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. 51 - Street Soccer to Sidelines: Coach Estrada’s Journey
Two goals down in 11 minutes, then a 4–2 lead before halftime, what kind of locker room creates that kind of turnaround on the field? We sat down with JBU head coach Samuel Estrada to explore the answer, starting where his game began: street soccer in San Salvador. Samuel’s path from El Salvador youth international to Northwest Arkansas coach reveals why decision speed beats raw speed, how small-sided chaos teaches real game intelligence, and why joy and freedom in pickup are the fuel for long-term development.
We dig into the gritty parts of the college game, adapting to pace, building strength and endurance, and learning to control tempo as a midfielder who values rhythm over headlines. Samuel shares the moment he said yes to an interim role, lost only one match, and earned the job by leading differently: inviting input, delegating responsibility, and turning standards into a lived culture. The result is a program with a clear mission, to transform lives and compete at the highest level, plus measurable wins like Top 25 recognition and a 90%+ retention rate that proves players feel they belong.
The conversation widens to Northwest Arkansas: a region growing fast without losing warmth, a campus and town that welcome international students, and a soccer ecosystem on the rise. With Ozark United FC targeting professional men’s and women’s pathways, recruiting gets stronger, the local game gets richer, and Saturday nights gain a new heartbeat. Samuel outlines JBU’s road map: win the conference in the near term, aim at a national championship in the long term, and keep stacking small, daily standards that compound into big outcomes.
If you care about player development, program culture, or the future of soccer in NWA, this one’s for you. Subscribe, share with a teammate who holds you accountable, and leave a review telling us your best pickup lesson. Your stories help us grow the game together.
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 Podcast is proudly sponsored by Podcastvideos.com. Podcastvideos.com is Northwest Arkansas's 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 podcastvideos.com.
SPEAKER_03:Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Pitch the Pro Podcast. I'm your host, Wes Harris, managing director for Ozark United FC, Northwest Arkansas's professional soccer club playing in the United Soccer League. I'm really excited to welcome today's guest onto the show, Mr. Samuel Estrada, head coach of men's soccer at John Brown University. Samuel, thank you for joining me today, man.
SPEAKER_00:No, thank you for the invite. And I am looking forward to share with the soccer community and with you as well.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, absolutely. So I always ask people, you know, before we dive into your role and what you're doing at JBU, uh, give us a little bit about you, your background, uh, how you found the game, um, and you know, let's start there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I am originally from San Salvador, El Salvador. I was born and raised there. Um, you know, it's it's a very small country, but it's a soccer country, right? Um, so it wasn't hard for me to fall in love uh with soccer. I play since I have you know memories. Um I play on close to my house. I was probably there from 3 to 7 p.m. just playing with friends, pick up uh kind of like street soccer. Um and yeah, just growing up, I watch soccer every day. Um, and you know, it's something I shared with my dad as well. Um so yeah, born and raised in El Salvador, and then when I was 18, I moved to Northwest Arkansas because of college. Okay. Um in El Salvador, I got the privilege to uh compete at national team level. I was in national team camps. Um I play a couple of CONCACAF tournaments, and also I got the opportunity to play for under 17 in the second team of Alianza Football Club, which is one of the strongest professional clubs in El Salvador. So yeah, that's a little bit about my background.
SPEAKER_03:That's a pretty impressive background. Yeah. I mean, that's what we're I mean, you talked about it. Um, and it's just so prevalent in, you know, other parts of the world, especially Central South America, is this street football. Yeah. And it's something that we're lacking in the US and access to the game, right? And uh just playing pickup. Like there's so much of this. I don't want to knock anybody, but all of this individual one-on-one training. And you know, yes, you can build your skill set, you're getting touches and they have a purpose. But the best thing for they did a study, I think, at Liverpool Academy, the players that made it to the first team versus uh the ones that didn't, the most common link between them was that the amount of pickup soccer that they played was the most crucial ingredient. And it's because that is where you develop your creativity, your skill set, you're having the most fun, yeah, which is where your skills start to flourish and you have permission to do that.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I and also I will add, like in pickup, you're making decisions, right? You're making decisions uh the whole time you're playing, especially when you're I play 3v3, 4v4 for years, right? Almost every day. So yeah, the creativity, the fun, uh, but also I'm just making the soccer decisions every second almost. So that's how I think how you grow as well.
