Ranting Soccer Dad

Intro: Why the US Men Will Never Win the World Cup

October 26, 2019 15:00 - 26 minutes - 24.9 MB

A reading of the introduction to my new book is at the 15-minute mark, after a brief autobiography to explain my perspective as an old but still upbeat soccer supporter. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ranting-soccer-dad/support

RSD 2-7-19: Dan Loney drops by and doesn't talk about pro/rel

February 08, 2019 03:02 - 1 hour - 64.1 MB

We were going to talk about promotion and relegation. Really. We just didn't get around to it. Dan and I have been talking soccer online for a couple of decades, and we've been accused of being shills for Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer. And we've been accused of being the same person. We submit this podcast as proof that we're not, though someone will probably figure I just recorded both voices and spliced it together in Audacity, like the inverse of Jim Henson and Frank Oz teaming up ...

RSD short: A meditation on losing and coaching

November 18, 2018 23:52 - 13 minutes - 12.7 MB

You can’t fix luck. But can you rethink things? Can you find holes in what you’re being taught? Why do people who follow the rules always lose? If you hurl a bag of balls, cones and pinnies off a cliff, does it make a sound? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ranting-soccer-dad/support

RSD 10-9-18: We need refs! Not just me!

October 09, 2018 19:06 - 27 minutes - 25.1 MB

One thing we all know but becomes more vivid when you become a referee: We need more referees. A funny story or two from a long weekend on the field illustrates the point. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ranting-soccer-dad/support

RSD short: Funny youth stories, USSF arrogance and NASL spin

September 20, 2018 21:02 - 41 minutes - 38.1 MB

How's the new "Play/Practice/Play" model working? Probably not as well for me with the number of kids I'm coaching. That's the first topic here. Then it's funny reffing stories. I get to USSF coaching education arrogance around the 18-minute mark, and then I defend Jason Davis and Nipun Chopra against the NASL's spinning efforts. Finally, a reminder to get moving if you want to run for USSF VP. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ranting-soccer-dad/support

RSD short Aug 10 2018: On Twitter and Cordeiro

August 10, 2018 20:43 - 16 minutes - 15.3 MB

Personal news: I'm boycotting Twitter over the Alex Jones situation and related misdeeds, and The Guardian has just posted my story on Carlos Cordeiro's first six months. Youth soccer news: What can Cordeiro's task force do to stop the insanity? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ranting-soccer-dad/support

RSD Short: New US Youth chairman, WoSo and aspirations

August 03, 2018 20:37 - 20 minutes - 19.2 MB

New format for the pod! Today’s topics are the new U.S. Youth Soccer chairman (with some discussion of USSF president Carlos Cordeiro), WoSo and feminism (with some discussion of Hannah Gadsby), and some RSD content updates. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ranting-soccer-dad/support

RSD38: A productive promotion/relegation chat

July 24, 2018 22:22 - 1 hour - 77.7 MB

Soccer writer Kyle Williams joins the podcast this week to talk about promotion and relegation, proving that we can talk about such things without bloodshed. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ranting-soccer-dad/support

RSD37 (pt 2): Shoeless Soccer's Nathan Richardson

July 18, 2018 23:28 - 48 minutes - 44.9 MB

This is part two of a lengthy but worthwhile interview with Nathan Richardson, co-author of a book called Shoeless Soccer. The title isn't necessarily advocating that we all toss our boots in the trash, but the book does suggest that we've organized things a bit too much and should let kids learn more by doing, which is actually how much of the rest of the world does it. (You know, the countries that QUALIFIED for the men's World Cup.) If you missed Part 1, please check it out: https://rantin...

