January 16, 2025 • 32 mins
How does a young boy from Hawaii end up shaping the future of soccer talent in Northwest Arkansas? Meet Ryan Williams, a passionate soccer leader and former professional player, who shares his fascinating journey from learning the game at age three to making waves in the USL Championship. Ryan’s story is one of dedication and resilience, from training under the legendary Scott Marksberry to lifting a PDL national championship with the Charlotte Eagles, and ultimately signing with New Mexico United. Discover Ryan's commitment to developing young talent and how he inspires a love for soccer within his community, as he bridges his professional experiences with coaching.
Join us as we explore the intricacies of professional soccer through Ryan’s eyes. The leap from college to the USL Championship wasn't just a change of pace; it was a deep dive into the mental demands and rigorous training of professional play. We discuss the nuances that distinguish elite players, focusing on the mental game and the importance of a high soccer IQ. Ryan emphasizes that true growth in the sport goes beyond scheduled practices, advocating for imaginative play and a genuine passion for the game. Whether you're a budding player or a seasoned fan, Ryan’s insights provide a firsthand look at the dedication required to excel on and off the field.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Pitch to Pro is the official podcast of Ozark United
FC.
This will be our platform totell our story about the club
and the special place that wecall home, Northwest Arkansas.
This is a journey we want tobring you along for the ride.
We'll share what's going onbehind the curtain, help educate
the community at large aboutsoccer, our league, and give
(00:25):
updates on the progress of theclub along the way.
Together, we'll explore andunpack our journey to
professional soccer, the magicthat is NWA, our community, and
talk all things soccer from onthe pitch to behind the scenes,
telling the story of our club.
Pitch to Pro Podcast is proudlysponsored by PodcastVideoscom.
(00:46):
Podcastvideoscom is NorthwestArkansas' premier podcast
recording studio, Equipped withindustry-leading equipment.
The recording studio andservices save you time, money
and hassle.
They are dedicated to helpingyou create, record and publish
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Be sure to check them out todayat podcastvideoscom.
(01:07):
Hey, everybody, and welcomeback to the Pitch to Pro podcast
.
It's Wes Harris, your host,Managing Director for Ozark
United FC, Northwest Arkansas'pro soccer club playing in the
United Soccer League.
Today we have an awesomeconversation with my amazing
guest, Mr Ryan Williams.
He is the assistant director ofcoaching at Sporty Arkansas and
(01:29):
assistant head coach of our U20Boys Academy program with Ozark
United, Ryan.
Thank you so much for joiningme, man.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yeah, it's good to be here.
I'm glad to be on.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Staying warm and dry and having fun in the snow today
.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Oh yeah, you know my son's at the age where he can,
uh, really get around more.
And so today, this morning uhshoveled the driveway and got
him in one of those uh sledsthat have a chair in it and just
pulling them around theneighborhood.
So it's been good.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
That's awesome.
That's awesome man.
He's already getting the snowexperience early.
Most people in Arkansas, nwagot to wait a few years for that
, so I I know it's been earlyfor him.
It's good.
Yeah, he's lucky.
So well, ryan, you you are, um,you know another nwa resident
that has, you know, a prettypretty rock solid soccer
(02:21):
background that just people maynot know about.
And you know we're veryfortunate to have within our
community and, you know, gonefrom player to coach and we'll
talk about that transition.
But, you know, still active inthe game in the, in the in the
space, and very lucky to haveyou, you know, in our area
continuing to pass on the loveof the game and, and you know,
(02:42):
creating the right environmentfor our youth and I know that
you're very passionate aboutthat.
So we'll talk about that.
But, um, first and foremost, Iwant you have such a cool and
unique background.
Uh, tell people a little aboutbit about you, like where you
grew up, where you're from, howdid you get, how did you find
soccer um in, uh, the, thelovely island, island life there
(03:04):
in hawaii yeah, okay, well,that's good.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Um, so I my parents always.
It's funny because my son'sthree and I look at, or he's
going to be three turningactually tomorrow, and I look at
him like man, I was three whenI started playing, you know,
yeah, um, and so, yeah, three iswhen I started playing and I
think as I was doing it, I justgrew a passion for it.
I'm originally from Hawaii andmy family, my side of the family
(03:31):
, they still live out there andplaying soccer, I, yeah, I just
was growing this passion forthis game.
I loved it.
I was always at the field,always watching my brother play.
I was playing with him.
And then, as I was gettingolder, you know, that passion
started to grow into a dream, adream to play professionally and
I was being on an island, beingon a rock.
(03:54):
At the time I was veryfortunate for a club to really
move in to the island.
That club was Rush Soccer andreally Rush was like a club that
really gave me opportunities toplay, so like to pursue my
dream and being on a rock likeit's hard to really get off that
thing, you know, it's hard toreally be seen elsewhere, right
(04:17):
and so Rush had this connection,had this organization that
really really boosted me.
So when I was 15, I moved toColorado by myself.
I lived with the Hulse family.
I played with the Rush'sAcademy out there.
I played with them for threeyears and after Colorado, I went
to play with the coach now,scott Scott Marksberry, yeah,
(04:38):
and I played under him for fouryears and in my summer times I
wouldn wouldn't go back home.
I'd actually go to charlotteand I'd play with charlotte
eagles out out there.
And in 2017, we won a pdlnational championship and, while
I'm very grateful for that, I Iscored a, a free kick.
I really every time I look atthis field, I'm like, oh, that's
(04:59):
a spot I scored a free kick on,you know.
And then, after that being inCharlotte, I got connected with
my suit, which would be myfuture coach at the time, troy
Lesane, and from that it kind of, just when I was hitting my,
when I was in my senior year,finishing up that or finished
(05:22):
that fall season, that's whenTroy reached out and he wanted
to have another look at me.
And you know, one thing led toanother and I was fortunate
enough to be signing with NewMexico United in 2019.
And yeah, well, yeah, the 2018actually December 2018, but 2019
season and then 2020 season,yeah, 2019 season and then 19
(05:50):
2020 season.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, so talk a little bit about.
I mean, that's an incrediblejourney.
Um, at what point in your kindof youth career did you start to
think that you know somethingwithin soccer might be possible?
Uh, for you, did you feel thatat all, or were you just like I
just want to keep playing at ahigh level?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Well for me.
I just I mean, I was, I wasreally young, I was probably
about eight years old or so whenI remember like I was like I
want to play, I want to playprofessionally, I want to be the
best, like I want to be thebest, you know, and that was one
thing I've always had in my myhead.
In my head and in my mind islike I want to be the best, um,
and I want to pursue it.
