Dr. James Reese, Faculty Member, Practicum Coordinator & Community Relations, Sports Management & Esports
Nuno Fernandes, President, American Public University System
Jon Spencer, Director of Scouting, Real Salt Lake
In this insightful podcast, Dr. James Reese, joined by APUS President, Nuno Fernandes, interviews Jon Spencer, Director of Scouting for Real Salt Lake and University alumnus. Spencer shares his inspiring journey through the soccer world, from playing college soccer in Southern California to working in Germany and, ultimately, becoming a key figure in Major League Soccer.
Spencer discusses the importance of hard work, patience, and determination in building a successful career in sports, highlighting how soccer has evolved in the U.S. over the past decade. Hear how changes have been driven by increasing fan support, international talent, and major events like the upcoming 2026 World Cup. Spencer also emphasizes the growing role of technology and data in scouting, coaching, and player development, offering valuable advice to aspiring sports professionals.
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Read the Transcript:
Jim Reese: Hello and welcome to our Voices in the Field podcast series, brought to you by the APUS Sports Management Program. My name is Jim Reese, and I’ll be your co-host today for our podcast. We have two special guests joining us today. First, filling in for my regular co-host, Brittany Jacobs, a gentleman who is a lifelong soccer fan and also happens to be President of APUS, Dr. Nuno Fernandes. Nuno, thank you for joining us today.
Nuno Fernandes: Oh, it’s a pleasure.
Jim Reese: And our second special guest, Mr. Jon Spencer, alumna of our program and Director of Scouting for Real Salt Lake of MLS. Jon, welcome to you as well. Thanks for joining us today.
Jon Spencer: Thank you, Jim. Excited to join you all today. And Nuno, it’s an honor to be on this podcast with you, so I look forward to our conversation.
Nuno Fernandes: Thank you very much. The pleasure is mine.
Jim Reese: Jon, we know your background, but everything that we do here is for our students. Would you be kind enough, for their sake, and just tell us a little bit about your background. You’ve been around for a long time doing a lot of things at all levels in soccer, but just a little background for our students so that they know how you got to where you’re at at this point.
Jon Spencer: Thank you, Jim. Yes, and I will say when I add up all my experiences in my life, it has led to where I’m at today, and that’s hopefully the short end of what we’re trying to communicate today, which is our experiences in sport can lead us to all different directions. Soccer’s opened tons of doors. And that’s the amazing thing about the sport of soccer. It is a global sport that impacts and permeates all aspects of life. And it’s been really exciting to grow up here in the United States and be part of soccer just from the fact that I’ve observed, experienced, witnessed international football, and also, seen the growth that’s going on here in the US. So, I grew up in Southern California, played college soccer at an NCAA institution called UC Irvine, and I ended up pursuing the career in soccer.
I took a class in college that got me interested in sports management, which is what led me to APUS ultimately. But I finished my college career, spent some time trying to break into Major League Soccer. Ended up spending five years in Germany, which was a hugely impactful time in my life. Collected my coaching licenses during my time in Germany, as I got into coaching a bit. And that’s kind of where I want to move this conversation to, which is 2008, I receive a call from a colleague of mine that I played with on a team called Orange County Blue Star.
He is like, “Jon, come back to the US. You have your coaching licenses, why don’t you run this program?” Which was to bring American players to Europe. And so, I started scouting across the United States in 2008 while I was in college… I probably should back up a little bit. I already started coaching when I was in college at a high school, so I got my feet wet there a little bit. And the reason why I say that is I think a lot of people are curious about how do you get into the soccer industry? We’ll talk about that a bit more, but there’s no level that’s the wrong level to start at because you can always learn something from those experiences.
Fast-forward, I started scouting in the US. I started identifying some players. Had some success that led to me managing some teams in different levels, specifically in the USL, United Soccer Leagues. It was my scouting that opened the door from one step to the next, and I can share some stories with you as we get into this. But through my scouting, I got to meet some people. I moved into the agency business for a number of years and started representing some players, and then I got a call about three years ago to join Real Salt Lake as their Director of Talent Identification, which is what I initially started doing.
