Latest / I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth / I Hate Soccer #121- Sean Palacios, what makes Chicago a strong soccer city?

Transcript

I Hate Soccer #121- Sean Palacios, what makes Chicago a strong soccer city? · I Hate Soccer with Jason Collinsworth

0:00
SPEAKER_02: Chump Place just is an assistant at Loyola University in Chicago.
0:05
SPEAKER_02: And I caught up with him a few weeks ago when they were in town for an exhibition against the University of Michigan.
0:13
SPEAKER_02: He's also been a staff member at FC United for 19 years.
0:19
SPEAKER_02: And he was basically on the very first FC United team as a player.
0:24
SPEAKER_02: So we get into uh you soccer.
0:28
SPEAKER_02: We talk probably more about FC United in Chicago, but for the most part, it's all about soccer.
0:36
SPEAKER_02: Uh soccer conversation about his coaching development and player development.
0:41
SPEAKER_02: And we've talked about the girl side and the boys' side, obviously.
0:46
SPEAKER_02: We had a good time.
0:47
SPEAKER_02: Uh he was kind enough to let me come to the to the team hotel the morning of the game, and it was a great and it was a great conversation.
0:55
SPEAKER_02: I am sitting just over 4,950 subscribers.
1:02
SPEAKER_02: If all goes well, I might hit our goal of 5,000 subscribers this week.
1:09
SPEAKER_02: And I can't thank you all enough.
1:12
SPEAKER_02: Um, my goal was to get to 5k by Christmas, and we're probably gonna hit that at some point in September.
1:20
SPEAKER_02: So I just again just thank you guys all so much.
1:24
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1:28
SPEAKER_02: 70% of you that are gonna watch this episode are not subscribed.
1:33
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1:34
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1:42
SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much.
1:43
SPEAKER_02: Enjoy this episode with Sean.
1:45
SPEAKER_02: I hate soccer.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: Two kids, like we know probably 13 coaches amongst each other who we all work with.
1:51
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: How long have you been with Loyola?
1:54
SPEAKER_01: So our head coach was hired.
1:57
SPEAKER_02: Throw those on uh throw those on and we'll just like I'm gonna start recorded and then uh I mean it's just a conversation.
2:02
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, absolutely.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, our head coach was hired right before Christmas.
2:09
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: Oh, really?
2:11
SPEAKER_01: It's really loud in here.
2:12
SPEAKER_01: Is that okay?
2:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
2:14
SPEAKER_02: I mean, in the edit, it's uh everything goes away.
2:18
SPEAKER_02: Okay, and all the background.
2:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so our head coach was hired right before Christmas a year ago.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: So I've known him for over a decade.
2:25
SPEAKER_01: John Sandoval.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: So right when he got hired, he and I just talked about what I could do in what kind of capacity, and so we figured it all out.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: So we we have had one full fall together, yep.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, two springs together, and this is gonna be our second ball season together.
2:42
SPEAKER_02: How'd you guys do in the fall last year?
2:43
SPEAKER_01: Uh we did well.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm probably probably mistaken the the record by a little bit, but I believe it was nine wins, five losses, six ties.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: And and we play a competitive schedule.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: I mean we we play, we're here, right?
2:57
SPEAKER_01: We're playing Michigan.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: We play every year, it looks like probably three to four power four or five schools.
3:03
SPEAKER_01: So last year we played Purdue.
3:05
SPEAKER_01: We played what are you guys saying?
3:08
SPEAKER_01: Iowa, we're in the A10.
3:09
SPEAKER_02: A ten, yeah, that's what I thought.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: So uh being centrally located in Chicago, every it's so easy to play everybody.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
3:16
SPEAKER_01: Your drive away to Wisconsin.
3:17
SPEAKER_02: Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Iowa, everything.
3:20
SPEAKER_01: 100%.
3:21
SPEAKER_01: So that's awesome, right?
3:22
SPEAKER_01: Because our players want to play the best possible teams, right?
3:25
SPEAKER_01: So um, so we're excited.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we're here to play Michigan, and then we kick off Wednesday against CMU.
3:31
SPEAKER_01: Um, wait, we kick off Wednesday.
3:34
SPEAKER_02: That's your first like official game in today's an exhibition.
3:36
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.
3:37
SPEAKER_01: Air quotes or whatever, and then we'll go uh right into it.
3:40
SPEAKER_01: We'll play Iowa, we'll play Michigan State right into it.
3:43
SPEAKER_02: You're you guys go back and then go to Western or Central, right?
3:48
SPEAKER_01: They come to us this year.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: Oh, they're go to you.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: Got it.
3:51
SPEAKER_01: So we go back and then we'll kick off Wednesday, which is the first contest date uh to play Central Michigan.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
3:57
SPEAKER_02: Got it.
3:58
SPEAKER_02: Who you guys just make your schedule.
4:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and you guys will make it, yeah.
4:02
SPEAKER_02: And you just try to get anybody in everywhere, yeah.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: Just a good balance, right?
4:06
SPEAKER_01: Like the goal is to get ready for conference.
4:08
SPEAKER_02: So are you guys just playing like a normal like game today?
4:10
SPEAKER_02: Like 45-45?
4:11
SPEAKER_01: The second game is usually the dress rehearsal, right?
4:14
SPEAKER_01: So we'll play the sub rules every what'd you guys do the first game?
4:17
SPEAKER_01: We play three 30-minute periods, yeah.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: And which is needed, right?
4:21
SPEAKER_01: Like you gotta acclimate the players to what the game's gonna be like.
4:24
SPEAKER_01: There, none of nobody's ready to go full 45 minutes right away.
4:28
SPEAKER_02: Where are most of your girls from?
4:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the Midwest.
4:31
SPEAKER_02: I mean Yeah, I mean, you uh because like Chicago, you get all the Michigan kids, you can get you could get obviously all the Illinois kids, but then you can hit like Missouri and like St.
4:41
SPEAKER_02: Louis and those kids too.
4:42
SPEAKER_01: I mean, being central centrally located is such uh awesome you know recruiting avenue.
4:50
SPEAKER_02: Which what's your role like day to day at the school?
4:53
SPEAKER_01: Day to day.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: Um it depends on the day, obviously, but you know, training is something that I'm big heavily involved in.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, obviously, my background in club soccer, you're you're running 400 training sessions a year, right?
5:06
SPEAKER_01: So training the group, but you know, obviously, like my role is you know, we're c we collaborate a ton, right?
5:11
SPEAKER_01: There's four of us, which is such an advantage to have a big stat.
5:14
SPEAKER_01: Right.
5:15
SPEAKER_01: Right.
5:15
SPEAKER_01: I always say, like, I'm not sure how everybody does it with just two coaches.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: Um, because there's no there's 28 players, there's different departments of the game, right?
5:23
SPEAKER_01: Like so uh training, I play uh a pretty big role in there, and then obviously again assisting wherever I can, right?
5:29
SPEAKER_01: Giving feedback, you know, lineup ideas, suggestions, all that.
5:33
SPEAKER_02: Right.
5:33
SPEAKER_02: And then how long have you been at FC United?
5:35
SPEAKER_01: I think I'm starting year 19.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: 19, yeah.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: Has it always been called FC United?
5:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh, so it's a really young club.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: Like we started in 2003.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: So a funny story that I tell all the new coaches that come in.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: I was actually on the first ever FC United team in 2003.
5:53
SPEAKER_02: You were on it.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
5:55
SPEAKER_01: So when I was a junior in high school, our community club, which was called Trevian Soccer Club, okay, they said if we don't grow and do something different, we're gonna drown.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: We're not attracting players from different zip codes.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: So our community club in 2003 said we're gonna start FC United.
6:11
SPEAKER_01: And the whole goal of that was to bring players from different zip codes to play.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I was actually on the first ever team, and then right out of college, was just so lucky to jump on as a coach and just be a sponge.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
6:26
SPEAKER_01: Like my first year coaching, our entire coaching staff on the women's side was all college coaches.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: So I would spend, I run my session that ended maybe at seven o'clock, and I would be on the training field till 1030 with a notepad, just like writing down sessions like and and then it turned into this.
6:46
SPEAKER_01: It turned into what we are now, what a lot of clubs are, right?
6:49
SPEAKER_01: The platforms and all of that.
6:51
SPEAKER_01: So it's super cool to see how it's grown into what it is today.
6:54
SPEAKER_02: Has Luzzi always been there?
6:56
SPEAKER_01: No, this is probably Luzzi's fifth year, fifth year at FC United?
7:00
SPEAKER_01: Maybe even fourth year, yeah.
7:01
SPEAKER_02: Okay, I used to coach uh Michigan ODP back when it mattered, and then uh and he was a big region two, yeah.
7:08
SPEAKER_02: He was region two goalkeeping guy, and uh him and uh Cardosi.
7:14
SPEAKER_02: And I would always just like I was in awe of them, like those guys, and then Stan Anderson.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so Stan is I joke around with him all the time.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: He's like my de facto assistant coach.
7:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I have a big game, like I want Stan there.
7:27
SPEAKER_02: Are you on the MLS next side?
7:28
SPEAKER_01: I'm on the GA side.
7:30
SPEAKER_02: So you are on the girl side, that makes sense because that helps you recruit, I'm sure.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, just knowing the players in the GA.
7:36
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, look, recruiting's hard.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's so many.
7:39
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you talk to coaches, there's a game every hour if you want.
7:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, so knowing where to go, just having a head start on knowing the players that are coming up is a huge help.
7:48
SPEAKER_02: What are the GA clubs in Chicago?
7:50
SPEAKER_01: So we are uh obviously ourselves, Galaxy.
7:54
SPEAKER_01: Where did Galaxy come from?
7:55
SPEAKER_01: You know, Galaxy is a great club.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they uh it's funny because Chicago, people ask me all the time, like what's Chicago like?
8:02
SPEAKER_01: And I and I say all the time it's fun.
8:04
SPEAKER_01: It's fun.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: You are in a game every weekend where you are getting tested.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: Um the talent in Chicago is there's enough.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: There's enough to go around, which is also what makes it fun.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, Galaxy is a great club.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: They're out of Naperville, Illinois, and they've done a great job in USYS.
8:20
SPEAKER_01: And then now that they're in the GA, I think they've been in the GA for maybe four or five years.
8:24
SPEAKER_01: They've done a great job with them all.
8:27
SPEAKER_02: Is it more do you think it's more of a girls' city or a boys' city, or is it equal?
8:33
SPEAKER_01: It's equal.
8:33
SPEAKER_01: I mean, look at the history of Chicago, right?
8:36
SPEAKER_01: Like when I grew up, I played magic.
8:38
SPEAKER_01: I played against Brad Guzan in high school.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: Right?
8:41
SPEAKER_01: Like, yeah, I'm I'm dating myself a little bit, but Ned Grabbleboy was one of the best players to ever come out of Chicago.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: Right?
8:47
SPEAKER_01: Michael Bradley, Chris Shuler.
8:50
SPEAKER_02: Oh, Michael Bradley's like one of my like favorite players of all time.
8:53
SPEAKER_01: When they say like, like, you know, you ask guys or girls, I I think it's so so loaded on both sides.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: I think we played at Loyola, we played last year.
