Speaker 1: Time for an oddman rush here on the SDH network
Speaker 1: and we catch up with one of the new franchises
Speaker 1: in the NPSL for twenty twenty five. Time to catch
Speaker 1: up with our friends at Ozner's FC and hanging out
Speaker 1: with us. It is Grand Exalted Poohbah. We's got like
Speaker 1: nineteen different names on the business card. Jay Ronald is
Speaker 1: there and then the director of operations, Jony Somviille. Guys,
Speaker 1: thanks for dropping by for a two v one.
Speaker 2: Thanks for everything else, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: All right, so let me start with you Ronald and
Speaker 1: get into the why of the NPSL for Osners FC,
Speaker 1: Why why do this?
Speaker 3: And go into the NPSL.
Speaker 4: Well, n PSL was the dreams. It's a it's a summer.
Speaker 4: It's a league that's able to elevate our games. Because obviously,
Speaker 4: when I do the research, I've seen a lot of
Speaker 4: leagues out there. Yes, I could have joined UPSL, I
Speaker 4: could have joined uh USL too. I've also going to
Speaker 4: join eed P, which is at local leagues here in
Speaker 4: New York. But the platform n PSL bring, the reputation
Speaker 4: in PSL has those other leagues do not have it.
Speaker 4: So this is why we made the decision to go
Speaker 4: to NPSL as a pro am team. So basically, we
Speaker 4: want to affiliate ourselves with a platform that's also going
Speaker 4: to give us a national coverage.
Speaker 1: And Johnny, this is something that was created a decade
Speaker 1: ago and it's met as a pathway for less fortunate
Speaker 1: youth in the community and particularly those of Haitian descent.
Speaker 1: What's it been like to see things continue to grow
Speaker 1: over the last decade to where Osner's is making the
Speaker 1: impacts that it's making to this day.
Speaker 5: No, it's been it's been a great Like we're really
Speaker 5: happy that this project is you know, working now because
Speaker 5: the youth the community, they really rely on us because
Speaker 5: we have a lot of talented kids that's around and
Speaker 5: you know, they just waiting for the team to stop
Speaker 5: playing so other people could see them and they could
Speaker 5: have better opportunity. And also they you know, they could
Speaker 5: tell all their kids that lives in the country about it,
Speaker 5: and this way we could find a way to bring
Speaker 5: them so they could play with us too. So it's
Speaker 5: been the community is really happy that the project is,
Speaker 5: you know, moving.
Speaker 1: Brooklyn for those I mean, and we've talked about Ronald,
Speaker 1: We've talked to a lot of different franchises that are
Speaker 1: there in the tri State and they have their own
Speaker 1: little sections and all this kind of stuff. So those
Speaker 1: that don't know about Osner's and Brooklyn and the footprint
Speaker 1: and what it means, what does what does the sport
Speaker 1: mean to the Haitian community and to Brooklyn and to both.
Speaker 4: Well, when you look at soccer, soccer is in the
Speaker 4: heart of our nation. Obviously, back home from Haiti, you
Speaker 4: could be two neighbors fighting, You could be two neighbors
Speaker 4: fighting having disagreement. If a game is playing on the television,
Speaker 4: the two of us were sitting together watching the game.
Speaker 4: So soccer brings people together. And soccer is really the
Speaker 4: very first sport in Haiti. While it's the first sport
Speaker 4: in Haiti, that's the very first part I learned how
Speaker 4: to play in Haiti, and this is my favorite pastime.
Speaker 4: Although sometimes my older brother used to chase me to
Speaker 4: play soccer to go do my homework, but it was
Speaker 4: always fun. Now coming here to Brooklyn, as diverse as
Speaker 4: Brooklyn is, where we find a lot of other culture
Speaker 4: each and we find a lot of them that express
Speaker 4: love for the game. So when we are playing together,
Speaker 4: it doesn't matter if he's from Ecuador, if it's from Columbia,
Speaker 4: if it's from Jamaica.
