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Episode 125: Mike Matera - Beestera Soccer Training

Release Date: 08/09/2024

Episode 128: Gary Laybourne - Coach Core

The Drive Phase Podcast

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Episode 125: Mike Matera - Beestera Soccer Training

The Drive Phase Podcast

In today's episode, James speaks to Mike Matera, a former professional footballer for the Western Mass Professional Soccer team, a coach, and co-founder of Beestera Soccer Training. With a passion for soccer and teaching, Mike boasts of a coaching career and a Masters in Physical Education. From the mutual passion with his partner regarding development of an individual in a group setting, a club-neutral, supplemental training experience was established: Beestera. A soccer training company with the vision to change player development Beestera Soccer Training recognizes the limitations of...

Episode 124: Grace McNamara and Louise O’Mahony - Exercise Intelligence (EXI)

The Drive Phase Podcast

In today's episode, James speaks with Grace McNamara, Chief Executive Officer at EXI, and Louise O’Mahony, Head of Consumer Success at the innovative care delivery company. Both Grace and Louise have extensive experience in health, fitness, and care delivery, and they recognized a gap in healthcare where professionals often provide recommendations without personalized programs. To address this, they co-founded Exercise Intelligence (EXI), a MedTech company that empowers certified professionals to prescribe tailored exercise programs efficiently and effectively for individuals with multiple...

EP123: Craig Jones, Andrew Hicks, and Rob Brown - UK Wraparound Childcare

The Drive Phase Podcast

In today's episode, James features an amazing trio with bursting expertise in Wraparound childcare within the sports corporate sphere. Meet Craig Jones, who has over 2 decades of experience working with children and young people within education as well as the sports, and fitness industries and is now serving as the Chief Child Experience Officer at Junior Adventures Group UK, UK's largest provider of Wraparound childcare. Joining him is Rob Brown, who is on a mission to improve the employability of sports students and fast-track them into their ideal careers as the Managing Director of First...

Episode 122: Graeme Eaglesham - Future Kids

The Drive Phase Podcast

In today's episode, James speaks to Graeme Eaglesham, the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Future Kids. Graeme is a former professional soccer player, coach, and youth trainer who has held positions such as Sports Education Manager at Liverpool International Academy and assistant coach at Bellevue University. Additionally, he is an athlete for Gymshark, one of the world's largest fitness apparel companies. Through Future Kids, a non-profit organization based in Omaha, Nebraska, they transform generosity from affluent neighborhoods into providing a variety of sports programs...

Episode 121: Paul Lawrence - Challenger Sports

The Drive Phase Podcast

In today's episode, James speaks to Paul Lawrence, the CEO at Challenger Sports and Teamwear. Paul is also a sports instructor and women's head coach, having made significant contributions to teams like Indiana State, Florida Southern College, and Knox College. With the goal of increasing the number of soccer campers while positively impacting children's lives through soccer, Challenger Sports was established in 1985. Over the years, they have become the most sought-after soccer camp in the United States, having served hundreds of thousands of soccer players. In addition to soccer...

Episode 120: Niall Quinn - Team Taca

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In today's episode, James speaks with Niall Quinn, an Irish former professional footballer who played top-flight football for Arsenal, Manchester City, and Sunderland. With 92 caps, Niall stands as Ireland's second-highest goalscorer of all time. He has also served as a football manager, sports television pundit at Sky Sports for over a decade, and as an interim Deputy CEO of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). With many accomplishments to his name, he is also the founder and president of Team Taca, a private podcast that collaborates with youth soccer clubs to produce...

Episode 119: Business & Acquisitions Panel - Dean Horridge, Chris Irwin, Craig Brennan

The Drive Phase Podcast

In today's episode, James invites back previous guests for an insightful panel discussion, of three business titans from both sides of the Mergers and acquisitions process. Craig Brennan, the founder, and CEO of The Little Sports Group is building a business and growing through acquisition; Dean Horidge, the former founder of Fit for Sports and is now CEO and founder of Thinkably and Chris Irwin, the founder of Ed Start Group and current CCO at Salford Red Devils. Listen in as the quad panel unravels valuable insights delving deep from their experience and positions in business...

More Episodes

From the mutual passion with his partner regarding development of an individual in a group setting, a club-neutral, supplemental training experience was established: Beestera. A soccer training company with the vision to change player development Beestera Soccer Training recognizes the limitations of impacting every individual player’s growth within a team setting, this provides a more personalized and targeted approach.

In a nutshell, James and Mike speak about:

- The number of kids he has been working with on an annual basis

- Mike's earliest soccer moments and his journey to becoming a pro

- The origin of his business and his vision when it was a startup vs now

- Filling in the void players seeking for individual attention in a group training sessions

- The criteria they use to find coaches that align with their standards

- Hoops they had to jump through for them to operate at their best in the geographical lomit they operate

- A look into the behavioral trends in kinds and how they help them reshape the negative ones

- Routines Mike leans on to remain at his peak as he leads a business

- Origin of the name Beestera

…and so much more!

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