This week was a big week for the soccer community in Fort Wayne with two historic signings. Fort Wayne native, Amelia White, signed her first professional contract early in the week with the Kansas City Current of the NWSL. Then on Friday, Fort Wayne Football Club announced Tiago Dias as their first professional player signing.

Amelia White joins us for a portion of the show to talk about her journey to the pros and her upcoming season with the Current.

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This was a historic week for soccer here in Fort Wayne, Indiana as two major player announcements were made.

First, early in the week, Amelia White signed her first professional contract with the Kansas City Current of the nwsl.

And later in the week, Fort Wayne FC announced their first professional player in Thiago Diaz.

Tonight, Amelia White joins us to talk about her journey to the pros and we'll share a few clips of my conversation with Thiago earlier this week.

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Well, hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of Fort Wayne Footy.

This is a big one tonight.

We've been waiting for news from Fort Wayne FC for quite a while now and we started getting the news rolling out on Friday with the first signing in Thiago Diaz.

And if you missed it, there was another signing earlier this morning with J.P. morgan or J.P. morgan.

That is a not who it is.

J.P. jordan is who it is.

J.P. morgan is like a insurance company or something, right?

I don't know.

J.P. jordan.

That threw me off there signing earlier this morning or announced earlier this morning.

So excited to get to that news.

We'll get into an interview here with Amelia White.

She'll be joining us here in just a few minutes.

So we'll get into that quickly here.

But let me introduce our cast tonight.

We've got four of us on screen tonight.

Myself, my name is Brian hosting the show.

We've got Dustin Diller with us tonight again, the soccer doctor himself.

Dustin, how are you man?

I'm doing good, man.

It's good to be back.

Got my nice sign or flag in the back now.

Hung up.

So excited to be here.

Excited to talk to Amelia and get some questions in, so.

Yeah, for sure.

Well, welcome back, man.

Good to have you.

Todd Gilpin down here below me on screen.

Todd, how you doing tonight?

Not too bad, not too bad.

Long week.

Long.

Had a long week.

Lot, A lot I did.

But glad to be winding down with Fort Wayne Footy tonight.

Yeah, yeah, a lot of Prep work probably for this week because there was just so much news happening.

Like last week we didn't have it and this week we had something a lot of fun.

A lot of fun.

And Micah Middendorf, welcome back to the show, man.

How are you tonight?

Yeah, doing well.

I think.

Last week we were complaining that there was absolutely no announcements.

There's nothing.

And then we just got just a deluge of, you know, the most exciting thing two weeks ago was the announcement of the new kit man or the returning kit man.

You know, now we got two players in.

They announced their training grounds.

Like a lot of really cool things are happening.

Yeah.

Training ground there at Concordia Seminary.

You guys have been there, you've played there, you've trained there a little bit.

They talked about upgrading the facilities there, which I think is definitely necessary if you're going to have a professional team training there.

But how cool is that, that they're getting this.

This facility that's really going to be specifically for them.

I know other teams are going to use it, but they're investing in it so that they can have their own training facility instead of renting out eventually.

Not renting out other high school and college fields here.

Yeah, I think it'll be good to see.

I mean that's needed.

Updated for probably 30 years.

So it'll be, it'll be cool to see what ends up happening.

I'm happy because it's really close to.

To hear, so it'll be easy to.

To access if we, if we get access to see the team.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And I think that'll benefit the community as well because then, I mean, though not many people know about it, but it does get a lot of use.

I think there, there's St. Joe soccer, there's recreational soccer.

I even use that as an auxiliary field for my girls team as well.

So hopefully we'll see a benefit of that.

Hopefully.

Not sure what the renovation, renovations are going to look like, but definitely Dustin, it does need some sort of an upgrade.

We play volleyball there.

We play volleyball there.

And so it needs, it needs an update, that's for sure.

If nothing else, you have all the, the St. Joe kids.

You've got stuff in the winter it elevates the visibility of Fort Wayne Football Club.

Yeah.

To the community and the, the soccer playing youth.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's a nice.

If you've never been back there, it's a nice facility back there at the, the seminary campus is.

I know my son's trained there and I remember a cold, cold, windy Rainy day when fields at Fort Wayne Sport Club weren't available, they trained out there and then they've done some indoor futsal training there.

So nice facility.

If nothing else.

Get out there and see it as they.

It's being developed and maybe even after it's finished and get out there and get good to see the team, team train out there.

So, yeah, that was the big news last week, right?

Was the training, training ground or early this week, I guess they announced the.

The training facility and we got news on Thursday that something's coming.

There was a post on social media that said something's coming.

And like at the bottom it said, shh, we're close, you know, So I was really excited to see that, was highly anticipating what was coming on Friday.

And then we got the announcement around 11am that Thiago Diaz was the first signing.

So I got a chance to talk to him that day with some others from, you know, other media stations here in Fort Wayne.

We'll play some clips of that interview.

Thiago's.

I'll just say this for now.

Excited to be back.

This will be his fourth season with Fort Wayne fc, but first season as a pro, so got a chance, like I said, to talk to him.

We'll, we'll share some of that and then we're going to bring Amelia White on here in just a minute or so, who has roots here in Fort Wayne.

She's a Fort Wayne native, played for Fort Wayne United, went to Homestead High School, won a state championship there and really tore it up.

I got a chance to see her several times that season, her senior year at Homestead.

Really tear it up out there on the field.

Was a lot of fun to watch.

Continued her career at Penn State University and just graduated from there.

Had a couple stints with the US Youth National Team, which was really exciting.

And just signed her first professional contract with the Kansas City Current in the nwsl.

So let's go ahead and bring Amelia onto the show tonight.

Let me get her on screen here and let me change this orientation so she's big and we can all see her.

Maybe I'll do it this way.

Here we go.

There you go.

There we go.

Welcome to the show, Amelia.

How, how are you tonight?

I'm doing good.

Thanks for having me.

Yeah, I just got here in Kansas City yesterday and starting to get everything set in my apartment.

So exciting stuff.

