Speaker 1: See Greg, it's a fancy open what's up? You tell me?
Speaker 1: Are you? Are you globe trotting? Or are you local?
Speaker 2: I am home at the moment.
Speaker 1: Okay, And so he's having a which cup of coffee?
Speaker 1: Is this? Okay?
Speaker 2: We went down the wrong pipe?
Speaker 1: Okay, brother, I'm all right.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: I got taken a drink.
Speaker 3: I was like, I feel like this thermist didn't work.
Speaker 3: I was expecting a hot drink and it was cold.
Speaker 1: Uh. Oh you see, go for it? Take it?
Speaker 3: Yeah, clear there there clear clear it out least it
Speaker 3: didn't go at the camera.
Speaker 4: Well but see now if that had been a spit take,
Speaker 4: then then you and the you and the boss that
Speaker 4: would have been a h an interesting purchase. You're you're
Speaker 4: going over to uh best buy and you're checking in
Speaker 4: with a geek squad.
Speaker 1: Excuse me? So what happened? Why are you buying a
Speaker 1: new computer? Kind of?
Speaker 2: Pretty much?
Speaker 1: Lens?
Speaker 2: Pretty much? Man?
Speaker 1: So how is the globe trotting going?
Speaker 4: And I know that since we're getting into the college season,
Speaker 4: high schools are kind of getting into practice as well.
Speaker 4: Where are things right now with you and the cap
Speaker 4: and beyond goals?
Speaker 1: What's going on?
Speaker 2: Everything is good?
Speaker 3: Man, all is well, can't complain same old, same old,
Speaker 3: getting involved with I'm sure high school will probably start
Speaker 3: at the end of the year, so you have a
Speaker 3: few more months for that. Obviously, college is all starting
Speaker 3: right now, which is always great.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 4: When it comes to you looking at the college experience
Speaker 4: these days, you got to go through club and pursue
Speaker 4: it that way. College experience right now, it doesn't seem
Speaker 4: to matter what level. I mean, it could be Division one,
Speaker 4: Division two, three, nai whatever. It seems to me like
Speaker 4: the margins are closing, and so if you choose college
Speaker 4: as a path that that's cool. You know, it's not
Speaker 4: something where you know, if you start in your Division one,
Speaker 4: that's great. If you start and it's a small college
Speaker 4: in you know, Nebraska or Wyoming, it doesn't really matter.
Speaker 4: I think the margins are closing these days when it
Speaker 4: comes to where you can be the best you that
Speaker 4: you can be.
Speaker 3: Most definitely it's uh, you know, we we want even
Speaker 3: in our mentorship, we want kids to understand that they
Speaker 3: should take even tell my own kids, you want kids.
Speaker 2: To take soccer as far as it takes them.
Speaker 3: Right, there's so many values that they'll continue to learn
Speaker 3: if you look at you know, corporate hires or major
Speaker 3: organizations and kids who you know don't have the opportunity
Speaker 3: to maybe live out their dream of being a professional
Speaker 3: soccer player, but they can still use an amazing education
Speaker 3: going to college and and helping them learn values and
Speaker 3: things that will help them with everyday life. And uh,
Speaker 3: you know, the teamwork, the how to deal with adversity,
Speaker 3: how to get through challenging moments, how to get through
Speaker 3: obstacles and hurdles. That's those are all things learned within
Speaker 3: the within sport and what it provides for us. So
Speaker 3: college can provide so much, so much in that realm
Speaker 3: as well well.
Speaker 4: And at the same time, you mentioned dealing with adversity
Speaker 4: and all of these obstacles that you would tackle on
Speaker 4: a daily basis is outside of the athletic field. I mean,
Speaker 4: it's it's something that even today when you and cap
Speaker 4: have you know, when you guys decided to start beyond goal,
Speaker 4: I'm sure and I'm fairly sure that there was a
Speaker 4: learning curve going in. There's a learning curve even now
Speaker 4: as you're going. And I think that in stages there's
Speaker 4: been learning as you've gone. How much learning have you
Speaker 4: and and and Michael had when it comes to building
Speaker 4: beyond goals, hitting separate stages and going Okay, we need
Speaker 4: to do this, we need to add this.
Speaker 1: How much learning have you guys even done today?
Speaker 3: We say it all the time, right, I think we
Speaker 3: speak about it all the time. We learn that there
Speaker 3: are so many things that we learned from kids. I
Speaker 3: was actually speaking to to Myke Contie about this last
Speaker 3: night that the Atlanta Journal Sports Business Journal panel that
Speaker 3: we that I was invited to last night, which I
Speaker 3: will say this, I was extremely disappointed they mentioned every
Speaker 3: professional former athlete there and did not mention Ilanti United
Speaker 3: or me.