9:01
SPEAKER_01: After after game number five, we identified a kid on the opposing team that was from Chicago that was just dynamite in five straight games.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:09
SPEAKER_01: So there's there's just there's so much talent.
9:12
SPEAKER_02: Is the eclipse what it used to be?
9:14
SPEAKER_02: In terms of I mean, okay, so the list of top girls' clubs came out uh for ECNO.
9:22
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
9:23
SPEAKER_02: And Eclipse isn't on there.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: Really interesting.
9:26
SPEAKER_02: Eclipse used to be like the top with like Michigan Hawks.
9:30
SPEAKER_02: It's like Slammers one, Hawks two, uh even Nationals is in there at like number 24 from Michigan.
9:38
SPEAKER_02: But there was no there was no eclipse, I don't think.
9:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but I'm not sure.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: I haven't seen that list or how they came about it, but I mean, to us again, like I think every club in Chicago has talent.
9:47
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think their 09s did very well two years ago in the national playoffs.
9:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: Um there isn't a club in Chicago that doesn't have strong teams that's in a GA or an ECM.
9:59
SPEAKER_02: How do you guys all get along?
10:00
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a great question.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: I mean, um, I think as I've gotten older, I think I get along with everybody because at the end of the day, I'm wearing a couple hats.
10:07
SPEAKER_02: Especially as a college coach, like you have to like get along and be able to talk to people.
10:12
SPEAKER_01: And I also, as like I said, as I've gotten older, like if I want to be better with my club or my recruiting, um, my relationships matter.
10:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: Right.
10:21
SPEAKER_01: But also, like, if the game wants to grow, you're probably gonna need that club 40 miles away to help you grow a little bit.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: So I'll give you a perfect example.
10:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, there was this probably a time when the GA and the ECNL were just starting, yeah, where nobody wanted to play each other.
10:36
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, because you're worried about losing players and you don't 100%.
10:41
SPEAKER_01: And now, um, to make it better for families, you should be playing the people that are closest to you.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
10:47
SPEAKER_01: Because we all know how much travel goes into youth soccer now.
10:50
SPEAKER_02: That's what I love about like the Jags and like Dougie and them.
10:53
SPEAKER_02: It it's like, and that's why I moved back to Michigan, is because it's just different here where the one weekend the Hawks will have a college showcase, and it's all Michigan clubs coming in to play them.
11:05
SPEAKER_02: And then the following week it'll be Jags showcase, and a team dropped out because of the weather, and the Hawks just came in like that.
11:14
SPEAKER_02: It was easy, and it's because everybody talks to each other, and then the kids benefit the most from that.
11:19
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, and and they're not just relying on showcases in Florida and stuff, they're they have one here.
11:25
SPEAKER_02: And were you guys here?
11:27
SPEAKER_02: We were here, yeah.
11:27
SPEAKER_02: Our girls' teams were here, yeah.
11:28
SPEAKER_02: FC United was here?
11:30
SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
11:30
SPEAKER_02: What about uh were you recruiting at all?
11:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, our staff was here as well.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so uh we run at Chicago FC United, we we run a girls' showcase at the end of February.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: Okay, and this past year we brought in Galaxy.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: And and and the the amount of compliments we got from the coaches that were there, um, not only were they able to see 90 FC United girls players, yeah, but then where they were also able to see 36 Galaxy players.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: Do you guys have your own facility?
11:56
SPEAKER_01: We do.
11:56
SPEAKER_01: We uh as of a two years ago, we have our own indoor facility, which is um essentially a 10v10 field with no walls.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
12:05
SPEAKER_01: Um puts all four, it's weight room, conference room.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh now we can call it now we can.
12:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we have a separate building with our offices.
12:13
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: Um and that that complex has uh 6v6 small-sided field.
12:18
SPEAKER_02: Do you guys have to rely on renting it out to make it viable?
12:21
SPEAKER_01: So we own both of them now.
12:23
SPEAKER_02: You just own them and they're only for FC United purpose?
12:26
SPEAKER_01: They're for FC United and any club that we have an affiliation with.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh so that that that might even extend all the way to like a lacrosse club, say field hockey club.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: So uh that's how we are able to have our own home.
12:40
SPEAKER_02: Are you like affiliated affiliated with them?
12:42
SPEAKER_02: Like yeah, we're all called FC United?
12:44
SPEAKER_01: No, they're called different brands, but we're all under the same umbrella.
12:48
SPEAKER_02: Is it is that all owned by Three Steph?
12:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, or is it okay?
12:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I met the three-step guys at uh MLS Next Fest.
12:56
SPEAKER_02: Or some of them, not all of them, but can like I was trying to like talk about this last night.
13:04
SPEAKER_02: It was some people that I was with.
13:08
SPEAKER_02: How does three-step help you?
13:14
SPEAKER_02: Like in terms of like if you're tight on money, they like kind of like pitch in and help you like run and then you just pay them back.
13:22
SPEAKER_02: Is that how it works?
13:23
SPEAKER_02: I don't know how private equity works at all.
13:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, I'm lucky because I get to handle the soccer side, yeah.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: So like really, like I don't, you know, people asked director of the deal with that craft.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: People all the time ask, like, how does it impact the player or how does it impact the club?
13:38
SPEAKER_01: And I say it probably impacts the player in a way that the player is not noticing.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna give you the best example.
13:45
SPEAKER_01: Well, the facility facility.
13:46
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
13:47
SPEAKER_01: We could not do that on our own.
13:49
SPEAKER_01: No, I mean you we can't between you and I, we can't name 10 clubs that have their own indoor facility that own it, they all rent it.
13:57
SPEAKER_02: People don't realize how expensive it is.
13:59
SPEAKER_02: I had a five-aside facility and it's astronomical, it's beyond astronomical, right?
14:05
SPEAKER_02: And you're talking uh uh a 10 V10 field and offices and all that stuff, like a fitness facility.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: It's like so when that argument comes up about the West Coast player and the Midwest player and why they're so far ahead.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: God, well, that indoor facility, it's not gonna solve the problem, but it's gonna at least help them stay relevant in the conversation, right?
14:24
SPEAKER_02: Where they get to train outside every single freaking day.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: A hundred percent.
14:27
SPEAKER_01: So, like it's funny because you go through these cycles now.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: I mean, all the Jags, ourselves, nationals, we all have dealt with it, right?
14:34
SPEAKER_01: Where we we are training in December to go play outdoors.
14:37
SPEAKER_01: Imagine 10 years ago, 10 years ago trying to do it in a 5v5 field.
14:42
SPEAKER_02: And and that's basically what you get for training.
14:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, is a five field because you have to make it economically viable if you are renting the space, you have to split it up into six.
14:58
SPEAKER_02: You put six teams on a field and people get like complain.
15:02
SPEAKER_02: It's like it's a thousand dollars an hour to rent an 11v11 field here right now.
15:09
SPEAKER_02: A thousand dollars.
15:10
SPEAKER_02: OU.
15:11
SPEAKER_02: OU OakLAN University.
15:13
SPEAKER_02: That's what they charge.
15:14
SPEAKER_01: Their bubble?
15:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: So when you when the question comes up, how does Frep help us?
15:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, that's our home.
15:21
SPEAKER_01: And and we get to maneuver the space how we need it to.
15:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's been a game changer for us just because the winters now are um again, let's think about the player.
15:32
SPEAKER_01: They're the training hours are appropriate, yeah, for parents and players.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: Um, you're not sharing a field with a different club, and again, like it's all about the player experience, and that's where it's helped us the most.
15:44
SPEAKER_02: Not totally worried about getting kicked off the field.
15:48
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
15:48
SPEAKER_02: Like, uh, if we're gonna go 10 minutes over, we're gonna go 10 minutes over, and then it's our space.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
15:53
SPEAKER_01: It's our space.
15:54
SPEAKER_01: So that that's been awesome.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: And like I said, I'm lucky enough that I I really focus on how to help our club get better, how to offer more soccer to our players that that helps them improve.
16:05
SPEAKER_01: Um and I think that's like refreshing to me.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: How many yeah, because even if PE comes into youth soccer like it is, um, I still get to focus on the soccer aspect.
16:17
SPEAKER_02: Like I've changed changing because of talking to people like you that I that have some private equity backers or whatnot, or however you say it.
16:28
SPEAKER_02: And it's like, oh, I want PE out of soccer, but then it's like people don't realize how expensive the buildings are.
16:37
SPEAKER_02: And everybody thinks that clubs are sitting on millions and millions of dollars.
16:42
SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, they're not.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: People and feels that's what costs a lot of money to run use force.
16:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: Um, you want great coaches who are licensed, who are gonna give every ounce of energy to their player, that they probably need to be full-time coaches.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: And then people crap on that.
16:59
SPEAKER_02: Like, oh, you know, like why are why are they making X amount of dollars?
17:07
SPEAKER_02: It's like okay, you've been at SC United from the ground up, from the start.
17:15
SPEAKER_02: You should make whatever you can because you helped to build it.
17:19
SPEAKER_02: Like people get upset when ex when an executive director makes like$200,000.
17:24
SPEAKER_02: It's like, wait a minute.
17:26
SPEAKER_02: He took over the club when there were 17 teams.
17:29
SPEAKER_02: There's now 18 branches, or uh there's 4,000 kids statewide.
17:34
SPEAKER_02: It's like he kind of earned that money.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I just I mean, I agree.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I think about just I think it's there's such a sense of pride for any person who's been with the club for a long time and helped them get to where they are.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: Because if you look at you soccer now, um, you know, we were one of the first clubs in the DA on the girls' side.
17:56
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the the feeling, yeah, the feeling when we got the call.
17:59
SPEAKER_01: Was that like 2013?
18:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, something something around there.
18:03
SPEAKER_01: The feeling when we got that call.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: We were one of two clubs in Illinois to be get to given access into the DA.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, my point is anybody who has one of those platforms now, they've done a heck of a job.
18:15
SPEAKER_02: I yeah, RNY, when they got it, well, it was Empire at the time in in New York, they had like a team meeting and then like they announced it and everybody was up in like an uproar.
18:26
SPEAKER_02: It was like cheers because it was a platform to it was a high level.
18:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and what do you think is uh how I mean the the girls da versus what it now is the G A, what's the big difference?
18:45
SPEAKER_01: Probably the size number one, but I think it's it's growing a lot faster than the DA was growing.
18:50
SPEAKER_02: Somebody told me that the GA is bigger than the uh ECNL.
18:53
SPEAKER_02: They have more clubs.
18:54
SPEAKER_01: It could be, it could be, um which is wild.
18:57
SPEAKER_01: It's wild, but I mean if you think about the purpose of it, like geographically it's helping parents, right?
19:03
SPEAKER_01: There's more clubs, which means less travel.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then at the end of the day, like the main goal of all these platforms should be to provide opportunities for young women.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if there are more young women getting opportunities, um, I always say this like, let's let's make youth sports real.
19:17
SPEAKER_01: Are all these players gonna be professionals?
19:19
SPEAKER_01: No, but they're all gonna go on to be hopefully college student athletes, hopefully, which is we all know gonna help them in the real world when they're going through job interviews.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: So if we are helping that many young women prepare for the real world, uh this is this is doing the right thing now.
