We sat down with FHS Head Basketball Coaches Christian Thompson and Caleb Marburger to hear all about their love for coaching and the expectations they have for their players.
We sat down with FHS Head Basketball Coaches Christian Thompson and Caleb Marburger to hear all about their love for coaching and the expectations they have for their players.
Speaker 1 It'd be expensive. And it's not like you would make sure your basketball team could get in to see the Final Four together. But is that something, as coaches that you're one are going to be going to work? You know, it's a point that you're. Unknown Going to try to get. It takes a while to sort of get your. Speaker 3 Tickets and see the news. Speaker 1 There. Oh, are they still undefeated or. Speaker 3 How they lost Saturday to Alabama? Oh, okay. Well, second half. Speaker 1 Lead, but they're still a good team and they are. Speaker 3 They're still top five. Speaker 1 Okay, cool. Now, did you go to you? They. I did. Oh, you did? Speaker 3 I was. I was one of the 40 people that used to go to the games. And Huffines, when I was there, way back in the day before Coach Sampson showed up and kind of turned the program around. Speaker 1 Gotcha. And there's not there's not really a bad seat in the House right now. Speaker 3 It's an awesome venue. Speaker 1 And have you been in recently? Speaker 3 I haven't been this year. Okay. Years past, I've been to, you know, five or six games a year. I've been watch practice a few times. So really seeing the court without anybody in there except for the the team and the coaches. So that was a really cool experience every time I get to do that. So. Speaker 1 Awesome. Well, before we get down the show, talking a little bit too much about basketball, let me first welcome our guests. Today. We have girls head basketball coach Christian Thompson and boys head basketball coach Caleb Marburger. Unknown Glad you're both here. Thanks for having us. Thank. Speaker 1 As an audience or something that's exciting. So like I was saying earlier, just wanted to invite you on here so we can talk through some basketball coaching some I've talked about this a little bit before, but I was a an intermediate basketball and volleyball coach and it took years off my life. So I was only there for about 40 years. Speaker 1 You'll have a tough, hard job. Coaching is not you know, you have a heart for the game. You have a heart for your athletes. And for me it was just too stressful and too much. But I applaud you and you know what you do and how you you work with with our athletes. So glad you're here. Let me just start with why did you start coaching? Speaker 1 How did that come about? For for each of you? And how how was that a decision that you were like, okay, I'm going to be a be a basketball coach? Speaker 4 Well, I you know, I grew up a basketball player, you know, went through the Friends of Good schools and I've played basketball all my life, was fortunate enough to play in college and it just I was just kind of drawn to the teaching and coaching, you know, just thinking about, you know, what am I going to do once I graduated? Speaker 4 Just I just kind of just fell into it and just never, never really thought about doing anything else. You know, I love the game and it's just, you know, I'm blessed to have been continuing my career in coaching after playing now. Speaker 1 Coach Thompson, you played for Friendswood. Was Griffin your. Speaker 4 Coach? Yes, he was. Speaker 1 One, Yes. Yes. Really good basketball stories about Coach Griffin. Like a really bad one. Speaker 4 Lots of embarrassing club stuff. Speaker 1 But I can only imagine how intense that man was out on the basketball court. Speaker 4 Yeah. You know, when I first got to Friendswood, my very first job was that Friendswood High School. And from 95 to 2000 and I was the freshman B team coach Robert Koopman was freshman a mark Griffen head basketball. And we just had we had a great time and, you know, I learned a lot under him and he was a great coach and he was very, very intense, very intense. Speaker 4 And he could he brought the most out of his players. That's one of his greatest qualities, is you see his teams overachieved. Speaker 1 Yeah, that's awesome. That's what any coach would want their players to say about them, Right? So, yeah, that's awesome to hear. What about you, Coach Marburger? How did you is that something you always knew you were going to be a coach? Speaker 3 Yeah, same way. You know, growing up, always into sports, going into high school, know I played basketball and baseball mostly just loved basketball more than anything in the world. So I played for years in high school, had the opportunity to go play in college, but decided my student