Episode 69: 41 Professional European Trials For Young American Players, Being An Industry Disrupter; w/ Mark Dillon

Back for his third appearance on the podcast, CEO and founder of the Talent Projekt Mark Dillon steps in the eleven. Mark recaps the most recent cohort that traveled to Germany and made real noise for young American players. The Talent projekt boys played countless European teams including Bundesliga giant academies. The group saw nearly 45% of the players attend a trial with a professional club and countless players receiving contracts with the likes of TSV 1860 Munchen and more. With all the hype and excitement around young American players it can sometimes lead to agents promising players the world, and they can't deliver. Marks job is to help players explore and experience new opportunities while also shielding them from the pitfalls that a player can succumb too.

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Episode 68: Starting Soccer As A High School Freshman To A Professional Player in Thailand; a chat w/ Christian Sacchini

Stepping into the 11 this week is another player who shows all of you dreamers out there that there is no one clear path to your goals. Christian picked up the game of soccer when he was about 14 years old as a freshman in high school and has since had a journey within the game that has taken him around the globe. He is a footballer who has trialed in the first Division in Columbia, grinding through the lower leagues of Germany and made a name for himself as a professional in Thailand. Those are just some of the landmarks stand out on the canvas of his career. Christian gets candid about the highs and lows of professional football and how he has developed a resilient and thick skin. Listen to the full story to hear how far a ball and a dream can take you.

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Episode 67: The THREE Things You Will Need To Become A Professional Footballer

This week on the pod it's all about the essentials. How do you reach the next level of Football? Whether that be, the college game, semi-pro, or professional football there are a few things that you just can't go without. Now it's not as easy as just follow these three easy steps and bam you're a pro, it's more complicated that but hey... I can't give you all the answers. Listen in to the episode to hear the answers I CAN give you!

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Episode 66: 2021 NATIONAL CHAMPION Winning Coach; a chat/w Reuben Burk

Stepping into the 11 is the reigning national champion of Division 3 soccer, Head Coach of Connecticut College Men's Soccer, Reuben Burk! Coach Burk boasts a career that featured him becoming a head coach of a major division 3 program all within a decade of beginning his coaching career. Having stints at all levels of the game Coach has seen the triumphs and adversity that pursuing coaching has to offer. From having to manage a collegiate program at the age of 22, being isolated in rural South Carolina, working 50 hour weeks, and salaries well below the poverty line. He has always stayed relentless in his pursuit of making a career in the game of Soccer. Tune in to hear the story from a coach with a wealth of stories. He also breaks down what college coaches look for, how to assess your level and so much more for all you players out there.

Find Reuben Burk:

https://camelathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer/roster/coaches/reuben-burk/278

https://www.reubenburkcoaching.com/

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Episode 65: Knocking On Doors Until One Opens; a chat w/ Cam Vickers

Cam Vickers steps into the 11 this week to discuss the career in professional football that has brought him to every corner of the country. From beginning his career at Sonoma State of the NCAA Division 2 level, to navigating the ever-changing landscape of lower league professional soccer in the states, Cam has kept a refusal to quit attitude. As he says he was willing to knock on doors until one opened or he had to break one down to achieve his dream of being a pro footballer. This did not come without its fair share of hardship and adversity, injuries, trials, clubs folding, dropping down to semi-professional levels all shape the story that is Cam Vickers professional football journey. The things that have painted his career thus far may all allude to what many would consider a true football journeyman story.

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Episode 64: Pushing For Professional Football Contracts; a chat w/ Austin Hill and Luca Sarno

Austin and Luca return to the podcast for the 2nd and 3rd times respectively on the podcast. Luca a few months removed from a professional trial in Finland talks about his experience and how he plans to adjust, adapt and continue to move forward in the game. Austin lays out the timeline after leaving Mexico where we last left him and how he found his way to Germany and the trialing process he went through. Austin gears up for his German opportunity in the coming months and how he is preparing, additionally what are some of the obstacles he will face when he lands.

The lads discuss what a players first opportunity will look like when trying to become a pro, especially if that opportunity is overseas where you are unproven. Everything from a drop in level, coaching standards, housing, finances and more create what we call the barriers to entry. If you are willing to push through, there can be a plethora of opportunity on the other side.

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If you liked what you heard from Luca check out his other episodes on the podcast!

https://in-the-11.captivate.fm/episode/episode-10-some-stories-need-to-be-told-w-luca-sarno

https://in-the-11.captivate.fm/episode/episode54neymarsperfectchaos

If you liked what you heard from Austin check out his first episode on the podcast!

https://in-the-11.captivate.fm/episode/episode-36-norway-germany-mexico-and-beyond-a-chat-with-austin-hill

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Episode 63: The Blue Collar Baller; a chat w/ Luke Pavone

Current Professional Soccer Player for Richmond Kickers in USL League 1 steps into the 11 this week. Born in Rochester New York Luke Pavone grew up with a hard working and gritty mentality that he applied to his game on the pitch. Don't mistake his work ethic for a lack of talent as he was playing some of the highest level youth football in the country and was receiving interest from top colleges. He attended Umass Amherst from 2013-2014 for his Freshman and Sophomore seasons. While he experienced an impactful role on the team, the battles he was facing off the field became a huge burden to carry and he transferred back to New York to be closer to home in a family environment. Luke attended Buffalo St. in the SUNYAC from 2015-2017 where he experienced resounding success performing seasons, multiple all conference selections and an All American Award as a Senior. Luke began the pursuit of a professional career by making his way to Israel and found a home with Hapoel Petah Tikva in 2018. Following his stint overseas Pavone returned to the United States and began the process of trialing. After months of trials, perseverance and a never quit mentality he landed a contract with the Richmond Kickers in USL League One and has since gone on to be one of their longest tenured players in club history.

