Bobby Warshaw: The Price of Greatness

Our guest today is Bobby Warshaw. Warshaw was a central midfielder for FC Dallas and numerous Scandanavian teams during his 6 year career.

He is also the founder of the Athletes Story, a site dedicated to telling the stories professional football players and hosts his own podcast on Howler called ‘The Play’ where he brings on professional football players to discuss hot-button issues.

Recently he wrote his book, When the Dream Became Reality: The journey of a professional athlete and the push for meaning, purpose, and contentment.

Want to learn more about Bobby Warshaw? Read…..

• His Autobiography

• The Athletes Story

• The Play podcast

• His twitter

This is part one of our 2-part interview in which we discuss him playing in Brazil as a teenager, how one moment in college changed his life, the thrill of getting drafted, and why he chose to play in Sweden.

This is part 2 of the interview I did with him. In this episode, Bobby talks why his book is different than most football memoirs, the price players have to pay for greatness, why teams need to address mental health, and how he almost got to play for a champions league club.

Timeline

Part 1

Recounts his recent trip to Mexico and loudest environments he’s played in 2:45

Growing up in the Pennsylvania suburbs 8:15

How his older brothers influenced him 14:00

The moment changed his life 17:26

Draft day memories 24:20

On his strained relationship with his first coach 28:55

How he ended up playing in Sweden 33:20

His favorite road trip memories 40:20

Difference in preseason between US and Scandanavia 44:20

Part 2

Why his book is different from other football memoirs 3:45

An example of being an intense practice player 8:20

His coaches tactic to changing his negative thoughts 11:20

How his teammates would react to this book if it were printed while he was a player 15:24

A Landon Donovan quote that powerfully affected him 22:00

The single reason he wrote this book 26:00

His in-game communication 31:00

Why he created the Athletes Story 38:00

How he got 5 teeth knocked out in a game 42:50

What prompted him to be a tutor while he was a professional player 48:30

On almost playing for a champions league club 53:45

References

Part 1

US-Mexico World Cup Qualifier

American Outlaws

David Gass, Extra time

Residency Program (Bradenton)

Cruzeiros

Atleticos Mineiros

Eric Lichaj

Omar Gonzalez

Mechanicsburg

Amish country

ODP program

Upshot blog

Stanford Univ

Dallas FC

MLS Draft

Matt Pyzdrowski

The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy Seal Eric Greitens

Angellholms

Hammerby

Championship Manager

Part 2

Open by Andre Agassi

Stanford Univ

Brett Simon (coach)

Sergio Ramos

Diego Costa

Athletes Story

Landon Donovan (sabbatical)

The Players Tribune

PTI, Pardon the Interruption

Tony Kornheiser

F Scott Fitzgerald

Harrisburg

Dallas

What did you think of the episode? What was your favorite quote or lesson from the episode? Leave a comment here

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