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Noble Conversations
Balancing College Life, Sports, and Identity | A Noble Conversation with Kenner Taylor
What does it take to excel as a student-athlete and maintain a strong sense of self-identity? Join us on a fascinating journey with our guest Kenner Taylor, host of the Aggie Greats podcast, as we discuss his experiences balancing college life, sports, and personal growth. Kenner shares his love for space exploration and the mind-blowing fact that there are more trees on Earth than stars in the Milky Way galaxy!
We dive deep into Kenner's process of understanding the importance of separating his identity from his roles and affiliations, and how he strives to serve others with a positive impact. Discover how having a strong community and meaningful connections across different social circles has helped Kenner stay grounded and focused on his goals. Listen in as we explore the challenges he faced while playing Division 1 tennis at Texas A&M, and how their core values have shaped his servant mindset.
Facing a pivotal decision in his life, Kenner contemplates exploring his passion for real estate. We discuss the pressure that comes with being a student-athlete, and the mindset required to navigate these different paths. Moreover, Kenner shares his insights on communication in doubles tennis and how it translates to his podcasting journey with Aggie Greats. Don't miss this engaging and insightful conversation with Kenner Taylor!
You can find Kenner on social media and podcasting platforms under the name Aggie Greats.
Alright. So today's guest is Kenner Taylor. Kenner is currently the host of the Aggie Great podcast, and his podcast focuses on exploring the minds, habits, learnings and lifestyles of some of the most impactful leaders, coaches and high performers at Texas A&M University. Kenner is amazing. The man has played tennis at Texas A&M where he ranked as top 13. That's one three in the country in doubles, and that's just impressive.
Speaker 1:He is a recent graduate from the business honors and finance program at A&M, where he was involved in Titans of Investing, which is a high impact program at the university, and in today's episode we talk about what drives Kenner as a person, what it's like to be a student athlete performing at the highest level, the mindset required to succeed at that level, and how that mentality can be transferred to other areas of life, including podcasting. Without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, kenner Taylor, sweet Kenner, thanks for coming on the show, or at least like, called podcast. I don't know if that's the chair like show on podcast. I didn't show episode exactly, but yeah, so okay. So three questions we'd like to ask guests when they come on are what's your favorite joke to tell, last thing you ate and something you've been dying to tell someone? and you could answer all three or you could just pick one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man. Well, the last thing I ate is a little boring. I just had a bowl of oatmeal and some eggs, which is kind of like the usual morning routine. I kind of have gotten my morning routine down to the science, but something that Not for the games. Yeah, exactly, okay, you kind of always, i don't know why, but like my morning routine I have the exact same thing every time.
Speaker 2:But in terms of that last question where you're asking about something, i've been dying to tell people something. I'm a big. If you don't know anything about me, i'm really big into space. I love space exploration. My uncle's an astronaut and so I kind of grew up watching all the VHS tapes of just the different random science experiments they were doing.
Speaker 2:But something I was looking at today and kind of this week that really stuck out to me is like okay, you know how everybody's like, the Milky Way galaxy is like huge, right, yeah, right. Well, what I didn't realize is that we have more trees here on Earth than there are stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Oh, okay, isn't that not ridiculous? I was kind of wrapped my mind around that because I was like there's no way. But yeah, if you look it up. They're like, i think, what they measured somewhere around there. There are a lot of different numbers out there, but they estimate about three trillion trees here on Earth, And then there are about 100 to 400 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, which, when you look at it, it's like those are both really big numbers. Yeah, the fact that there's so many trees here on Earth is actually crazy.
Speaker 1:To me, man, that's okay, so I'm looking up now.
Speaker 2:That's something that I've been wanting to get off my chest for a while.
Speaker 3:Well, I'm mind blowing. That's it. Wow, it's crazy.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you said trillions, right.
Speaker 2:Trillions, three trillion, and you can back that up. There are a couple of different numbers out there floating around, but I was on the actual. I pulled up over here. I was on the actual NASA website And they were saying that it's in the ballpark of three trillion, which is crazy. To think about just that number. I can't wrap my mind around that Man that's more than I was going to say.
Speaker 1:that's more than healthcare spending, But is that the spot?
Speaker 3:It's more than healthcare spending. Right, I was going to say it's more than two trillion, but yeah, it's more than that too.
Speaker 2:Once you get over a trillion, the numbers just start to. It's all this thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, okay. So let's see Kenner Taylor. Like, who's Kenner? Like, when you think about yourself, what comes to mind?
Speaker 2:That's a great question. So well, first of all, i'm up here in Orlando and I'm here with a group called Kalea And it was really funny because I came here knowing pretty much nobody And one of the very first questions I got asked was that question. They're like, who is Kenner? And I was like, wow, it was really taking it back because it's such a simple question but you can go really deep with it And I didn't answer it great in the moment but I had some time to think about it And the more I thought about that question, the more I realized that it kind of depends on who you ask. Obviously you're asking me this question, but if I was to ask my brother Graham or my sister Christina or my friends at A&M or my teammates, everybody would have a different answer to that question.
Speaker 2:And that's what's kind of unique about just the experience and the different circles that we run in here at A&M and kind of outside of A&M is your different things to different people. And I think obviously the goal with the way that we are building who we are and our character and what does it mean to be Kenner? What does it mean to be noble? What does it mean to be Adrian As we're building our character. The goal, or at least the long-term goal, is for that question to be consistent among each group, and I think that's kind of the big key thing that a lot of people struggle with is how do we unify this idea of Kenner to every single person that we meet? And so it's not just oh, he's weird and you know, and then you take him to a banquet and he's like normal and proper, and so finding a way to bridge that gap is something that I think is really important.
