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The BIG LIFE S5E5 | Conference Play, College Soccer Reality + Coach Alyssa Deloice · The BIG LIFE

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Welcome back to another episode of the Big Life Podcast. We are already on week
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five, which is crazy because the season is flying by.
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September is here and conference play is about to start.
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So today we're going to be talking about our week and recapping and then talking
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about the rankings, conference play, being honest about our individual and team
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performance, and then also what we want to improve going into the next week.
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And then we're also going to be interviewing my assistant coach, Alyssa.
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So before we get into our week, let's start with what we did last week.
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What is one word that describes your week? We are 6-0 for the season so far.
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We won both games last week. And so I would say my word is consistent.
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I've consistently started all six games. And I felt like my play has been consistent.
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And our team has been pretty consistent. I think frustrating.
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Soccer as well as like school life.
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I think like our team performance, like we play well. It's just frustrating
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that we cannot get the ball in the back of the net, but we keep the ball.
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Like we're getting much better at keeping the ball. So it's definitely frustrating
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when we don't get the results that we deserve or that we should.
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But at the end of the day, it comes down to like who can put the ball in the
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back of the net. Rose Bud Thorne time.
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Rose, I played 60 minutes in both of these games, which is top for me.
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And then focusing on like my fitness and stuff, that's very good for me.
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Like that's a very good takeaway for me. I also got a lot of shots away.
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Which was very good. Like, I've been very much involved in the attack.
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Thorn, we lost. A frustrating loss. Like, actually, we had the ball for, I think, 85% of the game.
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And, like, at the end of the game, they just got freaking, they split the line.
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They split the back line and we got scored. But, you know, it's an accumulation
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of, like, everything that happened before in the game.
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So there's no blame on anyone. It's, like, definitely a team effort there.
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And then Bud looking forward to playing Stanford. Like, we're growing up to
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play a good team. number one. We're the number one, right?
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Yeah. Yeah, we're excited to play a very, very, very good team.
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Like us having experience playing Duke and BYU is going to be helpful for us,
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especially just a big name, big school.
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So we're excited to go up there.
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All right, my rose, bud, and thorn. My rose, this week on our stats, I was second again.
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Then my thorn is I was stupid and I forgot to put in my tracker and then my bud,
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Hopefully, I get a goal within the next game. Both these games, I had three shots.
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Both were on target. Okay, what is your sound? What sound is your week? Eh. Eh.
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It's like, yay. It would have been yay, but now it's like, eh.
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Mine's probably like, woo.
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Nice. Now that we're done with that whole section, let's go into where we are
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in the season individually, and then just talking about the rankings and stuff
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and how they're going to start to matter a little bit more just based on non-conference ending.
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So, well, my team, we're currently 6th on the United Soccer's poll,
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which might change tomorrow. Hopefully we go up to 4th. Please.
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And then on top drawer, they still have us at 13th, which I'm like,
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really? Conference play is obviously starting.
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Our first game is 11th, and we play Auburn, and that's the Iron Bowl. So that's our rival.
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Do you pay attention to the rankings or do you try to avoid focusing on one
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me personally don't care.
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I mean obviously like you see them when they come out and it's like it's cool
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to be on them and stuff but I personally just focusing on my team growth and
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like what we can focus on because we're obviously not on that list but I think,
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like the list is there to kind of provide a little back support for those teams
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like so that other teams know that they're gonna play like you know Like if
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we were to play you guys, we're like, okay, these guys are whatever, four or six, you say.
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Like, that gives you a little bit more support and it just will fuel us.
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But for me, it's like, honestly, it's another game. It's another opponent.
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So it's very much hard to focus on the ranking. So for me, honestly, I don't really...
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Care too much and it's like how can you and your team just focus on the next
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game ahead instead of thinking like okay in two weeks we're gonna play michigan
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state what are they fourth whatever they are like we're gonna be like okay guys in two weeks we have,
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we're gonna go play number four like it's not for us it's just like,
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whatever the next game we're trying to tackle the next game so it's not so big
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all rankings but do you focus on them does your team pay attention i know you
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guys are definitely up there so it's definitely a different perspective but.
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Yeah i I would say this year, especially we have been because I mean,
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last year we only got on the rankings once and we were 25 and then we dropped
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off of the rankings again.
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So I think, and like our side of the season was kind of iffy.
