Guys Nobody is going to believe in you as much as you have to believe in yourself. Trust me I know. Chasing this dream is how I learned true self belief. Nobody wants your dream as much as you do. Not your coach. Not your trainer. Not your parents. Not your teammates. They might support you. They might love you. But at the end of the day — it's YOUR dream. And nobody is going to chase it for you. That means YOU have to be your own advocate. - YOU have to send the emails. - YOU have to put yourself out there. - YOU have to speak up when a coach is watching. - YOU have to be the loudest believer in the room when it comes to your own potential. I'm not talking about being arrogant. I'm talking about being UNDENIABLE. Confidence isn't optional in this game. The kid who plays great but shrinks, stays quiet, waits to be noticed, hopes someone discovers him — he gets passed over. The kid who plays great AND makes himself impossible to ignore — he gets the shot. Here's the part that stings: The ones who are just "good enough" don't make it. There are thousands of "good enough" players. Talented. Capable. Would do fine at the next level. And most of them never get there. Why? Because they waited. They were good, but they weren't LOUD. They were talented, but they weren't relentless. They believed a little, but not enough to bet everything on themselves. You don't get to the next level by being good enough and quiet. You get there by being good AND undeniable. By advocating for yourself when nobody else will. By believing in yourself so hard that other people start to believe it too. Nobody is coming to save you. Nobody is going to hand it to you. Be your own advocate. Bet on yourself. Be undeniable. That's the difference. — Coach Owen

Want to get recruited? Stop waiting to get found. Start spamming inboxes. Here's a truth nobody tells young athletes: College coaches' emails are PUBLIC. They're on the athletic department website. Right there. On purpose. Why? Because coaches WANT to be emailed by recruits. That's part of how recruiting works. They can't see every player at every showcase. They rely on athletes reaching out. So why are you sitting around waiting to get "discovered"? Here's your actual recruiting homework: Block out 2 hours. Just 2 hours. Pull up a list of schools you'd want to play for — reach schools, realistic schools, safety schools. Then email every single coach. Not one. Not five. ALL of them. Include: - Who you are, position, grad year - Your highlight film (even a rough one) - Your stats, your club, your GPA - Why THEIR program specifically Then here's the part most kids miss: Email them again next week. And the week after. With a different template. Following up. Adding a new clip. Mentioning a recent game. Coaches are busy. One email gets buried. The athlete who follows up 3-4 times is the one who gets the reply. Persistence isn't annoying — it's how you show you actually want it. Most kids send ONE email, hear nothing, and quit. Then they say "recruiting didn't work for me." Recruiting didn't fail you. You sent one email and gave up. I built a whole classroom on this inside Pitch HQ — templates, target lists, how to structure your outreach. It exists for a reason. Go use it. Spend the 2 hours. Send the emails. Follow up. Repeat. That's how kids who "weren't getting recruited" end up with offers. — Coach Owen

The slowest training you do might be the most important. Let's talk Zone 2." Most young athletes only train one way: hard. All gas, all the time. Every run is a sprint, every session is a war. That's a mistake. And here's the science on why. Your body has two main fuel tanks: 1. Carbs (glycogen) — your FAST fuel. Burns quick, runs out fast. Your body reaches for this when you're going HARD (think Zone 5 — sprinting, max effort). 2. Fat — your BIG storage tank. Burns slow, but you've got tons of it. Your body reaches for this when you're going EASY (think Zone 2 — that comfortable, "I could hold a conversation" pace). Here's the key: Zone 2 training teaches your body to burn fat efficiently. When you spend time in Zone 2 — fast enough that you're working, slow enough that you could still talk — you're training your body to pull energy from fat instead of immediately burning through your limited carb stores. The more you train this, the better your "engine" gets. More mitochondria (the part of your cells that produce energy). Better fat-burning. A bigger aerobic base. Why this matters for YOU as an athlete: - You recover faster between sprints in a game - You don't gas out in the second half - You burn fat more efficiently — even at rest (this is the weight-loss connection from my last post) - Your HARD training actually gets better, because you have a bigger engine underneath it Zone 2 is the secret most young athletes skip because it doesn't feel "hard enough." It feels too easy. That's the point. How to find your Zone 2: You should be able to hold a full conversation. If you're gasping, you're going too hard. If you can sing, you're going too easy. Right in between = Zone 2. The takeaway: Don't make every session a war. Build the slow base. It makes everything fast possible. Train easy to play hard. — Coach Owen

If your plan to lose weight is 'just eat less' — you're going to lose, then gain it all back. Here's why. I see young athletes do this constantly. They want to lean out, so they slash their food. Less food. Smaller meals. Skipping breakfast. "I'll just eat less." And it works… for about three weeks. Then it backfires. Every time. Here's what actually happens when you just eat less: Your body panics. It doesn't know you're "trying to get lean for the season." It thinks food is scarce. So it does what bodies have done for thousands of years to survive — it SLOWS DOWN. - Your metabolism drops - Your energy tanks - Your body starts burning muscle for fuel (the opposite of what an athlete wants) - Your training quality falls apart - And the second you eat normally again, you rebound — usually heavier than you started You didn't get leaner. You got weaker, slower, and set up to gain it all back. Here's the move instead: Don't focus on eating LESS. Focus on building a body that burns fuel BETTER. That comes from: - Training your aerobic engine (more on this in my next post about Zone 2) - Eating ENOUGH to fuel your training, not starving it - Lifting to build muscle — muscle burns more energy even at rest - Sleeping and recovering so your body isn't stressed into holding onto fat An athlete who trains hard and eats enough will out-lean a kid who starves himself. Every single time. Your body isn't a math problem you solve by subtracting food. It's an engine. Build the engine. Fuel the engine. The leanness follows. — Coach Owen (General education, not a personalized diet plan. If you have specific medical or nutrition needs, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian.)

I’ve played at the JUCO level. I’ve played AGAINST D1 teams. I’ve trained with athletes across every level. Here’s what nobody tells you about college soccer. The grit is the same. The hunger is the same. The desire to make it is the same. Whether you’re at a D1 powerhouse or a JUCO program in the middle of nowhere — everyone on that field is trying to get somewhere. So let me say something coaches don’t: A JUCO offer isn’t a downgrade. It’s a different door. JUCO exists because the system misses people. Kids with the talent but not the grades. Kids who never got seen by the right scouts. Kids who developed late. Kids whose club didn’t have the budget to play in the showcase tournaments. That’s why JUCO is FULL of D1-level players. They’re just not at D1 yet. And here’s the part most kids don’t realize Being underestimated is a weapon. That’s the element of surprise. That’s the upper hand. That’s leverage you don’t have at D1, where everyone already expects you to be good. Playing JUCO with a chip on your shoulder, with nothing to lose, with everything to prove — that’s one of the most dangerous things you can be in college soccer. Last thing to be clear on: If you have a real D1 offer at a school that WANTS you — take it. But “go where you’re wanted” matters way more than “go to the highest division you got offered.” A JUCO program that builds you > a D1 bench you rot on. Don’t let anyone — coaches, parents, club teammates — make you feel like you failed because you went JUCO. JUCO produces D1 transfers every single year. JUCO produces pros. JUCO produces guys who play overseas The level isn’t the ceiling. YOUR work is the ceiling. Go where you’re wanted. Work harder than anyone. Use the element of surprise. That’s how kids who “got missed” become the ones everyone’s talking about. -Owen