SPEAKER_03 0:32

Welcome to the Pink and Re Podcast, where we explore the rise of Vermont soccer through the lens of community, culture, and the game itself, featuring stories from Vermont Clover FC. Join us as we talk with players, coaches, and the people shaping the future of the game in Vermont. Welcome to the Pick and Green podcast. I am AJ Murray, and to my left andor right is uh Chris George. Chris, how you doing? I'm doing good, man. Living the dream over here. How about you? I can't. I I I hope someday we record in person because I would love to just be like, and here's Chris, but you know, now we're we're virtual on Zoom, so yeah, I mean you're you're everywhere.

SPEAKER_04 1:23

Yeah, we could if we live closer, we could do it, but we live pretty far away.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:27

Opposite ends of this whole thing, I think. What's uh what's going on in your world this week?

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Uh I'm I'm pretty excited. Um tomorrow morning, the family and I are jumping on a plane and we are headed to Nashville.

SPEAKER_04 1:42

Cool.

SPEAKER_03 1:42

Uh we are gonna go see Nashville versus inner Miami tomorrow. Yeah, yeah. My my wife uh so so we do all of our our normal spending on on a Delta credit card. And that has afforded us to take trips for free, which is great. You know, we we went to Florida earlier this year, didn't pay anything for the plane tickets, maybe like taxes or whatever, right? And and so she was looking at the accounts, like, oh I got some air miles, and and so um yeah, we we booked a trip down in Nashville, and I think it cost us like 35 bucks.

SPEAKER_04 2:14

That's incredible. The music city many long times ago Shane and I, when we were at Queen City, used to do this bus trip over April break with these two it was these two specific teams that we did. And one of the years we went to Nashville, and it was a it was a boot scooting good time. I can tell you that for sure. It was good. Like we would go play in tournaments, it was a cool trip. We would so we would stop on the way down, we would like drive however many hours, six hours, seven hours, whatever, and then we'd stop and we'd like play, like get these scrimmages or like training sessions, and we'd so we like kind of go down slow and then we'd be down there for a few days, do the thing, and then we'd come back. It was really fun, it was really good.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

I I have ever been to Nashville for work, uh, but it it's been years. I mean, it was like pre-COVID the last time I was there, so very excited to get back there.

SPEAKER_04 3:00

Yeah, I was not I was expecting like a country music town, and it I mean it is, but it is sure. It's not where we were, it was very like like very touristy and kind of like bring your bachelorette or bachelor party down here.

SPEAKER_03 3:13

Oh, yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_04 3:14

Was the vibe of where we were at, which is cool. I mean, that's a good thing. I don't know, but enough about Nashville. Should we introduce our guest?

SPEAKER_03 3:21

Yes, our guest today is Mason Barron, uh Vermont Clover center midfielder. Yep. All right, good. Uh we were talking about that before the show, and I couldn't remember, but hey, all right, I got it. Welcome to the show, Mason. Thanks for thanks for joining us.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Yep, thank you for having me. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

So um, real quick, kind of take us through your your soccer journey, uh, and and how did you end up on Vermont Clover this year?

SPEAKER_00 3:45

So basically, I'll you know, I played for Far Post, it's kind of where or Nordic is where it started, and went to Far Post. Um, but then obviously I went into CVU. Um super excited, was trying to make varsity as a freshman. Um, luckily, or Rob Cole was the coach, and he was super against freshmen making the team or even trying out, um, which was interesting, and only a couple freshmen had made it before me. But my far post coach Skylar Davis um was gonna be the assistant coach that year, and he put in a really good word for me. Um I ended up doing really, really well, crushed all the fitness testing, did well, made the team, was super stoked, super excited. Um, played got a good time freshman year and then sophomore year, played every minute, same with junior year. Um, but it got to a point where I wanted to play soccer in college, and I know it's kind of hard getting recruited out of a school um named CVU, and the coaches go, Where's that? Um so um my parents and I wanted to push myself and I wanted to be pushed in academically and athletically. So we started looking to the prep school world. We knew some people um before me who have done that that came out of Vermont. Um, and it was Taft was the perfect choice. Um, ended up going to Taft after my junior year. Very hard decision, leaving all my friends and family back at home um and missing out on my senior year, you know, the last prom winter ball, soccer season, all of that stuff. But um I ended up having a great year, and um we we won championship, but coming back for breaks, it's kind of like I guess I aged out of I started playing for uh peak and I kind of aged out, not aged out, but I wanted to be pushed coming out of Taft, you know, the level so high. Um I wanted to be pushed in the offseason and Vermont. I heard about this Vermont Clover thing, and I was like, huh, all right. Like I saw you know Ollie Clifford sign for them, and I know him. He went to Taft before me. Um I saw some other signings like Milo Schmidt, you know, great player. So I was like, this seems pretty legit. Um these players are good and I know them. I've grown up playing with them. So reached out to Chris on text, got his phone number from Ollie, I think, and he's like, Yeah, man, come to a practice. And then he sent me the time, and the Wills then the Wilson Fieldhouse is four minutes from my house. So it was it was great, especially with the late night practices nine to eleven. A little bit late, but I'm I made it work and I loved it, came back in the winter. Sessions were high quality. Um, and then obviously went back, came back in the spring for my other break and started playing practices, and then came back from summer and um went to the practices. It was very hard to get on the game squad in the beginning because there's 40 kids at the practices, but finally got seen and and valued and um ended up making my first appearance down in Maine, uh, which was which was really fun. Scored a goal and got man of the match that game, which was which was pretty awesome. And yeah, started playing for for more games, and the last time I wore Clover jersey, I broke my nose. So that that's kind of the the last goodbye for for this season. But you know, I had a great, great time, and um, yeah, just hearing about Clover and we did so well. Um, you know, we made it to like what two cup final or two two finals um as a first year team. So it was awesome, and and I'm super excited for next year.

