We welcome Greg Garza in for a twenty minute sprint here on a Friday morning. Are you still down in central South Florida of the pretty landscapes that you shot from the inside of an airplane.
Yeah, I flew back from clear Water two days ago to Atlanta, and then I flew to West Palm Beach yesterday. I'm currently in West Palm Beach. I go back today tonight, speak to the Colorado Rapids, go back tonight and then have a full camp tomorrow with the high school and my boys will be involved because I haven't seen them in forever. And then I travel Sunday morning to Dallas.
Dallas, so yeah, okay, sometimes well and it's good crazy. But for those that may not know the full story as to why we're catching you in hotel rooms back patio was the occasional time when you get to spend maybe a half a minute with your family and I mean your family family and you're in their backyard with a fence behind you. Let everybody know what you're doing with Major League Soccer, and we'll use that as our as our inroad for conversation here this week. Yeah.
Yeah, this is uh, it's I tell people like it's it's d I work. It's essentially d I, but we
call it something different. We call it ICA, which is inner cultural awareness, just helping helping the league understand more so the players, player to player understand how to adapt to different cultures, how to bond with the different cultures that are around them, but ultimately fighting discrimination and all the isms that kind of go around within the game, or the phobias or whatever it may be, but just fighting against discrimination and also helping a lot of players
that come from a broad or you know, across the pond, or wherever they come from, below the equator, wherever they are, to understand that there are rules and norms that they
must follow although they are in a different country. So helping people see eye to eye and helping them also learn about, i think, their teammates, which has been the most interesting thing for me because we all come from different backgrounds, different countries, different races, different colors, different beliefs, religions, but the ball brings us uniquely together and at the same time it can also create a lot of conflict.
So it's helping helping everybody meet in the middle and understand that on the field, off the field, role modelship and and everything that goes within is extremely important for these for these young and older athletes to kind of pass the torch and help them understand the responsibilities.
Because you have a couple of different demographics in play here. You have the the young up and coming play who in Major League soccer these days can be fifteen, sixteen years old. You go to Philadelphia, you look at the Cavin Sullivan. You know, he comes in and he's a part of second team at the age of fourteen, he
gets first teen minutes. But then you have the veteran who might be on the north end of thirty and they have you know, they have experienced certain things in a certain framework, and so I would imagine that for you it is having to do two lanes of traffic at the same time where you have to and it might even be four where the inbound information from a younger person that you have to sit there and orientate in your head and take those lessons and have those
lessons go outbound from your own perspectives and understandings. And then you have the older veteran players who might be said in their ways, they have their own bits of understanding. And then trying to bring them around so the younger players can understand where the older players are coming from and the veterans can understand where they are coming from. That seems like a very delicate balance with four lanes worth of information.
Yeah, yeah, that's interesting, you said, Philadelphia, because I just spoke to them two days ago in clear Water. So yeah, you have Cavin Sullivan who's sitting in the room, who looks like a little boy still, and then you have Alejandro.
Bodoya that's like.
Like fine wine and just keeps on freaking planming and doesn't give up. But you know, it's it's it's it's interesting because you know, you you you try and help everybody see the same page. I I from what I've learned with doing all of this the past couple of years is that it's really hard to change someone when somebody has set you said it, When somebody is set
in their ways, it's really hard to change them. But can you help them be a little bit more open minded to their surroundings and what's around them.
And I think that's the that's the.
That's the coolest part about being involved in this is just helping them understand the differences that are around them and not necessarily changing their ways, but also just pointing them in the right direction and kind of almost rule following and just understanding the norms that that that go around. There's interesting things that we learn within every team that we speak to, Like you can't do thumbs up an Iran right, that means something completely different.
You know, you can go to jail if you do that. So it's like.
There's different things that I think, like you learn from these different players from different countries and different backgrounds. And I mean there was a player on Philly that's like background was like Bangladesh, Hawaiian, Lebanese and like some sort of Asian man. It was just like everybody was in the room and was like what And so it sparks conversation, right, It sparks the interest of his teammates to get to know him a little bit better and and I think
that that creates a better bond and understanding. Uh, you know, we I did I did my lap my my a couple of sessions ago with Laris Mabilla, who who was with Portland for a long time. We literally finished our session and as the whole team was walking out, he got his mat out and he started praying. And you know, it's I had no idea he was Muslim, you know, uh, being to.
To go to goo background, but it's uh, you know, I think.
And then you had you had some of my some of my we spoke to Cincinnati, and you had some of the pets or the fitness guys, uh walk in and be like, yeah, what the hell is he doing? You know, like what will yo, Laris? Let's go, man, we gotta go. And I'm like, guys, like, let's leave the room. Let's give him his space. And and I think that's like, that's the interesting part is just helping everybody understand that everyone is different. But there's so many
things that also bring this together. And so just the value I think we use it the word a lot, is just respect. We were all here to to make the world a better place, hopefully most of us. And and so you know, I think when you are a professional soccer player, you have you have the platform to two even even more, to do so even more.
