[TRANSCRIPT]
0:00:00 - (Jared Oluwek): They put me on administrative leave. And going from that major high of, oh, they're going to hire you after your internship. Flying out to Washington for a track meet, and then having to be flown back to Tempe before the track meet even started was like, oh, my gosh, it rocked my world. It really rocked my world. And I love what I do. I love athletic training. I love caring for people. And the conversations that was taken away from me, it was really hard. It was a really major low point, because what was I doing in Tempe if I wasn't working for Arizona State? That was what I came there to do. And when I lost that, it was hard. It really took a toll on me. I had unfinished business. I was undone the collegiate setting, and I knew that I needed to get back there. And I learned that it was out of my control at this point in time.
0:00:49 - (Jared Oluwek): And I really was very fortunate to have my family to fall back on. I really had to lean on others again to get me back to this point. This is Jared Alowick, and I am officially undone.
0:01:11 - (Toby Brooks): Hey, friend. I'm glad you're here. Welcome to another episode of Becoming Undone, the podcast for those who dare bravely, risk mightily, and grow relentlessly. I'm Toby Brooks, a speaker, an author, and a professor at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences center.
0:01:25 - (C): Over the past two decades, I've worked.
0:01:27 - (Toby Brooks): As an athletic trainer and a strength coach in the professional, collegiate, and high school sports settings. And over that time, I've grown more and more fascinated with what sets high achievers apart and how failures that can feel like they're absolutely crushing us in the moment can end up being exactly the spark we needed to launch us on our path to success. Each week on becoming undone, I invite new guests to examine how high achievers can transform from falling apart to falling into place.
0:01:55 - (Toby Brooks): I'd like to emphasize that this show is entirely separate from my role at Texas Tech, but it's my attempt to apply what I've learned and what I'm learning, and to share with others about the mindsets of high achievers.
0:02:05 - (C): If this is your first episode, I.
0:02:07 - (Toby Brooks): Think you're in for a real treat. I've poured my whole heart into this and all my episodes, and I hope you love it. Hope you love it so much that maybe poke around in the archives and find some other interviews and even tell a friend about this show, about high achievers who didn't let failure or setback stand in the way of their eventual victories. And if you're a regular from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.
0:02:29 - (Toby Brooks): In a little over a year together, we've created something, and depending on where you look, we've done something that fewer than ten to 1% of all the podcasts in the world have done. So for real, thanks for joining me on this journey and for being an encouragement and an inspiration to me along the way. For Kansas State University assistant athletic trainer Jared Ollueck, finding your purpose has never really been a concern.
0:02:55 - (Toby Brooks): A people person first and foremost, Jared always knew that he loved sports and that he loved helping people. And while it wasn't a direct path to a career as an athletic trainer, was a perfect fit. He eventually found himself at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences center, where he graduated with a master's in athletic training, and he was awarded one of the program's highest honors, the class of 2021 mat values ambassador, the student who best exemplifies the program's core values of excellence, professionalism, agility, resilience, and servant leadership.
0:03:29 - (Toby Brooks): A free spirit and a kind soul who's always looking to help. It was Jared who found himself in a difficult and lonely situation not long after graduation that had him questioning everything. With the help of a trusted mentor, he was able to find new purpose and a new community to love and support him as he served them as assistant athletic trainer for track and field at Kansas State. I hope you'll enjoy my conversation with Jared in episode 76 Giver.
0:03:59 - (C): Joining us this week from the Little Apple of Manhattan, Kansas, is former student and now assistant athletic trainer with Kansas State university, Jared Allywek. Jared, welcome to the show.
0:04:10 - (Jared Oluwek): Thank you for having me. It's definitely an honor to be a part of this.
0:04:14 - (C): It's cool. I've been thinking about having you on the show from the start. You were always one that was apt to talk in class. Your colleagues would sit back and let you answer first, and I know you've got a great story to tell and I'm looking forward to crack into it. I always start at the beginning, though. What did you want to be growing up and why?
0:04:35 - (Jared Oluwek): I don't know. I don't know what I wanted to be. And I think it's because I lived so much in the moment as a child. Like I always knew, oh, I'd go to college, and then after that I was like, I don't know what will happen. So I lived very much in the moment as a child. I was very involved with my sports, and when it came time to decide later on what I wanted to do when I went to college, I naturally gravitated towards fitness and health. So I really didn't have anything that I would be like, oh, I wanted to be a doctor. I wanted to be a fireman. I just lived my life. I just wanted to play sports and just live in the moment.
0:05:23 - (C): Yeah, you came to Texas tech by way of Florida. So start at the beginning. Talk us through that childhood a little bit and how you ended up at your undergrad institution.
