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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. Shane, I do want to ask you something. Yeah. So you're at. I walk into the gym at pd and you're coaching varsity basketball. Like, give me your role. Like, give me. Are you loud? Are you the guy in the corner? Are you in? Like, are you. Like, what are. Give me an idea of what kind of a youth coach are you?
- [00:34]
B
You know, that's a great question. I like to be someone who's always under control, okay? So Coach K said his best trait, and Coach K was a madman, but he said, when the. When the pressure is the highest, I want to be the calmest person in the gym, okay? And because that gives your team amazing strength, so I took that to heart. And so as a player, I was always very calm and things were hairy. So I try to take a calmness to the court. I am, like, a stickler for, like, fundamentals. Okay. And so it drives me crazy that most kids today don't know the proper angle to screen. Okay. They don't know the footwork to post up. They don't know how to. How to do a simple post pass, fake a pass, make a pass. Right, right. And so I find myself, you know, really, really trying to get back to the basics of. Of, like, what wins. And I tell these guys, like, trust me, trust me, this is what I did. I did against Carmelo Anthony, okay? If it worked against Carmelo Anthony, and it's not fancy, but you got to do it this way. And if you don't, you know, good luck and God bless. And so, you know, most of the time, I think my guys listen to me. Every now and then, they give me the stink eye. Like, I don't. Not.
- [01:45]
C
I don't.
- [01:45]
B
I don't think I'd say. I'm like, no, dude, trust me, you.
- [01:48]
A
Coach said, trust me, you, coach told me I didn't have to do that, coach.
- [01:52]
B
Exactly, exactly, exactly. So I tried to be the voice.
- [01:57]
A
Of.
- [01:59]
B
I guess, reason, and we have a great staff that is very collaborative. And so I just try to give them things. I know that maybe high school kids will struggle with another team. I try to teach them about habits. I had so many great coaches talk to me about habits and just doing the simple things every single time. Keep it simple, Keep it simple. Keep it simple. Keep it simple, you know, because I'm sure you deal with this every day with your kids. All they see is spectacular and fancy and the one handed grabs and all the crazy plays. And we all know that, you know, the basics win, the basics win. And the elimination of mistakes is what actually wins you games. And try to tell them if you win, you will get your shine, you will get your social media love, you'll get your Instagram posts, you know, but you gotta win and you win by being simple. And that's probably the most frustrating message that it's hard to get across to young kids today. Just keep it simple. Stupid.
- [02:59]
A
Yeah. So Alex, you would love this like the most stressful part but the best part about like coaching football with the young kids.
- [03:07]
C
Yep.
- [03:07]
A
Is all so many of the teams we're going to play against, like especially at the middle school, but even in high school football everybody is like a, my dad says like everybody's been to too many clinics. Like that's like my dad's like old school way of saying he's like all these guys want to talk like it's a clinic and we're in elaborate coverages and we're gonna change strengths and we're gonna play to the boundary like offensive for. And they all like want to over complicate it. Scheme, scheme, scheme, scheme. But I'll tell you what, what we, the last couple years, man, like we spend 99 of our time with the young kids like on defense. Say like we are going to set edges, we are going to understand gap control, we're going to be in great stances, we are going to play in great leverage and like we're going to teach him how to tackle, we're going to teach him which hip to tackle. We're not just trying to tackle the guy with the ball, we're trying to tackle half of him and like dude, the advantage you can gain. So like Shane saying this about basketball, which obviously I don't know as well but like it's all the same. Yeah. The advantage you can gain in youth football by just teaching kids how to get in a good stance, get in good alignment, understanding what their gaps are, understanding which foot to step with, where to put their hat, all those things that we all take for granted. You'll win 95% of your games if you just focus on that. I don't care what play you drop. And it's, it's such a lost art in youth sports nowadays because all the people that we talk to on you think, you know we had Tony Vitalo, and. Which was interesting because he had just left after we talked to him from Tennessee to go take the job with the Giants. Baseball, basketball, football, like, at the youth level, it's games, it's highlights, it's flash, it's plays, it's scheme. And there's such little technique, fundamental habits. How do we warm up? How do we do layup lines? How do we do in and out in baseball? How do we do Pat and go in football? Like, no one spends any time on that. And I think if people realized how much that would move the needle, they'd be shocked.
