Kick It With Katie: A Soccer Podcast
The Kick It with Katie Podcast covers different aspects of youth soccer in the United States and around the world. I share stories from former youth players and their pathway through the youth systems and where it took them in life whether it be playing collegiate, playing professionally or finding another avenue, we have it all. The show will also cover coaching, recruiting, and other topics in the youth soccer landscape. I find that sharing your stories will help others in their pursuit of the same goal. Thanks for kickin' It with me!
Kick It With Katie: A Soccer Podcast
Teri Tivnin, Soccer Mom & Daughter's Journey to Pro
Teri Tivnin shares her poignant journey of her duather's rise to a professional soccer player while facing the emotional ups and downs of youth sports. Her insights on mentorship, commitment, and the ever-evolving landscape of women’s sports resonate strongly with aspiring athletes and their families.
• Inspiring story of Jenna's development from youth soccer to professional player
• Importance of effective mentorship and community support systems
• Parenting challenges: managing expectations and pressure
• Mental health awareness in the competitive sports landscape
• Lessons learned: communication, balance, and positivity in sports
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he's yelling at Jenna to do all of these different things and I'm laughing going. I don't understand why he's yelling at her, but all of that to teach her what to do off the ball.
Speaker 2:Hello and welcome to the Kick it With Katie podcast.
Speaker 1:Hey team, it's Katie here and today I have soccer mom Terry Tivnin and Terry why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself, let us know where you're from and your kid that you have playing soccer Awesome. So I'm Terry Tivnin, so awesome to be here. I here from Boston, a little suburb outside of Boston. I myself played softball and soccer as a youth and going forward a little bit into kind of the semi-pro world, and I have a 24-year-old daughter that started out in youth soccer and then played ACC level soccer and then is now a professional soccer player in Portugal, so plays for the top division there and yeah, it's been a whirlwind, yeah that's awesome.
Speaker 2:So for your own soccer experience, how old were you when you started playing?
Speaker 1:So well. I started playing when I was six, seven years old. Back in my age group there really wasn't girls soccer. We didn't have a girls soccer team in high school, so I played with the boys pretty much my whole career. When I was in eighth grade my brother happened to be the captain of the high school soccer team and I really wanted to play on the high school soccer team. I was the only girl playing and he made me play in this indoor soccer league and I ended up breaking my leg really bad, where I broke both the bones in my leg. It was in a cast for a very long time and that was pretty much the end of my soccer career.
Speaker 2:Oh man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah that injuries like that in any sport are definitely very scary and usually pretty traumatic, especially if it's you're doing something that you love and then you can't do it anymore.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely, and this was back in the eighties. So back in the eighties they didn't they didn't really prepare you for sports the way they do now. So even the, the operations and all the things I want to think about, I tore my ACL playing softball and I think about the operations back then to what it is now. It's crazy. I was in the hospital for a week. People are in and out now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I, yeah, I tore my ACL. It's been almost 20, well, not 20 years, it's been almost 15 years and I still haven't had it operated on. And so when people find out they're like oh my gosh. And I'm like, well, I just I can't play soccer. Technically I've tried, but it, I mean it's obviously not very stable. But when I eventually do have the surgery, like I, sometimes I'm like I'm kind of glad I've waited because now it's less invasive than what it was previously. I mean, even if I had had it done when I did it it was obviously still less invasive than before, but now it's even. You know just what they've been able to do and the recovery for it and everything it's. It's quite interesting for your daughter that played. How old was she when she was introduced to soccer?
Speaker 1:so it's funny because, um, we always say jenna was born to play some sport. She had a ball in her hand and at her feet from the time she was a baby. She would literally, at nine months old, sit on my kitchen floor and dribble basketball. That's just what she did. So she started. In my town we have this amazing director of coaching, john Barada. He is just fantastic. It was the first year he came to Easton and he started this pre-K program and we played soccer behind a church down the street. She was five years old and she hasn't stopped playing since.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. And did she after that? Did she like do rec or did she go straight into club? Or how was that progression for her with the system?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So she played rec and travel and she was not introduced to club soccer until she was nine years old and our director of coaching actually did that at the time. That was young still, they, you, you know she's 24 now. So if you think about back back then it was still early and he told us, you know, she was running over people. She was to a point playing rec where anytime she scored a goal with her right foot it didn't count. She could only score a goal with her left foot for it to count. He put her on a travel team when she was seven and you weren't supposed to, you're only supposed to be there at eight. He almost got fired for it. He had. I had parents coming up to her at travel practice going, how old are you? And then they would in turn go to him and be like, how did you took a space away from somebody else's daughter to give it to her. So he knew when she was quite young that she was special.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's very, it's very tricky, coming from like a coach's perspective myself, when you have players that do need to be pushed and they do need to play up a level you know whether it's up an age group or or whatever that looks like for whatever you're in right now and having comments like that where parents get upset because you know you're taking away space, and so it's.
Speaker 2:It's really hard because there's so many perspectives that you have to think about. And what is, I mean, our biggest thing as coaches is we have to do what's best for every kid, and so if this player who's younger, is just as good as, or better than somebody, that is maybe the proper age group. It's not fair to give that person in the age group that spot, when this player is obviously better, depending on you know what the team situation is or dynamic, and so it's really hard for people to grasp that because they obviously want what's best for their kid. But as far as what coaches are supposed to do, we have to do what's best for each individual player and wherever that fits in for them. I know I'm a big person who likes to have players cross-train and cross-play. I coach three different age groups and I have multiple players in age groups that will cross-train either up or down, and then the players that can play. You know in those respective age groups they play. You know they can play up a year and so if they need that extra push, then that's where they're at.
Speaker 2:And so it's hard for some people to understand that, because it's very much. It helps out those kids and some parents you know, hard truth moment Some, a lot of parents don't like to hear that their kid doesn't have that same talent as other kids, and unfortunately that's the way it is. You know, some people are better at math. You know, it's just how it is. It just happens to be that, you know, this kid is better at basketball, this kid is better at soccer Like, it's just how it is, and so those players need to be pushed at a level that's going to continually help them develop. Yes, your daughter maybe took a spot away from somebody else, but did she deserve it? It sounds like she did. She's currently playing professionally, so obviously the coach made the right decision. We were very lucky.
Speaker 1:Throughout her entire youth career, even college and beyond Right, we were really lucky to have the mentors that we had in her life, starting from John here in East End and John actually is still a big mentor for her helped her with her agent to get her I mean, she's playing against her team is currently third in the League of BPI only to Sporting and Benfica, so like if it wasn't for the people that she had in her life. So from John to NEFC, so we played. She played for the New England Football Club out here in.
Speaker 1:Massachusetts. And we never. We were not club jumpers, we were not anything. Somebody actually saw her when she was nine years old at a soccer. So the D team, because at the time we needed a scholarship and they were like, all right, we'll put you on this team Halfway through the year we like, we beat the A team and halfway through the year she was then put on the B team, which was better for her. And I say better for her because the coach that she had, nick Burke, who is again another mentor that's still in her life. When she comes home she does private training with him. He just worked with her and he would literally teach her how to head the ball.
