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. 55 - Ozark United Hits MLS Next Fest
The desert delivered. Four Ozark United academy teams stepped onto 24 pristine fields at MLS Next Fest and found themselves surrounded by pro scouts, MLS academies, and a sea of college coaches, all hunting for players who can think fast, compete harder, and play brave. We came to showcase, not chase trophies, and the offers, interest, and hard lessons that followed proved why that choice matters.
We break down what MLS Next Fest actually is, more than a showcase, it’s an ecosystem, combining games, the MLS Draft and combine, coaching education, and real-world recruiting conversations. You’ll hear how our U15s, U16s, U17s, and U19s handled the step up, what cold desert kickoffs taught them about preparation, and why our staff focused on our game model instead of opponent tape. From live video boards and field side cameras to packed sidelines featuring D1, D2, D3, NAIA, and JUCO coaches, this was the most heavily scouted environment our players have experienced, and it changed how they approach every minute.
We talk candidly about recruiting: how rules differ by division, why the transfer portal shifts timelines, and how to evaluate fit across academics, finances, and playing time. You’ll also get a look at the road ahead, finishing league play before high school season, partnering with local coaches to keep players healthy, and aiming for regionals in Kansas City with Next Cup qualification paths clear. Along the way, we celebrate the best part: hearing respected programs and scouts praise the way Ozark United plays, and watching our community put Arkansas firmly on the national soccer map.
If you enjoyed this deep dive into development, recruiting, and the pathway to pro, follow the show, share it with a soccer friend in your life, and leave a review so more listeners in NWA and beyond can find us.
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. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Pitch the Pro Podcast. I'm Wes Harris, your host, managing director for Northwest Arkansas's professional soccer club, Ozark United FC, playing in the United Soccer League. Today I am pleased to welcome back to the show Coach Kevin Tao, Technical Director for OZFC's MLSNX Academy. Kevin, welcome back, man, and thanks for joining me. Yeah, thanks for having me, Wes. All right. Kevin, you guys just had something pretty big go down towards the end of the year. I wanted to give you some holiday time off before we came back to talk about it. But uh talk a little bit about what the uh four out of the six teams got to do in December.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, our 15s, 16, 17s, and 19s all went to MLS next fest. Um in Phoenix, we were at AAG, um, Arizona Athletic Grounds. Awesome event. Um, when I was a college coach, that was the event that I would go to just because it was the biggest, I guess, recruiting potential, you know, the most bang for your buck. So it was cool to kind of be the first Arkansas group to go to that event. You know, um, it was it was really cool. It was really eye-opening for a lot of our players and parents to kind of see something at that scale. And the competition level was pretty good.
SPEAKER_03:So yeah, that's awesome. So for folks that don't really know, I mean, it's it's a showcase, it's kind of tournament style, games, things like that. But like it's so much more than that. Can you talk a little bit more and kind of break down what is MLS Next Fest for people? Who gets to play, who gets to go, who's in attendance? And let's just kind of start there on like a background on what is it?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so it's it's a big showcase. Some EA troops within the MLS Next ecosystem have qualifiers for whether it's GA Cup or whether they're qualifying for Flex, different things like that. Um, they had a pro player pathway, which was all of the academies, all of like Connecticut United, Long Island, Chattanooga, the teams that have Next Pro, they were also in that. Uh, it was really cool to kind of see all three of kind of the levels with homegrown academy division and the pro player pathway all encompass. But then what was cool this year is they did a lot of off-the-field programming. So, like our 19s and 17s could get their grassroots licenses for free. They just had to sign up for it. Oh, that's you know, we had, you know, me and Coach Smith, our goalkeeper director, we showed up a day early and we did some professional development stuff with, you know, a couple of MLS technical directors. Um, they had different speaker series where they came and spoke about college recruitment, what it's like to be a pro. Um, Messi Moss Plus was there handing out different drinks, you know, kind of doing that. Um, what was really cool this year, too, is that second weekend, they aligned it with the MLS draft. So they had their, you know, the combine was held at field one. So like we were playing with the U-15s and then we were leaving. I was like, holy crap, these guys are massive. What game is this? And then I looked and I was like, I know that guy. He he was playing at you know Marshall. Yeah. So that's when the dots started connecting, and I saw, and it was really cool to kind of see the MLS really try to make this not just a showcase, not just kind of a tournament, but like an event. Yeah. Or like the who's who of soccer in America want to be there. So there was pro scouts there, there were MS MLS Academy Scouts there, college scouts there, different speakers, different podcasts. It was it was cool of an event for everyone to kind of be involved in. And how long was it? It was 14 days.
