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When the Field Becomes Your Foundation: Ricardo Lizcano
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Speaker 2:Welcome back to the no Shot Podcast. I'm your host, santa, here with my co-host T-Mike and Chopsticks.
Speaker 3:What's going on? Y'all.
Speaker 1:Back with the no Shot. We're going to make them understand. Let's go. Hey, we are back with the no Shot Podcast and we have a return guest. He's the man. But once again, before we do that, we got a shout out to Radio Influence. That's our boy, Jay Floyd A-Town's in the background holding down the dings, and we are in beautiful Tampa Bay, Florida, and on this episode, once again, return guest is our homie Ricardo Lescano. Clap it up.
Speaker 4:Yeah, what's up.
Speaker 1:And on this episode we remember what the last one was like. We understood what it felt like for him to go through the experience of being a professional ball player from the beginning to the very end, and now his career has transitioned. It's transitioned from one place to the very end. And now his career has transitioned. It's transitioned from one place to the other. But before we even go through that transition point, we're going to talk about some of the emotional experiences that we did not get to talk about in Episode 1. What was he feeling? Was it depression? Was it brokenness, before he went through the ultimate transition of becoming the head face of Arsenal performance training in South Tampa. So, ricardo, I know we're just kind of throwing you right in here, my guy, but I really want you to dig deep, find that place that you were in when things seemed hopeless or when you were breaking down before you finally found this new position in Arsenal.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I mean it's not too hard to find that place. I kind of keep it close to me. To be honest, it keeps me going back and what's keeping me getting forward? You know there are a lot of situations that may come and may arise throughout the business side of things. You know, back when I know we had spoke, gave a little bit about the pro experience, how I got there and things like that, the transition was was probably the wildest part for me. Now, you know, obviously, looking back at least a decade, possibly what? 10 to 12 years ago, I really struggled towards the end. You know I had three different jobs going on and I was selling tuxedos, I was putting cardboard boxes in boxes and sending those off in UPS, and then I was trying to do some stuff up in Toledo prior to moving down. So it was just a little bit chaotic and very confusing on what to do next. I talked to a lot of people that you know play pro ball or play college ball and I think the one thing I always bring up is you know how'd you transition, cause everyone's different.
Speaker 4:Um, once I got down to Tampa and I had a clear vision of what I wanted to do and I just got to work with it. You know it was being around some buddies and that were still in pro ball and going into facilities and you know giving them the resume and doing all the grunt work. You know the footsteps, things like that and you know it paid off, obviously. I got to a place called, you know, the Prep of South Tampa and I quit my tree job. They were paying me 50 percent or 50 cents less at the front desk and then I just started building my book from there. Never knew it was going to grow to what it is now. So super, super, uh, fortunate and blessed. But a lot of people will say it's lucky, but behind closed doors. It was nothing but hard work and and long nights. Uh, you know pretty much deciding what are you going to be able to have a profession after playing in the sport that you did?
Speaker 4:I think that's a hard transition in itself. You know, going into, you know, tampa Bay. It's obviously the mecca of professional ballplayers, football players, everything under the sun. You start hearing all these household names Gary Sheffield, these guys, obviously, you know they do some lessons and things like that. But those guys are more of mentors and I've had the privilege to meet those guys and talk to them and you know, pick their brains on hitting and how they went through and how they transitioned from, you know, their their stature, to what it is now and it's it's all similar man.
Speaker 4:You know, mike, and I team Mike and I talk about it all the time, whether it's high school or college the transitions, the transitions the hardest part, because you grow up and you put 15 to 20 years into a sport and then you think that's what you are, but really that's just what you did. I actually have a powerful, I have a college player that just finished up and I was talking to him a little bit, you know, seeing if he wants to stay inside the game and and do it as a side job or, you know, maybe possibly making it full time at the facility. And that's the one thing that he told me is like you know I'm, you know I'm lost, not sure what the next step is, and I'm like dude. Baseball gave you everything you need to go ahead and give you all the tools for what you need in adulthood.
Speaker 2:You know, I think a lot of people experience the same thing that military personnel do, because, like, this was your whole life, this is what you live for, yeah, and then now, all of a sudden, you don't have that you, you miss the camaraderie, the, the, the motivation, the, everything that went along with the excitement and the highs and lows, the mission, and now, yeah, something to work towards, to, to get better to, to stay, to stay in that position of like, that mentality of like I have to get better every day.
Speaker 1:Not to interrupt you, but isn't it a coincidence that Ricardo named his new facility Arsenal?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like, actually I love that name because, like not, it's like you're giving these, the people that are coming to your facility, like the, the tools to combat the struggles that they're dealing with.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, it's definitely something that obviously my partner, Brian Tolberg, and I would talk about for years and then, leading up to the decision to open up Arsenal, and a lot of it was know, yeah, we do lessons and we do group sessions and we teach the sport, we teach technique, but I think the the big picture behind it is we try to mold young athletes to be ready for the real world and that's kind of my mission and my goal throughout teaching.
Speaker 4:That's what it did for me. Um, I didn't have all the, the coaches and the, the size of the, you know the facility and the equipment and the coaches and things like that. I had my dad and some other people that we talked about episode one, but you know, it was just one of those things where that kind of was our purpose and still is our purpose. So you know it's really molding the young athlete to be ready for the real world, because you know it's really molding the young athlete to be ready for the real world because, as you guys know, it's going to knock you down and then try to get up and it's going to keep knocking you down. So how do you deal with adversity and push through it, even when times are tough?
