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- [00:02]
A
Dive into the dynamic world of high school sports. Whether you're a seasoned athletic director, a newcomer to the field, or simply curious to learn more about this exciting profession, this podcast is your go to resource for inspiration, education and a deeper understanding of the game changing decisions that shape the world of high school athletics. Welcome back to AD360. I'm Greg Vandermayten. As always, I'm joined with my co host, Scott Rosenberg. Scott, how was your fourth of July, my friend?
- [00:30]
B
It was great. Summer's amazing. A challenge right home, the kids being home and either being completely bored or being tired and not wanting to do anything, both on this at the same moment, I feel like at times. But fourth was great. Some family time. Hopefully our athletic director groups listening out there are actually finding some time to take a step back. I know it's not a complete step back and we'll talk about that today, but good to try and disconnect and have some family time. How about you?
- [01:01]
A
You know, it's, it's always a great one. I, I love the fourth of July. It is that time to really kind of recharge, regroup disconnect a little bit, as you mentioned. And it seems like each year that goes by, the 4th of July creeps up quicker and quicker and that kind of becomes like your high watermark almost of like, oh, summer's. Summer's drawn to a close faster than we think. And with with the school year rapidly approaching and so many different challenges and things that 80s just have to handle, I kind of feel like the 4th of July is like once that comes and passes, it's really, let's dial in time to focus in. The fourth's behind us. Seasons are getting closer. Let's get prepared. You know, that's kind of, kind of how it was for me as an ad. Similarly, on this side of things too, it's like, it's kind of like that, that benchmark of like, all right, starting time to start ramping up, right?
- [01:52]
B
Yeah. Faster than you want.
- [01:55]
A
Exactly. You know, so I think today what our discussion will be, I'm looking forward to talking with you on this is kind of the process and everything you went through to best prepare yourself for success for the upcoming athletic seasons, the upcoming athletic school year, in all honesty. So I, I think we can go ahead and just dive right in. I'm going to ask you the first one, Scott. What was something that kept you up at night during the preseason? How did you manage those worries, especially for new athletic directors?
- [02:24]
B
Yeah, we've talked about like preseason Meetings and a preseason handbook. And I think like to start out by how to help. It's really to have some sort of handbook that you can go in, look at, kind of check off the boxes as you complete things if you're new. Leaning on probably either coaches in the building, other administrators who have been been there before, but also leaning on colleagues from other schools to try and like make sure that you're whole and that you have what you need going into a season, you're still going to miss something. And me sometimes that could be the fun part of it. It's never going to be perfect. And after I did it for 17 years, I still miss things. So that all being said, what would keep me up at night? I mean kind of the three non negotiables that we talk about, which would be schedule being correct, referees showing up or being in place for a home game, and busing being in place for the away game. So making sure that you and your colleagues are on the same page for games when they're being played, the times making sure you're not crossing the highway as you're going to their place and they're coming to yours, and then making sure, let's say that game day personnel, overall, whether it was officials, announcers, ticket takers, people checking in for tickets were all in place. So that, that would always keep me up at night because I think you can get past almost anything else as long as those three things are there. And then finally, and probably most importantly from a macro level would be safety and making sure whatever that we, whatever we were doing was providing like a safe atmosphere for our coaches, our kids, our fans, our parents. How about you?
