A Hall of Fame ballplayer was asked about his favorite little league memory. His answer was about his mom, and an ice cream cone. His worst memory was the car ride home with his dad.

That story changed how Preston Pomykal parented — and it's the one he says every soccer parent needs to hear. In Part 1 of this conversation, Preston walks through youth soccer player development from the inside: he grew up playing in Dallas, coached his own three boys until age ten, never took a paycheck to do it, and watched all three come up through the North Texas system — two on to college soccer, and one, Paxton, into a professional career.

Ian and Preston get into what a real technical foundation looks like before age twelve, why the best 10-year-old is so often gone by 16, and the difference between a coach who develops players and one who just picks them. Preston explains why you don't want your kid to be the best player on the team, what he learned from a Barcelona staffer who ran the identical 30-minute skills routine six days in a row, and how he replaced summer camp for 40 families with one skills coach and six weeks of real work.

He also tells the hardest conversation he ever had — telling a starting left back's parents, in January, to start looking elsewhere — and why that mom still thanks him years later.

For soccer parents, youth coaches, and club leaders who care more about the player at 25 than the trophy at 10. Part 2 continues the conversation.

• Why Preston wouldn't let anyone else coach his boys until age ten — and why he gave up paid coaching roles to do it
• A ball in every room and Saturday mornings watching the Prem instead of cartoons: love of the game built at home, not scheduled
• The chicken salad analogy — talent has to be there first, and "you didn't build him, you honed him"
• Technique before everything: striking, passing, receiving, both feet, and why the window before twelve outweighs anything after fifteen
• Training up as the real developmental lever, and why your player shouldn't be the best or the worst kid on the team
• The Barcelona camp coach who ran the exact same 30-minute routine six days straight — and the American football and basketball logic behind it
• Skipping summer camps: pooling 40 families to hire one skills coach for six weeks instead of paying for high-priced daycare
• Coaching without a paycheck — how it changed what parents heard, and the parent who accused him of favoring his own son
• Sink or swim: FC Dallas moving Paxton up to the U18s mid-season, and two coaches who committed to the decision
• Never cutting a player, no one playing less than half a game, and the January conversation that gave one family time to land somewhere better

"If you put a soccer ball in front of them, let's see if they grab it. And they grabbed it and never stopped."

"Any coach that says 'I built him' — you didn't build him, you honed him."

"I saw some kids that were better than everybody else at 10 years old that by the time they were 16, they weren't."

"You don't really want your kid to be the best player on the team, and you for sure don't want him to be the worst player on the team."

"Don't be creative. You don't need to be. Just teach them the right way."

"We did the exact same formula through the skills progression every time those kids got on a field, and their quick feet were amazing."

"When you don't take money, they listen to you completely differently. You're not my paycheck."

"I was a coach that would never cut a player. If you played for me, you played for me."

"You just gotta be honest and candid. If you try to do it with the right intention, everything should turn out pretty well."

"We're gonna talk about three things you did great, one thing that might need a little improvement, and in five minutes it's gone."

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Andy Cook took a left back, put her at number nine, and she scored 22 goals and won a league. That’s not a hunch — that’s a coaching philosophy.

In Part 2, Andy Cook gets into the part of youth soccer player development that doesn’t fit on a session plan: culture, trust, and reading the player in front of you. He took over a Nottingham Forest side sitting one place above relegation and, four years later, won the league and the cup with several of the same players who’d been there on day one. The thing he changed first wasn’t the formation. It was telling every player, every week, exactly why she was starting or why she wasn’t.

He’s blunt about systems, too. If you’ve got a Ford Mustang in the garage, you don’t work on it like it’s a Lamborghini — and the coaches he rates most, Pep included, are the ones who bend the shape to the players rather than the other way around. For anyone coaching youth, his line is simple: until 18, the individual is everything, and the team is a scoreboard that doesn’t matter yet.

There’s also a straight conversation about why England has caught up to the United States in the women’s game, two non-negotiables he’ll build any program on, and the answer he gives parents when they ask what to look for in a coach. Plus the signature closer — his greatest influence as a player, and separately as a coach.

