Jess Gregory  
All right, everybody. I am here with Chris Allen out of St. Louis University. How are we doing today, Chris?

Chris Allen
Very well. The weather is a weather's nice and the sun is out. So it's a good day to have a good day.

Jess Gregory
That is always a plus. And it's Friday. So that gives us a little

Chris Allen
Good Friday, at that?

Jess Gregory
Oh, exactly. We got Easter coming up this weekend for those of us that celebrate that. So that's exciting. How's life in lockdown for you?

Chris Allen
Um, well as a former high school teacher. So you know, coaching college now but getting to go back to my roots a little bit and breaking out my biology lesson plan. My freshman daughter, um, she hasn't enjoyed as much as I do, but I'm having a blast with it. So

Jess Gregory
at least you guys can spend a little bit more time together and kind of run with it. Absolutely. Awesome. All right, Chris. So I really want to learn more about how you got into coaching. So if you want to share with us how that started, and then how it kind of led to your, your journey through to sleep.

Chris Allen
Absolutely. as a as a 40 year old guy. It's been a long it's been a long time since initially Getting Started but I'm really you know, it's kind of started in graduate school, I was getting my master's degree, and I can zaggy University in athletic administration. And at that time, I was looking for a kind of just a part time job and through a connection. I'm one of the local high schools Exotica prep Preparatory School was needing a assistant boy soccer coach at that time and so it just kind of met and you know, got got that job and ever since then, have just been in fatik about like the coaching world and from that experience that really, really, you know, made me realize that I probably didn't want to get into the actual sports administration. I want to get more into the teaching and coaching aspect because the relationships were so valuable for me. And I'm just incredibly kind of insightful. And I learned a lot about myself and my teaching methodologies and things like that. So it really started there. And I was up in Spokane for four years and was coaching both boys and girls soccer at the high school level and a head coach for the girls assistant coach for the boys on and then moved back originally from St. Louis, Missouri and moved back here and became a high school teacher and coach for over a decade and really obviously enjoyed my time my experience there and our current head coach at St. Louis University. Katie shields was recruiting one of our athletes At the time and her and I just like started a lot of dialogue and really kind of became a really you know, good friend of mine as we're going through this and my back in the back of my mind I'd always thought you know college soccer and everything like that but you know I was teaching you have the stability I got three kids and you know, beautiful life. It just didn't seem to like give up that security and go into like the roller coaster world of college coaching. But the more Katie and I kind of talked and the more it seemed like something that you know, she felt that I would be good at it was something that I'd always wanted to do. And one before I've been a slew for four years now and just an awesome, awesome story. I feel like

Jess Gregory
Yeah, absolutely. That that's a great, great long career that you've had trying to be in athletics because you're right, it is kind of a roller coaster. So it's kind of cool that you've been able to stay in it that long and you got to come back home which is great.

Chris Allen
Absolutely. Absolutely. So you know, for the from the people Um, you know, from St. Louis, it really does hold a special place and in people's hearts and it kind of tugs on you to come back. So it is pretty. It's like a dream come true to be able to do this in your hometown and have the success that we've had at the university level in town is pretty special.

Jess Gregory
Yeah, for sure. I gotta say I am from Chicago. So there we go.

Chris Allen
Okay, so there's a card of Cardinals cubs. Yeah, rivalry. We're pretty happy with the blues and kind of what they did. Um, we recruit out of Chicago a lot. And, you know, one of the first questions is, you know, are you a Cubs fan? And if they say, Yes, we know it's still kind of a low moral character, you know, so then it's just obviously just joking, though. We got a lot of we got a lot of cubs, cubs Cardinals rivalry within our own team.

Jess Gregory
Absolutely. It's funny because I have family down in St. Louis. And so they're all Cardinals fans and then our side of the family is all Cubs fan. So I enjoy it.

Chris Allen
Makes for good family reunions you know, banter so

Jess Gregory
exactly and now that you have the blues in there, you know we can go hawks blues, so

Chris Allen
without a doubt we finally won something. So it's a it's big time.

Jess Gregory
Exactly. All right, Chris. Um, so can you kind of tell us a little bit now about the most rewarding part of coaching for you since you've had this like really long, cool career?

