Out of the Mouth of Babes "Our Future Leaders"
Welcome to "Out of the Mouth of Babes: Our Future Leaders" with Kevin Handley Sr.!
In this enlightening and empowering podcast, we delve into the minds of the next generation—the brilliant and dynamic youth who hold the keys to our collective future. Join our host, Kevin Handley Sr., as he takes us on an inspiring journey through conversations with young visionaries, activists, innovators, and changemakers from around the world.
Each episode of "Out of the Mouth of Babes" brings you candid and thought-provoking interviews with these remarkable young individuals who are making a significant impact in their communities and beyond. From tackling pressing global issues to spearheading innovative projects, these youth leaders are reshaping the world as we know it.
Kevin Handley Sr., a seasoned and compassionate host, skillfully uncovers the stories behind these young achievers, delving into their motivations, challenges, and the transformative experiences that have shaped their journeys. Listeners will be inspired by the depth of insight and wisdom these young guests possess, proving that age is no barrier to effecting meaningful change.
Whether you're a parent, educator, community member, or simply passionate about youth-driven initiatives, "Out of the Mouth of Babes: Our Future Leaders" offers a unique platform to learn, engage, and celebrate the voices of the youth. Together, we can gain valuable perspectives and support the aspirations of these incredible young leaders, nurturing a brighter and more inclusive tomorrow.
Join us as we amplify the voices of the youth and discover the extraordinary potential that lies within "Out of the Mouth of Babes: Our Future Leaders" with Kevin Handley Sr. Be ready to be moved, motivated, and inspired!
Out of the Mouth of Babes "Our Future Leaders"
S1 EP8 pt1 - Discovering Joy and Resilience in Youth Sports
What if the key to thriving as a young athlete lies not just in physical prowess, but in mastering one's mindset and finding joy amid setbacks? Join us as we explore the compelling stories of Jacob George and Jacob Lindahl, two standout middle linebackers for the Richmond Red Devils. Despite being sidelined by injuries, these remarkable student-athletes share how they've turned adversity into a learning experience, emphasizing the balance between dedication and enjoyment. Through their eyes, discover the evolution of the high school sports scene in 2023, where technology and social dynamics post-COVID are shaping new paths for students.
Beyond the sidelines, we dive into the broader high school experience, reflecting on the advantages and challenges of balancing multiple sports commitments and the critical role of mental health in youth sports. With personal anecdotes and insightful reflections, we highlight the importance of easing pressures on young athletes, encouraging them to pursue diverse experiences and personal growth. This episode is essential listening for parents and young athletes alike, offering a fresh perspective on creating a sports environment that prioritizes fulfillment and enjoyment over prestige and pressure.
Welcome to Out of the Mouth of Babes, the podcast for our youth. I have two exceptional young men with me, two student athletes. They are two individuals who do the best in the classroom and on the field. I'm going to start off by having them introduce themselves.
Speaker 2:I'm Jacob George. I'm a junior.
Speaker 3:My name is Jacob Lindo. I'm going to start off by having them introduce themselves. I'm Jacob George. I'm a junior. My name is Jacob Lindahl.
Speaker 1:I'm a sophomore Now these young men are stud athletes, but not only are they stud athletes, they're also stud students. Right now, both of them are the starting middle linebackers for the Richmond Red Devils and, unfortunately, both of them are the starting middle linebackers for the Richmond Red Devils and, unfortunately, both of them are out. I'm going to first let them talk a little bit about who they are, what they're interested in, and then we're going to get into some specific questions about why they are out.
Speaker 2:So I'm Jacob George. I started playing football in my freshman year and since then I've dealt with a lot of injuries. I'm also into stuff like cars and cooking and lifting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my name is Jacob Lindo. I don't have. I haven't had many injuries in my life. This is pretty much my first serious one. When it comes to sports and athletics and with my hobbies, I'm really into movies. I love watching good movies, I love working out. Still, I also throw track in the spring, just living and breathing.
Speaker 1:All right, so both of you gentlemen are currently out. You guys, as I mentioned, are the starting middle linebacker core. You know, I used to play middle linebacker back in the day you know about some pounds ago. But I to play middle linebacker back in the day you know about some pounds ago, but I was a middle linebacker, so I know the intensity of that position. And the middle linebacker position is that you are basically the general of the defensive side of the football team. Would you guys agree with that? Yeah, pretty much Nothing happens unless you call it right. That's right. Most of the big plays being made are by you two, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And that is what we've seen the first week when they both played. Unfortunately, both of them were injured in our second game and I want them to share a little bit about their personal journey and experience with the injuries that they both face.
