Jordyn Wickes, Soccer & Engineering at MSU

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Discover the inspiring journey of Jordyn Wickes, a senior forward at Michigan State University, as she shares her incredible soccer story from childhood to collegiate success. Ever wondered how a multi-sport athlete can excel in soccer? Jordyn breaks it down, discussing her early start in the sport, the transitions she faced, and the pivotal moments that paved her way to Michigan State, despite the challenges brought on by COVID-19. Her reflections on arguing with coaches over positions and eventually finding her place on the field offer a raw and genuine look at the ups and downs of an athletic career.

Curious about what it takes to navigate college soccer recruiting? Join us as we explore the intricate process with Jordyn, highlighting the importance of choosing a university that offers a well-rounded experience. The conversation dives into the demanding nature of collegiate soccer life, from rigorous training schedules to the significant lifestyle shifts. We emphasize the benefits of being a multi-sport athlete and share valuable lessons learned from Jordan's siblings, who have each carved out their unique athletic and academic paths.

Finally, we touch on broader themes within the soccer community, such as mental health, the role of soccer agents, and the exciting prospects within the sports industry. Jordan provides advice for aspiring youth soccer players and reflects on her dilemma of pursuing professional soccer while balancing a mechanical engineering degree. Don't miss this heartfelt episode filled with personal anecdotes, practical advice, and a peek into our own podcasting journey, including the dynamic friendship between your hosts and our mission to spotlight diverse pathways to success in soccer.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I've always said, like I was a very you know, once
I got here I learned I was adumb soccer player.
I just I didn't know a lot ofthings that all these other
girls knew and that the coachingstaff was trying to teach us.
I was always like the type ofkid who just played off of
instincts.
I was like there's a gap overthere, so I'm going to run over
there Like what do you mean?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hello and welcome to the Kick it With Katie podcast.
Hey team, it's Katie here, andtoday I have Jordan, wickus and
Jordan, why don't you go aheadand introduce yourself and let
everybody know where you're atright now in your soccer career?

Speaker 1 (00:47):
Yeah, first of all, thank you for having me.
I am going to be a senior thisfall at Michigan State
University, where I currently ama forward for the team, and
will be finishing out my lastsemester of eligibility here
come August.

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah, and how has that been going for you?
Have you just been loving itgoing through the grind?

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah yeah, I've been loving it going through the
grind.
It's definitely had.
You know it's ups and downs,been a bit of a roller coaster
here, but I wouldn't trade itfor the world.
It's a real dream come truethat I am where I'm at today and
I've accomplished more than Iever dreamed possible for myself
.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
That's awesome to hear.
So why don't we talk about yourinitial start into soccer?
So let the listeners know howold you were, what your first
introductions to the sport were.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
Yeah, I believe I joined when I was probably like
four.
I had to guess it's really allI've ever known is to be an
athlete, and to be athletic Froma young age, you know, when I
couldn't even walk, when I couldjust crawl.
My dad used to have to set upobstacle courses when he tried
to do the dishes so I'd becontained enough while he could

(01:58):
do the dishes and you know theywere very high and he loves to
tell the stories about how Iwould just climb over them and
no matter what he did like hecouldn't stop me from going
through these obstacle courses.
So pretty much since the momentI was born, I loved athletics.
I love to be an athlete andthat's been a huge defining
factor in my life.

(02:19):
It wasn't always soccer.
I was a three-sport athletethroughout all of high school,
doing basketball and track aswell, but I was always athletics
and I joined soccer when I wasabout four years old.
I feel like it's just kind ofone of the natural games your
parents throw you into one ofthe natural sports when you're
first starting.
That um, and I wish I could sayit was like love at first sight

(02:40):
, but for the first couple yearsI just sat there holding hands
with one of my teammates andlike I was the kid who picked
grass in the corner, like notsuper into it, and then one day
I just decided that like thatwas getting boring and I decided
to play soccer and I've neverlooked back from that moment.
Um, I am the oldest of five inmy family, so I have four

(03:02):
younger siblings, three youngerbrothers and a younger sister,
and I say this because, beingthe oldest and being the first,
my parents and I, a lot of myjourneys, a lot of naivety.
We didn't know a lot.
I joined travel soccer, I feellike pretty early, where it's

(03:26):
just kind of you play for yourcity and you travel maybe an
hour to play other cities andlocal teams.
And then I didn't join my clubteam until I believe I was in
seventh grade and the goal ofmine was, when I joined my club
team, was to be good enough tomake my high school team.
I just, high school was alwaysmy big dream, my big goal, my
big passion.
I wanted to make my high schoolteam and to make varsity as a
freshman and, to, you know, getthe Letterman jacket and get my

(03:49):
name on the wall and have asuccessful high school career.
That was always my end goal, mybig dream, my big passion.
And then, as you're goingthrough that process, somewhere
along the way, it naturallyhappens where you just keep
playing club even after highschool and I loved it, and all
of a sudden college coachesstart coming to games and it
starts becoming a conversationof like what's after high school

(04:11):
and I had a lot of argumentswith my coaching staff about my
position.
I always loved being a forwardand scoring goals and doing all
this stuff, but once I joined myfirst club team when I was in
seventh grade, I was thrown at aleft back position.
I always loved being a forwardand scoring goals and doing all
this stuff, but once I joined myfirst club team when I was in
seventh grade, I was thrown outof left back position.
I was there for a couple years.

(04:32):
Then I joined a new team afterour age rule change happened
where they went from Augustbirthdays for school year to
January 1st.
So when that happened our teamkind of disbanded.
Most of them were older than me.
I was one of the only few kidsthat ended up going to the 03
bracket.
All the rest of them were 02sand when that happened I joined

(04:54):
a team where I could be aforward and that lasted about a
year and a half before I wasthrown at left back again.
And then the rest of my careerwith him was a lot of arguing
about getting me up the fieldand where I wanted to play and
all this stuff and I was a verysuccessful left back but it's
not what I wanted to do once Igot to college, it's not what I
wanted to play.
I didn't love the position.

(05:15):
So you know it's a lot ofarguments with my coach about
that.
And then once I once I wasprobably like a junior was the
first time we started kind ofmoving me around and then COVID
hit and I was out for a year andmy senior year.
I convinced him and we had apositioning opening and I got to

(05:35):
play forward and I had a verysuccessful senior year.
And somewhere along the waybetween my junior and senior
year Michigan State had reachedout to me.
And somewhere along the waybetween my junior and senior
year, michigan State had reachedout to me and at this point I
had interest in other schoolsand I was looking at other
colleges and all this stuff, butit wasn't the level of Michigan

(05:55):
State, it wasn't a whole lot ofinterest from the Big Ten.
I had a couple offers from likePurdue and I knew I could make
it at Ohio State.
A couple offers from likePurdue and I knew I could make
it at Ohio State.
But most of my interest waslike Mac level schools or below
Horizon League things of of thatnature, very good schools and
honestly a lot of me thought Iwas going to Bowling Green at
that point.