SPEAKER_04 7:33

Yeah, that's awesome. I didn't realize because I feel like you've been a part of the setup for a really long time, right? Yeah, and the guys that come after school ends. I didn't realize Quakes was your first game, the backflip and all that scored the goal and everything. I it's you because it just seemed like you'd been around a lot longer than that.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

Yeah, I've been around and I it was just so hard. Like every every week it would come out, and I was like, like I missed it. But it's hard to get seen. Like, I'm obviously going against guys that have been practicing and been at every single practice since the first day. So, you know, missing a couple months of practices and coming back and um coach already having his you know kind of set 20 or 25, it's kind of hard to break into that. Um, but you know, I worked worked hard at practices and um just didn't give up and kept grinding and and then I eventually got that got that call up and it was awesome. And then the rest is history, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 8:27

Yeah, I don't think you came out. I don't I think you played all the games after that, like all the New England Cup games, I think you played in until the until the thing with your notes. And that was for the people not that are listening that were not there, you weren't in the starting 11, which was a little rare for that time of the year, and then you went on, and the very first thing that happened was you got smashed in the face by that guy's head or elbow or whatever it was.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Yeah, yeah, basically we we go down 2-0 against Juba 15 minutes into the game. Oh, uh before the game, I talked to Coach and I was like, Am I starting? Because I he hadn't really set, and he was like, No, we're gonna um start put a couple of the starter guys on the bench and um pull you guys out there so you because we want to get people in the game. And I was like, Yes, we I have no problem with that. Love to make a difference as you come on the field and be asked one twice, and then he sent me, Omar, and Demonga to go warm up. I was like I I wanted to get in the game. We we were all ready, we all want really wanted to win badly and subbed in. Goal kick came. I won the header, and then it bounced around a couple times, and then I went back up in the air, and I like turn and go to head it and just hit my nose. Literally, I think a minute, maybe a minute into me stepping on the field. So strict to the ER. Um said it was broken, but not too bad. Uh, so I just had to give a couple days and then went to the doctor and she pushed on it a bit, put it back in place just a little bit, but um now I get to wear a cool black mask whenever I play soccer.

SPEAKER_04 9:53

So oh yeah, the mask. I do you're lucky it's still your the bridge of your nose is still nice and straight, so that's a good thing. After you get it smashed up a couple times, you get one like mine, and then I can never wear the mask because what happened when you play with it, like it is like sits under your eyes, and then like you have to like you're used to seeing the ball without looking down at it, right? Because your peripheral vision, and then you have to like I couldn't. I I did it for like half an hour. I'm like, forget it, I'd just rather get my face broken.

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Yeah, I haven't I've gone to like a showcase, but I didn't wear it because it was so hot and the mouse is black, so I was like, uh I'm not gonna do it. But I'm I think maybe when the season starts, I'll maybe wear it for a couple games just to get into it because definitely don't want to have that injury again. Um definitely side.

SPEAKER_04 10:35

Oh yeah, it sucks. You can't breathe for a minute, it's the worst. Um so let's talk about like overall experience with Clover, pretty good, like on a scale of one to ten, like eight or better. You could say seven or four if you want to.

SPEAKER_00 10:48

I would say definitely eight eight or up. Um, all the guys are so cool, and it's such a great environment. Everyone's there to to play and compete. Um, like you have like back in when I played for Far Post or those clubs, like you have some top players, but there's there is a drop-off, but at Clover, there's not really a drop-off. Everyone has played college or is going to play college, um, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_04 11:12

Yeah, the I and I guess that's like a really great segue into one of the the things that we thought would be really interesting to have you on about was to talk a little bit about your own college search and and how the whole recruiting process has has worked for you because you're at a point coming into your final year at Taft where you're about to make decisions, but you haven't quite done that yet, and you're kind of weighing some things. So talk about how let's say you know, usually starts in junior year, so it would have kind of started a little bit your last year at CVU, and then you know, kind of talk talk us through how that all worked.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Yeah, so uh we're like, yep, we gotta start going to showcases, like you send that email out to coach, and every single response is if you get a response, is come to the camp. And so we're like, well, we can't hit like camps like every day. We can't like the drive, it's money, it's just time. So I ended up going to my first camp, it was um one of like it was in New Hampshire, and it had like 20 college coaches there. Um, I thought that was a good like bang for your buck. Um, you can stand out. Um, there's so many coaches there, and I ended up getting an email from Tufts. And so then that was after that, that was my first they I went to a Tufts camp. That was my first really like specific college that I looked at. Um and yeah, I kind of got some looks, but like again, I'm a junior in high school, like or rising junior in high school. Um, so like you know, you don't they don't really show too much interest. Um, so that kind of like fell off, and then I was like, all right, well, like I I'm going into my junior year now, and I'm like, I want to play soccer in college. And that we just saw that happen. It's kind of like obviously I had teammates that had gone to colleges from CVU, but I want to go to a good college for academics first, and then play soccer. That was like my family and I's goal was to want to be at the college like I want to be at, and then soccer on top. Um, so that was kind of like our mentality going into this whole thing. Um, so like, all right, let's my dad and I can just cut out all the college stuff and looked into prep school. That was we just stopped doing recruiting probably for my whole entire junior year because it turns into prep school recruiting, it's the same thing. They have to see you play, uh, you show your highlights, it's like the same exact thing. And then I made that decision, um, which was took me a long time. It was pretty hard, but luckily one of my close friends um was in the same boat for football, literally the same boat, and he went to Hoshkiss, which is our rival, which is pretty funny. Um, so that kind of helped. And I also knew Fields, and Fields was going to um Taft, so it's like, all right, I know someone that's going to Taft, I'm not going blind. I have a friend doing the same thing. It's you know, it's not that bad. So we ended up going to Taft. Uh I roomed with Fields, we requested, and we got another roommate, so we're gonna triple, um, which is pretty cool. But yeah, uh then I did my whole taft season. I actually sprained my ankle going like the summer going into my first junior year or second junior year at um tap, and I was out for 10 weeks, grade three sprain, so I was couldn't really run, came into the season like without playing all summer, which kind of stunk. But um I got I got adjusted, I played well. Um, I didn't start any games the first half of the season, probably got in sub first or second sub off the bench, and then um as the season went along, I was a solidified starter and played every second of the postseason and and won the championship, which was um amazing. Uh, and then after that season, I started looking into colleges again. I have my high my season film sending it out. Um and the great thing is having Taft as like a label that you can send out to schools like was the game changer. Like it really was sending starting from sending schools from with C View and getting like a generated response, sending um emails, and they're like, We watched your highlight, we're interested. That was like the the big game changer for sure. Um, but yeah, for colleges for me, we started looking into Nescaq schools because um, you know, good academics, it's very similar to prep school. They look for prep school guys because again, it's very similar, it's like same high academics and all that. Um and yeah, kind of uh looking around all those and uh went to Tufts Camp again and actually did a pre-read. They're interested because the coach is from um Kyle Desatel, he is from Vermont. You did help me out with that a lot, um, put in a good word, but um, and I did a pre-read but didn't get in, which just sucked because they just won the national championship. But uh yeah, so that just kind of happens, but still tried. I I did Trinity as well. Um, they said I need help getting in. I had good grades too. I have a 93 average, it just shows how smart those schools are. But um I've just been hit in so many camps this summer, that's the thing. It's camps, camps, camps. Um but yeah, it's kind of it is stressful, but it's definitely my dad has been like huge with it, and he's been my agent. We looked into some agents to help me recruit, but it was just too much money. We're already going to camps. It's how much do they really do for you? So we just said no agent. Um and yeah, so I kind of have a couple more camps, but I have my eyes set on on one school. I'm not gonna say, but it's we're waiting on the financial piece piece, and um, and it's it's gonna happen. So I'm excited, but it's very stressful, but you just have to keep pushing coaches, you have to keep sending texts. That's like what we did, like you have to keep bugging them, they're so busy. Um like for example, I went to a college or Charleston camp. Um, I've gone to three actually, and I sent them probably six emails before I went to the camp, waiting for a response, because I needed a response to make sure that he was gonna look at me while I'm there. I'm actually gonna go there and hope to get seen. It's better to go into a camp having the coach already know you. Um, so that was a big piece for me, as well as just bug them. You have to keep doing it, you have to keep forcing yourself onto them. Um but yeah, so it's definitely been hard, um, very tiring physically, uh, but it's all gonna work out. So it's uh definitely worth worth every every bit of it for sure.

