Ryveann: (00:50)
All right guys, welcome to the first half podcast. This is episode seven and I’m Ryveann Elizabeth and you are

Paul: (00:56)
Paul D. Ooh Hmm.

Ryveann: (00:59)
And today our special guest is Canadian soccer hall of Famer, Amy Walsh. How exciting is that one big time. So let’s hear about your soccer week.

Paul: (01:14)
How are you?

Ryveann: (01:14)
I’ve been hanging out with you too much today.

Paul: (01:16)
I think we’re okay. We’re okay. It’s the coffee speaking, uh, Chu’s in here with us as well. Super Chu.

Ryveann: (01:24)
We love you. You almost made the video… your arms are too short kid,

Paul: (01:29)
he’ll make it. He got, we got there, we got the just a bit. Um,always there’s so much soccer news, you can’t cover it all. Um, so we’re going to dive right into it. Something that’s very exciting, um, for everybody geared up and excited for the MLS season. That’s about to start our training camps there on the, you know, everybody’s in the warm weather, which makes the rest of us feel more pale, more tired, more sure……. Like you’re a professional athlete, you’re keeping it warm and you’re train, you know, like there’s a little bit of that. But uh, Montreal was down in Florida where they’re actually down in Florida now. Uh, and something very cool that sort of popped up on the radar, which I know it was all over social media, but at the same time I think is super cool is uh, they were training near the Brazilian side Palmeiras and that’s actually a club I thought always been pretty cool. And they got along Brazilian history and they were training next to each other and there were, there were some games that they were playing against some other MLS clubs, but boy, that would’ve been really cool if Montreal could have played them down there in Florida.

Ryveann: (02:28)
It’s true. It’s true. They did come by though. I saw it. And they were, uh, they were fanboying some of the management and its players went over to see Titi…They got him a gift, took some pictures with him. It was pretty, it was pretty awesome. I like seeing that. It was nice.

Paul: (02:41)
That’s part of no matter what. And again, this, you know, we’re not just about the Montreal location or, or we’re about the whole thing, but that Thierry Henry you know, the, the TiTi appointment, it’s huge man. Like, there’s nowhere, they’re not going to go where not anybody who’s not into the world of football isn’t going to be just totally excited to see.

Ryveann: (03:03)
I would like to be a fly on the wall watching him train everybody.

Paul: (03:06)
Yeah. Like in are they, are they, I wonder like it’s the coach, but are they also sort of like, it’s like when you see him kicking a ball to them and someone like accepts the pass, it’s like Terry’s passing to me. Like, are you even listening? You’re listening to my training. You’re just looking at, it’s like, Oh man, that’s fantastic. Uh, more MLS news very again, like we brought this up before, it looks like it’s almost a done deal for the LA galaxy and Cheech. That is going to be huge. He will be the highest paid player in the MLS.

Ryveann: (03:39)
Paying Sevilla a transfer fee of 8.5 million pounds, which is pretty much the exact same thing that uh, Sevilla paid other, his other team just recently to get him out as well. What I read was three year guaranteed contract with incentives. Yup.

Paul: (03:57)
Yeah. And he’s a, I think he’s the top scoring player right, of all time. So by him joining the LA galaxy, it’s literally, I would think all of Mexico is going to be a galaxy fan, which would be… That’s why, that’s why you pay these DPs and it’s going to be totally exciting that that Derby, that LA, the LA game,

Ryveann: (04:19)
a lot of people are like, Oh, he’s like, he’s there to replace like he’s taking that Zlatan spot but just got emptied out even almost more so

Paul: (04:27)
He’s more of a talisman. I mean, you know, California’s got such a fantastic Latin history and Latin culture involved. Like it’s such a smart move.

Ryveann: (04:37)
It’s going to be really fun to watch.

Paul: (04:37)
Yeah, totally. Um, uh, again, it will always pain me to see, uh, Liverpool, again, big rivalry against man United. They won that game. They really won that game. Uh, 16 points at the top again, makes my stomach cringe. And at the same time, I heard this thing that they’re already betting houses all through the UK that have already paid out, uh, the Liverpool winning the league. They’ve paid it up cause they’re, they’re like, this is it. They’ve, they’re done. And that, that’s like really, it’s sort of cool. It’s sort of annoying and it doesn’t matter. They’ve done it. And so I thought that was just like my gosh already. I mean it’s not mathematically done yet. Right. And that’s part of it. But the betting guys, yeah.

Ryveann: (05:27)
I feel really, I feel really lucky to have been able to go and watch one of their games this year. Like the legend, like it’s pretty legendary,

Paul: (05:34)
pretty, pretty much. And I actually, I was reading something that there again, we’re, we’re going to move on, but that they’re, the potential title winning game could be V Everton.

Ryveann: (05:45)
OMG

Paul: (05:47)
So the mathematically it could be that match, which would be, I think Liverpool would probably burn to the ground. Right. That city it’s gonna be, yeah, the waterway, the water around. It’s not going to save anybody. It’s done. It’s cooking.

