The Rest Is Football: Daly Brightness - INTERVIEW: “Beast Mode Soccer” David Copeland Smith

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

Rach invites her old pal and coach David Copeland Smith to chat all things “soccer” training with her and Millie. David is the founder of Beast Mode Soccer and one of the game’s most sought after one-to-one coaches. The names dropped in this podcast reach new levels - think Robbie Williams, Rod Stewart and Al Pacino! That’s before he starts listing the numerous players he’s coached… Alex Morgan, Abby Wambach, Ali Riley and of course our very own Rachel Daly. British Gas is proud partner of the Barclays Women’s Super League and The Rest Is Football Daly Brightness. Learn more about the BWSL Football Tariff here: https://wsl.theenergyshop.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Daily Brightness. This is our special guest episode. So we welcome you, David Copeland Smith, the man behind Beast Mode Soccer. He's just my rock. Honestly, he's the male version of Millie for me. So we go back a long way and he brings a lot more to my life than just football. But we want to have a little bit of an insight to the man behind Beast Mode Soccer. Obviously, Millie, you know him well as well. So that's good. Yeah, Dave, just a little bit on you really. Like, welcome. first of all, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for having me.

All the way from Los Angeles while we're slumming it in the rain. Right, do you know what? You're slumming it in the rain. We're in the middle of a storm. Like, I got absolutely drenched this morning. Day's got a bit of a weird accent. So, yeah. You need to be beside, mate.

Come on. Are you English or are you American? What are you? I have both passports. But if anybody else, obviously I'm English, unless it's immigration when I'm coming back in and I'm like, hey, how are you guys? I'm working.

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Terms and eligibility apply. Peak Save requires a smart meter. and normal standing charges apply. It's been 20 years, right? I've been here. That's crazy. I'm from the South West. So he talks like guests normally. He talks like a farmer.

Right. I'm actually like, hello by. Who's it going? So I finally, you know, got rid of that. And then I get this American twang. And I find my, I had to see training this morning. I looked at the Sam, the girl's working with. I was like, hey, can you pass me the ball?

And she just looked at her and said, yeah, you sound American. I'm like, no. Not that it's a bad thing, but I like to keep my roots, you know. Yeah, we don't really hear much English coming out of your mouth. But that's a good way to start this episode. So 20 years you've been in America, where did it begin? How did it start? I'd always done coaching on the side.

And, you know, I got to an age where I was like, okay, I've got to get a real job. So I moved to London, moved to the big smog and got a job in. business advertising and oh mate i hated it and it was good money and i looked around this office and i was just like i can't do this like i'm just going to die in an office and not not not have cleaned the world and unfortunately like unlike you two i wasn't good enough to make a career anywhere near good enough actually to make a career out of football right so i'd always own coach and it was in my head like well maybe I should do something with my badges and I looked into this thing called camp America where you go out to the state for like eight weeks and you work camps

and you come back and I did that so I left the job in London and I did that and didn't like it didn't like it the first the first six weeks I was just like mate we speak the same language but we've got nothing in common, right? And I stayed it out because I was kind of dating a girl. So that was in New York. I did it then. Oh, he's back. He's coming back.

Yes. New York. This is the rebirth of the UK man. Come on. He's back. So dated this girl. She was in Indiana. I went to see her.

Ended up staying for my full visa like three months. And then I had to move back. And I was like, you know what? I actually really, really. enjoy coaching over here because the kids were really hungry for good information. And then I came back out with Major League Soccer camps, which was just another camp company for MLS. And it was in Florida. I actually remember it so well because I was in my mom's kitchen, mom and dad's kitchen. And I was meant to go out in July 2003. And I got an email said, hey, can you go out in two days to

Florida. And I'm like, yeah. I'll leave, because I got like a couple of part-time jobs just saving up money. I was working in a bank and the post office. And I moved out and loved it. Like I was in Florida. I was working at a local rec team. Rec in the US, rec is like, how would you describe rec, rich? Like, it's like, it's like, it's like local football. Yeah, like you're teaching the basics. They don't keep score. I mean, you know, the parents do, but they don't keep school. You're meant to be teaching them, you know, technical and stuff. And in Florida, it was the first time someone said, hey, hey, can you do a one-on-one session with my kid?

And I was like, why? And they're like, well, you know, are you British guys do that? And I was like, mate, just ball in a war, mate. And he kept pursuing it. And I saw firsthand that kids ate it up and their development curve. spiked when you gave them that individual attention. You know, I'll first forward this because it's a long story. But a couple of years, I swear all my stories start like this.

