In The Huddle
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In The Huddle
EP#58: NPL Does Not Automatically Mean NCAA D1 with Indian Hills Men's Soccer Coach Zac Newton
Prepare yourself for an eye-opening journey through the world of collegiate soccer with our special guest, Coach Zach Newton from Indian Hills Community College. Hailing from Australia, Coach Newton's path from player to coach is nothing short of inspiring. He shares his unique experiences navigating the U.S. college pathway, providing insights into the high academic standards and significant role of GPAs at junior colleges. Through his narrative, you'll discover the balance needed between athletic and academic commitments and how they are crucial to securing scholarships and paving the way for a prosperous future in soccer.
In the Huddle was created to give student-athletes, parents and coaches an inside look at the journey through US college sport and all that comes with it the demands, the experiences, the excitement and the opportunities available to our student-athletes from around the world. Study and Play. Usa facilitates a comprehensive, customised approach for student-athletes and families for their whole journey, from their high school preparation years right through to US college graduation.
Speaker 2:Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of In the Huddle. I am your host, Claire Mulligan, and we are joined by a very special guest today who, surprisingly, does not have an American accent. We have an Australian accent in the house with us today. We have coach Zach Newton from Indian Hills Community College in Iowa. He is the men's soccer coach entering his first season, and welcome to In the Huddle, coach Newton. So, with your accent being from Australia, let's talk a little bit about your background from moving from australia over to america as a player and then coaching. Can you give the audience a little bit of an insight as to what brought you over to america?
Speaker 3:yeah, so, um, I grew up in australia for majority of my life, except for probably the first six years um played with my local club, mandra city fc. Um, probably since I was about 10 years old. Um, we flip-flopped uh. We just had, like the state, league and pram. It wasn't like mpl now, um, but we had uh. We were always flip-flopping between uh, state prem and division one, um and and Division I.
Speaker 3:And then, going into high school, I played for a sports-specialized school, which is not something that is common here in the US. There's no such thing as a sports-specialized school. High school athletics is big and played soccer for safety. For high school we had a very good team. We won two state titles, played with a number of different state teams growing up as well when I was younger, as well as the WA schoolboys U19s team back when they had a U19s schoolboys, and then, going into my last couple of years in Australia, was playing resis and a bit of first team football as well.
Speaker 3:But while I was at high school, actually, I heard about the US College Pathway.
Speaker 3:We had an agency.
Speaker 3:Nsr at the time came to our school and, you know, looked at our players, recruited a couple of us to go to a showcase, told us a little bit about the pathway, the opportunities it created, and then, unfortunately, following high school, I didn't quite have the grades to get into the topic that I wanted to in university, so I started working a trade job.
Speaker 3:I was still playing first team football and resis football, but it wasn't, I don't know, like I wanted to work in sports. I wanted to continue trying to see how far soccer could take me. I didn't feel like soccer was getting me anywhere where I was was getting me anywhere where I was, and so back in 2012, which is when I came over here, was when I decided to come over to the States and I actually joined the junior college program Peninsula College. Two very successful seasons there. After that, I ended up receiving a full ride offer to a Division I school um and graduated from Niagara University in western New York. So it's kind of like my pathway um, at least into the US, and how I started playing and be playing collegiate soccer in the US.
Speaker 2:Awesome. It's so cool that you had someone come to your school and talk about the pathway. That's what we do as well. We go to a lot of high schools and sports specialized high schools as well and talk about how amazing the pathway can be, and obviously we're very biased. We think it's a great path for people to explore, but we also say very clearly to the people that we're speaking to you can always go and try it, and if it's not really for you, it's not a four year locked in contract where you have no no escape and you've signed your life away as well.
Speaker 2:At the moment, as you know, we're doing a junior college podcast series and we actually were interviewing a tennis coach from down South from junior college and he was saying that if there ever was a myth about junior college only being for academically poor students, that's long gone. And he was talking that if there ever was a myth about junior college only being for academically poor students, that's long gone. And he was talking about how his tennis team has a lot of people that scored really high on the ACT and SAT and have really high grade point averages academic students that you have on your team and why that that myth is probably needs to be busted again in this podcast about juco only being for academically poor students.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I think the requirements to get in to junior college maybe aren't as potentially strict as going straight into a four-year school, but that doesn't mean we have lower expectations academically. You know we hold our players to a high academic standard. If they don't meet those standards, you know they could lose game time, the ability to practice, you know, potentially face suspension. I think this past semester our team had an overall GPA of about 3.3 or 3.4, which is good for guys in terms of trying to get them scholarships to go on to four-year programs. That's a big thing.
