Latest / I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth / I Hate Soccer #127 - Barry Scott, Director of Coaching for the Michigan Tigers

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I Hate Soccer #127 - Barry Scott, Director of Coaching for the Michigan Tigers · I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Barry Scott is the director of the Michigan Tigers, uh located in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: And he has been there for about five years after 13 years with the Michigan Jaguars.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_02: And we just talk about his his coaching career coming up.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: He's from Scotland.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: And he talks about his story about how he fell in love with Ann Arbor in like 1999.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: He never even heard of it.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_02: And he's been there ever since.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: We discuss um just youth soccer, youth player development, youth soccer development, college soccer, uh, some studs that he's had throughout his career, been around through his career.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_02: He's been around Amalia Villarreal at Texas, and he's been around Chloe Ricketts, obviously in the NWSL, and we discussed a lot about them and just just talking and talking shut up, talking some mucker.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_02: So I went into this year uh with a goal of 5,000 YouTube subscribers by Christmas.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_02: We hit that.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_02: We hit that by NFL season, which is amazing.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_02: My other goal was 100,000 downloads by Christmas.
• 1:07
  SPEAKER_02: I think we're gonna hit it by Halloween.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: So again, I can't thank you enough.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: Make sure you subscribe and follow on any platform because again, I might be uploading a third episode uh in the upcoming weeks.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna stick to the two, but there might be a third, so just be ready for that.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_02: Enjoy this episode with Barry, and I'll see you next time.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: I hate soccer.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Also said he's doing the Flint stuff, so it's like he's like he's getting.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: He gets his bicks of working with the top levels.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess they lost in the final, you would say, and they had a really good year.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they did.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_02: Well, and then they bring in Steve Clark.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_02: That's not fair.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: It shouldn't be allowed, it's ridiculous.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_02: But uh, yeah, so what got me into this is I had a ton of college commits, and I'm like, you know what?
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_02: I don't really know that much about the um the recruitment process.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because I was I've been a supplemental soccer trainer for 10 years at the time, and I'm like, I need to I need to figure this out.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_02: So I had my players on and I just started talking to them, and then it just blew up.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_02: Then I then I was like, you know what?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: I'm running out of kids to talk because they're back in school, so I'm gonna start talking to coaches, and then it got bigger and bigger and bigger, and then I'm like, wait a minute, somebody said this.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_02: Somebody I think somebody in Michigan said, dude, if you're this big coming from little Buffalo, what if you went home?
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_02: What if you went back home to Michigan where it's a hotbed where we have two Big Ten teams within an hour drive, or all of our Mac schools, or even the NAIA because it's a big NAIA state, and then it's just like okay, and then and then I partnered with Paul, the Jag.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, you know what?
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna do that with Midwest because I had Lewis on, yeah, and we really got along.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, and then um, and then I'm like and then MLS next called me, uh Luis was like, Hey, do you want to come to Fest?
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, sure, yeah.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: Now I now I'm being accused of being an MLS profiteer, but it's like okay, if I had a political podcast and Trump invited me on, and then I don't know, Kamala invited me on, I'd have both of them on.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_02: So, like, I'm not gonna turn if Christian Lavers called me tomorrow and said, Hey, you want to come to East NL playoffs?
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm going.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: So it's ridiculous.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: But now it's I'm going out west.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: I have a wedding in Utah, and then I loved Utah when I went there as a kid, and then I was there for playoffs.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: And uh I was like, you know what?
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna try to reach out to all these clubs and just see if they want to do like a little part like three episode partnership.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_02: And so I'm going to Ida Boise, flying into Boise, driving down to Utah, staying there in Utah for about a week, and then I'm going to Vegas to talk to some of the Vegas clubs.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: Wow.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'm flying home.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: That's a great road trip.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's a great road trip.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's dumb.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's so dumb.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's great.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: I know.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_02: And then next month I'm gonna do a little Indiana and Ohio trip, and then I'm trying to get to the Pacific Northwest because Rose City Futsal, I mean, you know Sarah.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: So Rose City Futsal reached out after I had Sarah on, and another club reached out.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: And she loves futsal.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's her that's really I mean, our passion is soccer, but she loves the football futsal aspect.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_02: Right, and then I have family up in Washington, so I'm like, or uh in Seattle, and I'm like, wait a minute, I could just make a little road trip, Pacific Northwest trip, and then yeah, that's awesome.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's amazing, just snowballed.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's in it's insane, it doesn't make sense.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's so dumb.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: You must be really good at it, mate.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_02: I'm okay, but I think everybody wants to like, hey, well look, can we do it on Zoom?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, no, I I have to do it in person because it's just a more natural conversation, and then we carry the conversation after, or we start a conversation like we just had, you know.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: So it's like, I don't know, it's just a little different.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, and I like and I think like for me as well.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we do IDPs with all our kids, and some of the staff, especially younger ones, they love to do it on Zoom.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Me, like, I want to see the family and the kids, like I want it to be in person, right?
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I maybe it's my age, maybe being older.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: I just like the Zoom thing's cool for some things, like if you if you need it in a pinch, but like I want to sit, I want you know, mom, dad exact player right there so we can have the conversation.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: Right, you know.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_02: How long have you been at Tigers?
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: So this will be my fifth year at Tigers, okay.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: My fifth year.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_02: And then before that you were at Jags.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Jags for about 13 years, maybe maybe 13 years later.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: During the whole growth.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: When I mean, I think you know, when we got there, we obviously at the time that Mish uh Norville became Northville Rush.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a massive competitor for us on our doorstep.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Z and Shook and those guys, Eric Rudland, who was an animal.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like they I mean, that was a you know, um, and obviously, you know, we continued to try and develop, and you know, that was when the plat like the DA came out and the platforms came in, and yeah, I was there a long time.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, me, Tinny Scorby, Dandal Zocchio, even Junior was there at the time, Scotty was there.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we had we had some great times.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we did a a lot with the club, but we also had great.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm still golf with those guys.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Spoke with Tinny the other day.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, we we used to vacation our July 4th vacation.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Families used to vacation together.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we're a great type.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So not just on the field but off the field, you know.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's good people and it's like there's no grudges, it's just and Groey, of course, who I can't forget because Grooy's the goalkeeping coach, who's like a quiet guy, who's an Ann Arbor guy as well, actually.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: He lives on the north side.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, there's a lot of you know, him, Scoby, me, Zocks, Scotty Emerick.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: We're a little we're quite a squad.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, quite a squad at the time.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, what okay.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_02: Can you go into like the history of the tigers?
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_02: Because when I when I got to Buffalo, it was 2015, yeah, and I don't really remember having to play the Tigers or anything like that.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I always thought it was a Lansing club for some reason.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know why.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_02: But um yeah, and and then all of a sudden I hear Tigers, Tigers, Tigers, and then and then um oh Chloe.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah Rickets.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: Chloe Rickets pops up just up there somewhere above you, above me somewhere.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Where is she?
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, oh yeah, and uh I was like, okay, and then I got I come home and I'm talking to all these GA people and MLS next people, and I'm like, I haven't.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: I was at Almbrook United.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_02: I think I was talking to Jules, yeah, and I'm like, I haven't had I haven't even talked to the Tigers guys yet, and I need to.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: So, and that's why.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_02: But like, yeah, go into the the history of the Tigers a little bit.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously, I'm relatively new.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I did coach at Ann Arbor Arsenal back in with Eric Rudland and like Mike Myers and those guys when the when the club folded.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: So basically what happened was the club tried to build fields down on Platte Road, they're actually still there.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: The the township actually owns them now.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Okay but they developed fantastic fields, all grass, crowned them, did everything, you know, uh made sure that you know water supplies, all that kind of stuff, you know, irrigation, everything was great.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then when we went to use the to the fields, the towns like, well, you have to pave the parking lot.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the club was like, What do you mean we have to pave the parking lot?
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, well, one of our rules is that you have to have a paved parking lot, and the club had no money left because we'd spent it all on the fields.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: So theoretically, that spring season the club went bankrupt.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: So we ended up like I was out in like Lincoln doing like coaching clinics and stuff, so we could use like Lincoln High School fields and stuff just to get the games in.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like we we painted a 7v7 field in the front of WISD just to get Yeah, but like I mean though people were like, Barry, were you drunk when you did that?
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like I was like, no, that was me sober.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever tried to spray paint a field?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's not ugly, but it was nuts.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: But we got through that spring season, but obviously by that time everyone knew the club was going to be gone, and there was you know, rightfully so, a lot of unhappy parents.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like they paid money and were part of a club that was no, and the worst thing was we're these fields sitting there.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like we'd actually been the first club to build our own fields in Ann Arbor, which no one has, and like they were just sitting there and we couldn't use them.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was just so bizarre.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: I think that was like maybe 07, must have been 07.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so from that, obviously Ann Arbor United were still in town, and then Nishan Artinian, who I coached with at Ann Arbor Arsenal, Nishan was a coach there, he created the Tigers out of that.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: So then they were formed in 08.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: 2008?
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 2008.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a fairly new club.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I kept in touch with Nishan for a long time.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then he had talked about, you know, trying to take the club to the next level.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: He had some guys who'd done a good job, can get back, he wanted to kind of and uh I spoke to him about you know Andy Pritchard because Pritchard and I had worked together for years, we came over together back in the late 90s, early 2000s, and he'd been at you know, downriver, he'd been at DCFC, and he had three young kids at the time.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, dude, he's in the community, lives just down the you know, a few miles down the road, he's got three young kids.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: So anyway, Nisha had hired Andy, and I mean from then the program really took off.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he did a great job of you know bringing in some good staff, developing like the juniors because he was in charge of like the junior program over in Canton when it was Canton Soccer Club or Cannon Celtic.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so he started doing that, developing it, getting the junior program, you know, and then he'd asked me for years, um, hey, do you want to come to the Tigers?
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: Because I live, I'm four miles away, you know, but I was driving up to Novi.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: But I love my time at the Jags.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: So I was like, nah, mate, I appreciate it, but you know, I'm just and then COVID hit and like everything, things changed.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I got in the habit of not driving to Novi every day.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's a good point.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, man, like I'm getting a little older.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do I want to spend 40 minutes each way going up to Novae when I could be four miles away?
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: And that was really the same.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, and obviously, you know, love Pretch and known him for a long time, so that was what really sort of forced me or made me want to change, change and leaving the Jags.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I kept thinking about coming out of Wixam at 10 o'clock at night in the winter, and there was a storm, and you're getting home at 11:30 or 12.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: It didn't happen that often, but you're getting home at midnight and snow vibes, and it's yeah.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: You had a dinner, you know, your wife's like, Are you okay?
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Be careful driving home.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, and you get home at midnight.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you'd left at noon that day to go in for a meeting at one o'clock, and then you'd coached, and then you're coming out at 10, and you hit a snowstorm, and you're like, dude, that sucks.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_02: And then you wake up in the morning and you have like eight emails from um upset parents because of something you said at practice, and you're like, What am I doing?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: So that so that was my biggest thing.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it was it really was a personal it was me getting that 80 minutes or 90 minutes a day back, you know.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it really did like you know, walking with dogs, yeah, just time, you know.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: But again, I'd never really the drive had never bothered me because I loved where it was so much.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like I say, well, not just on the field and what we're doing on the field, but you know, those were mates, they still are mates of mine, right?
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and we'd a great time.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: So we used to vacation together in the summer, July 4th, you go up to Douglas Lake.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're just just talking, I was just talking with Tinny about it in Scobie at the the Jags Wealth out, and like it seems like lifetimes ago.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: And it I mean it was 12 years ago or whatever, but great times.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: So for me to leave that, you know, it wasn't easy.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_00: But then after not making that drive for so long, I was like, man, I just don't know if I really need to be making that drive anymore.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: So that was it.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then the fact I had this on the doorstep and I knew Andy and he'd asked me, it was like it would it made it easy.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_02: And going back to the thing about the parking lot, yeah.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I've been on this kick, I've talked about it in almost every episode.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's like everybody's like, oh, let's get rid of pay to play it.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, okay, you want to own your own facility?
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_02: Good luck.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, good luck having pay.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_02: I so I rented my I had a facility that was like five five aside.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think we had a parking lot that was maybe it was maybe 20 parking spots.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was like 20 grand to re-asphalt it and to paint it.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, thank god I don't own this place because I couldn't afford it.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, or uh, you know, we gotta have a backup generator, or we had to do this, or lights, or roof, or whatever.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like it's crazy, and the whole pay-to-play things, I mean I don't think the pay to play is the issue.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think sometimes the expense of playing is the issue, the travel.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: But for me, like I look back, like I look at what these kids get and I'm like, dude, I wish I had a fraction of what they got.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I remember kids ask me, they're like, hey, Barry, when you play, can you like show us your highlights?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, what?
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what do you mean my highlights?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, I've got black and white photos, like still photos, but I've got a VHS player that I can put my highlight tape in, Betamax, oh well.
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, dude, like these kids take, like, they don't have to be a good one.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Every game's filmed.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's nuts.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: Do you think the parents understand too?
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's it's almost it's so mainstream and common that it's just taken for granted.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: You know, GPS stuff, tracking systems, video.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: No one talked to me about my nutrition.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I was a w.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, my nutrition was shocking.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: No one ever said, hey, eat these things, don't eat these things.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: I want three sessions a week.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: We have to have turf.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_02: I know I want half the field.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's like my parents just dropped me off and said, have fun.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_02: They weren't expecting anything.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_02: I never had a full-time coach.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_02: I always had like uh a GM engineer, and then he would be my coach because he's like my teammate's dad.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like that's who my coaches were.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we didn't have it's like, well, we're gonna go over here because he has an A license, you only have a B.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's like what?
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, when did we do this?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, isn't it wild?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy, it's it's nuts.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I the I look at what we provide these kids, and I'm like, dude, I mean, you literally get everything, everything's provided for you, and that's maybe the problem, you know.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: We give them so much, but the other the the world has changed as well, right?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: The those kids out in the fields today are not the kids that we were 35, 40 years ago when we were out in the fields.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, you know.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I don't I the pay-to-play thing, like I the expense of the travel, I can understand, but this is a massive country, and in Michigan in the weather in the winter, like I think I heard you say it with Jules, like the cost to rent indoor space is just outrageous.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's what most people spend money on.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Tinny told me about what Wix and charges them for their for their event, you know, and then what's going on with the Oakland bubble is insane.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and all that mess.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_02: And I know people are trying to build their own facilities, but that's like I mean, you need some money multiple clubs, yeah, or you need multiple sports, you need basketball courts, and kind of like what they did to Ultimate, but you need multiple sports to survive.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: And the problem we have in Ann Arbor as well is like there's just the land so expensive.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and if it's available, I mean, UFM tends to buy pretty much everything that's available, you know.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that to try and build a facility that in here, I mean, you have to go kind of into the the boondocks a little bit, like out of town, which again then you start adding travel and travel time and different things, but it's yeah, and that's where private equity comes in, and that was what we were talking about before.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's like people they want their own facilities because that gives them a leg up, yeah.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like okay, those private equity companies, where's our ROI?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_02: So you jack up prices or you try to accumulate smaller clubs, yeah.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's wild, but I never really thought about you do offer them so much, so they are ex these parents and these players are expecting an ROI of well, you're gonna get me a free calendar experience, even though there's no full ride really.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, especially I mean, there's some Division I Big Ten schools that only have like 14 scholarships.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're gonna get a full ride going Big Ten.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's like no pump the brakes, yeah.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_00: And especially not now with the roster max and the I mean the transfer portal.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's like I have a kid who's a who's a senior right now at in Michigan State, and she was on the O4 girls team.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Great kid, still keeping touch her.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, she's she actually she's played a little bit more this year as a senior, but it used to be when you went as a freshman, you you didn't play much, and you tried to earn some time, and then you try and as a junior and a senior, you ought to be the problem now is you become a sophomore and a junior, but then they bring in three seniors or fifth-year seniors, and uh you go back down the peck in order.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard, man.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's tough.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I I just don't know if you know, maybe it maybe we don't educate the parents enough, we certainly try to, but that whole process is so tough.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: And again, like I tell kids parents, if if your only reason for playing soccer is you think you want a scholarship, you're in it for the wrong reasons.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't spend that, save the money.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it doesn't, that's not what you you should be doing.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Because I tell, you know, what are you kids the reality is no one's making it pro.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone wants to be a pre pro.
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: Statistically speaking, no one's gonna be a pro.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: Now we know that's not true, there has to be some players make it, but you know, the mentality of those kids or the players that make it or get to a point of potentially making it, like their mentality is so different from most of the kids.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's a drive, it's a you know, I remember you know, when I had Amalia, you know, Mum and Dad used to say like she literally has a ball at her feet every minute of every day.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_02: Are you talking about Villa Real?
