Episode 228: Brandi Mitchell, Emma Hayes

Episode Transcript
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(00:10):
Hey, everyone, welcome to episodetwo and twenty eight, a Women's World
Football Show. I'm your host,Patti Labella. How you doing. I
hope life is treating you well andyou enjoyed the international break we're just coming
out of as we're recording this,and you got a chance to watch your
country team here in the US wehad actually in the North America we had
some great matches, but in theUS specifically, we have officially entered the

(00:33):
Emma Hayes Era with two friendlies againstKorea Republic. I'm also gonna just jump
in. I'm just gonna say it. I'm just gonna jump in and say
it. We've also entered the LilyJohannes era. Have you seen this youngster?
Oh my god. It brought meback to when Malory Swanson or then
Malory Pew made her debut in SanDiego, and I remember she scored in

(00:57):
her debut, and you know,I mean mean, mal Pw at the
time was like the big name.I don't even remember. I don't even
know what year that was. AndI just remember turning to my colleague and
saying, well, we've entered theMalpew era, and now here we are
all those years later, and wehave another youngster to be excited about,
I mean, and so much moreto be excited about this team. You

(01:19):
know, I really have to admitI haven't been really excited about the US
women's national team for some time.I mean the Olympics Women's World Cup,
it just didn't seem right, youknow. I mean it's just hard to
I found myself rooting for their opponentsa lot of times. I'm sorry,
I'm just gonna confess right now.I mean, we want to see the
US women earn their wins, right, and you know, playing a team,

(01:40):
I mean, you're not gonna seea lot against like these friendlies against
Korea Republic, but just seeing someof these young players, I mean,
you can't help but get excited.They had two matches, one in Colorado,
one in Minnesota, and there wasjust something very different about these matches.
Hayes playing a notable four to threethree. I think it's pretty interesting

(02:01):
and fun to watch youngsters on thepitch like Swanson and a healthy and inspired
Sophia Smith, Rose Lavelle are inher one hundredth cap, Katerina Macario back
Jayden Shaw. Of course, Imean I make no bones about it.
Jane Shaw is like one of myfavorite young players today, Trinity Rodman,
and then of course the sixteen yearold Lily Johannes scoring in her debut.

(02:25):
Johannas, by the way, isthe eighth youngest player to make her US
win's national team debut, and theyoungest to do so since two thousand and
one. Only World Cup winners ChristineLily and Tiffany Roberts scored at an earlier
age. But I mean really breathingnew life into the team. And of
course Crystal Dunn at the right wing, scoring early in that second match her

(02:46):
twenty fifth international goal. By theway, the young defense, you know,
Jannah Knight, Swanger, Emila Fox, Naomi Germa Sam stop and because
of Alyssa Naiir's injury, we gotto see Jane Campbell and Casey Murray and
goal. So, I don't know, just something new and exciting about this
team. You know, it's goingto be fun to see what they do
in the Olympics. I don't expectthem to win. I don't know,

(03:08):
you can mark this, book markthis. I might be wrong, you
know, but just to watch theteam is fun and exciting, and I
mean, it's fun to win,but it's also fun to watch a young,
exciting team. And I think thatthis is goa just has all the
elements to it and so exciting stuff. And we'll actually be hearing from the
new head coach, Emma Hayes ina second, as she sat down with

(03:29):
the press recently and also had achance to watch a few other North American
teams play Canada and Mexico. Canadawins two nil in Montreal with late goals,
and then in the second game,Mexico drew Canada one one in Toronto
and two. I mean, Ihave to say both games pretty exciting,
even though that first game it tookus a long time before we saw the
first goal. And for the mostpart, there's a definite youth trend for

(03:52):
those programs as well. Except don'ttell Adriana Leon, she hasn't got the
memo yet playing lights out right now. But I think we're at the moment
where, especially in North America,we're seeing veterans retire, young players stepping
up, emerging, you know,trying to make their mark, and you
know, watching all these friendlies hasgot to get you inspired, even if
you're an older fan. A veteranfan, I'll say, and the Olympics

(04:15):
coming up. I mean, there'sjust so many more eyes on the international
teams and on women's soccer in general. So I thought it would be a
great time to feature Brandy Mitchell onthe show. If you live in socaw
or San Diego area, you probablyknow Brandy as the founder of San Diego
Soccer Women. It's an organization thathelps connect older women who are interested in

(04:36):
playing soccer. It connects them withteams and leagues, and it's actually helping
women all over the country. Imean they connecting women all over the country
and in other countries as well.So they're just helping these older players.
And I'm talking older like thirty toninety. Seriously, we'll talk to Brandy
about that. It's pretty interesting helpingthem to either discover soccer for the first

(05:00):
time or rediscover it. Maybe youplayed in college or in high school and
you want to start playing again,your family's getting older and you want to
do something for yourself. You're gonnalove this interview. Talk about inspiring Brandy
like cranks it up a not sopretty exciting stuff. You're gonna love that
interview. But before we do beforewe hear from Brandy. Like I said,

(05:21):
I sat in on a press conferencewith US women's national team head coach
Emma Hayes. After twelve seasons atChelsea and a boatload of trophies, she's
taken the helm of the US women'snational team and before the second match against
Career Republic, she sat down withthe media and I wanted to play some
clips for you, some notable pressconference highlights. And as I always say,

(05:43):
before we play this, I'll remindyou that this is a press conference
setting. It's not an exclusive interview. Reporters from all over the country in
the world. Basically, we're askingquestions, coaches answering them. I edited
out the questions just for ease oflistening. You can get the idea of
what she's talking about. Now.At the end, she does kind of
call out Lindsay Horan. She callsher Lindsay, So I just want to

(06:04):
clarify that she's talking about Lindsay Horan. Towards the end of that press Commerence
says, she talks about the benefitsof the Champions League and the experience of
it, and of course Lindsay iscurrently playing club soccer at Lyon and of
course has that Champions League experience alongwith some other US women's national team players.
So she says, Lindsey, justwant to clarify she's talking about Lindsay
Horan. So let's hear from herthe first of many soundbites I'm sure from

(06:28):
the head coach of the US women'snational team, Emma Hayes. What I've
had individual means with almost every onebar I think two players, which I
will do after dinner tonight. Sothe feedback from the players in and around
their experiences have been probably the messagemessages I expected to hear. I never

(06:51):
want to hear what I want tohear any I just want people to be
honest, and everybody feels refreshed anda joy. But also, as you
say, in this country locked into the process and very very committed to
that. And it's a really brightbunch of women that grasp things in such

(07:15):
a way. And I do,honestly, I do put this down to
the legacy of the program. Yeah, you won't believe how much these women
value the history of the program andhow important the shirt and that history means
them, Like it's so palpable inthe environment, like I almost get a
little bit teary sometimes listening to themwhen they talk about those things. And

(07:42):
it's a group that's learned a lotof learning. It's had a lot of
learnings its last World Cup. Iknow. We always like to look at
externally like these really like fatal moments. From my perspective, I don't believe
they could grow without that, Likeyou need those setbacks sometimes on the biggest
stages. It's not ideal, butlike the team wasn't ready, you know,

(08:05):
but the expectations in this country haswin every game, every week,
every tournament, every trophy. It'sjust there isn't going to work like that,
I'm afraid, Like so we haveto adapt a little bit to that.
But for them, their learnings havebeen profound. And then I think
that the group is ready to moveon. That's what it feels like to
me what I've said along as aprocess, we focus on the steps to

