Latest / I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth / I Hate Soccer #99 - Andrew Kewley, Colorado Rapids Academy Director at MLSNext Cup Playoffs

Transcript

I Hate Soccer #99 - Andrew Kewley, Colorado Rapids Academy Director at MLSNext Cup Playoffs · I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: Andrew Cooley is the Academy Director at Colorado Rapids, and I got to spend some time with him last week at MLS Cup playoffs in Utah.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: He played a big role in developing uh what's known as the Colorado Rapids Academy Futures Program.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: He uh he also has spent time uh with the Colorado Rush, also the Colorado Rapids Youth Soccer Club uh prior to being with the the full Colorado Rapids uh Academy.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: In our conversation, we talk about the size and scope of Colorado Rapids, uh the importance of what MLS Next is doing, as well as uh the relationship between the MLS Academies and the non-MLS Academy uh elite uh clubs within the MLS Next.
• 0:55
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• 1:03
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• 1:08
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• 1:12
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• 1:16
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• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: I hate soccer.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: You got you were just in Taca, right?
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: What are you guys doing in like yeah?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: So ours is probably a little bit different than than some of the other clubs.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: We've kind of been on the front end with like a project.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um probably started a year ago with Taca.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: And really, we wanted to come up with kind of an overall score for our players, you know, so taking scores for that they're developing in in the games.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then we have players that um from 15 and older, they go to they essentially go to school uh at the stadium uh with us.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's taking that and creating a dashboard in which we can see how are they in school, how are they in their attendance, how is their readiness from an athletic training standpoint and performance standpoint.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: So they've been uh really instrumental in helping us uh helping us pull that data in.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so so so for us, it's we've been using TACA from everything from talent ID to you know how we're kind of analyzing our own players and performance.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: So now kind of next level for us is been um how do we kind of create a more holistic picture of who the player is?
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_01: How okay, so you use it for talent ID, yeah.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: We use it for a lot of you don't have to see uh everybody in person, yeah, but then okay, so it's so much different than think of like a college recruit or a college coach recruiting somebody because you can't recruit recreep off of a highlight tape, but that's so much different than what Taca does.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's not a highlight tape, yeah.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: Anybody can make a highlight tape, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and I had Mark on when I uh at Fest.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_01: And what is it about like the video and the and the data that you guys are given through Taca to make you think that this player could fit in our system?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that's that's kind of what we've been working with with Mark and Patty now and uh Paul, like working through kind of tailoring and making it a little more specific, a little more user-friendly.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it it doesn't take the place of our um scouting department coming out and watching the games, but what it does is it helps cut down that time.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: It helps us uh identify players a little a little easier, um, and and we're able to kind of match based on what our needs are positional needs, uh style of play needs.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it so it's been really good as far as that.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it what it does is it allows us to the league to put everything in one spot versus having to go all these different leagues.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: And look, you know as well as any, right?
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: You've got all the it right now, it's the the MLS players, but you've still got you know ECNL leagues, you've got US Club Soccer, uh, different offshoots of that as well, uh USYS.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: So what Talk has done is really help us kind of pull the MLS uh next kind of world together for us.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's been really valuable.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: How many okay?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we could get into your club, like how it's built in terms of ECNO and like where all these kids are coming from.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: We could get to that maybe a little bit later.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: I want to talk about you and like your come up with like Rush and then and then obviously Rapids and just tell me more about like your just career, really.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's it it's it's it's one I when I look back on it.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: I've I've really been around the game since since I was born.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: My dad was a was a professional player.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um and uh so he's English.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: He was uh he played he came up through Liverpool system, so he came up through the Academy of Reserves first team.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: He was sold to uh Dallas Tornado in the NSL.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: No, um, and then finished his career uh playing indoor uh in the MISL.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I I I've seen kind of every iteration of of the game here in this country, and you know, I that that drove me getting into it.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I played in college, I played at Drake University and then got into to coaching after playing was was really no longer an option for me.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so from really college in uh coaching, I moved to Colorado, and that's when I got involved in Colorado Rush.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: So uh Tim Schultz, uh Eric Boucher, who's actually our second team coach, uh, was the one that hired me.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: So Eric and I have have now known each other probably the better part of 18 to 20 years now, uh, and probably owe a lot to him.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh not probably, I I owe a lot to him in in the opportunities of him really taking a chance on me.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so from there I kind of moved up uh through the rush organization, and then I moved to to Rapids uh youth club affiliate.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um I end up becoming the director of coaching at the youth club affiliate, which now uh it would it had a merger after I left, but it's probably 14,000 youth club kids now in that that organization.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: What?
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a massive organization.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: Is that all that's not that's all in Colorado?
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's all in Colorado?
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_01: So yeah, so 14,000?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they've got a they've got I think five branches.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so it's a it's a it's a massive, massive club.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: And um prior to kind of that merger, I moved across to the professional side and worked as an academy coach.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Uh worked in what was uh what is now our second team when it was in the PDL.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it really are under 23s.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: I've been an academy head coach, assistant coach.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: I worked in our alliance.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was our technical director for our alliance program, so all of our affiliates.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't you start that or something?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: No, so I started a program called the the Academy Futures.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so so really what that was was it was another version of that.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: So we we wanted to create something locally.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: We what we what we started to find is when players were 11, 12, 13, it's so hard to tell what they're gonna become, right?
