Coach Mundy is a Texas native who coaches at Lonestar SC in Houston, TX. She started playing soccer in a local co-ed church league playing with mostly boys. From there, she began to realize her talent transitioned into a high-level girls club team. She then played collegiately at Portland State and The University of Houston. Post-college, she played professionally in Iceland as there was no professional league in the USA at the time. Once a professional league was established in the USA, she was able to get contracted with the Boston Breakers and then eventually on to a professional team in Atlanta.

Coach

Sophia Mundy: Lonestar Girls Academy Coach at Lonestar SC located in Houston, TX.

Topic 1: Journey Into Coaching & National Team Experience

As she was playing professionally, she also began to coach at the club level. She joined Lonestar SC in 2012. At the beginning of her coaching and playing career, she got called up into the U21 USWNT to play and train. She even has a photo going up for a header against the legendary Abby Wambach.

Topic 2: Age to Begin Travel Soccer

Coach Mundy believes that this decision should be up to each individual athlete and family. At Lonestar SC, they tend to increase the competitive atmosphere at around 10 years old, and then again around 12 years old. She also hints at being a proponent of playing multiple sports at the younger ages. Coach Mundy also understands that different athletes will want to specialize in different sports at different times. 

Topic 3: Club Support in Recruiting Process

Coach Mundy starts out by addressing a misconception that exposure is the only way to get recruited. She believes that there is more to the process such as meeting with individual players and families to discuss player strengths, level of play, location, career/degree, etc. She goes on to say there is more to being a student-athlete than just the soccer team. She encourages players and parents to try and understand that players are competing against each other across leagues and regions, for the same spots on the same teams. No matter how good of a player you are, certain schools might just not be the right choice. There is more to the puzzle than simply talent. 

Topic 4: Mental Toughness

Coach Mundy talks about how mental toughness can come from several places. For her, role models were an important portion for her in feeling tough mentally. She also discussed how feelings of belonging to her team and club were important in her feeling mentally sound. She even goes on to discuss how mental toughness can look different for different age groups. A U19 athlete will need to have a different level of mental toughness than perhaps a U13 athlete. 

Topic 5: Back to the Pitch

Coach Mundy encourages players to try their best to have a self-understanding that it’s okay if an athlete’s touch is slightly rusty, and it’s okay if a player is not match fit. Patience will be an important skill to have as athlete’s get back into a more consistent training environment.

Topic 6: Favorite Coaching Environment

Coach Mundy says her favorite coaching environment was from last season with the U17 DA girls playing in the semi-final and national championship at the Developmental Academy. Mundy says it was the coolest atmosphere she’s ever coached in.

Topic 7: Mount Rushmore of Soccer

Coach Mundy’s Mt. Rushmore of Soccer include teammates: Kelly Smith from England, Kristine Lily, Mary-Frances Monroe, and then lastly ALL of her college and professional teammates.

Sophia Mundy's journey into playing and coaching is an inspirational one! Not many can say they have played at a professional level, and have as much experience as she does.

Full Transcript:

CHRIS GORDON  

Hello and welcome to another edition of exact club experts. We are joined by one of our most decorated guests so far. She is a girl's development Academy coach at Lone Star SC today we welcome on Sophia Monday, Sophia gave us some great advice about one player should consider playing travel soccer, how a club can help navigate you through the recruiting process. And she also told us some great stories about her experience playing professionally and with the national team. You can check out the entire conversation at our blog exact sports comm slash blog or on our social platforms, Instagram and Twitter with the tag ad exact sports and Facebook ad exact soccer. I'm excited to share it with you guys and I hope you all enjoy. Alright, so feel thanks for coming on and talking to us a little bit more about your coaching journey and what led you to your current role. Let's get started by the way we start every interview and kind of talk a little bit more about yourself your background, you obviously have a very decorated Playing career and now you're, you're into coaching. So let's hear how that came about.

