Welcome to a soccer down here one v one and for this one, we head to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and we catch up with the newly appointed first full time technical director in club history for Chattanooga FC, doctor Sebastian Giraldo. Doc. Thanks for coming by for a one v one.
Yeah, I'm really excited. Thank you for having me.
Why why pull the trigger and sit there and say, yeah, this is something that I wanted to do. Why now? And I guess just why in general?
Yeah, I think it's deeply connected to my own personal why and my professional why, which is I would say probably ten years ago, made the decision that it doesn't matter what context of soccer that I'm working in. I view my role as one that I want to impact
and change the community that I'm in. I think the why of this role is it allows me to play to my strengths, my experiences, my education, and connect pieces in a way that will probably progress soccer forward, not only in Chattanooga, which is part of our objective, but Tennessee and then really john to make an impact in player coach development nationally in the United States. When we get deep into my kind of methodology of why I
view things. In this role, it allows me to obviously be at the head of a system and connect all those pieces together. And that is the goal, and that is really my personal and professional in Arbana to work in a place where the system is very interconnected throughout.
Because if the messaging is even the slightest bid off in any aspect, men's, women's, whatever subsets you want to deal with, it might be close, but it's not one hundred percent. How different is that one percent, that two percent, that five percent in the messaging and in the deliverable to make sure that everything is going the same path? How different can that five percent really be?
Yeah, that's actually a really good question. I would say there is obviously different nuances to the levels that we are dealing with. So when you think about our MLS next pro that is a full professional format, so that has its nuances. Are women's program plays in the WPSL, which has its own nuances. We also have our entry into the MLS next in our academy, but part of
that is our general CFC Academy as well. What you will see very interconnected is the philosophies behind how we view people, how we view the development of humans, how we want people to engage soccer overall soccer has in
their lives. Definitely at the youth levels, you will see deep connection in how we want to play the game, how we want to teach the game, and then you will see pieces of that in our women's and men's program but that also will be a little bit nuance on who the head coach is there, who leads those programs.
So really what we are looking for is that throughout our programming, people can see a CFC identity, can see a CFC brand not only with our badge, our colors, but also what we are doing in terms of soccer and the reality is that is hard work. That is not something that is done overnight. That takes a lot of smart people, which we are lucky to have here, a lot of people that are very dedicated to their craft and this is obviously a long term project for us here.
Before you took over this role as full time DT, you were CFC's Academy direct of Coaching. Yeah, what part of that is the biggest lesson as the director of Coaching that you can bring forward? I guess, So, what's the biggest lesson you learned in your previous job that you can bring forward that you think will help you the most. Now with the current business card being what it's going to.
Be, Yeah, something that I think is staple of kind of how you development, how I view the game, which is it is extremely contextual. We cannot take a blueprint from a different area, from a different club and apply it here at CFC and hope to be successful. We can take pieces of that, but what we need to do is understand our community here, Understand our culture, Understand the players that we have in our environment, our coaches,
and this really stems throughout all of our programming. But I think that is what's so special, which is everything that we're going to do is created for CFC, for Chattanooga, and while it might have components that you see very similar to other soccer systems, we are creating it here that has our DNA, that represents the people that we have in this community. So a very clear example is our players and our coaching STAFFNUE Academy. We want them
one hundred percent to represent the community. We want them to be representative both in the way they act, but also in terms of ethnicity, in terms of history. Want us to be representative and you'll see that throughout.
When it comes to the community in and of itself. How long did it take you to understand what that framework is, what the breakdown is. Okay, I know that they all of these different check marks that you've got to sit there and look at on that list. How long did it take you to understand all those different check marks, all those different columns that you had to consider when it came to the DNA.
Yeah, So I'll be very vulnerable in saying that I have only been here in Chattanooga physically for three months. My parents moved into the area about four years ago, which gave me contact with the state and the community. But the reality is that there's been people here in our system that are from here, grew up here, played
professionally here now on our coaching staff. So this is a very collaborative effort and what I would call probably residential experts that I have leaned on heavily to really understand the culture and the community that we're in. To answer your question, where I am I am still learning. I am still every day learning what Chattanooga looks like, what CFC the history, and we obviously have a very deep history with the community, but the technical framework, the
game model itself, is a living document. It is constantly being refined. So as the city changes, because it is a very much growing city and community, then you will probably parallel see the changes in our technical plans and what we look like overall. So I am still learning, but in a very short period of time, and one of the reasons I decided to come here is I found very unique aspects of the intersection between soccer and community here that we could do something really unique.
How much of that knowledge comes from where you were previously in Colorado? I guess in a compare contrast kind of a way, where with the time that you worked with Storm in the w League, the Rapids in the WPSL, obviously you get that knowledge base and understand that DNA
and that part of the country. How much of that knowledge are you bringing forward to help you understand what's going on in the Southeastern United States, which is really growing by leaps and bounds when it comes to the sport, Yeah, I.
Would say the part that is similar is the frameworks that we use either to assess the environment that we're in or to create our technical plans. Those frameworks stay pretty much similar because my background obviously is a very academic one. So really the hope is that everything that we do is evidence based. So the success in other areas, what you can translate is the processes and structures behind that.
