For the Love of the Game: Rugby, Basketball, and Rock & Roll.

A testosterone filled Father’s Day special!
First half of the show I interview rugby player Sean Baron. Sean talks about his late father,Steve Baron,  and how he implemented youth programs in Burnaby, played for the Twilighters Rugby Club for many years, and was an ambassador to rugby programs across Japan.

Second half of the show, you’ll hear from Donald Napoleon Valle. He’s taking his team,,Langley’s Finest, to the FIBA 3  on 3 tournament in Syros, Greece, from June 26-29th. He talks about his love of basketball and the mental health benefits he gets from the game.

To cap off the show I have a great rock & roll band from Phoenix, Arizona called OPNCSKT. The song is called Black Void. Listen to it loud! 🎸🤘
Song link here: https://on.soundcloud.com/Zeiznx4uH96pdojpDH

His new album link! https://on.soundcloud.com/OvTH5sZU2tTh0xanVE

Links to BC Rugby. Remembering Steve Baron: source:%20BC%20Rugby https://share.google/emEKvax7g4OMKtGow

Barons of Rugby/Twilighters RC link:www@twilighterrugby.com barons_of_rugby@twilighterrugby.com https://www.facebook.com/share/1AWrGMGUAS/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Link to Donny and Langleys Finest Basketball Group: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1EDf2fGNEZ/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Stoixman Aegean Basketball Tournament.  https://www.facebook.com/share/1BmPK6iSec/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Links to me: Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/share/1J64HKKC8d/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Email me: standuppodcadt@outlook.com 

Instagram: https://www.threads.com/@christophertawse?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
YouTube: https://youtube.com/@christophertawse-t1k?si=ut8hgy9kkLKK6T9h

 Support the show! buymeacoffee.com/ChrisTawse

Thanks for listening. You can see the recorded video on YouTube @PittMeadowspodcast. I also have business page up on Facebook. Please feel free to reach out and comment, like or follow me on your favorite streaming platform. 

Have a good day. ☺️

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Free audio post production by Alphonic.com.

SPEAKER_03 0:07

Welcome to Stand Up.

SPEAKER_05 0:15

Thank you so much again for tuning in. And if this is the first time checking out Stand Up, I want to personally welcome you to the podcast. Friends, this episode is a jam-packed doubleheader with an absolutely killer band from Phoenix, Arizona at the end of the show. So make sure you stick around to hear this one. First up though, you're going to learn about legendary rugby player Steve Barron. And then in the second half, you'll hear Donnie talk about his love of basketball and how his dream of taking his team to represent Canada against international competition is about to become a reality. Without further ado, welcome and let's start the show. Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of the Stand Up Podcast, a Pit Meadows podcast about resiliency, mental health, and music. This is a special two-part Father's Day episode. My first guest today is a coworker of mine who reached out to me a little while back and wanted to be on the show to talk about his father, who had sadly passed away from cancer on September 10th, 2024. His dad was an integral part of growing rugby here in British Columbia. He was president of the Twilight's Rugby Club at Burnaby, ambassador to rugby clubs in Japan, and helped raise thousands of dollars for youth rugby in Burnaby BC. I'm talking about legendary rugby player Steve Barron. And here to talk about him today is his son, Sean Barron. Sean, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_04 1:29

Hey man, thank you very much for inviting me out here today. It was awesome. Um love to talk about more about my dad with you and let people know what my dad who didn't know my dad. Um help uh understand who my dad was and what he was all about, and uh what he was for rugby and who he was as a great guy and helping out rugby and kids in the community and sports in the community and big rugby guy, uh doing things like Pacific Northwest over 40s for many years and bringing 20 teams all over the world coming to Burnaby Lake Rugby Clubhouse and having a big uh weekend tournament there. Yeah, my dad was the best. Uh like I gotta say, he was he was my hero.

SPEAKER_05 2:12

Yeah, no, that's great, man. I'm super happy to get you there. Like like I was saying, you know, you contacted me back in September and you asked me to be interviewed and talked specifically about your dad. So thanks for being patient. Yeah, no worries. And uh wait until my father's day episode rolled around, but we're finally here. So you spoke to me about wanting to preserve your dad's story for future generations. Why was that important to you?

SPEAKER_04 2:34

Um, it's really important to me to preserve my dad's legacy. Um, it's it's it's helping people in the community who cannot afford sports, like rugby. Um, as Barons of Rugby, as my dad's charity, um, I've taken over with Al Prudin. Uh, we've stepped up to the plate to help out people, like my dad used to do in the past, and helping out people in the past in the community, and people who are struggling and stuff. And especially nowadays with the with the cost of gas going up, food prices going up. It's hard to take time and get things buy new cleats for your kids or buying new things like like uh padding or some of the sports teams are struggling to get like sports equipment and stuff. And as baron rug bear as barons of rugby, we come in and we help out uh people out and sports teams out, um helping out people and kids to have opportunity to have uh fun in sports, not have to worry about financial stresses, and people rely on Barons of Rugby for support and help uh even uh for the whole sports teams as well. Uh like recently we paid for uh a team bus for a sports team to go up to Kelowna for a tournament to make that happen because that was not gonna happen. And uh I just heard from the great prime from the sports community hey, this team's struggling, we need some help. And again, I'll give you my business card and so people can reach out to Barons of Rugby or send us an email as best way is send us an email and just reach out for help, and we're willing to come out help right away, and we're pretty quick to respond. Yeah, and uh yeah. Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_05 4:18

I mean, that team must have like really appreciated it.

SPEAKER_04 4:20

Oh, yeah, they really appreciate it. It was girls rugby, and they were going to uh uh uh um a tournament up in Kelowna, and uh yeah, and and that bus is really good because it helps build the team uh people for building uh good um camaradery and um bonding and team relationships. Uh those buses, and you know, you do those long road trips, it it really makes the team a little tighter, yeah. Um knit of uh communicating and it's less stress from other parents having to drive. And guess what? Just wash them on the bus and they can kids go to stop all the time. It's like one drive straw, and that's it. That's right. And you're saving time, gas, money, and you all travel as one, and that's it, and it's safer that way.

SPEAKER_05 5:02

Yeah, no, that's the best. My daughter's into fast pitch, and she just came back from Kelowna from a tournament up there and got bronze. Nice, congratulations. And yeah, no, I completely agree. I mean, Team Sports is just huge. So tell me about how important rugby was for your dad.

SPEAKER_04 5:16

Um, rugby for my dad was his uh second. It's like rugby for dad was like his second family, it was his life, his blood. He organized big tournaments, like I was telling you at Pacific Northwest over 40s, rugby tournament uh Burnaby Lake, and he um yeah, it was his best. Like his it's like his he loved rugby, he live, eat, sleep it. Um he's got like pitchers and trophies and all that stuff, and tournaments he's been all over the world, uh, especially Japan. And uh I recently just came back from Japan and then bumping into the gentleman's uh rugby club there. Cool. And uh they've been over here, I've known them since I was a kid, and um they're like family to us. And when I just took my kids over there to see the gentleman's rugby club in Japan, they took care of us like amazing. It was like family, man. It was just it's it's rugby is just huge, man. Like everyone helps each other out, and it's just one big happy family. Um, but back to us, same with my dad. He organized Pacific Northwest over four days rugby uh tournament uh Burnby Lake for many years, and he had 20 different teams all over the world coming down to Burnaby Lake uh to play the big rugby tournament for Pacific Northwest. Um it was huge, like uh it was a two-day, two half two and a half day event, and um they would have the BC BC TV news way back in the day. They would go up and do an interview and stuff with my dad, and then they had like the big chicken dinner there after the rugby games and stuff. And it was good all around, man. As a kid growing up and seeing all this that and seeing what my dad did and or helped organize all this stuff was huge. Yeah, definitely. Um you can see the pictures I sent you of all the different tournaments he's been in. I sent you a bunch of pictures of that of all the medals and stuff and tournaments and rugby tournaments he's been in. Um one thing I didn't think I want to say is uh his last game, his favorite, last rugby tour. Yeah. Yeah. It was the last rugby tour. It was uh Osaka, Japan, and it was uh playing at age 78 and four games. I was playing that. Wow. He was playing up with his 78 years old. Yeah, he's playing at 78 years old, and he had four games in Osaka, Japan, and then uh after that uh that was his last game. And right today I'm wearing his jersey today, so yeah. I love that.

