TeamPlayr Spotlight: Tony Merola

In our latest TeamPlayr Spotlight we sat down with coach Tony Merola. Coach Tony is a native of Wales and former member of the famed Wrexham AFC. While he may not be able to get you an introduction to Ryan Reynold or Rob McElhenney (or can he?), he's spent the years since is playing days coaching right here in North Texas.

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Watch or read along to hear about Tony's journey from the Welsh professional football scene to becoming one of the top coaches in the community - and learn about some of the innovative ways he's going about helping our soccer players take their game to the next level.

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If you'd like to connect with Coach Tony or explore his private training programs, check out his Coach Profile on TeamPlayr: link

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Watch below:

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Read Below:

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[00:00:02.570] - TeamPlayr

All right, here we go. So Tony Merola. Thanks for sitting down. This is another one of our team player spotlights. With us today we have very popular North Texas soccer coach, Tony Merola. Tony, before I do all the introducing for you, you want to go ahead and just introduce yourself? Where are you from, what's your soccer background and how did you get to north Texas?

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[00:00:34.410] - Tony

Where do you know? I was lucky enough to be at the club that I played for as a young kid. Born in the city of Wrexham and made my professional debut at 17 in a preseason friendly. Got my first professional contract at 18. Was due to play on my 18th birthday for Wales under eighteen s and literally the day before rolled my ankle and did my ligaments in. So I wasn't able to obviously do that. And then obviously, like I said, got a professional contract back in 1993. And probably the worst thing that happened to me was making my first team debut because I'd gone from being a young kid in the UK, we leave school at 16. So in May of 1992 I'm in a classroom doing history lessons and finishing off math lessons, and then literally two months later I'm in a locker room full of, full of seasoned professional players. So it really grew me up and made me probably who I am today because I had to learn a lot quicker. But it was probably the worst thing that happened to me, if I'm completely honest, because I thought I made it.

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[00:01:53.030] - Tony

Young kid, 17, popular with the ladies at the time, popular with your friends, because all my friends were Wrexham supporters and I took my foot off the gas a little bit, really, when I got a pro contract and just, I was unfortunate with injuries and stuff, but it didn't work out. I had three years there, I look back and think to myself I wasn't good enough, but I look back at the squad and the players that was in that era. It's probably one of the top five squads that the club have had since 1864, which is when the club was formed. So continued playing the lower leagues in the Welsh pyramid system, and then I think I was 28 or 29, and I ruptured my Achilles tendon, made a comeback, and then did my other Achilles tendon within six months of returning, so a double one. So that's probably the only thing me and David Beckham have got in common, actually, is that we both did our Achilles tendons, but that's where the comparison ends, so to say. So at 29 30 I fell into coaching was a coaching at my local town calledMold Alexandra and fell into it, did the last seven games and I got a reaction from the players and it was actually this is good.

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[00:03:16.930] - Tony

This is better than playing because I get to pick the games that I wanted to play in because it was like a lower level semi pro. And then within six months got an opportunity to go back and work at Wreckson Football Club in their sense of excellence and realized I need to go and do my coaching badges. And yeah, ten years later now a UA for a licensed coach academically and I've got a Master's in Sports science. So between those two licenses it's like a mini mortgage should I so to say, with everything to get to that level. But yeah, that's my low profile of a pro soccer player in the UK back in the early 90s.

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[00:04:06.350] - TeamPlayr

Well, as somebody who couldn't even get to the pro ranks, I wouldn't discount yourself too much. It's a tough game out there. That's awesome. So you progressed as a young player pretty early into the top ranks of Welsh football, struggle with injuries, happens to the best of us. And you got into coaching. So how did you get from coaching at Wrexham to coaching here in North Texas?

