Denison Cabral, Former Professional Soccer Player

On this episode of The Sports Outlet with Kei-Touch, Denison Cabral joined for an inspiring conversation about his incredible journey through the global game. Denison shares how he left home at just 13 years old to pursue soccer and how that early sacrifice shaped the discipline and mindset that carried him through a remarkable career. From learning multiple languages—Portuguese, Spanish, and English—to traveling the world and playing in 21 different countries, Cabral discusses how deeply soccer is embedded in cultures around the globe and the lessons American athletes can learn from that passion.

The conversation also dives into the unique world of indoor soccer, where Cabral built a legendary career with the Baltimore Blast, winning five championships, setting franchise records for most goals and most points, and ultimately having his #5 jersey retired. Cabral explains the major differences between indoor and outdoor soccer, how the fast-paced indoor game sharpens technical skill and decision-making, and how those experiences helped define his playing style as a forward and midfielder. The discussion also touches on his international experiences, including competing in the 2006–2007 World Cup for Clubs tournament in Siberia and representing at the Pan American Games.

Beyond his playing career, Cabral talks about his passion for developing the next generation of players through the Denison Cabral Youth Futsal Academy, which has helped train young athletes for over 20 years. Now serving as the Girls Varsity Soccer Head Coach at Severn High School, he reflects on how coaching has helped him grow as a leader and discusses the cultural and leadership differences between coaching boys and girls teams. Cabral also shares his perspective on the growth of women’s soccer and rising stars like Trinity Rodman, as well as his excitement for the impact the 2026 FIFA World Cup could have on the future of soccer in the United States.

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Follow Coach Kenny Gray @thecoachkennygray IG

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Yes, it's the sports outlet with Keith Touch today. Just so excited to have a former professional soccer player. He left home at 13. Yes, 13 to chase the game. He's competed in 21 countries and he's won five championships with the Baltimore Blast. So excited to have on the sports outlet. We can't touch Denison Cabrol.

SPEAKER_00 0:35

Thank you so much. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here. I'm excited.

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Oh, always excited. I mean, we have pros here on the show. Coach Kenny Gray. Coach, this is just going to be a good thing.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

That's right. This is gonna be an amazing show. Welcome, Dennis. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

So just tell us a little bit. You're from Brazil. You're from Brazil. Tell us a little bit about being a kid in Brazil and the relationship with soccer.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Yes, well, thank you for the opportunity to be here and then share my my experience and background. Um, yes, just like you said, at Brazil, it's part of the culture. We you know, we tell everybody that in our country you you know you learn how to kick a soccer ball or you get a touching on the soccer ball before you even start walking. So as a boy in a family with the four uh four other uh boys and then and a sister, everybody played soccer, whole family's involved uh at some point. And you know, my dad had worked for a professional soccer team uh in the administrative uh you know office. My uh three other brothers played professionally soccer. So everybody was involved. And at some point I had an opportunity at age 13 to to leave home and and play soccer at uh at an academy that they had a 10 hours away from home. So I left and went, you know, went to school at another uh city, and I lived there, and then and and in two years after that, at age 15, I became a professional soccer uh footsal player. So it's just it's it's different. You know, here you see an American opportunity uh to play at a competitive level, playing in high school, playing in college, and it's it's great. So many different sports, and I'm watching kids playing basketball, baseball, lacrosse, field hockey, floor hockey, baseball, you know, all different sports that I didn't ex I didn't get exposed to. And it was funny because when I first met Coach uh Gray, he invited me to come out and play it in this uh this uh softball uh charity event. And he said, Do you know how to play? I said, Coach, look, I I I have no idea. I don't know the rules, I don't know, you know, I don't know positions, I don't know anything about it, but I'll I'll be happy to get ready to play. It was because, again, I I'm coming from a country that it's part of the culture to not just play, but love the game of soccer. We play, we we watch soccer, we talk about soccer, we live soccer, like it's everyday thing in our life. So uh it's it's different. There's a lot of street soccer in our country. Kids learn how to play, not really in academies, and you don't sign up for camps, you don't sign up for clinics, you really learn how to play with your older brothers, siblings, and then obviously, and then family members, but it's on the streets when you really, really learn how to play the game. You play it against older kids, bigger kids, stronger kids, faster, better, you know. So then you end up learning, or then you don't learn. So, but the majority of the time, then you learn how to play the real game on the streets um of Brazil. That's that's part of our culture.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Wow, but that's just amazing at 13, 13, you left home. Coach, from a coaching perspective and seeing young athletes, and you've been doing this for decades, coach. How many young men have you run across, or young athletes in general, where they were just that confident at 13, or you saw that pro capability in them at that young age?