SPEAKER_05 7:49

79 on the back, just in case anyone's wondering. What's that? Number 79 on the back.

SPEAKER_04 7:53

Yeah, that's my that's my year, my my year birth with 79. I was wondering about that. 79. So 79 was my uh year your year I was born.

SPEAKER_05 8:02

So yeah, me too, buddy. I always say that 79. We're like a bonding, yeah, you know, group of people, man. Last generation of the 70s, you know, it's special that way. That's awesome. Sean, tell me a little bit about like how did rugby get in uh you know into your dad's blood? Did he start playing at a young age or did he kind of get into it when he was a teenager?

SPEAKER_04 8:21

Did he um he started playing on it as a young age? Yeah, um east side Vancouver kid, gladstone and all that stuff. Yeah, a little rough area, but uh he uh he was he is in that area and uh tough guy. And uh, but yeah, I grew up in east side Vancouver, um East 35th and Victoria area. Okay, yeah. So and um he has a younger brother, and uh yeah, they played a bit of rugby, but more was more so my dad. And uh yeah, so that's awesome. He he he loved it and then he kept on playing ever since after that.

SPEAKER_05 8:57

And you were touching on Japan there a lot. So how did that start? How did the Japan reach out to him, or did he go over there and make that connection?

SPEAKER_04 9:04

That connection to Japan was basically I think he reached out and then just kind of we contacts, I guess. Okay. I don't know how that all came about, but I guess uh they kind of reach out together, Japan, and then there's a lot of rugby tournaments all over the world and stuff, like Portugal's really kicking off for rugby right now. Cool. Um, they're if you're looking for a good rugby tournament right now, I'd rather look into Portugal because the rugby and Portugal has really taken off. Everyone's thinking beautiful country, good food, wine's cheaper than water. That's all I gotta say. I heard that. Um, no, great, great, great area. Um, but I think my dad uh reached out to some people in Japan, and then just because the people will advertise on the clubs, as you can see on my sweater here, the gentleman rugby club there, and he kind of reached out, and then way back in the day when I was younger, um, and they just kind of connected and they uh uh started doing rugby tournaments together way back when I was probably like 10 years old. Oh yeah, yeah, so it goes back way back, and uh awesome people, and um yeah, if you had a chance, I would probably recommend go to Osaka, Japan. I just came back there, saw my kids went there with my kids. Right there with the kids, yes, sorry, and then um flew Japan Airlines, which is amazing, yeah. And um went to Universal Studios, um, saw where my dad played for his last rugby game in his fields out there, and um just Japan is like wow, Osaka Japan is amazing, so much to do, and we toured around there with me and my kids, and uh went to the uh Kyoto uh train museum up there, which was amazing. Rolled on the bullet train and all that stuff, and um it's just wow. Uh you just gotta go. I went to Anara Park, saw the deer, fed the deer, the deer bow, and then you feed the deer a cookie and stuff. My kids love that. So I got pictures of that. Even the deer bow. The deer bow. Yes, the deer bow, and then you bow back and you give them the cookie, and that's about it. And uh yeah, they the people from the rugby Hero Shy, uh, one of my dad's friends that I was played rugby with, him and his wife took me and my kids for the whole day and took us everywhere and our park and everywhere the view. And I was like, hey, I can give you some money. It's like, no, this is free. Nice because your dad's so cool. And I was just like, yeah, I was just like, holy cow, I was like, Are you sure? And he's just like, Yeah, no, this is free, man. Your dad was awesome. You your dad took us places and things and showed us places, and he was all free. So I was I was blown away by that. Meanwhile, I still brought gifts and stuff. I brought in our uh nice sockeye salmon. Oh, cool, uh, from the duty free, uh, Canadian maple syrup, and also Canadian whiskey maple syrup, which they really like. Okay, and um a bunch of other good good goodies and stuff I brought over as gifts because it uh when you go to Japan, you we do a gifts exchange. So I made sure I brought in my fair share of gifts and shared with the team. So yeah. Respect, right? Yeah, respect. Yeah, absolutely. 100 respect.

SPEAKER_05 12:05

Yeah, so you're talking to me about um the Twilighters Rugby Club and Burning B Lake uh Rugby Football Club as well. But then you also touched on um before we actually started recording, but on the rugby sevens, and your dad was kind of part of that in the beginning. Can you touch on that a little bit more and tell me about that story?

SPEAKER_04 12:22

Yeah, so my dad in the beginning, uh, when rugby sevens came to Vancouver, um, he came to me like, I can buy some tickets, it's gonna help with Baron's rugby. So I'm like, okay, how many tickets are you gonna buy, dad? Oh, I'm just gonna buy a thousand. I'm like, I just stopped my tracks. I'm like, what? I'm like, you're gonna buy a thousand tickets? Yeah, that's a lot. I'm like, that's a lot. Well, are you getting a deal? He's like, Yeah, he's gonna get a wholesale price for the tickets. Then he turns around that sells it at regular price, and then from the profits of that goes back into Baron's rugby account, which goes back into the community of rugby. People, uh kids that are struggling or sports teams are struggling, we're buying sports equipment, or helping kids that's um they can't afford cleats or something like that, or also we'd help out. Uh he would help out with like uh hot lunch programs and like breakfast and lunch programs in the city of Burnaby school district. So a lot of money would go there as well because when you come to school, you don't have food in your stomach or lunch or anything like that. It's helped affects your learning and stuff. So basically make sure they're fed and taken care of. And he had his uh, he would help out Gilpin Elementary School, Douglas School, and and certain school elementary schools that needed the most in uh the Burnby area. So he did a lot of that and uh and it went a long way. And he got a lot of thank you cards, I know, for that from the teachers and and um helping out within the community and all that.

SPEAKER_05 13:50

Yeah, I love that. My uh I got two of my kids in the elementary school out here, and they do uh uh a hot breakfast as well. You know, they get there about a half an hour early and they get something in their bellies, and yeah, it's it's really important.

SPEAKER_04 14:02

Um, because you if you want kids to learn and develop, they need food in the system. Again, we're in tough times right now. Um, a lot of people don't realize it as me and you are on the job, we see it. Um and it's pretty sad out there, man. It's just um at least people are stepping up the plate. Uh again, uh other community, other community people. I thank them for stepping up the plate, other uh companies, businesses, businesses and stuff stepping up to the plate and um making a difference out there that's huge. It's basically um and it's just my dad's just a small part. Again, there's other people out there making difference and making huge and kudos to them as well, because it takes a whole bunch of people to make a big change and help these little guys out and help them develop and help them grow and be where they want to be and grow. Um, if we don't do this, there's gonna be problems down the road, and you know, kids get into bad other other bad things and stuff and stuff like that. And they start doing little petty crimes, drugs, that kind of thing. Yeah, you know, and that's why sports is important for kids. I highly recommend people get their kids into sports, doing things, staying active, get them off the iPad, iPhone, and all that stuff because we spend way too much time on that. Go for a hike with mom and dad, or get play some rugby, which is good sports, um, and other sports as well.