RSD37 (pt 1): Drills? Travel? PLAY! Guest: Nathan Richardson

July 18, 2018 20:22 - 46 minutes - 42.9 MB

Nathan Richardson, co-author of Shoeless Soccer, joins the podcast this week to talk about the radical yet somewhat globally accepted ideas in his book. Basically, instead of turning soccer into an expensive coach-driven activity, why not let kids learn by playing? And maybe on hard surfaces so they'll learn to control the ball instead of booting it? This conversation should give us all some ideas for how to reform youth soccer, even if you don't agree with all of them, and it should put th...

RSD36: Player pathways, college and elite leagues, with Lesle Gallimore

June 08, 2018 16:48 - 42 minutes - 33 MB

Lesle Gallimore has been head women's soccer coach at the University of Washington since 1994, and she's the current president of United Soccer Coaches. In this conversation, we talk about how college coaches adapt their recruiting to the new "elite league turf war" environment. And we talk about how players adapt and whether they *can* adapt. For example: Could Gallimore's most famous player, Hope Solo, work her way through the system today and be discovered? Coincidentally, Solo made...

RSD35: Dennis Crowley on putting together a soccer pyramid

May 18, 2018 12:00 - 57 minutes - 41.2 MB

Dennis Crowley didn't just start a soccer team. He created a laboratory for "open-source soccer." He shares business and financial info on his NPSL club, the Kingston Stockade, on Medium. And though Kingston might not be the likeliest market to have a club that would climb an open pyramid to Division I, he has become one of the most thoughtful (or reasonable, if you like) advocates of promotion/relegation. In this conversation, we talk about the challenges of putting together a pyramid in...

RSD34: The USL/youth hybrid Richmond Kickers, with Daryl Grove

May 14, 2018 19:31 - 47 minutes - 36.7 MB

The guest is Daryl Grove of the popular Total Soccer Show podcast. The topic is his hometown club, the Richmond Kickers, which has a couple of decades of history as a youth soccer club with a professional team on top of and integrated into its internal pyramid. Yes, really. It's not just a pro team that started up some half-assed youth programs. It's not an MLS team that has Development Academy teams and little else. See its tryout page to see how many levels of travel soccer it offers, an...

RSD33: Soccer played in Germany, with Ian Plenderleith

May 04, 2018 12:45 - 1 hour - 60.9 MB

Today's guest is an English/American/German soccer writer/referee/parent/coach/player. He's Ian Plenderleith, and we had a good conversation about the differences in the USA and Germany -- at least, as many of them as we could fit in a one-hour chat. Read more of Ian's work at ... - The Quiet Fan, a blog related to his upcoming book - Referee Tales, dispatches from the fields in Germany - Rock n Roll Soccer, his book on the NASL (the old one) - Twitter --- Support this podcast: https...

RSD32: Christian Lavers on ECNL/DA, U.S. Club/U.S. Youth competition

April 25, 2018 19:47 - 51 minutes - 36.6 MB

Maybe they're not turf wars. Maybe it's just healthy competition. Christian Lavers is fully immersed in the complicated landscape of U.S. youth soccer. He's a technical director with FC Wisconsin and an executive with the ECNL and U.S. Club Soccer. And miraculously, he still sounds optimistic. Even "nice." If you're looking for mud-slinging, you're not going to find it here. Instead, you're going to hear a candid but polite take on why we have multiple national championships and other stuff...

RSD31: Grassroots and futsal, with Leslie Hamer and Jason Longshore

April 11, 2018 15:13 - 57 minutes - 39.8 MB

It’s a futsal/grassroots doubleheader! After a brief intro (no full rant this week), you’ll hear from Leslie Hamer, who works with futsal at every level from the grassroots to the pros. She has been getting futsal into New York City public schools and now into colleges. Next up: Jason Longshore, whom you may know as a commentator on Atlanta United games but has spent much of the last 12 years working with Soccer in the Streets, an organization that brings soccer (or futsal -- whichever mak...