Speaker 1:I completely agree with that sentiment, but I want to go backwards just a little bit here, cardo, and I want to go backwards just a little bit here, carto, and I want to go back to a point that you made that I thought was profound and we really need to acknowledge it. You talked about something that I believe is special it's identity. Baseball players, softball players in particularly, find their identity in their sports rather than not realizing hey, this is what I do, not who I am. How do you deal with athletes that are going through that transition, that are looking to you for that foundational breakdown, for help in that transition?
Speaker 4:I think it's simple. I don't think you have to overthink it. It's just really finding out their purpose. What do they like? It's it's really finding out who the person you're dealing with is and then learning to navigate and apply whatever skills you have to, whatever your purpose is, you know, it's just. I don't think it's reinventing the wheel.
Speaker 4:Um, I know, see, I'm getting to a point now where some of my oldest, you know, clients that have been with me for at least a decade, are now graduating college. So it's all slightly new. Um, to me at least, I haven't been the one to go out and get the best players and the college players and things like that and then just send them off. It's, it's, you know, there's a lot of relationship building from from my side to the, to the client, because it means more to me when they're in college or they're after college and they text me and say, hey, how would you deal with this, or what would you do here, blah, blah, blah and this, that, um, that's, that's where I get a big smile. Um, it means a lot that what we did throughout the years were, you know, technique and mechanics is small compared to that type of conversation that they feel comfortable enough to to have with you.
Speaker 4:And you know, answering your question, that it's really just helping them find their purpose and understanding that you know, like, like I said before, the skills that you have are already there. You just got to figure out how to put the puzzle or the pieces to the puzzle and then just keep moving forward, no matter what it is. I mean nowadays. You know they always said you could do whatever you put your mind to. So it's it's helping them understand mentally if you're not prepared to take criticism and and take the hard knocks that come along with it, and even when times get tough, you don't just roll over and quit, you just keep pushing forward and that is a lot of the reason why we have, you know, arsenal and why we keep growing every day, you know, gaining new clients and new relationships and having a blast with it relationships and having a blast with it.
Speaker 2:Go ahead. John, you know, when players come into your facility, what is the thing that they struggle with the most. Is it the confidence? Is it the doubt? What do you see most often with these players that they need to work on outside of the mechanics of the game? It's all mental.
Speaker 4:I mean, I think it's the pressure to produce outcomes. So they have no idea how to fail, they have no idea how to handle it, they have no idea to like when they get frustrated. I just had a person, a softball player, yesterday get frustrated, you know, on the machine and she was missing and falling balls off. And I was talking to her mom and I said I'm just going to let her go. Like you know, the conversation leads to outcome. What's the purpose? I'm like we can't sit there in the box and tell her what to do. She's got to figure it out. I said it's not us neglecting it, this is a part of it. We can sit there and talk Mechanics, mechanics, mechanics, but that doesn't mean that anything's going to switch. I said it has to come within.
Speaker 1:Hold on.
Speaker 3:Hold on hold on Skirt skirt Time out we can't sit there in the box and do it for you that's.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's everything. We just summed up the podcast right there, that's some.
Speaker 3:true, the podcast is over. It's ended right now. Go to trivia. Go to trivia.
Speaker 1:Thanks, true, big Ricardo capped it. So with that, I need you to expound upon that point a little more, ricardo, because that's the part we believe most young athletes never get.
Speaker 4:There's always an excuse, there's always something, but ultimately, this is on you yeah, I mean, it's kind of the core value that we have at the facility through our groups, especially with hitting. Is you, if you're, if you're a fly on the wall? You hear me tell kids all the time figure it out. That's not me being rude, that's not being me and being mean, it's it's me being realistic. If you can't coach yourself I was just talking to to renee, uh, who's our 18u national coach for the Mustangs? You know, it's simple things like that If you can't figure it out on your own because you are the best coach that you'll ever have, I can't tell a person how they feel, and I'm a true believer of that. Like, when kids come in and they you know and I love all coaches, coaches have a special place in my heart because it takes a very special person to do that job. Um, whether they know what they know, or they're an expert, or they you know whatever, right? Um, I tell kids all the time coaches can never tell you how you feel. I don't know if you're sick, I don't know if your partner broke up with you, I don't know if there was a death in the family, like, unless you communicate that. Yeah, so in order to navigate through those things. You got to find out who the person is on a on a coaching side and then go from there and now you can go into the mechanics.
Speaker 4:But as far as being in the box, it's like I'll be super honest with all my clients, I'll never be in the box with you. You got to figure that out. You know, I've been told, I've been talked to about or just had conversations with clients that I've coached teams with. Hey, how come you don't coach during the game? What am I supposed to? You know, mechanically that is not coached as in you know, game IQ, things like that call plays Right. What am I supposed to do? Because what parents don't realize, or anybody behind the fence, is those kids are battling themselves while they're in the box. They just can't see. Or they're battling themselves at the position because they just made two errors in a crucial position or a crucial time in the game.
Speaker 4:No one knows what the kid's feeling and I think that's the biggest thing that you have to try to be. I wouldn't say soft about, but just open and be like hey, how you feel about that? Oh, I feel a little down. All right, well, let's just go 70%. Let's be clean on our mechanics. I've played with the flu before. Everyone that's probably played sports have played sick.
