Cap it, Am I being illogical? Just wanting logic. When it comes to the Champions League, it's like an either or you get a fit. You get fifteen of the eighteen, and they're gonna play either the one or the two. It's either you're gonna eat the mashed potatoes or you're gonna eat the green beans. It's not like, look, you're going right at the meat loaf. Am I wrong here?
I don't know, John, I'm getting I'm getting one of those scanners headaches, just trying to figure out what the Champions League is trying to figure out.
Man, Yeah, it seems like, you know, sometimes you just got to keep it simple.
Just keep it simple, kiss, keep it simple, stupid exactly.
I mean, then you go back to the basics a little bit here.
This is this is what I'm saying, all right, So and speaking of back to basics, uh, you know, the the Beatles had a lyric get back to where you once belong, you know, talking heads, same as it ever was. Dude came into the airport last night. I don't know if you know this, but a dude came to the Atlanta airport last night, and there were a lot of folks that were there to meet him. I don't know if you know this gentleman, but his first name is
Miguel and he's here in Atlanta. Have you had interactions with this gentleman in the past on any level? What can he bring to Atlanta United? Do you know this gentleman?
I think we all do. Yeah, I'm excited. It's gonna be Uh, it's gonna be exciting. It's exciting for the team obviously on the field, you know, bringing what he brings to the team. But I think just as important, it's going to energize the fan base. And you know, I know that there's been moments the past few years where things have you know, peaked up and the crowds have been good and stuff. But you know, I want to get back to that normal sellout crowds, you know,
crazy atmosphere, even if it's a Wednesday night game. Hey, and Miguel is going to help bring that back.
Uh. Now, I have a question to you, sir, and I don't know if you can, uh, if you can put any light on this. Uh. There was a picture posted to social media and the gentleman looked a lot like you, and uh, you know this could have been you. It could have been a doppelganger. It could have been someone masquerading. I don't know, someone may be doing a late Halloween thing. And it was someone who looked a
lot like you looking into a mirror. And you had a jersey that had a name on the back of this particular gentleman, How long did it take you to get that jersey? How how did were you allowed to order that from an MLS shop dot com like three weeks ago and you were being just prescient? Or did you hit the FedEx button on this one? How did how did you? How did you get your intel?
Sir man? I'm old, but I'm not that old where I still have a hook up here and there. And so, you know, a package arrived in the mail and had a little special gift and I thought, you know what, I should probably share this with the world.
A package just showed up on your doorstep. It's like, oh wow, look at this. I think, I think maybe this will this this might be cool to wear. Okay, so the man got the hookup is basically what happened.
Exactly, Okay, exactly, And to be honest, Sean, I'm not like on a jersey, you know, snob and when I put it on, I didn't even know it was in New Jersey.
Oh, because yeah, because it has like the it's the the black stripes go all the way up to the shoulder, the shoulder blade and everything like that. This not just cut off. It goes all the way up into the shoulder blade and the stripes.
This year, yeah, I mean, I just saw the stripes and the name on the back and everything like that, and that's all I was focused on. And then I saw some of the comments about saying it was a jery league, and I.
Was like, it is. I'm when I'm I'm the most excited to see how I mean, obviously, you know at the airport he's literally signing every single autograph that was asked of him, and that's that's normally, that's his gregarious nature. But I am intrigued to see how different a player he is six years on, what the experience in the Premier League has given him internally and externally. We know that you can still shoot him out of a cannon and good luck catching him when he slams it into
fifth gear. But I'm interested in seeing how he has continued to evolve. I won't necessarily say mature because he's still you know, running around like you know what. But I'm intrigued to see how thirty year old Miguel Almeron will be here in Atlanta with the game that he has evolved over the last six years.
Totally yeah, same. You know, I think that we've all seen him play a little bit over in Europe and and uh, you know, he looks he has looked the same as he did in Atlanta, you know, just rubbing and rubbing off tackles, just flying through people, running around, busy and dangerous, and you know, I think that's what we expect. And uh, you know, I don't think anybody really quite knows the formation that we're going to play.
