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October 11, 2023 36 mins

Alexi Lalas is a former professional soccer player, member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, and analyst for Fox Sports. Well-known as a standout defender on the U.S. Men’s National Team during the 1994 World Cup, Alexi was also a member of the 1992 U.S. Olympic Team and the 1998 World Cup squad. A father of two, Alexi joins Nick to discuss soccer’s growth in the U.S., the costs associated with increasing the sport’s accessibility, and the numerous benefits of playing soccer at the youth level.

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Speaker 1 (00:03):
One of the reasons why I was drawn to soccer
at an early age was that international aspect. And I
love the fact that when I walked out in my
suburban Detroit existence onto my sidewalk and started juggling the ball,
that there was a kid on the other side of
the world, completely different language, completely different culture. But this
was that connection in that they're juggling the ball too,

(00:24):
and I loved that.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
This is the Reform Sports Project, a podcast about restoring
healthy balance and perspective in all areas of sports through
education and advocacy. AH this is Nick Bonacor from the
Reform Sports Podcast. Today, I'm speaking with Alexi Lallis, former
professional soccer player, member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame,
and analyst for Fox Sports. Well known as a standout

(00:47):
defender on the US men's national team during the nineteen
ninety four World Cup, Alexi was also a member of
the nineteen ninety two US Olympic team and the nineteen
ninety eight.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
World Cup squad.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
A father of two, Alexi and I discussed soccer's growth
in the un US, the costs associated with increasing the
sports accessibility, and the numerous benefits of playing soccer at
the youth level. First of all, been a fan you
know have you know, watched you play and compete and
love your content, what you're doing and what made me
reach out to you, I mean, especially the timing of
when I did. I saw you in shout out Tom

(01:20):
Ferry from the Aspens Stude, I had him on as
a guest not too long ago, connect himself the time
I saw you, guys kind of have a little back
and forth speaking on the kind of the topic of
youth sports and particularly as as it plays towards you know,
the pay to play and soccer culture. Of my background, Alexi,
I played college and I played one year of professional
baseball over in Italy, so I was not, you know,
anything close to a big, bigger here stateside, but six kids,

(01:43):
like I mentioned to you, all involved with sports. But
I've been very entrenched in the baseball scene for a
long time, so I've seen that. I've talked to enough
college coaches and every sport. But you know, as far
as the soccer side, I'm not as knee deep into
the culture as I am, particularly in base So I
would just love to know where you are and what

(02:03):
is your feedback and perspective on the state of youth
sports today, particularly as it comes to the soccer side.
Would love for you to take me through that.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Sure. So a lot of the you know, I guess,
the consternation and the debate and the discussion when it
comes to youth soccer in particular is about development. We
have a huge country. Obviously, unlike other sports, soccer is
not king and while we do have a history in
a tradition, when it comes to soccer, it's nothing compared
to all the other sports that are ingrained in our

(02:32):
history and have much more kind of traditional pathways. And
so the question is how are you going to mine
that talent, that youth talent out there, and how are
you going to create not just more soccer players, but
more soccer fans in the US. And so a lot
of the conversation is around that development pathway, and let's
be honest, what the cost is and the pay to

(02:56):
play thing. It's not just relative to soccer. I know,
it's involved in a lot of other sports. I mean,
you've got six kids, and obviously it adds up, and
especially in this day and age when you know, I'm
older than you, but still we grew up in a
time where it wasn't this age of specialization from a
very young age where you go into a specific sport.

(03:16):
A lot of us grew up playing a bunch of
different sports. Now it's a little naive to think that
that's just going to continue on. And so all of
that is part of the conversation right now. What's ended
up happening, I think is while this industry of youth
sports has arisen, and when it comes to youth soccer,
you know, a very robust and industry that is full
of potential to grow and continue to grow because of

(03:39):
the sheer numbers that we have and the simplicity of
the game and the popularity of the game. Is this
this vilifying of the men and women that work in it,
and many that make a living, and many that don't
make a whole lot of money, and some that make
relative to others more money. And so I was just
I think going back and talking about how while we

(03:59):
can certainly have a conversation about limiting costs and differing
costs and at times maybe even eliminating costs, I want
to make sure that that part of the conversation is
separate from all these incredible women and men that work
each and every day on and off the field to
propel in my case, soccer forward and deserve the money

(04:19):
that they get in many of the businesses that they
are formed or the businesses that they are a part of.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
I love how you said make them out to be villains, right,
and quite frankly, I don't like that either, because I
feel like it's so easy to put everyone in this
in this you know, in this space and say, oh,
because you charge fees or you make a living, you know,
you're you're this, you're you're no good. Well that's just
not the case. You know, there are a lot of
folks out there and different organizations who are doing great work.