19:35
SPEAKER_02: Right.
19:37
SPEAKER_02: How many teams are how many teams are you coaching at FC United?
19:41
SPEAKER_01: So I typically coach anywhere from three to four.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh and uh and I love Are you guys full year?
19:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh we are not.
19:48
SPEAKER_01: The Girls Academy, we're a high school friend.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: Uh we used to run a 10-month program in the Girls' Academy.
19:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
19:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, but then what ended up happening was um Illinois is such a big high school soccer scene.
20:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, so we we wanted to make sure our players could experience that.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: As opposed to, I don't believe what we were doing was wrong.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: We used to be a club that would give them the option.
20:11
SPEAKER_01: If you wanted to play high school soccer, then you played in our USYS system.
20:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: USYS system over the past 10 years probably has 12 state championships.
20:20
SPEAKER_01: Right.
20:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, so we've had players play in USYS and they're playing at Boston University, Baylor, Marquette.
20:27
SPEAKER_01: Um, so we I think our bread and butter used to be the optionality that we give our families.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: You decide high school soccer, because not everybody has that great high school soccer experience.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: No.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but at the end of the day, predominantly in our area, most did.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: So we now go to an August to February model.
20:43
SPEAKER_02: Where in Chicago are you guys located?
20:45
SPEAKER_01: So we're located um in Glenview, Illinois, which is about 35.
20:48
SPEAKER_02: This is FC United.
20:49
SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, yeah.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: It's about 35 minutes north of Chicago.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and we have about a 50 mile radius of where players come from.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: On our MLS side, uh, we've got players from Wisconsin playing for us.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, so we are uh, you know, about 1,800 players strong.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's all one location.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh we have different hubs, right, in terms of fields, but right we're not a club that has like a south, a west, the east.
21:14
SPEAKER_01: We are all in that glen.
21:16
SPEAKER_02: You have 1,800 kids at one.
21:18
SPEAKER_01: That's including our youth as well, our academies.
21:22
SPEAKER_02: What do you think that's broken down to boys versus girls?
21:25
SPEAKER_02: You think you're bigger on the boys?
21:27
SPEAKER_01: A little bit bigger on the boys side, yeah.
21:28
SPEAKER_01: A little bit.
21:29
SPEAKER_02: Just a little bit?
21:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would say probably like three teams more on the boys' side than we are on the girls' side.
21:34
SPEAKER_02: What's your is one of your like goals on the boys side is to get guys into like the Chicago Fire?
21:41
SPEAKER_01: A hundred percent.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: A hundred percent.
21:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:43
SPEAKER_01: I mean, that's the goal, right?
21:44
SPEAKER_01: That's the goal of our players.
21:46
SPEAKER_01: They want to be pros.
21:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's again cool to see where it's come now because ten, fifteen years ago, if you asked our academy level players how many of them wanted to be pros, and maybe eight or nine would.
21:57
SPEAKER_01: Now everybody on that roster wants to be a prize.
21:59
SPEAKER_01: Uh And to be honest, it's it's like them a girl said now, which is super cool.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: That is cool.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: You see the growth of women's soccer when you when you take a young girl and she's nine or ten and her aspirations are to be a pro, that is a realistic, and b, it's it's super cool to see.
22:16
SPEAKER_02: Do you think the NWSL is gonna like have academies?
22:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a hundred percent.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: I think they're they're getting ready for it.
22:22
SPEAKER_01: And I think you can tell when you see all of them have their youth combines.
22:26
SPEAKER_02: Right, like especially like Kansas Lee Current, yeah.
22:28
SPEAKER_02: They're gonna set the standard.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: Everybody is growing their scouting department, which is the you can't have a youth academy without a scouting department.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, so from behind the scenes, I believe NWSL is getting their scouting departments in order.
22:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and they're probably, if everything goes well, probably two to three years away from that.
22:44
SPEAKER_02: What's the Red Stars like capacity or like role in the youth soccer scene there?
22:50
SPEAKER_01: I think they're starting to get their feet in the water there.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: Um there was a change in ownership, and they're now called the stars, right?
22:57
SPEAKER_02: Um, they're not the red stars in them?
22:59
SPEAKER_01: No, they're the stars now.
23:00
SPEAKER_01: So there's a change in ownership there right now.
23:03
SPEAKER_01: You know, I think you know they're playing at Northwestern.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: So they're trying to get their home ground set.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, I know they just did lock in a place in the suburbs to call home.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I think they're about to get their foot in the youth sports uh space because they need to they need to start getting their database ready to have a youth academy as well.
23:22
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
23:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I don't have any inside information.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: I would say I think all NW cell teams are getting ready for it.
23:27
SPEAKER_02: The only one that really that I know of that does something is Gotham.
23:32
SPEAKER_02: There's a couple flash uh Western Europe flash girls that would go and do their combine and stuff like that, like their youth stuff.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: We've seen um we've seen some youth players in Chicago go train with the stars.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, we've seen some college players, we've had a couple of kids at Loyola go and train with the stars as well.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: What's the player movement like in Chicago?
23:52
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, how much time you got?
23:55
SPEAKER_02: I mean, because like uh talking to people in Texas and stuff, it's like it's literally the wild, wild west.
24:01
SPEAKER_02: It's like you can you could be 12 years old and have already played for five clubs.
24:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, is it like that in Chicago?
24:09
SPEAKER_01: It's getting there.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: It's getting there.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: Like as soon as somebody's unhappy, they just go somewhere else.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, look, at the end of the day, there's just options, right?
24:15
SPEAKER_02: Which um Do you think that's a good thing or a bad thing?
24:17
SPEAKER_01: Look, I think it's a great thing, to be honest.
24:19
SPEAKER_01: I think uh why shouldn't we, as a youth soccer game, like why shouldn't we provide options for young players?
24:26
SPEAKER_01: Right.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: Um the competitor competitor in me loves it because at the end of the day, when you get in between the white lines, uh you're you're gonna be evaluated.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: How does your team play?
24:36
SPEAKER_01: How does your team train?
24:37
SPEAKER_01: How does your team perform?
24:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, and if we're trying to get players ready for the college level, um, that's actually what gets them ready.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: Right.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: Right.
24:46
SPEAKER_01: I think right now, men, women, youth, boys, girls, like we are missing that gap of preparing them for the next level.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: We're making it a little too easy.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: Nothing they do in youth sports right now is getting them ready for college in terms of like how competitive it is, earning playing time, not playing every minute of every game.
25:04
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: That's what the college and pro level actually is.
25:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
25:08
SPEAKER_01: So how do we start shrinking the gap?
25:10
SPEAKER_01: I don't think like player movement is one of them, but I think it is helping them get ready.
25:15
SPEAKER_02: Right.
25:16
SPEAKER_02: Because think about like, and maybe some of the girls at Loyola are like that.
25:20
SPEAKER_02: It's like it's like a wake-up haul because they're coming from a club environment where they're the stud.
25:25
SPEAKER_02: They're probably the best player on their club team.
25:28
SPEAKER_02: And they were played high school.
25:30
SPEAKER_02: Uh they are the best player on their club.
25:32
SPEAKER_02: And then they come in expecting playing time and everything.
25:37
SPEAKER_02: It's like, uh, this girl has been here for four years, and she's captain, and she scores she scored 30 goals in her career.
25:46
SPEAKER_02: It's like it's kind of like a wake-up call.
25:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I and I think uh it's funny because uh yesterday we had a panel of our FC United committed girls speaking to the younger players in our club.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
25:59
SPEAKER_01: And um, it was awesome.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, you you see girls.
26:02
SPEAKER_01: Did you guys record it?
26:03
SPEAKER_01: We didn't, um, but but we have we have some some clips of it.
26:07
SPEAKER_01: But the reality is some of these girls have been with us six, seven, eight years, you know, telling their story of how they got recruited.
26:15
SPEAKER_01: And the biggest thing we asked them was if you can give the U14s, 13s one piece of advice, what would you give them?
26:22
SPEAKER_01: But to your point, um, now these players actually do know that they're not going to step into a college team and be the best.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: It's our job to help them prepare for that, though.
26:31
SPEAKER_02: Exactly.
26:32
SPEAKER_01: Because it's not enough just to know.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: Like, we're all human.
26:34
SPEAKER_01: Like, what are you going to actually go through when you fail the fitness test or when you have a bad 12-minute shift and you don't see the field for another two games?
26:45
SPEAKER_01: Right.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: Hard to replicate that in in you soccer, right?
26:49
SPEAKER_01: Because your 18 players are your 18.
26:51
SPEAKER_01: But I do believe the next step is we as coaches and clubs have to prepare them for what they're gonna see.
26:56
SPEAKER_02: What did they say?
26:57
SPEAKER_02: What did the girls say?
26:59
SPEAKER_02: What was their what was some of their advice?
27:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, we have great young women in our club.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm always astonished by like how mature they are.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: So, like some of the responses were um, you know, making more of a realistic list when they were 14, 15 years old, which I thought was I'm gonna go to UNC.
27:17
SPEAKER_01: There you go, Texas, UCLA.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: There you go.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: You you've you you've seen the list before Florida State.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: So that was one of them.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: The second one was, you know, understanding that rejection is hard.
27:30
SPEAKER_01: Nobody likes to be rejected, like in any part of life.
27:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but it's gonna happen.
27:34
SPEAKER_01: There isn't a coach out there that's gonna give you every single compliment um all the time.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: Right.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: So I think those two are our youth players.
27:43
SPEAKER_01: You can just see them really take notes and start to like understand that, you know, right now, yeah, everything's great right now, most of the time.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: But again, we just talked about it like 50-50 when you get to the next level, if everything's going smooth, because there's just so many obstacles and challenges along the way.
27:59
SPEAKER_02: So you guys have always been a GA or a girls DA team.
28:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
28:03
SPEAKER_02: Did you guys ever try to get in the ECNO?
28:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think look, we're always trying to explore options to see what suits us best.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: Right.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, the GA, the DA has always been great for us.
28:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, as far as like try to get in, like again, we're always collaborating and having conversations about what's best for us, you know, travel, level of play, you know, communication from the boys gonna do.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, I think at the end of the day, if there isn't a club out there trying to get better that isn't talking about how to get it always weighing the auction.
28:34
SPEAKER_01: So uh we've just been happy.
28:35
SPEAKER_01: Um where we're at.
28:36
SPEAKER_01: We've had a lot of success.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: My 2012s shout out, I call them the mini ballers.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: We won a national championship a year ago in the GA.
28:44
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then two two years before that, our 09s won a national championship in the GA.
28:48
SPEAKER_01: So so we've been really happy and fleas to the growth of the league.
28:51
SPEAKER_01: I had known we're comfortable there, and you know, again, soccer's gonna evolve, so who knows what happens down the road.
28:57
SPEAKER_01: But, you know, I always tell everybody there's there's really good teams with both platforms, there's really good players in both platforms, and at the end of the day, options are awesome for everybody.
29:07
SPEAKER_02: Lewis Robinson from uh Midwest, he was like everybody that we need our players to get in front of, they can get in front of.
29:16
SPEAKER_02: It's like, hey, I want to go get in front of Jeff Hosler or go get in front of Deanni.