And you know, there's a lot of a lot of pieces now to the team, and you've got a lot of attacking options that it's going to be interesting to see how the gaff forgets everybody on the field and how he lines everyone up and what the responsibility is because Miguel had a lot of freedom under ta top, especially when we were playing in that three five to two esque it was like a three six to one basically, where Miguel could kind of roam and do as he
pleased and go wherever he wanted. And you know that suited him obviously really good defensively. You know, he did what he needed to do. And so yeah, it'd be interesting to see how his game has evolved. And you know, does he do a little bit less running and you know, use his brain a little bit more. That's that's what tends to happen when you hit your thirties, right. But you know, I think on in counter attack situations and you know, on that turf, there's a there's nothing scarier
than Miguel running at you. So I'm excited to see that.
Did he What was it like having him run at you? In practice?
A nightmare because not only it's like, oh God, how am I going to keep up with this guy? But at the same time, you're like, God, I don't want to follow him, follow him and hurt him.
You know, So yeah, it was tough when it comes to and I want to I want to get this
to to the the mentoring aspect of things. When when you have someone who comes into a situation and he's the new kid, it doesn't matter what you know about and what you might know, what you might not know do you have conversations with your with your mentees about being the new kid at school, about being the new kid and what it's like to try and integrate and be a part of the team while still trying to learn on the field what you want and be a
part of the whole vibe off the field. Do you have those conversations with your mentees.
Oh, definitely on both sides of it, right, Because you've got the players that are a part of the team that are welcoming in a new player, and then you've got the new player who's joining a new team, and so we talk about both of those aspects because they're both important, and everyone that plays any sport for a while will be in that situation on both ends at some point, you know, And only then do you realize how difficult sometimes it can be to be the new person,
depending on the environment that you're walking into and depending on who you are as a person.
Right.
It's for some guys it's so easy because they're loud and open and so confident, and they just walk into any locker room and you feel like, Wow, this guy's been here forever, you know. But then there's other people who are much more shy and quiet, and you know, how do they find their way? So yeah, we absolutely do. And to those types of you know, to the first type, that's pretty easy, right, we have to have to tell
them like, hey, you know, know your role. You know, don't go stepping on anybody's toes in the first couple of days, even though you want to play with that confidence. But it's more the other players of like, okay, how can you find one player or two players that you can you can bond with and get to know and then slowly integrate yourself more into the team, not feeling like you have to be best friends with everyone on the team on day one, because that's that's daunting and
it's challenging, you know. And then on the reverse side, right, how can you be a welcoming teammate because it makes a huge difference. It makes a huge difference. And you know, if you've got the confidence that you're going to be able to keep your place in the team and that this new player isn't going to kick you out of the starting lineup or anything, there's no reason why you shouldn't be welcoming to a new player.
But then for the for the player who's coming into the situation. You don't want them to overcorrect. You don't want them to lose what got them into that situation that they're stepping into, because I would imagine at times there there is the player who's coming in. It's like, yeah, I want to make the right first impression. I want to be the player, but at the same time, I don't want to step on any toes and you know, I don't want to upset the chemistry that's already here.
So I would anticipate that that's a that that's a delicate balance in trying to figure out figure out your plays, not not mess up what's there, and continued development. It's like three things working at the same time.
Yeah, And to that, I would say, don't worry about stepping on toes out on the field. Right, You go out on the field and you do everything that's got you this opportunity and got you there, and you don't worry about anything else other than going out there and being you and playing as best as you can and as hard as you can and working as hard as
you can. Right, it's more off the field of like, you know, being cognizant that you're the new player and helping out and having a good attitude and you know, not being so brash in the locker room and things like that, you know, settling in a little bit. But on the field, we definitely try and tell the players, know, hey,
have that confidence, go ahead, get in. There's other players need to figure out who you are as a player, and you need to show them from the get go this is who you are, so you know, don't be timid, don't be shy, don't be afraid of like, oh, if I'm going to go take somebody one on one, yeah, I'm going to do it. And if they look silly, then that's on them and they need to get better, right But you know, I'm going to go out there and I'm going to do me and that's okay. It's
more off the field. I feel like where you can you can make more of an impact.
How were you as the new kid in school?
Quiet? Yeah, shy and quiet. So for me it was it's easy to talk to those players because I was one of them. You know, I saw the other people that were the other way and how they could integrate really easily. But for me, it was like, no, I'm going to chill out here on the side. I'm going to take everything in, you know, learn kind of the ropes a little bit, figure out who I want to buddy up with and who's a little bit more you know, like me and like minded, and you know, we'll go from there.
Are your mentees more like you? Or are they more gregarious going into their new situations? From what you can remember off the top of your head.