Speaker 3:Even a lot of Americans here, a lot of internationals, think that their ability alone is going to get them a good sports scholarship. A lot of programs aren't fully funded and so they rely heavily on trying to give players academic money in order to come play for their program. And so you know we do have a high standard, you know, in terms of the academics that the guys are required to have, because everything we're trying to do here is to try to prepare them for that next level in that next stage. Um, but yeah, no, we've got some very high academic students. You know I have an aussie on our team. He's got a 4.0 um and it's going to help him with that progression when he does move on to a four-year school and for those people listening, the gpa of the team that coach newton just said is actually higher than some NCAA schools.
Speaker 2:So I think that's really important for people listening.
Speaker 2:A lot of teams will post their team GPA on their social media and just the other day I was looking there is a NCAA Division I team that had a 3.0 average team GPA. So for those people listening, the 3.3, 3.4 is quite good for a team GPA. So that's really important to acknowledge, I think, and also for moving on to the next stage, when you were saying the academic and athletic scholarship can be combined. For those who don't know, academic and athletic scholarship being combined is a great way to make sure that you have quite a substantial scholarship offer, and we always say grades equal money. So we always say that it's really important to be as attractive as a recruit as possible for the coaches. Like you want a coach to open up a message or an email or whatever and go, oh wow, this kid has a so-and-so GPA, instead of opening up a profile for the first time and seeing that a kid has like a 2.2 GPA, which means this, this, this and this. So that's what we always try and say.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think to add to that as well, like, the year that I came out of junior college, we had the best forward in the country. He set our season golf scoring record. He sent, he said, the career golf scoring record. Um, the kid from Nevada. Um, and he was probably the only kid that didn't move on because his GPA was was low.
Speaker 3:Um, and there was players such as myself and a couple others that were getting a lot of offers.
Speaker 3:We definitely were nowhere near as special or as talented as this kid, but we were able to get an extra $10,000, $20,000, $30,000, $35,000, $40,000 academic because of our grades.
Speaker 3:And for me, having been in that situation as well, because I've coached at the four-year level as well, if we have to make a decision between two players of similar ability you know, maybe I'm recruiting left back and both one has a 2.0 GPA and the other has a 4.0, I'm going to go for the 4.0 guy because maybe I can save 10, 15, 20, 000 that I could potentially use for another position I need, like a striker. So, um, yeah, grades is is very important. We do study hall here with our guys, um, you know, to make sure that, academically, um doing the right things. And then, additionally, if you aren't meeting a certain academic standard, you become ineligible and you are unable to play um in collegiate soccer matches. So, um, that's really important that it's not just um. You know you're not just here trying to pursue going professionally, you're also trying to get that degree as well. You know they have to go hand in hand for you to have success here very well said.
Speaker 2:I wish that we could blast what you said about grades to everyone across the entire country of australia so that everyone that's thinking about this pathway hears that and is very aware. And I think in the the us system when I was in high school, as you were saying, it's such a big deal. Like the sports and american schools it's sports almost comes first in some some capacity. So I think me moving here and seeing how hard high school is here and seeing how a lot of the athletes here in Australia move over to America and do quite well in their first year because high school here is so hard, and I also feel I feel feel quite bad, I think sometimes for some of these really high level athletes here in australia that really struggle to balance their sport and their school because the school seems like the academic seems to take up so much time here, more so than I felt it did in in america it's tough, it's very tough.
Speaker 3:I I struggled as a student in australia, for sure.
Speaker 2:Um so yeah, that's brutal another question that I would like to chat about for everyone listening for the men's soccer players. We get a lot of people that will call us or inquire with us or raise their hand at career sessions and say things like I play National Premier League in Australia, does that mean it's Division One NCAA automatically? So I was wondering if you could talk a bit about that concept, because that seems to be a thing that people think. If I play in PL, that is NCAA Division I.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's the biggest fight I have, even with American players here, and it feels like unless you have a good knowledge of college athletics, you just don't know A lot of kids. They treat it like you know the English Premier League. All the best teams are in the English Premier League. You know the next best in the championship, division 1, division 2. And that's how they look at college soccer here NCAA D1, d2, d3, so on, so forth. It is not that black and white here.
