S1: It’s time for Midday Edition on KPBS. From adult soccer leagues to youth soccer clubs. The popularity of football is growing in San Diego today. We’ll talk with leaders in the sport. I’m Jade Hyndman with conversations that keep you informed , inspired and make you think. He holds a soccer world record and he’s now the interim head coach for the wave FC. Landon Donovan talks about why he wanted to coach in San Diego.
S2: It was pretty alarming to me that there had been many iterations of both men’s and women’s soccer that had failed here , and so I wanted to help bring professional soccer , make soccer just better in San Diego.
S1: Hear more about that , plus the work being done to remove barriers and prep the next generation of pro soccer athletes. That’s ahead on Midday Edition. The National Women’s Soccer League season is coming to a close , and that means so is the San Diego Wave FC’s regular season , which was filled with a lot of change. Halfway through the season , the club fired head coach Casey Stoney. Then in August , Landon Donovan stepped into the role as interim head coach. And if you don’t know who Donovan is , he’s known as one of the best players in U.S. men’s national team history. He’s the all time leader in assist and tied for the most goals. He joins us now. Coach Donovan , welcome to midday. Thanks for.
S2: Having me. It’s really nice to be here.
S1: So glad to have you here. You retired in 2016 and you’ve since been a commentator and coach with the San Diego Loyal.
S2: Um , very interesting and unique and different for me because I played and coached on the men’s side for many , many years. So there are some subtle differences between the men and the women , just structurally and the league and the way the game is played. But I’m getting to do what I love doing , which is coaching. So it’s been really enjoyable for me.
S1: Oh that’s excellent. Well , tell me a bit more about those differences between the men’s and women’s team in terms of coaching and also resources.
S2: So as far as resources , the level of resources at San Diego Wave are far superior to what we had at San Diego Loyola. So from that standpoint , it’s been much easier as a coach because you have support great people who are supporting you , but also resources. So that makes it a lot easier. As far as differences , to be candid , it’s it’s been much easier to get information implemented on the women’s side than it was the men’s. And I see it with my children. Um , my boys are pretty intelligent , but my daughter is just way smarter. And so I’m seeing that on a daily basis to what the women , they’re just able to take information , process it and implement it very fast. And so for a new coach coming in mid-season , that’s been really helpful to me. Wow.
S1: Wow. Well that’s great. I mean , so so at this point you’ve assessed the strengths and weaknesses of the team. How does that inform your game plan for the rest of the season ? Sure.
S2: It’s really unique for me because it’s not like I’ve been coaching for decades. Um , I’ve had this is my fifth season of coaching , so I had never come into a team mid-season , and there are lots of challenges associated with that. Generally speaking , if you go into a team mid-season , that means things were not going well , right ? Because that means they let a coach go and they wanted change. So navigating where the team was at emotionally because of that change , emotionally , where the team’s at , because the season has not gone the way anybody wanted to , trying to get your coaching style and the way you want the team to play. Trying to get that across is challenging. In the middle of the season when results absolutely matter. Um , you don’t have pre-season to try things out , you just need to get results immediately. So that part of it has been really challenging. But honestly , the reception from this group of women has been phenomenal. They’ve been very respectful , they’re eager to learn , and they’ve made tremendous progress in the few months I’ve been here.
S1: That’s great. I mean , and I’d imagine , you know , you’re able to connect and really understand how to coach the players having been one yourself. Right. Tell me about that. Absolutely.
S2: Absolutely. And what I try to do is lean on my strengths. There are a lot of things that I’m still learning and need to get better at , but I can empathize with almost everything. Every player goes through it , any moment of of a season. So if they were injured , if they’re not playing , if they’re playing great , if they’re not playing well , if they’re traveling , if they’re with the national team , if they go through something. Personally , I’ve been through all of that. So I’m able to one listen in a real way and empathize , saying , I’ve been there and here was my experience. This is how I can help you , but also help them build resilience and say , look , that happened to me too. And this is how I was able to navigate through it and still play and still succeed. Because , you know , players tendency is to go internal. Sometimes when things go bad , look at the negatives , and I’m able to relatively quickly pull them out of that and get them back on track.
S1: Yeah , well , I want to talk a bit about the team’s morale. And you kind of touched on this a little earlier , but , you know , there was a a lawsuit recently filed against the franchise and the League Five former waive employees , alleged disability discrimination and racial discrimination , among other claims. At this moment , what’s been your approach to supporting the team’s morale and and the work environment in light of the lawsuit.
