Transcript
Speaker: All righty, so I'm here with Avery and Drew Brown today.
Speaker: We're on the Athletic Insight Podcast, and basically what the Athletic Insight Podcast is, is I'm talking to college athletes, and they're basically giving us our insight on how it is to be a student athlete.
Speaker: So I'll just basically give an introduction about you guys, like just your names, where you're from.
Speaker: Go ahead.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: I'm Drew Brown.
Speaker: I'm from Saratoga Springs, Utah, here at Colorado Christian.
Speaker: I'm Avery.
Speaker: Oh, my fault.
Speaker: No, you're good.
Speaker: I forgot to add that.
Speaker: I'm Avery.
Speaker: I'm a sophomore here at Colorado Christian.
Speaker: I'm from Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker: Thank you, man.
Speaker: So basically, I just want to like just we're still kind of in the introduction part, and I just want to like get to know you guys a little bit.
Speaker: Drew, I already know you a little well, but still I want to hear you.
Speaker: Just give me a story about how did you guys get into soccer in the first place?
Speaker: Way back.
Speaker: Yeah, way back.
Speaker: I mean, just played a ton of sports as a kid.
Speaker: And I think I kind of found my group of friends while playing soccer.
Speaker: So that kind of made me stick with that more.
Speaker: And just, I don't know, the fun with scoring goals was what really pulled me into soccer.
Speaker: I guess that was the only reason I played was to score goals.
Speaker: So are you still playing striker?
Speaker: It's fun.
Speaker: But yeah, yeah, I'm playing the nine here.
Speaker: Heck yeah, man.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, that's about it.
Speaker: That's what dragged me into it and still kicking around, you know?
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: All right, Avery, go ahead.
Speaker: Yeah, I've been playing since I was like three.
Speaker: It's like the only sport I played.
Speaker: I just, I don't know.
Speaker: I liked it.
Speaker: I kept playing it.
Speaker: I'm from Atlanta.
Speaker: It's like a hotbed for soccer.
Speaker: So it's just a ton of pickup as a kid.
Speaker: I think that's what I liked the most was the pickup.
Speaker: Yeah, and they're moving the...
Speaker: The US like headquarters in Atlanta, aren't they?
Speaker: Yeah, it's like 10 minutes from my house.
Speaker: So that'd be pretty cool.
Speaker: That's awesome, man.
Speaker: Do you go back there during the summer?
Speaker: Yeah, I go back for summer, Thanksgiving, Christmas.
Speaker: Do you play like, like USL or anything?
Speaker: Yeah, so two summers ago, I practiced with USL 2 team, East Atlanta.
Speaker: Okay, how'd you like that?
Speaker: It was a good experience.
Speaker: A lot of good players.
Speaker: I didn't get much playing time or any playing time.
Speaker: I was going to be a freshman in college.
Speaker: And then this past summer I played NPSL in Georgia also.
Speaker: So two very good levels.
Speaker: That's awesome, man.
Speaker: Drew, what about you?
Speaker: Do you have any plans like for summer, like keep training or?
Speaker: Yeah, no, I mean this past summer I played a little bit of UPSL with the,
Speaker: avalanche club okay it wasn't it was it was solid playing i mean it got some good touches and played with some d2 level guys a lot of westminster guys just a lot of other high level guys so yeah but this next summer i want to try to shoot and get on a usl2 team or i'll play upsl again but i'll just
Speaker: get on the grind for my, cause that'll be my final summer before I'm done with college, you know?
Speaker: And Utah will have, I think, is it three USL teams now?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Cause they just, I saw that one Mark Davis just added.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'm excited to see where they go with that club.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That'll be really interesting.
Speaker: Yeah, man.
Speaker: If you could pick a team, which one would you play for?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: The other two are kind of far away.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I'd probably roll with Salt City, I think.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Yeah, I think they just barely moved Red Wolves.
Speaker: I think they're just based out of Salt Lake now.
Speaker: I don't think they're Park City Red Wolves anymore.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I think I'll have to just hit up the tryouts in the summer and see where it takes me.
Speaker: Maybe I might have to try out, man.
Speaker: Yeah, might as well.
Speaker: I think it's been a year since I played soccer.
Speaker: It's been a long time.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So I've got some more questions for you guys.
Speaker: My first question is – just whoever wants to go first can go first.
Speaker: So basically my first question is, why Colorado Christian University?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, I was just looking for a place to play, you know, coming out of Juco because –
Speaker: only two years, so you got to find somewhere to go or else you're just done playing.
Speaker: So I reached out to a ton of schools and got a few offers and got quite a bit of interest at the D2 level.
Speaker: And I kind of knew I wanted to play in the RMAC and came out on a visit to Colorado Christian and had a great visit.
Speaker: Loved the guys, loved the coaches.
Speaker: coaches just showed that they wanted me here and really valued me.
