Thoughts On God | EP. 089
The #AskASocerPro show is a Live video podcast where 11 year MLS vet and Mental Strength Coach Quincy Amarikwa dives into the mentalities of highly successful individuals both on and off the pitch. In this weeks episode Quincy goes over thoughts on god, tips for goalkeepers and more.
Time Stamps
0:00-6:57 Welcome to the #AskASoccerPro Show episode 89!
6:58-8:20 Tips on getting back in shape after taking a break from the game @nisarahmad_afgan
8:21-10:18 How is playing with Vegas Different than playing with DC @george_battistelli
13:45 - 24:08 Thoughts on god? @jjusef10
24:45-28:07 Are you mentoring any of your teammates in Las Vegas @george_battistelli
Perfect Soccer tattoo for episode 100? @george_battistelli
How do you get your style of hair? @dylanhadley_
31:08-36:46 How to handle being a wild defender? @live_rpoolfcfanpage
36:48-38:12 What are some tips for goalkeepers? @asasreel_mtz
41:05-43:10
44:01-45:49 How to handle going from defender to a forward? @danny.005 Quincy answered the question in the first section, in the second set he explained more after reading another comment from danny.
45:51-48:10 Wait for opportunities or take a lot of shots? @sageofdbz
48:25-51:57 Why Quincy stopped playing Fifa. @thatluka_
52:14-55:25 How do you boost team morale in a rough patch? @scottyyphillips
55:25-57:59 Thank you for stopping by for the AASP 89!!
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*Transcript is unedited and machine-generated. There will be errors. For further clarity please refer to the audio or video.
Quincy Amarikwa (00:00):
We're all here to ride the MSL waves. He mentioned the strength lead. I'd like to welcome you to another episode of the hashtag ask eight soccer, pro O G R I S or G R I E Z. I underscore 21. What's going on? What up? What up? Uh, Katie just popped in as well to you psycho. What's going on. Live our pool FC. What's going on, brother. Um, welcome. Welcome Reese puppy. I haven't seen you in a bit. How are you doing? Um, Nasir, Ahmad. Welcome. If you guys can hear me. All right, spam that heart button. Let me know what's up and put in these headphones. If that works better.
Quincy Amarikwa (00:55):
Can you guys hear me? All right, Joe Jackson, what's going on brother. A dot Ron underscore N or RO. What's up? What up? What up Danny? Welcome. Yo Jordan, what's going on? Good to see you guys. Good to see you. My MSL army. How is everybody doing? How's the week been so far? Everybody. What have you been up to? What's been going on. What's going on on your side of the world. Any good news? I could use some good news right now. What's what's, what's good on your side of the world. And while people join in and, uh, give me a little bit of a update as to what's going on on your side. I'd like to welcome everybody to another episode of be hashtag ask a soccer pro show episode 90 episode 90. I believe we're episode 90. Uh, wow. Look at that. 90, 90, 90, 10 more to the century club.
Quincy Amarikwa (02:07):
And I'm happy to have you guys along for the ride for those of you who are joining in for the first time or listening in on the replay sometime in the future, which will be our past here on the hashtag Assa soccer brochure. We talk about the M S L where we break down the MSL, which is the mental strength, Lee, George, what's going on, brother. Good to see you in your head. Uh, it is a game of four dimensional chess, where you are either an active participant or you are steady getting played. The MSL mentality mindset is the mindset you need to accomplish your goals. And that's what we set out to do every single day. And that's what we talk about here. Every single week on the channel, mental health, mental exercise, mental fitness, mental stamina, we get to all of that. We talk about anything and everything as it pertains life philosophy, mindset, mentality, and, uh, yeah.
Quincy Amarikwa (03:05):
Welcome. If you, if you're just now joining and you want to know how this works, you join in live, you drop your questions in the chat box. You engage in the community. You spam that heart button. If you're down with the MSL, you chop your eyes and your head emojis, and we have a good time here. 6:00 PM, PST 9:00 PM EST, every single Thursday, as you guys can see on my screen, it's a little teaser sneak peek as to the, uh, the black players for change mini pitch. The announcement was made, I think like two weeks ago now with the us soccer foundation, uh, the organization made a pledge of over a million dollars. So $1.8 million to go to 12 mini pitches and the hometown and communities of the organization. Things have adjusted a little bit. So not all the pitches are going in the hometowns because a lot of people have really resonated with the mission and the organization and what we've got going on.
Quincy Amarikwa (04:08):
And, uh, I'm excited for the first official flagship pitch that is getting completed just right now. You guys see a little teaser right there of a, of the pitch getting done. And, um, hopefully we'll be making the announcement as to the official location of the pitch here soon and the grand opening. So, um, while I start scrolling back through here, get into the questions and seeing some of the good news that you guys have shared. Um, have, have any of you guys been paying attention to, uh, or following black players for change? And what are your thoughts? Uh, got that. We got a little hair. Huh? Got it. Ha. Um, what are your thoughts? Have you been following it? What's going on? Uh, Griz grizzy said soccer school soccer started, so that is good. Joe Jackson said, made my school's varsity team on Tuesday. Congratulations, Joe.