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I mean, we played North Carolina and Duke back to back last year and didn't
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win either of those games.
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So we have like a hard start, but I think because we've done so well in the
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start of this season, it's really made us have such a better expectation as
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we're going into conference play.
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I mean, obviously we don't want to think like, oh, we're better than these teams,
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but our ranking for SEC, like our preseason was ninth. And so we kind of took
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that like, are you serious? Like some of the teams in front of us,
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we went farther than in the tournament, but that doesn't matter, I guess.
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Once we go into conference, like we're going in with like the idea of,
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oh, we're not number nine, we're number one, you know?
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But our conference play is going to be hard. The SEC, like it switches who you're
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playing because it's such a big, I don't know exactly how it works,
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but we're playing like the other side this year.
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It's been a motivation for us, the rankings, if anything.
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Let's be real on individual and team performance. How did we perform?
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Well, we played two games this week.
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We played Troy and South Alabama, and we played both at home.
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My performance, I got a good amount of time in both games. Both games,
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I had a better second half, I would say. I think I've gotten...
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More confident in myself and
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like trying to find the ball more and be like because since I'm the six
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like you want to get the ball like you want to be the one that's kind of like
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the quarterback of your team because you're like you're the center
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center point we've been leaning more towards like finding each other first and
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then going long and using our our speed and our strengths but I think like I've
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been doing a better job of demanding and getting on that ball for us I think,
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I started at the sixth in the first game, so I definitely.
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Know what you're talking about when you're the quarterback of the team.
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You definitely control the tempo.
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I think for me, that's my type of game. I love to get on the ball.
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I'm very technical, so in tight spaces, my center backs, I think,
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feel comfortable playing me the ball.
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We did keep the ball way more than we have in the past four games that we played.
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So I definitely agree with you on that. I definitely got a lot of shots off,
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but I think I can work on slipping more. There's not as much chemistry.
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We're still getting there, but the chemistry part is kind of what's missing,
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I think, between our team.
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Is there any moment from either game that you wish you could replay and do something
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different? This past game that we played yesterday...
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Are one of our like keys. I played against this goalkeeper when I was little.
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Like she's so good. This goalkeeper's like, oh my gosh, she came from surf too. She's in 07.
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And our thing was like, shoot on the floor. Oh gosh, oh my gosh.
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Shoot out the goalkeeper. I dribbled the corner kick. Shoot out the goalkeeper.
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She deflects it. She blocks it.
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I get the second ball and I shoot and it's such a good like foot save.
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I was like, bro, any other keepers not saving that? Like genuinely, genuinely.
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So I probably would've just lifted it a little more, but she saves it with her
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foot. I was like, bro, have it.
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But anyways, yeah, so that was probably what I would fix or replay or redo. What about you?
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I have two. Both of them from last game.
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I hit such a good ball that it was at the top of the box. I got it back from
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my forwards, and I shot it through traffic, but I made it through.
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I just didn't rip the shot. I just, you know, you sometimes shoot it versus shooting it.
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The goalkeeper was good. She's on the Mackerman Trophy watch list.
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Okay, so she's in it. 13 saves we had so many we should have scored more but
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yeah I wish I would have ripped that shot and actually made it challenging on
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her and then my second moment it was,
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in the second half there was a girl on the left side like she broke past my
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outside back and so I was tracking back on defense and she took a long touch
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and I was like I need a slide tackle here,
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but I can't slide tackle on that leg so I just kept going and kept forcing her
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out but I just wish I could would have just tried and gone for the tackle because
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I would have ended the play earlier.
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What part of your game felt the strongest this week?
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Attacking. I got on the ball a lot. I was finding a lot of pockets like behind
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the lines and that's where I'm pretty good at and turning up. So what about you?
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Probably, I mean, my defense, like.
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Getting and ending things like ending tackles. I love two foot tackles.
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Like I don't know anyone else that does the tackles that I do.
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And it's kind of hard to explain. Like it's something you have to visualize.
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It sounds horrible. It sounds like I'm going in and Brexiting people.
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I swear. I don't jump up studs up.
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You basically like I have shorter legs because I'm obviously not like the tallest.
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And a lot of players that I play against have long legs.
