Speaker 1: It's an odd man rush. You're on the SDH network.
Speaker 1: It's a two v one where we have two folks
Speaker 1: to let us know everything that's going on with Ambassador's
Speaker 1: Football in the three three oh and it's really cool
Speaker 1: where we can catch up with Bob and Ryan Dean
Speaker 1: where Bob is Grand Exalted Pooba. Officially he is the
Speaker 1: Grand Exalted PUBA director of Global Development and Ryan is
Speaker 1: head Coaching technical director for what you see when it
Speaker 1: comes to Ambassador's sc in the NPSL. Guys, thanks for
Speaker 1: dropping by for an odd man rush. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Thanks John, Yeah, thanks, Jean, appreciate it.
Speaker 1: So, all right, so who won the toss? Who's going
Speaker 1: to answer the first question?
Speaker 2: It depends on what it's about, I guess.
Speaker 1: All right, So it's about the why why the NPSL.
Speaker 1: Who wants to answer that one?
Speaker 2: It's all you, Bob.
Speaker 3: Yeah. So the why is pretty simple, and that is
Speaker 3: that when we started this venture in twenty twenty one,
Speaker 3: what we were attempting to do was to replicate what
Speaker 3: has been done on the women's side with Ambassador's FC,
Speaker 3: and that is to provide a pathway for our homegrown
Speaker 3: players and our local players to be able to compete
Speaker 3: at the highest possible level in pre professional football in
Speaker 3: the United States. Our women's program, their reputation precedes themselves,
Speaker 3: their reputation in the WPSL what they've been able to do.
Speaker 3: I mean, the names are you know, it sounds like
Speaker 3: you're just name dropping when you're talking about players who played,
Speaker 3: you know, Katerina Macario, Naomi Germa.
Speaker 2: I mean, the list just goes on and on, and.
Speaker 3: We just wanted to try to do something like that.
Speaker 3: We knew that it wasn't going to be at that
Speaker 3: level immediately, but we also knew that probably the only
Speaker 3: attainable level to be able to do that on the
Speaker 3: pre professional level was going to be through the NPSL.
Speaker 3: So literally in year one we started on that process
Speaker 3: of contacting them, and there was just a financial entry
Speaker 3: barrier for us to be able to do it and
Speaker 3: to do it the way that we want to do it,
Speaker 3: and that meant that we wanted to provide not only
Speaker 3: that opportunity for our players, but also an opportunity for
Speaker 3: the ministry to be on a national platform. I don't know, John,
Speaker 3: how aware you are of the past history with ambassadors
Speaker 3: and professional football in the United States. But back in
Speaker 3: the early two thousands, two thousand and eight nine to
Speaker 3: ten USL franchise known as the Cleveland City Stars that
Speaker 3: occupied that space great success in USL two won USL
Speaker 3: two in terms of a national championship, and then there
Speaker 3: was a lot of pressure to jump up to USL
Speaker 3: one full professional and it was a decision that did
Speaker 3: not go very well for the ministry. It put them
Speaker 3: in great debt, and at that point, the Global Ministry
Speaker 3: decided that no more professional football with ambassadors. That the
Speaker 3: highest platform we want to get to is that pre
Speaker 3: professional level. So attaining that and getting that opportunity for
Speaker 3: our young men to go through became something that we
Speaker 3: were very, very focused on. And I have to give
Speaker 3: incredible kudos to the NPSL in terms of their professionalism,
Speaker 3: their grace, their willingness to work with us, and to
Speaker 3: provide us with this opportunity. So, you know, people use
Speaker 3: that expression of breaking through the glass ceiling, whatever it
Speaker 3: might be, Well, well, for us, there is there is
Speaker 3: no glass ceiling. It's stainless steel. We're not breaking through
Speaker 3: this ceiling. But what we're trying to do is look
Speaker 3: at that ceiling like it's the Sistine Chapel, and that
Speaker 3: is we're not going to go through it, but we
Speaker 3: would like to paint the ambassador's picture on that platform
Speaker 3: and on that ceiling and the best way possible. The
Speaker 3: kind of the the functional part of it as well
Speaker 3: is of course it's attractive to the highest level players
Speaker 3: that you know, are looking for that national platform, the
Speaker 3: opportunity to play in US Open Cup, you know, to
Speaker 3: get to get exposure nationally and potentially to have other
Speaker 3: places for them to go. And I think the other
Speaker 3: thing that it does is it helps our partners and
Speaker 3: sponsors to get their businesses and their their they're messaging
Speaker 3: out on a national platform as well. So so yeah,
Speaker 3: that that's really the why. I don't know if Ryan
Speaker 3: and you want to fill in any blanks there.