Speaker 3:You know, take, you know, I went to junior college. My junior college was one of the top teams in the northwest, one of the top juco teams in the country. Um, you know the years that I was there, we, we beat the university of washington and that's a top 50 ncaa division one program. Um, my, uh, the college team that I coach right now, indian hills, we played university of missouri, kansas city, in the spring and we beat them three to one. Um, I've also been on the flip side of that, where I've been at a Division I school and we lost to an NCAA Division III, an NCAA Division II, and so I think that's a big misconception that you know. Just because you play NPL, you know that junior college is beneath you. I've coached kids that have played NPL, Prem and sometimes they come in and struggle in our conference. We compete in a conference that's very high level. I would go as far as to say with certainty, really, that the conference we compete in is essentially the Premier league of junior college. We've got players that are coming from la liga academies um, we've got, you know, we have a costa rican u20s national team kid on our roster. We have guys that have national team level experience from all across the globe. Um, there's a kid playing for nice in france. Moise Bombito played against Messi in the Copa Americas. He was in our conference four years ago. You know, one of the most exciting prospects in North America right now came out of Junior College.
Speaker 3:So I think the mentality that just because maybe and that's the thing passing up on Jukos Moise Bombito didn't do that, you know, and he was one of the highest draft picks in the MLS Club record fee from Colorado Rapids to Nice had a very successful season. So it's really not about where you you know, if you're not getting those looks, you know. Jamie Vardy is another example, an older player, right, not making waves until he was 27. Being from Niagara. I'm a massive Buffalo Bills fan. Josh Allen prime example, you know, went to community, didn't really get any offers coming out of high school. No star recruit Went to a junior college in California, went to Wyoming and you know, and the rest is history. He's a NFL MVP.
Speaker 3:So there's definitely junior college needs to be taken more seriously and I think, yeah, it's important to do your research because, yes, there are some junior college programs that, like these kids say, maybe they're beneath us. There are some teams that are like that, but there's also bad and good teams at every single level. You just need to do your research. Iowa, for example do your research, don't discredit the Iowa Juco's because they're the best in the country. It's essentially, in my opinion, ncaa Division I soccer at the junior college level. Naia, the heart of America toughest conference in the country in my opinion. So, yeah, it just helps to do your research and, you know, talk to your agent right, and get their advice and listen to them, because they're in these positions for a reason.
Speaker 2:And when you say, do your research, we actually have a lot of people who over-research and then assume. So when you're saying, do your research, for those people listening who might not know exactly what they should be researching, what kind of stuff would you advise them to research?
Speaker 3:You know, maybe look at the rankings, for example, of where teams are. Uh, if you look at the ncaa on the men's side, probably even on the women's side, but there's a lot of teams in the acc that are ranked and it's because their conference is the toughest, um, if you look at the junior college scene, you look at the rankings. We, our team, was ranked number one in the country for five weeks, um, and then a team in our conference actually won the whole thing. Unfortunately lost them penalty kicks in the semi-finals, um, and then they played a team the finals that we beat, and so you know the two top teams were out of our conference, um. You look at the previous national tournament winners at the division two level for junior college, three of them are all out of the Iowa conference, the ICCAC. So you know just those types of things. You know previous national champs records. You know how those conferences have stacked up against other conferences. I think is important. You know I don't want to start throwing names of bad conferences out, but like it, it just, it just helps to kind of do a little bit of research and head-to-head look at rankings. But then also, that being said, you don't want to discredit.
Speaker 3:I was helping one of my kids transfer and he turned down Cal Poly, who is a very good school academically, in a very beautiful area, because they didn't have a good record that year. And so one thing that I had to tell him is their head coach, I think was the USU 17's national team coach, and I said this is a good program, it's a good conference, good area. You have a chance to help them rebuild. They had a good season the following year area. You know you have a chance to help them rebuild. They had a good season the following year. Um, but also look at the the record of that team as well over the past four or five years. Um, maybe their record's not that great, but maybe they've had a new coach that's come in the last two years and there's a slow increase on how they've done.
Speaker 3:So you know, just go back the years. Don't just just take what's right in front of you as well with some of this stuff. Colgate is another example I think had a season where they were like 0-18, and then the next season there was a massive turnaround and Colgate's had a good team in the past. So don't discredit any school just based on maybe what's right in front of you with that one schedule schedule. Do a little research, look back a couple years, check out the coach, check out their record. You know what's the what's the background of the coach, wherever they come from. What have they done in the past? You know, for example, even not to not to give myself grab. Like you know, I've only been at Indian Hills for a year and so some people might not look at that like, oh, he's an inexperienced coach.