But my focus on that was really to help scout and recruit players for Real Salt Lake. I work with a lot of great people here, but scouting really helped open the doors for me to get into a front office of an MLS club. I left the agency business. It can be a very good route to go, but I really enjoy the club side and the opportunities that are afforded to me. And that’s where I’m here today.
Nuno Fernandes: First of all, congratulations on your career. It’s very impressive. How do you feel that soccer has evolved in the US over the last five to 10 years? Because certainly it’s very hard to compete with basketball and baseball, American football, and probably soccer will never be at that level in the United States or maybe yes, but how do you see that soccer has been evolving, especially with the arrival of really famous names like Messi and others? Do you think that’s going to make a difference, and how do you see soccer evolving over the next years?
Jon Spencer: Well, first of all, I think experience is important. If you observed Copa America this year, it was awesome that it was here in the United States. It was a wonderful event. Obviously, there’s always some challenges there, but the biggest thing is our country is starting to experience, year over year, huge events that are incredible to experience. And that is something I didn’t have as a youth growing up. I didn’t get to go to a ton of great matches.
The knowledge of the fan bases have improved, but we have young people growing in soccer in the United States. And that goes from the grassroots level. Soccer is an incredibly large sport here in the US, but there is an incredible amount of young people who are experiencing soccer, both on the recreational level, the competitive soccer environment as youth, and this sport is not going backwards. It is only growing. And I attest to the Copa America this year.
Next year the Club World Cup will be here in the United States and then 2026 we’re hosting the World Cup jointly with Mexico and Canada. This business is growing, it is booming, and if I go back 10 years, as you asked, the league was growing and there were some good things happening, but if you fast-forward to today, we’re experiencing Major League Soccer in the international transfer market this summer. We transferred two players out of our club. We broke our transfer record twice in one summer. And then if we fast-forward 10 years from now, I don’t know what the landscape will look like, but I do have a vision and a clear picture that it will only continue to grow. And it’s exciting because I think there’s more opportunity for jobs at every level in MLS clubs, and opportunities for people to experience soccer on an international stage, which is incredible.
It is incredible the opportunity that’s here. The US is a melting pot of cultures, and so it is great when you have matches where you’ve got Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina here.
Nuno Fernandes: I was born in Europe and when I was young, soccer was pretty much the only sport that you would watch or play. And in Europe, when you have a club that you like, usually it’s like a family thing. I have many friends that the first thing that they do when their kid was born was to register them as fans of their club. I mean literally it’s the first thing. So, it becomes almost like a religion, if you will. You’re very dedicated to that club. And I felt that when I went to soccer games in Europe, when you have a real big rivalry, it almost becomes dangerous at times.
There’s a lot of tension and sometimes things can go south very easily. And I always compare that when I came to the United States about 15 years ago, and I was invited to watch Miami Heat against Chicago Bulls. Obviously, it’s not soccer, but I was very impressed with how family friendly it was, and everyone was enjoying a show.
And I was very impressed because that’s just not the kind of thing that you see in soccer in Europe and then in Latin America. But it also made me think that one of the reasons why soccer is as challenges to become really, really mainstream in the United States, it’s because commercially it’s probably not as profitable as basketball or American football or baseball, whereas in basketball you have these multiple breaks, so you have multiple opportunities to sell things to the fans.
Also, I felt that North Americans, usually they are used to these games where the results are very high scoring, the basketball scores are 102 – 98, or things like that. And then in soccer sometimes you play for 90 minutes and it’s zero, zero. You’re like, “What happened?” Right. Do you feel that there’s a different approach to sports and especially to soccer in the US versus what you saw in Europe and certainly what you probably saw in Mexico?
Jon Spencer: If you want to get into this soccer business, the business of soccer, I strongly encourage anybody listen to this, you need to gain international experience, because what you’re describing is something that we are not quite there yet in the United States, but I’m seeing huge, we’re making huge strides in that area. What you’re describing is just the culture of soccer around the world is you live, eat, breathe, drink, sleep soccer, it is everything.
