Speaker 1: Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where I survived Vegas,
Speaker 1: survived Arizona, and just arrived in Los Angeles. Try to
Speaker 1: keep up, y'all. It's Monday, March third, and on today's show,
Speaker 1: we're skipping the news to get you right to my
Speaker 1: interview with Boss Nation GM Dome guasc. We talked about
Speaker 1: building a club from scratch, getting into coaching at age fourteen,
Speaker 1: and how to pitch players in the post draft era.
Speaker 1: Plus should his son be afraid of the Green Monster?
Speaker 1: I gave him a pop quiz to see how much
Speaker 1: he knows about his new hometown. That interview's coming up
Speaker 1: right after this. Joining us now, he's the first general
Speaker 1: manager for NWSL expansion team Boss Nation Football Club. The
Speaker 1: former head of management for women's football at Barcelona. He
Speaker 1: also previously worked at Barca Academy Head of America, where
Speaker 1: he led the strategy for recruitment and development across the continent.
Speaker 1: His son's favorite player is Alexia Puteis. It's Dome, Guasc Dome,
Speaker 1: thanks for joining us.
Speaker 2: Thank you for having me, Sarah.
Speaker 1: You're the first representative for the Boston team we've had
Speaker 1: on the show. I have to start with the obvious.
Speaker 1: The last time fans heard from the Boston team reps
Speaker 1: back in December, sounded like there might be some big
Speaker 1: changes to the team name in branding. So do you
Speaker 1: have any updates you can tell us.
Speaker 2: Look, I have some colleagues that are putting its tremendous
Speaker 2: effort on that end, and I know sometime soon we'll
Speaker 2: have some news to the public that's hopefully we'll get
Speaker 2: everybody excited about.
Speaker 1: Okay, okay, we're excited. You spent thirteen years at FC Barcelona,
Speaker 1: most recently as the head of management for women's football.
Speaker 1: The Spanish women's national team won the last World Cup
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. I imagine the women's game out
Speaker 1: there is hotter than ever, so what a time for
Speaker 1: you to leave what drew you to America in to
Speaker 1: the NWSL.
Speaker 2: Look, honestly, it's been always a leak that it has
Speaker 2: stanned out to me being someone that like once I
Speaker 2: got to grasp in the women's game, I knew I
Speaker 2: wanted to dedicate my life to it right and regard
Speaker 2: as much as it is growing in Spain and especially
Speaker 2: being at Barcelona. I felt very fulfilled, but at the
Speaker 2: same time, I had that desire of at some point
Speaker 2: stepping away from from Barcelona, and yeah, well I'm born
Speaker 2: and raised there, a fan for my entire life, and
Speaker 2: that was sort of my dream job. At the same time, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm an ambitious person. I like to grow, I like
Speaker 2: to develop, and I wanted to do that right outside
Speaker 2: of that safe umbrella that I had built with the
Speaker 2: thirteen years plus being there. And in that regard, obviously
Speaker 2: it had to be the right step, right. I didn't
Speaker 2: want to just do it for any other job, and
Speaker 2: it had to be the right one. And in that regard,
Speaker 2: I always like in my mind, while I had no
Speaker 2: timeline for that step, in my mind, the US obviously
Speaker 2: always stood up high. As you mentioned before, I had
Speaker 2: lived here before, so I had been here with my family.
Speaker 2: In fact, my son was born here in the States,
Speaker 2: so it was like sort of a familiar environment for
Speaker 2: us on one hand. On the other hand, it's where
Speaker 2: women's football has always been big. At the same time,
Speaker 2: there's still a lot of room to grow and progress, right,
Speaker 2: So it's the right combination of those two things. And
Speaker 2: I would say especially it's the fact that this is
Speaker 2: across the board, right, It's across the entire league. It's
Speaker 2: a league where, hey, across the board provides I would say,
Speaker 2: the highest level of environment in the world, right, Like, well, yeah, thankfully,
Speaker 2: and it's a greate that it's growing everywhere. It's great
Speaker 2: that it's growing in Spain, my home country. There's still
Speaker 2: a huge gap between certain clubs, right and Barcelona where
Speaker 2: I was at, too many other clubs in the league,
Speaker 2: and honestly, I don't think the league is doing enough
Speaker 2: to improve that. While here we have a league that
Speaker 2: it's hey, not only across the board, and the standards
Speaker 2: are definitely higher across the board compared to the rest
Speaker 2: of the world, but there's still also the ambition of
Speaker 2: this is not enough, right, we have to grow, And
Speaker 2: that's how I see things that this is what excites me. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we perhaps might be in a better place than other
Speaker 2: clubs and other leagues. There's still a lot to do,
Speaker 2: and there's the ambition to do that, right, So that's
Speaker 2: what attracted me the most.
