August 21, 2025 • 37 mins
Soccer history unfolded right here in Northwest Arkansas as the Outrigger Challenge Cup brought FIFA-sanctioned international matches to Springdale. Kevin Tello, Ozark United FC MLS Next Technical Director, joins host Wes Harris to break down this landmark event that put our region on the global soccer map.
The tournament featured the senior men’s national teams of Turks and Caicos and the US Virgin Islands, along with the Marshall Islands and Ozark United FC’s U19 academy team, which stepped in as a last-minute addition. What followed was nothing short of extraordinary – under-19 academy players jumping out to 2–0 leads against established FIFA nations, the Marshall Islands competing in their first-ever international fixtures, and a celebration of soccer that united our diverse community.
Kevin provides an insider's perspective on what it meant for our U19 players to face professional athletes in high-stakes competition. These weren't exhibition matches – the intensity was real, with bone-crunching tackles, heated exchanges, and the kind of pressure most players don't experience until college or beyond. The experience proved invaluable as our young athletes faced the realities of international competition, learning lessons about game management and mental fortitude that will serve them for years to come.
The conversation shifts to Ozark United FC's exciting MLS Next program, which has drawn incredible talent from across the region. With approximately 100 players trying out for each age group and final rosters representing 16 different clubs and 12 high schools, the academy truly unites Northwest Arkansas soccer. Kevin explains the upcoming season structure, which begins September 6th with home matches in Siloam Springs, and outlines the developmental philosophy guiding each age group.
Most importantly, Kevin articulates the mission driving everything Ozark United FC does – creating pathways, providing opportunities, and elevating the game in our region. Whether players aspire to join MLS academies, earn college scholarships, or simply become the best they can be, Ozark United FC is building structures that make these dreams accessible right here at home.
Join us for this riveting conversation about soccer's past, present, and future in Northwest Arkansas. Then come experience it yourself at our upcoming MLS Next matches starting this September!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (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.
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(01:07):
Hello everybody and welcomeback to the Pitch the Pro
podcast.
I'm your host, wes Harris,managing Director for Ozark
United FC, northwest Arkansas'sprofessional soccer club,
playing in the United SoccerLeague.
Guys, I'm really excited abouttoday's discussion.
We had a big week last weekhere in Northwest Arkansas for
soccer and for one of ourcommunities in particular
(01:29):
especially.
So to help me kind of breakthis down, is our guest today
OZFC MLS.
Next Technical Director, mrKevin Tao.
Kevin, thanks for being herewith me today, man, I'm excited
to talk about some stuff.
Yeah, thanks, wes Thanks forhaving me so last week big, big
week for soccer and theMarshallese community in
(01:52):
Northwest Arkansas in particular.
Big week for soccer in general,but especially for those people
.
So remind people what wasOutrigger Challenge Cup and give
people a quick overview of whatit was.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, outrigger tournament kind of put together
by kind of Lloyd and the RMIFederation to you know, have
these first ever internationalmatches for the Marshall Islands
played.
Super cool.
That Springdale was kind of thespot for this because for me
growing up in Northwest Arkansasyou know I'm from Siloam I
would have never imagined justto see, you know, international
(02:25):
soccer being played here.
And to Arkansas, you know I'mfrom Siloam I would have never
imagined just to see, you know,international soccer being
played here and to see you knowwhat was it like?
Five or six internationalmatches here.
You know we were able to take apart in a closed door scrimmage
as well with the 19s.
It was awesome and it was, youknow, something that I saw,
especially that opening game,that opening night.
Like so many people were there.
It was awesome atmosphere.
It just makes me super hopefulof like what else is to come
(02:45):
from an event like that and justthe buzz around, like you said,
soccer in general in NorthArkansas.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
So who are the teams that we had here, remind
everybody?
So we obviously had theMarshall Islands who were the
host kind of organizers of thetournament.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yeah, we had the Marshall Islands, which it was
cool that they kind of formedthis team and were able to
compete.
I saw a lot of proudMarshallese people in the
community.
We had the Turks and CaicosSenior Men's National Team and
then the US Virgin IslandsSenior Men's National Team, and
we were fortunate enough to haveour 19s get offered a spot to
play in the tournament as well,so our under 19s are able to
(03:20):
play in some games.
They played against the Turksand Caicos national team, USVI
national team and then we playedthe closed-door scrimmage with
the Marshall Islands.
So good atmosphere yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah, so to remind everybody, Guam was supposed to
come.
They had a scheduled conflictand maybe a month or two to go
kind of had to back out and wewere asked if we could fill a
spot.
That way we could get moregames for these teams.
And what a cool opportunity itwas for those boys in the U19.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yeah, I mean not last minute addition.
And again, for some of theseboys, when would they have ever
gotten that experience To playFIFA, international football,
against professional playersthat are doing it?
That's so cool, that's so huge.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
These were not their B-squads, no, these are first
team men's national, like grownmen, national team FIFA
recognized FIFA nations.
Some of these players areprofessionals.
I mean, almost all of them areprofessionals.
Yeah, almost all of them.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, I know, talking to some of their coaches, they
did not bring in like anotheryouth level team, Like they
brought in their guys.
And I think it was cool likeseeing USVI kind of win the
tournament, Like they werecelebrating because it did mean
something to them.
You know.
Oh yeah, it was a hugetournament to them.
So I think it was cool to kindof number one again have that
(04:41):
here, but also like have ourguys compete in it and so they
can see what the level lookslike, especially as we kind of
hopefully in the next couple ofyears transition into a
professional academy.
Like, hey, this is the standardand this is a level.
And again, that opening day,like all of our academies were
there and the kids from the U13sto the U17s saw the U19s
represent, and it was awesome toget them to start making those
(05:03):
little connections in theirbrain of like, hey, this is the
standard once you get there.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, and I mean the level in the matches was so good
, it was so cool, it was awesome.
There were some big boychallenges thrown as well.
Too Well, there were some bigboy challenges.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
There was some big boy banter.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
And the guys needed to step up to the moment and
they did.
You know, they, they had, theyled in both games with which was
one men's national teams likeand it's not like, oh we, you
know they got an own goal, orthey scored a fluke goal, like
we earned the pks that we got,and then why it was able to
score an incredible goal,akulele's.
(05:42):
Akulele has been able to scoresome incredible goals as well
and it's, it was awesome to kindof lead.
But then you know, from acoaching perspective, then you
see, like that maturity aspectof it, right, these guys, again,
they're men and they've beendoing it for a while.
This is their career.
They're able to kind of bringthe game back and then take the
lead and win it, whether it wasin PKs, like or you know, kind
of a what was it like twominutes left when the SVI took
(06:04):
the lead, and then obviously wewent on to try to get the
equalizer, send everyone up andthey scored the fourth.
So, again, all learning momentsthat are huge, where me now
shifting gears, being a divisionone coach before this.
Like, players don't learn thoselessons until they either get
minutes their freshman year ofcollege or, you know, later down
the line, once you're asophomore and junior, then you
(06:28):
get that experience.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Experience like now they have it going into their
senior year of high school.
You know, yeah, yeah, andthat's so cool.
So I mean you started talkingabout those coaching moments in
those little moments.
So let's kind of break downeach game.
Uh, that the u19s played, uh,let's start with.
You know, we'll go in order, so.
So we played first Turks andCaicos on Thursday night and
just kind of walk everybodythrough.
What was the result?
(06:49):
What did you see?
Like I know Dean and Scott weremore like the on field coaches,
right, but like I think thatthat actually gives you a cool
perspective to have been able tojust like sit back and watch,
yeah Right, and and truly absorband and kind of analyze the
game a little bit.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
So from your perspective, yeah, it was funny
because I I told my wife I waslike man, I'm gonna, I'm gonna
try to sit in the stands, I justwant to watch.
And sure enough, I found my wayon the bench and, and you know
I was, I was getting into thebanter and getting up and
yelling and coaching.
I just couldn't help myself.
But, um, it was cool to seekind of dean obviously is a
really a really successful coach.
Obviously, I know he's going todo incredible things at NYC.
(07:26):
He's already doing incrediblethings for the 19s.
He's having them play in the3-5-2, which is different for
most of these kids.
Right, they grew up playing afour-back system, whether it's
4-3-3 or some formation, and afour in the back.
So it was cool to see them kindof start to make those
connections.
But to make those connections.
But you know, like you said,when we came out we didn't know
I was part of those pregametalks with Dean and Scott and we
(07:48):
didn't know we were just likehey, go in, go compete.
You know we were kind of likethis has never happened before,
right, this has never happenedhere.
These Arkansas kids have neverseen this.
Like what do we do?
And we ended up taking the lead.