Speaker 4:So it's one of those things where it's like, hey, let's, let's dial it back, let's do what we can and help our team in any way possible, even though I'm not 100, but the player will always any. Any competitors is going to go, you know, 100 through that and it could work. It could not work, but it's how you deal with it. But my like, going back to you know we're not in the box with you, it's, it's, how do you? How do you mess up? And then ask yourself, well, why did I mess up and how do I fix it the next time? How do I adjust for the next pitch? How do I adjust for the next at bat or the next situation? So you know that's a lot of the core stuff that I do in my sessions. You know, like I said, we're always going to learn fundamentals and mechanics, but if we're not learning the mental side of the game and how to navigate through our own minds, then we're just going to have athletes that can't translate to the field.
Speaker 3:Wow, I was going to ask when life pops up, because it always does Life is undefeated, like it's one thing to train at 70%, 50%, you know, based off of what your situation is but how do you turn that off? Like in the game, like, is that even possible?
Speaker 4:Say that one more time, sorry.
Speaker 3:Like when life gets in the way of things, like you can turn coaching down to like 70, you know training, training and all that. But like when it's game time, like do you just turn it off and then go 100 or you just step out of the game, do you play at 70, 50, like how do you take care of that?
Speaker 4:I. I mean it's that's hard. It's it's a hard answer in a sense. But I think it just comes down to your preparation. How focused are your reps? How's your training? You know, do you prepare for situations like that?
Speaker 4:There's times where players come in and maybe they failed a test or whatever. You know they're failing down and they'll take that through the entire hour. This is where I will go in and tell them stop, leave it at the door. No one cares. At the end of the day, you have a job to do right now and that's what we're going to do, and then you can worry about it after.
Speaker 4:But in between the lines, this is what we're doing, this is our job at the moment, and a lot of players can't understand that or translate it. And again, that's the hard part, because you'll sit there and see or hear coaches say all the time well, you got to, you got a vision, or visualize, you got to do that. That's still training in itself. I can't tell a player that's never heard that before and say, hey, visualize a pitcher on the mound throwing and then expect them to see that. Right, that's, that's them doing it every day. Like I've had players go home and I've told them. I said sit on the edge of the bed, close your eyes and visualize a game that you maybe struggled in a situation, and then visualize that you're being successful in that situation. Some have done it, some have not. Some have done it and succeeded and they're like, wow, I didn't realize that it actually worked. I'm like, yeah, this isn't one of those things where, um, you know, you're just going to walk into a cage and that's just going to happen.
Speaker 4:Like there's so many different levels of training. It's not just physical physicality and that. And then and that's what I tell all the young kids and even the kids that are getting into a more elite ball, um, everybody at you know the 18u level that I coach at. Everyone can ball. Yeah, like there's, there's not one player that shouldn't be there. The difference is, is the physicality, the grit behind it and the will to win, because at the end of the day, that's what we're there to do.
Speaker 4:Yes, we're there to mold young players and all this, but when you get to a certain level, it is a production style game. So if you go over 10 and let's say you're hitting the ball hard, you're still going to get chances. It's not like you're going to sit the whole time. But hey you, you've been struggling, you rolled over three times, you popped up, you've struck out four times. We're going to give this next person, you know, a shot. And when you sit on the bench, are you going to pout about it? Are you going to complain to the parents? Are you going to blame the coaches? Or are you going to say, hey, I messed up. When I get back in, I'm making sure they don't take me out.
Speaker 1:Now we're going to add to that piece because the visualization, that whole concept is unique, but now we're going to swing it towards Arsenal, so I'm going to place you in that same position, cardo, because that's just a team-Mike kind of thing. So, with that in mind, what was your vision before you opened up the doors? What did it look like? How big was it? What type of tools and accessibility were you going to give to the next young superstar that was going to walk into that amazing facility? That was in your mind? What did Arsenal look like?
Speaker 4:When we walked in we were at the ABCA in Chicago. We were dealing with some stuff with the old place and just kind of, you know, obviously outgrowing it in a sense. And I, you know, I came to the conclusion, told Brian, you know, I got two options man and it's quit or it's open something up. And I, you know, I have two college degrees, I have a minor. You know I graduated from a four year. I can go do the normal nine to five jobs. It's not in my personality to do that, but it's. It's an option as well if I ever need it. So when we got back in from Chicago, we were blessed to be in a position where we walked in without the rent sign going up. And when we walked in we had no idea what we were gonna do just yet.
Speaker 4:I had a vision of it. It was originally 15,000 square feet, was the entire area. But when they walled it off, when the other business expanded, it made it 12,000 feet, which was open. The problem was when we first went into it we only wanted 5,000 square feet and then it just kept growing and then growing and then the imagination started running. Well, we can do this. You know Tampa Bay doesn't have this, so we can put this in here because we have the space to do it. You know this and that, and I've had buddies that have opened big facilities that don't have facilities anymore due to the size of it and the real estate comes down to the final straw of can you do this or not? Well, that's why our business model is what it is.
Speaker 4:Um, so the vision of it was as simple as 5,000 square feet, three cages, small weight room, you know, just to do some small group stuff, and then two to three pitching lanes, and that was it. And there was no public, you know, cage memberships, there was no team rentals, there was nothing. It was just all going to be strictly training. And then we just decided to go for it. You know, we had a couple trainers back out. We just decided to go for it. You know, we had a couple trainers back out, and we just took over the burden of all 12,000 square feet, figured out where the money was coming from and, you know, went from there and turned it into what it is.