Quincy Amarikwa (05:11):
I know you've been working hard and attended the lives regularly, so, um, I hope the show has been helping you in your pursuit, but congratulations on signing to varsity. That's dope. Um, let's see, uh, live our pool FC fan paid said I got referenced to a football agency. Fingers crossed will a good luck. Um, hope that's working out. That's really good news. Keep putting in that work. Um, uh, yes have said bad news ankle sprain. Hey, that's fair. That's, that's better than the types of injuries you could have gotten. Um, but I'm, I'm sorry. Hear that. Hopefully you'll be getting back to the field here soon, but make sure you're doing your rehab and region, um, to the utmost of your ability. Definitely head over to the YouTube channel and watch the, um, I think Ross did rusted, obviously Ross did a lot of fitness, Fridays episodes.
Quincy Amarikwa (06:15):
Um, I think there's a couple of, uh, specific, uh, recovery and like, uh, recovery sessions over on the YouTube channel. So hopefully that will be helpful. Um, let's see what we got here. Okay. Awesome. Seeing everybody dropping in. Hey Joe, you already know a Latifi what's going on, brother? Uh, my, uh, my old college teammate dropping by happy to see you, man. Um, thanks for stopping by. I don't know if you're still in the chat. Uh, but Nasir, uh, Ahmad underscore, Afghan said I have not played soccer for some time. Do you think you can give me some tips to get back into shape? What, speaking of YouTube, I just talked about YouTube. If you go onto our YouTube channel, so go to perfect soccer skills.com/youtube. There it'll forward you to the page and you can search in the top bar in that type, in, out of shape or get in shape.
Quincy Amarikwa (07:17):
Um, one of the most popular videos on our YouTube channels, how to get back into shape after you've, haven't been playing the game for a while. Ross did that like two years ago, I think, but you know how we do the content we talk about is evergreen. So I think that would be a great video for you to watch cause Ross breaks that down in detail. And then, um, as we're able to, uh, when you guys leave comments below that we, we respond to those comments specifically down there. So has more and more of you are joining the brand and joining the community and asking questions. We're having to get more and more people on the team to help us manage all those questions in the end and the comments and the stuff that's coming in. So you guys are giving me plenty of work to do, um, but it's good work.
Quincy Amarikwa (07:59):
So keep, keep putting that, keep investing that time in yourself. It's great to see danny.zero, zero five drop in the home in your head emojis. What's going on. I'm seeing everybody spamming that heart button, which is great to see what's going on. Uh, George, uh, George had asked, how is playing with the V uh, how is playing with Vegas different from DC, uh, United, I would say the biggest difference between DC United and Las Vegas is just the level of experience, uh, collective experience of the guys here in Vegas versus at DC. Obviously MLS is, you know, the top league here in the States and you've got a lot of players. Who've played tens, if not hundreds of games, uh, at the professional level, at the MLS level, at, at the USL level, there's a lot of guys who were trying to break into the MLS level. So they might have the desire or even the technical ability and skill, but what they don't have is the number of games. And then yeah, the number of games at the professional level to gain the experience, to really understand how to
Speaker 2 (09:12):
Yeah. How to maintain it,
Quincy Amarikwa (09:15):
That level for the entirety of the 90 minutes. I think the difference between a lot of levels of play isn't necessarily that each level is so much technically or skillfully better than the next, I think
Speaker 2 (09:31):
On, on a,
Quincy Amarikwa (09:31):
On average it's, as you go up every level, the length and time that people can stay tuned in and focused and, and, and, um, understanding of what's going on around them gets longer. So I think the lower you go in the levels, the shorter, the attention span, or the level of focus, and that ties into experience, right? The longer you're doing something, the more reps you get, the, the more experienced that you get. So I'd say that that's the, that's the biggest difference that I'm seeing while here, uh, McNasty stopping by what's going on? Uh, yeah, George said Griffin, ya'll got his first MLS goal, hashtag MSL. That's right. Love seeing my boy Griff get that goal very, very composed finished, very technically sound like I've said in the past. And you guys have seen Griffin joining on the ass on previous asset, hashtag asset soccer, pro show episodes.
Quincy Amarikwa (10:29):
Um, as well as I think we're going to be getting in here on the perfect soccer podcast here sometime soon. Um, he's, he's a talented, he's a talented player and he, he knows how to think the game, which is, which is great. And I mean, with ed his age and the time that he has and the support system that I see that surrounding him, um, sky's the limit for him. So I was really happy to see him get it back. His first professional goal, um, grizzy said, starting McDonald's work tomorrow. Congratulations on getting a job. I know a lot of people are struggling to find work here during, during this time. So any job is, uh, is, is great to have and to see, and you said, I finally get to buy some soccer equipment. So I love that as well, too. It's it's helping you. Um, complish your goals. Let's see what we got here.