Speaker 1:She's great in the air, which is the reason, one of the biggest reasons, why she's where she's at. She's amazing in the air, one of the best in the air that you'll see. Um, he taught her that, he pushed her. He never stopped her from growing. So when it was time for her to go on to the a team, at that u13 age where everyone kind of comes together, she played U13 elite and she played U14 to get her more touches on the ball. All because they helped her, they pushed her. I mean, I remember being at a game and she played striker up until she was 11. So from nine to 11, she played striker, scored five goals a game. She's a big girl too, which I say all the time. There's a lot of things that you can teach, but you can't teach size. So she's like 5'9", 5'10". She's a big presence back there and he wanted to put her on center back. So we talked to my husband first, because I did not want her to go to center back.
Speaker 1:I wanted her to stay as a striker. But what did I know, right? I said wanted her to stay as a striker. But what did I know, right? I said I'm gonna trust whatever you know if that's what you feel like. So he put her at center back and at the time I think it was 8v8 that we played um at u11 and I remember her being at center back and the play is on the other end. So she's pushing up a little bit and the coach is screaming at her Like he doesn't even care what's going on in the play. He's yelling at Jenna to do all of these different things and I'm laughing going. I don't understand why he's yelling at her. But all of that to teach her what to do off the ball, which is something I didn't know, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, they just they were great. I mean, her team went on to win the youth national championship at U14. They were the first Massachusetts team and I think still to this day, the only Massachusetts team that's ever won it. That was 2014. They won the youth national championship and the club soccer national championship in the same year and they were in the NPL. So for those people, obviously, that know the club soccer world, npl is not even really anything anymore.
Speaker 1:At the time it was NPL and then ECNL. Now it's NPL, ga, ecnl and it's just down low of the low totem pole and we won all of these awards. It was just a whirlwind. These girls were getting recruited out of eighth grade. It was crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and how? How was that for her being able to be starting to be recruited and looked at at such a younger age? I know that the rules changed so obviously they can't do that anymore, but how was that? Having them looking at her at such a young age? It was very stressful.
Speaker 1:I'm sure it was obviously stressful for her more so than it was for me. I will tell you, as a parent, I did not realize everything that goes into being recruited Right Like you think, that a coach comes, they see you play and they offer you a scholarship. That's what.
Speaker 1:I thought, I don't know, we didn't have girls teams like that when I was growing up. You know, it just happened after me. So it was for them to tell us that well, you have to write emails, you have to give me your schedule, you have to follow up, you have to give me your schedule, you have to follow up, you have to set you know they would have to set times that they were going to call, because you, if you call and they don't pick up, they can't call you back. And then I just remember when she was like, so she went to Syracuse and played there for all five years they got the extra COVID year. I remember when the head coach called her and so I she wanted me to be there. So I was there, sitting next to her, and all I could hear was well, yeah, like, and I'm going myself. Oh, my God, she's 14 years old and she's talking to this ACC power five coach going, um and like, you know, right, so that was just. I mean, that was the funny part of the fact that they're immature at 14. They're not even in high school yet. So, um, it was crazy.
Speaker 1:We had at the time a great coach who, at after we won the youth national championship and the soccer national championship, we had a lot of interest. I mean, out of jenna's team we had two girls go to duke. We had jenna go to syracuse. We had, um, I mean, most of the team went to division one. I think those were the only three that went to the power five. But, um, most of the team went division one. I think those were the only three that went to the power five. But um, most of the team went division one.
Speaker 1:So it was he managed that in the sense of he had the girls write down give me 10 colleges that you want to go to. He didn't care why, he just just give me 10 colleges and then he would meet with the girls and he would talk about each of the colleges and tell them whether he thought that was a good fit for them. And they'd go back and forth and they'd whittle it down. And we had, by the end of or beginning even of freshman year, they had five solid schools that they wanted to try and go to. Every tournament we went to, we visited colleges, we just did whatever we could they wanted to try and go to. Every tournament we went to, we visited colleges every like. We just did whatever we could, and I had another daughter who didn't play sports that was doing the college search at the same time, so she was a senior in high school. Jen is a freshman in high school and they're both going on college tours very different college tours.
Speaker 1:When you are a recruited athlete, you get a private tour of your school and you get to sit in all these offices and you're by yourself, and so it was that, versus going in this huge herd of people Right.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:You know I think about it now and it was very stressful, but it was. I'm glad that we did it really young. I mean she committed when she was a freshman in high school and she's never I mean she spent all five years at Syracuse, never transferred her freshman year. She had a new head coach that came in and was like listen, we want you here and we'll do whatever we can to keep you here. And so she spent the rest of the four years with her and their last year at Syracuse had their best year ever. So it was really fun.
Speaker 2:That's awesome.
Speaker 1:I miss it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean a lot of people like one of my husband's teams, their kids just graduated the last year I don't know, it's been a couple of years maybe and a lot of those parents still get together and hang out because they're like we miss it, because, you know, we used to spend every weekend together, or all this time together, all the travel together. You know we all became such good friends and so some of them still, you know, meet up and hang out and things like that Cause you miss that camaraderie we do that with.
Speaker 1:So the club soccer team, like I said, she never changed clubs and there was the core group of them that stayed together until they changed. When they went to birth year, jenna was a 99. There was only four of them on the team that were 99. The rest of them were 2000. So they had to split up because at the time we were playing ECNL. So they wouldn't like, they didn't want to keep one team and they wouldn't let the like their young team be in the same age bracket as the older team. They didn't want that. So I know, instead of keeping our team together and letting us play up a year, they would.
Speaker 1:They didn't want to do that. I know we lost a lot of players because you know the other thing with the Easton Ellis they wouldn't let you play high school soccer. You had to have a waiver Right. So only a few of them got waivers and the rest of the team that didn't get waivers and they wanted to play high school, they left and went someplace else. That was a hard year, that junior year of high school, and it was just. It was a really, really hard year. But then we all came back together again our senior year, and I remember thinking to myself this is our last year, and every tournament we went to, every game that we went to, I just wanted to savor it because it was just youth soccer was so much fun. It was just so much fun, like even when parents were obnoxious, which let me tell you we had. I don't know where you're from, but the parents in New York are a little bit crazy, just saying.
Speaker 2:I think it's everywhere. I'm pretty sure it's just everywhere.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying that our group wasn't a little crazy, but we had um, it was, I can't remember who was against Quick Strike. They went around before the game started and they handed out lollipops to all of our parents, so that would be suck in the lollipops instead of opening our mouths. I thought that was pretty funny.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was somebody that I had on as a guest previously that he's been a coach and when he coached youth soccer he would hand out lollipops to some of the parents to try and keep them, you know, busy, because he knew that they were going to be, you know, running their mouths on the sideline or whatever. So I was like, oh, I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever encounter that. I haven't had any issues for a few years, so yeah, it's um, it's lovely.