SPEAKER_04 17:42

Uh yeah, you hit on a bunch of things. I think we could we could go a little deeper on. So the first thing is the clover connection is you you and Fields to Shaw are roommates, which is really cool. So that's exciting. You guys played in a few games together, which is awesome. Yeah, um, and he's on his journey and you're on your journey. Um the other thing that for those players interested in the whole college thing, the stuff you were talking about at the end is like absolutely certain. I can tell you from my side of the aisle as a college coach, we do have a million things going on, and we really don't want to forget about anybody that's like a good player that we really want. But like you get pulled in these directions. And you also sometimes we we try to be pretty mindful of like, all right, I'm not gonna blow this kid up with texts or whatever. So when the players are getting in touch with us, sending us messages, sending us texts to show us, hey, we're still really like the the player is interested. Like, so like, and it's about growing what I would tell players, it's really about like a coach that you can grow a relationship with, you're probably gonna be a pretty good fit in his program, right? Because if he's willing to invest the time and build that relationship with you, he definitely wants you there.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 18:46

And they're also gonna understand if you're like ultimately like I'm choosing to school for a different reason, but the soccer could be great, right? And then in the world of that exists now where people are transferring and things like that, it's always good to have you know it's always good to have a second option if you go and you're like, This is what I thought it was gonna be and didn't work out at all. And now I have this other option I can go to. That's still a good option.

SPEAKER_00 19:07

Yep, never close any books for sure.

SPEAKER_04 19:10

Yeah, and like just keep responding, even if it and I can tell you again, coaches what they want to hear is, hey, I'm not interested anymore. I'm going to this other school instead, or hey, I'm not interested anymore. I just don't think it's gonna fit for me. Like, no one is no one gets hurt feelings about that because it happens all the time. But I think a lot of players are really nervous to send that message because they're afraid it'll close the door. Yeah, there's there's a guy in our class right now who he he was he was kind of like he never said, Oh, I'm gonna commit, right? And he was really, really close. And then he was like, you know what, coach, I don't think this is right for me. And then he and then he actually had was talking to some other schools and he said, Hey, I'm not interested, I'm gonna go over this place. And then the money thing ended up coming back and it didn't work out so good. And then he called me and he's like, Do you still have a spot? It's like, well, I mean, I liked you a month ago or two months ago or whatever, I still like you. Like there's nothing's changed, right? Um, that's an important thing for players is to just uh to be your own agent on the thing, right? Not and I don't mean like another person, I mean be your own, like have agency in the process.

SPEAKER_00 20:10

Yeah. Um, I don't know, you have to be a bit bold, um, but not too bold, but like like you were saying, like you can always come back. You it's all that connection stuff, but like I'm texting coaches in the beginning, and I was kind of dancing around the question, just like being nice, and like by these past like three, four weeks, I'm like, all right, it's coming down to it. Like, I'm gonna be a bit more bold. I'm like sending I'm sending them my stuff. I'm like, do you like me? Like it do I fit what you're looking for? Like, I'm asking these questions that like I want the answers to. Because then if they're like, uh they kind of give me soft response, I'm like, all right, I'm gonna look somewhere else, but like I still am looking, but I I like gets to the end, and you have to be a little bit more bold for sure.

SPEAKER_04 20:55

I I would encourage, I would encourage players to have those candid conversations with coach. I love it when a guy's like, hey, what do you think? Am I good enough? Do I feel what you're looking for? Yeah, because then it gives me the option to be like, yeah, I think so. Or you know what, I like you personally, but maybe you're not exactly what you're looking for. And then and then and that allows it to come off of their like mental plate as well, if that makes any sense.

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:15

Um and the the challenge, I think, for aspiring college players is you don't really know, like on a like let's say you're taking a history test, right? You've had the material ahead of you ahead of time, you know what the expectations are, right? You understand what the material you're studying for is, but when you're doing the college recruiting thing, you don't really understand the decision criteria, and you can't possibly know it because it's different for everybody, right? Like for every coach at every program. Um I don't know. AJ, what do you think? Or like what questions have you got?

