In this conversation, Mark Warbuton, a distinguished soccer coach and sporting director, discusses the importance of focusing on player development over winning in youth sports. He emphasizes the need for quality coaching and challenges to build mental toughness in young athletes. Mark shares insights into build two professional teams with Sporting Jax and on the potential of American soccer and the importance of creating a supportive environment for both men's and women's teams. He reflects on his experiences in coaching and the significance of finding players who not only possess talent but also add value to the team culture.

Key Takeaways:

Development should be prioritized over winning in youth sports.

Quality coaching is essential for athlete growth.

Stress can be a motivating factor in high-pressure situations.

Young athletes need to be challenged to build resilience.

American soccer has immense potential but requires better coaching strategies.

Creating a positive environment is crucial for team success.

Mental toughness is built through experience and challenges.

Players must learn to cope with pressure and expectations.

Finding the right character in players is as important as skill.

The community's support is vital for the success of new teams.

Sound bites

"Stress is something you thrive upon."

"The quality of challenge is key."

"I'm proud of getting Brentford promoted."

Chapters

(00:00) The Importance of Development Over Winning

(09:52) Building a Soccer Organization from the Ground Up

(20:07) Mental Toughness in Professional Sports

(26:05) The State of American Soccer

About the Host:

James Blasco is a CTA Certified Coach, and a Certified Functional Mental Toughness and Resilience coach, and a Certified Neuroscience Coach based in Ormond Beach, Florida, with a rich background in sales, media, and entrepreneurship. Throughout his career, James has excelled in sales and sales coaching for some of the largest media companies, owned three successful businesses, and worked in media relations in the NFL. His diverse experiences have equipped him with a deep understanding of leadership, communication, and the drive needed to achieve success. James is also trained specifically to coach to all aspects of mental toughness and resilience.

Having received coaching and mentoring throughout his personal and professional life, James recognizes the profound impact of genuine, constructive, and meaningful guidance. He understands the passion required to pursue a goal, as well as the challenges of doubt, fear, and the need for perseverance. James’s coaching philosophy is rooted in compassion and results, focusing on helping clients uncover their goals, develop actionable plans, and persist through obstacles.

About the guest:

Mark Warburton is the Sporting Director of Sporting Jax. Mark is a high-profile leader with a distinguished career in global soccer. His extensive professional experience includes managing and working at several prestigious clubs in the UK, including Nottingham Forest FC, Brentford FC, Queens Park Rangers FC and Glasgow Rangers FC.

Mark has also established a ground-breaking professional Academy at Watford FC and implemented a full-time program that allowed for both sporting and academic excellence, which was replicated by many of the UK’s top-flight clubs. Furthermore, he was instrumental in launching the groundbreaking NextGen Series, a European competition for Under 19 pro players, involving many of the world’s largest soccer institutions including FC Barcelona, Liverpool FC.

Resources:

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USL League One: https://www.uslleagueone.com/

soccer, coaching, mental toughness, youth development, American soccer, sports psychology, athlete training, women's soccer, team building, coaching strategies, Sporting Jax, Nottingham Forest FC, Brentford FC, Queens Park Rangers FC and Glasgow Rangers FC, Watford FC, NextGen Series, Under 19 pro players, FC Barcelona, Liverpool FC.

The United States produces outstanding athletes, but the key to success lies in the quality of sports coaching and the challenges they face. It's not just about focus on winning, but about athlete development and strong mentorship. What are your thoughts?

heard that word potential for too long now. Look at you at 360, 370 million people you produce outstanding athletes. Look at the board spectrum of sports and what America produces. So they have that but everything comes down to the quality of coaching and the quality of challenge that they're presented with James. This is the key and you know I get hit I've been over here six months and I must have had a hundred people say to me it's all about winning.

It's all about winning. And if you're not for winning, parents won't listen to you. Fans won't listen to you. Win, win, win, win, win. And I'm like, well, that's not the question that Chelsea would ask and Tottenham would ask and Man United Liverpool would ask. They would ask. Say, say, for example, you had Chelsea versus Tottenham under 18s. The question wouldn't be what was the result. The question would be who are the best two players on the pitch and why were they our players? Were they not our players?

Et cetera. So it's about development. And if winning in a young age groups right the way through is a barometer by which development is judged, that's where you have problems.