(04:44):
I think what happens is you have people that have
bad experiences that aren't doing the right things, and you know,
and then everyone wants to put everyone into the same
you know, stratosphere and say that, hey, everyone out there
who's charging kids or charging families fees for their services
is not doing r I think that's simply not true.
How do you think? And I know you met, I'm
forty four years old. I think you got a few
years zombie. But like you said, we're relatively in the

(05:06):
same time frame growing up and all that. Certainly before
the social media technology it really took off. How was
it for you and your youth soccer experience, you know,
growing up? I know you mentioned non specialization. Was it
different sports for you and basically how to go for you?

Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah? So I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit.
Up there in Michigan, it is the law that you
have to play hockey. And I actually played a whole
lot more hockey than soccer growing up, and played multiple sports,
and back then we would just call it kind of
travel soccer, and so at a younger age, I started
to play on you know, first off, I grew up
playing you know, mom and dad coaching and orange peels

(05:41):
and juice boxes at halftime and all that kind of stuff.
My dad is Greek and so he was the foreign guy,
so let's put him as a coach. So and this
is this happened then it actually continues on today and
there's nothing necessarily wrong with that. And then I kind
of graduated up to playing on travel teams and doing that.
But I also played high school soccer and that has

(06:02):
kind of dissipated and kind of gone the way of
the Dodo in terms of the pathway that a lot
of kids take now where they you know, they go
when they play club and in many instances they're not
even allowed to play high school soccer. And it's at times,
you know, high school soccer. Not all high school soccer
is created equally. But I did benefit from that experience
of playing in high school soccer, not even the kicking

(06:24):
of the ball, but the whole socialization of it and
representing your school and you know, coming to school on
game day and wearing your jersey and all that kind
of stuff. I benefited from that high school type of experience.
Now I know not everybody is going to have that
same type of experience, and some kids will not want
to do that. So I did specialize in the sense

(06:44):
that I gravitated at an early age to soccer. I
love the creativity, I love the autonomy that the sport,
that the sport gives you. And my parents were not
athletes or sports people. My mom was a writer and
my dad was a profet sir, and they just saw
this as there it kept their kid out of trouble
and he was good at it, and so they supported me,

(07:06):
but they certainly didn't pressure me and It wasn't a
means to an end of getting into a better college.
It was something that I don't think any of us
anticipated would lead to a life and a career on
and off the field going forward. Now as I sit
in front of you at fifty three years, but I
grew up in the seventies and eighties in the US,

(07:27):
in the suburbs where Ayso was coming to be and
soccer in general was starting to become more of a
cool thing to do, but it was still kind of niche,
and soccer people are a rare breed, but that tent
has gotten so much bigger since I grew up. And again,
those pathways that we have now for young players to

(07:47):
develop are so much, so much greater. But back to
your point about the actual men and women that work
in it. You know, we talk about pay to play,
and there's actually a lot of now opportunities for young
players that are free and academies that Major League Soccer
teams have and other teams have going forward, But there's
a lot of stuff when you grow up that requires

(08:09):
payment for you to do extracurricular activities, whether it's sports
or any other activities, and piano lessons and all these
other things, and again we don't we don't vilify those
people and those men and women that do it. And
so again it comes back to you know, I believe
in I believe in capitalism. I've put been doing what's right,
and I think you mentioned it earlier. Sometimes we look

(08:30):
at people that are in the youth sports space and
we think that it should be some altruistic type of venture,
and it should be some sort of charity, and it
shouldn't be done with a business in mind. And I
completely reject that notion, as it doesn't mean that you
can't have a passion for it. It doesn't mean that