Speaker: So that was a huge piece and it was the best offer financially that I got.
Speaker: So just pieces kind of fell where they needed to be and it felt like the right choice.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And I know you had, um, you had an offer.
Speaker: Did you have an offer from Westminster?
Speaker: I know they were looking at you.
Speaker: I didn't, I was,
Speaker: I had a lot of interest down till the end, but didn't get that official offer.
Speaker: Um, but I think it was kind of in there.
Speaker: Uh, I don't know.
Speaker: It's hard to say.
Speaker: Cause I was really liking Colorado Christian, but the, I don't know the temptation to just stay home and stay close to family and friends would have been intriguing, but I think the plans kind of worked out how they were supposed to.
Speaker: So yeah, I'm glad I'm, I'm glad I'm here.
Speaker: And excited to play Westminster on October 13th.
Speaker: I saw you guys were playing them in Colorado.
Speaker: I was going to go to that game.
Speaker: I might go still.
Speaker: I might drive out to Colorado and watch that game.
Speaker: But, yeah, but your senior year, you'll probably play them in Utah, right?
Speaker: Yeah, we should.
Speaker: I think it switches every year.
Speaker: Heck, yeah, man.
Speaker: Are you excited to play them?
Speaker: Like, you out for blood for those snow college guys?
Speaker: Yeah, no, I mean, it's definitely circled on my calendar, like, playing against some good friends.
Speaker: Heck, yeah.
Speaker: I mean, every time I played Westminster, we beat them.
Speaker: So got to keep that streak rolling.
Speaker: Yeah, just kind of go out and battle, you know.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Awesome, man.
Speaker: All right, Avery, go ahead.
Speaker: Yeah, basically the same exact reason as Drew.
Speaker: I was in Germany, took a gap year for a year, played in Bundesliga 2 in Germany for U19.
Speaker: And I got a lot of interest in a lot of colleges.
Speaker: about 20 offers.
Speaker: But, yeah, Colorado Christians made the most sense to me financially.
Speaker: And a big thing for me was playing time.
Speaker: I feel like I could come in and make an impact as a freshman.
Speaker: And also the coaches, like Drew said, just really wanted me.
Speaker: I think choosing at college, coaches are the biggest thing.
Speaker: Like, you got to commit to, like, coaches who actually want you and not just go to school because, like, of the name, you know?
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: I feel like, yeah, that's a big reason.
Speaker: I feel like a lot of kids these days, they just – like, for example, me, I went to snow college just because it was close to home.
Speaker: But, you know, I wasn't ever really guaranteed play time.
Speaker: And so, I basically – I went there and I was just kind of like – just – I was a student.
Speaker: I wasn't really a student athlete, you know.
Speaker: So, I think that's awesome, man.
Speaker: To tie it on to what Avery said, I think I didn't realize that going to snow as well, but you're kind of, you're committing to more than just, Oh, to just go to that school.
Speaker: Like, yeah, it's like, you're committed to the coaches and you're going to have a relationship with them and all the guys that are there.
Speaker: Like there's a lot of other factors you have to kind of think about when choosing a school.
Speaker: And I think a lot of young athletes just get that one offer or they get like an offer that's
Speaker: like a really good offer and they're just really interested in like, oh, that's the one.
Speaker: They just picked the highest one instead of like really looking at all the pieces to the puzzle and deciding what looks best for them.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And tying into that, like how, like what is your guys' relationships like with your teammates?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I would say my best friends are on the team, like especially my class, like the sophomores.
Speaker: They're all my best friends.
Speaker: I'm good friends with a lot of the team.
Speaker: I mean, it's kind of nice coming in as a freshman.
Speaker: You have like 20 automatic friends.
Speaker: So you're definitely more than just teammates.
Speaker: I mean, we eat together, do everything together.
Speaker: You're always around each other, team trips and everything.
Speaker: So that's a big part too, is making sure you fit in with the team.
Speaker: Yeah, I totally agree with that.
Speaker: Like me coming in,
Speaker: as a transfer and this being my first year, like it's just, everybody's new.
Speaker: Like I just came in by myself.
Speaker: So, um, guys were super cool and, uh, just welcomed me in and they did on the visit too.
Speaker: Like, I really liked the guys and, um, that's a big reason why I chose to, to come here and yeah, it's just pretty cool with everybody.
Speaker: Like, I feel like there's a good, um,
Speaker: kind of friendly cohesion throughout the team.
Speaker: And I think it's just going to keep building on as the season goes.
Speaker: Yeah, man.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So next question I have for you guys is what are the struggles and the highs of being a student athlete?
Speaker: It's a good question.
Speaker: If you want to take a sec to think about it, go ahead.
Speaker: Like Drew, I know your girlfriend lives all the way in Oregon.