Ryveann: (06:01)
Um, so my turn to pull a little bit of a, of a, of a shout out here. So I wanted to bring up the difference flick has made as the coach of Bayern Munich. I know you don’t follow Bundesliga, but I mean they are in the Champions League…

Paul: (06:16)
No No, I follow a little…

Ryveann: (06:16)
Um, so he was, he’s made such a difference that he’s been awarded permanent head coach position until the end of season. Um, I thought that was really cool. And funnily enough, there was, um, uh, Muller of course, uh, of course, uh, when asked to compare the two came out with an amazing hysterical comparison and said it’s the same. It’s the difference between a wife giving a husband a specific grocery list to go to the grocery store with to make dinner or a wife that gives an idea of what dinner is going to be and then sends her husband off to just stand in the aisles and stare and potentially …

Paul: (06:57)
Come home with a frozen pizza? ha

Ryveann: (06:58)
Yeah, exactly. So I’m obviously meaning flick was the one giving the detailed, uh, list. So also he, I love it because he really knows the players anyways. And, um, I’m very, very happy because I get to watch a Muller back in his legendary position behind, uh, Lewandowski. So he always, yeah, he always sets him up. Yup. And I’m also going to give one last shout out because he made his 12th assist this season, which is, um, records and the records for such a short in such a short time. Yeah. And especially considering that he didn’t even start off most of the, a lot of the games well under, um, under Kovac. So anyways, all that to say I’m very excited to keep watching bayern and they are coming back into their Epic positions. So that is very cool. Um, and then I see me, I’m just talking this episode.

Paul: (07:50)
Talk!

Ryveann: (07:51)
It’s crazy. It’s good. Um, I wanted to bring up setbacks and player mentality today. I think that was really important, um, topic to bring up, especially with what, just a great example of what just went on. Um, I want to give a huge props to a player who seems to really have the right mindset to be a serious force longterm. Um, I’m not naming area right away, I’m just stating that she made the Olympic roster in 2016, uh, right out of high school. She didn’t even play collegial. She went straight to pro and then she also helped team USA win the FIFA world cup last year.

Paul: (08:30)
Yeah, Pretty big deal.

Ryveann: (08:32)
Um, so it is Mallory Pugh who’s an amazing player and I have to give her a great shout out for her amazing mentality because over the last week it’s been a rough one. She got traded, um, from Washington spirit and she got left off the Olympic qualifier list. Um,

Paul: (08:49)
amazing how it can be like top to the top and then straight to the bottom. And what I mean by bottom is, well,

Ryveann: (08:56)
because for lack technically it was for a lack of consistency in her play. But um, she was the one and only one offered to still train with the team during pre qualifiers.

Paul: (09:08)
That’s a big deal.

Ryveann: (09:09)
And she accepted and the coaches like phenomenal. This is the exact mentality that we need of a player. So I wanted to bring it up because yeah, exactly how, how much of a great mentality that is because at the end of the day you, she Rose to the top really, really quickly and you always have to fight to stay on top and a lot of people think that once they’re on top they shouldn’t have to keep working or that if they fall back down they don’t want to like, Oh I’m too good to keep to work back up to the top. I should just be given it like it’s a free spot or something cause they were already there.

Paul: (09:40)
Definitely nothings free in in the world of athleticism and training and like you see athletes that have lost contracts and the ones that are still training full time, fully added following the food plan, like nothing’s changed because they know eventually they will be back on a team or they have to keep that head space as in, I’m going to get that call any moment or a T or a player that’s actually not playing is on the team or she’s on the team and they can get a call any minute and if you are not 100% committed and ready, you’re in trouble and you don’t get another chance. That’s the other thing, right? We’re talking about pro athletes. It’s, it’s not like business where you can make a mistake if you’ve made the mistake, you own up to it, you fix it or you go bankrupt or like whatever it is. That is sort of the gravity, but with an athlete, most of the time, unless it’s an individual sport where if they fail it, they still have to get right back up and go back at it. Yeah, they get pushed aside. There is somebody waiting to take your place that is a, but that’s part of team sports. I mean that’s your, that’s built into your ethos from the beginning in your mind that at any moment I can lose my position to one of my teammates. Right. Or somebody that’s been training in waiting to grab my spot. So, uh,

Ryveann: (11:00)
you gotta be ready to do whatever it takes to get by. Yeah.

Paul: (11:04)
It’s a great example. Yeah. Honestly, that just never, never, never give up.

Ryveann: (11:08)
Yeah. Because like she was, she was called majestical, the top, like the next big thing. And so like to be brought back down to reality, what reality can be sometimes, especially as an athlete and then just being like, no, I’m going to keep on keeping on and I’m going to be a force to be reckoned with the end.

Paul: (11:25)
Right. And that’s, that’s not a, it’s not a male or a female thing that’s an, that’s, uh, something that everybody should, you know, strive to. Exactly. It’s a great mentality because you do get knocked down. You have to get back up. And it’s an anything you do there is, right.

Ryveann: (11:43)
Yeah, exactly. The rise isn’t easy, to stay isn’t easy. The fall isn’t the end

Paul: (11:49)
Maintaining where you get to is just as hard or harder than getting there. It’s a whole other draw. Like it’s just, you’re just in constantly changing gears. Yeah, that’s it. That’s right.