• Becoming a dad while coaching Sunderland’s academy — and how watching his own son learn changed how he coaches
• Nottingham Forest: taking over a side one place above relegation and winning a league and cup double four years later
• The one rule he set on day one — every selection decision gets explained, however long it takes
• Moving Charlotte Greengrass from left back to number nine, and the 22-goal season that followed
• Coaching the players in front of you instead of the formation in your head — with Pep, Haaland, and Bayern as the case study
• Why the individual is paramount until 18, and why teams at youth level don’t win anything on their own
• Protecting joy: at 27 you should still play the game like you’re 7 — and what screaming from the sideline does to a 7-year-old
• Why England caught up to the US women’s game, and where he ranks the technical nations
• Accountability and respect as the only two non-negotiables — right down to how you leave the away changing room
• His answer for parents: look for honesty, and check whether what the coach says shows up on the pitch

• “Every decision I make, I’m gonna explain it to you. It doesn’t matter whether it takes me an hour or whether it takes me two minutes.”
• “My eyes don’t lie. If I’ve got a group of footballers in front of me, my first instinct is always to go, what can they do now?”
• “If a guy brings a Ford Mustang into your garage, you’re not gonna deal with it like you would a Lamborghini.”
• “Teams at youth level don’t do anything. It’s the individual.”
• “At 27, you should still play the game like you’re 7.”
• “If at 7 years old you’re having the fun kicked out of you because somebody on the sideline is screaming, whether that’s a parent or a coach, I think it’s so wrong.”
• “You put her up front, and it was like you’d freed her from the shackles of a defender.”
• “The two biggest ones for me are accountability and respect, and that really starts with me.”
• “I want a team that leaves the changing room better than what it was when we got in there.”
• “The first thing that a parent needs to look out for is honesty.”

✖️ X: @AndyCook87

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Andy Cook coached Beth Mead at 14 and Leah Williamson at 15. He wasn’t looking for tactics or trophies — here’s what he was actually watching for.

In Part 1, UEFA A licensed coach Andy Cook takes Ian Babcock through a youth soccer player development story that starts with a season ticket at Middlesbrough and ends up inside Arsenal’s women’s program. He got his first coaching badge at 16, in a country where full-time coaching jobs in the women’s game simply didn’t exist yet, and stacked qualification on qualification for a decade on nothing but what he calls blind determination.

Along the way he coached two future England internationals before either of them could drive. His answer for what made them stand out is refreshingly plain: could they control it, could they pass it, could they dribble it. Everything else — speed, tactics, position — got built out from the ball. He also talks openly about the parts that didn’t work: leaving Arsenal too early, and a first head coaching job at Oxford United where the football was fine and the man-management wasn’t.

If you’re a parent trying to understand what a good coach is actually looking at, or a coach wondering whether the badges are worth it, this one’s for you. Part 2 picks up with culture, trust, and why the individual matters more than the team until 18.

• Falling for the game as a Middlesbrough season-ticket kid in the mid-'90s, and playing local club football until 16
• The moment he realized he'd never reach his best friend's level as a player — and why that pushed him straight into coaching
• Getting his first FA badge at 16, UEFA B at 19, and the UEFA A license at 26 — a decade of qualifications with no job market waiting on the other side
• "Blind determination" as a career strategy: planning a future in a profession that didn't exist yet
• Coaching Beth Mead at the Middlesbrough Girls' Centre of Excellence — two evenings a week, a gym session, and a Saturday game
• What he looked for in young players as a young coach: control it, pass it, dribble it — the physical stuff built out from there
• Arsenal at 24 under Laura Harvey — U17s, reserves, and a 15-year-old Leah Williamson training up with older players
• His theory on why today's young women's players may be more robust: more minutes, earlier, than the generation before them
• Leaving Arsenal for the FA — the regret, and the coach-education years that taught him to plan a session properly
• Oxford United, the smallest budget in the league, and the man-management lesson he's built the rest of his career on

