Life University Men’s Soccer – Coach Alex Pama

On today’s episode, I speak with Coach Pama from the Life Men’s Program in Georgia. We talk about his recruiting criteria and mix of domestic and international players. He describes their facilities that rival D1 facilities. Lastly, we discuss their various staff roles including analysis. Learn more about Life University Men’s Soccer.

Matt: [00:00:00] Hi everybody. Welcome to Discover College Soccer. Today I’m lucky enough to be joined by Coach Alex from Life University in Georgia. Welcome, coach. Pleasure to be here. Ah, thanks for being here. Uh, we’re talking here, mid-November. You guys just wrapped up your season. Um, I, I know it’s, uh, it’s, it’s always hard when, when, when you’re talking to me and, and not, uh, preparing for a tournament game, uh, but, uh, such as the way of the world.

Um, so. You guys being NAIA, kind of what is your recruiting timeline now that the season is over? Are you, are you, how much of your 24 class is done? Are you looking at 25s? Kind of what’s your timeline? What’s that look like right now? 

Coach: Yeah, so on the, um, on the men’s side, typically, um, it, uh, we wait a little bit.

You know, before we recruit, so we’re not typically looking at, uh, sophomores or juniors, uh, at our level. We’re looking more at seniors, high school seniors, obviously. Um, and that recruiting process started about 2, 3 weeks ago. So typically early November, we start, uh, things back up. Um, from July till till late October, we are in the season, so there’s very little time to recruit as well as you have to prepare your team for, um, for competition.

So, um, but right now, um, we will. And we have started recruiting [00:01:30] domestically and internationally. So the NIA obviously, uh, you know, recruits internationally heavily as well. So in our team, it’s about, um, I would say 70, 30, 70 percent international, 30 percent domestic. So, um, and then since we’re in Georgia, we look mostly predominantly in the Southeast.

Uh, so Georgia and the surrounding states, South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, that’s where, where most of our recruits. Domestically are coming from. 

Matt: So talk to me a little bit more. Well, let’s break it down by domestic international. So on the domestic side, you mentioned the Southeast or their events that you kind of have on your, your must see list, uh, over the next six to nine months.

Coach: Yeah, so my assistant coach just came back from Florida. He was there in ID camp. Uh, so typically we will visit about 8 to 10 ID camps in the area, uh, then been brought up either by clubs or by organizations. Um, and then, um, if players submit us a video or an email where The email catches our interest because a lot of times, uh, we, in our university, we receive about 5, 000 emails, um, a year from players that want to come play here.

So we have to be critical when we read these emails, and there’s a couple of criteria that we look at first of all, is the generic email, uh, you know, that they sent to everybody. Sometimes they misspell my name [00:03:00] or they misspell my assistant coach’s name. So, um, that’s a big, big no, no. Um, we look at the GPA of, of a player for us.

We like to recruit players with a GPA of 3. 0 and higher. Um, so that’s an important feature that we look for in the email, but if we like the email and we like the video that’s attached in the email, we typically ask for full game footage so we can see the player, uh, in a full game, uh, environment. And then, um, what we will do if we’re really interested from that point on, uh, we will then ask for a schedule and kind of see if we can make it out to a game, um, A club game that they play over the winter break.

Um, so we’ll send one or two coaches out there, and if they come back very enthusiastic about the player, then I might go myself for a final visit and invite the player in for a visit to come to campus and, um, and talk to see if we can bring that player in for our team for the following season. 

Matt: Okay.

Well, now we’ll flip over to the international side because I’m guessing you’re not, uh, flying to see a player play multiple times with multiple coaches. So what is the international recruitment process look like? 

Coach: Yeah, well, I’m actually going to Italy, uh, in, in about three, four weeks. Uh, We, we don’t go a lot to, to abroad, but the same thing for international players, they would send us a video.

We would look at videos. That’s actually what we’re doing now every single day for [00:04:30] the last two weeks. Um, we spend about three hours of our day in the morning to look at videos. Um, again, there we’re also looking for certain features. What level does the player play at? What position does the player play at?

Uh, his height, his strength is, you know, all that comes with the position. So, um, we look at those features as well. Um, at life, we have five criteria, uh, for each player, domestic or international. That’s your technical ability, your insight. So how well do you understand the game, your decision making, your physicality.

Um, are you able to win the battles, the duels, your speed and not just your speed of play, but also your handling speed? How fast can you handle the ball? And then the last part, which is nowadays, I think a very important part of the recruiting process is your mentality, your character. So, uh, for example, we watched a video the other day from, from an international player that constantly after play was arguing with, with the referees.