0:05:33 - (Jared Oluwek): Yeah. So I grew up, born outside Philadelphia, lived there for eight years. Very middle class, but lived a very comfortable life. My mom, dad, older sister, younger brother, grandparents were close. And I lived, like I said, a very comfortable life. And then we decided to move down to Naples, Florida, in 2000. And that was where craziness started to happen in my life. And it didn't happen immediately, but we moved down to Naples and my parents started to dislike each other, and that dislike started to build, and they ended up literally hating each other and then getting a divorce. But through all of that hatred, my mom and my dad towards each other, I was always surrounded by so much love and care, whether it was from my parents, my siblings sometimes, but my grandparents for sure. I was always surrounded by so much love, even my aunts and my uncles, that I was very privileged in that sense, not in a monetary way, but I was very cared for. I was very loved and appreciated.
0:07:00 - (Toby Brooks): I'll jump in real quick here to point out a couple of things. First, Jared is a joy.
0:07:05 - (C): It's late.
0:07:06 - (Toby Brooks): He's literally worked all day. When we initially picked our time to meet, it was late enough in the evening for him to wrap up treatments and caring for his team, get home, get settled, and finally log on for a chat with me. But the day, as they often do in the world of athletic training, went long. Rather than insist that treatments be done by a certain time and cut his patient short or cancel on me and reschedule, he opted to stay late at the training facility and do the interview with me from there so that he wouldn't let anyone down.
0:07:34 - (Toby Brooks): That's a giver. Then you've got the insights into his childhood. Uprooted from his home and his friends and his world in Philadelphia and moving to Florida at the tender age of eight, Jared's family situation quickly deteriorated. Mom and dad get a divorce. But listen to Jared's words. He isn't angry or bitter. He didn't take sides. He says things like privilege and surrounded by love to describe his life. And as we'll see, that ability to take life's lumps and view them through the lens of opportunity rather than obstacle is what makes him the kind of person you're always thankful for and better for having crossed paths with.
0:08:12 - (Toby Brooks): He'd take that attitude into later seasons of life, but it wasn't always easy.
0:08:16 - (C): As you grew and became active in sports, you started to think about playing at the collegiate level and also pursuing a career. You alluded to the fact you pursued something related to fitness and health. So talk me through that decision making process on major and where you ended up and tryouts and things like that.
0:08:37 - (Jared Oluwek): Yeah. Grew up playing every sport you could name. Some I was better than others. I know you're a big basketball guy. Basketball was not my forte. I gravitated towards soccer, but I played golf, hockey, baseball, a little bit of basketball, if that's what you want to call what I play, soccer. And I was just very much involved in my sports. And then when I started to get more serious about soccer, it was probably the end of my junior year. Going into senior year, I realized that I needed to start to do more than what was at practice, and I needed to get into the weight room. So I started to lift on my own, and I really started as green as you can, like, never step foot in weight room. Started off with machines and progressed to free weights and then let it take on its own.
0:09:32 - (Jared Oluwek): So when I went to University of South Florida in Tampa, I naturally again gravitated towards exercise science. And that was really good for me because I knew that was my calling. I knew I wanted to be in health and fitness, and it just seemed like it fit who I was. Even though I didn't get any college offers to play soccer, I didn't let that stop me. I was very determined to try and walk on the soccer team at the University of South Florida. And I did a lot of training on my own, a lot of running, a lot of playing any game that I could get, juggling a soccer ball on my own. And I really went at that very hard, just as hard as I went after my schooling. And that didn't end up panning out. But I think that was, in hindsight, a huge blessing in disguise for school.
0:10:35 - (Jared Oluwek): Everything was going good. Like, I loved my friends, I loved the classes I was taking. And then midway through junior year, I had a class and a teacher who made what we do as health and fitness providers seem like it was like trying to pull teeth out of people, and it just really turned my mouth taste sour. And I decided to switch majors, and I went complete 180 to business. And some people would be like, where did that come about. And I knew that no matter what I got into after college, I would need some business knowledge.
0:11:18 - (Jared Oluwek): And in the back of my mind, I always knew I'd be in health and fitness because that's who I am. That's who I was, and again, still am today that I made that transition my senior year, which then gave me an extra year. So I had, what do they call it? A victory lap around. I got to do a fifth year. And then after I graduated from the University of South Florida, I reconnected with a fitness instructor, Micah Morgan, who had run his own business called MM Fitness, and he allowed me to shadow there at his own personal gym.
0:12:04 - (Jared Oluwek): And that's where I really got to see the beauty of what a personal trainer can be for someone. I realized that in the small space, whether it was a one on one session, whether it was a group session, I realized that my classes gave my voice a platform, and I really loved being able to not only help change people physically, but also to be able to make a difference in their daily lives mentally. And I really got to see that come to fruition with one of my most consistent clients.
0:12:46 - (Jared Oluwek): And it wasn't the type of thing where she went from doing one push up to then doing 100 push ups, but it was the type of thing where her self confidence grew and she was able to really allow her inner light to radiate and shine through. And I loved that. That was really amazing to see that not only my workouts could make a difference, but who I am. And being in this position to be a difference maker could make beautiful things happen, for sure.
