Speaker 1: We welcome Greg Garza in for a twenty minute sprint
Speaker 1: here on a Friday morning. Are you still down in
Speaker 1: central South Florida of the pretty landscapes that you shot
Speaker 1: from the inside of an airplane.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I flew back from clear Water two days ago
Speaker 2: to Atlanta, and then I flew to West Palm Beach yesterday.
Speaker 2: I'm currently in West Palm Beach. I go back today tonight,
Speaker 2: speak to the Colorado Rapids, go back tonight and then
Speaker 2: have a full camp tomorrow with the high school and
Speaker 2: my boys will be involved because I haven't seen them
Speaker 2: in forever. And then I travel Sunday morning to Dallas.
Speaker 1: Dallas, so yeah, okay, sometimes well and it's good crazy.
Speaker 1: But for those that may not know the full story
Speaker 1: as to why we're catching you in hotel rooms back
Speaker 1: patio was the occasional time when you get to spend
Speaker 1: maybe a half a minute with your family and I
Speaker 1: mean your family family and you're in their backyard with
Speaker 1: a fence behind you. Let everybody know what you're doing
Speaker 1: with Major League Soccer, and we'll use that as our
Speaker 1: as our inroad for conversation here this week. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is uh, it's I tell people like it's
Speaker 2: it's d I work. It's essentially d I, but we
Speaker 2: call it something different. We call it ICA, which is
Speaker 2: inner cultural awareness, just helping helping the league understand more
Speaker 2: so the players, player to player understand how to adapt
Speaker 2: to different cultures, how to bond with the different cultures
Speaker 2: that are around them, but ultimately fighting discrimination and all
Speaker 2: the isms that kind of go around within the game,
Speaker 2: or the phobias or whatever it may be, but just
Speaker 2: fighting against discrimination and also helping a lot of players
Speaker 2: that come from a broad or you know, across the pond,
Speaker 2: or wherever they come from, below the equator, wherever they are,
Speaker 2: to understand that there are rules and norms that they
Speaker 2: must follow although they are in a different country. So
Speaker 2: helping people see eye to eye and helping them also
Speaker 2: learn about, i think, their teammates, which has been the
Speaker 2: most interesting thing for me because we all come from
Speaker 2: different backgrounds, different countries, different races, different colors, different beliefs, religions,
Speaker 2: but the ball brings us uniquely together and at the
Speaker 2: same time it can also create a lot of conflict.
Speaker 2: So it's helping helping everybody meet in the middle and
Speaker 2: understand that on the field, off the field, role modelship
Speaker 2: and and everything that goes within is extremely important for
Speaker 2: these for these young and older athletes to kind of
Speaker 2: pass the torch and help them understand the responsibilities.
Speaker 1: Because you have a couple of different demographics in play here.
Speaker 1: You have the the young up and coming play who
Speaker 1: in Major League soccer these days can be fifteen, sixteen
Speaker 1: years old. You go to Philadelphia, you look at the
Speaker 1: Cavin Sullivan. You know, he comes in and he's a
Speaker 1: part of second team at the age of fourteen, he
Speaker 1: gets first teen minutes. But then you have the veteran
Speaker 1: who might be on the north end of thirty and
Speaker 1: they have you know, they have experienced certain things in
Speaker 1: a certain framework, and so I would imagine that for
Speaker 1: you it is having to do two lanes of traffic
Speaker 1: at the same time where you have to and it
Speaker 1: might even be four where the inbound information from a
Speaker 1: younger person that you have to sit there and orientate
Speaker 1: in your head and take those lessons and have those
Speaker 1: lessons go outbound from your own perspectives and understandings. And
Speaker 1: then you have the older veteran players who might be
Speaker 1: said in their ways, they have their own bits of understanding.
Speaker 1: And then trying to bring them around so the younger
Speaker 1: players can understand where the older players are coming from
Speaker 1: and the veterans can understand where they are coming from.
Speaker 1: That seems like a very delicate balance with four lanes
Speaker 1: worth of information.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's interesting, you said, Philadelphia, because I just
Speaker 2: spoke to them two days ago in clear Water. So yeah,
Speaker 2: you have Cavin Sullivan who's sitting in the room, who
Speaker 2: looks like a little boy still, and then you have Alejandro.
Speaker 3: Bodoya that's like.