S2: As you can imagine , that’s challenging , right ? And for most of the players and staff around here , they’re not privy to including me , what has happened and what’s gone on. And candidly , they don’t want to be involved , but they want to be supportive and understanding of another’s well-being and and how people are treated. But it’s been challenging for the team as a whole , because not only has there been turmoil on the field at times , but there’s been turmoil off the field , too , so there’s not a lot that we can speak to them about. As far as you know , a lawsuit goes , there’s there’s nothing we can really say to them. It’s just trying to understand how the season as a whole has impacted them. Listening to them , giving them space to talk about how difficult it’s been and how challenging it’s been , and then continuing to support each other and help them through that. So these are things I always say they , you know , when you go take your professional coaching license. They don’t teach you about these types of situations. You kind of just have to feel it as a human being and try to keep the morale high when things haven’t gone well on the field , and then when there are things beyond their control that happen off the field.
S1: Yeah , well , I’m going to take a left turn here. You know , you’ve seen the soccer scene really evolve throughout the years with Loyal Soccer Club. And as an athlete yourself. And you played a major part really in in raising the profile of professional soccer here in San Diego. What’s it been like to see it gained so much momentum ? It’s been. Awesome.
S2: Awesome. So I moved here nine years ago with my wife. We had just had our first child. My wife grew up here in Rancho Santa Fe , so we moved nearby , and from the minute I hit the ground here , I have I had personal priorities , but also professionally. I wanted to help make an impact in San Diego. I grew up playing soccer tournaments here a lot. I grew up two hours northeast in Redlands , and I spent a lot of time here playing soccer tournaments and games , and it was pretty alarming to me that there had been many iterations of both men’s and women’s soccer that had failed here , and so I wanted to help bring professional soccer , make soccer just better in San Diego. Um , there are lots of people who have contributed to now San Diego Football Club that will be an MLS to San Diego wave that are now in NWSL. And I , you know , I hope I’ve played a small part in some of the the things that have gone along the way. But I love the sport. It’s been a part of my life forever. I love San Diego , I love living here. This is my forever home now. It’s where I’m raising my family. So it’s really great for me to see soccer flourishing here.
S1:
S2: I mean , we used to play in stadiums where , you know , 500 people would be in a 60 000 seat stadium. At times. You had a situation in Major League Soccer where if an owner was willing to just take on the operating expenses , they could get a franchise for free. Now , if you were to buy a franchise in Major League Soccer would cost you hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars. And in the same is happening now in NWSL. So the trajectory of the sport has been on a rocket ship. Um , the sport is here for good. I guess anecdotally , the way I can explain it is I just have people who , when I meet them , talk to them , I’m convinced that they will know nothing about soccer. And next thing you know , they’re talking to me about some obscure league in Croatia. And this game they watched. And it’s just soccer is everywhere now and it’s at the tip of people’s tongues. And it’s been great to watch it grow in America.
S1: That’s great. Now , I actually grew up dancing for our soccer team in Saint Louis. That’s my hometown for the Saint Louis ambush. I was at little. I was a cheerleader for them and that was So. It was a fun way to spend , uh , a few week nights and weekends as a kid , for sure. Well , Saint.
S2: Louis is also a huge soccer city , right ? And so we try to mirror the towns that have been so prevalent with this sport. And San Diego has quickly become a town like Saint Louis , too.
S1: Yeah , yeah , for sure. A big sports town , you know. But outside of the professional leagues , like youth soccer is a big investment for many kids and families here in San Diego. Uh , you drive by , you know , mission Bay. You see the fields packed on the weekends. You’ve been vocal about youth soccer and the importance of bringing up the next generation. Let’s hear what you said in Alexi Lalas State of the Union podcast.
S2: Our biggest issue is not with the national teams or the senior national team or MLS. It’s with youth development.
S1:
S2: And one is if you’re talking about how do we develop players , men and women who can play for the national team ? That’s a very small sliver in a very small concentration of players. But from that standpoint , we do a terrible job in this country at preparing players for that. And it starts at the very youngest ages. So an example is if a player if a team has six year olds or seven year olds or eight year olds or nine year olds , every player should be basically playing the same amount of time. You should not be worried about winning a soccer game as a coach. If you have a bunch of eight year olds on the field , you should be worried about all the kids playing , loving the sport and getting better. So that’s a starting point , because when you only let certain players play all the minutes , the net is much smaller of potential national team players one day. But then if you take a step back and you just think about growing the sport , the last thing you want to do is alienate kids who have a bad experience and turn them off to the sport forever. We’re trying to build fans all the time , so if an eight year old is not getting minutes because the coach is desperate to win a soccer game on the weekend , that eight year old little girl might say , you know what ? I don’t really like soccer because I never get to play. And that’s a big that’s a big knock on effect for soccer in this country. And if we’re trying to grow the sport , that is not the way to grow it. And so there there are there are many , many problems. The incentive structure is just backwards. Winning is incentivized versus developing kids and making their experience great. And until we get that right , we’re going to just slowly creep along. Certainly at the national team level , we’re going to suffer. But also just in the sport , as a sport in general , we’re going to suffer to create new fans. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Do you think that there are any accessibility barriers that need to be addressed ? Absolutely.
