Join me, Micah B, as I sit down with Coach B, the mastermind behind The Baseball Performance Coach. We journey through his compelling life story, from his days as a young baseball player to his transformation into a devoted follower of Christ. His journey provides a unique insight into the intersection of faith and sports, making this episode a must-listen.
There's a lot to learn from our candid exploration of club sports, family dynamics, and how these experiences shape our approach to coaching. Coach B and I candidly discuss the struggles and triumphs of parenting in the world of youth sports. We unveil the importance of effective communication, recognizing young athletes' potential, and the pivotal role parents play in their children's sports journey. Expect to uncover the true value of hard work, accountability, and understanding different roles in sports.
As we progress, Coach B and I dive into the theme of diversity and inclusion in the world of youth sports. We recount personal experiences and discuss overcoming cultural biases. Our conversation underscores the need to step outside our comfort zones to form bonds with people from varied backgrounds. We wrap up this thought-provoking episode with a push for meaningful conversations and understanding varying perspectives. So, tune in and take away crucial life lessons that extend beyond the world of sports.
Join me, Micah B, as I sit down with Coach B, the mastermind behind The Baseball Performance Coach. We journey through his compelling life story, from his days as a young baseball player to his transformation into a devoted follower of Christ. His journey provides a unique insight into the intersection of faith and sports, making this episode a must-listen.
There's a lot to learn from our candid exploration of club sports, family dynamics, and how these experiences shape our approach to coaching. Coach B and I candidly discuss the struggles and triumphs of parenting in the world of youth sports. We unveil the importance of effective communication, recognizing young athletes' potential, and the pivotal role parents play in their children's sports journey. Expect to uncover the true value of hard work, accountability, and understanding different roles in sports.
As we progress, Coach B and I dive into the theme of diversity and inclusion in the world of youth sports. We recount personal experiences and discuss overcoming cultural biases. Our conversation underscores the need to step outside our comfort zones to form bonds with people from varied backgrounds. We wrap up this thought-provoking episode with a push for meaningful conversations and understanding varying perspectives. So, tune in and take away crucial life lessons that extend beyond the world of sports.
Hello and welcome to the Kingdom coaching podcast, where we discuss the world of club sports through the lens of Christ. I am your host, micah Beaton. Hey, hey, hey, what's going on? Everybody? Thank you again for tuning into the Kingdom coaching podcast, bless, to bring you a unique episode today. I'm sitting down today with Blaine Johnson, or, as some of you may know him as Coach B. He's the founder owner of the baseball performance coach. You can find him on Instagram. Welcome to the podcast, blaine.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, thank you, man, I appreciate you having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, welcome to the podcast. This is kind of a unique episode. I want the audience to kind of know how we met and I think it's important to know that podcasts like this aren't scripted and it's not a controlled group of people that think exactly like the way I think and people that I'm controlling what they say. That's not the case for this podcast.
Speaker 1:In fact, I was just a follower of yours on Instagram and would listen to some of the videos you'd put out about club sports and I'm like this guy's got some really, really deep takes and I remember, just like anybody on Instagram who doesn't know somebody, what do you do? You just slide into their DMs somehow and I just drop you a line and I remember you responded kind of carefully. I suppose like anybody would you get like hundreds of messages from just scammers and whatnot and you just have to be very cautious and you're just like who are you? Tell me more? I don't know if I trust you. Are you trying to sell me something? Are you trying to have me join a pyramid scheme or what?
Speaker 2:No man, yeah, no. Again, it was. I mean I do, I do. I'm like, look, I don't. I get a lot of you know, either you know guys sending me stuff about like uniforms, like from India, or just you know parents reaching out. So I mean I'm always cautious of it. But like I told you, man, when I, when we talked, and you sent me the clip that you did before of the other episodes yeah, the one brand, yeah, man, I loved it, I loved it, I loved it, I loved it, and so I definitely wanted to jump on it. So I'm glad we got a chance to connect and talk.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, me too it was. It's really funny how God works too, cause I remember we were talking after you listened to that and, you know, I again had no idea if you were, you know, a believer, non-believer, and that was just kind of irrelevant to me because it's important to have conversations with people that you don't always see eye to eye with on different levels. And so it was just. You know, it wasn't even that motive. And then when you were just like dude it's so crazy, like like Brandon's story was so similar to mine of how I came to Jesus and I was like dude, praise the Lord, like another believer, but I had no idea and that wasn't my motive at all.
Speaker 1:And so I think I think that's a good place to start. So you didn't even get a chance to share that with me. So if you want to take a little bit of time, just kind of give the audience a bit of a prep, bit of a background on yourself and just not only like how you came to Christ, but just, you know, from an athletic standpoint, just for those out there listening who who aren't aware of of you and your platform, just kind of give them just kind of a brief update not updates- Right, so so.
Speaker 2:So, coach Blaine Johnson, you can find me on Instagram at the baseball underscore performance coach. Actually, you know funny story man. And then, well, I say funny, but I didn't start playing baseball until I was 14, 13, actually, and uh, how would you know? How do you know?
Speaker 1:I'm 36. I'm 36. Okay. So yeah, we're the same age, okay.
Speaker 2:So, so I didn't start until I was 13. 13, 13, actually was my seventh grade year, and what happened was we would play all in the neighborhood I grew up in. It was, uh, it was a very diverse neighborhood. So you know all my friends black, white, hispanic, asian, uh, but buddies of mine, you know, we would always be outside playing baseball, football and I just I could hit really good and so I fell in love with it. And a friend of ours dad actually, was the one who, who, who, asked us one year is like, hey, I'm signing the boys up, you know, for little league baseball. Do you all want to play? And I was scared, my, I was terrified. I wanted to do it, but I was scared. So my brother ended up signing up when, when I was 12., so the year before he signed up. So I go through a whole season of just watching him have a blast playing baseball and I'm like you know what, next year I'm playing. Next year it rolls around, my 13th junior's year comes and I sign up.
Speaker 2:Uh, not very good, my first year, uh, playing. You know, I think it was seniors, seniors, I think that's what they call it here in Houston seniors, senior league. Um played there, then got better, went to high school Westbury high school here in Houston Texas. Uh was on varsity for three years. Um went to Texas Southern uh wanted to walk on there, uh, but man, I just look, stay in school, guys, school is important, it is very, very valuable, but I just school school wasn't my like. I literally only went to school just to play baseball, like that was it. If there was no baseball school wasn't my thing.
Speaker 2:Um, and so my going into my second semester at Texas Southern University, uh, I was at the batting cages one day and that guy, uh saw a guy hitting. He hit. Well, he had a shirt on um Bay Area Toros and at the time it was an independent team here located here in Houston, texas, right outside of Houston, in Galveston. And I asked him what it was. He told me it was independent baseball. I had no clue what that was. He just told me it was professional baseball. He was getting paid to play and I'm like, look, that that's the that's the right.
Speaker 1:I'm good yeah.
Speaker 2:Look, that's the route I'm trying to go, you know and uh and uh. I ended up doing that for a couple of years and, uh, well, went to a trial and ended up making a team and ended up playing uh independent ball uh for a couple of years and then gotten the coaching back in 2012. So I've been coaching youth baseball since 2012.
Speaker 1:Okay. So yeah, jumping in at 13, you know that's that's, that's like quite a quite an age to jump in at. I mean, I especially think about that, like now. I mean it's not that you're that old, that it was like that much different. I mean, kids 13 back then were still probably throwing 75 plus they, you know so two games I remember vividly at that age.
Speaker 2:Uh, one game, my first game. Like you know, in practice I could hit. I was driving a ball, I did everything well like, but they were throwing BP in the game. Ball was so much faster I literally could hear the ball hissing.
Speaker 1:Right Coming towards breaking it. I mean, you got guys through them breaking stuff at that age too. Oh yeah, man, all you need to do is create stuff that's that's. That's a game changer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I I just to say my my first year wasn't very good, so uh, but but but yeah it was. I mean, it was a little, it was a little bit challenge getting in there at 13,. But I think for me, more than anything, my athleticism took over and that's really just what took me from, you know, from through high school, and even end up in the independent ball was just being athletic and can hit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean that's. That's very similar to a friend of mine story here in Omaha and he played. He played pro ball and he played some indie ball and he didn't start playing like competitive baseball until I think he was like 12 or 13 as well, but he could just throw gas and just hit the ball a mile and just. There's freaks like that for sure. But you know, I'm I'm not, uh, not the advocate, you know, for starting elite baseball at six years old, but there is some truth to getting your, your, your sons and daughters, if it's baseball or softball reps in with with hitting, because yeah, I mean I could imagine jumping in at like 13.