(08:31):
get us there, but everybody feelI want everybody to feel valued and feel
that they have the opportunity to expressthemselves. Is a step by step process
of like exposing the players to theinformation overloading their brain, them comprehending that
and then applying that and I couldsee lots of little different things happening from

(08:56):
an individual unit a team perspective,that was impressive. But we'd be here
all night, trust you me,so I won't go there. The core
of my work this week is teachingthe team as much as possible. My
next objective is to make sure everythingaround the team and everybody that's involved in
that gets the chance to understand thatat a deeper level. Like I prioritized

(09:18):
my objectives this week getting to knowthe players, teaching the methodology once we
leave camp. Between now and thenext camp, it's about bringing everybody up
to that level where everybody can everybodycan do the surgery, if you know
what I mean. We talk aboutthe value of the Champions League and what

(09:39):
we've learned. Supplies and coaches andthose exposures, those tactical exposures give you
something different. I've spoken about thisbefore. Different competition exposes you to different
things. So in Europe it's naturala player like Lindsay is exposed to more
of those different situations, more diversityof games and the differences, like they

(10:07):
really really are different. You canplay Harris and Shaman, who are a
man for man marketing system anywhere versusyou know a German team who have very
very you know, clear ideas ontheir mid block principles. They're really really
distinctly different. You could face thatfrom a Wednesday to a Saturday in a
way that you wouldn't maybe just inyour domestic league. So I value her

(10:30):
experiences and she's very thoughtful and reallywants to do the best things for the
team. And I've only had limitedtime with her, but I found every
one of our interactions to be equality, So I valued her input. There's
something very likable about Emma Hayes.I only sat in on a few press

(10:52):
conferences with her, and I wasthinking about it since I've been covering the
US and his national team. Idon't know, since I don't know how
long ago it was. Well,Pias Sunhaga was the head coach when I
started covering the team, and thenI was thinking about It's like, wow,
I've been through like five coaching changesfor the US wmen's national team.

(11:13):
It's Pias Sunhaga, Tom Sermani,Jill Ellis, vlad Coo and Thenotski and
now Ima hay so five coaches.And it's interesting when you're sitting in press
conferences in an interview with the newUS women's national team head coach, you
could kind of like see like peopleare trying to feel them out, like
what are they like, you know, what is going to be their temperament?

(11:35):
And and with Emma Hayes, ofcourse we've only seen her after two
wins, so of course she's gonnayou know, she's so smart. I
mean she's talking about things that Icouldn't even like wrap my head a brown.
So first of all, she's verysmart. That's like a lot of
the head coaches are. They shouldbe right. I don't know, it'd
be interesting to see if she could. I mean, she did call out
one reporter for like sneaking in liketwo extra questions, like he was like

(11:56):
supposed to ask just one and hegot like three, and she's like,
well that was three questions and she'slike, you know, this is my
first rodeo. That was pretty funny. So I think that she will call
out the reporters if they, youknow, and they're not kind of trying
to get one over her honor,but in a amicable way, not like
rude or insensitive seen some coaches inthe past too. But it's usually after

(12:20):
losses, right or if you startcriticizing their coaching method or whatever, they'll
get a little testy jeellus anyway,So we'll see, We'll see Emma has
after a couple of losses and seehow our temperament is. But I just
feel like she's very amicable and she'syou know, to the I mean to
the point, no nonsense. She'svery straightforward and we like that. So

(12:43):
to be continued, the story isjust begun for the US national team,
and like I said, I thinkit's pretty exciting. Oh also, before
we get into our featured guest that, I just want to mention that the
inaugural Conker caf W Champions Cup kicksoff in August. At the end of
the episode, we'll go through thedraws and the teams and everything and the

(13:05):
dates, so stay tuned for that. We'll cover that at the end of
the show. And as we're shiftinggears, let's shift gears now. Because
we talk about the youth and thenew blood coming in to some of these
international teams, it gets you kindof inspired as an older fan or an
older woman. You know, you'relike, I'm want to go out there
and play, and I still havea lot in me, right, I'm

(13:26):
not dead yet. Don't start diggingmy grave yet. And so I thought
i'd call up Brandy Mitchell. She'shere locally in my backyard in southern California.
But she's really doing so much forwomen's soccer all over the world,
and she keeps reaching more and morepeople with this program. She's gonna explain
it to us because it's so interesting. If you are an older woman or

(13:50):
you know an older woman who wantsto get into soccer, you know,
get back into it. Maybe youhave a gap where you haven't played in
a few years. Brandy Mitchell isthe person you want to call up.
And so I spoke with Brandy.You're gonna love this interview. And so,
without further ado, let's hear fromher. Please welcome our featured guest,
the founder of San Diego Soccer Women, Brandy Mitchell. I have a

(14:15):
lot of questions for you, BrandyMitchell. But first, I mean,
I'm seriously, I went I'm like, okay, I'll have like seven or
eight questions for Brandy. And thenI went in and I was, you
know, crafting my question said beforeyou know what I had like twenty something,
and so then I had to cutthose down and then I'm like,
uh, so, so I geta lot of questions. I was thinking
when I saw the questions, like, oh, I hope she knows I'm

(14:35):
going to talk a lot because thisis gonna be like a two hour interview.
I'll you know, I'll figure itout. I'll figure it out.
And it's great that you talk alot because we have the obviously, we
have an audience that are very,very eager to hear from you and what
you're doing and learn about you.But before we get all into that,

(14:56):
tell us a little bit about yourbackground and how you got pulled into you
know, the it gave us soccer. Yeah. So, I was one
of the lucky ones to grow upin southern California after Title nine was an
active. So that meant for mebeing born than in nineteen seventy six,
now at forty seven and a halfyears old, that I was able to
enjoy a childhood as a girl completelyhaving access to soccer. So in our

(15:18):
area, AYSO was one of thefirst soccer programs to come out, and
it was a thing for parents tosign their kids up for soccer. So
I started at age five. Iactually had an older sister who or half
an older sisters two years older,and then I have two younger sisters,
so four daughters in the family,and at some point we were all signed
up for soccer. And because mydad was choosing to be a coach,

(15:39):
he had never played soccer when hewas younger, wasn't a sport for him,
but he learned the game and wouldcoach some of our youth soccer,
and I would generally play up withmy sister in the older division because he
was coaching. You were allowed todo that back then. So starting off
at age five and playing up untilhigh school, so for me it was
a matter of again just creational youthsoccer, doing a little bit of club

(16:02):
and competitive as I got into likemiddle school age into high school. I
played for my high school team,and then at towards the end of my
senior year, I ended up havinga knee ligament tear and was out for
a while. And then after thatI actually went to community college. I
worked full time, kind of mademy way into a program that was international

(16:23):
studies up in Monterey, and therewere no sports teams at all, so
I had this massive gap of youknow, playing my whole life as a
child. And just to note,I also played field hockey and softball,
into gymnastics and you know, volleyball, So I had exposed you to a
lot of different sports. But that'sthe one that stuck for me. Yeah,
because growing up in southern California,you just play a lot of sports.

