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
Welcome to Soccer Moms Unfiltered!
Step onto the sidelines with Katie Koelliker and Cari Gonzalez in the debut episode of Soccer Moms Unfiltered, where two passionate sports moms from opposite corners of the country unite to create a community for parents navigating the wild world of youth sports.
Katie brings her perspective as a former soccer player, current coach, and mother of five soccer-playing kids from Utah, while Cari shares her journey from soccer-indifferent to running a 60,000+ follower Instagram community as a soccer and cheer mom in Miami. Their contrasting backgrounds create a rich foundation for discussions that will resonate with sports parents everywhere.
Despite the name, this podcast welcomes parents from all sports – soccer, basketball, baseball, dance, cheer, and beyond. The hosts are building a space where the good, bad, and sometimes ugly realities of sports parenting can be shared without judgment. From sideline drama (like the shocking story of a parent assaulting a teenage player) to heartwarming moments of community support, Katie and Cari are ready to tackle it all with honesty and humor.
The episode concludes with a call for listeners to submit their own "sideline shenanigan" stories and suggestions for future topics. The hosts promise to bring in relevant experts like coaches, sports psychologists, and nutritionists to address listener questions. Whether you're seeking advice, community, or just reassurance that you're not alone in the chaos of youth sports parenting, this podcast delivers with authenticity and heart.
Subscribe now, share with your fellow sports parents, and join the conversation by sending your stories to info@soccermomsunfiltered.com. Your craziest sideline story might just make it into a future episode!
Follow on Instagram @soccermomsunfiltered
Leave me a voice message on SpeakPipe! You could be featured on an episode!
https://www.speakpipe.com/KickItWithKatie
Follow me on Instagram @kick_it_with_katie_podcast
Contact me at kickitwithkatiepod@gmail.com
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So another thing. Oh my gosh, I just I got to think about it for a second Hold on. I had a thought in my brain.
Speaker 2:It's okay, we have a lot of thoughts running right now.
Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to the Soccer Moms Unfiltered podcast. I'm your host, katie Colliker, and I'm Keri Gonzalez, and we are so excited and glad that you are here to listen. This is our first episode and, keri, why don't you go ahead and give them a little introduction on what the podcast? We hoped to have the podcast be about?
Speaker 2:So basically, we are going to cover anything and everything sports, mom, dad related, whether it's sideline sallies, as I tend to call them, uh, just heartwarming things that you have seen or witnessed on the field, also not so heartwarming things. We're gonna touch on just a wide array of subjects and things that we all have probably encountered at one time or another.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So we're here just to bring a community together, whether it's funny, whether it's serious, just things that we as parents have experienced through youth sports. I myself am a soccer mom, keri is also a soccer and cheerleading mom, and we're going to introduce ourselves a little bit. So, carrie, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself and let everybody know your background being a soccer mom?
Speaker 2:So I have been a soccer mom for the last 12 years. My son started playing when he was four. I put him in the sport because I thought it was the absolute safest sport in the world. I have learned the hard way that it's absolutely not the case. My daughter also plays soccer, but she does cheerleading as well. If you would have asked me back then, when my kids started, if I would have been this involved in soccer, I would have told you absolutely not, Because I never had an interest in soccer. Yet here we are. I basically eat, sleep, breathe soccer. So I'm either on the sidelines at a soccer game or I'm at competitive cheerleading competitions, or I'm on the sidelines at football games watching my daughter cheer. So that's where we're at right now. That's how I got into this wonderful world of soccer and tell the listener where you're from.
Speaker 2:I am currently in Miami, florida, and I've been here over 20 years. I'm not going to age myself. I'm originally not from Miami. I was born in New York and raised in New Jersey, and then my journey took me here, and that's where I'm at the 305.
Speaker 1:And then I'm Katie Colliker. I'm your other host and I am from Utah, so we are from two vastly different places. So right now we're in the middle of winter winter, although I can say you guys got more snow than us. I feel like before we got snow down in Florida, when it snowed down there recently.
