Royal Vision Podcast
The Royal Vision Podcast goes beyond the game, diving deep into the mindset, struggles, and breakthroughs that shape elite athletes. This isn’t just about stats—it’s about the mental game, overcoming doubt, and stepping into greatness.
🔥 Raw, unfiltered conversations
🔥 Powerful mindset shifts & breakthroughs
🔥 Lessons you can apply to your own success
🔥 Real stories of resilience, growth, and winning at life
If you’re ready to think bigger, push harder, and dominate in all areas, this is where you need to be. 🚀👑🔥
Royal Vision Podcast
Episode 1, Season 1: Unleashing the Champion Within – Caleb Thomas on Mindset, Motivation, and Mastery
In this exciting debut episode of the Royal Vision Podcast, we kick off with a powerful conversation featuring athlete Caleb Thomas. Caleb takes us on a deep dive into his inspiring journey of relentless dedication, grit, and mental fortitude that helped shape him into the champion he is today. From overcoming setbacks to pushing beyond his mental and physical limits, Caleb opens up about the challenges that defined his path and the mindset that transformed his vision into reality.
Discover how Caleb stays grounded amidst the pressures of high-performance sports and how he uses adversity as fuel for his ambitions. He shares raw and relatable insights on battling self-doubt, maintaining motivation during tough times, and the daily habits that help him stay laser-focused on his goals. Caleb also reveals the crucial lessons he’s learned from failure, turning them into stepping stones for growth and resilience.
Whether you’re chasing excellence in athletics, business, or personal development, Caleb’s story will resonate with you. Tune in as we uncover actionable takeaways to help you rise to any challenge, redefine what’s possible, and step into your own power. This episode is your invitation to unleash your potential and cultivate the champion mindset you need to conquer your goals. Don’t miss it!
Caleb Thomas
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welcome to the Kingdom, guys. I'm your host, Coach Matthew, the host of the Royal Vision podcast. It is our inaugural episode, so I'm excited to introduce our very first guest. He's a 6'7 forward. Playing for Spring Mills High School here in Martinsburg, West Virginia. He's a two time EPAC Player of the Year. A first team West Virginia All State. He's a West Virginia State Player of the Year runner up. He's got offers from multiple schools including Sheppard, Fairmont, and Cal PA. So without further ado, let me introduce you guys, Caleb C. T. Thomas. Caleb. I'm really glad you're here. Glad to have you a part of this. Really excited. So tell me a little bit about you. You know, what, you're a basketball player. What drew you to be playing basketball?
Caleb Thomas:Right. so when I was younger, I was never really into basketball or anything like that. I used to watch,, a lot of WWE and stuff. So I actually used to want to be like a wrestler. Like that was like my passion. I watched it all the time. Really? Yeah. And then one year I just decided to play rec ball here at the Martinsburg Rec Center. Yeah. I liked it. So I just went from there. I kept getting better. And that's how I got my passion for basketball.
Coach Matthew:I gotcha. Did you ever imagine yourself growing to be 6'7
Caleb Thomas:6'8 I didn't, to be honest. I imagined like 6 foot or something like that. Cause that's like how tall my dad is. But I never imagined like 6'7
Coach Matthew:So you got the lucky genes. You got the good genes. That's good. So, Early in your career, what were some of the defining moments? When were you like, Oh, I could probably be pretty good at this.
Caleb Thomas:just like in rec center and what I would have good games., you know, I trained a lot with, , this trainer. I had Marcellus Basie. He was, he's my work assistance head coach. I trained with him like every day. So, you know, just gaining confidence while working out. I knew I was getting better. So that's how I knew I was going to be like pretty good one.
Coach Matthew:That's good. And so. growing up, who, did you kind of like admire the most? What basketball player?
, Caleb Thomas:I would say probably Kobe. He was like the first basketball player I knew outta like everyone. So, I started watching his highlights. I was like a Lakers fan at first, but then I moved to like,, the A Wizards fan.'cause, you know, uh, I'm. We're around D. C. so I've always been like a Redskins fan, a Wizards fan, so I started watching like John Wall and stuff like that and he became my favorite player.
Coach Matthew:That's cool., so like, how did your upbringing and environment, so, what was it like growing up? Was it, kind of tough? Was it did you have the support you needed? Like how was that?
Caleb Thomas:Oh yeah, I've always had the support I needed with, you know, my mom, my two sisters, my whole family. Yeah. My friends, everyone supported me. I had a good upbringing. I can't complain. It could always be worse. So yeah, that's true. Grateful.
Coach Matthew:Yeah, that's true. I mean, from just, you know, the outside looking in, like you're a good kid. You got a straight good hat on your shoulders. Like, you know where you're going. All that good stuff. I think you have an idea of what you want to do long term. So like, what are you looking to do long term? Are you looking to play, , obviously college basketball because you got some offers, maybe even in the NBA, overseas, something like that. So what do you want to do?
Caleb Thomas:Yeah. So I want to go to college, you know, yeah, play basketball, probably get my degree in like business or something like that. Then after I want to, yeah, I do want to play pro basketball, whether it's overseas, the league or whatever. But if that doesn't work out, I'll probably get into like coaching or something like that because that's something I always wanted to also do.
Coach Matthew:Okay, so like long term, you could see yourself being a part of the game, you know, 40, 50 years plus at least. Oh, yeah. I get that. So,, are there any like lessons from playing sports growing up that you, like, that you learned over the, over the years? What are like some of the greatest lessons you've probably learned just from playing basketball?
Caleb Thomas:just like, always stay calm and , stay level headed, because you know, if you get angry and stuff in game, like, that really affects your game. And to, you know, just, never get comfortable, because you get comfortable, you know, you'll get a wake up call soon, uh, whoever you play better than you. So you always just, you know, You can't be comfortable.
Coach Matthew:Yeah, so you know not being complacent always striving for more right looking looking for that that next thing That's good.. So Being an athlete you got to have a strong mental game. Like we were talking about you can't be complacent. So like what's your goal? What's your what's your mind like either during a game or do you know leading up to a game? What's it like?
Caleb Thomas:um, I always It's just preparation, you know, before the games, I listen to music and stuff, get warmed up with my teammates. You know, I always try to stay calm. I don't want to get too hype or like, you know, just out of like, yeah, just too hyper because during the game, I don't get hype or anything. I just stay level headed. So that's how I just want to be the whole time. Just nice and calm.
Coach Matthew:I got you. So your strategy, what's your strategy kind of role?, so walk me through your pregame routine.
Caleb Thomas:Okay. Yeah. So pregame routine, you know, before the game, I watched it. I watched a JV game, but I had, I listened to music while I'm, , watching the JV game. Go to the locker room with the guys, , get stretched, get warmed up., we listened to music on the speakers and stuff, you know, get stretched. And then after that,, Coach gives us a talk. Then we go on to the court. So that's what I'm doing now.
