We have head coach Sean Nahas here with us, head of the courage season opener against Houston tomorrow 7 p.m. at Wake Med Soccer Park, Sean. We're finally into game week preseason overturn our attention to the season. We know what the roster is, know what the team looks like. Uh, your th overall thoughts here after a long preseason and getting ready to jump into the regular season. Uh, yeah, I think, um, I would say preseason can tend to get a little bit monotonous and they sort of get tired of playing against each other and training. We really haven't had a full team to train with the whole preseason cause of injuries and in and out of camp. So, you know, I think it's, I think we're in a good spot. I think we just have to, you know, we'll see where we're at tomorrow and let that be our foundation and build upon it. Um, but the players that put the work in, we've laid some of the foundation down and principles down that we wanna follow from last year. But, um, you know, until you get into a real match and the energies and the you know, all that stuff that comes along with it. Uh, we won't really know where we're at, but I, the one thing I do know is we won't be anywhere near where we wanna be. So that's always, uh, that's always the fun part knowing that what are kind of, some of the barometers you look for from the team in game one, knowing that things aren't gonna be called totally clean just yet. I think it's the basic principles that we've talked about and try and build upon last year. Obviously, we're missing some key pieces and, um you know, to be, to be really honest, I, I know how I know how it goes. Everyone wants to win and, you know, all of, you know, everyone that sits in wants to evaluate how games go, they're gonna look at the first game and say good, bad or indifferent. You can come out and put on a perfect performance. That doesn't mean it's gonna carry over the next day. You can put out a terrible performance and you can come out the following week and put on an unbelievable performance. That's how we look at it. Um But, you know, again, it's just the little ideas, the little nuances, you have a lot of new players again. Um You know, so we'll, I think we'll be OK in terms of that. Uh But again, when the, when the whistle blows, it's a whole different dynamic. So you have to deal with what opposition has given you. How do those principles stay true to the uh what opposition is showing you, you know, so that we don't change. So, but the players have been really, really coachable and have taken everything on board and, you know, again, tomorrow is just the first test to see how we're doing. Turn over to questions, deletion. Uh I forgot what I was gonna say. OK, I don't, um, in the off-season when you're looking back on what you wanna build on for this season, um, your performance as a coach, was there anything in particular that you kind of thought about? You wanted to work on or you wanted to change about your approach for this year? Me personally, no, no, I, I think, I think, you know, you always wanna try and evolve. Uh, you know, I definitely put a lot, I'm putting a lot more responsibility, uh, on my assistant coaches. Um, you know, it sounds crazy but having four of us sitting in a small room bothers me. This is not how my mind is. So now I separate myself, you know, just so I have a little bit of decompression time. Um So it's just really recognizing those things that work for me and maybe things I need to be, you know, put myself in a situation. Um It's definitely healthier for me. Um You know, my mind is always racing. I'm always thinking about something, I'm always thinking about tweak here or there. Um My mind's often in the clouds once the season starts cause I'm always my mind, it doesn't turn off for 10 months now. You know. So, and I'll be honest with you, even this off season, I didn't turn off probably as much as I wanted to. I'll probably be honest, I probably didn't turn off at all. Um But again, we myself, it's a, it's just like I do with the players, I, I have to evaluate it week by week and see. What did I do, right. What did I do wrong? Where can I be better? How can I help the players more? Um How can I continue to raise the standard of the team in the club? Uh So those are little things that I look at that. Uh, but I also don't want to take away from the enjoyment of getting an opportunity to coach. Um, you know, I think for this for so long, I used to say I have to coach or I have to do this or I, I'm fortunate to get to coach. Um, you know, I there's a lot of things I can say about a lot of different dynamics that get in my head. But, uh, those are people that I don't go to opinions for. So they don't, it doesn't really matter to me. So, on a related note, you said it was hard to kind of switch off this off-season. Do you have spring fever? Are you excited? Like? Yeah, because it's, it's what the players prepare for, you know. Uh, I get excited for that moment to see how they, how it comes to fruition. Like last year, I was thrilled with the performances of our players. Um, you know, it's been a long preseason, you know, so, uh, you do get tired of it, you know, because you can only talk about so many things so many times. Um And you also don't wanna throw a million different things at them where they can't bring it all into their own mind frame, you know. But