Ryveann: (12:01)
She’s got a whole lot of soccer. How to her man, she’s only 21 so,

Paul: (12:04)
Which is always the best when you talk about athletes and then you find out their age, you’re just, Oh yeah. They’re not even like twenty one, like come on. That’s, that’s totally fantastic. That’s, that’s really, that’s a great story and that’s great that you brought that up. Um, so that’ll also be great with, you know, who we’re having on there’s gonna be a lot of really cool conversation hopefully to have with, uh, with our guests. Um, one of the things that we like to do during our show, and it’s very much part of what this show is about, we like to pinpoint and grab and, and focus on different things in the culture of the sport. And so that’s art, that’s fashion, it’s music. And so again, we like to call out things that interest us and then see where that sort of topic goes in Kit & Bone on Instagram, um, is a page that I was looking at again yesterday. It’s a really fun mix of art, um, product and sort of.

Ryveann: (13:04)
Unofficial Bony mascot. Yeah.

Paul: (13:07)
That’s pretty cool. Yeah, it’s pretty cool. Yeah, exactly. Cause it’s called, you know, like bone stuff can either be like really too hard or it can be really, she can sort of go the opposite way and be a little bit cheesy. But this I think, well they’ve gotten it right. I think it looks great and he’s a great mascot. Yeah, that’s a good name too and they have some really cool stuff going on. And then that um, leads us to, again, which is one of our main topics is art and football and sort of how it all mixes in together and how it’s such an important piece of everything. Like from Jersey design, which, you know, a lot of clubs are, everything is sort of geared around that. And then yeah, get right. So gear and boots and then sort of the art that’s in the street and then the art.

Ryveann: (14:01)
Super representative of demographics, all kinds of stuff. Especially over in Europe. Right? Yeah.

Paul: (14:09)
Street art here and I, I, I’ve, I’ve noticed a lot of clubs, uh, both in the North America and in Europe are using a lot of street artists and artists to do, uh, match day posters, which I think is just fantastic. I, yeah, me too. One that brings it really relevant and two, it just freshens the pot, you know, it’s not to, it’s not just about the typeface. It’s actually about, you know, linking to something and it’s really, it freshens it up. And then it’s something that I saw as well when you like, look at poster art again, we’re, we’re, we’re talking in the broad spectrum of art and football and how it goes together because there’s so many things that we can focus on. But the world cup posters, I mean.

Ryveann: (14:47)
we have lots of time to do that folks.

Paul: (14:49)
And we will and we will her, but we 100% will. But if somebody took time out of their day and just went through all the world cup posters to me, art straight up the just the most beautiful stuff you’ve ever seen and so, so relevant to the countries that host in the cities that host like it’s beautiful.

Ryveann: (15:12)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. 100%. I can’t even, I can’t speak for the world cup posers. I haven’t actually gone through a lot of them, but I can speak for whether it’s graphic artists. Um, I take some time every once in a while to go on Behance which is like the Adobe platform and um, kind of like creating portfolios for artists and stuff. And there’s like a lot of great, beautiful soccer work there. Two people doing, um, whether it be imagery of players and uh, some really, really cool stuff all over the place. So people are really like, you can see the passion coming out through their art, whether they’re small artists, big artists, street artists.

Paul: (15:51)
If you’re connected to football, it comes out in the ways that you like to express yourself. So that can be photography can be writing, it can be, you know, drawing. It can be spray paint, it can be fashion, it can be.

Ryveann: (16:04)
So if any listeners are artists or know some artists to recommend to us, please send them to us. 100% love to see.

Paul: (16:12)
And so to wrap it all up, that’s a subject that we’re to want to dive real deep into and explore and choose topics and really work on. And it’s, it’s exciting the moment you crack that open, you know, Oh my gosh, it just doesn’t end. And that’s really,

Ryveann: (16:29)
you get a, there’s this and there’s like a, it’s like you understand almost a person more when you understand what they’re wearing through like the soccer or football, whether I, I mean I feel like to me when I see artists and when you’ve shown me different pictures and photography, it’s like they bleed soccer…

Paul: (16:44)
it’s, it’s serious. It’s really serious, like an image, like, like all imagery has always been right. One a picture says a thousand words. It’s, it’s that kind of thing and had been in football man. It’s like, yeah, it’s got that say Whoa. You know, and this is, yeah. So, so that we’re, we’re very excited about our guest. I can’t wait, uh, to speak to her and hear and sort of pick her brain on a lot of things about the women’s game and the national team and, and just sort of her thoughts on things that are coming and I’m looking forward to that conversation and it’s always a pleasure to see you Ryveann.

Ryveann: (17:22)
Well, we will talk to all you guys next week and let’s bring on Amy Walsh

Second Half

Paul: (17:30)
Amy, do you like the way we do that intro? Cool. Right. Thank you for being here. We’re very happy, excited and a honor that you could take the time tonight to come speak with us and, and give us some insight. Obviously you have a lot of it and we really want to pick your brain on some subjects. Also, we want everybody that’s listening to learn about you and I hope you’re in the mood for a little bit of conversation. It’s not too long, which is great. You have a little coffee, everything’s ready to roll. You’ve met the crew. We’re very relaxed here and at some point we’re going to have to talk about Muppets, but we’ll get to that. We’ll get to that after. So if you could start off with your name and a little bit of background about who you are and what you’re doing now, what you did and obviously why we’re excited to have you here.

