The American Soccer Club Zone
Join ASCNY General manager Jim Kilmeade as he dives into the world of American soccer, featuring insightful conversations with guests from across the soccer community. From grassroots stories to professional perspectives, each episode brings fresh takes on the sport’s growth in the U.S.—plus the latest updates from the American Soccer Club New York.
Catch the show every Sunday morning at 7AM on KJOY 98.3FM.
The American Soccer Club Zone
Bob Montgomery reveals how youth development transforms American soccer
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What does it take to build a soccer development system that truly serves American players? Bob Montgomery, the architect behind Red Bull New York's academy that produced stars like Tyler Adams and Christian Pulisic, reveals the blueprint on American Soccer Club Zone.
Montgomery brings decades of wisdom from coaching US National Team captains Mike Windischman and Chris Armas at Adelphi University to establishing one of America's most productive youth academies. Now, as sporting committee member for American Soccer Club New York, he's helping create new pathways for local talent.
The conversation unpacks why American youth soccer often misses talented players through exclusive club affiliations and prohibitive costs. "It's about building bridges," Montgomery explains, describing ASC's open-door approach that contrasts with typical MLS academy models. He challenges common development myths, particularly around playing up age groups, explaining players should only advance "when they're ready."
Most compelling is ASC's proof-of-concept: giving 16-year-old Dylan Lopez first-team minutes during their inaugural NPSL season. This bold move demonstrates their commitment to development over immediate results. As Montgomery reflects on his experiences grooming future stars, he emphasizes that technical ability and decision-making—not size or strength—ultimately determine which young players succeed professionally.
Ready to see American soccer development reimagined? Join the conversation about creating accessible pathways for talented players regardless of background or club affiliation. The future of American soccer depends on it.
Thank you for listening! Visit us at ASCNewYork.com
Welcome to American Soccer Club Zone
Speaker 1Good morning everybody and welcome to the American Soccer Club Zone . This radio show is brought to you on KJOY 98.3 in Farmingdale , new York Great station . Here in beautiful Farmingdale , with the airport just around the corner , we have a great show for you today and we're going to be bringing in a guest . His name is Bob Montgomery , a legendary US soccer figure and specifically a New York metropolitan Long Island soccer figure , and we'll talk about the American Soccer Club Zone and the American Soccer Club which Bob is part of in the sporting capacity . Before we get into any of that , we've had a real crazy end of the season and we'll talk about that and where we've been for the last two weeks . It's exactly 14 days since the American Soccer Club's NPSL inaugural season ended with a kind of a very difficult great game to watch , tough game to lose 3-2 lost to New Haven , who became the eventual North Atlantic Conference champions . So a little bit of consolation there . But before we get anywhere , you know the American Soft Club started in 2025 , and we are really all about our partners , our investors and specifically our sponsors , who are more like partners and investors than they are commercial partners , and so we're going to go right through the three major sponsors here and give a little acknowledgment that the show
ASC's Inaugural Season and Sponsors
Speaker 1is brought to you by . You know LIFAC , our Jersey Front partners . Lifac have saved over 4,000 lives to date 4,400 , I believe . Ceo and founder Artie Lee and his LIFACers around the country are on a mission . Save lives in . American Soccer Club New York are now partners in that noble endeavor . We're going to save lives together . And we have Our medical partners are probably our most critical partners on the day-to-day existence of a professional soccer team Orlin Co .
Speaker 1An orthopedic group Division of Northwell Health . They're on the jersey back . They are incredible day-to-day partners . The incredible Orlin Co , an orthopedic group division has the state-of-the-art facilities all across Long Island and they help our athletes get back in the game . They have been just incredible . Our uniform , how people know us . We share a great uniform apparel partner with Wrexham , the incredibly , now internationally known Welsh team , 100 plus years old . It is now on an unprecedented ascent up to the Premier League , hopefully if they get one more promotion .
Speaker 1And we have mutual partners in Macron . Macron is our apparel partner . Us headquarters in Bridgeport out of Bologna , italy . They've been phenomenal . So we thank LifeVac , orland Cohen and Macron , of course .