SOPHIA MUNDY  

Uh, yeah, I mean, well, first off, I'm I'm originally from Houston, Texas. And so I grew up, you know, playing soccer in the heat humidity of South Texas. So I played for a club called Bear Creek united. And before that, I didn't start out in club soccer, you know, or any sort of organized youth organization until I was probably 13. And before that, I just played for my church league. My dad was my coach, and it was co Ed so I played with boys and girls, and I just had a teammate that was in club soccer and, you know, their family kind of, you know, convinced my dad and me to join their team and it was an all girls team. So it was new to me and, you know, up until then, I was just playing with boys and girls. So that was kind of how I got into club soccer and then you know, obviously, you know, just you know, played through my you, you know, you 18 united teen year, my senior year and and the club did a little bit of changing there was a merging of clubs it ended up becoming a club called Texas premier. And what is ultimately Albion hurricanes now and Houston Texas. So that club is kind of the area I grew up in and, and played in and just grew up, you know, training with boys or boys at my club. You know, Arturo Alvarez, who is probably the most renowned player out of Houston and played you know, in MLS and played in Europe, you know, grew up with him and his friends who trained to play with boys as well all the time and did camps with them and, and then play college soccer and then went on to play college soccer and went to Portland State University for my first two years and transferred back down to the University of Houston. That's where I finished my career in college, and then and then went to play professionally, in Iceland. So during that time, you know, I graduated 2000 16,007 time, there was no Women's Professional Soccer. In in America, you know, WUSA had folded. You know, WPS hadn't come online yet there was that transitional period for any American player, a female player to go play in Europe. So I went to Iceland and played for two clubs after rolling and valor. And, you know, the one, the one I ended up with in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, valor. They, they were, you know, the best club in Iceland at the time and the top, you know, Premiership for the women. And we, you know, we played the Champions League for women and went to Mia and Sweden and played against Marta and her team. So, you know, top players around the world, you know, we were competing against, you know, in that competition, and then ultimately WPS Women's Professional Soccer came back to America. And I went to a combine, I was invited to the combine and she will be stuff in California and I got picked up by the Boston Breakers and Tony to Chico. So, you know, I played a season with Tony to Chico and the Boston Breakers and then finished my professional career at the Atlanta beat in 2010. So that was, you know, kind of a tsunami. So my youth career, college career, professional career and then as far as coaching, kind of in between my professional seasons in Boston Atlanta, I am I actually coached a little bit at top hat in Atlanta while I was you know with the Boston Breakers so I went out and helped their youth and and did some coaching for them. And and then you know also went to in my in my offseason my all kind of went back home to Houston and I and I coached for challenge soccer club in Houston and so kind of started you know, kind of a club, you know, coaching career a part time with those two clubs and then once I finished playing professionally 2010 I came back home to Houston and worked full time for challenge soccer club for a few years and then joined Lone Star soccer club in 2012. And it's been at Lone Star soccer club since 2012. So hope that was a good call. It's awesome. It's

CHRIS GORDON  

quite the journey. You know, you modestly left out your your playing experience at the National. I do have to touch touch on that a little bit more and what it was like to play with some of the greatest players of our generation.

SOPHIA MUNDY  

Yeah, I think you know, my my national team you know, you know coming and introduction was a little bit later in my career you know, I was I played for very small club I'm not sure the exposure I got with with the smaller club in Houston, you know, from my dash team standpoint, was there but you know, once I hit college, and I kind of made a splash in college and you know, was was Offensive Player of the Year in my conference and you know, kind of got some accolades and college soccer, then I got, you know, invitations into the 21 and then they use 23 pools and camps with with those with those age groups. So back then, you know, the 21 existed and, and the 23 are there now but you 20 ones I'm not sure as a as an age group now in the national team. So, you know, my my national team here kind of came later in a more senior sense And then you know, ultimately when I played with Boston Atlanta, you know, I, you know, I played with, you know, players like, you know, a mula pelvis and Amy Rodriguez, you know, Hope Solo was there in Atlanta Kristine Lilly was there in Boston and she uglies. I mean, I The list goes on and on Kelly Smith from England, Alex Scott, for me when, you know, in WPS, some of the best players in the world were, were in that league. So, you know, I got a great chance to play with, you know, players in that youth national team setting that were ultimately full national team players, you know, like Rachel Bueller, and people like that. And then and then ultimately, in my professional career played with, you know, players that were in the full width and sash team, but obviously, you know, great, great experience for me and a great competitive environment to play in with, you know, that level player, you know, not just in the US, but obviously, players around the world as well.

CHRIS GORDON  

Yeah, that's that's really cool. I was doing a quick Google search and I happen to come across a picture of you going up against Abby Womback

SOPHIA MUNDY  

Yeah, there. He both had been number 20. Yeah, for sure. No, it's really cool. Yeah. So many players say I could name them off that were incredible.