- [05:07]
C
Well, yeah, I mean, Shane, you talked about, like, being calm in the biggest moments. Like, I think that's the hardest part in flipping it to what you're saying. Greg is like, as a coach, I think, not having as much control in the game. Like, I was so used to those same big moments, like, you're the quarterback. Like, it was actually much easier to be calm because I knew I had. I had more influence over, like, the outcome. Right? Like, again, like, I was out there with the ball in my hands. And then as a coach, I think it's like, it's being comfortable letting go of that. And I think what most people do is do it. Exactly. What you're saying is, like, over coach, right? And it's. I. I've even, you know, like, found it sometimes. Like, you. You feel like you got to do more. Like, I got to come up with this elaborate scheme or come up with this crazy play, right? And I can't just. You know what I'm saying? Like, you can't just keep it simple, Shane, to your point, right? Like, you can't just coach leverage and, And, And. And stance and position. Do you know what I'm saying? Like, we. Where are your eyes? Right? Like, again, those, like, little discipline things. Cause you almost sometimes feel like, well, guy, I gotta be doing more, right? And I think sometimes the hard part, the instances when I've been out there, like, you'll have, like, even this will be like, my son's flag football game, and you'll have, like, four coaches on the sideline all screaming at nine kids. And they're all, you know, it's a thousand pieces of advice, and it's like.
- [06:23]
A
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
- [06:24]
C
Like, this is just chaos, and no one's digesting any of this, and it's not helping us, right?
- [06:28]
B
Like, you know, wouldn't you agree, though, that most people would be shocked at how often your coaches in film and in practice talk about like the most basic plays, right? Like setting the edge, right? And like so much like we didn't talk about fancy stuff in film. You talk about like screening angles, right? You talk about, you know, passing angles, right? You're talking about balance, you know, like this most unsexy things and like the most sexy sports that, you know. No one has any idea that it's always about basics, right?
- [07:04]
C
Great. Yeah, great. I told these guys this story. Like, Shane, I don't think you could be more right because like, you know this like in the NFL, I think people would be shocked sometimes if they heard like the coaching that goes on. And I would always tell the story, like my first several years in the league, like if I threw a slant and the ball was behind the receiver, the coaching point was like, get it out in front, right? And like if I threw a ball high, it was like, get it down, you know, and it's like, no, like, you know what I'm saying? Like I, like I, I knew it before you and that's not helping me either. And then I'll never forget like when I went to Kansas City and Jim Harbaugh had the same thing. But when I got to Kansas City with Andy, it like really magnified. And I've said this about him, like, I think he would have been the greatest high school gym coach maybe ever. Like that he could coach any sport, like any position, but he was the first guy. Like I would throw a ball high and he'd be like, well, like Shane's point, he'd be like, well, look at your, look at your stance. Like, I think you were a little wide here and, and I think maybe you, you had, you took like a little too big of a stride and so maybe we get a little more knee bend and just kind of like get in that natural athletic position, you know what I'm saying? Or like maybe you were a little tall here and stiff and like it was it to Shane's point, it was like, literally it would be like coaching points you would give to a 8 year old. Right?
- [08:15]
A
And again it actually, yeah, every level of coaching is the exact same that Luke and I are yelling at the kids when we're trying to coach seventh and eighth grade Defense is the exact same coaching points the good coaches are trying to give Pro Bowlers.
- [08:32]
B
Yep.
- [08:32]
A
It's all the same. We got to get lined up, we got to communicate. You're not saying in your gap, your eyes are in the wrong spot, you. And the point about like yelling, because my play style as a player and my coaching style are very different. When I was a player, I was, like, not an emotional player. I mean, I would get excited every now and then, but, like, wasn't a celebrator, wasn't a yell, and screamer wasn't gonna give, like, big emotion, you know, big catch. I wasn't gonna get up and, like, flex and scream. Like, I just was not an emotional player. Like, I was pretty level throughout the entire game, mostly because I was exhausted. But as a coach, I'm way more emotional. I'm way more demonstrative. There's a lot more communication, a lot more talking. But what I've learned is, like, you can be loud and you can be boisterous, but you have to give them solutions. You have to give them. It can't just be. We gotta tackle better. You missed that tackle. Tackle them like, you know, go get them. Go get them. Yeah. What? I don't know, Coach. I'm trying, but, like, I don't know what that means. So to your point, what I've learned is, like, when you are yelling instruction, it's gotta be very specific. Alex, Alex, you're tackling the wrong hip. You have the inside hip like that. They can compute, you know, Shane, you are the edge player. Stay outside. That's not your tackle to make in there. Like, that they can digest. So, like, you have to be very purposeful what you are yelling out. Because if you're just yelling, come on, defense, stop them. You've got to be better. You've got to know, rebound.
