IN THIS ISSUE

• 🤝 Introduction: We’re back!

• 🇬🇧 Today’s Sponsor: Premier League Tours

• 👨‍🎓 Soccer Thought Leader: Craig Dalrymple, Seattle Sounders FC

• 👥 Mentorship Opportunity: 1-on-1 with Craig Dalrymple

• ⚽️ Soccer Jobs: The best ones we’ve spotted

INTRODUCTION

Good morning, Pathwayers!

After a busy June and July, we’re back with an all-new edition of Pathway - and we’ve been lining up some great ‘Soccer Thought Leader’ conversations for future newsletters so please stay tuned. 👀

In case you missed it last week, our friend and co-founder John Bello has departed Pathway for an awesome opportunity as the First Assistant Coach at Nashville SC. He’s reuniting with his former U.S. Men’s National Team colleague B.J. Callaghan, NSC’s new Head Coach. We’re thrilled for John and his new opportunity and will be tuned-in to Nashville matches every weekend on Apple TV. Go get' ‘em, JB!

We’re continuing to think about how we can add value to the soccer community, so if you have any thoughts, please write to us; we’d love to hear from you.

-Nolan Sheldon, Co-Founder & CXO

SOCCER THOUGHT LEADER: CRAIG DALRYMPLE OF SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC

“The best predictor of talent transferring to successful careers is an absolute commitment - and I would say an addiction to wanting to get better.”

Craig Dalrymple has been a mainstay and the bona fide leader of youth development within MLS for the better part of 15 years. He was the architect of the Vancouver Whitecaps youth development system for more than a decade, serving as the club’s Technical Director - and briefly as the club’s interim Head Coach. Craig then spent two years in south Florida with Inter Miami CF, serving as the club’s Academy Director, before moving back to the Pacific Northwest and into his current role as Head of Professional Player Development with Seattle Sounders FC.

Our conversation with Craig will provide a glimpse into why he has been, and continues to be, regarded as one of the all-time great technical leaders within MLS - he is a mastermind in developing elite players and has played an active role in 80+ players making the transition as youth footballers to professional footballers. Make note of the precision and depth of his responses (a quality that can sharpened and refined on a daily basis) - Craig is a good one to model a career after.

We hope you enjoy the conversation!

-Nolan Sheldon, Co-Founder & CXO

Questions and answers have been lightly edited for length and clarity (and any emphasis below is ours, fyi!)

PATHWAY: Alright Craig, let’s go - give us your soccer origin story. What brought you into the game and what motivated you to build a career in soccer?

CRAIG: I was playing under 12 football in England and was scouted by my local pro team, Ipswich Town. It was my first exposure to football outside of community and into the pro game. I completed six years as a youth player in the Ipswich development system and then went into the club’s youth training scheme, which was kind of like an apprenticeship for two years, which I completed. I tried to keep my studies up at the same time and failed on both. Back then, 30 plus years ago, it wasn't set-up to support the student and the athlete; you literally had to choose sport or education; it wasn’t set-up to do both. I tried to do both and failed mightily at both.

So, once I got released, I went on a scholarship to North America - basically I've never been away from the sport. I played collegiately, got drafted out of college, took my degree in Kinesiology and soccer together and formed a company, which was training athletes. After running a successful business for ten years, I went into the Vancouver Whitecaps system as a coach - From my time at Ipswich until now, I have stayed in the pro game for close to 40 years, in some capacity, as player, a volunteer, a coach, a director, all that kind of stuff. So, it's all I know if I'm honest.

PATHWAY: As you think back on your career up to this point, Craig, were there specific moments that proved to be pivotal in your development, growth and/or how you approached your career?

CRAIG:  For me, there were three or four pivotal moments and all were around adversity. Typically, getting released as player from a pro club or not making the Olympic team, which I thought I was good enough. Both those moments pushed me in a direction of academics, pushed me in a direction of further knowledge. I got released. What do I do next? OK, I'll go on educating myself and I went on to university. Or I've not made the Olympic team. Now what? Okay, I need to go again. And so I was kind of wired that way. I’ve always felt this need to improve myself. So, for me, development was built around serious setbacks, or what I felt was a step back, but ended up being a bit of a catalyst to move forward.