CHRIS GORDON  

Absolutely. Let's go back to your club club days for a little bit now you had a little little bit of an untraditional upbringing through the club system obviously your plan co Ed through 13 then you started playing more organized travel. Um, you know, a lot of cases our players are playing at least in today's day and age they start playing club soccer high level club soccer at eight nine you know even younger in some cases. Is there a gauge that a player should should look to start playing travel soccer when do they know that you know it's it's time to kind of move up up the ranks and play at a higher level?

SOPHIA MUNDY  

Yeah You know, I'm not sure that there's a certain age or definitive age where, you know, players can start doing travel, soccer, organized soccer, I think that would certainly be up to, you know, each individual family and, you know, maybe what their dynamics look like. And you know, you know, even that player, that specific player, you know, soccer is like what they love, and they just want to do and that's all they care about, you know, maybe that's something that starts a little bit sooner for them. You know, but I know a lot of players obviously play multiple sports, I think it's important to cross train and do multiple sports, especially in in middle school ages and younger. And, you know, that's important too. You know, even a lot of players at our club at Lone Star, you know, they play a lot of sports, so we're very flexible with, you know, their, their, you know, training schedules or, you know, their travel, you know, at times with the families, because we understand that, that, you know, it's still something that's very important to them as young people and growing and growing in different sports ultimately. So I can't say that there's a definitive age, you know, I know at least at our club and lots of clubs around the country. You know, we have a No recreational basis so kids can start recreationally and it not be as you know, serious as travel soccer and so organized, professional coaching, that they're just enjoying the game and loving the game, you know, with their friends, because that's, you know, big priority for the kids is play with their friends and having fun, especially the younger ages. You know, for us, you know, are you 10s are you nines, you know, they can start to get in groups with with more competitive players, but keeping it fun and keeping it flexible for the families with their schedules is certainly something we do, you know, and I think when you hit you 11 and you 12 are still doing those things, you know, still trying to be flexible, still trying to, you know, give families flexibility with their schedules and letting you know, allowing the kids to, you know, explore different sports and have different schedules is really important while trying to kind of, you know, bring them together in a setting where they're playing with the kids of likeability. And it can, you know, grow in that environment as well and soccer if that's, you know, ultimately what they choose their path long term. So yeah, I think that's probably the best way And answer it I you know, I don't know that there's one definitive age where kids certainly need to pick soccer as a sport. I don't think that's necessarily the case. But you know, they become more serious. And that's different for every player, they become more serious about soccer at different ages. And that's, you know, what, we have to navigate as a club and we have to navigate with a families. You know what that is for each individual?

CHRIS GORDON  

Yeah, no, that's a good way to put it. I think. In today's day and age, we're a society where we're forced to be very competitive and parents obviously are pushing that out. Right, they, you know, and you see this in a lot of sports now, where you're, you're asking kids to focus on something at eight 910 years old when they don't really know what they like. So by the time they hit high school, they're burned out. And it's a shame because you never know what they could have been if they you know, have fun throughout middle school. So you know, that's it's always interesting to hear perspective and i i really like your take on it because obviously you you're playing kind of rec soccer till 13 And look what came out of it. Obviously, you had a great Playing career and and that can happen and for anybody, so I think pushing it at an early age might be the best solution. So that's kind of what I was looking for, for the answer. So I mean, yeah. Next Next question. Obviously, you're right now you're in a position where you're helping out young high school girls, and throughout their Playing career, you're helping them obviously play collegiately if they so choose to. And that's kind of what I what I'm trying to get at is the club is supposed to be helpful in a recruiting process. And in a lot of cases, they can be used as kind of leverage to essentially play at the next level. So can you talk about some ways your club or any club can be as assistance in their recruiting process?