Speaker 2: We just focus on one thing.
Speaker 4: We're just focusing on winning the game, winning and playing
Speaker 4: with each other, so we put make demonstrate the talent
Speaker 4: that they have.
Speaker 2: So that's why is all about with me and Johnny.
Speaker 1: When you look at how things are with the with
Speaker 1: the NPSL, this is a club that, while you do
Speaker 1: have the history that you have, you're starting in the
Speaker 1: NPSL this year and a lot of folks are gonna
Speaker 1: sit there and go, well, yeah, yeah, twenty yeah, the spring,
Speaker 1: the summer, it's over there, and you know, it's halfway
Speaker 1: through the calendar, but it's really not I mean literally
Speaker 1: is coming up just around the corner. What are some
Speaker 1: of the early challenges that you're sitting are going, Man,
Speaker 1: we got a boogie on this kind of stuff. If
Speaker 1: we're gonna get ready for twenty five.
Speaker 5: Right, oh, well, we we really really waiting for the challenge.
Speaker 5: We really we're trying to surprise everybody.
Speaker 2: We know. This is a league that's been going on
Speaker 2: and there's.
Speaker 5: A lot of talented players that's taking part of the league.
Speaker 2: But we really, really, really waiting to make a big impact.
Speaker 5: And the early challenge are, you know, doing the tryouts,
Speaker 5: finding the best players possible and everything.
Speaker 2: But we I think we we up to the challenge.
Speaker 5: I think we're gonna surprise people, and you're gonna keep
Speaker 5: hearing the name, and I hope we're gonna come back
Speaker 5: here and tell you we told you so.
Speaker 3: So Ronald, where is the to do list?
Speaker 1: I mean you and you know the audio is the
Speaker 1: only part that folks are getting to listen to here.
Speaker 1: But I'm looking at you as we're recording this.
Speaker 2: Muh.
Speaker 1: There are folks that have to do lists, and they
Speaker 1: could be in a bunch of different forms. I mean
Speaker 1: it could be in your phone. You sit there in
Speaker 1: the old days and your palm pilot, you write something down,
Speaker 1: you pull out the stylist, you write something down, you
Speaker 1: jamm the stylist back in, you file it away, and
Speaker 1: you go, uh. It could be on a you know,
Speaker 1: it could be on legal pay, could be on a notebook,
Speaker 1: could be on the refrigerator with a magnet. And you
Speaker 1: sit there and you got an idea at two o'clock
Speaker 1: in the morning and it's like, oh, yeah, I've got
Speaker 1: to write this down. You go down, you get the
Speaker 1: glass of water, you write the idea down, you go
Speaker 1: back to bed. You look at the idea in the
Speaker 1: morning on the refrigerator and you say, what did I
Speaker 1: just write down? Where is that work? Could be, you know,
Speaker 1: as you and I are talking, it could be on
Speaker 1: these one of these big white dry erase boards. It's
Speaker 1: like six feet by eight feet long, and it's just
Speaker 1: out of camera range and it's got a lot of
Speaker 1: arrows and you know, things going in different directions. Where
Speaker 1: is the to do list for osners to get ready
Speaker 1: for the NPSL And what do you think the next
Speaker 1: thing you can cross off of that list is as
Speaker 1: you get ready for this season?
Speaker 4: Well, though I'll an't say the last part, the next
Speaker 4: thing I'm going to cross off that list is promotion
Speaker 4: communicating with you because that was a might to do
Speaker 4: list and I am somewhat organized. My to do list
Speaker 4: is an iPad, so which I always walk around with me.
Speaker 4: I have it in my reminders. So the fact that
Speaker 4: he's constantly with me.
Speaker 5: My uh my wife is say, hey, Ronald, if you
Speaker 5: lose that iPad, you you lose your entire life because
Speaker 5: everything is in my iPad. The reminder, I put reminders,
Speaker 5: I put noes, weights constantly beeping.
Speaker 2: Again, I don't like noise.
