Speaker 1: It is the bottom of the hour, and so we
Speaker 1: get to ask about moguls and training and find out
Speaker 1: what's going on. Because there's a team that we follow
Speaker 1: on a weekly basis here on the show, and there's
Speaker 1: a postseason coming up in the second division in the
Speaker 1: US Soccer Pyramid, and there's a particular team that we
Speaker 1: do talk about and they made the playoffs.
Speaker 2: We just don't know where.
Speaker 1: We don't know where they're seated because we have one
Speaker 1: final weekend in USL Championship to figure it out. So
Speaker 1: we will ask our favorite mogul and training about what
Speaker 1: it's like to experience the playoffs and get in there
Speaker 1: and what it's going to be like. Time for the
Speaker 1: Friday free kick with our friends from Beyond Goals Entering
Speaker 1: and our buddy Michael Parker is hanging out with us
Speaker 1: this week.
Speaker 2: What is up?
Speaker 3: Good morning?
Speaker 2: So are you nervous? Are are you excited?
Speaker 1: Rhode Island FC is in the playoffs and it's the
Speaker 1: kings of the draws.
Speaker 2: Got a good draw and you're going to be in
Speaker 2: the postseason.
Speaker 1: You don't know where yet, I think, because there's some
Speaker 1: math and one more match to play.
Speaker 2: But how does it feel?
Speaker 1: I broke my I broke my sideline reporter a guidebook out,
Speaker 1: and I just said, so, how does it feel.
Speaker 2: How does it feel?
Speaker 3: Cap It feels really good. Yeah. Obviously that was goal
Speaker 3: number one going into the season. We wanted to be
Speaker 3: a playoff team, you're one, and so we've accomplished that,
Speaker 3: and yeah, we feel really good about where the team
Speaker 3: is right now. The second half of the season has
Speaker 3: been really strong for us, and so you know, we
Speaker 3: know that we're going to have an away game. We
Speaker 3: don't know where that'll be, but honestly, we feel confident
Speaker 3: going into that game. You know, obviously we hope to
Speaker 3: avoid Louisville.
Speaker 1: Yes, that would it every just like, no, you can
Speaker 1: have Louisville, I insist.
Speaker 3: And probably Charleston, but yeah, I think everybody else we
Speaker 3: feel we feel good about going in there, and so
Speaker 3: we'll see. And selfishly, I hope it's Detroit or Indie
Speaker 3: because those are quick little trips for me.
Speaker 1: Yes, well, and going going to Keyworth to play Detroit City.
Speaker 1: Danny Dickyo has done some great work there this year
Speaker 1: with them, and it's uh, Keyworth is a pain in
Speaker 1: the ass to go, it's to go play.
Speaker 3: It's a tough place to play, no doubt about it.
Speaker 1: And Indy eleven they play at the mic at Ouey Poui,
Speaker 1: Indiana University, Purdue University, Indiana, Indianapolis, whatever they call it,
Speaker 1: but the mic, the mic not as intimidating.
Speaker 2: But I think that if you can avoid.
Speaker 1: Going to ham Trammick and going to Detroit City, I
Speaker 1: think that Detroit City can be had. I think Indy
Speaker 1: eleven can be had. India eleven likes to score a
Speaker 1: lot of goals, but I think that you guys defensively
Speaker 1: can take something like that. So I like the idea
Speaker 1: of the first round matchup, and I know that you
Speaker 1: can take a little hot flight or maybe even hopping
Speaker 1: the car and turn it into a golfing excursion while
Speaker 1: you have the time left on the clock to do it.
Speaker 3: I like where your head's at, John Well.
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, somebody's got to play golf on
Speaker 1: this show. And since I don't have the time to
Speaker 1: do it, I anoint you to improve both of our
Speaker 1: handicaps simultaneously.
Speaker 3: I will gladly excite.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: So we got a lot of different things to kind
Speaker 1: of get into here that are somewhat postseason mentally related
Speaker 1: Atlanta United, and I guess this is where I'll steer
Speaker 1: us into the mentoring conversation. So Atlanta United goes into
Speaker 1: the eight and nine. They go into a hostile environment,
Speaker 1: they take care of business. They get out to the
Speaker 1: early start, then it turns into too two. Then they
Speaker 1: go to PK's and a forty year old keeper, as
Speaker 1: we all know keepers age differently though, takes care of business.
Speaker 1: And then they go to the next stage of this.