Amy: (18:13)
Okay, well my name’s Amy Walsh. I’m happy to be here. Honored to be here. Um, I’m a now retired but former women’s national team player. I played from about 1998 to 2009 played in a couple of world cups and the Olympics in 2008.

Paul: (18:32)
I got to interrupt. That’s amazing the way you just said that, but in a couple of world cups.

Amy: (18:37)
Well, it’s a multifaceted answer. You asked me a lot of things. Yeah. Really proud of my career. Yeah, I’ve got some perspective now. I’m 10 years removed from it and uh, I got voted into the, or inducted I should say into the hall of fame in 2017. Uh, played 102 times for my country. And yeah, really lucky to have to have done it and then gotten to travel the world as a result and played with some pretty unbelievable people and and players.

Paul: (19:05)
Amazing. You have a relationship still with all those players?

Amy: (19:09)
Well not all because as I said, like 10 …

Paul: (19:13)
like you know the core group, the ones that you were always practicing with maybe bunking with the ones that you guys, you had a chemistry created for sure. That obviously translated on the pitch. I mean bonds are formed right on teams so.

Amy: (19:24)
yeah, absolutely. So when Christine Sinclair came into her first camp, we are at the Algarve cup in Portugal and 2000 so she was 15 years old. We were still looking for nicknames for like sinky nickname.

Paul: (19:39)
Is a nickname thing. Like immediately when a youth player hits the team, is it like, did you guys go around the room and like, okay, we’re going to come up with something that’s going to stick? Or is it just, it really does, like nicknames are supposed to just naturally progressed.

Amy: (19:53)
They sort of come up naturally come about and, and, but she was really quiet and reserved and so it was something that we knew was gonna maybe take a little bit of time, but you knew immediately that she was a generational talent.

Paul: (20:07)
like that you can feel it. Is that something, again, this is, these are the normal round of questions, but the point being is you’re here and then we’re gonna just start asking you kind of things. But uh, do other athletes know that pretty much right away when they meet another athlete, you know, coming onto the team that it’s like, you’re going to be around for a long time. Age doesn’t have anything to do with it. Obviously at that point you’re just like, you know, that there’s, there’s just something about that that player that is going to transcend, you know, that particular tournament or that season protect, you know.

Amy: (20:41)
Yeah. I think you do. Um, you know, growing up and you go through a bunch of different programs, whether it’s youth or club, or university and a, you get used to, you know, there’s, there’s typical players and there’s role players and there’s character players. Um, but then she came in at such a young age and just, um, just so kind of like I said, quiet, subdued, wanted to fly under the radar, but the way that she played on the field, it was impossible not to notice her and Charmaine Hooper was there, another sort of generational talent. Um, but Charmaine was everything that sinky was not, not in terms of talent, but in terms of personality. So Charmaine, without asking for the attention, drew it in the way that she carried herself on the field and off the field and with, with sinky it was, it was different. But you, you knew immediately the impact she was going to have. You couldn’t say at that point that she was going to play in school, play and score in five different world cups and, and be, you know, like who see a sports woman of the year and you know, just in the Canadian hall of fame.

Paul: (21:49)
Were you, were you born to play football? Like was this, did you from the get go play sport like w did you grow up in a, in a sports household? Did you know you were going to place, you know, like some, some athletes just know like that’s the sport they’re going to do or is it just, you know, I was talented at this, I was talented at that and you know, this Rose to the top and I was going to follow that as a career path. Like, I mean, yeah,

Amy: (22:13)
Well, no, because women’s sports, it didn’t, it didn’t exist at that time. But I have an older brother, I have three younger sisters, grew up in st Bruno and my mom and dad. Um, without being, you know, sort of raw, raw, sporty parents. They were, they were athletic people. And we also grew up in an era that wasn’t sports-specific like now with all the kids going to spell it, suit and academies and all this stuff, it is a big deal now and I think they need to come back to the middle. But we can talk about that later. But it was a, an era where you could play a multitude of things and you could play them and you had the opportunity and your parents could afford to it, uh, afford to do it. Cause by no means where we poor. But we weren’t super well off and there were five kids. So you know, that.

Paul: (22:59)
that’s a lot to deal with.

Amy: (23:01)
Yeah. So I mean, we, we were afforded the opportunity to, to, to be involved in, uh, in tons of different sports. And we were in a community where it was offered to us and, uh, my parents were at every single thing and they drove us all around. And then my dad coached. My dad coached, my mom was a manager and, but growing up I wanted to be like my brother. Like I was a, I was a tomboy, so I was, I was multiple occasions, mistaken for a boy and indignant and pissed off about it. But that you were mistaken for a boy. Yeah. But it didn’t, but it didn’t, I didn’t care, you know, whether it was the eight year old with the short hair and I was playing in the boys’ team and I blended in. So I liked that because it didn’t draw attention. But after the fact, if we all went to the pool and they told me “vestiaire des gars” is this way and I was like, no, no, like lifted up to show my one piece. I’m a girl.

Paul: (23:55)
Oh my gosh. That’s amazing.

Amy: (23:57)
I just wanted to be like my brother. Yeah. And like Wayne Gretsky, cause that’s the posters that were on the wall.

