Pitch to Pro
Pitch to Pro is the official podcast of Ozark United FC. This will be our platform to tell our story about the club and the special place that we call home, Northwest Arkansas. This is a journey. We want to bring you along for the ride. We'll share what's going on behind the curtain, help educate the community at large about soccer, Our league, and give updates on the progress of the club along the way.
Together, we'll explore and unpack our journey to professional soccer, the magic that is NWA, our community, and talk all things soccer from on the pitch to behind the scenes, telling the story of our club.
Pitch to Pro
Ep. 35 - Hawaii to the USL: Ryan Williams' Soccer Journey
How does a young boy from Hawaii end up shaping the future of soccer talent in Northwest Arkansas? Meet Ryan Williams, a passionate soccer leader and former professional player, who shares his fascinating journey from learning the game at age three to making waves in the USL Championship. Ryan’s story is one of dedication and resilience, from training under the legendary Scott Marksberry to lifting a PDL national championship with the Charlotte Eagles, and ultimately signing with New Mexico United. Discover Ryan's commitment to developing young talent and how he inspires a love for soccer within his community, as he bridges his professional experiences with coaching.
Join us as we explore the intricacies of professional soccer through Ryan’s eyes. The leap from college to the USL Championship wasn't just a change of pace; it was a deep dive into the mental demands and rigorous training of professional play. We discuss the nuances that distinguish elite players, focusing on the mental game and the importance of a high soccer IQ. Ryan emphasizes that true growth in the sport goes beyond scheduled practices, advocating for imaginative play and a genuine passion for the game. Whether you're a budding player or a seasoned fan, Ryan’s insights provide a firsthand look at the dedication required to excel on and off the field.
Pitch to Pro is the official podcast of Ozark United FC. This will be our platform to tell our story about the club and the special place that we call home, Northwest Arkansas. This is a journey we want to bring you along for the ride. We'll share what's going on behind the curtain, help educate the community at large about soccer, our league, and give updates on the progress of the club along the way. Together, we'll explore and unpack our journey to professional soccer, the magic that is NWA, our community, and talk all things soccer from on the pitch to behind the scenes, telling the story of our club.
Speaker 1:Pitch to Pro Podcast is proudly sponsored by PodcastVideoscom. Podcastvideoscom is Northwest Arkansas' premier podcast recording studio, Equipped with industry-leading equipment. The recording studio and services save you time, money and hassle. They are dedicated to helping you create, record and publish high-quality podcasts for your audience. Be sure to check them out today at podcastvideoscom. Hey, everybody, and welcome back to the Pitch to Pro podcast. It's Wes Harris, your host, Managing Director for Ozark United FC, Northwest Arkansas' pro soccer club playing in the United Soccer League. Today we have an awesome conversation with my amazing guest, Mr Ryan Williams. He is the assistant director of coaching at Sporty Arkansas and assistant head coach of our U20 Boys Academy program with Ozark United, Ryan. Thank you so much for joining me, man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's good to be here. I'm glad to be on.
Speaker 1:Staying warm and dry and having fun in the snow today.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, you know my son's at the age where he can, uh, really get around more. And so today, this morning uh shoveled the driveway and got him in one of those uh sleds that have a chair in it and just pulling them around the neighborhood. So it's been good.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. That's awesome man. He's already getting the snow experience early. Most people in Arkansas, nwa got to wait a few years for that, so I I know it's been early for him. It's good. Yeah, he's lucky.
Speaker 1:So well, ryan, you you are, um, you know another nwa resident that has, you know, a pretty pretty rock solid soccer background that just people may not know about. And you know we're very fortunate to have within our community and, you know, gone from player to coach and we'll talk about that transition. But, you know, still active in the game in the, in the in the space, and very lucky to have you, you know, in our area continuing to pass on the love of the game and, and you know, creating the right environment for our youth and I know that you're very passionate about that. So we'll talk about that. But, um, first and foremost, I want you have such a cool and unique background. Uh, tell people a little about bit about you, like where you grew up, where you're from, how did you get, how did you find soccer um in, uh, the, the lovely island, island life there in hawaii yeah, okay, well, that's good.
Speaker 2:Um, so I my parents always.
