Sports
Top 50 USMNT players, ranked by club form: A new No. 1 leads the American pool
The U.S. men’s national team, it seems, is back to a good place.
The Nations League and Gold Cup eliminations for the U.S. have faded into the past. There’s no more feuding between the team’s best players and the manager. The Americans are undefeated in five matches, all against World Cup-qualified opposition. They’ve outscored those opponents 12-4, and there finally seems to be a plan: either a clear back three or a back four that morphs into a back three because one of the fullbacks is more of a center back. It’s similar to what Mauricio Pochettino did in his one year at Chelsea, and it has coincided in an uptick in both performances and results for the World Cup co-hosts.
But what about the broader player pool? Pochettino has done a fantastic job of expanding it — there’s a much bigger collection of players who seem capable of contributing than there was a year ago. But a national team manager can only have a minor impact on the true quality of the players at his disposal. We learn a lot more about them when they’re at their day jobs: playing for club teams.
So with the European season fast approaching its midway point and MLS just recently wrapped, it’s time for one last edition of the USMNT Player Performance Index before the end of 2025.
What is the USMNT PPI and how does this ranking work?
For the unfamiliar or forgetful, this is our way of trying to rank the performance of every American professional soccer player in the world. I use the word “trying” because it’s not perfect — ranking soccer players, especially across multiple competitive contexts, is impossible — but it’s useful.
To come up with the rankings, we use a combination of talent, playing time, team quality and … that’s it. Simple, but effective.
For talent: The metric is Transfermarkt’s estimated market value for every player. This isn’t a one-to-one match for talent, but it’s close enough, and having it as part of the input ensures that the rankings don’t stray too far from what the world thinks of a given player.
For playing time: We simply take the percentage of available minutes each player has played for his team in their domestic league.
For team quality: We use Opta’s power rankings, which rate every professional club team in the world. These ratings aren’t perfect either — MLS teams are ranked a little too highly, for one — but they offer a uniform way of assessing the quality of the teams every American plays for.
And so, the rankings work off a simple premise: if you’re playing a lot of minutes and your team has a high rating, then you’re likely contributing valuable performance to your team.
For the current edition, the market value makes up 15% of the rating, minutes played makes up 20%, and team quality makes up the remaining 65%. I’ve also added a 10%-of-minutes threshold, and that means Cole Campbell (1.8% of minutes for Borussia Dortmund) and Antonee Robinson (4.5% of minutes for Fulham) both miss out.
Some other notable absences: Norwich City’s Josh Sargent, Orlando City’s Alex Freeman, and Real Salt Lake’s Diego Luna didn’t make the top 50. Were I doing this more subjectively, Luna still wouldn’t be in the top 50, I don’t think — he’s been way better for the USMNT than in MLS over the past year. Freeman, however, would easily be top 50 because he was probably the best fullback in MLS. And Sargent also would be somewhere on the list. But none of their club teams were good enough for them to make the cut in this edition of the USMNT PPI.
Now, to the list …
– O’Hanlon: Why Christian Pulisic is having his best season ever
– Predicting the USMNT’s starting lineup at the World Cup
– How Roldan went from USMNT afterthought to Pochettino fave
1. Chris Richards, center back, Crystal Palace
Ten years ago, Richards would’ve been playing for a Champions League team in Italy, Spain or Germany. Instead, he’s playing 99.5% of the minutes for, well, the fourth-place team in England.
Even if you don’t think Crystal Palace will be there come season’s end, the team is currently rated as the 12th best in the world by Opta. Such is the financial might of the Premier League that Palace, according to these ratings, would be the second-best team in France, Italy, and Germany, while they’d be behind only Barcelona and Real Madrid in Spain.
More simply, Palace is the best team any American is currently playing for, and Richards is playing every minute of every game.
2. Malik Tillman, attacking midfielder, Bayer Leverkusen
After a nightmare start that got Erik ten Hag fired as manager before the transfer window had even closed, Leverkusen has stabilized. After Bayern Munich, Leverkusen is battling it out with RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund to be the second-best team in Germany. And outside of his injuries, Tillman has been close to an automatic first-choice starter under both of his managers.
