Why You Should ALWAYS Question Your Assumptions I #AskASoccerPro Show Ep 061

Listen in as Quincy takes YOUR calls and answers your burning questions about soccer and the MSL! 

Here's what we cover this week: 

00:00 – 04:10: Intro

04:13 – 10:34: Why Rush to Goal?

10:36 – 14:23: Questioning Our Assumptions

 14:25 – 17:10: Don’t Pretend to Know

17:12 – 19:07: Why It’s the Beautiful Game

19:08 – 22:58: It’s Not That Simple, Or Is It?

23:03 – 26:03: Be Pro

26:04 – 28:54: MLS is CANCELED

28:56 – 31:42: Quincy to Atlanta?!

31:46 – 40:11: Quincy Answers Your Questions

40:12 – 42:32: Atlantic City FC

42:34 – 49:22: What You Don’t Know…

50:00 – 55:24: What You Can’t Change

55:25 – 01:03:49: Making the Best of a Bad Situation

01:04:13 – 01:12:13: How to Stay Consistent

01:12:15 – 01:14:35: Life Happens

01:14:37 – 01:22:37: Conflict in the Locker Room

01:25:09 – 01:33:45: Be Smart… By Playing Dumb

01:33:47 – 01:35:14: Outro

If you would like to listen to the episode:

 

If you would like to watch the episode:

 

 

If you would like to read the show transcript:

*Interview transcript is unedited and machine-generated. There will be errors. For further clarity please refer to the audio or video.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:00:00):

We're all here to ride the MSL waves mentioned straight league. I'd like to welcome you to another episode of the #AskASoccerPro Show. Hep C H. I T just joined in underscore D underscore Z underscore nine underscore what's going on brother. I haven't seen you in a while. Ethan soccer 15. What's happening?

Quincy Amarikwa  (00:00:24):

All FC Tulsa. What's going on? Welcome. Yes, it has been awhile. Jordan, what's going on? Anis said Quincy, I said, yo, what up spam that heart button. Dropping your, I'm in your head. Emojis love seeing that you guys soccer dad for life. Welcome as always. [inaudible] T G a R N O 12 said it. Heard about it. Yeah. The sport being canceled. Yes I have. Yes, I have heard and unfortunately I have some unfortunate news for tonight as well too. Thank you guys. Spam in that John Hollinger, I see that you're joining in with your with the, with the spam in that heart button dropping the, I'm in your head emojis, everybody. I'm loving that. Connor said, Hey Quincy, what's going on? Connor? John said, MSL baby loving that. I want to cry. L a. L. M. A O L said

Quincy Amarikwa (00:01:19):

I hate MLS memes. What's going on? Welcome to the live. Perfect. Perfect life. Joined in. Matt, what's going on? What's going on? Yes. What's up dude? You good if I asked you don't get what? I don't know why you don't get on the best team. Oh dude, you're good. Okay, good dude. You're good as F w I don't get why you're not on a team. Hey, that is how an off season can go. Sometime doesn't look good in Australia. Ethan said yeah, there is not been a lot of great news happening in the, in the news cycle as you guys know.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:02:02):

Or maybe not. Unfortunately we've got some unfortunate news for tonight. As you guys know, we were supposed to have Kei Kamara join us in here on the live. As you guys can see there. We got Kei up on there, but we've got the official statement from him that I wanted to make sure that I shared with everybody. So they are aware. He has a family emergency and he has to attend and to promise to reschedule. So unfortunately Kei had a family emergency that came up last minute. As everybody knows, there's just a lot of stuff going on and everyone's making sure that they're keeping safe and doing what they're needing to do to make sure they are good and their family is good as well too. So you know, much love and support goes out to Kei. We'll, we are missing him tonight. It's unfortunate. We're loving and looking forward to you hearing and seeing the breakdown of a, of a top 10 MLS goal scoring champion. But Kai will definitely be joining us here in the near future and I'm hoping everything is going well

Quincy Amarikwa (00:03:15):

On

Quincy Amarikwa (00:03:17):

The family side of things. So what we're going to do tonight is a couple of similar to what we've done here in the past. We are going to take live call ins from those of you who are joining in. If you want your opportunity to get your questions, questions answered make sure you buzz in and call in. And I'll take a couple of calls here officially on episode 61 I think that's what we're on of the #AskASoccerPro Show. We're going to keep it going and we're going to take some of your guys' questions. So let's see what we got here and we're going to call it in and we're just going to get going. We're going to go, we're going to go with your guy and as you guys drop in here for the next hour, so we're waiting on and this and this. Jordan N guys makes you drop some of your questions down to the bottom call in and I'll add you in. Yo, what's going on, brother.

Anis (00:04:15):

What's poppin'? I'm good.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:04:16):

How are you doing?

Anis (00:04:18):

I'm great man. How are you?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:04:20):

I'm well. How about let us know your name and where you're calling from.

Anis (00:04:26):

My name is Anis and I'm calling from Philadelphia,

Quincy Amarikwa (00:04:30):

Anis from Philadelphia. That's what's up, brother. How long have you how long have you been following the account for Anis?

Anis (00:04:36):

I've been following account for about a year now. Yeah. About a year.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:04:41):

Time's going by. And why have you decided to stick around for what has been a year now?

Anis (00:04:48):

Well, obviously I'm just trying to get my mental game more, you know what I mean? I'm just trying to get a better mental game and what's going to overall boost my physical and technical game.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:05:00):

Nice. So what if before I get to your questions stuff, cause I like this, we've got to follow her call a man. He's been falling for over a year, which is awesome. So what, what have you felt has been helping you improve your mentality? Why, what have you been getting? Why, why would you stick around for a year and hopefully for many more years to come?

Anis (00:05:20):

Well, just for the fact that, that you get to talk about your experiences and I'm talking to other professionals like you and just going from there and then it could help me. And that kind of helped many people like me get better in the mental game and obviously just get the reps in with you and Ross and everything. So yeah. And obviously all you have, all the information you guys have given out. It's really like really good for, for many young players like me.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:05:50):

Awesome. Awesome. All right man. So let's get into it cause I want to make sure I'm answering a couple of people. We're going to forget a couple of people here. The line. What's your question? How can I [inaudible] on this? Yeah, I'm not sure. I think there's just some technical difficulties there with Instagram can hear while everybody else joins back in on the live there we go back at it. Jordan. Yeah. What up everybody? A CB? Four. One, three. Okay. There we go. Yeah. I don't know what happened. We had a technical difficulty, but we're back. So, yeah. Yeah. What was your question? But my question,

Anis (00:06:25):

It was for me, for somebody that plays in the midfield a lot and that likes to score goals and everything, I'm, I'm very hype when I get the ball, you know what I mean? I, I kinda rush, I rush to things a lot rather than taking a touch then doing, you know what I mean? Dribbling or doing a skill, I usually just like to rush the goal and just try to get a shot. Okay. So, and sometimes, sometimes once I get the ball and I see a run, sometimes I like to force the past somebody. I mean, so I just try to force things. Sometimes I have a rush, a rough touch because I'm too hype and obviously when I'm like calm down and everything, I don't have that rough touch or I don't rush as much if I'm in a calm state. Some I just want to get better in controlling my emotions and how to do that in this stuff.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:07:23):

Okay. Got you. So then let's kind of break it down a little bit so you're able to, you're able to assess that you're rushing, right? So you're saying right now, like I, I tend to rush, I tend to force passes. I tend to be predictable because I'm excited. Yes. Okay. But why are you excited?

Anis (00:07:45):

Well, let's say if I was to do a counter attack or anything, I would rush to goal. I would, once I get the ball like I was, the ball was on my feet. I would rush, I would run rather than taking it like having a little pause then. You know what I mean?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:08:00):

I believe so. Hold on. Let's so let's stop. Yeah. So I'm saying answer, answer my question. Why are you rushing?

Anis (00:08:08):

Because I want to score.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:08:10):

Why do you feel you need to score right now?

Anis (00:08:15):

Well, to get a goal and just get, it's kinda hard to answer that question really.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:08:21):

But it's, it's, it's not that hard. You're making it hard.

Anis (00:08:24):

Yeah, you're right.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:08:26):

So answer the question. Why do you feel you have to score right now?

Anis (00:08:31):

Because I want to get a goal and have the team having the upper hand.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:08:37):

Okay. So why do you want the goal right now? So let's really think about it. We're breaking it down with self. Honesty is our first one, so, okay. Why do you want to score the goal and be the one to score the goal?

Anis (00:08:50):

To get pride. To boost my confidence for the rest of the game.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:08:53):

Got you. So you want to score for yourself

Anis (00:08:58):

And for the team, which more

Quincy Amarikwa (00:09:04):

I would say I'm a team player rather than self player.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:09:07):

So then why, why rush rush passes if, if if it's not what's best for the team in the moment.