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[00:04:45.370] - Tony

It's a funny story really, because my sister emigrated with her now husband. They both lived in North Wales, like five, 6 miles away from me. And I think they emigrated in 2001. And it's funny enough, they moved to Fort Worth. So every year I was coming to Fort Worth on vacation and they were taking me down the stockyards and seeing different parts of Fort Worth. And they had a pool in the backyard, a nice big tech. It was literally the proper Texas dream that I didn't think was ever possible. And I always remember sitting in his backyard and I was overlooking the pool and it was just beautiful. And I said, I wish I could do something like this. And he said to me, well do it then. Why do you not just do it? At the time I was working full time at an aircraft company called Airbus and it's like, I can't leave the UK, I can't leave my friends. I had a house, I had a mortgage, I had a crazy ex girlfriend that I needed to probably escape from as well at the time. Many of them actually, if I can be completely honest.

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[00:05:54.130] - Tony

And I just came over one year on vacation, on holiday and I made a link with a local guy called Jimmy Melia because at the time I'm obviously a big, big Wrexham fan. But know my other club is Liverpool, my cult hero is Ian Rush being another Welshman. And I just googled Liverpool FC because nobody knew, you know, that's I'm sure we'll come on to that later. But I googled Liverpool FC and this guy Jimmy Melia came up, who I become very good friends with, who played for Liverpool in the under, bill Shankley, who basically started the Liverpool regime, should I say, all them years ago. Met with Jimmy, did a coaching session, got to meet some other staff. Chris Paulpineck, who I believe is at FC Dallas now. Wilco, who's doing Dutch Lions? Absolute legends. So when I have an argument with my wife, I call them up, especially Wilco, and just say, wilco, it's your fault. You brought me here. So I did a session, met with the chief executive called Peter Brody at the time, who was doing the Liverpool International Academy stuff. Got to meet him, realized we had to do visas and got the visa and just never looked.

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[00:07:11.530] - Tony

Well, I'm saying never look back. And I've said this story before, so if you're reading this and don't mean to bore you, but my plan was to come over for three years, earn as much money as I could, have a little bit of fun in the US. And get some experience, go back to the UK, buy a house, or buy another house, should I say, and the rest is history. But then nine years later, I'm now married and broke. So that plan worked out pretty well, didn't it? But I wouldn't change if the world I have a beautiful wife five days of the week. On the weekend, she gets crazy. And we have a beautiful daughter as well. We have a nice house in Fort Worth, and life is good. I'm very not lucky and very fortunate to have what I have.

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[00:08:00.090] - TeamPlayr

That's phenomenal, man. That's awesome. Yeah. Marriage broke. I don't know. Somehow they seem to come hand in.

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[00:08:06.270] - Tony

Hand when a daughter comes along. Yeah. And then, like I said, she had her first game this past weekend, so I'm now officially a soccer dad. And all those years, I used to say to parents, stop coaching from the sidelines. Keep your distance. I did everything that I shouldn't have done on Sunday that I've been telling coaches and parents for years. And my wife said to me Sunday night, she goes, you were just like everybody else. And it's like, I'll do a better job.

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[00:08:39.370] - TeamPlayr

Well, yeah, I've got a few years to go myself. Mine is seven months old, so I'm not looking for the 2023 ECNL teams just yet. But we're almost there.

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[00:08:51.530] - Tony

I know a few coaches. You can get your kid a Division One scholarship right now.

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[00:08:55.930] - TeamPlayr

That's right. Oh, man, that's cool. Okay, so you were with kind of the Legacy Liverpool group. I think a lot of people from North Texas are familiar with that organization and the trajectory that they've gone into over the course of the last decade. So what are you doing now from a coach's perspective? Are you coaching with any teams? Are you working any private sessions? What are you doing now?

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[00:09:29.350] - Tony

Yeah, well, as of right now, I spent a couple of years getting my teaching certificate, so I'm a fully qualified teacher. Right now, I'm working at a middle school over in Eagle Mountain. It's the first time I've coached middle school kids. And it's fun. It really is. They absorb so much, and we're lucky. We're in an area where the kids are very polite and they're hungry, so that keeps me busy. Obviously in the day. I've spent the last almost twelve months working with the Fort Worth Acaros to build up their youth club. So obviously it was sort of like an executive director role, consultancy role and helped them form the club. They're up and running right now. Obviously with my time frame and my time right now, I don't have enough time to do a full time teaching job and a full time job building and creating a club. So they're up and running. I'm still doing the MPSL team, which is in the summer for the Fort Worth, for Karos, but mainly right now I'm just doing some my own independent stuff with the focus on improving players technically, because what I've seen over the years that I've been here in North Texas is that a lot of coaches and whether it's right or wrong and we're all entitled to our opinions, but I've always seen a lot of coaches working on tactical.