Coach Matthew:And so like what,, I've only been there for a couple of the pregame talks, but like, what's your favorite part about those pregame talks with coach? Cause I know you guys get pretty hype. Yeah. Normally.
Caleb Thomas:Yeah., every, every day is something different. He usually comes like a different quote of the day for us and stuff like that. So just,, hearing a new quote every day, you know, learning something every day is great.
Coach Matthew:Yeah. And so, How do you end up, being a part of Springfield's basketball, you guys haven't, obviously starting off in your freshman, sophomore years is a little rocky, but lately you haven't got, you guys haven't really faced a lot of losses, a lot of setbacks, more than most of the setbacks have been, you know, external stuff, nothing to even do with the team. So how do you overcome that, overcome those setbacks? What do you guys do to keep a straight head and not let those outside things affect you guys?
, Caleb Thomas:well, we just, keep doing our thing. You know, we keep working hard. I feel like if you keep working hard, good things will come to you. So yeah, we just keep working and try to overcome all the adversity that hits us.
Coach Matthew:That's good.. Yeah, I think that's one thing that I always learned being a basketball player is, People are always going to say stuff. People are always going to try to,, knock you down, tell you you can't do this, tell you you can't do that, but, if you know where you're going, you know what you need to do for your team to be successful, and you don't try to go down another path, you're going to end up okay. It'll be good., so like, in your opinion, what are some of the best mental habits that set the great athletes apart from the okay, the not so good athletes?
Caleb Thomas:Oh, like what do you mean by like mental habits? So
Coach Matthew:like as far as like, believing that you can do something, believing that you're good enough, you know, not, not giving up because you're not seeing results right away. Not giving up because it gets hard or because somebody says something.
Caleb Thomas:Right. Yeah. So I think, I think mindset really just comes from the work you put in. You know, if you work hard every single day, I think you'll grow to have that confidence even when you mess up to just keep going. Because. I think the work is going to show obviously, but if you're not putting in the work,, it might affect you a little bit, you know?
Coach Matthew:Yeah. And it's really all about confidence. Right. Just, you know, persistence too. Just persisting. Cause I could pick up a basketball one day, dribble a couple of times, fumble it, whatever, and then completely give up. Or I could just be like, Hey, it's, it's whatever. It's my first time. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. So it's really about persistence and like the more you persist, the more confidence you build. Right? Exactly. Yeah. So, what are some common mental challenges that athletes face throughout their careers? So, you've been playing basketball since you were, what, five, six years old almost? Yeah, five, yeah, five. Okay, so like, over that time span, what are some,, mental challenges you feel like athletes would face over that time?
Caleb Thomas:Yeah, so, yeah, whether it's just like, home problems or, you know, on the court, you know, like, you're messing up on the court at home, you got something going on with your parents or something like that. Those are a lot of challenges that you know, you can face that I face too, you know You can always overcome those.
Coach Matthew:Yeah, that's true Because I mean I'll tell you personally like when my parents were getting divorced, you know I was one of those people I kind of like I pushed it away I'm trying not to just deal with it. I'm just staying straight playing basketball. And so I know that some kids, they get, their parents get divorced at an even younger age. So, like, it affects them. I think that's one thing that people don't notice about athletes. You know, they come out there and they, they're screaming, yelling at you, which you expect because that's what you signed up for. But, um, they're looking at you from, like, an athlete perspective. They're not looking at you from, you know, oh, hey, I'm a human being perspective, which sometimes can get to you a little bit. But, , it's See that you know you pretty much you overcome that you've got a strong the mental game. You're right pretty good so like With thoughts because sometimes every every athlete has that thought of like should I keep doing this do I love this game? Am I good enough to do this? So like how do you or how do you think an athlete would go about reframing that mindset those? I don't know if I can do this those., am I good enough? Do I want to keep doing this? How do you?
Caleb Thomas:Well, I feel like you just gotta remember why you started in the first place, you know, yeah, Coach Matthew: favorite? What's the reason that you get out there on the court and you just, you go do your thing? Like what, what's your driving force? I just love the atmosphere, you know, like the crowd, the crowds we bring, I, I love it., Um, my fault, oh. Your fault? Like what
Coach Matthew:makes you love basketball?
Caleb Thomas:Oh yeah, and just like the, , the mental part, like you have something going on, you can always just go on the court, , shoot. And I think it will take. Your mind off of whatever you got going on. It's just always, it's like therapy almost. It's like your
Coach Matthew:Zen play. So like if, you know, girls trouble going on home life, going, going on school, whatever it is. I just got, I've got my headphones in, step onto the court and I shoot my free throws. I shoot my shots. I go dunk it really hard. Something like that. It's just, it's peace. It's therapy. Yeah. Everybody's got their thing. Yours is basketball or athletes is, you know, going to the football field, whatever it is. I get that a hundred percent., so. How do external pressures,, expectations from coach, fans, or the media, how do you feel like they affect an athlete's mental game? Because, you know, we were talking about having like a strong mindset, most athletes do, but sometimes that external pressure that creeps in, so like, how do you feel like athletes manage that?
, Caleb Thomas:I've heard it a lot, and I think it's true, you know, I think, you know, pressure is just a privilege, you know, a lot of people, they don't get to be in your position and all of them. Go on the court or the field every day and perform in front of all these people. So I feel like, you know, you just feel blessed and grateful that you're even put in that position and that, you know, you should always look at pressure as a privilege.
Coach Matthew:Yeah, I get that. One thing that I recently overcame was dealing with haters because, you know, being on social media, people are going to say stuff. And you know, you want everybody to like you, reality is they can't, not everybody's going to like you. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. But, I started recently, I developed a mantra, you know, I love my haters, you know, love the haters, because if I, the way that I see it is, if I give up or if you gave up, then we're just letting them win. Yeah, you let them win. But, you know, you love the haters, and you'd be like, hey, come on, keep on bringing them more, more, more, more, and it's just, at that point, it just kind of, it becomes obsolete. Exactly. Because you, I mean, especially when you put your why in front. Uh huh. So, like, what's your why for basketball? What's your reason? Like, why? Why do you want to go to the league? Why do you,, show up every day? What's your driving force?
Caleb Thomas:Just, just wanting to be successful in life one day, you know? Mm-hmm . If, if you're not putting in the work every day, if you're not getting up, if you, if you miss a day, , that's extra reps taking off or whatever. Yeah., but yeah, just wanting to be successful in life is what keeps me pushing every day.'cause I know I'm not gonna be successful. Fight this. laying in bed all day and do absolutely nothing. So that's why I get up every day and just keep going.
