Building Community Through Sport: Tanner Clay's Charleston Battery Journey

From the soccer pitch to the boardroom, Tanner Clay's journey with the Charleston Battery exemplifies how sports can build bridges between businesses and communities.

As a former College of Charleston soccer player who parlayed his passion into a leadership role with America's longest continuously running professional soccer club, Clay offers a refreshing perspective on sports marketing in a growing industry. "Without the community we don't exist," he emphasizes, highlighting the Battery's commitment to authentic engagement across the Lowcountry.

The episode reveals fascinating insights about the business side of soccer, from innovative partnership opportunities to the importance of creating family-friendly experiences that keep fans coming back. Clay shares candid stories about his transition from finance and tech sales into sports management, proving that following your passion can lead to meaningful career success.

What truly stands out is the Charleston Battery's community impact. From their work with MUSC Children's Hospital to youth engagement initiatives, the team consistently demonstrates that professional sports can be a powerful catalyst for positive change. Clay's personal commitment to mentorship through BMN Tour (earning him "Match of the Year" recognition) mirrors the organization's values.

With major soccer events coming to America – including the 2026 World Cup – Clay makes a compelling case for why businesses should develop their "soccer strategy" now. The Battery's accessibility offers local companies an affordable entry point into sports marketing compared to major league franchises.

Whether you're a soccer enthusiast, business owner, or someone interested in community development, this conversation delivers valuable takeaways about relationship building, strategic growth, and the future of soccer in America. Ready to experience Charleston Battery's unique brand of community-focused sports? Their next home game is June 21st against Phoenix Rising!

Presenting Sponsor: Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce

Studio Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions

Production Sponsor: RMBO.co

Design Sponsor: DK Design

Committee:
Kathleen Herrmann | Host | MPCC Immediate Past President | Mount Pleasant Towne Centre
Mike Compton | Co-host | Marketing Chair | RMBO.co
Rebecca Imholz | Co-host | MPCC Executive Director
Amanda Bunting Comen | Co-host | Social ABCs
Ben Nesvold | Co-host | In-coming President | Edward Jones

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Hello and welcome to the Building Business Podcast
powered by the Mount PleasantChamber of Commerce.
We're here recording in theCharleston Media Solutions
Studios, who, of course, arehuge supporters and partners of
the Chamber.
So thank you for letting usrecord here today.
And another huge thank you toour sponsor, dk designs.

(00:28):
Oh yeah, uh.
If you're looking for any kindof creative inspiration, reach
out to uh, to darius designs.
He's the best, he brands all ofour work.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Yeah, he's amazing he's amazing um.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
my name is kathy herman and I am the immediate
past president of the MountPleasant Chamber of Commerce.
I'm also the marketing directorat Mount Pleasant Town Center
and I'm joined today again byone of my favorite podcast
co-hosts.
I know, but I love talking toyou, Mike.
Oh, that's nice of you.
It's awesome.
We've got Mike Comptonpresident of Roomba Advertising,

(01:03):
and Mike is also the currentmarketing committee chair for
the chamber.
That's right.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
Anything else you'd like to add about yourself, mike
.
Incoming president of theAmerican Marketing Association.
So if anybody wants to join themarketing team, we're here.
I'm going to have Tanner.
Tanner's going to join too.
He doesn't know about it yet,but he's going to join the
committee.
Amanda's on it.
Yeah, yeah yet, but he's goingto join the committee.
Amanda's on it.
Yeah, yeah, we got a bunch ofpeople on it.
Nice, everybody's doing nicesolicitation there I got it when

(01:30):
I can I know thanks, kathy, allright, oh, speaking of tanner
yeah, I know all right, so we'vegot an amazing guest with us
today.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
um, he is a seasoned sales leader and former
collegiate athlete with over adecade of experience across
diverse industries.
He specializes in drivinggrowth and profitability through
strategic B2B and B2C sales.
His passion lies in buildingmeaningful relationships both

(01:59):
with clients and withincommunities to create lasting
value.
This sounds like someone youall want to work with, so please
welcome Tanner Clay, directorof Business Development for the
Charleston Battery Soccer Club.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Thank, you very much.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Welcome Tanner.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
That was a nice introduction, wasn't it?

Speaker 2 (02:19):
You make me sound real good.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Well, I think you made yourself sound good there.
That is exactly the kind ofperson that people want to do
business with, so we are really,really, really excited to have
you here.
I know the Charleston Batteryis such a big thing too, mount
Pleasant, in the entireCharleston area.
Tell us how you kind of gotinvolved with them, and I
understand that you used, didyou used to play soccer or some

(02:42):
other sport?

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Yeah, so soccer has been my passion.
I mean, I played all kinds ofsports growing up, but soccer
ended up being my number one.

Speaker 3 (02:50):
Where'd you grow up?

Speaker 2 (02:51):
I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, Wow.
So, yeah, made my way toCharleston on a soccer
scholarship to the College ofCharleston.
So I played under the legend ofRalph Lundy, Played with his
son as well Awesome.
But yeah, I mean soccer hasalways been my passion, and to
be able to work in itprofessionally now it's a dream

(03:13):
for sure.

Speaker 3 (03:14):
Real quick.
Give us some history on RalphLike why is he such a great
coach?
Yeah, so Ralph Lundy is this isthe College of Charleston right
, the College of.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Charleston yeah, we started at Erskine College, and
so he's probably the mostwell-known person in South
Carolina when it comes to soccermaybe not even the Southeast.
He took the College ofCharleston men's program from
NAIA all the way up to D1 overhis 30-plus years of coaching,
from playing at dirt horse lotsdowntown to what is now Patriots

(03:49):
Point.
So he's been integral in thegrowth of not only the College
of Charleston soccer but youthsoccer in the region.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
And youth soccer is ginormous here in the Lowcountry
region my kid, the 9-year-oldhenry.
He's big into it and there's alot of them he's yeah, he's good
, but you have to be great tomake like a wando high school
team or like a certain club,because there's club levels and

(04:18):
there's the okay clubs andthere's really high elite clubs
and then there's like travelingclubs, right.

Speaker 1 (04:23):
They're all different too, right oh?

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Oh my gosh Went to Savannah the other weekend for
one soccer game.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Yeah, you could do a whole podcast on soccer, exactly
.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
Speaking of soccer podcasts too.
I know we're jumping around alittle bit, but I'll wait.
I'll hold on to this for later.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Hold on to that one.
Yeah, that's a good one.
I I want to go back to whathappened after you graduated COC
and then, what did you do inbetween?

Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, so I did four years at the college Did you
love it.
I loved it.
Yeah, it's a dangerous place.

Speaker 3 (04:53):
Come again.
What do you say more?

Speaker 2 (04:55):
I mean for me.
Thank goodness I had to getgood grades to be able to play
on the field.