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so we're bringing them in, we were bringing players in at 12 years old.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: We had uh full academy programming from 12 to 19.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And what we found is the attrition rates were so high between 12 and 13, and then again 13 and 14, uh, that it was probably more invasive for us to take the players from their home clubs, have them last a year, and then have to push them back out.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and you know, kind of our setup on the front range in in Colorado, you know, between you know, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, is you know, it can be two and a half, three hour drive, depending on on traffic.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we're pulling these players that they're they're they're coming from really all over the state.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it was just we found it just it was so hard on the players.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we thought there's gotta be a better way.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And this kind of also went hand in hand with uh the US Development Academy kind of stepping away from managing you know the leagues for the elite leagues, essentially, and where MLS kind of stepped in.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: We just wanted to be on the front end of it and go, what what can we do to help not only our region and our players and our clubs, but what makes sense for the player as well.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we started this futures program where essentially we just brought it was a supplemental training program.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: So we didn't want to affect the the clubs what they were doing, right?
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: But but we would bring them in one time per week.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and they'd train with us and then they do certain events.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so it just gave us a better, a better picture of the player and it introduced us to the player and the player to us.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we we got to kind of feel that process a little more rather than you come for one big invasive tryout or you uh go and scout a player.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: It just gave us we we had more time with the player.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's that that's the program that ended up um kind of blossoming into it.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: We still have the futures program, but has it I mean, has it worked in terms of this is what we're looking for in a 12-year-old?
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: This is what we're looking for in a 13-year-old that you know is going to translate, or is it still just so wild?
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think you still there's players that clearly have qualities that you that you see that are interesting, and that's probably what you have to look at when the player is so young.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it's been really effective in getting probably the right players in front of us over the course of their time.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now, how we would classify is it working?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we have a we have a player, Nathan Schumba, who just signed for us at 15.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: He's really the first kind of futures graduate that's now signed.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so that's probably what we would use as our kind of benchmark for is it working or not?
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: Are the players getting into the academy?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so really if you look at our uh under-18s, under 19s team that's had a pretty successful year and a lot of players playing in our second team.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: That group, uh, the 09s is kind of where that age group started, the futures.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, that that is really what we look at as is it successful or not?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's the group that we're looking to and starting to see players now come into our first and our second team.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so in short, probably that would be an answer of yes, we think it is working.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: Now, now can we evolve with um, you know, uh as the leagues evolve again and as clubs evolve again, we've got to stay on the front front end of that as well with our futures.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but the idea is that we're we're trying to support the local clubs and not fight against them.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we've kind of taken that that stance that that's really, really important for us that we're not necessarily fighting for the same player, is we're working together to help develop the player, and then they come to us when we feel the time is right.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: It's never a perfect process and we don't get it right 100% of the time, but it's given us a better, a better chance.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: How hard is that to how hard is that bridge to cross?
• 10:43
  SPEAKER_01: Because I know that there's a lot of MLS Academies that they won't send you players, yeah.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Because like, oh, you don't need them, they're overrated, yeah.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_01: Blah blah blah.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just like it's so frustrating.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_01: It's like if you only meet if you only mean it's another and what they get, what they get versus what you're getting at your club, you know, no offense to the clubs, right?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_01: They do everything that they can.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: But I I wish that we would all have an approach of like we're all in this together, yeah.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: We're all trying to, you know, Luis will always say, we're trying to develop a hundred million dollar player, yeah.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_01: Something like that.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's exactly trying to win a World Cup.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: No, at the end of the day, we're we we are.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: When you look at it at that level, like you know, we'll we'll find out again this summer, you know, how the how the men's national team does.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: But at the end of the day, that's what we're all working towards, right?
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: Is we want to be successful as a nation.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Now you start to pair that back and and go down to you know those the different different levels.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: To answer your question, is it's it's been hard, it's been a long process.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: We've had to build a lot of trust.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it it doesn't happen overnight.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we had to to rethink our alliance program, we had to rethink our partnership with the with our youth club, uh, which now we've separated and it's good for them.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: They've become Colorado Storm, but we've got Real Colorado, we've got Albion Colorado, who's participating in MLS next, and then you've got this uh whole MLS uh academy division that we've got, I believe, nine clubs that are in it in Colorado now that really nine clubs in the Academy division in yeah, in the next two Colorado.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, from from the so you've got the homegrown and then the academy.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: So so and Luis has been great.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you know, the league has been great at trying to help us build our area because we are we are so isolated.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: When you look at uh maybe our homegrown division or the flex league that we play in, almost every trip is a flight.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and so that when you when you have to you know go back to to our front office or ownership, now the cost of developing a player for us goes goes up.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: What is it?
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: Jordan Allen told me that it is around 70,000, or somebody from Real Salt Lake is telling me that it was 70,000 that they put in, but they're doing uh school as well.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: You guys we we are we're not we're not to the extent that they are where we're actually housing the players on site.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, that's that's probably pretty accurate for us.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's it you know can range depending on the age group and what amends they're doing.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: It can be yeah,$65,000 to$75,000 a year per player.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: So when you when you lay that out across the academy and you lay that out across our second team, the the cost to develop these players is not cheap.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: So we have to try and see how we can become more efficient.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, how can we become better at it?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and uh that's where things like Taca come in, and we're trying to to to find any way to get to get better at that process.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: How many guys in your academy are Colorado kids?