Coach Matthew:One thing I noticed from talking about you or talking with you is,, you mentioned Kobe earlier. I can see that Mamba mentality. I'm not saying that, I don't know what your routine is, but we'll get into that. But, um, I could definitely see you getting up at, you know, 3 a. m. three to five rest, seven to nine, go back on the court, rest, and then more. So, um, but speaking of that, so like how much time do you spend on basketball in a You guys practice normally right after school. Do you do any extra stuff in the morning before school during the day? Later on after practice,,, Caleb Thomas: during season, I yeah, so I get up, go to school. We have practice after school., and then I stay up to practice a little bit sometimes, but so during season, I don't really do, Much extra stuff, but during off season, that's why I put in the,, more work, you know., we'll usually have like 6 a. m. workouts, go to school, have practice right after school, lift or something like that. Yeah. As summer, you know, I always try to find time to work out, like at morning, afternoon, night even. And then I know you said you growing up, you had, uh, Marsal. Bassy, right? He was your trainer. So do you have a trainer now? Like do you,, I think it's Money Mar uh, Jefferson County. Like do you use him or do you have like a specific trainer?
Caleb Thomas:I don't,, usually if I wanna like,, call like Coach Shambles or Coach Cha, something like that to get in the gym, they'll let me in. They'll gimme a workout themselves. So yeah, that's usually who I call Now. I don't really got a, like a personal trainer or anything like that.
Coach Matthew:I gotcha.. So, what, how does an athlete's belief system, how does that affect or shape their ability to perform at their highest level?, and if you don't understand that question, just let me know.
Caleb Thomas:All right, yeah. So the beliefs, yeah, so if like, if you don't believe in yourself, then you probably won't perform to the highest level cause you don't believe you can make that shot or like make that pass or something like that. But if you, , if you just believe in yourself, have the confidence, you know, I feel like you always, you know, Find a way to get something done, whether it's on the court, off the court. Yeah. I think it's just all confidence, you know?
Coach Matthew:And there's like a, there's a lot of athletes that they don't play the sport anymore because of belief system. So like what would you say to the athletes that gave up, the ones that stopped trying because of a belief system?, like what advice would you give to those athletes
Caleb Thomas:that, that already gave up? You said that
Coach Matthew:that gave up, or, you know, thinking about giving up.'cause I'm sure you talk to people all the time, they're like, Hey, you know, I wish I could be as good as you. Right. I wish that I could.. I wish I still played ball or whatever it is.
Caleb Thomas:Well, yeah, I would, I would just hope the, you know, get up and try it again. Or, you know, if they find a new passion, just try that, , believing yourself to full stability and just try to keep going, I guess. Yeah.
Coach Matthew:So really just, you know, about finding a way to just overcome adversity. Right., realizing that, yeah, it might, it might be hard now, but. It's only it's not gonna get easier, but you are gonna get better exactly just finding ways to keep persisting because I can't tell you the The amount of times that like I've given up on things when I if I just kept going I mean, I'd be so much further in something exactly. Like is there any ever been anything that you feel like as an athlete you've given up on or Felt like an athlete might give up on just playing
, Caleb Thomas:I wouldn't say I'd, I've given up on anything, you know, whenever I,, I'm like, I failed during like a drill or something like that. The only way you're going to get better is if you keep practicing it and it will come eventually. So that's how I look at it, but yeah, I don't,
Coach Matthew:I gotcha. So being a student athlete, you know, being in high school, high school, it's, it's manageable college. It becomes, you know, like a full time job almost. So how do you balance that? How do you find the time to balance school and basketball? And then like also family time, personal time, whatever it is.
Caleb Thomas:Yeah, honestly, it's, it's, it's not that hard to be honest. You know, you go to school for about seven hours. You should get all your work done in those hours. So when you get home, you don't have to do any homework. But if you do have homework, you know, obviously go to practice right after practice. That's when I try to get my homework out the way so I can just chill for the rest of the evening. I don't think it's that hard managing it, but I know a lot of people do, but I don't think it's it's too hard.
Coach Matthew:Yeah, I get that. I remember being in school that that was like the one thing that was easiest for me is balancing the school versus the sports life. Yeah, cuz like just like you. I'm in school seven hours. That's seven hours where I can get all my work done. And normally, I mean, you're probably like this too. You're done by lunchtime and then I, and I go home and I can do whatever it is I need. So like what's your favorite thing to do in your own personal time after you've done your school stuff and you don't have basketball, what do you like doing?
Caleb Thomas:Yeah, I really just like chilling, you know, maybe sometimes play video games. I usually just go on my phone, watch YouTube or something like that. But yeah, when I'm not doing anything, I usually just to like just chill or you have to catch up on sleep. Cause you know, I don't get, I don't get much sleep during the week. So I catch up on sleep, you know,
Coach Matthew:maybe like four or five hours at the most four or five hours. I got you I got so late on the game. What's your favorite game to play?
Caleb Thomas:I put in right now. It's in C double a That's it. Okay, 25 Madden. Okay. Yeah. Okay. I used to play 2k a lot, but I feel like it's just gotten worse over the years, so I don't play it much. We gotta
Coach Matthew:be careful with that. Yeah. Don't want 2K to get upset with us. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, but uh, that's good. That's good. It's funny, I actually, I sold my consoles a while ago, cause I just didn't find myself playing them. Yeah, exactly. But um, so what's Madden 25 like? I've seen a lot of people play it. I'm a UNC fan, for those of you guys out there, but uh.
Caleb Thomas:I mean it's smooth, uh, NCAA. I think it's smoother than Madden. You know, it's still like the same concepts and everything. It's probably like any other game you played, but to me, it's just smoother and it's more fun.
Coach Matthew:Yeah. Yeah, and so Person like so personal life. You said you have you have two sisters your mom. All right Is your dad, dad at the house too or? Nah, he's not right now. Okay.
Caleb Thomas:I see him every once in a while.
Coach Matthew:Alright. That's good. But, so like what's uh, what's it like balancing your family life too? So you know, how much time do you get to spend with your family under, during basketball season? It's a little bit harder. It is harder. Cause you know, you're gone four or five hours a day.
Caleb Thomas:Yeah. Well, on weekends I try to spend as much time as,, with my family as I can cause I don't really got much going on. But yeah. During the week, obviously it's hard. I,, I barely see my sisters really during the week cause they got work too. They got stuff. They got stuff going on. So I really just see my mom the most during the week. I still spend time with her a lot. That's good.
Coach Matthew:How's you guys relationship? You got a good relationship with your mom? I know most, most athletes normally do. Yeah, yeah. They're, they're, they're moms. They rock. They, you know, they do everything for their mom. Yeah.
Caleb Thomas:Yeah. Mine and my mom's relationship is really good. You know, yeah, we've, we've always had a great relationship.
