
  Our center backs kept kicking it long. I was like, please play me.
• 6:36
  I'm right here. I'm here to support you. Second half, we switched it up and
• 6:40
  we changed our formation and we had two sixes. So I had one more person with
• 6:44
  me and I found the ball so much more.
• 6:46
  And honestly, it was like what I thought, like one of my best performances.
• 6:50
  Obviously not perfect, but I was getting the ball when I wanted to hit the ball
• 6:54
  and doing some good stuff. Nice.
• 6:56
  Hey, nice job, dude. It always feels so good when that coach makes a formation
• 7:02
  decision and that works really well.
• 7:04
  Yeah, that was actually one of my questions was, did you guys end up changing
• 7:07
  anything about your formation and stuff? So that's cool. But what about the
• 7:11
  team? How was your team performance?
• 7:12
  How was all that? Well, obviously we are 4-0 right now, so I think we're doing
• 7:16
  pretty well and our I mean our first four games have been pretty tough games
• 7:21
  too two ranked matchups against like.
• 7:25
  The good teams and we're holding our own and we have two games
• 7:30
  this week one against troy and then south alabama which i don't know how they
• 7:35
  play and hopefully we keep the same mentality for these games but i do think like,
• 7:41
  our team has been doing very well we can obviously do better though still i
• 7:45
  think there's like a lot of aspects where we can improve upon but like that's
• 7:48
  the same for my own play so but how about you guys so,
• 7:53
  I think the last three games we lost we lost two games so you're zero one and
• 7:58
  two those two losses were against ranked teams no excuse very good teams we
• 8:02
  know that we can compete with them like I think the last couple weeks we said
• 8:05
  that it was mentality and like us not going out there and like wanting,
• 8:09
  to beat a team like I think we play ourselves a lot and kind of degrade ourselves
• 8:14
  a lot but I think this past game against BYU like the energy was there like we were,
• 8:18
  we were on the front foot we were defending a lot in the first half but we did like get,
• 8:23
  back and it was a very competitive games and then unfortunately one of our goals
• 8:26
  was actual screener i was like bro have it like the first goal unlucky like
• 8:31
  two clearances went back and it just landed like right where she was at so unlucky
• 8:35
  for us but then their second goal i was like.
• 8:38
  You can have it it was such a good hey if you're watching this good job girl
• 8:41
  i was made my whole team was like bruh so we have two upcoming games and i'm
• 8:45
  excited like they're We're both at home, so great energy from...
• 8:49
  All the girls being there. Actually, one of my friends got a red cod,
• 8:52
  so she's not going to be there.
• 8:54
  So it might be a little bit of a stretch for the team just because one of her
• 8:58
  strengths is building for us and dribbling and breaking down teams alone.
• 9:01
  She can do that on her own. Going to be a different adjustment,
• 9:04
  but we definitely have so much depth in our bench that I think we're chilling.
• 9:08
  And before we get into our interview with Alex, we kind of want to talk about
• 9:13
  what we want to do after college, dude. And what are you planning on doing?
• 9:16
  So coming into college, I didn't know if I wanted to play the four years.
• 9:20
  Still don't know if I want to play the four years. But honestly,
• 9:22
  I want to, for me, as between pro and college, like initially coming into college.
• 9:26
  But I'm glad that I did come to college and learn a lot about myself and a lot
• 9:29
  about the game and just different styles and stuff.
• 9:32
  And also just be a college student. Like I've never really been a student.
• 9:36
  I think pro, I definitely want to play abroad. I definitely think that traveling
• 9:40
  overseas, getting paid for is,
• 9:42
  and like just traveling in general to a different country and different.
• 9:46
  Everything it would be super cool so I definitely don't know the timeline but
• 9:51
  I'm you know excited to see what's to come but I definitely want to start by playing over there or,
• 9:56
  honestly anywhere I just want to play in a different environment yeah I definitely
• 10:00
  do want to go pro what about you,
• 10:02
  I do as well I do want to go all four years first maybe even have a fifth year
• 10:06
  so then I fully feel like if I go into pro like,
• 10:10
  obviously it takes time to start playing when you go onto a new team but hopefully it's like
• 10:15
  I'm at a point where I can go and make a difference at a pro team instead of
• 10:18
  going in and being like oh I need to build my way all the way up on this team
• 10:22
  too and I also think like I don't know if I want to play here or if I want to go overseas yet
• 10:28
  I think that will come with like time I'm capable of living away from like my
• 10:32
  family and stuff because I'm already doing that now where I'm all the way in Alabama
• 10:36
  compared to like California so I don't really see my parents anyway so I think
• 10:40
  I would be fine living overseas it's just hard because then you leave your friends and just.