Speaker 2:It's funny because my son's three and I look at, or he's going to be three turning actually tomorrow, and I look at him like man, I was three when I started playing, you know, yeah, um, and so, yeah, three is when I started playing and I think as I was doing it, I just grew a passion for it. I'm originally from Hawaii and my family, my side of the family, they still live out there and playing soccer, I, yeah, I just was growing this passion for this game. I loved it. I was always at the field, always watching my brother play. I was playing with him. And then, as I was getting older, you know, that passion started to grow into a dream, a dream to play professionally and I was being on an island, being on a rock. At the time I was very fortunate for a club to really move in to the island. That club was Rush Soccer and really Rush was like a club that really gave me opportunities to play, so like to pursue my dream and being on a rock like it's hard to really get off that thing, you know, it's hard to really be seen elsewhere, right and so Rush had this connection, had this organization that really really boosted me.
Speaker 2:So when I was 15, I moved to Colorado by myself. I lived with the Hulse family. I played with the Rush's Academy out there. I played with them for three years and after Colorado, I went to play with the coach now, scott Scott Marksberry, yeah, and I played under him for four years and in my summer times I wouldn wouldn't go back home. I'd actually go to charlotte and I'd play with charlotte eagles out out there. And in 2017, we won a pdl national championship and, while I'm very grateful for that, I I scored a, a free kick. I really every time I look at this field, I'm like, oh, that's a spot I scored a free kick on, you know.
Speaker 2:And then, after that being in Charlotte, I got connected with my suit, which would be my future coach at the time, troy Lesane, and from that it kind of, just when I was hitting my, when I was in my senior year, finishing up that or finished that fall season, that's when Troy reached out and he wanted to have another look at me. And you know, one thing led to another and I was fortunate enough to be signing with New Mexico United in 2019. And yeah, well, yeah, the 2018 actually December 2018, but 2019 season and then 2020 season, yeah, 2019 season and then 19 2020 season.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so talk a little bit about. I mean, that's an incredible journey. Um, at what point in your kind of youth career did you start to think that you know something within soccer might be possible? Uh, for you, did you feel that at all, or were you just like I just want to keep playing at a high level?
Speaker 2:Well for me. I just I mean, I was, I was really young, I was probably about eight years old or so when I remember like I was like I want to play, I want to play professionally, I want to be the best, like I want to be the best, you know, and that was one thing I've always had in my my head. In my head and in my mind is like I want to be the best, um, and I want to pursue it. I want to do something that no one else can do or no one else did. And, being on an island, you don't hear of many pros. There are players who played professionally and they did it well and they played at high levels, um, but it's very, very few, you know.
Speaker 2:And I, being at eight, I'm like seven, eight, I'm like'm like, yes, I want to be, I want to be that guy, you know, and yeah, it was just, it was probably really young and I, within the, within the people around me, the players around me, you know you're on an Island, you know who the good ones are and you know who the better ones are. But what you see is and it's interesting, even coming into coaching with Ozark you see, as a young player, you look up and I'm talking eight, nine years old. You look up and you see, wow, these players trickle out. You see who players are really really good 15, 16, 17. You know who they are, especially within that club. That's very connected. You train all at one spot. You know who the players are, um, you know who the good teams are, um, but then you don't see them do anything after. You know, or or really what you see is the passion dies, right. So they hit 16 years old in hawaii.
Speaker 2:At the time, this was gosh, this was probably what like before 2010, um. So you, you're looking up and you're like man, like they don't really go to college. Some do and they're good enough, but they just didn't have that drive um. And so, yeah, it was young age. It's funny, at a young age, you can yeah, I looked up, you can see ahead and you're it's crazy, that's just a little kid. I coached seven or eight year olds at the club. I'm around them like man.
Speaker 1:I was that age and I could see ahead, you know yeah, well, and that's that's that's part of that's part of what I was curious about, because it you kind of had the extreme of it, but but you know, with literal geographic isolation, but also you know you talk about players start to maybe lose that edge or like lose that drive or whatever it is, and they start to trickle out and you know the laws of attrition within the game. But yeah, you know, I I was going to ask, like you know, and draw some corollaries to maybe a little bit of nwa, because people don't have that thing. That next step, that's insight, that's in vision. Yeah, right, and yeah, you were one of the few, probably at least within your, your area in space, that that had the drive, without you know you could see beyond the right in front of your face.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think, with all going on, that an important thing that I kind of learned through college and college was a time where I really, like, harnessed my own craft. You know I really mastered it um a thing was inspiration, you know, like when.
