It is time to stop talking about Penthouse sweets involving Chelsea Neon, because it's time to catch up with our buddy Greg Garza and we'll find out what's going on with beyond goals entering and we will ask Greg, So, how many cups of coffee are you on?
Sir? This is my second one?
Okay.
So when you when you get up in the morning, I mean, do you start with coffee or do you kind of get into your days like with exercise and such, or does it just like bang.
I wake up, go straight downstairs and the cup is already ready.
Wow, So you set that up before you go to bed?
Yeah, I already have my pot on mine espresso and yep, man, Yeah, it's like pre ready. All I gotta do is press down.
Wow, You're a braver man than I.
What I wanted to start off with this week is you know, we, you and Jason and I have all talked about the pressures of work and trying to snap out of that is probably one of the most difficult things,
regardless of what business you're in. And I would imagine that with the pressures that you put on yourself, warranted or otherwise, being incredibly self conscious about wanting to succeed in whatever your work is, that we don't know what we don't know a lot of the time when it comes to the pressures that we have, you know that
others may not see in ourselves. When you have conversations with fellow adults, with parents, with men teas, how do you address the idea of making sure that it's okay not to be okay, and it's okay to navigate, and it's okay to ask for help in these situations. How do you navigate those conversations? Because I would imagine a couple of years ago it was probably a more delicate topic than it might be now.
You know, I think with with the word pressure, right, it's like you want. I don't think there's in like in a professional environment, you almost want to always feel uncomfortable.
Yeah, I don't.
I don't think what podcasts. I don't know if it was a podcast or like a motivational video that I watched a few years ago, but just talking about, you know, living in the uncomfortable that as an entrepreneur, as a professional athlete, as somebody who wants to build off something that they have, then you have to be willing and have the desire to always be uncomfortable, because the moment you feel comfortable is when that relaxation or that complacency
starts to happen. And that's that's something that you definitely don't want within with especially within sports. If you are achieving greatness within sports, then hopefully you can still have the ability to continue to apply that pressure towards you. It's like I try and tell my kids that just remember that somebody else is doing more than you. Every
single day, somebody else is doing more than you. And if you can if you can kind of train your brain to think like that, then I think you're almost applying that that goodness of what pressure can be. But pressure is an interesting one because I feel like it can it can it can make you crumble as well. It's interesting. I mean you say pressure, I mean it's the obvious reason of like what AU is going through right now, that's they're going through a lot of pressure.
And and I feel like whenever I was in Cincinnati and had a catastrophical two seasons there, it was almost very similar. It's like you had this pressure going into the game to just try to not lose, and that was the pressure that you were dealing with, and that was, like, you know, it was almost contagious around the locker room of like having feeling this ultimate, huge, immense amount of pressure, thinking about if we lose, how much more pressure is
going to build on top of that. I had a really good goalie in Tijuan, and whenever we were fighting for relegation, he would always say, you know, you'd always say just just and maybe in a more positive way, but we were fighting for relegation and he would think about, all we have to do is just not lose today. If we focus on that, then maybe we take a little bit of that way of way of not feeling
as much pressure. And I know a little bit of what I just said right now is contradicting to what I just said about maybe what others feel or go through. But I guess there's just different ways and methods that you can look at it.
And that's you know, and I think that it's key for anyone of any age don't in the work in the workforce, uh student athlete that wants to try and apply something. There's there's the academic pressure that you're attached to the athletic pressure that you're attached to, and I would imagine that in some spaces it's far more difficult to navigate and embrace, to embrace the suck for lack of a better word. And I would imagine that it's
almost a staring contest. I would think with with student athletes or with anybody else that's in this kind of a situation. You know, you're you're the suck is staring right at you, and you have two choices, and for you to take that first step to sit there and understand that you've got to push through all of the negative and understand that it can be a positive on
the other side. I would imagine that that first step, and in those conversations about encouraging that first step is probably some of the toughest conversations that you could ever have.
