Offseason Talks, Volume 9 – The Warrior Way w/ Marci Jobson, Part 2

Paul: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the How Soccer Explains Leadership Podcast. I'm your host today? Paul Jobson I'm usually co-hosting with Phil Darke. We are in our off season talks right now between season three and season four. And I know we've got some amazing, amazing interviews lined up for season four that await us ahead in the future.

So excited to get to that. Right now we are in our off season talks, like I said, and we have a fortunate event today. We are following up in part two of an interview with Marci Jobson, the wonderful, beautiful Marci Jobson about her Warrior Way program. And last episode, last week, we got to talk a lot about Warrior Way.

And we talked about there are six pillars. We talked about the first three, so I encourage you to go to the last episode and get up to date with what we're talking about. If you didn't catch that episode, Marci Jobson is my wife. And if you've heard any of my interviews on how soccer explains leadership, you know, I talk a lot about her.

She is a former US Women's National Team player that competed in the 2007 World Cup is also a former Division 1 women's soccer coach, and many, many other accolades that go along with [00:01:00] her soccer career, both as a player and as a coach. So I think Phil would probably have her on at some point.

And get a more in-depth interview with her, but Marcy, thanks for joining us again for part two of our talk about Warrior Way.

Marci: [00:01:13] Thanks for having me. Paul,

Paul: [00:01:17] you bet guys. We're actually in like two separate rooms of our house right now. I'm in like the Paul Jobson studio. Man-cave second office. Marci is in our fireplace family room across the house from each other.

So you may hear kids in the background

Marci: [00:01:32] somewhere,

Paul: [00:01:33] just somewhere, somewhere. Yeah. Don't scare everybody. Marci don't scare everybody. But but a cool thing, Phil asked us to talk about this and, and, you know, we're really passionate about this Warrior Way program and, and just what you've created and what God's kind of put on your heart to create this program has been really amazing to see we partner with you.

Side-by-side on this, but people can get this from the last episode, they can get a real in-depth idea of what Warrior Way is, but for those who haven't heard it, and didn't pause [00:02:00] and go back and listen, give us a kind of an overview again, of what the Warrior Way program really is.

Marci: [00:02:06] Yeah. And in a nutshell, Warrior Way is a way to teach kids to do sport differently.

It is to teach them to live courageously and to think differently about the trials and triumphs that are in their sport. Really, essentially we want to teach kids how to merge their faith into their sport. We want to teach them how to renew their mind. Using God's word as kind of that compass and that, that, that way to do that.

And we want to start this young. We want to start with kids that are two and three years old, and we want to train them up, teaching them basic soccer skills, basic Bible truth. And we want to grow that as, as they grow.

Paul: [00:02:49] Awesome. Anything you want to get more on that? Obviously today, we're going to hit on the last three of the six pillars, but real quick, give us a review also.

What the six pillars are in their [00:03:00] fullness. And we'll dive into the last three in a minute.

Marci: [00:03:03] Yeah. So last week we talked about worship using your body really as, as a way to worship in your sport. As I also talked about that being a big way that I became a Christian. Work, how we do our jobs for the Lord and not for man.

And who are we actually playing for? Who's actually the king of the kingdom that we are serving in our sport. And then the third pillar being served. How can we play a role within our team, whether it's as a starter sub and how can we do that in a way that brings light to, Christ, how can we be a light in the way that we serve within our team?

So the next pillar that we're really going to be focusing in on here is skill,

Paul: [00:03:46] so the next three are going to be skill mental toughness and body readiness. And you want to get more detail on worship, work and serve. We covered that in the last episode, really, really well. And we'll combine these two together here.

Finish up with these final [00:04:00] three. So Marci, let's jump into, into skill, obviously when you're performing any type of sport or you're doing anything, skill is, is really, really good. In any sport that you're kind of a part of. And I think especially as, as soccer coaches, I think sometimes skill can be overdone at times.

We'll get to that conversation maybe on another podcast, but what a skill mean when it comes to, you know, serving Christ through your sport and the, in the Warrior Way program? Why is that pillar so important?