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's a good question.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's as they get older, it it becomes a little more even of players that have come in through our um homestay program, which is where uh essentially, you know, Real Salt Lake has them staying on site.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: We have them staying with with host families, yep.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of in the the I would say the the shadow of the stadium, they call it in the kind of a radius of the stadium.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but right now it's probably 20 to 22 players somewhere in there that are that are coming, and that's distributed across our under 15s, under 16s, and under 18s.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: So there's still a backbone of Colorado players.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um but uh yeah, and we're trying to be very, very calculated on the players that we do bring in because as you know, when you get a young player that that leaves home, it's there's no guarantees.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you see it in professional leagues, right?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: They sign top players and they don't work out.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: They they the the acclamation process is uh is still something that you you can't account for um until you get them on site and see how they adapt and how they how do they adapt to living with a host family?
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: How do they adapt going to school?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: How do they adapt with travel?
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're we're on the road.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's uh well, especially this spring, it feels like feels like we've been on the road, uh, you know, uh basically since since February and March.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, especially since you had GA, then you had Slex, then you're and now you're here.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: How do you feel about the whole like change of getting here?
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_01: Because I mean, Luis was talking about like how do we get it better?
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_01: How do we make sure it's it's feels more like an even playing field?
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because he he talked about goal differential between you guys, like MLS Academies, and then yeah, everybody else.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: And he's like, Oh, well, now you're gonna play year up and everything.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: Like, how do you like that?
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's been it's it's it's it's been a a learning experience this first year.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely we've had to adjust.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think the younger ages we've seen the biggest differences in the sense of the the physicality is different, um, the tactics become different, how teams will approach the MLS teams, uh, how they'll set up.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And it look, at the end of the day, it's it I think for me the jury is still out because I think we need more information on it.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_00: You I don't think you can take just one year and we're gonna learn things from it.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: We're the league is gonna learn things, we're gonna learn things as an academy.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're gonna find out how we can make it better.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, if I take just the sample size of like, let's say, like an Albion, Colorado, for example, or Albion as a whole, I think Albion's doing a good job from what I see working with MLS clubs is um is understanding what we're trying to do.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right, you know, and they're they're working with us to help us um through this process too.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's a that's the approach we've tried to take, is uh it's not us and them.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's not the MLS clubs and the the elite academies.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like we very much are trying to approach it as we're we're doing this together.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we'll find out.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's it's been like our like our 15s who who are here this week.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, it's been it's been tough.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think if you look at the games at the start of the fall to where we are now, we've we've adapted.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: The challenge that MLS clubs have though is as the year progresses, you probably get younger because players move on, they move on to the second team, and then the the 16s get pushed into our 18s.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so that is the challenge of how do you promote the younger player still and still keep this competitive balance.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that that's been the biggest piece for us is is how do you do that?
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: How do you how do you focus on the player development and still stay within touching distance where these games are are meaningful, right?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: How is how's the relationship between Rapids and Rush?
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's it's good.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_01: I think, especially since you were both both.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: And there's been a number of us that have worked across both, right?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, I mean, we don't see them as much.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: We're kind of on different parts of the city.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and they play in different leagues.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: So we really when it was in the development academy, they were a part of it.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Rush is is not a part of the MLS.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're they're not a part of the MLS ecosystem.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't want it.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, at least at least the one in Colorado.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: One of their affiliates might be.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's there's affiliates that are all over.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um so so that we don't really interact on a on a competitive platform with them.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we do have a relationship.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: So they'll have players that will come to our futures, or we may do you know things in which we play exhibition matches and stuff.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Gotcha.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, we're not so so I'd say overall, there's not honestly, there's not a club right now in Colorado that I'd say we we don't have a good relationship with.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Chris Cartledge, my boss, who's the the the technical director for the club, was was really adamant about laying a foundation.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: Pork Smith, who's our president, Brian Crookham, um who really uh is the GM for our our second team is as well.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: But he's been really instrumental.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_00: Those those three guys have been really instrumental in laying the foundation to work with uh our state association, work with clubs.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's been really helpful for me as the academy director to to come in now and and and really build on those those relationships too, because we need them.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: We need them.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you're not on the field, you're not on the field right now, you're not coaching a team, you're just yeah, not the director.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, not responsible for a team, still on the field in in a sense that uh I'm involved in training sessions or we'll take sessions, but I'm not you know doing the day to day picking the team, um, you know, that sort of thing.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: So what is your ratio?
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_01: Like what what so we talked about like what the players get.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_01: What are you what's your ratio of training the game right now?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_01: Or how what a Colorado Rapids kid?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a that's a good question.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's it probably changes it gets a lot worse when like I think we try to be um probably three or four to one uh sessions to to games, probably uh better ratio is four to one for us.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but when you when you come to these events, it's hard because it skews the other way pretty quick.
• 19:32
  SPEAKER_00: You of course you go to Generation D's Cup and you play seven games in you know 10 days, uh, you gotta you gotta catch up.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we have them uh in you know enough time now.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that I've I've looked at the ratios, but we we try to make sure that we're getting a lot of touch points with the players.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: We'll do uh training sessions as a team, but we'll also do individual uh trainings as well.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: So there are certain points in the week, so it could be two or three times in the week, every week within the bulk of the season.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Now it'll adjust based on, you know, are we coming to flex?
