10 Episodes In: Highlights & Insights with Mina Shaw

What happens when the cleats come off, and athletes transition into life beyond the field? How do our athletic journey mold us into the persons we are today? We promise you'll uncover the answer as we reflect on the emotional journey of our first 10 episodes of Beyond the Cleats. Together with my co-host, Ailaina Keely, we navigate the complex topics of finding purpose after sports, addressing mental health, and recognizing the intrinsic value beyond our athletic identities. This reflection not only revisits the challenges of leaving behind a significant chapter of life but also celebrates the strengths and vulnerabilities that come with it.

We also delve into the art of mastering habits and achieving success that transcends the individual. With personal anecdotes and guest interviews, such as those with competitive rower Noah Fisk and doctoral candidate Jenna Parsons, we explore the themes of healthy competitiveness, selfless joy, and the pressures faced by young athletes today. This episode serves as a heartfelt thank you to our listeners, filled with gratitude for your support, and excitement for the powerful conversations yet to come.

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Transcript

Welcome & Reflection

Speaker 1 0:00

Welcome back to the Beyond the Cleats podcast, and today you guys are in for a little bit of a tree. It's going to be a little bit different today. This, as of right now, we have done 10 episodes, not including this one. This will be the 11th, but you probably saw that in the description, the in the description, 10 episodes I'm. The journey so far has been incredible and I'm so grateful for all of you who tune in and listen and follow on social media through tiktok, instagram, some youtube. It's. It's awesome and'm super, super grateful for it and it's only going to go up from here. We have a lot more in store for you guys, a lot more guests to come on that are scheduled out, so I'm super excited for that, and I can't start this episode off without acknowledging Elena Keeley's contributions. As a primary contributor on this podcast and co-host, she's been invaluable with her contributions and so a thank you and a shout out to her. Please show some love. She's been awesome and super, super grateful for her contributions.

Episode #1: Final Whistle to New Horizons

Speaker 1 1:32

So today we're going to be going through and recapping those 10 episodes and the journey so far, because the inception of this podcast was, you know, figuring out and finding connections between you know how sports and fitness, you know, transform our personal lives but also our professional lives. It goes hand in hand through different skills, developing different systems, shared experiences. You know being on an athletic team and being on a sales team is different, but it's also the same. So episode one, final Whistle I'm trying to read the make sure I get the titles right so in case you want to go back and see them Low-key, honest plug. So in episode one, final Whistle to New Horizons, we really Elena and I explored, you know what happens when it just it ends. You know your athletic career is so much a part of who you are and in that podcast we talked and hashed out kind of the emotions of that. You know I used to think about what and how I would react to the, my latin, my, the last pitch, being a softball player. And Elena as well, she talks about how she got a concussion on her last game. And sometimes you don't expect how you are going to feel when it ends. Sometimes it's emotional, sometimes it's indifferent, sometimes it's unexpected. I've talked to folks who just have career-ending injuries. So it's a lot to digest. And then you have to start to ask yourself well, what's next? That's the big question there what's next? And navigating life beyond the cleats. Little plug there, how do we navigate that? Because, as an athlete, you go from this very structured environment. You have your lifts, you have your practices. If you're in school, you have your classes Structure, structure, structure, boom, boom, boom and then it just ends.

Speaker 1 4:54

I ended up having just so much time on my hands, but more than that, it was almost like filling this void. It's like what do I do? Where is my sense of purpose? And that loss of purpose. So we kind of tackle those concepts in that episode and it was a wonderful talk, again, so grateful for it.

Speaker 1 5:25

Uh, me and elena would often joke that you know we want to put out value and and share our experiences, both because we know that there's people out there that either have experienced what we've experienced or can relate on that note, which is is the core and you know the crux to this podcast, and really it's yeah, so yeah, filling that void. And you know we, yeah, so we, we often joke. It finally came back to me. We often joke. You know this is a little bit of a therapy session for us. You know, hashing out old memories and reflecting on old and new lessons.