Marci: [00:04:26] Well, first of all, I mean, these kids are soccer players. They have to learn the skills to, help them able to play the sport.

Right. I also have learned through watching kids throughout my life, as well as older players, as well as myself. We want to work on only what we're good at. And, and I, and I am a big believer that yeah. Something in every player that can get you on the field. For me, I was in the top, maybe 1% of the world.

In my ability in the air game, I was, it was very good in the air. And that really got me [00:05:00] to the next level that got me to help get me to the World Cup team. Cause I was very specified in that skillset. And I worked on that a ton. I worked on that skillset a ton, but then also we all have some big weaknesses that can keep us off.

I mean, I know I coached where I'd have an exceptional player. They could not mark on set pieces and every time they'd be in a set piece, they give up a goal, their man would score and that would take that player off the field. So really you want to get so good at a couple of things that it puts you on the field and you want your weaknesses to be good enough that they don't take you off the.

So that's really, my, my believer was skill is that we have, so we have to continue to train our soccer skills because we are soccer players and we have to train the things we're really good at, but we also can not neglect the things that we are weak at.

Paul: [00:05:57] Yeah. I love how that everybody will see how these all [00:06:00] kind of really inter weave together and how that really, you know, being good at your skill and honing in on those things.

Like you said, Be great at the things you're great at continue to hone that, but make your weaknesses better as well. And you know, as you're, as you're playing a sport and how that weaves into, you know, how you serve your team, you're not serving your team. Well, if you're. Training well, right. If you're not working on your skill, right.

You're not. And that leads to work, you know, working on your skill is work and all of that. And how you do things leads back to worship and how you do it all. Yeah.

Marci: [00:06:31] It's again, going back to skill. Is there so many times I watch people train their skillset and they do them just halfway. They're very lukewarm and very vanilla in the way that they train.

And it's very, you know, like very, very methodical. And I just don't think that that's going to improve your skillset. Like you need to train the way that you want to play in a game. So again, not everything has got to be hard and top and [00:07:00] mean and ferocious, but when you're training your skills, sometime you've got to just really focus in.

You gotta be mentally sharp. You've gotta, you've gotta really pay attention to the little ways that you're striking through a ball and how you're doing it. How you're making a run down the field to serve the perfect cross across the box. So it's really paying attention and being meticulous about how we're actually training these skillsets.

Paul: [00:07:28] That's awesome. We're removed from skill into the, the, the fifth of the sixth, that the second one today. And I think this was one that, I mean, you. Let out all of these things, obviously, but mental toughness, I think this is something in, in any time you've worked with any, any of our teams or kids or whatever.

This is something that I think as a coach, as I observed players collegiately around the country, I think this is something that is missed out a lot. So talk to us about mental toughness, what it means in the pillars for warrior way, but what it has meant to you through your career, not [00:08:00] only as a player, but.

Marci: [00:08:02] Yeah. I mean, this is probably one of my favorite pillars, but I also grew up in a, like I said, a family of eight kids and my dad pushed us hard and if we, you know, I re I still remember a scar I have on my eye where I subbed out. My dad was a doctor. He sewed it up and he was like, get back in there.

And, and I don't think that that's, that's truly all mental toughness. I'm actually. Extremely fearful of a person. I think, you know that about me, Paul is that that fear and anxiety can overtake me very quickly. And even as a player I was the way that I. Began to really see a personal relationship with Jesus is because I knew that I was actually a powered in a lot of ways and I was fearful and I didn't want to fail, but the ability to invite Christ into that moment and say, Lord, I'm scared, Jesus, I'm scared.

I need your help. And then to remember, oh yeah, but the Bible [00:09:00] says, Jesus. For me, its power is perfect where I am weak and I'll boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses because the power of Christ then rest within me. It, it started to, I saw that transformation from an individual being myself who is timid, afraid, and anxious, but the invitation to plug into Christ power and to let him.

Take my soccer and to let him do it with me, really transformed me into, I believe a player that could do hard things that had the mental toughness to overcome some really terrible injuries that overcome sitting in the bench to overcome just different ups and downs in my career. And that was not because of me and, and some great quality that I have.

