The Journey to Freedom Podcast
Journey to Freedom serves as an exclusive extension of the Living Boldly with Purpose podcast series—a platform that inspires powerful transformation and growth. Journey freedom is a podcast hosted by Brian E. Arnold. The Journey to Freedom is an our best life blueprint exclusively designed for black men where we create a foundational freedom plan. There are five pillars: Identity, Trust, Finances, Health and Faith.
The Journey to Freedom Podcast
More Than Just Stats: Building Better Athletes and Stronger Minds
Join us for an enlightening episode as we explore coaching beyond the scoreboard and into the realms of purpose, personal development, and character building. Our guest, Greg Walls, shares unique insights on how coaches can significantly impact young athletes, fostering not just athletic talent but also the values and resilience necessary for life’s challenges.
Discover how belief plays a pivotal role – both in oneself and in shaping others – as Greg recounts influential figures from his past who inspired his journey. Learn why embracing technology can be a boon for young athletes, offering a wealth of information that, when guided appropriately, can propel them forward.
Greg emphasizes the importance of transparency in communication between coaches, parents, and athletes, advocating for a recalibration of expectations based on clear assessments rather than emotions. He urges listeners to consider competition in its purest form, cultivating mental toughness through adversity.
In this engaging discussion, you'll find practical tips on how to nurture the next generation of leaders through sports, emphasizing the role of mentorship, identity formation, and the lasting impact of understanding and support. Don’t miss this opportunity to rethink your approach to youth athletics! Subscribe and share if you find value in our conversation.
How much time we complain about AI versus how much time we utilize AI. Why don't we stop trying to balance and just use it to everybody's advantage, If the information is there?
Speaker 2:it's and as always, just super excited about life. You know, one of the things that I've really kind of started concentrating on is how do we make sure that we can help people become the person they need to be in order to do what God put them on this earth to do, and that means most people living in purpose. They're living in what they believe is the best avenue to make a difference in other people's lives. And so today I have Greg Walls on today and we were just talking before the show, and you know, one of my my goals is always to find out is how, how are others serving people? And he talked about some of the things that are in his life that are exciting to him right now. You know, one of them is just a team that he's coaching, that he's spending time with, that he is investing into I'm going to just call them young men for now. I mean, I know they're younger than he or I are, so you know, so he's investing into them, you know. But when we start thinking about that, I mean, athletics is one thing, and I think you know both him and I have been part of athletics and known how to do. You know athletics has been a big part of our lives. But there's so much more to coaching than just the technical portions of what you do. You know, when you know I'm thinking like in track and I'm a hurdle coach and you know I can teach somebody how to go over hurdles and be super efficient and cut time off of them, but how do I teach them how to be a man or be a young lady, or how do I teach them to be motivated to continue to do better in life? Those are the things in the lessons that I think sometimes are the most important lessons that we can learn.
Speaker 2:I just did a podcast this last week with my last college coach and he gave me he wrote down 20 tips to you know, to make coaching successful, which was amazing. He's an Olympic coach, he's been on, you know, had several Olympians that he worked with and he gave us the tips. Not one of those tips was, you know, the technical part of the sport, not one of the 20. I mean, if you would have got to 100, I'm sure he would have said you got to know how to be technical, because those things can go on and so, uh, but it's so neat to it's a great, thank you for being on. I'd ask them to tell the story first, as we always do, uh, because I think you guys get so much out of like, oh it's me's, me, or I did that, or oh, I can learn from that. And so thank you for being on, taking your time you know out of your day in the part of the country you're on to soccer.
Speaker 2:So go ahead and tell us your story, tell us all about you, and then we'll just move on from there.
Speaker 1:Well, first I appreciate being on man. I mean it's people that want to have a conversation with me. It's cool. You know, I don't know if I always have the right things to say, but to hear what I got to say I think that's pretty cool. I'm a man.
Speaker 1:I'm from small town Mississippi, by way of California. I was born in California, raised in Mississippi, picayune, mississippi, right down there on the Louisiana border, right off the Gulf Coast. From there I found my way to TCU, you know, graduated from TCU, played football at TCU, lettered our conference. Once I completed my senior year, got picked up as an undrafted free agent to the then Washington Redskins, now Washington Commanders, played a couple of preseason games and got cut. Went back to school and graduated. That's the short of it. In between that quite a few things happened, but you know that's the short of it. And then, once I graduated, I taught school for a couple of years and from there I ended up.