- [04:14]
A
You pretty much stole each one of them from me as well. I mean like those were all ones. The safety one really resonates with me, you know, in terms of does everybody have their athletic medical clearances in? Do we have them on file? Do we have everything that we need? One that every, every single game didn't matter how many years I did it. Is the ambulance going to show up for the football game? Is it there? And they, they really loved just kind of making me pace around a little bit. I would constantly check and double check and I'd wait and wait and wait and the ambulance would roll up like five minutes before kickoff every time without fail. Right. So like those things would keep you nervous and worried. But I can't agree with you more. I mean the scheduling piece, that is one where if there was any type of last minute changes, our coaches had the autonomy of Making some schedule changes, obviously they had to run those through us. But if there was some, something that fell through the cracks and you know, a double booking or a coach not getting the memo that an off season sport can't be on the field today because we're, we have a freshman or a frosh soft game taking place like the scheduling piece, not only just from the athletic department perspective, but also for the entire campus community. Making sure that everyone was looped in that one always kept me nervous. And you really hit it out of the park when you're talking about officiating and the game management piece because there's, there's certainly an official shortage throughout the country that we're well aware of and we'll look to do an episode on that in the coming future. But then also the game management piece, you know, there's, that's a, that's a revolving door where you may get commitments way before the season starts and then somebody that's your go to something comes up and you've, you're, you're kind of scrambling. So completely agree with you on all fronts. Those are the things that, that kept me up at night too. Just constantly double checking. Right.
- [05:54]
B
And I think for a more seasoned AD or somebody who's been out of school for a while, you have like that built in advantage of relationships. We always talk about relationships. So when somebody backs out at the last minute to cover a game or when something else is needed, like you can sort of call in a favor and make that call or even know the right person to call. Yeah. Whereas that's something that a newer AD is always going to have a harder time with. There's really no way around it. Right. It's like building those relationships. You have your go to people, you have your extra people. Like we talked about for a long time, how can you use your alumni parents? I mean, you don't have alumni parents when you're brand new. So the parents of the kids who graduated last year from the football team, if you need help with a chain gang or something like that, who you knew did it in the past, like there's the phone call you can easily make at the last minute. Whereas if you've not been there for a little bit, that's a little bit tougher.
- [06:53]
A
Absolutely. Couldn't agree with you more on that one.
- [06:56]
B
So having like a handbook, having a process in place, I think we would agree is wildly important and really helpful at the same time. You've got to build in some flexibility to that. Like, so where do you Find that fine line between this is the way it is, this is the way we do things. Having a process and then building in flexibility and what might need to be flexible.
- [07:22]
A
Yeah, I think that that's certainly important because you want to have that process, you want to have guidelines. But I think we both know in this realm you can't be so rigid that there's no room for flexibility and that you can't make some changes and shifts and stuff like that. I think the big areas that I had to make sure I communicated to all of our coaches in terms of flexibility was from a facility and venue management perspective. And essentially what I did was I would tell all of our coaches, hey, there's gonna be times of the year that you love me and there's gonna be times of the year that you're just swearing me up and down because you're not getting what you want. And I basically have the, the hierarchy of in season, next up, out of season. So essentially you're either at bat on deck or you're in the dugout. And depending upon where you sat, like, you were gonna have to be more flexible with certain venues throughout the year. Because an in season team was always going to be the one where I was going to make the accommodations to. Right. So if we had some type of scheduling conflict and we needed to make changes, it wasn't so rigid that your schedule's in, can't do anything, figure it out. It was, let's find ways to make this work. And that wasn't just for that in season team. It was for all teams that would potentially be using that facility at any given time during the year. So I think that was a big piece of it. I do think too, earlier when you had talked about kind of building a Rolodex, right, where you have your main people that you're going to go and rely upon for game management and things like that. But also know that you're going to have to have some flexibility there because life comes up, things happen. You need to be able to have the confidence to either find someone that can step in and do it or be prepared to do it yourself as well. So I think that those are areas you got to be a little bit flexible on. And then lastly, in terms of just coverage, like who is going to be covering those games? And when I'm saying coverage, I'm talking about your athletic trainers, I'm talking about your administrators that are going to be there, who is going to be those point people. You can't have a single point of failure. You've got to make sure that you have multiple people that can wear that hat. Obviously, it's going to be assigned to somebody in the beginning of the year, but if something comes up again, just like the game management piece, you got to have a little bit of flexibility there to get other people in play. So I'd say that those are kind of the main areas that I would want to make sure that some flexibility was built in. But it is tough, you know, because you want to be as dialed in as possible, yet at the same time realizing so many different things could go wrong all at once. How about you?