Quincy Amarikwa (11:28):
11 seen you guys in the comment section and just engage in connecting with each other and Sharon positive vibes, polo, Apollo culture had said, I love the idea of looking forward to seeing more of what they do, especially as it's related to broadening access to the game in the hood. Yup. See, there was a switch set up. There will be change. Guys know what it is, where the MSL mentality and mindset is. Cross industry cross cultural cross platform. It is an inclusive mindset that accounts for everyone, everyone doesn't have to be ready, but we stay ready. So we don't have to get ready, which just means we're waiting for everybody to, to open up that third eye. You guys know the 20, 20 vision, 2020 vision. It's the 2020 vision. Cause there will be change.
Quincy Amarikwa (12:38):
But yes, I agree. What do you guys think? How long do you think it takes for people to really acknowledge and recognize the value, the influence of the MSL mentality and mindset? I would love to get your guys' feedback for those of you who have been following the brand and, and, uh, diving into the mentality and checking out the three S's of self-awareness talk and, and doing your own internal self reflection and practicing self awareness. Has that been valuable to you? Like what, what keeps you coming back in? How long do you think it takes for everybody it'll take for everybody else to realize the good work we've got going on over here.
Quincy Amarikwa (13:31):
Okay. So let's see. Let's see what we got questions here. Okay. There we go. Yes. If we're going to, well, let's, let's get to it. So I know USF has had asked this question in a previous episode, but, um, I think it was towards the end of the show. And I had said, Hey, this might be, this might open up a can of worms. And I wanted to make sure that we'd have enough time to discuss it or talk about it more, more deeply. So thoughts on God, let's set context for it. So the way I like to think about the word God in the first place is I think we can come to the agreement or understanding that most people at the very surface level, use that as a word to describe something that's out, that's, that's omnipresent, that's all powerful. That's all knowing that's either in control or has massive influence over you or us or the universe or spirits or kind of whatever.
Quincy Amarikwa (14:38):
So it's an all omnipresent being, right? So I think the first thing in thinking of that for me is okay, in terms of having conversation, let's assume that that being entity, God exists. If so, what does that mean for us as people for our friends or family, the what we're doing here and all of that, you know, the question the, the whole existential crisis or question of, I think, therefore I am, you know, what is this? Where are we? What does this all mean? Um, for me, the way I think about it is I think that we are, are, we all are our own gods, right? We are, we are of God or we are God. And the way I think about it is okay for those who, those who believe in God and that God exists in most religious contexts, God, we are made in God's image, right?
Quincy Amarikwa (15:52):
So we are of God. We are a piece of God. That means if we're a piece of God, we are God, we are a piece of God. So when I say we are our own gods, most people see, like you're saying, you're a God. And all this I'm saying we are of God. So if you're someone who believes in that, I say we are of God. So I think it's not a stretch to say we are our own gods in our own. Right? So that's one, then others will say, they don't believe in God. If you don't believe in God, then that means if you don't believe in God, then you are essentially godly in your own way because you have autonomy. You have the freedom to make decisions and decide for yourself what you want to do, independent of anything else. Right? So that's why, yes, this is why I said, this is a question that I was saying, we need to make sure we have enough time to kind of dive into, but I'm, I'm happy to go on this writer journey.
Quincy Amarikwa (16:41):
So the reason why I break it up into those two pieces is I'm saying whether you believe in God or you don't believe in God, the concept of what God has the ability to do or the influence or the power is relative. And we talk a lot about it on the show, in terms of context. I think context is the most important thing when talking about anything, because context means what are you speaking to relative to something else? And if we're talking about God, we're saying God relative to us, or no, God relative to us. And within that context, the word still has meaning. And if the word has meaning, then we can apply whatever meaning we want to the word, which means we have the power to, to command our words and make decisions based on what words mean to us. So hopefully you guys are still following with me in kind of how I'm viewing it and how I, how I see it.
Quincy Amarikwa (17:45):
Um, because for me that is important to understand if you want to build something of value and meaning over the long term, over a long time, um, let's see what we got here. Uh, so, so, okay. Dylan said, dude, this is not right dot, dot, dot. What is not right, please elaborate. But those are my, those are my kind of thoughts, my thoughts on God and how I, how I try to understand my personal experience in the world. And people's people's experiences in the world that I don't have access to, or I don't have personal, uh, uh, direct experience, personal experience in. And, uh, Oh, I forgot. I had re I had written it down. I had written it down or it might've tweeted it out. And I think what I would, I would, I tweeted was if you are a God, you realize when you can become the devil, when you're the devil, you don't realize you're God.
Quincy Amarikwa (19:26):
So that, those thoughts, the kind of the, what we're talking about in terms of where I'm, where I'm out in times, in terms of the thinking, the philosophy of it, that would be kind of the summary of my takeaways from where, where that's at, um, or how I would best understand that or can convey how the idea as I kinda think it in my head. So, and this year had said, and this year Afghan had said, thank you very much. You guys helped me a lot. And I want to play for my four year university, which will be in one, one and a half years. Well, keep putting in that work. And I hope, uh, I hope to see you reach and accomplish your goal. So let's see what we got here. So Dylan had said the idea that we are a, a piece of God is accurate, but because we made, we're made in his image, the idea is purely a Christian perspective.