SPEAKER_03 4:26

Well, in this country, what I'm used to, um, we know the game, but I'm not sure if it's a culture, though, right? We play games, we know there's a pastime, softball, whatever. But there are kids who believe at the age of 13 that they're good enough to be a pro. I've seen kids we we had one on this show. Uh uh Mr. Um what's his name? Played overseas. I just talked to Brevin, Brevin uh Easton. He was 13. He probably didn't know that, but I saw that. I'm not sure the difference between Dennison. Did you know you would be a pro at 13, or did the game see and saw that you would be a pro? That's what we got, that's what we're talking about here for me, you know, in that in that respect.

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Yes, one of the things that coach, just uh and and and it and and I agree about coaches being able to recognize that I coach soccer here in US already for over 20 years, and you know you can recognize the potential. The difference is in our country is that there's opportunities for you to move at age 13 and 14 to a different state, uh, to become, you know, that for them to prepare you for the pro, you know, uh uh experience. So in our country, they recognize those players at an early age with the potential, and then they invest, which it that is the difference, the main difference. When I played, my my family could never afford for me to be playing soccer, like paying to play, right? Um, at age 12, and I'm not exaggerating, I'm gonna lie. At age 12, the club that that um the coach watched me play it and recruited me by playing in a a tournament, it was like a weekend tournament. He came to watch me play it and he said, Look, I like the way you play. We need a player like this in our team. Can I speak with your parents? So they came to my house, and him and the manager of the club came to my house and offered me an opportunity to pay for the bus to get to the practice three times a week, a uh a snack, because I would be leaving from school straight to practice. So they will they will provide it, they they provide at the time a snack for after after school, before practice, and then they will take me on the bus back home all the way to the door, but they also had a uh like a light dinner after practice. This is at age 12, and then they paid for all tournaments, uniforms. They gave us uh two pairs of shoes for the season, one for practice, one for game, didn't have to pay for uniforms, I didn't have to pay for coaches fee or anything like that. It was all taken care of at age 12. It wasn't just me, it was that was the the setup and that was the instruction that we had uh for the youth uh footsal in in our city, and then it was all over the country. So then I was playing a tournament at age 13, and the game was live, broadcast live. It was a final game. So another coach from one of the top footsal academies in the country watched the game live, and then he contacted my parents two days after and said, Look, we'd love to have Denison being part of our academy, and this is how it works. We would like to pay for you guys to come out of here, take a trip to three days, and you can meet the the the entire you know, the club. You're meeting uh, you know, the people gonna be dealing with him for the school and then for the dorms, and then for you know, he's gonna meet the coach, and he's gonna meet the whole instruction, and then you guys can make a decision on this. So we went there, my dad and I myself went there, we met everybody. The last one we met was the coach. We met people in charge with the school part of, the traveling part of, the health part of, and then uh the administrative part of, and then we met the coach. So I watched two of the practices and I loved it. So then a month later, I moved, you know, went back home and then I moved back to the uh to the to the academy. So there's never, never a money that was that was that that was uh provided for my my family for me to have those opportunities. Everything was paid. So I was living in a dorm with nine other players from different cities of uh different states uh of our country that got recruited the same way. And then they had the the entire, you know, everything was so taken care of because the club was investing on us. It wasn't us, my parents investing in me. It wasn't my parents, hey, at age 12, 13, 14, we're gonna pay for you to play. So hopefully you become a professional soccer play. It was totally the different way. The club paid for all the expenses and everything. We used to travel to tournaments everywhere in the country, we used to train twice a day. We had, you know, like best restaurant, you know, at the place we had the dorms. So we had we had time to go to sleep, we had a time to train, we had a time to eat, we had time to go to school. So it was the whole can you imagine that? Like, and and then for me to come out of here and experience totally a different way that I coach soccer. I'm uh I'm a uh technical director of uh Maryland Rush, a youth club that we have here in uh in Annapolis, and I see it, I see it that as an investment of a family into this player, and in our other countries, it is a totally different way. So then there's no issue with you not being able to afford to travel to a tournament to buy the uniform to pay for the coaches' fee and the club's fee. So that changes the entire thing. You get the best of because of the quality that they see it, and then they invest it. So it's not it's totally different. So that's how my story started.

