Skip Gilbert On U.S. Youth Soccer, Specialization and Development

In this episode Greg sits down with Skip Gilbert, CEO of U.S. Youth Soccer. The pair discuss the culture of soccer in America (8:23), negative effects of specialization (18:40) and the importance of coaching in youth development (35:43).

Greg also answers listener questions (50:20).

Rate, review, subscribe and submit your questions on social @YouthInc.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Why would they not make it smaller and less running?

(00:03):
Less space, more ball touches more passing, more Street.
Like, am I crazy? Uh that sounds a little off.
What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode
on. You think presented by Audio
Rama. All right, this is the week.

(00:24):
We've been talking about our PopWarner run to the championship,
which could ultimately lead us to Florida, which is a crazy
thought to be playing football. 11 year old football in Florida
in December. But here we are.
This is game week. We had a bilateral Last week
following the city Championship.So we are getting ready to play
A team out of Raleigh. Who's very good very well

(00:45):
coached, they won the championship last year.
I don't think they've lost. They have like, five of their
age groups representing their respective leagues and regions
or whatever in the regional state championship.
So, we have our work cut out forus, but it's been an awesome
year. We're practicing will be back at
it. Three times this week, we'll
practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, give the kids off

(01:07):
Friday and then Saturday morning9:00.
We hit it. So we are, we're excited.
We're anxious to see how it works out.
But all we can do is have a great week of practice, have a
good plan, get the kids confident, ready to rock, and we
will give it our best shot. But either way, it's been it's
been an unbelievable season. The growth and development of
these kids has been incredible. So we're we're really fired up

(01:29):
and going to go, give this thing's a rip, my daughter is in
the middle of her soccer playoffs so that's been fun.
I told you guys before her Her coach.
There were two coaches, they do a great job.
They've had these group of girlsnow for a couple years and to
see the progress that they've made.
They do a great job, her love ofsoccer.

(01:49):
And interest in soccer, is a growing by the day.
So that's been pretty cool to towatch.
So, our fall Seasons here are kind of all coming to an end and
we're going to roll right into basketball in the winter.
So no rest for the weary, but along those lines of my daughter
playing soccer. Today's guest is Skip Gilbert
former soccer player and his Right?
But he's currently the CEO of u.s.

(02:11):
Youth Soccer. It's actually the largest Sports
organization in the entire country.
Talk to him about the growth of the game here.
Comparing it to maybe some of the other more prominent
countries with the World Cup coming up and and obviously
soccer is going to be on the international kind of pay stage
so it was really cool to get hisperspective on how soccer has

(02:33):
continued to grow the Grassrootslevels with the kids.
You know the professional leagues that are popping up both
male and And female. So that's been it was a really
fun conversation. I think it was really
informative. I think he really speaks to a
lot of our listeners who were trying to navigate you know,
Youth Sports at the at the youngest level.
So what better person than then Skip and his team at u.s. youth

(02:54):
soccer. So I hope you guys enjoy this
conversation with the CEO of u.s.
Youth Soccer. Skip Gilbert.
Skip, thank you so much for joining us today on you, think?
Well, thank you Greg, preciate. It lowers love to talk about
soccer. I bet.
Well, I got a lot. I got a lot of questions for.
I told you before we started, I got a daughter, she's 10, so we

(03:17):
are just revving up her. Soccer, she's played for a few
years, but I've gotten, I don't have any soccer background.
I didn't play it, none of my family members played it, so,
I'm learning it. Now through my daughter, I have
to say, I really enjoy it, but we're going to get into that
here in a little bit. First just want to start with
with you in a little bit of yourjourney on how you got to be
with us. You soccer and some of your

(03:39):
experiences as a professional and playing soccer and just kind
of your your career and life in soccer that has led you now to
running as we said, the largest Youth Organization in the entire
country. Sure they'll my background
started on the field, played soccer right up through high
school college. The old nasl, little bit of time

(03:59):
with the national team and then Finally, that was back when
soccer really wasn't anywhere near as big as it is today.
And so when the nasl folded, it was, let's get a real job.
So I went into sports, publishing work for the sporting
news, tennis magazine, and then got onto the property side and
fell into the Olympic movement. So, and I've been fortunate to

(04:22):
have time with USA, swimming, USA, Triathlon, US soccer
actually outside the Olympic movement in a world that
parallels you The arena footballleague and then eventually found
my home but here at u.s. youth. Well you're back.
I'm sure what's been your true passion your whole life which is
obviously soccer and you've had a chance with the with the US

(04:44):
team. As you mentioned to travel all
over the world what was your favorite place that you got to
experience soccer? Like, what country do you think
we're going to dive into a lot of how the u.s. does it?
And the growth in the progress we've made?
But like in all your travels, what country does it right?
Like who does it the best? Oh good question, you know, the
time I spent in England, you know, I mean, how can you go

(05:07):
wrong there? That is there sport?
I spent some time with SheffieldUnited, which is, well, north of
England and he had Sheffield United.
But then you also had Sheffield Wednesday.
And the city was truly / which team they were going to root
against. And it was interesting is every
Monday morning. You could tell the whether the

(05:29):
team won or lost by the mood of the The city.
It was uncanny and God forbid, you were on one side versus the
other, you know, and again, as Itried to describe it to sort of
the Americans. Well, before now, soccer is
where it is today. You know, I'll use the football
analogy. It's kind of like, growing up in
New York. Are you a Jets or a Giants fan
or, you know, and so how do you,how do you make that difference?

