MatchPlay

79. Jimmy Conrad - Your Favorite Former National Team Player Hi I’m Scot Cooper and welcome to the Tales From the Trail Podcast by MatchPlay. In this episode I welcome Jimmy Conrad. Among Jimmy’s many nicknames are Conradinho and Your Favorite US Men’s National Team ex-player. Jimmy’s shares his experiences growing up in an environment that created grit and resilience, fighting to live out his dream of playing for UCLA and winning a national championship. He went on to grind his way into the MLS and eventually on to the national team where he played in the 2006 World Cup. He now hosts the popular podcast on the CBS Golazo Network, Call It What You Want with Jesse Marsch and Charlie Davies. Jimmy is a fantastic guest, was very generous and I look forward to having him on again soon. Summary In this conversation, Conradinho discusses his experience coaching soccer and the importance of high school soccer. He shares his personal journey and how he overcame challenges to become a professional player. Conradinho emphasizes the importance of mentality and commitment to improvement. He also discusses the need for players to embrace mistakes and learn from them. Finally, he shares his thoughts on coaching girls versus boys and the importance of treating all players equally. In this conversation, Jimmy Conrad shares his experiences as a soccer player and coach. He emphasizes the importance of maintaining emotional stability as a coach and setting clear expectations for players. Jimmy also discusses the challenges he faced in his soccer career, including not being drafted and dealing with difficult coaches. He shares stories of perseverance and the lessons he learned along the way. Jimmy talks about his journey from college to the World Cup and the impact he made off the field, including his involvement in community initiatives. He concludes by highlighting the importance of continuous learning and letting go of entitlement. Takeaways High school soccer provides a unique social and competitive experience that cannot be replicated in club or college soccer. Commitment and a growth mindset are crucial for personal and professional development in soccer. Embracing mistakes and learning from them is essential for improvement. Coaching girls and boys requires understanding individual personalities and needs while maintaining consistent expectations. Maintaining emotional stability as a coach is crucial for creating a positive and consistent environment for players. Challenges and setbacks in a soccer career can be opportunities for growth and self-improvement. Building strong relationships with coaches requires understanding their expectations and finding ways to meet them. Perseverance and a strong work ethic can lead to unexpected opportunities and achievements. Making a difference off the field through community initiatives can be a rewarding and impactful experience. Continuous learning and letting go of entitlement are important for personal and professional growth. Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Coaching Soccer 03:42 The Importance of High School Soccer 08:41 Personal Journey and Overcoming Challenges 17:42 Mentality and Commitment to Improvement 25:16 Teaching Kids to Embrace Mistakes 31:56 Coaching Girls vs Boys 39:28 Maintaining Emotional Stability as a Coach 41:15 Navigating the Challenges of a Soccer Career 45:37 Lessons Learned from Challenging Experiences 49:19 Managing Relationships with Coaches 56:35 From College to the World Cup 01:08:18 Making a Difference Off the Field 01:13:46 The Importance of Learning and Letting Go Scot Cooper (00:01.634) So do you have your own podcast? Conradinho (00:04.19) I do. It's called Call It What You Want with Jesse Marsh and Charlie Davies on CBS. Scot Cooper (00:10.75) Oh cool. So it's a big time one. Conradinho (00:14.509) Something like that. Yeah. It's, it's, I got some big names. I'm just the host. Yeah. Scot Cooper (00:17.52) Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, I can't thank you enough for coming on. It's very generous of you to pop on here, especially after coaching your daughter in soccer there this afternoon, I guess their own break and you're having like a midday training session and that sort of thing. How's that going? Conradinho (00:43.806) That's great. I absolutely love it. I'm coaching high school and I have a lot of ideas about coaching. Obviously, or for those that don't know, after I played for a long time, when you retire as a former athlete, you pretty much have two paths. You can coach or you can get into media. And I went down the media rabbit hole and obviously there's a gazillion jobs you could do, but those are the two that feel the most obvious. Scot Cooper (00:45.937) Yeah. Conradinho (01:11.478) So I went down the media rabbit hole and I am still in that rabbit hole, but I have these ideas of coaching and, and if I was in charge, what would I do? And, and, and so when I'm out there and you have to bring these ideas to fruition and you have to, okay, it's one thing to be idealistic. It's another thing to actually execute and to get kids to understand what you're asking them to do is it's a challenge. And so I, I really welcome it. And it's made me actually probably a better analyst. because I can really speak to it in a real 360 view. And on top of that, I'm getting my, trying to get my A license with US Soccer. And so all these experiences, no matter what the level, help inform and help shape what I wanna do. And ultimately, and maybe more importantly, how I wanna do it. Because you learn a lot, even with the kids. Ah, you know, on paper, that drill seemed like it should have worked. Scot Cooper (01:59.502) Mm-hmm. Conradinho (02:09.494) But when I go out and execute it, it doesn't. And it's because two or three players don't either understand or the spacing, like the cones are too close together, and just little things that you maybe take for granted when you're talking trash about coaches on TV. So it's been great. And yes, coaching my daughter's different. It's a different type of challenge because it's a real gray area between when I'm wearing the coach hat and when I'm wearing the dad hat. And if she was... Scot Cooper (02:24.556) Congrats. Conradinho (02:39.766) the out and out best player. I don't think this would be that hard, but she's not. We have a couple of players that probably are D1 level. And so like most coaches, you build around that talent and you help try to get everybody to reach that level as well and hopefully that leads you to success. But ultimately I try to be positive and I had individual meetings. You probably love this. I had individual meetings with each player and I asked them prior, I had them fill out a questionnaire. Scot Cooper (02:59.747) Yeah. Conradinho (03:09.858) Cause there's four areas of development, right? There's tactical, technical, physical, and mental emotional. And I asked them, how did they want to improve in each area? And then we're going to go back and revisit it at the end. And I had individual meetings. We talked about that and I'd let them know exactly where they stood at the current time, right? Cause anything things can change. And ultimately I lost my best player to an ACL injury a couple of weeks ago and that's going to change the complexion of our season, but you know, we, we next player up and So we have some big league games coming up this weekend and I'm excited, should be fun. Scot Cooper (03:42.074) Cool. So how do you feel like there's been this shift away from playing soccer for your high school? You know, at the higher levels. How do you feel about that? And, you know, where, what are kids missing out on and how are they benefiting? Conradinho (04:01.502) Yeah, I'll talk about the missing out on first because I really valued my time in high school. It's the one moment, I would say, in your career where you get to represent the people that you're surrounded by every day. You also are surrounded ultimately by your friends, people you have to look in the eye at some point at school or get hyped for a game like, oh my God, we got a big rival this way. I mean, it's just different than playing your club ball. Now, that's more of a social component that I think is really important. Because win or lose, you still have to face the music. You win, everybody thinks you're the greatest, you lose, dude, what's your problem? You suck, like, let's get it together. And there's that immediate feedback that I don't think you always get at the club level. The club level, it's more, what does my coach think? What does my parent think? When you're doing it for your school, it's like, what does the whole school think? And you don't wanna let those people down. And that responsibility is different. So there's that social intangible. that I think you can't replicate in college. Now, the other intangible on the field, and I guess there's some intangibles off the field too in terms of leadership and responsibility and accountability, but when you're playing with your club team, especially the way the youth system is set up now, if you're on a top ECNL team or MLSX Pro team, everybody's pretty good. And the asks of those players, being a leader in that situation is a little bit different, I'd say, because you can ask a player, hey, I need you to do this, and most likely they'll be able to execute that. You go to high school and the levels are so varying in terms of skill, how do you, as the best player, get the player that maybe can't trap very well or consistently well to be good enough to help the team and to get you the ball in good areas? That's a whole different skill set that I actually think is important for life that you miss out on if you skip high school. So you're learning how to lead, you're learning how to take responsibility, you're learning how to raise the game of people outside of your, you have to think about more than yourself if you're one of the best players in high school. And if you're not one of the best players, it's like, how do I raise my game to the players that there's a whole different, like there's so many crazy intangibles that we miss out on, our kids miss out on developmentally because they're skipping high school and that experience. And I think it's a real shame. Conradinho (06:24.066) For all the players, I have parents right now that are kind of nipping at me about, I left some kids on JV who are probably varsity level, but I inherited some seniors who had been with the program from year one, and it would have been really ruthless of me to cut them in their senior year to bring on some freshmen who will have their time. Now, they just happened to run into the wrong coach because I played JV my freshman year and I went on to play in a World Cup. So I realized that it's not how you start high school, it's how you finish. And... That doesn't satisfy them. They don't care. They just want their kid to play. But ultimately, there's so many important lessons that you can learn along the way that only high