Marines Corps Leadership & Basketball Culture

The Coachable Players Podcast sits down with Nate Davis, Gettysburg College women's basketball coach and former Marine. 

In this interview, Coach Nate shares how his Marine Corps experience shaped his leadership approach as a coach, discussing principles like trust, accountability and mental toughness that translate directly from military service to building championship teams. The discussion explored what makes players "coachable" with Coach Nate emphasizing that coachability is a choice and can be taught through creating a culture where failure is celebrated in practice as part of the learning process. Coach Davis discusses how modern athletes have changed compared to previous generations, particularly noting how parental approaches and social media have created new challenges for developing resilient, coachable players.

Transcript

0:03

Welcome to the show where we explore leadership, culture, accountability, and what it really takes to build winning teams in sports and in life. Today's guest is Gettysburg's college women's basketball coach Nate Davis, one of the most respected Division III coaches in the country, a championship level program builder, and a former United States Marine. Hoorah! So we're looking at 10 seasons at Gettysburg, 15 total in the coaching ranks, 286 wins, I believe, all time so far. Coached five All-Americans. And uh coach here was a former football player at Mansfield University. Um, this this conversation today is gonna go far beyond basketball. We're talking about discipline, mental toughness, team culture, leadership under pressure, and how lessons from the Marine Corps translate directly into building coachable players and championship teams. Coach Davis, thanks for joining us today. Yeah, that's great. Thank you, John, for having me. You bet, and thank you for your service. Yes, no doubt. Thank you. You too. Oh, you bet. You bet it's awesome. I do have a story about Marines, so I'm gonna I'm gonna work it into the conversation. I think. I'm sure maybe you do have a story about Marines. I dare but before we we jump into the basketball culture talk, uh take us back a little. How did your experience in the Marines shape you as a leader and as a coach? Yeah, I mean, I looking back on my life, I think it was probably one of the most um important decisions I've ever made. Um coming out of high school, I wasn't a great student. Um, not because I didn't have the ability, but because I didn't know I had the ability, to be honest with you. I I put a lot of priorities in athletics and not too much into academics. And so what you get, you get what you get out of it, right? What you put into it. So um wasn't really ready for college, um, but I did end up going to a junior college to play junior college basketball for a year and um took the same study habits I had in high school, too, junior college with me, and um did not do very well. And so uh spring break of uh of that first year in college, I decided to enlist in the United States Marine Corps and I knew I just knew I wasn't ready for college yet. And um, the Marine Corps, that the four years for me was very transformative because it it really helped me discover things about myself that I didn't really even know or understand what I was capable of, and that I could expect a lot more of myself academically than I was before. And so that was probably one of the biggest takeaways was my capabilities and understanding myself a lot better through that experience. So when I got out of the Marine Corps and I went back to college, um, it was so much easier, to be honest with you. It was it was um, yeah, it was like I couldn't believe that I struggled before, to be honest with you. So um, so yeah, it was a really important decision for me, and one I'm really thankful that I made and um had a great experience and and it was really transformative for me. Awesome. And and I had the same uh same path as well, you know, tried the college route and uh wasn't quite ready, and and uh the Navy got me ready. So exactly what you're talking about. Uh but but when you when you look back, what's the biggest leadership lesson the Marines taught you? Wow. Um so many, um to be honest with you. And as as in and just you know, when you shared with me kind of what we'd be discussing, um, I obviously went back and kind of looked at some of the leadership principles that the Marine Corps um espouses. And and as I looked at those, um there's 11 principles that kind of came up as I was doing some re-research on things that I experienced and learned um a while ago. Uh won't say, you know, more than uh maybe 30 years ago, but that's okay. Um but yeah, things that I that I learned and put into use 30 years ago, um, so many of them are applicable to today. And so many of them I already haven't I put into process every day, and I don't even realize maybe were the origins and where they came from. They just become a part of my life and part of my leadership and a part of um the cultures and the teams that I've tried to build going forward. And so it's it is it was actually as I was researching to discuss this with you today, I was I guess surprised, but um, I guess in some ways validated in what I saw because I was like, oh yeah, that's where that comes from. Oh yeah, that's why that's important. Oh yeah. So