SPEAKER_03:Wow. Yeah, yeah. That's a long time to be in Arizona, but yeah. No, I mean, Arizona in December, you were at least warm, right?
SPEAKER_01:I thought that when the sun went down in the desert, it got cold. So a lot of our a lot of our parents, a lot of our players didn't realize that you know, seven o'clock kickoff, it turns into 40 degrees in in the desert.
SPEAKER_03:So that's okay.
SPEAKER_01:It was 60, 70 during the day, 80 some days, and then pretty pretty cold. So it's a learning experience, you know, learning.
SPEAKER_03:Learning care. Okay. So how does one uh like how do you do how do you get invited as a as a club? Like you're you're playing. Does everybody get to go? Is it only certain folks? Like, talk about that part.
SPEAKER_01:If you if you are in MLS next, you have the option to go. You have to opt in to going. Um, and from there, what it was explained to me is how you're doing in your regular season is kind of where you get seated. Um, so like SGA is doing really well in our division in certain age groups. Their goal differential is crazy. So they got to actually play in the homegrown division. Got to you know, it that that's kind of our aspiration. If we stay tier two, is how can we get to that point where we're playing that? Obviously, when the first team comes and we have a pro pathway, then it's like, let's jump straight into the the pro player pathway. Right. Um, but it's it's it's an opt-in process. We're gonna continue to opt in because the the feedback that we've gotten from you know the younger A troops, it's we had MLS Academies come scout our games. From the two oldest, we had a ton of college coaches on our sidelines. The the value is there to attend something like FEST.
SPEAKER_03:It's correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's the most attended scouted event in North America, correct?
SPEAKER_01:I when I when I talked to at least it's advertising. When I talked to the league, I think they had something like 200 colleges register for the event. It was insane. Um, obviously not everyone attends because stuff happens. Sure. But our first game for the 19s, our manager made 30 of the brochures to all the recruiting info. We ran out. That was just our first game. And then I I I went back and looked at like who attended. Well, we had 16 division ones at that first game. Wow. It's like this is what we're talking about when we're talking about the exposure and the opportunity. Like, we're not promising that you're gonna go to SMU or Memphis, but it's like you're gonna have that opportunity if you are a good player to showcase that. Yeah, you know, and that's what FEST is.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. So you've been to a lot of different showcases, you've been in the college game for a while. Like, is there anything else like this out there?
SPEAKER_01:Like FEST, not really. There's some ECNL events that try to emulate it. Nationals for ECNL is kind of close, um, but nothing like this. I mean, there were 24 fields all full, and they had games from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
SPEAKER_03:Jeez.
SPEAKER_01:That's that's a ton of soccer going on.
SPEAKER_03:And the I heard the facilities were pretty sick, too.
SPEAKER_01:Facilities were really nice. You know, they had restaurants on site, they had like a sub vendors on site. Um, there was a chiropractor there. There's it was it was a time they had go-karts or golf carts kind of taken to and from. Um, the roughing was pretty decent, you know. So it it was something where myself attending three or four in the past, looking at the direction the league wants to go with this. This was the one where I was like, man, this is this is nice. Yeah. Because I would go to, I don't go, I would go to Fest before as a college coach, and I'd be lucky if they gave me water. Yeah. You know, it's like you're on your own, thank you for coming. Now it's like, no, let's treat the coaches right, let's treat the scouts right, let's make this an event for everyone to go. We want to come back.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. I heard one coach was saying, and I think you said it too, was every one of those 24 fields had a large video board that was on and working and showing like score, the teams, like all that stuff. Like everything during every single match.