Speaker 2: So that was kind of a that was kind of upsetting.
Speaker 3: But other than that, you know, as I mentioned that
Speaker 3: to my Conti last night, just h there are so
Speaker 3: many cool things that we learn, even as adults from
Speaker 3: these kids in the ways that they think and the
Speaker 3: way that they carry themselves, and how we can continue
Speaker 3: to produce new ideas and build new platforms to help others,
Speaker 3: right because some kids already, some kids already have it.
Speaker 3: Some kids already have certain qualities within their within their
Speaker 3: personality and the character that they are that that allow
Speaker 3: them to be role models for others, And I love
Speaker 3: using examples of those elite personality kids to other kids
Speaker 3: who may be struggling in those areas.
Speaker 4: But I would also imagine that there are elite athletes
Speaker 4: that young athletes look to that for one reason or another,
Speaker 4: you might have to steer them away from the certain athletes.
Speaker 4: You know, you may sit there and think that you
Speaker 4: know so and so might be a great a great mentor,
Speaker 4: But the more that you learn about these individuals, you
Speaker 4: might have to steer away from them.
Speaker 1: How much, how many?
Speaker 4: How many warning signs do you and Mike give about
Speaker 4: choosing your mentee, your mentors wisely when you want to
Speaker 4: grow as a.
Speaker 3: Person man, Choosing mentors wisely as a big one we
Speaker 3: talk about a lot. We definitely want to bring a
Speaker 3: woman in the future. That is a huge that is
Speaker 3: a huge talking point within Mike and myself. But but
Speaker 3: there's so many values that they have to cover. They
Speaker 3: have to be willing to, they have to be willing to,
Speaker 3: you know, have a lot of similar thoughts that we
Speaker 3: have in regard to, most importantly the comfort to work
Speaker 3: with kids. Not everybody likes working with kids, that's first
Speaker 3: and foremost, And there's just so many different values that
Speaker 3: we hold within I think ourselves that are that are massive,
Speaker 3: and we don't we want them to obviously, you know,
Speaker 3: take take the reins and and and do with do
Speaker 3: with it what they want in regard to maybe personal storytelling,
Speaker 3: but there is a set curriculum and things that we
Speaker 3: really like to follow and and kind of creating those conversations.
Speaker 3: So it's it's a difficult process finding the right person,
Speaker 3: uh for for that job. And as we continue to grow,
Speaker 3: but I think one one that we will hopefully get
Speaker 3: to uh some point or the other.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And you bring up an interesting point because to
Speaker 4: have a different voice, there's nothing wrong with different voices
Speaker 4: and different impacts because all of those points of view
Speaker 4: that you and and Michael may have you bring in
Speaker 4: another individual. You sit there and go, Okay, that's that's
Speaker 4: that's a point of view. And that's an angle that
Speaker 4: I hadn't thought of before. And and and you make
Speaker 4: a fantastic point about having a female influence when it
Speaker 4: comes to being a mentor as well. Literally when you
Speaker 4: brought it up just now, I'm like, Yeah, that that
Speaker 4: makes a tremendous amount of sense going forward, that those
Speaker 4: kinds of voices are equally important, and it's something that
Speaker 4: in the process of thought, you're like, yeah, why didn't
Speaker 4: we think about that sooner? But the fact that you
Speaker 4: now have, I think is just as important as having
Speaker 4: that realization most.
Speaker 3: Definitely, yeah you you you want to continue to build.
Speaker 2: In the most positive ways possible.
Speaker 3: And Uh, for Mike and I, it's it's we are
Speaker 3: extremely satisfied with where we are right now.
Speaker 2: Obviously want to continue to grow and want to continue.
Speaker 3: To add, you know, additional assets.
Speaker 2: To to what we are doing.
Speaker 3: But I think it takes time. It takes time to
Speaker 3: come to an understanding of what is needed and what
Speaker 3: can help the continuous growth and also the right personnel
Speaker 3: to go along with it.
Speaker 4: Does it have to be an athlete? Though, when you
Speaker 4: when you add men, when you add other mentors as
Speaker 4: a part of beyond goals in the future, doesn't necessarily
Speaker 4: have to be an athlete? Can it be a captain
Speaker 4: of industry? Can it be a CEO? Or you know,
Speaker 4: does mentoring really have does mentoring really have a jersey?
Speaker 4: Does it have an ID card?
Speaker 3: No, it doesn't, it doesn't because you can be anyone
Speaker 3: to mentor. I think there there there are so many
Speaker 3: mentors out there you speak to, whether it.