SPEAKER_05 15:20

I love hearing you talk about all this, Sean. I can see the passion in your face right now and in in your voice. I mean, I just think it's fantastic. Like when people realize like one in every seven children live below the poverty line in BC. Yeah, you know, we live in you know, like a rich city and it's you know it's a rich country and all that, but really you're right, there are a lot of people that are struggling, and you know, food banks are struggling to keep up and all that stuff too, right? Um, so you were touching on all the philanthropy and all the amazing stuff your dad was doing, but specifically, like how did your dad improve the living standards and youth programs in Burnaby? When did he start doing that?

SPEAKER_04 15:56

Um, he started doing that when I started playing rugby uh as a kid. So in the 80s and stuff. Let's say eighty eighty-nine, nineties and court. Probably say we'll say the good nineties. Yeah. Um, he helped fund youth rugby uh programs in the community of Burnaby and uh also giving back to school lunch programs as well, making sure the youth had lunch and breakfast when coming to school in Burnaby. My dad always stated food and proper nutrition is key to success in sports and life.

SPEAKER_05 16:33

So I don't really remember that being a part of uh like my elementary school when I was growing up. Would did he approach the principal or the school district and present with that idea? Was he sort of one of the founders of that whole thing?

SPEAKER_04 16:46

Um, he just approached this the principal of the school. He what he walk up and we basically just talk to the principal there and be like, hey, identify who he was, and he'd be like, Hey, there's a need for kids, you know, obviously teachers know teachers know who's yeah, coming in who needs help. Yeah. So my dad came in and was like, Hey, I'm here to help. Just let me know what you need. Um, there's a other good guy named Greg Giles. He was a good guy. He brought in food for Burnby schools as well. I I gave a kudos to him as well.

SPEAKER_05 17:16

Cool.

SPEAKER_04 17:16

Yeah, he was a good guy. Uh no doubt, no doubt.

SPEAKER_05 17:19

That wouldn't have been Randy Giles' dad, would he?

SPEAKER_04 17:21

Or um, I don't know. Okay, but he's a Burnville Lake Twilighter, so uh Greg Giles, so but I don't I don't I don't I don't know. That's cool. But uh he made a big difference. He brought he helped out some other schools as well. So I gotta give kudos to that guy. Um he was a good guy as well. Unfortunately, he passed away as well before my dad. And then um, but uh no, my dad would push the principal and like, hey, what can I do to help out? And then basically gave money, or he would buy stuff from Costco and don't drop off a truckload of stuff for the the school, so it's there for them. And then the principal was like, Hey, I'm gonna need another load or supply or something like that, and reach out to the certain individual schools that were needed the most. I love that. Big heart, yeah, super big heart. And same goes with Craig Giles as well. He's another Twilight there. I want to let them people know on the podcast. Well, he's gave a lot with a bunch of his Twilight rugby people as well. So he was a good guy. He had a big heart as well, too.

SPEAKER_05 18:15

I love that Craig Giles. Shout out to him. Yeah, yeah. Uh, now that you run the Barons of Rugby, uh, what does rugby give you mentally, Sean?

SPEAKER_04 18:24

Um it shaped me for recognizing there are normal people. Um sorry, I was gonna start let me start over again here. Um, it shaped me to recognize that there are normal people and families out there struggling out there and just need a little help and hand to get them into sports like rugby. Um, it's one, it shapes me to be a better team player on and off the field and through work and my dad's charity gives giving back to the community is helped me a lot. And um, especially playing for the Flatliners paramedic rugby team. I don't know if you know everyone's aware of that, but we do have a rugby team. The girls are doing really good, better than us right now. Sorry, guys, uh, you're not gonna like me when I said that, but the girls are leading right now. The guys are gonna have to catch up, but we will catch up. Yeah, they are the girls are kicking ass. Yeah, and um, unfortunately, the um guys need to step it up a notch and then hopefully get some more uh out there playing. And uh yeah, no, it's uh it's changed a lot for me. It shaped me more of a better team player on and off the field, um, working with at work and then also helping with my dad's charity, giving back to the community and stuff. Also want to say kudos. Thank you for Al Prudent for helping out with Barons of Rugby as well. Too. I can't take all the credit. Al's helping out Prudence has helped me out as well, too. So I gotta always recognize that for other people and stuff. Um, second, uh, helps me be a stronger dad and being there for my kids and family. My son plays rugby and he loves playing rugby. So my daughter's not into it yet, but uh we'll wait and see from there.

SPEAKER_05 20:04

Yeah, yeah, maybe as long as she's into something, I think, right? I mean, for me, I get a huge benefit even just from going to the gym and doing a run, like whatever. Just get those endorphins going, right? Just makes you feel good. And I've been plugging these 20-minute walks, I've been doing another show as well, and I'm gonna keep doing it. Just that little thing every night has just been made a world of difference right now. Yeah, 100%.

SPEAKER_04 20:24

Yeah, all I gotta say is if you're having a bad day, you know what? Go to the gym, work out. I guarantee you, I bet you 50 bucks, you're gonna feel better after that day. I honestly, if you have a bad day, go to the gym, work out, go for a walk, go for a hike, and uh work out or play sports like rugby. Yeah, and uh at the end of the day, you're gonna come off playing the off the gym or field or whatever, you're gonna feel more released and more relaxed and more like kind of like, wow, I feel better now after that.

SPEAKER_05 20:52

Yeah, 100%. And then uh, you know, you mentioned Al Prudent. I know Al too, he was my union chief at Station 63 in Coquillum, and then he also did a lot for Cops of Cancer. Yes, he's done a lot as well. He was big in the union, so yeah, no, Al's done a lot.

SPEAKER_04 21:06

Al he's done a lot for the community and helping out people and stuff. And uh him and my dad played rugby back in the day as well, and um again, he's a Twilight as well, um, as well, and used um used to be a president uh for print be like Twilighters. Um, yeah, great guy. And um yeah, he was there and um he was there for my dad's funeral and stuff and helped present and a lot of stuff, so it was really good. I appreciate him. Yeah, he's a beauty. He's a beauty.

SPEAKER_05 21:34

What's up, Al? Big fan of the show here, too. I know he always asks about it when I see him and everything. So um, all right, buddy. I know rugby gets a little crazy sometimes after the games. I've heard of some crazy stuff before. Oh, yeah. What is your best rugby story you can actually tell publicly?

SPEAKER_04 21:50

Well, there's some stories I can tell and I can't tell, and I'm gonna go easy on this question. Yeah, I know. And uh adults listen to. Wants to listen or anything else. There's Kangaroo Court. I'll let you YouTube that or YouTube search Kangaroo Court. Okay. Or uh the Rugby Songs. Uh it's a it's a I'm gonna let the people general public let them do that. But anyway. Kangaroo Court rugby songs. I'm gonna say rugby songs. Okay. But, anyways, uh to the question. I'm gonna basically just gonna give you a bit of uh a best answer for that question. So it gives me uh can we repeat the question?

SPEAKER_05 22:28

Sorry about that. I was just wondering what is your best rugby story you can actually tell publicly?

SPEAKER_04 22:35

Uh the best rugby story I can tell you is that you meet a lot of people from all different backgrounds and jobs when you meet these people. They are like your second family. We all help each other out. For example, just came back from Japan and met up with all my dad's rugby friends.

SPEAKER_05 23:00

Yeah, no, that's amazing. And then I can also share one too, where uh I knew of a rugby team in Richmond where they would flip over the bottoms of a wine glass, pour a little bit of vodka on the top, and then they would snort it.