(06:16):
I knew what I could get, I knewI could play forward there, I
knew kind of what my path wouldbe laid out.
Michigan Michigan State reallycame out of nowhere for me and I
think my whole recruitingprocess with them was like a
matter of four months.
So with my age group we wentinto kind of a dead period in
the middle of our recruitingjourney where you're allowed to

(06:37):
talk to coaches freely and thenthey changed the rules where
you're not allowed to talk tocoaching staff until July of
your senior year and thathappened right in the middle of
my process.
So once we found that out, theday before we went to that dead
period for us, a lot of girls onmy team were committing things
of that nature.
I wasn't ready to commit yet.
I had one offer from Purdue atthat time and I knew I couldn't

(06:58):
afford it to go there.
And Michigan State reached outat probably like 11 o'clock at
night, like one of the lastphone calls you get on right
before the dead period goes intofact.
Hey, I'm Jordan.
Hey, at that point it was Tomand Tammy, the old coaching
staff, who recruited me and yeah, they were just reaching out

(07:19):
kind of last minute here rightbefore the deadline.
And then we went to that deadperiod and they kept showing up
to games and they kept showingup to events and I didn't really
think much of it because theywere interested in a few girls
on my team.
And once the period opened Istarted going to different ID
camps and you start lining upofficial visits and at this
point I was really choosingbetween IUPUI and Bowling Green,

(07:44):
you know, and I had otherinterests from schools but
realistically those were the twoI was going to end up with.
You kind of narrowed it downgoing into the end of that
junior year and I went onofficial visit from Michigan
State, you know they wanted meto go and I was like okay, and
as I'm walking through campus,every single place they take me

(08:05):
to, I just start envisioningmyself.
I was like I can see myselfhere.
I can see myself doing this.
They're walking me through thedorms, they're walking me
through, you know, the dininghalls, all this stuff, and I'm
just picturing myself going toschool here and I absolutely
fell in love with it.
I loved everything about it,from the coaching staff to the
campus, to their promise of highlevel athletics, to the campus,
to their promise of high-levelathletics, to the balance with

(08:25):
academics.
I'm a mechanical engineeringmajor.
A lot of schools won't let youdo both because of just the
difficulty level of it.
They were not only allowing meto pursue a mechanical
engineering degree, but theyalso were very, very encouraging
to have success in theclassroom as well.
And they made me an offer on myofficial visit and I committed

(08:47):
on the spot and I best decisionI've ever made, you know, and
I've never looked back since.
It was truly.
I think one of the greatestmoments of my life was being
able to say yes and to commit toMichigan State.
And then I spent the last threeyears here playing soccer and
studying and going to school,and I'm excited to get into this

(09:07):
last one here, but it's beenquite the journey and a roller
coaster of it.
I think my story is very uniquewhere I didn't know a lot going
into it.
A lot of girls, especiallynowadays, have books of things
that they know and are aware of.
I think I got very, very luckywith the process that it worked
out for me the way it did,considering how little I knew.
I didn't even know MichiganState was a Big Ten school until

(09:30):
after I committed.
I had no idea that they rankedteams or any of this stuff.
Like I was very, very naive.
It was just I love the school,I love the university, I love
the coaching staff and I wantedto play soccer and I committed
and I found out later at whatlevel I was committing to play
with.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
You know, I knew Michigan State was a good
university, but exactly to whatdegree I was unaware of until
after my commitment yeah, that'sreally interesting that, like
you've admitted that you reallydidn't know very much, and I I'm
assuming that there are peopleout there who could probably
resonate with that where theysay you know, I was getting
offers from all these schoolsand I don't really know what to

(10:09):
do with them.
If you know, if they aregetting those offers and they're
just trying to navigate andfigure it out, and so I know
that I've talked to some peoplewho have resources to help
families go through theseprocesses.
Like you said, you're theoldest and so your family was
very naive and they didn't knowa lot of how to navigate these
processes.
Like you said, you're theoldest and so your family was
very naive and they didn't knowa lot of how to navigate these
things.
And there are a lot of peopleout there that just don't know

(10:32):
what to do.
You know they have their sightsset on hey, I want to play
college soccer, but they don'treally delve into what that
might look like and how to goabout it look like and how to go
about it.
Maybe their club coaches don'thelp them or they don't have a
program that they're familiarwith.
A lot of good resources areasking the people that have been

(10:53):
through it, um, you know,having a player from your club
or coaches from your club thatcan mentor you through that if
that's something that you needhelp with.
If, if you guys are reallygoing and blind and you don't
know what to do, um, I I'm surethat there's.
Well, I know that there'splenty of resources out there to
help people go through thoserecruiting processes that maybe

(11:16):
they don't know about.
Maybe people can't afford themif it's a pay option, um, but
definitely try and do yourresearch, especially now that
we're in this digital andinformation age and we can.
There's a lot of stuff out there, but I mean, yours is, like you
said, it's very unique as faras you did land at a very good
school, and it was a school thatwas going to allow you to

(11:38):
pursue something that you loved,which obviously enhances your
level of play on the field,because you're getting the best
of both worlds.
You're studying something thatyou really love and you're able
to play a sport that you love,and not everybody can get that.
And so sometimes, if you'regoing to a school that maybe you
don't really love, you don'tlove the classes or whatever.
Maybe they don't have the majoryou wanted, but you were still

(12:01):
able to play your sport, but youwere lucky enough to have both,
and so that's that's really key, I think is a great way to help
make you thrive as a player inthose settings, because you want
to be at that school, you wereable to envision yourself there
and you know it sounds likeyou've surrounded yourself with
some great people at your schooland with your community there.

Speaker 1 (12:23):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I think the biggest piece ofadvice I was given that I give
to anyone going through theprocess is you have to pick a
university you'd like to be at.
If soccer went away Like ifyou're injured and you can't
play and your career ends or youknow, something else happens
you have to pick a universitythat you want to go to and you
can picture yourself at beingwithout the athletic portion.

(12:44):
Um, you know, I think that'sreally, really important because
it's a balance.
It's a balance of life.
It's a balance of your sociallife, your academics, um, and
you have to know what levelyou're trying to compete at,
like at the top level, kind ofeverything is tied into your
sport.
It's your job.
Your job is to be an athletehere and it's to be a successful
one, and for some people,that's all they want and they

(13:11):
want to compete at that level,and for others, they don't
really know what they're gettingtheir self into and you can end
up drowning a lot of times andI think it ended up working out
for me.
But, looking back at somethingthat I was very unaware of,
because it's a huge change fromhigh school and club, this
becomes kind of yourall-consuming life and and
passion and desire and like it's, all you do is you play soccer
and every other aspect of yourlife is kind of tied into it

(13:31):
with that not in a bad way, youknow it, just it is.
You don't have the free time orthe ability to do other things
like you you once did in highschool and club, and that just
depends on the level you go toand what you want from your,
your experience there.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
So yeah, Now going back to your youth career.
So as far as your level of play, because you were a multi-sport
athlete, which is great, butwas there any supplemental
training that you wanted to dofor soccer?
You know there's a lot of kidsout there now that play for
multiple teams or they havepersonal trainers or things.