SPEAKER_03 21:44

Yeah, yeah. So I mean, Mason, you you've bad like quite a journey, you know, between high school, prep school, you you know, the camps and stuff where you're at now, soliciting all the coaches and stuff. You know, uh a couple of things come to mind. Like, what what was like the most difficult part of that? What was harder than you expected? Um, is there something that you did, you know, in that process that you're like, wow, I'm really glad that I put effort into that? Or is there something that, you know, I wish I had spent a little more time doing this other thing that, you know, maybe would have paid off more dividends for you? You know, I'm just trying to suss out stuff like that. Think things that if um, you know, a younger version of you were listening to this podcast, what what do you think? they would benefit the most from knowing heading into something like you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 23:03

The first thing that comes to mind for me is um I that I wish I kind of focused a little bit more was my grades. I still have really I still have great grades now, but I'm applying I'm doing pre-reads at these schools and they're like I see this C from your freshman year of high school and I'm like gee like that could be the make or break of like college soccer and going to a school that you want to be at. Like those those those grades like you don't want grades to be holding you back. Because like say you're a great player and you can go to these great schools but if you're level wise but then your grades hold you back. You want to have like you got to like that was like what you said I I wish my freshman year I I I focus on my grades more. Like I kind of like get in the hang of things classes are hard but like you're kind of like trying to have fun. And looking back on that now I definitely wish I did a little bit better my freshman sophomore year of high school. But thankfully my junior year I did great and my junior again at Taft I did even better than I did at C View um which is definitely a game changer for for my recruitment process. And one of the another question that you asked one of the hardest things in this process was probably the trans transition from high school to prep school. That was like just being so comfortable at C View you know you're you're in your junior year and you're kind of like getting to the top the top of like C View like you're a rising senior you're getting to be the king of the like you're you're getting up there and you kinda you're comfortable it's just your comfort zone and just like when we're doing the process yeah it's easy to think about like it'd be so cool to play prep school soccer but when it comes down to my dad's like are we gonna do this or not? Like we need to make a decision it's like geez like this is it's real so definitely leaving my comfort zone and and my friends and my family and moving four hours away from from home my my own bed my dog it's it was definitely a a a big change but um once I did it and I got to the school and we're doing well in soccer and I was making friends it was it was all worth it but I still remember that feeling in in my stomach was am I actually going to leave like it's I never would have thought my freshman year of high school that I'm gonna leave.

SPEAKER_03 25:34

Yeah as as challenging as that all was do you think it was worth it do you do you think if you had stayed at CVU finished up there do you think you would be fighting the success that you're you know it sounds like you're about to get now I I a hundred percent think it's worth it um that leaving I I had my fun my first three years I won two state championships for soccer um and it it was I'm definitely glad not glad that I left but glad that I moved on to a different thing um it it definitely has benefited me and I think if I stayed at C View and and did the same thing in my junior year like I don't think I would be at where I'm at now because I know where I was at looking for recruitment wise in my junior year for colleges and that's where I'm at right now because I am back to my junior year or a little bit ago and it was it was completely different.

SPEAKER_04 26:31

It's it definitely helped having a being in a good foundation and having a good name on my back on my in my chest for soccer it definitely helped but I I think it was probably the best decision that I've made um in my soccer career and it's it's definitely showing and it will soon nice the one thing that everybody we were talking about this right as you popped on AJ and I were is that the hardest part in transitioning from high school to college is that you have to learn time management in the way that you don't know it. In high school you just don't have to you wake up you go to school you come home you do practice you do your homework like you go to bed you have time with friends whatever but your old day is planned out for you every day basically and then when you go to college now okay I only have two hours of class a day or I only have three hours of class a day but for every hour you spend in class there's meant to be an hour worth of work that you do outside of class so how do you navigate that and I think one massive advantage for anybody going to prep school is that you're not at your parents' house anymore and your day isn't nearly as planned out as like traditional high school now it's still planned out more than it is college wise but it's a really awesome really awesome transition here comes Fields um because you have to because you have to like get yourself up in time right mom's not doing that for you. Yeah it was definitely uh is she hopping on yeah yeah yeah hold on we're gonna pop him in here AJ can uh do some editing magic we're gonna let him in hields fields want to see your face hey how's it going sorry about that I was coaching uh little kids camp and it went went late so yeah that's all it's okay we we don't have tons of time left no it's don't worry about it man yeah um I we wanted it I think it's gonna be awesome to have you in here like popping in halfway like special guest visitor here we we were talking yeah we were talking about uh time management and I had mentioned earlier I think before it started rolling that I had to wake you up a couple of times for school just a couple so for the listener if you're starting right now and Fields is we talked a little bit about how Mason and Fields are roommates at prep school and we talked about Mason's kind of recruiting process through prep school uh and how that's like a been a really big leg up for him and we talked a little bit about Clover but I thought I want to talk now that you're your fields Fields is in a different place in his recruiting journey a little bit farther ahead so if you want to if you want to share that with us that'd be really cool and then just kind of talk about how you got to where you're at in the process and and go from there.

SPEAKER_01 29:02

Yeah well I'm after this coming senior year I'm committed to play college soccer at uh Fairfield University um it's uh I mean it's an amazing opportunity um it's gonna be really cool team is really good I gotta get a little better for that but um but I should be ready but um yeah definitely I mean I I hate to say it but um leaving Vermont was kind of helpful just like getting more eyes on me was was good um biggest thing I think was uh the connections I got through prep school but in all honesty it was mostly the the club team I did in the spring just before coming back for Clover. It was just run by a bunch of Division I college coaches and so you know they all know each other and talk to each other and so that was definitely very helpful for um for me but um but I definitely think like my opinion is shape where when I went away to prep school like I mean you think like everybody's gonna be better than you and there's good kids but like it does go to show that like you know even if you grow up in Vermont all the way you're still gonna you leave and you're gonna be fine.

SPEAKER_04 30:15

I think that that was cool to see definitely that's awesome to hear and there are a lot of guys in Clover that like have done the prep school thing too like there's a whole bunch actually Mateo Ali Clifford and you know and they're playing at NASCAG schools and they're playing at D1 schools or whatever. So it's really encouraging to hear like okay you can come and do the Vermont thing and be really successful in prep school you know there's a lot of guys have done that. Um how have you guys felt about like the overall level as like getting ready like getting you ready for the next step like do you think clover has helped beyond like some of the other stuff you were doing like playing with the older guys or not so much?

SPEAKER_01 30:52

Totally yeah a hundred percent what would you say Mace?