Chris Allen
Yeah, you know, I think it really, you know, and without going too far into it, it's been a fairly unconventional route, you know, for me to get into college coaching, being a high school teacher for more than a decade. But I think, you know, to answer your question, the things that I have been most rewarding for me as a coach, really stem from what was most rewarding for me as a teacher, and just seeing, you know, the ability to connect with every, you know, student in your class, regardless of the level that they come in at, and then being able to modify, you know, your teaching strategies, your motivational, you know, things like that to be Be able to get the best out of each student and that you know, that becomes the best 57 minutes or whatnot for their day, I'm really try to have have tried to incorporate that into my coaching that you know, to be a part of these kids best time throughout the day that they really thoroughly enjoying, like going to practice, obviously playing in the games and stuff like that. And so, you know, for me, it all comes down to the personal relationships, and getting to know our players as people first and foremost. And as we get a better understanding of who they are as people and their character, we will then be able to know like what motivational strings we need to tug on to kind of get the best out of them what they're looking for out of their experience. So for me just that relationship quality, to see someone you know, live up to their potential and perform to the best of their ability and just get that joy and enthusiasm and excitement from capitalizing on those moment. There really is nothing better than that. I don't feel like from a coaching standpoint,

Jess Gregory
yeah, those are some great. Those are definitely some great things about coaching for sure is kind of seeing that growth, especially throughout four years. Like it's a little bit different when you have somebody in club for maybe a year and then you don't really see them. But at four year stretch of high school and college is

Chris Allen
pretty sweet. Well, it makes it really kind of enjoyable, as you know, we tend to recruit, you know, in that kind of sophomore junior year, you know, limited by the NCAA now, I'm from, you know, in contact with sophomores until after June 15 of the sophomore year. But, you know, almost prior to that is that you'd get like a commitment from a sophomore in high school, and then see them go through this entire span of their college career and from where they started to where they ended on it's, it's pretty rewarding. Yeah, absolutely.

Jess Gregory
Now outside of Cubs fans, what are some other challenging aspects of coaching

Chris Allen
um, you know, it's It goes back to like, my teaching stuff is that sometimes you want things, or your players or your students that they aren't necessarily motivated to want for themselves. And I think that word potential is a very scary, scary thing. But you just see the potential in a student in a player and that they never quite fully grasp it, they never quite reach kind of what you had been hoping for. This is like the dad and me kind of comes out to buy three kids is that you can want whatever it is that you want for your kids, but like it's, it's their own choices to make. And, you know, we talked a lot about in our program, a lot of times that you know, that each kid is the owner of their own development. You know what I mean? And like, or that, quote, you can lead a horse to water. So, you know, I think sometimes it's difficult to see a kid just kind of, you know, plateau a little bit way before you thought that they'd be kind of getting to that point. And that's not just, you know, at SLU. It's my high school, kind Coaching days and things like that, but you just kind of leave that experience feeling like you let that kid down. So that that's hard. I take that personally. Yeah,

Jess Gregory
yeah, I think it's hard to not take things personally as because you're working with them. You know, so much like sometimes kids don't understand how much you are with your coaches and teams once you finally get to the college level. Um, so he had it's hard to not take it personal

Chris Allen
it is in every kid, you know, like you've gone through the recruiting process, you promised to take care of them that you're going to wrap your arms around them and be an extension of their family here in St. Louis and to see them not fulfill what they wanted to out of their experience or whatnot. You know, that's it's something that Katie and myself or her coat like we take very hard You know, it's difficult, but I can say that, you know, the positives far outweigh those those good moments far away before moods.

Jess Gregory
Well, it's definitely why he's doing it right. Otherwise everyone would stop

Chris Allen
very quickly. Yeah, yeah.

Jess Gregory
All right, so can you now we're all kind of stuck at home, and you have all this experience of coaching kids at different levels. So I'm sure you have some great tips on how they can stay physically active during this time.