loan debt should stay closer to zero than it would if I would have gone to play four years of the division three got out of college and always thought I wanted to go teach in coach and go that route, but tried the financial world for a couple of years and just it was not for me, you know, I was not built for the suit and tie life. Speaker 3 So jump back in And Galveston Ball in 2013 coached a couple of years there and then came to Friendswood. I've been there ever since and I'm blessed to be in the position I am and I love my job every day. Speaker 1 So did you just have a calling? Like did you just feel when you were out in the business world, did you just continually have a nudge for I could be coaching. I should be coaching big time? Speaker 3 Yeah. My mom my mom was a schoolteacher at a cousin who I'm very close with that was coaching in Santa Fe at the time. And just listening to him talking about his experiences in the coaching world was, yeah, I was just being pulled and pulled and pulled and finally I pulled the trigger on it. So best decision I ever made. Speaker 5 Now I have to say, whenever I first started working for friends and I was at the high school and I saw you and I was like, Oh my gosh, where do I know? Where do I know him? I would like recognized you. And finally it hit me that used to scrimmage against my team. Whenever I played volleyball for GCB, they would have your friends with Travis, correct? Speaker 5 Yeah, The owner's son. And, I mean, y'all would come now, y'all, and take it easy on something like that. Speaker 1 Game to play volleyball. Speaker 5 Oh, yeah. We were like, 14, 15 years old. And they were. Yeah, I mean, did not see. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I wouldn't even be like a full six on the other side. Like, I would just play with a couple of y'all. And it was always really fun, but like, that's where I know him out to do the game. Speaker 3 Yeah. After after college, it got to hard to find places to play basketball for me. So I got into volleyball for about eight, ten years. Had some good times. Yeah, Travis and I. I was in his wedding. He'll be in mine when I get married one day. Good, dude. Good times. Speaker 1 So I don't. Y'all kind of brought up the topic of boys playing against girls, and I don't really want to upset anyone out there, but that's something that back in the day when I played basketball, we would actually do, and I don't really remember. I'm sure it was the Varsity Girls playing against a younger group of boys. The girls and boys ever scrimmage against each other anymore, or is that just kind of you don't really have time for it and you just. Speaker 4 It's really the time thing. You know it you know, I've I've kicked that around was I've talked to Darren Scott about things, doing things like that to make our girls more aggressive, playing against like the sophomore and freshman boys and, you know, just time gym space and then but I something that, you know, I'd like to talk to Coach Marburger about working out in the future. Speaker 1 The sun. I mean, it's oh, yeah, I always felt like as a girl athlete playing with guys, I wasn't as quick and I couldn't jump as high as them. Obviously. But it was especially for like your hosts, I don't even know if you call them foes anymore. Yeah, but just to become a little more aggressive and learn to box out and get strong, you know, your weight lift with your athletes way more than what we did when we were in athletics. Speaker 1 Weight lifting weights really wasn't even a part of our daily routine. And I know that's such a big part of of your sports now, which is great. Speaker 4 And we love Coach Taylor. He does such a great job. It's just it's a blessing to have him. Yes. Speaker 1 Absolutely. For any I would assume most high schools have a weightlifting coach. Is that not something that. Man, that's crazy. Yeah, We're very fortunate. Speaker 3 Very blessed to have him. Speaker 1 Yeah, he's great. He's he's done a great job. So recently, we're in the process of hiring, hiring a new athletic director now that Coach Koopman has announced his retirement. And we recently invited the community to come to the boardroom and just talk about the qualities of a strong athletic director. What would you all say as coaches who would be working with that athletic director? Speaker 1 Or maybe it would be, you to be? Well, I think it's going to be the football coach, right? So it wouldn't be one of y'all. But what would you say as a coach are some qualities that you respect in an athletic director or that you want to see in the next athletic director? Speaker 3 I just think somebody that's going to care about kids, you know, somebody is going to love on kids and coach them hard