Latest / The BIG LIFE / The Final Push: Big Ten Showdowns and Transitioning from Player to Coach

Transcript

The Final Push: Big Ten Showdowns and Transitioning from Player to Coach · The BIG LIFE

0:00
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to The Big Life. Jordan, we got back on a winning streak.
0:06
We're feeling happy after that episode of How to Deal with Loss.
0:09
Luckily, no losses on the weekend, but how was it for you?
0:13
It was good. It was good. It's definitely a weird feeling as the season kind of winds down now.
0:19
It feels good definitely to be on the winning foot again as we look into our
0:22
last normal season game coming up here this Sunday.
0:27
It feels incredibly quick how fast
0:30
the season has gone by and we're looking at the end already but it's
0:33
definitely is a lot more exciting when you're winning yeah no
0:36
absolutely it's insane i don't know where october has
0:39
gone that feels absolutely insane and
0:42
it's weird to think like this time last year you know
0:45
you knew you guys weren't done you knew that you were basically gonna lock
0:48
up second big 10 championship but like that
0:51
could have been my last college weekend and you know
0:54
we kind of lucked out that we barely made the tournament last year
0:57
so it's kind of crazy like so many people's college
1:00
seasons end this weekend and that just like that
1:03
feels insane that timing is already there i know
1:06
i was talking to justina gainer today actually
1:09
kind of being a little nostalgic about all of it and just
1:12
how quickly it went but like for us we're pretty
1:15
confident that we're going to make the ncaa tournament regardless right
1:18
now it's just fighting for bidding and what seed we'll
1:21
get so we're guaranteed pretty much three
1:24
more games in our collegiate career this far and like that's so
1:27
scary and it's incredibly sad how quick it goes but on
1:30
the other end like you can have up to 10 games like if you were to go and win
1:35
it all or make it to the final so it's a big discrepancy with like 48 days until
1:40
the final like that's still plenty of college career left so I'm like trying
1:44
to have that mindset instead of getting too wrapped into how quickly it all ends But yeah.
1:49
I can't I can't imagine it being over this Sunday. Like that's way too soon.
1:53
No, honestly, it's it feels crazy. But speaking of, you know,
1:58
the Big Ten tournament is set.
2:00
So looking forward, even though we everyone plays one more game, it is official.
2:05
We kind of said it last week that it looked like it was going to be locked up.
2:08
And the top 10 teams, no matter what happens in results, have been set.
2:12
So we know that 10 teams will continue their journey through playing in Minnesota
2:16
and then the semifinals and finals now being played in St. Louis at the MLS stadium.
2:22
I'm a little sad I'll be in Sweden and not there. I don't know why that happened,
2:26
you know, this year instead of last year winning a Big 10 tournament on my home
2:29
turf would have felt really great.
2:31
But, you know, it's fine. It's fine.
2:34
But we know the 10 teams that will be in the marker in Jordan looking at these
2:39
field of 10, take out Michigan State. What excites you about it?
2:43
Yeah, I think it's super exciting just the way the tournament's set up this
2:47
year with not only the 10 teams making it, but also six teams getting a bye week.
2:52
So everyone's playing on Halloween. Normally, we've always played on Halloween.
2:56
Now we finally don't have to this year because we have guaranteed ourselves a bye week.
3:01
And now you're fighting for anywhere we can place between fourth and sixth,
3:04
depending on on how this next game goes
3:07
here if we beat purdue so you know
3:10
it's it's really exciting and it's it's exciting how much talent
3:13
there is when you look at the teams who are still fighting for
3:16
a spot who aren't making it in the big 10 in our conference they're
3:19
still really really good teams and like it's crazy just how competitive this
3:23
conference is and it goes to show like anyone can win a game on any given day
3:27
absolutely so as jordan said six teams get through that first round game and
3:32
they will be just playing the one game in Minnesota to hopefully punch their ticket to St.
3:37
Louis for the semifinals and the finals and four teams have locked up that by
3:41
UCLA, USC, Iowa in Michigan State have guaranteed themselves that by and there's
3:47
two more spots open for the for the taking for the other teams involved.
3:51
On top of that, Jordan kind of mentioned Michigan State's feeling
3:54
pretty good about their chances at an NCAA tournament and
3:57
I would think looking at a field this year looking at
4:00
everything my prediction is that the 10 teams
4:03
that are making it to the Big Ten tournament are also going to
4:06
make it to the NCAA tournament but I don't think anyone
4:09
that's outside of the tournament will make it this year like Michigan did last
4:12
year so I think that really a lot of those teams probably should feel good about
4:17
their NCAA opportunities and I think it's exciting too and you kind of feel
4:22
confident that no matter what happens that the Big Ten tournament isn't the end for you.
4:28
It's kind of now a matter of pride and it's a matter of can you fight for that
4:32
home game? Can you fight for that seed?
4:34
And so it's very interesting the different stakes that I feel like will come
4:37
into the tournament this year.
4:39
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we've had...
4:41
You know, roller coaster throughout the last three years, this has been the
4:44
first year where we're looking at it.
4:46
We had the possibility of a, you know, number one seed going into the NCAA tournament.
4:51
We were ranked number one, obviously.
4:53
You know, I think those hopes and chances are probably gone at this point.
4:57
But if you go on and we win this conference tournament here,
5:00
you're still looking at an option of a two seed and still hosting a lot of those
5:04
games in the NCAA tournament, which would be so nice.
5:07
And it makes a huge difference versus all the travel. And we've talked about
5:10
it when we went on the road and lost.
5:12
So obviously, that's not our thing this year. So it'd be nice to stay at home and have those games.
5:16
So there's still definitely something that you're continuing to fight for.
5:19
And obviously with us being out of the conference running to win it this year
5:24
and normal season, you know, in order to get this three-peat going,
5:28
we got to lock in and win this tournament.
