A D1 Water Polo Player Rebuilds Coaching Culture

The water polo season ends, the noise fades, and that’s when a lot of athletes finally feel what they’ve been carrying. Coach B sits down with Jasper Dale, fresh off his final season as a D1 men’s water polo player at UC Irvine, to talk about what high-performance coaching looks like from the inside and what changes when you step onto the deck as a coach yourself.

We get into Jasper’s full path, from starting water polo as an after-school “why not?” activity to leveling up through Southern California club training and landing at one of the most competitive NCAA programs. From there the conversation turns to culture: how teams actually win, why role clarity beats ego, and what it feels like to play under a coach known for intensity. We also unpack the Stanford Brian Flax controversy as a broader question about interpretation, power, and where “tough” can slide into something else depending on the athlete and the environment they came from.

Coach B makes the case for a missing link in many programs: a trained sports performance and behavioral change professional who can help coaches communicate clearly and help athletes interpret feedback accurately, especially when many elite athletes are neurodivergent. Jasper offers a coaching takeaway that cuts through the noise: confidence is not fluff, it’s a performance driver, and most coaches don’t train it on purpose.

If you care about athlete mental health, coach communication, and building a winning water polo culture without losing your people, listen through to the end. Subscribe, share this with a coach or teammate, leave a review, and tell us: what actually builds confidence on your team?

The only podcast that is all about Athletes Supporting Athletes!

Transcript

Why Jasper’s Story Matters

Coach B 0:42

Hey guys, it's Coach B. Welcome back to the Plan B podcast. Today's guest is someone that I have wanted to sit down for a while, but purely by chance, we just reconnected totally random recently. His name is Jasper, Jasper Dale, and he is a D1 collegiate water polo player. And his story sits right at the intersection of everything this podcast exists to explore. Jasper has just completed his final season at UCI UCI, which is UC Irvine, one of the most competitive programs in the country, under, of course, one of the most decorated coaches in the sport, Dan Klatt. But this is where Jasper is different. Okay, he didn't just finish playing, he's already up and coaching. And by all accounts, he's coaching in a way that suggests he's arrived at something that takes most coaches decades to figure out. In fact, some of them never do. Okay, some of them are just completely clueless. But okay, that's a podcast for another time. The research, okay, which, you know, has been my focus lately, you know, forced upon me since, you know, we know the backstory I've said it a hundred times. I don't know what that is. I guess I'm really proud of myself. Male athletes communicate different. We know that. I knew that, and which is why I wanted to get access in the first place and really look after and address the deficit of male athlete health. And thankfully, that day that in the hallway that I bumped into Dan Klatt, this like man mountain of a man, he agreed with me and he could see the deficit too. Maybe even he experienced as an athlete. Who knows? I wouldn't be surprised. But anyway, what we know is that consistently we see that the mental health toll doesn't show up with male athletes in their playing years. It shows up afterwards. So guess what? College coaches don't see it, they don't care because the athletes are gone. And so when the sport ends and there's nothing left behind, who picks up the pieces? Family, loved ones, okay? And people like myself. So the question that's always fascinated me and what I've been trying to do with my work is what if we could change that? What if we could find facilitators of behavioral change who could improve coach communication, could improve athlete interpretation of coaches' instructions, and we could help coaches understand athletes better. Because as we know from the previous podcast, 40 to 60% of elite athletes are neurodivergent. So Jasper is a great example of an athlete who is just living the life of sharing his experience of coaching the way he believes athletes should be coached, based on his experience of being coached in a way where he didn't like it. So he changed. He's changing it and he's coaching it the way he feels athletes should be coached. So hey, good on you, Jasper. You're a legend, and which is why you're on this podcast. So guys, enjoy. It was so much fun. You're really going to enjoy it. And sure, you know, there's going to be a little couple of awkward moments, but you know, ride with it. You guys are tough enough. That's what sport makes us. So enjoy. Jasper Dale, D1 water polo player. This is a Plan P podcast. B, I haven't seen you since 2022.