SPEAKER_02 10:15

That is awesome. So tell us a little bit about how you ended up here in the USA playing indoor soccer and winning five championships with the Baltimore Blacks.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Yes, yes, great times. We had a great time. So this is the it's a crazy story. I'll tell you quick. I was I was uh I came out of here to US invited by two different agents, one from uh Brazil and one from Italy. And the idea of coming to US, we went to Florida, it was just to try out for this soccer club that they had in in um in Florida. It was at an international program that they had. And they had players coming in here and trying out, and then the club would provide opportunities for those players to go to Europe. They had a great connection with the Germany, Austria, and Italy. So you will try out here in US, and then they will be, they will be, they will take over, you they will manage your Korea. So if they liked it, they will go and say, look, we love how you play, we're gonna keep you here in the US, you're gonna keep training in Florida, and then any opportunity for you to go and try out in Europe, we're gonna pay for all your expenses and we're gonna send you to Europe, and that that's what it was. That was the promise. Well, I prepare myself to come out to this tryout. I never played soccer before in my life, a real soccer with the grass. And then I came out of here. I I went through the tryouts and everything was fine. And I was promised, I'm telling you for everything in this life that I'm not high to you. I was promised the $30,000 at the media at my house in Brazil, $30,000 we pay for you rights to manage your career. And for somebody who didn't have that much money coming in, I was 18 years old, still playing and making you know a good or decent money, but nothing like a $30,000. And then they promised me if you go through the tryouts and they want you and you make it, you have a 15 days in US, then we're gonna give you a $30,000 check. Now you are our player, now we are agents, is gonna manage your career. Well, that was all lies and all promises. It didn't happen. So they came out to me and said, Dennison, here's the deal. We you passed the tryouts, they want you to stay here, they wanted to invest in you, but they don't have the thirty thousand dollars. We don't have the thirty thousand dollars. I'm sorry, we're not gonna be able to pay for you. So here's the option you can get on the flight tomorrow morning, um, and then you don't owe us anything. You can go back to Brazil and go back to play futsal professionally, it's up to you, or you can stay here. We don't have any money to give you. I had $20 in my pocket, but not even dollars. I had it in Brazilian money, reais. And uh you have a five-minute phone call to make that decision. What would you like to do? So I call my parents, my dad say, What would you like to do? Do you think that is a good idea to stay there? Or you wanted to come back home? Whichever decision you make it, you know you we have your back. So I say, you know what, dad? Never been an American uh in America. I wanted to stay here as long as I can to see what comes up. And then that's what happened. I decided to stay. Uh a month later, I got the opportunity to come out to try out in Washington for indoor soccer. Never heard about this game in my life. We don't have indoor soccer in Brazil. There's no boards, there's no indoor soccer like we have here. So I tried out of here in you uh and in Washington, D.C. The coach wanted me to stay and sign a contract, and then I was an offered opportunity to come out of here. So that's how I stayed. And then from that point on, I started playing indoor soccer, played two seasons with the Washington Warhogs, and then Coach Kevin Healy from the Baltimore Bays watched me play it and say I wanted to bring it to Baltimore. And I was like, Where's Baltimore? No idea. Let's do it. And then I played for the for the uh Baltimore Bass for two seasons. We won the national championships in both seasons, and then he said, I'm gonna introduce you to Mr. Ed Hell, the owner of the Baltimore Blast. I said, Who's the Baltimore Blast? I have no idea. Baltimore Blast is one, it's one of the top teams in the history of indoor soccer. We're gonna bring it back in '98, and we want you to be part of that. Let's meet Ed Hell. I guess he's the boss. We met Mr. Ed Hell, and then uh end up uh signing the five years, actually, two years contract until the third game of the season. Third game of the season, Ed Hell comes in the locker room. This is a true story. Brought Kevin Healy and said, Kevin, you're the team manager and you're the coach. I want you to bring Dennison on Monday to our office. We're gonna sign a five-year deal contract with him. Two years is not enough, and then that's how to start the whole thing. And then five championships in um in seven years, we won uh five championships, and uh that uh that's how my story started in Baltimore.

SPEAKER_03 15:16

And you are a Hall of Famer, however, because you're a Hall of Famer, explain to everyone the difference between indoor soccer and outdoor soccer. What's the difference?

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Yeah, the difference obviously is the grass, uh, well the and the size of the field. We you know, the outdoors 11 v11, indoor 6v6. Uh just for people to understand that the the the major difference is the size of the field and the number of players. Those are the major differences. The the indoor soccer is played in um on the scene. It pretty much you just laid out at the uh laid down the uh the artificial grass or the the carpet on top of the ice hockey. It's the same size of an ice hockey with the same boards, and you have two holes on the wall. Those are the goals on each side of the of the field. So, you know, just like an outdoor, um, you know, one one ball, you have, you know, like um it's a 6v6, you have two teams with one goal to each team, and the the subs on the fly, not like an outdoor, but a sub is just like a hockey. You just go in, sub in and out, and there's penalties, you know, the shootouts and power plays and all of that in the indoor. In the the real soccer game, there's no penalties uh for four for uh two minutes, there's no power play. It's 11v11, 90 minutes, and you know, in indoor soccer, there's uh four quarters. So um, yeah, there's some similarities, but it it's it it is a huge difference.

SPEAKER_03 16:49

So outdoors uh two halves, right?

SPEAKER_00 16:51

Two halves, 45 minutes and a half plus uh stoppage time, extra time.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Okay, yeah, that is so cool. Just real quick, if you want to follow Dennison, you can follow him on IG at underscore D dot C dot F dot A dot underscore.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

DCFA, Dennison Cabral Futsal Academy. That's my that's the name of our futsal club for 20 years in the business already here in Millersville, Maryland.