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[00:11:02.430] - Tony

Elements first switching the play or creating overloads. Coming up with these massive terminologies where they've either read about it or seen it or heard coaches talk about it. But they're missing one key point in my perspective is that they want them to perform these tactical operations, but technically kids cannot do it. So you're literally setting them up for failure. So what I spend a lot of time on whenever I've coached teams and clubs, as of right now, I'm actually working with the Texans with a little 2016 boys team who need that technical development and they've got some really good players. So I'm excited for that project. But on the flip side, I'm trying to support players either through individual, private, one on ones private sessions, but all of it is technical based. I don't talk about tactics because I don't want to contradict what the club coach or the high school coach or the middle school coach is saying. So I've set up my own LLC, so to say, called Coach Tony Merola. We're about to launch a website in the next few weeks, so that might be another call. Again, Helen, if I'm honest, because there's a lot of video uploads and a lot of back of the house stuff there.

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[00:12:18.010] - Tony

But right now it's like the individual stuff, the one on ones, the group training, the unit training. I've got three players who are freshmen at a local high school who are midfield players and they all come out to me on a Friday or a Thursday and we just do group work. So combination play, link up play, but it's all technical based. First touch around the corners, receiver on the back foot, et cetera. But then there's two other programs that I've launched that have been pretty successful, I would say successful. Right now it's, it's gathering momentum. One of them is the player Analysis Feedback, where I can't physically get out and watch games all the time. So I've set up a service where I can come and watch individual players play and then give them feedback on their technique. So nothing to do with tactics. It's all about how can they improve their technique from a first touch, shooting, finishing, defending, aerial control perspective. So I can come out in person and do that. But what some people have been doing lately is, and it's easier for me and it's a little bit cheaper for the parents, is that they send me the video link.

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[00:13:27.960] - Tony

I break the video link down, and then within 24 hours, I send them a four page dossier on their technical proficiency. So what are they good at? But mainly, what are they not good at? Because I'm not providing a service to tell people they are good at this, this and this. I don't want people to tell me, Tony, you're good at this, this and this. Alan, your website and what you do is great. We want to be told what is not working and what is not correct. So it's working because it's honest feedback. And I'm getting some coaches buy in also because they've got 1617 players. You know, as a coach, I've not got time to sit down with every individual player and break down their technical performance from every game. So it's actually helping the player, but it's actually helping the coach, which in turn is effectively helping the team from a technical perspective because now they can work on the tactics because they've got the technical platform to perform those tactics.

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[00:14:27.600] - TeamPlayr

Yeah. Honestly, man, I think I've told you this offline. I think what you're doing is really cool for us, growing up, playing it's like these are resources. I mean, they just didn't exist, right? One, because the technology wasn't there, and two, just because, as far as I know, nobody was offering them. For me. I always struggled. Technically decent athlete, had a decent understanding of the game. But for me, it was always finding somebody who could give me that feedback. And as you said, a lot of times, your club coach alone doesn't have the capacity to give you that kind of personalized attention. So I would have loved to have somebody give me a breakdown of a handful of my games and let me know what I can go implement into my development plan to improve. So, speaking of improvement, at the end of the day, parents and players want results. So in your program, you provide the dossier. But long term, how do you encourage players, and ultimately we're talking about youth players and their parents how do you encourage them to evaluate their improvement? How should they be thinking about that?

