Columbia State Community College Women’s Soccer – Coach Kean Barclay

In today’s episode, I speak with Coach Barclay from the Columbia State Women’s Program in Tennessee. We talk about how he looks for hard workers with skills that can translate onto the field. Coach also shares about the school’s proximity to Nashville, but also its lively, small town vibe. Plus, we discuss his overall coaching style. Learn more about Columbia State Community College Women’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I am lucky enough to be joined by Coach Barkley at Columbia State Community College in Tennessee. Welcome coach. 

Coach: Oh, God. Glad to be here. 

Matt: Ah, glad to have you. I mean, uh, you, you, you see Columbia State and it’s like, okay, could be South Carolina. Could be, uh, who knows what.

’cause I’ll be driving through. South Carolina tomorrow, my way to Jefferson Cup. Don’t know if I’ll see you there this weekend, uh, doing any recruiting, but, uh, speaking of recruiting as a junior college, you know, you guys gotta do twice as much as everybody else. Uh, refilling that roster. So middle of March.

What is your roster and recruiting look like right now? 

Coach: Yeah, I mean I think at the community college level, you know, the recruitment piece is just such an, a massive element because like you said, we’re, you know, we’re looking to, to bring back minimum half our roster, you know, but we have a great year and some girl, some freshman girls get some opportunities to, to.

[00:01:00] Get to a program that would help them academically progress and all that kind of stuff. That could be more than half your team. So, you know, it’s, it’s certainly a, a huge piece of your labor and time in terms of recruitment. 

Matt: So I’m guessing, uh. You as most junior college coaches, I talk to you, your, your class is never locked.

You might be pulling in people, uh, you know, the second day of training if it, if it works out the right way. But, uh, how, at this time of year, generally, how does your, your class look? I mean, how many more players are you looking for? How many got locked in? What’s that look like? I 

Coach: think it changes year to year.

You know, I think there are some years where. Um, everything falls into place how you want it to, and I mean, I think two years ago I signed 13 on signing day November 1st. And so it’s like, and then there’s years where we signed two on November 1st. And so I think again, it’s like, I think it just year to year kind of just depends on how things progress with each individual and.[00:02:00] 

And kid to kid basis. But you know, hopefully you want in March to be pretty far along in terms of what your team is gonna look like. And you know, you’re always looking to add and see what else you can find and all that. But, uh, you’re hoping to be pretty far along in March. 

Matt: Well, uh, in terms of, of the recruiting side, where, where do you like to go?

What, what events do you like to, to be at? Where do you like to try to find players? 

Coach: You know, I think, I think Tennessee is. You know, foundational piece of our roster. You know, we’re, we’re not, um, there are a lot of community colleges that have, you know, 18, 19 internationals on their roster. That’s not typically what you’re gonna find on the makeup of our roster.

It’s gonna be. You know, 80 to 90% Tennessee kids. Um, and then we’ll have, you know, a handful of, of outta state kids and we’ll have a few internationals, like two. Um, but for the most part, we are predominantly, we wanna get the Tennessee kids, and I think we’re fortunate. [00:03:00] You know, at Columbia State, we’re in an area where there’s incredible talent just in our backyard, you know?

So, uh, just within, you know, a hundred miles, there’s a lot of really good clubs, a lot of really good players and coaches for us to kind of go through. So we’re fortunate in that sense. But I would say there’s no, you know, there’s not a whole. Boundary in terms of where we’ll go, you know, I mean, obviously we’re typically not going to like California and Vegas and, you know, stuff like that.

But, you know, we’ll, we’ll get to like Indiana and, you know, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, maybe Virginia. Like I would say like our, our region of the country. We, we have some kids, but um, more predominantly Tennessee. 

Matt: Okay. Now, do you guys run any ID camps or do you, your staff work external camps?

Are they a part of your process? 

Coach: Yeah, I, I, I typically try to, like my assistant coach will go and do a lot of, uh, work, a lot of camps at other schools. Um, try to kind of fill up their, their summer with, uh, with working camps. And we [00:04:00] typically run one. Camp, um, a year. Um, and our camp, I, I don’t really like the camp for me personally to have, you know, 50, 60, 70 plus kids.

We, we typically do a camp with where we really want like 30 kids, and hopefully at that point we already know. The majority of those kids that are coming and we wanna see them against, you know, some, maybe potentially some kids who’ve already committed to us to see what that they look like against kids that we already like or just to kind of see how they mesh and how they get along.

But we like to keep it around 30 tops, and we usually do it in October. 