Coach Matthew:What's like your,, like the favorite thing to do with your mom? Like, I know like sometimes,, kids will be like, you know, going to sporting events with their mom. You know, their mom cheers them on at all the games. Do you have like a, I don't want to say a crazy fan mom, but do you have one of those, , one of those moms or?
Caleb Thomas:She's not, yeah, like a crazy fan mom or anything, but you know, she comes to all the games she can., you know, she supports, like I said, I have a great support system, so yeah. She not. Yeah.
Coach Matthew:And I know, I, I can always guess that you're probably know, you're probably doing most of it for your mom, obviously you're playing for you. But,, I think like end goal probably would be, do whatever you can for, for your mom.'cause you know, she's been there for, for you through everything and
Caleb Thomas:yeah, just, yeah, do it for my mom and my sisters, my whole family really just yeah, try to make their lives easier.. So they can relax in the future because they worked so hard their whole life. So,
Coach Matthew:so like for your vision,, for the, whether it's, you know, playing overseas, playing professional at the longterm, right., what's your vision for taking care of your family? Like, what do you, what would you like to do? Like, how, how do you, where do you see, how you take care of your mom, your sisters, where do you see, you know, taking care of yourself, you know, the life that you've planned on living?
Caleb Thomas:Yeah. So, you know, obviously, Yeah, I want to go pro in basketball, whatever. If I'm making a lot of money, you know, I want to just, I would send them, the whole month,, as much money as I could, you know, during the week, so whatever, so they could,, just stay, you know, wealthy, stay on,, they're not ever struggling or anything like that. So, yeah, that's what I'd do if I, you know, got that type of money.
Coach Matthew:That's good. I love that, that's, that's one thing that I've always wanted to do. Dreamed of is retiring my mom, making sure that like, Hey, like you've done everything for me. I got you. Like, don't worry about it. Like the mortgage. I got it. The bills, I got you. You know, you, you go live your life. You go have fun. Yeah. You've done so much for me. I got you. Yeah. I think that's one of like the, The biggest thing, like most important things to most sons, most athletes, or just any man is how can I take care of my mom? Sometimes the dads kind of get forgot a little bit, but it's not personal, but, that's kind of like, that's where I come from because I've always had a really good relationship with my mom. And I have a relationship with my dad too, but like my mom, she's been there through everything for me. And, you know, if I could do something to make sure that. She's not, you know, do I got to pay the mortgage or pay the electric bill, the water, the, the,, electric bill that buys groceries. And I'd do that in a heartbeat, in a heartbeat. So like on your social media platform, how do you feel like you can use that effectively to inspire athletes, inspire young athletes, or just, you know, anybody who's interested in pursuing something to be successful in that?
Caleb Thomas:Mm. Yeah. So I actually need to do a better job, you know, like on my social media, I don't post a lot or anything. Oh. But,, you know, I, just seeing stuff like on like Instagram and stuff, just,, like a motivational quote, just making videos, you know, like you do just Yeah. You know, talking to them. I think that could help one a lot, you know? Yeah. Like just talking to them about all that, stuff they got going on in their life.
Coach Matthew:So, what do you normally, when you do post, what, what do you typically post when you're posting on social media?, Caleb Thomas: I really don't post at all, I'll repost like, like if one of my teammates makes a post, I'll repost their post, or if like, there's like a video of me dunking or something, I'll repost that too. Yeah. Yeah, that's really it, to be honest. So like to get, get a little bit sidetracked, I don't know if you like talking about this, so Most people know it's like the Dunk Herd around the world. Last year, uh, Caleb, you know, he had a pretty good posterizer on a player from,, Hedgesville. So, can I explain that moment to you? I know in the moment you're just doing what you know is right, but, um, like what's going through your head before you, you know, before you make the move, before you go attack the basket, and then like, so let's just start off with that.
Caleb Thomas:Yeah, so, if I remember the play right, I think, I was about to go dribble a handoff with the quai. Yeah. But I saw my guy was overplaying it, or I think he was about to switch or something like that. So I kept it and I turned the corner and I, I knew, like, I didn't see no one in the paint. Yeah. So I knew as soon as I saw that I was just gonna ride to mad dunk. But when I got to the rim, like I didn't know, like, I didn't even know, like no one, like anyone was under me. Like I dunked it. Like I knew he was under me, but I didn't know like he fell and stuff like that. Like. So like when I saw after the game, I was like, Oh, I didn't, I didn't know it was that bad.
Coach Matthew:Yeah. Cause I was, I was at that game and I think just like you described it., you're coming off of a dribble handoff with a Quasie, and, the guy on the help side, he's playing, he's hugging the corner really tight, and there's nobody in the lane, and so you're just able to, you know, go around that screen, drive, and you've got, you know, 15 feet of pickup space, and you just, like, nothing else to do, and then,, the guy from Hedgesville, he just happens to come over and try to take a charge, because that's what they teach them to do,, but that's one of those plays where I don't think they You it's like impossible to call that. Yeah, even even if it looks like it probably is a charge. Yeah, that's one of those So like afterwards, I know,, I know you're in you got your own page in the in the spring mills high school yearbook But afterwards, how do you how do you feel about that? Like what was going on in your life? What was, was everybody saying, I feel like because it pretty sure they talked about it for at least two months They even talk about it now. Yeah
Caleb Thomas:um You know, it was it was cool just seeing everyone, you know repost my stuff and like, yeah It would go back to school. Everyone was talking about it. It was a, it was a cool experience for sure. You know, yeah.
Coach Matthew:And then so like being, being an athlete, a lot of times I feel like we downplay the things that we do., like no matter how like amazing it is., is that like a play that you feel like that you downplay personally or do you?, be like, you know, like that's pretty cool. Like, do you give yourself that recognition that you deserve for that play? Cause that's a, that's a dope play. There's not a lot of people can be like, Hey, I posterize that person.
Caleb Thomas:Yeah. Yeah. It was a cool play, you know, but I've done it before. Yeah. I don't know if like, if it was that bad, but I've done it before. It's yeah. Like I didn't, I didn't have like a huge reaction of it or it's just like a typical nine to five. Yeah. Something I'm supposed to do. Like, yeah,
Coach Matthew:I get that. I get that. So being., an athlete, somebody who wants to go pro, obviously you can't, you can be a part of sports forever, but being able to play the game forever, eventually it becomes a struggle. So. What challenges come with that transition? So let's say you go to the league, you're in the league for 15, 20 years. How do you, how do you plan on dealing with that transition from, Hey, you know, I work basketball is my job and I work and that's what I do all day long to, well, now, Oh, I, I still got basketball, but I don't play anymore.
Caleb Thomas:Yeah., to be honest, I'm not sure yet, you know, I'd have to see when I get there, but you know, it's all about adapting and just like college, I don't know how that's going to be. I think that's going to be it. A cool experience, though, but everything is new. So, you know, once I get, well, if I get there, you know, I think it'll just, I'll adapt, I feel like. I gotcha.