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And when they take a touch that's longer and like it's in between us she's gonna
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get there first because she has longer legs than me so I just jump into the
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tackle instead of reaching my leg out
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but I killed two girls yesterday like I went in and I two-footed them and they
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went in and our knees clashed but obviously since mine was sturdy and hers wasn't
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like I could tell like she just bruised her knee right when I went on the tackle I was like oh damn,
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but I won the tackle so it didn't matter.
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Hey, Paige, what goals do you have for this next upcoming week?
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Being a little more vocal when I want the ball in the middle.
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Because there's a lot of times I'm in really good pockets of space.
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And I even ask my coach, Alyssa, right, who's going to be in the interview.
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I'm like, I feel like I'm in good pockets of space. And she's like,
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yeah, just keep asking for it. I feel like I don't ask enough and let them know,
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like, I'm there. What about you?
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One goal that I have, putting the ball in the net. I think I have probably one
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of the most shots on the team. and shots on frame on the team.
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Half of them are pretty good shots. Half of them are kind of like from range
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and kind of iffy. Those are the ones where I should be slipping.
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Honestly, just hitting the net. Like, it's coming. Like, I feel it.
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Like, I get the separation touch, and like, the shot's on. It's just like,
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bro, like half of them, like, how are you missing that? Like,
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it needs to be a little closer, needs to be a little bit like tighter,
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like needs to be on the floor, just a little bit more detail.
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But I guess on, I guess just finding the freaking backup in that.
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Now we're excited to bring on another special guest of the Big Life podcast.
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Our guest today is Alyssa Deloice. And Alyssa played D1 soccer at Mississippi State.
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And she was a midfielder and team captain. And after she played,
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she's still involved in the college game. And she's now coaching at my school
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as an assistant coach. Alyssa, thank you for being here.
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Thanks for having me, guys. All right, to start, can you walk us through how
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you ended up playing at Mississippi State and what it was like playing Division I soccer?
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Okay, so I actually originally committed to Texas Tech, so I spent my first
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year and a half at Tech before I went into the transfer portal and then transferred to Mississippi State.
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How I ended up there was kind of a crazy story, but I went into the portal and
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when I was driving back home from Lubbock, back to Dallas, I got a call from
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Nick Zimmerman, who at the time was the associate head coach at Mississippi State.
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And I think I was on the phone with him for probably almost the entire five-hour
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car drive back to Dallas.
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And it was just a normal conversation asking me about myself as a person and then talking to me about
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his philosophy and what they were doing at the time at Mississippi State with
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head coach James Armstrong and then the other assistant coach Brian Dunleavy.
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So it was just a nice conversation, something different.
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Felt like I was kind of missing that previously, but it was nice to have a little
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bit of separation of just being looked at as a soccer player and what you do on the field.
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It was a lot of a conversation about.
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Just a human being, which I really enjoyed. So got off the phone with him.
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And I think I was on the phone with James Nex, who again, at the time was the head coach there.
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He was out of town. He was actually in Disney World with his family.
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He was at the time, his daughter, Olivia, was a little bit younger.
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And he was like, I can't be there, but I need you to go on campus.
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So I went on an official visit. I met with Nick and Brian. And then after that,
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I had a couple more conversations, talked to some other coaches,
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and then I ended up feeling like Mississippi State was the best fit for me.
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Just, I guess, the most important thing for me after going through the original
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recruiting process when I was in high school to then going through it again
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after transferring, it was like, hey, what's my non-negotiable?
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What's the thing that's most important to me? And I think at that point in my
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career, I was like, I need open communication.
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I need to be able to talk freely with my coaches and my staff to let them know
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where I'm at, what I'm struggling with, what I think I'm doing really well at,
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like whatever it might be, I needed to just talk to them.
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And so I think about like my club coach. I still talk to my club coach all the time.
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And I was super close with him. And I felt like we could talk about anything
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if it came to technical, tactical, or if it was things off the field as well,
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it could bolster me as a human being and helped me develop in my.
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You know, career to then be able to become a D1 soccer player.
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And it's like, I kind of felt like I was, sometimes you miss that when you go
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to college. And it's like, okay, well, that relationship was so important to me.
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I don't want to be in a position where I'm willing to sacrifice that.
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So I was like, I have to go somewhere where I feel comfortable with the coaches
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and have a good relationship with them. And I definitely think that's 100% what I got.
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Nice. Yeah, I think like bringing up the club, the club talk,
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I think it's very relatable, like for the both of us, especially because we're
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still young and we still kind of, I still reminisce my club biz for sure.