Speaker 2: Like fine wine and just keeps on freaking planming and
Speaker 2: doesn't give up. But you know, it's it's it's it's
Speaker 2: interesting because you know, you you you try and help
Speaker 2: everybody see the same page. I I from what I've
Speaker 2: learned with doing all of this the past couple of
Speaker 2: years is that it's really hard to change someone when
Speaker 2: somebody has set you said it, When somebody is set
Speaker 2: in their ways, it's really hard to change them. But
Speaker 2: can you help them be a little bit more open
Speaker 2: minded to their surroundings and what's around them.
Speaker 3: And I think that's the that's the.
Speaker 2: That's the coolest part about being involved in this is
Speaker 2: just helping them understand the differences that are around them
Speaker 2: and not necessarily changing their ways, but also just pointing
Speaker 2: them in the right direction and kind of almost rule
Speaker 2: following and just understanding the norms that that that go around.
Speaker 2: There's interesting things that we learn within every team that
Speaker 2: we speak to, Like you can't do thumbs up an
Speaker 2: Iran right, that means something completely different.
Speaker 3: You know, you can go to jail if you do that.
Speaker 3: So it's like.
Speaker 2: There's different things that I think, like you learn from
Speaker 2: these different players from different countries and different backgrounds. And
Speaker 2: I mean there was a player on Philly that's like
Speaker 2: background was like Bangladesh, Hawaiian, Lebanese and like some sort
Speaker 2: of Asian man. It was just like everybody was in
Speaker 2: the room and was like what And so it sparks conversation, right,
Speaker 2: It sparks the interest of his teammates to get to
Speaker 2: know him a little bit better and and I think
Speaker 2: that that creates a better bond and understanding. Uh, you know,
Speaker 2: we I did I did my lap my my a
Speaker 2: couple of sessions ago with Laris Mabilla, who who was
Speaker 2: with Portland for a long time. We literally finished our
Speaker 2: session and as the whole team was walking out, he
Speaker 2: got his mat out and he started praying. And you know,
Speaker 2: it's I had no idea he was Muslim, you know, uh,
Speaker 2: being to.
Speaker 3: To go to goo background, but it's uh, you know,
Speaker 3: I think.
Speaker 2: And then you had you had some of my some
Speaker 2: of my we spoke to Cincinnati, and you had some
Speaker 2: of the pets or the fitness guys, uh walk in
Speaker 2: and be like, yeah, what the hell is he doing?
Speaker 2: You know, like what will yo, Laris? Let's go, man,
Speaker 2: we gotta go. And I'm like, guys, like, let's leave
Speaker 2: the room. Let's give him his space. And and I
Speaker 2: think that's like, that's the interesting part is just helping
Speaker 2: everybody understand that everyone is different. But there's so many
Speaker 2: things that also bring this together. And so just the
Speaker 2: value I think we use it the word a lot,
Speaker 2: is just respect. We were all here to to make
Speaker 2: the world a better place, hopefully most of us. And
Speaker 2: and so you know, I think when you are a
Speaker 2: professional soccer player, you have you have the platform to
Speaker 2: two even even more, to do so even more.
Speaker 1: How and I mean and this and I mean this
Speaker 1: in a in a in in a way of trying
Speaker 1: to understand how difficult is it to navigate this laundry
Speaker 1: list of things where you mentioned the idea of you
Speaker 1: can't do a thumbs up in Iran because it means
Speaker 1: something one way or the other. Uh, you can't do
Speaker 1: certain things in certain countries. But here we always view
Speaker 1: ourselves as as a melting pot and this this rue
Speaker 1: that is put together that creates this country that we have.
Speaker 1: How difficult a balance is it for your mentees and
Speaker 1: for those that you touch with Major League Soccer two
Speaker 1: understand other personalities, other other groups, other ethnicities, and still
Speaker 1: at the same time, still be themselves, if you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, Because you don't want to. You don't
Speaker 1: want to change your personality. You don't want to change
Speaker 1: who you are. At the same time, you want to
Speaker 1: respect others and you don't want to to turn yourself
Speaker 1: into a different person as you're trying to understand others,
Speaker 1: trying to maintain yourself.
Speaker 4: I guess is what I'm trying to get to here.
Speaker 2: Uh, it's it's it's a balance, right, You have to
Speaker 2: you have to look at the the whole picture of
Speaker 2: everything and just.
Speaker 3: Man. I I always tell people you got you gotta travel, Okay, okay,
Speaker 3: you gotta travel. You have to.
Speaker 2: And I think that most players sitting in a locker
Speaker 2: room have probably traveled because of soccer, and they've seen the.