there was just so many um direct links to things that are important to me and how I lead to the way the Marine Corps taught me to lead and and to approach things. So um that was that was really interesting to see that. I don't know if I answered your question on the specifics though. Yeah. Yeah. Uh but but as you look back and you and you prepared for the interview and you're thinking and and you're thinking back, what was there any moments that stuck out from your military experience that permanently changed how you approach uh pressure in life and stress? Sure. Um, I mean, my my perspective was broadened, right? Um, I mean, I was in some real life and death situations. I was fortunate that during my time there, I wasn't, I didn't have any, you know, it was the end of the first Gulf War before the second one. So I really didn't thankfully have to go into those type of environments where um, you know, we were at war and those kind of things. So I'm really thankful for that, uh, to be honest with you. But but even even within that, we had certainly plenty of opportunities where um there were life and death type decisions that were having to be made. And even as a young uh corporal in the Marine Corps, E4, I mean, you know, I led men, and those men were counting on me to to uh help make life and death decisions in a in an instant. And so my perspective on, you know, some of the things that maybe stressed me out before um didn't stress me out as much anymore because I had that perspective, you know, because it wasn't life and death necessarily, even though they were important decisions, they weren't to the level at which I had to make decisions already in the Marine Corps. So I think that was probably the biggest takeaway from a my perspective was broadened and my experience was gained. Um, that really helped me to put things in proper perspective as I moved forward. Awesome. So we kind of set the stage there. We talked about your journey, you know, from the Marines, and we're working our way to basketball coaching and the culture. So now's a good way for me to work in my my own little story here. So I was stationed at when knowing that you're a Marine, I I just had to tell you the story here. So I was stationed at Little Creek Base in Norfolk, Virginia, yeah, and and the building was set up. It was uh it was a Navy and Marine Corps Reserve Center, so we were active reservists, and the building was set up where there was a huge basketball court and a huge gym in between the buildings. So there's like offices on one side, offices on the other side, and a huge gym in the middle. And Monday through Thursday, we had designated times when the Marines worked out and when the Navy worked out, and then Friday, Friday, we did basketball, Marines versus Navy. And I don't know, Marines didn't always dribble the ball, they just like there was like a full discussion sometimes. We had some uh we had some really competitive games. We had we got we got beat up and uh you know it was it was fun, but we all walked away friends, and and you know, you pass some work and and you know it's it's brotherly love is what it was, you know, it was awesome. So no doubt, no doubt. Look forward to those Fridays. I can only imagine what those were like, and and uh I definitely um could understand what you're covering. Obviously, in the in the Marine Corps, we were always on Navy bases, so like I mean, unless you were in the Fleet Marine Force in Campbell's Jew, North Carolina, but but I spent two years in Puerto Rico on a naval base, and so so yeah, so it was it was always uh just a good rivalry between Navy and Army or Navy and Marine Corps and and uh and those kind of things. But yeah, it was it was always a lot of fun. And that's what I loved about the military culture was there was a lot of athletics, a lot of athletics opportunities. It was always a gym, there was always intramural, something going on. Um I played on so many base teams, different sports. I was on the base bowling team, base volleyball team, base softball team, base football team. It didn't matter. I was uh able to do lots of different stuff, and that was that was a really fun part for me, I think. Same, same. I loved it. I loved it. So that that's my little store here. This is this is the Nate Davis episode. This isn't my story. So I just wanted to throw that out there for you. That's a that's a pretty that's a pretty uh a pretty nice story about Marines because uh you know, you know that there's uh there's always some Navy story about a Marines and stuff on on ship or whatever you want to name it. There's I'm sure there's I'm sure there are other stories you could tell that would be not as nice. Yes, yes. Or not as like maybe a pro for this podcast. Yes, yeah. Absolutely. That was a blast, it was good. That's awesome. But but getting back to the the topic at hand here. Uh one thing people say about your program is that there's a standard, a culture that players buy into. How much of the culture at Gettysburg was influenced by your military background? Well, that's hard to say. Um I I can't, I especially having looked at, you know, kind of preparing for this podcast and just this discussion we're gonna have today, um I think a lot of it, obviously now, more so than I even understood. Um, I think um just the standards and in which the expectations we have