I want to do something that noone else can do or no one else
(06:29):
did.
And, being on an island, youdon't hear of many pros.
There are players who playedprofessionally and they did it
well and they played at highlevels, um, but it's very, very
few, you know.
And I, being at eight, I'm likeseven, eight, I'm like'm like,
yes, I want to be, I want to bethat guy, you know, and yeah, it
was just, it was probablyreally young and I, within the,
(06:52):
within the people around me, theplayers around me, you know
you're on an Island, you knowwho the good ones are and you
know who the better ones are.
But what you see is and it'sinteresting, even coming into
coaching with Ozark you see, asa young player, you look up and
I'm talking eight, nine yearsold.
You look up and you see, wow,these players trickle out.
(07:14):
You see who players are reallyreally good 15, 16, 17.
You know who they are,especially within that club.
That's very connected.
You train all at one spot.
You know who the players are,um, you know who the good teams
are, um, but then you don't seethem do anything after.
(07:35):
You know, or or really what yousee is the passion dies, right.
So they hit 16 years old inhawaii.
At the time, this was gosh, thiswas probably what like before
2010, um.
So you, you're looking up andyou're like man, like they don't
really go to college.
Some do and they're good enough, but they just didn't have that
drive um.
(07:55):
And so, yeah, it was young age.
It's funny, at a young age, youcan yeah, I looked up, you can
see ahead and you're it's crazy,that's just a little kid.
I coached seven or eight yearolds at the club.
I'm around them like man.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I was that age and I could see ahead, you know yeah,
well, and that's that's that'spart of that's part of what I
was curious about, because ityou kind of had the extreme of
it, but but you know, withliteral geographic isolation,
but also you know you talk aboutplayers start to maybe lose
(08:34):
that edge or like lose thatdrive or whatever it is, and
they start to trickle out andyou know the laws of attrition
within the game.
But yeah, you know, I I wasgoing to ask, like you know, and
draw some corollaries to maybea little bit of nwa, because
people don't have that thing.
(08:57):
That next step, that's insight,that's in vision.
Yeah, right, and yeah, you wereone of the few, probably at
least within your, your area inspace, that that had the drive,
without you know you could seebeyond the right in front of
your face.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, I think, with all going on, that an important
thing that I kind of learnedthrough college and college was
a time where I really, like,harnessed my own craft.
You know I really mastered itum a thing was inspiration, you
know, like when.
I look back at my own, my ownplaying career, like my youth,
my youth career, really, theamount of inspiration I had
(09:37):
around me was like massive.
You know, hawaii was always aspot spot where pros wanted to
come down to run a camp, like wehad pros from Houston Dynamo,
from DC United, I mean ColoradoRapids, they would come down, or
even Rush would bring pros downto Hawaii for a Christmas camp,
(10:01):
for a Christmas camp, you know.
So it was like constantlyyou're.
It may not necessarily be likewell, I guess during my time I
was very fortunate, very blessed, like during when I was playing
.
I'm always seeing pros, everyyear I'm getting around pros.
You know, I'm just like man, Iwant to be like them and I hear
them talking.
I'm like, I want to be likethem.
I get around top coaches.
(10:22):
Rush brought down coaches fromliverpool and there's actually
one who I'm, you know, I I talkwith every every now and then,
but, um, my family was veryclose with and it's just again
like there's that.
That's that uh, um, constantinspiration to me as a player of
being around that is which,like, for me, is like I really
(10:46):
wanted that.
And you know, part of my storyis not only the what I did on
the soccer side, but is what I,what I went through on the
adversity side, and you knowit's probably you finding out
for the first time but I've had14 surgeries in my life from the
age of 13 to 18.
I had 11 surgeries from 18 towhen I finished playing, I had,
(11:09):
you know, three more and reallythree of them were because of
soccer.
The other, what other stuff,was all hereditary.
So really I was given a handright, I was given cards that
were just out of my control andfor for me, going through
playing in Hawaii, playing withthe Rush, I was very grateful to
(11:31):
have coaches who could reallyspeak into me and kind of
continue that drive.
You know, like you have playersaround you that they go through
knee surgeries and maybe they'reable to hit three, but they hit
three and they're done.
They hit four, they're done.
You rarely see someone justkind of push through it Right
and I, like gosh, I was, I was14 going through, I think, I
(11:55):
think, my fourth surgery at thetime and it was one that was
going to like really it reallyrocked my boat, you know.
So it was like the inspirationand then almost that drive to
drive to.
I really want this dream.
I want to do something thatnobody else does, just continue
to push and push and push.
And so the soccer journey, theadversity journey, that is all
(12:19):
it kind of brings together intoone story.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, it's important and it draws.
I mean, you hear about thisstuff all the time.
Right, I mean, um, not not 11surgeries, my goodness, uh, but
but definitely you know it's,it's, you know it's an
unfortunate reality of of thespace.
Is, you know, injury, um, andsetbacks?
How do you overcome those somany, you, you know?
(12:45):
So much of what about sports isthe life lessons that you draw
from it and the courage andstrength that you draw from it.
Uh, yeah, that you know you.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
You certainly are a third, you know great example of
that to to bring that back toyou know ozark a bit, and to
northwest arkansas and thesoccer.
Here I'm seeing a soccerenvironment where, again, I
think Scott's hit on this quitea bit but at 15, it fizzles.
(13:17):
Kids don't feel that they cango further.
I mean, we have talent in thisarea, there's talented kids in
this area, and for me it's likealmost I, I have this platform.
I've been given an opportunityfor me to come in and say like
not only push the level, pushthe, push the um, uh, the
training environment, the gameenvironments, the, the teaching,
(13:41):
essentially to push, push them,but also to be able to speak
into those things.
I remember growing up in a placewhere it looked like there's
nothing and players are fizzlingout.
I can almost be that placewhere I get to inspire but at
the same time, I get to pushright.
Bring what I know.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Bring what I know, yeah bring what I know and and
yeah, so yeah, no, it's, I thinkum, and, and you know that's
part of hopefully, what we canbring and bring about change is
not only the infrastructure forthe pathway right, but also the
vision and the dream right andand having that be visible
(14:25):
within the community, tangibleright, these kids yeah can go to
game physically and see itright with their own eyes, and I
think that that ignitessomething within you as a player
and a person, um, and gives youthose goals and so, and then,
how do we?
then?
We have to feed that dream andthat goal with the
(14:45):
infrastructure and the path.
But talk to me a little bitabout, I mean you're, you're one
of the few right that haveplayed a professional sport and
play professional soccer in ourleague.
Yeah, what?