Matt: Okay. Well, whether it’s at a camp or a showcase or wherever you’re seeing players, what kind of makes up the hierarchy of things that you’re looking for in a player both on the field and off. 

Coach: Yeah, I don’t, I don’t think I’m probably far off of what, you know, most coaches are gonna say.

It’s like, you know, the character of the kids are incredibly important. Um, you know, as co college coaches, we’re gonna spend more [00:05:00] time with these kids than we are our own families. So we certainly wanna surround ourselves with people who are like-minded. Um, you know, for me it’s like driven, uh, individuals, competitors, industrious players that are like to work hard and, you know, all the things that.

You know, are gonna be skills that they can apply right away in college. Because being a college athlete is difficult, you know, it’s not easy. So, um, people who kind of have experience, you know, I love when we get kids who, you know, work the job through high school and, you know, it’s like we know that they can time manage and all those types of things.

I think it gives us into a little bit of a window of what they’re gonna look like when their plate is full. 

Matt: No. Makes, makes a lot of sense. Um, well, one of the things that, you know, comes up primarily, uh, well, this day with the transfer portal, it comes up all the time now, but, but for, for those going through the junior college process, and you mentioned [00:06:00] it maybe some, even some freshman girls who have success and, and look to move on, kind of talk to me about the success of your girls moving on to the next level for, for those that want it.

Coach: Yeah, I think this year was, was really exciting. We’ve got, um, you know, we had 11 sophomores and, uh, seven wanted to go on to play after they were finished and six of those players have already signed and the seventh one is now fielding, I think she’s got three offers and she’s going on a couple of visits in the next couple weeks.

But all seven of them will, you know, have great programs. Great. Situations for them, like academically, athletically. So, you know, I think that’s a huge piece of it as well. You know, we talk about how mu, how labor intensive recruitment is, but it’s also, not only are we recruiting them in, but we’re recruiting them out too.

Um, so, you know, we’re, we wanna work to find these kids great places to play, um, for them when they’re done. 

Matt: Okay, well, let’s talk a little bit more about the school. Uh, [00:07:00] maybe, maybe some folks out there not familiar with Columbia State. So, uh. What have you, you know, since you’ve been there, what have you found to be great about the school?

What, what, what they stand out to you? Maybe some things we wouldn’t even know by going through the website. 

Coach: Yeah. I think, you know, Columbia, Tennessee is, is a really great location for me because I think from a recruitment purpose, I. We’re an hour from downtown Nashville, so we’ve got, you have the access to get to NSC games or Titans games or, you know, predators games and plenty of concerts and, you know, for our out state and internationals that wanna see Nashville, because it’s kind of a, you know, it’s a big place to be right now.

A lot of people moving to Tennessee, I can assure you, you know. Um, but in the same sense, we’re far enough away. We’re like. We’re not dealing with like traffic and crime and stuff like that. And, and downtown Columbia is, is great. You know, I think one of the things I would would mention would be Mule Day, which happens in April.

Um, and it’s like the whole downtown has a festival event of things and. [00:08:00] Boutique stores and, and live music. And, uh, there’s a huge parade and, you know, tens of thousands of people come down for it. And, you know, one of the other really neat things about Columbia is at the first, they have first Fridays. So the first Friday of every month, the downtown square, like all the stores put their stuff outside, there’s food trucks and live music.

And really you feel like. You, you are in like a Hallmark Christmas movie, you know, when you’re downtown Columbia. So there’s enough to do where you’re not in the middle of nowhere, um, but you’re also close enough to a big city where, you know, I think that that helps as well. 

Matt: Yeah. So sounds like a good spot to be.

Uh. It. You know, one of the toughest challenges kids can have coming into college though, is really figuring out how to balance the demands of the sport, demands of the school. Uh, what kind of support systems do you guys offer to help them be successful in both aspects? 

Coach: I think Columbia State does a great job of providing, you know, resources, um, [00:09:00] for the students in terms of all the elements of being an adult, you know, um, there’s a lot of support with like, tutoring and, you know, academic services.

And, um, even within our own staff, like one of my assistant coaches has a, an academic checkup meeting every two weeks with players to kind of, and it’s not just an academic checkup, it’s kind of like also a. Life checkup of how are things going and you know, where do you think you, you need a little help or a little support in.

And so we want to try to give them all of the resources they need to be successful. 

Matt: Okay. Well let’s walk back to October timeframe, uh, just heart of the season. Uh, what does a typical week look like for a player in terms of when are classes, uh, practices, games, all that kind of thing? 

Coach: Yep. So when we’re on that regular cycle, we play two games a week.