for not only for myself, but for the players in the program. Um, there's a lot of relatability between um like the leadership things, the principles in the Marine Corps, and what we expect within our program. Not that we're Marines by any stretch of the imagination, but just the principles are so translatable to building a great team, building a great culture. Um, yeah, we're not we're not worrying about life and death situations, hopefully, in this in in basketball, but we are a goal-oriented organization. We are trying to achieve greatness together. And and so those principles do translate so well. Um, so I think even more than I thought, to be honest with you, when you asked that question, I would have probably said, nah, I don't know. I learned a lot as uh an assistant coach for 10 years. I learned a lot, you know, as a college athlete myself. But looking back on and again, preparing for this podcast, there's almost all of it is very translatable to um what we do today, what we expect from our players, what we expect from ourselves. So um I I would say a lot. A lot. And I'd be happy to get into the specifics if you want that too. Yeah, awesome. And in both Marines and basketball, you rely heavily on trust. How do you build trust inside a team? That's that's a tough one. Well, you know, the the nice thing. Yeah, no, the nice thing for in college athletics is that we recruit the players here. And and so we start building those relationships in the recruiting process. We start communicating those expectations of being part of something bigger than yourself in the recruiting process. So every player that comes here um recognizes what the expectations are gonna be and want to be part of something bigger than just themselves, right? So um, you know, like enlisting in the Marine Corps, um, you know, our players, when they decide this is where they want to be and where, you know, and it's a it's a match from a from an athletic and academic standpoint, um, they're enlisting in our program. And it's certainly not informal terms like that, um, but it really is like they've decided that they want to be part of it and they want to be part of our program. And that really helps our our culture tremendously because we do lay it out, kind of like the Marine Corps does. Um, you know, what's the Marine Corps slogan? A few good men, right? Yeah. Um we're we're looking for a few good women in our program and we're looking for people that want the same things we want. And and I think that really puts us all on the same footing and on the same page. And so that really helps our culture tremendously because um we're we're really shooting for that common cause. And then therefore, because we've signed up for it, we we trust each other. We trust each other inherently to begin with. Now, obviously, within that, you have to work hard to keep that trust, right? You have to earn that trust every day with your actions, uh, with with um your attitude every day. Um, trust is earned all the time. Um, so it's not just given, but um, but because we start on those same frameworks, I think it really helps us. Uh, and we can go back to it too, because when somebody gets out of line and maybe loses some trust, um, you can go back to why we're here, what we're here about, that clear vision of what we're trying to accomplish. And it can be a grounding and a centering place for us to re-establish trust if every trust is ever broken. Um, but yeah, it's not something we take for granted. It's something that's foundational to, I think, to any good team is to have trust and to know that you can be counted on and also know that you can count on others within your within your team. Yeah, awesome. So you got this strong culture, it's it's built on trust. You have a lot of trust. Um how difficult is it to teach the team first, you know, mission over self in today's world? And you've been around 15 years. Is it is it getting tougher, you know, as uh you know, you see more TikToks and you see more self self-people getting videos? You know, it it's it's not easy, right? Um, if it was easy, then every program would have it and and you would never lose it. Um, I do think there's more distractions and more things pulling us away, but I I I think there's also uh easier to compare um with online with social media now. I think we we spend too much time comparing ourselves to others um on there. And I even in my own personal life, we do that right. Um, but um players are no different in that way. Like they look at an online persona or online things that are happening that doesn't always tell the full truth anyway, but we compare ourselves to that, right? And uh so I think I think that's always the potential to be a distraction and or break down trust. But um, again, be being able to be grounded and be re-centered into why we chose to be here in the first place, why we came together, what our purposes are, what's our vision, what's what are our goals as an organization, what we're trying to accomplish, and recenting around that on a regular basis, um, having everything we do, um, whether it be practice or meetings, be centered around that goal and not allowing those distractions to creep in. Um, it's how we combat it, but um, it's also every individual person's choice in our program and how they how they manage those those challenges slash