0:00:13 - (Toby Brooks): Hey, welcome back to another episode of.

0:00:15 - (Toby Brooks): The Coming Undone, the podcast for those.

0:00:17 - (Toby Brooks): Who dare bravely risk mightily and grow relentlessly. Join me, Toby Brooks, as I invite a new guest each week to examine how high achievers can transform from falling apart to to falling into place. Imagine for a moment that you are a young high school athlete. As your performance on the field and the court continues to improve, the accolades start rolling in. Recruiting offers from across the country pour into your mailbox daily.

0:00:42 - (Toby Brooks): You're told that you're among the best basketball players to ever come from your modest city. And when you sign with your chosen university, you're also told that you're the best recruit in school history. Where do you go from there? If you're Lubbock's Josh Washington high hopes of leading his hometown Red Raiders to new heights were soon dashed with the cold realities of life at the next level. Through trials and circumstances that an introspective Josh fully admits he played a role in.

0:01:08 - (Toby Brooks): His time at Texas Tech grew increasingly dark, playing time scarce anxiety and depression, high and spiritual battles raging as he tried to hold things together in a pre transfer portal world that required any athlete who changed schools to sit out a year. Josh finally acknowledged that he needed a new start. He transferred to Texas A and M Corpus Christi where he regained his footing, restored his confidence and eventually led the nation in three point shooting percentage as a senior.

0:01:35 - (Toby Brooks): Those experiences led to professional opportunities overseas where he concluded a successful career and headed back to Lubbock. Older, wiser and more mature. Today he serves as a basketball official and is the owner and founder of Josh Washington Elite Basketball where he continues to pour not only on court skills into the minds and bodies of some of Lubbock's best and brightest hoops prospects, but also their heart.

0:01:57 - (Toby Brooks): Listen as Josh opens up and shares his journey of triumph, heartbreak and resolute determination to succeed while helping and serving others in episode number 10, Reborn.

0:02:09 - (Toby Brooks): Really special treat today. When I first started doing this podcast, one of the first people that I wanted to have on the show is Josh Washington. Now, many from Lubbock know the name Texas Tech Red Raider, one of the most highly decorated high school prospects to ever come out of this city and Josh continues to serve this community and beyond well. He's currently the owner and founder of Josh Washington Elite Basketball Academy. He served at the Lubbock Dream center in the City Church.

0:02:42 - (Toby Brooks): Josh, welcome to the show.

0:02:44 - (Josh Washington): I appreciate you having me, Toby. Thank you. I'm excited to be here.

0:02:47 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah, it's been a long time coming to do this show. But I feel like stories like yours are just nail on the head. Precisely what this show is all about. You started out as an incredibly talented, highly recruited basketball prospect out of Monterey High School. Some of your accolades here, three time district mvp, second team all state as a junior, first team Allstate as a senior, honorable mention All American as a senior also. I didn't realize this until I was doing research. You were first team all state in football as a junior.

0:03:24 - (Josh Washington): I was.

0:03:26 - (Toby Brooks): Fantastic. So before we get too deep, the question I always start with, start at the beginning. Wherever that was for you.

0:03:36 - (Josh Washington): Yeah, I think growing up here in Lubbock is just one of those things where you have a love. You have a love for sports. Lubbock is a community that hasn't changed much. Even that when kids play everything growing up. And so that's what I did. Me and my friends, we played football together, we played soccer together, we played basketball together. Is really the beginning of kind of the story for me of basketball started when I was about, I'd say, 9 or 10 years old. When I kind of started to realize that, you know, I'm a little better than those around me.

0:04:05 - (Josh Washington): I'm a little more, you know, skilled. I grew really fast, so I was, you know, taller kid growing up as well. And so I think about the age of 10, I started to realize, hey, basketball is something that, you know, it's one of those things where I have a good time playing it, but I'm also pretty good at it. And then I realized that if I continue to put the work in, if I continue to practice, you know, I just love to be in the gym.

0:04:28 - (Josh Washington): Back in the day was being on the playground after school at Honey elementary, after school, playing basketball with the guys. Those are some of the things I remember. And then kind of being going home be like, hey, I did pretty good again today. And I did pretty good again today. And then I kind of, as I got older, that beginning passion really grew, growing in me as far as, you know, the 90s and growing up Michael Jordan, people watching basketball and watching the NBA and watching college basketball. My favorite player was Danielle Marshall.

0:04:55 - (Josh Washington): People don't know that. So growing up, number 42, I always wore. He played at UConn. And that was the first time I realized, like, hey, I want to go to UConn and play like Donyell Marshall. I want to go and do these things. And so that's when I began to take basketball a little more serious and going from there. That's where our story really begins.

0:05:12 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah, that's, that's awesome.

0:05:14 - (Josh Washington): Yeah.

0:05:15 - (Toby Brooks): At the age of 10 or 12, like who was Josh Washington then and what did he want out of life?