Quincy Amarikwa (20:20):
No other faith believes that. So also if you're, if you're taking this perspective, a Christian, I wouldn't say no other faith has taken that just, Nope. I understand what you mean, but let's see. So also, if you're taking this perspective, Christians, believe we are children of God, followers of him. Never. We are God or the devil. Just my thoughts. Yeah. No. Okay. Dylan. So I understand that. So if we're talking about relative to the Christian faith, so this is cool. This is good. I appreciate you dropping this because this is, this is good. What I'm saying is relative to the Christian faith, I know Christians believed that we are your children of God. But if, if we're just talking about in terms of just the genetic makeup of being a human in general, right? You're literally saying you have the genetic makeup, or you have half of the genetic code of your mother and your father. So that's passed down to you. So you are of them. So in that context, that's where I'm saying
Quincy Amarikwa (21:22):
You being of them, you're a piece of them. So you can say you are of them. I understand what you're saying in terms of what God means to people in terms of how it's applied. God is considered in the Christian faith, just a single entity, a single person that that's detached from everything else and everybody else, but you are children of, of them, of him or of her, depending on how you see it or what you think about it. Even the word and the use of the word children means there's, there's meaning behind that. So to be children, that means you were the genetic makeup of that. So that's what I'm saying. The link in terms of the terms of you can, I can see the claim of that because of how people can choose to use the words. Um, uh, we are all children of God, followers of him, never.
Quincy Amarikwa (22:16):
We are God or the devil. Okay. I understand. But then also when you're saying we never are God or the devil, but you're also saying a sin. We are all sinners in the eyes of God. And, and just we're all centers because we are not perfect, but sin is a creation of what the devil. So if, if, if you're, if, um, if sin is the creation of the devil and you are a participant in sin, so there are parts of you that are, are the devil and you're, and that's why when I'm expressing in terms of you're a God, when you realize when you can become the devil, which means you're following God's words, or in terms of the Christian faith, you're following God's words or God's practices, or what he believes you should do when you recognize the times at which you could be doing the devil's work. Right. But the moment you're doing the devil's work in this context, you are not of God. You're not in alignment with him or following him or her because you're sinning. So that's where I'm saying for me, the way in which I, I bring it together in terms of my understanding, regardless of religious context or background, it's saying the word God is, or the use of the word, God is dependent on how you act in the world, um, relative to yourself.
Quincy Amarikwa (23:46):
Yeah, we can, I appreciate you sharing your thoughts though. Cause I'm sharing mine and I'm loving this K 23 Hampton said Quincy would make a great philosophy teacher. Thank you very much. Um, let's see what we got here, but I appreciate that question. I know you had asked that before and I was like, Oh, I gotta make sure we've got enough time to get into that one. Um, soccer dad for life dropped by. What's going on. Welcome. Welcome. Let's see, I think, uh, what other questions have come in? Oh, soccer equipment. I scrolled up too high.
Quincy Amarikwa (24:38):
Oh, George had asked, are you mentoring any of your teammates, uh, with Las Vegas? Um, uh, yeah, I've already started working with a couple of the guys here and, uh, working on that mental strength, which has been cool to see, um, you know, we, we haven't had a lot of time, but I think we've made some pretty good progress with a few of the guys in this short amount of time. And I'm, I'm pretty confident that I'll probably be working with some of these guys here moving forward. Um, let's see what we got here. George said, I have a great idea for episode 100. You should get a perfect soccer tattoo. I'm not quite there yet.
Quincy Amarikwa (25:25):
I'm not opposed to tattoos. I like the idea of tattoos. I I'm, I don't like the idea of the permanence of tattoos. Um, and also I guess culturally, like being a, you know, Nigerian culture, the tattoos are very negatively frowned upon, especially when growing up. I think, you know, times have changed and it's not as negatively looked upon or frowned upon as it was in the past, but that probably has a pretty heavy influence on why I, I like them. I think they're pretty cool, but I, I don't believe I'll get to a point where I will actually get one. Maybe if they do some like temporary ink type of tattoo stuff, you know, like the last six months or a year or something like that, I'd do something like that. But the idea of getting a tattoo and then thinking that it's going to be there until I'm dead.
Quincy Amarikwa (26:33):
Uh, I guess I'm not opposed to it, I guess is what I'm saying. Like I'm not opposed to it. I guess I just haven't found anything that I've felt compelled enough to tattoo on my body permanently. Um, so you don't say how to get your style haircut. It's pretty easy to be honest with you. This is the easiest haircut that I've ever had because it takes me like four minutes to do. I literally just shaved the side up to the top all the way around, but typically I can only get you. Should've seen it this morning. Cause I just shaved this. I just got it this morning. And then I'll always have like a patch on the back of my head because I, I'm not, I cannot for the life of me, look in the mirror and have the mirror behind me and adequately, accurately put it and shave.