Speaker 2:Well, I've been at the national tournament before, so just looking at coaches and their resume, as well as helpful um conference and then previous seasons as well, is also really helpful I really like how you answered that question, because we get people that say to us I don't want to go to a losing team, I don't want to go somewhere that has a losing record. And my response to that is if you look at someone's record, it might be a few losses, a few wins, but mostly losses. But if you look at the actual results from each game, losses. But if you look at the actual results from each game, it's not 7-1, 12-1, 6-0. It's like double overtime, 2-2 or penalty kicks or 2-1.
Speaker 2:Or I had a conversation with an athlete who said I don't want to go to this school that is talking to me because they've lost a lot of games. And then I rang the coach and actually said hey, I was curious about your injuries from last year. Can you talk to me a bit about your injuries? And he said well, funny, you ask because we had three girls who did their ACLs in basically four weeks and those were three of our strongest players. So then I rang my athlete that I was working with back and said, hey, this is really important to realize that a team can just change so quickly. And that's what you were saying. It's important not to look straight at the roster and the record and be like, oh, I'm going to discredit, even talking to this school.
Speaker 3:The conference too, as well. Right, I mean you could be 0-10 in conference, but if you're in the ACC, for example, you're probably still a mid-table ncaa team. So I that's also important. There used to be a website that I used to I used to always look at that had the rankings for conferences, um, but, and there's, they're always changing, right. Uh, american east is clearly a lot better this year and they had a lot of teams in the tournament, and I mean vermont I'm pretty sure verm Vermont's in the American East, I think but they won the whole thing. So it's changing, especially now with NIL and all that kind of stuff. You know, the landscape is changing a bit for sure.
Speaker 2:It's actually pretty hard to keep up, I would say, for the regular athlete who's looking to go through this process. A lot of people say to us oh, what's this mean, what's this mean, what's this mean? Like that, some of the court cases going on and the lawsuits and stuff. It's really interesting to keep up with all of that. But something else that I wanted to chat about is I think some people that are looking to play college soccer in America that are Australian. I think some athletes forget or don't know who they're actually competing against for roster spots.
Speaker 2:So you mentioned the under 20 Costa Rican guy and I know that people in our recruitment industry across the globe are sending coaches, athletes from literally every part of the world. So you have the powerhouse countries that play soccer that are quite, quite good, and then you're also getting coaches, getting athletes from australia, athletes from america, like. But I wanted to talk a bit about if you could give a men's soccer player in high school here in Australia some context of who they're I guess quote unquote competing against for potential roster spots. That might be helpful for people listening.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oberliga kids out of Germany. So very, very high level in Germany of Germany. So very, very high level in Germany. Um, on our team right now we've got about three or four players that have division de honours experience, which is the highest youth level in Spain. Um, you know, we've got a kid coming from France that's playing nationally. We've got two Moroccan U20 national team kids coming in. Um, yeah, bobby's's a great example. Costa rican new 20s national team kid. The kid was going to get a full to go to boston college. Uh, very good acc school. Um, he's english is the only reason why he's with us and not there right now. Um, uh, let's see who else.
Speaker 3:Um, one of my captains, bailey Barbados senior national team. You know we've got a NPL Victoria first team goalkeeper coming in. He's about 23. I think he's 23,. 6'7" massive guy. Celta Vigo Ford.
Speaker 3:We got transfers. That's another thing. You're also competing with transfers. You might be a freshman, but the landscape is changing a lot. Coaches are going more for experience.
Speaker 3:You know I could see a good 10 that I like, for example, in Australia. You know one of your student athletes that you're trying to get over here. Why would I take that kid over the njca division three player of the year, for example. You know he's a proven player, he's and and we do we have the njca division three player of the year coming into our program. Uh, so it's the standard of some of these players is is that you know? I think Australian players need to consider. I love being Australian, I love Australia, but Australia and the league is not better than Spain, it's not better than Germany, it's not better than Brazil, it's not better than France, england and the US pathways is very, very global. So you are competing a lot of players that you might be a star in your team that are similar to you. You know you're a big fish in a small pond and then you come over here and you know everyone's a big fish swimming in the ocean.