Speaker 3 (05:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Because I just don't see how you could go there and,
you know, not have and just behaving fun.
Um, you know, that kept mylooks like me straight.
Yeah, um, plus my, you know,grandma and mom put good values
into me as well, but, uh, butyeah, there's there's a lot of
temptations, but I enjoyed mytime.
Um, you know, you know, maybedidn't have as much success on
the field as a team that I wouldhave liked, but, um, you know
that's life ups and downs.
So after I graduated, um, youknow, I had a degree in finance.
So finance, yeah, um, you know,didn't really know what I

(05:33):
wanted to do.
Um, I guess I went into collegewanting to be an accountant.
That was kind of a little bittoo slow for me.
So I, you know, they saidfinance was a little bit more
forward thinking, so you.
So, at the end of the day, Ialways wanted to figure out how
I can make the most money.
I had a small bank account andmy mom always said I was a
hoarder of money trying tofigure out how I got all this

(05:54):
money.
It was only like $50.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
There's worse things, yes, worse things to be
addicted to.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
But yes, graduated with a degree in finance and had
to figure out what I wanted,what I needed to do, or else I
was moving back home to Arizonawith my parents, which is not a
lot of people want to do thatNope.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
So Well, not after experiencing the low country
going back to landlocked Arizona.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, exactly so I love Arizona.
But, yeah, charleston, once youget here it's hard to leave, as
you all know.
But from there got into areally good management training
program through EnterpriseHoldings, enterprise Rent-A-Car
probably people know it as thatand I was there for four and a
half, five years, really builtmy business acumen marketing,

(06:41):
b2b sales, b2c sales, how totalk to people, soft skills, how
to manage people who areyounger than me.

Speaker 3 (06:47):
You got all that at our price.
Older than me, I heard theyhave a really good program there
.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Yeah, and you know, from there.
You know I was just trying tofigure out.
You know what I wanted to do atthe end and from there I
actually, you know, followed afriend who had got another job
at a cybersecurity companycalled Fish Labs at the time and
they've been bought out.
I think it's Fortra now.
They were in Pacific BoxingCrate downtown and he gave me an

(07:13):
opportunity.
I came onto the inside salesteam and I thought of it as a
new opportunity to help grow mysales acumen in a different
space.
Because at Enterprise it'speople coming into you, talking,
trying to upsell them, or goingto people and talking that way,
but in cybersecurity and techsales it's hundreds of phone

(07:34):
calls, right, right, it'sgetting cursed out.
It's being creative in yourpitches and your emails that you
draft and your elevator pitches.
They need to be um, they needto be quick and they need to be
sharp Um and you need to have alevel of of knowledge um to be
able to overcome objections andall these things.
So you know I was there for twoyears.

(07:56):
You know, had a lot of success.
Early on, um started managingthe inside sales team while
still managing my own territory.
Um, you know, but from time Iwas making good money, which I
guess was always my initial goalyeah, winning.
Had no family yet, no kids oranything, so enjoying myself.
But from there, I was alwaystrying to figure out how do I

(08:17):
get back to sport?
Soccer would be great, but howdo I get back to sport?
We're in a small town, stillright, great, but how do I get
back to sport?
We're, we're in a small town,still right.
Um, you know there isn't a bigsports team, um, but you know,
the battery was always in theback of my mind.
They just come under newownership in 2020.
You know, fast forward to 2021,linkedin yeah, oh, that's great,

(08:37):
we love charleston batteryaccount executive opportunity
opened up and you know I appliedoh my gosh I applied and you
know, I guess the rest ishistory well, that wasn't that
long ago either, tanner yeah, no, this is uh year five for me oh
wow, you've been doing a lotfor within five years yeah,
let's talk about it.

(08:57):
That's a big breath.

Speaker 3 (09:00):
Let's talk about it exactly.
I mean business.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
Exactly, I mean business development too.
Like you said, we're a smalltown but we're a big town and
there's lots of different placesfor people to sponsor or
advertise or whatever.
So kind of give us ideas of howyou make Charleston Battery
different for local businessesto be able to sponsor or
participate.

Speaker 2 (09:22):
Yeah, how much time.

Speaker 3 (09:24):
You got all the time in the world.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Yeah, no, it's a great question and it's
something that I think it's kindof always changing our strategy
.
I mean, depending on theorganization, it could be a
small business with less than 50people, or it could be a
medium-sized or regionalbusiness that's coming in.
So it kind of just depends.
But I think it all kind of goesback to our roots.

(09:47):
So we are throwing some statshere we're the longest
continuously run professionalsoccer club in the united states
crazy.
No, 1993, a little low, lowcountry little low country
charleston battery soccer wow Iguess we're tied with the
columbus crew and richmondkickers in virginia oh, so we're
gonna have somebody to playagainst yeah right, um, but yeah
, no.
So I guess, kind of just goingback to our roots, telling our

(10:08):
story, um, you know, over those32 plus years we've only had, I
think, three owners.
So that's, pretty pretty rarefor professional sports,
especially as kind of a startupsport which it was and still
kind of is.
So talking about.
You know who we are as a, as abrand.
You know our evolution.

(10:28):
Uh, we, we do have fans thatthat date back to the nineties
season, members that are 20 plusyears with us.
So it's telling you know thestory of the brand of soccer.
Telling them that, hey, orfootball, depending on where
you're from, um, letting them,hey, we have different audiences
that you have the ability totap into.

(10:49):
We've got people from, well,just kind of talking about
Charleston, all the Tri-Countyarea, we have fans coming down
from Columbia, from Myrtle Beach, because we're the highest
level of pro sports in the state.

Speaker 3 (11:01):
Highest level of pro sports in the state.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (11:05):
That's awesome.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
We've got know, like you said, youth soccer is big.
So when there's big gamesespecially, we've got people
traveling from all over, sure,and you know that is attractive
for small, medium regionalbusinesses that you know want to
increase their reach, you know,and we're fairly affordable to
partner with compared to maybethe Panthers or Atlanta United

(11:28):
or the Atlanta Falcons.
So it does take some convincingbecause soccer is still growing
as a sport in the United Statesbut with the World Cup coming
next year, everyone really needsto have some type of soccer
strategy as a business if youwant to stay ahead of the game.
Right, it's not just that.
It's the World Cup 2026.

(11:48):
It's the Olympics, it's theWomen's World Cup 2031.
Okay, and that's all in theUnited States.

Speaker 3 (11:55):
That's a great point, Tanner.
It's a great point.
So we need to have thesebusinesses jump on board sooner
than later, exactly.

Speaker 2 (12:05):
Or at least start strategizing for these.
Yeah, or at least um consultwith us to.
You know, maybe it isn't us,maybe they want to grow in
greenville and we can get themconnected with the greenville
triumph okay right or it's.
You know, we've.
We've, like I said, we've beendoing it for a long time,
especially our.
We have a great president tocro, who are very knowledgeable
and, um, can you know, selfishly, we're always going to want to
bring in more sponsors for us,but it's a, you know, it's a

(12:27):
team sport right so how do wehelp grow the league as well,
which would in turn help usRight?

