Chat By The Pitch

Ian Babcock
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  • Soccer

The youth soccer podcast for parents trying to make sense of their kid's game. Host Ian Babcock is a soccer dad, not a former player. He got into the game the same way most parents do: his kids started playing and nobody handed him a manual. Chat By The Pitch is the manual he wishes he'd had. Every episode is a real, unscripted conversation with the people who shape a young player's experience: club directors, coaches, former pros, sports psychologists, agents, college recruiters, and families who have been through it. The questions are the ones you are asking in the car on the way home. Is my kid on the right team? What does "development over winning" actually look like? How much is too much? When should we worry, and when should we just let them play? Guests include academy coaches from England, a FIFA agent, futsal and academy founders, sports psychologists, and families who have walked the road from rec soccer to the pro game. What you will not hear: hot takes, highlight packages, or a host pretending to know more than he does. Ian asks the questions a parent would ask, and lets the guest answer. Rooted in North Texas, heard around the world. More than 190 conversations in the catalog covering player development, coaching philosophy, club culture, the college pathway, mental health, and the business of youth soccer. If you care about your kid's soccer beyond the scoreboard, this is your podcast.

  1. 6d ago

    Youth Soccer Player Pathways: FIFA Agent Mario Iveljic on Club, College, and Pro

    Mario Iveljic grew up playing with a number 10 so smooth he'd just stop and watch. That kid may not have finished four years of college. Mario, by his own admission not the most talented guy, went further. That gap is why Mario — a licensed FIFA agent at Chicago's Mag Mile Sport, an attorney, and the son of a former European pro — believes talent gets you seen, but decisions get you signed. In Part 1, Ian and Mario map out youth soccer player pathways in America: MLS academies, MLS NEXT, ECNL, high school, college, and kids heading to Europe at 16. Mario's take: these are competing systems, not stages of one, and nobody is coordinating them. Mario explains why the best club and the best club for your kid right now are two different questions, why meaningful minutes and a clear role beat the badge, and why switching clubs often means bringing the same problem to a new address. They dig into pay-to-play and whether FIFA-style training compensation could change what clubs sell, what the World Cup did and didn't fix about access, and the club culture Chicago's old ethnic clubs once had. Then an honest take on college soccer: if the goal is pro, eventually get to D1. If the goal is four great years, go where you fit. For soccer parents, youth coaches, and players weighing club, college, and pro — and asking whether club soccer is worth it. Part 2 continues the conversation. Key Talking PointsGrowing up Croatian-American in Chicago: a dad who played professionally in Europe, an ethnic club that just let players play, and a US Amateur Cup title in his final competitive seasonFree play vs. structured training — two hours of small-sided games, learning to fix your own mistakes, and why everything in America being a car ride away changes the equationTalent gets you seen, decisions get you signed: the number 10 who didn't go as far, and the slow realization behind Mario's bookThe engine: talent plus smart work, and controlling the controllables — your mindset and your fitnessCompeting systems, not one pipeline: MLS academies, MLS NEXT, ECNL, high school, college, and Europe at 16Don't chase the badge: meaningful minutes, a clear role, a commute you can sustain, and a coach you trust with your childAfter the World Cup: more attention, the same access problem — and why pay-to-play isn't only an American or a soccer issueTraining compensation and solidarity payments as a way to reward clubs for developing players instead of winning tournamentsAmerica's second-chance system for late bloomers — and the downside of so many options: families switching clubs and bringing the same problem alongCollege reality check: NIL and the House settlement, the transfer portal, and why the path to a pro contract eventually runs through D1 Quotes from Mario Iveljic"The talent gets you seen, but the decisions are the ones that really get you signed." "It was just by playing free. Learning on your own and learning how to correct mistakes on your own." "There are two things that you can control: your mentality, your mindset... and then your fitness." "Those are all competing systems, not just stages of one system." "The best club and the best club for your kid right now are two different questions." "Going to the best club, but then sitting on the bench for all but 10 minutes, you're not going to develop." "A World Cup doesn't lower the cost of playing here in America." "If you don't have that inner drive, that work ethic, you're just bringing the same problem to a different club." "In America we're good at giving second chances, and I think that's something that we should not do away with." "Sometimes those that haven't played the game ask better questions." Connect with Mario Iveljic📖 Book: Make the Smart Move: The playbook for better sports decisions 🌐 Website: magmilesport.com 🎥 YouTube: @MarioIveljic 📸 Instagram: @magmilesport ✖️ X / Twitter: @MagMileSport Follow Chat By The Pitch🌐 Website: chatbythepitch.com 🎥 YouTube: Chat By The Pitch 📸 Instagram: @ChatByThePitch 🎵 TikTok: Chat.By.The.Pitch ✖️ X / Twitter: @ChatByThePitch 📘 Facebook: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Spotify: Chat By The Pitch 🍎 Apple Podcasts: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Subscribe & Review: Your support helps us keep bringing conversations with players, coaches, and leaders that matter. #ChatByThePitch #YouthSoccer #PlayerPathways #SoccerParents #FIFAAgent #PlayerDevelopment #DevelopmentOverWinning #ClubSoccer #PayToPlay #CollegeSoccer #MLSNEXT #ECNL #SoccerAgent #MakeTheSmartMove #LateBloomers #FreePlay #YouthSoccerCoach #NorthTexasSoccer #GrassrootsSoccer #SoccerPodcast

