United Soccer Coaches annual convention is a big deal. Every year, thousands of soccer types from across the country (and turns out, the world) show up to learn, share, pitch, and hang out with at the convention. This year, Knights Who Say NISA podcast was invited to be on Podcast Row and we decided to attend. The convention is in Philadelphia and this is my travel log.

Day Three

Won’t lie. I’m notorious for not finishing travel logs. Couple of days, I’ll crush them and then I trail off. So today will be a look back over day three and maybe some overall feedback on the United Soccer Coaches Convention. Finish strong!

The day kicked off with the awareness that by the end of it, I would be alone in a large city. Though the three of us hadn’t known each other in person before this week, we’d quickly moved into familiar roles: Creel the more reserved type, ready with information and incisive analysis, John the steady go-between, affable and easy to talk to, and me, the wild card (It’s Always Sunny reference). Knowing we would be splitting up the gang in less than 6 hours wasn’t fun.

So I had long before decided that the three of us would hit up Independence Hall before we left Philly and this was the morning that would happen. We walked the quick 15 minutes over to the Hall, catching the Liberty Bell on the way (because why not!). We got a tour from a well-informed tour guide and then dipped mid-way, as we had guests scheduled early. As we excited, we snapped what might be might favorite picture of the three of us all week.

We arrived at the Convention Center 5 minutes before our scheduled time and our guests were already in the booth, waiting for us. Shout out to Matt and Dennis from Southwest Premier League. They were ready to go. After a quick assemblage of equipment, I interviewed the pair. John had been losing his voice the entire time we were in town and today he got to the point of whispering. So I did the vast majority of the recording over the course of the day.

We put 4-5 interviews into the can on Friday, including Shea Butter FC (which we released today) and a short piece with Alexi Lalas. Alexi is widely hated in the lower league community, but was affable and engaging as always. Several other interviews will release over the next two weeks, keep an eye out for them.

At 11a, Creel dipped out for his train and around 4p John followed. Just before John left, Jimmy Conrad stopped by and recorded me for a project he was working on. Not sure what I looked like in that show, but I tried to give the man content. That evening, I was invited to a league happy hour, which I took full advantage of, then another league official reached out for food (perfect timing), so I spent another 2 hours eating and discussing soccer.

All in all, it was a great day and I can’t recommend the experience more highly.

Wrap Up

Overall, massive success of a week.

meeting the Knights guys, big win.
having a couple of NPSL club coaches walk up and thank us for the coverage, wow. Beyond blessed.
working with the USCC people, so nice to deal with professionals being professional.
meeting the other creators on podcast row, awesome. Good people making great content.

See you in Anaheim next year.

- Dan Vaughn