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Speaker 2:Carter, you know, whenever you deal with adversity, you have to decide in advance that you are already refusing to quit. Were there people, you know, while you were starting the training facility, that were telling you that you shouldn't do it, or you're not going to make it, or it's going to be a fruitless venture? And like what do you do?
Speaker 4:I think I've put myself in a point where I'm not really surrounded by those people. So I think I've done a good job with handpicking people. That wouldn't put me in that situation, because majority I'd say pretty much everybody you know is pretty much go for it. There's no reason not to. Let's go. Yeah, it's.
Speaker 4:Obviously it was nerve wracking as hell, man. I mean, you're looking at hundreds of thousands of dollars and where it's coming from. Brian and I did this on our own, you know, with a little bit of help from another person, silently. It was really it was just us too. Um, and I think that's the most amazing part when you look back at everything, cause financially we just we didn't have really a plan, we were just let's do it. Now we have the clientele We've been here for together for a decade Um, this just shoot for the moon man. And and it turned out to what it's turned out to be. But, you know, leading into it, everyone was like man, I can't wait for you to open up and we had to keep some people, we had to keep a lot of people in the dark about it because of where we were at. You know, we still had to pay our bills, you know at home and things like that. So it wasn't like we could just openly, um, you know, promote it like we really really wanted to.
Speaker 4:Um, there's a lot of failures in the beginning on, you know, from my perspective, how we market, how we advertise. Team Mike knows a lot of this stuff just from picking his brain on the advertising and marketing Cause he does so well with social media. And it's like you know, where can we? You know, there's a lot of times where I'm just like man, I just want to go do something else. I think a lot of independent contractors or entrepreneurs go through that. But then you look back at it and it's like man, if we figure this out, it just makes sense, it's going to work out. There's no way around it. You kind of put the food on the table. This is what we have to do.
Speaker 4:There's a lot of sacrificing and it goes back to the sport. It's like all of us that played for so long. We sacrificed 20 to 25 years of our life. No birthday parties, no vacations, um time spent away from from families. You know, sadly enough, missing funerals, like sacrifice, is nothing new to me or anybody that played. But yeah, going back to it, I didn't have anybody that told me not to do it. I just think I put myself in a position to not be around those people anymore.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's probably one of the most single, greatest pieces of advice for anyone that is trying to be successful Don't put yourself around people that are going to discourage you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but remain around people that will be honest with you.
Speaker 4:Exactly 100%, man, and if you can't take the criticism, I want all my like. It could be Team Mike coming into the facility. Hey man, you messed us up. This is why and I would look at him and probably think he's crazy, but then I would sit on it and probably be like, yeah, yeah, actually you're probably right.
Speaker 1:But that would never happen, cause he?
Speaker 4:doesn't mess up. Yeah Right, and I wish, I absolutely wish. But no, you know, I rely heavily on on my, my family and my girlfriend. Now, you know, we just had a son.
Speaker 4:They're actually dancing, and they're dancing in the car right now and she's feeding them. She's a blessing to me and allows me to do a lot of stuff that you know. There's a lot of wear on her as well, you know. And, and just having a son and obviously T Mike and I talk about this all the time because he has boys, yeah, it's, it's. It changes the perspective on everything on what we're really doing here.
Speaker 4:In the beginning, before he was born, it was you know, I'm going to work, I'm coaching, I'm going home, let's go on a vacation, let's do this. And now it's like, nah, like, if I'm gonna, if I might, I want somebody to do what I'm gonna do for another kid to my son. When he decides to either play baseball or whatever sport or whatever he does, you know, in life, I want him to be treated the same way that I'm going to give, you know, every client, every parent, you know, just to share respect and patience, and that's what it comes down to. I think a lot of coaches lack, lack patience, um, and that's something I had to learn. I mean, that was, that was rough in the beginning, when I first started coaching. And you know, for a lot of people that start coaching and say, oh, you know, I, I played for this long. It's like that's a whole different beast when you're when you're coaching 12 different personalities at one time and then you got 24 parents behind the chain league fence without with opinions, you know.
Speaker 4:So it's like patience is something that I've developed, I would say, very well over the last 10 years down here in Tampa. I think that plays a big role in the facility, because there's a lot of times where we're like, no, we can switch, we can do this right now, but it's like, no, let that play out. You know, if it works, it works. If it doesn't scratch it, let's move on, let's come up with some other idea and just keep moving forward, because at the end of the day you can't do anything about it. Once it's done, it's done. If you dwell on it, then it clouds the next day, it clouds your next reaction, and that's a big part of the training that we do is frustration blocks the mind on how to actually fix what's going wrong.
Speaker 3:I mean, yeah, there's there's lots of stuff that are obviously going to be out of your control, but, like, one of the few things that we kind of have some control over is like our time management, and especially now with kids, um, what is your time management like? Look like, how do you make time for your, your family, but also make time for the people that you have to train?
Speaker 4:Oh man, that's a juggle every day. For real, for real, I mean. I mean, if you ask team Mike, just my my daily routine for real, for real there's. There's a lot of times where I have to apologize to my girlfriend for real for real, it's just kind of.