As for my career as a coach or director, The EFCL (Elite Formation Coaching License) was a big moment for me. It was the moment that when I formed the best connections of my career - obviously, 20 peers around MLS, all of which have been successful in their own right. Most have stayed in the sport and now directors or are first team coaches. That was a big, big moment. Once you make those connections, you’re one degree of separation from the leaders of the game. And that was born from that course back in 2013.

2018 was probably the best year of my career, I attained my pro license, I bolted into the position of interim Head Coach of the First Team for Vancouver Whitecaps, and was there for the Alphonso Davies sale to Bayern Munich. I remember saying to my wife, I'm not sure I could replicate this year.

PATHWAY: Did those experiences change your perspective or career approach?

CRAIG: Yea, I wasn't that open-minded and I didn't form great connections in the early part of my career. I was very stubborn, very much, I know how to do things - I'm all good. But it was built around those connections and keeping up with those connections to just to find the next step on your journey. And I think for me, I've always looked ahead, you know, which can be a detriment to your career, but I've always looked at what's next, mostly within my current role, like how can I improve this? where does this go from here? Cause this isn't good enough. There's another level for me to take this to. And I think that's helped me a lot.

I've also never been blindsided by a decision of my boss or a leader; I've always tried to forecast things that can happen. Sleepless nights come with that too, but that's reality. I always tried to achieve more - to add value.

PATHWAY: You spoke of Alphonso Davies - how do you define what superior talent is?

CRAIG: It's an elite quality that transfers to any level of the sport. And obviously there's lots of different qualities a player can have. But whether you're watching a U-15 game and he or she is demonstrating an elite quality, it could be speed, it could be first touch, it could be vision, whatever. And whether you put that same player now into a U-17 environment, a second team environment, or a first team, that quality still stands out. It continues to be an elite quality.

However, the best predictor of talent transferring to successful careers is an absolute commitment - and I would say an addiction to wanting to get better.

PATHWAY: Take that same question. When you look at talent of people that you're thinking about bringing into your team as coaches, as administrators, as scouts, as sports performance coaches, what are the critical qualities they must possess?

CRAIG: It's open-mindedness and humility. Those two qualities are so important. And on top of that, the ability to adapt and just see things through a different lens.

Again, I talked about my ability to forecast out. Someone that has that quality, I think is extremely important.

I remember one of my mentors, Richard Grootscholten, who came into the Vancouver Whitecaps from Holland - he was the Technical Director of the club and I was his assistant and he said to me, “when you go into a meeting, you have to bring something to the table that nobody else has thought about. And not just BS and fluff, but something tangible or different perspective.” And I try and do that every meeting I go to. I try to ask myself “what are people not seeing in this conversation?” And maybe it's nothing, but I try to reflect on this point of view.

PATHWAY: Let’s shift gears to the present - tell us about your current role as Head of Professional Player Development with the Seattle Sounders FC. What are you objectives within this position?

CRAIG: Ultimately, the objectives are to maximize return on investment of the top prospects and the talent in the club. I report to the Director of Development, Wade Webber, but I don't have a staff. I work horizontally across every department, mental performance, physical performance, technical coaching, wellness, the whole gamut.

I worked with players throughout the club, the youngest being a 2009, so a graduating U15 player - it's not a ton of detail and emphasis on those players. Because our first job is to define what a high potential player is as a club. Like what's the criteria that determines that that player is high potential and this player is not. But that would be the youngest we’d identify as a high potential - but from there, I am also doing some work with a few first team players - players that are still young and in the development phase of their careers.

I'm pulling as many resources as I can within the club and delivering deliberate direction, intentional interventions with players on their strengths to turn them into super strengths and our efforts are to be sure a player’s weaknesses are not inhibitors for that player to move forward in their career.

And then ultimately bring that player to the shop window to the discussions within the club at the right time to say, “hey, the next homegrown signing could be this player, this is the next player that needs to go on loan, this is the next player that needs to get minutes.” That's the overarching concept.