Speaker 4: But no, I mean that was great. That's a pretty
Speaker 4: thorough explanation of why we're doing what we're doing.
Speaker 1: So what's it been like, Ryan, to assemble a roster
Speaker 1: with your phone blowing up? I don't know if it's
Speaker 1: been text or phone calls or WhatsApp or emails. What's
Speaker 1: it been like having to assemble this on the fly
Speaker 1: to get ready for this season?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, the the good thing about it is
Speaker 4: is that our men's programs existed now since twenty twenty one.
Speaker 4: So the core of our players, in terms of what
Speaker 4: our roster looks like this here, have already been around.
Speaker 2: So we knew that we were.
Speaker 4: Going to have to make some some some signatures and
Speaker 4: some additions to the squad that were able to help
Speaker 4: us compete in the NPSL, Guys that you know, had
Speaker 4: professional experience, NCAA Division one experience and NPSL or USL
Speaker 4: two experience as well to go with it. But the
Speaker 4: good thing was that the core of our our team
Speaker 4: is already already there. So there there's really kind of
Speaker 4: three prototypes of kind of what what we're looking for
Speaker 4: in terms of bringing players into the team. So the
Speaker 4: first one that the Bo've already mentioned is players that
Speaker 4: have have come through our own player pathway.
Speaker 2: One of those.
Speaker 4: As an example, as a as a young kid by
Speaker 4: the name of a Mere Spratt, he grew up part
Speaker 4: of his youth career playing the Ambassadors. As a young player,
Speaker 4: he ended up going to a local college. Now as
Speaker 4: a young man, he plays plays up front for US.
Speaker 4: I believe he is one of, if not the leading
Speaker 4: scorers so far this year in the conference. He scored
Speaker 4: a hat trick in our first match, So that's kind
Speaker 4: of one type is local guys that played for the
Speaker 4: club and have done that. The second one is guys
Speaker 4: that are from from other local clubs that maybe don't
Speaker 4: have that, that go to colleges in the area that
Speaker 4: we've brought in. So our captain, a guy named Omar Najar,
Speaker 4: played at University of Mount Union, had a really successful
Speaker 4: career there as well. He's a He's a super talented
Speaker 4: player and plays a big role for us. That's kind
Speaker 4: of the second one of those two are already in
Speaker 4: place and lots of guys like them, and so the
Speaker 4: vast majority of our roster was made up of guys
Speaker 4: like that. And then kind of what we've looked at
Speaker 4: this year is how do we bring in guys that
Speaker 4: don't fit one of those two groups that help kind
Speaker 4: of augment what we're doing. So, h there's two guys
Speaker 4: that I'll highlight this year that we went after pretty heavily.
Speaker 4: So one of them is a guy named Audrey and
Speaker 4: Nunias Kiros. He played at the University of North Florida
Speaker 4: and Clemson university for a few years as well as
Speaker 4: professionally in his home country of.
Speaker 2: Costa Rica, so we brought him in.
Speaker 4: He's been incredible for us, both as a player and
Speaker 4: a leader, you know, and and and has done a
Speaker 4: really good job. The other one I'll bring up is
Speaker 4: a guy who's currently now working and coaching on our
Speaker 4: women's side.
Speaker 2: That's Joni Sorokin.
Speaker 4: He's a former Israeli national and moved over here to
Speaker 4: play soccer. He played at the University of Central Florida
Speaker 4: for four years before finishing his that you're at UCLA again.
Speaker 2: A really talented guy. But I think what is similar.
Speaker 4: Between those last two individuals is that they both are
Speaker 4: the highest character guys. So we have these kind of
Speaker 4: three groups of different types of players that make up
Speaker 4: our team. But what everybody has in common is we're
Speaker 4: looking for the best people who kind of fit the
Speaker 4: ethos of what we're trying to do. Guys who are
Speaker 4: are willing to sacrifice, buy into the organization and see
Speaker 4: the bigger picture of Hey, it's not just about winning
Speaker 4: on the weekend, but it's about winning on the weekend
Speaker 4: in a way that brings glory to what we're doing.