Speaker 1: You said, as soon as you got into the women's game,
Speaker 1: you knew that's what you wanted to stick with.
Speaker 2: Why I feel it's still pure football, you know, it's
Speaker 2: still player center. While obviously we want. We wanted to
Speaker 2: keep it that way. And while we're excited about that
Speaker 2: it's growing also as a business, it still keeps that pearness,
Speaker 2: that that essence of the football because a lot of
Speaker 2: those players, unfortunately when they were growing up and they
Speaker 2: were fighting many things, they were doing it for the
Speaker 2: love of the sport and not because they wanted to
Speaker 2: make a living, because they saw that very hard and
Speaker 2: it would hardly happen. And like in living especially at Barcelona,
Speaker 2: right in being surrounded by by those top players that, yeah,
Speaker 2: as much as their top players, at the same time,
Speaker 2: they're just people that loves playing football, right, That's how
Speaker 2: I would describe them, and and it still gives that
Speaker 2: essence and obviously want to be part of that. That's
Speaker 2: how I like what makes me fulfilled, right, the part
Speaker 2: that hey, we're doing something more. It's not just a business.
Speaker 2: It's something that we're gathering community, We're changing society. We're
Speaker 2: like just providing a platform for many kids that would
Speaker 2: have it very hard in life to to just have
Speaker 2: it a little bit better, right and building have it's
Speaker 2: building behaviors and like creating role models for little gals
Speaker 2: that in the past did not have that, right, So
Speaker 2: all those things that excite me a lot make me
Speaker 2: feel fulfilled, right and yeah, so that's that's that's the
Speaker 2: the reason why.
Speaker 1: I mean, what's it been like adapting to life in Boston.
Speaker 2: Look, I still I'm working on that. I've been here
Speaker 2: for I would say two months ish, right, So still
Speaker 2: again working working on that, especially obviously now being being
Speaker 2: that a lot of people tells me like, you've come
Speaker 2: in the worst moment. The way I see this, it
Speaker 2: cannot get worse, right, so exctly getting better, getting better.
Speaker 1: So also you just want to stay inside and work,
Speaker 1: which is great. Just eyes on the prize, stay focused. Okay,
Speaker 1: this is very unfair to do to you after just
Speaker 1: two months, But I'm going to give you a Boston
Speaker 1: speed round and see if you know the answers to
Speaker 1: these questions, and if not, these will be things for
Speaker 1: you to work on because everyone's gonna expect you to
Speaker 1: know them. Okay, what is the Green Monster?
Speaker 2: I don't know. I'm going to know the answer to that.
Speaker 1: Okay, So the Green Monster is the big outfield wall
Speaker 1: at Fenway Park where the Boston Red Sox play.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, I've driven by a few times.
Speaker 1: Try to hit home run over the Green Monster? Okay,
Speaker 1: who is the hick from French Lit?
Speaker 2: Look, I definitely need to improve my okay, my Boston knowledge,
Speaker 2: and that is something that I will even put on
Speaker 2: the team because they told me they had shown me
Speaker 2: a few of this stuff. But the fact that I
Speaker 2: don't know, I'm getting ashamed.
Speaker 1: So the hick from French Lick is Larry Bird. Have
Speaker 1: they told you about him? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Oh no, Well of course I know Larry Bird Okay,
Speaker 2: is a myth, a legend, definitely one that I know.
Speaker 2: What about?
Speaker 1: Do you know what sport the Boston Fleet play?
Speaker 2: Of course I've been to their yeah, this season up
Speaker 2: in Lowell, so yeah, of course hockey.
Speaker 1: Okay, we got that when we love that, you know,
Speaker 1: the women's sports one instead of the men's sports. We
Speaker 1: actually love that on the show.
Speaker 2: That was the first thing I did like. Actually when
Speaker 2: when I came to Boston was back in December when
Speaker 2: they played their first game, right, So yeah, it was
Speaker 2: up in Lowell watching them. Unfortunately they lost that one,
Speaker 2: but I had a lot of fun and looking forward
Speaker 2: to go there with with my family.
