Last month, I had the 11th episode of my podcast “Work Hard, Play Harder” with Tracy-Milroy-Balaton Panthers athletes Camille, Grace and Margaret Dolan. This week, I am dropping episode 12 with Southwest Minnesota State University women’s soccer head coach Clay Glasgow.

Glasgow was hired on Feb 25 to take over the program.

Prior to SMSU, Glasgow coached at several stops, including Augustana University and Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Roosevelt High School. Glasgow’s storytelling and passion is exhibited throughout part one and two of this podcast. He talks about what led him into sports and eventually into coaching — with a unique story of how he got into both. 

The podcast is called “Work Hard, Play Harder” because that’s how I like to live my life. It is about finding out your “why” and getting to know you beyond the occupation. The podcast is informative about what you do, but also asks fun questions as well. Building connections and being able to be relatable is an important aspect of my podcast as well.

In this podcast episode, Glasgow talks about his “why” into getting involved in sports and the importance of the sports in his life. He also talks about coming from Trinidad and Tobago with the idea of playing soccer professionally one day. Glasgow talks about the importance of mental health, work-life and social life balance for himself and his team. 

The podcast discusses the exhibition game his soccer team played on Aug. 14 and what he is most looking forward during the upcoming season.

Glasgow spoke on mental health and how it has made him a better coach.

“I grew up in a time where mental health wasn’t really talked about,” Glasgow said. “You couldn’t show any signs of weakness and in my earlier years of coaching. I coach liked that. However, because of me researching about mental health, it has made me a better coach. I’m more aware now — assessing my players and listening to when they talk about their situations. For me, mental health needs to be talked about more and we have to have more resources.

When asked, coach Glasgow added that it is more important to have more outlets for the players and people in general to be able to deal with mental health.

This episode will show how much passion Glasgow has for his players, and how much he wants to challenge them to be the best that they can be. He also is a great storyteller with a unique background and being able to impact the game of soccer in a variety of ways. 

Below are the links to Part 1 and 2 of the podcast:

Part 1: https://vimeo.com/740483257

Part 2: https://vimeo.com/740486111

— Chris Drummond is a sports reporter for the Marshall Independent.

Email: cdrummond@

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