(16:44):
The weather, you know, theweather lets us do that so exactly
the year round outdoor. Which isan interesting note because I didn't really have
access to indoor soccer, so Iwasn't exposed to that until I was an
adult. So looking at you know, young women now coming into adult soccer,
watching how as a child they havehad training in foodsal and indoor arena,
they're a little different game than whatI was taught as a child.

(17:07):
So my exposure, as you know, when I was young, and how
that was shaped as far as thetrading back then is noticeable compared to young
women now. And so you hadthat gap, and so then when did
you pick back up again. Yeah, so I didn't even realize there was
adult soccer available to me, whichis odd because my mom actually did play
women's league soccer back when I wasgrowing up. So you know, it

(17:30):
was the typical story that you hearfor women who are now in their sixties
and seventies that after Title nine,they started to see there, whether it
was daughters or nieces or granddaughters oryou know, whatever the relationship was,
they were seeing girls out there playingsoccer and they thought, I want to
give this a try. So again, with my dad coaching youth soccer,
he supported the idea of my momplaying soccer. And there was a women's

(17:52):
league where we were growing up,and she was able to get out there
and play. So all four daughterswould sit on the sidelines and do our
homework, and you know, cheerkranand she I have to say, I
mean she had only done drill team, so there wasn't really a sense of
being an athlete or you know,being involved in sport. So it was
a challenge for her, but aneat way for my dad and for her
to connect and then for her tosocialize with other women and you know,

(18:15):
as a family dynamic. I thinkit didn't even occur to me that I
had seen that as an example whenI was young until I was, you
know, looking at this gap.I was in my about twenty six twenty
seven years old. I had twokids, you know, My youngest was
one year old running around on thesidelines and a women friend said to me,
Hey, I thought you used toplay soccer. Why aren't you play

(18:36):
in the local women's league. AndI was like, what, Nobody told
me this was going on? Soso I signed up and started playing,
and I've been playing ever since then. So I'm looking about twenty years now
that I've been playing in the recreationalwomen's leagues. Wow. Yeah, those
were the days before social media.So it's harder to get that kind of
information. Yeah, and you know, I take that for granted because it
is so easy these days to poston social media. Honestly, I'm at

(19:00):
the point now with the leagues herein San Diego that I'm ready to start
putting signs up in Starbucks and librariesand parks and rec offices because I think
we're, you know, as muchas we're so used to getting access to
information online and through social media,there's so much available that it almost helps
now to go the opposite direction.So gorilla marketing, Yeah, I like

(19:22):
you, So tell us about SanDiego soccer women. You know, what
is it? And well, firstof all, what inspired you to start
the organization and then tell us whatit is? Exactly. Yeah, so
exactly that moment when my friend hadsaid to me, you know, why
aren't you playing? There's women's soccerout there. That was kind of this
catalyst moment that for me, Iwas realizing, wait, if I who

(19:45):
you know, I grew up playingsoccer, I love soccer. I was
already doing a lot of fitness activities. If I hadn't noticed that it was
happening, that means there are otherwomen like me. So that's when I
started the website san Diego soccerwomen dotcom and basically just said I'm going to
post it for about local women's league. And again without social media, it
was just truly a website giving information. There was a small women's league that's

(20:07):
not in the city of San Diego. It's called the City of Poway,
and so that was the one thatI started with because that was the one
that I had found so far.And once I started playing, I realized
from all these teammates that there wereleagus throughout Santego County. So it was
purely information. I'll just put theinformation out there, and that grouping of
wording, you know, instead ofsaying San Diego Women's Soccer, just saying

(20:27):
San Diego's Soccer women, because Iknew enough about you know, web searches
back then that if you type inSan Diego Women's soccer, Sandy with Soccer
Women's going to show up. Sofortunately, I believe it's been gosh,
I think maybe fourteen years now thatI've had the website, and it's you
know, as I've progressed, obviouslyadding a lot more content on there,

(20:48):
but the concept is still the same. That and this pies into the question
of what is San Diego Soccer Womenas an organization? And it's really a
connector, It's a network. Somy goal and I'm this is a volunto
your organization that I'm running. Thatit's basically saying, there there are women
out there who want to play.There are teams who need players, there
are leagues who need teams, Thereare tournaments who need teams. There's gear

(21:10):
for women that needs, you know, someone to buy. There are charities
focused on women and girls related tosoccer. How can I connect the people
with these opportunities? And that's generallyhow I spend most of my time whether
it's daily emails or Facebook messages orInstagram messages saying hey, I'm in such
and such city. I'm you know, I have this type of experience.

(21:32):
I'm looking for a team, andthen I'll send a bunch of links or
send their information to somebody I knowwho might femacle. Oh okay, so
I'm wrapping my head around this,probably along with our audience. So it's
not a leak, this is aconnector exactly exactly yeah, And I think
that's generally the confusion. I doget a lot of requests like, hey,

(21:52):
bring your standing with soccer women teamto come to our tournament or bring
their or I get out and Isay, but I'm not one team.
And it's so funny because in mymind when I am mad about I'm visualizing
bringing my team or my league.I'm like, oh, that's like hundreds
of women right that at this pointI've touched in some way, whether it's
again through connecting them with a leagueor you know, playing with them as

(22:12):
a teammate, or them even justconnecting with me at SANDE with soccer women
in my identity and showing support forme. So it's really there's there's not
one single league. And while Ido run one league here in San Diego,
because you know that the former directorwho had done her service for like
forty years running women's leagues, youknow, she stepped away recently and I

(22:33):
was able to take on that role. But I purposely have kind of made
sure not to prioritize anyone, youknow, league or team or tournament more
than another, because I'm just tryingto contribute to everyone and do what I
can. So's it's not any onegroup, that's for sure. What a
great service. I mean, reallyit seems to be very hopeful. And

(22:53):
you know, it's funny because Ithink to myself, like I've got to
automate this, right, Like Ican't reply everyone, and I know I
have emails sitting there for women,and I use surveys like what are you
looking for in soccer? Right likeare you looking for a soccer practice?
Are you looking for individualized training?You just want to find a casual team
you want to pick up. SoI'll do these surveys and get information and
then you know, I step onmy own toes and then oh wait a

(23:15):
minute, like I have to actuallyrespond to everyone. And I feel this
obligation to create these programs or linkthese programs, which I love doing.
But again in addition to my regularfull time work, you know, sometimes
I get a little behind, andI know that's frustrating because women are excited
to play, right once they reachout to me, that's this kind of
turning point for them that they're goingto get involved in something that either they

(23:36):
haven't tried before, they're getting backto, or they want to continue.
So I do feel a strong commitmentto make sure those connections are made.
And there are times that again goingback to the automating it, that I
think I can create this database,but the truth is there's a lot of
shifts and changes, and I thinkpeople do enjoy actually talking to me.
You know. The website exists togive some basic information there are you know,

(24:00):
for Sadan County. I have atournament calendar that's really popular internationally,
even that every every tournament that Iknow of internationally that's for women ages thirty
up through eighty plus is listed witha leak, you know, give some
basic information. You can sort bythat by the age, or by the
state or by the month. Right, So I do my part to make
sure that the technologies use, butI do think women end up appreciating that

(24:22):
they do get to connect with meindividually. So if somebody comes up to
you and like I'm in southern California, but if I'm in like New York
or something, and I'm like,hey, do you know of a league
or something I can join here inmy area? Is that something that you
do too? Absolutely? Yeah,that's great. Just through again my access
through social media, the connections I'vemade, you know, the individual women

