In The Huddle
The world of US college sport is both expansive and exciting, and international student-athletes are signing up in their droves for their shot at a scholarship opportunity.
In The Huddle is the creation of Study & Play USA, widely regarded as the GO TO experts in facilitating the best possible outcomes for all stakeholders in this industry: US college coaches and recruiters, local high schools, families of student-athletes and most importantly the student-athletes themselves.
So as you jog on the treadmill, drive to work, school or training, tune in to hear from industry leading experts, US college coaches, parents and student-athletes and learn how to best approach this pathway to maximise your opportunity and set yourself up for your most successful life.
In The Huddle
EP#66: Becoming Undeniable: Identity, Grit & The Blueprint to Success With University of Alabama & Super Bowl Champ Jesse Williams
Two unlikely travel mates and a tour of the American South that turns into a masterclass on what college sport really demands. We bring together Jesse Williams, national champion at Alabama and Super Bowl winner, and Chris Bates, a former Oklahoma State tennis player and founder of Study & Play USA, to map the modern pathway for Australian student athletes.
Across locker rooms and alumni halls, we test the myths. Is JUCO a step down or a launch pad? Does NIL change everything or just turn up the noise? Jesse cuts through with lived experience: be undeniable. Best players play, but the best people last. He shares how JUCO forged resilience, why Alabama’s culture still shapes his life, and how alumni support in the U.S. feels like coming home. We talk about the transfer portal, social media pressure, and the simple truth that winning cultures value character as much as speed and strength.
If you’re an Aussie eyeing the U.S., this is your blueprint. We break down why data-driven combines matter, how to build a credible athletic and academic profile, and why the right mindset beats hype every time. You’ll hear the line that stopped a future first-rounder in his tracks: bridge the gap between who you think you are and who you really are. It’s tough-love mentorship delivered with clarity, purpose, and a clear call to action—give yourself twelve months to build the missing 10 percent.
Subscribe for more stories, practical steps, and honest insight on U.S. college sport. If this helped sharpen your plan, share it with a mate who needs a push and leave a review to help others find the pathway.
Well, listeners, we have a unique treat for you in this episode of In the Huddle. Looking at the two guests sitting in front of me, they really are an odd couple. But looks can be deceiving. They have something very cool in common. And that is, they've both enjoyed an incredible shared experience in the USA as student athletes in different states, different eras, and sports. One hit the heights of both college and professional sport, attaining the ultimate prize at both levels. The other was so taken by his experience that he felt compelled to convert his memories and experiences into an autobiography. This year, some 25 years and 12 years on from their graduation from their respective colleges, they found themselves like a scene from a movie driving through their old stomping grounds in the USA, visiting several colleges across the southern states of the USA in a car barely big enough for one of them, but ample for his pipe-sized partner, blaring country music from college campus to college campus. What they discovered was the New America, how the opportunity for current student athletes has never been better, and that this odd couple may have more in common than meets the eye. I'm talking, of course, about Jesse Williams, the first Indigenous Australian to play American football in the US. And he didn't just play, he was good. Very good, in fact. How's this for a three-year stint? Winning the prestigious national championship with the University of Alabama in 2012, backing that up with another championship in 2013, becoming drafted to the NFL and the Seattle Seahawks, winning a Super Bowl in 2014. No American footballer in history has achieved this three-year feat. Of course, what happened next is a story of tragedy, resilience, and several new chapters. Not least of all, that Jesse these days spends a good amount of time preparing young American footballs here in Australia, physically, technically, and mentally for the US, and then facilitating their scholarship opportunities. And of course, the other member of the odd couple is none other than our founder here at Study and Play USA, Chris, who was a four-year tennis player at Oklahoma State, so taken by his four-year experience that he wrote a book, Game Changer, which was a promise he made to his late grandmother to write. But before that, he had a business idea. Why don't we provide the knowledge and guidance for the uh for other young aspiring student athletes to do what he did? And so study and play USA was born. So I have the fun job in this episode to bring you the odd couple, Jesse and Chris, as they relive their recent college tour, and I'm sure reflect back on their own experiences as college athletes. Chris, welcome to you. And Jesse, a particularly warm welcome to you as a first-time guest on In the Huddle. So, Jesse, I live and work with this bloke every day. How did you go for two weeks traveling with him in the US, please?
SPEAKER_03:Uh, surprising. We made it to be honest. No, it was good. I think um it was more him trying to put up with what I was trying to do, probably the other way around. You know, but it was a lot of gas stations. It was a lot of new experiences for Chris and re reliving experiences for me.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, awesome. I mean, in all seriousness, I say odd couple, because I imagine you walking into various your athletic departments in the US, coaches being intrigued as to how you two are doing some work together. And it's not hard for them to tell which one was the tennis player and which was the footballer, though I guess there was no confusion there.
SPEAKER_03:Not usually, maybe a couple of times.
SPEAKER_00:So when um when Chris arrived back, he couldn't wait to tell me about all the things from the trip. Um, because it had been a little while, you know, that since Chris had been back, and it was really good, you know, to um reinforce different things that we've already known, but to have that opportunity to see it again. So I'm going to rattle off a few of the things that you know Chris had as takeaways from this trip. And I'd love for you guys to both elaborate on that. Um, so one of your takeaways, Chris, was how the appetite for Australians has grown so much in recent years.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think so. I think um, firstly, yeah, glad I survived that trip, Jesse. Yeah, um somehow. But um I think the appetite from the US perspective definitely has grown. But I also think from this end, the appetite for Australians wanting to learn more. I think obviously in the age of social media, it's a little easier to find out information about this. Um, but yeah, certainly if we talk about appetite for Australians, um, just from talking to coaches from all sports, and we visited seven or eight different universities across those what was that, about 12, 14 days. Um just always wanting Australians. And and you know, uh, I asked one of the coaches why, and one of the reasons they said was this you guys are a pretty safe recruit. You've got so many now that you've gone before you in so many different sports that have led the way. So that was that was a big takeaway for me. Like it's not that we didn't know that there was an appetite, but to actually hear it, listen to it, um, and just seeing so many Aussies doing well over there, you don't need to look far, like universities across all 50 states of the US is Australians doing well um and changing their lives.