and do the right thing and, you know, stand behind the coaches and other programs as well and really be supportive of of the the school culture as a whole rather than, you know, you hear horror stories of some of these head football coach, athletic director, people that are football, football, football and they're not big on cheering athletes or advocating for their coaches and other sports. Speaker 3 So just somebody who's going to who's going to stick up for everybody and have a voice of reason. Speaker 1 Mm hmm. What about you, Coach Thompson? Speaker 4 You agree? Exactly. I agree with everything Coach said. And, you know, we just want someone who cares about the kids first, because every, you know, every decision made is in the best interest of the kids and of the overall athletic program. Just someone who cares about all sports. Speaker 1 Mm hmm. We'll look forward to that. That'll be interesting, I believe. I don't really know the timeline. I do think that maybe February, March, there will be. Speaker 3 Somewhere, somewhere in there. Speaker 1 Yeah, there will be a new athletic director announced. So that will be a fun process to watch. And as your communication team, we promise that we will bring you all the information that we have as it becomes available and keep all of you up to date. So what do you sacrifice or what do you sacrifice? Because as a coach, you sacrifice as a teacher. Speaker 1 All teachers out there know sometimes our families get the short end of the stick. As a coach, even so much more, what do you sacrifice in order to coach your sport? Speaker 4 And I just think the the big thing, the big sacrifice this time, just to be totally prepared, prepared. There's so much you have to do off the court to to produce that that great product that we're all striving for. And it's just the time, you know, because we've got our practice time after school. It's roughly hour and a half, 2 hours after school, and then, you know, that's that's engaging with the kids. Speaker 4 And then after that, we get to watch film. We got to game prep, we got to talk to other coaches and just find out ideas on teams for playing against. And, you know, it's just it's time consuming, but but well worth it in the end. Speaker 3 I think. Time for sure. I think the big thing that myself, you know, I speak for me I would assume that coach feels the same as well is is presence you know just presence at home. It's hard to to go through like hard to go through a two hour practice and go home and go, man, we suck today. Speaker 3 Like, how are we going to get better tomorrow and then turn that that kind of coach brain off and be really present at home with whoever's there. You know, there's times where, you know, we lose a game on a Friday and I'm spending time with my parents on Saturday and I can't I can't be there because I'm thinking about what we did Friday night, how disappointed I am in our performance or things like that. Speaker 3 So just being present at all times and really turning off the work coach brain and, you know, having your feet where you're at. Speaker 5 Yeah. And I would think like just being an athlete before and now a coach like you are seeing the game from a totally different side. So like how, how is that shifted? How, how is your experience like actually playing the sport? How has that shaped how you coach it? Speaker 3 I think the big thing for me is that that there's a couple of big things. Number one is that the kids are you're not you're not going to get a bunch of kids that love it as much as you. You're the you're the leader. And, you know, we're super passionate about it. And that's what drove us into the profession. Speaker 3 But we're not going to get, you know, have 11 kids on our varsity right now. I'm not going to have 11 kids who are like just gung ho, all in full bore basketball players. So just trying to balance those personalities and trying to meet kids where they're at while still trying to hold them accountable to the goals that we have as a team and things like that. Speaker 3 That's been a big thing for me to notice is that like not everybody's going to love it as much as you. You know, when I was a player, I loved it just as much as I do now as a coach. And as the years have gone on, you see that some kids do and just some kids don't. So like I said, balance and that that time and personalities in that regard. Speaker 4 I just I've as a player versus coach I've I've really enjoyed the coaching side more. Just me personally, I just felt so much pressure as a player. You know, in high school it was, you know, you got to get a scholarship, go get a scholarship and now I was putting that on myself at one coming from home and everything. Speaker 4 I just, you