There’s not really much in the way of notable statistical production on the ball — he’s making a lot of defensive plays, playing a lot of passes, completing a lot of passes, and not doing much else. But he moved for a major transfer fee over the summer, and he’s starting for a Champions League-quality side. That’s enough to get him to No. 2.
Unfortunately, Pulisic no longer qualifies for FBref’s leaderboards after dipping slightly below the one-third-of-the-minutes threshold. But after his two goals earlier this week, he’s now averaging 1.82 non-penalty goals+assists per 90 minutes. That’s almost half a goal/assist more than Harry Kane, who leads Europe’s Big Five top leagues (among qualified players) with 1.36 per 90.
4. Tyler Adams, defensive midfielder, AFC Bournemouth
He’s sort of the “is the dress blue or gold?” of U.S. fandom.
If I told you that Adams had played nearly 90% of the minutes for a good Premier League team so far this season, you probably would have one of two reactions: (1) Wow, that’s such good news for the World Cup! Or (2) Oh my god, no, he’s going to get hurt before the World Cup.
He’s first in progressive passes and second in progressive carries for a team that has beaten the defending English and Italian champs by a combined 10-3. Given Antonee Robinson’s injury problems and Weston McKennie’s inconsistent call-ups, it seems as if there’s now a core four of close-to-irreplaceable players for the USMNT ahead of next summer: Richards, Pulisic, Adams and Dest.
6. Johnny Cardoso, central midfielder, Atletico Madrid
It started off well — kind of. He played a lot for Atletico at the beginning of the season, but Atletico was bad to start the season. Then he stopped playing, and now Atletico is pretty much as good as it always is, again.
Since the end of August, Cardoso has played only 71 minutes for Atletico across all competitions. If you thought this move seemed like too big of a jump for a player with a solid season and a half in Spain, then nothing about the first few months of this season will have convinced you otherwise.
7. Weston McKennie, central midfielder, Juventus
It happened again. McKennie wasn’t playing for Juventus to start the season and everyone freaked out. And then his new manager eventually realized his team is better when McKennie is on the field. Despite the slow start, McKennie has played nearly two-thirds of the Serie A minutes for Igor Tudor. And as always, he’s just doing a little bit of everything, everywhere:
Juventus is in seventh in Serie A — that’s why he’s not higher here — but the team’s expected-goal differential is second-best in Italy after Inter Milan. I’d expect Juventus to gradually rise up the table over the next few months, and the same thing should happen to McKennie the next time we do these rankings.
8. Timothy Weah, winger, Olympique Marseille
What Weah is getting on loan at Marseille: more minutes than he got at Juventus.
What Weah is not getting on loan at Marseille: any minutes at his preferred position of wing.
Marseille could give Paris Saint-Germain a genuine title challenge this season — its expected-goal differential is not far behind the European champs — and that’s happening mostly with a lineup in which Weah plays either as a fullback or a wingback. But that might not be as big of a problem for the U.S. as it once seemed.
No one in Europe thinks Weah is a top-class winger even though he mostly has been one of the starting wingers for the U.S. over the past half-decade. But with this new system, Pochettino has leaned more toward inside-forward types rather than pure wingers as the two players next to his striker. That doesn’t suit Weah at all, so his path to a starting spot with the U.S. might be as a wingback after all.
He’s no longer putting up Messi-like per-minute numbers for PSV anymore — and that’s a good thing. Why? Because it means he’s no longer just coming in during garbage time and pummeling Eredivisie clubs that are way worse than PSV.
Pepi still isn’t first choice at PSV, but he already has 515 minutes in the league this season. Last season, he finished just south of 700.
10. Tanner Tessmann, defensive midfield, Olympique Lyonnais
I don’t think Tessmann is a future star or anything — he’s already 24 — but he is a solid starting midfielder for a fringe Champions League team in France. Here’s how he fares compared to his peers in Ligue 1, per the various grades from Gradient Sports:
With that level of play, he should be in the mix for the starting spot in the midfield next to Adams next summer.
11. Yunus Musah, central midfielder, Atalanta
It has been a terrible season for the two young American midfielders on Champions League clubs and Pochettino doesn’t seem to like them. Musah even made this list only because he’d played 90 minutes in a match for Milan before moving to Atalanta. With his new club, he has played 60 total minutes and hasn’t appeared in a league match since before Halloween.