SOPHIA MUNDY  

Yeah, certainly. Um, you know, I think there's, you know, certainly misconcept An out there that, you know, own exposure only in leagues is what, you know, is the biggest piece of college recruiting or getting your kids seen and ultimately recruited. That is certainly a part of the process. But the club's and the staff, you know, our job is to work with the families and the players, you know, from a meeting setting, you know, sitting down with them, seeing what, you know, schools are interested in, you know, kind of take different variables like areas of the country or level play or maybe what their ambitions individually are in college, you know, as a player, you know, what kind of impact they think they want to make right away. You know, you know, obviously academics being a huge piece of that and you know, maybe what career or degree they want to study, you know, I think formulating, you know, kind of an idea of where that player wants to go and and creating lists of schools that fit those needs for them because ultimately the trying to find them the best fit where they will be For years and enjoy that is probably most important and indicative of the process being done correctly. And then you know, ultimately, you know, with with exposure, you know, in providing that as a club for our kids in different ways, not just, you know, leagues or national events but also in training, you know, having, you know, college coaches come out and watch kids at training, you know, us in particular, but lots of clubs around the country have, you know, or hosts their own showcases so we have a showcase in February that we host you know, obviously help helping kids navigate you know, camps camp settings, where they go to, you know, schools and go to camps, but, you know, understanding that, you know, maybe that college and reaching out and being kind of a middleman for for the player to make sure that going to campus camps cost money and financially, you know, that's important for families that you know, we, we keep, you know, financial costs, you know, at a minimum if we can, so, helping them navigate what's the best camp to go to, you know, based on conversations with coaches, and then follow Following up after camps, you know is another avenue where kids can can certainly get exposure recruited. And and we can have those conversations to help them, you know, commit to a school ultimately, you know, so there's lots of avenues, you know, even league games, you know, inviting coaches out to league games is another important avenue that we that we at least used to, to get our kids seen when we can we have college nights, something we call college nights, one in the fall one in the spring, where we host internal games at our club, and we and we invite college coaches out to those games, you know, once in the fall once in the spring, like I mentioned, so, you know, from our standpoint, we were trying to hit every angle that we can to give our kids exposure and help them with that process. But, you know, I think parents need to understand and players need to understand that you know, when you're playing in, you know, different leagues, and there's, you know, lots of clubs in those leagues, you know, 60 to 100 clubs in any league. You know, any player in any graduating year is having to compete with players in that graduating you're across that entire you know, league obviously so you know, they're already writing the same schools are, they're all trying to contact, you know, the same schools and, you know, that's where the club and staff come in and help them navigate, you know, amongst all of those players in their graduating class, you know, with schools, with our relationships with, you know, trust that we've built over the years with college programs, you know, players that we put into college programs that our alumni currently are currently playing, you know, we have those relationships with their schools and we can help our upcoming, you know, college, you know, aged kids, you know, through that process through all of those means.

CHRIS GORDON  

Yeah, I think Lonestar does a great job of helping the players kind of have access to those college coaches, whether it be through, you know, one of the showcases, you run and obviously one of the other outlets that you've mentioned, not everybody is as fortunate to be as a part of a large club that can do those things. And we've always told our players, hey, make sure you do your work, reach out and see what sort of resources your club directors can provide. Because it can't just be out On the side of the club, it's got to come from both sides so appreciate touched on that. So, kind of moving a little away from the club scene a little bit exact background as you you're probably wears and mental training and, and confidence building and, you know, I'm sure through your career, you've dealt with a lot of adversity and you've clearly reached some pretty high levels. So can you talk a little bit more about mental toughness and what that means to you? And especially on the girls side, I feel like it's, it's such an important feature that that sometimes gets overlooked.