Speaker 1: What is it when you have conversations with with mentees
Speaker 1: about going into high impact emotional situations? Do you have
Speaker 1: these conversations about controlling emotions and understanding the moment while
Speaker 1: still trying to accomplish what you want to accomplish coming
Speaker 1: out the other side?
Speaker 3: For sure, there's no doubt about it. And I've spoken
Speaker 3: to a few teams in high school that are going
Speaker 3: into playoffs or going into championship games and things like that,
Speaker 3: and the two messages I always tell them are one,
Speaker 3: play to win the game, don't play not to lose,
Speaker 3: and to expect the unexpected and expect that something will
Speaker 3: go wrong. You will get punched in the face metaphorically
Speaker 3: in the game. And what's going to be the reaction right.
Speaker 3: Maybe you go down one zero, maybe you give up
Speaker 3: a two goal lead, maybe you get a red card,
Speaker 3: you know, who knows, Maybe the referee doesn't give you
Speaker 3: obvious penalty. I don't know, but something going to go wrong,
Speaker 3: and be ready to dig deep in those moments and
Speaker 3: get over it and get past it quickly.
Speaker 1: When you have a when you have a lead, like
Speaker 1: Atlanta United did in this in this playing game in
Speaker 1: a hostile environment, they handle everything well. But then you
Speaker 1: get that moment with Brad where I think it was
Speaker 1: because Gregorson was in his peripheral vision and you see
Speaker 1: a shot coming in and you see something wobble and
Speaker 1: you're like, okay, what was that? And you're instant, you're
Speaker 1: distracted slightly, and then Joseph comes in for the slam
Speaker 1: dunk to make it two to one.
Speaker 2: You're in a moment like that.
Speaker 1: You've got to shake off those moments too, and that's
Speaker 1: what your teammates are for. That's what all those voices
Speaker 1: and that experience is for, you know. I guess the
Speaker 1: next stage is conversations emotionally about getting past those rough
Speaker 1: moments and not turning it into quicksand I guess it's
Speaker 1: probably the next topic here. Do you talk about quicksand
Speaker 1: and how to avoid those kinds of things?
Speaker 3: For sure? Yeah, for sure. It's funny. I just made
Speaker 3: a phdeo doing a lot of video and mouths.
Speaker 2: But they just made a.
Speaker 3: Video because I saw is something happened in an FC
Speaker 3: Dallas game. I'm pretty sure it was from last weekend,
Speaker 3: and I don't know who the player was. He was
Speaker 3: their defensive midfielder and it was late in the game.
Speaker 3: I think they're winning two zero, and he gets the
Speaker 3: ball in his own eighteen, makes a bad pass, but
Speaker 3: the player takes a bad touch and it comes right
Speaker 3: back to him. So mistake number one, no harm, no foul,
Speaker 3: plays the ball out wide. It's not a good pass,
Speaker 3: no harm, no foul. His teammates ends up getting to it,
Speaker 3: he goes over to support, gets the ball back again,
Speaker 3: and I talk about how at this point right now,
Speaker 3: his confidence is shook because he gets the ball back
Speaker 3: and he's got a second to look up and play
Speaker 3: a wide open pass through the lines, and he doesn't.
Speaker 3: And I talk about it's because his confidence is shot.
Speaker 3: He was afraid to make this pass and so he
Speaker 3: didn't make it. Then he gets closed down, tries to
Speaker 3: play back to the goalkeeper, forward, reads the pass, intercepts it,
Speaker 3: scores And it's not the first mistake. Usually that hurts
Speaker 3: you the most. Right, if the first mistake might hurt you,
Speaker 3: it might give up the goal, but usually it's not.
Speaker 3: Usually it's a second it's a compound effect, and you know,
Speaker 3: that's what we can't have. That's what we need to avoid.
Speaker 3: Right We're not going to avoid mistakes, but can we
Speaker 3: avoid the compound mistakes that are based off of basically
Speaker 3: losing some confidence and not being able to get over
Speaker 3: the first one.
Speaker 1: How do you how do you develop short term memory?