5:30
So it's definitely feels good to know our season isn't over and there's a lot
5:34
to still keep fighting for.
5:35
And we definitely, we don't have anything to lose at this point,
5:39
but we still have everything to gain.
5:40
So it's a nice spot to be back in those realms. But the craziest thing,
5:45
as we mentioned, is like the teams that aren't making this Big Ten tournament
5:49
aren't going to make the NCAA tournament with their week being over.
5:52
One of our more talked about teams, Nebraska, not making the Big Ten tournament.
5:57
Most likely not making the NCAA tournament after this either.
6:00
Like they had quite the season last year in the turnaround and kind of fall off like this.
6:05
What are your thoughts? yeah you know it's obviously hard
6:08
not playing them this year but i think the stats kind of
6:11
speak for themselves of it shows how important
6:15
year by year can be and it's really hard to
6:18
judge a program you know i think based on
6:21
one year whether that be a good or a
6:24
bad year i think it says a lot about the program
6:26
and also how competitive the big 10 is but yeah you have a
6:29
team that made it to the elite eight last year put up a very competitive game
6:32
against stanford before losing and they are likely
6:35
not in the NCAA tournament so it is quite
6:38
the turnaround and I think it shows just year to year
6:41
when you have a college season that is three months
6:44
long those three months are pivotal and I think we
6:47
all know that the other nine months out
6:49
of the year will 100% right impact
6:53
those three months I have no idea what Nebraska soccer looked
6:56
like in the offseason I'm never even going to speculate I
6:59
have no idea but it shows that anything that
7:01
happens outside of the three months that matter like how important
7:04
those three months are to lock in and I think it's it's
7:08
shocking to say the least and with that too if you look at the Big Ten tournament
7:12
from last year obviously you know eight teams made it instead of ten but two
7:16
teams that made it last year fell out of the tournament qualifying this year
7:19
Nebraska and Indiana so Indiana also falling out of that and they also made
7:24
the NCAA tournament last year and are likely obviously.
7:28
This year but I do want to shout out one program that hasn't
7:31
been in the Big Ten tournament for a little bit and that's Minnesota up
7:34
on the rise you know I do know they have a tough home game for
7:37
the home finale for them against Iowa so that'll be a
7:39
very very interesting border battle but Minnesota you
7:42
know doing what they needed to do to get back into the NCAA tournament after
7:46
a long time so overall I think that that's really exciting for that program
7:50
and once again it shows year to year anything can change absolutely and then
7:55
I mean you got to talk about it USC and UCLA kind of fighting for the championship
7:59
here in this last game as they battle each other.
8:02
USC with 28 points, UCLA with 26. So whoever wins that game will come out kind
8:08
of victorious with that.
8:10
And two new teams that we added to the conference, it just goes to show with
8:14
the realignment how much more competitive I think Big Ten soccer got.
8:17
And it's really exciting to see and have these new teams make such a difference and an impact.
8:22
And one of them will be crowned champion this Sunday.
8:25
Yeah, completely. the Big Ten title is heading out to the West Coast.
8:29
You know, if USC wins or ties, they have the advantage.
8:33
UCLA has to win in order to take the trophy home. But we know that the Big Ten
8:37
regular season will be crowned in L.A.
8:39
And yeah, I think, you know, it shows how competitive the Big Ten is adding these new teams.
8:44
We knew that they were going to be teams that were going to fight for that title and do it.
8:47
But I don't know. This might be my controversial hot take. Like,
8:51
I think years leading up, whoever won the Big Ten Conference said a lot.
8:55
And I think you could claim that you were the best team in the Big Ten when
8:57
you won Big Ten Conference.
8:59
You know, I won the Cinderella story. I think we were a very competitive team
9:03
last year. But I would say we weren't the best.
9:05
Like, consecutively, consistently, we weren't. But we had a great run and we
9:09
pulled it together when we needed.
9:10
I think because of the amount of teams you don't play in the Big Ten,
9:15
the tournament now becomes the more important title.
9:17
And it's not really regular season because there's so many more factors with
9:21
the travel, with who plays who, with who gets the easier schedule,
9:25
who doesn't, you know, all these certain conversations that happen.
9:28
I think a lot comes down to the Big Ten tournament now. And I'm really excited
9:32
to see where things kind of shake out there.
9:35
Absolutely. I totally agree with you. And we've done a lot of speculation in
9:38
the past about, you know, what this will look like in the future with things constantly changing.
9:43
But I think for this year, that definitely remains true with the emphasis being
9:47
on the tournament this year because it's such an unbalanced schedule.
9:50
You know Jordan the Pac-12 didn't
9:53
have a tournament so this is UCLA and USC's and
9:57
Washington's first time ever playing in a postseason tournament.
10:00
That wasn't the NCAA so they're used
10:03
to this whole mentality of like you lose you go home starting
10:06
now and that's not really how it's going to work now so
10:08
I think that's also going to be interesting if this is their first conference tournament
10:12
and what's that going to bring out of that side yeah yeah
10:15
that's a good point i didn't think of that you know addition to
10:18
it so i don't know if that will be an added
10:21
mentality in their favor or maybe something they're not used to
10:24
but either way i definitely think you're right in the emphasis being
10:27
on the tournament this year and it'll be interesting to see how they work with
10:30
it in future years as we continue
10:33
to speculate with realignment with it and and just how much more
10:37
of an emphasis they're going to have and if they're going to even continue to have conference
10:40
champions in normal season in the in the future with
10:43
it being so unbalanced and predictions of it getting even more
10:46
unbalanced but speaking of
10:49
ncaa changes and all these crazy predictions ncaa has
10:52
officially gotten rid of the nli or national letter of
10:55
intent on signing day so while this doesn't change a lot for us as players and
11:01
our commitment to university because we were always able to leave a school at
11:04
any point enter the transfer portal and and kind of end our contract on our
11:09
side that way this now allows the university to end theirs at any given point.