(14:10):
Was there anything else thatyou did to help enhance your
play outside of your regularlyscheduled practices with your
club team or your high schoolteam?

Speaker 1 (14:22):
Yeah, I think I'm the biggest advocate for being a
multi-sport athlete.
I think if you look at a lot ofcollege rosters at the top
level, most of them weremulti-sport athletes.
It is a huge benefit toallowing you to be successful on
the soccer field is if you havethose other aspects of it.
You're training differentmuscle groups, different body
parts.
It allows you not to get burntout and it really does.

(14:45):
It all translates together.
Being an athlete is being anathlete to a certain extent.
If you're able to be athleticon a basketball court, if you're
able to run fast on a track, itwill translate to the soccer
field.
Soccer, pursue it, and don'tlet anyone tell you you can't Be

(15:06):
a multi-sport athlete all theway throughout high school.
Go, chase your dreams, live itout, and if anyone's telling you
it's not a possibility, theyare 100% wrong.
I love, love, love multi-sportathletes and I hate to see it
that nowadays a lot of peopleare telling kids they have to be
focused on just soccer in orderto make it and that's just
simply not true.
It's simply not true and Ithink it's a dangerous mindset

(15:32):
to have because you're going tolose a lot of talent that way.
In addition to that.
I didn't have a whole lot oftime outside of your high school
soccer and then I was on myclub team.
I did ODP a little bit.
It was a great experience.
I loved it for the socialaspect.
Do I think it really helped getme to where I'm at today?
No, I don't think ODP will helpyou get recruited or will get

(15:56):
you a scholarship by any means,but it was a great social aspect
.
I did a little bit of that.
I would pick out differentthings, like if I really needed
to work on my left foot or myshot.
There were different privatetrainers around me.
I didn't go there regularly,but if there was something
specific that I wanted to workon and I needed advice and I
couldn't figure it out myself, Iwould go to them.

(16:16):
But most of it was gathered andmost of my training was through
my club and high school team.
Um, you know I didn't do anextreme amount outside of it.
I did a few private trainingsessions here and there,
depending on what I needed, butnothing super regularly.

Speaker 2 (16:33):
And do your younger siblings, do any of your other
siblings, play soccer, or arethey all in different sports?
Or how how's their journey beenas far as you being the oldest
and then seeing what comes after?

Speaker 1 (16:46):
Yeah, all of us played sports throughout high
school.
It wasn't.
It's not even an option in ourhousehold.
It's like you're going to.
You don't have to benecessarily an athlete the way
me and some of my other siblingsare, but you have to at least
do something active.
I think it's a huge benefit tolife.
You learn so much that you onlyget through athletics and by

(17:08):
being on a team and by being inthat sport.
So my parents always pushed usthat you have to do something.
But growing up my next youngest,nolan he was always very, very
smart.
He did football and swimmingthroughout high school and track
as well.
He's a three-sport athlete.
But he ended up going toAlabama.

(17:30):
He's on a full ride for hisacademics.
He's doing aerospaceengineering at Alabama now.
He's genius level smart.
You know he's having a lot ofsuccess there and, seeing his
journey, it's completelydifferent than mine and
completely different than mostpeople's.
You know.
Incredibly unique and differentthan my next sibling.
My parents always joke that,like every time they're going
through this process for collegeand figuring it out, it's so

(17:52):
different, like they learnnothing from me that they could
apply to Nolan and nothing fromNolan that they can apply to
Talon.
Who's the next one?
Talon does cross country andtrack and swimming as well, so
he also does three sports.
He is probably like the leastinto it, I would say, out of
everyone.
He's definitely grown up andgrown to be more competitive,

(18:14):
but my parents first put himinto it he was like we always
joked he was the type of kid whojust had the biggest heart in
the world.
If he's racing against someoneand they really want to win,
he'd be like oh you go ahead,you know what you deserve it.
Who does really talent?
Yeah, like you gotta.
Yeah, you know, but he's.
It's been so fun watching himgrow up and grow into that
competitive spirit because he'schanged so much throughout it.

(18:35):
He's going into his uh,finishing out his freshman year
of high school right now, sohe's still got a little bit of
time to figure out his path.
But the next one is Carter, andthat kid will be a D1 athlete.
There's no doubt in my mindI've never seen someone so
passionate and into things as heis.
He doesn't play soccer, but hedoes wrestling and rugby and

(19:00):
football and track andeverything you can possibly
imagine he tries to do, and he'sgot this like natural born
leadership that none of my otherme, my brother Talon, me, nolan
Talon all didn't have.
Um, and he's just such anathlete.
Like he'll go to practice andcome back and like, do like
plyometric workouts in our frontyard and like, get out the

(19:21):
speed and agility ladder afterfive hours of practice um,
you're like what the heck?
And he just he loves it.
And he get out the speed andagility ladder after five hours
of practice um, you're like whatthe heck?
And he, just he loves it.
And he's so into it and he'sgot that dedication, just that
competitive spirit that uh willget him far and he'll definitely
be a college athlete.
Um, and then ashton plays soccer.
She's 11, so she's still verymuch growing up and figuring it

(19:42):
out.
She's very, very young.
I think she's just starting tokind of come into her own and be
her own person and personalityand it's been really weird
seeing how much the game haschanged from my time just in
those 10 years, from where I wasat to compared to where she is
at.
But yeah, she does, she doesher sport, she does basketball

(20:05):
and soccer right now and, yeah,she loves it.
So it'll be interesting to seehow it goes because, like I said
, she's still super young tofigure all that out, but she's
already ahead of me in terms ofstarting her club career.
She's in fifth grade and hasalready been in it for a year
whereas I didn't join untilsixth, seventh grade.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
so for you, as far as somebody who didn't necessarily
have their eyes set on goingand playing collegiately, that
it just I don't want to say, itjust kind of happened.
But that's kind of where thenatural progression went for you
for soccer, how was ittransitioning from club and high
school into college life?

(20:48):
Because I know that there is asignificant jump you know I hear
all the time the level of playis so much faster collegiately
and obviously the expectationsas far as trainings and
different things.
So can you give the listenerskind of an insight as far as
trainings and different things?
So can you give the listenerskind of an insight as far as
what your experience going fromyour club and high school career

(21:10):
to your collegiate career, whatthe differences were as far as
just the level of play of soccer, not necessarily the schedules
and the academic part of it.

Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think I got really lucky withthe way my process laid out
that the coaches that recruitedme ended up retiring and
quitting.
Um, so the new coach came inwith me right that first year.
So while I was learningeverything and going through it,
so was everyone else who wasgoing through this program

(21:45):
change and, uh, you know, justlearning how to do with the new
coach, like the whole team wasnew, not just the freshman class
that year.
So I think that allowed a veryunique experience for me in that
class where we kind of got toease into things because the
coaching staff wasn'testablished, they were trying to
still figure out players androles and things of that nature.