Speaker 1:Now, it's just, I mean you talk about, you know, going from loving the game to hating the game within a year. I mean I could see see the being a very real thing. You know, when it comes to you know, poor competition, you know if you're just playing really, really casual rec stuff and then all of a sudden you just want to jump in and play higher level stuff is like, okay, you've never seen anything over 50 miles an hour, you've never seen a ball break Like that'd be so discouraging because baseball is the hardest sport out there, it just is, it's it's hard man, it's, and now at the age of 13, like you know.
Speaker 2:so they have it to where you got your double HLAA or majors or whatever. But going in and playing, trying to play 13 year old baseball now, with the competition now and and having major level man, I don't know, I don't think I would. I don't think I would have success.
Speaker 1:I watched some of those guys. I mean even my son plays. Yeah, he played 11s this last year and I I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to hit off him, you know, or a lot of his, a lot of his teammates right, yeah, I mean it's, it's, it's tough man, it's challenging, it is hitting.
Speaker 1:Hitting that ball is the. That's what makes baseball so elite in my, in my opinion of like, it's the hardest sport, because it's about hitting that ball. And you talk about jumping in. You know, when kids have been doing it. I mean, baseball is one of those things. It's not high contact, and so why don't start playing t-ball at age four? Right, and so they already. They've been working on those hand-eye coordination. You know skills from a very young man.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, it's, it's crazy, but that's, I didn't, didn't realize it, that about you. So do you do you have? Do you have any any regrets, like thinking to yourself if I would have started earlier? I mean, I I hate to play the what if game, but but I do, and so I'm just just curious if you know what's?
Speaker 2:none whatsoever, man, none, I don't. You know, I truly and this is this is kind of going back to your original question and kind of giving more, some more background on me and how I got into you know my relationship with God, and so, after I got done playing baseball man, when I was, let's say, in the two, probably, 2012, I fell in love with the game again, so to speak, and here's what I mean I never lost the love for it. Maybe I found a new love, and what I mean by that is that I was now able to get my sense of fulfillment, of playing and excitement and you know all of the things that I got from playing the game. But now taking my knowledge and passion for the game and then giving it to these kids, you know, and, and I honestly feel like that's what I've been put on this earth to do, right, I think it's. I think I think, from a smaller perspective, it's okay.
Speaker 2:Baseball, right, I mean I tell everybody I just use baseball as the tool that that captures these kids attention, right, but the bigger, the bigger purpose of behind it is, you know, look, I'm not gonna say here and I 'm just this super, you know, holy spiritual person, everything I talk about God is about God and I force me to know but from where my life was when I got done playing baseball, because there was a gap in there where I kind of stopped playing and kind of went through a depression state.
Speaker 2:Right, I didn't know it. I didn't know it then, but coming out of it, you know I was. I was a person I spent a probably about 10 years I mean 10 years, 10 months man. You know, I gained weight, I got out of shape, I was man, just real unhealthy, you know, smoking, drinking, just not taking care of my body the best that I could. And I started looking around and and looking at my friends who were my same age. But they got apartments there, they got cars there, they're, they're moving forward in life right there, they're here and you're.
Speaker 2:You're here in your mind but not there, man, and not even just in my mind, but physically I'm like. Physically I'm there because I'm not doing anything productive, right, I'm not working, I'm just at my parents house every day playing video games, from from the time I wake up to the time I go to see you. You might say, hey, yeah, what is a 20 or 21 year old kid? You know, and that's not even a kid, but a 20 or 21 year old. You know, that's, that's okay, you still haven't, you don't have to figure it out. But right.
Speaker 2:I didn't have anything to do. I didn't have anything like I know no job, no, nothing like, just completely rock bottom. I gained a bunch of weight too, man. And so I remember one day I went to church, just, and my pastor made a comment and I'll never forget this he shows a lot of people just live their life to exist without a purpose, you know, and I felt like there was a hundred people in the congregation but I felt like he was talking directly to me that day, and so from that day forward, I just started praying.
Speaker 2:My prayer was in, and even to this day, right is God, continue to. You know, one was to reveal my purpose in life then, but then two was to, you know, now it's just continue to help me grow and align with the right people who are going to help me live out my purpose and make the most impact on these kids lives through the game of baseball. And so, you know, that's why I say baseball for me, it's it's, it's it. In a lot of ways it kept me out of trouble, but it's also helped me stay focused and have a, you know, more of a purpose in life. Just then, you know, just being a coach, yeah so I want to.
Speaker 1:I want to ask you a question. So when, when you started playing baseball, when age 13 looking back, do you do you see it now is like God was trying to get your attention. Then with it, he gave you this, this, this thing that eventually ended up kind of coming back full circle. That you're that you eventually were able to use to glorify him. But he gives you this gift at 13 and rather than seeing it as a gift from God, you see it as you're the you. You're the gift, more or less. That like you, like that's your purpose, that's your identity, is that?
Speaker 2:I don't think it was that that deep for me. I just enjoyed playing, you know, I didn't, I. But what I would say is that now, understanding gifts and talents that you're giving, right from a physical standpoint, had I taken it more serious and cultivated it more when I was playing, I probably could have gotten farther, but I can't say that. You know, it was meant for me to play professional base or like major league baseball. Right, I can't, I can't say that, you know, I can't say it was me to play collegiate baseball. I don't know.
Speaker 2:But what I do know is that baseball has been a pillar around. You know, my success in life, my success in business, my success with with kids, my, you know me, just continue and it's what continues it, it's what pushes me to continue to grow as a coach and as a person, because I just want to continue to impact the lives of so many others through the game of baseball. So, to answer it like I can't really say, man, I don't know, I don't, I can't, yeah, 13 year old, is thinking about that, thinking about it like, yeah, I do I.
Speaker 1:I think it's one of those things that's very like unconscious or like subconscious, because, right, you know, we can look back now as adults and say like, yeah, like I, I know what my purpose is.
Speaker 1:Not, not, not always, I think it's still kind of a journey a bit. But kids, and especially when you're, when you're a father or mother, you look at your kids and they're constantly looking for affirmation and purpose from a very young age, not always from you know the stance of like, hey dad, what's my purpose? But I've, I've noticed it and I'm sure you have now, as a coach and as a parent, when, when kids, your kids or athletes look at you, you know, after they perform well or don't perform well, and they're wanting those adabois, those affirmations. Because we're, we're put on this earth and we're constant, we're confused from day one, trying to figure out why are we here? Because sometimes it feels like we're just here to suffer. Depending on your life and that was, you know, kind of my story I felt like I was just here on earth to suffer, as someone's practical joke, you know.
Speaker 2:But that why do you say that? What's that? Why do you say that?
Speaker 1:well so. So I grew up. So my my birth mom, I'm adopted. So my, my adopted parents were fantastic people like they. They saved me. So literally my, my birth mom, she's she's since dead. She was a drug addict. She actually was in prison. They had a. So she went into prison when she was pregnant and they had to take her out of prison to give birth to me. Wow, yeah, dude, yeah, so it was. It was really you know it's. It was really heavy when I found all that out and she was taking all kinds of drugs and stuff. And I would joke with a friend of mine growing up who had a similar story and we were athletic and I was like man, could you imagine if our moms didn't do drugs like we would be amazing.
Speaker 1:Now it's like that, was that was right you know, but I was born with like all sorts of just you know I don't want to say like real disabilities, because there's people that are born, you know, with you know autism, osburgers, you know Down syndrome, like real, like substantial things that last long term, like mine, were very subsided and they, they, they were able to go away but nonetheless I had a lot of obstacles as a young boy and my mom she worked two jobs my entire life. My dad was a first responder and so they, they just weren't around. As much as I'm around for my kids, right, and I love, I love them to death, but they weren't around and so we kind of had to figure things out. And you know I was, I was bullied a lot from a very young age and just I didn't make him a Christian till I was 20 and 20, yeah, until I was 20 same time, same around the same age as me man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so that's.