SPEAKER_00:Jesse, would you agree with that, like what you're seeing in in your world and that that um appetite for for Aussies?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I think so. I mean, obviously with football, I think with us, um, you know, we get a lot of tough kids because we code swap them, obviously, from rugby or something like that. And we have at the moment heavy Polynesian, um, so a lot of them are really tough. Um, so that identity is kind of crept across, obviously, into recruiting as well. Um, but I think social media just makes the world so much smaller. Uh, it's easier for coaches to communicate and get across, which you know, football's pretty standalone compared to other sports and how hard they probably recruit and the ways they will recruit. Um, but there's definitely a need for it. I think a lot of our kids very new to football, they're getting them a lot on potential, but they also have like um very little bad habits because they haven't had a lot of experience. They're not um super, you know, torn down from playing a lot of football. So it's a good platform for Australia and New Zealand kids to come in. Um, I think just the gap is really now kind of educating both sides, the US and Australia, of like kind of we're both at and meet in the middle, you know, because it's still a little bit of misfiring information back and forth, but it's definitely growing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, awesome. Um, another takeaway that that Chris had shared was being at your alma mater, so for a good part of the trip, which is the University of Alabama, reminded you, Chris, as to just how hospitable and genuine Americans are to their alumni. And something that you said to me was nothing's changed. Nothing's changed since I went to college. And for listeners, when Chris went to college, he got recruited by fax. So that's what we're talking about here. But it's like nothing, you know, in that feel community, you know, hospitality has changed, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, no, thanks for bringing that up.
SPEAKER_00:Uh you're welcome.
SPEAKER_01:A long time ago. But yeah, I think going back to Oklahoma State just like felt like home when I went, and um, and the not the attention, not that you're seeking attention, but just people want to welcome you and want to see how you're doing. They want to know that you're okay and things are going well and how's your family, and that's still 20 years on for me. So then visiting Jesse's joint over there in Alabama um and seeing how they embraced Tim, who's had you know, Jesse's so it's been 13, 12, 13 years since you finished, had a few recent health scares and whatnot, and they were just so whether it was the the team doctor, the new team doctor, or the the associate athletic director, or whether it was um lovely lady in ticketing or just fans walking around campus just wanting to embrace Jesse, like they haven't forgotten him. Like I think sometimes in the world of sport you you you can be cannon fodder, I guess, pretty quickly once you once your career's over, but that is just not the case. And I think that was just really I I was really taken by that. And I thought it was just me. I thought, oh, that was just Oklahoma State, it was great, but it's clearly not just my experience.
SPEAKER_03:I think um when I do explain to kids about that buy-in and where you choose to go to school, I think it is reciprocated. I think when you put a lot on the line and play for a university, I think it is, especially places like Alabama when you're playing, you know, national championships and big games. Um, but it is that, you know, I've gone back many a time since retiring um from the NFL and obviously being in college years before, and it's been the same every time. You know, the love is um it goes more than football. Um, but I think that is an extremely tight tie to have with people if you are a fan of that particular place or geographically from there or have tradition there, um, which is something that I think it's it's hard to replicate in Australia, but the US do it so well in their support. Um, because it is very, it is a deep support, you know what I mean? I can tell by my social media, whenever something happens, I've the first ones are always Alabama fans still, which is crazy, you know. Um, but I think it is something the US does really well and it it creates a really good amount of buy-in. Um, and it does help a lot of the international kids, I feel, because it helped me when I went over there, knowing that not just the fans, the coaches, everyone's so bought into you, you got no choice but to reciprocate that buy-in and like put everything on the line. Um, and I think that's important just for like having to live there and be a part of it and obviously be a human being and and have relationships and all that type of stuff as well. So it is something I really care and uh and cherish about obviously the University of Alabama and how much just like consistent, unconditional love I get from them um in almost you know every aspect, really, whenever I'm back.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and it's addictive. Like I was I was wanting to get back to Tuscaloosa every day. We weren't staying there, but just going back because it's just actually a really nice feel to be there, right? Even for your sake, it was just like it felt obviously felt like home for you, not for me. Stillwater's still my second home. But you know, I uh pretty soon you get swept up in the Bama way and you next next thing I'm saying, roll tide to people. Like, what am I doing here? But but that's what it does to you, you know, and and no matter where you go in college, I think that's and it's what you make of it too. I think um you know two things that come to mind from the trip. We're eating at cracker barrel. If you haven't eaten there, you need to need to do that. But we're in the you're in the gift shop afterwards and just a random family family. And you could argue that okay, maybe they're just fangirling Jesse, you know, Super Bowl champion, but not really. They weren't wanting to see his Super Bowl ring and they just want to talk to him, see how you're doing, what are you up to? How cool to see you! And then I they didn't even ask for photos, they just wanted to chat. Um, and then the other ones just on game day walking around campus, you know, getting stopped every five minutes. I'm like, we're not gonna make it to the game here. Jesse's Jesse's on tour here, uh, getting pictures and people coming out with their sports illustrate magazine ready for a photo just in case Jesse shows up. Um that was pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, awesome.
SPEAKER_01:Different world, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So it's been 12 or so years now, uh Jesse, since your college career finished before then being drafted by the Seattle Seahawks. In what do you think's changed in the college scene in that time?
SPEAKER_03:Um I don't think much has changed with the football side. It's got a little bit more intense in regards to like I would say maybe transfer portal, um, shifting of teams, coaches, that type of stuff. I think the biggest changes are probably in the ecosystem of football, with um, you know, the NIL shared revenue stuff and all that's obviously put a bit of fire under a lot of people um in regards to you know where they may go to college or how invested they are to certain things. But for me, even going back there pretty regularly as the transition from no NIL to NIL to shared rev, whatever, um, the values of a lot of it have always been there. Yeah. You know what I mean? And um the good schools only want to recruit good players and good human beings, like best players play, like it's all about winning, it's all about the team, like how you represent um is very important. And I don't think that's ever going to change. That's just the way that they sort of select their the type of the crop they're trying to get. Yeah. Um, I just think a lot of the student athletes have to be a lot more resilient, um, a lot more focused to keeping the main thing the main thing throughout their career now. Um, because it's pretty easy to get lost in a source now because there's so much going on. Um, but I always just think with football and um a lot of those bigger sports in the US, the winning is always going to be number one. Yeah um so if you can stay locked into winning and being the best player you can, the rest will slowly fall away. Um, but those those are the biggest changes I see. Really off-the-field stuff, the intensity of social media, the visibility of what you're doing on and off the field as a college athlete is now, which would previously be, you know, famous NFL players would get. Yeah. Where now it's like if you're on campus, like you're being seen by everyone either way. So choose wisely in your movements. Um, but I think, yeah, the the meat and potatoes of it is gonna be winning through and through, um, especially like big programs like Albow. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:You talked about you talked about culture, the culture of college sport and the human being side of it. Can you talk a bit more about that? Because that, you know, I I come at so many of these different things of what we do at Studying Player, you do at Elite with my mum hat on. You know, I can't help it. I'm a mum. But of what that environment is like and the culture and what they instill in you and looking at you as a whole person.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I think it's really important. Um, I think a lot of athletes don't take that into consideration a lot of times, that it's awesome to be fast and strong and good at football, but if you're not a good person, no one's gonna take you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um, that's pretty evident really early on. Um, even with my program here in Brisbane, like if if people are in that type of category, we I'm happy not to have anyone involved. Um, and it's tenfold in the US. If you can't put forward your best foot um without sport being your leverage point, um, you're not going to do very well. Um, and that's just getting recruited, right? So once you get through, um, you know, you don't have to be perfect, but you have to have the intent of trying to be great and, you know, willing to be a good person and along the path as well. But I think the journey that athletes take that I was lucky enough to take, even through junior college and then go on to a place like Alabama, just the shift in values. Um, and I think that's not just at Alabama. That's the majority of the schools you'll go to in the US because the standard is so different. Um, and they also know that you're gonna play here for four years, but you're gonna be a human being the rest of your life. Yeah. We want to have a positive effect on you in this time because that's important to not just the coaches, but the school also. Um, because if they're just pumping out shitty people, it's not gonna be good for a school. So I think um a lot of the the groups take really good consideration in doing that. And I think if kids go over there, which I've seen with Australian New Zealand kids going over there and they're just open to it, man, it's life-changing. It's life-changing. I'm the prime example of it, but I see it regularly in the kids we send as well because off the field stuff, as silly as it seems, is what makes a difference.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, no, us too. And it we are constantly reminded of the life-changing opportunities that student athletes have over there. But you're right, it comes down to being open first and foremost. And you know, every you know, spring, every fall before our student athletes start their freshman year, we have our departure calls that we do with them, just a last minute check-in. And one of the the parting things that we say is be open.