SOPHIA MUNDY  

Yeah, for sure. You know, mental toughness, at least for me, you know, individually, you know, it's something I've had to use and utilize, you know, throughout my career. You know, it wasn't always easy for me, you know, my career wasn't always easy. I remember, you know, when I was a young player, you know, in ODP, because ODP was, you know, very, very big, you know, when I was a young player Obviously and I did make when I went out to try and make this out Texas you know, stay tuned I did make it the first year that I tried out for ODP. So, you know, I remember walking away from that my dad being encouraging and and just said hey, you know, we'll just try it we'll just try out next year and you know, I just I just decided that I was going to work hard and you know I was going to continue to you know, enjoy the game and get better with my my teammates and and my team and you know, just trial next year. So I think my dad helped me in that moment and my you know, my coaches helped me in that moment. But you know, just continuing to just persevere and just continue to train and I just love soccer so much, you know that you know, whether I made the team or not I wasn't going to change how I felt about the game. But you know, ultimately I went back the next year made it and you know, I made the team you know, and I made the team every year after that, you know, through my ODP years and even they their regional team as well at Camp one regional camp and so you know, I think I do Had to experience a little bit of letdown at times, I think kids across, you know, club atmospheres, you know, you know, experience, you know, you know, some adversity or some setbacks, you know, in their career, maybe they see teammates that are, you know, getting accolades or getting opportunities, maybe that they're not quite getting at that time. You know, maybe making a team maybe move being moved out of a team, you know, there's lots of things that you know, we as a club have to deal with, with our players and players around the country have to deal with in their settings, you know, that that are, you know, adverse, you know, situations obviously, so, I think, you know, mental toughness, you know, back to back can come from several places, obviously, like having, you know, for me having role models, as a female like female athletes that I had role models on the coach, the coaches certainly are ones that can be encouraging and I think for females, especially, you know, feeling valued a feeling like you're cared about, you know, by by your staff by your club, just the people around you in the game is really important. You know, for female for female players and then ultimately, their friends. That's the big piece for them, obviously, you know, and you know, seeing their friends as examples that can persevere is also a way that, you know, our kids can persevere themselves. And mental toughness is certainly something that we teach, you know, at Lone Star. And, you know, I think having a united team team and having senior age players, you know, that's going to be something that I have to continue and I do, you know, everyday with them, you know, trying to teach them Hey, guys, like, this is what the college scene is going to look like for you. This is what it's going to mean, you know, when you're a college player, who it's going to be important is your priorities. And you have to overcome these things. And sometimes it's hard to soccer sometimes it's hard, it's a running sport, you have to work hard at it, you know what I mean? So, you know, I just always try and, you know, help them and prepare them mentally for the next step, which for them is college and then I have youth teams, which are obviously young players, they're on the younger end of things. So their month their mental toughness is very different than the senior player so I have to coach and teach them in a different way than the United teams for for Little ones, obviously, you know that there's different opportunities that they get, you know, you know, that that other players may not get, you know, within their team setting or, you know, maybe a training center setting or things like that, where, you know, we have to have conversations with, with families and players and, and help them understand, like, you know, that everyone's pathway is different, you know, what I mean, and everyone has a different pathway, you know, in their career, but teaching those kids mental toughness from a standpoint of, you know, that the game is becoming more competitive, and the higher level that you reach, you know, details are going to matter, mental toughness is going to matter effort is going to matter. You know, those pieces can, you know, you know, maybe sometimes determine our results, you know, maybe maybe sometimes determine who you become as an individual ultimately, and so, you know, I think we start to you know, fold that in as a younger player, but certainly when they're older players, that is, the mental aspect of the game is a huge piece of it, psychologically, is a huge piece of their game, you know, both on the field and training and then you know, preparing them for college.

CHRIS GORDON  

Yeah, absolutely. And Especially at the age of 13, their players are coming off years, you know, 1110 years old, where they're off, they're probably the best player on their team, especially when they're playing at a high level. And then they get on to an environment where at, you know, 1314 years old, they might be in a playing field that's a little bit more human. And that's when failures start to happen a little bit more. And the players that are able to deal with those failures and ultimately get better from them are the ones that go on to succeed at the higher levels and into college and so forth. So it's it's definitely a challenge, especially at the younger ages to accept that, but the sooner those players do, I think that they're, they're ultimately become better from it.

SOPHIA MUNDY  

Yeah, for sure

CHRIS GORDON  

when you see this success later on. And I guess my last question kind of has a little bit to do with the mental toughness. Obviously, our players haven't been on the field for the last two months. And I know that in some states, we're going to Start to open up and start to practice their teams and maybe hopefully start playing some games in some sort of setting.

CHRIS GORDON  

Do you have some advice for the players are about to step on the field for the first time and, you know, a couple months on how to kind of react to that and you know how to stay apoc stay positive one things might not always be might not go their way the first couple of weeks.