know, I felt like that's what I wanted to do and just that pressure to perform. And then once you get in college, the same thing, just the pressure to perform. And then once I started coaching, just just the it was being able to just form a team and put that product on the floor and then seeing positive results when watching your kids succeed on and off the floor. Speaker 4 I've just I've truly enjoyed it. I just I honestly like coaching more than I did playing well. Speaker 1 Something you said that resonated with me is, you know, I've always heard that when you own your own company, your employees will never love the business as much as you. It's your company. It's what you started, you know, to be an owner of a company or a boss or a leader. It's really about taking the people where you know, your workers, your team and pulling out the best in them to serve that company or to serve that that team, you know, to be the best people that they can be. Speaker 1 Really just words of encouragement for y'all. I know. You know, that's what a good leader is. Not everybody will have the hearts, you know, that you have for the game. You know, when you think about kids and you talk about kids and when, you know, I just I think about my own kids, the you know, and then you have personalities that come along with it and you have things that they're holding on to that you don't even know about, you know that you don't even know about as a parent, much less as a coach, that it's just a tough job that you all have to do to try to get everybody in sync and leave Speaker 1 all their problems, you know, off the court and be all in and give it their best every day. And one of the things, you know, as coaches that I would I would love to hear. What is some advice that you would have for a kid, let's say that's not even in high school yet, but they want they desire to play basketball when they get into high school. Speaker 1 What can they be doing now and how can they be getting ready for that time where they do step on your court and want to play? Speaker 3 I think one of the things that I love about the game most is it doesn't take a whole lot to get better. It just takes commitment and time. You need a ball in a basket, right? Sometimes you don't even need a basket to get better. You just go outside and dribble ball for an hour. You know, if I was going to give advice to say, you know, a third or fourth grader, I would just tell them, play every day and and play things that that aren't organized, play things that are fun. Speaker 3 You know, I think that that the game is getting lost in translation and the the art of just kids having fun. Everybody takes it so serious that the second and third grade level now which is crazy to me because I remember being in third grade and that was when we started playing like kind of organized basketball. But nobody is very good in third grade, you know, there's nobody in third grade that you're like, Oh, there's the next Michael Jordan. Speaker 3 Just go play and have fun and you'll learn some things along the way. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 4 I would. I would just say, Get on that driveway. Go, go to the park, get on the driveway, find that goal. You know, now it seems like kids are just they come to practice and play in the games, but they don't spend a lot of one on one time, you know, time by themselves working on their game And, you know, just, you know, growing up myself is just I spent hours and hours on that driveway and that just it was fun, you know, just playing against you know, Michael Jordan in your head or Moses Malone. Speaker 4 But it you know, it's just the driveway is key I feel. Speaker 3 And play against people that are better than you. Yeah that's a big one for me. Like we tell our kids, our high school kids now, like, find a find somewhere we can go play. Some adults find somewhere where you can go play some kids in college, right? They're going to be better than you. They're going to be more polished. Speaker 3 They're going to be a year older, a little more experienced. Go play against those guys and you'll learn some stuff about the game and you'll learn some stuff about yourself, you know, knock you down a peg or two. Speaker 1 And that's behind that goes across the board. It doesn't matter if we're talking basketball, if we're talking if you want to get better at anything, go be with people that know what they're doing. Know how to do it. Yeah, do it well and learn. It's okay to learn from other people. Speaker 5 It starts with having to humble yourself too. Of like, yeah, I'm not the best, which I think that can be a huge roadblock for a lot of people is thinking, Well, I don't need to get better. I'm already