Speaker 2:I look back at my own, my own playing career, like my youth, my youth career, really, the amount of inspiration I had around me was like massive. You know, hawaii was always a spot spot where pros wanted to come down to run a camp, like we had pros from Houston Dynamo, from DC United, I mean Colorado Rapids, they would come down, or even Rush would bring pros down to Hawaii for a Christmas camp, for a Christmas camp, you know. So it was like constantly you're. It may not necessarily be like well, I guess during my time I was very fortunate, very blessed, like during when I was playing. I'm always seeing pros, every year I'm getting around pros. You know, I'm just like man, I want to be like them and I hear them talking. I'm like, I want to be like them. I get around top coaches. Rush brought down coaches from liverpool and there's actually one who I'm, you know, I I talk with every every now and then, but, um, my family was very close with and it's just again like there's that. That's that uh, um, constant inspiration to me as a player of being around that is which, like, for me, is like I really wanted that.
Speaker 2:And you know, part of my story is not only the what I did on the soccer side, but is what I, what I went through on the adversity side, and you know it's probably you finding out for the first time but I've had 14 surgeries in my life from the age of 13 to 18. I had 11 surgeries from 18 to when I finished playing, I had, you know, three more and really three of them were because of soccer. The other, what other stuff, was all hereditary. So really I was given a hand right, I was given cards that were just out of my control and for for me, going through playing in Hawaii, playing with the Rush, I was very grateful to have coaches who could really speak into me and kind of continue that drive.
Speaker 2:You know, like you have players around you that they go through knee surgeries and maybe they're able to hit three, but they hit three and they're done. They hit four, they're done. You rarely see someone just kind of push through it Right and I, like gosh, I was, I was 14 going through, I think, I think, my fourth surgery at the time and it was one that was going to like really it really rocked my boat, you know. So it was like the inspiration and then almost that drive to drive to. I really want this dream. I want to do something that nobody else does, just continue to push and push and push. And so the soccer journey, the adversity journey, that is all it kind of brings together into one story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's important and it draws. I mean, you hear about this stuff all the time. Right, I mean, um, not not 11 surgeries, my goodness, uh, but but definitely you know it's, it's, you know it's an unfortunate reality of of the space. Is, you know, injury, um, and setbacks? How do you overcome those so many, you, you know? So much of what about sports is the life lessons that you draw from it and the courage and strength that you draw from it. Uh, yeah, that you know you.
Speaker 2:You certainly are a third, you know great example of that to to bring that back to you know ozark a bit, and to northwest arkansas and the soccer. Here I'm seeing a soccer environment where, again, I think Scott's hit on this quite a bit but at 15, it fizzles. Kids don't feel that they can go further. I mean, we have talent in this area, there's talented kids in this area, and for me it's like almost I, I have this platform. I've been given an opportunity for me to come in and say like not only push the level, push the, push the um, uh, the training environment, the game environments, the, the teaching, essentially to push, push them, but also to be able to speak into those things.
Speaker 2:I remember growing up in a place where it looked like there's nothing and players are fizzling out. I can almost be that place where I get to inspire but at the same time, I get to push right. Bring what I know.
Speaker 1:Bring what I know, yeah bring what I know and and yeah, so yeah, no, it's, I think um, and, and you know that's part of hopefully, what we can bring and bring about change is not only the infrastructure for the pathway right, but also the vision and the dream right and and having that be visible within the community, tangible right, these kids yeah can go to game physically and see it right with their own eyes, and I think that that ignites something within you as a player and a person, um, and gives you those goals and so, and then, how do we?
Speaker 1:then? We have to feed that dream and that goal with the infrastructure and the path. But talk to me a little bit about, I mean you're, you're one of the few right that have played a professional sport and play professional soccer in our league. Yeah, what? What's it like, man?