• 10:46
  To the United States in general, but, like, do you see yourself playing domestically or abroad? Abroad.
• 10:51
  I mean, both, but I think, like, I resonate with the style of playing Europe.
• 10:56
  Like, I like, I'm a very technical player, so I like being close. I like keeping the ball.
• 11:02
  And I think here in NBSL, that is a thing, but it's also, like,
• 11:05
  who can exploit in behind the most?
• 11:08
  Who can combine to play that bowl for a cutback cross? Like,
• 11:11
  that is European soccer, but that's also, that's more American style version
• 11:16
  of soccer. And I'm honestly, I resonate with, you know, European,
• 11:19
  but European styles. What about you?
• 11:21
  Which, wherever the wind takes me, honestly, but I'm good at playing.
• 11:25
  I think if I were to play abroad, I'd want to play in either like Australia,
• 11:30
  Portugal, maybe even like, hey, the goal is Chelsea.
• 11:36
  Stop laughing. It could come true, bruh.
• 11:39
  Hey, eventually. Lock in, lock in. I'm a Chelsea fan anyways and the women's
• 11:44
  team is so good like that is,
• 11:47
  so good but even after like once you're done with probably like what kind of
• 11:51
  career are you thinking of having okay random I love cosmetology I don't think
• 11:55
  anyone knows what that is but
• 11:57
  basically nails hairs lashes makeup everything I love that even though I'm not
• 12:02
  really much of a girly girl I still get my nails done I still love my hair I
• 12:05
  still love my eyelashes everything like that so I definitely want to indulge in that type of stuff but.
• 12:11
  Yeah, I think that's, like, kind of what I want to do. I'm actually a legal
• 12:15
  studies major, so I don't know how it's going to get me there,
• 12:17
  but I'm going to get there because that's what I want to do.
• 12:19
  Like, after, I know I will have a name. Like, I kind of have a little bit of
• 12:23
  a name, and I'm starting to get there.
• 12:24
  But as soon as, like, soccer and stuff kind of goes off the charts for me,
• 12:28
  like, that's where I definitely want to branch into. So, yeah,
• 12:32
  but what about you? What do you want to take after soccer?
• 12:36
  I want to probably stay, like, in the sports field, but I want to be like I'm
• 12:41
  my major is psychology and I want to be like a sports psychologist at some point
• 12:45
  and like whether that be like an actual one or just like helping teams out with
• 12:48
  like the performance side and like soccer is just such like a mental sport being
• 12:53
  one for younger athletes and helping them with their mentality when they're
• 12:56
  younger will help them succeed later in life now we're excited to bring on our
• 13:01
  very first guest of the big life podcast listen to Alex talk about her journey and everything.
• 13:06
  It's definitely very inspirational story. So I think you guys should definitely
• 13:10
  take that take a listen on that which is Alex Kloss.
• 13:13
  She's a former division one player from University of California and one of
• 13:18
  my friends. She plays on my summer team. Alex thanks for being here.
• 13:22
  Of course I'm excited to be here. Thanks for having me guys.
• 13:25
  To start we want to ask about walking us through your college soccer journey
• 13:29
  and how you ended up at Santa Clara and then at Cal.
• 13:33
  Yeah, so for me, it was a little bit unconventional, I guess,
• 13:36
  just according to today's standards, because I committed when I was a freshman in high school.
• 13:41
  So it was right before the big rule change that happened. And I think everyone
• 13:46
  should be really grateful for that rule change, because when I was a freshman
• 13:50
  in high school, I really didn't know what I wanted in terms of school and soccer. I was just really young.
• 13:55
  So I committed to play at Santa Clara and I played there for two seasons and
• 14:00
  I just wasn't getting the playing time that I wanted. I love the school.
• 14:03
  I love my teammates, but it just didn't feel like a right fit.
• 14:07
  So I transferred to Cal right after my sophomore season, played two seasons
• 14:12
  with Cal, and it was the best decision of my life.