Speaker 2:Doesn't that sound crazy?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So I mean we were literally. I mean it was snowing in the mountains, but at my house in the valley we really hadn't gotten very much snow at all. So when you guys were getting snow in all the places that it usually doesn't snow, my kids were like oh my gosh, I want to go sledding. And we can't go sledding because we haven't had enough snow in our area, but anyway. So Carrie and I come from two vastly different climates yes, different, I would definitely say cultures as far as what states we live in and where we're from. So we're really excited to kind of cover the different aspects, since we live in different areas of the country as well.
Speaker 1:But as far as my background, I played soccer growing up. I also did competitive dance growing up as well. I was a cheerleader in high school. I am married to a soccer coach and he also grew up playing soccer as well, and so soccer is like our life. We have five kids. All five of our kids have played soccer. Our oldest just, I would say, retired or quit due to some injuries and he just turned 15, but he played soccer from when he was three all the way until he was 14. And then all of our other kids play soccer as well, so that's been super fun. Our daughters do gymnastics, and that's kind of my background. Oh, and I also coach I don't know if I said that already. So I started coaching about five years ago. So I'm not only just a soccer mom but I also was a soccer coach's wife, which is difficult, which I can touch on in episodes. And then also I'm a soccer mom and a coach, so I got a lot of different aspects of that to talk about as well and give my you know commentary on different subjects, coming from a parent perspective, a coach's perspective, former player perspective. So that'll be definitely interesting.
Speaker 1:But the way Carrie and I met was Carrie runs an Instagram page called Soccer Moms Unfiltered. So if you don't already follow her Instagram page, make sure you go and follow it. She recently started a blog, but about a year ago maybe a little under a year ago in 2024, we collaborated on my podcast my other podcast called Kicking it With Katie, and we did an episode together and Carrie, you know, was looking to kind of branch out on some different things and I said, hey, why don't we try doing a podcast together? That'd be really fun, you know soccer mom stuff, keeping it lighthearted, you know, funny, serious, covering all the bases. So that's how this podcast was kind of born and so we decided to run with it. So that's kind of where we're at right now with that. Carrie, do you want to add anything to?
Speaker 2:that. So, like I said, you know, you would have asked me a couple years ago if I would have been so involved in soccer. The word is. The answer is no. And, to be honest, you know my whole journey with the Soccer Moms Unfiltered page. I started it because I don't know. I was sitting in my office one day and I said you know what I'm gonna do a page, let's see what happens with it. And here we are, 60,000 plus followers later, and it kind of blew up.
Speaker 2:I didn't realize there was such a community that was looking for something like that, that was looking for someone to share. You know, just funny stuff, cause my stuff is typically lighthearted. I just do memes and things like that. I do have a couple of videos here and there. You know it's. It's just funny how you have this community and I've had people reach out to me and they ask me questions and they ask for my input on things and I absolutely love it. So anytime I get a message, anytime anybody wants to chat, I'm always available. I try to respond to everybody and it's just really a wonderful community community to be a part of, to be honest. So I'm glad we did this, I'm glad that we were able to do this podcast and I think this is going to be really fun and I think everyone will enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Yeah and it's a place where sports moms and dads parents from any sports can come and give their input. So you know, we just titled it Soccer Moms just because that was kind of a generic stereotype for sports parents in general, whether it was for football, basketball, baseball, it was kind of people were lumped together as being soccer moms and you did an article on your blog kind of about that. And so make sure, if you haven't already read her article about that on her blog, go ahead and check that out as well. The links to her stuff is in her Instagram page. Remember, it's Soccer Moms Unfiltered on Instagram and you can go and read about that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1:And we will also be doing calls to action from you guys as the listener, to give your input on different topics or share your stories, and so we'll be excited to be able to have different engagements with different parents, sports parents, coaches, different people that have already, just with the coming soon announcement that we've done on social media, I've already had a few people say, hey, I'd totally love to come on or be a part of it, or you know.