SPEAKER_03:Well, would love from a uh you know, a player of your caliber and coach of your caliber's perspective, but I've always thought and heard and and shared in this perspective that like what separates great players from good ones and how how do you really develop as a player? It's all about soccer is a game of decision making. Yeah. Anybody can develop the technical skills. Yeah. What separates players is the ability to make good decisions and quickly the speed at which they can make those decisions. And execute, obviously.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and I mean, uh one of my favorite teams right now is Barcelona, right? And and since they like our little kids, they're just they're just playing everyone on the same page, everyone making the right decisions, even if they're getting pressed or not, it doesn't change. Right. So yeah, the decision making, I would say, I would say is the most important thing uh on a great player. Um and when I'm recruiting my players, the first thing I see is how quick they make decisions, if they're like one or two steps ahead of everyone else. So the mental speed, right? Um, the athleticism, we can work it here, right? The just the pace um and and and the strength physically, we can always work it. Um even the technical skills, you can always work it, but the decision making is the I would say is the most crucial.
SPEAKER_03:And that's the hardest to coach. Yes. Yes, it's the hardest to coach. And you learn it by playing. Exactly.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And and I would say um it's in an early age, right? You need to develop that in the early age. It's very hard to coach that whenever you are 18, 17, 16, right? It's almost impossible to say, uh, but it depends on the player. But I would say, yeah, that's that's by far the most important.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Well, I love that. We could do a whole other podcast on on development of players, and and uh maybe we'll have you back on to do that. But you know, you came to NWA for college, so uh tell us more about that. I mean, uh at JBU to play soccer, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yes, I came to John Brown in 2017. I graduated in 2021, so I had four seasons of college soccer. Um, and man, it was different, right? I was I was not used to one, the culture, the language, uh, the culture of the team. And I would say it was at the beginning, it was hard, especially because you're far away from family, from what you were used to. Um, but just the community, um, not just the John Brown community, but the silent springs community was so welcoming. Uh, it was warm. So uh that made it easier for me. Um during my four years at JBU um we won the conference, the Sooner Athletic Conference, um, the regular season and also the tournament, the playoffs in 2019. And that was the last time we were uh ranked in the top 25. Um, but I would say, you know, my my favorite part about being here is just the community and the friendships that I made um, you know, from 2017 till now. That's that's just the best part. Yeah. And it has so much value for me. It's become a home away from me. Yes. Yes, it has. Yeah, it's been easy too.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. That's great. And I mean, I think that that's a very common kind of theme. I mean, I not from here now call this place home. You know, two of my three kids were born here. Yeah. Um, you know, and collectively, I'm a boomerang. I was here, I left, and one and came back. So uh, you know, we've been here almost uh a little over 11 years now, collectively. Yeah, my wife even longer. But yeah, um, you know, I think that that happens to a lot of people. You're you're like, where am I going? And then, oh my God, I'm never leaving, you know.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Uh so it's just it's a special place. So I always love, you know, talking about how did you come to NWA? And and then the next question is you've been here a decent amount now, so eight years.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So how have you seen NWA change since you've been here? Like what do you notice?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and you know, and and I'm just gonna add this. Um, I'm coming from a it's a big, it's a big city, San Salvador, maybe not in the size of um, you know, kilometers and and and stuff like that, but in just people, it's just overpopulated in San Salvador. We have more than one million and you know, in such a small space. And then I come here and it's just kind of like the country, yeah. Um, and it's just not like a big city. So that was it was interesting how that with time, I just appreciate now the peacefulness, but also the amenities that are here. There are so many benefits of being in Northwest Arkansas. Um, so yeah, I've been seeing it grow so much. Um not only on you know all the constructions and um things that are developing, um, but also just on the numbers of people. I mean, it's funny when people say that now there's traffic, but I've because I've seen worse traffic. Oh yeah. But still, I I I start feeling like the grow in numbers in the community in Northwest Arkansas in general. Um and just um, you know, with my wife, we we love to go out during the weekends, and there's more stuff to do, right? Every year, I think there's more and more and more things to do. Um, and also I think the people that are moving to Northwest Arkansas are most of the time a good fit. So there's just the community is growing in all aspects. Um, and and I like to see that.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's great.