SPEAKER_07 23:13

Well, that's that's pretty rugby, right?

SPEAKER_05 23:16

Yeah, and then they also had that rugby club in uh Vancouver Rugby Club for a long time too. And I remember that place got a little wild back in the day as well. So um for my last question, Sean, I know you already talked about this uh a little bit as well. Uh, but what advice would you give to sports parents today? I know things can get a little bit crazy, a little competitive, but what would you say being a father and being a rugby player and a coach as well?

SPEAKER_04 23:39

I just want to finish off that one quick question. Sorry, no, no, no, it's only this way. Um, so anyways, my dad's friends in Osaka, Japan, again, which are really awesome people, and they took care of us, me and my family and friends when coming over to Japan to visit us, uh, picked us up from the airport, drove us to our hotel, make sure everything got okay, and took us on a road trip to Nara Park to see the deer, taking us out for dinner, such an amazing experience. And my dad has had an amazing relationship with Japan and the gentleman's rugby club for years. And there's some good stories where they went to the come of the bathhouses, uh Steam bathhouses and stuff. Yeah, that'd be good. Can't wear tattoos or anything or you gotta cover them up. My dad never had any tattoos, but some of the stories and the the parties they've had were pretty awesome and stuff. So yeah, yeah, but yeah, um, sorry, I just want to touch upon that. And then um, but back to you're saying uh I would give parents um um let for the parents out there and your kids and your sports and stuff, I would give to the parents is that get your kids out into team sports now uh and watch them grow, uh let them have fun, help them along the way, and let the coaches do their jobs, stand back and watch. Uh the kids need to learn from the coaches and learn how to work as a team and what is needed to be a team player on and off the field, plus going to sports tournaments as a team on a bus helps them bond as a team builds stronger and friendships build stronger, which goes on for many years. Yeah. Um, this in turn helps out your kids and life skills when they get older and when they develop and everything else, and and realizing when they get to work, work world and stuff, you know, it's how to you can adapt by yourself, but then you also need your workforce team and stuff like that. Like, you know, when we make me and you responding to calls or incidents and stuff, I'm relying on you, you got my back and all that stuff, and helping each other out. And it's one team, one goal to get the job done, and that's pretty much about it.

SPEAKER_05 25:56

And yeah, that's yeah, all of that that's great, Sean. Um, I know that with my uh my daughter's team too, her coach always makes sure that the team stays together, even like at tournaments and between games, you kind of just keep that bonding going, just keep that you know, that sisterhood, brotherhood, whatever, you know, cover it doesn't matter. But like you said, you just kind of become like a second family and you rely on each other, and it's just all those intangibles are just fantastic life lessons.

SPEAKER_04 26:23

Yeah, you can't get that from uh reading a textbook or anything like that. You just you get you gotta get your kids into sports and and uh get that going for them and to move forward with them and their lives and and growing, and it's part of growing and life and stuff, so you have to uh get your kids and kids into sports. Um, they can't be sitting around the house all day long and uh and you gotta like go build forts or something, and you know, like that as a kid when I was growing up, build a fort or go hiking or go to summer camp, yeah. And um, but yeah, it's uh it's huge. Sports is huge, takes a huge part of kids' life and development and and yeah, and P class is huge at school and stuff, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:07

Yeah, Sean, we're almost out of time. It's gone by way too quick. Yes, it's gone way by too quick. Sean, thanks again for coming on the show, brother. Quickly, how do you you know can you tell yourselves the people uh how to support the club and where can they watch you guys play?

SPEAKER_04 27:24

Um, so how to support Barons of Rugby. Um, you can go to Anyvan City, make a donation, and um basically Barons of Rugby, and you just make a donation from that way. Um or if you're somebody in need or needing help or something like that, you can uh I'll give you my business card here. You can put it on the page, but you can go to Barons underscore of underscore rugby at twilighters rugbyclub.com and or you can call me or Al Prudent and uh we'll make something happen. And just it's all confidential. We don't we don't advertise your name or anything like that. Again, if you're struggling, you need help. I can't afford cleats for my kids to pay sports or something like that, or you're a sports team that you're you want to do a tournament and you can't afford that bus. You know what? Give us a shout out, send us an email, we'll see what we can do, help you out. Again, it's all anonymous. Um, if you want to be gonna we have a little book we have of all the people we helped out. If you want, we can add you to our book and just give the business people saying, Hey, this is all the people we've helped out in the past, and it's a big little binder we have all the people picture like sports teams we helped up in the past, and it just I add to that book and stuff so it can show to other companies and stuff, hey, we helped out this individual, or you've helped out this sports team and stuff, and it just gives a reference and just saying, Hey, you know, if uh, for example, if a company wants to donate to us, like they want to see references, like hey, this is where your money's going to, and what's it's done, and what it has it done in the community, and that's the big thing is like where it has it done, where you can see it, and a lot stuff, and yeah, and we're pretty open, we can show you everything.

SPEAKER_05 29:02

Love it. So I'll have those links up on the show page notes. And again, Sean, you look great. It's great seeing you. Thanks for coming on the show, bro.

SPEAKER_04 29:10

Yeah, no, thank you, man. And this is my the drug the jersey I'm wearing right now, is the last jersey my uh dad wear when playing rugby uh in Japan. And uh, no, Chris, I love your show and I have watching it, and thank you for what you do and and keep on bringing on these podcasts. These are awesome, man. I appreciate your time and thank you for being here for letting me be here today. Awesome. Thanks, Sean. Take care, everybody. Thanks.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

And we'll be right back after this short commercial break.

SPEAKER_03 29:37

Uh, June. I love this month. Only two more weeks of school to go. And then summer break. Hi guys, it's Chloe here, and I'm here to tell you the top five things I think you should do this summer. Number one, Capilano Suspension Bridge. There's a bunch of forest, and there's a huge bridge right above the water. And for kids, there's they have this little scavenger hunt page for animals, and it is so fun. Number two, sweet tooth creamery in Osper Village. There's tons of flavors, huge scoops of ice cream, and a reasonable price for you, brokies. You can't beat it. Number three, watch a ball game at Not Bailey Stadium. We go there every year. Get great seats and even get some autographs. Awesome way to spend an afternoon. Number four, cultural plate water slide. There's lots of tandem or twin slides to go down with your friends, and the park is huge. So there's always something to do. Number five, playland. We love going on all the slides and eating tons of yumps. We usually stay till 11 p.m. and then we get changed in our pajamas before we leave because we are so exhausted by the time we get home, but it's like so worth it. This has been Chloe's top five things to do in the lower mainland this summer. Bye, love y'all.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

And now we're back to the show.

SPEAKER_05 31:15

All right, welcome back, everyone, to the Stand Up Podcast. My second guest this episode is a friend of mine, originally from Villanueva, Nicaragua. He's a Langley boy and he loves two things in life. Number one, being a dad to his two beautiful children, and number two, playing basketball. He plays and manages his team called Langley's Finest. They recently won the Division B League Championship. Plus, he was named Executive of the Year and General Manager of the Year. On June 26th, Donnie and the rest of Langley's Finest will be representing Canada at one of the premier three-on-three basketball tournaments in the world, the FIBA Stoicsman Aegean Basketball Festival in Syros, Greece. Please welcome my friend and baller, Donald Napoleon Val. Donnie, welcome to the podcast, bro. Thank you. Thank you for having me, Chris, and thank you for uh setting this up. Oh man, my pleasure, man. Donnie, this tournament is just over one month away. How excited are you for this opportunity?

