Cornfed Coaching

In conjunction with the Iowa Soccer Symposium, the Cornfed Coaching team was able to sit down with two powerhouse coaches. Eloisa and Maren both tell us their phenomenal playing backgrounds and how those experiences shaped who they are today. We dive into some all too common issues within professional soccer coaching. They go through the challenges of being a female in a typically male dominated industry. It's an important conversation and we were very appreciative that they got so candid with us.

What a guest! The Cornfed team was able to sit down with Hasney Aljofree during the Iowa Soccer Symposium. Hasney's background is unbelievable. He was a player in Manchester United's youth system, then joined several organization through his professional career. Since hanging up the boots as a player, he joined Man U's coaching staff on the youth side for 10 years, and now is part of the PFA's coaching education system. Phenomenal conversation, and an even better educator.

Jack and Jon are BACK with another special edition in partnership with Iowa Soccer hosting the podcast at the Iowa Soccer Symposium. Bright and Barker offered reflection on their session and talked shop about development and soccer in the Covid era. Great catching up with two previous guests!

The Cornfed team is back! In this return episode, the Cornfed team was honored to be joined by Nick Garcia. Nick is a former professional player in the MLS and is now working for the league through media, and serves as the Executive Director of Sporting Brookside. He takes us through is unique journey growing up in Texas and playing for the USYNT throughout the years. Great discussion on giving back to the game and insight into the professional life and what it takes to get there.

The Cornfed team was happy to get back together and take and get back to our roots with a local coach doing big things! Mark McKeever wastes no time diving into how he got to America and started his coaching journey from Scotland. Mark is currently the head coach for Young Harris as well as the Des Moines Menace for the past two seasons. Mark talks about the different challenges coaching college and in the USL II. He gives great insight into the player's process as well as what it takes behind the scenes to actually produce an expansive playing style.

The Cornfed team welcomed back Paul Bright of The Coaching Manual in conjunction with the Iowa Soccer Symposium. Paul has been instrumental in the progression of The Coaching Manual, which is an online platform to help further coaching education with sessions and ideas for coaches to dive into. He joined the team today to talk about a hot topic in the soccer community, Periodization. Great chat!

The Cornfed team welcomes back Ian Barker, Director of Coaching for United Soccer Coaches, to the pod. This episode was in conjunction with the Iowa Soccer Symposium. Ian leads coaches all across the country to become better educators and talks with us about rondos and the implementation of how they can facilitate multiple avenues of learning. Great talk as always.

The Cornfed team was delighted to chat with Josh McAllister, a performance coach and Iowa-native! The Cornfed team consisted of Damien Corrieri and Rich Bywater as a guest hosts alongside Big Jack. Josh has worked with Drake University,  Sporting Kansas City and Portland Timbers in the area of performance. He talks about how to maximize athlete performacne and how he started his own program independent organization now. Great chat on a topic that is coming more and more to the focal point of soccer. 

Tommy Wilson is the academy director for the Philadelphia Union. Tommy was a phenomenal player himself and has now transitioned into leading the Union and building out their player development campaign. He took over the organization and is now constantly trying to improve it along with his staff. What a treat for the Cornfed crew to sit down and chat with him. We talk about the staffing that is implemented at the highest levels of football, game models and universal language to expedite the traning process. Great listen!

In partnership with the Iowa Soccer Symposium, the Cornfed team was delighted to have the opportunity to chat with legendary referee, Esse Baharmast. Esse worked his way through refereeing to have one of the most famous calls in World Cup history. He has now transitioned to mentoring a new generation of referees to expand the beautiful game. A very detailed and educational episode into an often times overlooked aspect of the game. 

The Cornfed team was delighted to sit down the President of the ECNL, Christian Lavers. 