S2: Yeah , absolutely. I mean , soccer is not a cheap sport. If I didn’t have somebody , you know , I grew up in the Inland Empire with a single mom who was a special ed teacher. She certainly couldn’t afford 3 or 4 or $5,000 a year to to support my travel soccer. So if I didn’t have somebody help me , I wouldn’t have. I wouldn’t be here talking to you today. And there is a huge accessibility problem. Um , I understand that somebody has to pay for the coaches and the fields and the tournaments and the jerseys , but right now , what’s happening is the kids who can afford it as a general statement are the kids who get to play. And then as humans , if you know , one kid is paying full , they’re going to play a lot of minutes. And so that’s unfortunately the reality. It’s not anyone’s fault necessarily , but it is an issue that we need to solve. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , you know , the end of the regular season for the wave FC is near. What’s the competition looking like for them. Yes.
S3: Yes. So we have we’re in a unique spot.
S2: We’re playing in two different competitions at the same time. One is our league. We have three games left and basically need to win at least two of them , probably three of them to make the playoffs. Um , but good news is , is everything still to play for there ? And then we’re we’re in the W Champions Cup which is a intercontinental competition. We’ve played three games , won all three. We need to win or tie our last one this coming Wednesday for a chance to advance in that tournament. So we have four games left. Likely need to win three out of the four to advance in in all the competitions or even four out of four. But the team’s in a really good place. It’s been a really enjoyable few months for me and let’s hope the season finishes well.
S1: Well , we are rooting for you all. I’ve been speaking with the wave FC interim head coach Landon Donovan. Coach Donovan , thanks for joining me and best of luck to you all. Thank you.
S2: Very much. Thanks for having me.
S1: Coming up here about the rec and youth leagues , people of all ages can participate in.
S4: Soccer , and San Diego is being represented in so many different levels and so many different ways that it hasn’t in the past. And that’s attention is really showcasing what San Diego is able to offer.
S1: Hear more when KPBS Midday Edition returns. Welcome back to Midday Edition. I’m your host , Jade Hindman. We just heard from wave FC’s interim head coach , Landon Donovan. While popularity and fandom have rippled across San Diego since it was founded in 2022 , soccer has been a part of San Diego’s region for far longer , from the loyal to the Soccers. Or some might even remember the San Diego Spirit. We’ve had our fair share of teams. Joining me now to dig into the history and growth of soccer in the region is Tony Sanchez. He’s the co-founder of San Diego Football , an online sports page covering San Diego soccer. He’s also host of There Two Balls and a mic podcast. Tony , welcome.
S4: Thank you for having me. It’s a real pleasure to be on here to talk some local San Diego soccer.
S1: Glad to have you here. Also with me is Alejandro Villasenor. He’s also a co-founder of San Diego Football and podcast host. Alejandro , welcome to you.
S2: I appreciate it. Thank you.
S4: So much. Excited for this opportunity.
S1: All right. Well then let’s get into it.
S4: But everywhere else on a global market , it’s the number one sport that dominates the headlines. What happened in football , what happened in soccer. But it’s something that here , uh , it’s it’s a great mix in San Diego where the quality of play has always been here. Uh , with the club teams locally , there’s a lot of professional players that come out of this region. So soccer is Soccer’s always been registered for San Diego as a top attraction , but ultimately there is a need to speak about soccer and in depth in terms of formations and just a little bit of a 2.0 instead of a 101 perhaps , uh , vision on that. But this is something that is an opportunity has been granted and a lane that’s opened up for us here in San Diego because nobody else was doing it. And we’re now going on our fourth year of covering soccer here locally in San Diego.
S1:
S4: Um , myself , having grown up in Tijuana , it’s something that’s embedded in the in the just the being and the ethos of the spirit of the city even. And they , uh , over in Tijuana also had a new wave of soccer , uh , come in in the form of chilies. Queensland , Tijuana. They’d also have a couple of iterations of professional soccer through the years , but Tijuana was the one that stuck. And that’s something similar that’s happening here in San Diego , where there’s always been a need. There’s always been a love and appreciation of the game. But now San Diego FC and the MLS has come in the major league section. Yeah.
S1: Well , Alejandro , who were some of the founders in the San Diego Tijuana region , are there any names that you think should go down in history for their local contributions ? Yeah.
