A Soccer Star's Transition From the Pitch to YouTube

Jimmy Conrad was a reserve defender for the U.S. Men's National Team (USMNT) at the 2006 World Cup, getting onto the field against group-play opponents Italy and Ghana.

He's going to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup in June â€" this time, however, in a completely different role. Conrad has become one of the Internet's go-to sources for soccer video content, thanks to his multi-pronged role with the popular YouTube channel KickTV.

Along with revolving around the world's favorite sport, Conrad's contrasting World Cup roles have something else in common: He's living a reality most can only dream of.

So how does one make a seamless transition from stardom on the soccer pitch to stardom on the cutting-edge of sports media? In Conrad's case, it wasn't exactly a meticulously thought-out plan â€" but he inadvertently began laying the tracks for his new gig many years before retiring from pro soccer in 2011.

'Scathing' email's unintended consequences

Conrad2 — Jimmy Conrad attends the LAFEST LA Film and Entertainment Soccer Tournament, on Sunday, March 24, 2013 in Carson, Calif.

Conrad majored in math at UCLA, and by his own admission, didn't give journalism much thought. But when he was playing for a Polish club back in 2000, he used Internet cafes to write occasional emails to friends and family back home in the U.S. Given his location and the relatively nascent state of online communications at the time, Conrad says it would take "like 20 minutes" for an email to actually send.

Toward the end of his stint in Poland, Conrad was fed up â€" fed up with lagging technology in Eastern Europe, fed up with being a stranger in a foreign land, fed up with, generally everything. So he wrote what he calls a "scathing" email blasting everything he was sick of. He wanted everyone back home to know, and help him vent. But those slow connection speeds meant he sent a mass email instead of individual versions to different people.

When his agents saw the blistering missive, they couldn't stop laughing. But they also saw an opportunity. They pitched Conrad's writing to Sports Illustrated. Soon enough, Conrad was writing a semi-regular column for SportsIllustrated.com, which he then carried over to ESPN.com a few years later. He branched into radio, then podcasting, and made a name for himself in soccer-media circles for, as he calls, his view "from the inside looking out."

Conrad announced his retirement in 2011. Just 45 minutes later, he fielded a call from IMG; the agency wanted to represent him in his budding media career.

At roughly the same time, Major League Soccer (MLS) concocted a new media idea of its own: a YouTube channel called KickTV, which would focus on the game both in the U.S. and abroad to serve a new digitally savvy audience hungry for voice-heavy, bite-sized bits of digital content.

Conrad was KickTV's first hire. The channel launched on March 2, 2012, as a Google partner. The rest, they say, is history. But for Conrad, the fun was just beginning.

Making a home for soccer fans

Today, KickTV has more than 850,000 YouTube subscribers. Its videos have been viewed more than 86 million times in total, and Conrad is its star personality, while also taking a hand in writing and producing.

Internet users show a tremendous appetite for soccer content, and Conrad says that can be daunting â€" and a lot of work. But he also gets to travel the world attending important matches, meeting some of soccer's biggest figures and telling stories from the game's under-appreciated fringes.

"The opportunity to be creative every day, and see how people unite around this undying love for the sport is great," he tells Mashable. "I try to wake up every morning, and remind myself: 'This is it. I get to entertain people today.'"

As for the range of content KickTV produces, it's a wide one. Daily posts cover everything from match previews and reviews of big weekends, to profiles, opinion-based rants and Google+ Hangouts with megastars such as David Beckham and Lionel Messi.

Conrad's passion for the game, often-irreverent tone and player bonafides have make him popular with fans. His offerings clearly resonate with viewers, but the editorial formula is a simple one.

"If we're laughing, then we're enjoying it and think it's pretty decent," he says. "Then if everyone else feels the same way, that's a bonus."

Leading up to this summer's World Cup, for example, Conrad is traveling to Germany, Portugal and Ghana to profile the three countries in the USMNT's extremely tough Group G. The following video is an example piece, which explores the pressure and high expectations have burdened Germany:

A new World Cup, a new role, a new experience

Conrad's USMNT went winless at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, condemned to pack their bags and fly home before the tournament's elimination round began. But he still calls it "obviously the highlight of my career," and is glad he took coach Bruce Arena's advice after first getting on the pitch against Italy: "Take a moment to look around and see the crowd and smell the grass and take it in, because you'll never forget this."

Conrad also recalls the event's festive atmosphere, with locals eager to show off their culture, visitors ecstatic to experience it and everyone reveling in a party-like atmosphere. "The spirit of the event is unlike anything I've witnessed," he says.

In Brazil, Conrad will get to experience that spirit from a different perspective. He'll arrive before the tournament starts, and leave after the championship match on July 13. He'll attend USMNT matches, and others, too. He'll interview fans, players and more. And along the way, he'll post a constant stream of updates, reports and features for KickTV's 850,000 subscribers.

There will also be another key difference from his experience as a player in 2006.

"Playing in games everyone will remember and the whole world is watching and the discipline it all takes is pretty intense," he says. "So it does feel good knowing I'm free to drink some adult beverages at a World Cup this time around."