You already have something hung on, on.

The wall, so not like this.

That's good.

Yeah, that's awesome.

I'm still waiting to do some decorating.

But nice.

Yeah.

Well, that answered one of my questions.

When does your time in Kansas City start?

You're already there, so we'll.

We'll love to hear about that.

Congratulations, first of all on that contract with Kansas City.

What was it like to get that call to your first professional?

I know you probably talked with them, but when they said, hey, we want to offer you this, here's contract, what was that feeling like with your first professional contract offered?

I mean, it was amazing.

It was actually the day that I graduated from college.

I had just got done with my graduation ceremony and I was about to pack up, like everything in my apartment was packed up and I was about to leave and I got a call from my agent and he just told me the news about them offering me a two year contract and I just remember tearing up and I called my mom and I was just so excited because it felt like all the work that I had put in, into this sport was paying off and it was really just a dream come true when I got that call.

So it was very exciting.

Was that something that you were pursuing?

Like did you think that a contract was going to happen or was it just a surprise?

I did think a contract was going to happen just throughout the season.

Even before the season had started, my college coach had mentioned just me getting an agent because she was starting to get some kind of interest from the pro coaches.

So that was nice to kind of start my season knowing that I was going to get looked at a little bit.

So I wasn't surprised that I did get an offer.

And I had talked, spoke with them since the season was done and kind of knew that something was coming, but it just still didn't kind of match it actually happening versus like thinking about it happening.

So yeah, it was awesome.

That's awesome.

So I started coaching here in Fort Wayne in 22.

I had just moved here and I only heard of the legend of Amelia White.

Tell us a little bit about your journey.

You know, starting here in Fort Wayne with United and then moving into the youth ranks with the national team as well.

Yeah, so I actually, I first started at Fever when that was a thing before United.

So I've been in foreign for a long time.

But yeah, so I had moved and I had joined Fever and honestly, the first year that I was here they told me this kid isn't.

She's not too good.

And they were going to put me on the C team actually, which is funny to look back on, but I had a coach that kind of just saw that, oh no, this kid has potential.

And probably just because I was a pretty fast.

I was pretty fast and was just running around the field, but so kind of started there, and then it developed into United and just kind of started to take it into my own hands and really work in my own, like in my backyard.

And I started to stand out a little bit.

And so then I started training with older age groups and boys, and I think that's where I started to see a lot of development and started guest playing with teams.

And that's when I. I think my first showcase that I ever did with a different team, that's when I got seen from the national team and was brought into some regional camps and was then invited into a youth national team camp.

And I didn't even know what that was at the time.

I had no idea that there was such a thing.

I just was kind of playing for fun and.

Because I loved the game.

And I think for me, that's honestly why I've been able to come so far.

It was never my goal to play professionally.

I didn't really think about it at that age or anything.

I just love doing it.

And it was something that helped me escape.

So got into some camps and that was really good environment.

And I was able to grow a lot just from being surrounded by awesome players.

So then got into Homestead and I played my freshman season.

Almost got the state championship that year, but it's okay.

It's okay.

I just saved it for my senior year, but took off the.

I mean, the next two years, we were actually planning for that World cup, my Asia World cup, and it got canceled my junior year because of COVID So I.

That was kind of the reason why I didn't play the.

The next few years of high school is to just prepare for the World cup, and that didn't end up happening.

So that was pretty devastating, actually.

And.

Yeah.

But I ended up playing my.

My senior season at Homestead and got a state championship, which was still probably one of my favorite soccer memories.

I don't know if you were at the.

The home game against Novasville, but that is probably the most fun I've ever had on the field.

So was that.

Was that the game I was telling the guys?

I remember a game.

I think you already had a hat trick and took a ball from inside your own 18, down to the offensive third in the offensive 18, and then had an open goal but passed it off so a teammate could score.

Was that that game?

I have no.

I don't know.

It's funny.

It's Funny what fans remember and what.

What athletes remember.

Like, you're just in the moment playing the game.

And that was a story that people told around here.

I don't know if it was a Noblesville game or not, but I remember, remember many, many people.

I was there and many, many people telling that story that Amelia could have had her fourth goal, but she just passed it off to let the teammate score because she already had enough.

Oh, yeah.

Well, I did have a hat trick, and then I got fouled in the box.

And there was.

Maybe that's what it was.

And I was like, no, I'm not taking it.

Maybe that's.

Oh, that's what it was.

Okay.

Yeah.

And she made it and it was awesome.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah, that was awesome.

So you said, well, I want to get back to your career here in just a second.

But you said a couple things in your response there that we've talked about in previous shows that I just want to highlight.

Like the one that you said, like, I'd never had my eyes set on playing pro.

I was playing because it was fun.

And I love the sport.

And I think sometimes young athletes lose sight of that.

And sometimes it's, you know, parents or coaches that are like, don't you want to do anything with this, like, pushing or whatever?

And, um, sometimes athletes have a tendency to lose the love of the sport when they're being pushed or they have these high, lofty goals and they feel like they can't get there, they can't achieve them.

But.

So I love the fact that you said, I just.

I didn't even know what national camp was like.

I was just there.

Cause I loved playing and I had fun.

And the other thing you said was early on, making a C team, you know, they wanted to put you on a C team.

We talked about that a few weeks ago, about how sometimes that is the best thing for a young player.

Not to make the top team or not to be put on the top team initially.

Because it builds this drive, it builds this hunger, even though maybe you deserve to be there.

And so I love that you highlighted those two things.

And I just wanted to point that out on the show, because we have talked about that here recently.

Amelia, it relates to your high school career.

Your sister Sophia is a pretty tough player herself as well.

Oh, yeah, She's a scary one.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She is a strong player, talented player.

And you've had, you know, you.

You've had the privilege, I guess, of playing with her for a lot of this time, not all of it.

But a lot of this time playing with her, how special was that?

What was that like for you growing up playing together on a lot of these top level teams and then coming back to Homestead and winning a state championship with her?

It was awesome.