(08:50):
you can't be emotionally invested. It also doesn't mean that
you can't recognize that you are doing things that are
going to arm, if you will, young people with tools
that might even go beyond the actual soccer field or
any sporting field out there. We all know the benefits
of actually playing sports and the socialization and the interaction
and the physical activity, all those different things. But it

(09:13):
can be a job, and it can be a for
profit type of venture without having it become you know,
sleazy or bad, or you know, a factory type of
setting that doesn't recognize that you're dealing not just with
young players, but you're dealing with young kids.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
So on that thread that you and Tom had, I
think it was a when he quote retweeted he talked
about the retention piece of soccer, and actually I thought
it was a good point because it's like, it's like
the sport you introduced to your kids oftentimes is soccer
is the system that's currently in place. Do you think
it feel like it's more advantageous to kids and development

(09:52):
of the best soccer players in the United States can
put out there today versus the way it was when
you grew up in the seventies and eighties, Because I
think that's very interesting because for me, I feel like
you've had more professional athletes in other sports. Case in point,
rect in Peace, Kobe Bryant, he used to talk about
his soccer experience and Chad O Jo Sinko, you know,
playing FIFA World Cup and all these little things kind

(10:14):
of draw attention to the sport. Maybe for fans that
aren't necessarily originally involved, it can get eyeball. So do
you feel like the culture in youth sports today is
more advantageous to developing the best soccer players in the
US can produce or has it improved from when you
were a kid?

Speaker 1 (10:32):
It has improved. And I mentioned some of the pathways
and the opportunities. I mean, like it's night and day
from when I was growing up. And what a you know,
a kid we're recording this on Monday, October second in
twenty twenty three, and a young boy or girl that's
growing up in the United States that wants to be
involved in soccer. First off, there's many more opportunities and
therefore there's many more kids that are involved, and then

(10:52):
those pathways to if you care about it, the elite
type of player, there's so many more pathways, both domestically
and internationally. And that gets to the aspirational aspect of it.
And you mentioned Kobe and Chad and these types of athletes.
Let's be honest, if they were growing up in maybe
a different culture, in a different country where soccer is king,

(11:13):
that would be what they would aspire to be. Sure,
and me growing up, you know, I didn't have any players.
I had nobody to emulate, I had nobody to look
up to. My stars were Detroit Red Wings and you know,
and rock stars. That was That was basically who I
looked up.

Speaker 2 (11:29):
To Detroit Rock City. You had to be a Kiss.

Speaker 1 (11:31):
Fan, right of course, you know. I mean I want
to be Gene Simmons and I want to be you know,
uh Steve Steve Eiserman or something like that. But nowadays,
when they are growing up, they have their own league,
whether it's Major League Soccer a USL or from a
women's perspective NWSL. They've seen multiple World Cups played in
their country. They also see players that are going over

(11:52):
to Europe, and there's a real aspiration for a lot
of kids to go and play in those big leagues
over in Europe. And they see more Americans getting opportunities
over there. I mean, I had to star in a
World Cup in order to get an opportunity to play
in Europe. And we have players nowadays in their teams
that haven't even played a game in Major League Soccer
that are getting recruited and bought to go and play

(12:14):
over in Europe. So that's wonder that warms the cockles
of my redheaded American heart to see the opportunities that
are that have arisen for this generation going forward. But again,
it's such a unique aspect because we're competing with all
of these other leagues. We're competing with all of these
other sports, and we're competing with in some instances, you know,
a century head start in terms of what they are

(12:35):
as sports and ingraining into our society.

Speaker 2 (12:37):
So when you hear, because the argument would be, and
I'm interested in your thoughts, here is the cost and
having a baseball background, I feel like baseball's turned into
a country club sport. I mean it is. It's very
very expensive compared to what it was, right compared to
what it was. That's my perspective. But you know, at
times I'm like, well, are the most talented I've had?

(12:58):
You know, Eric Backage, Tim Korb, and you know some
of the best coaches in college baseball today talk about
how you know baseball. It's Eric Becketch literally said to me,
it's too white, Like there's a pemographic that doesn't play,
don't have access, can't play. So do you feel like,
at times, while I get listen, I'm a capitalist as well,
do you feel though at times the barrier for entry

(13:19):
to some clubs really can kind of eliminate some of
the best athletes, like some of the best kids that
really can help drive the sport or any sport forward.