Chris Allen
Yeah, you know, it's, we're fighting this battle with our own kids, you know what I mean? And so, we are, you know, it almost goes back to the quote I just said, is that this is actually the perfect time to like, grow in your development, because you are the owner of your own development in that respect. And so, um, you know, I think now, you know, from a soccer standpoint is that, you know, what are you doing on the ball, I think that that is a critical component and that, you know, I saw this quote or something that if you can't fall in love with the ball during this time, it's just not gonna happen, like it's just not gonna happen, because that's all you really have at this point. And so I think that just really truly enjoying it, finding joy out of working by yourself, whether you have a kick back and you know, brick wall, or just a driveway, you know, what I mean? should just be working on those fundamental skills. That you're able to do anything that you can, once the ball is at your feet, I think it gets a little bit easier than from a physical standpoint to kind of stay in shape to push yourself, you know, obviously, you know, here in the St. Louis region, we have like tracks and you know, fields are all closed down. But you still have streets, you know, I mean, and you can do some interval sprints on the streets, you know, just little things like that you can get do a little bit of a longer run, but I really think now it's the the self motivators, the ones that really truly want it. They're looking at this time, because they have a lot of it now, and they're just absolutely crushing it and taking advantage of it. Yeah, absolutely.

Jess Gregory
I actually just had the San Diego coach sent me a text the other day her and her son just drew a ladder with chalk on the sidewalk. And they do that so Oh, yeah.

Chris Allen
Yeah, absolutely. And so, and I think you can do different things, whether it's, you know, you're going on a bike ride or whatnot. Like you can push yourself in different places. Ask these because I think we're going to be here for a bit you want to be. And so tonight, I think a lot of times people stop exercising and doing those things when it gets very mundane for them, but to constantly be challenging yourself in different ways, and not just physically but like mentally like watch a game, you know, I mean, watch a game, a club game, a high school game back and, you know, what are some positives of things that you did? What would you have wanted to do differently from a teachable standpoint? So I think there's a lot of ways that you can grow during this time, and not just simply say, Oh, I'm bored. There's nothing to do, because there's all sorts of things to kind of grow.

Jess Gregory
Let's touch base a little bit more on that mental side. Can you give some other tips or at least expand a little bit on watching the games and how that can help them stay mentally prepared?

Chris Allen
Absolutely. You know, I think I think it's something that is starting to become more talked about, to be honest, you know, is the mental approach to stop and just looking at the T shirt to your left or by right you know, I've gone mental, like it's something that, you know, the exact camps really promote and like, listen to those speeches about it, I think it's absolutely right on is that the mentality is going to drive your talent. You know, I mean, there's a lot of players that have a whole lot of talent. But when it really starts to get difficult when they're confronted with adversity, they just don't necessarily have the mentality to fall back on. And so right now you can build that self discipline, you can build the mentality to go along with your talent. And so it's just so critical, particularly, you know, seeing it from the college standpoint is that most of the kids that we're recruiting, they probably, you know, most likely they've been the best player on whatever team that they've ever been on, you know, whether it's high school or club, and they get to college, and for the first time ever in their lives, they're not the best. Yeah, and they might be struggling with playing time they might be struggling with making the travel roster and so what do you do at that point, if you've never truly struggled before, how do you handle you know, quote, unquote, That failure. And I think if you don't have that mentality, and that competitiveness to fall back upon your, you're going to be in trouble. You know what I mean? And your experiences going to reflect that. So I think now you know, whether it's reading books about it, whether it's making sure that you're exercising, what does the discipline look like? What is the nutritional aspects, you know, look like, I think it's just a critical time to really be able to self analyze yourself of your physical presence, your emotional presence. And then, you know, as you just asked about the mental approach is so critical.

Jess Gregory
Yeah, I think now is probably the best time to do some self reflection, because it's just you, you can sit down and journal on it if you want and kind of realize what do I really want going forward without having all that extra pressure? Because you're kind of on your own right now to figure absolutely, absolutely, yeah. Yeah. Now you touch base a little bit on this. So I want to jump ahead and find out how you feel about success. So that the talents And the mental side, you mentioned can kind of come together when you think about your most successful team that you've had high school, college doesn't matter. Do you think that the talent stood out more or the mental toughness of the athletes?