Speaker 1And then we have the Bargino Law Firm in Garden City Long Island's best personal law injury firm and A-Turf it's America's top synthetic turf manufacturer . A-turf fields last , an industry leading , 14.5 years and they are the , from the Buffalo Bills Stadium , the longest-lasting NFL stadium at eight and a half years , to the Sousa FC Orland and Cohen Complex in Central Islip , new York . A-turf provides a playing surface most like natural grass in pristine condition , and BQE Soccer Partners is the architects of the soccer club , the American Soccer Club New York , and we would not be sitting here in these beautiful Farmedale KJoy Studios if not for Todd Shapiro and Associates , the top PR agency in the country in my mind . And you can learn more about the American Soccer Club New York at ASCNewYorkcom and on all social media . We're pretty good on that . We're pretty active and although we're technically in the offseason , our next conversation here with Bob Montgomery will tell you a lot more about the club . There is no offseason , but this is technically our first time to regroup , so we've had two weeks to do it , but we didn't spend a lot of time relaxing . We did a feature . We were fortunate enough to be identified through some great coverage in the New York Post by CBS Sports , cbs Sports .
Speaker 1We did two features last week on Dylan Lopez , our 16-year-old phenom that we've signed out of Ronkonkoma and the Atlantic FC club . He actually got on the field twice this year . Bob and I will talk about him . And also Stalin Acosta , an incredible story of perseverance and dedication Stalin's been through . He's one of our players from Brentwood , brentwood High School , cortland College , cortland University who's been through a . He's one of our players from Brentwood , brentwood High School , cortland
Recent Media Coverage and Player Stories
Speaker 1College , cortland University who's been through a bout of cancer . Come back stronger than ever . He's one of the fittest guys on the team . So CBS was incredible to identify these two guys and do two stories on them .
Speaker 1And , last but not least , really a banner week leading up to our show this morning and my brother Brian and I my famous brother Brian and I , who's on Fox News Channel and hosts about five different shows a day and a radio show we were brought on to Fox 5 New York to do an interview , a good five , six minute interview about the club . Brian's an investor and a soccer advocate , just like we are , and we had a great interview with some great hosts and we're very grateful for that . What we're even more grateful for , our guest here right now is a guy that when I was growing up he's a few years more mature than I am , I'll say that , bob but he was an iconic coach that if he did recognize you as a player , you really felt like you had arrived . He's the coach of Adelphi University . He was a great player himself in East Meadow and Nassau Community College and at Adelphi University and then in the senior leagues of the LISFL and beyond with Lindbrook Steuben for years . So Bob is , you know , he's a Long Island soccer player Hall of Famer . He is an iconic coach .
Speaker 1He was Red Bull United excuse me , red Bull , new York . Red Bull really launched their academy system , which is one of was one of the best in the country and still is . Eric , red Bull really launched their academy system , which was one of the best in the country and still is Over 13 years gave birth to players like Tyler Adams , matt Miosga and so many others . So I'd like to welcome the legendary Bob Montgomery to the radio show today . Bob ,
Bob Montgomery's Soccer Legacy
Speaker 1how are you ?
Speaker 2I'm doing well . Thank you very much , Jim .
Speaker 1Great .
Speaker 2I know you're excited for being part of the ASC and seeing how we can really help players on Long Island and create some great players for professional ranks down the road .
Speaker 1Well , one of the best things that Kevin Reardon and I my managing partner from Hicksville , a Fordham guy is one of the first things we say we have to do is we have to get the smartest people we can to be involved with us to help us maximize what we're trying to do here , which is launch a club that can identify and launch players into not only the US national team but into Europe .
Speaker 1And one of the first people we contacted and you greatly accepted was you , Bob , with regard to the sporting committee , to become one of our board members and to help us direct things going forward , not only with the professional team on the field , but probably the most important thing we're going to be doing is identifying players and helping launch their careers , and I will say this because I know you're not a big bragger at all .
Speaker 1One of the things I said on the Fox interview that I was glad I got it out , the way it should come out , is that at one point in time , we were producing national team captains , us national team captains , world Cup players from Long Island , mike Windischman , chris Armis , mike Windischman from Queens and Chris Armis from Brentwood , and they have one thing in common they both played for Bob Montgomery at Adelphi University and they were US national team captains . There's been a bit of a wasteland in between all that , but we've got a lot of good players . Bob Did . And in between all that , we've got a lot of good players . Bob Did . You know that those two guys were guys that had that kind of ability when you were first recruiting them as high school players ?