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Are we going to be a cop?
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Are we gonna be a generation D's cop?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, in which we may not do uh as many, you know, uh uh IDP type sessions where the the individual is working on specific things or or group sessions or lines or um positional specific trainings.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll we'll add those in because we think that's it's super valuable.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um and that probably overall, if you look at that, we we are pretty close to within that four or five to one uh ratio of the the trainings and the games.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: What does the individual sessions look like?
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: Because I've spent the last 11 years doing a technical training company uh out in Buffalo, New York.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: I'm now I moved back to Michigan uh because I'm solely focused on the podcast and growing that.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but I have my own facility and it's all like a small group and just very technical focused, right?
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I kind of formed what I want an employer or help a player to develop is if you have this in my mind, if you have the technical ability of a 10, you could probably play on it in every single position on the field.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: And so if if somebody's um if somebody's weak foot is just off, is it the skill gap between your strong foot and your weak foot is just terrible?
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: If I close that gap a little bit, you're gonna be a more confident player and and just repetitions and all that.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_01: What do your individual sessions look like?
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Is it more technical focus?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Is it tactical focus?
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like Yeah, when when you're talking about specifically like the the the individual player sessions, yeah, yeah, it it's it's probably not as uh as much on the tactical side.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: The tactical side would be more geared towards uh if if there's you know a certain position, uh what what sorts of um Things are they going to be doing?
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: Are they going to be crossing a ball?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: Are they going to be dribbling?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: Are they going to be turning and shooting?
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Are they going to be bouncing a ball?
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, so you'd you'd you'd sit down and look at really what are those qualities that they have based on our playing style, what's the what's the positional profile?
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, what's the profile of the player?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Where are they and their age and stage of development?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then we together would would would develop a plan, a training plan for that player.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it could be working on a weak foot, it could be uh shooting or driving a ball or dribbling.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so so then you could have group trainings in which players are interacting with each other.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you may have uh two center backs and let's say a a six or a pivot, and they may be interacting with each other for for a portion of that individual session.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, and it's very specific to the player and and they're gonna be cutting clips of games, and this is again where Taca comes into play for us is they're gonna be connecting their actions in the games to their sessions.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be clipping things from their sessions and connecting that to their training plan as well.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so then you become more more focused, more specific on the actual things that they're gonna be doing because our sixes are not gonna be doing the same things as our sevens, elevens are doing, our wingers, right?
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that we're gonna be focusing in on that.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: So while you I think having a good technical foundation, a platform is really, really important based on where they play within the team and bit connecting that to our style of play or our our game idea, how we want to approach the game, we're gonna come up with a a training plan based on that.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: Do you go to them and say this is what we need to work on, or do they come to you?
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a little bit of both.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be coach, coach, coach driven in one sense of these are the things that we feel are important, but players are also gonna have a piece of that we think that's really, really important that they have an ownership within that.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so when going back to your question of the the tactical nature of it, it may be that you're doing individual techniques that are connected to moments in the game.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a great word for it.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the the kind of functional type training.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: How how often is it mandated that like every player does that?
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_00: Or yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Where there's there's not players that aren't sit sitting out.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: No, there may be the the volume of work might change based on a player or or or the age.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: If there's players that need a little more work, you might they may do more time in an individual setting before or after a session.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but we set aside time, and that's why we think it's really important that we have these players on site, is you have that time with them.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: And uh see, this is so this is so important because you uh you talked to Bird, right?
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: Aaron Bird, yeah, and um he is the by one of the best.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: Then it comes to net uh technical training and and and the focus, right?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people knock it, and they knock what we do and they knock what he does because it's like, oh well, if if the club could provide it, they would.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's like why why are you paying all this money at a club when and go into a private trainer?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_01: It's like because the club is more focused on team dynamics and something like that but then where where you guys come in is that you guys get to cover all of it because you get the kids so much.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's like sorry, but if you're in a non-MLS academy, you have to go and get that extra technical training and that extra individual work.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, absolutely.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's a it's a it's down to resources, right?
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: And time, which time we don't, you know, even even MLS clubs, we don't always have a lot of.
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it's just it is, it's the time.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you talk about us in particular, you know, we want those players, you know, if they're coming in older and older now, it's important for us that they come in with with those foundations uh built in.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: So if a player has to has to seek that out, I think that's really, really important.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I I don't think there's going to be a one size fits all, and there's not going to be a one size fits all for each for each club.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'm a firm believer because I've I've been in it, I've come through a number of different clubs now, I've I've had different roles within those.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's not so simple.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I think it's the easy one is to say, oh, well, they're not doing their job.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I I don't necessarily believe that.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's it's down to resources, it's down to time, it's down to so there's a very important thing that I think if we think of it as we're all working together, it's not again us versus them.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like we we need the technical trainers, we need the youth clubs, we need uh the the competitions.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_00: Where I think we need to to look is how how are we gonna coexist?
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: How are we gonna work together?
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: That uh yeah, I don't think that they're mutually exclusive.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think you you don't have to have one and can't have the other.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I I think that's really important.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: So how how is your staff set up?
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have staff that just do the technical the work with the players?