great. Well, no, there's always someone out there who's better than you. I think that's. Yeah, I love that. Just like when you were stuffing us and blocking every single guy that whenever I was 14 years old and crying after practice. Speaker 5 No. Speaker 3 You're welcome. Speaker 1 So tell me about what type of athlete that you have a best your best relationship with and why. So we all have different personalities and it might not be just you specifically, but what type of athlete do you really enjoy coaching and why? What is that characteristic? Speaker 4 I just, you know, I always say there's there's three things for you to be successful in our program. Give me come to practice every day, be coachable, go full speed, give me 100% with a smile on your face. And if you can do all that, you know you're you're going to thrive. And in our program, just those three simple things. Speaker 4 And you know, that's that's the type of player that I that I look for that I try to bring out, I try to develop. And that's that's those are my big three keys. Speaker 3 The kid that's invested, like I said earlier, you know, they're not all going to love it as much as you do, but every once in a while you'll get a group of a kid or sometimes two or three in a group that they love it as much as you do. So really develop in that that bond through the game and and showing them the way of the game kind of through your eyes as a coach and watching them, you know, develop, especially the kids that come in and are super invested as freshmen and you get to guide them through their four year career and watch them really succeed and have their hard work and time Speaker 3 pay off in the end. This is so fun. We've had a couple of those kids in my decade and friends Will and I, you know, still have relationships with those guys and. Speaker 1 Makes coaching fun for. Speaker 3 Sure. Yes. Speaker 1 So just for a second, brag about yourself. What what is a strong asset that you believe or a characteristic that you hold that you think that, you know, lends itself towards being a good coach? Speaker 4 I just I feel I feel like I can I can bring out the most of kids, you know, kind of what I was saying about coach, the final feel like I took on that trait is, you know, I can develop teams to overachieve. And then at the same time, you know, I can get kids working hard and at the same time having fun. Speaker 4 You know, I can I can throw in, you know, jokes here. And as they're working hard and sweat and, you know, I can throw in jokes and then, you know, just team starts laughing and and we're still, you know, getting something done and having fun working hard. Speaker 3 Just being personable with kids and being relative with them. Right. Like I said, meeting kids where they're at, they're not all going to be superstars. They're not all going to be phenoms, just meeting them where they're at and coaching them hard and holding them accountable to the ways and the standards that you have set forth in your program. Speaker 3 And, you know, like Coach said, bringing out the best in your team as a group. Speaker 1 Yeah, it is a big part of, you know, whether you're an athlete or a coach, you know, being a team, feeling like that, your coach knows who you are and cares about you and and knows you and knows your strengths and knows your weaknesses and can work with those, you know, I think is an important part of a successful team for sure. Speaker 1 So how's your season going? Have you started district yet? Speaker 4 We're we're starting tonight we have manvel tonight and then Friday La Porte and you know, coming into district we're nine and ten and so we're just trying to get where we're striving to get, you know, above 500 and, you know, but, you know, our pre district schedule was tough and we scheduled that intentionally just didn't have so we can be battle tested for district and so you know nine and ten I feel like we're in a good spot right now. Speaker 1 So is there an don't answer this if it's if this makes you nervous or what's the word that I'm looking for it. When you're a coach, you're superstitious, superstitious. Is there one team in your district that you're nervous about playing or is that something you don't talk about? Is that something you don't talk about as coaches? Speaker 4 No. No, I don't you know, I don't show that to the kids. Speaker 1 Okay. Speaker 4 You know, you got you've got to. And so I'm not talking about right now. Yes. Speaker 1 You can go out there, play hard in every game and it doesn't matter who you're playing. Speaker 4 It's exactly. Speaker 5 Just. Speaker 4 Like you've got to get the kids to believe and you've got to get them to you in their mind. You've got to get them to say, We're