SPEAKER_01:That that and it was also cool because like the the league outsourced like a lot of video content to like a lot of like small private people. So there's there's cameras at each field, they were taking pictures, they were recording, and you know, being able to be on that MLS next social media page is massive. You know, like Kelly got chopped top door yesterday, but Star 17s were able to do some social media stuff with them, and it's like that stuff is not cool because obviously that's what now this generation really enjoys is like, hey, I'm I know I'm good. I want to showcase that I'm good, I want to show my friends that I'm good. This is now the video content that we have through MLS next to provide that as well.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Yeah. And you get to repurpose that and all that kind of stuff. Exactly. Yeah, that's fun. So from OZFC, who got to go? 15s, 16s, 17s, 19s. So we have four of our six teams, our U15s through our U19s. Yep. And if I'm not mistaken, they started with the older groups first and then kind of worked their way down. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yep. Everyone had one day off. Um it was cool because like there was like a day or two of Urod. So the 19s had a day off, and that was the 17s first game. So all the 19s didn't supported. Right. And it was funny because when the 16s got there, they were watching the 17s last game, and the fields are so close to, I think we had like a halftime break, and the field next to us scored, and our 16s are celebrating with. I think it was like some random team from like Las Vegas or something, and it was like super cool because like that's you know, we're we're all soccer fans. Like that's what this is for, you know. And I I think that was really cool for them to kind of now. It our regular season has been like, I'm playing, we're playing, and then um, I we got something else going on because it's a Saturday, we got to take Lower Brother. But here at Fest, you're like, we don't we don't have anything playing, let's go show support to the other OZFC teams. And it was really cool to see, like, oh, I didn't know he he played that position. I didn't know he was that kid's actually really good. And they started to kind of get to know each other as Ozark players.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, that's fun. That's good, man. It sounds like just an awesome time. I know it was a long time to be out there. You were out there all 14 days. Uh long time to be away from the family, but a lot of soccer, a lot of top quality soccer. I mean, talk about the competition level while you were, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It was it was good because it they did a good job with the seating where our teams were in our division. They placed us with teams from around the country that are similar. Um, so we saw some teams struggle. Some teams had some really like the 15s, the first game, they went down early and they were to come back and win.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know, my seven teams, they they they were shell-shocked and lost 3-0 that first game. And it's like, okay, let's wake up. But again, these these experiences help with that. Because how many times, my biggest critique as a college coach was how many times had a player played a competitive game? You know, you can play a state league game, and if your team is good, you're rolling through the competition, right? And then we recruit you and you don't know how to compete. Right. Now it's like we're competing within our league relatively, but now we go to Fest, you know, we go to regionals, and now we're competing. You know, now we're not just a top dog. We're just another, you know, we're just another dog. Like we have to make sure our game plan is followed, we're doing everything right. I I was really happy with the competition level. I think it was the league did a really good job with our schedule. Um, like I said, we're hoping for home growth next year to take that next leap, take that next step. Um, but I think the players showcased what they needed to. For some of them, uh I as I was talking to MLS Academy Scouts, they were like, Oh, I really like how you're playing. And then they look at the score like, oh, I didn't realize you guys are losing. So, like, that's also like uh uh kind of has given our coaches new breath of like, hey, what we're doing is working. Like results at the younger ages don't matter, but like our style of play, our game model, what we want to do showcases when the call when the college coaches and the academy coaches are like, man, you guys are playing. And we, I mean, we had some good results out there too. Yeah, I think the 19s finished top five, something like that. So it's it's it was good. It was good. I think I think we represented the state well.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, you know, especially first time out, first like first season in in MLS next, like all those things. Um, you know, we'll only only take it. I know, you know, with you and and everybody at the program are gonna take it, you know, even higher going forward. But yeah, I mean that's you know, you got a start and we're off to a pretty flying start.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, hopefully we performing well. Finish, you know, the this next two months strong and hopefully clinch a couple playoff spots for next cup. Yeah. That's our goal for for these next six games.
SPEAKER_03:Awesome. Uh well, talk a little bit about you said you had like 16 D1s at the first E19 game. What for our for players out there, like what did they come away with in that regard? Like, was there just a ton of conversation? Were there some actual offers that were offered, like there? Where is it like, hey, invite you out for a campus visit? Or like, how does that what was the most of the and in you know, you were the one there recruiting in your prior role? So, like, what does that typically look like for a player? Like, what what should they expect?