(22:06):
And our program has changed.
Every year has been sodifferent with the way we run
things from just a level.
The one thing I will say thatit's so hard to be able to
prepare yourself for, andeveryone will tell you it but to
really be able to experience it, I think is very difficult.

(22:27):
I don't know how you wouldreplicate it other than being on
a collegiate team.
It's just the speed of play.
It is nothing compared to whatyou are at in club soccer.
You do not have nearly as muchtime on the ball.
You have to figure things out alot quicker.
I wasn't prepared for how smartthe game is.
I've always said like I was avery you know.
Once I got here I learned I wasa dumb soccer player.

(22:47):
I just I didn't know a lot ofthings that all these other
girls knew and that the coachingstaff was trying to teach us.
I was always like the type ofkid who just played off of
instincts.
I was like there's a gap overthere, so I'm gonna run over
there, like what do you mean?
And now it's like you'retalking about you know different
formations and just theintellect of the game, which is
something I definitely havenever experienced until I got

(23:09):
here and wasn't prepared for aswell and learning that.
I'm still learning.
You know there's so much tolearn about the game and to be a
smart player in addition justto talented and a quick one you
have to have all aspects of it.
You know everyone, everyone'sfast, everyone's big, everyone's
strong at the Big Ten level atthis top conference.
You have to have the technicalability and the brain to go

(23:33):
along with it in order to seesuccess on the field.
You have to have a better speedof play than you did in high
school and club you have to be.
It's all encompassing, whereasbefore it was this one kind of
hobby you do Once you get to thecollegiate game and the
collegiate level it is it's just, it's more.
It's more in every single wayand it's been so fun for me to

(23:55):
learn and to do.
But I think that's where a lotof kids struggle is they're not
ready to learn it.
You know they're, they'vealways been the best at
everything they've done.
And you get here and suddenlyyou're told you're not and it's
a really hard thing to toprocess and to go along with
that journey because you knowyou, everyone at this level was
the best at their club, likeeveryone was the best of the

(24:18):
best at every team they've everbeen on, which is why they got
here.
Someone's not going to beanymore and it's hard to figure
that out and to manage and to gowith the flow of being a
freshman and having to learn thegame again, which is really
what that first year is.
It's just relearning soccerother than the re.

Speaker 2 (24:38):
What you're saying is relearning soccer aspect.
Was there anything else thatyou can think of off the top of
your head?
That was unexpected to you whenyou went into collegiate play.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah, I think just with how naive I was about it.
But, like to me, we're watchingthe other team play a whole
bunch.
We're getting like packets onthem and what their strengths
are, what their weaknesses are,what we should be exploiting,
formations, different thingslike that.
Like we have whole meetingsaround this before every game
about what the scouting reportis and how to best prepare

(25:22):
ourselves for that.
We are doing film sessions,we're watching a breaking down
film and we're doing that afterevery game.
You know, multiple times a weekwe are lifting and training on
top of soccer and just the wholeschedule aspect of it.
I think I was I don't know whatI was expecting coming into it

(25:43):
and I think all of it just kindof came as a shock and surprise
as to not only how physicallydemanding it was but, like I
said before, how mentallydemanding it was to be here and
to learn the game again and togo through all that.
Just the different perks thatcome with being a collegiate
athlete.
Like you know the gear I didn'tknow.
Athlete, like you know the gearI didn't know we get kind of

(26:07):
credit cards in our name thatevery time you go for an away
trip or you go on you know kindof anything the soccer team
makes you do, that you wouldneed food for they either
provide a meal for you or theyload this credit card with money
for you to go get your own food.
We call it a per diem.
I thought that was super coolwhen I first got here.
That was like I was so excitedabout that and it was just.

(26:28):
It was like the little thingslike that that I just were
constantly either exciting or,you know, caught me off balance,
just unprepared for what thiswas going to be.
The fact that we havenutritionists on stand, the fact
that we have, you know, accessto athletic trainers Like I've
never it's not that I haven'tbeen injured before, right Like
you have kind of like softtissue injuries or things of

(26:49):
that nature but to have fullaccess to a training staff and
to this room where, like anyminor inconvenience you have
with your body, you can now getit taken care of, you know, and
prepare you for the game.
That way, michigan State, theymake you roll out like we have
bands and rollers, so we have toroll out and stretch after
every practice and every gameand then, additionally, we go

(27:10):
into the ice bath for at least10 minutes after every practice
and every game.
So that recovery aspect wassomething I've never done before
.
You know usually game's overall right, like go home, eat
some McDonald's and you knowcall it a day, like the taking
care of your body off the field.
And how seriously they takethat in the recovery process in
addition to the preparation, wassomething I definitely wasn't

(27:31):
aware of and I think it'simproved my game tremendously
and it's the biggest thing Icould say to a kid now.
If you can fix one thing, likeeveryone knows, to work harder
and to do all these things, butthe way you take care of
yourself and you prepare foryour sleep and your nutrition
and your hydration, the impactthat makes is so insanely, like

(27:54):
you know, different from nightand day from where you would be
without it.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
Yeah, and every school obviously is different as
far as what they're able tooffer their programs.
You know, I've talked to peoplewho they don't have
nutritionists on on standby andit really just depends on the
school.
Obviously, you're at one of thebigger schools and so what
they're able to offer theirathletes is different than what
a junior college can offer.

(28:18):
So it's knowing what your, whatyour school that you're going
to be going to, is going to beoffering you.
You know, obviously, like yousaid, every everything was kind
of new with the turnover.
Like you know, sometimes whenthere's a turnover of a coach,
they still retain some of theplayers, but what you said was

(28:38):
most of the squad, if not all ofit, was new, along with the
staff.
So it was sort of like startingover from scratch with the new
program, which doesn't happenvery often.
That usually doesn't happen.
So that's really interesting,that that was something that you
experienced, and then not beingable to maybe have that
resource of somebody who's beenthere for a few years and be

(28:58):
like, hey, what am I going toexpect?
But in your case it was like Idon't really know what to expect
because nobody's done thisbefore with this coach and you
know.
So sometimes you have thoseolder, seasoned athletes that
have been there which you'rekind of in that place right now,
as far as going into your finalyear of eligibility, so that's

(29:18):
something that you could be tosome of the new incoming players
type of a thing, but that's.
That's really interesting tohear what you're like.
When I, when I hear what yourexperience is going through,
it's kind of like a you knowsomebody who's literally going
in kind of blind and in justexperiencing it, which is kind

(29:39):
of cool that you're able toexperience that, because it's
not something that you wereexpecting and so you're grateful
for it.
It's not something that youwere expecting and so you're
grateful for it.
Um, it's not something that youwere like, hey, where's my food
card?
Like why am I not getting afood card?
You were pleasantly surprisedthat you were able to get the
per diem card and so that'ssomething that you, I'm assuming
, are probably pretty gratefulthat you even got to have that,
because you didn't even know youwere going to get it.