Jasper Dale 3:20

Right. It it has been a long, or not long, it's actually gone by pretty quickly. It's been a long three or quick three years. But thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited to talk with you and share my experiences. But like you said, I'm on the water poll team at UCI. Most of my experiences have been excellent in my college years. There's been some roadblocks along the way, but I am a better human and a more experienced one because of it. And so for that, I'm very thankful. But yeah, it's been a lot of late nights studying, a lot of early mornings in the pool, a lot of long days traveling. So yeah, I'm I'm very excited to share my story. So thank you.

Coach B 3:52

And hey, Jasper, you have a great story. So, like, first of all, you're now on the deck as a coach, but first of all, you're gonna walk us back to why UCI and then walk us back a little bit further. Why water polo? Why Dan Klatt or why Irvine? I mean, Dan's a big star. He was like a former Olympian, very well known. His dad was a water polo coach. Was he part of the reason? And like, was water polo, were you just that water polo kid who was obsessed with water polo? Give us a backstory.

Team Culture Versus Coach Control

Jasper Dale 4:22

Yeah, well, I can start you at the very beginning. So the lower school that I went to was connected to an upper school. And that upper school had a water polo team and they had a pool. And what got my brother and I into water polo and eventually my sister was the fact that our school ended at 3 o'clock, 3:30. And then there was an afterschool program which ran from 3:30 to 5 in case, you know, parents needed extra time to pick their kids up. And conveniently, from five to seven at that same high school or in the same school, were water polo practices and they were entry level. And it was a mix of babysitting and physical exercise for my brother and I. And my parents signed us up for it. And it's just kind of been, that's just how it started. And you know, it's, you know, it's been it's been a long, what is that? I think I was six years old when I started. My brother was four. And so it's been uh it's been a long 16 years, but you know, here we are. But after that, I kind of played at the club level locally up until my sixth grade year. And after that, I joined some clubs in San Jose and then eventually I played in LA and SoCal or at Southern or at SoCal Club. And during COVID, I lived in LA during COVID and practiced with the team, and that was a huge jump in my playing career because beforehand, the area I was from was a very small pond, so to speak. There wasn't a lot of great players, and my brother and I were kind of not tested as much as we were tested in Southern California because that was where all the great players were. And so that definitely was a big jump in my playing ability. And in terms of why UCI, well, the way I was raised was my parents wanted me to push myself both academically and athletically. And I applied to or I reached out to coaches, stuff like that. And the best school that had offered me a position was UCI. And, you know, I felt like, oh, this would be a silly choice not to do this. And I had really fallen in love with Waterpole at that point. All my friends played, you know, I played every offseason. And so I couldn't imagine, you know, not doing it for another four years. So yeah, that's that's kind of how I got here. And then Dan was hired right in the middle of me being recruited. So I kind of got passed along from the first coaches to then Dan and his group. So it was kind of like a weird period in which I kind of got brought in, but and now here we are. So it's a bit of my backstory.

Coach B 6:42

Um how does it feel? Like, I mean, hey, I am having been an athlete, it's I feel that it's a team with your coach, but when you had your best season, what do you really what do you attribute that most to? And would you say it's 50-50, 60-40, like 60 team, 40 coach? And like, I don't want to put you on the stop on the spot because you know what, you still might bump into Dan around the corner. And I know how big he is, so like you know, but it's okay. He'll probably never listen to this. You know, maybe only 10 people will, like five of your family and five of mine. So just speak freely.

What Dan Klatt Shaped

Jasper Dale 7:13

Okay. Well, I think in terms of water polo, the coaches kind of there's a lot of different ways you can go about it. And for me personally, and like I'm assuming we'll get into this later, is the way that I coach is I don't try and micromanage because a lot of coaches do micromanage, and you can hear it in the way that they talk to the players and how they talk during games. They're always, you know, constantly telling them what to do. And I would say for that team specifically, it was more so, I wouldn't say 50-50. I would say there was the coaches guiding us, but in terms of how we got to where we wanted to go, which was winning our conference, it was we kind of figured out the way from all of our inputs that we were being given and we found it within each other and we just headed that way as a group. And I would say in in the past four years, it wasn't the group I felt the closest with in terms of like guys I was the the best of friends with, but it was the guys I had the most desire to play for with. There wasn't anyone trying to, you know, play outside of their role. There weren't guys who were, you know, spiteful because they weren't playing a lot. It was more so we were, we were a well-oiled machine, pushing in the direction we wanted to go, and everyone was fine playing their part. There wasn't a, you know, there wasn't any spite within the team.