Speaker 1 (13:29):
Yeah. I mean, look, I want as many people man, woman,
and child in the United States that want to play
soccer to play soccer. All right, we talk in the
American soccer circles about free soccer, free soccer costs. Somebody
has to pay for all of that free soccer, and inevidently,
when we get into these discussions, my question comes back to,

(13:50):
all right, fine, I want it too. I would be
wonderful to live in this idealistic situation in a country
and culture again where soccer is and king, where anybody
that wants to play soccer can play it for free,
but who's going to pay for that? And that's usually
where the conversation ends. It doesn't mean that that can't
be a goal, and also doesn't mean that you don't
recognize and respect how far we've come when it comes

(14:11):
to free academies that are out there, that are associated
with teams or even clubs that have been around, having programs,
that have scholarships set up, and that have situations where
you can defer money and where other folks will pay.
All that kind of stuff exists, but it's still not enough,
and I would be the first to recognize that this

(14:31):
slipping through the cracks. We often talk about that in
soccer and probably a lot of different sports, in that
we want to have as many people experience the game
as possible, and from a pure competitive standpoint, the more
people we have playing the game, the better teams we
are going to have, the better talent we are going
to have. And we have had so many decades now
where if it is not accessible to a group because

(14:55):
of whatever, you know, a socioeconomical status or locate, I
mean we are a huge country, so location, uh, coaching facilities,
all those different things, then there is the potential to
lose what could be an American messy or something like that.
Uh that is that has changed dramatically and there is

(15:15):
less and less of that happening, but still a country
our size, we're not getting to as many people as
we want. And so I think we all agree that
we want to, you know, have this sport on offer
to as many young kids as possible. It's just a
matter of how are we going to pay for something
like that, and recognize it goes back to what we

(15:35):
started talking about, that all the men and women that
are spending their time in these in these situations coaching
and administrators and facilities and all that kind of stuff.
They have to get paid and somebody's got to put
that money.

Speaker 2 (15:48):
So I saw an interesting post on LinkedIn from a
gentleman who's a great writer as a great column mom,
Andrew Peckcash. She was a guest of this podcast. He
gave some predictions what he sees in sports the next
five years or so. One of them was and then
he's just speculating start in conversation and such, but he
talked about how he feels the MLS is going to
start to surpass Major League Baseball, you know, from a

(16:08):
viewership standpoint, And you know, I actually I thought it
was kind of interesting because baseball is in this unique
place where you know, they're changing rules right because they
were losing fans games, are taking for it, trying to
speed the game up a little bit. So I'm wondering
how wrong I mean, for someone who's entrenched in the culture,
how long do you think it could be before you
see soccer maybe actually compete. And I don't even want

(16:31):
to say NFL because I feel like that's such a
tough thing, But when do you think do you think
it's a reality where you can see soccer really start
to kick the door and become quote unquote one of
the Big three even I mean, and maybe surpass or
get to that point where it's in the same conversation
as a sport like Major League Baseball.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
Yeah, the running joke for soccer in America is it's
the sport of the future. For the last thirty years,
it just means good, you know. And when does it
actually come to fruition. When do we see soccer, you know,
be a major sport in the US? I would argue
that it is already a major sport. And so when
you talk about the major sports, I think you're doing
a disservice and I think you're showing your lack of

(17:07):
understanding of the landscape out there when you don't include
it Major League soccer in particular. Though Major League Soccer's
problem isn't that there aren't soccer fans in the US,
it's that they're not enough MLS fans. Soccer from a
pure fans perspective, has millions and millions of fans. As
a matter of fact, the number one soccer league in
the United States is League MS Mexican. The Mexican Soccer

(17:29):
League interest, so actually trying to convert soccer fans into
Major League soccer fans. That's what MLS's job and their
biggest challenge is going forward. I do think that one
thing that MLS has going for it relative to the
rest of the world is people want to come to
North America. I think it's the greatest country in the

(17:50):
world for a number of different reasons. And when it
comes to you know, we're talking a lot nowadays about
Messi coming over, and I think that that could be
a real game changer in terms of providing a credit
ability and an authenticity that would have other players say, look,
if Messi can do it coming off winning a World Cup,
this is something that I can do and for their families,