school can provide. And I think we're doing a disservice to our kids by... And not only that, there's like this snobbery that exists, this elitism that I don't like either. That, ugh, you play high school? You can feel it. And it's like... There's an aura around the people that look down upon it and... Scot Cooper (06:55.927) Right. Conradinho (07:20.162) They're completely missing the boat. And I'll be surprised if those kids went on to, not to say there'll be some, of course, they're going to, that are just excellent and they're going to go on to do what they're going to do. But in terms of that, that growing as a human being, I think they miss out on an important piece. And I honestly say college would be the same. Going to play in college was important for me. I wasn't ready to be a pro at 17 or 18. I needed those years of experience as a college to kind of have that buffer between becoming a, from a kid to an adult. And that college experience helped me as well grow as a person. So then when there was some real adversity that happened when I was a pro, I was ready to adapt to that, and I was more capable emotionally to manage the ups and downs of being a pro. And ultimately, Scott, the reason I played for a long time was because I was good in those areas. I wasn't gonna blow you away with my speed or hit a 60-yard long ball or whatever. My talent was commitment, and my talent was working through adversity. And... the most talented guys that were told they were great all the time, but you know, when they were young and always going, oh, you're the best player ever. Blah, blah, blah. The first time they ran into some adversity, they cracked because they never had to deal with it before. That was born in adversity. And I, you know, I just stuck with it and that's what I feel most comfortable. The more chaos, the better. But anyway, I caught off on tangent and get into my story a little bit, but I would say that the high school experience is really important. And I wish people would look on it more favorably than they do. Scot Cooper (08:41.79) Yeah, well, I was going to ask you about your story. So since you dipped your toe in it. Well, I mean, although I didn't really write anything down, I did prepare. I do know that you have a bit of a cool story. I don't know if you know if cool is the right word. But just, yeah, talk about growing up and what you're Conradinho (08:47.157) Ha ha ha! Don't feel like you have to, you don't have to. I was just saying that there are some tethers. Conradinho (09:03.778) I'll take it. Scot Cooper (09:08.778) experience as a kid was, your experience as a youth player, and then, you know, just kind of walk us through the timeline there. Conradinho (09:15.81) Sure, sure, I'll give you the timeline. So I think what's important for people to know in terms of my mental makeup, let's say. My parents had me when they were 18 years old and broke up before I was born. So when I say I was born into chaos, I legitimately was where there was a lot going on. And my parents were so young, they needed to live their lives as well, even though they were probably sacrificing their dreams by keeping me. When... I know how heavy we want to go and how much you're charging for this therapy here, Scott. But I would say that it would have been prudent for them to give me up for adoption. That probably would have been the best choice for them and what they wanted to accomplish in their own lives. But fair play to them, they kept me. And so we figured it out. We survived and ultimately thrived together. So my mom got married when I was three to my stepdad and my dad got married when I was 11. And everybody gets along, which is great. Super important. And there's been a nice... peace and harmony to all that, thankfully. And I think it was in, they looked at my best interest, mental and emotional when I used that as a, as a development thing. And it did pay off for sure. But when I was 11, so I played soccer, basketball, baseball, everything. And age 11, I ran into a coach. We were like on all the, I was playing AYSO, Region 98, shout out to Region 98 down in LA. And we were, my team were just destroying everybody. We won sectionals. Scot Cooper (10:21.39) Mm-hmm. Conradinho (10:40.39) state things. I have all types of medals from that time. And one of the volunteer dads, his oldest son played soccer at Cal State Northridge. And so he'd come back and train us every once in a while, but not really consistently. And then he said he wanted a little extra scratch. There's clearly a lot of talent here. The club scene is really starting to get a little bit more organized in Southern California. Let's make it a club team. And at that point at age 11, he said, you guys need to make a choice. You to play soccer full time or you go find another team. And I was playing baseball and I was pretty good. And baseball is boring, dude, I'm totally playing soccer. So that was a really easy decision for me to make. My parents were like, that's not cool to put that type of pressure on kids at that age. But I was ready for it and I wanted more and I could feel that. So I just did the club scene from there, played high school, had a good high school season. My senior year in particular got. lightly recruited by some D2 teams, but I thought I was good enough to play in D1. I was playing in some high school all-star games. I really wanted to go to UCLA. There was no MLS at the time, and UCLA was my dream school. I'd go to games. That was the only place you could get a good live game. I'd go see Brad Friedle play, Coby Jones, Joe Maxmore. Ziggy Schmid was the coach, and I'd be sitting there 15 years old going, I wonder what it's like to play for Ziggy Schmid. I mean, I was just in awe of the whole program. And so I tried to go there. Todd Saldondia was the coach. I think he runs LAFC's youth academy now. And I sent him a note. He goes, I had a 3.8 GPA, crushed my SATs, didn't get into UCLA, but essentially they sent me a letter going, if you get in, we'll give you a chance to try out. I wish I would have kept the letter, but I didn't. So that was out. And my club coach was really pushing for me in all these other areas. And he talked, the San Diego State coach, Chuck Clegg, into giving me a very, very partial scholarship, sight unseen. Like he's like, okay, fine. Yeah, sight unseen, who does that? So I go down and I was thrilled. I was like telling everybody I got a scholarship to a D1 school even though it was like $300 a semester or whatever. I knew that they didn't cut the fittest guy on the team. Like that was, they never cut the fittest guy on the team because, and then imagine if you're the fittest guy on the team and you can play a little bit. So I try to be in that space. Conradinho (12:59.734) We had to do three miles under 19 minutes. That was the test. I ran it in 17-10. I beat everybody, including the returners, by half a lap. I was cruising. And they, you know, the older guys hated me, of course, but I set the tone and I was serious and I made the team. Now, I was playing the six and then Chuck, first game of the season, puts me up top. and tells me afterwards, I was all confused at that point because I'd been playing the six for like three weeks leading up to the first game. And he puts me up top, he goes, I don't trust freshmen in important parts of the field. So we either put you at out wide or up top. And I said, that would have been good information to know maybe when we started the season. Anyway, that's kind of how it was. He wasn't a good communicator and it was always kind of start stop and he move you around and you weren't really building the rhythm and our team reflected that type of mentality and methodology. Scot Cooper (13:31.394) Mm-hmm. Conradinho (13:55.67) So after two years I was like, I'm out. I gotta figure out something else. I'm not growing here as a player. I've gotten a good experience, played like 30 D1 games. And I called UCLA cold and tried to talk Ziggy Schmidt into it. Thankfully Danny Califf, who was recruiting, decided to go to Maryland. And then he's like, all right, fine. You got some experience. He hadn't seen me. I sent him some videos like, I can't tell who you are. We got smoked that game anyway. I don't even know why I sent him that video. I went in there cold. I walked into his office cold one day. I'm like, I'm just gonna go introduce myself. So I drove all the way from San Diego, it's like a two hour drive, I shaved, I put on the khakis, you know, you're a college kid, I had khakis on and like a baby blue button up, I looked like I worked at Blockbuster, you know, and I walked in and they're like, hey, you gotta wait, he's not here right now, they probably were a little freaked out, like this guy's coming up out of nowhere. I sat there, didn't say anything to anybody, this is Priest's cell phone, for an hour and a half until he showed up, or would see me, and I went and introduced myself, and he could see my size, see my personality. Scot Cooper (14:35.47) That's right. Conradinho (14:53.142) And I think that helped ultimately. So they said, hey, we'll get you into school. We'll give you one week to try out. And I left, at this point my scholarship was about half scholarship. My parents thought I was insane. I'm like, I'm coming, I'm going. I'm gonna take the one week. And I was the first walk on to make the team or start the first game of the season since Coby Jones back in the day. And so, yeah, it was crazy. It was crazy. It was my dream school. It's where I always wanted to go. There were some really hard moments. throughout that process, I'll give you one. So one of my high school teammates got recruited as well. So he came in as a freshman and we had physicals before the season started. And I went before I made the team, I probably got a little ahead of myself here, but before I made the team, he's like, oh, just drive with me out there because we're both from the same hometown. So I drive out there and the assistant coach, Paul Crumpy, who played for us in the 90 World Cup, who's awesome, but at the time he's like, hey, you're not on the team, you can't be here. And I said, oh, okay. And because my teammate was a freshman, he had to wait till the very end to get his physical. I sat in Pauly Pavilion by myself for three hours questioning my whole life. Like, what am I doing here? They don't even want me. I feel so dumb. I can't make any eye contact with anybody. I don't want to be introduced to any of the players. And by the very end, I think Paul felt so bad. He's like, all right, just on the off chance you make the team. Why don't you just get a quick physical or whatever? But I didn't want to go in at that point. I didn't want to be seen. I felt like such a... second-class citizen. So at that point, I just shut my mouth and just got to work and made the team, as I mentioned. I was in and out of the lineup for the two years, and ultimately, the guy in front of me, my senior year before the playoffs started, tore his ACL five minutes into the first playoff