Speaker 3:So I think it's very important when players do come over here, is they? They do their best to adapt quickly. They've got to be resilient, um, because you know I, when I first came over here, I thought I was fit, uh, and I struggled. I struggled to start my first year, but you know, I felt that I was a pretty resilient player and that kept me pushing and motivating when some of my teammates just gave up and went home, but it was a good decision for me and it really helped my soccer career. So, yeah, the standard is good. I'm trying to get more Aussies to come over here because the standard and the quality of play here is good. I think you bring the youth teams over here from the mls teams and they would, in my opinion, beat that would be a lot of teams. I could take my college program, I feel, over to australia and we'd beat a lot of mpl first teams for sure.
Speaker 2:So it's it's a really, really good standard I think that was a great way to answer that question and I feel like we could end. We could end the podcast right there, because that's a huge thing of what I want people to understand and that's a conversation that I seem to have a lot each week with soccer players about. But it's really good to hear it from you as well, and I'm assuming that your experience with the junior college like needing to be resilient and maybe not starting as much in your first year that probably has helped you to become a coach that can really assist people that are dealing with that as well yeah, yeah, um, I know exactly what my players are going through when they come here.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, I've, and I try to do my best to help them, uh, get integrated. Uh, for some of it it's trying to help them humble themselves. Uh, you know, because they are. You know, some of them come over here a little bit arrogant in terms of their ability and, um, and just understanding that you know a lot of players are coming over from places that are very political and it depends on coaches really do prioritize good habits here in the US. You know, I've had players over here that have been turned down by good four-year programs based on a reaction in a game, you know, or like trying to start a fight or something silly that just could have been prevented Grades, behavior, things like that. So that's been a struggle for one of my center backs.
Speaker 3:I've probably got one of the best center backs in the country. Um, he was a division one bounce back. Um, so division one bounce back means he was playing at a division one and he came to us and the rumor around the mill was that he was a bit of a a butthead in terms of his attitude. So he was being overlooked by a lot of very good programs because of his mindset and his behavior. So that's another good thing about Juco is we can help them grow and develop, because when they do go on to four-year programs they are playing teenagers and men that are very, very mature.
Speaker 2:So, um, they need to be able to adapt to that play and that physicality and that level yeah for sure and that's what I think everyone listening needs to understand is that nothing is beneath them and you're not too good for anything. That's my opinion. I don't think any athlete's too good for anything. I think every single athletic or academic experience can really help people grow. And yeah, so I think that's really important With the recruitment process. For someone who might be listening who's like, oh, I don't really know what to do.
Speaker 2:I'm doing this pathway on my own, I'm not getting a lot of interest from coaches, not quite sure what I should be doing next to get more interest. We're not sure what my highlight video should look like or change to get more interest. So if this was a high school Australian athlete men's soccer player thinking about this and wondering these questions, the exposure part comes up a lot of how do you get exposure for the college system, and we talk about junior college being really, really great for exposure. But we also talk about if you're not able to make it over to the US, some coaches won't recruit you if they've never seen you play live. So can you talk a bit about how that mindset is the way for some coaches and NCAA as well?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't think I don't. I don't think a coach really needs some coaches do. Some coaches definitely do want to see you play live, but me, for example. We have a lot of players that aren't that we don't get to see play live. We don't. We evaluate their highlight video. We have a conversation. We look to find out more information about their personality. What are they like as a person, as a player? We look for certain things on a video call Are they paying attention when we have a conversation to them? Or how do they dress? Just little things like that. Are they shirtless? Just little things like that. Because it is an interview when we have those conversations.
Speaker 3:In terms of the highlight videos, making sure that it's very positional, specific. So if you're a left back, for example, like I was, clips where you're getting forward of the attack, putting in crosses, being dangerous, being in place of one-on-one in the final third, but also, primarily, understand that you're a left back and a defender, so you know defensive, one-on-one duels, positioning, tracking back when you lose the ball, just a lot of positional stuff. You don't need to make a highlight video. 12, 15 minutes, in my opinion. I think the more that you add, it makes certain bits less attractive. If you put yourself in a situation where you have 20, 30 clips and then you cut it down to probably the 10, 15 best clips, it makes them pop a lot more. It makes you stand out a lot more, because you're really choosing the best bits that you can do. Make sure you include things like your GPA contact details in the video. I think it's helpful.