0:05:21 - (Josh Washington): You know, so a lot of people know this, but some people don't. So I grew up with a really, really bad speech impediment, had a really bad stutter growing up. So one of the things basketball allowed me to do, it allowed me to kind of mask some of those insecurities. And I realized that at a really early age. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I really don't know. But I was able to mask maybe some of the bullying that I would have received by being a really, really good athlete.

0:05:48 - (Josh Washington): So that was when I kind of realized that sports could maybe get me places that if I didn't play them, I couldn't go. And so, you know, you know, I was growing up and I said, hey, look, you know, I know that this is something that I'm going to have to deal with. I have a stutter, but if I'm really good at sports, maybe people won't notice. And so I realized that about the age of 12, in the sixth grade, knowing that if I was good at these things, I could get away with some other things in life. And that kind of went down a path of good and bad things.

0:06:16 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah, I think it's only natural. And we see this consistently with whether they're athletes or artists. If you find early success, it can't help but becoming pretty central to your identity. Did you really feel like you would have defined yourself as an athlete or even more specifically as a basketball player, even at that early age?

0:06:35 - (Josh Washington): I really did because, you know, some of the things that I was doing at that age were, I guess from what I hear now from parents and those things pretty remarkable for a 12 and 13 year old kid to be able to do on the basketball court. You know, my first dunk was at the age of 12 at the boys and Girls Club. Wilson, I remember that was like a big deal. Like parents like Josh Washington dunk, he's 12, you know, and so that was what I, I would hear.

0:06:57 - (Josh Washington): And then in seventh grade I was really good. Eighth grade I was really good. And so that was really my identity walking down the hallway. Evans Junior High was more like not Josh Washington acquired singer or anything. It was Josh Washington the athlete, the basketball player. And I kind of knew that at that age.

0:07:13 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. Where did you see yourself now at your age back then was, was basketball central to that or did you See yourself going in another direction altogether.

0:07:24 - (Josh Washington): Well, definitely I wouldn't see myself in where I am now. My lifetime goal was to play in the NBA. And a lot of people know that story of mine. That was all I ever wanted to do. I'm 39 years old, just turned 39 about a month and a half ago. And so I would think that I would probably just be getting done with my NBA career. That was always a dream of mine. You know, basketball was always a central part of just who I was.

0:07:46 - (Josh Washington): So that was where I would see myself back then. But I know God had a new plan and another plan for me, and I wouldn't really change it.

0:07:54 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. So obviously, you, highly decorated as a high school athlete, you. You decide to stay home. You recruited by coaching legend Bobby Knight, and you become a Texas Tech Red Raider, and it's happily ever after. But that wasn't exactly the plan. So walk me through that freshman sophomore season, going from being the man and literally the most highly touted recruit in university history to being someone who was maybe not as happy.

0:08:26 - (Josh Washington): Yeah. And I think, too, I always like to start these stories off when I had a lot to do with some of the things that happened in Texas Tech. I think when I was first starting to heal and first starting to tell this story, I think I would put it more on Coach Knight and some of the other coaches. But as I've gotten older and. And as I process those stories, I've realized that I had a lot to do with it.

0:08:46 - (Toby Brooks): The maturity and introspection you hear in Josh's voice here is remarkable to me. There have been no shortage of both critics and staunch defenders alike of coaching legend Bobby Knight, both at Texas Tech and at Indiana, where he was let go for concerns over player abuse. Josh is no longer interested in pointing fingers. Based on our conversation today, it's obvious to me that he's done that heavy, difficult work on himself, and he's let go of those past hurts.

0:09:11 - (Toby Brooks): He recognizes that he played a role in the deterioration of the relationship during his time here. And I can't help but be inspired by his grace and his willingness to focus on what he can control.

0:09:21 - (Josh Washington): Being a Texas Tech was something that obviously would look like it's something I wanted to do, but as I was a sophomore and junior, really, I was headed to the University of Texas. And so Rick Barnes and I were really connected. And so I actually had committed verbally after my sophomore season to the University of Texas with Rick Barnes, because Texas Tech basketball really wasn't what it was. Love Coach Dickey, great program, but it wasn't something that I was looking forward to staying home for.

0:09:50 - (Josh Washington): And so Bobby Knight was hired March of 2001, which is the end of my junior season in basketball. And so that was obviously the first thing that the news people were asking, hey, is Josh Washington going to change his mind? Because Bobby Knight's here now. And he was. It was one of my first phone calls back in the day when you have the house phone. He was one of my first phone calls and said, hey, I'd love for you to come up. We'd love to speak for you and love to speak to you and see what you're thinking. We know you're headed to Texas, but we'd love for you to stay at home.

0:10:21 - (Josh Washington): And so I said, okay, obviously I'm going to listen. You know, Spirit arena was brand new at that time. You know, I had my family and friends here, so I decided to stay home, become a Red Raider, did the early signings. My whole senior season, I knew where I was going so I could be kind of stress free and just play football and play basketball and just get ready for my freshman year, which I thought was going to be a breakout year for me.