How and I mean and this and I mean this in a in a in in a way of trying to understand how difficult is it to navigate this laundry list of things where you mentioned the idea of you can't do a thumbs up in Iran because it means something one way or the other. Uh, you can't do certain things in certain countries. But here we always view ourselves as as a melting pot and this this rue that is put together that creates this country that we have.
How difficult a balance is it for your mentees and for those that you touch with Major League Soccer two understand other personalities, other other groups, other ethnicities, and still at the same time, still be themselves, if you know what I mean, Because you don't want to. You don't want to change your personality. You don't want to change
who you are. At the same time, you want to respect others and you don't want to to turn yourself into a different person as you're trying to understand others, trying to maintain yourself.
I guess is what I'm trying to get to here.
Uh, it's it's it's a balance, right, You have to you have to look at the the whole picture of everything and just.
Man. I I always tell people you got you gotta travel, Okay, okay, you gotta travel. You have to.
And I think that most players sitting in a locker room have probably traveled because of soccer, and they've seen the.
World be a different place.
Now.
You see different upbringings, you see different backgrounds, you see different beliefs, and I mean, even even speaking to Atlanta United, you have a Japanese player who barely speaks any English, is probably scared shitless in a different country for the first time, right, and you need the veterans and you need some other guys to hopefully step up and and help him adapt and help him acclimate to his surroundings
the best way possible, you know. And just the way that I think that the Japanese are, they're so you think of you think of this the stereotypical mindset or the subconscious mindset.
That you have, is that they are so extremely respectful.
And that's something that I feel that that even showed speaking speaking with with him as well. So you know, it's you have to rely on a lot of the guys in the locker room, especially the older guys and the veterans, to really really manifest and kind of help everybody understand in the room, whether it's their commitment to help the locker room be a better place and also
stand up towards any any discrimination. You know, I believe that the league does a pretty damn good job and supporting every single group that is that is that needs support within within the league, and so I think that it's it's it's a cool way to be a part of it from my end and help everybody, hopefully not necessarily be on agreement with everything, because there has been some pushback with with certain teams, but hopefully just me eye to eye and see things see things somewhat similarly
at the end of the day.
Yeah, because I think that there's context that has to be given in your conversations, and they have to understand where this other person is coming from. Because if you shut yourself off, then you don't want you don't grow, you don't advance your personality, you don't advance to it. We seem to be we're talking to I guess about
our inner cells today. But you don't advance mentally, you don't advance emotionally, you don't advance as an individual into this understanding and understand where someone else is coming from.
Because to your.
Point, I mean tol gos shissan is coming to Atlanta, United, Yeah, I think he had his four years, very very early in his life where he was in the United States, but a lot of his time in his life has been in Japan in the Far East, and that's where he comes from. That's his that's his knowledge base, his
emotion base, his base of self. And I think that these days it's just as important to understand where someone else is coming from in being confident with who you are, understand where someone else is confident because one plus one, one confident person plus another confident persons, two confident people who understand where they're coming from. I know it's basic math, but sometimes that's a lot of math to get over and understanding and understanding context to something.
Yeah, I I I find it really interesting, even for myself to just learn about different cultures.
Whenever I speak to all the players, what was what was the last culture that you've learned about with your time with MLS.
What's the newest lesson that you've learned the newest culture? What was it that?
Was it the the Togalese mashup that we were talking about just a second ago.
Uh No, not necessarily. I think for me it's it's it's seeing just the different backgrounds. I think That's the interesting part of it is I think the cultural traditions that we speak about with other guys are like, there's.
So many similarities, so many similarities.
If I were to ask anybody like what their favorite culture tradition is, I mean, most likely everybody's going to say something to do at the end of the end of the year or Christmas or Thanksgiving or it doesn't.
Matter what country you come from. Everybody usually focuses on the same thing. And you know, I think that's really that that.
That's a huge one because you know, everybody prioritizes family, and everybody prior toies prioritizes that that time spent with loved ones. And I think it's it's cool to help players understand that they're probably spending more time with each other rather than they're spending with their immediate family. And so you know, you you have to also understand the brotherhood. But within brotherhood comes there there there there can be
some conflict. But I think the most interesting thing for me is like seeing kids and other you know, individuals or younger kids within within kind of trading places and the exercises that we do, uh like feel a little bit more confident with them themselves.
I think that's the beauty of it is to like these.
A lot of these young kids who might be rookies for the first time or fourteen, you're fifteen years old, and they don't say a damn thing.
Right anybody.
They don't want to rock the boat. They're the new one.
Yeah, but it's it's been really cool to see them kind of be more almost accepted into the group. You feel like a lot of the things that we do gives them an opportunity to And I think I'll always think like the youth, right found of the youth of just helping them become better leaders, not necessarily better people, but just in terms of making good decisions. And I
think that that's where it stems from. And that's been the coolest thing for me in terms of all of this understanding of for so of cultural awareness, but just helping the younger guys in.
The locker room really.
Hold themselves accountable and kind of, you know, continue to build something that we are also trying.