Speaker 2:Well, here in New England, we tend to not keep our mouths shut either, so and and I really think it just depends it also I don't want to say it depends on the age or the level of play um, because I mean I've seen some older teams. You know, we went to a tournament over Thanksgiving and we were there at a college showcase and none of my kids were playing but my husband was coaching and our sideline was pretty chill for the most part, like you know, we, you know clap and things like that. But I felt like as a group, like they were pretty chill at that point because you know their youth careers are starting to wind down a little bit. So I felt like some of the tempers had mellowed over the years.
Speaker 1:Obviously if it's an intense.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I mean obviously as, like, certain games are really intense.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well.
Speaker 1:I think that's the group, that's the age group. That's bad 13, 14, maybe 15.
Speaker 2:And I think it also depends on what they're yelling about, because I witnessed a 2015 team out of state where I'm pretty sure every single parent on the sideline of that team was coaching their kid. I mean, I was. I was warming up my 2014 team that had gone down there to to um play in a turn in the tournament and there were. There were some 2015 teams that were in a division lower than ours that were playing up because they didn't have enough for their own division, so they were playing with some 2014 teams and I'm assuming it was the 2015 team, I mean the 2014 team. They were playing. Some of the parents were, you know, rowdy and stuff, because the other team's parents were, but I'm pretty sure that almost every parent that was on the sideline of that 2015 team was all yelling and I was like I really hope that coach is just sitting down because it doesn't matter what he says, they're not going to listen to him and they're just going to listen to their mom or dad. That's yelling at them Like it was utter chaos.
Speaker 1:It is. And you know what I think that you know, when Jenna was younger, I think I got really wrapped up in it, right, I got wrapped up in. I'm like, oh my God, maybe she can go play division one soccer, like that. You get like this I don't know excitement about what could be the possibilities. Yeah, as the years kind of went on and, um, you know, I just I think I started reading more articles about some of the things to say and do with your kids after their games and I made some pretty bad mistakes. I will never forget.
Speaker 1:One time I yelled at her about how she played and she was like she cried and I was like, oh my God, how could I do that? And from honestly, from there on, in barring a few little mishaps, I think the one thing that I say and I still do it to this day so before every single game, I send her inspirational quotes and my message is just whatever, like last week's message, I think, was about being fierce. And but every single week I say the same thing I can't wait to watch you play, love watching you play. Watch you play, love watching you play. Um, cause I think that that is so important and I've learned from being that crazy parent you know to now. I mean, obviously she's a big girl, so she's not as affected, but I think I was really affected by that.
Speaker 1:I was truly affected by how I affected her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think a lot of times it's hard for parents. I mean, I'm a parent of five players myself and I coach three of them. My husband coaches our sons, like, so it's really hard. I mean I don't want to say it's really hard, um, just because we've done it like ever since they've played basically where one of us has been in the coaching position for our kids, and so we can distinguish very easily from coach and parent. You know my youngest they're twins that are eight, and I've only been coaching them for about eight months, I don't know, since last summer Well, almost a year I guess and they're the ones that have the hardest time distinguishing between coach mom, coach Katie and mom Like, well, you're a mom and I'm like, but right now I'm your coach.
Speaker 2:You know our other kids get it like, at this point in this time, like you're not dad, you're a coach, and it's pretty easy to distinguish that for them. But for our youngest it's really hard. But as far as like giving feedback to our kids as also being their coaches, like I don't know how my husband does it with the boys, you know he's, he's very good with them. You know one of them's a keeper, the other ones. He's basically a sub on his team and he's going through some knee pain and injury right now. I don't want to say injury. We think he has Oshkosh Slaughter.
Speaker 2:However you say that so, like you know, it's just been very painful for him for the last. I don't know it's been a few months that he's been dealing with it that we've noticed. But anyway, he's very good with talking to them and talking them through their games, talking them through their games and for as far as, like the girls go, for me I'm very much I try and let them lead and if they have a question, you know, mom, do you think I played good today? And you know I'll give them feedback and you know we'll talk about, like, well, what do you think you can work on? Like my oldest daughter right now she's 11, almost 12. No, now she's 11, almost 12. No, she's 10, almost 11. Anyway, I can't remember, can't remember, um, but she, she started doing this thing where, for whatever reason, in the last year, she started using the outside of her foot a lot and so, like, the balls aren't going where she wants them to and I'm trying not to like be super critical of her because I'm her mom.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:But I also am like you know what part of foot you're supposed to be using at certain times, and so if you want that to change, you have to start using the proper part of your foot, and we have a discussion about that. But so that I mean it's very much a hard line of you know what is OK to talk to my kid about in the car ride home. Of you know what is okay to talk to my kid about in the car ride home, because I mean I remember one of the players that I coached. Another player asked her if she could go hang out after the game or something, and her response was well, it depends on how well I do in the game, and she was like eight at the time, an eight year old.
Speaker 1:Listen. I will tell you a story at like. We had somebody who said after Jenna scored her fifth goal, they turned around to my husband and said can she get a ride home? Now, man, like I don't know what she's telling people. We don't like we used to do fun things with her like oh you know, you get two header goals and we'll buy you a lobster. You know like whatever. But yeah, I can totally see that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but she I mean as an eight year old I felt really bad, Like I was just like that's a lot of pressure to put on a kid in a game that she's still learning. Like it's not the World Cup, like even then, like can I go hang out with my friends after a World Cup game? Like what you know? Even then, like can I go hang out with my friends after a world?
Speaker 3:cup game like what you know, I don't know it was just.
Speaker 1:It was really sad to hear when I heard that and yeah, that's a consequence that I don't know, that I would give yeah, and so yeah.
Speaker 2:So I just felt I mean just the fact that she didn't even have to ask her parents, that she just had that response. Well, I don't know, because it's like, if you don't play well, are, are you grounded for the day? Like that's awful. Like what kind of mental space is this girl going to be in because she's being threatened by her parents as an eight-year-old that if you don't have an amazing game and I don't know what, she's supposed to score so many goals? Like there's so many variables in games that it's really hard to predict what's going to happen. In a game Like what do you, how do you constitute whether or not your kid played well? Like are you, you know? And us?
Speaker 1:as parents don't really know like we can say oh you know, it was a shutout, so the keeper and the defense did great right, or we won by five goals, so we had great offense. So whoever was, you know on the offense.
Speaker 2:But as a coach, you guys know and and like as a mom to say you played like crap, so you can't go out today yeah, yeah, and I've even had, um, this was, uh, I can't remember what team this was, but there was a team that, um, I was watching the game and it it's not any of my kids but, um, my husband was coaching and I was there I don't know if we were at a tournament or what and our team was winning handily, like we were scoring goals and stuff, but honestly, they, they were playing awful and my husband was, you know, trying to get them to like play well, like yes, we were winning, but it was kind of an ugly win. And, um, some of the parents were like, why is he so upset we're winning? And it's like, well, can't you tell upset we're winning?
Speaker 1:and it's like well, can't you tell that all we're not, it's a beautiful game for a reason exactly, and yeah yeah.
