everybody, I am really excited to be back. Um I felt like a smile started to creep up on me as I was driving in and walking into the locker room and um a lot has changed here, but a lot obviously is still the same. There's still such a great energy around everybody. And um our locker room looks great. There's like a new carpet and new logo, new lockers. Um uh yeah, so it looks great. Um and the first session was awesome. It's great to be back and definitely going to take a little adjustment back to the heat and the courage way of playing. But I'm really happy and excited to be here. Awesome, Jeff. Go ahead. Mhm. Uh sorry, juggling the baby a little bit today. Um Sam welcome back. Just you know, general thoughts on uh coming back, I guess I'm wondering what ultimately made you decide to, to return? Um you know, potentially with the option to, to stay at Man City. Yeah, I mean I think a lot of things went into it. Um Both options were such great opportunities for me and I felt like I had a win win situation. Um Obviously I I love the courage and I played here for a long time and um just knowing that returning to the end of the cell was going to bring me back here um was something that I didn't want to leave a chance um any longer. So um I'm definitely really excited to be back. Like these girls are some of my best friends and this environment is one that has shaped me already so much and I know we'll continue to do so. Um So again, I, my time at Man City was incredible. I have nothing but good things to say. I really think that I learned a lot and gained so much from my experience there and staying would have been another great opportunity for me, I just feel like right now this is the best place and um I'm definitely open to anything in the future, but I'm really happy to be home with the courage and um to to start playing um training today uh just to follow up kind of related, do you feel like that full season there? Got you kind of fulfilled that that idea of going abroad for you. Um I don't know, I mean, I don't know if I like had that, like an idea of going abroad, I think that I had a wonderful experience and I definitely think I got to like experience the game from another perspective and learn a lot about the way um England views the game and the way the girls see it and um I think it was really eye opening and kind of like brought into my horizons a little bit. Um, and in that sense I can see that I have so much more to learn. Um, so I think that coming back here will just continue to like open up new doors for me and, and show me areas I need to continue to work on. But in the future, I mean hopefully I can play for a really long time and maybe I would go overseas again. I don't know, mike your head, mike, you need to turn on your mike. There you go. Good morning Sam Welcome back to where we can call it soccer and not football. Um, I wanted to ask you, you've obviously been with paul and the courage for a while. Um, and we know about the training that the team does here in and carry, what's the difference there? The biggest difference between training over there with Man City and then coming back to the courage where we know the work ethic is kind of so high here. Yeah, I mean the work ethic at Man City was very high. Um Again, I have nothing but positives. I think that both environments are really special and really great trading environments. I think that um something that is, I think unique to the courage is just that we really pride ourselves on on that like high pressure and high intensity all the time. Um it's so much fun to be in that kind of environment and to be pushed like that every day. Um but I will say that the training at Man City was incredible. I feel like I got better every day. I feel like the girls that I was playing with world class players, um I learned so much, I think that um the technical ability and their tactical awareness was like really, really high level and something that I felt like I had to catch up to. Um, but again, both environments are awesome and I'm just honored and and really fortunate to have been able to experience both, um Mitchell go ahead and for those, I guess I should have said the top if you could introduce yourself and say your outlet. Sure. Yeah. Mental North um um with W N. C. Um Sam, I was just wondering, you know, you mentioned kind of some of the changes with, with the courage. Um just from a roster perspective, there's a lot to change since last year and certainly even more since we had a full NWSL season in 2019. Um do you envision your, I guess on fuel role with the team changing it all this year? Either positional er tactically or just mentality wise? Yeah that's a good question. Um I guess I don't really know. I think that I I feel like I um I I want to be a leader. I think we have such strong leadership with this team from from the top down from the coaching staff to the all the players that we have. Um I think that I can continue to bring that in my own way on the field. Um I'm not sure positional e um we'll have to like see how everything goes and what the team needs. Of course I play anywhere if there's space for me to play. Um So I guess we'll see but I'm just really excited to be back