    Youth Soccer Player Pathways: FIFA Agent Mario Iveljic on Club, College, and Pro

  2. Oct 1

    Play From Your Heart: Scott Martin on Losing Everything and Coming Back to the Game

    In 1993, Scott Martin was driving to a Nike camp with new Ray-Bans and the music turned up — still playing, coaching a nationally ranked college program, with everything in front of him. A month later, he woke up from a coma without his hands. Scott, author of the memoir Play From Your Heart, shares the story behind his youth soccer coaching philosophy and the illness that nearly ended everything. Group A strep and necrotizing fasciitis cost him both hands and parts of both feet. What followed was decades of grief, a lost malpractice trial, an unpaid coaching job on food stamps, five adopted children, and twenty years away from the sideline. Then a club in Bellingham, Washington handed him its U13 C team. The approach he brought back — put players in a position to learn, ask more questions than you answer, and play the flow instead of the ball — turned a group of overlooked kids he calls his soccer rats into undefeated state league champions. Ian and Scott also get into free play and why every young player needs a worn ball of their own, why there's a dancer in every soccer player, bringing eggs and Motown to training, humor as a coaching tool, and what Scott believes is broken in American youth soccer. For soccer parents, youth coaches, and club leaders who believe development beats winning — and that the game is best played from the heart. Key Talking PointsGrowing up on Wide World of Sports and the NASL in the '70s — Pelé, Beckenbauer, Cruyff — and a backyard where any sport was fair gameA mother who raised six kids on three jobs, and where Scott says his work ethic really came fromJan, a Dutch director of coaching who went on to lead the Netherlands Olympic team, and a conversation over a pint about angles and percentages1993: the Nike camp, the fever that got sent home with Gatorade, and waking from a coma to group A strep and necrotizing fasciitisGrief, denial, and depression — why it took decades to let go of the player and the coach he used to beLearning discrimination from a new angle: an athletic director's hallway comment and the handshakes that pulled backStarting over at the bottom: an unpaid assistant role, food stamps, five adopted children, and twenty years studying Cruyff and Guardiola from a distanceThe U13 C team in Bellingham: a 7–0 loss to the A team, confidence before arrogance, and the two lost finals that made them hungry"My mission is not to teach you, but to put you in a position to learn" — questions over instructions, eggs at training, and music as a metronomeFree play and soccer rats: why kids need a worn ball and no coach, why over-structure is choking exploration, and why flag football should worry soccer Connect with Scott Martin🌐 Author Page: Library Tales Publishing 📚 Book: Play From Your Heart — Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Library Tales Publishing 📧 Email: scott.playfromyourheart@gmail.com 💼 LinkedIn: Scott Martin ✖️ X: @SoccerRatMartin 👍 Facebook: Scott Martin Follow Chat By The Pitch🌐 Website: chatbythepitch.com 🎥 YouTube: Chat By The Pitch 📸 Instagram: @ChatByThePitch 🎵 TikTok: Chat.By.The.Pitch ✖️ X / Twitter: @ChatByThePitch 📘 Facebook: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Spotify: Chat By The Pitch 🍎 Apple Podcasts: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Subscribe & Review: Your support helps us keep bringing conversations with players, coaches, and leaders that matter. #ChatByThePitch #YouthSoccer #PlayFromYourHeart #PlayerDevelopment #CoachingPhilosophy #FreePlay #SoccerParents #YouthSoccerCoach #DevelopmentOverWinning #Resilience #SoccerRats #TotalFootball #LoveOfTheGame #GrassrootsSoccer #ClubSoccer #SoccerCoaching #LimbDifference #BeautifulGame #SoccerPodcast #NorthTexasSoccer