SPEAKER_03:You know, you're gonna have a open open and willing.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You know what I mean? Because I think, you know, everything that they throw at you, it this it gets tough. And you can be open and go over there, but you have to be open and willing to sacrifice and willing to do the things without the ego of like, is this even working? What's the what's the path here, you know? Um, and I think I was lucky enough to do that. When I left, I had nothing here. There was no plan B for me. Yeah, I was gonna come back and I'll be, you know, a builder or something, you know. Did you say 200 bucks in a bag or something? Yeah, like once we once we paid for the, you know, because I didn't go over on scholarship, but you know, I I I left with, you know, once I have my flights, I left with one bag and 225 bucks, I'm pretty sure. And it's um, you know, but I was willing to do whatever. And it wasn't whatever isn't like I'm gonna rob and steal to make money. It was just like if this is what the coaches and the program deems as a necessity that I need to do, yeah, and that's what needs to get done. And that's what put me in the best position to move forward.
SPEAKER_01:They don't owe you anything, I owe them.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I feel indebted, you know. You give me a shot. I mean, it's up to me what I do with it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, exactly. And you took it. Um, I just want to stay on American football for a bit because the purpose of the trip was was a couple of reasons, but for me, I saw the value in going over with you, Jesse. Obviously, in Study Play USA, we don't do a lot of American football, if any. Um, obviously, that to experts in that field like you. Um, but going into this trip and actually seeing, obviously, I've known from this end for quite some time the interest in American football is feels like back in the day when I was in high school, the MBA and Michael Jordan. I feel like we're getting that with American football now. There's people, you know, going and into their mock drafts with their mates, and um, there's a real interest between that sort of that 15 almost your age age to a 30-year-old male audience. Um, but actually going there into the college scene, being there on campus and going to a football game with 110,000 people inside the stadium and double that outside. Um so that's amazing, but it's just the money. So going on that trip for me was just amazing just to see that really football, and I knew this, but actually seeing it being there with you, that football is the heartbeat of college sport. And it I mean, let's face to say, it's safe to say that you gotta it doesn't exist without American football, right? Like, but um, yeah, just the power of college football in itself, that was sort of my my massive takeaway. And and um I'm just curious to see your view on that, given that you're actually one of those guys in football. Like you've probably already known that, right?
SPEAKER_03:Well, I think for me, I didn't when I went over there, right? But you know, being in such a program in Alabama as a player and then returning as a coach once I retire from the NFL, you kind of see, okay, football's paying everybody's bills here. Um, but also in a different perspective, football allows other sports to excel because it takes the weight of resource off them.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um, which, you know, you tend to the good football schools tend to have a lot of other good programs as well because they've just got so much resource. Um, and I think football does a really good job of setting the culture of a lot of places. If you have a pretty crappy football team, like it's hard for like the basketball or baseball to pick it up all the time. It's usually football is like the engine room of like what your school culture is. Um, and I think it's really important. I think that's where you know a place like Alabama is so unique where you know, some years you'll have football winning natty, softball, men's and women's golf, tennis, track and field will win one, all in the same year. Yep. You know, and it's like it's just so crazy to comprehend that football starts and finishes most of that just with budget. No, no, and it's it's just resource and it's just allowing guys to have the best of the best to do what they need to do.
SPEAKER_01:And I think this is probably for another podcast, but you mentioned it just before about NIL, uh, which stands for name, image, likeness, and and rev revenue share. That's for another chat, but basically, you know, to throw some numbers out there. I mean, these coaches are on upwards of 15, 20 million in some cases to coach collegiate amateur football team. Um, and some of the players are up over a million dollars per season to play. So that's what we're talking about. It's the types of type of money that's being thrown around here, and that trickles down into all these other sports. So strong football means strong athletics um and a strong college atmosphere and and opportunity, right?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, and if you can get attention as well, like obviously that helps all the other sports with money and um and reach of program, getting other better athletes through the portal. Like when you have a name like Alabama, like if you if you target people, like they can feel the target. You know what I mean? Like it's people don't get office from Alabama and think about it. Yeah, you know, it just comes naturally. Yeah. Um, and I think that's it didn't start like that, but it is a process of like building up football and the culture and all those things, which I mean you would have seen, especially being with me in Alabama, the culture is something that's very strong and it's like pretty unshakable, even with you know, integrating different coaches and new coaches and whatnot. So it's important.
SPEAKER_00:So, Jesse, can we just rewind a few years? Um, if you don't mind, and and talk about that young man in Brisbane, you know, contemplating what life might bring next. You know, I understand that you were a strong basketballer, you know, first and foremost. So, how did football enter your life? And then how did that land you in the US?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, it was very tough path. Um, but I did. I basketball was my main sport. Both my parents, my whole family kind of played basketball, and I played all the way up, you know, until under 18s at a pretty elite level, played representative basketball like all over my whole time. Um, and then when I was probably grade 10, um, some kids I played basketball with, and they all everyone liked American stuff, you know. This was like the internet was just kind of you know getting popular and everyone sort of listening to that type of music or watching basketball and football. And um, they actually signed up and started playing two years ahead of me down at the Bayside Ravens on the South Side. And um, they just kept begging me, begging me, like, come down and play, come down and play. And uh, it was really probably it took a little bit to convince my parents to let me play. They just didn't think that I would stick with it or do whatever because it was kind of expensive to play.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um, and then I ended up going down there. Um my dad drove me down there, and I didn't honestly know what to expect. It was very, very grassroots football, like as grassroots as you get. Like we played at Judy Hall Park, which is like a field built on top of a dump. So it's like I try and explain to people that's where I learned how to play football. But um, you know, I went out there and kind of fell in love with it, got to hit people, not get in trouble. And um, for for me, that was a bit that was a big key. Yeah. And you know, I found pretty early on that a lot of my skill set from basketball was very transferable into football. Uh, I was I was very explosive, I had very good hand-eye coordination, I was very athletic for someone my size. Um, and then yeah, I sort of just went through my paces, played for a year, ended up being, you know, really good. Played for Queensland, played for Australia, represented Australia in the world games, like all this different type of stuff. And then um I played against New Zealand in the AIS, and the junior college came down um looking for a punter and ended up stumbling into you know, 16-year-old me, which is probably minus the facial hair, about the same size I am right now.