Speaker 2: Be CEOs or CFOs or.
Speaker 3: Even everyone I met last night, all of these people
Speaker 3: had their mentors to kind of guide them through and
Speaker 3: make them, not make them, but shape them into who
Speaker 3: they are today. And I think that's an important that's
Speaker 3: an important path and journey for.
Speaker 2: All people who are successful.
Speaker 3: There is a lot of credit that needs to be
Speaker 3: given to those around them, to those who bread that
Speaker 3: leadership from the very get go. So that's essentially what
Speaker 3: we're doing. I think I think our platform is unique.
Speaker 3: I think professional Athlete platform is unique because it was
Speaker 3: really interesting because I heard a lot of people speak
Speaker 3: last night and whether it be from a MB or
Speaker 3: whether it be from you know, just stadiums in general,
Speaker 3: and they just kept saying, we are in the entertainment business.
Speaker 3: We're in the entertainment business. We are in the entertainment business.
Speaker 3: We're in the entertainment business. And I almost wanted to
Speaker 3: respond and say, we are the entertainers. We are the show. Right,
Speaker 3: you guys are in the entainer entertainment business, but we
Speaker 3: are the show.
Speaker 2: You go to.
Speaker 3: Cerla, you don't remember you remember the name of Sila,
Speaker 3: but you you really give your respect. Maybe not towards
Speaker 3: the people who are in the background right doing setting
Speaker 3: everything up, you give your respect to the people who
Speaker 3: are performing. And I think that in regard to even
Speaker 3: us as professional athletes, it allows us to have I
Speaker 3: think even a higher platform. And everything that you say
Speaker 3: must be said well, and everything that you say must
Speaker 3: be done well, and and and and you know, given
Speaker 3: the fact that you are that hole model, and so
Speaker 3: I think the curtain is open, right you.
Speaker 2: You open those.
Speaker 3: Curtains to really every every action, decision, thought, emotion. The
Speaker 3: role that you play within whether it be in your
Speaker 3: professional environment or even in a public environment, means means that.
Speaker 4: Much more because to your certain sole At example, we
Speaker 4: kind of gravitate toward the person that gets launched out
Speaker 4: of the cannon. We know, we know, the one that's
Speaker 4: on the bicycle, that's in the hamster wheel it's going
Speaker 4: you know, nine thousand an hour, the the the gymnast
Speaker 4: that can sit there and take the hula hoops and
Speaker 4: do the complete and total split at ninety feet in
Speaker 4: the air.
Speaker 1: You know, we kind of gravitate toward those folks.
Speaker 4: So I would ask you this as the entertainer is
Speaker 4: in this discussion. How long did it take you to
Speaker 4: become comfortable knowing your role as the entertainer, but knowing
Speaker 4: that you had to hold your self to a higher
Speaker 4: standard and know that you have to be around those
Speaker 4: folks that share your ideas, share your goals, share your vision,
Speaker 4: so you're not hanging out with the wrong crowd even
Speaker 4: as an entertainer and an influence on others. How long
Speaker 4: did it take you to become comfortable with who you
Speaker 4: are right now?
Speaker 3: Man? That is I think we are continuously learning, we
Speaker 3: are continuously growing, we are continuously maturing in different ways,
Speaker 3: whether it be through experiences that we have, sometimes decisions
Speaker 3: that we make. But I think from a very early
Speaker 3: age I give a lot of credit not only to
Speaker 3: my parents, but just people around me. And I think
Speaker 3: I had great mentors in my life to help me
Speaker 3: understand the dudes that don't, the rights, the wrongs, the
Speaker 3: things that are most valuable in life, and you know,
Speaker 3: things to be grateful for, things to keep you motivated,
Speaker 3: things to help you and continue to dream towards. I
Speaker 3: think there's a lot of different values in which I
Speaker 3: learned as a very young kid. But I think also
Speaker 3: just traveling the world and seeing life in different areas
Speaker 3: and learning about different cultures and seeing that, you know,
Speaker 3: not everybody's life is exactly the same, Not everybody's life
Speaker 3: is cookie cut.
Speaker 2: You know. I think sometimes as Americans, we we we.
Speaker 3: We only are focused on what we have around us,
Speaker 3: and until you go to other places in the world,
Speaker 3: you start to realize that there are smaller of things
Speaker 3: that people are very grateful for. And and you know
Speaker 3: it's it's has nothing to do with being spoiled, because
Speaker 3: I know, I know here in.
Speaker 2: The States, you know we were, there.