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[00:16:03.730] - Tony

That's a real good question. And I think the answer to it has three or four different avenues. You can't always say, well, this program's worked because my child has gone from Boys Classic Division two to suddenly now he's on an ECNL. He's on an ECNL team. Because my question would be, okay, is he playing on that ECNL team? Is she playing on that ECNL team? Are they getting minutes? So I think there's no real metric to measure that type of success as of right now. And it might be something for future research, but these programs are not just intended to help players technically proficient, because if they get better, technically, they can perform the tactic. They enjoy the game more. It now becomes more of a social side where now it's improving their confidence. They played really well on Saturday in the game, and now they go into school and they're confident to tackle that math test. They're confident to go into an Sat full of confidence, because soccer has enabled that. So we could go down three or four different pathways. We could go right. You've started at playing at rec level, and you've come through the systems, but that's too broad.

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[00:17:32.200] - Tony

But then we could also go to the school and say, listen, a kid was failing five out of six classes, and now suddenly, since they've been doing this technical program, they're passing majority of their classes. It might be something like since they've been doing this program with coach Tony Merola, they were on JVA team, and now within six weeks, they're now on the varsity team because they can perform these tactics. So I think it's a case by case situation for every player, and it also depends on their age as well.

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[00:18:04.360] - TeamPlayr

Yeah, I think that's really good advice. Again, as parents, especially, they expect that there is some finish line. But to your point, success is really based upon is really in the eyes of the beholder. Right. And that's that's, you know, what we talk about, what I've talked about with, you know, my teams is, hey, look, we're going to sit down and have an individual discussion and understand what you want and how you can and help you achieve what you want to achieve. And it varies so much. So that's really cool, man. Can you talk a little bit more just about what is included specifically in the report that you provide to these players?

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[00:19:03.230] - Tony

Yeah. So basically, it starts off with this, and again, it's all technical based. So how it works is I'll either come out in person, evaluate, watch the game, watch the video, I'll then take brief well, not brief notes, detailed notes of in possession and also out of possession. And you might be thinking, well, if it's all about technique, it should be with the ball at your feet, why are you working without a possession? And it's like not just it's not all about that. Out of possession technically means how are you moving to receive the ball on your first touch? Where are you receiving it? When are you receiving it? I try and implement a lot of decision making into my technical proficiencies, and I've had very interesting discussions with high end coaches who said decision making is nothing to do with technique. Decision making is all about making decisions when you're opposed or when you're in a two v one situation. And I sort of see that side of it, but I actually disagree because decision making is when that ball is coming to you. If you've got a defender on your left shoulder, you've got a quick decision to make.

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[00:20:16.780] - Tony

Now that I have to make a decision on, where am I going to take my first touch to, how am I going to do it and when am I going to do it, that's decision making. And it's quick decision making because you've got a player who's pressurizing you from the side. What was the question you asked again? Sorry.

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[00:20:37.580] - TeamPlayr

So you do your evaluation. How then do you package that into a report that makes it actionable for the player?

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[00:20:47.810] - Tony

Okay, yeah, sorry, I go off on tangent. I'm glad you ran me back in there. So literally, it's like the observation, it's the detailed notes. And then I provide a four page dossier on technical performance. So the first page is all about creating areas. So we all start off with strengths. These are what you're good at from a technical perspective. So you're good at first touch, you're good at receiving. We'll then go about talk about your technical decision making. What are your strengths? So technical decision making might be movement. To receive the ball in tight spaces is good to strength. We then talk about body language. So body language is all about right. What are you like what's a strength of yours? Well, your body language is that when you receive the ball with your bat to goal, your strength is you're twisting your hips and you're 90 degrees away from the player. So literally, you're fending off the defender. So if the defender comes in, you could spin. So there's three columns, and then we go into exactly the same columns again. But now it's the nitty gritty. We talk about areas for improvement.

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[00:21:56.350] - Tony

What do you need to work on? Technically, from what I've seen from a game, so it might be left foot aerial control. You won't see anything there switching play because switching play is a tactic. So if you come and do some reports from me and you see that in there, or you're a coach, you need to let me know. But you won't. So it's areas for improvement is the second part. And then what I do is there's a little score chart that we have one through five. And then I grade the players on five different components. So finishing is one of them, but then I put as a five. This is the guide. So if you think your kid is a five out of five in finishing, do they have this criteria? Hits the target every time, makes the goalkeeper work distinguishes shooting from finishing. If you have all those five elements that I've seen in that game, you're a five. If not, it's my judgment as an expert coach whether you're a two, three, or a four, because I guarantee parents will come. Oh, no, I think my son's a five out of five dribling.