Speaker 3 (12:32):
Right.
What you guys really exceed inother than soccer is the family
environment at the game.
Kathy, you should, you shouldjust go.
You should go just to enjoy thegame.
I'm sure mr clay might have aticket for you or two um there's
, there's, there's tranks to behad.
Right, there's some wine, Ithink.

(12:53):
Maybe I don't know, I don'tspecifically, I don't know
what's on their menu.
Okay, but they do have a reallygreat family, like vibe.
There kids are running aroundplaying.
They're not crazy, right?
I know you see me with Kathy.

Speaker 1 (13:05):
He saw the look in my eyes going I don't want to go
anywhere where kids are runningaround, but it's just a really
fun environment.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
There's food trucks, so I know I hope Nick's German
Kitchen is going to be there foranother season, because he
crushes the pretzel game overthere with the German Kitchen.
Anyhow.
So there's a lot of great foodtrucks and then the the players
really interact with the kids ina big way the kids get to go on
the field beforehand.
They get to, you know, line upand be on the field and high

(13:34):
five the other players going out.

Speaker 1 (13:35):
You know, it's just a really, really cool experience,
a lot of fun well, now we haveto talk about having them come
to my one of the town centers.
Kids clubs yes, because we dohave a kids club, oh yeah.
Okay, for sure, let's make surewe're talking about that.

Speaker 2 (13:49):
Oh sure, that's a great idea, because you were
just saying how family friendlyit is.
I love that.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
Let's talk about that too.

Speaker 2 (13:56):
We're the community's club.
Without the community we don'texist.
They're helping us drive thebusiness forward and our players
know that when they sign theircontracts to be a part of our
team, they know that communityactivation is a really big piece
of building trust all over thecommunity.

(14:16):
So, yeah, we take pride, theplayers take pride in getting
out, because we can't alwaysjust ask, ask, ask, ask.
Right, we've got to, like, goand give people things.
We've got to go to where theyare.
Yes, um, we've got to go toSomerville.
We've got to go to Goose Creek,we've got to go to John's
Island to meet kids at schools,daycares, clinics, soccer camps,

(14:38):
baseball camps, um, you know,if we can be there, we'll, we'll
try to figure it out.
So it's a lot of times it's,you know, us trying to go out
and connect with people.
But you know, as we're growingour reach, people are reaching
out to us and for opportunities,and you know they've got a long
busy schedule, that's for sure,um, but if we can make it work,
we will love it.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
That's amazing, kathy , did you have something teed up
?

Speaker 1 (15:00):
I do.
I want to talk about yourcommunity engagement because we
can talk about I mean, I knowit's a business podcast and
we'll get back to the businessbut as part of doing business is
being a part of the community,as you know getting involved.
You've been involved.
I don't even want to startlisting some of the things that
you've been doing, but I'm sureyou understand the importance of
being involved with thecommunity and, of course, we've

(15:21):
worked with you you at the MouthPleasant Chamber of Commerce.
I understand that you've beenin some organizations a mentor
and things like that so tell usthe importance of being involved
in these kinds of communitygroups that, of course, I'm sure
help your business as well.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, most definitely .
I mean, I kind of think back toyou know, day one when I first
started with the club in 21 asaccount executive.
Um, you know, I tried to buildout my own kind of small
business plan to, and I guess Iguess one of the one of the main
things that stuck with me in myinterview process was like
we're looking for someone to bethe face of the club okay and I
was like that's a, that's a big,big ass yeah, have you seen me?

Speaker 3 (15:59):
have you looked at me ?

Speaker 2 (15:59):
challenge accepted right so you know, from day one
I was like, all right, how do?
What do I need to do to to makethat happen?
Right?
So, and for me, the first thingwas like people have to know
who I am, yeah, so yeah, andthen you know revenues and all
those things are going to kindof come right.
But it's at first.
It's you've got to go into thecommunity, you've got to build
trust, you've got to volunteer,you've got to do things that

(16:24):
maybe a lot of people don't wantto do, but in the long run it's
going to be better for yourmental, for the people that
you're serving.

Speaker 3 (16:37):
And you know I was able to get to the table here
through connections and throughthrough the work Through
LinkedIn.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Yeah, but yeah, I guess kind of kind of continue
on that path, yeah, like I'vebeen.
I guess one of the most thingI'm most proud of is being on
the board of BMN tour.

Speaker 3 (16:50):
Yeah, talk about that .

Speaker 2 (16:51):
So yeah, it's.
It's a local nonprofit.
It's been around for at least adecade.
I started as a mentor in 2021.
And it's kind of a funny story.
You know, I was.
I'd always wanted to figure out.
You know, how can I mentorsomeone?
I've always wanted a littlebrother.

Speaker 3 (17:06):
I guess it kind of started out with that.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
But you know, once you're an adult or mid, you're
not getting a little brother.

Speaker 1 (17:12):
So you got to figure something else out.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
Sorry, you're not getting a little brother, so you
got to figure something elseout.
Um, sorry, mom, um, but yeah, I.
So you know I jumped into thisprogram and you know I had some
reservations because you know,whenever you start something or
at least for me I want to do itright.
Um, you know I, I don't want to, you know, show up for this kid
one time and then I get busyand make excuses and I'm not
there.
So made sure that you know,every, every single Friday, for
an hour, I have time to be ableto meet with my mentor.

(17:40):
And it's crazy, fast forwardthree years.
I've seen him graduate fromelementary into middle.
He's going to be going to highschool soon.
Wow, and it's just.
It really humbles you becauseyou know I didn't come from the
most rich background, but a lotof these kids in this program

(18:01):
not to go into too many detailsbut they don't have a father
figure, they don't have a stablehousehold, they're not able to
eat a lot of the times.

Speaker 1 (18:07):
Those are the things that make you rich, by the way.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
True.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
Love stability.
That's what makes you rich.

Speaker 2 (18:13):
For sure.
Stability, yeah, that's whatmakes you rich, for sure, yeah.
And so, yeah, just being ableto, you know, start there and
got more involved.
The people in the organizationnoticed me more and they're like
he's always doing things andyou know, I guess one of my
proudest accomplishments tobegin with was I was the match
of the year.
Oh, so it was like out of 200,250 matches, they selected me

(18:38):
and that was my first year andsome of those people have been
there for a decade, so it was,yeah, really humbling, you know,
kind of doing the, you know,the video interview and kind of
talking about it really bringsyou down to earth Like cause.
You know I'm not doing it forrecognition, I was just doing it
to you know better myself andbetter the kid Like you learn so

(18:59):
much about yourself when you,you know, put yourself in
uncomfortable positions.

Speaker 1 (19:05):
Oh yeah, I just I do want to second something you
said about when I first movedhere.
I got I'm again marketingdirector at town center and I
was expected to go out and sellthings and make money, and all
this I didn't even know where Ilived, right.
So you take that time and Itotally agree with what you're
saying.
Because I went out into thecommunity, I said I'm going to

(19:29):
join the chamber, I'm going tojoin this, I'm going to do this,
I'm going to go to news things,I'm going to go to networking.
And that's how I met people nowprofessionally and personally.
Some of my best friends I metgoing to a business meeting a
few weeks after I got here youknow, so I I second that um.