Know, wyatt Marksbury,incredible run down the line,
gets a PK, calls for us, andthen you know Akalele Campbell's
, just you know he's a finisherand he's able to find the net
(08:10):
anywhere he is and he was ableto convert a PK.
The game keeps going on andsame thing, wyatt Marksbury just
gets a wide, you know breakawayand able to finish it.
You know he does it in highschool all the time, he does it
in club all the time.
And now he's like boom, easytransition to international
stage.
You know, yeah, um, and as thegame kind of carried on, this is
where, like the inexperience ofthese boys coming kicks in it's
(08:31):
we're leading 2-0.
They're not pressing us.
Okay, cool, and you know I'mgonna sit on the ball and chill
and relax, but they're stillwanting to go, go, go.
Because again for them it'slike oh man, we're leading,
let's go get more, let's go getmore.
And it we talked to them athalftime and it was, it was
understandable for them to kindof want that, but they had to
like start to understand.
Now it's like, at this levelit's about what do you need to
(08:52):
do to win the game?
You know, like being smart,being savvy.
You know we all, we all see,like when maria was at chelsea,
and you know you would wastesome time every now and then and
the ball boys won't give theball like those are all parts of
the game, right, like theseguys have to understand that.
And I think, as the game went on, turks and cacos was good about
being, you know, a senior men'snational team and chipping at
(09:13):
what we were trying to do andbuilding out of the back and
everything.
We made some young mistakes andtie it.
And then we were lucky enoughto once turks and cacos took the
lead, to again get another PKcall tied.
It was awesome to see once wescored that PK.
All of our OZFC Academy, all ofour fans, the hell benders were
there and just everyonecheering the guys on the
(09:33):
sideline.
They went over and celebratedwith them.
This is super cool.
And then you know we we tookTurks and Caicos to PKs and just
unlucky, you know when, justunlucky.
You know, when our playersslipped on the PK.
The turf monster got them.
Yeah, the turf monster got them.
And you know we told the guyslike it's nothing to be upset
about.
You know, be proud.
Yeah, one unlucky event keptyou from winning this game and
(09:54):
that's part of the game.
So they were super upbeat.
After the game we were excitedto kind of see what was going to
happen on Saturday.
But as we transition now toUSVI, that was a hot game.
That was very hot.
That was one of the hottestgames I think I've ever been a
part of in my coaching career.
(10:15):
So kudos to both teams and,honestly, marshall Islands and
Turks playing before us, becausethat was incredible.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
We didn't know how they were going to come out.
Typically there's always aslump on a second game like that
.
But again the boys responded,incredibly, we were leading 2-0.
And I think we were leading 2-0.
And then we kept it tied untillike the 88th, 86th minute,
something like that.
(10:43):
Man, that game to me reminded meof a Division I game because of
the physicality, the banter,the reffing wasn't the best.
But that's neither here northere.
But it was an opportunity forthe guys to see.
You know, a challenge like that, like where are you going to
see a challenge like thatplaying in normal club football,
normal high school soccer?
Like you're not right.
(11:03):
And then again, inexperience,they sent two out to the corner.
We only sent one.
They were able to takeadvantage of that, scored a
beautiful goal.
You know, just kind of took asmall touch, bent it back post
and then, like I said earlier,we pushed all our numbers up
trying to get the equalizer andthey were able to counter and
get a fourth.
Yeah, but I think for me thatthe USVI game it was so
(11:24):
important for them to seebecause they were like man,
these real men are talking crapto us and they're coming in so
hard.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Dude, there were some major collisions in that game.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
And they were arguing too, like USVI was like in our
face arguing, yelling, and ourguys were like, oh crap, what do
I do?
You know?
Like it can be intimidating,yeah, yeah.
And then afterwards we allchicaned and we were fine and
that's just part of the game.
Yeah, you know, it's just partof the game.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
So yeah For somebody that, yeah, I mean we only have
two, there's only like like verysmall, like the majority of
them are still in high school,yeah, and to be in that type of
an environment in a match, likethat's a what like we keep
(12:17):
saying it, but like what anexperience.
And I mean, like I'm notkidding guys Like I've watched a
lot of soccer and there was onein particular, I think it was
on Geo at the back.
Oh yeah, like where they scoredtheir first goal.
That should have been called afoul, but you know, whatever
Things happen, right, yeah, yougot flipped upside down.
Oh my God, like bodies are justdoing horizontal, flat spin
(12:39):
360s in the air from thecollision, you know, and just
absolutely pounded.
Like it was a physical, tough,like hot.
Yeah, match of football, likeit was.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
It was incredible, it was an incredible experience
for those boys yeah, yeah and,and the cool thing is obviously
they had that experience andthen getting ready for two
college games.
You know, yeah, play a collegeon wednesday and then they're
going to play another college onsaturday and it's like man,
what better way to get thisexperience before our mls next
season than playing againstnumber one older players?
(13:15):
But I think the biggest thingis like players that are more
experienced, that are maybegoing to take advantage of some
of the things that you hadn'treally thought about playing
high school and playing clubsoccer.
Now they're starting tounderstand that and that's our
goal.
With talking to Dean and Scott,it's like how can we prepare
these guys for the next level?
Obviously, everyone that I talkto.
It's like what are ourambitions with the academy?
It's like, obviously these guysare unlucky or they're gonna be
(13:36):
gone by the time the pro teamcomes.
But it's like, do we get themready for college to continue to
succeed beyond that?
You know, once they graduate oreven before then, if they're an
option for the first team suite, or even, you know, maybe they
sign an academy contract andthey're with us over the summer.
(13:57):
We never know.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
But our job is to prepare these guys for when that
time comes yeah, for whateverthat, whatever that next level
is for them, whether it'scollege, whether it's if somehow
we get our first team goinglike great, or somehow there's
another academy somewhere yeah,exactly, fantastic.
We're not the only professionalsoccer team in America Right, or
other places Right Like there's.
You know, I know a couple ofour, or one of our players at
(14:21):
least, over the summer had atrial over in Spain in like the
second division or somethinglike that.
So it's just about preppingthem for that next level and
helping them on a pathway and ajourney.
So you know, I do, before wejump into that's a good segue
into kind of MLS Next programand we'll dive in.
But I do just want to take aquick moment and celebrate the
(14:44):
Marshallese community and theMarshall Islands team, because
this was I can't overstate whata moment this has, this was and
what it did for this team andthose players and the fans and
the community.
I mean it was so cool to seethe amount of folks Marshallese,
(15:08):
nwa, but it's like there werepeople from all over the world
that traveled in to support theMarshall Islands.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
I mean the Men in.
Blazers did a segment on it,Men in.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Blazers did a segment on it, like they did some
social media.
There's continuation of that,like they were in the newsletter
, like this is a massive deal.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah, it was funny because, like I would say, I was
doing what everyone does and Iwas doing scrolling.
Yeah, like some big soccerinfluencers were also talking
about it, you know, and I waslike, man, this is so cool that
it is, it's a, it's a super hugething, or like it's such an
underrepresented community andlike the global stage and
athletics, and now they're ableto have this and not only that,
man, they competed like it's notlike they got killed.
(15:49):
No, it's not like they're losing14-0, like they competed and
they like.
For me, I was like man, I beingfrom north of sargent, so I was
proud of them.
I can only imagine like beingfrom the marshall islands and
saying your national teamaccomplished this, being first
time ever, and then also likedoing well, yeah I mean nil for
the usvi, but that I mean theywere usvi by far and away.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
It was like the best team in the tournament.
They deserve to win.
Um, turks and cagos is no slaps.
Let me like just be like veryclear.
But you know, if I had to givean edge, it was probably the
usvi.
Yeah, uh, but so nil four, butlike that it could have been
well, you know and here's thething everybody's like dean was
a part of their staff as well.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, yeah, and they tried to play.
Like you could have easily like, hey, we're going to sit in the
back and just try to hope forsomething, but no, they tried to
play, they hit the post.
Yeah, good for them.
They wanted to play some propersoccer and they did.
And I think on Saturday we sawkind of the benefits of that
because, well, it was tied right.
I got there later.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I got there later but I don't know that it was ever
tied.
But they did come back and theyscored their first ever goals.
Yeah, like people again wecan't overstate for having never
, ever played an 11 v 11 matchand you're going up against
senior national teams Half,almost half of the Marshall
(17:12):
Islands team had never playedeven 11 v 11 in an official
match, like they were futsalplayers.
They were futsal players, yeah,which is just bonkers, like
that's wild.
And so to have scored from therun of play on their first goal
was just nuts.
And then to have done the workto to get a p to kind of bring
(17:34):
it back and close to three, twoand you know there was a
questionable, you know couldhave gone either way, Like PK
call at the end where you couldhave even tied, like are you
serious?
So it's just, it was sounbelievably cool for me as a
soccer fan and just fan of ourcommunity to have witnessed that
and be a part of that and like,say you were there.