SPEAKER_01:Some so there's different rules within different levels. So, as a division one program, you're not allowed to talk to the player until the event is over, until they're done playing. So, like for a lot of the division ones that came, if they liked the player, they weren't able to reach back out until they were done that you know, fourth day. So I told the players, like, hey, it's okay. Like, it's not that they don't like you, it's just that they can't talk to you. At the division three level, we had a lot of division threes come up and talk to them, MAIs, Juco, same thing. There's no rules. They could come up and talk. Division two is similar, they have to wait until the event is over. Um, some of the guys left Fest, you know, as soon as you know they were back home, they had a couple of initial conversations. Some left with offers. Um, for the 17s, again, it was huge for them to get that exposure. Uh, if anything, they learned that you can't take games off. Because like that one game where your dream school is sitting on the sideline, you have to play. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:And that's as a division coach, that's what we would tell the boys is like we might be playing an unranked opponent, we might be playing SMU. It doesn't matter because every game now, once you step across youth soccer into a you know, pre-pro pathway or a pro pathway or whatever it is, every game matters because from an RPI standpoint, the division one, that's huge, but also you don't know who's watching you.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_01:And that's what we tell and try to tell the boys here now. It's like with MLS Next, now we might have sporting Kansas City here. We might have Nashville here, we might have Atlanta here. We don't know. We don't know who's gonna want to recruit our region, want to recruit Ozark. You need to make sure that you're ready to go. And I think to me, that was the biggest learning curve that I saw the boys kind of start to adapt of like, okay, I need to be on, I need to prepare prior to the game, as I'm getting ready to step on, I need to prepare. Um, but from the college standpoint, it was they saw the value of I'm good enough. You know, these colleges didn't just come because I invited them because Dean invited them. Like we're gonna get them there, but you're gonna keep them here. And they stayed for the whole game because they saw something within some of the boys. I think it's it's tough now with the transfer portal. You know, I think everyone that was when the transfer portal had just opened. So I think they're still kind of recycling and seeing and looking at those offers. I sent a round of emails again today. Hopefully, that you know, we can get some some guys signed and committed here soon.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so talk about um I think I heard from another coach on the U-19s, there were 17 players that like touched the field during Fest. And at the time that I spoke to them, and it was like a week or two after, 16 of the 17 came away with at least one if not interest, offer. It was like offers, yeah. Um, which is phenomenal like to to think about.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And it it it's one of those things where we tell them too, it's like be realistic, yeah, right? Like some of these schools might be a really, really good fit. They just might not be what you had hoped for, you know, and it's like the school, the academics, the finances, the playtime, you know. So I think again, that opened a lot of eyes of like this school really wants me. I want to go play. Let me let me show some interest on their head as well.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, but yeah, just the sheer fact of like our nine teens had so much interest, it was cool for them to see that. And it was cool for the 17s to see that because they're gonna be in that situation next time. Right. You know, of like, hey, I know so and so, I know Al Kelly, I know Wyatt, I know these guys were able to do it. Why can't I?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I think as we build this, it's the same thing for the U 13s. You know, once once we get that MLS Academy signing of like, oh, I knew him. If he could do it, I could do it. And that's all, that's all this is. It's like once we have one or two that kind of break that ceiling, it's like, okay, let's let's start to really, you know, commit to this.