Speaker 1: The actual love it. Okay, two more, what's the special
Speaker 1: kind of bowling that they do in Boston.
Speaker 2: Bowling, that one I don't know.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's called candle pin bowling. In my opinion, it's
Speaker 1: fore inferior, not as fun. But don't say that to
Speaker 1: people in the Boston area. Okay, all right, just pretending
Speaker 1: between yes. And then finally, what's your dunk in order?
Speaker 2: My dunking order is I would say very European one.
Speaker 2: It's express a shop. That's my my dunking order. I
Speaker 2: can't say to that. I've been to the original Dunkin
Speaker 2: Dunnuts already. I live in Quincy, so that's where I'm moved,
Speaker 2: so it's in town right there, and that was one
Speaker 2: of the first things that I did. My son loves Dunnuts,
Speaker 2: so there we go, in his case, and he loves
Speaker 2: the show very ones.
Speaker 1: There we go. If you need to find a real
Speaker 1: coffee shop, feel free. Don't let those Boston folks make
Speaker 1: you go to Dunkin every day. There's better coffee out there, Okay.
Speaker 1: Don't judge all of American coffee by Duncan. And I
Speaker 1: know people are gonna yell at me, but Duncan is
Speaker 1: not my jam.
Speaker 2: Okay. I know, Samu is one. Just to half ye
Speaker 2: sunking coffee's right, which I have to agree to hair
Speaker 2: on that web.
Speaker 1: Yes, that's a smart person to make happy.
Speaker 2: That's it. I'll deal with it.
Speaker 1: You'll figure it out, you'll get used to it. Okay,
Speaker 1: So let's get to how you started with soccer, because
Speaker 1: I read that you not only were playing as a
Speaker 1: young kid, but you started coaching at fourteen. How is
Speaker 1: that not a typo? How did the coaching bug bite
Speaker 1: you at fourteen years old?
Speaker 2: Honestly, it was I didn't even have that in my mind,
Speaker 2: you know, like the thirteen year old that was only
Speaker 2: focused on like hopefully of making a career in football.
Speaker 2: And honestly, like at that time, I remember in my
Speaker 2: club they changed my coach. Thinks we're not working out
Speaker 2: that much with him. And in the interim time, the
Speaker 2: director of the academy replaced the coach that we had,
Speaker 2: and I was the kind of the team. I spent
Speaker 2: a lot of time with him on like trying to
Speaker 2: figure out, okay, what did not work with the old coach,
Speaker 2: what should we do to arrange it? And then we
Speaker 2: just kept this relationship where it was very close, very honest.
Speaker 2: After every game we would speak about the game and whatnot.
Speaker 2: And one day he comes to me and says, hey, like,
Speaker 2: do you want to be a coach? And I was like,
Speaker 2: I've never thought about it, right honestly, But he said like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you know, you talk a lot about you. I can
Speaker 2: tell you like it a lot of the football part,
Speaker 2: analyzing and what's going on. And you know, we got
Speaker 2: this group of moms that want to bring their five
Speaker 2: year olds, but we don't have a coach for them.
Speaker 2: So I thought that you could be a coach for
Speaker 2: them because I think you can handle them, right, You're
Speaker 2: mature enough to do that. And he said to me like,
Speaker 2: and I'll be by your side helping you out. And
Speaker 2: that's how I started making I remember thirty years a
Speaker 2: month doing that coaching them.
Speaker 1: Not that for fourteen. What do you really need to buy?
Speaker 1: Like a milkshake? And that's it? Right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was great. It was great. I'm and I
Speaker 2: remember like that. That's sort of how the back like started.
Speaker 2: I started liking it. And I remember when I turned sixteen,
Speaker 2: the club faith for my first license, which would be
Speaker 2: sort of now the with a zero license, and at
Speaker 2: that time I was more serious about it, but still
Speaker 2: probably wanted to still be you, meaning my pathway was journalism.
Speaker 2: That's not where my focus had always been, and that's
Speaker 2: where I went to college at first for But I
Speaker 2: remember I had to do college for two like I
Speaker 2: had to do journalism plus another.
Speaker 1: Major subject.