I think there's so many ups and downs that we were able to go through and experience together and I think it's just so cool that I was able to, to get those memories and look back on.

And even just my, the senior, the senior year where we did win a state championship, just all the memories I have of her leading the team because she was captain and she's just an amazing leader and she's taught me so much.

Just not even about the game, but just her work ethic.

She always gave everything in every single game and that's something that she might have gotten on me at the time in different games that I was able to then take with me onto the next level.

And I have so much to thank her for, for always pushing me.

And I think sometimes it was definitely hard growing up and playing the same sport, especially as twins and being compared a little bit, which I think was tough on her, but still was such an amazing opportunity for us to get to experience everything and just kind of go through those trials and adversity together.

So.

That'S awesome.

So we talked, you talked about Homestead and your career kind of there at Penn State.

You had a good seat, you had a good career there as well.

We have some stats I was going to, I told the guys, I was like, I wonder how much of this will you'll remember or know or you'll be like, oh, I didn't know that.

Four seasons, 88 matches played, 11 goals, 14 assists.

So out of all of those, what are you most proud about?

Something else?

I don't know.

I mean, I honestly, I don't even think about, I don't even think about all those things, but I honestly just think about how I felt in different, like when I accomplished those things and kind of the mentality that I had in each different season.

I think as a freshman I did get pretty good stats and made the all Big Ten freshman team and freshman team or the Big Ten player of the week or forward of the week or something.

But I think that was, I mean, the work that I had put in over my sophomore and junior season when I think things probably weren't Going as well for me.

And that was probably the first time that I had really, really kind of hit a wall of like, I don't know if I can do this.

Like, I have to make it as a decision to, to really put in some effort because I wasn't performing how I really wanted to.

So I think how I felt my senior year and gaining that confidence is the thing I'm most proud of.

After going through everything that I had gone through in my freshman, sophomore and junior season where I was moved to, I was a wing back, I was not a forward anymore for some time I didn't get as many minutes and still being able to come back to my senior season and with love for the game that I had kind of struggled with that feeling my sophomore and junior season, I think that the way that I was able to still be proud and do well and have fun again, I think that's probably the thing I'm most proud of.

And I think that's what made it possible for me to play my best.

Well.

That's actually a really good answer.

Going to your college, you went at an interesting almost transitional time in college sports.

You went shortly after Covid, so you're probably playing with, with five, six year players.

The, the transfer portal, Nil.

All of that stuff came about while you were, you were there.

How was it to navigate your four years or three and a half years at, at the school and in, in college with all of those changes and still stay the course to be there four years and now, now playing professionally?

Yeah.

Like when I think about all the changes that have happened in college soccer and just college athletics in general throughout my four years, it's crazy to think how much has changed, especially with Nil and even the roster cuts that teams had to go through, that was a massive change in kind of adversity that every program had to go through.

And I don't know, I think just the support system that I had with my family and my teammates and coaches there, that's what made it possible.

There was definitely times, I think every year that I questioned, I don't know if I want to be here.

Like this is, this is really difficult like that there's a lot of changes.

I don't know what's going to happen next year.

And I think when it came down to it, it was, I made a commitment and I want to see it through because that's just the kind of person I am.

I think because I was able to be there for four years and go through so much with all the changes and fifth years and six years and not having as many, not having any injuries, which was pretty good.

But, yeah, I'm really proud of that.

And it was a good four years.

That's awesome.

Emilia, you accomplished so much in your college career, it looks like, just from those stats.

And I'm sure there's other things that you're proud of that, you know, don't get tallied on the stat sheet, so.

And those are the things that get you to where you are now, right in Kansas City, sitting there talking to us after signing your first pro contract.

My question is, like, when you said you didn't have your eyes set on playing pro as a.

As a youth player in Fort Wayne, when did playing professionally really become an option for your.

Your future?

I guess I didn't really think of it as, like, an option.

Like, even when I'm thinking to my freshman year of college, I'm pretty sure my college coaches had asked me, is your.

Is your goal to play professionally?

And I think I just said, yeah, yeah, like, it is.

But I didn't really thought through what that meant, and I don't think a lot of people do.

And everyone at Penn State and on my team, that was just kind of their goal, and that was kind of the standard that everyone that graduated went and played professionally.

So I think I just kind of followed suit with that.

And then it wasn't until I hit some adversity that that's when I really had to think, is, is this something that I want?

Because there were so many sacrifices that were going to have to happen for me to be able to achieve that.

And so I think it was probably not even until my junior year or probably after my sophomore season and kind of going into that spring when I really had to make a decision of how I wanted to show up my junior season.

And even then, I think my main goal was I just want to impact the team as best as I can.

And then all my goal, the goals that I have surrounding it after that are just going to follow suit.

So I think that was honestly my mindset.

But, yeah, I think really until my senior, junior season, junior slash season, senior season is when I really kind of locked in on pro.

But before, I think I was mainly focused on impacting my team and just learning to love the game.

The game.

So what was.

What was the.

The process like to, you know, initially talk with Kansas City or maybe other teams?

Were there camps involved that you're called to?

Was there a tryout?

Was there, like, what did that look like for you to go from Penn State to.

It wasn't just a phone call you got.

Like obviously you were in front of them at some point.

Yeah.

So I'm not sure when Kansas City first started kind of me picking up interest for them, but after last my junior season over the summer I was getting some interest by some other teams and had some pro trials.

And I think that's kind of where how it was my junior year especially because that was the first year that there wasn't a draft.

So I think this summer a lot of teams were bringing in people just to trial and see a little bit more.

But it really was just kind of my senior season teams following the season and watching me play.

And I think because I was in such a, like the Big Ten and playing against some of the best teams they were watching, maybe not even just for me, but I think because I was able to impact the game, maybe I got interest.

And so I think that's where it started.

And my, my coach, she did an amazing job just talking to, to coaches for me and just kind of seeing what, what was out there and if people had interest in.

She kind of let me know a little bit that I was getting interest and set up some calls after the season with those teams and asked my questions of kind of what I was looking for in a program, especially without the draft.