SPEAKER_01:Not a punter, not a punter, not a punter.
SPEAKER_03:And uh, I was playing like middle linebacker or uh tight end, or I was doing something that I shouldn't have done. And uh he saw me and I was out there just trying to take the soul out of people's bodies, and you know, I got to spend a week with him, and he seen me train and work out, and he was like, Yeah, you should probably try and play in the US. He's like, You're definitely talented enough. And at this time I'm like, what does that even mean? Like, no one had really done it. I heard a couple people from like New South Wales try and go to like random schools, and like people, a couple went to JUKOs that just like bombed out. Mainly punters or bigger guys? Yeah, it was mainly punters, mainly punters, like um a lot older than me. Yeah, and I was like, okay. So I played the game, got MVP, and he came to me after the game. He was like, This might be the last time I see you, but I gotta try. And he said, I don't have any scholarships, but if you pay your way, I said, I'll definitely give you a spot on the team and like you'll be able to play. And I was like, Okay, and I flew back to Brisbane. I remember flying back, sitting in my parents' garage and trying to explain to them what this dude was telling me because I barely knew what he was telling me the best of times. And I said, I'm gonna give it a go. I'm gonna try. And I didn't know what that looked like or what it would entail, but my parents just said, if you're gonna try, it has to be 100% all or nothing. And I said, I ain't got really anything else going for me. And I was like, I'm gonna do it. So from then on, I email them, say I'm I'm interested, how much it's gonna cost, whatever. It was like 8,500 US for one semester because I didn't get a scholarship, right? Contrary to like most people's belief, I didn't just jump straight to Alabama and start being a hero there.
SPEAKER_01:Was he dollars?
SPEAKER_03:85, 8,500, yeah, and um, and no, that might have been 8,500 US, but it was it was 8,500. Yep. So I ended up working three jobs. I work at Hungry Jacks at Cannon Hill, AMARD All Sports at Cannon Hill, and then my grandparents had a cleaning company, and I was just sort of like running the rounds and uh took the rest of the year, saved up enough, and I graduated from high school, and you know, I'm like, all right, I'm gonna go over. I want to pay for flights, my visa, all that type of stuff, never done it. Um by the time I left, I had one bag and like 200 bucks and then left. And you know, I look back, I was 17, turning 18. Like I look back and I'm like, there's no chance I'm sending my 17-year-old son across to the to Arizona to play. Um, but you know, I was kind of lucky my parents, you know, trusted in that. And obviously, I was a big kid. Like, if anyone was gonna kidnap you, like you'd have to probably be like five or six guys if they were gonna kidnap me. Um, and then yeah, so I flew all the way to Yuma, Arizona, it was Arizona Western Community College and sort of uh made my start there. Very unconventional, but at the time, it was like the only way it could have happened was just like by accident, kind of. Um, whereas now, obviously, if someone's that's the path now, then like you're in trouble. This is gonna be tough. Yeah. Um, and JUCO was always tough, you know. It's sort of like a a bit of a platform where you get to prove to the world you can play football, but you also get to prove to yourself you deserve to play football. Yeah, and I was lucky enough I did both, you know. Um, I was like the number one player in the country in junior college that one semester after getting there.
SPEAKER_02:Yep.
SPEAKER_03:Um, and then obviously turned that into going to Alabama.
SPEAKER_01:Did sometimes a deep end is a good thing, right? Just getting thrown into it and the same thing.
SPEAKER_03:I think sometimes the deep end is the only thing. Yeah. I think for me in that position, I didn't really have a lot of spots to go. I had a rough idea where I was going, it wasn't good. Um, and I think for me, the intensity that I attacked that opportunity with was because if you knew me back then, you knew how scared I was that I had to come back. Because I knew if I came back here, I didn't know if I was gonna be able to go anywhere after that. Um, and I tried to stay out of trouble. I didn't drink or smoke or do anything, I didn't get in no trouble because I was so worried if I got a criminal record, that wouldn't let me get a visa. So like I just didn't go anywhere, I didn't do nothing, you know.
SPEAKER_01:So the stars aligned, it was just the perfect thing for you at the time, really, for your where you were in your life, right? Um yeah, I find it yeah, I find it really interesting. We have a lot of our student athletes will start in junior college. Um, and sometimes junior college can get a little bit of a bad rap because I think people just don't know much about it or enough about it.
SPEAKER_03:But I think that's like an expectation thing with others. Yeah, I think JUCO is gonna be like Division I. Yeah, that's why people don't like it. But if you go in there thinking JUCO is gonna be Juka, yeah, you usually do all right.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, that's right. Which uh and JUCO serves a you know a wonderful purpose. Yeah, absolutely for so many athletes.
SPEAKER_03:It can be a difference maker. If they end up passing, you know, this JUCO rule, not adding it to their five years, I think it'll change the shape of college football because you then have a testing ground for elite athletes, especially international ones. Yeah. Where like we're not gonna take strikes off your book, but you got two years to come and make a difference, get the stuff and the work you need, and then you can start being a freshman from there. Where like the way I did it, it obviously took two years off. I could have had two more years at Alabama if I had this rule, right? Yeah, so I think it makes a difference because most kids, you know, especially these days, I think here the entitlement comes from just misinformation. Because a lot of kids think, oh man, I'm good, but that's probably because you haven't been against anyone that's great yet. Yeah. So when you go to the US, everyone gets their butt hurt because they go over there and I'm like, everyone's so big. And so I'm like, yeah, because you've been in rural Australia, you know, running track. I'm like, who do you think you were supposed to catch over here?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um, and I think that's the biggest thing. A lot of people, once they get their perspective set to like, hey, I'm not the best in the world, and hey, I'm not going over there to live in a five star resort. I'm going over there to like semi rural, really rough situation. But if I work, I can prove it to myself and hopefully in turn I can prove to others that I deserve to be there.