yeah, I, I'm excited, uh uh to be ho I'm a little bit fatigued. Um, but once the season gets going, the, the breakdown of the weeks is a lot easier. It's, you know, it's not 67 days, it's, or five days, it's up, days, down, days off days. So, um, but the players always give us energy because of how much they work for us, uh, or how much they perform for each other and how committed they are to being coachable. And that gives us energy every single day and it's been a fun group to work with. So I guess I would, tomorrow is just the first stroke on another blank canvas that, you know, that we're building. So we'll see, we'll see where that stroke takes us. Um, just kind of building off of what you said or is it a way of like, kind of breaking down the season into building blocks? So you've got the preseason, um, you're gonna take that game one game, two, game three and kind of see what's working and what's not and then building more information into the player's mindset from there. Um, is that kind of how? Yeah, I think it, some coaches do things differently, like some build out periodization blocks of tactical blocks if they wanna work on these things for three weeks. And I'm not one that does that or believes in that. I think it becomes monotonous. Um, I think each week we have to look at the performance and say, where do we need to be better? What do we do really well? And how do we improve that? How do we make our strengths great, how do we make our weaknesses, our strengths? Um, and what is the next team proposed to us or posed to us? And, you know, how do we prepare for that still within our principles? You know, so it is a week by week thing. It's not, uh, WWII I really think we're just scratching the surface with this group. You know, we have so many different players now that are trying to take it in, but I'll, I'll say they picked it up pretty quickly. I thought the performance the other day against the 16 boys team was really good. Um, really good. Um, and I thought the the, the friendlies against some team, you know, the Chicago and things like that, uh, were ok. Those are just the first times we were playing. So, um, I don't throw it all at the wall and see what sticks we have to, we'll, we'll watch the video back, you know, I'll watch the video back right after the game. Like, I'll go home, stay up, watch it and then break it down the next day. So, but yeah, that's usually how I do it and break it down as much as I possibly can. Probably two months. Sometimes the group has had a little bit of time to spend with Sam the last couple of days. Um What do you kinda see from how the younger players are kind of taking in that experience of being around her and their own team leadership? Um Yeah, I mean, look, Sam's a special, special person that, you know, we had a dinner last night and you know what I said, all these players that are currently wearing our kit are playing on the foundation that Sam set for our players as well as other players. But we're recognizing Sam the two stars will forever be a part of our club. Sam's a massive part of those two stars, but I was talking, I, I talked more about who she is as a person and a character than I did as a footballer because she's just an unbelievable person. So for her to be home, uh, especially how everything sort of went, uh, when she left and dynamic of everything, uh, was thrilled to be able to bring her back. I think the younger players look, still look at her as Sam Lewis, you know, I think our veterans that have been around there, which is only four left. They look at Sam as someone they've looked up to as well. Sam's done a ton for me as a coach, you know, and coaching to a standard and things along those lines. But, uh, yeah, you could see it was a pretty cool environment, pretty cool room last night and the smiles on our players' faces and, uh, Sam, like I said, Sam, Sam, so she hasn't changed and yeah, we're, we're thrilled to, uh to have her back, but we also have great leaders here now la last year. So the team was so young and there weren't a lot of expectations and you guys kinda felt like fried off that. How's the dynamic shifted at all this year after, you know, last year's success and some of your core back, no expectations. Um You don't know how seasons are gonna go. Uh You don't know what dynamics are gonna happen within a season, a long season of the Olympics and all this stuff. So we don't put expectations on. We just look, we, we just put it in a situation where it's a week by week performance. I know people get tired of hearing that, but that's just what we do and if they don't like it, that's ok. Uh, it's our environment, what we do. Um, but, you know, I think, I think the only expectations are the standards that we put on ourselves every day. We expect to work hard every day. We expect to train hard every day. We expect to perform in the exercises that we put in, try and grasp concepts that we wanna layer in. It is a challenging environment. It's not for everybody. Um But I think that's where the expectations are set within the training dynamic where we're with them 56 days a week, the game is sort of the reward. Um But I just talked to the team for the last time before our first game and I didn't say anything about a result. Uh I just said welcome the butterflies and welcome the energy and use that as fuel, but this is not gonna