29:23
SPEAKER_02: I mean, and they I guess they're a smaller club, but their radius of colleges are really three hours.
29:32
SPEAKER_02: Like everybody goes within.
29:34
SPEAKER_02: Is that how it is with you guys, too?
29:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's a great way to put it, actually.
29:37
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, also, uh, college coaches work extremely hard.
29:42
SPEAKER_01: They're gonna go to games, they're gonna call club coaches.
29:46
SPEAKER_02: They're trying to find the diamonds in the rough that nobody else is fine is trying to find.
29:50
SPEAKER_01: 100%.
29:51
SPEAKER_01: If you go into our office on a slow day at Loyola, every one of our coaches is on the phone with a club coach.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: So um that's a yeah, that's a great way to put it.
30:02
SPEAKER_01: Anybody who our players want to or need to play in front of, they either have the ability to or they will, right?
30:09
SPEAKER_01: I mean, at the end of the day, it comes down to the clear drive to play in front of the coach at Parquir.
30:13
SPEAKER_01: Because between ID camps, showcases, regular season games, um, college coaches want to go and watch games.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: All right.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: I mean, on our way up, we're looking to see who's playing in the area today if we could get to a game.
30:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
30:27
SPEAKER_01: Tomorrow when we get back home, there'll be even the Hawks is like right there.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
30:31
SPEAKER_01: Tomorrow when we get home, there'll be exhibition games going on.
30:34
SPEAKER_01: Um, college coaches will go see you play.
30:36
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I think that's a perfect way to put it.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: Our players will always play in front of the people they need to and want to.
30:41
SPEAKER_02: How many?
30:42
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so the panel was the 2027 class.
30:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
30:47
SPEAKER_02: How many of those girls are going?
30:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh we've we had we had seven on the panel.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: Um thing that we're really, really proud of at FC United.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: Um, I oversee the girls' college recruiting.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: So any girl who wants to play college soccer, regardless of level at FC United, I meet with them as sophomores and we start to go through a path.
31:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, we are averaging anywhere from 20 to 30 girls a season playing college soccer.
31:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, which is some excellent.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: It's awesome.
31:15
SPEAKER_01: I mean, some years it's 36, which is basically two pool teams, right?
31:19
SPEAKER_01: And different levels.
31:20
SPEAKER_02: About probably three years ago, one of my buddies and he's an ECNL coach, and he was talking about how EC he was saying that like college coaches would tell him we only go to ECNL events.
31:33
SPEAKER_02: I don't think that's true anymore.
31:36
SPEAKER_01: No, I don't think it's true.
31:37
SPEAKER_02: It can't be.
31:38
SPEAKER_02: It can't be true.
31:39
SPEAKER_02: Just go look at the roster.
31:40
SPEAKER_02: All you gotta do is go look at the college rosters and be like, dude, there's GA, there's ECNL, there's non, there's like state league kids, you know, going to some of these schools.
31:50
SPEAKER_02: Like one of like the best incoming freshmen at Western is like a US YSA player.
31:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
31:59
SPEAKER_02: And she's like a stud.
32:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like uh at the like I said, at the end of the day, there's good players everywhere.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: I think I told you at the beginning of the of this uh meeting, like we have USYS players playing a Baylor and the biggie.
32:11
SPEAKER_01: Right.
32:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, at the end of the day, there's different reasons why players are playing where they are.
32:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I'll give you a the perfect example that can work for any club.
32:20
SPEAKER_01: You have a dynamite GA or ECNL team, and their second team is really good because their top team is dynamite.
32:27
SPEAKER_01: Um that that happens all the time across the country.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:31
SPEAKER_01: Um and that's where as college coaches, you gotta go call those club coaches and say, well, you do have a really good team at the top level.
32:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:39
SPEAKER_01: That means you gotta have 19, 20, 21 who can play.
32:43
SPEAKER_01: The flash.
32:45
SPEAKER_02: So Buffalo is kind of like a I guess I'm not gonna say barren wasteland.
32:51
SPEAKER_02: That's rude.
32:53
SPEAKER_02: But I mean, there's not a lot of clubs, you know, and uh I mean the RL team is the best is the second best option, okay?
33:05
SPEAKER_02: You know, uh and their 2010s for for instance, 2010s usually they didn't this year, they are in like the quarterfinals of the Champions League of like ECNL, and then their RL is in the top bracket of the RL of playoffs, you know what I mean?
33:25
SPEAKER_01: And and my only wish would be if I could draw up the perfect scenario is how do you get teams like that?
33:31
SPEAKER_01: Because like across the country, there's got to be 20 of those teams.
33:34
SPEAKER_01: How do you get them on the bigger stage?
33:37
SPEAKER_01: Like, I don't have the answer.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure everybody has an idea, but like how we end up getting those players on the bigger stage, uh, because there is there is one reality that most of the scouts do go to an ECNL or a GA showcase.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: Right.
33:51
SPEAKER_01: So, how do we get those type players at those showcases more?
33:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then I think we're we're doing the right job, right thing for the kids if we can figure that out.
34:00
SPEAKER_02: Do you think this N1 stuff is gonna work?
34:03
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I hope it does because it makes sense.
34:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it makes sense.
34:06
SPEAKER_01: So, this is what we just talked about.
34:08
SPEAKER_01: You're trying to give the non-highest level teams a chance to get up there, right?
34:12
SPEAKER_02: And it's not club based, it's just individual teams because we've all know clubs that are like have one age group that is just like phenomenal.
34:21
SPEAKER_02: It's like you guys can compete in the ECNL, but it's a closed system and you guys can't get in 100%.
34:27
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, I I hope it works.
34:29
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the other day, all these leagues work or don't work if people work together, right?
34:34
SPEAKER_01: Like how we started this conversation.
34:35
SPEAKER_01: Like when the clubs work together with the leagues and vice versa, it's gonna benefit the player, right?
34:41
SPEAKER_01: And that's why we're all doing what we're doing, because there's more than just the elites.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: I always tell you know, players in our area or parents in our area, um, there's more of the middle tier than there is the top tier across the country.
34:53
SPEAKER_02: Huh.
34:54
SPEAKER_02: There's more of that.
34:55
SPEAKER_02: That's a good way to put it.
34:57
SPEAKER_02: For sure.
34:58
unknown: Yeah.
34:59
SPEAKER_01: There's more middle tier level players than there are elites.
35:03
SPEAKER_01: Think about it.
35:04
SPEAKER_01: Or a national team would be unbelievable.
35:05
SPEAKER_02: You could say that at college too.
35:06
SPEAKER_02: It's like, okay, there's only one Florida State, there's only one Notre Dame, there's one UNC, Virginia, and maybe if you want to throw like Texas AM or UCLA in, but then there's everybody else.
35:19
SPEAKER_03: And everybody else is like there.
35:24
SPEAKER_03: That's a good way to put it.
35:27
SPEAKER_03: The middle is bigger than the top.
35:32
SPEAKER_03: A hundred percent.
35:34
SPEAKER_03: I never really thought of it about it like that.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: In any sport, in anything.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: There's more of the middle.
35:39
SPEAKER_01: Look at the Prem League, right?
35:40
SPEAKER_01: You got three teams that are always at the top, right?
35:43
SPEAKER_01: I know.
35:43
SPEAKER_01: Hey, we're we gotta we got the Prem Beaver coming up.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: I mean, but there's there's three or four top dogs, and then that middle is just and every league is like that.
35:52
SPEAKER_02: Some leagues, there's only one team that can win it.
35:54
SPEAKER_02: A hundred percent.
35:55
SPEAKER_02: And it's awful.
35:56
SPEAKER_02: I can't stand it.
35:58
SPEAKER_02: That like everybody wants pro rel.
36:00
SPEAKER_02: It's like, yeah, I I want it if there's a salary cap.
36:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I don't want the Dodgers taking Atari School and just dominating, and it's like just giving them the trophy right now.
36:11
SPEAKER_02: Might as well.
36:12
SPEAKER_02: Man.
36:14
SPEAKER_02: God.
36:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, don't get me started on that tangent.
36:17
SPEAKER_01: Like, what are your thoughts on pro rel?
36:20
SPEAKER_02: I mean if because of the financials, I just don't see it working.
36:29
SPEAKER_02: Because I had Peoria City, I had their vice president on, and he told me that on a discounted rate to rent a charter bus, it was five thousand dollars for the weekend.
36:47
SPEAKER_02: That's Peoria.
36:48
SPEAKER_02: That's like Illinois.
36:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
36:50
SPEAKER_02: To to Flint or Grand uh Grand Blanc.
36:55
SPEAKER_02: How are teams going to afford this?
36:57
SPEAKER_02: They're gonna they're they're gonna it's gonna be utopia for about two years, and everybody's gonna start a a club team or a a pro team or a first team if it was truly open, and then they're gonna fail, and then they're gonna close because they're gonna not be able to afford it.
37:16
SPEAKER_01: I think you're seeing that across the country at different levels of the game.
37:20
SPEAKER_01: There you go, there you go.
37:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like they default on the Coliseum and they have like no money.
37:26
SPEAKER_02: Vegas just lost their stadium.
37:28
SPEAKER_02: They just like they tore it down, and now they're playing it like a like a baseball field or something like that.
37:33
SPEAKER_01: So what's the answer?
37:34
SPEAKER_01: Like get more PE involved?
37:38
SPEAKER_02: That's what USL's doing, isn't it?
37:40
SPEAKER_01: Are they?
37:41
SPEAKER_02: I think so.
37:41
SPEAKER_01: I think they're getting a lot of PE.
37:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's where I come back and say, like, as long as the soccer people can focus on the soccer, um, and then the PE can help the soccer, and it doesn't nobody feels it, um, then it's good for the game.
37:55
SPEAKER_02: Right.
37:55
SPEAKER_02: As long as it's because of the facilities, right?
37:58
SPEAKER_02: And it's providing stadiums and training, you know, like I'll I'll give you an example from the coaching lens.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: Like, um I'm not sure I'd be where I'm at today working for the club that I am if I didn't see the long-term plan of providing opportunities for coaches.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: I mean, do you know how many people when I was 20 years old were like, you're never gonna make a career out of this?
38:26
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Okay, well, if I do things right and I surround myself around the right people, um, in any line of work, you gotta perform.
38:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I bet on myself, but I also was with an organization that had a plan.
38:42
SPEAKER_01: Right.
38:43
SPEAKER_01: And did I know it was gonna shape out like this?
38:46
SPEAKER_01: No, I didn't, but you know, having PE helps careers as well, which in turn is gonna help you get the great, the great coaches that you want.
38:54
SPEAKER_02: And and like we said, it's like we're not just the clubs are not just like have endless capital.
39:03
SPEAKER_02: They think that like, oh well, we paid$3,500, and so and uh and they're doing the math, and like, oh well, you have$1,800.
39:12
SPEAKER_02: Let's let's times it by$3,500, and it's like you guys are making way too much money.
39:16
SPEAKER_02: It's like, dude, it's it's a thousand dollars around a field for an hour, okay?
39:22
SPEAKER_02: Just do that math, and you guys want three uh uh three training sessions uh a week, even during the winter when there's a foot of snow on the ground.
39:31
SPEAKER_02: It's like how are we gonna like people just don't realize how expensive everything is, and that's why I don't think pro rel can work.
