Airing Tuesdays via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and CalSouth.com
Stay tuned for soccer talk, analysis, news & updates, and some special guests throughout the year!
Season 3
Season 2
LINDA FLANAGAN is a freelance journalist, researcher, and former cross-country and track coach. A graduate of Lehigh University, Flanagan holds master’s degrees from Oxford University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy and was an analyst for the National Security Program at Harvard University. She is a founding board member of the New York City chapter of the Positive Coaching Alliance.
On this episode of Cal South’s “The Bear and the Ball,” Nick and Linda go deep into how we can make youth sports fun, and take out the all-consuming pressure of trying to get to the next level.
Shay Haddow is an expert coach and speaker on confidence and mindset for female athletes. Having worked with hundreds of young female athletes and college teams from across the country, she’s empowered girls from all walks of life to strengthen their self-belief to play and live confidently
As the founder of Alpha Girl Confidence Academy, host of the Alpha Girl Confidence Podcast, and author of the best-selling book “She the Confident,” Shay is widely regarded for her insights on confidence and mindset by soccer parents and coaches around the country.
Don Williams has been helping aspiring soccer players get to the promised land of college soccer for decades. In this episode of “The Bear and the Ball,” he breaks it all down. The process is a lot easier than it’s made out to be, however, there are some hurdles that must be jumped correctly.
If you want to go to college and play soccer, if you are a parent that thinks your child can play college soccer, then this is the episode for you.
Bryan Alcantara is a coach educator for U.S. Soccer delivering education for USSF Grassroots candidates. He’s also a dad who is passionate about his daughter enjoying the game and is constantly thinking about how the game is the teacher; however, data, whether you like it or not, is also a teacher.
As a director for Track160, one of the most innovative platforms on the market today, Bryan and Nick spar on the age-old question “What tells the truth – the eye or the data?” on this episode of “The Bear and the Ball.”
The Bear and the Ball welcomes back the founder of the AST Academy, Jim Madrid. This week we delve into the power of building culture and affirmations.
The 2022 World Cup was a tournament for the ages. United Soccer Coaches Master Coach and Soccer Leader takes a look back at the competition and identifies some trends and actions that can relate to the youth game.
Past Seasons
Host Nick Webster
Episode released 2022-10-04
Itzik Rapaport has played soccer at the collegiate Division 1 level. In 2005 his school made it to the final but Itzik was at home watching on TV despite being one of the best players on the team…why? He wasn’t strong enough mentally. This made him go on a journey and his story is fascinating.
Coaches who plan are coaches who succeed in helping players develop a love of the game. Licensed U.S. Soccer coach (and your host), Nick Webster, gives some tips and advice on why and how coaches should plan their coaching sessions.
Soccer has always been a part of your host Nick Webster’s life. Here he talks about his early years as a player, coach, and supporter of the game. He also speaks about his time with the Fox Soccer Channel and traveling the globe covering World Cups and Euros. He’ll also delve into where he thinks soccer is going and plans for the future.
Referee Karen Callado talks about her journey and destinations along the way, including officiating with the Professional Referee Organization (PRO) in both the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) and United Soccer League One (USL), as well as a U.S. vs. Brazil game at the 2019 Nike U20 International Friendlies, a match close to her heart.
Guests: Jim Madrid, Founder – Advance Sports Technologies, Inc.
Episode released 2022-04-06
Jim Madrid, the CEO and founder of the AST Academy, has worked with some of the biggest names in sport. However, he hasn’t focused on the technical or tactical side of athletics; instead, he has developed tools which train the body’s most powerful tool: the mind.
Jim talks about the AST mental performance platform and how it can benefit everyone… the athlete, the coach, and the parent. Today, in sports and in life, mindset is the difference between success and failure.
Guests: Terry Fisher, Cal South CEO
Episode released 2022-03-30
Last June, Terry Fisher joined Cal South as the organization’s new Chief Executive Officer. Over the last nine months, he has changed the culture, mission, and attitude of the entire organization. With courage and determination, a new dawn has risen. Cal South is back and ready to serve the youth and adult players of Southern California. You have spoken, and we have listened.
Serafin Panama Rodriguez has been there and done that. Growing up in Mexico City and being a ball boy at the famed Azteca Stadium cemented a love affair with the sport of soccer that has seen him become a coach, referee, and eventually a CONCACAF team liaison officer.
He’s witnessed the growth of the Mexico/USA rivalry, seen the dirty tricks the teams play on each other in the quest to qualify for World Cups, and attended the planet’s biggest event for the last four editions. As the co-founder of one of the largest adult soccer leagues in Southern California, Serafin wears his heart on his sleeve.
Soccer is a physical sport and injuries are part and parcel of the game. A sprained ankle, a jarred knee, an abrasion –– all are injuries which are easy to diagnose. Concussions, on the other hand, are much trickier.
Who knows what’s happening to our brains when we get our “bell rung?” Joe Flanagan, NCAA champion with CSUDH, joins Orange Coast College head coach Kevin Smith and certified athletic trainer Guido Sendowsky to explain the mysteries behind concussions in soccer. They’ve developed a platform that can give parents and coaches an inexpensive app that can possibly save lives and keep our athletes out of harm’s way.
Ian Feuer blazed a trail for goalkeepers in the 1990s becoming the first American to be signed by a team in the EPL, West Ham United. His story from Las Vegas to the top of the goalkeeping tree is inspiring. He left home at 16 years of age to pursue a dream, a dream he turned into reality.
This episode of “The Bear and the Ball” is a blueprint on how to get to the top of the soccer world. The journey isn’t easy but the rewards are mind-blowing.