What's it like, man?
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Tell us what's it like being a pro athlete in the
usl championship, and you playedwith new mexico united yeah,
man, this league is high level,like I remember coming in and
you, just you get around so manyplayers and some of the players
that I've played with are stillplaying and, um, it's, it's,
(15:28):
and it's such a good league,high-level league.
I got to play on New MexicoUnited in their first years and
so if I could tell you aboutthat experience a bit, for me,
in college I was a good player.
I did some good stuff incollege, going into the
championship.
Every player going in, you havea big head.
(15:48):
You get humbled a bit when youget in because there's these
pros who every player is as goodas you and some are probably
better.
They're better at executing.
Their percentages orconsistency is way higher than
yours.
Their IQ is way higher thanyours.
Their experience of it is wayhigher than yours, or IQ is way
higher than yours, theirexperience of it is way higher
than yours.
Yeah, coming in, it's everyplayer you're playing with,
(16:11):
especially the ones who'veplayed in college and some of
them haven't because theyskipped it.
Every player who's played incollege has just as many awards
as you and they've been aroundthe block even as you have right
, and it is a humblingexperience, but it's also like
for me.
I enjoyed the level of play thatI had with Mexico United.
(16:36):
College was a high level for me, but even going to the
organization level that the USLchampionship brings, it was
really good for me and I reallyenjoyed being there.
Um, it is eye-opening too, likethe levels, like you go from
college into the championship,the jumps, it's.
(16:58):
It's eye-opening howsophisticated the levels are and
the organization is right, andeven more so when you're playing
against, like in the the OpenCup.
You know, I got to, we had adecent run in the Open Cup and I
got to hop into a game againstMinnesota United and I'm like
man, like playing against guysin the MLS.
I watch on TV and I'm like, ohwow, this is next level, you
(17:22):
know, and so well, it'sinteresting too.
Well, this is kind of different.
But with mexico united, theywere so involved in their
community, kind of like whatwe're intending to do.
Um, that's the goal.
It's tangible, right.
I remember walking into.
I never saw myself as a popularplayer.
I mean, I didn't.
I didn't play as many minutes.
(17:42):
I got some good minutes as arookie and I got good minutes as
my second year.
Um, but I never really sawmyself as unpopular and you'd
walk into Target and then all ofa sudden, people are calling
your name and I'm like me,you're talking to me, but it was
such a cool thing to go aroundand how a community takes on the
(18:06):
team you know and players walkaround the community and are
engaging right.
Um, it was very.
That experience was really cool.
Um so, that's awesome any otherquestions there, like yeah, I
wanted.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
I wanted to build on something.
You talked about the differencebetween college and
professional right In terms ofskill level.
But I think and what I've heardI don't know because I've not
(18:43):
played on both levels like youhave but a lot of times what you
will hear is that thedifference between, like, a good
player and an elite player thatmakes that jump is someone that
has it up here but then alsothey execute the little things
(19:08):
flawlessly every time.
Is that similar in yourexperience?
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Or how would you describe that difference?
It's kind of spot on for me.
So I watched for me.
I've coached at John BrownUniversity.
I was an assistant coach thereIn my time as as a coach.
The amount of games I'vewatched, the amount of leagues
I've watched, it's been crazy.
My wife probably doesn't likeit because I've watched games
all the time.
I watch championship, I watchleague one, I watch mls and I've
(19:41):
been watching the prem, but forwhat I do is like the premise,
so it's it's next level.
It's so sophisticated, you know, and those players are just,
you know, one of a kind.
They're one of a kind playersall gathered in one league, um,
and you, what I've seen is andit kind of I want to say this
(20:01):
way before I go to my experienceand the whole college, the
whole college professional thingum, each level is kind of
marked, instead looks like it'smarked.
It looks like it's marked indifferent ways, right like in
the prem, you have guys who canchange a game at any second.
Any second they can change agame and those guys are like
crazy athletes.
(20:21):
They're crazy with the ball,high, high iq.
Mls has kind of been that sameboat, you know, maybe lower, but
it's very much similar.
I mean, you can look at theguys coming in and champion in
the championship.
You do see a player every nowand then that changes the game
and they're crazy dynamic,they're crazy athletic.
(20:42):
Oftentimes those players I meangiven if they have successful
seasons they get moved up, um.
But what you see more in thechampionship is the organization
of each team.
They're so organized thedetails are because that's where
the game is won and lost.
The team who makes it almostlooks like a team who makes the
least mistakes is probably theteam going to win the game,
(21:05):
because there's not a guy who'sgoing to dribble four players.
You know there's not a guywho's going to like, take on the
team and give me the ball, letme do the dribbling.
You know there's not a guywho's necessarily going to smash
it.
Smash a goal from 35 yards outevery every several games.
You know, um, right, so it'scoming.
Coming to your, your point, like, from what I, you know there
(21:28):
are players in college who havecrazy ability.
Their feet is really reallygood and maybe even sometimes
better than some players in thechampionship, not necessarily
because the iq is not quite ashigh as the guys in their
(21:49):
championship.
Like, the iq is everything.
They're the, the gameintelligence, the, the adapting,
the thinking through the game,because you know it's crazy,
even the adapt, the adapt,adapting to each year.
You know, like, the ones whoadapt and the ones who can think
about the game in that way,those are the players who stay.
You know, because they're,they're constantly finding ways
to make impacts.
(22:10):
I mean, at that level, like atthat level, the, the scouting
reports, gosh, they know you asa player, and if you, if you
can't find, if you can't findways around that you can't think
, think through ways around that, you know you get stuck.
You get stuck as a player,right, and um, yeah, kind of
going on to your point that theit's the details that matter.
(22:33):
The details that matter, thedetails that really I think um
sets players up for sense, setspros, sets pros apart from
college players.
You know people want fancy feet, which is good.
You better be extraordinarywith your feet, you know, if
that's the case.
(22:53):
But really like like knowingwhen to get on the I mean
getting on a half turn,receiving the ball back foot,
checking your shoulder, beinglike being checking your
shoulder three, four timesbefore you even received the
ball, knowing two, three playsand passes in advance, like
those are things that all prosknow, you know.
Yeah, like being it, reallyit's it.
For me, I think it's stuffthat's kind of set at every
(23:17):
level, you know.
And then you come to themargins and the professional
environment.
The margins are just so, sotight, it's so, so little, like
you know what I mean.
It's those margins that likereally set the players apart,
right?