Coach Matthew:And so, like, would you, could you see yourself, obviously, you talk about seeing yourself being a coach. Could you see yourself being a part of the media in any shape, form, or fashion, anything like that?
Caleb Thomas:Probably not. I'm not a huge media guy, but you know, like I said, we always sports obviously media comes with that. So obviously I have to deal with it. Yeah, you know, if I didn't have to deal with it, then like, yes, I don't think that's anything I'd probably be a part of.
Coach Matthew:I gotcha. And so from a off the court standpoint, Obviously, success in sports is, you know, hey, you win that NBA championship, you win that rookie of the year, the MVP, all that, all that stuff. But what does success off the court look like to you?, Caleb Thomas: really just, you know, you know, in life, like, you know, if you have school,, my, yeah, in my opinion, academics come first. Always. You should always worry about your grades first, then the sports or whatever. That's what, you know, winning in life really looks like to me. Just, consistent in everything you do and just staying on top of things. I got you. So like, outside of the sport,, how do you want to give back? I know, I think it was last week or the week before you,, Springfield's basketball team, you guys went and you helped at, was it a homeless shelter? Homeless shelter. So like, with your,, platform, being a professional basketball player, How do you want to give back to your community that you came from Martinsburg, West Virginia. Right, yeah. That's where you grew up your entire life. Or even the city that you end up playing in or the country you end up playing in. How do you want to give back from that standpoint?
Caleb Thomas:Yeah, yeah. If I ever made it big, I'd love to, you know, give back to the community in Martinsburg, West Virginia and stuff like that., just donate money towards schools or whatever., homeless, like you said. Yeah. To anything like that. I would, I would love to just do anything to help the community and, you know, the schools.
Coach Matthew:I gotcha. And so, like, what's your favorite,, what's your favorite part about doing stuff like that? When you're at the homeless shelter, when you're at the soup kitchens, all those places, like, what's the feeling that you get when you're there? How do you,, how does it make you feel? Like, what do you, what's going through your mind when you're there?
Caleb Thomas:You know, it just always makes you feel good, you know, helping out the people that, you know, are struggling, you know. They go through stuff every day, so just being able to help them is really a great feeling.
Coach Matthew:Yeah, and so like, what's something you would, what's some advice you would give to those people?, you know, those people that are struggling, uh, going through it, you know, feel stuck, not, don't feel like there's a way out.
Caleb Thomas:Just really, yeah, just keep going, keep pushing,, if you believe in God, you know, keep praying to God every day. Yeah. Yeah. You know, a blessing will happen one day, something will change, you know, try to find a job and just work from there. Yeah,
Coach Matthew:for sure, for sure. That's, that's, I'd say that's probably my biggest thing too is, Hey, like, yeah, it might be rough right now, but your perception is everything. If you feel like, you know, I'll never get out of this, you might, you know, you might see that. But if you're like, you know, there's, there's gotta be a way out. I will find a way out. It will get better. You'll probably start to see opportunities where it starts to get better where you can Dig yourself out of that hole or fill in the hole and climb up the dirt so you can get out of that hole So being an athlete Everybody always talks about legacy So like you have a legacy at spring mills high school is one of the greatest If not the greatest player to come through spring mills high school, right? Lebron's one of the the greatest players to ever play the the game of basketball In the nba or just the game of basketball in general So What do you want to be remembered for personally?, Caleb Thomas: just for,, like everything And like, I hope people could just, you know, look at what I did, you know, at the school. You know, just me staying on top of things. Yeah. Me, having straight A's while still being a good basketball player. Like. I hope they could just look at that and say like I can do it too and just you know, try to follow that So it's really really about just being like an inspiration saying like hey I was able to do this so if I can do it, you can yeah, you can do it, too Yeah, just Taking You just being the example for like hey literally anything is possible Yeah if you just think that you can do it if you believe in yourself if you persist if you don't give up because that's the Biggest thing is people give up.
Caleb Thomas:Yeah, it's
Coach Matthew:something a lot of times people give up way too soon. Sometimes people take What they think is failure is, or what's really temporary defeat, and they see it as failure. And,, they get in their heads about it, and they don't, They're like, well, I'm not good enough, or I can't do this, or like, I'm stupid, or anything like that. But if you just, just keep going. Keep going. Think about, think about any billionaire, any millionaire. If, if Steve Jobs, Or Thomas Edison, when he was building, when he was creating the lightbulb, if on that second try he was like, you know what, I'm done. Yeah. Think about like, we wouldn't have any lights. We wouldn't have any, any um, electricity, anything like that. Yeah., if Elon Musk didn't keep on building his Tesla, perfecting that, the Tesla, you know, we wouldn't have so many electric cars. So it really just comes down to like a persistence thing, not, not giving up. Exactly. So, so like what advice. Which you give to the next generation of athletes, they're striving for greatness. So being at those basketball games, you guys have a big crowd,, and I'm sure you have kids coming up to all coming up to you all the time, you know, Hey, like, Hey, can I get an autograph? Hey, can I get a picture? So like, what advice do you give to those young kids, either, you know, the upcoming class of juniors, sophomores, freshmen, or just anybody coming, coming before them?, Caleb Thomas: you know, like keep working, stay disciplined. I think disciplines. Like the main thing you have to have, you know, even like over motivation, you know, if you're disciplined, I think that'll take you really far. So, you know, to stand on top of your schoolwork,, Your sport, it's getting up every day, staying disciplined. That's what I would tell him to stay disciplined. Yeah. And, and for like those kids out there, you just kind of have to just know what you want. Like Caleb knows he, he knows he wants to go pro. He wants to play in the league overseas, whatever it is. It's just knowing what you want and then why you want it. So like his, why is his family. He wants to take care of his family. He wants to provide for them. He wants to make sure that they're, you know. taken care of.'cause they've been taking care of him his entire life and he knows that he wants to go to the league. That's what he, that's what he wants to do long term. Mm-hmm . No different than me. Like, hey, my why is my family, I wanna take care of my family. I wanna take care of the people that I love. What I want is. Be big long term so define those two things and the how always gets easier, you know, you never know you're the route that's gonna take exactly, you know It might take you five years to get the league. You might be able to be a one and done player Like you don't know you don't know., but just persisting not giving up not giving up. I know that a lot of kids out there , they're people Talk down to them and so like for those kids, you know, people talk down to what, what advice would you give them?
Caleb Thomas:I would say, you know, just block, block. Yeah, just block them out. Anyone that tries to talk down, you know, they're not in your shoes. Everyone's in a different position. They don't know what you're going through there. They might be going through something. They might be trying to talk down on you just to make themselves feel better because they're jealous. So, you know, I would just tell them to block it out because this they probably got something going on. I don't know.