Paul: (24:03)
Yeah. Yeah. And I wonder, um, yeah, those posters, have they changed? Have they changed for, for, for young girls and,

Amy: (24:11)
Yeah, I think so because of opportunities and because of players like Christine Sinclair.

Paul: (24:15)
Like yourself.

Amy: (24:18)
maybe paving the way for somebody, like her…

Paul: (24:21)
people got to pave the way, right? Yeah.

Amy: (24:22)
But that way I think it was sort of a transitional phase and they have to keep putting the money in, putting the sponsorship in. The associations have to put in the support so that little girls can put posters on their walls of female idols, female professional idols

Paul: (24:36)
and current as well. Yeah, that’s going to be something I think that’s very important with the, the words that you brought up already about generational and specific talent that sort of go through, you know, year after year, after year. But there’s not all athletes are, are, are that or like that and associations or organizations tend to choose, you know, the one or two athletes and that’s who they market and that’s who’s pushed through. But there needs to be, and this is, this is the question or like what is it that needs to be done to keep that going, to keep those posters flowing when it’s not just about one particular athlete and about the bigger picture. Right. Um, and that’s something I’d like you to, you know, sort of get into is like what you were talking about, getting back to the middle, you know, bringing, bringing the support, you know, how does it keep rolling, how does it keep, you know, being ingested by the community and talked about,

Amy: (25:36)
I think it has to, from a grassroots point of view, I think that we need to move away from the sports specificity at such an early age. Kids need to have fun again.And um, and be allowed to do that because it’s one thing like, I think there’s a campaign last year where baseball, basketball, soccer Canada all joined together and they had like their, um, key athletes promoting a Multisport approach and that’s fine to do it from the top down is the right message. But is the same message being told the parents and athletes from the bottom up? And that’s not right because, um, you know, a kid’s going to be benched if they play football because they were at a hockey practice or a hockey game and they, they missed the football practice or basketball or whatever it is that they’re playing. So from an association standpoint, even when we’re talking about minor sports, recreational sports, it’s not trickling down. It’s too, it’s too slow. So that needs to change. And then from, as a gender issue, if you look at the women’s national team from the US and Megan, Megan Rapinoe and all the good things that they’re doing there, they, we always rode their coattails. Because they had success. They had money early on. So say they packed the Rose bowl in 99, they win the day they beat, you know, with the famous Brandi Chastain… And I hate Brandi Chastain But anyway, she rips her shirt off. And that’s the beginning. That’s the springboard to the women’s, uh, the Busa, the, the first pro league, which I played in after college. But it ends up failing.

Amy: (27:16)
so I played, uh, in like San Fran, San Jose, California, right out in Nebraska, which I went to for the university. And then I played in Atlanta for a little bit.

Paul: (27:27)
Did you enjoy that time?

Amy: (27:29)
Yeah, it was great. But there were 8 teams and it was, you know, by coastal and team in Atlanta, it just was never going to work. They will not have money real quick. So anyway, getting back to my point is, so like title nine is past late seventies, and that sort of evens the playing field. So women’s sports gets equal opportunity. So you’re seeing the fruits of that in the current players on the women’s national team. Um, if you’d talk about all like Canada or the US but to go back to the US so they file a gender discrimination lawsuit against their own association for equal pay and for unfair working conditions. So if, and this is still in court, right? So they say that the men draw more, they pack the stadiums, they get more gate, and it’s not the case but if you compare it to other associations like, uh, like Canada or England or Spain, the Netherlands, um, who won, uh, the European championship for the women and did very well at the last year’s world cup, you’re not going to see the same parody. They are the exception to the rule,

Paul: (28:36)
but that’s because it doesn’t draw the same dollars media wise. I’m, I, I’m telling you if that changes, so does everything else. That’s it. And, but that’s almost ridiculous. So,

Amy: (28:51)
but that’s what they point to as the justification for it. So I think the, the Norwegian FA, now they’re paid equally. Correct. Um, but that’s again, the exception

Paul: (29:05)
and the exception to the rule is always an interesting sort of marker. But it’s not enough because what ends up happening is we always point out the exception to the rule and that’s where the conversation ends. Again, it doesn’t make sense. Now the reason this is important to me is because of my daughter and because I don’t know if she’ll be into football so far. She’s not really a Chelsea fan. I am trying, or at least a football fan. I’m trying, I’m trying my son a little bit more. But the point being is it’s enough and I, and I’m, it brings me on a, on a sort of lower level where I’m checking myself on, on my sports apps and a lot of the stuff that I’m checking does come from Europe. The women’s game, women’s football game in Europe is as prominent as everything else on that page. You don’t have to open 40 pages to get to it. It’s front and center. When you do that here, it’s not …but why, and this is very, but this will, this is part of that circle. It’s part of that ecosystem. Like what is it, you have to win a world cup to get that play and then stay there?

Amy: (30:16)
But I mean they’re not even there yet, right? No. So they, they need to win I think to set the precedent. But to go back to to Europe and to talk about the England, a women’s national team or the pro league there. So Barclay used to be the, the Barclay’s English premier league. Right. And then it’s no longer, but Barclay, I think last year, uh, jumped in for the women’s, um, pro league. Right. And for three years like is pumping in millions of dollars and they’re playing double headers with the men. Um, Chelsea women are playing before the Chelsea men are killing it by the way.