Speaker 2: As an organization.
Speaker 4: We just had, you know, a group of kids up
Speaker 4: from Mexico, from our club down there, that were able
Speaker 4: to come up and train with us in ball boy
Speaker 4: for our games. And the way those guys looked up
Speaker 4: to some of the older players that are really talented
Speaker 4: in our team is ultimately what means the most to
Speaker 4: me that we're able to provide an example for the
Speaker 4: frankly thousands of kids around the world that play for
Speaker 4: the Worldwide Ministry.
Speaker 1: So Bob and Randean dropping by to let us know
Speaker 1: what's going on with ambassadors f see Ohio in the
Speaker 1: Great Lakes Conference. First year in the NPSL. Here this
Speaker 1: go around in twenty twenty five. So Bob, let me
Speaker 1: ask you when it comes to the off the field stuff.
Speaker 1: I know that there is and this is a question
Speaker 1: that I ask everybody. So I don't know if you
Speaker 1: if you listen to any of our other interviews within
Speaker 1: PSL first year franchises, I always ask there's the to
Speaker 1: do list? Where is that to do list? Is it
Speaker 1: on like a BlackBerry? Is it in a legal pad?
Speaker 1: Is it in a Google doc? Is it on like
Speaker 1: a six by eight foot white board that's got a
Speaker 1: lot of squiggles and PDFs and directions and we got
Speaker 1: to do this, this, this, this, and this where is
Speaker 1: that to do list? And how long did it take
Speaker 1: to cross everything off of it so you could hit
Speaker 1: the ground running on the field in twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2: Well, that's a good question, John, that's a good question.
Speaker 3: It's it's in all those places. I don't have a
Speaker 3: whiteboard that I carry around, but it's definitely in all
Speaker 3: of those places. So yeah, we're we're still checking things off,
Speaker 3: you know, as best we can. And and a lot
Speaker 3: of that has to do with the graciousness of our partners.
Speaker 3: You know, we play our home matches at Malone University
Speaker 3: in the city of Canton, and we're literally a hop,
Speaker 3: skip and a jump from the Professional Football Hall of
Speaker 3: Fame and UH and our our lead partner, UH Forever
Speaker 3: Long Sports Grass UH, who their turf is, what we
Speaker 3: play on their turf is in Tom Benson Stadium at
Speaker 3: Hall of Fame Stadium and in the Hall of Fame
Speaker 3: Village Complex. That's that's one of the things that we're
Speaker 3: trying to do is to attract people to our venue
Speaker 3: on campus UH and too. In order to do that,
Speaker 3: we're basically having to transform it from you know, a
Speaker 3: primarily functioned, functioning UH soccer lacrosse complex for a small
Speaker 3: Division two university into a pre professional at sphere and
Speaker 3: uh uh and there's there was a lot to do
Speaker 3: as a part of it, certainly the to do list
Speaker 3: having to do with the NPSL and the transition into
Speaker 3: uh just just the guidelines and UH the minimum standards.
Speaker 3: We didn't want to be at the minimum standards to start.
Speaker 3: We wanted to be above that. And so we've worked
Speaker 3: very very hard to do that again with help of
Speaker 3: our partners and and volunteers and many other people that
Speaker 3: have been able to do that. But again, I great
Speaker 3: thanks go to the league, and to to Cindy and
Speaker 3: to Robin, and to UH and and to Jeff and
Speaker 3: to everybody on that crew who really set you up
Speaker 3: with mentors and with people who you can just reach
Speaker 3: out to. We're all in the same boat, you know,
Speaker 3: and a rising tide raises all ships. And just some
Speaker 3: of the conversations that I've had with guys who are
Speaker 3: owners and managers around the country, it's it's been, honestly,
Speaker 3: it's been unlike anything that I've experienced in my professional life.
Speaker 3: With the exception of my role in substance abuse prevention
Speaker 3: in in my primary work before I was working for
Speaker 3: the ministry and before I was working in athletic development,
Speaker 3: where you're sharing all of the good, good resources and
Speaker 3: all the things that are going to make people healthy
Speaker 3: and successful. That's what I feel that this league has
Speaker 3: been all about. And they really do a great job
Speaker 3: providing you with that to do list, in that checklist.