Quincy Amarikwa (27:36):
If I, if I try to do it, I'll shave half the back of my head. So what I have to do is I, I do like 95% of it on my own. And then either my wife helps me get the rest or I have to, I have to, I have to ask one of my teammates or friends to come in and help me fix, fix the back of it. Uh, junior Burgos helped me, uh, help me fix it this morning. So shout out junior for helping me out with that. That was very nice of him. Um, uh, live our pool said I have a soccer ball and shoe tattoo. When did you get that? How much did it cost you? How much your tattoos? I've never done any research into tattoos. Okay. If okay, there you go. If you guys were going to get a tattoo, if you have a tattoo, what kind of tattoo do you have? And if you were going to get a tattoo, what would you get a tattoo of? Dylan said money. You mean you'd get a tattoo of money or, or costs a lot of money to get a tattoo? See live said when I was 18, it costs me 80 bucks. Okay. Yes. I've said no tattoo. Let's see what we got here. Alright, so [inaudible] alright. Let's do the call in. We've got a call in. Let's see if it gets connected. Hello and bounce. I think people, people call in not expecting to get, get in on the call,
Quincy Amarikwa (29:42):
The Luca what's going on. George said, I don't even remember how much it costs me. Oh man. What'd you get a tattoo of you serve though, right? George. So is that where you got a tattoo of? That would be my guess. Um, yeah. Um, let's see. I think I've gone through the questions in the question box, if anyone has any other questions. Okay. So love pool. It said, so drop your questions in the question box if you have them or obviously in this. Okay. For the Navy. Okay. Yeah. Good. Guess that's what I was thinking. Um, the Lucas said, did you see a lot of time got COVID now? I did not. Um, I don't even know like where he's playing or like what is going on? And X five said no worries. Or X five said, sorry, my internet is very bad. No worries.
Quincy Amarikwa (30:52):
No worries. Um, okay. And then I don't think I answered this. Uh, my friend said I'm wild. Does that work with being a defender? Uh, yeah, at times I think controlled chaos was I watch it. I was watching watch itself park last night, loved that show. That's a good show. And I was also thinking about how long ago that shit started. I remember being in sixth grade and on one of my, um, one of my, my reports. So I had to like write a paper. And on the, like you had to have a cover, a cover, uh, page for the paper I drew Cartman. And I, and I wrote this paper is like sweet or like a plus or whatever. I got like a, like an F I think that like an F word D on it, because the teacher was mad that I wrote a South park character on the front of my, of my, of my, uh, paper.
Quincy Amarikwa (31:54):
But I guess I was just thinking about that show started back at least before then. So that's at least 20 years and that show's still going, uh, going strong, which I thought was funny. I'm tying that all in to the fact that, uh, being wild and I was thinking of professor, uh, professor chaos. So that's, butter's alter ego is professor chaos. Right. And being wild is okay if it's controlled. So controlled chaos. So if you're, if you're perceived as wild, that can be an advantage to you on the field, because that means you're unpredictable and being unpredictable is an asset on the field. In my eyes. I believe being unpredictable is a positive in some ways, but I also know it is negative in others. Touches want to be able to predict what you will do on the field because they want to be able to control what you do or at least fit what you do within their system.
Quincy Amarikwa (32:57):
Um, and I understand that, but I'm also a believer of giving players freedom to learn and to explore and to learn from mistakes and the best way that they can do that is, um, having the ability to make those mistakes, have faith have trust in their coach. Um, so it's a balance and I think that's what the balance of coaching is to structure is also necessary. So you can learn. Um, but I, I was saying, I'm saying all of that to really say, are you being wild just to be wild, or are you being wild strategically? Are you doing it with a purpose and what's your purpose and is that purpose going to help you accomplish your goals? Or is it going to deter you from accomplishing your goals? I would say something with me, many coaches throughout my career have, have tagged me and branded me as, um, a wildcard right.
Quincy Amarikwa (33:53):
Or unpredictable. And that has not been a positive that has not been a positive thing that helps you in your career in many ways. Right. Um, but it's understanding yourself and if you're okay with that and if that's who you are. So for me, I understand why I'm branded that way or I would, I'm perceived that way because I am right. But it's strategic. Um, it's a way in which I view the game that I guess is considered an Orthodox. So I think there's been a few coaches in my life who have understood me in the sense that I'm the type of player that, uh, if you tell me what you're wanting and how you're wanting it done, just give me the freedom and trust to believe that I'm going to go and execute on that to the best of my ability. Um, but being, being told that you cannot express yourself and you can't be yourself is something that I'm not, I'm not okay with.
Quincy Amarikwa (35:12):
I don't, I don't agree with that. I think that is the reason why many people don't have access to the sport and don't have access to the game and don't have access to positive experiences. That's why I'm so stubborn when it comes to that. And I'm, so I'm strong minded and opinionated when it comes to those types of things because, um, I've, I've had a lot of experience being on the short end of the stick of a lot of stuff. And I want to create spaces and abilities and pathways, um, for players, parents, coaches, individuals, to, to not have to experience those things. And I mean, that aligns with the, you know, the organization, black pins for change organization and the work that we're doing and the, and the ways in which we're creating paths to a more equitable game and more inclusive game that, uh, gets this plate pay to play system out of here.