Speaker 3:I've seen a lot of videos on YouTube from players that I don't. I have no way to contact them. I can subscribe to their YouTube channel and that's it I don't have. I have no way to contact them. You know I can subscribe to their YouTube channel and that's, that's it. You know I don't have an email address, I don't have a phone number, so I can't reach out to them that way. And then we you know if you like what we see based on the call, based on the highlight video, unlike other programs, there are programs that work in enrollments. They're just looking to bring as many players as they can. We're not one of those programs.
Speaker 3:We want to make sure we can bring in the right players, um, and so if I'm looking at 10 strikers, for example, um, I want to make sure I pick the best one. So then we look at full game film so we can see the full picture. Um, in terms of what are your habits when you lose the ball? Um, you know, for example, for a nine, are you lazy when defending? Are you pressing? You're trying to win the ball back in the final third?
Speaker 3:Um, you know, are you organized defensively, not just all the attacking stuff as well? What's your attitude in the game? Are you trying to start fights with players in the field? Are you being disrespectful? Are you being rude to teammates? Or are you encouraging? Are you working hard? Are you doing those things? So those are some of the things that we at least look for when it comes to looking at players. We try to get out to as many games as we can, but obviously we have budgets to stick to. So we can't you know we don't have the budget to fly to Australia every, you know, two, three months. It's just, it's out of the question. So we have to rely on film. Video highlights.
Speaker 2:That's good With. So I'll cut that bit out with the. Something that I say to athletes that seems to be an issue is defensive footage across the board, with lots and lots of positions. I noticed that when we get clips or highlight videos made for us, like for our company, when people are trying to see if they can work with us, lots and lots of times the defensive elements of their video is missing. And I think that it's something really important for people listening to remember that they need to try and show every facet of their game, and not just goals, not just penalty kicks, not just passes that are five meters apart that anyone could do at any skill level, but trying to make sure that you're really showing yourself off with every single thing that you probably need to do in a highlight video.
Speaker 2:And I actually had a coach say to me once if an athlete is not including a skill that we need to see, we assume, correctly or incorrectly, that they can't do it. So if they're not showing any aerial control at all at any point in their video, we are going to assume, correctly or incorrectly, that their aerial control is not good. So what are your thoughts on that statement?
Speaker 3:um, yeah, I think showing just the basics of your position is important. You know, I think yeah to your point like a forward, if I'm an outside back, you know, and you're a forward and you're trying to get video of a forward long ball in behind, good, first touch behind to to set up the shot to shoot. Um, you know, you need to be able to show some of those skills, um, positioning in the box, uh, yeah, I think those are all very, very crucial, that you can show those skills. Um, I, we're recruiting a left back and it's a very common perception that outside backs typically aren't good in their weak foot, and in his second clip he cuts inside and plays a free ball with his right. He's a left back and so that for me was okay, awesome, because that was something that our Japanese right back we moved them to left back in our semifinals game he struggled with. They knew he was going to go into his right foot because he struggled with his left, and so being able to show those, I think, can really add a lot more value to you as a player, being able to show that you can shoot with multiple feet. I also think the speed of the game that you're playing at.
Speaker 3:I've had a lot of, for example, brazilians that send a lot of skill videos in and they're doing rainbows and flicks against guys that can't even, you know, kick a ball.
Speaker 3:And that for me, is, you know, as a coach, we're a high-level program, so we want to see a high-level game. So the level of competition that you're playing at, um, a kick around in the park, um, doesn't really, you know, satisfy us, um, when it comes to recruitment. So, um, you know, making sure that it's a, it's a high level game, or even a game that you maybe that you didn't necessarily win, but you can see that it's a high-level game. Or even a game maybe that you didn't necessarily win, but you can see that it's a high-level game against an opposition that you struggled against. It also doesn't show us much if you send us clips or a game where you beat a team 10-0. We want to see how you play under pressure and those type of things. So we learn a lot more from those games, I feel, um, as coaches, than maybe a game that you necessarily always just just dominate sometimes well said.
Speaker 2:The other question that I have for someone who's listening to this podcast and thinking about okay, I'm quite keen on talking to coach noon at Indian Hills. I'm a soccer player from Darwin, for example, how do I get coach Newton's attention? And if I do get his attention and he does like what he sees, what should I be prepared for in my chat with him? Like so, then my segue question for that for you, coach Newton, is is there like a red flag for you when you're recruiting someone in a call, like a video call, or a green flag or things that you've experienced that you were like oh my gosh, I cannot believe that this athlete was trying Um a?