    Play From Your Heart: Scott Martin on Losing Everything and Coming Back to the Game

  3. Sep 24

    Player Pathways: Roman Torres on FC Dallas, JUCO, and the Road to Pro Soccer

    Zero college offers in his U18 year. A first-round MLS SuperDraft pick a few years later. Released after one pro season — and still chasing it. Roman Torres has lived nearly every turn of the youth soccer player pathway, and he’s only 24. Roman grew up in Dallas, starting on a rec team at the Y before coming up through FC Dallas, Classic League, and the club’s ECNL team. From there his road ran through Germany’s fifth division at 19, junior college at Iowa Western, a breakout season at Creighton, a first-round pick by Minnesota United, a loan to Birmingham Legion, and now Forward Madison FC in USL League One. Ian and Roman get into what that pathway really asks of a player and a family: raffle tickets and long drives to practice, choosing high school soccer and his friends over a move to the academy, why JUCO can be a smart route to the pros, and what it felt like to walk into an end-of-season meeting confident and walk out released. Roman also shares what he’d tell his 12-year-old self — touches, left foot, scan — why strength work at 10 misses the point, and why parents should care less about the league badge and more about the quality of every training session. For soccer parents, youth coaches, and players chasing the next level who want an honest look at development over winning — and the grit it takes to keep going. Connect with Roman Torres📸 Instagram: @Roman.btj Follow Chat By The Pitch🌐 Website: chatbythepitch.com 🎥 YouTube: Chat By The Pitch 📸 Instagram: @ChatByThePitch 🎵 TikTok: Chat.By.The.Pitch ✖️ X / Twitter: @ChatByThePitch 📘 Facebook: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Spotify: Chat By The Pitch 🍎 Apple Podcasts: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Subscribe & Review: Your support helps us keep bringing conversations with players, coaches, and leaders that matter. #ChatByThePitch #YouthSoccer #PlayerDevelopment #PlayerPathway #SoccerParents #DevelopmentOverWinning #NorthTexasSoccer #DFWSoccer #FCDallas #NorthTexasSC #JUCOSoccer #CollegeSoccer #MLSSuperDraft #ForwardMadisonFC #USLLeagueOne #RoadToPro #SoccerMindset #TouchesOnTheBall #YouthSoccerCoach #SoccerPodcast