(24:45):
that I know. And then there'sFacebook groups that are specifically for women who
play soccer or not just soccer fans, not just supporters, but actual players.
And so because this content is streamingthrough my mind, right, you
know, it's not just in frontof me when I look for about it,
but I'm seeing it just throughout everydaylife, I do have kind of
a database in my mind. Ifnot specific leagues, at least I know

(25:07):
where to look and who to connectwith and things like that. So it's
not often that I can't come upwith an opportunity for someone. And here's
the funny thing, and this issomething that again when I talk about,
you know, all these years thatI've been part of this community. There
was a moment that years ago thatI realized there are women in their seventies

(25:29):
who have their own age division inthese tournaments, and here in San Diego
we have women in their seventies andeighties who are out there playing every single
week in their leagues. And therewas a moment that I was shocked and
amazed and just like, this ishow could this even be? Right?
And I have to say, like, after all these years of knowing these
women, it's not as shocking anymorebecause it's way more common than we would

(25:49):
expect, right, And I wouldlove to see that that's the majority of
women in the United States or youknow, worldwide over seventy you're all involved
in some kind of sport. Soit clearly it's a small percentage of women.
However, because every single week I'mseeing these women who are, you
know, between seventy five and eightyfive out there actively playing, and they're

(26:10):
not just playing with women who areseventy to eighty something. They're actually playing
with forty year olds and fifty yearolds and sixty year olds. And you
know, it's not a shocking tome anymore. It's kind of become something
that I used to see. Youknow, when you go to a tournament
and there's eight teams who are allwomen in their seventies and early eighties,
it doesn't seem as abnormal as youknow, someone's seeing it for the first
time. So and I did havethere's a tournament here in San Diego and

(26:33):
we have an age seventy plus divisionwomen come every year. We also have
an age sixty five and sixty andfifty five and fifty, but for the
seventies, I had taken a videoand one of them just recently went viral
through j just Women's Sports and alsoespnW, with both of you know,
getting over a million views. Itwas reposted an ounther million views. And
it really does, like I haveto tell myself to think people are seeing

(26:56):
this for the very first time,Like most people see that women at this
age are playing a sport like soccer. So again, what's normal to me.
Hopefully someday will be normal to justabout everyone. But but for now,
it really is amazing. Yeah,it is. I think those of
us who are close to the game, it's not a big surprise. We
had the privilege of having some olderwomen on the show last year. We

(27:18):
spotlighted the soccer grannys of South Africa, which is a great group, and
so we got a glimpse into likewhat kind of impact playing soccer or like
any physical activity really has on womenof a certain age. And they were
like, what are we going todo? Sit here and think about when
we're going to die? But itwas like so empowering, you know,
And then you know, we gotlike that kind of a glimpse of what

(27:38):
you know, the impact is.But from your point of view and your
experience, how do you think plainingsoccer impacts the physical and mental well being
of older women? And what's themost common feedback that you get from players?
I love there were a couple ofstudents from a local high school who
did a video interview with a coupleof the women in the eighty seventy plus
division here in San Diego, andI love watching it because what you hear

(28:03):
from them is, you know,it's pretty consistent, the camaraderie, the
socializing, you know, the fitness. But then I think at least one
woman has this moment that she justsays a competition, like it's just you
know, we'd like we'd like tothink to some degree that you know,
women have just all these soft sideseven when they're doing something really intense that
you know, it's just we're justhere to have fun and enjoy each other

(28:26):
and you know, and it's greatthat it helps our health. But the
truth of the matter is women arereally competitive. And whether whether you look
at it into being competitive with eachother, you know, with the with
the opposing team, or just thefact that they have their own standards for
how they play and they're competing fortheir own level, their own standard of
how they kick the ball, youknow, whether they score that game,
whether they defend correctly, you knowhow how long they laugh, their endurance

(28:51):
during the game, if they gotmore tired than expected. So you know
that the obvious, right, thesocializing part of it again, this concept
of camaraderie. You not only haveteammates, but these are women who know
about the breast cancer diagnosis of theteaming, right, they know about partners
who have become ill, they knowabout children who are having challenges, right,

(29:11):
Like, the sharing that happens onthe sidelines is so incredibly important,
and a lot of women do socialize, you know, away from the field,
so they'll get together, whether it'sgoing on walks together or doing other
fitness activities like pickleball, but alsoyou know, just having dinners. When
they go to tournaments, they'll stayin a house, you know, rent
a house together, and then theyhave the evening time that they're cooking together

(29:33):
or you know, playing games.So, no question, the social emotional
factor is really big. But wealso and I'm not going to you know,
quote any particular studies, but ourunderstanding of especially women and post mental
puzzle women. When you're experiencing thattype of impact type sport, right,
it's the turning and the twisting andthe jumping all of that that actually really

(29:56):
helps with things like boone in density. It does help with posture, it
helps with you know, core strength, and you're seeing ligaments and muscles and
all these elements of your body arehaving to really you know, keep up
with what you're actually doing, right, instead of being like, oh,
my body's really strong already, andso now I get to do these sports.
In the end, when you're doingthe sports, your body is adjusting

(30:18):
and adapting to stay strong for that. So and especially in women who may
not have been doing higher impact sportswhen they were younger, that they didn't
necessarily have that type of you know, had adaptability early on that it may
have been something after age thirty orafter age forty that had started for them.
So the physical part of it isno question that women are going to

(30:38):
live a better quality health life fromage again looking at you know, forties,
fifty sixties, but into the seventiesand eighties. And that does it
mean that they won't get sick andthat they're not going to get a lot
of the same chronic illnesses, orthat they may not have the same challenge
as health wives as other people.But when it comes to day to day,
they're increasing their chances so greatly tohave a healthier long term life.

(31:03):
We'll be back with more Brandy Mitchellafter this short break. I've read studies

(31:26):
where women are more actually more socialas they get older. Like when you're
younger, you kind of like standin the side, or you're busy,
you know, raising your family orwhatever. But as you get older,
you kind of crave that that companionship, right, that Golden Girls type,
you know, companionship, And thenyou have it on the soccer field.
I mean, I don't know,it just seems like a great, a
great a great fit. Absolutely,and I know what's true out here in

(31:49):
San Diego and in southern California generalis not necessarily the case in all regions,
and that is that we do haveenough women playing in within these different
age bracks. It's to have agedivisions for our leagues. So there are
women I know of in other areasin the United States and definitely globally who
are in their seventies and are playingwith twenty roles because there aren't a lot

(32:09):
of women in their thirties and fortiesand fifties and beyond playing the sports.
So you end up having also asa positive, this inter generational interaction where
you know it's not completely a levelplaying field because no matter what, there's
going to be difference to the agilityand speed and it responds time. But
when it comes to the joy ofplaying that that's going to be something they

(32:30):
have in common. So I lovethe fact and here in San Diego again
something California, we have more ofa divide. But even within that,
you know, in our age fortyseven plus league, we have some of
our seventies and eighties playing in ourage fifty five plus. You know there's
a range so looking at that,there are still generations that are connected that
you know, you're walking on thefield with the same you know, get

(32:51):
shitt guards and cleats, and youknow, your normal here just like anybody
else, and that interaction ends upbeing really connecting. Also, that's like
a whole other subject I think you'retouching on right here, because they say
that you should have like a youngfriend, like as you get older,
you should have like a friend who'syoung. But then I also think about
the young players who are playing withthese women and how empowering that is for
them, Like like they're probably likeI can do this forever. Yes,