I was dating a girl and we'll skip the part where my visa expired and I stayed. We'll skip that part. But I'm a citizen now so I don't think I'm going to be deported. So we drove to California and just blindly emailed all these schools, like high schools, and got a job at a place called Harvard Westlake, which is actually where Alyssa Thompson went. Nice. I did not know that.

Yeah, so Lisa went and Jocel went there. And I was doing what was known as JV, like junior varsity, like the second team. And again, I kind of liking it, started to work with one of the varsity players, the first team players, was Ali Riley. she didn't really like me at first, but she kept watching my sessions.

And I'm like, what is it? I thought she was messing with me, like just, you know, trolling me. But she came up to me, she's like, oh, hey, like, my parents were wondering if you'd work with me. I've got a chance to play for New Zealand.

And like, me being me, I was like, oh, I can tell you're a Kiwi with your broad Southern California accent. But her dad is a full-on Kiwi. Dave been dating. John, yeah.

John was a lecturer at UCLA, like super, smart guy. So I started to work with Riley. Fast forward. She did really what she went to Stanford. She played in that 20s World Cup from New Zealand. Then I met Kelly O'Hara. How far do you want to go into this? Like, do we want to jump straight into Roblin? I mean, I only wanted the initial bit of how it all started, but you've basically finished it. I'm in though. I'm locked in. I'm locked in. It's like story. Because also, I think it's good because Rachel's going to come into this at some point. And my question was, how did you get to know Rach and how did you

Like, let me tell you, let me tell you, Rach, top three players I've ever worked with, attitude. Just, Rachel, and I tell all players this thing. Like, no, like, for real, like, I tell all players this, this girl has no ego when it comes to training. Like, our first summer training, Rachel would train with 10-year-old.

She didn't care. As long as she was doing her own thing. thing. And I always put that down to a success. It's like, she just, she just wants to get better. So Tracy Kevin's. Do you both know Tracy? Yeah, do you remember Tracy Kevin's, but England? I think it was under 17s. No, I didn't come in, it under 17s. Oh, yeah, we're later on. Yeah, you weren't have known. Then. Well, Trace works with Emma now on the, on the US. But, right, let me connect this. So I was living at Robbie Williams's house. Oh, no, it's not name dropping again.

Right, look at him, go. Who does he think he is just coming on podcast and name dropping like that? What do you mean? I'm just casually living there. Right, now we need a story. What the heck? How?

What, where, when? He didn't know about it. I broke in. No, basically, Rob, Rob had, he had this field at his house. One of his houses on Mo Holland in Beverly Hills. And my buddy Rocco invited me up to play. And, you know, we were playing up there.

And this is like 2004. five, 2006-ish. But Rob wasn't there, he was on tour. And unfortunately, that was like a tragic time of my life. My best friend passed away. He had a brain aneurysm. And I was kind of all over the shop a little bit, right? Like, you know, when that happens, you're never prepared at you, right?

No. Like family, friends, you just, it's just not expected. And I was a bit of a mess. and then one day like Robbie Williams walks onto the field. And I kind of knew something was up because usually there was like, you know, 12, 13 people there and this time there was like 40. You know what's going on? And I guess someone told him about my situation.

And it was like the guy took it on himself to make sure I was alright. So that day, that day I'm like, I'm not going to lie. I've been in L.A. for a couple of years, well, maybe a year. and I've met some, like, you know, pretty up there people. Like I'd work with Al Pacino as kids. So I'd go to his house and stuff. Here we go again. And you were like...

Dave, just want to take over the podcast and we'll just like... You interviewers or some of it. I kind of feel... I'm not even named after it. It's just facts. And so... But I've been around those types of people, right?

So, you know, I'll watch some of the 06 World Cup, Argentina, I think it was Ivory Coast. In ours house. talking to Scarface about football, which is bizarre, right? But it was Robbie Williams. And this was like 2006 where, you know, I don't live in the UK anymore, so I don't know the star power that Rob has. But at that time, it was like, wow, like this guy's like walking on.

And he came up to me. He's like, oh, someone told me about your mate. Do you want to come into my house for a cup of tea later? And I'm like, this isn't your house? He's like, oh, I've got another one. Okay. And the guys just really looked after me, and I've got a plethora of stories about Rob bailing me out of situations and never talking about it again, right?

