How The MLS Can Back And Continue To Support The Black Player Pool ✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿I #AskASoccerPro Show Ep 074

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Quincy Amarikwa (00:00:00):

We're all here to ride the MSL waves. Mental Strength League. I'd like to welcome you to another episode of the hashtag ask a soccer pro.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:00:24):

So Steve what's happening next star water. That's going to see my set up Zuri. What's happening. What's going on? What's going on? Katie's joined his shout out, Katie. What's happening ki Wando what's going on, Jenny. Oh, Jen dot COSI saying, giving a shout out to Zuri. What's going on T Gabrielle. What's happening. Glad to see you guys. Happy to see you guys coming back in Heather, back in. Hello, everybody. She said, Ethan knows just joined in IWU. H underscore Mac D a V I E S is saying, what up? What up everybody? What's going on? What's going on. Welcome to the live. You guys know what it is. It is a, another episode of the hashtag ask a soccer pro show episode. I believe we are episode 74. We might be 75, but I think it's 74. Welcome to another episode. Happy to have you guys.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:01:22):

And I have setting up all my, you know what I'm saying? I'm setting up all my stuff and getting it going. Brahim what's happening in Jay pro skills. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome Ryan Mashpee, pro general manager, Bartonella general manager, joining in if you're on Ryan's team spam, that heart button drops a mime in your head. Emojis. If you guys are all about it, some I'm in your head, emojis, you guys know what it is, what up a S T E C E said, Hey, Quincy, what's going on, brother, Luke freestyles. Everybody. Welcome in. Welcome. Welcome, welcome, welcome. Welcome to another episode of the hashtag asset soccer pro show where your host me Quincy America, 11 year MLS pro currently in my free agency year with MLS on its way back with MLS on its way back with the Orlando tournament coming up. Obviously in my free agency year and before the shutdown, I was still in my free agency year.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:02:21):

Seeing how, and if everything was going to play out, this would be my 12th year and will be my 12th year, if, and when I sign my next contract, but everybody welcome into the live. Today's gonna be a, today's gonna be a good one as you guys may or may not know. There's been a lot of moving parts, a lot of, a lot of breaking news, a lot of just everything you could possibly think of happening across the soccer world, as well as just the world at large. These last couple episodes of the show has been a great opportunity to answer questions directly from the community and trying to give you guys much time as possible to get your specific questions answered and even get some call call-ins here. I know some pros have been dropping in stopping by saying hello over the course of the show, these last couple of weeks.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:03:11):

And typically we schedule a show guests, but we've really wanted to focus in on the community that these last couple of weeks, see how you guys are doing checking in on you, make sure everybody's keeping their mental strength up their mental health game strong. Andy, what's going on. Welcome in Mindy said George Floyd protests. Yes. There's been a whole lot of protests, a lot of awareness being raised about many, many different things, but, but I think what's most important through it all is, is maintaining perspective. Staying focused on the things that you can control and those are, and that's the work that you're doing in your free time to improve yourself. We are very adamant about personal responsibility here, practicing the three S's of self awareness. For those of you who don't know and understand what I'm talking about. Head over to perfect soccer skills.com/s S S and you'll get up to speed on the three S's of self awareness, a practice that we preach and execute on and participate on here regularly.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:04:16):

Shout out Earl Edwards jr. Joined in on the live. He's been doing some great work both on and off the field that I'm excited that I'm pretty sure he'll be able to share here in the coming days and weeks. But yeah, great scene, great scene, especially the regulars. I'm seeing the regulars come with with some serious consistency and you guys understand and know that consistency is key to success. So for those of you who have been regulars, can you drop down in the comment section, some of the things that you've learned what, or actually what's the most valuable thing that you, that you get from being a part of the perfect soccer brand and the MSL mentality and mindset. And while I do that, we're going to let I w U H

Quincy Amarikwa (00:05:13):

Sure. A few minutes to ask his question, Dave ex I'm doing well, Hey, you called in bro. And I was giving you the call in and then denied, denied that call, that call. So if need to play podcast joined in. Welcome. Thanks for stopping by. Like I said, if anybody has any questions they want to get, you know, two minutes on the show to ask your question and we can break that down and get into it real quick. All good said the network connection was bad on his side while I'm waiting on some questions to come in on the question box, as well as you guys to drop in any questions you've got here on the live, I'm going to go through some of the stuff I've got over here on the side, a big shout out I wanted to give to you. Ben Ben dot underscore dot Jammin got himself. Some MSL merch got the I'm in your head T drop in I'm in your head T with the I'm in your head pose, loving that. What are you guys thinking about that Joe Jackson dropped in the I'm in your head emojis.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:06:16):

Okay.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:06:23):

Joe Jackson also said mental strength to achieve your goals is what he's learned. Pat McGill joined in welcome, Pat Sonya, what's happening. Good to see you.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:06:35):

Okay.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:06:36):

Huh. Loving that loving scene. Everybody had a dropped and I'm in your head force for storms calls in with a question yeah, Ryan said four storms calling with a question. Let's see what we got here.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:06:52):