(05:52):
But you know, it really becomes and what England does so, well,
is soccer as part of their culture, it's part of their
lifestyle. And, you know, watching That
unfold from the time kids start playing till the time they're in
the Premier League, they just doit right.
It talk a little bit more about the culture of not only soccer,

(06:12):
but the culture of like soccer fandom I had an opportunity to
play over in Tottenham we went over and played the London game.
Back in 2019, we played in the Tottenham Hotspurs stadium and
obviously we weren't playing soccer but the the environment,
the fans in the stadium like ever might, when we were
playing, It reminded me of watching a soccer game and for

(06:34):
anyone who's watched a football game or watch a soccer game,
it's a very different Fan Experience.
As far as the constant cheering,the noise that like, what is it
about the culture of soccer. Not, you know, not necessarily
just in America but just across the world and what makes it so
unique, you know, I think there was everybody talks about the

(06:54):
beauty of the game, you know? And there's that great Nelson
Mandela quote that talks about how sport connects people you
know. Say it's a language, kids could
understand. And from the very GetGo, all you
need are a pair of shoes and a ball.
You know, you don't even need fields to be able to go out and
play. And so when kids around the
world start playing it, just becomes part of you say how they

(07:19):
express themselves on the field to play that.
There are some players that are just, you know, the Bulldogs
that'll just what run right through you.
But then there are also those that have the Flair, the drama
that, you know, can can Work theball in the magic with their
feet and be able to take it up and down the field of play, you
know? And then there are those that
are sort of the orchestrated leaders that just can see

(07:41):
everything in front of them and can direct where their teammates
need to be. So, regardless of if you've
played for a year or 20 years, you kind of get that sense of
what the game is all about and it becomes part of you so that
you can't get scape it, whether you're out on the field of play
watching from the fans or yelling at your teeth.
He said, you know how the each of those players should be able

(08:05):
to move carry the ball and run off the ball.
So it does become part of your, you know, it becomes part of
your persona. Yeah.
And and I think you mentioned earlier culture, it seems like
there is such a such a unique and distinct culture to the
game. And I want to dive a little into
that right now. If you, right now, the way we're
experiencing soccer in America is very different than even just

(08:28):
10 years ago, let alone, you know, 20, 30 years, Ago, we see
the rise of the nwsl and the women's game.
Of course, our Women's National Team every year on the
international level. You know, with the Olympics and
FIFA is just at a high level, our men's team, now we're all
excited obviously for the World Cup to watch them here in a
couple weeks. Talk a little bit like was there
a Tipping Point where the leaders of the United States you

(08:51):
know, yourself at the Youth Level and then and then beyond
was there, a moment was there a Tipping Point at some time
recently where you guys got together and said, hey we need
to address the culture of soccer.
In America, we need to make it sexier.
We need to make it cool, we needto make it more, you know,
ingrained in the fabric of our culture, like was there a
conscious effort or you just think it's been just with time

(09:12):
and with excitement like anything else.
It's just kind of played a natural course to where we are
today. I'm sure those are in leadership
positions would like to be able to put their hands up and say oh
yeah, that was a conscious decision but the reality it has
to be organic growth. And realistically, I mean again,
back when I played the nasl we played in Football stadiums and

(09:32):
when I played with the rowdies, we played in what?
I guess where they called it, the sombrero, 80,000 people.
And so even if you had a good crowd it was like you were
playing in a scrimmage but what ended up happening is with and
with major league soccer and DonGarber made some really great
moves by forcing, a lot of the teams to create soccer-specific
stadiums. You know, it started in Columbus

(09:54):
with the crew and now almost every team is playing in a
soccer specific stadium and if they're not I mean like Idol.
And they're playing where the Falcons play, but they sell out
every game as well. So, what it does is it enables,
you know, by having a sellout crowd, you get that emotional
fervor. You know, you can really feel

(10:15):
it, you can hear it, you can sense it throughout the stadium.
And then, when you start to put teams in kind of the same
locations, like, you have with Portland and Seattle, and
Vancouver, you create, those, those rivalries, you know, not
necessarily We by Design, but just because it's, it's close in
proximity and that starts to mirror, what you see in Europe,

(10:39):
you know, we get, we get conversations all the time.
Well, you should treat, you should create Player Development
pipelines like we have in Holland or England or Germany.
Well that's great but those countries are the size of
Delaware and so you know for us to be able to do it, we have to
almost americanize it. But the League's have done very
well to be able to create that sense of Passion by Geography by

(11:03):
having teams close together in and number of fans that can get
in. So I think organically, it's
really taken hold, and you bringup an interesting point, because
I see it where I live here in Charlotte.
Just to just this past year, theCharlotte FC MLS expansion team
that we got a couple years ago, just played their inaugural
season, they play it at the Panther Stadium, where the

(11:24):
Carolina Panthers NFL, team plays, they get tremendous
crowds. It is abuzz, they had a really
good year. Considering they were an
expansion team. They like just missed the
playoffs by a gamer, so at the end of the year, like but you
could feel the energy of soccer changed when you mention like,
it has to come organically through the youth soccer scene
here in Charlotte it again in myjust novice experience and

(11:48):
limited exposure to it is growing because there is a
soccer excitement in the air through the professional team.
Is that something that you guys at the Youth Level?
Obviously, you Is that a conscious effort to say, hey,
where? Where we have some of these big
MLS or nwsl franchises, like we can kind of ride their

(12:09):
coattails, a little bit on the youth scene and play off some of
that, some of that excitement. And some of that emotion is that
a fair statement? Very fair.
You know? And again, the aspirational
impact of sport, you know, has to be there, you know?
If you don't as any place as anykid, you know, many kids realize
at a certain age that they're not going to end up playing in

(12:30):
as a professional. Well, they just want to play for
social reasons for fun, you know, to get out and have
exercise, whatever, whatever it might be, but there will be kids
that that clearly get that passion, but they also realize
internally, they have the skillsbut they want to know.
What's the inspiration? Inspirational.
And aspirational elements to be able to fulfill those dreams.

(12:52):
And so having in the United States you have nwsl which is
doing you know incredibly well at this point MLS certainly and
even USL with its both on the And women's side.
Now you have franchises in all different size communities.
So, you know, we spent a lot of time in Colorado Springs when I
was with some of the other end GBS and the switch back.