temptations, right? Uh, to allow things to creep in from the outside. Um, so uh the nice thing about college athletics is, you know, for the most part, like we're all on the same campus. We're all away from home together, we're in this thing together. Um, so there's some distractions that are eliminated because of just geography. But um, with social media and the internet and the access of phones, everybody's either a click away or a call away anyway. So those distractions creep in. But uh, you just gotta be proactive against it and making sure that you're just not taking things for granted because if you do, that's when you lose it. Yep, yep, absolutely. Well said. So the podcast is called Coachable Players. And and I think that word coachable means different things to different people. When you hear the word coachable, what what comes to your mind? Um, you know, willingness to learn, have a growth mindset. Um don't allow the limitations that you've set on yourself to not allow you to be challenged or pushed to be beyond what you think you can do. Um, I think that's huge. I think so many of us, so many players come in and they say, Coach, I can do a lot, but I can't do that. And I'm like, Yes, you can do that. You can do it. You need to trust me, you need to push yourself, and you're gonna fail, and that's okay, but we're gonna keep trying until you get it. And I think I think a lot of players have a struggle with a willingness to fail. Um, but failure is part of growing, failure is part of learning, failure is part of perfecting. Um, and again, we see the finished results on TV or we see the finished results um on the internet, but we don't see the hours that people put into mastering that skill, you know? And so comparing ourselves to the finished product is a barrier to being coachable. And so to me, coachable is just that willingness to have a growth mindset, to be willingness to learn, um willingness to trust what the coach is saying or what anybody's saying for that matter, and willingness to stretch out, go outside of again those limitations that we put on ourselves. We all do it. We all we all have things that scare us to death. Um, even to this day, I have things that, you know, whether it be public speaking or whether it be, you know, something I've never done before, um, it scares me to try, but um, but the coachable players are willing to at least give it an effort and and willing to fail. Yep, yeah. So so can can coachability be taught? Do you think people either have it or they don't? I absolutely think coachability can be taught um because it's it's a decision. Um it's a decision. So it's not a skill as much as it is a choice um because we choose to be coachable, we choose to be to accept, we choose to stretch ourselves and and and think about what is possible to trust, what we choose choose to trust. So I think coachability is a choice. So I definitely think um it can be taught if if it is something to teach, really. Um I just think it's an attitude, it's a mentality, it's a it's a you know what I'm willing to fail and I'm gonna give it a shot. And that's coachability to me. Um and if I look silly, it's okay because I only look silly a few more times, and then when I get it, I'm not gonna look silly anymore, you know? So um I think it's just and we and we've tried to really like there's a concept calling fail hard. Like if you're gonna fail, fail going hard, right? Don't don't, you know, fail because you're hesitant. Don't fail because you're afraid of messing up. Fail because you gave it your best shot and you messed up. Like, and so we we really we celebrate failures in practice if it's going hard. Like we want to push our drills to a level where we're not comfortable anymore. We want to, if we're dribbling through cones or whatever, we want to go as fast as we possibly can. And when the ball, when we lose track of the ball, it's not a it's like well, good job. Hey, push yourself, keep pushing. We're not gonna worry about losing the ball because we're trying to push the limits of our capabilities. And the only way you push the limits of your capabilities is by failing. And so, and and and then learning from that failure and then growing. Um, so we we celebrate failure in our program in practice. We don't celebrate failure in the games, but we do celebrate it in practice. Um but we acknowledge that failure is part of the process. Yeah, very much so. Yeah, and you learn from it and you move on. Yeah, absolutely. What are some signs during recruiting that tell you a player is coachable? I mean, there's some obvious ones, um, you know, how they interact with their teammates, how they interact with their coaches, how they respond to failure in the games. Um, you know, if you have a chance to work out with them, how they approach workouts, are they hesitant? Are they um willing to, you know, um push themselves to a place of failure? Um do they ask a lot of questions, right? Are they, you know, are they engaged? Um there's just there's a lot of to me of real obvious signs, but you know, at the same token, uh coachability is kind of a uh deep-rooted thing too. And so um there's a lot of people that are that ask great questions, but maybe don't push themselves. There's a lot of people that that are very quiet too, but are driven to be the best they can be and can accept failure. And um so it's