Go check the v-

or on and off the

by James Blasco certified mental toughness and resilient coach. You'll gain an inspiration from elite athletes, coaches and others who know it. Are you ready to go to the next level? Then tune in. in. Now here's your host, James Blasco. Hello and welcome to the charge forward coaching podcast. I'm your host, James Blasco. Well, it's football season here in America, but it's also

Insight

Takes two weeks

expired and let's charge

football season here in America. That's right, soccer. And that's what we're going to talk about today when it comes to mental toughness. And today's guest is a distinguished coach, manager, sporting director in the game of soccer globally. He has coached at the highest levels of European football. He's built academies, managed and coached legacy clubs like Nottingham, Forrest, West Ham United, and co-founded a youth tournament.

that featured the likes of Barcelona and PSG. And now he's in Jacksonville, Florida, building not just one, but two clubs, men's and a women's for Sporting Jacks. He's the sporting director and we're just thrilled to have him on the show. Mark, welcome.

James, good morning to you. Thank you for those kind words.

Sure. So in looking at your background, was blown away. You've done and accomplished so much in football and soccer. Give us a little bit of your background in terms of where the passion started for the game of soccer for you.

I was a young kid in the UK that loved football. So every hour that God sent you'd be out playing football. I was very fortunate, James, to be good at sports. And as I say, you play it, you play for your school, your district, your county, national, et cetera. And then I joined as a young professional at age 16 for a couple of years out of Leicester City. So I very much enjoyed that, that passion of professional sport. And it's always been there. I went into a different...

career. went into trading in the city, working for banks such as Bank of America and AIG and the Mural, these type of institutions for 20 years. wherever I worked in the world, James, I coached. You have a British accent, they assume you can coach. I coached. And as I came back, my young my young son who went on to be a good pro was a young boy in the academies. They asked me about my background and being a player and would I help them out coaching.

And that really lit the blue touch paper. That really was for me getting my coaching badges done and you have to be qualified correctly. I went a year around Europe as well to improve my education, spent time with Lisbon and Barca and Ajax and PSV and Bruges, Anderlecht, et cetera. And then joined at Watford as a young academy, well, as an academy, not young, as an academy coach. And it just went from there, James.

Yeah, that's such a great story. And to have a passion for anything is super important to have any success. But to really just go and change paths and careers and follow your passion is awesome. So here you are in Jacksonville building an organization from the ground up. Where on earth do you start to do all this?

Yeah, obviously a lot of work has been done by a lot of people, James, over the last couple of years to get to, or more than that, to get to this point. So huge credit obviously needs to go to them. But I was brought in, as I say, purely from the football, so soccer side. And it's about, there's a number of aspects, number of strands to this, James. It's about really the environment you create. Obviously the roster, the hiring of staff, et cetera, that's so, so paramount important in terms of the right people create the right place, James.

The right people create the right environment. It's not about quantity, it's about quality of individual and what they bring. You can't hire people who just do the job spec. They have to add value above and beyond the normal job. So that's a key point to create that environment to attract the players in which they can thrive in an environment that is conducive to learning and development. So all of these aspects are so vitally important. The men will follow very quickly behind. The academy work, as you obviously see the club.

bought a huge academy here in Jacksonville. So we have a responsibility from the very most senior professional right down to the youngest rec player to make sure we deliver a product James which is hopefully you know plays a huge part in shaping their their football careers but also their characters as well.

Managing or coaching or being a sporting director for any organization clearly There's a lot going on. There's a lot of stress pressure, you know starting a new organization new team The community is behind you, but they also want you to win. How do you go about? Managing the stress that goes along with building an organization or being a part of an organization that already had success

Do you mean from a personal perspective or? I think for me, people, I don't want to be controversial here, James. I think stress is something you thrive upon. You know what you're going into. know, always speak of people always ask me the question, what's harder, being a manager on the touchline or trading in billions of dollars in the markets. And the fact is they're both high stressful jobs. But when you go to, when you manage in front of 50,000 fans at Rangers, for example,

Yes.

You're dealing with the emotions of thousands and thousands of people, not just in the stadium, but in the city, in the country, and globally, it's a global brand. So you have that added responsibility, but you know that. That's the beauty of, that's the privilege of getting such jobs and being involved in soccer. You know, when you're involved in sport as a professional, on a full-time basis, you're hugely privileged. stress, yes, of course you get nervous, it's big games, but surely that's what you thrive upon.

and you thrive upon that responsibility that you're given. And likewise, you thrive on the accountability, James. It kills me when I hear people say, I wanna do this job, but that wasn't my role, that wasn't my remit. Take responsibility. So in terms of stress, I don't wanna be controversial, but I'm saying, you know what you're going into and you need to understand that, you need to embrace it. It needs to really drive you to perform at ever higher levels, I think.

