Youth Soccer Melting Pot

Happy Saturday! The day of the week that every soccer player, fan, and maybe even some crazed parents look towards as their day of salvation from the week. For most, the weekend is the time to switch their focus to the development of the beautiful game whether it be with the professional leagues, college games, or their son's/daughter's 4v4 "sheep ball."

It's fascinating to watch the game being played at the youth level as you can see how the game changes as the psychology of the players change as they get older. From as young as two years old to almost eighteen years old, we all have a certain idea what the progression typically looks like. We know what club options are out there, how we can be involved, the coach of the team, where they train, and the cost of the season. In every corner of the state, it's the same scenario. The result of this process evidently results in what shows up on the field with Major League Soccer (MLS), United Soccer Leagues (USL), North American Soccer League (NASL), Professional Development League (PDL), National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), or College Soccer (NCAA).

This what youth soccer development as we know it: First, find a club to join and pay to play for club for the majority of your young life. Unless you are fortunate enough be one of many talented young stars to play for an Academy, then you will have to pay a fraction of that cost. From there, you can be scouted by top college soccer programs from the entire country. Take your pick, because there are about 800 NCAA Men's soccer programs and 959 NCAA Women's soccer programs in this country. Not including NAIA soccer programs, men have 199 programs and women have 198 programs. A fraction of the group that does not have to go through the college process can sign a professional contract, however the chances of that is very little in this country.

After playing for three to four years, a player can then decide to either pursue their professional career in the aforementioned leagues or they can fall back on their degree they received while playing soccer at their given university. The few that make the progression from college soccer to professional is a minimal amount.

Is this what it looks like in every other country in the world? The benefit of being such an under developed soccer nation is that every other country in the world has developed soccer players in a different way from two years to eighteen years old, and the result is what you see today. Many countries have adjusted, and some may not have changed their philosophy at all. If your country is fortunate enough to have made the World Cup this summer, then you will be able to understand the result of such soccer development in your country (*clears throat* America...).

I want to pursue how the world views youth soccer, and how each country develops their young players. I want to ask questions, like "What is the profession from youth to professional?", "How much money is put into their youth system?", "How much money do families pay?" "How much travel is involved?" "What are the expectations of the players? To win, develop, or both? And at what age does that change in other countries?" "How is soccer viewed in that country from non-soccer people?" "How is soccer viewed by the government?", and a few other questions that might be specific to the country. Once we understand youth soccer as a whole, not just our country but the world, we can better understand our youth system, and why we develop players the way we do.

Once a month, I will post stories about a different country answering these questions in hopes that we receive a better understanding on youth soccer. Whether you are a parent, coach, player, or a fan, I hope that these stories will bring new conversations to the sidelines.

I would love to hear your feedback!

Quarter-Life Breakthrough

Well, well. Here we are. A post about a quarter life crisis. Never thought I would have written one of these. Let alone, I have never known anyone to have such a crisis. It is interesting to note that by this time you would think that I would have everything figured out. But in reality, nobody really knows what will happen in their life because nothing ever goes according to plan. We can get fired from our job, or we can get promoted to a senior position. We can fall in love, or  we can break up with the love of our life. Truth is, nothing ever goes as planned. I am still coming to terms with that lesson, and I feel it is starting to sink in.

From as early as I remember, I was taught that you can achieve your deepest desire if you worked extra hard for it. That was the plan for anything you wanted in life. If you worked harder than the next person, then you will receive the reward. That worked with everything you did. You study hard, then you get good grades. You do your chores, then you get your allowance. There was a cause, and an effect. Now you have graduated college and in the real world, and guess what? Everyone works hard and everyone wants what you want. Why do you deserve it? You expect things to happen because you think you deserve them and are disappointed when they don't work out. This was a harsh lesson in reality that was dished out to me this past year.

Regardless of how depressing that sounds, this may have been the best birthday present I received on my 25th birthday (other than my parents coming to Columbus. Love you Mom and Dad!). These are the four steps to breaking through the quarter life crisis. This crisis was the best thing to happen to me, and it will be the best thing to happen to you.

1. Gratitude

My last twenty five years have seen some ups and downs. Some things happened that I am extremely proud of, and some things happened that I would like to forget. But the fact remains that this is a "choose your own adventure" story. You make the tough decisions and you pay the consequences for those decisions. 

I am grateful for everything that has happened to me. I am thankful for every success and every failure because that means I am trying. I am trying to reach that next step towards my goal. Trying to be a better person and learning from my mistakes. Be grateful where you are in life. Your motto should be, "Who wouldn't want to be in my position?"  

I am thankful for my great friends here in Columbus, my parents in Colorado, my sister in Washington, and their major impact on my life. I am thankful I am working in soccer, the sport of which I am so passionate. I am thankful I am able to coach and be an influence in many players' soccer careers. Who wouldn't want to be in my position? That's how you have to think about your life, and that is how I always look to improve. 