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Talking about like when you were younger, did you always see Division I soccer
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as the goal? Did that become like what you want to do like over time as you
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kind of went through your soccer tournament?
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I think that was always the goal. I was obsessed with soccer.
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I still am, clearly. But I think the only thing that I wanted to do was soccer.
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And I always had, you know, striving for a goal in mind. I wanted to play professionally.
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I wanted to be on the national team. Like I had all those goals.
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And I thought that, you know, the best way to achieve those things and put myself
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in a better standing for that is playing at the highest level within college soccer as well.
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And like, what was like the biggest adjustment from going like from club soccer
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and like high school level, like to the division one level?
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I think so many recruits ask that too. And I think it's such,
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you know, a heavy question just because you can look at it from so many different angles.
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But I always like to say, like, the speed of play is the one thing that I,
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in my opinion, you can't really prepare for, just because it is a whole different
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beast when you go from playing like, yeah, when you play high school,
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you're playing with girls older than you.
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But a lot of the times, it's not the same level as what you'll experience even
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in club, let alone college. And then when you get to college,
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you could be playing with like 23 year old girls who've been in the system for
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four to five years. It's like they know what they're doing and you're fresh into it.
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So I would say like that learning curve of being able to know that it doesn't
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happen overnight and that you're OK with being patient and kind of.
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Getting yourself into it and it's going to be an adjustment is the biggest thing.
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So I think giving yourself a lot of grace. I don't think I did that at all.
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When I first entered as a freshman, I was so frustrated with different things
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of like, I know I can do that. So like, why is it not panning out for me right
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now in this moment? It's like, okay, well, it's not going to.
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And then I would say the other stuff is like learning how to balance everything.
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I think you do that to an extent when you're in high school because you're getting
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pulled in so many different ways, especially if you play high school club and
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like, let's say you are in national team pools and you're missing school,
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like you are a little bit accustomed to that.
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So I didn't think that was a crazy transition when I got into college.
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But I also think even though you train and maybe you lift and you run when you're
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in high school, it's not the same.
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It's not the same when you get to college. So I think it's also knowing your
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body and then using your resources. It's like, am I in pain or am I just sore?
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And then when you are in pain like making sure you help yourself and like talk
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about it and be open about it i think,
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when you're a competitive athlete which i think everybody at the d1 level is
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it's going to be a competitive athlete no one ever wants to miss a practice or workout or a game,
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so i think you kind of convince yourself sometimes when you're in pain that
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you're like oh it's just just soreness i think i did that,
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like i remember james using me as an example in practice because I had.
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Fractured a bone in my ankle but I didn't think it was like I didn't think it
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was a big deal like I didn't know I wasn't aware so I was like,
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I'll just keep playing because it's not that bad and I ran myself into the point
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where like I had to sit out for an extended period of time because I had like,
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actually just not spoken up about an injury that I could have maybe,
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prevented and I remember James sat in front of the whole team he was like everybody
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needs to know the difference between playing through pain and playing through
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soreness because he's like Alyssa played through what she thought was nothing
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and now she's out and I'm like.
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Okay. Well, I think that's the thing that, you know, when you come in as a freshman,
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you think that you have to prove yourself.
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I don't really think it's about proving yourself. Like you can gain the respect
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of your teammates and your coaches through so many different things,
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but you're at that university for a reason because the coaches saw you for who
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you are and brought you there for all of those reasons.
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So you don't need to prove yourself, but I think that's the mentality that freshmen
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have when they first come in is like, oh, I need to prove myself.
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So I can't miss a practice. I can't miss a lift. I can't miss a game because
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everybody's going to think that, you know, I can't handle it and I'm weak.
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And I'm like, that's not, that's not the case.
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So I'd say those coupling of things the way that you want to look at it are
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all important but if you can have a really good handle of that when you're entering
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into the college system I think it gives you a leg up yeah I think the the speed of play part that's,
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like coming from me reclass because I reclassed obviously to one year earlier
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like I should have been this one so I'm honestly thinking of this year as my
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true freshman season but knowing what you're talking about like it's such a
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different like breed in college like everything's so different,
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I would say like for both of us being midfielders.
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I are you the midfield coach for them or is it like you guys have like attacking
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is that how you guys is yeah
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so we do it differently we like to have our coaches look at all aspects of the
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game so we kind of switch it up depending on the season and what we're looking
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for but I mainly work with the midfielders especially with the holding meds just because that is
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the position I played and I have a really good yeah.