Speaker 3: Are families and and and places where people do struggle
Speaker 3: and struggle quite a bit. But you know, I could
Speaker 3: go speak to any title one school, yeah, high school
Speaker 3: or or middle school, and I can ask every kid
Speaker 3: to raise their hand, and I always do, and I
Speaker 3: ask how many of them have a console? How many
Speaker 3: of them have a phone? And ninety nine point ninety.
Speaker 2: Nine percent of those kids will raise a hand.
Speaker 3: Whether they have a Nintendo Switch or whether they have
Speaker 3: a PlayStation, or whether they have a phone, or whether
Speaker 3: they have an Xbox. It doesn't matter if they live,
Speaker 3: you know, in a in a trailer park, they still
Speaker 3: have a console. And so you know, I think when
Speaker 3: you go to different places.
Speaker 2: You see life a lot differently.
Speaker 3: And I think within my experiences, I think just seeing
Speaker 3: what other kids had, whether it be in South America
Speaker 3: or and you know, I mean mostly South America, even
Speaker 3: playing in Mexico for a long time. It's it's the
Speaker 3: littlest of things, right, It's the it's it's taking, you know,
Speaker 3: to an orphanage. They're taking a stuffy right, a stuffed
Speaker 3: animal that's a high stuffed animal that for you you
Speaker 3: see a Hallmark or Walgreens or you know, my kid
Speaker 3: wants to grab one every time at Kroger or whatever.
Speaker 3: It's you know, a dollar fifty two bucks for them,
Speaker 3: that just made their whole year, right, and they're gonna,
Speaker 3: you know, they're going to carry that stuffed animal and
Speaker 3: they're going to keep it with them and cherish it
Speaker 3: because it's probably the only toy that they've ever had.
Speaker 3: So I think I learned that from a very young
Speaker 3: age of just kind of building those values of obviously
Speaker 3: strive and motivate yourself towards more, but also be be
Speaker 3: content with with with what with what's in front of
Speaker 3: you as well at all times, because there's always somebody
Speaker 3: else that's that's struggling much more than you.
Speaker 2: You can be assured.
Speaker 4: That when did you can you remember when you realize
Speaker 4: that for the first time, that yeah, I'm really fortunate.
Speaker 4: There are others who are not as fortunate, and I should,
Speaker 4: you know, share my experiences with them. When did you
Speaker 4: have that first interaction?
Speaker 2: Do you remember? Yeah?
Speaker 3: I think when I moved to Brazil when I was twelve,
Speaker 3: and I just remember going there and I was an
Speaker 3: average American kid, and I just think watching these kids,
Speaker 3: whether they were coming down to training from the slums
Speaker 3: and just taking public buses at the age of eleven
Speaker 3: and twelve to get to training. I think that was
Speaker 3: the moment to where I started to realize the only
Speaker 3: thing that they had, their only escape was soccer. And
Speaker 3: you know, I could go back home and whether I
Speaker 3: was successful there or not as a kid, I could
Speaker 3: go back home and still go to a very decent
Speaker 3: school and do all these great things that my parents provide.
Speaker 3: And for them, these kids were already away from their parents,
Speaker 3: you know, at that young age, and there was only
Speaker 3: one thing on their mind, and it was probably to
Speaker 3: get their parents or their family out of poverty, and
Speaker 3: that was the grind, and that was the hunger, and
Speaker 3: that was the you could feel that tension within training, right,
Speaker 3: everybody was out to They're all great kids, but everybody
Speaker 3: at the same time was out to kill because you know,
Speaker 3: these kids are eleven, twelve years old and they're already
Speaker 3: fighting thinking about seven eight years from now, Whereas kids
Speaker 3: here in the States we play soccer. I mean, I
Speaker 3: teach my kids to play soccer for fun, right, and
Speaker 3: it's something that's going to teach them so many values
Speaker 3: and teach them so.
Speaker 2: Many different things.
Speaker 3: But I think when you start to see in other places,
Speaker 3: these kids and set are completely different, and I think
Speaker 3: it gives you just a different perspective about life. And
Speaker 3: for me, it taught me that hunger. It gave me
Speaker 3: that hunger as well. I put myself in their shoes.
Speaker 3: But then again, I think it also made me take
Speaker 3: a step back and realize, you know, I am very
Speaker 3: grateful for not only this opportunity, but just to learn
Speaker 3: from that, and I think, you know, it kind of
Speaker 3: helped me shape myself the rest of my life to
Speaker 3: always give back, to always be a part of kids
Speaker 3: who maybe in similar environments, and just always try to
Speaker 3: be involved in the community.