(13:13):
Now in Colorado, for the USL hasa great following of seven or
eight thousand a game. But again, you get it's such a
tight stadium that you just get that.
Feel whether it's there or whether it's in Charlotte, you
know, it's the same. Yeah, I think that's so true.
Now just take a step back for saying, When comparing we
started by talking about how well they do it over in England

(13:35):
and Germany and some of the European countries but you
brought up a good point. You know, sometimes that what
they're dealing with is not exactly apples-to-apples.
They're not as large. It'll have the same population
size the same issues like looking holistically across the
board at just the game of soccerin America.
Like when you go down the list, like what are the challenges,
like, what are the challenges that you guys face?

(13:56):
Not only at the Youth Level, butall the way up through some of
the developmental pipelines intothe academies.
And then, of course, course intothe professional levels.
Like, what what hurdles do we have here in America that are
unique that maybe they don't have in some of the other
European, you know, Central America, South South, American
countries, that are kind of likethe gold standard especially in

(14:17):
the men's game. The gold standard of
international soccer. Here there are two that are
really easy to talk about one isthe fractionalization.
You know, you have so many different Pathways and the
easiest way to describe it is again, comparing it to football
in football. You have pop warner High School
College Pro in soccer. You could come u.s. youth.

(14:40):
You could have us Club. You triple sa sa yaaay, so it's
an acronym, jungle and kids, if kids have an under hard time,
understanding which pathway can get them to, you know, MLS or
the u.s. national team coaches parents, you know, everybody is
right in the same state of confusion.
So it makes it very competitive.In terms of you get more teams

(15:04):
and coaches out there saying, come play with us and we want to
take teams from the other pipelines to make our lane
Stronger versus let's focus on Player Development or let's
focus on what can we do? The big point is how do we keep
the 11? Twelve year olds that aren't
going to be playing MLS. How do we keep them playing for

(15:24):
the fun of it? Because now they're being
labeled as just wreck players. And and so in one sense, you
know, that's an issue the other.And I've talked about this and
even written about this and withsports Business Journal and
other articles is the pay to play model, you know, in many
Youth Sports of today unless youcome from a certain demographic.

(15:46):
It's very difficult to get scenewhere, you know, Oh, and I
sometimes compare youth sport tothe educational system.
You know, a lot of kids will come up through the public
schools and do extremely well, but you're always going to have
parents that are more than happyto pay for private schools pay
for Ivy League education, you know whatever they can do to get

(16:07):
their kids ahead in sports especially at the Youth Level.
We have private sport but we really don't have a public Lane
which is where England, Germany and all the other countries.
Amid subsidies, you know, most Olympic NG bees are subsidized
by the government in the United States its separate.

(16:28):
They do you need the US? Government does not pour money
into the Olympic movement, nor does it pop or money into the,
you know, the, the youth sport infrastructure.
So that that makes it really challenging when you put those
two pieces together in soccer, why is that is it, is it on
purpose? Is it just philosophy?
Like what do you take as the reason why?

(16:51):
It will take Europe for example.Like, why does Europe approach?
They're not only Olympic sports,but just the Youth Sports
framework, you know, as a government subsidy, a kind of a
government-run organization pipeline versus our approach
here. Is it just cultural?
I think it is. I mean, if you look at that's
the way, it's always been this work really well in Europe.
Again, it's a smaller geography.I mean, again I had said, if you

(17:14):
look at Holland it's the size ofDelaware.
Well, if we had just Delaware Saying and they would most
likely and then they do through their State Association, they
very well could just take you Sport and move in that
direction. But we have, you know, 50 states
and every state has a state Association and so there's a lot

(17:35):
of different components to it most sports in the United States
have sort of a singular path. You know, when I when I was at
USA, swimming if you want to, ifyou want to compete in the
Olympic Games, you came through USA swimming.
Now, I'm you, if you were going Going anywhere else.
If you got to that level and your times were strong enough
eventually you came into the en-gb pathway, u.s. soccer

(17:59):
opened up the pathway years ago primarily, I believe because the
legal challenges but they openedit up and allowed a lot of
different. Sanctioning bodies to have that
pathway. Good bad or indifferent.
It's the scenario that we play Under and, you know, we've able
to manage it, but it's still a challenge and I'd be curious
your take another one of the Andthemes that you hear a lot of

(18:21):
people talk about is just in America.
There are so many other sports that sports are competing with
athletes especially in this world of specialization when
we're asking young kids to choose one sport so early and we
can dive into that a little morelater.
But do you see that as part of the challenge?
Where if, for example, if you'regrowing up in some of these
countries you know you're prettymuch gravitating towards soccer,

(18:43):
you know, tennis yo golf like they have their cultural sports
that their that their kids grow up idolizing their Heroes
whatnot. Not in America.
There's a lot of options now, right?
So everyone's fighting for the same athletes, but they're
playing football. They're playing basketball,
they're playing baseball there now playing lacrosse.
Then of course, there's the individual sports swimming and
golf and you know, so soccer's competing amongst, all those

(19:04):
different is that a factor as far as attracting quote unquote,
the top athletes into the game. Absolutely it certainly, is it
as much as we are. Very proud, a strong proponent
of multi-sport play, you know, again, we want kids up.
Certain age playing as many different sports as you can,
just because the musculoskeletalbenefits that come with, that

(19:26):
not just again, from a from thatand the mental side, but the
difference is and you alluded toit in Europe and many other
countries soccer's. The number one sport.
So, a lot of the kids come up playing tennis or running track
or playing Cricket or whatever the sports are, but the best
world-class athletes, will gravitate to soccer in the

(19:48):
United States. You've got so many different
sports, but the world class athletes are most likely going
to go to basketball and footballmaybe to baseball and some maybe
even two hockey as a different choice but not necessarily
soccer is the first. If we can change that narrative
bill that that changed the game and gives us a much better world

(20:10):
class athletes to compete at theWorld Cup level.
But again, it's a challenge. And that's super I've always
found that that part of the conversation, super fascinating.
So I kind of want to Now take usto the real nuts and bolts of
what you do and why what we do here on you think which is of
course, serve the Youth Sports Community which I know is right
up, right? Up your alley and right in your

(20:31):
wheelhouse. So knowing all these things
we've discussed, right, we've talked about, you know, the
comparison internationally, the destruct, you know, the issues
and the obstacles we Face here in the states.
What are the now? What are we doing at the Youth
Level 2? Dress it.
Like how are you guys combating knowing these things like where
do you see the trends going? Do you see participation levels
increasing do you see your ability to attract?

