Ep. 143 "Identity" #BEARinMIND Podcast

"The Voice of the Golden Grizzlies" is joined by Oakland Women's Soccer coach Juan Pablo Favero as they discuss the upcoming season!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Welcome back everyone to another episode ofthe Bear in Mind Podcast. My name
is Neil Rule, Broadcast voice ofthe Golden Grizzlies. Happy to have you
with us. If you haven't yet, remember you can subscribe to the Bear
in Mind Podcast iTunes wherever you getyour podcast. It is available out there
for you SoundCloud as well. Andright now we're getting ready to kick off

(00:21):
a new season of Golden Grizzlies athleticsquite literally by the way, Thursday Night
women Soccer in Action, the GoldenGrizzlies will scare up with Ken State,
so of course we go to thetop. Wam Pablo Favero our guest here
today, or make sure you checkthat out if you can't get out to
the Oakland Soccer Field ESPN Plus onThursday at seven. But WOMPA appreciate your

(00:42):
time as always. I mean,I'll ask you for the thirty thousand foot
view in just a minute. Butthere is just there's something special, man
about August and the hope and allthat kind of stuff. A new season
starting, I would imagine. Iknow you're in season number seven here with
Oakland. It never gets old,does it? Well? I guess for
some it does. Right, becausebecause this is a hard, hard profession,

(01:04):
but we are excited. This wasthis was a year where we felt
we had a lot of unknowns withobviously so many new faces. But man,
the preseason has been so positive inso many ways from the team that
we were. We were optimistic comingin, but we also had a lot
of questions. You and I talkedto think a couple of weeks ago,

(01:25):
and we were trying to find answers, and and what's been really exciting for
us as a staff is that wefeel we have started to find those answers.
We still have a lot of workto do, obviously, but but
we feel like we've we've we've clickeda lot of like of our questions,
the boxes of those have been checked. So we feel really good about where
this young team is headed. AndI think they're they're as ready as we

(01:49):
could have ever hoped for considering andthere's a mixture you and I were talking
about. There is a mixture ofexperience, but there's a lot of new
players as well. Well. Impossibleabout that thirty foot As you roll in
the season, you mentioned you checksome of the boxes and you got some
of the answers to some of thequestions. You and I have a lot
of philosophical discussions about the game ofsoccer and the way you want to play

(02:09):
it and stuff like that, andyou said, hey, I want to
implement a certain way seven years agowhen you stepped in here. You know,
just for thirty thousand foot where itis is a program, where it
is stylistically where you want to be. You know, just kind of give
me your impressions of where you guysare overall. Yeah, you know,
it's a fair question, and Ithink some people were asking that, including

(02:30):
you know, I think our fansand some of our players even like where
do we go next from from lastyear having such a uh, you know,
peak experience of sorts with so manysuper seniors and seniors last year,
and and and and accomplishing a lotof things. Obviously, you know,
we all want to win championships andonly one team gets to do it.

(02:50):
So we would have loved to seethat group do that, go out on
that. But even without that,like that was a culmination of a lot
of the first It was our firstcycle that culminated in a way because that
was our first recruiting class of superseniors, right, So the question was
what's next and what do we do? And quite frankly, we had an
open mind about everything, like becauseobviously we're going to have a lot of

(03:12):
new players, and we had anopen mind about our set up, our
formation. There wasn't too many questionsabout our style though, in terms of
how we want to play the game, how we understand the game to be
played both with without the ball andthe moments of transitions, and so,
you know, Macy the other day, I said it best at the end

(03:34):
of the game, the second Stripmashe goes it felt like us and man,
that's music to a coach's ear,right, because she was spot on
it. It definitely felt that wayfor us, but for a player to
recognize, right, especially as ouronly super senior returner. We have two
super seniors that transferred in. ButI'm sure she had questions in mind about,

(03:55):
right, like, what is thisgoing to be like? Because I've
lost all all of my classmates andall the super seniors that put their arms
around her, and so for herto feel that it's still us with new
people, new faces, new setof skills, new strengths, new areas
to keep improving, right, butit's still us, and so for me,

(04:16):
that's the exciting part is that we'renot going to renounce who we are,
how we want to play. Wemight have some tweaks, different things
that we need to or can dothat we weren't able to do, or
or that you know, we didn'tneed to do that we're gonna might do
different, but it's still Oakland Women'sSoccer the way we've tried to build this
program. Back up, talking withjam Pablo Favero here on the Bear in