Speaker 4: Greg Garza beyond Gals mentering hanging out with us on
Speaker 4: the Friday free kick as we do here at nine
Speaker 4: point thirty on Friday morning's Eastern time. In your early
Speaker 4: relationships that you had with you know, fellow athletes, going
Speaker 4: from eleven twelve to when you started being a professional athlete,
Speaker 4: how many of those teenage relationships do you still have today?
Speaker 4: How many of those folks are you still in touch
Speaker 4: with or because of you know, things getting in the way,
Speaker 4: you know, hard to reach them one way or the other.
Speaker 1: Do you still have those early relationships.
Speaker 2: From kids in Brazil.
Speaker 4: Or just just early on, from like eleven to twelve
Speaker 4: to when you were really on the path to being
Speaker 4: a professional.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, of course.
Speaker 3: You know, I still speak to some kids every once
Speaker 3: in a while. I mean, we're all still very connected
Speaker 3: within social media. I wouldn't say we have, you know,
Speaker 3: long conversations, but just to kind of see where everybody
Speaker 3: is and see how they're doing in life is always great.
Speaker 3: There's one kid in particular that that's probably a kid
Speaker 3: that I grew up with my whole entire youth, and
Speaker 3: we hit it off from the get go. The very
Speaker 3: first Boston camp in It was in Boston and the
Speaker 3: private school, the first under fourteen national team camp. And
Speaker 3: I believe I wasn't even thirteen yet. I think I
Speaker 3: was just about.
Speaker 2: To turn thirteen. I was still twelve. That was my
Speaker 2: very first camp.
Speaker 3: I actually let my son, My seven year old son
Speaker 3: won his five e five tournament this this last week
Speaker 3: on Labor Day, and I let him. He couldn't find
Speaker 3: his Shin guards. And I have my Shin guards from
Speaker 3: that camp that I used my whole entire career, all right,
Speaker 3: So I use those same Shin guards my whole entire career.
Speaker 2: Those are championship shing guards right there. Never took them.
Speaker 3: And I remember I actually lost those Shin guards Paul Dillon,
Speaker 3: the QUIP manager from LA and I when I separated
Speaker 3: my shoulder against Red Bull and I got the red card.
Speaker 3: PAULI d lost those shing guards man, and I was livid.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 2: That was my that's my pride and joy.
Speaker 3: He ultimately found them and and and sent them back
Speaker 3: to me. But you know it's uh, I had my
Speaker 3: I let my seven year old use those shing guards
Speaker 3: in the five or five and that's the one thing
Speaker 3: I saw. I said, I don't care if you lose
Speaker 3: your body today, man, but you will not lose those
Speaker 3: shing guards.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 3: Do not take your shing guards off. You have a
Speaker 3: rest between games, you take your cleats off. You want
Speaker 3: to leave those darned shing guards in because they've lost
Speaker 3: like eight pairs already. But that camp, going back to
Speaker 3: the story that camp, there was a kid from from
Speaker 3: Pennsylvania and his name is Zeric Valentine. He plays for Minnesota. Now, yeah,
Speaker 3: right back he was, And it's interesting story. He was
Speaker 3: on Portland Timbers. Whenever we beat Portland Timbers in the final.
Speaker 3: He was on the right, he was playing right right
Speaker 3: wing back. It was him and him and Aldo Polo
Speaker 3: were on my side. And and that just goes to show, like,
Speaker 3: that's probably one of the coolest relationships that I've had
Speaker 3: with in my career. That we met each other and
Speaker 3: we hit it off when we were at that age
Speaker 3: at twelve years old, and and we never fell off.
Speaker 3: The kind of the map.
Speaker 2: He he kind of was in and out of the
Speaker 2: national team process.
Speaker 3: He got released at the under seventeens and kind of
Speaker 3: finds found his way back in the under twenties, under
Speaker 3: twenty threes never made it to the full team. But
Speaker 3: I mean just somebody who was always in and out.
Speaker 3: His brother was a massive US soccer prospect, was Valentine
Speaker 3: who won won national championship at Wake Forest back.
Speaker 2: In the day.
Speaker 3: So it just and and he won national championship with
Speaker 3: with Akron with Caleb Porter. So you know, just that's
Speaker 3: a that's a particular guy right there that I think
Speaker 3: that we still keep in touch and just somebody that uh,
Speaker 3: you know, I think we got to see each other
Speaker 3: grow up and have those certain values with each other.
Speaker 3: He's a great dad, he's a great husband, he's a
Speaker 3: great father, he's a great guy. And I think we
Speaker 3: we got to see each other kind of have those
Speaker 3: values instilled. I owe a lot to US soccer. Somebody
Speaker 3: asked me that last night, and you know, what does
Speaker 3: US soccer mean to you? And I said, man, US
Speaker 3: soccer is the was my pathway. US soccer was my
Speaker 3: pathway to success. I never I never missed an age group.