Speaker 2:So I mean it was. It was really kind of funny because people were like, well, you guys are winning, why is your coach going crazy? You know, I'm sure that's what other people that were watching. I was like we're not playing the type of soccer that they have been taught to play, and so it was. I don know I can't remember what game or tournament it was in, but it was just like sometimes there are, you know, sometimes you lose, but you played awesome, and so I mean it's really hard to say just because you win or lose doesn't mean that you see it all the time where teams that are playing like. I just watched a I think it was an EPL game over the weekend where the team was absolutely crushing it. They had the ball in their half of the field trying to score basically 90% of the time and they ended up tying, but they had a counter because they had seven people.
Speaker 1:The team had seven people back and one cherry picking. Yeah, so it all the time yeah, so it was.
Speaker 2:it's just one of those things where it's like, well, the other team, they scored their goal or whatever happened. I mean it was ugly, whatever happened, but it was just like was that really good soccer? Yes, it's a strategy to win or tie, because you know that team needed to at least tie to stay in the position that they were in, but it was. I guess you know they pulled off their strategy, but right in the world.
Speaker 1:Was it entertaining? Yeah, no, no. And in the world of youth soccer playing direct, people like shun playing direct um, it's not any time. And I'll tell you, like, if you ever watch Syracuse play um, the last five years we played very direct. And we played direct because we had, like, jenna has a great leg and could pass a ball on, a dime has great long ball, so they're able to do that. Does everybody like and appreciate a direct game of soccer? No, nobody does. And I'll tell you, even when you win and you play like that, you get the same thing and it was lucky and you guys just kick the ball out the whole time and yeah it's. It's not pretty for anyone, it's not fun for anyone.
Speaker 2:I mean in it. I mean there are times where direct does work. You, know, like, like you said, it does work. But is it playing the beautiful game? No, but it is a way for you to win, you know, and so especially.
Speaker 2:I mean at the younger ages. I mean at the younger ages where they're trying to develop skill. Playing direct does not develop skill. To develop skill playing direct does not develop skill. Yeah, and so that's one of the biggest things where I mean I remember being a youth player and it was basically I had a decent kick and I played, you know, center back or stopper sweeper, whatever it was called outside backs and things like that, and so if the ball ever came to me, one of the things that I would do when I was younger was just booted up the field up to the forwards.
Speaker 1:You have parents yelling kick it out, kick it out. No, you got to pass to the middle and you got to trust your teammates.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well, and one of the other things that I had to explain to one of my teams recently is I said you know, when I was a kid you would always hear keep it out of the middle, stay away from the middle, because you didn't want to play up the middle and that was a very much an old school mentality and so I had to, you know, talk to the players. I'm like we want to distribute from the middle, like so it goes outside, it goes inside, it goes back out. No-transcript, what are you going to do if it's not there? I said you're going to freeze and you're going to freak out and you're going to turn over the ball. I said I give you the creativity and the opportunity to think for yourself and learn how to play soccer.
Speaker 2:And so I said you know, when we play these teams and they do these specific things, I said we cut them off and we force those turnovers because we cut off those passing lanes with our pressure and things like that and we disrupt them and so. But people can't really do that to us because they don't know what we're going to do, because I don't make you.
Speaker 2:I said I have I said on the kickoff I tell you where I want the ball to go. And on goal kicks I give you the first pass. I said after that first pass from keeper to center back, I said it's totally up to the center back where the ball goes. I said I tell you the options that you have, but you have multiple options of where to go with the ball. I'm not telling you specifically this is where it has to go every time. These are your options. Whether you keep going to the same place or not is up to your decision, but this is, these are your options, and so that's.
Speaker 2:That's one of the things that I think people don't understand with some of the coaching that goes on with people like me, where I'm trying to give your child the creativity to learn on their own. In a way, I'm giving them the tools to do it. You know where they see these other teams who you know. They pass from here to there, to there, to there to there, but as soon as we intercept it or we cut that off, they choke.
Speaker 1:So is that really helping them? I'll tell you, what you're doing is teaching your players to have like really great soccer IQ right, and when they get to the age of college recruiting, that is something that every college coach looks for.
Speaker 1:They want smart players they want players that you know can think on the dime. They don't need to be told what to do all the time, because that's not how it works in college, right? You have set plays for free kicks and corners and that's about it, right? So it's important that you teach them that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's I mean, that's one of the the big things like with some of the players that I have seen their teams in my area do great things, but it's because they're so heavily coached and some people call it joysticking. They're robots and so they lack that creativity as a player. Yes, they can do the things, but they have to be told to do them right and so they're not thinking for themselves, and so I feel like some of those players that could have had that opportunity aren't getting those opportunities because you, you know, maybe they were joysticked and I know I've had people that I've discussed with.
Speaker 2:Sorry, everybody listening there's an ambulance or something going down the street, Anyway. So back to the conversation. But you know, yeah, just having those, just having those coaches that are able to give the kids the creativity to do that. And it sounds like your daughter had that opportunity and was developed really well.
Speaker 1:She was developed like you know, like I said, I'm I'm very thankful for the mentors, the coaches that she's had in her life. They have all been just amazing had in her life. They have all been just amazing. There was a point when she was I think she was about 10 years old and they had this um indoor soccer tournament at Boston College and so she was on like the low, not the A, team. She was on the next team down at age 10, like really whatever Right. So they were playing in this tournament and she had this.
Speaker 1:I wasn't there. My husband told me she had this like unbelievable header and at that point the coach from the 18 was like why isn't she on my team? Why isn't this girl on my team? So from the age of 10 until 13 we stayed on the b team, even though he wanted us to be on the a team. Um, and the reason why we did that has nothing to do against the coach that was from the a team but on the b team and on this particular team with who is now Nick Burke, who's now the director of coaching for NEFC.
Speaker 1:He was just so good with Jenna and so good with the kids. He you go to practice and he'd be in the middle of the field playing with them. It was just you could tell that they were having fun. And when you looked at the practice for the A-team it looked like nobody was having fun. So we never wanted to have her love of the game squelched and I'm not saying that any of those girls that were playing on that A-team their love got squelched Because I don't know that it did or it didn't. I know that most of them don't play anymore.
Speaker 1:So, um, but for her we were just like she loves playing for this guy and he was so awesome to her and she still played. So she played travel for the town. She played. She did not play middle school because they would not let her play middle school and play club. The guy at the middle school said, well, my daughter is in, my daughter plays club soccer too, and she still has to come to practice. I said, well, I guess we're not trying out then. So not going to happen, not going to happen. But even those coaches, like everyone just it wasn't just Jenna that they did well with I just felt like every single place we went we had great coaches. We had great people.
Speaker 1:That really helped us. And because I didn't know. I don't know the world of club soccer. I am an older mom, right, we didn't have any of this um for us the biggest thing we could do.
Speaker 1:I played travel soccer. That was, I mean, travel um softball. We didn't even have a softball back then, it just wasn't a thing. So this was all new for me and they not only helped me and my husband kind of navigate this world of club soccer, but they helped jenna become the player that she is. And and jenna did too, like I.
Speaker 1:I honestly think when you think about your kid whosever kid is in soccer, you can tell where they're gonna go. And and for a few reasons, I think that we never pushed jenna to go to practice, like if we always said. If there was a day that she said to us I don't want to go to practice, that would be it. You don't want to go to practice and you want to, you don't want to play, she never wants. We never packed her bag for her, like she literally would be down waiting for us. Hurry up, we're going to be late. She and God forbid we were even a minute like and I'm talking late is not being there an hour before practice starts. So I think that there's that, that inner drive that.