Speaker 2:And so, yeah, i mean, if we were to base that question on things that I'm involved in I mean, like you, noble, i'm a maroon coat now, which is really cool. I've been able to play on the tennis team for the past four years, which has been awesome. I'm a younger brother, the baby of the family to my brother and my sister, and I'm a big dog lover. So all those kind of characterize who I am and kind of what I do. And I think the big thing that I've been struggling with, and I think a lot of people struggle with as well and maybe you could speak to this as well is making sure that you don't wrap up your identity in what you do, which is really hard, you know. Or saying, hey, i'm part of this organization, have a maroon coat, so that's my identity.
Speaker 1:Or hey, you want it you want to expand on, like, because some of our guests know about maroon coats but some might not.
Speaker 2:You want to expand on what's new?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. So maroon coats is an organization at A&M where we basically get to represent the university to the donors who come in. We're basically the you want to say, we're basically the visual representation of where the donors to A&M, where their money's going to and the beneficiaries of that, and so we get to take the donors or the people who are interested in coming to A&M around campus showing it what makes it so special and just sharing a piece of A&M with everybody that we possibly can, and so it's a really special role. It's something that obviously I'm very honored to be a part of and is something that is just a really, really cool piece of being able to be here at A&M and kind of having that as a piece of your story.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Man, that's awesome. Okay, So you said something about one and two, like over time. Like, let's say, someone asks you that question who's Kenner? You want that answer. It's consistent, right? And how do you? you also talked about organizations and making sure that your identity is not wrapped up in that and things that you do and things you're involved in. So how do you at least what's your journey looks like when it comes to saying, hey, this is, these are things I do consistently every day, But at the same time, this is who I am And, yes, there might be some overlap, but I don't want that to just be my identity. What's that journey look like for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's been. it's been quite the journey. And I think that a similar question to what you're asking about, you know, kind of what you're asking about is that is. that question is how do you want to be remembered? And people say that in a lot of different contexts. I was asked that as I was graduating from the team and kind of putting together the end of the year video, and they're asking how do you want to be remembered? And it's also a question that people ask, like if you were to put something on your gravestone, what do you want people to write on there? And when you think about those questions I mean, obviously there's a lot of different things that you could say But in my term, in my, my goal, kind of at the end of the journey, is to be able to say that I left people better than I found them. I think that's kind of the goal that I have long term And that's been a, that's been a journey. Adrian and I are better because, because, because, you're here, Learned so much already.
Speaker 2:And we've been talking for 15 minutes, yeah, but you know, building other people up and leaving them better than I found them is something that I think everybody should strive for, just because that puts you in a position where you're not thinking about yourself And you're not thinking what can I get out of this situation, what can I get out of the people that are around me? But it's more about how can I pour into other people, how can I give back and use my gifts and skills and abilities to build other people up. And I think that when you approach it with that mindset, that servant-hearted mindset, it allows you to, you know, build people up because you know part of the reason you guys started. The podcast is probably very similar in a way, because you have a lot of thoughts, a lot of experiences that you guys have gone through and are trying to grow from, and there are a lot of people that you believe could actually benefit from that. And that's exactly kind of why you know I have my podcast.
Speaker 2:But when we talk about this journey and what it's looked like for me, a big struggle has been with wrapping the identity in sports. You know, i've been playing tennis competitively since I was 10. And kind of the dream was to always come here and play tennis, which is awesome, because I've been able to live that dream for so long And when something has been your dream and you've been like grasping onto it so tight for so long, it becomes really easy to have that thing that you're doing day in, day out. I'm training, you know, five, six hours a day. I'm sleeping, i'm visualizing, i'm going and practicing, i'm playing tournaments. It's so easy to be like, oh, i'm a tennis player, or oh, i'm an A&M tennis player, especially since that's your dream, and so finding ways to step away from that and to say, yes, these are the things that I'm doing.
Speaker 2:But at the end of the day, when you hang up that jersey and you don't get to play again, or when you are finished with your match and you're walking off the court, you know how are people? it goes back to that question like how do you want to be remembered? How do you want people to see you? Who is Kenner, when nobody's watching? And those are kind of the moments that when you get to be with your roommates, when you get to be one-on-one with people and get to learn a little bit more about them in more of an intimate way. That's where you start to kind of see what's underneath the skin, and a lot of people don't really reveal that very well, which is why I love to try to find that and to explore what makes people tick and work and operate in the way that they operate.
Speaker 3:So with as much as you do, i mean, how do you stay grounded, you know, between courts? podcasts, i mean it's a lot That does everything I know.
Speaker 2:And maroon shows. Yeah, it's been great because I have a really strong community. Something that I'm really excited that I get to do is Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which is a really, really cool organization on campus which is focused on kind of sharing the gospel with you know Christians, and not even Christians, but growing in your faith and your relationship with Christ as an athlete. And I think it's a great community for me because, you know, we athletes kind of spend a lot of time together just naturally, And it's a great group to. I think it's hard sometimes to.
Speaker 2:I think it's important to have kind of different circles that you live in, And so if you're trying to become the best athlete you can be, you know, being on this tennis team is probably one of the best groups you could possibly be around. But if you want to become the best academically, then you know the business owners, the university owners, the people that you know. You guys, those are the guys that you want to spend as much time around. So it's finding those people who are specializing I'm honored, Yes, but it's finding those people who are specialized in their specific field and leveraging those skills that they have to grow. I think that that's so important.