To do when coming into a relationship with the mente. These do your mentees have an understanding coming into the time that they spend with you and Mike about different cultures about where all the different perspectives or do you have to teach your mentees about understanding and appreciating different cultures and perspectives or is that known coming in more and more these days.
I have implemented all of this ICA training in this work and to all of my mentees everything that we do. I it's so cool because I learned, you know, so much about my mentees and just getting to know them on a more personal level, I think creates a better
bond and relationship. Like last night, there's a girl that I've now been working with for about close to a year now, and you know, we were just speaking about things that she was proud about last year, and you know, I think one of the things that she had said is that she felt so much more comfortable speaking is she's getting into clutch years of speaking to colleges, and the things that she was proud about herself was just becoming more comfortable and making new friends and talking to
adults and just being in front of people because she was she shied away because you know, maybe she felt, you know, too shy and understanding you know, their environment and the surroundings around her. But one of the main things is that we I think our bond and relationship helped a lot with that, and like we've gotten to know each other and she knows that I'm Mexican American, She's American, Colombian and Cuban, which is an awesome mix.
But it's like if we didn't know that about each.
Other, Like I'll sprinkle in some like Spanish in there every once in a while in our sessions and I'll like, you know, you know, make her giggle or something like that with with something.
That's very cultural to her.
Right, Because I think my benefit of playing all over the world and knowing so many people and playing with so many different teammates from all over you you grab a little piece from all of those different guys and it allows you to build connection and relationships and like that that I think has really allowed this young woman
to open up. And I think that's what I wanted to get from it and just feel more comfortable around people because I think of our conversations, but I think without us understanding each other's culture and having that kind of ice breaker, she probably would still be maybe extremely quiet, right, So like that's that's the cool thing that I'm I think I'm able to take away from what we do in in my Minties conversation of just using some of the exercises that we do uh to to help them
kind of feel more comfortable and speaking engagement.
As well, because in those environments where your your paths and your ethnicities may mix, your experience may cross over, you can use a word or a phrase, or like you said, you can use you can use a Spanish expression that might be a little bit more impactful or more direct, something that they can understand, or more familial that if you say it in say English, it might
just kind of be a word that's glossed over. But if you have that little extra op fund, that little extra history behind it because of your experience, it means that much more and can impact that much.
More exactly right.
And I think it just allows like a lot of these kids that they might look at me and be like, oh, this guy just speaks you know this, you know he just he's one one lane traffic. But once they see that we have so many different branches within our career, and and and we we know a lot about culture. And I'm always so interested to learn about different cultures to see what their upbringing is like, Uh, that's that's that's the that's the beauty of that's the beauty of
you know, I think soccer. Uh, you know, someone like Ozzie Alonzo who has so much to tell and so many stories to give, uh and who was also a Cuban and and someone who can give back to the game. And he's a new facilitator this year, and it's great to have him nice, but it's it's you know, helping him also spread his story to new players coming in
to help them understand, hey, this is his story. We all get to kind of give our own little piece when we give these trainings, and I think that's that's the coolest thing about it, is that they give us that freedom to kind of use our own experience to speak to all these players. So I've really enjoyed it. It's it's been it's been a lot of traveling, a lot of freaking work, but but it's it's been awesome to be a part of and and and however long they need me, I would love to.
Be a part of something like this.
Okay, I cannot let you go before we discuss your photo shoot, uh, where you got to model some things.
And it was.
It was you and Maddie and Sophia. Yes, the two four seven connection, which I thought was hilarious. It's like they loved it and it's like, wait a second, and I didn't know if that was intentional or not.
They didn't even mean it, and then they were like, huh two four seven. I was like, guys, SDH twenty four to seven, and they.
Were like, oh yeah. I was like, oh my goodness.
I mean, I was like, I was like, these young these youngsters, Oh my goodness, we got what a great idea SDA twenty four to seven.
I was like, that better be the freaking caption of what you guys post.
Oh my god, I mean, and I'm going to tell them that it has to be the friggin caption, not just the option, but the friggin caption. But yeah, you got to you got to model the jersey. What you what'd you think of the SDAH?
I loved it.
I loved it and such, I mean, such good people to be around. All you guys are amazing people. Everybody who's involved with SDH. So you guys just keep bringing in younger and younger people, so watch out, Yeah, brother, Yeah, we're getting old, but no, just fantastic, fantastic to be around, and getting to know them a little bit better is the first time I met both of them in person.
But yeah, awesome, awesome young women who are also changing the game and providing different opportunities in that sense, and equality and opportunity is massive. So I'm glad that there are so many women out there that are pushing for great leadership roles and and and hustling because that's what it's all about.
They are kicking ass and they're kicking our asses on a daily basis. Fashion model for SDH, Greg Garza modeling our Olive and York guys are permanente Beyond Goals first ever SDH Jersey, what's going on with beyond goals?
When you come back into this part of the planet.
Same old, same old.
The beauty about being away is that I still get to hop on sessions.
I literally have one that starts right now.
So yeah, I'll see you guys later, man, take care and thanks for having me.