Speaker 2Yeah , that's such an unbelievable achievement . I would never say that . Yeah , I foresaw that that would be kidding a lot of people , including myself . I knew they were very talented players . I knew they could go a long way . It's a difficult thing . There are many roads that you know in the future that cross over , and they made good choices and they were surrounded by good people as well , and they were very , very hard workers . The two of them loved the game .
Speaker 1They were passionate and they practiced so much on their own time . Yeah , so you just saw two really you know plays with great potential . And then they obviously got into a great environment with a good culture at Adelphi , which you know had some of the better players around the country for a long time and also just had a very good program . You had built a really good program . You had great assistant coaches that all went on to coaches , including Tommy Lying , a coach that actually went on to coach with for me , my senior year at Hofstra University across town and then went on to an amazing career at Southern Connecticut University as well .
Speaker 1You know , one of the things that we always talk about is the state of the national team .
Speaker 1We're going to pull this back to how American Soccer Club may or may not play a role in that , because victory for Kevin and I in the buildup to this club being launched was that if one day we're sitting here and there's one of our former players , academy or otherwise , is on the US national team , and the other way to look at it is if we launched our players into careers like Joe Scali and we always talk about Joe Scali and we're never going to be sick of talking about him .
Speaker 1We had Joe actually come visit us and spoke to the team . You know he's a 22-year-old guy from Lake Grove and played for the Sachem Soccer Club in the Long Island Junior Soccer League . And you know , joe got into the New York City FC Academy , of course , down from Bob's Red Bull Academy , and he was one of those few kids that he was when scouted to go to Germany and play for Borussia Mönchengladbach . He not only had the physical ability to do it but he had the mental ability to deal with that adversity and a new culture and the whole thing . But we've gone to the point where there has to be more than one Joe Scali , or one Chris Armas , one Mike Windisch and now Bob . Do you think that's a little far-fetched or do you believe that there's players being missed out here , that if we got them early enough that we could have the next Joe Scali potentially ?
Speaker 2Oh yeah , there's talent there and they need to be put in a good environment , like you said before , playing with and against the best players , with good coaches surrounding them and pushing them in the right direction . And yeah , unfortunately too many clubs are focused on winning trophies at 8 , 9 , 10 years of age that really , at the end of the day , are meaningless , and development has to be the key . You've got to have good parents surrounding them that understand that and that helps give you an opportunity to help players become successful .
Speaker 1You know how did you look at it when you actually had a chance to have to create a culture and an academy with Red Bull . I mean it may be one of the biggest challenges of your life , you know having how much 30 years at Adelphi one of the longest tenured coaches in the country but 13 years at Red Bull starting from nothing when MLS was really not that committed to their academy but kind of felt youth academies but felt like they kind of had to do it . I know you went through some dealing with the first team and then not really looking at your kids and then ultimately you became one of the best academies for launching professional players in the United States . Was that the toughest or most challenging position you ever had in soccer ? You ?
Speaker 2know , I really don't think of it as being that challenging . I think we had a good plan . Again , we surrounded ourselves with good people , coaches that really cared about kids and wanted to help them and develop them and had no ego . The people above me Mark DeGrandpre was fabulous . He interviewed me , gave me the job and our sporting directors over the years mostly were very supportive of the academy . I mean , at the end of the day , I had conversations on a daily basis with jesse marsh and chris armis and some of the other coaches of the first team , and jesse marsh knew the names of half the kids in our academy . Every weekend I'd send a report out .
Speaker 2Generally , we , we won games , which wasn't important . Jesse would say to me how's the little redheaded kid , what's his name ? You know on the U14 team and I liked him and did he play and I'd say , well , he played up with the 15s this week , held his own and , you know , set up a goal and he's going . Yeah , I think that kid's got talent and that makes a huge difference in a club when you've got the big men . You know from the big team . Knowing
Creating Player Pathways in MLS
Speaker 2the players , we would have training sessions on a Saturday . They would have a practice for probably the day before a game , a light kind of session , and he would send the players over and they'd stop at our bench and they'd go up to the 12--year-olds and they'd , you know , shake their hands and ask them how they're doing . And great motivating factor doing something like that .
