Legacy in Motion: Olympic Gold to Coaching the Next Generation Becoming Uncommon w/ Brittney Reese

On this special episode of Becoming Uncommon, we sit down with Olympic Gold Medalist and one of the greatest long jumpers of all time, Brittney Reese.

From dominating the world stage to now leading the next generation as a jumps coach at Long Beach State, Brittney shares the mindset and moments that shaped her legendary career. We dive deep into how she developed her “clutch gene” — the ability to rise when it matters most — and what it really takes to sustain excellence over time.

But this conversation goes beyond medals and marks…

We talk about:

The journey from raw talent to all-time greatness
How she approaches coaching with an individualized, athlete-first mindset
The balance of being a competitor, coach, mother, and mentor
Her personality off the runway — sneakerhead, jokester, and authentic leader

This episode is a masterclass in confidence, preparation, and staying true to who you are — on and off the track.

🎙️ Whether you're an athlete, coach, or someone chasing greatness in any field… this one is for you.

Tap in. Learn. Become Uncommon.

#BecomingUncommon #TrackAndField #LongJump #OlympicGold #Coaching #Leadership #StudentAthletes

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Alright, everyone, it's Coach Richardson. Welcome to another episode of Becoming Uncommon. And I have a special guest with me, Britney Reese. True GOAT, champion, Olympian, record holder, someone who is in the coaching realm and has seen success at a variety of different levels. From my experience, always stay true to who she is, truly authentic, but has reached what we would consider pinnacles of success. And with Becoming Uncommon, we like to explore the fact that getting to your destination or achieving success is never like a straight line. It's never what we maybe write out on paper. Like it doesn't always end up how we want it to, but it sometimes ends up just how we need it to. And with that being said, thank you for your time, Britt. And um please introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_03 0:56

Yeah, so thanks for having me. First off, start there. Um I'm Britney Reese, four-time Olympian, uh, American record holder indoor, um, won Olympic gold in 2012, uh, silver in 2016 and 2020-21, because we don't know which one it is. That was that COVID year. But um, yeah, just I'm out here now coaching at Long Beach State. Um, my first year here and been enjoying myself living in California back in California and living and just been enjoying the drink.

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Yeah, I um I love the fact that you're giving back to the sport. Yeah, you're I mean, I've watched you when you're at Mesa.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:35

I actually remember I was one of the instructors of your level one. Like that was fun. It was a little intimidating because I think if nothing else, you know, um, you know, teaching somebody of your caliber like, hey, this is what you should do. You're like, you know. But I think the way the the gracious nature in which you took it, um, and how you were so open to share your experience, your knowledge, your insight, your perspective to the other coaches. I know that resonated with them because I have coaches still to this day that were in that level one telling me, like, I remember that, right? Um, but what got you into coaching?

SPEAKER_03 2:09

Um, I felt like coaching was something that I always wanted to do. Um even when I was a professional athlete, like you said, I trained at uh I coached at Mesa while still doing my my thing, and um I felt like coaching at Mesa would give me that jump star. So I started out as just a high jump coach. Then I started out as the long jump and triple jump coach, then I started out as a sprint coach. So um it was able to get me to where I I wanted to be. So when I retired, I moved back home to Mississippi and I was able to go back home and at Gutport in Guffort, Mississippi, and be able to coach for three years there at Gufford High School. Um and the opportunity came to come to Lone Beach State and kind of just jumped on it.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Yeah. I I love it because Long Beach State's my alumni. I have um, I mean, I really transformed not just as a young man, but as an athlete and as a person, right? When I was going here, my son was born while I was a student athlete here. My oldest son, my wife graduated from here. So it's like we get yeah, yeah, we have we have deep roots. But um, one of my coaches that was here is Dave Rada, who has passed away. But like that's where we would have our meetings, that tree right there. Okay. So I'm glad when they redid the track, like they kept that tree, you know, because sometimes they tear stuff down, they want to like modernize it, right? Yeah, they do. But like that tree over there is something that's special to me because we had some hard, you know how it goes. Yeah, we had we had our meetings right there, right? Um, but I want to kind of go way back, like, how did you get into sport? Like your your first recollection of being a competitive athlete.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

So um I started playing basketball around the age of, well, I wouldn't say age, but around the grade of fourth grade around that time. Um just playing like little youth league basketball, city league basketball, um, and just always loved sport. And just kept going from there. Ended up, people don't believe me that I ran cross country.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Um, yeah, it's it's a good workout, but I it it wasn't like what I thought it was, you know. Um, and then I just started running track. Um I haven't been running track since the seventh grade. Uh, I was one of those kids that we got the run. I was like, hold on, nah, I'm done. My grandpa was like, nah, you're gonna go out there every single day. So I uh just track and feel just stuck with me. Um I didn't really start a lone jump until 11th grade. I was more so a spread.

