Sam Mewis on Confidence and Putting in the Work I #AskASoccerPro Show Ep. 064
USWNT and NC Courage player and 2019 FIFA World Cup Champion Sam Mewis joins 11 year MLS veteran Quincy Amarikwa for the #AskASoccerPro Show!
00:00 – 06:07: Overcoming Uncertainty
06:08 – 10:28: Sam Mewis Joins the Live!
10:28 – 17:49: When Should You Ignore?
17:50 – 20:16: Learning from Others
20:17 – 23:46: Setting Goals After the World Cup
23:44 - 25:44: What Would Sam Bring to a Deserted Island?
25:50 – 35:34: Dealing with Injuries and Setbacks
35:35 – 39:19: Sneaking onto UCLA’s Fields
39:20 – 43:21: Will Sam Still Cheer for Tom Brady?
43:23 – 47:36: Do You Want to See Sam’s Tik Tok?
47:43 – 50:10: Why Sam Watches Game Film
50:12 - 53:25: How the NWSL Can Grow
53:26 – 56:22: Why #3?
56:23 – 59:49: Keep Sticking Around!
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*Interview transcript is unedited and machine-generated. There will be errors. For further clarity please refer to the audio or video.
Quincy Amarikwa (00:02):
Ooh,
Quincy Amarikwa (00:12):
37 Shan, a mug. Mahmod what's going on? What's happening? What's happening? Go see what's popping. Sergio, welcome to the live Anja. Oh, Anja messing up saying your name. What's going on? T Gabrielle, what's happening? The one known as Anthony. Welcome. I haven't seen you in the live in a while. What's up eMAR what's happening? What's going on? What's going on? T Gabrielle, I play for coach Ryan. Yo T Gabrielle, welcome to the live. When if people are asking who's coast? Ryan Ryan is our general manager for [inaudible] pro. He's been putting together our weekly programs. So if you guys haven't gotten access to your perfect soccer team membership, if you guys haven't gotten to your perfect soccer team membership account, you want to lock that for me, please make sure you hit over a perfect soccer skills.com/pstm create yourself your free account so you can get access to the I think he's put together a B pro program for those of you who are at home needing a weekly program so that you can stay fit, stay focus, improve your game, stay just ready, focus for the tough times that are coming ahead.
Quincy Amarikwa (01:25):
I think a lot of people are realizing more and more that you know, we're going to be on quarantine and behind closed doors for quite some time, but there's nothing wrong with that cause this gives us a great opportunity to improve ourselves and to make that next jump put in that extra time that we might not have been putting in otherwise and take full advantage of this opportunity
Quincy Amarikwa (01:51):
That this quarantine is PR. That is, that has given us. But yo, I want to welcome everybody to the live. Welcome to another episode of the hashtag ask eight soccer pro show episode 64. I'm really excited for today. I'm juiced juice for today because we've got a special guest. We've got women's United States women's national team player, Samantha Mewis joining us in on the live here. She'll be joining in a couple of minutes. You guys know what it is here on the show. I spend the first couple minutes of the show welcoming you guys to the live saying what up? Giving you guys a little bit of an update of what's going on in the state of the world, obviously is influx. Things are constantly changing normally, but even more so now with the uncertainty of the coronavirus and you know what this will mean for everybody here moving forward.
Quincy Amarikwa (02:44):
But luckily for you on this show, we talked about the MSL. That's the mental strength league. You guys know what it is. It is a game where you are either a conscious or unconscious participant, but on this show we talk about how you become a conscious in the game so you can get in the game and take advantage of uncertainty. The MSL mindset is one that helps you get through difficult times and I think collectively as humans we are all going through a collective experience of difficulty and uncertainty. And I'm happy to share the MSL with those of you who are joining in right now. And those of you who are listening on the replay over@perfectsoccerskills.com slash radio subscribe to our podcast if you haven't already. But today's going to be a great one. Samantha or Sam, I'm going to ask her, which she prefers once she joins us in on the live.
Quincy Amarikwa (03:36):
Has had a very impressive career. She happens to be really good friends with the first unofficial but official MSL master's program graduate Earl Edwards, who is also a member of the perfect soccer team. And he has seen her growth since his time with her back at UCLA. He has been a huge advocate in sharing with me that she is someone who exemplifies a, the MSL mentality and the mindset and he thought it would be great for her to join us today as well as share what she has learned over the course of her career to get to the Olympic and national team level. So I'm really excited to talk with her. Big shout out and thank you to Earl for making that connection happen. And I'm I'm also extremely excited to get the female perspective on the show.
Quincy Amarikwa (04:28):
As you guys know, in episode, I believe it was episode 51, we had Sanya Richards, Ross Olympic gold medalist and track star join in and she shared a bit of her perspective, which was awesome. I think we also had my sister Kristen American join in I think like episode 56. So I, I'm excited to have the, another female join us in and share kind of that female perspective for our audience. So she'll be joining in here soon. But for those of you who will have some questions, you know that we do the questions, we'll do a question as part of the show as well too. So drop your questions in. Earl is in the comments helping us aggregate question. Some of the best questions, most insightful. Like I said, we want to understand mentality and how to improve ourselves. So that's awesome.
Quincy Amarikwa (05:18):
I've seen Christian drop in nine and you had emojis. I'm loving that. I'm loving the community that we're, we're creating here guys. Make sure your, your dropping comments, your questions, talking to each other, seeing everybody saying what's up to everybody in the comment section. That's awesome. Like I said, we're building a, a growing community and I'm always happy to see you guys here joining in every Thursday 6:00 PM PST 9:00 PM EST. And I'm just getting used to being back on the West coast. You guys know him from California originally. Sarah just jumped in on the live. What's going on, Sarah? So I'm back in California. Happy to be back in California. But the guest of the hour has joined in. So let's, let's get it [inaudible] right to deal dealing what's going on, but welcome Sonia. I'm loving that. Right. Yo!
Sam Mewis (06:08):
Hi!
Quincy Amarikwa (06:09):
How's it going?
Sam Mewis (06:10):
Good, thanks. How are you?