game. So Ziggy had no choice but to play me. And we went on to win the national championship and gave up one goal in those games. And I thought, baby, I'm making, I'm gonna make MLS now. I'm on the best college team in the country, and the other four seniors got drafted and I didn't. Scot Cooper (16:49.569) I'm gonna die. Conradinho (16:50.134) So, so I essentially had to walk on again, but this time on the pros. And I went down to San Diego, played in the A league, got 30 games in six months, played pretty well, learned how to be a pro, learned that it's, is this what I want? I would train with the team in the morning. I would work on my game by myself in the afternoons. I was making $800 a month. I was sleeping on floors, eating ramen, you know, just surviving. Scot Cooper (17:04.761) Right. Conradinho (17:16.474) and ultimately got signed by the Earthquakes the following year. Went on to play 12 years in MLS, six time MLS All-Star, MLS Defender of the Year, MLS Humanitarian of the Year. I played for the US for five years. I was captain five times and I played in the World Cup. So I don't know what to tell you. I just, again, my talent is commitment. I just decided I could work through hard stuff and I'd work a little bit harder than everybody else. And that's my story. Scot Cooper (17:42.326) All right, so there's a lot to get into there. Conradinho (17:45.95) Yeah, I mean, there's so many times I could have quit and probably should have. Okay. Scot Cooper (17:50.422) Yeah. I mean, so go back to, you know, being a kid and, you know, what was it that, you know, made you realize that you had to overcome things, you had to just grind through things that you, you know, when you were miserable, or when you're sitting there in Pauley Pavilion hating your life and questioning your decisions and everything, what, like, what can you trace that back to when you were young that developed that? that resilience. Conradinho (18:21.334) So I think part of it was how I grew up and being comfortable in chaos. You know, I was, as I mentioned, my parents were very young. So my mom's not proud of this, but she would take me to bars to go find guys, you know? And she'd hide me under tables or they'd take me to parties and there's some crazy stuff going on at these parties. And I was just around for some really heavy stuff that I wasn't aware of, but you could feel it, right? As a kid, you can't verbalize it, but you can feel it. So- adversity and resilience felt kind of natural to me in some ways and just putting my best foot forward, being, being positive about what's happening, trying to find silver linings. So it's always really been a thread throughout my career, both professionally and personally, but there was a moment when I was 15 that changed my whole perception of how to approach what's going to happen and it was Marcelo Balboa's dad. Louis Balboa. So, so Marcello, for those that don't know, played in two world cups for us. He played in 94 and 98. He was a center back. He wore number 17. I was a center back. I wore number 17. I got, he grew up in my area, not too far from me. I was a big Marcello Balboa fan. I had, I used to get soccer America back in the day that, uh, like newspaper version of it. And I cut out like all those guys, John Harex and Eric Wendolda and Marcello Balboa. Now those guys are friends, which is like super surreal. But, but my club coach pulled aside. Scot Cooper (19:34.296) Yeah. Conradinho (19:43.998) Louis Balboa to come talk to us. And you could see Louis like, all right, here we go. He's probably gets asked all the time to do this stuff. So I raised my hand, Scott, and I said, how did Marcelo play in two World Cups for the US? Which is the craziest question. If you ask me that, I'm gonna give you a 30 minute answer. Hey, this is the things you have to do, hear the details. Louis looked at me and he goes, he went to the park every day for two hours and worked on his game and moved on to the next question. And... That was a light bulb moment for me, an aha moment. Because I then realized that exact moment, that it was up to me to decide how good I was gonna be at anything and not anyone else. So that's where things changed for me. Now, it's one thing to say this, to tell this story, it's another thing to go out and actually execute it or to hear it. I went to the local school by my house. I'm like, okay, baby, Marcelo did two hours. I got it. Start the clock, here we go. And... I get out there with my ball and I don't know what to work on. Like I just don't, I don't have any idea as to what to work on. So I'm okay, I'm right footed, my left foot, I'll acknowledge probably isn't as good as my right. I'm gonna start working on my left. By the way, Scott, there's nobody at this school. Zero, it's just me by myself. And there's a wall, thankfully there's a wall because I didn't have to be my best buddy. But I start juggling with my left foot and I'm awful. It's so, like imagine being embarrassed when nobody's looking at you. That's how bad, I think you are. Scot Cooper (20:57.346) Rest. Conradinho (21:12.658) so bad and Oh, I'm chasing the ball over the place terrible. It's terrible. And and I left after 10 minutes I was like it's easier to go home and play video games with my buddies than it is to actually stay here and get better at something and And to my credit I went back out again And I went back home after 10 minutes It was hard. I didn't I didn't know what to do Even even though I knew okay. Okay, you I had to Scot Cooper (21:12.734) Yeah, you're doing more dates than keep you upy. Scot Cooper (21:26.413) Right. Scot Cooper (21:36.059) Thank you. Conradinho (21:41.994) I guess one of the benefits of this is that I had to really, truly acknowledge what I wasn't good at. And that is so powerful because then you start to analyze your game in a different way. So what it ended up turning into, I went to go ask my coach, hey, what do you think I should work on? And instead of, if a coach talks to you and says, hey, you need to be better at this, this and this, more often than not, every human being is going to get defensive. But if I walk up to him and say, hey, what are the things I need to work on? And he goes this, and this. Well, because now that feedback is massive. Like that is feedback, man, give me more. What else do I need to work on? Because now I have a place to go work on it. And I can ask him questions. Like how do you think I should get better at this? Well, you should maybe hit up against the wall or, and I would just be peppered. So all of a sudden, my whole mindset mentality shifted from. Getting defensive when I got feedback too. This is a great information. Thank you so much. How much more do you have for me? And that is, that changed everything for me. So anytime that I got information, I had a safe place to go work on it without being judged. And I found and created that space for me. So that 10 minutes turned into 20 and that 20 minutes turned into 40. And I'll tell you what, Scott, what changed for me, what was the big continued, I keep going, you're on the right path moment was when I got, I would go be at practice. and the game just slowed down for me. Like I was starting to take good first touches that allowed me time to pick up my head and make a better pass, or to give me more time to make that next decision. Or I'd already, because I'd picked up my head more, I was already making that decision before the ball got to me. And I had the guys going, dude, how did you get so good? And I wouldn't tell anybody. I was like, I don't know, I don't know. I'm giving away my secrets, you know? So once that became, that was the drug. Once I realized I was getting better, I was like, wow, if I did 20 minutes, I could be twice the player. If I did 40, oh my God. And then you start to, well, what if I lifted? What if I ran? What if I did all these other things? And you start to incorporate that. And now I'm laying a real foundation for my growth as a player. And when you have that foundation in place, when you deal with some adversity, we call it, you know, ladrio por ladrio, brick by brick. When you have a really strong foundation, that's brick, and it's real. Conradinho (24:04.19) then when adversity comes, you're gonna be sturdy. You know where to go and what to work on. And if somebody tells you, as I got told plenty of times, that I wasn't good enough to be a pro, that I would never make it, you're like, you fall back on too well, it's up to me to decide how good I'm gonna be. Not you. You know, when I, I remember Ziggy, when he wouldn't play me, I'd get all frustrated. You know, he was a tad overweight. And I'd be like, this guy's, he can't even kick a ball. You know, he looks like Santa Claus. And that's, be at, you know, I'd just do whatever I could. to continue to keep myself motivated to prove him wrong. What's funny is that of all the players that he had during that era, I was the most successful. I was the one that played in the World Cup. I was the one that had the most caps. It's really crazy for me to say that out loud because my big love was always playing for UCLA. And I still, rest in peace to Ziggy, who we had a great relationship, and he would laugh at me giving him a hard time. Scot Cooper (24:37.209) Right. Conradinho (25:02.575) But when I go back and I'm around those guys, I still defer to them so much because I still can't believe I played for UCLA. It's almost like more impactful for me than playing for the US, but because I just so I wanted it so badly and that was always my goal and dream. Scot Cooper (25:16.662) Yeah, that's so cool. Why'd you go back the second day to the school? What made you do that? Conradinho (25:23.714) Good question. I think it was because I knew I had more to give. I felt like I had... done myself a disservice and I'd sold myself short, that I didn't really give it my all. And that would have been harder to live with than to have given my all and still failed. I kind of just, it's because I didn't know what to do. I definitely respond to, and I try to encourage this with all the young players that I coach, if you're gonna go work on your game, go have a, you gotta have a plan. You need something that you can always go back and reference like, hey, I did 10 juggles today. Whatever it is, it can be numerical, it can be time, whatever it is. Scot Cooper (25:37.934) Yeah. Conradinho (26:02.09) So that, I needed that and that was me trying to formulate, how do I have a plan and what am I gonna work on? And when you get out there, you start to come up with games that you can use. Now obviously with YouTube and everything else, there's so many different resources that you can use and lean on to get better at the game. But that's what I was doing at the time. And yeah, I mean, credit to me, that's obviously a very pivotal moment to my formation as a player. And I guess as a human, yeah. Scot Cooper (26:17.219) Right. Scot Cooper (26:26.703) Yes. Scot Cooper (26:31.039) So you feel like, did you keep track of, did you