Speaker 1:So it's kind of fun to be able to see what people are willing and wanting to do in this space because it's a great community and it would be great for all of us to be able to, you know, lift each other up and lend support whenever we can. And, like, I know there was a soccer mom who just messaged me that lives in Illinois and she happened to be at the same tournament last weekend that I was at in Las Vegas and we were never probably at the same place at the same time, but it was kind of fun to hear her experiences at the tournament and you know kind of tell each other a little bit about what was going on. So it'll be really fun to see the fan engagement and the listener engagement as far as what people are going to be able to do and to see how this community will be able to grow in the future.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's so exciting. I mean I'm looking forward to it. I think this is going to be great and, like you said, this is just a space where we can come together, we can chat, we can bring things to the table. Sometimes some moms and dads or sports parents, whatever it is don't have anybody that they can go and talk to. Maybe they don't have that camaraderie you could say in their sports team, and this is a place to do it. So I think it's great and it's important to highlight. It's not just for soccer moms and dads, it's for all sports, whether it's basketball, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, whatever it is, whether it's basketball, baseball, hockey, lacrosse, whatever it is. This is the place for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it'll be great to be able to especially when we do calls to action, like we're going to be doing today for some topics, and getting your feedback on these topics and hearing your stories that we're going to be able to share those with other people and let other people know different things that have happened you've seen and hopefully affect change going forward as far as different things. So the first call to action that we're going to have is we would love to hear your different sideline shenanigan stories Good, bad, ugly. So, whether it's you know an unfortunate fight that broke out, I know, like a couple weekends ago at an event Maybe it was last weekend, I can't remember Apparently, a player on a team that is here locally we were out of state at a tournament I think it was last weekend in Vegas A parent on the opposing team came on the field and punched one of the players, like a teenager, which ended up with the police being called. I'm assuming that person was arrested. Charges, I'm assuming, were filed.
Speaker 1:I don't know the whole entire story, but I did see video of the assault from like a VO and so I know that it happened. So it's not just hearsay, you know. Sometimes it's like oh well, I heard this and it comes, you know, through telephone and it kind of gets lost in translation, but I do know that it happened.
Speaker 1:The recorded score on the website was for a forfeit for the other team, so we're pretty sure certain things happened there. But that is obviously a very extreme case. But I've also seen some pretty amazing things happen in times of when players get injured the support surrounding the players that got injured, different things happening, just talking to somebody on the sideline and then becoming like good friends with them when you didn't even know them. So you know stories like that. Different things, like I helped out some parents the other day who didn't know what happened in for like a call and I was able to help out, you know, give my input and say you know I think this might be what happened, um, as far as what the referee called.
Speaker 1:So there's a lot of different aspects good, bad and ugly that we would love to hear from you listeners. You know whether it's at a soccer event, a basketball, baseball, any, any sports that your kids are at, dance, even dance, like dance, like I know dance moms, cheer moms, those types of things. They also come with their high stress stuff. So love to hear different things from different people in different areas. As far as you know what you've seen happen on the sidelines and we would love to share your stories. So, again, it could be the good, the bad, the ugly, and we'll share a few of them on our episode and, you know, discuss them if we want to, and and see where that goes from there. Um, but we would love to have your submissions. If you can email your stories to info at soccer moms, unfilteredcom, um, so we'll have that link in the show note as well, but it's info at soccer moms and filtercom. But, carrie, do you want to talk any more on that?