11:14
So it really puts that emphasis on the professionalism that college sports is
11:17
going towards with you being on a semester to semester financial basis with the university now.
11:23
You are officially playing, I think, pro soccer year. You are no longer guaranteed
11:27
your four-year contract or whatever it may have been on your NLI.
11:30
You are now just signing a financial agreement with the university.
11:34
And semester to semester, your coaching staff can decide whether or not you
11:37
are still fit for their program and kind of,
11:39
you know, and, and your contract, you know, they can decide to let you go and
11:43
let you lose, which I definitely think is sad to see.
11:47
And some of the implications I didn't really think about until,
11:49
you know, these articles started coming out and you talk to some of these girls
11:53
about what this NLI getting rid of it means.
11:56
Cause I always thought it was going to be relatively the same,
11:58
but the emphasis on just how professional it is.
12:00
And I think you lose kind of the sanctity that was amateur in college sports with this.
12:05
You are fighting for your life every semester now. and it definitely is a professional realm.
12:11
Yeah, I know. I find this so interesting, and I think I can see it from two
12:17
very different sides, and that's what makes this kind of a really interesting
12:21
topic in the sense of I was fortunate enough to have a four-year scholarship with Iowa.
12:26
I think I can now talk about my scholarship that I've graduated,
12:29
all that fun stuff where you don't talk about your scholarship.
12:31
I had a four-year scholarship with Iowa, so I knew when I signed that that was
12:35
what I was going to be guaranteed over four years.
12:37
And unless I breached the code of athletic conduct, my coach really couldn't get rid of me.
12:44
Sorry, Dave, probably know you wanted to at times. No, I'm kidding.
12:46
But in reality, like I had that safety net and I know plenty of other people
12:51
that have been beyond thankful for that safety net.
12:53
And so I think as a player, you hit the nail on the head.
12:57
This does professionalize it. This does mean you're fighting
13:00
for your life you know this does mean you do have
13:03
to consistently improve yourself i think the scariest
13:06
thing about it is the fluctuation of scholarship meaning you
13:10
know when it's a semester to semester basis it's like not all or nothing in
13:13
the sense of oh all of a sudden you're going to go from 75 to you only earned
13:18
25 that could be a reality and if that's the case financially affording college
13:22
we know is all hard so i think that there's a there is an added level of pressure
13:27
and stress to the players 100%.
13:30
The other side of it, I am probably well aware, I'm sure, Jordan,
13:34
you've heard stories too, there was ways to get around this.
13:37
Like, Jordan and I, you and I probably both can think of universities that had
13:41
backdoor ways of dealing and doing their own things of getting rid of players.
13:46
You know, I will say not Iowa, but I know of so many.
13:49
Like, it's not even one school. It's not one thing. And so I think that in a
13:53
lot of ways, it's more fair to be blunt with players and have players know the
13:57
reality instead of all of a sudden hitting them with something that maybe they
14:01
didn't expect or they didn't even know could happen.
14:03
I also think in college, we expect coaches to be professionals in the sense
14:08
of they win and that's their job.
14:11
That's their requirement to do. They have to continue providing good athletics
14:15
for the university at the end of the day.
14:16
So we're expecting coaches to recruit girls when they're 16 and then commit to four years.
14:24
You know so it's six years typically after they're recruited so
14:27
and commit to that and that they're going to be the perfect player for the
14:30
program and i think that is a hard ask for a coach that that you're grasping
14:35
at straws you're seeing things when you're recruiting that you think will be
14:38
great but you don't know what's going to happen you don't know injuries you
14:41
don't know life experiences you don't know players don't know who they are when
14:45
they're 16 and so i think that by doing this,
14:49
it does add a little bit more fairness to the coaches if their job expectation is to win.
14:56
But overall, like you said, that is a professional environment and that is clearly
14:59
what we're creating here.
15:01
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we'll be honest. Like Michigan State, I think, has, you can look at it.
15:06
We bring in a lot of transfers. You have a lot of people going out as well from
15:10
graduates or people deciding to enter the portal or staying at Michigan State
15:13
and not being on the team anymore.
15:15
We have a very high turnover rate. I think it's probably been about half the
15:19
team knew every semester I've been here since the start.
15:22
Part of that being we were rebuilding a program and other it being that's just
15:25
the way Jeff coaches and our style.
15:28
And I do think...
15:30
While there can be some benefits to it being up front, I think what this does
15:34
is it's the death of potential.
15:36
Like, even if you weren't the best fit for this university prior to this NLI
15:41
change, you were still guaranteed that financial scholarship or at least the option to stay.
15:45
You know, it was always in your hands, even if you maybe weren't put in a position
15:50
where you thought your coaching staff wanted you to stay. You still have that option.
15:54
You could still be a normal student athlete or a normal student at the school
15:58
and university and maintain that financial security while not being on the team,
16:03
where now, you know, you're kind of on your own.
16:05
I think it's it's pretty scary, too, with the academic requirements that if
16:10
your scholarship gets cut at one university,
16:11
are you even like academically able to transfer to another or are you then burdened
16:17
with that financial stress having to maintain yourself at that university in
16:21
order to graduate and like this weird in between and stuff that can happen.
16:25
But I think the biggest thing for me is like, I look at my career.
16:29
I'm very, very happy that I got in and I'm getting out of college at the time
16:33
I am because I, a huge part of my story was coaches taking a chance on me and
16:39
this idea of potential that I had to be able to play for them.
16:43
If you have a 28-person roster cap, if you're looking at me,
16:46
and I'm on a full scholarship between academics, athletics, and grant money.
16:52
I've gotten very, very lucky. I was recruited by an old coaching staff.
16:55
They believed in me. They saw the potential in me.