    Player Pathways: Roman Torres on FC Dallas, JUCO, and the Road to Pro Soccer

  4. Sep 17

    Obsessed With the Process: Chris Rich on Building an Elite Eight Program

    Chris Rich has passed on talented recruits because of what he saw from their parents on the sideline. The UNC Greensboro head coach explains what else he's watching. In this episode of Chat By The Pitch, Chris opens up the college soccer recruiting process from the coach's side of the table. He took over UNCG men's soccer ten days before the 2019 season, used the COVID pause to rebuild the culture, and turned a program ranked in the 100s into a 2022 Elite Eight team that beat Stanford in PKs on the road. Ian and Chris get into the questions soccer parents actually ask: Is my kid good enough to play in college? How do players get seen when they aren't on the biggest showcase teams? How much does playing time really spread across a 28-man roster? Chris walks through how his staff evaluates recruits on the field, over FaceTime, and on visits, why his team's GPA climbed from a 2.7 to a 3.4, and why the word he leans on most is obsessive — obsessed with the process of development, not just the trophy. He's also honest about the hard parts: a 2023 season that came crashing down after losing eight pros, a transfer portal that's squeezing young players, and 9.9 scholarships stretched across a full roster. For soccer players, parents, and youth coaches mapping out the pathway from club soccer to college — and anyone who wants to know what a college coach is really looking for. Key Talking Points• From Tampa youth soccer and Barry University to assistant roles at FIU, Virginia Tech, UNC, and Duke — and learning as much from peers as from bosses • Hired ten days before the 2019 season: leading with culture, standards, and non-negotiables before a game model • How the COVID pause became a silver lining for recruiting, training, and building the program block by block • Transparency, accountability, and "I will always have your back" — the promise Chris makes to every recruit • Why "obsessive" is the most important word in the program, and how an elite mindset lifted the team GPA from 2.7 to 3.4 • Staff-selected captains, a leadership committee from every class, and players policing the locker room • College soccer playing time explained: six substitution moments, 15 to 16 players per game, and the role of the closer off the bench • College soccer recruiting: why UNCG targets North Carolina, Texas, and Florida, plus the transfer portal and international players • What coaches watch beyond talent — reactions to mistakes and referees, the parents on the sideline, and the FaceTime call • Taking ownership of your pathway: ID camps, gap years, JUCO, and staying patient in the transfer portal era Quotes from Chris Rich• "I was just a sponge. I was learning from everybody that I worked with." • "You can't just throw your game model on players that don't fit that." • "We're always gonna adapt, and we're always gonna try to thrive in the new situation. I'm never gonna be a complainer." • "The one thing I will always guarantee and always promise our players in the recruiting process, I will always have their back." • "Probably the most important word that I use all the time is obsessive." • "Everybody wants to lift the trophy. Everybody wants to win, but what is the process that gets us to that point?" • "I'm not gonna say, 'I'm gonna be a terrible father today, but I'm gonna be a good coach.' You're either gonna strive for greatness or you're not." • "There's been many good players I've identified that we didn't take because of mom and dad." • "Take ownership of your process. Instead of waiting on somebody to do something for you, go to the environment where coaches are." • "Sometimes you gotta take a gap year. Sometimes you gotta go to a JUCO for a year. And that's okay." Connect with Chris Rich📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachchrisrich ✖️ X: https://x.com/coachchrisrich UNCG Men's Soccer📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uncgsoccer ✖️ X: https://x.com/uncgsoccer 👍 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/uncgsoccer Follow Chat By The Pitch🌐 Website: https://chatbythepitch.com/ 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChatByThePitchPod 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chatbythepitch 🎵 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@chat.by.the.pitch ✖️ X / Twitter: https://x.com/ChatByThePitch 📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChatByThePitch 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0zXb9WZ6nQh8n5p1tQwQhV 🍎 Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chat-by-the-pitch/id1722155166 🎧 Subscribe & Review: Your support helps us keep bringing conversations with players, coaches, and leaders that matter. #ChatByThePitch #YouthSoccer #CollegeSoccer #CollegeRecruiting #SoccerRecruiting #UNCG #UNCGSpartans #NCAASoccer #D1Soccer #PlayerDevelopment #SoccerParents #YouthSoccerCoach #NorthTexasSoccer #DFWSoccer #SoccerCoaching #TeamCulture #PlayerPathways #TransferPortal #StudentAthlete #SoccerPodcast