SPEAKER_00:And you guys recently moved to Springdale, right? Yeah, we we live in Springdale now and we love it just because the proximity to everything, it's it's we're in the center, right? So we love that too.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's awesome. And uh easy jumping on 412 for work. Yeah, 20 minute drive. You don't mind it. Yeah, no, that's great. So tell people a little bit about you know JBU. I think you know, it's and you can talk about this too, is Salem Springs, I think. Um, and it's it's not a slight against uh the community there. It's a wonderful community that I think it often gets kind of forgotten about. Yeah. Um, and you know, versus uh the corridor, as I know the Salem Springs people uh and residents call, you know, the the main other four that are closer to the highway here. But tell folks a little bit about that community, about JBU um and you know what's going on in JBU.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. You know, Silent Springs is obviously a smaller community than you know the big four Spring The Rogers, Bentonville, and Fayville. Um but there is a lot of people moving to Silent Springs to work in the corridor. So there's a lot of development going on there. Um we it's funny because we just got a Chili's and an olive garden in Silent Springs, and those are the hot spots. You know, it's it's it's funny to see that. Um, but yeah, it's growing. And then I would say part of the core and the heart of Silent Springs is John Brown. Um there is a lot of uh collaboration between the town and JBU. Uh this weekend is homecoming. Um, and we have a homegrown festival downtown Silent Springs. So there's always that collaboration going on between the town and the university. Um and I think that speaks about JBU, right? We we are all about the community. Uh we are all about welcoming neighbors, welcoming anyone on campus. Um, and yeah, I mean, it's we have about, I would say, 1,300 students on campus now. Uh, so it's a smaller school. But um it just it just feels like there is a lot of good things going on there just because of the type of student that we are receiving every year. Uh we had just two uh record-breaking um incoming classes. Okay. Uh so the university is growing, um, and I think it's growing on the right direction.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um and I think it has a correlation between Northwest, like between Northwest Arkansas growth and our growth. Yeah. Right. Um, so there's a lot of good things. Um, and yeah, JBU is, you know, our leadership. Um, it's involving a lot of Northwest Arkansas um projects. So it's it's it's nice to see the collaboration between JBU and not just Silent Springs, but all over Northwest Arkansas.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. No, that's great. And it's a you know, it's a different type. But I went to a small school as well. Um, we were at the time 4,500 uh undergrad uh and then another you know 2,000 grad students uh in Philadelphia, but uh so different than Silom. But um you know, if you ever get a chance to go to JBU, one, it's a gorgeous campus. Yeah. Um but two, I think it's very evident um feeling the pride uh from the community about JBU and JBU about the community. Yes. Um you can really feel that and sense that just in engaging with people in conversation.