Speaker 2:Tell us what's it like being a pro athlete in the usl championship, and you played with new mexico united yeah, man, this league is high level, like I remember coming in and you, just you get around so many players and some of the players that I've played with are still playing and, um, it's, it's, and it's such a good league, high-level league. I got to play on New Mexico United in their first years and so if I could tell you about that experience a bit, for me, in college I was a good player. I did some good stuff in college, going into the championship. Every player going in, you have a big head. You get humbled a bit when you get in because there's these pros who every player is as good as you and some are probably better. They're better at executing. Their percentages or consistency is way higher than yours. Their IQ is way higher than yours. Their experience of it is way higher than yours, or IQ is way higher than yours, their experience of it is way higher than yours. Yeah, coming in, it's every player you're playing with, especially the ones who've played in college and some of them haven't because they skipped it. Every player who's played in college has just as many awards as you and they've been around the block even as you have right, and it is a humbling experience, but it's also like for me.
Speaker 2:I enjoyed the level of play that I had with Mexico United. College was a high level for me, but even going to the organization level that the USL championship brings, it was really good for me and I really enjoyed being there. Um, it is eye-opening too, like the levels, like you go from college into the championship, the jumps, it's. It's eye-opening how sophisticated the levels are and the organization is right, and even more so when you're playing against, like in the the Open Cup. You know, I got to, we had a decent run in the Open Cup and I got to hop into a game against Minnesota United and I'm like man, like playing against guys in the MLS. I watch on TV and I'm like, oh wow, this is next level, you know, and so well, it's interesting too. Well, this is kind of different.
Speaker 2:But with mexico united, they were so involved in their community, kind of like what we're intending to do. Um, that's the goal. It's tangible, right. I remember walking into. I never saw myself as a popular player. I mean, I didn't. I didn't play as many minutes. I got some good minutes as a rookie and I got good minutes as my second year. Um, but I never really saw myself as unpopular and you'd walk into Target and then all of a sudden, people are calling your name and I'm like me, you're talking to me, but it was such a cool thing to go around and how a community takes on the team you know and players walk around the community and are engaging right. Um, it was very. That experience was really cool.
Speaker 2:Um so, that's awesome any other questions there, like yeah, I wanted.
Speaker 1:I wanted to build on something. You talked about the difference between college and professional right In terms of skill level. But I think and what I've heard I don't know because I've not played on both levels like you have but a lot of times what you will hear is that the difference between, like, a good player and an elite player that makes that jump is someone that has it up here but then also they execute the little things flawlessly every time. Is that similar in your experience?
Speaker 2:Or how would you describe that difference? It's kind of spot on for me. So I watched for me. I've coached at John Brown University. I was an assistant coach there In my time as as a coach. The amount of games I've watched, the amount of leagues I've watched, it's been crazy. My wife probably doesn't like it because I've watched games all the time. I watch championship, I watch league one, I watch mls and I've been watching the prem, but for what I do is like the premise, so it's it's next level. It's so sophisticated, you know, and those players are just, you know, one of a kind.
Speaker 2:They're one of a kind players all gathered in one league, um, and you, what I've seen is and it kind of I want to say this way before I go to my experience and the whole college, the whole college professional thing um, each level is kind of marked, instead looks like it's marked. It looks like it's marked in different ways, right like in the prem, you have guys who can change a game at any second. Any second they can change a game and those guys are like crazy athletes. They're crazy with the ball, high, high iq. Mls has kind of been that same boat, you know, maybe lower, but it's very much similar. I mean, you can look at the guys coming in and champion in the championship. You do see a player every now and then that changes the game and they're crazy dynamic, they're crazy athletic. Oftentimes those players I mean given if they have successful seasons they get moved up, um. But what you see more in the championship is the organization of each team. They're so organized the details are because that's where the game is won and lost. The team who makes it almost looks like a team who makes the least mistakes is probably the team going to win the game, because there's not a guy who's going to dribble four players. You know there's not a guy who's going to like, take on the team and give me the ball, let me do the dribbling. You know there's not a guy who's necessarily going to smash it. Smash a goal from 35 yards out every every several games. You know, um, right, so it's coming.