And it's why I'm very protective about him because one of the, okay, one story about Rob, right? Rachel's debut for England under Mark Skinner. Mark Samson. Mark Samson, sorry. Rob loves football, right? And I dropped in my text. I was like, hey, because I think he'd moved back to England then. I was like, hey, if you're interested, one of my players making a debut for England today, watch it.

Let me know what you think. And he tweeted to her. And that was when, like, Twitter was like, boom. I remember coming off the game. And I was like, oh, my debut, it was like the best thing ever. And then I was like, I got on the bus and I think it might have been KB or someone who was like, hey, Robbie Williams has tweeted you, Rachel. I was like, what the fuck? What?

My mum was gasped. Like, people, you know, it's like one of those things that you're just like, a bit surreal. Yeah. And I, you know, there's, I could, I could do a whole podcast on, on the generosity of that guy and how he's misunderstood.

Is that where you started your sessions at his, like, training people out of his pitch? Yeah, so I was doing one-on-ones, and he let me use the field to do it. And so I started to work with Ali, right, Riley. Why don't you tell our podcast listeners in England how difficult it is to get a pitch or any sort of space available to train people in California? In Los Angeles, field space is more valuable than gold, right?

Because what happens, it's a weird situation over here, like public parts get taken over by private clubs and you just can't use them. And, you know, Rob was over, why don't you just use a field? And I'm like, okay. So I started to work with players. It's really hard to get field space. But obviously, when I started with that, people would come up and train and they're like,

what is this? Because on one side of the field, you had a view of Beverly Hills, and the other side you've got a view of the valley. It's insane. Do you remember Rod Stewart's house rage? Right? It's like that, but on top of the hills,

so you see both sides. And so I was having players come up. Riley came up and then Riley was the first one that we got into a co-ed game with a girl called Jill Oaks who also played for the national team. She coached with me. But it really kicked off from there because, you know, Riley did really well and Kelly O'Hara did really well. And then the WSL folded or WPS folded. And so we had a local team called Pally Blues, which you played for as well, Rach. So a lot of players were coming out there, but they were looking for good training. So I had Abby Wanbuck come up and train. And then Abby starts tweeting about it. And it kind of steamrolled from there, right? It's one of those things in it.

Like social media then is like the boomer for you. Yeah. Yeah. It was definitely the domino effect for me. And I've always had this outlook as I don't ask people to tweet or, repost stuff like pros because I feel like

if you're good enough people talk about you it's been authentic and genuine yeah and if you're really good people say good things and bad things about you

and you're only really good when you know you know when you're really good because people talk shit about you hey bestie we must have made it damn woo yeah

Millie's really made it the last couple of weeks Hey, meir's still not grey though, so you ain't one yet. Keep trying, guys. Keep trying. So if you're good enough, people will talk. So we had like, Presi started to train with me all the time. Bianca D'A Gastino, like all these good, good, good level pros.

And all I was focused on was development. Like, all I was focused on is being really, really good. So they kept coming back. Because you can train a player a couple of times. it doesn't mean anything. If they ain't coming back, you're not good enough. And then Kelly O'Hara text me.

She's like, Dave, can I bring a couple of friends up tonight? And I'm like, oh, Kel, like, it's a good level tonight. Because in the summer, we used to have a bunch of Prem players come over. Because don't forget, it's Robbie Williams' house. And you guys know that there's that celebrity athlete crossover, right? Where everybody wants to be each other's friend. And I was kind of like, you know, the little peon. because Rob would be like

oh Dave like Sean Wright Phillips wants to come up here's his email right and I'm like no worries no worries Sean Wright Phillips I'll help you out you know Dave did you have to group people together based on their ability is that that's something that when you did like more than one player

did they have to be of the same level for the sessions just so everyone understand not all the time but there'd be no massive gaps so I'd have some like college players training with them and you know there wasn't massive gaps. But if it was levels, then yeah.

Yeah. 100% because you don't want anyone like bringing the house down. So Kel text me and I was like, isn't there some pream players come up? They've got to be good because if they're not, they're on your team. And she's like, yeah, no worries.

And it was Alex, Morgan and Tobin Heath. And imagine Tobin Heath in small-sided. Right? Like the woman, she was sick enough 11s, but small-sided, like, untouchable. So we're playing and I'm like,

I'm going to test Alex because this big thing was like a big cage, right? So I'm like, I'm going to test this girl against the fence. And I'm in good shape. I'm in good shape now. Don't talk bad on yourself, Dave.