Quincy Amarikwa (06:11):
I'm doing well. I'm, I'm, I'm not going to lie. I'm excited. I'm used to get to speak to you cause Earl has, Earl has talked very, very highly of you and I respect, I respect Earl's opinion and what he thinks a lot. So I'm really, I'm really excited to to speak with you. How are you doing?
Sam Mewis (06:27):
Oh, that's awesome. I am good. Thank you. I am in North Carolina. Earl is an old friend. We met years ago, a college. So I I'm glad that he invited me on the show. So thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
No, that's awesome. So I'm not, I'm going to assume that you're not completely familiar with what we're doing here at perfect soccer and kind of what the, the Astro soccer per show is and the mentality and what we're talking about. So I'll give you like a little bit of background so we can get context cause I like to go deep, really quick. Great. Let's do, I'm loving that. So, all right. So what we really talk about here a lot is the MSL mindset, the mentality. So the mental strength league and it's just a philosophy and idea that we developed here over time so that we can help people help themselves during times of uncertainty. And with the coronavirus stuff that's going on, I think really understanding the mentality of individuals like you who've got two very high levels in your respective profession is a great opportunity to share the, what I believe are fundamental truths that are necessary to getting to those levels and mentalities, the real focal point of that. So I, like I said, I'm juiced. I'm just to have you just to have you on.
Sam Mewis (07:44):
That's awesome. That sounds really cool.
Quincy Amarikwa (07:46):
So maybe for those who might not be aware of who you are or what it is that you do maybe could you give us a little bit of a background on who you are, what you stand for and and just kinda give us a little bit of a, an understanding of how you like to define yourself.
Sam Mewis (08:05):
Yeah, totally. So my name is Sam. I play soccer for the U S women's national team and the North Carolina courage and the end of ESL. I went to UCLA and won a national championship there. The time that you J and I'm from Massachusetts and I have an older sister who actually plays in the end of BSL as well. So I feel like that relationship and kind of that really close like competition that I grew up with is, is a huge part of like why I'm able to compete at such a high level and kind of what like groomed me to approach soccer the way that I do. So I think that riff, if I had to like sum it up really quickly, I think I would say that it really is that competitiveness that I'm kind of always striving to be the best that I can be. And I'm always looking to learn from others as I go. And if, if I see someone out there who's better than me at something, I ask them and I want to learn and I want to cut adopt whatever they're doing that makes them that good. And I think that that has served me well and it's been one of the reasons why I have had some success so far.
Quincy Amarikwa (09:13):
I love that. Okay. Even in the shortened version, there's a lot of amazing things that can be taken away and we're going to dissect and jump into all those and I'm going to have a bunch of questions as well for you. Great. So the one thing that stood out to me for, first of all, you said you're younger, you're, so you have an older sister who plays in the league and you're the younger, yeah. Okay. So the competitive nature maybe cause you're trying to catch your older sister and that's forcing you to maybe do a little bit more than most of your peers were doing.
Sam Mewis (09:40):
I mean it may be. Yeah, I mean she has always been better than me in my eyes. I mean, growing up when we were younger, it was so apparent to me, especially she was two years older. She was always just so good, so competitive. I'm always just like the best one. Even just playing around in the neighborhood on every team she was on. And I think that it kind of instilled in me immediately this need to like catch up in this need to do more to get better. But also this willingness to learn. I think that that's been something I've constantly looked to her for guidance and, and ways to improve and get better in my life, not just in soccer. So I almost feel like that willingness to learn from someone who's older and more experienced has been one of the most like shaping parts of my career.
Quincy Amarikwa (10:28):
Okay. I like that. But, so let's break that down a couple of different ways. How do you know when to listen and how do you know when to ignore [inaudible]?
Sam Mewis (10:41):
Ooh, interesting. Well I think with my experience on the national team there are so many opportunities to learn from players who are better than me. And I have said a couple times in my career how you have to be your, there are two pieces of this. You have to be your own biggest critic. Like when I make a mistake, I want to be the first one to say that was me, my bad, I messed up. How can I learn from this? But on the other hand, I have to be my own biggest fan because if I don't believe in myself, nobody's gonna know. So I feel like there's kind of a fine line of that of saying to someone who is a veteran, who's older, teach me, show me what do I do here? What do you suggest? And also being able to stay to myself, I think that that was the right decision. And I'm gonna learn from, from this situation. And from what happened, but I can stand by my decision, my, my pass, my shot. So it's kind of like a, it's a hand in hand thing. I think it's, it's knowing when to agree and learn and it's knowing when to say I've, I believe in what I decided.
Quincy Amarikwa (11:49):
Okay. All right. No, this is awesome. And I think everyone watching this can get some great stuff of that. So can you give me a scenario or an example of when of when you ignore it and it was the right thing to do?
Sam Mewis (12:04):
Oh gosh, when I ignore it and it's the right thing to do, I mean, I think, I, I can't think of a specific time. I think an example would be if someone is open for a pass, but I know I can shoot and I know I can score in this situation shooting. And instead of of always letting kind of like your teammate or someone who's, who's probably maybe better than you or has a lot more experience than you dictate your decision all the time when you believe in, you know, and what you can do. I think it's okay to shoot and I, I would encourage everybody to shoot into a believe in their own abilities at the same time, like it's not to the point where I'm shooting every time I get the ball, but I think that there are situations where I trust myself and I, I make those decisions and it might feel risky at the moment, but 99% of the time my teammates coming up to me and saying, good shot. We want you to take those, we support you. So for me, I guess I've been lucky in that it's, it's worked out and it's I think raise my game even more.
Quincy Amarikwa (13:07):
Okay.
Quincy Amarikwa (13:08):
Gotcha. Okay. That's really good because from even just from that example that you're sharing, you have the support of your teammates encouraging you to take those shots cause they have a trust or belief in you. Right. but I also know there are a lot of people who follow the account who are struggling and because they've expressed it and especially in the comments and stuff that we've gotten over time saying, Hey, I don't have the support of my team. I don't have the support of my coach. I believe that's very political. And on the show and on the show and on this account we talked about, yes, the game is political. You have to learn how to survive on and off the field. So sometimes doing things on the field goes at odds with what people are telling you do you do off the field. So what would be your, and I'm sure this is me guessing at different points in your career, you might not have had that support. So during those times, what was the mentality that you approached? How did you, how were you okay with not having encouragement? What would you suggest to those who don't have that?
