Topic 1: Coaching Background:

While playing professional soccer Manya would come home for the summers, and during this time her and her friends started a girls soccer academy in CT. She began coaching at all levels, highschool, club and college and recently made the jump to pursue coaching full time at Marymount. 

Topic 2: Experience Playing Professional Soccer: 

Playing professional soccer was never something Manya grew up dreaming about, in fact the first professional league for women did not start up until she was in college. When Manya finished up her masters degree the second women’s professional soccer league was created and she was drafted to a team. Manya went on to play three years of professional soccer in the US and two years in Europe. 

Topic 3: Coaching Challenges:

Manya’s biggest challenges she sees as a coach is wanting to solve her athletes' problems for them. However, she knows as a coach it is better for her to be a guide and a mentor for them. Manya also struggles with getting attached to athletes she is recruiting and taking it personally when athletes decide not to come to Marymount. 

Topic 4: Coach Communication:

Manya recommends using this time to communicate with coaches through email, or text message. She recommends reaching out to coaches and sending them videos of you in different environments. Manya also says that it stands out to her when athletes watch a Marymount game online then set up a time to talk with her about that game. She recommends that athletes do not send blanket emails that they send to every college, she is looking for specific questions that show an athlete did some research about the team and school.

Topic 5: Tips for Staying Active:

Manya reminds athletes to use this challenging time to not only grow as a player but also as a person. She recommends players get into a routine where they can set aside time to train on their own by playing in their backyard or going for a run however she also advises to set aside time for downtime for yourself to relax. 

Topic 6: Success: Mental Toughness vs Talent:

Manya believes that the mental aspect of the game is 90% of the game. She believes that you can be a talented player but if you do not have the mental toughness, grit and resilience then you will not be successful. Manya believes she herself had to develop mental toughness when she first began playing soccer because she was always the smallest on the field resulting in players and coaches telling her she wasn't good enough because of her size. 

Topic 7: Mount Rushmore of Soccer:

Manya’s first pick was Kristine Lilly. She says that she has always looked up to her and seen her as a very hardworking player. Manya’s next pick is Karina Leblanc who was also her roommate for some time. Manya’s third pick was one of her teammates Marta from the LA Sol. Manya’s fourth pick were two more of her teammates from her time playing with LA Sol.

From her groundbreaking professional career to her passion for coaching, Manya Puppione is a force to be reckoned with. Stayed tuned for more tips and tricks from the pros.

Full Transcript:

Jess Gregory  

 Hello everyone. We are here with Manya puppy oni today over at Marymount University How we doing today? Manya 

Manya Puppione  

I'm doing great little cold but the sun's out so can't complain about that.

Jess Gregory  

Gotta love that. You gotta love that. How are you guys hanging in there with the quarantine? I'm assuming you have out there by you guys.

Manya Puppione  

Yeah, I mean, we're doing great where I have my husband Bobby using he's a soccer coach as well. So um, you know, he's definitely missing his team just like I'm missing my team. But you know, we found ourselves a routine we have two dogs, so you know, we're definitely getting plenty of exercise with them. But yeah, I mean, we've settled down into routine. It's pretty good.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, that's definitely helpful. Do you guys have an outdoor space? Or has you know is it been kind of chill walking around, 

Manya Puppione  

Uhm, we have a small backyard with a fence, which is good. We just can, you know, stick the dogs out there and they'll play a little bit, but we have a really great neighborhood with lots of sidewalks. So you know, we'll take them for walks, I'll take our pup for a run. Our older dog doesn't really like to run with me anymore. So I'm getting my exercise Bobby's getting his exercise to. Oh, that's good.

Jess Gregory  

I bet the dogs love having you guys home.

Manya Puppione  

They do. Yeah, I think like they're not sure what's going on. Because usually, you know, like, either one of us is home or neither of us are home and, um, you know, for us to be home with them. 24 seven, they're like, Alright, what's going on?

Jess Gregory  

Maybe they don't like it. No more walks!

Manya Puppione  

yeah, they're tired for sure.

Jess Gregory  

Awesome. Well, I'm glad you guys are hanging in there. Hopefully this can all kind of pass and everyone can be safe and get out there on the field againsoon. 