SPEAKER_02 17:29

So Dennison, since you're saying footsal, I've already always heard football. So what is the difference there?

SPEAKER_00 17:38

So futsal is the only official indoor soccer recognized by FIFA. So futsal has been played everywhere in the world. I had an opportunity, just like you mentioned before, 21 countries visiting, playing, kicking the ball around. And one of the uh places to me, in and in you know, all of all those 21 places I've been playing, I had an opportunity to play in Siberia. Went for a futsal tournament in Siberia for nine nine days. Uh, went to places like in Germany and Holland, Spain, you know, all different places. But Siberia was the one that you know, we went there, it wasn't it didn't get dark at all for like the entire time we were out there. We had to close the curtains because it was sunny the entire day. It was uh it was very uh special experience. So futsall, it's played in the indoor. Well, started with the indoor, um, and it's played in a almost like in a basketball court, pretty much. That's how you describe. And it's a 5v5, smaller side of uh small uh small goals, and uh the ball is smaller than the size five, size four, and it's heavier that doesn't bounce as much, and it's all about technical skills. It's all if it's just it's just almost like it's a it's it's the way to describe to people it is just like a basketball, like a street basketball, all skills great pass, great first touch, dribbling, a lot of one-on-ones. So it's a lot different from indoor soccer and and outdoor soccer.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:14

Wow, wow. And so, what do you find to be more challenging, indoor or outdoor, or your major the major differences to you?

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Well, I I was discouraged as a kid, uh, which I I I you know I talk to the kids that I coach all the time. Don't let anybody ever tell you that you're too short to play soccer, that you're too tall to play soccer, or you're not, you're not, you know, an appropriate, uh, you're not, you're not, you don't fit for this, for this game, right? Because we face situations like that when kids get discouraged at a young age, well, you're not you're not too tall, you're not tall enough. And that happened with me, right? I'm five, three and a half. I have to use the half because my my my daughter's um it's five three, so I have to be taller than her. Um, even as it's a second. So I I got discouraged by by family member, um, I got discouraged by coaches, and even here in the US, uh, people doubted that I could handle playing on a professional indoor soccer level. And it was always about the size. It was all about, you know. So I tell the kids and I tell everybody, look, you're gonna have challenge regardless if you're tall or not, regardless if you're short or not, regardless if you're a little bit slower than some other kids. You know what is gonna be that's gonna make a difference? It's gonna be if you have not just the technical skills, but if you have in your heart that you can fight and you can be a fighter out there, you can be a player that's gonna give everything that you have in your heart, all the energy you have. That's what's gonna make a difference. And I coach that from the five-year-olds, I coach all the way to the pros. I coach high school today, and I tell everybody coaches want to see people out there working hard. So for me, because I had a discouraged uh moments in my in my life and as a younger kid, I didn't put this together. So I felt that, well, outdoor soccer, there's those big guys, they're tall, they're strong, they're fast, they have those big, you know, long legs. You're gonna be, you're never gonna be able to catch up with them. So then at an early age, I already set myself up to play footsal because it was all about skills. It was a shorter field, uh court. Uh we don't call it field, it's a court. So I identified myself at an early age to play footsal. And then when I came out there and played indoor soccer here, I realized that it was a lot more similar to footsal and indoor instead of footsall and outdoor because of the size of the court, um, because of the number of players, because how fast paced it was. So when I identified myself as an indoor soccer player, it was a lot easier and faster for me to adapt and get used to. But not that I didn't have enough skills to go outdoor, I just never tried as much as I was. Trying as football players than an indoor. And I started playing indoor soccer, and it was just like, hey, there are gonna be some big guys, they're gonna be fast guys, you're gonna have to beat them up with your skills, being making smart decisions, and then be able to be physical. Why not? So that's why I identified myself. There's different challenges, but I identified myself and I got a lot more comfortable playing indoor soccer and futsal rather than playing outdoor soccer.

SPEAKER_03 22:26

Yeah, and you know, the the thing is about America, a lot of countries are older than America, and they bring a lot of the games to America. So, in your opinion, I mean, what do you think about American athletes? What do you think in this realm what the American athletes can learn from other countries in the approach of uh the game of soccer?