That was purely because I was able to. That ha has to make Jesus a huge part of my sport. And, and more than just a prayer, more than [00:10:00] just a verse that I write on my hands, but that his spirit was alive and well inside of me. And he could make me a mental warrior. He could help me be an individual that could handle a lot of different things in my sport.

Paul: [00:10:14] What I don't want people to miss here is that there's a huge misconception that. You're born mentally tough, or you're not like you're either wired that way or you're not what I want. Don't want people to miss here. Is that the point that you made a minute ago, that you're probably most of your teammates and definitely the players that you coached, unless until you had that pregame talk where you would talk about it, didn't know those things about you, that you were, you had fear that you had to work through fear that it would.

Really who you, who you were, but through the power of Christ, you became that. And I think that's, I don't want that to be missed because I just think there's so many people that think that you either are, or you aren't. And, but what you're teaching us through this pillar of mental toughness, is it by tapping into what you, you talked a lot about through the worship pillar of, you know, that, that, [00:11:00] that power source of the holy spirit you're able to, to be Greater than you could do on your own.

And that's, that's how that mental toughness has kind of developed. Is that somewhat accurate there?

Marci: [00:11:11] Oh, absolutely. And I, I just think this, this is yeah, it's hard to admit it on a podcast that you are a fearful person, but I think, you know, that it's true of me. But there's been, this is sport has been, that's why I'm so passionate about sports because it has revealed to me.

The truth of who Jesus is and who he wants to be for me and my life, because now I take the same quality into my parenting of four boys, and it's a hard thing that we face in real, in real life, you know, outside of soccer, you know? And so, I just, I just feel really blessed to have played that many years to really learn this skillset of what I call inviting Jesus in.

Knowing his word, to be able to [00:12:00] kind of repeat it back to yourself and claim that truth, and then to be able to rest in the promises that he gives off it is a spiritual discipline, I think, to become mentally tough on the soccer field.

Paul: [00:12:13] Yeah. That's I think, you know, we, we talk about how the worship piece is kind of the culmination of everything.

It all kind of comes back. Right. You know how we do what we do and we worship God and all that we do. And I think, but I do think kinda what you said that all the mental toughness piece is kind of your favorite pillar here. I do think it's a prominent pillar in how you're able to do all these other things.

So again, just to connect the dots all back again, that mental toughness piece again is, is extremely strong pillar. And, and how this all was put together. Another one, which is our final of the, of the six Is make your body ready or body readiness. What, that, that one, all the other ones, the words really make a lot of sense.

Right. But this one might need a little bit more explaining for, for our listeners, but take us through, take us through this.

Marci: [00:12:56] Yeah. I just think as athletes, we cannot neglect some key [00:13:00] things that are gonna help us to perform the best that we can. And those things are nutrition mean what we put into our temple. Hydration kind of, of how we, how we continue to hydrate and fuel ourselves. Sleep well.

You know, how, how we make sure we're getting, I mean, enough rest everything from fitness. Strength and conditioning all the things that take our earthly temporal body and make it as good as we can to be able to go onto the soccer field and as prepared as we can, and to be able to play our very best.

So fueling our temple the right way, putting the right things into our bodies. I think all those things are so important. So, and they're things that we sometimes. You know, we sometimes neglect or whine about, I see it all the time in fitness. You know, again, I, this is something God got to teach me is, is when I was in the youth national team program, I was not very fit.

And I [00:14:00] remember one, one youth team actually saying, Hey, you're really good player. You're just not fit enough. And I was like, this is something I can actually control is how hard I go out and work on my fitness and how I, and a lot of players will say, oh, Fitness test. Isn't really good for like pro like, good for my body or that doesn't really meet my body's best attributes or whatever.

But I think it's learning to say like, Hey again, when we invite Jesus in as worship, we don't know what we're capable of. We could do so many things, immeasurably more than what we ever thought we could do. And I've seen it in my life. I've seen it. My players that I've coached their lives or seen God take an average group of girls in 2012 and do something so special on this unique college team to great create a group of, of spiritual warriors that could beat up on teams and play amazing.

So, that's what I [00:15:00] really think is making your body as ready as you can, that you can perform the way that you want.