Speaker 2:Coming to your, your point, like, from what I, you know there are players in college who have crazy ability. Their feet is really really good and maybe even sometimes better than some players in the championship, not necessarily because the iq is not quite as high as the guys in their championship. Like, the iq is everything. They're the, the game intelligence, the, the adapting, the thinking through the game, because you know it's crazy, even the adapt, the adapt, adapting to each year. You know, like, the ones who adapt and the ones who can think about the game in that way, those are the players who stay. You know, because they're, they're constantly finding ways to make impacts.
Speaker 2:I mean, at that level, like at that level, the, the scouting reports, gosh, they know you as a player, and if you, if you can't find, if you can't find ways around that you can't think, think through ways around that, you know you get stuck. You get stuck as a player, right, and um, yeah, kind of going on to your point that the it's the details that matter. The details that matter, the details that really I think um sets players up for sense, sets pros, sets pros apart from college players. You know people want fancy feet, which is good. You better be extraordinary with your feet, you know, if that's the case.
Speaker 2:But really like like knowing when to get on the I mean getting on a half turn, receiving the ball back foot, checking your shoulder, being like being checking your shoulder three, four times before you even received the ball, knowing two, three plays and passes in advance, like those are things that all pros know, you know. Yeah, like being it, really it's it. For me, I think it's stuff that's kind of set at every level, you know. And then you come to the margins and the professional environment. The margins are just so, so tight, it's so, so little, like you know what I mean. It's those margins that like really set the players apart, right?
Speaker 1:So, and you're, I tell, I tell this to my son, um, all the time I don't push him, but I, I ask him the question and I start bringing this concept into his head, like the players who only play soccer at scheduled practices, like if that's your journey and that's what you want to do and that's what you want out of it, and then great, and you're gonna have a fun time doing it and hopefully you got a great coach that's going to create a good environment and a good experience. Fantastic, yeah, if you are a player that wants to continue to elevate their game and continue to push the level and continue to get to the next step and continue to be, you know, the one starting in minutes and all of that stuff and continuing to evolve, if, if that is what you're aspiring for which my son says he does then just playing soccer at scheduled practice times with your club, maybe two hours a week, two and a half hours a week, plus games yeah, not gonna do it. Not gonna do it, my friend, when you know, when you start hitting a certain
Speaker 1:age group. When you start hitting a certain age group like you're gonna start to get leapfrogged by the players that may be two, three teams below you that are that are putting it at work, and he's already. We already have this in our age group a couple players that are a it at work, and he's already. We already have this in our age group a couple of players that are a couple of teams below down. That would knock off a few of the first team players right now If we held the evals. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, even when I was, when I was growing up the time.
Speaker 2:The time that a pro gets every week is 16 to 16 hours a week, roughly around there. Wow, like, if you're getting two hours, three hours of training one game, like you're not, it's not cutting it. You know, like the, the type of training, that the amount of training is there for a reason, right, like we, I think that's um a thing that's kind of always been like 16 hours a week, like that's that's a lot of pro at a pro level. And then you start to go into like what does your training look? Like? That's outside of practice, right, because, like, if we're saying, if we're saying, and I think, well, I'm saying that iq in a way sets players apart, obviously you need good feet, you got to control the ball, you got to pass the ball, you got to be able to finish, you got to do your job well, no, that's not like, no doubt, um, but if iq sets a player apart, then if you're doing work, that's not like no doubt. But if iq sets a player apart, that if you're doing work, that's that kind of puts aside iq. And like game intelligence, well, you're gonna be a big player, you know. But like, really, when you get into a higher level. You're gonna play with players and be like dude, like you don't know what you're doing. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, your decision making is not very good, you know, and and so it's like you have to bring in decision making. You have to bring in maybe imagination and if you're training on your own like you I don't know if you can really make decision makings on your own, but you could imagine you could have a good imagination and you know, I tell, I tell coaches around me and even players that I, I work with. Like you know, when I was growing up, my, the soccer was on my mind like all the time. Like I'm receiving the ball with a check my chest, I think I I'm zata, but you know, like I, I received the ball with my thigh and my foot out of the air. I imagine I, I see a picture of eniesta in my head, you know, and it's like constantly when I'm training, like that stuff's always, like it's just, it's just like gear that's always spinning, you know, and so, um, yeah, it's like three hours. So it's you, that's what you want, that's fine, like that's all good no problem, you know.