Speaker 1 (23:39):
So, and you're, I tell, I tell this to my son, um,
all the time I don't push him,but I, I ask him the question
and I start bringing thisconcept into his head, like the
players who only play soccer atscheduled practices, like if
(23:59):
that's your journey and that'swhat you want to do and that's
what you want out of it, andthen great, and you're gonna
have a fun time doing it andhopefully you got a great coach
that's going to create a goodenvironment and a good
experience.
Fantastic, yeah, if you are aplayer that wants to continue to
elevate their game and continueto push the level and continue
to get to the next step andcontinue to be, you know, the
(24:21):
one starting in minutes and allof that stuff and continuing to
evolve, if, if that is whatyou're aspiring for which my son
says he does then just playingsoccer at scheduled practice
times with your club, maybe twohours a week, two and a half
hours a week, plus games yeah,not gonna do it.
Not gonna do it, my friend,when you know, when you start
(24:45):
hitting a certainage group.
When you start hitting acertain age group like you're
gonna start to get leapfroggedby the players that may be two,
three teams below you that arethat are putting it at work, and
he's already.
We already have this in our agegroup a couple players that are
a it at work, and he's already.
We already have this in our agegroup a couple of players that
are a couple of teams below down.
That would knock off a few ofthe first team players right now
If we held the evals.
(25:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
You know, even when I was, when I was growing up the
time.
The time that a pro gets everyweek is 16 to 16 hours a week,
roughly around there.
Wow, like, if you're gettingtwo hours, three hours of
training one game, like you'renot, it's not cutting it.
You know, like the, the type oftraining, that the amount of
(25:27):
training is there for a reason,right, like we, I think that's
um a thing that's kind of alwaysbeen like 16 hours a week, like
that's that's a lot of pro at apro level.
And then you start to go intolike what does your training
look?
Like?
That's outside of practice,right, because, like, if we're
saying, if we're saying, and Ithink, well, I'm saying that iq
(25:48):
in a way sets players apart,obviously you need good feet,
you got to control the ball, yougot to pass the ball, you got
to be able to finish, you got todo your job well, no, that's
not like, no doubt, um, but ifiq sets a player apart, then if
you're doing work, that's notlike no doubt.
But if iq sets a player apart,that if you're doing work,
that's that kind of puts asideiq.
And like game intelligence,well, you're gonna be a big
player, you know.
But like, really, when you getinto a higher level.
(26:09):
You're gonna play with playersand be like dude, like you don't
know what you're doing.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, your decision making isnot very good, you know, and and
so it's like you have to bringin decision making.
You have to bring in maybeimagination and if you're
training on your own like you Idon't know if you can really
make decision makings on yourown, but you could imagine you
could have a good imaginationand you know, I tell, I tell
(26:32):
coaches around me and evenplayers that I, I work with.
Like you know, when I wasgrowing up, my, the soccer was
on my mind like all the time.
Like I'm receiving the ballwith a check my chest, I think I
I'm zata, but you know, like I,I received the ball with my
thigh and my foot out of the air.
I imagine I, I see a picture ofeniesta in my head, you know,
and it's like constantly whenI'm training, like that stuff's
(26:56):
always, like it's just, it'sjust like gear that's always
spinning, you know, and so, um,yeah, it's like three hours.
So it's you, that's what youwant, that's fine, like that's
all good no problem, you know.
But if that passion develops andyou want more, well then you
gotta give more right, exactly100, and you know there's I.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
I think the other way to look at it too is especially
at the pro level, what youstarted talking about with the
hours.
I mean people will hear thatand they'll say, wow, that's a
lot of training.
But let's take a step back fora second.
This, this is your job.
Yeah, we work, we.
You know.
When you let's look at theworkforce 40 hour work week
(27:45):
right In the U S, like everybodythinks, and if anybody is in in
school and about anyway anyway,um, but that's to your point
(28:06):
you were talking about 16 hoursis like the physical training,
like actually scheduledpractices.
Then there's I mean taking careof your body.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
You got recovery, weights, stretching, icing,
eating, well, all the otherstuff that kind of comes in.
Yeah, it's interesting becausethe passion for the game is so
important.
I haven't been an icer, I'vebeen around a player who they've
hated playing from a young age.
(28:38):
It always starts with passionand it starts with enjoyment
that keeps them in it.
Right Like there's players whotheir salaries aren't very good
but they just love playing, youknow, and they'll put out the
grind just because they love it,you know, yep, and so like that
passion is so important,especially in an environment
(28:59):
where there's, you know, in theprofessional mind, there's high
pressure, because you've got toperform, You've got to score
goals, you've got to assist,you've got to create plays,
you've got to defend If you getbeat geez, you don't play.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Everybody's fighting for your spot, right.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Everything matters, every action matters.
And, um, if you don't have thatpassion, if you're, if it's
just a, if, it's just a job toyou like if, if, if that's what
it is, then you, you don't staylong, you know yeah, no, I.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I couldn't agree more and I think you you do find
that and see that and you knowyour point.
If you're making it to thatlevel, chances are you have a
strong passion for the game.
Otherwise, those ones that youfind that may not, you're not
seeing them in a spot for verylong.
One personally, but two,they're not going to have the
(29:57):
level of commitment or drive tostick around and or the attitude
to be a good team and havesomebody like that in the locker
room.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Kind of you saying.
That makes me think about, evenfrom my own experience.
Yeah, I only played two years,but part of it was because the
demand on your body that youtake as a pro gosh, it goes way
higher than a college athlete.
And it was as a college athlete, like for what I've been
through in my, for my adversity,like yeah, I handle it and it
(30:31):
was fine for me.
But the moment I jumped into theprofessional environment and
like the toll that it takes onthe body, body, like if you're,
if, if college was hard, thefitness and stuff was hard, the
weights were, you know, whateverit is that the demand was hard.
You'll get into a professionalenvironment.
I'm sure it's probably evenhigher the the levels you go.
You know usl, championship, mls, overseas, you know buddhist
(30:54):
league, uh, the pram, whateverit is.
I'm sure the demand is justmore and more and more.
So.
If, if it's just like a job saycollege is a job or club, I
just show up and play, likeparents make me play, you know,
or they're always, they'realways on on your butt about it,
you know they're, they're theone who puts pressure on you.
Like if that's it, like I, Ijust don't see how it really
(31:19):
moves into the next level, or itcan but lasting.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I don't, I don't know , not very sustainable, to be
sure.
Well, ryan, thank you so much,man, for joining me, uh, for
this episode and giving us someinsight.
I mean, that's just, it's socool again to to have someone
with your playing experience andbackground in our area and a
part of you know, instilling thepassion and love and joy, and
(31:45):
so that we don't find playerslike you we just talked about,
um, you know, and hopefully,once that, have that love of the
game, uh, and helping youcreate that environment.
