17 years old and already a pro

So last night, sitting at my kitchen table and because there was no streaming available for the US Open Cup match between North Carolina FC and Loudon FC, I am following North Carolina FC's Twitter feed and we get all the way into the second 15-minute portion of extra time and sure as blank with what four minutes left or something like that. I think it was 116th minute Loudon scores and I know I didn't feel nearly as badly as Nick Holliday, the goalkeeper for North Carolina FC.

I wish I had seen it because I wanted to. You guys obviously played a great match against a very good squad. So how do you feel after last night?

First of all, thanks for having me on. I mean obviously we're all very disappointed, you know, playing starting through that long 120 minutes, two hours, it's like not an easy thing to do and we felt that people were just so close and so close to just the end of like or being close to PKs. So we're very disappointed, we're very proud of ourselves with how far we've changed. You guys had some chances, again just judging from the Twitter feed, you guys had chances to to get that second goal in the extra time. Yeah we did. I think we had like just not even the extra time, just throughout the game I thought we showed that we were the better side and we were able to put up a good fight and that was very important for going the last four minutes of the game.

So that was definitely heartbreaking. I think we showcased ourselves well against them. How are you? First of all, Nick Holliday is joining us. You were in this studio, I'm trying to think how long ago it was, it's probably two years ago, maybe a little bit less, and I was not here that day and I was really bummed because I wanted to talk to you about being a young kid coming up through the North Carolina FC Academy and then rising to be a professional and I have questions about shouldn't you be in high school today, all of that, if we have time to get to that kind of stuff.

But my son is a keeper in the system as well. So I'm curious what your philosophy is about penalties. So if you get to penalties, what kind of mind games do you play with the shooters? Yeah, I think just going into before the game even starts, I'll do my research before. Like I had, I looked at Loudon's past games, this season, games last season, to know like where their, where their key players went. So I already had an idea in mind before the game. I think also just feel the most.

Thank you so much for soccer, just being able to focus on what they normally do. It's a way that for me, it's just making bad noises. We're getting back and forth across the line, staying in front of where I can take the shot. I think it's, you know, you can put an out of his rhythm and take an extra water break, like will help a lot in case she does. That's kind of my mentality.

Do you, do you talk, do you talk, jump to him? No, I learned it's probably not the best for me, especially being a kid. I don't really have the right to talk much about anyone else and I've been probably about seven years now. Gotcha. Nick Holliday. I'm more of a quiet, quiet person. All right, good.

Nick, Nick Holliday, goalkeeper, North Carolina FC. So the big match coming up on Saturday that we now have a title for, now I give you total permission to call me a, a fraud, if you will. Can I call it the Dogwood Darby or do I have to call it a Derby?

I don't think, you know, I think the correct notation is probably Derby, but you can say whatever you want. I mean, I appreciate you have more power than me. No, I don't.

Are you kidding me? I'm just, I'm just a dope on a radio show, man. I mean, look, um, it's pretty remarkable where you are at age 17. When, when did you decide that this was what you wanted to do? Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm definitely really grateful, but I think just whenever I started playing soccer as a kid, I started when I was four years old.

That made the myth interesting. I was 12. I think my first train session, this is something I wanted to pursue full-time as a pro. So when I did obviously the sign at age 15, I just jumped full in, you know, my parents supported me, everyone supported me. And I knew how much I loved it.

And I could see myself doing this as an excellent job, but I didn't think twice about it. What do you have, what did you have to sacrifice to do it? I mean, my college ability, I guess a lot, honestly, like now I can't play soccer in college anymore, which I was like, it was getting up all just like the time to make me like right now, I should be in class. I just talked about it earlier. I'm on my way back from Virginia. So I mean, I'm missing time, my friend missing time in school.

I think it's awesome. And just family, I've missed a couple of family events, but I think, you know, I had to make that, I knew I would have to make when I signed and I was willing to do that. So what, what subject should you be in right now? Actually, you're probably done with high school about now, this time of day, right?

No, well, third has this weird thing where you go to class 9, 15, 4, 15. Okay. Technically, I would be in AP Environmental Science right now. Gotcha. But I'm kind of glad I'm missing that.

It's okay. Are you planning on attending college at all? Or are you just, this is, hey, I am now in, this is my, this is my pro career. No, I still plan on attending college. I think my plan right now is to do a two year online.

So wherever I am after, wherever I am next season, to just, or after I graduate, to fully approach and make a four year university somewhere. Gotcha. Nick Holliday is joining us. So talk to me about the rivalry between Charlotte Independence and North Carolina FC. I know you met earlier this year.

We won't talk about that. But talk to me about the rivalry and why it's befitting of a name. Yeah. I mean, it's definitely very exciting. I mean, personally, for me, I think I have a little more desire to win from the other guys since I've been playing against something, Charlotte as an organization, I was literally a kid. Right. I remember making a two hour drive to Charlotte back and forth.

Now, you know, do you come professionally? It's just huge. So I think it's very exciting. I know everyone loves, really loves a good rivalry game. So the more stakes are added and everyone, everyone plays a little bit better, has a little more, a little more fight, a little more urgency, a little more grit, which is just what you want to see in a soccer game.

How do you feel about your particular side? I know they had made some, some pretty impressive improvements over the off season. How do you feel like you guys set up for this year, based on where you were a year ago? Yeah, I mean, I think we've looked great so far. I mean, we've only, unfortunately, we lost our first game of the season, but we won our second one at home against Lexington. So we're one and one in the league right now, which is not a bad place to be. I think we've shown great signs so far. We have a lot of great new players, a lot of leadership roles are being filled. There's something really neat in a soccer team. And everyone around the locker room has good spirit, which is really important.

So I think going to the league, we all look really good right now. And the atmosphere at Wake Med Soccer Park is, I mean, I look, I've been there for US Open Cup matches back in the day. This is this, you were probably way too young. You might have been there when you were four, for all I know, because it was about that long ago, but the atmosphere can be great in that ball in that place. Oh my god, it's amazing.

It's absolutely, I actually love it. Like away games and never feel the same. We don't hear people screaming. It's cheering. Our atmosphere, we hold them, we hold 10,000 people in our stadium. Sammy from the crowd, friends from the crowd, we have the drums, the oaks and supporters in the background. It's absolutely awesome. The drums are great.

What you need is vuvuzelas. Nick Holliday is the goalkeeper for North Carolina FC. All right, you're a goalkeeper.

You're good at this. Who is the best goalkeeper in the world? Ooh, wow.

I would say, I'm just going to say Anderson from Manchester City. My favorite. Is that who you pattern, is that who you kind of emulate as a keeper? Yeah, I try to emulate him and Zach Steffan. I'm the chief of everyone right now. Zach Steffan is also, I guess, part of Manchester City on loan to Middlesbrough, right?

Yes. Nick, I wish you well. Good luck on Saturday, 7 o'clock against Charlotte Independence in the Dogwood. We'll call it a derby because we're in the United States.

I don't have to act that way just because my son has been a much bigger soccer fan than me, has made fun of my new fandom, and he doesn't appreciate that I have kind of adopted an English accent at times. I thank you very much. Good luck tomorrow, rather Saturday night against Charlotte Independence, and we'll talk to you again down the road. Awesome, thank you. Thank you so much. You got it.

Nick Holliday, 17 years old, should be in high school. Wow. AP biology, is that what he said? Probably. At least he didn't say astrology. Throwback to Baycott. Oh my gosh, that would be, that was something else.