Paul: (30:51)
Thank you. And they just beat Arsenal yesterday.

Amy: (30:54)
Yeah. So that’s, that’s a really, really great league. Geographically it makes more sense. You can’t do that in Canada, but we need something that’s…

Paul: (31:04)
In the CPL. Is that an opportunity? Is that an opportunity for if the MLS doesn’t want to pick up those reins? Could be, yeah. Again, those leagues, I know it’s 25 years and I get it’s infant. Why wouldn’t the MLS do something like this as a pilot project and get every one of these clubs, every one of these clubs could have a female club. Um, same thing. CPL just started make that your mandate do that. I know now, not in 10 years when you’ve made your mark do it now, start now. You’re, you’re, you’re working on everything that really then be in the forefront. It, it’s the only, it’s the only way. And again, I, I want you to, I want your opinion on this, but if it’s not sort of drilled in, over and over and over again, whatever it is you want to change, whatever it is, it, it just, it’s nice to talk about it, but it’s just not,

Amy: (32:00)
it’s not enough either to just to just talk about it, but if it, if it’s out of the mainstream a little bit more and I think you guys on your, uh, as I, as I mentioned earlier, I think it was creeping your Instagram account just to see what we’re about and you’re talking about how important it is to support the local clubs and to, to support, you know, the, the football and the soccer that’s, that’s nearby and, and your national team. And, and the discussion needs to be, why are we just talking about them when it’s the Olympic qualifying? Where are we just talking about them, the world cup.

Paul: (32:30)
or if we are, we brought this up before that there were friendlies and then for the men’s national team, there was no PR, there was no press on the two games in Barbados. And then, uh, Iceland, Iceland, that went really far in the euros. Nobody talked. I know we lost one zero, but it doesn’t matter. I mean, I, I just, I’m, I’m having a hard time, especially especially with 2026, just around the corner. So is it that we’re waiting for the cities to get named in Canada? I mean the U S will get the Bulk and in Mexico and then there’ll start to be more of, um, uh, you know, maybe a chain reaction, things will start to go in. And you know, it’s, it’s historically proven that anywhere that a world cup touches, ground changes everything. But we did have the women’s world cup. And have you seen a major change? I haven’t,

Amy: (33:20)
no, unfortunately not.

Paul: (33:21)
Right. S, I don’t have an answer obviously, but I somebody with, you know, your pedigree and everything that you’ve seen through the States, through Canada playing for the states, I mean, you must talk to people. I don’t know if it’s, you know, everything on, it’s not on your mind every day. Obviously there’s a lot of stuff that you’re doing. Um, and you’re removed like you said, but I mean, what’s it gonna take?

Amy: (33:51)
Yeah, I don’t really know. I think there needs to be, like you were saying, uh, it needs to come from associations. It needs come from sponsorship. Um, it can’t just be what’s broadcast and, and, and all that stuff gets, there’s never going to be change. Um, so listen, when I was, when I was playing at every event that I was at, if I was up for an award and there was the, the soccer Quebec has a gala awhere clubs are honored. National team players are honored. Pros are honored. So anytime I saw Joey Saputo, I’m sure he was like, Oh, Christ, here comes this girl again. And I’d be like, Joey, when are you going to get a a women’s impact team?

Paul: (34:27)
They could totally do it. This would be the perfect year to do it.

Amy: (34:29)
And, I do nit understand why not. And the, the white caps had a program ….gone.

Paul: (34:37)
They did have program. That’s right.

Amy: (34:38)
They did a very successful program.

Paul: (34:40)
They were playing, who are they playing? Who are the, who was that team

Amy: (34:45)
that was part of the old W league, which folded, right. Again, good news. There you go. Yeah. Right. So I think at, at this point, maybe it’s not the CPL, maybe it’s the, the NWSL and then we need to get some Canadian teams in there because associations, Mexico and the US and the Canadian associations, uh, I guess the soccer NAFTA , or CONCACAF it’s got its own name. Um, they have an agreement with NWSL so that they pay the salaries of the national team players and they’re placed on the various teams.

Paul: (35:22)
Is that right?

Amy: (35:23)
Yep. So, I mean, I don’t know the details of that

Paul: (35:25)
that can be a perfect linchpin to, to grow that more teams.

Amy: (35:28)
Yeah. So they’re, they’re pumping in, they’re injecting some money in there and they have the top tier players from all three respective national teams. Why can’t there be Canadian teams in there and why can’t you put them maybe in, in cities like Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver?

Paul: (35:44)
Yep, sure. I know there’s all kinds of variables. There’s always variables, but just do it. Exactly. Get, just get the, get that out of the way. Would you, are you going to, uh, uh, push your kids along the direction of playing pro sport or is that not something that, I mean, uh, that’s really on your mind. Do they show a vested interest in, in football? Are they, are they totally down?