Speaker 1:That's that's kind of why I felt that way for a long time, that just I didn't feel like I ever fit in there. You know I would. Oh, I was always trying to put my identity in what others thought. You know, like if somebody was like you're good at that, and a lot of that was golf, because that's what took me to college and that's what took me to California. But if somebody was gonna give me physical accolades, that's what I would pour myself into and then when I would fail and everybody would make fun of me, I'm just like man, like am I just like the practical joke of the world, so that's yeah. So that's that's kind of why I felt that way.
Speaker 1:But I mean, you know, I think you know you and I similarly growing up, you know, as athletes and not having Christ in our life at a young age, you know, I think, unconsciously or subconsciously or whatever you want to say put our identity into something worldly and was hoping to get something, you know, out of it and you know, didn't quite realize, you know it was, it was a gift from God. I mean, I look at that, you know, as as golf to like there is a season that I, you know, kind of really, you know, resented the whole game, but realizing that it was a gift, just like baseball was given to you. But I was looking at it from a different perspective because I was a young boy, as were you, with probably not always the, you know, the best role models around me, no one pouring into me and saying, hey, jesus loves you and he's got a bigger purpose for you than you could ever dream of.
Speaker 2:So but see, I think you know you made the comment of kind of being young and having to figure stuff out, and I think there's a lot of value to that Right.
Speaker 2:I think, there's a lot of value of as a kid right, and I don't mean like a six or seven year old, but just like maybe 12 or 13, maybe for 12 and 13, just having to kind of figure stuff out on your own, you know, and in sports, but just even growing up you know what I mean, like you know talking to girls or you know like just everything you know, computers didn't have cell phones.
Speaker 1:I mean like I think about that. It just we were like feral children that felt like looking back, like mom and dad had no idea where we were half the time. You just figured out things at a very young age.
Speaker 2:Man. But you know what, though, like that part of it for me was some of the my best times in my childhood, because there would be times, dude, like you know, just like you said, mom and dad have no clue where I'm dude, we're gone, or five of us, six of us, we're on BMX bikes, like we're gone. Right, yeah, you know five, six, seven miles down the road. We didn't find ramps to jump up like we're, but we're all hanging out.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And we're figuring stuff out as kids. But I also think the other side of it is, you know, it is important to have somebody, and it may not, it don't necessarily have to be a Jesus or a spiritual thing, but just having somebody to pour into you and like my mom was there and my dad was to, my mom was more of the staple, but she worked a lot, you know what I mean. Like my mom worked a lot, a lot, and she worked a graveyard shift, and so we, you know, when we were getting home from school she was getting us ready, you know, breakfast, dinners on the stove hey, I'm going to wreck, I'll see y'all in the morning and drop y'all off, you know. And so my dad was there, but my dad was kind of in and out, you know, and so it was just a spigaring stuff out. And so I say, like my mom was there to give us love and to nurture us, and my dad, his love was different, his love was more so, like, kind of like a tough love, you know, but I didn't.
Speaker 2:My parents, my mom's background was in tennis and my dad he played baseball up until the time he was like, I think, literally that was it, and so we never really had anybody to tell us hey, like if you work at this, if you really nurture this, if you really take this serious, this could be something you know. Like I didn't, like I didn't find out about actually going to college, like I didn't think going to college was a real thing until I got to high school and I was playing baseball and I had guys around me who were getting signed or going to go and I was like, oh, this is a, this is a possibility. Like you can go play college baseball.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I can appreciate that because that's that's kind of similar to like my story in the sense that you grew up in a, I grew up in a rural area and you know, like, looking back, like there was probably more opportunities for me to excel as an athlete, but again, like it was the nineties and you know, the very early 2000s and parents didn't always have the, you know, we don't have the information. We didn't have the information then that we do now. You may have these seniors all around you, you have these camps and clinics going on all around you, and so we didn't really have that. I mean, my parents, you know, yeah, my, especially my mom I've got a very, always had a very unique relationship with her, you know. But yeah, she would work an eight to five and then she'd come home, um, sometimes, you know, eat something real quick and then go work. I mean she worked two full-time jobs forever and she's finally retiring this year and I'm like super excited for her because, like you know, god bless moms like like ours that just that they're working those uncomfortable hours, those uncomfortable jobs to provide a better life for us. And I don't know about you, but I was definitely a child who was pretty rebellious and didn't always, didn't always appreciate mama as much as I do now, and I had a lot of apologies to make out for I mean, I'll tell you a crazy story. This is how crazy my mom is. Like she's. She's an intense woman.
Speaker 1:When I was so, like I told you, I was adopted and in Nebraska at the time I think it's one year the birth mother has um one year to contest adoption to like take the kid back. And I, so she, she gave me up. She didn't really have a choice. I mean, she was in, she was in prison, so it's not like she was going to. I mean I probably would have gotten like really jacked and swole. You know, just you know, and they're doing baby pushups, you know, um, one guy actually asked me that one time. He's like, is that why you're so jacked? I was like, yeah, I was in there doing baby pushups, right, exactly, hidden the iron, yeah.
Speaker 1:But my parents they told me the way they tell me the stories they got a letter in the mail that they had a summons, they had to go to court that my birth mom was going to contest the adoption and take me back and her big life goal at that time was to buy, or Lisa, a semi and then just travel around and you know haul. And I was like, okay, looking back, that sounds terrible. Thank you God for not letting that work out. But so my parents show up to the court and they're waiting for her and nine times out of 10, if the birth mother contests in Nebraska, the judge rules in favor of the birth mom. And so my mom, very, very, um strong woman, she had this plan, legit plan. She went to the bathroom, scoped it out. I don't know if she broke out a window or or like took it out or something, but she had a car lined up and stuff lined up. She was going to take me and go to Canada legitimately. She was like I had to, I had it all planned out.
Speaker 1:I'm like that is love, like that is crazy and it's just you know, and when I became a judge, I was like I'm like, I'm like, I'm like a Christian, all of these. You know stories that I heard about, like my parents, you know, adopting me, very similar to like how God has adopted us in the sunship, and just how he's got a jealous, and I'm just like I saw that he'd like exemplified to me my entire life, not from a Christ centered perspective, but, you know, but from that same same love was there, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so I I feel like like I've got a lot, of, a lot of makeup to. You know a lot, of, A lot of, yeah, a lot of stuff I gotta make up for. I mean, I know that's not true and that's not how she views it, but like I feel like I've got that. I was like man I actually had to do horribly for years and now you know, but I've got four kids and now she lives in the same town we do, and so she's able to hang out with the grandkids and just live her best life now.
Speaker 2:And so but you know, and I actually like, look, and I wasn't horrible, but I was rebellious. You know, and I think that's for the part, most kids are like, to an extent, rebellious, you know, some kids more than others, but I don't like so, for me, like the stuff, like one of the things I wish I was was a better big brother, right, Like I wish I was a better big brother to my, my siblings, right To my little brother and to my little sister, like now I'm, I'm great, right, but I look at those things and I don't think it as as you know how you feel, as though, like man, I I have a lot of making up to do, but it's more so if you know what, like man, let me, like mom, you took care of me for so many years. You did like, let me bust my ass and get to a point where I can really take care of you. Now you know what I mean. Like that, like that's, that's what I'm working towards. Like even my brother and sister, you know, looking, you know they're adults and they're doing their own thing and they're having their lives. But I'm also wanting to be an example to them and show them like, look, you know I wasn't the best then, but you know, look at the things that I'm trying to get accomplished or have already accomplished with my life, with my life now.
Speaker 2:You know, and and and not necessarily following my footsteps, but this is kind of like a model right Of what you can be doing and just know I'm always here to help you, you know, in whatever way, and he always calls me all the time and just advice on, and it really he's single, but he'll really when he calls me about it, it's advice on on girls, and I'm like, look, dude, you got to. You got to start dating different. You know what I mean. You can't go to the same place and think you're going to get the same result. You got to start dating different people for different reasons, and so you know. But I get what you're saying as far as kind of like you feel like you owe or repay, but man, it's just you know.