(33:15):
yes, And that's so many ofthe comments that I've seen looking again at
those viral videos where people didn't expectto see the content, but when they
did, they were tagging, youknow, especially women were tagging women friends
and teammates. I'm guessing because theywould say that's gonna be us in you
know, forty years, or that'sgonna be us in twenty years, and
do you think we'll be playing thislong? Or you know, that one's

(33:35):
you and that one's me. Sodefinitely the ability to look at themselves and
then project forward and say and Iknow this is true for myself. You
know, I'm doing a lot ofthis work to make sure that women's soccer
is continuing for older ages so thatI can play when I'm in my sixties
and seventies and early eighties. Soit's self serving, absolutely, I will

(33:59):
admit to that, sure, Andit's an interesting you know, I think
this kind of adds on too whenI'm specifically looking at the older ages like
sixty, that these were the womenwho invested their time and energy in creating
these leagues and creating these tournaments.Right. They didn't pop up automatically as
part of our youth programs, whichI do see a lot more in Europe
in other parts of the world,where you have your professional club and then

(34:22):
you have your recreation or your amateurand all the different levels are all part
of one organization and they're just offeringyou know, here's the women's park,
here's the youth park, here's themen's park. And we don't have that
model here in the United States.So these nonprofits have had to be started
by individual women, small groups ofwomen saying we want a space out there,

(34:42):
we want to be able to geta permit for the field like the
men do or like the youth do, and we want to be guaranteed via
referees, want to play the samegame and have the same right to be
out there, and they have tomake all that happen. I mean,
they were walking you know. Thesedays, I can walk out and there
are all these you know, processesand procedures and there's a history that I
know what to do. People canhelp me. But these women invented it

(35:05):
all on their own, and wedon't realize how much we have them to
think. And that includes even theconcept of girls and boys having seen these
older women playing again twenty thirty fortyyears ago and having watched that, realize
that that's opened up their view ofwhat women look like as athletes. Women's
sucker has always been grassroots. Itdoesn't matter like what it is, and

(35:27):
I mean still today, I feellike it's like even on the professional level,
it still has a grassroots type offeel. Unfortunately, you know,
because we have to do it ourselves, right right, yeah, and that
we aren't given the resources in that'sreally easy way. It's not automatic.
In the end, we end uphaving to fight for ask for pay for
you know, put the effort into get whether it whether or not men's

(35:51):
you know, the equivalent exists onthe men's side. In the end,
it's still a matter of women askingfor demanding right what it is we need,
and that is definitely in the earlyseventies and throughout the eighties and nineties
as women got these leagues started,and I have to say, I mean
I've heard stories that absolutely men wereon board. I mean not all the
men that they needed to have onboard, but men helped and we absolutely

(36:13):
appreciate the work that they did andbelieving in this concept that there was a
benefit to having women playing sports whenat the time it just wasn't the thing
to do so. And I knowin that league that I first played in
in my late twenties, I lovehearing the women talk about the women who
first started it. They would talkabout how you'd have one soccer game per
week, right, and looking now, I could play every day of the

(36:36):
week, multiple times per day ifI wanted to as a woman in my
forties, right, So back thenyou had one game per week, nothing
was going to stand in a way. You would respeed on the sidelines and
your baby to somebody else, getout on the field when it was your
time to seven, come back outwatch someone else's kid when they needed it,
and you know that element we definitely, you know, this concept of

(36:57):
taking for granted how much opportunity wehave these days. There's no better example
than that that, you know,they really really had to create a space,
but also they use that space toevery possible minute. They made it
work for themselves, and I'm hopingthat that will continue again for myself as
I get older. I bet itwill. And you're kind of you're in
the trenches with a lot of theplayers and their families, and I'm sure

(37:22):
you have. I mean, there'splayers in your program that are you know,
have families, have kids, havegrandkids. What kind of feedback you
get from their family members or spousesor kids or are they supportive? For
the most part, I have notseen any example of a family member or
you know, relative not being supportive. However, what that support looks like

(37:44):
is kind of in line with whatwe see of the roles. You know,
if we're talking about you know,a husband and wife, pupple's male
female couples that generally there's one who'smore in charge of the house and more
in charge of the children and morein charge of the schedules, and that
tends to be the woman. Soa lot of them have partners. So
a lot of the women have men, you know, partners who do play

(38:04):
also, and they do at timesdescribe how their husbands just go to their
game or they go to their tournamentand like there's not much preparation, right,
it's just like my game's at six, I'll see you later. Whereas
you know, they'll describe, ohmy gosh, I you know, I
got home from work, I hadto get kids this, you know,
they had to get dinner, wegot their homework settled. I'm sorry,
I'm late. I had to youknow. And and it is I definitely

(38:24):
sense that we're not at a timewhere there's an equal sense of responsibility for
how the family is managed in away that women can enjoy their sport the
same way men can within that samefamily relationship. So I think while the
support is there, and I haven'tagain ever seen an example of any partners

(38:44):
or any children or you know,anyone complaining. You know that that any
teammate has come to me saying,oh my gosh, my husband or my
wife or my children just aren't allowingthis to happen. Right, But in
the end, how women write,how we're taught to prioritize, you know,
how society kind of paints the pictureof what our priorities are that I
think still affects where we are withyou know, women, we're having lower

(39:06):
participation in general, so women willsign up, but showing up for games
is really challenging, whether again workand it's not only caring for children,
but caring for partners in some cases, caring for parents, caring for pets.
Right like the car, the caregivingresponsibilities do still tend to follow the
moment. So I think that Ialso have not seen as much support in

(39:30):
the sense of like the families comingout to watch. So I know in
my own case, my husband andkids came out the first season and a
little bit the second season, andmaybe became to a tournament or two,
but it didn't become our way oflife because my kids were in sports.
So it became that my husband takesthe kids to their sports. My daughter
played softball, he's a softball coach. My son played soccer, eventually played

(39:52):
WATERPOOLO played a little baffat right,So it's kind of like, inherently our
family is a sports family when itcomes to all parts of pating, and
so if I had to be atmy game, somebody had to take the
kids, right And so in thatsense, the childcare responsibilities fell on him,
and he certainly never complained. Andthen times that he's coaching or he

(40:13):
was doing his own sport, youknow, I have responsibility. So I
guess it goes a little bit,you know, for both that I kind
of like them to show up alittle more. And I think I've heard
that from a few women that,you know, can we have a day
that our families are invited out?Can we have a day that they come
watch us? And women are reallyproud of themselves, right, and they
want their kids to see the example. But you know, so that sense,

(40:34):
the sense of support of hey,I'm going to be there and I'm
going to watch you and cheer youon, we don't see that as often
as I think we'd like to.Tournaments are a different story. Like the
bigger tournament's local tournaments, you willsee quite a few family members out there,
but it's not as common as Iwould expect. Yeah, I would
love to hear. I would loveto hear somebody say, oh, I
got to get ready for my mom'sgame. Sorry, I can't do that

(40:58):
exactly, Sorry I can't make it. My mom's got a soccer game.
Totally, totally. But it isan effort though, right, I mean
it's an effort and you do andyou know, we make that effort for
I mean that you're talking about soccer, but we can put like probably anything
in there, so like it's theyou know, the women have to do
all the stuff. Yeah, anyhobby, right, anything that a woman

