Seward County Community College Men’s Soccer – Coach Jaime Beltran
On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Beltran from the Seward County Men’s Program in Kansas. We talk about what it is like starting a program from scratch. He describes how the school is committed to helping students win both on and off the field. Lastly, we discuss how the entire soccer staff is supportive of one another. Learn more about Seward County Community College Men’s Soccer.
Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to discover college soccer today. I’m lucky enough to be joined by coach Beltran from Seward County Community College in Kansas. That’s a lot of C’s, but welcome coach. How
Coach: are you, man?
Matt: I’m doing well. Thanks. Uh, you know, you, you, Are now part of the illustrious, uh, subset of discover college soccer interviewees that are now coming on a second time at a different college or university.
So, so welcome to, to that, uh, illustrious club. You’re now at Seward County. You were at state fair. Um, and so you’ve been at Seward. You’ve had one season under your belt, correct?
Coach: Correct. I started here at Seward County in February of last year and, uh, was our inaugural season for the college. So I got to, I got the opportunity to start a program from absolutely zero.
And that was, that was one of several things that appealed to me, but that was definitely one of them. So yeah, everything we’re going to talk about is brand new and still has that new car smell to it.
Matt: Well, that’s pretty sweet. Well, you, you know, I mean, for. For one year in, uh, you know, I mean, kudos because you guys had a pretty good season when you look at your record and, and honestly, more importantly on the recruiting front, which, you know, we talk a lot about on this podcast, but you had a pretty big roster for a, a first year program and be a junior [00:01:30] college program.
Coach: And starting not, not even starting the job till January, February. I mean, like when I got here, there literally was nothing here. Like we didn’t have one ball, not one recruit. It was, it was starting it from nothing.
Matt: So, so walk me, walk me through that. What, what, what was your focus? What did you do? What, you know, what worked, what didn’t work.
And, and, and, you know, you, you’ve have, you’ve had a. A very good career in the two year college space. So, you know, I think, I think you’re a pro now at the, at the two year recruiting, which can be tough, you know, uh, it’s a lot tougher than the four year, right? You’re double, you’re doubling your amount of recruiting.
Coach: Yes. Uh, well, you know, year one, it was, it was, I’m finding everybody anyway, so it wouldn’t, it wouldn’t have mattered. But, uh, it’s, uh, I really have come to enjoy the two year college. I feel like the. Level of competition is so much higher than people imagine because it’s men’s soccer. I mean, it’s just a very particular animal.
Honestly, I feel like in the conference and region that we were in, which I’m sure we’ll talk about a little bit more. And you saw a little bit on the message I sent you. It’s. It’s just one of the most competitive areas that I have ever that I have seen. Um, I’ve been at four year school. We’ve played a lot of four year schools with the places that I’ve been and from top to bottom.
I would probably say that this Kansas region. That’s Kansas conference. The K. J. C. C. is the The top most [00:03:00] competitive region in the entire and J. C. A. Division one. Uh, and I put it up there with some competitive four year schools. I mean, we went undefeated against four year schools. This, uh, this past fall, we did very well against several schools playing against their varsities.
This spring, uh, is in preparation for this year. So that that that was part of it. But to your actual question, Mhm. The best, the first thing I had to do was get organized and, uh, like I said, figure out that we didn’t have anything. So get uniforms designed, uh, work with a wonderful guy that takes care of us.
Uh, we use Joma brand uniforms. I met him when I was at a previous job and we got to design our uniform ourselves and have it be like, it’s unique to us. It’s not just It’s actually something brand new and great for us and then start building that roster, leveraging every relationship that I had and saying, Hey, man, I need people.
I need good ones, but I need lots of them. We went the international route a lot because It’s a little bit quicker. It’s a little bit easier to find talent later, and I was getting started in February. And, you know, so we, we did that a lot. And also, because in this area, Seward County is very, very, very used to working with international students.
They have a really good process for that based on success they’ve had in other sports. Soccer is new to them, but the athletic department’s been [00:04:30] there for a long time. They’ve had a history of success. They had women’s basketball won nationals a few years ago. Uh, the volleyball team was in the national tournament the year before last.
So, Definitely there were there were some things there that that showed me that they were going to take it seriously and, uh, and, you know, we’re playing in that competitive of a region. We ended up with lots of players and, uh, ask your students that follow you hear this. One thing I am extremely proud of is we were looking at almost 100 percent returning.