Got abs, bro. Right? So I go in on her on the fence and it was like hitting a brick wall. I imagine it would be like hitting Millie. Right? He's just like, oh, owl.

And she's laughed at me. And afterwards, Alex was like, oh, I just wanted to see how you were as a trainer. Like, will you train me? Like, we're getting ready for whatever it was, the Olympics and all of that. And it really kicked off from that. And I've really tried to keep the integrity of what I do, as in the focus has never been social media.

The focus has been giving mad value to these players. And, you know, I think that the testament is, You know, I trained Alex from 2012 to the end of her career. You know, the testament is Rachel Daly from college. Rachel, you're in a World Cup final. You won the Euros. Can you imagine driving up Beverly Glenn in my truck? And I was talking about you probably never playing for England

because you'd pissed people off. Can you imagine this? Yeah, I know. Dave, with the Gar's ear he is. I know, I'm never going to mention names. because that's not cool. No, but there was a massive period of time where I was like, I'm never going to get to pick Fringland again.

There's no point even having it in my mind. Like, you know this story, Mills. But I did go for that. I was like, I'm never going to play Fringland, so there's no point. And I remember having conversations with you all the time, Dave, and then like, it's not even on my radar because what's the point? But, like, still, I just wanted to be the best that I could be for whatever level I was at.

Right, guys, I know that is juicy us, but we are just going to take a quick break and we'll be back very soon. You don't need AI agents, which may sound weird coming from Service Now, the leader in AI agents. The truth is, AI agents need you. Sure, they'll process, predict, even get work done autonomously. But they don't dream, read a room, rally a team, and they certainly don't have shower thoughts, pivotal hallway chats, or big ideas. People do. And people, when given the best AI platform, they're freed up to do the fulfilling work they want to do.

To see how ServiceNow puts AI to work for people, visit ServiceNow.com. Welcome back to the second part of interviewing David Copeland Smith, also known as Beast Mode Soccer. We're going to dive into his career a little bit more. The way I met Dave, right, Mill, you'd appreciate this. So I'd gone to play in the summer league. So, you know, I told you in America I was ineligible for my first season. I could play. So I was like, I need to play in the summer.

So I went to L.A., played in this summer league team. And Dave showed up, right? Didn't know him, never met him. my first training session and I was like well what's he doing? Who's this? Like he's,

who's this then? It was his clown. Pools out a bag of tennis pulls out a bag of tennis balls can you imagine my reaction? I went, what the fuck are they for? And he was like,

juggle with him. And I was like, nah, not juggling with tennis balls. Obviously I did, but I was like, oh. And literally like,

we just slated each other the whole session and then we just became like best mates. And that was it. Like from then on from that day forward, I just did like,

everyday train with him. My shout out Tracy Kevin's, by the way. Yeah, but what I like about Tracy in that situation was that she allowed, she saw what you were, because that was probably like the beginning of when you were getting big. It was, preach. Like, I was on holiday in London

and Trace DM'd me and was like, hey, I'm moving to L.A. I want to talk to you about coaching. And I was like, all right, like I'm in Hammersmith, come meet me at Starbucks. And she did. and she's like, can you come in once a day or once a week? And that is how we met.

How do you think that individual development is, like how important do you think it is? Like an IDP? Oh, massively. 100%. But do you think it gets overlooked? Yeah, definitely. And I don't think, I don't think,

I think it's valued more in America than it is in England. and you're shouting at the dog. Dave, you can leave it on. We do this every episode. Don't worry. We've got our four dogs that are crazy lot time. Don't worry about it. Shout and shout and do what you need to do. But yeah, I do think it's bigger.

I think it's becoming, I think we're getting to that place in England. We see a lot of coaches. But I think back to like Dave's point is I don't think you see a lot that. A lot of it now is social media. That's how you see of it. Whereas actually, I think, when you look at Dave's situation, the proofs in the pudding, you see these players performing week in, week out,

on the world's biggest stages. You see him still developing no matter what age they're at. I think for me, that is the beauty of his story and what he's achieved. I think a lot now, there's probably loads of good coaches out there doing one-to-one, but I think a lot, like, really drive social media and really try and do it that way, as opposed to, like, Dave said, just the product, work on the product. And if they keep returning, that's the key. Do you know what I'm saying?

there's enough investment in the UK for that yet. I don't know why. But like you don't really have, like in the women's game, you don't really have like just an individual technical coach, do you? Like they're all like assistic coaches are. I don't know why teams don't do that though where they bring in someone like they, and then that's, you work with people, but within the, in the club environment.