So to that point, to have a successful team, I want to split this question into two parts. First, for those who are professionals, they're expected to perform at the highest levels and they've committed to the game. How do they build their mental toughness? How is that constructed throughout their career?

think it's a very important point. I'm sure if we were talking about NFL, then you're talking about a game where the Americans, for example, the Mexican society is steeped in the game or baseball, et cetera. So soccer's, I'm saying a relatively new game. You understand where I'm coming from in that. So if I'm dealing with professionals in the UK, very privileged to have worked with some world-class players, top international players, and they're challenged from a very early age. So in terms of the academy systems,

You got young children going in and by the age of nine, they're in the system playing games for the clubs, et cetera, against other Premier League clubs or championship clubs, et cetera. And they're put into situations, probably most of the times unknowingly, which challenges them, you know, traveling to play an international tournament, you know, dealing with two games in two days or whatever it may be, they are purposefully challenged to see how they respond as young players.

And I think by the time they get to, I look at young players, 16, 17, 18, training with the first team, training alongside internationals, unfazed, absolutely unfazed by that. And it's about the quality of challenge, James, that you present to these young children. So you mentioned an international tournament we did called Next Gen Series, under 19s. We had 24 of the biggest clubs in Europe, Man City, Liverpool, from the UK alone, Man City, Villa, Liverpool.

Spurs, Chelsea, Arsenal, except these type of teams, Celtic, we had, you know, Barcelona, Dortmund, PSG, huge teams. But they, when I went around all the coaches and asked when the first floated the idea, it was, there was too big a gap between outstanding youth team player and elite first team professional. And they couldn't fill that void. And you have to fill it by preparing the players to play against.

the different types of players. can't be right, for example, James, that the first time a young 18 year old central defender plays against a top player like Luis Suarez or Messi is in the first team. You've got to prepare them on the way. They've got to face these games. So in that tournament, you had games with real meaning. know, Spurs have to go to Milan and they had to get a draw to go through to the knockout phases. Or, you know, Ajax had to go and beat Barcelona to get through to the semi. This type of challenge. And that's where you learn about

players, that's when you present them with the football challenge, but also the psychological challenge of you have to go there and get a result. There's consequences. And I think for me, the big thing that it does is it gives the players, it develops within them coping strategies, how to deal with these types of situations. And my big fear is, and very genuine fear is that we are going soft in some ways, for one of a better expression, where we're not allowing young players, men and women,

to develop the coping strategies that you need to deal with a game at the highest level.

So are there mental performance coaches within the academies and developmental squads?

We have here, so again, the players will be spoken to this afternoon by a professional coming in to speak to them. But again, you know, having worked with some very big clubs in the UK, some players like it. Many, many don't. Many have their own preferred specialist they might speak to once a week on the phone. One player used to have small cards with little notes written, you know, this, today you will be strong or today rise, whatever it may be.

It was a message that was important to him and everyone varies. And this is what saying, James, to have a generic approach of we have a club psychologist, it might only suit two or three of the players. you've got, it's an area that I think people loosely say we tick that box. We've got a psychologist. I had an outstanding psychologist that I worked with at Watford. Outstanding. you know, worked with international teams, top, top players, and they loved him.

And I took him when I went to Brentford as manager, I brought him in there and the players couldn't stand him. Two completely different groups, two sets of professional players, but a completely different response. And that's what I'm saying. It's not an area where you just tick a box and go, yep, I've got one of those. It needs to be appropriate, it needs to be relevant, it needs to be right for the player, both individually and the group collectively.

That makes perfect sense. So in America, as you're looking at young players, those who have big dreams to play here or abroad, what is your perspective of the young soccer players here in America in terms of what they're capable of doing and what you think they need to do to get to that level that you've seen your whole career?

I think the potential is obviously enormous. I'm sure both yourself and your listeners are thinking, we've heard that word potential for too long now. Look at you, 360, 370 million people. You produce outstanding athletes. Look at the broad spectrum of sports and what America produces. So they have that, but everything comes down to the quality of coaching and the quality of challenge that they're presented with, James. This is the key.

And, you know, I get hit, I've been over here six months and I must have had a hundred people say to me, it's all about winning. It's all about winning. And if you're not for winning, parents won't listen to you. Fans won't listen to you. Win, win, win, win, win. And I'm like, well, that's not the question that Chelsea would ask and Tottenham would ask and Man United Liverpool would ask. They would ask, say, say, for example, you had Chelsea versus Tottenham under 18s.

question wouldn't be what was the result. The question would be who are the best two players on the pitch and why. Were they our players? Were they not our players? Et cetera. So it's about development. And if winning in a young age groups right the way through is the barometer by which development is judged, that's where you have problems. Because I get told, I was told the other day about a team further down in Florida. Oh, they, the one four nil. I oh great, who was the best player? Doesn't matter. We won four nil. They look at me bemused.