Speaker 3:kid sent me a, an email, um, and it I know the coach, cause we've had conversations about him trying to recruit some of our players. But, uh, he said, hello, this coach at a school in California, and I just the only thing I responded with wrong coach and that was it and just left it at that. And so, um, you know, I I think blasting out just uh, generic emails. Um, you know, some kids have put like, clearly, uh, another kid put our school's email but it was highlighted, so you knew that he was just kind of copying and pasting and just adding new schools in. Um, that, I think is is something that you need to not do. Um, you know, I think making a genuine contact with the school is important. You know, doing a little bit of research, um, you know, I had one kid that talked about like our national tournament run and congratulated us on a historical season because it was a historical season, and that was great to hear that he did his research and even did some research into the programs that we provide. Kids may be directly talking about scholarship, like they're looking for something, and you know we have certain spots that we can give scholarships for. You know we're not an unlimited resource for scholarships. So, um, just coming out of that and just expressing, you know, I'm I'm looking for a scholarship or just that kind of stuff, without having a conversation to see if the school was the right fit, just the genuine stuff like ground mistakes and things like that, and just the politeness of how you respond. We had a kid that reached out to us at the start of last year and I politely said look sorry, our roster's full for this year. We, we are looking for team managers. This was a local kid at the school. Um, turned out he reached out to other coaches too. But, um, you know, we'd be happy to have as a team manager and you can maybe participate in practices. We can see how you do. Response was very polite. His response back to us, though, was very rude.
Speaker 3:Um, and coaches talk. I think that's the biggest thing. I understand coaches. We do know each other. Um, you know, we, we have conversations with one another. Um, if a coach, for if a player from another school reaches out to me, uh, the first thing I typically do is I send that player to that coach and say hey, just so you're aware, this kid reached out to me. We, we all talk to each other. So, um, the perception that you give one coach like I gave the example, my guy, you know, being a bit of a butthead um, that does spread. So just being careful with that and always um sure that you know the things that you put in your email are correct and accurate and respectful, I think is important.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I totally agree. I'd like to end the podcast with asking you a bit of a reflective question, and it's a bit of a, in my opinion. It's like a warm and fuzzy question. But why do you love coaching?
Speaker 3:in my opinion it's like a warm and fuzzy question. But why do you love coaching? Um, I, you know, I love, love being able to, to be involved in, uh, just just the story and the successes of the players that I've that I've come in contact with. I, I love being able to help players. I know I'm 31 years old, I'm still a fairly young coach, but I know there's a lot of room for me to grow. I'm definitely not the most experienced coach, but I love working for the players that I have. I love being able to help players. I've had kids that I have. I love being able to help players.
Speaker 3:Um, you know, I've, I've had kids that I don't even coach, that I've maybe tried to recruit in the past, that I've, you know, have utilized me as a resource and it's it, just it's, you know, it keeps me connected to the game, um, and I'm able to help a lot of kids and being part of their stories and being able to help them with their dreams and their journeys and things that I wanted to do as a kid myself, and it just kind of helps me kind of relive that process in their shoes selfishly. But, you know, I think that does excite me just being able to help the players that I coach, um, you know, fulfill their professional and academic dreams. I think one thing, though, is also that I want to try to help these kids as best as possible, and a lot of these kids, um, they do have pro aspirations, and I never want to shut down those aspirations, but, um you know, I I do care about their well-being, so trying to make sure that, um, I get them to understand just how important the education part of it is as well. You know, I don't want just to have players that I coach become professional athletes, but I want to help um create respectful, um educated men, and I think's that's another part of why I really enjoy being a coach and enjoying what I do. So, it's, it's a fun job, and, you know, we probably don't get paid as much as other professions, but I could not, to be honest, uh, see myself in any other position, so, yeah, Amazing.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks very much for your time and I really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule with all the millions of things that college coaches have to do to share your wisdom with all of our families and athletes listening. We have people that listen from all over the world mainly australia, but lots of other places as well. So on behalf of everyone listening, thank you very much for everything that you've said and we look forward to following all your successes with, hopefully, another historic season for Indian Hills. And I'm wondering if you will ever lose your Australian accent, but I'm assuming probably not.
Speaker 3:No, my wife probably won't like me anymore if I lose my Australian accentian accent, so I gotta, I gotta, keep it for her. Um, but no, no, yeah, hopefully a historic season next year. Um, hopefully, this school's first national title. We're very, very close, so, um, yeah, working towards that awesome.
Speaker 2:All the best and thank you very much, coach newton thank you for your time.