Which even the guys that were not getting as much playing time for whatever reason Maturity, you know age, whatever they want to come back and they want to continue to be a part of what we’re building So we’re gonna have 45 plus this fall because Everybody, almost everyone is a freshman. Most of them are wanting to return and obviously we couldn’t sit on our hands.
We got to, especially in this region, we have to continue to grow and get better. And so, so yeah, we’re going to have a big roster, probably not the size we want most of the time, but yeah, we we’ve had some good success on the recruiting side and we’re, we’re very proud and excited about that and about our retention.
Matt: So talk to me a little bit about international recruiting. I mean, I’m guessing the community colleges don’t have a, you know, these great travel budgets for you to go abroad and see all these players. So what’s it like? Kind of recruiting the international player [00:06:00] and, and, and I know from, from my past experience, sometimes it’s, you might get a great player, but they’re not really there on the academic side, or you get, you know, the player who just can’t quite understand there’s rules around how much you can train and all these other things.
And they’re used to pro. And so, so what is it like kind of recruiting the international player and getting them to come back to, you know, A junior college environment, but also one that’s probably way different than than their home environment.
Coach: Sure. So the 1st part, as far as the recruiting and the getting them here, the 1st thing is leveraging relationships that have been built throughout the years.
Um, you know, I was new to Seward, but it wasn’t my, like you said, it wasn’t my 1st road. It wasn’t my 1st go around at this point. I’ve got. More than 12 years in at the MJCAA level. So I’ve been doing this for a while. I’ve seen some things that work, some things that don’t, but I’ve worked with certain agencies that it’s an easy way to get some numbers and get some players and they know what I’m looking for.
I know which ones I’ve built a good relationship with and there’s that level of trust of, you know, so and so is gonna tell me the truth. If they tell me this guy’s a top player, there’s a good chance he is a top player. And Our process is, it’s like a job interview. We make sure that we let them know and make it very clear what our standards are.
We want winners on and off the field. We want to be competitive on and off the [00:07:30] field. Off the field is a friendly competition, but I want, I want to be better than everyone else on my campus. I want, I want the instructors to say, Man, I’m so excited that I have all these soccer players, not, oh, crap, I’ve got a bunch of soccer players.
I want to build that and we tell them from the very beginning, if you’re coming here to just party and just go crazy, or if you don’t plan to take the, like the academic side of it seriously, or the, Who you represent in the community side, seriously, and with everyone else, then, then this might not be the right place for you, and, uh, I can give you a list of other places that you can talk to, but, uh, we’re not it.
And then when they get here, we have to live up to what we say, you know, we have to make sure that What we said in those interviews and those phone calls that that’s the reality that we are setting that standard that we are honest about what we’re doing. And we do that from the very beginning, we just let them know soccer is incredibly important, but it’s not the only thing that you’re here for.
And, uh, we’ve been fairly successful with that. I mean, we had some guys that transferred to us to help us build that sophomore standing and 1 of them still needs another semester to graduate. He’s coming back to graduate and he’s going to be a student assistant. So he’s getting something out of it, but he’s not just leaving even though he didn’t finish.
We had Two other guys that graduated that one just recently [00:09:00] signed with Shorter University in Georgia. The other one is still weighing three options, trying to figure out which one he wants. So, you know, uh, but even, even our sophomores, we’ve helped them move on. And, uh, then the final part are, uh, I also have, uh, another player that’s graduating in December.
He wants to still be here. He wants to do his, his, his extra year with us. And even though he graduates in December. And, uh, you know, we just live up to those standards. You set them, you, you treat the players like family. We treat them like we want our own children to be treated. So that means being tough when it’s time to be tough, being demanding when it’s time to be demanding, but also letting them know that they matter and that everyone here has a role.
Your role may not be to be the starting, you know, the starting center forward, but there’s a reason you’re here. There’s a role for you and every one of you matters. And, uh, if you get the right people, which we try to do by doing these things, then everything kind of falls into place most of the time.
Matt: Yeah, no, that’s awesome. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Um, besides the allure of starting a program from scratch, what else, uh, was it about the school that kind of drew you in? What are some things you found that are, that are unique and awesome about the school?
Coach: Okay. So one, like you said, the starting the program, being able to do everything, set it up my way.
Um, second thing, I thought when I came and interviewed and spoke to the athletic director, spoke to the president, spoke to the coaches that were here, [00:10:30] um, a sense of, we want to do the right thing by the students. We want to win and we’re committed to winning, but it’s not just about winning. It’s about doing it the right way.