Speaker 2:So I'm a two-way player as well. So I caught a ball and I ended up spraining my ankle and I got injured, and I'm going to tell them about your injury too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was horrible. I just got an F7 from the school. Even our offensive coordinator put in a whole play just for me to get the ball. And then I go in on offense our third drive of the game and I'm pulling, I'm wrapping and someone just lands on my leg and breaks it.
Speaker 1:Wow, wow. How did you initially both react to the news of your injury, both mentally and emotionally?
Speaker 2:Well, I knew immediately when I went down that something wasn't right. Just because it hurt a lot, I had to get helped off the field. But I would say the large part of it is definitely mental, like considering how much you give to play football Like it's really your. I mean, it's really your life during the season and in the offseason. So just knowing that like you can't play and you've got to watch your team without being able to like contribute is really difficult, I would say. But I was still there to support as much as I could. I've been coaching with Lindahl here, the JV linebackers, and helping out as much as we can getting our backups right. So it's definitely a difficult journey but I would say it's also like rewarding in that way, just trying to make light of it at least.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah. So my injury experience is very confusing For one, like when it happened, I didn't know it was broken. It didn't feel like it was broken, Like it was hard to walk on it, yes, but I honestly thought it was something like a sprain, nothing too serious, but no, it ended up being broken and my least favorite thing is slowing down, and that's what I've noticed through. This is just like I've realized how much more time I have and with that time, like it's nice to have a break. But then again, like now, like with all this time that I got, I just want to do more and more and it just sucks that I can't. So I'm just trying to help with the football team, I'm getting my schoolwork in and just trying to chill out.
Speaker 1:So you guys have talked about kind of your strategies and your positive mindsets. Is there something that you would tell some of your teammates or people that are taking this great sport of football for granted? What would you say to those folks?
Speaker 2:I would definitely say like myself starting freshman year year, I do wish I played more like growing up in middle school and I also wish I took my freshman year more serious. I actually broke my arm freshman year, my first game so I didn't get that. So I've just missed a lot of reps that I could have been getting and I feel like I would be like a way higher caliber player today if I had taken it more serious when I was younger, definitely well, my advice to any like high school football players is that many, many of us forget that it's a game.
Speaker 3:Many, many of us forget that, like, we're supposed to have fun while playing this. Everybody makes football so stressful. Even coaches are guilty. Everybody's guilty of making football so stressful. You just got to realize that at the end of the day, it's just supposed to be fun. It's meant to be a game for most high schoolers. Like, you don't have to go D1. Don't hold yourself to anything when you're playing football. You just got to have fun.
Speaker 1:I think that is critical and, as a coach, I think we do sometimes go overboard in our stress of student-athletes and I think, as I've gotten older, I have taken some time to reflect on that, because it definitely affects student-athletes. I remember when I coached at Earlham I had a student-athlete and I was pushing him so hard and he walked off the field and for me that was a very defining moment. Because of my stress and yelling and jumping up and down, I almost caused this student athlete, who was actually in college, to walk off the field. So I think you're right. I think coaches need to do a better job of regulating their emotions right, and so.
Speaker 1:I think sometimes as coaches, we don't do that, and you know one of your teammates, kevin, always says that you know he enjoys being coached by men who have their emotions regulated right. And are able to communicate with you at a level in which it's not disrespectful or frustrating, and so I'm glad you brought that up. That's a very good point. Talk to me a little bit about school. I mean, how do you maintain just the day-to-day being in high?
Speaker 2:I'd say for me it's helpful to have. I have an AP resource period for so I'm in two AP classes, one ACP college engineering class and then honors for the rest. So I think it's nice to have like a period to get some work done and have like resource time with your teachers, um, like if you're lost, just like, so you don't have to go home after practice and do it. I think that's a big thing, is as much as it takes to like. I usually won't get home to like seven or eight um by the time I get to my homework, so it's kind of nice to have that during the day yeah, my school work this year has been like a whole 180 since last year.