0:13:19 - (C): Let's go back a little bit. So you have this goal in this dream, and I can certainly relate. I can remember working in the gym alone, thinking like, this is my training montage, it's all going to pay off. I'm going to make this team. Everything's going to pan out. And that didn't happen for me either. And I recognize that everybody's journey is different. But when you finally made that decision to close the door on your athletic career, and to a certain extent by changing majors, took a big pivot. And yeah, business was related, but this health fitness athletics journey, for the moment at least, seemed to be a closed door.
0:13:59 - (C): How did you deal with that psychologically? Was that a painful process and you looked back and missed it, or were you working ahead and looking forward to what you hadn't accomplished yet?
0:14:12 - (Jared Oluwek): I think that I knew regardless of if I did college in four years and didn't change majors or change majors, the next step was always going to be hard. I was very fortunate to have that extra year because there are things that happened in that year that being in college was like a safe space, and I was very comfortable in that collegiate environment that if I would have graduated and had to deal with trying to find a job and find myself and then deal with a lot of death and just in my family, I don't know if I would have been able to handle that.
0:14:51 - (Jared Oluwek): But to answer your question specifically, I think I was just so focused on making sure that I did my schoolwork. I really learned, and I knew that even though I was switching to business, I was still working out every day. I was still putting up shots, even if I was missing all of them, I was still juggling the soccer ball and just doing things that were very active. So even though I removed myself from that in the college part, like school, it was still a major part of my life. So I never really removed myself from health and fitness. It was just a pivot in what I was learning.
0:15:36 - (C): Yeah, I think I know you know this, but for listeners that maybe haven't considered it, all of us have to hang up our cleats at some point or whatever the analogy is, very few people play throughout their life and never encounter that loss. But the key for me is learning to love, to move your body, and just being aware of the fact that there doesn't have to be a trophy or a contest on the line for me to enjoy, to love, to be able to run faster or lift heavier things or whatever.
0:16:09 - (C): And I hesitate. And I fear that through many of these episodes, the message was, oh, poor me, my career is over now what? But for many people, it's a springboard to related things at the very least. Or you've learned, or you've taught yourself lessons through the grind, through the sweat, through the pain. What do you think that season of your life, up through bachelor's graduation taught you that carried forward into the next seasons of your life?
0:16:37 - (Jared Oluwek): Oh, man. Without sports and the willingness to want to improve my own game, I wouldn't be who I am today. And I'd even go way further back than college. I'd go back to Jared in 7th grade who could juggle a soccer ball maybe five times. And my coach was like, if you want to get better, this is what you need to do. And there was a summer where I just was determined. I said, I'm going to learn how to juggle. And I went out almost every day juggling. Beating a soccer ball against a wall and it probably drove my neighbors insane. But what I didn't realize at the time, even though I learned how to juggle and my just control of the ball got so much better, what I was really doing was I was beating into myself specific characteristics that would carry me way past college to where I am now. And it was persistence, a work ethic, discipline, and a sense of independence. It wasn't someone who was saying to me, jared, it's 05:00 at night. You haven't done this. It was me wanting to do this for myself, to get better. And in that, I didn't realize it at the time, but it was really me developing a growth mindset. And that growth mindset has gotten me to heights that I could have never imagined. So through the sport, it made me who I am today.
0:18:06 - (C): Yeah, for sure. You certainly found yourself working in the fitness space, but you eventually developed this desire, this thirst for more, for something different or something in addition, and athletic training started to enter the equation, and you end up in Lubbock, Texas. So talk me through that season of transition for you.
0:18:27 - (Jared Oluwek): Yeah. So what's actually funny about Lubbock, Texas, is I was fortunate to move across the country in 2016. And I am on the phone with my brother. I'm in Texas, and pitch black had been driving for God knows how long. And my brother's, oh, you're close to Texas Tech. And I said to him, God, who would ever want to live out here? Who would ever want to go to school out here? And that was 2017 and then 2019. I ended up moving to Lubbock. And in those two years, what happened was I gained my personal training certification.
0:19:08 - (Jared Oluwek): I was doing a lot of training, whether it was one on one group sessions, but I'd get clients who would come to me and they would say, oh, I have this going on with my shoulder, or this is going on with my knee. Can you tell me what's going on? I was like, I don't know how to assess. I don't know how to evaluate. I don't even really know the body very well. Even though I've taken my anatomies and my physiologies.
0:19:30 - (Jared Oluwek): I just knew that where I was, I was mid twenty s, I knew I needed more. I knew I needed to get more tools in my tool shed. I just knew I needed to do more, not only for myself, but to give to others. And I didn't know really much about athletic training. I thought that I wanted to get into strength and conditioning. And I was working at University of Tampa at the time as a personal trainer, and one semester, I shadowed the strength and conditioning coach and was like, I don't really know. And down the hallway was the athletic training room, and I didn't know anything about athletic training. I didn't have an athletic trainer in high school.