(18:10):
for themselves, if they can get paid the same amount
of money and they get to live in the US
culture and their families get to live over here, and
by the way, getting paid on time and consistently. You know,
don't take that for granted around the world, but that
happens over here. And you know, there was a migration
that happened ten twenty years ago in Europe from Italy,

(18:33):
which was the best league in the world to England,
which is now the best league in the world. Players
didn't go to England because of the weather and the food, Okay,
they went because of the money and if you were
able to compete from a money perspective in North America,
and the credibility was there, plus with all of the
wonderful advantages that North America has in terms of lifestyle

(18:54):
that let's be honest, Saudi Arabia doesn't have. Now you're cooking,
and I could see another migration happening if and when
the world looks at North America and Major League Soccer
as a as the Commission of Major League Soccer Don
Garber would say, a league of choice and a destination
type of league, that's when things start start changing. But

(19:14):
if I'm the other sports, the other four sports, absolutely
I see what soccer is doing in general, and I
see what MLS is doing, and I'm worried because if
that's a stock that has incredible room to grow and
get much much bigger, given the demographics, given the realities
on the ground when it comes to sports, and giving
the changing of our country and culture.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
When we return, Alexi and I discuss soccer's cultural growth
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(20:39):
Where we left off, Alexi and I were about to
talk about his passion for soccer and why he believes
that kids who played the sport will remember that excitement
for a lifetime. I agree. I mean, I know in
my lifetime, I feel like it's getting more and more attention.
And of course, you know MESSI being here. I mean,
you have some of the biggest athletes in the world,
and it's just getting so much attention, and it's really

(21:00):
I think it's great for these younger kids to be
able to get in and to be able to see
and see these When I played in Italy for that year.
This is back in two thousand and one, and it
was my only time in Europe, and I thought a
soccer game was like you know, my high school soccer,
you know, that's how naive I was. And I'm in
Parma and I don't know which team we went. We
were on the road and went, but it was like

(21:21):
an NFL game, and I think it was just like
a regular and they had like myself and a couple
other baseball players, and they had there was this promo
in our city and they had a couple of the
soccer players there and I felt like I was like
a second grader, you know. It was the flock of
people to see the soccer play. I mean, I was like,
that's when it really opened my eyes, and I went

(21:42):
and watched the game. It was blown away by the
energy of just like this is like being in an
NFL stadium. It was intense, It was awesome, and I
became a fan for life from that point on. And
I love the sport. And I also here because I'll
interview a lot of pro athletes and such, and a
lot of them referenced their multi sport background, you know,
when they were younger, and a lot of them talk
about how much soccer brilliant, particularly with the footwork piece

(22:05):
of it, the spatial awareness. I haven't talked to an
athlete who has accredited or recommended like, hey, if you
want to play whatever it is, like soccer will help
you in every other sport.

Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah, I mean I mentioned hockey. A lot of soccer
players have played hockey, and a lot of hockey players,
let's be honest, especially with the international aspect of the NHL,
have come from soccer backgrounds and play and play soccer.
And now to your point, you know, there's a whole
generation that when they wake up here in twenty twenty three,
they don't look at soccer as anything different than any

(22:35):
other sport. It is part of their sports palette, if
you will. And this generation, you know, that grew up
with soccer being part of their everyday existence. Obviously they
grew up playing FIFA. That was a huge, huge, huge,
I mean that changed the perception of the game for
a lot of people, and let's be honest about it,
has educated multiple generations in terms of leagues around the world,

(22:56):
teams around the world, colors, tactics, all all that kind
of stuff, management, all that kind of stuff through a
video game. But it opened up the world. And one
of the reasons why I was drawn to soccer at
an early age was that international aspect. And I love
the fact that when I walked out in my suburban
Detroit existence onto my sidewalk in front of my house

(23:17):
and started juggling the ball, that there was a kid
on the other side of the world that I had
absolutely nothing in common with, completely different language, completely different culture.
But this was a thread and this was that connection
in that they're juggling the ball too, and I loved that.
I mean, look, I loved growing up playing all American sports,
and like I said, I played much more hockey at