Anis (00:09:13):

Not trying to lose the ball.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:09:16):

Yeah, but you're losing the ball when you're rushing the pass.

Anis (00:09:18):

That's true. That's something I'm trying to find out too.

Speaker 1 (00:09:24):

No, you're not trying to find it. You're trying to find a reason why what you're doing is okay.

Anis (00:09:30):

I didn't think of it like that. Yeah.

Anis (00:09:41):

So when getting the ball in my feet, okay. I tend to, I tend to look for the pass first. If not, I dribble to goal

Quincy Amarikwa (00:09:56):

Okay.

Anis (00:09:59):

And when going to goal and if I see a pass, I usually force it rather than holding the ball for a bit, then making a bet passing the ball back or making it through ball, putting it through the defense. You know what I mean?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:10:17):

Yup.

Anis (00:10:18):

So, and obviously I'm not trying to lose the ball because the pressure and everything, you know what I mean? Okay. So that has to do with it too. I'm just saying in these problems just to put it out there and just, you know what I mean?

Anis (00:10:34):

Nah. You know what I mean?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:10:36):

Yeah, no, I understand. All right, so we're talking about the MSL, right? The mental strength league. Yes. And we're trying to be who we were yesterday. That's true. Yes sir.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:10:47):

So we have to question our own assumptions. QA, right? Quincy Amarikwa. I've got a question. Those assumptions baby. All right. Now you're assuming that you're a team player just because you say you are.

Anis (00:11:02):

Yup.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:11:03):

Okay. So that's an assumption. So we've got a question that if that was true and your care about the team first and you know that forcing the ball isn't what's in the best interest for the team yet, you still choose to do it. You're not being a team player, you're being a selfish player and you're doing it for yourself because you want you, you want the, you want the goal, you want the assists, you want the accolades, you want the attention, you want the glory. Yes. Okay. So what you're not practicing and implementing as patients and creating the best opportunity for a goal, the best opportunity for the past. So when you're saying I get the ball and I'm dribbling straight to goal, what about I get the ball and I'm dribbling to create space for the best pass for my teammates.

Anis (00:11:52):

Yeah.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:11:53):

Okay. Okay. Also, it depends on what your actual goal is, right? Like I've talked about and told a lot of you guys, the ones who tend to get rewarded in this, in this sport are the most selfish player on the, is the most selfish player on the field. The one who isn't playing for the team, they're playing for themselves to get goals, get assists,

Quincy Amarikwa (00:12:17):

Right?

Anis (00:12:17):

Yes.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:12:18):

We really are. We're talking about, we might be talking about two separate things. So if you're saying, if you're saying I want to be a better player and I want to make the best decisions on the field then you want to question your decision making process. And that's what we're talking about here right now. So if you know that you're rushing your passes, you're, you're making, you're making decisions that aren't in the best interest of yourself and the team because if you rush the past, you lose the ball, you're blamed for losing possession. Exactly. Okay. And then maybe you're having to make up for more work on the defensive side of the ball instead of keeping it

Quincy Amarikwa (00:13:01):

Right.

Anis (00:13:02):

Yeah. That's one of the fears too, is just losing the ball and then getting blamed for it.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:13:05):

So, okay. So then that's a separate, separate thing. So let's, okay, that's a separate thing. But all things you're talking about, all the problems you're projecting, you're saying you're speaking out, which is good cause you're, you're letting me know, okay, these are my fears, these are what I'm insecure about. This is what I'm having struggling with. All of them are fear of what other people have to say about you, how other people view you. I want everyone to see me as good. I don't want people to blame me for making the wrong pass.

Speaker 4 (00:13:35):

Yeah. Right.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:13:37):

So it's all, yeah, it's all external. Your confidence is tied to if you score a goal or not, rather than your confidence is tied to something that's within your control, like giving a hundred percent of your effort every time. Working to better learn and understand the game. If you're chasing what's popular, you're not going to develop into, you're not going to develop into the type of player that can, that can withstand the longterm. Right. We've talked about the longterm winner's mindset here. Yes. Yeah. So yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, so let's go, let's go back to to this question. Let's go back to those questions again. Now that we've kind of thought about it, cause I see you're thinking about it a little bit differently. Yeah. Okay. So let's re ask that question. Why do you rush your pass or the play?

Anis (00:14:46):

Well, as, as we were saying, is this to help the team on,

Quincy Amarikwa (00:14:51):

But is that true?

Anis (00:14:55):

Is that true in a way that obviously when getting the ball, they not trying to lose it nods for wanting to be the ones to lose an interview. If you are the ones who lose it, you you'd be the ones who go get it back as soon as possible and as possible. So obviously try to hold it and then wait for chances and be patient on the ball.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:15:19):

Okay. So, okay, so now you're trying to search to find the right answer. Yes. Okay. So if you don't know, ask.

Anis (00:15:30):

Got it. Yeah.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:15:31):

If you don't know, ask, it's okay to not know. Right. And that's what's, that's what's difficult I think for younger players to understand because many coaches don't create an environment where they want you to question them and to ask them stuff. Like I just know best because I, because I'm older than you are because I know more or whatever. Right? Yes. Which can be difficult and I understand that a lot cause I'm someone who questions things a lot, but I'm not, I'm questioning because I want to learn. I want to understand. So so when you do have an opportunity to learn and it is a coach or is an individual or someone you feel wants to help you learn, don't pretend to know something. Ask for understanding

Speaker 4 (00:16:22):

[Inaudible]

Anis (00:16:22):

So rather than saying, yeah, ask for explanation. Okay.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:16:26):

Ask for how you came to the explanation, right? Because what's what works for me and might not work for someone else. So let me give you a specific example. You said, well if you lose the ball, obviously you want to be the one to win it back right away, right? You said obviously. Yeah. Well that's not obvious for a center back who is out of position and loses the ball. That's true. Maybe the best thing for them to do is to delay slow down and wait for help to come and double team.

Anis (00:16:54):

But I would just speaking in my case in that, in that one saying that, yeah, but yeah, I understand.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:16:58):

Correct. But depending on where you are on the field, that's not necessarily always the correct answer. Yes. You said, I tried dribbling out of my own 18 when you know when I shouldn't have and someone won the ball,

Anis (00:17:10):

Yup.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:17:12):

So that's why I'm saying it's very, the thing that the game of soccer is very scenario specific position specific. Right. And that's why it's a beautiful game. You can play it a bunch of different ways and depending on what your individual goals are can change how, what thought process is best for you in that particular moment in time. Right. Like if you're trying to get to a professional level, I wouldn't say that being a team player is the best way to go about doing that. And that's kind of counterproductive. Most people be like, what are you talking about? Yeah. Right. Yeah, yeah. Tends to be the person who always dribbles and goes to goal and tries to get the goal and tries to thread the needle and tries to make that pass because either they learn how to figure it out and pull it off eventually, which makes them very unique and very talented and something that no one else can do. Or they don't pull it off and they don't make it up to the next level.

Anis (00:18:15):

Yup.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:18:15):

Okay. So even though we've discussed what we've discussed at this point, I would not say, Hey, don't try to thread that needle. Don't try to make the, making the dangerous pass threading the needle scoring goals, creating chances. That's, that's what the game is about. That's what coaches are paying attention to. So when I'm talking to you, what I'm expressing is, Hey, why are you doing it so we can understand what you're scared of? Why are you scared of it? And what do you need to do to block that, that portion out? So you're doing something, yeah, you're doing, you're only doing something because you're scared of failure. Well, I don't think that's a good reason to not do it. Of course. So making sense?

Anis (00:19:07):

You're making total sense.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:19:09):

Okay. You have any other questions?

Anis (00:19:14):

Something that also has to do with is like hesitation, like overthinking when getting the ball and everything. You know what I mean? So one forcing thepass, you obviously hesitate to do it the first time rather than, you know what I mean? The second time. Does that make sense?

New Speaker (00:19:36):

Okay. So four. Okay. You when you're just fine. Okay. So let me think. When you're describing forcing the pass, what you're saying is you see the past, it's on you second guess yourself. Yeah. You delay, then you go, no. Okay, go for it. And then you play and that by that time everyone knows where you're going and they cut off the pass and then you're kicking yourself.

Anis (00:20:00):

Exactly.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:20:00):

Okay. So then the question is, if you see the past, why are you hesitating? So why do you believe you're hesitating?

Anis (00:20:12):

I guess disbelief for like self belief or just probably thinking it's probably not going to go through then it's pretty much hesitating. I just pretty much,

Quincy Amarikwa (00:20:23):

Yeah, but why? Okay. Hesitation is happening. Why? Because you're scared of it not calling off because you're not fit enough yet. You haven't put in enough reps?

Anis (00:20:36):

Scared of when it, when it's not going to go through pretty much.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:20:41):

Okay. So I want you to think about, okay, if you're scared that it isn't going to go through. Yeah. And that's why you hesitate, but then you forced it anyway. What's the point of being scared?

