← Youth Inc. with Greg Olsen
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- [00:00]
A
Youth sports in America are at a crossroads and I'm here to help lead the conversation forward. I'm Greg Olson. Each week we're sitting down with top athletes, coaches and more to talk about what's working, what's broken and what's next. Welcome to you think. What's up everybody? Welcome back to another episode here on you think. Super stoked for today's episode. One of the all time greatest NFL players two sports star at the University of Georgia hall of fame, gold jacket wearing a guy that I was not overly excited when our paths would cross. I knew it would be a tough day for the, for the young kid trying to get open in that secondary. But one of the all time NFL greats does so much in the pos in the coaching landscape with youth across all areas. But Champ Bailey, can't thank you enough for joining us here on you think.
- [00:50]
B
Well, thanks Greg for having me, man. I, I've been watching you. You've been doing your thing. Keep it up, bro. Keep it up. Looking forward to this conversation.
- [00:59]
A
Appreciate it. You know, I want to, I want to dive into something that I know is important to you and I think it's a great kind of springboard into what we do here at you think and the conversations that we have with our guests. And I want to talk a little bit about the positive athlete, the program that you got that you're heavily involved in and trying to promote, you know, the types of coaches that we need, mentorship, leadership and encouraging kids that yes, sports can be a great vehicle for professional and college opportunities, but it's also just a great vehicle for, for life. So I just want to give you an opportunity to talk about the work that you're doing because it's very closely aligned with what we tried to do here at you think.
- [01:35]
B
Right. You know, so to give you some context and background, they've been around for over 10 years and, but they were hyper local. You know, here in Georgia and western pa they did some work with Hans Ward back in the day. And technically what they do is reward high school athletes and it's not your typical reward for, you know, the, the guy stuffing the stat sheet, you know, the high point guy in basketball, the touchdown scoring foot. It's not about rewarding those things. It's about what they do in the community, the type of person they are, the character, you know, the leadership qualities, you know, the perseverance, you know. So some of the stories you hear from athletes across the country are so inspiring, so compelling. But what, what you realize when you, when you get on the other side of the game, like myself and yourself, what you realize is the things that sports taught you is what really matters, you know, and all the character traits you develop, all the things you learn about leadership and perseverance and being a community oriented person and, you know, leading by example. I learned that through sports personally, and most people would vouch for that, you know, that played sports, especially at a high level. Now these high school athletes, they're doing the work, but it's now highlighting the importance of what they're doing and helping them understand that sports is not your identity, it's part of what you do and it shapes your character, it helps with that. But ultimately all those things are intrinsic. It just needs to be tapped into more and more. And that's exactly what we do here. We reward guys, girls and boys, you know, playing all sports, which was very appealing to me. Typically, people approach me about connecting with football players, right? And you know, I found a way now, partnering with Partner positive athlete to connect with all athletes at the high school level. So we give them scholarships, we recognize, you know, the things that they've overcome, you know, who they are to their team. But we empower the GMs, the parents, the athletic directors, everybody that surround these kids that are pouring into them with the opportunity to recognize these individuals. There's no limit on how many people you can nominate. You know, as an adult, you can go nominate 20 kids, 30 kids, it doesn't matter. The idea is to at least recognize what's really important, the work that they're doing, whether they're the best player on the field or not. And that was very important to me because when I look back at my career, it's not more about how well I was. It was just that I was a good, team oriented guy that led by example. Those are the things that matters now that I'm in business. And there's a lot of corporations that want talented young people like these high school athletes. And we're trying to sort of bridge that gap and connect them to opportunities, but also tap into what's really important and highlighting those things as we go and we build these connections with them. It's been great so far. You know, we've nominated thousands of kids. Last year. We're on track to nominate thousands and thousands more than last year. So I'm looking forward to seeing where we are. We're in the middle of the nomination process, so people can nominate kids as we sit here, any kid at the high school level, nine through 12, boy and girl, if they're doing the right work, the right way, let's honor them, let's recognize them and really put them on the path to success.
