Chat By The Pitch

About Chat By The Pitch

The youth soccer podcast for parents trying to make sense of their kid's game. Host Ian Babcock is a soccer dad, not a former player. He got into the game the same way most parents do: his kids started playing and nobody handed him a manual. Chat By The Pitch is the manual he wishes he'd had. Every episode is a real, unscripted conversation with the people who shape a young player's experience: club directors, coaches, former pros, sports psychologists, agents, college recruiters, and families who have been through it. The questions are the ones you are asking in the car on the way home. Is my kid on the right team? What does "development over winning" actually look like? How much is too much? When should we worry, and when should we just let them play? Guests include academy coaches from England, a FIFA agent, futsal and academy founders, sports psychologists, and families who have walked the road from rec soccer to the pro game. What you will not hear: hot takes, highlight packages, or a host pretending to know more than he does. Ian asks the questions a parent would ask, and lets the guest answer. Rooted in North Texas, heard around the world. More than 190 conversations in the catalog covering player development, coaching philosophy, club culture, the college pathway, mental health, and the business of youth soccer. If you care about your kid's soccer beyond the scoreboard, this is your podcast.

Publisher

Ian Babcock

Category

education · kids & family · sports

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

24 Nov 2022

Latest episode

8 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

199 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   8 Oct 2026

   Youth Soccer Player Pathways: FIFA Agent Mario Iveljic on Club, College, and Pro

   Mario Iveljic grew up playing with a number 10 so smooth he'd just stop and watch. That kid may not have finished four years of college. Mario, by his own admission not the most talented guy, went further. That gap is why Mario — a licensed FIFA agent at Chicago's Mag Mile Sport, an attorney, and the son of a former European pro — believes talent gets you seen, but decisions get you signed. In Part 1, Ian and Mario map out youth soccer player pathways in America: MLS academies, MLS NEXT, ECNL, high school, college, and kids heading to Europe at 16. Mario's take: these are competing systems, not stages of one, and nobody is coordinating them. Mario explains why the best club and the best club for your kid right now are two different questions, why meaningful minutes and a clear role beat the badge, and why switching clubs often means bringing the same problem to a new address. They dig into pay-to-play and whether FIFA-style training compensation could change what clubs sell, what the World Cup did and didn't fix about access, and the club culture Chicago's old ethnic clubs once had. Then an honest take on college soccer: if the goal is pro, eventually get to D1. If the goal is four great years, go where you fit. For soccer parents, youth coaches, and players weighing club, college, and pro — and asking whether club soccer is worth it. Part 2 continues the conversation. Key Talking Points Growing up Croatian-American in Chicago: a dad who played professionally in Europe, an ethnic club that just let players play, and a US Amateur Cup title in his final competitive season Free play vs. structured training — two hours of small-sided games, learning to fix your own mistakes, and why everything in America being a car ride away changes the equation Talent gets you seen, decisions get you signed: the number 10 who didn't go as far, and the slow realization behind Mario's book The engine: talent plus smart work, and controlling the controllables — your mindset and your fitness Competing systems, not one pipeline: MLS academies, MLS NEXT, ECNL, high school, college, and Europe at 16 Don't chase the badge: meaningful minutes, a clear role, a commute you can sustain, and a coach you trust with your child After the World Cup: more attention, the same access problem — and why pay-to-play isn't only an American or a soccer issue Training compensation and solidarity payments as a way to reward clubs for developing players instead of winning tournaments America's second-chance system for late bloomers — and the downside of so many options: families switching clubs and bringing the same problem along College reality check: NIL and the House settlement, the transfer portal, and why the path to a pro contract eventually runs through D1 Quotes from Mario Iveljic "The talent gets you seen, but the decisions are the ones that really get you signed." "It was just by playing free. Learning on your own and learning how to correct mistakes on your own." "There are two things that you can control: your mentality, your mindset... and then your fitness." "Those are all competing systems, not just stages of one system." "The best club and the best club for your kid right now are two different questions." "Going to the best club, but then sitting on the bench for all but 10 minutes, you're not going to develop." "A World Cup doesn't lower the cost of playing here in America." "If you don't have that inner drive, that work ethic, you're just bringing the same problem to a different club." "In America we're good at giving second chances, and I think that's something that we should not do away with." "Sometimes those that haven't played the game ask better questions." Connect with Mario Iveljic 📖 Book: Make the Smart Move: The playbook for better sports decisions (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GXRBJRBV) 🌐 Website: magmilesport.com (https://www.magmilesport.com) 🎥 YouTube: @MarioIveljic (https://www.youtube.com/@MarioIveljic) 📸 Instagram: @magmilesport (https://www.instagram.com/magmilesport) ✖️ X / Twitter: @MagMileSport (https://x.com/MagMileSport) Follow Chat By The Pitch 🌐 Website: chatbythepitch.com (https://chatbythepitch.com/) 🎥 YouTube: Chat By The Pitch (https://www.youtube.com/@ChatByThePitchPod) 📸 Instagram: @ChatByThePitch (https://www.instagram.com/chatbythepitch) 🎵 TikTok: Chat.By.The.Pitch (https://www.tiktok.com/@chat.by.the.pitch) ✖️ X / Twitter: @ChatByThePitch (https://x.com/ChatByThePitch) 📘 Facebook: Chat By The Pitch (https://www.facebook.com/ChatByThePitch) 🎧 Spotify: Chat By The Pitch (https://open.spotify.com/show/0Hb9hDzZQxkH6n8OR9BHJZ) 🍎 Apple Podcasts: Chat By The Pitch (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chat-by-the-pitch/id1657223398) 🎧 Subscribe & Review: Your support helps us keep bringing conversations with players, coaches, and leaders that matter. #ChatByThePitch #YouthSoccer #PlayerPathways #SoccerParents #FIFAAgent #PlayerDevelopment #DevelopmentOverWinning #ClubSoccer #PayToPlay #CollegeSoccer #MLSNEXT #ECNL #SoccerAgent #MakeTheSmartMove #LateBloomers #FreePlay #YouthSoccerCoach #NorthTexasSoccer #GrassrootsSoccer #SoccerPodcast