Sam Mewis (14:08):
Yeah, I think, well, and I was thinking about this earlier today actually. I was like, you should have some things prepared to come on the show. So I think I would break it down into two parts. Like over preparing. So I think in the times of like really high stress or when it feels like the odds are stacked against you or you feel like people are expecting you to fail, knowing exactly what you need to do and, and knowing that you've done it a million times before and that you're totally prepared. So my experience at the world cup, I was so nervous I felt like, and there literally were millions of people watching. And I think knowing I had done the set pieces a million times, it made me less and it made me think like, I know exactly where to be.
Sam Mewis (14:54):
I'm like a machine. I'm going to go stand on my spot and I'm going to win the ball and we're going to clear it out. And I just think that having the repetition, having the preparation, it gives you confidence. And I think it instills this sense of I can, I can do what people think. I can't. And it's kind of, it's for me, it's almost like being organized. It's like, I know I can do this. I've done it a million times. So that was one piece I wanted to talk about. And then the other side I think is just having this feeling that you've outworked people. I think that when I, I came really close to making the Olympic team in 2016 and I kind of changed my training habits in the off season after that. And it, it gave me this better sense of confidence because I felt like I had worked so hard and I knew that nobody else could have possibly worked that hard.
Sam Mewis (15:50):
I mean, maybe I'm not saying they didn't. Maybe they did, but I worked hard enough to allow myself to believe that. So I think it was this time of, am I going to really be on the national team? I wasn't good enough to make the Olympics. How can I help my club team out more? Am I really good enough to do this and be the kind of player I want to be? And my response was to just work really hard. Go to the gym every day, lift, do fitness, go to the field every day and run. And that kind of gave me this sense of I belong here, I've done all the work and I know I can do it. It gave me more confidence even when I was maybe at a time where other people weren't so sure about me as a player.
Quincy Amarikwa (16:33):
And I think that that period of really working hard over-preparing it paid off in the next couple of years. I love that. So I want to make sure I highlight what you broke down there cause we talk a lot about, so the MSL mindset right? Is every day nonstop. So MSL, I'm in your head. That's the same thing. Consistency reps and we talk about confidence is a skill that you build over time by doing rep the repetition. So when people are looking at someone like baby yourself, who's up there? Oh, you're cocky, you're full of yourself. Maybe you're not this. And that is no, I have a strong belief in understanding the work I did to get here. And that's what you're seeing. Yeah. A lot of the players who aren't confident tend to be those who are realizing they didn't do enough work and now that they're here they feel exposed. So I love that you're saying it's the repetition. Obviously everybody could be working as hard as you, you don't really know. But the one thing is you did the work and you put in the work in the reps. So that will not be, and this is important because I want everybody listening to make sure they're taking this away. Not putting in the rest will not be the reason why you didn't make it. So make sure you check that off the list as to, okay.
Quincy Amarikwa (17:50):
It's not because I didn't work hard. It's not because I didn't put in reps now it could be, did I not study the game enough? Is the person across from me actually better than me, if so, how, and the other thing, I want to tie this back to you with what you explained here is being willing and open to learning from those around you, older obviously and seeking that knowledge. But the question I wanted to ask you with that specifically is how how are you applying that knowledge? So maybe you're open and asking to learn, but what about when someone isn't willing to share or teach you or they're not doing that? So how, how are you, how did you figure out that, how did you navigate that time?
Sam Mewis (18:31):
Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I, I feel like I've had, I've been really lucky and I've had such great experiences with all of my teams and especially with all of my coaches. I feel like what I would say to that is if one person isn't willing to help somebody else definitely is. And I feel like you can kind of gather information from endless resources. I mean, if it's not a teammate, it's a coach. If it's not a coach, it could be your parents. Somebody else's parent, if it's not that it could be a teacher, maybe your coach at your school or at your club, whichever one isn't working, go to someone else. I think there are resources like books and communities like this who are like working on this. And kind of teaching almost like, it sounds like kind of like a curriculum of like core standards. And I just feel like there's so many opportunities to learn that if you get turned away at one place, I would just go someplace else. And I hope that people feel like they have those kinds of options.
Quincy Amarikwa (19:29):
I love that. I love that because that is the mentality of not having access to information or a mentor or a person or a teacher is not a good enough excuse not to continue to find the information that you're looking for. And that's a mentality and I believe that that is a huge determining factor to people's success. An unwillingness to, to accept that because I don't have the resources or I don't have the help or I don't have the knowledge or I don't have the network means I don't have the ability to figure those out. Over time. So I'm loving, I'm loving what you're putting out there and I'm also getting better at making sure we find the balance of not just dropping all these knowledge bombs. Everybody was so much information. Making sure we're balancing between getting some questions in from the audience as well and having a little bit of fun with stuff. So guys, like I said keep drops of girls in the comments as well too. He joins every Thursday. He helps manage the community, get questions in and he drops a couple in here. So let's, let's go and see a couple of the ones that he's pulling up from here. So we'll say, how do you continue? How cool. There you go. So how do you need to set high goals for yourself after winning a world cup? That was a good one. I like that.
Sam Mewis (20:51):
That is a good one. EJ. Thanks. So this is an awesome question. I think that it's interesting. I felt like for, I don't know, 24 hours after the world cup, I was like, okay, like we just did it. Maybe it was a little longer than 24 hours. It was probably like three or four days. And I was kind of like exhaling and like really appreciating what had just happened. It was like this huge lifetime milestone. I got to celebrate with my family and friends, but I something even very like soon after just switched back on I think where I was like, we did this, I just accomplished something huge, but it's not enough and I want to keep going. There's, there was at the time such a quick turnaround between the world cup and the Olympics.
Sam Mewis (21:40):
And like I said earlier, I hadn't made the Olympics in 2016 so the Olympics has kind of always been on my radar and always been this big thing that had evaded me the last time. And I, I, I had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder about it. I really wanted to make it this time. So it never really left my mind. And I immediately was like, all right, I need to get back to my club team, get back on track, start playing again and start trying to make the Olympic team as well as playing for the courage and, and competing to win. And it was all championship. So I don't know how, but I think it was just something within me that that clicked back on. And I wanted to keep fighting for more. I think one of the things, sorry, I'm kind of rambling, but I think one of the things that's cool about the U S women's national team is that winning one world cup like doesn't even make the list.