Um, that’s a no, no, you know, for us. So, um, and, and it could be as simple as that. If we notice that in the video again, same process there. Once we like what we see, we want to see full game footage. We start inquiring about the player. I’m from the Netherlands originally. So in Europe, you know, and I come from the professional level in Europe.

So my network is quite vast. So it’s easy for me to kind of find out, um, what level it is. And perhaps I know somebody in that country that can figure out more for me background on [00:06:00] that player. Um, again, because that mentality character piece is is important. Um, you know, as well when we bring him in. So then we’re trying to see social media accounts.

We do that, by the way, for domestic players as well. To kind of see what kind of person is this. Um, and are they a good fit to come into our program? 

Matt: Great. Those are some phenomenal insights for our listeners, both domestic and international. Um, well, let’s talk about the school. I’m sure there’s some folks out there maybe not familiar with Life University, uh, there in Georgia.

You’ve been there a few years now. So what can you tell me? What are some of the awesome things about your school? Some things that stick out, maybe even some things we wouldn’t know just by going through the website. 

Coach: Yeah, so life university is located near downtown Atlanta. It’s in a suburb called Marietta, Georgia.

It is about a mile and a half away from the Atlanta brave stadium. Uh, we are a block away from the Atlanta United training ground. So, um, our campus is extremely green, which is awesome. Rare to find in a downtown environment. Um, we have about 12 miles of hiking trails on campus. So, um, it is once we get a player on campus, we almost 99.

9 percent get a commit because the campus is so beautiful. Um, our facilities are absolutely top class. I have coached division one and subway division one. Uh, professional level in Europe, as, as mentioned, uh, these facilities are unbelievable. Um, so you name [00:07:30] it, we got it. Uh, the university itself has about 3000 students.

Uh, it is known for its chiropractic, uh, degree. It is the number one school in the world, uh, for, um, the doctor of chiropractic program. Um, but we also have one of the best exercise science programs in the Southeast. So, um, when players want to go into that direction. Uh, they do most of my players, though, go for their business degree, uh, here at the university.

So, um, and we have some pretty unique internships with all these pro teams around town as well. So if players want to go into business and basically go into sports management, sports marketing, they can do that. Um, and then, uh, our psychology degree is, is very well known. As well, so, um, there are a couple of different direction.

For example, we do not have an engineering degree. We do not have a law degree. So for those degrees, you shouldn’t attend life University, uh, obviously, but, um, the university is very international. So we have a lot of different, uh, nationalities on the university. And in fact, international students get a get a discount when they attend life University.

So it is also encouraged. To have so and of course, being in Atlanta has a lot of advantages because you have, of course, the big sports teams, but you have the true American life as many players are looking for, but also the big airport, you know, nearby. So we’re about 25 minutes away from Hartsfield International [00:09:00] Airport.

So, um, it has that advantage as well. But, uh, yeah, that’s in a nutshell, a little bit about the university and itself. So. Um, I thoroughly enjoy it. It’s really hard to top this, uh, in terms of facilities university wise. Um, we have brand new dorms for the student athletes. Um, it costs about 60 million dollars to construct.

They’re about two years old. If you’re too lazy to take the stairs or to take the elevator, there’s even a slide that takes you down. Uh, I kid you not. So, um, these dorms are definitely high, high end. Uh, if you visit our website, you can, or you go to YouTube, you can, you can see them. Um, it’s unbelievable, um, all the facilities that are available to, to the athletes, to the regular students as well.

So, um, it truly is a hidden gem inside of, um, Atlanta. 

Matt: Well, you mentioned some of the academic programs, but in terms of. You know, high school students becoming college athletes, you know, sometimes that jump can be be difficult managing your school demands and your sport demand. So how do your players do that?

What kind of support systems does the school offer to make sure kids are successful, both in the classroom and on the field? 

Coach: Yeah, so we, we have, like most universities, obviously, we, the transition is, is quite. Quite a jump from high school to, uh, college athletics. Um, so we have on staff a nutritionist [00:10:30] that will help with your dietary needs because obviously, you know, you’re on your own now.

So we want to make sure you eat healthy food, you eat all the right, right types of food. Um, we have, um, on staff, a psychologist. So also mentally nowadays, you know, to make that transition because obviously the demands are much higher, uh, both academically in our program. Like I said, our team GPA is a 3.

54 average team GPA for men’s soccer or men’s sports. That is a very high GPA. Um, and, um, you know, there’s pressure there as well that your grades stay good. We monitor that. We have people, an academic coordinator, two people that monitor that just for the student athletes. Um, and me as a coach gets a report every two weeks to kind of see where every grade’s Where my players are great wise.