0:38
Folarin Balogun scores in 3rd straight UCL game
Jeff Carlisle recaps Folarin Balogun’s big night for Monaco in the Champions League.
13. Brenden Aaronson, attacking midfielder, Leeds United
14. Mark McKenzie, center back, Toulouse
15. Haji Wright, forward, Coventry City
16. Joe Scally, fullback, Borussia Monchengladbach
17. Cristian Roldan, central midfielder, Seattle Sounders
I like how such a simple rating system can discover the same thing Pochettino has found out over the past couple of months: Roldan is very good at soccer.
18. Mark Delgado, central midfield, LAFC
19. Sebastian Berhalter, central midfield, Vancouver Whitecaps
22. Jesús Ferreira, forward, Seattle Sounders
23. Justin Haak, center back, New York City FC
Delgado, a midfielder, and Haak, a midfielder-turned-defender, haven’t been called up by Pochettino and probably won’t be any time soon, but they’ve both played a ton of minutes for two of the better teams in MLS. In the past, they’d probably be in the mix for one of the final few roster spots, but now this pool has guys who play for Champions League clubs such as Atletico Madrid and Atalanta and probably won’t even make next summer’s roster, either.
25. Tristan Blackmon, center back, Vancouver Whitecaps
26. Paul Rothrock, winger, Seattle Sounders
28. Jackson Ragen, center back, Seattle Sounders
29. Matt Freese, goalkeeper, New York City FC
30. Emmanuel Sabbi, winger, Vancouver Whitecaps
31. Tate Johnson, fullback, Vancouver Whitecaps
33. Brian White, forward, Vancouver Whitecaps
It’s funny that perhaps one of the best MLS teams of all time that relied heavily on Americans is also the one that plays its home games in Canada. White, Sabbi, Berhalter and Blackmon combined to play all but one minute of the 3-1 MLS Cup loss to Inter Miami.
34. Max Arfsten, wingback, Columbus Crew
37. Noahkai Banks, center back, Augsburg
I don’t want to alarm anyone, but Banks was 18 at the beginning of the season, and he’s now just a full-time starter for a team in the Bundesliga at a position that peaks later than average and typically favors older players. The main problem is that Augsburg isn’t very good. In fact, the team is very bad: a minus-9.2 expected goal differential, worst in the Bundesliga. But Augsburg has been a lot better — a roughly average side — in the minutes when Banks has played.
It’s all really promising, and if you were going to pick one out-of-nowhere player to not only make the World Cup roster, but start next summer, then Banks would be your guy. As long as he keeps playing, I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t get a call-up to the next full camp.
38. Roman Celentano, goalkeeper, FC Cincinnati
39. Aidan Morris, central midfield, Middlesbrough
40. Sean Zawadzki, central midfield, Columbus Crew
41. Luca Bombino, fullback, San Diego FC
42. Patrick Schulte, goalkeeper, Columbus Crew
43. Danny Musovski, forward, Seattle Sounders
44. Luca de la Torre, central midfield, San Diego FC
It feels as if he moved to Manchester City just last year, but he’s somehow already 28 years old.
Palmer-Brown never lived up to the hype after he debuted for Sporting Kansas City as a teen, starred at the 2017 under-20 World Cup, and signed with the best club team in the world. But now he’s quietly just a starter for one of the biggest clubs in Greece, where he’s managed by … (cleans off glasses in a theatrical fashion that suggests I am familiar with the meme of Tobey Maguire in “Spider-Man”) … Rafa Benitez.
46. Miles Robinson, center back, FC Cincinnati
47. Aziel Jackson, attacking midfield, Jagiellonia Bialystok
48. Lennard Maloney, defensive midfield, Mainz
49. James Sands, defensive midfielder, St. Pauli
A quick shoutout to Sands, who recovered from a gruesome ankle break earlier in February to become one of St. Pauli’s most reliable ball-winners this season.
50. Giovanni Reyna, attacking midfielder, Borussia Monchengladbach
Though he hasn’t played particularly well, at least he’s playing — sometimes. Reyna has zero goals or assists through 255 league minutes for Gladbach, but he’s already fewer than 100 minutes shy of his entire minutes haul with Dortmund last season.