Speaker 3: I was from that very first Boston camp. I never
Speaker 3: missed an age group all the way up until the
Speaker 3: full team. So that was that was my pathway. That
Speaker 3: was my trajectory. There's very very few of us that
Speaker 3: that have done that, but but they are the ones
Speaker 3: that gave me the opportunity to seek my dreams. So
Speaker 3: I love that US Soccer is going to be in
Speaker 3: our background backyard in the next couple of years, and hopefully,
Speaker 3: I really do hope that I can have some sort
Speaker 3: some sort of connection with UH with everything that they have,
Speaker 3: because I am so grateful for everything that they did
Speaker 3: for me, not.
Speaker 2: Only as a kid to instill.
Speaker 3: Those values within me, but just to watch me grow
Speaker 3: up and ultimately ultimately use that pathway as my.
Speaker 2: My pathway to success.
Speaker 1: So get hydrated here for a second, US Soccer.
Speaker 4: If you are listening, and we know that you are,
Speaker 4: please consult Greg Garza and Michael Parkers when it comes
Speaker 4: to your future plans at the Arthur M. Blank Training
Speaker 4: Center going forward once you have been constructed.
Speaker 1: Okay, there we go.
Speaker 4: And the reason the reason that I ask about about
Speaker 4: relationships and past relationships is because we have our we
Speaker 4: have our base of who we are as individuals, and
Speaker 4: it comes from those early relationships that that's the first
Speaker 4: building block that we have in figuring out who we
Speaker 4: are and who we talk to. And then as we
Speaker 4: go you go to US Soccer, you become national team players,
Speaker 4: you become a player overseas. All of these different building
Speaker 4: blocks work on your foundation as to who you are
Speaker 4: as an individual. And that was why I wanted to
Speaker 4: ask about the early relationships, because that's the those first
Speaker 4: bricks that get put into the foundation of who you
Speaker 4: are as a person. And that was why I wanted
Speaker 4: to ask that particular question because that kind of forms
Speaker 4: an early relationship mentally about mentees and our ideas and
Speaker 4: where we're coming from and all those kinds of things.
Speaker 1: That's why I wanted to ask that.
Speaker 3: For sure, there are so many there are so many
Speaker 3: implementations from what we use and probably Parky as well
Speaker 3: from US Soccer.
Speaker 2: With our mentees.
Speaker 3: Right, the personality and character, to me, I think about
Speaker 3: it as you know, it's one thing. It's one thing
Speaker 3: to see these kids and being at the Atlanta in
Speaker 3: Academy dinner the other night, it's one thing to see
Speaker 3: these kids represent their city. Right, There's one thing. These
Speaker 3: kids are the at the pinnacle.
Speaker 2: Of their city, right.
Speaker 3: And and and just for me to kind of I
Speaker 3: couldn't have ever fathomed the idea of being their age
Speaker 3: at twelve years old, younger than them. I represented my
Speaker 3: country at every single age group, and I think that
Speaker 3: that is something to just really understand the role model.
Speaker 3: And I think I think I knew of that at
Speaker 3: the time, but I think now that I'm retired, it
Speaker 3: really allows me to understand the the character and the
Speaker 3: leadership qualities and everything that goes within. To represent your
Speaker 3: country is much different than representing your city.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: And I always I remember whenever somebody would ask me
Speaker 3: what it means like to represent your national team, and
Speaker 3: for me, it was even at a young age, I
Speaker 3: had always told them I feel, like I said I
Speaker 3: and I give the utmost respect and and there is
Speaker 3: nothing else that I would respect more than our military.
Speaker 3: Everybody who is in the military, whether it's Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines,
Speaker 3: right all these but I I felt whenever representing your country,
Speaker 3: I think a lot of us felt that same passion.
Speaker 3: Right you are, you are representing your flag everywhere you go,
Speaker 3: and that's that's uh, that's that's something that I think
Speaker 3: I take with a lot of pride, and I always
Speaker 3: kind of use that analogy of kind of you know,
Speaker 3: wherever these guys go, they always have their flags stitched
Speaker 3: on their stitch on their arm, you know, and and
Speaker 3: so I think for us it was very similar. And
Speaker 3: I think that's that's those the values that I try
Speaker 3: to instill within a lot of young kids. And I mean,
Speaker 3: although I might be speaking from a different platform of
Speaker 3: representing my country, but with those kids, it's the same
Speaker 3: values that they need to do to represent the badge
Speaker 3: that they're they're also representing, and I think that's an
Speaker 3: important thing.