SPEAKER_06 32:09

Uh very excited. Uh, this is something that I envisioned for a long time. To take uh a group of uh guys from my city uh that would become a pretty deep basketball team and good friendships to uh international play. Like I've uh manifested this or whatever you want to say, envision this for a long time. I've been talking about this for a long time and finally it's it's happening. Wow. So first is uh Greece, and then we'll see from there.

SPEAKER_05 32:36

I love that. So tell me about that. I mean, did you hear about this tournament like years ago?

SPEAKER_06 32:39

Or or was this always just a vision of yours that you know I I always had the vision to go international play uh rather than just local play, right? Yeah, but uh it just happens to be one of my uh Langley's finest guys, uh Constantine. He is Greek, and what he does is he works all year long, and for his five or six weeks off, he just goes to Greece. His parents own a two-bedroom uh condo in Athens. Nice. So he goes there every summer, he takes his five weeks off, and uh he just stumbled upon this tournament and he called me one night. It was about uh midnight BC time, and he was in Greece. He's like, Donnie, we found this tournament. You can't believe it, three on three. And I was like, Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's like, We should take Langley's finest here. I was like, Yeah, yeah, we'll do it, we'll do it. But I had no idea how big this thing was. I just thought it was just you know a little a little town. He said he was on an island, which sounds really cool. Yeah, and then uh once we started researching it, I I started seeing the magnitude of this tournament. It's not a small tournament, it's really big. It's really, really big. Like uh every division has 25 to 30 teams, so it's pretty pretty competitive. Wow, and how many divisions are there? Uh it all goes by age group. Okay, so there's uh five or six of us going, and uh half the team's gonna enter the 40 and up division, and then uh the other half of the teams are gonna go 19 and up, but that's almost semi-pro. Yeah, like there's gonna be pros in the 40 that are retired, yeah, but 19, they're still playing, they're still young, they're young bulls. I don't want to go into that one.

SPEAKER_05 34:12

Oh, it's so exciting. I mean, it's sponsored by FIBA, so it's like the International Basketball Association, so it's like legit. It's legit, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 34:19

It's legit. It takes over the whole town. They shut down the whole market square, and they put up stands, they put up four or five courts, they have DJs, and it takes takes like blocks and blocks of the downtown core, and you're by the ocean, so the whole thing is super cool.

SPEAKER_05 34:35

Oh, that sounds sick. So, how does the how does the tournament laid out? How what's the Rob Robin look like, and then the elimination round?

SPEAKER_06 34:41

Uh we're not 100% sure. Costi was the guinea pig and he played in it last year. He just signed up as a free agent, and uh he says you play two games a day, and then you start off with the 32 teams, you play your round robin, second day, you play your round robin, and then uh it goes down to where you get seated, and they only take the top 16 teams, and then you as you lose, you you're out, right? So it goes single game elimination, I think, on the end of the second day, starting the third day. Okay. Yeah, so it's like a Friday, Saturday, Sunday thing.

SPEAKER_05 35:17

Nice, and that starts on the 26th. And tell me about the team that you've assembled. You mentioned Constantine, a couple other guys coming down.

SPEAKER_06 35:25

Yeah, yeah. There's uh Chad Warren, super veteran, uh, high-level player, score in all leagues. And then we got Yannick, uh, one of my friends from uh Coquitlam area, uh, big guy, inside outside player, about 6'4, uh, big high school uh talent when he was in high school, played university ball. Uh Chad played uh some university ball as well. And then we got uh from uh Nanousk on the island by Nanaimo Stefan. He used to be a Langley guy and then he moved out there, but he's one of our top players, so he's coming to do this, and then Const the uh Constantine is uh the local Greek guy, but he's a Langley guy too. So uh yeah, that's uh we're going with five. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:09

Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, so and then you also have another tournament coming up in Iceland. How's that looking?

SPEAKER_06 36:16

Well, that that is gonna be a little bit difficult. We're guys are just it's just hard with guys having family and whatnot, um, you know, to get to get out there, get the time. And it's not so much the money, you can always save up the money, but it's getting the time out there, uh, having the time to go, right? But uh that one's uh interesting. Sorry how I found out about that one. That was that. Uh it's actually kind of funny. I follow this guy on Instagram called uh uh Lee Ellis. Lee Ellis. Yeah, he's kind of like a famous traveler around the world, finds basketball courts, plays all around the world. He does uh commentating for TSN. He used to have a TV show on TSN, four of uh four guys would just talk about basketball. Okay, so so he has a following. He probably has like 300 or 400,000 followers on Instagram. He he's kind of like a small celebrity in the basketball community, right? Uh, and a lot of people around the world know who he is. And uh I saw a video on Instagram of him uh being in at this tournament in Iceland and traveling Iceland, hanging out with the guys, and uh it looks super cool. So, me being what I do, I I just I don't really mind messaging people. If if someone turns me down, it doesn't matter. If they don't respond back, it doesn't matter. So I messaged him and uh five weeks later, uh I didn't think anything of it, but he messaged me back and I explained to him we're Langley's finest, we're from Canada, saw your video, would love to have some information. And uh yeah, he wrote me back. Perfect, followed up with me, we talked, and then he got me in touch with uh a guy named Hans. He played in the tournament, that's how he found out about the tournament because Hans messaged him through Instagram. Uh-huh. So then I messaged this Hans guy, same thing, five, six weeks later, he messages me back.

SPEAKER_05 38:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 38:08

So then we start talking. He's like, we'd love to have the Canadian basketball North American culture. No one's ever come to our tournaments, it's just us local guys in Iceland. I'd like, I would love to go, I'd love to bring my Langley's finest guys, and we're like, we'd love to have you here. And so then he got me in touch with the guy who organizes the whole tournament. Uh, it's a professor in uh the Northern University of Iceland, uh, the town, the university town that he's in, and I might butcher their name, but give it a shot. Acony. Acony. Okay, it's northern Iceland. Sounds legit. Yeah. So he's a professor and he runs the tournament out of the university and a community center in that town.

SPEAKER_05 38:50

Nice.

SPEAKER_06 38:50

So he messaged me back and then he gave me the whole details how much a tournament costs, when it goes on, and uh all that. So we're just planning around it, seeing if we can go to that. But we we really want to go to that. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_05 39:03

Did you tell uh you say Ian Ian Ellis? Is that his name? Yeah, yeah. Did you tell him about the one that's coming up for you guys in Greece?

SPEAKER_06 39:09

Uh Lee Ellis, no, I haven't messaged him. Lee Ellis. Yeah, Lee Ellis, I haven't messaged him that. But okay. I think I might just before we leave. Yeah. Because I've already thanked him and he's like, Oh, no problem for getting us the connections to the Iceland tournament. So I think I'm gonna send him a message, and then maybe if he responds back, send him a Langley's finest t-shirt t-shirt wherever he is in the world. Yeah, man, he's already like in correspondence with you. Like, yeah, so that was that was pretty cool. People thought it was hilarious because he's like I said, he has 300, 400 followers. Right. So my friends thought it was hilarious that he messaged me back, and then I got in touch with one guy, and then I got in touch with the league organizer, and we're there.

SPEAKER_05 39:44

Yeah, yeah, love it, man. And are you gonna be the only Canadian team at the Greece tournament coming up too?

SPEAKER_06 39:50

Uh that I can think of, yes. Nice. Um, Costi was our guinea pig last summer and he went and he just signed up for uh by himself, like a single player. Yeah, and they just gave him a couple older Greek guys, and he got he made it to like the final 16, final 10 teams.

SPEAKER_05 40:06

That's pretty good.