SPEAKER_00:And yeah, it's very evident. Yeah, and I think that's why, you know, we have a lot of international students in campus. And if you ask them the first couple of weeks, it's as an international student, it's very hard, right, to be far away from home. But they're just like, I feel welcome here. I feel like I belong here, right? And and not only are international students, but our domestic students that are coming from all over the country, you know, and they're coming from states that are very different to Arkansas, and they just love it. Uh so yeah, there is there's a lot of uh pride in being at JBU in Northwest Arkansas and and on campus.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's great. So let's talk a little bit about, I mean, your history at JBU. So you came for college and then you stayed. Yeah. So we talked a little bit about you as a player, uh, but talk about like what was it, you know, go a little bit deeper. What was it like uh playing, you know, at JBU and and that experience as a player?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, um, you know, my first thought that that comes to mind is I am, I think myself and others too think of me as a very technical player, um, good decision making, but man, I'm slow. And in El Salvador, in El Salvador, um, you know, my technical ability and my decision-making ability was enough. Yeah. Right? When you come to college soccer, it's just a different pace. Um, so soccer-wise, my freshman sophomore year, I would say just physically, I was not ready. Um, something that uh the JBU soccer program is about is that development stage, right? And I think we think long term, when we bring players, right, how can we develop them in the first two years, just so the third and the fourth year we can see all the fruit. Um, and I think that's what happened with me. Uh the first two years, I did play quite a bit for being a freshman and a or in a sophomore. Um, but my focus was on, okay, can I get faster? Can I get endurance in? Can I become stronger? Yeah. You know, so that was my main focus, and that was the coach's focus on me. Sometimes they used to send me to track and field practices. Uh but you know, it's funny because back at the time I was a little frustrated, but now I'm like, man, that helped me so much. Um, and just at that time, I was probably at my peak physically. Yeah. Right. Um, so my junior year, which it was the most successful year JBU has had in terms of soccer in a long time, um, I was at my peak physically and just mentally, right? I think I have matured a lot throughout those uh first two years. Yeah. And not just me, but my teammates as well. Right. So um I think that piece was very important for me. And also just adapting to the culture and what the team needs. But being an ideal team player was is important, right? And everyone was on the same page. Yeah. Uh so that's something we take a lot of pride on that everyone is on the same page in the program.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, that's great. You gotta have that cohesive, you know, unity and and all rowing the boat in the same direction.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, yes.
SPEAKER_03:Uh, and buy-in to the vision, right? And being sold and committed and a part of that. Um, it's funny you mentioned track and field. My uh growing up in high school, I played high school soccer um as well as college soccer, but high school soccer, it was really funny because they couldn't like tell you to go play, you know, force you to go to track and field practices, but uh it was always a topic of like, hey, it wouldn't be a bad idea in the offseason, yeah, you know, to go run track or cross country or something. Um, you know, it was just it was really funny. The but it it it's true, yeah, right? I mean, you can look at um actually there's a really great example of this. Uh Anna Potato from the University of Arkansas Women's Program. She did four years at you know, U of A college soccer, yeah, and now she's there getting her masters. Yeah. And she has obviously and and you know, uh a desire to continue to compete, but she's used her eligibility on soccer.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So now she's using you refresh in a different sport if you're good enough to do it.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:She's running women's track.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And there's another player, and I really am sorry to that player who's also a former soccer player, and they did they broke like the record or set a record or something.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:Uh on the four by one hundred relay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And two of the play of two of the four were former college soccer players.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So it just great athletes. Just goes to show you, right? Yeah. Um, and that, you know, just again, a great example to it. So shout out to Colby and and the program at U of A for um both recruiting and then developing great athletes. Yeah. Uh obviously they have an incredible track program. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So uh I'm sure they had a little something to do with that as well. But anyway, um, it also goes to show the type of speed that is in college soccer, to your point. You need that you just talked about. Yes. Um, so what position did you play, by the way?
SPEAKER_00:I play as a midfielder. Um, you know, I whenever I came to John Brown, I thought myself as a defensive midfielder, like that technical midfielder that will get the ball out. But my coach at the time was like, uh no, I need someone bigger, taller, and faster and stronger. I'm like, I understand. So um I started playing the number eight position um without being kind of like box to box, just controlling the tempo of the game. Um, so yeah, that was my position, and and I had a lot of fun doing it. Um, I am someone who I don't crave goals or assists, you know, I just crave like just controlling the tempo of the game.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um I have fun doing that, just being involved and helping the others, yeah, right, and everything they need. So I had that mentality as a player all the time.
