Listen to this. It's not again. Happy days here again. Turning with the private Steve Zuckawani. He's an attacking threat Brad Evan. It's been so weird. Okay and I'm delighted to say we're now joined by legendary Sounders FC GO-Coupa. I'm Stefan Fryb as we continue the discussion about the Blue Shield Regions and Sounders FC Partnership. And I want to begin with you Steph because obviously you've been playing for a long time now at a very high level. It's every later the month.
Games every three or four days. It's not easy. How do you find balance in the midst of your career where you can't always be on more of it if go go go. How do you find times where you can kind of know check out, chill out a little bit. And what's the things that help you kind of you know sometimes take a look at that edge off but always be in in goal mode. Yeah I think that all that I've gotten the more deliberate I've become in trying to find that balance.
I think when you're younger you're just you know excited to play and you love the game and you just want to keep going and you're almost a little bit oblivious to some of the things that might be detrimental to your game you know and and and being in that space 24 seven might just become too much at some point and especially like you said with with the pressures I think especially in my position as a goalkeeper.
It's important that you can find balance so I'm I'm very fortunate that I have a very loving and supporting family. My dogs you know I always say that about dogs to first for first for my wife obviously but but dogs they don't they don't know whether you have a good they are about they at work you know you come home and they just they just happy to see you and so that gives you so much right away that gives you a chance to get away from what just happen at work or what's looming at work.
And then obviously I mean I I find art something that gives me balance I create I am not the destroyer with art I'm able to create I don't have any pressures of making mistakes there amongst other things nature as I've gotten older has become a more.
A relief a space that I find calmness in and comfort and so yeah but I think compared to when I was young definitely way more deliberate you know when when do I need it I need it now okay not going to watch any and I'm busy today getting away from it going to paint instead things like that you're you definitely become more deliberate and getting away from it.
You know maybe a field players stress and not just the mental side of it but also the physical stress and the toll that it takes on on your brain and body at the same time yeah I mean you know I think as far back as thinking back at high school you know they're
going to be a lot of things where you don't touch the ball at all and when the referee blows a whistle for halftime you're exhausted so you start asking yourself questions why what's going on I didn't do anything well you're just mentally you're just so have to be focused at all times there is no room for error and sometimes you almost you you you become too too engaged it's just it's it's training right it's absolutely
demanding that position and and the other side of it is I think field players have the luxury of making a mistake and then trying to run after it and trying to rectify it or even if it let's say leads to a goal well the next 20 30 minutes whatever is left I can be extra you know output can be extra on top 120 percent I'm going to do I'm going to make the difference I make a terrible mistake I'm standing there like a fool in the back just waiting for the next opportunity to
possibly even make the next mistake right and while all that is happening your mind can be your worst enemy or it can be something that maybe allows you to be ready for the next chance the opponent will have so those are all things that you have to learn to deal with I always say having butterflies is very important because otherwise you wouldn't care so if you ever go into a game as a goalkeeper without butterflies
I think there's something wrong it's just it's it's a matter of learning how to deal with those things and making sure that when when the referee blows the whistle in the game starts your confident in your own ability but you're not arrogant either you know the gravity of situation and and you're ready to move forward.
You ride the ferry to and from training to and from games I'm wondering for you that when a game day we're going to practice when do you start to kind of switch on into like that mode is the ferry ride is your pre game music or is that still are you still chilling at that point now how's the ferry ride in terms of your prep where are you already getting into the zone of like okay I've got computer night or does that happen once you get to the stadium and the ferry ride is actually a moment to be by yourself to be alone still be calm.
You know what I think this would be an amazing study to have the same situation for a field player and see how it changes the game because I think as goalkeepers were very superstitious superstitious were very methodical everything has to be controlled so for me I mean even on the training day my my my work day starts at six in the morning when I plan what am I drinking this morning okay I'm having my shake ready I'm taking that shake on to the into the car and on the game.
So I'm going to take the car and on to the ferry then when I'm on the ferry I might be actually jotting down some some some exercises that we did the day prior I'm trying to keep a little bit of a journal in terms of what we did.
I think okay maybe I'll look at what has Megan or strength conditioning coach put into my gym session for today to make sure that I know maybe what can I do beforehand what can I do after so it starts from from the moment you wake up and I think I start getting on that ferry and the threshold yeah you're right as I'm covering or going across the budget sound it is almost like you're you're crossing that threshold right from from my beautiful oasis that we have.