SPEAKER_00 22:52

Well, one of the biggest things is I and I see it today, I tell the kids and I tell the parents we had an opportunity to take a group of Brazil uh Americans to uh to visit my hometown and play at a tournament out there uh years ago, and I tell them, like, look, the limitations is gonna be on you, right? And and how you're gonna make the difference. It's not the two training sessions a week that's gonna make you the different and the better and the special player. What are you willing to do off, yeah, like when you're not training with the team? That's the difference. And I tell them, like, look, in our countries, this is the craziest thing. I don't know how the rule is today, but I wasn't allowed to play soccer in our school. We didn't we didn't have a soccer ball in school, we had to hide them in our uh in our backpacks and then blowing, you know, like inflating like the ball with the you know with your mouth, like just to play for 15 minutes until you got caught, uh, and then you put a back the ball, you know, like in the back. Because part of our curriculum in a physical education school, we have four different sports. We play uh basketball, we play handball, we play volleyball, and we do track. That's those are the four sports that you learn in a physical education curriculum in our country. Because soccer, the kids already play soccer before the school, after school, you know, like so they're already dreaming about soccer, so there's already too much. So they're introducing different sports to the kids to give them, you know, hey, not everybody's gonna play soccer. So what I tell and I see everybody is just like here, you have to have your personal trainer. I got contacted many times, that's still happening. Eight, six and seven-year-olds and eight, nine-year-old little kids. Hey, coach, can you train my kid? Like, seriously, a six years old, like it, you're like nine or eight years old. You you need for your kid to have a personal trainer, right? Hey, it's a business. People take advantage and they take the money from you. But listen, have you tried to get your kid to, you know, on the yard or in the basement, or even take him to like a 10 by 10 space outside, or even in, I don't care. And and give them some ideas, give them some cones and let them be creative. You drop off your kid to play the a pickup game. That's what the difference. That's the difference to me. That's when you learn. And I don't see those opportunities as much as we see in other countries. We close streets at home, right? We play, we play, we play soccer with kids that they're like three or four, five-year-olds, you know, different. We play with adults, and and you just learn from the streets. You learn how to become tough. There's no referees, so you're not gonna be whining around about the call and you're not gonna get it.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

You're not gonna have those.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

You're not gonna have a right, you're not gonna have you pant on a sideline telling you what to do because that people are not gonna allow that to be happening. You know, they're not gonna, they're not gonna let people coaching your kid on the street, right? And then, so then those are the things, the elements that make the difference. And I tell everybody, it's part of the culture. You guys here have to have everything in structure, you have to have the per the perfect Bermuda grass, you have to have the official size of goal, you have to have the official and extremely expensive shoes to play with. We played with bare feet at home, by the way. And then you have to have the Nike, the Adidas, the Puma, it's like brand new soccer ball. Like you have to have all that set up for you to feel like you're part of the sport. That is just like setting you up for to me, is just to spoil it in you. You gotta get, you have to like grind, you have to go from nothing to build up to what the pros gonna have. You can't be a pro, you can't have to set up as a pro when you're a kid, because then you're never gonna know what it really takes to to get there, right? So to me, that's the biggest difference, and that's what I tell my kids is like, look, you think you're gonna give you gonna play at the level that you wanted to play by practicing twice a week, an hour and a half session or two hour session, you think that's it, that's gonna do it. And I have parents go into a soccer store and buy the shoes that professionals use. Listen, get the $15 shoes, the $99. You know, don't buy the $300 shoes because your kid needs to feel it that he needs to earn the the big stage. He needs to earn that. But here, the check would do the you know, the check of the credit card, paying the fee, that would do the trick because you're on the team. Now you're on the team. You made it. They already got your money, you already got the uniform, you already got the the brand new shoes, and you practice at a nice facility with the lights and the grass and everything is all set up. Listen, you need to start from the from zero. That's what I see the difference here in the U.S. And again, it's not part of the culture, maybe in different sports, but in soccer, that doesn't work, and that's why we're far behind.

SPEAKER_02 27:52

I was gonna say that because uh that may be a soccer here in America, but when you're talking about football and basketball, they're playing in the streets. So I'm not sure what neighborhoods, but when you go into um other areas of the country and you see basketball players, they're out in the streets playing street ball, like you were saying, no refs, it's rough. People come out with ruse, knees, scabs, elbows messed up. Somebody probably got elbowed. So that's just uh that might be the spoiled kids you're talking about. But I want to transition real quick because we know America is really progressive in a lot of areas, even though we're turning 250 years old on my birthday, July 4th this year. Here we go. Just throwing that out.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Special day.

SPEAKER_02 28:40

Yes, very special day.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 28:43

But the thing is, I just wanted to know because we see here we have a lot of female athletes, especially like in soccer, Trinity Rodman is uh a big star in that sport. Tell us a little bit about the differences or cultural shock you may have seen uh with the progressiveness that we have in America with sports and women.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