SOPHIA MUNDY  

Yeah, for sure. I think, you know, I think one everyone's just excited to get back, you know, on the field and excited to get back with their coaching staff getting getting back just with their friends, you know, in a more normal normal setting. I think everybody wants to come back to some sort of normalcy So yeah, I think you know, when we when we bring bring out players or players go out for the first time, you know, that they need to have an understanding that, you know, hey, there might be a little rusty, technically we're gonna have to like get back to working on things you know what I mean? And you know, your fitness and and you know, how well you feel, you know, might be at a more base level, and that's something that we'll we're going to have to build. I think the best thing you can relate to it is, you know, having some sort of thing Like having a preseason and, and going back into preseason and getting your body back back in shape and back to feeling like normal and yeah, your touch might be a little off, but that's okay. I think that's, you know, normal for any, for any player that's, you know, not been in a, in a regular normalized training environment, like they're used to where they're competing against other players, you know, they're, they're getting, you know, instruction from their coaching staff and organized sessions with their coaching staff. But, you know, obviously, I encourage players I, you know, obviously, it's gonna be different around the country, like you said, you know, here in Texas, it might be a little bit earlier than, you know, maybe they're in Illinois and, you know, so around the country, you're going to have different you know, kind of opening times for getting back on the fields and, and, and training again, so I think, you know, I just encourage all the players that you know, are quite back at even our players for a couple weeks to continue any training plans that maybe your club has provided you obviously, there's lots of good resources online, you know, of things that you can be doing, you know, on your own technically, you know, with fitness, you know, fitness with the ball, but this without ball you know technical stuff that you can doing you know, we were certainly trying to get our kids minds continue to be engaged in the game like we watch games and do game analysis with with our kids. So watching the game and learning you know in another avenue while you're not on the field with us learning from the coaching staff, you know, you can watch the game and learn from the game by watching you know, high level players and watching players in your position. So there's lots of things that you could be doing now to continue to you know, stimulate your mind and stimulate your body and and, you know, be as prepared as you can be, you know, for when you come back into your training environment, but you know, don't be discouraged and don't be you know, don't think it's you know, abnormal for you to come back and be a little rusty and have to get back into the swing of things that's certainly normal as a player certainly normal for me when when I came back into a preseason setting with college or professionally, you know, I did my best to try and in my off time, you know, stay fit and stay sharp on the ball. And that's all they can be doing at this time. But you know, until you get back in your setting You know, you just gonna have to work back to to your, you know, top, you know, form, you know, just over the next couple of weeks, it's going to take time certainly going to take time and just have patience with it. I would say just have patience with it when you get back. Sure.

CHRIS GORDON  

Yeah, I mean, there's no playbook for this. So we're, you know, adapting to what we have in front of us. And like you said, keeping a positive mindset, I think that's the best thing we can do at this point, you know, accepting that things aren't going always are gonna are gonna pick up right where they left off. But, you know, eventually we'll get back to where we were and, you know, trusting, trusting your towns and, you know, in just kind of going with what we have. So I think that's a good way to think about it. And yeah, hopefully we'll all back on the field soon whether whether teams were able to, you know, continue where we left off, so, yeah, but Well, yeah, well, users this isn't great advice. We appreciate sharing some insight and stories. Let's end this with some fun questions. A little bit better. I always do like to ask first question I have is, you know, given your playing experience and even coaching experience I'm sure you've played some pretty awesome atmospheres with fans and big time scenario so if you're to choose your coolest atmosphere environment you've ever played or coached and what would it be?

SOPHIA MUNDY  

Oh, well playing you know probably any game at the Coliseum playing for the Boston Breakers you know that atmosphere is a different one and and you know, you know, we we trained and played at Harvard University to the Coliseum is, you know, their stadium there so it was just a different atmosphere in the stadium was different and, and, and the fans there were great. So I would say from a playing standpoint, that was a cool, a cool atmosphere for me. I think from a coaching standpoint, probably the best environment I had to coach in was last year are you 17th went to the national championship game in the development Academy. So that game and even the game before semifinal game against FC Dallas, you know, playing in, you know, in state rival that we play in our conference. You know, knowing that that team so well and knowing that staff so well and doing it, you know, on on, you know, on video, you know, it being streamed our kids around the club, you know, around our club or watching you know, we had you know, our families there and in the in the barn, it was so big for our players. I think that was a really cool environment. Just those two games last year with the 17th Don't make me I think sometimes like when you're coaching kind of feed off the players to kind of give Yeah,

CHRIS GORDON  

yeah, for sure. Very just thinking about the game. And as a coach, you're like, oh, man, this is like kind of taken a little bit more so it's cool to see it from both sides. All right. Next question has to do with the weather now you're from the south. You're from Texas, but he played it up in the northeast. So I'm curious to see what what your take is on this. Would you rather, Coach now that's not play coach. In 100 degree weather or 30 degree,