• 14:15
  What are some of the differences that you felt at Santa Clara versus Cal,
• 14:20
  both on the field and off the field?
• 14:22
  Yeah, I think there were a lot of differences. I mean, especially I'll go with
• 14:27
  the first soccer difference.
• 14:29
  When you get recruited as a freshman in high school, you have,
• 14:33
  what, three years to get to college. And by the time you've developed and you're
• 14:39
  ready to go to college, you're a completely different player.
• 14:42
  And what your coach might have needed then when he recruited you is not going
• 14:46
  to match up with what he needs at that moment.
• 14:49
  And so that really hurt me as a player because I just didn't fit into what he
• 14:53
  needed in that moment. So soccer-wise, a big difference was that I felt a lot more valued at Cal.
• 14:59
  When I transferred, they needed me right then.
• 15:01
  I got a lot more playing time and I just overall felt more valued on the field.
• 15:05
  But off the field, Cal's obviously a public school.
• 15:08
  Santa Clara's a private religious school. And with that, Santa Clara felt very much like high school.
• 15:15
  Everyone knew each other, which definitely has its pros and cons,
• 15:19
  but I would say I definitely prefer a big campus.
• 15:22
  There is a lot more to do around the Berkeley campus.
• 15:25
  There's so many restaurants, things to do. You can go to San Francisco,
• 15:29
  Santa Clara, there really was not a lot to do.
• 15:31
  And if you don't have a car, it's really difficult to get and find things to
• 15:35
  do. So yeah, I definitely am happy that I got to experience a small school and a big school.
• 15:41
  And through that, I learned that a big school is definitely what I prefer.
• 15:46
  The transfer portal is it's like scary but also like as you said like you learned,
• 15:51
  like what you like and what you prefer and it also helps like with the coaches
• 15:55
  the different coaches you get to see different styles and stuff so.
• 15:58
  That's definitely was a cool experience, I assume. But is there any like a memory
• 16:03
  that stuck out from either school? But like, whether that's like with your teammates
• 16:06
  on the field, crazy goal, like anything that stuck out to you?
• 16:10
  Yeah, I would say the one moment that like really stands out is my junior year with Cal.
• 16:18
  And we were kind of on the cusp of making the tournament or not.
• 16:21
  We had a really good season. We had a really deep roster and we were playing Stanford at Stanford.
• 16:27
  We were up 1-0 and then it was 2-1 2-2 and then in the very last second I got a PK.
• 16:35
  And then I think it was Courtney Boone that ended up scoring the PK and we beat
• 16:39
  Stanford and it sent us to the tournament
• 16:41
  so that was probably my favorite memory it was so awesome I mean that feeling
• 16:46
  of just being so excited to win
• 16:48
  not only for yourself but for your team and for your coaches and all the hard
• 16:52
  work that you've put in over the season that was our last game of conference
• 16:55
  and it was really just an amazing moment.
• 16:58
  Especially for like Crosstown Rivalry. Like how far are the two?
• 17:01
  I'm not really familiar with the Bay Area, but. Oh, it's like an hour away.
• 17:05
  Yeah. I mean, even from Santa Clara, Stanford's always been our rival.
• 17:09
  So that's always been such a big game.
• 17:12
  Now we'll go into kind of like the transfer portal process that you went through.
• 17:16
  And like before like we go and talk into that, I'm sure there's like many people
• 17:20
  that don't really know how it works.
• 17:21
  So I'll kind of explain it basically the transfer portal it's like base where
• 17:26
  like do you want to see an athlete it's like tell their school that they want
• 17:28
  to explore transferring
• 17:30
  and like once you enter it your compliance office tells your coaches that you're
• 17:35
  in the portal and then coaches at other schools can see your information and
• 17:38
  contact you about joining their programs
• 17:41
  and it doesn't like force you to leave the school you're at but once you're
• 17:44
  in it like your current school can choose not to like renew your.
• 17:47
  Scholarship and stuff like that and you still have to like meet all the NCAA
• 17:51
  academic eligibility rules to compete at the new school that you're going to
• 17:55
  and so like since a lot of people are curious about the transfer portal can
• 17:58
  you explain like what that process like was for you and what made you decide Cal over other schools?
