How Did Earl’s Mentality Get Him Through The MLS Shutdown? I #AskASoccerPro Show Ep 079
11-year MLS veteran Quincy Amarikwa welcomes you to episode 79 of the #AskASoccerPro Show! This week, Quincy welcomes former teammate, D.C. United goalkeeper Earl Edwards Jr. to the show to discuss his mentality, his role in Black Players for Change, and more!
Check out what Quincy and Earl cover:
00:00 – 04:28: Welcome To The #AskASoccerPro Show Ep 79!
04:37 – 08:07: What Does Quincy Have Planned For Ep 100 of the #AskASoccerPro Show?
08:10- 11:42: Do Pro Players Need To Be Muscular? @emiliolemagne
11:43 – 14:29: What Quincy Really Thinks About Josef Martinez And His Mentality @mariopineda55
14:30 – 16:37: How Long Did It Take Quincy To Go Pro? @caleb_ck13
16:44 - 19:08: Is Being Smart Better Than Being Muscular? 🧠 vs. 💪 @emiliolemagne
19:11 – 22:56: What Age Should You Start Playing Soccer? @emiliolemagne
22:58 – 25:59 How To Be Seen By Scouts! @jonnytest101
26:00 – 29:04: Should You Go To College If You Plan To Play Pro? @emiliolemagne
29:05 – 30:53: Earl Edwards Jr. Joins The #AskASoccerPro Show!
30:54 – 33:53: How Long Has Earl Been In The MSL? 👉🏽😶👈🏽
33:54 – 37:07: How Did Earl’s Mentality Get Him Through The MLS Shutdown?
37:08 – 43:43: What Did Earl Focus On To Improve As A Player?
43:44 - 46:30: How Sharing Your Secrets To Success Will Make You A Better Player
46:32 – 51:07: How To Lower Your Body Fat @emiliolemagne
51:08 – 55:17: Did You Catch Earl On CNN And ESPN?!
55:19 – 59:49: 2020 Has Been A Year, And It’s Not Over Yet! #2020VISION 👁️
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*Transcript is unedited and machine-generated. There will be errors. For further clarity please refer to the audio or video.
Quincy Amarikwa (00:00):
We're all here to ride the MSL wave. The Mental Strength League. I'd like to welcome you to another episode of the #AskASoccerPro Show!
Quincy Amarikwa (00:11):
George. What's going on, brother. Good to see you. Good to see you. 35. Welcome T Gabrielle, Matt Ambrosie Brosso you 11. Welcome. Happy to see you. Happy to see it. Joe Jackson joined the Nan trip. Trevor Willis, traveling. What's going on, Kayla George dropping in the I'm in your head emojis early, early, and often. I appreciate that. Popa junior Trevor, and say Quincy, it's traveling several fire emojis. What's going on, Travis. How's everybody doing? Sirena's dropping in, joined in. I'm excited for today. I'm excited for every, every show. You guys know what it is, Matt dropping, and I'm in your head. Emojis. Bella soccer just dropped in Popa junior trumping I'm in your head. Emojis. Everybody's spamming out hard button. T T said, she's doing well. How's everybody doing? How is everybody doing? A official new Neo joining an expert in dog T dropping the name in your head. Emojis. Happy. See that as always, yo, everybody.
Quincy Amarikwa (01:40):
I am happy to see everybody. Yes. Braheem joined in a official giving me the thumbs up. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome everybody, everybody, everybody. You know what it is. I'd like to welcome everybody to another episode of the #AskASoccerPro Show . We are an episode 79, I believe S soccer pro let's let's double check. Let's go check. I got my, I got my computer now working so I can do research on the fly live answering you guys' questions, looking at what we've got going on. John Hollinger just joined in welcome. John George dropped an MSL shout and shout up total with the dank meme. That started to catch steam and fire over here. And the loyal followers, the Holy followers of the show already know what it is it has been and will always be the MSL. And for those of you who are joining in for the first time or listening on the replay for the first time, I'd like to welcome you to episode 79 of the #AskASoccerPro Show where your hosts that's me, 11 year MLS pro Quincy Amarikwa breaks down the MSL.
Quincy Amarikwa (03:06):
And those of you in the comments in the community, if you could drop somebody in your head, emojis and spam, the hard button to drop some MSLs down at the bottom. So everybody knows what the MSL stands for. That is the mental strength league. It is the mindset that you need to accomplish your goals in here. Every Thursday, 6:00 PM, PST 9:00 PM EST. We break down the MSL and work together as a collaborative community to help each other reach our goals. So every Thursday you have an opportunity to drop your question down below. And in some cases even call in and we do a little bit of mental breakdowns and see where the audience is at and adjust the show. Accordingly. Last week, we, we watched the we watched a little bit of the MLS is back tournament together on live stream.
Quincy Amarikwa (03:53):
And I think after I shouted out the website that I use to watch those streams, when I'm not able to do it, I don't know if I don't know if we, if we created it or we manifested it, but it's not working for me anymore. So Hey, we figure it out. I think someone else had given me a shout out on a different website that we could use. So maybe we'll do that again in the future, but that was fun. Last week was a good time. I'm excited for this week. Not because it's another week and we can discuss what's going on and what's happening in the world. And even when the world is the MSL, you know what I mean? You guys know what I'm talking about. Today we're going to have a special guest joining in and that is none other than my good friend and MSL, mentee, shout out DBAB former DC United teammate, Earl Edwards jr.
Quincy Amarikwa (04:44):
Will be joining in. It'll be great to do a couple of things. One, ask him a couple of questions about black players for change. He's an executive board member. I don't know if if you guys joined in last week or the week before, you'd have seen that he was over on CNN. He made CNN and was talking about the organization and everything that we've been, we've been doing here over these last several weeks with the, with the boys there at DC United, you see them before the protest. If you guys weren't able to catch that or see that make sure you head over to perfect soccer skills.com, check out the blog post cover in that the press release and stay up to date on that. I'm, I've also finally gotten a chance to get caught back up on the newsletter, my personal newsletter.