and to get back into the swing of things and I hope that I can continue to contribute a lot to the club because um they have obviously given me so much, I've learned so much here, I've grown so much here. So, um, my ultimate goal is to just help the team win whatever way I can, Annie, go ahead. Hi, sorry, I'm trying to figure out how to unmute myself. Um it's early in the morning for me here. Sam. Um I wanted to know I'm anne Peterson from the Associated Press and I wanted to know Sam how much of the fact that it's an olympic year had to do with your decision to come back and to continue with the courage up until the olympics. Um, I guess like it wasn't a deciding factor, I don't think. I mean, I think if I've learned anything, if we've all learned anything in the past year, it's that like nothing is certain. So you kind of just have to make decisions with whatever information you have, knowing that things could change at any moment. So I think that I just tried to put myself as always in the best environment that I could to succeed and um, I just feel like that led me here. Um again, I would have been honored to stay at Man City. It was an incredible experience. Um I do think that there are some positives with um what could happen this summer to being back here in the States, being closer to everything. Um even we were just joking about playing in the, in the humidity. Um, so again, like, uh, it wasn't like the deciding factor by any means. There was a lot of, a bunch of things that went into it I guess. But um yeah, I think that there are definitely some like good takeaways considering that thank you and I'm a note for everyone on the call. We do also have one of our owners steve Mallett available for questions as well as our president and GM kurt johnson. So for anyone who would like to ask some questions, they're here as well. Um, uh, Mike, go ahead. Mike, uh, sorry. I've been on like three of these this morning. Meg. Hi Mike. Super Spectrum News one. This one's for coach Riley. Uh, we haven't heard from you. How does it feel to have sand back? Especially with, we've talked about the turnover, you know, earlier this season, but to have one of your players back that you've known for a while, how does she helped this team moving forward? I think as soon as some steps on the park, all the standards change. So all of a sudden the bean is better Dubina of sudden sully's better sully all of a sudden Havana Salons, better Savannah salon. So I think the biggest impact you can have on any team is what it affects the whole group. And I think she affects the whole group, not just in the locker room but on the field and just going through one session. I'd say the standards rose today and we talk a lot about training standards, how important they are. And you know, Sam's got such an appetite for playing such a willpower to win in the short sided games or even in a simple switch, great games and that will power pushes other people to be better. And I, I feel like the competitiveness and increased 25% this morning. And I think that's why you bring players like Salmon and that's why you want players like Sam in your group because it makes number 25 number 26 number 18, number three, better than they were before. And and that's ultimately the most important part is making sure everyone in the group gets better and you can't get better unless you're fully out totally competitive, putting everything into it. And I think the persistence she has on the field and resilience she has on the field. And what she brings to the table is massive. And I don't know if you can even put it in words, but Tower power is that it, that's our power. She brings a lot to the team in the group and we're just great to have a personality. I mean, they're understanding the game. I obviously only see one session, but I'm sure tactically she's improved. And technically once he gets used to the uh the speed of player practice and the heat in practice because it is hard here and I think that's one of the great reasons to come back and get ready for olympics is in the heat and because it's not like this anywhere else in the world. So, um, yeah, I'm looking forward to having some in the locker room on game day in practice because she makes us all better. And, and that's what we want. The standards have to improve both on the field and training and on the field of the games too. I think we all can't help but smile when we hear that. Well said, um, Nicholas go ahead. Yeah. Nicholas snicker with technician. I actually had a question for kurt kurt at a club level. How important was it to sign sand to a contract with the club as opposed to her being an allocated player for the next couple of years? Well, it definitely important. But first of all, yeah, just a huge welcome back to SAM, you know, echoing polls comments. Uh, you know, we welcome back a leader not only of the courage, but within our club. You know, someone that's helped us push to higher limits as a club and, and uh, you know, to help us reach our full potential on and off the field. She's big have been a big part of that. Um, so thrilled to have her back. Uh look, I mean, I think the the most um important part of this from my perspective is