I'd say it's sixty forty, more more open, more willing to put themselves out there and you know, not care or just have that confidence to go out there and you know, be them in any situation, which is good.
Is that generationally different or is that just you know, part of what goes on on the field where you're going to have one of two personalities come out there. I didn't know if this particular generation or the mentees that you're dealing with are geared toward one direction over another. Whether they are more gregarious just naturally, or they're more quiet naturally in the sixty to forty mix, or is it just something that is more game state more than anything else.
You know, Well, I think that I think athletes in general tend to be a little bit more confident than non athletes as far as like in a school, and that's what I was kind of talking about. So obviously the mentees are of athletes, and so you know, I think maybe that tends to lead towards them being more confident going into certain situations. So it's kind of swayed a little bit based off of who we work with.
What did you think of training camp when training camp came up? In general? Were you excited about new seasons where you're like, oh man, it's training camp and we're going to go south or going to tour, We're going What did you think of training camp when training camp popped up every year?
Mostly excited. The only thing I wasn't excited about was h fitness and uh fitness tests. Yeah, but no excited just to get going again and to get to know we know, the new group, you know, and a fresh start.
And I think that going away for training camp is really nice because you get to you get to bond with guys, and when you're in a hotel and you're away from home, you just bond with guys more differently than you do when you're just around them, you know, for five six hours at the training ground and then
go home. So it's just different. When you're having your meals together and you're doing other things off the field together, you get to know each other a little bit better, and you know, I think that's important bonding for any team. Uh So, I always look forward to those things. And I liked getting away with the guys, you know, getting into nicer weather.
So your mentees, I don't think they have training camps where they go to like IMG or anything like that. Most of the time, it might be ninety nine percent of your mentees are staying at home and they're with their teams, with their clubs, what have you. When they're going into these new environments, it's the first day of school,
you know, first day of club. Do you have conversations with your mentees about pre season, about new environments, about new seasons and how to respond or do they or do you just let them do their thing and get more feedback coming back it's like, well, yeah, I've started with this new club and ABC D and E. Do you have information going in or do you get more information from them coming out when they're once they're in itself. When it comes to integrated.
Yeah, I think it depends on the situation of the player, and if they are going to a new club, like you said, if if they're hanging out with their old club that they've been a part of for a long time, and what their situation is, and also how the previous fall went for them personally, or are they coming off a great fall and hey, let's keep that momentum going, or hey this is a fresh start, right new season, let's recharge, let's set our goals, and you know, go
from there. So you know, definitely depending on if we've worked with them before, how they did last year, and uh, you know, what their environment is that they're going into. So we're trying to take that all into account.
So when you have a mentee, say that had a that had a great last season and they're coming off a great postseason, whatever that entails. You know, my my mentee had a great postseason, we'll put that we had a great last season, put that in quotes. And then you have a mentee that didn't have a good last season and they're going into a situation this year that either could be that you hope is you know, different
more optimistic. How do you steer a mente coming out of a bad out of a bad vibe toward a new season and try to flip that vibe around. What are those conversations like, yeah.
Well, I think the first message is the same to both players, Like what happened in the past is not guaranteed the same for the future, right, both both good and bad. Right, we've got we've got an opportunity to either continue that or to change it. And that is on us. And we have that onus on us and that power to change things that happened. Right if we create good habits and we go out there and we have a good mindset and we put the effort and we want things to change or we want them to continue,
and we don't get complacent. And so you know, I think that goal setting is a big one for players that have gone through a down period and setting smaller goals, right, how do we Yeah, of course, your goal might be to start for a team. Right, maybe you came off with a terrible season, you didn't play that much, Right, I want to be a starter. Well that's great, but what are you going to do to become a starter? Right?
How do we have these small little goals so that each week you're saying, hey, I did these five things this week to get myself in a better place, to become a starter. And you know, that's what we try and really focus on, is like, Okay, control what you can control, put yourself in a good situation, continue to develop, and everything else will take care of itself.
How hard is it to convince a mentee about controlling the controllables? Because that has been an underlying thing with you and Greg ever since I think day one and all of our conversations here on Fridays. You know, I would think that mentees and that particular age group, in that particular demo, it's all about the instant gratification, the instant results. If something didn't happen, it's an extreme. It's either I did really great and the world is fantastic,
or I had a bad day and everything stinks. How do you How difficult is it to have a mentee focus and understand the control the controllables message these days?