Quincy Amarikwa (05:28):
I know many of you are on the MSL newsletter and have been waiting to hear back from me for a couple of weeks. Now, I finally got updated on all the previous newsletters that I missed out on. So for those of you who have maybe not been able to join in, live on the show and stay up to date on what's going on, you stay up to date over on the newsletter. The newsletter is back up and running, and I think we've got what we need in place to keep that more streamlined here, moving forward. But yes, I mean, I'm excited for Earl to join in. He'll join in here probably in the next 20 minutes or so I think he's straight out of the MLS bubble. You guys can ask any and all of your questions, what up Katie joined in on the live January joined in as well too. So you'd be able to ask or what it's like in the bubble, whereas where his mentality is at and any other questions you guys got there, but while we're, while we're waiting on that, John said, let's go while we're waiting on that. Any questions that anybody has, please feel free to drop them in the question box and we'll get answering them expert in dog X just said, it's just Fern, dog.
Quincy Amarikwa (06:47):
Loving that everyone's spamming the heart button Joe Jackson at 20 week 21 weeks away from 100 I'm in your head. George George said, you need to start planning for episode 100. Okay. I like that. That's that's good. I like that. I like, I like that. What do you guys think we should be doing for episode 100? Like what, what would, what would be like, what should the show be or what should we do? Yeah, George said giant episode. I like the, I guess I didn't think about that. We're almost at the century club, which is dope. T said I'm in your head double exclamation points. Yo Jordan dropped in. What's going on in Emilio. Welcome. Happy to see everybody making their way in. Let's see. Carly Perez joined in. Ah, okay. That's a great question. That's a question for everybody as well to Jordan sent it to anyone complete the pushup challenge.
Quincy Amarikwa (07:45):
I forgot who the, I forgot who had, let me know. I think Ben Jammin was like four months in and then miss missed a day and had to start back over. So if he joins back in a six soccer, joining an official coach, Edgar dropped in what's going on with coach Edgar. I don't think I've seen you in a little while. House. How stuff been? What have you been up to at six soccer? I'll sit. Hey, what's good Quincy. And we got to for our first question in here while while loving seeing the spam of the heart button Emilio, E M I L I O L E M a G N E ass. What parts of the body do I need to work on? Do I need to be muscular to be a pro?
Quincy Amarikwa (08:29):
See, I could get in trouble here because you know what it is, we keep it real with you guys. I have seen plenty of players who are not muscular, not muscular, not particularly in shape, but they ball out on the soccer field. So I don't think being physically fit is obviously a huge advantage and it can benefit you, but not everybody is naturally physically fit. Like for instance I think I've talked about shape in the past and I think a reason why I'm bringing them up right now is cause he just recently Shea Salinas, not only did he just score a goal at the, the tournament, I think in like the 90th minute. But he also released a, did an article. I forgot who wrote the article. So I apologize for the, the, the writer who wrote the articles. I should remember his name.
Quincy Amarikwa (09:18):
But yeah, Shea had shared shared his experience of what he's learned. Since, since learning more about, you know, the entire black lives matter movement, that's really starting to, I mean, picking up steam, I think he was he was someone who was on the other side of the fence when it came to Kaepernick when he was kneeling. And since he's been doing a lot of self reflection and research, he's come to realize a lot of American history and the ways in which things work that he was unaware of. So I want to give a bunch of kudos to him for taking the initiative, to educate himself and be willing to admit publicly that he might've gotten something wrong. You guys know what it is here. That's an MSL mentality, that's an MSL mindset. We're going to make mistakes, make mistakes, mistakes as part of the process.
Quincy Amarikwa (10:01):
And I think what can get difficult in this social media world, in this, you know, instant access to information is like people think that you're never going to make a mistake. And if you do make a mistake, you should be blamed and chastise and drug through the mud for the rest of your life. I think, I don't think anybody wants to be remembered for the, you know, for one bad decision or for being ignorant at some point in time. So I think it's important that people are empathetic to each other and I'm willing to willing to willing to understand that mistakes are part of the process. And most of the time that's when you learned the most cause that gives you an opportunity to grow. So yeah, when I, for a little bit attention to that, but the reason why I was bringing it up Shea's cause Shea is someone who's been he's very naturally fit.
Quincy Amarikwa (10:53):
And he could, he could probably chill for three months and not work out at all. And I could work out every single day and he probably still beat me in the beep test. So so your natural inclination to being fit deter can be very widespread based on your body type. And you want to learn your body type, what you're needing and what what works best for you. With that, hold on one second. Serena, if you're, I can, I think I hear you on the phone and I'm hearing the feedback from myself on that and it's throwing me off. So if you could put headphones in or turn that, turn it down. What do you think Mario Panetta, 55 said, what do you think about Joseph Martinez, mind mentality? Is he good or selfish? Ooh, I don't know him. I don't know him personally. Right. So I don't know him, but I just know him from watching his style of play on the field. And what I like about his play is he is reckless. And what do I mean by that? I believe when he's on the field,
Quincy Amarikwa (12:18):
It is
Quincy Amarikwa (12:20):
On the edge of being at catastrophe. And unfortunately he did just recently, you know, tear, I think he tore his ACL. I don't know if he did anything beyond tearing his ACL, but I know he's rehabbing the ACL tear in the knee injury. And I guess when I, when I'm seeing him play, I I understand that hunger and that desire to, to push yourself in the self belief that every single play is going to be amazing. And that's, that's it. And having a short term memory when things don't go your way and playing on that
Quincy Amarikwa (12:57):
Edge
Quincy Amarikwa (12:59):
Just takes just a tiny misstep, a tiny
Quincy Amarikwa (13:03):
Just
Quincy Amarikwa (13:05):
Half a second, split, second planting, just awkwardly, and then catastrophe can happen. And that's what resulted in his, his knee injury, but because of how he plays it because of his mentality and how he approaches it that's why he's accomplished. He, in my opinion, has accomplished such a great feat in such a short period of time. It'll be very interesting to see how he bounces back from this injury. And, and then from that, I could definitely maybe give a better assessment on what I believe about his mentality specifically.