(30:00):
Um, so it's really just makingsure that you know you're
grateful for your experiencebeing able to play college
soccer, whatever that is, andwhatever perks or benefits you
may or may not get.
You know, it's obviously goingto vary from school to school.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
Yeah, absolutely.
We get a lot of questions forus in our podcast about the
different levels that youcompete at and does it really
make a difference in all ofthese things?
The different levels that youcompete at and does it really
make a difference in all thesethings?
Um, and the biggest thing thatwe say is just like it depends
on the funding of the university.
You know that's something welearn as we go through it and I
have friends at all differentlevels from you know d1 to naia

(30:37):
and you know everywhere inbetween that's the biggest
difference it makes is in thefunding of your program and
different benefits and perks.
The level of soccer variesschool to school and that
changes within every conferenceand every level.
Like you could have D3 teamsthat can probably beat D1 teams
right.
Like that doesn't necessarilymean they're worse at soccer.

(30:59):
However, majority of the timeswhen you go through the
different levels and not truefor all schools, because you
have private schools that arewell funded at all levels and
you know things of that naturebut it does depend a lot on the
funding and the little perks youget and how much of a
difference that makes and howimportant that is to you when
you go through the process.
So that's something Idefinitely take a look at.
Um, you know, and a lot of timeswhen you go through this, kids

(31:20):
just don't know what questionsto ask, like you don't know what
you don't know, and I thinkthat's a big part of it where
it's like never in a millionyears would I have asked about
per diem cards or any of that.
But as we go through it now I'mlike you know, every time we go
on a trip I'm checking it out.
I'm like come on, like we onlyget this much money, like we got
this much last week for thismeal or whatever, like you go to

(31:42):
it and it's funny now lookingback like how grateful I was for
it in the moment, maybe, howused to it you get, and kind of
take it for granted a bit as yougo throughout your journey,
mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
Yeah, so for your soccer, collegiate soccer.
So I know you said that some ofthe scouts that were there for
Michigan State were alsointerested in some of your
teammates.
Did any of your teammates endup going to Michigan State with
you?

Speaker 1 (32:30):
I was the only one that committed here, I think I
don't.
When they first reached out.
We had one girl on our team whohad an incredible amount of
attention.
She is still one of the bestand I think she brought a lot of
attention to our team and if Ihad to guess, I would probably
say the coaches were there towatch her.
She was definitely on the list.
There was three of us when theyemailed and they were there for
her.

(32:50):
I happened to play really wellthat game along with one other
player, from what I understand,the other girl on the list.
It just didn't work out.
They just ended up kind offizzling out, which a lot of
recruiting processes will do.
It just didn't connect that way.
And then with the girl theywere there to watch, she, I

(33:11):
think, just had her sights seton other places.
Michigan State was not a highlevel soccer program.
At the time we committed.
We were very, very bad, whichis something I didn't know when
I committed, but she did.
She was very into that.
She was a lot moreknowledgeable on everything that
was going on than me, where Iwas just kind of like happy to
be there.

(33:34):
And yeah, we were really bad atsoccer we were one of the worst
in the Big Ten prior to mecoming in freshman year, which
is great because now we'reback-to-back Big Ten champs and
ranked 12 in the entire nation.
So the journey's beenincredible.
But at that time of commitmentwe were not good.
So she coaching staff andthings like that.
A girl on my team ended upcommitting to Grand Valley when
Jeff, my current coach, wasthere.

(34:05):
So she committed to my currentcoach at a different university
and then I was already committedto Michigan State under
different coaching staff andthen it turns out like I kind of
stole her coach and he camehere and now she's still at
Grand Valley there, but she gotrecruited by my coaching staff,
just not at the right university.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
That's kind of funny.
Yeah, since you have one moreyear of eligibility, is there a
goal that you would like to tryand play professionally after
college, or is that kind of notreally your journey?
I know it's not everybody'sjourney, but what?
What would you like to do afteryour collegiate career ends?
Are you looking to continue inthe soccer space or do something

(34:48):
different?

Speaker 1 (34:50):
I think, when you're faced with the realities, that
this would actually be the end.
You know, because by the timeyou got to that point in high
school, for me I already knewthat I could play collegiately,
like I knew my story wasn't overin the sport.
I think, looking forward to mysenior year and the fact that
I'm out of eligibility, it'struly over and I would be done

(35:12):
doing the thing I love probablymost in this world.
It's absolutely heartbreakingand I don't, I'm not ready, by
any means, I'm not ready to givethis up.
I love it.
I think with the hard part is,though, for me and you know
personally, and I think for alot of kids now that the COVID
year is over, we no longer havethe extra year of eligibility to

(35:35):
give us more wiggle room withour academics.
If you were going to do theNWSL draft, you would have to
graduate in three and a halfyears.
For me, with a mechanicalengineering degree, that's just
not possible, like I'm not goingto graduate in three and a half
years with that, while doingdivision one collegiate soccer
Just not realistic.

(35:56):
So yeah, but I think that'strue for a lot of kids that are
just not able to graduate inthree and a half years.
So you either leave withoutyour degree or you forfeit the
ability to play pro at thatlevel.
You then have the option to gothrough your second semester and
there's a transfer window whereyou could go ahead and play
overseas at that point andthere's so many opportunities

(36:16):
and that's what I've learnedthis past year, if nothing else
related to the soccer world ishow big it is.
There's so many opportunities,not only within the United
States but internationally.
They also have that new SuperLeague that they created within
the US and there's just so manyopportunities to play
professionally.
I'm sure I will pursue something.
What that exactly looks like,I'm not sure because it will

(36:38):
depend on just the finances of adegree.
I think you probably make morein scholarship money than you do
at some of these overseasleagues where you're making
probably less than minimum wageafter everything.
But I'm sure I'll pursue,pursue something.

(36:59):
I'm just not incredibly surewhat that looks like.
Right now.
I am comforted in knowing thatthere are more opportunities
than I was ever aware of to goahead and play.
But yeah, I don't know it's,it's a question of the year for
me, man.
I mean, I just I wish I had an,it would make my life a lot
easier.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
Yeah, and how much more schooling do you have?

Speaker 1 (37:26):
So I graduated four and a half years with my
engineering degree.
So I would be a year out ofcollegiate play by the time I
graduated, for when I would wantto go pro with if I had my
degree.
Realistically, what I'llprobably do is finish out my
spring season or spring semesterand then go play overseas and
I'd forfeit kind of that lastsemester of my degree and then

(37:49):
come back and finish it when Iwas done playing soccer.