0:20:11 - (Jared Oluwek): And I decided to check it out, and I started to really like it. It was something way different, but it was exactly what I needed. The evaluation, the assessment, learning the body and being able to treat it. And I started doing my research, and Texas tech came up on the list. I don't even know how I really stumbled across it. And I put all of my eggs into the basket. That was ttuhsc, and I went for it. And luckily, I think it was you and Dr. Gilliland who were on my.
0:20:52 - (Jared Oluwek): It just. It was a match made in heaven, and I was very fortunate. That door, you guys opened this door for me, for me to not only walk through, but really kick down.
0:21:06 - (C): Yeah. So you end up in Lubbock. I remember your interview, this high energy guy. I think our conversation was something along the lines of, he's certainly capable. He's certainly excited about it. I'm not sure he knows what in the hell athletic training is, but we can teach him. And I think you would agree with that, that you weren't 100% sure what you were getting yourself into, but it seemed appealing on the periphery.
0:21:30 - (C): And so you get here, you get immersed in probably the hardest class you've ever had in cadaver dissection, human anatomy, and you're alone. You're fairly isolated. Obviously, your cohort comes together at some point, but that doesn't happen. Day one. Talk me through those two years here in Lubbock and what that process was like for you and your growth journey.
0:21:52 - (Jared Oluwek): Yeah. So I mentioned earlier that I moved out to. I drove out to California, so I moved out to California, and that was a huge culture shock to me. I moved there six months, then moved back to Florida. And I learned so much from moving away from home and having to be by myself. Even though I was living with my aunt and uncle, I didn't have my friends close. I didn't have my family right down the street. I didn't have even, like, the same street signs or Publix was gone. So it was a big change.
0:22:29 - (Jared Oluwek): Without doing that move, I don't know if I would have been as capable to walk into the unknown. That was Lubbock, Texas. I remember driving into Lubbock. I remember the first song that was playing as I'm driving down, I think university drive. And I knew that if I could do it in California, move to a new place and make the most of it, what would stop me from doing.
0:22:58 - (C): It in Lubbock, Texas?
0:22:59 - (Jared Oluwek): And Lubbock was way different than how beach. I grew up with the beach right down the street. I'm in the middle of the country where the sky runs for miles. And it was definitely a transition, but I knew I didn't go there for the location. I went there for the education. And again, it was just so easy for me to put all of my eggs into the basket and buy into what you guys were selling to me that I didn't worry about where I was. I was more worried about what I was doing, where I was. And you guys did such a great job of welcoming me and allowing me the opportunity to flourish.
0:23:45 - (C): Appreciate that. Certainly, you obviously were fully invested, and you were doing everything you could to drink every drop. As I like to say, it didn't all go according to plan. This global pandemic comes in, and this curriculum and academic program and clinical program that, on paper looks tremendous suddenly is pivoting, and I hate that word at this point, but we had to change everything. And so I've heard a lot of students talk about how lonely or how isolated or just how their mental health suffered during the lockdown and the months to follow.
0:24:24 - (C): What was it like for you in that season of remote classes and everything on Zoom and clinicals being virtual?
0:24:34 - (Jared Oluwek): It was definitely a transition. Obviously, having a classmate right next to you rather than seeing their face on Zoom, it was different, but the goal was the same. It wasn't like it was a change, but it was. I still had to sit through class. I still had to do what I came here to do. And I was so involved in class that it wasn't that hard of a transition for me. I didn't do a lot of studying with other people, so I was able to still do what I naturally did. It was just being in the confines of my own home, and I'm the type of person who's introverted at heart, so I'm very comfortable with myself, and I like spending time with myself, that it was just another hurdle to overcome.
0:25:22 - (Jared Oluwek): And I really didn't think anything of it because I had goals in mind. Yeah.
0:25:29 - (C): So you managed to make it through, and when I say you manage. We all were figuring it out as we went. But your cohort.
0:25:38 - (Toby Brooks): We did.
0:25:38 - (C): We figured it out as you went, and you graduate, and it's all smooth sailing from that point forward, right? You're a certified athletic trainer, you get a job, and that's the story. But it didn't quite work out that way. How would you describe the next couple of years of your journey?
0:25:55 - (Jared Oluwek): Before I get into that, I do want to note that one of the reasons why Covid was so easy for me in school was because of how you and your colleagues were. You did such a great job of caring and making sure that we were okay and just being so involved in what was going on in our country and bringing it to the forefront, not in a partisan way, but to bring open discussion. And it really made dealing with that so much easier because it didn't feel like we were all alone. It really felt like we were together through this. And I think because of your guidance and the guidance of our colleagues, it really helped soften the blow of COVID I appreciate that.