(04:38):
Mind podcast. Remember you can subscribeon iTunes and SoundCloud as well. Latest
episodes go right to your phone.It's perfect for you. We kick at
Thursday night Kent State in town tokick off the season in the regular season
capacity. But we all were talkingsoccer right now, So Wampa, as
you look at it as this teamis constructed, I was going over you
get my spot charts ready for theESPN Plus broadcast. And you and I

(05:01):
when we talked a couple of weeksago, you said, hey, we're
very, very young. And asit was weird because as I went over
the roster and constructed my roster,you guys, my initial impression was,
yes, there are a lot ofyoung young players on here, but the
experience that is still here too,It wasn't quite as young as I thought

(05:21):
it was going to be. Andyou brought up you brought up Macy earlier.
Certainly she is somebody now that kindof takes center stage in that kind
of the mouthpiece of what's going onand all that kind of stuff. There
was a lot of I would saysecondary layers just in that, you know,
maybe not somebody that's going to goand put you know, twelve goals

(05:42):
you know into the back of anend or anything like that for a season,
but now it is their time.And it's interesting you said, Macy
said, it felt like us Macy'sgonna be a big part of that as
well as a lot of the otherreturners. Yeah, and and and it's
Macy and obviously she is going tobe a big part of that. The
you know, the three seniors thathave been here obviously also, Uh,

(06:02):
they know, they know who weare, they know how we want to
play, and so they've been instrumentalin in lending a hand in the teaching
process. Uh. They've almost servedas many assistant coaches of sorts on the
field, which is massive, rightbecause they've they've been really good teammates and

(06:24):
really good leaders. Uh. Andthat's a huge, huge advantage for us
to have. So it is,it is right. I've come to the
same conclusion that you just did.You did it on paper. I did
it through two weeks of trainings wherewe're like, gosh, you know,
yeah, we got a lot ofnew faces, but but we also have
a lot of experience and and andit's jelled very quickly. The learning curve

(06:49):
of our of all of our newplayers has been so impressive. How they've
won. They showed up ready fitnesswise, but two they showed up ready
attitude wise, and being coachable andbeing ready to be molded and listening not
only to us but to the returningplayers. All that has led to this
this accelerated learning environment. And againthere's still a lot to work on,

(07:14):
obviously, and we're gonna take alook at the season and faces, but
but we're ready for this phase one, as ready again, as ready as
we can be. And we aregoing to continue to rely both on our
experience and our returning players and theirtalent and their abilities and their strengths,
and also tap into all the newfaces and all the new young players who

(07:35):
have a lot of ability, whohave a lot of talent as well,
and they're gaining experience on the onthe fly. They're gonna have to,
like you know how they do itin some jobs where you have to learn
by doing. That's what they're doing, and they're doing a fantastic job.
Wompaie. I think we're kind oftaking the long route here. I think
I can kind of sum this up, like the discussion we're heading no,

(07:55):
and and here's why, because itjust I just dawned on me, like
you just realized that these sounds.These all the stuff sounds like the character
traits of an identity, of aprogram that has an identity. And you
and I when we talked for afew minutes before we went on the air
here and you you brought that upto me. You said, the depth
that I have. You and Ihave always talked about the way you want

(08:18):
to play, and you build it, and you build it and you build
it. It sounds like this haskind of come to fruition now, like
the foundations built. The house isbuilt now. It's just a matter of
putting in those those pretty looking treesand bushes and keeping the lawn cutting,
ice and green and everything like that. Aesthetics are really the only thing that's
left, Like the foundation seems likeit's there. Yeah, and that's yeah,

(08:41):
that's a good light bulb I thinkfor me too, and that as
you were saying that, you know, the light bulb for me is and
quite frankly, this is this isthe first time in my coaching career and
I'm not a young guy, youknow that that I'm in a program long
enough for it to be the secondcycle, like I've you know, the
longest I had been anywhere. Itwas here last year for six seasons,

(09:01):
but I was still in the firstcycle of sorts because of the COVID year
and the Super Seniors. So it'sa new experience for me as well.
And the light bulb. And whatI've learned is that it's not like when
I've taken over programs where in away I'm trying to like build the foundation,
build everything right, and you're buildon At Oakland, we were building

(09:22):
on a legacy, which it's muchbetter than than building on on not success,
right, But in a way itwas it was kind of like,
Okay, we have to deconstruct somethings to build back up some other things,
and we also were able to add, you know, add on to
things that they were doing well thatthat you know, that team that that
we inherited. But now you're right, our identities our identity, and these