So, thank you for everythingthat you're doing and, uh,
appreciate you joining me today.
Yeah, thank you for everythingthat you're doing and appreciate
you joining me today, yeah.
Thank you.
That's it for this episode ofPitch the Pro.
Appreciate everybody joining us.
(32:05):
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Until next time.
Cheers, Northwest Arkansas.
Thanks for joining us on thisepisode of the pitcher pro
podcast.
Be sure to tune in again in twoweeks for the next installment
(32:25):
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Until next time.
Northwest arkansas cheers.
Pitch to Pro is the official podcast of Ozark United
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This will be our platform totell our story about the club
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This is a journey we want tobring you along for the ride.
We'll share what's going onbehind the curtain, help educate
the community at large aboutsoccer, our league, and give
(00:25):
updates on the progress of theclub along the way.
Together, we'll explore andunpack our journey to
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(00:46):
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(01:07):
Hey, everybody, and welcomeback to the Pitch to Pro podcast
.
It's Wes Harris, your host,Managing Director for Ozark
United FC, Northwest Arkansas'pro soccer club playing in the
United Soccer League.
Today we have an awesomeconversation with my amazing
guest, Mr Ryan Williams.
He is the assistant director ofcoaching at Sporty Arkansas and
(01:29):
assistant head coach of our U20Boys Academy program with Ozark
United, Ryan.
Thank you so much for joiningme, man.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Yeah, it's good to be here.
I'm glad to be on.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Staying warm and dry and having fun in the snow today
.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Oh yeah, you know my son's at the age where he can,
uh, really get around more.
And so today, this morning uhshoveled the driveway and got
him in one of those uh sledsthat have a chair in it and just
pulling them around theneighborhood.
So it's been good.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
That's awesome.
That's awesome man.
He's already getting the snowexperience early.
Most people in Arkansas, nwagot to wait a few years for that
, so I I know it's been earlyfor him.
It's good.
Yeah, he's lucky.
So well, ryan, you you are, um,you know another nwa resident
that has, you know, a prettypretty rock solid soccer
(02:21):
background that just people maynot know about.
And you know we're veryfortunate to have within our
community and, you know, gonefrom player to coach and we'll
talk about that transition.
But, you know, still active inthe game in the, in the in the
space, and very lucky to haveyou, you know, in our area
continuing to pass on the loveof the game and, and you know,
(02:42):
creating the right environmentfor our youth and I know that
you're very passionate aboutthat.
So we'll talk about that.
But, um, first and foremost, Iwant you have such a cool and
unique background.
Uh, tell people a little aboutbit about you, like where you
grew up, where you're from, howdid you get, how did you find
soccer um in, uh, the, thelovely island, island life there
(03:04):
in hawaii yeah, okay, well,that's good.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Um, so I my parents always.
It's funny because my son'sthree and I look at, or he's
going to be three turningactually tomorrow, and I look at
him like man, I was three whenI started playing, you know,
yeah, um, and so, yeah, three iswhen I started playing and I
think as I was doing it, I justgrew a passion for it.
I'm originally from Hawaii andmy family, my side of the family
(03:31):
, they still live out there andplaying soccer, I, yeah, I just
was growing this passion forthis game.
I loved it.
I was always at the field,always watching my brother play.
I was playing with him.
And then, as I was gettingolder, you know, that passion
started to grow into a dream, adream to play professionally and
I was being on an island, beingon a rock.
(03:54):
At the time I was veryfortunate for a club to really
move in to the island.
That club was Rush Soccer andreally Rush was like a club that
really gave me opportunities toplay, so like to pursue my
dream and being on a rock likeit's hard to really get off that
thing, you know, it's hard toreally be seen elsewhere, right
(04:17):
and so Rush had this connection,had this organization that
really really boosted me.
So when I was 15, I moved toColorado by myself.
I lived with the Hulse family.
I played with the Rush'sAcademy out there.
I played with them for threeyears and after Colorado, I went
to play with the coach now,scott Scott Marksberry, yeah,
(04:38):
and I played under him for fouryears and in my summer times I
wouldn wouldn't go back home.
I'd actually go to charlotteand I'd play with charlotte
eagles out out there.
And in 2017, we won a pdlnational championship and, while
I'm very grateful for that, I Iscored a, a free kick.
I really every time I look atthis field, I'm like, oh, that's
(04:59):
a spot I scored a free kick on,you know.
And then, after that being inCharlotte, I got connected with
my suit, which would be myfuture coach at the time, troy
Lesane, and from that it kind of, just when I was hitting my,
when I was in my senior year,finishing up that or finished
(05:22):
that fall season, that's whenTroy reached out and he wanted
to have another look at me.
And you know, one thing led toanother and I was fortunate
enough to be signing with NewMexico United in 2019.
And yeah, well, yeah, the 2018actually December 2018, but 2019
season and then 2020 season,yeah, 2019 season and then 19
(05:50):
2020 season.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Yeah, so talk a little bit about.
I mean, that's an incrediblejourney.
Um, at what point in your kindof youth career did you start to
think that you know somethingwithin soccer might be possible?
Uh, for you, did you feel thatat all, or were you just like I
just want to keep playing at ahigh level?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Well for me.
I just I mean, I was, I wasreally young, I was probably
about eight years old or so whenI remember like I was like I
want to play, I want to playprofessionally, I want to be the
best, like I want to be thebest, you know, and that was one
thing I've always had in my myhead.
In my head and in my mind islike I want to be the best, um,
and I want to pursue it.
I want to do something that noone else can do or no one else
(06:29):
did.
And, being on an island, youdon't hear of many pros.
There are players who playedprofessionally and they did it
well and they played at highlevels, um, but it's very, very
few, you know.
And I, being at eight, I'm likeseven, eight, I'm like'm like,
yes, I want to be, I want to bethat guy, you know, and yeah, it
was just, it was probablyreally young and I, within the,
(06:52):
within the people around me, theplayers around me, you know
you're on an Island, you knowwho the good ones are and you
know who the better ones are.
But what you see is and it'sinteresting, even coming into
coaching with Ozark you see, asa young player, you look up and
I'm talking eight, nine yearsold.
You look up and you see, wow,these players trickle out.
(07:14):
You see who players are reallyreally good 15, 16, 17.
You know who they are,especially within that club.
That's very connected.
You train all at one spot.
You know who the players are,um, you know who the good teams
are, um, but then you don't seethem do anything after.
(07:35):
You know, or or really what yousee is the passion dies, right.