Speaker 2 (37:52):
That's something that I've heard players do,
obviously when they're facedwith that, because obviously as
an athlete you only have so manyyears that your body can
physically do the sport and soit is kind of a time crunch
there.
But obviously for people whoare on the path for specific
degrees and they want to be ableto finish it, they have to find

(38:15):
a balance with what they'regoing to be able to do and how
they're able to do that.
You know some, some degrees,you know.
Maybe you can finish it online.
Obviously, with yours, I don'tthink you can.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
Unfortunately not.

Speaker 2 (38:29):
So about your podcast ?
So tell the listeners the nameof your podcast and how you and
your co-host started to createyour podcast yeah, so my podcast
is called the big life.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
It is on apple, spotify, youtube, wherever you
get your podcasts.
We pair up with girls soccernetwork, um, and we release it
every thursday and we've donethis.
We started it july of last year, right before kind of season
started.
In that preseason phase, I'dalways because of how naive I

(39:05):
was, going into the process andhow many things I didn't know
and how many things I wish Iknew, and I tried at that point
to look at Not necessarily likesocial media is so polished and
you get the answers.
You want Everyone's mediatrained and you know it's.
Every answer is perfect,whether or not it's true, and I

(39:25):
just when I was going throughthe process, there were so many
questions I had and there's somany questions I didn't know I
should be asking and I just Iwanted to know a realistic day
in the life of a college soccerplayer, what does it actually
look like?
You know the good, the bad, theugly.
So I always thought there was aspace for that and I ended up
DMing Girl Soccer Network alongwith a few other companies,

(39:45):
being like hey, like I reallythink you should do this.
I think this is a greatopportunity.
I think there's a space for it,I think it would help a lot of
kids, and they ended up beinglike I 100% agree like let's,
do's do it.
Jen, who runs the company, hasbeen absolutely amazing in
helping us see this through andwe just were like, ok, let's do
it.
They paired me up with Sam, whoat that point was a defender at

(40:07):
the University of Iowa.
We were covering kind of theBig Ten and our journeys and the
soccer world within Big Tenathletics and as we go
throughout that year we finishout the season and Sam ends up
getting drafted to the NWSL.
Um, you know, she ended up.
Now she's overseas playing inSweden professionally and we

(40:27):
just started season two.
We're about halfway throughseason two now of our podcast,
which we uh, you know, have nowcovered the professional world
as well and what life looks likethere and how to transition
from college to professional andall that.
But the real main point of itis just to give kids and to give
anyone listening you know areal day in the life, what being

(40:52):
a collegiate athlete reallytakes, what being a professional
athlete really takes, and wesit down and we talk with
professionals in the industry ofmental health support we talk
about, you know, nutrition,sports performance.
We've talked with agents.
We've talked with professionalswho, in their story and their
journey that have gone throughit and any advice they have, and
it's just been, it's beenamazing.

(41:15):
I absolutely love it.
I look forward to it every weekand, you know, it's just
hopefully it helps someone outthere know, if nothing else,
that they're not alone in theirjourney and if they have any
advice or questions, you knowwe're always here to help and to
ask.

Speaker 2 (41:30):
For you and your co-host, Sam.
You said that you guys gotpaired up, so how was that going
into a podcasting relationship,not necessarily having a
friendship beforehand?

Speaker 1 (41:44):
Yeah, it was incredibly weird.
Sam had already worked withGirls Soccer Network, so they
gave me kind of freedom with it.
They were like this is youridea, this is kind of your baby.
You know, we'd love to see youwork with Sam.
We think this would be great.
But if not, it is what it is.
And after one meeting with Sam,like we were complete opposites.
Like I was very introverted andshy and quiet and you know

(42:07):
mellow kind of monotone and someof my stuff I was so nervous.
This is the last thing anyonewould ever expect from me.
Like I am the most introvertedperson probably to ever have a
podcast Like this was way out ofmy comfort zone.
And Sam is the opposite.
She's so outgoing and loud andyou know, just like this natural
leader and just you know very,you know big and I'm very quiet

(42:34):
and it was like is this going to?
You know?
Jen was like is this going towork?
Like you guys are so oppositeand we were like no, like that's
exactly why this is going towork, cause I will never know
what it's like to be Sam and shewill never know what it's like
to be me, and we were twocompletely different people and
I think it's a yin and a yangsituation where it comes
together and it works out sowell.
It was definitely, I mean, ifyou go back and you listen to

(42:56):
the first few episodes, like two, three, compared to where we're
at now 100% a huge learningcurve and you can kind of tell
we're getting to know each otheras we go through the process
now.
But at this point I've talked toher, you know, a couple hours a
day every week for a yearalmost now, like I probably know
her better and she knows mebetter than most people, I would

(43:16):
say and it's grown to be a truefriendship and I'm her biggest
fan now and it's been amazing,it's been one of the best things
, I think, to come out of it.
And whether or not the podcastsucceeds and we go forward with
it and whatever happens with it,I think there's definitely a
true friendship that's come outof it.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
At this point, that's cool, yeah, and the knowledge
that podcasts like yours and youknow in those spaces it's
really just getting theinformation out there to the
people that really don't knowanything.
Cause I know when I started mypodcast there, when I did
research when I wanted to startmine, I was kind of like I don't

(43:55):
know what's out there.
Already Most of the soccerpodcasts like if you just go and
look for soccer or footballpodcasts, they're mostly about
professional levels or they'regeared towards one professional
team and so it's not a lot ofstories and experiences of the
people that have actually livedthrough it and giving their

(44:17):
advice and just sharing whattheir journeys were and how that
can help the next generation ofparent and player so that
people know.
You know maybe you didn't thinkto ask questions about you know
the recruiting process and theother part of it is there's no
one set pathway that everybodyhas to follow.

(44:37):
You don't have to play for teamA to get to team Z and go play
at college Y and then goprofessionally over here with
this team.
There's no linear line that youhave to follow.
Like all the people that I'vetalked to, they've gone through
completely different journeysand where they ended up was

(44:59):
never the same place.
Um, and how they got there wasnever the same.
What they thought they weregoing to do versus where they
ended up a lot of times didn'talign either, and so it's really
fun and interesting for thesepeople to share their stories
and their journeys throughoutthe soccer space, because no two
stories are the exact same andand I love that even even

(45:22):
thinking about people that aresiblings that I know, that are
going through processes there'seven their stories aren't the
same, like you said, with youand your siblings like even what
your parents learned from youthey couldn't really translate
to your brother becauseobviously their situations are
completely different, theirinterests are different and
things, but it's it's differentand it's always going to be

(45:44):
different, and that's the funthing about this is you might be
able to resonate and feel forone thing, but maybe you don't
really connect with anotherthing, or maybe there's an
avenue that somebody took thatyou didn't even know was a
possibility, and so that's why Ilove sharing these stories, and
it sounds like that's somethingsimilar that you guys are doing
with your podcast and lettingpeople know you know the day in

(46:06):
the life of collegiate,collegiate stuff, because I mean
, I focus on just any youthsoccer stories and things.
But yours is a lot of peopledon't know as far as when
they're going to playcollegiately, what they can
expect and what, what theyshould be planning on and how do
I get there and what'savailable for me and things.