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Talk a little, I mean, you kind of talked about it a little bit or or alluded to it. What does the like prep look like? And, you know, this is, I mean, this is a big deal. Like you're talking about futures for kids and their goals and aspirations, and like we're here to help them, you know, on their soccer journey, whatever that looks like. But if you're playing within our program, you know, you want to continue typically, you're gonna want to can try to continue to play at a high level. So, how how do you and the coaching staff kind of work together? And what was that like ahead of FEST, during FEST, and now kind of after, you know, to help these guys in those conversations, prep them, but also do you guys do like coach outreach to schools or scouts for MLS academies? Like, bring us into your world a little bit on that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we I I told our coaches to just focus on us, like, let's go in and let's keep going with our style of play, let's keep competing, let's keep doing what we're doing. And it was funny, one of the opposing coaches talked to one of the coaches after the game. I think we had one, and he was like, Man, I watched in the last six of your games trying to figure out a way to beat you guys. And it was funny because we we went back to the Airbnb and we were like, man, we didn't watch any video on the opponents. You're worried about us. You know, we want to make sure that our players have a good showing. We're not really worried about the result. We want to show and like the 11 that are out there, how can we amplify their abilities to whoever's walking by? Um, so that was our prep was like, let's worry about us. It's not a tournament. Like yeah, you know, we're not gonna go win anything. Let's showcase our players. That's that was our prep going forward for the college prep side. You know, Dean, myself, and Scott did a lot of reaching out of like, hey, here's our schedule. Here, here's when we're gonna play, hey, here, here's some video on our guys prior to it. Hey, I think you should really look at, you know, so and so and let me know what you're looking for. And I think that also drew a lot of attention with kind of the connections that Scott and Dean and myself have of like, you know, come either hang out with us because we're friends, or look at the I I've been at the level, I know the level, Dean knows the level, Scott knows the level, as college coaches. Trust us a little bit, come look at this player. You know, even if you don't like them, you know that there's something there because we see something there. And I think that's also what drew so much attention to our games. Was us kind of outreaching a little bit to college coaches of, you know, like I think Dean's Dean's really good friends with the SMU staff. So SMU was there, you know, and it was like, okay, cool. Like that's all we're asking for. Like, is SMU gonna take one of our players? We don't know. But what player from here could say, like, hey, SMU came to my games? Right. That that that's really cool. Like obviously, Memphis wasn't there, but Memphis wouldn't have come to our games, right? UAB, Omaha, all these programs, you know, that we have friendships and relationships with, they were at our games. And all it takes is that one kid to show they're good enough to play at that level to get that offer. And that's again, that's what we're trying to provide. Um, and then now post FEST, we reflected as a staff on how did it go? Why didn't we do well? The games that we lost, why did we lose? Okay, let's make sure as we prepare for these next league games, that doesn't happen. What were our weaknesses with these teams that were high level? What were our weaknesses? Let me let's make sure these last, you know, last week and this week we're preparing for, you know, Oklahoma City is our next opponent. We're preparing for LKC. Um and then I think as we transition further along, you know, post you know March, April, May, how can we prepare for Fest next year?
SPEAKER_03:How is it looking for our kind of U19 class? Like, I I've been talking to you, you've like, you know, and I know we're gonna put something out as a club to like, you know, kind of summarize and here's who's going where, and we want to celebrate that. But right now it's it's so, you know, you get a ton of offers. People don't really, you know, they're still trying to figure it out. Um, but from what it sounds like, there's a lot of activity and interest in our players.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. And and I I talked to Dean the other day, and it's being from here and always kind of being looking from afar as a college coach and being like, okay, who are the best players in the area? Where are they going? It's always been about like three or four that go and play college soccer from the area. Really cool, really awesome. I told Dean now, you know, our our number right now is 30% of the U-19s, I think, are committed and they're ready to go somewhere. I told Dean, I was like, hey, can we get that to 50? You know, if so many left with interest, can we get to 50% committed going? I think everyone on the team has some sort of interest. I think obviously, is it somewhere they want to go? No, but I told them I think 50% is realistic because now out of our out of our 18-man roster, 20-man roster, that's 10 kids from the normal, you know, four or five from Northwest Arkansas that would go play college soccer from across across all the clubs.