Speaker 2:And so, in terms of staying grounded, you know, getting involved in FCA, finding groups of people who are struggling and who are pursuing excellence in their craft in the specific areas that they're involved in, and then finding a community and growing alongside those people, is probably one of the best ways that I've found to stay grounded. And then also another thing, just on a personal level. So so, having this community, having people who are growing alongside you, is a really great way to stay grounded. But then also on an individual level, I've found that it's really effective to just be able to laugh at yourself and to not take yourself too seriously, Because when I looked at myself in high school, you know if I'm aging as opposed to yeah, you can laugh at yourself.
Speaker 3:Hey, leave me out of this.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but when we think about, you know, leaving people better than we found it, you also have to think about that on a personal level. So how am I leaving myself better than I found? you know, we oftentimes I'm a perfectionist And so I tend to break myself down. I probably say more mean things to myself than my coaches or my team or anybody else around me could ever say. And part of that leaving people better than you found it is leaving yourself and building yourself better than you found yourself, and which sounds a little weird. But on that individual level, being able to laugh at yourself, not taking yourself too seriously and treating yourself the way that you treat other people or the way that you'd want to be treated It's kind of a golden rule. You know do unto others as you'd have them do unto you. It's the exact same thing in the situation, but on a personal level, treat yourself the way that you would want other people to treat you, and that's not something that we do very often or as easy.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man. Okay, so you talk about being involved with, like these different groups, first Christian athletes. if you want to grow academically, finding a group that you could also be involved with in that way. I guess one of the things that I think about is you have different groups of people that you know you interact with. Do you ever have that desire for all of them to merge and maybe in some way come together and basically have a desire for them to be friends as well?
Speaker 2:Yeah, i think that that's important And I think that that is something that obviously I desire for at some point. I think to some extent, it is a little bit hard when you run in circles that are so different. I think that there are benefits and drawbacks to both, because obviously you don't want to have these. You're the company that I'm working at We call it silos, where the accounting departments in its own little world and the retail side is in its world, and so there's no cross collaboration. I think it's really important for the groups to collaborate and to grow. It's just.
Speaker 2:It is extremely difficult that I found, especially in college, to do that just because everybody's doing 10 million things. And you're a frat guy, you're in Maroon Coats, you're doing FCA, so you have like 20 different things that you're doing, and it's really hard because everybody's doing 20 different things. Yeah, finding that balance has been something that I haven't done really well in college, but I do think that there is a lot of benefit in being able to balance those things and being able to draw other people in and say, hey, here's where I'm growing, like why don't you join me and come alongside me in this journey? And that's what kind of makes it a lot of fun.
Speaker 3:So, kenner, i want to go back a little bit. You talked about the servant mentality, right Yeah? When did that first start for you? or was that exclusively at A&M, because A&M's culture is huge on serving others and giving back and taking care of each other? Now, did you have that prior to that, or when did?
Speaker 2:that start I think it got more refined. I think that coming here to A&M and kind of learning about the relice, the respect, excellence, leadership, loyalty, integrity, selfless service, learning about the core values A&M has, is definitely something that's helped refine that. As I've spent time here at A&M, i think that it's kind of the natural. That's why I love A&M so much is because it's kind of the natural persona. Here at A&M Most people are looking out for other people, but I think the big focus and the big reason that that's been such something that's been on my heart, not just biblically is that kind of something that is really talked about, you know, representing what does it look like to be someone who's reflecting those Christian values something that Jesus did when he was here on earth but also talking about what does it look like to come into a Division 1 team and leave a legacy. And that was something that when you come in.
Speaker 2:The challenging thing about tennis tennis is a very individual sport And so growing up everybody is kind of I pull myself up on my bootstraps. I am here because I've put in the work, i've trained hard. It's a very solo sport. It's not like basketball or soccer where you have a team and if your team does well, you do well. It's very much I win and lose if I just based on how well I'm performing. And so you come into college tennis and it's completely opposite, you could win every single one of your matches and yet lose as a team every single time. And so you start to realize really, really quickly that your success is only a small piece of the equation, and if your success is caused at the detriment of those around you, then it's not success. So part of it was redefining what a success looked like. How does success go from being a part of a team instead of just being an individual solo tennis player? And with that you kind of have to have a server mindset.
Speaker 2:And I came in, and when I came on the team we were eight in the nation, which was a really, really cool experience to come in. And I played high school tennis, which is very unusual for people who come in and play D1 sports. We have guys from France, italy, australia, england, pretty much. We had a guy from Bolivia I probably already said that Bolivia, pretty much all over the world, and they all are coming to A&M to play tennis, which is really, really cool, and coming in as a red shirt freshman, i decided to realize that I wasn't the impact that I was going to have on the team for that first year, and really the first two and a half years of my college experience.
Speaker 2:My impact is going to be off court. It's not going to be hitting a tennis ball, so it's learning to kind of be behind the scenes and learning what can I do, how can I put myself in a position to where I can help my teammates who are playing, who are competing, to be as ready, to be as sharp and to be as available as possible. So that means getting out and doing extra hits with them if they want to. That means helping them re-grip the rackets before matches. It means doing the small things to help build up the team. And I think that that mindset, when you come in, is something that was kind of forced upon me, but it was something that, looking back at my college experience and looking back at being a part of a competitive athletics program, it's probably one of the most valuable mindsets you can have.
Speaker 1:Okay. So, man, it seems like tennis. I've heard you talked about your fakes, talked about tennis and how being able to have an impact off the court, your freshman year eventually helped you have an impact on the court, but it started out with impact off the court, and so how did you get into tennis? What drew you to tennis?