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Really good grasp on it But yeah, we look a lot at the, I'll look a lot at like
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the midfield movements and just like off ball, shielding,
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aerial play, anything that we need to interchange within our midfield, whatever it is.
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Yeah, I was going to ask, like, what did playing at that level,
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like, how does that help you, like, help the girls out? Because obviously you
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were in their shoes once. So how does that help you?
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I was going to say, I think it's different, right? Because when you go from
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playing, it's not the same, it's not the same view. So, like,
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a lot of the times, even with Paige, for example, like, I'll cut film for her
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and what I see from my perspective...
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I'm like, hey, do you think you could have, you know, played this forward pass
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instead of, you know, pivoting and playing to our weak side, outside, back?
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Do you think you could have, you know, gotten that into the attacking mid who was flaring out?
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Or, you know, could you have played that ball into a forward?
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And it's like, well, the gap that she saw in real time might have been a lot
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tighter than what I can see now back on film.
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So even with our technology, sometimes like what we ask of players after the
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fact, it's like, well, coach, I didn't see that at all because the gap was this big.
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And I'm like, OK, well, yeah, perfect, because I don't want you to play it through
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that gap if it was that big. I think it's difficult.
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On the positive side, it allows me to relate to them. And I can use what I learned
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from my previous coaches and what I learned from just watching the game as well
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to help apply those concepts to them.
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But I think the best teacher is them in the run of play. So I love like when
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we're playing games and when we're in practice and I get asked questions of
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like, hey, what did you see in this moment? And it's like, OK,
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well, what did you see in that moment?
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Because now we can learn from something based off the decision that you made
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rather than, hey, let's let's script it.
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You're going to pop into the pocket here and then I want you to turn with your
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back foot and I want you to play to the outside mid that's running wide.
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OK, like Wes says, Coach Hart says it all the time.
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It's like soccer is not black and white. And I feel like some at some points
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I did view soccer like that.
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I'm like you can make it black and white sure but that's not the point of it
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it's supposed to be creative and fun so I like it from the sense of it allows
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me to be way more interactive
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with the girls that I coach specifically for that midfield position because
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we can have a really lengthy conversation about it yeah no we definitely have a lot of conversations
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and I mean for me I I need to.
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Think more that the game is not black and white. Because a lot of times the
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questions I ask are like, what did I need to do in this moment exactly?
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And it's like, there's no answer. Well, you were also a captain at Mississippi
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State. Like, how did you go from obviously transferring in and then becoming
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a captain? How does the leadership role work, basically?
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I came in to Mississippi State when James, Nick, and Brian had been there for,
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it was probably about like eight months to like they had come in at different points in the spring.
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So James had been there for a full year when I had came in. I think Nick had
21:55
been in a whole time and maybe Brian was there for like eight months or something.
21:58
So it was only their second spring with the team when I first came in.
22:02
So obviously, as you know, when new head coaches come in, a lot of the times you inherit players.
22:07
And depending on how that coach wants to go about things, you're either,
22:10
you know, retaining those players or you're letting them go and trying to bring
22:12
kids through the transfer portal.
22:14
So with that, there was no roster cap at that point or anything.
22:18
So those coaches were bringing in a lot of transfers to help rebuild the program
22:22
from what it previously was.
22:24
So I was one of the players that they brought in for that first spring of their rebuild.
22:29
And I'm not going to lie, it was a really difficult transition because I was
22:34
coming from a program with Texas Tech that clearly has established great success.
22:39
And at that point when I was there, There had been several, I think there were
22:44
two back-to-back Sweet 16 runs coming from a really high-caliber program where.
22:50
This was the expectation with fitness.
22:51
This was the expectation with your technical ability. This is what you're learning
22:54
for tactics. It was like everything was very laid out and everybody had the same mindset.
23:00
And then when I came to Mississippi State, it was a little different because...
23:03
Of previous coaching, whatever it might have been. But I think we were all kind
23:06
of going in different directions.
23:08
So it was super hard because if you think about going into a D1 program,
23:11
you're hoping that everybody's going in the same direction. Unrealistic.
23:15
Let me tell you that it's unrealistic. But at the same time,
23:18
it's like I came in and I was like, you know, like, how, how is not,
23:23
how are we not passing the fitness test?
