Teri Tivnin, Soccer Mom & Daughter's Journey to Pro

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Teri Tivnin shares her poignant journey of her duather's rise to a professional soccer player while facing the emotional ups and downs of youth sports. Her insights on mentorship, commitment, and the ever-evolving landscape of women’s sports resonate strongly with aspiring athletes and their families.

• Inspiring story of Jenna's development from youth soccer to professional player 
• Importance of effective mentorship and community support systems 
• Parenting challenges: managing expectations and pressure 
• Mental health awareness in the competitive sports landscape 
• Lessons learned: communication, balance, and positivity in sports

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
he's yelling at Jenna to do all of these different
things and I'm laughing going.
I don't understand why he'syelling at her, but all of that
to teach her what to do off theball.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Hello and welcome to the Kick it With Katie podcast.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Hey team, it's Katie here and today I have soccer mom
Terry Tivnin and Terry whydon't you go ahead and introduce
yourself, let us know whereyou're from and your kid that
you have playing soccer Awesome.
So I'm Terry Tivnin, so awesometo be here.
I here from Boston, a littlesuburb outside of Boston.
I myself played softball andsoccer as a youth and going

(00:54):
forward a little bit into kindof the semi-pro world, and I
have a 24-year-old daughter thatstarted out in youth soccer and
then played ACC level soccerand then is now a professional
soccer player in Portugal, soplays for the top division there
and yeah, it's been a whirlwind, yeah that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
So for your own soccer experience, how old were
you when you started playing?

Speaker 1 (01:23):
So well.
I started playing when I wassix, seven years old.
Back in my age group therereally wasn't girls soccer.
We didn't have a girls soccerteam in high school, so I played
with the boys pretty much mywhole career.
When I was in eighth grade mybrother happened to be the

(01:43):
captain of the high schoolsoccer team and I really wanted
to play on the high schoolsoccer team.
I was the only girl playing andhe made me play in this indoor
soccer league and I ended upbreaking my leg really bad,
where I broke both the bones inmy leg.
It was in a cast for a verylong time and that was pretty
much the end of my soccer career.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
Oh man.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, it was crazy.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah that injuries like that in any sport are
definitely very scary andusually pretty traumatic,
especially if it's you're doingsomething that you love and then
you can't do it anymore.

Speaker 1 (02:21):
Oh, absolutely, and this was back in the eighties.
So back in the eighties theydidn't they didn't really
prepare you for sports the waythey do now.
So even the, the operations andall the things I want to think
about, I tore my ACL playingsoftball and I think about the
operations back then to what itis now.
It's crazy.

(02:42):
I was in the hospital for aweek.
People are in and out now.

Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yeah, I, yeah, I tore my ACL.
It's been almost 20, well, not20 years, it's been almost 15
years and I still haven't had itoperated on.
And so when people find outthey're like oh my gosh.
And I'm like, well, I just Ican't play soccer.
Technically I've tried, but it,I mean it's obviously not very
stable.
But when I eventually do havethe surgery, like I, sometimes
I'm like I'm kind of glad I'vewaited because now it's less
invasive than what it waspreviously.

(03:15):
I mean, even if I had had itdone when I did it it was
obviously still less invasivethan before, but now it's even.
You know just what they've beenable to do and the recovery for
it and everything it's.
It's quite interesting for yourdaughter that played.
How old was she when she wasintroduced to soccer?

Speaker 1 (03:37):
so it's funny because , um, we always say jenna was
born to play some sport.
She had a ball in her hand andat her feet from the time she
was a baby.
She would literally, at ninemonths old, sit on my kitchen
floor and dribble basketball.
That's just what she did.
So she started.
In my town we have this amazingdirector of coaching, john

(04:00):
Barada.
He is just fantastic.
It was the first year he cameto Easton and he started this
pre-K program and we playedsoccer behind a church down the
street.
She was five years old and shehasn't stopped playing since.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
That's awesome.
And did she after that?
Did she like do rec or did shego straight into club?
Or how was that progression forher with the system?

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Yeah.
So she played rec and traveland she was not introduced to
club soccer until she was nineyears old and our director of
coaching actually did that atthe time.
That was young still, they, you, you know she's 24 now.
So if you think about back backthen it was still early and he

(04:49):
told us, you know, she wasrunning over people.
She was to a point playing recwhere anytime she scored a goal
with her right foot it didn'tcount.
She could only score a goalwith her left foot for it to
count.
He put her on a travel teamwhen she was seven and you
weren't supposed to, you're onlysupposed to be there at eight.
He almost got fired for it.

(05:10):
He had.
I had parents coming up to herat travel practice going, how
old are you?
And then they would in turn goto him and be like, how did you
took a space away from somebodyelse's daughter to give it to
her.
So he knew when she was quiteyoung that she was special.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Yeah, and it's very, it's very tricky, coming from
like a coach's perspectivemyself, when you have players
that do need to be pushed andthey do need to play up a level
you know whether it's up an agegroup or or whatever that looks
like for whatever you're inright now and having comments
like that where parents getupset because you know you're

(05:55):
taking away space, and so it's.
It's really hard because there'sso many perspectives that you
have to think about.
And what is, I mean, ourbiggest thing as coaches is we
have to do what's best for everykid, and so if this player
who's younger, is just as goodas, or better than somebody,

(06:18):
that is maybe the proper agegroup.
It's not fair to give thatperson in the age group that
spot, when this player isobviously better, depending on
you know what the team situationis or dynamic, and so it's
really hard for people to graspthat because they obviously want
what's best for their kid.
But as far as what coaches aresupposed to do, we have to do

(06:40):
what's best for each individualplayer and wherever that fits in
for them.
I know I'm a big person wholikes to have players
cross-train and cross-play.
I coach three different agegroups and I have multiple
players in age groups that willcross-train either up or down,

(07:01):
and then the players that canplay.
You know in those respectiveage groups they play.
You know they can play up ayear and so if they need that
extra push, then that's wherethey're at.
And so it's hard for some peopleto understand that, because
it's very much.
It helps out those kids andsome parents you know, hard

(07:22):
truth moment Some, a lot ofparents don't like to hear that
their kid doesn't have that sametalent as other kids, and
unfortunately that's the way itis.
You know, some people arebetter at math.
You know, it's just how it is.
It just happens to be that, youknow, this kid is better at
basketball, this kid is betterat soccer Like, it's just how it

(07:42):
is, and so those players needto be pushed at a level that's
going to continually help themdevelop.
Yes, your daughter maybe took aspot away from somebody else,
but did she deserve it?
It sounds like she did.
She's currently playingprofessionally, so obviously the
coach made the right decision.
We were very lucky.

Speaker 1 (08:02):
Throughout her entire youth career, even college and
beyond Right, we were reallylucky to have the mentors that
we had in her life, startingfrom John here in East End and
John actually is still a bigmentor for her helped her with
her agent to get her I mean,she's playing against her team

(08:24):
is currently third in the Leagueof BPI only to Sporting and
Benfica, so like if it wasn'tfor the people that she had in
her life.
So from John to NEFC, so weplayed.
She played for the New EnglandFootball Club out here in.
Massachusetts.
And we never.

(08:48):
We were not club jumpers, wewere not anything.
Somebody actually saw her whenshe was nine years old at a
soccer.
So the D team, because at thetime we needed a scholarship and

(09:14):
they were like, all right,we'll put you on this team
Halfway through the year we like, we beat the A team and halfway
through the year she was thenput on the B team, which was
better for her.
And I say better for herbecause the coach that she had,
nick Burke, who is again anothermentor that's still in her life
.
When she comes home she doesprivate training with him.
He just worked with her and hewould literally teach her how to

(09:39):
head the ball.
She's great in the air, which isthe reason, one of the biggest
reasons, why she's where she'sat.
She's amazing in the air, oneof the best in the air that
you'll see.
Um, he taught her that, hepushed her.
He never stopped her fromgrowing.
So when it was time for her togo on to the a team, at that u13
age where everyone kind ofcomes together, she played U13

(10:04):
elite and she played U14 to gether more touches on the ball.
All because they helped her,they pushed her.
I mean, I remember being at agame and she played striker up
until she was 11.
So from nine to 11, she playedstriker, scored five goals a
game.
She's a big girl too, which Isay all the time.