Speaker 3: So yeah, but definitely exhausting, but you know what, it
Speaker 3: absolutely fully worth it, fully worth it.
Speaker 1: Ryan, You're in a conference that has Flower City, Rochester
Speaker 1: and YFC and we talked to We talked to them
Speaker 1: nine grade, eighteen twelve, Erie Commodores. They're a stalwart in
Speaker 1: this particular part of the planet. Cleveland, c Syracuse and
Speaker 1: Buffalo Stallions. They're back into the mix as well. I
Speaker 1: go back in the black and white television where I
Speaker 1: remember the Buffalo Stallions at the Odd playing Indoor. That's
Speaker 1: how far back I go with that.
Speaker 4: Man.
Speaker 3: I grew up in Buffalo, John so I know that too.
Speaker 1: Right there with Blaisdell Furniture, and I know you know
Speaker 1: all of those folks that went in there and shopped
Speaker 1: for Buffalo bills, and so I go back there with
Speaker 1: all of my friends as well, so I know exactly
Speaker 1: what we're talking about with the Stallions. So Ryan, when
Speaker 1: it comes to the on the field stuff, out of
Speaker 1: the blocks, you've hit each column once, one to one
Speaker 1: and one from the time that you hit the ground
Speaker 1: with a group preseason, getting ready, getting acclimated. Season starts
Speaker 1: three matches in. What do you think the club has
Speaker 1: learned about itself on the field and off? From your perspective,
Speaker 1: and Bob gets to listen to this answer and not
Speaker 1: repeat it, what do you think you've learned about yourselves
Speaker 1: in this process of assemblage and now getting out there
Speaker 1: to play where you've got the win, the loss, and
Speaker 1: the draw to start things off.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean the biggest thing I think is just
Speaker 4: that we belong right When whenever you step into a
Speaker 4: into a new environment like this, there always is that
Speaker 4: degree of uncertainty. As much as we try to hide
Speaker 4: and we try to avoid those things, It's like, have
Speaker 4: we bitten off more than we can chew?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 4: What if we step into this and you just get
Speaker 4: you know, hambered in the first match or whatever it is,
Speaker 4: or your your players or your system or your style
Speaker 4: of players aren't equipped for what we're trying to do.
Speaker 4: So over the course of these three games, I think
Speaker 4: what we have found out really really quickly is that
Speaker 4: we we do belong.
Speaker 2: So it's it's funny.
Speaker 4: That our most recent match one one at home against
Speaker 4: Cleveland SC. So we started the program back in twenty
Speaker 4: twenty one, so five seasons ago. It was our first year,
Speaker 4: our first ever game as a men's program, the first
Speaker 4: time that Ambassador's FC put out men's football wearing Ambassadors
Speaker 4: FC jerseys. We actually played Cleveland SC in a friendly.
Speaker 4: We just I think I DM them on Instagram and
Speaker 4: asked if they wanted to play, and they were willing
Speaker 4: to and it was like beyond embarrassing, Like I think
Speaker 4: they played their third team outshot us like thirty to one,
Speaker 4: and it was like a comfortable three nil win for them,
Speaker 4: and that three nil really flattered us. And so it's
Speaker 4: been a long way back after five years, and we've
Speaker 4: brought in some incredible players that have made certainly made
Speaker 4: my job easier. Now we do belong, right, Like it's
Speaker 4: four points in three games, although it is not the
Speaker 4: end of the world. Ultimately we're not satisfied and we
Speaker 4: do feel like we belong and like we're able to compete.
Speaker 4: So that's the biggest thing I've learned. Every day is
Speaker 4: a school day. I get the privilege to coach college
Speaker 4: soccer as well, at a very high level and with
Speaker 4: very good coaches around me, and so I've learned a
Speaker 4: lot over the last few years of coaching, and certainly
Speaker 4: this year has been no different.
Speaker 1: So all right, Bob, without stealing any of Ryan's answer,
Speaker 1: what else have you learned? Independently?