Yeah, like I can't think ofhearing about or whatever
(17:58):
reading a internet, a nation'sfirst ever, you know, official
soccer match, 11 B 11.
And we were here for that.
Then we witnessed it.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
I mean there's not.
There's not very many.
There's not very many wherethey can say, hey, you're going
to be a part of their first eversoccer team.
There's not very many wherethey can say, hey, you're going
to be a part of their first eversoccer team.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
There's not many, if any, and I mean Marshall Islands
is yeah, and so I mean just allthe way around USVI, turks and
Caicos, marshall Islands, theU19s for OZFC, every single one
of them coming in, competing,doing so well, representing
their countries and their teamsand their communities, heads
held high Like it was such acool event to have here in
(18:35):
Northwest Arkansas.
It was unreal that this washappening and hopefully, and the
intent, I know, is to make thisan annual thing and I just, I
only hope it gets bigger.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yeah so.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah, even if obviously we're not in it
anymore, like it's gonna beawesome, like we're gonna tell
our kids to continue to go andsupport and be a part of this
Cause.
It's so, it's so awesome tohave this here.
I mean, it's, it's like thegold cup, it's like Copa America
.
You know, like this is a.
This is an internationaltournament.
You know it's like that's here,that's here in Northwest
Arkansas.
You know, in Springdale highschool.
(19:06):
Like who would have thought ofthat?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
You.
So again, just major shout outto the Marshallese community and
the Marshall Island SoccerFederation and all the work that
they've done to get to thatpoint.
Just a massive congratulations,huge.
So moving on to MLS, nextprogram and the U13s, all the
way to the U19s, you guys havedone a ton of work to start this
program, hold evals, starttraining and start doing
(19:36):
schedules and, like startorganizing friendlies.
Like talk everybody through,let's take a step back.
We haven't really.
You know, we talked about itbefore eval started.
Yeah, a lot has happened sincethen.
So walk people through, likelet's go back to evals.
What was that like?
We had insane turnout.
Just talk a little bit aboutthat.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yeah, it was awesome to see.
I think I sent you the numbersthe other day.
I think we had about 100 kidsper team, per age group, come
out to tryouts.
Obviously I'm kind of from here, but now I left and I'm
stepping back into the space soI don't know any of the kids.
But from talking to the coachesthat were there helping us, it
was like man, this was like thewho's who in our area and not
(20:20):
just that.
But I mean I think we had likefive or six different states,
you know, kids at tryouts,whether it was they were
planning on commuting or movinghere for work or they just heard
about it.
You know I saw two Memphis kidson there.
You know I was coming fromMemphis and I saw two Memphis
kids on our registration andthey were there.
So it was cool to see.
It was crazy, it was hectic.
I, you know, did everythingthat we could to kind of make
(20:43):
sure we were giving them theopportunity to eval in front of
us.
It was a two day thing and youknow we're hoping that we can
kind of make that a little biteasier and identify maybe some
talent a little bit earliergoing into next year's, but it
was awesome to see all thetalent there.
Um, I think we had probablyabout eight coaches within each
age group.
Help us, kind of like, sort itout.
This is who we, you know, thisis who we think, this is who we
(21:03):
think, and then we kind of movethem around to kind of help them
, have them play with each other, and then our mls next coaches,
you know, pick, pick theirteams from what they saw, what
they needed.
But after that, once we'veselected our teams, obviously I
respect my coaches too.
They had stuff coming on, theyhad vacations or whatever.
I was leading kind of sometrainings with them in the
(21:24):
morning super early, before itgot crazy hot throughout the
summer.
And to say that the levelsurprised me would be an
understatement, because I waslike, oh, it's've known it.
I've seen, obviously, mls.
Next I've seen high level ecls,but like, the way that these
kids play surprised me becausewe have some ballers in
northwest arkansas that aretechie, that are athletic, that
(21:47):
understand the game at a highlevel, and now it's been super
cool to see them all on the sameteam where every other every
other year they've been, youknow, opponents, whether it's
opposing high schools oropposing clubs, like they've
always played against each otherand now they're in the same
space, getting, you know,trainings at a high level,
competing against each other.
We keep talking about likethese hard tackles at these
(22:08):
games, like we see them intraining, you know, like hard
tackles that are trying to makeeach other better.
And it's been, it's beenawesome to see but that was kind
of our summer it's like in themeeting sessions getting a
better picture of all theplayers, building relationships
with the parents, with them,kind of building the stress
Cause.
At the end of the day, we'rewe're a brand new club, you know
(22:34):
.
You know that they need tobenefit.
You know it's not, it's notjust our way.
You know there's not just oneway to get there.
Like, if you need privatetraining, there's private
training.
If you need, you know, adifferent club, then there's a
different club.
You know, cause that was someof the conversations during
child's as well, as like, oh, wedon't know, if it's a good fit,
(22:56):
then cool.
You know this isn't foreveryone.
What we're trying to do isn'tfor everyone, it's for a
specific, unique need inNorthwest Arkansas that everyone
knows is needed.
Mls Next is needed in NorthwestArkansas because it's hard to
find high level games, and nowwe're in a division and a
conference where we'reguaranteed 50% home games, you
know.
So we're not having to traveleverywhere and be crazy and
spend all this money.
It's hey, 50 of our time isgoing to be at home, which is
(23:17):
awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, I think that's so cool too and and I do you hit
on something I want to justreiterate and kind of talk about
it.
There's kids from everywhere.
There's kids from everywhere,not just the tryouts, but also
like that made the team go.
Yeah, like we we talked abouton our united teens alone, there
(23:39):
were, there are not, were are12 high schools represented on a
roster that's just over 20.
Yeah, I think we're like too.
Yeah, that's nuts, it's trulyrepresentative.
Like this is like yeah, you mayhave one team or age group that
(24:00):
over indexes from a certainclub.
Like guys, we have players from.
We had players from over 24clubs, and I'm including wreck
in that yeah yeah, uh, thattried out and sick over six.
I think it's 16 clubsrepresented in actual rosters.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
That's incredible yeah, and then you could you
talk about right, we had someplayers that had never played
club soccer, that made teams.
Yeah, you know that.
That were just so cool, by theway.
Yeah, you know that they cameout and they just killed it.
You know they killed it againstthese kids that had been
playing club their whole life orwhatever.
And, man, this is what this is.
You know, let's, let's go findthese kids that you know need
(24:39):
this and having it.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yeah, provide the pathway and the opportunity.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Provide the pathway right you keep talking about it
provide that opportunity forthem, and obviously with that,
we we have scholarships andthings like that that that make
this affordable for everyone.
But it was, it was so cool tosee that because for me, that
was me.
I grew up playing rec, you know, and then I went on to play
college soccer and then now, youknow, I went in and coached
division one.
But it was like I would havenever imagined something like
(25:02):
this being in the area, whereit's like high level training,
high level environment foreveryone.
You know, it's not just who canafford it, it's for everyone,
for everyone.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Absolutely so.
We have gotten into some.
You know we did the optionaltrainings which almost everybody
showed up if they, it justshows the commitment and how
hungry these players are.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Yeah, I was like, yeah, let me do this, I'll think
I'll have like 15, you know,guys, it'll be easy, and there's
days I had 40, 45.
I was like holy crap, I wrote asession.
But it was awesome.
It was good to see them becommitted because again, they
want this, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
And now we're starting to get into some
friendlies, yeah, and so talk alittle bit about like the
process of kind of pre-seasonand you know what you guys are
doing, feeling looking forseason upcoming with our first
season at MLS Next.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Yeah, we have some friendlies coming up.
The U19s and U17s both havefriendlies against some
universities coming up, whichwill be good, obviously, with
the U17s it's cool becausetypically you don't see a
college friendly until yoursenior year.
And then me talking to mycollege buddies sometimes that's
too late.
It's too late for them to getthat experience and get that
exposure or even thatrecruitability.
(26:15):
For our younger age groups itwas super cool because the
Heartland, which is the MLS NextConference just north of us,
they were like hey, we want tohost something where we play
against you guys, you guys playagainst me.
So we're coming together onthis Saturday the 23rd to kind
of play that.
So we're going together on thisSaturday the 23rd to kind of
play that.
So we're going to get some goodgames against that.
And then our 16s and 15s you'retalking to different local clubs
(26:38):
and ECNL teams to kind of getthese scrimmages in either
during the week, during trainingtimes, or on Saturdays.
I know they're going down toLittle Rock.
The 15s are on Saturday.
Shout out, little Rock.
He used to coach for theRangers, so, um, it's cool to
have that connection there.
But again, we just want to getsome some good competition.
It's a high level competitionbefore we transition into our
(26:59):
mls next regular season start ofseptember awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
So who are some of the teams that are in our
conference?