Manya Puppione  

Yes, absolutely prayers for that. Exactly.

Jess Gregory  

All right, I kind of want to learn some more about you so can you share your coaching background with us and how you got started and how it took you to maroma?

Manya Puppione  

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I mean, the The game has been such a big part of my life. You know, since I was younger, I think I started playing it like three years old. I have two older brothers, they play soccer So naturally, I wanted to play soccer, you know, so I, you know, play the game as long as I could I had to retire at the professional level because of concussions. Definitely, it was a tough decision and it's, you know, Ben like a roller coaster of healing process from those concussions. So, but that's a whole nother conversation. But yeah, I mean, soccer is just been such a big part of my life. I've married into the game as well. You know, my, my husband's a soccer coach do we actually met on the recruiting trail at that Disney tournament? Um, but I mean, while I was playing professional, I would come home and the offseason and I had to go all their friends who were professional as well. And we started a girls Academy in Connecticut. You know, so that was, you know, just really just a way to, you know, make some money and just be good role models for the youth kids who looked up to us. After I graduated from Arizona, Arizona State, I ended up breaking my leg so I had plans to go to the national team, so that kind of put that on hold. So I ended up going to get my masters, my Master's in business and that's where I started coaching in the college realm. You know, so I've had a lot of experience with college youth High School. But it wasn't until recently until I made that decision to you know, make it a full time thing. 2016 I moved to Maryland to be the assistant coach there. spent three amazing there's amazing years there and then got the head coach at Mary mountain. So, you know, I've I've had a lot of odd jobs, being professional you have to kind of figure out Alright, you know, how can I make some money and to Three months span. Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I've, I've done corporate stuff anywhere between working for a marketing company, you know, working for my church doing social media. So I've had a lot of, you know, cool experiences with that. But, you know, I just I knew that coaching was, you know, calling for me and post Playing career.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. Well, it really sounds like you've overcome a lot of different adversities. Right with. Absolutely. So that's pretty cool that you can share those experiences, I think with players and let them know that it doesn't end there. You can find other ways to stay involved with soccer, so that's awesome.

Manya Puppione  

Yeah, absolutely.

Jess Gregory  

Can you talk a little bit about how you started, like, how you got into the professional playing? Like, what was your journey to get there?

Manya Puppione  

Um, yeah, I'm in high school. You know, to be honest, I never really like dreamed about being a professional soccer player and just, you know, soccer To me, it was just kind of my release in my freedom and just something that just lit the fire inside me and I loved playing and, you know, I just felt the most free there. So I never really, you know, had any, like guidance or direction like, okay, you know, this is something that you can do, you know, as you get older after college and I mean, the the professional league, who say the first one didn't start up until I was in college. So, you know, at that point, you know, I had spent some time in with the youth national teams under 19 when I was in high school, and then with the under 20 ones in college, and, you know, I started to realize that I was actually like, pretty good at the game. You know, I'm just after after graduating, you know, undergrad, that was right after the WSH had folded. So, you know, that was one of the pathways that I took was, you know, going to get my masters and it just worked out perfectly on that as soon as I was doing my master's program. 2008 that's when the secondly came about and I I got drafted to a team in Los Angeles and Charlie nameko, he was the general manager of that team. I had played under him for a couple of semi professional teams in New Jersey. So, you know, soccer is is really all about, you know, just the networking and all the college coaches, or all of the coaches that you have, in the course of your career, it's going to help you continue your career. So I'm just very grateful for Charlie and just, you know, him giving me the opportunity. And that was my first year playing Pro, like, it was just like, you know, I went into it, like, wide I like just, you know, not knowing what that world was gonna be like, and it was, you know, like, just blew my mind being a part of that world. So I'm very grateful for the opportunity to, to, you know, play professional soccer. I played three years in the US and two years in Europe, and I mean, soccer has given me all those awesome opportunities to travel the world, make some awesome friends and teammates and just play for some great coaches too.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah. Oh, that's really awesome. I love to hear that. You know, the sport has grown so much especially for women that you know, we have that opportunity to kind of look towards that professional level even know you know that it's a small percentage of kids that will go there but to kind of have that for females i think is just amazing that we've we've been able to yeah. I hope it keeps growing.