SPEAKER_03:That's awesome. Uh then you so great playing career, great success in your junior year, like we talked about. Then you stayed at JBU. Yeah. You started going through your master's program.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And while you were doing that, what did you do?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I was in um a recruiter, an admissions counselor, and I kind of still am involved in admissions. Um I recruited international students. That was that was my position, and I had a lot of fun. I I got to travel all over the world, Europe, Asia, South America, Central America, uh, just very successful trips. Um, so yeah, my goal was to increase the international population at JBU. Yeah. And thankfully, I I I helped I helped the university do that. Um and yeah, I love to see my international students on campus now. About to graduate, some of them. That's great. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Without making any enemies, uh, what was your favorite country to travel to other than El Salvador and being able to go home?
SPEAKER_00:No, I mean, you know, one of my most fun trips was to Germany. That's that's one of them. Yeah, yeah. We went to Black Forest. It's gorgeous. And it's this is just beautiful, beautiful weather, uh, very peaceful town. And but at the same time, I went to uh Bangkok and also I went to um Chiang Mai Thailand. And at the time I went to Chiang Mai, I stayed with a family who has kids at John Brown, and they took me to see some lantern festival. So it was just special, it was just magical. Um, but I would say those are my two most special trips that I've done. Um, but it's also because of the people that I got to meet and they and just the culture is just beautiful.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, when you can really meet locals and have them immerse you in the culture, it really just makes all the difference versus just being a tourist. Yes. Um there, I mean, obviously there's things to be said about that, but when you can really immerse yourself in the culture, and there's nobody better to do that when you can find some local.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lots of learning.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I love that. And so you did that for a while and got your master's, and then there was a coaching change, and they asked you to kind of take it on an interim basis, right?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Uh yeah, that's kind of like a crazy story. Uh, I was actually part of the committee to hire a new coach. Yeah. Um, and you know, for for very particular reasons, very, very specific, some of them, the the candidates couldn't make the move to Silent Springs to jump around. Um, and the committee basically asked me, hey, could you do it? My initial response was like, no way, no way I'm doing this. Uh but you know, after after a couple of weeks of of reflection and talking to mentors, talking to my family, um, I was like, man, this is a great privilege. At my age, who who has been asked to do this with this type of program? Um and I was like, you know what, let's try it. So I was an interim for basically that first season. And uh man, we just lost one game. So kind of like a crazy season. Um, and uh yeah, it it was a there was a lot of growth personally. Um I just um learned so much about how to deal with others, how to manage budget, how to manage so many different things. Um and yeah, I just find a lot of um growth and joy out of out of the experience. And also just it was interesting because a lot of the players were close to me, were friends. So that was an interesting combination of like, oh it's a tough dynamic. Yeah, it's sometimes it was a very tough dynamic just because I needed to make some tough decisions. But that's part of leadership, just making those decisions and going.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and kudos to you for taking on that challenge, uh, because that can be very daunting um to kind of jump into that and just kind of like, all right, here you go. But I think it's it speaks to you know your character. It also speaks to, you know, your mentality of, you know, let's just figure it out and let's go. Yeah, we're all gonna learn and and develop together. Yeah. Um, and you know, back to that, kind of all in the same boat and we're gonna help each other. Yeah, right. Yeah. So uh and now you got the permanent gig, right? Yeah. Now you're now that you're you lost one game and they said, all right, you could take it.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I know, yeah. It was fun. And and and you know, it's funny that you mentioned uh rowing on everyone on the same boat because that's that's one of our commitments, right? Can we row in the same direction at the same pace, the 26 of us, and including coaching staff? Yeah. Um, and that's been probably one of the most valuable things that we have done. Um, is just rowing on the same direction, all of us.