Speaker 1Because I know you didn't have that from day one , when you had a couple of coaches from Europe that were not necessarily looking at this the same way .
Speaker 2No , bruce Arena was , you know , the guy who called me and said , bob , this is a perfect job , we want you to come interview . And and said , bob , this is a perfect job , we want you to come interview . And Bruce was not convinced that they were ready . And he was right . The group of players we had when I took over we didn't really have a guy . But in the second year , jeff Agus , the technical director . He said I think we need to sign a guy and let people know that we're serious about this and who is the best guy ? George Tugazi became the guy and he was on the team for two years , but he was the first one to get signed . And then , after that , more and more , we finished with about 150 kids in the academy and we had about 150 kids in those 13 years that played for different youth national teams and we were by far . We had twice as many . The number two and three team in the country at one point was Dallas and PDA from New Jersey and we had about 125 guys and they had like 52 each . So but the reason New York city is just such a great pool of players to tap into . So you know , I always don't want to take all the credit .
Speaker 2At the beginning we were the only cost-free academy in the country which , when I interviewed that was one of the first questions I asked and they said of course , we're a European club , we don't charge . All the kids had to do was get to the training facility and that's the way I believe the USASC has to be as well . If the parent can get them there , we can take care of them . We can help with shoes and we can help with equipment and those things . So they were fully funded . We flew , we took buses , we took any transportation , meals , we picked up , we stayed as a team with all the age groups , except , you know , the u12s were first year just a domestic team , but we founded ourselves . Number two , there was no new york city fc academy . There was no philadelphia academy . We drew players from the tri , not the tri-state area , but we drew it from five different areas . We we had Long Island and New York City , we had Connecticut , we had North-South Jersey , we had Eastern PA . So everybody wanted to come and be a part of it .
Speaker 1Once they realized that it was the truth , that it was going to be cost-free , and they saw the players we had and they saw the way we played on the field and we played really good soccer , yeah , and you went through all the hiccups of the MLS not being fully committed to it , the organization not being fully committed to it , to all of a sudden having this success and then becoming the model . So now , flash forward to 2025 , you're sitting at the top of advising this new club called American Soccer Club , which is our club , meaning you , me , kevin , and a lot of other people that are involved in this . Some great people like Jimmy Rooney , former great player that came out of this area a different generation Perry Vanderbeek , former national team player , farouk Qureshi and Mark Lugris , who's still active in the game today , as you are in the youth game . I think everybody shares . One thing that I think that everybody shares that I've just mentioned is that the way it should be done .
Speaker 1And then also now we have to figure out how we can break through this absolute cluster of youth soccer that is not getting better , it's getting , in some ways , getting worse and it's becoming bigger money grab than ever , and which I don't begrudge anybody . It's given a lot of people in soccer jobs , and I think that's great . They didn't exist years ago , but right now it just seems to be more money , more money , more money . We have to somehow come up with a way to break through that , and I don't think it's just one thing we have to do . But we're going to be getting in a room soon , off-site , out of state , and putting our heads together to find out the best way of launching .
Speaker 1I think up to now , we can share with the world that we've talked about maybe launching something in a supplementary form . It starts out with getting our name out there in the youth community , using the fact that we in some ways I give John Fitzgerald and his staff a lot of credit , because you know , as you know , bob is that you could recommend players to Red Bull head coach , whoever it was , bruce Arena or all the other guys you had to work with , but they still have to win games or they get fired , and so they don't necessarily want to take too many chances . And I give John and Juan and everybody and Vic that we gave . We put a 16-year-old into training . He did well enough . You saw him come to training too , bob , I believe at Burns Park in Massapequa .
Speaker 1And they , you know , due to injury . They took a chance and got him into two games 15 , 20 minutes and he held his own and did a couple of good things and gained that experience . And so you know , if you don't have the whole organization on the same page , we can't have this . So we actually have a little bit of a proof of concept . What is your thoughts of it ? Did you think we would be this far ahead ? Do you think we're behind ? What's your feeling ?