Speaker 1:A good friend of mine, who I actually work with and work for now, gave me my first coaching job out of school, because I wasn't coaching whenever I was teaching, I was just teaching language arts spelling. And then he got me out of the classroom and asked me did I want to come coach some college ball? So I started my coaching career two years out of college. Coached for a few years. I coached at the collegiate level for a few years. Coached for a few years. I coached at the collegiate level for a few years, a few different places, and then from there I was back in the DFW and while I was coaching I was a young coach. So while I was coaching I was also training. I was working with athletes outside of the team that I was working on or working with, worked with some high school athletes, worked with some adults.
Speaker 1:So I was actually doing the fitness sports performance as a young coach and young stops at a division two school, working as a defensive assistant at a bigger school, at a power five school, then going back and coaching at the collegiate level smaller collegiate level I had the opportunity to also train. So to make that story make sense, you know what I mean. Uh, from there I found myself back in the dfw and that's where I began my training career per se. I had already had been training, but working with athletes. I started and I've been doing that, and from that time until now my life has been sports performance or coaching as far as a career Done. Training opened up a facility, but within all of those things it was, you know, working as an instructor or a teacher of some sort. So I guess I'm writing a story in its truest form a teacher, because that's what my career has been under four or five different titles.
Speaker 2:That's so cool, one of the things that before I kind of talk about identity and stuff, one of the things that athletes do and it's just been profound for me in the last as I've been at, you know, I guess, interviewing athletes and interviewing coaches and interviewing teachers, the amount of personal development that we're willing to do or to get better.
Speaker 2:You know, if you think of like through high school, through college and then now working with athletes, you'll spend from you know May till whatever you know training, getting better, getting up early in the morning for like, especially in high school right 11 games, 12 weeks, 11 one hour periods that you're going to work and you'll spend your whole life. And then we find people who aren't willing to work on themselves at all. That's going to take their whole life. How you know, as you're coaching and training and you're thinking about these athletes, how has that worked out? As hard as you work to be, where you are helping them understand what needs to happen in order to be, to be great. I think athletics teaches us that, but how are you imparting that onto your athletes and your students?
Speaker 1:for the most part it's been great. I mean for the most part. You know you get for the most part because you you meet those kids at a common goal. Like most of the time when you're working with athletes, they volunteer to do that. It's something that they wanted to do, so it usually works out. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Because they're looking for that guidance.
Speaker 1:They're looking for a team, they're looking to compete and you're in that role. So most of the time it works out. It's when you have a, when the kid is quote-unquote, uncoachable or the coach has a hard time being able to get through to that kid, but most of the time it works out it's a good deal that is cool.
Speaker 2:It works out. It's a good deal. That is cool. I got to ask this question because we're now, we're in January 2025 as we're recording this, and the Washington Commanders lost yesterday. Were you sad, not?
Speaker 1:at all, not at all. So I don't have a real. I don't have a favorite team. Now I do I root for the Commanders because I just I like the way they're playing. Now I do I root for the Commanders because I like the way they play, regardless of how it ended for me. They gave me a shot, they asked me to come and see, so I do root for them. But I don't really have a favorite NFL team, I just like.
Speaker 2:NFL football.
Speaker 1:There we go. I love it.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about identity, because identity is such a big deal in people's lives, and especially for us as black men. What kind of shaped who you are, as you know from the time you were young and where you grew up, and in Mississippi and you know, and now the man that you are now being able to, and willing to, give your life to others. You know, and now the man, that you are now being able to, and willing to give your life to others what are some of?
Speaker 2:those pivotal things or people, uh, that helped shape your identity to where you are now it's a good question.
Speaker 1:Well, my mom and dad, first of all, tremendous people. You know, god rest my dad. So my dad was an amazing dude. Uh, my dad was always there, you know. Uh, he was just, he was a good dude to a lot of people, um, and then the gentleman in my community in my rec sports, uh, and I was shouting him out earlier today, you know, shout out to ronald woods and duck tay God rest his soul. And Bob Ford and James and Roy.
Speaker 1:Acker. You know those gentlemen, my dad, greg Walsh, seeing you like those gentlemen they shaped us they raised us within rec sports. They took the time out of their day when they were to give back to us and they taught us how to play the game, with intensity and ferocity, you know. And they, they taught us a lot of things outside of us just being good and winning. Uh, regardless of their lives, they poured into our lives, uh, you know harvey miller.