S5: No , absolutely. I think here in San Diego , I mean , just , uh , Landon Donovan can be one of them just starting things with , uh , wanting to have a team for for MLS and then , uh , with San Diego Loyal , just I would say Andrew is , uh , founder and owner of San Diego Loyal. Uh , deserves a lot of credit for bringing that into San Diego is really my professional soccer team here. And then obviously with MLS starting up as well , just following up you have two Lozano , who’s going to be the marquee signing for San Diego FC. So first big ever star here in San Diego when it comes to soccer. And then for TJ I mean you have a lot of players that played through that show lose Quinn to this team. Uh , some players to recognize this , like Fernando Arce , uh , that played for solos and then just , uh , Joe Corona , who’s also a San Diego native and played for solos and became a champion with solos currently again in solos right now. So a lot of people that should be recognized. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , you know , it’s it’s really hard to talk about the growth of soccer in San Diego without recognizing the San Diego soccer’s. The local indoor team has been around since 1978. And we’ll be talking with them later in the show.
S4: Uh , even speaking of other sports in general , the San Diego has seen whether it’s the San Diego Padres , whether it’s the San Diego Clippers and the first version. But ultimately , San Diego soccer are the one team that has brought a championship and not just one championship. There is the 16 time indoor champions Ambience through different leagues and are really somewhere that is a place that is revered. They are the number one market and destination for some players in that league to grow up and want to have that. They’ve also had great players pass through there. Talking about Craig Childs , another local individual who has lifted this region up with his not only his play but his contributions into the community. And this team has also seen the likes of Landon Donovan and also seeing the likes of Hugo Sanchez , which , uh , Mexican nationals will be very familiar with in this team. And now they moved up to Oceanside into the new front wave arena , really putting in a new outlook into another opportunity to grab some more fan base , maybe now in the North County. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , I mean , it sounds like their success has really contributed to the rise in popularity of the sport. Absolutely.
S4: Absolutely. And that’s the one constant that’s always been here throughout these very various iterations of the outdoor game. The indoor game is something that’s always respected when it comes to the San Diego Soccers it’s synonymous to the sport of indoor , and it’s also very specific to this region where indoor soccer is a little bit more accessible. You don’t need 11 players , you just need six players out there and one ball , and you can get a game going. Of the indoor iteration of soccer.
S1: Well , I want to bring women’s soccer into the conversation here.
S5: When San Diego Wave was founded as an expansion team for the NWSL three years ago , the team itself was going to be a huge market for soccer to grow here in San Diego professionally. And then bringing in talented , like a name like Alex Morgan into San Diego , just without a doubt , can be considered the greatest of all time for American soccer. And then getting a first round draft pick with Naomi Girma , who’s now considered as one of the world’s best defenders , not just in San Diego or America , a world caliber player. I think those things have definitely helped out grow the game here in San Diego. And then just throughout their work with the community , throughout the connections that they’ve done with local clubs as well , especially helping out younger girls try to become and have a path to professional soccer. I think those are things that are definitely helping.
S1: Well , you mentioned Alex Morgan and Naomi Girma. What does it mean to see San Diego’s women’s team retaining really powerful athletes ? Alejandro.
S5: No , definitely. I think having older players as well that are legendary to the game like Shannon McMillan , be part of your team as well. Uh , helps having those conversations with the players , uh , saying , hey , like you can try doing this. These are things I used to do in the past. So just having players like that to look up to within the team as well are things that keep the players here. Obviously the weather helps out living here in San Diego as well , which is a huge attraction to players , and then just the quality and the potential that San Diego Wave have. I mean , they were the first expansion team to reach playoffs second year in the season. They won the NWSL shield , which is finishing in first place. So bringing a trophy to the city already. Uh , and then this season , just having a little bit of a setback but changing things around in order to be able to become successful again.
S1: Well , back in August , at a Tijuana sports complex , San Diego Football Club , the new MLS team hosted this historic tryout for young soccer players with really big dreams , scouting thousands of players in San Diego and Tijuana for its youth academy. And this was the first time an MLS team ever went to scout in Mexico.
S4: So you see a lot of Mexican-American , uh , talent from the US actually travel into Tijuana. But now with this , the MLS actually , um , has an opportunity to go into Mexico because of FIFA rules. There’s a certain radius of mileage from your home base that you’re allowed to scout. And fortunately for San Diego , that spells that you can go into the iguana. And so with that , this is going to bring a Bountiful relationship between Todos and San Diego FC , something that’s already been , uh , established with a partnership that’s going to have friendlies at Snapdragon Stadium , which will bring attention and draw a lot of eyes into this potential cross-border rivalry. One of the first iterations of this , really in the world , where two competing teams potentially just be separated by , uh , La Linea , uh , here in locally in San Diego. Tijuana.