Um, then, of course, we have study hall. We have tutors available to the athletes, you know, to make sure that those grades do stay, um, at a acceptable level and and make sure that the players stay eligible as well. Um. We have a strength and conditioning coach. So that’s where they go. Also, 34 times to make sure that physically they are ready to compete at our level.

That’s on the athletic side. As I mentioned, on the academic side, you also get, um. A counselor assigned to you that helps you with your class schedule. It helps you with, [00:12:00] um, you know, your, your course load and the direction that you want to go into with your, with your degree. Um, then we have on staff also career services, uh, people.

So once you, um, choose that direction, they make sure that when you graduate. There might be a job waiting for you or, you know, that you can go into an interview, um, as well. So, um, basically, when they come into the door to when they finish their degree, you know, there’s guidance all the way through, um, our university is a little bit unique that we have a food fuel station.

So, for example, after practice. Um, players go in, it’s, it’s sponsored by, uh, by Gatorade and they go into our nutritionist fuel station. We have 3 of them on campus and they can get a snack or a drink. So that way they’re not going into class with an empty belly. Uh, you know, um, so. All these things are being monitored, are being watched, um, so that the athlete, um, and the student both can be successful on the field and off the field as well.

Um, so once a player is sliding with his grades, then we, we start investigating why that is. Sometimes it’s laziness on the athlete’s part, or they like the Xbox or the PlayStation too much. Sometimes, you know, it’s Simply, I don’t understand the subject or sometimes there may be on the wrong path. [00:13:30] Uh, you know, uh, so then we, we will meet with the counselors and, uh, and see if we can find a solution so that the student can become successful, uh, again, and, uh, and the grades are improving.

Um, as they’re here, we’re on a quarter system at life university. So it’s a little different than semester system. Um, so each quarter, we can kind of monitor as well. You know, the, the success of an, of an athlete of a student. Um, but it’s, it’s a teamwork. There’s a whole team of people around each individual.

And each individual gets, uh, an individual approach. So it’s not like a whole group of people. We look at each individual and then say, okay, what’s best for that individual? And how can we help him succeed? 

Matt: No, that’s, that’s great. That’s a really, really good setup. You got there coach. Uh, I think there’ll be a lot of schools jealous of all that.

Um, in terms of. You know, a typical week. So let’s, let’s back it up a couple of weeks. You’re in the middle of conference season. Can you just walk me through what a typical week might look like for a player in terms of winter classes, meals, practice game, cadence, all that kind of thing. 

Coach: Yeah, yeah, sure. Um, so we train Monday through Friday.

NIA tells us that we have to give the athlete one day off. So typically we give them two days off. We give them Saturday, Sunday off. Unless we have a game on Saturday, then they just have the Sunday [00:15:00] off. Um, but we train Monday through, um, Friday. We train from 7 to 9 a. m. each morning. Um, so it’s early mornings for my guys, but that’s how they get their game started, the day started.

Then after practice, a group will go to class. They have class at nine, so they leave practice at 8 30 to go to class. Uh, and a group will go to after practice to breakfast. Then on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, they also have weights. Strength and conditioning training on top of their soccer practice. That typically is from noon to one each day.

So they go to class, let’s say from nine to 11, then they go to weights and then they have class again from two to four. Um, that’s a typical day. The evenings they are off. Um, for studying and so on to make sure that, uh, they’re ready to go again the following day to repeat it all over again. So that’s a typical week, um, for, for the athlete.

Now it could be that in a week, an extra practice is added. It could be that individual practice is added for, for a player. For example, if you’re a winger. and you’re struggling with your crosses, then the assistant coach will take you out in the in between classes and do an extra session with you. Um, there’s also some video sessions in there.

Um, typically on game day, we don’t train. So if we play on a Thursday night, we don’t train that Thursday. Um, but we will have a video session that Thursday, and that’s typically 45 [00:16:30] minutes, 30 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on the opponent. Okay. 

Matt: Well, let’s shift gears. Talk a little bit more about the team.

Is, is there a roster size that you’re looking to hit each year? Do you guys have a developmental team? What’s that look like? 

Coach: Yeah, so we, we have, um, last season we had about 38 players on the roster. Um, we typically carry from 32 to 38, 39 players, depending on, depending on the year. Um, we have 21 different nationalities in the, uh, in the roster.

So it’s a very, uh, um, diverse. mix of people from all different soccer backgrounds. So obviously a player that grew up in America and the United States plays differently than a player that grew up in France or Spain, and they play differently than a player that grew up in Africa. So they come from all these different backgrounds, all these different cultures.