Speaker 2:That's great. Yeah, good question. I started tennis well, so I kind of grew up playing all different types of sports. So I played soccer, i played basketball, i played baseball a little bit. I was not really good at baseball, believe it or not, but I kind of grew up doing a bunch of different sports and never really played football. That was kind of one of those things that was just like you're not going to ever play football I'm not really. I'm not really like a football player, unfortunately But it was kind of one of those things where my mom and my dad were always out playing on the weekends And so Graham, my sister, and I would go out and just mess around and play with them And we would just have so much fun messing around and never really took it too seriously.
Speaker 2:And then we just kind of started to realize that we enjoyed it, played a little bit. I started to be like man, it would be so much fun if I could beat my dad. I'd say this Oh yeah, i would always get destroyed by him. And so that was kind of where the passion started was I got to beat my dad. I'm a very competitive guy. So it was very much like how can I beat my brother? How can I beat my dad? How can I beat everybody who's on the other side of the court?
Speaker 2:And then about when I was 10, so I was playing probably when I was seven, eight, nine, and I went to the A&M tennis camp when I was 10 years old And that was where my love for tennis just kind of really took off, and not just my love for tennis but my love for A&M, because I came on campus and I realized that people here were very different And met… people were just really open and inviting and just really friendly. And so I still remember being 10 years old and going to the tennis camps for the first time, and then for the next eight or nine years I kept going back every single year because that was literally my favorite part of the summer And really of the year. Every single year I look forward to going back to tennis camp And so I just really enjoyed. That's where I fell in love with A&M, fell in love with tennis and just with the university, kind of through that process.
Speaker 3:Oh man. So with tennis taking up I mean so many years of your life and something that you worked on continually, i mean, what does the future look like for you? I mean, what do you? you know, i know that's kind of scary to look at, but I'm sure you have some plans. You know what? Yeah, i'm trying to figure that out.
Speaker 2:right now, because we just graduated from A&M, i'm going to be back for my Masters in Real Estate, which is exciting. It's funny. I feel like this episode is going to turn into a little time capsule. I'm definitely in the middle of like a big question mark in my life in terms of where do I go. So I'm praying about it a lot, but I have a couple different options Well, really two main ones. I have another year of eligibility and I'm going to be back for a year and a half for my Masters, so I could go back on the team and play another year.
Speaker 2:I've, at this point, i've told the coaches and the team that I'm not coming back, and part of that is just to you know, tennis is an amazing opportunity. It opens so many doors and really just being an athlete in general it opens a ton of doors, but it also it's a full-time job and it, you know, takes a lot of time and commitment and it's something that I don't see myself doing professionally or long run. So I'm kind of looking at it as okay. I'm coming back for my Masters and there are a lot of things that I would love to do as a normal college student, you know, which being an athlete kind of takes away from that a little bit. So there's, there are two.
Speaker 2:it's fun because I'm looking at the situation and it is a little stressful. So I'm taking the summer to really try to figure that out and pray and just kind of get some guidance from people. But it's an exciting situation because and I explain it to people because I'm like this is the reason why we work hard and the reason why we put in a lot of work in the front end, because we get to the point in life where we have two really good options And it's kind of win-win. at this point, you know, i can pursue something that's been my dream literally since I was 10 years old, or I can, you know, kind of go into the unknown a little bit and explore something that I do think I want to do long term, which is real estate, and kind of explore that passion a little bit more while I'm in college and can still kind of mess around and still make some mistakes, and you'll get it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, okay. So real real estate. How did you get into that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so my dad does real estate. He's kind of been in the real estate world for a long time. He founded a company called Amri which he took on the New York Stock Exchange back in, sold it back in 2014. So I've kind of been in the real estate world going to different properties. It kind of felt like monopoly a little bit. You know, you go around and we have a piece in this property, we have a piece in this property and you get to go in and meet the tenants and who's actually using those properties and running businesses And you realize, wow, these aren't just stores, these are people, people with dreams and with visions. And so I just kind of always grew up around that and was excited to just see the impact that you could have in those areas. And so it's kind of been one of those things where, especially when I kind of realized that I didn't want to play professionally just because of the amount of work and time and commitment and traveling.
Speaker 2:I don't think people realize this about tennis, but when you're really trying to get started in tennis, you're traveling pretty much 24 sevens, so you have 52 weeks in a year. You're probably traveling 30 to 40 weeks out of the year, which is very, very tough, especially when you are trying to finance everything yourself. You don't have a ton of sponsors, so it's a very expensive sport. It takes a lot of time And if you get injured, something happens. Then you start to really get in trouble.
Speaker 2:So I have a lot of teammates who are on tour and are loving it. One of the guys who I actually trained with freshman year he's number two in the world right now for doubles, which is really cool. He's out on the world doing that, which is really fun that I got to train with him. And then a couple of my teammates who graduated a year or two ago. They are just top 300 in the world now, which is really cool to just kind of watch the climb up, and so it's a really cool journey. I mean there's a lot of people who love it and a lot of people who want to do it full time. That's not necessarily my passion, but it's something that I really. You know, if that's something that you're pursuing and want to do, i mean it's a full time job, but also, you know, go edit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, i've trained people to do it. I'm curious. I want to understand the mindset and the state of mind that you have to be in to perform at your best, like, show up every day, perform at your best. I played high school soccer and so to an extent I mean, it's not the same as playing in college, but to an extent I kind of understand this level of dedication and just showing up and discipline. So I want to understand, like, what headspace you are in while you play tennis.