Um, typically I schedule those games Thursday, Sunday. Um, [00:10:00] minimizes a lot of missed class time. Um, majority of our kids don’t have class on Fridays. We, our home games, we kick off at 7:00 PM We’ve got a stadium with lights. So, you know, we’re fortunate that we can play some evening games, which helps with attendance as well.

Um, I think, you know, we’re, we’ve got great attendance in our events, um, so I think that helps. So those are our two game days. And then typically, you know, from a, you know, periodization standpoint, Monday was typically our day off. Um, because we play every Sunday, Tuesday, you know, is a little bit of a heavier workload for a training session.

Um, Wednesday’s prep, um, you know, Thursday, game day Friday, recover. Uh, and film, Saturday prep film, Sunday game. That’s kinda what they look like. Most of the kids have classes between nine to 12 or 1230, something like that. And then we usually train one to three in the afternoon, um, or sometime around that.

That’s, we, we change it kind of year to year based on what we need and what everyone’s class schedule looks like. But that, I would say that’s mainly what it looks [00:11:00] like in terms of a week to week. Okay. 

Matt: Well, you know, as a parent, one of the, the big questions I always have is, all right, what’s this gonna cost me?

Right? So junior college is famous for being more affordable and depending on what. Division within junior college, uh, may have more scholarship money even. So kind of just talk to me, and I’m not holding you to hard numbers here, but just gimme some rough, rough estimates here. What can a new student coming in expect from a, from a call standpoint?

Um, what maybe what’s the room board situation? What’s the athletic scholarship? Situation, et cetera. 

Coach: Yeah. Tennessee has, um, what’s called like Tennessee Promise. Tennessee Hope. So a lot of Tennessee kids can go to a community college for free. Um, which is similar to what I had when I coached, um, in Missouri for a community college.

On the men’s side, they had the a plus. So it was very similar program where you could get kids, um, in state where they’re not even having to pay tuition, so it’s free. Um, and then from an, uh, like a hour rate perspective, I wanna [00:12:00] say, you know, if you don’t qualify for the Tennessee Promise, or Tennessee Hope, I wanna say it’s like maybe.

2300 bucks a semester, um, something like that. So maybe around 5,000, a little less than 5,000 a year. Um, so, but again, there’s also, there’s all sorts of scholarships to, to apply for, from, you know, opportunity scholarships to, you know, there’s outta state scholarships that we have in waivers that we can, we can put together, so we can put together packages for kids where it is, if the financial reasons for your college selection are a top priority.

Community college is, is certainly a, a, a great avenue to go. Okay. For sure. 

Matt: Well, let’s talk a little bit more about the team. Um, I, is there a roster size that, that you are trying to hit each year that you find is ideal? 

Coach: Gosh, I think the ideal roster size would be 28. For me personally, would be somewhere around 28.

Um. [00:13:00] Now, this year we had a, we had 24, so we were a little bit smaller than normal. And I think the year before we were 24. So I’ve been like right around that 24 number. But my ideal number would be, would be 28. 

Matt: Okay. And then besides, uh, uh, roster players. What other folks are filling out that roster in terms of assistant coaches, maybe some folks in the athletics department that help out with that team.

What’s that look like? 

Coach: Yeah, I’ve got, uh, I’ve got two people that I would say are my assistant coaches. So I’ve got one whose role really is more on like, uh, operations, academic meetings, like study hall, really like. Life coach slash assistant coach. And then I’ve got another assistant coach that’s a little bit more on the soccer side with me to help with working with Goalkeeping.

Um, ’cause goal Keeping’s not my specialty. Um, so, and he was a former college goalkeeper, so he has that as his background. Um, and then he’ll kind of help in all the other elements too. So I kind of feel like we, [00:14:00] we divide and conquer. 

Matt: Okay. Awesome. Well, what about you? Talk to us about your coaching style and just the style of play you guys are looking to play there.

Coach: Yeah, I mean, I think we wanna play a controlling style. We wanna, you know, we wanna play fast and physical and aggressive and, you know, we wanna play in entertaining offensive style of soccer. Um, uh, I think this year we were top 10 in the country in attacking corners shots, shots on goal goals like. We wanna put people under pressure.

We wanna, you know, we wanna score a lot of goals. I think that’s part of the fun. I think we’re also in the top 10 for conceding the least amount of goals given the game, the number of games that we had. Um, so we wanna play good defensively. I think that’s always a, a key piece. Like, you know, everyone’s like, I.

Cliche of, you know, defense wins championships, but, you know, we, we love to attack. So I’m all about the goals. I love seeing the kids with their celebrations, enjoying the moment. I encourage them to, to celebrate and enjoy the [00:15:00] goals because at some point your lifes scoring goals comes to an end. So, you know, take advantage of, enjoy while you can.