23:24
Like, how are we not going to classes? Like, I was like, just confused by it
23:29
because my personality, I feel like I am definitely a perfectionist.
23:33
So sometimes that did not help me when I obviously was playing.
23:36
But I was just like, dude, what are we doing?
23:39
So I think because I'm so competitive, I was like, OK, we're going to do something about this.
23:43
So I think I kind of walked myself into a little bit of a leadership role just
23:47
because I was so determined to help the program and to what we as players,
23:54
but especially our coaches, were trying to achieve.
23:56
So it was difficult just because I was the new girl.
23:59
And by no means was I trying to like insert myself into a role it's just kind
24:04
of those natural qualities and again I think anybody and everybody has the
24:09
ability to be a leader it's just the way that you lead and you don't always
24:12
have to be a captain with the armband or whatever to be a leader like I love it when
24:17
underclassmen are leaders on our team because it's like okay this is amazing
24:21
because now they're leaders as freshmen and sophomores like and then we get
24:24
to keep them for the next two to three years, and they're already leaders when
24:28
they're young, like it's only bolstering the program to be.
24:31
Better and to help shape younger girls that are coming in from now or older
24:36
girls who did it when they were freshmen.
24:38
So I think it makes a big difference. But I think the biggest thing was getting people on board.
24:43
I think a lot of my teammates at the time were like, you are so intense.
24:46
And I was like, yes, I know. But I am trying to achieve something and I want
24:51
to be a part of something bigger.
24:53
So it was a culmination over the next several years to get where we did,
24:59
which was, again, awesome.
25:01
I think it was just, it's okay to be like the person that comes in if you're
25:06
not, usually it's a lot of people, but I felt like sometimes I was the one and
25:10
people were like, okay, yeah, you're super intense. I'm like,
25:12
okay, well, are you going to do it or not?
25:13
Like, let's try to achieve something together. And I think although it was hard,
25:18
it was worth every second. And then, you know, every couple of weeks,
25:21
there's a new person stepping up and doing something different. So yeah.
25:25
It takes time, but everybody wanted to go in the right direction, too.
25:29
I definitely think, like, there's a lot of leadership on our team by actions.
25:33
When I go in the weight room, it's because I want to get stronger. I want to get better.
25:36
And I think other people have started to go along with that and be like,
25:40
okay, well, I don't have to keep benching this much. I can do more,
25:45
five more times each time.
25:47
When you come in, like, with that type of determination, I truly think it's contagious.
25:51
So if I see you doing all of these things, I'm like, okay, well, I want to be like Paige.
25:57
Like, I want to follow in the direction of Paige. I think if you can do that
26:01
as a freshman and sophomore, it's only making the program better.
26:03
And that's always my thought process. And I think that is what leadership is.
26:08
And that's where leadership stems from.
26:10
Okay, we're going to go transition into like coaching. So like after you were,
26:14
you're playing career, you chose obviously to stay in the game and like move into coaching.
26:19
What does that path look like? When did you first start thinking,
26:22
I want to coach after you're not playing?
26:23
Okay, so I have been coaching youth teams for quite some time.
26:28
So I started working with youth programs when I was in college.
26:33
And then I got really immersed in it when I was at Mississippi State.
26:36
We are all from big places that are huge like soccer hubs and you could close
26:42
your eyes and you could find you could point in any direction and find a club.
26:45
Some of these smaller college towns don't have those same resources that we
26:49
have, especially with our sport.
26:51
So it was one of the things that I was really passionate about because I think,
26:55
why can't these kids have an equal opportunity to be at the same level as the
26:59
kids in Texas, California, Florida, wherever it might be?
27:02
So I think that's what kind of got me into it is I love helping people,
27:08
but I wanted to use it through my sport.
27:11
And I think my biggest thing is I always wanted to just cultivate the love for
27:16
the sport. Really started getting involved with it when I was in college,
27:20
my sophomore, junior year.
27:21
I started coaching kids. And I think...
27:24
When I was doing that, it opened my eyes to some of these things get overlooked.
27:30
I think the technical level of the kids that I first started working with was
27:34
pretty low from what I know that I received when I was a kid playing soccer.
27:39
So I was like, OK, I'm really going to hone in on that and see if I can help
27:42
with the technical development of the kids in my area so that I can help them,
27:46
step into the next level.