0:26:50 - (C): If I'm not mistaken, the idea from this show came from our behavioral medicine class. We had a panel discussion. That was your cohort, right, where we brought in Kara and Mary and several people that have been guests, and we talked about behavioral health and depression and anxiety and how end of seasons, basically the theme of this show came about from that. And so I sincerely appreciate you recognizing that. But you all were a fantastic group. You were troopers. You didn't get what you had been promised. And that was no one's fault, but no one pout it. No one was angry or upset or rattling the bars. You all realized that, okay, this isn't what I signed up for, but it can still be great. I can still emerge from this better than when I got here. So that's fantastic.
0:27:37 - (Jared Oluwek): Yeah. So to answer your previous question about where life took me afterwards, went to Arizona State for an internship with the triathlon team, and it was on my own again, new state, new city. And I was ready. I was excited, I was nervous, anxious to see if me stepping out into the unknown, if my foot would land rather than falling and making me stumble. And I really flourished. And it was because of what I had at Texas Tech.
0:28:15 - (Jared Oluwek): It allowed me to build the confidence in myself, to then be able to go out there and be comfortable with my manual therapies, be comfortable with my therapeutic interventions and exercises, but even more so with my clinical reasoning and judgment. And we all have impostor syndrome sometimes. And that really was around me as I was trying to find my way at Arizona State. And the more I accomplished or the more I was helping people and the feedback that I was getting, I was like, you know what?
0:28:52 - (Jared Oluwek): Yeah, you can do this. You can absolutely do this. And people were receiving me very well. I was on the Arizona state triathlon team was like the cream of the crop. They'd won the last four or five national championships, so I knew I was coming in, I was going to get a ring, and it was just like, so wonderful. And I think that didn't necessarily go to my head, but I got very comfortable and I did things that would lead me into eventually getting in trouble.
0:29:24 - (Jared Oluwek): But I didn't put too much thought into that because there was so much good happening. My boss was really happy with me. My athletes were very happy with me. I'd help out other teams. The other athletes would receive me well. So I was like, oh, this is really great. This is wonderful. And then I tried to transition from triathlon into track, and the way that was handled really rubbed me the wrong way.
0:29:52 - (Jared Oluwek): And I ended up getting myself into trouble, putting myself under a microscope to where things really got. I don't want to say out of hand, but they put me on administrative leave. And going from that major high of, oh, they're going to hire you after your internship, and this, that, and the third to flying out to Washington for a track meet and then having to be flown back to tempe before the track meet even started was like, oh, my gosh, it rocked my world. It really rocked my world. And I love what I do. I love athletic training. I love caring for people and the conversations.
0:30:32 - (Jared Oluwek): And when that was taken away from me, it was really hard. It was a really major low point because what was I doing in tempe if I wasn't working for Arizona State? That was what I came there to do. And when I lost that, it was hard. It really took a toll on me.
0:30:47 - (C): Yeah, I know that we had communicated some during that time, and it was definitely a season of introspection for you. And like you said, you're a growth minded guy. And so I love the fact that you weren't looking to blame anyone else. You were looking to maybe do a post mortem on this. Like, where did I go wrong? What could I have done better? How can I not make this mistake again? And where do I go from here?
0:31:13 - (C): And maybe you did lick your wounds in private, but to me, you were focused on taking that, coming undone and becoming undone and growing from that. And so certainly that was a painful process, and it wasn't something you would have picked, but it's been said that we learn more through failure than success ever would have taught us. So what do you think? That season in your life taught you that just rock star status and promotions and a happy ever after wouldn't have.
0:31:45 - (Jared Oluwek): It showed me that everything could be taken away. And it showed me that to remain humble and not like I was the type of person who kicked down the door and was like, I'm the best. But it really showed me that even though I wasn't doing anything wrong, like person to person or just outside of the NCAA, I had to confined to their rules. I was always taught to think outside the box and be just like different and don't conform.
0:32:20 - (Jared Oluwek): And my non conforming took away something that I really loved. And it taught me that, you know what? In order for me to do what I love and to do it to the level that I was doing at Arizona State, I have to play within their rules in order for me to really do what I was meant to do on this earth.
0:32:44 - (C): I know from there you realize you've got bills to pay and you've got responsibilities. You're an adult and you can't be in this in between space forever. So you start looking for new jobs and ultimately end up at K State. So talk me through that season. Lots of times people can live in that space in between, and it's a really lonely, hard. We probably don't give our friends and our family members enough grace or enough support in those times.
0:33:16 - (C): What did that season of life teach you about yourself?
0:33:21 - (Jared Oluwek): What did it teach me? It showed me where I needed to be. It taught me that I could have gone anywhere. I could have gone into an industrial setting, I could have gone into working at a hospital, or I even interviewed for jobs in the private sector. But I had unfinished business. I was undone. I was undone in the collegiate setting. And I knew that I needed to get back there. And I learned that it was out of my control at this point in time.