Speaker 2:I think I think the best thing, though, for at least for my mom, is she sees the, the person that I've grown into, like the stuff we used to do before, right, and the person that I've grown into, and I know she's proud of who I am and who I'm becoming, and so for me, that gives me a sense of okay, yeah, I wasn't the best kid growing up, but she's proud of me and she, who she wanted me to, who she wanted me to be, I'm now becoming.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, no, I can appreciate that. I would say my mom would probably agree with that exact same statement that it's not who I was, but it's who I've become. And a lot of it of who I've become is like real bootstrapped and just by the grace of God, you know. And there was a season in my life where I was a self self taught engineer and my mom around everybody like stranger she's like my son taught himself how to be an engineer, just like like ridiculous things you know, like that.
Speaker 1:But but yeah that's so much makeup now I think it's just every moment, because I realize, you know we're we're not promised tomorrow, we're not promised next minute. I talk to my mom daily and I I have so many friends that hardly talk to their parents and I, I tell her how much I appreciate her and love her so often because, you know, I feel like I went so many years without doing that, and so I think I think that's probably how I'm overcompensating at this, at this stage in my life, and again setting that example for my kids too, to their mother and to their grandparents too. So, yeah for sure, yeah For sure. Well, this is taking a fun turn, Like you know. I thought we were just going to get to.
Speaker 2:I know, Like how, how, like Texas baseball has got it all figured out and you're going to bottom it up and set it to me so we can let's, let's, let's, let's. We can definitely talk about that man, because we don't look, man, and we don't have it all figured out. I think the biggest thing with us, though, is the fact that our weather, like our weather gives us an opportunity to play for a long, long time, and I think we were talking about before. I had a buddy who I do I do a live every Sunday with a couple of guys on my Instagram, and I had a buddy of mine who played for the Dodgers and who nationals, and he's from the Netherlands, and he's like dude. He's like dude.
Speaker 2:We only get baseball like four months out of the year, five months if that, and he said and it's, it's always cold here. We don't have access to facilities, we don't have access to this and that, and then, when we do have fields, it's only, like you know, two to four months out of the year, and so we try to get it in. So I think, I think more than anything here, it's just I mean, there's great coaches everywhere but I think, more than anything, it's just a weather that affords us the opportunity to play for a long like it's 75 degrees outside right now, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's, that's crazy, that's so true. I I hear stories from guys that played in college and they talk like here in the Midwest and they talk about getting out for their early season preseason and then they'd be out there with shovel shoveling snow off the field and I was like, yeah, that's that's the kind of thing that you don't have to worry about in like, in like the Southern States.
Speaker 1:But yeah, it was funny when we were talking last time and we were I was like gosh, what do you guys do different? And you're like I don't think it's that that different. And I got off the phone and I'm like I bet he knows a secret. But in, everyone in Texas knows the secret, but they don't want to tell anybody above above Oklahoma what the secret is so they can stay dominant.
Speaker 2:So no man, no, no secrets man At all. But I think you know, and I like, I even like. I even find myself like when I there's a club in particular here well, not even a club, it's one guy that I know he needs doing a really good job with developing Like. So I have a nine year old squad now, so so I do a lot of a lot of a lot of one on one and and and team training and like hitting and fielding. But I'm now getting back into to do in the travel and the team stuff and so, yeah, I have a nine year old squad. That it's just a pretty good squad man and there's a. There's another guy who has a team and he like his team they're really good man Like really really good, very disciplined, like ex high level execution and I was just like man, what like?
Speaker 2:I want to come to one of your practices because I need to know what you're doing. That is, like, how do you get your nine year olds to be so focused, disciplined and and execute and and being able to execute, and what I learned and what I just from what I learned and but then even from what I know every, all of that stuff happens at different times for different kids, man, like it's, you know. One, you got to have good chemistry. You know the team has to have good chemistry and have been together for at least a couple of seasons. And then, two, you got to have parents that are on board and on board with the developmental process and okay with their kids role on the team, where the number one player of the number 12 right, because everybody's on the roll everybody's got a place, man.
Speaker 2:And then and then you know actually really caring about the kids, success and not taking your own personal goals and aspirations or what you think it is best, but saying, okay, hey, you know what, here's what I see of you right in these. This is, and each individual here's where I see you are right, here's where you can help the team. Here's the things that you need to work on. Your role matters right now. Just just because this is your role now doesn't mean that that role can increase or that role maybe may decrease, but you have to continue working right to maintain or to increase your role. And so I think the biggest thing, and that I've learned, that one of the biggest things that I learned over the 12 years of coaching, is kids. Kids can call BS real quick, man, and they know when somebody really genuinely cares about them you know what I mean and when they know you care about a man, when they know you love them, oh, they'll do anything, yeah yeah, I would.
Speaker 1:I would absolutely agree with that, and I loved how you said that parents, the parents especially, have to buy into the development because, yeah, regardless of where you're at and I think, even regards of the level, because I've seen it in double H or play in majors that parents have a hard time they can say, yeah, I want you to develop my kid, I, I'm gonna, I want to trust the process, but we still have that American mindset of instant gratification that I'm giving you $3,000 and he, he has this bat and this glove. Like it must be your fault as a coach, like my son man, you know and and I I take it to you know, you know from a scriptural standpoint, you know for my believing you know, parents, that I can, that I coach and I remind them that we're all a part of the body and we all have a different role to play. You all, you all, can't be an eyeball. Some of us are an armpit here, some of us are toenails. It's not that you need to be so fixated on what your role is, but be be content in the fact that you have a role and again, this is orange, as with.
Speaker 1:We have a much bigger role as the body of Christ, but but nonetheless, when you, when you're able to say you're, you're a part of this team that carries its way and carries itself in such a way, you know, developing those kids that are content sitting on the bench for a time and cheering on their teammates, because again, it goes down to like just life lessons, you know, and majority of professional ball, of any of any kind, and so it's these life lessons that you're gonna get out of high school. You might go to college, but regardless you're gonna work a job and more than likely, you won't start as the CEO. Sometimes you're gonna have to start scrubbing toilets so that that, that, the gratitude for that, that mindset of gratitude, starts at like 9 u, 10 u, whatever you baseball, when even before then, even before six, like, even at six man yeah, being content.
Speaker 1:You know, being a part of a team it's being a team player is so overlooked because everyone's out there looking for self-critification and like how, how can I get myself? I think a lot of parents are, they're living vicariously and they're just like how can I get my millions out of this? You know, how can I get my ROI out of my son or daughter, and that's so backwards and that's just a rest before a broken relationship down the road and I don't wish. I don't wish that on on anybody, but it's just yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean. So, look, I won't truly understand that dynamic until I have kids myself, right? So me and my wife, you know, we don't have kids yet. We're planning on having kids in the near future, but I don't, I won't know that until I have insurance, right? But but that relationship, look, I hope that I'm gonna be a guy, I feel like I'm gonna be that dad that's able to sit back and allow somebody else to coach his kid and just enjoy him playing.
Speaker 2:But I know the competitive side of me will take over from time to time, you know, and and and, especially if the effort is not there. And that's, and that's the thing that I that I, you know hold my kids accountable to us is the effort. But from a parental perspective, it's like going back to what we're saying. What is the role? You know, communicating that role to parents, communicating that role to the kids, to discuss to me the kids. Kids are always on board. It's always the parents. You have to get on board with it, you know. But you communicate that to the parents and let them know what's going on because at the end of the day, look, they are paying for it and so they have to know. You know they got you got.
Speaker 2:You got to tell them something right yeah if we leave it up to a nine-year-old heck, even my high school guys like when I was coaching high school ball back from 2019, all the way to 2020, 2022 right, I would tell my high school guys their roles and we would say, hey, it's you guys, is you know you guys's job to relay that information to the parents.
Speaker 2:And I swear I would have conversations with parents and I'm like that is not what I told him at all and I'm like you got you, but I think that part when it at least when it comes to high school guys, they're more afraid of their parents. I guess, yeah, whatever that may be disappointment or you know, whatever you know, they're more afraid of that. I think, with with this, you know six, seven, eight, nine-year-olds, you know you have to relay that to them, but then you rely it to the nine-year-olds and you relay it in a way that you're letting them know hey, your role is still important. You know what I mean? It's still important. And here's how you go about you know, helping your team and being the best in your role and I think, the biggest thing to manage. Just, you got to communicate. You got to communicate, yeah, and you even maybe we have to over communicate sometimes, but but I agree, you know that. That got to talk to people and you got to be genuine.