• “I always felt that I had different ideas to what I was being told as a boy.”
• “It was just blind determination. There was no job. There was no career.”
• “You have to plan your future based on something that you don't know.”
• “I thought, that is it, I've completed coaching. I've learned more every season since than I did in the first ten years.”
• “Could they control the ball? Could they pass the ball? Could they dribble with the ball? It all started from the ball, and then it built out from that.”
• “She was the best trainer, she was the one that had the best questions. She would stay back and want to do more.”
• “I'm always a little bit hesitant to say that's because of the work I did as a coach, because a youth player goes through so many different moments.”
• “If I'm really honest, I wish I didn't leave Arsenal. That's a regret I have.”
• “It was now trying to influence the coaches to then influence the players, and that is a completely different task, a completely different skill set.”
• “I never told them why I was picking them. All those man-management skills that I think are essential.”

✖️ X: @AndyCook87

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Turning down MLS. Walking away from an SMU scholarship. A trial at Bayern. Jay and Carey Cappis share how Christian Cappis bet on development — and won.

In Part 2 of this conversation, the Cappis family walks Ian Babcock through Christian’s player pathway from club soccer in Houston to the professional game in Europe: captaining a national-champion FC Dallas Academy side, youth national team call-ups, an MLS rights battle between Houston and Dallas, and the decision to start at the bottom of the Danish Superliga instead — because development beats badges, free boots, and even bigger money.

Jay and Carey get honest about the hard parenting moments too: letting go when Christian moved to Dallas his senior year, the summer he came home with no prospects while his friends left for college, and the day he was deported from Denmark over a paperwork mistake. It ends with the advice every soccer parent needs to hear: it’s their journey, professional soccer is a business, and your job is to support with eyes wide open.

Key Talking Points

• Why Christian turned down bigger clubs — he scouted their recruiting versus their developing and knew where he wouldn’t grow
• Free boots, kits, and warmups are enticements, not development — how the family saw through the sales pitch
• “In charge from day one”: making his own decisions from a YMCA rejection at age two and a half through every club choice after
• Playing up with older kids, scoring the winning goal against the Texans, and how one bold team choice opened the next door
• Letting go: the senior-year move to FC Dallas Academy — and living like a pro (groceries, laundry, driving to work) before ever signing
• Youth national team life: “Hey Dad, I’m going to Spain today”
• The MLS rights battle between Houston and Dallas — and why Christian took his chances in Denmark instead
• Walking away from the SMU scholarship, the Bayern trial that almost happened, and the quiet summer where Christian never doubted
• Deported from Denmark with 24 hours to leave — the life education no classroom offers
• Player identity beyond soccer: marriage, cooking with a Michelin chef, and advice for parents — it’s their journey, and pro soccer is a business

Quotes from the Guests

• “He’s been in charge from day one.” — Jay Cappis
• “Everybody wants you until they see you.” — Jay Cappis
• “Your choice, your responsibility, your consequences — all the way across the board.” — Jay Cappis
• “He could basically tell you, ‘I will not develop there. They’re great at recruiting the top players, but they’re not great at developing them.’” — Jay Cappis
• “He very calmly just kinda looks at me, and he’s like, ‘It’s okay. Don’t worry. We got this.’ He never doubted.” — Carey Cappis
• “You have a finite shelf life as an athlete... You can go back to college anytime.” — Jay Cappis
• “You’re on a journey with that child. It is not your journey. That is theirs to live.” — Jay Cappis
• “Professional athletics is a business... They will do what’s best for the club, and if that means it’s not good for you, that is not their problem.” — Jay Cappis
• “We never really set out with the goal of getting a college scholarship or even the goal of him being pro... it was more of just, well, what’s next?” — Carey Cappis
• “I’m not so much proud as I am pleased. He had a vision of what he wanted to do, and he pursued it.” — Jay Cappis

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What does it actually take to raise a professional soccer player — without pushing? Jay and Carey Cappis, parents of U.S. pro Christian Cappis, open up the family playbook.

