Respect Your Journey Podcast

What Is U.S. Soccer Missing?

Produced at Klip Studio

Episode guest

Alexi Cortez →

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The conversation

Show notes

Alexi Cortez, former D1 player and founder of Southside Footy, breaks down what U.S. soccer is missing and what it actually takes to develop a great young player: why processing speed matters more than raw speed, why mistakes are the point, the car vs. driver framework every Southside family learns, and why obsession beats discipline.

Chapters:

Intro

Why he left pro soccer to build Southside Footy

What is futsal?

Mentality, genetics and processing speed

The slowest kid on the team who went on to play college soccer

Advice for parents of a 10-year-old player

Obsession, courage and the car vs. the driver

The 60-85% rule: why mistakes are the point

His D1 story and how ego broke his confidence

Make life hard for your kids

What U.S. soccer is missing

Overview

In this episode

Alexi Cortez, former D1 player and founder of Southside Footy, breaks down what U.S. soccer is missing and what it actually takes to develop a great young player: why processing speed matters more than raw speed, why mistakes are the point, the car vs. driver framework every Southside family learns, and why obsession beats discipline.

Lessons

Key takeaways

  • Processing speed beats raw speed: the trait that matters most is how fast a player reads the game.
  • Mistakes are the point: the 60 to 85 percent rule means kids should be making mistakes 15 to 40 percent of the time.
  • The car vs. the driver: athleticism is the car, mentality is the driver.
  • Obsession and courage over discipline.
  • Make life hard on purpose: challenge builds players.
  • Character over the D1 dream: why he won't sell parents the D1 dream.

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