Speaker: Like that could be one of the struggles right there.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So, I mean, yeah, definitely finding, finding time for family at home and, um, my girlfriend, like finding times to talk with them when you have classes all morning and then you have a little break, eat some lunch, and then you're going to training, get done with training.
Speaker: You got to eat dinner, do some homework, and then only leaves you about in
Speaker: an hour to an hour and a half to just kind of have some downtime and chill.
Speaker: So it's definitely a grind.
Speaker: I would, I would say the best parts are just the whole opportunity to be able to be a student athlete.
Speaker: Like it's just a ton of fun and it is a lot of work, but it really is just a blessing.
Speaker: Um, they have a, I'd say all of it's really,
Speaker: great but the the hard parts is just kind of managing that school time like when you're tired from the day it's kind of hard to get yourself to do that studying or just the extra studying to get a better grade on stuff just the extra effort is harder when it comes down to school especially when you're in season but yeah i feel like that's that's really the only challenge besides
Speaker: trying to find some like downtime to relax and time to hang out with friends and communicate with family.
Speaker: Yeah, I completely agree with everything Drew said.
Speaker: I mean, it's a lot of struggles, but I think it's all worth it.
Speaker: The hardest thing is definitely trying to find time for school, especially like, I don't think you, what I didn't understand when I first came in was
Speaker: how much time you spend on the road and how much harder that makes school always on the road, like every other weekend on the road.
Speaker: And just, you have like normal students don't have practice.
Speaker: You have practice for like two, three hours a day.
Speaker: And, but it also, I think helps put you on a schedule and yeah, it definitely is worth it because not everybody gets to do this.
Speaker: I would explain their sport in college.
Speaker: So definitely grateful.
Speaker: Yeah, man.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Um, what's like, um,
Speaker: How important is it for you guys to have a good relationship with the coaches around you?
Speaker: I think that's the most important thing.
Speaker: You could be a great player in college, but if you don't have a good relationship with your coach, you're not going to play.
Speaker: Doesn't matter how good you are, you just don't fit the system.
Speaker: And they can help you more than just soccer.
Speaker: They help with classes, help with other stuff like that.
Speaker: So they're more than just a coach.
Speaker: And I think that that in itself, just having a good relationship with the coach is the most important thing for choosing a college.
Speaker: Yeah, I think it definitely benefits you if you have a good relationship with the coach.
Speaker: Like Avery said, you're probably not going to touch the field much if you don't have that good relationship.
Speaker: And yeah, it definitely takes time to build that relationship and get comfortable with each other.
Speaker: Like I'm still working on getting comfortable with the coaches.
Speaker: Like obviously I've been talking to them for the six months up until I came here.
Speaker: And yeah, like
Speaker: I'd say it is a pretty solid relationship, but it's, it definitely takes work and you have to be transparent with them and how you're feeling, what you're thinking.
Speaker: And one thing is just don't be afraid to ask them questions.
Speaker: Like we're pretty tactical here and we do a lot of stuff.
Speaker: like that.
Speaker: And I haven't had much tactics before until coming here.
Speaker: So it's kind of just play my other teams, but yeah, like just asking questions and learning the system better and just becoming a better player.
Speaker: And like, if you're struggling one day, like just letting them know, like that's one thing here is like, you can communicate anything with them and you don't feel like you're going to get in trouble or they're going to be mad at you or,
Speaker: it's going to affect like your playing time or something there.
Speaker: They're pretty transparent and cool.
Speaker: So it's definitely an important, important relationship to have.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: And yeah, speaking of back on that tactic part, like how has it been like, like I know like club level, it was kind of just like boot the ball to drew and he'll score.
Speaker: And like snow is kind of like the same, like give the ball to Zach and he'll score.
Speaker: Like, how has that been,
Speaker: How has that been for you to adapt to being more tactical?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So there's just like a lot of set patterns we have in the game.
Speaker: Like if we see this look, oh, it's like a clip ball to me over the top.
Speaker: Or I check in, the winger shoots behind me.
Speaker: Like it's just a lot of patterns.
Speaker: Like when you see things in games, like you kind of move off of what's happening where, um,
Speaker: on other teams, like it's kind of, you just, you just go with the flow of the game and just kind of play where here, like we're, our coaches trying to get us to be thinking constantly during the game and just reacting to what's happening and making our decisions based off that and trying to give us the best pitchers to be able to get those goals.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: It was definitely hard the first couple weeks.
Speaker: I was a little confused and wasn't remembering stuff as well and not seeing the pitchers in the game as well.
Speaker: But in our preseason game, my first goal, we ended up using one of the exact patterns we'd been working on and gave us a really easy goal.
Speaker: It just clicked like that.
Speaker: You thought you weren't learning it, but once you step on the field, it's in the back of your head.
Speaker: Yeah, it definitely didn't click super quick.
Speaker: Like that was probably a month and a half after we'd been working on all the tactics and stuff.