0:10:44 - (Josh Washington): I actually played very well in the exhibition games back in the day. I know they play those games you play like athletes in action and those things actually played really well. Those first two games, we were like, oh, Josh Washington is going to be the man here. And then for the next about 24 months of my life, it wasn't so pretty. And I think going through the process of being the hometown. Kidding. Sitting on the bench was really hard for me. There were some really challenging moments just for me, spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically. I was going through a lot because I was so disappointed, because Texas Tech basketball was a dream growing up because I was a ball boy for those 95 and 96 teams with Tony Batist, Corey Carr, all those guys, Jason Sasser, I was a ball boy. So I would sit down on the free throw line watching these guys be like, I'm gonna do this one day.

0:11:33 - (Toby Brooks): How cool is that? In the ultimate hometown Boy does good story, Josh goes from being a starstruck ball boy, watching and helping out at games in his youth, to being the prized recruit in one of the first ever classes signed by a new hall of Fame coach. Unfortunately, as inspiring as that story might have been, it simply wasn't to be.

0:11:54 - (Josh Washington): So then when it happened and it wasn't happening, it was almost like a double heartbreak. And so I think that I Started to process things. I began to get into a lot of heavy, like heavy partying and things of that nature. Trying to cope and trying to deal with just being really unhappy at the time.

0:12:10 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah, so you can kind of see the handwriting on the wall as teammates are coming and going and your minutes aren't going up. Starting to head down maybe some paths you didn't anticipate. What did you tell yourself to keep going during that time?

0:12:28 - (Josh Washington): So a lot of the things that I would tell myself was like, I know that if I want to continue my career it may be somewhere else, but I need to continue to get better here. And I've really never told anybody that. You know, I knew that maybe after my sophomore year I was probably going to leave Texas Tech, but in order to, you know, fulfill my dreams of playing the NBA, I've got to continue to get better where I'm at.

0:12:50 - (Josh Washington): And so what I would do my sophomore year, people don't know this, but a few people is after the games I would stay and work out for another hour and a half or two hours. I would lift the old. There's a practice gym kind of back by the spinner and there's a small practice gym that I would go back there, I'd pull out the gun machine and I would just shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot. Guy named Parker Meeks, who was our manager, he would wait with me and he would rebound, those kind of things. So shout out perker if he ever hears this because I really appreciate those hours.

0:13:16 - (Toby Brooks): The visual is one part heartbreaking and another part inspiring to me at this point in his life, Josh is all of 18, 19, 20 years old and he's doing everything he knows how to deal with what had to have been one of the biggest disappointments in his life. You heard him acknowledge that he found some somewhat self destructive ways to cope. But he also took it upon himself to continue to work on his game day after day, night after night.

0:13:41 - (Toby Brooks): Many times we can find ourselves stuck in what feels like an eternal holding pattern, waiting for that big opportunity, waiting for the decision makers in our life to put us in the game. We can either pout and sulk about it or we can do what Josh did and get our tails in the gym. As you'll hear in a minute, these hours weren't for nothing.

0:14:00 - (Josh Washington): But yeah, that was what I did my sophomore year, so. And even one time I remember after game, even coach, and I was like, hey, you going to shoot? And I was like, yep, I'll never forget that. So even he knew I think what I was trying to do was trying to get better, maybe for another chance, maybe there at Texas Tech or somewhere else. But that's how I kept myself going, because I knew that my career was not completely over.

0:14:20 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. And so this is a pre nil, pre transfer portal era. The thought of picking up and going somewhere else had a real cost for you. Like, you got to sit out a year. You've played basketball every day and suited up since you're 12 years old. And the thought of sitting out a full year, how did that weigh into your thought process? Did that delay your decision?

0:14:43 - (Josh Washington): It did, because I had met actually with the coaching staff probably two or three times before I really decided if I was going to transfer because I knew that rule was in place and I knew that if I took a year off, who knew what would happen? You know, what if I get hurt in my year off? That's another two. And so just those weighing those options were really kind of heavy. Me and my dad would meet with coach a couple of times, just asking, like, what was my place at Tech and kind of what I could do maybe to get on the court more.

0:15:11 - (Josh Washington): I'd gotten actually a lot better my sophomore year because of the extra work I had put in. So I was actually a pretty good player at the end of the year, obviously it was through the four and four workouts I was doing well and those kind of things. And just what I kind of heard, you know, obviously I wasn't a complete Jesus follower then, but I heard in my gut and heard in my spirit was just to, maybe it's time to move on.