Now most definitely it's it's it's it's not easy. It's not easy to get out of to get out of certain instances or situations. But I think that's that's what Like Mike and I we always talk about that resiliency piece, right. That resiliency is building that tough mindset and understanding that you know, life, life is. He has had a unique conversation with a young man yesterday last night who was scared, who was scared to tell me that he was going
to he's quitting soccer. He's a junior rising senior and has played at a high level for a long time, dedicated his whole life to soccer and going into his senior year. You know, I've been speaking to him for probably the last two to three years. He was afraid to tell me that he was quitting soccer. And and I feel like, you know, ultimately, what I tell these kids is that why why would you feel pressure to
tell me that you're quitting like I'm I'm not. I'm not doing something that is like making you starve within your day or putting a gun to your head to tell you something. I want. I want these kids to feel confident when they do make a decision and not feel that immense amount of pressure that I think sometimes a lot of people, they allow that external pressure to be to speak greater volumes than maybe their own consciousness
right their own consciousness. And I think that like really good professional athletes or people who are at the top of what they do, they are allowed they are able to block out all of that external pressure of what anybody else thinks or what anybody else may believe in them. And I think they're almost like this this alter ego that you have in terms of try and just focusing
on yourself. And I think last night having that conversation with that young man was just helping him understand that, like, whatever does decision you make, don't don't allow that external pressure of what others may believe be something that affects you internally and externally. So it's once again, like I said, the pressure and things people go through is it's all subjective, right, It's all different on how we get through certain things.
But you know, as long as you can use those instances or situations, as you know, lessons and teachings and experiences to help you later on in life.
Well, I would also imagine that you know, as as we're growing up in those impressionable teenage years, that you don't want to let those around you down for that early investment that they made in your life. There's that's that sense of attachment and responsibility of like, well, these folks have done all of this for me, I don't want to let them down, even though it may not
be something that I enjoy anymore. There's there's that there's that first real conversation that you have with yourself about you know, I'm not having fun anymore, or I want to do other things and I don't want to pursue this anymore. But it's like, you don't want to hurt somebody's feelings, but I think that you might end up hurting them more if you're not honest with them about how you feel about something.
Most definitely, I think it is it is like absolutely essential for kids and and people to understand that no matter what their decision is, that they have an immense amount of support around them, right. I think that's that's what being a parent is, That's what being a mentor is. That's what being a coach is, helping helping kids understand that no matter what they go through, they have they have a good support system whatever whatever their decision may be.
The one word that I told the kid not to use last night, and I was like, I don't ever use that word again. What was the word regret? Yeah, And I think that that that's such a strong word to use, you know. I was like, in life, you can ask for forgiveness, you can ask for all these different things, whatever it might be to the to the to the higher being or whatever you believe in. But man, using the word regret is like such a strong you know, I regret making this decision or I regret doing this.
You never you never want that. So walking him through last night, that was like his only question of you know if I do this well, I regret not playing my senior year. And I just told man, that's that's something for you to really really think about, because the last thing you want to do is ten years from now, look back at it and be like, man, I regretted
not being with my friends just one more time. That that's that's that's like the last thing you want with with with quitting something or letting go of something.
I think, how hard is it in your travels and conversations with peers, how hard is it to let go of a career path and understand that you know it's it's time. How how hard is it to let go when you've invested so much into something.
I think for all of us athletes, it's, like I explained to people, like life and death, it's like you're being reborn again. There's a part of you, there's definitely a part of you that that that dies. Honestly, there's a part of you that dies the second you hang up your boots and trying to find something that can animate your life, you know, bring bring yourself to life again. I think is extremely important that transition can take some time.
And we've had good friends, even Atlanta United friends that have gone through retirement and have been in those have been in those moments of you know, sometimes depression or or trying to figure out what the heck their life is going to be since they've dedicated so much time. But it is it is extremely hard to let go
of something. I think even for these kids who have dedicated a long time to doing something that they love and like you said, feeling almost responsible because of how much their parents have sacrificed or paid for or done for them. It's it's it's it's definitely a hard transition. But but once you once you find something that you enjoy and you love and and and you have that desire to do it, I think that makes it all so much easier.
And in looking at just in the this this little sphere where you and Michael have you know, social media, and you know you're you're giving back and you're being a part of things in the community, and Michael's giving
back through mentoring. It's you can you can sense that the that the aura that you guys have have, even just if you're looking at something on social media, there's an aura there that just kind of close that positivity and that it's something that you are truly engaged in and you want to help and you want to give back. Do you notice or do others notice that your that that aura is it's different even though it's still athletics. Do they notice that that that glow is there for you too?