Chris Allen
I need I it's a it's a it's a hard it's a hard question Is it really I think there's a very good mix of both like to be at the end of the day, you have to have the talent to be able to execute, you know, in these big moments and stuff like that. But I am really, really convinced that you cannot win a championship without the mentality. You know, I mean, I really think that in the scales of thing, I think the mentality in that competitive piece are so important. And so whether it has been club, whether it's been high school out in Spokane, Washington or high school in St. Louis, I have never been a part of a winning team or a championship level team that was an incredibly competitive and competitive not just simply on Game Day. But more importantly, in training, and more importantly, in preparation for the, you know, practices in the season kind of coming up. So, you know, for our recruiting standpoint, you know, the one being the recruiting coordinator at SLU. Like one of the things that, you know, I'm tasked from our head coach, she's like, I want the most competitive kids that are out there. Because we can we can or, you know, obviously, talent comes into it. But like, that competitive piece is going to be so critical, because they're going to find some bumps in the road by the time they get to college. And what does that mentality was that competitiveness kind of look like and we've had a lot, you know, there's been a lot of talented kids that aren't overly competitive, that kind of flame out quite a bit, but it's very rare that you have an incredibly competitive kid that doesn't see the four year experience all the way through.

Jess Gregory
Yeah, absolutely. I've definitely been a part of some teams where we, we should have been on paper, right? Is it Right, right. Yeah. Like what happened?

Chris Allen
Yeah. And so you just, I think when you do the self analysis, or the team analysis of that you can go back. And a lot of times the answer that is like our practices were crap. Sorry, our practices, that they just weren't great. They weren't overly competitive. We weren't competing in in training. And then all of a sudden, when we went down a goal in a legit game, like there was no response, you know, I mean, no one was pulling it together. And so it just begins to snowball very quickly, and one loss turns into two and two to three, and then three into a losing season and unfulfilled potential.

Jess Gregory
Yeah. Yeah, that definitely can happen very quickly. And on the code side, you're like, how is this going down? Right, like, hold

Chris Allen
up against like a waterfall that's coming through, you know? Yeah.

Jess Gregory
Yeah, absolutely. All right. So I kind of want to switch gears just a little bit and kind of move into some recruiting questions because I know that's what kids are thinking about right now. There. I've definitely heard from athletes. That they're nervous, like, no one can watch me play anymore. What do I do? So can you give us some general recruiting tips on, you know, what kids can do during this time just to stay active in the recruiting process?

Chris Allen
Absolutely. Now, it's going to be a little bit different, depending on whether they are a freshman or sophomore currently, as we speak today on April 10, you know, I think, you know, for the juniors and seniors in many cases, and this is maybe we tried to put the positive spin on it. You know, coaches are now more present than ever, you know, I mean, because spring seasons are canceled and so we're sitting you know, on zoom on Skype calls quite a bit. And so for the juniors and seniors here, you're almost gonna have more contact than ever with those coaches. And yes, while spring games and showcases and stuff like that were canceled. In today's technology, or with the technology available from previous games, highlight films, you can film yourself in the backyard and just send that to the interesting coaches. Just let them see that you're playing, you're doing stuff and all you need is a glimpse, as a coach and be like, Hey, I kind of like what I'm seeing. I want to talk to you, you know what I mean? And that we can get kind of on a phone call. And so in many cases, I think coaches are looking under any rock, you know that they can right now because they have the time to do so. And so I think those players that might have gone unnoticed maybe a little bit before are actually if they're putting themselves out there with like actual video content and things like that. I think they're gonna find that coaches are a lot more responsive in this time than ever before. And in that respect, you know, I think from the freshmen and sophomores it is a little bit hard because I think this is going to be the spring was going to be a critical evaluation time. But the same things can be said is that if you are interested in certain schools and what you're looking at, to keep feeding them with content, you know, I mean, keep emailing. We can't obviously respond, but you know, email them and tell us what you're doing during the course. You know, I mean, like, how are you staying active? How are you staying fit? You're reading any good books? You know, I think so much of recruiting is personalized. And so if you if the freshman sophomores kind of go dark on their end of communication, then yeah, it becomes a wasted spring, you know what I mean? But if they're constantly working out, they're filming their time in themselves do it doesn't hurt just to share that with schools and coaches that have, you know, that you're interested in or have engaged with you previously, you've been in a camp or something like that. Yeah, absolutely.