Episode #2: Embracing Self-Worth Beyond the Game

Speaker 1 6:14

And a big one for us was like it's such a big part of our identity, athletics, and you, just you lose it. And so where's your sense of purpose, where's your sense of self-worth? And that's how we got into our episode two, where we talk about embracing self-worth. You know athletics, you as an athlete, it's such ingrained in your identity from a young age, it's such ingrained to where now it's gone. So where does your value lie? Where can you put out value? And Elena touched on this wonderfully where it's like you have inherent value. You have inherent value as a human being. And it's very, very true I've talked about. You know, you're not your sport, you're not your job, you are you and that's enough.

Speaker 1 7:33

And I've been getting a lot of having a lot of good conversations about well, is there a difference? You know, male value versus female value, and no male or female or indifferent, you are you and there's this, definitely this pressure. I know I have a lot of male friends that I've had these conversations of it's a little bit different. You know, had these conversations of it's a little bit different. You know it's tough to be a, to be a guy and again, I can't speak on personal experiences. I'd love to get someone on who can, who can, touch on that, and I have some ideas. So stay tuned for that. But male mental health is skyrocketing in the professional space, in the military, and it's not talked about a lot.

Speaker 1 8:36

Masculine and be that warrior, be that king, but be able to talk about your struggles. It's okay to be vulnerable. Guys and I do mean, uh, the men out there, because I've seen it, I've seen it with my, my own personal friends of just it's shedding and and tearing them away of you can be in your masculine. You can be that warrior and be that guy, but also be vulnerable. Talk about what is troubling you up in here, up here. And it starts with having that network, having that group of friends, having that family that is there to support you. You know, from a partner perspective, you can be the warrior, you can be the king, but you need kings around you to help you and support you and have those tough conversations and talk about what you are struggling with mentally, emotionally. You know there's. You know if you have a girlfriend or you have a partner. You know if you have a girlfriend or you have a partner, they may not be able to. If you're stressed at work or you're building a business and that's a lot on your shoulders, they don't. It's understanding that you know they're not going to be able to fix it and you know that you know that they're not going to be able to fix the stresses and the issues that are going on in that business, in that career. But it's having that support. Kings need a queen and as queens, you are there to support them. You are there to let them be heard and to let them know that they have value.

Episode #3: Hidden Strength of Team Role Players

Speaker 1 11:09

I know I went on a little bit of of a rant there, but it is. It is so, so true and it's and it's so, so important guys. Oh yeah, you know, and and from that you have to know what you bring to the table. You have to know what you bring to the table and you have to put the ego aside and really look objectively at things. I tried to make it a smooth transition there, but it's not going to be a super smooth transition to episode three, which is the hidden strength of team role players, so roles within a team.

Speaker 1 12:05

So if we think about team sports and again we talk about this you're going to have, you know, in softball you're starting nine. I think in soccer, elena was saying it was a starting six. I'm probably wrong. Someone let me know what that is, because I forget. So there can only be nine people on the field and in order to have a good culture, you have to have those supporting roles. Me myself, I was a pinch runner. That is a supporting role, but it is still nonetheless a role, and it's good to embrace your role.

Speaker 1 12:52

But that doesn't mean that you have to be satisfied with it. It doesn't mean that you can just are just going to lay over and be like okay, well, I'm just a pinch runner or I'm just a pinch hitter, I'm just an assistant, I'm just a secretary, I'm just a. In the sales space, I'm just a they call it an appointment setter. So they set the appointments and then the closers, the higher sales reps, will close the deal. Yes, those are very important roles and it's okay to embrace your role, but you don't have to, you don't have to be satisfied with it.

Speaker 1 13:37

But part of that is, as we talk about in the episode, being objective about what that means. What do you need to do to improve? Because and I said, I say this before and I will say it again you have to be your harshest critic. You are going to be your harshest critic, but you also have to be your harshest critic. But you also have to be your biggest advocate and you have to be objective about where is your current skill set and what do you need to do to improve, to get to that next step, get to that next role, be in the starting nine, be a closer instead of an appointment setter. What do you need to do? What actions do you need to take?