Sam Mewis (22:36):
Like, so many women have won two world cups and they've won three or four Olympics and they have these long lists of their accomplishments. So it's, my teammates are all so driven and so willing to accomplish something and move on and accomplish something else. That it kind of makes you have that mindset of like, what's next? What can I work on now? And I think I've had this kind of like long standing model that the, the struggle and the journey is what is supposed to fulfill you. So reaching the top is so fun and it's like so incredible and amazing and but it's, it's the climb that sustains you and it's the climb that is what really gives you like purpose and, and direction and satisfaction. So getting back to that kind of came naturally, I think. Love that. And I understand the ramble means you're really thinking about it and you're like, Oh wow, now I'm thinking about this experience. And I know, and I was like, Oh wait, this is true. So no problem with that. Okay. So we'll take it down a notch. I'm getting better at this and just, it's like, you know what I mean? We're figuring out [inaudible] you're doing great.
Quincy Amarikwa (23:46):
I'm all about just, hi. I'm just like, yo, let's get to the crux of our everything mentality. Let's go. But okay, a good one. So Julianne demerit asks, what three things would you bring on a deserted Island?
Sam Mewis (24:00):
Oh, can they be people? Do you think?
Quincy Amarikwa (24:02):
I'll say this is what's great about this is you get to decide where ever you take on the EMyth and the MSL. We, we ride the wave together. We go wherever, wherever you want to take us. We're, we're down.
Sam Mewis (24:15):
Okay. I would bring my husband, I would also probably bring my sister and I think I'd have to bring us this is going to be so boring. I'd bring us like a nice, a basket of food. I don't know, maybe plants, planted gardens. We can survive. I don't know what it is to people, I think. Okay. all right.
Quincy Amarikwa (24:47):
Let's say, okay, now I'm thinking of a question totally on the fly. Cause I liked the question that the person asks about the deserted diamonds. So like a punk, like hunger games. Yeah. If there's a hundred people in hunger games, one a hundred being die for us first being wind, the whole thing. Where do you think you fall and how do you go about playing the game?
Sam Mewis (25:10):
Yeah. Wow. That's hard. I would, I wouldn't want to kill anybody. I don't think I could. I think I could. I think I could, but I wouldn't want to. So I would probably like run around on the outskirts and like wait for the other people to take care of each other. And then when it came down to it, I think I'd be like, alright, let's go.
Quincy Amarikwa (25:36):
Okay. Based on your, based on your strategy, where do you think you fall on the list?
Sam Mewis (25:40):
Oh yeah. Oh God. Top 10. I think top 10.
Quincy Amarikwa (25:44):
Top 10 for sure. Yeah. Calculated. I hope so. Geez.
Quincy Amarikwa (25:50):
Okay. That's a good one. We got a, so I don't know this about you. So first I'd ask, have you had any major injuries? Any setbacks?
Sam Mewis (25:58):
Yeah. so now I feel like I'm like telling my whole career story. So this, I didn't make the Olympics in 2016 and then I actually started every game for the national team in 2017, which was like a huge turnaround for me. But in the very last game of the year, I got this like, it's like a cartilage defect in my knee. And they were really pretty like worried about it. They didn't know if they should do surgery, but they also didn't really know if it was ever going to be the same and, and feel good enough to play on again. So I was kind of in this like hole for three months where nobody wants to do surgery. Nobody knew how it was going to heal. I was on crutches. It was this really like weird injury that didn't have an easy fix.
Sam Mewis (26:42):
And I was able to not ever get surgery and, and come back and about, I didn't really feel like myself for probably like eight or nine months. But I was starting to play again like about six months after the original injury. And I think that the uncertainty of it was the hardest part, but I definitely feel like not playing and not being around my teammates was a huge part of it too. I was kind of like stuck at home and didn't have like any real direction. It's actually like kind of like what's happening right now. So it was definitely weird and hard. And it's kind of also like an ongoing thing. It will flare up every now and then, which is frustrating. But it's a good lesson in that when I did come back to my team, I would get it on the field and just be like this and just be so happy to be out there and so happy to be playing again. So I think every time I get like fed up with doing fitness or fed up with traveling or tired or I kind of remember the time that I couldn't play. And I'm maybe thinking that people stuck at home right now during this quarantine and people who miss soccer so much. When we do finally get to go back, we'll just be like, Oh my God, this is the best. There's nothing that I don't like about it. I'm so happy to be out here. So sometimes hard things can end up being good things.
Quincy Amarikwa (28:04):
I agree. And appreciating it that much more and being grateful for the opportunity you have. So, okay, I love this cause there's a lot of context that we can build from the mentality. We call this basically, I call this mind mapping right? So we're talking about different experiences and I really appreciate your willingness to share your experiences, your perspective. Cause I think a lot of people don't necessarily have access to that because they don't have direct. So they have an idea of what they think it is as opposed to like, Hey wait, you struggled with your injury, you were uncertain. You didn't know. So, okay. There was the uncertainty and very similar to the situation that most everybody right now in the world is going through. I don't know if this is going to end, I don't know if it will end or sorry, I already said that.
Quincy Amarikwa (28:49):
I don't know if it's going to end. I don't know if it is when, and I don't know. It looks like once you get there, and I don't know if it'll be the same as it was now. Right. So that's very similar to an injury where you don't know what it is, surgery, we don't know how long it is and we don't know if we just missed out on what will be, what would been our entire career. Right. Yeah. So what was it that you focused on then that allows you to get to six months later, which is when it happened to be when you're back and then obviously nine months before you actually felt like, who you were when you started?
Sam Mewis (29:24):
Yeah, well, so I'd say the beginning part. I focused on my relationships a lot. I think that I was going through a really tough time and my own uncertainty I mean my family felt that uncertainty too. My, my parents were really upset, my husband was really upset. And I think that it kind of took even like my teammates, I mean having to like reach out and explain it to people, my coaches having to say, this is what the doctor said. So I feel like at first it was like this relationships thing, like who can help me get through this? Can we help each other? Can we lean on each other? Like this is obviously like a tricky and like potentially really devastating thing to have happen. So I think at first I definitely focused on the people in my life and, and how we could lean on each other to help each other out.