16:58
With all this, I don't think that if these rules were implemented the way they
17:02
are now, I would be at Michigan State.
17:04
I don't think Jeff would have had the option to even invest in me with the way the rules are now.
17:09
You have this idea of injury. when I tore my PCL, like if a coaching staff is
17:14
looking at it, it was so iffy on my return, what that was going to look like
17:18
with the roster cap and the ability to know my scholarship.
17:22
You know, I'm an expensive player. If I'm not playing, why would you keep me on the roster?
17:27
Why would you keep me for all that money if I'm in this weird limbo state here?
17:31
Like that's just a dead spot now.
17:34
So I think overall, this is not good for the players. I think this is something
17:39
that puts a lot more power back into the hands of the coaching staff and university,
17:43
which makes it professional.
17:45
You know, that's what was so special about college sports and college athletics
17:48
was that it was athlete run.
17:51
You know, we had the power to make these decisions, to run these programs and
17:54
to make them what they were. And we had the power of, you know, of all of that.
17:59
And I think now with these rule changes, it gives it back to the coaching staff,
18:02
which is it's sad, you know, and it's scary to see what this will turn into. too, because...
18:09
It'll be a domino effect. As college becomes professional, I think you're going
18:12
to have these younger and these youth club teams becoming a lot more professional
18:16
as well in order to get you ready for it, which is so sad because that is just
18:20
the best part of my youth was being a multi-sport athlete.
18:23
You know, was doing all these different things.
18:25
And I don't think that path would have gotten me to college now with the way things are changing.
18:30
So overall, I'm not a fan of this real change, but hopefully
18:34
it doesn't turn out nearly as bad as I'm predicting it will for
18:37
these student athletes but I'm definitely glad I'm getting out at
18:40
the time I am for sure and speaking of professional environment
18:43
our incredible guest today I'm so
18:46
excited to have her on she's someone that's made a huge impact in my life
18:49
the last year but she is a individual coach
18:52
at EF Co North Shipping so my club in Sweden
18:55
but it's from Florida was born
18:58
and raised there played college soccer in Florida started her
19:01
professional journey and then as all
19:04
players unfortunately at that time had to make a decision of
19:06
when it was time to hang up the cleats and
19:09
start moving forward and starting a new career and a transition
19:12
from a player to a coach and I think you know Jordan and I obviously talk all
19:17
the time about our lives as players and everything we do as players and I don't
19:21
even know what's going to happen the day I no longer identify as a player or
19:25
what that transition even begins to look like I feel like so I'm so so thankful
19:30
to Taylor for coming on and
19:32
really open about her transition and how the world of coaching kind of came
19:35
to be and that decision to end her playing career and start this new journey for her.
19:40
We are here with the one and only Taylor Townsend, who I'm fortunate enough
19:44
to not only call a dear friend of mine, but also a lot of the reason how I ended
19:49
up in Sweden, my individual coach, and so much more.
19:53
And I'm so excited to really dive into this topic of not only playing soccer,
19:58
but what happens when we're done playing soccer, which is obviously an unfortunate reality.
20:02
So Taylor, thank you so much for spending some time of your day with me.
20:05
Well, thank you, Samantha. Let's start from the beginning. You're from Florida.
20:10
You play college soccer at both UCF and FAU.
20:14
How did you end up starting your playing career in Sweden?
20:18
Yeah. Well, so after I was done with my collegiate career, I actually went to
20:24
Peru for four months and played at the Copa Libre Tours tournament there in Uruguay.
20:33
And I ended up getting a little bit injured. So I took that year off in 2017,
20:39
and I actually was talking to my agent that if I now were like talking about,
20:45
it's like mid-December and I was actually making money for the first time in
20:49
my life with substitute teaching and coaching on the side.
20:53
So I was like, okay, if I don't get a team in two weeks, I'm gonna hang it up, I'm done.
21:00
And without it must have been like a few days later they're like hey a team
21:05
in sweden wants you they want you here they want you there january,
21:09
being not so educated in how the North works since I'm from Florida, it was incredibly cold.
21:18
So I got to learn the hard way about snow and playing in the snow off of that.
21:23
So yeah, my agent got me over here and he did an amazing job.
21:27
So I'm very thankful for Michael for that.
21:30
Yeah, that's incredible. And so when you're playing in college,
21:34
you said you went from Peru, Sweden.
21:36
Did you always want to continue your playing career? I feel like for collegiate
21:39
players, sometimes it's that question.
21:41
So what was it for you that made you want to continue playing after college? Yeah.
21:46
I always wanted to play. I wanted, and I always said this when,
21:49
even when I was young, I want to play until my body won't let me anymore.
21:52
And I did that check, but that's not the smartest idea to do that.
21:57
Don't be like me, but yeah. So I always wanted to play college was good for me.
22:03
It wasn't the best playing style for me, but when I actually came over to Europe,
22:07
that's where I actually got to have the full experience as a player.
22:12
That's where I really grew as a player coming over to Europe.
22:14
It fit my style of play better.
22:16
Let's talk about that a little bit. As someone who's played now coached in Europe,
22:21
what would you say you see the biggest differences as someone that maybe you
22:25
said it didn't align with you in college and you kind of discovered and figured
22:28
out more about that when you went pro?
22:30
Yeah, I think because I was in college in like 2012 area.
22:35
So I'm a little older, but I think, I believe college soccer has gotten better
22:39
since then, but it would be more of the tactics. And I was a target forward
22:44
and back in college, they wanted those athletic quick nines to go in the deep, not my style.
22:49
I'm one to build up the attack with, find connecting passes,
22:54
getting a ball to the crossing area and finishing in the box.
22:58
So that's what I would say. It'd be the tactics and the playing style.
23:01
That was a big difference and I enjoyed it.
23:04
And that actually, I believe, prolonged my career.
23:08
Even longer transferring to a new area of football.