Speaker 2: Yeah, major in the college in the in the school
Speaker 2: that I went to, and I chose politics, so I
Speaker 2: would do morning politics and then I would do afternoon
Speaker 2: evening journalism. The only issue was that I had a
Speaker 2: team I was coaching, like coincide with the journalism classes, right,
Speaker 2: so I would miss like I think it was every
Speaker 2: Tuesdays and Thursdays. I would miss classes journalists to go
Speaker 2: coach my team because I loved it. But I saw
Speaker 2: it as a hobby, right. It was something that especially
Speaker 2: like in Spain, you cannot unless you work for a
Speaker 2: big club. When you're in the youth soccer. That's a
Speaker 2: hobby where you make some extra but then you have
Speaker 2: to find a real job, right, And my dad was
Speaker 2: all into that, like, hey, you have to have a
Speaker 2: real job. So I did that, and I remember, like
Speaker 2: my clique moment was one day I met with a
Speaker 2: professor who called me to his office and I had
Speaker 2: never met with him because he only did one class
Speaker 2: on Tuesdays and I had never gone to those classes. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so he told me, like he was like, yeah, I
Speaker 2: thought you had create college. But then I asked your
Speaker 2: colleagues and they told me that no, like you're only
Speaker 2: missing Mike classes and some others. Like he's like, yeah,
Speaker 2: you're not going to pass, and like, yeah, I'm sorry
Speaker 2: that I have this team that I'm committed to. I
Speaker 2: love it. I feel very responsible. I feel like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I have that commitment with the kids. I cannot miss
Speaker 2: out on that. Like and he's like, yeah, then you're
Speaker 2: not going to pass. Like it's fine. And if next
Speaker 2: year it coincides again with my kids coaching, I'm not
Speaker 2: gonna pass either.
Speaker 1: Right, And so you just knew that soccer was like
Speaker 1: where your heart was.
Speaker 2: That's it. And you know, he told me you should
Speaker 2: think about what you want to do in the future.
Speaker 2: That's what I did. In fact, I quit journalists, my
Speaker 2: quit politics. I jumped into sports sciences against my dad's will,
Speaker 2: just because at the time I wanted to be a coach, right,
Speaker 2: which changed a lot throughout my career, and here I
Speaker 2: am in another position. But yeah, it's been always in
Speaker 2: my blood being always a fan, being always playing, and
Speaker 2: that's great and around.
Speaker 1: Yeah, kids at home, don't skip school. Try to find
Speaker 1: find a way to do both. But also if you
Speaker 1: do skip school, you might end up the GM of
Speaker 1: NWSA teams. Just never know. We got to take a
Speaker 1: quick break more with Domao when we come back. Okay,
Speaker 1: so let's talk about how it's been with this new
Speaker 1: expansion Boston team. What does your day to day look
Speaker 1: like when the team hasn't signed any players yet, You're
Speaker 1: not gonna hit the field for another year. What are
Speaker 1: you working on?
Speaker 2: So Obviously, as I mentioned before, I've been here for
Speaker 2: a couple of months. I would say my first month
Speaker 2: was a lot of planning, a lot of thinking, Okay,
Speaker 2: how do I want to spend my year on, what
Speaker 2: do I have to prioritize at every moment of the year,
Speaker 2: And while at the same time trying to learn about Boston,
Speaker 2: about the culture. Obviously I had not done enough good
Speaker 2: of a job we can tell by your survey before,
Speaker 2: but I'm glad at least I could answer the one
Speaker 2: that was related to women's sports. I'm proud of that.
Speaker 2: But anyway, so it's just trying to immerse myself in
Speaker 2: the Boston culture, get to know the people that's already
Speaker 2: working in the club, like we're there, about building the relationship,
Speaker 2: also with with the founders, getting more on the aligned
Speaker 2: with with the vision and and and whatnot. So I
Speaker 2: spend a lot of a lot of time on that
Speaker 2: because I knew once I started the execution part, and
Speaker 2: this is where I am nowadays. It's like just back
Speaker 2: to back stuff right where I don't have much time
Speaker 2: to think. The good thing is I have a roadmap
Speaker 2: that I feel pretty comfortable with that I review every
Speaker 2: single week. Okay, where I'm at, where should we be?