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a good question.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: We we don't right now, I know other clubs do where they'll they'll have uh specialized coaches, whether it be a technical coach or an IDP coach or a pathways coach.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: We we don't have that set up right now.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: So the coaches take the most of that responsibility.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_00: There are some um some staff that work probably between the different teams, first team, second team.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: Drew Moore is uh a coach that um works for us, uh Marcella Balboa, as well as another coach that works for us that that helps connect those pieces.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I think they do a really good job.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so their job, uh, the coaches drive it, but those coaches will help uh communicate with the staff.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so they're helping get them along the pathway, they're helping form a bigger picture.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: In the academy, it's coach-driven though.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it'd be our head coaches that are driving that with the players, and then their staff, whether it be the the assistant coach, the performance staff, they're they're responsible for tying it in.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: So in our club, each each head coach kind of has their own little ecosystem that they're meant to run, uh, and they're the ones driving that.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Do they stay in the same age group every year?
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_01: Or do they move with the team?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_00: No, they we have coaches that are kind of fixed right now to their age groups, and we've found, you know, we've done trying to time at the club.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I've been at on the professional side about 10 years now, and it's yeah, we've kind of done a little bit of everything where you have it have the team for two years or and then you cycle back in, and some that just specialize in the age group.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I think we found that that because we are so connected now that the you know the the pathway from the 15s to the 16s and the 16s to the 18s, it is connected enough now that uh you can get the coaches to focus in on those age groups because each has their kind of different qualities.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't mean our 15s coach couldn't coach the 18s, but how we're set up right now, we feel those coaches are in the best positions to be successful for us.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: Do you have like a system obviously in place where this is the rapids way of playing?
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_01: And do you do you adapt that based on the players that you have, or are you just searching for the players that fit in what you want to do?
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's a little bit of both.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we're I I think we're lucky enough now, you know, knock on wood, that we're able to go and find those pieces um that were were to a point maybe five, six years ago, we were like, this is our style, but we're gonna have to maybe adapt it, as you said, based on the teams.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: The 13s might not have the same things that the 18s have, or the 15s might not have the same as 16s.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're getting to a point where we're trying to be much, much clearer about our positional profiles as they fit into our style of play and how we think about the game.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: So we're when we go out and identify players, or we bring players in on trial, the scouting that it's all tied in now to what we're doing.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: We just we're getting so much more specific.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I think that's just uh down to getting better at what we're doing, having a clearer idea.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's being driven by our first team, um, by our technical director, Chris Carlidge.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, those guys are driving now what we're doing in the academy.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: How important is the having the first team in terms of okay, so I coached in Buffalo when uh I coached in the NWSL when they had the Flash.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and they had a youth academy, and the girls are walking the halls, and Carly Lloyd is walking by them, right?
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: And that just creates such a different not every kid here gets that experience of walking next to Marcello the ball.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and he's coaching, but you know what I mean?
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: No, it is it's it's really, really important for us, and especially for the culture of it, you know.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Marcelo, uh Drew also being a former player, you know, these guys, Chris Sharp, who works in in the first team still, like having those guys around is really, really valuable for sure.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: And not only to to pass that institutional knowledge along, but their experiences.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, and that's that's exactly right.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we've got some young players in in the building now, Lucas Harrington, one of the center backs in the first team that's that's on a good run here.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: The our boys are looking up to him, even though he's roughly the same age as a lot of our kind of more senior players within our eighteens.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's what that's really, really important for us.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that the the players see that pathway and see what they're working towards and seeing that example.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: Our our academy players are in with the first team quite a bit, especially as they prepare near the end of the week tactically.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: So they get not only immersed in it through the week, but they get to see it up close uh as we prepare for for matches.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: And uh Coach Matt Wells and his staff, I think, has been really, really good at that, integrating the the academy from from that standpoint.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that just helps reinforce what our coaching staff is doing at the academy level, going, look, you see it here at the first team.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now you can you can make that connection.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um and and that's been really, really important.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: We've had a I think our front office has done a really good job at that of like this drive to drive to youth and connecting the the first team and the fact that young players are making their way through through our club, and I think that's really, really important for us.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: Is that easier to get buy in too?
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: Because for sure, it's like, guys, this is what they do, this is why we're doing this.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_01: For sure.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: And uh there's no pushback at all.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_00: When they see you know Jackson Travis playing in the first team and they know that three years ago he was in the academy, or Darren Yappy playing in the first team, it it makes it a lot easier because you know, if you it it becomes just rhetoric if you say, Oh, we do this, but then there's no examples.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like we have a lot of examples now, which I think is is really important.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: From a staffing standpoint, too.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we have staff, Elliot Prost, who's uh one of our first team assistants, was an academy coach just two years ago.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Chris Cartledge was the academy director before me.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: Now the technical direct, myself being an academy coach going up.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: There's a number of uh of examples like that, both on the technical side and the support staff side, athletic trainers, performance staff, like the the club has done a really good job of connecting that.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: So now we feel we are actually a part of it.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: Even you know, my aspirations, I love being in the academy.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm not thinking tomorrow I want to be in the first team, but it's really, really important for me with my staff, those that might want to be that you can go look at look at Elliott.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: He he is actually making it just the same as the player, right?
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so the aspirations um for the staff, it makes it much, much easier if they can see it, feel it, and be a part of it.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: Aspirations for the staff.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like, is there a lot of guys that are in the academy that want to eventually be first team or you uh yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
• 33:33
  SPEAKER_00: Do you have those aspirations or are you pretty happy?