Quincy Amarikwa (36:21):
Um, or at least doesn't limit everyone's ability to participate just based on money or their lack of it or access to it. Um, let's see. We got, okay. Shout out to our goalkeepers, um, a S a R E L underscore MTZ asks, what are some tips you have for goalkeepers? Well, the first tip I'd have for goalkeepers, which would be most disruptive, I say, go to perfect soccer skills.com/login account, create yourself your own perfect soccer team membership account, because there is now the ultimate goal keeper blueprint and the perfect soccer team membership area. Um, that book, um, ha is, is, um, an aggregation of a lot of the thoughts and experiences of Alex can. He's a goalkeeper for Atlanta United, as well as stewards say, use, um, as a contributor to that. And was there a third goalkeeper? I'm not sure, but I know Earl Edward shear will be helping me with that here. Soon when we've got a bit more time, a lot of, a lot of irons in the fire and a lot of stuff's been going on, but I would head over there cause that'll get you. Um, that'll get you some great information on, on, um, on the goalkeeping perspective, because I think, um, who better to learn from then some professional goalkeepers. And that's why we've got that in the training center, um, for you to get access to for free. So go ahead and check that out.
Quincy Amarikwa (38:09):
Let's see. Let's see what we got here started getting dark real quick. Huh? Uh, alright. So danny.zero, zero five just had asked, Hey, Quincy, I've recently been moved into playing as a forward from my natural position of left back. That's interesting. Do you have any tips on what to focus on playing as a forward? Yeah, usually it's forward to left bathmat left back to forward. So, Danny, what is the reason why do you think they moved you from left back to forward? Like what's your skill set? What is it that the coach sees in you? Are you seeing yourself for why you've made the transition from left back to forward? And if you could give me a little bit of information there, I could hopefully give 'em a better specific answer.
Quincy Amarikwa (39:13):
Say Jay DBZ just dropped in. What's going on PG sports, Paul, what's going on. Welcome. Thanks for stopping by. So as I'm, as I'm waiting on a little bit more context for Danny, cause I know Danny's probably typing that up right now. Um, has anyone got themselves a perfect soccer match ball yet? Cause the perfect soccer skills.com/store is live. We've got, uh, a lot of MSL Merck, I think, uh, uh, order came through Earl Earl, uh, ordered a couple, a couple t-shirts on the store to, uh, was it today or yesterday? So, so Earl's order come through. I've seen a couple of people ordering the mini ball. We've got the mini ball $5 special. The only downside of that is as of right now, the, the mini balls aren't delay, uh, cause they got held up at, um, at, uh, customs or at the legal yeah, at customs.
Quincy Amarikwa (40:25):
So those will be hopefully in stock here soon so we can get them shipped out, but you guys can still place your order. Um, as well as the match ball, the full match ball. What I've noticed is a lot of people who are getting the mini ball, they're also purchasing, um, uh, they're also purchasing the match ball, but the match balls are in stock. So we get those sent out if you're, if you're going to match ball. So if you have a match ball, let me know your thoughts on them. You have any feedback. You'd like the ball you hit the ball. It's good. It's bad. I'd love to know. Alright. So Danny, uh, gave a little more context. So Danny said he transitioned me to four due to my speed. Although my shot is a little wonky. He placed me up top for my speed so I can reach the long balls and threw balls in the midfield on my team. Okay. So if your, okay, if you're you're fast and you're going to make a lot of runs and getting behind them, the defenses, that's great. And that's good. I think you should very much focus on, uh, repetitions of finishing. So I'm getting a lot of shots getting a lot of shots on goal, but not necessarily.
Quincy Amarikwa (41:49):
You don't have to have a goalie in there and it doesn't have to, it doesn't have to be, it doesn't have to be like trying to hit upper 90 and upper corner. No, you're wanting to just get really comfortable with the goal and being in the box and just passing the ball into the net, rush the ball into the net. My college coach, uh, Dwayne Shaffer used to always say that, just brush the ball, right? You're wanting to focus on remaining composed in the box because that's what most players don't focus on being in the box. And that's why a goal scores make all the money because they figure out how to gain composure inside the box. So, um, your focus should be on not rushing once you get in a goal scoring position or a goal scoring opportunity and the best way that you can help do that is to get as many repetitions when you're not in the game.
Quincy Amarikwa (42:52):
Right? Like off on, um, on your own, um, uh, in your own personal training. That's what I was thinking long day, being up when he's been up since seven, just training and conversations and interviews and meetings, um, full day, let's see, Oh, they've got a little bit of light at least. Um, uh, Joe, Joe Jackson said, I got to get a video up of me using it. It's amazing. Love that. Um, yes, please shoot some content man. Tag us in the account. We'd happy to reshare shout you out. Um, yeah, we want to see you guys using the products. Cause I need to know if they're any good if they're worth selling, continuing to sell. Uh, so the feedback is great. Uh, Paul said it's lit.