Speaker 1:You know, and that's hard because I get it as a coach you get so burned out of parents and you just like I don't owe you anything but like, but you do because you you owe it to the kids and you what you're doing is you're doing it and injustice to the kid because whatever you don't communicate to the parents, they assume things and then they create a toxicity between you and their kid by badmouthing you to their kid and it's just, oh man, and that's the worst right there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, coaches need to communicate more and that's yeah, that's that's tough and you know, and going back to like, you know, knowing your role, you know, that's that really starts at home. And again, a lot of this is modeled at home to those kids by the parents. And if you have a mom or dad that you know how it has, that sense of entitlement, that kid's gonna have a hard time understanding that, he's gonna DH a lot because he doesn't have sure hands and despite what mom and dad think that whenever I mean I can't tell you how many times we've had we had conversations this last year with parents that were like, why, why isn't my son pitching there? Why, why isn't he batting higher in the order, because when, when I throw to him, he always crushes it.
Speaker 1:I was like well, the difference is you're underhanding BP at like five miles an hour that even my four-year-old daughter could hit right.
Speaker 1:That that's one reason, and like just, I mean parents are all guilty of it. I am too to to agree that thinking our kids are the next, next greatest thing and and that's hard, you know, and I don't know at what age you know that's appropriate to you know, sit down with a parent, be like you know, I don't, I don't know, I don't know blame, but I just I wonder if there is that is an age where a coach sits down with a parent, or the kid, or just the parents, I don't know and and walks them through, like I understand he likes this and you think his, his abilities, or you know, yeah, much it's, it's, it's showing that he's, he or she doesn't quite have those abilities. And you know, I know we've we've had that conversation like position-specific, because everybody wants to be a pitcher and catcher in a shortstop, and those are three very particular roles that I mean yeah, short stop, I mean takes a special breed, catcher takes an even more special breed, yeah yeah yeah you know, I don't you know.
Speaker 2:I think that you can have that conversation with them honestly and openly as early as possible. And and I think it kind of goes back to what I was saying is that coaches or from a parent like you're.
Speaker 1:Are you saying that the coach having that with?
Speaker 2:I think I think a coach, I think a coach can have that conversation because so, just so, I'm on the same page, right? So we're basically having a conversation with the parents to say, hey, your kids not good enough to be a shortstop, or he's maybe not good enough to play, play baseball or whatever what it or play it.
Speaker 1:Play at this level, like now, because I'm definitely an advocate. Like you can't judge these kids at like eight, nine, ten, well, like 100%, but sometimes to take a step forward, you have to take a step backwards.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you do yeah, so that's the conversation. Yep, so I'll give you. I'll give you a perfect example of a situation that I had this year. So I had a kid. So we're we're a nine you double-a team right now very competitive nine you double-a team aspiring to be one of majors baseball and no no, this is oh, is it, is it I just I just joke that, like you know, like you're wreck teams could come up here in win state like I don't know if it's true, but like whatever teams down south, man, you guys are just like buzz saws it's some now, look there are some.
Speaker 2:There are some like I got some nine-year-olds now, like I kind of had to revamp my team, not because I cut kids, but just because, again, this is one of those things where parents are always trying to do what's best for the kid and I have I never take that personal, whether that's finding another team, finding another coach, you know, the next back, the next glove, whatever. Parents are always trying to do what's best for the kid when it comes to their development and just life in general. So I get it. But you know, I've had to kind of revamp my nine-year-old team and I got a nine-year-old now that is like he's very, very raw but very, very man I'm. He makes me excited, but my whole group in general gets me excited, the, the core, that rock put back together. But you know, you know, you know, you know you. I think that you can have that conversation with them and I think that again, that I feel like I'm saying the same thing over and over, but it boils down to honesty, right? Hey, this is where I see you right now. Right, I see you as a first baseman, I see you as a third baseman, I see you as a second baseman. I see you playing pitcher and I see you playing outfield, right, well, coach. Well, what about shortstop? I don't see you as a shortstop right now. Here's the reason why your footwork, your glove, your this or that, or whatever the case may be. So for now, in practice, I'm still gonna give you some reps at short right, because I think developing all kids at short stops, for the most part right At short, develops it's one of the most athletic positions on the field, and so you allow them to. And I have a kind of like a structured where we're drill specific and then kind of I have a round where I kind of just let them kind of like do Derek Jeter play, so I can see who's really like athletic. I wanna do backhand, jump throws, diving, like I wanna see right. So I let all my kids play short right In practice and then so they get the reps and they get familiar with it, because next year, guess what, I may have a kid leave or I may.
Speaker 2:This guy may be putting work on the side. You know what I mean? He really wants to prove that he can be the shortstop until he may be putting work on the side and he comes out next season and dude's grown two or three inches, falls two or three, four miles harder, and now he's got the footwork in the glove and guess what? He's my shortstop. But it goes back to your roles always going to change, right, it's never really gonna stay the same and it really just boils down to what it is that you want. If you really wanna be that shortstop, okay, cool, show me. I'm gonna give you your opportunities. Go, make the most of your opportunities. But then also, too, you still gotta be putting work in outside of just the two days a week that we're practicing, because that's not gonna be enough. And so I think you can have that conversation, but at nine and 10, I'm never gonna tell a kid or you can never play that position, or I don't like. That's just not it.
Speaker 1:I don't believe telling people that I agree. I think that's dangerous.
Speaker 2:I never, even my high school guys. I never tell them I don't think you can do that or I never see you do it. Never, never, never. Because that's more of a long-term effect of them mentally, outside of just sports, right. Somebody telling you you never can do something like nah, like nah, man, if you want to like, look, I'm gonna be honest with you, I don't, look, you got a lot to do to get that, but if you do it, you possibly can get there. But you gotta work at it because you're behind these guys.
Speaker 1:You know yeah no, I agree, I know the conversations that I can think back to that me and the head coach had this last year with some parents, you know, and it was always followed up with. If your son works on X, y and Z, it would help us chance and I think that's always important. Like you said, it's just you know, you're not a shortstop because X, y and Z, this is something that you could potentially work on, and I mean you could work on and it could potentially, you know, increase your chances of more reps in that position. Maybe, maybe not, like it's the reality if you're left-handed and you want to be a catcher, so bad, like Not gonna happen. Yeah, like dude, I mean you're gonna want to be an absolute freak. Or like a left-handed shortstop, like I know some dads and friends of mine that they want their son playing shortstop, I'm like I get it. I mean like it's like a sexy position but it's, you know, ergonomically not the most conducive to a left-handed thrower, you know. So there are some of those. I don't want to even call those absolutes, because there's been some guys in the game that have made, you know, made liars out of my, you know, would make a liar out of me if I would have said that no left-handed guy could be shortstop or catcher. But I digress, you know, to the fact that it's important to point out. You know you can work on X, y and Z and that will increase your chances. And I know like I can think about, like my son specifically. You know he looks at that kind of stuff and takes that very seriously.
Speaker 1:When a coach or someone you know, an adult, sits down and says, if you work on this, you might get to hear. I mean like, for example, like my son, his first year in baseball was like rec and he played for like one season and then he wanted to play travel ball and it was double A and he was a standout player. He was way, way too standout at that level and so he was, you know the number. I mean he batted anywhere from one to four, based on who was there, because he could do, he was contact, but I mean he just he was, yeah, just a good hitter. And then when he joined the next year, he played up an age and a triple A and they moved him to the sixth spot and I told him I said you're gonna bat six and that's the thing you know.
Speaker 1:The coach told me that I was like okay, like I'm not gonna disagree. You know, like you're the head coach, you've got your decisions. And I told him that I was like are you happy with that? He's like no. I was like okay, then you need to grind on X, y and Z to get up to the three spot where you wanna be. And halfway through the season coach switched because he worked, because the coach told him work on X, y and Z and you can get there. But I mean, so many kids just aren't mentally tough and that's a whole nother conversation we could dig into is just the idea of mentally weak kids that when they're told that you're not the starting pitcher and that's something that we could even just go off on a whole nother engine is like I could start every game.