Speaker 3:Freshman year was the easiest thing ever. Now I got AP classes and it just gets super difficult and I don't have an AP resource, so I just have to figure it out pretty much. So whenever I can, whenever I can, even with, like the no phone policy, I need to put reminders on my phone. I need reminders on my phone because I will forget if I don't put the reminders in. And that's what sucks about the phone policies because I use my phone for so much school work but they just I can't do that anymore.
Speaker 1:So let's get into it. Let's get into it. So a couple weeks ago I had about five students up here and the topic of this discussion was the cell phone policy. Now I want to be clear in telling you I agree with the cell phone policy, right, but I want to hear your perspectives on it, and then I'll tell you mine.
Speaker 2:Well, I think, like I think there's a limit to it, like I know there's a lot of kids that will just like be on it and not take anything, but I also think there's an aspect where, like, the phone can be useful in a school environment. Um, if you just don't completely remove it, um, I don't know I'll just know you're for it.
Speaker 3:Here's my thing when it comes to kids who don't want to do work, they will not do work any way possible not just being on their phone they will they will put their heads down and fall asleep, they will play on their laptops. If you're going to implement no phones, then people still aren't going to get work done. But now you're just giving away all the great tools that a phone can bring to you.
Speaker 1:What I hear you saying is don't punish me for the people that aren't doing the right things.
Speaker 3:Yes, because either way, phones or not, they're still not going to do their work Correct, I agree.
Speaker 1:I can understand that Now from a school official. You know I was a school official for many years and I've seen the negative effects of kids being on phones. Now I will agree with you on this. If it is used to aid you in your educational journey, I'm all for it because I'm a techie and I know that there are creative ways that school leaders and teachers can communicate with you all. That makes the job easier. But I'm not for kids watching movies on their phones all day in class.
Speaker 1:Those are the things that I don't like to see when I'm in a school, right, and I'm sure you guys don't like to see it either, because I know you guys never did any of that kind of stuff, right.
Speaker 3:Unless I had the time. Unless you've been given permission right, so talk to me a little bit.
Speaker 1:I've been out of high school for a long time. Talk to me a little bit about what is it like to be in high school in 2023, post a lot of stuff, post COVID, post just a lot of things that have happened in this world. Tell me what it's like to be in high school, oh.
Speaker 3:I don't know. Did you have a COVID year in high school? I had a.
Speaker 3:COVID year in eighth grade, I think, yeah, I did not, I had my COVID year in seventh grade and then when it was in eighth grade, it was just eighth grade was pretty normal, and then once I got to high school, everything was pretty much back to normal. Now, what happened last year is a whole different story, with the flood in our school and with the fire in our town. That was pretty crazy and our town that was. That was pretty crazy. And then it was just like we went right back to just like COVID online school and like online school made things so much easier for me. I I'm like one of the few people who really like the hybrid schedule, because like I would get to sleep in and still get all my homework done and stuff like that made it made like my eighth grade year like the easiest year I've ever had. So you'll like college college then. Yeah, I'll definitely like college, you know it.
Speaker 1:So what is high school like? I mean, you guys have a lot of friends. Like you know, back in the day we used to have a little place where everybody went to. It was called a surge area and we would go and just hang out at lunchtime, eat lunch then go and hang out. Do you guys have places like that or do you just stay in the cafeteria?
Speaker 2:They actually like keep us in the cafeteria now so you have to have a pass to go eat lunch, like with a teacher or like in the library or something. They're pretty strict on that. But I'd say like overall it's pretty chill, like in general with like I mean, you get free time in class, even with no phones. Like you can like talk with people, work with people. A lot of my classes are kind of open and like a lot of group work type stuff and like group discussions, especially this year.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, when it comes to me, I'll pretty much talk to anybody, because I have classes with like pretty much everybody, and then I got football with the opposite people in my like AP classes. So I've just learned that you've got to be able to talk to anybody. You can't just exclude people, because you're always going to have these people around you. They're not just going to go away. You need to be able to talk to people.
Speaker 1:My mother used to tell me, the same people you meet going up will be the same people you meet coming down, and so that was always her way of letting me know that you got to treat everybody with respect. Yeah, um, you guys also mentioned the fact that you play other sports. Right, and you have played other sports. Talk to me a little bit about the adjustment of playing additional sports uh well, like for me.