(46:26):
So that's great information forthose people to know in those
next steps yeah, yeah,absolutely.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
like I said, our biggest goal was, like it's so
polished, everyone's mediatrained, and we wanted to show
the true realities of it.
You know it's not always good,um, and pretty, and sometimes it
is, though you know, sometimesit is, so there's also really
bad moments, really low momentsand everywhere in between, and
we wanted to show that andemphasis on that and, like you

(46:53):
said, I think there's somethingto be learned from everyone's
journey.
Like you might not agree withall of it or all aspects of it,
but there's always something youcan take away from it and even
if that's just knowledge ofknowing that those are options,
um, it was really incredible andit's been, like I said, my
favorite thing to do and I'veabsolutely loved getting into it
and getting into the podcastand getting to meet all these

(47:14):
different people and hear theirexperiences throughout it.

Speaker 2 (47:18):
So is there any social media channels that
people can follow you other thanfollowing the podcast or
subscribing?

Speaker 1 (47:26):
Yeah, yeah, my name is Jordan Wickes,
j-o-r-d-y-n-w-i-c-k-e-s, andpretty much all my handles are
my name on Instagram.
It's probably my main platform,so go ahead and follow me there
and then follow the podcast andGirls Soccer Network.
It is out on all platformsevery Thursday and we already

(47:48):
have one and a half seasons outfor you guys, so definitely
recommend go check it out.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
Yeah, yeah, and it sounds like great stories, great
information, especially forthose athletes you know looking
to go play collegiately at thispoint, or even players that are
in, you know already playingcollegiately.
Do you guys specifically justtalk about the girls side of the
game, or do you delve into themen's side as well?

Speaker 1 (48:15):
We're focused on just the girls side for now.
Delve into the men's side aswell.

Speaker 2 (48:18):
We're focused on just the girls side for now.
Okay, I just wanted to makesure, so that people know what
they're what they're gettinginto, but that's I mean, that's
obviously great information toknow.
And what are some of the, whatare some of the schools that you
guys have covered so far inyour season so that listeners
can know what what you guys havealready covered and are they
able to recommend schools thatthey would hope to hear

(48:39):
information about?

Speaker 1 (48:41):
yeah, yeah, you can reach out to us, um, you know
either girl soccer networkdirectly or me or sam social
media handle.
Her name is sam carries-a-m-c-a-r-y and both of us get
a ton of questions, so weanswer them every week on the
podcast.
Um, you know, if there'sanything you want to hear, any
questions you have aboutanything specifically, either

(49:02):
we'll answer you directly orwe'll talk about it on the show.
So I mean, so far we've coveredlast season and we did
wisconsin, um, we did, you know,michigan state and iowa,
obviously, obviously, with meand Sam we've done pretty much
all the big 10 universities.
We've done some aspect of it.

(49:23):
And then we've also done a lotof professionals.
This year we talked with anagent.
We've talked with mental healthperformance.
We've talked with, you know,canadian players in the
international process.
We talked about to our coachesboth the Michigan State and Iowa
coaching staff, about what youlook for in recruitment process,

(49:44):
things of that nature.
We did kind of a little bit ofeverything.
I feel like we've donegoalkeepers who are now playing
in Sweden.
We've done our overseas inIceland.
In Sweden we've done uh, oroverseas in Iceland.
We did uh, yeah, a little bit,a little bit of everything, not

(50:09):
just players alone, but alsoprofessionals in their different
uh in their different aspectsaround.

Speaker 2 (50:12):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, cause that's always really
interesting to hear.
Like I know, I've um started tointerview some referees.
I'm doing kind of a mother'sday thing going on right now.
Um, I'm going to be doing afather's day thing in June, but
it's really interesting to hearthe different people around
different programs.
I mean, at least for me, likeI've talked to people that are

(50:34):
administrators for some prettybig clubs it's really
interesting just to hear thedifferent roles that people have
, especially for people who,like you, might be coming to the
end of their careers and theydon't know if they're going to
be able to play later or maybethey just don't want to.

(50:56):
But finding a job that's stillin the space in the sport that
they love, whether it's coaching, you know a nutritionist, you
know the physios that you guyshave I'm oh my gosh, I'm anyway
so the therapists and thingstrainers.

(51:18):
There's a lot of things that gointo these big programs, you
know.
So now agents are starting tobe a lot bigger as far as for
soccer athletes, cause you know,you see Jerry Maguire or
whatever, and you're looking atthe NFL players and the big
baseball players and NBA players, and now soccer agents.
You know that was kind of anewer thing, um, in the last few

(51:40):
.
You know, while, um, at leastin the United States, obviously
abroad there's probably agentsfor all those professional
players in Europe and thingslike that but, um, those are
definitely new spaces here.
Um, and then, uh, the mentalhealth side of it.
You know that's a branching andemerging area that people are

(52:00):
starting to get into and so it'sreally interesting to see the
broad and the vision and all thedifferent things that go in
there.
There's so many administratorsthat go into college programs,
youth programs, professionalprograms, advertisers, programs,

(52:23):
advertisers I mean there's somany different jobs that go into
sports that you can still finda job in and around it if you
want it.
Obviously, if you want to tryand stay in that same space, not
everybody wants to.
You know, I've I've seen someprofessional players who they
ended up playing professionallyand then they took a left turn
and now they're like, yeah, thatwas a fun pastime, but this is
my job now and this is what I do, you know.
So it really depends on theperson and the player.

(52:43):
But that's that's really greatthat you guys are able to
explore that and share thatinformation with with those
athletes, so that they know whatto expect.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely it's been a lot of
fun.
I mean, I've learned so muchwhile doing it.
There's so many things thattalking to these you know these
professionals and their, theirareas and their expertise like
so many things I never wouldeven thought to do or to ask or
all of that and it's been such alearning process for me, not to

(53:13):
mention everyone else whowasn't prepped before the
podcast about what to ask andthe things of that nature.
So, you know, I've we've gottena lot of positive feedback
about it and it's been.
I think my favorite projectI've ever done here was starting
this and doing it and hopefullywe'll continue it throughout
the next year.
But it's been, yeah, it's been.

(53:34):
We got a lot of good thingscoming.
We got NIL guests, we gotsports psychologists coming up,
we've got Andrea Brimmer, who isthe CMO of Alley Financial, is
going to come on and talk to us,who is the number one supporter
of the NWSL, and things of thatnature, and yeah, we've got a

(53:55):
lot of good things coming withit.
So I'm excited.
I think everyone should tune in, not that I'm biased or
anything, you know.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
Yeah, yeah, I totally , I totally feel that.
Yeah, that's awesome that youguys have been able to do that
and and grow it and and do allthat you've done so far and what
you're going to be continuingto do.
So that's, that's great, thatyou've been able to do that.

(54:22):
So, before we close, two lastquestions.
One do you have a soccer inlike a person, an idol, an
inspiration?
Is there a soccer player thatyou look up to yourself?