S1: Well , you mentioned , you know , there’s so much talent in the region. Another big part of the soccer scene in San Diego is the culture and community that you really see at pickup games. So when did you start seeing those grow in San Diego.
S4: Those are the people who have always played soccer here in San Diego. And that’s really the culture of soccer in general. Uh , here locally , there’s a couple of groups that have grown in prominence with bridge , Berkata and Chicano football by holding free pickup soccer at Chicano Park. And that’s really the nature and the impetus to come together and just share a couple of minutes together with some pals and play some soccer , whether it’s with no goals , whether it’s having an opportunity to play with some professionals that do go down there and also showcase their skills , there’s really a place for everybody. But this is something that has been here in San Diego throughout , and ultimately now it’s led into this growing movement where San Diego now has representation in the International Street Soccer World Cup coming up in Riga , Latvia , up in November. So San Diego’s team actually won the national tournament to be able to qualify for that. So again , soccer in San Diego is being represented in so many different levels and so many different ways that it hasn’t in the past. And that’s attention is really showcasing what San Diego is able to offer. It’s always been here. Teams can come in and make their profit and make what they will in the business side of it. But at the end of the day , soccer in San Diego has always and will forever remain here.
S1: Yeah , it’s just amazing. Um , you know , how has the soccer scene changed over the years since you started following and reporting on the local teams ? Alejandro.
S5: Oh , absolutely. I mean , we we work closely with , uh , upsell site San Diego International. So a quick shout out to them , uh , upsell , which is essentially sort of a semi-pro league. And it’s a big platform for a lot of players that continue to play soccer , even at an older age , that not quite necessarily got to become a pro , but they’re still playing at a high level. So the impact that those teams have in the community as well just plays a big role in those local clubs. And then clubs like you have surf over up in North County and then just local Sunday league teams everywhere around the county where they have the culture like you mentioned , that just overall grows the game. Uh , and eventually a chance to be able to support a new professional soccer team with the UFC.
S1: Yeah , well , as we we touched on , San Diego’s getting its own Major League Soccer team , San Diego FC , on an episode of KPBS roundtable last year. Tony , you said SFC is really filling a void. Tell me more about that.
S4: This is something that San Diego’s been lacking in terms of the the the major league star power in terms of soccer. It’s had every success , whether it’s in the amateur level , whether it’s in the level of semi-pro or it just in general being one of the number one markets in the nation when it comes to tuning into soccer , international levels , World Cup , Women’s World Cup. You see San Diego always represented there , but there wasn’t any actual team that was at that major league level , the top flight in the MLS for San Diego. So this this just does change a couple of things in the game because , um , you have an opportunity much like wave. Now you have an opportunity for young men and young people through the Right to Dream Academy with San Diego FC to have a pathway to professional , uh , soccer , but also through the unique lens of this academy system that San Diego FC will have with their right to dream. Uh , they are allowing for the opportunity for an education for players that are scouted through those , uh , scouting sessions that you were mentioning earlier over in Tijuana. Some players that may come through that pipeline will be guaranteed an education through the Right to Dream Academy , along with an opportunity to be fed into what will be San Diego FC in a couple of years. So this is something that is taking , uh , checking a couple of boxes , both on a business side , both on a holistic side. Uh , there is a marriage to go ahead and do the successfully , but it’s an incredibly ambitious project in the larger scheme of things. But San Diego FC is here to stay , and it’s going to be it’s going to be a very interesting how they develop into the community that’s already established here. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Something will definitely be watching. Um , you know , MLS is is a really big operation. And as we know , there are plenty of other teams in San Diego , both for soccer and other sports like Major League Baseball and the Padres.
S5: San Diego is a very diverse community , as we all know , and I think just as there’s a lot of baseball fans , there’s also a lot of San Diego soccer fans , right ? So like Tony mentioned earlier , San Diego is the fastest growing sport in America , especially here in San Diego , is just exploding with greatness and just going over all and getting interest from everyone. I think San Diego FC just mentioned that they sold a lot of their pitch side boxes , which is like a VIP season package that they have. We’ve had the highest average attendance in the league as well this season and have multiple NWSL records when it comes to attendance , so they’ll want that. The need for soccer’s here in San Diego , and I think people are definitely going to show out and prove that correct.
S1: I’ve been speaking with Tony Sanchez. He’s the co-founder of San Diego Football and host of Two Balls and a mic podcast. Tony , thanks.
S4: I appreciate the time. I really love speaking about soccer in San Diego , and there’s a lot more to come. Indeed.
S1: Indeed. Also Alejandro Villasenor , he’s also a co-founder of San Diego Football. Alejandro , thanks for being here.
S5: Thank you so much for the invitation and I really appreciate it.