27:47
And hopefully now when they're being introduced, these tactical things like
27:52
it's easier to apply those tactics because they have the technical ability to
27:55
be able to do those things. I definitely wanted to go play pro soccer.
27:58
But in my fifth year at Mississippi State, I tore all the ligaments of my ankle.
28:02
And I was like, there's just no way that after I had that surgery,
28:06
I was finishing my master's, didn't really have like the financial stability
28:10
to be like, oh, yes, I'm going to rehab my ankle and have no source of income
28:14
and find a way to go play pro.
28:16
I was like, I think it's time for me to kind of just separate into the next step of my career.
28:22
While I was finishing my master's at Mississippi State, I was a grad assistant
28:26
for our soccer program since I had exhausted my eligibility.
28:29
And so I was helping our program with a lot of like film breakdown, like return to play.
28:35
So anything I could help with with our staff, that's what I was doing.
28:38
So that's how I slid into the role that I was in at Mississippi State.
28:41
So, yeah, that's a culmination. I think that was a little long-winded of an
28:44
answer, but that's that.
28:47
What was the transition like from being a player who receives coaching to being
28:52
the coach who has to plan everything, communicate, and actually teach players stuff?
28:56
I was going to say, I'm not sure it was as difficult as maybe I imagined it
29:01
to be just because I had been coaching girls and being involved at ID camp.
29:06
So I did feel like I was already coaching.
29:08
I do think that transition, though, that you're talking about is difficult because,
29:13
again, like what I said earlier, like the way that you view the game while you're
29:16
playing on the field as a player is...
29:19
It's a little different from a coaching perspective because as a coach,
29:21
you have to, you know, you have to consider everything that you're trying to
29:24
accomplish. So it's not just like, you know, it's our build out through phases one through four.
29:29
And it's what philosophy we're trying to achieve. And it's the defensive positioning
29:34
on different parts of the field.
29:36
What are the center backs doing? What's the connection between the four?
29:38
It's like we're considering all of those things and looking at those things
29:42
in real time while you guys as players, I think a lot of the times are focusing
29:46
on your true roles and responsibilities.
29:48
In the position that you're playing, but then also trying to be creative and
29:53
make things happen that are not, like we said earlier, so black and white.
29:58
So it's definitely different.
30:00
I think it's more of a holistic view of everything versus maybe more individualistic
30:05
or you and your system partner.
30:07
Like I know the holding mid, like for Paige, like you have to have good relationships
30:11
and with the people around you in the midfield.
30:13
But you also have to be in consideration of, you know, your two center backs
30:16
and how you can help them with shielding forwards. But then also if we're inverting
30:20
an outside back, like how are you creating space for them?
30:22
I don't know. It's definitely different, but I think it all intertwines.
30:26
But it was a transition that was difficult because a lot of the times I was
30:30
thinking, OK, well, if I were doing this and it's like, OK, well,
30:33
maybe that's not the best way to coach.
30:36
OK, so me and Jaden both obviously went through like the recruiting process,
30:40
but we went through the player side of it.
30:42
And like I want to know personally, and I'm sure the audience does,
30:45
wants to know how it works from like the coach's perspective.
30:47
What are like the first things that you notice when you're evaluating a recruit?
30:51
So this is going to be the hardest part for recruiting. But when it comes to
30:55
recruiting, you think about those, you know, those big ECNL or GA events we
30:59
go to, or even, you know, we go do club visits, like we're seeing players and flashes.
31:05
So we're trying to see them multiple times over a course of,
31:10
you know, two, three years so that we're not judging a kid based off of like two flashes.
31:16
We have a compilation and we get a better idea of how they actually are as a
31:20
player. We recruit a lot from those events. And I think the biggest thing that
31:24
we might look for right off the bat is like, what's your monster quality?
31:27
What separates you from every other kid in your league that plays the exact same position?
31:33
What separates you from the other girls on your team? You're not going to have
31:36
your best game every single time a college coach is there.
31:38
So again, remember that it's just because that college coach showed up for that
31:41
one game doesn't mean that we're judging you only off of that one game.
31:44
Like we're trying to compile multiple games that we can watch our practices
31:48
together so that we can get a better picture of who you are.
31:50
Let's say you are a midfielder, like what are the qualities of a midfielder,
31:54
and do you do those things well?