(23:37):
times than soccer, but soccer was really unique and different
to me. And I do think that this generation growing
up right now looks at soccer and you know, kind
of thinks globally but acts locally, and that kind of
vein and sees that soccer is this game and this
thread that is shared with the rest of the world.
And I know you had that experience when you went

(23:58):
to a soccer game. A lot of people that I meet,
they go to a soccer game, you know, a soccer
game in the US, and they see the singing, and
they see the emotion, and it's two hours in and out,
and it's NonStop action. There's not TV timeouts or anything
like that, and they're just blown away at the entire
experience of what soccer is, especially relative to maybe if

(24:20):
your only experience is going to a high school game
or you soccer out there. When you go and actually
see a game played at a high level in a
professional type of setting, it's incredibly exciting. And in that moment,
there's a lot of people that say, you know what,
I get it. I understand why this is the most
popular game in the world.

Speaker 2 (24:36):
I want to say a little bit of my bias
because I grew up in a football household and people
you know, would often say they're obviously idiots. There's no
physicality inside. I want you to talk, and I know
you were a physical player. Can you talk about the
physicality of soccer and talk about it's running eight miles
or something crazy during the course of a game, like

(24:57):
what physical exertion goes into, you know, playing an entire
soccer game and banging. I mean, the pcality of it.

Speaker 1 (25:04):
I think that that has started to dissipate, and it's
almost like a dinosaur mentality that has to just kind
of die off and become extinct. And and that's not
just in terms of fans, that's also in terms of media,
and that has has really changed over the years. I mean, look,
I grew up and as an American playing soccer in
the seventies and eighties. I mean there were you had
to dodge the slings and arrows that were coming from

(25:25):
all over and this is you know, this is a
communist sport, and this is you know, homophobic stuff, and
you know just I mean just just piling on because
you were soccer and I kind of wore it as
a badge of honor. You know, you were kind of
this this misfit, rag tag type of existence as a
soccer dude back then. That's changed dramatically over the over

(25:47):
the years. But when it comes to the actual physical
demands of the sport, obviously it's an incredibly aerobic type
of situation where you're running on a consistent basis and
your you're you know, you're sprint but then you're jogging,
then you're sprinting, then you're jogging. So purely from a
physical perspective, I think that there is a it's not

(26:08):
big grudging type of respect. I think in general, I'll
meet other athletes from other sports and immediately they say, listen,
I know what I do is I think it's hard.
But what you guys do in terms of running around,
you know, for two hours on what you're doing, that's
a whole other level. There's not the stops and starts. Obviously,
there's not the timeouts and stuff like that. Now I'm
six foot three. I was six foot four when I

(26:29):
had all the hair, but you know the reality is
that I was. I was much taller for the era.
But nowadays, I mean, when you look at the athletes,
you look at someone like a killing Embappe who plays
for France. These guys are big, and they are strong,
and they are fast, and they would you know, any
American football team would salivate over having some of these

(26:50):
some of these guys. So there's no again, if you
saw Messi walking down the street, you wouldn't say, hey,
there goes the greatest player that ever played the game.
If you didn't know anything about soccer, and so it
it It accommodates all types and that's something that I
love about the soccer. But the physical part, uh, you're
running miles and miles and miles a game that you know,

(27:12):
the tactical part in terms of where you play, and
let's be honest, it is a low scoring type of
sport and so the hardest thing, the hardest thing to
do in soccer is score a goal. But it's also
this incredibly cathartic, orgasmic release when it happens, because it
is relative to other sports so rare, and when it

(27:33):
finally happens, it's the culmination of so much work and
so much coordination someone that can be seen. Obviously, some
of it's that's done behind the scenes and some of
it's that's under the surface, but ultimately it's the it's
called the beautiful game, but it's also the simple game.
All Right. You go to a soccer game, you understand
how it works, and yeah, you can take some time,
you can figure out some of the little nuances out there.
But it's a simple and beautiful game. But it does

(27:55):
require it does require a motor when it comes to
the physical uh, design and necessities when it comes to
the game.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
What are the benefits of playing the sport of soccer,
particularly at the youth level, and why would it be
in the parents' best interest or kids' best interest to
not only participate, but you know, to find ways in
which if the kid enjoys the sport, Like why should parents,
from your perspective, maybe prioritize a sport like soccer or

(28:24):
any sport for that matter, when you have so many
others who are saying youth sports is just listen, I
think there's ways that it can be improved, but I
think there's a lot of good as well. So I
want you to kind of steer towards the good and
what solutions that you think can maybe even improve the culture,
you know, going forward.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
Okay, so let me let me start just by you know,
being an advocate for soccer. All right. So, as I said,
it's a simple game. I know we've talked about the
cost involved, but relative to many other games, it's it's
very limited in terms of cost in that all you
need is a ball, all right. The you know, the
equipment is, you know, is very minimal relative to other sports.