(10:25):
There's a lot of things thatyou can teach, but you can't
teach size.
So she's like 5'9", 5'10".
She's a big presence back thereand he wanted to put her on
center back.
So we talked to my husbandfirst, because I did not want
her to go to center back.
I wanted her to stay as astriker.
But what did I know, right?
I said wanted her to stay as astriker.

(10:46):
But what did I know, right?
I said I'm gonna trust whateveryou know if that's what you
feel like.
So he put her at center backand at the time I think it was
8v8 that we played um at u11 andI remember her being at center
back and the play is on theother end.
So she's pushing up a littlebit and the coach is screaming
at her Like he doesn't even carewhat's going on in the play.

(11:06):
He's yelling at Jenna to do allof these different things and
I'm laughing going.
I don't understand why he'syelling at her.
But all of that to teach herwhat to do off the ball, which
is something I didn't know,right?
Yeah, they just they were great.
I mean, her team went on to winthe youth national championship

(11:26):
at U14.
They were the firstMassachusetts team and I think
still to this day, the onlyMassachusetts team that's ever
won it.
That was 2014.
They won the youth nationalchampionship and the club soccer
national championship in thesame year and they were in the
NPL.
So for those people, obviously,that know the club soccer world
, npl is not even reallyanything anymore.

(11:48):
At the time it was NPL and thenECNL.
Now it's NPL, ga, ecnl and it'sjust down low of the low totem
pole and we won all of theseawards.
It was just a whirlwind.
These girls were gettingrecruited out of eighth grade.
It was crazy.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
Yeah, and how?
How was that for her being ableto be starting to be recruited
and looked at at such a youngerage?
I know that the rules changedso obviously they can't do that
anymore, but how was that?
Having them looking at her atsuch a young age?
It was very stressful.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
I'm sure it was obviously stressful for her more
so than it was for me.
I will tell you, as a parent, Idid not realize everything that
goes into being recruited RightLike you think, that a coach
comes, they see you play andthey offer you a scholarship.
That's what.
I thought, I don't know, wedidn't have girls teams like
that when I was growing up.

(12:52):
You know, it just happenedafter me.
So it was for them to tell usthat well, you have to write
emails, you have to give me yourschedule, you have to follow up
, you have to give me yourschedule, you have to follow up,
you have to set you know theywould have to set times that
they were going to call, becauseyou, if you call and they don't
pick up, they can't call youback.

(13:13):
And then I just remember whenshe was like, so she went to
Syracuse and played there forall five years they got the
extra COVID year.
I remember when the head coachcalled her and so I she wanted
me to be there.
So I was there, sitting next toher, and all I could hear was
well, yeah, like, and I'm goingmyself.

(13:36):
Oh, my God, she's 14 years oldand she's talking to this ACC
power five coach going, um andlike, you know, right, so that
was just.
I mean, that was the funny partof the fact that they're
immature at 14.
They're not even in high schoolyet.
So, um, it was crazy.

(13:58):
We had at the time a great coachwho, at after we won the youth
national championship and thesoccer national championship, we
had a lot of interest.
I mean, out of jenna's team wehad two girls go to duke.
We had jenna go to syracuse.
We had, um, I mean, most of theteam went to division one.

(14:21):
I think those were the onlythree that went to the power
five.
But, um, most of the team wentdivision one.
I think those were the onlythree that went to the power
five.
But um, most of the team wentdivision one.
So it was he managed that in thesense of he had the girls write
down give me 10 colleges thatyou want to go to.
He didn't care why, he justjust give me 10 colleges and

(14:42):
then he would meet with thegirls and he would talk about
each of the colleges and tellthem whether he thought that was
a good fit for them.
And they'd go back and forthand they'd whittle it down.
And we had, by the end of orbeginning even of freshman year,
they had five solid schoolsthat they wanted to try and go
to.
Every tournament we went to, wevisited colleges, we just did

(15:05):
whatever we could they wanted totry and go to.
Every tournament we went to, wevisited colleges every like.
We just did whatever we could,and I had another daughter who
didn't play sports that wasdoing the college search at the
same time, so she was a seniorin high school.
Jen is a freshman in highschool and they're both going on
college tours very differentcollege tours.
When you are a recruited athlete, you get a private tour of your

(15:27):
school and you get to sit inall these offices and you're by
yourself, and so it was that,versus going in this huge herd
of people Right.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Right.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
You know I think about it now and it was very
stressful, but it was.
I'm glad that we did it reallyyoung.
I mean she committed when shewas a freshman in high school
and she's never I mean she spentall five years at Syracuse,
never transferred her freshmanyear.

(16:07):
She had a new head coach thatcame in and was like listen, we
want you here and we'll dowhatever we can to keep you here
.
And so she spent the rest ofthe four years with her and
their last year at Syracuse hadtheir best year ever.
So it was really fun.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
That's awesome.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
I miss it.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Yeah, I mean a lot of people like one of my husband's
teams, their kids justgraduated the last year I don't
know, it's been a couple ofyears maybe and a lot of those
parents still get together andhang out because they're like we
miss it, because, you know, weused to spend every weekend

(16:40):
together, or all this timetogether, all the travel
together.
You know we all became suchgood friends and so some of them
still, you know, meet up andhang out and things like that
Cause you miss that camaraderiewe do that with.

Speaker 1 (16:52):
So the club soccer team, like I said, she never
changed clubs and there was thecore group of them that stayed
together until they changed.
When they went to birth year,jenna was a 99.
There was only four of them onthe team that were 99.
The rest of them were 2000.
So they had to split up becauseat the time we were playing

(17:13):
ECNL.
So they wouldn't like, theydidn't want to keep one team and
they wouldn't let the liketheir young team be in the same
age bracket as the older team.
They didn't want that.
So I know, instead of keepingour team together and letting us
play up a year, they would.

(17:34):
They didn't want to do that.
I know we lost a lot of playersbecause you know the other
thing with the Easton Ellis theywouldn't let you play high
school soccer.
You had to have a waiver Right.
So only a few of them gotwaivers and the rest of the team
that didn't get waivers andthey wanted to play high school,
they left and went someplaceelse.
That was a hard year, thatjunior year of high school, and

(17:57):
it was just.
It was a really, really hardyear.
But then we all came backtogether again our senior year,
and I remember thinking tomyself this is our last year,
and every tournament we went to,every game that we went to, I
just wanted to savor it becauseit was just youth soccer was so

(18:17):
much fun.
It was just so much fun, likeeven when parents were obnoxious
, which let me tell you we had.
I don't know where you're from,but the parents in New York are
a little bit crazy, just saying.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
I think it's everywhere.
I'm pretty sure it's justeverywhere.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
I'm not saying that our group wasn't a little crazy,
but we had um, it was, I can'tremember who was against Quick
Strike.
They went around before thegame started and they handed out
lollipops to all of our parents, so that would be suck in the
lollipops instead of opening ourmouths.
I thought that was pretty funny.

Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yeah, there was somebody that I had on as a
guest previously that he's beena coach and when he coached
youth soccer he would hand outlollipops to some of the parents
to try and keep them, you know,busy, because he knew that they
were going to be, you know,running their mouths on the

(19:15):
sideline or whatever.
So I was like, oh, I'll have tokeep that in mind if I ever
encounter that.
I haven't had any issues for afew years, so yeah, it's um,
it's lovely.
Well, here in New England, wetend to not keep our mouths shut
either, so and and I reallythink it just depends it also I

(19:35):
don't want to say it depends onthe age or the level of play um,
because I mean I've seen someolder teams.
You know, we went to atournament over Thanksgiving and
we were there at a collegeshowcase and none of my kids
were playing but my husband wascoaching and our sideline was
pretty chill for the most part,like you know, we, you know clap

(19:57):
and things like that.
But I felt like as a group,like they were pretty chill at
that point because you knowtheir youth careers are starting
to wind down a little bit.
So I felt like some of thetempers had mellowed over the
years.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
Obviously if it's an intense.

Speaker 2 (20:15):
But yeah, I mean obviously as, like, certain
games are really intense.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (20:20):
Well.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
I think that's the group, that's the age group.
That's bad 13, 14, maybe 15.