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's a that's interesting you brought her up because I talked to Marguerite uh and uh so okay.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_02: How how did she get moved to solar?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_02: We're talking about we're talking about Amelia Villarreal.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_02: She's like a junior or a senior at uh Texas, and she's probably Texas's best player.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_02: I've watched probably four or five of Texas' games.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, yep.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: So when I coached her, she was on our 06 team.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: The problem with that was Is that Jags or that was a Jags?
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so she was too good.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like it it it was it was bad for her and it was bad for the team because she was so impactful.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, Amalia would get the ball, dribble, and strike balls with both feet on goal.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: And what happened was she wasn't getting enough competition, so we moved her up to the 04s, which became a great fit for her.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing that happened is the 06s became a lot better because now they had to do figure out stuff on their own.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't just pass the ball to Amalia.
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's a great point, you know.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now you have to move, you have to do she was in 06, she was in 06, but she played our last three years in 04, and she was good on the 04s, and that that 04 team won uh won a national championship.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: It was USU soccer at the time, but I mean that was a good group.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Still, yeah, and I mean that was a good group.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: She I mean she fitted in great on that team, but it also made her find other solutions because she wasn't just a little bit bigger and or she wasn't bigger, it was stronger and a little ahead technically and tactically.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: She had to find different solutions.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that really helped her, but it also helped those six girls because then they had to solve the problem correct without her, yeah.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Which helped them a ton.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: They became a good group.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: How tall is she?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: Amalia is not tall.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: I know five, six, but she has that low centre of gravity, hard to knock off the ball.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: Very not I ironically, I had for once or that half a season.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: I think I had Chloe and Amalia on that 06 team before we moved Amalia up because Chloe was in 07.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: But then Chloe, so Chloe was at the Jags that year, then COVID hit, and then that's when Amalia actually started driving down.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: Our mum and dad would drive to Texas to play for Solar because in Texas she could still play.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: We were shut down in Michigan, but she would go down to Texas and play with Solar and guest play with.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, that's the story.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: So she would they would drive down to Texas and play games with Solar.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_02: So they never moved to Texas.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: They still live in Lanson, she's still Lansing games.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: Don't you guys have a girl right now that is with you guys and then she plays with slammers?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, Bridget Coptmaier.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: So Bridget came to us last year.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_02: Julie and the Haley, the old goalkeeper from Michigan.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: Do you remember?
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: Do you remember Haley Cottmeyer?
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think so.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's not the same way.
• 22:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's like and that's not a normal name.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: No, it's not.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: Matt, our dad's Matt.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because I used to coach our other sister filling off at the Jags, our older sister at the Jags.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: So Bridget was younger.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_00: But she's good.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, she's a special player.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: I think she just, I mean, speaking of full rides, I think she just went to stay on a full ride, I think.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: And Jeff.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: Jeff Jeff Keptur?
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he took it state.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: So she's going to go there.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: She's actually, I just got an email from US Soccer.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: She was down at the U 17 national camp in Tennessee in August, and she's been named as one of the alternates for the U17 World Cup.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: So she flies out to Morocco, she'll be involved.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then if something happens, I mean touch what it doesn't, but she's an alternate.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: She might have the chance to stay and play.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: If not, they'll fly her home before the event starts.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: But um she's a good player.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_02: Do you have a relationship with slammers?
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how did that work?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: No, that was all through them.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: That was the work, yeah, looking for opportunity for exposure, trying to figure out, you know, and I I you know, I'm actually really happy for Bridget.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: One, going to stay because I've known Jeff for a long time.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's a really good coach.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think he runs a great program.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think I just saw they were ranked number one in the country.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: I just saw that actually, yeah.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um but I'm I think I think there's a lot of misinformation.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for Bridget, going to college, playing in college, and continuing to grow as a player and also as a person, yeah, and then maybe taking the next step, I think makes the most sense for a pathway for her.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I'm you know, I know people are trying to pull you into the NWSL and be the pro and do all this, you know.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: I just think for Bridget, that was that was a great pathway for her.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: Like go to state and you know, continue to develop.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: You're playing in a great program, you're playing under a great coach and see where it takes you.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: And then, yeah, uh Linda Ulmark is a Buffalo kid.
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_02: Well, she was developed in Japan, but that's a different story.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: But she's playing with the U-20s today against Brazil.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: And she played two years at North Carolina, they win a national title.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: She's like, I'm gonna go to the NWSO.
• 24:21
  SPEAKER_02: It's like that's a that's a pathway.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_02: Chloe obviously had a different pathway and a whole different thing.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: And her she she's been a little unlucky with injuries.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, she just had surgery, I think, her ankle a couple of months ago.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, I run into her mum dad all the time because they're local here.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because I coached her at the Jags and then at the Tigers.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: Because when she was at the Jags, I coached Chloe.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then COVID hit, and then she the the the weird because people ask all the time, like, how did Chloe end up on that boys' team?
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually quite ironic because she's a Dexter kid.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: So all those boys, that whole seven boys group that that we had at Pritch coached I to go.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was that was as good a soccer group I've ever had.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they I mean, deep, talented, potential mentality, like wanted to get better, pushed each other, like proper training sessions, like let's go, like no holes bar.
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like it was to the point where a couple of times you'd have to like, oh, got a game on Saturday.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Guys, but we all need to be able to walk.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: But that was also part of why they were so good, that ferocity and that competitive and that environment they created for themselves.
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: It was amazing.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_02: And that was player-led, or do you think that was coach-led?
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Mate, I didn't know the group before.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: I think it was mainly player-led, but I think Andy, who had done probably helped that and molded that as well.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think Zach actually, our admin, when he used to be on the field, he had that group as a as a young thing, but as a young, uh young team, Zach had them as well.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: So um, but they that was an exceptionally talented group.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: But during COVID, the fields were open outside, those guys were out every day playing, and Chloe was there playing with them.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: So they knew how good she was and they could see that she fitted.
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: So when I came in, Chloe was playing for Andy in that group.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: The next year I I came in, I took that group, and it was easy for Chloe because I think that's what people forget.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's not easy for a female to play with the guys.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, but because she'd been out here for months playing with them, kicking them, being kicked, she was just part of the team.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so for her, it really was it was a great situation, but very unique because the boys loved her, but they also knew how physical she could be and how physical they could be with her.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: So she was just another team member.
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: You know, she wasn't a girl playing on the boys' team, she was just a part of the boys' team, and I think that was really I mean, for her it was great, you know.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Even that that I mean we won a national championship that year, and I mean Chloe was as good and that team we played was was a good, you know, it was a good game.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but she could hold her own.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_02: Did she play at did she play at Jags and Tigers at the same time?
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, so she was at Jags until the March.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_00: So she came to the Jags in the fall.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: She played with me August through what was it, March.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: With the girls, with the girls.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: So she played, she was on 07 playing on 06 with like Amali on that group.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then COVID hit in the March, so she started doing all this, and then that following year when we started again in August again, she didn't come back to Jags, she came here and played on that 07 boys team.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_00: So she played her own age group with the boys with Andy, and the following year I ironically coached her again here because I took that team over when I came in that next year.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: Mm-hmm.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_02: And then and then she graduated high school and everything, right?
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she actually she graduated high school while she was, I think, in Washington, DC when she was down there.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: So when she was in there, because I think her mum.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because she went at six that's right.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: She went at 16.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: So she had to have.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: She for a there's like that window there where like everyone was signing the the newest youngest player to the NWCL.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_00: It was like there was like five, and like that was wild.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Chloe was one of those for that period, and it was like it was like every cut felt like every couple of months there was an another younger kid being signed or whatever, but yeah, so they had to obviously, you know, she had to finish school and move and had to have a a guardian with her down in down in DC.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_02: So did did were you ever worried about losing either of them to obviously Hawks?
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so Chloe, I believe, left Dexter and went to the Hawks and then went to the Jags.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: So I think they'd had that experience.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if they loved that experience for whatever reasons.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: So I think they'd already been there, done that, and therefore that really was an issue for like for Chloe.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that whole boys team, you know, Colton Wren, and you know, Fabrizio went down to Nashville, Colton had been out of Seattle, so several went to the Jags, a couple went to the Wolves, Chloe obviously then ended up going to NWSL at the time.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: So that team kind of blew up, which was obviously disappointing because I think, you know, as I said to everyone, a lot of those kids they were so good, they'd have been recruited to play in different places.
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like we'd already had Butler and IU in Michigan out to watch us play.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: Colton had already had a week in Seattle, and you know, Bingy called me's like, dude, Colton's the man, like I think he's awesome.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: Went out to you know, Seattle for a week, and then the actual academy director didn't like him.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: But that's the other thing that you've it's so hard, right?
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: You've got a head scout who thinks you you could be the next thing, and you go in for a week and the cadmium's like, nah.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: And like that's like there's so many things have to go right.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: The time and the like just has to click.
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: And Colton Oliver then's you know been at several different places.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I just text him the other day, he's gonna go, he's gonna play in Scotland come December, he's signed for Hibbs, so that'll be a that'll be an interesting step in his development, you know, playing in the Scottish Premiership.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it's uh it's a great achievement, but it'll be uh it'll be uh it's a very physical game, and the weather in December in Scotland's not always great, but um, so he's done great, and you know, Ren's killing it, um, you know, a lot of those guys are doing well, you know.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: Fabrizio was down at Nashville for a year, unfortunately for him it didn't work out.
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: He came back, um, you know, but a lot of those kids, you know, a bunch of the kids are playing Saginaw Valley, uh Tyson's been killing it down at Bowling Green, you know, he's done really well.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean that whole group was just a an unbelievably talent group, and Chloe was obviously a big part of that as well, you know.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: And again, she's had a little bit unlucky with injuries and her ankle and different things, so she's not really got, you know, managed to get into constant game time because she's just she's been hurt so much.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I was just talking to a uh and you were talking about the the Seattle Scout, and I just talked to a youth national team coach on the women's side, and he and she said that there is a disconnect between the scouts and what the youth national teams actually want, and that there needs to be a more like collective process.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: It sounds like it's the same at some of the MLS academies.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it is, and I'm and I think it's all because a lot of it's all personal, right?
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like what everybody looks at these players differently.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and I have certain things and attributes that as a coach I like to see in a player, but that's not the same attributes that you like, exactly.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it's all different.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I tell people all the time, like, if we could if we knew who the next messy Ronaldo was, we wouldn't be here just sitting on a beach with our feet up drinking my exactly.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: If it was easy, we'd all do it, but it's not, it's unbelievably hard.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: There's so many things that you know that I keep like the mentality of that kid to want to get to that level and the things they have to do.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the things we all a lot of kids forget is that like most of these people who succeed have huge knockbacks or negative moments in their life, and it's how they overcame them to get to there.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think sometimes people think, oh well, I'm just not good enough, then I should just stop.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like that that attitude you need struggle, you need some to c overcome the.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you if you watch the some stuff from the UK, they overlap with John McGinn.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, oh yeah.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_00: And bro, I love the overlap.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, being Scottish, watching McGinn play at the World Cup was one of the highlights of my life this past summer.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was amazing, you know.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I had some time in Boston, but the watching him talk about the youngsters now in Aston Villain, how he can't even relate.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, dude, he's like, these guys are turning up to play games in the under-21s and they don't even have their laces tied.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, how how like because they think they've made it, you know, they're on the under-21s, they're getting a lot of money, which is a big like, and that's what he said.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, I don't have any money.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like he said, I was selling, I was working the ticket booth and I was cleaning boots and because I needed the extra money.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and he's like, but kids these days, because there's so much money in the game, that they he's like, you're gonna have to play a game and your boots aren't even tied, man.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, and then the problem is they don't, and he said, like, um you can tell the kids that will have a chance of making it because they're eager and they let want to learn and they want to keep improving and they want to do the right things.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, but most of these youngsters, he's like, I can't even relate to them.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, it's so different from when I was a kid, and I feel obviously that's John again watched seen at Aston Villa, but like it's the same here.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I see kids who say like they have goals and dreams, but they don't understand or aren't willing to put the effort in to maybe, maybe achieve those goals and dreams.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, but I can tell you what will happen, you definitely won't achieve those goals and dreams if you're not willing to commit everything to to achieving those goals and dreams.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's a disconnect, you know, it's like, I want to be a pro player, okay?
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_00: Are you watching film back?
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Are you touching a ball?
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the chance you've been one, it's so small, especially in this country, but you have to do all these things to just give yourself a little chance.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_02: A little chance, a sliver of a chance.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_00: But we have all these kids who don't do those things and are then disappointed.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's the same when we go to the college game, a step below.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Kids want to play division one.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I just want, you know, Michigans and Tango.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, what are you doing?
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you just don't you you have to put work in, and I think for a lot of them, it's the kids who are at younger ages buy into the things they have to do for years.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think some people, you know, some of the players get to 16, 17, and like, I want to play division one soccer.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, but you haven't done the things that you needed to do to play division one soccer for the last four years.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: You can't just choose at 17 to play the, you know, is there some athletic specimens and exceptions rule for sure?
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I think like applying yourself, and I think a lot of the younger uh people today don't that disconnect is still there, like it's like the work that's required, and you can do all that work and maybe still not make it.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_02: I'm thinking of like do kids see it in terms of okay, so I think that we are so far removed from the professional game, so we have no idea what being a pro even means, but a lot of players don't even know what a division one player looks like, right?
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_02: So it takes a club like yours or Jags or name a club that has put D1 talent, and then hopefully you as a 12-year-old or a 13-year-old is watching her or him.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_02: And my first experience with a power four player, uh, I was going into my freshman year of high school.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_02: It was captain's practice, right?
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_02: So I have all these seniors, and I'm like, what is going on?
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'm like, who's the girl?
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_02: Why is there a girl here?
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_02: Her name's Erica Watley, she won like Miss Soccer, she played at Michigan State, and she was going into her senior year, and I'm like, why is this girl here?
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'm like, what the hell was that?
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'm watching her, and we're all like waiting for our parents to come pick us up, and she's doing like sprints, and I'm like, this girl's different.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_02: And then I found out that she was committed to Michigan State, and I'm like, oh, that's what it takes.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, and and she's been doing that for a long time.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: She didn't just start doing it.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's and I think that's what people just don't, they don't see that side of it.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the other problem is the world we live in, there's so many distractions for these kids these days.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's hard to give up the PlayStations and the arcade games, and like I mean, we didn't have that when I grew up, we didn't have those things, or you know, so like there's so many distractions for them that they can do other things.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_00: So to have that mentality and that drive, man, but the kids that have it have a chance, you know, and you see those kids do separate themselves.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: The one I and that could be a good thing about social media is like some of these pros will just show their day-to-day like workouts and stuff like that, and then you actually see, okay, that's why like Sergio Ramos is one, he's my one of my all-time favorite players, and his Instagram is just nuts.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's like him doing sled drags up a hill backwards.
• 37:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, yeah, this it's like this guy, there's a reason why he's played at that level, he's won everything that you can win.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, yeah, yeah, man.
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: I'm touching a ball all the time.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I mean, I tell that's the most important thing.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, even some of our better players, whether it's at the Tigers, at the Jags, Nationals, Liverpool, dude, ask them to strike a ball or hit a pass with a non-dominant foot.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, it's just, it's like, wow.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you you should be able to do that when you're a teenager and think about playing in college or like, and it's just like we just they just we don't do it enough.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know a lot of us boring, you know.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_00: Well, okay, that's all right.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: But if it's boring, you're probably not gonna be getting better and you're not gonna be.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_02: That's how I made a living.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_02: That's seriously how I made a living for 11 years.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_02: And somebody was like, So, what do you do from my players?
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I will close the skill gap between your right foot and left foot.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_02: If you talk to Fergie, if you talk to Fergie, ask him over the last like three or four years who is the best two-footed ball striker, and he's gonna say Abby Bashera.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: I guarantee I would have text him after this and ask him.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: He'll say, Yeah, he'll say Abby Bashera.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_02: Don't don't tell him I was with you, but just say, just out of curiosity, who was the best ball straight two-footed ball striker in the last three years, he's gonna say Abby Bashera.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_00: And Amalia was the same.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: Amalia could strike balls with both feet, you know.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Chloe could dribble with both feet, go both ways, you know.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_02: When at what age did you realize like that's different with the with both of them?
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I think honestly, from uh Amalia just from probably when she got to maybe and I wasn't coach her, Trisha was coaching, Trisha had it for like three years, and just you could see her on the field just a little bit different.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it was the same thing when we were when we used to play The Rush, and Polisic was on the field.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_01: What is that?
• 39:23
  SPEAKER_00: You're like, you know, I mean Kevin Selman, right?
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like he he's killer, like there's so many people wanting to be him, and really he's the only one.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_00: And we have many millions of people playing soccer, like and he's killing them less at 16.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_00: But like you see these young prodigies come through in all these countries, but it's not it they're few and far between.
• 39:50
  SPEAKER_00: You're right, they're few and far between.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I know like I think somebody was comparing him to Freddie Adu, and I was like, I mean, that's maybe a you know, if Freddie was truly 16, maybe, you know.