Coach Matthew:Yeah. And so like, how do you typically block that stuff out? Do you just kind of ignore it or like what's your process for blocking stuff out like that?
Caleb Thomas:Yeah, I mean, I really just ignore I really don't I don't really care what like like If someone's talking down on me or like a hater or something, I really just don't care because you know They're not in my position. I'm not in their position. So everyone lives a different life. So yeah, you gotta block it up
Coach Matthew:I get that and so like Being and being an athlete you get screamed at you get yelled at exactly How do you how do you manage that because I know I was one of those players where my coach, he'd scream at me like crazy. You'd hear him all the way down to the other side of the school yelling at me. So like, how do you manage that? How do you react to being screamed at, being yelled at?, Caleb Thomas: I look at it just like, It's Your coach wants you to do better, obviously. He's screaming at you. Yeah, I look at it, he's screaming at you because he wants you to do better. He wants you to fix those mistakes. So you can't take at it. I mean, you can't look at it like he's just screaming at you for no reason. He's really, he's trying to get you better. He's trying to just, yeah, make you fix those mistakes. I
Caleb Thomas:get that.
Coach Matthew:And so like, which coach that you've been, obviously Samples has been in your life for the last four years, but like over your entire career, what is it,, 13, 13, almost 14 years. Yeah. Who's, which people have had the biggest impact on your life, on your career in basketball?
Caleb Thomas:Like coaches or just people?
Coach Matthew:It could be coaches. It could be people.
Caleb Thomas:Yeah, like, you know, like you said, Sam was has,, has, um, Marcellus did. I worked with him for like eight plus years, so he had a huge impact., you know, my, my family, obviously, , friends, you know, I feel like everyone that has came in my life, like everyone that I met has played a part, you know, in what I've done, like, and has taught me something. So,
Coach Matthew:yeah. And like, what's probably the biggest lesson that you've learned from. Whether it's samples,, Basie, friends, family, whatever it is, that isn't,, just gotta persist. That isn't just like, hey, you just gotta keep on working. What's probably like the one thing that's ingrained in your mind, that, the lesson that you've learned from all those people?
Caleb Thomas:Just really just overcoming like, you know, the challenges, you know, every day is going to be a new challenge, you know, every day in a workout, if we were doing like a drill or something that I couldn't. Get it done., I feel like quitting, but you can't, you know, you just have to Yeah, just keep going really keep going. It's probably the biggest lesson. I've just learned from Everyone because you know not giving up if you give up, it's never good, you know, keep going.
Coach Matthew:Yeah Do you feel like there's ever been? And you can make it about yourself if you want, you know, where athletes just feel like giving up Like have you ever had moments like that or do you feel like an athlete's had a moment like that?
Caleb Thomas:Oh yeah, I've had moments I felt like giving up, man. I'm sure, you know, athletes do all the time, but, you know, like I said, you always just gotta remember why you started doing it in the first place. All the work you put in, you can't let that just go to waste, so that's how I look at it.
Coach Matthew:I gotcha. And so, like, what's the one thing, um, Like, what's your routine on a daily basis? So, like, I'm sure everybody out there is probably wondering, like, what's got Caleb, CT Thomas, you know, to where he's at? What's your daily routine outside of school? So, let's say you don't have school.
Caleb Thomas:If I don't have school? Yeah. Alright, so, yeah, if I don't have school, you know, obviously I'll wake up, , you know, do all my, you know, hygiene stuff or whatever., I'll, you know, I'll probably go work out, go to the basketball course, something like that, you know, work out, go home, and yeah, if I don't have school, that's really it, cause you know, school and basketball are like the two biggest part of my life so far. If I don't have school, I'm probably playing basketball all day. And if I don't have basketball, I'll, yeah, if I have school, I'll be at school all day, so.
Coach Matthew:I gotcha. And so like, what's your, are you one of those people where, do you prefer to be on an outdoor court, or do you prefer to be inside? Yeah.
Caleb Thomas:I prefer to be inside. You know, like, I like being outside in like summertime though. Like, not when it's too hot. I don't really like the hot weather like that. Yeah. But if it's like 70s, 60s, I like hooping in that weather. But I always prefer inside gym just because, you know, AC and Yeah. And the traction on the court and stuff like
Coach Matthew:that. Can't go wrong with AC for sure. Yeah. Now, like, being, so I've seen you progress from being a freshman to a now senior and I don't know what your freshman starting weight started at, but obviously you've grown a lot and you've gotten a lot bulkier. So like, what's your weight room regime or regimen? Like how do you, how'd you go from, you know, I don't want to say scrawny, but scrawny freshman to, you know, somebody who's pretty built. Like you're, you're strong. Like you got, you got a good build.
, Caleb Thomas:yeah, that really just comes from our high school workouts, you know. Samples,, he really had this working in the weight room all summer. So since freshman year, you know, we lift like four times, four to five times a week in the summer and during the season, we lift like once or twice. So it really all just came from that, you know, just getting in the weight room, not missing a day, actually doing the workouts he gives you, doing every, rep, every set, making sure you're not skipping anything.
Coach Matthew:And so like, what's your favorite. Obviously you like basketball, the basketball part of it, but what's your favorite part of the weight room? What makes you like, you know what, I could just keep going back because there's a lot of people where they, a lot of players where they go into the weight room and they're like, I don't like this. I hate this. Yeah.
Caleb Thomas:We're really just, yeah, it's not like we're going in like up there by ourselves or anything. So like, you know, we have our teammates as always, we always make it fun for each other. You know, we make it competitive sometimes. You know, who can lift more or whatever. So that's always fun. Yeah, but really just being with the guys is what makes it, you know, fun up in the weight room.
Coach Matthew:Yeah. And so like speaking of that, like what's your favorite part of being a part of your team or being a part of a basketball team? Like kind of explain your favorite part about the culture.
Caleb Thomas:Oh, you get to just like learn something new. I feel like from or just learn something from all your teammates, you know, And it's just about really building a friendship, being able to like work together, you know, obviously, yeah, building the bonds is like, I think is the best thing because a lot of my, well, literally like all my friends have came from like,, basketball teams and stuff like that. So this sports is a great thing for, for like friendships and bonds and stuff like that.
Coach Matthew:Yeah, I get that. I think, So, like, some of my friends that I used to play basketball with, I don't really talk to anymore, but those were my people, especially in high school. Those were my guys, like, from, what is it, September to March, that's who you're with. Four or five hours out of the day, every day for six months. Cause I feel like basketball is probably like the, one of the longest seasons. It's, it's a lot longer than baseball, a lot longer than football. It's, it's one of those things where. Yeah, you, with your school, you're there six, seven, months, but then think about all the external stuff. Right, yeah. So like, externally, outside of, you know, team workouts, where else do you play? You play AAU, right? I think you're on what, West Virginia Gold? Yeah, I did play for them. So, was that your first time playing for them?
