{"podcast":{"title":"Chasing the Game - Youth Soccer in America","slug":"chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250","podcast_index_feed_id":7528250,"rss_url":"https://feeds.transistor.fm/chasing-the-game","website_url":"https://www.chasingthegame.us","image_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/4Xne-FSh01iD2s8m_-NH8nbG0PHW7JxI0AKsxID8Mvc/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:1400/h:1400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9kZWVh/ODMyNzJlMTg1NDQ3/NWZmZjlhOTAwOWEy/ZGJmYy5wbmc.jpg","author":"Liron Unreich","episode_count":30,"summary":"Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America is a weekly podcast for soccer parents, coaches, and players who want to understand how youth soccer development really works in the United States. Hosted by two dads, filmmaker Liron Unreich and investor Matt Tartaglia, the show covers everything from grassroots soccer to elite pathways like MLS NEXT and ECNL. Combining data, real experience, and expert insights from academy directors, college coaches, and former pros, each episode explains what families truly need to know. Weekly episodes focus on the core aspects of youth soccer: player development, coaching culture, college recruiting, tryouts, travel costs, and the challenges of youth sports parenting in today’s competitive environment. For families navigating youth soccer’s complex system, Chasing the Game offers practical advice, credible voices, and relatable stories from two dads working to make sense of American player development, one episode at a time.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250"},"episode":{"title":"How U.S. Youth Soccer Traps Families | Morten Gahn","slug":"how-u-s-youth-soccer-traps-families-morten-gahn","published_at":"2025-12-17T10:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250/how-u-s-youth-soccer-traps-families-morten-gahn","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250","url":"https://share.transistor.fm/s/a9107b57","audio_url":"https://media.transistor.fm/a9107b57/176cac42.mp3","summary":"What if the youth soccer system is rewarding the wrong things? In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartaglia speak with Morten Gahn, former director of the NYCFC Soccer Academy, about why early success is often mistaken for long-term potential. They discuss winning versus development, structured plans versus feelings, the staircase analogy for player growth, challenge and adversity, and what parents should really watch for in elite environments. This episode is for soccer parents and coaches questioning how players are evaluated, how opportunity is framed, and whether current development models truly support long-term growth. (00:00) - Intro – Why results still run youth soccer (02:45) - Winning vs development (06:30) - How elite systems really work (10:15) - Not everyone is built to be developed (14:40) - The staircase analogy explained (19:30) - Where players are vs how well they climb (24:10) - Why most players aren’t rockets (29:20) - Challenge struggle and not playing (34:15) - Frameworks over feelings (39:10) - Environment shapes outcomes (44:00) - What parents often misunderstand (49:20) - Rethinking opportunity and fairness (54:10) - Long term development vs short term success (58:30) - Rethinking how we evaluate players (01:02:10) - Advice for parents inside elite systems (01:05:40) - What development actually asks of families Click here to view the episode transcript.","meta_description":"What if the youth soccer system is rewarding the wrong things? In this episode of Chasing the Game: Youth Soccer in America, Liron Unreich and Matt Tartag…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":4282,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250/episodes/how-u-s-youth-soccer-traps-families-morten-gahn/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/chasing-the-game-youth-soccer-in-america-7528250/how-u-s-youth-soccer-traps-families-morten-gahn.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}