2. What Got You Here Won't Get You There

Think about how you got to this point in your life. What major decisions have you made? What did other people see in you that made them help you get to where you are? You may still have those traits, but it may not help you land the next promotion, or your dream house, or the perfect relationship. Think about the strong qualities you possess. These are the qualities that attract you to other people. Now, what are your weakest traits? If you are not sure, ask those close to you. Asking other people will give you a different angle on your life that you may have never have thought about before.

Now, what are your plans in the next year? In the next five years? In the next ten? I understand, not everybody can plan that far ahead. I bet some of you can't even plan past lunch. But it is something to think about. If you know your end goal, you can figure out the steps you must take to make it happen. Keeping your strong traits sharp while improving your weak ones will set yourself up to get to your final product. 

3. Fear Is Often Disguised As Practicality

What do you truly want? This is the part where you list off your heart's deepest desires. The things you want most in life that you would do anything for. Now don't think for one second that those dreams are out of reach. That is one mistake I tend to make. I used to think about my goals and say to myself, "How likely is that going to happen?" I have been told that my plans or ideas are merely dreams that may not happen. I, for one, do not like being told my dreams are impossible. I say dare to dream. The moment you start thinking about taking the safe option, you are not living life anymore and you have given up. This is your life, and it is a short one. Why waste it working at a job you hate? Why waste it being around negative people? Why waste your life not pursuing your dreams? 

What if you do reach your dream? How do you think that will make you feel? When you look back at your life, you will be so proud of yourself and what you have done. Don't be afraid to go on that high speed chase for your dreams.

4. "The Phoenix Must Burn To Emerge" - Janet Fitch

Failing is an important part of your journey. Without failure, I would have never learned the harsh but important lessons that have brought me to where I am. 

That being said, I am no millionaire. I have not created anything bigger than myself (yet). And I have not climbed the career ladder all the way to the top. I live in a one bedroom apartment in Columbus living paycheck to paycheck. But I am doing what I love and I am happy. I know where my life is going.

I moved to Columbus for a youth development internship for a professional soccer club. This was my dream, and I was beginning to realize it at the age of 23. This was the next step in my pursuit of happiness. It has turned out to be the best choice I have made and the best experience of my life. Not only am I working with a professional soccer club learning how the youth club operates within the organization, I am coaching which gives me a completely different outlook on the sport (I know, I have said that I coach soccer so many times. Just want to make sure you have not forgotten). Everything that has happened to me has been a blessing. 

Did I move here for this particular experience alone? Of course I did. However, I did not know the type of experience I would receive as I never knew what was coming up next. It was always exciting and I have been looking forward to every day I get to work with the club.

Maybe you are in the same position as I was trying to figure out where to go with your career. Or maybe you are in your 20's and going through a similar life crisis. The main lesson I want to give to you is something I learned while looking back on my time here in Columbus and how I got here. I was not afraid to fail. You can not be afraid either. Failure is a big part of the step-by-step process they don't tell you. It's the way you deal with failure that makes you the way you are. Every mistake I have made, I have learned a lesson. A lesson that I carry with me every day to ensure I don't make the same mistake twice. Without failure, you are delaying your journey to success. Don't be afraid to fail, for you will be grateful for it. 

Have I accomplished my dream yet? Some would say so, but there are different parts that I am still working on. It is all still a work in progress. My point that I want to get across is this: 

• Be grateful you have made it this far with the adversities you have had to overcome.
• Look back on how you got to this point, and improve those qualities that will help you get "there." 
• Never be afraid to take that next step.  Life is too short.
• Fail. Fail again and again. When you give yourself permission to fail, you are also giving yourself permission to succeed. 

If you do these four things, you will break out of the so-called "crisis" and start your new beginning. The Quarter Life Breakthrough, if you will. Now go on, make yourself proud!

The Reason I Moved From Colorado To Columbus

The leaves are changing colors and starting to fall off trees here in Columbus, Ohio. This means two things: time for the pumpkin flavor to start appearing in everything from desserts to drinks to sandwiches. And this time of the year also means this is the end of a another soccer season.

This season I coached seven year-olds, the JV-B soccer team at Upper Arlington High School, I coached Intramural Sports at Jones Middle School, and I became the Administrator for the Pre-Academy program with Columbus Crew SC Player Development. Obviously, it taught me how important time management skills are to your everyday life. Scheduling, prioritizing, execution, and review become vital to the development of my "career". Why do I put quotes around "career", you ask? Well, my "career" is something I put before everything since I arrived in Columbus. Developing my skill set and gaining experience for the future was important to me. While I'm not arguing that that is not it true and I regret it, but that I learned a valuable lesson since my arrival in this city: life is not always fair.