Episode #4: Building - Your Toolbox: The Power of Versatility

Speaker 1 14:31

And part of that process is understanding your current role, but also understanding everybody else's role. That, personally, that's what's helped me when I was an outfielder. If I'm a center fielder and I'm seeing the entire field, I see what everything's going on when the ball is hit, I know what I'm supposed to do, but I know where I can better position myself in the field because I know if the ball is hit in this scenario, the shortstop is going to move here, the third baseman is going to move here, the first baseman has to do X, Y and Z and by understanding how all those moving pieces are working, I can better perform my role and again get in that starting spot. And it's about just creating that value. Making yourself valuable is what's going to put you in the position to get into that leadership role, get into that hired paid position. And that's where we also talk about in episode four, building your toolbox.

Speaker 1 15:49

In softball, I use the example of I was a slapper, which is essentially a certain type of hitter that hits the ball different types of ways mechanically. I had, you know, my slapper toolbox. You have your hard slap, your soft slap, your bunt. So I had all these little different tools, depending on the scenario, on the field, of what I could do, and that made me super valuable, made me super valuable Utility players. If you can be a versatile athlete and the coach, as Elena would point out, you love the utility players because you can put them anywhere and that's going to increase your chances and your opportunity to again be in that starting position. And that's why I love the jack-of-all-trades quote, which is a jack-of-all-trades is a master of none, but better to be a master of none than a master of one, and it's so, so true.

Speaker 1 17:11

Now we can also, you know, break this down of you know, having a whole bunch of tools in different disciplines, like if you have a whole bunch of skills in sales, but you also have a whole bunch of skills in graphic design. You know, if the skills don't overlap in some way, yes, there can be some disconnects. You need, I will say, some sort of you know specificity. You know if you're, you know that's under, I would say, the same umbrella. So, like, if you're a filmmaker and you have various skills to film different types of content, maybe some cinemagraphics, some you know for podcasts, you know different skill sets where you can produce different types of content. You know you're not just a one and done type of filmmaker. It's the same way in sales. You know being good at cold calling, but also you know cold email, being a good investigator. Again, sales isn't, you know, my specialty, but having a skill set to perform your job better. But that also, you know, diversifies your opportunities.

Speaker 1 18:50

And you know I get this question a lot is you know what if you don't know what you want to do? What if you don't know, like, what job you want to do? And I actually did this exercise a couple weeks ago of just write down skills that you have, what strengths that you have. Like, I'm good at writing, I'm good at speaking. I hope you guys let me know I'm good at speaking. I hope you guys let me know. So, writing down skills that you have.

Episode #5: From Good to Great: The Path of Consistent Effort

Speaker 1 19:28

I was doing this when, you know, in my research fellowship, trying to figure out you know what my next career objective is, and started realizing, okay, what skills do I have, what skills do I need, like, oh, I need to learn data management. You know I'm good at scheduling, good at communication. Write those out and that'll help you narrow down. You know what you want to do and where you can build on your skills and build on your strengths. And you know pattern the weaknesses. And you know that's getting into episode five where we talk about you know what makes a good athlete a great athlete. You know how do you go from good to great. And that's what we kind of talk about from the athletic perspective is we talk about what makes a good athlete a great athlete.

Speaker 1 20:35

What do coaches look for for? And it really starts from mastering habits and developing systems to promote repetitive productive effort. And I'll say that again, it's mastering habits and developing systems to promote repetitive productive effort, repetitive productive effort through creating those systems to reinforce those habits. So for me that was T-work. I would just go hit off the T repetitively, but I had a system in place to do that. I did my tea work either in the morning, depending on what day it was, or I did it in the late evening, depending on what the day was.

Speaker 1 21:36

Another one is writing copy. For those who don't know what copy is, it's basically a form of written marketing. It's marketing in sales, you know, with the written word. So it's again just working on those skills. And the biggest piece of advice that I got with that is never take more than two days off. You should never take more than two days off in any skill you are trying to develop or improve.