- [10:10]
B
You got to rebound the basketball.
- [10:12]
A
Yeah, somebody grab it, grab it. Don't turn the ball over. Yeah, right, but, like, I'm wrong side of help defense on the backside. So I'm not in. I'm not in position for the long rebound. Like, help me. Where's my space? Where's my positioning on the court? Like, give them solutions. Yeah, you can be loud. Some people are quiet. Some people. There's a lot of ways to deliver the message, but you got to give them a message that they can process, digest, and they know exactly what you're talking about. Because it's the same language you use in film. It's the same language you use an individual. It's the same language you use in practice. And then it has to be the same language on game day so that everyone understands exactly what point is being is trying to be made.
- [10:56]
C
Is. Is Luke Kuechley still calling out plays from the sideline? Is he, like, calling out offensive plays?
- [11:02]
A
Dude, I mean, when we go and meet so we go meet. The season's over now, but, like, when we go meet on, like, Monday or Tuesday morning, we'll go meet for breakfast. Like, most Mondays, we'll meet for, like, breakfast or lunch just to get like, what's our defensive game plan for, you know, Wednesday or Thursday's game? He'll open up the same notebook he had when he was a player. It's one of those notebooks, when you open it on the left side is like, they have the center, two guards and two tackles. Like templates of formations in the boxes.
- [11:30]
C
Yeah.
- [11:30]
A
And then on the right, it's just like a notebook, like lined paper to, like, write notes down. It's the same notebook he had for his entire career that was filled with information, cues, reminders, tips. And he has that broken down for Providence Days middle school football team. And we're getting ready to play them, and it's like, hey, offset back when he's away to the boundary, it's going to be count. But like, and we sit there and we're like, all right, who's their best players? How do we take him away? What's our best way? And then we'll rip it up. We'll be like, there's no way we can get the kids to do this. What's the next best option? And. And, you know, it gets to the point where it's like, it's not what we know. Right. Like, it's what we can get the kids to know and execute in real time. So that's the fun process. But, yeah, he has notebooks of information. If I called him right now and said, hey, send me over what we played Providence Day. Send me over, you know, what notes we had on their running back and their quarterback and who their best lineman was and how we were going to defend. You know what? He would have reams of information of paper. And it played out exactly in the game the way we said Shane, this.
- [12:34]
C
Guy would call out plays like no other. I mean, it was, like, amazing. I mean, and he knew what was coming. Like, unbelievable player. It was ridiculous. There's a funny story about Luke. Greg. I've only been apologized to twice in six. I played 16 years in the NFL. Again, like, you get hit, you know, I don't even know how many thousands of times I've been. Apologies. I've been apologized to twice for getting hit too hard. One of them was Luke. Luke and Troy Palomalu are the two people that hit me so hard. Hit me so hard. They both apologized to me as they.
- [13:06]
A
Helped me up well, that was Luke. He would kill you. He was an absolute sociopath, serial killer. And then the second the play was over, he would, like, go get you your water bottle. If you dropped your towel, he would pick it up. Like, Luke would be. Like, Luke had made his fifth Pro Bowl. He was rookie of the year and defensive player of the year. And, like, you'd walk into the cafeteria, and he's, like, taking the trash out, and he's, like, wiping down the tables for the lunch ladies. And we're like. And it got to the point where just, like, that's Luke. Like, it's just who he is. He is the nicest, kindest, selfless guy you'll ever meet, but he's also, like, in just incredibly violent and played hard and competitive. His on the field, off the field contrast might be the biggest of any guy I've ever been around.
- [13:57]
C
Great.
- [13:58]
A
He was a killer. Like, violent, competitive killer. And then the second the game is over, he's. He's cleaning up the locker room and, like, throwing everybody's tape in the garbage can.
- [14:10]
B
Glue guy. Glue guy. Real.
- [14:12]
A
He would be a great glue guy. He. I mean, now he was like a. He's gonna be a Hall of Famer.
