Ep.18 Former LAFC Left Back, Jordan Harvey | Life through Sport Show

Our guest for today, Former Left Back for LAFC, Jordan Harvey.
Jordan’s path has been filled with obstacles. For examples of this, look no further than when he didn’t make the final cut for his Olympic Development Program team at 13 OR when he went undrafted in the MLS Superdraft …
For most, these setbacks would have forced many to reconsider or be more realistic with their career plans. Instead, he saw these bouts with adversity as them happening for him, and not to him. That small shift in perspective would push him to not only make his ODP team, but to forge forward where, he’d eventually captain the United states U-17 side at a World Cup and, turn that super draft snub into a 16 year professional career.
His story is one of perseverance and persistence and Im super excited for you guys to hear share it.
Timestamps
0:00 Jordans Background
2:30 How Jordan developed his mentality - ODP story
4:20 “9/10 of my teammates got their name called and I didn’t”
5:15 “By the skin of my teeth I made the C team”
6:00 “I learned to never take anything for granted and work for everything that I’ve gotten”
6:15 “By the end of it, I was captaining the U-17 National Team”
7:00 Q: Were you happy that that experience happened to you at the age that it did?
8:00 “I played such a small role on the National Championship team at UCLA”
9:05 “I regret how I handled the UCLA situation”
10:00 “The adversity I hit was happening for me and not to me”
10:20 Q: Give us some context on the early years of Jordan Harvey”
11:40 “I had 2 friends that taught me how to be a competitor”
12:20 Q: Were those formative years where your emotion for sports came from?
12:30 “I needed that validation”
13:15 Q: What were you like as a young player?
13:25 “I hated to lose”
14:10 Q: Was the emotion a double edged sword?
15:05 Q: What was the Residency Program like?
15:38 “I was all in. That’s where I built my routine”
16:20 Q: Did you create your own habit structure?
17:00 “I would do 100 pushups and 100 situps every day”
18:20 “To dive into some of the difficult things . . . I was homesick for 2 yrs”
18:45 Q: Did you understand the magnitude of being the captain of the USYNT?
19:35 “Control what you can control . . . your effort”
21:00 Q: Winning the Gatorade National POTY
22:35 “Winning the award meant nothing to people at UCLA”
23:20 “There were players better than me, so I never had a false sense of self”
23:50 Q: Freshmen year at UCLA
25:10 “You think you’re going to jump straight into the lineup”
25:40 “I didn’t play in the national championship run”
26:30 “My old teammate Chad Marshall, played in the final” intro soundbite
27:20 Q: Missing the NCAA tournament for the U20 World Cup
28:20 “I was the 4th or 5th guy off the bench in that tournament”
28:30 “I didn’t have the attributes, so I maxed out what I could: my fitness”
29:00 Q: What’d you take from those experiences to the pro game?
29:30 Q: Getting drafted by the rapids
29:50 “I wasn’t fit enough for the combine”
30:20 - 32:12 “I sat there thinking I was going to get drafted in the SuperDraft”
32:30 Q: You understood that this was just another step in the process
33:20 - 34:22 “I was willing to do whatever was needed of me to make the team”
34:25 Q: Winning back to back reserve leagues with the Rapids
35:40 “Rapids win MLS Cup the year that you leave”
36:20 “I was able to do what they (CO) asked, and I did them well”
37:30 Q: Moving to Vancouver
40:20 Q: How was it working with Alphonso Davies
41:50 Q: What was your approach coming into LAFC?
44:05 Q: Which team would you want to have your jersey retired for?
45:30 Q: What would you want your legacy to be?
46:50 Q: Any advice for young players?

[@Ryanonfire03]

Always a good interview Omar! Keep it up! Can’t wait for next episode. 🖤💛🔥