Speaker 2 (19:46):
Especially if you're new to the business, getting
involved in the community umcertainly helps in your
professional career as well yeah, most definitely, and you know,
no matter what organizationyou're in or as long as I'm in
Charleston, like I have a greatcommunity to always lean back on
when times get tough right.

Speaker 3 (20:07):
Yeah, man, I had so many things to talk about.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
You want to talk about the podcast.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
Now I want to talk about no.
I know Tanner's not going tobrag about himself.
Um you got an award from thecollege of charleston.
You got recognized for what wasthat?

Speaker 2 (20:20):
yeah, so in 2023, I was the young alumnus of the
year that's pretty cool, oh youcan clap amanda, we can clap
here.

Speaker 1 (20:28):
Young alumnus that is insane.
What is that it?

Speaker 2 (20:31):
really was um.
So, yeah, it's just, you knowit's.
It was an award that you know.
Again another award that hewasn't expecting, yeah no, I
mean I would think it would besomeone who's like on the
cutting edge of cancer researchor something right at the
college or I don't know,building a school or something,
but yeah, it was.
I guess I mean, through myconnections with the Alumni

(20:52):
Association, I've always been adonator and I've helped them
kind of create new ways togenerate more revenue to help,
because, again, that just stuffjust goes back to scholarships
for kids and, um, you know we'vewe hosted a alumni night at the
battery and we're able togenerate a lot of funds to go
back into the college itself.
Um, and then you know I wasvolunteering, you know, on

(21:14):
campus when there's new freshmenmove in day.
You know I was there at a tableand helping them, you know,
answer questions or whateverthey needed, and I've always
done that for a number of years.
You know there's more stuff, butyeah, it was just, it was
recognized and you know I was upthere with you know enough long
young alumnus.

(21:35):
And then, like the more youknow, the business of the year,
sure, and one of them was themayor of a town in pennsylvania.
He flew in and it was, um, yeah, mayor tecklenberg's, I want to
say his son okay you know, wonan award.
So it was yeah, it was reallyhumbling.
Yeah, um, and again, justanother way to meet more people

(21:56):
and build my, my brand and tellmore about the club right um
that's obviously.
But um, yeah, it was, it wasreally cool and, um, you know,
just reinforces.
You know what I do, what I why,why I do what I do right.

Speaker 1 (22:11):
So exactly now again, and I apologize if this is a
silly question, but isn't that,isn't where you're playing new
or recently developed?
Yeah, so it's a good questionso, uh, patriots point, I
believe.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
Um, like the complex you know it's, it's not just
soccer, it's baseball, softball,tennis, kind of a sports
facility.
I want to say that's been theresince at least like 2009, 2010.
But the Charleston Battery,when we moved from Danville
Island and we had to find a newplace to play, a new home, the
College of Charleston was ourfinal landing spot in the 2020

(22:48):
season, like the COVID year.
So, but when you know, and it'sfull circle for me because I
played there at the college andthen now I'm working there and
but it is night and day fromwhat it looks like, what it
looked like and what it lookslike.

Speaker 1 (23:02):
So it was more of a redevelopment of the area.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
right, yeah, it was a 500 seat stadium and now it's
over 5,000 seats with a beergarden and food truck area and
private hospitality.
Yeah, I'll show you guys somephotos Parking.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
But yeah, and okay, parking, wah, wah.

Speaker 2 (23:18):
Leveraging, yeah, all our businesses surrounding us.

Speaker 3 (23:21):
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
But yeah, I'm sure there'll be more development.
It's all based off of thedemand right.

Speaker 1 (23:27):
Right.

Speaker 2 (23:28):
You know, the more people support, the more we can
grow, and I think that's alsoone of the cool things about
moving is, um, we're able toreally ask the community, ask
the, the fans, the seasonmembers what do they want to see
?
What do they like at the oldstadium?
What do they want to see at thenew stadium?
Um, I think one of the mainthings was in our supporter
section, which is, you know, the, the rabid, the wild fans who

(23:50):
are beating drones and singingsongs on match right behind the
goal yeah.
Yeah, Very European.
Standing drink rails versusseats.
Oh, okay, so they wanted I meana lot of sports fans.

Speaker 3 (24:00):
They don't want to sit.
They don't want to sit.
I don't want to sit, no so,Kathy these guys, people of all
ages, come with these giantdrums and at the beginning of
the match they have thisceremony type of thing out the
front.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
This is every game, Every game ceremony type of
thing out the front.

Speaker 2 (24:14):
This is every game, every game, okay, every home
game.

Speaker 3 (24:16):
I don't know if they do it other way.
I haven't been doing a weightgame yet.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
The ones that they can drive to.

Speaker 3 (24:20):
The ones they can drive to.
I mean, they've got such a fanbase.
What's the fan base called?

Speaker 2 (24:23):
again, so we have supporter groups, yes, and the
one that you're specificallytalking to about is called La
Barra Charl, primarily aHispanic supporter group,
obviously a lot of Hispanics,latinos they were born into this
game For sure.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
That's great, though it's helping us.
I love that Supporter groupthat's what you call them.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
The official.

Speaker 1 (24:43):
Good to know, and they bang the drums the whole
game, kathy.

Speaker 2 (24:47):
All game long singing songs.

Speaker 1 (24:48):
That's hysterical and keep the beat the whole game.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
It's impressive, yeah , they're-.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
All right, now I will Okay, now I'll go, now I'll go.
They're all on some liquidcourage, but you also mentioned
wine.
Yeah, liquid courage.
So wine and drums, I think I'llbe able to make it.
She just mentioned that too.
Just keep the kids away, allright, just put me someplace
where there's no kids, we gotFrosé.
It's just what I do for aliving.

(25:18):
It is what I do for a living.

Speaker 3 (25:20):
I'll bring the kids.
I'll block the kids from you.

Speaker 1 (25:23):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (25:23):
Okay, no problem, my boys love it there.
One of them do, but whateverthe other one comes and enjoys
himself and he has the treatsand all this stuff.
Yeah, you don't have to be asoccer fan one thing you guys do
in the community that's reallynear and dear to my heart and I
won't bring, I don't have to saytoo much more about it, but
it's sean jenkins.
Um, you guys, actually today,today's what?

(25:44):
June 20, what is it where?
I mean?

Speaker 1 (25:47):
I'm 20, 12th thank you june 12th?

Speaker 3 (25:49):
what day is it?
What time is it?
Um, you guys are at uh muscdesigning um sean j, sean
Jenkins, designing the newjerseys, or a new set of jerseys
that the players are going towear.
Can you talk a little bit aboutthat?