Tyree dropped in what's the right steps to make it pro well, the right steps to make it pro is to who, where we started. It depends on where you're starting out at, but if you're starting from the very, very beginning and you don't know where to start, I say, you start@perfectsoccerskills.com slash login account. If you head there, you'll be able to take the steps to create and get a perfect soccer team membership for free access to all of our tools, resources, which include the perfect soccer player, blueprint, the college college soccer, recruiting blueprint, our time management sheet, the goalkeeper blueprint one full free week of be pro be pro weekly. Another shout out to Ryan Masch, BE PRO General Manager. He's been go and hammer time on getting those programs up and running and taking them to the next level.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:07:51):

For those of you who aren't aware of B pro weekly is officially live. That is our custom soccer training, weekly custom soccer training programs. You can definitely get access to those and upgrade your account once you've created your perfect soccer team membership accounts. So if you haven't had headed over to perfect soccer skills, that concept login account, you can create your account there for free, and you can get a free weeks program. All those other books, tools, and resources that I've already laid out and spoken to you as well as a couple of other awesome resources. John Hollinger is going through the financial literacy course that we put there as well too, because Hey, not only can, not only do you gotta be mentally strong, but you gotta be financially smart and financially illiterate. And we've got a, we've got a program in there as well, too, which is 100% free. It is literally the steps that I use to get started. I'm educating myself on financial literacy so that I could make it to year 12 or what will hopefully be year 12 of my professional soccer career.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:08:56):

For those of you don't know when when I started out in professional soccer here in America the, the paychecks that some players are making today are not on par with what it was like when when we first started out. So you had to learn how to budget your money well, and get, get very good with planning for your future. Bindi Janice had spam at heart button. Love that. Spin that heart button. Next question in here, we've got Julian, J U L I N K O U L I S H underscore 24 said, thoughts on what the MLS is going to be doing this summer? I think the Orlando tournament is, is an exciting, it's an exciting prospect for many MLS fans. I think a lot of people have been without soccer, without sports for a while, and they're really excited to have something back even with the limited capacity that it's coming back and all the kinds of stipulations and rules that come around it, I am I'm optimistic that I'm optimistic that things will, things will continue running along smoothly so that it happens and it kinda, and it and I'm, I'm, I hope nothing derails that process, but there is a lot of unpredictability with just what's going on in the world right now and how things are going, especially with turning things back on or trying to get the economy back up and running and stuff.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:10:31):

But fortunately for us, our focus is the MSL, the mental strength league, and this mindset is it thrives in chaos and in, in uncertainty. And those of you who have been following along and practicing for a while and implementing it are hopefully finding some resources and things that have, that have been very valuable to you. As of, as of late, I think a lot of people, you know, shout out PG S PCG seven, Paul audio engineer for perfect soccer dropping in the Luca, jumped in MSL, baby MSL army. We blew that up. Did you see the MLS livestream? We blew that up. Yes. Yes, I did. Yo, shout out, shout out to Luca P PCG seven. I love seeing the MSL army taken over the live streams and letting people know that the, that the MSL army is alive and well.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:11:29):

And we're taken over whether we it's not were we're taking over, we already took over. It's just, we're just waiting for everybody to realize it and, and understand that it's way more fun over here, the MSL and those of you who've been on since the beginning or early on in the process, or just recently joined in with us, enjoy it, enjoy riding the wave with us. Cause we've been here. It's been great. And I'm having a lot of fun. I hope you guys are having fun as well to spend that hard button. If you guys are having fun, you're enjoying yourself. But the, yeah, the point that I was making was the extra time that we've got and we've had with the shutdown, I believe our MSL army and our perfect soccer members. I hope saw the value in this gift that has been this extra time that we weren't expecting to have. Now I know we're not necessarily happy the situation or circumstances for it, but like I say, and like we say here perspective, what's the perspective you're going to take. Are we gonna, are we going to play the victim and feel sorry for ourselves? Or are we going to look at every single temporary obstacle as a, as a lesson to be learned and wisdom to be gained or experienced to be gained?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:12:48):

Okay.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:12:49):

Tony said MSL mentality, strong arm emoji I'm in your head. Julian said, I think that the mental game will change a lot because all the players will be playing without fans. Yeah. That's that's going to be a new experience for a lot of players. Many players feed off of the feed off of the crowd. So how is their game going to adjust or change now that there will not be a crowd there to feed off of some may thrive, some may struggle. So that'll be interesting. It also be interesting to see how many guys

Quincy Amarikwa (00:13:25):

Were, or are not ready to play at the, at a higher level because of the uncertainty. I don't think many players have experienced this level of uncertainty for as long. I'd say in some ways it's very much kind of like free agency. You don't know where you're gonna end up. You don't know if you're ever going to play again. You don't know where are you going to play if you are, and you don't know if you're gonna play, if you get a chance to play again. But you still gotta be prepared and ready to go and you have to stay fit and in shape and tuned in and avoid injury and be, be ready for when you're for if and when your call comes. PG, sorry. PCG seven. Paul asks. I got a good question. If it didn't get answered last week. Okay.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:14:09):

So drop that in the, in the box and I'll see what what I've got here. E dot O L O R U N Y O M I S. What do you think about the new MLS tournament? I guess I covered it a little bit before. I think it's a, it's a good place to start to get things back, going, get guys back, back into the swing of things. There are going to be a lot of logistical issues and problems that come along with it. I think there'll be able to pull it off, but I do think what is being underestimated is the sheer lack of experience. I think a majority of the player pool has with dealing with this type return to play. I don't think most players have ever had to deal with preparing mentally for a season. Having it immediately ended, you know, two games in being completely put on ice and having to basically manage themselves and keep themselves in shape and tuned in mentally and physically, and then reintegrate themselves back into being ready for a tournament.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:15:17):