(41:21):
and even just the concept of havinglike a quote unquote World nine out right,
which girls should be women because womenare adults and girls or children.
But the concept of having their owntime is always this big production versus you
know, in general, male partnersjust they have their time because they do
so a shift definitely needs to happen. And I think it's just such a
good point in something that I'm goingto promote a little more just within my

(41:44):
own organization, within my own networks, is you know, what feedback can
I get from these from these womenabout how to incorporate their families in a
bigger way. And I'm not sureyou saw my website, but I had
an interesting experience involving my son,and that is that I joined the local
community college soccer team just a coupleof years ago. So I was forty

(42:05):
five years old, and I hadn'tplayed any college soccer. Like I said,
I had finished in high school,injured my knee, and didn't go
back until I was twenty six,twenty seven years old. And so what
happened is a couple of years ago, I actually was twenty twenty one,
I had gone fully plant based,so I had changed my diet from vegetarian
to fully planned based. I owedthe course of you know, five months

(42:25):
or so, I lost twenty pounds. Was just following a really good diet,
you know, being really careful aboutwhat I ate, but cutting out
you know, more refined sugars,cutting out all the breads. So I
was in this place that I hadlost weight, and I decided to go
to the local community college just todo soccer training. So they had a
summer class, and I know,you know, public community colleges, anybody
can join. And I ended upgetting a referral to that coach because somebody

(42:49):
else knew her from you know,on my teamates. So I checked in
with the coach and I said,let'sten, I'm forty five years old.
You know, is it okay forme to just take your class? I
just I haven't been coached since Iwas seventeen years old, and I want
training, right. I just lostoff this way and I'm feeling better than
ever. So she said, absolutely, come on out. And it was
a small group. There were likefour or five of us who enrolled that
summer. Again, it was postpandemic, so not prime time for people

(43:10):
really to be kind of getting outthere, I think groups and doing team
sports. So I started training.Well, we got closer and closer for
the next semester. And the coach, who was just a couple of years
younger than I am, and sheand I had, you know, become
friends, and you know, withher as the coach of the team,
and she was like, listen,we need players and you're welcome to come

(43:30):
play. And I was like,yeah, haha, right, you had
a good joke and she's like,no, I'm actually serious, right like,
And so I thought about it andthought, why wouldn't I know,
right, I worked flexible hours.I at this point, at that point,
I actually was strong enough of aplayer you know, when it came
to work, you know, withinmy own group there in that summer program,
and I haven't seen any competitors yet, so I hadn't played against any

(43:52):
other teams because these are women intheir early twenty you know, eighteen nineteen,
twenty years old, right, ButI decided to give it a two,
and I had to enroll full time. So I had a full courseload
of college classes, and I wasworking, and I had my family,
and then I was playing college soccer. Right. So my son at the
same time ended up it was hisfreshman year at that same school, and

(44:16):
he enjoyed the water polo team.So he was a goalkeeper on the Miramar
Community College body polo team. Andhis mom is a soccer player for the
women's soccer team. So we endedup getting a ton of media about it,
you know, even nationally there wasnews you know, talking about families
supporting a mother playing soccer or anaunt or a grandma, you know,

(44:37):
whatever it is. In the end, he was in a position that not
only did he have to be supportive, but on live TV, right,
he'd had to show that he believedstrongly that it was super great that his
mom was playing on this college teamwith him on the same campus. But
it was the most bonding and funexperience ever, and I think so few
people have that type of opportunity.Yeah, that's a great story. I

(44:59):
was going to ask you if youhad like an inspiring story or a memorable
moment, but I think you justanswered that's like amazing. Yeah. If
I look back and I think,wait, how did I actually do that?
It was rabulous. There's no questionI will remember that forever. Of
what advice? So, what advicedo you have for women who are interested

(45:19):
in joining a soccer league or aprogram or of a certain age, but
they're like hesitant. Maybe I'm not, you know, overweight, I'm old,
you know, but they really wantto play. Like, what advice
would you give? You know?Number one, look for an established women's
league in your area and look forthat free agent or look for some kind
of player matchup that'll that'll let youget involved. Obviously, you know,

(45:42):
check with friends, if you haveathletic friends, If you have friends involved
in other sports and they may knowsomeone who's already playing, you know,
get involved with them. But again, talk to the league and let them
know that you want some way toeither, you know, even if it's
once a month, some of theseleagues would offer beginner training programs or returning
to the game training program let womenget a touch on the ball in a
more organized fashion. I don't knowmany women who just go out and play

(46:04):
at a park by themselves, right, And I know that we can all
go kick against the backboard, youknow, we could make it happen.
But I think that social aspect,especially for women, ends up being really
really important. And I've talked toprograms before about the fact that I do
often see women wanting to sign uptogether. And and this is mainly true
for younger women, so women intheir twenties maybe saying well, you know,

(46:25):
if I have a friend going,I'll go right and you know,
I can't have any judgment about it. I know how it feels. I
wish women would be the same asmen. And again, I'm generalizing pretty
big right now, but I seethese men's boards that are basically saying,
hey, anybody wants to come outand play, and I see all these
hands raised on you know, inthe meetup group or in the Facebook group,

(46:45):
and it seems to work. Buton the women's side, it just
seems like there has to be againthis kind of human touch, a little
more personal interaction to give them theconfidence to get them that connection. So
hopefully, you know, women evenmore so can put themselves out there and
embrace the vulnerability and what it's goingto feel like to get out and get
out on the field because it's gonnabe worth it. And then another part

(47:07):
of that is, if you don'thave any program in your area, talk
to your local person rec department,talk to a local YDE and CA,
talk to your youth club right,ask them to help establish some kind of
again, whether it's once a monthor once a weekend, some kind of
training program or pick up session thatthey can do on the side with their
with their youth fields. Yeah,great advice, A lot of good stuff

(47:29):
there. Hen be ask you aquestion. You're in San Diego and I
see your San Diego Wave sign inthe back of you. Have you seen
like an has there been kind ofan uplift or a bump in like women's
soccer registration for older women in SanDiego since the Wave came to town.
Right, It's funny because over theyears of having San Diego soccer women whenever
there would be you know, womenwomen's soccer in the Olympics on TV,

(47:52):
or we have a Women's World Cup. Within a few weeks, I would
get all these newer clubs to play, and you know, it became so
parent that I started preparing myself,Okay, I'm going to get all these
women involved all of a sudden.So when it comes to the Wave,
definitely an increase in interest. Youknow, women all the way from eighteen
up into sixties, and I thinkbecause women's soccer is already so popular with

(48:15):
her recreationally, even though we didn'thave a lot of visibility. You know,
we've had we've had professional women's teamshere before, so that was already
there, and then there was agap. And we do have some of
the semi pro leagues here, wehave good college teams. So the bump
is big, but it's not it'snot a huge, huge difference because in

(48:36):
the end, we already have quitea bit of interest. But when it
comes to actual like working with theWave to try to increase participation, that's
something that I've met with them beforeto talk about because I've noticed whenever I'm
in games, when you look aroundat the backs of the heads. Of
all these fans sitting in the stadiums, there are so many people with gray
and white hair, and if Iyou know again kind of just pull this