Speaker 2:Yeah, i'd say it's very different when you're competing individually versus for the team. College tennis is probably the most fun but also craziest pressure I think you'll ever feel, just because it's not you and the tennis ball and the other person on the other side of the net It's you, the tennis ball, and then just like hundreds of fans who are just there and they're either on your side or completely against you. There's really no in between. And so when we're on the road and we're traveling, i think the mindset on the road and traveling is just. You really have to be in the mindset of kind of I own this place and this is my tennis court, and recognizing that the biggest thing I always struggled on the road and I think part of it was I was kind of you buy into these like home field advantage type of thing, which is something that I really bought into And I think it's true to a lot of extent. I think it is. There is a big home field advantage, but when you travel on the road and you're thinking about that, it's definitely not helpful. And also when you're at home and you're thinking about it, you know you get too complacent. So there's always a balance point, but a lot of it has to do with when the best mindset that I've gotten into is I'm going to hit the ball. It's kind of trusting the training.
Speaker 2:The match is one before you step onto the court. A lot of times people are like, oh, whatever happens in the match, you know these random accidents happen. It's not I mean the match is won and lost, right up here, it's right between your ears and it's. I'd say that the breakdown it's probably it's like 99% how you respond to the problem and like 1% what actually happens on court. And so so much of it's how you respond. Because in college tennis you play no ad, which means that if you get to a deuce point where you guys are tied for the game, it's a one point, sudden death point, and you also have a rule where if you hit the ball and if you serve the ball and it hits the net and rolls over, you play the point, which isn't in most professional tennis. So with that rule and with the no ad, there are a lot of instances where it just hits, the ball, rolls over and you lose the game and you just have zero control over it.
Speaker 2:So a lot of people mentally check out and lose their mind and they play the victim and they say, man, why does this always happen to me And why do? why do I have to be the one where this happens? And having that mindset gets you out of the whole match. Because each game that you play, you have game, you have points, games, sets and then a match. And if you treat each game as a war instead of the battle, you can lose a lot of battles. As long as you win the war, you're good. But a lot of people get so caught up and they lose one battle and then in their mind they've already lost the war And it's like that's not how you play, that's not how you compete. If you are on the battlefield and you get shot in the arm and you just roll over and you're like, well, i guess I'm dead. Instead you just recognize, okay, what's the damage, is this manageable, let's get up, and a lot of that. I use that war analogy because there's a lot of similarities between special operations, training, which I've done a lot of research into, and the college athletics side of things And just athletics in general.
Speaker 2:And a lot of the similarities come with how you treat pressure and how you view the situations And I think that what makes these SEAL teams what's actually really fun one of the guys that I'm rooming with. He's in the core and he's training to be a Navy SEAL And he's up at 4.45 every morning running. Oh man, it's like jockeling Yeah, jockeling. I'm rooming with jockeling, which is so fun, and I love special operations stuff. I published a thesis paper on that back in high school. Man, i want to read that thesis paper. Yeah, it's probably not as good as I want it to be, but there's a lot of really cool stuff that I found in terms of what are they selecting for, what are they looking for in these special operators? And what makes these teams so special is that and you realize, these SEAL teams are small There's probably six to eight guys, depending on the mission And what makes it so special is these guys are fighting for each other.
Speaker 2:And I say this a lot in just kind of the episodes that I have with some of my friends. When you think about college sports and college tennis, it's about looking to the guy into the left and to the right and saying I want to fight for those guys. And it's the same thing when you're a Navy SEAL, when you're on the battlefield, those guys that you're fighting for are to your left and right and you have to be doing it for them. And so putting aside it kind of goes back to that servant leadership thing we were talking about earlier putting aside your own agenda, your own goals. If you're worried about your personal ranking while you're competing for the team, you're in the wrong mindset And you have to put, because there are going to be times when you're playing matches and you don't feel good, you feel sick, you feel tired, you feel like you want to be anywhere else, but there And especially over four years you feel everything.
Speaker 2:And so when you start to put yourself in the mindset of I'm doing it for this guy or I'm doing it for my teammates, that allows you to put aside your own personal agenda, your thoughts, your feelings, and just give it everything you have. And if you can walk off that court at the end of the day and say I gave it everything I got and I did my best, i think that you have to redefine success a little bit as an athlete, because you can do everything right, and this is in life. You can do everything right. You can do everything by the book. You can do every single, you can follow every single rule, dot every I, cross every T and still end up failing or still end up not succeeding. So you really have to redefine success as an athlete, as an Aggie, as somebody going into the workforce, because if your definition of success is screwed up, if your end zone is in the wrong spot, you're gonna run the wrong way every single time.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. It's kind of interesting that you used wars and analogy for tennis. I think it's really interesting because you also did the research for it And so you have legitimate claims, you know. And so I guess, piggybacking off of that, i mean, you seem pretty well-rounded, you know. I guess you never really know what you're doing. Now that I'm not training as much, yeah, exactly, you got more time on your hands.
Speaker 3:I was eating some donuts yesterday You really were. So I mean, what pushed your interest or peaked your interest into the Special Operations community? I mean is that you know because again, even before the podcast, you talked a little bit about some international fair stuff. So of course that's my interest.
Speaker 2:I know that that's where you're into it, yeah. So I've always kind of been into the spy kind of secret stuff. Oh yeah, the Special Operations is something. So I almost if I didn't go to A&M I would have gone to the Naval Academy. I've always had a big respect. I toured, i went on three visits. I went to A&M, air Force and Naval Academy And when I got the offer to come to play for A&M that was kind of the dream, so it was a no-brainer. But I've always had a big respect for the military and for the people serving our country.