Speaker 4: So then since you opened this door, you've been looking.
Speaker 4: You've obviously been looking at my notes to talk to
Speaker 4: you this morning. US Soccer. They've got a couple of
Speaker 4: friendlies coming up this weekend and the first one is
Speaker 4: against Canada. And you know, like I said, knowing our
Speaker 4: notes and knowing where the conversations go, sometimes I don't
Speaker 4: even know where the conversation is going to go. We
Speaker 4: open a door and we head to a certain place.
Speaker 4: You got a friendly coming up against Canada tomorrow in
Speaker 4: Kansas City, And before you came on, the questions have
Speaker 4: been asked of the Canadian national team about the whole
Speaker 4: drone bit and getting these kinds of alleged unfair advantages.
Speaker 4: And now you have a national team on the women's
Speaker 4: side that has been questioned, and you've seen consequences, and
Speaker 4: it's now been drifting over to the men's side, and
Speaker 4: you're wondering about consequences unfair advantage. This is what I
Speaker 4: wanted to ask. When it comes to unfair advantages. Have
Speaker 4: you ever been in a situation where anyone in your
Speaker 4: circle has been tempted to take an unfair advantage or
Speaker 4: take an extra advantage that really isn't ethically right. And
Speaker 4: when confronted with that kind of an ethical dilemma that
Speaker 4: you were that you might have seen, how did you
Speaker 4: confront that kind of a situation?
Speaker 2: Man, I could we could go on all day.
Speaker 4: Okay, I'll write this down for next time. Ethical dilemmas
Speaker 4: with Greg.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, as uh Look, playing in Copa Lebrettadoris I
Speaker 3: think for me was like the the definition of unethical
Speaker 3: behavior to win soccer game, wow, in every way possible, right,
Speaker 3: whether it be poisoning food, whether it be uh you know, I.
Speaker 2: Just like I watched like Argentina and Chile last night. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it was it was a war. It wasn't even a
Speaker 2: freaking soccer game. It's the most boring.
Speaker 3: I turned it off to watch the US Open. After
Speaker 3: the first half, I didn't care what's going to happen.
Speaker 3: I think I saw like seventy five fouls within the
Speaker 3: first half and like eleven yellow cards. Yeah yeah, And
Speaker 3: and you know it's like I think back to a
Speaker 3: couple of birds doors for me, and it was just like,
Speaker 3: holy crap, man, this is a different world South Americans.
Speaker 2: They they will kill, yes for for whatever they represent.
Speaker 3: And and so I have a lot of stories whenever
Speaker 3: I played for two one and couple of Brett's doors.
Speaker 3: So being being in Brazil, man, so we can we
Speaker 3: can share those stories next time.
Speaker 1: Nice.
Speaker 4: So ethical dilemmas do in fact? Uh yeah, okay, So
Speaker 4: I did write it down ethical dilemmas with dread.
Speaker 1: So we got that.
Speaker 3: I always tell kids, look and even I tell my
Speaker 3: own kids, do whatever you can to win.
Speaker 2: Just don't cheat there you go right, do whatever you can.
Speaker 3: To win if And that's one thing that I think
Speaker 3: I wish we would learn as Americans. We are too nice.
Speaker 3: Sometimes we are innocent. I see kids all the time.
Speaker 3: If I were to play in Brazil, right, and whenever
Speaker 3: I was a kid, I was my son's age when
Speaker 3: I moved and there was a ball going out of bounds,
Speaker 3: I wouldn't run to go get it, you know, I
Speaker 3: would take my sweet old time to take that throw in.
Speaker 3: Or if I'm on if I'm on the bench and
Speaker 3: that ball goes out and I'm warming up, I just
Speaker 3: kind of lift up.
Speaker 2: My foot and let it go through it. Yeah, let
Speaker 2: it go. It's the other team's ball, or it's our ball.
Speaker 2: Oh I didn't see it.
Speaker 1: Go by men? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, right.
Speaker 3: You see pros do that all the time. They will
Speaker 3: do whatever they can to win. They won't cheat, it's
Speaker 3: not cheating, but they will they will take it to
Speaker 3: their limits. Whereas kids, my son, the ball will go
Speaker 3: out of bounce and we're winning two to one and
Speaker 3: there's a minute left, and he'll run as quickly as
Speaker 3: he can and he'll throw the ball in it. And
Speaker 3: I'm like, dude, just relax, take your time, take a
Speaker 3: take take sixty seconds, take ninety seconds off the ball.