Anis (00:20:59):

No point actually. Yeah, no point.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:21:11):

So those are the things you got to kind of think about. And sometimes people are like, wait, it's not that simple. Or it can't be that simple. Most of the time it is. Cause you're not, you're just not asking yourself. You're, you're, what you're seeing is reinforcing why you do what you do. So you're thinking like, Aw man, there's the past. Oh, is this the right time? I don't know if it's the right time. Yeah. Oh no. All the times, the times past force it then you see it didn't work. Now the next time you get there again, you remember the last time, Oh, don't do what you did last op and now all of a sudden you're treating habit of doing that and then you only see the negative happening. So now it's negative reinforcement and you train, yeah. You're training yourself to do that.

Anis (00:22:10):

I understand. Yup.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:22:14):

[Inaudible] Your brother. So like focus I think that's a good place to start. And since you've already been following the account and stuff, you you keep, keep keep putting in the reps, keep putting in the work and keep questioning what it is that you're doing. Thinking on it trying trying to implement those types of things. And it's just a habit. It's confidence and built over time. Right? Like you're not going to get it right the first time and understanding under that.

Anis (00:22:42):

No, I understand.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:22:46):

Yeah, brother. Hey, but I appreciate you following the account man, and calling in is a good one, man. We'll have to get you in here again in the future. You let me know how everything works out.

Anis (00:22:56):

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:22:58):

Thanks, you too later.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:23:03):

That was a good one. I like that. I know a lot of you guys are running into issues with hesitation and especially on the field, not knowing, not really being able to assess why things aren't going as planned or how you would like to see them to go. And that really comes down a lot to not taking the time to question your own assumptions. Let's see. Joe Jackson, what's going on? Brother asked, how do you get your decision making quicker? Is it just repetition to know what to do in certain situations or something else? How do you get your decision making quicker? Yeah, repetition rep, excuse me. Repetition is extremely important in a decision making.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:23:58):

We spent a lot of time thinking through different things and breaking down what it is that we're, we're thinking in how to go about thinking about stuff, but nothing, it doesn't equally compare it to going out and getting the actual reps and seeing, seeing things in action over and over and over again. I think improving, improving your decision making comes down to making as many mistakes as possible. Recognizing those mistakes and learning from those mistakes. And I think a lot of people are scared to make mistakes and because they avoid making mistakes, they actually avoid improving and getting better. John said that was great. Nice. Muhammad, what's going on? Mama said, can you teach me how to kick? Yeah, you head over to perfect soccer skills.com/p S T M that's perfect soccer team member. Create yourself a perfect soccer team member account.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:24:59):

We've got all our of our books, videos and training center over there and while we are, while we're at it, you'll shout out Ryan mash, B pro general manager. He was a special guest on the perfect soccer podcast this Monday. If you guys haven't listened to that episode, make sure you go and check that out. Ryan has been working with me now for over a year and a half. Helping me build out the B pro division. We've got some awesome mentality training set training programs about to go live here in the next like two and a half weeks, three weeks. That's our paid program. That's for those of you who are wanting some soccer, soccer specific monthly training programs daily, daily workouts, daily routines, skills training and soccer, homework and education. That one's going to be dope. And then I know a couple of people are reaching out about reaching out a bout mental strength training. So, you know, I worked with a couple of pros on that side. So let's see. Ryan, Ellie, 24 requested to join in, so we'll get him in here and get his question answered.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:26:14):

Yo, yo.

Ryan (00:26:15):

Hey.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:26:20):

Oh, what's that? I think the Internet's not doing too good.

Ryan (00:26:23):

Yeah. The Internet's not doing too good. How are you?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:26:28):

I'm doing well. Can you say your name and where are you calling from?

Ryan (00:26:32):

I am calling to California. My name is Ryan. I live in San Jose. Where you used to play. Yeah, San Jose. Yeah. Awesome. We used to play, What are your thoughts on the MLS being canceled because of the virus?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:26:46):

I think I think it's the right action to take, especially with the uncertainty of the severity of the kind of pandemic. I know. What was it? The world health organization officially sanctioned or designated it as a pandemic which, which which really, so I think epidemic ...There's levels of outbreak then epidemic epidemic is region specific. Pandemic means it's not specific. So it's kind of like a worldwide sped spread. And I think it's the, I think it's the right move from for precaution just because of the, the nature at which the, the virus is contagious at this point in time. So it is unfortunate and it's sad because I know 25th year of MLS people were being very excited. You know, Beckham has been on the tour promoting inner Miami and I think everyone was really excited about this year. There's a lot of great momentum. The CBA just got recently finished. I think players were ready and looking forward to the, to the year as well as fans. But I think it's the right move.

Ryan (00:27:58):

Yeah. And did you hear about a lot of professional soccer players getting the Coronavirus? Like there was like some reports about [inaudible] getting the Coronavirus and like Ronaldo is that true?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:28:09):

I couldn't confirm because I don't, I don't have any personal relationships with them, but I, I think from like the news outlets and sources that are following them are saying that there, there are cases of that. But again, it's hard to say because you know, unless you know, you know the source directly, you can't really say anything for sure. That's why I think a lot one of the, our slogan here is a others tell you what they think. Here. We tell you what we know. We only speak about things that we're, we're, we have direct contact with in terms of understanding like the, I guess the, the inner workings of, of, of an issue or, or an incident problem.

Ryan (00:28:56):

Like so since MLS is stopped, are you still playing with it? Any team in the MLS far right now or like are you, cause I, I haven't seen you on the field or anything, anything like that.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:29:07):

Yeah. So I'm in my free agency. You're still I'm still my free agency. This has been the longest off season of my free agency. And then, you know, you'll be in conversations with some organizations potentially signing somewhere. As you guys know, I say nothing is finalized and professional soccer until you have an actual contract in hand. So you can be talking with people, but talking doesn't mean anything unless they, unless you actually have a contract. And then unfortunately now the actual season has been postponed for the foreseeable future. So on the positive side of things, we still will be doing the #AskASoccerPro Show every Thursday. I'm getting your guys' questions answered. Having pros here on the show, unfortunately Kei was not able to attend until the last minute in emergency, but yeah I'm looking forward to these next couple of weeks. We'll probably be able to get a lot more pros and players on because they aren't playing. And I know that a lot of you guys would enjoy asking them questions and learning a bit more about their, about their stories.

Ryan (00:30:12):

Yeah. A lot. A lot of people have been saying the soccer news and with the Coronavirus it's pretty sad because other, the Coronavirus is spreading to the managers and stuff like that in Premier League. They're all canceling because of Coronavirus and there's nothing to do now, like the MLS. And did you hear, do you know who 'This Week in MLS' is?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:30:30):

Yeah. Eli. Yup.

Ryan (00:30:32):

Yeah, yeah. Eli he made a report about you going to Atlanta. Is that true? Atlanta United?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:30:37):

So he had wrote, he had wrote an article discussing 11 reasons why Atlanta should sign me. So it wasn't, it wasn't a report saying that they're signing me. He was writing a, he's writing the article on why he believes it would be a smart move for them to do so. And I must agree because they definitely should. And then I, I, yeah, Doug and Atlanta writer had wrote up a secondary art school coining the Quincy clause talking about the need for MLS pool forwards, which I think is a great read as well too. So we'll see. We'll see how that goes. But it was it was a, it was a good article, but again, I am biased because it was a positive article about me. So

Ryan (00:31:25):

I think that that move, you should go into that and that's, it is a great move because as you see that Josef Martinez is injured and you could be a great signing for them cause they need an extra striker right now. So I think that would be a good move.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:31:38):

Hey, thank you very much, man. I, I would not argue that. Awesome. Thanks for calling in Ryan. I appreciate that. Fin Hilti, what's going on? Welcome to the live. How you, how do something, I don't even know what that one is. What's going on, what's happening, what's happening? Sky freestyles. Welcome. Welcome. Yeah. Paul P, G S PCG seven. What's going on? D Z [inaudible] had come to Barsa. Hey, you know what, if there, if there a need, let me know. I'm down, I'm down to be there. And they said, I want to see you at the union. Come to the Union again. You guys let them know I'm all about it. But

Quincy Amarikwa (00:32:27):

Okay.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:32:28):

Yeah, if you guys got any questions, if anyone else has wanted to call in, please feel free to call in. For those of you who are joining in and we're expecting to see sir Kei Kamara goal scoring legend current Colorado Rapids forward was supposed to be joining us here today. Unfortunately had a last minute family emergency that he had to attend to, but he has promised to make it up to everybody and join us here again in the future. Luckily for us next week we will be having another goal scoring legend Bradley Wright-Phillips will be joining in on the live next Thursday. So though we will be missing Kei this week. We'll be having another goal scoring legend. Join us in next week. Let's see, ID see five Oh five one seven is joining in. So let me see what's going on, man. Let me know your name and where you're calling from.