Sam Mewis (30:15):
And then as I started to get back into playing, I in retrospect, I wish I had focused on taking it one day at a time. I think I'm not like the pillar of mental strength in any way. I think I had a tough time. I was constantly looking too far into the future and wondering about all the possibilities, all the failures that could happen. What is it never feels good. What if I can never play again? What if I never make the world cup of the Olympics? But looking back, if I had just taken it one day at a time and said, this is what I can do today, I can make my quad stronger. I can ice my knee and get the swelling down and I can work on strengthening the other parts of my body. I think I would have been in a much better Headspace.
Sam Mewis (30:59):
So that's my recommendation. It's not exactly what I did. And then I think coming back onto the fields enjoying it, enjoying my teammates, knowing and understanding that I wasn't going to be perfect every day. I didn't get my starting spot back right away. It's still an ongoing battle. There are days that my knee still hurts. And kind of just knowing and accepting that it was never going to be the same, but I could be better. I could develop my game in different ways. I learned so much from it and I started to enjoy the game because I had missed it so much. So I was enjoying it that much more and just kind of enjoying being out there with my teammates and having a lot more fun with it. So I'd say those were like the phases of how he came back.
Quincy Amarikwa (31:40):
I love that you really broke it. I'm loving this cause you breaking it down, but this is really good because Hey, these were all the things that came through my mind, all the doubt, all the uncertainty. Oh my God, is it over? And it could. And the thing is, it could be, and luckily you made it back out on the other side and you can self reflect and say, okay, data time, what is in my control? And we talk a lot about that here in terms of focus on what you can control and the, and there's very few things that you actually have within your control. And sometimes that scares people. Yeah. But it should be liberating because now it's not as overwhelming. So yeah, so that
Sam Mewis (32:19):
Actually, sorry to interrupt, but it just makes me think about what's going on right now. I mean, I've been thinking for months about, Oh my God, am I going to make the Olympics? Oh my God, what am I gonna do at this camp? Oh my God, this schedule is going to be so busy. When am I going to see Pat? When am I going to go home? And now none of that is important. Like none of that's even happening. So it,
Quincy Amarikwa (32:40):
Not that this is good, obviously the situation isn't good, but just from a mental perspective, tripping about things in the future is such a waste of energy. Because who knows, I'm so sorry. I went on another tangent there. Okay. It's not a tangent and we're riding the wave and I love that. So if there's anything that sparks your mind and you want to take it that way, I'm, you're not interrupting me. It's, it's great. I love it because the main thing is making for us the mental strength league and our mentality is saying, listen, chaos and uncertainty is an advantage. It is an opportunity for us to learn and to grow. And our ability to do so is directly related to our ability to look at what's in front of us, what's in our control and committing to putting in the reps like we talked about day after day and not getting so far into the future that we overwhelm ourselves.
Quincy Amarikwa (33:35):
So we can't take action today. And I think a big issue that a lot of, especially the younger generation tends to struggle with is we are in the information age, there is an unlimited amount of information and knowledge and it can breed a very small world that the younger generation is living in. Because unfortunately, and we've all heard ignorance is bliss, right? The younger generation can't be ignorant of their decisions anymore. Like previous ones. Cause you can look and see someone who made a mistake. But what they can't see is that mistake is what allowed them to become who, who they are. Yeah. So I I love the fact you are a pillar of mental strength because you're willing open and able to acknowledge and admit your mistakes out loud. Right? So you said, I didn't do this, but this is what I should have done.
Quincy Amarikwa (34:31):
This is what I, how I should go about it. And if I really looking at it, all of that worry, all that mental energy in space and things that I use now standing here, it was a waste. Totally. That's great. Thanks. No, of course. No, I'm loving it. But this is great because this is where what we talked about. So we've got a couple of things with the MSL, right? Adapt or die, now's the perfect time for adapter died. Make mistakes. The most valuable lessons in your life were those when you make a mistake. And the perspective you take once you make a mistake is most important. So acknowledging it, sharing it and moving forward is awesome. And I've just, I've seen, I'm, I'm seeing the way in which you're going about sharing information and expressing your experience. And to me it's no coincidence as to why you've gotten to the level you have and you'll be able to continue to maintain that level and go even farther.
Quincy Amarikwa (35:28):
So Testament to you and your mentality. I would not say you are mentally weak.
Sam Mewis (35:33):
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Quincy Amarikwa (35:36):
Now this is this is really good. I like this a lot. Let's see. So everyone, if you're loving all the, all the, all the just gems and experiential knowledge being dropped by Sam here, spam that heartburn. I don't know spam the heart button does anything, but we always tell them the spam, the heart button cause we, we can see it a drop in the comment section, what you've taken away or what you've learned from Sam so far today. So we can, so we can see it. We, like we said, we want to learn and you guys picking up what we're putting down or are we just a bunch of crazy people talking about random stuff here right now? Let's see.
Sam Mewis (36:14):
Maybe we're crazy and they like it. Who knows?
Quincy Amarikwa (36:17):
Correct. W the w w who was I talking with? I'm talking with Earl. The crazy person's the person I'm paying attention to and listen to too. Cause I'm like, Hey, you know what? What if they're right? Yeah, but they're probably not. I go, yeah, but what if they are? What if that crazy person's telling you soccer, the entire world's gonna shut down shut. Who would have thought? Who would've thought? Exactly. So let's see what we got here. I got a couple, a couple more questions in this side. Let's see what we've got here. Got my show notes, taking it professionals. There we go. Oh, this one's, this one's selfishly for Earl. What were the small sided games like in the off season at UCLA girl and the men's soccer players?
Sam Mewis (37:08):
Yeah. So I have like a vivid memory. We would play like three V3 me, me and a couple of my teammates against three of the guys and I was training for the [inaudible] world cup and they wanted us to like do heat acclimation. So I had all these like layers on and the boys were just like so quick, so fast, so good. We definitely had a couple of close games, definitely had a couple of W's in my day. But I just remember like, it was such a good workout in such a good way for us all to train together. And we used to have such a great time. We would hop the fence on a field we definitely weren't supposed to be on and just play for like hours. It was awesome. So much fun.