Enjoy. 

Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Well. We’re in the spring. Um, what is your non-traditional slash off season look like? What do you guys do, uh, this time of year? 

Coach: Yeah, so in the spring I, I think, you know, we put a lot of focus in like the individual, so a lot of our training in the spring is like more functional work.

Um, speed, agility, strength conditioning. It’s less focused on the team tactical principles because you know, like we talked about earlier in a recruitment, the team year to year is gonna look really different in terms of how it’s made up. So, you know, how tactically how we are gonna attack and defend it could potentially change every year.

Um, so really we want to try to get, help the kids reach the best. Potential within them from an individual standpoint. So our focus is really on a lot more [00:16:00] on functional work, speed, agility, strength, and conditioning. Um, and we do a lot more morning trainings to give the girls a little bit more of like a, you know, afternoon off if they’re, you know, they don’t have it, or, or we can do some individual meetings or some individual work.

That’s kind of how we do it. And then of course, we’re allowed now they’ve just changed it. I think it was four play dates and now it’s six play dates. Um, so we’ve got, you know, like this spring we’re playing. Um, you know, a couple of NCAA division one teams we’re playing a couple of. Top 10 NAI schools, we, we try to use u utilize the, um, the spring to showcase, you know, both the sophomores this year is unique because almost all of our sophomores are, are done.

But, you know, hey, here’s some freshmen to take a look at next year. If a coach likes ’em, it’s like, here’s our schedule. We livestream all of our games, please, you know, log in, take a look at the kids and reach out to me. You know, if you, if there’s somebody you like. And so we play those games to kind of help showcase the girls.

That’s awesome. 

Matt: Well, you’ve given us a bunch of info and I really [00:17:00] appreciate it. Can I leave you with one last question, and that is, if you had a piece of advice for any girl going through this process of college recruiting, what would that be? 

Coach: Um, you know, I think the word that comes to mind is be relentless.

Um, I think a lot of kids, um. They don’t attack their own recruitment. And I think that’s really an important piece of, you know, you are gotta get yourself recruited, you know, you know, nobody’s gonna just show up on your doorstep and just happen to see, see, or that’s less likely as opposed to you being the aggressor and you being relentless and finding the schools and the programs that you’re interested in, in contacting those coaches and sending your schedules and like kind of chase the coaches down a little bit.

Um, you know, like, you know, like Jefferson Cup, it’s like there’s gonna be hundreds of kids. So what’s gonna separate one kid from another is if there’s a couple of of kids who contacted me and sent me their schedule and indicated they’re interested in us. It’s [00:18:00] like those are the, those, they’re gonna go to the top of the list.

Like those are the games that I want to go see ’cause I know they’re interested in us. So I think be relentless in, in your pursuit of being recruited. Um, and then the other piece of that is, um, you know. You may not hear back from coaches, but just keep going, keep knocking on doors, keep sending emails, you know, keep, keep that contact going, um, because you are really your own advocate.

Um, so you’ve gotta be the one kind of pursuing the schools to let them know that, Hey, I really am interested in your program. I wanna be a part of it. Like, I think that’s, that’s just really, really big piece for it. 

Matt: Well, as, as someone who helps the college recruiting, uh, process at my kids’ club, I can, uh, say that’s really good advice.

So hope everybody heard that. Uh, coach, really appreciate it. Wish you the best of luck as you wrap up the recruiting class and, and hopefully next fall you’re, you keep on moving ’em ahead and. Maybe hang a banner, huh? 

Coach: Yeah, it’d be great. And, and you know, before we go, Matt, I just wanna give you a huge kudos to like what you’re doing in these, with these [00:19:00] podcasts are, they’re fabulous.

You know, like you’ve done so many interviews with so many programs from across the country that at all levels, like what an, what a great way to share information for not only just about schools, but about the college soccer landscape and scheme and all of it that you, you know, I’m a huge fan of anyone that’s.

That’s doing everything they can to educate and share and, you know, so definitely I think it’s fantastic what you’re doing. I’ve been listening to your podcasts and, and I watch ’em and, and I love what you’re doing, so please keep doing what you’re doing. 

Matt: I appreciate it. As long as I can get people to keep signing up to jump on with me.

We’ll, we’ll keep at it. I think you’re gonna be, uh, program number 3 24. Uh, so we’ll just keep on going and, and hopefully we, folks, uh, coaches, keep signing up and we’ll keep putting ’em out. Yeah, that’s great. All right. Well thanks coach. Best of luck. Thanks, Matt.