CJ (00:33:33):

CJ from Maryland. How they [inaudible]. Really funny when you're on the field and making put of all those players, he's always gotten their head.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:33:45):

I've love it, CJ. So you're a United fan I'm guessing?

CJ (00:33:49):

Yeah. [inaudible] pointed that the MLS said right Corona, but

New Speaker (00:33:57):

Mmm.

CJ (00:33:58):

Yeah. I don't have school for two weeks. So happy. Oh man. So school got canceled. Yeah.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:34:04):

All right, so what are you going to spend your time working on in these two weeks? I'll be keeping up the grind in soccer?

Speaker 4 (00:34:13):

Yeah. Training gym.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:34:17):

There you go. I like that. Have you seen Ross? No room, no problem series? No. Okay. You got to check that out on YouTube because I know a lot of kids are currently not in school these next couple of weeks. And Ross [inaudible] has done a series to help you get your touches and your soccer fitness, keep it high even though you have to work out from indoors. So make sure you check that one out. All right, so you got a question for me.

CJ (00:34:47):

Um so did you stop playing? For DC?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:34:54):

Nope. So I I'm in my free agency right now, so I'm not, I'm currently not with DC. United.

CJ (00:35:07):

So how do you feel about this MLS and all the leagues getting canceled?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:35:12):

Um I just spoke on that a little bit I think with Kyle. Kyle, Just asked, but I think it's the it's the, the right move on the league from the league. And I think once we get a better understanding of the severity of the problem and how to give up the control, it'll make more sense to kind of get things back going again.

CJ (00:35:32):

Okay Quincy, I've gotta go. It was nice talking to you.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:35:34):

You're all good brother. Thanks for calling in. And I said, where can I find Ross's No Room No Problem Series? If you go to perfect soccer skills.com/youtube you should get to the,uuto all the videos and then you can type in no room, no problem. It'll pop up there. Uualso another way to make sure you're getting access to all of our content is going into perfectsoccerskills.com/.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:36:01):

1. S. T. M. That is P S. T. M. And you should, yeah, you'll be able to create your team membership account and get access to everything. Mmm. Quincy, can you follow me on Insta? I can. If you go to, if you go to perfect soccer skills.com/influencer fill out our application, get to ambassador level and you get yourself a follow back from our accounts. Joe said 68 here in the suburbs of Philly tomorrow. Feeling good. Liking that. We're planning on heading back here to California soon. So I'm looking forward to being back in my home state of California where, where it's, it's always warmer than 60 degrees pretty much every single day of the year. I'm missing, I'm missing Cali.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:37:00):

Christian said, how can I develop more mental strength? Well, Christian, you already know. First is creating yourself a perfect soccer team membership. Second is reading our books. Third is subscribing to the podcast and making sure you're listening to the replays of the assets on our show as well as the P S clips. You know, we break down the highlights best moments of the show and share those on the channel as well too. And then if and when you are ready to really take your mental strength and your training and your personal development to the next level, I would very much recommend you sign up for our Be pro program perfectsoccerskills.com/bepro. Now the program. But you will get higher level training. John, I saw that you call, you're calling in. I'm trying to add you. Hello. Okay, so try that again. Joe's

Quincy Amarikwa (00:37:57):

Had never been outside the East coast, so I've never felt the Cali weather you are missing out yet. [inaudible] Said you missing out Joe. Correct. You are. You're greatly missing out on that. So too, there we go. John. Yeah. John, it says you're unable to join. I'm not sure what happened there. So maybe if you try calling in again. Ryan said, will you go back to San Jose? I might make a trip up to San Jose to visit Danny. Danny's a good friend of mine. He plays for San Jose earthquakes. For those of you who don't know he's still in the San Jose area. So when I get back to California, I might make my way up there and say hello. See how he's doing? You have shout out the I'm in your head. Emojis. Mass journalists said, stay safe out there bro. Appreciate it John.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:38:44):

It is not letting me in and I don't, I don't know why. So maybe leave the live and then come back in. We try again. Jay pro skill set. I'm an eight. I'm in eighth grade. How can I prepare for my first year of high school soccer? I'll say it, someone blue in the face because every single time new people are joining the live new people are joining the community and you guys aren't aware of what we've got going on. Make sure Jay pro skills go to perfect soccer skills.com/p S T N or just go to perfect soccer skills. I should probably open it up on my computer. Just go to perfect cyber skills.com at the top you'll be able to see how you can create your very own perfect soccer team membership. If you go there, you create your account. Just put in your email, creating username and password and and username and password.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:39:41):

You get access to all of our stuff, especially our books. So make sure you read our books. That will help you in preparation for sure. That's going to lay everything out for you step by step. And then on top of that, joining in on the lives, asking your questions, participating in the community like you can. A Christian just said he bought the subscription already and he's needing the shooting drills but he needs to try to passing drills. So he's done the shooting and it needs to try the passing. He's talking about skills Academy, which is our approach.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:40:12):

What's going on brother?

New Speaker (00:40:13):

What's up Quincy, how are we doing?

John (00:40:15):

I'm good man. You know making the best out of making the best out of the situation. You know, it is the MSL mindset man. Like, Hey, stuff can go bad, but we can flip it and make it, make it go good.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:40:27):

And so what's going on on your end?

John (00:40:29):

Yeah, man, same thing. I just got to Atlantic city actually, and I was looking to join the team out here and you know, I was here for a couple of days and then this happens. So yeah, just trying to make the best of the situation and do the best that I can, what I can control. So yeah,

Quincy Amarikwa (00:40:51):

I like that. Okay, so let's talk about that a little bit. Yo, shout out Spiritual Athlete. Welcome into the live. Are you with Atlantic City FC?

John (00:40:59):

Yes.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:41:01):

Okay. Who have you, who did you get connected with there?

John (00:41:06):

Um well I know a couple of guys on the team, but it was, it was the owner. His name's Andrew is the owner. But they've definitely had like a lot of like pro players coming in and out and everything like that.

John (00:41:20):

So yes. Do you know anyone from here?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:41:23):

Yes. So I can't I guess I can't make any official announcement yet on that side. But what are you, you're still out.

John (00:41:33):

Yeah.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:41:34):

Connect with Andrew and speak to him and talk to him about your experience with the MSL mental strength training and can kind of, what's going on on that side and get his thoughts and ideas on, on kind of what he's wanting to do and how he's building and growing there. Okay. Yeah, no, that'd be very interesting. [inaudible] Ask him, say, Hey, do you know Quincy, what's going on over there? I like that. Cause you said Atlantic City. I went, Oh, Atlantics City FC. Awesome. They're trying to make, they were wanting to make a run for the, they're wanting to make a run for the open cup. Right. Building, are you at the Tropicana? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The Tropicana.

John (00:42:19):

Oh no, not the Tropicana right now. They have a beach house for the guys, but this month and then we're going to the Trop after. But yeah, it's, it's a pretty nice setup. The beach house, you know, so, yeah.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:42:32):

Yeah. Living that life,

Quincy Amarikwa (00:42:34):

Bro. That's decent. Okay. So all right, let's, let's break that down a little bit. So you're pursuing a, we've obviously connected at the coaches convention and you've been following the account for a little bit of time. Up until that point, we had a nice a nice conversation there for a little while. So maybe let's set the context with that a little bit first and then we'll kind of get to where you're at right now. So when we first met at the coaches convention, what do you think, where do you think you were mentally? Where do you think your mindset was when, when you first were, were there?

John (00:43:11):

I thought like, I knew more than I actually knew at that time. You know what I'm saying though? Like at the time I was still looking for a team and I was, I was a little worried, but at the same time I was feeling like, kinda like, like I kinda like deserve to be with the team, you know? And I also thought, Oh, I knew a lot of things that were going on during this process. But then after we talked, I came to the realization that there's a lot that I don't know.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:43:49):

Yeah. So. Okay. Alright. So, okay, so the lead, maybe let's talk about that a little bit. So maybe in the short term, how did that make you feel when you kind of learned that and came to that realization?

John (00:44:03):

Oh, at the time I Oh, at the time I felt like weird. It didn't feel good at the time. I was like, Oh, I kinda got more anxious to be honest, more worried. I was like, you know, I was thinking like I'm not doing the right things. Like, I can't believe I didn't know this stuff, you know? And then I started to realize, you know, okay, I started doing the things that we were talking about and basically the main components of what I can control in that situation and really going down and honing those, those things down. And I started feeling a little better and still still questioning things and things like that. But, you know, it's, it's led me to even more and more instances where I felt like I still do so much more. I don't know, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So I've had a few of those moments along the way since then.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:45:03):

Do you feel, so how do you feel about, how do you feel about that? Is that giving you, is that giving you more confidence? What do you do knowing what you know now and how you're approaching it? Do you feel you have a better chance now or you had a better chance then?

