What did the 2026 Cerritos College Track & Field season teach us?

In this solo episode of Becoming Uncommon, Coach Chris Richardson reflects on the successes, challenges, and lessons learned throughout the 2026 season.

From advancing athletes to championship competition to navigating the realities of modern college athletics, this episode explores what it means to develop people—not just performers.

Topics include:

•  Lessons from the 2026 Cerritos season 
•  The evolution of coaching and athlete development 
•  Why adaptability is the most important trait in today's athletes 
•  The hidden realities of junior college athletics 
•  What winning actually means 
•  Leadership, culture, and building uncommon people 

Whether you're a coach, athlete, parent, or leader, this conversation offers insights on resilience, growth, and pursuing excellence in an ever-changing world.

The goal isn't just to create champions. It's to help people become who they're capable of becoming.

Subscribe for more conversations on coaching, leadership, performance, and the uncommon journey to greatness.

#BecomingUncommon #ChrisRichardson #TrackAndField #Coaching #Leadership #AthleteDevelopment #CerritosCollege #SportsPerformance #CrossCountry #PersonalGrowth

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey, what's up? This is Coach Richardson, and this is a becoming uncommon episode where I'm pretty much doing a halftime update. Doing this podcast and being able to interview so many amazing people has just been so much fun. Something I've really enjoyed just because one, it's getting me out of my comfort zone. Two, it's putting me in a position to where I'm now kind of challenging how I'm thinking about things. It's also, you know, I always say this, but selfishly getting me a chance to connect with people that I've one, I've always wanted to connect with, wanted to reconnect with, and again, just be able to share who these special people are in my life. And what I want this uh recap episode to do is really just kind of help me and kind of encapsulate everything that I've been going through this last six to eight months, you know, doing this podcast, but also want to take this time and have this episode really be a reflection of you know what I think the 2026 track and field season has taught me. Um, you know, as I look at it, I you know, you know, coaching for the last 20 plus years, um it's easy for me to kind of do my own individual thing in terms of reflecting and doing some self-analysis on what I think this season has taught me, how I'm gonna learn and grow from it, um, things that I'm gonna be doing differently. Uh so I just want to want to touch on a few different points just because I think as track coaches or coaches in general, you know, when we finish a season, it's so intense. There's so much going on, there's very little time to really sit back and reflect. We just have to constantly come up with answers, constantly do, constantly plan, and before we know it, the season's over, right? So I want to take this time to not just for me, but also want to hear from all of you. I'm gonna be reaching out to some of my friends that are coaches as they wrap up their season and see, you know, what their season was like because um it's something that again that I've always taken that moment for granted. I've never put a lot of thought into my process of reflecting on a track and field season. Um, and it's really cool because for me, the track and field season for Cerritos College is over, but the season in general isn't over because we still have youth meets, we still have summer track, we still have people that are competing to get marks so they can move on, or just wanted to kind of ride all that training that they did through the season, they want to get some extra meets in. So we want to be able to provide those opportunities. Uh the first thing I want to talk about is like leadership. When I think about leadership, I not just think about my own leadership, but how I mentor other coaches and other leaders because that's been something I've really stepped into this year. You know, I've really allowed myself to open up and uh forge relationships that I probably didn't um anticipate having, and uh relationships with coaches from whether it's high school, college, like I really put myself out there just because I'm again a true introvert and it's a lot easier for me just to kind of hold back. But I feel that not just do I have a chance to share, but also give coaches an opportunity to vent, um, you know, maybe help them with their perspective and again maybe learn something from them because there's a lot of conversations I had through this season because again, I put myself out there with a lot of coaches, coaches that I normally would just walk by and not say nothing to, but I'm asking them about their season. I'm asking about how things are going, which is way different than something I've ever done before. And stepping into more leadership roles like being the vice president of our coaches association, um being the chair for USA Track and Field, I feel it's incumbent upon me to, you know, get over my own personal things and make sure that I'm accessible, that my stewardship and my servitude to the coaching and track and field community is not just accessible, but also something that is not isolating in any one particular group or any particular coaches that I can, you know, forge relationships with anybody anywhere. So uh leadership was a lot of fun this year just because again, getting on the phone, and yeah, I have specific coaches that I mentor and work with, and they're my friends, they're people I love and care about, and so kind of hearing their journey, um, I found myself playing a lot of devil's advocate. Uh, you know, obviously working with high school kids this year for me a lot more than I probably normally would uh put me in a position to where I'm I'm really understanding the plight of the parent. And as a leader, um, you know, with my own son this year, you know, he was traveling a lot, and I realized even on the collegiate side, how much I don't involve parents as much as probably I should, just because these student athletes are coming and they're coming in fresh. They probably haven't traveled, haven't competed at this level before or this intensely in terms of like you know, going from one meet to another and all the logistics that go into it. So just looking at how to