it's not just cut and dry. I mean, I think we're all have a level level of ability of uh of being coachable, but we want to expand that, right? We want to expand that into areas that you know good shooters have no problem getting in the gym and shooting. They don't necessarily love to work on their weaknesses, right? Everybody likes to work on their strengths. Um and so sometimes coachability can be masked as just doing the things that they're really good at and they love and they so they work hard. But real coachability is are you willing to work on the things that don't come easy to you? You know? Um, I think that's that's the piece that we're trying to identify in players is how far are they willing to push themselves to explore their potential in areas that maybe were unexplored or don't come as easy. And when talking with a former Marine or a Marine, it's always good to talk about accountability and toughness. You can't ignore the toughness here. So how do you balance demanding excellence while still maintaining strong relationships with players? Yeah. I I I think the the relationship. Is the foundation of everything, right? Like that good trust-based relationship. Because, you know, and we and we talk about it in the recruiting process too. We talk about like, hey, you know, you're gonna have plenty of challenges here. And some of these challenges, we're gonna be the ones that put them in front of you, right? Because we're trying to, we're trying to help you reach your potential. Um, but that relationship piece is so important because as we push them, they have to trust us that we genuinely, one, believe in them, but two, care about them and want to see the want what's best for them. Um, and so that's that's first and foremost. I think if you have a great trust-based relationship, you can push a player beyond what they think they can do. And they might not even be happy with you in the moment, but it, but they also know that they trust you and that you want what's best for them. And so they're willing to push forward without damaging the relationship, right? Because they know like you have a purpose and a meaning. Obviously, it's good to always communicate what your purposes are, you know, the meaning for what they're doing, um, the whys, all those kind of things. It's important to communicate those. But to me, the relationship piece has to be the foundation because then we can have the ability to push beyond what you think you can do. And I have ability to push you to be better, to challenge you to be better without damaging our relationship. So it's it's a delicate balance there because um I don't want to ever push a player that damages our relationship. Yep. And and speaking of speaking about that, um, yeah, what do what do athletes misunderstand about mental toughness? Maybe when they enter the program or well, yeah. I mean, I think, you know, one toughness is a scale. So like and it's like we're hard work, right? Um, that means a lot of different things to different people. So when I say to somebody, hey, or I ask somebody, do you work hard? And they're like, Yeah, I work hard. Well, that means that to their knowledge, they work hard, right? Um, what it might mean to me means totally different, right? And I would say toughness is the same thing, right? Like, you know, some players, you know, I stub my toe and I didn't cry, so I'm tough, right? Um, so and that and that's true, but that's on a different level scale than maybe the toughness that we're looking for, and and actually might be even a misunderstanding of what toughness is. Um, because to me, you could cry and still be extremely tough. It's irrelevant. Um, your emotional reaction is irrelevant to how tough you are. Toughness is facing adversity, um, getting knocked down and getting back up. Um, that's toughness. Regardless of your emotional reaction, if you get back up and try again, that's tough. If you face a really insurmountable challenge and you take it day by day and you stay disciplined and you work towards that challenge to overcome it, that's toughness. I don't care how many tears are in the middle of there. I don't care how many like, you know, times where you felt like you were going to quit, but you didn't, and you toughed it out and you and you stuck with it and you persevered. I think that's the kind of toughness that we love in our players is that perseverance, that no-quit attitude. Even in the moment they might want to, and even in the moment they might take a step away and say, you know what, I'm I'm good, I can't do this. But then tomorrow they go, you know what, let me give it another shot. To me, that's toughness, and that's what we're looking for from our players is just that that resiliency. It's not an emotional reaction or lack of, um, because there's a lot of people that don't give emotional reactions but aren't very tough because they quit. Um, I I think that resiliency is a direct measure of what real toughness is. And so that's what we look for in our players is just that that no quit attitude, just that willingness to fail, that willingness to keep fighting. Yeah, it's great to see in action too, that when they give back, no quit. Yeah, yes, it's so awesome. Because as a coach, there's no better reward than that. Like, to me, that's that's what like makes me just get super excited is to know somebody's overcome a challenge and something in their life that they were ready to give up and they did not, and they fought and they fought, and then they saw victory on the other side. Like, to me, there's there's no better adrenaline push than that as a coach. That I mean that that's that that motivates me to continue to do what we do because that's that's the the light bulb moment for those players that I knew they could do it, they didn't yet, and now they got it and they did it, they fought. That's that's the fun part about coaching. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yes. Yes. That's that's kind of segue into leadership under pressure here. So what separates leaders who players respect from leaders who simply hold a title? Oh, boy. Um, yeah, I mean, I think leaders that that um players respect, I you know, I think one people that know they did you genuinely care about them, I think is if there's a a sense of of caring beyond just the sport or what you're trying to lead through, I think that helps. Um, but I also think you know the preparation, the expertise, the uh willingness to to lead by example, um, to hold yourself accountable. Um, I think good leaders need to be humble and willing, willing to share when they mess up. They're not perfect, right? I think um I think it's hard to follow somebody that never messes up. Um, because like one, you know that's not realistic. And two, um, it's unattainable, right? It's unattainable. So how can I follow you if you never mess up when I'm gonna mess up all the time? So I think willingness to to you know express your humanity in the sense that, hey, I'm not perfect. We're striving to be great together, we're in this thing together. Um, I think I think it's easier to follow somebody that you know is on your side, but in it, in it with you. Um, and so that's what we how we how we would try to lead, lead by example. Um, it's probably the best way I could put it. Yep. And then does your do you have any comments related to um developing young athletes and the future leaders? Any anything unique or anything that you do to push that? Um yeah, I mean, we we have a ton of conversations with our leaders within our program and even athletes in general. Um, there's just so many skill sets that you that you learn through college athletics um that the sport gives you an opportunity to learn and grow from. Um, some adversity, like, right? I mean, every game, every play is an opportunity to succeed or fail. Um, and what a great learning opportunity and to sharpen ourselves to mature as people, how we handle failures, how we handle setbacks. Um, do we get back up? Do we learn and grow? Do we adjust? Do we keep doing the same thing over and over again, or do we adjust? Um, there's just so many skill sets that I believe really form great mature leaders because that experience is invaluable, right? Like there's there's gonna be experiences that you can tap into the rest of your life that, you know, may not be the exact situation, but are gonna be very similar. And you're gonna be able to apply um either what you learn through that or even just the confidence that, hey, I've done tough things before, I can do tough things again. And uh to be able to keep putting one foot in front of the other in those situations as a leader is really important. Obviously, dynamic, you learn to deal with um maybe people that don't see eye to eye with you or on the same page with you always. And and to be able to communicate and still be effective, um, even if you don't always agree on everything is a great skill to have too as well, because ultimately you're not going to agree on everything, but hopefully we agree on the main things and we can come together on the things that we agree on. And and so being able to compromise in some things, but not compromise in the goal and the mission is also a great effective leadership skill. Um, so yeah, I think there's just so many um life lessons and leadership skills that are learned through competing at the college level. And uh we certainly try to take advantage of every teachable moment that we have throughout the throughout the seasons or so throughout anyone's four-year career to make sure that they leave here better than when they came from a leadership perspective. Awesome. So I think what 10 years, 10 seasons at Gettysburg, I believe. 15 tow. So 10 years and eight of them are 20 win seasons, I believe. 20 plus wins. That's yeah, so so 11 years I've been here. 10 seasons. Okay. 11 years, but yeah, so 10 seasons, that's correct. Um so yeah, we've had we've had uh a really good run. Um I think maybe what you what you uh quoted was didn't include this season, I don't think. Oh but that's okay, because it's not in my this season's not in my bio or anything on online, but um, but yeah, I think um yeah, we've had we've had we've had a great stretch of success, which has been a lot of fun. I've been before I came to Gettysburg, I was part of you know three different other programs, one as a head coach and two other as an assistant. And we were able to build from the ground up and build a winning program. But this is the first time that I've been at a place long enough that we've I've been able to, I guess, learn and prove to myself that we can can um continue, right, and and sustain success at a high level. Um, so that's been the