Speaker 3: I think you have to be adaptable. I just think
Speaker 3: back to years ago when I used to lead youth
Speaker 3: soccer tours all over Europe with a for profit company
Speaker 3: here in Northeast from Ohio, and one of the things
Speaker 3: that we would tell kids and parents immediately is that, hey,
Speaker 3: this isn't gonna be perfect. You know, you've got this
Speaker 3: great trip plan, you're investing a lot of money into it.
Speaker 3: You can step off the plane and step off off
Speaker 3: a bus, and you need to be ready to adapt.
Speaker 3: And we've already had to adapt. We lost two essentially
Speaker 3: key players in match one and two to a career
Speaker 3: or not career gosh, God forbid their career ending there,
Speaker 3: but season ending injuries and.
Speaker 2: So it.
Speaker 3: I always, I always feel very strong and when people
Speaker 3: say next man up, that that kind of belittles the
Speaker 3: process of the people that have you know, prepared to
Speaker 3: be stepped over in that situation because it's it's a
Speaker 3: heartache for those guys and very very difficult. But you
Speaker 3: have to adapt, and can our system adapt. I'm really
Speaker 3: confident in our coaching staff being able to do that.
Speaker 3: I'm really confident in our players being able to do that.
Speaker 3: But that has to do with the fact that one
Speaker 3: of the things that Ryan didn't mention, you know, is
Speaker 3: the overused term of culture. And it goes back to
Speaker 3: what he said in regards to the three the three
Speaker 3: boxes that we need to pull our players from. The
Speaker 3: common commonality with all of those is that they have
Speaker 3: to fit into that culture. When they fit into that culture,
Speaker 3: that adaptation process is much easier.
Speaker 1: And going down the road, all right, I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: gonna go snake draft here when it comes to my
Speaker 1: next question, and I want to go back to you,
Speaker 1: Bob and ask about the ministry for those that don't
Speaker 1: know the deeper meaning that is attached to the franchise
Speaker 1: and what you are trying to accomplish both on the
Speaker 1: field and off the field with the ministry and its
Speaker 1: message for those that don't know, go for it.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So, Ambassadors Football has actually been in existence since nineteen ninety.
Speaker 3: We're a worldwide football mission. We have mission plants in
Speaker 3: thirty five countries around the world, and you really can
Speaker 3: think of it as almost like a franchise in that
Speaker 3: anyone can start in a bachelor is mission in regards
Speaker 3: to the work that they're doing in terms of missionary
Speaker 3: work and Christian outreach to spread the Gospel through the
Speaker 3: game of football. And obviously there are core tenants that
Speaker 3: they would have to ascribe to, but that history is incredible.
Speaker 3: John Ortlip, our founder and president, is still at the Helm.
Speaker 3: He is one of the most gracious inspired men of
Speaker 3: God that I've ever met, and he's a visionary and
Speaker 3: his vision is to is to just share the Gospel
Speaker 3: through football. Our tagline is Football, Faith, and Future and
Speaker 3: they go in that order because football is the door
Speaker 3: that opens young people, old people, families, whomever it might be.
Speaker 3: It opens the door to a conversation about faith that
Speaker 3: we can have through the through the pathway in football.
Speaker 3: If it's street football, community football, if it's a men's program,
Speaker 3: it's a formal program, it's a it's an after school program,
Speaker 3: it's a Saturday soccer program, whatever it might be. It
Speaker 3: allows us to have that conversation about faith with the
Speaker 3: ultimate being that we're trying to influence the future and
Speaker 3: and further, you know, God's kingdom here on earth and
Speaker 3: to bring him the glory in doing that. I would
Speaker 3: cite one thing, and that is there are differentiating factors
Speaker 3: around all ministries and and mission outreach programs. Might be
Speaker 3: one of the things that that separates us is we
Speaker 3: actually have the most incredible curriculum. And I know a
Speaker 3: lot of people that are listening to this are probably
Speaker 3: familiar with the Sunday school model that's been around for
Speaker 3: the longest time, and a lot of our programs, our
Speaker 3: youth programs follow the same sort of thing, but it's
Speaker 3: more of a Saturday school model in that around the
Speaker 3: world we have literally thousands of kids who spend you know,
Speaker 3: an hour and fifteen minutes, an hour and a half
Speaker 3: on a Saturday being trained, football training and small side
Speaker 3: of games, whatever it might be, through a trained volunteer
Speaker 3: and ambassador's trained volunteer who is attached to a church
Speaker 3: that we're in partnership with, and then for thirty minutes
Speaker 3: then they are exposed to a gospel teaching curriculum that
Speaker 3: was designed by the brother of our international coaching director,
Speaker 3: who is a service veteran in Great Britain, one of
Speaker 3: the most incredible preachers and theologians that I've ever met.