is uh, is a, is a multi year commitment. You know, we want um, to keep all of our top players, uh, you know, our our most impactful players here as long as possible to have longevity to have stability and to be able to, to achieve. And that was a big part of the discussion with with SAM and her representatives And and SAM was uh very open and willing to, to have those discussions. We uh, you know, you just, the resources with us, Soccer is related to the allocation and then we're able to add a couple of years to that. So um great result for us, I think a very good result for SAM. She can speak uh, for her own self on that, but in a great, great thing for NWSL and U S soccer. Well, said J B go ahead. All right, thanks Megan. Hey, uh, welcome, welcome back SAM. And uh, congratulations on being back with the courage. Um, I wanted Jamie Richards Spectrum News one, by the way, I wanted to ask SAM, what are you most looking forward to? From a competitive standpoint, being back in the the NWSL and you know, how it will differ from your time in Manchester? Um, yeah, I mean, what I'm most looking forward to, I think is winning. I think that we've created such a culture of winning here at the courage that um that's kind of our standard and our expectations. So um that's like how we train, that's how we go into games. So um I'm just really looking forward to to that and to being here and hopefully contributing to that. Um I don't think that that differs from my past experience, I think um there was also a great culture at Man City and we had a lot of success. Um but I am just excited to be home to be back um in kind of familiar territory back in America. Um I think that there are obviously some pros, like my family has joined me down here um and it's great, it's a great area, It's a great club. I know I'm surrounded by people who want the same things as me and share those values with me and um to be coached by somebody like paul who has developed so many players and I know that his goal for me is always to continue developing me and I think I'm now in kind of like the middle of my career and knowing that that's there's still so much room for growth I think is really exciting for both of us, so yeah, I'm just looking forward to winning to continuing to get better and to contribute to the team however I can um, Mitchell, Did you have another question? Yeah, I have one for paul. Um Hey paul kind of um the same question I had for for Sam um you know, when she was here in 19 and before, you know, kind of played a little bit further back with and partnered with sully. Um Do you see her maybe playing more upfield now and maybe at the 10 with Davina or how does she kind of fit in with your current roster makeup? Yeah, to be honest with you, I think Sam said we're not sure on that yet. Um The great thing is she can play anywhere in our midfield and on midfield needs a boost at this point, there's no question. I think we've been a bit bland in the midfield um and I think Sam gets the best out of Sullivan, but I think she plays an attention, get the best out of the bean. You so listen, Sam was, it's always a box to box midfielder for me, she's the best boxer midfield in the world, but I think she can add other pieces to it. She added some goal scoring stuff in Manchester City. So in the fact that we need goals out of the midfield that might play into what we pick at the weekend on friday night. But the best thing is just have some on the park in that midfield and that box needs a um whether in the six or whether it's in the tent and I think the other players around, I know that, hey listen, I want to get in that box too, because if I'm playing with some, I'm going to be better. Um And that's really the way we've looked at it. I think a good thing for Sam is a, you know, people put their best team out against us, the most competitive team against us and I think everybody's big game because we're still a champions from 19, so for them it's a big one and they put everything into us. And so obviously we're certainly not uh in Championship form right now, to say the least, but we got a long way to go before anything is going to be given out in, in october november december. So, you know, for us, thing is just a matter of trying to get a bit better practice a little bit better in the games, we look like we're just about then there's just a few things missing and one is a goal scoring midfielder, I think Sam brings that to us and that helps us a lot. Not just some set piece perspective, but they're running play perspective. And I think the range of passenger has and and the division she has in the final third will help us, uh the rotational from the six if she plays in the sixth, or the ability to get in the box from the 10. Uh, so for us, it's a great formation, I think it suits sam down to the ground because you know, they would rotate so much vertically and horizontally that she can get on the ball and come low if she needs, so she can go high if she wants to she can rotate left, right. There's a lot of uh thinks she can do from that from that box perspective. And we wanted to do that. And obviously I think that will help players like Sullivan and Havana and carrying uh Deena and