Speaker 1:I can go on and on. It's about 10 to 15 men, who women as well, but I mean men who shaped me into the man that I am, that I grew into through high school, college and now today. And I done messed up a lot of stuff over these years.
Speaker 1:I done screwed it up just yesterday you know what I'm saying but understanding what's important and shaking a man's hand and being on time and not being last. You know, look a man in the eye. You know, stand on what you believe, don't run from certain like these. These are the things they, they instilled in us and nobody came to rescue us from the way they went about giving us what they gave us. So I appreciate, I really do, and as a 45 year old man, I can look back at it and understand okay, that's, that's what I picked that up from.
Speaker 1:I got it. I hear you, roy. I didn't hear you when I was 12. I didn't. I didn't hear you when I was 17, but, roy, I hear you today. I promise I got it. Those are the men, ronald. I get why you didn't want us on your grass beating down your property value, man. I get it. But you let us because we was your kids. I get it, ronald, I get it. I promise I do Like they taught us how to be men. I just you know they did.
Speaker 2:And we and.
Speaker 1:I, like I said, in becoming a man I done messed up a whole lot of stuff and I hadn't always been you know forthcoming or honest, but I know I get it and that's a part of the lesson that they taught me.
Speaker 2:Oh man, that's so good.
Speaker 2:When you talk about your dad, which is really cool, and him being there for people. I'm sure in our culture there were probably many kids that were part of your team, that were part of single parents, and it sounds like your dad was willing to take them you know on as well as far as helping them to be better men and better, you know, to the people that they are. Was there a time where you were proud of your dad or you know, thinking of the things that he did in order to help that out or what you know? I could be wrong, he might not talk to anyone, but I just I kind of feel like he was.
Speaker 1:He was there for everybody yeah, I've always been proud of my dad you know, he and he was I can talk about him for this entire time, like this dude was he was amazing and uh, he poured into us and he disciplined us and he treated us, he treated us with respect and dignity.
Speaker 1:And the thing about him was he understood and I didn't realize this until it was shown to me and then I thought about it. Uh, it was shown to me by my sister and then by other people that I had conversations with about him. He had his own relationship with everybody. Wow, you know, so he would. His foundation was the same, but his relationship with me was not like with my younger sister, was not like with my younger sister. His relationship with my friends was his relationship with my friends, not a relationship through me to my friends. So, like he was that kind of dude and you don't meet people like that. Uh, especially understanding how he grew up, that, especially understanding how he grew up and then how he treated people, he was a different kind of person. So, yeah, he was a lot to quite a few people in that small town.
Speaker 2:How did that translate into how you coach and how you lead and how you approach other folks that you work with?
Speaker 1:well, I try to keep the same intensity and ferocity when I'm dealing in the fundamentals, uh, but it helps me pay attention because they were good at paying attention. You know they. We understood the game, which is why we were good at a young age, like we weren't out there. We had ability, we were good athletes, but they taught us the fundamentals of the game and I live in the fundamentals because I I understand how important it is and the reps of fundamentals and the time you got to take. So I know that I got that from them. And then the way they went about it with passion and ferocity, I just I can't say things that they used to be able to say that's, that's the only difference.
Speaker 1:yeah, I have to figure out a better way or a different way to word how I'm expressing what I learned. Let me say it like that I got to find a different way to get that same message across.
Speaker 2:Absolutely Well. I'm thinking about that in this day and age, when you know, when you think about how you guys worked out and the things that you did, you didn't have access to the internet. You didn't have access to all the video games and stuff that people are playing now. So you're almost competing. You're talking about playing fundamentals, but they want to go home and get screen time. They want to go home and do stuff. How do you balance that with today's athlete or today's child?
Speaker 1:Why don't we stop trying to balance and just use it to everybody's advantage? If the information is there. It's like okay, you're on your screen, let's figure out how to get you to watch this. Let's get you to maximize this opportunity. You don't have to waste that screen time.
Speaker 1:It's the same with as adults how much time we waste on the screen versus how much time we use the screen, how much time we complain about ai versus how much time we utilize ai. So it is if you want to be good, you got maxima. How do I say this? Kids today have every opportunity to be better than us, quicker than we evolved to be better than the ones before us because they have the skill in the palm of their hand, they have the information in the palm of their hand. They have the information in the palm of their hand.
Speaker 2:They don't have to search for it.