Jess Gregory
So definitely sounds like then communication should stay on point. They should just be reaching out even for those comedy videos, even for the freshmen and sophomores that can't get a response back. They should still send something out so that they can get that relationship started because it is relationship. It's not a one off. Hey, I sent an email. Yeah, I got a scholarship. So they need to keep that communication rolling.

Chris Allen
Absolutely. And then really, particularly for the sophomores set themselves up for June 15. You know, I mean, where are we are allowed to make, you know, emails and phone calls and that type of contact and everything. And so I think unfortunately, one of the biggest, you know, byproducts of all this, that's going to really kind of hurt and maybe slow down the recruiting aspect is that, you know, many campuses are going to be closed the summer, and there's not going to be identification camps or ID camps that go with that that has been a really good recruiting tool, not only for the coaches, when these kids get on campus, but also the kids to be coached by potential college coaches, and just see what that campus kind of feels and looks like. So I do think in many cases, you know, for the sophomores, it might slow down the recruiting or I'm sorry, going to be I guess, juniors, it'll slow down that recruiting a little bit. But I think that's what the NCAA was wanting. And I think that that's kind of a good thing, to be brutally honest. And I think most of the coaches that have been watching and evaluating, since this will pass last April anyway, that you know, they're in a pretty good place of knowing where the class of 22 Falls. For them, and so it might not really change a whole lot that they weren't able to play this spring. But I do think the freshmen, you know, current freshmen right now have a lot of time to kind of get their videos, keep doing their research, and then sending them out. So that might actually be the class where it delays a little bit more. In that respect.

Jess Gregory
Yeah. I'm now talking about delays. I'm kind of thinking about these seniors who maybe they haven't chosen a place yet and haven't gotten on campus. Is it too late for them to to I mean, if campuses are open, maybe what should they do that virtual tours are just,

Chris Allen
you know, there, there's virtual tours that are you know, offer that we can offer for, you know, the current juniors and seniors and stuff like that, that are still looking you know, at for our standpoint, like our class of 2020. We're kind of like, filled up and things like that. But if someone was like potentially wanting to be like a walk on or something like that with us, we could do that virtually Where we could reach out and make kind of that contact, you know, if we're more in kind of, you're deciding and you know, Division Two Division Three Worlds and stuff like that, I think that contact with the coaches is going to be critical. Because at the end of the day, you know, more than what the campus looks like and everything like that, it's gonna be those relationships that you have, that really I think becomes the final and most important factor in in sometimes those college selections and stuff like that. So that shouldn't limit what you can do in that respect. But, you know, as we talked about, from a personal standpoint of like, going all in on the physical training, if you're in your right now it's time to go all in on, you know, knowing everything that you can about the school, the program, the academic study, you know, majors and stuff like that.

Jess Gregory
Yeah. Okay. Well, those are some good tips. I'm pretty sure that seniors are thankful that they still have some time. So absolutely, yeah. Yep. All right. So now I kind of want to ask if you have any fun, like do's and don'ts to communicating with coaches because I know when I was coaching at the college level, I got some silly emails. And so do you have any, like kind of fun tips for them and things that they should add or things that they definitely should not send out to you?