And basically it season in such a short duration of time. I guess I've had many similar experiences with just injuries and, and trades and free agency. It is not, it is not easy to learn how to figure out how to make that work. And I think the teams who have the most veteran experience are poised to be extremely, to have an extreme advantage here, moving forward. So that would be a good one for anybody out there. Who's a research research a research research head breaking down teams based on who has the most collected veteran experience would be a good place to start. S T E C E six, asked how have, do you become a better leader on the team for others? Okay, that's a good question. So

Quincy Amarikwa (00:16:19):

I guess the first question you got to ask yourself is why do you want to be a better leader for the team? And the reason why I want to start with that question is, do you only want to be a leader for the team? Because you want the ball more, you want more playtime, you want it to be about you and you want the coach. You want the opportunities for yourself, or do you want to be a better leader? Because you, you want to help your teammates be better. You want to learn how to serve others, not just serve yourself. And the reason why I say starting there is a lot of players, believe that leadership means me. I

Quincy Amarikwa (00:17:00):

Right.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:17:01):

Leadership really means starting with we us. And that would be the first place to start. So let's see the Luca underscore three is calling in. Let's get you in here and get here. What you got here, your question, yo, what's going on, bro?

Luka (00:17:26):

What's up?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:17:27):

How you doing?

Luka (00:17:28):

Good. Good.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:17:30):

So for the audience, can you let us know your name and where you're calling from?

Luka (00:17:37):

So I am Luca, as my tag is though I am 12 years old and I'm calling in from right outside of DC.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:17:49):

Okay.

Luka (00:17:49):

I was coming to the DC games.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:17:55):

Okay. So you're a United fan. Did you make a couple of games last year?

Luka (00:17:59):

Yeah. Yeah. I made the Philadelphia. I made the game on. They scored that goal. The free kick goal. Oh, I was actually like right behind the goal and I got a video.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:18:10):

Oh yeah. New England. Oh, we gotta get the, we gotta split. Hopefully if we get this a time when we clip this, toter, we'll be able to put that goal and your, your camera angles in the clip. That'll be cool. So I have to dig back through my camera a little bit. See if you can find it, man. Yeah. So that was the new me. That was the new England game, right? Yep. Okay. Awesome. yeah, man. So what, what can I do for you today? What, what's your, what's your question?

Luka (00:18:36):

All right. So I'm going to like a really tough spot. Okay. Because I have a trial coming up right in it, like I it's on Sunday and I'm just like really nervous. Cause it was like one of those like teams that like, if I do well on, I know that I can really progress. I just need to focus on making the team. Okay. Like, I don't know how to get rid of like the nervousness, you know? Okay. So articulate out loud to me. What nervousness means to you? Nervousness, like, like how I'm feeling or like how, what it means.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:19:17):

You tell me once you break it, break it down for me. So you're saying you're nervous. So describe what that means to me.

Luka (00:19:25):

I feel like it's like a pretty big team. And I feel like if I go there and make a fool of myself or if I don't, if I don't perform, I'm just going to look really bad in front of like everybody else, I'm gonna say, Hey, you know, I didn't even make the team, you know, it's like, you know, and it's, it's just the team that I feel like I know I can make if I, you know, go in there feeling confident, but I don't know. I just don't feel like, I feel like a little bit nervous. Like I'm going to mess up somehow and the coaches are gonna view me as, Oh, he's not that good.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:20:02):

Okay. Why are you scared of the coaches? Why are you scared of making a mistake?

Luka (00:20:11):

Because it's a really good Academy. And I feel like, I don't know. It feels like that if I run into those kids again, they're going to think, Oh, you know, there, he's not that good. He's not done. I feel like I'm just lacking that mental strength that way. Gotcha. Is that true? Are you not that good? I mean, I play, I'm one of the better players on my team on a worst team. Like I'm the best player on my team on a bad team.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:20:48):

Okay. Okay. So, okay. Let's get your self aware enough to understand where you fall compared to the better team. What number do you think you fall on? So how many kids are on the bed on the better team? I think it's around like 15. Okay. If, based on what you feel right now in this moment, one's the best and 15 is the worst. What number do you think you are on that higher team?

Luka (00:21:06):

Well, I played this team a while back on, it was a friendly, but they played, you know, like it was a real game. Like it was this, this was a final and I, it, like, it was just, they played very aggressive. And so I feel like I didn't like, of course I was before that game. I was, I don't want to make excuses. Cause I know that there's no reason to make excuses. So is that what you're doing right now though? No, but that game I didn't play very well.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:21:33):

Okay. Why didn't you play very well?

Luka (00:21:35):

Cause I was sick for like the last five days and I just skipped all the training. I had no training. So then let's say, let's say you weren't sick, right? Yeah. Where would you fall? I feel like I would fall out of, I could probably be like in our one out of 15. Probably like in the 10.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:21:54):

That's fine. Okay.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:21:57):

Okay. Do you believe that is where you're at right now? Do you think you, you, for sure, a number 10 on that higher team right now, some somewhere around there. I want to know exactly. I want to know exactly what number you, number nine.