0:15:32 - (Josh Washington): Because I had been in Lubbock my entire life. There's nothing against this community. I'm back here now. I love it, but I think I needed to go and experience something else. And the way that Corpus Christi happened is a. A crazy transactions of this happened and then this happened. And so the way that it fell together, obviously God's timing is perfect in all he does. And so my thing was like Corpus Christi was one of those opportunities that I didn't see coming, but I wouldn't change ever going there.

0:16:01 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. So for a lot of people, they'll describe a rock bottom moment. Other people, you know, if they had to graph out, it's just kind of a slow descent. Would you say your time at Texas Tech was. Was there a definitive moment when you knew without question that this is it, I've got to go somewhere else, or was it more of a collective experience?

0:16:24 - (Josh Washington): Yeah, there was a situation in the There was a morning workout. I'll never forget it. And so we used to work at 6am kind of off season with your group of four guys. And so I remember going to this workout and having a good workout, you know, like doing well, 40 minutes, you do your thing. And as I was walking out of the arena, I kind of like felt, hey, this is the last time I'm going to ever walk out of here.

0:16:47 - (Josh Washington): And I just remember that, you know, thinking about it right now, like it's. I remember walking down that tunnel and be like, this is the last time I'm ever going to walk through this. And. And it really was. The next day I gave coach. Coach Jennings actually is who I knew. So Bubba Jennings was one of the assistants at a time. And so I actually went to his office first because I knew him more, told him what I was thinking. He says, if you think that's right, you need to go tell coach.

0:17:11 - (Josh Washington): So went to coach's office, hey, Coach, I appreciate everything, but this is going to be my last day here at Texas Tech gave me his blessing and I began to look for transfers from there.

0:17:20 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. So at that point, are you. Are you viewing this as this is opportunity on the horizon or in your mind it's a failure, or is it. What are the emotions like in that moment?

0:17:32 - (Josh Washington): I think the beginning would be failure, you know, because if I was from. If I was from like New York City and was just going back to, you know, if I was going somewhere else, like going back home, then it'd be different. But I was from Lubbock, so it was going to be me leaving home, like, because I couldn't cut it at Texas Tech, I couldn't cut it at the Big 12 level. I couldn't cut it as this guard.

0:17:54 - (Josh Washington): So that was the first emotion that I felt was really kind of diving to man. Like I didn't. I couldn't make it here. And that was long. Those are long emotions that were more drawn out than they're like, okay, now I have enough opportunity. Like, those emotions came a lot later for the opportunity that's next. Like, that was much later in the summertime when I begin to new, kind of know where I was going, you know, because I stopped.

0:18:19 - (Josh Washington): I stopped working out at Tech. So I actually gave that notice probably at the end of March, the beginning of April, maybe the end of April, because we went to the tournament my sophomore year. We lost the St. Joseph's in the second round, I think, or third round. So it was probably towards the end of April when I knew, you know, that I was done. So there was still a few weeks of school, but I wasn't working out with the team anymore.

0:18:42 - (Josh Washington): So those kind of emotions were going through. Like, I was just kind of a. There's nothing wrong with being a regular student, but I had never been not an athlete my entire life.

0:18:49 - (Toby Brooks): Right. And I can speak from experience as an athletic trainer in that era. You had physical injuries or you played. There were. You know, mental health was really not a concern. And how would you describe your mental health in that season?

0:19:06 - (Josh Washington): It was not good. It was not good. I was. You know, I've told people before and I've told my story when I preach about being suicidal at those times, about being somebody who said, basketball is done, so I'm done. And I think when we think about mental health today, we think about back then of just, we need to toughen up and kind of get through it. You know, it's not the case today. But I think when I was going through those things, it was because that was always my identity. I never had anything else to go off of.

0:19:34 - (Josh Washington): I never had anything to say, hey, this is actually who I am. A basketball is just what I do. So basketball was just who I am and what I do, and it's what I love, and it's everything. And I felt that it was taken from me a little bit. So my mental health was not good at that time.

0:19:46 - (Toby Brooks): Right. And I think we see this, whether it's athletes or artists, high performers, they. They're really wired a little differently. Like, you almost have to be somewhat fanatical in order to reach the pinnacle. But then if something happens and that's taken or inevitably that that's over, what are you left with? I mean, we see this, Olympians after the Olympics, like, they fall and they. They suffer, they struggle. Athletes who, whether they choose to leave or it's taken from them, like, that's a dark, dark place for a lot of people.

0:20:19 - (Toby Brooks): And I think it's important that we normalize that. These are the emotions you're naturally going to experience, and here's where you need to go to deal with that. Was there any one person or any one thing that. That you turn to that was particularly helpful for you?

0:20:34 - (Josh Washington): I wouldn't say kind of one thing. I knew that I. The summer between the year that I left and the year I was transferring, I spent a lot of that summer just in the dream, it. I spent a lot of time at Trinity High School. So back in the day, that was kind of the place where we could go and shoot. So, you know, Todd Duncan was a basketball coach then, and he would let guys come in. So I spent a lot of time in the gym. And I think that, you know, I tell people, I was like, that was the first time I really tried to find Jesus.