• 40:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's true, you know, he might be the the really the first true American potential world-class player super-I mean Pelicity's world class, you know, but like a kid who came in and is playing it professionally against men at 16, and that takes a lot.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: When you were playing against men at 16, like man.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_02: It has to be a perfect storm, yeah, it really does because Christian came into a perfect storm with his dad and his mom and their playing backgrounds, and then you have to have a little bit of God gift and and and physicality and then get into Dortmund and and then but you have to be in love with the ball, yeah, all the time, all the time.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_00: Boy, I mean you know, and even then, I mean, but I and I think that's what our kids don't understand is that being in love with the ball and tips all the time is almost like a bare minimum.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a bare minimum if you want to really nutrition and you know fitness and you know film.
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like I tell the kids all the time, like, dude, I can't believe you get to watch yourself play.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's like one of the coolest things ever.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you score a goal, you do something like you get to watch it, it's great, but then can you watch it?
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, this worked, why?
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, What?
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: Well, but that didn't work.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, why didn't it work?
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: What do you mean?
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, well, like analyze the game.
• 41:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, be it, you know, let the game teach you.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_00: Be a student of the game.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like we all want to see that, you know, great goal we scored, but we don't really want to watch the film.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_01: You're right, because like when I was coming up, uh yeah, yeah, we had like a dad with the VHS, stuff like that.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: But then he would like he'd be like, Oh man, this is great.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_02: And then it's like we missed the goal because you like you look with your eyes and not the camera.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, what are we doing?
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_02: But that's so true.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_02: When we would when we would watch it back, we weren't studying the game.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_02: No, we were just like, dude, I gotta see this save on me.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_02: This is sick.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_00: Wait till you see this tackle.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 42:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, oh one of my like one of my teammates like went into a tackle and went flying.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, oh, we gotta watch that back, you know.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_02: But we didn't like we weren't students of the game.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_02: In '94, the World Cup is here.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_02: There was one game, USA versus Columbia.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: I studied that game over and over again, but I never studied my own games.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's like the advantage that these I mean, I'm looking at Bios right over there, right?
• 42:34
  SPEAKER_02: It's like it's unbelievable how far we've come and how professionalized the youth, the youth game has become, and a lot of people are still so unsatisfied.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_02: I know, yeah, it's frustrating.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, guys, for you for you guys have short-term memories.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, people complaining about Pro Rel and the MLS and stuff like that.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, dude, I'm old enough to remember when I didn't even like the I'm the first year of the MLS.
• 43:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_00: I I remember when I first came over driving up to Spectadium in Troy to watch a game.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great place to watch a game.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: And then we actually, when we first came in.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_02: CJ Mahoney's now.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what it is?
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: I've been there.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: So when we first came over, we were uh we were living in Wickham.
• 43:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it was like '99.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we're co- I was coaching in Garden City in Dearborn, and some of the a couple other boys were coaching at La Forza.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we went La Forza.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we went into a pseudo-Irish bar, Benigans or Branigans or something, and Wixham's like the only place that time.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there was Wixham was there was not a lot there at that time other than the London toll sports.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: And uh we ran into uh an Irish guy, Dermot, who's still around here, cuts fuels and still does stuff.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_00: Derm's like, have you guys been to Ann Arbor?
• 43:50
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, What's Ann Arbor?
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I had no idea, never heard of Ann Arbor, didn't know what it was.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, dude, it's a local college town.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_02: What year is it?
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is 1999.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm like, he's like, Corn O Neils, Main Street.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, they have satana.
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: You can get in, you get an Irish breakfast, a pint, and you can watch like Premier League games.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, oh, fantastic.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: So like once that July or whatever, getting Motel 6 over and you know, something cheap in this Corn O Neils, watching the game, Irish breakfast.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, we're moving to Ann Arbor.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: This place is.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then you've lived here ever since ever since.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: Ever since.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: But that was it.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like we came to Ann Arbor because we wanted to watch a football game.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: And like literally, it was that or Spectadium.
• 44:34
  SPEAKER_00: It was Troy or Ann Arbor.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: That was it.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, like my dad comes over and he's like, you get to watch more games than I do.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like I live in Scotland.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: I can't see these games at three o'clock.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's not.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: I know, and that's nuts.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_02: Every game.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_02: And people don't realize that either.
• 44:47
  SPEAKER_02: And it's to protect, I know, it's protected the smaller leagues and make sure people actually go to the games.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_02: Which is it's like everybody is on the USL and the they're what they're trying to build, it's like you might not want them to get a TV deal because people are gonna just stay home because the viewing experience has gotten so good at all.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_02: And and it's a lot cheaper.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_02: I don't have to pay for parking.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_02: I don't have to pay for the ticket.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: Fair drink.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_00: Beer is way cheaper at home.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_02: Gosh.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so there's you know, but it's uh yeah, the how much is I mean that's a quarter of a century or a little more than a quarter of a century.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_00: But like I say, we you basically had to find a pub and you knew like you, you know, Satan would have that little beer glass in the corner because you know you had to pay for the rights to show a game and stuff.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, you know, we literally had two places in Michigan.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_00: We could go watch like English Premier League Soccer.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: Now I can I can watch Rangers TV and watch Rangers, Celtic, Motherwell, head, can watch the Scottish League, for goodness sake, you know, every game.
• 45:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's crazy the access we have.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_02: And it's that's 27 years ago.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_02: And people are still like, well, why haven't we won a World Cup?
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, are you are you serious right now?
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_02: Like, my dad didn't play.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_02: Think about think about everybody in the UK versus everybody that's playing right now in the United States.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_02: Who has more second who has more second generation players?
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_02: I bet you the whole of the UK have more second and third generation soccer players in the youth players in the UK than we have as in the entire country.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_02: Certainly third generation.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, certainly third generation.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: And when you think how small the UK is, that's nuts.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, right?
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_00: But Scotland's under six million people.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_00: We have you know 40 professional teams.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_02: We have six million in NRP.
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_02: No, I'm just kidding.
• 46:47
  SPEAKER_02: No, but yeah, I oh gosh.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we could go it's funny because um we do tours back to Sport in Spain next year with World Strides um and Jimmy.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, uh well, so I knew World Strides and Johnny and Eric Macaulay, actually Eric who who owned the company before we came World Strides, I knew them before I actually knew Dan from his time TNT, yeah.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then I was there, I'm like, what do you do?
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_00: Is that what's it?
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, because I knew the World Strike boys and Dan, and then obviously working together.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_00: But um Johnny Brown, um, one of the boys and Eric, like they do a sort of coaches tour educational.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_00: So last year, like we sent Bileo to Portugal uh two years ago, they did Brazil.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: So actually, James Rent and myself, we went on the Brazil trip.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, you went with them.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: So we went together because one of the things was like, I was like, Are we gonna go?
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: And I was like, Well, and I called Jimmy, I'm like, Are you going?
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, I'm gonna go.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, let's go then.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: So is this the practice trip?
• 47:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you did you so we went to a bunch of like we went to basically I went to Rio and went to all like all the professional clubs and real baskets, just coaches.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: So coaches from all over coaches from all over.
• 47:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then we all went down there.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_00: We had like, you know, JT from Galaxy was there, there's a bunch of the boys there for a couple of boys from DC, a couple of boys from uh Carolina and what anyway, we all go there.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: And Jimmy and I were gone and we're like, we went to every I mean we watched some of the sessions, and the way they do it there is the older players go to the academy in the morning and they only do soccer, and the younger kids go to school, and then in the afternoon they flip.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_00: So you've got kids, and then the problem is obviously I mean, the social problem for Brazil is the kids who are not good enough to be in academies, they're what are they doing?
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because they're not in school and they're not in an academy.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's obviously a different issue for the for them.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but they've got academies for every kid.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we went out and said to one of the the directors, you know, some beautiful grass fields, like, yeah, this is our youth field.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: Jim and I look at it, and they were watching out the trainers out here, and we're looking at the carpet, man.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine playing on that thing.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_00: Use seven's playing on that.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, so how do you line it for the small side?
• 48:55
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, What do you mean?
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, so how'd you do the lines?
• 48:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, for 11v11.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, what?
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, yeah, are you sevens played 11v11 on a Saturday?
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's how I came up.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_00: We played 17v17 sometimes.
• 49:08
  SPEAKER_00: The Ben MD came over out of famous, and it was a 2v2 and it was a 9v1.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but yeah, but it was not, and I came off, I think I came away from that trip and watched it.
• 49:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we watched, I th I think we're was it Vasco?
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_00: I can't remember who we were at, and we were watching this session, and it was like, but what we did, the intensity and the level of the training sessions was unbelievable.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_00: And like they they had so many war breaks because and it was like a heat wave down there.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: It was real, I mean, 105 humidity, and all they got was fruit and water, fresh fruit and water.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: But the intensity and the like the tackles that were going in and training, it was like wow.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was night and day.
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's what when we talk about or we go on these trips, these coaching education trips, that is always the thing that stands out.
• 50:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's not the drills.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_02: No, all the drills are it's oh well our coaches suck.
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, we're doing the exact same thing that they are.
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's not, it's not kind of the event new wheel.
• 50:14
  SPEAKER_02: Is the it is the it is the intensity, it is the will to be a pro.
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_02: They are fighting for their lives, they're they're fighting for their families, they're trying to provide a better life.
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_02: We can never compete.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_02: I don't care how many A-life, give educate every single coach in the United States and get them to the A license or a UEFA A, we will still be in the exact same problem.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm so sick of having those arguments with a well, our coaches is why we can't win.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, stop.
• 50:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's that's definitely that there's a lot of issues.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's definitely not one of them.
• 50:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's way down the list.
• 50:54
  SPEAKER_00: But Jimmy, I like we watched this session.
• 50:56
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, I think it was Vasco.
• 50:57
  SPEAKER_00: Jimmy, I'd have to, was it Vasco?
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, it was a bottle bottlefogo.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 51:01
  SPEAKER_00: Bottlefogo.
• 51:02
  SPEAKER_00: 1v1s, and they had a turf field, which is one of the only facilities that had a turf field.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: So they had turf.
• 51:07
  SPEAKER_00: They're playing 1v1 to small goals.
• 51:09
  SPEAKER_00: Again, nothing we haven't done a hundred like what everyone in this country is doing.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_00: One v1 to small goal, take somebody on.
• 51:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you win it, counter play the other goal.
• 51:16
  SPEAKER_00: Two basic curve or activity, whatever you want to call it.
• 51:19
  SPEAKER_00: One v1.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: This kid went to block a shot and he fell.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_00: And the way he fell, Jimmy are like, oh God, I think he's just broken his arm or his wrist.
• 51:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like you could tell, dude, not a single coach went overturn.
• 51:33
  SPEAKER_00: No one asked him if he was okay, and he got back in the line and went back into a 1v1 holding his hand like this.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we're like, What the?
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_00: We'd be like, they'd be a loss.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, dude.
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_00: It was nuts.
• 51:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, no one even asked him, Are you okay?
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_00: What have you done no one cared?
• 51:49
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't even and he didn't pull himself out of the activity, and he just went back in playing 1v1s at high intensity.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_00: And do you mean it's there's that kid is either broken his arm's wrist.
• 51:59
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the way he went down, you were like, oh god, and we're like, wow, wow.
• 52:04
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, like you come back from that trip and you're like, you know what?
• 52:07
  SPEAKER_00: We are never going to win the World Cup.
• 52:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, because that just doesn't exist.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_00: That doesn't exist.
• 52:13
  SPEAKER_00: Brazil can't, no, and they haven't.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 52:16
  SPEAKER_00: And Brazil can't win a World Cup.
• 52:18
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 52:19
  SPEAKER_00: What chance do we have?
• 52:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, like, I mean, it's nuts.
• 52:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I'm from Scotland.
• 52:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's the dumbest conversation.
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_00: I I I told Pritch, I'm like, dude, I've got to go to these World Cup games.
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, what?
• 52:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, we might never be.
• 52:31
  SPEAKER_00: I've I in 1998 I graduated university.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I traveled in France.
• 52:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I travelled around the world and I went with a mate of mine.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: We were in Australia, we were in Cuci Bay Hotel in Sydney, watching the games at three in the morning because we're getting played in France in 98.
• 52:47
  SPEAKER_00: We've made five World Cups in a row.
• 52:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, we'll just go in 2002.
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's not a problem.
• 52:51
  SPEAKER_00: We'll like we'll just do the next one.
• 52:53
  SPEAKER_00: France is close anyway.
• 52:54
  SPEAKER_00: Let's do this around the world thing.
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: 28 years later.
• 52:58
  SPEAKER_00: 28 years later.
• 52:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, dude, and we took it for granted.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 53:02
  SPEAKER_00: And we overachieved to get there.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I know people have issues with Steve Clark and whatnot, but the fact we got to the World Cup with the squad that we had was nothing short of a miracle.
• 53:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we I mean, I watched us play Greece Home and Away, and they barred us.
• 53:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like, cost us a mate of mine, and he's like, I'm like, mate, you barred us for two games and we managed to sneak it out.
• 53:22
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Norway were way better than us, and we managed to beat them at Hamden 4-1 that you know, miraculous game.
• 53:28
  SPEAKER_00: But I got to the World Cup, so I'm like, I gotta go to these games, man.
• 53:31
  SPEAKER_00: So got to the two games, and it was just an amazing.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, like, we might never get like I don't see young, great Scottish players, the the Graham Soonises and the Kenny Dagliesh's and the Alan Hansons and the Morris Johnson's, the Ali McCoy's, like all these guys that were fantastic players in Scotland and England, and Jimmy Johnson and Billy Brennan, like the backbone of some of the best English teams.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't see any of these kids coming through.
• 53:54
  SPEAKER_00: You know, Robo's getting a little bit older now, Taney can never stay healthy, John McGuinness getting a little bit older.
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_00: We got a few little bit, but like we're talking about countries whose life and soul is football.
• 54:06
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 54:07
  SPEAKER_00: And we're not producing those types of kids.
• 54:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's not like England is like, well, they did well this year, but they it's not like England hasn't won in what?
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_02: 70 whatever years?
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_00: And when you see the money that those kids are getting and the facilities, I mean, it's nuts.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like the money involved in the Premier League, I mean, the Premier League has, and especially with the the way the rules are, like, because you can go in as a youngstar and then you qualify as English so you satisfy the homegrown plates.
• 54:39
  SPEAKER_00: So they're getting kids from all over the world going in.
• 54:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like we talk about our kids, like, imagine being 14 or 13 um from Brazil and going to Manchester.
• 54:50
  SPEAKER_00: Or just culturally, like, no family, no support, nothing at all.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_00: Food, completely different weather, completely different, and having to try and succeed.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's cra it's crazy.
• 55:02
  SPEAKER_00: When we were in Brazil, actually, Jimmy and I were talking about the um Flamingo had just sold a player um to Ukrainian club.
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_00: He was 15 or 16, and like, that's our job.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_00: We're trying we're trying to sell players to make money to continue to fund our programs, our academies.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like they weren't trying to, you know, they had no illusions.
• 55:22
  SPEAKER_00: That was what how they survived as they sold players on.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like, 16-year-old Brazilian going to the Ukraine, who's by the way, isn't is is in a war with Russia right now, they're getting bombed and stuff.
• 55:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like, can you imagine being 16 and getting there?
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_00: You go, good luck, son.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like, well, do you know who Alice Lubiansky is?
• 55:41
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, yeah.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_02: He was talking about like his trial over there.
• 55:45
  SPEAKER_02: He's like, it was a prison because there was a war like going on, like right there, and everything is so funny because I'm so old, I coached his wife.
• 55:55
  SPEAKER_00: I used to coach his wife on our arsenal, funny enough.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that makes sense.
• 56:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 56:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, did you go to the uh expo?
• 56:04
  SPEAKER_00: I did not this year.
• 56:05
  SPEAKER_00: My mum and dad were in town.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I went last year.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_00: How often do you get to see them?
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_00: Usually twice a year.
• 56:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'll go home or we'll go home.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_00: Still pretty good.
• 56:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 56:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, getting a bit older, so of course my wife and I, Rebecca.
• 56:17
  SPEAKER_00: We try and go there once a year, Christmas or New Year.
• 56:19
  SPEAKER_00: And then they usually come out here in the summer, June, July.
• 56:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh.
• 56:23
  SPEAKER_00: Just because that'll be their summer holiday, summer vacation.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 56:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it works out well.
• 56:27
  SPEAKER_00: Just sounded it was the end of August this year.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_02: Who is it from Scotland that came this year?
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_02: Ian.
• 56:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um I've got another one.
• 56:35
  SPEAKER_00: From the SFA?
• 56:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 56:37
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh.
• 56:38
  SPEAKER_02: Ian Barker brought him with him.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my gosh, his last name is is escaping me right now.
• 56:44
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe I'll think of it.
• 56:45
  SPEAKER_02: But he knows that I have a pretty good relationship with uh Luis Robois.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_00: He's a good guy.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_00: I love Luis.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_00: He did a presentation last last year at the GA event.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 56:58
  SPEAKER_00: With the relationship.