John (00:45:26):

I feel like I have a better chance now. I'm feeling more confident now because it's okay that I don't, that I'd had, I don't know, a lot of things, you know, and I'm starting to realize that and I'm just learning more, you know what I'm saying? So like, just because I didn't know that these, what I was doing was, was probably not right. I get, I mean, Hmm. I dunno if I'm wording that correctly,

Quincy Amarikwa (00:45:51):

I guess up to find to find that better because, yeah. But that's okay cause so a spiritual athlete said, what didn't you know for like, so you're really talking about you don't know what you don't know. Right? Yeah. And in that conversation you're saying you found out that you don't know and what that actually means. Okay. So what did you find out that that meant? So like when you found out like, Oh, I don't, let's set context. So everyone, we're all on the same page. So let's say when you show up, let's say zero is, I know nothing and a hundred is, I know everything. Before we spoke, what did you believe your number to be?

John (00:46:38):

Maybe like between 60 and70.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:46:40):

Okay. 60 and 70. Okay. And then after our conversation, but how did you, where do you feel that fell to?

John (00:46:51):

Like two.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:46:53):

Oh, so like dramatic, dramatic drop.

John (00:46:56):

Yeah.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:46:57):

Okay. Yeah. Okay. All right. And then when you went, okay, so then that's, that's interesting. That's a huge, huge difference. Right? Okay. So, but that's good because now you're going like, okay, I went from thinking I'm confident I'm flying on a 60 to 70 out of a hundred. I got this in lock, I know what I'm talking about to now I know two out of a hundred. Right. And the short term losers mindset is, Oh, I don't know anything. And what was me, right?

Quincy Amarikwa (00:47:30):

The longterm winners mindset is okay, two's better than zero and two can mean I can get to four and to six and to eight and to work your way back up. Right. So, so from that perspective, and now everybody can really understand what you meant, at least in, in context, what is it that you didn't realize you didn't know?

John (00:47:59):

Basically my control, the controllables and how like there are people that I can't, there's, there's decision makers that are involved in our sport that I cannot control. I cannot fully control their decisions. And before I was getting frustrated trying to change or alter their decisions while like in hindsight it was like, there's no reason for me to be worried about that because for example, there's a lot of examples out there where there's people in front offices or coaches that are making these decisions that they, their opinions are just opinions, you know, they're just people too, you know? So, yeah.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:49:05):

I got you now. Okay. So what do you feel, what do you feel you now have the ability to do that you didn't realize you didn't have?

John (00:49:22):

Yeah. That I don't have to feel so bad if, you know, a coach or someone tells me like they're not interested or they don't believe in my abilities. I don't feel so bad anymore. Got you. Got you. Why don't you feel bad anymore? Because that's just, that's just one person's opinion as well as I know that I'm going to keep working to get better and yeah, let that can be as simple as that.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:50:00):

No, that's awesome. So, okay, so this is a, this is good. So Joe asks, how do you find, how do you find the difference between being too hard on yourself and being honest about what you're doing? That's a good question. So being too hard on yourself versus, sorry, one more time. He's saying how do you find the balance between being too hard on yourself and being honest with what you're doing? Like how do you, how do you know when you're being too hard on yourself and how do you know when you're not, you need to be hard on yourself? Yeah. I think it's like first like you, you gotta face reality. Like what is like try to look at it as a objectively as possible, right. While at the same time. That's a good question. Oh my gosh, I like that. Okay. I'll give it, I'll give a crack at it, right? Yeah, go for it. Okay. Okay. So the name of the game is self honesty is what we're talking about is the first is the first step of the Amarikwa process of the MSL mentality. Mindset, right? And being too hard on yourself is spending any energy and time and focus on things that you can't change about yourself or your environment.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:51:38):

So for instance, I'm a, I'm a player of color, right? And 10 years, 11 years ago, when I start in this league though, most people would say that color doesn't matter and it doesn't influence the impact or outcome of certain things. Players of color understand that in instances and certain times your color is a determining factor in why things do or doke. More importantly, why things don't go your way, right? But if I spend any effort, energy, time, focus, being angry at the other person for something I cannot change. This is my skin, this is who I am, this is what I represent, this is what I stand for and I can't change that and I'm not going to change that. So I'm not going to beat myself up over something that is not him. That's outside of my control. So when it comes to things that are outside of your control, I believe that's the time at which you should not beat yourself up. And kind of tying into what John is talking about in terms of like, I don't allow this one person's opinion to you to negatively affect me or impact me. But having said that, still listening to what that person says and seeing if there is truth to what they're saying, and even if there isn't any truth, how can you use what they're saying to learn how to improve and get better? So for instance, you know I may be at a disadvantage because the person doesn't like how I look or how I'm playing or what it looks like, right? But even if, if they're going to tell me the reasons why, even indirectly it's just a little, you know, like you know, he's got a personality. You know, when they say stuff, everybody has personality.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:53:26):

That's just an underhand way of saying the person has their own opinion and they're not gonna let you just say whatever to them. Right? Which can create from the perspective of the coaching staff a difficult a difficult environment because it's one where like, Hey, we don't want to deal with someone who's questioning what it is we're doing. We want people to just blindly obey and what, when talking about different people operate differently. But my, the point of what I'm expressing with that is if you know how you operate, why you operate and what you're doing, then spending any time beating yourself up over things that you cannot change is a waste of your time. You want to look at ways in which you can use what you have as an advantage even though sometimes and many times what you have or what you are and how you look or how you play or what you're doing is seen as a disadvantage.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:54:16):

So that's a good question. Let's see what we got here. Spiritual Athlete said that is so true about color, but it's something we can't control. Correct. You just, Hey, you know what? It makes you stronger it in the long run. As long as you don't quit, you're, you're doing the work. And you're putting in the work, eventually it will pay off. It might not pay off how you think or how you're expecting or wanting. But it will, it will pay off. E I H a B said have a growth mindset, focus on controllables, be solution focused. Correct. And Joe Jackson said, Joe, Joe said thanks. Thanks guys. I really appreciate it. Cool. That's decent man. So, okay. So let's I know we've probably got like five, 10 more minutes before Instagram kicks us off here. So we kind set a little bit of context about how we, how we met, where you were at how you've kinda been approaching your soccer career up to this point. You're currently at Atlantic city FC had an opportunity with them. I'm assuming now that the everything is kind of shutting down for a little bit. Are you still trying to figure out what the plan is and how things are going right now or where, where are you at right now?

John (00:55:31):

Yeah. I'm trying to figure out what, what's the plan gonna me next? Cause again, the open cup matches look like it's going to be canceled. I'm probably gonna stay here with one other guy, so we're gonna, you know, continue. A lot of the guys are going home. So yeah, I'm going to try to continue to still work out and train with the, with this one guy who is so here with me at the house. And just focus a lot on the mental side as well, you know, follow that MSL, you know, and, and, and, and everything like that. So but again, you know, I don't know what's gonna happen within the next few months really, to be honest. So just, yeah, focusing on those aspects.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:56:17):

Awesome brother. Yeah, man. I think it says this can be a difficult time for a lot of people. Just, you know, with the uncertainty and figuring out what the next step is or the next move. But what what I am excited about here, at least with the, with perfect soccer, what we've got going on is at least giving a platform and an outlet for pros, especially players now cause there's a lot of players out of work where a lot of players not working, right. So at least giving them an opportunity and a platform to share their stories, share their mindsets, their mentalities, where they're at, what they're thinking about, what they're going through. I think it's great that you called in, you know, cause at least it gives some, some people an idea of what it's like starting out from the beginning, you know, grind in, just go and wherever there's an opportunity and, and trying to make the best of it and, you know, then getting terrible news in the middle of it and having to invest in and figure that out.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:57:16):

I, I pride myself on making sure that we're showcasing the truth. Like what this, what this lifestyle is, what it looks like him. And a lot of it is a lot of uncertainty and, and still still having to have a mindset of perseverance. So, you know what I mean? I appreciate, I appreciate watching you be committed to wanting to make it work and, and you know, putting in that work off the field and believing in yourself. You know, I I, I definitely understand the struggle and and I, I'm always hoping, I'm hoping the best for you, man. Thank you.

John (00:57:54):

MSL baby!

Quincy Amarikwa (00:57:57):

MSL baby! Uh before you take off here, is there anything that you want, any questions that you had, anything I could help with what you think in yeah.

John (00:58:06):

How to make the most of this time, you know what I'm saying? Because like a lot of people are in this boat where things are sending down, you know, how to stay mentally sharp and focused and what to do during a time like this.