Chris Allen
So I, you know, actually do And like I said, being the recruiting coordinator at SLU, like all the emails kind of funnel through me and we get quite a bit a day you don't I mean, and I think a way to look at is how can you, you know, separate yourself from the generic and we realized that kids are emailing a lot of coaches, you know, and spreading like a broad net in which is fine, you know, I mean, I would encourage my daughter to kind of do the same thing, but it's just a little bit of time, you know, what I mean, but can you personalize that email just a bit to the school that you're sending it to? I think that that begins to show legit, you know, interest in it. You know what I mean? So, if you're emailing, you know, St. Louis University, we have a lovely arts here at the city like I've been to the arts before. Never been always wanting to get like just something, a little bit of a tidbit that shows that it isn't just the complete generic email that there is a little bit and you can, you know, give yourself two to three sentences to do that with each school that you're emailing, I think is a big one. You know, I, I have tons of ADHD. So I love emails that capture by attention, like right away, you know, like, you know, my name's Chris Allen, I like cheese, do you? I mean, who doesn't like cheese. So, like little stuff like that just a funny way to kind of do an intro. Um, I think it's important to kind of catch attention. And then you know, more to like, the critical components of it is that if you have video highlights, if you have game highlights to include those, I think that those are going to be important so that not only we see, okay, this kid has a personality. There's legit interest in St. Louis University. But look at this. Now I have the video. You know what I mean? And then I look at it and all of a sudden that kid gets a big asterik that like, Oh, okay. She is a player and stuff like that. It's a junior senior, then immediately. There's going to be an email kind of back in that respect with the freshmen and sophomores, the only thing we can respond with is a very general and generic kind of, like, can't be male or, you know, here if you'd like to explore more about the university or something like that, but we can't be specific with you. That doesn't mean that you can't be specific with us in that respect. But, um, and just try not to go too long with it, to be brutally honest. Um, but yeah, I just think that individual attention, some, you know, showing just a little bit of personality and then providing some highlights or different things like that, I think would be critical. Okay, cool.

Jess Gregory
Yeah, I know, coaches are all kind of different. So you all kind of want different things. So I think it's good for them to hear like, what can I said, What Shouldn't I send? In? Absolutely.

Chris Allen
Absolutely. Yeah.

Jess Gregory
Perfect. All right, Chris. Now I'm going to leave us with one final thing I want to share one of your favorites. stories about a successful team you've been a part of so if you have any To share with us, that would be a great way to end this. This, you know,

Chris Allen
it's funny that you know, coaching for so long, there's a lot of like things that you know, when you hear something like that you kind of fall back on. And I guess, you know, the biggest thing for me is that, you know, for players and coaches and stuff like that it's not about kind of where do you start, it's about where you finish. And, you know, when I came back here to coach locally at a high school in St. Louis, you know, our first year we were six and 16. And, you know, just a losing record and everything like that. And I remember the first time like we competed against one of the top schools and we were wearing our orange jerseys. I remember distinctively that we are in orange because we looked like cones out there. And the other team just constantly like passing the passing the ball around us and everything and just through like really like steady growth from year in, year out and players you know, buying into the process and everything like that, and just to see how it feels quickly now, but during the time it felt very slow. But that slow and steady progress to becoming the players that our kids wanted to be to becoming the team that our team wanted to be and becoming this overall program that we wanted it to be. And so, um, it was, we just had tremendous success kind of in just built upon that losing first season. And literally the last year I've just come over to slew. And, you know, we had been to like Final Fours in the state and stuff like that, but the team that I just love, they won the state championship. And it was the end I was up in the stands basically representing slew recruiting at that time and watching this team, like win the state championship and while it felt a little at times like bittersweet, like how cool would that have been to been on the sidelines and do that, like just the true joy that I had to kind of leave something in a better place than I had first found it has really been kind of a philosophy for me kind of moving forward in everything that I've done. Encourage my daughter Do just leave something in a better place. And so while that's not necessarily the haha kind of fun thing, it was just one of the most fulfilling things for me as a coach that I was a part of, in seeing them get to celebrate a state championship, even when I was no longer wearing the colors. One of my most you know, proud achievements.

Jess Gregory
Yeah. Oh, that's amazing. Now, were any of the seniors freshmen when you started? Were any of those kids like still on?

Chris Allen
Yeah, so I coached a lot of them, you know what I mean? And so it was just really, like I said, to see that growth from where they started to where they ended into, you know, I had left a special program and it still occupies a place in my heart, my daughter plays for them now. It's just special to keep in the community and then for them to achieve kind of the top of the mountain at that time and knowing where we started from. It's just really, it was really a special day.

Jess Gregory
Well, that just shows that coaching is again, it's personal and You really take it and all those rewarding parts are still with you when you leave. So yeah, well do so much, Chris. I really appreciate you sitting down and chatting with us today. Hopefully the kids get a lot of great information out of this and just take it and run with it. So

Chris Allen
absolutely stay safe in quarantine. It'll be it'll get better.

Jess Gregory
It will it well, we're all in this together, right. So, all right, we'll see you next time.

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