Quincy Amarikwa (43:52):
Um, Danny said we also, we also typically play with two Fords and I can give good passes. So he's placed me up there to also help out on the second Ford we have. Okay. That's good. So you've got vision and you, um, you can create, um, you can complete, you can fleet, uh, penetrating passes. So I think something that's difficult for young players to wrap their head around is most coaches are gonna try to teach at the younger, at the younger age levels. Most coaches are gonna try to tell you to not take risk because they want you to fit whatever it is that they're trying to do. But what I will tell you is it's the players that take risks and learn to create threading passes and passes that break through lines and break down defenses. Those are the ones who get picked up scouted and make it higher up, uh, the game in the levels of the game.
Quincy Amarikwa (44:48):
And, um, I know that's, it's sometimes it can be difficult to understand what you're supposed to listen to the coach and do what the coach says yes to a degree. And that degree is your ability to figure out when not to listen, because you need to take risks and take chances to create opportunities, um, going forward, um, and opportunities for you to learn from making mistakes. So that's also to say if, and when you're trying to make those passes, you're trying to dribble, uh, shoot, do those types of things. It's the players that, um, keep trying, keep, keep at it, uh, forget about the mistake and move on to the next. Those are the ones who set them, who, who I see making their way up the, up the, up the ladder and creating more opportunities.
Quincy Amarikwa (45:42):
Let's see Sage. And DVCS said, do you, do you intentionally, let me see. What is it? Do you intentionally take shots on top of shots in games or do you wait for opportunities? Uh, me personally, I, I wait for opportunities. I tend to like to create opportunities and space for my teammates. Um, uh, I think if you guys watch the replay of the game of Las Vegas versus LA to, um, when was that last week, uh, to assist in that game and much of that came down to, uh, my movement off the ball and creating space for the midfielders to run into as the game progressed. So if you start to watch the game from the perspective of not just following the ball, but following players movement off the ball and where they're moving and how they're moving to create space and to set up opportunities for other players, it's just a different way of playing the game and understanding the game.
Quincy Amarikwa (46:49):
So as I've gotten older, I've, I've learned the thinking the tactical side of the game and much more. Whereas earlier in my career, it was much more athleticism and, and, um, and pure effort based. I still give the effort, but I'm, I'm, I'm smarter about how I give effort, where, and when, um, which allows me to create more opportunities for my teammates around me. Um, but, um, but I think the way I'm approaching it is with the understanding that I'm not in the beginning of my career, the way that players, when they're first starting out are very focused on just, um, you know, taking hundreds of shots. And it doesn't matter if they score or not. They're just taking all the opportunities. Maybe it's making their teammates and stuff super angry, but I, I understand why some players choose to go about it that way. It's just, um, it's how you choose to play the game. And I think that's what we really talk about here. The game of life on the field, off the field, uh, Paul had asked, did you pick 25 for Las Vegas? Yeah. I'm number 25 here.
Quincy Amarikwa (48:12):
Uh, Scotty Phillips said you're the goat. Thank you very much. Um, the Luca asks, have you ever tried to play before or currently play? I used to play FIFA, uh, back in the day, especially when I was in Colorado with rasa boat, but a fun fact, I basically really just stopped playing FIFA after Ross came to me one day and just said, he, I think he won a game, a FIFA, which he rarely ever did. Right. But he won a game, a FIFA, and it basically told me like, I don't, I, I can't even have fun playing you in FIFA because when I, when I feel horrible, like you don't make it fun to win. And that was the first time that I realized that that how, how not fun? I was, I was making the game for my friends when we were playing FIFA, because to me winning is fun, which means if I lose, I'm not having fun,
Quincy Amarikwa (49:12):
But many people play the game for fun. And for me I'm, I was just too competitive. I don't want, yeah, I don't want to play for fun. I want to play to win because winning is fun. And if I don't win, then it's not fun. And what I realized is, well, because when I don't win, it's not fun for me. That means it's not fun for everybody else, which means people don't want to play. And I realized that, okay, well, it's not worth playing games in my mind. I made the decision, well, it's not worth playing the game if I can't play it for fun, because that's why people are playing, playing FIFA. They want to have fun and enjoy themselves. And if I'm just, I'm not, I can't casually game. I'm just super extreme. It's either we're playing a winner. I'm not playing at all.
Quincy Amarikwa (50:05):
So yes, I played FIFA. I do not currently play FIFA. I'm just, don't have the time to two boys wife, uh, pro soccer, uh, black players for change organization consulting work, perfect soccer, uh, man. Yeah. Too much stuff. Um, though I hope to get back to gaming sometime soon, I'm getting better at saying no to stuff and, um, and not spreading myself too thin and learning to be okay with having time and not having to keep doing stuff. I think we, this goes, I guess, back to the beginning of the episode, we're talking about like genetics and you are of your, your parents and, and the environment that you're growing up in and all that stuff. You know, the, the Nigerian IBA mindset is very much go, go, go. Um, my mother's mindset is very similar and where she comes from. Very go, go, go.