SPEAKER_03:What's maybe your uh one bit I'm I'm sure you have a lot. Um what would you say has been your biggest uh growth moment or maybe not moment, but like aspect about yourself that you've learned or been able to cultivate from this experience?
SPEAKER_00:I think it's been collaborate with the team. Um because I think when I think of like the head coach position, it's just I think of like the probably old school coach that makes all the decisions, kind of like very strong personality. Um my personality is a little bit more relaxed. Um and I think something that I've learned is when I involve others, when I involve my leaders in the team, when I involve uh things on like making decisions, at the end I'm probably the one that has the last word. But I I I talk to people before making a decision, right? Um and it's just been interesting um just to learn that I cannot take all the weight on my shoulders, right? I need to be able to delegate. And I I've been learning to just talk to others. Game planning. I talk to some of like probably five players, and I say, Hey, will you be down with this game plan? Um and they say, Yes, um, like let's go with it. Right. So we are all on the same page, we are all like accountable. Um so that's been that's been uh a very interesting thing to learn.
SPEAKER_03:And I think it's number one, um kudos to you because it takes a lot of people much longer in their careers to learn that as a leader, especially. Um and it's one of the most important lessons for effective leadership. Um, so kudos to you for being able to learn that on your own and jump into that and and recognize that so quickly. Yeah. Uh but what I'm sure you found it also did is when you involve others in the decision-making process, they feel accountable and they're bought in much more than being told what to do. Exactly. Even if they may agree with it, it's that much more feeling of ownership and uh, you know, that we're in this together and I help I helped be a part of this.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Right? Yes. Yeah, basically I see myself a facilitator. Right. I know I I had the last war and I manage a lot of different things in the program, but at the end of the day, it takes it takes the 26, 27 of us. Right. Yeah. Um, so it's it's it's been fun learning that.
SPEAKER_03:So talk about the soccer project at JBU. What's it been like? Uh, the journey for you and the team. Um, you know, we talked a little bit about it. You know, you guys recently, you know, congratulations, uh, ranked 25th in the NAIA for the first time since 2019 and only the 10th time since 2000. So uh a massive congratulations to you, your staff, the players, the you know, your support staff, the whole school. I mean, just speaks to, again, the job you're doing and the school is doing and your everybody involved. So talk a little bit a little bit about your journey as a as a team program.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. So I think um I have taken a very just organizational leadership and business approach to this. Um I think the program was going on a good track, but I think there's some clarity, some transparency on some things. So the first thing I did was okay, let's make a mission and vision statement and let's like make it clear who we are as a program. Um and before every meeting, meeting presentation that I do to the players is I reminded them who we are, right? And pretty much we are trying to transform and change lives, but at the same time competing at the highest level. That's like our core mission, and that's who we are. Um and so that was kind of like the first thing that I did, and I did them with the players um and with some alumni. And then after that, we're like, okay, we're gonna set goals. What are our goals for the season? Right. And that was the first year. Um, and we achieved three out of the four goals.
SPEAKER_02:That's great.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and then after that, we're like, okay, uh, what are what are the ground rules? You know, what are the standards? So um we set the standards all together. Um, we agreed on them, and you know, there is a standard. If you don't fulfill this the standard, this is the punishment, right? Yeah, you need to be held accountable. So um all those little things uh have made a big difference, I would say. That's awesome. Um, and yeah, so you know, keeping the standards, keeping everyone accountable, um, rowing in the same direction, um, and just help each other, right? That that's my main thing. Hey, take care of each other because at the end of the day, a lot of you don't have your families close by. So this is your Family, whether you like it or not, yeah, right. Um, just learn to respect each other and learn to work with each other. Um, so that's that's the culture of the team. That's great, that's the culture of the program. And I tell I tell my players the culture is the most important thing. This is gonna make us win, this is gonna make us successful. Um, and this is a very good example that happened on Tuesday. Uh, we were playing a game, we were down 2-0 in the first 11 minutes, playing at home. I didn't say a word. I was upset. I wanted to yell, but I didn't say a single word. I'm like, let them figure it out. Yeah. 20 minutes after 4-2, we were winning. Wow. Right. So I was upset, but at the same time, I was so proud. I'm like, yeah, you guys held each other accountable, you figure it out together. After we were 4-2, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna jump in and help more. Right. So, but it's and I told him, like, that's the culture.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, we're not doing well, held each other accountable, like lift your heads, go to work. Yeah, right, figure it out. So I think that um just that culture has been very powerful, and I think that has taken us to you know being the top 25, which it's a big accomplishment for us, and we are proud of it. And you know, we we're not done, right? We're gonna continue working. So, yeah, that's been probably the the most fun thing to see, just the results of a good culture.