Unknown Speaker  

yeah it's gonna keep growing I mean the the NWSL now is like in its what like going into its seventh year I think. I mean it's just amazing that there's you know now opportunity and now like, you know, younger players have something to aspire to be a part of. And that's awesome.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, I think the the Women's World Cup has probably helped as well. Absolutely.

Manya Puppione  

Yeah, yeah, definitely. Everybody wants to be a part of that success story for for women in the in the United States.

Jess Gregory  

That's awesome. Let's let's keep going lady. Yeah, absolutely. Now let's jump back over to your coaching cuz I want to learn more about that. Can you sum up the most challenging aspect XF coaching once you've gotten into it,

Manya Puppione  

yeah, I mean, obviously, anything comes, it's, you know, it's rewarding moments, but also comes with its challenging moments. So, you know, for me, I'm just, you know, because soccer is one of my big passions, I put everything of me into it, you know, whether it's coaching on the field with my team, like recruiting, you know, so as far as like the team part, I think the hardest thing for me is like, I want to go out there and like, do it for them, you know, like, I want to show them how it's done. And not like, I'll still jump in and play around with them and like, they love when I do that, but like, I just, I want to solve the problems for them. But I know as a coach, like, I can't do that I'm just more of like a guide and a mentor and just, you know, giving them some questions to think about and we talk about different situations. So it's really like getting them to like, understand what's going on in my head reading the game. And then as far as like the recruiting stuff, gosh, like it, I relate it a lot to like dating, you know, cuz you put like, you know, you have these conversations, and you're just To get to know them, and they come to campus and you know, get to meet their family, you know, and when you don't get recruited, not you know, I'm very understanding like I want, um, you know, I want the recruits decision to be for them, you know, has to be a good fit for them, you know, not just an RN, like, we want you like you're a great parry person. But it's like, when they decide not to come to your school like it, it hurts very deeply. And like, you know, just because, like, you invest all this time and emotion and like, your players get to meet them, like the rest of your staff gets involved. Like, it's, it's really upsetting, like, I mean, I had a recruit, you know, I talked to her yesterday and like, you know, she had come to visit twice. She was from down south and, you know, like, got to meet your family and like, the team loved her. She was just a sweet girl. And like, I mean, it just worked out like, you know, she had to think about our long term and just, you know, not being in debt, which like, I totally understand, especially, you know what's going on now. But like it hurt, you know? So that's like, you know, very, very challenging. Yeah, absolutely.

Jess Gregory  

So what are some other kind of recruiting tips that maybe you can offer? Because you did mention, this is a challenging time, right. All of the girls are are off the field, they're all kind of stuck at home.What are some good tips that you can give them?

Manya Puppione  

Yeah, I mean, just for them personally, you know, just to continue to grow as a player and grow as a person. This is a challenging time, you know, not just for them, but for, you know, their families, you know, some parents are maybe losing their jobs or not getting paid as much, you know, they're trying to figure out the online platform of school, which, you know, that they're gonna have to deal with when they get to college, because, you know, colleges do offer the online platform as well. You know, and I think a big thing that, you know, that definitely needs to be addressed is like that. The mental health aspect, you know, but if it was easy Everyone would be great at it, you know, because, like it's, it's hard going through tough times and just like building up your resiliency and like your mental toughness and like, you know, but I found for for at least for me and just like talking with my team and talking with recruits like finding a routine and finding the balance of Okay, like yes, I need to like train on my own now you know, whether it's like go in the backyard or go for a run. But you need to find that balance of maybe just like quiet time to just to kind of like journal or reflect or, you know, do some yoga or like, cross train, you know, like, you don't have to be training soccer every single day as much as coaches would want you to do that. Like, if you need like a break from playing soccer every day, like, you know, try out like kickboxing or something you know, like just find that balance and just find like a healthy routine for you. You know, I'm very structured and I'm all about routines like I use my Google calendar to like set times Okay, this is my workout time every day you know, this is my you know, reflection time. I think that definitely helps. I mean, there's so many resources out there, you know, even before this COVID-19 has happened, you know, between like YouTube training videos, beastmode soccer, you know, a Bush's techni app, like, there's so many different resources that, you know, players can use. But sometimes it may just be like, the best thing for you is to just go out in the backyard, bring a ball and just like play around, like juggle, dribble, like, try some cool new trick, you know, just to make it fun. One thing that we've been doing with our 2020 commits, is we have them try something new each week, something that you know, maybe they're not good at, and just embracing the suck, you know, like that they're not good at something and, you know, just kind of like giving them a challenge. You know, like, we love to work on stuff that we're great at, which is fantastic. I think, you know, players should do that. But, you know, find something that you're not great at and like, challenge yourself, you know, so there's those are some You know, ways to kind of like stay mentally engaged and, you know, work through this this time where we're all kind of in quarantine.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, for sure. I mean, keeping a routine is probably one of the best steps right? Because it is so easy to kind of lounge on the couch and watch Netflix.