Speaker 1 (54:30):
I think growing up, the people that I idolized were
the people above me, kind of inthat high school area era.
You know, you had, and prettymuch that entire class that was
above me, from, you know, oliviaYoung to Bailey Blythe and to
Catherine Camper and all thesepeople who nobody will know,

(54:51):
probably, that I'm talking about.
But those are the people that Iidolized and I wanted to be
growing up were those highschoolers.
And then, once I got to collegeand I started watching them, it
was, you know, lauren Kozel andAva Cook and those people and
Gia Wahlberg, those people thatwere above me here I began to
idolize and look up to and learnfrom.
Um.
You know, and at this point inmy career I think some of my

(55:13):
favorite soccer players are likeLynn Williams, um Sam and
Christy Mewis.
I actually got to meet ChristyMewis.
I was playing in England, weplayed some of the WSL teams and
she's over there now playing umand I got to meet her and I was
like total fangirl.
I was like oh my god hi.
Um, yeah, so you know peoplelike that, but I think in terms

(55:37):
of just the soccer aspect andwho I idolized on the field,
they were always high school andthen soccer or England college
players.
Once I got to this, I neverreally watched a whole lot of
professional soccer until I gotto the college level.

Speaker 2 (55:51):
And there wasn't a lot of women's soccer available
to watch.
Um.
So that's definitely obviouslybeen something that has grown a
lot in the last several years.
So that's that's been great,that we've seen that explosion
on that side.
You know, whether it'sdomestically or abroad, it's
just been a huge growth for thesport.

(56:14):
I mean, I remember just watchingthe world cup and that was kind
of like it is when the worldcup would be broadcast and I,
you know, I was lucky enough tobe able to attend one when it
was back here in 99.
But it was still one of thosethings where you still don't,
you didn't see it a lot and hearabout it a lot.
But in the last, you know, 10years or so it's definitely

(56:38):
really grown and broadened andI'm lucky enough to be able to
have an NWSL team back here inmy home state in Utah.
So we have the Utah Royals andso that's fun to have them back
here.
They left for a few years,they're back, and so I know my
daughter was just asking theother day you know when's the
next home game?
Are we able to go?
And so just seeing her beingexcited that that is back in our

(57:01):
backyard.
Basically, um is is is greatbecause she, she's the one
that's asking to go and you knowshe has fun.
And, um, we had one of theirplayers come and talk to some of
our players in our club and soI think that rejuvenated the
excitement because they werelike, hey, I've met her, I have
a picture with her and now I getto go watch her play

(57:23):
professionally and so theyreally resonate with that.
So I mean that really reallypiqued a lot of interest, at
least in the young players thatmaybe didn't have an interest to
go and watch.
That.
They were kind of like hey,I've met her, even if I'm the,
even if she's the only player Iknow on the team, I've met her
and I get to go watch her.
And so that's kind of been funto see these younger players be

(57:44):
able to grow and recognizesomebody out there playing.

Speaker 1 (57:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
And then, as far as advice for players, do you have
any advice that you would liketo give?
I know it's kind of a generalquestion and I kind of like to
leave with that, but is thereany advice or anything that we
haven't already talked about sofar that you would love to leave
with the listener?
As far as youth players go intheir careers, yeah, um, this is

(58:17):
a hard one.

Speaker 1 (58:17):
I have so much, I have so much I want to say.
But, um, I would say that thebiggest piece of advice I would
give to a youth player, ifyou're trying to make it to the
next level, is one there's acouple one don't tell any.
Don't let anyone tell you youcan only play soccer.
You can be a multi-sportathlete.
You should be a multi-sportathlete if it's something you're
passionate about.

(58:37):
Two you don't have to be on aspecific team or specific club
team in order to make it to thenext level.
You can have success whileplaying anywhere.
You just have to be aware ofwhat that means for you.
If you're playing at a team whoisn't getting as much showcase
recognition, you have to knowthat you have to go to different
ID camps in order to get seenright.

(58:58):
The recruiting process is atwo-way street.
While coaches aren't just goingto come out and find you, you
know, as much as they may thinkyou're a talented player.
If you're not reaching out tothem and they don't know you
want to go to their university,they're going to move on and go
to the next player.
There's more players and thereare positions available and you
have to be aware of that astalented as you may be, you have
to do the work in therecruiting process in order to

(59:20):
reach out and email thesecoaches and get your name out
there.
It get your name out there.
You know it's a job, it's awork.
You have to work at it.
It's just going to come to you.
And then, thirdly, really takingoff the field preparation
seriously the sleep, thenutrition, the hydration.
Making sure you're gettingproper sleep two nights before a

(59:42):
competition is ideal, andhaving a routine like that, I
think has impacted my game sotremendously.
And looking back at my youngerdays, my club and high school
days, I wonder how good I couldhave been if I took those things
seriously, and it's something Ijust wasn't aware of at the
time and I definitely did nottake seriously.
So, looking back, I wonder whatmy potential was if I would

(01:00:06):
have done those things.
So that'd be any advice I haveto younger kids.

Speaker 2 (01:00:11):
Awesome.
Well, I don't have anythingelse for you today.
I always say this I could go onand on and on and on and pick
your brain apart, but you know,is there anything else that you
want to touch on before we end?
I mean, there doesn't have tobe.
Like you said, you could giveadvice for days, I'm sure as
well yeah, yeah, I would say youknow I'm always open.

Speaker 1 (01:00:35):
If you ever reach out , I will answer with any advice
you need or any specificquestions you have.
Please do not be scared and donot hesitate to reach out and if
it's not me, to someone else.
If you're looking at a specificuniversity and you really want
to reach out, and if it's not me, to someone else.
If you're looking at a specificuniversity and you really want
to go here, reach out to aplayer on the team and ask
questions.
We are more than happy to helpand to be there to support you
guys throughout the journey.
I'd recommend checking out thepodcast because I could talk for

(01:01:00):
days and we could sit hereprobably for the next five hours
and just talk soccer and itwouldn't be an issue at all.
So we could sit here probablyfor the next five hours and just
talk soccer and it wouldn't bean issue at all.
So I don't have anything superspecific to touch on, but I
would just recommend that if youhave any questions to reach out
and we're always happy to help-yeah, and I will definitely
link the podcast in the shownotes.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Remember, it's the big life and you can find it
basically anywhere that you getyour podcasts Apple, spotify,
google's gone now.
But, yeah, just give it asubscription, give it a like,
give it a share, um.
Thank you, jordan, so much forcoming on and sharing your
experiences and, like I said, Iwill be linking her information

(01:01:38):
in the show notes and if youhave any questions for her,
reach out to her directly or tome.
Um, either way, and we can getthose over to her if you reach
out to me.
But thank you, j Jordan, foryour time and your experiences
that you were sharing.

Speaker 1 (01:01:52):
Yeah, thank you so much for having me.
It was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (01:01:54):
Thanks for kicking it with me and have a great day.