Speaker 2:And I think with that we think about elite trainer. I always have the mindset of trying to be the best I can be. John Wooden has a really good quote. John Wooden's the famous UCLA basketball coach, somebody I really look up to And he says don't worry about being better than somebody else, but never cease trying to be the best you can be. And I think that that perfectly encapsulates what it means to be a special operator, someone who is trying to be the best at their craft.
Speaker 2:And so I kind of was in a program in high school called the Distinguished Scholars Program And you are in it for all four years of high school And you get to research like a specific. So the first two years you get to research, kind of one year is researching a certain topic, the second year you're researching another, and then you decide, hey, this is the topic I want to research for the next two years. And so for me I wanted to research special operations, training and selection, because that was something that I was just always really interested in. So I spent two years of high school researching. What does it look like? How are these guys selected? How do they train? How do they? and I think there's so many.
Speaker 2:The deeper I got into it, the more I realized that they were training very similar to the way I was trying to compete at a high level, i think I mean you talked on your podcast, you know, with Dr Paul, and you talk about guys who are at top of their game, people who are elite in their field. I think there are so many more similarities than people realize, and so that was kind of always my goal How can I become a little bit better? And so researching guys who are the best in their craft, especially in these life or death situations, you know, on court it feels like it's life or death a lot of times especially when the crowd is cheering for you and you know whether or not your team wins or goes home in the tournament is resting on your shoulders. There's a lot of pressure, but it's nothing compared to life or death, and so having a way to operate in those situations. My uncle's also a SWAT sniper and I got him on my podcast earlier, which was a lot of fun. So, talking to him.
Speaker 2:That is sick Being a special operator and I mentioned that my uncle went Air Force and was an astronaut at one point. You know astronauts are extremely high. Talk about special operators. You know they're doing a specific mission and their skill set is specifically for something that is very special. And that's what makes somebody a special operator Is they're really just narrowing, they're sharpening. What am I focusing on? They become really really good at one little thing.
Speaker 1:So Yeah, So for you it sounds like you're a special operator in tennis, right?
Speaker 2:And trying to be. Yeah, it's really funny. If you wanted to use that analogy, i've been for the past year and a half. Two years I've been a special operator in the doubles world, so I haven't really picked a lot of symbols for the team, but I've spent a year and a half to two years becoming the best doubles player I can be. And it's really funny because you spend.
Speaker 2:You get there two, two, three days early to so say we're going to play what you said UCLA earlier. Say we're going to play UCLA on Friday. We'll get there Tuesday, wednesday, to get ready for the match. And doubles is one set, no ads. So it's about 30 to 40 minutes And so, speaking of special operators, you have a very short time window.
Speaker 2:It's not like singles, where you make a mistake and you have time to recover. In doubles, you make a little mistake And the match is over. So you have to do everything right. You have to.
Speaker 2:The amount of preparation and work I think people look at doubles and they're like, oh, it's not that much cardio, it's not that much work, you're not on court for very long. It's the most mentally taxing and it just takes so much focus and discipline And you have to do everything, very, very there's the margin for errors very, very small. Obviously, every sport is going to have a margin for error, but doubles, that margin is very small. And you're training so long just for such a small amount of time. And I was thinking about the guys you're running the 100 meter dash or the guys who are sprinters, guys who the goal is to run as little and as short as possible. And when we think about sports like that, you're trying to get everything down to a science and you're trying to be as meticulous as you can with the way that you're training. And it's really interesting because I think there are a lot of parallels between what I'm doing and what everybody else is doing as athletes, as military men, people who are fighting for the country.
Speaker 3:It's funny you mentioned that. So whenever you said, oh, on doubles, i thought of small team tactics And so I was going to ask you so in those scenarios where you are playing doubles, i mean, do you train specifically with that partner so you all know how each other works? And so whenever you head into games, you know the movements, you understand each other, that cohesiveness is there, ideally, yes.
Speaker 2:What's unique about tennis and college tennis is people get injured, people get sick, So the doubles teams will move around depending on you don't. As a player. You don't get a lot of say. You get some say into who you get to play with, but it's really the coach, and so the coaches are saying, hey, i want you two to play with each other. So last year, my junior year of college, i was with one partner all the way through and that was definitely the best scenario, just because you get to know them very well. You get to spend a lot of time off court getting to know how they think, how they operate, and by the end of the year one of the best you know we got up to 13 in the nation as a team, which was really, really fun for me. My partner was Noah. He played one for our team And getting to play with him and just getting to understand him And we knew what, how the other person responded to.
Speaker 2:We just learned what made the other person tick. How do I pump them up the best way? What can I say to them to get them to relax and to laugh? And when you're on court, we got to the point where it just it feels mechanical. You know exactly where your partner's gonna hit the ball, you know where to be It, just you don't really think about it. And the more often you're changing partners and the more often you're switching around with who you're playing with, the more consciously you have to be thinking about it And you don't know the partner as well as you do somebody who you're with consistently. So you do have to.
Speaker 2:Communication is the key for all doubles And it's the key for most things in life. I've found It's very, very important is communication and understanding. Okay, where's my partner gonna serve? Where am I gonna be? What am I gonna do if they hit the ball in this situation? And so just being very clear, communicating and working together in those high intense situations and just talking I think that's the biggest thing that people forget to do is just talk. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:It's easy, but it's not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man, okay, communication. So you started a podcast, right, Yeah, and that's one we have communicated with, i guess, larger audience. I'm gonna go back to something you said a couple minutes ago. So you said that the game is won here in your head, or you actually step on the court. How did you, or did that mindset transfer to starting your podcast, or is there any connection there?