Coach B 8:20

Yeah, and that's it, I believe that that's incredibly hard to facilitate. And I honestly don't feel like coaches can do that alone. And and I'm gonna get to that a little bit later. But before I do get to that, and before I get to kind of how you coach today, I didn't want to, I didn't want to jump off Dan just yet, because I did just want to paint the scene of what you have been exposed to as an athlete. Because you here you are, you've been led by this literally larger than life character who he himself, okay, and I'm quoting what he has described himself as really intense. This is Dan's own words, not mine. Not a very doesn't have a very good off switch, okay. His coaching philosophy is described as a blend of everyone he's ever played with, including his father Rick, Ted Newland, and two Olympic coaches, John Vargas, Rack Rak, so Rick Dick, I apologize for not saying that correctly. So playing under him, and now that you're starting to coach, do you feel as though that helped shaped you as a coach? Or or or do you feel like your playing experiences and your whole life process of getting to this point or a kind of or a bit of a bit of everything?

Stanford Case And Coaching Intensity

Jasper Dale 9:32

I would say being coached by everyone since like the very beginning has definitely impacted the way I coach. Because when I was younger, what I struggled with most was empathy. And through kind of my parents and other life lessons, I was able to develop a very good kind of understanding of how people feel because I remember feeling the exact same way when I was growing up playing water polo. And so, and right now the age group I that I coach is high school boys, so 14 to 18 years old. And I remember being 14, 18 years old because that was four years ago. And so I remember how I was coached and how my coaches treated me, and that totally impacted the way that I treat my players and you know, the ways and the methods I use coaching. And, you know, I've had very intense coaches like Dan, like some of my so-called coaches, and then I've had very laid back and very respectful coaches, or not respectful, but coaches who weren't as intense and still, you know, accomplish similar things. So I think it's coaching is a huge spectrum. And yeah.

Coach B 10:35

When the Brian Flacks story broke at Stanford, and there were two investigations, okay, about players at Stanford describing their experience under Brian Flacks and using words like isolation, psychological warfare, drama affecting recruiting. They there was a lot of language like in the if you go to the Stanford edition, even you know, the editorial that they had there, there's there's words like retaliation. What from your perspective, you've lived in the water polo family for a long time. Are those words familiar like as far as you understand the culture of water polo and how intense it is? Is it possible that you know he's been misinterpreted? The kids just didn't understand what was required of that at that level? How do you how do you see that hole going down? Because you've lived college water polo.

Jasper Dale 11:25

I think it it's very interesting to note that Flacks is very successful. He he was very successful at the high school level. Like his when he coached at Harvard Westlake, they were a very good program, and they are still a very good program. And I've played with players who come from that program, and I've heard stories where it is very intense. They are swimming a lot, it is a lot mentally and physically. And uh the uh kind of uh the way that I see it is coaches, and I'm not saying that this is true with the Stanford case and with Flacks, but the way that uh you get into trouble with this and the way that this can become an issue is you get so set in your ways and you find yourself doing these, you know, maybe not so healthy coaching habits, but you're still having success because you know you have great players, or you know, you have some good luck in whatever regard and you know, in whatever amount that that could be. And you kind of get blinders on and you kind of lock into this is okay, this is the way that I coach, and it's gonna get ever so slightly intense as it goes on because you know, I'm kind of reaffirming that the coaching style that I have is successful. And then, you know, people who come in from different programs who aren't as you know used to it. So for example, like I'm I'm a perfect example of this. Like the way that I was, you know, brought up playing water polo was nowhere as intense as you know my experience at UCI. And that's just A, college and B, the area I came from and the clubs that I played for. So for that to be the case, it's it's you know, obviously we weren't there, we don't know the full story. But, you know, if you're a player coming from a club where you know that coaching style isn't the norm, obviously it's gonna look a lot more, you know, inflamed than, you know, if you're a player who came from a very intense program, you're like, oh, this is just another day at the office, you know, getting yelled at and psychological warfare going on. You know, this is just part of the job description. So it it's really hard to say. I think Fla like Flacks has proven himself to, you know, be a good coach. And, you know, if he has his ways, then it's it's tricky to know, you know, what the real interpretations are because to some they may look more drastic than to others.