Quincy Amarikwa (13:37):
Because you know, I think that the toughest
Quincy Amarikwa (13:41):
Toughest test of a player is how they react and come back as a result of it, like catastrophic injury, big injury like that. You know, it's very, very difficult to do.
Quincy Amarikwa (13:56):
Most players all come,
Quincy Amarikwa (13:57):
Always come back from injury, but not many come back and still can maintain or tap back into that same mindset. So I'll be interested to see how he's able to do that. When you say, is he good or selfish? I don't necessarily think that's the best way to pivot. Like as a forward, you need to be selfish at certain times or you need to be selfish in certain ways.
Quincy Amarikwa (14:19):
I think
Quincy Amarikwa (14:21):
He does it. He does a good job too.
Quincy Amarikwa (14:23):
You too,
Quincy Amarikwa (14:26):
What's necessary to be considered a very valuable and needed strike.
Quincy Amarikwa (14:29):
Okay. Ooh,
Quincy Amarikwa (14:36):
Hind them on this stuff, but that's all good. No context, Dylan joining in what's up brother. Happy to see you joining in I am, I'm excited and looking forward to once we're getting you up here on the live streams, for those of you who don't know no context, Dylan is joining a non as a official perfect soccer game or streamer, and he'll be going on our account here more regularly. I think Katie's helping him get set up with everything. So he can be good to go send him some of that. Perfect Soccer Merck [inaudible] Caleb underscore CK, 13 asks, how long did it take you to get to the major leagues? Well, I went pro at 21. I started playing soccer at three. So is that yeah. Yeah. 17, 18 years took 18 years to do that.
Quincy Amarikwa (15:38):
Okay. Tanya Tanya said her name is spelled T like the hyphenation of the E. I'm going to try to remember that Taya no context that I need the hoodie for sh for sure. Let's see, George dropping the I'm in your head emoji and let's see that guys. Let's see what we got here and shout out man, the creator for Nino Nino Zizo Nino's is I think that's S souses as brother making the graphic there. Let's see, we got here. Let's see. Okay. Emilio. Oh, I think followed up saying, so being smart is better than being muscular to use your body. I mean, it's a huge advantage and I'm working on it. I heard this quote that if speed of play is good, then it won't have to be as physical. Correct. So using your mind is better than using your body because your mind is going to last you way longer than your body, or at least theoretically, right.
Quincy Amarikwa (17:07):
More times than not, your, your mind will ask outlast your body. So that's why a lot of our focus here on the show and when we talked about regularly, weekly is how to improve the mentality, how to understand yourself and how to tap into the three S's of self awareness. You know, the first three steps, the Amarikwa process, the MSL mentality, and those of you who have yet to listen to that, that talk, make sure you head over to perfect soccer skills.com/s S S some of the tag that, or type that out so I can tag it below. Make sure you, you guys go and listen to that because developing your skillset of self awareness is going to be the largest determining factor to your success. Applying the first three steps in the Amarikwa processes is the most crucial, most important. That's the foundation of the I'm in your head mentality.
Quincy Amarikwa (17:57):
Cause you got to remain in your own head and be aware of yourself and your limited belief system. We're trying to expand our minds out here and maintain that expansion and that mental stamina, the Lucas said DC was looking messy, missing missing a certain stiker. Let me see a little weak Winky face. Yo you know what, for that one, that's a good transition. Your shout out bald Eagle, a man can't see up there, bald Eagle, 78 was getting ready to watch the first official kickoff game of DC United. I'm asking, let me switch that up asking not quite kickoff, but plan. Yeah, but we're planning. How far on earth did this happen? So close to kickoff. Why was Toronto on delay getting to Orlando and why is Quincy still not on our roster? An added DC United and MLS is back.
Quincy Amarikwa (19:00):
These are great questions. These are great questions and we gotta, we gotta get answers. We demand answers. Emilio asked what does it matter what age you start playing soccer? I guess it, huh? That's a good question. So it depends on what your goal is and I don't believe the age at which you start soccer matters. It can be extremely influential as to how much time you have to accomplish your goals, depending on what your goals are, but that's great for so Isaiah Isaiah Carter over on Twitter shout out Isaiah, he said, so I'm 38 years old, so I'll read it, I'll switch back and forth so you can see, Oh, let me get close. So I, a 38 year old man, I'm trying to get back into shape and I'm doing so by getting into playing soccer, never played professionally before or on any level for that matter, what app perfect would at perfect soccer, be a good resource for me, brother.
Quincy Amarikwa (20:02):
And obviously I got back to him and my response was, yes, sir. It's a great resource for players of every age. At every level. I'd recommend you make a perfect soccer team membership account by hand number perfect soccer skills.com/login account. Those of you who already have a perfect soccer team membership drop, drop something in the car, drop a soccer ball or a fire emoji. Let me know if you guys like the account, if you're using your accounts, what you're getting away, what you're taking away from the account, but to Amelia's point when he's asking it doesn't matter what age you start playing soccer. Nah, man, it doesn't we're here to help educate everyone at every level of every age. And Isaiah decided at 38 years old that he wants to get into soccer. He wants to, he wants to learn the beautiful game he wants to get in shape.
Quincy Amarikwa (20:52):
And our Perfect sSoccer team membership is a great place to start for him and anybody else. Who's not only wanting to get into shape, get better. Just for themselves personally, also for those of you who want to get to the professional level, the college level, your youth team, don't matter. I think the Luca, I think you're still in here as well to you been using a lot of what he's learning in our training center and our books and resources to get multiple team offers, which was, which is great to see Joe Jackson dropping the fire emoji with the soccer ball cause he is maximizing his membership account.
Quincy Amarikwa (21:29):
Mmm.