(29:00):
And when it comes to a field, all you need
is a space. It could be a space of grass,
it could be concrete, it could be terf, it could
be dirt. It's why it's played in so many different ways,
and you know, down corridors and down alley ways and
on streets and all these different things. And sometimes it's
not even a ball that you need. Maybe it's a
sock filled with newspaper or whatever it is. So the

(29:21):
simplicity of the game I think is part of it
of its beauty. Number two and I mentioned it a
little bit. There is no archetype. There is no specific
body structure that you need as opposed to other sports
where you know, height and speed and strength are you know,
are are necessary in order for you to be really

(29:41):
really good. Yes, you have to be you know, I
think a good athlete, but I think more you have
to understand the mathematics of the game, the geometry of
the game, all of that kind of stuff. Number three,
it's NonStop action. If you've ever gone and watched kids play, yeah,
they're kind of like these b buzzing around the ball.
But they're always moving and they're always involved, and they're

(30:03):
always active. There's not a lot of downtime in soccer.
And I think that that ultimately is U is a
good thing. Number three or I don't know, I think
I'm number five or six right now. But the international
aspect of it, I do think that that is incredibly
attractive to people to know that this is a game
that is played all over the world. And it doesn't
mean by any stretch of the imagination that you can't

(30:25):
be proud of your country or all the wonderful sports
that we have. And I think this gets back to
the bigger picture of why be involved in sports. Look,
I know that I've lived a charm life and I'm
one of the very few that has gotten the opportunity
to be that small percentage that, you know, go professional
and play in Olympics, World Cups and that kind of stuff.

(30:46):
The reality is that the vast majority out there are
never going to get that, But that doesn't mean that
they can't benefit from being involved in youth sports. And
I mentioned, you know, the socialization, right. You know, my
son is is a okay soccer player. He's played ayso
for years and years and years. He changes teams each
and every season so that he can socialize, and I

(31:08):
want him to socialize. I want him to It has
nothing to do with necessarily kicking a ball. But he
has to come into a new team and he has
to introduce himself to his new teammates and to his
new coach, and he has to adapt and to adjust
to a different type of setting. And while that might
may or may not make him a better soccer player,
for me, it doesn't really matter because I want him
to have that type of experience. I want him at
times to be out of his comfort zone, both on

(31:30):
and off the field in terms of the experiences that
he has. The you I'm sure you've talked about it
on the on the pod before about all the lessons
that you can learn and whether it's whether it's leadership
or communication, or how to deal with failure, how to
deal with success, how to be uh you know, how
to be a leader, in a sports setting, when to

(31:52):
kick somebody in the butt, when to pat somebody on
the on the back, all of those different dynamics that
go on in a sporting environment that you then can
translate to the real world, and that I guess I'll
end it on this. We focus A soccer game is
ninety minutes, right, So we focus so much on that
ninety minutes in terms of developing talent that sometimes we

(32:14):
forget and even unfortunately we abdicate the responsibility that we
have to that other twenty two and a half hours.
I would love every player to go on and have
a wonderful career and be great soccer players at the
highest level. That's not going to happen. But what I
do want to happen is that we arm them with
the skills to function as people in a productive society

(32:36):
and in my country and culture here in the US.
I want them to be that generation that leads the
country that I love, the country that I believe is
the greatest country in the world off the soccer field,
and some of those lessons and some of those skills
are learned not just in you soccer, but in youth sports.
And so I think you're really not setting your son
or your daughter up for failure. But I don't think

(32:58):
you're giving them the best chance of success, and you're
not giving them all of the different tools that they
are going to need to be successful in society if
you deprive them of the opportunity to play soccer at
any level. By the way, it doesn't It doesn't have
to be a lead. It doesn't have to be club.
You don't have to be traveling all around, just running
around and kicking a ball, running around and hitting a ball,

(33:19):
or just being involved in that moment that we all
know and that excitement and it will last a lifetime.
They will remember it for a lifetime.