Home and going to work and I think once we do the reverse that definitely is my 30 minutes of of decompression if you will where I try to maybe watch my my my training a little bit more but then once I'm done with training and I've seen the footage of that day. What can I do can I do some landscaping can I go for a walk with the dogs can I do some art just decompress.
You talked a lot about art and nature being those outlets to kind of get you calm and relaxed is is soccer the like fun lane for you is that where you go out and you kind of express yourself in in your like vocal ways I guess and joke around and be funny with the guys or do you find some you know fun in creating art and being being out in nature and you know just the kind of the dichotomy dichotomy of the two dichotomy.
Yeah I mean it's I love I love soccer you know I mean I you you guys have done an amazing job with your transition you know going into your next chapter I think for anybody that's that's had soccer be your main thing for so long it's going to be very difficult to adjust to that so.
Soccer soccer is my number one love you know I've done it since the last six years old so I find tremendous amounts of joy in goalkeeping in particular and I'm very thankful that I think I have a goalkeeper coach that makes every day fun you know it's fun to for me it's fun to try to get better in a way as much as goalkeepers what people see on weekends is we're destroying a striker's chance.
I think during the week we're creators we we're trying to create a machine that operates perfectly and we're going to the most nitty gritty details of every inch and every every step and every lean and every handshape and everything and I find that extremely rewarding be especially when you work on it for so long and then.
You you you see the fruits of that labor come through on a safe or whether it's my safe or whether it's Andrew Thomas is safe you know it means what we're doing is working and we're getting better and so I find an enormous amount of joy in that obviously the team environment like you mentioned to that's something I think you your heart to find in any other.
I work working environment but it's just different I think again it's balance it's not not not not necessarily a balance of negative to positive it's just a balance of what your capacity what your capacity is right it I have so much attention span and it needs to be done maybe maybe given to some things were it's do or die and some things words a little bit more casual and I think finding those outlets for whatever it may be. For anybody is very important in order to maintain that balance.
I'm curious because we were drafting at the same year and it seems like yesterday but the game has moved on so much since then where even a partnership like this one we're not a thing back then I remember going through the whole rookie kind of training where you go to the you know different meetings your increase season I don't think there was a thing on mental health is for everything else and now it's a big conversation you're having a high level player.
I remember GG before I got a year's of all but I see a real re whoever you may be speaking about the struggles of mental health which was not the case back in 2009 just speak to you you've been in the league that whole time.
How much has that conversation grown and how easy is it for players now to say hey you know what I'm not doing to or mentally I've not gone through depression things like that those outlets didn't exist before and how important it is that they do now and the sound is through things like this are highlighting that it's okay to sometimes. Not be okay.
Yeah I think I think it highlights a part of being an athlete and being able to be a successful athlete that's actually quite difficult to do right I mean what most people see is oh can he dribble the ball can he score a goal I he's a good athlete what about like can he deal with something super difficult whether it's the personal life that he can set aside and then somehow still prefer.
And somehow still perform or had a bad performance that you can find a way to rebound I think that makes the good athlete and and for the longest time that was something that was never even acknowledged at something that makes a good athlete let alone discussed as maybe someone saying hey I'm struggling with this right now right and so I mean for me this goes you know it's it's it's two ways I've had both ways I've had one word a little bit more.
I'm on the personal side you know with with health issues in family and and this stress from the outside kind of caving in on you I've also had an other side where I come back from a potential career and injury do everything as you know do everything you can and you are just ready to reap the rewards of your hard work only to break my nose in preseason and get pushed on to the bench I was devastated and I I needed to go see a sport psychologist because I didn't know I was going to do it.
And I'm going to do a sport psychologist because I didn't understand how to deal with those things so I find it good that a there's options for people to to find help but be I feel like it's it's becoming a topic of I would love to hear about the strength of these players of these individuals of how they were able or how they are able to cope with these these powerful things and sometimes things that can really unfeasible.
And unfortunately, I'm almost overcome someone right or overtake someone so it's it's a good thing it's a really good thing because I think it as you both know it's it's it's something that that makes an athlete a really good athlete or make someone unfortunately maybe not maybe not be able to show their best side.
Yeah, last one for me, I think, you know, obviously first and foremost, you're a soccer player and when results aren't going your way, you know, we all like to be we should be we don't all like to be open and vulnerable but having those conversations within the locker room of saying I'm struggling here, how can I help you you're struggling here, how can we all help you and support you.