Amy: (36:10)
My son, my oldest is just turned 10 and, well, he thinks he’s going to play in the NHL. Oh yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah. And who are we to burst that bubble? Right. And I’m going to throw percentages at him. He’s 10. he loves it. No. Yeah, we’re just at the outdoor rink today. And my, my twins, boy, girl twins are five and they, they’re in their second year of hockey, but they’re also going to be in their second year of soccer. But my oldest, when the twins were born, we put them in soccer and I think it was like, you’ve ruined my life. Who are these two new people that have dominated? I hate them. And you’re putting me in this sport, what is, and people are yelling on the sidelines and they might be cheering, but I hate it. But he’s a, he’s a sports kid. He’s played football, he plays all the sports at school. Like he plays a bunch of different stuff and just loves it. But people are like, Oh, you must be so crushed, he doesn’t play soccer. I’m like, no, we still play at home. I still get the mega on the sideline. It’s okay.

Paul: (37:09)
You have a team, you support a pro team?

Amy: (37:13)
Liverpool. Yes.

Paul: (37:14)
I’m bringing that up because it seems the last couple of guests have been very LFC heavy. That damn bird, I can’t escape it. Ryveann tortured me… on this show, I stay as neutral is absolutely possible. Uh, uh, yeah, sort of as Chu is like going like this. But um, that’s amazing when you told me that. That’s really cool. Do, uh, do you ever watch the premier league in the morning with the kids or is it ever on,

Amy: (37:47)
I try well with the new deal with the streaming and everything and we just get the NBC games. So yeah, I don’t, I don’t get very much. I was mentioning it to you before the show. My sister Bonnie, her husband Phil is a, is a massive Liverpool fan. And so I like we’re at a family gathering. He’s on his phone and I was like Phil, Phil, what’s the score? Yeah. So he keeps plugged in, but, okay.

Paul: (38:10)
Well this interview is over. So, uh, hobbies, do you have any hobbies, anything that’s not sports related?

Amy: (38:17)
Um, well I teach yoga and movement. That’s what I got into after I retired cause I had a bunch of injuries near the end of my career.

Paul: (38:24)
Did it help?

Amy: (38:25)
Hugely. So, you know, mental, physical, I think it was all things rolled into one. And so I, I, I did, uh, my training here in Montreal, nada yoga, which is a great yoga studio in a Mile End. But now my teaching is very much to, to athletes. And it’s my, the spectrum of sort of yogas has widened, so I still call it yoga cause it’s easy to explain, but it’s a, it’s all things kind of movement and multiplanar stuff to sort of compliment their, their practice.

Paul: (38:54)
Have you seen, um, that being used as a real tool for pro athletes over the last five years. I think five, even 10 years, but really in the last, 3….

Amy: (39:05)
Yeah it’s one of the training pieces now, and one of the things that I really focus on, especially with athletes, but that everybody needs is breathing and downregulation and, and how to teach athletes especially, but just everybody how to turn on your off switch. So to go from like adrenaline, um, like go, go, go. I’m over-scheduled. And whether that’s sports, whether you or you’re playing a professional sport or whether you’re a mom or a dad or a student, and how to teach your body to, to chill out,

Paul: (39:38)
to take it down.

Amy: (39:39)
That’s very much through the breath. And I’m, I’m trained, I’m a woman named Jill Miller, founded this program called yoga tuneup. And it’s these therapeutic yoga balls and there’s a big squishy air filled one that you lie on and you breathe on it and use it on your, on your chest, on your back, on your belly. And it’s incredible. Yeah. I don’t get any money from them by the way. I just, I just wanted to say that she’s brilliant and I’ve done a lot of their trainings and I use it a lot with athletes and also like smaller rubber ones that are, that are kind of pliable and they take your superficial fashion, they help everything kind of glide and move better. It’s really awesome.

Paul: (40:15)
I know I, that’s something that’s very, that’s very interesting. There’s a lot of the breathing part that you just mentioned, I know is a, is a key component to the whole thing. It’s actually when you’re in performance, again, you could speak to this better than I could, but when you’re in performance, but then also when you’re just trying to sort of decompress.

Amy: (40:32)
Yeah. So it’s, it’s while you’re, you’re trying to perform at your peak, but then it’s, it’s performing at your peak because you understand how to recover.

Paul: (40:41)
Right. Huge.

Amy: (40:42)
And it’s that piece of the puzzle.

Paul: (40:44)
So one of the main subjects, the main subject about us, uh, on the 1st half podcast is about, uh, soccer and football. Does it have a chance of really growing within the community in North America? Will it be like a hockey, will it be like a baseball in the US or basketball will, you know, infiltrate everywhere, not just, you know, pockets here and there or people that play it. Will it be, and this, it sort of leads to what we were talking about, the women’s game and, and, and sort of the national teams and stuff. Does it have a chance for everybody to be a rabid fan? Is it just about time or is it about marketing? What is it that you think it’s a, how’s it going to sort of progress over the next 50 years?

Amy: (41:34)
Well, I think it’s on an uptick already. So I see it just not necessarily booming from here, but I think continuing to, to grow despite the competition from the NFL and the NBA and MLB and the NHL, they know if you talk about Canada and you know, hockey dominates, right? But uh, but you know, all the Raptors and NBA and that’s big and I think you’re seeing that talked about more and, and there’s more time given to that and, and fans are kind of jumping on the bandwagon if they weren’t already there. And so I think there’s, there’s place for soccer. You know, I don’t, I don’t think, uh, I don’t think that it’s, it’s going to be pushed out. I think that there’s, there’s part of the market and part of that pie that it can grab and continue to, to grow. There’s can be overlap too, right? Like is there’s massive sports Venn diagram. It’s not just, Oh, I’m a, I, I just like American football.