    Obsessed With the Process: Chris Rich on Building an Elite Eight Program

  5. Sep 10

    The Medal in the Trash: Preston Pomykal on Winning, Losing, and Respect

    A parent pulled a second-place medal out of a trash can and brought it to Preston Pomykal, disgusted that his son had thrown it away. Preston asked her three questions about how the boy behaved on the field — then told her he had no problem with the trash can. Part 2 of the conversation moves from coaching to letting go. Preston walks through what youth soccer player development looks like once a dad hands his sons to somebody else: staying useful without hovering, reading effort honestly when a kid's body has an off day, and knowing which battles are worth a word in the car. He tells the story that put Paxton on a different track — a Manchester United staff coach who quietly swapped groups for two days just to watch a 10-year-old, and the four a.m. conversation in a Vegas bar that ended with twenty-something North Texas families pulling their kids into a charter school so they could train from noon to four every day for two years. Then the part every soccer parent eventually faces. Preston on why "we raised them all the same" isn't true, why his three boys pushed each other harder than he ever did, and what it felt like to walk through the gates at Columbia and know his oldest was going there — four hours away by plane, out of reach for the first time. He closes with the show's signature question: the greatest influences on him as a player, and separately as a coach. For soccer parents, youth coaches, and club leaders learning when to step in and when to step back. Key Talking PointsBe a parent, be a coach, be a parent — where the line sits when you're both, and why the car ride is where most parents cross itHard work is relative: why an 80-minute effort one weekend and 60 the next may be the body, not the attitudeThe second-place medal in the trash — respect for the opponent on the field, and what a kid does with his own disappointment afterThe FC Dallas coach who took Paxton in at U15 — a talented kid dealing with size doubts and a hard stretch at his former club — and watched him come out of his shellWhy "we raised them all the same" isn't true — parents change between kids, and children read every bit of itSibling pressure as the motivator parents can't manufacture, from the "Border" report card to two brothers who became Paxton's biggest fansHanding his boys to new staff and staying useful — moving cones, filling in, staying close without hoveringThe Manchester United staff coach who switched groups for two days to watch a 10-year-old, and the trip to Carrington that changed what Paxton wantedThe four a.m. Vegas conversation behind a daily training program: 20-plus families, a charter school until noon, and two years of afternoon sessionsLetting go — trips he didn't take, the walk through the gates at Columbia, and the goodbye at Evansville that was easy Quotes from Preston Pomykal"Go up and down your sideline and listen to the parents, and then ask yourself what you think they're saying when they get in the car." "You're paying for a coach. You don't need to be their coach. Be a parent, be a coach, be a parent." "Hard work is relative. He goes 80 minutes hard, and the next weekend 60 — it could just be a different day for his body." "The part of the game I care about is the respect for the other team. He lost, and he respected them." "It's a very fluid, dynamic game with a gazillion opportunities to change it." "We laugh because we say we raised them all the same, which we tried to, but when you really think about it, we didn't." "Sibling respect for each other is a massive influencer on kids as they're coming through, not just parents." "You have to let go. It's just not feasible to only spend time with one aspect of your life when you have a wife and two other children." "I walked inside the gates and I got tears in my eyes. My wife said, what's wrong with you? I'm like, he's going here." "It's a brutally sad day. But if you've raised them in a manner where they want to come home, they want to be with their family." Follow Chat By The Pitch🌐 Website: chatbythepitch.com 🎥 YouTube: Chat By The Pitch 📸 Instagram: @ChatByThePitch 🎵 TikTok: Chat.By.The.Pitch ✖️ X / Twitter: @ChatByThePitch 📘 Facebook: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Spotify: Chat By The Pitch 🍎 Apple Podcasts: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Subscribe & Review: Your support helps us keep bringing conversations with players, coaches, and leaders that matter. #ChatByThePitch #YouthSoccer #PlayerDevelopment #SoccerParents #SoccerDad #DevelopmentOverWinning #YouthSoccerCoach #NorthTexasSoccer #DFWSoccer #GrassrootsSoccer #ClubSoccer #FCDallas #PaxtonPomykal #ManchesterUnited #SoccerFamily #LettingGo #CollegeSoccer #YouthSports #LoveOfTheGame #SoccerPodcast

    The Medal in the Trash: Preston Pomykal on Winning, Losing, and Respect

  6. Sep 3

    Youth Soccer Player Development: Preston Pomykal on Raising Two College Players and a Pro