- [05:18]
A
I love it. It's so well said and such an important conversation to have and maybe a conversation that is lost on a lot of these young kids. So I spent a lot of time working with over at our kids school. It's A K through 12 school. We coach the middle school team because that's how old my boys are. But we spent a lot of time with the high school kids. So obviously we're talking college and recruitment and all the elements that now that go into being a high school athlete, boy or girl. And one of the things that I find sometimes fall on deaf ears. And it's so important for them to hear it from a guy like you, a Hall of Famer, so highly accomplished. Because all the conversations are my yards, my stats, I got to get mine, my highlight tapes, you know. Yeah, the team won or lost, but I'm only looking at it through the lens of my own personal goals because my only goal in all of this is to get a scholarship or to be a pro or, you know, they have all these individual. And I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that. The messaging though, and everything you just said is so important because the messaging to get them to realize like high tide raises all ships, man. Like if you are a great teammate and you are selfless of others and you do work hard and you do all those things, it's funny how those guys tend to have a lot of success. But when you approach it backwards, eventually your talent is only going to take you so far. And we used to see it with guys in the locker room. I'm sure you had teammates. We're like, yeah, he's a great player. But the second that talent starts to go down a little bit, I don't want them around. So it's just so important that we continue to teach these kids at a young age how valuable these life, these life lessons and these core values will be as they get older. Because these sports aren't going to last forever for them.
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B
Yeah. Fortunate enough for me, I played a long time. Right. Like I had a great career. Yeah, same like, because I was one of those.
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A
But that's not the norm.
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B
That's not the norm, exactly. I was one of those kids that didn't pay attention to that. But when I look back and I think about all the opportunities that come about now, it really has nothing to do with What I did on the field, it's more about the way I made people feel when they were around me, you know, the fact that they didn't hear a lot of negative things about me throughout my career, it was. It always came back to my character. It always came back to things that mattered most in corporate America and everyday life, not the game itself. So I'm always harping on, man, those relationships and bridges you build, don't burn them along the way, thinking you're going to go to the next level. Even if you do, there's always another side like you're going to. At some point, we all hang up the cleats, so to speak.
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A
Right?
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B
We all do it.
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A
Yes.
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B
The timing is always out of our hands. We don't really know when it's going to come. There's less than 1% of us in this world that can dictate when they retire from the game. So it's few and far between to have people play a long career. But I think understanding what you're building and learning throughout your career in sports, whether it's at the high school level, college or pro, it's going to resonate and it's transferable skills to whatever you try to do after the game, period.
- [08:37]
A
So well said. And we need to bottle that and just like, send it out to the universe and get all these kids to understand it. I want to go back a little bit. So I want to go back to your early days and, you know, we all know you as the hall of Fame player, but I want to go back to the beginning, the roots, and just get some context and some background of, like, what's built you up into this point. So. Born in Kentucky, raised in Georgia, eventually a multi SP star at the University of Georgia. I know one thing guys that go to Georgia have. I thought Miami guys had a lot of pride, and we do. Georgia guys are unlike. Are unlike anybody I played with. You know, Thomas Davis and Charles Johnson, a ton of Georgia dudes, man, they. That Georgia Red, it is deep. So take us back, give us an idea. Your childhood playing multiple sports, excelling, like, who were those people in your early life that really got you on the right path to, you know, achieve everything? Eventually? Obviously a whole of fame career.
- [09:34]
B
Yeah. Fortunately for me, I grew up in a small town, so every. When you were good at something, especially football, people took notice. And football was sort of a religion in my hometown. Now, the best thing that happened to me, maybe two things. One thing was I saw a guy named Henry McMillan go to Florida get drafted and have a chance to play in the pros, that just let me know, like, a guy from Folkestone, where I was from, could do it. But then shortly after that, my older brother Ron is three years older than me, so the fact that he got a full scholarship to Georgia, he started as a sophomore. I could see these things happening to somebody that was in my house. So those inspirational stories let me believe that I could actually do it. There was nothing else in my hometown that made me think that I could go to the next level. It just hadn't happened. So when I actually could see it happening in real time, it gave me the hope or the confidence to know that I could do it. And that's priceless to me, because anytime somebody that looks like you or comes from where you're from, when they do extraordinary things, it gives you that hope that you could do it. And that's all I needed. I had the talent, but I tell people all the time I wasn't the most talented guy from my hometown. There were so many different ways that you could fall off and not continue on the path to greatness because of where I was from, the lack of resources, the lack of visibility, it just wasn't there. There was no social media. So the only thing that I needed was people, you know, getting the right people in front of me to see me perform. And I give a lot of credit to those two individuals, Henry McMillan and my older brother Ron.