the best team in the district. We're going to beat everybody, right? And that's you know, that's our goal is to win a district championship, go undefeated and get the kids believing that and play hard. Speaker 4 Playing hard, you know, magic happens on the basketball court. Speaker 1 One thing every athlete knows for sure, every team is beatable. Yeah. Rice almost beat us last night in that, right? Okay. Yeah, I'm lost. Speaker 3 In overtime or no. Speaker 4 One. Speaker 1 And we're not going to talk about. Speaker 5 What happens on this. I'll listen to this anyway. It's real supportive. Speaker 1 Okay. Sorry. Speaker 3 Yeah, we're seven and six. We just. We were down at a tournament in Corpus Christi this last weekend. We were able to bring home a trophy with the consolation championship. All right, so trending in the right direction. Kids are playing really hard, really gelling together. We had a couple of moving pieces kind of throughout our first 13 games here. Speaker 3 But I think we're we're getting to the point where we're pretty solidified and in roles and who needs to be where and what we need to do to be successful. So we've got one more week this week to really fine tune those things before we play our first district game on the 20th. So I think I think things are going well for us right now. Speaker 1 So what's one thing that you would want going into the district season? What's one thing if you could just kind of just turn something on for your your guys or for your girls? Like what's one thing that you need them to get better at going into district? Speaker 3 We've got to stop turning the ball over. Yeah, that's been a big one for us. Yeah, our losses. Yeah. We're just turning the ball over at a very high rate. Even some of our wins that have been a little closer than they probably should. If we could clean up some of the little things that we talk about often, you know, it's really going to set us apart as we make our district run for us. Speaker 4 I think we need to we need to win the loose ball wars. You know, every loose ball needs to be ours. And then we need to improve on rebounding. Speaker 1 Rebounding. Oh, let's bring them back a little bit. Speaker 4 Limiting, you know, just limiting your opponent to one shot, you know, grabbing that rebound, getting that loose ball. Speaker 1 Ladies, get in there like when the ball goes, oh, oh, oh, just coming out. Stand there. Get in there and get the ball. Speaker 4 Exactly. It's easy. Speaker 3 Yeah. Speaker 5 I know. I don't take it out. A few people in her. Speaker 1 Life, she drives me crazy. People just stand there, look at the balls to shoot. As soon as you shoot it, go. Somebody should be leaning towards the ball and boxing someone out. Speaker 4 Yeah, I'm. Speaker 5 I'm not saving it. Saying needs. Yeah. Speaker 3 Teach you that when you start playing right. Speaker 1 Do you put down your clipboard and just go just put it in. Just put me in for 3 minutes. Do you ever think that or you're over that? Speaker 3 I think I could only play for about 11 seconds. Speaker 4 So I'm done. Speaker 1 Okay, you have our time. Okay. Um, so a new gym. That's exciting. Don't you think that in itself will kind of bring a spark of excitement for. For your teams? You're going to be signing beams. Speaker 3 We did? Yeah, we did. Back in October. Yeah, early October somewhere. Speaker 1 That's right. That's right. Speaker 5 So I read any messages or just sign your names? Speaker 3 We wrote some stuff on there. Speaker 1 Y'all want to share that or is that superstitious? Do you want to share what you wrote? Speaker 4 You know, some of the girls, you know, put down some Bible verses, you know, just wanna think about it, you know, things that are important to you. And then on that half court defense wins defense wins championships. And that that used to be our motto back in the day just defense wins and so wrote that at half court. Speaker 1 Kadir your coach. Speaker 3 I mean yeah wrote go Mustangs go cowboys go Cougars. Speaker 1 All right. Speaker 3 Put all my teams in there. Speaker 1 That's good. Hopefully you're season will be as successful as U of H has had so far, right? Yeah. Yeah, that would be. Speaker 3 That would be wonderful. Speaker 1 Yeah, that would be wonderful. Okay, so before we before we in this just will always throw out some random questions in the end. So if you would like to answer a great if you would like to pull a mr. Whitlock in pass. Speaker 5 Don't pull a mr. Whitlock. That was so disappointing. Speaker 1 So if you could be on any sitcom, which sitcom would you want to be in and why The Office. The Office? Speaker 3 Yeah, I would pay money to sit in a room with Michael Scott and just watch the hilarious things that