Luka (00:22:12):

That's number nine.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:22:14):

Do you mean it or are you just saying that?

Luka (00:22:16):

No, I feel like they, you know, I play center men and I feel like they're, they had a very strong attack, a very good strong defense, but they lacked a little bit in the midfield.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:22:26):

Okay. So then why are you nervous or scared?

Luka (00:22:29):

Because if I feel like if I mess up, they're gonna still take that those kids that they had.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:22:34):

Why do you, why do you think that you're not going to mess up?

Luka (00:22:40):

I dunno. I just feel as like, you know, I've been, I, it feels like

Quincy Amarikwa (00:22:43):

You ever played a perfect game before?

Luka (00:22:45):

No, nobody has.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:22:47):

Okay. So why, why are you afraid that you're going to mess up?

Luka (00:22:54):

How do I feel? It's just the feel like, it feels like I'm just going to come in off of quarantine coming in. I, yeah, I've been doing drills. I have been, but I haven't been really, like, I feels like I'm just going to get tired real quick and somehow just lose everything.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:23:17):

Well, that's going to happen if that's all your focus is that's what you're focused on happening.

Luka (00:23:24):

So I should just focus on focus on just like, okay, so wait, what do you think? So what should I be focusing on? And what should I put my mind saying?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:23:33):

You tell me, what do you think you should be focusing on?

Luka (00:23:37):

I feel like I should just focus on how the game, how the game and how the practice is going to go. Cause it's like a, cause not officially a trial. I feel like it's just focused on that. If I mess up once, just keep on focusing. Okay. If you keep on focusing on what on just what's happening in the moment, like, forget about what happened before. Like if I make a bad pass, I lose the ball, you know, just forget about it.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:24:04):

And then how do you forget about it?

Luka (00:24:07):

I don't know. I just like, I don't know how to do it, like how

Quincy Amarikwa (00:24:11):

We're talking about it. Okay. But this is a problem you can't even forget about it and you haven't even done it yet.

Luka (00:24:16):

I probably like focus on what's happening at the moment. Like, just forget about the bad past and focus on what's going on and what's the next move going to be.

Luka (00:24:24):

Okay. Let's start back over. Okay. Got you. I understand.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:24:27):

I'm asking you questions cause I want to understand where you're coming from and how you see the game. Okay. All right. So I understand where I believe. I understand where you're coming from and how you see the game, but let's rebuild this mentality. Okay. Can you play a perfect game?

Luka (00:24:43):

No.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:24:44):

Okay. So why do you worry about playing a perfect game?

Luka (00:24:50):

Because there's like an extra program that if you play really well, you get into that.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:25:00):

Yeah. Yeah. But, well, I'm just talking about straight up from the first thought, when you're saying, what do I focus on? How do I focus? What does focus mean? Right? Yeah. I'm saying, I'm asking you, why is there any focus on playing a perfect game? If you know, you could never do it.

Luka (00:25:21):

Because I'm not, I'm not really focused on playing good. I'm just focused on not like playing bad.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:25:28):

Yeah. You're focused on not playing bad. So think about that. You're not playing to win. You're playing not to lose.

Luka (00:25:41):

So okay. So wait, that means that I should come in, focused on not messing up rather than playing. Well,

Quincy Amarikwa (00:25:50):

You should focus on you. Focus on what you know you're good at. And if, and when you not, if, but when you make a mistake, you literally go, everyone makes mistakes. Mistakes are how I'm going to get better. I want to make as many mistakes as possible. And then you're saying, well, I'm scared to make mistakes in front of people. Well, then make all your mistakes at home when no one's looking. And no one's watching. You're nervous and scared because you think you might not have put in enough work during quarantine. And you'll find out if you did, or didn't at your trial on Sunday. And if you show up and you find out that you didn't do enough work, that's nobody's fault, but your own, and there are no excuses other than you take your lump on your chin and you go, okay, I didn't do enough. What am I not good enough at? What did my competition do better than me? And what do I need to go spend all my time on my own, doing extra to make up for it. So that the next time I get my next opportunity, the next trial, I won't let this happen to me again.

Luka (00:26:54):

Yup.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:26:57):

Oh, got it. Got it?

Luka (00:27:00):

Got it.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:27:00):

Okay. And, and what will be good is we, we do the replay. We'll break this down and you'll have this clip as well to you so you can reference it in the future. But the main thing is good luck. Right? Got it. Focus on, focus on the fact that you're there to show why you're there to show what you're good at. Okay. And you're going to mess up. You're going to mess up. You're going to make mistakes and your focus isn't on what the coaches think of you and what they have to say. And if someone's making fun of you or you didn't do enough because messing up on this one day will not define who you are for the rest of your life. I got it. You're going to, you're going to have other opportunities and other chances in the future. And the idea is saying each opportunity that you get, you'll be better than you were the time before. That's your focus. That's your focus. I got it.

Luka (00:28:00):

Well, thanks Quincy.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:28:01):

Oh yeah, of course, man. Good luck this Sunday. And hopefully we'll see how it ends up going. And if it goes, it goes bad. That's good for sure. It goes, if it goes good. That's good too.

Luka (00:28:13):

Alright. I'll let you know. I'll shoot you a DM.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:28:16):

Awesome. Thanks.