- [09:48]
B
Yeah, I mean, great job answering that question. The other things I would add, and it probably just accentuates what you said, which would be hire the right people. When you are hiring coaches, staffs, etc. Right. You want that people that are flexible, you want them to have the entire athletic department in mind. Right. You don't. They can't just be one track. My sport's the most important sport, and it's only about us. I heard somebody say this the other day about, like, the right people to hire. It was, I want to hire somebody with a type A drive and a type B personality. Right. Like, it kind of a cool way to say it. Like, you need somebody who's just like, focused and go. Yet the way they handle things, the way they handle difficult situations is with calm, calmness and flexibility. Hard to find. I'm sure of that. Yeah, but like, if you can find those right people, I think it's going to help you with that, maintaining that flexibility. Gosh. I try to think of specific examples of things that you might need to be flexible with. One, the local law enforcement. There was times when one year my police department would kind of say, listen, there's enough parking here for handicap parking for your football games. You're good to go. And then other times, you know, there may have been another year when it was either a new officer or somebody new in charge that might come in and say, scott, like, it's not enough. I want you to cone off 15 more spots or create this kind of situation for safety purposes or for handicapped parking. Those might be things. You have to be flexible. I think about parents and booster clubs. There's one where, like, that's an ever evolving group of people that you have to work with. You might be working with a set of parents whose kids graduate. You might have been working with them for two years. You're on the same page about a lot of things now. You've Got, like, new leadership groups coming in who really want to do things differently. And so then where do you draw the line between this is the way it has to be and this is where I can be flexible? So I think those are some good examples.
- [12:02]
A
I like that last example a lot, because you got to tow a very careful line there because you want to be flexible, but you also got to be careful of precedents that you're going to be setting, too, you know, because, like, if you bend a little bit on something here and then coming years, you're dealing with that booster club, and it's like, but we did this in years past, now we want to do that. So, like, there is. There's some flexibility that you most certainly have to have there because as the event goes on, you know, some years you may have something where they want to do an extravagant, you know, opening to the game, and years later, booster club may not necessarily want to do that. Someone comes back in like, oh, I want to do this. You got to have that little bit of flexibility. But also remember, you're setting precedence with them, too. Right?
- [12:41]
B
For sure.
- [12:43]
A
So talk to me. Let's talk about preseason mistakes. What are some preseason mistakes you made early in your career and something valuable that it taught you.
- [12:53]
B
You want me to narrow this down right now?
- [12:56]
A
We can netfish on this one, man.
- [12:59]
B
My gosh, man. I mean, I'll just go with, like, it's probably a little bit overarching, but, like, site walkthroughs and early enough. Give you an example. Listen, if you're not testing your lights, if you're not testing your scoreboards, your sound system, everybody or so many people wait till the last minute. The guy, the lady, the company that's going to come and fix your scoreboard if you haven't asked them in, like, late June or early July to come and fix your scoreboard. If you're first testing it six days before your first game and something's not working and you expect to be able to get somebody over there to fix it, maybe get parts like what? You know what I'm saying? Whatever that might look like in a really timely fashion at that time of the year, it's not going to happen. Or you're very lucky if it does. So I think the biggest mistake I made was just not doing everything early enough and then probably often enough, because your lights could work when you checked it this week, but there's a lightning storm or there's something else that comes in and you haven't checked your lights in two weeks or three weeks and it's getting close to the season. Those are the things you want to make sure are taken care of first. So I just like, I'll lean in on the site walkthrough and the continual monitoring of the sites as something that I definitely made mistakes on early. How about.
- [14:32]
A
I'm going to echo you on that. I'll give you two examples. One was not doing a walkthrough for football and identifying a mistake on the chart we had versus what was actually on the seats. So that was one where luckily it was a small area, but it was one that impacted some of our season ticket holders. So that was definitely a painful lesson to learn early on from a site management and then to the scoreboard.