In Part 1 of this two-part conversation, Ian Babcock sits down with the Cappis family to talk soccer parenting and youth soccer player development from the very beginning: a toddler with a ball glued to his foot, a kid so competitive he challenged the neighborhood to a foot race in his sleep, and parents who made one rule non-negotiable — it’s his journey, not theirs.

Jay and Carey share how they evaluated clubs and coaches (including interviewing a club director before joining Texans Soccer Club), why development beats winning at every age, and how a family of six divided and conquered life in Houston — from parenting in the front seat of the car to a university model school that gave them their family time back. If you’re a soccer parent wondering how to support your player without being that parent, this one’s for you.

Key Talking Points

• Raising four very different kids — and letting each one find their own sport and path
• Christian the early bloomer: walking at nine months, kicking a ball at his first birthday, and sleepwalking down the street at 6:00 AM looking for a foot race
• How Jay made sure soccer stayed Christian’s passion — including forcing breaks to prove he played because he wanted to, not because Dad was around
• Letting the child drive the journey instead of pushing it — and the school decision Christian made himself to chase the youth national team
• “Development is your A number one job” — the family standard at every level of play
• How to vet a youth soccer coach: watch multiple games, look for week-to-week improvement, and check who actually gets on the field
• Why the Texans Soccer Club culture of development over early-season results produced pros like Christian Cappis and Chris Richards
• Divide and conquer: managing four kids’ activities across a huge city, one activity per child, and parenting from the front seat of the car
• Turning long drives to training into relationship-building conversations — and knowing when your player just needs the radio
• The trust that paid off: why Christian’s first call was to his dad when Danish immigration showed up at the club

Quotes from the Guests

• “He was so competitive, even when he was sleepwalking, he was going down the street going, ‘Hey, you wanna have a foot race?’” — Jay Cappis
• “I really honestly believe he probably could have been a professional at whatever sport he chose.” — Carey Cappis
• “It was his passion, and he couldn’t go three days without getting his foot on a ball.” — Jay Cappis
• “Development is your A number one job, no matter what level you’re at.” — Jay Cappis
• “It’s incredibly difficult to know what you’re getting with any particular coach until you get some hands-on experience with them.” — Jay Cappis
• “I don’t really care as a parent whether or not they are the best team in the league. What I care about is every week, do I see the team improving?” — Jay Cappis
• “I felt like I was parenting from the front seat of the car.” — Carey Cappis
• “It suddenly occurred to me that if we didn’t have that long drive, we would have never had this particular conversation.” — Jay Cappis
• “We didn’t get it right all the time... there’s lots of learning to go around for everybody in the family.” — Jay Cappis
• “We did our best to make sure every child had a parent.” — Carey Cappis

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Is pay-to-play youth soccer actually developing players — or just monetizing false hope? Alex Lubyansky says it's the latter, and he's building the proof.

Alex is the General Manager and Head Coach of Detroit Metro FC, a completely free, senior-level football club run on the European model — on American soil. He's also an M&A attorney, an A-licensed coach, a former sporting director in Europe, a soccer parent, and an immigrant from Kyiv whose first ball came out of a trash can. In this conversation with host Ian Babcock, Alex breaks down why there's no real pyramid in American soccer, why 99.9% of kids belong in rec, and why free play — not expensive coaching — is what actually develops players.

If you're a soccer parent wondering whether club soccer is worth it, a coach frustrated with the system, or anyone asking how to fix US soccer, this episode gives you a clear-eyed map of how the machine works — and a working model for what comes next. Rooted in North Texas, heard around the world.