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[00:23:06.690] - Tony

Oh, really? He's a center back. Center backs don't dribble. So if he is a really good dribbler and he's a five, but he's playing as a center back, well, maybe that's a little conversation I should be having with the coach to say, hey, listen not here to stay on your toes, but I do one on one work with this player, and they are really good at tight working in tight spaces. Up to you what you do. And they will always finish off with, like, 100 words as a comment section on my observations of the game, what I've seen from a technical perspective, and just puts a little bit more meat on the bone. And then the parents then have the opportunity to follow up with me on a 15 minutes zoom session with any questions or any concerns or, hey, Tony, I don't understand what you've said in this part. Can you explain a little bit more? And we do that on a zoom, face to face, so it's a decent.

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[00:24:05.000] - TeamPlayr

Package, to be fair, man, I think that's so cool. I think it's so cool on so many levels for the player, for the parents, and helping them understand and taking the time to have the conversation with what it is about what it is that you mean in your feedback. Big thing.

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[00:24:24.210] - Tony

And I'm only doing it because it takes up a lot of time. But if I'm not doing this, my wife has got me doing jobs around the house, so if I'm working normally, when you're working, you're, like, making a little bit of a living. So she's pretty happy with it right now. So lo may continue.

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[00:24:45.850] - TeamPlayr

Okay, cool. So we talked about the programs. What kind of players is this for? Is this only for the top end guys that are trying to go make a pro team and earn a scholarship? Or who is this for?

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[00:25:03.730] - Tony

In an ideal world, it would be for players ranging from eight to eleven, because that's where I believe that players at that age are missing the technical foundation. But then on the flip side, I'm doing a lot of work with some of my former well, former, some of my you know, from the feedback, because they're in college right now, and they're all over the US. I don't have time to go. I don't have the resources to go and fly and watch. So they're sending me video clips. So, one, it keeps me in touch with them ready for next season, but also it's improving them from a technical perspective. I do a lot of sub varsity and varsity high school players who want to make that next step up, that next level up. So, you know, listen, I could be working with pros, and there's always room to improve your technical ability. There's no player, I guarantee Messi right now, Ronaldo. Even though they're coming towards that end of their career, I guarantee 100% they're still working on their technique as we speak because it's such an important part of the game. So the critical part for me is between, I think I said nine to eleven years old or eight to eleven, and even older players.

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[00:26:30.900] - Tony

So literally, the individual work from a technical perspective is for everybody, because the technical work that we do is it's everything with the ball and everything is at high intensity, high speed. The player analysis form, feedback form, is anybody that plays at probably a competitive level that wants to improve that wants to improve their game.

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[00:26:55.510] - TeamPlayr

Yeah, great. The elephant in the room, right? Pay to play is a major topic of conversation, especially in the competitive soccer world. Whatever your opinion may be of the US. Competitive soccer model. What do your programs cost and how do you justify that cost relative to the value that you're providing?

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[00:27:28.990] - Tony

And this is where it steps on people's toes at times, because people always compare the American pay to play model in Europe. They don't pay. Everything's free. Nothing in this world is free. People say to me, oh, love is free falling. That's the most expensive thing in the world, man. Falling in love. Kidding me. Mortgages, babies, kids, Christmas's, birthdays, anniversaries, Valentine's Day, nothing's free. How it works in Europe is that they get funding from their federations. There has to be some type of process, I believe, and some type of mandate that if the US. National teams, men's and women's, if they really want to be successful, they're going to have to dig in their pockets a little bit and sort of help, not so much. They need to support and maybe help clubs with some type of scholarships or some scholarship programs because there's people, there's players out there who can't afford to play. And you think of the players that have missed the boat because they've not been I was one of those players. I was lucky. We had no money growing up. It was tough times. Everything was on the breadline over here.