    A Hall of Fame ballplayer was asked about his favorite little league memory. His answer was about his mom, and an ice cream cone. His worst memory was the car ride home with his dad. That story changed how Preston Pomykal parented — and it's the one he says every soccer parent needs to hear. In Part 1 of this conversation, Preston walks through youth soccer player development from the inside: he grew up playing in Dallas, coached his own three boys until age ten, never took a paycheck to do it, and watched all three come up through the North Texas system — two on to college soccer, and one, Paxton, into a professional career. Ian and Preston get into what a real technical foundation looks like before age twelve, why the best 10-year-old is so often gone by 16, and the difference between a coach who develops players and one who just picks them. Preston explains why you don't want your kid to be the best player on the team, what he learned from a Barcelona staffer who ran the identical 30-minute skills routine six days in a row, and how he replaced summer camp for 40 families with one skills coach and six weeks of real work. He also tells the hardest conversation he ever had — telling a starting left back's parents, in January, to start looking elsewhere — and why that mom still thanks him years later. For soccer parents, youth coaches, and club leaders who care more about the player at 25 than the trophy at 10. Part 2 continues the conversation. Key Talking PointsWhy Preston wouldn't let anyone else coach his boys until age ten — and why he gave up paid coaching roles to do itA ball in every room and Saturday mornings watching the Prem instead of cartoons: love of the game built at home, not scheduledThe chicken salad analogy — talent has to be there first, and "you didn't build him, you honed him"Technique before everything: striking, passing, receiving, both feet, and why the window before twelve outweighs anything after fifteenTraining up as the real developmental lever, and why your player shouldn't be the best or the worst kid on the teamThe Barcelona camp coach who ran the exact same 30-minute routine six days straight — and the American football and basketball logic behind itSkipping summer camps: pooling 40 families to hire one skills coach for six weeks instead of paying for high-priced daycareCoaching without a paycheck — how it changed what parents heard, and the parent who accused him of favoring his own sonSink or swim: FC Dallas moving Paxton up to the U18s mid-season, and two coaches who committed to the decisionNever cutting a player, no one playing less than half a game, and the January conversation that gave one family time to land somewhere better Quotes from Preston Pomykal"If you put a soccer ball in front of them, let's see if they grab it. And they grabbed it and never stopped." "Any coach that says 'I built him' — you didn't build him, you honed him." "I saw some kids that were better than everybody else at 10 years old that by the time they were 16, they weren't." "You don't really want your kid to be the best player on the team, and you for sure don't want him to be the worst player on the team." "Don't be creative. You don't need to be. Just teach them the right way." "We did the exact same formula through the skills progression every time those kids got on a field, and their quick feet were amazing." "When you don't take money, they listen to you completely differently. You're not my paycheck." "I was a coach that would never cut a player. If you played for me, you played for me." "You just gotta be honest and candid. If you try to do it with the right intention, everything should turn out pretty well." "We're gonna talk about three things you did great, one thing that might need a little improvement, and in five minutes it's gone." Follow Chat By The Pitch🌐 Website: chatbythepitch.com 🎥 YouTube: Chat By The Pitch 📸 Instagram: @ChatByThePitch 🎵 TikTok: Chat.By.The.Pitch ✖️ / Twitter: @ChatByThePitch 📘 Facebook: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Spotify: Chat By The Pitch 🍎 Apple Podcasts: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Subscribe & Review: Your support helps us keep bringing conversations with players, coaches, and leaders that matter. #ChatByThePitch #YouthSoccer #PlayerDevelopment #SoccerParents #DevelopmentOverWinning #SoccerDad #YouthSoccerCoach #NorthTexasSoccer #DFWSoccer #GrassrootsSoccer #ClubSoccer #SoccerCoaching #TechnicalDevelopment #FCDallas #PaxtonPomykal #SoccerFamily #YouthSports #LoveOfTheGame #SoccerPodcast #TheRideHome

    Youth Soccer Player Development: Preston Pomykal on Raising Two College Players and a Pro