0:21:00 - (Josh Washington): I was really looking for something to, you know, to hold on to, to have hope. You know, it's the Advent season now and, you know, the hope of Jesus coming into the world, and that's kind of what I was looking for, like, trying to find and grasp onto something, because I was just looking for, you know, anything to not, you know, really in my life for. I was, like, done with this. So I spent a lot of time in the gym. A lot of that is because I didn't want to be alone with my emotions and my thoughts.

0:21:30 - (Josh Washington): Mental health would kind of say that now as far as, like, we need to continue to talk about that. But that's what I was doing and didn't really know it. I was like, if I stay here, I don't know if it's going to be good. And so that's what I continue to do. I was grasping onto something. Yeah.

0:21:42 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. So you transfer to Texas A and M Corpus Christi, you become an Islander, Unfamiliar. It is a campus on the beach or on an island. Literally on an island.

0:21:52 - (Josh Washington): Literally. Yeah.

0:21:54 - (Toby Brooks): And from there you find success. You led the nation in three point percentage as a senior, kind of reborn as a basketball player.

0:22:05 - (Josh Washington): Yeah.

0:22:06 - (Toby Brooks): How was that for you, cognitively, emotionally? What was that, that transition like for you?

0:22:12 - (Josh Washington): Yeah, but so kind of the thing that I tell people is, like, I took the number two at Corpus Christi because my mind, it was a second chance.

0:22:20 - (Toby Brooks): You heard my oof there. I got actual goosebumps. As Josh explained to me how he had shed the old 42 he'd worn all his life in honor of childhood hero Dono Marshall for the number two, representing his second chance at basketball. In relationships, in life, so often we mindlessly plow ahead from one season to the next without giving ourselves credit for the hard work it took to get there. For Josh, he saw a visible reminder every day when he opened his locker.

0:22:49 - (Josh Washington): So that's what the reason I wore number two Flame was ever wondering that. And I think when it came to being in Corpus, it was a place where I was like, okay, I'm away from home for the first time. You know, I don't even know how to wash my own clothes, and I don't even know how to, you know, because my mom and dad would hear from me in Lubbock. I lived at home when I was a Tech. And so just really having to grow up and, you know, having to find my identity with other people who didn't know who I was. Now going down there, obviously, you know, the, the hype of a new program was Corpus Christi was almost a brand new program. When I got there, it was like 4 years old.

0:23:26 - (Josh Washington): So the hype of a Texas Tech transfer coming in was a little bit of a shocker. But then as I began to settle in, I was like, hey, I'm just a guy who's here trying to get a second chance. I don't want to hear about me coming from Texas Tech because that doesn't matter. Any, you know, me is here just trying to be a part of this program, part of this team. For me, mentally, it allowed me to kind of just regrow that confidence that I had because I knew I was a good player, I knew I was one of the best.

0:23:53 - (Josh Washington): And I began to have that confidence again. Along with my coaching staff at Corpus Christi pouring into me. Ronnie Arrow spending a lot of time with me, I think he was sensitive to what had happened at Tech, and so he was always. Ronnie Arrow's nickname is the Bulldog. He wasn't easy to play for. He knew that I had something to give and I knew he loved me. And that's the big difference that I felt at Corpus Christi.

0:24:16 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah, and it's, it's interesting to think about, I mean, leading the nation in three point percentage as a senior. Do you think that happens if you're not in the gym after every game you didn't play in?

0:24:29 - (Josh Washington): No, I mean, honestly, because those are things I think back, you know, spending all those hours alone and then leaving the gym crying sometimes in my truck. I used to have, I had old kind of 1500 Chevy Silverado and I would just sit in the parking lot and just kind of sit there, you know, with kind of those blank emotions, if you want to call them, and just saying, hey, like is this all worth it? You know, is this all worth it? Is this the work that I'm putting in? The time I'm putting in, it's midnight, you know, going back to my parents house, you know, and they know that I didn't play at all.

0:25:00 - (Josh Washington): So my parents don't care about the embarrassment of being at home and not playing. And you know, obviously that's just hard in general. And so my senior Corpus Christi, when I break the school record for threes made in the game and threes made in the Season, I didn't really know about leading the nation until our first round game in Wisconsin. In USA Today, there's this article about me and it's like, got all these stats and it's got all these things that says the headline was the Unknown Assassin.

0:25:30 - (Josh Washington): And I was like, you know, and I'm reading about my percentages and about how I lead the nation. I didn't even know that because I was just playing basketball. And so that's really the first time I found out was on the plane reading the paper on the way to Chicago. So that was kind of a really cool moment for me to kind of say, hey, it was all worth it.

0:25:49 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah, fantastic. I think just the visual of you in the 2 jersey, I didn't know that story. That's incredible. And also, I feel like today, our media and social media, everybody's got an opinion. You know, when a. When a student athlete transfers somewhere else.