And like I told you a minute ago, that’s a big part for me. So it’s, it’s, so it’s a good thing that, that I found that I feel like I found the place that, that meets that expectation. But they also have the commitment to provide the players within reason, of course, but with the things that we need to be successful, um, there is a commitment to put some money behind it, to put energy behind it.
Uh, we had over a thousand people on our first game. It was it, which, you know, to your man saw a man’s college soccer is not always the case or something like that. But it was advertised. It was put everywhere. It’s a community that it’s a large percent of the community is Hispanic. And there’s a lot of love for the sport of soccer, and they’ve been wanting to have the college at soccer for such a long time.
They’ve been asking for it. We had so much support from everybody, even outside of the college. I mean, like I said, to have to have to have over 1000 people at your inaugural game. Uh, that that tells you something. Um, facilities wise, we are sharing with the local high school, but that also means we start on day 1 with a full turf stadium with a video scoreboard with lighted fields.
So there is there is logistics. A couple of issues, [00:12:00] but man, it’s it’s we’re in a top notch facility from the very beginning. Um, and then also the last piece of it is. It’s I kind of found that affinity as having done this for many for some years where I’m not in a small town that is so tiny that there’s nothing to do nowhere to go.
And it’s like campus and then cows, but but we’re all but I’m also in a place that I feel comfortable because it’s not a huge city where I have to worry about traffic. I mean, I have a 5 minute commute every single day and, uh, There’s something to be said for that and it’s a lot less distractions and temptations for some of the young guys that might need a little help making good decisions and there’s enough to do but there’s not enough to put you in trouble.
Most of the time you want to find trouble. You can find it no matter where you are, but you know what I mean?
Matt: For sure. For sure. Well, I mean, you kind of mentioned students coming in. Obviously it’s a new experience for most of those players, not coming from Kansas, let alone the U S in many instances, but for whether it’s a U S best.
or international players, making that transition to college can be challenging. It’s, it’s a new environment. So how do, how does the program, how does the school really support those players in making sure they’re, you know, successful both on the field and off the field,
Coach: you know, for everybody. And we do have some local Kansas kids.
We also have. We have a couple players from Texas. [00:13:30] We have access to Oklahoman, and we have a couple of guys that have been shown some interest because we’re in the very southwest corner of, uh, of Kansas. We are literally 15 minutes away from Oklahoma and 45 minutes away from Texas, even though we don’t touch Texas because it’s just that little piece of that panhandle.
So we’re in a, in a, in an area we can pull from a lot of places. And, uh, so we’ve got some players from Missouri. Obviously that’s where I was before. So I had some connections out there and some players that we had already started talking to, but regardless of where they’re from international in state out of state, one of the biggest things is we want to set them up for success.
So there’s a lot of. Things available on campus to help them. There’s a testing center that will always hold exams and things that they’ve missed a day because they’ve been traveling are so they can come and take it at the testing center instead of missing another day of class. The instructors work really well with them.
Our student support services process is amazing. We have some ladies at the Student Success Center that help our guys with building their schedules, with, uh, study tips, with lots of things, if they need some help with, uh, with finding the right, the right assistance. There’s a full mental health center on campus.
Um, we’re in the process of building an on campus full health center. Banned by with, with medical staff. The mental health department’s gonna move over there. They have access to so many of [00:15:00] these things. And then from our end, on the soccer side, one, holding them accountable so they know what they need to do.
Two, providing them those opportunities. So one of the things we do, for example, is we have, we have, uh, two, two days during season where we have weekly study halls. But I want to treat them like adults that we hope they’re going to become. So, if they have all A’s and B’s, and we check their grades every week, if they have all A’s and B’s, they’re doing their job.
They don’t need me to hold their hand. They’re exempt from study hall. They can take care of their own time. If they have any C’s or D’s, then study hall is there, and, uh, we’re going to require you to be present to help get you to that, hopefully, that A and B. And, uh, there’s tutoring services, um, and the school does a lot of things socially for them to have, uh, you know, little tiny things like an ice cream social, like, uh, popcorn day or, uh, international cuisine there and some of them get to bring their own stuff and things like that.
So there’s just a lot of support internally and our programs. Tend to be supportive of each other. So we go to the women’s basketball game, the basketball players come to our games and, uh, all of that builds a sense of community that, that, that’s, that’s been really pretty awesome to be a part of this year.