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[00:28:51.690] - Tony

It's a service. Right? So do I agree or disagree with the pay to play model? Not really, because you're paying the coach to develop your son or daughter. They're out, they're being active, they're being healthy. It's a social aspect. When I first came here, it was like, this is way too much money. But now, being a father, I'm paying for my daughter to play. Seeing how she's grown and seeing how she's developed and seeing her, she's never going to be a Division One player or a pro player. I don't think she's five. But what I've seen over the last few months is that she's grown into a young person from a social perspective, from a physical aspect. She's sleeping, getting to bed earlier a lot. She's understanding things, she's being more confident. I would pay for that, wouldn't you? Getting to see different facilities, getting to meet different coaches. So the cost effective for me is like, well, why is my coach not doing this? Why do we have to pay extra for Coach Tony Moreola to come and do the technical work? Well, unfortunately, a lot of clubs, a lot of players, a lot of coaches, this is their livelihood, this is their full time job.

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[00:30:10.400] - Tony

This is what they do. And when kids are in school, you don't have them for more than 3 hours a week unless you do extra. But if you got three or four teams, you can't cram it in and you've got to cater for everybody. You've got goalkeepers, defenders, strikers. So I try and make it as minimal as possible for the parents, but then also knowing that they're paying extra, but then that might give them more game time. The bigger, bigger picture is if you really want your kid to go to college by being a better technically proficient player, might actually get you an extra 2030 grand scholarship because now you're going to get into that college that's going to give your kid the academic. So everything I've seen in America is normally money well spent. And what I hear a lot of is that there's a lot of good coaches in North Texas. There really is. And we don't talk about them enough. We always talk about the ones who are not doing things right. And I think we need to address both. If there's a coach that's not doing something that he should be doing or she should be doing, that's your job, you should be called out on it.

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[00:31:21.610] - Tony

If I'm doing something wrong, I should be called out on it. But also, if I'm doing something right, I should also be called out on it as well. Because at the end of the day, we're teachers, we're coaches, and we're providing a service to the kids and the kids of our future.

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[00:31:38.190] - TeamPlayr

Yeah, no, couldn't have said it better myself. I agree wholeheartedly. I think especially in the social media culture, the negative stuff is what gets likes. But I know I've been in this community for over 30 years now. There are so many people like yourself and so many organizations that do really good things for the kids of our community. Honestly, this is why team player exists. This is why we're having these conversations, so that we can help spotlight you guys that are doing this really cool stuff. And we appreciate you for it. I do have to ask one more question before we go though. So you played for I. I'm not going to lie, I did not know about Wrexham Football Club before about what was it? What has. Been eight months?

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[00:32:35.400] - Tony

Three years. Three years.

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[00:32:37.190] - TeamPlayr

Has it been three years?

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[00:32:38.530] - Tony

Probably two and a half years. Just over two years, yeah.

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[00:32:41.410] - TeamPlayr

Maybe I was on the last boat, you know. Do you still remain affiliated with the club? I think you got the jersey behind.

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[00:32:52.230] - Tony

Yeah.

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[00:32:54.150] - TeamPlayr

Are you still affiliated with the club? And how can you introduce everybody to Ryan Reynolds?

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[00:33:01.930] - Tony

Well, the last person I'd be introducing Ryan Reynolds to would probably be my wife, because I think she got a secret crush on him. But you know what? So have I. I think I've got a man crush on him as well. And his budy Rob Mcellany, you know, there's a picture of him in Vegas touring with the Wrexham players post preseason when they got promotion, and Rob Mckellany looked like a player. He was more ripped than the players. Yeah. I was like, Jeez, man, actor diet. Yeah. So listen, I went out to watch him in San Diego when they played man United, and I managed to the manager called Brian Flynn, when I was at Wrexham in the early 90s, was touring with the First Team, and he was named ambassador for Wrexham for the US tour. So once I knew he was in America, we met up at the team hotel. We spent 2 hours reminiscing and chatting away and talking, and got to obviously chat to some of the players. And there's a player I coached while I was at Wrexham, jordan Davis, who's in the first team now he's a First Team regular, got to see him.