SPEAKER_06 40:06

So, and that's just with randoms with no uh chemistry, right? And we're we're veteran players, we play a lot of leagues and stuff like that. Uh, so I think I think we're gonna do pretty good. I love that. Yeah, no, and you guys just won that division B championship. Tell me about that. Uh, that is a new league that we joined. Uh, one of my friends sent me a message because how how we find out about these things, if guys spot things on Instagram, on Facebook, they send it to me, I research it, and then I find out if it, you know, if it sounds like it would fit us, and then uh yeah, I just message people. That's what I do. Message people, right, find info, and then we get in the league. So this is a Filipino league, uh Drive and Dish, run by a gentleman named John. And uh yeah, I just message him, found out, very different from any league we've ever played, because it's Filipino League, but this is a year they want to expand, so they they call it open to all. Okay. So any race, like any background, just bring a team, right? But they're very strict rules because they have uh they're very well organized, they have refs that not only coach high school level, college levels. Uh some of the refs that ref us in our league uh did the provincials for all double A, triple A, single A. So they're pretty serious guys. They are. And uh like any other leagues, you can just wear mismatch jerseys, or you can have all the same colored t-shirt. No, these guys want nice jerseys, matching shorts, like they want a really nice look to their league, right? So we we appreciate that. It was different for us, but uh yeah, do you just grab a whole bunch of plain black shorts from Amazon, get your jerseys and your you match, right?

SPEAKER_05 41:46

I love it. I mean, you're wearing Langley's finest shirt right now, which looks really dope. I know I bought that hoodie from you, so you know I wear that proudly.

SPEAKER_06 41:54

Yeah, I wanted to, as uh much as we've expanded in the last couple years, I just and the community supports us so much, like Langley, all my Langley guys, Langley people, Langley residents, uh, all my friends support us so much that I thought I'd get it out there and uh I made t-shirts and hoodies, try to raise some money, get get our name out there, and yeah, I sold uh quite a bit. I did pretty good.

SPEAKER_05 42:17

That's great.

SPEAKER_06 42:17

Like I didn't make a ton of money, but our t-shirts are out there, right? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:21

So Donnie, at 48 years old, why do you still lace up and play?

SPEAKER_06 42:25

Oh, I I love basketball. Aside from my kids, uh, it's one of my huge passions. Uh it's funny. My I I didn't realize how much I like basketball till there's a couple points in my life where I realize how much I I love it and I like it. Uh, one of my friends just recently said, Man, you sleep, eat, and like drink and think basketball. Right when you wake up in the morning, you're thinking basketball. I am, but I'm competitive too. So I'm always thinking of winning, always thinking of what we can do to get better, where can we play next? That's where the international tournaments come in because I've I've had plans for that for years. And uh just the way everything happened, it was organic. Like we created Langley's finest with like eight, nine guys, and then uh basically through COVID, we kind of made that, and also competing against Langley guys, playing for other teams. I'd be in finals, I'd be in semifinals, and I'm going against guys from my own town. So I thought, why not just make a big, massive Langley group? And through the years, yeah, we started with nine guys, now we have 85 guys on our chat, and probably like 30 to 40 guys that play competitively under the banner we call it the brand.

SPEAKER_05 43:38

Oh, nice. Well, I love it, man. That's why you're general manager of the year, man. You're thinking about it every day, you're waking up, going to bed.

SPEAKER_06 43:45

I I I think it was really cool to get that award because my friends know it. Uh, the guys who like are in my circle know it, and the guys who play for me, the 30 40 guys and the group chat, they know how much work I put into this, and it was cool. That this uh league commissioner guy just noticed. He's like, Wow, he he found my Instagram page. He my friend Mirza does tons of videos that films everywhere we play for fun and leagues, and he just mixtapes it. And he's like, Wow, you I see your t-shirts, you know, and uh hoodies, and he just is blown away. He's like, Wow, you do a lot. So he gave me GM and uh executive of the year. How cool is that to be recognized? It's pretty cool. Like it, like you know, when you love something, yeah, you don't really need the recognition, but when other people see it and you get told all the time that uh you're doing something special, like at your age and you're grabbing groups of guys, all ages, playing together. You come as a community. Uh, I have a big thing that we do every summer called Taco Night, which is uh super cool. All you can eat tacos, everyone pitches in money, and then we just throw like a free tournament, right? So it's just a free tournament, all you can eat, have some beers, lawn chairs, music. It's just a great summer vibe. And uh I'm building a basketball community so slowly, uh little by little.

SPEAKER_05 45:04

I love that. I mean, like, do you now have the dates set right now? Can you tell people about it? Where to find that right now?

SPEAKER_06 45:09

Yeah, Taco Night was an idea that I came up with. Uh my cousin Alejandro, a Costa Rican. He's a painter by trade, but he loves to cook. He he's kind of he's a chef, he's a low-key chef. And he just said one day, hey, why don't we just have a barbecue and a tournament, just vibe out beautiful summer day, and just all the guys get all the guys out. So, yeah, so I rounded up the guys, threw the ideal out there, and they loved it. So the first year we did it, uh we've done three now. Uh we had about 40 people. Uh, second year it jumped up to about 85 people, and last year we had over a hundred and fifty people show up. Nice, yeah. But we we ran out of tacos in like three, four hours. We didn't think that many were gonna come out. Well, I want to go to that, man, for sure. Yeah, that's a that's a a good uh a good vibe. You can see a lot of the stuff that we do on uh Facebook. We have a uh uh LFG page, Langley's Finest group page. Okay, and we post everything we do, like all our taco nights, all our runs, all our just having fun at the park with the guys. It's just a great vibe. And uh yeah, we incorporate families, people's wives, kids, and we just hang out all day long. I'll be there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Usually we do that uh second week of July, depending on everyone's schedule, right? Depending on who's going away, my chef. If I don't have my chef, right, then we're kind of screwed. Yeah, but uh yeah, that that's a good one. That's a really good one.

SPEAKER_05 46:31

I heard you talk before about the mental health benefits that you get from basketball. Can you expand on that a little bit for me?

SPEAKER_06 46:38

Yeah, I think it's super important for uh for everyone guys, girls, women, men, to have like an outlet aside uh from their life, like aside from work, aside from school, aside from home life. Yeah, like it's really good to have a hobby. Everyone should, I think, should have something that they like, like a group where you can be yourself, uh, do what you love, and then just have people that respect you and you respect them on the same level for the same passion that you have in the in the object that you're doing. So yeah, it it's pretty key because uh one of the main reasons too that I started Langley's finest, and there was a stint where I was having a rough time uh getting through a you know, a divorce kind of a split up, and then uh that was affecting me. And then you know, when you get in that level, you don't really want to go out, you don't want to do anything, and then my friends just kept pushing me and pushing me and pushing me to try to do more and uh try to come out. But when you're stuck in that dark place, you don't really want to do a lot. You know, you just want to you feel bad for yourself, you feel this, you overthink things. And then uh two people actually helped me. Um, Six, my friend Six, and Mirza, the guy that makes all our tapes and whatnot, and they're a big part of Langley's finest. Uh, just kept saying, Hey man, Donnie, if if you don't come, no one's playing. I'm like, what do you mean no one's playing? He's like, No one's playing for the last four weeks. Uh no one's come out. You're the guy who brings us all together. The glue. Yeah, I'm the glue, they said. I I didn't really notice that until I started looking at our chat that we created, and it was crickets, no one was saying anything. Yeah, so then I started uh I messaged Chad Warren, one of our guys. Hey, let's start getting guys fired up. So we started talking trash, getting guys fired up, and then I got out of it, and uh Rob Milo, one of your friends, one of our dear friends, uh Paramedic, sent me a movie. Donnie, you gotta watch this movie. And it was an Adam Sandler movie, funny enough, but uh it was called Hustle. And the main character of that, it was a basketball movie, uh, was uh a Spanish guy named Bo Cruz. He was a he's a professional guy in the NBA, but the name in the movie was Bo Cruz, and it he said it really reminds me of you, you know, uh a Latino guy, gold chain tattoos, loves basketball, doesn't know what to do with it. Adam Sandler finds him, brings him over over to the US, he becomes a pro player, and then the story is just a great storyline, right? Yeah, like taking his family from the bottom to a better place and doing it for himself, his mental health and whatnot. He didn't believe in himself. Adam did, and uh yeah, it's just kind of like that movie. I watched it two or three times, and then I just started changing. I said, Hey, I should I should get some counseling, you know, get some help. Like, don't ever be ashamed to ask for help. Like, your friends are always gonna be there, good friends will always be there, good friends will always be there pushing you, uh, you know, kicking you in the butt. And then when you once you do counseling and you find someone that you can vibe with and get down with, uh, it's really good. It's really good. I think anyone that's going through a tough time should look into uh free counseling. You know, your local community centers have them, and you're and just use your support system, your friends, what you love, get back into what you love. If you loved fixing cars, go fix cars with your friends. If you love motorbiking or uh BMXing, just go do that. If you love skateboarding, find an empty parking lot and go skateboard, and then with the help of counseling and stuff, you'll slowly open up. And uh, I've opened up a lot and it's uh made my life a hell of a lot better. And yeah, I'm in a good place, created Langley's finest. All my guys are you know respectful, respect me, I respect them. So we're just growing and growing and growing more every year.