- [14:18]
B
Yes.
- [14:19]
A
But, like, yeah, he was a glue guy from, like, a culture standpoint. No question.
- [14:24]
C
Greg, to flip it to you again, your team that, again, you coach with. With Luke and Jonathan and your dad, and I'm so fascinated by this because I think obviously a lot of youth sports, especially in that zone, that middle school zone, you know, it's different. Some kids hitting puberty, some not. There are different levels. But, like, what are the things that you stand for, like, as a program? Like, what. What are the core things you're trying to get done? Obviously, being competitive and winning is a part of this, and it's a balance. But is it the priority? Right. You're dealing with parents and kids want to win inherently. Right. Like, these are kids that are competitive. But, like, how. When you think about building this program, building the culture, the things you're trying to communicate and. Or teach, you know? And again, outside of, obviously, the fundamentals of football, but, like, how do you view that? Like, again, are those things that you guys talk about as a staff?
- [15:11]
A
Yeah, we talk about it with the kids ad nauseum. We preach it to the. We preach it to the kids. We preach it before and after practice. It's ingrained in everything we do. Like, we communicate it to the parents at the meeting in the spring before you ever come out for our team. In the summer. The things we have a few core like philosophies but like the way we value winning and the way we present it to the families and the way we ingrain it is. We always talk about winning as being a byproduct of everything that we do. We are gonna win a lot of games. We don't ever set the goal of the season, good or bad, based and determine based on the amount of games that we win. We could, we could win a game and we're not happy after the game and our post game huddle and we're gonna let these kids know it. And there's been games where we haven't always won. I mean we've won most of our, we've won 15 in a row in middle school football but in other sports we've lost. But my point is like winning is a byproduct of everything we do, right? So it's a byproduct of let's get out here on time after school. It's a byproduct of when we have summer workouts all summer long. You're expected to be here at 8 in the morning. And yes, it's a sacrifice and yes, we're asking a lot of you guys but like this is what it takes. And we are going to do from how we weight train to how we act in the classroom, to how we practice, our practice habits, the way we respond to coaching, the way we respond to our teammates. Like we are going to hyper focus on everything we do from which foot we step with to how we warm up, to how we coach our warmup, first practice, first off season workout. We coach our work, our warmup. And this is the warmup we use before a walkthrough. You it's the warmup we use before a summer workout and it's the walkthrough before the championship game at the end of the season. It never changes. We coach that like we try to implement as many positive habits along the entire season and along the entire year leading up that once it gets to the scoreboard, 99% of the time that scoreboard is going to go in our favor. If we do all of these things leading up to it and we just beat them over the head with that approach. We tell that we've said it, the kids are probably tired of hearing it. We don't coach the scoreboard when that game's 30 to nothing. Get ready to be coached even harder than you've ever coached because I can't let you all of a sudden Tackle the wrong hip and step with the wrong foot. But, coach, it's 38 nothing. Yeah. And then next week, I got to spend all week undoing all these bad habits, and the next game's not going to be 38 nothing. And that bad step is going to get us beat. So, like, it's about process. It's about all the shit that we all would roll our eyes about. And you heard in these coaches, it sounds like coach speak, man. That's just what it takes. Like, there is no other way. It's work. We really stress compete. Like, compete is at the corner of everything we do. We break it down every practice, every weight room session, we're going to compete. We're going to compete with ourselves. We're going to compete at practice with our teammates. We. We are going to be incredibly violent. We are going to be physical. We teach a very physical, violent brand of young football. And a lot of teams are not used to it. A lot of teams are very uncomfortable with it. They spend the whole summer doing seven on seven, and they're in shotgun, four and five wide. And we say, okay, but when you play us, we are going to within the confines of the rules. And we're not cheap, we're not dirty. We have. But we are going to be incredibly violent with how we tackle and how we strike and. And how we dislodge the ball. Like, all of the elements of the game that we all know and love. Like, we're going to teach that at the young age. So, like, we stress all those things, and we've had a lot of success. We've got good players, but we also are going to play a brand that maybe other kids at this age are just not really either being coached to play or they're not willing to play it yet.
- [19:05]
C
This is like Bill Walsh right here. The score takes care of itself.