39:38
SPEAKER_02: Like, how how is uh teams in Iowa have are gonna they're gonna have games everywhere?
39:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they're gonna have to some games might have to go off be a flight.
39:53
SPEAKER_02: It's like Colorado.
39:55
SPEAKER_02: Colorado is like in a hole.
39:57
SPEAKER_02: Their MLS next teams, unless they're playing each other, they everything's a flight.
40:04
SPEAKER_01: And that's that's my biggest worry with um with with soccer right now, um, at every level, right?
40:10
SPEAKER_01: Like if NWCL is gonna create these academies, we better have some more teams that they can travel to and play.
40:16
SPEAKER_02: And everybody rips on the MLS next for doing that because they're like, oh well, the only reason why you guys have the MLS next is so that you have more teams to play.
40:25
SPEAKER_02: It's like, no shit.
40:28
SPEAKER_02: You want them just to have 30 teams in it?
40:30
SPEAKER_02: You know what that's gonna cost?
40:31
SPEAKER_02: They already pay like I don't know what Chicago Fire is, but I know for a fact that Real Salt Lake pays$80,000 per kid per year.
40:42
SPEAKER_02: Unbelievable.
40:43
SPEAKER_02: Because that's what they're investing in.
40:44
SPEAKER_02: I believe and LA Galaxy is like something like 65, Colorado is around 70 per player.
40:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
40:51
SPEAKER_02: Okay, now take away MLS next and just have the MLS Academies play each other.
40:56
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be a hundred grand a kid, and people just don't realize this.
41:00
SPEAKER_01: And it goes back to what we were saying, like you need more clubs to work together so that these kids can have people to play against and not be spending all this money on travel.
41:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
41:11
SPEAKER_02: And I mean, I wish I wish it can open, but then everybody's like, well, USL, USL is gonna take over the MLS.
41:19
SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
41:20
SPEAKER_02: But it's it's still a closed system.
41:23
SPEAKER_02: USL is still gonna be closed.
41:24
SPEAKER_02: It's it's three tiers.
41:26
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be the premiere, whatever.
41:28
SPEAKER_02: Can we name it our own names too?
41:30
SPEAKER_02: Why are we it's gonna be USL Premier League, it's gonna be USL Championship, and it's gonna be League One.
41:36
SPEAKER_02: It's like, can we just have an original thought ever and just name it like whatever?
41:41
SPEAKER_02: And people, everything's football academy.
41:43
SPEAKER_02: No offense.
41:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're not wrong.
41:46
SPEAKER_02: You're not wrong.
41:46
SPEAKER_02: Like FC, it's like we don't even call it football.
41:48
SPEAKER_02: Why why is everything FC?
41:50
SPEAKER_01: Or keep the names, right?
41:52
SPEAKER_01: Stick to something, right?
41:53
SPEAKER_01: All every year the league, the league names change, this platform's changing.
41:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think uh I always tell people like our best year as a club was COVID when there were no leaks.
42:03
SPEAKER_01: And we just played against each other and we trained, and I'll tell you, the development skyrocketed.
42:09
SPEAKER_01: It skyrocketed.
42:10
SPEAKER_02: That's what you guys did during COVID?
42:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Illinois was shut down, and and all we did was play each other.
42:15
SPEAKER_01: We're fortunate to have 30 teams on gender or anything.
42:19
SPEAKER_01: And man, was that the best year?
42:21
SPEAKER_01: Our kids enjoyed it.
42:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh, there was no travel involved.
42:25
SPEAKER_01: So every game on the weekend was a 10-minute drive.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but like I said, the kids could just focus on there's no league standings.
42:32
SPEAKER_01: Our kids just focused on what we're here for, which is development, and that was great.
42:36
SPEAKER_01: And then I think since COVID, we've probably been involved in close to 15 different leagues, acronyms, alphabet soup leagues.
42:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then the chaos and then the chaos starts again.
42:47
SPEAKER_01: Uh so that's that's that's the the fight we fight every day.
42:50
SPEAKER_02: What um how's the magic?
42:53
SPEAKER_02: How's soccer's like how are those clubs doing?
42:56
SPEAKER_01: Um, in my opinion, strong.
42:57
SPEAKER_01: Um the magic on the boys' side is that just boys now?
43:01
SPEAKER_01: Yes, on the boys' side.
43:02
SPEAKER_02: I think it always has been, isn't it?
43:03
SPEAKER_01: I think they used to sprinkle in a couple girls' teams here and there.
43:06
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
43:07
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but uh from everything I know, the magic on the boys' side are strong.
43:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, doing well in ECNL.
43:12
SPEAKER_01: Um I've got a ton of respect for what they do.
43:16
SPEAKER_01: Um you know, on the boys and girls side, they continue to compete in the platforms that they're in.
43:21
SPEAKER_01: Um you know, you're so close to everybody in Chicago that you kind of always have an eye on everything or an ear on everything.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
43:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh but yeah, we run into soccer all the time on both genders and always really good rivalry to have with them.
43:34
SPEAKER_02: How when I was in Buffalo, one of the wake up calls that uh I was like, Where am I?
43:42
SPEAKER_02: Uh I was watching a U like a U 10 or a U11 girls team, and they were very good.
43:48
SPEAKER_02: They were flash.
43:50
SPEAKER_02: They were playing against like 14 year olds because to get in a competitive game, that's what you had to do there compared to Michigan, compared to Chicago.
44:01
SPEAKER_02: I'm coaching you nine girls at Vardar.
44:05
SPEAKER_02: And I have to play these psychopaths out here called the Hawks.
44:09
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
44:10
SPEAKER_02: And then it's the Jags.
44:11
SPEAKER_02: And it's well back then it was Gators or it was or it was Waza.
44:16
SPEAKER_02: Waza, yeah.
44:17
SPEAKER_02: And it was like every game was meaningful, even at eight years old.
44:23
SPEAKER_02: And what people don't realize when they're in rural United States is like we don't have to go very far.
44:31
SPEAKER_02: We don't have I mean the Western U Flash and the ECNL, they have league games in Tennessee.
44:38
SPEAKER_02: They're in the same conference.
44:40
SPEAKER_02: It's an 11-hour drive.
44:42
SPEAKER_02: If you're if you drove 11 hours from Chicago, you'd be in Kansas City.
44:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
44:46
SPEAKER_02: But I mean, I'm sure you play Kansas City.
44:49
SPEAKER_02: Do you guys?
44:50
SPEAKER_02: Uh what does your conference look like?
44:52
SPEAKER_01: Our conference is Chicago, Wisconsin, or Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
44:56
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so you play the Jags and Tigers and getting better because of the growth of the league.
45:03
SPEAKER_01: I used to have uh the president of our board used to used to tell this all the time at our club.
45:08
SPEAKER_01: If I gave you$10,000 to focus on player development, the last thing you would do would spend that on travel.
45:16
SPEAKER_01: On travel.
45:17
SPEAKER_01: That's the last thing you would do.
45:18
SPEAKER_01: Uh so now that we're shrinking the distances, I think we're headed in the right direction.
45:24
SPEAKER_01: But my point is the last thing you would do would spend that on travel.
45:27
SPEAKER_02: And then if everybody would come back and say, well, you're just depleting it or you're diluting the system.
45:34
SPEAKER_02: I'd say, no, that's how it needs to be.
45:37
SPEAKER_02: Get everybody in, get everybody in one platform.
45:40
SPEAKER_02: I don't care if it's ECNL or GA or MLS Next or ECNL Boys or US YSA, just get them under one system.
45:47
SPEAKER_02: But there will never be one system, there'll never be one league because there's always going to be multiple leagues.
45:52
SPEAKER_02: Even if the US soccer comes in and says, hey, we're all going to do one, somebody somewhere will start their own league because they'll be pissed off at U.S.
45:59
SPEAKER_02: Soccer.
46:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
46:00
SPEAKER_01: It's just an American way.
46:01
SPEAKER_01: 100%.
46:02
SPEAKER_01: It's an American way.
46:02
SPEAKER_01: And I'm not opposed to different leagues.
46:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh at the end of the day, like that just probably means more opportunities.
46:08
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, we had a little bit more of a clear pathway.
46:10
SPEAKER_01: I think it'd be great for the parents.
46:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, my worry is always like burnout, right?
46:15
SPEAKER_01: By the time you're 15 years old, have you burned that family out of sports, which then leads to want to keep on playing exactly more the pressure that the kid deals from all the travel.
46:26
SPEAKER_01: You know, I guarantee you in Europe, the the the 13-year-old are not driving three hours to play a league game.
46:30
SPEAKER_02: Right.
46:30
SPEAKER_02: And if they are, I mean it's it's a very, very random case.
46:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
46:38
SPEAKER_02: And it's a special scenario.
46:39
SPEAKER_02: 100%.
46:42
SPEAKER_02: Your girls at Loyola, and I've been thinking about this a lot.
46:47
SPEAKER_02: The college players that I've been training and coaching, by the time they're seniors in college, they're almost ready.
46:55
SPEAKER_02: They're sad, of course.
46:57
SPEAKER_02: They're sad that it's ending.
46:59
SPEAKER_02: But I tell like I was texting one of my girls that graduated from Cornell last year, and she's like, I don't miss it at all.
47:05
SPEAKER_02: I love my life.
47:06
SPEAKER_02: She was like captain, she's captain of Cornell, and and like she could play pro, yeah, but she's like got a big girl job in New York City, you know, and she's just loving life.
47:18
SPEAKER_02: All of my boys that play college, they're done.
47:22
SPEAKER_02: They're like ready, they're counting down the days for their career to be over.
47:26
SPEAKER_02: Like they don't want to go on.
47:28
SPEAKER_02: How many uh girls from like Loyola or your conference, maybe the A10, go on to play pro or want to play pro?
47:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't know how many would want to in the conference, right?
47:38
SPEAKER_01: I think at the end of the day, it's just about making sure that they have the opportunity to, right?
47:43
SPEAKER_01: Like they're they're skill level number one, but then you've also you know created the context to help them get pro.
47:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it's realistic for a lot of them to go pro.
47:51
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it's super neat when any gender is comfortable hanging up the boots because they're so self-fulfilled.
48:00
SPEAKER_01: Like at the end of the day, that's what it comes down to, right?
48:03
SPEAKER_01: Like they feel like they've accomplished so much in the game and they're ready for their next phase of the life.
48:07
SPEAKER_01: I think that's cool.
48:09
SPEAKER_02: That's what we did.
48:10
SPEAKER_02: That's what that's why we started coaching.
48:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh when I said, when I said I'm not gonna be a pro, I should focus on coaching.
48:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, I was really okay with what I had accomplished in the game.
48:20
SPEAKER_02: I stopped playing college soccer because I started coaching.
48:23
SPEAKER_02: And I and I fell in love with coaching, same, like it reignited.
48:27
SPEAKER_02: Like I fell in love with the game in '94, watching the World Cup, and then I was a goalkeeper, so I got kind of like burnt out of just being a goalkeeper.
48:36
SPEAKER_02: And I started coaching, and I was like, it reignited the passion, and then I was kind of getting burnt out of coaching, and then I started this stupid cast.