SPEAKER_00 4:28

11th grade in high school.

SPEAKER_03 4:29

Yeah. I was 11th grade in high school. That's when I started lone jumping up.

SPEAKER_00 4:33

No way. Okay. Didn't know that.

SPEAKER_03 4:35

Yeah, yeah. And so once I graduated um from high school, I didn't take a track scholarship, I took a basketball scholarship. I went to JUCO for two years. Yeah. And um things happened to where, you know, the team my teammates and drugs and all type of stuff, they got into it. And um got some really, really good advice from my mom and a former coach of mine, and basically was if you want to rely on other people, go take a basketball scholarship. If you want to rely on yourself, go to go take track, go to track and field. So um got tired of depending on other people and took my talents to Ole Miss.

SPEAKER_00 5:16

Okay, so wait, did you do track when you're um at JC?

SPEAKER_03 5:20

No, just straight up basketball.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Okay, so then you did you use your mark from high school to get into OMS?

SPEAKER_03 5:27

Yes, I was in there. Uh so the reason why I had to go to a JUCO school was more so because of I was missing a credit. So I was only supposed to go to a junior college for one year and transfer. But because my um team was, you know, I love basketball and my team was pretty good. I was like, I'm gonna just stay another year.

SPEAKER_02 5:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:45

And Ole Miss just kept, you know, recruiting me. And yeah, they they they wanted me to keep coming. So um after that I I went ahead and went.

SPEAKER_00 5:54

No, it's okay. So Ole Miss kept recruiting you.

SPEAKER_03 5:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

They stayed on you. So was it the same coach that was like staying in touch with you from high school?

SPEAKER_03 6:02

Yeah, so yeah, Coach Brian. So you kind of were like had that relationship. Yeah, we had a good relationship and we stayed in contact. And um when I made the decision to stay another year, he was like, okay, like he was he still wanted me to come, and I was like, all right, so um called him up after our regional basketball game that we got tow up in, and I was like, yeah, I'm just gonna come to Old Miss.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

And he was like, okay, so wow, okay, that that blows my mind because I actually did some stuff, I did some looking. This is a while ago, because like I'm I'm in the junior college system, I'm a product of the junior college system. Yeah, I believe in the junior college system, even amidst all the madness right now. And you're one of the names, because I was like, okay, how many? It was like the 2016, how many of those uh people that made the U.S. Olympic team were junior college products? People don't really, it was almost like 15 to 20 percent of that team at some point in time went to a JC.

SPEAKER_02 6:57

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

And I'm like, because everybody looks like, yeah, eventually they go D1, but then they go, all right, D1 makes our Olympians.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

That's true. Yes, I I believe that. Yes, but they don't always get there the same way. Some went D2 to D1. Yes, someone D3 to D1. Like it's it's not just because that's the end product doesn't mean like that's the origin. So um I'm glad to I'm glad to you know hear the basketball side because like that's that blew my mind. I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_03 7:24

That's that's okay, it's a different path than anybody for sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

That is for sure. Like, okay, so then if you weren't doing long jump, what were you doing prior to long jump your level?

SPEAKER_03 7:34

I was more so a sprinter and I did a little bit of high jump. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Okay, yeah, a little bit of high jump. So when you say when Britney Reese says a little bit of high jump, what is what is that? Because like a little bit of high jump for me is like a cool 5'2, 5'3 bar high school, you know?

SPEAKER_03 7:50

Well, I was jumping like 5'6. Okay, and then when I finished at state, it was five eight.

SPEAKER_00 7:56

All right. Oh, yeah. Five eight. Yeah, five eight. Did you ever mess with it ever again after that? Like just go.

SPEAKER_03 8:00

I did in college, that old. Yeah. Yeah. So my. What was your PR?

SPEAKER_00 8:03

62. Okay, then I'm gonna go back to the speed thing because um a birdie, you already know who the birdie is probably, is um says you're like secret fast. Yes, yes, secret fast, like people probably underrate your speed. And so you probably leaned on that early, like in your yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:25

I was one of the fastest on the team. So I ran the four by one, four by two, four by four. By about by the time my senior year, I was on all three relays and I did the lone jump, high jump, and triple jump in my high school year. Um, when I went to Ole Miss, I was on the four by one. I was on lone jump, high jump, and triple jump.

SPEAKER_00 8:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

Yeah. So I mean I stayed busy regardless.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Might as well have done the half at that point.