SPEAKER_00 30:55

Yeah yeah I I definitely think it it's it's like when you all like the youth club teams in Vermont that's just like the leading factor and then you st you like kind of graduate to Clover I feel like um yeah you can play up when you're younger but playing with a whole bunch of guys that actually have experience at the college level definitely you're like alright this like you see one player like alright that's the level that that that's at the next level you can just see it and just being surrounded by that is definitely very helpful and playing a whole a whole summer like you think it's all your off season you're like kind of can sit around and you know train on your by yourself but having a a club that you can play and compete with good athletes and good kids like we're playing with guys that are seniors in college like it you can just see um the level that they're at and it definitely helps you get prepared and even going into our senior year like all right I saw what the college level is at I'm gonna bring that to my prep school team and I'm gonna play at that level and I'm gonna get better and go off to college. It's it it definitely helps.

SPEAKER_01 32:00

I agree I think I think the biggest thing for me was like the jump to physicality I would say like you know we got some tough guys on our team but like when we played that emeralds game that was like a little bit of a wake up call. It was good obviously needed it but like it's all good. I think and and I say like the games were good like all the physicality and stuff was good for me but I really like the training sessions. They're just so like I mean they did happen to be five minutes from my house which is pretty nice but um I would also just say like the intensity of all the guys like it was some of the most fun I've had in a training session but it didn't feel like we were like always messing around like like when we would play at the end it was like so intense guys were going at each other. I thought it was all good. And I it's just like the difference is when you're playing at these clubs like even the club I was at that helped me help me out it's like not all of them want to play college soccer not all of them like these guys want to play all the clover guys want to play and so I think that's that's probably the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_00 33:29

Yeah what are you what are you guys looking forward to this year going back to Taff well I I I'm looking forward to a lot of things but man I want to I want to lift that trophy again that that was definitely the the best feeling that I've had in in a long time so that's probably the biggest thing I'm looking forward to is just meeting the team and having a brotherhood again and and and just being so close to guys and and you get to live with your teammates live in all all the boys live in the same building so you have like you can just walk around the halls and pop into the rooms it that's that's it's special. It's special to live with all your best friends and that's probably a big thing that I'm excited for as well.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

Yeah I'm super excited and I was just talking to one of our other teammates we're being picky but we tied we drew one team last year where we were just talking about how we wanted to beat that team yeah we played them away last year they grew up the grass long the whole thing and so they're coming home they're coming to our place and it'll be on turf so we should we should get them but I that's the one I'm looking after to shenanigans the shenanigans of like the coaches and like look a lot of coaches do this stuff.

SPEAKER_00 34:39

Right yeah exactly it's really funny their game plan worked tied us yeah what is it's funny how that that works sometimes some teams like was it an unexpected tie or was that the one that's like okay we got to show up and play our best to beat these guys or was it like one of those like okay we feel like we got this one it's hard to say they're definitely in the top like they were good they they drew like so for the founders league which is like a handful of teams it's probably like 10 teams they we actually like tied that because we won every game except we tied them and then they won every game except they tied us but they lost the games outside of the conference which is what dragged them down a little bit but um we definitely are gonna have to come to play like they had a couple division one players who were who were very good um but you know they we should they weren't the hardest game the hardest team we played for sure we it's it's an all-boys school they're known to be gritty they're known to be rough and and like we said we just found out that their uh coach grew up purposely didn't cut the grass before the game and there it was a physical game our best player the winger Alex he got like a bloody nose five five minutes into the game like there's a bunch of cards we we knew it was going to be a hard game for sure they just do like could have we could have actually lost the game I was going to say we've lost the game saved the pen actually we really could have lost that game but I wouldn't actually for sure I think what you guys will find is in those really physical games because like every game without you realizing it uh the games you've been playing in this summer are a lot more physical than like the average even prep school game I think you're gonna find these really physical games you're gonna be like yeah whatever versus last time you're like oh it's so physical whereas now you're just like yeah okay I've had like this Moldova guy smashing into me in training every day I'll be just you gotta love him and get together.

SPEAKER_04 36:28

Yeah oh yeah absolutely it does that's the uh I mean that's that's how you get good is you play against guys that are like bigger better faster stronger right what uh what what do you got AJ? More questions for Fields here.

SPEAKER_03 36:39

Oh man uh yeah you guys live together so and you play together quite a bit so uh I I want to ask the same question on on both sides.

SPEAKER_01 36:48

Um so Fields we'll start with you uh you know living with and watching Mason play is there something you know in the way that he plays his style of play that maybe he doesn't get like enough like kudos or praise for yeah I mean I would say like the hardworkingness of it all like he's he's like always coming in first in like our little running things and everything like that keeping the ball um I yeah I would just say it's like underrated range of passing as well is like sitting in the six spraying out balls is good and then just like he's always winning the ball back like every time after we play my dad's always saying like yeah Mason gives you guys the ball back and he he works hard so yeah that's I would say you're too nice Mason what would you say about Fields?

SPEAKER_03 37:35

Oh man I I would say Fields is definitely like like he's a quiet killer I would say like you don't you don't you don't hear him out in the field but you know his presence is there this year he stepped into like the winger spot which he had never played before or at least that's what he was saying going in he's never been a winger and he scored some insane goals some best goals I've seen so he's definitely sneaky like he you won't see it coming but um he'll definitely shake a couple guys and and and put a top right but also his left and right foot not really a difference um which is I'm a little bit jealous of that but he yeah he he's a hard worker he's tall um he does win the wall back you can't really get past him because his long ass legs but uh yeah he he's a he's a great great player works hard and I think we definitely worked well together on the field because you know just growing up playing together playing against each other for high school and and getting the link up on the field is pretty special so and he wants to step into the midfield next year as a 10 maybe so that'd be that'd be sweet to get to play with him a little bit closer but yeah he's levels he's he's a great great player thank you it's been a lot of fun yeah you guys have let like a a fun i i think uh like like a relationship right like you've you've played soccer together for a long time you you live together you you go to the same school you play together like semi-professionally and stuff like that so there there's I think a lot of opportunity for you guys to grow together that you know other guys don't necessarily have I mean I'm sure that you you're close enough you give each other some probably pretty candid feedback on you know when maybe you didn't play as well as you could have or or you know something that you can do better next time like have you found that kind of that helpful feedback uh from each other oh yeah yeah for sure after games you know we get back to the room and we just we'll we'll sometimes we'll just forget the homework and we'll just talk for for a long time about the game about how each other played we'll we'll talk about maybe tactics that we can tell the coach or maybe we can change something but we definitely do have those those long talks where we give each other feedback I'll I'll I'll tell him something like you know that probably someone wouldn't tell him and that's just from my perspective as a midfielder and then he'll probably he'll tell me how how I should play next time or what I could focus on.