The question for the rest of this season: Can he start playing more often? And a not-unrelated question to that: Can he start having more of an impact when he gets out there?
NEW YORK — For a 22nd straight year, LeBron James is an All-Star.
The NBA announced its reserves for the Feb. 15 midseason showcase Sunday night on NBC before James and his Los Angeles Lakers faced the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. Voting was conducted by the league’s coaches over the past week.
James, 41, was the last player announced, as the league’s oldest player extended his record for both overall and consecutive selections by another season.
“Super humbling,” James said Sunday night, after the Lakers lost to the Knicks 112-100. “The coaches voted, right, so mad respect to the coaches and them seeing the way I’m still playing at this latter stage of my career.
“And to be able to be an All-Star means a lot to my family, people that have been following my career, my LeBron faithful. They’ve been following my journey and it’s always rewarding just from a humbling standpoint to be able to be rewarded for what you put your work into.”
James did not play in last season’s All-Star event because of injury.
“You think about a star player, their prime is their All-NBA, All-Star years,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said. “And you know, he’s basically had a 20-plus-year prime. It’s kind of unheard of. It is unheard of, uncharted, whatever you want to call it. I mean, it’s incredible. It’s a testament to the work that he puts in.”
James was joined on the court Sunday by three other All-Stars: starters Luka Doncic and Jalen Brunson, and fellow reserve selection Karl-Anthony Towns.
“Of course he deserves it,” teammate Doncic said of James. “He’s playing at a top level still at that age. It’s incredible to share the floor with him.”
The reserves named with James were led by Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant, whose 16th All-Star selection is fourth most of all time — breaking a tie with Hall of Famers Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett and putting him behind only Kobe Bryant (18), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (19) and James.
Joining James and Durant as Western Conference reserve selections included a trio of first-time participants — Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray, Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren and Portland Trail Blazers forward Deni Avdija — plus Minnesota Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards (fourth) and Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (fifth).
“Multiple 50-point games, multiple 50-point games in the playoffs, let’s see, triple-double in the finals, NBA champion, most wins in the West over the last 10 years, he’s the point guard of that team … in my mind, all those things make sense, except for the one that was missing,” Nuggets coach David Adelman said of Murray.
In the Eastern Conference, Towns — making his sixth All-Star team — was joined by Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (seventh), Indiana Pacers forward Pascal Siakam (fourth), Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes (second) and a trio of first-time picks: Detroit Pistons center Jalen Duren, Miami Heat guard Norman Powell and Atlanta Hawks forward Jalen Johnson.
“I believe that he deserves it, and I think probably one of the best compliments you can give him is the fact that he starred in all of his roles that he’s had in his career, and he just continues to get better,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said of Powell. “He’s having his best years now after the age of 30.”
Under the NBA’s latest format change for the event — U.S. vs. the World — the 24 All-Star participants will be divided into three eight-player rosters — two featuring Americans, with the third made up of international players. They will each play two 12-minute games, with the two teams with the best record — or the two with the best point differential if they all go 1-1 — facing each other in the championship game.
The All-Star Game will take place at the LA Clippers‘ arena (Intuit Dome) in Inglewood, California. The Clippers were notably absent from Sunday’s announcement; despite going 16-4 over their past 20 games to partially erase a brutal start to the season, the team didn’t have any of its players selected for this year’s event.
Either Clippers star Kawhi Leonard — who since Dec. 20 has led the league in scoring and steals — or Rockets center Alperen Sengun is probably the best candidate to replace Milwaukee‘s Giannis Antetokounmpo, who will sit out the game because of a calf injury. NBA commissioner Adam Silver will pick a replacement for Antetokounmpo, plus any additional players should the need arise.
Other players chosen last month as starters were: Boston‘s Jaylen Brown, Detroit’s Cade Cunningham, Philadelphia‘s Tyrese Maxey, Golden State‘s Stephen Curry, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Denver’s Nikola Jokic and San Antonio‘s Victor Wembanyama.