Yes, coming from a country in 90, it was 94 when I arrived here. Um, we I never I never experienced playing soccer or watching soccer at that when I was a kid, like a girl playing soccer. That was no, no, no, no. Girls just don't play soccer. That's it. The best soccer player in the world, Marta. There's a huge, it's a it's of really open eyes and just like really deep into what she had to go through to play soccer in our her community. She had to lie to her dad, who was against that, because there you go play soccer with a bunch of boys. There was no other girls playing soccer, she was so good. And the boys were, you know, they didn't care as much because they're like, Man, this girl can play. But the parents, especially her dad, who was just against that, because what what did the the neighborhood is gonna think? My daughter's playing soccer. Well, she had to go through a lot of that in order to, you know, she had playing with her mom and said, Mom, look, you know, I'm playing soccer. Well, don't let your dad know because it can be a problem. Anyway, so she had to go through this whole thing, and then not even 10 years later, she was right a big start in soccer, dominating soccer, playing for the national team, and then became six times the best soccer player, female soccer player in the world. So she had to go through this, right? And so many other ones. Thank God the sports growing a lot in you and in Brazil on the on the girl side. It's amazing. But for me to come out of here and call my mom and my dad and say, listen, mom, dad, we went to us, I just went to this thing that they call soccer camp. I know we don't have soccer camps in our country. I went to a soccer camp. I'm dead serious, you're not gonna believe this. So many girls, and they're like, What? What do you mean? Doing what? Well, they play soccer here, dad. They literally play soccer, they're very good at he's like, so girls are allowed to play soccer. I said, Dad, they're better than the boys. But, anyways, and then the you the the U.S. women's national team, uh, and it would joke around you know here at home, but that's the true thing. Um, they do have stars in their jersey as a World Cup champions, which the men's don't have that, right? So, and it's crazy because they're the most famous and the most uh like they're well known in soccer on the women's side all over the world, you know, compared to the to the men's. So for me coming out of here and recognizing that there's like a women's soccer, they dominate the world, and I see all those younger players here love it. Our daughter ended up playing soccer, and then to me, it was just like the like it was a highlight of my day to watch you know Daniela playing soccer because I'm like, look, coming from a country, girls are not even allowed. Now I have a daughter who's good at and she's playing and having fun, and I I felt like so good about that, and I shared with everybody, hey, my uh by the way, my daughter plays soccer in the US, and she's pretty good, by the way. And people are like, What? You know, so it was a shocking uh you know, culture uh experience for me. And to today, I love coaching girls. I coach high school girls, I coach for severn private school. Uh, I'm the head coach of the varsity team. We just won a championship uh last November. And I coach like thank you. I coach girls all day. I have no problem. And as a challenge to coach boys, but the girls um technically they they're more advanced and the and and the social uh social part of they're a lot easier to deal with because they don't think that they're the best ones out there. And in fact, they've at times you go like, Do you know how good you are? You don't have to say that to the boys because the boys all think that they are the best ones, and they fight over that title. I am the best on the team. I don't need the coach to tell them what to do, by the way. That's to me, it's how the boys think in soccer here in youth soccer. And the girls, they're fun, they're outgone. Um, they paid a lot more attention, and they literally do what you asked them to do. They tried, and they don't even have this title that they wanted to have them as the best one. So it's a lot easier to coach girls. This is my personal opinion. I love coach girls, uh, and I just you know, I enjoy the opportunity to coach girls, something that I never thought in my life I'll be even like not even dreaming about coaching soccer and the girls' team. Like there's there's no way in my past that would go through my mind.

SPEAKER_02 33:43

Wow, and it's just amazing how America changed your perspective with the progressive and the women, women rock. I mean, you know, of course.

SPEAKER_00 33:52

Oh my gosh, right. And if you're not involved, you don't know as much. But when you watch girls playing soccer, and and and at times I see some of getting a little more aggressive than others, and people are like, Oh my god, let it go. Those are the true athletes that we needed, and those girls will love. This is the thing, they love to play it against boys when we go and do camps and clinics or do if there's an opportunity for you to just say, Hey, we're gonna play boys against girls, they love it, and the boys they love it, just don't like it because the girls turning to be like like a big like beasts, and they go out and beat the boys, and I love it. I tell them, Hey, you want to mess up with a girl on the soccer field? Not a good thing to do it. Look what happens, and they beat them up like by playing, by being physical, by being uh very competitive, and I just love that attitude. I just love it.

SPEAKER_02 34:44

Coach, what what are your thoughts? Have you ever had a chance to coach uh girls, women, athletes? Because I know you've coached football and basketball.

SPEAKER_03 34:54

You're talking about girls, yes. I had an opportunity to coach girls or women's basketball in England when I was there, and the game you don't you don't coach the game. That's the that's the real deal. But when you see things going on that you think they shouldn't go on, and you think, wait a minute, why are you on the floor? Just pick the ball up. Women and basketball hit the floor more so than they would pick the ball up and go. Boys would pick it up and go. Oh, wait, wait, wait. Wait. So it's it's really about learning the the gender, what their mindset is about. But the game itself, we know the game flows according to the rules, but sometimes rules don't always apply because girls aren't dunking, girls aren't doing certain things that guys we call play above the rim. It's funny, but those women wanted to play against the boys, is what Dennison said. That competition is I can play with them too. That's why you see the explosion of women's sports today. It is an explosion on every level in every sport right now. And they're talking about uh, you know, uh women's flag football this year in the Olympics. So you know what's happening right now. It's a lot of this going on, uh Keanu.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