Speaker 2: And obviously tweak that. So my time now spend a
Speaker 2: lot on recruitment. Uh, and that means players, but also staff,
Speaker 2: right because I think we have to build in even
Speaker 2: bigger roster on the staff side, and a lot of
Speaker 2: people when they talk to me, they think that I
Speaker 2: spent my day on players only, and yeah, that is
Speaker 2: a very important piece. But you've got to get a
Speaker 2: coach correct.
Speaker 1: That's an interesting part of this too, because I'm not
Speaker 1: sure how aware you are of some of the issues
Speaker 1: that NWSLF franchises have had in the past with their
Speaker 1: decision making around coaching and personnel, and I wonder what
Speaker 1: you've been told about that and how you are planning
Speaker 1: to make sure that NWSL Boston doesn't have the same issues.
Speaker 2: Look, obviously that goes first and foremost. Do not give
Speaker 2: power to one single person, right. That applies to myself,
Speaker 2: that applies to the head coach, and that applies to
Speaker 2: everyone in the organization. Right. And obviously building processes and
Speaker 2: building a structure that is not based on one person
Speaker 2: or even tool, that is a very big bax. Right.
Speaker 2: Then obviously picking the right ones, and to me, I'm
Speaker 2: looking for the right people that hey, if they're very
Speaker 2: a good professional, that's sort of a plas and obviously
Speaker 2: it is not right. That is the first filter, right, like, Okay,
Speaker 2: what's this person about, what are the values of this person?
Speaker 2: What's the vision of this person within the industry? And
Speaker 2: then will then evaluate the professional side on top of that,
Speaker 2: which obviously is important because especially when we talk about
Speaker 2: staff members, they have to provide the players with different
Speaker 2: resources and the expertise on different areas. But first and
Speaker 2: foremost is okay, who's that person, right, and what are
Speaker 2: the values, what's the vision? What is the driver of
Speaker 2: that person, right, like what is she or he about?
Speaker 2: And and that to me is very important. And then
Speaker 2: obviously gathering not only obviously the basics that now the
Speaker 2: league is mandating and with the CBA and whatnot, like
Speaker 2: all the background checks, the education piece and all that part,
Speaker 2: which obviously is essential and basic. But then at the
Speaker 2: same time, it's also of getting the references right right
Speaker 2: on everyone that we're bringing on board, like, Okay, they've
Speaker 2: been working somewhere, so how is it working with this person?
Speaker 2: And yeah, you know, to me, whenever and sometimes might
Speaker 2: be inferred to on people, but whenever there's a hint
Speaker 2: of something not smelling good, I stay away. Like, no
Speaker 2: matter how much I like that person, how good of
Speaker 2: a professional that person is, that that is a very
Speaker 2: basic and essential matter, right For sure, I want to
Speaker 2: be surrounded by people that we can trust, that we
Speaker 2: can be comfortable with, that we can feel that we're family, right,
Speaker 2: and that's what we want to build here. So that
Speaker 2: is how I'm approaching it.
Speaker 1: Have you reached out to any other like gms or
Speaker 1: owners or front office folks from existing teams, either for
Speaker 1: you know, advice on this front or just tips and
Speaker 1: best practices for how to run a team in this
Speaker 1: league the first place.
Speaker 2: Of course, of course, yeah, I've done that and thankfully,
Speaker 2: obviously while working at Barcelona, I was able to develop
Speaker 2: some relationships with some gms. I've developed some more relationships
Speaker 2: now being here. We've even met I think in your
Speaker 2: backyard in Chicago a few weeks back, and yeah, it's
Speaker 2: it's with especially the ones that I had the previous relationship,
Speaker 2: because it was easier and it's also easier for them
Speaker 2: to open up to me. And I've been talking to
Speaker 2: them right like, hey, when you compare it, and some
Speaker 2: of them also have experience in Europe, which was good
Speaker 2: for me, like to get there. Hey, this is one side.
Speaker 2: This is the other side, the ups and downs, and
Speaker 2: you know, there are certain things that everybody might talk about.
Speaker 2: There are certain things that it's different depending on the
Speaker 2: experience that each one of them has. But that is
Speaker 2: very valuable to me, and honestly, that's where I spend
Speaker 2: a lot of time, especially at the beginning when I
Speaker 2: mentioned getting immersed right in the in the culture, and
Speaker 2: that is something that I'm spending a lot of time too,
Speaker 2: right like, whenever I can been talking to a few
Speaker 2: former players as well that have been in the league,
Speaker 2: just to know, okay, like what was your experience and
Speaker 2: to get to know, okay, well we're the best practices,
Speaker 2: what was the not good practices? Right?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: How do we stay away from that? Because I think now,
Speaker 2: especially with the new CBA, one one very big piece
Speaker 2: is Okay, what environment are we creating for the players? Right?