The Role Of A Middle Person

Coach B 13:12

Yeah, I agree. I think you you make Jasper, it's so great to hear this from an an athlete, a player who's actually lived that experience because as someone who has worked in the water polo world on both levels, have has worked with players who experienced it good and bad, has had feedback from parents, has been with coaches, has seen, has worked great with coaches until I told them things they didn't want to hear. And then those water polo play water polo coaches exited me because I told them things they didn't want to hear or they didn't like, perhaps about behavior. And maybe that's because I saw things within the culture that they believed was acceptable. So there you go. Like maybe there's things that water polo coaches believe are acceptable, and then you bring an outsider like me in who sees it and goes, hey guys, I don't know whether that's okay for your from a sports site perspective that you're doing that or you're speaking that way to the to the boys. And so here I am giving my perspective, and then all of a sudden it's like, hey, Belinda, thanks for thanks, but no thanks, and we're exiting you out the door. I experienced that firsthand despite proving myself and and contributing to results. So I saw that intensity and that that culture. Now, is it wrong? Who's to say? Uh what what is the harm? We don't know. Are they producing results? I guess you know, it it's like a case by case. I know in my own sport, we had back in the day, we had coaches who'd throw water bottle bottles at your head, and you just had to learn to duck. Like it's but today no one's being physical, but they're throwing other things at you verbally, okay? Or or the way that, you know, they're coaching. And like you say, it's a level of coaching style that I believe, again, insert a mental perform performance coach, you need to teach your athletes how to interpret. So for you, Jasper, on pool deck, with if you had were in a situation where you're at college and you've got your coaching style and you're working with athletes who are are struggling to understand you, what are you gonna do? Like, you know, hire someone like me.

Jasper Dale 15:12

That is a good question. I would say that if there's no mutual understanding between what the players and the coaches are trying to get out of each other, and obviously, you know, the the players are just trying to win, and you know, the coaches are trying to get the best out of their players, so we know you know what that is. Then if there's a disconnect on that, then you would probably want to remedy that. And one of the remedies is, you know, bringing in outside sports performance. And like that happened when you came to our team, and we had success, you know, not immediately, but in the following season. And so I think that there's obviously correlation in that.

Coach B 15:46

Yeah, 100%. And it whether it's me, whether it's someone else, it's it's that facilitator of change that I believe sometimes is necessary to put between a player and a coach. That's what I've seen time and time again. You know, I don't believe I have the secret source. I believe it's any, it's a person who's a professional who understands behavioral change between between an athlete and know understands the behavior of the coaches and knows how to get the best out of both. As someone who really loved water polo and was really, you know, blessed to work with UCI, loved those guys, really admired Dan, had a great opportunity to work with Brett Ornsby and J Sarah, and through that got to observe Brian Flacks at because there was an opportunity where Brian worked with the J Sarah boys. I observed Brian at when he was doing some coaching with those boys, and I saw his level of intensity in regards to how he is focused. And he is, he seems, you know, very good at his coaching in regards to his technique and things like that. And I don't even know anything about water polo, but I could tell from the way that he was directing the athletes. He's very particular. He did a lot of very on-point corrections. And so for me, that was very interesting, but that's very atypical of the perfectionist style that you see with elite athletes. You see that over and over again. Do you see some of those traits, Jasper, coming out in your coaching style? Or have you modified your coaching style to be like some of the more chill coaches that you worked with?