Luka (00:28:17):

Alright, bye.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:28:18):

Later.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:28:21):

That's a great one. Thanks for calling in Luca. Appreciate that. That was a solid one. Jay pro skill said Michael Jordan. Didn't make it on his first try. That is correct. Let me think. I also, I played JV my freshman year of high school. Yeah, I didn't make varsity my freshman year of high school. And then my sophomore year of high school, I made varsity and I never played. So

Quincy Amarikwa (00:28:53):

The lower you start let's see, Ryan mash said, every opportunity is a learning opportunity. That's facts. J J U S E F 10 said, Hey, Quincy, I just don't know how to stay motivated when you're all by yourself. And nobody has their hand on your shoulder to say, I believe in you don't give up. You're almost there. You know how you do it. You put your hand on your own shoulder, you look in the mirror and you say, I believe in me and I'm going to do whatever it is that I need to do to get to where I want to be and where I want to go. And it doesn't matter if nobody believes in me now. And it doesn't matter if nobody supports me now, I will figure out how to support myself.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:29:45):

Okay.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:29:45):

And that is the mentality that is necessary. If you don't have support, if you don't have people there, if you don't have motivation, you've got to figure out a way to create motivation for yourself. And I try to share with you guys ideas for how to remove motivation, being external. We want to, we want to do what we can to make motivation internal because what are you going to do the days that you don't have those external motivations that kind of ties back to earlier in the call where we're saying, Hey, how will guys' performance change without the, without the crowd, without the energy, right? That could be an external motivating factor. I think there'll be a couple of guys who are going to learn a tough lesson and one is they feed off the energy of the crowd and that motivates them to play better and to play at a higher level. And if you're someone who doesn't need that external motivation, not having a crowd can be your advantage. So this will be a very interesting way to view the game and to, I guess, for me to kind of look at and see how guys adapt or die on the field based on kind of changes in environment. So

Quincy Amarikwa (00:31:09):

Let's see what we got here.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:31:15):

[Inaudible]

Quincy Amarikwa (00:31:16):

Increased football, said, Quincy, do you track how many calories you eat every day? I do not like, I'm not a calorie counter. But I also am very in tune with my body and I understand the calories I'm into ingesting and, and how I'm going about consuming calories. So,

Quincy Amarikwa (00:31:42):

Yeah,

Quincy Amarikwa (00:31:43):

Everyone's a little bit different. I know some guys who are strategically planning every single game and the counting calories up, up and down and they know exactly how much and all that kind of stuff. I'm not a, I'm not an avid believer in the idea that nutrient and this is, I'm more than careful with what I'm saying here in terms of what I'm saying. Nutrition is an important aspect of the game, but it isn't the highest priority in terms of output. In my opinion, I believe, I believe nutrition is the easiest thing on the list that everyone can do, and it doesn't yield as great of results as

Quincy Amarikwa (00:32:25):

Yeah.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:32:26):

People

Quincy Amarikwa (00:32:29):

Make it out to be. And I know that maybe, you know, nutritionists and people who are very much health, health oriented will be completely against that and not, not agree with that in any capacity. I guess I'm just speaking for my own personal experience and, and what I've seen over the course of time and years when I have been on those calorie counting and strategic and militant and all that kind of stuff, the, the benefit that I got from doing so wasn't so substantial that it was worth the, the mental energy and the yeah, the mental energy that's dedicated and the money that's that's required for implementing it. I think you can get enough calories and nutrition out of, you know, everything, you know, a regular diet. I just, I think, I think a lot more weight is put into it because it's easy to sell nutrition programs and make a lot of money in the health industry, by selling people on the idea that, you know, eating this means you'll run this much faster, this much stronger and all that kind of stuff, but everybody has their own thing.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:33:38):

So, you know, that's just let's see, we got here S T E C six said going back to the leadership, I want to serve and help the less experienced players and don't want the captain role for anything personal. How do I become better from that mindset? Well, I think a great place to start is asking players how you can help not telling them you can help them. I think that was something, it took me a little while to, to grasp and learn. It's subtle, but it makes a big difference. Maybe someone doesn't want your help. Maybe someone doesn't want you to be the leader. A good leader can acknowledge that, can understand that and can still work with that person, or find ways to work with them. And a great way to start and to be able to do that is to ask how you can help not say that you can help or show that you're helping or telling them that you're helping let the individual determine what help is for them.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:34:46):

And, and if you're open and, and able to facilitate that then, and you want to go ahead and if you don't then, okay, it doesn't make you a terrible person and it doesn't make you, you know yeah, it doesn't make you a terrible person, but it also, again, practicing those three S's of self awareness, you might need to reassess that maybe you aren't meant to be the leader right now, or there's things in skills and experiences that you need to gain before. You're elected to a leadership position, right? It takes time to earn the role of a leader and it takes a lot of experience and work to do so. So if that's your real, that would be, that would be my advice to you on that. Let's see, we've got some other, a lot of questions coming in here.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:35:50):

Here we go. Earl Earl had asked, what do you think of Kevin Duran buying part of the Philadelphia union? I believe that many individuals, many smart individuals understand the, the trend that's happening here in the United States. And that trend is very heavily pushing in the direction of soccer, becoming a mainstream sport here in America, over the next, you know, five, 10 years just at a grassroots level, the number of players and kids who were playing the game, parents who played the game and now are having kids and encouraging them to play the game. For instance, I'm a, I'm a father now, right? I've got a two year old, two years in nine, eight months and a one year old and I'm already playing the game with them and, and I'm excited to teach them what I know. And, you know, I think this is the first real generation where we grew up with the sport.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:36:48):