When the match is on Saturday, that entire small village in Germany of 10,000 people or Molde, Norway, which has a much smaller community, the people go to support their club. And it’s a lot of the culture and the society and the environment, the politics, every aspect of life is surrounded around football. And I feel very fortunate that my parents got me playing soccer when I was five years old.
And these kids in Europe are born basically with a ball at their feet. And if you speak about Portugal, maybe before they’re born, they’re already have it kicking a ball. It is part of the culture around the world. And I think one of the great things about the United States is we are a melting pot of different cultures, and fortunately, a lot of the mentality and the approach and the life behind soccer is coming to the US, slowly but surely. You do see more educated fans who are passionate about their team’s results. If you don’t perform, you hear it from your fan base.
So, it is growing, but it is taking some time. I think when you talk about the marketing and can it grow versus timeouts and media stoppage and all that, a number of years ago I saw, he’s still a very close friend of mine, but he ran a marketing company in Europe and they were responsible for the LED boards that around the field, and how important those boards are to the marketing of a team.
And people don’t maybe recognize just because you see it every day, those electronic boards and the ads that go by there, those are hugely valuable for clubs and what they’re able to sell. It goes into Jersey sponsorships and the finances behind the sport. It is all very critical to success. The strides that MLS has made with Apple and our season pass with Apple, and the relationship with Apple is huge. And then bringing in players like Messi really will impact the finances and resources behind that. And I think, again, you’re just having a growing fan base of young people growing up in a culture of soccer that we didn’t have 20, 30 years – three decades ago, we didn’t have that. We do have that now and it’s exciting to see.
Nuno Fernandes: It’s very hard to explain in the United States how big some of these players are internationally and are famous global scale. I think Ronaldo has more followers on social media than Beyoncé and Taylor Swift combined, and Messi probably is right up there. So, these are really world stars. It’s interesting to see how huge these players are, but in the US, not so much.
Jon Spencer: Yeah, marketing players is still an area where we’re growing, but we’re making strides. People know who Christian Pulisic is and Wes McKinney. We have more players than ever playing in the top leagues and top clubs around the world. What’s interesting is when you talk about Messi coming from Argentina or Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal, these countries, Portugal and Argentina, the whole infrastructure of the society is built around soccer, and their presence alone and their marketability on an international level, you go back to David Beckham and his involvement in football, you could talk about Germany and all the Germans that have come through. Every country in Europe has some star or somebody that really has made a huge impact globally, I would say. And part of that goes back to, again, soccer just has a huge impact on society. It brings people together. There’s so much good that can come from it.
I’m also excited about the 2026 World Cup. I think there’s a lot of potential for us to have our new star. And I often tell people, just in the scouting world, you could be scouting somebody today and in two years from now, 16, 17, 18-year-old could be 18, 19, 20, 21 breaking in at the World Cup. And it’ll be very interesting to see how that tournament plays out.
My son uses YouTube, he watches every Cristiano Ronaldo goal, every Messi goal, he’s following the players around the world. And fortunately, in our lifetime, we’ve just seen the value of media, social media, technology. When I was growing up, I maybe got one Premier League match a weekend.
Now I can watch soccer every day on multiple different platforms. I’m watching, whether it’s college soccer to professional soccer to obscure leagues that you think, “How are you getting access to that?” We’re watching soccer constantly and it is a global game. That’s why you’ve got stars like Messi and Ronaldo, and they’re great people, and people want to follow them because attractive and they perform at such high-level consistently for such a long time. The money’s coming. Marketing these players, it is coming to the US. It’s not going backwards.
From an American perspective, how critical it is that we qualify for the World Cup and the Olympics. I don’t know if you guys remember, we did not qualify for the 2020 Olympics. We also missed a World Cup. The amount of marketing dollars that we missed out on. I’ll give you from the agent perspective, managing a player is massive because the players need those events to get the marketing dollars. And when you talk about the business and finance of sport, which is a class that I really took a lot of interest in at APUS, it is critical to understand that the finances and the business of sport, and the success that is played out on the field can directly impact the outcomes on the business side and the finances that go behind it.