(20:54):
You know the quote unquote high-level athletes at an
earlier age like what are you seeing now in real time in
regards to a lot of these these challenges that you that soccers
facing America. But that on the positive side
sure. Well the numbers that we're
seeing for today are coming backto where we were pre-pandemic so
that from that standpoint. It's really strong.

(21:17):
We're also seeing, you know, thenumbers of the kids, leaving the
sport, getting younger and younger.
And again, I think that comes tothe professionalism of the
coaching at a younger and younger age.
So, we're trying. I'd mentioned this earlier.
We need alternative programming so it's not just the pay to play
the expect, the experienced professional coaches.

(21:39):
That everybody's striving to, tobe able to get that D1
scholarship. We need to be able to have
Programming so that any kid can be able to play.
And we partnered with the US soccer Foundation to bring our
success in schools programme together so that we can get into
communities that may not have soccer in their curriculum,
there from the underprivileged underserved, however, you want

(22:00):
to identify Title 1 schools. That may not be able to, you
know, to embrace many different sports to give them the access
to soccer to train their their teachers to be able to promote
the game to coach the game. And to give More kids, the
opportunity to see what the gameis all about.
So we're taking those steps, youknow, across from the from the

(22:24):
the first time a kid plays to when they get to that point
where hey they may about. They're about to get drafted by
either, you know, MLS or nwsl, so and everything in between, so
we're taking those steps. Yeah.
And, and it's interesting a couple months ago, we had Sam
munis the from the US national team.
She was on with her father and talking about her and her

(22:44):
sister. Obviously both played on US
national team and, you know, thefather taken out a second job
and just what that looked like playing competitive.
You know, competitive youth soccer in America at a very
young age. My daughter is not at that level
yet, she's young, she hasn't gotthere but I experience is very
similar, you know, experience very similar, you know, kind of
path with my two boys playing travel baseball, so I know it's

(23:08):
a little different but a very similar.
So I want to talk a little more about what you said, like the
professionalization, the pay to play model of It's going on
across pretty much all sports inAmerica which is, if you want to
play on the top team, there comes with a cost.
If you want to play on the top teams you're going to travel
that comes with inherent cost. Like it's give us an idea.
What does playing quote-unquote top-level competitive soccer say

(23:31):
for a middle school child boy, or girl in America, like what
does that experience look like cost time restraints.
Like I know what it's like in the baseball Community but I
would love to hear like you describe what that what just to
give our viewers an idea of whenYou say, this is not easy.
This is financially challenging.This is time commitment.
Like, explain to our viewers, like exactly what that looks

(23:52):
like. You know, if here as you get
into your early teens and then rise up into the high school
ages, it almost becomes a full-time job.
You are playing. You are practicing three to five
times a week. You're playing on the weekends,
you may be traveling on some weekends.

(24:14):
You are a part of a machine, whether your team is one of
several teams within the club. Again, it, we have all different
sizes throughout the entire nation.
Some plant parents will be paying anywhere from hundreds of
thousands of dollars a year or aseason to thousands of dollars

(24:36):
for a season. You know, soccer, I believe is
not necessarily at the top end of the expensive sports but it
certainly Out at the lower end. And so, you know, again it just
depends on where you are and thecommitment that your son or
daughter, you know, truly wants to take and you know what?

(24:57):
We try to do and the educationalcomponent that we try to have is
we want to make sure and from myperspective, you want to make
sure that the kids are vested init.
You know, this is not something for parents to decide, you know,
if you want your kid to be at that a level team, Going all
around the country to play and showcase has to be seen to be

(25:19):
scouted and hopefully earn a spot on a D1 or a national team
or a professional rank. You want to make sure that the
kid actually is right there withyou, you know, and we often see
way too early parents who already have decided that their
kids are going to be a D1 scholar at the age of nine.
And it's, you know, it's kind ofhard to walk them pack because

(25:42):
what ends up happening is they start to take the mode of
They're their kids general manager and so therefore and you
see it all the time. They're standing on the
sidelines yelling at the other team yelling at the referee,
he's yelling at the coaches. The pain yelling at their kids
on the drive home because they're so focused on getting
the their return on investment that they're blinded by really

(26:05):
what's, why are they doing this?The kid has to be having fun and
if he, or she is not having fun and truly wants to be there.
Be the break should be pumped. That's a, I mean, I get it.
I don't get me wrong. I've yelled on the sidelines
before. So I'm not sitting here saying
that I'm not in that group, but I've seen it.
I've seen, I've seen all sides of it.

(26:27):
I've seen it through the baseball world.
My kids now are put, my son is playing Pop Warner football,
which football is a little different, because there's not
year-round true tackle football now, it's like the seven on
seven league. So footballs kind of getting
into that world for a long time.It was kind of immune.
That's why growing up. I didn't really have any of
these challenges, but I've seen In it and I think it raises a
really good point. Like, what, how do we educate

(26:50):
the parents? Like how do we educate the
parent? There's there's the adults to
me. Always have the biggest impact
on the kids experience, right? There's two parties that there's
the parents of course and then there's the coaches will get to
the coaches in a minute. What is like do you guys have
any? You mentioned materials and and
different education processes that you have four coaches
parents? Like what do you guys do at u.s.

(27:12):
Youth Soccer to try to help educate these parents?
Just give them a better idea of not only what this this journey
look like and where do they fit into the picture?
But also, like better ways to manage their kids better ways to
manage expectations and keep things age-appropriate and kid
lead, you know, over the course of these sequence of events.
Oh, absolutely. Your ago, we launched you sys

(27:33):
University and as much as we have the X's, and O's can help
people how they succeed on the field through it.
A lot of it in a majority of thecurriculum is designed for
off-field Behavior. And and and really the
educational for being coming better parents the issue that
we're seeing and this is where we're actually right now.