Quincy Amarikwa (21:30):
Which is, which is great to see and love and seen you guys engage over on Twitter. Like I said, it's a bit easier for me to manage the mentions and stuff over there. Then Instagram, a lot of this, a lot of the comments get lost with the likes system and all that kind of stuff. So
Quincy Amarikwa (21:51):
Osman underscore M E K I seven said, hello, what's going on, man? Popa jr said underscore P O P O G B a jr. Said, I'm 19. And I'm thinking of trying out for a team next year, but I'll be 20 at that time. So I'm hoping it goes well for me. Well, you got a year to prepare and I've seen some amazing things happen in, in, in less than a year. So utilize creating that account definitely listened to the three S's of self awareness. So you can start building out a plan to understand where you are and create something for where you want to go. Yo, what's up? Aaron Flowers dropping in, shout out Aaron. Aaron and I went to college together. Mans is out here killing it as a podiatrist.
Quincy Amarikwa (22:39):
Mmm.
Quincy Amarikwa (22:40):
Aaron, what's a, what's your official position title where you at now?
Quincy Amarikwa (22:47):
Let's see.
Quincy Amarikwa (22:50):
Lucas said just came back from training and have another one tomorrow that grind don't stop I'm in your head. Emoji
Quincy Amarikwa (22:56):
Love that
Quincy Amarikwa (22:59):
Osman said tips for wingers. If you had to perfect soccer skills.com/youtube, and then you go and search there, you can type in any keywords tips for wingers confidence, any of that stuff in all of our videos that we've posted over there for free will pop up and you can download that massive knowledge. Johnny test one Oh one said the nearest club is two hours away. It's the only way to get Scouts knows me, but it's too far. What do I do too far for what too far? For what?
Quincy Amarikwa (23:35):
Yeah.
Quincy Amarikwa (23:36):
And make it pro one day, you're trying to make a college team. What are your goals? You know, if it's,
Quincy Amarikwa (23:43):
If, if club is the,
Quincy Amarikwa (23:46):
You know, if, if that's the only way for you to get scouted and get to the next level, then you gotta figure out a way to make that work. You know, maybe you're taking a bus and taking that bus is gonna take you four hours, one way and four hours. The next, if you're on the bus for four hours, go in there, then what are you researching and doing while you're on the bus? What types of technical things can you work on while on the bus and getting there? So you're, you're maximizing your time. Like I think, you know, I talk about it a lot. It is not going to be easy and it's, and it's there's difficulties for everyone in their own way. What you've got to do is figure out how to tap into making your difficulties, your temporary problems, a strength for you in the long run. You see that as an opportunity, a test, can you, can you overcome the obstacle that's currently in your, in your way and are you committed to figuring out a way to make it work for yourself? That's, that's where you gotta do. And those are tests to see if you actually really wanted as much as you say you do.
Quincy Amarikwa (24:52):
Yup. Let's see. Aaron said reconstructive foot and ankle trauma surgery. So if you guys are trying to, if you guys are needing to be taken care of, my man's has got your, not your back, but your ankles and your feet. Let us three to seven with 50 50 podcast joined in what's going on, brother. Definitely don't know if I'm even saving that pronouncing that correctly. Justin penny packer said my boy, Quincy. I liked the Abbey man with the glasses for Jeff C joined in. Let's see Emilia said, sorry for so many questions. Hey, listen, that's what I'm here for. If you, if you're here to tap in and tune in and you got questions, I'm happy to answer, especially if you then go and do your own research, create yourself a perfect soccer skills.com at count watched three, the three S's self-awareness.
Quincy Amarikwa (26:00):
You know, if you put in the work I'm willing to put in the work and share my time with you. So okay. So if your goal is to become, so if your goal is to become a pro player, is it worth going to college? I have something to fall back on. Good. If your goal is just soccer I'm in the camp of the likelihood that you become a pro is so low, that it is the likelihood that you become a pro is so low that I think it's in the best interest of the largest number of players to go to college. And this is coming from someone who believes that you can learn anything at college on your own, on the computer. I'm huge on, you know, YouTube research, Google research, form, research, reading books, and educating yourself. Self education is the most important, important thing.
Quincy Amarikwa (26:55):
But the experience, the college experience is something that you can't, you can't read in a book. And I think it's very valuable. I also think old world and by old world, I mean previous generation, they value college education very highly. And if you don't have, if it's between you and someone else and you guys are equally qualified, you both are good at what you do on paper. You're exactly the same. But the only difference is one person has a degree and the other person doesn't, that's going to be the that's going to be the, the, the, the deciding factor. In most cases, that's the coin flip. And I know many people don't like that. And we talk about, you know, the world is unfair. We, and I say it again. The world is unfair. We all know it's unfair. But you have to be equally as unhappy when it's unfair in your favor as when it's unfair, not in your favor.
Quincy Amarikwa (27:44):
And I think that's a difficult place for most people to get to mentally, which is why many people don't accomplish the goals that they're setting out for themselves. But those are good questions. For me, I believe you can do both. And you just gotta, you have to figure out how to do both for yourself. And if you believe so heavily in yourself that you don't believe that you need to go to college fully understand what that decision is, because if it doesn't work out, if it doesn't work out, you are putting yourself in a much more difficult situation when soccer eventually ends, because here's the thing that's most important. Soccer will end one day. Hopefully you can play until you're 40 years old and retire. And haven't had a great career, but most people that is not how it pans out. Okay? And most careers you're grinding from contract to contract to make enough money to make ends meet. And that's what it is to be a pro player. So, you know, if, while you're on that grind, you're not educating yourself on how to manage your contracts, manage your money, invest in yourself, invest in your business, invest in your future. Regardless if you make it pro or not, you're not setting yourself up for success in the longterm. And that's what we're, that's what we talk a lot about here. That's what I try my best to share with everybody.
Quincy Amarikwa (29:00):
Cause I'm not trying to lie to you guys about what it,
Quincy Amarikwa (29:02):
What it takes to make this work.
Quincy Amarikwa (29:05):
But yo we see Earl, all the man, the man, the myth, the legend,
Earl Edwards Jr. (29:11):
What up? It's it's been a minute, everyone. I know I've been Mia tuning back in.
Quincy Amarikwa (29:17):
Yes, very Mia, but for good reason, but what maybe give us a, give us the update for what's been going on in your world. I know I'm happy to see you. I know everybody else's well, a.