I’m always amazed on how well they mash and how well they get along. Um, they are becoming your brothers for the next four years. So, you know, you are Dependent on each other, um, somewhat. So, and, um, we, uh, we typically, um, have a reserve team. So we have two teams. We break them up into teams, but we don’t differentiate between the teams.

So some universities, they have a JV team and a JV team separate from the, from the varsity team. We call the first team and reserve team, but they train together. They get the same gear. We are sponsored by Adidas. They get the [00:18:00] same gear, the same outfits, the same approach. The reserve team typically plays about six games a season.

Um, also same approach as the first team. So they get a pregame snack or meal. They get a postgame meal. Uh, they travel also, uh, by by the same transportation as the first team. The only difference is the level of play. Um, so, but we we do that typically so that players if they don’t get minutes on the first team.

They get to play and still develop and get minutes, game minutes on the second team. Um, my son plays division one. Thank goodness he’s a starter, uh, for the division one school. But if you are number 25, 26 on that roster, there’s no playing time for you. So you basically, all you do is you practice. So we want to avoid that at the NIA level.

We have that flexibility to have a second team. And, um, every year there’s one or two guys on the second team that surprise us that we, that we move over to the first squad. And, and reverse is also the case where one or two guys on the first guy, then, then might not. Um, meet to meet the level that we thought they had, and we demote them down to the, um, to the reserve squad.

Um, so it, it works both ways. And, uh, I think we have a very high retention rate, and I think it’s because we take that approach with all 38 players. So. Um, a lot of my, um, reserve players are good enough to start for other universities and I sometimes ask them, like, don’t you want to transfer to another university [00:19:30] where you can start and, and, uh, play on the first team?

And they’re like, no, no, no. I like to stay here. They like the environment that we, uh, we have created over here. 

Matt: Oh, that’s great. Well, besides your roster, obviously you have some staff that are helping you out with a, with a roster that big. So tell me about your staff. What roles do they play? What’s that look like?

Coach: Yeah, so we have, um, we have an athletic trainer. Life University for an NAIA school is very unique. Most NIA schools have 2 to 3, 4 trainers, athletic trainers for the entire department. We have 12 athletic trainers full time. So our, our team is assigned with an athletic trainer, uh, and all she does in the fall season in our season is she focuses on men’s soccer.

Um, so she is on our staff athletic trainer. We are also unique in the fact that we have a doctor of chiropractic, uh, assigned to the athletics department for adjustments for, you know, um, quick diagnosis as well. And then, um, my, the coaching staff, we have a goalkeeper coach, um, that comes in and works with our goalkeepers in training.

I have, uh, three assistant coaches, one assistant coach. We work with a system called Player Maker. So, um, all the players have a chip on their shoe and that provides data. That data is shared with all the players at the end of practice. So each practice, a player knows how he has performed in the training session.

So it’s shared in a group chat. So the players know, okay, you know, um, [00:21:00] and these are their feet. So they, the emotion takes the emotion out of it. Um, you know, when they come into my office and they say, coach, why am I not playing? Or why am I not starting? Or we look at the data as well. So we analyze that.

And one of my coaches, um, Is, uh, just assigned to that piece. So video analysis, data analysis. Um, so he just focuses on, on, on that part. The other two assistant coaches, uh, focus on the reserve team. Um, and I don’t coach reserve team. So they coach the reserve team. Uh, I will be at all the reserve team games, uh, especially the home games.

But they coach the, uh, the reserve, uh, group. Uh, and at the same time they train the reserve team group while I’m working with the first team group with my other assistant in, in practice, because we practice at the same time. Um, but they mirror the training that we do, um, with the first team as well. So, um, that’s a little bit, the role of the staff, the player maker system for me is, is, um.

Is a blessing because again, I mean, it takes out the emotional piece. It just, those are the player’s feet. Uh, so we can track the work rate. We can track their distances, run their sprints. We can track their pass accuracy. We can track their left, right foot usage. Um, you know, so all these, all these things, you know, combined with video nowadays helps, you know, develop the player and help [00:22:30] set.

Kind of the tone, uh, within the practice. So there’s no hiding in my time. When I played, you could hide a little bit in practice if you were tired from the night before, but that’s not the case with these guys. Uh, everything is monitored. Yeah. 

Matt: I remember those days too. Um, well in terms of you and your coaching style, can you give me a little bit about what, how you feel your coaching style is and the team style of play in terms of meshing all those, uh, you know, 20 plus countries and States together?