(27:54):
Going through these changes is that when parents register their
kids to play most of the parentswill register through their team
or their club or their league. And so, by the time we get that
registration, we don't have thatdirect line back to the back to
the parents and so we're trying to change.

(28:15):
Change that. So that any time a parent
registers, let's say you're going to register your daughter
for spring soccer. You would get a welcome kit for
up from us that talks about. Hey if you want to really learn
the knew the ins and outs of what, it's like to be a soccer
parent go here and then we have all of this information so that
you can really almost self-test to see, you know, my doing this

(28:38):
for the right reasons and reallywhat are the pathways available
for me as a parent and as a family If we want to go down
this journey together, you know,and so we're taking those
changes from a registration component but also from an
educational component so that parents become more aware of

(29:00):
what's out there and really the realities.
Because, you know, we all know it, most clubs are absolutely
doing the right thing and I'm sure you've seen it in baseball
that, that that clubs will sell themselves on getting your
child. A D1.
Scholarship and you have to do this this this and this, but
they may be telling you a certain component of that

(29:22):
pathway but not necessarily the full picture, okay?
If you guys can crack that code and it sounds like you're on the
right course, you know, it specifically in soccer but I
think what you just described asa template across the entire
landscape of Youth Sports, if you guys can pull that
education, the parental education component to like
navigating this journey, You guys are onto something big

(29:45):
because I even think about myself as someone who's been
around Sports, his whole life. I've had to learn the baseball
route because I didn't live it. I didn't know anything about it.
I just happen to be a parent andthen, you know, / coach of two
boys who played now is, my daughter has gotten older and
she'd always played Rec Soccer. And it was just fun and with her
girlfriends from school. And she didn't take it that

(30:06):
serious. So, we didn't take it that
serious. She's starting now to get the
itch that she wants to take it more serious for Like me what
you're describing is like that welcome packet would be super
helpful like not to tell me not to scream and yell at her and
her coach like that. Part of, hopefully, everyone
knows. But like, I don't know what the
next PATH is. I don't know what the next step

(30:26):
is when she's 12 what's in her best interest.
Like, I don't know the soccer World that well.
So like what you're describing, just coming from a dad would be
super super helpful especially for those of us who haven't
lived in that particular World, our entire lives.
So if you guys can figure that That out kudos to you.
Because I think educating the adults.

(30:47):
The parents is to me. That's the name of the game if
you can pull that off the whole experience gets better.
Yeah, no, absolutely. And how we're trying to position
it is, you know, we want to be seen as the community resource
for all things you soccer and again part of the charge is not
necessarily trying to stay to our lane.

(31:08):
I mean if there are kids that are playing AYSO or a, why?
So select that want to get Information like that or their
parents. Absolutely.
We want to be able to provide that without the sales pitch to
pay come over to our you know Arlene.
We want to be able to do it because I firmly believe that
Rising tide benefits all boats and the more we develop the more

(31:28):
we educate. Absolutely.
We're going to have a much better end result which is more
kids playing the game. More kids staying in the game so
that by the time they get to be my age, they're still connected
to it. And that's that's really our
vision. Our vision is to bring these
together through the power of soccer, making lifelong fans of
the game and sure some will be national champions.

(31:50):
But more really, you're going toend up just watching the game
buying tickets being coaches, being refs, just staying
connected, and that's what we want.
Absolutely, and we mentioned that the two kind of adult
sections of Youth, the Youth Sports Experience, the parents,
I want to talk for a little bit about the challenges of finding
good youth coaches, because I think I've said this on the show

(32:11):
a lot if you find a great, I don't care.
The sport is for your son or daughter, whatever the sport is.
If you find a great coach, you better cherish that and don't
mess it up because in my experience they are so few and
far between someone who not onlyunderstands the game, right?
Like to me that's the easy part.Finding someone to teach a
ten-year-old girl, soccer finding someone to teach a

(32:32):
ten-year-old boy to field the ground ball, like there's a
million of those. But for them to really learn the
life skills, the lessons hard work, adversity, teamwork
persevere like, All these incredible life skills that
they'll carry well beyond their playing days that I think, is
why Youth Sports is just so amazing, like to have someone
who can do, both, teach you the skills at an early age as a

(32:55):
foundation, but also teach you the lessons that you're going to
need to carry with you forward. Like, to me, that's the magic
formula. There's not a lot of those
people out there. So like, what challenges are you
seeing specifically in the soccer community?
And what are you guys doing? To address it to say, hey we
need to attract great coaches, whether their parents It's or
whether they're just coaches, like, how are you guys?

(33:18):
You know, attacking that now, that's a great question and it
is imperative that we get that right, you know?
Because again as you say there'ssome great coaches out there but
if you ask any athlete that has played a sport for long enough,
I mean I'm sure you could do thesame thing and to ask the
question, who is your best coach?

(33:39):
Most likely the answer is going to be the coach who acted the
player's life completely, not just gave them the tools to be
able to succeed on the field of play.
And so again, going back to our you sys University, you know,
most of the of the coaching licenses that you get from US
soccer. You know, you might get from USA

(34:01):
baseball for that sport or any of the in jeebies.
It's all about X's and O's and many of the sports now are
seeing that coaches have to be more than just an administrator
of unfilled. They have to be able to
understand the full picture of what constitutes, you know,
success for a player on and off the field to play.

(34:22):
And, and so we've Incorporated again through our University.
You know, there's a great us, anti-doping has a great program
called true Sport, and we've partnered with them, to be able
to bring some of those characterdevelopmental curriculum into
our programming. So it's not just for the players
and their families, but it's also, For coaches because

(34:44):
especially coming out of the pandemic we were very focused on
coaches. Understand are your players
struggling? Do they have the other mental
health health issues that you need to be able to observe to
see to react and to be able to get in front of and if we're
able to do that, then again we're going to be able to
elevate the stature of coaching around the country.