Paul: [00:15:07] Yeah. So just to kind of recap, the six, you know, we started with the first three in the, in the last episode of worship work and serve and kind of wrap up these last three with skill mental toughness and body readiness.

And I think one of the things I've tried to do through this is try to connect the dots, how while, while structurally we call them pillars they do overlap a lot. And when. Without each pillar, the house falls. Talk a little bit about, about that as we kind of visually kind of put it together, the pillars, what are we, what are we building here?

Marci: [00:15:36] Yeah, I mean, I think you're trying to build the complete player. We all know in leadership, if you are a super skilled player, but you don't work hard, that's, you know, that's not leader. Yeah. If you work extremely hard, but you cannot trap the ball. That's not going to be beneficial to a team.

If you're a superstar that never will serve your team in any way, shape or form, nobody wants to follow you. [00:16:00] So I think it's, it's again, trying to take these different things and saying they all are very important to become the best soccer player you can be. But then also if you want to be. An athlete that, that wears that badge of I'm a player that plays for Jesus.

What does that really look like? It's more than. You know, be nice and doing nice things. It's the ability to overcome adversity, to be courageous when you play it's the ability to think under pressure to think when you're, when you're afraid and, and to think courageously. And what do I mean by think courageously?

Because again, when people say you have to be confident, I don't know many days of my life when I'm confident. But I don't need to be confident because I have God's word that I can store inside of me and that can transform me into a competent person and a competent athlete. So it's really kind of teaching all of those pieces that come [00:17:00] together to create the complete player.

Paul: [00:17:03] Yeah, folks, don't miss that. It's not about being confident. It's about being competent. And I think if you, if you catch another great piece of this is that, you know, you've got a former player who played at the highest level in the game telling you that she didn't know many days where she was confident.

This is someone who's been to a world cup who has played for national championships who has won state championships in high school. I mean, let's not forget that. And that's your glorious glory of all. Is her state championship in high school? No joke people I'm sure. Yeah. We'll, I'm sure we'll get to that in Phil's podcast down the road, but these are just some, some amazing things.

And I think one thing, Marci, that makes your, your platform so, strong is that people that know you. As you're describing these six pillars, people that know you are going, man, that's, that's Marci, that's Marci that's Marci. You really live out these six pillars, which I would think, I mean, as you were describing how this kind of all came about, it is about your, your [00:18:00] journey from, from who you were to who you are through Christ now.

Would you go along with that? Yeah.

Marci: [00:18:08] Yeah. And I think it's just not to miss that. It is it has been a process for me and people that know me the best through my life that were teammates of mine and roommates of mine know that like there, there definitely as a player, there were some really hard moments where I failed miserably, where I was not the teammate I needed to be where I was kind of thing.

Lingering in my depression about an injury or upset because I didn't get to play and sat the bench once again. Or was the superstar that kind of didn't notice those around me, but God taught me so much through those moments. He taught me how to do those things. The correct way gave me second chances to be able to maybe do it a different way.

And so I really. You look back at [00:19:00] things that happened to you and, and, and at the time you can't see it, but I look back now and I'm thankful for a lot of that adversity because I really believe it's helped me shape now what I would call the warrior way.

Paul: [00:19:13] That's awesome. I think that's a great place to, to kind of wrap up, wrap up here.

And if you guys listening would like more information about a warrior way. You can go to jobsonsoccer.com or you could email Marci marci@jobsonsoccer.com. For more information about how soccer explains leadership here. Obviously you have found the podcast website with the same name. You can join our Facebook group and join in the conversation there as well.

And we appreciate your time today. I know this is, this is always beneficial for me. I mean, this is my wife and. It doesn't matter how many times we talk. I'm always inspired. And I always learned something from her. And I know Phil is chomping at the bit to get her on a full episode here in the near future.

And as we ramp up for season four you are going to be amazed and blessed by the content that's coming here in the near future. So thank you [00:20:00] so much for listening. Thank you so much for your downloads. And we hope that you will join us next time on how soccer explains leadership. And hopefully today you're really seeing how soccer really does explain life and leadership.