SPEAKER_03 8:48

No, they wanted to put me in there, but I I didn't want to, I'm not a hurdler.

SPEAKER_00 8:53

Oh man. So you have such a long history, a long career, you know, so many great memories. Um, I have to ask because we I could probably sit and and chop it up with you about track stuff like all day. But in the, you know, in the spirit of time and practice, um, what is one of your most memorable moments from whether it's like that we'll just start from 11th grade all the way up to your last track meet? What is your most memorable moment as a track and field athlete?

SPEAKER_03 9:22

Um, I'm always go with winning Olympic gold. Um, because that's always the end goal for any track athlete. And to, you know, go from an upset to in 2020 uh 2008, um, me placing fifth and not understanding everything that goes along with it, and then me having a history of winning all the way up until 2012, and knowing that that one thing I'm missing from my entire career is an Olympic gold, and finally achieving that goal just shows like the hard work, the dedication, uh the team behind me and everybody how we all came together and was able to succeed that.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

Yeah. Okay, so the culmination of like that is the pinnacle, right? Like that is, that's the thing. I mean, you can't two, I guess you know what I mean? Like repeat. I guess that's the only thing. I get but really like that is the pinnacle of our sport, and you know, being able to reach that. And you talked about like the people along your way, but what I want to focus on a little bit is like I obviously huge fan, watched you, you're clutch. Yeah, you have like this clutch gene. Um, some would say you learn that, like it's learned, and some would say it's innate. Where do you stand?

SPEAKER_03 10:38

Um, I would say I just was born with it because I just never like to lose, and that's just in general of anything, like playing video games, uh playing basketball, playing, you know, just doing anything, I just did not like to lose. And if you give me an opportunity to win, I'm going to take it every single time. So um I got the nickname back back in college was B Reese the Beast. And that was like something that came out of me was last jump means the beast need to come out. And this is something that I say now, and I say it to my athletes, last one, best one.

SPEAKER_02 11:16

Yeah, I love it.

SPEAKER_03 11:17

Um so we go out and whatever that everything you got left on the line needs to be happened now. So that's kind of where it came from for me. So it just was just me growing up not wanting to lose.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

Yeah. All right. So you've always kind of had that. That clutch. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:32

All right. I'm not I'm a hard competitor. I mean, taking it easy.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Like you talk about monopoly.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

Yes, I I don't want to lose nothing.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

Okay. All right. Yeah, that's that's good to know. Because let that that's tough. A lot of people, like I said, there is that little bit of a debate whether it's like innate, like you just have it. So, like if you have an athlete, you know, you know, kind of putting on your coaching hat, yeah, and maybe they have a hard time with the concept of last one, best one, or like that, that almost relentless mama mentality, like, I don't want to lose. Yeah, where do you find yourself as a coach, like with uh the concept of like motivating or instilling it in them?

SPEAKER_03 12:13

I think that's that comes from being a coach of learning each athlete. Yeah. Um, some of the athletes you can get up in their face and say, let's go, let's go. Some of them be like, all right, remember, you know, is I think it just varies to what athlete that you have and how you can pull that out of them. Um I was that athlete that I wanted you to yell at me, like get mad at me. Because that comes from basketball and things like that. But um, I got a couple athletes that that are like that, and you just, you know, clap them up, give them what they want. If they want the clap, give it to them. You know, it's just I think it just kind of varies in being a coach that you kind of just gotta know each athlete for the individual as themselves and just go off of that.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

So, like, because I always think about it too, because you're you obviously, you know, very blessed with your talents and abilities, you know, and now putting on your coaching hat. Um, I've seen it, and I'm I can say confidently, like, you are not of this category where it's like, well, I did it was easy, like just do it. Because maybe things that came easy to you as an athlete might not come easy as your coach. And I've watched you have like that empathetic lens and kind of guide them and talk to them and try to teach them and kind of be that, you know, maybe that that navigator and that compass to lead them to their own epiphanies and so they can maximize their ability. So, where do you like how do you feel about that? Like, where like is it hard sometimes?