Speaker 4:you know we dealt with some stuff we had, we just trans, transitioned to an updated software, and that you know we're I'm up at four o'clock in the morning taking care of, you know, my son, and then by six o'clock I'm on the computer and then come home after doing coaching and admin stuff at the facility to stay up until another, you know one or two just to finish up my day. And that was about two or three weeks straight while we were going through you know, the transition and and and that adversity, which I've never transitioned softwares alone. So that was just like going a shot through the dark trying to figure it out. Time management wise, I try to learn different ways every day. I got to a point over the last couple of weeks during that transition. Anybody that I have around me that's successful. That's the first question I ask how do you manage your time? Because I struggle with it. I struggle with it every single day. I forget to write things down, I forget this, you know, I forget that and it's like, oh, I got to do that, so now I got to backtrack. How can I make that better? How can I make time for the family? And it just got to a point where I'm going to work you know, do what I need to do Monday through Friday and my girlfriend went back to work. She's a nurse, so the days I just pretty much committed to, the days that she goes back to work, like that's me and my son's time. Until I go to work, I'm not going to do a lot of admin stuff, I'm not going to be on the phone that much. The days that she's off work, those are my days to kind of get after it and that's kind of how I slowly manage my time now and I get better at it each day.
Speaker 4:But it's really asking people around. You know, you know successful people that you know, for instance, team mike and I talk about scruggs. You know watching his daily routine. It's like up at five biking in his garage and doing his workout. Next thing you know he's on a plane and he's going to mlb network and then he's with his family.
Speaker 4:It it's like, dude, I only got 24 hours and I feel like it's only 10. Like where is this extra 36 hours coming from? Yeah, so it's a struggle, but I think it's really relying on people that do it daily. To be honest, I mean you got to be able to. I can't tell kids to ask questions and communicate with coaches If I'm not going to do it for myself, to better myself in areas that I weak, that I'm learning I'm, I'm that's the the say, my weakness, you know. So I'm going to ask you know buddy of mine and develop a relationship from him being at the facility, denard span. It's asking him hey, how do you manage your time? How did you come? How did you come? How did you get out of pro ball? You know, being so successful to what you do now it's asking team mike, this dude I don't even know if he sleeps.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's like he doesn't?
Speaker 4:you know things like that. So I think it's just relying on others that do it well, and then taking that and pretty much just doing the same thing with what you have to do.
Speaker 3:Now, with that being said, how do you kind of translate that into these athletes that you have to train, because being high school, college age, training with all the school that you have to do, and then also performing, especially with NIL stuff coming out now, how do you kind of?
Speaker 4:translate and help them with their time management. I think it just comes down to commitment. We'll have players, and this is every sport. You've got players that say they want to do it, but they give a backyard effort.
Speaker 4:Punch them in the throat right there it's like do you really want this? Or is it someone else saying you want this? You live in someone else, living the journey through your like, through the kid, through the athlete, but you can't say you want to go to college and only work out twice a week. It's not realistic. So I think it's it's honing in on one the mental side of the the game, or just say life, and then from there it's just commit to it, because at the end of the day, when you go play a high level and and you want to go to college, then that's what it is like, that's your life. People look at us crazy oh, how'd you do this? And how'd you like you didn't do, you didn't go.
Speaker 4:I didn't go on a vacation until I was 24. That was after. That was after I got done playing pro ball. Never been on a vacation by myself. Took me, you know, but by the time I became adult, it took me a very long time to actually commit, to say, all right, I'm turning my phone off, I'm gonna go on a vacation. Have no idea what this feels like. Wow, wow. That was a weird feeling in itself.
Speaker 4:But to translate to the athletes, it's just commit to it. If this is what you want to do, commit, because this is what it's going to take. It's going to take your nutrition. It's going to take your workout. It's going to be, you know, if your day's busy with school, test and studying after, are you going to wake up at seven o'clock and go at least lift, you know. Are you going to wake up before school and go hit a bucket? It doesn't have to be a bunch. You go throw a ball off the wall 50 times. There's my practice for the day, because I got nothing but my studies going on after that and then I got to get to a game or I got to get to practice things. It's just commitment. I think once you commit, it's not. It's really not that hard, to be honest, because there's a passion behind it and it's fueled by the commitment.
Speaker 1:So let's expound upon that word Like we're doing a great job talking about what it looks like, right? So, and we and again, everyone has to find a way to dedicate themselves to something. But ultimately, as a coach and as a business owner at Arsenal Performance Training, how do you display your commitment to your athletes physically? How do they see it?
Speaker 4:Showing up, love it Again. Me and Team Mike have conversations all the time. Oh, man, you know, and I have conversations with myself. You know you own it. You deserve this. Take a day off.
Speaker 4:I don't really see it that way. I see it as when I step into the facility, I'm doing a service for the community, for the players to be there for them when they need it. That's what I've committed to. That's my purpose. Whether that's a text message, whether it's a phone call, whether it's a Zoom call, showing up at their tournaments, we try to do as best as we can to show up to, you know, local tournaments, whether they're, you know, little league players or travel ball. That means so much to the kids.
Speaker 4:I think there's a lot of coaches that you know and I don't speak for them. This is just because I was in that same position where I'm working all the time. I can't get to your game as much as I want to. At one point I was working seven days a week for about eight months straight, because I was the only one in the back at the prep doing lessons and it was just nonstop. So by the time I was done, I was going home and going to sleep, waking up doing it again. But for me it's just being able to show up for them when they're at their lowest. I think that one that's the biggest thing for me. When they come in and and you know, maybe they've had some stuff happen, family wise, um, maybe they again failed a test, something like that it's like yo, it's all right, like, pick up the bat, we're going to hit. This is going to be your piece.