So they hit 16 years old inhawaii.
At the time, this was gosh, thiswas probably what like before
2010, um.
So you, you're looking up andyou're like man, like they don't
really go to college.
Some do and they're good enough, but they just didn't have that
drive um.
(07:55):
And so, yeah, it was young age.
It's funny, at a young age, youcan yeah, I looked up, you can
see ahead and you're it's crazy,that's just a little kid.
I coached seven or eight yearolds at the club.
I'm around them like man.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
I was that age and I could see ahead, you know yeah,
well, and that's that's that'spart of that's part of what I
was curious about, because ityou kind of had the extreme of
it, but but you know, withliteral geographic isolation,
but also you know you talk aboutplayers start to maybe lose
(08:34):
that edge or like lose thatdrive or whatever it is, and
they start to trickle out andyou know the laws of attrition
within the game.
But yeah, you know, I I wasgoing to ask, like you know, and
draw some corollaries to maybea little bit of nwa, because
people don't have that thing.
(08:57):
That next step, that's insight,that's in vision.
Yeah, right, and yeah, you wereone of the few, probably at
least within your, your area inspace, that that had the drive,
without you know you could seebeyond the right in front of
your face.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
Yeah, I think, with all going on, that an important
thing that I kind of learnedthrough college and college was
a time where I really, like,harnessed my own craft.
You know I really mastered itum a thing was inspiration, you
know, like when.
I look back at my own, my ownplaying career, like my youth,
my youth career, really, theamount of inspiration I had
(09:37):
around me was like massive.
You know, hawaii was always aspot spot where pros wanted to
come down to run a camp, like wehad pros from Houston Dynamo,
from DC United, I mean ColoradoRapids, they would come down, or
even Rush would bring pros downto Hawaii for a Christmas camp,
(10:01):
for a Christmas camp, you know.
So it was like constantlyyou're.
It may not necessarily be likewell, I guess during my time I
was very fortunate, very blessed, like during when I was playing
.
I'm always seeing pros, everyyear I'm getting around pros.
You know, I'm just like man, Iwant to be like them and I hear
them talking.
I'm like, I want to be likethem.
I get around top coaches.
(10:22):
Rush brought down coaches fromliverpool and there's actually
one who I'm, you know, I I talkwith every every now and then,
but, um, my family was veryclose with and it's just again
like there's that.
That's that uh, um, constantinspiration to me as a player of
being around that is which,like, for me, is like I really
(10:46):
wanted that.
And you know, part of my storyis not only the what I did on
the soccer side, but is what I,what I went through on the
adversity side, and you knowit's probably you finding out
for the first time but I've had14 surgeries in my life from the
age of 13 to 18.
I had 11 surgeries from 18 towhen I finished playing, I had,
(11:09):
you know, three more and reallythree of them were because of
soccer.
The other, what other stuff,was all hereditary.
So really I was given a handright, I was given cards that
were just out of my control andfor for me, going through
playing in Hawaii, playing withthe Rush, I was very grateful to
(11:31):
have coaches who could reallyspeak into me and kind of
continue that drive.
You know, like you have playersaround you that they go through
knee surgeries and maybe they'reable to hit three, but they hit
three and they're done.
They hit four, they're done.
You rarely see someone justkind of push through it Right
and I, like gosh, I was, I was14 going through, I think, I
(11:55):
think, my fourth surgery at thetime and it was one that was
going to like really it reallyrocked my boat, you know.
So it was like the inspirationand then almost that drive to
drive to.
I really want this dream.
I want to do something thatnobody else does, just continue
to push and push and push.
And so the soccer journey, theadversity journey, that is all
(12:19):
it kind of brings together intoone story.
Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, it's important and it draws.
I mean, you hear about thisstuff all the time.
Right, I mean, um, not not 11surgeries, my goodness, uh, but
but definitely you know it's,it's, you know it's an
unfortunate reality of of thespace.
Is, you know, injury, um, andsetbacks?
How do you overcome those somany, you, you know?
(12:45):
So much of what about sports isthe life lessons that you draw
from it and the courage andstrength that you draw from it.
Uh, yeah, that you know you.
Speaker 2 (12:54):
You certainly are a third, you know great example of
that to to bring that back toyou know ozark a bit, and to
northwest arkansas and thesoccer.
Here I'm seeing a soccerenvironment where, again, I
think Scott's hit on this quitea bit but at 15, it fizzles.
(13:17):
Kids don't feel that they cango further.
I mean, we have talent in thisarea, there's talented kids in
this area, and for me it's likealmost I, I have this platform.
I've been given an opportunityfor me to come in and say like
not only push the level, pushthe, push the um, uh, the
training environment, the gameenvironments, the, the teaching,
(13:41):
essentially to push, push them,but also to be able to speak
into those things.
I remember growing up in a placewhere it looked like there's
nothing and players are fizzlingout.
I can almost be that placewhere I get to inspire but at
the same time, I get to pushright.
Bring what I know.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Bring what I know, yeah bring what I know and and
yeah, so yeah, no, it's, I thinkum, and, and you know that's
part of hopefully, what we canbring and bring about change is
not only the infrastructure forthe pathway right, but also the
vision and the dream right andand having that be visible
(14:25):
within the community, tangibleright, these kids yeah can go to
game physically and see itright with their own eyes, and I
think that that ignitessomething within you as a player
and a person, um, and gives youthose goals and so, and then,
how do we?
then?
We have to feed that dream andthat goal with the
(14:45):
infrastructure and the path.
But talk to me a little bitabout, I mean you're, you're one
of the few right that haveplayed a professional sport and
play professional soccer in ourleague.
Yeah, what?
What's it like, man?
Speaker 2 (15:05):
Tell us what's it like being a pro athlete in the
usl championship, and you playedwith new mexico united yeah,
man, this league is high level,like I remember coming in and
you, just you get around so manyplayers and some of the players
that I've played with are stillplaying and, um, it's, it's,
(15:28):
and it's such a good league,high-level league.
I got to play on New MexicoUnited in their first years and
so if I could tell you aboutthat experience a bit, for me,
in college I was a good player.
I did some good stuff incollege, going into the
championship.
Every player going in, you havea big head.
(15:48):
You get humbled a bit when youget in because there's these
pros who every player is as goodas you and some are probably
better.
They're better at executing.
Their percentages orconsistency is way higher than
yours.
Their IQ is way higher thanyours.
Their experience of it is wayhigher than yours, or IQ is way
higher than yours, theirexperience of it is way higher
than yours.
Yeah, coming in, it's everyplayer you're playing with,
(16:11):
especially the ones who'veplayed in college and some of
them haven't because theyskipped it.