Earl Edwards Jr. (29:31):
Update overall. I think the last, I guess I'll go from the start of startup quarantine, I guess I took quarantine and stride and use it to my advantage to, to elevate different aspects of my game. And then coming out of that, that was, that was a lot of a lot of work mentally and physically coming out of that obviously had to hone in on getting more specific and preparation to returning to play. Since then about a month ago you, myself and other members of the MLS black players came together.
Earl Edwards Jr. (30:07):
And when we started that black players for change organization that's taken up a ton of our time. It's been a ton of work, a lot of rewarding work, finally, starting to see a lot of that come to fruition. I think you and I, along with many other members have been reaping rewards for the work we've been doing along the way as well. But yeah, so that's something that's, that's been taking up a lot of time and effort and yeah. Now we're down in here for this MLS is back tournament, enjoying that as well. So plates full, but I'm enjoying it.
Quincy Amarikwa (30:40):
Love that. I love that seat so much better than me at giving like a direct, like condensed version update that doesn't take an entire hour.
Earl Edwards Jr. (30:50):
Yeah, no you're con you're condensed is a little different than mine.
Quincy Amarikwa (30:55):
No, but I love that know. So for those who, maybe this is your first time tuning in Earl has been down in the MSL for what is this? How long has been a MSL? Yeah.
Earl Edwards Jr. (31:13):
We're probably coming up on like 14 months.
Quincy Amarikwa (31:15):
Yeah. A little over a year. Right.
Earl Edwards Jr. (31:17):
I mean, what do you want to go from your initial crazy comments when I blew blew you off or from when I reengaged with you three months down the road, four months down the road. So,
Quincy Amarikwa (31:27):
Well, let's say the whole, let's say the whole thing minus the four minus the three months.
Earl Edwards Jr. (31:33):
Okay. Okay. So yeah, we're probably coming up on 13, 14 months now.
Quincy Amarikwa (31:38):
14 months. Okay. No, that's that's good. So then setting context for everybody within the audience. Yeah, Earl and I have been working together just on the MSL mentality, breaking it down to Earl's really been helping me to better refine the mentality and break it down so that we can make it more consumable and digestible for everybody. So he's been extremely invaluable in that process. Shout out the dieback mentality, which is a brain trap brainchild of the MSL mentality mindset, but I'm loving the, don't be a baby. And I love thinking of brain child. I, I pulled this from what you had shared with the group in terms of the brain trust and people understanding what it is and how we're building and creating, investing in our brain trust. And yeah, I love the mentality, man. I love the [inaudible] mentality.
Quincy Amarikwa (32:33):
I love the focus. I love watching. I've loved watching the evolution of your mentality and your approach to the game. Just, just approach to just the business of the game, both on and off the field. The last time you joined us on the show and we were discussing kind of your mentality. It was kind of the evolution of how you, you got to got to a point in time where you were able to recognize when you're being selfish, when you were limiting yourself with your personal self belief system. And since that time now the, let's say the second phase of that process, how has that evolution been for you? What are you, what have you, what have you learned as a result of having that kind of heightened level of awareness now?
Earl Edwards Jr. (33:23):
Yeah, I think I think that's still very much so ongoing process and you and I have everyday conversations where there's times I'm having conversations with people or talking to you about something that happened in training, something that's going on on the business side of things. Or just how I communicate with family members, whatever it is, but we're having conversations on a daily basis where there's constant room for self assessment and improvement and improving. So I still think that's an ongoing thing, but I think given that ongoing approach and understanding that it's constant progress from where I was the last time we spoke was actually in preseason. Actually this is, this is interesting, interesting. So having that conversation in preseason was good and my understanding and my work ethic going into the off season and then going into preseason, I felt I was really prepared.
Earl Edwards Jr. (34:22):
And what it came down to, I was really happy with my preseason came out of preseason, I a meeting with my coaches and it kinda came down to like, Hey, you did great. You made phenomenal strides. We could tell you very serious your Fitness's where it needs to be everything, but you're not making the jump that you want to make. And you're still where you are on the pecking order. So for me, I'm like, okay, understood. I appreciate the feedback. And MSL are not, Bev are not like that feedback can still affect you in the moment. And it's something that I had to take in understanding. It's like, damn, like I thought I had done enough. But I didn't. And I got that honest feedback and it's not that that doesn't hurt, but it's still taking that negative feedback and using it as motivation and turning it into a positive.
Earl Edwards Jr. (35:09):
So funny enough I didn't get that bump thing, different things happen injuries occurred was able to move up in the pecking order was excited to one way or another have earned or got into the position that I was in at that point and then COVID hits. So it was like, and I remember you calling me and saying like soon after that happened, like man, I really, I really salt for you in that. And I'm like, yeah, like it was crazy. Cause I had been working so hard for it. Finally got there, I moved up, moved up the spot and things were looking better and better, you know, things were improving and then something completely out of everybody's control hits. And it's like, okay, well now the season's not even happening. So I had, I had a choice to make at that point and it was you know, and I think a lot of people took a break, took a vacation.
Earl Edwards Jr. (36:05):
People took a quarantine and COVID many different directions. And for me, I kind of dove into my wife and I started working out together. I started reading a lot more and I try to make sure I try to stay as much in a routine as I could understanding that what I did in the off season, coming back as serious and as prepared as I did. Wasn't good enough. And I didn't know how long this corn team was going to be an initially to be honest, like a lot of us that I was going to be two, three, four weeks. So I took it as like, dang, okay. Like I wish there was no break at all. It was in a good spot, but now I have two, three, four weeks. How much can I improve my game without anyone seeing in my organization?
Earl Edwards Jr. (36:47):
So when I come back, I'm that much better. And that was my approach thinking it's going to be two, three, four weeks knows four weeks go by. And it's like, well, dang, I've made improvements. But we're not coming back. And now it looks like it's going to be another three weeks and I just kept approaching it that way of like, okay, well now what can I improve from here? And so a lot of the attention I put in early on was like my fitness and my weight specifically. So to be specific I was a guy that was typically around like anywhere from 11 to 13% body fat, generally throughout my career, I ended up getting down to like 10, five coming into that preseason. It felt really good, look really good. And they want keepers and like the Navy a nine to 11% range.