Speaker: So all the preseason and then about two weeks of, it was about a week and a half of preseason games.
Speaker: So it took some time, but yeah, once I finally got on the field, I was able to see those pictures and it just felt like it kind of clicked.
Speaker: Heck yeah, man.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So my next question for you guys would be,
Speaker: So I know you guys both are from Colorado.
Speaker: I know Drew, you're from Utah.
Speaker: Avery, you're from Georgia.
Speaker: But how has it been, like, getting used to, like, Colorado, like, developing to a different culture, you know?
Speaker: Like, how has that been for you guys?
Speaker: Like, a different environment.
Speaker: You take it, Avery.
Speaker: You've been here longer.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, this is my second year here.
Speaker: Colorado itself, people here are so chill, I'm not going to lie.
Speaker: But, yeah, I don't really, honestly, I'm not going to lie, I don't really see much of a difference.
Speaker: There is little things, but, like, at least here at CCU, like,
Speaker: I'm around the soccer guys.
Speaker: It's been the same.
Speaker: I've always been around the soccer guys my entire life.
Speaker: I'm just around the soccer guys here.
Speaker: Honestly, I don't really get out much and see a lot of Colorado.
Speaker: Oh, okay.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So what about, so you played in Germany for a year, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Is there any difference between Germany and Colorado?
Speaker: Like compare Colorado Christian to the academy you went to.
Speaker: How big of a difference is that?
Speaker: That was a huge difference.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So I played at an academy, yeah, in Germany.
Speaker: And everybody there was so serious, all business, all the time.
Speaker: And it was just like, you're not really a player.
Speaker: You're just like part of the business.
Speaker: And they build you up to, you know, put you out there, put you in college, put you pro.
Speaker: Here, I feel like they more care about you as a person, actually, which is nice.
Speaker: I didn't feel like I was like, it was all business in Germany, it felt like.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Did you learn any German when you were out there?
Speaker: A little bit, but it's been like two years.
Speaker: I forgot about it all.
Speaker: Where at in Germany, was it?
Speaker: It was in Dresden, which is in Saxony.
Speaker: It's East Germany, like an hour away from the border of the Czech Republic.
Speaker: So we go on trips to Prague all the time, stuff like that, all around Europe.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Did you like it?
Speaker: Yeah, I liked it a lot.
Speaker: It was a super good experience.
Speaker: Definitely helped me with soccer wise too.
Speaker: You were talking about earlier with tactics, like club, no tactics at all, just play.
Speaker: And I think that year in Germany helped me a lot because Europe, especially Germany, is super tactical.
Speaker: That was my first time ever having like actual tactics to use in a game.
Speaker: So that definitely helped me coming over to college soccer.
Speaker: Cause like Drew said, college soccer is super tactical again.
Speaker: So I think that helped me as a freshman coming in still, still took a lot to get used to, but yeah, Germany definitely helped.
Speaker: Oh, sorry.
Speaker: Um, how did that, how did you get recruited, recruited to go over Germany?
Speaker: Like how'd that all come together?
Speaker: So my senior year closed kind of still happening.
Speaker: So I had like three offers.
Speaker: Didn't really like it, any of them.
Speaker: And then,
Speaker: I had a teammate who went to go play in Germany the year before.
Speaker: He got crewed at a showcase.
Speaker: And so I reached out to him and I was like, I don't have any offers.
Speaker: I'm looking at gap year opportunities.
Speaker: I can't see the email.
Speaker: So I emailed the guy, the guys at Germany, my film.
Speaker: It's called Ruby Sports.
Speaker: They help kids from the US come over and play in Germany and kids from Germany go over and play in the US college.
Speaker: emailed them my highlight tape and uh went and played for the gap year program there SC Beret Justin that's awesome man all right Judes you're up man cultural difference so you don't forget yes I mean definitely got a lot of outdoorsy people around here just like in Utah so um
Speaker: But yeah, I don't know.
Speaker: It's kind of hard to say where I haven't been here too long, but I've got to experience the city a little bit.
Speaker: We're only about 15 minutes outside of the city of Denver.
Speaker: So that's been cool to go downtown and hang out, get some good eats.
Speaker: But yeah, the culturally...
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Utah's kind of its own little bubble, as you know.
Speaker: So it's definitely different in that aspect.
Speaker: But besides that, like the soccer guys, like Avery said, like just normal soccer guys, it seems like the soccer world, everybody's pretty similar and pretty cool.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, for the most part, I mean, I haven't seen a huge cultural difference, but definitely enjoyed Colorado.
Speaker: Been able to get outdoors a little bit.
Speaker: Went to Rocky Mountain National Park a couple weeks ago.
Speaker: Heck yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, so there's a lot of beautiful stuff to see.
Speaker: And we don't have much time right now during season, but once we get out of season, hopefully we'll be able to explore a little more.