Oh yeah. And I mean, I just want to I I just have to add this bit of history to why I believe that women just come out swinging, not just in sports, but in business. Um you think when we're looking at American history, number one, women didn't get the right to vote till 1920. Black men had the right to vote in 1865, whether they allowed it or not, but they had the right on paper to vote. And then it wasn't up until I can't remember if it was 1974, but around sometime in the early 70s, women weren't allowed to have a bank account or buy a house without a man up until that point. So when you look at the 80s and the 90s and you see all this progression, you have women that have been held back. It doesn't matter what their color was. They're white women, black women, Hispanic women, they were held behind. And so now you see them thriving in politics, thriving in sports, thriving in tech, thriving, moving, shaking because they didn't have the opportunity. And Denison, I think that brings it full circle to the level of passion because it wasn't always available. Absolutely, and it's not available that way in other countries to this day. You don't see women um, because you know, when you look at sports, you look at the strength of a country and you start seeing how they stack up. You don't see that anywhere but in America, and we're a baby, like you mentioned, coach.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

Yeah, to me, it's just a it's always sturging, you know, storage in our hearts and and minds based on what the uh you know the the the older generation had to go through with no opportunities, and now they're coming from everywhere, which is like it's a it which is a good slapping in people's faces. Say, see, why not before? Why not giving those opportunities before? Here they are showing great examples, uh stepping up and doing things that guys can do it, right? One great example is right there. I was just watching these Olympics, we're talking about the uh, and I'm not again, I'm not in all different sports. I'm not like I don't like this one's better than the other. I had respect and and I do have that respect for any professional athlete because I know what it takes, being experienced already, uh, by you know, by knowing other people from different sports, what it really takes for you, uh, especially in other countries that are limited to all different things, um, you know, equipment, uh, opportunities, uh, uh money to be, you know, to get paid to be able to do that. And they still find a way to become professional athletes, and they're the best in the world right there. But to me, what happened right there in the hockey, this uh this past Olympics, talking about the the uh the U.S. women's uh hockey team, right? Why they don't get the credit that they earned, right? Right, that's to me, is one good example right there. Why that we don't respect and give them the credit that they deserve? Because it's the same as with the soccer, women's soccer. The men's soccer is so far behind in US that the women's are not, it's not even we can't even put it both to talk about soccer together because it's not even it's not even fair to the guys. Do you want to open your mouth as a when you don't have a good positive history at all? And the ladies are here for years dominating the sport. If you needed to talk, you need to talk, but ask questions and see how you can do better because they can tell you, right? They can tell you. I was I was very fortunate, you know, God bless the you know, the opportunity I had it was like to play with one of the most um recognized and uh uh soccer players in the world who played for the women's national team many years, Kristen Lilly, who's five, she's probably five, four, five, five, the most. And I had an opportunity to play with her, train with her, and see, you know, like for myself, like this, she's the one of the top players in the world. She will come to a practice. Another one, uh head coach of a women's uh soccer and navy. Um, you know, uh, she's like another one that used to practice with us. Her dad, her husband, it was the coach, Mr. Jim Gabera, uh, and Karen Gabera came to our practice. She was making both of them making players, some of those guys are tough guys, thought that they're the best, making a lot of those guys look really bad technically and physically. They will come to a practice, and I'd never thought this before in my life that I'm like, Jesus Christ, this is incredible. Like, right? And then, and to me, it's just like, why not take the time out and say, look, let's not look at the gender, let's look at the ability, right? And what they accomplished and what they have to offer, right? Why not? Why we have that like blocking in our minds and our hearts and being like old school still in 2026, and not give them the credit and the respect that they earned by doing amazing the hockey team. You're kidding me, like the hockey team. My wife was explaining to me the whole thing about it. I'm like, so the the ladies like they they have a full-time job, and then they play like they and they are like already accomplished this much, and the guys come out of here and make a big deal for just winning now once or winning, you know, once in a while. They win seriously.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

Well, 40 plus years.

SPEAKER_00 41:56

How in the world that we can explain that to somebody, and how are you gonna tell your daughters? Well, you know, mom, dad, how you know how can how can we be like a superstar? Well, unfortunately, you we have to go through a lot, and you hopefully you're gonna get the best of years to come, but right now, yeah, the the main sport is you know, there's a lot more credibility, there's a more respect, there's a more you know, people are watching all over the world, they they talk a lot more about come out. Kids are not gonna understand that, and I hope they don't understand, and I hope they get stubborn, and I hope that they fight through for the next generation to show the man like hey, you should just learn from them instead of just talking or not talk about them.

SPEAKER_03 42:35

And you just segued right into a question about the next generation, right? We have the FIFA games coming up. Do you think that's gonna inspire our American athletes for the next generation to want to get involved? Whether it's male or female, but just that just that just to inspire them because we have those FIFA games here now this year.