23:12
Yeah, that makes sense. So let's talk about that last year as a pro.
23:15
Obviously, a little bit of your story that year has a lot of ups and downs for you.
23:20
And you kind of highlighted earlier, you're going to play until your body gives out.
23:24
What was that last year where it kind of was like, I, this might be my body
23:30
giving out? Can we talk about that for a little bit?
23:32
Yeah. So it was going into my first year at EF Cohen North Sherping.
23:38
I was I struggled the year prior there
23:41
was a lot of stuff going on at home my body
23:44
was under a lot of stress so I like
23:48
the biggest way you're going to get injured is stressed and I decided let's
23:52
bring it all on let's be stressed out let's be freaked out about your life and
23:57
everything and ultimately I did have one more chance to play and I held on to
24:03
these stressors which caused my body to do things that shouldn't have happened.
24:08
Like my hamstring was torn off from the bone.
24:11
So I have a nice, disgusting, ew.
24:16
And so, yeah, I, but it was actually good because I spent three months, I knew the coach.
24:23
He liked me, but he wasn't expecting me to be good for him.
24:27
So I know like I had like these low standards. So I'm like, anything I'll do
24:32
will just be good. So it was that was a nice mentality to learn as a player.
24:36
And unfortunately, I learned it late.
24:38
And that's why I try to tell players that I have now, like, don't worry about
24:42
that stuff. Just play football, play the way you want to play.
24:46
So I did really well scored a lot of goals the first four months I was able
24:49
to play and then I just went in for a run and just tore my hamstring off the bone and was out for,
24:58
seven months but with like I'm so incredibly grateful that I was able to play
25:05
in the last two games so I was able to jump in.
25:09
To be honest, I wasn't thinking my career was going to be over there, but the team promoted.
25:16
So I was faced with the decision to either try to play in a higher division
25:21
with not having a year under me previous year or to actually make more money
25:30
than a player would and to actually start a living.
25:33
And it's even better to start your coaching career younger. so
25:38
I actually really had to grow up and I had
25:40
24 hours to decide if I wanted to end my career and
25:44
in Taylor fashion it's I just ran with it I don't like to think too much but
25:48
I do think too much so it was weird let's talk about that 24 hours like I said
25:55
I'm enough to know this story Tarana comes up to you and says I have to hire
25:59
a new assistant coach and I want it to be you,
26:02
what was that conversation with him like and what was I mean there's so many
26:06
emotions as you're going through. Like, is this the end of my playing career?
26:09
Am I done? I have 24 hours to decide if I'm going to start my coaching career.
26:13
Looking back, what was that 24 hours like? Yeah.
26:18
Backstory on that. When I was injured, I didn't want to be not doing anything.
26:23
And I told Tordane, and this is amazing of what he was able to do.
26:28
He was able to let me coach during that time.
26:31
So I wasn't I wasn't stuck in a depression I was focusing on my teammates I
26:36
was focusing on my team like it was good for me and I love coaching so and I
26:40
knew that's what I wanted to do after,
26:42
so but in that moment complete rage anger fear every the worst emotions you
26:49
can that was in that moment it was very smart of him he had the psychologist
26:54
in the next room so he knew I would I wouldn't take it amazing.
27:00
But he also knew that I could handle that type of crossroads and something that I should see.
27:07
And to this day, like in that moment, I wasn't appreciative of that scenario.
27:14
But here, like literally a week after, I'm incredibly grateful for what he presented me with.
27:21
And I'm grateful to this day. But every single emotion you can imagine.
27:26
I didn't of course you go through the question
27:29
of like oh what are people going to think of me now oh
27:32
my god what's my identity how am
27:35
I going to cope with everyday life because football
27:39
was my coping skill I was incredibly confused
27:42
so it was a lot yeah I don't
27:45
know which one you want to dive in more on the cool
27:49
thing is like and it's cool looking back obviously it's
27:52
overwhelming and so much in that moment is at one
27:55
moment you're starting a new life in a lot of
27:58
regards of no longer being a player starting this
28:01
coaching journey you know starting this next chapter another point
28:05
you're hanging up your cleats and something that yeah they did 20 years of your
28:09
life to and playing football like you said so entwined in your identity is over
28:15
yeah so yeah two very different emotions to balance but let's talk about the
28:20
losing being a player first and And as a podcast,
28:24
you know, Jordan is a senior, not knowing what she's going to do with her next moves as a footballer.
28:28
So many people, you know, you never know, frankly, it's a reality of when that
28:32
last game is going to be and when you are going to lose sport.
28:35
And what was that transition out of being a player like for you? Yeah.
28:41
To be honest, that's a process, and that takes time. And I know everyone probably
28:45
hates the word time, but it's true.
28:49
Time makes everything better, but also time can also show you, oh, maybe I'm not done.
28:56
And you are a player as long as you want to be.
28:59
If you want to continue, you'll have the pathways. You'll be able to figure it out.
29:03
If you want to take a year break to figure your shit out, do it.
29:07
That's fine. but like as for
29:09
me in that situation I was like I'm not done
29:12
playing so I'm gonna do whatever I can and
29:15
this was maybe wrong thinking because
29:19
I think it was maybe a too big of
29:21
a step for me because as a player we are selfish and
29:24
we think I need football football is me
29:27
so I think it was yeah I
29:30
had the wrong mentality I'm like no matter what I'm gonna figure out the ways
29:33
to play so I was actually trying to
29:36
work my schedule be like okay I'm gonna go I can train
29:39
with Dom this day the women's team I can go
29:42
play for this other division team this day when
29:45
the truth is I need to do my work and figure
29:48
that out but I had to learn the hard way I decided to
29:52
play division one division two soccer and
29:55
the year and then I absolutely blew out my whole knee so now I only have one
29:59
ACL and I actually decided not to get any surgery so I cannot play football
30:05
anymore that's how psychotic players are so we were more that body until we
30:12
said we wouldn't yeah yeah.