For those of you who do not know, I came to Columbus from Colorado for an unpaid internship at Columbus Crew SC. I was given a chance to to move across country after I graduated college to work in a a part of business that excited me the most: youth soccer. Many people thought I was crazy. "Why did you move from beautiful Colorado to Ohio?" many ask. Good question.

It was an opportunity for me to start fresh, to learn something new about myself, and to be exposed to an environment that was unknown to me. Columbus Crew SC gave me an opportunity to make something of myself and to build a platform that would help me transition into the business world. I have been involved in more things than I could have ever imagined and this would not have happened if I had not take this opportunity. An opportunity that would eventually teach more lessons than I would have ever thought.

This opportunity came as a result of having ambition and a desired result. Laying out goals for myself has helped me accomplish what I want in life. This is what I began to instill in my players at Upper Arlington High School. At the beginning of the season, I met with each player to discuss their team and individual goals for the season. This gave the players something to work towards rather than just playing another soccer season. This season was an example of an opportunity each player worked towards and created for themselves. Each player had goals at the beginning of the season and by the end of the season, evaluate their progress. If they met those goals great. If they did not, it is not the end of the world. They will think, "Why did I not achieve those goals? What happened that prevented me from succeeding?" Then they will fix those issues and improve upon them in the future, making their self-reflection period important in their development.

Even with all the preparation, the work ethic, and the desire to reach those goals, the positive outcome may not always be shoveled out. Unfortunately, you may work your butt off but you will not get the desired outcome you expected. And that may hurt your self-esteem. You may not be able to get back from it until you reach the next opportunity. Life is not fair, but you can not get discouraged when the opportunities are not always positive. Life does not care when you are feeling sorry for yourself when you do not get what you want. Life goes on and it will leave you behind if you choose to wallow in your own self-pity. Once you feel sorry for yourself, you start going backwards rather than move forwards with a positive attitude. The "only disability in life is a bad attitude" and that alone will cripple you for life.

An ESPN Video shows this similar message in a different light: A Reason To Win.

Now I ask: do you view every mistake you make as a negative? Or do you see those mistakes as something you can learn from and make strides forward towards the next opportunity? With ambitions, the only way to go is up.

So, take a step back. Look around you and think about what you have in your life. Go ahead, smile. I know you want to. That smile is infectious and I guarantee others will smile back.

Roads? Where We're Going, We Don't Need Roads

This is a guest blog post for my sister's former company, Prizmiq. Surprisingly, I found the draft unpublished from November of 2014. So, here it is. I hope it feels as if you are stepping into a time machine.

Enlightenment and Gratitude

Hello everyone! I am sorry all of my updates have been few and far between. But that must mean my life is staying busy, right? I know all of you are waiting anxiously for my updates out here in Columbus, as I have been getting some nasty phone calls and hate mail (kidding).

In the past few months as well as the past year, my career in the professional world has grown an exceptional amount. As a person, I now have my purpose. A purpose that only I would have discovered if I had ventured out here to Columbus for an internship with the Columbus Crew(now, Columbus Crew SC). That purpose involved enlightening others on my own personal interests and teaching them different aspects combined with my passion of soccer. Mix all of that in a (small) melting pot, and you get a soccer coach. A Columbus Crew Juniors Coach and Upper Arlington High School Men's Varsity Assistant Coach is what I am at this moment.

I have always loved enlightening people whether it be showing my friends new music, teaching them about wine, or coaching soccer. When people learn new practices or subjects, their lives change after learning that particular skill or extra knowledge. Their minds are open to new information they never would have learned until I showed them. When I realized that about myself, coaching soccer was my calling and I could not let that urge go.

My life is filled with soccer at the moment and I could not be more happy. My own birthday was filled with nothing but the beautiful game. Waking up at 5:00am to work a soccer tournament to driving an hour to coach a game to driving back to see our own Columbus Crew SC play with my friends. My birthday was literally packed full of soccer and I could have have asked for a better day. The weekend was topped off with a dinner at Schmidt's Sausage Haus, which was fantastisch (that is German for "fantastic", for those of you who are culturally challenged).

This past year has been uplifting and this city has been amazing to me thanks to great colleagues and friends. My supervisor, Jeremy, selected me out of 100 applicants to travel out to Columbus for an unpaid internship and I can not thank him enough for having faith in me. My supervisor on the soccer field, Nick, gave me an opportunity at coaching six and seven year-old boys, and also referred me to the Assistant Coaching position at Upper Arlington High School of which I am so grateful. I want to thank my roommates for trusting me enough in a thirty minute interview to agree to live with me for several months. I could not have asked for a better group of people to be involved with at this stage of my life, and I want to succeed for them. I never thought I would find my calling in Ohio, of all places. But I can not think of a better place for me right now than at the Columbus Crew SC here in Columbus, Ohio.