SPEAKER_03 13:37

Like it is hard sometimes, but I I try to teach every athlete, tell every athlete, you still are a student to your event. So, um, what I've been trying to focus on with my athletes is learning your body, learning what works best for you, um, not focusing on anybody else. And everybody has their own journey, everybody has their own thing that they have to work on. We're not working on everything as a collective. Kind of we are, but you have something that you need to work on. This person has something anywhere, so let's do that in order to be successful. And also, I feel like a lot of that came from coaching high school. Um, you know, you'll you'll have talented athletes, and then you'll have. So when I first took the job at my high school, we had maybe 40, about 40, 50 athletes. And then by the time I left, we had over a hundred and something athletes on the team. And that's just come out just, they're coming out and just want to have fun. And I had all types of athletes. I had soccer, band, you know, basketball. I had all like all sports come out, and a lot of them knew they wasn't gonna make the travel roster, but they just they the atmosphere, the energy, the vibes, it was all great. Um, and they got to learn something uh on the back end. So um I think it's all uh just it's all about how you know the in the vibe and energy for the kids and uh um things like that. But I do think that coaching high school helped shape me today. Okay and and learning that, yeah, they're not gonna be a professional athlete. But if you work with each kid individually on their strengths and weaknesses, but focus a lot on the weaknesses, it'll be good.

SPEAKER_00 15:09

Yeah, because I I I love that because I'm a big person that's where I'm big on like development, and first and foremost, you have to care about them. If they feel that you care about them, they'll they'll go, they'll go. They'll run through a brick wall. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:24

And that's so much fun because um I'm watch I I you know kind of watch how your athletes like hang around you and you've done it seems like you've done such a good job because you are a presence, like you are a persona in in and of itself, especially in this world of track and field. And so you can tell that you've you brought you have you operate always operated with this level of humility and like they feel they know that you care about them. Like the way they gravitate to you, and the way they, you know, you can tell that they joke with you, and they, you know, like that, those relationships I think do go take that will go a long way, just that relationship in life, but also help them in their development, their process.

SPEAKER_03 16:05

You have to see them as people. Um and they're still young, young adults and still trying to find their way through navigating through, you know, through life and just being an open ear. Um my office door is always open. Um they call me, they uh they think I'm crazy because I'm I I laugh a lot, I joke a lot, I play a lot, so it's kind of right up their alley. And um, so I you know, it's not more so being a friend, but just they know they they can come to me and we can talk about anything, we can watch film, but my door is always open.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Yeah, because like you you are have a deep love for the sport and you enjoy it, right? Like you have that passion, that joy. And now with your coaching style, where do you think you get a lot of your you know, influence or references or like who's like, you know, obviously your mentors and your. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:54

So I s I'm still my my my coach uh Jeremy Fisher. Yeah, got a lot from him. Um and my my college coach Joe Walker. So before when I turned professional and after the Olympics, I moved out here to California. And I basically was being coached by both of them.

SPEAKER_02 17:13

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 17:13

And so I just kind of learned both styles until I was all the way with Jeremy. Um, because there was some things that I was used to from my coach in college, and then it was some things that I was learning from Jeremy, because Jeremy is a more technical coach. Um, and I think I got a lot of my speed from my college coach, so we it was able to be just put together, and I that's how I feel like I was the athlete today. Um, but I kind of take a little bit of both. Um, I still got old workouts, I still got old workout books. I got like six in there, and I'm just flipping like, all right, let's see. Well, yeah, I like that one. I used to like that one. So I take a lot of Jeremy because I'm I feel like a lot of at the level that I'm at here, um, you have to be a little bit more technical. Um and there's some things that we work on, like the freshmen. Um kind of had a conversation with them, like, I'm not really too much worried about marks right now. I just want I want you to learn. And I want you to learn how to long jump, I want you to learn how to triple jump the correct way. So that the following year, now we'll see some improvements. So we're just making small adjustments each meet, um, and they're just focused on learning and just being a student to their to their sport.

SPEAKER_00 18:24

Um so looking at the college landscape, I kind of want to get your take on because when you were in college, yeah, and what's happening right now is different. So where do you um how do you visualize or what do you see in this new college landscape?

SPEAKER_03 18:39

Like what are some of your opinions and well I'm a hater of the NIL because I'm not getting paid.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

Yeah, you would have been chipped off, you would have been alright, you'd have been sitting good.

SPEAKER_03 18:49

No, no, I love it though. Um I like the direction that the that the NCAA is going with with track and field and the the way tracking field is being done right now. I feel like every athlete deserve um the NIL. Um maybe they need to be a cap on it in some sports. Um, but you do deserve to get your name, your image, and your likeness. You do deserve to get the pay off of that thing, type of thing. So um that's the only reason why I'm a hater, because it didn't come to my way. But other than that, um I love the direction. It is it's some it's been making for some good competition. Um it evens the the playing field for everybody. So I mean, if you can afford to have that top ten athlete on your squad and you're let's say Maryland and you got Quincy and everybody say, Why would you go there? It's I mean, he's home and he has he has a lot that plays a part with that, but it's not gonna stop him from being the athlete that he is because that's I feel like he's just it's just in him. So I mean, just even the the playing field for all schools to be able to get in and and get some talented athletes. So I I kinda like where it's going.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

So like what about um I'm looking at like trap people talk about like trackflation and and some of those things. Um not just talking about international, but just like in general, because it looks like the level in the depth, like whether it's division one, two, or three, like the quality of the sport is like really taking a a a leap.