Earl Edwards Jr. (37:33):
And that's just kinda where they felt it was comfortable. Mind you, this information is coming from sports scientists and people that have never played the position. So for me, so, and I understand like they're coming from a place of like, if you get too thin, like it could be detrimental hitting the ground without any like fat on your body, whatever I'm like, okay, that's makes sense. But I've never been a guy that's been under 9%. So I don't know what it feels like, obviously neither do they and they're not goalies. So I kind of took it upon myself to like, let me get to that extreme since I've been on the other end of you're talking extremes and they're saying nine to 11, I played at 13. So I kind of took it upon myself initially to be like, okay, what can I do to fitness wise to push myself to a new, to a new level.
Earl Edwards Jr. (38:19):
So I got myself down to 8% which was a grind and took a lot of time. And those two, three, four weeks I wanted to focus on my weight and chopped down on that. And I probably got somewhere in the nine range. It took me the additional eight weeks. I ended up having two months. I ended up having to get that last percent off to get down to eight cause I've shared this with Quincy, but for everyone listening, I think I've gotten as high as 14, 18%. I got to 18% at one point in my career and getting from 18 to 14 was a challenge and getting from 14 to 10 was a challenge. But getting from 10 to eight was the hardest thing I've I've had to do. That extra 2% of going from like a high level to elite in terms of fitness, what is the hardest thing to do?
Earl Edwards Jr. (39:13):
And I think that's where I was finally able to push myself to, but it took a routine and a mentality over and consistency over the course of the coin team for me to get there. And then with that, as I felt I was getting there, I understood, like I thought we were coming back after eight weeks. So I'm like, all right. I thought, I think I've done well here. This is great. And then I ended up having a conversation with you and I was like, man, I did really well on my fitness and I wish I added aspects to my game. And I think I lost I didn't take full advantage of the time ahead in quarantine, as much as I did on my wall, on my fitness, I didn't feel I took full advantage. And then at this point when it got pushed back another four weeks, then it was really starting to turn in like, Oh, this is advantageous.
Earl Edwards Jr. (39:59):
Yes. Every time this gets pushed back, I can develop something in my game where I'm going to become a better and better and better player. So once I had that conversation with you, and then I realized like, Oh, I'm actually having an additional four weeks. You and I was good cause that we were able to talk about it because instead of going out and what I wanted to work on specifically was my Sidewinder out of my hands and striking balls with my left foot. So for everyone listening, I was glad I was able to talk to Quincy. So instead of going out and hitting 200 balls a day, trying to make up for the time I thought I lost we refined it together saying like, okay, what's something I could do every day where I won't run risk of injury.
Earl Edwards Jr. (40:40):
And it'll just leave me hanging of wanting to do more reps than than what I'm capable of doing. So I was cutting myself off, which is another it's funny. Cause it's one of those things of like, well, the more reps you do, the better you could be. And one that could be true as long as the quality's good, but cutting myself off was also took a massive amount of discipline. So each day I could hit 20 Sidewinders and 20 balls with my left foot. So 20 Sidewinders you think if I hit miss it, like, so I would do them in groups of of groups of five. So I would hit five at a time, five with my left foot five sign, wonders five with my left foot. So if, if my last set, if I miss hit three, Sidewinders had a five in my last set.
Earl Edwards Jr. (41:28):
I it's in you. If you guys put yourself in my position in that, you know, you almost forget about the last 15, you have your last set of five. So your first, who you hit well in the last three, you hit horribly. You don't want to go home on that. Right. But it was the discipline, but the discipline to cut yourself off, knowing that like I'm fresh enough to keep doing this, but the discipline to cut yourself off is something that was hard for me to do. I'm not gonna lie the first few weeks. I'm like, I'll just have one or two, actually, let me just get one. Let me here, let me hit 21, let me hit 21 or 22. You know, like you're just, just one sweet one, just one sweet one to finish. And then I would close out. But over time I started realizing that actual discipline of like, I don't care what it is.
Earl Edwards Jr. (42:15):
You get 20, it heightens your focus to make sure those 20 are clean every time. And two, if you do hit miss it, if you, your eagerness to come out and do it the next day, it allows you to sustain the motivation to do it over a long period of time. And I noticed a lot of people would think, Oh, I need, I don't know what the rules are. You need 10,000 reps. You know, there's all those different concepts of how many reps you need and how much time needs to be spent to get something down. And I'm telling you, I did 20 reps a day for probably three or four weeks just working on my Sidewinder. And I'm very comfortable now in the middle of a training session between drills, just picking a ball up and picking a guy out 50, 60 yards away over guys through traffic, whatever it is a level of comfort I never had.
Earl Edwards Jr. (42:59):
And it took me three weeks of dedication to get there four weeks a dedication to get there. And it was just a matter of consistency and now striking a ball with my left foot. I have no problem in drills and whatnot pushing a ball at my left foot and trying to strike it, cross field, whatever it is and not to say that it's perfect. Same thing with my Sidewinder, not to say that it's perfect, but neither is my right foot striking off the ground. I'm never going to be perfect with that either. But I have the confidence now where I could do it. And I have a base where if I miss it something, understand why, because I've been, I've been going through the reps and and I think yeah, I took the quarantine and stride and whether it was my weight or technique and adding levels to my game, I think it was something that I'm definitely seeing fruits of my labor.
Quincy Amarikwa (43:44):
I'm loving that, man. That's that? That's that that's an MSL D bad mentality. Everybody, yo Earl just dropped a hell of jams on everybody right now he has the keys. So I think what's so a couple of things what's very interesting to me is seeing your openness to sharing the secrets to success, right? And that evolution over time, because you get to, you get to a point where you realize that people aren't going to do the work, even if they know what work you need to do to be successful.
Earl Edwards Jr. (44:24):
Yeah. And I'm getting that, you're saying, I'm glad you're being open with your work. Cause a lot of people are selfish with that thinking you know, I got the secrets. I don't want to share my secrets. I know a lot of people probably won't probably watch the Michael Jordan documentary and he like threatened his trainer to never work with anybody while he was in the league. I think that was a lot of time constraints as well, but there was a lot of things they did that Michael didn't want out in the open. And another part of the MSL DB mentality that we've broken down is when you, when you find ways to be successful, one, share that with people even your at your counterparts or enemies, however you want to look at it. Cause once they know what you're doing to be successful, you have to find another way to gain an edge.