Speaker 5: My phone or iPad is vibration, so it's constantly vibrating
Speaker 5: of my reminders.
Speaker 2: So yes, it's it's in my iPad.
Speaker 1: So, Johnny, where is your to do list? Or is
Speaker 1: it coordinated with Ronald's to do list on his iPad
Speaker 1: on vibrate That I imagine is what I don't see
Speaker 1: is probably like a set of handcuffs that one handcuff
Speaker 1: is around his wrist and the other handcuff is around
Speaker 1: the loop and the fastener for the iPad.
Speaker 3: Where's your to do list?
Speaker 5: I have half of my to do list and president
Speaker 5: on iPad and I have the other half in my
Speaker 5: And you know, because it's a big project and he's
Speaker 5: the main character in the project, so most of those
Speaker 5: to do lists come from him, even though I challenge
Speaker 5: him a lot to change.
Speaker 2: Some of them.
Speaker 5: You know, you know, he's really reluctant to do those
Speaker 5: things sometimes. But you know, since send some director of operation,
Speaker 5: a lot of things gotta go my way.
Speaker 2: So my twoto list is on.
Speaker 5: My iPad and the other half is on his, and
Speaker 5: we're working together to make things happen.
Speaker 2: What he's trying to say something.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what what? What? What's what's going on? Ronald?
Speaker 4: One of the things that I do also right and
Speaker 4: my on my reminder because most of the team members
Speaker 4: they have an iPad to walk around, I will do
Speaker 4: the to do list and my iPad and I would
Speaker 4: share with them. So by sharing with them, whenever I
Speaker 4: do something I completed across it out, it's putomatic cross
Speaker 4: out from their iPad as well, and vice versa. So
Speaker 4: this is why he's saying he's to do list partially
Speaker 4: my iPad because I tend to add a lot of
Speaker 4: those things from my appad to his listen.
Speaker 1: So what kind of Ronald, what kind of individual are
Speaker 1: you looking for to be a part of Osner's going forward,
Speaker 1: whether you're talking about on the field or off the field,
Speaker 1: to make sure that your message is getting out the
Speaker 1: right way, that you're being represented the way that you
Speaker 1: want there in Brooklyn, in the community and in the
Speaker 1: in the NPSL. What kind of individuals are you looking
Speaker 1: for to join forces with the.
Speaker 2: Right now, we're looking for everyone.
Speaker 4: But while I'm looking for everyone to join forces with me,
Speaker 4: but one thing that they must have we must have
Speaker 4: in common is the love for the game. As long
Speaker 4: as the person love sports, love soccer particularly, I want
Speaker 4: I want them to join me, whether administrative work that
Speaker 4: they have not done it previously or before, I'll be
Speaker 4: more than happy to teach them.
Speaker 2: Fortunately, I do have.
Speaker 5: A crew guy like Johnny Woie or Sammy, all of
Speaker 5: these guys, they're willing to teach people as long as
Speaker 5: the person want to join this journey that we're doing
Speaker 5: with ashnar FC through NPSL.
Speaker 1: When you know, Johnny, when you're looking at folks on
Speaker 1: the field, I know that you're probably looking to have
Speaker 1: a specific kind of play and a specific kind of
Speaker 1: presentation of what kind of soccer are you looking to
Speaker 1: have out there on the field in Brooklyn come twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five. To bring folks in the door. And when
Speaker 1: they come in the door the first time, they keep
Speaker 1: coming in the door.
Speaker 5: After that, Oh, you know, we're we're living in the
Speaker 5: messy era, in the Pep Guardiola era, So we were
Speaker 5: trying to imitate the tikitaka, and that's what we're trying
Speaker 5: to to bring and most likely all coaching staff it's
Speaker 5: gonna be Colombian. So we try to bring South American
Speaker 5: football to the field. As soon as they come, they
Speaker 5: gonna you know, people are gonna they're gonna keep coming
Speaker 5: because what we're bringing, what we're bringing in the field,
Speaker 5: they're gonna love and they're gonna keep coming, most likely
Speaker 5: tik taka. And you know, I don't want to I
Speaker 5: don't want to put the coaches plan out there, but
Speaker 5: but we we coming.