30:14
And now we're a full-time coach you kind of hinted at earlier but you always
30:18
know coaching was going to be the next step in your soccer journey or when at
30:23
what point did you know that when you were done playing, it was going to be coaching.
30:27
I always knew that.
30:30
And when I was even in college, I was coaching club teams. I was coaching individual training.
30:35
Like, that's all. Like, I always wanted to do what I love. I have a love and a passion for football.
30:42
And I want to, of course, help people and make sure people know that their dream
30:47
is alive and that everyone has a different path.
30:51
And there's nothing to really stress about that. Just enjoy it.
30:55
Enjoy when you have football because unfortunately it
30:59
does end I just yeah I always knew that I wanted to be a football coach just
31:05
keep pouring in the passion and love to other people amazing so you're young
31:10
in 24 hours you go thinking oh no we're talking about the back damn it.
31:17
From being a player to being a
31:20
coach yeah and now all
31:23
of a sudden you're an assistant coach of
31:26
a all swedish team and their
31:29
first yeah as you know like that's a dream first
31:33
coaching gig for a lot of yeah talk about
31:36
all of a sudden taking that on yeah to
31:40
be honest i wasn't ready for that I like
31:44
in that moment I'm thinking okay
31:47
I have to do this to one like
31:50
to be able to live in Sweden I like Sweden
31:53
is my new home I need to do this to help
31:57
my future career like I need to so it
31:59
was a lot to take on I I didn't
32:02
understand how much it was of
32:05
a jump and that was and that
32:08
was because I've been in the vision of a player for all my life
32:11
so if anyone wants to be a coach and they have a present of like hey do you
32:18
want to be the assistant coach in an elite team make sure you actually know
32:24
what you're getting into before you get into it but you know you live and you learn and.
32:30
I had fun. And there was a lot of ups and downs. You mean as a player,
32:35
coaches don't just show up to practice and then when their practice is done, you're done for the day?
32:40
That's not your only... You may think that, but it takes hours of planning.
32:48
Hours, days, weeks, months, years of planning.
32:52
So I think the biggest struggle for me, and this is going to sound so stupid,
32:57
but I'm going to say it, was adapting from a Mac to a PC because they give you
33:01
a work computer and I had no idea how to work that and it was in Swedish so
33:06
I was handwriting everything like what the heck oh that is amazing,
33:13
well you said in your first year there is struggles of a high and low and you
33:18
had a very unique situation where you are now an assistant coach of a team that
33:23
you had been on so yeah from player to coach of people you were teammates with.
33:29
And I'm sure there's a lot of highs and lows within that.
33:33
But how is it navigating that first year of like, what is your role?
33:38
You know, you go from a player to a coach, all of a sudden, so much changes.
33:41
How were you able to kind of navigate that transition?
33:44
Yeah, no idea. I just went.
33:47
And to be honest, like going back to the time thing, it takes time to figure
33:52
out what you're going to do.
33:53
It takes time to figure out what's actually the best role for myself so yeah
33:58
I think it was actually incredibly difficult to go from,
34:02
being a teammate to a coach and a coach with that's the assistant coach one
34:09
clear thing boundary toward Ana and I made was like I will have no say in the starting 11.
34:16
But broad spectrum of things assistant coach
34:19
should have a say but I made sure I didn't want bet because
34:22
those were my friends those were my old teammates so it
34:26
was just like it was too much of a line that I didn't
34:29
want to cross so but my new role now is
34:32
fantastic and it just it
34:34
just takes time so yeah
34:37
it is kind of naive for a player but you know we
34:40
look and I'm like oh yeah like my coach spends time doing scout and
34:43
they run training if you do this but there obviously
34:47
is so much more to being a coach there's actual football and
34:50
there's managerial tasks there's personal relationships there's so much to balance
34:55
and I feel like a lot of players feel like they can transition to coaching like
34:59
I've played football for 20 years I I know the game what are some of the things
35:04
that you didn't expect from going to a player coach that was like a learning process at the time.
35:11
Okay, there's one thing my brain can't fathom. And this is literally all coaches do.
35:17
It's scheduling things like making a schedule, like I can schedule trainings, I can do that.
35:25
But it's like the full year knowing, okay, this game should be here.
35:29
Okay, this type of training should be here.
35:31
Oh, let's add in that meeting to this day. This is a good time to have gym,
35:35
like seeing a full, full plan.
35:38
And that's honestly, I learned a lot in my last, last year, I learned so much.
35:45
And the biggest thing, like when you are running team and you need,
35:51
you need to know your strengths and weaknesses.
35:52
So from now on, I will definitely be making sure I have a coach of assistant
35:58
coach of my own or help outside to help me with scheduling. Cause that's not my strong suit.
36:02
You're going to have positives and negatives and it's okay. Just own them. Don't fake it.
36:06
Wow that makes total sense and so you've kind
36:09
of alluded you know since being the assistant coach the roles
36:12
have kind of shifted you're the individual coach of
36:15
the top team in the club and you are the head coach of
36:18
our highest academy what were some of the shifts in being an assistant to now
36:24
you're in charge and you're the head coach yeah what's the difference in responsibilities
36:28
i feel like players we see it but what really is tangibly the difference there
36:32
well to be honest it's actually a lot easier to be the head coach.
36:37
One, you need to make sure you have good leadership, make sure your players
36:41
are feeling happy and healthy.
36:43
And I say this again, and I'll say it till the day I die. If you want the best
36:48
from each player, they need to be happy.
36:50
When you're happy, you play good. So making sure you have a good team around you.
36:55
We have another great coach that's
36:57
alongside of me. So he helps with the scheduling. He does that stuff.
37:01
We have a younger girl that's able to help out with just making sure the girls
37:05
are good and they're happy.