• 56:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, dude, that I was very impressed.
• 57:02
  SPEAKER_00: Just not what he said, but great speaker.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 57:06
  SPEAKER_02: No, knows what he's talking about, been there, done that.
• 57:09
  SPEAKER_02: Very impressed with him.
• 57:10
  SPEAKER_02: And what my favorite thing about him is that he's very receptive.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_02: If somebody has a complaint, he'll like think that okay, how can we tweak this?
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_02: How can we make this better?
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_02: How can we make playoffs better?
• 57:21
  SPEAKER_02: How can we make our year-round schedule?
• 57:23
  SPEAKER_02: How can we make the academy better?
• 57:26
  SPEAKER_02: Like, he's so receptive.
• 57:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_02: But Ian, who's the head of like the Scottish FA or youth or uh youth identification or something like that, or coaching education, maybe, and he's like, Hey, I we need anybody with a Scottish passport out of the MLS next that is interested.
• 57:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it's like, and we talk what we're talking about.
• 57:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, yeah, you guys have a culture that we don't have.
• 57:59
  SPEAKER_02: And you guys are looking for Americans to come play for you.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 58:04
  SPEAKER_02: And and then Scottish granny, Scottish granddaddy.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_02: And then everybody thinks that the world is falling here.
• 58:09
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, uh, you guys are driving me nuts because we're doing a good job.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 58:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_02: And especially on the women's side.
• 58:17
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, and we're growing and we're getting better, and we're getting better.
• 58:21
  SPEAKER_02: The women's side is so weird to me.
• 58:24
  SPEAKER_02: I I always thought, okay, all these years that our women are number one in the world, and then I'm looking at Spain on the men's side, and I see their style of play and their brand, and they're also number one, or even France.
• 58:42
  SPEAKER_02: But it's like, why don't our women look like why don't we play?
• 58:46
  SPEAKER_02: Why, why don't we have 90% of possession?
• 58:48
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, well, that's their DNA.
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_02: That's not our DNA.
• 58:52
  SPEAKER_02: Our DNA is how quickly can we score?
• 58:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 58:55
  SPEAKER_02: It really is.
• 58:56
  SPEAKER_02: That's our uh it's almost like a shot clock.
• 58:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, hey, yeah, let's go.
• 59:00
  SPEAKER_02: We always had we always had Alex, or we had Chris and Press, or we have the triplets now.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, go, go, go, go, go.
• 59:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I guess that is our I guess that's our mentality.
• 59:14
  SPEAKER_02: Is that our identity?
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_02: I guess.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 59:17
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think for a long time it was.
• 59:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the you on the women's side was just so much bigger, stronger, and faster than everyone.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_02: And earlier.
• 59:25
  SPEAKER_00: And earlier.
• 59:26
  SPEAKER_00: So there was a lot of it.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_00: And now the money that's getting put into you know the women's head back home is unbelievable.
• 59:35
  SPEAKER_00: But and I always say the ball is the fastest thing on the field.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 59:39
  SPEAKER_00: But only if you can manipulate the ball.
• 59:41
  SPEAKER_00: Which goes back to what we talked about.
• 59:43
  SPEAKER_00: If you're touching the ball every day, you can be I can be half the athlete you are, you ain't gonna touch the ball.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm technically proficient enough.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 59:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the breakdown.
• 59:52
  SPEAKER_00: Because I think in our country, here, when we play games, the bigger, stronger, faster kids still win because the bigger, stronger, faster, but we haven't got technically good enough.
• 1:00:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because when you start running someone and they play around you, you stop running at them.
• 1:00:08
  SPEAKER_00: But until I'm good enough to play around you, you're gonna keep running at me.
• 1:00:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I see it all the time.
• 1:00:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like I've got this young boys team, and you know, everyone gets the players high and everything's a high press.
• 1:00:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's not high press because we're coaching our young kids to high press, because we know they're gonna give us the ball close to their goal.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's not rocket science.
• 1:00:27
  SPEAKER_00: Very few teams at 10 years old can break a press because we're not technically good enough.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_02: And we're not and we're certainly not patient enough.
• 1:00:36
  SPEAKER_00: But uh don't even get me started.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_00: But you find but you find the team that can do that or the players that can do that, that's a game changer.
• 1:00:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because now that team that is so athletic in presses are lost because they're like they're just chasing the ball.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_02: And were you ever part of a club that was in the DA?
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so the Jags, yeah.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_00: For when the girls side.
• 1:00:59
  SPEAKER_00: On the girl side, yeah.
• 1:01:00
  SPEAKER_02: So early on in the boys' side though, they they got on to uh teams that bunkered.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and I'm like, that's not good because okay, if you need a bunker, maybe you need to learn how to like get a result, but let's think about the the positives that's creating for the opposite team.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_02: They need to be able to learn how to break down a bunker, yeah.
• 1:01:29
  SPEAKER_02: And we can't, yeah, and that we still can't, yeah.
• 1:01:32
  SPEAKER_02: And it's because we said no bunkering, we're not allowed to bunker.
• 1:01:36
  SPEAKER_02: Well, now you just developed a generation of players that have no idea how to break down a bunker.
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 1:01:42
  SPEAKER_02: So, like if I'm out if I'm outmatched, I'll bunker and I'm only doing that team good.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_02: But about the technical thing.
• 1:01:54
  SPEAKER_02: He's an Ann Arbor guy.
• 1:01:55
  SPEAKER_02: Do you remember?
• 1:01:56
  SPEAKER_02: And he might have been at uh Arsenal.
• 1:01:58
  SPEAKER_02: Deepak Shiverman.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_02: Do you remember that name at all?
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he was a college.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_02: Was Deepak no a college coach as well?
• 1:02:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he's like in Florida now.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, yeah.
• 1:02:07
  SPEAKER_02: Deepak was actually the Lake Orion Boys head coach, uh uh my freshman and sophomore year.
• 1:02:15
  SPEAKER_02: But one day he's like hops in the session.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, this guy's like 40.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_02: What is he?
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like, dude, this is gonna be a joke, man.
• 1:02:24
  SPEAKER_02: I got I hope I don't hurt him.
• 1:02:27
  SPEAKER_02: We never got the ball off of him.
• 1:02:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he was he was slower than us.
• 1:02:32
  SPEAKER_02: He was, you know, he didn't even he didn't even run, I think.
• 1:02:36
  SPEAKER_02: And we could not get the ball off of him.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and by the time we did get there, the ball was gone.
• 1:02:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and it's like, oh, that was like a my wake-up call to that's what technique looks like.
• 1:02:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, light ball moment.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:02:50
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, it's uh it and again, I think sometimes like you know, we try to do it all the time, and I think I've found in for years and years the kids here they find it boring.
• 1:03:04
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you talk about passing balls, striking balls, you know, if you're if you're going to goal and finishing, it's a little bit more exciting because we're scoring goals.
• 1:03:11
  SPEAKER_00: But it's hard to I mean, I remember watching uh an Ajax session, and all it was was just technique, technique, technique, technique.
• 1:03:21
  SPEAKER_00: And the kids, it was over here, and uh the kids you could tell got a little bored very quickly, and the Ajax coaches couldn't understand.
• 1:03:30
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, What was it?
• 1:03:32
  SPEAKER_00: They're like like we do this all like they ha they're not good enough technically.
• 1:03:36
  SPEAKER_00: They're like, Yeah, but it's not almost engaging enough for them.
• 1:03:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's not exciting enough for them because when you do it with the kids who are in Ajax's academy, the one common theme is that every kid in that academy wants to play for Ajax.
• 1:03:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's all they want.
• 1:03:52
  SPEAKER_00: So they are going to do everything you tell them to the best of their ability over and over and over because they know that's the process.
• 1:04:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I think sometimes our kids they want the end goal without actually putting the work in in the process to get there.
• 1:04:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for me, that's where the disconnect is with our kids.
• 1:04:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like I talk to my kids all the time about our non-billion, like our kids' left foot, it's like, wow.
• 1:04:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we can't even lock our ankle.
• 1:04:20
  SPEAKER_02: I'm watching, I've been, it's early in the season, so I watch a lot of college soccer, and it's unbelievable how many players, men's and women's, they are in on goal on their left foot and they cut in, and or they take a touch when they shouldn't take a touch, they don't have time to take a touch, or they try it in one when they should have taken a touch, and it's like just uh just those little things, and it's it is, and there's an attack on technical trainers, there really is.
• 1:04:56
  SPEAKER_02: There's an attack on the private uh training.
• 1:04:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's like because these kids don't do it on their own.
• 1:05:02
  SPEAKER_02: Now, I'm not talking about everybody, uh, there's there's outliers, yeah, but but the mass majority, they're not doing stuff at home, they're not, yeah.
• 1:05:12
  SPEAKER_02: But we listen to Steph Curry.
• 1:05:14
  SPEAKER_02: How can he shoot like he does?
• 1:05:16
  SPEAKER_02: Because he's shot a zillion shots from the ages of like three to whatever.
• 1:05:23
  SPEAKER_02: And we and that's the culture.
• 1:05:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I remember reading um Stillness and Speed by uh Burkamp, and and there's a Rudvan, is it Rudven, this was right?
• 1:05:37
  SPEAKER_02: Or is it uh I forget who it was.
• 1:05:41
  SPEAKER_02: He is like in the hot, or maybe it was uh Robin Van Persi.
• 1:05:44
  SPEAKER_02: And uh he was like in the hot, he was like in the cold tub or the hot tub watching training like after training, and there's Burkamp doing the same sequence over and over and over again for an hour after, or David Beckham talking about free kicks.
• 1:06:00
  SPEAKER_02: Over and over and over.
• 1:06:01
  SPEAKER_02: And I say that is so neglected in our culture because we parents and players sometimes rely on the tigers will get me there.
• 1:06:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:06:13
  SPEAKER_02: Those three sessions a week will get me there.
• 1:06:15
  SPEAKER_02: Or you know what?
• 1:06:16
  SPEAKER_02: We'll take them to Bird on the fourth day.
• 1:06:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:06:18
  SPEAKER_02: It's like there needs to be even more.
• 1:06:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:06:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that it's so key, right?
• 1:06:22
  SPEAKER_00: That's what like if you come to all our training sessions three times a week and then you do the strength session or the sports performance session, and like that's what everyone's doing.
• 1:06:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's the bare minimum.
• 1:06:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's the bare minimum.
• 1:06:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then you're like, well, I want to get here then.
• 1:06:36
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 1:06:37
  SPEAKER_00: What more are you doing?
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_00: What more are you doing?
• 1:06:39
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you know, doing more technical stuff is massive.
• 1:06:43
  SPEAKER_00: I also think the understanding of when you have mastered the technical ability, how and where to use it.
• 1:06:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think sometimes, like, there's there's those kids who only do technical work.
• 1:06:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, okay, great, step over, but there's no one near you.
• 1:07:00
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you stepping over?
• 1:07:01
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to step over.
• 1:07:04
  SPEAKER_00: The idea of a step over is to beat the defender.
• 1:07:06
  SPEAKER_00: So we get close.
• 1:07:07
  SPEAKER_00: Can we now apply it to the game?
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I think there's a we need more technical ability.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_00: We need more and more of that.
• 1:07:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then we need to put and that's why it like the the veils are massive.
• 1:07:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, could you have gone 1v1 there or should you have not gone 1v2 there?
• 1:07:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, did you see the game?
• 1:07:24
  SPEAKER_00: Did you see defenders?
• 1:07:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I like so many times I tell the kids, like, you're making decisions based on what your teammate's doing.
• 1:07:32
  SPEAKER_00: You should be saying how are defenders reacting to that, whatever my team is doing, and that should be helping me make my decision.
• 1:07:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like I can make it the best, you can make the best run in the world.
• 1:07:41
  SPEAKER_00: Doesn't mean you get the ball, depending on how the defenders react to that run.
• 1:07:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now there's a different option.
• 1:07:46
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:07:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think then A getting more technical, but understanding how, when, why to use these things.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the VO in the film or Huddle or whoever you use, what if it's a dad with a whatever it be, like watching that back is such a great learning tool, and we just don't take advantage of it enough.
• 1:08:05
  SPEAKER_02: And how many times did you make the run?
• 1:08:07
  SPEAKER_02: And you're making the run with the kid on the ball that can't get the ball there.
• 1:08:11
  SPEAKER_02: Like I've I so I get the I always came up with like slogans during training and stuff like that.
• 1:08:17
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, know your skill level.
• 1:08:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's like you're trying this.
• 1:08:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's like I love that you're trying it, but just know your skill level a little bit.
• 1:08:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then I'd be talking to the player off the ball, and I'd be like, know her skill level.
• 1:08:30
  SPEAKER_02: Like, can she get the ball there?
• 1:08:32
  SPEAKER_02: No.
• 1:08:33
  SPEAKER_02: So you're gonna have to move right.
• 1:08:36
  SPEAKER_02: Or or uh, like if you're I mean, the obsession, and I used to get on this all the time, the obsession with hitting passes as hard as humanly possible.
• 1:08:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, can you know her skill level?
• 1:08:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's like we don't want to lose the ball, it's not like we have the IX kids where we get to select the best players.
• 1:08:58
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, dude, she came from Novae or whatever, and it's like you know what?
• 1:09:03
  SPEAKER_02: We just needed her on the team.
• 1:09:05
  SPEAKER_02: Can you just know her skill level and take care of the ball?
• 1:09:08
  SPEAKER_02: Take care of your teammates.
• 1:09:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's but think thinking about the game, like everyone's different.
• 1:09:14
  SPEAKER_00: What's their strengths and what's my strengths and weaknesses?
• 1:09:17
  SPEAKER_02: I was watching uh Michigan State Men last night, and there was a long ball, but it had like side-to-side spin and went right out of bounds.
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, you gotta ping that ball with like back spin, and it it's like is it I know that guy could probably do it, but he chose the wrong spin, or that drives me nuts.
• 1:09:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but and fur because like I wanted because last night you trained when the 10-year-old's ball came in when he played a little ball around the corner of the outside of his foot.
• 1:09:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was so excited because I was just like, that's brilliant.
• 1:09:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well done, Pete.
• 1:09:46
  SPEAKER_02: It's like we'll spin into somebody's run.
• 1:09:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, just those little things that's one of the first things that you can tell when a kid it's not even just the outside of the foot, it's being able to hit a ball that's gonna die right in the path of a player before it goes out of bounds.
• 1:10:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so it's like you're putting the perfect weight on the pass.
• 1:10:09
  SPEAKER_02: It's like that kid goes in the backyard.
• 1:10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like what did Croy say about you know, you do a thousand juggles, you can be in the circus, but can you play the right ball with the right weight to the correct foot at the right time?
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:10:20
  SPEAKER_02: And like, and then even Croy, like he would hit a ball against the curb and like bring it down, hit the ball against the curb, bring it down.
• 1:10:28
  SPEAKER_02: Just repetition.
• 1:10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like I and I think it's what like I tell guys, like I said, do you know how many times Croyff practiced the Croyff turn before he did it in that game?
• 1:10:36
  SPEAKER_00: And there were like thousands, millions.
• 1:10:37
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, never, you never practice it.
• 1:10:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was a solution to a problem.
• 1:10:42
  SPEAKER_00: He was that good on the ball that he knew when that defender slid, hey, if I just fake this, cross, and come back inside, bang, job done.
• 1:10:51
  SPEAKER_00: And now we, you know, I've I've tried to teach a million crowd turns in my life.
• 1:10:55
  SPEAKER_00: That guy just did it to solve a problem, right?
• 1:10:58
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like uh and the obsession with stepovers and scissors.
• 1:11:02
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, do you think that and uh this is a bad example because Messi doesn't do step overs and scissors, but like, do you think that Messi's like, okay, I'm gonna do a step over and then I'm gonna go to the left?
• 1:11:11
  SPEAKER_00: No, he's just going, he's just doing.
• 1:11:14
  SPEAKER_02: I just yeah, I like my I love I love like technical trainers, and everybody's dribbling in a circle saying, All right, quick turn.
• 1:11:25
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, all right, right scissor, left scissors.
• 1:11:29
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, yeah, that's very realistic.
• 1:11:30
  SPEAKER_02: And then you've got the joystick coach who says, do a scissor, or you get the parents.
• 1:11:34
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's my favorite.
• 1:11:36
  SPEAKER_02: My favorite is the parents like take her on, do a scissor.
• 1:11:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, oh my god, this isn't how it works.
• 1:11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we we've tried to, you know, we've got for the most part a great parent group in the club.
• 1:11:48
  SPEAKER_00: And but we try, you know, I think I met with every every team this past spring season, one about the changes with the you know, going to the August one rather than the January one.
• 1:11:57
  SPEAKER_00: But also like, hey, don't coach from the sidelines.
• 1:12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I know you, but like let the kid make like making a wrong decision is still a step to being better.
• 1:12:06
  SPEAKER_00: If they only do what mum or dad shouts, they're not really doing anything.