(35:06):
I think again, I'm super impressed the fact that not only
you guys aware, but I think all leagues and organizations and
Foundations are aware of the challenges.
I just don't think there's a lotof Team leagues and
organizations that are taking like practical steps to address
it. So to hear that you guys have
this, like very concrete, multi-step plan to attack these
things. I commend you guys because I've

(35:28):
seen a lot of different sports through as a parent as a coach
on this show and I have to say like not everyone has a great
plan for it. So I commend you for that.
I want to transition into another topic that I think is,
is really at the Crux of the Youth Sports conversation today,
which is the balance between competition and development,
right? And I think at times they

(35:49):
overlap, but I also think at times the adults, I'll put
myself in that category, we parents / coaches, we view them
as two separate things. So you know, for example,
everyone wants their kid to be on the best team, right?
They want to go to the best tournaments.
They want to be noticed and seeing and what not?
But oftentimes, those teams approaches, we just need to
acquire the best talent and if your child is not good enough,

(36:12):
the next tryout, we're just going to replace them, I'm kind
of on the more of the middle ground, where it's like, once I
get you, I need to develop everybody, right?
So to me, the role of a youth coach is to win as a result of
doing things the right way, which number one is getting
these kids to improve getting them to learn.
So like when on that spectrum ofthe computer competition,

(36:33):
winning at all costs and then atthe Grassroots level, Of just
introducing basic skills and young development, you know, the
wreck the church league that kind of level.
There's a lot of ways in betweento cut this.
Like where are you guys philosophically on that Spectrum
as far as like finding ways to? Yes, we want kids to compete.
We want them to learn to win andgo out.

(36:53):
But we also need to teach them the skills and teach them the
foundational level movements andskill sets that they can keep
with them as they grow older andhopefully continue playing, you
know, whatever sport it is. Yeah, we've it's a tough
challenge because kids develop at different ages you know and
we see it all the time. You get a kid who's 10 years old

(37:15):
and is the fastest player on thefield scoring all the goals,
it's the go-to person, you know,her teammates will pass her the
ball all the time by the time the kid gets to 15, you know, he
or she is basically the same speed but everybody else has
developed in a different Manner and have moved.
Beyond it. So you have to be able to almost

(37:37):
temper the actual Pathway to be able to best suit the player.
So what that means is as much asour competitive side is really
strong. I mean, we have a national
league, it's 13 conferences, 120,000 players, you know that
play all year round. We know that that's a pretty
solid system where you really need to focus is back at the

(38:01):
recreational level because thereare kids that are In twelve,
maybe even 14 that the light hasn't turned on yet, but in
many sports and soccer being one, if you're at that level of
recreational play, the number ofchances, you have starts to
diminish to where you're almost.As I said this earlier, you

(38:22):
know, you're just a wreck playerand so you get that into your
psyche that you're not playing with your friends, you're not
good enough to travel. I'm not really having fun.
I'm going to go somewhere else and so we need to create
alternative. Programming and from my
perspective you know being able to find you know, 3D 35 E5.
So your small side he game so that you're not in.

(38:42):
That same box. You're practicing a couple of
times a week you're playing 1111on the weekends but if you're
playing you're still out there playing and developing maybe
when you get to 15 or 16 and we're starting to see it kids
that just are playing for fun. The light goes on and suddenly
now they're starring at their High School level.

(39:03):
And so, we Need to be able to complement the the the more
Elite level of programming with really strong recreational
programming, so that they come together and there is that easy
path. So that if you dissolve develop
later in life you still feel like you can belong.
I think that's so true. I've always felt that and we all

(39:26):
probably contribute to it. I thought again I throw myself
in this bucket. There's probably like a stigma
on the quote-unquote wreck play.R-right, we've created this
culture, we've created this framework where there's so many
eat, you know, quote-unquote Elite travel Alternatives in all
sports isn't unique to soccer. I see it in baseball.
I see it in every sport, but then all of a sudden, the kids

(39:48):
who just play oh they just play wreck.
Like I find myself saying that and have to check myself being
like no, like my daughter plays wreck now.
It's appropriate for her. It's where she's comfortable is
where she's growing, but maybe when she's older different than
the boys should get into it later and Wait.
So like how do we fight that stigma?
Like how do we fight that stigma?
That there's nothing wrong at a young age of playing.

(40:11):
Quote-unquote Rec Sports youth level or its town or whatever
and say that's okay like we can't chase kids away from the
game. If at 10 years old, they're not
able to make the travel ball team.
You know, again about a year anda half ago, we launched
something called League America and it's something that we
don't, we can't mandate it to this 54 State associations

(40:34):
within our association. So a number of states are
starting to take it and it's an over arching.
Almost branding theme for recreational soccer.
Because again, if you're just a wreck player, you don't feel
like you belong to something bigger, ultimately, where we
want League America to go is that it becomes the largest just
youth soccer league in the in the country and albeit in the

(40:58):
world. And so it gives those kids the
sense that when we play League of America and we're talking to
our counterparts at us, adult soccer.
And I've said, take League America and put it into your
programming because how cool would it be?
If an eight-year-old says, I play in the same league as my
mom where I play in the same league as my dad because

(41:19):
ultimately no matter how, you know how well your skills
progress and if Play Major League Soccer, you play in the
World Cup. At some point, you get older and
you're going to retire, but you still might want to play in an
adult league. And if you start in League
America, get really good. And then retire after playing in
the league America. That Continuum, you know, it's

(41:40):
kind of like one of the benefitsof tennis and golf where they
say, it's a cradle to grave sport.
You can play it straight through.
Well, if we start programming kids to think that way, then
again, we've done our job to make Make kids fans of the game
for life, so that they feel likethey can play league American
when they start. They can play league America
when they finish and they can dowhatever they want in between.

(42:03):
That's really interesting. I think that's a, that's a
brilliant. Brilliant idea.
Any time you can kind of make those like pipelines longer and
more encompassing. I think it's super smart.
I think that's a really interesting Play Before I Let
You Go. I told you I have a couple
questions as far as it specifically that I've
experienced now as a father. So I'm going to just put you on
the spot and just ask you a couple questions.