Speaker 2: Because in a league where all more or less will
Speaker 2: pay similar amounts because we all have the same salary cap,
Speaker 2: will be all about okay, what's the environment? Like? Right?
Speaker 2: This is a good thing that coming out of the
Speaker 2: CBA because now everybody, everybody has to provide the best
Speaker 2: environment to be the most shiny thing for that player
Speaker 2: that's out of contract say, Okay, I want to go there,
Speaker 2: not because they're paying me more, because it's more or
Speaker 2: less the same thing. I want to go there because
Speaker 2: that's the best environment I can be in.
Speaker 1: And that's particularly interesting for you because you're going to
Speaker 1: be the very first GM that has to fill a
Speaker 1: whole roster with no college draft, no expansion draft. Like
Speaker 1: for you, it's just vibes, just vibes, you know. So
Speaker 1: what's the pitch to players? How do you build a
Speaker 1: team from scratch.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's obviously not an easy job. And obviously when
Speaker 2: I was in the process right of evaluating the move
Speaker 2: and all that, that was when actually I know the
Speaker 2: team was discussing that with the league, like, Okay, what
Speaker 2: acids do we have when we compare them to the
Speaker 2: last expansions, right with Bay for example, which I spoke
Speaker 2: a lot to their GM there when when they did that,
Speaker 2: But that was very different, right they had, as you mentioned,
Speaker 2: an expansion draft. They had the college draft, and that
Speaker 2: sort of made things a little easier in the sense
Speaker 2: that they can just go or they have the leverage
Speaker 2: to either nego shape for protection with other clubs, or
Speaker 2: they can just go and say, Okay, you're unfrotacted, You're
Speaker 2: coming to me. You have no say in this, right.
Speaker 2: But the way I say it, obviously, on one hand
Speaker 2: it's a bigger challenge, which I said before I love.
Speaker 2: But on the other hand, for me, it also opens
Speaker 2: up Okay, yeah, we have to dedicate more resources in
Speaker 2: the recruitment site because now it's all sort of the
Speaker 2: entire world is open to us, and we have to
Speaker 2: now filter that down to the ones that are interesting
Speaker 2: to us. That's why we are bringing a director of
Speaker 2: recruitment and we're building sort of a recruitment team just
Speaker 2: because obviously with the changes in the CBA now, it's
Speaker 2: sort of like, hey, if you want to do a
Speaker 2: good job at recruitment, and me as a GM I
Speaker 2: mentioned before, I have a very big job in building
Speaker 2: an entire team, not only on the field but outside
Speaker 2: of it, and unless, like we have people that are
Speaker 2: looking into that and spending the time into that, I'm
Speaker 2: not going to be able to do a good job
Speaker 2: at picking the right players. Right. So, so to me
Speaker 2: that that is a very important piece. That's the first
Speaker 2: piece that actually I'm hiring within the sporting structure because
Speaker 2: of that, right because I wants have the time to
Speaker 2: put the time to make those evaluations and then while
Speaker 2: I build the rest of the structure, that will be
Speaker 2: the reason why hopefully players want to want to come here, right,
Speaker 2: Not because Boston is a cool city, which it is,
Speaker 2: right and it's attractive. It was attractive to me when
Speaker 2: I like looking at it from the outside, not only
Speaker 2: for the vision that we have for the project, not
Speaker 2: only for the stadium that we'll have inside the city
Speaker 2: and will be a very cool experience to play in,
Speaker 2: but because hey, we'll provide a platform that hey, it's
Speaker 2: not only a safe environment, which hopefully at some point
Speaker 2: that's something that we can take for granted and even
Speaker 2: talk about. Right, and we're only talking about, Okay, how
Speaker 2: much better am I going to get as a player?
Speaker 1: For sure?
Speaker 2: How am I going to get treated if if I
Speaker 2: get injured? What's the care that you provide?
Speaker 1: Like?
Speaker 2: Right, Like, how am I going to How are we
Speaker 2: going to prevent that I get injured? Right? How are
Speaker 2: you going to help me stay in the game for
Speaker 2: a longer time? Right as a player where instead of
Speaker 2: having to retire it at a futty something I can
Speaker 2: be at four, that can be at something.