Yeah, it's always a challenge, I mean, and it's not just for young mentees, right, I think for all of us. It's right. We all stress some times about things that we can't control, you know, stressed about what the weather is going to be like and how that's going to affect plans or you know this, that or the other thing. Right,
we all do it. So it's challenging, and you know, I think that's the more that we're able to help them just focus on one or two things and slowly change that habit and the mindset of what are we thinking about on the way to a game and what aren't we thinking about or on the way to training. Right, I think that that can help, and so then we start to get the buy in a little bit. So, yeah,
it's tough. It's not a hey, this is what you should do, so go out there and do it, and great, Right, it's a constant challenge.
How much how do you know you look at the adjustments that you have to make with mentees on a year and year a basis, how many adults do you have to have conversations with about controlling the controllables? Because I'm to your point you're like, yeah, the weather impacted our plans and we couldn't do this, or we're snowed in, and what do we do with the kids in the backyard, or you know, what do we do to keep them busy? Oh? No, the power is out. We're really in trouble. Now, how
are we going to navigate these kind of things. Do you have conversations with parents or adults in general about controlling the controllables?
Yeah, my wife really appreciates those conversations.
Can you please control the controllables here? Fifteen minutes? Is that a controllable? What are we controlling here with?
No?
But everybody's running around, everybody's in the backyard dinners in fifteen But we're halfway through fifteen minutes. It's control the controllables. Yeah, I could. I could see those conversations with.
Them, Yeah, but probably not as many as we should with some parents, you know, some of them here the things that we talk about with the mentees. So hopefully it gets through a little bit, but you know, not as much. And honestly, I found John that the more we've we've done things, the more parents are not involved in the sessions. And I think that's mostly a benefit,
which I'm pleased about. Even younger players we'll work with like a ten or eleven year old and parent is like, you know, get some set up in front of the screen and okay, I'll let you guys do your thing. So it's it's actually rare more rare that the parent sits there and listens and is part of the conversation. Oh you just had a hat fall behind you. Wow.
No, no, no, we can't have that.
Yeah on the left side.
Oh there it is, Okay, I'll pick it up on the shows.
Over So yeah, I mean, not as many conversations as we probably could and should with the adults.
So, I mean, I get the idea of having an adult, you know, let the kid you know, have the session with you and the parent, thinking that it's about on the field stuff or whatever, you know, it's like mentoring, and that it's only part of the equation. I mean, I'm trying. Have you ever thought about just saying, hey, okay, I need to have it. That's like, you're cool this week, I want to talk to your parents, or having separate and mentoring sessions, but not necessarily call it that I
want to mentor a parent. No. I mean, but have you thought about having separate conversations just as a sides with parents or anything like that, just kind of pull them off and sit there and go, Okay, hey, here's what's going on. Here's what I think I'm seeing from you. Tell me if I'm wrong. Kind of a thing.
Yeah, that's a good show, John, because I don't think that we do that enough. I think every now and then, and it's usually only if it's something big or if the parent asks, you know, in an email or something, hey, what's going on? How's it going type thing? But we probably should honestly do it more often. You know. I guess it's a time factor and it's a we don't want to use up a session, you know that could be with the kid with the parent, but we need
to figure that out. That's a good show because I do think that we could provide more information back to the parents so that they're getting it as well and can stay on top of some of the things that we we do at the airport. At the airport, I just was reading what Barbo, what we do in the sessions.
You had sessions at the airport. I mean, well, but to your but to your point, and I wasn't even necessarily thinking like during session time in general, because there are parents and we've had these talks in the past, you and Greg and I have had these talks where the parent is adding to the issues and not contributing to the solutions. And that's kind of where I was like, well, how do you how do you pull a parent aside, be diplomatic about it and have them and have them
understand Okay, I'm seeing this from the outside. I'd like for you to look at this from the inside and see if we to get other can help move everything forward into a positive and then try not to sound like a jerk about it, you know what I'm saying.
Yeah. I did have one interaction with the family recently, and because the dad wrote an email saying like, oh, I sent you these videos and my son said, you guys didn't watch them. Well, the dad had prefaced it that the kid didn't play well. I watched some of the videos. The kid didn't play terrible, we didn't play great. So we talked about some of it a little bit, and I didn't feel like it was necessary to, like, you know, show them all the bad clips and you know,
go from that, especially when we're dealing with confidence issues. Yeah, to which the dad wasn't thrilled about and let me know about it. So, yeah, I had a email exchange with him letting him know about, Hey, this is how I work and this is what I see, and you know, I didn't say, the kid was asking. The kid asked me, yeah, what video? What game were you talking about? And the mom from the background was like, the game you in?