Speaker 1:Coach Like no, you really can't Like we don't want you to blow out your arm, but so many kids. They're so emotional because their view of success is, if I'm not batting number one, two, three or four and even four, I think some kids don't understand the significance of the cleanup position. But if you're not batting one, two or three and if you're not starting, you know, pitcher, shortstop, you know, or even center field. But some kids even look at center field as like a crapshoot. I'm just like you understand. That's like the shortstop of the field, like that Mike Trout plays center field. So don't even equate that to like a lazy position by any means.
Speaker 2:I think that and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that mindset starts at home.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I absolutely agree. Again, all this, you know it's funny, I constantly bash on parents. I feel like you know, because I'm one of them too, but that's the reality, though, it's just and that's the key word, though reality.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:It sounds like you're real with your kid.
Speaker 2:You're not, like I mean, look, you got time where you gotta be dad obviously you know what I mean and kind of shelter him from some stuff, but for the most part, you're keeping it real with them and you're telling them exactly what it is and how he's going to be held accountable in life, or what life is going to be like.
Speaker 2:Right, this is what life is going to be like. And so if those conversations are at home and saying, hey, man, look, you're gonna have to work your butt off for everything that it is that you want. Nothing is given, everything is earned, then that's the mentality that's going to be, you know, brought everywhere that he goes in school, in baseball and in his career, whatever. And so I now you know, I think that parents are again and it's not just bashing man, it's just more so. I think there are so many parents that just are unaware of you know, I guess, how sports work, but then I feel like I contradict myself when I say that, because it's like a lot of the parents that I have probably have never played sports before. But well, let's just say, they probably played some, but maybe up to high school right.
Speaker 2:Some maybe made it to high school, and then you got some that made it to college, and then again the number gets smaller and smaller as you go up. Higher levels, right, but. But I feel like I contradict, because it's like man, look, you guys are super successful in the careers that you're in doctors, lawyers, entrepreneurs Nobody gave y'all anything right. So why do you feel as though things should be given and not earned to your kid? You know like your kid's gonna have to go out and earn everything that it is that he wants, you know. But and so, just like you told your son is like look, you know, you don't like being a six-hole. Okay, cool, this is what you gotta go do, this is what you have, and then guess what the results come. But you have to be willing to put in the work when it consistently. But then not even just like once you get to your three-hole spot, guess what? Dude, you don't stop working, you keep working. You gotta keep going, you know.
Speaker 1:That's right. Yup, no, it's so true. But yeah, like, yeah, even though it's not batching, but it just it feels that way sometimes, because it comes down to that, you know, it's just parents, you know what your kids are modeling, what they see at home? Oh, for sure you know. But how on earth they come to think that yes, don't get me wrong, coaches have a huge influence, but it's, you know, you can't blame a coach, especially when it's their first or second year in a sport of like well, my son hates the game now because of you, like he's, I was like oh man, dude, I be wrong.
Speaker 1:There are two like toxic coaches out there that have been removed from positions because they're very toxic, but regardless, like the huge influencers, that's feeding those toxic kids, you know, or they're being influenced at home.
Speaker 2:I had somebody tell me that indirectly this past season and I'm just like you know, and I took it personally because I'm like man, before I like I almost wanted to get defensive about it. You know, it's like what? Like I'm the least, most like none, like I yell, but I'm not a big yeller, like I'm more of a talker, I'm more of like, you know, pull you and talk to you one on one, kind of put my arm around you. You know, but if you got and the only time I really will get upset is if, like, just the whole team is just like not focused today in Gouffin' off, then you know, then there's consequences that come with that. But I had somebody tell me that this year and I'm like man, like, so I always look internal, like man, what is it that I'm doing? Like, can I really be doing that Right? Because I had been two years, maybe, no, maybe no, two years removed from coaching a 9U team. I hadn't coached a 9U team in probably about two or three years. I had just been doing private lessons and one-on-one stuff, and so, you know, I was like, okay, well, you know what, maybe I am, you know like maybe. But then I started. But then I started looking at it and it was like man, well, if I'm being that negative or that and it wasn't even negative, it was just being that hard right, I'm making my kid. I was making someone's kid and I loved the game because I was coaching them too hard right, they got sprints. I was holding them accountable to doing the things that they said that they wanted to do, and there was and if they didn't do it, there were consequences. And I was. So I was like man.
Speaker 2:But then I started looking at it. I was like, look, well, the totality of the team doesn't feel this way. You know, the totality of the team is like man. No, I like the fact that we have structure now. I like the fact that you're holding our kids accountable. I like the fact that you know you're not letting them get away with stuff. I like. So when he told me that I'm like man, look. And. So I had to have a conversation with the kid, you know, and I'm like look, you know, tell me what's going on. You know. Now, mind you, this is a mind of your, a nine year old, you know. So, right, yeah, their minds go from you know, from Batman to baseball and like less than a second, and so you know.
Speaker 2:But I had a conversation. I'm like look, man, if there's something that I'm doing that you know is making you, I asked. I said am I making you hate the game? They're like no, no, coach, you're not making me hate the game, I said. I said, well, is there anything that I'm doing that you know that you don't like? Or that he goes, kind of dropped his shoulders and let out a sigh. He goes. I hate doing sprints. And I said, oh well, dude, I say, well, guess what You're going to have to keep doing sprints, man, if you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. Like you told me this is what you wanted to do.
Speaker 1:Right Now I'm not out there just sprinting nine year old kids like crazy, but that's what I imagine, I just imagine you're out there like in a buggy, Jathan, he gets down for like five miles in the heat of Texas, oh dude, this is like. So that's the secret. That's the secret. I just need to get a golf cart and chase kids around and chase them down 20 miles.
Speaker 2:Man, it's literally like a sprint from first base to from home to first base. You know what I mean, whatever you know. But that part of it, man, like that's one of the ones when the parents tell me like man, you're making me, making my kid hate, not love the game. Like man, don't do that, because I love doing what I do so much and I love building a relationship with a kid and I pride myself on being able to build relationships with kids. Like man, don't tell me that you know, don't, don't, don't use that. Like just you know, say that you know whatever, you don't like my practice style or you don't like the way that you know whatever, but don't say, like I'm making a kid like that, no, man, that's to me, that's yeah, that's a low, that's like one of those low blow things, man.
Speaker 1:No, I, I, I agree, you know, because, like to me, it comes back to not everything you do is gonna be fun and you're gonna enjoy it. Right, you need to love the process. It's like I love my job but I don't love everything about it. Like to me, sprints would equate to like expense reports, like that's a part of my job but I hate doing them. Like, but if I tell my boss I'm not gonna do it, he's like okay, well, too bad. Like it's the same thing in.
Speaker 1:Parents need to look at at youth sports from a bigger perspective. It's not about trophies, it's not about winning games, it's these life lessons and it's about developing the mind, art, soul and character of these kids. And you're modeling that at home, but they're getting the chance to put it into, into play and practice on the field and they need to understand that. Yeah, there's gonna be things in life that you're not, oh, you don't always enjoy, but we're seeing it so much in today's world that the entitled generation that doesn't want to work any harder than they have to which I could go on a whole tyrant of like well, I, you know, can't stand the generational mindset of like I need 25, 30 bucks an hour to. You know, make a burger at McDonald's because I don't want to work any harder than I have to.
Speaker 2:I'm just like tough you need to go out there and grind, so I'll starve over.
Speaker 1:You know. So I don't want to, I don't want to go on my, on my soapbox about that, but but again, it's beating into mentality, you know. It's just your kids need to understand at a young age that not everything is going to be fun. But it's about. It's about the bigger process. It's you know I think I heard it in a song like you can't get swole without without getting sore.
Speaker 2:And that's true, yeah, man yep, I mean, you just, you just can't do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you have to go through the struggle to get the success. And yeah, yeah, I don't know, I don't have, I don't have any answers. I just have a lot of complaints and questions and concerns.