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On the back half of the episode Brendan gives you the update on the footy, injuries and just life in general. Check out what has been going on the past few months for him and hear what is in store going forward for Brendan, the podcast and more!

Tune in because this is one that you won't want to miss!

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Episode 62: Bayer Leverkusen Youth To Saving Shots From Landon Donovan; Persistence Against Adversity w/ Devala Gorrick

Welcome to the 62nd episode of the In The 11 Podcast! Today, Brendan Griffiths is joined by  

Devala Gorrick as they chat about Devala’s journey starting overseas at an early age in some of the biggest European football academies which prepared him for the transition into high level College Soccer. His youth experience instilled a mindset of work ethic and dedication to his craft that he brought into the collegiate environment and further set him on a path to persevere through his pursuit of a professional career. We chat about the pro career that has brought Devala all across the world, from Thailand to Sweden to Colorado and beyond and how through it all he remained true to himself, pushed outside of his comfort zone and wrote the story of his career through the game he loves.

Being the new guy: 

Devala shares how he disagrees that players have to go through so much trouble as a new player. He does retract the thought of lenience though by saying that a player has to be a sponge, absorbing all the information they can and learn. But more so, he also shares that a player has to know how to respect. Being the new guy, an outsider at first, he says that you have to have the humility to be able to stay and learn. There’s also the nuance of unsaid and unwritten rules in a club. Playing to these rules helps everyone on the team know that you’re there to stay. Simply being courteous and humble goes a long way. 

The business with soccer clubs: 

Devala shares how he evaluates his pay and his ability and compares those to someone that he thinks is near his level and checks what’s different, especially if someone is earning more than him. On that premise, he explains how clubs are out to make money too, and as much as everyone benefits from being a club, whether a player or behind-the-game personnel, and that they aren’t equally given compensation as other sports are. From that point, Devala shares how he tried to get clean sheets and was deemed to be valuable for the club which gave him more bonuses. 

About Devala Gorrick: 

At age 16 Gorrick was sent to Vienna, Austria to house and train with the academy of Austria Wien football club. He spent 2 months with the academy and played matches with the U-16 and U-17 teams. He gained coaching and mentoring from the renowned coach Christoph Daum.

After playing goalkeeper for Santa Fe High School he began his college career with Tyler Junior College in Texas. He then transferred his junior year to Barry University in Miami where he was the starting goalkeeper his Junior and Senior year posting a 1.73 GAA and was honored as Defensive player of the week on four occasions and also added to the Athletic Deans list. He received his degree in 2009 in Advertising.Gorrick started his professional career at Bayamon FC in Puerto Rico. He started 10 games, posted 5 shutouts with a 0.70 GAA. Gorrick played an important role in helping lead Bayamon to be Puerto Rico Soccer League Champions...

Episode 61: An American Forging A Career In Europe, On The Touchline: w/ Mike Keeney

Welcome to the 61st episode of the In The 11 Podcast! Today, Brendan Griffiths is joined by Mike Keeney as he shares how he transitioned from being a player to a coach and then taking his career from the US to Europe. Mike talks about the kind of mindset necessary to be able to go through such growth, and also what it took to actually grow in the career that he’s chosen for himself. Before all these happened for Mike, he had to make a decision as well, more on which will be shared in this episode so be sure to stay tuned!

Scraping by to make a living:

Mike shares how he went through the all-too-familiar life of having to work extremely hard to make the dream a reality. He shares specifically about his experience in Finland where the season runs from January to October and he would have to train with the players in different circumstances depending on the weather. He also had to train with 3 to 5 teams on a daily basis and sometimes even during freezing weather too. 2-hour breaks for lunch, different teams treated as different entities, adjusting to different matches for different teams as well, are just a number of things that Mike had to deal with in his career. He made it a point to look at his hard work as an investment and kept going. 

An American coach in Europe:

Having to deal with language barriers is already a given, different languages had to be learned as time passed by during his stay in Europe as they also welcome players that are not able to speak English and he could not stress enough as well why understanding the cultural differences is important. How the small talks could actually help build the team up as well and would have been impossible if Mike himself could not get to speak with the team. He shared how he tried to bring in the mindset that sports are not just a hobby but a career, and him being the foreigner, might have helped put more weight into his words and embed deeper into the mindset of his players as well. 

About Mike Keeney: 

Born just outside of New York City in Westwood, New Jersey, and grew up in Middletown, New York until the age of 8. From there, his family moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and we settled in a town called Antioch which for me is my “hometown”. Mike went to elementary school, junior high school, and high school there. It is where he grew up, where he learned about life, it is where I found my calling in life…to be a football coach. Since that time he has been fortunate to be able to travel all over the world while working as a professional coach. This game has opened up the world to him and he’s been able to learn and experience so much over the years that he wants to start to share his knowledge and experience with others.​

Outline of the Episode: 

• [00:02:08] Mike Keeney’s background and his career plan 
• [00:15:29] The mindset for transitioning into coaching
• [00:20:19] Finding your inner coach, and getting people to acknowledge it
• [00:26:51] Growing as a coach 
• [00:34:48] What the sacrifices Mike had to do for the dream 
• [00:40:01] Looking at your career as a business
• [00:45:19] Difficulties of having a different culture from the team
• [00:53:27] Bringing American culture to the team 
• [01:10:42] What it takes to be a pro player on and off the field
• [01:19:55] The mentality is what takes player places

~

Find Mike Keeney on…

Website: https://www.mikekeeney.net

LinkedIn:

Episode 60: Bonus Episode! My Chat with Closer Mentality

Listen to the great interview I did with Julia Mellett of the Closer Mentality podcast as we discuss my playing career, mental health in athletics and so much more!

Check out the Closer Mentality Podcast!: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/closer-mentality/id1552237175

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