Every player who's played incollege has just as many awards
as you and they've been aroundthe block even as you have right
, and it is a humblingexperience, but it's also like
for me.
I enjoyed the level of play thatI had with Mexico United.
(16:36):
College was a high level for me, but even going to the
organization level that the USLchampionship brings, it was
really good for me and I reallyenjoyed being there.
Um, it is eye-opening too, likethe levels, like you go from
college into the championship,the jumps, it's.
(16:58):
It's eye-opening howsophisticated the levels are and
the organization is right, andeven more so when you're playing
against, like in the the OpenCup.
You know, I got to, we had adecent run in the Open Cup and I
got to hop into a game againstMinnesota United and I'm like
man, like playing against guysin the MLS.
I watch on TV and I'm like, ohwow, this is next level, you
(17:22):
know, and so well, it'sinteresting too.
Well, this is kind of different.
But with mexico united, theywere so involved in their
community, kind of like whatwe're intending to do.
Um, that's the goal.
It's tangible, right.
I remember walking into.
I never saw myself as a popularplayer.
I mean, I didn't.
I didn't play as many minutes.
(17:42):
I got some good minutes as arookie and I got good minutes as
my second year.
Um, but I never really sawmyself as unpopular and you'd
walk into Target and then all ofa sudden, people are calling
your name and I'm like me,you're talking to me, but it was
such a cool thing to go aroundand how a community takes on the
(18:06):
team you know and players walkaround the community and are
engaging right.
Um, it was very.
That experience was really cool.
Um so, that's awesome any otherquestions there, like yeah, I
wanted.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
I wanted to build on something.
You talked about the differencebetween college and
professional right In terms ofskill level.
But I think and what I've heardI don't know because I've not
(18:43):
played on both levels like youhave but a lot of times what you
will hear is that thedifference between, like, a good
player and an elite player thatmakes that jump is someone that
has it up here but then alsothey execute the little things
(19:08):
flawlessly every time.
Is that similar in yourexperience?
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Or how would you describe that difference?
It's kind of spot on for me.
So I watched for me.
I've coached at John BrownUniversity.
I was an assistant coach thereIn my time as as a coach.
The amount of games I'vewatched, the amount of leagues
I've watched, it's been crazy.
My wife probably doesn't likeit because I've watched games
all the time.
I watch championship, I watchleague one, I watch mls and I've
(19:41):
been watching the prem, but forwhat I do is like the premise,
so it's it's next level.
It's so sophisticated, you know, and those players are just,
you know, one of a kind.
They're one of a kind playersall gathered in one league, um,
and you, what I've seen is andit kind of I want to say this
(20:01):
way before I go to my experienceand the whole college, the
whole college professional thingum, each level is kind of
marked, instead looks like it'smarked.
It looks like it's marked indifferent ways, right like in
the prem, you have guys who canchange a game at any second.
Any second they can change agame and those guys are like
crazy athletes.
(20:21):
They're crazy with the ball,high, high iq.
Mls has kind of been that sameboat, you know, maybe lower, but
it's very much similar.
I mean, you can look at theguys coming in and champion in
the championship.
You do see a player every nowand then that changes the game
and they're crazy dynamic,they're crazy athletic.
(20:42):
Oftentimes those players I meangiven if they have successful
seasons they get moved up, um.
But what you see more in thechampionship is the organization
of each team.
They're so organized thedetails are because that's where
the game is won and lost.
The team who makes it almostlooks like a team who makes the
least mistakes is probably theteam going to win the game,
(21:05):
because there's not a guy who'sgoing to dribble four players.
You know there's not a guywho's going to like, take on the
team and give me the ball, letme do the dribbling.
You know there's not a guywho's necessarily going to smash
it.
Smash a goal from 35 yards outevery every several games.
You know, um, right, so it'scoming.
Coming to your, your point, like, from what I, you know there
(21:28):
are players in college who havecrazy ability.
Their feet is really reallygood and maybe even sometimes
better than some players in thechampionship, not necessarily
because the iq is not quite ashigh as the guys in their
(21:49):
championship.
Like, the iq is everything.
They're the, the gameintelligence, the, the adapting,
the thinking through the game,because you know it's crazy,
even the adapt, the adapt,adapting to each year.
You know, like, the ones whoadapt and the ones who can think
about the game in that way,those are the players who stay.
You know, because they're,they're constantly finding ways
to make impacts.
(22:10):
I mean, at that level, like atthat level, the, the scouting
reports, gosh, they know you asa player, and if you, if you
can't find, if you can't findways around that you can't think
, think through ways around that, you know you get stuck.
You get stuck as a player,right, and um, yeah, kind of
going on to your point that theit's the details that matter.
(22:33):
The details that matter, thedetails that really I think um
sets players up for sense, setspros, sets pros apart from
college players.
You know people want fancy feet, which is good.
You better be extraordinarywith your feet, you know, if
that's the case.
(22:53):
But really like like knowingwhen to get on the I mean
getting on a half turn,receiving the ball back foot,
checking your shoulder, beinglike being checking your
shoulder three, four timesbefore you even received the
ball, knowing two, three playsand passes in advance, like
those are things that all prosknow, you know.
Yeah, like being it, reallyit's it.
For me, I think it's stuffthat's kind of set at every
(23:17):
level, you know.
And then you come to themargins and the professional
environment.
The margins are just so, sotight, it's so, so little, like
you know what I mean.
It's those margins that likereally set the players apart,
right?
Speaker 1 (23:39):
So, and you're, I tell, I tell this to my son, um,
all the time I don't push him,but I, I ask him the question
and I start bringing thisconcept into his head, like the
players who only play soccer atscheduled practices, like if
(23:59):
that's your journey and that'swhat you want to do and that's
what you want out of it, andthen great, and you're gonna
have a fun time doing it andhopefully you got a great coach
that's going to create a goodenvironment and a good
experience.
Fantastic, yeah, if you are aplayer that wants to continue to
elevate their game and continueto push the level and continue
to get to the next step andcontinue to be, you know, the
(24:21):
one starting in minutes and allof that stuff and continuing to
evolve, if, if that is whatyou're aspiring for which my son
says he does then just playingsoccer at scheduled practice
times with your club, maybe twohours a week, two and a half
hours a week, plus games yeah,not gonna do it.
Not gonna do it, my friend,when you know, when you start
(24:45):
hitting a certainage group.
When you start hitting acertain age group like you're
gonna start to get leapfroggedby the players that may be two,
three teams below you that arethat are putting it at work, and
he's already.