It's not like you have, you have a lot more decision of where you're going to go.

And so I, I, after all my calls, I can kind of just set that Kansas City is the place that develops players.

It is one of the best teams in the nwsl and that's where I wanted to go.

I mean, I think I haven't started training yet, but I know it's going to be such a difficult time here because I'm going to be surrounded by some of the best players in the world and I'm going to be pushed and that's what I wanted.

I think I've done a really good job and learned how to get comfortable in uncomfortable situations.

And I think that's where you grow the most.

So that is how I landed on Kansas City.

What was.

I got one question.

I'm going to go to the chat with a couple questions before these guys have a couple others for you.

We'll wrap up with theirs.

My question, like, it sounds like college recruiting all over again.

Right.

Going into the pros, which as you think back to your college or your high school time, looking at colleges and things, which was more intense, which one Made you more nervous like making your college decision or making your pro decision?

Probably making my college decision because before the rule changes, so I had committed to college when I was in eighth grade, like the summer going into high school and so I didn't realize that.

Wow.

Yeah.

I was talking to so many colleges and I remember being so overwhelmed of just I don't know what I'm gonna want in four years as an eighth grader.

Yeah, I have no idea what I want to major in.

I was so stressed.

So definitely that.

Just because I didn't know myself as.

As well as I do now.

So.

Yeah, yeah, sure.

I got some questions coming in in the chat related to your pro career coming up here.

The first is who are you most looking forward to playing against in the nwsl?

And a follow up, maybe most nervous to play against and maybe you don't want to answer that one, but who are you most looking forward to to playing against?

I'm looking forward to playing against Trinity Rodman.

Trinity Rodman the most.

She is a player that I've always looked up to.

I think she has an amazing just story and she's one of those players that work so hard defensively and offensively.

So I'm so excited to play against her and meet her.

But there's so many players that, I mean you see them on TV and it's.

It's surreal to think that you're going to be playing against them.

So.

Yeah, very excited.

Is there anybody that makes you nervous that you're willing to say as a rookie going into the league?

I mean, I'm kind of just like generally a little bit nervous and don't know what to expect.

But yeah, I don't know.

There's not anyone specific that I can think of that I'm nervous to play against.

That's fair.

That's a good answer.

That's a good answer.

I saw your Ross, I saw the roster, I looked up the roster because I was interested as to who plays on Kansas City.

And you guys are.

You guys have some really good players.

Plus you have Vodko Adonovsky, who's your sporting director.

That's pretty awesome.

That's really awesome.

Yeah.

I'll just say Ali Sentineur is one of my favorites.

I like watching her play.

So the fact that you get to play with her is pretty cool.

So.

Yeah, well.

And I was in youth pants with her, so.

Oh really?

I played with her in the past, so yeah, she is an amazing player.

Yeah.

Who are you excited to play with?

You know not again.

I mean, you've got.

You've got a pretty good roster there in Kansas City.

Who are you excited to play with that maybe you haven't in the past?

I mean, 10 more?

Like, she's just so good, so I'm excited just to be in an environment with her.

But I think there's a lot of Penn State alumni, and so I'm excited to.

To play again with some of the players that I got to play with in college.

Yeah, I don't know.

There's a lot of good.

I mean, there's so many good players in the team, so I'm excited just to kind of figure out the training environment and to play with all of them.

Yeah.

Next question is, what, in general, are you most excited for to play professionally?

I think the environment and call it.

Like, I'm never.

I've never played in a stadium where it's filled.

Like, I've played in stadiums before, but they've been empty.

So I'm just excited for the atmosphere, I would say, just kind of outside of soccer, the stadiums, the fans, and really just getting to connect with the community.

I know that Kansas City does a lot just around the community and with the fans, so I'm really excited for that.

Yeah.

And the growth of women's soccer.

Soccer in general, but the growth of the NWSL and the Super League, like, it's just growing big time.

And so we're excited to see the game just in general and that, you know, we've got more Fort Wayne players out there among.

Among the ranks there, which is awesome.

I have one more question from the chat, but I'll save it to wrap up with.

So I know you guys have a couple others you want to get to.

I was just gonna.

Go ahead, Micah.

No, no, I. I think some of the.

I was.

I'm just really impressed with some of the things that you said, especially the.

The piece.

Being comfortable, or.

How'd you say it.

It was being comfortable.

Being uncomfortable or however.

Situation being uncomfortable.

That's it.

That's it.

Yeah.

So when you're looking at young female soccer players, what advice would you give to them just in terms of just the mental state, the physical state?

Like, what advice would you give to the young female soccer player?

There's a lot that I would say.

I mean, that.

Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable, that was something that a coach, Claire Ward, had told me when I was younger, and because I was playing with boys and I didn't like that, they weren't necessarily the nicest to me.

All the times or playing up and not necessarily having that team want me to play with them.

And so I think for me, it was the most beneficial thing for me was getting comfortable with being in those uncomfortable situations and constantly putting myself in those environments.

And I also think just to remember to have fun and love the game.

I think when I've struggled the most in my game, it's me thinking too much about the outcomes.

I think when you think about winning or you think about scoring and doing other things, it puts so much pressure on yourself.

And so I think just having fun and loving what you do is the most important part.

That's awesome.

Awesome.

Thank you.

So kind of what our whole show started on, but having a professional soccer team in Fort Wayne, Indiana, like, how exciting is that to you?

And then kind of piggyback on that.

What do you think the odds are of it becoming a female professional soccer team here in Fort Wayne?

Yeah, I mean, I think it's great that we have a professional team.

I mean, growing up, I. I would never have thought that we would have one.

So I think it's.

It's incredible that it's growing, and I think it would be awesome to have a women's team as well.

I know they were doing, maybe possibly adding an indie super league, but I think if we had the first women's professional team, that would be awesome.

I think the community would also.

Also enjoy that and love that.

I remember even just going to the IPFW games after street shock, street soccer on Fridays, like, that was so fun for me growing up.