  7. Aug 27

    Coach the Players in Front of You: Andy Cook on Systems vs. Individuals

    Andy Cook took a left back, put her at number nine, and she scored 22 goals and won a league. That’s not a hunch — that’s a coaching philosophy. In Part 2, Andy Cook gets into the part of youth soccer player development that doesn’t fit on a session plan: culture, trust, and reading the player in front of you. He took over a Nottingham Forest side sitting one place above relegation and, four years later, won the league and the cup with several of the same players who’d been there on day one. The thing he changed first wasn’t the formation. It was telling every player, every week, exactly why she was starting or why she wasn’t. He’s blunt about systems, too. If you’ve got a Ford Mustang in the garage, you don’t work on it like it’s a Lamborghini — and the coaches he rates most, Pep included, are the ones who bend the shape to the players rather than the other way around. For anyone coaching youth, his line is simple: until 18, the individual is everything, and the team is a scoreboard that doesn’t matter yet. There’s also a straight conversation about why England has caught up to the United States in the women’s game, two non-negotiables he’ll build any program on, and the answer he gives parents when they ask what to look for in a coach. Plus the signature closer — his greatest influence as a player, and separately as a coach. Key Talking PointsBecoming a dad while coaching Sunderland’s academy — and how watching his own son learn changed how he coachesNottingham Forest: taking over a side one place above relegation and winning a league and cup double four years laterThe one rule he set on day one — every selection decision gets explained, however long it takesMoving Charlotte Greengrass from left back to number nine, and the 22-goal season that followedCoaching the players in front of you instead of the formation in your head — with Pep, Haaland, and Bayern as the case studyWhy the individual is paramount until 18, and why teams at youth level don’t win anything on their ownProtecting joy: at 27 you should still play the game like you’re 7 — and what screaming from the sideline does to a 7-year-oldWhy England caught up to the US women’s game, and where he ranks the technical nationsAccountability and respect as the only two non-negotiables — right down to how you leave the away changing roomHis answer for parents: look for honesty, and check whether what the coach says shows up on the pitch Quotes from Andy Cook“Every decision I make, I’m gonna explain it to you. It doesn’t matter whether it takes me an hour or whether it takes me two minutes.”“My eyes don’t lie. If I’ve got a group of footballers in front of me, my first instinct is always to go, what can they do now?”“If a guy brings a Ford Mustang into your garage, you’re not gonna deal with it like you would a Lamborghini.”“Teams at youth level don’t do anything. It’s the individual.”“At 27, you should still play the game like you’re 7.”“If at 7 years old you’re having the fun kicked out of you because somebody on the sideline is screaming, whether that’s a parent or a coach, I think it’s so wrong.”“You put her up front, and it was like you’d freed her from the shackles of a defender.”“The two biggest ones for me are accountability and respect, and that really starts with me.”“I want a team that leaves the changing room better than what it was when we got in there.”“The first thing that a parent needs to look out for is honesty.” Connect with Andy Cook✖️ X: @AndyCook87 Follow Chat By The Pitch🌐 Website: chatbythepitch.com 🎥 YouTube: Chat By The Pitch 📸 Instagram: @ChatByThePitch 🎵 TikTok: Chat.By.The.Pitch ✖️ X / Twitter: @ChatByThePitch 📘 Facebook: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Spotify: Chat By The Pitch 🍎 Apple Podcasts: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Subscribe & Review: Your support helps us keep bringing conversations with players, coaches, and leaders that matter. #ChatByThePitch #YouthSoccer #PlayerDevelopment #SoccerCoaching #ProtectTheJoy #TeamCulture #WomensFootball #NottinghamForest #NewcastleUnited #WSL #NWSL #Lionesses #SoccerParents #CoachingPhilosophy #DevelopmentOverWinning #FootballCoaching #JohnWooden #PatSummitt #SoccerPodcast #NorthTexasSoccer