SPEAKER_00 39:58

So that definitely is like a key thing that people don't see because you know we do spend almost every single second of of the day together except for like when we go to class it's like we're on the same schedule every day. We're always together always talking so that's definitely a yeah I would say yeah that's me and Mason and then also like everybody on the team really like living with everybody it's like everybody debriefs I mean thankfully this year is all mostly good stuff but um but yeah we definitely like living together and everything like that we're always talking about it all the captain captains will come like the last year's captain coming for a room yeah the captain lived next door to us so that was big as well and he's like hey what do you guys think and well sometimes we'd have like six guys in a room just yeah we're always talking about it yeah the guys are I would say like they're obsessed like everybody's obsessed with the game there they all they want to do all they want to talk about so it's good that's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 40:54

Do you guys find that your coach at taft like has like leave space for like okay what did you guys think about this like what'd you talk about or is it kind of more like all right this is what we're doing I can I can share a specific example was after our was it was it our tie to Avon maybe um we coach brought us into a room he talked a bit and he goes all right whole team we all go out to the turf field and we all we all just talked we he go you guys have to go talk as a team don't come back we even went on we went in pairs and we went on a little run around the school just a quick jog just yep debriefing with you're supposed to do it with somebody like you didn't know too well um which is good it's definitely I mean it helped coming on the stretch we definitely locked in a good amount so it's yeah yep based on partner and came back with our ideas and and shared it to the group and we all kind of worked it out what we need to do better to succeed and not let that tie happen again because our standards and expectations were just so high um and we knew what we wanted at the end of the season.

SPEAKER_00 41:58

So yeah I think that definitely played a huge part.

SPEAKER_04 42:01

Did you find that there were actual changes made to some of the stuff you guys were doing based on what you guys had said you wanted to change? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:09

I think yeah I don't think anything like drastic but I think like just a mindset thing. It wasn't like a tactical really tactical thing. It was mostly just a yeah I would say just a wake up we definitely needed it. I mean we're lucky that it was ended up being a draw to wake us up which is cool. But yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:31

I I think that people oversell how important tactics are I'm not saying they're not important but there's a whole lot of tactics they can work if you get the mindset piece right. Yeah right and like the nature of tactics is that you know coaches can throw stuff out there but you have to adapt to it as players as the 11 on the field you have to adapt to what's going on out there. You have to and and if your mindset is right you're gonna adapt well and you're gonna find solutions and if your mindset is wrong and it's like oh it's all about the tactic then what are you going to do if your tactic has to change on the fly yeah totally I that can relate to that especially when we played when we played Hardford the first time coach was like big on like because he thought they were gonna and they were good.

SPEAKER_01 43:35

They ended up being a good team but they weren't like you know as like strong on the ball as we thought we were going to just sit back and sort of let them have their way but then we're like wait a minute these guys can't even play to the back and we push up score a couple of goals so that was you know a moment where um tactics got tactics got flipped so that's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 43:55

What do you think more questions AJ you're asking all the good ones he always does he usually asks the one yeah it is this is a lot of fun you guys are the first time we've had more than one person on at the same time and it's actually really awesome.

SPEAKER_03 44:07

Oh that's good yeah um what what did you guys learn or find like you know you you've played high school ball and now you're doing the prep school ball you're getting ready to go to college um how has like playing clover helped you prepare for this or what surprised you the most about playing in UPSL uh you know you know just trying to suss out that that kind of information I would say I mean what's helped me the most is just like time on the field.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

Like I had a full uh you know fall season and then I had a full spring steep season and then I I literally and then like you know long weekends I'm coming back to Vermont there's like an intense college session I can just pull up to which is amazing. And then coming back in the summertime kept me on a good schedule. I mean I loved like I loved playing at night under the lights every time was amazing so much fun. Yeah so I would say just a you know just a lot of minutes under the legs which was intense minutes it was always good um instead of just what I've done in the past kind of just you know playing by yourself and stuff like that. It's I mean it's 10 times better.

SPEAKER_00 45:15

So good. I remember coming back and the first training session I don't I think we went to the same one the first one in the winter. Yeah and I remember playing it and I like sweating hard it was physical and I get back home and I told my parents I was like this is good like this is a this is a good it was a good practice and they're like they're really happy to hear that 'cause we've had that problem with with clubs that like some practices like, oh that's just kind of like wasn't a good practice. Not like a waste of your time for you like I could get better and it was just like it was came back I was like wow like I could get used to this and And then coming back in the spring, you have spring and summer, you have the same exact thing, same guys with new guys on top of it. It was it was just like Phil said, great.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

Yeah. Also playing, I think it was also fun, just fun playing with guys who I wouldn't have ever played with, but I've known forever. Like you know, like NASCAT guys. Like I never played with them like on the same team, same high school, but getting to play with them was a lot of fun. Super cool.

SPEAKER_03 46:17

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

That's awesome. All the older guys was fun. Super fun to play with them.

SPEAKER_00 46:21

Yeah, you know, you you got a 35-year-old on your team and you and you get to make a connection with them is pretty special.

SPEAKER_04 46:28

Yeah, he'll tell you he'll tell you he's not that old. He'll tell you he's only 30, but you know.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

That's what I'm hearing. I'm hearing he's 30.

SPEAKER_04 46:33

He turned 30 in.

SPEAKER_01 46:34

I can tell me he's 30.

SPEAKER_04 46:36

Yeah, he turned 30 in like April or something.

SPEAKER_00 46:38

Rumor, rumor 35, but I believe 30.

SPEAKER_04 46:41

Oh, yeah. I mean, I'm always picking on him and call him grandpa and stuff like that. Ask him when his kids are gonna come to the games and stuff like that. He doesn't like that. He's like, I don't have any. And his he's a funny guy, man. He we gotta get him.

SPEAKER_00 46:54

It would be a great podcast with that with him on Dima and then like Michael and like Liam Weldon.

SPEAKER_01 47:02

They'll all make don't make fun of Dima. That'll be a good group.