We have a strong tie to the sport, and we're now going to be able to teach that to our children. And then, you know, obviously obviously I believe that's just an exponential curve. That's going that way as time goes on. And I think smart investors are figuring out ways in which they can, they can invest in that in that wave and get in early, I think individuals like a Kevin Durant have access to opportunities that most other individuals wouldn't have access to at this point in time because of the level that they are currently at and their access. So I think it's a, I think it's a net positive for the league as well as him as an individual. It diversifies it diversifies the industries, he's a part of it, diversifies his portfolio. He obviously is mindful and business savvy and you know, you got to establish and get, get yeah, you got to get established in some capacity, which is which is good.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:37:53):

Having said all of that, I do believe a lot of these guys do not understand the fundamental nature and business model of the MLS. I think a lot of them are bought in based on the, the marketing machine. That is the MLS, which is very powerful. It's it's it's yeah, it's a well oiled machine and there are a lot of issues and problems with the MLS system that definitely need to be addressed and taken care of. And I believe that the MLS will eventually get it right if they remain committed

Quincy Amarikwa (00:38:36):

To the ideals and the things that they've been sharing, especially as of late on their platforms and channels. So I think a lot of a lot of people have probably been seeing the the, the posts from the MLS, especially with relation to the black lives matter movement and racial inequality here in the league, and have made a lot of public statements about how they're in supportive black of, of the black player pool. And, and they're committed to longterm change and fundamentally changing the way in which they operate. Those are great messages and I'm all for that, but messages mean nothing without action. So, Mmm.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:39:20):

And not just action, consistent action, commitment of action over a long duration of time. So if anybody is interested in seeing the, you know, the posts that I've put on my personal account, as a, as of late the the how not to be racist posts and dealing with racism, I think was episode 48 and then how not to be racist and like episode 72, you can see clips of that

Quincy Amarikwa (00:39:46):

On 'em

Quincy Amarikwa (00:39:47):

On my page there. Oh, Earl said, shut up Paul for that question. So that was a question that came in from Paul. Thank you for that, Paul. That was a good one. Ryan said, I'd, I'd say number one is lead by example before offering any advice to others to make sure you're following that same advice. I agree with that one, a thumbs up from PG sports thumbs up from Serena thumbs up from Heather. And yeah. And Paul also said James harden owns parts of part of Houston as well. Yes. So I think, I think these guys are probably, obviously they know each other, they talk a lot. They're they're I think professional players are much more business-minded here in to here in today than necessarily in the past and because of their networks and where they're coming from, they've their, their their access to things is, is something that I think would be foolish not to take full advantage of

Quincy Amarikwa (00:41:00):

Let's see. Yo Jordan. So Y O J X, R D a N asked what was going through your head when you first signed your first pro contract. Oh, okay. So let's, that's a good question. So let's see. What was that? What was I thinking then? Okay. what I was thinking was, so my first, so I was in college and I was on a minute, I guess what's considered a minimum full ride scholarships. So at that time I was making $20,000 a year for my scholarship, which was, which was what I used to cover my tuition. And then we got something called remainder checks at that time at UC Davis. And then I'd use that and I budgeted out so that I could pay for housing and then any additional money that I was needing to live, I would do, I would buy and sell items on eBay and Amazon.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:41:55):

So flipping books and Bape shoes and Bay puddings, and t-shirts and bikes, and literally everything, iPods iPod stuff, stuff like that. And in my fourth year I got dressed, I got invited to the combine, and then I got drafted by the San Jose earthquakes while I was still in while I was still in school. So I'd commute back and forth between school and San Jose to do training. So I'd have training and then I'd, then I'd drive. You know, what would I do? So, so walking you guys through this whole process. So I would get up at like, would it be like five in the morning, five 30 in the morning, then I drive two hours, two and a half hours, depending on traffic to San Jose to be there in time to go to training. And I do training until training was done.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:42:46):

And then immediately when training was over, I'd get back in the car, I drive back to Davis and then I'd go to class from, you know, two or three until seven or eight. So I adjusted my schedule so I could, so I can do that. And that's what I was doing under my first professional contract. So what I was thinking when I signed it was okay, I can still attend class and finished school while playing professional soccer, which is great. And I was also thinking that I'm not signing for a particularly large amount of money, but I'm looking at it from the perspective of my plan and goal is to start and build a business of my own. And if I'm able to have a job, you know, a full time job that I only have to commit two to three hours to a day for a full time entry level position salary at that time, it was my minimum was $34,000.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:43:48):

I looked at it in terms of, you know, someone's paying me $34,000 a year to work out for three hours a day. And I have the rest of the day to myself to, to to, to invest in myself, invest in my business, come up with ideas and stuff like that as well, too. So that hopefully that gives you guys a full picture as to what I was thinking about at that time and how I was approaching it and how I was trying, how I was able to integrate the pro contract and playing professional with, you know, my education because of the fact that money was so low. It definitely, wasn't something that you want to just put all your eggs into that basket, right? It was important that I still attended school and I encourage many players to find that balance and make it work.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:44:40):