SPEAKER_01:I was one of those guys. I probably told you on how many miles we covered in the car. I probably bored you to tears with it. But yeah, lost my first eight games and I went, right, thinking I was hot stuff. And um, you know, I wasn't. I knew I was good, but I I clearly wasn't ready and good enough yet. So best thing that could have happened. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And I I don't like really hearing the JUCO rap being bad. I'm like, obviously, my my path and like my production is probably something that's never gonna be replicated. There's no one just gonna come and be the number one player in the country again, or then go straight to Alabama, start every game, win everything. No one's gonna do that because it's pretty tough ecosystem to make something like that happen now. But I think that I see so many people talk bad about JUCO because they've watched Last Chance You and it didn't look like you're in the NFL, all those things, but it's like you don't deserve that. You have to earn that. Yeah, you know, and that was my mentality when I went there. I went to Juco thinking, like, as A's, as long as I got somewhere to sleep and like I get food once a day, like I'll make it. You know what I mean? I'm like, I'll fight. I'm like, I don't give it, I don't care. Yeah, I'm like, I'll fight with everyone if that's what it takes. Yeah, um, and I think a lot of kids now, it's just a shift in perspective. I think there's downsides to what we do in making that pathway too realistic, yeah, and too opportunity-filled, where some kids kind of have to take the hard route, or else you're never gonna get to that division one because you you need to go through those years. I needed to go through those years to peel away whatever I had going on, yeah, so that I could be good enough to play at Alabama.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I think my whole career trajectory would be completely different if I went straight to Alabama.
SPEAKER_01:I was about to ask you that. I think that's I feel like look at you today, and we look back, obviously, you've achieved a lot, but you know, upbringing, JUCO, Alabama, the Nick Saban effect, which we'll talk about in a second, and you know, doing some great things in the community right now, you're a sum of all those parts, and you sort of go, Well, gee, do I do any of that without JUCO? And you probably just answered that, right?
SPEAKER_03:Probably not. Like, I learned so much, well, yes, as a person, but like I also knew nothing about football. Like, people never look back at that and they say, Oh, yeah, he did okay. I'm like, I played one and a half years of American football before coming to the US. Yeah, like I I would have I wouldn't even had barely double digit amount of games, and I'm going over to play in against like some of the best players in the country. Um, so I think people also like there's a lot that I didn't have going over there that I kind of needed to acquire very quickly. And in the most acute learning curve given to me, I had to make it work. Yep. Um, which I think people get lost in the Alabama and the NFL, but I'm more proud of going to JUCO. 17, no money going over there. I went two weeks early, I stayed in the dorms by myself for two weeks, like literally no one there, and just worked out every day to get ready for the heat in Arizona. Um, but I don't think I would be as resilient at the amount of fights, the amount of like the amount of girlfriends, the amount of all the things that you know I had through junior college. I was just like learning every day to try and get to where I was gonna go. Yep. Um, and a lot of it was like even when I went to Alabama, I appreciated every little thing because like it had a cafeteria, I had Nike gear, I had you know all these different things. When I was in Juco, like I was eating ramen noodles and fresh air for a year and a half. I had to buy my own stuff, I had no money. You know, I'm wearing the same cleats, same shoes for two years to make it. Um, so when I got to get all the stuff and I was given it, it just seemed like, oh, my life's turned at the corner here, like I'm doing okay, you know. Um, and I just don't think, and I'm very weary of it when I send kids straight to Division One because they get this entitlement around like this is how the world's supposed to be. And I'm like, the world's closer to like how JUCO is, brother. You know, this is unrealistic, you know. Um, yeah, but I do think I don't think that um I would be how I am now if I didn't go to JUCO. And I enjoyed it, man. I enjoyed it. Like I like to grind, I like to struggle, I love fighting, but I also love fighting for things that I want to achieve in that whole like system. Yep. Um, and I like the hood way, I don't like clean and polished. Yeah, I I still got scars from junior college, and I'm like, I'm happy to I still got them, you know what I mean? Like, I didn't want to go, oh, he just went straight through. There was nothing close to that. Yeah, you know, I wanted I want people to know that I had to fight every day to even get a shot at getting looked at.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and that sense of achievement, that's what I love about junior college. Like some people go to junior college, and again, this is a bit of a myth buster. You don't have to go to junior college just because maybe your grades isn't aren't good. It's not about that um necessarily. I mean, in some cases it is, but you go to junior college, you've got the support around you that allows you to get the best out of yourself academically, and you listen to you talking here, you're obviously very articulate, very intelligent guy. Um and but junior college, oh gosh, but did you get confidence? I mean, I'm not sure what you were like at high school academically. Did you find you got academic confidence in junior college for getting some good to get recognition for it?
SPEAKER_03:I think there was a bit of achievement for me in JUCO because you know, you had to go get that associate arts degree to get out, huh? So that was the first little tick for me. Yeah, you know. Um, I I wasn't a big grades guy in high school, but I feel like I'm just very smart. Um, I'm very I can make stuff happen, you know. Like, yeah, it sounds very cliche, but that type of smart. Um, and that worked in my favor in the US because that's how a lot of their systems are. It's like it's more, it's not just hey, it's all those things. It's like, hey, your relationships with the teacher, it's hey, your study hall, it's all those things. Yep. And I'm a nice guy, and I was just reading body language and just talking the talk, and it it helped on all these different you know levels. Um, but I think it is um, it is a an important thing. It kind of unravels a little bit of you to know that just like I kind of can do this because you don't feel like that every day. And I know there's plenty of kids I sent, plenty of kids you would have sent. Yeah, I felt like I couldn't do it every day. You know, the difference is I never believed it and I never stopped. But you just have to do it, right? Yeah, well, I hear other people like, oh man, I just can't do it. I don't think I'm gonna make it. Coach doesn't like me, all that. I don't care. I'm like, I never cared. I'm like, he's gonna have to like me because I'm gonna hit someone so hard they might have to, he might die. You know what I mean? Like, I'll find a way. You know, I'll find a way. You know, for me, the the key with all of it, and obviously I stood out like crazy. I was like this tattooed when I was like 18, 19, but it was just being undeniable, and that started in in with myself because it was like, okay, these guys, no one expected me to be good. I was like this heavily tattooed. I had a huge mohawk, a mullet, like I was from Australia. Like these dudes looking at me like, who is this? And I was just going out there. I just knew if I knocked the socks off people, I'd get a shot. And like you'd see along most of my story, is like I just needed one bullet in the chamber and I'll I can do the rest, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, that's a great word. It just made yourself undeniable. Yeah, just just that's a great, that's a great word.
SPEAKER_00:And that's what we say to our you know, the student athletes that we work with, go over there, dominate, and give them no choice. Yeah, you know, go over there, and then if that means transfer or if it means that you're you're starting somewhere else, you know, where you start isn't always where you finish. You know, so make them give them no choice.
SPEAKER_01:No, whatever he or she's saying, you may not like their way, but you're there, you've got an opportunity, you just got to make it happen.