Speaker 1:A good instructor a good teacher would take that and just point them in that direction. If a dog is going to bite, make him bite. The right things. Don't take the bite out of the dog. Point him the direction of what you need him to bite. Train a child in the way he should go. Train a child in the way he should go, and when he get old he won't depart from it.
Speaker 1:So, if I'm on my screen and I just cut my screen off, I'm still looking at the same stuff when I'm on my screen. But if I say, hey, I got this, you can take a look at it this time and you use that screen to do this now we maximize a bunch of time, energy and possibly money.
Speaker 2:I like that Today's parent. You know, as I was growing up and I've been coaching now 38 years but I was, you know, an athlete and stuff and I can remember my parent not being as involved in every aspect of my, I guess, today's career. Right, because I have parents who will tell me my son can only spend this much time before we send them to this person. And then you know he's ranked and I'm like ranked Especially in the basketball world. Right, he's ranked. What does that mean? She's like well, he's ranked in the top 20 where I'm in Denver, so in Colorado, and so he can't come and do some of the track workouts because it's going to hurt his ranking.
Speaker 2:And I'm just thinking do I really have to spend this time dealing with mom and explain, yeah, as long as you're paying for ranking, you don't get ranked, but how do it? How do you now coach? I guess what I'm asking is how do you coach mom and child? Because they're so and I don't I don't mad mind being parents being involved, but they did. I think they get this misconception of their kids ability transparent, transparent communication based on assessment.
Speaker 1:Based on assessment.
Speaker 2:Facts over feelings.
Speaker 1:I don't want you to argue with me. I don't want you to have me explain to you what it is you need to know.
Speaker 1:I want the information I give you to be what it is, and then I can help you navigate according to what is not what we think, not what people told you. According to this, you're this height, this weight, this size. You average this amount of points a game I've seen your highlights. We need to work on this. This average these, this amount of points again, I've seen your highlights. We need to work on this. This and this.
Speaker 1:Now you can ball now here is everybody else in your position in that, like you, this is what you up against. So the numbers say it is. So we work from there. I think, if you evaluate in honesty, man and these days it's not hard to do because we live in a digital world I can test you, give you your test results right there, show you lines on a grid of what you need to fix. I can do all of that and you can't argue with it because it's you. I can give you some accurate data according to accurate numbers, and then you take that and you use that to your advantage and understand the avenues that you have open that you can now discover, because you gotta you gotta aim big, you come. You gotta you gotta believe.
Speaker 1:D1 that's where the money is, that's what the opportunity is, that's where everybody going. But the problem is somebody's lying to somebody. Just let's take the info. If you, because the best ones, all they need is an opportunity. So you just give them the best avenue of opportunity, especially in today's world. You don't have to just go d1. You know, you can play more in junior, in junior college now. You can play more in in in a upper college. Now you can go from mid-major to power five. You can literally move up almost like in baseball, like a farm league. You can move around.
Speaker 1:And I think it's fantastic. So, with that, understand the avenues that you have according to the data, and then let's get better, let's get busy, let's work on specific stuff, because this is what your numbers say you can actually do that in youth sports. There's no need for that. Youth sports is about fundamental development based on ability.
Speaker 1:If I got a 10 year old and my 10 year old fast. I know a lot of fast 10 year olds. I don't really need to know how fast he runs. I don't. If we teach him how to run when that 10 year old is 15 years old, we don't have to teach him how to test. He already knows how to do a showcase. He already knows how to complete running in the combine because he's developed that skill over that time.
Speaker 2:He ain't just out there running. What about, like and I'm asking these questions because it comes up a lot in youth sports being specialized in a sport that your parent wants you to play? Like you may see a kid who doesn't have dribbling skills but can be a great DB and you want to, you know, send him over to you know another sport or to work on baseball or something like that, because you see potential in him, but parents just want him to be, you know, parent, you got two parents that are both 5'4". You know the kid's not going to. You know, parent, you got two parents that both fight for you know, the kids and I, you know I'm going to you know, do do super well if possible, I guess.
Speaker 1:But you just kind of see that, are you able to to? I say this, I believe. Yeah, I tell them every kid that's an athlete should explore athletics like every sport cross. Don't play anything, just just play because you're developing athletic skills. Yeah, not court. Now take that time and polish that thing that you think they can specialize in. Like just spend some extra time on that. If your kid is a quarterback man, you'll kid a football player until they're a quarterback. In my opinion, and they're an athlete playing basketball, baseball, soccer, hockey.