Speaker 3: World be a different place.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 2: You see different upbringings, you see different backgrounds, you see
Speaker 2: different beliefs, and I mean, even even speaking to Atlanta United,
Speaker 2: you have a Japanese player who barely speaks any English,
Speaker 2: is probably scared shitless in a different country for the
Speaker 2: first time, right, and you need the veterans and you
Speaker 2: need some other guys to hopefully step up and and
Speaker 2: help him adapt and help him acclimate to his surroundings
Speaker 2: the best way possible, you know. And just the way
Speaker 2: that I think that the Japanese are, they're so you
Speaker 2: think of you think of this the stereotypical mindset or
Speaker 2: the subconscious mindset.
Speaker 3: That you have, is that they are so extremely respectful.
Speaker 2: And that's something that I feel that that even showed
Speaker 2: speaking speaking with with him as well. So you know,
Speaker 2: it's you have to rely on a lot of the
Speaker 2: guys in the locker room, especially the older guys and
Speaker 2: the veterans, to really really manifest and kind of help
Speaker 2: everybody understand in the room, whether it's their commitment to
Speaker 2: help the locker room be a better place and also
Speaker 2: stand up towards any any discrimination. You know, I believe
Speaker 2: that the league does a pretty damn good job and
Speaker 2: supporting every single group that is that is that needs
Speaker 2: support within within the league, and so I think that
Speaker 2: it's it's it's a cool way to be a part
Speaker 2: of it from my end and help everybody, hopefully not
Speaker 2: necessarily be on agreement with everything, because there has been
Speaker 2: some pushback with with certain teams, but hopefully just me
Speaker 2: eye to eye and see things see things somewhat similarly
Speaker 2: at the end of the day.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I think that there's context that has to
Speaker 1: be given in your conversations, and they have to understand
Speaker 1: where this other person is coming from. Because if you
Speaker 1: shut yourself off, then you don't want you don't grow,
Speaker 1: you don't advance your personality, you don't advance to it.
Speaker 1: We seem to be we're talking to I guess about
Speaker 1: our inner cells today. But you don't advance mentally, you
Speaker 1: don't advance emotionally, you don't advance as an individual into
Speaker 1: this understanding and understand where someone else is coming from.
Speaker 4: Because to your.
Speaker 1: Point, I mean tol gos shissan is coming to Atlanta, United, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think he had his four years, very very early
Speaker 1: in his life where he was in the United States,
Speaker 1: but a lot of his time in his life has
Speaker 1: been in Japan in the Far East, and that's where
Speaker 1: he comes from. That's his that's his knowledge base, his
Speaker 1: emotion base, his base of self. And I think that
Speaker 1: these days it's just as important to understand where someone
Speaker 1: else is coming from in being confident with who you are,
Speaker 1: understand where someone else is confident because one plus one,
Speaker 1: one confident person plus another confident persons, two confident people
Speaker 1: who understand where they're coming from. I know it's basic math,
Speaker 1: but sometimes that's a lot of math to get over
Speaker 1: and understanding and understanding context to something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I I I find it really interesting, even for
Speaker 2: myself to just learn about different cultures.
Speaker 1: Whenever I speak to all the players, what was what
Speaker 1: was the last culture that you've learned about with your
Speaker 1: time with MLS.
Speaker 4: What's the newest lesson that you've learned the newest culture?
Speaker 4: What was it that?
Speaker 1: Was it the the Togalese mashup that we were talking
Speaker 1: about just a second ago.
Speaker 2: Uh No, not necessarily. I think for me it's it's
Speaker 2: it's seeing just the different backgrounds. I think That's the
Speaker 2: interesting part of it is I think the cultural traditions
Speaker 2: that we speak about with other guys are like, there's.
Speaker 3: So many similarities, so many similarities.
Speaker 5: If I were to ask anybody like what their favorite
Speaker 5: culture tradition is, I mean, most likely everybody's going to
Speaker 5: say something to do at the end of the end
Speaker 5: of the year or Christmas or Thanksgiving or it doesn't.
Speaker 3: Matter what country you come from. Everybody usually focuses on
Speaker 3: the same thing. And you know, I think that's really
Speaker 3: that that.
Speaker 2: That's a huge one because you know, everybody prioritizes family,
Speaker 2: and everybody prior toies prioritizes that that time spent with
Speaker 2: loved ones. And I think it's it's cool to help
Speaker 2: players understand that they're probably spending more time with each
Speaker 2: other rather than they're spending with their immediate family. And
Speaker 2: so you know, you you have to also understand the brotherhood.