Wow?
So wow, geez, poor kid. The kid laughed so well that obviously talked about it, and.
That's a defense. I think that's a defense mechanism, or at least it was for me in the past when someone, you know, when your parent, yeah, jams on you a little bit, you laughed, you laugh it off as a bit of a defense mechanism. But that's got a sting man.
So I definitely wasn't going to show the video after that and talk about it and kind of pound it in. So we talked about it, you know, just in general, when you're playing well, when you're not playing well, and things like that. So yeah, that's definitely a situation where it's like, Okay, you know, there's there's things going on here that you know, hopefully can change in the broader picture and not just with the athlete.
Another couple of minutes there with Michael Parker is that MF. Parkers on the two hundred and eighty character app at BG mentoring Beyond Goals, Mintring and Beyond Goalsminnering dot Com where they're getting into video and they're doing all kinds of different things here as we get into twenty twenty five, and I'm looking forward to seeing how things can continue to evolve as how old is How old is BGM now? Three?
Yeah, it's over three? Yeah. Two. We started two and a half years, okay, two and a half years, and we got we got a brand new challenge coming out maybe today, maybe tomorrow, I don't even know. It might be today. So we were talking about, you know, goals for the new year and resolutions and things, and then that's hard seventy five thing became really popular online enough
you're aware of it. But it's a challenge. Basically. We've got different categories and you know, within each category you need to like drink a certain amount of get a certain amount of you need to do Yeah, good luck on that. I'd fail work out for X amount of time whatever. So we're putting together one for youth athletes where it's like, okay, here are some different categories and
here's some options within each category. So you make the challenge about you, right, do you drink zero water right now? And your goals to literally drink one glass of water each day? Or are you pretty good with hydration and you want to drink you know, half your body weight announces, which I guess is what you're supposed to do.
Wow.
So we've got different little categories and selections within each one, and it's just something to do for thirty days, so that we are setting a small little goal, a challenge each week that hey, can we do it? Can you do it together? And so something for them to hopefully challenge themselves with, push themselves a little bit and just get used to having a small goal that we feel like, Okay, we're getting better each week.
So basically, what you're telling me is that I'm supposed to drink somewhere in the neighborhood of three leaders of water a day.
That's what science says, John, not.
Me, you know, just I mean, hey, just checking man. You just like half your body weight, you know, half your bodyweight announces. And so I'm sitting here going, okay, this morning, I wait in at this So that means damn, that's a lot of water.
I know. That's what I think too, because I'm like, how.
Many just grab just grab like the big two leader at the Wild wire or something and just bring it to the house. Uh, Bart, I think the reason that Cap wasn't at the airport last night is because he's in Columbus, Ohio. That might be a little counterintuitive unless you know it has a private jet, unless you're unless you're a PJ flyer and you can just hop into the airport. That'd be nice and hop on a PJ and come down to see somebody signing things at Hartsfield.
So obviously, Uh, my guess is you were probably invited to the the housewarming party when they get settled here in town. I know that there's a thing at three o'clock this afternoon, and it's going to be in a press conference setting. Are you gonna PJ fly down for that at three o'clock? You're gonna welcoming back. We're in your jersey.
No PJ in for me. The only PJ and I'm doing is.
The clothing smart smart man.
Yeah, that starts early on a Friday around here, Parker sweatpant time and uh, you know on a Friday that's definitely around Actually, we're speaking to a high school Greg and I later today at three thirty. I think, so PJ time is going to start a little bit later.
Okay, all right, Well, as always, my friend, it's great to catch up with you, find out the latest about what's going on beyond goals mennering and the Friday free kick and the signing of some dude that you've got his jersey and you you but you kit leaked and you sign you got to you got him, got to get him to sign the jersey.
Now I'm going to give it away soon.
Oh, breaking news.
I'm going to give that away here probably nice yeah, within the next week or two.
Okay, so we'll figure that out. As always, my friend, great to see you, and uh, just be safe, have fun and enjoy the the the PPJ T Parker's PJ time after the minute later this afternoon. Be good, my friend. We'll see you soon a weekd