Hamilton and and these type of players and expect everybody will do a little bit more on friday night for Sam in terms of closing and, you know, pressing and counter pressing. And I think we've lacked a little bit of that, to be honest with in the game so far, we haven't really kind of press as well as we normally do and I think having that kind of stature and store what on the field will help us in that perspective. No question, um, might go ahead. Hey, just because, you know, we've got them here. I'd like to ask a question for steve, um, with the capacity obviously more fans being allowed in as the season progresses here and you're gonna have more people, I want to know. Is there any plans upcoming you can tell us about with your fellow owner, Naomi perhaps making an appearance or you mentioned some of the design stuff that she was into, but any type of involvement as the season progresses here with the courage to first. I also want to welcome SAm back. We, we appreciate your, as kurt said, your multi year commitment to the club and we're thrilled to have you. So, uh, yeah, as far as fans goes, I mean look just having sand back, we're gonna pack it in, aren't we? Right. I think look we're all we're all thrilled to feel like we're getting on the other side of this pandemic. Um We want to obviously get everybody vaccinated and uh and continue the progress that we've made. Um And we've tried to be reasonable about that along the way obviously following all the guidelines that the C. D. C. And the state has put out. But I mean just saturday night having 5000 plus when you know on monday we thought we were gonna have 2400 was was great. It was a great atmosphere and we're looking forward to that. Yes. About Naomi. Um We have talked about her coming out for a game. You know she's got a busy schedule herself and it certainly we're all as Sam said used to the uncertainty uh right now, so I think we would just like to get a little little more stable and uh you know, know when uh when it's really safe to to do something, she's she said this, so I'm not saying I'm not breaking news here, but I think the interesting thing is she wants to, she wants to work out and train with the team. So you've got one world class athlete with a lot of others. Uh obviously uh there will be a lot of people that will be interested to see how how she does. She she said she hasn't played soccer before, so uh you know, I don't think she's gonna be challenging anyone, but I think it would be obviously a lot of fun for everybody and uh and she, I think we'll have a time when she's coming out, can't really speak that right now and I'm the design stuff. Yeah. We're working with Nike, there was some additional news about what she's doing on the brand actually this morning and you know, there's supply chain problems all over the world right now. Um, again, just looking forward to getting on the other side of that so we can have her a little more involved in that regard. So Sam, while I got the mic for one second, I do want to say we are so happy to see you and looking forward. I can't wait to see that first pass you pick off and slide up the middle with one of those patented behind the back line to Lynn Williams your body uh, and goal. So if you hear some extra screaming from the stands, it's probably me. Can't wait. Okay, Thanks steve. All right. We will take a couple more questions. Nicholas, go ahead. Okay. Yeah. Hey, Sam steve might have given away the answer there, but is there one player who from your first day of practice, you're most excited to be back playing with somebody that you're excited to be back on the field with? Um, I mean, leah Lynn is like one of my best friends and um we've lived together for a long time. I, I love playing with Lynn, I think she's such a smart player, she's so dangerous and she just, her work ethic on both sides of the ball is like unmatched. Um, so I'm obviously really excited to play with plan and I think that she makes any midfielders job easy because if you kind of like overplay the past, she like always gets there. Anyway, um, I'm really excited to play with Slovenia. I think Davina is like a genius and she's so fun to play with, she's so creative. Um And then obviously Dennis O Sullivan, who has had my back for years doing all the dirty work on defense um and just really like holding the whole team together, I could keep going, I'm I'm excited to play with everybody. Um It's just such a great group, but we have so much history, so I think that it makes it mean so much more um just being back with everyone today and getting to see everyone in the locker room and give hugs and um it's just really exciting and it feels like um coming home, so it's it's great. I'm excited to play with everybody. Mhm. Well, I'll wrap it up with one fun when uh Sam what's going to be like getting to record your podcast now with linen crime zone, what's that going to be like? I know it will be a lot easier. Um We were already like just having this weird conversation in the locker room and I was like, oh, too bad. We weren't recording this. This is like just the vibe for the podcast because it was just nonsense. So if you have a listen to it yet, it's just a lot of nonsense.