Speaker 2: But within brotherhood comes there there there there can be
Speaker 2: some conflict. But I think the most interesting thing for
Speaker 2: me is like seeing kids and other you know, individuals
Speaker 2: or younger kids within within kind of trading places and
Speaker 2: the exercises that we do, uh like feel a little
Speaker 2: bit more confident with them themselves.
Speaker 3: I think that's the beauty of it is to like these.
Speaker 2: A lot of these young kids who might be rookies
Speaker 2: for the first time or fourteen, you're fifteen years old,
Speaker 2: and they don't say a damn thing.
Speaker 3: Right anybody.
Speaker 4: They don't want to rock the boat. They're the new one.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but it's it's been really cool to see them
Speaker 2: kind of be more almost accepted into the group. You
Speaker 2: feel like a lot of the things that we do
Speaker 2: gives them an opportunity to And I think I'll always
Speaker 2: think like the youth, right found of the youth of
Speaker 2: just helping them become better leaders, not necessarily better people,
Speaker 2: but just in terms of making good decisions. And I
Speaker 2: think that that's where it stems from. And that's been
Speaker 2: the coolest thing for me in terms of all of
Speaker 2: this understanding of for so of cultural awareness, but just
Speaker 2: helping the younger guys in.
Speaker 3: The locker room really.
Speaker 2: Hold themselves accountable and kind of, you know, continue to
Speaker 2: build something that we are also trying.
Speaker 1: To do when coming into a relationship with the mente.
Speaker 1: These do your mentees have an understanding coming into the
Speaker 1: time that they spend with you and Mike about different
Speaker 1: cultures about where all the different perspectives or do you
Speaker 1: have to teach your mentees about understanding and appreciating different
Speaker 1: cultures and perspectives or is that known coming in more
Speaker 1: and more these days.
Speaker 2: I have implemented all of this ICA training in this
Speaker 2: work and to all of my mentees everything that we do.
Speaker 2: I it's so cool because I learned, you know, so
Speaker 2: much about my mentees and just getting to know them
Speaker 2: on a more personal level, I think creates a better
Speaker 2: bond and relationship. Like last night, there's a girl that
Speaker 2: I've now been working with for about close to a
Speaker 2: year now, and you know, we were just speaking about
Speaker 2: things that she was proud about last year, and you know,
Speaker 2: I think one of the things that she had said
Speaker 2: is that she felt so much more comfortable speaking is
Speaker 2: she's getting into clutch years of speaking to colleges, and
Speaker 2: the things that she was proud about herself was just
Speaker 2: becoming more comfortable and making new friends and talking to
Speaker 2: adults and just being in front of people because she
Speaker 2: was she shied away because you know, maybe she felt,
Speaker 2: you know, too shy and understanding you know, their environment
Speaker 2: and the surroundings around her. But one of the main
Speaker 2: things is that we I think our bond and relationship
Speaker 2: helped a lot with that, and like we've gotten to
Speaker 2: know each other and she knows that I'm Mexican American,
Speaker 2: She's American, Colombian and Cuban, which is an awesome mix.
Speaker 3: But it's like if we didn't know that about each.
Speaker 2: Other, Like I'll sprinkle in some like Spanish in there
Speaker 2: every once in a while in our sessions and I'll like,
Speaker 2: you know, you know, make her giggle or something like
Speaker 2: that with with something.
Speaker 3: That's very cultural to her.
Speaker 2: Right, Because I think my benefit of playing all over
Speaker 2: the world and knowing so many people and playing with
Speaker 2: so many different teammates from all over you you grab
Speaker 2: a little piece from all of those different guys and
Speaker 2: it allows you to build connection and relationships and like
Speaker 2: that that I think has really allowed this young woman
Speaker 2: to open up. And I think that's what I wanted
Speaker 2: to get from it and just feel more comfortable around
Speaker 2: people because I think of our conversations, but I think
Speaker 2: without us understanding each other's culture and having that kind
Speaker 2: of ice breaker, she probably would still be maybe extremely quiet, right,
Speaker 2: So like that's that's the cool thing that I'm I
Speaker 2: think I'm able to take away from what we do
Speaker 2: in in my Minties conversation of just using some of
Speaker 2: the exercises that we do uh to to help them
Speaker 2: kind of feel more comfortable and speaking engagement.