Speaker 2: We coming with something nice that people are gonna love well.
Speaker 1: And in the North Atlantic, Ronald, you're looking at Balleo, Syracuse,
Speaker 1: New York, Shockers, New Jersey United, Kingston Stockade, Hartford City ASC,
Speaker 1: New York, who we've had the chance to catch up
Speaker 1: with as well. I mean, this is some heavyweights that
Speaker 1: you're getting into. And I don't know if they've told
Speaker 1: you that you're going to be in the North Atlantic,
Speaker 1: but at least in the North Atlantic as it stands,
Speaker 1: those are the folks that are in your footprint.
Speaker 3: This is some heavy competition that you're diving into out
Speaker 3: of the block.
Speaker 2: I am ready.
Speaker 4: I am ready for all of them, and I'm particularly
Speaker 4: ready for American Soccer Club, which is obviously right now
Speaker 4: here in Long Island. I live in Long Island, I
Speaker 4: work not too far from them, and I'm particularly ready
Speaker 4: for them because I want to make sure that there
Speaker 4: is a competition, whether it fits in Long Island or
Speaker 4: people in Brooklyn. When we are playing. They enjoyed himself.
Speaker 4: They enjoyed himself because one of the things that I
Speaker 4: have done.
Speaker 2: I guess I've read about the team.
Speaker 4: I see exactly his history and also the coach's history, and.
Speaker 5: To some extent, the coaches of the two teams happened
Speaker 5: to work together in the past.
Speaker 2: They happen to work together in the past through New
Speaker 2: York Cosmos.
Speaker 4: So I welcome the challenge, and I think it's gonna
Speaker 4: be a very good one because you know, they have
Speaker 4: a lot of history in football, and so do we.
Speaker 6: So I welcome that so so so, Johnny, what I'm
Speaker 6: hearing from the Grand Exalted to box in it is
Speaker 6: that there's going to be some good natured rivalry with
Speaker 6: your friends over at asc New York.
Speaker 1: I'm anticipated that there's gonna be some some darby action
Speaker 1: going on, might be some might be some trophy stuff
Speaker 1: going on, might be some competition looking for players and
Speaker 1: trying to figure out, okay, you know you want to
Speaker 1: come over here and play you don't.
Speaker 3: You don't want to go hang out with our friends
Speaker 3: over at a s C.
Speaker 1: You want to hang out in Brooklyn instead of Long Island?
Speaker 3: What what? What are you am? I am on the
Speaker 3: right page here when it comes to wrong.
Speaker 5: Before before I answer the question, before I go to
Speaker 5: the to the question, my wife wanted me to do
Speaker 5: some show off and she said, I gotta turn on
Speaker 5: the camera and show you my OSNA gear.
Speaker 3: Oh there, you know there it is?
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so for those who are who are just getting
Speaker 1: a chance to listen, Johnny is sporting. As much as
Speaker 1: I'm a Florida State University alum, I cannot recognize.
Speaker 3: I cannot mention those colors typically.
Speaker 1: Are on the jersey that have to do with the
Speaker 1: folks that are involved in in Gainesville.
Speaker 3: I can't quite mention the gaithers.
Speaker 2: The gaithers, well.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well you'll say it for you.
Speaker 1: I can't fighting words, but those are the colors that
Speaker 1: are breaking out here in twenty twenty five. And uh,
Speaker 1: I you know, I'm I'm looking forward to the rivalry,
Speaker 1: the good natured nos So Johnny first season, what are
Speaker 1: your expectations.
Speaker 2: You?