Speaker 2 (20:27):
And I think it also depends on what they're yelling
about, because I witnessed a2015 team out of state where I'm
pretty sure every single parenton the sideline of that team
was coaching their kid.
I mean, I was.
I was warming up my 2014 teamthat had gone down there to to

(20:50):
um play in a turn in thetournament and there were.
There were some 2015 teams thatwere in a division lower than
ours that were playing upbecause they didn't have enough
for their own division, so theywere playing with some 2014
teams and I'm assuming it wasthe 2015 team, I mean the 2014

(21:10):
team.
They were playing.
Some of the parents were, youknow, rowdy and stuff, because
the other team's parents were,but I'm pretty sure that almost
every parent that was on thesideline of that 2015 team was
all yelling and I was like Ireally hope that coach is just
sitting down because it doesn'tmatter what he says, they're not
going to listen to him andthey're just going to listen to
their mom or dad.
That's yelling at them Like itwas utter chaos.

Speaker 1 (21:33):
It is.
And you know what I think thatyou know, when Jenna was younger
, I think I got really wrappedup in it, right, I got wrapped
up in.
I'm like, oh my God, maybe shecan go play division one soccer,
like that.
You get like this I don't knowexcitement about what could be
the possibilities.
Yeah, as the years kind of wenton and, um, you know, I just I

(22:00):
think I started reading morearticles about some of the
things to say and do with yourkids after their games and I
made some pretty bad mistakes.
I will never forget.
One time I yelled at her abouthow she played and she was like
she cried and I was like, oh myGod, how could I do that?
And from honestly, from thereon, in barring a few little

(22:23):
mishaps, I think the one thingthat I say and I still do it to
this day so before every singlegame, I send her inspirational
quotes and my message is justwhatever, like last week's
message, I think, was aboutbeing fierce.
And but every single week I saythe same thing I can't wait to

(22:44):
watch you play, love watchingyou play.
Watch you play, love watchingyou play.
Um, cause I think that that isso important and I've learned
from being that crazy parent youknow to now.
I mean, obviously she's a biggirl, so she's not as affected,
but I think I was reallyaffected by that.
I was truly affected by how Iaffected her.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
Yeah, and I think a lot of times it's hard for
parents.
I mean, I'm a parent of fiveplayers myself and I coach three
of them.
My husband coaches our sons,like, so it's really hard.
I mean I don't want to say it'sreally hard, um, just because
we've done it like ever sincethey've played basically where
one of us has been in thecoaching position for our kids,

(23:28):
and so we can distinguish veryeasily from coach and parent.
You know my youngest they'retwins that are eight, and I've
only been coaching them forabout eight months, I don't know
, since last summer Well, almosta year I guess and they're the

(23:50):
ones that have the hardest timedistinguishing between coach mom
, coach Katie and mom Like, well, you're a mom and I'm like, but
right now I'm your coach.
You know our other kids get itlike, at this point in this time
, like you're not dad, you're acoach, and it's pretty easy to
distinguish that for them.
But for our youngest it'sreally hard.

(24:11):
But as far as like givingfeedback to our kids as also
being their coaches, like Idon't know how my husband does
it with the boys, you know he's,he's very good with them.
You know one of them's a keeper, the other ones.
He's basically a sub on histeam and he's going through some
knee pain and injury right now.
I don't want to say injury.
We think he has OshkoshSlaughter.

(24:31):
However you say that so, likeyou know, it's just been very
painful for him for the last.
I don't know it's been a fewmonths that he's been dealing
with it that we've noticed.
But anyway, he's very good withtalking to them and talking
them through their games,talking them through their games

(24:52):
and for as far as, like thegirls go, for me I'm very much I
try and let them lead and ifthey have a question, you know,
mom, do you think I played goodtoday?
And you know I'll give themfeedback and you know we'll talk
about, like, well, what do youthink you can work on?
Like my oldest daughter rightnow she's 11, almost 12.
No, now she's 11, almost 12.

(25:15):
No, she's 10, almost 11.
Anyway, I can't remember, can'tremember, um, but she, she
started doing this thing where,for whatever reason, in the last
year, she started using theoutside of her foot a lot and so
, like, the balls aren't goingwhere she wants them to and I'm
trying not to like be supercritical of her because I'm her
mom.

Speaker 1 (25:28):
Right.

Speaker 2 (25:34):
But I also am like you know what part of foot
you're supposed to be using atcertain times, and so if you
want that to change, you have tostart using the proper part of
your foot, and we have adiscussion about that.
But so that I mean it's verymuch a hard line of you know
what is OK to talk to my kidabout in the car ride home.
Of you know what is okay totalk to my kid about in the car
ride home, because I mean Iremember one of the players that
I coached.
Another player asked her if shecould go hang out after the

(25:56):
game or something, and herresponse was well, it depends on
how well I do in the game, andshe was like eight at the time,
an eight year old.

Speaker 1 (26:06):
Listen.
I will tell you a story at like.
We had somebody who said afterJenna scored her fifth goal,
they turned around to my husbandand said can she get a ride
home?
Now, man, like I don't knowwhat she's telling people.
We don't like we used to do funthings with her like oh you
know, you get two header goalsand we'll buy you a lobster.

(26:27):
You know like whatever.
But yeah, I can totally seethat.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Yeah, but she I mean as an eight year old I felt
really bad, Like I was just likethat's a lot of pressure to put
on a kid in a game that she'sstill learning.
Like it's not the World Cup,like even then, like can I go
hang out with my friends after aWorld Cup game?
Like what you know?
Even then, like can I go hangout with my friends after a
world?

Speaker 3 (26:50):
cup game like what you know, I don't know it was
just.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
It was really sad to hear when I heard that and yeah,
that's a consequence that Idon't know, that I would give
yeah, and so yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
So I just felt I mean just the fact that she didn't
even have to ask her parents,that she just had that response.
Well, I don't know, becauseit's like, if you don't play
well, are, are you grounded forthe day?
Like that's awful.
Like what kind of mental spaceis this girl going to be in
because she's being threatenedby her parents as an

(27:21):
eight-year-old that if you don'thave an amazing game and I
don't know what, she's supposedto score so many goals?
Like there's so many variablesin games that it's really hard
to predict what's going tohappen.
In a game Like what do you, howdo you constitute whether or
not your kid played well?
Like are you, you know?

(27:42):
And us?

Speaker 1 (27:43):
as parents don't really know like we can say oh
you know, it was a shutout, sothe keeper and the defense did
great right, or we won by fivegoals, so we had great offense.
So whoever was, you know on theoffense.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
But as a coach, you guys know and and like as a mom
to say you played like crap, soyou can't go out today yeah,
yeah, and I've even had, um,this was, uh, I can't remember
what team this was, but therewas a team that, um, I was
watching the game and it it'snot any of my kids but, um, my

(28:20):
husband was coaching and I wasthere I don't know if we were at
a tournament or what and ourteam was winning handily, like
we were scoring goals and stuff,but honestly, they, they were
playing awful and my husband was, you know, trying to get them
to like play well, like yes, wewere winning, but it was kind of
an ugly win.

(28:40):
And, um, some of the parentswere like, why is he so upset
we're winning?
And it's like, well, can't youtell upset we're winning?

Speaker 1 (28:48):
and it's like well, can't you tell that all we're
not, it's a beautiful game for areason exactly, and yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:53):
So I mean it was.
It was really kind of funnybecause people were like, well,
you guys are winning, why isyour coach going crazy?
You know, I'm sure that's whatother people that were watching.
I was like we're not playingthe type of soccer that they
have been taught to play, and soit was.
I don know I can't rememberwhat game or tournament it was
in, but it was just likesometimes there are, you know,
sometimes you lose, but youplayed awesome, and so I mean

(29:18):
it's really hard to say justbecause you win or lose doesn't
mean that you see it all thetime where teams that are
playing like.
I just watched a I think it wasan EPL game over the weekend
where the team was absolutelycrushing it.
They had the ball in their halfof the field trying to score
basically 90% of the time andthey ended up tying, but they

(29:39):
had a counter because they hadseven people.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
The team had seven people back and one cherry
picking.
Yeah, so it all the time yeah,so it was.

Speaker 2 (29:48):
it's just one of those things where it's like,
well, the other team, theyscored their goal or whatever
happened.
I mean it was ugly, whateverhappened, but it was just like
was that really good soccer?
Yes, it's a strategy to win ortie, because you know that team
needed to at least tie to stayin the position that they were
in, but it was.
I guess you know they pulledoff their strategy, but right in

(30:10):
the world.