For sure? Yeah. I think like even even last night, I think it was like it's it's like I think believe Pele said that you'd rather feel relief than regret. That's that's something that he said whenever he kind of you know, I thought about his whole entire career in
an old interview of his. But it's like, for me, it was helping that kid understand that no matter what, as a as a mentor, we can talk about anything, right, it doesn't necessarily have to be about soccer, but how can we apply and implement those values and everything he's
learned within the sport to what he wants to do next. Uh, And I think that's that's that's like Mike and and my biggest goal to help kids understand the values that come along with the sport that they love and cherish and and everything that bonds and ties us together is helping them understand how to use those values within their everyday lives.
Did that MENTE feel better or at least get look look like they felt better at the end of the conversation.
He did? He did. Yeah. It's it's always cool to see when kids just just under understand the the utmost support that that they have within within people around them. And I think that's that's I don't know if I mentioned this last time. I think I just did a recent video. I sent it to our marketing team, But
I don't know if I mentioned this last time. I was on with you as well as as I had a young boy that he's eleven years old, and one of his questions to me was, how do I not feel scared every time I play?
Yeah?
And did I give that example last time or no?
No, this is to me.
His question to me is how do I not feel scared? And it was interesting because I just reiterated the question. I was like, well, what do you need in order to not feel scared when you're doing something? And he gave me such a good answer. He said, sometimes I just need more than one person to tell me that I'm capable. And that was like eye opening to me because I feel like his parents were also sitting next
to him. Sometimes you rarely have parents that are sitting next to him, and I could just see the parents, like maybe dad or mom, trying not to tear up because you could just tell that, wow, that they are probably so critical of him and everything that he does. You know, he's a good student, he's a good player, and they probably are extremely critical of him and many times of his day. And sometimes it's totally fine to be have that dad or mom constructive criticism all the time.
But sometimes you just need to understand that that kid just needs one one, one or more people to tell him that that that he, him or her is is absolutely capable of doing something. And I think that's that's an important message for all of us, right We we always need a good a good support system around us. I think that's that's key and essential to having success. If you have you have to surround yourself with the with the right people.
Do we get lost in the idea of positive reinforcement? And what I mean by that is, do is it something that we almost take for granted at times where we don't use it enough and we just have the individual that's in our sphere that's going through whatever the issue is. Even even if you're there and you don't give positive reinforcement, you think you're doing enough when you're really not.
Do we do enough positive reinforcement these days?
I think we can always do more. I think we can always do more. I think positivity is such a such an important piece of of everything that that we do. It's especially within our within our kids. I think is as a massive as a massive one. Positivity for me is like it moves mountains. I think that you're able to really change, you know, the perspective of someone when when you're when you're able to push positivity within within everything that they do.
So, if you were to walk into a closed door conversation with your former club, considering how they're grinding right now and they're trying to grind out results and things aren't things aren't meshing, what kind of positivity would you give to that locker room right now to make sure that they understand that it's okay and as you push through this, there's something on the other side that can be a whole lot better. What positive points would you bring up?
I I would definitely focus on what they are doing well in games, because if they continue to focus on where they continue to make their mistakes or everything that they're doing right now and in terms of not meshing, then then that positivity will not will not come. And we spoke about it last time. I do remember just allowing positivity to flood through that locker room. I think is probably we're not in the locker room, so we can't see what the you know, what the environment is like.
But you know, I would I would really hope that you have some guys that are still able to provide smiles and things like that, because it is it is a it is a pretty tough time that they're going through. It's, uh, two wins, two three wins or two wins out of a whole entire season about what fourteen games so far?
You're pushing fourteen, Yeah, so.
You know, it's it's it's not it's not easy it's not easy. It's not an easy thing to think in the back of your head that we've won two games out of fourteen games. So it's it's it's definitely something that they really have to find, you know, that that bright side of what they're doing and see how they can continue to implement those those things rather than than anything else.
What was the craziest thing that you tried to do to snap out of a string of bad results as a team or bad personal results of if your game was just if your game was out the door, didn't leave you a note and had left had left the building, what was the craziest thing that you thought of to try to turn things around? And whether it worked or not, But what was the craziest thing that you thought of that might turn something around in a string of bad form?