Speaker: Have you guys started conference play yet?
Speaker: Start this weekend.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Who do you guys play first?
Speaker: You got it, Avery.
Speaker: I think we play Adams State first.
Speaker: And then Fort Lewis after that.
Speaker: So two tough games.
Speaker: Fort Lewis, is that where Hugo plays?
Speaker: Yeah, that's where Hugo went.
Speaker: So I haven't talked to him recently.
Speaker: So, yeah, it'll be good to see him on Sunday, though.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Another guy to cross off your checklist, right?
Speaker: Yeah, no, it's going to be fun to play former teammates and good friends.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: How would you guys rate the student living?
Speaker: Do you think they treat you pretty well as college athletes there, like the living and all that?
Speaker: I would say here.
Speaker: Yeah, it's nice.
Speaker: I mean, our dorms are super nice, but that's for all students.
Speaker: I feel like –
Speaker: Speaking for CCU itself, we're not really treated like different from the regular student population that much.
Speaker: I know like I have friends at other schools and they're like a whole separate population, students and student athletes.
Speaker: But here I would say it's, I mean, I don't know how you feel about it, Drew, but I feel like we're treated like the same as regular students, but yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't think there's like a huge difference here.
Speaker: And I think part of it is the smaller school population and where there's probably not a ton of students here that are like super interested in athletics.
Speaker: So I, but yeah, I mean, we definitely, like overall the students get treated great here, like really good food, a lot better than snow.
Speaker: Yeah, the housing's nice as well.
Speaker: Um, but the school, the school definitely could support the soccer team a little bit more.
Speaker: Um, we definitely get, get treated well and, um, get to do all the things that, um, any other college athletics team would get to do.
Speaker: So we're definitely blessed for that, but hopefully we'll keep stacking a good record for this team and building it more and more and,
Speaker: we're hopefully supposed to get a new facility next year.
Speaker: So I think that'll be the start of CCU men's soccer really growing.
Speaker: Heck yeah.
Speaker: That's awesome.
Speaker: Would you say like, like the thing that sucked about Ephraim is it was like an hour or two hours away from like normal life.
Speaker: You know, like you don't, you're, you're in Ephraim, you're stuck in Ephraim.
Speaker: I think that's why I had such a hard time with is I was so away from like,
Speaker: normal life like every after every practice or something I was always back home like right away like I get off practice and just go home spend the night come back at 5 a.m.
Speaker: for running in the morning so I definitely spent a lot of gas is is not a good but um I had a question in my head and I totally forgot and that sucks all right well
Speaker: All right, so I do have some questions for you guys.
Speaker: I asked some kids who are in high school to ask you guys some questions for you.
Speaker: So I have a question for you guys right here.
Speaker: So the first question is, is it hard to balance schoolwork and family with soccer?
Speaker: I would say it's hard, but it's not impossible.
Speaker: Freshman year is definitely the hardest.
Speaker: It's everything is new on your own.
Speaker: You practice way more and you have like not only practice, but meetings and everything like that.
Speaker: So it's definitely hard, but I would say after the first month to get used to it, it's not impossible.
Speaker: Just gotta put a lot of effort into it.
Speaker: Yeah, it's definitely challenging as a freshman because everything's just new and
Speaker: just want to have fun you meet all these new people new friends and want to just get out and chill but i think definitely coming into college with the mindset that you're going to put school first and focus on those academics because if they're not good you can't play and yeah you got to do well in school to be able to play um yeah it is it is a little bit challenging um being able to
Speaker: it depends how far away you are.
Speaker: Like when we were in Ephraim, like you didn't really have to communicate with your family too much.
Speaker: Cause we'd, we'd see him every weekend or every other weekend.
Speaker: But when you're in another state or pretty far away, like it's, it's definitely hard cause you want to make sure you're able to communicate with them once or twice a week and still do your school.
Speaker: So I think kind of planning out your days in your head or,
Speaker: in like a notebook or just kind of having set days where you're like, oh, I'll call them this day and then this day will be my big study day and just kind of gauging things.
Speaker: Do you guys have like a set routine that you guys follow every day?
Speaker: I have like a weekly routine.
Speaker: It's not the exact same every day, but like I know, like I don't have any class on Thursdays.
Speaker: That's just how my schedule worked out, so.
Speaker: Thursday is always my study day, catch up on things, call my family, that.
Speaker: And then Monday through Wednesday is just like all school.
Speaker: And then weekends is just all homework and soccer.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I think your school schedule and practice schedule kind of defines your week.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: there's just little gaps in between.
Speaker: So I think before practice, I kind of use that as my time to relax and, um, just eat some lunch or have a pretty practice snack.
Speaker: And then after I usually set that as my study time for a couple hours, and then I'll usually call my girlfriend for a little bit or call my family, um, and try to get in bed by 10 30, 11.