SPEAKER_05 50:25

I love everything that you just said there because it's so true. Like I've had some tough times too. I've you know gone to a counselor through work, his name's Jim Michael Bust. And at the time, you're right, it's it's a struggle, you're having trouble getting out of bed, and you just got to kind of start getting back to start reaching out to start connecting with people. And before you know it, sort of the time goes on, you're sort of processing whatever it was that's kind of you know got you to that place, and then you just kind of you know come out of it, you know. But it does take work, it sounds like you put in the work.

SPEAKER_06 50:55

Oh, you have to put in the work if you if you don't put in the work. One thing I I've seen in people and uh sometimes like if you can't break out of that system, you'll be stuck there, you know. And you don't want to be stuck there because it's a lonely life, dark life, you're not happy. People know you're not happy, they try to help you, but if you don't find help or if you don't find dig deep inside yourself, it it's pretty hard. Yeah, so I understand uh to some level mental health now, like uh what people go through, like not only uh life stress, but like just personal things that people go through. But yeah, you you gotta you gotta try. Like you can't give up. Everyone's gotta keep trying. You gotta grind in this life. That that's what I've found. Like there's no magic cure. You just gotta be positive and keep pushing ahead. Because the world won't stop.

SPEAKER_05 51:47

Totally, man. You know, life's gonna life's gonna happen, right? It's gonna kick you down, but you gotta pick yourself up.

SPEAKER_06 51:53

Yeah, so yeah, shout out to the counselor, the two counselors that I use, they're they're really good. And uh the whole system that it being free to is pretty good for some people can afford to go to like uh paying for counseling, but if you can't, there is uh systems out there that uh you can get free counseling, and it's good, it's really good.

SPEAKER_05 52:13

Yeah, no, that's great, Donnie. You talked a little bit about talking trash. Have you ever talked trash to another player and immediately regretted it?

SPEAKER_06 52:20

Yeah, I I as I got older, I I kind of stay more humble. Yeah, but I I I'd talk a little bit of trash here and there, but I would never initiate the trash. The one time I initiated trash was in high school. We were, I think, grade 11, and this is when I was coming out from uh being asked in grade 10 and 11 to go try out for basketball BC. And the way it tried uh the trial started, it would be a Thursday to a Sunday, and then Monday they make the team. So in grade 10, I was playing at a high level, grade 11, I was playing at a pretty good level. Uh, but then um there's about 150 people that uh try out for these things, and you get asked to come out and try out, and every day they cut people. So by Sunday there was 30 left. So right there, that tells me I was top 30 two years in a row in all BC.

SPEAKER_07 53:08

Right.

SPEAKER_06 53:09

But then it there becomes politics. I don't come from a powerhouse basketball school. I didn't know any of the coaches, they just invited me because my numbers were good and they wanted to see how well it played, and I thought it played great. Myself and Chris Brown from Langley Secondary, uh LSS. Uh yeah, we made it to the 30, and then uh we got cut Sunday, and the team was made on Monday where they took 12 to 15 players. But to me, it seemed like it was all the same players that have been on that team for for a long time. But that was cool. That was I took that as a positive experience to know that man, I I can give work. I'm probably in the top 30 of all BC, right?

SPEAKER_05 53:45

Yeah, you feel great about that, man.

SPEAKER_06 53:47

Yeah, so I took it as a positive. Yeah, but uh getting back to the trash talking, um I was coming in uh grade 11 season, and we played an exhibition game against uh uh it wasn't even a high school, it was a Bellingham like youth program. Okay, where they were like I think I might have been 16, maybe turning 17 at that time. And these guys had like beards, tattoos, so they were probably like 18, 19, kind of like uh not really a prep school, but maybe like uh those kind of schools where if you get kicked out of your school, you go to a school and they kind of like form form it to work for you to so you keep your school grades up. I don't know the name of that, but uh kind of like a community program to keep you in school.

SPEAKER_05 54:33

Yeah. Enrichment it was called stretch, yeah, yeah. And some was called combined studies and just just different aspects of it. I think in Vancouver it was called Satellite, Satellite School. Anyway, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 54:45

So so it was like that. It wasn't a high school team, but it was a high school community kind of level, right? And uh there was this one guy that was uh around my height, and I hit a couple of uh jumpers on him, and then uh and then his teammates were getting really mad at him because I guess he was a really good player, but he was just I I don't know if he was trying or he's just having a somewhat of a bad day, and they kept saying, Give it to him, give it to him. Why are you letting this guy shoot? And I'm like, Why am I letting me shoot? I'm a top 30 player, I'm thinking in my head. So the as the game went on, uh, he said something to me, you're not getting any more shots. And he had really curly hair, brown, big, puffy, curly brown hair. And I said, Listen, Chia pet, you're not gonna stop me at all. And that's when the the little chia pets came out. You'd water it and the hair and it would grow. So I called him a chia pet, and I that was probably the worst mistake. I think I only got two more buckets the rest of the game, and then I think he hit me for like 10 10 buckets in a row. Oh man, I think it was I think it was five in a row. Then my coach subbed me out, then I went back in and he hit another five on me, and then his all his boys were just dogging me after that. But uh yeah, that that was kind of the the one thing I'm like, no, I should just keep to myself, keep stay humble.

SPEAKER_07 56:00

Right.

SPEAKER_06 56:01

That's one thing, one thing I always tell my guys, stay humble. Yeah, be competitive, but stay humble. Because once you get talking trash, and I've seen it a lot as I got older. Uh if you're quiet and someone's talking trash to you, you can use that as fuel and come back at him, and then he'll have nothing to say. But if you get into the war of words, it it could really take you off your game. Not only does it hurt your game, it hurts your team, and then uh it could lead to like other things too as well, right? Cool, man. Sounds like you keep it classy. I keep it as classy as possible, but a little bit physical sometimes.

SPEAKER_05 56:35

So, Donnie, this is the last question. Rapid fire round. All right, brother. So, question one ice bath or beer after the game?