keep a journal? Did you write things down that you were doing? And did you compare it over time to measure your progress? Great, great. Conradinho (26:46.226) I would go out enough that I didn't need to write down things per se. I knew that, hey, the day before I got, I ultimately, and I learned this from Paul Crumpy, my assistant, he would put an X on a wall and try to hit that same X over and over and over. And so I would do the same, but in different ways. Like I'd let it bounce once before I tried to hit the wall or, you know, or I'd have to like do a thigh volley and play it back and you just make up different things. So I would just be like, hey, the day before I got three out of 10. Now the other seven probably weren't too far from the X, but, but I wanted to get 10 out of 10, right? There was always that push. And there were moments too, where I wouldn't let myself go home until. I got whatever goal I was trying to reach that day. And, and sometimes I wouldn't reach it. And I, and my mom would call me. She, my mom could whistle, man. And so she'd like, it's time to come home and I'd have to come back tail between my legs. I had been out there for 90 minutes working on my game, but I didn't actually. reach my that one thing I had set for myself. And so I'd be all frustrated at dinner and she'd be like, what's your problem, man? But, but yeah, so I documented some stuff. I think I documented more of my running times. Like I had a nice two and a half mile loop that I had found near my house. And I kept tabs of my times on that. But, but in terms of touching the ball, I could feel myself getting better. The hard part is sticking with it at the beginning because Scot Cooper (27:47.97) Right, yeah. Scot Cooper (28:08.622) Yep. Conradinho (28:09.766) And I deal with this with my own kids now that are trying to touch the ball a little bit more on their own. They give up so quickly and or won't address it instead of like pushing through it. They just, I'm going to work on something else. No, how about you just do 10 really good ones and then you can move on to the next thing. But they, you know, and again, as a dad, you can only, they have to want it for themselves. And so, so I can show them and then I just get out of the way. Yeah, that's a, that's a whole different podcast. Scot Cooper (28:35.726) Yep. Scot Cooper (28:39.138) Yeah, for sure. I was gonna ask one more question about, you know, kind of your mentality while you were developing there at the school against the wall. I was talking to a sports psych kind of guy and he was talking about, you know, if you say, all right, I'm gonna go out there for an hour, then at 60 minutes, you're gonna quit as opposed to, you know, focusing more on the quality. Conradinho (29:03.298) Mm-hmm. Scot Cooper (29:08.03) of things. It sounds like you were more focused on that than just setting your stopwatch for 60 minutes or 90 minutes and then being gone, you know? Conradinho (29:08.139) Mm-hmm. Conradinho (29:16.842) I think what I love that, what he's saying too, the quality is super important because you're getting a lot of good repetition, but you wanna make sure that repetition serves a purpose. And what ultimately becomes is a familiarity with the ball in different situations and being comfortable with the angles and how you wanna hit it. And so it's really important. Playing up against the wall is undefeated by the way. I think it's such a... Scot Cooper (29:36.952) much. Conradinho (29:42.642) important tool to growing as a player. And again, for me, it kind of gave me that safe place that I could just work and work through different things. But in terms of the time, I think when you start, that's all you're focused on is the time. Because you don't love it yet. You have to love it. You have to love, that's when you start loving the journey and not the destination. You can't, you see the cliche or the quotes, the famous quotes, but to actually live that quote. Scot Cooper (29:44.815) Yeah. Conradinho (30:10.878) is something much, much different. And so that took a while for me to get there. I'm not gonna say I hit a switch and all of a sudden, I loved the journey. I was in a rush at some days to get to the destination. Like, hey, I'm working on my game. Why hasn't it happened at all at once? And that's just not, unfortunately, how it works. You do have to put the time and you have to lay that foundation. In terms of my mentality though, that's built and it grows very similarly to what he's saying. And so, yeah, there'd be... That love of wanting to go out there, that love of wanting to get better, that love of failure in some ways where you know that you have to fail to get to where you want to go is another key component towards this whole process. You're gonna make mistakes and when I coach now, I encourage the kids to make, if they're not making mistakes, I tell them in practice, then the practice was too easy. Like I need to get you out of your comfort zone so that you can one, manage what that looks like and feels like. But then work through it, and we'll just move on to the next play. You know, use that as knowledge for, hey, that, that pass probably wasn't the right one in that situation. Next time I'm going to do this. So I'm really trying to encourage making them students of the game so that they love the process and the details as well. Scot Cooper (31:23.19) Yeah. So what's been your experience? I mean, are kids too focused on being perfect? You know, is that being ingrained in them? You know, they got to be perfect to get into college. They have to be perfect to, you know, because of social media, you know, there's just all this pressure on kids now that I don't know that we had as kids. And, you know, are you seeing that? And, you know, How is sports teaching kids that they, how are you using sports to teach kids not to be perfect? They don't have to be perfect, I guess. Conradinho (31:56.75) Yeah, so that's a big point of emphasis for me. And when I came in, I forced them to play a system that they're not comfortable with. A lot of the kids are familiar and comfortable with the 4-3-3. And I think given that we had a surplus of centerbacks and central midfielders, we're doing a 3-4-2-1. And that allows me to get one or two more of those players on the field and ultimately makes us stronger as a group because... That's where the skill set is, right? You look at your team, you look at the best form and there was so much pushback. It was crazy. Because, oh, this is not what we do. And there's a little bit of entitlement that I had inherited from the previous coach that he let kind of run wild. And so I said, hey, listen, this is what we're gonna do. You're gonna have to trust me here. I've been around, I've seen a few things. We're gonna work through kind of our team shape, how we wanna move on both sides of the ball. And... If you make a mistake, it's on me. Because I'm asking you to do something that you haven't maybe been asked to do or haven't been asked to do consistently and I'm asking you to do this consistently. And that's all the way back to my goalkeeper. Like I want her playing way off the line. She doesn't have to be Manuel Neuer, but she needs to, any through balls, I need her to be aggressive. Especially the high school level, you have a lot of goalkeepers that stand on their line. and you're gonna solve a lot of problems for us if you're just on the top of your box and a ball comes through. I don't even care. Of course, if you wanna get a, trap it and play it, I'm all for it. I'm gonna be your number one fan. But if you just lump it out of bounds, that's cool with me too. So we talk about soccer decisions a lot. And ultimately, Scott, what I'm trying to get my kids away from is the mental emotional swings that come from making mistakes. Like mistakes are part of the game. I'm asking you to try things, consistently try things, and to play. Every time we win a ball, no matter where we are on the field, can we play out of it? That's my question for them. Can we play out of it? And we work on that a ton in practice. So that when it happens in the game, they're really comfortable with the pressure that they're under and they don't freak out. So I've also noticed that the game gets highly emotional and it doesn't need to. I say, listen, there's a time and place for being emotional. Let's save that for half time where we can potentially work through things. Conradinho (34:18.51) or after the game. In the game, I just need you to make good soccer decisions. Just, let's just make good soccer decisions. What you'll love, Scott, and where we've been. We're about six weeks into the season, our last game in halftime. The two or three questions or comments that players wanted to make, we're all, hey, I think we're getting a little bit too bunched up. Our spacing doesn't need to... I was like, this is amazing. You know, we went from, hey, we need to run harder. We gotta run faster. You guys have to pressure, like pressuring with no, what do you mean? you've got to pressure. Well, yeah, of course we need to pressure, but how are we gonna pressure? Where are we shaping the play? So I want them to understand and think the game so that if I ask them anything in any situation or any decision they're making, they can explain their why. I'm moving here because of X. That's what I demand from them, and that's ultimately what I expect, and that's what I want the discourse to be, and it's playing out that way. So I really just try to get them out of the emotional. Listen, baby, I want mistakes. Mistakes are part of the game. Like it's a game of mistakes. Now for us, guess what? The other team's gonna make a bunch too. So why don't we take advantage of theirs and lessen the exposure of ours? And I think we're gonna win more than we're gonna lose. And so far, actually after a week, after we played a couple of games, the buy-in for the kids was off the charts. And we're actually holding our own against some of the best teams around, which has been very rewarding. Scot Cooper (35:36.726) I guess they're very fortunate to have a. Conradinho (35:38.73) Well, I'd like to think so, but you never know. There's always some parents that want you out, you know, cause you're not playing their kid or whatever. No, no, I try not to do any of that. But, but that, you know, I, again, a different group of players, I can maybe push them in different ways, right? Some players that they want to feel that, that pressure, they want that a little bit more responsibility, you know, so, so you have to know your group ultimately. And, and yes, I think that there's a methodology that you can keep that. Scot Cooper (35:43.358) You didn't drop that you don't know who I am when you first started? Conradinho (36:07.41) Ultimately, this is what I like to do. I like to I want to create a framework So that we're all kind of on the same page because as I tell the kids if you have a kid playing two touch Or we have a team I try to we try to play one or two touch out of our defensive