• 1:12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like, let the coaches coach, right?
• 1:12:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, let them do it.
• 1:12:13
  SPEAKER_00: But you guys just support, you know, and you know, I think the whole parent thing's uh that's changed a lot in the last 25 years as well, you know.
• 1:12:21
  SPEAKER_00: But um, just don't coach, you know, don't shout at the referees either.
• 1:12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're young, we don't have enough of them, don't white, because you guys shout at them all, so they all quit.
• 1:12:29
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, I had a conversation uh with one of the clubs that I'm gonna be working with in Idaho, and then we brought uh we talked about this, and it's like and everybody I know or every coach or club that I know, we talk about parent education with about a referee treatment, but we don't we don't educate parents about coach treatment, especially the young coaches, yeah, the 23-year-old, the 24-year-old, and it's like, hey, this guy or this girl is gonna be a fantastic coach, yeah.
• 1:13:09
  SPEAKER_02: Let's not ruin it for them and make them want to leave the sport by 30.
• 1:13:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because at 35, that she could be coaching the national team or something like that.
• 1:13:20
  SPEAKER_02: And we and I'd never when he said that, I was like, I've never thought about that.
• 1:13:26
  SPEAKER_02: I've never thought about that.
• 1:13:28
  SPEAKER_02: Because when I was a coach, one, I had imposter syndrome at the very beginning because I had no idea how to coach, I had no idea, and then something around like 23 to 30, I was like, Oh, I am the best coach in the world.
• 1:13:45
  SPEAKER_02: Everybody else sucks, and then you realize, oh, okay, it takes a village.
• 1:13:51
  SPEAKER_02: Like if I asked Chloe Ricketts, I go, how many coaches had a role or a positive influence on your development?
• 1:13:59
  SPEAKER_02: She'd rattle off nine.
• 1:14:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Amalia would be do the same thing, and that's what we need to realize is like, hey, it's cliche, but it takes a village.
• 1:14:08
  SPEAKER_00: 100% it does.
• 1:14:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it's funny, I I only got into coach, I got hot, I was playing back coach and I got hurt, and um could have played with Lee Gardner, um, who was at Aberdeen.
• 1:14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, he was a great player.
• 1:14:18
  SPEAKER_00: He actually went to Aberdeen just because Alex Ferguson was there at the time, but uh Ferguson went into my but he I played with him and I got hurt, and he's like, dude, like I did my ACL, PCL, MCL, Menisca, the whole thing.
• 1:14:30
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, get into coaching.
• 1:14:31
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, really?
• 1:14:32
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was still young, I was I was only what was that, 21.
• 1:14:36
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, get into coaching.
• 1:14:37
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, really?
• 1:14:37
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, yeah, he's like, go to America.
• 1:14:39
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, I had to like go do some camps.
• 1:14:41
  SPEAKER_00: I've some mates that done.
• 1:14:42
  SPEAKER_00: He said, it's a great time.
• 1:14:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, so I did my C license at the SFA in Largs, which was nice because that's but it was a an eye-opening experience because you don't really think of the game the same as a player.
• 1:14:55
  SPEAKER_00: No, you totally don't.
• 1:14:56
  SPEAKER_00: So then when you look at it from the other side, he's like, oh, wow.
• 1:14:59
  SPEAKER_00: So that was an eye-owning experience, like just doing a C license, like and being around with other more experienced coaches when I was still young, thinking, Oh, never really, never ever really thought about that, never considered those things as a coach because I wasn't what I was just trying to do.
• 1:15:16
  SPEAKER_02: You're just trying to figure out what you're supposed to do on the ball at that given time.
• 1:15:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, came to America, did camps that summer.
• 1:15:22
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, loved America, fell in love with the country, travel around week to week.
• 1:15:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, brilliant.
• 1:15:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, finished my degree, back home, travelled the world for a year, and then got the chance to come back out originally for nine months, and that was in March '99.
• 1:15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm still here and I love it.
• 1:15:38
  SPEAKER_00: But um And then you found an Ann Arbor.
• 1:15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Found an arbor.
• 1:15:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I still see like can I tell culture?
• 1:15:44
  SPEAKER_00: I go out, like I watched a session last night, and I was like, oh yeah, oh, I think I'll like I'm gonna I'm I'm gonna steal that, but I'm gonna tweak it a little bit.
• 1:15:52
  SPEAKER_00: Correct, and I'm gonna add because it'll be really good for my boys, and like it's you can't reinvent the wheel, and it's just a lot of times it's like I tell like all we're doing is finding things that we like and work well for me as a coach, and hopefully for my players, and give them that.
• 1:16:08
  SPEAKER_00: And everyone's different, you know, and you know, some people will love what I give them and some people will hate it, and just that's life.
• 1:16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like not everyone like the way I do it.
• 1:16:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay, right?
• 1:16:18
  SPEAKER_00: But you'll take something from it, hopefully, and then the next person, and the next person.
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's just the way it goes.
• 1:16:24
  SPEAKER_00: We just you know, we try and provide as much as we can, you know.
• 1:16:27
  SPEAKER_00: But if it's it's you never know it all.
• 1:16:30
  SPEAKER_00: There's always something more to learn, you know.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_00: You always see it, and like you say, for some of these young coaches, you know, I think my biggest thing for them is like if you shout to a kid, hey, do something better, give them the how or ask them the how.
• 1:16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Be better.
• 1:16:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, what does that mean?
• 1:16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:16:50
  SPEAKER_00: What do you mean be better?
• 1:16:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like what how exactly is it well, you know, get some you know, get some mustard on that shot, hit that ball harder.
• 1:17:00
  SPEAKER_00: How get your non-kicking foot beside the ball, it was so far away you almost missed it.
• 1:17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:17:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now you've given them information that they can hopefully apply.
• 1:17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:17:09
  SPEAKER_00: Don't just say hit it harder.
• 1:17:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:17:11
  SPEAKER_00: What how does that mean?
• 1:17:12
  SPEAKER_00: Swing hard?
• 1:17:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like how what does that mean?
• 1:17:14
  SPEAKER_02: My favorite, you know, my favorite that nobody knows how to explain uh is uh lock your ankle.
• 1:17:21
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like, okay, well, how do I lock your ankle?
• 1:17:23
  SPEAKER_02: And they just show you how to it's like that's not showing me anything.
• 1:17:28
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, okay, make a fist with your toes and then come through the top.
• 1:17:32
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, oh, okay, I got it.
• 1:17:35
  SPEAKER_02: Or oh, and that's that's one of my another frustration with technical coaches.
• 1:17:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's like you need to improve your left foot.
• 1:17:43
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, like, okay, how?
• 1:17:45
  SPEAKER_02: Well, okay, let's just compare the inside of your right foot versus the inside of your left foot, which is better.
• 1:17:51
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, right.
• 1:17:52
  SPEAKER_02: Outside of your right versus outside of your left.
• 1:17:54
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, soul, laces.
• 1:17:57
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's like just whatever and whatever you can do with your right foot, I want you to be able to do with your left foot, and just continue to work and work and work, and then eventually that skill gap goes, and then it's but yeah, yeah.
• 1:18:11
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, I don't know, soccer, man.
• 1:18:14
  SPEAKER_02: This game is just insane.
• 1:18:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's a passion, it is, and you have to have a passion, you know.
• 1:18:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think you do, you have to have a passion for it, which I mean I've the fact if you know for years, and still I'll go home and mates like can't believe you've your life's been coaching football.
• 1:18:30
  SPEAKER_00: How have you done that?
• 1:18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Just lucky.
• 1:18:33
  SPEAKER_02: How many people are uh in the UK are jealous of everybody that's over here coaching?
• 1:18:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mates all the time.
• 1:18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, mate of mine I went to college with who actually met down in Miami at the Scotland game.
• 1:18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he was just what's happened the other day, like, hey, my son's 18, he's looking to come out to the US, like yeah, but I say no from more from a coaching point of view, it wasn't even a playing point of view.
• 1:18:54
  SPEAKER_00: So, and just so they're always asking, and they're always like, dude, I can't and it's been amazing.
• 1:18:58
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's been phenomenal, you know.
• 1:19:01
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, it's uh it all strides because a love and a passion for the game, you know.
• 1:19:07
  SPEAKER_02: How you came over in '99.
• 1:19:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 1:19:12
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:19:14
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, did you have mentors?
• 1:19:17
  SPEAKER_02: Did you have huge mentors when you first got over here?
• 1:19:20
  SPEAKER_00: So the one guy, um, actually, funny enough, I'll see him on Friday.
• 1:19:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to golf with him, Dave Parker.
• 1:19:24
  SPEAKER_00: He was my boss with the company.
• 1:19:27
  SPEAKER_00: And he kind of put his arm around me when I first came over because I was just coming out for training, for coaching.
• 1:19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they said he was coaching Garden City in Deerwork the time.
• 1:19:34
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 1:19:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then as we got towards you know, six months in, it's like, hey, I'd like you to stay out and help me some of the admin, sales size, all that stuff.
• 1:19:41
  SPEAKER_00: And he kind of put his arm around me and kind of showed me some stuff.
• 1:19:44
  SPEAKER_00: So Dave was really kind of the guy over here that kind of one gave me the opportunity to stay out and kind of guided me a little bit, you know.
• 1:19:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I said we played soccer in FC United this weekend.
• 1:19:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm actually meeting him on Friday for a game of golf.
• 1:19:58
  SPEAKER_00: So on Friday, but yeah, he was probably the guy that when I when I came over, kind of sort of gave me the opportunity to stay here and kind of guided me a little bit with some of the things.
• 1:20:08
  SPEAKER_02: Because I think again, going from player to coach, you have to have you have to surround yourself with somebody that's been there or accomplished something close to what you want to accomplish.
• 1:20:24
  SPEAKER_02: Because it if you try to go alone, it's gonna take you a long time to figure it out.
• 1:20:29
  SPEAKER_02: Because it took me a while to figure it out later in my career, I was a full-time goalkeeper.
• 1:20:35
  SPEAKER_02: Earlier in my playing career, I played everything because that's what we did.
• 1:20:40
  SPEAKER_02: And it took me a while to realize to go from coaching one player or worrying about one player and one player's job to 11 and really to 18.
• 1:20:52
  SPEAKER_02: And this is a completely different animal.
• 1:20:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, what do you guys do here to make sure that like there's kind of I guess mentorship might be wrong, but it just and I think that when you have an office like this, it's so much easier to be to communicate, yeah, to talk to people, to have a conversation.
• 1:21:16
  SPEAKER_02: Because if you don't have an office and you're a club, it's hard.
• 1:21:20
  SPEAKER_02: It's just your guys are just a collection of coaches that are just coaching your own team and you don't really have any leadership.
• 1:21:26
  SPEAKER_00: So we and we do funnel enough, you I mean, we have what we do, we have seven of us in this office that are directors, and then we all have five or six mentees, which are the coaching staff, so we work with them on a weekly basis.
• 1:21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, so my you know, those five, this those five are my responsibility for this year.
• 1:21:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then sometimes you'll keep some coaches for multiple years, sometimes you'll change out coaches and different things, but we we as directors have five or six staff that we are directly responsible for.
• 1:21:56
  SPEAKER_00: So con you know, we send them, we're in touch with them via email text on a weekly basis at a minimum, usually two or three times a week.
• 1:22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, hey, any problems, any issues, any parent problems?
• 1:22:07
  SPEAKER_00: Did you get the referees?
• 1:22:09
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, you know, I need cover this night.
• 1:22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Can you help me?
• 1:22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Or I've got a game this night, you know, what can we do?
• 1:22:14
  SPEAKER_00: And hey, you know, we have a obvious curriculum to follow, make sure you're following the curriculum, any questions on the curriculum.
• 1:22:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, we do an in-service thing the week of Thanksgiving.
• 1:22:21
  SPEAKER_00: We kind of all come in with the staff on a Monday, um, and then we have the rest of the week off, but we get everyone together on a Monday, do some on-field, some off-field stuff.
• 1:22:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I had one of the younger female staff said yesterday, should we ask about the VOs?
• 1:22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because obviously all the platform teams get the VO every game recorded or get games recorded, but we also want to try and get some of the younger teams or lower level teams again.
• 1:22:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you can see yourself play, it's awesome, it's cool.
• 1:22:44
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, yeah, it's amazing.
• 1:22:46
  SPEAKER_00: So she was like, Hey, can you explain how I upload the VO and like when it's in there?
• 1:22:50
  SPEAKER_00: How do I share it?
• 1:22:51
  SPEAKER_00: And like, and we try and like get as many, you know, one of the coaches was texting me on Saturday morning, hey, I see there's a VO in the office.
• 1:22:58
  SPEAKER_00: Can I record my U9 game?
• 1:23:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, 100% you can like get it out there, record it, you know, share it with the team.
• 1:23:05
  SPEAKER_00: Just so we try and do, you know, and I think you know, working with the coaches is really important, like you were talking about earlier, and the parents, because I think sometimes, you know, I think parents have changed a lot in the last 25 years.
• 1:23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think that what their expectations and demands are are very different.
• 1:23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:23:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I think you know, they are paying for a service, and you have to provide the service.
• 1:23:30
  SPEAKER_00: But my argument is, well, if you don't think we are, then you heard some of things.
• 1:23:36
  SPEAKER_00: Do what you feel is the best thing for you.
• 1:23:38
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I you know, I I always feel that like if if you if you don't think I'm the best thing for your kid and you leave, that's what have I not done?
• 1:23:47
  SPEAKER_00: How what could I have done different?
• 1:23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Can I self-reflect?
• 1:23:50
  SPEAKER_00: And like what what could I have done differently?
• 1:23:51
  SPEAKER_00: Why didn't that kid why didn't like and sometimes there's nothing you can do, you know?
• 1:23:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's you know, there's a misinformation or there's a a belief that, oh, by going there, I'll and it's like changing the badge doesn't change you.
• 1:24:08
  SPEAKER_00: That or it shouldn't, like you shouldn't go somewhere else and work harder.
• 1:24:12
  SPEAKER_00: But if you are gonna work harder by changing badge, then you should definitely go.
• 1:24:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's an internal thing, that's not a me thing or a tiger's thing.
• 1:24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like sometimes like people think just by oh, I'll go here because they have this and I'll become that.
• 1:24:26
  SPEAKER_00: No, if you're not gonna work any harder, they are, it doesn't matter where you are or the next place.
• 1:24:30
  SPEAKER_00: You're just gonna be you, you're never gonna be that best version of you and fulfill your potential because that comes from inside, and you have to that desire and passion and drive to be the best you can be to achieve your goals, knowing that you still might not.
• 1:24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Just I I don't see it in enough flares.
• 1:24:48
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't see it in enough flares, you know.
• 1:24:51
  SPEAKER_00: But then that's my fault because I didn't, and it's like, well, maybe I you know what else can I do to try and you know.
• 1:24:59
  SPEAKER_00: I can't I only see your kid three or four times a week for three or four hours.
• 1:25:04
  SPEAKER_00: I give them everything I can in that period.
• 1:25:07
  SPEAKER_00: What else are they doing?
• 1:25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Are they going home and think, hey, Barry told me again my left foot's not very good?
• 1:25:13
  SPEAKER_00: I jump on the PlayStation.
• 1:25:15
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:25:16
  SPEAKER_02: You know, instead of firing up the VO and being like getting a ball at the time.
• 1:25:20
  SPEAKER_02: What's he talking about?
• 1:25:21
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:25:21
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, you know what?
• 1:25:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that first touch went right out of bounds.
• 1:25:26
  SPEAKER_00: And even when you're really good, that still happens.
• 1:25:29
  SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
• 1:25:29
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, for sure.
• 1:25:32
  SPEAKER_02: But oh man, what is exactly your role?
• 1:25:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I am officially the director of coaching.
• 1:25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Andy's our director, so he runs the club.
• 1:25:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I try and do a lot of on-the-field stuff, work with the coaches.
• 1:25:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'll go and watch sessions and then give the coaches some feedback.
• 1:25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, here's some things you did really well, here's some things that you maybe could have different.
• 1:25:50
  SPEAKER_00: And again, like I say, a lot of times, like, you know, you ask that kid, like, hey, can you strike that ball better?
• 1:25:56
  SPEAKER_00: Well, how?
• 1:25:57
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you gotta give them the nuts and bolts, you know, you've got to give them the information.
• 1:26:02
  SPEAKER_00: And ideally, can you ask, can you ask questions?
• 1:26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Can you be Socratic?
• 1:26:06
  SPEAKER_00: Can you try and get them to think about the game?
• 1:26:09
  SPEAKER_00: And at some points it's like pulling teeth, but you keep getting a little closer and a little closer.
• 1:26:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then sometimes you just gotta give the kids the information, you know.
• 1:26:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I think just making sure that our coaches, you know, it's the same thing.
• 1:26:21
  SPEAKER_00: The better staff we have, the more educated they are, the better our players will be.