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A
They really fond. Right.
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B
Well, Ron is. No, Ron Boss is my younger brother.
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A
Okay. Okay. I just want to make sure, because I remember watching Boss.
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B
Yes.
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A
And he was.
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B
You more in line with Boss's group.
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A
Yeah. Okay. I just want to make sure I had the right brothers. Okay.
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B
Yeah. Trust me. It trickled down to him, too.
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A
So he was awesome.
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B
Yeah, he was. He was. And he'll tell you the same thing if he didn't have older brothers and other inspirations doing it and guys in his class pushing him. Because now the more we did it, the more the people come behind you believe they could do it. And that's really what it was all about. Those people setting the example of what it took to get to the next level. And I just followed those footsteps. And fortunately for me, I had a high school coach that really pushed us. There was no practice harder than what I had in high school. Even in college, even in the pros, there was nothing harder than high school. So tell us about it.
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A
Tell me about it. Because my dad was my high school coach, and I look back on that, that Shit was hard. It was old school. In your face, aggressive work ethic. I mean all of it. That. My dad was a high school football coach where me and all. I had two brothers as well. All three of us played college ball. Like my dad was like that kind of. So give us an idea. Like what was your. Because kids don't know hard. High school practice thermometers. If it gets too hot, we gotta stop. We're taking off our pads. You almost can't practice high school football in this. I live in Charlotte, so, like in the South, I look around, I say, guys, we're playing football in the South. I can't practice in 90 degrees. But when the game on Friday nights, 95. They don't cancel the game.
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B
They don't cancel it.
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A
Yeah, but they cancel practice.
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B
I'm seeing that now. Like they will stop practicing. Helmet off. We got to have a 10 minute break.
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A
We have to go in the gym.
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B
Yeah, everything going to gym. If it's too hot, I mean anything.
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A
Football in the south, guess what. It's hot.
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B
Yeah, it's hot.
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A
It's hot. Always tell me about high school. I want to hear about your high school.
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B
Okay, so this is the days of 3A days. So the week. I think we might have had a week before camp. I can't remember the timing. No, it was actually. We went straight to camp. Yeah. We would wake up in the morning, 5am practice, come back in the afternoon. Right after lunch. Right before lunch practice, go back, take a nap, come back for the evening practice. We would do that for a whole week, three a days. So you're thinking about 15 practices.
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A
We did that. Yep.
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B
It was insane. And there was no heat advisory. There was none of that.
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A
No one's doing your laundry. Your jersey's still wet.
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B
Oh, scheduled water breaks. Nobody's doing laundry. You're right. So the socks that got wet from all the dew in the morning, you had to hang them on the fence and hope they drive out of next practice. That was it. And you talk about stinking. I mean, just unsanitized environment.
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A
Drinking out of a hose.
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B
Drinking out of a hose. Yeah. Yeah. I think at some point during my high school career they started poking holes in the pipe. So we want people to get water.
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A
So we had like a pvc. We used to call it a water tree. And one of the dads built it and they plugged the hose in, they popped holes and it would just like spray water out and you would just be up there like sideways drinking.
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B
And you couldn't go get the water when you wanted it. You had to wait until the. The break was a water break so you could get water.
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A
You weren't taking a drink in between reps. Oh, yeah, yeah.
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B
That's the only time you could take your helmet off.
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A
Like, that's the best.
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B
Just crazy. Insane rules now. One of the craziest things I think my coach would do in that evening practice, we will run six full gassers before practice. Now think about that. Over, back, over, back six times, and then go practice. So we were battle tested. That's why I say there was nothing like high school from college to pro. It was easy. When I got to college, I was like, this is it, this is it. And, you know, I would hear my brother talk about things, but I had a new head coach who sort of changed a lot. So he came in trying to win players over. He was a little more lenient. My timing was perfect because Coach Donegan just. He let me do whatever I wanted, you know, as a young athlete. And I don't. I don't mean in a bad way. He just let me run track. He let me. Yeah, he let me play offense, you know, so. So there was a lot of grace there for me personally that I. I definitely took advantage of. But the practices was nothing. It was. It was just complete night and day from what I did in high school.