And so I think being able to have something like that and for people to do and see those types of games is so good, not only for the community, but even for just young soccer players to see a higher level.

So, yeah, it's awesome.

And so related to that.

This last question in the chat is, if Fort Wayne does add a woman, I was going to ask that.

Would you come back to help launch it?

Playing or coaching, depending on when that happens.

Is that something you'd be interested in as you start your professional career in Kansas City?

I don't know.

I don't know if I have the experience to coach a bit or.

I don't know.

We'll see.

I kind of like.

I like some warmer weather, so.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Maybe.

Maybe down the road, but yeah, we'll see.

We'll see how I do in the nw down the road.

They got to get a team first, so.

That's.

That's absolutely right.

We got to get this men's team launched here this year starting in March.

Right.

First games and then we'll get that thing going and we'll, we'll talk women's soccer here soon, hopefully after that.

What does your time know?

You're in Kansas City now and our time short here tonight, but what is your next couple weeks look like as you start there?

Yeah.

So we have our first optional training tomorrow, actually, which is really excited.

I'm really exciting.

Excited for just to meet everyone.

I haven't gotten to, to meet everyone yet.

We're seeing the training facilities, which I know they, I mean, the pictures I've seen are incredible.

So I'm really excited.

But we have optional training Monday, Tuesday, and we kind of start getting into meetings and technical, like the technical testing and different things after that.

And then in about two weeks, we go to California for a month and we have a tournament or I think it's a tournament.

We have some, some preseason games there against Denver and Angel City and some other teams.

So really excited for that.

And that's kind of preseason.

And then we will get into our actual season in March.

That's awesome.

Well, Amelia, congratulations once again to you and best of luck and your career there starting in Kansas City.

Maybe someday we'll see you in Fort Wayne.

Maybe not coaching or playing.

Either way, you're playing.

But no, it's really a pleasure to have you on tonight.

Thanks for taking the time and thanks for joining us.

Yeah.

Thank you for having me.

It was awesome.

Yeah, for sure.

Have a great night.

Thanks.

You, too.

All right.

Hey, I want to dig into that a little bit and we'll talk about Fort Wayne FC's first professional signing right after this.

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All right.

Well, hey, that was fun.

Interview with Amelia White.

And I'll say this, my claim to fame is I got to play ice soccer with Amelia and her sister Sophia and some others when they were in middle school.

So I was a little bit younger man at that point, but I was plenty old enough to not be playing ice soccer and I was really, really sore after that.

But after 30, after 30 you shouldn't be playing anything on ice.

Hey, that's probably true, but I hadn't learned that yet.

Yeah, I hadn't learned that yet.

I'm a slow learner in that sense.

Your support also gives you access to some additional content.

We had an article that we wrote up this week related to the Tiago Diaz signing.

We have five dollar and ten monthly tiers if you're interested and one time donation options as well.

Your support goes a long way to helping us cover Fort Wayne FC and other soccer here in the Fort Wayne area.

Thank you to Christina Copeland, Ryan Smeltzer and the Snyder family for your support over there on Patreon.

All right, Thiago Diaz signed officially announced Friday 11am with Fort Wayne FC.

I had a chance to talk with him later that afternoon with some other media folks and I want to share some of that here.

Before we get into it though, your thoughts on Thiago Diaz being the first signing for Fort Wayne FC USL 1 professional team?

I love it.

I think that it's a really good signing and I think the club is listening to us because I think I know I mentioned it.

We need a good strong center back to start and first signing is a good strong center back.

So.

Plus he knows the city, this will be his fourth year already with the club.

So I, I think they made the absolute correct decision bringing him back for their their first year.

Well and I think as the first signing too, we talked as, as a group about how important it was to bring back old faces, people that we knew that had brought this team to where it is now.

And he's one of those people and he's one of the people that has been one of the mainstays in the team for the last few years and so signing him as the first signing and getting all of the momentum going and hopefully now what we'll See an entire roster probably within the next five days, it feels like, based upon how fast they've been going.

But I'm excited about that.

I think he's a really strong player.

He was captain last year, so it's just.

It's cool to see him come back.

Yeah, absolutely.

I really like that.

It's personally a defender, you know, a lot of times the.

The guys up top get all the glory and everything.

A defender first signing, boom.

I think that sets the tone a little bit for what they're doing this season.

Yeah.

Yeah.

To me, like, we did talk about this a while back, right.

Last week or two weeks ago, maybe, about what we hope to see, how they build this team, how they build this roster.

First signings, what we see.

To me, I think it's a statement signing for a couple of reasons.

Right.

He's.

He's been part of the team for three years.

Right.

He's been a captain the last two.

He's a fan favorite, as you mentioned, strong defender and he's really quality in the air.

Right.

I think he's fourth leading scorer all time as a center back.

Yeah, fourth leading scorer at Fort Wayne fc.

And I know players turn over in USL too, a lot, but he's been.

He's been there consistently.

But I think it speaks to the loyalty of the club as well, the loyalty to the players who brought them this far.

At least one that brought them this far.

I anticipate there may be others from the past that we'll see here announced shortly.

I don't know that just.

I'm speculating there, but they said Coach Avery on our show last year said we are recruiting players for the next level and to actually be your first signing, be a guy who's been there, who's brought you here, and to say we've got confidence in him at the next level, let's do this.

So I think, to me, it was.

It was a statement signing in that sense, and it's a statement that players want to be here like Thiago has, You know, he's been at Indiana Tech, he's been at Bryant University, he's from Portugal.

Like, he's been in different places.

And Fort Wayne's a place that he wants to call home and play here.

So I think that's a statement there as well.

Any other thoughts on.

On that before I get into these clips?

Maybe we'll have some more to dissect after that.

But as far as the first signing coming out Friday being, being ds, I.

Liked how they did it.

I liked the anticipation on, on social media.

I love that.

Not to, not to shoot our own horns, but we are the ones that kind of picked up on some things to figure out who it was or kind of led into that.

So, yeah, I like how they're doing that.

I like the excitement, the anticipation that's leading up to it.