SPEAKER_03:Right. That's just one team.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, now it's just one team that we have 10 kids. You know, it could be D2, D3, and the I, JUCO, whatever, but we're providing this avenue and to continue to play. Um, and I told them too, I was like, as we continue and the first team comes, we'll still keep tabs on them. Like it's not like we're just kind of like, oh, see you later. Like, no, this is what this is. Like, once you're a senior and you graduate in, you know, 2030, right? Like, that's a time where now let's look at, you know, what does that look like? Or I know at 901, what we did a lot was over the summer, they would train with 901. Like keep tabs on them. That that's all this is, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. No, absolutely. So Tar, I mean, what's what's up next for the rest of the season? We've got, what, six games left. Uh season wraps typically around the end of Feb-ish for the majority of the age groups. Yeah. And then the youngers will have some additional programming for non-high school age.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we're we're done the 22nd. We we pushed it right to the edge. We don't obviously want to step on the high school's toes. We want these kids to play high school. I'm a part of high school soccer. High school starts the 23rd. So it's like we went right to the last day. Um, I just reached out to all the high schools. We I want to work in in a relationship with all the high schools. Like, I'm not here to work against anyone. How can we keep these players healthy? How can we have them playing at a high level for you, high level for us? And then let's continue to grow in soccer in Northwest Arkansas. Um, so we'll play until the 22nd for the high school ages, and then we'll be done. We're looking at different avenues for kind of, you know, these players that we're calling stuck, where they're playing on the 2011 team and they're still eighth graders. We're looking at different avenues for them. Um and then, yeah, the 13s and 14s will have additional programming for them as March and April kind of rolls around to prepare for regionals. You know, we might look at kind of a one-off tournament here and there to start competing. We might look at some local friendlies with some of the local clubs. Um, but we're just looking at the development development piece for those 13s and 14s.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, I'm excited. I think I think the season's gonna, you know, wrap up and then we'll be kind of planning for next year when we're already playing for next year, but now it like really solidifies like you know, the recruitment, the coaching, you know, hires, the alignment on like, are we gonna get homegrown? You know, I think it's gonna be an exciting next couple of months, and I'm excited to kind of share that with the community of what we have.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. We're looking forward to that. And when so we finish the season, what's the next kind of like big event within Yeah, we'll go to regionals at SKC. Okay.
SPEAKER_01:You know, qualifying regionals. Um, that's us and kind of the Midwest region will compete in that regional event. If we win the regular season, let's say the 19s win their regular season, they automatically qualify for next cup. So if we have teams that are like our younger age groups are struggling, for them it's if they, you know, they have an opportunity to kind of compete and finish the season well. But if they go to the regional tournament and they make the championship game, so they don't have to win it, but if they make the championship game, they'll qualify for regionals.
SPEAKER_03:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Um, which I think this year it's in Salt Lake City, so or for nationals. So yeah, so we're excited for that. I think again, being Kansas City, that's close to us. Yeah. It's a it's an easy drive. Um, but that's last weekend in April, first weekend in May, I think April 30th through May 3rd, something like that. Um, but again, that's that's something that that we're excited for because now we'll compete against another another region, you know, where where are we in in regards to them?
SPEAKER_03:How are we stacking up? Yeah, how are we stacking up? No, that's great, man. How so I guess uh we'll we'll do one of these, you know, a little bit longer deep dive into how was the first season after kind of we get through it. Yeah. But just last kind of thought or comments on, you know, big aha's or like really proud moments, or you know, anything from the season so far that you know that that you've got into that you're just excited about or, you know, surprised, but good surprised about, or you know, I think something.
SPEAKER_01:Obviously, being I'm I'm I'm like from I'm like a lot of us, right? I wasn't born here, but I've lived here and I call this home. And it's like I went to high school here, I grew up here, I consider this my hometown, you know, Northwest Arkansas, Silent Springs. Uh, I was proud of the way that we represented the state more than anything. I think it was cool to kind of be at something that I'm so familiar with, which is kind of a national soccer landscape and be like, we're representing Arkansas. Um, it was cool for colleges, MLS scouts to see us and be like, man, you guys are playing good soccer. You know, it's not just about, you know, trying to get results. It's like you guys are playing good soccer. I think for us and our staff, that was the thing where we were the most proud of is it shows that we are working towards something. You know, it might not be at the speed that everyone's expecting, right? But it's we're we're starting to see some progress in the players' development, our programming, and then I think a club as a whole, right? Yeah, taking those steps in the right direction.
SPEAKER_03:It's validating, right? To hear to hear it from you know, folks that are in the industry from multiple, you know, good programs and and scouts and things like that. Um, you know, that that's a cool comment. I watched six games trying to figure out how to beat you.