Speaker: And like Avery said, it's,
Speaker: it's not always the same or super consistent, but, um, try to get things done, you know, it gotta be done.
Speaker: What's, um, my, that question I had, I was going to ask you guys earlier.
Speaker: What's like, you have soccer, you have school, but you know, everyone always has a hobby outside of those things.
Speaker: What's like your guys' hobby besides soccer in school?
Speaker: Don't be afraid.
Speaker: Come on.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker: Yeah, you go ahead, Avery.
Speaker: I'm still thinking.
Speaker: Honestly, I feel like I have a new hobby every month.
Speaker: I just hang out with my friends.
Speaker: And like last year, I made a rap song.
Speaker: And then pickleball was really big on campus last year.
Speaker: And then intramural sports.
Speaker: In the offseason, that's
Speaker: That's a big thing.
Speaker: Basketball.
Speaker: I'm in the gym.
Speaker: Hey, okay.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't know because we're just – you're super busy.
Speaker: It's kind of hard to find.
Speaker: Nothing involving the Raiders or what?
Speaker: I don't know if I even want to talk about that, man.
Speaker: The Raiders –
Speaker: They're bad, but yeah, I could definitely say that's a hobby.
Speaker: I mean, every Sunday I'm going to watch the Raiders and watch some football and I'd say other sports.
Speaker: So I think I love watching sports.
Speaker: So where Denver is a pretty big sports city, that'll definitely be something I do on the weekends or whenever we have time is go catch a game.
Speaker: I went and caught the Raiders Broncos week one and hopefully catch some NBA games, maybe check out a hockey game.
Speaker: But
Speaker: Yeah, man.
Speaker: Besides that, my other hobbies are school, talking to family, a little Netflix, and a little Clash Royale, man.
Speaker: How do you, this could be a good question, how do you handle that long-distance relationship with your girlfriend?
Speaker: Yeah, no, it's definitely tough, and it's kind of new, because when I was at Snow, we were only two hours away, so
Speaker: it's really not that bad.
Speaker: And you're like, Oh, I know I'll see him this weekend.
Speaker: So you don't feel like you have to talk as much, but it's definitely hard because you want to, you want to, um, still have time to talk and like, um, still maintain that relationship well, but it's definitely hard when you have a lot of school and you have games and we're on the road.
Speaker: Um, so kind of just always texting and checking in and,
Speaker: Anytime I have to FaceTime, like I try to FaceTime at least probably five days a week for at least an hour, which is quite a bit, but you know, you got to put time in that relationship if you wanted to work, but we're trying to, we're trying to see each other about every month.
Speaker: She's coming out on the 18th of October and was out early in September.
Speaker: And we actually had a trip in Oregon.
Speaker: So
Speaker: I was able to see her for a couple days.
Speaker: So that was cool.
Speaker: So it's awesome.
Speaker: And it's just where she's a student athlete as well.
Speaker: It's just squeezing in a little bit of time when we each have breaks and yeah, but definitely, definitely not easy, but you put the work into it.
Speaker: And she just transferred to Oregon state, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Are they a good gymnast school?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So there, I think,
Speaker: going into the off season, they were ranked 11th or 12th in the nation.
Speaker: So yeah, Utah was third.
Speaker: So, but I mean, top 25, there's not much of a difference in any college sports.
Speaker: If you're in the top 25, it's not bad at all.
Speaker: So yeah.
Speaker: Good for her.
Speaker: I'm glad she liking it over there.
Speaker: Yeah, no, she's, she's loving it there so far.
Speaker: I think the culture overall is a lot better and,
Speaker: there's, I mean, it's a beautiful area.
Speaker: Oregon's super cool.
Speaker: So I think she's excited for a, a fresh chapter and, um, get back to gymnastics and having fun with it.
Speaker: That's awesome, man.
Speaker: I'm glad you guys are still working out.
Speaker: That's, that's, that's a tough challenge.
Speaker: I could barely be in, barely stand being away from my girlfriend from being in like an hour away.
Speaker: So, yeah, it's tough, but as little, like,
Speaker: first couple of weeks go by, you know, you, you just slowly get used to it.
Speaker: And yeah, it was definitely hard the first couple of weeks, but I just kind of look forward to that next time.
Speaker: I know I'm going to see her.
Speaker: So I'm like, Oh, it's only a month.
Speaker: And like when we're in season, time just flies by.
Speaker: Like it's each week just flies by.
Speaker: So yeah, but maybe the off season will be a little rougher.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: We'll see.
Speaker: Good for you guys.
Speaker: Definitely takes a lot of work.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Avery, do you guys have significant weather?
Speaker: Nah, just me.
Speaker: Yeah, just focusing on yourself?
Speaker: Yeah, unfortunately.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: So that last question I have for high school kids is, what's the best way to prepare for a game the night before in the morning of?