0:26:05 - (Josh Washington): Right.

0:26:05 - (Toby Brooks): People are quick to pile on, you know, somebody they cheered for and was their guy this season goes to the enemy and, you know, they attack them. And yes, it's just these are people. Like, these are human beings and we need to give people the. The grace and their children.

0:26:21 - (Josh Washington): These guys are still children. Like, they're still kids.

0:26:24 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. So as you're winding down your career at A and M Corpus Christi, what. What's the goal at that point? Did you still have those dreams of playing in the NBA?

0:26:36 - (Josh Washington): I think I had those dreams, but I had a kind of a new reality checkpoint that I wasn't an NBA type player. You know, I was a shooter. You know, I was six, three, two guard, which is, you know, you know, I'm not a point guard in college. I knew that. So I began to have these opportunities. These coaches are calling Coach Errol from overseas and from Germany and these other places. And I began to realize, hey, this is an opportunity still for me to play basketball, because that was always my goal in life. And if it's here and if it's in Germany or in Mexico and Canada, I didn't really care at that point.

0:27:07 - (Josh Washington): There's a little bit of backstory there because at that point in my life, I still didn't know who I was without basketball. So the opportunity to continue to play was a little bit of a hiding spot for me as far as my identity. I didn't know if I was just going to graduate and just, you know, be. Be a banker or be, you know, whatever I was going to be. I was like, no, I want to continue to play basketball.

0:27:30 - (Josh Washington): So I was happy for the opportunity, but it was also because I kind of didn't know what else to do, if that makes sense.

0:27:35 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. So you spent several seasons. Looks like Germany, Bulgaria.

0:27:40 - (Josh Washington): Yes.

0:27:40 - (Toby Brooks): And continued to play professionally when that was winding down. Walk me through the thought process there. How was that similar or different from the end of your Texas Tech time, the end of your Corpus Christi time, maybe even the end of your high school? I mean, each of these is the close of one chapter in your life. How is that end of basketball for you?

0:28:00 - (Josh Washington): So I think the end of basketball for my career was like, kind of the end of basketball for me at Tech. And here's what I mean, because a lot of it was based on. I thought I could continue to play, even overseas, and. And I had got hurt a few times, and I had been ready for seasons and got hurt again. And so I was like, man, why is this not working out? You know, like, why is this something that it kind of seemingly is getting taken away from me almost?

0:28:26 - (Josh Washington): You know, it's like, I have a great season here, and then I go and I have bursitis in my elbow. Great season here. And then I've got tendonitis in my Achilles. And it's like all these things was like, I can continue to play, but there's something that's kind of saying, hey, you need to be done. And so, like, 2012 was when I was officially finished. So about five years later, when I graduated from Corpus, and the wind down for me was more like a tech, where I was, like, kind of not in a good mental state, because, again, I didn't know what else to do and I didn't know who I was.

0:29:00 - (Josh Washington): So when I moved back to Lubbock, it was in this state of kind of hysteria and emotions of like, hey, what do I do now? And I had no idea. Yeah.

0:29:08 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. Well, I didn't grow up around here, so I wasn't familiar with your story, where our paths first crossed. My son was playing in a rec league, and I noticed this guy who didn't look like a normal official, like, he had some bounce.

0:29:25 - (Josh Washington): Yeah.

0:29:25 - (Toby Brooks): You were wearing compression tights, and between games I saw you shooting. I'm like, there's a story behind this official. There's something different about this guy. So you got into officiating to kind of feed that. Did that come pretty early, or was that something that you pursued later to. To kind of feed that part of your identity?

0:29:45 - (Josh Washington): Yeah, so officiating came, like, right after I got done. So I joined the Lubbock chapter. Kind of the fall of. When I moved back to Lubbock, officiating was a. Was a good way to stay close to the game. But obviously, again, I tell people, like, because I. I love basketball, but I didn't know what else to do, so I'll ref, you know. And so officiating for me was. It became more and more of a passion as I continued to do it more and more I was like, hey, this can be something that I can maybe make the MBA in as an official or a college, a Division 1 official or.

0:30:17 - (Josh Washington): And so I began to, you know, kind of see it that way. And so I pursued that for a while, and then it kind of took a turn as far as where I'm at now, what you make it into more. But yeah, officiating was kind of a part of my life where I think I was. I was trying to. I was trying to again fill a hole that was there. So I was like, well, let me try to ref to get to my way to the NBA. And so that's really what I felt kind of deep down.

0:30:42 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. I think I've seen it over and over in athletes. Either they find success in sports, and when that season's over, they try to take maybe some of the lessons they learned as an athlete and apply them in a totally different area. You know, I'm going to become an investment banker or I'm going to do, you know, fill in the blank, teacher, whatever.

0:31:01 - (Josh Washington): Yeah.