SPEAKER_06 56:46

I think both. If I had to pick one, it'd have to be a beer. But but ice baths are pretty cool. I just started doing that uh a while ago with my friend Chris Preston on the island where I go visit him twice a year and uh he does ice baths and we train, and that that's a world of uh help. If anyone doesn't do it, ice baths is unbelievable. Sauna and ice bath, you'll feel amazing. Right? It's it keeps down that inflammation. Oh, yeah, and it releases uh endorphins or something like that, too. That's right, that's right. Yeah, if you can combine those those two with a beer, you're you're set.

SPEAKER_05 57:22

You're set. Uh favorite basketball shoe ever.

SPEAKER_06 57:25

Hmm, that is a tough one. There's only two that come to mind right off the top of my head. Uh, and I I had them both when I was younger. Uh, is the the Penny Hardaways, uh, one or two, I I I forget which one it is, and then hands down for me, Jordan 4s. Any colorway, Jordan Fours are are are my shoe. That's dope.

SPEAKER_05 57:46

Uh worst call you've ever received.

SPEAKER_06 57:49

Uh worst call would have to be uh the death of my friend Tim. That would probably be the worst call that I ever got. Uh me and my friend Tim uh were really close from knowing each other since grade seven, but go he went to one elementary school, I went to another one. We we met through basketball, and then uh we became good friends. A group of us became really good friends in grade eight, and then he passed away uh probably like maybe nine. No, maybe more. My daughter was born around that time, so maybe 12 years ago now. Yeah, I got that was I was at work and I got that phone call because I was with him the night before. Uh we both got off work, had a couple beers, had some wings, and then we said bye to each other, and then uh later on at lunchtime I got the call that he he hit a train later on that night. Oh coming home from uh working overtime because he he worked two jobs at that time. Yeah, so that was a rough call.

SPEAKER_05 58:45

Yeah, that's tragic, man. I'm sorry about that.

SPEAKER_06 58:48

Oh, that's okay, but uh yeah, we still loved him and he'd be proud of what what we did what we're doing right now. I think so. All right, Jordan or LeBron. That's easy. Six and oh is tough to beat. Yeah, you can get to the finals nine or ten times, but if you've only won three or four and you're not putting out massive volumes to win a game in the fourth quarter, Jordan all day. Yeah, I think Jordan too.

SPEAKER_05 59:14

Donnie, the time has just flown by. I want to thank you again for coming on the podcast. Before you go, tell the people listening where they can find you and how do they support the team?

SPEAKER_06 59:25

Uh supporting us is just uh either you can go on YouTube and uh find uh our friend Mayors' page that he posts all our stuff. And then we also post it on the Langley's Finest group, LFG, on Facebook. And uh, like I was saying, I started Langley's Finest probably around 2019-2020 when COVID was first uh starting, and uh yeah, that's where I kind of was doing underground games, running underground games. And then uh yeah, we we formed it. So yeah, you can find us on uh Facebook, uh Mears on Instagram, and then sometimes I post stuff on IG, but not that much. I I just usually use the Facebook uh language finest page.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:09

That's so cool. I want to touch on that a little bit.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:11

So the underground games, people are laying down bets and stuff like that, and like you know, not not so much bets because with with the COVID thing, um oh, I see they were the rec centers were closed, right? Everything was closed. They're saying, Oh, only be in distance of two people and us being a little bit of rebels. And if you take something away from sports athletes, that that kills them, right? Right? So when I created the chat, that's how I got to 85. Like we had 20, 30 guys in our chat, and that's when 85 they knew I was a guy for basketball around Langley or but I wouldn't always do it at one park. I'd do it one week we'd do one park, another week we'd do another park. So if people saw a big group of us, 20, 30 of us, playing, they wouldn't say anything because just one night, one day. Then a couple days later, we'd go to a different park. So I kept rotating it around uh Langley, Cloverdale and whatnot.

SPEAKER_07 1:01:01

Got it.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:02

So so yeah, that's that that was fun. That was really fun. I was the underground GM running games.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:08

Yeah. Oh man, Donnie. I can't I I love seeing you. Thank you so much for being on the podcast. I wish you the best of luck over in Greece. I can't wait to hear about it. And I'll come back and I'll tell everyone listening of uh of how the tournament went for Donnie. And thanks again, brother. It's great seeing you.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:29

Thank you for having me. And then uh when we go to Greece, we're gonna try to figure out how to uh try to live cast the games. So hopefully we can figure that out and you guys can see us uh put some work in and represent Langley and Canada in that tournament, and hopefully get to the finals or final four would be great. Yeah, love it. All right, good seeing you, Donnie. Thank you, Chris. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:54

All right, what a couple incredible human beings those two beauties are. Thank you, Sean and Donnie, for taking the time to come on the show. I love talking to you both. The links to finding the Barons of Rugby and Laying Me Finest are in the episode links below. Now, friends, it's time for my favorite part of the show. The only podcast on the internet where you can hear incredible indie bands and musicians featured every three weeks. This amazing musician recorded a little intro for the show, which you'll hear in a second. His name is Christian Silva, featuring his band Open Casket. The song is called Black Void. Love it. You're gonna want to listen to this loud. Check this out.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:31

What the Christian Silva over here from Open Casket? I started making music back in 2016, learning guitar, faith, playing open mic, and jumping through some punk fans here and there in South Florida. Slowly finding my own kind of sound. So open Kafka came out of that late night kind of looper play free. Stop trying to make something perfect. You just try to make something a little bit more haunted, a little messy. It's all kind of built off of a standard looper fish that have kind of evolved with emotion. Whatever's left in your chest after the day finally gets quiet. So thanks for listening. I hope this track finds you in the right moment and uh enjoy.

SPEAKER_08 1:06:31

You gotta do it.

SPEAKER_09 1:07:14

End of the deal Boom boom, that's the end of the field. Hush, hush, now the dark gets real. Hush, hush, now the dark gets real.

SPEAKER_05 1:07:50

Love that song. What a feature. What do you guys think? Kind of a cool black keys vibe to it. I think they're fabulous. That was Open Casket with their super cool track, Black Void, from their previous album, Exhumed. And please, please, please check out his latest album, Noon Sits Here, was just dropped on June 1st. You can find it on SoundCloud, and I think it's incredible. Thank you, Christian, for doing the intro for me and allowing me to play your track on the show. Thank you so much for listening. Thanks again to Sean Barron for coming on the show to talk about your late father, Steve Barron. What incredible work you and your family and the rest of the Barons of Rugby are doing to help out families who are struggling and trying to get kids into sports. It's just wonderful. Sean also wanted me to tell everyone listening that he made a bit of an error during his interview. He mentioned the late Greg Giles on the show, who he deeply respects and loves, but his last name is Gilding. So he was talking about the late great Greg Gilding, not Greg Giles. So just a little clarification on that. Also, a big shout out as well to Donny Val for coming on the show and talking about his love of basketball and how he's getting ready and his team ready to compete on the world stage in just a couple weeks. Good luck, Donnie. I can't wait to hear about it. And I'll ultate I'll update all of you guys in a future episode as well. Speaking of which, a few shows back, I had Sarah Shaw and Kelly Thompson on talking about their upcoming EMS competition rally in the Czech Republic. Well, they just came back and they came in 8 out of 25, which is awesome. Top 10 in the world, girls. Well done. Super happy for you. Guys, that's it for me. Love ya. Thanks so much for listening. Remember to hit that follow button at the top of the page. New episodes come out every three weeks. Drop me a comment below. Like or share this episode with your friends. My email, social media handles are in the episode description too. Alright. Enjoy the rest of your day. Be kind to each other, and I'll talk to you soon.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:55

See ya.com.