Matt: No, that’s great. Well, let’s fast forward. Let’s say we’re in October. We’re in the heart of the season. Kind of walk me through what’s a typical week going to look like for your players in terms of when classes, practices, games, meals, all that kind of stuff has.
Coach: Sure. Uh, so most of the [00:16:30] time we want them to go to class, uh, in the morning during the special, especially those morning ones and early afternoons.
We will, uh, currently because we practice at the high school a couple of times so that we’re on the turf that we play on, we’re making sure that we that we are familiar with our home field. So, so we have a little bit of a home field advantage on the field as well. Uh, not every day is the same, but our current schedule is Mondays and Fridays.
We are on the grass fields that are right next to campus. Uh, we have to practice fields lighted, uh, really nice. I mean, it’s a really good, uh, really good set up. They’re just not competition set up for competition because when they built them, they built them a little bit too short. Otherwise, that might have ended up being our home fields for everything, but they’re really convenient for practice.
So we go at 3 o’clock on Mondays and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursdays, we travel, we get on the bus, and after lunch, they eat lunch around between noon and one, and we get on the bus, and we go to the high school, and we go one to three o’clock. We have to go a little bit early, but we do have it available twice a week.
Uh, so that we can be on that field before they get out of school and then they have their practices for soccer and football and all that. But getting to practice on the turf at the stadium is also really good. Really nice. You know, you’re going to have a flat spot. You know, you’re going to have the same thing that you’re going to be playing on.
So as far as facilities, we have great access. We do have also something called the champion center, which is a the champion center. It’s a great facility. Full, uh, indoor turfed practice [00:18:00] facility. I mean, how many two year schools can say they have that? Uh, it’s not full size for a soccer field, but it’s about three quarters of one.
It was original. It’s, uh, they do baseball in there. They do softball in there. And then we have access to it, uh, whenever, whenever it’s needed. Um, so we use that quite a bit during the spring when we’re not at the high school last much and all that. And, uh, so having the ability to go indoors when the weather’s bad, having the ability to do and night practice or things like that.
Um, so morning classes, afternoon, whether it’s early afternoon or late afternoon, we do, we do, we do practice and then we have something going on every evening, uh, Wednesdays and Saturdays are typical game days, of course, being soccer, sometimes it might be on a Tuesday, sometimes it might be on a Sunday, but in general, it’s Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Uh, and then, uh, Mondays we usually have an organization meeting where we all get together and we go over any messages that we have to provide the players from administration, anything that we know is going on on campus, uh, make sure they know the schedule for the week, when do we leave if we’re traveling, when do we need to be at the stadium to set up if we play at home, that kind of thing.
Uh, Tuesdays, we usually do game film. In the evening. So we have, we have game film. We have that, uh, Thursdays is usually study hall. And then, uh, Friday we give them a, we give them a day off. If, uh, I need a day off sometimes, um, [00:19:30] uh, Saturdays we usually play or we travel Sunday is when we get a full day off, but we restart on Sunday evening with the second day of study hall.
So during the season, it’s fairly busy, but it’s, it’s, it’s great on the days that we’re not. At the stadium, they have the ability to go in the weight room and do things. Although as busy as it is, we don’t do a ton in the weight room during season. We focus a lot more on our strength and conditioning when we’re in the off season and in the spring, we have a full program.
Matt: Okay. Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the team. I mean, I know you mentioned, uh, the roster size that you have, but what about your coaching staff roster? What you mentioned a student assistant who all is there to help you? And also what other support staff maybe are within the athletic department that help out with the team?
Coach: Yeah, in fact, that’s actually one of the other things that that attracted me to coming over here. Uh, I only have to coach the men’s team. Uh, there’s a lot of overlap in, uh, in soccer, especially at the two year schools where you have to do men and women, which I never disliked doing the women’s side, but it’s just so much all at once.
And I feel like sometimes they don’t get your full attention if you have to split your time. So it’s amazing that I get to do just one and I have a full time assistant. So it’s and he doesn’t have secondary duties like I actually get a full time staff member that’s with me. Um, he is a former colleague, collegiate goalkeeper, and he’s been a college soccer coach, uh, [00:21:00] uh, goalkeepers coach.
So I can do this other goalkeeper stuff as well if I need to, but it is such a specialized job that it’s great to have somebody with that experience. Aside from that, I have the position for a student assistant. Uh, and we have a full training, uh, trainer staff, uh, three full time trainers, uh, right now there’s only two, but they’re looking to add the third one.