RSD30: Announcement time

March 28, 2018 23:32 - 22 minutes - 31.1 MB

This week: The Ranting Soccer Dad Guide to Youth Soccer is officially underway. Check out the first couple of entries and support it on Patreon. In the podcast, I spend about five minutes explaining all that. Then I go on a rant about the generation gap in understanding soccer and why we don't have a glorious promotion/relegation pyramid just yet. (Plus a few ideas on how to get there. Or how not to.) --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ranting-soccer-dad/su...

RSD29: A random but interesting coach/parent, Mike Davitt

March 14, 2018 12:59 - 53 minutes - 40.5 MB

Do you know Mike Davitt? Until a few weeks ago, I didn’t, either. He’s a longtime soccer coach who, like many longtime soccer coaches do, also became a soccer parent. He’s originally from Kearny, N.J., hallowed ground for U.S. soccer. After listening to a few of my rants, he emailed me and said he didn’t think youth soccer was doomed. It might even be a good thing. I’ve been hoping to find people like that for the podcast, and so we chatted. Our conversation (starting around the 15:00 mark...

RSD28: SAY Soccer’s Doug Wood

March 07, 2018 14:00 - 56 minutes - 42.9 MB

After today’s explanation of the upcoming Guide to Youth Soccer (3:00) and a rant about promotion/relegation (4:15), my guest (12:30) is Doug Wood, executive director of SAY (Soccer Association for Youth). He starts by explaining what SAY does -- mostly recreational soccer through several different entry points, including schools. SAY isn’t the most top-down organization out there. Its leagues and clubs sometimes have diverse approaches. Sounds a little different than the U.S. Soccer manda...

RSD27: Julie Foudy finds reasons to be optimistic about youth soccer

March 01, 2018 20:49 - 58 minutes - 45.2 MB

Today’s guest has an impossible task: Make me feel better about youth soccer, and soccer in general, and youth sports in general … maybe just life in general. But she’s faced tougher tasks. She’s Julie Foudy, Hall of Fame soccer player and ESPN journalist. After I make an announcement and then rant about curling commentary, the interview starts around the 13:20 mark with a discussion of what’s good about youth soccer, whether soccer can have the same supportive atmosphere of extreme sports ...

RSD26: Charles Boehm on the U.S. Soccer election and youth soccer

January 24, 2018 21:42 - 44 minutes - 28.1 MB

This week’s guest, Charles Boehm, is a player, coach, referee and writer -- check out his intro at the 2:45 mark and learned where he played alongside future non-U.S. national teamers. Like me, he was in Philadelphia for the United Soccer Coaches convention and attended many of the U.S. Soccer presidential candidates’ sessions. We talk about what makes a soccer person and what makes an elitist (5:30), whether Eric Wynalda is the front-runner (8:00), the “anyone but (so-and-so)” approach to ...

RSD25: Phillypalooza election preview, the disappointing USSF coaching education overhaul, and being nice

January 18, 2018 00:58 - 44 minutes - 46.1 MB

Point 1: Why this weekend will be huge for the U.S. Soccer presidential election. (2:02) Included in that: Why I’m skeptical of current election projections (including a NewsRadio reference), what the Number 1 issue in this election should be (8:10), a few surprising things on Paralympic soccer (8:30), a question of what we’re really saying about futsal -- the next beach volleyball? (9:30), SUM and pro/rel (11:30), and finally back to the Number 1 issue and how it overlaps with other major...

RSD24: An election-related New Year’s resolution

January 03, 2018 20:07 - 25 minutes - 28 MB

No interview lined up, so what's the rant this week? How the United Soccer Coaches convention in Philadelphia might help us reset the hostility-to-substance ratio in the presidential race. Who I would NOT endorse for U.S. Soccer president, based on what I know now. (The answer is NOT Eric Wynalda, which I know might blow the minds of some folks on Twitter.) Why Riccardo Silva’s tweet about promotion and corruption was irresponsible and inaccurate. (He’s welcome to chat with me or simply ...