Speaker 5: As you asked the president the question earlier. As far
Speaker 5: as he comes to the challenge, let me give you
Speaker 5: a little gossip. F Motown they won the league two
Speaker 5: years ago and they mostly Haitian that plays there. So
Speaker 5: the guys we used to and we might have a
Speaker 5: few of them with us too. So we're going for
Speaker 5: all of it. We're going for it all.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 5: As far as the derby, I think ASC gotta earn
Speaker 5: that first, Okay, because the trip it's gonna work, the
Speaker 5: trip to Brooklyn. You know, everybody's gonna want to come
Speaker 5: here to play. They're all gonna want to come here
Speaker 5: to play. So as far as what they should expect
Speaker 5: from us, it's gonna be playoff and more.
Speaker 6: Wow.
Speaker 3: I mean that that.
Speaker 1: That is already some good natured smack going on here
Speaker 1: from from our friends at Ozer's f C as they
Speaker 1: get ready for season number one, along with our friends
Speaker 1: of American Soccer Club Johnny Sounvel, director of ops, and
Speaker 1: Jay Ronald is their grand exalted Poohbah of everything going
Speaker 1: on there at Ozler's FC, dropping by for a two
Speaker 1: v one here on the Stage Network. So Ronald, let
Speaker 1: me let me let me ask you this, what is have?
Speaker 1: How how much has your phone blown up since the
Speaker 1: the announcement happened about Johnny shaking his head, He's like.
Speaker 3: Everything has happened, how so then it's so fine. I'll
Speaker 3: ask both of you.
Speaker 5: Phony is in understate on the under like then it's
Speaker 5: not enough. It's phone email and everything.
Speaker 3: Phone email, what's app the whole Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, M everything, DM everything. We get a lot.
Speaker 5: We're getting players from you know, the West side, east side, everywhere, calling.
Speaker 2: From from Nigeria. And you said you want to be
Speaker 2: with us Massachusetts.
Speaker 5: Everybody's saying they want to play with the team, they
Speaker 5: want to to try out.
Speaker 2: So that's that's very good.
Speaker 3: What's it like having your phone blow up like that?
Speaker 2: It's a great feeling. It's a great feeling.
Speaker 5: See, I'm an account then during tax season, my phone
Speaker 5: is constantly buzzing. Clients tend to prefer to call me
Speaker 5: and my cell phone instead of calling the office. And
Speaker 5: it's a great feeling where my phone now is buzzing,
Speaker 5: it's buzzing for something different and it's something that a
Speaker 5: love for, something that I love from from early age.
Speaker 5: So I'm looking forward to it. And every time my
Speaker 5: phone rings I pick it up. It's as if like
Speaker 5: you know it's somebody that I was speaking with that
Speaker 5: years before, so I look forward to it. On my side,
Speaker 5: it's not as great as a feeling as for the press,
Speaker 5: because usually I'm a player.
Speaker 2: I still play.
Speaker 5: I'm in an L I sf L, I still play,
Speaker 5: and usually I'm a player, and I'm not usually on
Speaker 5: the other side, like fixing things and you know, putting
Speaker 5: things together.
Speaker 2: And it seems like this this is a hard job.
Speaker 2: I get the president.
Speaker 5: It's like a twenty four hour job, and you know
Speaker 5: it's I love the challenge and I'm happy the way
Speaker 5: we're going because we never had a team like that
Speaker 5: in a community. Everybody's happy, but that job is really hard.
Speaker 5: But it's it's really satisfying having people call saying that
Speaker 5: they want to be part of something that we're putting together.
Speaker 5: That that's a great feeling.
Speaker 2: It is.
Speaker 1: It is Facebook, Instagram, the two hundred and eighty character app.
Speaker 3: It's really easy.
Speaker 1: It's at Osner's O, s N E R, SFC on
Speaker 1: all of the social media's, it's really easy to track
Speaker 1: down what's going on.
Speaker 3: Correct. So, and Ronald, let me ask you this.
Speaker 1: What was the biggest wake up call that you've had
Speaker 1: so far about this whole thing is you know, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: you know, oh, you know what, this is real?
Speaker 3: Now, what's the biggest wake up call you've had?