define our season one game. Um This is just gonna be uh the first move on the compass of what direction we're gonna go in. And uh yeah, that, that will never change here with us. Ok. Uh You had a really good draft season. Uh Draft, had a pretty good off-season with a lot of the acquisitions you wanted. What are you doing for yourself to take the time to enjoy tomorrow? Um Yeah, you know, I look back at I I to be honest with you, I mean, I, I still look back at where I came from, you know, like I was talking to someone about it. Um, I was talking to someone about it yesterday on a, on a call and, you know, they said they did some background on, on me and, you know, it, I still don't, I still pinch myself every once in a while. I realize that I started as a coach in the youth dynamic coaching, 3rd and 4th level teams. You know, I was building fences at Wral my first year. Um that ain't happening. Now, I can tell you that no coach is doing that. All coaches wanna do is coach the top team. Um But I just, you know, I'm um, I'm proud of the people I've surrounded myself with, I'm proud of the commitment that I've made um to this craft. And, you know, I'm not, I'm a very private person, uh, you know, and, and I, I'm pretty stoic in many ways, but, uh, anytime I get a chance to be around this group, it, it brings me a joy. Um And I trust what we do and believe what we do. But I think the biggest thing is I'm going off of last year and how people talked about us. Um and that almost, um gave me a confidence about I, I belong in, in this, in this landscape. Um And it's gonna be an evolution for me as a coach every single year too. And the moment that I stopped learning, I should get out of this job. So I'm learning just as much as anybody else every day. Um, but that's how I, you know, I look back at where I came from and where I'm at now and proud of the loyalty I showed to this club. Um, the youth club. It's not very often you stay at a one club for 18 years, but I sh you know, there's a loyalty there. And uh yeah, from now to the day I leave the club that ever happened. I, I don't know, um it'll always be a part of who I am and I, I can't, you know, think of a better place to do it. Tyler Voo, hey, coach, I just wanted to ask you if you could uh speak a little bit on uh Jenna and Ma Sony and how they've been this preseason J and M Oh yeah, I, I think, you know, when we came in the preseason, obviously, we have a bunch of, we have quite a few injuries and we needed some depth in the back line. And, you know, we've been really honest with them about where things were going. Um And after IMG they put on a good performance, they're great kids, they're great people, players love having them around. They, they, they, they help our environment. Jen is obviously a, a pro in the league and has played games. And so having that little bit of veteran status has been helpful for us. You know, we needed some cover, especially with Sydney Collins going out. Um, you know, Talia is still back and forth with school, so we needed some cover back there and, um, they provide that. So I think most people will say we probably have the most depth in the middle of the park. Um, but we just felt that it was, it was needed and um they're, they're however long they're here for, uh whether it's the full season, years beyond. Uh I know that the work they put in every day helps us get better. So we felt that they should be rewarded. Uh It rewards them and it helps us in regards to our debt. And then I just wanna ask you, uh there hasn't been a whole lot of talk about, uh Menaka coming back this season after she kind of first on the scene for the current last year. Um Is that, do you think it's a good thing that the, there's not that expectation? Are you expecting a big breakout season for her this year when she's had a full preseason? She's 19 years old. I, I don't, I, I can't put expectations on her. You just let her do her thing. I think all the riders put expectations on the, on the players. Um, but I look at it as I don't care who talks, I don't think she even cares about that either. It's the relationship that we have here in our locker room with her and we have to set her up for success. You know, she just got back from the twenties, um, with, with the Japanese national team and she had great success there. But she's here for a reason and she's playing with a smile on her face and she's growing every single, every single day. But if I put expectations on an 18 year old, 19 year old, then I'm in the wrong business. If I put expectations on anyone in my locker room, I'm in the wrong business. The only expectations I should be putting on are the standards that they want to meet for themselves. And my job is to help them achieve that and hold them accountable to the standards that they have in themselves. But I won't put them on expectations of you have to do this for us or that for us. She has a great year. Fantastic. If she has an up and down year, doesn't mean she's a bad player. If she has a terrible year, we figure out why and we improve it. Um, but that's the job of a coach and a club and trusting the player. But, uh, yeah, there's, there's no expectations on her or our or our players. It's a, it's a day by day process and I think my kno will be just fine. Thanks, coach. Thank you. Any last questions coach? Thank you very much. Thank you.