- [15:00]
B
1.
- [15:01]
A
I will certainly echo you on that. Not necessarily that it wasn't working, but not having the best understanding of who to go to when there was either a glitch or a little bit of an issue, like just who helps me troubleshoot real quick. Like the scoreboard's turning on, but it's not responding the way that we want it to. And not having that Rolodex that we talk about of. Okay, you know, person A is not answering, oh, what do I do? I didn't even have like a person B. And it's on me because I should have been the one to go through and check all of this long before. So it was certainly a fun lesson to learn in real time, to say the least.
- [15:38]
B
Fun is a great word. Yeah. You know, like, we've talked a little bit about that too. And making sure that you're also doing those walkthroughs with the right people.
- [15:48]
A
Yes.
- [15:49]
B
So, like, having your coach walk through the site with you an early part of the season or the summer is important too, because you want to make sure their expectations match yours and they may see things from maybe that tunnel vision perspective that you don't. That may become important for everybody to make sure they're on the same page. So just making sure that the right people are with you on some of those walkthroughs. All right, so obviously one of the huge pieces of all this is coaches in place, coaches evaluations. How might that affect your preparations? Like having that coaching staff, not having a coaching staff, et cetera?
- [16:36]
A
Yeah, I think when you have a coaching staff that's in place and you've got like veterans there, it becomes. And you've got good veterans there, it becomes a little bit more of a rinse and repeat process, which makes it a lot easier for you because then you sit down, you have some simple meetings of like, okay, here's what we're doing A through Z for event preparation, scheduling, etc. Um, those ones, your steady Eddies, if you will, they made life pretty simple because they knew what they were doing. They were very good at it. And it was more along the lines of like, we're going to have a quick check in, make sure that we're all on the same page. I know what you're doing. I entrust that you're doing everything correctly. Makes life a lot easier, right? And those tend to be the outliers, unfortunately for you. And then a lot of times too, you may have a coach where maybe they are being significantly evaluated, and as you're going through, you have a little bit finer of a toothed comb for their season preparation, or are you building in specific time for your own calendar to ensure that you have time to check in with them or see how they're preparing, see how practices are going, seeing how events are taking place. So you got to kind of build that into your own personal calendar. And then when you have your new coaches that are coming on board, that's where you've really got to set aside some time. Because you can't just assume that they know every single thing about the program that they're running. You need to walk them through, not only just, hey, how are you planning on setting everything up this year? But then also kind of giving them some of the institutional knowledge that they may not have. Like, hey, this isn't how you're going to do your pregame because of whatever reason, you know, there may be outlying reasons that they're not aware of and ensuring that they have that knowledge going into the season. So I think it really kind of is a sliding scale depending upon the coaches that you're dealing with and how you're going to approach that in your preparation. For me, it was more program by program. It wasn't necessarily just an overarching athletic department. Here's how I'm preparing for the fall season, etc. It was looking at each individual sport and going, okay, I've got a tenured coach that they know what they're doing. We're going to have a. A fairly quick meeting, debriefing everything, making sure that we're all on the same page. We're going to hit the ground running. We've done it multiple years and we've got the confidence there. Going back to the one where you may be doing an evaluation, you're going to Want to make sure it's a little bit more hands on. You're going to want to make sure that you have a better understanding of what's taking place. And then for those, those newbies or those rookies, if you will, you really got to make sure that you're taking the time, not that you're micromanaging them. It's just setting them up for success and making sure that they have an understanding of how the department is going to operate through their season, be able to ask, answer any questions they may have to ask. And that was kind of the way that I, I viewed it. How about yourself?