Speaker 2:I think so. I think that I've done a lot of episodes where I put in very little effort. You guys can probably relate to that a little bit in terms of just figuring it out and saying how, just showing up pressing record and just saying, man, this is about to be really good. I think people could do that. But in my experience I found that poor preparation sorry, proper preparation prevents poor performance. Right With a lot of peace. But in terms of podcasting and sharing your thoughts, the deeper you can go into getting to know who you're interviewing and just going deep. Some of my best favorite episodes have been where I just go like almost stalker mode and I'm just like how deep this is a-.
Speaker 2:You know if they've been on other podcasts. Listening to those podcasts, what have they been asked? What questions can I ask? They're different from what they've been asked before. What is their family like? What are they posting on social media? What is important to them? You know, what organizations are they been a part of? What are their friends doing? Where have they spent time in the past? What school did they go to? Just really getting to know them and digging into what makes that person special, whether it's interviewing.
Speaker 2:But then also if you're getting one of the best ways and you'll probably learn this at some point, but one of the best ways to grow your own podcast is to get featured on other people's podcasts, you know, because they already have a pre-existing audience. But what's fun about that is as a host or as a guest on a podcast. A big piece of it is. I think people think that being a guest on a podcast is easy and that you can just kind of show up and just let the other person lead. But in a lot of ways sometimes you have to learn how to be a good, and this is something I'm still practicing. So I appreciate you guys being patient with me, learning how to.
Speaker 2:You know what is the focus of the other person's podcast. What are they trying to get out of the episode? How can I speak into that What you know being interested about what they're interested in? whether you know you had, you know Paul, you know Dr Paul on your podcast. You know you're talking about politics in Nigeria and you know so it's just recognizing that, okay, these are interesting topics. How can I fit what I'm talking about, my story, to that narrative, to the things that the interviewer is actually interested in?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely, and so, okay, so you started the podcast. and what was your? what was your behind starting the podcast?
Speaker 2:It's really funny. I didn't start off with the best of intentions. So my podcast is called Aggie Grates, which is focused on getting into the minds, habits and lifestyles of some of the most impactful leaders, coaches and high performers here at A&M, and it started as a as my senior capstone project for business honors. And it's really funny because I was sitting down with Claire, who runs business honors, and I was, and she was like all right, you need a project. I knew a lot of people were doing papers and speeches and presentations and I was like what's the lowest effort thing I could possibly do to get by in this project? And I was like I'm just going to sit down, pull out my voice memos app and record a couple of episodes you know, record myself talking for five, 10 minutes, post it online somewhere like a blog.
Speaker 2:But I just didn't have to physically type anything, which was like perfect for me, and then I'd be done. Boom, i've got a podcast. And so I told a couple of people. I was like, yeah, I'm going to do a podcast and like, oh, you should like bring somebody on your podcast. Oh, i guess that's how podcasts work. So I talked to Lauren Craig, who's our sports psychologist, on as my very first guest, and Jus was blown away by the things that I was learning and by the things that I was able to share with people.
Speaker 2:And around that time I reached I was just reaching out to different people. I was like, hey, you know, you want to be on my podcast and whatnot. And I reached out to Tyson who, noble knows, tyson runs the A&M Foundation. And I reached out to Tyson and I was like, hey, you know, i'd love to. Would you be interested in coming on my podcast? And he responded back really quick and he was like, hey, like I don't feel like I'd be qualified to come on your podcast, which is crazy in and of itself. But he was like, hey, i don't, you know, i would be. You know I don't think I'd be the best guest for your podcast, but I do want to introduce you to some really cool Aggies that I know the CEO of Exxon, the CEO of Roku, you know. People were like, oh my God, and this is my first, yeah, i was like, oh, you like one.
Speaker 2:The fact that Tyson was even responding to me in the first place was ridiculous. And then the fact that he wanted to connect me to other Aggies was something that I was just blown away by, and that's when I started to realize that, whoa, this is something that's really cool and is something that I think I didn't really realize, what I stumbled into when I started the podcast. But it's been so cool to be able to meet gold medalists, navy SEALs, astronauts, nfl players, nba players, players, you know, just it's. It's cool being I've been really very blessed to be in a lot of different circles at A&M And so to be a part of the business honors community has opened the doors to a lot of really cool people. The CFO Bluebell, if you didn't know, is also an the CEO of Waste Management. All these guys are.
Speaker 2:It's just ridiculous, because A&M has more top 500, has more Fortune 500 CEOs than any other school in the nation. And these people want to respond to me and and whether it's because I'm an athlete and I get to talk to other athletes, or whether it's because I'm part of fellowship accretion athletes, or whether it's because I'm in business honors or university honors or in maroon coats, it's just Aggies want to help Aggies, and that's something that I discovered really early on And that was something that I was hoping to kind of pour into people, as I, you know, got deeper into that process and into the episodes that I was recording. So it's just been, it's been a dream, it's been something I've really enjoyed doing and something I hope to kind of continue as I go back on campus.
Speaker 1:And that's awesome. Yeah, i think that's just a perfect example right of the Aggie community and how you know. Like you reached out to Tyson and you were like, hey, would you come on a guest, would you like to come as a guest on the podcast?
Speaker 2:And it was like, yeah, i don't think I'll be the best guest, but yeah talk to these people, which is crazy in and of itself Because I mean I mean, i mean I mean Tyson's going to get on at some point, but I think that there's so many Aggies I mean I have a whole list of, you know, aggies all over the country who I've reached out to, and you know whether I reached out to a guy named Frank Sestoppel who's on the Blue Angels and you know, talking to him, and he's like Yeah, bro, i'd love to come on. Yeah, he's up in North Carolina right now. I might, i'm close to an eye. I mean, it's a long drive but I might go up there at the end of this to go say hi. But it's just, it's crazy to think of the Aggies who just make time to talk and who will. And that's what's the cool thing is, you meet one Aggie great and you get to talk to them and they surround themselves with other Aggie greats and they introduce you to them And it just grows, Yeah, and so a lot of the light work started out and then it just kind of has expanded from there, and it's something that I'm extremely passionate about, because being, you know, being able to compete for A&M was my dream, and so figuring out the question I mean the whole premise of the podcast is what makes an Aggie great?