Is that going on in the locker room this year as as you know, eluding to your message, Steve's message of this wasn't around, you know, 10, 15 years ago, so how is that temperature change in the locker room and where the sounders are at right now. I think it's changed first and foremost, just like in terms of what your options are and and letting players know that hey, there is options, you know, we've had access to sports psychologist.
Me and my time in Toronto, I I had a request that access now it's it's being players are being informed that that access is available to people I think in our locker room with we've always been quite fortunate because we're all pretty close and so I think you quickly sense when someone is off. And you kind of can you're able to monitor a little bit again it's it's it's difficult because you you cannot.
Check you know you cannot have the person check themselves whether they they or or do the work for them if you will you can you can maybe ask them hey everything all right everything good but they need to acknowledge first whether everything is a writer or or not right.
But I think we have that open lane for people to ask that question each other to each other and well yeah the stigma especially I think for athletes male athletes is always you know tough enough don't show any any any holes in your armor sign of weakness mental health like just tough it out.
I think that's gone which is great it's a start I think we can go further but again I think the narrative changing the narrative talking about mental health and talking about overcoming mental issues is almost becoming a worthwhile story and therefore a strength for people to share that hey yeah I've dealt with this I'm proud of the fact that I've done it because it's really difficult you know I made this mistake.
It would make it might very very other people but I had a big deep and I came out on the other side I think we're starting to look at it as a positive and that's going to lead other people to to come out and and and be able to talk about their things as well.
Yeah I think that's a brilliant way to put it stuff always a pleasure we talk to you all day by when I say you know I think for us to see a player of your stature getting involved initiative like this probably the sound is it's only going to help a lot of people so I think that's a big thing you're doing just to be involved such a vulnerable project as well so I think that's cool I'm always good chatting to you and all the best upcoming games appreciate it guys.
Stay tuned coming up next the guys are joined by executive medical director of region's blue shield doctor Nicole St. Clair. Okay we're going to get going here and we want to first of all begin by just learning a bit about you about you your story a tiny bit there. I know you're very strong pill in the Seattle community and it's time you're born and raised here so kind of tell us what how your journey began and how you got where you got to today.
Yeah no problem I was just saying you know I guess I'm one of the these people who apparently are not so common who are born in race in Seattle you know it seems common to me but actually my family's been in Seattle since the 1950s you know going back to my grandparents and have always been really involved in this. I've always been really involved in the community so I feel super connected to this area and just really love my hometown. I have a quick question are you a sounders fan.
I am you are I am how can I not be a service. Of course of course what do you have a sports background at all did you grow up watching like Seattle sports or was it just soccer through and through. I grew up with a lot of basketball and football influences from my family and then I personally actually played tennis. Oh nice.
Yeah I really enjoyed that played on the Garfield high school tennis team and and really just enjoy the variety of sports in college I actually spent a little bit of time on the rowing team at USC. Yeah so I think sports are wonderful I love it I love our producers going crazy right now because she's USC alum as well. Yeah. I love that. Tell us a little bit about the programs sort of events from a community perspective that you involved in or that speak to you that's kind of close to your heart.
Yeah so within this region sounders partnership that we have going on right now I really it really spoke to me in several ways. One you know kind of just the areas of focus or near and dear to my heart where we're looking in these communities that sometimes are overlooked, especially you know kind of targeting this rent an area, which is actually near where I live and grew up and oftentimes you know has needs and that that do get miss.
And then also just more broadly in terms of really kind of getting in and and addressing the needs of kids right now where kids are just having a hard time and when we think about like what's going to be really impactful on a broad scale about kind of helping them. You know move forward during these times it's really multiple factors but being able to kind of have them have spaces where they can go and be physically active and.
And enjoy just kind of the freedom of sports getting high quality education getting that critical physical activity and then also just that camaraderie of the team I think is so important and just a key pillar of health. So what is your day to day exactly as as you're kind of operating and and also touching on. You know your background in school to and how you got to to where you were and where you are exactly.
So right now at regents i'm the executive medical director for Washington state so I really work to contribute and and move forward all of our clinical strategy and all of our efforts in the state and really thinking about how can I help all of us be healthier and then also thinking about the individual groups that maybe need some special attention or focus because they might be a little bit left behind.
One of the areas that we really do that is kind of talking a lot about something called social determinants of health you know as a as a health company we're thinking about. Certainly kind of the bread and butter of you know getting into see your providers making sure you're dealing with your main health conditions.