Quincy Amarikwa (37:48):
That's, that's that was pretty cool. I went to UCLA for a pre, for a premed trip camp at Lake when I was, what, 12 or 13 years old. Okay, cool. And that was what I wanted that to be my, that was my first school of choice, but unfortunately I didn't get in. I didn't get in. [inaudible] But, you know, but I, I really liked the campus is really cool. Yeah. Let me see. Okay. We'll keep it at UCLA. What was it like to win the first ever national championship for women's soccer at UCLA?
Sam Mewis (38:22):
It was awesome. I think that was one of the reasons I decided to go there was because I wanted to be a part of that. And the school, the team at the time was recruiting just like such talented players for my class. So I kind of saw that and wanted to be a part of it. And it was our junior year that we won. And I, it was awesome. I mean, it was like a dream you, we had, I think we were like a two seed and we had to play three of the number one seeds to get to the final. So it was kind of like, it felt like an underdog story. It was like really cool. We won in double overtime. We had to get, go through PKS to get to the final. It was just crazy. So some of the girls from that team, we just did like a group zoom call the other day. Like we're still really close friends and it's so much fun playing with your friends like that and then getting to keep in touch and just share ridiculous stories from college and from all the games and fun we had.
Quincy Amarikwa (39:19):
No, I love that. We didn't, we didn't quite win a [inaudible] championship, but I've I've been hearing a lot of the, a lot of guys in our sides sharing those stories cause everyone's going kind of going on live a lot more and yeah, those sound, those sound like really good, great experiences. So yeah, it was awesome. I was very lucky. Zuri ass Zuri. Dot. B E had asked, what's your favorite hype song before a game?
Sam Mewis (39:47):
Yeah, so I, I have this like, it's like my one superstition, I don't even know if it's a superstition, but I listened to this one wonder years song before every game. It's called passing through a screen door. It's awesome and it's like very like hype intense.
Speaker 1 (40:05):
I like that. I haven't heard that. I'm going to have to, I'm going to have to listen to that one. Yeah, you're going to be like, Whoa. A Krista Chris diff asks Christopher, the wind asks, is this recording? Yes. we record the lives. Obviously there'll be live replay for the 24 hours, but we've got our PR, the perfect soccer team team of 13 people who helps us make sure that we post produced the show within 24 hours where we publish this show all the clips and highlights from the show over on perfect soccer skills.com. So make sure you guys head over there so that you can get to the replay if you weren't able to join us from the beginning of the live. Sam has been dropping some Matt, just spiritual mental bogs on everyone's face. You'll definitely have to relisten several times to really get all of the all of the wisdom that's been shared here cause he know what it is on the perfect soccer account. Oh, okay. Here's one for you. I did some, I've got some reconnaissance research just really getting deep here. So how do you feel about Tom Brady leaving the Patriots?
Sam Mewis (41:10):
Ah, no. Ah, it's a huge bummer, but I mean, I get it. He's got to do what's best for him. Like I'm a big Tom Brady fan. I always will be. I'm still gonna root for the Patriots. Obviously. it stinks. We love Tom. I hope. I hope he retires a Patriot whenever he wants to retire, whether soon or not soon. I'm a big fan. I support them a lot, so I hope he's happy and I wish him well. Not that he cares what I think.
Quincy Amarikwa (41:42):
Oh, we'll see. This'll get, Hey, everybody makes sure Tom gets this because Tom needs to know that Sam sales supports him and still supports him even though she's disappointed in him. Okay. I don't know if I said disappointed for myself. I got it. She's disappointed. She's, she's bummed that she does not get to see him in the Patriots uniform anymore. Are you going to root against him when, when he plays against your team now?
Sam Mewis (42:11):
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'm not gonna like actively hate him, but like I'm a Patriots fan. I, I want the pictures to win. [inaudible]
Quincy Amarikwa (42:19):
Gotcha. Okay. If whichever team he's with, if he wins at the expense of the Patriots, will you still be happy for him?
Sam Mewis (42:29):
No.
Quincy Amarikwa (42:33):
Okay. I'd like to, so owl, what made you Patriots fan and how long have you been a Patriots fan for?
Sam Mewis (42:39):
I mean, I just like grew up, I'm from I grew up like 20 miles South of Boston. And so my family just always watched the Patriots. It's kind of like you have to be a Patriots fan when you're from my area, so it's, it was just born this way. But I mean, I like being a Patriots fan is the best. We, we win a lot. So it's definitely humble, humble brag. I mean, we went a lot, but you know, like just, you know,
Quincy Amarikwa (43:05):
Hashtag winning Amy Z super, you know, it'd be whatever. Ariana said, Sam, thank you for being an inspiration. You inspired me to play soccer again. Um purple hearts.
Sam Mewis (43:21):
That's very sweet.
Quincy Amarikwa (43:23):
Do you have any questions for the followers and the fans? Anything? Like, here's your chance to get some feedback in whatever you got. Whatever you
Sam Mewis (43:30):
Oof. I think I just, I kind of want to hear like what are people doing in the quarantine? What are people watching? What's, what's the cool thing? My roommate and I did make it ticked off the other day, not posting it. But we did it to just like kill an hour. So we like learned to dance and I nailed it. But, but no way are we supposed to get an absolutely.
Quincy Amarikwa (43:54):
We won't know if you did or not unless you share.
Sam Mewis (43:58):
Oh yeah. People, I don't think people want to say,
Quincy Amarikwa (44:00):
Hey guys, you guys want to see a Sam's unofficial tic talk. Maybe you got a social pressure her into releasing it on her platform so you guys can see your dance skills.
Sam Mewis (44:10):
Oh dear. Oh my goodness. So
Quincy Amarikwa (44:16):
Earl had mentioned that you had started a business in the past. Are you, and not naturally an entrepreneur. Do you have any businesses that you're currently running? Where are you at in that part of the PR in your process as a, as a player?