So, you know, uh, three full time trainers. So we have somebody that’s going to be assigned to us during season and access to the training room. Whenever we come back, I’ve been at places that had part time people and that’s it. I’ve been at places that only had one and had to be shared by every program, you know, three full time that that’s, that’s amazing.
Um, we have a full wellness center that is open with an indoor track with weight room with access to a Olympic sized pool with, uh, other folks that help the students and. Have access to things on their own time, plus two weight rooms for the teams that are for the athletics department. 1. it’s in the dungeon.
What we call it is in the basement of the athletic, uh, the athletic gym. And 1 is by the champion center, which is the building that I told you that they, uh, that just opened this past spring that has the indoor practice facility that has its own small weight room. Um, so, I mean, facilities wise. I just, there’s, there’s very little to complain about.
If I really, really want to, I can find something, but, uh, we’re, we’re in pretty good shape. And, uh, [00:22:30] health wise, staff wise, we’re, we’re in really good shape. Uh, women’s soccer coach has his own full time assistant, but obviously, We help each other. If we need to, we have a good relationship because we always almost always play back to back games.
We travel together a lot of the time. So, uh, there’s four full timers when it comes to the soccer programs. And, uh, it’s, it’s a good setup.
Matt: No, it sounds like it. Well, let’s transition to, to you as, as the head coach there, kind of give me a quick synopsis of, of, you know, What you look for in a team, the way you try to play and the culture of the team you’re trying to build.
Coach: Well, the first part of that culture, I mentioned it a little bit when we were talking about recruiting and retention is. Everybody’s got a value and we start with that and we go with if I can get those guys to be a family and take care and care about each other off the field, anything that happens on the field, it’s a whole lot easier to manage.
So that’s that’s step one. As far as how we coach, how we play, we want the experience they have at practice to mirror what we’re going to have on game day because There’s no point in practicing at one level and then playing at another. Obviously there’s times when you have to slow it down and teach what you’re going to do before, you know, the portions before you try to get out there, but we’re going to be a very tactical team.
Um, just from how long I’ve been doing this from having played in Europe, having played in South America, have originally been born in Columbia and haven’t played in Italy. [00:24:00] Uh, just been exposed to the tactical side of it a lot. So we probably have more. Preparation and tactical stuff than a lot of programs would put into.
Um, but we expect our players to get that mental side. And I think that’s, that’s, that’s what sets us apart sometimes. Is that that mental aspect is a it’s a very important part knowing where to be and when to be there knowing what supporting runs to make. It’s not just run forward and go. Um, we want to defend like an Italian team.
I told you I played in Italy. So we want to defend like that, like the Italians and we want to attack like South Americans, um, ideally, right? It’s not it’s it’s not as easy to do as as as it is to say, but. We want to be solid. We want 11 guys working together, compact, give no options for the other team to attack, know where to go, close every avenue down, and then once we get the ball, we want to keep it, and we want to take care of it.
I don’t have a problem with a quick counterattack when the opportunity is there. We’re not just going to play possession for the sake of possession, but if it’s not there, if there’s not an opportunity to go, then let’s keep it. Let’s take care of it. Let’s, Be methodical make our runs break down the other team at the end of the day if we have the ball They can’t do anything to us.
It’s only about how good we are. It doesn’t matter how good they are if we keep control
Matt: Absolutely. Well coach really [00:25:30] appreciate uh all the insights I’m gonna just leave you with one last question and and that is if if you had one piece of advice to give Uh, you know boys going through this recruiting process at the moment What is something that you want to make sure that they would know?
You
Coach: I would say find something that’s going to be a good fit for where you are and where you want to go with your soccer and with your academic career. So many times people forget. One of the two. And you can’t have a roadmap to anything if you don’t have a beginning and an end. So, know where you are.
Be honest with yourself about where you’re starting. Don’t worry about labels. There’s Division III teams that’ll crush Division I teams. There’s two year schools that’ll play at a higher level than this four year school. Just find a place that’s gonna get you an opportunity. To get better from where you are today, but it’s going to help you become the player and as a program, as a college become the man that you want to be.
And if you can find that labels don’t matter. That’s where you should be going.
Matt: Oh, great advice, coach. Well, Hey, really appreciate it. Wish you the best of luck this upcoming fall. And, uh, we’ll, we’ll, we’ll keep track of how your guys are doing, uh, as you, as you go towards those national championships. All right.
Coach: Thanks, Matt. I appreciate it. And hopefully we get to talk again in the future and talk about how we actually got to go to one.
Matt: Sounds good. Take care of coach.