rewarding part of being at Gettysburg for me is I've been here long enough to realize like, okay, now we can sustain success, which has been a lot of fun to try to do year in and year out. Um yeah, we've had nine 21 seasons in a row. Uh my first year here, we had 19, so I can't count that as a 21 season, but um, but obviously a pretty good year still. But yeah, we've been to nine straight conference championship games, um, which is great. Uh, we've been to um we've won six conference championships out of the 10 years that we've been that I've been here. Uh we've been to eight straight NCA tournaments, which is pretty awesome to to know that even in the years that we didn't win the conference, we had a strong enough resume to be an at-large bid in the NCA tournament, which is pretty cool. Um, so yeah, it's been it's been a lot of fun to to be part of the sustained success here. And it's and that's created a whole new learning lessons for me as a coach, as a leader, um, to fight hard against complacency um and to expect just because we won last year, we're gonna win next year, and and to really communicate that to the players and to realize that with certainly within our conference, we're gonna get everybody's best shot. And um, so that's fun. It's been it's been neat to to uh take on the challenges of that winning brings, right? Um winning brings a whole new set of challenges to than losing does, but but there's still challenges. Yep, absolutely. And when those challenges hit, what what qualities emerge from the great teams, from your leaders and your great teams when you face those adversity and the challenging times? Yeah, I think it comes down to, and this is probably a principle that I I probably did learn from the Marine Corps, if I if I'm being honest, um, it comes down to your preparation. Um the thing that's exposed in in pressure moments is your preparation or lack thereof. Um and I think um that's what I'm I'm most proud about with our players is that they've they've proven time and time again that in pressure moments they've they've been able to perform really well. And I think it's because of the way we've prepared um and that those moments don't feel any different than some of the moments we create and practice on a day-in-a-day-out basis, whether it be competitiveness or just the intensity at which we prepare. Um, so that when their moments come in the game, it doesn't feel big. They're able to just, we would say, not think and just react and just play. And it's because they have confidence in the preparation that they've done. Um, and the reason why I draw back to the Marine Corps is I really think um if I'm like, I really think like basic training in the Marine Corps is about breaking you down and training you at a really primal level so that when situations happen, you react in a certain way, even without realizing it. Like you don't think, you just react. And I saw that come to my come to life several times when I was in the Marine Corps in stressful situations. I started to do things before I even realized or thought about what I was doing. Like I was already reacting in a certain way to this, to the stressor. Um, obviously in the Marine Corps, you're trained to have a stressful situation, but not to run, but to go towards it. And so, like there were times where you know, whatever. I was, you know, we were in Cuba doing refugee camps, and they had an uprising in the refugee camps, so people were breaking out. And I just remember without even thinking, all the Marines that were with me, and even myself, I'm like running towards it, not away from, you know what I mean? Like, and there were people that were there, civilians and stuff, like civilian employees that were running away, and we were running towards. And I and I didn't even remember thinking like, oh, I'm gonna go run towards. I didn't think that. I just did that, you know what I mean? So like I really feel like I really feel like that's how we try to train um so that we react in the moments we don't think in those moments. And so, and you don't react unless you've built the habits over and over again to react in those certain ways. And so that's I think pretty foundational to you know what we try to do to be able to just perform in those big moments. Nice, that's awesome. Let's talk a little bit here. We got a little bit of time left here. Talk about modern modern athletes and life lessons. Here's a good one for you here. So, so how have athletes changed over your 15 years at all? I don't know, we could talk a whole episode about that, but yeah, for sure. That's a that's a big topic. Um, you know, I I really feel like, you know, from on a basic level, athletic athletes haven't changed much. Um, I still think, you know, you we find tremendously dedicated, competitive people. Um, I think it's it's it's all around them that's changed. I think I think I mean again, I'm I'm right in the mix, so I think parents have changed. Um and how they approach their kids have changed. Um what they're willing their kids to go through or not go through has changed. Um, the experiences that they're allowing their kids to go through or not go through has changed. So I think parenting has changed a little bit. And and understandably, I mean, we're, you know, I don't think my parents knew, like they didn't know what they didn't know. Where it's