Cause you can if you, if you try to say that you can't do both, it's not true. You, you just, it's not, it just means school is not a high enough priority for you. That's all that really means. And if that's the case and that's true, that's fine, but know that that's your decision. And it may greatly negatively impact you in the future if things don't work out as a, as a player. So being mindful of that. And I always like to make sure that we're being open and honest here, self honesty, first pillar of the AmeriCorps process and, and the MSL mentality. So unlike in that as you guys know, the live show is an hour we're coming in on the 45th minute Mark. So we've got about 15 minutes here before Instagram officially kicks me off. I'm loving, I'm loving the questions and I'm loving the engagement.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:45:31):

I'm loving the fact that people are still hanging around. If you, if you I think that's the first time I shared what my kind of experience when I was in college, in the beginning on that, that first pro contract driving back and forth. So if you like that and stuff like that, spam that heart button. So I know those are stories that you guys like hearing and just making any sense and a drop in your thoughts, what that makes you think or, or whatever. Cause you know, those guys gave me that feedback. So, so I can, I can grow up level the mental stray. Yeah. Speaking of which has the, I know MLS MLS is coming back. Hashtag MLS is back, got this on the VQ. Is it going to listen to it? Oh, that's the, that's the, we call it. That's not the video. So let me show you guys the video.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:46:51):

A, yeah. That's good is a, say an MLS is, is back. Hashtag MLS is black. Yo Emma M MSL army. Oh, that's what I was thinking because who was I talking to about talking to you about this? You know, MLS is doing their MLS is his back campaign. I wanted to have some fun and do an MLS is black campaign. So if you guys are tagging, hashtag MLS is black under any MLS posts. And then tagging the I'm in your head emoji on anything and everything they do like on Twitter, Instagram, all over the place. I'll be able to see in search the hashtag and see who's done it and tag it. And over time, I'm just gonna be doing random merge giveaways, like soccer balls and perfect soccer B pro weekly training programs, skills Academy, t-shirts maybe dope.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:47:46):

MSL hats, some perfect soccer merge. Maybe you'll get yourself a nice I'm in your head blankets. Yeah. I wanted to have some fun with that. So it's the MSL is black. MSL is black. The MLS is black campaign or the MSL. The MLS is black challenge. I like that. MLS is black challenge. Cause you know, I saw a lot of, I saw a lot of individuals saying that they, they stand with the black player pool, they support the black initiatives. They, they agree that, you know, people have been quiet too long and been too passive about things for, for too long. And they want to, they want to encourage change and they want to do more than just one social media post. So I figured, Hey, let's have some fun and make it an ongoing campaign. With the hashtag MLS is black campaign and it gives you an opportunity to win some free merch.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:48:41):

I'll do some shout outs. Even now I'm thinking about it on the fly. What I'll do is like, as you guys are just spamming, spamming, all the MLS posts on Twitter and Twitter and Instagram and Facebook and all that stuff with the hashtag MLS is black and I'm in your head emojis. I'll be able to screenshot some, some individuals and I'll do some giveaways here next week. Or shout out who will be getting some, some merchant stuff. If you guys like ideas like that, like give me some Jesus' hands or something. And let me know if you're down for that. If you like that, you know what I mean? If you participate, if you're about that action. The Lucas MSL, I mean your head emojis, England 2130. What up England? What time is it over there, man? Let me know. Let's see in you. Paul said get John Siena on, make that happen, bro. You know, tell him to come join, bro. Let's go. Let's have a conversation. You think MLS is gonna like open up anytime soon. Are they going to keep pretending that we're not here? What do you guys think?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:49:56):

We good? What do you guys think you guys feel in the wave yet? It's a wave coming yet. What do you guys feel? Where do you guys feel? Where do you guys think we're at in the process? Like what do you, what do you guys think is coming when he feels coming? There we go. Heather's given the clap hands, candle, welcome wave. And [inaudible] with the Jesus' hand Zuri with the Jesus' hands Paul's with the Jesus' hands and Nish. What's going on. What's happening? Joe Jackson with the enemy in your head, emojis, he burned hands loving that. England said it's 2:51 AM in England. Look at that soldier, soldier, soldier. Let's see what we got here. Okay. Use if I answered that question, you know what, I'm just throwing this up on the screen cause yeah, 100 fire emoji. That's how I'm feeling right now. 100.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:51:06):

Mmm.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:51:13):

Kendall said slow, fast than slow. The Lucas said here everything, pupil, everything underscore that might be underscore, underscore everything, underscore football. How did you train during quarantine? Like or like what did your individual training look like to keep your fitness and touch? So the way in which I had to approach it is probably substantially different than the typical player because I'm in my free agency. So because of that, I'm not with any particular organization. So I don't, I don't yet know what formation philosophy coaching style I'll be a part of. So when that is the case, and I don't know if, and when I'll be signing, you know, it could be one day, it could be one year. You literally don't know it's basically quarantined. So I think a lot of people are getting a taste of what it's like to be a free agency player with that uncertainty.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:52:09):