Life After UCI And Coaching Plans

Jasper Dale 17:07

Oh, for sure. I mean, I I'm a very organized person in general as well. So when something's bothering me, I have to do something about it or say something. And especially with water polo, because as a player, you understand, you know, kind of the micro movements. There's so many micro movements in water polo. And as a player, you know, if you can't master certain micro movements, they can throw off the entire effectiveness of, you know, whatever you're trying to accomplish, uh, accomplish, whether it's shooting, passing, playing defense. And, you know, I see myself kind of correcting the same stuff that, you know, I was corrected on at that age. And I try my best to make it a, you know, obviously a constructive feedback and, you know, obviously very supportive. But uh it does get frustrating. And I bet you a lot of this of these coaching kind of incidents happen because of a frustration and a lack of the little perfectionist things that they want implemented that don't get implemented for whatever reason, whether it's because of inefficient coaching tactics or because of, you know, player ignorance, player, players not doing it on purpose, probably not. But yeah, I mean, that's definitely the case, I would say.

Coach B 18:20

When you're you're now you're gonna graduate in a few months, are you going to continue? You know, you're gonna you're you're stepping into the real world, you're stepping into a big time. Hello, um, by the way, Jasper Dale is available for engineering jobs out there, or so this is also a plug, but are you going to like just continue doing some of it, just coaching when you can, or how's that gonna work?

Building Better Communication Frameworks

Jasper Dale 18:39

Well, I I think of it as if I can, I will. And, you know, one of my closest friends from high school, he currently coaches our high school team or he assists with them. And he's always talking about how fun it is and how fun, you know, it'll be when I and my brother are back and we're all kind of running the show back there. Because we talked about it and it would be so fun. And, you know, I think for me, obviously getting a job is is paramount right now, just so I can support myself, you know, as as everyone else is doing. But if there's time and availability and it works, I would definitely love to because you know, being able to spend quality time with, you know, the right people and getting to, you know, and as much as it's like coaching is teaching, you know, younger versions of you, quote unquote, like lessons, you also learn stuff from the kids you coach all the time. Yeah. And like I'm a big believer of the growth mindset and kind of keeping your perspective ever changing because you know, the world is changing and how we should view ourselves and everything else should change as well. And I think that there's a lot of things that people will become blind to as they as they grow. And, you know, I'm I'm doing my best to always be kind of adapting and acknowledging what's going around so that, you know, I can become a better person from it. And I think coaching is a great way of learning and bettering yourself because you learn so much from your players.