From the league's website, "From inception, the ECNL consistently developed in alignment with the needs of its member clubs, always seeking opportunities to lead and provide more, no matter the challenge or adversity. The four letters “ECNL” have become the embodiment of collaborative innovation, opportunity, respect, development, and excellence in youth soccer, as the once-radical idea of clubs having a voice to determine their future proved to produce results never before seen in youth soccer. Unrivaled numbers of female players, of constantly improving quality, began moving on to the collegiate, professional, and national team levels as the ECNL impact changed youth soccer." 

We dive into the league's inception, and the rapid rise into the boys game - especially the newly-founded Heartland division. Great chat and informational to all wanting to know more about the league and opportunities it provides!

The Cornfed team is taken over by four Englishmen! Matt Lodge is our guest today and fellow Cornfed family member's Paul Cox and Jamie McQuillan are the co-hosts for the episode. Matt talks about running a Division 1 program, and how they navigated the COVID season switch amonst other things. Another great insight into what it takes to be at the top of the game in America from both a player and coach's perspective!

The Cornfed team (Jack and Damien) chatted with the Iowa Women's Soccer coaches David and Katelyn about the Hawkeye program. It's a great chance with fantastic insight into the highest level of the collegiate women's game. They share content on the college approach to COVID, Big 10 soccer and developing players within the program. If you are aspiring to coach or play at a high level, then it's a great episode to find value!

What an episode! Jack and Jon were joined by friend of the pod Paul Cox to connect with Southampton FC Football Development Manager, Andy Martino. Andy gives amazing insight to a tier 1 academy club in England and all the detail that goes into creating professional footballers. Paul and Andy connected at the USC convention a couple years ago and we dive into their international brand alongside how they operate the home academy in England. Southampton have developed players over the years including Gareth Bale, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott and many more. If you want insight to what the absolute top looks like, listen up!

The Cornfed Coaching team, guest hosted by Jamie McQuillan, was excited to sit down with James Baker who leads the MiMentor online coaching education. The boys talked with James about the benetfits of using the platform to further your coaching. It was a great discussion about progressing yourself and how to maximize your potential by setting goals and getting your identity as a coach set in stone.

The Cornfed team was delighted to sit down with Candice Fabry and announce that we will again be sponsoring the Iowa Soccer Symposium. 

Register at IowaSoccer.org and find out the details for the virtual event this year in the episode!

Cornfed Coaching concludes the 10 Pods of Christmas with Drake Men's Soccer coach, Gareth Smith. Gareth was kind enough to give great insight into the makings of a college  program. He details the recruiting process and how that fits into team development. Gareth touches on his personal development as a coach and how the team has navigated COVID-19 times. We appreciated his time, very educational conversation.

The Cornfed team had an amazing chat with Michael Sap who is a co-founder of the sports technology app, Beyond Pulse. Michael details his journey in coaching and has an affinity for educating young minds. His journey to learn how players best learn led him to meeting Marc Andre-Perrit, who he founded the company with. They have developed the wearable technology that allows coaches to get feedback about different statistics, but mos notably active participation. Beyond Pulse has allowed coaches and clubs to create better sessions and make them more enjoyable for players. A fascinating talk and great person!

We have another massive guest! Cornfed Coaching welcomes Paul Bright to the podcast who oversees the wonderfully educational site, The Coaching Manual. Paul dives into his background and how he got started with the TCM. The Cornfed team utilizes The Coaching Manual regularly throughout their sessions. Paul has built out the team at TCM and it now includes session ideas, training videos and sessions ran by top professional coaches. Great talk!

The Cornfed Coaching team was delighted to have episode 50 be an old friend! Lewis Wilcox is another friend of the pod and knows fellow guest, Paul Cox, very well. Lewis started his journey with Midland in Nebraska as a player, but started coaching straight away. He details the different levels he's coached at being a GA at Midland, moved to a full assistant and then taking over his own program at Briar Cliff. He discusses how taking an organized and honest approach can help garner the respect from your players no matter what age they are...even if it's exactly how old you are. Lewis now is an assistant at UCCS in Colorado Springs and the DOC at Colorado Rush - Pike's Peak as well as working with USL 2 team. Great fun.