SPEAKER_03 20:17

Yeah, it it has. And I still feel like that's a lot of that has a lot to do with the social media and things like that, the NIL. But um again, I just came from the nationals and the quality of jumps and the competitiveness has I mean, a lot of them races blew my mind.

SPEAKER_02 20:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:35

And I'm just like, like, I this is indoor? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:40

Outdoor is gonna be something.

SPEAKER_03 20:42

Outdoor is gonna be something crazy. So um, I mean, I just want I'm just love looking at good competition, no matter what school they got on that chest or where they came from. Um, if if it's clean and they running fast or they jumping far or they throwing far, you know, I'm I'm all for it.

SPEAKER_00 20:58

Yeah, you respect the ganger.

SPEAKER_03 21:00

I respect the gang.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Yeah, there we go. Um now kind of like looking at, I want to definitely get your opinion on a few things. Like if there's like young athletes that are whether in high school and kind of looking at college and trying to navigate that, um, what are some advice you have for them, like as they start maybe looking at, you know, where to find a coach or where to decide to go to school? What are some of the, you know, just based on your experience, what are some of your opinions?

SPEAKER_03 21:24

This is my first year kind of recruiting, so I'm kind of now getting like a little insight on kind of how how things go. Um and I would, for one, kind of be reasonable who you're emailing and things like that, or just ask for like the recruiting standards. Um, I do I write back each athlete that contacts me, show 'em the recruiting our our recruiting standards. Um and I just encourage them to talk to talk to 'em. Like you just never know. It might not be a scholarship offer, but it could be a roster spot. Um that you can so you just really never know. Um just be mindful of who you You know, you write and there's some schools that you know you probably won't get into, but just be mindful of that. And also just um keep working hard. You know, things you just again, you just never know who who's looking, who's seeing you. Um they might see a lot of potential in you. Um and it might not be the D1s, but uh mid-major or JUCO can see that same thing and help you elevate to where you you know you possibly want to be. So definitely keep in contact with with uh coaches and things like that and let them update you on what your success and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 22:37

Okay. So now that you're in this realm, what is something you know, obviously as you look, you you've seen the landscape coming back from nationals, you know, projecting, going into outdoor. What are some lessons that current athletes can learn to kind of maybe you're like, man, it looks like if you can generalize, athletes are kind of missing this piece. If they have this, it would they would it would really help them.

SPEAKER_03 22:58

Yeah, uh I s I started seeing like a lot of athletes are don't have a lot of speed. Um and I felt like when I was at Nationals, like a lot of those loan jumpers were more so, and it it could be international athletes are different from you know American athletes. So when I was competing, we use speed to get to where we at. And a lot of international just use power.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:21

So um some athletes have one or the other, and it's just I guess it depends on where they're from, to be honest. Um, but a lot of them, I mean, if you made it to nationals, you where you want to be, but but uh a lot of athletes too just in general are the heart, the love of the sport. Um also like not calling out no name, but like a lot of these athletes don't know the professional athletes, you know? So they don't watch the sport. And I got some that don't even know who certain people are, and like that's your event. Like you ain't watching film, you ain't studying being an athlete. I mean being a student to the to the sport. And um, I feel like that kind of gets lost in a lot of um athletes today, that they're not a student to the sport. They're not watching film like you would have to if you was on a basketball team or on a football team. I feel like you still should watch film. That's one of the things, that was one of my strong points as being a professional athlete. I knew all my competitors. I knew what they can do on that day. I knew the environment they was gonna be, I knew everything. So when I came to a meet, if I jumped at a smaller meet or a big, it just depended on the meeting it was. If I jumped up the floor right here at this meet, everybody else is like, oh, now I gotta try to go jump for, and everybody just started messing up. But if I wait till the last one, y'all all jump in like not crazy. And I'm like, oh yeah, oh, y'all ain't ready then. So I can go win on the last jump, because y'all, y'all letting, y'all leaving the door open for me. So um, I feel like a lot of the athletes also just they just don't know. They just don't know the professionals or watch enough film or go watch a world championship or go watch an indoor world championship. I probably had one athlete was talking, Coach, did you watch the lone jump? And I was like, to be honest, no, but he's like, but so-and-so jumped this. Yeah. Only athlete that told me that. So he's a student to his his sport, and a lot of the other ones just they're not. So I feel like this generation growing up, they need to know who know, not just Noah Loos, but Marvin Bright, like, you know, the all the other great uh sprinters and jumpers and throwers to your event and study and see what they're doing, some things that you're lacking.