Detroit’s J.B. Bickerstaff will coach one of the All-Star teams. Either San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson or Adelman will coach another — that will be decided by results of games Sunday — and the NBA has not announced how the coach of the third team will be decided.
Bickerstaff earned his nod because the Pistons lead the Eastern Conference. Johnson or Adelman will go by having the best record in the Western Conference among eligible coaches; Oklahoma City’s Mark Daigneault coaches the team with the West’s best record, but he cannot coach the All-Star Game this year because he coached at the event last season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
-
Zach Kram
-
Kevin Pelton
Close
Kevin Pelton
ESPN Senior Writer
- Co-author, Pro Basketball Prospectus series
- Formerly a consultant with the Indiana Pacers
- Developed WARP rating and SCHOENE system
Multiple Authors
As the calendar turns to February, the 2026 NBA All-Star Game is just two weeks away. The starters were announced on Jan. 19 and include Luka Doncic, Stephen Curry, Nikola Jokic, Victor Wembanyama and reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the West. Jalen Brunson, Cade Cunningham, Jaylen Brown, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Tyrese Maxey were named the starters in the East.
The reserves were announced on Sunday, including Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James and Kevin Durant in the West, as well as Donovan Mitchell and Karl-Anthony Towns in the East.
ESPN NBA Insiders Zach Kram and Kevin Pelton break down the full East and West rosters, including biggest surprises and snubs, and make their bold predictions.
Which player were you most surprised to see on the roster?
Pelton: LeBron James is the clear choice, but seeing Karl-Anthony Towns pop up was surprising given the pessimism over how he’s played this season on top of the Knicks’ recent slump. I think teammate Mikal Bridges has been New York’s second-best player after starter Jalen Brunson. Given Towns’ track record, the choice is certainly reasonable yet surprising nonetheless.
Kram: LeBron. It sounds silly to be surprised that a player who had made the last 21 All-Star games would make it 22 in a row. But given that James missed the first month and that his counting stats are down in his age-41 season, as well as the fierce competition in the Western Conference player pool, it was a surprise that his was the last name unveiled during the All-Star roster announcement.
Which player were you most surprised to see left off?
Pelton: Kawhi Leonard. Unless this is a secret part of the punishment from the NBA’s investigation into Leonard’s endorsement deal with Aspiration, I don’t get it. Leonard has been a top-10 player this season, and following a dreadful start, the LA Clippers have been one of the league’s hottest teams since Christmas. Anthony Edwards was the only West reserve I would have picked over Leonard. If I was taking a multi-time Finals MVP playing in L.A., Leonard was an easy choice over James.
Kram: Alperen Sengun was a first-time All-Star last season, has improved as a defender and has better counting stats across the board this year while helping lead the Houston Rockets to the second-best point differential in the West. New Rocket Kevin Durant was a shoo-in, but I think Sengun should have given Houston a second All-Star representative, even if that meant Devin Booker missed out and the surprising Phoenix Suns didn’t get a single player on the team.
Are we getting close to enough international All-Stars to do a normal USA/World 12 vs. 12 game?
Pelton: We might be closer to even in terms of internationals than East vs. West. Some of the answer depends on how creative the NBA is willing to get with its definition of international. Donovan Mitchell made the case recently to Andscape’s Marc J. Spears that he’d like to represent Panama, where his grandmother was born. If the NBA pushed every possible case like that or Kyrie Irving (born in Australia, though he grew up in the U.S.), they could get to 12 without diluting the meaning of being an All-Star.
Kram: There are almost enough worthy international players to round out a 12-person roster; if that were the framework this season, the eight actual international All-Stars would likely be joined by Sengun, Lauri Markkanen, Franz Wagner (despite a lack of playing time) and Joel Embiid. (Embiid was born in Cameroon but plays for Team USA internationally; the NBA could also choose to slot Towns, who was born in New Jersey but plays for the Dominican Republic, as an international representative.) Josh Giddey, OG Anunoby and Dillon Brooks have outside cases as well.
However, those players largely don’t have better All-Star cases than the ninth-through-12th-best Americans, so I wouldn’t advocate such a consequential change just yet. Let’s see how the format works with three teams (two American, one international) this year before deciding if the NBA should change the All-Star format once again.
Give us one bold prediction for the All-Star Game/mini-tournament.