Speaker 1 22:22

And that was huge. It was, you know, because if you think about it, two days turns is okay, like all right, missed the one day, cause we get super, super. I would get super hard on myself and I know you guys probably do too of like, oh, I'm just like I'm losing it. It's like, all right, you missed the one day, oh, I missed the two days. Okay, that third day, we're going to get back after it, because that third day turns into a fourth day, turns into a week, turns into a week and a half. So having that kind of rule in place mitigates that and I'll be completely honest you know that's I'm not the best with that when you know, doing this, one of the learning curves of this, of this podcast, was trying to, you know, stay and implement that rule. I would have these really productive weeks where I would be two, three weeks ahead of schedule, really productive weeks where I would be two, three weeks ahead of schedule and then three days turns into five days, turns into a week and a half, to where now I'm not ahead of schedule, not behind schedule, but now we need to catch up and it doesn't make for the most quality of things.

Episode #6: Selfless Success: Embracing Mudita and Gratitude

Speaker 1 23:46

But again and then, one thing Elena and I had talked about was finding the balance between the high seasons and the low seasons. So you're going to have high, high months and you're going to have low months, and it's creating that balance of you know what needs to be done. You know you're going to have months where you're going to have a lot of time on your hands and you can focus a lot on the gym, and there are going to be days where you know business needs your full attention and you're maybe getting in a quick 30-minute sweat. But at the end of the day and we talked about this is on self-care, and self-care is a huge part of that balance of being good to great, and one of my mentors that I follow said it best. He said I needed to be selfish before I could be selfless. You need to take care of you before you take care of everyone else. And it's a great piece of advice. And you know that leads into episode six, which one is my favorite number, and you know that leads into episode six, which one is my favorite number. And yes, I did plan on having this topic on six and it is selfless success.

Speaker 1 25:39

You know, again, another great piece of advice I got is you have to prepare your vessel. So, going into that, you have to be selfish before you can be selfless. I like to refer it kind of like an arc. You are creating this arc to keep everything afloat. You know everything you put in that arc. You know Noah had the animals. You have your business, you have your relationships, you have your professional career, you have your athletic career, you have your academics, everything is in that arc. But first you have to build it up, you have to prepare it to hold and to stay afloat, and it's a hard pill to swallow. It's a hard pill to swallow, but once you do that, no-transcript. And again another kind of hard pill to swallow.

Speaker 1 26:34

I was never, it was never something that was taught until I got to college. I probably, you know, joked about it, that I don't. We don't even think we would be receptive by it, because you're just so, sport, competition, rah, rah, rah, get recruited, which was heavily pushed and emphasized. Which was heavily pushed and emphasized. And when you think about it, selflessness is a verb, it's a habit, it's something you know. I believe it can be reinforced. I believe it can be reinforced, I believe it can be taught, but it is only then up to the individual to embrace it. So you can bring it into your team, you can bring it into your culture, but it's only up to the individual to take it upon themselves. And again, it is a habit, it's active, it's alive. You know, in some ways it is inherent. We kind of went back and forth and debated on, you know, is it a little bit of nature, is it a little bit of nurture? I believe it can be both, you know, but at the end of the day, it's up to the individual to embrace and adopt selflessness and mudita, which means and translates to selfless joy.

Speaker 1 28:16

So, having that sense of using the scenario of you may be in competition with someone, but you celebrate their successes just as they would celebrate your successes, as they would celebrate your successes. I remember when I was at DePauw, a teammate of mine she was a year older and essentially we had the exact same job, exact same role. Offensively and defensively, we were vying for the same spots and vying for the same, you know, starting position and and those opportunities. And it's there and even through, even though we were in competition with each other, we would always be building each other up. She would, you know, offer me advice and vice versa, and we were building each other up and when one of us got an opportunity over another, there was no ill will there and yeah, I hope she's doing, doing wonderful. She's such an incredible person and you know you have to be grateful for those moments when you have those opportunities.

Episode #7: Mentorship: The Game Changer

Speaker 1 29:47

But you know, be humble enough to know that. You know, if someone else is going in above you, that you, you know, support them all the way and you know that's you know, and that's part of it. You know be humble and be grateful for those opportunities and be open to criticism. You know I'm super grateful for the mentors that I've had and that goes into episode seven where we talk about mentorship. And you know, elena and I, in this episode, talk about the distinction between mentorship and coaching, about the distinction between mentorship and coaching, because they're similar but different. You know, elena would describe coaching as more of like the you know, giving athletes, giving sales reps. I feel like it's the easiest scenario. You know hard skills where mentorship brings in the human aspect of it, the human centeredness to it, and ultimately, that's how you build those bonds, that's how you build those relationships. It's about building those relationships between mentor and mentee where there is a relationship to build and ultimately, that's how you're going to build your network.