I think it's getting people super, super pumped about the season coming up.

And so I'm intrigued to see who's next, and we talked about it a little beforehand of who we think might be one of the next people that is signed.

We don't know, but I think it'll be exciting to see who's coming back and who these new guys are.

Yeah.

Let me, let me ask those who are listening to this.

Right.

Watching live tonight and those who may be listening later in the week, help us be sleuths on social media.

What are you seeing?

I'll say this.

On Friday morning, Thursday night, Fortman FC posted something that said, we're close.

Right.

There's a little tag in the corner of their social media post Friday morning.

I'm like, okay, there's got to be a signing today.

They wouldn't have posted that last night if there wasn't a signing today.

If you follow Tiago, there was a picture that he posted of him working out in his old Fort Wayne FC kit.

And I thought, this has.

This isn't coincidence, is it, that he just happened to post this and then two hours later I see that he's announced as the.

As the starter or the first.

First signing.

So was really excited to be like, okay, hey, there's something.

There's.

There's clues out there.

Whether they're intentional, not.

There's clues out there.

So if you're out there sleuthing around on social media and you see something, let us know, hit us up.

I promise you, Christina Copeland probably just jumped on Briscoe's social media pages.

Yeah.

Yep.

Open it.

Is he wearing.

What's he wearing?

Yeah.

Right.

Not that we have.

Not that we have been at all.

Yeah, yeah, we got some, you know, just some.

While the chat's going crazy right now, I can't even keep up there.

How many times has a.

Has a wife or a mother or a father slipped something a little early and.

Right.

Who knows?

Yeah.

Got traded or.

Yeah.

No, I. I do think back to Tiago signing and then JP Jordan signed today.

We'll.

We'll talk about that here in just a minute.

Really says a lot about how they want to build this team.

Right.

And I'll get into that in a minute.

I did get a chance with some other media folks here in Fort Wayne to, to chat with Thiago on Friday afternoon and ask a couple questions and just want to share some of those.

So first one, I'll just, I'll just play it the questions part of the clip.

Check this out.

What does it tell you that the team has this much confidence in you as a captain in previous years to be the first signing moving into the professional ranks?

No, it's amazing.

It's amazing.

They trust me like I trust them.

And like I said, I'm very happy not just being the first signing, but being part of the club again and can help the club moving forward.

Yeah.

So the trust he talked about, they trust me like I trust them.

I think is, is huge in a player goes back to, you know, statement signing.

Like we, we trust this guy.

He got us as far.

Let's do this moving forward.

Feel free if you got anything to share questions to ask between these clips.

I've got a couple more I want to share, but if you want to debrief any of those, stop me.

I was just going to say you said the trust that he has in the organization, I think for someone to come back for four seasons and that shows that he has trust in the organization, in the team, in the coach that, that we have.

And so hearing him say that, not, you know, I mean, anybody can say that.

Anybody can say, oh, you know, I just, I have trust in, in this team.

But when you've been there and you've been there for an extended period of time, it just, it proves it even more so.

Yeah.

That with him being the first signing help maybe some that are on the fence.

You know what, it's new or, you know, new.

New professional team.

You know, I don't know, maybe I go over to the.

This team's been around a while, but oh, wait, he signed, he's been there.

He.

He understands, you know, maybe that helps get others with that trust.

Yeah, yeah, for sure.

And, and to know like I imagine this roster is built, they're just not all signed yet.

But to know that your teammate Thiago was the first signing that there's, you know, you could be coming back, building around a core of players.

Now I was surprised honestly that JP Jordan was the second signing and it wasn't another player that we already know.

However, that doesn't mean there's not going to be others and it doesn't mean I'm not excited about the Signing.

I'm really excited about the signing actually, which we'll talk about in just a moment.

But again speaks to how they want to build this team.

Trust, loyalty, brand, culture, like it's all there in Tiago.

Let me get to this second one.

Asked him about his time at Bryant University.

Thiago, we know what kind of player you are.

Seeing you on the field the last couple of years you were away.

This year at Bryant University.

What, what is Thiago Diaz bringing back to Fort Wayne as a.

As a player with another year of development that maybe we haven't seen yet.

As a player always with passion on the field, giving everything like always.

I do think I improved a lot in Bryant.

I learned a couple things in Brian that I can bring it to fortune and help the team.

So I'm excited for that and I hope we have a bright future.

So we learned a few things at Bryant that he's bringing.

Bringing back to Fort Wayne.

I'm.

I'm excited to see what that is because already we talked about this.

He's a tough player, stout defensively, he's a good passer out of the back and he's good in the air and attacking third.

Defensive third, but attacking third with finishing balls.

So what are you hoping to see more of out of.

Out of Diaz in that back line?

I think just his leadership.

You know, he.

You don't get named captain three years in a row at a semi professional level without having that credibility of your teammates and in getting the buy in of those around you.

So I'm excited to see that.

And I mean we, we know what he can bring.

He's going to be a tough tackler, good in the air, good distributor, distributor, you know.

So I, I'm excited to see if there is another level to Thiago.

I think he'll be ready for this jump.

Yeah.

Yeah.

For the sake of clarity, I think he was captain just the last two years.

Wasn't necessarily the first year.

Played three, captained captain two.

So yeah it.

Let's get to this next one quickly here.

Ask him about playing at a.

What do you expect to be different this year?

Coming in at a new level with maybe some new players, same coach and a different level of USL soccer.

I think now the difference is we profession we're just going to do this is no more school is no more anything.

We got to be ready to come back and do what we got to do.

Yeah, I like that.

I think that that's the difference.

Right.

Semi pro and pro.

Like this is their job.

This is their.

What they focus on.

And so it'll be interesting to see the difference in relationship to that.

When you're not, you don't have these external, you know, things kind of weighing on your minds, like, oh, I got to get ready for school coming up.

Will I be able to play in, you know, the, the, the postseason games?

Because I might have to go back to college and play.

Like, it changes things.

It changes it a lot.

And it, it makes them more available.

Available for the, for the game.

And it also just.