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[00:34:07.420] - Tony

We sat down for ten minutes, had a cup of coffee with the manager and the backroom staff and the executive directors and all that stuff, so they sort of know who I am because I've been trying to push and do something potentially similar to what we did with Liverpool. There's no reason, like, red are red hot right now. Robin Ryan's one of their main goals is to make Wrexham a global franchise. And if you'd have said that to me five years ago, I would have like, anybody would have laughed. It was just because nobody knew who we were. And now I went out to San Diego and we're playing Man United, who were arguably one of the biggest clubs in the world. And for every what was it? I think for every five Manchester United supporters, there was two wrecks, so it was five to two. And this is in San Diego, California, like so kate so there's seven people, and out of those seven people, two of them are Wrexham fans, five are man United. It's just unbelievable. So, yeah, I've still got some affiliations with them. We have the Wrexham Texans, who me and my wife brought up.

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[00:35:14.130] - Tony

We try and watch as many Wrexham games as we can when I'm not coaching. We have a bar downtown in fort Worth called hot Fusion, who stream the games for us and stuff. We have a Wrexham scarf hanging down next in between the US Soccer Federations and the men's and women's national team. So I think there's big things to come from the football club. I do think they're going to want to branch out eventually into the US. Whether that's creating ID clinics, whether that's creating some type of summer camps, because I can't believe in saying it, it's becoming Wrexham for me, are becoming everyone's second favorite.

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[00:35:54.610] - TeamPlayr

Yeah.

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[00:35:55.650] - Tony

And I love it.

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[00:35:56.790] - TeamPlayr

That's awesome, man. That's so cool. Well, where can people find you? How can they get in contact with you?

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[00:36:07.350] - Tony

Obviously social media platforms, obviously coachtonyMerola.com all over is on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, but I think the main one is obviously working with yourself now on Team Player. The access that you've helped give me and the education you've given me on how to find me and find these programs easier has been a lot easier than me trying to do myself. So what is you're thanking me for what I'm trying to do. I can't do it on my own, I can't do it on myself, I can't do it just by word of mouth. So with your background and your knowledge and everything you've done with Team Player, I think this could really be a good thing for me. But also other coaches out there as well to help get them, because at the end of the day, yeah, we want to make a living from it, there's no doubt about that. But we do it for the kids first. We do it for the kids and then that's how our reputation goes in hand in hand. So, yeah, basically drive towards you get towards Team Player because that's where everything's going to be housed and accessed.

[00:37:14.490] - TeamPlayr

Well, Tony, I appreciate it, man, that's awesome. Love talking to you. I want to get you back on at some point, once you get kind of the rest of your programs up and running, we'll get a check in on what's going on with Wrexham in Texas. And other than that, man, anything else you have for the community before we let you?

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[00:37:39.650] - Tony

No, just like I said, there's a lot of good people out there, there's a lot of used car salesmen. I'm sorry about that, it's the way of the world, but just shop around, see what's out there. I'm not saying that my programs are going to be the best in the world, they're not going to shoot every single player, but they could. And put it this way, once they do one session with me, they normally come back. Once they fly Merola Airlines, it's pretty difficult to fly with anyone else. And that's not me being egotistic or anything, that's a little bit of a joke, by the way. But no, just make sure your kid falls in love with the game and if it's something that they don't want to do and they want to go down a different pathway, that's fine. Just let them be kids. Let them play. Let them enjoy themselves. Let the coaches do the work. But at the end of the day, with the World Cup around the corner here, in three years, there's going to be lots more opportunities and hopefully more infrastructure of better facilities that we're going to see around the metroplex in Dallas.

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[00:38:51.710] - Tony

They're good. We need a little bit more infrastructure. In Fort Worth, we have one or two complexes that are good. But I'm hoping the city of Fort Worth realized that this game of soccer is on the elevation, it's on the up. So let's get somewhere for these kids to play in a safe and friendly environment, and then let's just watch this game grow even more awesome.

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