Speaker 1:I don't, I don't know that that's a teachable thing. Right. I don't know. I think that's just something that they have inside of them. So there was that there was. Like I said before, you can't teach size.
Speaker 3:Jenna was always the biggest one on any team she was on.
Speaker 1:She's a big girl, and then the other thing about her is that you could tell how motivated she was in everything Because the girl just her friend's mother introduced her to the private school world and she gave her a book of 500 private schools in all of the United States. Jenna went through it in a weekend, doggy eared all the schools that she was going to apply to. She applied to all of them. She set up all the interviews like she did all of it herself and ended up going to boarding school, prior school, all on her. So very self-motivated.
Speaker 1:Very, very self-motivated, and I don't know that you can teach that.
Speaker 2:I don't think you can. You definitely can't. I mean, I've seen players who love to play soccer, but they don't have a certain drive and so it's. It's obviously not something that parents can force on you to be motivated, right? I mean, I was a very self motivated person as far as, like, doing all my own schoolwork and getting all my own things done. You know I had a part-time job. You know I did all these other things dance, cheer, soccer. I was a very, very busy person and I always went and did everything Like it got to be super overwhelming, but that was the. That was the kind of environment that I thrived in. I'm not, you know, sometimes I'll just sit for a day and just be like I just want to be in bed, but then I'm like, oh my gosh, thinking about all the things that I need to accomplish and do, or whatever, and I'm like no.
Speaker 2:I can't.
Speaker 1:I can't relax. So, no matter what, I remember the one time that Jenna got upset that she couldn't do something and there really was only one time because I remember when we put her into club soccer, we said to her listen, this is a commitment, this is not like there's a birthday party and, um, you can miss soccer, it's soccer. The birthday party comes second everything else. She missed my brother's wedding because she was at a soccer tournament in New York.
Speaker 1:But it was against, like it was Top Hat, it was PDA, like all the big clubs.
Speaker 1:And it was a college showcase. So like she never complained, except for one time when all of her friends were going to a birthday party at the Rebs game and we she couldn't go because she had soccer and she like I remember her crying for like like up in a room for like a half an hour and I was like, listen, I go. I understand that you're upset and that's the commitment that you made, but that was the last time that she ever cried about it. Because I think at the next point too, your soccer friends, the people that you play with day in and day out, they become your best friends, they become the people that you do things with, and that's just kind of what happens.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it does take a large amount of sacrifice, especially to play at the higher levels as well, and I think you know little things like that can be a good learning experience for players to go. Is this worth it? Do I want to be? Do I want to have to sacrifice so much to be a college athlete Because there is that amount of I in order for me to be on this team? In college, there's so many things and requirements that I have to meet, and what am I going to miss out on? And so is your FOMO going to overrun you and maybe that's not what you want to do, and so that's also things that people need to realize when they're thinking about those things and their, your social life is going to be a lot different as any sort of athlete, especially you know now that she's playing professionally in another country, you know she's missing out on a lot of things that might be happening at home because she's also living in a foreign country currently.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's kind of crazy. We got a kitten. So here are the bad soccer moms that we are here. I am going, jenna, if you get like three goals, I will get a kitten. Okay, because my husband saw this kitten and we were all like all the kids were like let's get it, let's get it Now, my youngest is 17.
Speaker 1:So when I say, say kids, that's 17 and 20 year olds, so does she not call me up because the game wasn't televised and she got a hat trick? I'm not kidding you. I'm like, wait, didn't I say five goals, she goes, she goes. No, mom, I will forward you the text. I'm gonna go get the kitten because the girl got a hat trick. All right, like, so that's like the soccer mom, but anyway. So she's never met the cat before. So we facetime, so she gets to see you know the the kitten and our old cat. But I think you know Jenna's. Jenna's been out of our house since she was 13. You know she went to boarding school. It wasn't that far, it was in Newburyport, massachusetts. So on, like the New Hampshire border.
Speaker 1:But you know her being away, she's been away her whole life. But I think being in another country is like you can't just drive home, like if you just like miss your mom, right, you can't just drive home, like if you just like miss your your mom, right, you can't just drive home, um, I think that's kind of where, where it's at. I listen, I want her to come home too. I would love for her to play in nwsl, like I think that you know, once we get a boston team, I think that's her, her goal. But for right now she's um. She'll'll come home for June and then have to go back to wherever she signed for next year. I was going to tell you so Sacrifice.
Speaker 1:She went to boarding school. It's about two hours from here. So freshman and sophomore year she didn't have a car because she wasn't allowed to drive, right Right. So we would literally drive up to her school every single day, pick her up, drive her to practice, which was here near us, drive her back to school, and me and my husband depending on who did it one day, because we both worked, so you know we'd switch off. We wouldn't get home until like one o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 1:So her junior year, like nobody's allowed to have cars on campus, um, but we told them that she wouldn't be able to go there if she wasn't allowed to have a car on campus, because we couldn't we can't keep that that up so, like, just so much driving, and they approved it. So she was able to get her driver's license before her junior year and be able to drive herself, but even driving herself, like she still went to classes all day. I mean, it's a pretty prestigious school, so you have to be smart and you have to study a lot. Right school, so you have to be smart and you have to study a lot. Right, I had to study, get to practice. She'd get back by 11 or midnight and still have to do more work.
Speaker 1:It's a lot. It's a lot. I actually think high school for her was a lot more than what college was, um, so she, I think it really prepared her. She got a 4-0 every semester and and I think that's really really difficult as a student athlete, especially when you're in ACC there's so much that like it is literally get up at 5.30 in the morning, you have practice from 6 to 8. But you got to get there early because you got activation and you've got your you know they got to work on you before you go out for whatever injury that you've got. Then you go practice and then you've got recovery for another hour and you sit in an ice bath and then you got to go to you know school all day and then you got to go back and do film and it is like everyday constant and you have to have that mindset and you have to know that this is that's what, what your, your school is. Four years of that yeah, it's very yeah, it's very.
Speaker 2:For some people, I feel like, um, it's shocking. Other people, like your daughter, who have been preparing for it. You know, they know what's coming, and I know that a lot of times people drop out of college because they weren't prepared for what it was going to be like and how self-reliant you have to be because nobody's going to be making sure that you're turning in your assignments or whatever. You know they're going.
Speaker 2:You're an adult and so you have to be on your own, like you know and sometimes you're out of state and your parents aren't there to be like, hey, did you do your homework?
Speaker 2:That type of a thing.
Speaker 2:So it's also, you know, you have to be very self-sufficient and self-reliant. I mean, and that's part of just growing up and being an adult is you have to be that as you get older you have to start turning to yourself more and and relying on yourself and your decision making skills and things like that. So it's very good for players to hear that you should be preparing yourselves for these types of situations early, so that it's not so much of a shock. Some people, you know, they say the transition from one to another isn't that bad, you know, and maybe it's just because you had a situation where you were prepared for that, and that's good that that that transition can be easier for you. But for some people it's really hard. I know a few student athletes that I know that were older than me that you know they went and played college soccer somewhere for a year or half a year or whatever it was, and they just either the school wasn't right for them or they didn't like being away or whatever it was, and they ended up coming home.