0:31:01 - (Toby Brooks): And then others, they go into coaching, they go into officiating in my line of work, athletic training. And so we try to replace that as an athlete void with. As an athlete adjacent void. Right?

0:31:16 - (Josh Washington): Yes.

0:31:18 - (Toby Brooks): So shortly after I saw you officiating, I saw you giving your testimony in a church. How did the Dream center and eventually the city church come about?

0:31:28 - (Toby Brooks): Josh has served as a minister working with area youth for a few years now. During the COVID lockdown, I began watching both his basketball instructional lessons that he would do on Facebook Live, as well as the student centered ministry videos that he put together. He's a gifted teacher with a servant's heart, and he has a magnetism that draws young people like few I have ever seen.

0:31:48 - (Josh Washington): Yeah. And so in the fall of 2013 was really kind of the rock bottom of my life. It was the part of my life where I was really lost. I was really, really, really kind of seeking something. So December 3rd, I tell people, was my rebirth birthday. Gave my life to Jesus, like, completely, really. From there. December 4, 2013, I was just never the same person There's a lot of backstory when it comes to, I was going through some demonic activity, things that really don't need to get into. But as far as like, things that religious leading me to Jesus for the first time, really.

0:32:24 - (Josh Washington): And so kind of when I begin to follow Jesus, I really began to, you know, I really began to invite kids. I was serving in a youth group at Hillside Christian Church and was beginning to invite, invite more and more kids. And so when I begin to do that, kind of the guys would say, hey, have you ever thought about being a youth pastor? And I was like, absolutely not. I've never, that's something that I've never considered, never thought of, never wanted to be. No, I'll serve and hang out with kids, but my answer is no.

0:32:55 - (Josh Washington): And so guys again, were asking me, hey, I think it's, I think you're called to it. I think it's something that is for you and I think you need to really pray about it. So long long, long story short, I joined staff at church in the Rock Dream center September of 2015. I'm there for three years, really, really, really diving to, you know, the Bean kind of oil Slayton community over there, Arnett Benson community in Lubbock.

0:33:23 - (Josh Washington): It's a lower socioeconomic, Hispanic dominated community. A lot of those kids would come to the Dream Center. We had an after school program that was booming. We went from like 10 kids to 100 kids within a year that I was there. Just really diving in. I tell those kids all the time, they'll see me. Years later, I said, I tricked you guys and becoming a youth group. You didn't even know you were a youth group, but I made you one.

0:33:44 - (Josh Washington): We would have church for 30 minutes and then we play basketball. And they didn't know that's what we were doing, right, becoming a youth group. But I would share my faith, I would share Jesus with those, those kids. And I'm still friends with some of those kids today. Some of those kids are grown, you know, and they call me or they'll say, hey, Pastor Jay, what's up? How you doing? And so it's a, you know, a really cool connection.

0:34:05 - (Josh Washington): While I left the Dream center in 2018, we talked about officiating. I really, really, really felt a call to try to become a high level Division 1 official. So I actually pursued officiating pretty hard for two years. I was going to the Big 12 camps. I was traveling all over the country going to these camps as a guy named Curtis Shaw, who's a Big 12 assigner. And so I was meeting guys like that, like really trying to get in and really felt that I couldn't do full time ministry, doing that.

0:34:32 - (Josh Washington): But then in 2020, a friend of mine, Clayton Walker, who's a lead pastor at city Church, he calls me, he says, hey, I know you've been out of ministry for a while. I need a youth pastor and I think you'd be great for it. It's supposed to be temporary. And I said, yeah, I can help you out for a little bit. And it ended up being almost two years at the city church. And so I was just pouring in those kids, some of those kids come to me for basketball now.

0:34:56 - (Josh Washington): But, you know, as I began being in the city church, basketball just kept creeping in, creeping back in love. Preaching. I still preach sometimes. I'm asked to preach sometimes where I'm at. But basketball was always kind of that thing in my heart. But now I was in a good place, now I was in the right place to say, hey, I think I'm ready to pursue Joshua Washington Elite Basketball Academy.

0:35:19 - (Toby Brooks): So many times we think we're ready or we think we have a perfect plan, and when it fails to materialize, it hurts. However, sometimes our lives are like a good pan of brownies. They just need some time to bake. Josh had been through the fire. He'd pushed back depression and suicidal thoughts, getting his basketball career back on track, ultimately surrendering his life to Christ and serving as a youth minister in a part of the community where kids are particularly desperate for hope.

0:35:46 - (Toby Brooks): Today he's managed to leverage that time and that pain and that experience into becoming the best basketball coach, mentor and disciple he can be.

0:35:57 - (Josh Washington): I really think it is something that is good, the right timing. And so in March of this past year, I really went all in. I went full time. Josh Washington Elite with training and with, you know, all the lessons and all the kids. I have over 200 players that I touch on kind of a summer basis, whether it's a college athlete, whether it's a young person. So that's where I'm at. So officiating kind of led to city church and city church led back to basketball lessons and.