Whichever family I will be intruding on this Thanksgiving, I may have to trim down my list of things to be thankful for as the stuffing may get cold after I am finished (and let's be honest, none of us want that).

Do not think I have forgotten about my family and friends all around the country, and all around the world. I will see you again!

(For you Coloradoans, I will be back in the mountain state from December 16th-30th)

I Wish You Could See This

Are you missing Stu yet? If you are, here is where I am at this very moment:

This is a picture taken outside of a coffee lounge where they make fantastic drinks with even tastier after-dinner treats. You see the moon in the background? That is because it is 9 o'clock at night. I am writing on the patio of this lounge of which I am enjoying this pleasant 84 degree weather. "Wait a second. Stu, I thought you were in Ohio? I didn't know this town you lived in was so unique that it had gorgeous backdrops with fascinating architecture around every corner!" You better believe what you are looking at because my phone does not have the capabilities of taking great pictures by itself. 

There is one thing I can tell you about this town I have lived in for the past four months. This is one of the great cities in the country that was not built from negative people. Columbus is like a sponge where it absorbs people for college, sports (Columbus Crew, Columbus Blue Jackets, Columbus Clippers and who could forget, The Ohio State University), and that big city-small town feel. Positive acts are what keep Columbus alive and thriving. Negativity does not fair well in this city, or in any city for that matter. Keep negativity away from me as well. Because I can see myself grow right before my eyes and it is exciting for me to see what I am able to do in such a place as Columbus.

This goes for anywhere you are in the world. Take the positives out of everything around you because negativity does not lead to prosperity or happiness. I'll take the positive path without negativity, thank you very much. My lifelong dream will become a reality as a result. This town has given me an aspiring feeling to become someone my friends and family will be proud to know and love. I can feel the potential growing inside of me, and it is helping me gain my self respect. With that, I can bet there is more to come from this boy slowly becoming a man. Be patient world, just like I have been patient with you. I hope you are watching.  

Three Tips To Becoming A True Newcastle United FC Supporter

Newcastle United FC: A club with magnificent history, passionate fans and a team that has topsy turvy performances year after year. One moment we finish close to the top of the Premier League table and the next, we are in a relegation battle. But if there are any Geordies (Newcastle fans) reading this, fear not. You are not alone in supporting the greatest club on the planet! There are fans around the world, including myself (currently residing in Ohio, U.S.) watching my beloved club every day and just waiting for their reign to spike again. But Newcastle United will always be my team, and is one of the many reasons I love this game so much.

I’m sure you all want to become a true fan of Newcastle United, right? Here are my three tips on becoming a Geordie.

1. Represent The Toon

Newcastle United FC lives because of the support from its faithful fans. Newcastle United would not be a phenomenal team if it was not for us. So wear the black and white with pride, and don't take any offense from another supporter. And you will get this. This will show the passion that you have for the club, especially during its difficult times. No fair-weather fans are allowed in the black and white! When Newcastle United wins a title, the feeling of victory will be that much sweeter when you stick with them through thick and thin. This leads me to my next tip…

2. Try Not To Be Surprised By The Show

This club is a roller coaster, plain and simple. The colors are a great representation of the club, in that we are either here or there. Black and white, nothing in between. The players are giving their all, or not giving anything at all. We either love the coaches/owners, or despise them. The antics that happen around St. James' Park will always rev our engines but at the end of the day, we will always say the same thing: "Ho'way the Lads." (translation from Geordie dialect: “Come on, boys!”)

3. Remember Why You Support Newcastle

Older players may have sparked your passion for the club such as the great Jackie Milburn, Malcolm Macdonald or David Ginola. Alan Shearer was the best player for Newcastle from its most recent times. Or you may have started watching the “toon” play during a fantastic era, such as the early 90’s when they were nicknamed “The Entertainers.” I started watching Newcastle in the early 2000's, and we definitely had a rocky period around that time for many depressing reasons. But the special people around you might kick-off your passion and continue it as well. My father has also been a fan for his whole life, and we fuel each other's fire when it comes to the supporting this great club. There is nothing more valuable to someone than a shared passion, especially with a parent. Newcastle makes our bond stronger. The day Newcastle wins a trophy, I am celebrating it with my Dad. Because he was the one that gave me the feeling of devotion to this club.

All of us fans support Newcastle in our own ways, but the fact remains that the common denominator is the love for this club. That is something to be remembered while we are still alive to watch this club continue to grow and improve. And improve we will! We all know when we have a bad run of form, a great run of form is just around the bend. And now, I will leave you all with a piece of our unofficial song of Newcastle United. I hope to hear you all sing this song loud and proud very soon.

Blaydon Races

 Ah me lads, ye shud only seen us gannin',

We pass'd the foaks upon the road just as they wor stannin';

Thor wes lots o' lads an' lasses there, all wi' smiling faces,

Gawn alang the Scotswood Road, to see the Blaydon Races.