(49:00):
generalization that those are probably people atleast over forty, if not over fifty
or sixty. The fan base isactually an older population that I think most
people would have guessed. I don'tknow if that's true nationwide in WSL,
but I love it, right,I love that we have this population.
I mean, they're going to gamesbecause they can afford it, because they

(49:20):
have the time. You know,it's not a matter of bringing you know,
kids and their friends and the newsoccer team. Like these are people
who, whether or not they've playedthemselves, this is how they want to
spend their time. They want tosit in the stadium, they want to
eat the stadium food, you know, they want to watch the game live
and experience this. So I thinkthat element of it lends itself to the
information that there are likely going tobe even more kind of pockets of interest

(49:45):
when it comes to men and womenof older ages wanting to joy pubtly,
because you know, some of thatis satisfied by maybe going to the games,
but at some point especially with havingwalking soccer in more beginner software programs,
that it feels safe enough. Youknow, the general out on the
field is like, we want togo to work tomorrow, so you know,
no slide tackling. You know,we don't even wanted to get tap

(50:06):
up. And I think if inthe right environments, when people feel like
it will be safe enough that they'renot going to have the broken leg at
the end of the day, thatwe may be able to pull in people
we didn't even know that they hadan option to play. We look at
the NWSL teams as being like thatpart of the community, and I think
the successful ones and this even inthe semi pros, the ones that are
successful are the ones that are bringingin the community and talking in the community

(50:28):
and getting involved. And so I'mnot always interested to see how the NWSL
teams are enhancing the communities. Andyeah, I got this question in our
women's Adult Soccer Facebook group because thatit has been something that's you know,
since the wave arrived here in SanDiego. Is our that's you know,
if you have a local NWSL teamin your area and you are part of
a women's league, what kind ofpartnerships or connections or events or programs they've

(50:51):
been doing. Because I wanted tobe able to go to WAVE and say,
hey, this is what's being done, you know in this area,
here's what I think we could do. And it really was a pretty limited
response that I want to say NorthCarolina and Florida, but you know,
there were there was kind of atrickle down effect that you know, the
league itself had some identity that waslinked to that team. But again,

(51:13):
with so many established women's leagues,it's kind of like we don't really know
what to ask for. You know, women pay them pay for themselves.
They pay their lead fees. Thatpays the fields and the insurance and the
referees. So understanding what it iswe need as leagues isn't really clear to
us because we've been operating independently forso long. For me, what I'm
asking for is visibility, right Like, I want to make sure I want

(51:34):
an opportunity to bring all of ourrecreational men's, women's and co ed,
bring all of our recreational adult programsthere one day, let us have tables
and boost them, let us recruitright like again, I'm going to get
all these people out there who couldpotentially be playing, let us recruit,
And also I want I'm not asking, can we honor some of these women
who have established these leagues and trainingprograms here in San Diego County and make
sure that they're recognized for what they'vedone. Yeah, but I definitely want

(51:58):
to see more. I think Ithink, you know, as a fan
base, women in their forties throughage, you know again into their seventies,
they're valuable. They're buying the merchyou know, they're they're watching,
they're subscribing to the channels. Imean, they're putting a lot of energy
from what I can see just againwithin my network, I'm seeing it daily,
and I think recognizing it including havingrepresentation within their media. You know

(52:21):
that it shouldn't just be the picturesof the kids, you know, the
girls holding up the posters, butyou know, where are the images of
women again and there are forties throughseventies who are showing up to these games
and you know, and wearing theshirt, wearing the scar. But you
know all of that right for howthey advertise, good point, brandy guy
fighting for us, right, right, So smile tirelessly. So what are

(52:45):
your goals? So that leads meto my question for you, what are
your goals for the future of SanDiego soccer women? All right, well,
I would like to say something reallylike new and exciting, but at
the end, it's these things thatare nagging at me. You know,
what do beginner programs look like?How can I set that up in ways
that it's not me showing up everytime? Right, Like, I mean

(53:06):
multiples of me, And I'm nota coach, so I shouldn't even be
out there coaching and teaching women likeI do these drills where like I throw
a hula hoop and I'm like kickthe ball into the hula hoop, right,
And that is not part of likeus soccer training, I'm pretty sure.
But in the end, you know, how do I find again coaches
who are willing to train older womento play soccer? Because youth soccer is

(53:29):
you know, very valuable financially forthem. Parents are willing to pay.
But I wouldn't expect women to havethe same financial position that they would see
that this hobby of theirs to bevaluable enough to pay what parents are paying
for their kids to be trained.You know, in general, women aren't
going to play college soccer in theirforties. You know, in general,
sometimes it happens with her. Butthe idea of like you know, kids,

(53:51):
parents wanting kids to get scholarships andhave this career in soccer, right,
women are coming at it with thesame goal. They want to get
better, they want to play reallywell, they want better fitness, they
want to feel like they know whatthey're doing out on the field. But
they're not going to pay hundreds ofdollars and buy these big packages for training.
So the idea of having beginner trainingprograms, pickup programs. You know
a lot of women these days,I'm just seeing less interest in the commitment

(54:14):
of a league, less less wantingto be part of a team, and
just wanting to show up and dopickup. And that includes women traveling.
So I get quite a few womenwho come into San Diego area and just
say, hey, I'm here fora month doing a training program, or
you know, working in this otherjob for a while, So do you
have pickup that I can join in? The answer is generally know. So
my goals are working on beginner trainingprograms, pickup sessions for women just in

(54:37):
general, increasing the amount of opportunitywithout having all these really firmly established teams
that they kind of close out opportunityfor other women. On top of that,
you know, I'm always looking internationallyat how I can get women from
other areas of the country, again, at ages forty and older, to
come play here at the States.We have some amazing tournaments that they could

(54:59):
be part of, but you know, financially, the time and even part
of the timing when they have theirwork vacations that necessarily or their school vacations
isn't necessarily the same time that wedo here in the US. So finding
those matchups of ways we can getwomen out here to play, and then
of course, you know, bringingwomen abroad. You know, unfortunately,
I'm one of those people like Ihave fifty thousand things that I want to

(55:21):
do, and I'm going to workout all of them at the same time
and then kind of see what feelsright, what sticks, what I get
the most interested and really trying toyou know, the concept that I talked
about early on in automating these connections. You know, I don't think I
ever want to fully do that.I want to be part of the process,
but I can envision that my websitecould provide way better information about tournaments,

(55:42):
for example, and so doing allthis connection in a way that you
know, women can at least feelempowered to you know, look at the
website, get some information. There'dbe privacy and security involved. So that's
something else that I'm working on.It's inspiring. Yeah, and I think
well, and the truth is peoplea lot like that's the crazy thing is
how do I sleep so much?But also right I might take a nap

(56:07):
after this interview. You got allthis energy have a price. It requires
a lot of rest afterwards. I'mglad you're putting the energy into women's soccer
though it's so appreciated. True,true, Yeah, don't give you mum
anything else. Well, we're we'regoing to add your website in social media

(56:29):
links to our show notes so peoplecan contact you and get more information through
that. Is there any other waythat people can get involved or support San
Diego soccer women. I would loveto see the concept of sponsors in the
women's recreational soccer community because I seeit happening in the UK. So if
there are local whether it's restaurants orbrands or soccer stores or anything else,