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Yeah, because yeah, I that's it's interesting because you took it to a different realm for me too. Like, if we look at how much film and how much studying football and basketball do, and like scouting reports and things like that, because I think our sport is like, well, it's just me, it's an individual sport. Like I'm competing against them, but I need to do my best. Well, it's like you need to you do need to know if hey, if she don't pop off on the first one, like I can I can get it. Yeah, if she pops off on the goods, I know it's gonna be a comp today. Or you know that like, you know, if they foul the first one, it's hard for them to come back. Like you need to know these rhythm and rhymes. It's not like you have to know it, maybe, but you have to be aware.

SPEAKER_03 26:13

Yeah, be aware of it. It is a little learning tactic that I learned from being like just being a sports, like being a basketball player, watching film, and it made my my job easier because I already knew. If it's raining, sure, we all ain't doing good.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

You just have to not be the worst.

SPEAKER_03 26:32

On that day, I just had I mean, there's been a couple times where um I probably psych my own self out, especially if I go to Sweden. Uh it's raining, it's cold. I'm like, yeah, I'm gonna just have to see y'all back at the hotel because I already know myself. I'm not finna do nothing. And every time that I didn't even make the final, and I'm at uh Chili's or somewhere else, me and my manager, we eating and we watching the meat on the phone because I'm out. Because I already knew. I was like, yeah, I wasn't gonna jump nothing, not no cold and rain. Oh man. Yeah, so but I also knew what athletes could do that, like the Sweden athlete, she always jumped well there. Not only is she home, but she's used to it. So it just depends.

SPEAKER_02 27:15

Huh.

SPEAKER_00 27:16

That's funny.

SPEAKER_03 27:17

Yeah, I'm I'm already, yeah, I'm already gonna tell y'all I ain't gonna jump nothing.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

Um and then kind of looking back like on your athletic career and now as a coach, as a in with your coaching hat on, what is something like um a lesson that you learned as an athlete that you use or you really think is a cornerstone of your coaching style?

SPEAKER_03 27:36

Hmm. Um I would say, and I just kind of just told the athletes this the warm-up.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 27:43

Um I feel like the warm-up is a key part of your success as you move on, move forward. So if you're playing around in warm-up, it to me is just like you're not serious. And that was something that I had to learn in my career was taking the warm-up um a lot seriously. Because you can get injured um on the on the track, on the runway, if you don't take your warm-up really seriously. And my warm-up as I got um older got a little bit longer because it took a lot more for me to warm up. So um we just had a meeting about you know not playing around during warmups. Um, because those things can cause injuries. Um, I learned a lot about um rehab. Um, and also we do a lot of mental uh prep. Okay. So um those are some of the things that I took from being a professional, especially the mental prep, because I had a I had a life coach. Okay, and um it was we met uh two times out of the week and it was made basically mental prep, um, get my mind right, knowing when to bring out the inner beast, um, how to prepare for a meet, um, what the meet that I'm going to, what are some things that I might need to look forward to weather, you know, things like that. Um and how to overcome a mind, like a blockage in my mind of um I can't, I you know, I won't. And um you might not have known it, but I did have some days where I'd be like, I can't do this, you know. And just talking with my my life coach and things like that immediately erases all that. So here at um Long Beach, we have mental um sessions every Thursday. And it's just basically we our um sports psych team come out and we talk with the they talk well, they talk with the athletes at the practice and we prepare for a meet. So um mental toughness is really big for me. So and I want my athletes to have that same mental toughness. So when we go to a meet, you're not oh I'm just so nervous, I'm so nervous. You know how to handle being nervous. Or you have trouble sleeping the night before, um, you know how to handle, or there's some things that some some drills or something that we can do to help you sleep at night the day before a competition. So it's just it's a lot of things that come into um with the sports like that um from the day one, I implemented them the day one. So um it's been really helpful. A lot of athletes not only see them here at practice, but they have a lot of one-on-one sessions with them. And that makes me happy because now I know like you're you're for real, like you're serious. Like, and to me, this sport tracking feels like 90% mental. Yeah, and the rest is physical, what you can do. So if you can train train your mindset, I feel like you can be do anything you can want to do.