Speaker 2 (26:02):
Yeah, absolutely so.
A big thing in sport,especially in soccer, is themes
or causes that we get behind.
So one of the big ones that weget behind every year is our
kick kick childhood cancer night.
So not to get like you said,not to get into too many details
.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
Don't start crying, don't make me cry.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
But we lost a member of our team, Rachel Edwards,
last year and she was ourcommunity director and also
worked in merchandise.
But she was a cancer survivorand, you know, very young and
she, you know, had an idea and,you know, really pushed it

(26:43):
through and we were able toactually go to the MUSC
Children's Hospital and gethandprints of kids, you know,
who are going through a reallytough time, and put those
handprints on our jersey who aregoing through a really tough
time and put those handprints onour jersey.
So our players wore that lastyear.
Sadly, Rachel passed beforethat game happened, but her

(27:06):
family was in attendance, theywere honorary captain and it was
a really special moment andwe're excited to continue that
tradition this year.

Speaker 3 (27:14):
Amazing that A that the idea was pushed through the
idea and you guys are keeping itgoing as well.
That's just crazy, crazy, cool.
And you can buy the merch too.
You can buy the merch when youget there.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah, and a lot of those.
I mean at least the player-wornjerseys.
We'll sign them.
Well, they'll sign them, not me.

Speaker 3 (27:35):
Right, not player worn jerseys.
We'll sign them.

Speaker 2 (27:38):
Um well, they'll sign them.
Not me, right?
Not yet, buddy, not yet.
And uh, we'll auction them offand then the proceeds will go
back to musc, okay that's.

Speaker 3 (27:42):
That is absolutely incredible so what does the
future look like for you, tanner?

Speaker 2 (27:48):
it's a million dollar question.
I don't know what I want to dowhen I grow up either.
Yeah, I mean for you in theclub too, like yeah, um, I mean
for for the club, um, it's areally exciting time, uh you
guys are winning.
We're a really good team for acouple seasons now, yeah, so I
think we've lost five or sixgames in two years right, kathy,

(28:11):
yeah, exactly so the team is isfantastic.
We've hosted seven home playoffmatches in the last two years.
The max would be eight that youcan host.

Speaker 3 (28:21):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (28:22):
So we hosted a national final, lost in PKs, and
yeah, it's been unlucky.
This is hopefully our year tolift a trophy, if not two, nice.
But yeah, as far as the, theprojection of for the, for the
club, um, you know I don't wantto get into too many details,
but you know the world cup'scoming up.
Um, the league we play in iscalled the usl championship.

(28:46):
Um, the usl is like the biggerconglomerate and underneath us
is another league called the uslleague one, and there's going
to be, hopefully, another leaguethat's going to start in 2027
called the.
This doesn't have a name yet.
We'll call it the Super League,for example, tanner Clay League
.
There'll be promotion andrelegation coming to the United
States for the first time.
It's a new concept forAmericans, even though a lot of

(29:09):
Americans are watching Europeansports soccer EPL.
Man United or whatever Spain.

Speaker 1 (29:15):
Now they're making us go over there and play football
games.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
Well, yeah.

Speaker 3 (29:20):
Making us go over there and play football games.

Speaker 1 (29:21):
No, but I'm serious because now there's like four or
five in Europe.

Speaker 3 (29:23):
Now there used to be like the one game in.

Speaker 1 (29:25):
Europe, the National Football League game.

Speaker 3 (29:27):
She's talking about the regular football, the
American football.
Yes, regular football, sorry,regular football, american
football.
But now they sell out.

Speaker 1 (29:33):
They're smart, they sell out in 20 seconds.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
They've got a big fan base, the one in Japan too, and
all over.

Speaker 1 (29:38):
And my friend's going to one in Ireland this year.

Speaker 2 (29:41):
I learned the other day that teams in the NFL and
those other leagues they own therights to countries so only
that team can go to that countryfor.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
X amount of years.
That makes pure sense to me.

Speaker 2 (29:55):
I don't know how that goes.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
I guess that's where they want to go.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Who knows, I didn't mean to interrupt you there.

Speaker 3 (30:00):
Anyways, talk about the growth of football, soccer,
of soccer here, not just inCharleston, but just normal.
It's grown exponentially overthe past five years, ten years
even.

Speaker 2 (30:12):
For sure.
Yeah, the game really in theUnited States has been, it's
been a game since like theseventies.
Um, you know, it wasn't alwaysit wasn't televised, it was very
much in small communities ofimmigrants really, um, and you
know, over the years, you knowwe've, they've brought in,
they've tried to bring in, likebig name stars to these leagues

(30:34):
and the money just wasn't there.
The TV rides things thatgenerate money, right,
sponsorships.
But fast forward to the 90s MLSwas born, the USL was born and
the marketing engine really wascurated.
So, fast forward to the 2000s.
These leagues are trying to bebecome more mature.

(30:57):
You know, they're nothingcompared to european leagues
that are in their hundreds,right, 200 years anniversaries.
But, um, the kids these days Ithink it's growing as well
because, you know, maybe me ormy parents were born on like the
madden, right, madden, yeah,ncaa football.

(31:18):
Okay, now my, my kids are, andkids my age or they're in,
they're playing fifa yeah, theyplayed fifa that's how they got
into the game.

Speaker 3 (31:28):
They were competing and think video games helped huh
100, 100, wow.

Speaker 2 (31:32):
Um, it's easy to pick it up.
You can play on your phone, youcan play on a PSP or whatever
device you have.
Yeah, that plus just popculture.

Speaker 1 (31:41):
You know, it's really funny.
You said that Because I'm a lotolder than you.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
So much older I am.

Speaker 1 (31:45):
But I don't remember Playing soccer Growing up, like
at school, like during like Gymclass or anything.
We did basketball, softball, Iguess, flag football I.
But we didn't play soccer.
But every single one of myfriend's children was on a
soccer team so I see now yeah,exactly, it's a really cheap

(32:07):
sport.

Speaker 2 (32:08):
I mean it should be cheap right, it's at the young
ages.

Speaker 1 (32:13):
Um, yeah, it's so cute to watch the little ones.

Speaker 2 (32:14):
Yeah, um, it's physical no, you know you, it
doesn't matter your size, rightright, just throw them out there
and go have fun yeah obviously,as you, as you grow, it becomes
more advanced and you figureout if it's for you or not.
But but yeah, I mean that's,that's why it's grown.
I think so much around theworld is again like I mean, you
go to brazil, they're playingwith balls of tape and two shoes

(32:36):
right um, you can play a pickupgame similar to basketball
anywhere, as long as you got ahoop right well, I guess having
a hoop is is hard because that'ssomething you physically have
to have right you can just throwup goals, but I know right
but yeah, kind of going back tothe growth, um, now that you
know, at least in the usl, nowthat there aren't like mom and

(32:56):
pop owners, it's real businessmen and women who are owning
teams.
A lot of the teams are, youknow, owned by, say, like the
san antonio spurs.
They own the san antonio fc insan antonio.
So you know, there's big timepeople like marshall lynch is
part owner in oakland's team andthere's, yeah, like djs and pop
culture stars, actors, that aregetting into these sports,

(33:20):
especially like at the MLS level.
I think of like ReeseWitherspoon.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
She's so smart she's the smartest woman.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
She's a part owner in Nashville, so I think they
understand that.
You know right now it's stillpretty much in its infancy, but
in 10 years you know where's thesport going to be and my
investment's going to triple orquadruple.