Speaker 1 (30:10):
Was it entertaining?
Yeah, no, no.
And in the world of youthsoccer playing direct, people
like shun playing direct um,it's not any time.
And I'll tell you, like, if youever watch Syracuse play um,
the last five years we playedvery direct.
And we played direct because wehad, like, jenna has a great

(30:33):
leg and could pass a ball on, adime has great long ball, so
they're able to do that.
Does everybody like andappreciate a direct game of
soccer?
No, nobody does.
And I'll tell you, even whenyou win and you play like that,
you get the same thing and itwas lucky and you guys just kick

(30:56):
the ball out the whole time andyeah it's.
It's not pretty for anyone,it's not fun for anyone.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
I mean in it.
I mean there are times wheredirect does work.
You, know, like, like you said,it does work.
But is it playing the beautifulgame?
No, but it is a way for you towin, you know, and so especially
.
I mean at the younger ages.
I mean at the younger ageswhere they're trying to develop

(31:25):
skill.
Playing direct does not developskill.
To develop skill playing directdoes not develop skill.
Yeah, and so that's one of thebiggest things where I mean I
remember being a youth playerand it was basically I had a
decent kick and I played, youknow, center back or stopper
sweeper, whatever it was calledoutside backs and things like
that, and so if the ball evercame to me, one of the things

(31:47):
that I would do when I wasyounger was just booted up the
field up to the forwards.

Speaker 1 (31:53):
You have parents yelling kick it out, kick it out
.
No, you got to pass to themiddle and you got to trust your
teammates.

Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah, Well, and one of the other things that I had
to explain to one of my teamsrecently is I said you know,
when I was a kid you wouldalways hear keep it out of the
middle, stay away from themiddle, because you didn't want
to play up the middle and thatwas a very much an old school
mentality and so I had to, youknow, talk to the players.

(32:21):
I'm like we want to distributefrom the middle, like so it goes
outside, it goes inside, itgoes back out.
No-transcript, what are yougoing to do if it's not there?

(33:00):
I said you're going to freezeand you're going to freak out
and you're going to turn overthe ball.
I said I give you thecreativity and the opportunity
to think for yourself and learnhow to play soccer.
And so I said you know, when weplay these teams and they do
these specific things, I said wecut them off and we force those

(33:21):
turnovers because we cut offthose passing lanes with our
pressure and things like thatand we disrupt them and so.
But people can't really do thatto us because they don't know
what we're going to do, becauseI don't make you.
I said I have I said on thekickoff I tell you where I want
the ball to go.
And on goal kicks I give youthe first pass.

(33:41):
I said after that first passfrom keeper to center back, I
said it's totally up to thecenter back where the ball goes.
I said I tell you the optionsthat you have, but you have
multiple options of where to gowith the ball.
I'm not telling youspecifically this is where it
has to go every time.
These are your options.
Whether you keep going to thesame place or not is up to your

(34:02):
decision, but this is, these areyour options, and so that's.
That's one of the things that Ithink people don't understand
with some of the coaching thatgoes on with people like me,
where I'm trying to give yourchild the creativity to learn on
their own.
In a way, I'm giving them thetools to do it.
You know where they see theseother teams who you know.

(34:24):
They pass from here to there,to there, to there to there, but
as soon as we intercept it orwe cut that off, they choke.

Speaker 1 (34:31):
So is that really helping them?
I'll tell you, what you'redoing is teaching your players
to have like really great soccerIQ right, and when they get to
the age of college recruiting,that is something that every
college coach looks for.
They want smart players theywant players that you know can

(34:54):
think on the dime.
They don't need to be told whatto do all the time, because
that's not how it works incollege, right?
You have set plays for freekicks and corners and that's
about it, right?
So it's important that youteach them that.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
Yeah, and that's I mean, that's one of the the big
things like with some of theplayers that I have seen their
teams in my area do great things, but it's because they're so
heavily coached and some peoplecall it joysticking.
They're robots and so they lackthat creativity as a player.

(35:32):
Yes, they can do the things,but they have to be told to do
them right and so they're notthinking for themselves, and so
I feel like some of thoseplayers that could have had that
opportunity aren't gettingthose opportunities because you,
you know, maybe they werejoysticked and I know I've had
people that I've discussed with.

(35:55):
Sorry, everybody listeningthere's an ambulance or
something going down the street,Anyway.
So back to the conversation.
But you know, yeah, just havingthose, just having those
coaches that are able to givethe kids the creativity to do
that.
And it sounds like yourdaughter had that opportunity
and was developed really well.

Speaker 1 (36:17):
She was developed like you know, like I said, I'm
I'm very thankful for thementors, the coaches that she's
had in her life.
They have all been just amazinghad in her life.
They have all been just amazing.
There was a point when she wasI think she was about 10 years
old and they had this um indoorsoccer tournament at Boston

(36:38):
College and so she was on likethe low, not the A, team.
She was on the next team downat age 10, like really whatever
Right.
So they were playing in thistournament and she had this.
I wasn't there.
My husband told me she had thislike unbelievable header and at

(37:00):
that point the coach from the18 was like why isn't she on my
team?
Why isn't this girl on my team?
So from the age of 10 until 13we stayed on the b team, even
though he wanted us to be on thea team.
Um, and the reason why we didthat has nothing to do against

(37:20):
the coach that was from the ateam but on the b team and on
this particular team with who isnow Nick Burke, who's now the
director of coaching for NEFC.
He was just so good with Jennaand so good with the kids.
He you go to practice and he'dbe in the middle of the field

(37:42):
playing with them.
It was just you could tell thatthey were having fun.
And when you looked at thepractice for the A-team it
looked like nobody was havingfun.
So we never wanted to have herlove of the game squelched and
I'm not saying that any of thosegirls that were playing on that

(38:02):
A-team their love got squelchedBecause I don't know that it
did or it didn't.
I know that most of them don'tplay anymore.
So, um, but for her we were justlike she loves playing for this
guy and he was so awesome toher and she still played.
So she played travel for thetown.

(38:23):
She played.
She did not play middle schoolbecause they would not let her
play middle school and play club.
The guy at the middle schoolsaid, well, my daughter is in,
my daughter plays club soccertoo, and she still has to come
to practice.
I said, well, I guess we're nottrying out then.
So not going to happen, notgoing to happen.

(38:53):
But even those coaches, likeeveryone just it wasn't just
Jenna that they did well with Ijust felt like every single
place we went we had greatcoaches.
We had great people.
That really helped us.
And because I didn't know.
I don't know the world of clubsoccer.
I am an older mom, right, wedidn't have any of this um for
us the biggest thing we could do.
I played travel soccer.

(39:14):
That was, I mean, travel umsoftball.
We didn't even have a softballback then, it just wasn't a
thing.
So this was all new for me andthey not only helped me and my
husband kind of navigate thisworld of club soccer, but they
helped jenna become the playerthat she is.
And and jenna did too, like I.
I honestly think when you thinkabout your kid whosever kid is

(39:37):
in soccer, you can tell wherethey're gonna go.
And and for a few reasons, Ithink that we never pushed jenna
to go to practice, like if wealways said.
If there was a day that shesaid to us I don't want to go to
practice, that would be it.
You don't want to go topractice and you want to, you
don't want to play, she neverwants.

(39:58):
We never packed her bag for her, like she literally would be
down waiting for us.
Hurry up, we're going to belate.
She and God forbid we were evena minute like and I'm talking
late is not being there an hourbefore practice starts.
So I think that there's that,that inner drive that.

(40:20):
I don't, I don't know thatthat's a teachable thing.
Right.
I don't know.
I think that's just somethingthat they have inside of them.
So there was that there was.
Like I said before, you can'tteach size.

Speaker 3 (40:36):
Jenna was always the biggest one on any team she was
on.

Speaker 1 (40:37):
She's a big girl, and then the other thing about her
is that you could tell howmotivated she was in everything
Because the girl just herfriend's mother introduced her
to the private school world andshe gave her a book of 500
private schools in all of theUnited States.