Earl Edwards Jr. (45:12):
So sharing this knowledge with whoever the heck sees it, if you're someone I'm going to be competing with, great, and I'll see what you're doing and now I'll, it'll force me. I'll see that you're doing the same thing I'm doing and I'll realize it's no longer good enough for us to be doing the same thing. And I'll have to find a new way to improve my game to continue to have a competitive edge. So sharing that stuff is something we've always said, like once you get to a point of feeling successful, share it with people and once they catch up or expose flaws in it, it'll only force you to find new ways to level up. So yeah, being candid and open to something, that's also a part of the deep out of myself.
Quincy Amarikwa (45:53):
Yup. I see John Holly down here saying he loves that. I know John is a, an aspiring, a goalkeeper. I think John you're on. W were you with Loudon last I know John's favorite of the America process is is teamwork equals dream work. So I know he's been, he's been absorbing every single ounce of information and wisdom. You've been, you've been sharing on the account over time. So I know he's loving that. W what were you seeing there?
Earl Edwards Jr. (46:27):
What am I scrolling through? You see I'm looking at Emilio asks. How do you lower your body fat and does it have to do with your weight and diet? Which is a good question. Cause I think everyone's correct me if I'm wrong, but physiology is, is very different in what you put into your body affects people differently. And I think that was a lot of trial and error for me. So there was a couple of things that I've just found really work for me. So one the amount I eat, so there was, that was a big part of it and it wasn't a, yes, I was trying to eat healthier. But on the flip side it was more focusing on like, just don't eat to the point where you're like painfully full, which is like, it seems, it seems so simple, but once you start doing that of like, okay, I think I'm, I've eaten enough as opposed to like, Oh, I'm stuffed that I can't get up.
Earl Edwards Jr. (47:24):
As you start doing that, like now as I'm eating, I feel myself getting to that stuffed point, like very after eating much less than I used to eat in the past. So that helped. And then this is a little tip. I'll give everybody and I truly believe in it and it's definitely like, seems like cheating to me. What I ended up doing was a couple of guys in our team have gone vegan something, I don't believe all. I, I don't even have interest in doing it. And the only reason I would do it would be to like challenge myself, to see if like the last 30 days or something, but I don't it's not something I feel passionate about or that I need to get to a next level or anything. But with that being said, I understood that like, if I'm a guy that loves cheeseburgers and like Buffalo chicken sandwiches, and I'm going through the frozen food section and there's these vegan chick pea options of like a Buffalo chicken sandwich or these beyond meat burgers, and there's a vegetarian options for this stuff.
Earl Edwards Jr. (48:30):
I'm like, wait a second. So it doesn't taste that far off, it's a vegetable base. And if you, if, if you propose this to a vegan, they're like, that's not even healthy. Like a vegan is looking at you. Like you're crazy. And I'm looking at them like, yeah, but it's not a greasy red meat burger and it's not a fried Buffalo chicken sandwich. So for me, that's what I started doing. Honestly, I would just go find things that I loved that were made it in a vegan, a frozen food section. And I started eating that stuff and not to say that I gave up stuff that I loved as well. But I would focus on eating stuff like that, especially for lunches after I would train finding these like vegan replacements. So my body was probably getting like significantly more nutrients in vegetables than I was before.
Earl Edwards Jr. (49:20):
I'm still eating things like my, it does, like I said, eventually you you get used to it. So even the taste difference from the beginning, wasn't that big of a difference. And then I ended up enjoying it cause it's like a Buffalo chicken sandwich. And so that was like the cheat code that I found. I'm like, wait, I can have all the things I, like. I found this little cheat where it's like a vegan option. And my body, I think when I first started doing that, I dropped four pounds in a week. And that's like, no exaggeration whatsoever. I started stepping on the scale and I was like, Whoa, like I found my cheat code. And again, that was for me. And it did work significantly for me. And you know, there's other pieces of it cutting out bread here and there and other sides as well. But I think the biggest thing I can point to is finding these cheats and these vegan, frozen vegan options and things.
Quincy Amarikwa (50:10):
I love that Amelia said, thank you. That's amazing. So much. Good info. Thank you. And before you had joined on, I was to your point, you said the same thing, which is great. Cause I said, it depends on your physiology and how you are. I was talking about Shea Salinas and his physiology and how he could not run at all for three months and still be needing the test, even if I'm training every single day. Right. So, yeah. Yeah. So it was, I mean, I think most people will fully understand that this show will end up repeating itself until the end of time because the, the key to success is consistency. Right. And the truth is true, whether you believe it or not. So no, that's great because through trial and error, you find what works for you and then you can dial down and drill in.
Quincy Amarikwa (50:58):
Right. So no, I'm loving that. And everybody everybody's loving that. I've seen everybody spam the heck out of her, but yeah. So if you guys got any more questions for Earl, we've got eight more minutes before we're we're, the show is done and we're, we're done with that. No context. Dylan said the lads. Oh I'll either connect you with with no context, Dylan, he he's going to be helping us do the perfect soccer game or counsel he's. Yeah. So he's going to help us on the tic talk side and then start doing with the daily streams. Cause he's killing it on the FIFA side, but then we got a PlayStation. So we gotta get you a PlayStation as well.
Earl Edwards Jr. (51:40):
Yeah. I still got to get one. Yeah.
Quincy Amarikwa (51:46):
Okay. So now I love that. And then I, I always ended up being selfish cause I'm just asking you questions for myself, but I'm thinking about like where everybody's at and let's let me think. Okay. Well, so first more or more importantly, congratulations. You made the nod to CNN, bro. We're just talking about like proper training and all this, but it must like, I think, I think everyone will be mad at me if I'm not asking you, like, what was it like to be on CNN? How was that? How was that process? What was that experience like in what, what are you excited about? You're moving forward with the black players for change organization?