• 18:05
  Yeah so that's a great question I just remember sitting down with my coach at
• 18:09
  Santa Clara and I wanted to have a super open and honest conversation and I
• 18:14
  just straight up asked him, hey,
• 18:17
  what do you see my role being on the team next season? I asked him right after our last game.
• 18:22
  And I'm really, really grateful that he was honest with me. And I think a lot
• 18:26
  of players would have been upset to hear honest feedback, but I was just so grateful that he told me,
• 18:32
  I don't see you having a big role on the team. And I was gutted.
• 18:36
  Obviously, when you're a soccer player and your coach tells you that,
• 18:39
  it's like, wow, I'm not good enough.
• 18:41
  I can't play here. Like, who else is going to want me? This is terrible.
• 18:45
  I also had a big scholarship there. And so I would have to give my scholarship
• 18:50
  up. I loved everyone on the team. I'd have to give that up.
• 18:54
  And for me, I had to really realize what is most important to me.
• 18:58
  Is it being at this school and being with my friends, therefore being comfortable
• 19:05
  in the school that I've been at for the past year and a half.
• 19:07
  And soccer ultimately ended up being more important to me than being comfortable.
• 19:13
  So I decided to take a risk and enter the transfer portal. And really my biggest
• 19:18
  fear was going somewhere and then having to also pay for it.
• 19:23
  And that's what ended up happening. So Cal was the first school to reach out
• 19:28
  to me and I'd already established a relationship with them.
• 19:31
  My original decision was between Cal and Santa Clara and they were very honest
• 19:36
  and they said, hey, we don't have any scholarship to offer you right now.
• 19:40
  And I took that as, okay, you don't have it right now, but I know that I can
• 19:44
  work for it and I'm confident in myself that I will earn it.
• 19:47
  I knew that they really wanted me, I would have a really big role on the team.
• 19:51
  And so I'd made the decision and stepped way out of my comfort zone,
• 19:56
  went to Cal and I ended up earning full scholarship.
• 19:59
  So, I mean, it is very scary to enter the portal, give up everything that you're
• 20:05
  comfortable with and step into a super uncomfortable place and have to.
• 20:11
  Meet all the teammates, like get comfortable with the coaches,
• 20:13
  live in a new place, find your way around.
• 20:15
  But I mean, again, it was the best decision. And when I was in the portal,
• 20:20
  a couple other schools did reach out and they were very different.
• 20:23
  I mean, there were SEC schools, the other WCC schools, and then there was also
• 20:29
  Cal and every school was so different. And that was really hard because I was like, okay.
• 20:35
  Do I really want to prioritize school now or do I also want to prioritize education and location?
• 20:41
  So I decided Cal because I knew that it would set me up best for my future being
• 20:45
  at such a good school and also having a big impact on the team.
• 20:49
  I think like I can't speak but for obviously transferring but a lot of players
• 20:55
  from my team actually did transfer so I do know like that it was a difficult
• 20:58
  decision and I especially like you're still young.
• 21:01
  I know like for me if I ever had to make decisions like that.
• 21:04
  Like, that's a big decision to make.
• 21:07
  Honestly, it seems like it worked out perfect. And I think, like,
• 21:09
  as she's saying, a lot of players are curious about it.
• 21:12
  I mean, it's like a step that you don't really know, like, what's going to come out of it.
• 21:15
  But was there anything that was, like, really difficult mentally?
• 21:19
  Like, obviously, you say, like, you can stay comfortable where you're at,
• 21:22
  or, like, I know the challenging part was to transfer out, but was there anything
• 21:25
  mentally, emotionally challenging that, when, like, you were deciding to eventually transfer? Yeah.
• 21:31
  Yeah, I mean, I would say mostly when I did transfer and I got to Cal,
• 21:37
  it was very hard for me to maintain my confidence.
• 21:41
  I mean, going from not playing as much as I wanted to my sophomore season and
• 21:46
  knowing that I had a chance to have a really big role on the team,
• 21:50
  the one thing that I needed to maintain and work on was my confidence.
• 21:54
  And I think Neil McGuire and Alex Sunley did a really good job at Cal of telling
• 22:00
  me, hey, we encourage mistakes here.
• 22:03
  All we want to do is maintain your confidence. I still remember there were games.
• 22:07
  There was a game we played Fullerton and I scored a goal in the last five minutes.
• 22:13
  And we won that game 1-0 and I walked off the field crying so upset because
• 22:18
  I just felt like I played so bad.