But I think the real hard work John is done in what are the nuances, how do we adapt that to the community that we're in, How do we adapt that to the people that we're already here at CFC, the new people that we bring along. So you will find parallels in what I did in different areas, but the difference is this will be a whole new project. This will be look and feel totally different than it
did in other areas. And my real approach and the way I describe it in a very research is a holistic ecological approach, which is we need to understand the environments that we exist in as humans, and that's the community. But we're also talking about the bigger picture. We're talking about the culture nationally of soccer, of spore, the political climate of the country. Those are all things that we need to consider when we are talking about the development of coaches, players, recruitment, etc.
How much of that when it comes to attacking methodology and understanding the context has changed even in the last say year or two years, because I know we can sit there and give a holistic decades long example, but I would think that because the sport is growing as rapidly as it is on a bunch of different fronts and a bunch of different levels, that it has probably changed even in the last year. How different is it, say the last year, two years compared to say even five.
Almost exponential growth, I would say. And one of the reasons that you're seeing that is because the evidence in the science foundation of what we are doing in everyday soccer environments, and that's what we will do in the academy. I know Chris very well as the first team coach for the MLS Next Pro team that he is very inlign with that. But we have more resources now, we have better technology, so the way we assess and study
players has improve the way that we play. We can have very objective evidence that tells us how are we scoring goals, how are we most likely to score goals? So I think that is actually really really exciting because just as we see in the other kind of areas of our society, technology is exponentially growing and the same thing is happening in soccer. Those resources are helping us better understand how humans learn, how humans develop, how humans perform.
And then our job is to create the processes and systems that teach soccer teach a specific game model. So I would say every single day I engage material resources articles that kind of blow my mind in the areas that we're actually entering in terms of score development, athlete development.
What was the last article you read that blew your mind?
It wasn't an article, but actually this morning we had a guest here at CFC which basically gave us a presentation on the evidence behind and how goals are being scored at the highest levels of the game and the amount of detail. And I'll give you a very specific example. I receive the ball on the top of the A team. Depending on how many players defenders are actually in front of me, what are the percentages that I'm actually going to score from that area of the field, whether that's
one defender, two defenders. That changed dramatically in terms of what the percentage is to score, and what we're doing in the academy and what you will see throughout our system hopefully as we move forward, is that the way that we teach players and our coaches is based on that evidence. So if we know we're not scoring goals from a specific area of the field, what does that mean on the field that we're probably telling the players this is a low percentage opportunity for us. There is
a higher percentage opportunity in other areas. So likely the action is passed into that area and our ability to score goals goes way up. But the detail that we're getting in that information, it just keeps going up and up and up. And you've got to be careful obviously, because you can be overloaded with data and you've almost become paralyzed in what you can do. So we need to be careful that we're receiving data then we can actually apply in our teaching and learning environments.
So how do you avoid paralysis with analysis with age groups and things like that, Because is it a case where younger individuals are more embracing of statistical analysis and that three dimensional approach, where other older players might be looking at things a different way, or how does this break down these days from your view?
Yeah, I think what you're seeing too, Like I'm a little bit blown away I don't know if you have kids, but if you watch younger children engage in the iPad or an iPhone relative to how I, which I think I'm extremely competent in using those resources, it is mind blowing how quick they are in using that technology. I think what you're seeing in the younger generation, it's just been inherent in their development and their growth, so they accept that that is part of what we need to
do in these environments. So what I think you're seeing is people that are more open minded to it and understand that we really need to engage that objective evidence that we get through technology to better teach, to be more impactful on the field. So I think what you're seeing is less resistance. The barriers are going down, which is then makes it facilitates, it makes it easier for us to actually use those resources in our environments.
Doctor Sebastian Geralda, the first full time technical director in club history for chet New GEFC, hanging out with us here for a one v one. When it comes to looking at technology and understanding it, I know that there are folks like me that sit there and have a thumb that's entirely too large, being left handed on a
right handed phone. I have problems and trying to adjust these kinds of things For someone who is out there that you are looking for to be a part of CFC, who isn't as a debt or hasn't been exposed to analytics, statistical analysis, all of the three dimensional approach and all
the tools that's there. How do you bring them along knowing that the raw talent is there, how do you bring them along in the process to where they understand what you're trying to get them to say through their own expression on the field, with all of this analytics that you have going on around.
Yeah, are you talking more from a player perspective or a coach development perspective? Yes, okay, I'll engage the coach development one, which is essentially part of how we recruit our coaches here. It doesn't matter what your background has necessarily been. The people that we are trying to look for are value driven, whether that's coach or player. That they match our values, they match the culture that we want to have here. And then very very important is
that they have a growth mindset. They want to enter a setting where they know are our focus is to facilitate their individual development. Again, I'm talking about coach or individual player. And if you get those type of people in an environment like ours, basically what you do to them is you ignite them. They become passionate about being
in this type of environment. So I would say, whether you're a player, whether you're a coach, and you want to be in an environment where you're getting evidence to help in your development, sometimes those conversations can be more uncomfortable than other times. But what we know is that those uncomfortable settings oftentimes lead to rapid development. So if you are one of those people that wants to improve, you want to be in a tough setting where you're
getting feedback. CFC is probably a good place for you as a player or a coach.