But when we look in general we know that about 80% of people's health outcomes actually have to do with things that are happening outside of the office and that are kind of independent of you know your visit with your provider and those you know fall into this realm of social determinants of health one big part have to do with your neighborhood your environment and your social and community relationships so.
In my work trying to advance health in our community and in our state that's another area that we can really lean in and and think about ways that we can move that forward outside of the exam room outside of the hospital. I got a quick question yeah and I've always thought about this. I watch TV I watch a lot of TV whether it's Netflix or whatever it is I see so many advertisements for prescription drugs and I see so many advertisements for fast food.
Is it a nation a nation's job is it a states job why isn't there two blocks right we some people watch the news quite a few people watch the news. If there was a 15 minute little exercise every day that was broadcast by the news or whoever it is the I mean I don't want to call it the state because that counts sounds kind of weird.
But we're talking about promoting overall wellness and you're saying things that we do outside and what we do at home but something easy that everyone can do at home to kind of jump start that and kind of bring us together as a community and say hey I'm doing this you're doing this make sure you tune in. Is that a personal responsibility or is it the responsibility of of Washington state or you know going broader and beyond that.
You know I'm say all right like everyone kind of has a role at the end of the day we you know want to motivate ourselves our loved ones our community on an individual level and have that responsibility.
But there's a lot of things that can help help nudges along you know we can make sure that in the places where there are education like even just in our you know regular high school health class are we talking about the things that really people need to know practically like you said like what can I do each day to advance my health for example there is a recommendation on activity we recommend that people have about 150 minutes of moderate activity every week.
So that's like 30 minutes a day five days a week very doable I think even just emphasizing that and how doable that is is a huge message that we could have individually that could be carried through with schools with public health you know all the places that we're getting info. And then even getting more into it like let's talk about what that 30 minutes could look like you know and really kind of help people figure out you know is that a walk.
Is that kind of you know dancing just listening to music but just getting your heart rate up and moving around there's so many ways you can do that and I think when you help people think it all the way through to the plan of how you can actually do it yourself. Then it's so much it's so much easier and so that's where that the messaging and the education comes in and the more we hear it in the different ways the better.
Yeah that's a great answer and obviously this partnership between regions blue shield and the sound is really to showcase of the humanity of the players you know sometimes you go to the stadium and you're watching these elite athletes playing at high level doing you know crazy feet but it's a human end of the day they have the same struggles as everyone else and I want to bring this to you as well because obviously you're involved in so much stuff I don't know how you get everything you need to do done in 24 hours but you seem very busy and you somehow do it.
But we all face struggles and stress and things like that so for you you mentioned a few things there but specifically for you what things help you when maybe you're having a stressful day or you need to relieve stress or just going through kind of a rough period at work or something like that is a walk is again in nature are you someone who you binge watch a series I like to binge watch series on that for some with bread but what things help you in terms of your mental health in general.
You know definitely finding some way to get a little bit of physical activity is huge and you can really feel it when when too many days go by where you're just sitting at a computer and you're bogged down and it is it's really hard and you know the more you get into life the harder it gets if you have family if you a job and a family you know.
For me I try to really not get caught up in how successful I've been on the big plan of like how much activity I've had this week or how amazing or not amazing my diet has been really just focus on today because otherwise it becomes overwhelming and it's easy to to feel like oh I didn't really do well yesterday so I'm going to give up and maybe next week I'll you know jumpstart my plan or whatever.
And so I think it's really important to just kind of focus on I'm going to just try to do the most I can do today if I if I can steal an opportunity to maybe take a quick walk maybe hop on the treadmill in between meetings you know something kind of just to be a little physically active that's really important and then definitely just some time to really veg out I I will say every day I have a little bit of time where I'm kind of you know scrolling through the articles and reading about you know what's the most important thing is to be able to do that.
So what's going on with ice ice and you never help you know something that's completely you know unrelated to anything important. So we do have to kind of give ourselves that space. So we do we do a lot of work with with the Ray Foundation both Steve and I and you know the mini pitches and it's not just about soccer right. Our partnerships go well beyond that and it's continuing education it's learning numbers it's learning writing but it's learning how to move to.
Have you been to a mini pitch opening yet. I have I was so excited I was able to go to the mini pitch opening at Benson Hill Elementary and that was wonderful you know it was such a great event the kids were so energized and they were. You know really moving around and was such a great space and you could really see how they were going to just drive there they were already excited to use it and that was just really wonderful.