Speaker 3 (33:41):
I'm seeing that.
So, yeah, get in, get in now.
So you must have been anawesome soccer player then,
because the human you are ispretty awesome, right?
So you must have put a lot ofwork into soccer.

Speaker 2 (33:56):
Everything.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
Did you yeah?

Speaker 2 (33:57):
I mean, you know I started playing.
I guess I'd go back to a funnystory.
I was two, maybe two and a half, and my brother's five and a
half years older than me, so I'dalways played with him in the
backyard and trying to catch upto him.
I'm way taller than him now,but back then I was shorter than
him to catch up to him.

(34:18):
Um, I'm way taller than him now,but back then I was shorter
than him.
Um, but yeah, one of the funnystories my mom told me was that
you know, he's taking him to hisrec practice to try out and
she's like all right, I'm tiredof hearing you saying you want
to play, so, like, let's go tryto figure it out.
And I think the youngest agewas four okay but I was as tall
as the four year olds, so um bythe time I know wait, mama fib,
the mama fib.

Speaker 1 (34:34):
No, they, they wanted me, but I was as tall as the
four-year-olds, so, um, by thetime I got there.

Speaker 2 (34:36):
No way, mama fib.
No, they, they wanted me, but Iwas too young.
They saw my birth certificate,like yeah, you can't, I like.
Cried and weaved in.
It was like maybe next year itwas like your fourth birthday.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Did you sign up?

Speaker 2 (34:49):
oh, absolutely yeah um, and that's actually when I
moved to ph, when I was myfourth birthday.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (34:55):
So that's when it all started.

Speaker 3 (34:58):
Was soccer big in Phoenix.

Speaker 2 (34:59):
Huge.
Yeah, I mean it's got a hugeHispanic population.
It's perfect weather.
Hot but 360 days a year.
You can play.
Tons of space, tons of fields,a lot of competition.
Obviously, it's the sixth,seventh biggest city
metropolitan in the country, somelting pot, a lot of

(35:23):
opportunities to compete, whichis what you need at a young age
to develop.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
Yeah, and good coaching.
Do you feel that here in MountPleasant and Charleston Like
there's a lot of I think there'sa lot of challenges.

Speaker 2 (35:37):
Okay, first off, you know it's.
Everything is just so separatedas far as, like we're
landlocked here, we'relandlocked there there aren't
enough fields for kids to play.
Like you know, when I wascoaching two years ago, you know
you have six teams playing onpracticing on one field, so you

(35:57):
were coaching too.

Speaker 3 (35:58):
now, what team were you coaching?

Speaker 2 (35:59):
Yeah, so this I guess this was probably when I was
coaching at James Island YouthSoccer Club or Charleston United
.
I coached regionally for theOlympic Development Team for
2010s and 2012 age group.
I've done that for a fewseasons.

Speaker 1 (36:13):
Nice, I bet you're going to work for that too and
you won't tell us Not yet, notyet, no.

Speaker 2 (36:23):
No, us, yeah, yeah, not yet.
No, um, no, yeah, I don'treally, I don't and I don't
really do it for for accoladesagain, it's, it's.
I want to see kids develop sothat later on, in 10 years, they
come back and say you helped me, like right, this is amazing
right I can watch them on tv nowright so yeah, I'm in and so
obviously so I could learn, so Ican help steer my son that way
yeah, for sure that's a lot of alot of people say that too on
the show is they want to buildthe community, so their kids

(36:44):
will stay in the community.

Speaker 3 (36:46):
Yeah, for sure, and they'll have those opportunities
, these great opportunities thatmaybe we don't have here yet.
Yeah, like the tech sector.
Right Was one in soccer.

Speaker 2 (36:54):
Yeah, and I think my experience is unique too.
My wife is from Madrid, spain.
Okay, is unique too.
My wife is from madrid, spain,okay, so I met her at the
college of charleston.
So I've, you know, I've beentraveling, just soccer growing
up, traveled all over thecountry and other countries as
well, and then now being withher and we have a couple kids
now, two kids, two kids, yeah,my son.
My son will be four tomorrow oh, happy birthday 13th.

(37:16):
What's his name?

Speaker 3 (37:17):
uh, diego diego, that's a sweet name, oh, my god
and then my daughter isabella.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
She just turned one oh so yeah, it's yeah, hands
full for sure they got theircleats, yet um, I'm, I'm, I'm
particular on their, on theirfeet.
Um, because I didn't take careof my feet so I don't want to
put, you know, too many smallfitting shoes on them too early
oh, that's a life hack I don'tknow about.
Okay, yeah we could talk aboutit.

(37:42):
That's another podcast, yeah,but yeah, I try to get them to
play barefoot, or as much aspossible, just so they can build
an arch, because I have flatfeet myself.

Speaker 3 (37:53):
Oh, probably terrible feet.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
That is a terrible feet.
There's your one thing.
You did not know that you knowyou needed to know.

Speaker 3 (37:59):
What that he has flat feet.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
No, how do you train your feet?

Speaker 3 (38:04):
Oh yeah, no kidding.

Speaker 1 (38:05):
That's a good note right there.
I never even would have thoughtof something like that.

Speaker 3 (38:07):
Train your feet, so it gets an arch.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:10):
And that's important.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
I mean I don't know if it's completely true
Apparently, like we're not bornwith an arch in our foot.

Speaker 1 (38:16):
No, because the baby's feet are flat.

Speaker 2 (38:19):
Yeah, right, it's like, you have to build it, it's
built.

Speaker 1 (38:22):
Yeah, they're tiny little flat, they're a little
flat, the muscles grow.
Oh, that's hysterical, that's agood note there, tanner.

Speaker 3 (38:28):
Wow, yeah, you're right.
Random note of the episode.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
See, tune in.
You're going to learn somethingyou didn't know about.

Speaker 3 (38:48):
Kathy if you don, you go ahead.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
Then I've got one more um we talk about podcasts
we're on a podcast now I foundsome podcasts um that the
charleston battery was on right.

Speaker 3 (38:50):
Their logo, y'all's logo, everything was there right
.
And I'm thinking, oh cool they,they do podcasts and like
internally, like within the teamno, this is all.
What did you call me?

Speaker 2 (38:56):
to call them fan based supporters clubs
supporters clubs yeah, well,supporters it it's like a.
It's a supporter is a name fora soccer fan.
Okay, supporter, it's almostlike a next level fan.
You know, not just like youcome to a couple games a year.
You're like Either a seasonmember or you're coming to six,
seven, eight games.
Yeah, these dudes were these.