Because I also think in England, it's harder to do things outside of your club than it is. You can't outsource someone, can you? You can't go to training and then go and train with someone else. Have to have a conversation. You have to check his own. okay, can I do this? If you're on a Christmas break, it's different, but you still have to okay it.

It still has to be a, you can't just like go and do it. Whereas I feel like in America you can, if you're going to go better yourself, you can. Whereas I think in England, there's so many, like, people to get through. It's, it becomes a bit of a nightmare. It's exactly the same here.

Like, there's so much gatekeeping here. So pro clubs over here have just started to get IDP coaches, but they employ their friends, right? Yeah, you can't. They're employing coaches. they're employing coaches, not specialists. So they'll be like, oh yeah, but this guy's got a UA for pro. I'm like, cool.

What have they done individually? Who have they trained? Let me see your development. It's a specific role, isn't it? And you can obviously explain that better than anyone. It is the most frustrating thing. You know, because I went to Mexico to do it. I went and worked for a club called Tigres Feminire.

It means tigers women. right? Nice little accent there. Can you just say one more time? Dave does actually speak Spanish. Did you do Spanish? Do you have to do it? Go on the boy?

El L'Ibois, boomers. But I went down to Mexico to do it, and I loved it. And I got there, and, you know, someone says to me, they're like, you're going to have a hard time here because it was one of the assistants. It's like, you're going to have a hard time here because the players won't listen. And I wasn't worried because I'm like,

I don't care if you don't listen. If you don't want to improve, that's on you, isn't it? Yeah. And one of the first sites I had, like, Jackie O'Reye, who is the most costly signing in the world at the moment, she went to Orlando, and I had me official. And all my days, they were hungry, man. Like, Jackie, no English, and at the time, my Spanish was awful,

yet we communicated enough where every day, whether it was an eight-minute block or a 20-minute block. At the beginning of the day, she's like, what are we doing today? What are we doing? What do I'm like, all right, today we're doing it. Boom, boom, boom. And if it's done correctly, it is amazing.

I wrote a massive thing on LinkedIn the other day. No one's doing it correctly in the US. And I'm probably putting myself in the firing line there by, you know, not mentioning clubs' names, but no one's doing it correctly. And they're so arrogant, and it's probably the same in the UK. They're so arrogant.

They will not listen to me. I spoke to a TD the other day in an English team, an English team. And she thinks that the way the game's going is like the NFL and the NBA. Remember when Tom Brady started to bring his own people in?

She thinks that's going to happen. She's like, the players are going to want to bring their own technical coaches. Well, I think that, like, as a player, like, if you want to go to the next level, right, and you're willing to put, like, we're all willing to put in the hard yards, you know what I mean? Like, we're all willing to just do whatever it takes to be the best we can possibly be. But a lot of our training sessions, you'll probably say the same.

Like, think about when we were in England, for example, right? It's very much tactical leading up to the games, right? So there's a lot of tactical training, which, yeah, 100% you need to do. don't get around there's elements of technical but like it's not individual specific like you're not really going to

reach your full potential in a week's worth of training normal team training like you have to do extra you have to do the things that you want to work on like you Mills you might not be exposed to that much defending

let's say on a walkthrough or I don't know like there'll be like I always want to do finishing I want to do you know Dave like I want to hit different finishes I want to if I've missed a chance in a game I want to work on that same chance

over it. I don't think you held back because it's like loading now. Oh, you're only getting 10 shots. And I'm like, but that's impossible. Like, what if I have 10 shit shots and I don't get help in that need? And then rolling into the next. And I do think that is a big thing now. It's like loading and there's like a million different things.

And nine times out of 10 training sessions are very specific to the team. The team needs. Which like you said, rightly so, that's great. But if we improved every individual, how are you going to excel in your position? like my touch and pass is different to a strikers. Do you know what I mean? I'm a huge advocate for like technical development. Like I-

100%. You have to train it to be better. Loading is hyper important, right? But what kind of works me a little bit in that part of the coaching community is like be all and end all. And what they do not take into account is a player like Rachel and be, players like Alex, they needed extra work.