37:07
And we have another one that's really good with physio strength and conditioning stuff.
37:11
So making sure you have a good coaching group to be good leaders for your squad.
37:16
So being the head coach for me has been a lot easier because I have the vision
37:21
on how I want my team to play.
37:23
I don't have to follow someone else's vision.
37:26
So, and I, I believe hopefully I get my point clear across to my other coaches
37:32
so they're able to perform what i see does that make sense yeah that makes total sense.
37:39
Perfect and so uh you know so many
37:41
people that listen to this podcast are players parents of players and all
37:44
that what makes a player a good coach you know you always hear the like if you
37:49
can't do it coach it or teach it you know it's one saying of course there's
37:54
the classic like not every player turns into a good coach like what is it make
37:59
a good coach from a player a good leader,
38:03
good leader and someone that, yeah, I would say leadership.
38:09
And of course, that doesn't mean someone that doesn't like to talk isn't a good leader.
38:14
Those are actually some of the best leaders that the ones that sit and watch
38:17
and make sure they're there and they're giving their best.
38:21
So good leadership will make a good coach.
38:24
That's awesome. And so early highs, you know, you've been starting this coaching
38:29
journey from this transition.
38:30
What are some of the struggles of transitioning into the specials and some of
38:35
the early highs of the coaching career where you're like, dang,
38:37
I made the right decision. What moments have those? Yeah.
38:41
To be honest, going back to time, I didn't really start feeling these victories
38:47
until, this is going to sound crazy, until I tore my ACL when I was playing
38:52
Division II because then I was all in.
38:56
That was my thing. Nope, Taylor, boom.
38:59
And then I just let go of the old career. I don't
39:02
recommend to do that like don't but you shouldn't have to
39:05
go through that to let go and
39:08
just go all in yeah yeah especially
39:12
when you're special but yeah so I I started feeling those victories when I started
39:19
making those one-on-one relationships with players seeing them have success
39:23
feel a little bit happier on the pitch especially with the women's team because
39:27
I'm the individual coach for them,
39:30
helping, helping through their frustrations, just knowing that they have support
39:35
and knowing that one coach a hundred percent believes in them.
39:39
And just a note to all you players out there, your coaches do believe in you,
39:44
but they might show it really wrong.
39:46
Okay. Elaborate. Just a side note of that. But like, what do you think?
39:51
I think a lot of people that are coaches actually have very poor communication skills.
40:00
Yeah. And they might be too upfront and a lot of coaches' personalities don't
40:05
match the personalities of a player.
40:07
So you could have a coach trying to help you, but you don't like getting a lot
40:11
of help. But they're like, oh my gosh, how can we help her?
40:15
But the truth is, you don't want any help. So they need to step down and let you be.
40:20
And it could switch around. So that's why it's good to have a diverse coaching table.
40:27
So you have different types of coaches that can help each player
40:30
but yeah if your coach doesn't
40:33
like you you're at the wrong place but they if
40:36
they bring you to their team they're they
40:40
like you yeah and don't read the small things
40:43
good lord so your goal
40:46
is an individual trainer an individual coach i think
40:49
it's something very unique that our club offers that you
40:52
know i can go on my monday morning and to spend
40:55
one-on-one time with you and work on something specific for you as a coach how
41:00
is it you know like players obviously can grow in so many different ways you
41:03
know I could work on 18 different facets of my game right now how do you help
41:08
pick the one like how do you see what I need to work on and how do you kind
41:11
of envision to bring out the best in me what's your kind of.
41:16
Mathematical logic brain that goes behind all that oh I my biggest thing I do
41:22
think And the foundation of technical ability is off of the first touch.
41:28
So every one of my players, I go through first touch, first touch,
41:31
and it's a touch that's not underneath you.
41:33
It's a touch where you're able to move with the ball and adjust behind it.
41:37
And then we work from there.
41:39
First touch is the foundation of everything. Unfortunately, but it's,
41:45
of course, like people say, I struggle with speed. I'm not the quickest player.
41:49
Well, how's your first touch? Is your first touch slowing you down?
41:52
Is your first touch on the side?
41:53
Like how, let's disguise your lack of speed, which a lot of players are actually decently fast.
42:00
How can we make it where you look faster in the action with the ball?
42:04
You get it? Absolutely. Good. I taught you well.
42:08
You've done I've had plenty of first touch meetings with Taylor.
42:11
Yep. Yep. First touch, first touch for the cross, first touch for the,
42:16
even like doing a cut back to get out of pressure, those types of things.
42:21
It's first touch is everything. And it also is based off how your foot is contacting the ball.
42:27
It's how your body's moving behind the first touch.
42:30
It's a lot, but now I've gotten good at it where you can hear a good first touch.
42:35
Yeah so now it's better i don't
42:38
have to do video on someone watching it doing a first touch
42:41
you can see it so one thing super unique about you and throughout my entire
42:46
playing career it's something that i'm know that i'm blessed to have is that
42:52
you build individual relationships with your players you are you know i've gone
42:57
into the story on the podcast you are half the reason i am in sweden,
43:01
but also just like seeing your dynamic i'm fortunate to see it every day with
43:05
our team with the u-17s with people
43:07
in the office why is building that relationship important for a coach.
43:13
So of course it depends with my f-17s i'm the head coach there so it's going
43:21
to be a different relationship i'm going to hold more standards with them i'm
43:26
going to make sure that they feel good I'm not going to be a crazy,
43:30
but I'm going to make sure they feel good.
43:32
Okay, why are they doing this? I need to hear from them. So relationships for
43:36
me is number one in leadership.
43:40
As for the dom, I think since there's so much more pressure and we have full
43:46
coaching staff already, I was kind of like the one that was like,
43:49
okay, I'll make sure they're okay.