- [19:26]
B
Yeah, I mean, obviously you're, you're right. Correct. In terms of. Depends on who you're working with, how long you've been working with them, who's new, who's not new, just in terms of the level of engagement you need with them, the amount of time you need to put aside. But we always talk about communication and so I'll say that again. Right. Like just early, often finding ways to just be around those people so that when you're there stuff just comes up naturally as opposed to having to schedule a time, schedule a meeting with you. It, it's the water cooler, it's oh, by the way kind of thing. As you're with people and when you're not with people, I think you lose that. So I think that's really important. I think for the health of an ad. One of the things I didn't do well was separate, like the home, work, life, whole scenario and place enough value on separation. So what I mean by that is making sure your coaches know when they should call you, when it's important to text you or call you right away versus this can wait till tomorrow because I'm sure my coaches appreciated it. I just know my family didn't. When I set it up where call me any day, anytime, any hour, no matter what. And I think that doesn't set the AD up for success. So just trying to like, you know, make sure that it's clear. Obviously you're always gonna err on the side of caution and be like, hey, if you're not sure, then definitely call me. But here's when not to call and here's when not to bother me at home and those kind of things. It may sound selfish for me saying it, but I think for long term happiness and survival in the job, that actually becomes an important part of what you deal with with coaches and setting the right parameters early.
- [21:26]
A
I think that's a really important Point to really kind of dive in a little bit more on my perspective on that. I was the same way. I was terrible about it. It wouldn't matter what day time, whatever phone rang, I was making sure that I was jumping on it. But you got to level set those expectations. And also you, you need to be the leader and you lead by example. When you're saying, hey, this is an emergency. This is when you contact me. Being able to kind of define those, those times of when it is acceptable reach out versus this could wait till the morning. And then you also do the same for your coaches, you know, and you make sure like I'm not going to pester them. This is a, this is a tomorrow issue that we can bring up. This is an emergency, we'll bring it up tomorrow. And then it begins to set that culture of like, hey, there are some boundaries you've got to have. You got to have time away from the campus and those on campus because these jobs, they are borderline 247 in this day and age and they will be if you allow. And I think that that's a great point that you bring up of kind of setting those boundaries. I'm guaranteeing you if we asked my wife, she would tell you that I was horrible at that. So do as I say, not as I do type thing around that one, I guess.
- [22:37]
B
Yeah, it's, it's learned from our mistakes and I love, I love your point on it's a two way street.
- [22:43]
A
Yeah.
- [22:44]
B
And making sure that you're treating your coaches that same exact way. And I mean hopefully they then like sort of turnkey that back down to their assistant coaches and to their players and to the parent. And to the parents. Right. Like setting the right tone early and expectation level setting is important.
- [23:02]
A
Absolutely, absolutely agree. So as we're, we're getting into the, the dog days of summer, if you will, what are some of the game day operation pieces that ADs should be looking to check off right now so you don't have those small fires that keep popping up left and right when you're already dealing with tons of other issues throughout the, the school day. What are some of those game day operations that you checked off early in the summer to make sure you were set up for success?
- [23:29]
B
Yeah, I mean I do think it's kind of what we already talked about. I think it's the facility, the scoreboard, the press box, making sure that your orders are in. I think that's one we didn't talk about. So any new equipment, any equipment coming in like Be on top of that. Again, if you're waiting and you've got all these boxes sitting in a room and you're waiting for weeks and weeks to unbox those things to make sure that you have the right, the orders correct and that you have what you need, whether it's for your trainer or for your coaches. I mean, hey, if your coaches aren't in for a couple of weeks, it may be you doing it. So just making sure like that your equipment, uniform orders are set. Again, you can't get most of those things quickly. So I would say that's a huge one. Aside from, let's just say game day operations, that would be different. Besides for scoreboard, press box, athletic trainer, game workers, those kind of things, you can all get in place now and then. Just keep double checking. How about you?