• 22:21
  And they were always there for me to maintain my confidence and tell me,
• 22:26
  hey like you are a good player you can do this and that was so
• 22:29
  different than anything I'd ever experienced at my previous college because
• 22:33
  it was always in fight or flight and you're having to fight for your spot no
• 22:36
  one's there to hold your hand and not that they were holding my hand but they
• 22:39
  were definitely just always there
• 22:41
  to bring the positivity and like make sure that I was in a good headspace yeah confidence is such
• 22:47
  a big thing especially in college soccer because once you like bring yourself
• 22:52
  down then it like it can rub off on other people too and you're like bringing
• 22:56
  your team down and like I feel like
• 22:58
  for my team last year that's kind of what happened like for me at least I what
• 23:02
  my confidence went down because you know playing time it's always like up and down,
• 23:06
  and like if you let that affect you just like it brings everything down but.
• 23:11
  Going back to, like, is there any advice that you would give any players that
• 23:14
  are thinking about entering the portal, considering that it's such a small window
• 23:18
  of time to make a decision?
• 23:20
  Yeah, so I would say you always know what you want. It's always in your gut.
• 23:27
  For me, it was a scary decision, but in my gut, I visualized the next two years
• 23:32
  that I had of college, and not one time did I ever see myself staying at my school.
• 23:39
  And I obviously stayed really close with a lot of the girls in my class at Santa Clara,
• 23:44
  and the amount of times that they told me Alex I wish I had the bravery to do
• 23:50
  what you did and just leave because they all stayed and things didn't change
• 23:54
  for them so I would say if you have that gut feeling of
• 23:58
  I don't think things are going to change I'm unhappy with soccer right now the
• 24:02
  best thing that you can do for yourself is to take that jump and just leave and try something new
• 24:08
  and I think the hard thing is loyalty and I think a lot of people are talking
• 24:12
  about that like oh players can't be loyal to their schools anymore,
• 24:16
  but I mean a relationship that you have with your coach and with your team has
• 24:21
  to be mutually beneficial and if you don't feel like you're getting anything
• 24:26
  from that relationship I think
• 24:28
  it's really important to protect yourself and go somewhere that you're going to be happy.
• 24:33
  Now that you have gone through your four, you went through four years,
• 24:36
  right? Yes. Four years? Okay, okay.
• 24:39
  Can you talk about how moving into your going into pro, like where do you play
• 24:43
  now and like how you kind of approach that idea of going pro?
• 24:47
  Yeah. So going into college, I knew that I wanted to play pro.
• 24:52
  I've just put way too much work into the sport to not go pro.
• 24:56
  And obviously I love soccer and I knew I would never be like this fit and in shape after college.
• 25:02
  And so I went to Santa Clara, didn't get the playing time I wanted.
• 25:05
  And there were some doubts in my mind. How am I going to go pro?
• 25:09
  How is this going to work with no film? And right when I transferred and started
• 25:12
  getting playing time, there was no question in my mind that I was going to go pro.
• 25:17
  Yeah, I kind of took things into my own hands. In senior year,
• 25:20
  I wanted to be really proactive.
• 25:22
  I knew that I wasn't going to graduate early because I wanted to finish out
• 25:26
  my degree and also get a minor at the same time.
• 25:29
  So I knew that I had a little bit more time than people who graduate early.
• 25:33
  So I took a little bit of time to make my highlight video, reached out to a
• 25:37
  bunch of agents, and I realized that I wasn't really getting responses back from agents.
• 25:42
  And that was really difficult for me. Just, I love to have a plan.
• 25:46
  And so I kind of took things into my own hands, reached out to my coach who
• 25:50
  knew someone who then connected me to a player on the team that I really wanted to play at.
• 25:54
  And basically through those connections, I was able to get a contract for a
• 25:59
  team that I really wanted to play on in Australia.
• 26:01
  So yeah, I kind of just really took it into my own hands. I knew exactly where
• 26:06
  I wanted to go and I made it happen.
• 26:07
  Are you excited to go to Australia? And like, how do you think that's going
• 26:11
  to be different from obviously like you're going.
• 26:13
  Somewhere international and like living in a whole nother place like do you
• 26:16
  think you're gonna be like well adjusted for that yeah so there was not one
• 26:21
  part of me that wanted to stay in the U.S.