2. 

   1 Oct 2026

   Play From Your Heart: Scott Martin on Losing Everything and Coming Back to the Game

   In 1993, Scott Martin was driving to a Nike camp with new Ray-Bans and the music turned up — still playing, coaching a nationally ranked college program, with everything in front of him. A month later, he woke up from a coma without his hands. Scott, author of the memoir Play From Your Heart, shares the story behind his youth soccer coaching philosophy and the illness that nearly ended everything. Group A strep and necrotizing fasciitis cost him both hands and parts of both feet. What followed was decades of grief, a lost malpractice trial, an unpaid coaching job on food stamps, five adopted children, and twenty years away from the sideline. Then a club in Bellingham, Washington handed him its U13 C team. The approach he brought back — put players in a position to learn, ask more questions than you answer, and play the flow instead of the ball — turned a group of overlooked kids he calls his soccer rats into undefeated state league champions. Ian and Scott also get into free play and why every young player needs a worn ball of their own, why there's a dancer in every soccer player, bringing eggs and Motown to training, humor as a coaching tool, and what Scott believes is broken in American youth soccer. For soccer parents, youth coaches, and club leaders who believe development beats winning — and that the game is best played from the heart. Key Talking Points Growing up on Wide World of Sports and the NASL in the '70s — Pelé, Beckenbauer, Cruyff — and a backyard where any sport was fair game A mother who raised six kids on three jobs, and where Scott says his work ethic really came from Jan, a Dutch director of coaching who went on to lead the Netherlands Olympic team, and a conversation over a pint about angles and percentages 1993: the Nike camp, the fever that got sent home with Gatorade, and waking from a coma to group A strep and necrotizing fasciitis Grief, denial, and depression — why it took decades to let go of the player and the coach he used to be Learning discrimination from a new angle: an athletic director's hallway comment and the handshakes that pulled back Starting over at the bottom: an unpaid assistant role, food stamps, five adopted children, and twenty years studying Cruyff and Guardiola from a distance The U13 C team in Bellingham: a 7–0 loss to the A team, confidence before arrogance, and the two lost finals that made them hungry "My mission is not to teach you, but to put you in a position to learn" — questions over instructions, eggs at training, and music as a metronome Free play and soccer rats: why kids need a worn ball and no coach, why over-structure is choking exploration, and why flag football should worry soccer Connect with Scott Martin 🌐 Author Page: Library Tales Publishing (https://librarytalespublishing.com/collections/scott-martin) 📚 Book: Play From Your Heart — Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Play-Your-Heart-Scott-Martin/dp/B0GKPWK261) | Barnes & Noble (https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/play-from-your-heart-scott-martin/1149336431) | Library Tales Publishing (https://librarytalespublishing.com/products/play-from-your-heart) 📧 Email: scott.playfromyourheart@gmail.com (mailto:scott.playfromyourheart@gmail.com) 💼 LinkedIn: Scott Martin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/scott-martin-lifesaroadtrip) ✖️ X: @SoccerRatMartin (https://x.com/SoccerRatMartin) 👍 Facebook: Scott Martin (https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1494323024) Follow Chat By The Pitch 🌐 Website: chatbythepitch.com (https://chatbythepitch.com/) 🎥 YouTube: Chat By The Pitch (https://www.youtube.com/@ChatByThePitchPod) 📸 Instagram: @ChatByThePitch (https://www.instagram.com/chatbythepitch) 🎵 TikTok: Chat.By.The.Pitch (https://www.tiktok.com/@chat.by.the.pitch) ✖️ X / Twitter: @ChatByThePitch (https://x.com/ChatByThePitch) 📘 Facebook: Chat By The Pitch (https://www.facebook.com/ChatByThePitch) 🎧 Spotify: Chat By The Pitch (https://open.spotify.com/show/0Hb9hDzZQxkH6n8OR9BHJZ) 🍎 Apple Podcasts: Chat By The Pitch (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chat-by-the-pitch/id1657223398) 🎧 Subscribe & Review: Your support helps us keep bringing conversations with players, coaches, and leaders that matter. #ChatByThePitch #YouthSoccer #PlayFromYourHeart #PlayerDevelopment #CoachingPhilosophy #FreePlay #SoccerParents #YouthSoccerCoach #DevelopmentOverWinning #Resilience #SoccerRats #TotalFootball #LoveOfTheGame #GrassrootsSoccer #ClubSoccer #SoccerCoaching #LimbDifference #BeautifulGame #SoccerPodcast #NorthTexasSoccer