SPEAKER_03:Winning is always more fun than fun is fun. I agree. But for me, like Saban says it all the time: best players play. There's no my favorite players play or this type of players play. It's best players play. That's a good thing. So I just made sure I was the best person they could have picked.
SPEAKER_01:What do you say to a kid? You know, we we've got a lot of our student athletes we cat we keep in touch with, right? The whole four years, and we're supporting him through these kind of things that we're talking. Um, you'll often hear, oh, I'm not getting any game time because be better. Um, you know, it seems to prefer these other big guys or prefer this guy, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_03:What do you say to that? Same thing. Leave no doubt when the coach looks at you. There should be not an ounce of doubt in his mind. That's the kid that has to be out there. Not just, but people, these kids don't understand. I just wasn't just out there doing it, I was doing everything. I had a 3.8 GPA most of my career. I was all American academic, I was a good person, I'm helping everywhere. Like, that's why I have all the relationships I have in the US because I was it was leaving no doubt. When I want people, when I want people to think about what type of football player do I want to represent at the University of Alabama, I wanted to wake up and be that every day. Not just on the field, I was already that. I wake up ready to go. Yeah, but it was every other aspect, and I knew that was a good student, that was a good man, that had good relationships, that was how happy helping in the community, that was all those things. Because I say that to guys all the time. Guys like, oh, coach doesn't like me. Well, I haven't met many coaches that love winning that just don't like players for no reason. You know what I mean? And if he does, well, don't give him any more reasons. You know what I mean? And for me, it was just like I was lucky enough to come in with kind of like a blank canvas-ish, no bias, because I didn't come from any high school or whatever. Yeah, and I just made sure I set the standard for me and I never deviated from that. You know what I mean? I was just like, hey, I didn't always want to be a good person, but I always took pictures with people, I always spoke to people. Uh the amount of stupid questions about Australia or this or that, you just got to do it. Yeah. Because, like Saban says it all the time, you represent what's on the front of the jersey and what's on the back. The front is the Alabama A, University of Alabama. On the back is my last name. Those are two things I represent and I took very seriously. And it's like if you do that for your university and you show up and practice hard and all that, that's being undeniable. Not just rocking up and being entitled, that's a different type of trying to be undeniable. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah. I just want to just quickly interject, just for listeners. It seems, you know, for anyone who follows collegiate sport, um, and if there's American listeners here, you'll obviously don't need this kind of uh interjection here. But for Australian listeners, we've heard uh Jesse mentioned Saban a few times. So who is this Saban? I just do you want to just explain who Nick Saban is and his uh uh status, I guess, in the US collegiate system or general American system.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I would say he's probably like in the past I would say these couple of generations, the most influential football coach in America. I think he's a bama coach, right? Yeah, most winning as football coach was previously at LSU, the Miami Dolphins, um, and then the University of Alabama's. I think he's he's up there with some of the most national championships across you know LSU and Alabama. Yep. Um he played, I think he played defensive back at Kent State University. Um, but yeah, he's just obviously recently retired. He's more in the sports commentary sort of evaluation space at the moment. Just uh an amazing human being. Um his coaching tree is untouchable, the amount of people that's been underneath him. Um I think he's coached like majority of the head coaches that are around now. Um, but very influential person. I was lucky enough to, you know, sort of be my mentorslash coach and you know, someone I still communicate with, you know, on a weekly, if not monthly, basis still. Um, but yeah, he was the head coach at the University of Alabama when I was there, and I was lucky enough to uh share that experience with him.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that was pretty cool when we were over there and seeing him. I mean, I mean, you were pretty popular there, but this guy's like the president of the US.
SPEAKER_03:Like people just want to just photo with he'd be more popular than the president if they were in the same room.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I I would not doubt that from what I saw. And then obviously, yeah, and and the look in his face changed when you you walked up and said hello. I think again, I think for memory, it was just first thing he said is how's the family and how's your yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Um I think he is the epitome of like a football coach with his relationships, communication, the dedication, and um I mean, there's not a bad thing I could say about him, to be honest. I think he's he played such a pivotal role in my life, um, and still does, you know. Um, but he is a great he sets a standard that I'm sure hundreds of thousands of people, you know, run theirs off.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's unreal. No, I just think that was worth um certainly worth interjecting and sharing because he's just such a yeah, I mean a massive part in your life, hasn't he? Um, and I'm sure many um people, but um half the NFL by now. I feel like yeah, imagine. I'd imagine, but I feel like just quickly, I'm just can't help I'm shining in my eye that that that Alabama. So what's that ring mean?
SPEAKER_03:If you can just share this one is actually the 2012 SEC Championship ring. Yeah, but obviously I got my box of rings over there of national championship ones and SEC Championship, BCS Championship, and then Super Bowl. Super Bowl casual. Just I don't have I had the NSC championship ring, but it currently lost somewhere in my house. So I'm just gonna find it.
SPEAKER_01:Put me on the spot here. Um, what ring out of all those rings? And there's like six or seven I saw in that box over there. The only ring I've got is this one here.
SPEAKER_02:That's an important one.
SPEAKER_01:That is an important ring. Yeah, um, that's my most valuable as well. Uh what's the most important ring to you? What means to you?
SPEAKER_03:I think this one for sure. That this SEC championship, I was kind of like known for, especially at Alabama. I got heard in the first quarter of the game a comeback and um made some like really crucial plays in the fourth quarter very late um on some very famous plays that played in the NFL as well, uh, for us to win and get the ball and uh and win the SEC championship to then go to the national championship to win. Tuscan loser would have been going off that night. Well, we actually played in Atlanta, but then when we did fly back, it was yeah, it was unreal. And I was like, I was on crutches still. I ended up tearing a bunch of stuff in my MCL and uh almost everything but my ACL, and um came back and then played in the national championship after that as well. So that was kind of like what I was you know, I have this image of being extremely tough and resilient and all those things. And yeah, that was one of the times I mean there was probably a bunch where I sort of I proved it again that I that's what it still is, not just for everyone else, but for myself as well.