Maybe not for the reps, but for the psychological aspect. Like Alex working with me two weeks before a camp before a World Cup. Did those reps make a lot of difference? Probably not. But the fact that she knows that she's ready and she's taking a couple of thousand shots in the last two weeks, she is pissing confidence. Rachel Daly flying me out to Houston to do reps of a cross and a finish. The psychological effect is way more than the technical effect for that.

You know, I've got video of me and Rach training. And a week later, she scores the exact same goal. I love it when you put them clips up. It's frightening. Yeah, but it's frightening. And that's what we're missing. And it's always going to be me against them. And it shouldn't.

We should collaborate. And that's what I loved at Tigris. is the collaboration aspect. Then Carmillina Muscardo was the head coach. So she forced that co-lab on everyone. She's like, this is what's happening. And I think it just goes to show like football's still being gate-kept.

Do you think that you'd ever come back to England to do this role if the opportunity was there? Yeah, one, would you ever come back to England and two, would you work in a club environment? One, I would come back of Arsenal called. Big Arsenal fun over there Dave And two, I would

Yeah, I would I would want to work in a club environment What I'd love to do Is work with the US Right with their With the US Women's National Team Squad Because I work with a bunch of them anyway And I would love to go into camp

And liaise with their clubs And you know If their clubs have got IDP Lease with them So everybody's on the same page Everybody's going toward the same direction with this kid, like let's say her, a Claire Hutton, for example, right?

You know Claire? She's a new one coming on the scenes, didn't she? She's good, though. Rage, I had Claire when she was 17. She'd come down, I was in New York doing a camp. I was in New York doing a camp. And she came down from Albany. First day, I looked there.

I said, what's your plans? And she's like, I'm going to go to UNC. I'm like, now you're not. You're going pro mate. And I got on the phone to an agent, and we got assigned. she's like you. Carries a ball everywhere with her. Still. Still, and she's different. But imagine like a player like Claire who's still young. She's 18 still, 19 maybe. Right. And everybody's on the same pace.

So Emma's like, Dave, this is what I want her to do. Then I call the club and be like, right, what do you guys need from her? Right. Then you build out a huge IDP where she's doing 10, 12 minutes a day extra. That compounds. Right. That's an hour a week. Do you do, on the IDP, Dave, do you, because obviously me and Rachel have experienced it more from like a club IDP. And a lot of it, some of it is given by coaches, but a lot of it is driven by ourselves, isn't it, Rach? Like you fill in the boxes or do you, when you're creating the IDP and you spoke to coaches, are you, are you analysing that player? And then are you saying, right, we're doing this, this, this. I get everybody's viewpoint, really, but my IDPs are driven by data, right?

and fact, evidence-based IDPs. Because if I look at Rach, I might have an opinion, and Rach might have an opinion, we could both be wrong. And the coach will have an opinion. Whereas,

so I'll study, like my IDPs are psycho, honestly. They are inside. I know player, I did one with Diego Luna, who's like a upstart for the US men's national team.

I was in Portland working with him. And he went to the Nike people going to like, this guy knows my game better than I do. And it's, it's, But it's 20 hours of research, right? So I know what you need to work on. With Rachel, it was always easy.

Because Rachel is actually very, very astute, and she knows what she wants to work with. The biggest problem with Rachel is that she was her own worst enemy. Rachel could score three goals, and text would be going, oh, shit today. I should have scored four. Dave, let me tell you, I have debriefs after every single training session, every single day, every single game.

Best day, get kettle of having a debrief. Oh, shit. Oh, shit. She had the best game in the year and she'd be like, oh, I'm getting dropped next game, that's it, I'll be dropped. I'll be dropped. You're not? Yeah. I'll misplace the path in the 63rd. And I'll know exactly when it was, won't I? She will, she'll be getting it up, she'll have it 30 seconds later, she'll have the huddle clums. She'll be like, see, see, she should have done this, why need I do this?

But I also think if you took that away from her, she wouldn't be what she was. No, of course not. She wouldn't be as she was. Go on then, what was Rachel's IDP? I'm intrigued now. What did you analyse on her? I could bring it up. I've got early IDP. Mate, IDPs are so good now. Back in the day, I used to have, do you remember when I used to hand clip your games? Right.

But Rach was actually easy because she's got such a big range. So with Rachel, it was more about adding to her game than transforming her game. Right? So Rach can score from 30 yards and she can score from six. Rage can score with her head. She can score with a left. She can score with her right. The movement is world-class.