SPEAKER_03:That's fantastic, and I think again speaks to kind of being able to recognize and kind of coming into a situation and recognizing what maybe you guys do well, and then how do we carry that forward? But then also, where are some opportunities on how can we get better together as a program and establishing that mission, vision, values, understanding who we are, and then setting standards and holding each other accountable. I mean, that's you're right. Culture is one of the most important things, if not the most important thing, especially within athletics, yeah. Um, and performance. Uh, there's, I mean, you've your master's just in organizational uh business and and everything. So I don't need to tell you. You could probably sit here and and and give a dissertation on the important side. Uh, but it's also just you hear about it, uh, about like what's important to you as an employee in the business world. Almost always top three is going to be culture or number one, right? So uh just kudos to you, and I I think it's great. Um, and then also in the game, in the moment that you you uh just mentioned. How like how hard was that? Because I'm like I'm a coach too, but not at your level. But how hard was it for you to just shut your mouth and let them figure it out? Because I know you were dying inside.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. Um it also comes to my personality, like very, very calm down most of the time. Um I it was it was hard. Like I wanted to make subs right away. I thought about I thought about I'm gonna make five subs, I'm gonna make a statement. Yeah, you know. Um, but I saw them being very upset, yeah, not with each other, but at themselves.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:They were like, How is this happening? Why is this happening? Why am I playing so bad? Yeah, right. So I saw that reaction, kind of like that fire, that recognition. And what I liked was they were not blaming each other. They were like, Why are we playing so bad? Like, you know, so again, the that culture of unity, right? Is it's not uh putting fingers or like blaming each other. It's just like, man, we need to figure it out. Trying to pick each other up. Yeah. So I saw that and I'm like, okay, they'll be fine. So I was I was upset, I was frustrated, but I was confident that they were gonna do something.
SPEAKER_03:Well, and you also recognized those cues, yeah, right? You were smart enough to recognize the the reaction and reading body language and that the fact that they're not pointing fingers, right? And so I think that that's also just really important to is being able to pick up on those cues, yeah, right, and and have that, you know, help drive decision making. So yeah, uh that's a great, great example and awesome result, right? Like it could have gone a different way. Oh, yeah, but for sure. Um, no, that's awesome. So, you know, we've got a little bit of time left. Talk a little bit about OZFC uh and our project and kind of what does that mean uh for JBU soccer, if anything, like what does that mean to have you know pro soccer coming into this space, into the area?
SPEAKER_00:I would say that's big for recruiting. Yeah, uh, that's big for recruiting, not just because there is a funnel with um boys soccer now with you know the academy. Um and but I think some international players that are coming from professional academies, they're like, oh, there's gonna be a pro team in the area. That's fun. Like, I want to be part, like, even though they don't see themselves, I'm gonna play for that team, they're like, oh, there's a soccer community.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Um, and that I think that'll be very good and important for us in the future. Um, I think Osir United will help us not just creating that final for local, good, talented players, but at the same time recruiting some big international uh impact players for the program, just because they see there's a pro club in the area. There's like, oh, people like soccer there, you know. I can go watch games, professional level games. Um, so I think recruiting is gonna be huge.