half Once somebody takes three touches Everybody's supporting you on your first or second touch If you take that third touch all of your supporting options are dead and now we're not to say they can't readjust But now you probably have to take a fourth touch and at that point you probably invited a ton of pressure onto you And now we're probably playing back to our goalkeeper. And, but if you just start thinking in one or two touch, I try to think more two touch, you're gonna get really good supporting options. And we do so many passing patterns that the kids are pretty well oiled in that regard. But it's been really cool to see them really take, and not even, they're not even thinking about it anymore. And so I demand that of them, hey, let's play two touch in our attacking half, our defensive half, and then the attacking half. If we have space, we'll take it, but let's not. take extra touches for no reason. So, getting everybody on the same page about how we wanna move as a group, cool. I set the parameters and then within those parameters, I want them to be themselves. What do they bring to the game? Why do they love playing? And then we try to harness that space. These are the ideas I've had for a long time. And I coached USL League Two as well with the San Francisco Glens. So I got to work with college kids and that's a whole different. ball of wax because they're all kind of ingrained in their systems for their college teams and trying to bring them all together to get them on the same page is a different type of challenge. But it's been fun to have same ideas but with a different set of players and different parts of their careers and can you still make it work and have success. So far it's been pretty rewarding and I think I'm moving in the right direction as a coach. Scot Cooper (37:51.77) Cool. And these are girls. And so what's been your experience and your impressions of coaching girls versus coaching boys? That's good. Conradinho (38:04.438) Good question. In some ways I don't coach them any different. What I'm asking them to do are pretty much the same, they good soccer decisions. I don't lean into any stereotypes. I don't say, oh, my girls are more emotional. Dude, I had guys that were out of control. They make one mistake and their way of coping with that mistake was by cussing or by throwing their hands up or whatever. So. It's the same, I mean, they're all ultimately, scrape it away, they're human beings. They have a very similar set of emotions. Some are leveled up in different ways. But for me, the girl versus boy, I don't really attack it any differently. I really address it. I try to be super steady emotionally. So I'm never high, I'm never low. I just... You know, I'm just asking them to be the best versions of themselves and to be better than they were the day before. That's really my big ask. And that doesn't change. So I don't kid-glove anybody. I don't baby my star player any different than I baby. You know, I try to keep, not to say you don't approach each personality in a different way. I think you do for sure. Because I can't press one button with my star player in the same way that maybe my second string center back, they're gonna have different needs. and different wants. And so I'll meet them where they are, personality wise, but in terms of the demands, I ask the same of them. I need you to make good soccer decisions. So, and that, I try to stay steady with my messaging and I try to stay steady emotionally. Because if I'm up and down, the team is gonna be up and down, the parents on the sideline are gonna be up and down. As soon as I lose my cool on the ref, the players are gonna lose their cool on the ref, the parents, it just gives everybody license to, well, if Jimmy's doing it, then everybody can, well, then we should be able to do it. And I just, hey, the refs are gonna do what they're gonna do. Some are good, some are bad. What am I gonna do about it? There's some bad ones. But you know what? And there always has been and there always will be. But there's some really good ones too. And we need to protect and continue to nurture our best referees because there's a shortage of refs and they control the rhythm and flow of the game. So shout out to all the referees out there. It's a thankless job and we appreciate you. But yeah, that's how I approach it. So it's a good question. And I guess I haven't been asked directly, but when I think about it and scrape things away. Scot Cooper (40:07.961) Mm-hmm. Conradinho (40:28.35) I can maybe lean in, and it's not even boy versus girl. Because I'm coaching college guys, I feel like I can just be a little bit more to the point with them. Because it's more based on their age than it is boy versus girl. Because I know they have more experience, I can ask them a little bit more directly. Whereas I like to be a little bit more thoughtful with my younger players in terms of... Am I asking too much of them and something they can't do or though they don't feel confident in doing so again It's just knowing your personality personalities. Yeah Scot Cooper (41:01.098) Yeah, it's really cool. Let's get back to your road and how you learned to do all this. So, you leave UCLA and what was your process to get on a roster and how did you? I don't know. I didn't know that. Conradinho (41:15.662) I'm so bummed. I'll give you a funny story. There was only two rounds in MLS at that point, in what, maybe 12 teams, so you have 48 players that are gonna be, or 24 players are gonna be picked. And so there wasn't a lot of room, but I thought I'm on the best Division I school, so whatever. So I'm looking at the draft, I didn't get drafted, and I'm looking at the paper, newspaper, old school newspaper, and I'm like, Mike Pecky from Southern Connecticut State got drafted? Who the hell is this Mike Pecky guy? Mike Pecky went on to have a good solid career in MLS and I think he played for the US a couple times. But Southern Connecticut State, I didn't see them do anything in the tournament and we won. I don't know, don't you want winners on your team? So I was a little bit, I had a chip on my shoulder. I guess my chip had been there for a while because I didn't get recruited heavily and I had to walk on. Even when I was at UCLA, I didn't start. Scot Cooper (42:00.619) Thanks. Conradinho (42:11.51) or didn't start regularly and never felt trusted by Ziggy because I was probably a walk-on and not a player he recruited and then didn't get drafted. So I just, I was harboring, not some resentment, but just, I had something to prove. So ultimately Ziggy felt bad. I went into him and I'm like, I don't know what to do. I still want to like to play. And he goes, well, let me call the galaxy and see if you can just go practice with them. Cause they were about 30 minutes away. So he picks up the phone, calls Octavio Zambrano and goes. Uh, yeah, cool. You're going to get, you get to go train, go train with them for two weeks before their preseason starts in Florida. I said, great, I'm going to go do that. And so I went and I kept my mouth shut and. And I went, and so there's a story because they're in, you know, early on in the season, they're doing fitness and, and Danny Pena, who was this played indoor his whole career, uh, This guy was the hard man of hard men. Like he would smoke cigarettes at halftime. Like this guy was crazy, dude. He, and, and so Octavio, the head coach or Ralph Perez, the assistant, whoever put all the younger players in this running exercise with Danny Pena. And Dan, I know you, if you didn't want to be Danny Pena just had an aura of like, I'm going to kick your ass if you even say one word or even look at me. Right. So, so I was like, sweet. Because. How am I going to make a team if I have to be kind of handcuffed in some ways? And as I mentioned previously, I knew that being the fittest guy on the team was really important and it showed that you cared and you wanted to be there and you wanted to get better and had a good mentality and attitude. So we're doing this running drill and Danny Pena is just jogging and he's not letting any of the younger guys run past him. He'd just, he'd be like, what are you doing? What are you doing? You know, he just couldn't be bothered. He didn't want to run hard, whatever. And that's fine. Whatever. He's 34 at that point. I get it. He's had most of his career. He doesn't want to do extra fitness. Totally understood. I eventually would be 34 at one point and I get it. But um, I, after about a lap or two laps of it, I couldn't do it anymore, Scott. I can't, I'm wasting my time here. This isn't, this isn't, so I just took off. I ran and, and I pushed as hard as I possibly could push and I made him look dumb and I made the other guys look dumb too. And so he pulled me aside later. And it's just me and him. Conradinho (44:31.006) And he's like, what the F are you doing? You're making me look like an idiot. Well, and I start crying because I'm like, you're on the team and I'm not. And how am I ever going to earn the respect of you or anybody else if I'm not pushing? And I was like, I couldn't stop, man. I just like, I couldn't, I could barely get it out. And I was so, I didn't want it. I wasn't trying to show him up, but I wanted to prove that I deserved to be there and I was good enough. I still get kind of emotional just thinking about it. And he, at that point forward, he never bothered me again. Never said one word, had my back. I think he ended up being one of my number one fans as I continued my career. But I stood up to him, not purposely, but I guess I did by running past him. But that was who I wanted to be. That's the type of player I wanted to be. And I knew that that's not the kind of leader I wanted to be either. I would never, even at 34, I was still pushing. But I learned a lot of valuable lessons there. And I think he probably did too. that he's gotta let the younger players be themselves. And so, I haven't seen DP in a long time, but I'm sure we'd have a big laugh about that story in particular and kind of where that mentality ended up taking me. Scot Cooper (45:37.85) Thank you. Scot Cooper (45:41.954) Yeah, so where did it take you? Keep going. All right. Conradinho (45:43.734) Well, to a World Cup, ultimately. But I, yeah, from there, so I played with the Galaxy and here's another heartbreaking story. After two weeks, I honestly crushed those two weeks. I was so good. I remember thinking, oh, I can row with these guys. And it gave me a lot of confidence. So every day I'd go out there like, I'm gonna push. I'm gonna try to get on this team. So I played so well, they said, hey, you're gonna come to preseason with us. They gave us, I was at the Rose Bowl, the locker room that they had. We used to train outside the Rose Bowl at the time. And I had a whole bag. I was number 29 and I had all the galaxy polos and, but this is pre cell phone. Okay. And one of my teammates from UCLA, Matt Reese, the goalkeeper got drafted to MLS and we lived in the same area at UCLA. So we didn't drive