48:48
SPEAKER_01: Oh, but it's happening.
48:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
48:49
SPEAKER_01: And I think we're gonna have actually, I think we already have a coaching shortage.
48:53
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, we do.
48:54
SPEAKER_01: Uh we were already already there.
48:56
SPEAKER_02: Um, you know, you have four teams.
48:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
48:59
SPEAKER_01: But I I'm I'm a little different.
49:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, I would rather be on the field every night till nine o'clock than be on my couch every night at 5 30 trying to figure out what to do.
49:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm a little different.
49:11
SPEAKER_01: I love the training ground, but uh yeah, we have a coaching shortage.
49:15
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we hear it all the time.
49:17
SPEAKER_01: We hear people say our best coaches should be with the younger ages.
49:22
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
49:23
SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, it's not that they don't want to be with the younger ages, is that they also have to be with the older ages to help with recruiting the winning and losing.
49:34
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
49:34
SPEAKER_01: So that means our if younger coaches are with younger players, then we have a coaching shortage.
49:40
SPEAKER_01: Coaches have left at our experience, they're burned out, the hours, um, and that is really why I I can say we have a coaching shortage in new sports.
49:51
SPEAKER_01: Because the youngest ages are the most spot.
49:54
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I would sign me up to coach a U-12, U13, U14 team.
49:59
SPEAKER_01: But the reality is oftentimes I have to take an older team because I do have that experience of how to win a game when it's needed, how to get them to the college level, you know, how to balance a season from start to finish, how to deal with the mature athlete.
50:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, and maybe we don't have enough of those coaches to actually balance ourselves top to the bottom.
50:18
SPEAKER_02: Right.
50:19
SPEAKER_02: And I feel like a lot of coaches they almost want to skip the stats.
50:27
SPEAKER_02: They want to microwave the process.
50:30
SPEAKER_01: They don't I'm glad you said that, not me.
50:34
SPEAKER_02: One of who said this.
50:37
SPEAKER_02: It was Chris Hall.
50:40
SPEAKER_02: It was Chris Hall.
50:41
SPEAKER_02: He's at Binghamton on the girls' side.
50:43
SPEAKER_02: And he said that it was like advice to yo to like coaches that want to play college or coach college.
50:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
50:53
SPEAKER_02: He's like, Coach Club.
50:56
SPEAKER_02: Get so many sessions in.
50:58
SPEAKER_02: Think about your four teams.
51:00
SPEAKER_02: Think about how many sessions you do in a year, and you just sharpen your sessions, you sharpen your messaging, you're to sharpen like your skill as a coach, and that will prepare you for the college game more than okay, just go be a graduate assistant and only coach college.
51:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, just do the math, right?
51:19
SPEAKER_01: Like we talk to the players all the time about getting 10,000 hours on the on the ball.
51:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
51:24
SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, as coaches, we should do that too.
51:27
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I mean, I I run 400 sessions a year between my teams.
51:31
SPEAKER_01: I coach 130 games from August to February.
51:37
SPEAKER_01: It sounds like a lot, it is a lot, but that's a lot of experience.
51:41
SPEAKER_01: My first coaching job was coaching a U10 girls team.
51:46
SPEAKER_01: And when my same when my boss called me three days before the season and said, We need you to take this team, I thought he was joking.
51:52
SPEAKER_01: But their coach had left the company.
51:54
SPEAKER_02: I had no idea what the hell to do.
51:56
SPEAKER_01: And we were so bad.
51:58
SPEAKER_01: We were so bad.
51:59
SPEAKER_01: And then he calls me the next year and he's like, the parents want you to take this team.
52:04
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, And this is FC United.
52:06
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is our younger affiliation, Trebian, but yeah, yeah, yeah.
52:10
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
52:10
SPEAKER_01: So I take him for the second year, and we're getting better.
52:13
SPEAKER_01: We're getting better.
52:14
SPEAKER_01: I can see the growth.
52:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then after that year, he calls me again.
52:19
SPEAKER_01: He's like, they want you to take them a third year into 11v11.
52:22
SPEAKER_01: At this point, I'm like, Thank, thank you.
52:25
SPEAKER_01: This has been a great experience for me.
52:27
SPEAKER_01: How to how to develop a kid from the youngest age, right?
52:30
SPEAKER_01: How to deal with losing, how to not lose the team when they were losing every game six zero.
52:34
SPEAKER_01: And we get to you, you know, we get to the 11v11 stage where no longer can the fake bass girl just go score goals.
52:40
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
52:41
SPEAKER_01: And it was super cool to see.
52:42
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
52:42
SPEAKER_01: I mean, super cool to see their grow.
52:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I don't I don't know if I would be where I'm at today if I hadn't had that experience.
52:49
SPEAKER_02: Right.
52:50
SPEAKER_02: And somebody put it that a lot of coaches, when they're starting out, they want to coach the age group that they just left.
52:59
SPEAKER_02: So if you played college soccer, you want to coach college.
53:03
SPEAKER_02: Or if the highest level you went is like high school age, you want to coach the 11v11 game because you want to everybody wants to teach the game and so that they can try to be Pep Guardiola and do those cool tactics that we learned during the World Cup.
53:16
SPEAKER_02: It's like, no, go work with the nine-year-old.
53:19
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, go learn how that's like.
53:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
53:21
SPEAKER_01: And again, there's nothing wrong with people who have aspirations to coach at the highest level, but yeah, you got to have the experience.
53:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
53:27
SPEAKER_01: Um, experience is massive.
53:29
SPEAKER_01: Collaborating with other coaches is massive.
53:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I think when I was starting out every summer um during my time off, I mean, I would go call a coach and say, I'd love to come to your preseason just to learn for a day.
53:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, I mentioned at FC United, I had I had such an amazing group of coaches to learn from.
53:48
SPEAKER_01: They were all Division I coaches.
53:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, and now I tell people all the time if I'm running a session, I can assure you I didn't create it.
53:55
SPEAKER_01: I stole it from someone else, and I have no ego, no problem saying that.
53:59
SPEAKER_01: Um, the more as coaches we collaborate and work together, um, you just are better.
54:05
SPEAKER_01: We're just better.
54:06
SPEAKER_01: And um, would I have said that 10, 15 years ago?
54:09
SPEAKER_01: Probably not, but I was still doing the things I needed to to work my way up.
54:12
SPEAKER_02: Right.
54:13
SPEAKER_02: I how I developed as a coach is I just would go and watch.
54:18
SPEAKER_02: I wouldn't even assist, I would just go and watch sessions and I would draw uh draw them out, and then yeah, and mentors and just being around coaches that have been there and done that.
54:33
SPEAKER_02: Everybody's like, Well, I have this badge and I have this this course and this course.
54:37
SPEAKER_02: It's like that's doesn't really make you that much better of a coach.
54:42
SPEAKER_02: Maybe it does a little bit more now because I came up in the days where our licensing was nine days, yeah, and it was just a hell weeks, same, you know, and then you either pass or you failed.
54:54
SPEAKER_02: And now it's like a it's more like student teaching, and you get to actually work with your own team and get judged on that.
55:02
SPEAKER_02: And it's like it's a way better system.
55:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's a way better system.
55:06
SPEAKER_01: I think it's um the rules are making coaches do it more, meaning like the requirements to coach at different leagues, yeah.
55:15
SPEAKER_01: Which doesn't hurt.
55:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, but at the end of the day, the experience is massive.
55:19
SPEAKER_01: I think you hit it on the head.
55:21
SPEAKER_01: Like, um, don't take the elevator up as a coach.
55:24
SPEAKER_01: Take the take the stairs.
55:26
SPEAKER_01: Take the stairs.
55:27
SPEAKER_02: Uh-huh.
55:28
SPEAKER_02: And don't skip steps.
55:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, because at the end of the day, like we're we're all we're all getting better every yeah, every year as coaches, we should be getting better.
55:36
SPEAKER_02: And what's your favorite uh level right now?
55:40
SPEAKER_02: Is it college?
55:41
SPEAKER_01: Is it the U15 is college because it's new to me?
55:45
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
55:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I spent a year at U Chicago on the men's side, uh, but my experience has predominantly been in the club.
55:52
SPEAKER_01: Um, so now year two at Loyola, like it's still new to me.
55:56
SPEAKER_01: The new projects are my favorite.
55:58
SPEAKER_01: So that means if I take a new club team, this summer I coached a semi-pro team, the college players, like for me, it's the project.
56:05
SPEAKER_01: The project of starting from point A and seeing where it finishes.
56:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, that to me is the most fun right now.
56:12
SPEAKER_02: And I think that the self-awareness that you get from coaching at every level.
56:17
SPEAKER_02: It's like now I know, like, okay, this is what I want to do.
56:21
SPEAKER_02: Like, I was gonna I was gonna do the goalkeeping for Doug at Wayne State.
56:26
SPEAKER_03: Doug Steinard.
56:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
56:27
SPEAKER_03: Oh, great guy, yeah.
56:29
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Doug, I don't because the last 11 years I've ran my own technical training company in Buffalo.
56:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
56:36
SPEAKER_02: And that's my wheelhouse.
56:37
SPEAKER_02: Like, that's where uh that's what I want to do.
56:40
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Doug, I don't want to do goalkeeping.
56:42
SPEAKER_02: Let me just like work with the players before or after sessions, because that's how pros train.
56:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, everybody says train like a pro.
56:50
SPEAKER_02: Well, the pros are after training for an hour, working on one type of service over and over and over and over again.
56:58
SPEAKER_02: That's training like a pro.
56:59
SPEAKER_02: After the team session's done, they just sit and they're on the field and they're working on set pieces, or they're working on long balls, or they're working on like some some uh like quick touch scenarios and get it and give it.
57:12
SPEAKER_02: That's training like a pro.
57:13
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, Doug, that's what I want to do.
57:14
SPEAKER_02: Like whoever wants extra work after sessions or before sessions, I'm your guy.
57:19
SPEAKER_02: That's what I want to do.
57:20
SPEAKER_02: Love the and and that's that and that's just the self-awareness in me because I like I haven't been a goalkeeper trainer for 11 years, but that's how I cut my teeth, and that's how I got jobs, and that's how I got the NWSL job and stuff like that, is just my goalkeeping background, and I got so burnt out because goalkeeping is takes a toll on your body, it takes a toll on your body, dude.
57:44
SPEAKER_02: I'm still like reaping the benefits of being a goalkeeper.
57:49
SPEAKER_02: It kills.
57:50
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's a it's it's tough.
57:51
SPEAKER_01: I have a lot of admiration for goalkeeper coaches.
57:53
SPEAKER_01: I have a lot of admiration.
57:54
SPEAKER_01: Number one, I watch Stan Anderson.
57:57
SPEAKER_01: I mean, Brady here at Loyola is just awesome every single day.
58:02
SPEAKER_01: Buzzo.
58:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, Stan is like you know what I think of Stan.
58:06
SPEAKER_01: Um I just have such a I hold him in such a high regard, but um the way they communicate as a goal lead, like how calm they are, and it translates into coaching, how they see the game.
58:17
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's just I don't have that.
58:19
SPEAKER_01: Crazy they are in a good way, hopefully.
58:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, of course, but you know they you gotta you gotta pair yourself up with somebody who doesn't have the same strengths as you.
58:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right, like, and that's like at Loyola, like the collaboration that the four of us can have all the time, no matter what the situation is.
58:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, we're all getting better every single day, and then we're getting better for the team and the players.
58:44
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
58:44
SPEAKER_02: And that's the self-awareness.
58:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's like, hey, I'm not the tactical genius, let me work on the technical stuff.
58:51
SPEAKER_02: I don't care about what formation they're in or what formation I'm in.
58:55
SPEAKER_02: I just want the player to individually be better.
58:57
SPEAKER_02: And that's my that's my self-awareness.
59:00
SPEAKER_02: I don't care about all that stuff.
59:02
SPEAKER_02: I used to.
59:03
SPEAKER_02: I used to when I was like coaching teams and stuff like that, but I haven't coached teams in 11 years.
59:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and even look, when you're coaching teams and you're by yourself at the club level, like you should have somebody with you.
59:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
59:15
SPEAKER_01: I and I re and that's hard, right?
59:17
SPEAKER_01: We talked, it's all gonna come back to again.
59:19
SPEAKER_01: Does the club have enough payroll to give you enough coaches?
59:22
SPEAKER_01: It will get to that at some point because the game is getting so competitive, right?
59:27
SPEAKER_01: When you go play your Michigan Derby or your Chicago Derby, right?
59:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, the club that puts more resources into the players is gonna benefit first.
59:37
SPEAKER_02: Who is your biggest like rival?
59:38
SPEAKER_02: Is it Galaxy?
59:39
SPEAKER_01: Or I'd say Galaxy.
59:40
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
59:41
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I only say that because I I think if you look at the success in the GA uh, you know, in the Chicagoland area, you know, we've got two national championships under their under our belt.
59:53
SPEAKER_01: They just won one at 2010.
59:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we used to have battles in USYS.
59:58
SPEAKER_01: We both came from USYS.
59:59
SPEAKER_01: So on the boys' side, we always match up with them.
1:00:03
SPEAKER_01: On the girls' side, we always match up with them.
1:00:06
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it's a healthy rivalry because you are always tested when you play that.
1:00:11
SPEAKER_02: What was Chicago like back in the days of like State Cup?
1:00:15
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it was awesome.
1:00:16
SPEAKER_02: That had been nuts.
1:00:17
SPEAKER_01: It was awesome.
1:00:18
SPEAKER_01: I mean, everyone on the boys' side, yeah.
1:00:20
SPEAKER_01: Same, right?
1:00:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, but it was always Hawks or Vardar.
1:00:23
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, or Wolves or Vardar on the boys' side.
1:00:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, back in the day, State Cup was like you were gonna go see 22 legit players every single day when you got to a state final, quarterfinal, semifinal.
1:00:36
SPEAKER_01: I remember my last year playing State Cup.
1:00:38
SPEAKER_01: It was a single elimination, 16-24 team break.
1:00:42
SPEAKER_01: If you got out of the first round, you were happy.
1:00:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:00:45
SPEAKER_01: If you got out of the first game of State Cup, you were happy.
1:00:48
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then obviously, again, it evolves and everything, but you know, the the pipeline of Illinois is is awesome.
1:00:55
SPEAKER_02: Did you ever leave Chicago?
1:00:56
SPEAKER_01: Never left Chicago.
1:00:57
SPEAKER_01: Born and raised in Chicago, played college soccer at western Illinois, and ran right back to Chicago.
1:01:03
SPEAKER_02: Um, Illinois.
1:01:06
SPEAKER_01: So a little bit near Iowa.
1:01:08
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:01:09
SPEAKER_01: Um, had a great experience there.
1:01:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh, like I said, what a story that I got to coach at the club that I played for and and see it grow into what it is today.
1:01:19
SPEAKER_01: Um, but my family's in Chicago.
1:01:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it's the best city in the world.
1:01:23
SPEAKER_02: Um it's way better than New York.
1:01:24
SPEAKER_02: Um that's my favorite city.
1:01:26
SPEAKER_02: That's my favorite big city.
1:01:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's just it's got everything.
1:01:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:01:29
SPEAKER_01: And everything for me, especially.
1:01:31
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, the call there's always been college soccer around to like help our club grow.
1:01:36
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm in the college game.
1:01:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's it's it's great, it's been great to me.
1:01:40
SPEAKER_02: Is DePaul in your conference?
1:01:42
SPEAKER_01: No, they're in the Big East.
1:01:43
SPEAKER_02: They're in the Big East.
1:01:44
SPEAKER_02: It's kind of like club soccer.
1:01:46
SPEAKER_02: It's like, wait a minute, why aren't we just playing each other?
1:01:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we play each other every year.
1:01:50
SPEAKER_01: It's the red line rivalry.
1:01:52
SPEAKER_01: It's super cool.
1:01:52
SPEAKER_02: Red line rivalry?
1:01:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the red line rivalry.
1:01:54
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
1:01:55
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's the train.
1:01:56
SPEAKER_01: It's super cool.
1:01:57
SPEAKER_02: Uh I love that.
1:01:58
SPEAKER_01: You know, you know, players from their childhood who are on both teams.
1:02:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:02:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh, but that's the beauty of Chicago, right?
1:02:04
SPEAKER_01: It's not just it's not just DePaul, it's UIC, it's Northwestern, right?
1:02:08
SPEAKER_01: In the spring, we play the Chicago Cup against each other.
1:02:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh, the beauty of being where we're located.
1:02:13
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you guys do that?
1:02:14
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's super fun.
1:02:15
SPEAKER_01: It's super that's smart.
1:02:16
SPEAKER_02: It's like Northwestern in Northern Illinois.
1:02:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh, we just keep it to the four team.
1:02:20
SPEAKER_01: So we go Northwestern, ourselves, DePaul, and UIC.
1:02:24
SPEAKER_02: UIC, okay.
1:02:25
SPEAKER_01: So proximity-wise, keep it short.
1:02:27
SPEAKER_02: Michigan just started that.
1:02:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's great.
1:02:29
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's great.
1:02:30
SPEAKER_01: Why again?
1:02:30
SPEAKER_01: Why not make eight?
1:02:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:02:32
SPEAKER_01: The spring is supposed to be for development, which is great, but you also have to have a competitive environment in there as well.
1:02:36
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:02:37
SPEAKER_02: Or just scheduling just four games.
1:02:38
SPEAKER_02: It's like not let's try to win something.
1:02:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
1:02:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Michigan did one where it was Western Central, uh Oakland, Eastern, Michigan and Michigan State, and then I think uh Grand Valley, and then Bowling Green, yeah, and then I'm like eight teams.
1:02:58
SPEAKER_02: It was perfect.
1:02:59
SPEAKER_02: It's awesome.
1:02:59
SPEAKER_02: So we talked about it.
1:03:00
SPEAKER_01: Every coach loved it.
1:03:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if if if all these leagues had shorter distances of travel, which it could happen.
1:03:07
SPEAKER_01: Probably makes it for a better lifestyle, better enjoyment of the players, less travel, less uh time away from the classroom.
1:03:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh just better for everybody.
1:03:15
SPEAKER_02: How many on your roster are from like Illinois?
1:03:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh off the top of my head, out of the 28, we'd probably up close to 14.
1:03:24
SPEAKER_01: Half.
1:03:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:03:24
SPEAKER_01: Directly half.
1:03:25
SPEAKER_01: Not more.
1:03:26
SPEAKER_01: And then the the rest come from the surrounding area.
1:03:28
SPEAKER_01: We've got one kid from Florida.
1:03:30
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:03:30
SPEAKER_01: She's a senior.
1:03:31
SPEAKER_02: Any internationals?
1:03:32
SPEAKER_01: No internationals.
1:03:33
SPEAKER_01: Not a single international coming in that way.
1:03:36
SPEAKER_01: We have one Canadian coming in.
1:03:38
SPEAKER_02: Personally, I wish Canadians didn't count and Mexican and Mexico.
1:03:43
SPEAKER_02: I don't I wish they didn't count as internationals.
1:03:46
SPEAKER_02: Not that there's like a limit to internationals, obviously, on the boys' side, if you see some of those rosters.
1:03:52
SPEAKER_02: But I I I wish can't that's a that's the thing about Wayne State.
1:03:59
SPEAKER_02: Anybody that is from Ontario pays in-state tuition.
1:04:03
SPEAKER_02: I heard about it.
1:04:03
SPEAKER_01: There's a couple schools that do that, right?
1:04:04
SPEAKER_01: Western does that.
1:04:05
SPEAKER_02: Western has something similar to that, and so does Central.
1:04:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I'm sure the Dakotas have something like that.
1:04:11
SPEAKER_02: Oh, really?
1:04:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh they got it, right?
1:04:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:04:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think it's it's gonna grow.
1:04:16
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's everything's in trends, right?
1:04:19
SPEAKER_01: Like with on the peel trends, the off the peel trends.
1:04:22
SPEAKER_01: It's like we look at the numbers on the men's side, how many internationals are involved in NCAA men's soccer, it's gonna happen on the women's side.
1:04:29
SPEAKER_02: I think they're gonna end up being the limit.
1:04:31
SPEAKER_02: I think that's what U.S.
1:04:32
SPEAKER_02: soccer.
1:04:32
SPEAKER_02: I yeah.
1:04:33
SPEAKER_02: So like US or MLS, USL, every league in the country has an international limit, which I didn't know.
1:04:41
SPEAKER_02: USL has a limit of eight players, can be international.
1:04:44
SPEAKER_02: MLS is eight, but they can trade them.
1:04:47
SPEAKER_02: So like inner Miami can trade you an international spot, so you give them and then you get a player or something like that.
1:04:55
SPEAKER_02: And so that's how Inner Miami can have all of Barcelona.
1:04:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, also Barcelona players.
1:05:00
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and I don't think there's a right or wrong limit number answer like that.
1:05:04
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I love diversity in a team, right?
1:05:05
SPEAKER_01: I think when there's a diverse team, you're you're just gonna become better, right?
1:05:09
SPEAKER_02: Because you can do more things, yeah.
1:05:11
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you see the game a different way, you approach the game a different way than somebody that grew up in a different country.
1:05:17
SPEAKER_02: Do you think that in the women's game it can end up being like the men where we do rely on a lot of internationals, especially as our women are kind of like getting caught because they it's in their culture more than ours?
1:05:29
SPEAKER_01: 100%.
1:05:30
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think you're seeing at least the volume of interest from international, it seems like it goes up every year.
1:05:38
SPEAKER_01: Oh, really?
1:05:39
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:05:39
SPEAKER_01: So if there's that much interest, there's gonna be talent, and then people are gonna find their way to a college roster.
1:05:45
SPEAKER_01: A hundred percent of it maybe not match the men's, but it's gonna get closer.
1:05:50
SPEAKER_02: What's your day like today?
1:05:51
SPEAKER_02: Game day?
1:05:52
SPEAKER_01: Game day, we we got them up at nine.
1:05:54
SPEAKER_01: We our group loves their coffee, so we took them for a coffee walk.
1:05:58
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then we'll head out.
1:06:00
SPEAKER_01: Probably for lunch four hours before the game.
1:06:02
SPEAKER_01: So in about 30 minutes.