Speaker 1: I guess is the it's the whole goldfish mentality bit,
Speaker 1: you know what that we've seen from Ted Lasso. How
Speaker 1: how do you develop short term memory and being able
Speaker 1: to put things past you? Because I would I would
Speaker 1: think as an athlete growing up and then as a
Speaker 1: professional that shutting those kinds of things off and then
Speaker 1: just focusing on the next and going forward. That's got
Speaker 1: to be one of the most difficult things out there
Speaker 1: to try and be as an athlete, is to put
Speaker 1: the past to the side, even though it's going to
Speaker 1: be hanging on your shoulder and kind of reminding you
Speaker 1: about what just happened here. How do you put that
Speaker 1: fear aside? How do you put that activity aside and
Speaker 1: focus going forward.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's absolutely one of the toughest things, and there's
Speaker 3: there's no easy solution, and everybody's a little different, you know.
Speaker 3: I think there's some younger athletes I talk to where
Speaker 3: you try and have something, some sort of action or
Speaker 3: voice or something that triggers your ability to get your
Speaker 3: mind off of that and onto something else, like picking
Speaker 3: up a blade of grass and throwing it, or telling
Speaker 3: yourself a certain phrase that you've already come up with
Speaker 3: to remind yourself to let things go, you know. And
Speaker 3: I think it starts beforehand as well of not expecting
Speaker 3: to be perfect, expecting to make mistakes. It goes into
Speaker 3: it as well, because I think when you have that mentality,
Speaker 3: it helps you get over it quickly rather than expecting
Speaker 3: to be perfect and then you lament on it for longer.
Speaker 3: So yeah, it's a challenge and you really need to
Speaker 3: go through it, experience it, and that's why we say
Speaker 3: that mistakes and losses and all these bad things make
Speaker 3: you better in the end. If you're able to learn
Speaker 3: from it.
Speaker 1: What were your for lack of a better word, dismissers,
Speaker 1: What were your triggers to put something past? Was it
Speaker 1: a deep breath? Was it the blade of grass? Was
Speaker 1: it you know, kicking you know, kicking air? What were
Speaker 1: your what were your ways to get past that bad
Speaker 1: moment when you had a chance to breathe and process
Speaker 1: and move forward.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for me, it was always I wanted to have
Speaker 3: absolute full focus for like the next five minutes. It
Speaker 3: was like, Okay, I've made a mistake right now, but
Speaker 3: don't make another mistake here in the next few minutes, right,
Speaker 3: really focus in, play safe, if you have to, right,
Speaker 3: get into a tackle, do something, get in, get involved.
Speaker 3: And also don't let the communication lack just because you
Speaker 3: had a bad moment, like those types of things of
Speaker 3: like trying to make sure, hey, stay in tune, stay
Speaker 3: in tune, stay sharp here. Right, these are the moments
Speaker 3: that your most susceptible to make another mistake, right, as
Speaker 3: individually and as a team. Right, they say, like at
Speaker 3: right after scoring a goal, Right, it's the most susceptible
Speaker 3: time to giving up a goal. Right, It's because you
Speaker 3: know you let your guard down for a minute, and
Speaker 3: same thing. After you make a mistake, you let your
Speaker 3: guard down a little bit, you're thinking about it, your
Speaker 3: confidence isn't as high, and then boom, the ball comes
Speaker 3: right back to you, because of course it does. And
Speaker 3: are you ready?
Speaker 2: It's just.
Speaker 1: I you know, you look at those moments and you
Speaker 1: try not to compound mistakes, and we talk about putting
Speaker 1: that first mistake past you. Then you get those individuals
Speaker 1: that apparently can't, and then you get into the whole
Speaker 1: compounding of a mistake and it turns into one and
Speaker 1: another and another and another, and then you can't get
Speaker 1: out of your own way, it seems, and that that
Speaker 1: to me, it's you know, while we talk about getting
Speaker 1: past that first mistake is difficult, it's compounding those mistakes
Speaker 1: then get back and it seems like the more the mistake,
Speaker 1: the more difficult it is to get out of that,
Speaker 1: to get out of that rut. Or is it just
Speaker 1: that one shaking moment of confidence, even after you've had
Speaker 1: just the worst day and your you know, your day
Speaker 1: was ish and Soccer America gave you a two up
Speaker 1: to that point, you get to that one moment. Is
Speaker 1: it as simple as for an athlete that one moment
Speaker 1: or does it have to be if you've had a
Speaker 1: really bad day and you.
Speaker 2: Had mistake, mistake, mistake, mistake, mistake and you can't shake
Speaker 2: it off.
Speaker 1: Is it as simple as that one good moment that
Speaker 1: can move you forward or do you have to have
Speaker 1: a chain?
Speaker 2: Do you think? Or does it vary with the individual?