And I'm saying, well, who is the best player? Is it our player? Are they coming through? And they just look at me and go, does it matter, Mark? We won 4-0. And it does matter. Because if you look at these Academy teams, James, what people don't realize is the attrition rate, the percentage of young players getting through to the pro ranks is so very, very small. I think in the UK, all the Academy players, it's like 0.18 % or something. 0.018 % is a tiny, tiny number.

So therefore, if you think of a squad of 20 young players, say in under 14 group, 12, 10 of those players are the vehicle which allows the two or three best ones to get through. You don't say that to parents, obviously, and every kid is treated the same and given the best opportunity, but you know that the two or three players that might have a chance of going onto the higher levels, the rest of the vehicle to get through. And it's understanding what these players need.

in their development, the type of challenge, the type of adversity they're gonna, and if we make it too, I don't wanna use the word soft, that sounds very basic. If we make it too easy, know, back in the UK, have, you know, competition, compete badges, and that's not preparing these kids for professional sport. It sounds very idyllic and very nice, but professional sport, as you know, James, isn't about that. It's a tough, tough world where everyone wants a shirt and we can be, we can,

skirt around the issue, or we can be direct and honest and say that whether it's professional golf, NFL, know, baseball, soccer, basketball, whatever it may be, to get to the highest levels of the sport, men or women, is a huge demand. And we've got to prepare these players for it. And I would question whether, go back to your question, whether, you know, we presenting the American young players with the right level of development challenge and the right level of quality coaching to prepare them.

Richard Pochettino has got a home World Cup. For example, how many players has he got in the world's top 250? Now you're a nation of 360 million people, outstanding elite athletes. You should turn around and be able to say, we've got, we've got, you know, eight, nine players in that top 250. I think it's probably one. And that's, and that's, that's a harsh reality of it. You know, people go, yeah, it's a home World Cup, rah rah rah, win, win.

Look at the long-term development strategy from young American players. And I think there's good people here in the States, really, really good people doing some great work. But you're a huge country that needs a structured plan to get the kids to realize the undoubted potential talent that lies there.

That is such an interesting perspective. And I think you're, you're spot on. You know, we're, we're in America here. We're all growing up playing football and baseball and basketball and so forth. And it really hasn't been until recently that, uh, the youth have gotten involved with soccer more and more. It's become so much bigger now. It's, it's a huge deal, but we got a long way to go. You're right. And I think raising the bar is, is, key. Um, we mentioned two teams.

You have a women's team that's kicking off basically now and then the men's team coming next year. What's the difference between building those two types of teams?

That's a great question. think I, you know, the coach that we have, Stacey, the assistant coach, Alan, steeped in the women's game. And I'm very, you know, we're always, all of us are always learning. So and I have to understand how the women learn. That's really important for me. But at the same time, apply the principles that I know work with men, for example. It's a different approach, you know, the language, the rhetoric.

language, I don't mean swear, mean language in terms of how you speak to the players, how you drive them, knowing your players, etc. So I'm very much egg shells a little bit with the women in terms of understanding because they're all different characters. I think the men is more familiar to me, but there's certain key points which never change James. And I go back to the first statement about environment. You have to create an environment that is conducive to learning, development and winning because it's professional sport.

you know, as I said, the younger age groups, winning isn't everything, it's development. Of course you all want to win, but the professional age groups, then it's about pleasing the fans. So there'll be many, many similarities between the two men's and the women's environments, but then I think it's more the nuances in terms of how women react to certain situations, how men react, and understanding why and what we can do to maximise all these situations.

You were in an interview that I watched recently and you were talking about the types of individuals that you want on your team and in your organizations. And there's a few things that stood out. said, number one, they have to love and enjoy what they do. They have to be able to learn from their mistakes, not look at everything as failure. They have to have that desire and passion. They have to be positive. They have to have a huge work ethic and they got to be fit. They have to take care of their bodies. How do you find those people?

Yeah, you have to. mean, and the truth of it is, James, you know, you get things wrong. That's it. No one gets no one signs 10 players and said, I've got 10 superstars. It doesn't work that way. I was very fortunate at Brentford to work with an outstanding owner in Matthew Benham, who still owns a club and has done an incredible job with Brentford. But he would speak to me and say, if I get it right, 51 % of the time, I'm happy. Now, if you think of that in players, you've got six right, four wrong.

that type of thing. all you can do is obviously look at footage. One of the problems with the US is the site's sheer vastness of your territory and how you get to see players. It's understanding the level of football that they're playing in. It's speaking to people that know them in terms of their character. Strength of character changes is equally important as ability. One bad apple can rot the barrel, undoubtedly. And I've had that one experience and it can be.

it can be brutally damaging to an environment. So you have to try and understand the character. And I'm really pleased with the characters of the goals we've got. They've gelled and bonded really well and people notice that. But you've got to try and find those people that add value to your quality. Go back to my comment about staff, James. Same as players. I've probably been sent 500 men players, male players. I might have 60 midfield players. And who are the ones that add value above and beyond the norm? Because...