Coach: Yeah, so I’m Dutch, so obviously I like the ball a lot. I like to have the ball to dominate the game. Um, but college soccer is a little different than what I’m used to in Europe. Uh, and that’s the biggest challenge for us as coaches and for me as a coach to change the mindset. Because, uh, European players often think, oh, the United States, um, and, and most of our international players come from pro academies abroad.

So they, they have realized that they’re not going to accomplish their dream of becoming a pro player. And they want, now want to focus on studying and getting a degree and at the same time play at a decent level. So they come over here, but we, what I have done is I’ve studied kind of the college game, adjust my.

game plan to it. Um, college soccer obviously is very physical. It’s very fast. Um, so yes, you can want to play possession, which everybody associates with, with a Dutch guy. And, uh, that’s certainly the [00:24:00] foundation, but you also have to make sure you do the other things, right? Um, so we’ve, we’ve developed some terminology, uh, that we make each incoming player familiar with, um, you know, and, um, so it’s a blend of, of obviously dominating possession football.

but also, um, playing the American college system. Um, so on speed, physicality, uh, you know, strength. Um, I think in the college game transition is a very big piece. Um, so. We look at the offensive transition and the defensive transition. So we work a lot on that to make sure we do that with all 11. We’d like to look at the corners and, uh, soccer is a game of angles.

So when an opponent is in a 90 degree position, we’d like to play hard press. If an opponent is in a 180 or a 360 degree position with the ball, we’d like to play positional press. So off the ball, we teach them that. And then on the ball, we teach them a high line, low line, which is in college important.

If they play with a high line, which means the defense is close to the middle line, then we look for a ball up and over a ball through to get behind the line as fast as we can so that we can go to goal. Um, but if they play with a low line and obviously we build up, we keep the possession and we’re trying to see if we can find an opening on the wings or an opening through the middle.

If we can. Sucker the other team out of position so that we can capitalize on that. And then the last piece [00:25:30] that in college is very important that we spend a lot of time on a set pieces. So, uh, corner kicks, free kicks, which I think, um, at the youth level, maybe people don’t use or don’t spend as much time on in college.

We spend a lot of time on that because a lot of games are decided that way. So, uh, both defensively and offensively, we I typically spend about an hour and a half, two hours a week on, on just that corner kicks and free kicks. 

Matt: Yeah, an area of the game people need to spend more time on. I think I agree with you there.

Um, well, coach, you, you’ve been generous with your time. I don’t want to keep it too long. I like to end these with one final question. And that is, if there was one piece of information, one nugget that you wish every player, parent, prospect who wants to play in college, uh, would, would have, what would that piece of information be?

Coach: Well, I mean, I’ll, I’ll, I’ll give you a little synopsis on it. Um, you know. Don’t take no for an answer. If you want to play in college, you can play in college, but, um, you got to do the things, right? So for example, I’m watching videos right now, and if you’re a defender and I get a highlight video of you, make sure to highlight video clearly marks you, but if you’re a defender.

Show me your defensive skills. Of course, I want to see you build up a little bit, but I’m not interested in all your goals. Uh, I’m going to recruit you to defend for my team. So please show, include defensive [00:27:00] highlights. So many times we get. videos or we get people telling me like, you know, my son can score so many goals or he’s all this or all that.

But if you’re a defender, show me that if you’re a midfielder, show me your offense and defensive transition, show me your passing skills, you know, so include that in your highlight video. Um, and then make sure you address the email, right? Put the email, you know, Um, uh, in, in, in the correct wording, make sure it captures my, my attention, um, as it, because as you can imagine, if I get 5, 000 emails, what does a sec or ACC division one coach get in terms of number of emails?

So, um, we can look at all those emails. So be unique. Be, be persistent in pursuing your, uh, your dream. And then there’s, there’s a room for everybody. I’m convinced of that. But the last piece of advice that I will give you, make sure your grades are in order because you’re a student athlete, student comes before athlete.

So you’re not here to get a soccer degree. You know, the soccer part is bonus. The biggest, uh, trophy that you can win when you come to a university is your. Diploma, your degree at the end of your, uh, time here at, uh, at the university. Absolutely. 

Matt: Coach couldn’t have said it better. Well, I appreciate your time.

Wish you the best of luck as you, uh, get hot and heavy into the recruiting season. And if you get down to any of [00:28:30] the soccer tournaments down here in Bradenton, Florida, let me know. And we’ll, uh, we’ll grab a cup of coffee or something. All right. Sounds good. I appreciate it, man. Thanks coach.