The VAR Booth Podcast

Eric Leonard is a starting midfielder for Forward Madison, USL 1 team playing out of Madison, Wisconsin. He played his D1 college at Butler University and Development Academy for Sockers FC in Palantine, IL. Listen to his journey.

I had a chat with a college coach that started a program at a Elmurst College, D3 college from Elmurst, IL. Coach DT has been a pillar for soccer in Illinois for many years with vast experience from youth soccer to college soccer. He has multiple awards and still believes there is more to achieve.

Coach Yannick Diese is the Technical Director of the French Football Academy in New York City. He has also served as a scout for different organizations so he brings in a lot of experience in understanding how to see talent, tactics and technical ability of players. Using his technique may help coaches and players identify information from teams and players.

In today's episode, we sit down with Coach Innocent Buule & Coach Ricky Hoegg. Coach Innocent coaches youth soccer at Quick touch Futbol in New Jersey and has been coaching for nine years. Coach Ricky works for FC United in Illinois and has been coaching for five years. Both coaches have experience coaching different age groups within the youth system. In this episode, we discuss​ the relationship between developing young players and winning games. Are they opposites or go together hand-in-hand.

Your team is 2-0 down in the first 20 minutes of the first half. Both goals came from one fast striker. The first goal came from that striker running in-behind your defensive line, and the​ second goal the striker beat one of your center backs one v one with pure pace. What do you do?Guests: Coach Robert Nguidjol who coaches youth soccer for Cedar Stars Academy out of Staten Island, NYCoach Edvaldo Pedro who coaches youth soccer for Allegiance Football Club out of North Texas.

In this episode, we dive into the elimination of the Development Academy by the USSF. We discuss the new leagues and decisions some former DA teams have made and the model the United States should take in order to develop and recruit players in this country. Guests:Coach Fabrice Gautrat is the Girls Academy Director at Chicago FC United in Illinois Coach Santiago Cabrera is the u13 boy's​ Academy Head Coach for Cedar Stars in New Jersey

In this episode,​ we discuss the benefits of playing in Europe and how to play when you are trying out with a team versus when you are at a combine. Guest:Max Mansfield is the sporting director of New Amsterdam FC, which will be playing their inaugural season in NISA, and is a partner of the Fussball Project who works to link players with tryouts and teams in Europe.

In​ this episode, we talk to two coaches, Coach Richard Romain who holds a USSF A license and a UEFA B license from the German Federation, and Coach Danny Ramos who holds a USSF B license and a UEFA B license from the German Federation. We compare, contrast, and give opinions on the different experiences received from the two coaching courses.

In this episode I talk to FC Tulsa, who play in the USL Championship, Head Coach, Michael Nsien, about the things he has been doing with his team during quarantine, what are some of the things he will coach his team first as they have begun training again in small groups and now with full contact, and the pressure of being one of the few coaches of color at the professional level in the United States of America.

In this episode we talk about one of the most difficult things to coach young players, game intelligence. How do you teach players to observe and encode information and make intelligent decisions based on that information? My guest tackles this tough topic and give their opinions on what they do in order to develop this skill within thier players.

In this episode, we take a look into how to develop players in the college environment. We know that they have a limited amount of time in the spring season and a packed fall season. When do the coaches get time to develop players knowing that the future professionals of the country traditionally comes from college players? Guests: Coach Aidan Reynolds is the first assistant coach at D3 St. Norbert College in Wisconsin Coach Tom Moon is the first assistant coach at D1 Binghampton University

Coach H sits down with former NWSL and youth national team player, Samantha Johnson, to recap the NWSL Challenge Cup. Samantha, formerly a player for the Chicago Red Stars and Utah Royals, discusses what she saw coming, what were some of the surprises and what the league needs to be patient for with the transformation of certain teams.