Quincy Amarikwa (51:16):
So that's kinda how I'm wired. So, um, being okay with, um, like taking a break, being okay with taking a break is something I'm practicing and working to get better at. I'm not good at that. I'm not good at taking breaks. Um, and I am aware of that, but I'm learning how, and that's taking the time to do, um, Danny said, thanks, Quincy. I appreciate the advice. Of course. I appreciate the question. Thanks for, thanks for asking. We've got about five minutes here before Instagram is going to kick me off. So if we've got any more questions, go ahead and start dropping them down here below. And so I can get through them. Um, Scotty Phillips asked in your MLS experience, what has good leadership look like from your team captain? How do you boost team morale in a losing or tough streak? Okay. Um, good leadership to me was, um, Pablo mastroeni, uh, because good leadership to me is, uh, practicing what you preach and, um, holding yourself accountable to the standard, holding yourself accountable to the standard you hold yourself to.
Quincy Amarikwa (52:38):
And I think Pablo held himself to a very high standard. And I think he, he was true to his word. He did what he said he was going to do. And he meant what he said. Um, I CA I always, I probably resonate with, uh, Pablo a lot because he's a, you know, he's a philosophy kind of guy. He was, he was kinda in the clouds, a dreamer, um, very similar to me in many ways, but we're very different in others. Um, but I guess when he was speaking, I always understood what he was saying and where he was coming from. And I guess what would confuse me is why other people didn't really understand what he's talking about, but now that I can reflect in my career, I understand why guys didn't necessarily understand him fully, but he was a great leader and was able to keep guys on board because they might not have followed what he was saying and his ideas and his philosophy.
Quincy Amarikwa (53:30):
They might, yeah, they might not have followed that, but they followed what he did on the field. They could see that. So like his play and what he was doing wasn't philosophy, right. It was real it's there in the moment. And you knew that the standard was high and the standard was, he held himself to a high standard. So in, in inevitably players either raise their standard or they fall, they fall to this, to the wayside. So I would say, um, yeah, Pablo is the one that stands out most to me on that. Um, boosting your teams from around the losing streak. Uh, for me, it's finding the humor in the terrible time. So like I'm a very dark sense of humor, twisted sense of humor. I find sarcasm very funny and, um, irony extremely funny. So the more dark and twisted or politically incorrect, something is the funnier.
Quincy Amarikwa (54:33):
I probably find it. And I find that during the lowest times, in the hardest times in a season, when things aren't going well, having that person who can make a joke out of anything and not take themselves too seriously is how you boost team morale. Um, and I think that person's value isn't fully understood or seen until there's really, really bad times, but you'll see a locker room and guys acting as if like, like someone else coming in, wouldn't realize like, Oh, wait, this team is on a huge losing streak. Or they're like the bottom of the table. Like, you wouldn't feel that from the energy there. And I think that's, I think that's a, that's a skill that not a lot of guys have. Uh, Joe Jackson said getting the most out of the Fort. You put in, I mean your head, I love that.
Quincy Amarikwa (55:26):
Uh, let's see. Let's see, let's see, official coach Edgar dropped in with the I'm in your head emojis. What's going on everybody. If you're liking today's episode so far spam at Harbor and dropped some I'm in your head emojis, let me know what you've taken away from. Tonight's from tonight's episode, uh, live said, uh, thanks for the advice with mine. Of course. Um, thank you for stopping by, uh, Scotty Phillips said, thanks for this. I love your transparency. You're a gold mine. Of course. Thanks for stopping by and asking your questions. I can't answer that
Quincy Amarikwa (55:59):
If you don't ask him Q
Quincy Amarikwa (56:03):
Hey, Quincy, AmeriCorps questions and answers, but you guys got to bring the questions. I'll bring the answers, uh, Sage DV DBZ. Good luck in your game. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Scotty Phillips outs. Yes, that's really good. Of course. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, yeah, everybody. I appreciate you joining in for tonight's episode. Uh, seeing if we're we got here. Yep. Nope. All right. Thank you everybody for joining this week. Love having you as always. Um, if you enjoyed today's episode, please let me know. Please share subscribe to the podcast during the newsletter, shout us out, purchase some perfect soccer products and some merge, um, skills Academy be pro or be pro weekly. Ryan's been doing the weekly programs here for, uh, at least three months now. So you can sign up for your weekly subscription for that and get your very own custom soccer training program at home training program, uh, multiple levels, beginner, intermediate advanced every single week. So if you guys haven't gotten that, please, uh, please do so if you're interested, uh, perfect soccer store is live. Get yourself some Merck's some apparel, hats, uh, backpacks got my backpack over there. Uh, but yeah, uh, the Lucas said, thanks. I'm in your head Colby. K L dropped it. I'm in your head. Thank you. Thank you, Danny. Thanks. I mean, you had all right, everybody. Thank you very much. I will see everybody next week. Same place, same time, and is always, I mean, your head.