Quincy Amarikwa (00:58:22):

Got you. Okay. So, all right, so, you know, maybe I'll be talking about, I'll say, Hey, I stay ready so I don't have to get ready. So a big issue. And problem that a lot of guys right now are going to be facing and running into is they never saw a world in which things wouldn't be what it was yesterday. [inaudible] So many players have a one track mind and that track mind is, I do this, I'll show up tomorrow, I'll have this opportunity, then I'll make them bunch of money, then I'll do this. You know what I mean? That I'm going to be playing for real Madrid one day. Right? And you can have that mindset, you can have that drive, you can have that focus. But even if you're doing everything you possibly can and working as much as you possibly can, you couldn't. You, you physically couldn't spend much more than six hours in the day doing all the physical things, tasks necessary cause you obviously you need break, you need rest, you need time off, all those types of things. So what you doing with the remaining 18 hours in the day that are available to you? And most guys, most girls, most players are justifying because they spent that six hours or in be honest, most are spending much less than six hours working on their craft. The rest of that 18 hours can be spent not focusing, not planning, not putting anything in place for anything other than the next day and next six hours. Right? So if you happen to be a player who's found yourself in a position right now, completely unprepared for what is happening at this moment in time and unprepared, understand quickly that you cannot change the fact that you aren't prepared, but what you can change is the actions that you take here moving forward from the lesson you learned from not being prepared right now. Right? So maximizing that time. Would them be learning things like financial literacy because that's a skill that is very necessary and important for you. How to budget, how to plan of how to plan yourself financially for the future.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:00:33):

And then as you know, that time management sheet, I think planning and understanding how to budget your time are extremely, extremely important. I think if you learn and understand those two skills and if you don't know how to do that, go to perfectsoccerskills.com/pstm you'll get our time management sheet and our time management training and you'll get a, you'll get access to a, I have a financial literacy course as well too that I've got in there. So you can go through that and you can learn those skills because these are, those are life skills, right? We, we don't, we hope that soccer's back resuming in 30 days, but if this turns into three months, six months, a year, you know, like what are you going to do? How have you prepared for that? How have you planned for that transition as most, most everybody knows.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:01:20):

I mean, my free agency, you're right. The reason why I can be in free agency for as long as I'm in free agency for is because I've prepared well before free agency so that I don't have to just accept the first thing that comes across the table or, you know, get up and move immediately. Because I don't have any options or I don't know what it is and I'm going to do, right. I have perfect soccer, I have the community, I have my businesses, I have these things that I've been working on and I'm developing that helped me bitch bridge those gaps. So I'm, I'm saying all that to set context for, for really saying you have a lot of time and plenty of time to basically buy yourself insurance so that, okay. When, if and when soccer gets canceled across the world, like it has, what's something that I can still do regardless?

Quincy Amarikwa (01:02:13):

Hey, I can still go live on #AskASoccerPro Show every Thursday, 6:00 PM PST, you bad PM EST talking about the MSL talking about ways in which to help players to prepare for these moments in time that they never think are going to happen. Right? And these are things that you have to, you're committing to do whether or whether or not people believe in you, whether, whether or not people are showing up, whether, whether or not other people follow through or things like life happens, right? We're supposed to have Kei on today and build everything around that. But life happens and we still, the show must go on. We still work on that. We still do that because that fell through. This is an opportunity for you to be in and join in on the live and get your questions answered so you're doing exactly what it is.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:02:58):

That I would say would be what players should be doing. Being prepared for the opportunity when it comes. Cause here you go, here's your opportunity, join it on the live, get your specific questions answered, right, learn, grow. You're like, okay well this option isn't there but I can do the next thing. Right. You're developing that mindset and that's why I said, Hey I'm, I'm really happy to see that because you're being proactive, not just reactive and that's something you'll benefit from. Your future self will greatly thank you for that. Right. Cause this might not be the opportunity to be the next and the connection kind of going from there. So, I know it kind of was going on like a lot of things, but I was wanting to kind of tie it together to like where you're at, how you're approaching it, things I feel that you can do that will help you short term and longterm.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:03:50):

So is that, does that help? Is that a clear, yeah, no, that's, that's great. That's great. Okay. Okay. Do you have any, like, do you have any specific questions or specific things that you're, you're thinking about or you're not sure or?

John (01:04:13):

Hmm. Do we have enough time? Like how are we doing on time?

Quincy Amarikwa (01:04:18):

Let's see. I think we started a little bit past the hour. I'm not sure. I'm not sure where we're at on time. We can, we can go and tell Instagram cuts us off here, I guess. [inaudible] So pick the, pick the most important one.

John (01:04:36):

Okay. Let's see here. Let's talk about consistency. Okay. How do you, yeah, how do you, what, what do you suggest? No, how do you stay consistent?

Quincy Amarikwa (01:04:54):

Okay.

John (01:04:55):

And how do you react? Like when, when you're not performing at a consistent level?

Quincy Amarikwa (01:05:01):

Got you. Okay. Consistency. Let's consider consistency. Just a skillset one that you develop over time. And the reason why people fail and consistency is because they set the bar too high for their level of consistency. So what do I mean by that? You know, I've got the 10 pushup challenge. I just challenge you to do 10 pushups every single day for the next six months. You do that, you give March. I know that 99.9% of people cannot complete that challenge. And it's not because 10 pushups is too much. It's because 10 pushups every day for six months with we'll keep it going. What up, what up? What up working. We're going to keep it going cause I liked that question from John. Once John joins back in here, we'll we'll get him in here and we'll answer that question cause I can tell a lot of you jumped right back in with that.

John (01:05:50):

So I know that everyone, you guys are liking the talk and you want me to keep going? Yeah, back at it for a third time. If you guys are liking the talk and you want me to keep going and answering that, drop your arm in your head emojis spam that heart button because the fact that everyone hopped back in really quick, lets me know that everyone's wondering here. This one. So John, you came with a good one. So you're making me stick it out a little bit longer. So there you go. See taking their payment. Exactly. So consistency, right? And we've, I've talked about this in the past, linear versus exponential thinking. If you guys haven't heard my seen my talk on that and that's posted on my Instagram account, you can check that there. I think it's like a little seven or eight posts back. You can find the love, the YouTube channel and for immediate quick context is if I said, I'll give you $50,000 today or I'll give you one penny today and I'll double it every day for 30 days, which will you pay me? Even though you, chances are you understand it's a trick question and you'd pick the penny. But then the question is how many, how much more than 50,000 would it be

Quincy Amarikwa (01:07:01):

Millions of dollars? And even when you know that, and if you believe that, it's hard to understand. It's hard to wrap your head around that. Okay? And that's the power of consistency. But being consistent is difficult. And John, to your point, it's really saying when you're first starting out in practicing consistency and wanting to be consistent, set yourself up for success. Pick something you know you can do no matter what. And only stick to that. It doesn't have to be a lot, it just has to be something. And it has to be something that you will do whether or whether or not you feel good about it. You like it, it's fun. You hate it. It doesn't matter. You're saying, this is what I do. I'm committed to making this happen. So we were just talking about the 10 pushup challenge. One pushup, one pushup every single day.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:07:57):

Do that for six months. Right now you're building a skill set of consistency because you now know I can do something every day for six months and I can look back and think back. There were days where I didn't even want to do that one pushup. Wow. How? How much was my meant? How much was my mind trying convince me not to be consistent? What were the lengths that I was going in my mind to, to convince myself that I didn't need to do one? Hey, it's only one push up. It doesn't matter. Who cares? Just one just missed you going. I'm saying like that's where your mind starts to go, but when you're in that moment, you're saying, if it doesn't matter, then do it. If it doesn't matter, then do it. You're not going to do it because you know it matters. You know it matters to do this one pushup. That's why you're doing it. And if it doesn't matter, then why do you care? Do it.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:08:55):

And as that goes on, now you start building up a, a, a past version of yourself that you can look at and go, yeah, no, that person can be consistent. And my job today is to beat that guy yesterday or that girl yesterday. Yeah, now you go, I can do two. If I did one, I can do two. I understand, let's see a Quincy. Back then I wasn't able to do more than 10 pushups, but now I can do about 25 love and that, so some people are still holding it strong, you know what I mean? And the difficulty with consistency is you get to month four, month five and if you miss a day, you're starting back over. And that's why consistency is so hard. It's not today, right? It's, it's everything that's built up there, you know, behind you. And that's where people start to you know what I mean? Then that's when you get stuck in the day and you go like, ah, it doesn't matter. It's not a big deal. I'll just miss this one. It's okay. Complacency creeps up. So cut. That's consistency and that's why consistency is hard.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:10:13):

But that's what I've found to be, the way that I'm able to remain committed and consistent with what it is I'm doing. If I'm making a decision, if I'm getting, if I'm making a decision to do something, I'm, that's what I'm doing. Hey, I made the decision. I'm going live every Thursday at 6:00 PM PSD, 9:00 PM EST, perfect soccer count. Whether I'm on a team or not on a team, I have a contract. I don't have a contract. I have lots going on. I don't have lots going on. I've got payroll to make. I've got sales, I've got kids, I've got, you know what I mean? A newborn. I've got a wife, I've got, you know what I'm saying? Like consistency. That's what allows for a year and you know, two or three months into it, Alexi Lalas joins in on the live. Now, you know, Sean Johnson's joining on the line.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:10:59):

CJ Sapong has joined in on the live. Kei Kamara is committed to joining in on the live. Right? But at the same time, life gets, life happens. And this ties to what we were talking about earlier, saying like, if I'm not able to the live, if life gets in the way of something out of my control happens, I'm not going to beat myself up over it, right? I'm committed to doing this. This is what I'm committed to doing. I believe that this is in alignment with helping me accomplish my goals. I'll learn more from it. I'll grow form from it, but I'm also not going to beat myself up if I miss a week, which now you're going like, Whoa, huh, okay, Quincy, what are you talking about? Wrapping your head around it, right? When I'm like, Hey, life happens. Things happen and you will make mistakes. And that's part of it.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:11:43):

But the, what you're talking about is you're saying, what do I commit to and why do I commit to it? And if your why is big enough, you'll always find a reason why you're going to do it. Not reasons why I don't have to do it this time like that. I've got a couple of spam to that heart button. I'm loving that everyone's liking that one. A bit more John, good question, brother. Is that of any help to you or use to you?