Caleb Thomas:Like AAU.
Coach Matthew:Or, you know, just in,, playing for goal. Oh,
Caleb Thomas:for goal. I played with them,, this past year and,, the year before that. Okay. So,
Coach Matthew:like, kind of explain that. What's that like? What's playing with them like?, Caleb Thomas: that was You know, we got to travel places I've never been before. Okay. Like, Houston, , Nebraska, Phoenix, you know, just, so just. Yeah. You know, getting new experiences, seeing what life's like outside of, you know, this area. Yeah. It was really cool. So, I enjoyed that experience a lot. What was your favorite place to go? I know you talking about you went to Texas, you went to Nebraska, you went to Arizona out of those three or any of the other places you've been, what was your, probably your favorite?, Caleb Thomas: my favorite, it it's probably Houston. I like Houston a lot. I liked the city and stuff like that. It was, it was cool. What was the best part about being in Houston? You know, that's where Travis Scott is from. I don't know if you're into rap music, but, what was, what was your favorite part about Houston?
, Caleb Thomas:just., the city, like, like walking around the city and stuff like that,, the restaurants were good. Well, actually, it probably isn't Houston, it's probably Atlanta. I like Atlanta. Atlanta? Okay. Nevermind, we're
Coach Matthew:gonna erase, erase the Houston, Atlanta. So, like, what, what was so great about Atlanta? What'd you love about Atlanta?
Caleb Thomas:Well, when we got there, we actually,, we were able to, like, get in the,, Atlanta Falcon Stadium, the Mercedes Benz. Okay. We got to, like, look at, like, That's cool. Yeah, no one was in there. So, we, we actually got to go in there. Then,, Georgia Tech College, we got to go in there. Yeah. Football stadium. Then after that, you know, we just, you know, walk around the city and stuff like that., there was like parks and stuff like that. We went to, or like electric scooters around. Yeah, that was a really fun experience. That's cool. Yeah.
Coach Matthew:That's fun. I can, I can just imagine you on an electric scooter. Yeah. You're like all the way up here. Yeah. Plus that scooters. That's funny. Did you ever get like afraid of falling or you just kind of just, I can do this. I can do it. I gotcha., and so last question is this. So. Throughout sports, you know, what's one thing that you'll always remember? What's a memory that you'll never forget being a part of sports, being a part of basketball?
Caleb Thomas:Like just a certain like moment? It could be a
Coach Matthew:moment, it could be multiple moments, it could be a feeling, whatever it is.
, Caleb Thomas:well yeah, feeling,, Definitely the state championship last year when we lost. That's a feeling I'll never forget. That's a feeling, you know, I don't think any of us would want to,, have again. Moments, you know, just being able to make it to the States last year though for the first time, like, Yeah. Was a huge moment for us. That's the first time Springwoods basketball has ever done that. Yeah. So, that was huge for us. And, , The whole high school experience has been great, you know, with the team and stuff like that. But those are probably the most memorable moments. That's
Coach Matthew:good. I love that., that's because that's one thing that I'll never forget. So like my team, we had, I graduated in 2020. COVID hit. And that was the first time we made it to the state tournament since they won back in 2012. And so it's one of those feelings, at least making it, is like, it's like, I can still remember that feeling. You know, you just kind of like your body's like excited with like all this emotion and you just, you know, you feel like you're on cloud nine. So I get that., but like, so after the state tournament, obviously you guys lost in a heartbreaker cause you lost by a buzzer beater. And it's rare that that happens, but I know that can be kind of painful. So like what kind of went through your mind when that happened?
Caleb Thomas:Oh, when I happened, I was I was just, I was angry to be honest, you know, I thought I was just thinking about like all the work we have put in the season like before that, you know, that's what we worked for the whole season. And if we're to end like that, you know, just, yeah, it hit me but you know, like, I got over in like a week and you know, we got back to work. I got hopefully we're in the same position this year.
Coach Matthew:And so, With that, I can only imagine that probably motivated you even more. It's like, Hey, we lost in this really crappy kind of, kind of ending. And I'm, I'm going to dig even harder so we could beat them by 20 this time instead of losing by three. And I know you guys, cause it was Morgantown high school in West Virginia. You guys ended up. earlier this season,, you beat them by 20 and then,, I know you guys went down to the Greenbrier and, you know, had an off game and it was, but,, I feel like you're pretty motivated cause I think everybody knows around here, like can see that you guys going back to the state championship game and more than likely your opponent's going to be Morgantown. So how do you feel about that? You know, that, that being a possible outcome? Yeah.
Caleb Thomas:Yeah. So. I mean, yeah, if everything goes how it's supposed to, you know, uh, yeah, I think it will be us two again in the state championship. And,, I think this time we just, we had to be more, I think we were prepared last year. Like, I think our defense was great and stuff like that. But for like the crunch time moments, I think we gotta, you know, be, you know, we couldn't like get the ball in on the inbounds. Like they kept getting steals. Like we gotta just be, it's the little things like that, that like we couldn't have free throws. It's just little things like that, that lost us that game. And I think we just got to be ready for that this year, which I think we will be because, you know, that was our first time there. But yeah, I think after that experience, like we'll be ready.
Coach Matthew:Yeah. And talking to samples, the way he explained it to me was when you guys got there. You guys almost weren't phased like you're like, you know, it's a business. It's a business trip Like, you know, we do this all the time We play in all these, you know big stadiums like recently you guys played in the governor's challenge Um, and then you played in the greenbrier So it's almost like you guys are kind of conditioned like hey, like we play here all the time It's our business trip. This is what we do. So, What is your favorite? Game, what was your favorite game to play in this season so far because it's your senior years your last year of high school
Caleb Thomas:Yeah, this season,, my favorite game to play in was probably the, the home opener against Washington. Cause you know, we haven't, we hadn't played home in like almost a year and that was the game I had like 40. So yeah. Oh, that's, that's right. That's right. I remember that game. Yeah. So that was a really, you know, it was a fun and a great game. Yeah.
Coach Matthew:And so speaking of, I'm glad you brought up, brought up and you know, dropping 40 on Washington. So is that the school record, 40 points in a game?
Caleb Thomas:Yeah. 42. 42. 42. Yeah, I know. Yeah.. This dude named, uh, Darius back in, he had, he had 40 and he came up to me at the game and said,, you broke my record by two. So yeah.
Coach Matthew:Yeah. I remember Darius. He's actually played, I played against Darius. He was a senior my junior year, but,, so kind of walk me through that game. What's going through your mind? I mean, cause you, you're one of those players where. Yeah, you're 6'8 6'7 6'8 and you're probably expected to be kind of inside, especially playing high school. Right, right, yeah. But I noticed that, you know, coach, you stretch the entire floor, you sometimes even bring the ball down, but you've got a very versatile game. You can finish inside, you can shoot from outside, you can handle the ball. So like, walk me through that game. Like, what were you feeling when you decided to put 42 up on Washington?