0:33:52 - (Jared Oluwek): And I really was very fortunate to have my family to fall back on. So I moved out to California again, was able to live with them and do some PRN work around California. But I really had to lean on others again to get me back to this point. And if it wasn't for Frank Perez, I wouldn't be at K State. So it wasn't anything that I don't necessarily think that I learned within that time period, because I ended up working at an extreme sports camp and I was able to go to the Grand Canyon a couple of times and Sequoia National park and do all of my road tripping that I really loved, that I made the most of that time to where I wasn't kicking myself anymore. The learning was when I was on administrative leave.
0:34:36 - (Jared Oluwek): When that door shut, it was not, well, what am I going to do now? It was, how am I going to get back to where I want to be? And I guess that's what I did.
0:34:49 - (C): Yeah. To your credit, you are a fantastic social media follow. You make me pretty jealous about the places you see and just a very introspective soul. And I know you're tender hearted. You want to do a great job, and I can imagine that was humbling. But to be given that opportunity to right those wrongs or to prove to yourself and others that that wasn't who you are, you weren't a failure. Maybe some things didn't go exactly as they should have in that circumstance, but given the chance to do it over, you're going to do it better.
0:35:22 - (C): And I think I've certainly seen evidence of that in your life. It's 05:00 p.m. On a Saturday, and for those that wonder about athletic training, yeah, you're still at work. So what do your days look like today?
0:35:34 - (Jared Oluwek): My days are so I work track and field at Kansas State. My specific event groups are the distance group and the throwers. They have practice times at the complete opposite times of the day. So, like last fall, it was practice at 06:00 a.m. With the distance squad, and then they get done. Then my throwers start at 910 1112, one two, lift at 430. So I'm spending all of this time at work, which to others may seem like, what type of life are you living?
0:36:14 - (Jared Oluwek): But to me it was always very fulfilling. So, like this last semester, I was doing 70 hours weeks sometimes, but it was necessary to get the job done, in my opinion. And everybody's standard of care is different. But what you guys did such a great job of at the health sciences center at Texas Tech was giving me the highest standard of care as possible and showing me how effective an athletic trainer could be. So I go above and beyond for my athletes, but they are such wonderful people that if someone needs something and it's the end of the day, I don't mind helping them because they are so grateful for what I do and I'm so grateful for them and they're just so wonderful that it's easy for me to again throw all of my eggs into their basket. And my life is athletic training.
0:37:12 - (Jared Oluwek): It's on the road every two weeks for cross country season, and we're about to get into indoor and outdoor season, and I'm going to be on the road every week or every other week. So it's very consuming. And at this stage, I don't mind because I'm still very early on in my career, but other than work, it's not much else going on. Yeah.
0:37:35 - (C): I don't think you would have chosen the route that you took to get to Manhattan, Kansas, today. I think that's safe to say, but you're better for it. And I think you would agree that you learn things through that circuitous route that you wouldn't have learned if you would have just hopped on the interstate and gone straight there. How are you different as a result of what you've encountered?
0:37:58 - (Jared Oluwek): Oh, man. The experience that I have, I say to my athletes sometimes, I've lived many lives because just the amount of experience that I have, whether it was driving across the country to California and then back or losing my mom or graduating from Texas Tech University Health Sciences center as the Mat MVP, all of the highs, all of the lows gave me the experience that I needed to get me to where I am today. And I wouldn't change a single thing that's happened to me because, again, the experience that I have is just exponential.
0:38:38 - (Jared Oluwek): Yeah.
0:38:39 - (C): What advice would you give younger you if you had a chance to go back in time and impart some wisdom?
0:38:45 - (Jared Oluwek): Yeah. I would say to my younger self, especially that kid who was very determined to get better at soccer, I would say to him, you will achieve your soccer goals. You will learn how to juggle. You will get to be able to control a ball very well. But what you don't realize that you're doing, even though you're beating a soccer ball against the wall, they're really molding who you are going to become, and your soccer career is going to go so far, but the mold that you're building is going to get you way further than you could even imagine. To California, to Texas, Arizona, to Manhattan. I couldn't imagine. And I'd also say to my younger self that you will go through major hardships and you'll experience some devastating lows. But those devastating lows will help produce your greatest highs. And you'll learn more from those lows about yourself than you will from when you're feeling like you're untouchable.
0:39:53 - (Jared Oluwek): And I don't want you to shy away from those moments, because through the darkness, you will persevere, and the light that will be shined from it will be as bright as the sun.
0:40:05 - (C): Yeah. I was never a Kobe Bryant fan while he played, but as I came to learn more about him after he retired. Man, the whole mamba mentality thing, it just absolutely resonates with me, and I'll never forget. I don't know if it was the first time I met you or one of the first times I met you, but you were decked out with your Kobe Bryant jersey. What is it about that mentality that speaks to your soul the most?