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: No, I I I I actually love what I do.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: I I think this is a good environment for me.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, as I said, I've I've I've lived it, I've seen it, I've been a part of it.
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is this is what I think um I'm good at, this this area.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but absolutely our coaching staff, and I think it it probably went back to a conversation that that Chris Cartledge and I had maybe three, four years ago, maybe longer now, uh getting older these days, I feel like.
• 34:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um but but he he basically sat down and said, Do you want to be a specialist or do you want to be a generalist?
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Like the specialists now are the are the coaches, right?
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: The co the coaches, all they think about is their team.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: What's who's their opponent?
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: How are they gonna prepare for that?
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: What are the players they have at their disposal?
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_00: How are they gonna get those players into the next team?
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas I have to think of it in a you know a more globalist sense.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I and I think these guys, you know, you look at you just you you go to the next field and you see there's so many top coaches now.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and I think you really, really have to focus in on that to hone your craft to be the best.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the standards are getting so much better in this country that um, you know, for for me to to jump back into coaching, I I respect everything that those guys are doing.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: That I think the transition would be would be more difficult for me now, uh, having been out of it a few years.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it would also be tough, tougher probably for those coaches to come into the role that that it's just how you think of it.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: And um so so no, I think, but that is important for me to to for for our coaches to feel like they have a path just the same as as our players do.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: And your role, are you focused?
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_01: And I love the specialist versus generalists because I feel like I'm more of a generalist as well over the years because I got out of the club room and I just banned up with the players and just get individual.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_01: What do you work more with the coaches or are you working more with the players in terms of just you know their pathway?
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_01: Are you on like the periodization with the coaches and like going through every single thing that is this month?
• 35:43
  SPEAKER_01: Or go on.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it it's it's different for each coach because I I don't think uh you know, just the same as the the players.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think uh my relationship with each coach within our staff is slightly different.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I try to meet their needs and what they want.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_00: Some like me to be more hands-on, some like me to be more in the moment, or or you know, we're here in a game that I'm I'm on the bench and maybe giving thoughts, and some it'll be more that we'll debrief after the game, or we'll plan, or we'll we'll do things um away from the pitch, so to speak.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: Same with the with the with the setup when we're in a training session.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, any of them I could jump into a session and we we feel I would I'm not the the type of uh academy director or leader that would jump in and say, Oh, hold on, let me, I'm I'm taking over here.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um, that's just not how I I work.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: I I feel that you know, I want us to be a teaching club, and I feel my teaching style is best when I involve them as well.
• 36:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, so so it could be, it could be I I'm I'm in an IDP session.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm I'm given a responsibility to to run a portion of it or work with an individual.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: There's also on a more tactical basis, we may go over the the pregame or the prep or watch video.
• 36:57
  SPEAKER_00: It can be involved in all of that.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: My my thought in it is I just can't can't be in it so hyper focused every day because I still got to think about how do we get a Nathan Chumba from the 15s to the 16s to the 18s to the second team, which is where he's at.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_00: Now he's in the second team.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so so that's where my role is, is it's it's one in which you probably wear many hats um and you try to support those uh those players or staff what they need.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_01: What happens when the kids don't go 15, 17, 19s, first team, or so let's say that they don't make it.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: Obviously, you want every single kid to make it to the first team.
• 37:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: So and I get a lot of pushback, like even when I had the draw now from well, at the time we all saw late, it's like, well, you know, only one kid uh from their academy made their first team.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's like guys, it's not exactly what this is about, and college is still a pathway for a lot of these MLS academy days.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_01: It is, yeah.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_01: And and and can you go into what happens to a lot of your players that aren't pushed to the first team?
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but where are they going to play college?
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, they're going to to top schools around the country, yeah.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_00: And we we think that's really, really important.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's why the schooling side of it is so important.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, our club actually uses the draft quite a bit to to fill out the second team and the first team.
• 38:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like we we believe that sometimes we just don't uh a play a player just might not almost kind of run out of time.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have enough if you've got a player that's probably won't be fully developed or fully realized as a player until their early 20s, we just kind of run out of runway.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we just don't have the the resources ourselves to be it doesn't make sense for them to go into into uh the second team.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: So college soccer is the right thing, and we believe that that's been a good resource for us to develop players as well.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Mois Bombito is a good example of, you know, he came in from from college.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it was at a junior college and then um came into the first team and you know, we we sold him to France.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so that pathway is really important for us as well.
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_01: Was he part of your academy?
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: He he wasn't part of the academy, but but that's an example of us being able to use the draft or college soccer that we think is also a just the same.
• 39:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's not something that we're fighting.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_00: We think it's an important resource as well for us to develop players.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like I don't I don't think we're saying it's only academy and those are the gonna be the only players that make it to our first team.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the case.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now we want to have a hand in that development.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: We think the academy plays a really, really important role within that.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but to your question, uh, more players are going the college soccer route than they are going to be signed for the first team.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that's for us, that's that's okay.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: We obviously want the players to if we set out that we want those players to be in the first team or be be affecting the uh second team and first team.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: But if it doesn't happen, we want them to be prepared to go into college soccer, whatever's next, right?