Uh, again, mls, next secondtier or new competition tier,
have they officially announced?
Uh, the, can we say it?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
We can say it because I've seen it everywhere.
Mls Next hasn't made a postabout it, but they have
transitioned to two divisionsthe homegrown division and the
academy division.
Homegrown is the MLS academiesand some of the blue chips in
MLS Next, and then the academydivision is kind of the way that
I step into these meetings withMLS Next.
(27:35):
It's kind of what we talk about.
They want to make soccer foreveryone, so they want to make
MLS Next for everyone.
So they've branched out to aton of different clubs like us
that are new into this space orthat may be in some different
regions that are tough to gethigh level games.
We have a long list oftechnical standards that we have
to maintain and keep in orderto keep our MLS next standing.
(27:57):
But for us, teams that are inour conference, it's Tulsa,
oklahoma City, dallas teams,austin teams, houston teams and
then there's a team in BatonRouge.
So it's kind of regional, butstill there's some travel to our
scheduling.
(28:19):
The MLS is going to have aregional tournament between us
and, again, the conference justnorth of us.
That's sometime in our regularseason.
They haven't announced datesyet.
What's been super cool to hearthem kind of speak about their
reason for the academy divisionis with the younger age groups.
They want to really emphasizethe recruiting aspect of it for
MLS academies.
So they're going to do an eventColumbus Day weekend in some
(28:41):
MLS facility and they're goingto invite 50 players from each
age group to come to those kindof a combine.
So it depends how well you doas these scouts come to our
academy division games.
But also they're working ondifferent ways for the players
to record themselves doingdifferent drills, send that to a
specific app that they want usto download and then from there,
(29:04):
seeing how we've been training,we're hopeful that we'll be
able to form really competitiveteams within this new division
as well.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
That's awesome.
Actual season starts inSeptember, is you know?
I know that we are going tohave, you know, a good amount of
games and we will post thegames.
I promise there are Kevin canattest there's things that get
moved and shifted and so we justwe want to feel like we have
(29:45):
things in a good spot before wepost out what the schedule is
going to be.
But we will make sure and shoutloud and proud and post about
when and where games are goingto be here in NWA, but it should
be that first weekend inSeptember, I think.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
September 6th is our first game.
The month of September we'rehome.
The month of October we're away.
And then the rest of theNovember, december, we're home.
So cool.
So again, 50, 50, awesome theway they did it.
We have a couple games injanuary as well, but again, for
me it's like everything I'veheard is like man, it's so hard
to find good games, you're gonnahave to travel everywhere all
this, and then here we are just50.
(30:23):
You know it's super cool.
Um, the first games are gonna beright now.
I can say that they're gonna beSiloam.
We just want to make this kindof more accessible to everyone
to come watch MLS.
Next, siloam Springs FC and theSiloam Springs Chamber of
Commerce have been awesome aboutkind of letting us use their
facilities, letting us use theirfield space, so we'll spend
that weekend over there.
(30:43):
That's also the weekend we'replaying the Oklahoma teams, so
we kind of wanted to, you know,give them, throw them a bone a
little bit and make it a littlebit easier travel for them.
They're looking at doing thesame for us, whether it's just
outside of Tulsa or maybe alittle bit outside of Oklahoma
City, for us to not have totravel as far, but they're going
to be at Sager Creek, rightbehind Silent Springs High
School, and then we're lookingat maybe using Silent Springs
(31:06):
High School Stadium for some ofthe games as well.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
That's super cool.
So any kind of.
I guess it would vary by coachor team and just where they're
at, as well as age group, right.
But if you could kind of breakdown for everybody what you guys
are thinking about like goalsfor the season and I know that
that is a very open-ended andcrazy rabbit hole question, or
(31:32):
could be, yeah, but talk alittle bit about that as your
guys are going into the firstseason like, what are you guys
talking about as coaches?
Like, what does success looklike?
Speaker 3 (31:39):
Success looks like?
I can tell you right now, forprobably the three oldest age
groups, it's we want to win.
You know, we're at that pointin their careers.
Where can we compete?
Can we win?
You know, yes, we want tocontinue to develop them.
Yes, we want them to get betterat the game and stuff.
But can we go into these games?
Can we compete?
You know, we feel like with thethree oldest age groups, we're
in a good position to.
(32:00):
You know, compete within MLS.
Next, again, with the playersthat have come, that have joined
us, and everything With thethree younger age groups,
everything with the threeyounger age groups.
Our, our main goal is thedevelopment side.
When we talk goals, it's whatexposure can we get these
players?
Obviously we're not.
You know, we're not sellingthem a dream of like oh, if you
play for us, we're going to sendyou to an mls academy.
(32:20):
That's not what we're doing,but we want to give them that
exposure.
You know, we want you guys tounderstand, as a u13, u1415,
this is the pathway, this iswhat you need to do.
These are the steps.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
These are the standards, this is the level.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Yeah, exactly this is what it's like this is what it
looks like.
You know, it was funny.
My 14s had a game on Saturdayand I made a scout on the
opponent and they were like Isent it to them and they were
like they've never seen itbefore.
What is this?
What do you mean?
I need to know what theirkickoff routine looks like.
They have a kickoff routine andI was like, yeah, these are the
(32:58):
things we need to talk aboutand understand.
So for them, it's like how canwe prepare them for what's next?
Whether it is, for us, it'slike it could be a tier one, mls
Next, that's not an MLSaffiliate, or it could be an MLS
Academy.
We want to bring those playersand promote them as much as
possible in that space and Ithink our goal is like, hey, can
(33:21):
we just start thoseconversations?
Whether it's with Kansas City,atlanta United, nashville, of
one or two of our players, forus that's a successful fall.
That's a successful fall.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
You know that's a successful season.
That's our goal right now.
No, it's so cool.
Um, it is building pathways,providing opportunities.
That's it, man.
That's all we're here to try todo elevate the game, grow the
game, build pathways, provideopportunities.
Yeah, so I just, um, I'm reallyexcited.
I'm super excited for how thescheduling turned out, because I
know that, like there was a lotof questions in the air with
that.
(33:52):
It could have been.
There was some talk about someneutral site game like that's.
But I'm at least, knock on wood, like excited for at least how
it's starting to look to shakeout, which is really really cool
and fun for the community,families, fans, and I can't wait
to be out at the first homematch weekend.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yeah, yeah, it's going to be.
It's going to be awesome againthat for us it's it's a little
rivalry with Tulsa, so I thinkit's going to be awesome to kind
of finally see those teams playeach other.
You know, like obviously weknow the staff over there, they
know us, they know our guys, weknow their guys like super cool
First weekend.
And obviously we work reallywell with the guys over there as
(34:32):
well, and I'm from Siloam, sowhat better way to start?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
than that, absolutely Well, kevin, thank you so much
for joining me today.
Man, I really appreciate yourinsights, and thanks again for
everything that you're doing andhelping to everything that we
said Grow the game, elevate thegame, provide that, provide that
pathway, help, you know,elevate the coaching experience
(34:57):
and, and you know, in our inNorthwest Arkansas, uh, and for
everything that you did in helpfor Outburger Cup, uh, and
everything that went down therethat was so cool, uh, again to
see and be a part of.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
Yeah, yeah, I mean shout out to my staff.
You know those guys um ThomasChristian Wayne, tj Scott Dean.
You know those guys um thomaschristian wayne, tj scott dean.
You know julio, like everyonethat was out there, um put it in
on a shift.
You know, like casey was outthere on saturday trying to
cover for people around.
Like it was super cool for meto see of like we talk about
(35:25):
unifying and everything and likethe players need to support
each other, but, like my staff,super awesome about supporting
each other that was the otherthing too.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Real quick, like I, I will.
Also.
I want to give a shout out tothe staff, uh, coaching staff at
ozfc.
Guys, there was like seven oreight, nine coaches on the bench
.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
At one point we were all on the roster but they were
all just like man, I want tohelp, how do, how do I help?
How do I help?
So Dean had some different guys, had different jobs, whether it
was like set pieces or whatever.
Like you know, lead warmups,you know like which?
Speaker 2 (35:57):
was so cool.
Yeah, like super easy, rightFor coaches to just be like, oh,
I'm going to bring my team andsupport and like that would have
been a check the box and greatyeah.
But no, it's like it just tellsme how excited you know and
ready people are to just jump inheadfirst and like how can I
help?
Where can I go?
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Well, exactly Like that's all I heard from the
coaches this week with Al Reager.
It's like what do you need, howcan I help and what do you need
?
And I was like, dude, sweet,like that's what our players
need to do on the field now,yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, exactly
so.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Anyway, just a massive shout out to everybody
OZFC, marshall Islands, usvi,turks and Caicos, springdale
High School.