Speaker 2:Hey, man, look, we, we. This is, you know, this is a. I think that with the way that select baseball is going, man, this is going to be a forever right from coaches, man. But I think that if we do our best as coaches to educate the parents on you know processes and what things look like, you know, I think it'll become better. Look, you're not going to please everybody, I mean, that's just, that's just the reality of it. You know you're not going to please everybody, but if you know, you took your time to explain to them. Hey, this is where your kid is, this is what this process looks like. I want to be and this is what I tell my parents like, look, and and.
Speaker 2:As you guys are going through this, you know, I want you guys to use me as a tool, so to speak, to help you guys, help navigate you through this process, because this is something that y'all haven't gone through before.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't have any kids, but I've taken a group of eight year olds all the way up into 14. And I know what that process looks like. I've taken that, you know, taking six of that of those kids from that group, and they were now at high school baseball and and, and I helped them get onto the varsity team. I know what that process looks like. So, if your goal is, you know, to play varsity baseball, you know, hey, I know how to do that right. And then, if you want to go a little bit further, you know I can. I can help you get there too, but but use me in understanding. Hey, this is a process you know, and, like you said though it's, it's taking the taking the, the life lessons that you're going to learn through the game of baseball and help you become the person who you're going to be in the future, and whether that's a baseball player or whether that's a doctor, lawyer, ceo, it's helping manage you and help you become who you who you're going to be in the future.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's that is the why, you know, and, again, I think the why we do anything, that's the most important question that we can ask ourselves, you know, because if, if our why is not good, then our actions are going to be worse. And so, like the why, why I coach is specifically for that, what I would tell my first cut first team coach. I probably said it to bluntly, but I told the parents I said my goal is for your kids not to grow up to be douchebags. And you know, I was just like that's, that's my goal, because there's too many out there and and I got a lot of laughs out of that but that's that, that was the truth. I don't want anyone to, you know, grow. We don't, we don't need any more people like that.
Speaker 1:Oh, you know, but it's, it's trying to instill that. You know, what we've been talking about for those for this last hour essentially is it's that mindset where we're establishing a set of muscles, of skills that they're going to take into the real world. And you know, I've I followed you on Instagram and I've seen your stuff and that's that's the big takeaway that I've gotten from from like your videos too, and you're using the platform and the in the vehicle of baseball and development, and kids are getting developed and becoming better athletes, but secretly they're becoming better humans and it's it's almost better that the kids don't realize it, at least from my from my, you know if if if you can get a kid to understand that you are developing them to be becoming a a good father, a good employee, a good employer, without them even knowing it, the better that's going to be, because if they know, they'll probably just screw it up.
Speaker 1:You know, at least my son would. I love him to death, but he like the less details the better, and so you you're using it much like Jesus talks in parables, and so I feel like that's kind of what baseball is for me and that's kind of kind of what I've seen from from you too. That's kind of what I've seen as your why not that you've directly told me what your why is, but I want you to talk about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, man, that's a. That's a great question. Huh, my, why? Hmm, you know you put me on the spot with that one. I guess I can give you reasons, for I guess I can give you a multiple reasons why I do it. I don't think there's a specific why. Well, I'll say this.
Speaker 2:You know, going back and this is kind of when my, when my, my baseball career got done and that little gap between me me ending my baseball and starting to coach, I had a period of when I, you know, gained a bunch of weight and just wasn't in a good headspace, physically, mentally, just not in a good space period. And, you know, god gave me purpose. You know, god gave me direction and God gave me, you know, this gift to be able to connect with kids. Like my wife is like she doesn't get it because I can connect with kids, like no, like it doesn't matter. I could be in a grocery store and I'll walk by a kid I don't even know and just slide down, real, get to their level, give me a quick high five, boom, and it's just high five. You know, it's just like you need to stop, because people are going to think you're crazy, like always messing with kids and I'm like, I love working with kids, you know, and so I think that ability to be able to connect with kids and build a relationship and then speak to them in a way to work with kids and build a relationship and then speak to them in a way to where, like, look, I don't talk to my kids like babies, you know, I talk to them like like young men, right, obviously, our conversation isn't, you know, it's still tailored around a nine year old's mind, but I talk to them like like they're young men, you know, and and so being able to connect.
Speaker 2:Taking my knowledge of the game of baseball and my experience with the team, I think my why about it, man, is honestly, you know what and I've said this before you know, my honestly, my why behind it is to make this world a better place, as cliche as it may sound, you know, and and and I grew up I grew up, you know, in a very diverse upbringing, right, you know, and I've said this earlier, you know, my neighborhood was black, white, hispanic, asian, you know, and through middle school, I went to a predominantly white school.
Speaker 2:I went to a predominantly white school and then, well, my first couple of years of high school was predominantly white and then my last year was, you know, more of a mixed school and I learned so much about life and people through having different friends of different races and in the game of baseball, especially when I first started, there were a lot of people that were black or Hispanic that played.
Speaker 2:It was a lot of white guys and and and and. In my mind then and even now, that's oh, I don't, that doesn't bother me, right? But I think that with everything that's going on in the world, just like just bad stuff you see stuff in Israel and you see stuff, you know that that you know was going on during COVID with George Floyd, and you see all of this, you know hate crimes and all of this stuff. Man, I think that if we can, at least for me and my small little bubble that I have to make an impact on, if I can get more kids playing with other kids that don't look like them and like that build friendships and relationships that are gonna last forever with people that don't look like them.
Speaker 2:I think that it will start to Help people gain an understanding of other races and other cultures and other people. Yeah, and all of the hate and division and stuff that we still have now, right, well, yeah, maybe not, maybe not go away completely, but eventually start to subside, you know. And so, man, I think you just like that's, that was that's my why, right there, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, man.
Speaker 2:Some of the best teams that I've ever played on and some of the best teams that I've ever coached were playing with guys, you know, who didn't look like me or from different races, in different cultures, and it just it helped open my mind to like, okay, well, I didn't know what Jewish people did. Now I got some Jewish friends and now you know they know. I didn't know Hispanic people did, and now I know, you know, after going out and hanging out with them, now I know what their culture and their family and Asian and so on and so forth, and so I think, building better people, you know, but but diversity, inclusion for me is huge, huge huge man, yeah, and I think the the key thing that I'm hearing there is getting out of your comfort zone, yeah that's okay for for us as adults, but to start imprinting that on youth that, you know, I mean it's Travel balls crazy in the sense that you're already playing with kids you don't know, and so it's already a phenomenal platform to, yeah, bring them in with.
Speaker 1:You know, families of different backgrounds and things you know that they do are as extremely foreign to you. But it's so crucial, not not just from a Christianity perspective, but just from a solid humanitarian perspective, that we need to have Relationships and friendships with people we disagree with, yep, people we don't understand. You can't become a well-rounded, a well-versed, a well-understood, or just what Paul would say. You know how he, how he became all things to all people. You can't be that kind of person if you only stick around people who look like you, who think like you, who talk like you and eat at the same places you and have to get out of your comfort zone. Dude, yeah, just do me.
Speaker 1:I mean people like I grew up in a really rural area and I mean it was like all white. I mean there was some Hispanic, you know, but I knew plenty of people growing up generally the older, older generation that were pretty racist and they were. They would say some crazy things, but Okay, and then I, I moved. So the first, my first like cultural shock experience was, truthfully, was at a rap concert I went to in high school and I think me and my body were the only funny story for you too after this. Okay, so like it was gosh.
Speaker 1:I don't remember who it was but like like any white kid who grew up in like a rural farm community, Right, rap music was so big in the 90s that like it didn't matter who you were, just it was so popular and I remember who it was. But I feel like we were the only white people there and it really didn't like it didn't bug any of us at all. But I remember it and it sticks with me as like that was. Like I told him we were driving home, I was like I think that was the first time I'd ever seen a black person in like in person, you know Like, and I remember driving home and talking to him and I was like they're not as bad as like your grandma makes them sound like, and his grandma was really racist dude.
Speaker 2:But you know, but that just goes back to Things being passed down generation after generation after generation after generation. I really have all of this hate or thought process towards a certain group of people that you've never experienced, because that's what's been Brought down to you. You know what I mean, and so you just roll with it, you know, uh, man, you know so funny story, man, I I'll say I had my own, my first culture shock, right? So, mind you, I grew up predominantly around all white people, right, it was to the point where, like I used to be called the Oreo right black on the outside.