Is it is it more about the actual space or is it the mental side of it where a kid. Without even knowing it I mean they can kind of take a breath and instead of playing on a dirt field or on a mud pit or you know we have the weather here so the grass gets gross now it's a consistent place to play. And is it more just knowing that the kids have that space or is it actually them moving combination of both I don't know what your perspective.
Is on that road because for me it's I just want to see a play soccer yeah that's all I you know great they're outside but for us as athletes like you said all we think about is playing soccer. Yeah yeah no I think it's both I think it's having a space to move a space to congregate right like for for all the rest of us who really are only mediocre.
At sports and you know the the joy of being part of a group you know even if you're really not that great at it being able to advance your skills in that setting so I think when you have that space you'll find that kids come along who wouldn't otherwise have been playing. Just to be part of the group but that also is a way that can help them start playing and get that activity and get into a lifestyle that they maybe wouldn't have otherwise had.
It gives them just a safe space even if you are someone who's sitting and observing you're more likely eventually to kind of jump in and say hey maybe I'll kind of get in there and play so I can see ways that it can increase the activity of kids who wouldn't already be doing it. It's a great space for those who you know just need that space and are ready to play.
And then you know again just a safe social area for community you know through COVID we talked a lot about just that loss of community and the loneliness and how it affected people physically and mentally it really affected kids I think it's been really slow to recover kids are still going through it and and having some of those spaces I think is super important.
Yeah so so sound as fans listening sound is FC dot com slash behind the shield will take you to the landing page order info on this after the May 29th game. You actually get to meet Stefan Fry you to meet each other I think on the pitch after the game obviously Steph is one of the clubs biggest players one of the cross biggest legends.
So I want to make sure fans keep that last one from me and you can't just touch on it there if you could give one piece of advice or maybe a statement of why why does any this matter why is it important and probably especially to young people because I was young I didn't think about any of the stuff right I was fortunate to just play soccer because I loved it and that kept me somewhat healthy but it wasn't even just something and how like my rookie year my diet was it was not very good is like I didn't think about these things so just.
For young people to take kind of a proactive approach to their overall health mental and physical and things like that why is it why does it matter why is it important. You know what we do at at a young age in those habits we build set us up for the future we know that when when people are physically active at a young age they're more likely to continue and the likelihood and the rates of activity have just been decreasing.
The average number of years kids play sports now is only three years most kids quit before they're even fully you know junior high school aged and we also see that the amount of physical activity that kids are getting now is directly linked to their income and that has to do with both access to facilities and high quality education of sports and all of that so you know kind of thinking about the big picture.
We really want to set kids up for success in the future for their health for all of the reasons and the groups that we already know have greater challenges are also those same groups that are getting less less access so. There's nothing more important that I think we can do for you know for our kid then to give them those foundations and those spaces to be able to.
To get those healthy life styles and just like you said it'll feel natural it's they won't have to make special efforts to even think about that if if it feels kind of just incorporated in there in their daily lives and if they start it starts with just having access to those spaces. So can you expand on that just just a little bit and I think our listeners are probably you know our age mostly sounders fans probably not a lot of kids but this goes beyond just.
The health and benefits for kids it's it's everyone right we want to highlight the whole community and give them the best outcomes that they can have and so just the simplest steps where can they find information on you know just the basics just to get started whether it's someone listening that knows that they have a parent that's you know struggling in x y and z or it's a parent listening that's got a kid that's struggling not getting the right vitamins not getting because we all know that everything's important food what you intake best place that our fans can go to to you.
Either help themselves out family member or someone else in the community. So I would say probably if I had to pick one single it's hard to there's so much good information. The the centers for disease control believe they're not actually has a lot of information around the healthy people 2030.
There's a whole campaign that has really gone deep into looking at what are the factors needed for people to be healthy the things that start as kids and adults they talk all about these different social determinants and and ways that we are all supporting them including what you need to know for your own health super easy digestible facts you wouldn't think necessarily CDC has you know would be easy but if you take a look at their site the healthy people 2030 it has really good simple information.
Just to really applicable to everyone. Great brilliant sound is fine don't forget again sound is a C dot com slash behind the shield is the landing page own information here. Doctor's been a pleasure having you with us here and I'm very glad you'll be honored as a real community hero and that you'll get a chance to meet stephry now I hope you're
going to be a game on the 29th. I am absolutely. Bring a bring a bring a some good luck there to and yeah we're glad you're getting your moment to be highlighted in spotlight because obviously you do really really great work so thanks for joining us. Thank you so much for having you this is great.