together that particular day because I didn't live too far. My family was really close to there. So he thought I was in, uh, going to Florida for two weeks with the team. And then I had a good chance to make it. Well, what As I'm, you know, I'm getting, I'm the last guy there. I'm grabbing all my stuff. I'm so excited. And as I walk out Octavio Zambrano and the coaching staff like, Hey, Jimmy, wait, before you go. And I'm like, Oh man. So I go in there and they say, Hey, we don't know for sure yet if we can take you. So why don't you leave your bag of stuff here and we'll call you later and let you know if you're at 6 PM. It was like one. We'll call you at 6 PM and let you know if you can go or not. And I was like, okay. So, so I ended up going home. I didn't say anything to anybody. And then I went out to UCLA. When I went back to UCLA, Matt had told everybody that I was going to Florida. All of our friends, our whole friend group, our team, everybody was thrilled for me, because everybody felt bad I hadn't got drafted and all that. So six o'clock comes, no call, no nothing. I'm like, oh my God. So I call them at seven and they finally answer. I think I called once or twice and they answer and said, oh yeah, sorry, you're not gonna go. We'll see you in a couple of weeks and hung up. And at that point I was crushed, absolutely crushed. Because now I had to tell everybody why, and it wasn't just that moment I had to tell everybody. I'd see people two days later like, why aren't you in Florida? Couple days after that, dude, I thought you were in Florida playing with the, and so you had to tell this story and this painful story over and over again. And you tried to minimize the damage it was doing to you and your emotion and your ego the whole time. And so that two weeks, I just trained by myself and I waited for them to come back. Conradinho (48:00.698) and I jumped right back into where I was and it was just as sharp when they came back. But I knew at that point, I wasn't gonna be one of their guys. And so I looked around at the local A-League teams, which is probably comparable to USL Championship now. There was one in Orange County that was an affiliate with the Galaxy and one in San Diego that was just starting called The Flash. And I ultimately went down with San Diego Flash and it got to the point where initially I said, hey, can I train with the Galaxy the first couple of days of the week and then train with the team? Which sounded good to me grip hold within the Galaxy organization, the relationships I was building with the team. But it got to a point where I just needed to be with my guys, the guys that I was gonna play with. And so that's what I did. And after that year, I did so well, the Galaxy said we wanna sign you, but so did San Jose. And I told the Galaxy to go stick it, and I went and signed with San Jose, and ultimately beat the Galaxy in MLS Cup in 2001, which is pretty awesome. Yeah, and I actually, Octavio Zambrano was my assistant coach in Kansas City my last year there. Scot Cooper (48:52.958) I'm sorry. Conradinho (49:00.714) And I wouldn't talk to the guy. I just, I was friendly, but I just, I wasn't going out of my way because the guy lied to my face, I don't know how many times, and so I just couldn't trust him at that point. I think he's got a great soccer brain and I'm sure he's been nice to 95% of the other people in the world, but I wasn't one of those 95%, so it's all good. Scot Cooper (49:19.866) So as an aside, now that you're a little older and wiser, how would you advise kids, players, you know, of any age actually to, you know, manage their relationship with a coach that they're not C and I to eye with, or that they feel like they're not able to trust, you know, where should they take that relationship and how should they handle it? Conradinho (49:48.342) They should write things down immediately, especially if you get not good feedback. Just go back, write down what was said, and look at that thing. Tape it to your mirror. And actually what you should tape to your mirror is both things. What was said, and then the next thing right next to it should be what you're gonna do to rectify that feedback and how you can get better. And so I used to... be pretty diligent in writing my goals down for the season. And every time I opened up my mirror to brush my teeth, I would see those. And it just keeps you on the right path in terms of, hey, in terms of your approach, because of course there's gonna be days where you're not feeling it. But if you look at that thing and like, hey, I wanna be an MLS All-Star this season. How would an MLS All-Star handle a bad day? And this is one of the things I meant to tell you before about the time thing with the sports psych. When I was out there, I, to motivate myself through a tough day, very similar to what I'm explaining now, I would say, what is the best 16 year old in the country doing right now? How long are they out practicing and what are they working on? And I told myself, well, it's a Wednesday, it's a school day. They're probably doing 30 minutes. Well, guess what? I'm going to do 45. And that, that imaginary enemy or opponent was very powerful for me. And you learn later on that Michael Jordan used to do that every day in his practice, right? He turned one of his, his own teammates like. just make up that guy said something bad about him and then he would just hit the switch and be insane. And so yeah, I'm not comparing myself to Michael Jordan in any way outside of maybe slightly the mentality of creating this imaginary opponent. But when you get real feedback from a coach, again, it can be so powerful if absorbed in the right way. And so that's good information. I mean, you're getting the goods. You're getting what's holding you back in their eyes. That is so incredibly important. So if you take that and then figure out a way to like, okay, and this is what I would do. I wanted to find out what my weaknesses were and then turn those into strengths. And that way they can never say I wasn't good enough at something. Because if a coach doesn't like you, he's gonna point to something that he knows you're vulnerable at or you have a weakness at. And you can't come back with anything because if you're looking at it realistically, they're probably right. But if you have most of those boxes ticked, then... Conradinho (52:12.502) What are they going to say? They have to play you at some point, right? And then you just have to be patient and bide your time. So I would be very thoughtful of, uh, writing stuff down, trying your best not to take it personally and, and using it as a tool to get better. I will say this, you'll love this guy. So I'm in, I'm in MLS, my friend, my, my freshman year, my rookie year. And I finally get to play. This is under Brian Quinn and San Jose clash before they turned into the earthquakes. And we're playing in Columbus. Scot Cooper (52:29.967) Hm-hm. Conradinho (52:42.326) And we're up three two. This is a countdown clocks everybody. This is still when they had countdown clocks and the penalty shootout from 35 yards to decide games. So we're playing in Columbus. They had this guy named Stern John. He played for Trinidad and Tobago if I'm not mistaken. The guy was insane. When he was fit, unbelievable. He did the Stern turn. Nobody could stop the Stern turn, including myself. And at three to two, so I was playing with John Doyle. He played in the 90 World Cup for us. Legend, center back. I really looked up to him. Scot Cooper (52:49.622) Oh yeah, yeah. Scot Cooper (53:02.65) Hehehe Conradinho (53:12.494) And he didn't like me so much because I think he saw me as a threat to him and a kind of replacement for him. I mean, we're fine now, but I think at the time that's how he felt. And so we're both playing and there was a punt. We had a, now this is a countdown clock and two of our guys, I won't name names, Ronald Cerritos and Raul Diaz-Arce. They should have just taken the ball to the corner, Scott, and killed the game off, but they tried to go get that fourth goal. And so that gave Columbus another chance with, you know, 50 seconds remaining. Well, their goalkeeper. and he just hunts it straight up into the air. Now, John Doyle is an absolute beast and wins everything in the air. So he calls for it and I get out of the way, even though it was kind of in my area. And then he hesitates because he thought I was gonna go for it. The ball bounces. Somehow it ends up to Stern John and Stern John scores when they're counting down. Nine, eight, seven. He scores inside of the post, make it three, three. We end up losing in the penalty shootout and my coach was upset. Now, 20 minutes to this all happening. this whole sequence at the end, I did a really good defensive play. You know how defenders will shield the ball out of bounds for a goal kick because the attacker made a good, big touch or whatever. So I did that against Stern John and one of their top players. I was feeling pretty good about myself. You know, I'm a hot shot rookie, even though I didn't really act like that. I think you can tell I'm, don't ever feel like I'm the best at anything. But I would say that, so I'd shield this guy out of bounds and that's when the fans are right behind the goal. and these guys were running their mouth. And so I put my hand up to my ear, like, keep it coming, boys, you know, cause I had shielded it, it went three, two, and we're in complete control of this game and the score is close, but we were running things at that point. And so that gets caught on camera. So we go back to San Jose, we fly home, we're watching the video and our coach shows that he pauses it and absolutely lights me up for the next five minutes. I don't play for the next three months. I get sent down to the lower league and I get punished hardcore for that. That was a really hard lesson. I felt when I came back into the team after three months, I felt like an outsider, because I had to work my way back in. Ultimately, Brian Quinn got fired, which I was sad about. I liked him, but I just thought that was harsh. And so you learn all these lessons along the way. Conradinho (55:36.982) That even when I was feeling good about myself, you know, I had to put my stupid hand up to my ear. But that was me being engaged in the game. And I think maybe a different coach in different circumstances, maybe would have seen it in a different way. But you know, that's in terms of like understanding what your coach wants. And then I definitely wrote that one down. Don't put your hand up to your ear. And learn that that's probably not the most professional thing to do. And how do I wanna see myself as a player? What kind of player do I wanna be? And that's what I need to work towards. Scot Cooper (55:56.407) Yeah. Scot Cooper (56:05.55) Yeah, I mean, it's kind of like what you're talking about, like just kind of being steady as a coach now and not getting too emotional, too low, or high or low. And so it sounds like you had a little too much emotion for your