Aspire in the World Fellows Book - 2025

78 79 11TH ASPIRE ACADEMY GLOBAL SUMMIT ASPIRE IN THE WORLD FELLOWS I think theNFL has been the best in the world at marketing its product. The product on the field is great: games are tight, and the fan involvement is incredible. The NFL is a marketing machine. We now have games on Sunday,Monday,Thursday, sometimes Saturday and Friday. Almost thewhole week is covered. The competition is strong, there are some weaker teams, but most games are very competitive. College football operates similarly. You may have seen Penn State play Oregon recently, 107,000 people, all in white, tremendous excitement and energy. The NCAA is the feeder for pro football, and below that is youth and little league. So many kids play sports. It’s not just about competition. It’s about camaraderie, relationships, learning how to get along with people. That’s why I have such respect for coaches. The lifeblood of our sports is the coach at the little league level who helps kids become better athletes and better people. At the end of the day, isn’t that what we want: better people, not only our own kids but the kids we coach? From your experience, what role do schools, communities and youth academies play in shaping athletes, especially in soccer? What can soccer learn from the NFL in that regard? I would love to see it. When the Philadelphia Union stadium was built about 10–12 years ago, I came to a game. The fans were into it; the setting was awesome. It’s a 22,000- seat stadium, perfect size. Not as big as some of the cathedrals you see elsewhere, but it’s intimate, and there’s not a bad seat in the house. I wasn’t sure howthis communitywould accept soccer. I’m a football guy; my life was football. But the stadium has sold out virtually every game. They’ve doneagreat jobmarketing, thegames are competitive, and the Union just won the Supporters’ Shield. People are excited because winning matters here. Philadelphia is like all of your cities: you had better win. Fans come expecting victories from the Union, from the Eagles at the Linc, from the Phillies. They want competitive teams that win. Winning, at the end of the day, is what it’s all about. You have to have that mindset. Why play if you accept losing? Why would you walk off the field with your head down and be okay with it? I like coming off the field celebrating, “We won!” Hugging and enjoying the moment. There will always be winners and losers, but I believe teams that battle through adversity and learn from losing become better. From my experience, when you see someone who consistently handles losing poorly, he’s likely to remain a loser. You must learn from your losses, the mistakes that they were made. That’s where coaching is vital: pointing out the details of why you lost, rather than just saying, “You stink.” Instead of yelling, “You’re terrible,” you need to explain: “Here’s why we lost. You were out of position. You took the wrong angle.” Use technology to show them. The good coaches make corrections. Teams that were losers can become winners. You played under massive pressure, including in the Super Bowl. What routines or Can the U.S. Lead in Soccer? Would you like to see that? I remember reading a book in college in the 1980s titled, “Winning Isn’t the Most Important Thing, It’s the Only Thing.” It’s an old adage, but there is a lot of truth in it. mindsets helped you manage that intensity and the constant need to win? It is hard to maintain peak intensity seven days a week during a long season. Coaches and players often become different personalities as game time approaches. Tension builds, and you must handle it without being distracted from your job for those three hours. As coaches and leaders, you have to manage those personalities and help players channel their intensity in the right way. Injuries are primarily managed by the medical team, as they should be. Coaches generally stay out of it. Every player wants to play; there is no question. I’ve seen games where the medical staff literally took a player’s helmet away and put it in the locker room so he couldn’t go back in. The player wanted to return, but concussion protocols now say, “No, you’re not going back.” You can’t put players at unnecessary risk. These are huge investments in talent. You have to protect them. That part of the game is improving. If you get dinged, you go into a tent, you’re evaluated by medical professionals, and they decide. That’s the way it should be. Injuries in the NFL are frequent and often career- shortening. How did you manage risk as a player? Was it managed by you, by coaches, or by medical staff?