SPEAKER_00:Awesome. Um I'm going a little bit off script here just because when Chris came back from you know traveling with you to Alabama, um he was privileged enough to be able to sit in a couple of conversations where you were talking to, you know, I think it was a young quarterback, you know, and you know, a couple of other um athletes over there where the coaches said, okay, you know, Jesse, can you give some words of wisdom? And I can say in our dealings, like we've been getting to know you, you know, a fair bit over the last couple of months, and you have some absolute nuggets of gold that, you know, even for me as a grown adult hearing that, I'm like, yeah, I like that, right? So I'm asking Chris as well, like what were some of the things that you just you know saw from Jesse over there of being able to impart over to other athletes? Because we talk about it a lot about the advice that we're giving to student athletes and trying to motivate them and making good choices, working hard, all of those things. But that was a big takeaway from you seeing some of that, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, you can yeah, listening to Jesse now, he's not not doesn't struggle for words, right? Um, but I think I talk about identity a lot. Um I think you know, you find your identity in America. Um, and we can talk about that in a minute. But I think when I look at Jesse just from me on those couple trips, like mentor is probably the one word that jump out, uh jumps out, and that's pretty obvious in what you're doing today. Um, but look, yeah, being put on the spot by one of your old coaches at one of the colleges we went to, um, so unplanned, um so organic, and you just walked into the office just to catch up with an old coach, and there happens to be a player sitting on the couch, um, struggling a little bit, I guess, with life decisions and form and expectations and you know, things like that, and and what your your words were. You need to bridge the gap between who you think you are and who you really are. And the guy sat up a little bit. Um you say that again, you said it again, and then the coach said I won't say what the coach said, but he was impressed. And the coach wrote it down his diary, player wrote it down into his phone, and then you had him, and then you know, and that was as I said, unscripted, unplanned. Um, and the effect, I mean, I'd like to think that that kid's taken that and run with it now, and hopefully had a good rest of the season and the rest of it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, he's actually messaged me on Instagram previous prior to us leaving, uh, well after we left, sorry. And um, yeah, obviously reached out about the conversations we had, and it was very unscripted. I feel like um Chris Rumpf was the coach, so it was Clemson, and uh yeah, the guy was outside linebacker, defensive end, he's probably a future first rounder for sure. Um, I won't say who it is, but yeah, it was I don't know. I feel like these thoughts and stuff in my head are like voices nonstop, and I feel like I'm trying to share it half the time when I obviously I'm around a lot of young men um and impressionable people in my life, and I try and do a good job. I think my biggest thing is trying to be the person that I needed to come across when I was a kid.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Like when I look back on my life, I wish I was there and I metaphorically punched myself in the head or something. Um, not that I had a bad life, but it's like I made a lot of mistakes to get to where I am now. But I think a lot of young men, especially athletes or people trying to pursue sports, um, you know, kind of need people to think and have done stuff like I did enough to, you know, share those things. And I still get, I still get you know, current professional athletes hit me up just to talk or you know, want me to come out and like I haven't I don't write nothing down, I don't have no notes anywhere. I mean, you know me, like I just I roll into places and I just let it rip, you know. Um, I'm a firm believer if you can't shake the ground, if you can't shake the room down, the room's gonna shake you down. Um, so I just make sure I go in there and try and swing first, you know. And um, but that was that was a powerful one. That was that was kind of sitting on my heart or my mind for a long period of time. Um, you know, Coach Saban said that to me in 2011, and obviously it was like 2025, so it's been there a hot minute. Waiting, waiting, waiting to become waiting to come out. And like I like I didn't search for it, like it just come, it just came out. Yeah, it just came out. And um, you know, most of my conversations start like that. Um, unfortunately, because it it I don't know, it just whatever emotions or whatever situation I see, I seem like I've I've either lived it or I got something for it. Um, but it was it was a powerful thing. It's something I try and I try and live by. Um, you know, being able to close the gap between who you think you are and who you really are. Yeah. Um especially these days with like social media and I guess the the front of what people want to think they are. Yeah. Um, I prefer to live in the life of you know who I really am and and just more production based than you know fluff. Yeah. But I do enjoy that part. I I enjoy the the camaraderie of people trusting in my words uh to guide them through things. Yeah. Um, not a super biblical base of words, but obviously a lot of anecdotal experience that's coming out, and I feel like if I can articulate it good enough and deliver it, you know, that's what people usually pay for. They they want me to come out and sort of shake the room down. So I try and do a good job.
SPEAKER_01:No, that was good. I I felt in that room that I probably didn't belong, it didn't deserve to me. This is a really important conversation. Just sneak outside. Well, I just sat there and behaved myself.
SPEAKER_03:Well, the funniest thing is was like I wish I filmed it because, you know, I didn't I don't go in there trying to make it heavy, but it I mean, obviously I had to shift gears. You know, when you put me on the spot, like I wasn't gonna come out and be like, hey, you know, don't do drugs and like try harder. Like I got some I've got some clips in the chamber ready to go. Um, but that wasn't one that sort of was, you know, at the front of my brain. But I think I had to kind of shift the room a little bit to sort of make it effective, which I feel like it went pretty good. I was trying to explain it to other people when we got back, but um, I feel like I'm lucky enough that lucky or unlucky enough that all these things are floating in my brain non-stop. And it's just like one day when I slow down, I'm worried it's just gonna consume me. But until then, I'm just gonna keep gonna, you know, letting it fly.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, well, it came out well on that day.
SPEAKER_00:And I um, you know, from our perspective, whenever you're us collaborating together, you know, you Jesse Williams with elite, you know, us with study and play USA, you know, from that perspective, when we ever, when we collaborate with with anyone, it always has to align with values. And mentorship, I think integrity, mentorship is is a big part of those values. Um, we talk to our team a lot about for the student athletes that we work with, sometimes we're their lighthouse. You know, some some young people need a lighthouse, and they might have, you know, wonderful parents and wonderful families and wonderful coaches, but they just need that, and or they might not, you don't know. Um, so just being able to be, you just don't know who you're that lighthouse for, um, is really important. But yeah, that's you the the care that we see and the integrity that that you operate with is exceptional, Jesse. So um, we're really pleased that we're able to sit here and have this conversation. But then also, you know, from you to be able to collaborate with you is is pretty cool.