(40:58):
Jenna went through it in aweekend, doggy eared all the
schools that she was going toapply to.
She applied to all of them.
She set up all the interviewslike she did all of it herself
and ended up going to boardingschool, prior school, all on her
.
So very self-motivated.
Very, very self-motivated, and Idon't know that you can teach

(41:22):
that.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
I don't think you can .
You definitely can't.
I mean, I've seen players wholove to play soccer, but they
don't have a certain drive andso it's.
It's obviously not somethingthat parents can force on you to
be motivated, right?
I mean, I was a very selfmotivated person as far as, like

(41:45):
, doing all my own schoolworkand getting all my own things
done.
You know I had a part-time job.
You know I did all these otherthings dance, cheer, soccer.
I was a very, very busy personand I always went and did
everything Like it got to besuper overwhelming, but that was
the.
That was the kind ofenvironment that I thrived in.

(42:06):
I'm not, you know, sometimesI'll just sit for a day and just
be like I just want to be inbed, but then I'm like, oh my
gosh, thinking about all thethings that I need to accomplish
and do, or whatever, and I'mlike no.
I can't.

Speaker 1 (42:21):
I can't relax.
So, no matter what, I rememberthe one time that Jenna got
upset that she couldn't dosomething and there really was
only one time because I rememberwhen we put her into club
soccer, we said to her listen,this is a commitment, this is
not like there's a birthdayparty and, um, you can miss
soccer, it's soccer.

(42:41):
The birthday party comes secondeverything else.
She missed my brother's weddingbecause she was at a soccer
tournament in New York.
But it was against, like it wasTop Hat, it was PDA, like all
the big clubs.
And it was a college showcase.
So like she never complained,except for one time when all of

(43:04):
her friends were going to abirthday party at the Rebs game
and we she couldn't go becauseshe had soccer and she like I
remember her crying for likelike up in a room for like a
half an hour and I was like,listen, I go.
I understand that you're upsetand that's the commitment that

(43:25):
you made, but that was the lasttime that she ever cried about
it.
Because I think at the nextpoint too, your soccer friends,
the people that you play withday in and day out, they become
your best friends, they becomethe people that you do things
with, and that's just kind ofwhat happens.

Speaker 2 (43:42):
Yeah, I mean it does take a large amount of sacrifice
, especially to play at thehigher levels as well, and I
think you know little thingslike that can be a good learning
experience for players to go.
Is this worth it?
Do I want to be?
Do I want to have to sacrificeso much to be a college athlete

(44:04):
Because there is that amount ofI in order for me to be on this
team?
In college, there's so manythings and requirements that I
have to meet, and what am Igoing to miss out on?
And so is your FOMO going tooverrun you and maybe that's not
what you want to do, and sothat's also things that people

(44:25):
need to realize when they'rethinking about those things and
their, your social life is goingto be a lot different as any
sort of athlete, especially youknow now that she's playing
professionally in anothercountry, you know she's missing
out on a lot of things thatmight be happening at home
because she's also living in aforeign country currently.

Speaker 1 (44:46):
Yeah, it's kind of crazy.
We got a kitten.
So here are the bad soccer momsthat we are here.
I am going, jenna, if you getlike three goals, I will get a
kitten.
Okay, because my husband sawthis kitten and we were all like

(45:07):
all the kids were like let'sget it, let's get it Now, my
youngest is 17.
So when I say, say kids, that's17 and 20 year olds, so does she
not call me up because the gamewasn't televised and she got a
hat trick?
I'm not kidding you.
I'm like, wait, didn't I sayfive goals, she goes, she goes.

(45:27):
No, mom, I will forward you thetext.
I'm gonna go get the kittenbecause the girl got a hat trick
.
All right, like, so that's likethe soccer mom, but anyway.
So she's never met the catbefore.
So we facetime, so she gets tosee you know the the kitten and
our old cat.
But I think you know Jenna's.
Jenna's been out of our housesince she was 13.

(45:48):
You know she went to boardingschool.
It wasn't that far, it was inNewburyport, massachusetts.
So on, like the New Hampshireborder.
But you know her being away,she's been away her whole life.
But I think being in anothercountry is like you can't just
drive home, like if you justlike miss your mom, right, you

(46:12):
can't just drive home, like ifyou just like miss your your mom
, right, you can't just drivehome, um, I think that's kind of
where, where it's at.
I listen, I want her to comehome too.
I would love for her to play innwsl, like I think that you
know, once we get a boston team,I think that's her, her goal.
But for right now she's um.
She'll'll come home for Juneand then have to go back to
wherever she signed for nextyear.
I was going to tell you soSacrifice.

(46:35):
She went to boarding school.
It's about two hours from here.
So freshman and sophomore yearshe didn't have a car because
she wasn't allowed to drive,right Right.
So we would literally drive upto her school every single day,
pick her up, drive her topractice, which was here near us
, drive her back to school, andme and my husband depending on

(46:57):
who did it one day, because weboth worked, so you know we'd
switch off.
We wouldn't get home until likeone o'clock in the morning.
So her junior year, likenobody's allowed to have cars on
campus, um, but we told themthat she wouldn't be able to go
there if she wasn't allowed tohave a car on campus, because we
couldn't we can't keep thatthat up so, like, just so much

(47:23):
driving, and they approved it.
So she was able to get herdriver's license before her
junior year and be able to driveherself, but even driving
herself, like she still went toclasses all day.
I mean, it's a prettyprestigious school, so you have
to be smart and you have tostudy a lot.
Right school, so you have to besmart and you have to study a

(47:46):
lot.
Right, I had to study, get topractice.
She'd get back by 11 ormidnight and still have to do
more work.
It's a lot.
It's a lot.
I actually think high schoolfor her was a lot more than what
college was, um, so she, Ithink it really prepared her.
She got a 4-0 every semesterand and I think that's really
really difficult as a studentathlete, especially when you're

(48:06):
in ACC there's so much that likeit is literally get up at 5.30
in the morning, you havepractice from 6 to 8.
But you got to get there earlybecause you got activation and
you've got your you know theygot to work on you before you go
out for whatever injury thatyou've got.
Then you go practice and thenyou've got recovery for another

(48:28):
hour and you sit in an ice bathand then you got to go to you
know school all day and then yougot to go back and do film and
it is like everyday constant andyou have to have that mindset
and you have to know that thisis that's what, what your, your
school is.
Four years of that yeah, it'svery yeah, it's very.

Speaker 2 (48:48):
For some people, I feel like, um, it's shocking.
Other people, like yourdaughter, who have been
preparing for it.
You know, they know what'scoming, and I know that a lot of
times people drop out ofcollege because they weren't
prepared for what it was goingto be like and how self-reliant
you have to be because nobody'sgoing to be making sure that

(49:11):
you're turning in yourassignments or whatever.
You know they're going.
You're an adult and so you haveto be on your own, like you know
and sometimes you're out ofstate and your parents aren't
there to be like, hey, did youdo your homework?
That type of a thing.
So it's also, you know, you haveto be very self-sufficient and
self-reliant.
I mean, and that's part of justgrowing up and being an adult

(49:32):
is you have to be that as youget older you have to start
turning to yourself more and andrelying on yourself and your
decision making skills andthings like that.
So it's very good for playersto hear that you should be
preparing yourselves for thesetypes of situations early, so

(49:53):
that it's not so much of a shock.
Some people, you know, they saythe transition from one to
another isn't that bad, you know, and maybe it's just because
you had a situation where youwere prepared for that, and
that's good that that thattransition can be easier for you
.
But for some people it's reallyhard.
I know a few student athletesthat I know that were older than

(50:18):
me that you know they went andplayed college soccer somewhere
for a year or half a year orwhatever it was, and they just
either the school wasn't rightfor them or they didn't like
being away or whatever it was,and they ended up coming home.

Speaker 1 (50:33):
And so I think the return on investment too, like,
if you're, because we had a fewgirls that went and played for a
year and they were like, nah, Idon't want to do this like I'm
not gonna not going to go pro.
I'm not this, just I just wantto have fun, Right.
So I think that that's a lot ofthings that people don't
understand when they go thereLike I don't know what.