Speaker 1: As well, because in those environments where your your paths
Speaker 1: and your ethnicities may mix, your experience may cross over,
Speaker 1: you can use a word or a phrase, or like
Speaker 1: you said, you can use you can use a Spanish
Speaker 1: expression that might be a little bit more impactful or
Speaker 1: more direct, something that they can understand, or more familial
Speaker 1: that if you say it in say English, it might
Speaker 1: just kind of be a word that's glossed over. But
Speaker 1: if you have that little extra op fund, that little
Speaker 1: extra history behind it because of your experience, it means
Speaker 1: that much more and can impact that much.
Speaker 3: More exactly right.
Speaker 2: And I think it just allows like a lot of
Speaker 2: these kids that they might look at me and be like, oh,
Speaker 2: this guy just speaks you know this, you know he
Speaker 2: just he's one one lane traffic. But once they see
Speaker 2: that we have so many different branches within our career,
Speaker 2: and and and we we know a lot about culture.
Speaker 2: And I'm always so interested to learn about different cultures
Speaker 2: to see what their upbringing is like, Uh, that's that's
Speaker 2: that's the that's the beauty of that's the beauty of
Speaker 2: you know, I think soccer. Uh, you know, someone like
Speaker 2: Ozzie Alonzo who has so much to tell and so
Speaker 2: many stories to give, uh and who was also a
Speaker 2: Cuban and and someone who can give back to the game.
Speaker 2: And he's a new facilitator this year, and it's great
Speaker 2: to have him nice, but it's it's you know, helping
Speaker 2: him also spread his story to new players coming in
Speaker 2: to help them understand, hey, this is his story. We
Speaker 2: all get to kind of give our own little piece
Speaker 2: when we give these trainings, and I think that's that's
Speaker 2: the coolest thing about it, is that they give us
Speaker 2: that freedom to kind of use our own experience to
Speaker 2: speak to all these players. So I've really enjoyed it.
Speaker 2: It's it's been it's been a lot of traveling, a
Speaker 2: lot of freaking work, but but it's it's been awesome
Speaker 2: to be a part of and and and however long
Speaker 2: they need me, I would love to.
Speaker 3: Be a part of something like this.
Speaker 1: Okay, I cannot let you go before we discuss your
Speaker 1: photo shoot, uh, where you got to model some things.
Speaker 4: And it was.
Speaker 1: It was you and Maddie and Sophia. Yes, the two
Speaker 1: four seven connection, which I thought was hilarious. It's like
Speaker 1: they loved it and it's like, wait a second, and
Speaker 1: I didn't know if that was intentional or not.
Speaker 2: They didn't even mean it, and then they were like,
Speaker 2: huh two four seven. I was like, guys, SDH twenty
Speaker 2: four to seven, and they.
Speaker 3: Were like, oh yeah. I was like, oh my goodness.
Speaker 2: I mean, I was like, I was like, these young
Speaker 2: these youngsters, Oh my goodness, we got what a great
Speaker 2: idea SDA twenty four to seven.
Speaker 3: I was like, that better be the freaking caption of
Speaker 3: what you guys post.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I mean, and I'm going to tell
Speaker 1: them that it has to be the friggin caption, not
Speaker 1: just the option, but the friggin caption. But yeah, you
Speaker 1: got to you got to model the jersey. What you
Speaker 1: what'd you think of the SDAH?
Speaker 3: I loved it.
Speaker 2: I loved it and such, I mean, such good people
Speaker 2: to be around. All you guys are amazing people. Everybody
Speaker 2: who's involved with SDH. So you guys just keep bringing
Speaker 2: in younger and younger people, so watch out, Yeah, brother, Yeah,
Speaker 2: we're getting old, but no, just fantastic, fantastic to be around,
Speaker 2: and getting to know them a little bit better is
Speaker 2: the first time I met both of them in person.
Speaker 2: But yeah, awesome, awesome young women who are also changing
Speaker 2: the game and providing different opportunities in that sense, and
Speaker 2: equality and opportunity is massive. So I'm glad that there
Speaker 2: are so many women out there that are pushing for
Speaker 2: great leadership roles and and and hustling because that's what
Speaker 2: it's all about.
Speaker 1: They are kicking ass and they're kicking our asses on
Speaker 1: a daily basis. Fashion model for SDH, Greg Garza modeling
Speaker 1: our Olive and York guys are permanente Beyond Goals first
Speaker 1: ever SDH Jersey, what's going on with beyond goals?
Speaker 4: When you come back into this part of the planet.
Speaker 3: Same old, same old.
Speaker 2: The beauty about being away is that I still get
Speaker 2: to hop on sessions.
Speaker 3: I literally have one that starts right now.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I'll see you guys later, man, take care
Speaker 2: and thanks for having me.