Speaker 2:I would definitely say football is the hardest sport I play like, as far as both physically intensive, mental and just like the commitment aspect. I also played baseball my whole life. Growing up was my main thing was baseball, and then I played freshman year last year. I did track in the spring though, and that was different too, but I think sports kind of piggyback off each other, especially with stuff like track and field. If you run, like cross country, really anything, though it'll boost your performance. I definitely got a lot faster since last year, so that's nice. So what?
Speaker 3:I like to say is that my two sports that I play are completely opposite from each other. Like, I have football that's pretty much all year round, and then I have track, which is just three months during the spring, and even during those three months we still have spring ball practice. So I would leave my track practice a little bit early to go to spring ball practice during football and like the differences in football and track is insane. Like track is completely 180 from football. There's nothing similar in there.
Speaker 1:So I remember back in the day. So you guys may not know this, but I went to Gary Roosevelt High School in Gary, indiana, home of Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five. Did you know?
Speaker 2:that Pretty cool fact right.
Speaker 1:So my high school is right here and right behind our high school is the house that they grew up in.
Speaker 1:So, you guys get a chance to do some research. But we're also home of Glenn Big Dog Robinson. Glenn Robinson played for Purdue back in the 90s and he actually went to the same high school. So I had the chance of watching him perform while I was in high school. That was pretty cool. Our high school won state championship my freshman year. But I had the opportunity of wrestling a couple years and I played baseball. Did he give me the womp womp? I thought he usually gives me the womp womp sometimes. But I also played baseball up until high school, decided that I didn't want to play in high school because I just wanted to focus on football and ROTC. Then had the opportunity of you guys aren't going to believe this played baseball in college for one year. Can you believe that? No, really.
Speaker 2:What'd you play? I was outfielder.
Speaker 1:I was an outfielder yeah, hey, man, don't let this size fool you.
Speaker 3:I ain't always been this big man.
Speaker 1:I was about to say I keep on forgetting this. Hey, I had a friend of mine, a good friend of mine. She said you know, with the logo, she said why you fooling them people? You know you bigger than that on that picture. So that's a shout out to my homegirl, nicole Hamilton Inslee, but anyway. So I think it's important to play multiple sports. I think one of the challenges that we face in Richmond, with our low numbers in football, is that kids don't want to play multiple sports. They want to focus in on one sport, and I think that does small schools, because we're becoming relatively small. A disservice, right. So I always challenge kids to do that. Now talk to me a little bit about is there anything you want to leave? With the listening voice, you guys are going to get a chance to come back on, but talk to them, tell them anything that you want to leave and any other thoughts. Comments.
Speaker 3:It's just because when you're in high school, you just got to learn and just remember to have fun.
Speaker 1:Have fun.
Speaker 3:You can't just like have a straight path that you want to hit and like not expect anything else to happen in it. You need to remember to just embrace, having fun for a little bit. Because I feel like everybody wants to stress during this time when, like this is the time to have like the most fun you could have.
Speaker 1:We did a podcast. One of the first ones was on mental health and you fun you could have. We did a podcast. One of the first ones was on mental health. You guys know my son. You guys have spent a lot of time with him as a father. It is often hard for me because I was one of those guys that would put a lot of pressure on him early on. Then, when he got older, he was able to communicate how stressful certain things were, and so I had to completely back all the way off because we don't realize as adults how much we affect kids mental health, and that's the purpose of this podcast too is to give kids an opportunity to express some of those things. So I appreciate you saying have fun, because that is something that's missing in all sports.
Speaker 3:It has become almost a business or a job yes, that's what I was about to say, that yeah yeah, don't feel the need to like go d1 with everything I feel like that's like I have to tell people that yeah, like just because of that, like that's crazy. I have people like quitting other sports because they want to go d1 in this sport and I'm like you don't have to do that, you don't have to go d1, you know that right and I didn't, just so you know.
Speaker 1:I went, I played division three for 44 years and I had the best, absolutely best experience in the world. I wouldn't trade it for anything and coming out of high school I felt that I could play division one. I felt that I could play higher, but I chose a small school that I could learn and meet new people and people from other countries, but it also gave me the opportunity of playing college football. So I agree with what you guys are saying. I appreciate your time. Thank you for coming out to Out of the Mouth, to Babe, the podcast for our youth. These gentlemen will be back on Appreciate you. We out, ciao you.