John (01:12:15):

Yeah, it helps a lot because you know, like, like you said, I heard you say committed a lot, right? And commitment a lot. So like, and for example, like you said, the things that where life happens as well, but you know, things are gonna happen that are out of your control as well. As long as you're committed and you keep going towards towards your why and what you want to do.

John (01:12:44):

Then again, it goes back to the other question about not beating yourself up too much, right? Like you're like, yes. So, yeah. That's great. Great. Thank you.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:12:56):

No, of course, man. It's, it's a good question and yeah, even you're saying, you're pointing out the word commitment. Yes. Commit committed. Are you committed to what you're saying? You're going to do it. If you are commit, know that's what you do. And you commit to the things that are in your control. You commit to the things that you're going to control. And when things outside of your control ruin that, like you've committed to pursuing your career, wherever that takes you, that took you to Atlantic city FC, you have an opportunity, you're trying, you're working, you're connecting, you're talking with the owner, but then the world happens and that opportunity is not going to pan out the way in which you were envisioning or hoping it would.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:13:35):

Right. But you're, you're committed to the process of what it is that you're doing. And now you're here on the live, committed to learning. So the things that are in your control is what you've committed to you. And that's what's creating you opportunities. And this opportunity leads to the next and that lesson leads to the next. It's all perspective. Exactly. [inaudible] . It is all perspective. It's the perspective you take. And that's what the MSL mentality is. And that's what we're developing here. And you know, I'm really happy to have John and really happy to have you a part of the community and a committed member and, you know, dedicated it and committed to just growing and learning. Even in the short time that we've had our relationship and I've met you, I've even, I've seen a lot of growth just in terms of just your mindset, how you're asking questions, how you're approaching it. You, you seem to have much more focus and clarity than when we, when we had first met. Right?

John (01:14:35):

Yeah, I'd say so.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:14:37):

That's awesome brother. You got, you got anything else for me?

Quincy Amarikwa (01:14:43):

Yeah, I do. Okay. Which fire away man, you got me, you got me here for at least let's say I'll, I'll say 10 more minutes.

John (01:14:49):

Okay. so I was thinking about, I was, yeah, I was thinking about like the dichotomy, like basically like the tensions between certain things. Like there's a lot, you know but there's one in particular. How about like leadership, right? And micromanaging versus letting, like not doing anything at all. How do you find the balance and [inaudible] this is just one question. You know, this is just one word. You know, there's attention, you know, there's other, you know, there's, there's, there's many different topics where it's like you could do too much or it's with little of, of a certain thing. So yeah, I don't know if that's a route. I don't know if I worded that right, but

Quincy Amarikwa (01:15:46):

Give me a specific scenario. So create a scenario and then we can, we'll dissect that.

John (01:15:52):

Mm Hmm. Okay. let's say you're on an. You Quincy are in an MLS locker room, right? And you're playing with a team and there are certain things from other players that you don't like. Like it's, it feels disrespectful towards you. Yup. And to what extent do you just allow it to go versus saying something or doing something about it?

Quincy Amarikwa (01:16:34):

Got you. Okay.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:16:37):

Okay.

John (01:16:41):

And this could be on the pitch or off. It can be, yeah.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:16:44):

Gotcha. Okay. But then my next question just for context on this is you're saying when you're saying micromanage and letting things go, you're talking about from your perspective or the coach, the coaches style and how that impacts that environment.

John (01:17:00):

That's a good point.

Speaker 6 (01:17:03):

Okay,

Speaker 9 (01:17:06):

Well [inaudible] let's see.

John (01:17:10):

From, from, from, from the culture of the, of the club.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:17:14):

Got you. Okay.

John (01:17:14):

So then they basically that the higher ups in the club.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:17:17):

Yes. Okay. Got you. Yeah. Do you understand what the culture is yet or you're still learning it?

John (01:17:27):

Still learning.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:17:29):

Okay, here's what, this is how I choose to approach it. And like I said, every, everybody is different, right? For me, fundamentally, I'm operating based on my principles and my principles is what I'm committed to. And what I'm committed to is I'm going to do what I believe is right, not what is easy and I am going to take responsibility when I am wrong and doing what I think is right. So just because you believe you're doing what's right doesn't mean you're doing the right thing.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:18:06):

So if I believe, so let's use a scenario, right? Using, I'm in a locker room, we're in a locker room together and you are disrespecting me or I believe you to be disrespecting me.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:18:22):

Right? Huh?

Quincy Amarikwa (01:18:26):

Let's say you're using inappropriate language around me, right? Derrogatory terms in any capacity or in some capacity. Right? For me as an individual, if it's public into the, in, in the sphere where other guys can see it and now they're looking at me in terms of like, Oh, is he okay with this for me? I'm going to make sure I make a point that he, you and the people around me understand that I am not okay with that. And that does not fly here with me. But everybody gets an opportunity to make a mistake with me. So you might not have known that you can't use that language with me or I won't allow you to use that language with me. You might've met other people who look like me, who are okay with that, which is fine. That's your past experience. And I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:19:15):

I'm not going to punish you for who you were or who, what other people have allowed or haven't allowed for you. You maybe you didn't know that that's bad behavior or you do and you're just trying to get a rise out of me. And either in any scenario, I'm going to acknowledge what you did. I'm going to recognize it. And I'm saying, Hey, yeah, I'm not, that's not okay with me and this is how I operate. This is how I stand and this is what I am willing to do if this happens again or if this continues again. Right. But only saying what you mean. They say what you're willing to do. And then if that happens, do it. A lot of people have idle threats, they'll say something, then the person will test them and do it and then they won't do anything. Right. And that's where you lose a lot of credibility. That means you're not making, you're not making decisions based on principle and being committed. So I think you're lagging there. Let's see.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:20:16):

I think a pop John out of that while we wait on John, I'll ask this question. Chrissy don't, but I know that the fans don't get to see what's conflicts on the locker room. I'm not seeing the rest. It only shows so much of your question there. Spiritual athlete, unfortunately. Otherwise I'd be able to answer that. That's soccer mama. What's going on? How are you doing? Good to see you. Yes, we're triathletes. I Q I've got a question for you. Go ahead and ask the question in the comment section. Cause it looked like your question was a bit longer. Joe Jackson said loving the live Quincy. Thank you very much. John's absent some great questions, which is why he's keeping me around here a bit longer. I will finish up this last question from him and then I'm going to have to call it a, call it a night. It is getting late over here on this side. Just that. Thanks for answering my question. Of course. Thanks for joining in on the live and asking your questions. I appreciate it. And John's questions. Yeah, of course.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:21:27):

Let's see. Conflicts in the locker room. What happens? What did you do? And I'm saying the names. Oh, there's different conflicts at different times. Yo, Kyle Murphy, what's going on brother? Well, to the live. Thanks for stopping by. If you guys haven't, if you guys aren't making sure you follow Kyle and Kyle, you've signed with the rowdies correct? I think you just signed with the rowdies. So Kyle was with Loudon United last year banged a couple GS and I think just recently signed with the rowdies for this year. Teams, environments can be difficult with all types of personalities. You don't have to get along with everyone. You just have to be able to work together and finding common ground and ways to work with, with guys is is a valuable skill. Right? Like you're not, you're not always going to get along with your teammates. You're not always gonna like your teammates, but that doesn't mean that you can't work together on the field. Spiritual said physical fights yet fighting. There's been, there's been plenty of fights and stuff on the field.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:22:40):

But yeah, I can't, I think, not sure. It looks like John's live isn't working out enough. His internet is not doing too well. So Stryker, what's going on? Ryan said what about this vlogs? Quincy? I'm literally working on and master update blog with a tow door as we speak. I tried my best to as much as I could

Quincy Amarikwa (01:23:06):