(42:23):
And as someone who doesn't know a lot about soccer.
So my daughter's 10 and she plays with the same group of
girls for the last couple Seasons, they have a blast, the
to Guy, the one guy who coaches it to Dad and and the other lady
who coaches, it is just like a nice coach.
She's not a parent. She's not the mother of any of
the kids, she's just a nice girl, that does some training.
She, I met her through the Charlotte FC folks, because she

(42:46):
ran a lot of their Grassroots stuff, so the two of them have
coached it for the last three seasons, they do a great job.
I go to the games and I feel like there's eight girls on the
field or yeah. So there's a they play 8 V 8.
One of them is a goalie and the field is gigantic.

(43:06):
It's, I think it's a real size field.
I think it's 100 yards by whatever the dimensions are.
It's huge. Why do young girls play on?
Such a big field? Like why would they not make it
smaller and less running? Less space, more ball touches
more passing, more Street. Like am I crazy?

(43:29):
That sounds a little off. I mean again can't even tell you
how big this field is it is enormous it probably isn't an
eleven and eleven regulation size field and we run we run at
our regional championships. We will run a u12 division that
we won't take it any further. We don't think that that age

(43:51):
should go to a national championships.
It's just too young but the u12 do play on a smaller.
Field and its small enough. So it's compacted and how big
like when you say small, how big?
Oh gosh, I should know that but I would say it's it's probably

(44:11):
half the size of a lure of a regular size regular field, a
regular like if you are in high school is 110 by probably 60 70
W slightly bigger than football,they up to a ball.
Yeah, that's what I thought but a, a u12 should Almost be, if
you took a football field, cut it in half you could you could

(44:32):
put them in that half of a field.
Oh no. This this field is 90 yards, 100
yards long. It's massively.
Yeah, I had to end of the game. By the end of the game, the
mentioned. These girls are exhausted.
That seems a bit big, I'll see how silly Circa.

(44:52):
I'll Circle back and send you the active.
One chance, I'm very curious like what other areas do,
because for, as much as they do great, like the coaches are
great. The league is organized the
games, have no drama, they have young kids officiating, the
games, it's great, the Saturday mornings, I love going to my
daughter's games. Because I don't coach it, I

(45:12):
bring my little chair, I set it up at the Midfield, I sit on the
bleachers. I cheer.
I clap, I don't know, a ton about what's going on.
All I ask is that she plays hardand she runs and she gets
involved and just competes and then we go for hot dogs, like
it's awesome. It's so different than my boys
experience. But I find myself sitting there

(45:34):
and I'm like, it's like I'm watching a track practice, they
do more running than they do touching the ball.
And I just feel like if we just tighten them up a little bit,
you talk about development and skill.
I don't know, it's almost more like a Futsal type approach.
If the goalkeeper were to punt the ball, is it likely that it's

(45:54):
going to get and gets a really good punt out?
Could it go to the other goal inthe way that they can't?
They can't punt the ball and getit to Midfield?
Well, that's the yeah. That sounds a bit that seems a
bit big. Oh, know if our if our so these
girls are 10. And maybe some of them are 11.
Yeah, that seems a bit but I canget you.

(46:15):
I'll get you the actual Damaris because it drives me crazy.
And it seems stupid and it seemslike I'm, I don't know anything
because I don't I'm the first toadmit, I don't know what's going
on. But I've been around Sports
enough to know it just it be like playing basketball.
Like when we go play to our boysbasketball games, they play on
like a small field. We can go to baseball.
They play on a, you know, a smaller size field.

(46:36):
I don't know. That was the one question I was
like, I'm going to ask it if there is a standardization of
Ages. So, like in baseball, there's a
standardization of ages 9 and 10, they play on 65-foot bases
in the Mounds. 46 feet. Now the fences could vary, but
the feet, the infield is the same.
Then when they go to 12, View, they go to 70 feet or know when

(46:58):
they go to 11, you they go to 70feet 50 foot basis so on and so
forth. So there's like a process but
that's the same everywhere is there.
So I guess my question is the standardization for some reason
but I don't have them etched in my mind but it's okay.
I was just curious. I was just curious well that I
needed to get that question off.So I guess my here's my last

(47:19):
question for you, like what is the future like what is the
future of Youth Of Youth Soccer in America?
What are the things that excite you?
Where do you see it continuing to grow and develop at that
Grassroots Youth Level, you know, with the World Cup coming,
he had States and 26, the Olympics, coming in 28,
potentially the Women's World Cup coming, maybe in 31, you

(47:42):
know, they're the world is coming to the United States to
And from our perspective everything that we're doing
between now and then is designedto be able to attract as wide of
an audience as possible, to be able to learn to love the game,
to be able to get it to be part of their culture, their
lifestyle, and to appreciate what the game has to offer.

(48:04):
You know? We ultimately, yes, we'd love
every kid to play soccer. We'd love every kid to play
multiple Sports and then we wantthose kids that are truly
passionate to stay with it to take their career.
Career as far as well as they goand no matter where they are in
that progression, we as an organization that, you know, at
u.s. youth, we want to be able to support the kids.

(48:25):
The players the referees, the parents, the coaches, all of
those different constituent groups to be able to get the
most out of the sport and help them succeed on and off the
field to play. That's what we want.
I love it and I think across theboard through the entire youth
framework. I think we'd all agree that,
that's what we all want for all the sports regardless.
So, Skip, thank you so much, again.

(48:47):
Skip Gilbert the head of us, youth soccer, largest Youth
Organization in the country. Thank you so much for joining us
on you think I found this incredibly interesting, I think
our fans and our listeners are going to get a ton out of this.
And I just wanted to say, thanksfor taking some time to join us
here on. You think my pleasure Greg.
Thanks very much. Appreciate the invitation.