1:06:03
SPEAKER_02: Is the game at three?
1:06:05
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
1:06:05
SPEAKER_01: So we'll we'll give them their lunch four hours before, and then you know, we'll get to the stadium 90 minutes before the game.
1:06:11
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
1:06:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh and then uh we're excited about this one.
1:06:14
SPEAKER_01: I mean, uh the staff is the staff is phenomenal at Michigan.
1:06:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:06:17
SPEAKER_01: We uh we've known them I love them.
1:06:19
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we've known them for a while.
1:06:20
SPEAKER_01: We played them last year when they were at Oxford.
1:06:21
SPEAKER_01: Iowa um and it was a great battle.
1:06:24
SPEAKER_01: Uh so we know what we're gonna get, and uh you know, full teams approach this one like the dress rehearsal.
1:06:29
SPEAKER_01: So super excited.
1:06:30
SPEAKER_01: I mean, our kids have worked so hard.
1:06:32
SPEAKER_01: Um, and the game is the fun part for everybody.
1:06:34
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
1:06:35
SPEAKER_01: We all like to train 100%, but the game is the is the next thing.
1:06:38
SPEAKER_02: It's the reward.
1:06:38
SPEAKER_01: So a hundred, it's a treat, right?
1:06:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then right after the game, we'll head back and and we'll start to get ready now for the real deal.
1:06:44
SPEAKER_02: Did you travel with 28?
1:06:47
SPEAKER_01: No, we traveled with all of our healthy players.
1:06:49
SPEAKER_02: All of our oh, how many injuries are you going through?
1:06:52
SPEAKER_01: We've got a couple, uh, probably a handful.
1:06:54
SPEAKER_01: Bad some pre- or something.
1:06:58
SPEAKER_01: No, nothing bad.
1:06:59
SPEAKER_01: Good, just maybe they were her coming in, so they're just gradually coming back.
1:07:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, we travel with our healthy players.
1:07:06
SPEAKER_03: Wow, yeah.
1:07:09
SPEAKER_01: But it's here, college soccer's here.
1:07:11
SPEAKER_02: I'm excited.
1:07:12
SPEAKER_02: That's why, yeah, you know, and I like I said, I have like everybody's schedule.
1:07:16
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, I want to talk to every inbound coach for the most part, and I'll just come to their hotel, make it easy for them, super easy, and it's so easy, and it's just getting to know people.
1:07:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's not like I'm like grilling you, but you texted me, or no, Doug was like, dude, you gotta I got a guy, I got a guy you need to talk to, it's from SC United.
1:07:36
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, ooh, Chicago.
1:07:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's like because I love Chicago.
1:07:39
SPEAKER_02: It's like I'm trying to get in more, you know.
1:07:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, whenever you want to come by and I want to check out the facility, check out the facility.
1:07:48
SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's busy in the winter.
1:07:50
SPEAKER_01: Do you know come for a college showcase?
1:07:53
SPEAKER_02: It's February.
1:07:54
SPEAKER_01: I was thinking about last Saturday in February.
1:07:56
SPEAKER_01: We probably get anywhere from 60 to 80 coaches from across the country.
1:08:01
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
1:08:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then we put on display close to 150 players.
1:08:06
SPEAKER_02: Do you know um Andy McDermott at all?
1:08:09
SPEAKER_01: I know of him, yes.
1:08:11
SPEAKER_02: And intentional sports and actors a great facility as well.
1:08:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, he like rose, he raised all that money so for that facility.
1:08:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that we need more of those.
1:08:21
SPEAKER_01: We we need more guys like Andy.
1:08:23
SPEAKER_01: We just need more investment in the game.
1:08:26
SPEAKER_01: And you know, at the end of the day, like in the Midwest, we're limited.
1:08:30
SPEAKER_01: We were we are limited.
1:08:32
SPEAKER_01: Because when November turns, yeah, you know, it's almost like a shutdown.
1:08:37
SPEAKER_01: So for years I was like, why don't we in the Midwest um play in the summer and stop in the winter?
1:08:44
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't make sense.
1:08:46
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't make sense why we don't.
1:08:48
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
1:08:49
SPEAKER_02: Because we spend so much money on indoor facilities.
1:08:56
SPEAKER_01: Forget the money part.
1:08:57
SPEAKER_01: You can't forget the money part, but again, I'm I'm big, as you can tell, I'm big on the player experience.
1:09:02
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:09:02
SPEAKER_01: Who wants to drive to practice in the snow during Thanksgiving, during Christmas, during New Year's?
1:09:08
SPEAKER_01: I mean nobody does, no parent wants to.
1:09:11
SPEAKER_01: Right.
1:09:12
SPEAKER_01: Um at the end of the day, like that's what will keep people in the game.
1:09:17
SPEAKER_01: That's what will keep people saying, Yeah, you soccer is easy to do.
1:09:22
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
1:09:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, because we all, I mean, how many times during the World Cup did we hear this argument?
1:09:27
SPEAKER_01: Our best players don't play our best athletes don't play soccer.
1:09:29
SPEAKER_01: Well, guess what?
1:09:30
SPEAKER_01: In the US, they have a lot of options.
1:09:32
SPEAKER_01: Field hockey, lacrosse.
1:09:33
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
1:09:33
SPEAKER_02: Well, sorry, we have more sports.
1:09:34
SPEAKER_01: So why don't we make it easy forever to me?
1:09:37
SPEAKER_01: And typically, as a parent, you're probably gonna go with the path of the less resistance to your family.
1:09:41
SPEAKER_02: What do you guys offer like your club teams?
1:09:45
SPEAKER_02: How many sessions?
1:09:46
SPEAKER_01: So our academies do four a week.
1:09:49
SPEAKER_01: Um, however, once the season begins and they're playing double fixtures, Monday is typically all yeah, film session, recovery.
1:09:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, uh, we have a great partnership with the sports performance company that will handle that stuff.
1:10:02
SPEAKER_01: We're good.
1:10:02
SPEAKER_01: You leave its professionals, um, and then the non-academies will train three days a week, and our lower levels will train twice a week.
1:10:10
SPEAKER_01: So it's really tiered by level.
1:10:11
SPEAKER_02: See, I love that.
1:10:12
SPEAKER_02: And I love how like I love finding out how clubs are structured, you know, because there's clubs that I that I've partnered with and they're structured a certain way.
1:10:22
SPEAKER_02: And I I want to see a college coaching uh or college coaching liaison or whatever you the role is, or co uh college recruitment director or whatever.
1:10:35
SPEAKER_02: I want to see that.
1:10:36
SPEAKER_02: I want to see somebody, uh I want to see a marketing director, I want to see an executive director that doesn't really coach.
1:10:43
SPEAKER_02: I I I I don't like I would not want to be a director of coaching and have three teams.
1:10:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:10:49
SPEAKER_02: I I want the director of to be a director, not director of parents.
1:10:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
1:10:53
SPEAKER_02: It's director of coaches.
1:10:55
SPEAKER_01: That's uh that's the struggle right now, right?
1:10:58
SPEAKER_01: Like um a lot of directors are coaching a lot.
1:11:00
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:11:01
SPEAKER_01: Um again, coaching shortage, not you know, for a lot of reasons, right?
1:11:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, and it's it's hard.
1:11:07
SPEAKER_01: I think there's a lot of clubs that are trying to get to the model that we want to, yep, but you gotta have everything set in place to do it.
1:11:14
SPEAKER_02: When Double Pass from Belgium came in.
1:11:16
SPEAKER_01: Yes, double pass, yep.
1:11:17
SPEAKER_02: What they were like, why are all of these directors coaching?
1:11:21
SPEAKER_02: Why why are your why are your directors?
1:11:24
SPEAKER_02: Why are your co coaching directors coaching?
1:11:26
SPEAKER_02: They should be they should be overseeing everything 100%.
1:11:29
SPEAKER_02: And they were shocked about how many directors are coaching.
1:11:33
SPEAKER_02: Thanks for doing this, man.
1:11:34
SPEAKER_02: No, I appreciate it.
1:11:35
SPEAKER_02: Nice to meet you, man.
1:11:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, super fun.
1:11:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's just anytime you're in Chicago, let me know.
1:11:39
SPEAKER_01: And absolutely.
1:11:40
SPEAKER_01: We head to Michigan a lot, so whenever we're we're up here, it will shout.
1:11:43
SPEAKER_02: So you got Jags, Tigers, Midwest, and Stars now.
1:11:48
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah.
1:11:49
SPEAKER_02: Michigan stars now.
1:11:50
SPEAKER_01: So the travel now is awesome.
1:11:52
SPEAKER_01: Like we you we used to do.
1:11:53
SPEAKER_02: Do you double dip when you come to Michigan?
1:11:54
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
1:11:55
SPEAKER_02: We like hit Jags and Tigers.
1:11:57
SPEAKER_01: Our conference used to be Cup, Indie Premier, it gets worse.
1:12:02
SPEAKER_01: Columbus, Ohio, um, Lexington, Kentucky.
1:12:06
SPEAKER_02: Ugh, this is GA.
1:12:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like DA girl.
1:12:09
SPEAKER_02: Oh, GA.
1:12:09
SPEAKER_01: Even in the G A.
1:12:10
SPEAKER_01: Even in the G A.
1:12:11
SPEAKER_01: Um that travel was minor league baseball.
1:12:16
SPEAKER_02: And and and that's another thing, is like, why are they letting everybody in?
1:12:20
SPEAKER_02: It's like, because this country is ginormous.
1:12:23
SPEAKER_02: You don't understand.
1:12:24
SPEAKER_02: People don't realize.
1:12:25
SPEAKER_02: No, it's like it's like people uh like never leave their bubble, and they're like, no, dude, like Chicago to Michigan, that's a five-hour drive.
1:12:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:12:37
SPEAKER_02: By the way, who picked this hotel?
1:12:39
SPEAKER_02: Did you guys pick this hotel or is is it through Michigan?
1:12:42
SPEAKER_00: I think we pick it.
1:12:44
SPEAKER_02: I was like, why do they stay in Livonia?
1:12:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think we pick it.
1:12:47
SPEAKER_00: It's a half an hour away.
1:12:48
SPEAKER_00: It's not too bad.
1:12:48
SPEAKER_00: That's not bad.
1:12:49
SPEAKER_00: We got time.
1:12:49
SPEAKER_00: We're not in a hurry, but yeah.
1:12:51
SPEAKER_02: I was wondering, I was like, why are we in Livonia?
1:12:53
SPEAKER_02: I wonder if that was because you know how the pro soccer works.
1:12:57
SPEAKER_02: It's like the the team will give you the hotel that you stay at.
1:13:01
SPEAKER_01: No, we pick it.
1:13:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure.
1:13:03
SPEAKER_01: Maybe we got a connect uh partnership with this one.
1:13:05
SPEAKER_01: Not sure.
1:13:06
SPEAKER_01: Got it.
1:13:06
SPEAKER_01: So no, thanks for having me on, buddy.
1:13:08
SPEAKER_02: Thanks, brother.
1:13:10
SPEAKER_02: And I think I'm gonna go to the game.
1:13:12
SPEAKER_02: All right.
1:13:13
SPEAKER_02: I hate soccer.