43:51
The psychology of the football behind their brain. Like, what are they freaking
43:56
out about not getting a contract extension?
43:58
Extension are they freaking out that they're not scoring enough like that type
44:01
of stuff so relationships to me.
44:05
For me is a foundation on how to get a player or I can get a player to do what
44:10
I think they should do and vice versa.
44:13
Like if they have a thought, then I can help them with that.
44:16
And you guys that are on the women's team, it's, it's easy to coach you guys
44:20
because you have such a great foundation.
44:23
And quite often, a lot of the times is the mentality behind an action.
44:27
Is there this negative correlation with something?
44:31
And usually it's that. So getting away those, we
44:34
call it in Sweden the ghost in the head to get
44:37
the full player out yeah absolutely so as
44:40
a coach you've progressed through this where do you
44:43
see the big goals for your coaching career now or at
44:45
least not even at a where or how but like what are your goals to accomplish
44:51
in your coaching career and of course I'm going to relate this to how I was
44:55
as a player my goal for soccer was to play the highest level I possibly can
45:01
and to enjoy it, to have fun.
45:04
That was my biggest goal as a player. And at times when I look back,
45:08
I'm like, did I accomplish that? I believe I did.
45:12
So there, of course, maybe one more year, but no, it's okay.
45:16
You're still here. She's there. The player is always there.
45:20
But as a coach, I want to have more of an open mindset.
45:26
My biggest goal is going to be impacting people
45:29
to play their best football and wherever that
45:32
takes me I'm open to it I think a lot of times as players we're so focused on
45:37
this one goal oh my god I want to play for Chelsea I want to play for the US
45:42
Women's National Team that's fantastic I had those goals too but I was so like
45:47
if I didn't make this then I'm not making that and then it was just this spiral down,
45:52
so for me as a coach i want to be open i want to be like okay i want to impact
45:57
players i want players to play their best and wherever that leads me i'll go
46:02
unless it's good for me and my family,
46:04
i love that so over the last couple years we have seen a massive trend in women
46:11
head coaches and females getting hired to better coaching positions because
46:16
i think you and i could agree for the longest time,
46:18
especially in the U.S., it was coaching us as a man's world.
46:23
What is your- 100%. Any female player, any woman player looking to get into this world?
46:30
Yeah. I mean, as much as you can.
46:35
Start coaching. Start seeing, like, coach youth teams, coach anything.
46:40
I started with coaching high school teams.
46:44
Start coaching as soon as, one, if you have enough money, get into the coaching
46:49
classes. Start doing that and get involved.
46:53
Don't be afraid to ask, if you're out of college, don't be afraid to ask a local
46:58
club, hey, can I help out on Tuesdays? because that's my off day and see what
47:03
happens and just kind of go from there.
47:04
You'll learn a lot about yourself and as a coach when you start getting into it. That's perfect.
47:13
And I think my last question is a lot of players see that their college career
47:19
ended or something happened and I'm done playing and that's the end of my soccer journey.
47:25
And I think one of the coolest things about you is you've expanded your
47:28
soccer journey well beyond your playing years and
47:31
somebody yeah what is your thoughts or
47:35
what would you say to those girls that are like i'm a player so football is
47:39
done for me what is your kind of reaction to that honestly well you one you
47:44
gotta listen to your heart and i know that everyone says that all the parents
47:48
say listen to your heart listen to your heart if you know you want to keep playing Like I said before,
47:53
there is 100% options to play.
47:57
And say I'm living in, say I'm Taylor back in Florida, and then Peru calls me,
48:03
Peru, if I want to keep playing, I go to Peru. So you go.
48:08
Don't be afraid to leave home. Actually leaving the States or wherever anyone
48:14
is, it's actually quite an experience, and you learn so much about yourself.
48:19
So football is more than just football, soccer, soccer, my bad.
48:25
It's so much more than that. It's you're growing as a person.
48:29
And a lot of times leaving is a great way to learn and you develop all around.
48:38
So never say never. If you want to play, you go play. If you don't want to play,
48:42
start working. Be a substitute teacher.
48:44
Do something and then say, oh, my gosh, I miss it. I want to keep playing.
48:48
Then go back and play. just stay in shape just be ready no don't blow off your
48:53
hamstring or do anything don't don't do anything extra like taylor taylor was silly.
49:01
But i think the biggest thing is for people to stay
49:04
open-minded i don't i would one of
49:07
my favorite quotes of all time and it's from a song back in
49:10
like the 90s is every new beginning comes from
49:13
some other beginning's end okay closing time it's closing time but it's true
49:20
like okay one chapter ends another one will start you make your chapter you
49:26
don't have to overthink the unknown because it is unknown just,
49:32
just go, just try it out. But yeah, your career is never over until you say it's over.
49:39
And when it is over, it's okay.
49:42
No, that was incredible. And that's exactly why I knew that you would be an
49:46
amazing guest to have on this podcast is just through the journey.
49:50
Thank you for spending a little bit of your time with us. I know that our listeners
49:54
everywhere, we have girls from high school to college, parents that are trying
49:59
to give their kids advice.
50:00
So hearing from you in this perspective, I'm sure will be absolutely amazing.
50:04
Of course. And it was so much fun to be here. So thank you so much.
50:08
Thank you so much to Taylor for coming on and having that amazing conversation.
50:12
I know, like I said, I can't even imagine transitioning out of not being a player.
50:16
And frankly, I'm sure it's something I need to get real with because it can happen at any time.
50:20
So knowing that there's other options, knowing that there's a life of soccer
50:24
beyond being a player and being comfortable taking that leap of faith like her,
50:29
I think it's really, really cool.
50:30
So big big 10 games this weekend as we know ucla and usc are fighting for the
50:35
title and a lot of other games to line up what the big 10 tournament will look
50:39
like as always guys stay tuned stay connected to girls soccer network and soccer on.