Speaker 3: It does? But that John, this is what separates you know,
Speaker 3: the okay to the good, the good to the best. Right,
Speaker 3: This is what separates the best athletes. It's their ability
Speaker 3: to get over these little things and not let them
Speaker 3: affect them. Because anyone can do it well once and
Speaker 3: anybody can do it well for a week or whatever
Speaker 3: it is, right, But when you do get punched in
Speaker 3: the face, when you do have a terrible game right,
Speaker 3: mistake after mistake and it just doesn't go your way,
Speaker 3: can you get back on the horse and can you
Speaker 3: get it back on it quickly? And even in game right?
Speaker 3: These are the things right And it's every single sport
Speaker 3: that this is what separates so many athletes. And it's
Speaker 3: not really anything to do with kicking a soccer ball
Speaker 3: or shooting a basketball or anything like that. It's more
Speaker 3: than mental space for sure, right, because they all can
Speaker 3: do it. It's what got them to this place, and
Speaker 3: it's what got a youth athlete to their travel team
Speaker 3: or whatever. Right, But to get to the next step, right,
Speaker 3: everything's going to get harder, and so how do you react?
Speaker 3: And yeah, for good players, they that one good play
Speaker 3: can overshadow it and get them back on track.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: For somebody that's not as in tuned, they need a
Speaker 3: whole good game or two good games or whatever it
Speaker 3: might be, five good plays in order to start getting
Speaker 3: over it. And sometimes that's too much.
Speaker 1: Being an underdog going into a situation where everyone around
Speaker 1: you is thinking, yeah, you're the underdog. The other team's
Speaker 1: just gonna truck you, and this kind of thing. How
Speaker 1: do you handle and how do you have conversation with
Speaker 1: folks about understanding that, yeah, you might be an underdog,
Speaker 1: but that's the outside noise. How do you in a
Speaker 1: situation like that? And yes, I'm kind of talking about
Speaker 1: a team that you used to play for. Everybody is
Speaker 1: staring at one team and going, yeah, they're the nine.
Speaker 2: You know, it's like.
Speaker 1: They're going to Miami or Fort Lauderdale and they're the dog.
Speaker 1: How do you put or channel the idea of no
Speaker 1: one believes in us and channel that into positive energy
Speaker 1: instead of letting the negative weight and everything else that surrounds.
Speaker 2: Us today affecting you.
Speaker 1: How do you channel internal as opposed to focusing on
Speaker 1: external and letting that affect your playing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I honestly think that's pretty easy. That's that's what
Speaker 3: brings teams together the most, right, is when everybody thinks
Speaker 3: they're going to get crushed or lose or have no
Speaker 3: chance right where it's like, hey, it's us against the
Speaker 3: world out here, and nobody thinks that we have a chance,
Speaker 3: and and that's a good way to play a lot
Speaker 3: of times, right because it's like the pressure is totally
Speaker 3: on the other team. There's there's no pressure on you
Speaker 3: as a big underdog, right everything you go. If you
Speaker 3: go out there and win, it's it's amazing. You go
Speaker 3: out there and lose, and it's like, well, we were
Speaker 3: expected to lose, So really it should free you up
Speaker 3: to play a little bit more loose and take those
Speaker 3: risks and go after it because you have to. Right
Speaker 3: as the quote unquote worst team, you need to take
Speaker 3: risks and do things right. You can't just go out
Speaker 3: there and hope that you can have one moment and
Speaker 3: just defend and do those things because you know you're
Speaker 3: not the better team, right and you know, specifically to
Speaker 3: Myami versus Atlanta. Yeah, and Miami is the better team, right,
Speaker 3: There's that's that's fact. Does that mean they're going to
Speaker 3: win the series? No, it doesn't. But you know, you
Speaker 3: you need to do some things that are a little
Speaker 3: bit special in order to pull an upset. And you know,
Speaker 3: sometimes when you've got that mentality of us against the world, right,
Speaker 3: it brings the team together a little bit and gets
Speaker 3: it gets everybody on the same page.
Speaker 1: How difficult is it in a situation like this to
Speaker 1: focus on the front of the jersey and not the
Speaker 1: name on the back, because you know that the Gulf Stream,
Speaker 1: Galactic Coast, they're going to be out there and it's
Speaker 1: going to be you know, Messi, Suarez, Busquets Alba, all
Speaker 1: the young guns, all this kind of stuff. How do
Speaker 1: you tell folks to focus on the crest and the
Speaker 1: jerseys that you're going up against and not be intimidated
Speaker 1: by your surroundings knowing that there are those big guns
Speaker 1: that are on the other side like that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's tough. You know, I think that it's easy
Speaker 3: to get distracted by those three, but there there's a
Speaker 3: lot of good players on Miami that can hurt you.