Big shout out, like massive forhosting Mount Sequoia.
Anybody else that was involved,that I'm forgetting like
incredible, incredible week.
So I'm just super fortunate tohave been able to be a part of
(36:51):
it and be here in some small way.
So that'll do it for thisepisode of Pitch the Pro.
We hope you enjoyed it.
Be sure to catch all of ourepisodes on PitchTheProcom or
look for Pitch the Pro onYouTube, spotify, Apple,
wherever you get your podcasts,for more content Until next time
.
Cheers, northwest Arkansas.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Pitch to
Pro podcast.
Be sure to tune in again in twoweeks for the next installment
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, northwestArkansas 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
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
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(00:46):
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(01:07):
Hello everybody and welcomeback to the Pitch the Pro
podcast.
I'm your host, wes Harris,managing Director for Ozark
United FC, northwest Arkansas'sprofessional soccer club,
playing in the United SoccerLeague.
Guys, I'm really excited abouttoday's discussion.
We had a big week last weekhere in Northwest Arkansas for
soccer and for one of ourcommunities in particular
(01:29):
especially.
So to help me kind of breakthis down, is our guest today
OZFC MLS.
Next Technical Director, mrKevin Tao.
Kevin, thanks for being herewith me today, man, I'm excited
to talk about some stuff.
Yeah, thanks, wes Thanks forhaving me so last week big, big
week for soccer and theMarshallese community in
(01:52):
Northwest Arkansas in particular.
Big week for soccer in general,but especially for those people
.
So remind people what wasOutrigger Challenge Cup and give
people a quick overview of whatit was.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Yeah, outrigger tournament kind of put together
by kind of Lloyd and the RMIFederation to you know, have
these first ever internationalmatches for the Marshall Islands
played.
Super cool.
That Springdale was kind of thespot for this because for me
growing up in Northwest Arkansasyou know I'm from Siloam I
would have never imagined justto see, you know, international
(02:25):
soccer being played here.
And to Arkansas, you know I'mfrom Siloam I would have never
imagined just to see, you know,international soccer being
played here and to see you knowwhat was it like?
Five or six internationalmatches here.
You know we were able to take apart in a closed door scrimmage
as well with the 19s.
It was awesome and it was, youknow, something that I saw,
especially that opening game,that opening night.
Like so many people were there.
It was awesome atmosphere.
It just makes me super hopefulof like what else is to come
(02:45):
from an event like that and justthe buzz around, like you said,
soccer in general in NorthArkansas.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
So who are the teams that we had here, remind
everybody?
So we obviously had theMarshall Islands who were the
host kind of organizers of thetournament.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Yeah, we had the Marshall Islands, which it was
cool that they kind of formedthis team and were able to
compete.
I saw a lot of proudMarshallese people in the
community.
We had the Turks and CaicosSenior Men's National Team and
then the US Virgin IslandsSenior Men's National Team, and
we were fortunate enough to haveour 19s get offered a spot to
play in the tournament as well,so our under 19s are able to
(03:20):
play in some games.
They played against the Turksand Caicos national team, USVI
national team and then we playedthe closed-door scrimmage with
the Marshall Islands.
So good atmosphere yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah, so to remind everybody, Guam was supposed to
come.
They had a scheduled conflictand maybe a month or two to go
kind of had to back out and wewere asked if we could fill a
spot.
That way we could get moregames for these teams.
And what a cool opportunity itwas for those boys in the U19.
Speaker 3 (03:49):
Yeah, I mean not last minute addition.
And again, for some of theseboys, when would they have ever
gotten that experience To playFIFA, international football,
against professional playersthat are doing it?
That's so cool, that's so huge.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
These were not their B-squads, no, these are first
team men's national, like grownmen, national team FIFA
recognized FIFA nations.
Some of these players areprofessionals.
I mean, almost all of them areprofessionals.
Yeah, almost all of them.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Yeah, I know, talking to some of their coaches, they
did not bring in like anotheryouth level team, Like they
brought in their guys.
And I think it was cool likeseeing USVI kind of win the
tournament, Like they werecelebrating because it did mean
something to them.
You know.
Oh yeah, it was a hugetournament to them.
So I think it was cool to kindof number one again have that
(04:41):
here, but also like have ourguys compete in it and so they
can see what the level lookslike, especially as we kind of
hopefully in the next couple ofyears transition into a
professional academy.
Like, hey, this is the standardand this is a level.
And again, that opening day,like all of our academies were
there and the kids from the U13sto the U17s saw the U19s
represent, and it was awesome toget them to start making those
(05:03):
little connections in theirbrain of like, hey, this is the
standard once you get there.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, and I mean the level in the matches was so good
, it was so cool, it was awesome.
There were some big boychallenges thrown as well.
Too Well, there were some bigboy challenges.
Speaker 3 (05:19):
There was some big boy banter.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
And the guys needed to step up to the moment and
they did.
You know, they, they had, theyled in both games with which was
one men's national teams likeand it's not like, oh we, you
know they got an own goal, orthey scored a fluke goal, like
we earned the pks that we got,and then why it was able to
score an incredible goal,akulele's.
(05:42):
Akulele has been able to scoresome incredible goals as well
and it's, it was awesome to kindof lead.
But then you know, from acoaching perspective, then you
see, like that maturity aspectof it, right, these guys, again,
they're men and they've beendoing it for a while.
This is their career.
They're able to kind of bringthe game back and then take the
lead and win it, whether it wasin PKs, like or you know, kind
of a what was it like twominutes left when the SVI took
(06:04):
the lead, and then obviously wewent on to try to get the
equalizer, send everyone up andthey scored the fourth.
So, again, all learning momentsthat are huge, where me now
shifting gears, being a divisionone coach before this.
Like, players don't learn thoselessons until they either get
minutes their freshman year ofcollege or, you know, later down
the line, once you're asophomore and junior, then you
(06:28):
get that experience.
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Experience like now they have it going into their
senior year of high school.
You know, yeah, yeah, andthat's so cool.
So I mean you started talkingabout those coaching moments in
those little moments.
So let's kind of break downeach game.
Uh, that the u19s played, uh,let's start with.
You know, we'll go in order, so.
So we played first Turks andCaicos on Thursday night and
just kind of walk everybodythrough.
What was the result?
(06:49):
What did you see?
Like I know Dean and Scott weremore like the on field coaches,
right, but like I think thatthat actually gives you a cool
perspective to have been able tojust like sit back and watch,
yeah Right, and and truly absorband and kind of analyze the
game a little bit.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
So from your perspective, yeah, it was funny
because I I told my wife I waslike man, I'm gonna, I'm gonna
try to sit in the stands, I justwant to watch.
And sure enough, I found my wayon the bench and, and you know
I was, I was getting into thebanter and getting up and
yelling and coaching.
I just couldn't help myself.
But, um, it was cool to seekind of dean obviously is a
really a really successful coach.
Obviously, I know he's going todo incredible things at NYC.
(07:26):
He's already doing incrediblethings for the 19s.
He's having them play in the3-5-2, which is different for
most of these kids.
Right, they grew up playing afour-back system, whether it's
4-3-3 or some formation, and afour in the back.
So it was cool to see them kindof start to make those
connections.
But to make those connections.
But you know, like you said,when we came out we didn't know
I was part of those pregametalks with Dean and Scott and we
(07:48):
didn't know we were just likehey, go in, go compete.
You know we were kind of likethis has never happened before,
right, this has never happenedhere.
These Arkansas kids have neverseen this.
Like what do we do?
And we ended up taking the lead.
Know, wyatt Marksbury,incredible run down the line,
gets a PK, calls for us, andthen you know Akalele Campbell's
, just you know he's a finisherand he's able to find the net
(08:10):
anywhere he is and he was ableto convert a PK.
The game keeps going on andsame thing, wyatt Marksbury just
gets a wide, you know breakawayand able to finish it.
You know he does it in highschool all the time, he does it
in club all the time.
And now he's like boom, easytransition to international
stage.
You know, yeah, um, and as thegame kind of carried on, this is
where, like the inexperience ofthese boys coming kicks in it's
(08:31):
we're leading 2-0.
They're not pressing us.
Okay, cool, and you know I'mgonna sit on the ball and chill
and relax, but they're stillwanting to go, go, go.
Because again for them it'slike oh man, we're leading,
let's go get more, let's go getmore.
And it we talked to them athalftime and it was, it was
understandable for them to kindof want that, but they had to
like start to understand.
Now it's like, at this levelit's about what do you need to
(08:52):
do to win the game?
You know, like being smart,being savvy.
You know we all, we all see,like when maria was at chelsea,
and you know you would wastesome time every now and then and
the ball boys won't give theball like those are all parts of
the game, right, like theseguys have to understand that.