And so projecting that out, like us hosting the World Cup, is going to bring resources into the United States that goes beyond just the soccer field and the 11 V 11. It’s way bigger than that. And that’s why the sport in the US, everybody’s interested in the United States, we are a marketing juggernaut. And if you look to sports like NBA and NFL, they are maximizing that. Soccer’s been chipping away though, and I’m looking forward to seeing where that’s going to head into the future.
Jim Reese: What a great exchange. I have a follow-up on the business side question for you, Jon, but first a few things for students. One, you mentioned the importance of networking. In sport management, networking is everything, it’s all relationship based. And you identify that a few times so far to reinforce to students how important that is to not be bashful, go out and meet people. We use the phrase, “It’s not who you know, but who knows you.” And so, networking is very important. The second point, if I remember right, going back to the passion that’s affiliated with soccer worldwide, didn’t they stop a war for the World Cup at one point? You think of the, that’s unheard of. And from a grassroots level, I see it in my area, because soccer is such an affordable sport to put on and you know how youth sports is really strapped financially.
And so, I think that’s where a lot of this grassroot popularity is coming from along with the things that you’re talking about, Messi, and some other things and so. Now on the business side, what made NASCAR was the fans. The fans knew that the only way NASCAR could be successful is if they supported the products that were sponsored on the different cars. And so, NASCAR is one of the most brand loyal sports. I suspect that soccer would be like that as well. And so, is there a similarity there, where soccer might be able to do some of the same things that NASCAR has done?
Jon Spencer: Well, definitely, from a business perspective, the club level, we are always looking to try to maximize our marketing efforts and bringing in the resources connected to that. And we talk about going into different categories of marketing and different areas of business that you can produce. We’re looking to maximize that as a club. And in soccer, the US, there’s some standards that the league definitely wants because we want to present a brand as a league. And so, there’s areas where you can advertise on your jersey for example, whereas in NASCAR you can definitely utilize, I believe, every inch of that car. There’s a sponsorship deal that’s been sold and a relationship that’s built. And the connection between that as well as the driver of those cars and the marketing deals that are associated with that, it’s very interesting, we could probably talk about this for a while, but what I want to get into is soccer does have loyal connections, and some of the major brands around the world, global brands, aren’t coming only from the United States.
But here in the local club level, we’re building relationships that are associated our environment, our culture, and what we’re about. Here in Utah, we have some incredible partners, but we want to make sure that we’re also maximizing the marketing dollars that are there within our community.
And so although you have global companies that are marketing and bringing the business to our club, we also are doing at the local level and building relationships and partnerships from the grassroots all the way up, because we do want to raise a fan base of young people who love Real Salt Lake, and what our brand’s about and our club. And I think often about our club, we are a club of industry. We want to build a good family culture, but we’re also winning together through development. And so, what that means for us is we’re trying to build young players who are developing into professionals, but we also want to win the MLS Cup. And hopefully this year we can compete to do that. And again, it just also builds our business and our ability to build business partnerships, both locally and nationally and globally.
Jim Reese: Jon, one of the most important things that we’re seeing in our program now with students is the use of technology. We’ve got AI and analytics, it’s actually part of our curriculum that we’re going to expand at some point because it’s so important. Talk to us a little bit about how technology, and how is it impacting the sport from a standpoint of coaching and evaluating talent, all those different things, please?
Jon Spencer: So, I’m going to talk a few minutes here because that’s a very loaded question. There’s a book called Why Everything You Know About Soccer is Wrong, and it has to do with scouting. And the author of the book actually works with our club. His name’s Chris Anderson, he co-wrote that with David Sally. But the reason why I brought that up is data has grown massively over the last decade, and I think it is really critical that I communicate the importance of technology and what we do.