0:40:34 - (Jared Oluwek): I think it was the same thing that you were saying. I didn't really appreciate him until he was gone. Grew up a Philadelphia 76. I'm an Alan Iverson fan. It's Iverson against Kobe, but I always respected who he was, and I think I saw myself in who Kobe Bryant was. My name's never going to be hanging from the rafters of the crypto or staples center, whatever they call it now, but his work ethic, his determination to get better at his craft and just be comfortable doing it by himself without anybody watching or telling him how to do it, I really saw myself in him. And when he died, I cried for days.
0:41:16 - (Jared Oluwek): And I didn't even cry when my grandpa died. And my grandpa was like my rock, and I was like, wow, I didn't realize how impactful Kobe Bryant was in my life. And as we're talking about this, on my desk, I have his book, Kobe Bryant, the mamba mentality, always in my office, and I saw myself in him. And even though I'll never have championship rings from the Lakers or I'll never have my own shoe brand, I'm creating my own greatness within my own lane. And I think that is the biggest message that Kobe Bryant wanted, is you don't have to be the basketball star. You don't have to be a doctor.
0:41:59 - (Jared Oluwek): You could be scrubbing the floors at Emily arena like I had to do after I graduated college, my undergrad. But if you're determined to be your best, then do it. It doesn't matter what lane you're in. Work hard, be persistent, and always look to get better.
0:42:20 - (C): And that's spot on. I think for us as athletic trainers, there's kind of two layers to that. I know we're like minded in that approach for ourselves, but oftentimes we're inheriting or we are caring or ministering to athletes who are broken and maybe physically, but more than likely also mentally. And it's real tempting in those lows to feel like this has happened to me. I don't have control over this hamstring injury is going to keep me out of conference or whatever.
0:42:54 - (C): And for us, a, we can model it. We can show through our actions that I can't control. I'm not 610. I can't jump out of the gym. I'm not the smartest guy in the class, but I'm going to max out what I have. I'm going to control my effort and I can model that. And then I can also hopefully inspire that, whether that's a student in my classroom or in my Zoom session, as it were, or a patient on my table.
0:43:24 - (C): And just seeing that book on your desk maybe sparks a conversation. Why Kobe Bryant? Like he's been gone for years? Because this guy knew what it took to get every dropout. And you can do that. You're not going to get back on the field or the court or the track today. But how can you be the best you can possibly be today with what you have, where you are? And I just wanted to applaud you because honestly, I didn't pay much attention to Kobe Bryant before you entered my life. And I have you to thank for that. Kudos.
0:43:58 - (C): I got two left for you here. We're about to land this sucker and it's been a long weekend already and you need to get home. I love music and the emotions that it can frequently represent. What song would you pick to play in the background for a montage of your life and why?
0:44:14 - (Jared Oluwek): Kiss of life by Shaw day she in the song, she says there must have been an angel by my side that suddenly came down from above. And she talks about just a lot of beauty and that's my life. My life is not perfect. There's a lot of ups and downs. I wish that some things that happened wouldn't have happened. But I made the most of all of it. I turned it into a beautiful life that is the life of Jared.
0:44:46 - (Jared Oluwek): And the life of Jared is a kiss of life. And I listen to it all the time. When I'm in a watch, a sunset or a sunrise, or I'm on a road by myself, I listen to that song and it really just resonates with me because I just feel like I'm very fortunate and blessed and that song just personifies that.
0:45:08 - (C): Super cool. I'll have to check it out. I'm not familiar with that one. What for Jared remains undone?
0:45:15 - (Jared Oluwek): There's a lot undone for Jared because my story won't be complete until I'm 6ft deep and I want to start a family. First I have to find a girlfriend and a wife and then start a family. But I have that on my forefront. I have a burning desire to get better. As an athletic trainer, I already do some pretty great things, but I don't want to stay where I'm at. I want to only get better and put more tools in the shed. So I have a desire to get better at my craft.
0:45:56 - (Jared Oluwek): And whether that means continuing to work in the collegiate realm for the next ten plus years or I change to doing something to where I could have a little bit more balance in my life, I will. But another thing that's way undone for me is I have a lot of nature to see. I'm a huge nature person. I say that mother Nature is the only mother that I have now, and she resonates with me. And I have national parks I want to see, I have state parks that I want to see. And I go out there and I do that, and I don't plan on changing that. That is really what's left undone for me. The highest priority. But just continuing to get better.
0:46:44 - (Jared Oluwek): Yeah.
0:46:44 - (C): If there's anyone that can do it, I know you can. How can listeners follow or connect with what you.
0:46:51 - (Jared Oluwek): I really. I'm active on Instagram. My Instagram is Jrock Jrock Underscore cafe, and they could follow me on there. If you have listened to this podcast, you could reach out to me, you could follow me, you could dm me, and I would love to connect. If you have questions or just anything, I'm here, and that's really my only social media. I do have a LinkedIn, but yeah, Instagram.