coach. Yeah. Conradinho (56:12.994) Mm-hmm. Conradinho (56:17.65) I did, I did. Well, and probably in general, when I look back, I don't need to talk trash with fans during the game. That's not a good look. And it was fun, it was fun. I wish we had gone on to win the game, stupid Stern John. Yeah. Scot Cooper (56:28.313) It's kind of fun though. Yeah, we need to find that picture somewhere. I'm gonna post that. Alright, so keep going and get to the World Cup and I'll get you out of here. Conradinho (56:35.624) Hahaha Conradinho (56:42.286) Yeah, so ultimately, you know, I played San Jose in and out of the team, 2000 in my second year. We were the worst team in the league. And we had a lot of young guys that were ready to take on more responsibilities. So you had Joe Cannon in goal, Wade Barrett on the left back, Richard Mulrooney, who was my roommate, and William & Mary, that's right, Wade Barrett, best sideburns in the game. And you mixed that with, we got Jeff Agus. Scot Cooper (56:59.098) Wade Barrett is William & Mary. Yeah. Yeah Conradinho (57:09.514) So we got him from DC. Frank Yalop was his first year as coach. Dominic Kenear came in and helped be his assistant. We got Ronnie Eklund who played for Barcelona's B team and picked up Manny Lagos. Got a lot of guys with something to prove. And then we won the Lannadonovan sweepstakes. So we went from being the worst team to being the best. And Lannadon scored an amazing goal in the MLS final. And Dwayne De Rosario came off the bench for us, who ended up being an MLS legend. We picked him up from the Richmond Kickers that year. We were stacked. When you look back at our team, we were stacked. Scot Cooper (57:36.6) Oh yeah. Conradinho (57:39.126) And we ended up winning the MLS cup. So we went from zeros to heroes very quickly and really kind of set the bar for how teams should play and what San Jose earthquakes want to be known for. They ended up winning. I got traded after the 2002 season to Kansas City, which ultimately was best for me because I was playing right back and left back because we had Troy Dyack and Jeff Agus. I could never really get into the team at the center back position. So I went to Kansas City. Scot Cooper (57:44.867) with it. Conradinho (58:05.57) And in 2003 we had Precky. Precky was MLS MVP that year. That guy, talk about the stern turn, Precky could dice you up either foot. He was awesome. And we played a back three because we wanted to accommodate Precky in midfield so he didn't have to defend. So we had two holding midfielders and a back three, but I didn't get to play in the middle. I had to be, do some of the grunt work as one of the marking backs and that sucked. And then unfortunately, Precky broke his leg in pre-season of 2004 and I got to play center back. In 2004, I was 20, 26. 26. Yeah, 26 and 27, close to 27. And I was just ready. I knew exactly how I wanted to play the position. I was ready for it. We went into a back four and I just took off. We had the best defense in the league that year. I was up for MLS defender of the year. I won it the following year. I went to, we won open cup that year in 04 and we lost in the final by a goal three, two to DC United. We were two goals away from winning the supporter shield. So we were like three goals away. and maybe a little better defense in the MLS Cup final to have been the first ever treble winners in MLS history. We were good, we were very good. Just a little unlucky we didn't get more from that. But that got me called into the national team in 2005 at 27. A month later I turned to 28 and I got to go to the gold cup in 05, we won that. And a year later I was playing in the world cup. I don't even know how to explain it. It's that shit crazy, dude. But I will say this, when I went into my first camp, I knew that I needed to be good. Scot Cooper (59:23.802) Thank you. Conradinho (59:32.63) but I didn't need to be emotional, right? I didn't need to over try to do too much. And that's a really delicate balance of like wanting to prove yourself, but not trying to do too much. So I really simplified it. At that time leading into that camp, I had a teammate of mine on Kansas City, Nick Garcia, who played at IU at Indiana and good hardworking defender and an unbelievable athlete. So I understood why he got called in, but I just couldn't, when I was starting to play, like I was performing better than him. I didn't understand why Bruce Serena would call him up when I was, I just thought I was doing more. And so when I got into this camp, I just tried to outperform Nick Garcia in every single drill. That was it. I just, I didn't, I wasn't like, I'm going to play in a World Cup qualifier. I'm going to play in a world. I just thought I'm going to be better than Nick Garcia today. And I owe him a ton because that really helped center me a little bit. So I, if we had running drills, I would ask the strength coach, can I go, I want to be in Nick Garcia's group. And that guy can run and I'm like, I'm gonna outrun this guy every time. We did the beep test. I made sure I lasted one more length more than Nick Garcia. And I just, I was so locked in. I just wanted to be the guy from Kansas City that he called in. Bruce never gave me any love. I will say that the only reason I got called into this camp was cause Danny Califf, remember how he left, didn't go to UCLA cause he went to Maryland and that got me into UCLA? Well, he didn't come into camp because he was trying to go leave MLS to go to Europe and was trying out with teams in Europe during the January transfer window. And that's the only reason I got called in. So I owe a thank you card to Nick Garcia and Danny Caleb. But in fair play to me, I took advantage of my opportunities. And I was again, very, I played very simple. I organized, I made the game simple for the game people around me. And after three weeks, I got, I went to the first World Cup qualifier in Trinidad and it was mind blowing experience to see how, I didn't make the game day roster, but I was there. And then I got to play in the gold cup. I was the only player that played in all six games and we won it. And from that point, I think that tournament was really important because it was a tournament format and they could see me around a lot of the first team guys and they could count on me in any situation. If I wasn't playing, not a problem. If I got five minutes I'll do everything I can on those five minutes to help the team. If I got 20, what do you need me to do in 20? You want me to start? Cool. What do I need to do? How can I help the team? I just made sure I was the best teammate as I possibly could be. Didn't make any waves, worked my ass off. Conradinho (01:01:53.322) and try to get better every single day I was there. And I loved every single second of it. I miss representing the US and I knew it was gonna go by fast and it did go by fast. But I started in a World Cup game a year later. So it's pretty wild and it's been a journey. So we were, yeah, 2002 we get to the quarterfinals, 2010 we win our group for the first time ever, 2006 we get knocked out in the group stage. I was in 2006. Scot Cooper (01:02:09.614) So, who'd you guys play? Conradinho (01:02:21.546) So we played Czech Republic in the first game and me and Ben Olsen were sitting next to each other on the bench for that one. And the Czech Republic were excellent. That was like the best national team performance I've ever seen in person against us, whether I was on the field or not. They were so good. They had Pavel Nedved who he won a ball in door one back in 04 I think. And then they had Thomas Wysysky who was balling at Arsenal at that point. They had Petr Čechingol who's like 18,000 feet tall. They had Jan Kohler. Yann Kohler dunked on us three minutes in. That guy was six foot eight and played for Brucie Dortmund. The only reason Czech Republic didn't get through the group is because Kohler pulled his hamstring 15 minutes after he scored against us. And they didn't have a like for like replacement. If he had stayed healthy, that team was so sick. Czech Republic were so good. So they were so good, Scott, that me, we had one sub left in the second half. It was me, Clint Dempsey, and Josh Wolf warming up. And I was like running with Clint going... I mean, I want to play in the World Cup, but I don't know about this game. This, this is, this guys are good. These guys are really good. And we ended up losing that one three zero and, and the, I remember going into the locker room afterwards and it felt really toxic. Like everybody was upset and obviously there's a lot of expectation given how we played in 2002 and we just got our asses handed to us and there's really not much to say, was it due to a lack of preparation? I never didn't feel that way. I felt like we were pretty well prepared. Scot Cooper (01:03:22.135) Yeah, yeah. Conradinho (01:03:43.822) So, I don't know if we got the tactics wrong. I'd have to go back and look at it. Didn't feel that way, right? Leading into it, everything sounded smart and we were ready to go. Just check we're just better on the day and took their chances. I mean, they scored some banging goals and we just didn't create that much going the other way. And it happens, but it just felt like I got to get out of here. So I grabbed the strength condition coach. I grabbed Clint Dempsey. I grabbed everybody that didn't play. Josh Wolf ended up getting it. Grabbed everybody that didn't play. Like, let's just go outside and like run because I just, there's so much tension in here. And I've got to get this energy out. So that's what we did. So I got, me and Clint kind of led the charge and got everybody out there just to do, you know, go play some possession for 10 or 15 minutes, run some sprints and just get out of here. Cause it's just not, this doesn't feel, I don't want to like sit in this right now. So that was tough. But then the next game we played Italy, we drew one, one. That was the game where they had a red card. We had two red cards. I came on right after halftime, after Eddie Pope got his second yellow. Scot Cooper (01:04:22.733) Yeah. Conradinho (01:04:39.69) So we were playing down a man against the eventual champions. We were the only team in the tournament they didn't beat. It's a really famous game. People still talk to me about it. So to be a part of that was very cool. It was on father's day. My dad who hates to fly like flew all that way and got to see me play. And it was really cool. Everybody that believed in me was all, they were all there. And so for me to step on the field and to be able to perform at a high level. And I traded jerseys with Andrea Pirlo afterwards and it's incredible, incredible. And then I knew this is what's funny. You'll love this. That game I didn't know I was gonna get in and I didn't even need to warm up. I went from 0 to 1000 once they called my name to go in. I was like, yeah, I'm ready. They're like, you should probably run. I'm like, I don't need to run a few. Like I'm on, I'm ready to go. I couldn't believe I was going