What do you work with? It's mostly reps of doing, right, where's she missing the most? What zone of this, of the field, is she missing the most? Let's work there. Because you don't want to touch everything else, so you just want to polish that. But can I add, can I add 5% to Rachel's game? Right? And if that's 5% is mental, can I add that?

We used to have fights all the time on the field, though, didn't we? When you used to train me, I used to get so annoyed at you. She cried once. So Dave, what has been, what would you say has been the hardest challenge of like the career that you've had? Obviously, being over in America, I know you've been there for 20 years now,

but what has been the hardest challenge that you've faced? That's a good question. Getting people to take what I do seriously as a profession because it's, I feel like it's always me against the establishment. You know, it's like people are your friends

when they're playing. And then they get into coaching environments and they go through the establishment order. And all of a sudden it's like, it doesn't really work what you do. I'm like, it worked for you. Yeah. But now you've been brainwashed again. So I think that's kind of coming to an end because, you know, I've got a proven record. But I would say that's been the biggest battle.

Yeah. Well, let's hope we keep changing people's perceptions because we value it as players. and I think definitely the proofs in the pudding, the players that you've worked with have played on the biggest stages and had the best, the best stats, the best careers. So hopefully people start listening and taking it seriously.

I'd like to think we're definitely moving forward. And if the players are saying it's needed, then I think people would like to listen to that. And what has been the best moment for you, like looking back over all them years? What's the one moment where you stand out? There's a couple. I've got goosebumps thinking about Rachliff the Euros

and then walking around with a cowboy at you know like A cowboy app The relationship that we had just seeing her growth and then obviously Martin passing away and you battling back through that Don't I can't be doing that Oh no

We need to go on to gratitude No battling through that And then obviously the World Cup final, I'm still a little bit flummoxed about not playing a second half. But it's all right. It's all right. And then the other ones are obviously Alex, you know,

because I had Alex for 12 years. And Alex is like, Rachman. She is loyal. Loyal. She's like Georgia from Love Island. I'm loyal. A loyal me, babe. Right?

She's loyal. And she, exactly the same as Rach, she took me on the journey with her. And she never forgot, like, Alex took me to a Super Bowl, you know, just to thank me. And seeing her lift the World Cup, seeing her with the Olympics, but, you know, rape, I always describe, Rach is like my sister. So seeing her come to fruition like that. And Tracy Kevin's always like, Dave, the one player you'll be known for is Rach, because none of us expected it.

I love you as two's friendship and honestly for anyone that doesn't know Dave get to know Dave go support his business but also I think just the person that you are is incredible and I know Bestie as well she is a loyal person she definitely don't forget the ones that help her

from the beginning but yeah yours too friendship is extremely special and I feel lucky that she has you as well so yeah we have a lot of love for our bestie don't we? Honestly I'm the lucky one she's a rockster she's a good egg isn't she Oh my gosh,

Lively. She's not a bad career, I share. She's a national treasure. I don't like all the confluence. Okay, Dave, so just before we go, first, we do,

me and Millie do this thing on our podcast every time, right? It's like a closing thing. So the first thing is called block and delete, which is Millie's favourite thing. So it's basically like something that really pisses you off that you'd like to change. So like,

Adverts on games. Like, I'm playing a game on my phone, adverts come on. Go away. No, play the 399. That's what I said. Take it. I'm not saying I won't,

but it just is irritating. So, can you give us an example of something that annoys you on a daily basis or something that's annoyed you this week, block and delete? Oh, mate, how long have you got? No, just one.

Just one. Just one. Really annoys me. Here he is. He's out. I love it. When you're in the supermarket, right? You're in a supermarket?

it and the aisle and someone turns their shopping car trolley, trolley, someone does their trolley, good correction. This way and then they're looking this way and they've blocked the whole thing. So what I do now is I take my phone

and I walk by and I'm like, oh some dickheads block the aisle again. And they look and I'm like they look and I'll have roll my eyes and push their trail out of way. Hey, that's the farmer in you that. That's the farmer. don't tolerate no bullshit

I wasn't expecting that but I love how quickly people can come up with these on the spot so fast Yeah and straight away that oh that really piss me off Yeah I love it Okay and then the next thing we do is called gratitude

Salvi's splintry So we say something that we've been grateful for this week So for example Mine this week was my boiling hot tap So I can get instant cup of tea Have you got one of those? Yeah, sick Or it can be a person

Like before we've said We've said a person or anything this week where you're like, shit, that was really nice that. You know, I'm grateful for Trader Joe's protein pancakes because they're pre-packaged and they're 20 grams of protein. But honestly, this is going to sound like a bit lame, but I'm grateful for you guys. Hey, there's no lame gratitude.