The data behind the execution of sport today is critical. We have been very focused, as a scouting department, on data and the analytics behind that. We have a data analyst who’s exceptional, his name is, I call him Dr. Joe Thomas.
I really value him highly because he understands soccer, and is able to utilize numbers to help us identify potential player targets that we want to pursue. And so, Dr. Joe and I meet multiple times a day talking about different aspects of the business of how we can go find the next player that gives us an advantage as a club. And I can just say, with our transfers to summer, some of the data that he was able to mine helped us identify the targets that we needed to pursue. And so, I’m a scout focused on watching the talent live, but now because of COVID and the growth of some different platforms, I’m watching video every day. So, when we are done with this podcast today, I will spend multiple hours watching video of soccer players that we’re trying to pursue. And that’s whether you’re a youth player playing in the United States, a youth player playing in Europe, a college player, to professional leagues all around the world.
And I say that because understanding both the technology and being able to utilize technology to the best of your ability is really critical. And being able to know how it can help what you’re doing. But the analytics behind it and the data behind it helps drive decisions. You can’t have one without the other. And I say this just because, on the scouting side, it helps us identify the next signing that we want to make. But if you go to the business side, analytics help drive decisions regarding how many season tickets to sell, how many you can project, going to the analytics of even just you go into the communications departments of clubs. Because I know, there’s people I took my masters with that were interested in communications. The data behind communications impacts other aspects of the club. And so, trying to identify the key market of people that you want to target market, that you want to focus on or approach through your communications is also really important.
So, without data, it’s very hard to be successful in this business now. I’m constantly trying to learn every day.
Jim Reese: Great stuff, Jon. Thanks. Nuno, I’ll turn it back to you.
Nuno Fernandes: Thank you. How do you see data to improve the performance of the players? Do you see coaches using data to perform better?
Jon Spencer: Every single day. It is critical for decision-making. We had a match on the weekend. By Monday morning we have data based on the performance of each player, both from a physical output, how far they ran, how fast they ran, how many acceleration, decelerations they made. And the reason why that data is important because you need to keep your athletes healthy so you can utilize them and maximize their potential within the club. So, we have a whole data set that we gather every day, from training to every game based on the physical output of the player. But then there’s also the data behind creating scoring opportunities in our expected goals, and how we accomplish that or not. This last weekend we were shut out. It was a disappointing result. So, we’re looking hard at the data of how can we do better and how can we improve going into this weekend.
And we utilize data of our opponent regarding their tendencies and what they do. So, their scouting and evaluation of data on every level. I’ve often looked at the NFL, have a good colleague as well that has been in basketball, and just the data that goes behind those sports as well. Soccer is no different, and there are specialists that understand how to take the data and utilize that to maximize the team. And so, a performance for a team on the field could be they just simply weren’t in the best physical shape for that match. So that’s why we use the physical data, but it could also be tendencies as a club and a coach utilizes to make sure that he can adapt appropriately to be able to beat the opponent.
And so that’s happening on all sides, every team, every club, every game, every touch that you make as a player on that field can be analyzed, and the data behind that can be used both for you and against you. And so, it’s incredible to see where sport is going. And the exciting part about data, it helps us drive our decision making.
So, our coaching staff scours video, watches the matches multiple times, watches the opponent. We’re doing opponent scouting and putting reports together weeks in advance, ahead of future matches, because you’re trying to find ways to beat your opponent. And that’s critical in reaching success on the field.
Nuno Fernandes: And also, regarding the data, I believe, for modern players, it’s also a way to promote their longevity, because when you go back 15, 20 years, most players would be retired around 30, 32 years old. That was the norm. Then today, I don’t know what the average is, but certainly you see a lot of players that are over 35 and still playing competitively.
Jon Spencer: And that’s why we have a huge sports performance and just focused on the physical care of our players, because it is critical. We have a team nutritionist, going into those areas of sport and thinking about the people that are behind the athlete. There’s a vast number of important key figures and key stakeholders to be able to put the quality on the field and keep them healthy or help them return to play quickly.