- [24:34]
A
Couldn't agree more. Couldn't agree more. I'll double down a little bit on the athletic trainer piece too. You know, when you're looking at just your equipment for the individual sport programs, make sure you're keeping in contact with your, with your ATCs and ensuring that they have everything that they need leading into the, to the school year. Because last thing you want to be able to do is run up to a football game and realize you're out of tape or something. You know, making sure that you have all that checked off and then other items, I mean like you can set your ticketing up well in advance, you know, in the advantage of digital ticketing in this day and age. Set it and not have to worry about it. Make sure that you're, that is one less thing on your plate that you need to take care of. Same thing with your streaming. Making sure that you have your schedules in advance taken care of. So those minor tasks, if you will, build up really quick and the sooner you check them off your list when you have the time like you do in the summer, the better off you're going to be.
- [25:29]
B
Yes, yes, yes, no doubt. Who else do you need to enlist help from like other departments in the school to make sure that like your preseason planning is done? Well, who else are you leaning on? Who else are you communicating with within the school building? That's maybe outside of the athletic department.
- [25:50]
A
Number one on my list was our facilities team. Without a doubt, those, those folks were fantastic to work with because we constantly had things pop up or changes needed to be made or quick turnarounds, you know, from one event to the next. I think getting locked tight with your facilities personnel is huge. Campus security. Making sure that they're very much aware of what's taking place. They can give you a lay of the land and a perspective that you don't necessarily see, you know, And I'll give an example from a facility perspective. I had two events that were essentially not going to be like back to back same day, but it was a quick turnaround from one evening to the next, you know, mid afternoon. And it was in our gym and we were basically going from a basketball game into a wrestling meeting.
- [26:36]
B
Right.
- [26:36]
A
And that's a pretty big turnover. So like when we were going through our scheduling facility, team sitting there saying, like, not saying we can't get this done, but I need you to move up on one end and further out on the other so we have more time to get things set up. Because certain things you just don't realize because you're not the one doing it. So I would say that those were probably two of my top ones. And then obviously, I think it goes without saying, athletic training, I know they're within the department, but that is somebody that you most certainly have to have constant communication with. But I'd say from my perspective, those were kind of like my, my top three that I always wanted to make sure I got their insight and input as we were going through and planning for the year. How about you?
- [27:17]
B
Yeah, I mean, I agree when thinking about this, I, I, I put health medical, so that might be athletic trainer for us. Like a lot of the paperwork was cleared by our school nurse. So not right through, maybe my athletic trainer. So that same mindset though, right? Like health nursing, medical side of the world, making sure that you're communicating with them, making sure kids are allowed to step on the field, making sure it's safe for them to step on the field, obviously, then making sure your coaches know as well and you know what I'll throw in, which maybe is a little out there, but other administrators. Yeah, so like, you know, you're an administrator in that building and you need to make sure that the other administrators are on your team and on the same page as you. And I don't know if you need them to cover some nights for you. But just like the overall, like we on the same page with what's important, your principal in the school, like what's important to you. Am I making this too important? Am I making this not important enough, Having those conversations so that like you are a unified team as an administrative group, you don't want kids, parents, fans, whomever else to see weakness in that meaning. Scott said no. So I'm gonna Go ask Greg, which they'll do, don't get me wrong. But I, I can't have Greg, like, going, you know, making a decision outside of me too often. Let's put it that way. Right. Like, we want to be on the same page. You don't want to be surprised if you're the principal that that's even coming to you. So that's my job to give you a heads up. At the same time, I want to make sure we're aligned on the response and being on that same page.
- [29:14]
A
No, I think that's a great point. You know, like, when you're looking at it from other administrators, other directors of other departments too, making sure that we all share this space and that we're all, you know, working well together. Not just coexisting, but working well together. I think that brings up a great point. You want to make sure that your administrators are on the same page as you as well as those other department directors. I mean, many times, like with us, Performing arts was a huge thing there and, and we wanted to make sure that we were being mindful of big events they were having and likewise big events we were having. So I think that's a really good point that you want to make sure that other administrators within the campus community are lockstep with you so you have a solid foundation and a unified front.
- [29:55]
B
Yeah, I totally miss other departments. Like, I'll stress that your answer again. We talked about an earlier podcast, the Performing Arts. Like, you don't want to have senior night on the same night as the school play or at the required chorus concert where you've got half your team in the choir. Like, that's just setting the kid up for failure to be honest and a relationship breaking or, you know, stressful relationship causing event. So working with those other groups is really important. Agreement.