(49:07):
You got any time, we're going tohave you back.
We're going to, we're going to have another conversation here,
shortly. We gotta I got as I uncover more
things about myself. Soccer experience.
Hope you guys enjoyed that conversation with skip Gilbert
skips with u.s. youth, soccer largest Youth Organization in

(49:28):
the entire country. So it's really cool to have him
on and share some of his perspectives about not only
soccer but just the changing landscape of how we kind of view
and how we how we see Youth Sports continue to evolve in
America. So it was a really cool
conversation, appreciate skip for joining us at this time.
Without further Ado, going to bring in Tasha, Tasha my

(49:48):
producer. To us with all sorts of cool
questions off the internet Instagram, social some always
anxious to hear. What Tasha has in store.
So what's up Tasha? Hey yeah, the first one is a fun
one. They said Jeff Saturday was
named head coach. What did you think?
When you heard of the news and did you get to watch some of
Sunday's games? So I didn't get, I watch some of

(50:09):
the early slate. So I watch pieces of it.
We get to the game early when wehave we had the 4425 eastern
time. We were in Green Bay for the
Cowboys Packers game. So we watched Some of the 1:00
Slate from the booth and then any of the afternoon games
obviously we just catch like thescores and highlights throughout
the course of the game during breaks or whatever.
But yeah. So my brother actually texted

(50:31):
me. He's like Jeff Saturday and I
was like, what about him? He's like he just got named
interim coach of the Colts. I was like, what?
So like I wasn't exactly sure. And then of course you go on
Twitter and everyone's reacting and everyone's giving you their
two cents like we care but yeah you know it's unconventional,
it's weird but you know, But whynot?

(50:52):
Why not give it a shot. I mean, it's a season where
you're struggling and I think sometimes you got to think
outside the box, right? I mean, in my heart of hearts do
I think I could be an NFL coach?Hell yeah.
Do I want to do it? No.
But do I think I can do it? Absolutely.
I think this Nate this notion that in order to be a good head
coach, you have to give your entire life to coach a.

(51:12):
I think his nonsense. I think we see it in all
different aspects of society where some of the most
successful people. Are successful in areas that
maybe they don't have a lot of experience in.
But here we have a guy in Jeff Saturday, he's played at the
highest level. He's played a position that
requires him to be very cerebraland very smart and understands
the game. He's been around Hall of Fame
players. He's been around Hall of Fame

(51:33):
coaches so just because he hasn't been a coach.
Now, he might stink, I don't know how it's going to all work
out. He's want to know, so we'll see
but I think to just completely disregard His qualifications for
the job, just because he hasn't worked his way up from an
assistant and sleeping in his couch, sleeping on the couch in
his office and working 40 hours a week for no money.

(51:53):
Like, we have this idea that that's the only way you work
your way up, and I just don't think that's just not the
reality of our world anymore. I think we see people that get
opportunities and do well and people that get opportunities
and don't do well. So, I hope Jeff Saturday does
great. I have no idea whether he's good
or bad, but obviously the leadership over there.
Thought he was the guy that could come in and Steady the

(52:14):
boat so far through week one, albeit.
They played the Raiders who havebeen struggling in their own,
right? But Jeff, Saturday, beat Jeff,
Jeff, Saturday beat Josh, McDaniels Josh, McDaniels has
been a football coach in the NFLfor a thousand years.
One Super Bowls been a head coach before and I know it's one
game sample size but Jeff, Saturday 1.
So, how much did the experience really matter?

(52:36):
So I don't know. I think it's a lot of to do over
nothing. I think we let it play out.
If he continues to win, he gets a lot of credit if he continues
to to lose their getting a new head coach this offseason anyway
and no harm, no foul. Yeah.
And then maybe I don't know, maybe Jeff will hire you and you
can coach her, the NFL will see.I'm gonna try to keep my job
that I have right now for as long as I can, our next one is

(52:57):
Joanne from Twitter. She says, if your kids didn't
play sports, do you think you would still be a coach?
Hmm, that's a really good question.
I think, I think I would, I think it would be hard based on
what activities they were into, like, how much time I would have
to allocate to coaching other people's.
I love the idea of working with kids and coaching and building

(53:18):
teams and building culture. It obviously makes it a lot
easier to spend all of that time.
When you're also bringing your own kids with you.
So, I think while they were young, that might have been hard
but maybe when they got older and they were kind of off in
school ball and didn't require alot of my instruction, they had
their coaching or whatever the case may be.
Could I have seen myself gettinginto coaching other people's
kids without mine? Yeah, I think so.

(53:40):
I really enjoy the whole idea ofbuilding team.
Building culture Improvement development, you know working
with the kids earning the trust of the families.
I just really enjoyed that wholeprocess.
So I think it's a good question and I don't think it'd be
completely out of the realm of possibility if that was the

(54:00):
situation. And then our final audience
question, says, as their coach or player that you admire
yourself, but you haven't had the chance to meet yet.
You know, I've been, I've been fortunate that, you know, a lot
of the, the top-tier coaches that I've always held in high
regard, especially in the world of football.
I've gotten to meet, you know, Ithink there's so many other

(54:21):
really good coaches in other sports.
That do a great job. You know, I think like a guy
like Phil Jackson, right? You think of a guy like Phil
Jackson Who accomplished so muchat Spots it showed that he
didn't just need to be in Chicago's organization to have
success. He went and he recreated it out
with the Lakers. And obviously, there's a method
to his approach and he's a little unconventional and he'd

(54:43):
kind of does things his own way,and it worked.
And the guys won a bazillion NBAchampionship.
So he's a guy off the top of my head.
I'll be at not a football guy but just the guy that I've
always just respected that he's been true to what he does.
He's had incredible success which at the end of the day is
all that matters but he's had success doing.
Hang it in a little bit of a different style, than maybe the

(55:05):
the norm and a little more non-conventional and for that, I
respect them for that. All right.
Well, that's all the audience questions we had today, you guys
can keep submitting them on. You think?
Or at Greg, Olson on Tick, Tock,Instagram, or Twitter?
Tasha, thank you so much. We got a big episode for them
next week. Tasha.
That's right. You got Tasha's.
Dad, do you know, babers States football, coaches Syracuse, so,

(55:27):
don't miss that one. That was fun.
Tasha join the conversation. He told some fun stories about
her childhood so that was cool. So tune in for that next week.
But until then, thank you guys so much for listening to you
think for following along continue to rate review.
Subscribe wherever you guys get your podcasts and we'll see you
guys next week. Next