Rapid Fire On Coaching Lessons

Coach B 20:05

Yeah, you do. You you learn so much from like even you learn so much from just, I believe, life experience. And we touched on that kind of briefly about, you know, lived experience, life experience. And I even know from that first, one of the first sessions, and I did a lot of like fun, kind of weird sessions with you guys, and and all of them were on the purpose of, hey, let's think outside the box, because that's where I've I've always been about. Hence why I'm I am like doing my PhD, because that's for people who can think outside the box. Okay. And that's what we were doing when we were on a on the beach that day, under a tent. We, the whole group of the water polo team, we walked down to the beach, we set up a tent, and we were just uh doing an exercise. And I'm pretty sure at the time the water polo coaches were laughing at, you know, Coach B doing this ridiculous activity, but whatever, okay, because I really learnt so much that day. It was so pivotal to what I was doing. And I was so grateful for those that group of guys that day because it was a turning point. It was a turning point for me. And I just can't say enough, those guys listening. And I even, when I got into the program, I messaged Dan Klatt and said, Dan, it was because of you and Josie Raz, you were such massive, you know, contributors to helping me move forward. And like you said, those guys you're coaching at high school, they will look at you, Jasper, and learn so much from you. And then you will look back and maybe down the line when you're trying to balance. Like I don't want to scare you while you're balancing like mortgage job, four kids, you know, like everything. And then suddenly your son or daughter did to me what you know, coaching at high school, plus so you're coaching the water polo team and you're doing all this, like you will look back on those times and then you'll even look back, and your memories of like Dan Klatt will come back to you. It is, I don't know. I think sport gives us some of the best experiences. Like all right, hey Jasper, you haven't been so awesome today and just giving us a little insight into water polo world and the you know, the good, bad, the ugly, but hey, guess what? Every sport has that. And I am, of course, people are gonna say she's biased because she was an athlete. But there is a level of intensity in every sport, and I honestly don't believe that you can get to the level of college and above without it. So is that a criticism of the intense coaches? I think part of the intensity is necessary. I do believe that we need to create a better framework to support our athletes. I do believe we need to create a better framework to help our coaches communicate better and more succinctly to our to our athletes. Does that mean they have to be softer? No. But we have to do a better job at helping our coaches interpret athlete behavior. And we have to do a better job at helping our athletes interpret coach behavior. And that's a person in the middle. Okay. And you know, I'm I'm forever doing that plug. And that's because I believe it's necessary. It's not because I'm trying to put myself put myself continuously in there. I believe it's a necessary role for facilitation that we just need to put in there. And there's so many people out there that have those credentials and can assist. And guess what, guys? Guess what the result is when you do that? You win. Boom. Boom, yeah. Okay. You actually get even better results. And that's what I want. And guess what? You also get happier athletes and they're having the best time of their life. Coaches, you get to have the results. You get to go away afterwards have beers with your, you know, your assistants. Everybody's happy. So anyway, I'm going to leave that with you. I I can't keep plugging it enough. But closing with our fantastic athlete Jasper, who is half awesome half Aussie and 100% awesome. That's a line we're going to make into a t-shirt. All right. Yeah, thank you so much for just giving up your time tonight, Jasper. We're going to close with some rapid fire questions for you. Okay, I'm going to say some lines and you're going to fill in the blank. Got it?

Speaker 3 23:51

All right.

Coach B 23:53

All right. The clatt method. The Dan Klatt method is all uh you're keeping the blank. You have to fill in the blank.

Speaker 3 24:00

Okay.

Coach B 24:01

What part of the Dan Klatt method are you keeping, coaching method?

Jasper Dale 24:05

I'm keeping the way that it's Okay. Or can you hear me? Sorry, my audio kind of cut off first. That's okay. The Dan Klatt method. Maybe like, are we running out of data? Sorry, okay. Yeah. No, sorry, my uh my computer kind of lagged a bit. So I heard your question. I just want to make sure you could hear me.

Coach B 24:22

Yeah, I got you. Okay, so what are we keeping out of the Dan Klatt method?

Jasper Dale 24:26

Yeah. Honestly, my my biggest the thing I like most about Dan was out of the pool, he was so chill with us. And I talked to my players the same way. In the in the vans and like driving up to games, we'd just be talking about life, talking about whatever. It wasn't always about water polo. So I'll definitely be keeping that in you know how I speak with my players, how I talk to them outside of the pool.

Coach B 24:44

Okay, cool. Okay, we're keeping the cool Dan out of the out of the pool.

Jasper Dale 24:47

What is the what is the Dan Klatt method that you're leaving behind?

Speaker 3 24:54

I don't know. I can't really place like my finger on one. I don't know. I I don't really have a good answer for that.

Jasper Dale 25:06

I haven't really thought about it.

Confidence As The Missing Skill

Coach B 25:07

That's okay. And that's pretty tough because like like we said, Dan's walking around and he's big and he's huge and and he's slightly scary. So how about we just kind of leave any scary questions about Dan alone? It's okay, I'm with you, Jasper. Okay, I'm uh you know, thank thankfully I live in in Nor Cal and not SoCal, so I can like I can hide by and also I have a husky, so I hide behind your protection. Yeah, I hide behind my dog and just say things about coaches. So the thing about water polo, what is the thing water polo coaches need to hear, but nobody says aloud? Maybe that's a question we need to ask. What is the thing water water polo coaches need to hear, but nobody says out loud?