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know, um, so I I think that's that that's really important for us as as well, is that um if they don't, they're going to a good school, they're getting a good education, and then they're continuing their development at whatever school they're gonna go to, so that if the option is that they come and play for us again one day, that they they're the they're prepared.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_01: Has that happened where you have an academy kid, he goes to play college, and then he's back.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because um Jay Chapman, uh Toronto kid, he went and played Michigan State.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think that was their elite eight-year, and then he went back to Toronto and he was drafted.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know how the rights work or anything like that, but I mean, does that happen?
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 40:38
  SPEAKER_00: Sam Bass is probably our most most recent uh homegrown that we signed out of college that went to went to college and then came back.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, you you get those examples where it's like I said, Sam was probably one of those where it was right for him.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_00: He went and played uh four years at Denver University, um, had an outstanding college career, um, and then came back into to our first team.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so those those are examples of us being able to use that system that just because it cuts off at 18-19 doesn't mean that our care or development or tracking of the player stops either.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_01: How long have you been at Rapids?
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh on the pro side, coming up on 10 years now.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: So if you count my time with with our youth club too, it's uh it's uh probably closer to 14.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_01: Did you know Brent Jacobs at all?
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he was a little before my five years.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_01: Before your time, yeah, okay, because he's a Michigan.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, he was in Michigan.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he was like right.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: But he was like with Brian Cookham and that that that Greek, yeah.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: How isn't it crazy just how just 10 years ago, how different everything is.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, obviously the DA and everything.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_01: Like can you go into a little bit about that?
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: About like the differences that you're seeing in the DA?
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: Because I am so sick.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I've had so many DMs be like it's just the same, it's the exact same thing as um uh as the DA.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_01: It's like no, it is not.
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, now and I talked to Luis about this real.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_01: It's like we have they have the uh same uh structure, but it's not the same people, yeah, and it's not the same ideas.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_01: Fred wasn't part of yeah, Taca wasn't a part of Luis wasn't a part of Luis was still playing when the DA was going on, right?
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 42:22
  SPEAKER_01: So so for everybody to just I think it's a lazy take of like, well, it's just the DA, it's the same thing.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll be honest with you, I thought that too.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: No, it's uh there's a lot of similarities, obviously, right?
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: Is that you're trying to to to manage the an elite league that's across the the country, which is you know, I was just talking to Luis the other day, like how big the country is, that's just it's so hard to have a grasp on what's going on, right?
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you go back to the national team going, well, man, there's no chance then, right?
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like you've got you know, players in California and New York and all of it.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but no, I think that it that is probably a very generalist take that it's that it's the same.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, where I think is it it's just professionalized so much um since the the development academy.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not a knock on US soccer by any means.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then just a what what I feel, and maybe my role has changed a little bit.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_00: So it's might maybe a biased uh take on it, because in the development academy I was a coach, and now I'm uh I've been in MLS Next most primarily as a as an academy director.
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um, is just the connectivity of not only, you know, you've got the other MLS clubs that are in it and and how we kind of all work together, Luis and his staff have been so accessible to us and trying to meet our needs, but also being mindful of how do we, how do we help your region?
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: How do we help Colorado develop?
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: How do we help the greater Rocky Mountain Empire, so to speak, develop?
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas I don't know that that was there was such a bespoke take on it with the US Development Academy.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, you kind of had your conferences and you had your championships.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: And stuff.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, they've got other things that are meeting the needs of some of these other events.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, and there were events in the in the development academy, but I don't think to the level that MLS Next is trying to approach it from from Flex and getting those experiences.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: And and again, I think the league would admit we're we're trying to get better each year, we're learning close.
• 44:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that learning through that is what works best, what's what's what's best for us to develop players, because at the end of the day, that's I think that's what we're trying to do.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's where I would say from it, the the professionalization of it.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then you've got just you've got more MLS clubs than you ever had.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then the resources that we do have now compared to what we did, you know, 10 years ago, it is crazy.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we think of our our club in particular, you know, you just you had a head coach, essentially that was it.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: You had no support staff really.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: Your, you know, your methods of travel were so much different than what what we had.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like we didn't have players on site all the time.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_00: So probably the growth of of the league has coincided with the growth, growth of the MLS clubs and the academies and the the the youth academies around the country as well.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it maybe is not quite a fair compare comparison to say the the DA and the MLS next, but I think those would be the biggest things that I see is it's it's it's nice, different people with different experiences that are probably more personable on the on the the the club side of it and what we're we're trying to do and how we do it.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: The longest time I was thinking that and this is during the DA days, where I was like, why don't just the MLS Academies just play each other and then everybody else?
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I feel like you guys are more a part of this than ever before.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it doesn't feel so separate.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_01: Now, FEST, FEST is Fest, yeah, where it has the pro player pathway fields, and you have the homegrown and you have the academy.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_01: But here, I mean, you guys are playing like who are you playing today?
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we're playing Sakura Public.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_00: So a USL team, yeah.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, no, you have that integration.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: And look, we we we we the the league has grown because we we need these uh the the youth clubs of the academies.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's really important, like us in particular.
• 46:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like if we only played ML an MLS schedule, the costs would be uh which are already difficult when kicking up there.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um it would be impossible to run an academy for us if we played only MLS teams.
• 46:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so so that's where I think the the the league has done a a good job and is continuing to evolve and trying to be uh mindful of that.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_00: That you know, for us, like it's different than the West Coast or the East Coast where the the population density is just so high and you've got so many clubs.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like for us, we're very, very isolated.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we need these elite academy games that to to help our players develop.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's why it's so important that we and our uh you know territory in Colorado have such a good relationship with these clubs.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_01: How big is your territory?