- [19:08]
A
Score takes care of itself. And you know what? It's even especially true at the young age because, man, I could give you story after story. We did two years of Pop Warner. We went down to Florida with a bunch of fifth graders a couple years ago for the Pop Warner national title. And we got our doors blown off by a team from Pennsylvania, but we beat a team from California, and then we got our doors blown off. They were just better than us. But, like, we've seen it now at different ages along the way. If you just pour into these kids a level of, like, discipline and fundamentals and violence and physicality, like, how far they throw the ball, how fast they run, how tall they are like, it doesn't matter. That's all going to come out in the wash over the next four years. The big kids now are not going to be the big kids. The small kids now are going to be the big kids. It just, it all at this young age. Like, the physical journey is not nearly over. So we don't even worry about that. Like, we just pour into all the shit that takes no skill, takes no size, no strength. And then if you do that year over year and you stack it over time and then add the physical component to the sport, those kids have a chance to be really good high school and, you know, college, eventually. Players.
- [20:27]
C
How do you. Okay, are the parents responsive to this? And then I think on that flip note, like, this, this is tough coaching, right? Like, this is what this sounds like. This is again, like what we, we all grew up on, right? Like having kind of, you know, high standard coaching that was direct and hard, you know, But I think there's almost a day and it's even into high school sports now and especially college, though, like, in some ways those days are, are numbered, right? Like, because if you're, if you're a tough, direct coach and a kid's hearing something he doesn't want to hear, like, I mean, the culture today is like, I'm gonna get, I'm gonna go find a new school, you know, like, and again, I'm gonna leave, right? And so how do you again? And I don't, I don't think it's great. I, I was the same way. Like, I've talked about this all the time. Like Urban Meyer. I hated being in the same room with Urban Meyer for the first six months I was with him. I mean, it was so uncomfortable. He challenged you in every way. I did. I, I hated it. I hated it. But I look back and like, it obviously drastically changed my life, you know, and again, how lucky I was for it. But those days are gone. Like, I don't think he, I don't know if he could coach in college right now. Right. Like, I just, I don't know if it works. You know, telling a bunch of 18 and 19 year olds some stuff they don't want to hear. I think they'd be out of it. Yeah.
- [21:39]
A
Here's what I would hope and I would expect, maybe not to every single one. But we had, say, 50 kids on our team this year. My hope and expectation would be everyone always focuses on, like, is it hard? Yes. Are we demanding? Yes. Are we? Yes. But I think if you asked everyone of Those kids. Do these coaches love and care and pour into you? I think they would go, oh, my God, absolutely. So I think hard for the sake of hard and being mean is very different than high standards, high accountability from the. From the stance of like, I love you, I believe in you. You're better than what you're showing. Trust me. Like, from a level of trust and love, I'm going to pull out of you what you don't even think is possible. And then all of a sudden, they start seeing the growth. And once you have them there, you got them, you could tell them to jump over the school building and they'll do it. But in the beginning, it does. There is a defense mechanism, right? Because they're not accustomed to it. They're not. That's not how their baseball coach coaches them. That's not how they're basketball, you know, lacrosse, basketball, whatever. Like, so at the beginning, there. There is a little bit of like a what are we doing here? But very quickly, these kids realize we have nobody quit in two years. We haven't had anybody quit. Like, these kids love it. They just don't know it until you give it to them. Like, they want to be poured into. They want to have success. They want to be counted on. They want a role, they want to play. And it's like, all right, you want to play. This is what you need to do every single day. And if you're willing to do it, I'll do it with you. But if you're not willing to do it, you're going to stand on the sideline. And, man, when they start connecting the process to the end result and they walk off the field after a win and guys are telling them, great job, and man, they stand a little taller, they're a little prouder, their voice gets a little deeper. Like, you can just see them grow and expand and. Yeah. Does every parent love it? Probably not. In today's world, you're never going to make everyone happy. We over communicate to our families. We over communicate our message to the boys, to the families. You never wonder where you stand. You never wonder what Coach Olson thinks of you. Like, you know exactly the expectations, you know exactly your role. And if you want that role to grow, here's what you need to do. And if you don't do it, your role might shrink. And I think everyone goes, you know what? I know what I'm getting into. It's fair, it's even. Everyone is treated the same. And at the end of the day, these coaches love, eat, breathe, stress with these kids almost like to an unhealthy degree of how much we, like, live and die with their success and failures. And I think the parents go, you know what? The kid I got back six months later was a better version of my young son. I'm all in. That's what we do.