Speaker 1:They're better in football, but that athleticism allows them to play, so when they're a junior or a sophomore, they can make a sound decision on what direction they want to go, according to what the experience has told them. And and it's not the same these days, because you don't have time the seasons overlap. It's not, that's easy for me to say, but I'm gonna tell you what's real. It's hard to play multiple sports because the seasons overlap for high levellevel athletes and then high-level athletes, the clubs want to keep them in the club throughout the seasons. That's just called competition. That makes sense to me Is it fair.
Speaker 1:I don't know, but I understand why one would do it. And then they are building the development apart within their companies, which, why not? I'm gonna bring the specialist in. It's gonna work on with you on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so when do you have time to go play that other sport? The windows are squeezed. It's hard to practice for one sport because if you try to play two sports, in fact playing one sport now you're doubling up in, like you got club baseball and you got school baseball. So it's theoretically what we were saying earlier. I agree. Realistically it has shifted and I don't know if I like the shift. I think rec sports was the way that sports, youth sports was truly designed to be.
Speaker 1:But because it's not as competitive as it used to be. We got this.
Speaker 2:You know what?
Speaker 1:I mean and this is hard to because I've dealt with not every part of it so some of it is worth it and it's good. Some of it just ain't.
Speaker 2:But that's any other product in a capitalistic society, Absolutely, and that's why I wanted to ask you because I don't know, because we have kicked it and there is the opportunity for somebody. I think about my grandkids and trying to do my grandson is swimming, so he's swimming all year round. He's got a long course, short course, middle course and I thought you know my kids is like well, when does he get to learn? He's nine years old right now. Are you, you know? Are you going to have him in swimming? Are you planning on him getting a swimming scholarship? Is that the deal? And so he's on this trajectory, or does he? Like'm trying, I try, to figure out what age or what maturity level it doesn't necessarily have to be an age that he's not going to get burned out on swimming because he never gets to do anything else but go to swim practice four or five days a week. You know all the. You know he goes to school, plays chess. He goes to swim practice at nine years old, every single day.
Speaker 1:Here's what I've learned. Burnout comes from the consistency of competing, not learning. If you're faster than everybody else in the water and they don't ever teach you how to swim, you're going to get burned out. If they see the potential in you because you're faster than everybody in the water and they teach you the skills of becoming a great swimmer over time, you won't get burned out because your body won't burn, your engine won't burn itself up, it won't get boring or how many people have ever gotten burned out?
Speaker 1:most people. People are bored of a subject, but you don't get burned out on English because you got to learn letters. You got to learn sounds. You got to learn letters. You got to learn phrases you got to learn sentences.
Speaker 2:You got to learn paragraphs.
Speaker 1:You see what I'm saying. So you're in a constant cycle of learning.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, that makes so much sense. But you know, and I think about the kid who's fast in the water, but then I think of all the other parents that are there that the kid isn't fast in the water. The kid is, you know, coming in. You know they're, they're, you know, you see their faces because they come in last every time. That's still mom makes them. You know, eventually see their faces because they come in last every time, but still mom makes them. You know, eventually there's got to be a point where parent says he's never won a race.
Speaker 1:There's got to be something else people do, right. So my point to that is after the kid decides they don't want to do it no more, they have to finish what they started and then don't do it no more. Yeah, like because there's so many lessons in finishing what you started like nothing's worse than quitting. So like you in it, okay, finish it out, so you know for a fact.
Speaker 1:This ain't your, this ain't your thing. Let's move on to the next. You know, I think it's a lot of lessons in that, but we don't everything's so fast? We don't take that time to learn. We experience that pain, but we won't take that time to learn. We experience that pain, but we won't learn that lesson, and I don't understand that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you for going down this rabbit hole with me, because I see you as an expert and I know a lot of people who ever watch this or even thinking of how do we deal with this. I think as a parent, you know, I'm beyond those ages where my youngest is 28. But at the same time I have all these grandkids and then I'm trying to, you know, teach my daughter and my son, who have their kids, that are now in all these youth sports that I wasn't used to use, sports that I wasn't used to because I'm not used to the, you know, the specialist, the one year long season of one sport where I got to try a whole bunch of stuff and found out what I was really good at. And so sometimes it's hard for me to to figure that out. When we talk about relationships and being a husband or being a dad or being dad or being a coach for somebody, what are some of the most influential things that we can do to help foster relationships so that they thrive and they're not broken?