S1: Still ahead , making soccer more accessible and preparing the next generation of soccer pros.
S6: There’s a lot of things I think that should be overhauled , right ? To help and to start getting more kids even that can’t afford to play club , getting them the ability and the opportunities to do so.
S1: KPBS Midday Edition returns after the break. Welcome back to Midday Edition. I’m Jade Hindman. Now that we’ve talked about the growing popularity and fandom of outdoor soccer , we want to highlight indoor soccer. The San Diego soccer’s have been around since the 70s. From 2011 to 2013 , the club set a U.S. record with 48 consecutive wins. It still stands today , and in 2022 , they won back to back league championships. Sean Bowers is the executive vice president of sports management at Front Wave Arena. He joins us to talk about the record breaking team and their involvement in youth sports. Sean , welcome to midday.
S6: Thanks for having me , I appreciate it.
S1: So glad to have you on. Well , let’s start with the big news. This season starts in December and the team is playing in a new home. So tell me about that.
S6: Uh , we’re we’re very excited. You know , I’ve been with the soccer’s general manager since 2016 , and then I ended up taking the new role as the EVP of sports management for Front Wave Arena , and one of the biggest , you know , accomplishments I can say , obviously , we’ve won many championships , but really it’s been about the move into front wave Arena and and building it and being part of that for the last 6 to 8 years. So now the soccer’s have a new home. Everything’s , you know , shiny and brand new. And we’re excited to get the season going. So yeah , our first game is December 14th here at home in front of Arena and Oceanside against Utica City. So everybody’s really excited. Not only the community of Oceanside , but North County is very excited about our relocation. Um , you know , we’re getting different types of fans in terms of we really never got a lot of North County soccer , you know , players or parents that would come down to the game at Pechanga. And now we’ve kind of opened up a new genre in the sense of fans that are North County , Temecula , Marietta , Orange County. So we’re we’re we’re really , really excited. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. I mean , and , you know , I mean , that’s great that you’re building another fan base. Do you have any concerns about , um , South County fans ? Yeah.
S6: I mean , obviously when we played it , we had a lot of of our fans in South County and we had fans in East County. So , you know , I think that we are going to lose some of those , uh , but definitely not forgetting any of our South county. East County , we’re trying to make better times for our games. You know , one of the reasons why we left is because of not getting dates. Like maybe a Saturday night where we were getting a Thursday night or a Wednesday night at Pechanga. So , um , that’s better too for us. So now a family can come up , you know , instead of a Friday night driving downtown or driving a Friday night up into Oceanside. So hopefully that the traffic is a little bit better. So , you know , I think it’s still conducive to anybody in San Diego to come down. But I think also because of our dates , it’s going to give a better time for families to make it.
S1: All right. Well , you played both indoor and outdoor soccer during your career.
S6: There’s a lot of difference. You know , starting my career indoor. Obviously if you can picture for those that don’t know , indoor soccer picture kind of like a hockey rink and there’s turf down on it playing off the boards. You know the concept of indoor soccer is a little bit like hockey. You have a penalty box. You know , if if there’s an infraction , a two minute penalty , you play with a man down less space. Um , really fast action. Uh , we’re outdoor soccer is much bigger. Played moments like bigger on the football field , 120 by 80. Um , a little bit more of a possession game , a little bit more of , uh , you know , keeping the ball , finding your forwards where it is an indoor. It’s really , you know , you’re on for one minute and then you get a sub , you know , we’re outdoor. You’re on for 45 minutes , you don’t really get a sub. So there’s a tremendous amount of differences of both sports. Indoor in the sense of what we’re trying to do is also on the entertainment side. Right. You’re putting entertainment out on there. Uh , it’s fast paced , um , physical. You know , there’s a pregame show , a halftime show , uh , meet the players after. So it’s it’s a lot different. Um , and there’s really an entertainment value that comes with it to , with the indoor side. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Is the entertainment value something that’s really evolved since you started playing talk about , you know , how the indoor world has changed.
S6: Oh , I’m going to age myself , I think , on this one. But , uh , but yeah , I mean , it’s changed a lot when , you know , obviously when I played , I played in the 90s , in the 2000. It’s , you know , there was , you know , you show up to the game and you’d play and then go home there really much going on and halftime and pregame. But it’s really about the experience for the fan especially now that’s it’s that’s really what. So when we’re putting together a linear for a team it’s like okay what what are we doing. You know before the game. What experiences do we have for club soccer teams. You know what is our halftime game. Is there a halftime show after the game. You know are the players accessible for autographs. Like all of these things are really important. And then , you know , the other side of it too is you know merchandise. So when I played , there really wasn’t much of a merchandise sale wasn’t really important. Now it’s very important , right. There’s one ways of of revenue that comes in. So now we have maybe theme nights where you have a Star Wars night , where the players all wear Star Wars themed jerseys and you can auction them off , you know , and help with charity and , and , uh , merchandise and sense of maybe doing a marvel night or a military night and supporting military. So it’s really kind of a whole package of entertainment. And then the last part of that too , which is really conducive to our new arena in the community of Oceanside , is how does that affect the community and how is it connected to raising money and Boys and girls clubs and YMCAs and , and really , you know , having relationships like that ? Not that we didn’t have that before Pechanga , but it’s much easier now that we have an arena because we have different assets that we can help with that. Mhm.