Speaker 1:Right, I've got a close friend of mine. Where he was, he was taunted with similar.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm similar and and then, on top of that, I played baseball too. So it's like, yeah, who is this? You know, I think he's white, you know. So my eighth grade no, going at my, my tenth grade year I go to. I told you I go to a predominantly black school and man, I, that was my first time ever being around so many black people, like I had never been around so many black people and and I was like, wow, I like literally like this school is all Black, like I've never. And and that was my first year having a culture shock but around my own people, like go figure, right, right, right. Like you know, I mean that that's funny.
Speaker 1:But like stories like that I don't hear stories like that, you know like where a black person says, yeah, I had a culture shock this first time I was around them. It's like, huh, I never would have thought about that. But that's, that's the I'll tell you. So this is, this is a funny story. So I moved to California when I was 19 to try to go to Q school and whatnot and anyway. So it's really, really, really poor and I moved out there and then I came back for Christmas and I didn't have enough money for a plane ticket back so I took a greyhound, a greyhound from Omaha, nebraska, to LA.
Speaker 1:I think every person, especially white people, need to take a greyhound across the country.
Speaker 1:It was solid the whole time, so like it was pretty chill for a while and I remember you know it was pretty comfortable, a pretty, pretty nice fancy like greyhounds for a while.
Speaker 1:It's how we got into I can't remember which town, which is probably like a couple hours, two, three hours just east of LA, and Everyone got off. I was the only person to stay it on and it filled up and I was the only white person and this, this bigger lady, sat next to me and, I kid you not, she pulled chicken out of her purse out of her purse, mind you and I mean, like you swore like they were all friends or like they all knew each other because they were all talking, and she put her arm around me and, like I was this cute little, like you know, I was 19 year old, like you know, you know, baby faced and and it was like a three or four hour, so maybe it was further east, was like a three or four hour bus ride and it was just so awesome because, like I had not seen, you know, I had not, I had not been around, you know, out of my comfort zone, because, like it was uncomfortable at first because I'm sure you know what I mean.
Speaker 1:But but by the end, like I was, you know, walking off the bus and I was like high-fiving and hugging people.
Speaker 2:I'm like much love man so much. Oh people you didn't even know right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was so uncomfortable in the beginning but it made me, you know, like get out of my comfort zone, you know, cuz I can't remember, but yeah, they were kind of making fun of me in the beginning. But yeah, I firmly believe every, every person, especially every white person, needs to take a greyhound Way across the country, because you're you're gonna sit next to people that you will not, you know, run into in your day. You know, you know what.
Speaker 2:You know what, though, man, and? And just like you, and so that comment you made about them making fun of you at the beginning, like that, you know what? But that's not like. That's just how the black culture is. We talked, and it's not even making fun, that's just you just that's what I realized.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's what I really just talking crap.
Speaker 2:But and here's the thing, though, there's so many kids now, though, too man, that that, because they're not either around Other people or other cultures, they don't know how to take crap and so they.
Speaker 2:Know they take it as bullying and it's like it's not bullying. It's no, where we're, we're they? My mom used to call it Shooting, shooting the dozens or Something that doesn't, and it's just all it was sitting around. We're just talking crap and nobody's taking it offensive, nobody, and it's just, it's just a cultural thing, man. And then you, you know, for you as a white guy, if you would have started giving it back, they would have been like oh, okay, you know, like okay, you can, you can talk crap with us, you can it just, it helps you get it, it helps you get a thicker skin. Man, honestly, yeah, it really does. It really really does. Yeah, it's.
Speaker 1:I didn't give it back then because I was uncomfortable still, but I was still getting comfortable with it, right?
Speaker 2:but it was funny.
Speaker 1:I, I took that with me and I brought it back, and so then, after I so, I became a Christian in California and then I went to Bible College in Omaha and and it's, it's so weird I probably should attribute that gray hound bus trip to why I have so many black friends in my life to this date Because I don't know, and maybe they can just look at me and see that, okay, he's, you know, he's, he's not a regular.
Speaker 2:He's not a regular honky. You know he got some flavor to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, maybe you know it was, it was. It was really funny too. So when when I was I told this story, when I was in Bible College and we had, we had some sports and I Say that loosely because like it wasn't like D1, d2, d3 and I it was, it was Bible College, bible Bible College students that were playing sports, and so some of them were good, but a lot of them just weren't, and so but they, they wanted to change that, and so they, they wanted to bring in a bunch of bunch of athletes, and so they actively recruited a bunch of really good ballers from like a lot of inner cities and they have this whole wave of like really good ball player show up, thinking it's just a Christian college, like TCU. Surprise, it's a Bible.
Speaker 2:College.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and if you know, you know, love Jesus with your whole heart, we're gonna hold it against you and I kid you not, it was so funny for me because I loved it. You know, like I like making people uncomfortable and when I saw them and like I just became like friends with like almost all of them right away and so many of like my classmates, you know cuz, like again, everyone there was white except for like one guy at the time they were so uncomfortable. You know, like I'm just like man, you guys don't sound racist, but you look so.
Speaker 1:You walk into the lunchroom and nobody would sit near. I'm just like you got your horrible humans and so I guess it was. It was an interesting time.
Speaker 2:Dude people, but see, people don't.
Speaker 2:And here, and I don't like I can't, I Juggle with that because you know me and my wife will talk about it. I, you know, when you talk about the issue of racism, and it's like, well, man, how can Somebody be racist if they've never been around a black person or a people of other Of culture? And I say, well, then I say that in a sense of and here's what I mean like you don't know what you don't know. You know what I mean, if you've never been around a black person or a spanish person, or you don't know, or if you, if you're not around them consistently, you don't know, but your actions and things that you may do may come off as racist because you don't, you don't know, right, you, you've never been around them. But my wife is very much. Well, you look, it's their fault for not putting themselves in situations to be around other people. And I'm like, well, yeah, I get that too. You know that man, to me that that's like a whoo, that's a that's a top it is.
Speaker 2:It's a tough, it's a tough thing, but I think, also too good. But this is going back to you know, I guess my wife is like man. I Think the world will start to be better. Right, yeah, we start having those tough conversations that people don't. You know what I mean. Start having those tough conversations that you, you know, and asking those questions to gain a better Understanding. And even if you don't agree with somebody's views or religion or thought process or whatever, right, yeah, at least I now have a better understanding of why you think the way that you know, you know, yep and so, and I think that part is huge. But I'll leave you on this, cuz I got, I got a boogie man, I, but I definitely wanna man. I feel like we can go for another hour.
Speaker 1:We need to go for another couple, because I know there was a couple things that I wanted to go over. But I'm just man already been over an hour, but sure one forever. So this is.
Speaker 2:I will tell you this. I will tell you this from a, and I can't always speak from a Black person's perspective. You can tell, in some bodies from a, you can tell when a white person has been around Black people or other cultures and it's not. It's not a, sometimes it's a talk. You know what I mean. But more than anything, it's the way Conversations are initiated. You know what I mean. Or it may just be like the body language, you know what I mean, or kind of something that you said just keeping your.
Speaker 2:Maybe you know Somebody who hasn't been around somebody, but they just stay away, they keep their distance instead of wanting to gauge, and have Fear of the unknown, yeah, fear of the unknown man, and it's like, look, you know like, and it's still have like, even now, to this day. It doesn't happen with me as much because I coach baseball and you know, for me, being a black coach in a Predominantly white sport, I'm considered, I guess, non-threatening or I'm not scary because I coach baseball. Right, baseball is something that you know, something that brings, you know, white people, black people, majority of people together, where we need to get more people together. But no, it's easier. It's easier because I coach baseball. It's easier for somebody who is White or doesn't look like me to have a conversation with me about baseball, because it's it's the common thing.
Speaker 1:Hey, we can talk about baseball so Well, that's all the time we got for today's episode. Guys, again Huge shout out to coach B for taking time at his schedule to join me in the studio today. Be on the lookout for more episodes with me and coach B. We definitely have plans for more down the road. This, this podcast episode was, was a real blast. You know. It definitely took some turns that we definitely didn't plan on. You know, we just kind of went in the direction the conversation took us. So I hope it was much of a blessing to you guys, as it was to us and again, guys, your blessing Go out there, be blessed.