Here in DC last year. It was a bit difficult. The organization wasn't as open to the vlog and the online content as the Earthquakes were. So there will be at least one update blog and we'll just compile what I was able to shoot over the course of the year here. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks. I'm the perfect soccer team has been working really hard to really dial in on all of our, on all of our content, our business our products and services. As you know, we've got the Perfect Soccer podcast that goes out every Monday and then we've got the #AskASoccerPro Show every Thursday. We are getting really dialed in with making sure that the content and the post production is going awesome. And we're looking for show sponsors and trying to get a sponsorship deal here done soon, which I hope we can announce sooner rather than later.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:24:04):

So if you, you or someone you know would be interested in sponsoring the ask soccer per show, make sure you send us an email, let us know. We've got our sponsorship packages together and we've got some dope stuff that we've got coming out here, especially with the lineup for, with everything. [inaudible] You say great content. Would love to link up sometime. Of course. Brother, appreciate it. John said phone died. Sorry. No problem. And we're back. All right John, I have listened to everyone. Let me see John. Yeah. And John, it looks like you're in with it. I'm not able to pull you back in the line. So John, if you can call, great. We'll wrap it up with that last question, the last question or two so we can, we can call it a night just that have a, have listened to everyone so far for the content. Loving it. Awesome.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:24:59):

All right John.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:25:09):

Yo, the phone died. Yeah. All right. So what where, where were we, where did we leave off? Shoot, you were talking [inaudible]

Speaker 10 (01:25:25):

[Inaudible]

Quincy Amarikwa (01:25:26):

Gotcha, gotcha. So you're talking about scenarios and like when do you stand up and the difficulty of the difficulty of when guys in the locker room might do something that you believe to be disrespectful to you. And when you're first showing up or you're new, not wanting to overstep your Browns and create an issue or problem and kind of just wanting to let, let it go so you can kind of just do your thing. But here's, and like I said, I'm operating based on principles and I'm committed to my principles. So I'm willing to lose an opportunity an by acting on my principles if I believe, if I believe what you're doing is not appropriate or wrong.

Speaker 4 (01:26:16):

Mmm.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:26:18):

I am going to say something about it. And I understand that by doing so, I am creating potential problems and enemies for myself in the short term. Right? But I believe by doing that in the longterm, the truth always comes to light. That's how I'm choosing to operate. So over the course of my year, over the course of my career, I've been a journeyman. I've been with many teams in organizations and from the outside looking in many coaches and many technical staffs in front office individuals have said plenty of negative things about me to justify why they moved me on, or they sent me somewhere else. And I understand that and I understand why they do that, right? But I'm operating under the understanding and, and belief that the longer farther removed we get from those instances, in those situations, more and more people will understand what the truth was and what actually happened.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:27:24):

And just like we talked about earlier in the sense that there are people who are decision makers who are in control of your future and like what you can and can't do and where you can and can't go. Many of those individuals are very insecure. People who aren't very might not be very qualified for their job or position or are in that position because they just happened to be the first person there or they happen to be really good at, you know, weaseling their way around the system and getting other people out of there. You get, I'm saying like this is, there's, there's a lot of corruption that goes on. There's a lot of backstabbing that goes on. There's a lot of lies that happen in the professional sports world, right? And

Quincy Amarikwa (01:28:08):

Maybe being someone who is vocal about injustice or things they believe to be not done in good faith or good intention, you know, that's not, that's not looked well upon by those who aren't, who aren't operating in that same level of on that same level. So in the short term, I understand that there'll be negative things said about me. People will lie about me or, or maybe not understand me, and they're telling their truth. They just think I'm, you know what I mean? Whatever it is that they feel or they think, but my point to you and why I'm using myself as an example is, is what I'm saying is when you're going through the world, you're going through the soccer world and you're doing that, you're have, you have a choice to make every single time and each person makes their own decision based on what they feel is best for to survive

Speaker 10 (01:29:03):

And [inaudible].

John (01:29:05):

I'm not saying standing up and saying that whatever it is is the right thing to do always for your career or your situation. Right? Sometimes sometimes allowing someone to disrespect you and keep your self calm and not have an emotional response. It gives you power because they don't believe that. They don't. They don't. They, they realize they don't have any control over you for that. Right. So that's what, this is a deep question you're asking me, right? It's a deep question you're asking me and where you are in your career also depends on how you, how you approach it. So spiritual athlete, this is a good question because it ties into what we're talking about. He said, Quincy, why is it that the older guys always have some advice to give? Even though I outperform them? It's almost that they are always giving advice. Just because I'm young. It's honestly annoying.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:30:00):

Well, it could be two things. One, maybe you're outperforming them. So you think about it this way. Maybe you're outperforming me now, but you're not prepared for an entire year long season. So I'm giving you advice to not go so fast so you don't burn yourself out. Because I can see you're going to get injured in two months or three months. That can be one way. Another could be, I'm not giving you advice. I'm trying to tear you down so you don't outperform me and do well. And if I can annoy you and get in your head, I'll throw you off your game. So people are paying attention to you and people are saying negative things about you or sharing advice with you or doing whatever any attention means. They're, they're giving you their focus, their energy. So be thankful for that. Grateful for that. Thank you. Try to find the positive. And even John where you're talking about like when someone says or does something disrespectful to me, I'm going like thank you. You believe I'm someone that you can, you can do that too. You've shown me who you are. Thank you. You've shown me who you are. I now know not to invest any time in you at all. Whereas had you not been disrespectful with me, I might've been over here helping you tear down my teammates or take advantage of the people around me.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:31:15):

So I approach it playing dumb like I don't even know anything that you're saying.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:31:22):

Oh, Oh you can. So just like you said, like the principles on for me is if someone uses, let's say derogatory language with me, I laugh. I think it's funny, right? But if they use derogatory language with you and I see that it's negatively impacting you or it's hurting you or it's harmful to you, for me, I'm going to tell that person like who do you think you are talking to him like that. Right. That exposes me and that's been my problem. Like you know what I mean? Like, okay, this guy is not standing up for himself. Or if this is negatively impacting him,

Quincy Amarikwa (01:32:00):

I feel obligated to say something, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm, I'm helping myself out in that situation. You know what I mean? So again, it's, these are all choices that you're making. You're deciding what it is you want to do. You're deciding how you want to play the game. You're deciding what you're doing it for. And I'm not going to tell you what's the right or wrong way. I'm just going to tell you the different ways in which you can approach it. The ways where I've seen it work out for me, the ways I've seen it work against me and everything in between. But yes. Good questions, bro. Good questions, bro. You I almost shouldn't ask, but you got any, you, any other questions or are we good? Let's see. Hmm. Not we're going to, okay. We're going to have to table it then. Yeah, man. No, I appreciate you calling in. This was good. I'm glad we kind of got to go down down this because I know there's a lot of players who

Quincy Amarikwa (01:33:16):

Who are in similar situation and I think I think they'll get a lot out of this. And you know, I've, I love the fact that you're you're committed and you're, you're doing your thing, man. So I'm glad we were able to connect and we could talk through a couple of things that you got got there and yeah man, good luck with what you've got going on there. I hope, I hope things start paying out. Quincy, you taught a lot today. Thanks. Of course Anis. Thanks for joining and I appreciate that. John, is there anything you want to shout out or let people you want people to know about?

John (01:33:49):

Yeah. I mean, I've been starting my own social media accounts and on a footballer's faith. So it's basically how me as a footballer and as a person, how faith and God and my faith in God helps me in my football and career and all the parallels that, that go along with that. So, yeah,

Quincy Amarikwa (01:34:19):

You guys definitely go and follow John follow him on his journey. Show him some love. John, thanks again for joining and I appreciate it brother. We will be connected here. I know soon and good luck with everything you've got going on.

John (01:34:33):

Thank you. Thank you Quincy. Really appreciate it.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:34:36):

Of course, brother. See you later. All right guys, thank you very much for joining in for episode 61. I think it's episode 61 of the #AskASoccerPro Show. Thanks for everybody who ended up calling in and getting those questions answered. I know we covered a lot of great content tonight, so I'm excited for it to let you guys know, to make sure you tune in next week. We've got Bradley Wright-Phillips joining in on the live. I'm excited for that and make sure you guys let Kai know that you missed them, but you understand and we're looking forward to bringing him here in the future.

Quincy Amarikwa (01:35:15):

Thanks again, everybody. Appreciate it. Yes, at DWP. Loving that. Thanks guys so much. Really appreciate that. Yeah. Go over to Bradley Wright-Phillips most recent posts and let them know you're juiced to see him on the show next week. Drop him the mind the year ahead emojis. I know he, he loves seeing that and that'd be good. I need him. We need to, we need to let people know about out legit. It committed our community is. So yeah guys, if you're excited for Bradley Wright-Phillips next week, please make sure, go drop him a comment and a drop. Ky comment and you know, wish him the best. I will see all of you guys next Thursday on the perfect soccer account. I appreciate it. And so you guys next.