(39:23):
Yeah, yeah, um, and we, we tryto feed them.
You know tidbits and you knowthings that you know can help
them grow their, their podcasts.

Speaker 3 (39:26):
Sure, that's good, so you embrace it.
Yeah, 100 a little scary attimes having the brand be a part
of you know, like there'speople?
Oh for sure.
Yeah, I mean, but you want thepeople that own the brand, so
for sure yeah, it's, it's a.

Speaker 2 (39:37):
You know, maybe marketing might slap my hand,
but yeah, it's definitely a giveand take.
You know Cannon Crew is one ofthem that comes to mind yes,
Cannon Crew.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
The.

Speaker 2 (39:48):
Howlers is another one.
Oh, I miss the.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
Howlers hey, listen, I'm in marketing.
If they're only saying goodthings about my team, I'm good
with it.

Speaker 3 (39:53):
Yeah, yeah, right.
But what if they start sayingbad things about your team?

Speaker 1 (39:56):
Well, Did they deserve it?
What if they're representingyour team?

Speaker 3 (40:00):
wrong?
What if they're cussing on thepodcast?
You don't want them to cuss.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
Well, if it's a cussing podcast, then that's
okay.
You have to read the room.

Speaker 3 (40:07):
You're right.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
You're right.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
Well, I think it comes with the territory of
sports.
Maybe if we were a dentaloffice podcast.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 (40:17):
Or a school or something, maybe Sports fans.

Speaker 1 (40:22):
I mean again, I'm a huge baseball fan, I've got my
favorite team and I'm like alunatic yeah Right, so I could.
First of all, I could talkabout them for hours straight.
I watch every game on my phonesince I'm not back home anymore,
but I'm like rabid, like you.
Don't get me even started aboutit, so I can understand.

Speaker 3 (40:38):
Don't start swearing on our podcast, kid.

Speaker 1 (40:40):
No, I won't.
I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (40:41):
It's like freedom of speech.
I can only imagine how manyMets podcasts there are.
Imagine them trying to manageit Right.

Speaker 1 (40:49):
From.

Speaker 2 (40:50):
Asia and all places around the world.
They need a whole complianceteam.

Speaker 1 (40:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
I don't think it's worth it.

Speaker 1 (40:56):
That solid fan base keeps you going.
It's those people, like yousaid, that are at every game or
following, and that is whatkeeps the team going 100%.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
Yeah, our players, they see it, they feel it.
When we're at home we're better.
Of course, I'm sure we're justbetter at home.

Speaker 3 (41:15):
Kind of like one more closing note too.
Didn't you mention one time wehad coffee one time?
Didn't you mention that?
Since we're a low country andit's such a beautiful place to
live and the lifestyle, it'sjust ridiculous around here,
right, we tend to get the betterplayers to sign it yeah, no,
you're not wrong, I I well.

Speaker 2 (41:33):
It all first starts with having the right people in
the front office, um, primarilylike your president or your gm
and who is our president rightnow?
Lee cohen, yeah, he's, uh, he'sa legend.
Um, he was in the league officefor, or actually started as an
intern, okay, at the usl leagueoffice.
Um, I'll go really fast withthis story.

(41:54):
He, I think he started, thoughthe was going in as a baseball
intern, um, because it was likea league office that was kind of
combined for the mets no, no Ithink it was um minor league
triple a or whatever, and um, Iguess when he got there they
said oh sorry, baseball's full,you're going to soccer.
Okay, he's a baseball player incollege.
Um yeah, look at him now yeah,and so you know, moved up,

(42:16):
became you know ops manager,moved up and then you know was
like all right, I like, but Iwant to go to the team side.
So he was the president of theTampa Bay Rowdies.
Oh, hey.
Yep, one of our rivals, and tookthem to a lot of championships,
won a couple and then had to gofrom poor old Tampa to

(42:38):
Charleston two beautiful placesbring his family over.
So yeah, he's a strong.
He knows everyone in the league, he knows players, he knows
agents, he knows the landscape,he knows the travel demands.
You know all these littlenuances that not a lot of people
would know or think about youknow as they're building a
roster and then we were able tobring in one of the best coaches

(43:02):
in the country in my opinion,at least, top 35, if we're
adding all the MLS teams in isBen Pierman, so he's from
Michigan.

Speaker 3 (43:10):
I like Michigan.
I like the state, everybody'sthere.
I love them.
You know, and he's a builder.
Did you say Michigan State?
Oh, he's a brother of mine.
Now.

Speaker 2 (43:20):
Look at that Cousin.

Speaker 3 (43:22):
What's up cuz?
I'll meet you next time.

Speaker 2 (43:24):
Detroit City FC, who's in the USL Championship
now that we play against all thetime actually helped build that
club from a minor league cluband bring them up while he was
in the summers, when he wascoaching at Michigan State and
then went to Memphis in the USLChampionship coach of the year
there and then we got him,locked him into a contract.
Love that but yeah, kind ofgoing back to yeah, charleston's

(43:45):
beautiful, it's you know whowouldn't want to come here.
But I think it's kind of adouble-edged sword, because you
you want people to come here andcompete and to win.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
Right, it's not a retirement, not just to live on
the ocean.

Speaker 3 (43:59):
It's a culture, it's a winning culture you're trying
to have.
Yeah, so it's like all right.

Speaker 2 (44:03):
Yes, you have all these beautiful things, good
food, good people good lifestyle, but the expectation is still
like.
This is your job first andforemost, and they've done a
fantastic job.

Speaker 3 (44:15):
Yeah, that's awesome.
Yeah, you're right, because youcan have all the beauty and all
the shiny things.
But if you suck and the peoplesuck, you know what I mean If
it's not good people then you'regoing to have a losing culture.
So it's all about treating thepeople well.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
It's all about getting into the culture and
getting into your communitiesand treating your On that, like
ben, the one thing he alwayssays to the front office, to the
players, to the fans, it's youknow, he brings in guys that are
high character, um and um, highattitude, yeah so that's good,

(44:51):
I mean they, they have the rightattitude and they're going to
do things the right way inanything that they do.
Um, I think that's kind ofwhere you have to start exactly
right.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
So high character, I'm a high character.
How about that I?
Know, you, I'm a high characterall right, we have.

Speaker 1 (45:06):
We have some fun.
Um rapid fired questions toanswer to finish this up today,
but um, what is your favoritelocal restaurant?
I know it's hard, you don'thave to pick one.

Speaker 3 (45:16):
But what is your favorite?
Yeah, restaurant.
I know it's hard.
You don't have to pick one but,what is your favorite local
restaurant?

Speaker 2 (45:19):
Yeah, so.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
Or where do you bring your out-of-town guests, like,
where's that one?
You have to bring them to,because they could be two
different things.

Speaker 2 (45:25):
Yeah, can I say a few ?

Speaker 1 (45:26):
Yeah, go ahead.
No, you only get one.