Sam Mewis (44:28):
Yeah. yeah. So in 20, I forget, 2017 maybe my sister and our best friend all three of us were playing in the league and we started kind of just like a blog. It was for like, it was intended to be like for female athletes to just like talk about our lifestyle. My, my one friend would post like really funny blogs. She's, she's just like a hilarious person. So that was kind of her angle. And then my sister would post more like fashion stuff and I think I would like, I don't know, do whatever I was interested in at the time. And we all ended up kind of just like moving on to other things. But right now my sister and I have a company that will do camps and clinics. We did our first clinic this past December which was so much fun that, that company is called Munis United, which I thought was so clever and my sister was like, Sam, that's the most unoriginal thing ever. But we'll see how it goes. So it's been having fun with that. But for the most part just focusing on soccer. But especially right now cause we're quarantined. I'm my, I feel like my mind is, is going and I like wanna do something more productive. But I haven't really landed on anything yet. Okay.
Quincy Amarikwa (45:43):
Well, Hey if you need help I love, I love entrepreneurship in business and I'll do it. Maybe you talk to Earl and you'll see like I give him plenty of stuff to work on. So if you, and this is what I tell everybody if you need stuff to work out, I can put you to work.
Sam Mewis (46:00):
All right. Well I have your email. I might, I might be reaching out. It looks at tasks.
Quincy Amarikwa (46:06):
Hey, even if we're starting out on the a, you want to start your column back up on the site and blog. I know people would love that. And then from there we could we can start sharing at least with a, well obviously you during camps or in person, but Ryan, so Ryan's got a lot of his Ryan's the B pro general manager. He's been building out our online programs so that everyone can work from home. So we've been doing this for like two years now and now that everybody's coming, obviously being forced to be online, now we're going, okay, we really gotta make sure we're creating those, those programs. So everyone has access to them. Yeah, yeah. No, if you were wanting to do that, I know, I know all the kids would love to see whatever stuff that you're doing at home would be cool. Let me see what else we got here. Okay, so you're getting some of the questions or some of the responses are coming in from, so from what you asked dang it. Sorry. I saw a good one and I was wanting to make sure I was fine doing that. I miss that. Emma said in this quarantine, I'm watching Sam Sam's highlights of the women's world cup. They am. Thank you for inspiring me. Ryan said Quincy. Tell Sam, does she remember the two goals she scored versus South Africa?
Sam Mewis (47:26):
I do. Well, I remember one, I think I remember them
Quincy Amarikwa (47:33):
Just score. Just go on so many goals. It's hard to keep track of. Hey, the Ritchie said I'm watching the 2013 game and studying, studying what they do because I want to play for the women's national team one day.
Sam Mewis (47:52):
That's awesome Mike. So I'm watching the game watching the us women's national team. My sister and I used to have the old games on VHS, on tape. And I have like the 99 women's world cup common Timur commentary memorized. Like, so when I hear highlights from it, I like know exactly what he's going to say. Because we just watched it so many times. We watch all those games over and over and over. So I think that's like an awesome thing for you guys to do.
Quincy Amarikwa (48:20):
Okay. I love, see you're just coming out with the just, I'm loving what you're sharing. Okay? So this is, this is extremely important. Okay? So we talk a lot about on here what there's, there's different ways you can watch the game. You can watch the game as a fan, but you can also watch the game as a student of the game. So you're saying you watch it so much that you remember you've memorized the commentary of what the people were saying during this game. Okay? So there's a Testament to repetition, repetition as well as how were you, how are you watching the game? What are you watching and how do you believe it is different than how most people watch the game?
Sam Mewis (48:59):
Well, I mean, when I watch now I watch my own clips a lot and oftentimes I'll go through them with my coach. So I'm watching when I watch myself, I'm very critical, kind of constantly saying, how could this have been better? What should I, what was the best decision in this situation and what decision did I make and why? How could I have looked over my shoulder again? How could I have shielded her this way instead of this way? But when I watch other people play, like I watched the EPL a lot. I love watching man city and Kevin de Brenna and I, the way that he attacks the way that he sees the field final passes, he's such a great finisher. I'm, I watch much more positively where I see everything he does and I'm like, Oh my God, that was sick. How can I work on that? Sometimes when I'm like working on my shooting, I'll like in my head be like, work on this one and like try to like turn your body the way he did and it's like kind of embarrassing. But I think learning from players who are really, really good and trying to adopt like their tendencies and their style can be great if if you can, which I usually can't, but I'm trying.
Quincy Amarikwa (50:12):
No, I love that. I love that. Paul, shout out Paul Paul, just as, how do you think the NWSL can grow?
Sam Mewis (50:21):
That's such a great question. Thank you for bringing up the end of L. I am like really optimistic, excited about the to be Sal. I love playing in this league. I think that the best, one of the best things about it is that it's competitive from top to bottom. There's never really any blowouts like so many of the games are close and you know, every week it's going to be super competitive. I think there are a lot of ways it can grow. We can need to get more fans in the, in the stadiums. We need to have people watching on TV so that our TV deal keeps going. I think getting more teams in when, whenever that's feasible. Obviously we're not playing right now so it's, we're in like a tough spot just like everybody else's. But the interests like I really think it's there and I really think people will enjoy watching. So I would just prompt people to, if there's not a team in your area, pick one. The courage are awesome. You can watch games on TV. I don't have those details off the top of my head obviously. Cause nothing's scheduled yet. But I think that the league is definitely trending in the right direction. It's going to be around for a long time and be, be successful. So I'm excited. Nice.
Quincy Amarikwa (51:24):
Let's see. We've got Caitlin here and we're going to go rapid fire with everything cause Instagram kicks us off within an hour. I'm okay. I could end up keeping it. I could end up keeping you on it for super long. And I appreciate you taking the time to talk to everybody, share your experience, share your perspective. And I know everyone's loved it. They're going to love the replay, the clips. And I know everyone's gonna be talking about this for a long time, so I really appreciate your time. No problem. And so with these last five, so guys get your questions in last five minutes, I'll pick the best ones. And you know that there's no rhyme or reason to what I determined is the best. But this was, I get to do that. So deal with it. And I liked this one. So what Hogwarts house are you in?
Sam Mewis (52:02):
I want to be in Griffin door, but I think I'm really in Raven claw.