• Detroit Metro FC's mission: a completely free, senior-level European model on American soil, built to reform US soccer from outside the system
• Why Alex says there is no real pyramid in American soccer — just a "circle" of pre-professional leagues, MLS included, that avoid playing each other
• The one honest test for any youth program: is a child being charged a subscription fee to participate? If yes, it's pay-to-play — no matter the badge
• The case that 99.9% of kids belong in recreational soccer, and why free play develops players faster than structured, expensive coaching
• How the pay-to-play machine monetizes false hope — and why frustrated parents and coaches misunderstand what the system is actually built to do
• The ID camp myth: why college rosters are filling with international players and what that means for American families chasing scholarships
• Alex's anti-nepotism rule: no owner, coach, or staff member's child is ever allowed to try out for Detroit Metro FC
• How the club is funded: capital plus belief, an ROI model over a vanity play — and lessons from the Wrexham story
• What real senior-level football looks like: open trials, honest cuts, and a merit-based roster spanning a 16-year-old to a 40-year-old
• Alex's fix for the youth game: give the game back to the kids — pickup, free play, safe spaces, mixed ages, and parents over private trainers

• "If you can afford a used car, you can start Detroit Metro FC in DFW, and I'll tell you how."
• "A pyramid implies that there's a way to go up and go down. That's not possible in the US. It's a circle."
• "What we are doing as a country is the best monetization of false hope in the history of the planet."
• "Coaching does not develop players."
• "I think 99.9% of kids in this country belong in recreational soccer."
• "Parents are way more important than coaches. Way more. It's not close."
• "Not making it is not a failure. Not trying is the failure."
• "You wanna fix youth soccer? Give the game back to the kids. Let them play pickup. Let them have fun."
• "I'm not selling you a franchise. I'm not asking you to invest in my league."
• "He never charged me. He wouldn't let me pay him if I offered for 900 days, and he turned me into a monster."

⚽ Club: Detroit Metro FC — free, senior-level football in Detroit, Michigan

🎥 YouTube: Alex mentions his YouTube channel in the episode — link to be confirmed before publishing

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She didn't commit to soccer until the summer before her junior year — and still earned a Division I scholarship from a small club no college coach was watching.

Former NCAA Division I player Jada Davis joins Chat By The Pitch to break down youth soccer player development from both sides of the touchline. A multi-sport kid from the DFW Metroplex who bounced from karate to dance to basketball before soccer ever stuck, Jada shares how a competitive streak, ID camps, and pure hustle carried her from a small private club to Prairie View A&M — where she collected an offer from every other school in the conference first, just to prove a point.

Now a youth coach in Dallas with a background in personal training and sports nutrition, Jada opens up about the injuries that cut her college career short, the unexpected path into coaching, and how she builds a player-led culture where even her eight-year-olds run their own warmups and hold each other accountable. She also digs into the psychology of coaching girls through the Girls Academy Credential of Coaching Excellence — why words land differently than we intend, and why culture has to be player-driven.

If you're a soccer parent heading into tryout season, a young player wondering if your club is “big enough” for college, or a coach trying to balance development over winning, this conversation is for you. Jada's advice is simple: find a coach who cares about the person first — and never let the size of your club decide the size of your dream.

• A multi-sport childhood — karate, dance, basketball, volleyball, track, and cross-country — and how cross-training made her stronger and always in shape when she committed to soccer
• Falling in love with competing before falling in love with the sport, and why she didn't choose soccer until the summer before her junior year of high school
• Playing for a small private club instead of a big-name academy — and how ID camps, game film, and self-advocacy got her in front of college coaches anyway
• Choosing Prairie View A&M: putting an HBCU at the top of her list, having no plan B, and earning an offer from every other school in the conference first
• Two season-ending foot fractures, the decision to play through the pain, and what she'd tell players facing the same choice today
• The unexpected call from TOCA that turned a personal trainer into a youth soccer coach — and why she almost said no
• Building a player-led culture with eight-year-olds: player-run warmups, accountability between teammates, and zero tolerance for negative talk
• The Girls Academy Credential of Coaching Excellence: the psychology of coaching girls and why it doesn't matter what a coach means — it matters how players interpret it
• Parent buy-in, over-communication, and the ongoing conversation about development versus winning at the youth level
• Her tryout-season advice for families: find a coach who values the person before the athlete, and a club with real standards, culture, and a pathway