SPEAKER_03:I appreciate it. I think for me, I never really liked the mentor word. I feel like everyone just uses it so much now. But I think one of the things, one of the like little sayings that stick out to me, like obviously it's not always enjoyable. Um, you know, trying to lead a lot of like lost adolescent men to something great. Um, but for me, that always keeps me in line is you know, lead by being, and that's kind of how I am. Like I don't ever have to like act discipline or acts all those things. Like, I literally like just damn that all the time. Like it just probably to my you know downside a lot of the time, but it's just how it is. And I think that's where I don't know, that's where my brain gets to lead me a lot. Because I feel like a lot of times when you know I appreciate the the words, but for me, I'm like, man, I just feel like I'm just being me. But you know, it took me a long time to understand as I got older as a man to be like, oh, okay, well, not everyone does this, you know what I mean? And maybe me is a little different to how people do it. And I think that's a lot of things, obviously the US and obviously how I am as a man, but um, I think it is an important role, like you said, because I feel like a lot of kids, a lot of people in general these days are yeah, they're searching for a lighthouse somewhere, and yeah, there ain't many floating around. Um, and if they are, they ain't very bright. Yeah, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_00:So, as we mentioned, you know, you've got your own, you know, company, Elite Pacific, which prepares, you know, young, aspiring American footballers right here in Australia for the US. Um yeah, tell us a little bit about that. You run, you know, some some pretty big combines. Um, you know, tell you the out in the huddle listeners, you know, who may not have heard of what a combine is or elite pacific, you know, what it's what's involved, you know, a bit more about it.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, absolutely. So Elite Pacific Sports really just started off the back of kind of, I would say just the demand um uh through social media. And I wasn't doing much of football here. I didn't really quite get along with people that were running football here for a long time. Um, but then when I started getting back into it, it was just like, you know, spotting up and trying to guest coach and help. And I was just getting bombarded with messages like how do I do this from athletes and from parents, from schools, all this type of stuff. And, you know, for me, it was just like I need to find a way. I can't just help one. I need to try and like broaden this out. So the information is there, but also um, you know, the good coaching is there. People that have actually been places and done stuff are like sharing the information. Um, so then we started that. Uh we've done you know, nationwide trips doing combines, town ID and guys, and sending kids to the US. Uh, football is very different. Um, obviously, like we have the capability of sending kids in like a week. Yeah, you know, we try not to anymore. Early on, we were just trying to get kids out because we saw the opportunity in it. Um, now we're like a six-month minimum, be a part of the program. I need to see what you're about. I need to know what type of man you are by the time you go. Um, and obviously getting around strength conditioning. We don't do a lot of specific football stuff purely because it's going to change wherever you go, depending on what state, what level, what team, what coach. Um, so we really just try and create and develop the best athletes we can that have a football structure. Um, and it's gone pretty well. Like, obviously, we've combines is a big thing for us, uh, very similar to like the NFL Combine. And it works for a couple of reasons for us. It puts kids on the map for us, for me to see, okay, there's some talent here where kids might not ever expect they have talent. It might shift my mind a little bit, um, as well as theirs. And then I think the flip side of that is getting the testing data to show these kids, hey, these are areas we're excelling at, these are the areas we're not. And this is not just physical, these are like their grades, this is like other stuff they're doing in their lives. Um, so it paints a really clear picture of, you know, maybe a clean way of saying we need to work on things. Yeah. If this is your outcome and I'm working backwards, these are the gaps that you're missing. Um, and that we just try and fill that. We obviously work with U.S. consulate, help them get visas. The grade stuff is a little different with football. The schools really take care of that pretty um, pretty early on in in the conversation. And then um, you know, we just try and do a really good job of creating resilient young men physically and mentally um that have good values, um, and that you know, being a good man, being a value add to the community is is part of you know the outcome for them. Uh because it is part of the outcome for us. Um and that's kind of where we push into. We have a spot in Sydney we work out of um and here in Brisbane. And for us, it's really about trying to offer the opportunity to kids that you know really want to push and really want to try, um, and give them the best experience, the best shot to get over there, not just to go over there on holiday, but to go there, land, be somewhat ready and try and be successful in the space.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, awesome. Awesome stuff. And, you know, as as we wrap up here, this podcast, and I hope there's going to be more podcasts because I feel like we've just scratched the surface. We've got so much more that we can talk about. But um, you know, it's it's it's exciting to share that, you know, in 2026 that Studying and Play USA will also be running our own, you know, some some combines for athletes of all sports, working with you, Jesse, as well, to help deliver a sort of a meaningful stepping stone to be recruited successfully in the US, which is you know just a massive, massive part of it is data metrics, you know, all of that is just huge in the US. And I just feel here in Australia it is just something that we don't focus on enough, you know, to compare to the US. So that's you know, really exciting, you know, 2026.
SPEAKER_01:Um not to mention, too, like next year. Um obviously you've heard Jesse talking here, bringing him into classrooms in different parts of Australia, um, educating students and student athletes about this pathway, but also just in general, instilling a um a little bit of education around resilience and how to build it and what it can do for you, and um, you know, chasing dreams, all those types of themes. Um, but yeah, bringing them to yeah, school sports grounds or theaters and combines, yeah, coming to a coming to a school near you kind of stuff next year.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, I think they're both really important. I think that the school stuff definitely, like I'm not hell bent on selling football, I'm hell bent on selling the pathway, that's for sure. Yeah, you guys would see it from a different perspective, but it's life-changing. If you can get involved and you can get into a school, even if you get partial scholarship to a junior college, that's worth more than you trying to play in the NRL here. You know what I mean? I know that for a fact because we send kids, we're trying to do that. Yeah, um, I just think the opportunity, and obviously the US is just this like platform that, and if you jump in there and you work hard and you're a good person, man, Lord knows anything can happen. And uh, I think it's really important to sell that because a lot of kids that we speak to are so insecure about trying to go, they don't think they can do it. And I haven't even told them what they need to do. You know what I mean? The bar is very high, but it's not as high as what people think, yeah. And I think that's the really important thing to get across that people think you need to be going to the Olympics or at NFL caliber already, which isn't correct. Don't need to be ready made. It's one of my favorite lines. And even if you come in and you sign up with Suddy Play US. Say or sign up with elite, give me give us 12 months to get to you the 10% you need to make that happen.
SPEAKER_02:That's the difference.
SPEAKER_03:Like trying, hoping and wishing the 10% is coming out of nowhere. Yeah, it's crazy to me. You know, so that's the biggest thing we push is that extra 10% we can try and provide that whilst we have the connections and the communications, the grades and all that type of stuff happening in the background. And I think the US is just such a 300 and something million people, you know, it's less there's less people in California than there is. I mean, more people in California than there is in Australia. Yeah. And it's like everything is data. If we can make some dents in some of the data and create a physical end, a grades profile on how quality an athlete you are, it's only putting you closer to that. And I think the combines are important step for athletes here, whether it's tennis, track and field, football, to see where your starting point is on the scale of the world here, especially the US. I know well. Yeah. And then how do we how do we like lift that up? Um, you know, with saying healthy and obviously competing in your sport. Um, but I think it's always important to have a good starting point because you've got nowhere to nowhere to know where you're going if you don't know where to start in here. Um I think the combines do a really good job of like giving that information to kids, putting the right idea in their head of like, I'm here right now, this is where I need to go, and this is the work we need to put in. Um, but yeah, I'm definitely I'm super excited for that. I think the pathway is is wide open right now. Like I'm trying to shove as many kids as we can through that in the next however many years, um, just because the opportunity is is greater than anything else you're gonna get here in Australia.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. What a great way to finish. Thank you, Jesse. Um, and and thank you, Chris, as well for sharing you know your experiences over the last couple of months, you know, together in your most recent trip. And and for all of our listeners, you know, stay tuned. We've got so much more to share with Jesse. 2026 is just so exciting of the things that we're going to do together. So, yeah, really looking forward to sharing it all with you.
SPEAKER_01:Gotta start planning this next trip.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, you bet. Thanks.
SPEAKER_01:Still water, baby.