Yeah, I think I think getting park he always talks about this as well. Just getting away from the game, I think is extremely important. I think getting the way, getting away from the game and your personal life is massively important. You know, it's it's when when you are I think, if you continue to concentrate and focus on everything that's going on, and you're not able to kind of have a disconnect. Yeah, then it's just going to
continue to go the same. And I think for myself in particular, I think when there was a bad streak or there was moments to where I wasn't up to my level, just just trying to focus on other things that bring your joy and bring your happiness rather than having the game continue to make you feel miserable. And I think I think a lot of kids that I work with, they don't understan They don't understand that. They
don't they they think that. You know. It's it's interesting because I spoke to the young kids that are the up and coming Atlanta United kids and I told them, look, when you finish this season, don't train for like ten days, don't train for two weeks.
And they looked at you like you were crazy.
Yes, they looked at me. It was like, what do you mean We're gonna we're doing private sessions tomorrow, We're already doing group training the next day. And I'm like, man, look like you're going to burn out. There's gonna be a moment to where you're going to burn out, and you're gonna you're going to look back and be like, man, I I wish I I wish I had a balance
of life and work, because that's what it's become. I think the game has become more of a job for sometimes for kids too, it's become more of a job and everything that they do, So, you know, I think it's I think it's important for even kids and everyone around them. And I think that's that's the same thing for the guys at the club. I really hope that whenever they finish, they can go be with their families or do fun things that takes them, yes, sometimes far away from the game.
And I mean it's to be able to take that on off switch and just kind of recharge your own batteries, away from away from soccer, away from something that you love, away that that's over there a way that it is, you know, your occupation where you're being paid handsomely to
do your job. I mean, I think that that might get lost because of the cycle of if something's going wrong, you feel like you have to work that much harder to try to correct what's going wrong, and you are, you know, pushing that notion of spiraling even further and further.
You're working that much harder.
It's becoming that much more difficult, and then you can't quite figure out how to get out of that. And I think that there might be some instances where folks think that working harder is the solution, but there's way to work smarter, not necessarily harder, to get your end result.
Most definitely, Uh, I am a firm believer that guests always works smarter and then work harder, and and and once again I just reiterate, I think it's probably important for those guys to really have a disconnect from everything that's happening right now and trying to find different outlets and escapes to somehow bring them happiness. And when when they're able to do that, hopefully that can also bring the joy back of of of what they're doing every
single day. I I could, I could imagine a lot of those guys going into training every single day and just miserable.
Yeah.
Right, And that's that's that's that's that's a hard thing to do when you still have twenty games left, right, So it's it's it's you have to you have to find, like I said, you have to find that balance of bringing back the joy and and maybe once they do have some time off, maybe maybe the coach can give them a good four or five days to go to a beach somewhere and spend some time with their family,
because I think it is important. And I think throughout my career, the best managing coaches that I had they allowed, they allowed those things. And you read about the best coaches, and you read about the best managers, and you look at you know, Marinho, and you look at these guys that are just so good at managing personalities, and I think it's I think I think you get you can get a lot of ideas from these guys who understand h understand life a lot better than maybe just the game.
You're in schedule compression right now with at Landy United, where it's weekend, midweek weekend, and it's one of those chances where you can you can purge, you can purge what happened if it was a bad result, but you're having to grind through the rest of that particular cycle.
How difficult is.
It to navigate who you are as an athlete when you have to perform three times basically in eight days and you're trying to figure out a what's wrong, be how to correct it and see move forward When you don't have a whole lot of time to reach in and think, and then you're back at it, and then you got the region and think and you're back at it. How difficult is schedule compression is a part.
Of all That's that's that's really it's really tough, really really tough. I think trying to navigate that every three days is like your biggest thing that you're just thinking about is just your recovery. Am I going to be fit enough to play the next game. It's really hard
to navigate what is actually happening. And I think that's that's why getting getting through these long stretch of games every three days I think will be key once things start to settle down again and just have some some time to reevaluate and just kind of, like I said, have this have somewhat of a disconnect as well.
All right, so what's going on with beyond goals? With you and Parky in twelve hundred and fifty athletes in multiple states and going all over the place and doing all the zooms and all of that stuff.
All as well, Man, I can't complain and continue to grow the game as much as as much as possible, And yeah, always a pleasure to join. Man.
Love you very much, my friend. Have a great weekend as well.
Man. I'll see you hopefully. I'll see it you yeah, you, and be you on the big screen tomorrow.
I'm on the big screen tomorrow, so you'll see me without makeup on the big screen.
I'll see I'll see you there, all right, Man.
Good ahead, all right. Greg Garza Friday Free Kick.
It's always great to catch up with him and Parky and find out what's going on and get the mentoring perspective about everything as we head into the issues of the day.