Speaker 2 (50:53):
division two and division three are like um, but
in the world of division one,sports is a 100 commitment like
it's a lot yeah, and and sopeople need to make sure that
they're prepared for that,because you know, you see in
movies and television orwhatever, this great college
experience and it's like, butfor athletes it's not that right

(51:17):
, you know, and and so different, yeah, and so a lot of people
don't still don't understand thesacrifice that it takes to even
just be a college athlete.
Um, so for your daughter, um,you said that you, you guys, got
her in touch with an agent.
So when did that come about?
Was she still in college whenyou guys got in touch with him?

Speaker 1 (51:40):
Um, so we actually we had an agent.
It was right after the seasonbecause she was declaring for
the draft.
So, right after the seasonended we got an agent.
She declared for the draft.
She didn't get drafted.
We weren't really happy withthe agent that we had, so I had

(52:01):
reached out to our director ofcoaching and he's like no, no,
no, I've got somebody and Jennais his only client, um, his only
girl client he has a hugefollowing for men, but he, he's
been wonderful, um, really greatabout like they talk all the
time.

(52:21):
I I wish I was more involved,but you know she's 24.
And she's a big girl and youknow I hear bits and pieces.
But, yeah, so I think that Iwas really nervous about where I
was going to find an agent andhow.
I don't know why, because I'vegot so many connections here.
But you know, like I said, thefirst agent didn't work out, but

(52:44):
this guy's great.

Speaker 2 (52:46):
That's good that she's been able to find somebody
that is able to help her,especially, like you said, he
has like a full roster of itsounds like male athletes.
And so for her to be his onlyfemale athlete.
That's great, hopefullytrend-setting experience for him
, as the especially as thewomen's soccer game is starting

(53:10):
to expand a lot.
Um, because I know, um, likeI've I've talked to a few
players who they've gotten intouch with agents and things and
, um, as far as, like, socceragents go, like for me, I'm like
how, like, is it really thatcommon for people to have agents
in the United States, likeobviously, abroad you know it's

(53:33):
like a thing and so that's oneof the I would feel like an
emerging market for peoplethey're interested in some sort
of job or whatever.
Like I feel like that's anemerging market that could be a
big thing, like and I haveliterally no idea how many
soccer agents there are in theUnited.
States.
I mean, you know, I've seenJerry Maguire, you know the

(53:55):
sports agents and things forthose other big sports.
But now that soccer is kind ofstarting to take off in the
United States and over the lastseveral years, and it's becoming
more of a thing like I I don'thave any kids that need to have
agents or anything like that,but for those players that are
coming of those ages where maybethey, you know, need to look

(54:17):
into that, like who, who arepeople that they can look look
to for that experience, you know.

Speaker 1 (54:23):
And you want to make sure that, like I know, it's
just like every other business,it's who they know, right,
because that's how you get,you're in contact with people.
So you know, I think one of thethings that is great is that
Jenna is his only girl womanclient, right, but on the other
side, you know, he knows a lotof guy coaches, so he's he's

(54:48):
learning the the women's markettoo, which I think is fabulous
for him, and again, he's justabsolutely phenomenal.
So I'm I couldn't be happier.
But I think that that's theother thing that you need to
look at is you know who are theathletes that they they have
signed.
Right.
Who are the ones that they'veput in?
Because the other thing is, Iwill tell you there are a bunch

(55:10):
of agents that will put peoplein like Lithuania, and, and
we're like, no, we, you know,she's good enough to play in a
good league um and so that's oneof the things that this agent
did.
He was like where are you,where are you okay playing?

(55:31):
So yeah, it's, it's been reallygood so for her has.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
She is this her first year in portugal.
And then what is she hoping todo, because it sounds like maybe
she only has a one yearcontract with them.
Maybe is she hoping to resignwith them if possible, or does
she want to look elsewhere?
I know you said she wants totry and maybe do NWSL.

Speaker 1 (55:56):
Yeah, so I'm not gonna talk about like what her
contract negotiations are.
The team that she's on rightnow, that's her thing.
I can tell you that eventuallyshe'd like to play on a team
that is in the Champions League,which the team that she's on
right now could very well makethe Champions League, where

(56:19):
we're close enough to sportingand we just beat them.
So we're right there, um, andif she can make a team on the
champions league, then she's gota really great chance of coming
back and playing in in the nwsl.
But you know, does she have toplay in the champions league?
I don't know.
I don't.
This is all new unchartedwaters.

(56:41):
You know, like there's a lot ofgirls that play in NWSL that
she's played against.
It's just, I don't know.
I don't know yet.
Like, that's a talk to me.
Next year I'll tell you whathappens.

Speaker 2 (56:55):
To be continued.

Speaker 1 (56:57):
Yeah, exactly Exactly .
I'm just you know what.
I'm really excited for her as ayoung woman.
I mean, think about it, she's a24 year old living in Portugal,
playing soccer for a living.
Like.
I would have killed to playsoftball for a living.

(57:17):
I would have killed I would havebeen like, oh my God, I'm like
the best life ever, right.
So I think that that's just.
It's wonderful.
She's worked really, reallyhard to get to where she is.
It has not been without a lotof tears and a lot of anxiety,

(57:37):
because playing soccer at thatlevel there's a lot of anxiety,
even in college.
I would just give you the beeptest, for example.
Like Jenna's a big girl, thebeep test.
Psychologically she just shehas a hard time with it.
And her sophomore year thecoach was making a statement If
you don't pass the beep test,you don't play.

(57:58):
So she had played in Budapestthat summer, came back and
booted past to preseason late.
So she was already it's a newcoach.
She comes in late.
She can't pass the beep test.
She doesn't.
This new coach doesn't know howgood she is.
So jenna doesn't play the firstpreseason game, the only reason

(58:19):
why she was put in on thesecond preseason game we played
against Rutgers who were losingto nothing because we didn't
have a lot of subs and a girl onthe field broke her nose.
So she put Jenna in and Jennaplayed phenomenal.
They didn't score another goaland she relaxed the the having
to pass the B test.

(58:40):
She's like they brought in theB test.
Yeah, she's like they broughtin a cone test.
They did whatever they could toget them to pass.
So it's just it's.
I would get calls every day.
I didn't pass again, yeah.
It's a so there's a lot ofanxiety, there's a lot of stress
, there's a lot of hard work,but there's also like just she

(59:04):
loves playing so much.
It's just, it's who she isalmost at this point.

Speaker 2 (59:11):
Yeah, and it definitely.
You know just those littlepsychological things that
players have to go through, youknow, and sometimes you're like
it doesn't even have anything todo with my playing ability.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
Right, I'm so fast on the field.

Speaker 2 (59:25):
I'm sorry.
Yeah, so it's.
I definitely get that Causethat was one of the things that
I I always hated was, you know,having to one of my coaches.
They made us like run a milebefore practice even started and
I was like this is this is solike I hated it.
I absolutely hated it.

(59:46):
And then you know for everyminute that somebody was late.
Then we had to run ladders andit's like I'm sorry we're not of
driving age Like now that I'm acoach and I think about this
I'm like punish the parent forbeing late.
You know, you don't know whatthe circumstances are.
Don't pun like I don't know.
Now you know yeah, as a coachand thing like I'm I'm like, if

(01:00:08):
it's a consistent thing, youknow, maybe we need to talk to
them like is there somethingthat's happening every time?
Is it just they have to go dropanother kid off at another
activity?
Like could be so many thingsgoing on and really, like, until
they're of driving age and ifthey have the ability to have
their own car, like it's reallyhard to hold accountable a kid
being on time for practice ornot, because usually it's not

(01:00:30):
their fault.
Like, like you said, yourdaughter, like she's ready to go
and you guys are, you know,slowly moseying on down and
she's just like we're gettingyelled at yeah, so you know I
also think having you run thatmuch before you're gonna
actually go and do anothertwo-hour practice is crazy yeah,
it was.
It was.
It was different, and so I,because we had never done that

(01:00:53):
before.
It was a set of coaches thathad, you know, were newer or not
a set of coaches.
It was a coach that trying toremember which one of them made
us do that.
But I, I I was not like a longdistance runner, like I.
I hated it.
I was a very fit person, like I.
I did dance for four or fivehours a week.

(01:01:15):
I did soccer for six hours aweek and all these things.
Like I was a very physicallyfit person.
But I, like to this day, I haterunning.
I can run on the soccer fieldand not get out of breath, like
totally fine, my face might bebeet red after the game, but I
I'm like I'm totally fine.
But I mean, to me those aredifferent types of running, like

(01:01:37):
they're absolutely.

Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
You're running for a purpose in soccer when you're
out jogging.
There's no purpose.

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
Yeah.
So, I, I don't know, and so Imean and that was in the
nineties, so I mean again it was.
You know a lot of things that alot of coaches don't do anymore
.
No they don't Think about bodyshaming.

Speaker 1 (01:01:57):
Think about how much body shaming happened when, like
I mean, you're 10 years youngerthan me, but I can tell you,
even when I was younger andplaying sports, there's so much
body shaming going on Like now,if you do that, like there is a
big focus on how a coach talksto a woman player, and I

(01:02:17):
couldn't be happier.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
Yeah, it's definitely definitely a different culture,
and for the good for for themost part, you know, as far as,
like, the advancement in indifferent things and definitely
has gone in the right directionfor those types of things.
And so those players that havebeen able to pave the way for
these younger players, to makeyou know, those transition and

(01:02:42):
things easier, has been great.
Or for coaches like me that arestill newer on the scene, like
it's, it's made it so muchbetter Cause, like, thinking
about different things, I wouldprobably, you know, thinking
about the way it was back then,like how much harder it must've
been, like just I don't know ifI'd be able to do the same job,

(01:03:03):
you know, 20, 30 years ago.

Speaker 1 (01:03:05):
Oh yeah, it's definitely.
Um, I'm definitely thankful forthe culture change that has
happened in women's sports andthe focus that has been on
women's sports.
And it gets me all choked upbecause I so wanted.
If you asked me when I wasyounger what I wanted to be when
I grew up, it was the firstwoman in major league baseball.

(01:03:26):
That was my dream, right.
So we didn't.
That's how.
That's all I could dream about,because we didn't have women's
sports, you couldn't getscholarships.
I played softball, we thereweren't scholarships.
It just didn't happen back inthe eighties.
And to see, you know what mydaughter has accomplished she

(01:03:46):
got a full ride all five yearsto college and playing now
professional.
It's just amazing to me.
It's very emotional Cause youknow, you think I'm one of those
parents.
Oh, I'm living vicariouslythrough my kid, because you know
, you think I'm one of thoseparents.
Oh, I'm living vicariouslythrough my kid.
But it's more about how I feltplaying sports and how I would

(01:04:09):
have felt being in that world.
And she gets to do it.
I'm so happy for her.
I'm so excited for her.
Just a little bit jealous, nota lot, maybe 90% jealous, no.

Speaker 2 (01:04:23):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:04:24):
But she gets to do that, like, how cool is that
that I have a daughter who playsa professional sport?
Yeah, or a professional athlete.
That never, you know, when Iwas younger, that never would
have even been an option.

Speaker 2 (01:04:41):
And the opportunities .
The opportunities have grown alot recently and so you know,
there used to only be so muchopportunity for these women to
be able to even playprofessional soccer, and so the
fact that there are now so manyprofessional leagues in other
countries and being able to havethose opportunities is is

(01:05:04):
amazing.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
you know, because they're starting another league
here.
Right, we got the USL startingnext year.
Um, you can see my sweatshirt.
Right, it says support women'ssports.

Speaker 2 (01:05:17):
The data does.

Speaker 1 (01:05:20):
Yep, um, because it does right.
People are watching.
I mean, look at the NCAAwomen's basketball tournament.
I don't know about you, butlike I'm usually in bed by 830,
nine o'clock, I'm tired.
I could not like close my eyeswatching these games.
It was so much fun.
There's so much passion inthese, these women.

(01:05:41):
They are so good at their craft.
It's just a joy to watch.
So I hope it just continues togrow and we have more and more
opportunities for our daughtersand granddaughters.

Speaker 2 (01:05:54):
It's.
It's definitely fun to watchand fun to see.
I know I've even had peoplejust as a female coach, you know
, saying because they need morefemale coaches.
They were like, if you reallywant to try and do it, past
coaching 10 year olds.
They're like, you know, getlicensed and see what you can do
, that type of a thing, and sothat's something that I've been
thinking about.
I don't know if it's somethingI would do but I definitely

(01:06:18):
thought about it.
I'm like, oh yeah, I've neverreally thought about that aspect
and you know, my husband's beencoaching for so long and I've
learned a lot from him, and soit's, it's definitely something
that I've thought about and I'mlike I don't know, like would
that be something that I'd wantto do, like you know, yeah, we
need that right.

Speaker 1 (01:06:34):
We need for our daughters and granddaughters to
have people to look at like hey,hey, there were no women in
Major League Baseball.
There are now, but thereweren't back then and I had no
one to look at, I think about onfield reporters.
There were no women on fieldreporters.
I'll tell you what, if I wasliving in this day and age other

(01:06:55):
than being a professionalathlete, I would have been on
field reporter, but there wasnobody to see that was doing
that.
I didn't think that was anoption.
If you do that, you become acoach for that next level and
that next level like you gotlittle girls looking at you
going I can do that.
I can be her and.
I think that's so cool.

Speaker 2 (01:07:14):
Yeah, and it's.
It's great to see some of thewomen coaches that have stepped
up into, like the NWSL, coaching.
I'm here in utah with theroyals, and so our head coach is
a female so you've got ally,ally sent noir played again.

Speaker 1 (01:07:28):
Well, she's from my area so she played at the.
She played for social select,which is one of the other sarc
clubs, but her and my daughterplayed together on a christmas
team and you know it was prettyfun.
They also played against eachother in high school, even
though Allie's so much younger.
But so the high school that shewent to, they started their

(01:07:48):
school in seventh grade, so shewas obviously playing on varsity
as a seventh grader andstarting so.
But yeah, so you got the UtahRoyals out there.
You've got some good playersgoing on out there.

Speaker 2 (01:08:00):
Yeah, we do so.
It it's.
It's nice to have them back.
So, for those of you that don'tknow the history of our team,
they were here in utah and thenum the rsl team and the royals
um got split up and sold to anew ownership and they didn't
keep the royals.
They left for a few years andnow they're back um.
So this is their I.

(01:08:21):
I don't.
I don't.
Their homecoming year is whatthey're calling it, because it's
not necessarily their inauguralseason, because they've been
here before, same name andeverything, so it's their
homecoming year is kind of whatthey're calling it so and it's
fun to see, that's what we'rewaiting for.

Speaker 1 (01:08:37):
We're waiting for Boston to come back.
So the Breakers left and nowwe're supposed to be getting
another team next year.
So keep my fingers crossed.
Yeah, I can't.
I love watching soccer and Iespecially love watching soccer
now because there are so manygirls that I've watched, from
the time they were little,playing against, you know, my

(01:08:59):
daughter and with my daughter,and now being on this big stage
Like it's fun.
It's fun to watch these girls,right, it's fun to watch them
compete.
I can't wait till we getsomething in Boston.

Speaker 2 (01:09:10):
Yeah it's.
It's definitely fun, Like wehave some homegrown players
Brecken, mazingo, that's awesome, I watched her at BYU.
She's awesome yeah, so sheplayed at BYU.
She actually played for theclub that I coached for, that I
played for as a kid that she,until the age split, her last

(01:09:31):
two years were with a differentclub because, like your
daughter's team, they split upbecause of the yeah, it was what
age?

Speaker 1 (01:09:38):
and whatever, right, um so I think they're the same
year.

Speaker 2 (01:09:42):
Yeah, the 9900 or 01.

Speaker 1 (01:09:45):
Yeah 2000.

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
Yeah, so we have.
We have some homegrown players,people that are from Utah, and
so it's really fun to be able tosee, like you said, people that
you know.
I know, like when we watchmen's soccer because my husband
has always coached boys he, youknow he'll randomly be like hey,
we, we play whatever team,whatever team he coached, he's

(01:10:09):
like that kid was on that team,that we played that one time and
he has like this whole storageunit of information in his brain
, but he'd go.
Hey, that kid was on that teamthat we played at this
tournament this one time, andI'm just like, okay, cool, like
that's awesome, like that, youremember that he was there.
You know he, he rememberseverything but he, yeah.