Let's just rewind. Thank you very much. Did you hear what he just said then? Yes, I did, but start again. And this is not a lame gratitude. It's a gratitude, no matter how big or small it is. That's what we're grateful for. Yeah, I'm thankful for you guys for bringing me on here.

You know, the last time we were, I mean, we could have done this at the wedding, you know. Oh, I don't think it's probably not a good idea. I don't think I would have been acceptable. I don't think our camera ready. I think we'd have got blocked and deleted. Hey, I'm good. I don't drink. After a few, our mouths were in a little bit too free, so I think it was fair in this case.

No, you guys were, how good was that wedding, by the way? Oh, Dave, we want to relive it. I feel like this is bad. The story of everybody, we've had, so far we've had Ellie Roebuck, Alicia, and now you, and obviously all three were at the wedding. So it's like, it closes. By far the best wedding ever. Mate, it's the most fun I've had for ages, man.

Then when you forgot to bring your stuff and you were like, oh, we're I meant to bring it with it? Yeah, yeah, you were. Literally. 45 minutes before the wedding, the ceremony is about to start. Dave's like, I've left my stuff at the hotel that I'm not going back to. I put it down to you guys as communication. because Brooke was in the same boat and she's the smartest person than we know.

True. But you made it and everything was good. Hey, shout out to someone else who gets a lot of hate is Alicia Lehman. Oh, you... Nicest person in the world, mate. Honestly. Have you listened to our episode with her?

Yeah. It's so good. And I love that we were able to, like, hear that side of her and, like, here, like the struggles that she's gone through. She's literally a jet. Like, literally nicest person in the world. But there's so much.

hate around lately like people I'm literally like what are you doing in day to day day life like I would love to have a little you just to sit there and do nothing like it's crazy COVID COVID turned bored people brave it really is too much far too much hate at a minute yeah like why I don't know honestly you can't if you breathe in the wrong direction you're a terrible person if you like people are quick to jump at anything you say the immediately think you a shitty person and oh she meant it like this and she's had it like this and I'm like you don't know anything about me

as a person or anyone else for that matter but honestly the world Millie Bright let me tell you Millie Bright is a national treasure like oh your post is really cute with this shit but it's true

like Millie I'm fed up with people trolling really successful people people who have done shit that other people can only dream of I think that that's why we like to do what we do on the podcast and even bringing people in like it's people that add value to it like people that have a story

or people that have been on a journey or people that get it and like kind of like light-minded humans and like for elitia for example it was so nice to like give her that opportunity that platform to just be who she was and like for people to see that and I think that's really important but like the fact that she could have done that podcast in four languages I know and even then people like oh swiss is not a thing and like yeah like you understand stood the point. No, do you know what I'm saying?

Anyway, we're here for it. Thanks for having our backs. We didn't even get to talk about you spending time at Rod Stewart's house. Oh, name-dor. Hey, listen, love, you'll be back on for another episode because it's far too much to packy one episode. But just before we go, talking about success, what is next for Dave? I have been investigating, going, like working with a club again.

I would love to go down and work with Tigres again or with this team, Bormaz in Mexico City. Shout out. Ultimate for me would be working with Emma because I think Emma's like really breathed a massive breath of fresh air into US soccer. That was really American soccer. Really, really. Yeah and you know continue to grow what I do. Be the anti-social media person by actually posting exercises that help people instead of clickbait. And you know

live a happy and fruitful life. We love that. Well, Dave, we wish you all the best. Emma Hayes, eat your heart out. Incredible human. Get him on board. Just don't help them improve against England, please. Like, I'm still root for my country.

Come on England. That was hard. 2019, wasn't it? Thanks so much for coming on the pod. We're definitely going to be getting you back on because it's far too much to unpack. I need to know about that much to do it. And the part is.

So, yeah, part two coming soon of Dave. And yeah, what a lovely trio this is, by the way. Thank you for having me. Yeah, I love it. My two best. This was so much fun. Thank you for having. Whole lot of love.

We'll be back soon, guys. Hope you enjoyed that episode. Yeah, BRB. Bye.