They can hit a diagonal and they can bring a ball down and they can have a shot on goal. But who are the ones that add value above and beyond the basic job remit or job spec, so to speak. So that's that's the key. That is really the key is finding out that differentiating factor and bringing that together.

When you look back at your career, there's a lot of cool, awesome things that have taken place. What would be one or two that you look at and you go, I'm super proud that I accomplished that.

I'm very lucky, I'm very privileged, James. One or two things. Probably Brentford's, Brentford getting to the playoffs. We got promoted from League One and then we went up and we were right up there in the Championship, playing some really good football. And a lot of the players were, mean, you we assembled a squad for like three million, think they sold some of the players for 50 million. you know, there's a big achievement to drive the club and get to that point of just missing out on the Premier League through the playoff final.

That type of was a huge proud moment for me and for the fans and for the players. And then probably Glasgow Rangers, which people, you listeners might not know how big that club is. It's a global brand, you know, 50,000 at Ibox. The old firm is probably one of the biggest, they've got the biggest derby in world football. So to be involved in that and to get promotion and to get them back to where they belong and to get the cup final, be Celtic in that manner, I'll always look back on that with

Yeah, a sense of privilege and a of pride as well, I think.

That's great. So you're about to kick off the inaugural season for the women's sporting jacks and the community's pumped up. I was at the team announcement event the other day. It was just packed with excitement and everybody's ready to go. What would you say to the community in terms of expectations and what what the goal is from from your eyes in this first year?

The goal is, James, to give the city two teams, obviously first the women, to give them a team that they're really proud of and they enjoy following. I don't want to sound corny or holier than that by saying that. I'm just saying that, you know, look at that when the supporters are proud of their team, when the supporters enjoy watching their team play, when the supporters look for the results, et cetera, then you're in a good place. So I think, you know, that comes down to that responsibility we spoke about and coping strategies.

The players have a responsibility. The staff have a responsibility. Everyone at the club has a responsibility to deliver a team that the city can look at with pride. And I think if you have that situation, then you're in a really good place. Am I going to sit here? People would love me to say, rah rah rah, we're going to win the first 10 games, drop the league, and we're going to win the thing. And that's just, listen, do we want to win? Of course we do. No one wants to win more than me. Let me promise you that. But the fact is, it's our first year. Let's see.

You know, we had a game here. It's let's into the weekend played very, very well in a buildup. Let's see. You know, you hope very much that the girls respond and deliver. may take a couple of games to find their feet and build that self-belief. Do we belong here? Imposter syndrome. Am I good enough? These are questions that girls that come out of university or the first time playing in the States, you ask yourselves, do I, do I belong at this level? You know, when I go out in front of 10,000 people at the stadium, wow.

Whatever I say is you're going to work in front of thousands of people. Go back to my earlier comment. You know, and that's a pressure. Then who deals with that? Who needs help to deal with that? Who crumbles under it? Because there always will be one or two. So all of these things, I hope the city gives us a little bit of patience. I hope they give us tremendous backing. But the key will be for us to give them a team of which they're very proud.

Yeah, I have no doubt we will be. I think it's going to be awesome. I can't wait to get up there for the games. And we just want to thank you so much, Mark, for being on. This is a great conversation. I know I learned a lot. I know my audience has learned a lot. We really appreciate you sharing your time with us today.

Now, James, pleasure to speak to you and hopefully speak again in the not too distant future.

Absolutely. And for the rest of you out there, don't forget to like and share and subscribe. And if you are interested in improving your mental toughness and you want to learn more about mental toughness and some of the things that Mark talked about how to grow your game and be a better player, no matter what you're doing, just go to charge forward coaching.com. Check it out. There's a lot of information there. You can always give me a call or an email or a text. I'll be happy to talk to you and see what we can get going for you to keep you charging forward. So until next time, keep charging forward.

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Charge Forward Coaching. Remember, the journey to greatness is built on mental toughness and effort. So head on over to ChargeForwardCoaching.com. Book a free discovery call to take the next step in your journey. Until next time, stay determined and keep charging forward.