Speaker 2:What we want to hear from people, Definitely just want to push everyone to get involved and send us your, your stories and, you know, just be an active member of this little community that we're building with this podcast, so that you know other people. You may have a story that I don't know, may seem insignificant or may have some significance and to someone else it's like oh okay, I had something similar and maybe your story will help them in some way or some capacity. So that's, you know, it's good to just get involved. Send us your stories. I love to hear all these little secrets and shenanigans that go on, because they do go on. You know, some are funny, some are not so funny. I've had my very unfunny moments that are. I probably should be embarrassed on some of them. But whatever, that's for the other podcast. We'll leave that there and I'll leave you on suspense at the edge of your seats to know how that turned out. But definitely get involved, let us know.
Speaker 2:I know I have cheer stories for days that I can tell you. So if you're a cheer mom, cheer dad, you know what I'm talking about. I swear it that cheer is the absolute. I think cheer and dance are the most drama fueled sports. They have to be. It's so bad and I can talk about that and I will later on, but it's, it's really. It's scary Cause I did cheer as a kid and I don't remember it being that bad, but maybe just cause my parents never got involved. Maybe that's why, but I know I'm all in it, like I want to be all up in there, so I hear it all and it's uh, it's quite comical.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And and I've been you know part as a cheerleader myself in high school I also like feel like what it used to be, I mean back in the you know day, I guess you can say it's definitely a lot different than now, because when I was a cheerleader, the competitive cheerleading aspect at least in my area in Utah was like still so new, like when I would be like wait, people do competitive cheer, like people do dance or something Like it was like a foreign concept to me because, you know, it was like I felt like if you were a dancer or a gymnast and then maybe in high school you tried out for cheer and that was kind of it.
Speaker 1:And then, you know, go on to be collegiate or you know, like an NFL cheerleader type of a thing, and that was kind of it. But now it's, you know, people are starting cheerleading so much earlier, just like any other sport. Now it's like, you know, everybody's starting to do everything earlier, which will be a topic one day that we talk about. But so I definitely know that all of these, all of these things have escalated differently and from what it used to be back in the day, I guess you could say is everything's gotten way more competitive and earlier on in kids' lives. So it's kind of crazy that we can I mean, we could talk about that another time.
Speaker 1:But, another thing. Oh my gosh, I just I gotta think about it for a second Hold on.
Speaker 2:I had a thought in my brain, uh, okay, we have a lot of thoughts running right now.
Speaker 1:Right, um, anyway, I can't remember what I was going to say. Um, I should have written it down.
Speaker 2:Um, I should have written it down um whatever I don't know, but I'll probably edit that out. But um no, you gotta keep it. That's the fun part, you gotta I literally.
Speaker 1:It was like it was like, while you were talking, I was like, oh, we gotta talk about this, and I was like envisioning it, and then I started talking about cheer and I totally forgot what I was gonna say. Um, because, as you can tell listener, this is not scripted. Um, it's not so. We're. We're just going off on uh, information, but nobody wants scripted no yeah, yeah, but we will.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh, what I was gonna say totally jogged my memory.
Speaker 1:Ok, but we also want not only for you guys to respond to episodes that we want to do in the future. If you have a topic or a question about something that you want us to talk about or maybe find an expert on like a coach or like a sports psychologist, a nutritionist or anything like that If you have questions about certain topics, send those in as well, because we obviously want to cover the topics that you want information on. So if you have a topic that you want us to cover, please email that in as well and we will definitely make sure that we get it covered in an episode for you because, like I said, we want to cover the information that you guys want to hear about and, you know, maybe listening to other people's episodes or topics or different things might spark something in you. Just make sure to send those in, because we want to get that information out there, because a lot of times when people have questions, they're not the only one that has that question about that topic or want to hear about it.
Speaker 1:So make sure you just send that stuff in, because we want to make sure we get you that information as best that we can, and you know we can give our great advice, but we will also be reaching out to experts in whatever area it might be, bringing on, like I said, coaches and psychologists or nutritionists, and you know there's some doctor, like orthopedic doctors, that we could talk to.