• 1:26:24
  SPEAKER_00: The better our players will be, the more competitive we'll be.
• 1:26:26
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's a cycle.
• 1:26:27
  SPEAKER_00: So I think you know what Andy's done in the last 10 years, and hopefully what I've helped doing the next, you know, added on to what he's done.
• 1:26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we keep we we've got to a point where we're getting competitive, you know, but we've got it's not done.
• 1:26:41
  SPEAKER_00: How many directors do you have?
• 1:26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Seven, you said.
• 1:26:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we've got Martin Clegg, who's I used to work with the GIS.
• 1:26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Clegg is here.
• 1:26:47
  SPEAKER_00: He's our he's our MLS next um academy director.
• 1:26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um Clegg's from Manchester.
• 1:26:53
  SPEAKER_00: We've got Rob Cheney, um, who's from Liverpool, he's our um DA director.
• 1:26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um we've got Zach Ortini in our admin, obviously Andy Pritcher who's who's in charge and runs the club.
• 1:27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Pat Griffin.
• 1:27:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um Griff, we've been around a long time.
• 1:27:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I roomed with Pat.
• 1:27:08
  SPEAKER_00: I roomed with Pat.
• 1:27:09
  SPEAKER_00: I have my C license with Z.
• 1:27:11
  SPEAKER_00: With Z.
• 1:27:11
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 1:27:12
  SPEAKER_00: With Z.
• 1:27:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think Griff lived with Zathy for like 40 years.
• 1:27:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I know.
• 1:27:16
  SPEAKER_02: So Zathy, so Zathy was auditing his A, and Pat and I were taking our C.
• 1:27:22
  SPEAKER_02: And yeah.
• 1:27:24
  SPEAKER_00: So Griff's one of the directors, yeah.
• 1:27:26
  SPEAKER_00: Bly Loman, um, B's now our academy director.
• 1:27:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um C's running the girls' side.
• 1:27:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then Mark Swinley um runs our juniors program and our top soccer program for kids with disabilities.
• 1:27:36
  SPEAKER_02: So obviously Andy's not uh coaching anybody, but who uh No, he does, he's on the field.
• 1:27:42
  SPEAKER_00: He's actually got three teeth three high school girls teams this fall.
• 1:27:45
  SPEAKER_00: So he's got two GA, he's got the U17, U15 GA teams.
• 1:27:49
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and he's got the U19 N1 team, our second team.
• 1:27:53
  SPEAKER_02: Got it.
• 1:27:53
  SPEAKER_00: Which his daughter plays on.
• 1:27:55
  SPEAKER_02: So Who how many are not on the field?
• 1:27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Only Zach.
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Only that.
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Only Zam.
• 1:28:01
  SPEAKER_00: And then everyone else is on the field.
• 1:28:03
  SPEAKER_00: And again, like I'm doing, we're trying to, and that's part of the problem, right?
• 1:28:08
  SPEAKER_00: We love coaching.
• 1:28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:28:09
  SPEAKER_00: Want to be on the field.
• 1:28:10
  SPEAKER_00: That's like the fun bit.
• 1:28:12
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes you have to take us do a little less.
• 1:28:15
  SPEAKER_02: The higher you go, the less you coach.
• 1:28:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 1:28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Which is not always what you want.
• 1:28:20
  SPEAKER_02: You have one team right now?
• 1:28:21
  SPEAKER_00: So I have one right now.
• 1:28:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that gives me a chance to do other stuff, but then come November I'll have three when the two MLS Next boys come back.
• 1:28:26
  SPEAKER_00: So like you know, so you're trying to get as much done as you can with teams and parents and coaches when you can.
• 1:28:34
  SPEAKER_02: What team do you have right now?
• 1:28:35
  SPEAKER_00: So I have the U11 Boys Blue team, which is our C team, U11 Boys Blue.
• 1:28:39
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:28:40
  SPEAKER_02: And then you have two of the Academy.
• 1:28:42
  SPEAKER_00: MLS Next, yeah, U16, U17 boys.
• 1:28:45
  SPEAKER_00: So they'll come back in October, starting November when high school finishes.
• 1:28:49
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:28:50
  SPEAKER_02: How what do you think the age change and everything in the Academy?
• 1:28:55
  SPEAKER_02: And that the Academy went with the rest of the country and uh they didn't stay with the home growth.
• 1:29:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, uh all you've changed is who the oldest players are.
• 1:29:09
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:29:09
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 1:29:10
  SPEAKER_00: So kids who are older and at younger ages, the older kids tend to be better because they've maybe done an extra year and they're a little bit more developed, but long term, that's not prone, you know.
• 1:29:23
  SPEAKER_00: So it's for me I feel like we're I don't know if it like we're not going to develop better players because it's August 1 through July 31st versus January 1 to December 31st.
• 1:29:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:29:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to come down to what we give them and how hard those kids are willing to work.
• 1:29:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it, you know, I will say that for the most part now kids are now playing with their friends who are in the same grade, which I think is a good thing because it's now their friends.
• 1:29:55
  SPEAKER_00: Now not everyone, depending on when you went to school, when you're born, or those there's a few, but obviously the the birth year that was not the case.
• 1:30:02
  SPEAKER_00: It very much was a mix.
• 1:30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think being with your friends is probably for for the majority of players in our club, right?
• 1:30:08
  SPEAKER_00: The kids who want to have fun, who are not trying to be pro players, who want to get a bit of fitness, who want to, you know, whose parents will be gonna like sort of like your kids here to get life lessons, camaraderie, how to problem solve, uh, hopefully some commitment, you know, improve self-improvement.
• 1:30:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, put all these things, and hopefully they'll that'll help them in life when whatever it is that they're going to do, because the reality is most of them are not going to be pro soccer players.
• 1:30:37
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:30:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what will help them, you know, off the field.
• 1:30:41
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, for a lot of kids, it's fitness, it's health, you know.
• 1:30:43
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, getting out there, running around, it's it's a great sport for that.
• 1:30:47
  SPEAKER_00: So those things obviously are really important for the masses in our club, and I think most clubs, because that's where most of your players are, you know, that's not at the elite level.
• 1:30:57
  SPEAKER_00: We want to provide that for those elite players, and what we give them is a little bit different, um, because I think they're sometimes a little bit different in what they want.
• 1:31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but for the masses, it's like making sure that you know those kids are accommodated and they're getting things that they can take off of you, and most importantly, a love of the game.
• 1:31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like they want to go to Spectadium and watch a game, or they want to go to a World Cup and watch a game, or they want to follow like you know, and it's great.
• 1:31:22
  SPEAKER_00: I'm you know, in here, uh, there's a Amy's here, and I used to coach Amy, and she's here still playing, and her son's in her club, and it's like hopefully you know, she's still playing, she still loves the game, and hopefully I was and everyone else at work was a small part of her loving the game, and she's still playing in her, you know, from the age of mid to late 30s at Wide World and Leagues, and she her sons are now in the club playing, and like she loves the game, and that ultimately is amazing.
• 1:31:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like she's a soccer fan, and then it just kind of like restarts with him, yeah, and he's gonna love the game and love the game, and then hopefully he has kids someday, and then it goes and and then in nine in 2078, the men's world went over to write it down 2078.
• 1:32:07
  SPEAKER_02: How long it's gonna take.
• 1:32:09
  SPEAKER_02: People don't realize, but anyway, yeah, yeah.
• 1:32:12
  SPEAKER_02: How many teams do you guys have?
• 1:32:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we have we've got a hundred teams and thirteen hundred players right now.
• 1:32:17
  SPEAKER_02: So that's one location.
• 1:32:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's one location.
• 1:32:20
  SPEAKER_00: No branches, and obviously, you know, we've got the two 11v11 turf fields and a 7v7 turf field at the back, which is awesome.
• 1:32:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's turf.
• 1:32:29
  SPEAKER_02: That's turf.
• 1:32:30
  SPEAKER_02: That was one of my questions.
• 1:32:31
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, so we turf the second one a few years ago.
• 1:32:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um is it lit?
• 1:32:34
  SPEAKER_00: Which is awesome.
• 1:32:35
  SPEAKER_00: Is it lit?
• 1:32:36
  SPEAKER_00: Not lit, unfortunately.
• 1:32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we're in low dye township, yeah, and they don't do any uh uh fixed lights above 10 feet.
• 1:32:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we're always talking to them to see if there's any way to fix it.
• 1:32:47
  SPEAKER_02: Could you uh I know that was it Elmwood or Elmbrook?
• 1:32:51
  SPEAKER_00: They used to do the portable lights.
• 1:32:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:32:54
  SPEAKER_00: We we've looked into that.
• 1:32:56
  SPEAKER_02: The cost and the noise is quite oh yeah, because they have to run on generators, yeah.
• 1:33:00
  SPEAKER_00: And then you also look at like maybe trying to do like the you know, the the ones that work on solar power, and we've tried a couple of those and the light they generate is just so maybe you know, down the line low die township will maybe you know help us out by making some changes, but that would be that would always be awesome for us.
• 1:33:17
  SPEAKER_02: How often do you guys train in here?
• 1:33:19
  SPEAKER_00: Because I miss the boards, so uh dude, I love the boards as well.
• 1:33:22
  SPEAKER_02: Like I talked to like getting our kids out so many people hate the boards, it's like oh it's bad habits.
• 1:33:27
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, then just who cares?
• 1:33:29
  SPEAKER_02: You can't hide in there.
• 1:33:31
  SPEAKER_00: No, fitness, speed of play, levels nuts, speed of play, game is so fast, like anticipation, awareness of what might happen because it's a little different coming off the board, reaction, you know, being proactive rather than reactive.
• 1:33:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's massive amounts you can learn from that, and it's great, kids love it, and it's creative it builds creativity.
• 1:33:49
  SPEAKER_02: It's like I'm gonna bounce this off the wall and this is gonna be a pass, and or I'm gonna go around them and teach his angles or something.
• 1:33:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but yeah, I think anytime kids touching a ball, it's a good thing.
• 1:33:58
  SPEAKER_00: Is it indoor soccer?
• 1:34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Is it futsal?
• 1:34:00
  SPEAKER_00: Is it five aside?
• 1:34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Is it training?
• 1:34:02
  SPEAKER_00: Is it doing stuff for your own?
• 1:34:03
  SPEAKER_00: Is it doing technical stuff?
• 1:34:04
  SPEAKER_00: Is it watching film?
• 1:34:06
  SPEAKER_00: Dude, do it all.
• 1:34:07
  SPEAKER_00: The more the more you do, the better you'll be.
• 1:34:09
  SPEAKER_00: There's no shortcut to success.
• 1:34:11
  SPEAKER_02: Do you guys train in here?
• 1:34:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we do.
• 1:34:13
  SPEAKER_00: So we use the fields usually till eight o'clock, and then they have the adult leagues coming at eight o'clock.
• 1:34:17
  SPEAKER_00: Got it.
• 1:34:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:34:18
  SPEAKER_02: And is that your round that you're using them?
• 1:34:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 1:34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:34:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:34:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then we also we have a actually we've got Friday nights at EMU this year, which is great.
• 1:34:27
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, nice.
• 1:34:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's a nice space in the bubble.
• 1:34:29
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we use Lincoln Athletic Building.
• 1:34:31
  SPEAKER_00: They built like a 9v9 field down there.
• 1:34:34
  SPEAKER_00: The this the school district did, so we get that Monday through Friday.
• 1:34:38
  SPEAKER_00: So between those, uh we ever go to Legacy?
• 1:34:41
  SPEAKER_00: We use Legacy on a Monday night, so we get that on a Monday night, the dome up there for for three hours, 6 30 to 9 30.
• 1:34:47
  SPEAKER_00: So those are kind of what we have, you know, for indoor spaces.
• 1:34:52
  SPEAKER_00: And we have uh the Coliseum, a UFM, so we get that, which is more like a footsall hardcore floor.
• 1:34:58
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, the problem with that is Michigan's talking about maybe knocking that down and redoing it and all those things because they're doing a lot of you know, done a lot of that stuff.
• 1:35:06
  SPEAKER_02: Everything is under construction in Ann Arbor.
• 1:35:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:35:08
  SPEAKER_02: How how often or okay, let's talk about your let's just talk about the GA and MOS next.
• 1:35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:35:16
  SPEAKER_02: How how many nights are they going?
• 1:35:18
  SPEAKER_00: They go four nights, three with it, three with their coach, and then one either strength advantage strength across at the cube, where the kids walk across and do that.
• 1:35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um, or they can do sports performance with Kenny.
• 1:35:28
  SPEAKER_00: Kenny one is one of our coaches, he's also a trainer.
• 1:35:30
  SPEAKER_00: So whether them do sports performance with him, or most of them now go across to Advantage, and we have a relationship with them.
• 1:35:36
  SPEAKER_00: So the kids walk across the Cube and then do an hour with Advantage once a week.
• 1:35:40
  SPEAKER_00: So four contacts a week.
• 1:35:41
  SPEAKER_02: Is that a hockey rink over there?
• 1:35:43
  SPEAKER_02: So that is yeah, the cube, whatever.
• 1:35:45
  SPEAKER_00: Big B.
• 1:35:45
  SPEAKER_00: It used to be the Cube, yeah.
• 1:35:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:35:47
  SPEAKER_00: Big B bought it, and um US US hockey used to be there before they went to Plymouth.
• 1:35:52
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, really?
• 1:35:53
  SPEAKER_00: So US hockey used to be there, yeah.
• 1:35:54
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, they've got uh obviously they've got th I think two or three ranks.
• 1:35:58
  SPEAKER_00: There's like a med sport rehab place, and then there's a advantage strength who we work with them and they do uh like our strength building and some stuff.
• 1:36:05
  SPEAKER_00: They've got like a little area where they've got some turf and weights and different things and bands and all those kinds of things.
• 1:36:12
  SPEAKER_00: So they go with them and do some strength training with them, which is great.
• 1:36:14
  SPEAKER_02: How many players did you say are in the club?
• 1:36:16
  SPEAKER_00: Tho uh we have 1300 players and a hundred teams.
• 1:36:21
  SPEAKER_02: How what's do you have a youth like academy?
• 1:36:24
  SPEAKER_00: We so we have juniors, so junior tigers.
• 1:36:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, they come in, they train on like a Friday night and then play a game on a Saturday.
• 1:36:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um is that included in the So that's completely separate.
• 1:36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:36:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then for a lot of that, like a lot of like our former players who are maybe at Michigan or at schools will come in and help coach, and so that way they stay involved, which is amazing.
• 1:36:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so that's a little bit separate, but we have like all our teams are travel teams, U7 through U19, but then we have our our juniors program as well.
• 1:36:55
  SPEAKER_00: Because I was wondering what the radius is.
• 1:36:58
  SPEAKER_00: So we we primarily obviously an Arbor, we've got a lot of in the last few years, probably because we have you know MLS and GA, we have kids coming from like the Jackson area.
• 1:37:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we have quite a few kids coming from like the Toledo area.
• 1:37:11
  SPEAKER_00: Uh oh, really?
• 1:37:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know, so kids sort of south of us going down towards like the border with Ohio, especially on the boys' side, I'm sure.
• 1:37:17
  SPEAKER_00: Boys' side for sure, the girls because different high school seasons and all that stuff.
• 1:37:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, man.
• 1:37:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um so good that area.
• 1:37:25
  SPEAKER_00: But a lot of kids sort of I would say, you know, not a ton from the east, because as you go north and east, you've got all the other clubs, but everything from sort of the west side, like Grass Lake and Jackson, you know, even up, you know, down to like Adrian, sort of those places, Toledo, sort of everything sort of west and south.
• 1:37:46
  SPEAKER_00: We've had quite a lot of kids come in that direction recently.
• 1:37:50
  SPEAKER_02: So how when you got here, were the tigers already in the girls' DA?
• 1:37:58
  SPEAKER_00: We were uh we were not, no, no.
• 1:38:02
  SPEAKER_02: So when did you guys get into the GA?
• 1:38:05
  SPEAKER_00: Two this is our second year in the GA.
• 1:38:07
  SPEAKER_00: So we we were in Elite 64 with USU soccer, same as EBU, uh-huh, and then this is now our second year, same as EBU in the girls' academy.
• 1:38:15
  SPEAKER_00: So basically we got in on that first, what does it say, first round of expansion, if you like, two years ago.
• 1:38:22
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 1:38:23
  SPEAKER_00: EBU 56ers or cells all came into um G from Elite 64 from USU Soccer.
• 1:38:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then second year in the academy as well, second year in MLS next academy since then.
• 1:38:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:38:36
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, like I say, last year was our first year in both programs.
• 1:38:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's great to obviously have both programs.
• 1:38:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, our at the last year's 2010 boys made it to MLS Cup in Utah.
• 1:38:47
  SPEAKER_00: They won the league in the playoff.
• 1:38:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, our U, what was our 2011 boys?
• 1:38:53
  SPEAKER_00: They won the regional event, so they went out to Salt Lake City to the MLS Cup.