Speaker 1Because you're a little closer to this than some of our other sporting committee people , because you're here and you just show up at field sometimes and watch our practices . And I mean I came down to training one night and , by the way , this team is not , it's not glamorous . You train nine to 11 o'clock at night , three nights a week and you train hard . And we brought a 16-year-old in there whose mom had a drive-in out there and he actually had a miss for a CBS interview . He had a miss driver's ed . But when we do all this , it's one thing to say . This is what we want to do . It's not easy to do . What's your thoughts on what we were able to do this year as far as bringing in at least one young player to give him a chance .
Speaker 2I thought it was great . And , Dylan , I was over at the Field of Dreams in Massapeco watching a practice and I enjoy it . It's important to watch practice , not just games , and to really see the guys in different environments and different setups . And I'm watching the game and scrimmaging at the end and I went over to one of the coaches and I said who's this kid ?
Speaker 2here , playing in the back . I don't recognize him . They said , oh , that's a new kid , he's from out in Suffolk County and he's a young 16-year-old . Whatever I said , you know , and he did well . He held his own and managed to have a chance . The next time I went to practice to pull him aside and we chatted a little . But great kid , he's got great character , which is important because we build teams with good people and good players . That's got to be a starting point .
Speaker 1Well , I think you're right , because we've and once again there's a big pressure on us . I don't know if the world knows this , but the soccer people
Building an Inclusive Youth Development System
Speaker 1, some people that will be listening to this show , that will be bringing the show to them , will understand that right now , the MLS that you started with a real Academy which was fully funded in Red Bull and set the standard for the United States , which now has a lot of other great academies out there , including Philadelphia , but in Dallas and others . But the MLS has now reached down with an MLS next one which is a fully , which you pay for just like any other club . You pay and you pay a decent amount of money . And now there's an MLS next too .
Speaker 1So people come to me sometimes , bob , and they say , jim , how are you ? Where are you going to fit ? Are you going to affiliate with MLS ? Are you going to affiliate with USL ? Are you going to do something , try to do something with ECNL ? Do you affiliate with SUSE , a big club facility ? And I tell them , guys , we're taking it day by day , we're talking to everybody , we're supportive of everybody , we're not against anybody . We don't see ourselves necessarily affiliating with anybody right now , but we have a lot of clubs reaching out to us as you know , Bob , that's how Dylan came to us is that we were approached by some clubs in Suffolk County who were about affiliating so that we could be a pathway , but they wanted exclusivity and I said no , we're not going to do that because we believe there's a kid in a small club in Amityville or Copaig or , you know , east Hampton that may not be affiliated with a big club like SUSA or some of the other clubs that are MLS now or ECNL , that this player's there too , so we can't exclude anybody .
Speaker 1So I don't know what's your thoughts on this philosophy , bob , having been at the beginning before it got this complicated , and also how would you ? How do we adapt to now ?
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah , open door policy . You want the best players . They can't be restrictions financial , that all of a sudden cuts kids out of the picture and ways to support the family in assisting with travel , setting up carpools . But I'll tell you from the beginning , the biggest part of my job at Red Bull because financially we had the support , we had full backing from a major major company and the owner and our club here in New York . So we had all that .
Speaker 2But the big thing was building bridges with the local clubs and how do you go about that and really letting them know that you know , when you're in Europe , if you're a little , if you're a young kid and you're playing in Seaforth out in Lancashire County , which is in Liverpool , right , a good player . And Liverpool Everton call up and say we like this guy , we want to bring him in to train with us . We , you know , we might want to find him . They are ecstatic about that , as opposed to here . They're like you're not stealing my player . Of course , my answer was always he's not your player , he's got parents , they're the ones in charge , they make the decision , but you know , and then we just try to create a good rapport with them and help them out also . So that'll be a key issue again as we start this up again .
Speaker 1So I think our instincts are right at this moment . I wrote this down open door policy and building bridges , which means you can't exclude people .
Speaker 2Yeah , exactly .
Speaker 1So , basically , what struck me and I don't know if it struck you or if you're so busy doing what you were doing on the other side of the river in Jersey when NYC came in and we have great respect for what they're doing and building a stadium , it's just incredible what's happening in our country .