Speaker 1:And so I think the return on investment too, like, if you're, because we had a few girls that went and played for a year and they were like, nah, I don't want to do this like I'm not gonna not going to go pro. I'm not this, just I just want to have fun, Right. So I think that that's a lot of things that people don't understand when they go there Like I don't know what.
Speaker 2:division two and division three are like um, but in the world of division one, sports is a 100 commitment like it's a lot yeah, and and so people need to make sure that they're prepared for that, because you know, you see in movies and television or whatever, this great college experience and it's like, but for athletes it's not that right, you know, and and so different, yeah, and so a lot of people don't still don't understand the sacrifice that it takes to even just be a college athlete.
Speaker 2:Um, so for your daughter, um, you said that you, you guys, got her in touch with an agent. So when did that come about? Was she still in college when you guys got in touch with him?
Speaker 1:Um, so we actually we had an agent. It was right after the season because she was declaring for the draft. So, right after the season ended we got an agent. She declared for the draft. She didn't get drafted. We weren't really happy with the agent that we had, so I had reached out to our director of coaching and he's like no, no, no, I've got somebody and Jenna is his only client, um, his only girl client he has a huge following for men, but he, he's been wonderful, um, really great about like they talk all the time.
Speaker 1:I I wish I was more involved, but you know she's 24. And she's a big girl and you know I hear bits and pieces. But, yeah, so I think that I was really nervous about where I was going to find an agent and how. I don't know why, because I've got so many connections here. But you know, like I said, the first agent didn't work out, but this guy's great.
Speaker 2:That's good that she's been able to find somebody that is able to help her, especially, like you said, he has like a full roster of it sounds like male athletes.
Speaker 2:And so for her to be his only female athlete. That's great, hopefully trend-setting experience for him, as the especially as the women's soccer game is starting to expand a lot. Um, because I know, um, like I've I've talked to a few players who they've gotten in touch with agents and things and, um, as far as, like, soccer agents go, like for me, I'm like how, like, is it really that common for people to have agents in the United States, like obviously, abroad you know it's like a thing and so that's one of the I would feel like an emerging market for people they're interested in some sort of job or whatever.
Speaker 2:Like I feel like that's an emerging market that could be a big thing, like and I have literally no idea how many soccer agents there are in the United. States. I mean, you know, I've seen Jerry Maguire, you know the sports agents and things for those other big sports.
Speaker 2:But now that soccer is kind of starting to take off in the United States and over the last several years, and it's becoming more of a thing like I I don't have any kids that need to have agents or anything like that, but for those players that are coming of those ages where maybe they, you know, need to look into that, like who, who are people that they can look look to for that experience, you know.
Speaker 1:And you want to make sure that, like I know, it's just like every other business, it's who they know, right, because that's how you get, you're in contact with people. So you know, I think one of the things that is great is that Jenna is his only girl woman client, right, but on the other side, you know, he knows a lot of guy coaches, so he's he's learning the the women's market too, which I think is fabulous for him, and again, he's just absolutely phenomenal. So I'm I couldn't be happier. But I think that that's the other thing that you need to look at is you know who are the athletes that they they have signed. Right.
Speaker 1:Who are the ones that they've put in? Because the other thing is, I will tell you there are a bunch of agents that will put people in like Lithuania, and, and we're like, no, we, you know, she's good enough to play in a good league um and so that's one of the things that this agent did. He was like where are you, where are you okay playing? So yeah, it's, it's been really good so for her has.
Speaker 2:She is this her first year in portugal. And then what is she hoping to do, because it sounds like maybe she only has a one year contract with them. Maybe is she hoping to resign with them if possible, or does she want to look elsewhere? I know you said she wants to try and maybe do NWSL.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I'm not gonna talk about like what her contract negotiations are. The team that she's on right now, that's her thing.
Speaker 1:I can tell you that eventually she'd like to play on a team that is in the Champions League, which the team that she's on right now could very well make the Champions League, where we're close enough to sporting and we just beat them. So we're right there, um, and if she can make a team on the champions league, then she's got a really great chance of coming back and playing in in the nwsl. But you know, does she have to play in the champions league? I don't know. I don't. This is all new uncharted waters. You know, like there's a lot of girls that play in NWSL that she's played against. It's just, I don't know. I don't know yet. Like, that's a talk to me. Next year I'll tell you what happens.
Speaker 2:To be continued.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly Exactly. I'm just you know what. I'm really excited for her as a young woman. I mean, think about it, she's a 24 year old living in Portugal, playing soccer for a living. Like. I would have killed to play softball for a living.
Speaker 1:I would have killed I would have been like, oh my God, I'm like the best life ever, right. So I think that that's just. It's wonderful. She's worked really, really hard to get to where she is. It has not been without a lot of tears and a lot of anxiety, because playing soccer at that level there's a lot of anxiety, even in college.
Speaker 1:I would just give you the beep test, for example. Like Jenna's a big girl, the beep test. Psychologically she just she has a hard time with it. And her sophomore year the coach was making a statement If you don't pass the beep test, you don't play. So she had played in Budapest that summer, came back and booted past to preseason late.
Speaker 1:So she was already it's a new coach. She comes in late. She can't pass the beep test. She doesn't. This new coach doesn't know how good she is. So jenna doesn't play the first preseason game, the only reason why she was put in on the second preseason game we played against Rutgers who were losing to nothing because we didn't have a lot of subs and a girl on the field broke her nose. So she put Jenna in and Jenna played phenomenal. They didn't score another goal and she relaxed the the having to pass the B test. She's like they brought in the B test. Yeah, she's like they brought in a cone test. They did whatever they could to get them to pass. So it's just it's. I would get calls every day. I didn't pass again, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a so there's a lot of anxiety, there's a lot of stress, there's a lot of hard work, but there's also like just she loves playing so much. It's just, it's who she is almost at this point.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it definitely. You know just those little psychological things that players have to go through, you know, and sometimes you're like it doesn't even have anything to do with my playing ability.
Speaker 1:Right, I'm so fast on the field.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry. Yeah, so it's. I definitely get that Cause that was one of the things that I I always hated was, you know, having to one of my coaches. They made us like run a mile before practice even started and I was like this is this is so like I hated it. I absolutely hated it. And then you know for every minute that somebody was late. Then we had to run ladders and it's like I'm sorry we're not of driving age Like now that I'm a coach and I think about this I'm like punish the parent for being late.
Speaker 2:You know, you don't know what the circumstances are. Don't pun like I don't know.
Speaker 2:Now you know yeah, as a coach and thing like I'm I'm like, if it's a consistent thing, you know, maybe we need to talk to them like is there something that's happening every time? Is it just they have to go drop another kid off at another activity? Like could be so many things going on and really, like, until they're of driving age and if they have the ability to have their own car, like it's really hard to hold accountable a kid being on time for practice or not, because usually it's not their fault. Like, like you said, your daughter, like she's ready to go and you guys are, you know, slowly moseying on down and she's just like we're getting yelled at yeah, so you know I also think having you run that much before you're gonna actually go and do another two-hour practice is crazy yeah, it was.