Speaker 3: And so if you focus all your attention on those
Speaker 3: two guys, especially right, there's then Julian or Gomez or
Speaker 3: Campana or.
Speaker 2: Or whomever.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, exactly the other English winger wherever he's from?
Speaker 2: Oh, Robert Robert Taylor? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Yeah, uh is he? Where is he from?
Speaker 1: I think I think he's He's it's a weird one American,
Speaker 1: like Sweden or something.
Speaker 3: I didn't think he was an American, but it's a it's.
Speaker 1: An it's it's like Robert Taylor, and it's an odd
Speaker 1: it's an odd one that you wouldn't necessarily associate.
Speaker 2: I think it's like Sweden or something.
Speaker 3: Okay, but yeah, they've got a lot of pieces that
Speaker 3: you can hurt you. I think the most important thing
Speaker 3: for me, and I cannot, for the life of me,
Speaker 3: John understand it, is I really hope that for Atlanta
Speaker 3: that warning signs go up in your head when Messi's
Speaker 3: got the ball, or Jordi Alba has the ball and
Speaker 3: they always look for each other, or Messi runs after
Speaker 3: he plays the ball, he runs deep, Like when I
Speaker 3: watched that Revolution game from last week. I cannot believe
Speaker 3: they let this guy run free. How can you not
Speaker 3: run with him? I get it if he beats you, right,
Speaker 3: that's one thing. But he always passes and moves always.
Speaker 3: His movement is so good. So and I cannot believe
Speaker 3: if Jordi Alba has one more cutback cross to Messi
Speaker 3: at the top of the box for a goal, I
Speaker 3: don't know how it happens. John, It's unbelievable.
Speaker 2: It's there on tape. Finland is Robert.
Speaker 3: Taylor by the way, Finland.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it was like it was something scanning.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's like this has happened on tape and
Speaker 1: in person for years.
Speaker 2: This is how this happens. How do you not know
Speaker 2: that this is going to happen when so and so
Speaker 2: I was there then.
Speaker 3: But one last thing, John, is I can't remember. I
Speaker 3: tell you already. I went to the Miami Columbus game
Speaker 3: here in Columbus a few weeks ago, and Columbus dominated
Speaker 3: the first half. They played so well. It was like
Speaker 3: the fortieth minute and I was thinking to myself, this
Speaker 3: is the worst I've ever seen Messi play. He wasn't
Speaker 3: completing passes. He didn't have the ball much anyways, because
Speaker 3: Columbus had it a lot. But even when he did,
Speaker 3: he was so bad, like the worst I've ever seen
Speaker 3: him play, and I was thinking, godh this is crazy.
Speaker 3: And literally six minutes later it's halftime, it's two zero
Speaker 3: and mess He's got two goals. Right, So it's like
Speaker 3: you can never ever let your guard down and that
Speaker 3: but also to your point of like, hey, mistake after
Speaker 3: mistake after mistake and then going right right back in it.
Speaker 1: And that was why I wanted to ask about, you know,
Speaker 1: handling the crest on the front as opposed to the
Speaker 1: name on the back, because it can be something where
Speaker 1: it does turn into quicksand you get that you're you're
Speaker 1: even after forty five, say, and then a moment happens
Speaker 1: and then you're Then it might shake you into this
Speaker 1: idea of like, oh crap, yeah, we're playing Messi and
Speaker 1: Suarez and alb and Busquets, and then the moment happens,
Speaker 1: you get that second and then you turn into New
Speaker 1: England and you give up six And fantasy players who
Speaker 1: captained Messi and got double points had a field day
Speaker 1: even though I only played like thirty five minutes speaking
Speaker 1: from experience, but and that to me is just one
Speaker 1: of those things where I think that maybe younger players
Speaker 1: and we saw this when uh, when Messi and friends
Speaker 1: were here in Atlanta. You had j Fortune, and I
Speaker 1: want to say it was like Jay Fortune and Stean
Speaker 1: Gregorson who may not necessarily have the other than maybe
Speaker 1: watching on TV or something. You got young guys who
Speaker 1: are just kind of like, yeah, okay, it's like, fine,
Speaker 1: you're the guy with the ball. You're not Lionel Messi
Speaker 1: with the ball. You literally had Messi at the top
Speaker 1: of the d. You had three defenders collapse on him
Speaker 1: and he couldn't do anything with the ball, and they
Speaker 1: weren't intimidated by their surroundings Atlanta defensively. That's what I
Speaker 1: was trying to understand is focus on this, don't focus
Speaker 1: on that, and then you've got to you got you
Speaker 1: can put all of that behind you and just focus
Speaker 1: on your job. You can be locked in on your
Speaker 1: job for ninety minutes in a situation.