SPEAKER_03:And then you see opportunity, right? Like the opportunity. There's Ryan Williams, former JBU player, played in the USL, New Mexico United, Charlotte Eagles. Like, yeah, you know, does every player get an opportunity? No, no, but you know, it at least provides local opportunity, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right. Yeah, and yeah, you never know, right? Um, and we have, I would say, two, three incredible players that could be playing on a professional level. Yeah. Um, so it's yeah, I think it encouraged it pushed them to, you know, to work hard. Yeah. Um, and then just for the community in general, I think just similarly is just so good for the community, whether you love the sport or not, it's just so good. It brings belonging and unity.
SPEAKER_03:I love that. It brings everybody together. It's my favorite thing about the sport. Um, well, man, I I I love that uh perspective. And, you know, I think that there's also just all kinds of collaboration collaboration opportunities like on the coaching side, like all kinds of things that, you know, I'm excited to work with the youth organizations, but also the collegiate organizations in the area. I mean, you know, NWAC's developing their soccer programs. I think there's great opportunities there with you guys, obviously U of A. Uh, Kobe may not need it, may not need our help. But uh, you know, I mean, we're bringing pro women's soccer here too, yeah. So, I mean, that really strong program. I mean, there's plenty of you know, former U of A players playing in the USL Super League and in the NWSL.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:So um, just really excited about just what that means and and being able to add to an already great and growing soccer culture and and community. So yeah. Well, man, what's next for JBU man soccer? What are you like what what are you guys shooting for? What's what's next?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, um, you know, and and and just as I share, our core mission is transform lives, change lives, yeah, and also company at the highest level. I think our short-term goals is can we win our conference um in the next two, three years? Um, and then the long term is why not like win a national championship, um, which I think a good program should have that long-term goal. Um, so those are our goals. Um, we are having a lot of success on the changing lives side. I think we we have a over 90% retention rate of players, which that's huge. Massive, massive, yeah. Um, so they are being, you know, they graduate from John Brown and they're being good citizens, good parents, good husbands. Um, so that's very good to see. Um, and I think the soccer part is growing. Yeah, we're just growing, we're having good traction, good momentum. Um, so yeah, I mean, short term is can we win our conference and can we be consistent with it? Long term is can we get a national championship? Um, so yeah, and then you know, continue to grow in collaboration, um, getting more local players. Um, that would be good for us. And uh yeah, just hope for the best and and continue a strong culture.
SPEAKER_03:That's awesome, man. And you guys, if people want to come and watch games, you know, uh get involved, how do they how do they find you? You guys have you said you had home coming this weekend?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_03:Probably a big week uh game for you guys at home. Yeah, yeah. Uh so tell people like how can they follow you guys and you know, where can they find a schedule to come and watch the matches because you guys have some fantastic soccer on display.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. So um our schedule is on our JB Athletics website. You can you can go look our schedule. Uh, we have a lot of home games coming up. This Saturday is at 4 30. Uh we're playing a university that is coming from Texas and it's homecoming. So there's gonna be free food, um, lots of things going on. There's like a family environment, kind of like picnic environment, which is very fun in our community. Um, and yeah, just our schedule. We have an Instagram account as well that you can follow just for the results and games coming up. Um, so yeah, you can you can go there and and and come watch. It's very fun. I love that.
SPEAKER_03:Samuel, thank you so much for joining me today, man. I think that'll do it for us on this episode of Pitch the Pro. Uh, we hope you enjoyed it. Be sure to catch all of our episodes on pitchapro.com or look for PitchAPPro on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcast for more content. Uh, Samuel, again, just thank you, man. Yeah, no, thank you, Wes. Until next time, cheers, Northwest Arkansas.
SPEAKER_02:Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Pitch the 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 the Pro on YouTube, Instagram, and everywhere you get your podcasts. Until next time, Northwest Arkansas, cheers.