Speaker 2:It was. It was different, and so I, because we had never done that before. It was a set of coaches that had, you know, were newer or not a set of coaches. It was a coach that trying to remember which one of them made us do that. But I, I I was not like a long distance runner, like I. I hated it. I was a very fit person, like I. I did dance for four or five hours a week. I did soccer for six hours a week and all these things. Like I was a very physically fit person. But I, like to this day, I hate running. I can run on the soccer field and not get out of breath, like totally fine, my face might be beet red after the game, but I I'm like I'm totally fine. But I mean, to me those are different types of running, like they're absolutely.
Speaker 1:You're running for a purpose in soccer when you're out jogging. There's no purpose.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So, I, I don't know, and so I mean and that was in the nineties, so I mean again it was. You know a lot of things that a lot of coaches don't do anymore. No they don't Think about body shaming.
Speaker 1:Think about how much body shaming happened when, like I mean, you're 10 years younger than me, but I can tell you, even when I was younger and playing sports, there's so much body shaming going on Like now, if you do that, like there is a big focus on how a coach talks to a woman player, and I couldn't be happier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's definitely definitely a different culture, and for the good for for the most part, you know, as far as, like, the advancement in in different things and definitely has gone in the right direction for those types of things. And so those players that have been able to pave the way for these younger players, to make you know, those transition and things easier, has been great. Or for coaches like me that are still newer on the scene, like it's, it's made it so much better Cause, like, thinking about different things, I would probably, you know, thinking about the way it was back then, like how much harder it must've been, like just I don't know if I'd be able to do the same job, you know, 20, 30 years ago.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it's definitely. Um, I'm definitely thankful for the culture change that has happened in women's sports and the focus that has been on women's sports. And it gets me all choked up because I so wanted. If you asked me when I was younger what I wanted to be when I grew up, it was the first woman in major league baseball. That was my dream, right. So we didn't. That's how. That's all I could dream about, because we didn't have women's sports, you couldn't get scholarships. I played softball, we there weren't scholarships. It just didn't happen back in the eighties.
Speaker 1:And to see, you know what my daughter has accomplished she got a full ride all five years to college and playing now professional. It's just amazing to me. It's very emotional Cause you know, you think I'm one of those parents. Oh, I'm living vicariously through my kid, because you know, you think I'm one of those parents. Oh, I'm living vicariously through my kid. But it's more about how I felt playing sports and how I would have felt being in that world. And she gets to do it. I'm so happy for her. I'm so excited for her. Just a little bit jealous, not a lot, maybe 90% jealous, no.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:But she gets to do that, like, how cool is that that I have a daughter who plays a professional sport? Yeah, or a professional athlete. That never, you know, when I was younger, that never would have even been an option.
Speaker 2:And the opportunities. The opportunities have grown a lot recently and so you know, there used to only be so much opportunity for these women to be able to even play professional soccer, and so the fact that there are now so many professional leagues in other countries and being able to have those opportunities is is amazing.
Speaker 1:you know, because they're starting another league here. Right, we got the USL starting next year. Um, you can see my sweatshirt. Right, it says support women's sports.
Speaker 2:The data does.
Speaker 1:Yep, um, because it does right. People are watching. I mean, look at the NCAA women's basketball tournament. I don't know about you, but like I'm usually in bed by 830, nine o'clock, I'm tired. I could not like close my eyes watching these games. It was so much fun. There's so much passion in these, these women. They are so good at their craft. It's just a joy to watch. So I hope it just continues to grow and we have more and more opportunities for our daughters and granddaughters.
Speaker 2:It's. It's definitely fun to watch and fun to see. I know I've even had people just as a female coach, you know, saying because they need more female coaches. They were like, if you really want to try and do it, past coaching 10 year olds. They're like, you know, get licensed and see what you can do, that type of a thing, and so that's something that I've been thinking about. I don't know if it's something I would do but I definitely thought about it.
Speaker 2:I'm like, oh yeah, I've never really thought about that aspect and you know, my husband's been coaching for so long and I've learned a lot from him, and so it's, it's definitely something that I've thought about and I'm like I don't know, like would that be something that I'd want to do, like you know, yeah, we need that right.
Speaker 1:We need for our daughters and granddaughters to have people to look at like hey, hey, there were no women in Major League Baseball. There are now, but there weren't back then and I had no one to look at, I think about on field reporters. There were no women on field reporters. I'll tell you what, if I was living in this day and age other than being a professional athlete, I would have been on field reporter, but there was nobody to see that was doing that. I didn't think that was an option. If you do that, you become a coach for that next level and that next level like you got little girls looking at you going I can do that.
Speaker 1:I can be her and. I think that's so cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's. It's great to see some of the women coaches that have stepped up into, like the NWSL, coaching. I'm here in utah with the royals, and so our head coach is a female so you've got ally, ally sent noir played again.
Speaker 1:Well, she's from my area so she played at the.
Speaker 1:She played for social select, which is one of the other sarc clubs, but her and my daughter played together on a christmas team and you know it was pretty fun. They also played against each other in high school, even though Allie's so much younger. But so the high school that she went to, they started their school in seventh grade, so she was obviously playing on varsity as a seventh grader and starting so. But yeah, so you got the Utah Royals out there. You've got some good players going on out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we do so. It it's. It's nice to have them back. So, for those of you that don't know the history of our team, they were here in utah and then um the rsl team and the royals um got split up and sold to a new ownership and they didn't keep the royals. They left for a few years and now they're back um. So this is their I.
Speaker 2:I don't. I don't. Their homecoming year is what they're calling it, because it's not necessarily their inaugural season, because they've been here before, same name and everything, so it's their homecoming year is kind of what they're calling it so and it's fun to see, that's what we're waiting for.
Speaker 1:We're waiting for Boston to come back. So the Breakers left and now we're supposed to be getting another team next year. So keep my fingers crossed. Yeah, I can't. I love watching soccer and I especially love watching soccer now because there are so many girls that I've watched, from the time they were little, playing against, you know, my daughter and with my daughter, and now being on this big stage Like it's fun. It's fun to watch these girls, right, it's fun to watch them compete. I can't wait till we get something in Boston.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's. It's definitely fun, Like we have some homegrown players Brecken, mazingo, that's awesome, I watched her at BYU. She's awesome yeah, so she played at BYU. She actually played for the club that I coached for, that I played for as a kid that she, until the age split, her last two years were with a different club because, like your daughter's team, they split up because of the yeah, it was what age?
Speaker 1:and whatever, right, um so I think they're the same year.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the 9900 or 01.
Speaker 1:Yeah 2000.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we have. We have some homegrown players, people that are from Utah, and so it's really fun to be able to see, like you said, people that you know. I know, like when we watch men's soccer because my husband has always coached boys he, you know he'll randomly be like hey, we, we play whatever team, whatever team he coached, he's like that kid was on that team, that we played that one time and he has like this whole storage unit of information in his brain, but he'd go.