Speaker 3: Like that, for sure. Yeah, absolutely. And Messi is like
Speaker 3: one of the few players where yeah, your job changes
Speaker 3: a little bit and you have to be a little
Speaker 3: bit more concerned with the name on the back, but
Speaker 3: in general, right, your own play absolutely, And I think
Speaker 3: Atlanta should have confidence going to this game because you know,
Speaker 3: the last two times they've played Miami, they've done really.
Speaker 2: Well, more points, maybe a win and a draw.
Speaker 3: And the game in Miami they could have had six goals.
Speaker 3: So that would be my mentality going into this game. Hey,
Speaker 3: Messi's gonna do special things, right, He's going to He's
Speaker 3: the best in the world. He likely will even score, right,
Speaker 3: Miami's probably going to score. But that's okay because we
Speaker 3: can score two or three on Miami. They're not a
Speaker 3: defensive juggernaut, right, They are capable of giving up goals.
Speaker 3: So that would be my mentality, like, hey, yeah, we're
Speaker 3: going to try and shut them out. We're going to
Speaker 3: try and put but you know what if Messi sticks
Speaker 3: one in the top bins, like okay, so be it.
Speaker 3: But you know what, we can go down there and
Speaker 3: score on the other side.
Speaker 1: You mentioned doing videos these days beyond goals. I mean,
Speaker 1: I want to get into that for a bit. What's
Speaker 1: it like to have these kinds of creative outlets for
Speaker 1: you and Greg to show what's going on in your
Speaker 1: brain and have examples of what folks can use from entering.
Speaker 1: What's it like for you to go in and dive
Speaker 1: down that rabbit hole for creation?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I really enjoy it because I don't know, I
Speaker 3: see these things happen out on the field, and I
Speaker 3: feel like I can talk to them and see like, hey,
Speaker 3: this is why this player did this, like in a
Speaker 3: good way, or hey, here's what we need to learn
Speaker 3: from this place. This is what this player did wrong,
Speaker 3: and you know how you can avoid this situation type thing.
Speaker 3: So it's just a way for me to like help
Speaker 3: analyze the game a little bit, help them see things
Speaker 3: and understand things a little bit of how things are
Speaker 3: done out there in the field at a higher level
Speaker 3: and what it takes and just seeing things a little
Speaker 3: bit clearer. And there's little things that you can that
Speaker 3: turn into habits or I don't know, like when you're
Speaker 3: on an end line crossing a ball, like where what
Speaker 3: are your options to look for rather than you're trying
Speaker 3: to hit it in the middle of the goal. You know,
Speaker 3: there's little cues. So just trying to point out those
Speaker 3: things I think can be really helpful for younger athletes.
Speaker 1: What's the worst habit that needs correcting today from either
Speaker 1: younger players or players as I mean, like the younger
Speaker 1: players like the U eighteens, the eighteen to the twenty two's,
Speaker 1: what's the worst bad habit that can be easily kicked
Speaker 1: that you keeps running into.
Speaker 3: The days, probably not aware of your surroundings, not knowing
Speaker 3: what you're gonna do with the ball when it comes
Speaker 3: to you, as far as like what do you do
Speaker 3: with your first touch? Even if you're not playing it
Speaker 3: to someone, but what are you doing to avoid pressure?
Speaker 3: Or do you know where pressure is coming from? Like
Speaker 3: those types of things, like the first touch is just
Speaker 3: a game changer, and you know it's it's not clean
Speaker 3: enough in most instances. I mean, shoot, even at the
Speaker 3: professional level it's it's not sometimes, but definitely at the
Speaker 3: youth level it's it's something that can really separate players
Speaker 3: and just give yourself such a better opportunity to have
Speaker 3: success in each moment of the game.