Speaker 2 (45:28):
I mean, I really like Jackrabbit Philly.

Speaker 1 (45:31):
Oh.

Speaker 2 (45:32):
I haven't been to their new space since they moved
, but I love that place.

Speaker 1 (45:37):
What would you get?

Speaker 2 (45:37):
there.

Speaker 1 (45:39):
Anything, everything, karangi, oh really.

Speaker 2 (45:41):
It's like their spicy chicken, I mean, it's like dim
sum.
So you just get a plate ofeverything and they kind of
bring small portions out.

Speaker 3 (45:48):
Okay, ever been?
I don't think I.
No, I haven't.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
Oh, you've got to go good barbecue, but I really like
King Barbecue.
It's a new one in NorthCharleston as well.

Speaker 3 (46:02):
Oh, exactly, they're the same chef as Jack Rabbit.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (46:05):
Oh, all right, you got it, okay.
Well then, there you go.
It's like.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
Asian fusion barbecue .

Speaker 3 (46:09):
Ooh.

Speaker 2 (46:13):
That does sound good.
Yeah, but I mean, I likeMexican food as well.

Speaker 3 (46:16):
Senior tequila, and where was your wife from?

Speaker 2 (46:19):
She's from Madrid, Spain.

Speaker 3 (46:20):
Madrid, Spain.
That's cool.
That would have been a coolplace to visit.

Speaker 2 (46:23):
Yeah, gosh, I would have said Barca, but they closed
downtown.
That was probably my number one.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
Oh wow, all right.
So what is your go-to activitywith your family and kids when
you're trying to unwind Soc,your family and kids, when
you're trying to unwind soccer,don't say soccer, anything other
than soccer.

Speaker 2 (46:37):
That was my second one um, with my, with my family,
um, I'd say, just going onwalks um it's just I learned I
mean, I learned that from my, mywife, but like, when we go to
spain or we go anywhere, we'realways walking everywhere it's
just part of the norm, I feel,like everywhere else, but I mean
it's tough because we're theland again, we're landlocked

(46:59):
there, aren't really like thosecommunities.
Yeah, you're just walking ontothe highway right, I know which
is not great.
Um, or your neighborhood doesn'thave a sidewalk or a park, um,
but yeah, that we could go on atangent on that.
But, um, yeah, I'd say, youknow, going to the west ashley
greenway, um, you know, going upto park circle, they have a

(47:19):
nice, you know, walk walkabilitycircle.

Speaker 3 (47:21):
I like park circle.
Why people don't like parkcircle I?

Speaker 2 (47:24):
love park circle.
I think it's fantastic.

Speaker 3 (47:26):
You can't get the ama to jump on park circle but
anyways, that's I mean we'redoing that.
We're doing that anyhow, anyhowum no, this, this place, uh, is
amazing, and and that's why welove Mount.
Pleasant and Charleston andthank you for being a part of
our community and doing all thethings that you're doing.
My plan was to get you in themicrophone and to get people to

(47:49):
love you right as it's easy todo, and then the battery will
come next, right.
So, if you don't like TannerClay clay, you got to leave
mount pleasant right now, and ifyou do like get involved with
the charleston battery, go to agame we've got one new fan over
here we got.

Speaker 1 (48:04):
I'm gonna go look at that and please tell everyone
how they can get in touch withyou, tanner yeah, most
definitely so.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
um, you can, I'd say, probably start with our website
, charleston batterycom.
Um, again, I'm tanner clay.
I'm the business developmentmanager.
My phone number, my email, ison there.
Check out our schedule.
We play about twice a monthfrom March through October.
It's a long, long season.
Hopefully we play all the waythrough November too and host

(48:30):
more playoff home games and,like I said, we're in a good
position.
We're tied for first in theleague right now, 24 teams
across the country.
So we play in the EasternConference.
We're going to Hartford thisweekend.
We got Phoenix Rising coming onthe 21st, which is our next
home game.
Honestly, shoot me an emailsoon.

(48:51):
I might even be able to sendyou some tickets.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
Yeah.
And if you're a businesslooking to invest in some, for
sure, yeah, I.
And if you're a businesslooking to, you know, invest in
some For sure.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
Yeah, I mean, if you're a local business,
regional business, it doesn'tmatter how small you are or how
big you are.
Like I said at the top of thecall, you need to think outside
the box as far as, like, what isyour strategy to find new
customers to you know?
Engage your current ones, keepyour current ones Right.
How to entertain your employeesright.

(49:22):
I know a lot of people are kindof going remote and this and
that but again, you still needto not develop but pour into
your people.
Sure, and I think it's even anext level when you're able to
do that with families not justthe employees, so we're family
friendly.
Um you have like a?

Speaker 3 (49:41):
vip option, though, too.
Isn't there like this one cool,like I don't know where you can
watch the game, but you'reinside something.

Speaker 1 (49:49):
This yeah, are there kids in there?
No, no see, that's what I need.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
That's what I need right there so yeah, we have
nine private hospitality spacesthey, they fit between 15 up to
250 guests.
You can privately rent them out.
You can get a bartender inthere.
We can cater it out with allthe local businesses.

Speaker 1 (50:07):
That sounds like a parquet.
See, this is my point.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
Yeah, we don't.
I think what's unique about ourstadium, too, is we don't have
our own in-house food.
Food, you know not to bash, youknow the big, you know amark
and all these other companiesthat you know they do good, but
it's a different vibe here it'sa different vibe.
Yeah, it's, it's the true localfood, you know we bring in food
trucks.
We bring in businesses thatmaybe don't have food trucks,
but they they set it up justbecause of us.

(50:29):
So, um, yeah, it's fun, it's,it's vibrant, it's always
different, it's always changing.
Um, you'll meet somebody new,you'll build a relationship.
You might find a new client.

Speaker 3 (50:40):
Hey, that's what it's all about.
That's what it's all about,that's right.

Speaker 2 (50:44):
And, if not, you'll have a good time.

Speaker 1 (50:45):
Well, on behalf of everybody here, of course we
hope you make it to the playoffsand win the playoffs, and we'll
be cheering from all sides ofMount Pleasant for the battery
this season Thank you.
Thank you so much for spendingyour time with us today, Tanner.
We learned a lot.
I learned a lot about soccer.
Learned a lot about feet, and Imight actually go.

Speaker 3 (51:06):
You're going, we're going to go.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
Before we leave, we need to once again thank our
sponsors, dk Design andCharleston Media Solutions, for
their amazing support not onlyof the podcast but, of course,
of the chamber in general.

Speaker 3 (51:20):
Matthew specifically, matthew specifically.
What an engineer of the yearthere.
Hi, matthew, thank you foreverything today.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
Make sure to like and subscribe to all of our media
channels.
We will be in Spotify, itunes,youtube, instagram, facebook and
LinkedIn.
So thank you so much for beingwith us today.
Until next time, mount Pleasant.
Until next time, listeners.