Speaker 2:Hey, that kid was on that team that we played at this tournament this one time, and I'm just like, okay, cool, like that's awesome, like that, you remember that he was there. You know he, he remembers everything but he, yeah. So it's it's kind of like that where you go, oh man, that's so cool that this player that I know, that you know, is signed with a pro contract, they're playing against this player that we played at you know whatever. And so it's it's cool to see, like especially now that kids that we've known are starting to play collegiately and professionally and things like that, that we're able to see that as well. And yeah, it's just it's it's fun to see the kids you know grow up and have those opportunities that used to not be there, especially like for us in our backyard having two professional soccer teams um, we have some you usl teams, are you yeah?
Speaker 2:usl is coming out yeah, so we have a couple, a few in our area and things like that. So a lot of the college players that play locally not all of them, but you know they'll come in the off season in the summer, spring, and they'll come play for these local teams and then they'll go back to their colleges and play, and so that's that's fun to see them do that, and then the opportunities that rsl and the royals have in our area has been fun to see.
Speaker 1:That's awesome I just love it. Uh, I wish, like I said, I can't wait to be a good team. I just can't wait. I'll just keep saying it Please, boston, hurry up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I mean, when I was in San Diego over Thanksgiving because we were at the Surf Cup and we were at the Del Mar polo grounds former polo grounds, they're not polo grounds anymore, but it was really cool to see because they had like all the San Diego wave stuff there because that's where they train and I was just like I didn't realize that and my husband was like cause I hadn't been there for a couple of years, and he was like yeah, this is their training facility. You didn't know that and I was like no, but I do now. So you know, it's, it's fun to be able to see that and go, that's really cool, cause this is where Morgan uh, alex Morgan trains and plays and you know things like that. So I'm like it's, it's fun to see that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:So it is. I don't you know. You would think my husband would be like rah, rah, women's sports, considering as a daughter who's a professional athlete. But he's still like this old school and I'm not kidding you, he's like, you know, not a lot of guys are going to watch women's sports. I'm like, oh, really Okay, every time there's like a new record, that's broken, I'm like, oh, did you see how many people? Did you see 12.3 million people watch the Iowa LSU game? Did you happen to see that? Did you see that? You know, this game got more viewership than the Red Sox did or than the Celtics did. I just, I love, I love, just oh, by the way, women's sports did this right right, just just you know.
Speaker 1:Again, I'm coming from people in my generation that weren't a lot of women who played sports they just weren't and to see the evolution and everything that women who were trailblazers have done for us to be able to have these platforms, it's just, it's amazing. I'm in awe.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's definitely great. So to wrap up really quick, I have one more question for you. And I don't know if you'll have the answer for this, because I don't know if this discussion has been had yet, but I know that your daughter is starting her professional career right now, but does she know what she wants to do after?
Speaker 1:You know? I honestly I don't know. I think that she's talked to um a few people. She graduated with a sport management major, um with a minor in data analytics and um marketing. So something along the lines of she loves data, she loves, she likes being behind the scenes. That's more her Um. I know that she's. You know she used to work for Zoom, who this is one of them does this sweatshirt. They do a lot of data analytics for sports. She worked for the post game and I know she's talked to some people in NWSL and hopefully, you know, she might do something with them eventually down the road. I think she wants to stay in women's sports, which is great, right. Whatever that capacity is, I think she will. She's really good at whatever she does. So whatever the road, wherever the road takes her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and definitely support her and her journey and you know that's so awesome. Takes her. Yeah, yeah, and definitely definitely support her and her journey and you know that's so awesome for her. So which specific team does she play for right now? She plays for racing power.
Speaker 1:Okay, um, like I said, they play um. In the league of BPI we tied Benfica, we beat sporting, so we've got a really really good team. They have a striker on her team who she met when they were at a Houston Dash camp, so they've got some really good chemistry because they knew each other going into it. There's some this team's really good. It's really really good when everyone's healthy. So it's been fun. Like who would have thought they're a brand new team to division one? They were in the second division last year and they they played in to be, able to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so they never thought that they'd be in the position that they're in. Um. This coach did some really great recruiting some really uh got some really great players and we we've done really well they've actually. So jenna missed the first three games of the year. She had a torn quad. Um came back and in league play for all of the games they've played. I think they've played 13 games. She's can. They've conceded two goals and they've lost one game. Wow, that's awesome. So, yeah, they've played 13 games. She's con. They've conceded two goals and they've lost one game. Wow, that's awesome. So, yeah, they've done really, really well. It's been fun to watch Um. Right now they're playing a little bit more of a direct style of soccer due to the injuries, um, but they're. They've got some really great talented players on this team.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's been fun to watch. You can watch it on YouTube.
Speaker 2:I was going to ask, I was going to say how do you get to watch not being there?
Speaker 1:So, yeah, most of the games in the league. So there's still the Portugal Cup that they're still in. So they're playing in the semifinals of the Portugal Cup right now against Braga. If they win this last leg, they won the first leg 2-1, which Jenna scored in. I'm super excited. She scored the tying goal. If they win against Braga, then they'll play the winner of Benfica in Sporting for the Portugal Cups. But the league games are typically streamed on YouTube. So if you go to YouTube, to Canal 11, they have almost all the League of BPI games.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Yeah, it's fun. We'll definitely have to check that out and I'll put a link in the show notes so that, if anybody, I can try and find the link for it.
Speaker 1:So if they have their own channel, obviously I can find it and then you guys can find that in the show notes if you guys are interested in watching that it's some great soccer and if you're watching, like any of the games up to the Olympics, olivia Smith, who plays for the Canadian national team, plays for sporting in the league We've got some players that. Brittany Rufino is one of the strikers for sporting. She's from our area too and there's some really great players, portugal and beyond. We've got some Irish players, some Swedish players. I believe it's a great league. I wish more people kind of took a hold of this league and watched more, because there's some really great, even Benfica. I mean to watch Keika Nazareth and Lucia Alves. They're amazing. They just it's great soccer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's awesome that she gets to be a part of that and experience it. And hopefully she gets to be a part of that and experience it and hopefully she gets to continue playing professionally, wherever that may be, whether it's with the same team or a different team, you know good luck to her in that, in those opportunities you know she's getting to do what she loves, yeah.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, I'm super excited for her, but thank you for having me.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you for coming on and good luck to jenna and, you know, just keep us updated and we'll definitely. You know. If she has a social media profile, um, let me know and I can link that as well for anybody that's interested in looking more into what she's up to and what she's, you know, doing and and accomplished and things like that Love to support those women's sports as well. So, thank you so much for coming on, terri. Thank you. I hope you have a fabulous day. Thank you, you too. I hope you all enjoyed the interview with Terri Tibman. A little update on Jenna she is still currently in Portugal playing for a team called Terrens I'm not sure how to pronounce it and her team, last year, racing Power, placed third in their division and also competed for the Portugal Cup, which is awesome. So congrats to Jenna and maybe we'll have her on the podcast soon to share her experiences. All right, guys, thanks for kicking it with me and have a great day.