RSD23: The convoluted U.S. Soccer presidential race and the educational Soccer Parenting Summit

December 13, 2017 19:33 - 38 minutes - 45.5 MB

Beau flies solo for the likely 2017 RSD finale and talks about the magnificent seven or the elite eight to reach this stage of the USSF presidential race. At the 15-minute mark, he tries to sum up 20-some hours of the Soccer Parenting Summit. Happy holidays, and get more details on this pod later this week at RantingSoccerDad.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/ranting-soccer-dad/support

RSD22: U.S. Soccer presidential candidate Paul Lapointe

December 06, 2017 12:33 - 1 hour - 44.1 MB

If you want to skip Beau's rant on the good and bad of US Club Soccer, Sunil Gulati and Twitter, skip to the 15-minute mark. That's where you'll find the interview with Paul Lapointe, one of the first candidates to declare his intent to run for the U.S. Soccer presidency. We talk about promotion/relegation, the role of the president, equal pay for the U.S. women's team, women's soccer promotion/relegation/Open Cup, the fragmented world of futsal, the fragmented world of indoor "balls and w...

RSD21: U.S. Soccer presidential candidate Eric Wynalda

December 01, 2017 18:09 - 1 hour - 45.8 MB

Eric Wynalda has played in multiple World Cups, Germany, MLS, etc. He's been a successful coach and commentator. Yes, we talk about promotion/relegation. In fact, we did it first just so you single-issue types can listen and then bail out. If you want to hear about EVERY issue facing the next USSF president -- well, we got to maybe half of them. There are lot of issues. In rough order, we talk about: 1. What's different or similar between the concerns of the Twitterati and the concerns o...

RSD20: Mediating the NASL/USSF suit with Neil Morris

November 29, 2017 11:00 - 1 hour - 61 MB

Neil Morris covers his local teams -- North Carolina FC and the North Carolina Courage -- for WRAL. His work includes a terrific podcast, the Inverted Triangle. In his day job, he's an attorney and mediator. So why not combine his areas of expertise and try to mediate the NASL/USSF lawsuit? We gave it a whirl, with Neil playing the role of mediator and your host flipping between the roles of NASL and USSF advocates. The conversation starts around the 8:45 mark. We quickly explain what's g...

RSD19: U.S. Soccer presidential candidate Kyle Martino

November 15, 2017 12:29 - 44 minutes - 29.6 MB

A vote for Kyle Martino is actually a vote for a network of people that he believes can solve the problems in U.S. Soccer. He’s going to bring them together in early December to flesh out a “progress plan” that he outlines on his site. He’s already hard at work building this consensus, and this interview has a few glitches because he was on the run as we chatted. He had to run at one point to do a live interview, and the phone connection dropped as he hopped from train to train. The forme...

RSD18: U.S. Soccer presidential candidate Mike Winograd

November 08, 2017 12:10 - 52 minutes - 45.6 MB

He doesn't have the name recognition of Eric Wynalda, he hasn't been in the U.S. Soccer inner circle like Carlos Cordeiro, and he hasn't been campaigning as long as Steve Gans. But Mike Winograd is an interesting candidate for the USSF presidency. He's a former player, he helped launch a pro club, and he's a lawyer who works on very big deals. In our conversation (starting around the 10-minute mark after I ranted a bit about the NASL lawsuit and gave an overview of the presidential election...

RSD17: Adding tiers to the U.S. soccer cake, with NPSL’s Jef Thiffault

November 01, 2017 13:00 - 32 minutes - 26.7 MB

Jef Thiffault is the managing director for the NPSL, an elite amateur league that's been sometimes pulled into promotion/relegation discussions. But he used to work for MLS and SUM. Mind blown yet? It's actually an encouraging discussion that gives the impression that we have some smart people in U.S. soccer, toiling far away from the courtrooms and big-league boardrooms. And we might see a sea change in elite amateur competition that just might spill upward to the pros. Interview begins ...