Speaker 1:Listen. Listen, listen, don't just wait to talk.
Speaker 2:Listen, I mean that, my wife used to tell me listen, to understand, not to be right.
Speaker 1:Respond.
Speaker 2:There you go, yeah.
Speaker 1:Don't just wait to talk. Listening is hard and it's a learned skill. And listen without judgment, you know, and then go because and you got to.
Speaker 1:I'm still learning that. Okay, you know I'm not, I'm not saying that and like I'm, I know I know so. But I think that right there, a lot of times parents they don't really hear their kids, and I get it because they're around them all the time. You know what I'm saying. But I think us, as instructors, people got employees. Just listen, you might not agree, you might not even care. Just listen, because you're gonna, you might get something that could help everybody but it's hard to listen sometimes, right for because I want to listen all the time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to be right. I want to be right I want to be the person who you know tells them what I think you know I learned about 20 years ago from a pastor. He said that hurting people hurt people and that's when they lash out. And so trying to listen, like you're saying, to understand what might be hurting them, instead of just responding to the lash out. Have you experienced any of those times where man if I just listened. This would have went a different way.
Speaker 1:No doubt about it. No doubt about it. That's how I know, you know I mean, let's keep it real. You know, sometimes you don't want to hear that.
Speaker 2:Sometimes, you ain't want to hear that.
Speaker 1:Sometimes you ain't trying to hear that, but you need to, man. It's like, in order to be good at anything what I'm learning, in order to be good at something like, you have to really think about what it is you're doing. You're doing, you know you can only control what you can actually control. That's it. So you got to ask yourself what is that? What is it that I can actually control? And it ain't just one or two things. Some people can control more things than others, and then what you got control of isn't important, and you see what I mean. And you got to.
Speaker 1:It ain't about nobody else until it is. It really ain't. Like when I'm coaching, it ain't about me. Like, you paid me for this time. You paid me for this time and we got to do what we agreed to. That's it. If I keep it there, I'm sure I could build a quality relationship if I just keep it there. You know this is what we said we're going to do. You said you're going to pay me this amount of money on this day to do these things.
Speaker 1:I said I was going to do these things. Let's keep it there. That's what they, and then from there you can grow a real relationship. It's not hard to listen whenever you're like yo, little Greg, this week I can't do it because of this, or I can't do it, or can we move Absolutely, let's talk about it, let's do this. That's, that's how I really believe it. You know, I believe you, you, you have to be able to remember what it is you're actually trying to do remember what it is you're actually trying to do.
Speaker 2:What do you think your greatest strength as a coach is? What makes you above and beyond what other coaches who are out there doing? We're in this world today of coaches for everything, and some are good. I get spiked in that all along, you know. Some people say, well, you had to do the thing in order to be a good coach. But then I look at like Bill Belichick. He didn't play football, but he absolutely understood how to get the best out of people.
Speaker 1:What do you?
Speaker 2:think your strength is your biggest strength in coaching.
Speaker 1:Persistence and Persistence and explaining Like I can get you to understand what I want and we won't misunderstand what's necessary. I'll find words, I'll find what I need to find to make sure that you're getting it Whether you do it or not. That's the second part.
Speaker 2:Do you sometimes find it one of the things I can think of, like Michael Jordan, you know, arguably one of the best basketball players ever I don't know if he's a great coach. Business, I think, is because he was able to do things that there's no way he could coach it, because he was just talented enough to do it. Do you ever find in your coaching and your style of coaching that because you were a really good athlete and just had talent that other folks didn't have? That sometimes it's hard to get concepts through that you were able to do but they just aren't capable of doing?
Speaker 1:Nope, okay, nope, and part of that is because of persistence. But I had a car and I don't know where you got it from so I can't quote it. But I had a coach say and I I believe this coaching ain't telling people what to do, coaching is getting them to do what you need them to do when you need them to do it. And then I say this like the Bible, regardless of what one believes or who one believes in, the Bible has a great. It's a great source of legitimate information and I think everyone should take the time to read every once in a while. But the Bible says in everything you get, don't matter what it is, get understanding. That's got to be important, because most problems come from misunderstanding.
Speaker 2:Woo.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, they do.
Speaker 2:It's in athletics too.