Speaker: Sleep for me is the biggest thing.
Speaker: I mean, not even just like night before, like two, three days before, you gotta make sure you get enough sleep.
Speaker: Then I think it's kind of personal.
Speaker: Like for me, I always make sure I sleep good, you know?
Speaker: And then I watch some film before games.
Speaker: I always watch film, you know, just try getting that right mindset.
Speaker: Yeah, I always have a pregame routine.
Speaker: eat some honey in the locker room.
Speaker: It's like routines, routines important.
Speaker: No, that's just for me though.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Definitely routines.
Speaker: Always.
Speaker: That's how I was always stayed locked in was routine.
Speaker: If I went out of routine, then I wasn't locked in.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I feel that.
Speaker: I mean, it's,
Speaker: like Avery said, sleep is huge.
Speaker: So just getting at least trying to get at least eight hours at two or three days before the game and the night of the game is huge.
Speaker: And just getting a good amount of food in your body before bed, just maybe having like a late night snack, have like a protein shake or, um, make a PB and J or something like that.
Speaker: Something not too heavy.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: then wake up in the morning.
Speaker: I usually watch a little bit of film.
Speaker: It's mostly just some highlights.
Speaker: Like I like to watch like where I've had goal scoring opportunities, even goals I've missed, just being, seeing those moments and being like, okay, I'm going to be better than that.
Speaker: Or like being like, okay, I did this.
Speaker: So
Speaker: I could go out and score a goal today.
Speaker: So that helps me get in the right mindset.
Speaker: Or sometimes I'll just throw on YouTube highlights of professional players and, um, kind of get me locked in and thinking about the game and just having soccer on my mind that morning.
Speaker: And then now it's just eating a good breakfast.
Speaker: And then we'll usually have a team meeting and a walk through.
Speaker: And then next thing you know, it's, it's game time.
Speaker: So, um, before the game, I,
Speaker: I really don't do too much.
Speaker: I mean, I always say a quick prayer and just get mentally locked in.
Speaker: And I guess I always listen to my own music for a second before.
Speaker: And I always let whatever song I decide is going to be the last song, I wait till it finishes perfectly.
Speaker: And then I take my headphones out.
Speaker: say a quick prayer, get on the line, ready to go.
Speaker: So that's really the only thing.
Speaker: I listened to the same song before every game for five years.
Speaker: What's up?
Speaker: Freestyle by Lil Baby.
Speaker: That's a good one.
Speaker: I remember I used to always listen to Eminem.
Speaker: Eminem was always my go-to.
Speaker: I kind of go with usually some Lil Wayne or Young Thug.
Speaker: Young Thug.
Speaker: That's awesome, man.
Speaker: So how many games have you guys played so far?
Speaker: What, like six or seven?
Speaker: Yeah, I'd say six or seven or eight.
Speaker: What was that, Carson?
Speaker: How have your games gone so far?
Speaker: We've had quite a few ties.
Speaker: It's just been games where we've
Speaker: we just haven't put the ball in the back of the net and we have played some good teams, but the start of the season, we struggled to put the ball in the back of the net and we were getting those chances, but just missing them.
Speaker: But we hit a rhythm.
Speaker: We got a couple of wins.
Speaker: We've got two big wins against good teams.
Speaker: And in our Mac opponent, we beat Regis one nil last week.
Speaker: And then we just played Mesa.
Speaker: So they were a really good team.
Speaker: And,
Speaker: We lost to a Western Oregon team that was really good as well.
Speaker: So I think we're just above 500 right now, I want to say.
Speaker: So, yeah, no, it's – now it's the real time to show what you got.
Speaker: So going into conference, it's got to pick up two big ones this week.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Who are you guys playing this week?
Speaker: Adam State and Fort Lewis.
Speaker: Adam State, where are they based out of?
Speaker: Alamosa.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I have no idea where that is, honestly.
Speaker: I just recognize that name.
Speaker: I don't know why.
Speaker: I think it's pretty south of us, kind of close to the bottom of Colorado, like kind of south, just bottom middle of the state, I want to say, but not positive.
Speaker: Avery, I know you've played at, what, two years now at Colorado Christian University?
Speaker: Yeah, that's my second year.
Speaker: What school do you dislike the most?
Speaker: Dislike the most?
Speaker: Yeah, like who – like whenever you step on the field, you sort of like cleats up them every time.
Speaker: Like that's just how you feel about them.
Speaker: I don't know if there's a team like that for me, but there's a team, Westminster, I want to beat so bad.
Speaker: Because last year we played them the last game of the season.
Speaker: I think we lost 2-1.
Speaker: But then we made playoffs and then we had to play them the week after that again.
Speaker: And so we played them back to back.
Speaker: We lost both times.
Speaker: We lost the second game 1-0 to end the season last year.