Manya Puppione  

Exactly, I'm guilty. Sure, 

Jess Gregory  

but you know, for kids wanting to get back out there who knows when it'll be it might be a month IP. But yeah, we might as well stay in a routine and kind of keep your head in the game for sure. So um, Alright, so let's talk recruiting specifics like communication, I guess let's kind of get into what kids can do while they're at home now to get in contact with you. And you know, stay in the process.

Manya Puppione  

Yeah, absolutely. Um, I think you know, with with this time and just looking at the positives from it. We all have a A lot more time now, which is good. You know, so utilize that time, you know, set some, some time each day to write emails. I mean, emails are great. You know, if you have a coaches number, like text them and be like, Hey, how you doing today, you know, like, you know, you can send them like, I mean, it's great to send like highlight videos, ball games, you know, like coaches definitely have time to you know, sit through and watch those now, which is very, very helpful. We like to see players in different environments, different situations, whether it's like an ID clinic or you know, showcase game or Tournament game where something's on the line. You know, we love watching stuff like that, but, you know, maybe you did work on a trick last week and you perfected it, like, text me a video of it, even if it's 10 seconds of you, like you know, doing a rainbow over your dog like that's really cool. Like and that just shows that you know, you're being innovative and being creative and not just you know, settling for average. You know, I know there there are some ways to watch and college games online. Whether it's the highlights or just full games, you know, just you know, a few are able to watch a Marymount game and, you know, we set up a time to talk, like, let's talk about that game, you know, like, what did you notice that my team was doing? You know, like, what are some ways that you know, we can work on something with our tactics a little bit better? How would you fit into that playing sounds like hey, coaching, like, I think I would make a good center for it and the system that you play, you know, and that just shows me that you did some research, you're invested and taking your time to learn about us, you know, not just, you know, like, what's on the website or on our social media, and just other you know, communication just like, you know, what are you doing, you know, to stay busy during this time? How are you helping your community, your neighbors, your family, your teammates, how are you staying engaged with their, with your team and then, you know, ask questions, you know, if you do the research in advance, like, you know, we want to feel that personal connection you know, we we do get a lot of, you know, blanket emails from recruits, and I would say that's a big like, don't you know, if I I can tell that, you know, you wrote this same email to, you know, another maybe another team in our, in our conference like, you know, we we definitely notice those things coaches aren't aren't dumb, you know, like we're looking for specifics about us or just a specific question like, hey, like, I saw that you played this team and like the score was, you know this at halftime and then you ended up winning the game like, you know, what was your game tactics going into the second half? Just really, really specific stuff is is definitely big for communication with coaches.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, that's awesome. That also kind of goes back to the whole relationship thing. Like you're really good with these kids and their money. Right? Yeah. Yeah. I think that's kind of another good way to keep kids engaged to is like, Hey, I did this cool trick in my backyard, and it'll grab your attention as well as kind of maybe putting them out there a little bit more. So