- [24:43]
B
How do you undo the damage that social media does to your team? So they go home and all they see is curated. Me, me, me, me, me. Look how perfect everything is, right? And that's like the opposite message that you're teaching every single day. That, no, that's not real. This is. It's about work, it's about toughness, it's about grit. It's about getting, you know, hit and getting up and getting up and getting up. So how do you, how do you combat the evils of social media to your. To your guys?
- [25:13]
A
It's hard. I mean, we go through it with our own three kids in our house, right? I got an eighth grade son and I got twin seventh graders, boy, girl, twins. So, like, we're right in that middle school adolescence, very easily influenced. So we're living that in our home as just parents. And then, then I got to take 50 boys and that are all seventh and eighth graders. And now, so you're, you're magnifying it, you know, 15 fold. So it's, it's a challenge. I think the message we, we try and everything that we do is to try to combat that organically through. Yes, you scored the touchdown, but we're going to send all of our attention in film study on Sunday or Monday night. We're going to send it to the left guard, the wide receiver who got his block. We call out, we have like, a sideline award for, like, what kid that's on the sideline following a touchdown. I'll stop the film and I'll say, all right, everybody pick out on the sideline who. Who was the happiest for the team? And they were like, oh, it was Johnny, it was Joe, it was Tate, you know, whoever. And I say, guys, that right there is every bit as valuable as the kid who just ran for his third touchdown. This is so much bigger than you. This is more important than your touchdown. It's more important than your receiving yards. It's to what, Shane's point before, like, High Tide raises all ships. If you have team collective success and that environment is a positive one that everyone wants to be around, there is plenty of credit to go around. Yeah, we've all seen the teams that stink, and they got A couple star players. Those star players are never as heralded as the good players on the good teams. So like we really try and it's hard. Everyone wants to post the game winning touchdown, their highlights, their runs. The kids now like have a photographer that comes to games and yeah, within 20 minutes of the game being over, they got sayings and they got hashtag memes and yeah, I try not to over coach everything. So I kind of like let them do their thing. They're not allowed to post a video. They could post like still video pictures. I don't let them post a video of what we do. But like it's a give and take. Living in this world, like you have to lean into it. That's why we kind of took it on our own to do our little clips of our sidelines that we had our sidelines mic'd up and videoed for all of our games. So at least we were controlling it. But the kids love it. You kind of got to lean into a little bit of this society or else the kid, you're going to push the kids away from you. So we meet them halfway to a degree. But like we are never going to put a player over the team. We, we are never going to highlight the star player over the kid who's doing all the dirty work. If anything, we flip it and then I'll pull the star players over to the side, the leaders of the team and I'll say, hey, you guys understand why I coach you harder than the other kids, right? It's because that like, so I'll have some of those private conversations with the kids who everyone knows are the really good kids and they know I'm going to be hard as hell on you in team meeting. And you just got to sit there and yes, sir, me, because if I can do that to you, can you imagine how good I can get the rest of these kids? And no matter how good you are, you're only as good as those five seventh and eighth grade linemen blocking for you. So we need them to feel believed in, we need them to feel empowered. We need the best versions of them if you are going to run for a bunch of touchdowns. So the communication, the direct nature of it, they're old enough to start processing that and they go, yeah, yeah coach, no, I'm good. Yeah, you can coach me. You can coach me because I need the left guard to block. You know what I mean? Like, and it, it builds over time. And I think that's the fun of it. Like that's the Part of it that I love the most.
- [28:54]
B
How do you, how do you treat your, your son's expectations? We talk about that with, you know, Alex's son is, is a, it's a freshman quarterback following in Pop's footsteps. You know, my son's 6, 8 and dunking the basketball. So we, we talk about just as, as dad. So how do you step away from being coach Coach Greg to being dad and set an expectation for your, for your kids?