Speaker 1:I ain't understand. I need you to understand. I don't need you to like it, I need you to understand it, that way you can do it. Yeah, I don't understand what you want me to do. I'm stuck.
Speaker 2:Good.
Speaker 1:Now what I'm saying most problems in life in sports. What's the busted coverage of misunderstanding? I thought I was supposed to do this. He thought I was supposed to do that. Nah, man, that ain't right. Fix that. Like sports relationships business. This is what we said we're do, right. Okay, do what you say you come to that's one of the best. I've ever received as a business on. I was shout out to my man, sam Davis.
Speaker 1:He he had a company called the wicked wine run and he sold it, but he had a company called the wickedicked Wine Run and he sold it, but he had a company called the Wicked.
Speaker 1:Wine Run and I used to buy a license and go do the like, direct the run, direct the event. So we brought a team to a place in Oklahoma where we did it and we had an agreement. It was our first time working together and you know it was his spot and we had to use his place and bring people there. But it went off just like we talked about. Just like we talked about, and he said you know what, greg, I really appreciate it working with you on this. He said I got to tell you I'm impressed. Your team did exactly what you said y'all would do. And I thought that was the best compliment I ever received, because you know, if I tell somebody I'm going to do something, I don't do it. I still I'm working my ass off right now today to do things that I told people I was going to do, that, that I told people I was gonna do, that I ain't done yet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you see what I'm saying I do, I do, you know, and you're like once you know, I agree with you like 99.99 what you're saying. That is why I'm just pulling it out, because I want the people who are watching this to hear this. These are success tips and secrets to be successful in whatever you're doing. And I think somebody just gets so confused. You know, like you're talking about fundamentals, right, and how important those are, and you know how vital it is and they want to keep bringing in programs with trick plays and you know all these extra stuff that don't develop the athlete, that don't develop the kid, that don't develop character, that are not part of the success formula that works.
Speaker 2:And you know it's so refreshing to hear somebody say, no, this is how you do it. And then go out and do it, you know, and be a person, the integrity that's there. I'm not gonna. I'm not gonna just blow smoke. I'm gonna tell you this is what we need to do and then we go do it and we're gonna work as long as it takes to get it done and I'm not, and I don't tell.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't tell people they can't do it because I don't know I'll be like you can't do that. That's not cool. But I do say this is what that is, that you're trying to do. Here's this, here's that. This is where you are. This is what it'll take to get there. Can you do it? I don't know. Right now. Your height says you ain't going to be here. I didn't say you couldn't do it. I said you can't go here to do it, but if you want to play ball, you can go do it here. So, like you got to be honest, no, you can't go to Florida State. But let's be real, florida State is college. If you didn't think you could go play at Florida State, you wouldn't think you could play in college. You can play, but this is what it's going to take.
Speaker 2:Now, if you do all those, things.
Speaker 1:Here's the real truth. This is what it's going to take for the opportunity to do those things.
Speaker 2:Ain't no guarantees.
Speaker 1:You got to do all of this just for an opportunity, and, as a man, to me, all you could really ask anybody for is an opportunity for is an opportunity.
Speaker 2:So so, so true, help me with and you brought it up a few times but how faith has played an important part in the way that you talk to kids, or the way that you even talk to yourself, or the way that you carry yourself, whether it's the Bible and the things that you've learned from that, or the men and people that you've been around. How has your faith played a part?
Speaker 1:Well, I mean, belief is one of the most important things you can have, is one of the most important things you can have it plays an extremely important role in everything I do Belief in God, belief in myself, belief in the people around me. According to what we agree to, it means it's everything, but here's why Because we don't know.
Speaker 2:And if you knew you would never have to believe, like I know, my name.
Speaker 1:I don't believe my name is great. Like I know, I know, you know, you know. If we knew what happened when we died, there would be no reason to believe anything other than what you know, we don't know. There would be no reason to believe anything other than what you know, we don't know, we don't know.
Speaker 2:So if you knew the outcome of a game.
Speaker 1:It wouldn't be no purpose to play except to get stats. But you don't know. You believe because all the work you did and your team is good and because this cat caught six touchdowns and your coaches nominated for coach of the year. Now you believe you're gonna win. That's how, that's the role it plays in my life, like, belief is the most important. Belief is more important than no. Thank you knowing.