We already have this in our agegroup a couple players that are
a it at work, and he's already.
We already have this in our agegroup a couple of players that
are a couple of teams below down.
That would knock off a few ofthe first team players right now
If we held the evals.
(25:05):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:06):
You know, even when I was, when I was growing up the
time.
The time that a pro gets everyweek is 16 to 16 hours a week,
roughly around there.
Wow, like, if you're gettingtwo hours, three hours of
training one game, like you'renot, it's not cutting it.
You know, like the, the type oftraining, that the amount of
(25:27):
training is there for a reason,right, like we, I think that's
um a thing that's kind of alwaysbeen like 16 hours a week, like
that's that's a lot of pro at apro level.
And then you start to go intolike what does your training
look?
Like?
That's outside of practice,right, because, like, if we're
saying, if we're saying, and Ithink, well, I'm saying that iq
(25:48):
in a way sets players apart,obviously you need good feet,
you got to control the ball, yougot to pass the ball, you got
to be able to finish, you got todo your job well, no, that's
not like, no doubt, um, but ifiq sets a player apart, then if
you're doing work, that's notlike no doubt.
But if iq sets a player apart,that if you're doing work,
that's that kind of puts asideiq.
And like game intelligence,well, you're gonna be a big
player, you know.
But like, really, when you getinto a higher level.
(26:09):
You're gonna play with playersand be like dude, like you don't
know what you're doing.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, your decision making isnot very good, you know, and and
so it's like you have to bringin decision making.
You have to bring in maybeimagination and if you're
training on your own like you Idon't know if you can really
make decision makings on yourown, but you could imagine you
could have a good imaginationand you know, I tell, I tell
(26:32):
coaches around me and evenplayers that I, I work with.
Like you know, when I wasgrowing up, my, the soccer was
on my mind like all the time.
Like I'm receiving the ballwith a check my chest, I think I
I'm zata, but you know, like I,I received the ball with my
thigh and my foot out of the air.
I imagine I, I see a picture ofeniesta in my head, you know,
and it's like constantly whenI'm training, like that stuff's
(26:56):
always, like it's just, it'sjust like gear that's always
spinning, you know, and so, um,yeah, it's like three hours.
So it's you, that's what youwant, that's fine, like that's
all good no problem, you know.
But if that passion develops andyou want more, well then you
gotta give more right, exactly100, and you know there's I.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
I think the other way to look at it too is especially
at the pro level, what youstarted talking about with the
hours.
I mean people will hear thatand they'll say, wow, that's a
lot of training.
But let's take a step back fora second.
This, this is your job.
Yeah, we work, we.
You know.
When you let's look at theworkforce 40 hour work week
(27:45):
right In the U S, like everybodythinks, and if anybody is in in
school and about anyway anyway,um, but that's to your point
(28:06):
you were talking about 16 hoursis like the physical training,
like actually scheduledpractices.
Then there's I mean taking careof your body.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
You got recovery, weights, stretching, icing,
eating, well, all the otherstuff that kind of comes in.
Yeah, it's interesting becausethe passion for the game is so
important.
I haven't been an icer, I'vebeen around a player who they've
hated playing from a young age.
(28:38):
It always starts with passionand it starts with enjoyment
that keeps them in it.
Right Like there's players whotheir salaries aren't very good
but they just love playing, youknow, and they'll put out the
grind just because they love it,you know, yep, and so like that
passion is so important,especially in an environment
(28:59):
where there's, you know, in theprofessional mind, there's high
pressure, because you've got toperform, You've got to score
goals, you've got to assist,you've got to create plays,
you've got to defend If you getbeat geez, you don't play.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
Everybody's fighting for your spot, right.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Everything matters, every action matters.
And, um, if you don't have thatpassion, if you're, if it's
just a, if, it's just a job toyou like if, if, if that's what
it is, then you, you don't staylong, you know yeah, no, I.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
I couldn't agree more and I think you you do find
that and see that and you knowyour point.
If you're making it to thatlevel, chances are you have a
strong passion for the game.
Otherwise, those ones that youfind that may not, you're not
seeing them in a spot for verylong.
One personally, but two,they're not going to have the
(29:57):
level of commitment or drive tostick around and or the attitude
to be a good team and havesomebody like that in the locker
room.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Kind of you saying.
That makes me think about, evenfrom my own experience.
Yeah, I only played two years,but part of it was because the
demand on your body that youtake as a pro gosh, it goes way
higher than a college athlete.
And it was as a college athlete, like for what I've been
through in my, for my adversity,like yeah, I handle it and it
(30:31):
was fine for me.
But the moment I jumped into theprofessional environment and
like the toll that it takes onthe body, body, like if you're,
if, if college was hard, thefitness and stuff was hard, the
weights were, you know, whateverit is that the demand was hard.
You'll get into a professionalenvironment.
I'm sure it's probably evenhigher the the levels you go.
You know usl, championship, mls, overseas, you know buddhist
(30:54):
league, uh, the pram, whateverit is.
I'm sure the demand is justmore and more and more.
So.
If, if it's just like a job saycollege is a job or club, I
just show up and play, likeparents make me play, you know,
or they're always, they'realways on on your butt about it,
you know they're, they're theone who puts pressure on you.
Like if that's it, like I, Ijust don't see how it really
(31:19):
moves into the next level, or itcan but lasting.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
I don't, I don't know , not very sustainable, to be
sure.
Well, ryan, thank you so much,man, for joining me, uh, for
this episode and giving us someinsight.
I mean, that's just, it's socool again to to have someone
with your playing experience andbackground in our area and a
part of you know, instilling thepassion and love and joy, and
(31:45):
so that we don't find playerslike you we just talked about,
um, you know, and hopefully,once that, have that love of the
game, uh, and helping youcreate that environment.
So, thank you for everythingthat you're doing and, uh,
appreciate you joining me today.
Yeah, thank you for everythingthat you're doing and appreciate
you joining me today, yeah.
Thank you.
That's it for this episode ofPitch the Pro.
Appreciate everybody joining us.
(32:05):
Make sure to follow us on allof our socials at Pitch the Pro
and check out even more contentwherever you get your podcasts
on Spotify, YouTube, Applepodcasts and more.
Until next time.
Cheers, Northwest Arkansas.
Thanks for joining us on thisepisode of the pitcher pro
podcast.
Be sure to tune in again in twoweeks for the next installment
(32:25):
and check out the stoppage timeseries for a recap of today's
episode.
Be sure to find us at pitch topro on youtube, instagram and
everywhere you get your podcasts.
Until next time.
Northwest arkansas cheers.
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