S1: Well , as the Soccers get settled into Oceanside , there are plans to really engage the youth and make the sport more accessible. So tell me about that. Yeah.
S7: Yeah.
S6: I mean , you know right behind us for front Wave Arena there’s the SoCal soccer fields right. And we have a great relationship with SoCal Sports Complex with Oceanside Breakers. You know , we have our own entity , which is the card of soccer’s , which is an affiliate program of ours. So everything is built around club soccer and groups. You know , really in the sporting world where you get most of the your fan base is really from the group sales part of it , right ? 60 to 70% of everybody that walks through your doors is really connected to a group. So we’ve done a really good job in connecting with all the directors all over San Diego , you know , inviting them in , letting them see the arena. You know , this is where the soccer’s are going to play. We want you to be part of it. The other part of it that we do , too , is we can do a fundraising ticket for them so they can come in and buy the tickets for $15 from us and turn around and sell for 20 bucks. So there’s a revenue for them that they can help with their club to help , maybe support players that can’t afford the youth soccer , you know , because obviously there’s a a price to pay now in the club world. And so we can try to help. Right. Giving some sort of scholarships to kids that can’t afford it. So it’s kind of a roundabout way here. You know , we have we support the youth and the youth turn around and support us. Yeah.
S1: Yeah. Well , when we talk about making the sport more accessible , I mean , you’ve got a youth club called six one nine foot tall.
S6: You know , because the whole concept of pay to play. Right. And I think for us , you know , what we do is we’re a training based club. So everything is based off of training. What we do at our club is they come once a week and they train on Fridays. They still play club soccer. We use it as a tool to develop players. Everything they do in football is a translates to the outdoor game. So it’s almost like a training session. But in saying that , you know , we make our fees as low as possible. We also give out scholarships to kids. We have sponsorships. Uh , M5 productions has a big sponsor where they’ve given us a lot of money , that we use some of that money to give to the kids that can’t afford it , or families that might have 2 or 3 kids in our program. So , you know , it’s really hard , you know , in the state right now with us soccer and , and everybody running a club and there’s a financial component to it. Um , you know , and we’re trying to find ways to , you know , make it accessible , make it cheap , make it so that , you know , we’re not really trying to make as much money on it. We’re just trying to make sure the kids are developing. Because ultimately , really , what you want to do is you want to help all of these kids as they grow up , you know , if they want to go to college and go to help them get a scholarship to go to college , right ? So , I mean , one of the greatest things I think that I’ve ever done in terms of how my successes might be valued is , is that I got a scholarship to go to college. So when I got out of college , I owed no money. Right. And so I got to go into the world. Even though I went into the soccer world , still I got to go on the road with no debt. And I think those are one of the ways that we can help. 6 or 9 helps. We have a bunch of , especially on the girls side , that have gotten scholars to SMU and to Harvard and to Princeton and to , you know , UCSB and promoting them to go to college , getting scholarships so that they can find their dream not only from the soccer side , but obviously when they get out of soccer on the business side.
S1: Yeah , that is great. I mean , for youth who want to play soccer.
S7:
S6: You know , it depends where you play , right ? I mean , it can run anywhere from very minimal costs all the way up to 2 or $3000 a year. Plus , then you have travel and uniforms and , you know , I mean , there’s an extreme cost , you know , especially if you’re playing for the higher side of clubs. And I think that that’s one of the things. And obviously they have to charge because they’re going to have costs. I mean , you pay for coaches , you pay for fields , you pay for , you know , uh , balls , like there’s things that cost from the club side of it too. So it’s really a tricky , you know , a tricky slope , you know , on what the cost is. How much does it really cost ? You know , who’s making the money , who’s not making the money. And there’s been a lot of rhetoric lately of , you know , is this really the way that we need to go with us ? Soccer ? There’s a lot of things I think that should be overhauled , right , to help and to start getting more kids even that can’t afford to play club giving them the ability and the opportunities to do so. Yeah.
S1: Well , you know , you grew up here in San Diego playing soccer. You even worked at soccer games as a high school student.