Quincy Amarikwa (52:07):
Love that C
Sam Mewis (52:09):
Maybe the hat will listen to me say that I want to be in grippy door. I don't know.
Quincy Amarikwa (52:15):
So our core values here, we have our seventh core values and it's going to be Amarikwa process. But the first three steps of that is the three essence of self-awareness. So self honesty, self self accountability. And I think you were, you were a a shiny example of self awareness. Cause I think it's extremely necessary to understand yourself. One, to be willing and open, okay. With making fun of yourself, understanding what you're good at, understanding what you're bad at and being okay with what you're good at and being okay with what you're bad at. I think these are all skills and things that take time to learn and take much practice. Lots of mistakes. So I've, like I said, I'm loving. Yes. Paul said she's elite 100.
Sam Mewis (53:03):
May I ask favorite dance move? Oh man. The first thing that popped into my head was the Douggie. I don't know. It's not actually my favorite kids, but I know that we were doing rapid fire, so I'll just throw it out there. That's good. Let's see. Okay, well now we've got a lot of hookah, man.
Quincy Amarikwa (53:26):
You are a popular one. Lots of questions in here. This is good though. Okay. Why is three your number?
Sam Mewis (53:36):
Well, honestly because Christie Rampone was three for a really long time. She had a long awesome career and when she retired I was like, just, I was kind of bouncing around between numbers like 29 and 32. So I think that as you retired, the number became available and I happened to just get it. But I have grown to love it and I think it's really cool that someone's so revered in the national team work for so long. And that I get to wear it now when I'm there. So it's really cool. It's also
Quincy Amarikwa (54:11):
Ross Ross, the Bo has asked when your career is over, what do you think your teammates will say about you?
Sam Mewis (54:21):
Wow. well I hope they say that I was a good teammate. I think that that's my number one priority is to serve the team and to be there for my teammates and to like lift other people up. And I hope that at that time that the team is left in a better place than I found it. I mean, I say that about the national team and my courage team. I, I hope that I've done a good job being there for my teammates and being like a good ambassador for the game. So I hope that's what they say.
Quincy Amarikwa (54:53):
Awesome. I love that. I like that one as the last question everybody, I appreciate the questions in and Sam, I thank you very much for taking the time to share your experience and, and just overall everything knowledge is, is, is really awesome. Is there no problem? Is there anything you want to ask the audience asks me, share, promote, let people know about, buy whatever it is that you, you'd want to share.
Sam Mewis (55:22):
No, I mean I just hope everybody's staying safe. I know this is a really hard time right now, but whatever you're doing, if you're even just juggling in your house, that will help. I think just know that whatever you can do right now for soccer, for yourself, it will pay off eventually when this is all over. So I hope everybody stays safe and healthy and thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.
Quincy Amarikwa (55:41):
Sam. Thank you very much. I know everyone is going to love it. Yeah, everybody
Quincy Amarikwa (55:47):
Give Samson Jesus' hands some I'm in your heads. All the loves family card button. Thank her again for joining in. Make sure you guys hear what spam her comment section, letting her know everything that you learned and what you took away from it. Make sure you're following her and staying up to date on everything that she's got going on over there. Sam, thank you very, very much. I know we'll we'll reach out here again in the sometime in the future. Hopefully we can get the the summary of everything that you accomplished after the quarantine is over.
Sam Mewis (56:15):
Oh, I hope so too. Thank you,
Quincy Amarikwa (56:19):
Sam. Thanks again. I appreciate it. No problem. See you.
Sam Mewis (56:22):
Bye. Bye.
Quincy Amarikwa (56:25):
All right, everybody love that. Drop them. I'm in your head emojis. I'm loving that. Thank you very much Sam. I want to make sure everybody is aware. With the quarantine, if you are wanting to have a program that you can use so you can stay fit, stay focused, make sure you head over to perfect soccer skills. Stop comm slash create account. That is perfect. Soccer skills.com/create accounts. We've got plenty of tools and resources over there for you guys to be able to listen to previous episodes of other pros who've been on the account here in the past as well as soccer specific training for you to do at home. So while we wrap up here in these last couple of couple of minutes, everyone drop in a little bit of what you learned today, what you took away and yup. Zara said, wash your hands.
Quincy Amarikwa (57:15):
Pete. Pete all said Sam is such a legend. Yes she is. It was great to have her on and share what she did. Joe Jackson had had a great, have a great night. Quincy. Earl. There we go. We'll put that here. Pin the comments. For those of you, make sure you go to perfect cyber skills.com/create accounts. Official memes. What a welcome. Thanks for staying, sticking around. And this said, I learned she's a beast. Exactly. Whitney, same a goat. I agree. And so to keep going, install said to keep going even if it's really hard. Yes, yes. Staying focused and committed. And hopefully you guys continue to join in here every Thursday for the show. Listen to previous episodes of the show. Subscribe to the podcast so you can make sure you're, you're listening to those who are going to help you continue to stay focused so you accomplish your goals.
Quincy Amarikwa (58:14):
A fan said thank you Sam and Quincy more than more United States, women national team players here soon. Hopefully we'll see. We'll reach out to a couple more. For those of you who would like us to interview pros appropriate choice, make sure you guys are spamming their Instagram accounts, letting them know that they need to join the us soccer pro show. I'm happy to. I'm happy to facilitate that. The one known is Anthony said, I'm going to go train while my dog tramples on me. Okay. A soccer fitness said, I learned to really focus when I watch games and be a learner. Loving that instant said who's coming on the live next. We actually haven't finalized our next week's guest. You guys know that we'll be going here live next Thursday, 6:00 PM PST 9:00 PM EST. Hopefully I'll be dropping the next official guest here soon.
Quincy Amarikwa (59:06):
But we're looking to try to plan out for the entirety of the month. I think it's been a bit influx because of the cause of the virus. But I think more we'll get, people are getting more dialed in on what they're going to be able to do here soon. So I to thank everybody again for joining in on the live. It was a great one. I learned a lot. Hopefully you guys learned a lot as well too. And make sure you guys head over, create your accounts, subscribe to the podcast, get on the giveaway list. We got some awesome stuff. You're coming over the next couple of weeks and you won't want to miss it at all. See you guys next week. I mean, you had MSL loving that. So you guys.