And I think, as the game went on, turks and cacos was good about
being, you know, a senior men'snational team and chipping at
(09:13):
what we were trying to do andbuilding out of the back and
everything.
We made some young mistakes andtie it.
And then we were lucky enoughto once turks and cacos took the
lead, to again get another PKcall tied.
It was awesome to see once wescored that PK.
All of our OZFC Academy, all ofour fans, the hell benders were
there and just everyonecheering the guys on the
(09:33):
sideline.
They went over and celebratedwith them.
This is super cool.
And then you know we we tookTurks and Caicos to PKs and just
unlucky, you know when, justunlucky.
You know, when our playersslipped on the PK.
The turf monster got them.
Yeah, the turf monster got them.
And you know we told the guyslike it's nothing to be upset
about.
You know, be proud.
Yeah, one unlucky event keptyou from winning this game and
(09:54):
that's part of the game.
So they were super upbeat.
After the game we were excitedto kind of see what was going to
happen on Saturday.
But as we transition now toUSVI, that was a hot game.
That was very hot.
That was one of the hottestgames I think I've ever been a
part of in my coaching career.
(10:15):
So kudos to both teams and,honestly, marshall Islands and
Turks playing before us, becausethat was incredible.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
We didn't know how they were going to come out.
Typically there's always aslump on a second game like that
.
But again the boys responded,incredibly, we were leading 2-0.
And I think we were leading 2-0.
And then we kept it tied untillike the 88th, 86th minute,
something like that.
(10:43):
Man, that game to me reminded meof a Division I game because of
the physicality, the banter,the reffing wasn't the best.
But that's neither here northere.
But it was an opportunity forthe guys to see.
You know, a challenge like that, like where are you going to
see a challenge like thatplaying in normal club football,
normal high school soccer?
Like you're not right.
(11:03):
And then again, inexperience,they sent two out to the corner.
We only sent one.
They were able to takeadvantage of that, scored a
beautiful goal.
You know, just kind of took asmall touch, bent it back post
and then, like I said earlier,we pushed all our numbers up
trying to get the equalizer andthey were able to counter and
get a fourth.
Yeah, but I think for me thatthe USVI game it was so
(11:24):
important for them to seebecause they were like man,
these real men are talking crapto us and they're coming in so
hard.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Dude, there were some major collisions in that game.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
And they were arguing too, like USVI was like in our
face arguing, yelling, and ourguys were like, oh crap, what do
I do?
You know?
Like it can be intimidating,yeah, yeah.
And then afterwards we allchicaned and we were fine and
that's just part of the game.
Yeah, you know, it's just partof the game.
Speaker 2 (11:54):
So yeah For somebody that, yeah, I mean we only have
two, there's only like like verysmall, like the majority of
them are still in high school,yeah, and to be in that type of
an environment in a match, likethat's a what like we keep
(12:17):
saying it, but like what anexperience.
And I mean, like I'm notkidding guys Like I've watched a
lot of soccer and there was onein particular, I think it was
on Geo at the back.
Oh yeah, like where they scoredtheir first goal.
That should have been called afoul, but you know, whatever
Things happen, right, yeah, yougot flipped upside down.
Oh my God, like bodies are justdoing horizontal, flat spin
(12:39):
360s in the air from thecollision, you know, and just
absolutely pounded.
Like it was a physical, tough,like hot.
Yeah, match of football, likeit was.
Speaker 3 (12:55):
It was incredible, it was an incredible experience
for those boys yeah, yeah and,and the cool thing is obviously
they had that experience andthen getting ready for two
college games.
You know, yeah, play a collegeon wednesday and then they're
going to play another college onsaturday and it's like man,
what better way to get thisexperience before our mls next
season than playing againstnumber one older players?
(13:15):
But I think the biggest thingis like players that are more
experienced, that are maybegoing to take advantage of some
of the things that you hadn'treally thought about playing
high school and playing clubsoccer.
Now they're starting tounderstand that and that's our
goal.
With talking to Dean and Scott,it's like how can we prepare
these guys for the next level?
Obviously, everyone that I talkto.
It's like what are ourambitions with the academy?
It's like, obviously these guysare unlucky or they're gonna be
(13:36):
gone by the time the pro teamcomes.
But it's like, do we get themready for college to continue to
succeed beyond that?
You know, once they graduate oreven before then, if they're an
option for the first team suite, or even, you know, maybe they
sign an academy contract andthey're with us over the summer.
(13:57):
We never know.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
But our job is to prepare these guys for when that
time comes yeah, for whateverthat, whatever that next level
is for them, whether it'scollege, whether it's if somehow
we get our first team goinglike great, or somehow there's
another academy somewhere yeah,exactly, fantastic.
We're not the only professionalsoccer team in America Right, or
other places Right Like there's.
You know, I know a couple ofour, or one of our players at
(14:21):
least, over the summer had atrial over in Spain in like the
second division or somethinglike that.
So it's just about preppingthem for that next level and
helping them on a pathway and ajourney.
So you know, I do, before wejump into that's a good segue
into kind of MLS Next programand we'll dive in.
But I do just want to take aquick moment and celebrate the
(14:44):
Marshallese community and theMarshall Islands team, because
this was I can't overstate whata moment this has, this was and
what it did for this team andthose players and the fans and
the community.
I mean it was so cool to seethe amount of folks Marshallese,
(15:08):
nwa, but it's like there werepeople from all over the world
that traveled in to support theMarshall Islands.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
I mean the Men in.
Blazers did a segment on it,Men in.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Blazers did a segment on it, like they did some
social media.
There's continuation of that,like they were in the newsletter
, like this is a massive deal.
Speaker 3 (15:27):
Yeah, it was funny because, like I would say, I was
doing what everyone does and Iwas doing scrolling.
Yeah, like some big soccerinfluencers were also talking
about it, you know, and I waslike, man, this is so cool that
it is, it's a, it's a super hugething, or like it's such an
underrepresented community andlike the global stage and
athletics, and now they're ableto have this and not only that,
man, they competed like it's notlike they got killed.
(15:49):
No, it's not like they're losing14-0, like they competed and
they like.
For me, I was like man, I beingfrom north of sargent, so I was
proud of them.
I can only imagine like beingfrom the marshall islands and
saying your national teamaccomplished this, being first
time ever, and then also likedoing well, yeah I mean nil for
the usvi, but that I mean theywere usvi by far and away.
Speaker 2 (16:10):
It was like the best team in the tournament.
They deserve to win.
Um, turks and cagos is no slaps.
Let me like just be like veryclear.
But you know, if I had to givean edge, it was probably the
usvi.
Yeah, uh, but so nil four, butlike that it could have been
well, you know and here's thething everybody's like dean was
a part of their staff as well.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
Yeah, yeah, and they tried to play.
Like you could have easily like, hey, we're going to sit in the
back and just try to hope forsomething, but no, they tried to
play, they hit the post.
Yeah, good for them.
They wanted to play some propersoccer and they did.
And I think on Saturday we sawkind of the benefits of that
because, well, it was tied right.
I got there later.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I got there later but I don't know that it was ever
tied.
But they did come back and theyscored their first ever goals.
Yeah, like people again wecan't overstate for having never
, ever played an 11 v 11 matchand you're going up against
senior national teams Half,almost half of the Marshall
(17:12):
Islands team had never playedeven 11 v 11 in an official
match, like they were futsalplayers.
They were futsal players, yeah,which is just bonkers, like
that's wild.
And so to have scored from therun of play on their first goal
was just nuts.
And then to have done the workto to get a p to kind of bring
(17:34):
it back and close to three, twoand you know there was a
questionable, you know couldhave gone either way, Like PK
call at the end where you couldhave even tied, like are you
serious?
So it's just, it was sounbelievably cool for me as a
soccer fan and just fan of ourcommunity to have witnessed that
and be a part of that and like,say you were there.
Yeah, like I can't think ofhearing about or whatever
(17:58):
reading a internet, a nation'sfirst ever, you know, official
soccer match, 11 B 11.
And we were here for that.
Then we witnessed it.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
I mean there's not.
There's not very many.
There's not very many wherethey can say, hey, you're going
to be a part of their first eversoccer team.
There's not very many wherethey can say, hey, you're going
to be a part of their first eversoccer team.
Speaker 2 (18:12):
There's not many, if any, and I mean Marshall Islands
is yeah, and so I mean just allthe way around USVI, turks and
Caicos, marshall Islands, theU19s for OZFC, every single one
of them coming in, competing,doing so well, representing
their countries and their teamsand their communities, heads
held high Like it was such acool event to have here in
(18:35):
Northwest Arkansas.
It was unreal that this washappening and hopefully, and the
intent, I know, is to make thisan annual thing and I just, I
only hope it gets bigger.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yeah so.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
Yeah, even if obviously we're not in it
anymore, like it's gonna beawesome, like we're gonna tell
our kids to continue to go andsupport and be a part of this
Cause.