Earl Edwards Jr. (52:26):
Yeah. I would say first you're shorting me cause I was at ESPN too.
Quincy Amarikwa (52:33):
No facts.
Earl Edwards Jr. (52:37):
And yeah, and being on both was a really interesting experience cause I got to watch both of them back and then I understand the audience, like you watch it on TV. And it's the behind the scenes is very different. I think in general, but especially during like COVID so for ESPN, we were always like an, a media hub where we were a social distance. And so what you see on TV ESPN was was for squares and it was Justin Mauro and one right Gaddis and another Elle Duncan and the person interviewing us and then myself and another one. And it looks like we're probably all, I dunno, somewhat near each other, whatever, but instead we're like completely in different buildings. I just have bright lights and a camera and I can't see anybody else.
Earl Edwards Jr. (53:24):
And I, an ear piece in the where I can just hear I can't see myself. I have no idea what I look like, like anything. So there's no like real time feedback of like what's going on in the screen. So that's just a little insight into the background, but it was good. Anyone that saw the ESPN one was I obviously had a little nerves early on in that one. And not that it was a first time experience doing interviews or being on TV, but the gravity of the moment was definitely a first time experience speaking on behalf of black players in our league and on behalf of black players for change our organization, I understood the gravity of it. And while there were nerves early on processing that I was able to was also caught off guard by one thing or another, but was able to reset, was able to debug and kind of get back into the moment and process things on a, on a faster level and was able to respond to questions more fluidly than I did the initial one.
Earl Edwards Jr. (54:28):
But yeah, it was a good experience and I was happy. I was able to speak on our behalf and in Charlotte insight as to what we're doing why I'm involved specifically and what our goals are here, moving forward. And then CNN was another interesting one where I'm doing a zoom call on my laptop in my room and same thing. I can't see anything except for myself actually on my screen. Similar thing I'm thinking like my head can be fully seen, but the can't see my shirt I'm like, it was, it was an interesting dynamic, just not understanding like where the camera stands. Yeah. So there was the behind the scenes is interesting, I guess in my opinion, but it was good. Again, another opportunity to speak on behalf of our organization and what we're trying to do as black people in this league to fight systemic racism in the MLS and in the country as a whole.
Quincy Amarikwa (55:19):
No, I love that in a, yeah, it's just, it's been a trip man. It's a lot has happened in the course of 2020 so far. Huh?
Earl Edwards Jr. (55:28):
Yeah, a lot. And I think it's been a year that it's one of those years. I think when you look back, you know, I think older generations always have stories, whether it's war stories or historical moments or where they were, when, you know, Martin Luther King gave his, I have a dream speech or whatever. My dad specifically after our protests was telling me where he was and what he was doing when the 1968 Olympics protest happened. And I think this will be a year as a whole that with our children and grandchildren and the younger generations a year that will speak to the experiences we had during COVID and for myself and I think yourself as well. Well, my, my self in terms of what I was able to develop in my game, I think will be something I'll never forget. But I think organizing the black players for change organization and, and digging into that and starting to put systems and processes into place where we can really affect change in terms of the racial issues in our country. I think this'll be a year that we reflect on for the rest of our lives and, and share with the people of younger generations. And it's yeah, it's, it's been a great year. I think,
Quincy Amarikwa (56:46):
I think so too. And I've you know been more than happy to be a part of it with you, man. I've been really proud of the work that you've been doing, just, you know, on the personal development side for yourself, the mentality side, both on, not the field. And then more importantly, just the things that you don't have large man. Like I don't think we'll fully be able to grasp what it is that we're working on doing here until some time passes. But I think in the moment, just being grateful for the opportunity and the people along the way and having good people around me. And you're one of the, you're one of those people, man, and I, and I've just, I've respected you a lot and I appreciate yeah, I appreciate you, man. And I'm proud of you and I'm, I'm happy to have you part of the, the perfect soccer MSL community. I know everybody everybody's over here, spamming the hell out of the hard button, which is awesome. And I'm, I'm glad you're able to, to, to drop by today, give us a bit of an update and
Earl Edwards Jr. (57:41):
Yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna chime in quick before we go. I know where the clock's ticking up, turning into a little, a little bromance here real quick, but I think I think to reciprocate the appreciation without going through the MSL and developing the DBAB mentality out of it, out of it I wouldn't have been able to make the strides I have in my game, the strides I've made as a person and been able to become the player I am right now and will be in the future. And I don't think I'd be able to affect the change for the black community on the level that I am today, if I hadn't gone through this process. So thank you to you and everyone that's been tuning in, just know that buying into the system. I hope I can be a clear example of the fruits of the labor of buying into the MSL mentality and, and what it can provide for yourself and others.
Quincy Amarikwa (58:30):
Awesome, man. No, I love that. And before we get like super sappy and cry and everybody maybe we'll save that for the, for the next episode, man.
Earl Edwards Jr. (58:42):
Yeah, definitely. I'll have to come on for a longer period of time. This MLS is Back schedule. We're all over the place. We had dinner at nine 30 tonight. But yeah, I'm happy I could hop on.
Quincy Amarikwa (58:51):
Oh, it's all good, man. I'm glad you're able to stop by another community. He was happy to have you. I've got a minute here left, so I'm going to kick you out. So I make sure I save it, but I appreciate yourself.
Earl Edwards Jr. (59:00):
Yeah, of course. Cause to see everyone and glad I got to answer some questions. I'll see you guys soon later, brother.
Quincy Amarikwa (59:08):
All right. Huge shout out to Earl for that. As you guys know, we've got 30 seconds left here. He drops a massive gems on everybody. I'm glad that he, that he came in for everybody who's down in the MSL MSL mentality. Please drop in them. I'm in your head emojis. I appreciate everybody. Who's been in the community, sending your questions, send them over on Twitter, subscribe over on YouTube, create your perfect soccer team membership account. And I will see everybody here next week. Same time as always 6:00 PM. PST 9:00 PM EST. If you guys can go ahead and shout us out, share us and tag us in shares with the friend. I'll see everybody next week and as always, I mean your head.