• “I just like to compete. You could put Uno in front of me, and I'm probably gonna win nine out of 10 games.”
• “I don't think it matters what club you play on if you wanna play in college. You just have to make the effort yourself.”
• “She offered me the least, and I truly believed all I need is one season, and I was absolutely correct.”
• “I wanted to stick with something where I could just create my own path.”
• “I kinda steered away from coaching 'cause I was like, 'I don't wanna turn into the coaches that I hated.'”
• “It doesn't matter what we mean when we say it, it matters how they interpret it.”
• “It's their team. It's not my team. They're playing. I'm not playing.”
• “I don't care if you make mistakes as long as you fix them.”
• “You don't have respect for people when they don't care to get to know you.”
• “Sydney looked at me and she said, 'We got this.' It's something I live by. I think about it every day.”

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What if you could capture every second of your kid's game — and actually be present to watch it? That's the promise Gabriel Roxas brings to Chat By The Pitch.

Gabriel, PR manager for AI sports camera company XbotGo, joins Ian Babcock to talk about making game-day videography accessible to every soccer family — not just the ones who can afford a videographer. They dig into how autonomous, ball-tracking cameras let parents put the phone down and stay in the moment, why owning your footage with no subscription matters, and how tools like the Falcon and Chameleon are lowering the cost of capturing youth sports.

Ian shares his honest, hands-on experience running the Falcon at his own kids' matches — live streaming to family who couldn't make it, marking highlights on the fly, and learning the quirks along the way. Gabriel unpacks the company's mission to democratize videography, the new TeamSnap partnership, and why watching your child's game with your own eyes beats watching it through a screen.

Whether you're a soccer parent, coach, or club leader trying to share the game with more people, this conversation is about protecting the joy of youth sports — and making sure no moment goes unrecorded.

• Making game-day videography accessible and affordable for every soccer family — not just the ones who can hire a videographer.
• Why being present at your child's game matters more than capturing it through a phone screen.
• The difference between the all-in-one Falcon ($699) and the phone-cradling Chameleon ($329), and who each one is for.
• How autonomous, ball-tracking cameras free parents from full-time filming duty on the sideline.
• Owning your footage outright with no subscription fee — a deciding factor for a lot of families.
• Live streaming games so out-of-town relatives and busy parents never miss a match.
• Marking highlights on the fly and auto-generating clips right after the final whistle.
• The 'follow me' mode that keeps an individual player as the star of the coverage.
• The new XbotGo–TeamSnap partnership bringing streaming, scheduling, and communication into one ecosystem.
• Gabriel's path from TV journalism to PR — and why storytelling is really about clearing a path for families to tell their own game-day stories.

• “We were all about democratizing the experience of videography for sports.”
• “It's really about allowing the people on the sidelines to actually be present in the game.”
• “For a sports parent, it's actually letting them be present in their child's moment.”
• “If you're experiencing something through the lens, you're not experiencing it with your naked eye.”
• “What we're doing is we're making people's lives better through technology.”
• “You have to learn how to play before you can learn how to win.”
• “At the very youngest level, you have to let children find their own joy and their own love for the game.”
• “This is something where the parent gets to own the camera themselves — a hundred percent control over it.”
• “It's finding that sweet spot: quality, usability, accessibility, and a reasonable price point for everybody.”
• “You can just set it and forget it — and you get to watch the game.”

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Hanna Barker turned a recovering ACL into a college career that ended with Freshman of the Year — then chased the pro game across four countries.

In Part 2, Hanna and Ian trace the player pathway from college to the pros and the long road of playing abroad. She breaks down roles over positions and the playmaker’s mindset, why soccer IQ comes from being allowed to make mistakes, and how a safe environment lets players “fail forward.” It’s a clear-eyed look at what the student-athlete years really teach: time management, accountability, and leadership.

Then the journey goes global. A mentor, Megan Dunnigan, opens the door to Iceland — the American route to the pros when the NWSL draft was only 30 names deep. From there it’s Hungary, a Champions League run in Budapest, two hard-earned seasons in Istanbul, and finally Serie A with underdog Napoli Women.