It's so, it's so awesome tohave this here.
I mean, it's, it's like thegold cup, it's like Copa America
.
You know, like this is a.
This is an internationaltournament.
You know it's like that's here,that's here in Northwest
Arkansas.
You know, in Springdale highschool.
(19:06):
Like who would have thought ofthat?
Speaker 2 (19:13):
You.
So again, just major shout outto the Marshallese community and
the Marshall Island SoccerFederation and all the work that
they've done to get to thatpoint.
Just a massive congratulations,huge.
So moving on to MLS, nextprogram and the U13s, all the
way to the U19s, you guys havedone a ton of work to start this
program, hold evals, starttraining and start doing
(19:36):
schedules and, like startorganizing friendlies.
Like talk everybody through,let's take a step back.
We haven't really.
You know, we talked about itbefore eval started.
Yeah, a lot has happened sincethen.
So walk people through, likelet's go back to evals.
What was that like?
We had insane turnout.
Just talk a little bit aboutthat.
Speaker 3 (19:57):
Yeah, it was awesome to see.
I think I sent you the numbersthe other day.
I think we had about 100 kidsper team, per age group, come
out to tryouts.
Obviously I'm kind of from here, but now I left and I'm
stepping back into the space soI don't know any of the kids.
But from talking to the coachesthat were there helping us, it
was like man, this was like thewho's who in our area and not
(20:20):
just that.
But I mean I think we had likefive or six different states,
you know, kids at tryouts,whether it was they were
planning on commuting or movinghere for work or they just heard
about it.
You know I saw two Memphis kidson there.
You know I was coming fromMemphis and I saw two Memphis
kids on our registration andthey were there.
So it was cool to see.
It was crazy, it was hectic.
I, you know, did everythingthat we could to kind of make
(20:43):
sure we were giving them theopportunity to eval in front of
us.
It was a two day thing and youknow we're hoping that we can
kind of make that a little biteasier and identify maybe some
talent a little bit earliergoing into next year's, but it
was awesome to see all thetalent there.
Um, I think we had probablyabout eight coaches within each
age group.
Help us, kind of like, sort itout.
This is who we, you know, thisis who we think, this is who we
(21:03):
think, and then we kind of movethem around to kind of help them
, have them play with each other, and then our mls next coaches,
you know, pick, pick theirteams from what they saw, what
they needed.
But after that, once we'veselected our teams, obviously I
respect my coaches too.
They had stuff coming on, theyhad vacations or whatever.
I was leading kind of sometrainings with them in the
(21:24):
morning super early, before itgot crazy hot throughout the
summer.
And to say that the levelsurprised me would be an
understatement, because I waslike, oh, it's've known it.
I've seen, obviously, mls.
Next I've seen high level ecls,but like, the way that these
kids play surprised me becausewe have some ballers in
northwest arkansas that aretechie, that are athletic, that
(21:47):
understand the game at a highlevel, and now it's been super
cool to see them all on the sameteam where every other every
other year they've been, youknow, opponents, whether it's
opposing high schools oropposing clubs, like they've
always played against each otherand now they're in the same
space, getting, you know,trainings at a high level,
competing against each other.
We keep talking about likethese hard tackles at these
(22:08):
games, like we see them intraining, you know, like hard
tackles that are trying to makeeach other better.
And it's been, it's beenawesome to see but that was kind
of our summer it's like in themeeting sessions getting a
better picture of all theplayers, building relationships
with the parents, with them,kind of building the stress
Cause.
At the end of the day, we'rewe're a brand new club, you know
(22:34):
.
You know that they need tobenefit.
You know it's not, it's notjust our way.
You know there's not just oneway to get there.
Like, if you need privatetraining, there's private
training.
If you need, you know, adifferent club, then there's a
different club.
You know, cause that was someof the conversations during
child's as well, as like, oh, wedon't know, if it's a good fit,
(22:56):
then cool.
You know this isn't foreveryone.
What we're trying to do isn'tfor everyone, it's for a
specific, unique need inNorthwest Arkansas that everyone
knows is needed.
Mls Next is needed in NorthwestArkansas because it's hard to
find high level games, and nowwe're in a division and a
conference where we'reguaranteed 50% home games, you
know.
So we're not having to traveleverywhere and be crazy and
spend all this money.
It's hey, 50 of our time isgoing to be at home, which is
(23:17):
awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Yeah, I think that's so cool too and and I do you hit
on something I want to justreiterate and kind of talk about
it.
There's kids from everywhere.
There's kids from everywhere,not just the tryouts, but also
like that made the team go.
Yeah, like we we talked abouton our united teens alone, there
(23:39):
were, there are not, were are12 high schools represented on a
roster that's just over 20.
Yeah, I think we're like too.
Yeah, that's nuts, it's trulyrepresentative.
Like this is like yeah, you mayhave one team or age group that
(24:00):
over indexes from a certainclub.
Like guys, we have players from.
We had players from over 24clubs, and I'm including wreck
in that yeah yeah, uh, thattried out and sick over six.
I think it's 16 clubsrepresented in actual rosters.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
That's incredible yeah, and then you could you
talk about right, we had someplayers that had never played
club soccer, that made teams.
Yeah, you know that.
That were just so cool, by theway.
Yeah, you know that they cameout and they just killed it.
You know they killed it againstthese kids that had been
playing club their whole life orwhatever.
And, man, this is what this is.
You know, let's, let's go findthese kids that you know need
(24:39):
this and having it.
Speaker 2 (24:40):
Yeah, provide the pathway and the opportunity.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Provide the pathway right you keep talking about it
provide that opportunity forthem, and obviously with that,
we we have scholarships andthings like that that that make
this affordable for everyone.
But it was, it was so cool tosee that because for me, that
was me.
I grew up playing rec, you know, and then I went on to play
college soccer and then now, youknow, I went in and coached
division one.
But it was like I would havenever imagined something like
(25:02):
this being in the area, whereit's like high level training,
high level environment foreveryone.
You know, it's not just who canafford it, it's for everyone,
for everyone.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Absolutely so.
We have gotten into some.
You know we did the optionaltrainings which almost everybody
showed up if they, it justshows the commitment and how
hungry these players are.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Yeah, I was like, yeah, let me do this, I'll think
I'll have like 15, you know,guys, it'll be easy, and there's
days I had 40, 45.
I was like holy crap, I wrote asession.
But it was awesome.
It was good to see them becommitted because again, they
want this, you know.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
And now we're starting to get into some
friendlies, yeah, and so talk alittle bit about like the
process of kind of pre-seasonand you know what you guys are
doing, feeling looking forseason upcoming with our first
season at MLS Next.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
Yeah, we have some friendlies coming up.
The U19s and U17s both havefriendlies against some
universities coming up, whichwill be good, obviously, with
the U17s it's cool becausetypically you don't see a
college friendly until yoursenior year.
And then me talking to mycollege buddies sometimes that's
too late.
It's too late for them to getthat experience and get that
exposure or even thatrecruitability.
(26:15):
For our younger age groups itwas super cool because the
Heartland, which is the MLS NextConference just north of us,
they were like hey, we want tohost something where we play
against you guys, you guys playagainst me.
So we're coming together onthis Saturday the 23rd to kind
of play that.
So we're going together on thisSaturday the 23rd to kind of
play that.
So we're going to get some goodgames against that.
And then our 16s and 15s you'retalking to different local clubs
(26:38):
and ECNL teams to kind of getthese scrimmages in either
during the week, during trainingtimes, or on Saturdays.
I know they're going down toLittle Rock.
The 15s are on Saturday.
Shout out, little Rock.
He used to coach for theRangers, so, um, it's cool to
have that connection there.
But again, we just want to getsome some good competition.
It's a high level competitionbefore we transition into our
(26:59):
mls next regular season start ofseptember awesome.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
So who are some of the teams that are in our
conference?
Uh, again, mls, next secondtier or new competition tier,
have they officially announced?
Uh, the, can we say it?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
We can say it because I've seen it everywhere.
Mls Next hasn't made a postabout it, but they have
transitioned to two divisionsthe homegrown division and the
academy division.
Homegrown is the MLS academiesand some of the blue chips in
MLS Next, and then the academydivision is kind of the way that
I step into these meetings withMLS Next.
(27:35):
It's kind of what we talk about.
They want to make soccer foreveryone, so they want to make
MLS Next for everyone.
So they've branched out to aton of different clubs like us
that are new into this space orthat may be in some different
regions that are tough to gethigh level games.
We have a long list oftechnical standards that we have
to maintain and keep in orderto keep our MLS next standing.
(27:57):
But for us, teams that are inour conference, it's Tulsa,
oklahoma City, dallas teams,austin teams, houston teams and
then there's a team in BatonRouge.