Pelton: The NBA enjoys a short-term benefit from changing the format. Drafting teams and introducing a target score (aka the “Elam ending”) resulted in more competitive games initially before devolving into the defense-free play we’ve seen since. I could see the international team in particular taking things seriously and forcing their American opponents to up their game. However, I don’t see this or anything else “fixing” the All-Star Game long-term.
Kram: Victor Wembanyama takes MVP honors. Big men rarely win this award at the All-Star game — it’s gone to a guard or wing in 13 of the last 15 years, with Anthony Davis and Giannis Antetokounmpo as the lone exceptions — but Wembanyama is so competitive that he’ll gain an advantage just by taking the event seriously. In his first All-Star game last year, he led his team in scoring (11 points in seven minutes), and he and Chris Paul were disqualified for trying to exploit a loophole in the skills challenge.
Coach Álvaro Arbeloa admitted Jude Bellingham is “an important loss” after the midfielder was substituted just 10 minutes into Real Madrid’s 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano on Sunday. The club confirmed on Sunday evening that the issue was with Bellingham’s left hamstring.
Kylian Mbappé scored a 100th-minute penalty to give Madrid the three points in LaLiga after a tough game which saw Rayo’s Jorge de Frutos level after Vinícius Júnior‘s early goal, before the visitors had two players sent off.
The Bernabéu crowd whistled the team pre-match — and again as they struggled during the second half — after Madrid’s midweek defeat at Benfica in the Champions League.
“We don’t know about Jude yet,” Arbeloa said in his post-match news conference, when asked about Bellingham’s injury.
The England international had gone down clutching his thigh after chasing a ball down the right wing with the game still goalless, and after being consoled by teammates, limped off the pitch, looking visibly upset and wiping away tears, as he was replaced by substitute Brahim Díaz.
“[Bellingham] has made a great effort in every game since I’ve been here,” Arbeloa said. “It’s a very important loss, but we have an extraordinary squad.”
Bellingham will now undergo tests to determine the extent of the problem.
The 22-year-old’s injury could be a major concern for England boss Thomas Tuchel ahead of Wembley friendlies against Uruguay and Japan next month.
Bellingham was one of the players — alongside Vinícius — singled out by some fans with whistles before the game, as their names were announced on the stadium loudspeakers.
Bellingham has had an injury-hit season, missing the early part of the campaign after undergoing shoulder surgery last summer.
– Mbappé scores last-gasp penalty as Real Madrid edge Rayo
– Mourinho on Benfica-Madrid in UCL: We got the king
“I respect the Bernabéu crowd, and I’ll always ask for their support,” Arbeloa said, when asked about the whistles.
Arbeloa insisted that Madrid hadn’t been fortunate to be given nine minutes of added time at the end of the second half, with their winning penalty being awarded in the 98th minute, and Mbappé scoring two minutes later.
“It could have been more,” Arbeloa said. “Every time visiting teams take a goal kick here, it takes a minute.”
The coach admitted that his team need to be more consistent, after a difficult start to his time in charge.
“I’m not Gandalf the White,” Arbeloa said, referring to the fictional wizard. “What I’m getting is what I wanted from my players: commitment and effort.”
Information from PA was used in this report.
Budget’s mild fiscal consolidation to be positive for GDP growth: Report
APAC freight market sees short-term surges, long-term overcapacity: Ti
Nvidia will make its ‘largest ever investment’ in OpenAI: Jensen Huang
-
Sports6 days agoPSL 11: Local players’ category renewals unveiled ahead of auction
-
Entertainment5 days agoClaire Danes reveals how she reacted to pregnancy at 44
-
Business6 days agoBanking services disrupted as bank employees go on nationwide strike demanding five-day work week
-
Tech1 week agoICE Asks Companies About ‘Ad Tech and Big Data’ Tools It Could Use in Investigations
-
Fashion1 week agoSpain’s apparel imports up 7.10% in Jan-Oct as sourcing realigns
-
Sports5 days agoCollege football’s top 100 games of the 2025 season
-
Politics1 week agoFresh protests after man shot dead in Minneapolis operation
-
Business1 week agoShould smartphones be locked away at gigs and in schools?