For players, parents, and coaches mapping the road from youth soccer to the professional game, this one is about patience, mentorship, and building an identity beyond the sport. Don’t give up — something always comes around. Rooted in North Texas, heard around the world.

• Roles over positions and embracing the playmaker mindset — don’t put yourself in a box
• Soccer IQ: reading the game, overlapping runs, and learning by being allowed to make mistakes
• Why a safe environment where players can “fail forward” produces real growth
• Starting college on a recovering ACL and rising to Freshman of the Year
• What student-athlete life teaches: time management, accountability, and leadership
• The mentor, Megan Dunnigan, who showed her the American pathway to the pros through Iceland
• The reality of the NWSL draft — only 30 names — and finding an alternative route overseas
• A career across Iceland, Hungary, a Champions League run in Budapest, and two seasons in Istanbul
• Turning resentment into her biggest growth, then landing in Serie A with Napoli
• Building an identity beyond soccer — a sports & performance psychology master’s and mentoring the next generation

“If you don’t give up, you can’t lose, because something will always come around to what you want.”

“The bad days will not last forever. The good days are not gonna last forever either — but at least enjoy them.”

“Don’t put yourself in a box.”

“The most important thing as a player is being on the field.”

“You tell me what position you want me to play.”

“It is okay to make mistakes, and you’re gonna fail, and that’s just part of the growth.”

“If they can do it, I can do it.”

“Stay patient in the process and don’t give up.”

“I’m just a completely different person from college to now.”

“I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without playing soccer.”

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Before she was a winger for Napoli Women in Serie A, Hanna Barker was just a kid in Farmers Branch, Texas, kicking a ball around at her dad’s games.

In Part 1, Hanna and Ian go back to the beginning — the youth soccer years that built everything that came later. She shares why she stayed at one club, Defeaters, for her entire youth career, how community and friendship kept her in love with the game, and why free play and multiple sports mattered more than private lessons and a packed schedule. It’s a real look at long-term player development over short-term winning.

Then comes the hard part: two ACL tears as a teenager, and the mindset that brought her back in roughly eight months each time. Hanna’s advice on recovery — focus on what you can do, not what you can’t — is gold for any player or parent facing a setback.

For soccer parents, youth coaches, and players chasing the game, this one is about protecting joy, growing together, and choosing the program that truly wants you. Rooted in North Texas, heard around the world.

• Finding soccer early in Farmers Branch through her dad’s games and the younger-sibling advantage
• Joining Defeaters around age 10 and staying with the same group of girls for her entire youth career
• Why community and friendship — not private lessons — kept her in love with the game
• The value of multi-sport play and free time over early specialization and over-scheduling
• Parents who protected her from the political side of soccer and let her be a kid
• “Love the game so you survive the sport” — fostering joy that lasts a lifetime
• Coach Hugh’s style: discipline paired with the freedom to make mistakes and grow together
• Tearing her ACL twice as a teen — freshman and junior year — and the mental reset each time
• Reframing injury recovery: focus on what you can do, not on what you can’t
• Earning a full ride to Stephen F. Austin from a program that wanted her, and the support that carried her through her second comeback

“I would not be the player who I am today without my ACL tears — it taught me a crazy level of resilience and perspective at such a young age.”

“If you focus on what you’re able to do rather than what you can’t, it’ll take you a lot further.”

“Focus on something else that you love if you can’t have that right now.”

“There will always be injuries. It’s a part of the game, but it’s really how we bounce back from them.”

“I always describe a team like a puzzle, and everyone has a little piece.”

“It doesn’t matter your age. If you show up and you’re good, that’s who’s gonna play, and that’s how it should be.”

“Someone always wishes they were where you’re at.”

“They let me be a kid, and that’s something I’m always gonna be grateful for.”

“You’re just a person who knows how to kick a ball.”

“If you focus on what you have versus what you don’t have, it can really form a new perspective for you.”

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