Speaker 1: Right, sounds like you have been talking to say I'm us,
Speaker 1: I know that that's something that's really important for She
Speaker 1: came on our show and talked about like, how can
Speaker 1: there be more intention around keeping players in the game
Speaker 1: longer because you're more thoughtful about injuries and stuff. So
Speaker 1: you mentioned that director of Recruitment, and we heard that
Speaker 1: you have some news to share about that search. So
Speaker 1: what can you tell us?
Speaker 2: Yeah, so we're very happy to tell you that we're
Speaker 2: bringing Edward Gallagher from Brighton in the WSL League. With
Speaker 2: it an extensive search and I have to praise Bloom
Speaker 2: Sports for that too. They helped us with with this process.
Speaker 2: They were very helpful, very thoughtful, very detail oriented, and
Speaker 2: they brought very strong candidates actually, so it was it
Speaker 2: was not an easy an easy process in the sense that, hey,
Speaker 2: we had a few candidates, different profiles still right where
Speaker 2: sometimes you're not comparing apples to apples, but it's one
Speaker 2: profile that can bring something pretty unique and then another
Speaker 2: very strong profile that brings something different. But yeah, we
Speaker 2: ended up going with with Edward which he's been this
Speaker 2: he's been doing this job for for Brighton in the past.
Speaker 2: He also worked for London City leon Esses. Uh. He
Speaker 2: he did some work also at the national team level,
Speaker 2: so and he's been in the game for many years.
Speaker 2: I actually had the chance to work with him while
Speaker 2: I was at Barcelona and he was at Brighton and
Speaker 2: then obviously that was a very brief work that we did,
Speaker 2: so got did not get to know him really through that,
Speaker 2: but the experience was good. The feeling, like you know,
Speaker 2: as I mentioned before, the personal feeling they through the negotiation,
Speaker 2: you can truly feel and grasp that, so that was
Speaker 2: already a positive, but it was mainly through this process
Speaker 2: he truly showed to be like that person that thinks
Speaker 2: about it from a three sixty perspective, right, Like the
Speaker 2: recruitment piece, so it's not only about okay, recruiting a
Speaker 2: good player for our team, is like, okay, what do
Speaker 2: we want to build as a team, how do we
Speaker 2: want to play? What pieces that we're being But then
Speaker 2: it's not only about the football side of it, but
Speaker 2: also okay, what type of personalities are we bringing in? Right,
Speaker 2: how do we find out about that? How do we
Speaker 2: present the project? And then he was pretty unique. On
Speaker 2: was also as part of the recruitment role, including the
Speaker 2: onboarding process and the adaptation process, right, where a lot
Speaker 2: of times we had to think, hey, kind of player
Speaker 2: done and that's it. And having been at Barcelona, that
Speaker 2: was one of the things that a lot of times
Speaker 2: we struggled the most, Like we brought these amazing players,
Speaker 2: but then obviously they needed their time to adapt and
Speaker 2: it was like very different needs. Right, So approaching it
Speaker 2: from that perspective, studying that adaptation early. Right, So hey,
Speaker 2: now let's say in July we start negotiating four players
Speaker 2: that will be free in December, and we get to
Speaker 2: sign someone early, why don't we start already right like
Speaker 2: that process of adapting and all that like, and his
Speaker 2: built to this and the work he's done at Brighton
Speaker 2: has been impressive and we're very happy to handle with
Speaker 2: him here.
Speaker 1: This sounds like such a fascinating group of people to
Speaker 1: work without in Boston. Going to be really cool to
Speaker 1: see what you bring over from Spanish leagues and Spanish culture,
Speaker 1: what he brings over from the WSL, and how that
Speaker 1: all mixes with what we have here in the States.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for coming on to chat with us.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for giving us a little peek into
Speaker 1: this team that we're also excited to see get up
Speaker 1: and running. I'll really appreciate the time, Sah.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much for having me. It's been a
Speaker 2: pleasure and it felt very short. Actually, next time I'll
Speaker 2: have answers to the your next test.
Speaker 1: On Boston perfect. I'll start writing the questions right. Thank you.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much to Domain for taking the time. We
Speaker 1: have to take another quick break. When we come back,
Speaker 1: we turn up the tunes and roll down the windows.
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