• 1:38:57
  SPEAKER_00: So we had two teams out there, which was in May, which was amazing.
• 1:39:00
  SPEAKER_00: Clegg and I were out there, which was great.
• 1:39:02
  SPEAKER_00: And on the girls' side, um, our last year's 2013 girls um made the playoffs, so they were in the playoffs in California and June.
• 1:39:09
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, small steps, and not saying we'll be doing that every year, but that's the goal is to keep building and keep developing and keep giving you know kids the opportunities to play at high levels and and for the kids that want to play in college, get them, you know, opportunities to get recruited.
• 1:39:24
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, how how important is the platforms?
• 1:39:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, how I think it's very important.
• 1:39:32
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's important for retention.
• 1:39:35
  SPEAKER_00: Correct.
• 1:39:35
  SPEAKER_00: And whether that importance is more what parents think a platform is versus what it actually is could be very different.
• 1:39:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I think the problems leads to retention, like people have a belief that if you're not on a platform, then you won't get that scholarship or you won't play pro.
• 1:39:57
  SPEAKER_00: And again, like because so many of those players are playing those platforms, that almost is the case.
• 1:40:04
  SPEAKER_00: But like I always talk about what I'm doing, what you're doing, is gonna impact whether you achieve those things.
• 1:40:13
  SPEAKER_00: You're certainly going to get everything you need here, the Tigers, whether it's training, level of training, number of contacts, filming, Jeep, whatever it is you're gonna get it.
• 1:40:22
  SPEAKER_00: How you use that and how much effort you put outside of that will ultimately dictate what chance you have.
• 1:40:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I think the platforms are a big part of it.
• 1:40:33
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of it, like we used to talk to him, we used to go to certain tournaments because college coaches would be there to get recruited.
• 1:40:40
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 1:40:40
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas now those events have been replaced by platform showcases.
• 1:40:46
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 1:40:46
  SPEAKER_00: So the problem now is if you're not in a platform You're not getting in front of coaches, you're not getting the exposure.
• 1:40:54
  SPEAKER_00: That and that's really the biggest thing with the platforms is that for us to go, you know, and we do, like I said, we we have our sort of invitational in the in the fall.
• 1:41:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, we go to the Jags event in January for our girls, we go to the MLS Next event for the boys, like so um we're getting those opportunities, but like, you know, when you go to California and there's 150 college coaches, you're only getting that because you're in the GA.
• 1:41:20
  SPEAKER_00: When you go to Utah, you're only getting that because you're in MLS Next, you know.
• 1:41:24
  SPEAKER_00: So having the platforms is important because it's another piece of us of what we can provide the kids for them to hopefully achieve their goals.
• 1:41:36
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, and luckily we're in an area that and maybe this happens more places because I know that EBU goes down and does stuff with the eclipse or uh not the eclipse, but maybe uh St.
• 1:41:52
  SPEAKER_02: Louis Scott Gallagher and stuff like that.
• 1:41:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yep, and you guys are all doing stuff together, like Jags, Tigers, Midwest, Hawks sometimes, nationals sometimes, yeah, you know, and it's just it gives you just more opportunity to get out in front of the coaches or the players that you need, yeah, or the coaches that you need to be in front of.
• 1:42:18
  SPEAKER_02: Like Lewis says that hey, all of our kids get in front of who they need to get in front of.
• 1:42:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and but and it seemed, I mean, look at uh Kottmeyer.
• 1:42:33
  SPEAKER_02: You're obviously okay with her going to play slammer sometimes.
• 1:42:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, whatever's best for her.
• 1:42:39
  SPEAKER_02: And it actually makes sense because isn't that during her high school season anyway?
• 1:42:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, isn't that usually when she's gone?
• 1:42:45
  SPEAKER_00: She would she would instead of playing high school, she's playing over there.
• 1:42:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so she played in the fall with us, and then in the winter time transitioned to playing out there, so she'd go out there and play in the events.
• 1:42:56
  SPEAKER_00: So basically, rather than play high school soccer, she played for another club, which made sense for her.
• 1:43:02
  SPEAKER_02: Was that hard for you guys to like at first?
• 1:43:05
  SPEAKER_02: No, are we not good enough?
• 1:43:07
  SPEAKER_02: Because because have you ever been like that?
• 1:43:09
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I used to be like that.
• 1:43:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, why are you training with why are you training outside?
• 1:43:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like, am I not good enough?
• 1:43:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we do everything that they do.
• 1:43:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's like, no, that was you're the bare minimum, like you said earlier.
• 1:43:23
  SPEAKER_02: You're the bare minimum we have to do extra to get to where we want to go.
• 1:43:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's crazy and whatever you feel extra is and how you're doing it.
• 1:43:32
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, I mean, I've been like you just done a lot for this for a long time.
• 1:43:37
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I would if a kid called me from their club and wanted help or info, I would give them it.
• 1:43:42
  SPEAKER_00: I would not do it because they don't play for the Tigers.
• 1:43:46
  SPEAKER_00: I want kids to be as I mean, I want kids to be as successful as they can and achieve their goals, you know.
• 1:43:52
  SPEAKER_00: And I believe they can do it here.
• 1:43:53
  SPEAKER_00: Some people don't feel that way and feel they have to go other places, and that's okay, you know.
• 1:43:58
  SPEAKER_00: I just I just feel that for me a lot the kids like do it for the make sure it's the right reasons.
• 1:44:05
  SPEAKER_00: The grass isn't always greener on the other side.
• 1:44:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's not always greener.
• 1:44:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's just the same, it's the same grass.
• 1:44:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's just on a in a different and I would say people like if you're gonna spend 30 minutes, it's almost like what I did.
• 1:44:15
  SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna spend 30 minutes in the car each way, so that's an hour a day.
• 1:44:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you take half of that and just touch a ball or watch film, you're gonna see a some improvement in your ability just by not spending that time in the car.
• 1:44:28
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it just comes down to the more you do, the better you'll be.
• 1:44:31
  SPEAKER_00: But some people think, no, if I go here, I'll be the best.
• 1:44:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, no, you don't put the effort in, you won't be.
• 1:44:36
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:44:36
  SPEAKER_00: And if going gets you into another gear because that's like I remember this was years ago.
• 1:44:42
  SPEAKER_00: I did a Then you're gonna burn out.
• 1:44:43
  SPEAKER_00: I did a I did uh an IDP with one of the kids, and the dad was like, you know, um, and the kid in my sessions was okay, but effort and attitude were definitely lacking.
• 1:44:54
  SPEAKER_00: And he's like, hey, we do this Erin Bird stuff.
• 1:44:57
  SPEAKER_00: This was when Birdie was new.
• 1:44:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he was like, it's amazing.
• 1:45:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's like you want to see an intensity.
• 1:45:02
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, oh really, that's uh that's amazing.
• 1:45:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, uh, so when she comes to my train sessions, do you buy that at the gas station?
• 1:45:11
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, what?
• 1:45:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, where'd you get her intensity?
• 1:45:13
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, what?
• 1:45:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, do you stop at the gas station and buy her a bottle of intensity when she goes to Birdie?
• 1:45:18
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you could buy it on the way to my session for three times a week, we'd be amazing.
• 1:45:22
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:45:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like you work hard over there that you're paying extra for, but you don't apply the same rules to the thing you're paying for three times a week.
• 1:45:30
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:45:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's not me, that's you.
• 1:45:33
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and as a parent, I can't believe you you're okay that she bust her ass there, but doesn't when she's here.
• 1:45:41
  SPEAKER_00: Don't make any sense.
• 1:45:43
  SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
• 1:45:44
  SPEAKER_00: Especially with but your your solution was that that she's a better player because she's doing that.
• 1:45:48
  SPEAKER_00: She'd be a better player if she just worked harder at what she already has.
• 1:45:51
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:45:52
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, a hundred percent.
• 1:45:55
  SPEAKER_02: And you Erin doesn't control her playing time or what position she's playing, or any of that, and yet, and it's really it's the it's the individual kid, it's the environment.
• 1:46:08
  SPEAKER_02: But the funny thing about like the grass is always green.
• 1:46:10
  SPEAKER_02: I just saw this meme, and it's like a picture of oh, the grass is always green over there.
• 1:46:16
  SPEAKER_02: It's like sometimes that that's fake, sometimes it's turf over there, yeah, and it's like you know what, and I saw that, I'm like, oh, I like that.
• 1:46:24
  SPEAKER_02: That's a soccer that's a that's a soccer thing because we you're right, just touch the ball more.
• 1:46:30
  SPEAKER_02: I had a kid, RY.
• 1:46:35
  SPEAKER_02: He had to drive from Buffalo to RY, which is an hour, 10 minutes, there and back.
• 1:46:41
  SPEAKER_02: Also, they do crazy, so they would train and then lift.
• 1:46:46
  SPEAKER_02: So these kids would get off the bus or get home from school, they get like a 30-minute break, they're in the clock car at four o'clock, they didn't get they don't get home till 10.
• 1:46:58
  SPEAKER_02: So the kid was like, I I'm miserable because my my life is just in a car.
• 1:47:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:47:06
  SPEAKER_02: So he took an opportunity to go to Shattox in Minnesota.
• 1:47:11
  SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna be able to train so much more, and he did.
• 1:47:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and he did, and and have more time to myself and more time to do whatever I have to do.
• 1:47:21
  SPEAKER_02: Have a little bit of a life as well, have a little bit of a life, yeah, which is crazy, yeah.
• 1:47:26
  SPEAKER_02: But so what so what uh what's the GA schedule coming up?
• 1:47:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so girls are obviously full in.
• 1:47:33
  SPEAKER_00: We've got we're in Chicago this weekend, um, soft as you night.
• 1:47:36
  SPEAKER_00: You're going.
• 1:47:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm going.
• 1:47:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean, I coached the two of the teams last year.
• 1:47:41
  SPEAKER_00: So um I know obviously most of the players helps with like talking to some of the other ones about college recruiting and stuff, things like that.
• 1:47:48
  SPEAKER_00: We actually just hired Jackie Phillips um to come in and do our college recruiting.
• 1:47:52
  SPEAKER_00: She was down at Lourdes, who obviously closed their athletic department.
• 1:47:55
  SPEAKER_00: So she's doing a lot of stuff with like our older females, we think is great because she's been in the game, she knows the game, she can help them with the process.
• 1:48:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I think one of the biggest things was certainly the younger kids' realistic expectations of where you can play, you know, because not everyone can play at Michigan.
• 1:48:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's the horrible thing.
• 1:48:13
  SPEAKER_00: Or Michigan State, you know.
• 1:48:15
  SPEAKER_02: So I and that's that's one of the reasons why I think I started the podcast because I don't know.
• 1:48:22
  SPEAKER_02: Because I'm like, yeah, I don't know that it was like, yeah, you I know how good you are, yeah.
• 1:48:28
  SPEAKER_02: But I don't know if you could play at Florida State.
• 1:48:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:48:31
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think you think I don't know if you're in UNC.
• 1:48:34
  SPEAKER_02: I know she's UNC.
• 1:48:36
  SPEAKER_02: I don't think you are.
• 1:48:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:48:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's okay.
• 1:48:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:48:39
  SPEAKER_00: That's all right.
• 1:48:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and we have a kid, uh freshman down in Toledo, who you know got a great opportunity to go down there.
• 1:48:45
  SPEAKER_00: But one of the biggest things I talked about was that like, you know, you want to play all the time series.
• 1:48:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like you could go to maybe a a bigger program, but you're not going to play and that you're going to hate that.
• 1:48:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and she's getting tons of minutes of freshmen, she's doing really well.
• 1:49:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's really important is like talk sitting down with parents and players and explaining the process.
• 1:49:07
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, of course everyone wants to play at UNC or Florida State.
• 1:49:11
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:49:12
  SPEAKER_00: But that just isn't the right fit for 99.9% of players.
• 1:49:16
  SPEAKER_00: But this is a really good fit for you, you know, and other players who like say um EJ at State, you know, she's loved her experience there.
• 1:49:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think she would have loved to play more, you know.
• 1:49:27
  SPEAKER_00: But that's everyone would.
• 1:49:28
  SPEAKER_00: You should want to.
• 1:49:29
  SPEAKER_00: Like if if I They're number one in the country.
• 1:49:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 1:49:31
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody wants to play.
• 1:49:32
  SPEAKER_00: You scored a goal a couple of weeks ago.
• 1:49:34
  SPEAKER_00: A text like, Great goal, awesome, tied up, you know, she was budget.
• 1:49:37
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, but she, you know, she's worked her ass off for years.
• 1:49:41
  SPEAKER_02: So I had Xavier's coach on.
• 1:49:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 1:49:43
  SPEAKER_02: And she was talking about when she recruits GA, it's mostly an in person single game weekend, or maybe the Jags event, or something like that.
• 1:49:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's not necessarily NorCal or anything like that.
• 1:50:00
  SPEAKER_02: That been your experience with the girls that you guys have put in.
• 1:50:04
  SPEAKER_02: Is it more like okay, ex uh Toledo would come here, Cliff would come here or something like that?
• 1:50:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:50:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot like we do, we've we this will be we've done last year's we've done a combine in December.
• 1:50:15
  SPEAKER_00: So this is our third year of that, which has gone well with the Jags event.
• 1:50:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the Hawks obviously run a really great combine as well in the in the new year.
• 1:50:23
  SPEAKER_00: So getting our kids involved in those programs, providing what we can with our invitational August and then our combine in December, you know, the Jag Showcase, trying to get kids into the Hawks one, like the it's exposure.
• 1:50:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then the biggest thing is getting kids out to ID camps.
• 1:50:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, going in again, like I tell them, like, don't get on a flight, it's expensive enough.
• 1:50:42
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to go to State, go to Michigan, go to Adrian, go to schoolcrafters.
• 1:50:47
  SPEAKER_02: Within three hours within three hours, I know.
• 1:50:49
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, I want warm weather.
• 1:50:52
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 1:50:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:50:53
  SPEAKER_00: So, but just in getting out there and getting exposure.
• 1:50:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, we we have tools to help them with bringing in Jackie and myself and Cleggy and Belile helping the girls and the boys, and you know, getting information that they would do a little boys combine as well.
• 1:51:04
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I think last year on our what was our 08 girls, we had 18 players and 14 are playing in college this year.
• 1:51:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, one technically is going next year because she was a trapped kid, so she's going to be northwestern next year.
• 1:51:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um Northwestern?
• 1:51:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:51:20
  SPEAKER_00: Kate Alumco.
• 1:51:21
  SPEAKER_00: So she's done a great player, good.
• 1:51:22
  SPEAKER_00: She had the Michigan was interested, but she chose Northwestern, so um she was to get away a little bit.
• 1:51:29
  SPEAKER_01: A little bit, a little bit.
• 1:51:30
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 1:51:30
  SPEAKER_00: And she and she actually is one of those kids that like, you know, everyone, you know, she goes to Green Hills High School in Ann Arbor, which is a really small school.
• 1:51:37
  SPEAKER_00: She plays with kids that don't play soccer.
• 1:51:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:51:41
  SPEAKER_00: She was a trapped kid, so she had that, you know, now we've well we've theoretically limited most of that.
• 1:51:46
  SPEAKER_02: We've eliminated trap players, but they're still trapped players.
• 1:51:48
  SPEAKER_00: But she's gonna go to Northwestern.
• 1:51:50
  SPEAKER_00: So like she plays in a tiny high school in my in the Ann Arbor area in Michigan.
• 1:51:54
  SPEAKER_00: She was a trapped kid, and it's like people say, Oh, well, if you're trapped, it's like again, she for years, like the kid that watched film, did her reviews, did more, always wanted more.
• 1:52:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, she's got a northwestern because of what she's done for years.
• 1:52:09
  SPEAKER_00: And it and you can be a trapped player, you can play in a small high school and still go to Northwestern.
• 1:52:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like the proof's right there, and I think that's a big thing for us that like you can see that kid who you know wasn't doing year-round club soccer, who wasn't doing was a trapped kid, like, and she's again it comes from what she's done.
• 1:52:27
  SPEAKER_00: And like when I used to love coaching that kid because she just wanted more all the time.
• 1:52:31
  SPEAKER_00: She just wanted more, she always wanted to do more, whether it was on the field, off the field.
• 1:52:35
  SPEAKER_00: She, you know, you need a guest player, me.
• 1:52:37
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't matter who, you know, some people, I'm not gonna go play for them.
• 1:52:40
  SPEAKER_00: I want to play, it's just playing.
• 1:52:43
  SPEAKER_00: And that mentality and that desire, just love the game, and that's why she's going to Northwestern, you know, and it's and what you just said about she's been doing this for years, and that's why she's going.
• 1:52:56
  SPEAKER_02: It's like people are like, Oh, you're an overnight success.
• 1:53:00
  SPEAKER_02: It took me 10, 11 years to get here.
• 1:53:03
  SPEAKER_02: If that if 10 years is overnight, okay.
• 1:53:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so uh and this maybe happens more in small markets.