(09:46):
players were recruited having seen us play, having you know, before it was
a vision, right, I wasall as coaches. I think any leader
right when they take over something,they're they're they're casting a vision for the
future, which is just a vision, whereas now it's still a vision,
but it's there's substance to it becausethese players have seen how we play,

(10:07):
they have seen our team be successful, they have seen our style in action,
and that's I think what attracted this, this new group of players to
our not just the way we play, but how we how we interact our
team culture, right because they comeand visit and interact with our players and
got to see who we are andwho we want to be, right and

(10:28):
so so yeah, the foundation isthere, and you're right now it's just
a new and we talk about entrustmentrather than entitlement, and so this group
of players right now, it's entrustedwith this house, just like I've been
intrusted entrusted with it. I don'town it, but I have ownership over
it. For stewardship is the workof this period of time and this moment,

(10:52):
and I have to live in themoment, and it's it's this season
is the only one that matters,and this play airs that are here are
entrusted with the stewardship of this programat best for four years, because that's
that's the cycle of college athletics,right. And but they know what they
walked into and so I think,now, right, there's this upkeeping and

(11:15):
this pride and giving it their owntouches, and you know they're using your
metaphor the bushes that they want topick and and what they want to do
in that room and how they wantto do it. But the structure is
very clear. The framework is there, and it's solid. The foundation is
very solid. And now it's theterm for this group to run with it
and make the most of it.And we think they will wapa last one

(11:39):
for you here when we kick atThursday night with Kent Stayed in Town live
on ESPN Plus and at the OaklandSoccer Field. It's a grandiose question.
I'm making a big media deal overthis because it's it's one, it's one
of many. We're going to dothis till November. I'm not trying to
make too much of it, butI'm trying to entertain the folks too.
I want that's fair. He's dota good job, thank you informing it,

(12:01):
Yeah, borning and entertaining exactly youwant it? I want it all,
Yeah, I want by You're right, No, but what are we
going to see? What? What? What are we going to see?
What do you what do you hopeto see with what happens with you know,
this this season and this team.What do you hope to see?
Uh? You know, we hopeto see three things. I guess in
action, we want to see agroup of players that is growing, that

(12:24):
is committed to the process, committedto each other, and and that you
know, they use this game thereal game now. That counts right as
an opportunity to put together everything thatthey've been working on and growing through the
last the last two weeks. That'snumber one. Number two, we want
them to be connected, to beconnected to each other, to be connected

(12:46):
to the experience, to be connectedto to again the process and and our
our mission, right are why ofwhy you play college soccer. And it's
not just winning. There's many otherthings that are and so we want him
connect it to those things. Andthe final thing is I want to see
him enjoy it. I want tosee them enjoy playing under the lights on

(13:07):
TV, you know, with withwith the uniforms and and just put on
the best performance that they can puton. Uh. And no matter what
the outcome is, that we willgrab that, we will learn from it.
We will grow from it. Wewin, we will learn from it.
We tie, we will learn fromit. We lose, we will
learn from it and use it tocontinue to move this thing upwards. But

(13:30):
I think in terms of your otherquestion, the fan aspect, I hope
that what they see is what Macysaid, That they will see those who
have come and watched us in thepast, that they will see Oakland Soccer
the way we've tried to play,the way we've tried to you know,
how we understand the game. Uh. And I hope that as we progress
that they see it to another level, to a higher level of execution,

(13:52):
to a higher level of success.But that would be my hope is that
everybody walks away saying, you knowwhat, Yeah, new faces. Yeah,
some old faces. It's older returners, not old as an old like
me. But but that's still Oaklandwomen's soccer and they're still representing Oakland University
in the athletic department with class,with intensity, and how they play and
the pursuing of excellence and in avery defined style that is not just ours,

(14:18):
because there's other teams that play thissame style, but but that is
ours in terms of how we chooseto play. All I want as always
appreciate the time. Thank you verymuch. Hey, gold Golden Grizzlies,
see you Thursday. Come out andsupport us absolutely, and remember you can
subscribe to the Bear in Mind podcaston iTunes and also on SoundCloud as well.
Until then, on our very nextepisode, my name is Neil Rol,

(14:41):
the voice of the Golden Grizzlies.Thanks for listening to everybody. Well,
see you later.