0:36:29 - (Josh Washington): And here we are.

0:36:30 - (Toby Brooks): So, yeah, isn't it amazing how you going through what you went through is now a connection point and it's a, it's a way to minister to that next generation who's maybe dealing with it on their own terms, in their own way. But it's still. No one ever chooses adversity. But it changes us, it changes.

0:36:50 - (Josh Washington): It Changed me? Yeah.

0:36:52 - (Toby Brooks): How would you say you're different as a result of what you've been through? How do you think the journey shaped you the most?

0:36:58 - (Josh Washington): Identity. I know who I am now. I think the adversity allowed me to say, hey, I'm going to take responsibility. Because like I said, a little bit of the story at Texas Tech was, you know, I wasn't willing to take, I think, responsibility for my part. Some of the things, some of the lifestyle choices I was making and I was like, oh, I'm just not playing because they don't like me. And that wasn't fully true. You know, I had, I had my part as well.

0:37:22 - (Josh Washington): And then so I think the adversity allowed me to take responsibility. And now as a husband and as a father and as a coach and as a pastor and all the things that I do, I've got a responsibility in life that I actually take very serious. And with those, without that adversity, I never would have been someone who put others first because I was a very selfish person growing up. I really was. Things were handed to me because I was good at sports and I realized the people that I hurt growing up was because I was very arrogant and I was very selfish. And so once those things were taken from me, I began to see kind of who I was.

0:37:57 - (Josh Washington): The mirror was kind of drawn out. And so now I take responsibility for my actions and I work to put others first. And if that wouldn't have happened to me, I wouldn't be the man I am today.

0:38:07 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah, I think that's a good lead into one of my final questions here. If you had an opportunity to sit across the desk or across the table from 12 year old Josh Washington, just as he's trying starting to figure out who he is as a basketball player, what advice would you give Josh?

0:38:23 - (Josh Washington): What would you say to me? Yeah, I would say basketball is what you do. It's never going to be who you are. That would be something that I would tell my 12 year old self because if I could tell myself that, then I would see basketball is only a game. And yeah, you're going to be good at it, but it's never going to be who you are. You're going to be one day you're going to have three beautiful children, you're going to have a wife that loves you. So love people, love God, love yourself.

0:38:52 - (Josh Washington): It's just a game.

0:38:53 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah. It's up to little Josh whether or not to listen to those things. Listen to those things, Josh. How could listeners connect with you? Or you know what, how could we put them in touch with you? Say they're interested in being a part of Josh Washington Elite.

0:39:11 - (Josh Washington): Yes, sir. So, so the website is Josh Washington elite.com and it's got everything. It's got a connection point, it's got a contact where you can contact me personally. And that's where a lot of people go through. I get an email from you and says, hey, I'd love to connect with you as far as I do team trainings, basketball lessons, all those things. So Josh Washington elite.com is the best place to go to connect with me.

0:39:34 - (Toby Brooks): Awesome. Last question. I ask it of everybody. What for you remains undone?

0:39:41 - (Josh Washington): The journey. The journey is undone. I know God has more for me. I really think I'm just getting started with who I think God really intended for me to be the entire time. And I see that in my everyday life as I have a family and I have friends that I connect with. There's way more to the journey that I ever saw. I'm looking forward to it more.

0:40:02 - (Toby Brooks): Yeah, yeah, I'll leave with this. Another story I saw there was a young man on my son's team, really talented. This was probably 12U basketball and you were officiating and this young man, clearly the best player on the team and he had a bit of a meltdown, as 12 year olds are prone to do.

0:40:23 - (Josh Washington): Yes.

0:40:23 - (Toby Brooks): And I believe you teed him up, but then between, either between the game or during halftime, you kind of pulled him aside and you just gave him some life coaching. And I remember thinking like, wow, this is a transformational official. You don't see that very often, but I just, just the visual of you with your arm around this young man, just speaking life into him will never leave me. So I really appreciate what you do.

0:40:51 - (Josh Washington): Yes, sir.

0:40:51 - (Toby Brooks): Both as an official and within your business. Can't thank you enough for joining us today. Josh Washington.

0:40:57 - (Josh Washington): I appreciate it. Thank you for having me.

0:40:59 - (Toby Brooks): Toby Becoming Undone is a nitro hype.

0:41:02 - (Toby Brooks): Creative production written and produced by me, Toby Brooks. If you or someone you know has a story of resilience and victory to share for becoming Undone, please contact me@undonepodcast.com where you can also sign up for our mailing list to be notified of new episode drops and exclusive Team Undone benefits. Become Undone can be heard on Apple.

0:41:21 - (Toby Brooks): Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, iHeartRadio or.

0:41:25 - (Toby Brooks): Wherever you get your podcasts. Until next time, everybody. Keep getting better.

0:41:41 - (Josh Washington): Sam.