• 1:53:12
  SPEAKER_02: I can we're in a big market, I feel yeah, that a kid's been doing this for eight years and going all in and doing all the extra things.
• 1:53:22
  SPEAKER_02: Then they go to the ECNL or the the or the GA club, and then that GA club claims her, or that ECNL club claims her.
• 1:53:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, can we just shout out like the tigers?
• 1:53:33
  SPEAKER_02: Like, oh, we got Chloe Ricketts going to, and it's like, and if it's you guys posting or the Jags post, it's like, can you shout out the other club too?
• 1:53:43
  SPEAKER_02: My favorite example is Michelle Cooper, right?
• 1:53:46
  SPEAKER_02: So, Michelle Cooper obviously, um, well, I'll get there.
• 1:53:51
  SPEAKER_02: So she plays for the Hawks for like two years.
• 1:53:55
  SPEAKER_02: Then she goes to IMG and plays in the at the time the girls DA.
• 1:53:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, both the East, and then she goes to Duke, and then she signs with KC.
• 1:54:06
  SPEAKER_02: And both the ECNL, and and this isn't clubs, this is the ECNL and the Girls Development Academy says, look, look at Michelle Cooper, look at alumni Michelle Cooper.
• 1:54:19
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, can we shout out Miriam Hickey at all?
• 1:54:23
  SPEAKER_02: Can we like Vardar East?
• 1:54:25
  SPEAKER_02: Because I had to I had to coach against her, I had to coach against Michelle when she was like seven years old.
• 1:54:31
  SPEAKER_02: I'm like, who is that psychopath?
• 1:54:34
  SPEAKER_02: Who the hell is this girl?
• 1:54:36
  SPEAKER_00: And everyone had to everyone helped her get where she is.
• 1:54:38
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:54:39
  SPEAKER_02: Everyone wants to it's I bet everybody wants the credit so that they get their ROI because that's the only way we get ROI, I guess, yeah, in this country.
• 1:54:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's funny you mentioned that.
• 1:54:47
  SPEAKER_00: So Colton Swan, who was an old seven boys, died here, played here for like eight years.
• 1:54:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 1:54:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, he was just out with the U20s um uh at the event, the Colin Calf U20 event, and he's signed for Hibs in Scotland.
• 1:55:01
  SPEAKER_00: He's gone there in December, he's playing at Charlotte, but he's playing at the Battery right now.
• 1:55:03
  SPEAKER_00: Battery, yeah.
• 1:55:04
  SPEAKER_00: So he's gonna leave in December, season go to Scotland.
• 1:55:06
  SPEAKER_00: So great.
• 1:55:07
  SPEAKER_00: So you got interviewed at the U20 thing, and a kid I used to coach at the Jags sent me the clip.
• 1:55:13
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, I can't believe Colton said this.
• 1:55:15
  SPEAKER_00: So you interviewed, Colin got interviewed and said, Where did you play your youth soccer?
• 1:55:18
  SPEAKER_00: He said, I played at the Jags, but he was only there for like six months, which is fine.
• 1:55:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I text my see, come on, man.
• 1:55:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you played at the Tigers for eight years and the Jags for six months.
• 1:55:30
  SPEAKER_00: When someone asks you where you played, you should say the Tigers.
• 1:55:34
  SPEAKER_00: And and and he texts me back, and he's like, you know what, I'm sorry, I screwed up, I should have said the Tigers.
• 1:55:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, you should have.
• 1:55:43
  SPEAKER_00: But like I think sometimes like you have to guide the there are people as well, and they need help off the field.
• 1:55:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I said to see, like, that's just not the right thing to do.
• 1:55:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like, can the Jags say that you played there for six months?
• 1:55:54
  SPEAKER_00: Of course they can, of course you did.
• 1:55:56
  SPEAKER_00: You played there for six months.
• 1:55:57
  SPEAKER_00: We're not trying to erase that, but when you play somewhere for eight years and won a national championship and they've built put a lot into you, you should probably say that's where you played.
• 1:56:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's just the right thing to do, you know.
• 1:56:09
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that's that in our culture because of where you maybe it's where you were when you signed?
• 1:56:17
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and that would be true, and solidarity, we don't have solidarity payments and training compensation.
• 1:56:22
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we're getting there, but we're not uh 100% in.
• 1:56:26
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but where training compensation and solidarity payments goes all the way to where you were at U12.
• 1:56:33
  SPEAKER_02: So if we had that thought process of like, you know what I mean?
• 1:56:37
  SPEAKER_02: I get a kick, I get a kick out of why listen uh reading um college bios.
• 1:56:45
  SPEAKER_02: I get a kick out of that because what's funny is they have all these high school accolades, oh, all district, all Parisian, all state, uh state title, runner up.
• 1:57:00
  SPEAKER_02: And I played for Michigan Hawks, played club soccer at Michigan Hawks.
• 1:57:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's like high school gets all this stuff, and then club gets one sentence.
• 1:57:12
  SPEAKER_02: Like I just always get a kick out of that because it's hilarious.
• 1:57:18
  SPEAKER_02: Who was I just talking to?
• 1:57:19
  SPEAKER_02: I was talking to somebody and we're and we talked about high school soccer, and they're like, the kids' most memorable stuff oftentimes is what they did at high school.
• 1:57:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because it's a little bit of an escape from the craziness that can be club soccer, but and you get that, you know, it's it's a very American thing.
• 1:57:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like we didn't have that growing up, no one watched high school or college sports back home.
• 1:57:42
  SPEAKER_00: It just doesn't exist, it's not a thing, right?
• 1:57:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know.
• 1:57:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so to go and play for your school and have people there and shouting and cheering, and I think that's pretty cool, man.
• 1:57:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's pretty awesome.
• 1:57:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think for your development as a person, that's pretty awesome.
• 1:57:56
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 1:57:56
  SPEAKER_00: You know, representing your school, doing well, you know, getting the accolades, like that's pretty cool.
• 1:58:02
  SPEAKER_00: We never we never had that growing up in in Scotland, not for not for high school or college, it's not a thing.
• 1:58:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I always think that was pretty neat over here, the high school thing.
• 1:58:11
  SPEAKER_00: Call I mean the college thing.
• 1:58:12
  SPEAKER_00: The fact that 115,000 people go watch college kids play American football to me is nuts.
• 1:58:18
  SPEAKER_02: Right there.
• 1:58:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's nuts.
• 1:58:21
  SPEAKER_02: How do you guys okay?
• 1:58:24
  SPEAKER_02: We are in a market where a couple clubs choose to go full year on the girl side.
• 1:58:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:58:31
  SPEAKER_02: Do you guys feel pressure at all?
• 1:58:35
  SPEAKER_00: Not really.
• 1:58:36
  SPEAKER_02: About like, okay, we have to offer what they are.
• 1:58:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I think it's the same thing, you know.
• 1:58:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um I don't know if that's what's best for our kids.
• 1:58:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think probably playing high school and club is the best thing for our kids.
• 1:58:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, our female athletes seem to do really well.
• 1:58:55
  SPEAKER_00: Let's say we have 14 out of 18 kids playing college from our 08.
• 1:58:59
  SPEAKER_00: The other four didn't it wasn't because they didn't get the opportunity, they chose not to.
• 1:59:03
  SPEAKER_00: Which, hey, that that's your choice, it's your life.
• 1:59:05
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't want to play, awesome, go to Michigan, one went to be go do whatever you want to do.
• 1:59:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I think you know, they're doing high school, they're playing club.
• 1:59:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think we have to change it.
• 1:59:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I honestly don't know if on the girls' side our female athletes would would want to in as a whole give up high school soccer.
• 1:59:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think a lot of them really enjoy high school soccer for all you know those reasons, it's not quite as crazy, and you get to play with your friends and maybe your sister who's two years younger, and you know, you're representing your school and your school colours and your families and the stand, and you know, because you're playing in your hometown, you're not travelling to California or Arizona or Texas or whatever, you know, and I think a lot of our kids do great, and I don't, you know, I don't think we're looking to change that.
• 1:59:59
  SPEAKER_00: And again, like if we knew playing 12 months of club soccer was the absolute way you'd achieve your goals, then of course we'd do it, but we don't, you know, and our kids seem to be succeeding and getting to where they want to go with what we're providing right now, which I think is important.
• 2:00:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 2:00:15
  SPEAKER_02: When did you guys go back to Wisconsin?
• 2:00:18
  SPEAKER_00: We go back to Wisconsin either later September or early October.
• 2:00:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're away to EBU and 56ers.
• 2:00:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, can't remember if it's late September or early October.
• 2:00:27
  SPEAKER_02: Got it.
• 2:00:29
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, yeah, the one thing about high school is it sucks, especially that you if your girls make playoffs, it's like it's tough, man.
• 2:00:37
  SPEAKER_00: G, I mean, I know G talked about to you.
• 2:00:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because you know, Michigan, we're lucky our the girls' season's done.
• 2:00:43
  SPEAKER_00: So when we go to California, you've got all your kids back.
• 2:00:47
  SPEAKER_00: For how long though?
• 2:00:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, maybe a week, you know, seven days.
• 2:00:51
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 2:00:51
  SPEAKER_02: They didn't even get to bring some girls.
• 2:00:54
  SPEAKER_00: They're still playing high school while the event's going on.
• 2:00:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's nuts.
• 2:00:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that's where, like, and I think on the boys side, we have on the sneak, you said Louis, like, we said the being done early June is awesome.
• 2:01:05
  SPEAKER_00: It gives the kid the summer to be a kid to go to ID camps to do other things, which I think is a really good thing.
• 2:01:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when you come back in the third week of July from nationals and you have a week off before you start your next year and you've gone through it's nuts.
• 2:01:22
  SPEAKER_00: But the problem on the girls' side is I don't know how you fix it because of high school soccer.
• 2:01:26
  SPEAKER_00: You can't, you know, and that's the and I feel bad for some.
• 2:01:30
  SPEAKER_02: One of the platforms says no high school, which supposedly they've talked about, which I think you'd lose so many girls, and I don't especially on the girls' side.
• 2:01:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I don't know if that's the right thing.
• 2:01:41
  SPEAKER_00: I think so either.
• 2:01:43
  SPEAKER_02: I don't I think it's how I think high school soccer can be a healthy thing when you're playing, especially when you're playing ECNL or GA, it's like a little escape because it's a different sport.
• 2:01:55
  SPEAKER_02: It is now, of course, they develop the bad habits and stuff like that.
• 2:01:59
  SPEAKER_02: They might get kicked more, like and stuff like that, but yeah, yeah, it's whatever.
• 2:02:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but so you know, and it's you know, I think a lot, I think our community in Ann Arbor likes high school sports, you know, and I wouldn't want to take that away from those kids.
• 2:02:17
  SPEAKER_02: What's game days like?
• 2:02:18
  SPEAKER_02: How did how wait, hold on?
• 2:02:20
  SPEAKER_02: So when Michigan is playing and you guys have Elmbrook United in here for a Saturday, do you have to schedule around that so when when we do it?
• 2:02:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's what they do in Buffalo.
• 2:02:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, when we do our scheduling, we do list the Michigan games and where they are, and obviously try to avoid I mean as much as possible.
• 2:02:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like I never thought about that.
• 2:02:43
  SPEAKER_00: That is the hard thing now with like G and MLS is that we don't we don't drive our own schedule, it's done for you.
• 2:02:50
  SPEAKER_01: Uh oh.
• 2:02:51
  SPEAKER_00: So it can be challenging.
• 2:02:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it's one of those where, like, you know, if Michigan has a home game and you're here, we just have to let you know.
• 2:02:59
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, and and maybe if you're playing us and then you're playing stars or us in Jags or us in Midwest, hey, maybe you should stay closer to Nova or closer to you know uh Lansing.
• 2:03:10
  SPEAKER_00: Don't try and get hotel in Ann Arbor because Michigan's playing in the cost's outrageous.
• 2:03:14
  SPEAKER_00: And if you can even find a hotel room, so there's definitely some, you know, it can be hard from that point of view where like, you know, you're coming in and say, but then we've also had like um where like I think when EBU and Galaxy came in for invitational August, some of the kids went and toured like the campuses and stuff, so they used it as an opportunity to go and see Michigan.
• 2:03:34
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 2:03:34
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we've had families who are delighted when they play here on game day because they go to the game.
• 2:03:40
  SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah, oh, I bet you there's a lot of that, you know.
• 2:03:44
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, but I think from a obviously you just got to be aware of it that hey, it's game day, it's a noon kickoff.
• 2:03:52
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you come in the back way, you know, no don't go through town, blah blah blah.
• 2:03:56
  SPEAKER_02: So who's your travel partner?
• 2:03:58
  SPEAKER_00: Stars?
• 2:03:59
  SPEAKER_00: So we because there's an odd number in the GA of teams, we don't technically have travel partners.
• 2:04:05
  SPEAKER_00: The stars aren't in it?
• 2:04:06
  SPEAKER_00: The stars are in it and Midwest and Jags, but we don't we don't always go.
• 2:04:11
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, you don't always go for two games.
• 2:04:13
  SPEAKER_00: No, because there's an odd number of teams, there's only nine teams in our division.
• 2:04:17
  SPEAKER_00: So because of that, it changes.
• 2:04:19
  SPEAKER_00: So this weekend we might like last weekend when FC United Soccer came here, they also went to Jags.
• 2:04:26
  SPEAKER_00: But the next when Wisconsin come, they might do they might do Midwest in us or stars in us in flip-flop.
• 2:04:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not like you're all you're not always playing the same two teams or going to the same two teams because there's an odd number.
• 2:04:40
  SPEAKER_02: Got it.
• 2:04:41
  SPEAKER_02: Galaxy's another team.
• 2:04:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's another team.
• 2:04:44
  SPEAKER_02: I've never I was like, who uh who are they?
• 2:04:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean Naperville Club, I mean, they've done really well.
• 2:04:50
  SPEAKER_00: Their 20, let me get this right now that we've changed.
• 2:04:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was their what uh Us would be their U 16 girls.
• 2:04:57
  SPEAKER_00: It was their oh my goodness, JT's girl, I think it was their 2010 girls last year.
• 2:05:02
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, won the GA National Championship, GT's team.
• 2:05:05
  SPEAKER_00: So good group, you know, they've got a lot of good kids over there.
• 2:05:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so yeah.
• 2:05:11
  SPEAKER_02: I just don't know their history.
• 2:05:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:05:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but they're not a good GA club.
• 2:05:16
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, our conference to GA is tough, man.
• 2:05:19
  SPEAKER_00: God, it's tough.
• 2:05:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard.
• 2:05:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's what jewels have seen.
• 2:05:22
  SPEAKER_00: EBU, Galaxy, Jags, Midwest, you know, 56 of us.
• 2:05:28
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's it's tough, man.
• 2:05:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard.
• 2:05:31
  SPEAKER_00: It really is.
• 2:05:31
  SPEAKER_00: You know, stars are obviously new this year, we haven't played them yet.
• 2:05:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but I know historically they've developed a lot of good teams.
• 2:05:38
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you talked about platforms earlier.
• 2:05:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think they've probably lost a lot of kids because they didn't have a platform.
• 2:05:43
  SPEAKER_00: So them having a platform should help them retain kids moving forward.
• 2:05:48
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, some tough games, man, tough games.
• 2:05:52
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it's uh you know, no easy games in the GA, that's for sure.
• 2:05:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then we see it when we go to like the national events.
• 2:06:00
  SPEAKER_00: Our the teams in our conference seem to do even though you struggled in our conference, you do very well at the national events because you're just the level.
• 2:06:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like last year I had our oh nine girls, dude.
• 2:06:12
  SPEAKER_00: EBU, Jags, Galaxy O9s.
• 2:06:15
  SPEAKER_00: Man, it's tough.
• 2:06:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's good teams.
• 2:06:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for doing it, thanks for doing it.
• 2:06:20
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it, man.
• 2:06:21
  SPEAKER_00: It's awesome.
• 2:06:22
  SPEAKER_00: Time's just flown by.
• 2:06:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's finally time to get you guys like get you guys some love.
• 2:06:28
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks, mate.
• 2:06:29
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate it.
• 2:06:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I appreciate it.
• 2:06:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, two hours.
• 2:06:32
  SPEAKER_02: It has flown.
• 2:06:33
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, sorry.
• 2:06:35
  SPEAKER_00: Are you on the field tonight?
• 2:06:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on the field tonight, mate, almost every night, other than Friday nights.
• 2:06:39
  SPEAKER_00: So which I'll change in the winter with EMU, but it's alright.
• 2:06:44
  SPEAKER_00: I like having the EMU though.
• 2:06:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm on a Friday night for training, so yeah, for sure.
• 2:06:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's awesome.
• 2:06:48
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, brother.
• 2:06:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, man.
• 2:06:49
  SPEAKER_00: Really appreciate it.
• 2:06:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you.
• 2:06:52
  SPEAKER_00: I hate soccer.