SPEAKER_04 47:04

Yeah. Michael was on the one that just came out on Tuesday was Michael's, I think, wasn't it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 47:10

Oh, awesome. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:11

Yeah, yeah. But the funny thing is how much changes over the time. I was listening to that, and we had recorded it in what, like maybe May? It was a long time ago, right? Because we we try to like backlog these things. And and I was just like listening to him talk, and I was like, oh man, it'd be cool to do that again and like ask questions about like the whole thing again.

SPEAKER_01 47:31

Yeah, right. I would be cool.

SPEAKER_04 47:32

What do you guys so okay, going into your fall season, and then after that, like what's the you'll be done with the college thing, Mason. Has it been a pretty big weight off your shoulder fields to kind of like make that decision before going into your senior year?

SPEAKER_01 47:45

Yeah, it was definitely like like I've always said you wanted like everybody says they want to get it done before the season, but like to be honest, at all my process was a little weird where it was like like absolutely nothing, like zero interest until like I don't know, like like this past April is when it kind of just all came at me at once. So I didn't really have a lot of time to think about it, and then before I knew it is over. So I think that was a I mean it was definitely stressful like throughout the season, like playing good and then not really getting much, and then and then you know, so I think it was it's definitely a big relief. The biggest relief was like telling the other coaches were like uh going to this school. That was like because once I committed, I was like obviously happy, and I was like, shoot, now I gotta tell these other guys, and that's like a little stressful too. Um but yes, definitely a big weight. But I will say, like, because a couple people have asked me that is like like last year when I was going against you know, kids who are going to crazy, you know, Big Ten schools and stuff like that, playing against them, like they got they have so much pressure to to perform every time. Like there's a new kid every game, and they're like here, and then this kid's going to this school, and then they're all judging them, like, no, he can't go there. Like, no way he's good. I'm better than this kid. Like, even I did it, I was doing it the whole season. We played a kid in Notre Dame, and I was like, really? And then it's just a lot of pressure. So I think dealing with that will be something different, but you know, pressures that's that's a amazing pressure to have on yourself is to put yourself in a good situation and then just try to deal with it.

SPEAKER_04 49:22

It's funny too, the the difference in level between those like top top, the guys that are going to the top top schools and the guys that are going to like maybe like a smaller D1 school like you are, or guys that are going to Nescaq. Like, there's not you know, the world out there, people are like, oh, the that guy going to Notre Dame must be so much better. But the answer is that there's like a tiny little bit of difference. And sometimes it's not even sometimes there's not even. And actively choosing to go to smaller schools where they're like, oh, I know I can play right away here, versus like, oh, I want to go to a big 10 school and have to work.

SPEAKER_01 49:54

That's actually a lot of the the Fairfield guys is like sort of mindset. Like they have tons of um mostly American squad, which is pretty cool, but like the younger guys are like they're like all like you know, destined to go pro, like like there's an inner Miami 2 kid, Austin FC, New York Red Bulls, all like everything. And then there's the older guys who are like like Maryland transfer, Pitt transfer, Merrimack, West Virginia transfer, like everywhere, but like they just wanted to play and they want to, you know, continue. And so the schools like that. So it's like you really have to like read into every every little thing to know exactly the whole whole scenario.

SPEAKER_04 50:35

Yeah, the the tough part I find with guys coming in to even my program, which is much lower profile than the programs you're talking about, is like I consciously recruit guys that are generally from smaller schools. I really like multi-sport athletes, but I like the best guys on those teams. So they're like guys that can be relied on, like when a game needs to be won, right? And then they come in and they're used to being like the best guy in the big dog. And then it's like, okay, now there's like 30 other guys that were also the best guy in their medium-sized town in upstate New York or in small Vermont or whatever. So the the challenge for all of them is like, okay, how do I like how do I sort myself and like how do I fit? Like, how do I try to earn minutes and get all these guys instead of just going to be big sourpuss because I was the starting guy as a sophomore, junior, senior, or whatever. So that's the that integration is a really big challenge. We talk about it a lot with incoming guys, and you know, we get through it, but there are guys that are really disappointed at the end of freshman season where like I didn't play as much, and it's like, well, yeah, of course you didn't, because over here, you know, you got a guy who's 22 or 23 years old and he's played in 70 games, like right. Like, yeah, like are you gonna take his minutes?

SPEAKER_01 51:44

Yeah, exactly. That was a big thing. Like, we have some young, talented players at Taft that even you know, there'd be amazing high school players here, but it just like it doesn't work that way. You just gotta I mean still working hard, but like yeah, I would just say once they work hard, it'll it'll work out for them, but but yeah, it's definitely definitely going to be tough, but like I think you just gotta know your place as a freshman, to be honest. You're not you just got there, you're not above the program.

SPEAKER_04 52:11

So yeah, prepare yourself to be successful so that when you do find yourself on the field, you can maximize it and then just get more, right? Um one piece of advice for a player who's going into their like to one piece of advice for Fields one year ago, and one piece of advice for Mason minus one year.

SPEAKER_01 52:32

So like going into our first year of TAF, or what I say was obviously I would say I don't have any regrets on this past season. But I was looking back a little bit just you know yesterday, literally. I just want to be a little bit more of a killer. Like I don't want to be um done being pushed around a little bit, done with all that. I just think it's that's just like the part of my game. I want to like be the one who's going into these tackles and and not the one who's being pushed down. That's just like I think that would that would prepare me more for college uh and more for the college game. Um and I also just think it's so valuable to have somebody that like wants to have wants the ball like back like now. I think it's just so valuable to to like outwork. I think outworking is like the biggest thing you could do if you're even if you're not playing well, if you're at work and you're doing good. So I would say continue working hard like you have been, but just not get pushed around and um be be the one pushing.

SPEAKER_04 53:39

Yeah, you're a giant too, so it should be pretty easier.

SPEAKER_01 53:42

You'd think I gotta work on it.

SPEAKER_04 53:45

What about you, Mason? One piece of advice from Mason at August 14th, 2025.