(56:54):
who want to put in a littlebit of money, and the money itself
almost doesn't matter. I want womento see that there are organizations without our
community who feel like we're worth investingit, you know, and if it
makes our registration fees even slightly cheaper, if it makes us more able to
buy new wheels for the goals thatyou know, the wheel popped off and

(57:15):
we're dragging the goal around when webring them up on the field, right
like whatever is that it does inthe end, showing especially older women,
that other people see them and valuewhat they're doing and want to make life
just a little bit easier for them. I think that's a really positive message.
So that's one thing I would saythat could be added on. Other

(57:37):
than that, definitely just spreading theword to make sure women know about their
opportunities. And I'm happy to keepconnecting Brandie. I'm so in awe of
what you built here in the livesthat you've changed. It's amazing to me,
but not surprising for some reason aftertalking to you for this ouse thank
you for all you're doing for women'ssoccer. We reappreciate you, and we

(57:57):
appreciate you stepping by and sharing yourstory. I loved it. Thank you
so much, Oh, thank you, and I look forward to doing it
again someday and having given more totalk about. We'll definitely have Brandy back
on for sure. How how excitedare you right now? How energized are
you are right now? It's likeB twelve with Brandy Mitchell. Right You're
just like, A I don't feeldo I really want to, you know,

(58:21):
do this or do that? Youknow, do I really want to
like get in my car and goto the market. I let me just
here to Brandy Mitchell. She'll inspireme. And it spared me to get
back on the pitch, right.She actually Brandy asked, you know,
like trying to get me, uh, to recruit me. I'm like,
I haven't played since grade school,but I could talk about it all day
long. So anyway, so justgreat to have Brandy. Definitely will have

(58:44):
her back on the on the show. And I mean, how can we
not. She's such a bundle ofenergy, and I think I think there's
like more things to come. Imean we actually talked about walking soccer,
which I hadn't really heard about,and she's, uh, she's starting to
connect people who want to do walkingsoccer and We had a big conversation about
that, but I had to justfor time reasons, I had to cut

(59:05):
it out. But maybe we'll haveBrandy come back on and talk a little
bit more about that, because itis growing. I mean, it's big
in Europe and uh, and it'sit's just interesting. It's an interesting aspect
to that next level. I guessof older people playing, not just older
women, but older just older peoplein general playing soccer and keeping active and
why not add that walking soccer elementinto it or option? Right? Maybe

(59:30):
not, maybe you can't run anymorelike you just do, but walking soccer
is definitely something you get a workoutquench those those needs for community and social
you know, aspect of the gameand physical activity and you know, exercise
and all that all that stuff.So we'll have Brandy back on to talk
about that really soon. If you'reinterested in learning more about San Diego Soccer

(59:54):
Women, visit the website at SanDiego Soccerwomen dot com. Just got so
much information on that website, andthere you can go ahead and check out
all her social channels as well.I'll put those links on our show notes
so you can go in and checkit out. Follow Brandy and her organization.
So much good doing so much good. Love it, love it,

(01:00:15):
so thank you Brandy for coming onthe show. Really appreciate it. So
we're gonna switch gears real quick.I know this is like a super long
show up. There's so much goingon. So, like I said,
the draw for the inaugural CONCACAFF WChampions Cup took place. There are eleven
of the best women's clubs in NorthAmerica, Central America and the Caribbean and

(01:00:37):
they'll compete for the regional club title. This is the first time ever that
the concacaft W Champions Cup is kickedoff. We're really excited about it.
And they conducted the official draw andso I want to just co over those
groups with you real quick. There'sonly two groups. So the Konkaff W
Champions Cup includes a preliminary round aswell, and it'll be followed by group

(01:00:58):
and direct elimination play. The propliminary round will be a single leg match
between two clubs, with the winneradvancing to the group stage, and those
take place. That preliminary round takesplace on August thirteenth through the fifteenth,
twenty twenty four. The group stagewill feature ten clubs divided into two groups
of five clubs each. Each clubwill play every club in its group once

(01:01:20):
for total four matches per club,two at home, two away. At
the conclusion of the group stage,play the group winners and runners up.
There'll be four clubs in total.We'll progress to the competition's final and the
semifinals, the third place match andthe final will take place May twenty second
through the twenty fifth, twenty twentyfive. So concaft W Champions League goes

(01:01:44):
from August basically to May of twentyfive. So let's look at the groups
here. Pull these up good.Apologize in advance if I mispronounce a team
name because there's a couple of SouthAmerican teams here familiar with. So we'll
start with Group A and that includesNew Jersey, New York, Gotham FC,

(01:02:05):
Tigras Feminel c F, Monterey feminlld A, La Juenes, Fraser's
Whip Football Limited. And then inGroup B San Diego Wave, Portland Thorns
FC, Club America Santa Fe FC, and then the preliminary round winner.
So the preliminary round winner will slotinto Group B, and like I said,

(01:02:28):
that'll take place August thirteenth through thefifteenth, twenty twenty four, and
then the group stages begin August twentieth, and then they go through i think
at August, September and then October, and then in the semifinals, the
third place match final, and thenthe first ever conquer caft W Champions Cup

(01:02:49):
champion will be crowned at a centralizedvenue to be announced in May May twenty
fifth, twenty twenty five. Sogood stuff, exciting times ahead, and
the summertime is going to be superfun. And then don't forget we have
the NWSL Liga MXFEMINL Summer Cup,you know, and that's another historic new
partnership connecting those two worlds of topwomen's soccer leagues together, and we'll talk

(01:03:14):
more about that and upcoming shows.Hopefully next show we'll talk more about it,
because that's kicking off real soon.July nineteenth is the kickoff for that,
and it's a thirty three match tournament. It'll consist of thirty group stage
contests and followed by four team semifinalrounds in the week of August fourth,
So July August is coming up realquick. So we'll talk about that and

(01:03:35):
more on our next show so manygreat things happening. I really hope that
you enjoyed episode two hundred and twentyeight of Women's World Football Show. I
would love to hear your thoughts onmy interview with founder of San Diego Soccer
Women, Brandy Mitchell, as wellas our soundbites from Emma Hayes. Feel
free to email me at Patty atwwfshow dot com. I read all the

(01:03:58):
emails and I do my best replientat time manner. If you did enjoy
this episode, subscribe now on ApplePodcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio app who will
play tuned in castbox, speaker,Stitcher, wwfshow dot Com, or wherever
you're listening to this right now.And if you really really enjoy listening to
Women's ROLLD Football Show, one ofthe best ways you could show your appreciation
is to give us a five starrating and labor review wherever you listen.

(01:04:19):
I always love to know your thoughtsand reviews are the best ways for others
to find the show. Also,another way to help grow the show and
grow this beautiful game that we alllove is to tell your friends and family
about Women's World Football Show. Ifyou're listening on a mobile device, Swipe
over the cover art and you'll findepisode notes, including some details you may
have missed. For relative links fromthis episode, visit our show notes on

(01:04:41):
wwfshow dot com. Connect with uson Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok at
WWF Show. Women's Roll Football Showis hosted, written, edited, and
produced by Patti Labella. That's Me. Additional assistance for this episode by Brandy
Mitchell and US Soccer. And thankyou, especially you for joining me on
this exciting journey through women's football.Stay strong, stay mindful, keep loving

(01:05:02):
your heart. We'll see y'all nexttime.

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Episode 228: Brandi Mitchell, Emma Hayes

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