- [30:34]
A
Well, as we're starting to wrap the conversation up, I know we spent most of our time today talking about what keeps you up at night and stresses you out. You know, I always used to jokingly, half jokingly say, I, Kelly, carried a healthy level of paranoia when I was an ad, but let's flip that around. You know, what are you most excited about this time of year as an athletic director? What gets you genuinely excited, energized, ready to start the year, and the things that you loved about the job as you were about to transition into the start of the school year?
- [31:06]
B
Yeah, I mean, I would always say, like, I never did not look forward to the end of June, New Jersey. That's when school Kind of ended. So there was never a year when I wasn't looking forward to it ending. And I hope that there was the same mindset for the beginning of September where I wasn't excited, looking forward to the beginning of school. And why is that? I mean, listen, like we were in the building as administrators all summer, but it's like a building is bricks and mortar without the kids, without the energy there. So I always look forward to like the energy and having the kids back in the building, obviously the coaching staff, parents, etc, and then just the, the newness of it. I think one of the things about education that I really loved is I felt like it keeps you young because number one, it's always a new group of kids coming in or people coming in. And two, they're always young. Like they're, they're, they're always 16, 17, 18. You might be getting older, but it's kind of nice to always be having a fresh group of kids coming in. But they're young, they're energetic and you're kind of in tune. You need to be in tune with that group in that generation. So I think it keeps you young. So that is what would fuel me. How about you?
- [32:31]
A
You know, I definitely will piggyback on that. You know, getting the kids, all the kids back on campus was always great. And then I'll also, I'll also note like getting everyone else that wasn't a 12 month employee back on campus, you know, your colleagues, that Maybe they were 10, 11 month and they, they were truly off and they were nowhere to be found during the summer. You see them start coming back, you're catching up, seeing how they've been, how their families are doing. I thought that was great. I also enjoyed it. We had a very good group of ads that I was fortunate enough to work with in the league that we were in. And we would hold monthly meetings and the start of the year we would have one and we'd be catching up, seeing how everyone's doing. But I would definitely put at the top of the list kids coming back, kids that you would develop relationships with over the years, new batch of kids coming in and then the, the piece about keeping you young. That makes me laugh every time because it certainly did, it did keep you young. I, I have so many times where like I'd be talking with friends and they're like, I don't know what my kid's talking about. Like, oh, that's this. How do you know that? I'm like, I'm around them all the time you learn things, you know, you. And that was always the most fun for me was being able to see the kids thrive in their environment and grow. It was just the, the beginning of the school year was always an exciting time. But I will definitely agree with you. We were near the end of May, early June, when we would get out, and you became like a workhorse that saw the barn, and you're like, all right, let's get there. But then it allowed you to regroup, recharge, and then you'd have that renewed excitement for the start of the school year. So completely agree with you.
- [33:59]
B
Awesome.
- [34:02]
A
All right, Well, I think that's going to wrap this, this episode for us, Scott. Always fun catching up with you and kind of getting your perspective on things. Anything in closing?
- [34:12]
B
No, I would say plan early, be diligent, create handbooks, create checklists, have fun, don't stress too much, and get ready.
- [34:26]
A
Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, folks, if you liked what you heard today, please stay tuned for future episodes. We got a few episodes that we have coming out this summer that are going to be talking about evaluating your fan engagement, evolution of coaching, analytic platforms, official shortages in high school sports, and many more topics. So certainly look forward to covering those with you, Scott.
- [34:49]
B
I do as well, man. Enjoy the rest of summer. We'll talk.
- [34:53]
A
All right, folks. And also lastly, make sure you follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast from so you don't miss new episodes. In closing, from A.D. 360, I'm Greg Vandermade.
- [35:04]
B
Scott Rosenberg, until next time,