Speaker 1So with and I say this with admiration , but I remember they aligned with like 12 or 15 or 10 clubs , I'm not sure how many , it was Gachi and Med Oval and FC Westchester and some of the really top clubs that were producing a lot of good players in this area and for me . It struck me , though , that , although I understood what they were doing , what they thought they were doing , but you're excluding 100 other clubs that are not part of your ecosystem , which means that they don't feel like they want to come to your game , buy your scarf , buy your hat , buy your replica jersey . They're not going to feel part of what you did . I always thought that , because I'm more of a marketing guy , and I thought that was a little exclusionary to me . I know we're not going to make that mistake . Did you see that as the way I saw it , or do you know why they did that ?
Speaker 2Well , those were development academy clubs a lot of them and they wanted to tap into that . They were a startup . They had nothing . See , when I went to Red Bull , they had already had an academy team beforehand . They did it as a summer program . They had a training program which was extensive . They worked with 150 clubs . So I had eyes out there looking at young 8- , 9- , 10-year players and they would help recommend players to the club . So New York City didn't have anything in place . They started from scratch and I guess they thought this was the best approach and in hindsight , you know , by eliminating , by adding people and in this special way you do eliminate people .
Speaker 1And , by the way , if you're just tuning in , my name is Jim Kilmeade . I'm your host of the American Soccer Club Zone . Our guest is Bob Montgomery , who we're so fortunate to have on our leadership position in our sporting committee . He's got a bunch of great people . We're talking today about everything ASC New York , but also everything US soccer and how Bob began in MLS Academy when they first made their commitment . Bob began in MLS Academy when they first made their commitment . Now you've been around the team a little bit , bob .
Speaker 1I also know you're somebody that now that is supposed to be retired but not really . You're still at a soccer field today taking a break to speak with me , which we appreciate , and you watch young games , you watch high school games , you show up , you really just love the sport and you're really learning . This is probably a question that deserves its own show show , but we only have probably about five minutes left , so we're not going to discuss today how we break through , because I think we're going to keep an open door policy and take every relationship one by one , as you have advised . What are the differences , if any , between the players you recruited to play at Adelphi in the 70s and the 80s and the regional teams in the national programs that you were involved with everything , and you and Bruce Arena are at the forefront of the US national team putting guys on those teams and those are the teams that we kind of you know the Tony Miolas and the John Harkses and those and the Brian McBrides .
Speaker 1What do you see the biggest difference between the mentality , having coached them and now watched them also from your position , with experience , between the 70s , 80s , 90s and the current kid ? Obviously they're living in a different world with phones and ADD personified . Do you still feel kids ? Do you think there's a ? Is it really that much more challenging to coach and develop a youth player today , based on two things their makeup and their background , because of the world we live in today and the
Modern Youth Soccer Challenges
Speaker 1options that they have ? What's the biggest challenges and do you think the kids are still ? Let me just narrow it down Are kids that much different , bob , or is it just ? Is that overspaded ?
Speaker 2I don't think kids are . I think parents might be educated improperly and that might be a difference . You know the parents of a lot of the great players that I had . They came from great parenting Parents that cared for them , loved them , tried to help them , but didn't try to run the show and didn't get caught up in a lot of falsehoods that are out there . There's a lot of myths about development and if we look at teams , I do go out . I watch a lot of youth and I see some really good young players and I see some nice teams , but they're in the minority . This focus on winning means let's get the biggest , strongest guys , whatever , and we're going to have them and we can outrun and we can knock other people down and we can win . But winning at 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 doesn't necessarily help , or the best players at that age that physically dominate are not the best players at the end of the day .
Speaker 2I was fortunate to be involved with the U-14 US national team . We had Christian Pulisic on it from the time he was 11 , 12 , and 13 . He played three years . He'd come to five camps a year with us until the third year . The U15 took him , so he went and jumped and played up with them .
Speaker 2Christian was a tiny little guy but because of it and he's playing three years up the first year he had to develop technique and he had to have great decision-making to survive in those games . And through his parents his dad from Long Island , mark , is a former professional player , played at George Mason , and his mom was an All-American college player Through their guidance and making good decisions , this kid thrived along the way and he was a great player at 11 and 12 , with the best under-14 players in the way and he was a great player at 11 and 12 with the best 14 under 14 players in the country . So that's really what we have to look for is not just picking big guys , and I know the guys that are in the club . They feel the same way . So I think that's a key .