Speaker 2:But if that passion develops and you want more, well then you gotta give more right, exactly 100, and you know there's I.
Speaker 1:I think the other way to look at it too is especially at the pro level, what you started talking about with the hours. I mean people will hear that and they'll say, wow, that's a lot of training. But let's take a step back for a second. This, this is your job. Yeah, we work, we. You know. When you let's look at the workforce 40 hour work week right In the U S, like everybody thinks, and if anybody is in in school and about anyway anyway, um, but that's to your point you were talking about 16 hours is like the physical training, like actually scheduled practices. Then there's I mean taking care of your body.
Speaker 2:You got recovery, weights, stretching, icing, eating, well, all the other stuff that kind of comes in. Yeah, it's interesting because the passion for the game is so important. I haven't been an icer, I've been around a player who they've hated playing from a young age. It always starts with passion and it starts with enjoyment that keeps them in it. Right Like there's players who their salaries aren't very good but they just love playing, you know, and they'll put out the grind just because they love it, you know, yep, and so like that passion is so important, especially in an environment where there's, you know, in the professional mind, there's high pressure, because you've got to perform, You've got to score goals, you've got to assist, you've got to create plays, you've got to defend If you get beat geez, you don't play.
Speaker 1:Everybody's fighting for your spot, right.
Speaker 2:Everything matters, every action matters. And, um, if you don't have that passion, if you're, if it's just a, if, it's just a job to you like if, if, if that's what it is, then you, you don't stay long, you know yeah, no, I.
Speaker 1:I couldn't agree more and I think you you do find that and see that and you know your point. If you're making it to that level, chances are you have a strong passion for the game. Otherwise, those ones that you find that may not, you're not seeing them in a spot for very long. One personally, but two, they're not going to have the level of commitment or drive to stick around and or the attitude to be a good team and have somebody like that in the locker room.
Speaker 2:Kind of you saying. That makes me think about, even from my own experience. Yeah, I only played two years, but part of it was because the demand on your body that you take as a pro gosh, it goes way higher than a college athlete. And it was as a college athlete, like for what I've been through in my, for my adversity, like yeah, I handle it and it was fine for me.
Speaker 2:But the moment I jumped into the professional environment and like the toll that it takes on the body, body, like if you're, if, if college was hard, the fitness and stuff was hard, the weights were, you know, whatever it is that the demand was hard. You'll get into a professional environment. I'm sure it's probably even higher the the levels you go. You know usl, championship, mls, overseas, you know buddhist league, uh, the pram, whatever it is. I'm sure the demand is just more and more and more. So. If, if it's just like a job say college is a job or club, I just show up and play, like parents make me play, you know, or they're always, they're always on on your butt about it, you know they're, they're the one who puts pressure on you. Like if that's it, like I, I just don't see how it really moves into the next level, or it can but lasting.
Speaker 1:I don't, I don't know, not very sustainable, to be sure. Well, ryan, thank you so much, man, for joining me, uh, for this episode and giving us some insight. I mean, that's just, it's so cool again to to have someone with your playing experience and background in our area and a part of you know, instilling the passion and love and joy, and so that we don't find players like you we just talked about, um, you know, and hopefully, once that, have that love of the game, uh, and helping you create that environment. So, thank you for everything that you're doing and, uh, appreciate you joining me today. Yeah, thank you for everything that you're doing and appreciate you joining me today, yeah.
Speaker 1:Thank you. That's it for this episode of Pitch the Pro. Appreciate everybody joining us. Make sure to follow us on all of our socials at Pitch the Pro and check out even more content wherever you get your podcasts on Spotify, YouTube, Apple podcasts and more. Until next time. Cheers, Northwest Arkansas. Thanks for joining us on this episode of the pitcher pro podcast. Be sure to tune in again in two weeks for the next installment and check out the stoppage time series for a recap of today's episode. Be sure to find us at pitch to pro on youtube, instagram and everywhere you get your podcasts. Until next time. Northwest arkansas cheers.