Speaker 2 (33:28):
Dude, I love it, Alexi llilas, Dude, where where can
First of all, I love following your ex your Twitter
now X feed with I love every freaking morning. You're like,
what are we yelling about that? It always makes me laugh,
But what are we yelling about today? You're just getting
people fired up? Besides Twitter X, where can people find
you and stay in touch?

Speaker 1 (33:45):
Yeah? So I have the State of the Union podcast
over at Fox and I do that a couple of
times a week with my good friend David Mossy. And
it's basically looking at the world of soccer, and as
I mentioned, there's always somebody kicking the ball somewhere around
the world. It's impossible, you know, to retain all of it.
We of look at a top level of everything that's
going around the world, especially with an eye to the US,
so American players that are playing overseas and what's going

(34:06):
on with the US and all that. So we do
that a couple times a week, you know. I continue
to work for Fox. We had a big summer with
the Women's World Cup. I was in Qatar last winter.
Next summer, we got a huge summer when it comes
to soccer here in the United States. The US is
hosting Copa America, so Messi and Argentina, Neymar and Brazil,
and the US team is actually going to be in

(34:27):
that tournament. Also the Euros which is the European Championships
that we'll be doing. And then obviously this huge ramp
and lead up to twenty twenty six when the US, Canada,
and Mexico are hosting the World Cup, the first time
the Men's World Cup is back in the US since
back in nineteen ninety four when Yours truly was running
around with a whole lot more hair.

Speaker 2 (34:45):
Let's go. You look like our Garfunkel out there. You
were the van.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
It was a lot of hair ago, a lot of
haircare products too. My goodness, oh, my goodness.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
Well, dude, I can't thank you enough for coming on.
This has been freaking awesome.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
Hey, listen, I think thank you so much for you know,
for first off reaching out and for you know, talking
about these things. It's it's important and you know, we
can agree and disagree and go back. I think, you know,
this comes from a conversation that we had, you know,
on on X and you know, sometimes that can get derailed.
But I thought it was civil and I thought it
was respectful and I enjoyed it. And you know, people
agree with me, they disagree with me, they vehemently disagree

(35:20):
with me. They scream and yell at me and do
all that different stuff. But you know, ultimately, the more
face to face or zoom to zoom, at least human
beings talking, I think the better off it is for
the sports. And you know I don't I certainly don't
have all the answers. I know you don't have all
the answers, but at least talking about this and trying
to work some things out, and you know, at least
examining where we are is good. And while we kick

(35:42):
ourselves for what we haven't done as a nation when
it comes to soccer or sports, or just as a
nation in general, sometimes we also have to pat ourselves
on the back foot with how far we've come, because
it's pretty incredible what we have when it comes to
our country and the opportunities that we have doesn't mean
that we don't have problems, and it doesn't mean we
can't get better, and we need to work eat every
day to get better. Now, I know you do it,
and I know a lot of your listeners are doing

(36:04):
it out there, and they're doing it a lot of times.
Were not a whole lot of money and certainly not
any type of recognition. But the men and women that
each and every day are pushing that boulder up the hill.
It's a labor of love, but it's still a labor.
They deserve a tremendous amount of credit because you're doing
so much that goes beyond kicking or hitting the ball,
like I said, and you should be thanked, you should
be praised, and you should make as much money as

(36:25):
you possibly can in the process.

Speaker 2 (36:27):
Hey, hey man man, I love it, dude. They couldn't
agree with you more. And Bro, I appreciate you.

Speaker 1 (36:31):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
That's Alexi Lallis, former professional soccer player. Thanks for listening
to the Reform Sports Podcast. If you've enjoyed this episode,
we would appreciate it if you took a moment to
rate and review our podcast.

Speaker 1 (36:42):
As we work to grow our community of.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
Supporters and advocates for more reform sports content, please subscribe
to our newsletter and blog at Reformsports Project dot com.

Speaker 1 (36:51):
You can also follow us on

Speaker 2 (36:52):
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