Speaker 1:Thank you, yeah, because we set up that anticipation right, and anticipation allows you to experience To go experience To at least go try it, go see that feeling you ain't going to take the shot unless you believe you can make the shot at some, at some capacity, unless you're just throwing it up, knowing you're not trying. But if you try just a little bit, you know what trying just a little bit is. That's faith, as small as a must to see trying just a little bit. So imagine what happened when you try a lot of it.
Speaker 2:that's belief yeah, why you take a shot? If you don't believe that there's a chance it's going to go in, let's take it further your grandma terminally ill.
Speaker 1:People have terminally ill grandparents, they still pray to God to keep her ill. That's how strong belief is she knows she's going to die we all going to go. Strong belief is she knows she finna die. We all gonna go. How many people that came back and told us what's going on? None of mine, so I gotta believe certain things. That's how powerful belief is. So imagine if you ramp that up in a situation not that serious. You, you're going to do the things it takes to ramp up your belief.
Speaker 2:If you ain't studied.
Speaker 1:You don't believe you're going to pass unless you know the material.
Speaker 1:So what's the point in belief? But if you studied to show that self-approve, you studied and you've learned it and you've been in the classes. You believe without a doubt. Yo, I'm about to crush this test. You don't know, you ain't never done it before. You don't know. But your actions faith that works is dead. But your actions showed you that you should have the utmost belief or faith in yourself for the ability given to you by God to succeed at this thing. That's good.
Speaker 2:Thank you for that. We've got a few minutes left. I know you got to run here pretty quick, but what did I not talk about? Or what didn't we get to talk about? That you want to make here pretty quick, but what did I not talk about? Or what didn't we get to talk about? That you want to make sure that you let the folks who are watching today I got my lesson, I got lots of notes and I'm going to be a better coach as a result of talking to you, but what did you want everybody else to know about?
Speaker 1:I just wish we get back to competition. Just think about competition in its purest form, not hightailing it when things get tough, or switching up when you don't get to shine as soon as you want to, not working through the adversity to see if it could actually work out for you. I think we need to get back to that because that builds mental, mental, uh, toughness. You know, not everything is meant for you to bypass some things we got to go through so well, in order to be tough, right in order you think of.
Speaker 2:A diamond doesn't become a diamond if it's not under pressure, if it's not smashed together. Right, we have to go through things.
Speaker 1:To get through things.
Speaker 2:Yeah and go through right. It's like the ladies that used to be at the church would say I'm just going through it when you don't get through it.
Speaker 1:You got to go through it. To get through it. You got to get through it.
Speaker 2:You got to go through it to get through it, you got to get through it 20 years later. How you doing man Going through it?
Speaker 1:You got to get through it.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh. Oh man, I don't know why that just reminded me of that when you said that. Oh man, I don't know why, that just reminded me of that when you said that, but that is hilarious. And so, greg, thank you for, you know, spending the time with us today. Thank you for, you know, just making sure that you're authentic. You know and I think that's something that we don't see a lot of all the time is, you know, folks that will just tell you the truth. I think we try to to, um, especially, you know, when we think about businesses and we think about you know, we're trying to create money. So we want to tell people, hey, your kid is amazing, your kid is great. You know, give me another, you know, two or $300 so that that I I'll keep coaching them. And you know, you know, hey, I'm going to work them through what they need to work through so they can get with it. And so I just appreciate not only your authenticity but you, your just ability to communicate, a idea that makes sense.
Speaker 1:And it's simple and we don't need to complicate it.
Speaker 2:You know you're a language teacher and you could have used all kinds of vocabulary today that you know would have said, oh, that sounds really good, but I have no idea what Greg's talking about. You didn't do that. So I appreciate that, that you're willing to be on here today and talk about that. And so for those of you who are, you know, watching this and say I want more of this, go ahead and subscribe with notifications, but, more importantly, share this. Share this with people.
Speaker 2:If you know, somebody that could benefit like you did, then go ahead and sit down and share it for them. I think that's important. Anyone closing thought before we end no, man, I appreciate the time.
Speaker 1:You can, you know, can find us at uh on youtube at performance experience. You can find us on facebook at the performance experience and you can find us on instagram at performance experience. Uh, so yeah, just uh, look us up and, um, I need to get on, I need to get this up as quick as we can, and then you know, we'll be well. I love to talk to you All right, well, thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you for your time. Hey, don't forget you. My friends are God's greatest gift. He loves you, if you allow him to, and we'll look forward to talking to you at the next one. Have a great day.
Speaker 1:Appreciate you having me.