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
Stoppage Time Special: Big Opponents, Bigger Takeaways
Today, we revisit a lively conversation with members of Ozark United FC’s youth program as they reflect on their recent tournament experiences. The players share what stood out most to them: the pace and physicality of the competition, the importance of communication on the field, and how small details—like warm-up routines and game-day habits—mirror what they’ve learned under their own coaches.
As they discuss what it takes to play at a higher level, listeners get an inside look at how young athletes absorb lessons about teamwork, preparation, and growth. The players talk openly about the challenges of facing bigger, faster opponents and how those moments drive them to improve both technically and mentally. Their reflections remind us that development in soccer is as much about mindset as it is about skill.
This Stoppage Time Segment captures the spirit of Pitch to Pro: passion, curiosity, and a love of the game that connects every level of play. Tune in, and be sure to catch the full episode for more stories.
Welcome to the Stoppage Time edition of the Pitch to Pro podcast. This is a highlight reel of some of the best moments from the show so far, and every other week we will be bringing you a special five to seven minute segment featuring the best stories, tales, and moments of the podcast.
SPEAKER_01:When you're on the pitch or on the field, like you know it's game time, you locked in, ready to rock, but water breaks or you know, off the pitch, you guys are okay to have goof off a little bit and be kids. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's still important to have fun on the pitch, though. Right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I don't think you guys would be playing if you weren't having fun. Right? That's my that's my number one rule. That's what I tell my players is you gotta have fun. If you're not having fun, then I'm doing something wrong, or we gotta have a chat. So I guess did you guys learn anything different or new, or did you see anything from other players that stood out to you over the weekend that maybe you haven't seen or experienced before, like a different version of coaching or a different way of thinking about things? Did you learn anything over the weekend that kind of stood out to you? Sorry?
SPEAKER_02:Oh well, I feel like like on Ozark, we just needed like more like speed and faster footwork on the ball.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. The so the speed of the guys playing not only just physically, but speed of play as well. And then touches and how quick they were.
SPEAKER_02:And we need to be like stronger too. Because we were really small compared to them, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_03:We're gonna hit our girls for maybe this year or next year.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah, you I mean everybody, you're you guys are at that age. It's it'll come.
SPEAKER_04:I think we're like one of the smallest teams, I feel like.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:All the teams that we play have like giants and good teams. Louisiana. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that Louisiana team, were they big? Yeah.
SPEAKER_04:They were on either she's you're only like five eight inches. Yeah. One of our we have like a really tall teammate though. He's like 6'3. What? Yeah, one of our teammate. He likes to giant. He's tall.
SPEAKER_01:What position did he play?
SPEAKER_04:Defender. He used to play center back.
SPEAKER_01:You see play center back? Okay.
SPEAKER_04:He used to play um striker, but.
SPEAKER_01:What's his name?
SPEAKER_04:Devin Moody.
SPEAKER_01:Devin Moody.
SPEAKER_04:Moody. Muddy.
SPEAKER_01:Muddy. Okay, I'm sorry. That's well, that's cool. I th you know that's but that's important though. Speed of play is huge, right? I think because you guys start to get level by level, right? That's one of the biggest things is speed of play. And then what comes with that is decision making up there, right? Yeah. And how much quicker you need to make decisions. And I think that that's a great observation there, Mr. Cy. So that's awesome. Ethan, what about you, man?
SPEAKER_03:I noticed that they would like can constantly communicate, even on and off the ball, and they would utilize their fakes and like feints a lot.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. I think that's a huge one. Communications, like, if you guys, you guys have obviously probably been to some pro games or college games or older boys, it is never silent on the field, is it?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It's like constant, right? And I tell my boys too, uh, they're younger than you, but they're one of your biggest things that you can control is your energy on the field. And one of the biggest ways to lift your energy just naturally is talking and communicating. Because if you're talking and communicating, you're you're locked in, you're clued into what's going on, and it lifts your energy automatically. So that's uh that's a huge part of the game. So I'm glad to hear that. What about you, Adrian?
SPEAKER_04:I think that they were using their size wisely bodying like at a smart way.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_04:Not just like full sending you to the ground.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, not just like fouling you, but actually using it to their advantage.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. And they were like looking up. I don't think I saw a single one looking down at the ball. Unless you're like shooting or something, but they were just like had their head up the whole time.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, having that ability, right, to just be that comfortable and just know where it's at. We gotta have that ball on a string, right?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. So is there anything that you guys experienced that you felt like this actually is right in line like with what we've been doing at OZFC with our coaching staff and what we've been learning and and trying to do? Is there anything that like stood out to you there? Like when you experienced it, you're like, man, this is I feel like I'm at home right now. Like this is this is stuff that we do. This is stuff that coach tarps on, this is stuff that he preaches. Is there anything that you stood out to you there?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, just uh like warm-ups were like really similar. Yeah, they were similar.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, in what way?
SPEAKER_02:Like like the stretches and like the passing drills that we did. Yeah, we usually they do like the same thing we do on game days.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Like game day, game day routine. So what do you guys do on a game day routine?
SPEAKER_04:So first off we do like our normal high knees, like butt kicks, lunges, all that sorts of stuff, and then after that we get a like a little sip of water, and then we just pass around like first the first passing drill is like two touch, and then one t one touch, and then uh one twos.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. So like a dynamic warm-up and then get into some passing and just getting a touch and feel for the ball.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Anything else, Ethan?
SPEAKER_03:Sometimes we set up these like this square drill, and there are players on each side, and there's a person in the middle. Then you lay it off to that person and they do they could do like a one-two with the person on the outside, or they play it back on the outside, and that person plays the inside. And then the person who played it to the person who was originally in the inside, they follow that pass and that person passes it to them.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:That's awesome. That I mean, it's good. So I like experiencing new things and new coaches. I think is awesome and a huge part of development. And then I also love understanding like what are new things that you may have learned, right, that you're gonna take away and like implement.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you for joining us for this stoppage time special of the Pitch to Pro podcast. If you've enjoyed the conversation, you can click watch the full episode here. Be sure to tune in next Thursday for a new episode of the Pitch to Pro Podcast, the official podcast of Ozark United FC. Available on YouTube, Instagram, and everywhere you get your podcasts.