Speaker 1So listen , with three minutes left . You mentioned one thing that is definitely we have to touch on playing up . I'm a firm believer personally . I'll defer to your opinion . I think we're going to agree , but I think you're going to add a little more nuance than I am able to . Christian Blisick was playing up even then , because his dad obviously knew that was a good thing to do . A lot of players , even when I grew up on Long Island in the 70s and the 80s , we played up and played sometimes with the men . I remember playing in the LASFL when I was 17 , 18 years old as a freshman at Hofstra . It made me a much better player than I would have been otherwise and helped me maximize whatever ability I had , and by playing with 30-year-old men . And that's what we're trying to give for this kid , dylan Lopez . How critical is that for player development ? Do you think it's just an absolute necessity or do you think it's just something that we should add on to I'd say no , that I find out
Final Thoughts on ASC's First Season
Speaker 1when I go around that it's over-exaggerated .
Speaker 2Players should play up when they're ready . To when they're ready , there's no problem . Throw them in , the challenge is good . If they're not ready , it can destroy their confidence and their belief in themselves . So we had and that's one of the things that people profess is oh , you've got to play up , you've got to play up . Parents would come to the Red Bull and to their coach and say can he go play up ? How come he's not playing up ? We don't think he's ready yet . At the right time he should go play up . And kids have to find the right place to play and it's not the big name club necessarily . Maybe they need to be in their local club so that they can dominate . You know , get to a point where they can dominate and maybe they physically develop and then they're ready , you know , and good coaches will see and put them in the right place and they're doing the favor . Some parents will say , well , if he can't play up here , we're going to go to club XYZ and we'll say well , good luck to you and Bob .
Speaker 1That's the nuanced answer that I'm glad I asked you just the way I asked you , because that's it's not . There's not a yes or no , it's as you said . Your words are when they're ready , and you have to , and then whoever's deciding when they're ready , that's , that's that hopefully is the right person that knows what they're looking at . And , as I say , you can't teach this on off paper or in a coaching course . You just have to have that intuition and that experience . I think so and clearly you do so .
Speaker 1I mean I know you're excited to do it . I mean we'll be sitting in personally off air and making decisions of how we start this Academy , but I'm as excited to start the academy as I was to start the pro team . And , bob , with the couple minutes we have left , you've been around teams forever . You've been around teams that won everything , with teams that had bad seasons , middle-of-the-road seasons . Looking at where we started , where we ended and the team , the coaching staff , the players that we had , which are 90% all local , born and Bred guys how would you look at the season right now ? I don't mean with ratings , but what's your viewpoint from your experience level , to see what we may have learned this year and where we are set for next year .
Speaker 2You know , I had a chance to talk to the players and the coaches a little bit and I don't make a lot of judgments because I did not see them often enough . You really have to be immersed a lot more than I was , but in general , on the outside I can offer opinion . We had to get started somewhere . You have to start somewhere and you just can't wait until you have the perfect scenario . So , yeah , the players were great . You watch them train , you watch them in games . The effort was great .
Speaker 2Okay , we didn't have very much of a long enough preseason to really prepare them . So you know , we look at those some different things , but I think it went very well . John and his staff did a great job in terms of their effort and whatever we didn't get all the better the players . Maybe we wanted through tryouts because we're the new guy on the block and some kids want to be with a more established name at the moment , but it's moving in the right direction . Players themselves again I'll say it , they were great people . We had a good bunch that really cared for each other , worked hard for each other , listened and respected everybody in our club and you've seen that when we have them doing different appearances and things , and that's important Can we mold good young people ? It's important .
Speaker 1Well , you know what You're right . We don't have control over the result , but we do have control over the kind of people we bring into the organization . I thought that was a great point . I agree with that , and the more you get away from the last game of the season , the more you can actually get a more accurate assessment . Bob , I really appreciate you coming on the show today . I think a lot of people take a lot of this . I know I personally have . So thank you very much . Thank you , jim . Always a pleasure and we'll be seeing you soon . That was the great Bob Montgomery , legendary American soccer figure . We're proud to have him on the show . The American Soccer Club Zone . We thank Mike Hogan . Great job producer . We had to make some quick moves at the end . A fantastic job . Thank you again to producers Stephen Coffey and Sylvia King , todd Shapiro and Associates and once again , on behalf of the American Soccer Club , kjoy 98.3 , proud to bring you the American Soccer Club Zone . We'll see you next week .