SPEAKER_00 30:41

No, I love it because like uh being able, and it seems like you kind of referenced it, but you know, being able to use outside resources and being able to create a team and like a community of support, like knowing as sometimes as coaches, we want to take on everything, we want to solve every problem. But we if we know better, we know that there's people that can support us. And I always say I'm a big proponent of you know, if something doesn't happen for my athlete and they did everything I told them, it's my fault. Yeah. Because I didn't prepare them or I didn't give them the resources, maybe it wasn't the time, whatever the case is. And so I I love the accountability that you know you're you're bringing to the table here because as coaches, again, like we're their futures are in our hands.

SPEAKER_03 31:24

Yeah, yeah, most definitely. And a lot of them need it.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 31:26

Um life, life, life, life, yeah, for real. Yeah, that's right. Life. Uh not only are they an athlete, but they still, when they leave our our sites, they still have life to deal with. And it might not always be sports, but if I can make it a safe space here, yeah, you know, no telling what they'll be able to do when we get on the track and when it's time to go.

SPEAKER_00 31:49

Yeah, because I yeah, I think life is in track or so synonymous because there's no timeouts. No, like it like in the middle of a lawn trip, you can't be like, timeout, I gotta go work this out. Like you can't do that. Like in life, the same thing, you know, it's just there's no timeouts. Um, as we wrap up, I wanna there's a couple things I want to touch on. So um, you know, aspiring sneakerhead to to true sneakerhead. Um, what are your grails?

SPEAKER_03 32:14

Ooh, so I love like you got a pair on right now. The bread 11s, those are my favorite. Um, but I got a pair of LeBron cork corks, and they're made out of corks. Like champagne corks.

SPEAKER_00 32:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

And um, boy, they must have some five shoes.

SPEAKER_00 32:38

What number what number LeBron?

SPEAKER_03 32:39

Uh there's six. I think there's six. Really? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:43

The high top.

SPEAKER_03 32:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

Yeah, you look them up, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 32:48

Cork, cork LeBron's, yeah, them one of my favorites. Um but if we was just talking straight up Jordans, it will it would be a Jordan ones. Um and then those Bred 11s. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:59

What color were the ones?

SPEAKER_03 33:01

Oh, most definitely red, white, blues. Yeah, yeah. The Chicago. Yeah, yeah. And I got, and I love, and so my favorite color is gray, so I love the cool grays.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 33:10

And I got like I got them in the I got them in the 11s, I got them in the sixes. Yeah, I think only two. Yeah, I got them. I got them in the 14s, but they got a little blue in them. Yeah. Um, so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:22

All right, yeah. That's that's one thing I've always, yeah. I remember uh you shared with us. This was a long time ago. It's when I was a puppy in the coaching game. It was you shared your like, your your collection. It was so awe-inspiring. I was like, yeah. It won it one, it really put things in perspective. It's like, yeah, there's people really doing this.

SPEAKER_03 33:43

Yeah, I got I got over 200 pair um back home. I think right now, here in California, I think I probably brought like 12. I think I probably got 12 pairs here. Yeah. I can't like I ain't I can't show the kids everything, you know. I can't show them everything.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

Yeah, you gotta, you know, doses. But what about um when are you a favor of like dead stock? Like what like wear them, wear them or store them? Like, you know.

SPEAKER_03 34:10

Me personally, I wear them because if I'm buying them, I'm gonna wear them.

SPEAKER_00 34:13

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 34:14

But if I'm paying over a certain amount for them, so I don't collect like I used to. Now that's my son now. But I don't wear them as much as I used to. But I wear all my shoes. I'm gonna spend my money on them, I'm gonna put some things on. Yeah, I had the the the chunky dunks on, and coach is like, dang, you got them. I was like, Yeah, I got them, yeah, yeah. It's like, dang, I mean I got so many uh looks on them shoes. I was like, yeah, that's these them. Yeah, I'm gonna wear mine, but I'm not gonna. You wear yours?

SPEAKER_00 34:45

Yeah, yeah. Oh, I have a few that are like art to me.

SPEAKER_03 34:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 34:49

Yeah, like the one off-white okay.

SPEAKER_03 34:51

I got the off-white too.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

Yeah, those are like art to me. That's like art to me, you know what I'm saying? Like there's a few that are just like they're like special. Um the Spider-Man ones, they're like art to me.

SPEAKER_02 35:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 35:02

The Levi, um, white all-white Levi Fours. Those are like those are like art to me, so it's like I don't mess, I don't mess with those. Yeah, I just they do what they do, you know.

SPEAKER_03 35:10

I got I I haven't worn, I got the off-white ones. I I I got them here with me. I haven't worn them out here. I don't know if the kids saw me and them.

SPEAKER_02 35:18

I think they're ready for it.

SPEAKER_03 35:19

I don't know if they I might have to bring them out. We go to UCLA's weekend.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Yeah, I'll see you up there.