Caleb Thomas:Yeah, so, when the game started, well first I, it was our first home game, so, you know, I obviously wanted to. You know, put on a show for the fans and stuff like that. It's almost been like, what, 10 months since we played at home. So, yeah, obviously that, but you know, once the game started, I saw,, they were attaching to our shooters and they were just like letting me play like one on one. So I knew it was going to have to be a night where I just,, scored a ball a lot and that's what happened. Yeah, they were just attached to the shooter side, you know, to score.
Coach Matthew:Yeah, and so like, what's your mentality in a game? Because I know that, from watching you, I've seen that, I feel like you're, you prefer to pass. Mm hmm. That, you know, get your teammates open shots, like Kwesi,, Lokai, all of them. Right, yeah. But,, Like, what's your, what do you prefer to do, score, pass?, Caleb Thomas: yeah, so I, I shots., you know, getting assists. But how I look at it is, I don't think you should ever try to force a shot, force yourself, like, to try to score. And that's what everyone wants me to do. They're always like,, you need to be more aggressive or whatever. You need to try to score like every single play. Yeah, you're like, like, I know you can and stuff like that, but how I look at it is just like, like, if, if I just play my game, I think the scoring will come to me, like, and if, and if some nights it doesn't come, then it doesn't come, but I'm going to just keep, you know, making plays for my teammates and getting them open shots. And as long as we're getting the win, that's all that really matters. So, yeah. And if I need to do more scoring,, to get us to win, then,, I will, but, you know, as long as we're winning them. Yeah, everyone's doing the job. And I'm glad you said that. Cause I mean, I've been guilty of that. I mean, I, cause I coached you for a little bit. Right., and I was one of those people was like, Hey, like go dunk on somebody. I gotta go., but I'm glad that you, you know, you're able to keep a level head about that and you just go out there, you go do what you do best. You know, you don't, you're Caleb Thomas. You don't go out there and try to be a crazy, you know, you don't try to be a Zay or Max or anything. You play your game. But,, So being, playing your game, what is,, what's the favorite aspect of your game? Like, what do you love about the way you play?
Caleb Thomas:I think it is that just like my passing, like me being able to just get downhill, draw double teams, triple teams or whatever, and just seeing my NBA, being able to make the pass to my teammate, being able to make the reads. I like that. That's my favorite part of my game. Just never forcing shots,, taking great shots and. Just getting my teammates open is like my favorite part.
Coach Matthew:Yeah, for sure., because I love watching you play. It's, it's never the same game. Like, I think most people know what you can do., but even When you show up expecting that we get something completely different. Like it's something, it's something unpredictable, honestly. Like you got a game that's unpredictable. You might drop 31 night, but have, and then have like 15 rebounds or you might have 10 points and 20 rebounds plus your assist. Cause normally, normally you have like nine, 10 assists. Sometimes you get even more, which I love that about you. And so talking about your nickname. Cause you're Caleb C. T. Thomas. Obviously it's just your first and your last name, but like how you feel about that nickname? Where did it come from? When did you start going by C. T.?
Caleb Thomas:Yeah, so, it was actually freshman year, you know, Sambles gave me the name, he started calling me CT. And then, it was really sophomore year when people really just started, like, calling me that because, you know, the people on the team started calling me that, and then people started hearing it. They started calling me CT, but, you know, yeah, my whole life I've just been called Caleb. But then until high school, you know, Sambles is the one that came up with that, and CT, you know, that's where he got it from.
Coach Matthew:Or,, I know you have another alias, King Caleb. How do you feel about being called King Caleb? I know,, Caleb Thomas: I mean, it's, it's cool, it's whatever, to be honest, like Yeah. I think it's funny to me. I think it's funny. Yeah. I get that. It's one of those things where it's like It's like, it's unavoidable. Yeah, it's just like, you know, I could tell them. Hey, don't call me that. They'll be like, yo, Kincaid, I get it. I get it. So Your next step is college. Where,, you've got five offers, you know, I'm not gonna make you say where you plan on going, but what? What are you looking for in college? What are you looking for as like a place to go? Do you have any like ideas of where you definitely want to go or are you just kind of going to take the best opportunity?
Caleb Thomas:Yeah, just take the best opportunity to be honest. You know, I've been on visits, you know, the biggest part to me is just like when I go there, like, how is the atmosphere? Like, how is the team? Like, are they, like, do they act like a family? Because that's what I want, like a team that's like more of like a family. Yeah, I really just like the atmosphere like everyone around there That's what i'm looking for the most in like a college
Coach Matthew:so it's really so it's not so much about hey, it's division one division two is more so like Do I feel like I feel at spring mills like where i'm at spring mills and I feel like Like i'm i'm part of a family, right? So when I go to that next level do I feel like? I'm a part of a family again. I feel like I can have a good relation like you have a good relationship with samples You know, can I have that same relationship with my head coach and my assistant coaches? Can I have that same relationship with all my teammates? Yeah, I get that because I know exactly because i'm getting caught going once you get to college It's one of those things where in high school, you know, you're the best guy. Well now you're in college and you know, you're a bunch of the best guys So I feel I can only imagine you're probably excited for that. Oh,
Caleb Thomas:yeah, definitely just being able to You know, yeah, like you said, like when you go to college, like everyone was probably the best guy to ice cream, like no matter what level. So just being able to, like, work with those guys and work with that talent, like newer talent, you know, it's probably a great experience to be around.
Coach Matthew:Well, Caleb, I just gotta say, I really appreciate you being on here. It's been a great first episode. I just wanna, I just wanna let you guys know. So Caleb They play Jefferson at Spring Mills. It'll be starting at 730. So you can go see Caleb Thomas play tomorrow. They also play at Hedgesville, correct? Yeah, at Hedgesville. At Hedgesville. This Friday, they play at Hedgesville. So you can go check that out, too. So you get to see him play. Get to see Spring Mills basketball play.
Caleb Thomas:And our, our John Hanley game got rescheduled to Wednesday, too, also. To Wednesday. But that's at John Hanley. And then, but hopefully it doesn't snow. I heard it's supposed to snow. Hopefully it doesn't get canceled again.
Coach Matthew:Yeah. So I mean pretty much what he's saying is you got three games this week where you can go see him play and see His teammates play as well. So, you know, it's a it's a great atmosphere. It's a great team to go watch and play. So I appreciate you being on here. It's been a successful first episode. So this is King coach matthew signing off with, mr. King caleb thomas. Yes, sir. So Take care everybody. Love you guys. Yes, sir. Thank you for having me.