Speaker 3: And this curriculum, called Toward the Goal, uses little youth
Speaker 3: soccer players cartoon characters to walk kids through Bible lessons
Speaker 3: literally from Genesis to Revelations, and it is it blows
Speaker 3: the door off of any Sunday school purchase online, spend
Speaker 3: a whole lot of money type of curriculum that you
Speaker 3: could ever see and for us, we give it away
Speaker 3: for free. If you want to use it, you can
Speaker 3: use it. It's brilliant. And we're actually preparing an entire
Speaker 3: curriculum around the twenty twenty six World Cup that will
Speaker 3: focus on the Good Samaritan by answering the question that
Speaker 3: the Gospel provides, and that is who's your neighbor. The
Speaker 3: entire world is coming to North America next summer and
Speaker 3: the question is who's your neighbor? So yeah, it's that
Speaker 3: that's our history. That's where we are and that's what
Speaker 3: our bigger picture is all about.
Speaker 1: Ambassadors Football dot org to find out more information about
Speaker 1: it all. Right, let me go back onto the pitch
Speaker 1: here for my final question, Ryan, when do you leave
Speaker 1: for Niagara University to take on Niagara eighteen twelve. What
Speaker 1: has study hall been like for Ambassadors getting ready for
Speaker 1: this one? As you hit match week number four in
Speaker 1: the conference this season? What are you anticipating in that
Speaker 1: trek to Niagara University.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so we're leaving tomorrow morning, thankfully, And this is
Speaker 4: just going back to how grateful Bob and I both
Speaker 4: are to be in the position that we're in. We
Speaker 4: get to travel there on about the nicest bus anyone
Speaker 4: has ever seen, So our great partners at Pint Your
Speaker 4: Trails have provided us these amazing charter buses to go
Speaker 4: to these away matches in So we'll pack the guys
Speaker 4: in there at our facilit that we own in Macedonia,
Speaker 4: Ohio around noon or a little bit earlier on Saturday.
Speaker 2: And we'll take off.
Speaker 4: Is a good percentage of our team that has never
Speaker 4: seen Niagara Falls at Niagara Falls as a landmark, and
Speaker 4: so we're gonna try if we can get there early
Speaker 4: enough to take the guys over and show them that
Speaker 4: and maybe the wonder and the awe of the natural wonder.
Speaker 4: We'll provide our guys some inspiration for the match. But no,
Speaker 4: we're we're feeling good about the match going into it.
Speaker 4: Obviously the results have been a mixed bag early on,
Speaker 4: but I feel like we've been competitive in every match.
Speaker 4: In every single game we've played, we've held a lead
Speaker 4: at least going through the first half, and so we
Speaker 4: we definitely feel strong about getting out to a fast start.
Speaker 4: But we look at the situation in front of us
Speaker 4: and say, Okay, we have seven matches remaining, what do
Speaker 4: we need to do in that time to get where
Speaker 4: we where we where we want to be in the season.
Speaker 4: It starts on Saturday, so we do take things one
Speaker 4: game at a time. I feel good about the squad
Speaker 4: we have going into the match. Like Bob said, we
Speaker 4: have had to weather they're kind of a storm of injuries,
Speaker 4: but we certainly believe in the guys that we're bringing
Speaker 4: on Saturday.
Speaker 1: So absolutely cool. Ambassador's FC Ohio traveling to take on
Speaker 1: niagar eighteen twelve seven o'clock at Niagri University on Saturday,
Speaker 1: and it was a two v one odd modman rush
Speaker 1: with Bob and Ryan Dean letting us know everything going
Speaker 1: on there at Ambassadors. Gentlemen, thanks for dropping by for
Speaker 1: two v one and for the education. We're going to
Speaker 1: be keeping an eye on things in the NPSL this
Speaker 1: season and everything going forward. Thanks for dropping by.
Speaker 2: Thanks John, Thanks John,