• 26:23
  I always knew that I wanted to go abroad just because we're so young and I think
• 26:27
  it's important for us to take advantage of being able to travel and if you can
• 26:31
  travel play the sport that you love and get paid for it I think there's nothing
• 26:35
  better so yeah I'm super super.
• 26:38
  Excited and it won't be that big of a cultural adjustment obviously everyone there speaks English
• 26:44
  but I do want to move into European countries as well which will be a little
• 26:48
  bit more of an adjustment but yeah I can't wait yeah one of our questions is
• 26:51
  actually like about domestic leagues or playing abroad so that's definitely
• 26:56
  exciting I mean for me I definitely
• 26:58
  I definitely want to see myself over there too so it'd be actually cool to make
• 27:01
  good connections so like we can hear from you again about how all that goes and stuff.
• 27:07
  But is there one misconception you think people have about going pro from college?
• 27:13
  I think maybe one would be that it's really difficult.
• 27:18
  And I don't think that's the case. And I think that there is quite literally a team for everyone.
• 27:26
  Even if you didn't play college soccer, you can go to Spain and play in the
• 27:29
  third or fourth division and you'll have a team and you'll play professionally.
• 27:33
  So I think if you love soccer, there's going to be a team for you.
• 27:39
  And let's say that you love soccer and you're an amazing player,
• 27:42
  but you're not getting amazing opportunities to play in the NWSL where you feel like you can play.
• 27:48
  If you start abroad on any kind of lower team, it's so easy to get recognized
• 27:54
  and work your way up from there.
• 27:57
  Maybe you play on the second division, you scrimmage a first division team,
• 28:01
  they really like you, you play for them, then you get scouted by the NWSL.
• 28:05
  So I mean, everyone's path is different. Don't look at people who got drafted
• 28:10
  right out of college and think that you're behind because who knows,
• 28:14
  they could be miserable and not getting playing time.
• 28:16
  So might as well take advantage, play abroad, get playing time,
• 28:21
  be on a team that actually matches your level instead of trying to be on a team
• 28:25
  where you're never going to play.
• 28:27
  To kind of close it out, is there any advice that you would give either high
• 28:31
  school soccer players trying to go to college or athletes that are trying to
• 28:36
  go pro? Just any sort of advice for them and their process?
• 28:40
  Yeah, for high schoolers, I would definitely say what matches you individually?
• 28:46
  Because for me, I saw the name Santa Clara.
• 28:50
  And at the time, it was an amazing soccer school. And that was the only thing
• 28:55
  that played into my decision. Oh, they're really good at soccer.
• 28:58
  That's where I want to go.
• 28:59
  I wish that I took a more nuanced approach and looked at different parts of
• 29:04
  the school that I really wanted to go to.
• 29:06
  Am I going to like the fact that it's a small school?
• 29:10
  Am I going to like the fact that there's really not a lot to do around that
• 29:13
  school, that it's religious, that there's so many things that you have to look at in each school?
• 29:19
  And does that resonate with you as a person? Are you going to be happy there.
• 29:23
  Cal is a school that if I could go back in time and as a senior in high school,
• 29:28
  if I were to have committed, it would have been to Cal because I would have
• 29:32
  thought about my future as well.
• 29:34
  Am I going to play more? Am I going to be set up for the rest of my life with an amazing degree?
• 29:39
  These are all things to think about in your future. Am I going to play to then
• 29:43
  get the film to play pro after my college career?
• 29:46
  So I think just thinking really future focused instead of present is a great
• 29:51
  way to go about your decision when trying to figure out what college you want to go to.
• 29:56
  Yeah, I definitely resonate with what you're saying, which is cool.
• 29:59
  Yeah. Thank you so much for like sharing your story and being like real about
• 30:03
  the transfer portal and like going pro and just everything.
• 30:07
  Of course. Thank you guys for having me. That was really fun.
• 30:10
  Okay. Well, that's all we have for this week. So thank you guys so much for
• 30:13
  listening make sure to follow girls soccer network on instagram for more content
• 30:18
  and you can also find me on tiktok and instagram page thompson underscore 30,
• 30:24
  Hey, you can also find me on Instagram and TikTok at jadenrodriguez.7.
• 30:28
  We're so excited to have you guys back. And thank you guys so much for watching. Thank you.