Speaker 1:You know, regarding injuries or people that help with certain injury recoveries and things like that people that help with certain injury recoveries and things like that. So we want to talk about a broad aspect of things that relate to being parents of youth athletes. So please make sure to send that information in, especially like, since we're mostly from the soccer, cheer, dance world like if you're a parent of another sport and wants to come on and give your experiences or you know, we might not know many people in those other areas, and so if you have recommendations of people or if you're a coach of another sport or something like that and you want to come on and give insight into those other sports as well, we would love to hear about it. Yep, and also very important.
Speaker 2:If you know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, and maybe you know some sports figure, we would totally be open to having them on too. If you know anybody who's in the public eye, like any big time players or up and coming, we would be more than happy to speak with them also, because that's also good to have them on. Yeah definitely. All right.
Speaker 1:Well. So again, we want to hear about your sideline shenanigans, so please send those submissions into info at SoccerMomsUnfilteredcom Go follow the Soccer Moms Unfiltered Instagram page. You can also follow me at Kick it With Katie podcast as well. So we will be tagging and linking different things. So I have my own separate podcast which I specifically interview people in the soccer space as far as their journeys through soccer, whether that be a parent of a player, a former player, a current player. I've interviewed some professional players coaches, nutritionists so it's basically their soccer specific journeys and where they are at in the soccer space and giving a lot of advice to youth athletes.
Speaker 1:That podcast is family friendly. This podcast might not be so family friendly in the future. So sometimes, you know, we might be using some different colorful language. I don't know. I guess it will depend on the topic and how heated things get, because Carrie and I may not agree on certain things. I don't know. So you know it'll just be interesting to see where that goes. But just so you guys are aware, that podcast is family friendly and meant for parents and youth athletes currently, but this podcast is for just soccer parents in general and, like I said, it may not always be family friendly. Um, but that's up to your discretion whether you want to listen to it on a car ride to a game or not. So or with another soccer mom, so or sports parent.
Speaker 2:We'll try to keep it like as calm as possible, but yes, you might want to think that through.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if and if we have some explicit material, we'll be sure to make sure we add that in the show notes so you know whether or not small ears can hear those episodes or things. But just just so. You guys are aware this is supposed to be a fun, lighthearted podcast, mostly for adults. So I mean, as of like today, totally fine to listen to around young ears, but you know, sometimes you might, you know, depending on topics we cover, you never know.
Speaker 2:So exactly yeah.
Speaker 1:But we're really excited about this. We're glad that you listened. Please make sure to like, share and subscribe on whatever podcast app you're on right now. And please on Apple podcasts, if you give a five star rating there, that will help the podcast grow and let other people know about where this podcast is. The more five-star ratings and reviews we get, mostly on Apple, the more visible it is to other listeners that they would be interested in it. So that's kind of how those metrics work.
Speaker 1:But Apple Podcasts is kind of the holy grail of ratings and things like that for podcasts and rankings and whether're visible To other listeners or not. So if you're wondering how people just happen Upon different podcasts, it's usually due to those five star ratings. So please make sure to give A rate On your app Whatever app you're on, apple podcast would be great, and then a review would be awesome as well, and then Share the podcast. So if you haven't, and subscribe, so make sure to subscribe so that way, when the new episodes drop, we will be able to keep you updated on where this new stuff goes. So we are really excited about this and kicking this off. And, carrie, do you have any last words before we close today?
Speaker 2:And Carrie, do you have any last words before we close today? No, just like the podcast, share it. Share it with your friends, your family, with your you know team parents and send them over our way, and I think you guys are in for a fun time. I think it's going to be great and really excited.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we're really excited about this, so please be sure to share it with everybody that you know and submit your questions and your stories and different things, because we would love to hear them and share them and cover those for you as well. So if you don't have anything more, keri, we'll see you on the sidelines.
Speaker 2:Probably with a coffee in hand, for sure, okay.
Speaker 1:All right, thank you guys. Bye guys.
Speaker 2:Thank you Bye.