SOPHIA MUNDY  

90 degree weather all day long. I can make sure tonight shirt I'll put my sunscreen on my hat. There's tents. So 100 degree weather 100%

CHRIS GORDON  

those, those are the elements that tents the shade cuts the corner, but I figured

SOPHIA MUNDY  

I would do I would stand out in the sun and do it. I would rather be in the heat than the cold for sure. See I'm more

CHRIS GORDON  

of a 30 degree kind of guy. Do the layers and I'm used to it up here. We get some pretty bad days. Yeah, I'm a I'm a weenie. I can't do it. Alright, last question you play like I said he plays with some pretty awesome teammates players over the years. If you were to give me a Mount Rushmore teammates or top four teammates he played with would they be? Oh, don't worry.

SOPHIA MUNDY  

So maybe Can you be more specific with your questions? About You know, is this just you know, to Muay Thai, you know, enjoy

CHRIS GORDON  

any teammates from any teams any year ever. It can be your best friend. could be anybody.

SOPHIA MUNDY  

Yeah, so I would say, you know, from a training standpoint, the level player that she was Kelly Smith from England, she was someone that, you know, was someone that in training and in games was special and I enjoy training with. I think, Christine Lilly, just from a leadership standpoint, you know, when I was playing with Boston, she was, you know, towards the end of her career, and that woman was probably the fittest person on the team, and he led and she, she had so much passion, like she'd probably in her younger years. So, you know, and obviously, she's an icon and women's soccer, I mean, you know, played for the national team and win winning World Cups, but she was certainly someone that I enjoyed playing with. And looking up to even as a teammate, I would say Mary Francis Monro. She's another teammate of mine that I had at Boston and we were really good friends. And you know, she was in the Nash team system, and she played at UCLA. And, you know, she was someone who, you know, I got along with and, and became good friends with, you know, over the years and has kept in touch with, you know, she's been a college coach, and, you know, so she's recruited players of lone stars. So, you know, it's kind of been a great relationship that we've had over the years. Um, my last teammate, Goodness me. You're putting me on the spot. I feel like I need to include like, you know, so, so many people. I don't know, I think there's just I don't know if I could pinpoint out any, any particular one, you know, because there's just so many great players that I could choose from from a planning standpoint or a training standpoint. And you know, even even from a friendship standpoint so I just think all my teammates you know, in college I think all my teammates you know, in Boston in in in Atlanta and even in Iceland I've had some incredible teammates and and Iceland that played for Icelandic women's national team that were all influential and all really really great people to grow grow with i mean i think that a pick one there's there's one author her name her name is Vanya Stefan a bitch. I hope she sees this video. But she's she is a she is a Serbian and she played right back and I played kind of right wing. So she and I had a, you know, obviously a working relationship on the field. But, you know, we we keep up with each other. She's in Norway now. And, you know, she played for the full women's team in Serbia and she's a fantastic human and individual and player.

CHRIS GORDON  

That's good. All right. Well, I usually do mama rock Mount Rushmore of soccer players in general, but I figured out with you you've had so many cool teammates. You know to not do that, so that was a great. Yeah, that was a hard one. Yeah, that was. Alright, Sophia. Well, that's all I have for you. Unless you have some more advice for our players, we really appreciate you coming on and sharing some great feedback. And hopefully we'll see on field soon.

SOPHIA MUNDY  

Yeah, no, I think for all the players out there, boys and girls, you know, just keep training and, you know, keep enjoying the game and, you know, learn from others. And, you know, I think everyone looks forward to getting back on the field. So I hope you do, too.

CHRIS GORDON  

Absolutely. All right, then. Well, we'll catch you again next time. Take care. Thanks. Thanks, Chris. I that's all for a conversation today. Thanks again to Sophie and Monday for joining us coming up on exact club deck. That's all for our conversation today. Thanks again to Sofia Monday for joining us. Coming up on exact club experts will be talking to more coaches and hopefully answering any of your questions as we're all waiting to get back on the field. again to see any of our interviews or if you'd like a question answered, please visit us or shout us out on Instagram or Twitter with the tag Adams exports Facebook at the page exact soccer and you can also check out our blog, exact sports.com slash blog. Catch you all again soon.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai