The Long Game. How Do You Keep Kids Loving Soccer?
How do you keep kids loving soccer when the game keeps asking them to carry more?
This final episode of our Summer Best Of series steps back from rankings, pathways, costs, and development models to ask a bigger question. After a year of conversations, what actually matters when the final whistle blows on a child’s youth soccer journey?
Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia revisit some of the voices that shaped the first season, including Dr. Jonathan Jenkins, Don Farr, Tali Sommer, Ryan Farr, Andrew May, Peguy Luyindula, and David Rodriguez. Together they explore listening before solving, protecting enjoyment, giving late developers time, and remembering that the child has to stay more important than the sport.
The Long Game closes the series with optimism. Youth soccer is still worth believing in, but only if we never lose sight of why children started playing in the first place.
In this episode:

• Why listening should come before solving when a child wants to quit
• What parents often forget while chasing development
• Why freedom and enjoyment create better long-term players
• How Ryan Farr’s journey challenges early specialization
• Why growth goals matter more than outcome goals
• Why the child has to remain more important than the sport
• What the best guests from Season One taught us about long-term development
• Why the future of American youth soccer is still worth fighting for

• (00:00) - The Long Game

SOUND FIXED. sorry. Reload Episode.
 Parents hear the word development everywhere in youth soccer. Clubs say it. Coaches say it. Trainers say it. But if training does not transfer to the game, the word can hide more than it explains.

In this Best Of Part 3 episode, Liron and Matt revisit clips from Sean McCafferty, Juan Santamaria, Nil Congost, Christian Gonzalez, Evan Rosenthal, Matt Poland, Dr. Chris Platts, and Jose Campos.

The episode moves from winning and false progress to skill, recognition, specificity, sacrifice, late developers, and the coaching humility required to see the player in front of you.

In this episode:

• Why winning all the time can create false progress
• Why wanting to win is still part of development
• How environment challenges talent
• Why technique is not the same as game skill
• Why general practice creates general outcomes
• How parents get pulled toward training that looks good but may not transfer
• Why the simple action under pressure is often elite
• Why coaches and parents should be careful when predicting a player’s future

• (00:00) - What Is Development?

For parents, that question is not only about fees. It is about sacrifice, access, pressure, private training, travel, college hopes, and whether the money is actually helping the player.

In this Best Of episode, Liron and Matt revisit the cost conversation through clips from Peguy Luyindula, Danny Buttita, Evan Rosenthal, Dr. Chris Platz, Justin Phelps, Tom Bowen, Ryan Farr, Phil Gordon, and Alex Rando.

The episode moves past the easy complaint that youth soccer is expensive. It asks a better question: what are parents buying, what are they not buying, and does the spending match the child’s why?

Chasing the Game is a weekly show for parents trying to navigate youth soccer in America: the money, the leagues, the pressure, and what actually develops a player.

• (00:00) - The Cost Question

Summer is here, and so is our first Best Of episode.

But this isn’t a greatest-hits collection.

Instead of replaying our biggest social clips, we went back through 35 episodes and chose the conversations that quietly shaped how we think about youth soccer.

We call this episode The Maze because that’s what the American youth soccer system often feels like. Every decision feels urgent. Every club promises opportunity. Every badge seems important.

Looking back, we realized these conversations were all answering the same question:

How do parents know they’re making the right decision?

Featuring insights from Sean McCafferty, Andrew May, Ditmer de Jong, Filippo Giovannoli, Jose Campos, Tom Bowen, and more, this episode explores club fit, player development, rankings, self-regulation, physical maturity, and why finding the right environment matters more than chasing the biggest badge.

In this episode

* Why fit beats prestige
* Why parent ego quietly shapes decisions
* How self-regulation separates long-term players
* Why rankings only tell part of the story
* How biology fools parents and coaches
* Why challenging yourself is essential for development

• (00:00) - The Maze

Winning is part of development. Juan Santamaria, Sporting Director and Vice President at Cedar Stars Academy, joins Chasing the Game to talk about competition, mentality, playing time, college recruiting, MLS academies, and what parents misunderstand about the pathway.

This episode gets into the uncomfortable parts of serious youth soccer: losing players to MLS academies, helping families through the college process, the cost of showcases, why players need to drive their own recruiting, and when parents have to step back.

Juan also gives a clear answer on what a player needs by age 13, what parents should stop chasing, what they should ask clubs, and the warning sign that a player may be in the wrong environment.

More from Chasing the Game:
Chasing the Game - Youth Soccer in America
chasingthegame.us

• (00:00) - Winning Is Allowed

Harris Faulkner Gets a World Cup Crash Course
A six-time Emmy-winning Fox News anchor is heading to France vs. Senegal with her daughters and needs soccer rules for parents before the World Cup.

Harris Faulkner knows pressure. Live television. Breaking news. Election nights. But soccer brings a different challenge: stoppage time, offside, VAR, red cards, chanting fans, and two teenage daughters watching every reaction.
So Liron and Matt give her the Chasing the Game version of a World Cup crash course. Not the expert version. The parent version. Enough to follow the match, understand the drama, and maybe say one smart thing at the perfect time.
In this episode:

• Why the World Cup is the easiest way into soccer
• What parents should know before sitting in a stadium
• Why does the clock count up and stoppage time feel strange
• How offside and VAR work without ruining the game
• What yellow cards, red cards, and substitutions mean
• Why France vs. Senegal carries real World Cup history
• Why Mbappé and Mané matter
• The soccer lines that might impress your kids once

• (00:00) - Parent in Need

Why does a youth soccer player look technical in training, then struggle when the game starts?

That question drives this conversation with Christian Silva, founder of Silva Academy and a former professional player. Christian pushes past the easy labels parents hear all the time: technical, confident, talented, improving. His point is sharper than that. A player can look great in a session, beat cones, win drills, and still not understand when or why to use the skill in a real game.

Liron and Matt talk with Christian about what technical ability actually means, why the skill is not just the move, why supplemental training has to connect back to the team environment, and why parents often misread confidence.

Christian also explains why yelling from the sideline can hijack a player’s decision-making, why watching full games still matters, why highlights can distort development, and why the best soccer parents may need to ask more questions before chasing another trainer, team, badge, or shortcut.

This episode is for every parent who has watched their kid look great in practice and then wondered why it did not show up on game day.

• (00:00) - Why training and games can look so different

A post can open a door, but it can also distort what families think progress looks like.

In this episode, Liron and Matt talk with David Rodriguez, founder of Footy Access, about one of the most loaded words in youth soccer: exposure.

Parents want their kids seen. Players feel the pressure. Clubs understand the value. Platforms create visibility. But being posted is not the same thing as being developed, recruited, or ready.

David explains how Footy Access thinks about coverage, why families cannot pay to have a player featured, when social media can help, and why a young player still has to hold up when the camera is off.

In this episode:

• Why David started Footy Access after seeing a gap in youth soccer media
• Why views and followers can become misleading metrics
• How Footy Access sources stories, rankings, and player coverage
• What exposure actually means for players, clubs, and families
• Why social media is not a replacement for showcases, scouts, or development
• Why parents cannot pay to have a player featured
• When posting helps a player and when it becomes noise
• Why families need a clearer “North Star” before chasing visibility

• (00:00) - Social Media Pressure

What does a youth soccer coach do when parents are not watching?

This week on Chasing the Game, Liron is joined by Patrick Ouckama and Phil Gordon, whose coaching path has taken him from D.C. United to Nottingham Forest.

That journey gives Phil a rare view of two very different soccer environments: the American youth system and the English academy world. The conversation keeps returning to something most parents do not always see clearly.

Coaching is not just the session.

It is the planning before training.
The conversations after practice.
The hard roster decisions.
The scouting meetings.
The staffing behind the player.
The hours spent thinking about development long after the whistle blows.

Phil talks about the dedication required to coach well, what changes when you move into a Premier League academy environment, and why staffing and structure matter so much in player development.

For American soccer parents, this episode offers a useful look behind the curtain. Not because England has all the answers. Not because Nottingham Forest is a magic model. But seeing how another environment supports players and coaches can help us ask better questions about our own.

In this episode, we cover:

- What parents often miss about the work coaches do
- Why coaching is much more than running a training session
- How Phil’s path moved from D.C. United to Nottingham Forest
- What the UK academy environment feels like from the inside
- Why staffing, scouting, and support roles matter in development
- The difference between coaching in the U.S. and England
- How geography changes the academy experience in the UK
- What American players bring, and where they can still grow
- Why parent-coach relationships can shape the development experience
- How families should think about college, contracts, and long-term pathways

• (00:00) - What Coaches Really Do

Most soccer families are told the same thing: specialize early, chase the biggest league, get seen, and don’t fall behind.

But Don Farr and his son Ryan tell a different story.

Ryan played multiple sports, stayed connected to high school soccer, took a post-grad year at Northwood, and then became a standout freshman at Stony Brook. His path was not clean. It was not obvious. And that is exactly why it matters.

This episode is about the decisions families make when there is no perfect answer. Academy or high school. D1 or D3. Exposure or fit. Scholarship or affordability. Dream big, but stay honest.

In this episode:

• Why all three Farr brothers ended up with different soccer outcomes
• What high school soccer still gives players in certain communities
• Why Ryan chose Northwood instead of jumping straight into college
• The shock of entering a more professional soccer environment
• The real value, and limits, of showcases
• Why ID camps are often misunderstood
• How families should think about scholarship money and actual college cost
• What Ryan learned from his freshman year at Stony Brook

• (00:00) - America, Land of Soccer Opportunity