- [29:18]
A
It's hard and I probably don't do as good a job of it as I should. There's a lot of moments of like, reflection where I'm like every once in a while, as much as I'm signing up to coach all of these kids and get them all better. Like I am a dad, right? Like, I do have an obligation to my three kids to get them to be the best versions of themselves and not get lost. And I'm spending so much time and energy trying to put this 50 man team together. But I'm also a dad. Like I also got to make sure my kids are being developed accordingly or this is not worth any of our time. So that's a hard balance that I don't always probably get right. There's probably moments where I over swing the pendulum and I come down too hard on them. I'm like trying to prove a point and like it'll come at their disposal as opposed to it probably wasn't their fault. But like it's easy to yell at your own kid because you don't got to answer to anybody. So like there's times where I probably haven't handled all of that correctly. But as far as like messaging in our house, like, we don't discuss being college athletes. We don't discuss being the best player on the team. We don't, we never discuss any of those when I go to their, you know, so my, my, my eighth grade son and my seventh grade daughter are on the school basketball teams at Christian. And like, I'm not involved with the teams. I'll go pick them up 20 minutes early and just watch the end of practice or whatnot every once in a while. And I say, I don't. It's not about how many baskets you score in the car. It's like, did you run back on defense when you dribbled it off your foot? Did you hang your head and walk back or did you sprint back and catch the guy in the fast break? How many rebounds did you get? How many, how many balls did you steal? Like, we're Going to preach effort. We're going to preach process. We're going to preach like, hey, dad, I couldn't make a basket. Well, I don't know the last time I saw you shoot in the, in the backyard, like, what makes you think you're gonna score? Like, you know, I went 0 for 3 in my game, and I want to have a pity party after baseball. And I'm like, well, we got a batting cage in the basement. When was the last time did you use it? And if the answer is yes, and you put the work in and you got your shots up and you went out and did your ball handling, and whatever season it is, like, if the result of the game's not good, we can live with that because that's going to be the nature of sport. But I have no patience for, like, oh, my God, I didn't play good. Oh, coach didn't start me. I got moved out of the lineup. Well, my first question is, well, what work did you do to expect a better result? So, like, I am all to them about, like, put the work in, Work your ass off, put all the skill. And then whatever role you have on your team in the moment, maximize that role to its fillest. And then once you do that, hopefully your coach can recognize and maybe your role will grow to the next level. To the next level. And if you just do that forever, like we say in our house, like, just get better forever, like, however long that is, who knows? But just keep. Get better indefinitely, and let's see how good you can get. And if you do that, you're a success. And you might never play past jv, you might not play past varsity, or you might become a pro. Who knows? Success is not based on the outcome. Success is based on, did you maximize everything you were born with? Your size, your athleticism, your whatever your talent is? Did you maximize that? And if the answer is yes, whatever the end of your journey is is great. Like, you don't have to be a success just because you got a college scholarship. Maybe that wasn't in your cards, but you were a hell of a high school player. Yeah, that's success in my mind. And that's how we try to preach it. But that's hard. Like, that's not how kids look at success. They look at success. How many points did I score? How many hits did I get? How many touchdowns that I throw? And it's. That's a hard one to fight when I'm preaching, like, habits warm up. Did you stretch? How was your pre game routine? What did you eat? What did you sleep? And they're like, dad, why does that matter? I scored 20. And I'm like, because you're not always going to score 20. So, like, we just see it very different than how the young kids.
- [33:15]
C
Yeah, the hard part, I think, with us three that's unique, is our kids all walk around. Like, again, I talk about expectations. Like, when I started playing quarterback as a freshman in high school, like, I had no expectations for myself. Nobody had any expectations for me. Like, again, I was just trying to be the freshman quarterback. Like, and it was nice because it kept it very, like, you know, in the moment, all our kids hear buzz, right? Like, I mean, could you imagine your last name is Badier and you're on a basketball court, right? Like, everybody knows who you are. Like, you're, hey, that's Greg Olson's kid. Right? Like, his dad played 14 years in the NFL. Like, you know, I'm saying, like, there. And none of that. It is what it is, right? Like, that's not changing. But those are things that our. Our kids, I do think, deal with. And I. And I have no idea the best way to handle it as a parent, as a dad. Right. Like, again, helping them navigate that, because, again, it was. No, I didn't. It's not what we necessarily grew up with, you know, and so that's something that I struggle with. And I don't even know if there's a question posed there, but, like, it's just something that, like, again, weighs on me as my son starts his freshman journey and again wants to play qb. And, you know, even just sitting in the stands and going to games, like, there is this presence that, like, is there and people, you know, if that makes sense.
- [34:30]
A
Appreciate you guys. Shane, I'm gonna come check you guys out. Take it easy on Christian class.
- [34:35]
B
No, hey, we'll have fun. We'll have fun.