Speaker 4:I just had one of, uh, one of our girls over at the high school make me stop at our last game because she's not playing college, she's going to, I think, mississippi State for studies. She gives me a hug after the game after we lost. She was like I remember our first lesson, I just had some stuff happen at home and things like that. I was down and you told me to just keep showing up. She ended up getting first team all conference this year, hit over 400. You know, had a tremendous high school career from where she started to it and it was just like damn, you know, like you don't really, you don't really understand you have that impact on players. Until that moment happens, it just, it just feels like a daily job sometimes. But then you get hit with that and it's like all right, everything that we're doing is on the right track.
Speaker 2:Exactly. This is a heavy conversation because I've personally dealt with dealing with lack of motivation and it can be a dark place and you get really introspective and lonely. You start questioning every decision you've ever made and then you just are so tempted to fold in on yourself. How do you get players out of that mindset when they just want to close everybody off, including you?
Speaker 4:give them space. I know that sounds kind of weird in the moment, but they're going to handle it the way they handle it. As a parent now it's like I'm going to be there for my son and for any angle possible and talk them through stuff. But you've got to give them space and let them kind of get their thoughts clear. First you got to let them. You know, I had a player get absolutely humbled. She did I think I'm not going to use the word terrible, but she didn't do what she was capable of doing and that humbleness now puts a chip on her shoulder and now she's back working two, three times a week at least in the facility.
Speaker 4:I think motivation disappears. But the discipline and the commitment is what keeps it going. Like there's times where I don't, I don't want to wake up and work. I think everybody goes through that feeling. You don't want to put your feet on the ground, you don't want to get out of bed. You know you're comfortable. You don't want to put your feet on the ground, you don't want to get out of bed. You know you're comfortable. But the discipline of doing that over and over and over and over and over again brings the motivation back Because it's going to take one day to spark something like, yeah, let's do that. Now I'm motivated again because I found another purpose.
Speaker 4:I think sometimes purpose, the purpose will change and alter and the motivation will disappear. And that's where it gets real. Like you said, it gets dark. Uh, when I, when I got done playing, I was in a, like I said before in episode one, it was a dark spot I was. I was going out every night, waking up, going to work, spending my money on this, nothing good, and then getting no return. So once I got down to you know, tampa Bay, I told myself just reinvent yourself. Nobody knows you here. Just reinvent, start fresh, start new. I still continue to do that. I fall back in those traps. I had my son and I was working out five, six times a day. Sorry, jesus Lord, five, six times a week.
Speaker 3:That's a little bit different. I was like what?
Speaker 1:did you just?
Speaker 4:say, yeah, and working out weekly, and then all of a sudden, boom, now I'm changing diapers, feeding and all that different stuff. And it kind of put me back in that place where what do I do? Now I have to give up the working out. But now I'm to a point now, you know he's four months old Now I've went and bought some weights, we do workouts. He just watches me do workouts in the garage Like that's just what I have to do now. Yeah, you know, so it's motivation definitely left for about, you know, a good four to five months dealing with everything and the transition to having, you know, my son and and moving my girlfriend into the house and moving and all this different stuff. So it was just staying disciplined to what we're doing and then you fall off track. But then we got back on track and we just figure out ways to make it work.
Speaker 1:I've got to admit, it's wonderful to see how life interacts with what you do and then who you love and new love in life, and how it changes your perspective and it pushes you down a path that you weren't necessarily sure you'd ever go down, but at the same time you find yourself finding new joy, new purpose and ultimately it's a tie to not just your family, it's all the other ones now that are intertwined into yours.
Speaker 1:Like every athlete, Ricardo that you're going to hug for the next 15 to 25 years. They're going to ultimately say I would not be who I am if Arsenal performance and Ricardo Lascana was not a part of my life. I wouldn't be here, I wouldn't be there, I wouldn't have these memories and these text messages that you'll get for years and years. And then they'll get to know your family, your girlfriend. These things are all going to be intertwined because Arsenal performance training exists. So, with this in mind exists. So with this in mind, perspective wise, we see where Arsenal is going. What are some of the objectives that you have for Arsenal performance training through its growth over the next few years? What are some things that you would like to see Arsenal become that people don't already see now?
Speaker 4:I think one of our goals is to become more involved in the community. That's a big thing I was, I want to do. We, brian and I, we talk about it all the time. It's it's finding out the logistics of it. I enjoyed when I played pro ball, going to the hospitals and and doing the special needs type of stuff, where we go to a field and let them run around. I think that's a really good reset to one myself.
Speaker 4:But also when athletes are involved of all ages, noticing like hey, you really are truly blessed with the abilities that you have and someone always wants to be where you're at. If know, if I owned a Ferrari and I wanted this, there's somebody that's looking at me and I want that Ferrari. Or you know someone's looking at me now saying I want that facility or I want to do what he's doing. But then I also look at it. You know, I have a buddy that possibly could sell a uh a business for 20 million and I'm looking at him like man, I want that, you know. So I think the objective is always to strive for more, for sure, but really stay within the quality that we have and not shoot for quantity. I think quantity downplays a lot of stuff, um, being involved in the community, continuing to grow, inputting not necessarily new programs, but programs for all ages. You know even T-ball kids they got to learn, you know they got to have fun and things like that but still keeping it within the quality.