And so, after a match, you’re immediately on a charter flight that night back to your home market. But just the recovery is really important, and regeneration of your body. And so, we have sports scientists who specialize in how to maximize that. We meet on that data constantly, because again, it is critical to be able to maximize your performance at the right time.
Nuno Fernandes: Yes. And the opposite is also true, by the way. And I think these are great examples. If you take it to a business perspective, the player that I’ve seen with the highest performance was Ronaldinho, but only for one year, because he didn’t have that discipline, or maybe he didn’t want to, or maybe it was just, he thought that it was not for him.
I think that’s probably the most talented player I’ve ever seen, even more than Messi, if you talk about raw talent. But talent is not enough, and dedication can take you very, very far, sometimes even more than talent itself. Of course, the best combination is when you’re very talented and you’re very dedicated, because that’s a win-win situation. If you’re just very talented but not focused or dedicated, that might work for a while, but it won’t take you very far. So, it’s interesting to see how that works.
Jon Spencer: As you were speaking, three words came to mind. And on the athlete level, I share this with every athlete. The top athletes achieve this. And that is this, patience, hard work, determination. And you can put those in any… One, two, and three, any one of them could be number one. But I’m going to start with hard work. And the reason why I say hard work is because at any level that you’re going to be involved in sport, it requires hard work. Whether you’re a front office staff to a coach, to a communications director, you’re VP of marketing, and sponsorships to ticket sales, hard work will always get you where you need to go. And you think about hard work, I think about Cristiano Ronaldo. That guy has worked his body to be the best he possibly can be. But that’s the athlete, but that also works on the business side and all the other aspects of sport.
I say patience is really important because I’ll give you an example of a goalkeeper. A goalkeeper could wait an entire season because only one goalkeeper plays. It’s not a position that’s often substituted in a match. And so, a goalkeeper has to be very patient, but so do young players trying to come through and break in. It takes time. And often I’ve see one of the challenges athletes face is that they’re just not patient. But I can also say that on the business side, if you’re a young person trying to get into a specific area of sport and want to be able to be a coach or work in a club, just be patient because it is a process. Where I got here today, didn’t happen overnight. This is over two decades of hard work. Actually, I would say three, because I needed to go through this process as a player as well.
My experiences in Germany as a player on the field taught me a ton. And then the determination, which I think Messi and Ronaldo show that every day they step on the field. But being determined to reach your goals and being achieve them. The ones who are determined sustain it for a long period of time. And I agree with you, Ronaldinho, incredible talent, and he had an incredible career. I wish I had his career from the standpoint of what he was able to achieve. But maybe he’s a good picture too, that, just to communicate, if you want to pursue a career in sports management and whatever area that is, whether it’s marketing, finance or whatnot, stay determined because it does take time. One of the things I have found is a lot of people don’t have the patience and determination to get to where they need to go.
And I tell you today, the formula, it doesn’t change from three decades ago to today. Everybody’s looking for hard workers. One of our main profiles right now, when I’m talking to coaches about players who want to recruit, does he work hard? Does he want to learn? Is he coachable? Those are all things that can go straight into sports business at every level. And so I encourage you, if you are listening to this, it is really important to take those three words and maximize them to the best of your ability. And there’s more to it, but definitely look for athletes in that way, but also employees that I work with that have those traits as well.
Nuno Fernandes: And I think the starting point in the US is really good because the US has a winning mentality in general when it comes to sports. And there’s a lot of discipline and there’s a lot of infrastructure. You get scholarships for sports, you have really nice gyms and fields, and there are coaches and teams to support you and people that know about nutrition. And that’s probably something that I would not say is unique in the world, but it’s kind of unique. Certainly, some countries in Europe have fantastic conditions, like the UK, Germany, France. But the difference in the US is that it starts from a very early age. It starts with that competitive mindset from a very early age. And I think that’s an advantage in sports and in life in general.