Jasper Dale 25:47

Personally, and I believe this to be true, and I actually had a parent talk to me about this over the weekend, is confidence is a much bigger piece of playing ability than people talk about. And I I struggled with confidence issues my first two years at UCI, and because of it, I didn't play very well. And I didn't get I didn't make huge leaps and bounds during my playing career at UCI. I I I obviously developed as a player, but what changed most about it was my mindset and how confident I was in my abilities, and then my play reflected that. And I think that that's totally underdeveloped in the way that coaches go about coaching is to instill confidence in their players. And like the place I came from, I was confident because my coaches, they treated me as a great player, and for that I became confident. And as a result, played better. So I would say that that is definitely a thing that coaches need to hear more is confidence is much more important than the attention that they're giving to it.

Coach B 26:37

That's that is gold. That is gold, and that is gonna increase my salary tenfold.

Speaker 3 26:42

Please, I got you.

Coach B 26:44

Come on, USA Waterpolo, coach bperformance.com. You know where to find me. Okay. Uh last questions, our file a couple of final questions that we have. Where do you think we're gonna see Jasper Dale in say 10 years' time? Another two.

Jasper Dale 27:03

I mean, I'm still I'm still asking myself that same question.

Coach B 27:05

Five years. Actually, let's just let's shrink that. Where are we gonna see you in a year, buddy?

Jasper Dale 27:09

Well, I've got a lot of stuff in work, so hopefully one of that goes. But I applied to a graduate program overseas where my mom and dad met, which is pretty cool. And I would actually get the chance to play water polo over there too. So fingers crossed, and if I if I get an action here in about three weeks, so we'll find out then. But um, you know, I I would say I I hope I have a good work-life balance. It's so easy to get focused on, you know, like I I'm I'm in a bit of a stressful mode because of, you know, I gotta get a job. And I just hope that, you know, I'm happy with whatever I'm doing and you know, I'm I'm continuing to to become a better version of myself and I'm not, you know, stuck in old habits and I'm always, you know, looking to to implement something new into my life that could, you know, make it better.

Coach B 27:47

So crazy. That's deep. That's deep. Yeah, no, no, that's great. That must be it must be because we're you know listen, guys, we're getting late into the evening now, and often that's when the deep stuff happens. So it's you know, it's great. All right, final question, I promise. And then I'm gonna let you go. You have to go and probably have your second dinner because like if you got to see the size of these water polo players, like I said, they don't normally have one dinner, they have like multiple in one night. Finish this sentence, Jasper. Okay. A great water polo coach makes their players feel like they have the skills to complete what they're trying to do.

Jasper Dale 28:24

And what I mean by that is they provide the skills, but they also give them the confidence to implement those skills. And I think that a great water polo coach is both a great player and also a great human because it takes a great human to get the best out of someone. And that's what I believe. I love it. You know what?

Final Advice And Neurodivergent Athletes

Coach B 28:41

I I think like you, you're just gonna be, you know, you know, as we've talked about with lots of athletes that have come on the program, you're just gonna take your skill set that you got. Yes, UCI contributed. Yes, Dan contributed. I think 100%, mom and dad contributed. Sport was an amazing catalyst to cultivate all your skills, Jasper. And you're just gonna pivot and you're gonna be awesome at whatever you do.

Speaker 3 29:04

So hopefully, yeah.

Coach B 29:06

100% so blessed to have crossed paths with you. Thanks to running into Dan Klatt in that hallway and can't wait to see what you do next.

Jasper Dale 29:14

Thank you, Coach B. I really appreciate it. Thank you for letting me uh come out here and talk with you. I had a ton of fun.

Coach B 29:19

Yay. Okay, guys, check it out. And coaches, you know, take what Jasper has said because I think it's so important that we learn from our athletes and also, hey, take one step back and also check out the neuro the lesson on neurodivergent athletes because there's a lot in there. We're not being hypercritical about intensity. We're just saying, hey, every athlete learns differently, and it's an important lesson for everybody.