Manya Puppione  

yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, we're people do coaches or people do that. We have families, we have hobbies, you know, it's Yeah, a recruiter asked me like, Hey, you know, like I saw that you posted on your social media. Like, you know, you playing around with your dog, like, I've got a dog too, you know, like, we want to, you know, have that personal connection because I mean, at the end of the day, we're all people, you know, they're recruits, they're new, they're young women and like, I want to get to know them and like, what makes them you know, makes them tick and what they like, what they don't like and how they would fit in with our family, on our team. So it's definitely important to go on a little bit of a deeper level than just the soccer surface.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. Now those kids will definitely want to let you know like their grad year and their maybe their GPA because your division three

Manya Puppione  

Yep. Division Three. Yeah, there's a lot of good info. Oh, yeah. I mean, just the basic info, you know, you don't really need to, like if we've had a conversation, you don't need to keep putting that in there. I mean, it's it's not a bad idea to maybe put in the subject line. But I mean, that first email that you send out to a coach definitely grabbed here because that's gonna, I mean, at least for like the the To Do you want coaches it will, you know, trigger whether they can actually have a conversation with you or not, but with division three, we can talk to anybody, which is great. Don't have the the debt period or anything like that. But yeah, grad years important GPA, LSAT score, you know, like your, what you want to study, you know, like what you think your major wants to be, is going to be your you know, what you want to do with that major. You know, the team that you play for maybe your coaches contact information, we do a lot of kind of background homework, we talk to, you know, to club coaches, high school, coaches, about players, you know, so just as much information that you can know about yourself, and I know that there's a lot of like, recruiting websites out there. Like if you have a profile on a recruiting website, you know, like prep hero, I know that exact users like, you know, go ahead and send that link, you know, like, we like doing our homework too. You know, so the more information the better.

Jess Gregory  

Yeah, absolutely. Awesome. Those are some great tips for kids. I think they should be able to keep the process rolling. Yeah. And and, you know, not get stuck in this time. Yes.

Manya Puppione  

Absolutely. Perfect.

Jess Gregory  

All right. I kind of want to chat a little bit about since you've been coaching for a while and you've called at higher levels, I want to get your pick your brain really on how you see success if it's the mental toughness of the players, or the talent or a combination of the two. So can you getyour thoughts there? 

Manya Puppione  

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that's, that's always a big question. You know, when it comes down to success, and what makes a player's best to find that success, you know, for me and what I found, like with myself, and you know, most of the players that you know, I've coached or coached against, like, the mental game is probably 90% of the game, you know, like, you can have the talent and skill but if you don't have that mental toughness, or grit or resiliency or fight, like, you're not going to be successful. I mean, I've seen some like really, really talented players and like the second that maybe another player kind of messes with their head and like, pushes them around, and they're not like tough enough to fight back. Like, they kind of lose the game or they you know, lose themselves and like they're not in the game as they should be. You know, so for me, that was a really, really big thing. And I think because I'm, you know, I was such a I was a small player I was like four foot 11 like in high school and I would be playing against players like twice my size. You know like I had to develop that mental toughness because I you know, like players would even coaches would tell me like oh you're not good enough You're too small like like I had to you know find that internal motivation you know to develop that that fight not mental toughness. So it's, it's really, really big. And then as far as like a team's mental toughness that is huge. It's just that mentality going into a game that like you're prepared, you've done the work like you can fight through anything. You know, a good example about my team this past season, so we had a pretty tough non conference schedule, played a cup against a couple of like top 25 teams and number one Messiah being one of them. You know, and we knew they were number one going into it, you know, they're an amazing amazing program. Scott's done such a great job with them. You know, but we prepared so much you know, like beforehand and like going into that game like they weren't scared like they were spected Messiah because they were number one. And like when you're number one, like you definitely are in that respect, but, I mean, we went 00 at halftime with the number one team in the nation and like, that's awesome. We're only like one of like a few teams to be able to do that. You know, we ran out of gas. And you know, we didn't have a lot of like healthy subs for so we end up losing the game, but like, we stuck to our game plan, you know, like they fought back, you know, like we trained and prepared so much. Like, I'm just so proud of my team for having like that much mental toughness to go up against an opponent like a Messiah. Yeah.