Jon Spencer: Yeah. I would be remiss if we did not talk about the NWSL a little bit. And then also our women’s team won the Olympics this summer, which was incredible. And the following behind the US Women’s National team has been incredible for multiple decades now. And I’ve had the privilege to play with some of those players over the years, Michelle Akers, Julie Foudy. They’re just incredible athletes. And then you fast-forward to today and just seeing the success that they had this summer was incredible and really exciting. And again, that drives the business. The NWSL just recently announced they signed a new CBA with the players. They’ve changed some rules within the league and how they’re going to operate going into next season.
The women’s game is huge here in the US. And I think the intent and the investment going towards to women’s game is only going to continue as well. On the men’s side, again, I don’t want to point to all things on the 2026 World Cup, but it’s exciting to see that event come again to the US. I remember 94 when it was here the first time, and then we had something called Project 2010. We wanted to win the World Cup by 2010. We’re not quite there yet, but I will say the progress and the interest in the sport is only going to continue to be part of the infrastructure and the society here in the US.
Nuno Fernandes: Well, it’s been a pleasure talking to you. And Jim, thank you very much for having me as your co-host.
Jim Reese: Oh my gosh, it’s been our pleasure. Jon, before we wrap up, I wanted to follow up on one thing that you mentioned earlier because a lot of our students are interested. You mentioned how to get into scouting and that you were going to touch on that. And a lot of our students would like to work in player personnel or become a GM or be a scout. Could you just touch on that just for a second, for their sake?
Jon Spencer: So, I’m going to talk about soccer first. If you want to get into soccer, try to gain the experiences on a multinational level. Meaning if you have opportunities to go abroad to experience that, I strongly recommend it. It has been a huge valuable asset to my career, and it’s opened doors and connections. Again, I want to repeat that. The importance of having a Rolodex of people that you know in different markets, in different areas of the world, can be hugely valuable. We are always looking for opportunities to find interns or internships. I would strongly recommend to do that. If you’re at a local club, contact your local club.
And so, I say this to you, if there’s students listening to this that are interested in soccer, I’m absolutely open to trying to help discuss opportunities that could be there in the sport.
But I think the biggest thing is try to gain as many experiences as you can. And again, it goes back to just be patient through the process. I didn’t get where I’m at today because of one special player I saw or one opportunity. I would say it’s a culmination of different experiences and opportunities that I’ve been able to take. I often think of the word be brave. Somebody can always say no, and we don’t have the opportunity right now, but if you never ask, you will never know. I’ve built a lot of my career off being brave. And I say that that’s really important. But as far as opportunities, seek them out and try to get them to be diverse, if you can. So, I think there’s value in that.
Jim Reese: That’s great advice, Jon. And to you, thank you for giving back to our program.
Jon Spencer: It is fun to be part of this. I really appreciate, and I have nothing but incredible gratitude to APUS because I learned a ton in the program. I have a lot of life experiences, but it brought everything full circle for me, which really helped stabilize and just really ingrain in me the things that I kind of knew, but after I took a sports marketing or finance class or sports entrepreneurship, and I was thinking about that a little bit before this podcast, just thinking about, there’s people that are listening that just have really interest in creating a new business that could be in soccer.
Some of the technologies that are here today weren’t here five years ago, even three years ago. Things change and people have ideas. It’s exciting to learn different ideas and different perspectives through APUS. The sports management course I took was incredible, because it was a diverse group of people from different sports and backgrounds, and just the learning was incredible for me. So I’m thankful for APUS. Nuno it’s really exciting, just a privilege to be able to be on this podcast with you and Jim. I’ve had incredible conversations with you over the years. Thank you guys for having me today. I really enjoyed it.
Nuno Fernandes: No, Jon, the privilege is mine, and it’s so interesting that you are an APUS graduate, so that’s fascinating to see our students holding positions that are so important, so impactful in their community. So congratulations for that.
Jon Spencer: Thank you.
Jim Reese: And thanks to you both for being here today. We really appreciate it. To our listeners, thank you for your continued support of our voices in the Field podcast series. On behalf of myself, Dr. Fernandes, and all of my colleagues from the APUS Sports Management Program, this is Jim Reese saying so long.
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