he. Speaker 1 You don't say anything, right? Just. Speaker 3 I just want to be a fly on the. Speaker 1 Wall in the office. Would be fun. Yeah, absolutely. Speaker 4 King of Queens for me. I would shadow grandfather in the basement and hang out there. Speaker 1 Are you Esler? Are you a young guy? Speaker 4 He's just. He's funny. Speaker 1 Oh, he's hilarious. Speaker 4 I'll just try to get him worked up. Yeah. Yes. Arthur. Speaker 5 Yes, Yes. Oh, good. Speaker 1 Malcolm. Is that the dad that yells all the time? Oh. Speaker 5 Yeah. She's grumpy. Yeah. Grumpy old man. Speaker 1 Okay. Yeah. Okay. Oh, how would you answer this question? What is the best thing in life? Oh, sorry. It's a little deep. It just went serious. Speaker 3 Thing in life. I mean, I would say family. If it was something like kind of tangible. I would say vacation. Speaker 1 Both great things. Yeah. Speaker 3 Sitting on a beach somewhere. It's tough to be. Speaker 4 You know, for me, same family, family time and just wins, you know, as a coach, just that when you shouldn't get it just it's greatest feeling and it's just yeah you know the upset when you upset somebody that you predicted to get beat by 20 and you come out and beat them, that's just that's a great feeling. Speaker 1 How how do you make tough decisions? You have a tough decision to make. What's your process for that? Speaker 3 I usually confide in some some mentors both on campus and off some people that are trusted in my coaching circle. Talk to them about the situation. Try to give them as many facts as I can and then just hear their kind of perspective on it in the ways that they might handle the situation and then take all that information and try to make the best decision that I think is is going to be it's going to be the right decision for our program as a whole. Speaker 3 It's going to be the right decision for the kid in general. And then, you know, try to portray it as best I can. But sometimes, especially in the world we live in now, those tough decisions don't always go over well. And those are things that keep you up at night as a coach, right? Did I did I do the right thing? Speaker 3 And sometimes you do and sometimes you don't. You look back on and say, Man, that was dumb. But in the moment, you know, we're always trying to make the best decision that we can for both our program and for the kids at hand. Speaker 1 Yeah. Speaker 4 I you know, ditto for me. That's that's exactly how I do it. Just, you know, talking just doing it collectively with with your mentors and and men on campus. Speaker 1 And that's a lesson, you know, for students and athletes out there. You know, I just want to encourage you. You don't have to make decisions on your own when you're dealing with a tough subject or you're you don't know which direction to go. Just talk to your coach about it, talk to your parents about it. Talk to a mentor that I think one thing that kids don't always do is go to someone that has your best interests, not just a friend, because not all friends, you know, have your best interests at heart. Speaker 1 But that's what coaches are there for. They really, Yeah. Guys, we're in this business because we love you as kids and athletes and we want what's best for you. So I always want to encourage athletes to go to their coaches and talk about it may not be the answer that you want to hear. Speaker 5 But sometimes that's the more loving answer. Mm hmm. Speaker 1 Okay. So last question that always in the podcast with finish the sentence one thing I know for sure is, Oh. Speaker 3 That's a hard one. One thing I know for sure. Yeah. Speaker 4 That's true is I don't know what's going to happen next. Yeah. Speaker 5 It's a good answer. Speaker 1 That's a good one. That's a good one. Yeah. Speaker 3 One thing I know for sure is that I love our team this year. It's good group. Like I said, we were tournament in Corpus this past weekend and some years you take a group of kids out of town for three or four days and you think, Oh boy, what could go wrong? And our group this year is definitely not that got good kids with good families. Speaker 3 They're hardworking and they all get along. So it's it's a really fun group to be around. Speaker 1 Well, those are great answers, coaches, because we don't we don't always know what's around the corner. We don't know what the future holds. But we do love our kids, we love our athletes, we love the sport that we coach and we love, you know, what we do. And you guys are great at it. And thanks for coming on today and just kind of talking through coaching and basketball and good luck this season. Speaker 1 I hope you do really well. Speaker 3 Thank you for having us. Speaker 4 Thank you. Speaker 1 Yeah, Have a great day.