Jess Gregory  

I like that. You say that you were so proud of them because I'm sure they were proud of the way that they played to you know, we have that mental strength and you play well, even the losses you learn something from it, and you can feel good about it. And yeah, for the next one.

Manya Puppione  

Yeah, absolutely. For sure. 

Jess Gregory  

That's super cool. I like hearing things like that

Manya Puppione  

like, yeah, we definitely look back at that game and like we don't look at the score. We just like we look back at the like the effort and the resiliency that we did have. That's pretty cool.

Jess Gregory  

And you hung with him like you knew you were the underdog. Oh, that's awesome. All right, man. Yeah, I have one more question for you. And it's probably my favorite one so far. I want to know your Mount Rushmore of soccer, like, top four.

Manya Puppione  

This was like so, so tough because it's so hard to pick just for Yeah. Um, but I would say number one, Kristine Lilly, um, Connecticut native just like myself, and she was one that like, I just really looked up to, um, you know, like, she was on the national team and just like always, like, known as like the fittest the most hard working player. You know, we, my high school team played against her high school team, and it was actually on the day that they dedicated the field in her name. Yeah, so I got to like, you know, meet her then. And then I actually ended up like working her summer camps and stuff like that played against her and I just have so much respect for her. You know, like, she She, she was the epitome of what I wanted to be as a player just like, you know, I was known for my fitness and my hard work ethic, you know, because those are some things that you can control. So I was going to work at that just like her and, you know, I still just have so much respect for her and you know, where I've gotten to know her a lot, which is pretty cool. So never really got to play on the same team as her but always playing against her. And then I would say the last two I would say the last couple are from my Lysol team that my first year playing professional 2009 Kareena LeBlanc, she was a Canadian national team goalkeeper, she was my roommate. So we had a mansion in Beverly Hills. It sounds like a complete movie. But I played with her before. I'm actually with Charlie name. Also Charlie Naima was our coach for a semi pro team in New Jersey and then he brought both of us to Li Seoul for the first year and like i just i I got really close with her she was a dear dear friend of mine she still is and she really really helped me understand the professional level of you know, the biggest advice that she gave me was like you have to take care of yourself because no one else is going to you know, when it comes down to contracts and like all the craziness that can happen. Yeah. But we just had a lot of fun like we would drive together in the morning to practice and just talk and like share stories and laugh like like I just have so much respect for her because I had gotten so close with her and then on the field like she helped me so much like I earned my starting roles and outside back with that la Sol team, which had like, big star names like I like I can't believe that like I had done that but like she just helped me so much like kind of perfect that outside back roll and like when she spoke like you listen like you did it. So you know, very grateful for her. Another teammate on on the LA Sol Marta, you may have heard of her before, but I got to play with that. And, you know, with her being a forward and being an outside back like we would battle it out and training and you know, she helped me become a better defender because I was defending the greatest player in the world you know, but just to like to actually like get to know her to you know, versus just kind of what is what she's portrayed as, you know, in the media and social media that like she was just so like passionate and her energy and just like her goofiness to like was really really cool to see. You know, so that was she's my number three. And then Gosh, my last one I'm going to cheat and say two more of my old teammates. I oh mama she was on the Japanese national team had Captain that that national team after her Marsala had retired. She was known as I think they're like the david beckham of Japan like her free kicks were absolutely ridiculous. And then Camille actually she was on the French national team as well like one of the greatest players in the world so them to like they lived with us in the mansion and Beverly Hills and they came over like not really knowing much English. So it was just a fun process of like getting them out of their shells teaching them some English and like just learning from them on the field to like it was just it was unbelievable experience. So I'm going with them to my last my last spot.

Jess Gregory  

Mount Rushmore five. All right. Well, we'll squeeze them together. Yeah. Okay. Awesome. All right, man, you Well, I really appreciate you sitting down with me today. I had a lot of fun chatting with you and learning more about you and and hopefully you know the kids watching this will get to learn more too.

Manya Puppione  

Yeah, absolutely. Thank you, Jess. I really appreciate you having me on.

Jess Gregory  

Yep, for sure. We'll talk to you soon. All right. Sounds good. I feel good.

Manya Puppione  

Yeah, absolutely.

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