How large if you were to put together your CFC booklet say this is the Way of CFC for lack of a better title, with your methodology and your ideas that you're bringing to the table, how large a book is this and is it a book that continues to add chapters or does it just add paragraphs? Or how do you view your book of the Way of CFC as it continues to grow or is it a set book that has a beginning and an end that you know the butler did it at the end of it.
Yeah, I would say it's never beginning to end, and that document is always changing the reality though, and no one's ever asked me that question, So I find it to be an interesting one the frameworks that I have built in different settings or I've been different clubs. It ends up being that that document is probably a two
hundred or three hundred page document. However, not everyone needs to engage every single chapter, every single aspect of that document, so it is very much age and stage appropriate, so we don't necessarily have to engage our first team men's players with every part of what we're doing in the academy overall, but it does lay out for age stage level what it should look like. It also talks about what we think our DNA is here at CFC, the way we want to teach our coaches, the way we
want our coaches to teach on the field. It also contains how we view humans, how we view learning. So we make pretty much statements on this is going to be our way and this is going to be our soccer way, but that is obviously always changing because we keep on getting new research. We keep on getting new information. But the hardest part of all of this is always implementation. So implementation becomes key and how you do that implementation it has to be a drift process until people get
really used to that environment. But having done this at multiple places and being vulnerable again having failed and probably achieving our objectives teaches you a lot about implementation. So implementation we have to go for simplicity and impact what is actually impactful in our environment, and then we keep adapting as we go.
Always do you plan on cloning yourself? Considering that you have the men's and women's first teams and the academy as a part of the dossier here, do you plan on cloning?
I don't, But what I can guarantee you is that I know in several of our positions, and especially with Chris right now in his first team role, we have people that are extremely competent and talented in different areas. We are soon to announce our women's head coach that will fall in line. So I always believe that I am always a small part of the puzzle, John, and it really is about surrounding ourselves with top people that have diversified set of skills, that really make our team better.
So I don't think at all it's about having people that are similar to me. Actually it's about people that probably are different and bring different perspectives and challenge what we're doing, and that's the way we progress. But being here for the time that I've been here, I've been really, really pleasantly surprised at the overall level, and I can
see that every day we are making fast improvements. So we have a lot of top people, and we keep recruiting top people here, and I think that will just make us better and better every day.
So then, since you answered my question about the next thing on the two to do list getting crossed off and announcing the women's coach, let me ask you this. Everyone has a to do list, and I know that you've got a to do list, and you know it could be it could be in a Google doc that you can sit there and grab. You know, you might have in the old days you had your Palm pilot. You sit there, you pull the stylist out, you write something down, you jam the stylist back in, you file
the document away, you grab it. Oh that's what I meant. You've got loosely binders calendars, sticky notes on top of the fridge that you write at three o'clock in the morning, and then you wake up in the morning the next morning you go, what was I writing at three o'clock in the morning or the six x eight big whiteboard that has a bunch of lines going all over the place, and it's like, okay, path to hear, path to hear,
path to hear. Where is that to do list for you with this particular gig And what do you think the next next thing that you can cross off that to do list is as you get ready for next season, because it's going to be here before we know it on a bunch of different fronts for you at CFC.
Yeah, So I will answer that first from kind of like a global leadership perspective, which is I am still in the process of deeply learning the people that we have here at CFC, and for me, that's very important to engage people and understand what we call sometimes super strengths. What do they bring to the table, where do they improve the team. I'm still in the process of doing that and that probably is priority for me. But as you said, we also have the reality that we're in
very competitive environments. Priorities right now are obviously for our first team men's recruitment of new players. Part of that is we also have available positions coaching positions on the first team. On the women's team. Again, we will have an announcement on the coach soon, but the recruitment in
that regard has already started. And what hopefully is the next main big thing that we cross off in terms of our technical plan technical framework is that for the first time in CFC history, we will have curriculum and learning plans that connects us all the way from U seven all the way up the pathway to our first teams. And that is obviously a lot of work done every
day by a lot of good people. But when I get to that point and we achieve that as a staff, I will for sure have some kind of very tropical moheto to celebrate.
And I will remember that now because we've now got to figure out where you can get said tropical Mohito when it's desired up there in the chech area. We'll certainly be keeping an eye out. Doc. I can't thank you enough for dropping by, especially now with all the new titles in the business card and everything and all
the work that you have in front of you. Thanks for dropping by for a one v one and being an open book about things as you go forward there at CFC, looking forward to seeing who our things continue to go, looking forward to seeing how big the book gets. And we'll be a knocking on your door soon. Thanks for dropping by.
Yeah, thank you so much, and I guarantee very soon there will be a CFC scar as part of that collection in the background. So thank you John.
All right, thank you very much. We will see you soon. That's it for another socer down here. One