Speaker: So that's just one game I really want to win.
Speaker: You want to get your payback?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Heck yeah.
Speaker: For sure.
Speaker: Is that who you would say?
Speaker: I know you haven't played like a season yet, Drew, but is that who you would fit to?
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, honestly, anyone we play, I just want to kill them, you know?
Speaker: I want to get that win no matter what.
Speaker: It's a good mentality.
Speaker: But yeah, no, I haven't played anybody besides Regis yet, and I definitely wasn't too keen on Regis.
Speaker: They're kind of acting up a little bit.
Speaker: But yeah, no, I know the RMAC is extremely competitive, so I'm excited to get into it and have some really hard-fought battles and
Speaker: You know, games are going to get out of hand sometimes.
Speaker: And I don't know, it's going to be an exciting season.
Speaker: But yeah, I definitely want to beat Westminster, you know, so I'll ride that train.
Speaker: But any of those top teams in our conference, like UCCS, Mesa, and... Mines.
Speaker: Mines.
Speaker: What was the other one I missed?
Speaker: Did I say UCCS?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Pueblo.
Speaker: Yeah, Pueblo.
Speaker: I mean, those are all really good teams and
Speaker: if we could get a tie against some of those top 25 teams or a win, it would just – it would be huge.
Speaker: So I like taking down giants like Slick, you know.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: I know you had two – you have two high school – like high school teammates that play at Colorado Mesa.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, you have Bergholm and what's his name, Landon.
Speaker: Have you played them yet?
Speaker: Yeah, so we just played them.
Speaker: this Sunday and we had an unfortunate two Oh loss.
Speaker: Um, just all four, all four of the goals we've got scored on this year have been self-inflicted.
Speaker: So it's been kind of tough and they're, they're hard to handle, you know, and all you gotta do is bounce back.
Speaker: Um, Avery had a really tough PK call.
Speaker: But, you know, you got to move on and live with it.
Speaker: And he responded really well and finished the game out hard and definitely made a difference for us.
Speaker: So, yeah, it's just learning from these little mistakes that we've got scored on with.
Speaker: So I think we're getting more locked in.
Speaker: And we definitely should have earned a PK against Mesa.
Speaker: But neither of my high school friends played in the game.
Speaker: But it was just fun to compete against people, you know.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's a good team too.
Speaker: I think they're ranked 23rd, 24th nation now.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: They just got ranked 24th and I didn't mention the PK to like throw Avery under the bus at all.
Speaker: But yeah, it's like he bounced back and responded to it really well.
Speaker: So yeah, that's, that's what we're hoping to do as a team.
Speaker: When we get scored on, when we get scored on by these top teams.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's, that's nice.
Speaker: Like, do you,
Speaker: What's your mentality going into those games when, like, I know I always kind of, I might call myself out a little bit.
Speaker: Whenever I went into games and I was playing like a friend, you know, I'd always kind of go soft on them.
Speaker: But what's your, what's your mentality when, so when you line up against those snow college guys, like Avi, James, Fabi, what's your mentality going to be when you play them?
Speaker: Yeah, no, it's going to, it's going to be hard where I've known a lot of them for, I've known Fabi for a really long time and,
Speaker: I've been close with a lot of them and just being teammates with them before.
Speaker: And where Avi was one of my roommates, like being with that guy every day, it's going to be, it's going to be hard to not like want to kill them, you know, how I'm going to get into that mindset to want to kill those guys, but they're all more on the offensive end.
Speaker: So I probably won't see too much of them, but no, one of us is going to get the bragging rights and,
Speaker: I definitely don't want it to be them.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: Heck yeah.
Speaker: Having a good mentality and wanting to go, go beat your brothers.
Speaker: Heck yeah.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Well, I think that's all I really got for you guys.
Speaker: Thanks for hopping on.
Speaker: If you guys ever want to hop on again, like in a couple months and we can see how your guys' season went, we can do a season recap or something.
Speaker: I'd love to have you guys back on.
Speaker: Unfortunate for Shane not to get on here though, you know, school.
Speaker: Yeah, he wanted to be on, though.
Speaker: He was trying to make it work, but I guess they weren't cool with it.
Speaker: But, yeah, thanks for having us, Carson.
Speaker: And, yeah, I'd be game for a season recap after we finish everything up.
Speaker: Yeah, keep me updated, Drew.
Speaker: Avery, I'll follow you on Instagram, keep you updated.
Speaker: I'll keep updated with you, man.
Speaker: But I'll try and catch a game, and maybe I'll see you guys soon.
Speaker: But thanks for hopping on.
Speaker: I really appreciate it.
Speaker: Thanks for having us.
Speaker: Yeah, that'd be cool.
Speaker: Thanks for having us, Carson.
Speaker: No problem.
Speaker: You guys have a great night.
Speaker: Thanks.
Speaker: You too.