(01:10:30):
So it's it's kind of like thatwhere you go, oh man, that's so
cool that this player that Iknow, that you know, is signed
with a pro contract, they'replaying against this player that
we played at you know whatever.
And so it's it's cool to see,like especially now that kids
that we've known are starting toplay collegiately and
professionally and things likethat, that we're able to see

(01:10:52):
that as well.
And yeah, it's just it's it'sfun to see the kids you know
grow up and have thoseopportunities that used to not
be there, especially like for usin our backyard having two
professional soccer teams um, wehave some you usl teams, are
you yeah?
usl is coming out yeah, so wehave a couple, a few in our area

(01:11:14):
and things like that.
So a lot of the college playersthat play locally not all of
them, but you know they'll comein the off season in the summer,
spring, and they'll come playfor these local teams and then
they'll go back to theircolleges and play, and so that's
that's fun to see them do that,and then the opportunities that
rsl and the royals have in ourarea has been fun to see.

Speaker 1 (01:11:36):
That's awesome I just love it.
Uh, I wish, like I said, Ican't wait to be a good team.
I just can't wait.
I'll just keep saying it Please, boston, hurry up.

Speaker 2 (01:11:45):
Yeah, well, I mean, when I was in San Diego over
Thanksgiving because we were atthe Surf Cup and we were at the
Del Mar polo grounds former pologrounds, they're not polo
grounds anymore, but it wasreally cool to see because they
had like all the San Diego wavestuff there because that's where
they train and I was just likeI didn't realize that and my
husband was like cause I hadn'tbeen there for a couple of years

(01:12:08):
, and he was like yeah, this istheir training facility.
You didn't know that and I waslike no, but I do now.
So you know, it's, it's fun tobe able to see that and go,
that's really cool, cause thisis where Morgan uh, alex Morgan
trains and plays and you knowthings like that.
So I'm like it's, it's fun tosee that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:12:29):
So it is.
I don't you know.
You would think my husbandwould be like rah, rah, women's
sports, considering as adaughter who's a professional
athlete.
But he's still like this oldschool and I'm not kidding you,
he's like, you know, not a lotof guys are going to watch
women's sports.
I'm like, oh, really Okay,every time there's like a new

(01:12:50):
record, that's broken, I'm like,oh, did you see how many people
?
Did you see 12.3 million peoplewatch the Iowa LSU game?
Did you happen to see that?
Did you see that?
You know, this game got moreviewership than the Red Sox did
or than the Celtics did.
I just, I love, I love, just oh, by the way, women's sports did

(01:13:12):
this right right, just just youknow.
Again, I'm coming from people inmy generation that weren't a
lot of women who played sportsthey just weren't and to see the
evolution and everything thatwomen who were trailblazers have
done for us to be able to havethese platforms, it's just, it's

(01:13:34):
amazing.
I'm in awe.

Speaker 2 (01:13:37):
Yeah, it's definitely great.
So to wrap up really quick, Ihave one more question for you.
And I don't know if you'll havethe answer for this, because I
don't know if this discussionhas been had yet, but I know
that your daughter is startingher professional career right
now, but does she know what shewants to do after?

Speaker 1 (01:13:58):
You know?
I honestly I don't know.
I think that she's talked to uma few people.
She graduated with a sportmanagement major, um with a
minor in data analytics and ummarketing.
So something along the lines ofshe loves data, she loves, she

(01:14:19):
likes being behind the scenes.
That's more her Um.
I know that she's.
You know she used to work forZoom, who this is one of them
does this sweatshirt.
They do a lot of data analyticsfor sports.
She worked for the post gameand I know she's talked to some
people in NWSL and hopefully,you know, she might do something

(01:14:40):
with them eventually down theroad.
I think she wants to stay inwomen's sports, which is great,
right.
Whatever that capacity is, Ithink she will.
She's really good at whatevershe does.
So whatever the road, whereverthe road takes her.

Speaker 2 (01:14:59):
Yeah, yeah, and definitely support her and her
journey and you know that's soawesome.
Takes her.
Yeah, yeah, and definitelydefinitely support her and her
journey and you know that's soawesome for her.
So which specific team does sheplay for right now?
She plays for racing power.

Speaker 1 (01:15:12):
Okay, um, like I said , they play um.
In the league of BPI we tiedBenfica, we beat sporting, so
we've got a really really goodteam.
They have a striker on her teamwho she met when they were at a
Houston Dash camp, so they'vegot some really good chemistry
because they knew each othergoing into it.

(01:15:32):
There's some this team's reallygood.
It's really really good wheneveryone's healthy.
So it's been fun.
Like who would have thoughtthey're a brand new team to
division one?
They were in the seconddivision last year and they they
played in to be, able to.
Yeah, so they never thought thatthey'd be in the position that

(01:15:53):
they're in.
Um.
This coach did some reallygreat recruiting some really uh
got some really great playersand we we've done really well
they've actually.
So jenna missed the first threegames of the year.
She had a torn quad.
Um came back and in league playfor all of the games they've

(01:16:17):
played.
I think they've played 13 games.
She's can.
They've conceded two goals andthey've lost one game.
Wow, that's awesome.
So, yeah, they've played 13games.
She's con.
They've conceded two goals andthey've lost one game.
Wow, that's awesome.
So, yeah, they've done really,really well.
It's been fun to watch Um.
Right now they're playing alittle bit more of a direct
style of soccer due to theinjuries, um, but they're.

(01:16:39):
They've got some really greattalented players on this team.
Yeah, it's been fun to watch.
You can watch it on YouTube.

Speaker 2 (01:16:46):
I was going to ask, I was going to say how do you get
to watch not being there?

Speaker 1 (01:16:51):
So, yeah, most of the games in the league.
So there's still the PortugalCup that they're still in.
So they're playing in thesemifinals of the Portugal Cup
right now against Braga.
If they win this last leg, theywon the first leg 2-1, which
Jenna scored in.
I'm super excited.
She scored the tying goal.

(01:17:12):
If they win against Braga, thenthey'll play the winner of
Benfica in Sporting for thePortugal Cups.
But the league games aretypically streamed on YouTube.
So if you go to YouTube, toCanal 11, they have almost all
the League of BPI games.

Speaker 2 (01:17:30):
That's awesome.
Yeah, it's fun.
We'll definitely have to checkthat out and I'll put a link in
the show notes so that, ifanybody, I can try and find the
link for it.

Speaker 1 (01:17:39):
So if they have their own channel, obviously I can
find it and then you guys canfind that in the show notes if
you guys are interested inwatching that it's some great
soccer and if you're watching,like any of the games up to the
Olympics, olivia Smith, whoplays for the Canadian national
team, plays for sporting in theleague We've got some players

(01:18:01):
that.
Brittany Rufino is one of thestrikers for sporting.
She's from our area too andthere's some really great
players, portugal and beyond.
We've got some Irish players,some Swedish players.
I believe it's a great league.

(01:18:22):
I wish more people kind of tooka hold of this league and
watched more, because there'ssome really great, even Benfica.
I mean to watch Keika Nazarethand Lucia Alves.
They're amazing.
They just it's great soccer.

Speaker 2 (01:18:38):
Yeah, and that's awesome that she gets to be a
part of that and experience it.
And hopefully she gets to be apart of that and experience it
and hopefully she gets tocontinue playing professionally,
wherever that may be, whetherit's with the same team or a
different team, you know goodluck to her in that, in those
opportunities you know she'sgetting to do what she loves,
yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:18:56):
Um, yeah, I'm super excited for her, but thank you
for having me.

Speaker 2 (01:19:00):
Yeah, thank you for coming on and good luck to jenna
and, you know, just keep usupdated and we'll definitely.
You know.
If she has a social mediaprofile, um, let me know and I
can link that as well foranybody that's interested in
looking more into what she's upto and what she's, you know,
doing and and accomplished andthings like that Love to support

(01:19:23):
those women's sports as well.
So, thank you so much forcoming on, terri.
Thank you.
I hope you have a fabulous day.
Thank you, you too.
I hope you all enjoyed theinterview with Terri Tibman.
A little update on Jenna she isstill currently in Portugal

(01:19:46):
playing for a team calledTerrens I'm not sure how to
pronounce it and her team, lastyear, racing Power, placed third
in their division and alsocompeted for the Portugal Cup,
which is awesome.
So congrats to Jenna and maybewe'll have her on the podcast
soon to share her experiences.
All right, guys, thanks forkicking it with me and have a

(01:20:10):
great day.