to play in a World Cup game against Italy. But so, so that just felt like no time to think, just go in there and, and play and have fun and enjoy it. And that's what I came away with. And obviously we got a good positive result and gave us a chance in the last game. We needed to beat Ghana and we needed Italy to beat Czech. Scot Cooper (01:05:13.251) Right. Conradinho (01:05:35.394) for us to go on and play Brazil in the round of 16. And we have five days between games. And I knew I was gonna start. I had some of the worst trainings I've ever had for the national team, so much so that Glenn Myernik, Mooch, rest in peace, he came up to me and said, hey, are you okay? Imagine you're kissing, like, are you all right, dude? Are you, that's how bad I was playing. I was just so in, I had too much time to think. And I... Scot Cooper (01:05:56.934) Hahaha Conradinho (01:06:03.094) Finally got myself to a point where, and I said I was gonna be fine, but personally I got myself to a point where I don't wanna go home with any regrets about how I performed, because I was afraid to perform. I was afraid of failing. I've worked so hard to get to this point. Just whatever happens happens, but don't recoil because of the pressure. Don't recoil because of whatever it may be. Just... Dude, chest up, head back, let's go. And once I got myself there, it was good. And I had Josh Wolf, who's been my, he's my roommate throughout that whole thing, and my roommate with my club team in Kansas City, and I've known him forever. He came up to me after the game and he said, that was the best he's ever seen me play. And I said, well, as good a time as any to make that. It didn't turn into a result for us. We ended up losing 2-1, and we gave up the worst penalty of all time, and I blame the ref for that, but conversation for another time. But I did get out, I looked. That's one of the things I talk to my kids about too, is how do you get out of your own way? And I had to learn how to do that very quickly at the highest level. Scot Cooper (01:07:08.174) Right. I was just thinking as you were talking that when you guys at UCLA won the national championship, did you play Indiana? Conradinho (01:07:20.886) We did, we beat them in the semis, they were undefeated. We sweep, who'd you? Scot Cooper (01:07:23.638) Yeah, I've had their all American guy on Alexey Coral, who's the he's the associate head coach at University of Illinois, Chicago. And he, man, he's still bitter about it. Conradinho (01:07:28.906) Yeah, yeah, yeah. Conradinho (01:07:33.599) Oh nice. Conradinho (01:07:38.014) Listen, Matt Riesengold was on fire. They did have a few sitters that he saved. But we ended up winning off like a crazy toe poke scramble in front of the box in quadruple overtime that was sudden death. And we were like running through their cheerleaders and all that. It was amazing. We ended up playing Virginia in the final. It was actually a great final four because you had four story programs. It was us, St. Louis, Indiana, and Virginia. And yeah, crazy. Scot Cooper (01:07:42.777) Yeah. Scot Cooper (01:07:56.13) Good. Scot Cooper (01:08:03.97) Yep. Yeah. Conradinho (01:08:05.91) You know what? I don't really feel that bad for him, but I understand why he's bitter. Scot Cooper (01:08:10.485) Yeah, for sure. Last thing, talk about why you won the humanitarian award. Conradinho (01:08:18.158) So that was a big, thank you for asking, big point of emphasis for me that, and I didn't learn this right away, it took me a little bit to understand it. But I got asked when I was in San Jose to go visit the children's hospital, which is incredibly sobering because you have all these kids, some will survive and some won't, working through some very difficult things. So it really puts into perspective. how you're feeling about a couple of bad passes for the day or where your status might be with the coach or within the team. And what I learned, not only from that, that's something I gained from the experience, but when I went there and you're wearing the polo or you're wearing the jersey, these kids light up. The fact that you're giving them some attention and making them feel special is something that I knew I couldn't replicate if I was... not a professional athlete. So once I understood the importance and how powerful that is to give these kids even an hour of giving them some smiles and laughs, like I would play kids that had cancer and sorry, and I just try to beat them as hard as I can. Like I just, and the parents were like, thank you so much for, everybody lets them win, but you're coming in like just treating them normal. And that's what they need more than anything. And so I took all these little notes and that ended up becoming a very important part of what I wanted to do and who I wanted to be off the field. So yeah, there were times where I was a little, you know, brash with the hand to the ear. And I'd probably talk a little bit more trash than I probably should have been doing when I was younger. But I started to understand my role within my team and role within the community and how I could do good on the field and off of it. So I would win, I'd win a Manitain of the Year awards for my team in San Jose. And then when I got to Kansas City, Scot Cooper (01:09:53.444) Hehehe Conradinho (01:10:14.57) there was, I would continue to do the same thing. I worked with a organization that deals with kids with autism. We had a special camp for kids that just for autistic kids. And ultimately I saw it as a chance to give the parents a break. I mean, when you're a parent of, of an autistic kid, it is, it is a lot. And, and there's nobody there to help you. I mean, yeah, you might have the other parent and you might have grandparents or whatever it may be, but but it's a lot of work and they don't always have an outlet to just relax and be themselves. So we would provide food for the parents and then go put the kids on the field for a couple hours and just wear them out. And I'd get guys on my team to come out and help volunteer. And it was awesome. And that's the stuff that I remember and I'm proud of. And I hope that it continues, that I've inspired maybe other players to do the same thing. No pressure, of course, but you hope that you plant a seed of wanting to give back in an important way. So there was that I was doing at the time. And then on top of that, Pepsi put out a challenge that they would give $25,000 to a certain project. And I ultimately got Pepsi to agree to do the project where we built a field for kids in an underserved area. And so I ended up winning, based on winning that and all the other things I was doing in the community, I ended up winning the humanitarian of the year award. Which I will say, for all the things that I've accomplished, that's the one my mom is most proud of. So she's... That's the number one award that she names first before all the other stuff that I've done. Now I actually have it, yeah. No, she doesn't. No, no, I have it. It's very cool. And I probably don't share that story as much as I should, but I don't do it. You don't do those things for that reason. You kind of just want to show what you're doing. And so I try to give back in different ways now, whether it's free coaching or whatever I can do, that type of stuff. Scot Cooper (01:11:44.951) Does she have the award at her house? Okay. Scot Cooper (01:11:59.467) Right, right. Conradinho (01:12:08.386) But yeah, it's, but when you're a professional athlete, man, the kids are so excited to see you, whether they're in a hospital or if they're, they're just so excited to see you and that you would give them attention, that it feels like a real shame that, that more players wouldn't be taken advantage of the, the positive influence that they could have on the community. Scot Cooper (01:12:27.918) Right, very cool. I don't wanna take up your whole afternoon, so. Conradinho (01:12:34.386) I love talking soccer. It's great. Especially like the little details are so important to the process, you know? So hopefully somebody out there can gain something from it even if it's the Louis Balboa story because that's what changed my life and I always try to pay it forward in that way because that was a big, big moment in my life. Very pivotal in terms of my mentality shift and another thing I learned along the way too which I think people should know, nobody owes you anything. Scot Cooper (01:12:37.161) Well, I'll just leave it there. Yep. Conradinho (01:13:00.234) And I learned that post-career. I thought when I retired, oh baby, I played in the world cup. I'm going to get people knocking on my door and everybody's like, oh, cool. You played in the world cup, but you don't necessarily have the job schools skills that are necessary for what we need you to do. And so when I learned that I had to start all over again, it was the most freeing moment because then I could kind of just let go of any expectations or entitlement that I had and just be like, cool, I've done this before I can do it again. Starting from square one, let's get after it. Let's get, let's, let's start learning again. Right. And being open to learning. And that changed my life. But when I also, in that, when I learned that nobody owes you anything, that was very freeing as well, because then you start to approach things in a much different way. And you're more receptive again, once again, to the feedback, right? You don't take things defensively. So anyway, I want to put that in there as our last parting wisdom, as they say. Scot Cooper (01:13:43.49) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, hopefully we can do this again. And yeah, maybe we'll get Jay Demaridon here. Yeah, he's cool. But yeah. Conradinho (01:13:53.205) I'd love that. Conradinho (01:13:57.442) Jay Demerit, rise and shine baby, let's go. I love what he's doing, Jay's great. I have a bone to pick with Jay Demerit by the way because he ultimately replaced me on the national team and he was like the younger version of me. Because we're all hard work, hard on our sleeve type guys. And he always feels a little bad but I like sticking it to him. Like he bastard. No, no, I'd love to have him on. Jay and I have been friends for a long time, he's great. Scot Cooper (01:14:08.91) Yeah. Scot Cooper (01:14:17.27) Yeah, yeah, you should. You absolutely should. Yeah, yeah, you guys' stories kind of remind, they're similar in several ways, so it's cool. Yeah, which you probably already knew, but yeah. Very cool. All right, anything else before we table it for the next time? Conradinho (01:14:28.607) Yeah. Conradinho (01:14:32.19) I've seen the documentary. I'm familiar with the Jada Merritt story. Conradinho (01:14:41.95) Yeah, please don't follow me at Jimmy Conrad on any social media stuff, because I don't want to have to apologize for any of the clown, nose in clown shoes things that I'm doing. But I'm having fun, and that's really what it's about. Ha ha ha. Scot Cooper (01:14:51.854) That's right. That's right. Yeah. All right. Hold on one sec.