S7:
S6: With the San Diego Soccers. You know , I grew up at first they were playing outdoor in the old NASL that used to have the Beckenbauer over here playing. Pele played Georgia , Cornelia played no. Julie V. So growing up , my idols of soccer was a little bit different than what it is today. Right ? So today you have kids that are watching the EPL every day , you know , with with television and broadcast. How that’s all changed the world in that. But we didn’t have that. We really went to games. And when when they ended up going from outdoor and they went to indoor and were winning championships , you know , as I was going through high school , those were really the idols that I looked up to because that was , you know , you can see them , you can feel them , you can talk to them. And so I was very connected to the San Diego Soccers growing up in their championships and work , their summer camps. And I’ve been around , you know , I feel like greatness in terms of the lives and the Alan Mayers and the numbers , and I think that helped me become more competitive and and wanting to , you know , really strive to. I always knew I wanted to be a professional soccer player , go to college , get a scholarship. So I think just being around the championship world and all the championships here would help me with my attitude , you know , my , um , personality to really know what I want , you know , and know that how I need to get there because I can see it , I can watch it. And the ways that they prepared and and , uh , to be a champion. Wow.
S1: Wow.
S7:
S6: It really is. I mean , I think even coaching at 6 or 9 foot tall , I have 4 or 5 teams that I coach , and they run from anywhere from the 2014 age all the way up to 2010. And and obviously differences because of the age. But it’s really about , you know , even little things when we’re at practice and being excellent what they do and coming to practice and trying to get better every day. And it’s the same thing when we come to work , like we talk about it all the time. We have , you know , quotes of the week and we talk about how can we can get better as a team. And you know , what they need for me as an EVP to give them the tools to be successful. And , you know , so it’s really , you know , whether you do it , you know , in an office or you do it on a soccer field , there’s a lot of similarities. And I love it because it’s just it’s inspirational. It’s motivational. And , you know , trying to get people to be their greatness is really important to me. Yeah.
S1: Yeah.
S6: Right. So and that’s just even evidence of what we have now. So not only do we not , we just only have the San Diego Soccers , right ? So we have the soccers that have been here since 1978 , and then you have the San Diego Wave , um , you know , that have come here for the last 4 or 5 years and just set a new standard. You know , you had the loyal before that , that had done a great job in the upsell championship. And then obviously you also have now the SFC that’s coming. The MLS is coming. Right. And being part of the MLS , when I played I played in 1996 to 2000. That was the start of MLS. So now seeing what the MLS has become , um , the transition from obviously us old guys playing to now what it is right now has set up again for preparing our men’s side , right , to give them an avenue so that players are playing all the time to in hopes that some of them will make the national team have played a really high level.
S8: Yeah , well , what.
S1:
S6: Um , you know , we have we’ve put more money , more dollars into our marketing side. I think our marketing has been phenomenal up to this point and will be even better as we’re going through. You know , we have now social media that’s connected. We just really have a really good staff on the marketing side. On the ticketing side , you know , we have everybody really working together where our staff before it was maybe 3 or 4 people. We have a staff of 15 to 20 people. So you know we’re going to put a lot out there. Um , you know , we really want the same experience , if not better experiences. The the game entertainment is going to be just as good , if not better. Um , you know , the staff that we have , the coaching staff that we have and and then obviously , you know , touching the the youth side card of soccer’s that we have in terms of having them come to the games and , and all of those things , that’s a really , really important things that now we’re kind of in their backyard so that they can , you know , come to our games all the time. So really being blessed and and , uh , being able to touch kids lives in so many different ways , not only in soccer , but being in the community , having programs for them.
S1: Yeah , it’s an exciting time for you all for sure. I’ve been speaking with Sean Bowers. He’s the executive vice president of sports management at Front Wave Arena. He’s also the founder and president of six one nine foot Soar. Sean , thank you so much for being here. Great.
S7: Great. Thank you so much for having me.
S1: That’s our show for today. If you missed anything , you can download KPBS Midday Edition on all podcast apps. Don’t forget to watch Evening Edition tonight at five for in-depth reporting on San Diego issues. Join us back here tomorrow for our weekly show exploring the arts and culture scene. I’m your host , Jade Hindman. Thanks for listening.
From adult soccer leagues to youth soccer clubs, the sport is growing in popularity across the region.
It’s gotten much attention with teams like the San Diego Sockers and Wave FC. San Diego is even welcoming a Major League Soccer team, SDFC, in February.
On Midday Edition Wednesday, we’re joined by the Wave FC interim head coach to talk more about the team as they come to the end of their season.
Then, we’ll talk to local reporters about soccer history and connections to Tijuana.
We’ll wrap up with a deep dive on the impact of indoor soccer in the region and the accessibility of the sport.