SPEAKER_00 42:58

Yeah, World Cup coming up in July or end of June. And uh and and for other countries, there's no work just for you guys to have a good idea, no working on a day of Brazil playing in a World Cup. There's no and I'm dead serious. If the game is at and I'm I'm dead serious about this, and it this is like you know, the Brazil Brazil play the night and evenings in in exhibition games, uh scrimmages and things like that, because one of the main reasons it helps them to not stop all businesses during the day. If it's a three o'clock game, don't go to a bank, don't go to uh a federal or state or any it because people will not will not be there. They will not be there. If if if businesses have to open during the day, and then during the you know, because also the time when it played, Brazil played, you know, when in the different uh tournaments where the difference of uh of time, if there's a game out there in the middle of the day, then there's The office needs to be open. There's gonna be people watching TV while they're helping you out in your business or whatever they have to do. The bank, they're gonna have it in the bank, the TV right there, and dare Brazil lose the game because the bank might close. So how much people do in other countries? So coming to US, I hope that people can see the energy. We we saw to uh last year we saw the the the World Cup for Club here in US. That was a it was amazing the opportunity to see the passion for other countries to come and watch their teams playing here. And now the World Cup, this is it. This is like a Super Bowl every day when there's a game happening. Like people say, oh Super Bowl is a big deal. Great, God bless you. I love the passion. I I'm all good. I'm learning about the how important is the commercials, how important is the halftime show, and all that. I love it, right? But you guys can experience when you go to the World Cup, when you it's a super ball every day. There's if it's a soccer game for the World Cup, it's a Super Bowl somewhere in other country. Every day.

SPEAKER_02 45:07

Oh my goodness, yeah, it's been so much fun. Dennison, before we let you go, I want to do a quick rapid fire segment. Uh, just tell me the first thing that comes to mind, okay? Don't think about it.

SPEAKER_00 45:20

All right, all right.

SPEAKER_02 45:22

You speak Portuguese, Spanish, and English. Which language is the most fun to talk trash when you're playing soccer in?

SPEAKER_01 45:32

Portuguese.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

Portuguese. Uh, you told me you loved surfing. If you had to choose one, a perfect wave or scoring the game-winning goal.

SPEAKER_00 45:44

Perfect wave.

SPEAKER_02 45:46

Sorry. You played in 21 countries. What's the most unforgettable stadium or arena you've ever played in?

SPEAKER_00 45:57

Um, it was it was in Siberia.

SPEAKER_02 46:00

Okay, okay. That was fun, but I want to know more about that. Why was that so much fun? I know you won a championship out there, but was that the reason, or was other reasons as well?

SPEAKER_00 46:10

Well, because the whole thing, the preparation for us to get to the country and to understand that we go to a country where I'm like, oh, everybody's like, why we're hosting a tournament in in Siberia? Well, because they do have a professional team, futsal team there, and the atmosphere was different for us. It was like people at a hotel following us all the way to the arena, they wanted to hear the English. People like in their own language, can you say something? And they be they wanted to be with us while we were warming up. The people wanted to do, you know, they wanted to stay close to us, wanted to ask questions. So it was such a a huge and then different special experience for me because I knew outside it was sunny at 10 o'clock at night. We're playing, and it was sunny, and it was like, so this whole thing made it to be like uh like an unbelievable experience for me.

SPEAKER_02 47:00

Wow, that is just so awesome, Denison Cabrol. It's been a pleasure, such a pleasure to have you. And we're definitely gonna have to have you back because we want to talk more about the youth footsal academy and what you're doing for the youth out there. And we might have to bring your better half on to help us out with that.

SPEAKER_00 47:24

Oh, she would love to be part of that. Uh, playing high school, playing college, played footsal and coach footsal, coach soccer. Yeah, the whole family. That's how we end up meeting. Uh, my wife, and then uh it's there's all soccer, all soccer in our in our house and our lives too.

SPEAKER_02 47:44

That is awesome. Go ahead, coach.

SPEAKER_03 47:47

And if you don't see her on the show, you'll see her on June 13th out there.

SPEAKER_01 47:51

Oh, yeah. She'll be there. She'll be there to football versus football for sure.

SPEAKER_00 47:56

Yeah, I wanted to thank you guys so much for taking uh you know, for giving me the opportunity to share the experience and share this um some information that people probably know me, but they'll know about my uh, you know, my past and how we started and everything. But thank you so much. I appreciate it. It's awesome to be part of.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

Oh, we appreciate you. And again, so follow Dennison on Instagram at underscore d dot c dot f dot a dot underscore. And to follow Coach Kenny Gray. It's at C coach Kenny Gray, gray with an A. And then me at DJ Key Touch. That's DJ K E I touch. And you can also just Google Dennison if you want to.