Your mindset's only on one thing.

It's not on all these other things.

So I'm excited for that.

Yeah, I did ask a follow up to that.

I don't have the clip of it tonight, but I did ask this, this idea of travel and short time in between games.

So we talked about it a few weeks ago, right, that there's a, there's a week where they play in Fort Wayne.

They travel to Boise, Idaho on Wednesday.

They play Saturday, Fort Wayne, Wednesday in Boise and Saturday in Fort Wayne again.

And just he talked about the fact that I've never traveled that far for games like that quickly.

And so he talked about the recovery time and the team, what the team's doing to prepare, to make sure players are ready and have the rest.

They have the recovery.

So they're at as close to 100 as they can in that short turnaround.

Like I think youth soccer, we talk about playing three games in a weekend or two games in a day sometimes, sometimes three games in a day.

And it's like, well, they can't play like three games in a week.

Well, no, you're not quite running at that same level.

You're not performing at that same level either, what these guys are putting out there.

So we did talk about the travel and the, the recovery a little bit and expectations of playing at that level.

Let me play this last one and then we'll have a few minutes to chat.

What are your personal expectations for this first season?

I know there's a long way to go.

You're not even in preseason yet.

Everybody wants to win.

But realistically, what are your expectations going in for yourself and for the team?

For myself, I want to do everything that I can every day to get better and help the team and for the team.

I just, I want the success for us.

And of course, football is not just about winning in the game, is winning every day outside the field.

And I think first we need to focus on that winning every day outside the field for when we get to the field, we can do something and.

And win.

That's how I finished that we can do something and win.

So he talked about expectations.

And one thing he said there that I love that I just wanted to ask you guys about.

He said success is not just about winning on the field.

It's about winning outside the field every day and focusing on that and bringing that to the field, which I thought was an interesting way to.

To talk about success for a young player on a new professional team.

How would.

What were your thoughts on that?

I think that echoes a little bit of what Amelia was talking about earlier, where, you know, not focusing on the results so much, not focusing on the wins and losses, but focusing on the process.

And I remember the interview that we had with Thiago many, many months ago.

I remember him saying that specifically, like, it's.

It's about the process.

And I think that's such a good mindset for these.

These young athletes.

I think it's a good example for the young, developing athletes as well.

Yeah, that's.

That's the positive influence, you know, especially being the first signing.

That's the positive influence he can bring off the field.

Right.

You know, can.

Can you grow as an organization and a team, wins and losses will come and go.

I mean, that's.

That's the sport.

That sport.

You're going to lose some, you're going to win some.

But can you as a group, cohesive group, become more than individuals, you know, and that begins off the field.

Yeah.

And can you impact your community, too?

I think that's the other thing, you know, like, you think about this team, you know, it.

We're hoping that the community surrounds this team and it becomes, you know, Fort Wayne's team.

And to hear him talk about that, that.

That the team will pour into the community as well.

And I know that they did that last year, you know, when they did us community service events and got school supplies for.

For the schools around the area.

So I know that that's an important part of the organization.

And so to hear the player that is the first signing for their professional team say something like that is just, to me, is more exciting than anything else.

Like, you know, he's prioritizing Fort Wayne and he's prioritizing the importance of them pouring into the community as well.

Yeah, it speaks to the culture, too, I think, of.

Of the team, of the club.

The club wants to be involved in the community off the pitch.

A player that's coming, sees that, wants to continue investing and building in that culture and leading that culture and sees the importance of, you know, the community investment and community involvement off the pitch with teammates and just in the community in general.

So kudos to to Fort Wayne FC for their first signing.

That was a great one, great announcement.

I think everybody that's a fan of Fort Wayne FC present and past was excited to see that name show up again as the first signing.

And again, hopefully there's others coming, but there is a new face that just was announced today this morning, I think around the same time.

11:00am JP Jordan, who has had some stints with a couple other teams that we will see this season, some time with Sarasota paradise when they were playing in League two.

Now they're moving up with Fort Wayne into USL League one and he spent last season with Texoma fc, which if you remember from earlier this season on the podcast, Texoma relegated themselves this year, played in USL League one last year and bumped themselves down to League two this year.

So we're getting a player who has had some great time in, in college playing in the acc, played in USL League two with a team that will be meeting several times a season in Sarasota paradise and then spent a season in the league that we will be playing in, Fort Wayne FC will be playing in now League one playing with Texoma fc.

He's a defensive midfielder primarily.

He's played in a couple different positions.

Watched a couple highlights on the kid earlier today and I, I'm excited.

I'm excited.

This is, this is the signing for me that I was looking forward to as their next one.

Right.

We talked.

Was it last week or the week before, like how do we build this team?

We mentioned it earlier in the show.

I talked about maybe a center back pairing or let's get, you know, the center of the field.

Like let's, let's secure that.

I think you talked a little bit about that too, Micah.

Like let's get from back to front.

Let's get the middle of the field locked in and then we'll spread out to the sides and this guy is the guy right in front of Thiago, right in front of your center.

Backs strong defensively and seems to be a good distributor of the ball as well.

Yeah, I haven't had a chance to watch any highlights of them yet or any clips of them.

Hopefully I'll get to that soon.

But I mean his resume is phenomenal.

You mentioned the ACC playing at smu.

Transferred to Louisville for a year.

But if you go previously, like when he was in MLS, next he won the U17 national title as a youth player.

He was the U19 MLS golden boy, which is the MVP of the league.

Yeah.

So he's 100 a quality player.

I can't wait to see him.

So.

I kind of like how they announced him.

You know, we, we talked.

You know, you need a mix of old and new.

You know, you got Thiago.

Boom.

And then now you've got somebody that's got experience in the league and is also, you know, I'm, I'm a big fan of that.

You build from the back and up down the middle of the field and it's, it's a good strong midfielder.

Defensive midfielder.

Yeah.

You talk about strength defensively on Fat Mob.

I don't know if you guys have spent any time on Fat Mob.

Those who are listening, if you aren't familiar with Fat Mob, get, get familiar.