Speaker 2: Is it wasted these days? Do you think more often
Speaker 2: than not the first touch?
Speaker 3: Uh, it could definitely be done a lot better. Is
Speaker 3: you give yourself more opportunities? That's for sure? It's often wasted,
Speaker 3: not so much wasted is not taking advantage of right.
Speaker 3: That doesn't mean the first touch is always a turnover,
Speaker 3: but it means that the first touch didn't do anything
Speaker 3: positive for you when it could have.
Speaker 1: Bark Keeler's in this morning and he says the probably
Speaker 1: the biggest bad habit.
Speaker 2: He says, stop thinking that you don't foul opponents. You're
Speaker 2: on a field with twenty one other people. You're gonna
Speaker 2: foul him, Accept it and move on.
Speaker 3: That's a really good one too. And I do have
Speaker 3: a video where I point out professional fouls how to
Speaker 3: do them, like the importance of them, why you do it,
Speaker 3: you know, especially for attackers. I did one the other day. Actually,
Speaker 3: I was talking to a kid and I'm like, hey,
Speaker 3: if you foul this guy right here, right, not only
Speaker 3: do you get to walk back and get in position,
Speaker 3: but like six other guys in your team get to
Speaker 3: as well, right, and it slows things down and you
Speaker 3: get to rest a little bit, and you know, you
Speaker 3: get behind the ball, so and you're not gonna get
Speaker 3: a yellow card, so stop worrying about it. And yeah,
Speaker 3: it's that's that's a good one, Bart for sure, because
Speaker 3: you know, I think that there's a misconception between like
Speaker 3: being a good sport and sportsmanship and fouling, and you know,
Speaker 3: they don't have to live separately.
Speaker 1: And the professional foul I think is a lost art.
Speaker 2: At times these days.
Speaker 1: Especially in in one of those transitional moments and you're
Speaker 1: like you're you're yelling at the screen or you're yelling
Speaker 1: at the field foul I mean, and it's like they
Speaker 1: want to sit there and poke and prod and pull
Speaker 1: a shoulder instead of actually just bowl somebody over.
Speaker 2: I think at times of professional foul is a lost art.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Not in South America, No, no, no, No.
Speaker 1: Guy saw something I think it was yesterday in the
Speaker 1: Roma Dinum o' Kiev where literally dude goes in studs
Speaker 1: up on a tackle and destroyed the roma players sock
Speaker 1: and the padding underneath to where there was a hole
Speaker 1: about the size of my palm. And no card. I'm
Speaker 1: guessing because you're OPA league, you know I'm but I'm
Speaker 1: it's like, yeah, you want to go in studs up,
Speaker 1: They're not going to give you a card, all right,
Speaker 1: that's the bar. We know what, we know what we're
Speaker 1: doing until something happens and then the bar changes.
Speaker 2: What's going on?
Speaker 1: With beyond goals other than you and ushering Rhode Island
Speaker 1: FC into the land of the playoffs.
Speaker 3: Nothing really new right now, it's going things are going
Speaker 3: really well. So nothing really new to report, which is uh,
Speaker 3: which is a okay. I think the newest conversation is
Speaker 3: looking to potentially bring on another mentee, likely a female,
Speaker 3: and grow the business in that area. So U, but
Speaker 3: that's not happening in the next few weeks. That's more
Speaker 3: of the next month or two, right there's no rush.
Speaker 3: We want to find the right person, but yeah, we're searching.
Speaker 2: Excellent as always, my friend.
Speaker 1: It's great to see you in between moguling and ushering
Speaker 1: teams into playoffs and building what's going on there beyond
Speaker 1: goals with you and Greg. It's always great to see
Speaker 1: my friend. Be safe, have fun. I know that you'll
Speaker 1: be watching pacing back and forth in a room somewhere
Speaker 1: looking at Rhode Island FC's final match of the regular season,
Speaker 1: figuring out.
Speaker 2: Where you're going to go for the playoffs. It's always
Speaker 2: great to see you, my friend. Be good, have a
Speaker 2: safe weekend.
Speaker 3: Likewise, enjoy the game tonight, everybody, you got it.
Speaker 1: There's Michael Parkers and CAP's gonna go and do things,
Speaker 1: and you know he dude, I mean, he's They've got
Speaker 1: it going on and it's fantastic. I love what I
Speaker 1: love what Greg and Cap are doing on a daily
Speaker 1: basis and finding out what's going on with them and
Speaker 1: all of this