31:56
And then how do you elevate yourself to be better than just the average midfielder?
32:00
When you watch them, like what separates a recruiting video from another that
32:04
may look good, but it doesn't tell you much about the player?
32:07
That's a good question. I always, we always like to talk about like repetitive communication.
32:10
A lot of recruits always ask like, what's too little of communication and what's too much?
32:14
And it's like, you know, there's no perfect answer for that.
32:17
It's just what you feel like you want to share with a college coach.
32:21
And if it's too much, then like, I'm not going to tell you it's too much because
32:25
it's showing your interest so
32:27
i would say like when it comes to a video you kind of want to have those same
32:31
things like if there's a way to highlight that monster quality like are you
32:35
awesome in the air like we want to see some clips of you winning balls in the
32:38
air even if it's defensive
32:40
or if it's getting on the end of corners or crosses and scoring goals like that's
32:44
massive in the college game as you guys know and then if you're super technical
32:48
player like show us that technical side.
32:51
It's like sometimes we get clips from players and it's like them in a college
32:55
or in a high school game and they score like 50 goals. And it's like, that's an awesome stat.
33:00
But who are the opponents that you're playing? Is that showcasing who you are
33:05
as a player when you're facing adversity? It's sometimes hard to judge like,
33:09
well, could you do that for us here?
33:12
We always say like short and sweet videos. We probably don't have,
33:15
you know, we have 80,000 emails in our inbox.
33:18
If you could give us highlight video, that's less than three minutes.
33:21
It's easier for us to be able to see, you know, you in those flashes and then
33:25
break them up for us. And then, OK, this is a kid that we're interested in.
33:28
So the other side of recruiting is like those college camps do matter.
33:32
Those camps do help us identify players at a younger age that we then track through ECNL or GA.
33:40
Or if they're not in those two leagues through their league,
33:43
like it helps us identify those players to be like, OK, this kid performed really
33:46
well at camp. we need to make sure that the next event that we see her play.
33:50
I don't think I utilize camps enough. I think I went to one. Well, it's hard.
33:53
Everything's changed, right? So I even think about my recruiting process from,
33:58
even y'all's recruiting process. When I was getting recruited,
34:00
there were absolutely no rules. I committed when I was a freshman.
34:05
Going into my freshman year of high school is when I committed.
34:08
So I didn't go to any ID camps. I went to.
34:11
The ID camp of the school that I committed to. It kind of takes away some of
34:14
the things that maybe you're supposed to, you know, experience as freshmen.
34:17
Going off of that, what are some like questions that players and families should
34:20
be asking college coaches before they go and are like committing?
34:24
So once they're in that phase where they can talk?
34:26
I think it's more about understanding and figuring out if it's the best fit for you.
34:32
So like, what are your non-negotiables and what questions can you ask to see
34:37
if that university and that program can provide you with those things.
34:42
Everybody always asks about team culture.
34:45
And I think that's hard because like what coach would say that their culture
34:49
sucks, right? Like no coach would say that.
34:52
In most places that you go as a coach, you hope your culture is really good.
34:55
But I think it's important to talk to the players on the team if there's a way
35:00
to get connected. Like talk to the people who are actually experiencing it rather
35:04
than a coach that's like, well, yeah, it's great.
35:06
Talk to the people that are in the system and are dealing with those things
35:09
day in and day out, not just a college coach, because it's like,
35:12
well, we're not going to say something.
35:13
No coach is going to be like, yeah, something bad about your program.
35:16
Like you're not going to say something bad about your program.
35:18
Okay, Alyssa, thank you so much for sharing your story with us and giving us
35:21
an honest look at what division soccer was like for you and as well as recruiting
35:26
and what it was like to transition back into coaching.
35:28
We really appreciate you taking the time to give people behind the scenes look
35:33
at things that they might always see. And thank you again.
35:37
Thanks for having me, guys. I was so excited to be on here and chat with you guys.
35:41
Thank you guys so much for listening to this week's Big Life episode.
35:44
Make sure to follow Girls Soccer Network on Instagram for more content.
35:47
And you can find me on TikTok and Instagram at PaigeThompson underscore 30.
35:52
And you guys can Follow me at jaydenrodriguez.7 on Instagram.
35:55
Make sure you guys stay tuned for our weekly episodes regarding everything college
35:59
soccer. And we'll see you guys next week. Woo!