Speaker 1 31:22

We go into network building. You may not even realize that you have a network. Your friends are your network, your coworkers, your teammates, your coaches. That's a network and let's say that. Let's say that you know you want to be in a certain space. You know I'm, you know, in the entrepreneurial space.

Speaker 1 31:52

There's a lot of online courses out there and a lot of online mentors and influencers and it's pushed heavily. And my biggest advice for that is YouTube is a huge resource. Go on. If there's something you want to learn or something you want to get good at, google it, search it. We live in the age of information and technology and I advocate for buying an online course.

Speaker 1 32:32

And a lot of people might be like, no, you're crazy. And a lot of people might be like, no, you're crazy, there's so many scams out there. I'm like, yeah, there are, but you need to do your research on those mentors, on those influencers that are in the space you want to be in. And that's a lot about what me and Elena talked about as well, which is find scenarios to be in that space and seek those people out. And on the flip side, that can be in conferences and things like that networking events. But if you're just someone who wants to improve a certain skill set or get into a certain space, google and YouTube are going to be your tools. And again, yes, there are a lot of scams out there.

Speaker 1 33:25

There are a lot of people who they learn a little bit of a subject and they think they can just preach on it and then they slap on an online course because they think that's going to make them money. And that shouldn't be the case. And if you are an influencer or a mentor out there, make sure you are giving value and again doing it going back to selflessnesslessness doing it from a selfless standpoint. You know I love mentoring folks and I love being able to be in that corner, and part of this podcast, you know, is me hoping to also reach more people and help more people. That shouldn't be from a selfish standpoint. You know I am a strength and conditioning coach. I am a performance coach. People pay me to help increase their performance, whether that's physically or whether that's, you know, in the you know life organization space.

Speaker 1 34:48

It's vetting the people you want to be around and I think that's really what I'm getting at here, guys, is just do your research. Watch their YouTube videos. Like Alex Haramozy has a whole bunch and the reason why he's so valued is because he puts out so much value and so much content. He gives you the A to B format. And again, that's part of the whole process of these entrepreneurs that have these courses is they're putting out these videos to get you to buy their course, but it's through those videos you're going to gain a better understanding if what they do aligns with your values. And just do your research, guys. Just do your research.

Episode #8: Unlocking Your Potential with Time Management

Speaker 1 35:39

I've bought courses that were really crappy and did not help me and was a scam, and I've also bought courses that have completely changed the game for me personally, professionally just huge mind shifts, and again you have to be systematic with it. You only have so much time in the day to deal with, you know, influencers. You know, because a lot of them they are there to waste your time, but there are a few handfuls that truly do want to help and do have your best interest at heart, and that's what it should be about. That's a little frustrating, you know, when I see that they should have your best interest at heart and goes into our. We're going to kind of transition to the next episode, which is episode eight, on, which is unlocking your potential with time management.

Speaker 1 36:52

You know, in in your life, time management is, it's one of those skills that's so applicable to athletics, personal life, professional life, and Alayna and I, you know, kind of break down what that looks like. We both have, you know, various takes on on what that looks like and what's the benefit of it. So it's definitely a good watch if you're much structure, you know, takes away from just being present, um, and and enjoying the moment and the little things. And then, of course, you know, humbly speaking, you know, on my end of things I'm very structured, um, sometimes it's down to the minute and it's acknowledging everyone has their own way of doing things and for me, my structure allows me to be present, but sometimes it can be so overwhelming and, you know, can be bogged down in just, you know, too much, too much structure and too much Again, there's always you can have too much of a good thing. Much again, there's always you can have too much of a good thing. So, if I have everything planned down to the minute, it's about being flexible and you have to kind of be flexible. Be flexible. You know time is in your hands and you have to figure out the best way to structure it and develop the system that works best for you, because it can be overwhelming. You know there's a sense of creating structure but also keeping kind of that freedom and versatility and you have to find that balance. There are some weeks where, and months sometimes, where it's minute by minute. But I'll tell you right now, if I'm not on vacation I try not to be structured. So it's about having that balance. That was a good one. A lot of different perspectives. We talk about time blocking too. So if you're interested in time management and time blocking, definitely go check that out.