Speaker 4: The biggest call, really, I would say, like, you know,
Speaker 4: it's the number of people in the community that can
Speaker 4: come to us for the past after the press release
Speaker 4: to say, hey, listen, I am thrilled. How thrilled they
Speaker 4: are that we are able to go into this league
Speaker 4: because they know there were people prior to years prior
Speaker 4: to us coming in that tried to join it, that
Speaker 4: tried to do what we're doing, and they have not
Speaker 4: been able to achieve it. And twenty twenty four, twenty
Speaker 4: twenty five, we will be achieving it. So that's a
Speaker 4: great achievement for us. And the number of goals that
Speaker 4: we're getting, the number of guals.
Speaker 1: Johnny, I imagine that you have unlimited international minutes and
Speaker 1: WhatsApp and all these kinds of things that you know
Speaker 1: that you are able to accept all of this information
Speaker 1: without being charged like nine thousand dollars at the end
Speaker 1: of the month.
Speaker 5: That's that's a good thing. That's what's up round and
Speaker 5: that's really, really, really a good thing. Really, and I
Speaker 5: know you didn't ask me, but the big wakeup call
Speaker 5: for me. I know we weren't. We weren't allowed to
Speaker 5: mention NPSL for the past month and every every time
Speaker 5: we weren't allowed because before they accept you, you cannot
Speaker 5: mention NPSL in anything. And I remember Pres told me
Speaker 5: we got to work hard we go into the NPSL.
Speaker 5: I'm like, no, we not because they didn't announced us yet.
Speaker 5: And that was that Friday at three pm when they
Speaker 5: announced us and I was waiting in front of the
Speaker 5: computer when I be fresh and I see welcome Osner
Speaker 5: to the NPSL, and that was scary.
Speaker 1: Well, I mean, you've now got to get ready for
Speaker 1: the twenty twenty five season, and it's out there on
Speaker 1: social media and on the world Wide Web with websites
Speaker 1: and everything. Gentlemen, two weeks in and the holidays are done,
Speaker 1: the presents have been unwrapped, and now now you've got
Speaker 1: to make sure that you know how to assemble the
Speaker 1: fire truck and make sure that you can put the
Speaker 1: like together and make sure that it doesn't fall apart.
Speaker 1: By the time you get to the twenty twenty five season,
Speaker 1: it is jay ron On is there great exalted Poobah
Speaker 1: Johnny Soanville, director of operations for Oscar's FC, And you know,
Speaker 1: I'm and like I said, and Johnny, I'm I'm putting
Speaker 1: my hand up above the colors of the jersey there.
Speaker 2: We gotta make a red one just for you. Reserve
Speaker 2: one well.
Speaker 3: But then the boss is gonna get mad.
Speaker 1: Because she she likes those colors from the state that
Speaker 1: she's in and you mentioned red in the state that
Speaker 1: she went to school. She likes those colors. She doesn't
Speaker 1: handle the red very well, the whole the whole Crimson thing.
Speaker 1: She's not a fan. But uh, gentlemen, it was great
Speaker 1: to catch up with you. Glad that the first step
Speaker 1: is on board and that you don't have to hit
Speaker 1: for fresh waiting for announcements anymore. A very very tough
Speaker 1: activity up there in the Northeast. When it comes to
Speaker 1: the twenty five season in the the NPS, selling a
Speaker 1: very part of the footprint. Gentlemen, you know we'll be
Speaker 1: keeping an eye on you, and as things continue to
Speaker 1: grow and evolve, you know that we'll be knocking on
Speaker 1: your door to get the latest and greatest before the
Speaker 1: launch happens in Brooklyn. Here in twenty twenty five. Gentlemen,
Speaker 1: thanks for dropping by for two V one. We will
Speaker 1: catch up with you soon, and we know we're gonna
Speaker 1: be catching up with you a lot.
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 5: We have something big in the kitchen coming the next month,
Speaker 5: so if it happened, we'd like to have you with us,