0:47:21 - (C): That's cool. I'll share a quick story to close us out, because we're about out of time. I was lecturing to your cohort and going strong and didn't realize that we were already five or six, maybe 10 minutes past the time that the class was supposed to end. And one of your colleagues, hopefully she's listening. Erin Earhart, if you're listening, real respectfully, raised her hand and said, Dr. Brooks, we were supposed to be out of here about 10 minutes ago. So she became the all time timekeeper for class at that point.
0:47:52 - (C): So I have a tendency, man, we are kindred spirits, because when I get going, sometimes the passion bubbles out. And I see that in what you do, and I know your patients appreciate that. It's one thing to do a job. It's quite another to feel like you're walking in, what you were made to do. And I want to encourage you and applaud you. You do the job of an athletic trainer with more energy and zeal and zest than pretty much anybody I've ever met. And if your patients are listening, don't take Jared for granted. We aren't all like, not. We're not bragging.
0:48:32 - (C): You are a special human being, and I appreciate the fact that our paths have crossed.
0:48:38 - (Jared Oluwek): Me too. I really appreciate you saying that. And I wouldn't be the same if I didn't go to Texas Tech and wasn't under your guidance and I could talk for the next 3 hours on this podcast. But I'm very fortunate to not only have crossed paths with you, but been influenced by you. And where I am today is a direct reflection of the amount of energy and effort that you poured into us. So I love you, Dr. Brooks, and I couldn't be more thankful for you.
0:49:15 - (C): I sincerely appreciate those words, jared, thanks again for stopping in.
0:49:19 - (Jared Oluwek): Thank you. This is Jared Alowick, and I am officially undone.
0:49:27 - (Toby Brooks): I'll share one final story about Jared that will forever stand out in my mind, and I'll do my best to hold it together. The class of 2021 cohort had been through some things. Due to Covid, we had to scrub most of our normal teaching experiences. Classes were immediately moved online. Much of our clinical or hands on teaching had to be changed in the midst of all of it. I was also not dealing with changes in my own life that were happening at the time.
0:49:55 - (Toby Brooks): Our oldest daughter, Brynn, was graduating from high school, and I was doing my best to hold things together, but I was depressed. Try as I might to hide it, it showed Jared isn't just a caring and compassionate clinician. His perceptiveness as a human being orders on telepathic. As he alluded to earlier in the interview, he came from modest means, and I don't know if you've priced it lately, but going to grad school, especially out of state, isn't cheap.
0:50:24 - (Toby Brooks): I didn't know it then, but in conversations years after graduation, Jared acknowledged that he had to sleep on the floor for much of his time in Lubbock because he didn't have the resources to buy furniture. But knowing I was grieving the changes in my family, he came to my office just days before graduation with a card and had a gift card inside. He wanted to treat me and my family to a dinner to celebrate our daughter's graduation.
0:50:52 - (Toby Brooks): I didn't want to accept it because even though I lacked the details that I would get later, I knew it was far more than he could afford. I also didn't want to disrespect his kindness either. I resolved to accept as graciously as I could and later find a way to make it up to him someday. Jared's generosity paid for the groceries. We used to smoke a brisket, make the sides, make desserts, and everything else to cover the dinner that would feed my entire immediate and extended family in celebration of my daughter's high school graduation.
0:51:27 - (Toby Brooks): And it was given by a young man who I'd just met 22 months earlier who had had to sleep on the floor. But he wanted to give a professor who he knew was hurting a gift to show he cared. My family will never forget sacrifices you made for us, Jared. We love you. For more info on today's episode, be sure to check it out on the web. Simply go to undonepodcast.com ep 76 to see the notes, links, and images related to today's guest, Jared Allyweck I know there are some great stories out there to be told, and I'm always on the lookout.
0:52:04 - (Toby Brooks): So if you or someone you know has a story that we can all be inspired by, tell me about it. Surf on over to undonepodcast.com, click the contact tab in the top menu and drop me a note on deck. We've got some great guests already in the hopper. We've got author, speaker and retired Navy SEAL and former d one athlete Mark Green, entrepreneur and retired US Marine Corps major Vineet Rajan, as well as founder of so high sports entrepreneur and 1996 Olympic men's high jump gold medalist Charles Austin.
0:52:37 - (Toby Brooks): So stay tuned. This and more coming up on becoming undone. Becoming Undone is a nitrohype 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, contact me@undonepodcast.com follow the show on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn at Becoming Undone Pod and follow me at tobyjbrooks on X Instagram and TikTok.
0:53:04 - (Toby Brooks): Check out my link tree at Linktr ee Backslash tobyjbrooks. Listen, subscribe and leave me a review at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd be so kind, do me a favor. Think of one person who might be inspired by the story you've just heard and share it with them. I would be forever in your debt. Till next time, everybody. Keep getting better.