Speaker 1 39:47

So, episode 9 we had our first guest on, which was Noah Fisk. He's so passionate about sales and he is one the spirit of finding that connection between, you know, sports and fitness experiences and professional experiences. He was a competitive rower. He was a super competitive guy and we break down how you know. You know, competitiveness in rowing has kind of translated to the sales space for him and we kind of talk about you know, is there such thing as being too competitive? You know, we talked about throughout this whole podcast, you know, healthy competitiveness ways, ways of challenging each other in a competitive way, because you want to be in that mindset of no one works harder than me, no one's going to beat me. You want to be in that mindset, but that shouldn't mean that you are hindering others in the process. Again, going back to your network, you may be in the same space. Again, going back to selflessness and Mudita, you might be in competition with another teammate, might be in competition with another teammate, but again, that shouldn't hinder, you shouldn't be trying to hinder them, if anything. If anything, the opportunity for collaboration not only will create a higher likelihood of your success, but it will also improve their success as well. So it's kind of it's finding that balance.

Episode #10: Shaping Futures: The Lifelong Impact of Youth Sports

Speaker 1 42:03

Noah was our first guest on. It was super awesome to have him on. We're hoping to have him on again to further dive into his connections between rowing and his professional life. So that'll be, that'll be an exciting episode. And again, guys, I just love drawing these connections between the personal and professional and how sports and fitness fit into this and how it transforms our lives and shapes it. So episode 10, that one probably wasn't a too smooth transition, but here we go, we're in it now.

Speaker 1 42:57

So the last one is episode 10 the impact of youth sports. I had good friend of mine and doctoral candidate at lsu, jenna Parsons, on and that was a good talk it was. Not only did we talk about our own personal experiences when we were younger in youth sports, we all had the unique experience of coaching at the youth level anywhere from like really young kids all the way up to like high school youth level, anywhere from like really young kids all the way up to like high school. So we kind of talked about. You know, we all had, you know, various experiences, but the one thing we noticed between all of our experiences with coaching at the youth level is that there's such a pressure to perform with these kids and they're an even bigger movement of you know sports specificity. You know kids are transitioning to single sport athletes younger and younger and younger and you know there's the pressure of college athletics and getting a scholarship and there's that pressure there and we go into that whole scenario because it's such a misconception and there's just just so much pressure there, like we didn't really start thinking about college recruitment until, like high school, you really don't.

Speaker 1 44:49

And youth sports is and again I talk about this in the podcast is such a important time and it's such a transformative time for young kids and that's why I'm so passionate about it, because I would not be the person I am today without, without without those experiences. And it saddens me when these kids get so overwhelmed and there's so much pressure on them to perform a sport that's supposed to be fun and that's how you end up with kids with burnout, that's how you end up with kids who no longer want to play. I didn't know it at the time. But there was so much pressure to perform and I from you know middle school and I from you know middle school, late middle school to high school and then through college. You know I just there was this underlying pressure and I would just I was just go, go, go, not so much from like my parents, but just like in general. There's just this pressure to perform and just go, go go. That's what led ultimately led to me having a huge burnout and transitioning schools and then dropping out and then coming back and having be an outlet.

Speaker 1 46:31

It is supposed to be fun and you know, jenna and Elena, you know talked about ideally. You know it's not parents in youth sports, it's hopefully you know someone with a you know no vested interest. But the biggest advice I have for parents is just, you have to be objective and make it fun. If we emphasize that sports is supposed to be fun for these kids, we're going to decrease the fallout right and increase that retention rate for kids. Yeah, and it was just, it's sad to see, it's sad to see, and that is it. We are 10 episodes in, 10 episodes in and again, I'm super grateful and super excited for what is to come. We have a great lineup of guests scheduled for you guys, along with a lot of good chats between me and elena. Thank you guys so much. Uh, I appreciate it. We'll check you next time on the beyond the cleats podcast.