Speaker 3: You guys don't play extra time in youth soccer.
Speaker 2: Man, So you know.
Speaker 3: It's uh, when that ref he sees thirty minutes, he's
Speaker 3: gonna blow the whistle. He don't care, uh, you know.
Speaker 3: And so it's I wish I wish we had that.
Speaker 3: They're just saying we have in Portuguese and I love it.
Speaker 3: And it's be malicious without malice.
Speaker 1: There you go, and so it's, uh.
Speaker 2: That's that's that's that's a great that's a great say.
Speaker 2: You gotta be careful with how you say it.
Speaker 3: Be malicious without be malicious without malice is a good
Speaker 3: saying because you know, you never want to be evil,
Speaker 3: but if you can do a little something to kind
Speaker 3: of uh, you know. I always tell kids as defenders, right,
Speaker 3: if there's a if there's a runner making a run
Speaker 3: in behind, just step right in front of him as
Speaker 3: he's making that run.
Speaker 2: Just block his trajectory.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: Is that a malicious thing to do? Yeah, it is,
Speaker 3: but you're not doing any evil. You're not wanting to.
Speaker 2: Hurt the guy.
Speaker 3: You're just blocking his trajectory so he can't run in
Speaker 3: behind you. Because if he does run in behind you
Speaker 3: and that ball goes over, well, guess what, it's your
Speaker 3: head man, not his.
Speaker 2: So yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: So there's little things like that that I think have helped.
Speaker 3: And I think that even with Minty's sometimes that they're
Speaker 3: open to it. I usually do it with the older
Speaker 3: ones I don't speak like that with the kids who
Speaker 3: are usually under fifteen. If you're over fifteen, then we
Speaker 3: can have those conversations.
Speaker 4: Yes, all right, so the fourth held up the board
Speaker 4: and we are over. But as always, my friend, great
Speaker 4: to catch up with you, and so we will discuss
Speaker 4: ethical dilemmas being too nice and being malicious without malice.
Speaker 1: Next time. I wrote it down, my friend go get hydrated, having.
Speaker 2: Take care man.
Speaker 1: All right, that's great.
Speaker 4: That's Friday Free kick with Greg Garzon, and so I
Speaker 4: have written I have that stuff written down, so for
Speaker 4: the next time when Greg is with us. When Greg
Speaker 4: is with us, we have ethical dilemmas with Greg. Like literally,
Speaker 4: I have it written down. Ethical dilemmas with Greg Garzon
Speaker 4: the us being too nice or just being too nice
Speaker 4: in general, and being malicious without malice. All right, So
Speaker 4: that we've got with Greg and our friends at Beyond
Speaker 4: Goals mentoring, so reminder. So I'm going to remind myself self.
Speaker 1: You got stuff with Greg.
Speaker 4: So here all right, So what I'm doing, I'm not
Speaker 4: throwing this piece of paper away, putting it where the
Speaker 4: other pieces of paper are. So Greg's notes for next
Speaker 4: time right there at BG mentoring on the twitters and
Speaker 4: it is a full conversation with Greg and mil Michael
Speaker 4: Parkhurst and can't thank them enough when it comes to
Speaker 4: taking their time on a Friday morning to talk about
Speaker 4: mentoring and what they're doing it beyond goals and the
Speaker 4: importance of topics. And like I said, traditionally I might
Speaker 4: have a topic or two in mind with Greg and
Speaker 4: with Parking when they come on, but most of the
Speaker 4: time it's from their answers where I steer the conversation.
Speaker 4: Because if there's a talking point that opens the door,
Speaker 4: then I think that it's a door worth opening, and
Speaker 4: so then we go through that door. And if they
Speaker 4: say something else, we'll go through that door, we say
Speaker 4: something else, we go through that door. And so literally
Speaker 4: it is it's almost like a it's almost like a
Speaker 4: Q and a treasure hunt, because you find answers that
Speaker 4: you might not have necessarily even thought of when it
Speaker 4: comes to asking a question or going down a particular pathway.
Speaker 1: So like I said, most of the time it.
Speaker 4: Might be a question or two that I have locked in,
Speaker 4: but most of the time it is just learning from
Speaker 4: them as we go and then kind of seeing where
Speaker 4: the road leads but once again at BG mentoring on
Speaker 4: the twitters and also on the board. It is at
Speaker 4: MF Parkhurst and Greg is on Instagram, but he is
Speaker 4: not on the two hundred and eighty character apps, so
Speaker 4: I think it's Gmgarza on the Insta, the Graham or
Speaker 4: the igs the kids say, and then MF Parkhurst and
Speaker 4: BG Mentoring on the Twitter