- [16:31]
A
What's up, guys? Do you want custom fanware, like this cricket shirt? For Charlotte Christian School? We've got premium apparel from your favorite brands. The best part about it is I don't have to just wear it to Charlotte Christian's events. I can wear it to golf. I can wear it to lunch. It's turned into my uniform. Go right now over to Youth Inc. Sign up for our newsletter. It talks about our podcast for that week, our interview guests, all the breaking news across the landscape of youth sports. And you can win one piece of merch for your school by going to sign up today. And remember, it's not dot com, it's youth dot Inc. Now back to our episode. I want to talk about your brothers for a little bit. You know, so obviously I. In my era, your brother, boss. Like, we all remember him. We all. I can envision him playing still. And obviously, obviously, he was known as, you know, champ's little brother and whatnot. But, like, talk about just growing up, the competitiveness. A lot of our listeners ask us, like, whether it's parenting, whether it's just relationships among siblings, like, what was the level of competition balanced with the level of support, like, Me and my brothers, we fought each other and everything, but then we were always on the same team to try to beat you. Like, if we were on the same team, we're like, you can never beat us if we're together. But then we would fight the shit out of each other on our own. Like, tell us about you and your brothers and just that dynamic growing up.
- [17:51]
B
So to give you some little context here, my older brother Ron is three years older than me. I'm 16 months older than Boss, so we're very close. So we grew up people thinking we're twins, and he was bigger than me. Well, we were about the same size when we were kids, but he obviously got bigger as he got older. So we were. We pushed each other more than anything, but at the same time, we competed. But it wasn't. It wasn't the way you probably think a typical brother would, you know, fight and go at each other. There was not a lot of that. There were some moments, but it was more when we left the house, we were one. Like, that's how we operated. And fortunate enough, for us, it worked to our advantage. Now, my older brother, we were more similar in size. So when Ron got to college, you know, he red shirt as a freshman, and he played a little as a red shirt freshman. Then he started as a. As a. As a sophomore, junior. And then when I got to college, I didn't. That's the first time I realized, oh, I'm better than my older brother. That was the first time. Now, I think people would look back and say, yeah, you were better than him. We do it like, no, y' all gotta understand. I put him on a pedestal. Of course, I didn't realize it until we actually got in the same room around other guys from around the country on our team. So when I didn't realize that then, now Boss, he was different because he got bigger, and he was still just as fast, just as explosive. He was a great hurdler at high school. So all that to say we just pushed each other. Because I feel like whatever my brother. Older brother did, I wanted to do it better. And whatever I did, Boss tried to do it just as good or better. Like, so it was more about pushing each other and just kind of raising the bar. And it was subtle. It wasn't like we had conversations about it. We were just athletes and sports junkies. We didn't know any better. We were just trying to do the best we can. And again, I reflect on. I wasn't the best athlete. I was one of the top Athletes in my hometown. But, man, I could name probably about four or five guys, and I'm like, if they would have stayed on the right path, they could have done exactly what I did, because they were just as good.
- [20:12]
A
I tell that to everybody. People are like, what about your career? I said the best thing that ever happened to me was going to the University of Miami. I grew up in the Northeast. I grew up in a suburb of New Jersey. And we played good football. I mean, it was typical local suburban. I know it was not Miami. And when I got down to campus there and, and, and back then, remember, like, again, I'm a little younger than you, but, like, in our day, you played pretty much in your area. Like, we didn't travel to California and to Texas and to Florida. We might have played a team from, like, Connecticut or New York, but that was about as far as we went. So I had never witnessed South Florida football. I had never witnessed football in the South. And when I went to college and realized, like, okay, there's like, as my kids say, there's levels to this. Yeah, there, there. I realized really quickly that there was levels to this. But I say all of that to the point where I've never been the best athlete in the room since I was 18 years old. Like, that shit ended after high school. So, like, I had to find a way if I was going to beat some of these guys out, if I was ever going to get open in practice when the secondary is Sean Taylor and Antrell and Kelly Jennings and first round pick, first round pick. I better find a different way because you're not going to run and jump over the top. So, like, there's such an element of when you aren't the best athlete and you're not the most gifted. There's almost like a survival mentality that comes in that I just think is so healthy for kids. But it kind of goes into another point of it. Like, we don't put young kids anymore in these difficult positions. If you're not the best player on your team or at your high school, we just put you at a different school. And I think they're missing so much of that growth that you're talking about.