Paul: (42:34)
No, And I guess with media that there’s just so much, there’s so many channels that need to be filled that I think that it will always be room for, for pretty much any sport. Right. Fantastic.

Amy: (42:45)
But I see it, I see it more on the upswing.

Paul: (42:48)
Sure, sure. Right.

Amy: (42:49)
And the women’s game too, continuing to grow it needs the money. It needs the sponsorships.

Paul: (42:57)
It needs proper and an a structure and a few, you know, a few of those big players in like you said in sponsorships are people that already are involved with teams or in leagues that are willing to like, no, no. It’s time to carve out this little piece and really push it forward and not let go and go through the rough parts.

Amy: (43:14)
Exactly.

Paul: (43:14)
It’s like a business, right? It’s the long haul, not just for the moment. There’s a little bit of dwindling because that’s always what happens. Right? Okay. So, um, there’s one other little part that we like to do in the shorts called 12 questions. Okay. So what we’re going to do is it’s very quick questions, you answer and we just move on. There’s no wrong answer. Okay. Except for Liverpool.

Amy: (43:37)
rapid fire portion of the game show that I was never on.

Paul: (43:39)
exactly with a gong burner. [inaudible] ….I had to figure out a way I had to figure out a way to add that in. It was Muppets man. Okay. So 12 questions. Ready? Yep. Okay. What’s your favorite sport?

Amy: (43:55)
Soccer.

Paul: (44:00)
What song or band would you want blasting as you walk into a stadium?

Amy: (44:07)
I guess it has to be the hip. Um, little bones.

Paul: (44:12)
Love it. That’s fantastic. A favorite footie or sports team. Okay.

Amy: (44:19)
Liverpool

Paul: (44:21)
Okay, that’s great. Fantastic. Favorite athlete? Dead or alive.

Amy: (44:26)
Oh, okay. So childhood Amy Wayne Gretzky or my brother Ian Walsh. Um, current because of our discussion. Christine Sinclair.

Paul: (44:38)
Favorite breakfast item?

Amy: (44:41)
Coffee.

Paul: (44:42)
Well done. Favorite drink, alcoholic or non alcoholic.

Amy: (44:47)
Beer.

Paul: (44:48)
Tea or coffee?

Amy: (44:49)
Coffee.

Paul: (44:50)
Dream trip. If you haven’t taken it.

Amy: (44:53)
Okay. So with the national team, we went to Auckland in New Zealand and I would love to go back but go to the South Island because I had a teammate, um, Terran. So who was a goalie on the team a long time ago and she went there. And just the, the lakes and the scenery and the hiking and everything is apparently unrestricted. So there.

Paul: (45:13)
Favorite condiment, ketchup, mustard…,

Amy: (45:16)
Veganaise.

Paul: (45:16)
Yeah. Okay. So good. Nothing to say about, that’s fantastic.

Amy: (45:23)
You’re doubting me?

Paul: (45:24)
No, I’m not. I’m not supposed to react, but of course I’m not bias. No pyjamas or no pyjamas,

Amy: (45:31)
no pyjamas.

Paul: (45:32)
Favorite social media to look at or watch? Or is there something that you’re following right now that you’d like our listeners to check out?

Amy: (45:41)
Oh, so Instagram, um, mindless scrolling, but also for information. Like don’t go there and get all your stuff, but like my nerd stuff is what I was talking about. Like yoga, tune up. Jill Miller, parasympathetic nervous system. Vegas nerve.

Paul: (45:59)
Really? That’s great. That’s good. That’s still amazing. Do you have a superstition?

Amy: (46:05)
Oh, well, currently now, no, I don’t. Did you have them when you were playing? Uh, probably like weird stuff with my socks, but like I mean not like, okay I’m going to put on my left sock in the my right sock but like, okay. So I played a hundred, two times for my country and I only scored five times. Um, but if I ever got like club, I obviously scored more goals. If I ever got an a scoring tear I would keep the same socks and not wash them.

Paul: (46:34)
That’s a superstition. That is huge. It’s disgusting. It’s amazing. It’s fantastic.

Amy: (46:39)
And as a kid playing ringette I would hour back cause I played basketball tend to and I would wear two pairs of socks, basketball and got streaky for basketball or ringette, whatever it was. I would keep the same outer pair. So I remember like taking them out of my ringette bag and like holding them up and everybody going, Oh my God. Because they were just like crusty and disgusting. Yes the socks, power!

Paul: (47:04)
Call it soccer or football?

Paul: (47:09)
Soccer, I can’t do it. My husband’s parents are Glaswegian. Okay. So I feel like I’m a step away from calling it football, but I feel like I can’t give it credibility. Yeah. My kids DNA, they could do it. Maybe.

Paul: (47:24)
Amy, thank you so much for your time today. Thank you for everything. Great insight, great conversation. To be honest, we probably could have kept going, but I, uh, there is a time limit. I get dirty stairs, but really I’m honored. Thank you so much. We’re honored to have you on our show.