The theoretical approach is actually matching the practical application thus far for the first four months or so. So I kind of work in three buckets. One is formal meets with the player. That's centering on what you need, what's happening in your life. Second, is the additional work on the field. We don't call it extras. We just recognize that it is a normal week for you to do these things outside of team training. So kind of changing their thought process of, “need to do an extra gym session. I need to do an extra,” No, this is the norm. And lastly, I do a lot of video review with the players, deliberately focused on the focus areas that the players have brought forward that we agree on.

I'm trying to be extremely deliberate and intentional with the work. Don't waste any time to get the players to drive the bus. It's their journey, their bus, they're in control. The players are the litmus test always - are the players coming back to you for additional sessions? And you can always see the tangible improvement.

PATHWAY: In addition to building your career, you’ve also started and run soccer-specific companies, most recently with SpeedFutbol. Can you tell us about how you started your career as an entrepreneur and how you've continued as an entrepreneur?

CRAIG: I created SpeedFutbol because of my daughters; I got exposed as a parent to other sports, specifically sports that are played faster and higher action sports such as ice hockey and lacrosse and comparatively, certainly at the community level, soccer can be quite slow and methodic and stop-start. But in these others sports, the puck is on the ice all the time, the lacrosse ball is almost always in play. So, I wanted to replicate that experience in the soccer world without needing an indoor space with boards and everything else.

Plus, the marriage of having exposure in South Florida to South American background and futsal being a big influence in play development in the South American countries and in South Florida. So, I came up with the concept of creating a game that's developmentally focused for players that increases engagement, increases creativity, increases actions with the ball, increases actions around the goal. And hence SpeedFutbol came to light after about a year of playing around with rules and different concepts, different sizes of fields, and goals and players on the field.

It was launched in 2023 and a lot of teams have come through it and played it. And the feedback to my point earlier in the conversation, the litmus test is do players want to come back and play? Parents love watching it, referees actually prefer refereeing a SpeedFutbol game than a traditional 9v9 game because it's just more enjoyable.

PATHWAY: What is your favorite thing about working in soccer?

CRAIG: It is just a game, isn't it really? I was actually walking around the complex yesterday and the second team are training, the first team are in, some Academy players are up and sun's out and everyone's in a positive mood because the club won on the weekend. And I'm showing up and doing a day's work which doesn't really feel like it's work. Like put the boots on, do a couple of individual sessions, do a few video reviews, watch the training.

You know, I look back to the days when I graduated from university, I went into workplace injuries assessment because that was my degree in kinesiology. And I remember having to go to workplaces and assess them and come back, write reports. You know, now that's work.

At this stage of my career you learn how to balance it all better - hence my role. I don't want to be driving a bus and being a director or a first team coach. I'm okay with my little mini van, you know, moving around how I want it. I love it.

PATHWAY MENTORSHIP OPPORTUNITY: 1-ON-1 WITH CRAIG DALRYMPLE

Craig has generously offered to conduct two (2) 1-on-1 mentorship sessions in the coming weeks. If you’re interested in speaking with Craig directly, click below to raise your hand for the opportunity. 🙋

• PATHWAY MENTORSHIP APPLICATION:

  Craig Dalrymple, Seattle Sounders

SOCCER JOBS: THE MOST INTERESTING NEW JOBS IN SOCCER

New soccer jobs get posted every week and we like to highlight a few of the roles that stand out to us. Be sure to check out job #4 - you could work with our pal John Bello at Nashville SC! ⬇️

• Director, Analytics - NWSL

• Senior Developer - Playmaker

• Producer, Social Media - Angel City

• Video Producer / Editor - Nashville SC

• Director, Digital Marketing - San Diego FC

• Video Analyst, Academy - Columbus Crew

• Manager, Sporting Operations - MLS NEXT

• Manager, Partnership Marketing - US Soccer

• Vice President, Marketing Technology - MLS

ALSO…

1. If this email was forwarded to you, you can sign up here to ensure you get every issue (sent on Wednesdays!) directly in your inbox.

2. And, if you’re a club or brand looking to get in front of ambitious talent in soccer, drop us a line.

^{Give us a follow!} 

• X [Twitter!]

• Instagram

• LinkedIn

^{See you next week, soccer friends!} 

• Kyle Sheldon

• Nolan Sheldon