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B
Yeah, without a doubt. I think those environments, it really exposes who you are. And, you know, there's no better judge than your peers and no better inspiration than the people you see doing the same things you're doing. And I think those environments are just underrated. I often refer to a locker room or a team, especially football, ultimate team sport. If Everything was run and highly scrutinized, like a locker room or a football team. Nothing will fall through these cracks because I think about all the moments, because when I, when I retired and I try to figure out what businesses I want to get involved with, you know, I meet people here and there, and then you start realizing there's a disconnect. There's really no real team values among people in this real world. I'm like, man, this would never fly in a locker room. Like, it just wouldn't. Because at the end of the day, the results are gonna be a reflection of your work. You know, no doubt how you get through stuff, the daily habits, you know, the debriefing, you know, all the things like all the film watching. Nobody's doing that when they review their work and their team's work. So when you take that out of it, you tend to not have success. But that's why good teams are good, because the detailed work in the process to get there, it happens in sports more than anything else in this world. And that's why I feel like, I always felt like athletes are more prepared for anything because of the highly scrutinized environment that they're in and the level of detail that goes into whatever you're trying to accomplish, whether it's winning a football game, basketball, you know, golf, anything. It's. You have to be so dialed in. And I think the more, the more you can keep kids in that environment and have them understand that what they're learning is valuable to everything that they want to do or anything they're trying to do it. It'll start resonating with everybody around them to keep pushing them and keep them in those environments so they can tap into what really matters.
- [24:23]
A
Everything you're saying is so aligned with the message that we try to get out here. So this is just so fitting. We always try to say if, like the purpose of youth sports and sports in general was to create professional athletes, we should just disband these, that not enough kids, it wouldn't be worthwhile. But if we can pull out all of the values acquired and learned along the way, and then when those sports are done, which for most kids is like high school, think about all the time left, everything you're saying about long term vision and success after sports, like, yeah, and for you're finding this success and you had a hall of fame career. But how about the kid that needs to start entering the workforce at 21 years old after he graduates college, that's.
- [25:06]
B
Also right up or right after high school now is. Yeah, because the four year college is, it's not for everybody. And I think, you know, people understanding that there's so many trades and professions out there, out here that are untapped, underserved, you know, and undervalued in a way. But when you look at what's, where the jobs are going and, and all the different areas where you can really tap into, it's an abundance of things and, and I think that's the narrative that you know, especially from a next level perspective that people are trying to change. Like what it really means to go to secondary school after high school, what that means, you know, whether it's a tech school or four year college, there's so many options now. It just needs to be more visible and understood from these kids. Like there's so many options for you. And if you're an athlete, man, you already got a leg up on everybody.
- [26:03]
A
Oh, it's the best, it's the best advantage you could do. Get into a school you otherwise couldn't get into a job, get into an interview. It opens so many doors. Well, Champ, I think your voice in all of this, I think the work that you're doing with Positive Athlete, the, the message that you're conveying, it just so powerful from someone with your athletic resume. Right. It's, it's one thing to have your mom and dad tell you and it's one thing to have the guy down the street, the local youth coach, but for someone that has accomplished all you have at the highest level to go out and share these messages. I know our listeners are the people who follow us here. You think like this is going to be such an impactful message that they can bring to their son or daughter and say hey, here's a guy that's accomplished everything in the world at his sport and listen to what he's telling you about the rest of your life, I think that's going to really be a huge resource for us on you think so I can't thank you enough for joining us. Thanks for everything that you do and I'm going to, I'll be, we'll have you back on. We'll keep the conversation going without a doubt.
- [27:03]
B
I'll leave with this. Let's, let's make sure every parent, coach, you know, anybody that knows really good young athletes 9th through 12th grade, go to positiveathlete.org let's nominate these kids. Let's get them in the system. We have an app where they could get on there and they can see modules of different athletes saying inspirational things. And, you know, it's just tapping into what's important. And the more we can get these kids visible and highlight what's important in life, the more success we're going to see out of these young people.
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A
Love it.
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B
That's what it's all about.
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A
Thanks so much, champ. Appreciate you, ma'. Am.
- [27:40]
B
Thank you. Thank you.