Speaker 4:I think that's a big thing with what we have, and what we've always done in Tampa Bay between Brian and I is really push a quality product out. And then another big thing is involving, you know, good people in the space where we don't just hire people to hire people, you know we want to hire good people that have the same mission for us, on any capacity, whether that's. You know, I want to come in and I only have time to do one or two hours of training for these, these uh group sessions Cool, you know, as long as you're going to do your job. We're not, you know, not everybody wants to do this full time. Sometimes it's not even possibility to do it full time. Um, but just surrounding ourselves with with good people good coaches, good families, good players and continue that growth.
Speaker 1:You know what? With that in mind, I'm digging deeper into that question. Your second home, tampa, florida. It's a very unique community Right now when it comes to the city and the way you've seen it grow over the last couple of years since you've been in Tampa Bay. How do you see Tampa being a valuable place to have Arsenal performance training? Why not further south? Why not Jacksonville? Why not Miami? What makes Tampa such a unique city?
Speaker 4:I think it's just the central location. It's just Tampa Bay. Why not Miami? What makes Tampa such a unique city? I think it's just the central location, it's just Tampa Bay. I think that's the name alone. When you think of Florida you think of a couple places Obviously Miami, orlando with its attractions. Tampa Bay, it's just what it brings. It's on the water, the amount of major league players it produces, pro athletes alone. It's just the mecca and it's just centrally located.
Speaker 4:You know you could go down to Sarasota, bradenton, maybe a little bit further down to Venice, things like that. You're going to pull from certain areas depending on you know what you're providing for that service. As far as Tampa Bay, like Team Mike sees it, all the time I have players that come from Venice. I got players that come from Sarasota, from Parrish, from heck, port, ritchie. We have not even a kid that hits with me. He comes and trains with Raph, he comes down from Brooksville. We got players that come from Lyftia, fishhawk, orlando, north of Wesley Chapel. So it's just so centrally located that it's hard to beat.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love it and that's something that I know, coming being born and raised in Tampa. I love when people find that Tampa is a gym that represents the state of Florida in a great way and, at the same time, I think we have a difficult time finding facilities like Arsenal Performance Training that can accommodate all the talent and all the opportunity that can be found in the city. Plus, there's so many people moving to the city nonstop. It's one of the largest cities in the state with one of the biggest school systems in the country, and it's amazing that it took this long for someone like you and Brian to finally understand and see that and give the city a home that will allow it to grow and prosper.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and that was the one thing when we're, you know, leading into even opening up Arsenal was everyone. It wasn't telling people that we shouldn't do it or we can't do it. It was no one's done this Like there's. There's there, uh, I think it's Brian's neighbor. He lived down here, he's born and raised here. He's an older guy, owns ac company um 30 years. No one's ever opened a facility of our size in our area and I think that was one of the scariest things, because you look at the size of it and you look at the square footage, you look at the real estate, you look at the comps, you look at the prices and go is baseball, softball training, all sport training? Is that even possible to break even every single month and pay the bills? So you have to. You have to be open-minded.
Speaker 4:I pulled the business model from a buddy of mine who's one of the probably hands down one of the best hitting coaches in the country that I would say not many people know about unless you're in his area, which is John Sullivan. I call that student, Even if he doesn't answer. I'm calling this dude probably five times a week just to pick his brain. Hey, what girls you got? You know I have this problem with this kid, Um, do you have any options on this? And he'll do the same thing with me.
Speaker 4:You know I do some online stuff, uh, with the team out in Auburndale. I do some online stuff with uh people up in Ohio and and on the West coast and he'll call me about online stuff. Hey, how did you price out this? How do you do that? And like, at the end of the day, I'm not going to make them, I'm not making millions off this. I'm trying to impact players that possibly don't have the opportunities to have a coach in their area, whether that's online or you know Tampa Bay, there's coaches everywhere, but the sheer size of the facility or just the look of it when you walk in, I don't think it. Oh, I know no one's put anything like that in Tampa Bay until we did.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know and what you do. Not only does it take skill and knowledge of the game, but it also takes a lot of love for the game and all too often we see kids that just lose the love because they get pushed a little too hard or whatever. And you see this in even the music industry. You have musicians that start off. They love what they're doing, you can tell they have the passion for it. And then they just fall off and they just follow what everyone else is doing and then they lose popularity. But like for sports, like how do you keep kids loving the game?
Speaker 4:um, that's a good question, honestly, because there's just so, there's so many different ways that I've done it, whether it's just just you know telling you know the one player that we had graduate to show up, yeah, you know, there's other players that I've had to say take a break and go play another sport. And I've. I've never seen so many people players at a young age your burnout by the time they're 13. And I've ever seen, since I moved to tampa bay, it's not a thing up north. We were forced to go inside. You know, I played ice hockey, I bowled with my dad, I played basketball, I played baseball, I tried football but didn't really care about it. To be honest, um, I played so many different sports. It gave me, it gave me a chance to miss the sport I love the most.
Speaker 4:I think if I played down here, I don't know if I would have continued to play baseball, to be honest, because of how much demand that it takes from not even a player but a parent. You know the stress levels that they have financially to play. Oh, you got to go play for this team. You got to go play for this team. Oh, I want to go play for this team. You got to go play for this team. Oh, I want to go play for that team. At the end of the day, when we're talking about 10, 11, 12, you at least baseball, what are we really talking about? Like, it doesn't matter the rings, they get plastic. They're great for the kids in the moment Don't get me wrong, I have plastic rings too. It brings back memories. The problem is, again it goes back to it's nothing but outcome driven. I have I played for this team, okay. Well, I've watched kids that play for, you know, top teams in the area on with the name on their jersey that don't play the sport anymore because they, they were burned out, you know they're. They're playing two to three times a week, or sorry, two to three times a month, with practices in between, you know, and there's it takes a really special person to be able to go through that, which a lot of our players do Like, don't get me wrong, we don't have players stopping, it's just the small percentage is a big percentage. For me to see that, because I don't think we allow the players to actually play multiple sports. And, mike, you know that. You know how that playing multiple sports and what that can do for your sport.