But what's, what's important is a steady state, consistent body, weight based workout circuit. So what does that even mean? So it's really a steady state run for 15, 20 minutes, maintaining the pace the, the same pace the entire time and then a body weight circuit. So, you know, squats, lunges, side lunges core work, man. And then a ball ball work ball touch touches circuit, so that nothing complex, nothing crazy, very simple. And just the same thing every single time. And I think that's what that's, what's most difficult for people to understand. It's very difficult to do the simple things well and to do the simple things consistently over time. So most people are looking to change it up and switch it up and keep it new and keep it fresh. But doing so means you're wasting a lot of mental energy on, on needing to keep the motivation outside of yourself, keep tying the motivation to something new,

Quincy Amarikwa (00:53:22):

Right,

Quincy Amarikwa (00:53:24):

Doing new things is good. And having new

Quincy Amarikwa (00:53:26):

Experiences is great and being open to new things is great as well, too, but also knowing what you do and having a consistent routine is, is also powerful in its own way. That kind of ties to the whole linear versus exponential thinking talk that I've done in the past. So if you guys haven't listened to that you can definitely search the perfect soccer PS clips Mmm.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:53:51):

Playlist, over on YouTube. The Lucas has, should I make a MLS back to black post or just blow up MLS post to enter, give with? I think the more the merrier bro,

Quincy Amarikwa (00:54:14):

Why not?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:54:18):

The more you do the more chances to win and you guys already know I get super next level with having too much fun and do too much or doing just enough.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:54:31):

What do you think you never know for the more, the more, you know

Quincy Amarikwa (00:54:39):

Kendall dot cops.soccer ass. What advice do you have for me a 12 year old girl from New Jersey? Well, Kendall I've seen, I think I've seen you in the live here in, in the past. I would encourage you to go to perfect soccer skills.com/login account and create a perfect soccer team membership account. If you haven't already make sure you read the perfect soccer player blueprint, and that should really help give you a solid foundation. And by reading that book and getting access to that book, you also get access to our private Facebook group where you can get your specific questions answered by pro player. So pro players moderate that group. And when you guys read the book and take initiative and actually learn from what we teach and ask us questions based on what you learned from the book, you get your questions answered in that fit in that Facebook group.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:55:31):

So I don't think I've talked about the Facebook group here for awhile. Cause we've got, we're doing so many things and there's so many moving parts, but yeah. By, by getting a free copy of our book and reading it and learning from that, you also get access to getting your questions answered directly by pros. So that's a resource that's available to to you. So I would suggest that I'd also would highly suggest everybody makes sure they head to perfect soccer skills.com/sss and listen to the three S's of self awareness talk that I did at bill Hamid's camp last summer. I I was talking to you Earl. I think I keep saying lesbians, but let, let's be on an honest is his name, but I always see lesbians. He attended that talk the three S's of self and got a lot of value out of it.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:56:26):

I think it was episode 71. You can check out how the three S's of self awareness helped him become a better person and coach. So you guys definitely, definitely do not do not pass up investing a little bit of time and watching that talk. I think it will be a valuable, a valuable one for you. What we'll also need to do is Paul, if you're still on, we'll probably definitely need to turn that into a Quincy talks episode so we can get that published over on the, on the podcast as well. Oh, other updates Mark Pelosi, shout out Mark Pelosi. My boy up on the screen here. I got like two or three minutes before Instagram will kick me off, but shout out my boy, Mark Pelosi. He was our guests this week on the perfect soccer podcast.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:57:24):

You know, sharing his story and how he made it to Liverpool, Liverpool FC. So if you want to know how, let's see if we're switching that up, switching it book my boy, how he made it a to Liverpool FC. We were teammates on the San Jose earthquakes. We were locker mates as well too. And we're we're business partners. We we've, we've invested in a lot of businesses and ventures together. One of which being I think the first one that we had partnered on and, and got going was our real estate, our real estate fund. And yeah, it's grown into many, many, many things since then, which has been really awesome to see. For those of you who are interested in real estate and learning what we did there, we broke that down. So you could learn as well too over@leverageinvestmentgroup.com.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:58:15):

So it's all for fun. It's all for educational purposes only. So we're just teaching you guys what it is that we did for ourselves. So you can you can do it for yourself too, if you want to or not. Ryan said, shout out Mark for being a force alumni too. Yeah. So I didn't even realize that until right now, Ryan crazy. Huh? We've got the force over there. You guys see the path to make it, to making it to Liverpool telling you, you guys, our platform, we're sharing, we're sharing the gyms, we're sharing the gems, but I got one minute left before Instagram kicks me off. Everybody thank you very much for tuning into today's episode. Spam that heart button, if you're loving it and you enjoyed it and drop me some I'm in your head emojis. If you've got them, if you got them as we've got the last minute to go last minute, Heather said, bye everyone.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:59:16):

See you next Thursday. And thank you, Quincy. I learned a lot today. Thank you very much for tuning in Mo M O H S I N M M a L K 14. Please join in next week and I'll make sure to answer your question. I wasn't able to get to it. Literally got 40 seconds before Instagram kicked me off. John gave me the Jesus' hands. Heather gave me the I'm in your head, Luca. I'm in your head. Joe Jackson said, thanks. Quincy love the live John Hollinger I'm in your head. Reese puppy, R E L E I'm in your head. Everyone was spammed that heart button and I appreciate it. Jay pro skills. Thank you very much. Respond by Andrea's by Zuri. Thank you, Quincy. The best podcast. Thank you guys very much. I appreciate it. And as always, I'll see you next week. I mean your head.