Speaker 2:What is the definition of greatness? And so I've been kind of pursuing that for the past year and we'll continue to pursue that. And it's really interesting to see how different people define success, because oftentimes the Aggie greats aren't necessarily the people who you see in front of the TVs or on the big screen. It's oftentimes the people who are the 12th man, the guys behind the scenes who are, or maybe even you know, we talk about the core in the military a lot the unsung heroes, the people who gave their life in war or who sacrificed their life for their friend. You know, whether that means jumping on a grenade or staying behind so that other people could could leave in the rescue vehicles. It's those guys who are the Aggie greats and the people who we talk about sacrificial leadership. That's kind of what I'm hoping to embody And I think that that's a perfect example of what it means to be an Aggie great and something that we talk about.
Speaker 2:Where do I want to be in the long run? Like, i always joke around and say that I'm an aspiring Aggie great And I'll ever be an Aggie. Great, but I would love to. I think you will Trust me. I agree, yeah, and you know, draw other people there as well and try to share that journey and help other people get there as quickly as I can possibly help them.
Speaker 1:Man, that's amazing, man, That's like, thank you, thank you so much for sharing that. Oh yeah, Of course, yeah, i mean, we have a question here, so is there anything that we haven't asked or we haven't touched on that you would like to touch on?
Speaker 2:I think the one question that I got asked yesterday well, didn't really get asked. We do a lot of different Bible study things up here in Orlando as part of Kaleo And one of the questions that it asked that was asked and I actually love to ask you guys this and then I can answer it myself. But it's kind of the question of what's the legacy that you guys want to leave in the future.
Speaker 1:That's a deep question.
Speaker 3:So I really liked your focus on service to others. That's been a big one for me. So I worked in the prison system for a while at the federal level, and so I worked on a couple small teams emergency response teams, things like that And so that was the big one, you know. So when you talked about looking at the people to your left and to your right and saying, all right, i got to make sure these guys get home every single day, right, you know, and I've done some small, you know, rescue operations, nothing crazy.
Speaker 3:But those moments, i think, is when you really really understand that that's more than just the mentality, it's something you have to act on and do every single day. And so, even if it is, you know, a saying that people like to say, people like to use, you know that's some people's reality every single day, and I think the more that we embody that, the better off we all are. And so I think that that's something that I want to, i hope, to embody for the remainder of my days, but that I hope that I can spread that awareness to others, that you can also adapt that, you know, whatever you do in life, whether you move into finance, whether you're in law enforcement, military, you know, look out for other people. You know there's the para-rescue. Jumpers have a saying in the Air Force. It's that others may live And that's the motto whenever they, you know, perform some of the most dangerous operations in the special operations community And that's always stuck with me. So you know that others live.
Speaker 2:I love that. That's perfect.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I mean for me.
Speaker 1:So I moved from Nigeria to the US in 2017, right, And I think I've had lots of just amazing opportunities to learn and grow.
Speaker 1:Just by being here met some you know so many like cool people like you, cameron and Adrian And one of the things that I've seen is that, being here in the US and looking back at Nigeria, like they're different, there are lots of things that you know could be changed in terms of like, whether it's like how the government is run and issues with unemployment, issues with security I mean, one of the reasons why I think foreign direct investments are not super high in Nigeria is the issue of security, right, and so I look at that and I'm like you know, i've been in this country. That's allowed me to gain you know this education from Texas A&M, gain a lot of skills, and so my legacy or at least I would hope that one day I'll be able to find ways to help you know Nigeria but also like bring that gap between both countries. I don't know what that would look like, but I think if I could go out doing something like that, it'd be amazing.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. I love that. I love that focus on kind of leaving Nigeria better than you found it. And yeah, I mean I can definitely relate, Adrian, to your side of things that others live. I think my response to that question is kind of similar to kind of what we've been talking about a little bit, And it just reminded me of that question. That's why I brought it up. You know, leaving people better than I found them and having an idea You know I'd love to. I mean, especially with my podcast being focused on A&M, I'm interested to see how the next generation of Aggies can lead and have opportunities to lead in ways that maybe you know of Adrian and I might not have had as Aggies. So that's kind of the dream and the focus And, you know, maybe get us some indoor tennis courts while we're at it.
Speaker 2:Please, well, yeah, so yeah, that's great, that's a great question though.
Speaker 1:Man, that's awesome. Thank you so much for coming on the podcast We really appreciate it.
Speaker 2:Of course, it's a lot of fun. Yeah, i love it. This is so fun. I'm glad that we got to do this. I know we've been trying to do it for a while.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah. Well, it was amazing meeting you man And I loved hearing your story and just your mentality And you know. Thanks for coming on.
Speaker 2:Hey, of course, thank you guys so much. I'm excited to see you guys in person at some point, definitely, yeah.
Speaker 1:All right, all right, all right. So you can find Kenner Taylor on social media, that's Instagram and all that, as well as any podcast and platforms or things Spotify, apple Music, google Podcast well, apple Podcast, not Apple Music, two different things. And just recently got an iPhone. So, yeah, you can find him under the name AggieGrapes.