hard not to know in today's world. Like, there's so much information at the tips of our fingers and in our heads and in our faces with you know, social media. I mean, we know what's going on in the corner of Arizona right now, if we want to know, right? Right. Like me growing up as my parents. I mean, me, we let me, they let me fail, run around town. Like I was, as long as I was in before dark, they didn't know where I was half the time, you know, where where I just feel like parents are way more informed, but also maybe a little more fearful than than my parents were, or you know, or even I have been, because I'm a coach as a parent. I've I've I think you know, well-intended parents don't want their children to fail. I get that. They want them to not be happy. I understand that. But that goes back to what I was talking about where failure is part of the process. Being unhappy is part of the process because when you're unhappy with something, then you are willing to adjust and make it do whatever you need to do to change it, right? Um, so so I think that's changed a little bit. Um again, I think well-intended too. So I don't want to think it's it's nefarious in any way. I think parents are trying to do the best they can. And it's not easy to parent these days. I I fully acknowledge that because I'm right there in the trenches with everybody else right now. So uh, but I think that's one thing I notice. I just think the access to to be able to compare yourself to other people has really hurt too, because you know, um, you know, a player in our program is working their tails off and trying to and they're getting better, but maybe they're not seeing the playing time results that that that they maybe would want, but don't even deserve yet. But now they're comparing themselves to another one of their high school teammates is at another college and is playing and they know it, it's in their face all the time. And and so it's it can be discouraging and can so I think that can hurt. So I just think I think athletes are the same. I just think what their excessive act excessive at that at their access to is has changed a lot, which is because again, we're all susceptible to it. I mean, what I know, uh, you know, and I mean heck, my wife and I compare ourselves to other people all the time, and we think our life is awful because we don't go on that vacation or we didn't do that or we didn't do this. And like I just think it makes it hard. I think it really makes it hard for people to be present where they are and to learn and grow where they are and to take and make the most of where they are because we're also elsewhere all the time. I think that's that's probably the biggest thing. I think the athletes are the same. I think they intend well, I think they're great kids, they want to get better, they want to learn. I just think they're pulled in so many directions now. It's it's it's hard for them. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I said a lot there. I don't know. I wonder. That was awesome. That was good. So so what what lessons from sports do you hope your players carry into life after basketball? Yeah, I hope they I hope they gain in confidence in their own selves and their abilities. Um, I hope they they learn that failure is not the end. Um that they can lose and get back up and keep fighting. They can learn to be resilient. Um, they can learn to be a great teammate, they can learn um to love people well within their communities and to be great in their communities. Um, that winning's important, um, but it's not it's not what's going to satisfy you or change your life in any way. But through striving to win is where all the important things are developed in us. And and to want to win is not a bad thing. Um, but to keep it at proper perspective, um, I think is really important. Um, so you know, we certainly strive to win in our program, but we want winning to be a byproduct of us trying to be better people, trying to be better players, to trusting the process of every day trying to get better at whatever we're doing and just giving it our best effort every day and realizing that if we do that, then winning will be a byproduct of that. And so that's what I hopefully, and they'll take that on to whatever else they do in their life, right? Um, because I think if they do that, they'll be successful. Um, and that's ultimately what we want. Successful people, successful parents, successful in their careers, successful in their communities. Um, and just realize like it takes a lot of work and and um winning is about the process and about the relationships along the way. Nailed it. Awesome answer. That was good, good, good stuff. Thank you so much for spending some time here today with me. This was awesome. I really enjoyed it, and I look forward to meeting you in person here. That'd be great. Hey, John, I had you too. Yeah. Thanks, thanks, Coach Nate Davis, Gettysburg College Women's Basketball Coach and former Marine. Thanks for joining the Coachable Players. This episode was a powerful reminder that culture, accountability, discipline, and trust still matter, not just in basketball, but in life. Thanks for listening to the Coachable Players. Be sure to subscribe, share this episode, and continue building teams and people that are truly coachable. Thank you, Coach Davis. Thank you, John.