    Coach the Players in Front of You: Andy Cook on Systems vs. Individuals

  8. Aug 20

    Youth Soccer Player Development: Spotting Talent Early with Andy Cook

    Andy Cook coached Beth Mead at 14 and Leah Williamson at 15. He wasn’t looking for tactics or trophies — here’s what he was actually watching for. In Part 1, UEFA A licensed coach Andy Cook takes Ian Babcock through a youth soccer player development story that starts with a season ticket at Middlesbrough and ends up inside Arsenal’s women’s program. He got his first coaching badge at 16, in a country where full-time coaching jobs in the women’s game simply didn’t exist yet, and stacked qualification on qualification for a decade on nothing but what he calls blind determination. Along the way he coached two future England internationals before either of them could drive. His answer for what made them stand out is refreshingly plain: could they control it, could they pass it, could they dribble it. Everything else — speed, tactics, position — got built out from the ball. He also talks openly about the parts that didn’t work: leaving Arsenal too early, and a first head coaching job at Oxford United where the football was fine and the man-management wasn’t. If you’re a parent trying to understand what a good coach is actually looking at, or a coach wondering whether the badges are worth it, this one’s for you. Part 2 picks up with culture, trust, and why the individual matters more than the team until 18. Key Talking PointsFalling for the game as a Middlesbrough season-ticket kid in the mid-'90s, and playing local club football until 16The moment he realized he'd never reach his best friend's level as a player — and why that pushed him straight into coachingGetting his first FA badge at 16, UEFA B at 19, and the UEFA A license at 26 — a decade of qualifications with no job market waiting on the other side"Blind determination" as a career strategy: planning a future in a profession that didn't exist yetCoaching Beth Mead at the Middlesbrough Girls' Centre of Excellence — two evenings a week, a gym session, and a Saturday gameWhat he looked for in young players as a young coach: control it, pass it, dribble it — the physical stuff built out from thereArsenal at 24 under Laura Harvey — U17s, reserves, and a 15-year-old Leah Williamson training up with older playersHis theory on why today's young women's players may be more robust: more minutes, earlier, than the generation before themLeaving Arsenal for the FA — the regret, and the coach-education years that taught him to plan a session properlyOxford United, the smallest budget in the league, and the man-management lesson he's built the rest of his career on Quotes from Andy Cook“I always felt that I had different ideas to what I was being told as a boy.”“It was just blind determination. There was no job. There was no career.”“You have to plan your future based on something that you don't know.”“I thought, that is it, I've completed coaching. I've learned more every season since than I did in the first ten years.”“Could they control the ball? Could they pass the ball? Could they dribble with the ball? It all started from the ball, and then it built out from that.”“She was the best trainer, she was the one that had the best questions. She would stay back and want to do more.”“I'm always a little bit hesitant to say that's because of the work I did as a coach, because a youth player goes through so many different moments.”“If I'm really honest, I wish I didn't leave Arsenal. That's a regret I have.”“It was now trying to influence the coaches to then influence the players, and that is a completely different task, a completely different skill set.”“I never told them why I was picking them. All those man-management skills that I think are essential.” Connect with Andy Cook✖️ X: @AndyCook87 Follow Chat By The Pitch🌐 Website: chatbythepitch.com 🎥 YouTube: Chat By The Pitch 📸 Instagram: @ChatByThePitch 🎵 TikTok: Chat.By.The.Pitch ✖️ X / Twitter: @ChatByThePitch 📘 Facebook: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Spotify: Chat By The Pitch 🍎 Apple Podcasts: Chat By The Pitch 🎧 Subscribe & Review: Your support helps us keep bringing conversations with players, coaches, and leaders that matter. #ChatByThePitch #YouthSoccer #PlayerDevelopment #SoccerCoaching #WomensFootball #WSL #Arsenal #Middlesbrough #BethMead #LeahWilliamson #UEFACoaching #CoachEducation #SoccerParents #YouthDevelopment #FootballCoaching #DevelopmentOverWinning #GrassrootsSoccer #TalentID #SoccerPodcast #NorthTexasSoccer

    Youth Soccer Player Development: Spotting Talent Early with Andy Cook
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About

The youth soccer podcast for parents trying to make sense of their kid's game. Host Ian Babcock is a soccer dad, not a former player. He got into the game the same way most parents do: his kids started playing and nobody handed him a manual. Chat By The Pitch is the manual he wishes he'd had. Every episode is a real, unscripted conversation with the people who shape a young player's experience: club directors, coaches, former pros, sports psychologists, agents, college recruiters, and families who have been through it. The questions are the ones you are asking in the car on the way home. Is my kid on the right team? What does "development over winning" actually look like? How much is too much? When should we worry, and when should we just let them play? Guests include academy coaches from England, a FIFA agent, futsal and academy founders, sports psychologists, and families who have walked the road from rec soccer to the pro game. What you will not hear: hot takes, highlight packages, or a host pretending to know more than he does. Ian asks the questions a parent would ask, and lets the guest answer. Rooted in North Texas, heard around the world. More than 190 conversations in the catalog covering player development, coaching philosophy, club culture, the college pathway, mental health, and the business of youth soccer. If you care about your kid's soccer beyond the scoreboard, this is your podcast.

Information

  • Creator
    Ian Babcock
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    195
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Ian Babcock
  • Show Website
    Chat By The Pitch

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