SPEAKER_00 53:51

I would say to definitely like on the field be be loud. I think to be more of a vocal presence. Um like I I know like how I play and I know like what Phil was saying, that I go into those tackles and I get those balls back, but I definitely I do wish I was a bit louder. Um because that can be a huge change game changer and like helping out your teammates on the field. And definitely this season, I'm I'm telling it to myself now, and I've been told it plenty of times. Um, now that I'm stepping into a captain role for the team, I I definitely do think I need need to be loud. And now the some players like the new the first years are are looking at me and and other and other guys of like sometimes what to do. So I think definitely to be loud and and help out guys, um, even if you don't think they need to be helped, they're just on the field and direct. Um that that's probably um a big thing for me is to use my voice.

SPEAKER_01 54:54

And yeah, I would say we've been like my first year, we were so lucky with our captains this past year. Captains were so nice, like all playing college soccer, one's going to UC Irvine, one's going to Tufts, and one's going to Babson. Um, just all amazing people. They were so nice from the start. And so it's cool that Mason's gonna be able to, you know, have that have that role. It's cool.

SPEAKER_04 55:18

Is he gonna be captain of your room also, or is somebody else in the room?

SPEAKER_00 55:23

I don't know. I did I did choose our room, so I guess we'll leave it up for a fight.

SPEAKER_04 55:29

Yeah, this is the thing I think about that younger players don't get this, but then and you probably saw this with some of the older Clover guys, all those older guys are just screaming all the time. It's not not in a bad way, they're giving each other pieces of information on the field, and they want to get 10 pieces of information like every moment, every touch. They want 10 pieces of information about what's going on. You can go here, you can go there, and there's a ton of value in that. And you guys experience like being on the inside of that, and now you get to go be the outside of that, where you're the ones like just giving this information all the time.

SPEAKER_01 55:58

Um, yeah. Now that I'm thinking about it, um like going into Taft this year, besides our goalie, like our returning seniors are pretty quiet on the field, like left back, pretty quiet. Like our forward, who's pretty good. He's he's very quiet, like super silent. I'm like here or there, Mason's pretty quiet, so that's definitely a big thing.

SPEAKER_00 56:24

We'll have to yeah, I think it's hard now thinking about it. It was definitely hard last year, like moving. Like I feel like if the say the season was in the spring, I feel like we would all talk a lot more, but being new to the school and being new to everything, you kind of back into your shell a little bit, and and it kind of shows on the field a bit that you you know you don't know these guys closely yet. Like it is the first season, so you're still getting to know these teammates, so you're kind of hesitant to yell at them and and do all that, but I think now you just gotta be outgoing and you you just gotta break that barrier right away and and just get everyone on board with that and and set the standard. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:04

Should be shouldn't be a big problem, but yeah, we'll definitely have to work on it.

SPEAKER_04 57:08

So as a so as a coach who's like, okay, I'm not your coach, but like I'm your coach right now, what are you guys gonna do as now like captain and other leader, another like older leader on the team? What are you guys gonna do to pull those newer guys out of their shells so that the integration can happen and get them comfortable quicker?

SPEAKER_00 57:25

For for me, I uh right as we move in, I'm I'm going to their rooms, um, I'm gonna talk to them. I'm just friendly conversations. I'm gonna like put a helping hand. Like, if you need anything, I'm just gonna start building connections right off the bat. We're we move in a day early. I remember the exact day we moved in, and and the guys are like coming to our room, they're helping move our stuff in. Like, we're gonna be those guys. We're we're gonna straight away, we're gonna build connections and and make sure that everyone's comfortable.

SPEAKER_01 57:52

Yeah, we have a mini camp in Massachusetts on the on the 23rd, which was a lot of fun last year. Definitely a good experience because it's just like you know, not a lot of phones going on. You're playing three times a day, um, bunch of other prep schools there, and it's just it's a lot of fun. It was it was definitely a cool experience to break in, and you like everybody's in one cabin, and so you know, everybody's talking and chatting and um singing and dancing, so it was a lot of fun. That was definitely a good um, a good experience.

SPEAKER_00 58:23

Yeah, that's definitely how you break the barriers, right? Singing a solo in front of the whole team and everyone's watching. So yeah, I like that.

SPEAKER_04 58:32

I like that you led with like, I'm gonna build connections. I think that's the most valuable thing. Um we're uh you AJ's usually the time guy, but I'm the time I'm gonna help him out with uh with this. That we're about at time. All right. Any parting shots from anybody before we uh before we before we go.

SPEAKER_01 58:48

Thank you guys for having me. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, it's been a lot of fun. It's great. I'd love to do it again. Whenever.

SPEAKER_04 58:54

We'll do it again in like once your season's over, right? We'll do it again like after, and you can tell me.

SPEAKER_00 58:59

Maybe we can hop on it. We can hop on it in our government or something like that. And yeah, be there together.

SPEAKER_04 59:06

Yeah, that would be awesome. That'd be really awesome, actually. What do you AJ parting thoughts?

SPEAKER_03 59:10

Um for for anybody that hasn't been to a Vermont Clover game, listening to the podcast, what would you say to them to get them out, get them to go to tickets.vermont clover.com, buy some ticks, come see the game. What do what do you think they'd get?

SPEAKER_01 59:22

I would say if you guys already watch high school soccer, this is like I would say this is like an all-star game, yeah. Of the past like, you know, 10 years. So like if you have the past 10 10 years of all-stars in Vermont, I would say this is the team to watch. So yeah, it's the best game to watch. I agree.

SPEAKER_00 59:42

It's Vermont, the Vermont Green sells out, so come come. You know these guys that are playing on the vlog. Come watch them. Yeah, we're locals, so come all over us.

SPEAKER_04 59:52

I love that. Guys, that's awesome. The message is getting down to the players, AJ. It is. Yes, they're feeling we're doing something right. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:00

Awesome. Well, gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. Oh, thank you guys for having a super fun conversation. I can't wait to see how this does uh when we release it. So uh I there's I don't think there's anything left to say, then we'll see you next time on the Pink and Green podcast.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:15

Thank you guys well. Have a great season, fellas.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:17

Bye. That's gonna do it for today's episode of the Pink and Green Podcast. A huge thank you to our guests for joining us and sharing their story. If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcast and leave us a review. It helps more people discover the growing soccer community here in Vermont. You can follow Vermont Clover FC and the Pink and Green Podcast on social media for updates, match coverage, and behind-the-scenes content throughout the season. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time. Until then, keep supporting local soccer and keep the game growing.