SPEAKER_01:Like go for you.
SPEAKER_03:That's that's a lot of time. Okay. So, but no, I I I I think it's also uh interesting and good approach too. You know, it's it's not a tournament. This is about the players. It's a showcase. Let's showcase our players. And so that was for me, that was really cool to hear that 17 players of our U19 roster like touched the field and played. Like that's you want to see that, right? Like you don't want 13 of your roster to be the only ones touching the field.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. And everyone, everyone played, everyone that went to Fest played.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, with the 19s, we had some, obviously they're high their high school seniors, right? Stuff come up. 17 went, 17 played. Yeah. You know, for for my 17s, it was the same thing. 19 went, 19 played.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know, so it was like, how can we showcase these guys as much as possible? Um, and I think the offers thing was cool or the initial interest thing cool because it's like, hey, here's again validating, right? Like validating. Yeah, you're doing everything right. You've worked your whole life, your whole soccer career for an opportunity. There's here's this interest.
SPEAKER_03:And we're starting to see like that for me, just on the outside a little bit, you know, I'm not at trainings every day. I'm not, yeah, you know, obviously I'm involved, but not, you know, like you guys are. So to to hear and start to see some of these things, like I think one of our one of our players had like 10 offers or something like that that they're considering, um, which is just like what a I mean, that's tough, but what a cool spot to be in. Like that's a you know, the nice problem to have kind of thing. Um, you know, is that everybody? No. But like to hear that you're getting that much interest across, you know, everybody's getting some interest. Like, it's just, it's great. Like we, we set out to this whole thing was to try to create more and new opportunities for players and coaches. And to hear that like an event like this was, you know, able to help spur some of that, provide some of that. This platform has been able to do that. But then also hearing about some of the like professional development that was out there and on on offer, um, you know, sounded like there were just some some really cool talks and just some high profile people out there as well.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's network as a coach, you know. You probably go to like some networking stuff, business people go to networking stuff. That was like the event, you know, to network like Division One, pro coaches, you know, agents, like everything. Yeah. So again, it was really cool. A lot of our coaches that haven't been in kind of that type of space too. I could see kind of they were like stepping up to the headlights a little bit. Yeah, big eyes. And then they settled down and they're like, okay, cool. Yeah. And it, it's, it's again, that's that's the other piece for us too. It's not, we want to develop these players, we want to give them the opportunity. But for me and Scott, it's like, how can we develop coaches?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Like, I think it's gonna be cool when we get to say, like, hey, this coach that's you know, a first team coach in the MLS came to Rosarx Academy.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_01:You know, we played a role in that coach's professional journey.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I think that's also the part that's cool. It's like we want to kind of give back as much as we can to these kids, but also to the coaches.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. You know, there's I mean, we have good coaches in this community, man. Yeah. Like two of what aren't two of our coaches high school? Three? Right? Yeah, yeah. Three. In the area? Yeah, yeah. So it just goes to show, man. Yeah. So anyway, I think, you know, kudos to you guys and and the staff and and just the players and families. I just want to say thank you uh for all the hard work and dedication that you guys have put into the program and making it is what you know, making it what it is today. I mean, you guys have just done, I think, you know, I'm obviously biased, but you know, an incredible job. And we just keep hearing great feedback. So I think this is just another example of, you know, it's great. Like, you know, we we hear these things, right? Like, oh, a fest, like it's it's huge, it's great. But like to hear about it and hear the players and the families and the feedback, um, that it was just such a positive experience. And then the proofs in the putting on all the interest in the offers, like that, I mean, yeah, right. Yeah. Um, so to hear that is just again, and to your point, I think the pride of representing Arkansas on such a, you know, one of the biggest stages of youth soccer. Yeah, it's so well. And to have, you know, the recognition there, just like NWA in general, getting put on the map, like as it's growing as a region. You know, we have players here. We have good soccer here. It's growing and it's only going to get better. So just thanks, man, for everything that you do. All right, thanks. That's it for this episode of Pitch the Pro. We hope you enjoyed it. Be sure to catch all of our episodes on pitch the pro.com or look for pitch the pro on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever you get your podcast content. 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.