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: What other states we've got New Mexico and Colorado, yeah, New Mexico and Colorado.
• 47:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's probably uh I don't know the numbers anymore, but it's it's it's a smaller territory compared to uh some of the other more densely populated areas.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: Do you like the territories?
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_01: Do you wish that would go away?
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_01: Some people tell me yes, some people tell me no.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think it's inevitable.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think the the way things are going now, I mean, just again, probably so many players.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, there's so many players and kind of the globalization of the league and the fact that just the country is so connected.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas before, I think when the I I understand the kind of premise behind the the homegrown territories, which I think is important, especially for young players protecting that you know we're just trying to do the right thing, so to speak, by the by the player asking families to move across the country in some cases, is it's a pretty invasive process.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that they they exist, I think, to to probably protect in some ways, but I I think you're gonna see it probably going away because I just think that there's so many resources being poured into it now, and you can only protect a certain number of players, and um yeah, and the clubs, I think the clubs are working together more more and more now, whereas I don't think that was the case when when it was you know that when that league rule came about.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_01: And I mean for territories, how does it work?
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_01: That's only if you're in an MLS next academy, right?
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because ECNL free falls.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it it no, it it still is.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_00: It still falls under Yeah, so Colorado kids are still Colorado kids regardless if they're in MLS next or if they're ECNL or USL.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and below certain ages and stuff.
• 48:43
  SPEAKER_00: So so there is that that that protection.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not like it doesn't matter if we go into you know, let's say sporting Kansas City's territory and that the team is in ACNL, that that doesn't that doesn't cancel out the rule.
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_01: Got it.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you I'm sure you have ECNL guys that came from ECNL, maybe.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, for sure.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_00: For sure.
• 49:02
  SPEAKER_00: We have we have and again, and again, that's why we you you know we don't cut off any kind of path.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're looking for great players.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think we're all doing the same things like if they're in an ECNL or they're an MLS next, it's yeah, as you said, we're we're looking for tall players, that's the important thing.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_01: Last question, we'll wrap this up.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
• 49:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, this has been great to spend time with you.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh your staff, you said that you said that the staff you have more resources and everything.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because it was it used to be just a head coach, yeah, and he was the physio, he was the goalkeeper trainer.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_01: Everything, yeah.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_01: He was the trainer.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_01: What is what are you traveling with today?
• 49:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like uh how how much staff?
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I think we probably have 12 staff on this trip.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: We have 12?
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we have I think 18 full-time staff uh within just the academy right now.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're depending on how you slice that.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_00: I know each club probably uh reports reports a different number based on you know where they may kind of house them.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_00: But we've got all right, we've got player care team, we've got uh our you know, our team that works within the the school.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_00: So we've got a school staff, we've got a head of school, we've got athletic training, we've got performance department, we've got technical departments.
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, again, it's just it's it's building out.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas you said, you know, even six, seven years ago, it was it was nothing close to that.
• 50:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um we were we weren't, we were traveling with just the the bare essentials.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: Now just like the the care of the player and the planning, and you know, you have uh uh recovery rooms and meeting rooms and you know, stuff that you you get in and you court the whole team has coordinated the the plan for for the day or for the week and they're just executing it now.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas that responsibility fell on the coaches, you know, just a short time ago.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: So that and and again, I think each club is driving, and not not just the MLS clubs, but like the MLS clubs are driving each other to be better, and uh with that, we're gonna the game is only gonna advance as well.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think that's gonna evolve where like all you guys have residency?
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_01: Do you think we're headed towards that eventually?
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I probably I probably think in some way, shape, or form, yeah.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think so.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you look around the around the country now too, you you know, the ownership groups that they're more and more involved in in other clubs, you know, our our ownership group also owns Arsenal.
• 51:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, you've got players that could be moving between clubs, and um, yeah, I think that's probably just where it's going, is because you're just seeing the not only I think the American market is becoming more interesting to the rest of the world, and I think you're probably gonna start to see um hopefully after the World Cup too, but I think you're gonna see the values of players, and um, I definitely think it's uh it's a territory that probably the rest of the world is is watching very closely as far as how players are starting to develop.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um so so yeah, I think that um you probably will see that where we're also trying to put ourselves on those levels and compete.
• 51:58
  SPEAKER_00: It's a big, big undertaking though.
• 52:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the everything from not just the cost and staffing, but the liabilities and the care of the player.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like it it we've looked at it.
• 52:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's a it's a it's just a really, really big undertaking if you're gonna take that kind of approach.
• 52:14
  SPEAKER_00: What time do you guys put it out?
• 52:15
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we should be kicking off here in 15 minutes.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_00: Perfect.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_00: And you're playing Sakura Public?
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 52:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh is it semi therm?
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_01: Quarter time?
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: We've been knocked out.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_00: You've been knocked out?
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we got knocked out in the round of six team.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 52:27
  SPEAKER_00: So showcase match and then get on the road.
• 52:30
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Mir.
• 52:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really nice to hear you.
• 52:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I appreciate it.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: See, just come to you.
• 52:36
  SPEAKER_00: That was an easy one.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, man.
• 52:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I hate soccer.