SPEAKER_03 35:23

Yeah, yeah, I might have to bring them on.

SPEAKER_02 35:24

All right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 35:25

And I got the white 11, uh Columbia, the Columbia 11. Yeah. Yes. I might wear them. I might wear them. We'll see.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

Yeah, I don't think they're ready for the ones, the the off-white.

SPEAKER_03 35:36

They might not be ready for now.

SPEAKER_00 35:37

Uh so you know, what is some again, you know, you've been such a huge um, you know, but it's been such a huge pleasure to have you and catch up with you. Well, thank you. Um and I just want a couple more things. Yeah, yeah. What do you have or have the itch?

SPEAKER_03 35:56

To go back home. Yeah. No.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

Is it the workouts? What is it? What is it?

SPEAKER_03 36:02

I think it's the workouts, and I think really it's the getting back in shape. Yeah. Um, because I you could take a month off and you get back, you so sore, and I think I'm just so afraid of getting back and being sore. Like, I always keep telling Coach, I'm gonna go to the gym. But every time I get up, I'm like, I really don't want to go. Like, I've done it for so long that I just have I don't have the itch yet. And I don't have the motivation to to get up and go.

SPEAKER_02 36:30

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 36:30

But when you in track, like you you have a schedule, you're motivated because you you're working towards something. I don't know what I'll be working towards.

SPEAKER_02 36:37

So I don't Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 36:38

I mean, I just probably have to find a goal or something like, well, maybe I want to gain 10 pounds. Maybe I'll go in there then, but nah.

SPEAKER_00 36:46

No open gym, no open runs.

SPEAKER_03 36:48

So when I was back in Mississippi, I was in the women's league basketball. Um, and that was my cardio.

SPEAKER_00 36:53

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 36:54

But um, I haven't found anything out here yet. I thought I thought about flag football.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

Yeah. Ooh.

SPEAKER_03 37:00

I thought about that.

SPEAKER_00 37:01

Oh man, you probably people are gonna be hitting you up now. You said you drop that, they'd be like, oh, that's I thought about trying trying flag football.

SPEAKER_03 37:07

Yeah. Yeah, I I think I'd be pretty decent at it.

SPEAKER_00 37:10

Oh man, that'd be so much fun to watch you just um doing people. Oh man, yeah. No, if somebody out there has a yeah, hey, I'm I'm ready. Yeah, that'd be so much fun. Uh demonstrating too, right? Like, like, so you out here, you're like, you gotta, you know.

SPEAKER_03 37:29

Yeah, I so I do like the little one-tooth. Yeah. I don't, I don't, yeah, yeah, because I always say I would not do it because I watched Jeremy do it one time and he pulled his hamstring. So I was like, I would never be that type of coach to where I just feel obligated to show y'all that.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

Oh, wait, go going back, going back. Jeremy pulling that.

SPEAKER_03 37:51

He pulled his hamstring.

SPEAKER_00 37:52

So were you like, dang, or were you like, let me help you? Or did you have to like turn around?

SPEAKER_03 37:57

I would just like crack a laugh. Oh, I laughed. I ain't gonna I'm gonna laugh at everything. You don't do nothing in front of me. I laughed, but I was like, dang, because he he tried to show us like a hitch. And he went up and then he just immediately grabbed it, yeah, hitch. He was like, dang, I think I pulled my hamstring. I just bust out laughing. I was like, dang, you all right? Like, but I'm gonna laugh first though. Yeah, yeah. But I was like, yeah, see, that's why, because you didn't stretch, yeah, and you can't do none of that, and you out here trying to show somebody how to hitch.

SPEAKER_00 38:27

All that stuff you told us to do, you didn't do nothing.

SPEAKER_03 38:31

And he really pulled it too. I was like, dang. God, no, so I'm not that type of coach because I saw that.

SPEAKER_00 38:37

Yeah, you I show you on video.

SPEAKER_03 38:38

You learn from others.

SPEAKER_00 38:39

See, great ones learn from others, right? Like great ones learn from others besides.

SPEAKER_03 38:42

Oh, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

All right, so um we covered a lot. Um, you're amazing. I know our paths are gonna cross quite some time. Almost. But um anything that you want to share, or where can people find you? Any anything that you want to touch on?

SPEAKER_03 38:56

Um on social media, I'm mainly on Instagram. It's the L J Beast, D A L J Beast. Um, any tips, anything you need from me, you know, just hit me up in my DMs. They're open.

SPEAKER_00 39:08

All right. All right, thank you guys. Thanks for joining us. All right. Nice You're the best. Oh my god.