FatMob.com is a lot of stats on teams, players individually, looked JP Jordan up, his time at Texoma and beyond.

So they've got him ranked, right?

They, they put, you know, players like percentile, right?

So if you're, you're taking a test and you rank in the 99th percentile, you're, you know, rank above 99 of the other people.

Right.

So some of these stats.

95th percentile in defensive contributions compared to other players in the league.

95th percentile.

That's huge.

80th percentile.

And aerial duels won in, in the league.

So 80th percentile of that.

So.

And then 31 and chances created 7% and touches, 7% shot attempts and 0% in goals.

So he's not a goal scorer, but he's a guy.

That man is a bulldog in the back is what it sounds like.

Winning balls and then turning.

And what I saw of him, highlight wise, is a guy who can win a ball and then touch it.

Like he doesn't get a lot of touches because he's quick off the ball.

Like he'll, he'll win it.

He'll turn and he'll play.

He'll go forward quickly.

And so I don't know.

Again, that's a short, you know, a small sample size from what I've seen.

But man, to have that guy in front of Thiago.

Those two can win a ball, play it forward.

What's interesting to me is, you know, we talked to Coach Avery and we've seen them play, we've talked to others.

Fort Wayne has a really aggressive attacking style of play, and their first two announcements were defensive players who can move the ball quickly.

Forward thoughts on the JP Jordan signing.

Sounds like he's the exact player that Coach Avery is looking for.

Right.

Like, it's just that, that water pail guy that's going to carry.

Carry the team, put the team on his back and put in the dirty work.

Yeah.

So I think this is a great signing.

I can't wait to get to know him.

Can't wait to watch him.

It should be a really good impact for us.

I think what you meant to say, you can't wait to have him on the show.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Brian, make it happen.

Yeah, we'll see what we can do.

We'll see what we can do to make that happen.

We've got messages.

We have got to get to know our, our players and so I'll see what I can do to, to get JP Jordan on the show sooner than later.

No, I think it's good.

I think I, I love scrappy players.

I'm, I'm a huge fan of scrappy players.

So having Thiago, who is.

And then now, you know, JP as what you're saying is like, that's just exciting to me because, you know, it's going to be physical play and that's, that's the way soccer, you know, that's the way that is, is meant to be played or is played nowadays.

Not back in the day, but nowadays.

And so I'm excited to see how he does and then what we build around these two.

Yeah, for sure.

Todd, go ahead.

I was going to say you got a good, good, strong defender.

You get the ball up.

If, if you're playing that quick style, getting the ball up, you've got to have that strong middle in, in the defense.

And then what you were saying, he could, he could, he's good in the air.

So is Thiago, you know, you know, corner kicks or corner kicks coming in, crosses coming in.

You know, you've got to be strong there to be successful and get the ball up, up and out.

And so, you know, maybe we've got two really good in the back.

We still need another center back and let's, let's see what happens.

But I, I like defense.

I, I like that look, defense wins championships, right?

That's what I've heard.

That's what I've heard.

We also need some goal scorers, which I imagine we have some announcements coming.

Yeah, but we'll, we'll get there and we'll take them when they come.

So I imagine they're going to be coming.

I said it last week and the week Before Fast and Furious.

And here we go.

They've started.

Two in the last three days is pretty huge.

And I can't wait to see what this next week brings and what we can talk about next week on the show.

Drop.

We need a kid Drop.

Yeah.

Speaking of, as we round out our show, the US National Team, two things here.

The US National Team kits supposedly have leaked.

I don't know if you saw these.

There's a.

The Wave kit.

It looks like the.

Pretty legit, I think.

And then the.

The charcoal star kit.

I forget.

I don't know what they.

They call it officially, but it's a.

It's a charcoal kit, has stars.

Kind of a nod to the.

The stars kit from, I don't know.

2004 kits.

Oh, that was a 96.

That's what I was thinking.

Yeah, the 96.

Yes.

The denim jerseys.

Yeah.

And it matched up.

So does the, the striped kit, because the, the home kit there was.

Was a red and white striped for the red and white stripe of the flag.

And then you had the blue field of the flag as the other kit.

Yeah.

Kind of mimics that.

That was the last time the cup was in the U.S. yep.

You know, I like the, The.

The.

The relationship there.

Yeah.

Yep, yep.

So we've got that.

And then we have Landon Donovan.

Right.

We talked about this last week, rocking the.

The Portland Hearts of Pine Waldo kits that they've.

They took on this year and their kit reveal.

So flying out to Portland, Maine, I thought maybe he's from.

He's from Southern California, guys.

He's not from Portland, Maine.

So he was out there specifically for that kit reveal kit drop.

And then later this week on the unfiltered podcast, Unfilter Soccer podcast with he and Tim Howard, he's rocking an AC Boise kit that was released a few weeks ago, maybe a month ago or so on that show.

And so I just wonder, like, playing career with, you know, one Demarcus Beasley here in Fort Wayne, if, if we can get Landon Donovan and even his partner Tim Howard on unfiltered podcasts in a Fort Wayne FC kit when they do drop.

I thought you're going to say on this podcast.

What's that?

I thought you were going to say, get them on this podcast.

Let's get them on this podcast.

FC jersey.

There we go.

Right, right.

If you'd like to see that, let us know.

And we'll have Todd make it happen or something.

There you go.

No pressure.

Awesome.

Well, hey guys, any final thoughts to round out tonight's show?

I don't think.

I think we talked about a lot.

Get some players and now we just need a kit to put them in.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.

All right, well, we'll.

We'll wrap up with that.

Those profound words from our team here.

Make sure you get out and check out Amelia White with the Kansas City Current in their game broadcast.

Support a local Fort Wayne native, uh, playing professional soccer in the NWSL and obviously get out to Fort Wayne FC this season.

Games start there May 2nd.

We got a while but man, the season starts March 7th.

It's coming quickly in Naples.

And guys, I just put in my deposit for season tickets last night.

So it's going to be a great season.

Thanks for joining us.

We will see you next week.

Sam.