3. 

   24 Sept 2026

   Player Pathways: Roman Torres on FC Dallas, JUCO, and the Road to Pro Soccer

   Zero college offers in his U18 year. A first-round MLS SuperDraft pick a few years later. Released after one pro season — and still chasing it. Roman Torres has lived nearly every turn of the youth soccer player pathway, and he’s only 24. Roman grew up in Dallas, starting on a rec team at the Y before coming up through FC Dallas, Classic League, and the club’s ECNL team. From there his road ran through Germany’s fifth division at 19, junior college at Iowa Western, a breakout season at Creighton, a first-round pick by Minnesota United, a loan to Birmingham Legion, and now Forward Madison FC in USL League One. Ian and Roman get into what that pathway really asks of a player and a family: raffle tickets and long drives to practice, choosing high school soccer and his friends over a move to the academy, why JUCO can be a smart route to the pros, and what it felt like to walk into an end-of-season meeting confident and walk out released. Roman also shares what he’d tell his 12-year-old self — touches, left foot, scan — why strength work at 10 misses the point, and why parents should care less about the league badge and more about the quality of every training session. For soccer parents, youth coaches, and players chasing the next level who want an honest look at development over winning — and the grit it takes to keep going. Connect with Roman Torres 📸 Instagram: @Roman.btj Follow Chat By The Pitch 🌐 Website: chatbythepitch.com (https://chatbythepitch.com/) 🎥 YouTube: Chat By The Pitch (https://www.youtube.com/@ChatByThePitchPod) 📸 Instagram: @ChatByThePitch (https://www.instagram.com/chatbythepitch) 🎵 TikTok: Chat.By.The.Pitch (https://www.tiktok.com/@chat.by.the.pitch) ✖️ X / Twitter: @ChatByThePitch (https://x.com/ChatByThePitch) 📘 Facebook: Chat By The Pitch (https://www.facebook.com/ChatByThePitch) 🎧 Spotify: Chat By The Pitch (https://open.spotify.com/show/0Hb9hDzZQxkH6n8OR9BHJZ) 🍎 Apple Podcasts: Chat By The Pitch (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/chat-by-the-pitch/id1657223398) 🎧 Subscribe & Review: Your support helps us keep bringing conversations with players, coaches, and leaders that matter. #ChatByThePitch #YouthSoccer #PlayerDevelopment #PlayerPathway #SoccerParents #DevelopmentOverWinning #NorthTexasSoccer #DFWSoccer #FCDallas #NorthTexasSC #JUCOSoccer #CollegeSoccer #MLSSuperDraft #ForwardMadisonFC #USLLeagueOne #RoadToPro #SoccerMindset #TouchesOnTheBall #YouthSoccerCoach #SoccerPodcast

Who has been a guest on Chat By The Pitch

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Dan Abrahams
• Victor Jaramillo
• Gavin Mole
• Tony Cavalle
• John Gall

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

7 ratings

Spotify

4.9 / 5

17 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 61 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

91

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

77

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