So it's kind of regional, butstill there's some travel to our
scheduling.
(28:19):
The MLS is going to have aregional tournament between us
and, again, the conference justnorth of us.
That's sometime in our regularseason.
They haven't announced datesyet.
What's been super cool to hearthem kind of speak about their
reason for the academy divisionis with the younger age groups.
They want to really emphasizethe recruiting aspect of it for
MLS academies.
So they're going to do an eventColumbus Day weekend in some
(28:41):
MLS facility and they're goingto invite 50 players from each
age group to come to those kindof a combine.
So it depends how well you doas these scouts come to our
academy division games.
But also they're working ondifferent ways for the players
to record themselves doingdifferent drills, send that to a
specific app that they want usto download and then from there,
(29:04):
seeing how we've been training,we're hopeful that we'll be
able to form really competitiveteams within this new division
as well.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
That's awesome.
Actual season starts inSeptember, is you know?
I know that we are going tohave, you know, a good amount of
games and we will post thegames.
I promise there are Kevin canattest there's things that get
moved and shifted and so we justwe want to feel like we have
(29:45):
things in a good spot before wepost out what the schedule is
going to be.
But we will make sure and shoutloud and proud and post about
when and where games are goingto be here in NWA, but it should
be that first weekend inSeptember, I think.
Speaker 3 (30:01):
September 6th is our first game.
The month of September we'rehome.
The month of October we're away.
And then the rest of theNovember, december, we're home.
So cool.
So again, 50, 50, awesome theway they did it.
We have a couple games injanuary as well, but again, for
me it's like everything I'veheard is like man, it's so hard
to find good games, you're gonnahave to travel everywhere all
this, and then here we are just50.
(30:23):
You know it's super cool.
Um, the first games are gonna beright now.
I can say that they're gonna beSiloam.
We just want to make this kindof more accessible to everyone
to come watch MLS.
Next, siloam Springs FC and theSiloam Springs Chamber of
Commerce have been awesome aboutkind of letting us use their
facilities, letting us use theirfield space, so we'll spend
that weekend over there.
(30:43):
That's also the weekend we'replaying the Oklahoma teams, so
we kind of wanted to, you know,give them, throw them a bone a
little bit and make it a littlebit easier travel for them.
They're looking at doing thesame for us, whether it's just
outside of Tulsa or maybe alittle bit outside of Oklahoma
City, for us to not have totravel as far, but they're going
to be at Sager Creek, rightbehind Silent Springs High
School, and then we're lookingat maybe using Silent Springs
(31:06):
High School Stadium for some ofthe games as well.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
That's super cool.
So any kind of.
I guess it would vary by coachor team and just where they're
at, as well as age group, right.
But if you could kind of breakdown for everybody what you guys
are thinking about like goalsfor the season and I know that
that is a very open-ended andcrazy rabbit hole question, or
(31:32):
could be, yeah, but talk alittle bit about that as your
guys are going into the firstseason like, what are you guys
talking about as coaches?
Like, what does success looklike?
Speaker 3 (31:39):
Success looks like?
I can tell you right now, forprobably the three oldest age
groups, it's we want to win.
You know, we're at that pointin their careers.
Where can we compete?
Can we win?
You know, yes, we want tocontinue to develop them.
Yes, we want them to get betterat the game and stuff.
But can we go into these games?
Can we compete?
You know, we feel like with thethree oldest age groups, we're
in a good position to.
(32:00):
You know, compete within MLS.
Next, again, with the playersthat have come, that have joined
us, and everything With thethree younger age groups,
everything with the threeyounger age groups.
Our, our main goal is thedevelopment side.
When we talk goals, it's whatexposure can we get these
players?
Obviously we're not.
You know, we're not sellingthem a dream of like oh, if you
play for us, we're going to sendyou to an mls academy.
(32:20):
That's not what we're doing,but we want to give them that
exposure.
You know, we want you guys tounderstand, as a u13, u1415,
this is the pathway, this iswhat you need to do.
These are the steps.
Speaker 2 (32:35):
These are the standards, this is the level.
Speaker 3 (32:37):
Yeah, exactly this is what it's like this is what it
looks like.
You know, it was funny.
My 14s had a game on Saturdayand I made a scout on the
opponent and they were like Isent it to them and they were
like they've never seen itbefore.
What is this?
What do you mean?
I need to know what theirkickoff routine looks like.
They have a kickoff routine andI was like, yeah, these are the
(32:58):
things we need to talk aboutand understand.
So for them, it's like how canwe prepare them for what's next?
Whether it is, for us, it'slike it could be a tier one, mls
Next, that's not an MLSaffiliate, or it could be an MLS
Academy.
We want to bring those playersand promote them as much as
possible in that space and Ithink our goal is like, hey, can
(33:21):
we just start thoseconversations?
Whether it's with Kansas City,atlanta United, nashville, of
one or two of our players, forus that's a successful fall.
That's a successful fall.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
You know that's a successful season.
That's our goal right now.
No, it's so cool.
Um, it is building pathways,providing opportunities.
That's it, man.
That's all we're here to try todo elevate the game, grow the
game, build pathways, provideopportunities.
Yeah, so I just, um, I'm reallyexcited.
I'm super excited for how thescheduling turned out, because I
know that, like there was a lotof questions in the air with
that.
(33:52):
It could have been.
There was some talk about someneutral site game like that's.
But I'm at least, knock on wood, like excited for at least how
it's starting to look to shakeout, which is really really cool
and fun for the community,families, fans, and I can't wait
to be out at the first homematch weekend.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yeah, yeah, it's going to be.
It's going to be awesome againthat for us it's it's a little
rivalry with Tulsa, so I thinkit's going to be awesome to kind
of finally see those teams playeach other.
You know, like obviously weknow the staff over there, they
know us, they know our guys, weknow their guys like super cool
First weekend.
And obviously we work reallywell with the guys over there as
(34:32):
well, and I'm from Siloam, sowhat better way to start?
Speaker 2 (34:34):
than that, absolutely Well, kevin, thank you so much
for joining me today.
Man, I really appreciate yourinsights, and thanks again for
everything that you're doing andhelping to everything that we
said Grow the game, elevate thegame, provide that, provide that
pathway, help, you know,elevate the coaching experience
(34:57):
and, and you know, in our inNorthwest Arkansas, uh, and for
everything that you did in helpfor Outburger Cup, uh, and
everything that went down therethat was so cool, uh, again to
see and be a part of.
Speaker 3 (35:05):
Yeah, yeah, I mean shout out to my staff.
You know those guys um ThomasChristian Wayne, tj Scott Dean.
You know those guys um thomaschristian wayne, tj scott dean.
You know julio, like everyonethat was out there, um put it in
on a shift.
You know, like casey was outthere on saturday trying to
cover for people around.
Like it was super cool for meto see of like we talk about
(35:25):
unifying and everything and likethe players need to support
each other, but, like my staff,super awesome about supporting
each other that was the otherthing too.
Speaker 2 (35:32):
Real quick, like I, I will.
Also.
I want to give a shout out tothe staff, uh, coaching staff at
ozfc.
Guys, there was like seven oreight, nine coaches on the bench
.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
At one point we were all on the roster but they were
all just like man, I want tohelp, how do, how do I help?
How do I help?
So Dean had some different guys, had different jobs, whether it
was like set pieces or whatever.
Like you know, lead warmups,you know like which?
Speaker 2 (35:57):
was so cool.
Yeah, like super easy, rightFor coaches to just be like, oh,
I'm going to bring my team andsupport and like that would have
been a check the box and greatyeah.
But no, it's like it just tellsme how excited you know and
ready people are to just jump inheadfirst and like how can I
help?
Where can I go?
Speaker 3 (36:16):
Well, exactly Like that's all I heard from the
coaches this week with Al Reager.
It's like what do you need, howcan I help and what do you need
?
And I was like, dude, sweet,like that's what our players
need to do on the field now,yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, exactly
so.
Speaker 2 (36:30):
Anyway, just a massive shout out to everybody
OZFC, marshall Islands, usvi,turks and Caicos, springdale
High School.
Big shout out, like massive forhosting Mount Sequoia.
Anybody else that was involved,that I'm forgetting like
incredible, incredible week.
So I'm just super fortunate tohave been able to be a part of
(36:51):
it and be here in some small way.
So that'll do it for thisepisode of Pitch the Pro.
We hope you enjoyed it.
Be sure to catch all of ourepisodes on PitchTheProcom or
look for Pitch the Pro onYouTube, spotify, Apple,
wherever you get your podcasts,for more content Until next time
.
Cheers, northwest Arkansas.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Pitch to
Pro podcast.
Be sure to tune in again in twoweeks for the next installment
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, northwestArkansas cheers.
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