Speaker 4:Specifically, I have a player that's committed to JMU that decided to go play volleyball, took the fall off, went to go play volleyball. Her explosiveness on her first step and her vertical just completely shot through the roof. Oh yeah, you know. And then we go back to the field. She takes a break, clears her mind which I think is the biggest thing boom, she's back on, never left.
Speaker 4:But now all of a sudden we're playing, playing, playing. You know, um, july comes or june comes around, we're done, we pick it back up in october, but you're still training, you're still practicing. It never gives time away for the brains to just forget about them, and I think that's what it stems down to. Is them being able to understand like, hey, I can go play this sport. I struggled this season, but I'm still going to play a year from now or three, four months from now. I'm just not even going to pick up a bat. Some players do need that A lot of players don't, don't get me wrong, because they do need to train, but I think stepping away from the sport just for a little while and enjoy family or just be a kid is massive and super important and way too far overlooked.
Speaker 1:Completely agree. Yeah, this episode has been enlightening. We know more about Arsenal performance in South Tampa than we have ever. And now we understand the value of commitment and having great leadership push us forward and, with that in mind, I think it's time for it's time for trivia, trivia.
Speaker 2:Trivia. All right, all right, let's go All right. First question the longest baseball game ever played was eight hours with 25 innings. Which two teams were playing in this game? Was it A the White Sox and Milwaukee B Red Sox and Chicago Cubs, c Cincinnati Reds and the St Louis Browns, which are now the Cardinals?
Speaker 1:Ooh Cardo, that's a toughie what you got.
Speaker 4:I believe it was the Red.
Speaker 2:Sox, red Sox and Chicago. I think, so, all right. What do you got Chop? I'll go with White Sox, all right, white Sox, all right. What do you got Mike? White Sox, all right, all right, white Sox, all right. What do you got Mike? I'm rocking with Cardo. Let it eat.
Speaker 4:It was White Sox in Milwaukee, let's go All right, that doesn't even make sense, probably because they didn't score any runs. I was about to say yeah.
Speaker 2:Could you imagine playing for that long? Oh man, I'd be dead.
Speaker 4:Oh, longest game I've had is 17 innings and let me tell you that was exhausting, oh.
Speaker 2:Wow, all right. Random question now. Random trivia, all right. What was a famous cat that survived three different shipwrecks during wartime?
Speaker 4:What.
Speaker 2:All right, was it Unsinkable Sam? A Unsinkable Sam.
Speaker 3:My goodness.
Speaker 1:They can't unsinkable. Sam Was it.
Speaker 2:B Pables Flanagan, or was it C Bernard the Brave?
Speaker 4:I can't do this. I'm just going to say unsinkable Sam.
Speaker 3:It better be unsinkable, sam.
Speaker 1:Is it Bernard the Brave? Yeah?
Speaker 3:What's the answer?
Speaker 1:I'm going. Bernard the Brave it's.
Speaker 2:A Unsinkable Sam.
Speaker 3:There you go. It's how that does deserve a ding. Oh my goodness.
Speaker 2:Let's go.
Speaker 1:Anytime that does deserve a ding. Oh, my goodness, that's great. All right, we are. I'm sweating, I'm sweating.
Speaker 1:Okay, now we are going into Tampa Bay eateries, we're going to knock this out before gin pub and we are talking about Victoria's restaurant. You've got to go to Victoria's in South Tampa, florida. If you're looking for amazing cuisine from a family restaurant, you need to go to Victoria's. They offer fresh sandwiches. They offer the best Cubans. If you like ham and cheese, you know what's up. If you like a clean tuna salad, if you like a wonderful BLT with a chili dog and something else beautiful on the side, they've got Cuban toast anything and everything you can imagine. That is going to humble your heart and make your body feel absolutely amazing, and you'll know that the relationship matters more so than anything else when you go to Victoria's restaurant. You can find Victoria's in South Tampa. They are located at 5130 South Delmabry Highway, tampa Florida, 33611. And believe me, when you go there because I hit that place up every time I'm rocking Ricardo at Arsenal for their Cuban sandwiches. They are bueno, absolutely perfect.
Speaker 1:Gin Pub. We're sending it back to Ricardo Once again. We understand that kids are in a different place nowadays in the world. Ricardo. They didn't quite grow up the way we did. How do we teach them when the going gets tough?
Speaker 4:it's really time to get up, get consistent and keep going, and how Arsenal performance is teaching that just instill core values of what's important at the end of the day would be my take on that. You know you want, if you want, if you want something at the end of the day, I don't think there's not a magic pill for it. It just just keep, keeps, keep pushing, stack days. I know I hear that on TikTok, all the lot Just keep stacking days.
Speaker 1:I absolutely love it. This has been the no Shot podcast and it's been brought to you once again by Radio Influence. That's the homie, jay Floyd A-Town in the background dropping the dings Another super producer and it's the brand yeah, true, victory apparel. Yo, I feel bad for that cat doing the world fam this has been the no shot podcast.
Speaker 2:go check out the brand at truevictorycom and then go support the cast by rating us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