be a more broad spectrum uh communicator, uh opening up doors of and lines of communication so that everybody feels involved and feels informed. So again, going back to um you know mentorship and leadership, it's been very interesting just because um playing that devil's advocate role, it's allowed me to have empathy for a lot of different perspectives. I never thought I would have empathy to that degree because it's not necessarily empathy in the sense of um like I feel sorry for you or I see where you're coming from, but it's more empathy in the sense of like I'm gonna consider how you're processing this and how you're viewing certain situations. And again, being a parent is extremely tough, so I constantly go back to that. But for me, with other coaches, trying to get coaches to type of take a step back because we fight we face challenges, like we gotta battle administration for budgets, for access, for resources constantly. We have to, you know, politic with other coaches, our associations, um, the different competition environments that we're in, and a lot of times um we don't really see things from the other perspective, and I've really it's funny because a lot of times when I'm talking to other coaches, sometimes I'm talking to myself in that way, so that I could really be able to understand where people are coming from. Um, from athlete development standpoint. I love coaching, and I really kind of you know felt that this year I wanted to understand like what makes me what I feel is a high quality coach, because I would put myself in that category. I work really hard, I feel that I'm effective, and so I'm a quality coach that's effective. And and I come to the conclusion that I probably see and coach more people than most people, like whether it's like working with youth and going and watching track and field meets, like I really immerse myself in it, and still to this day, like even when I probably don't have to do certain things and go to certain places, I still um make it a priority to you know travel to certain high school meets, go watch youth meets, and uh yeah, it helps that you know my my daughter's doing youth track, so uh that's just one of those um uh kind of side benefits to you know being able to go to track meets and just really be involved. But from an athlete development standpoint, um I've always been a proponent of making sure that I do what's best for the individual, and that's one thing that I really now can start to communicate, and I'm learning ways to convey this message, and so it's still a work in progress. But for Cerritos College and my philosophy with our program, you know, and I as I kind of look back and and try to encapsulate everything just so I can share our message and our vision, is just that we put individual over program. And one thing for me that that's always how I felt, I've always felt that individualization is the key and the way to go to help maximize individual performance. And I understand program is important because I understand the system and the structure necessary to help individuals thrive and to be able to navigate certain arenas. But if at times when the just the sheer culture or nature is to a do-it for the program, and it is at a con is at a conflict or is potentially going to compromise athlete development, well, that puts us in a situation for me personally where I just don't feel comfortable with that, and I've never felt comfortable with that, and it's probably cost us, you know, quote unquote championships or championship runs. But uh what's best for the individual is probably going to be my default and learning ways to convey that, but when it comes specifically for training, one thing that I did this year, because we had a very unique group, um, as I'm reflecting back on our Cerritos college season, is that we're kind of pulled all over the place, and uh and I was constantly reminded and in a good way that of like some of the losses that we've suffered or had to endure at Cerritos College, you know, losing Coach Lloyd Higgins and Coach Chucky Hampton just this last year to their battles with cancer, and though though those individuals are such a critical part of our program, and trying to kind of fill in their shoes to some degree is is impossible just because those were you know giants in the coaching world and influences in my life and within our program. And so, you know, for me as a coach, trying to navigate like how to fill in those gaps because those individuals are irreplaceable and and individuals that were really critical to help me, you know, lead and have the freedom to just trust that they were gonna take care of their groups because they just did such an amazing job. Um, now I'm in a position to have to maybe cover some of the things that that they really instilled in our program, and I'm finding ways to do that. And hopefully it's you know, not just being able to honor the things that they left behind, but also help move our program to the level that I feel that it needs to be. And so with coaching this year, juggling a lot of different things, um, especially with like our jump squad and um hurdles and combined events, like we had some amazing athletes and talking about their leadership, which is a lot of fun because you know, one thing I really do is try to push individuals to grow. Um, when I say push individuals to grow, is really like trying to find and I have a unique skill of being able to identify what are people's strengths. Uh, when I say what are people's strengths, I'm looking at okay, like, hey, you're just a natural influencer, you're a natural leader, but maybe they don't believe it themselves or they haven't uh realized it to the point to where they're trying to edify that gift. And that's one thing that I really feel passionate about is like helping individuals find their inner gifts and being being in a position to um maybe not just motivate them but empower them to you know exercise those gifts and so and this is more than track and field in that sense, but um our practice sessions this year were very unique because I was spread a I was spread thin but not uh to the point to where I felt I was ever gonna break, it just was um opportunities for me to be more effective in my coaching, and that means like whether it was like planning, organizing, uh making sure that uh my communication is getting better. Uh it just depends on who you ask, is it will they'll tell you about my level of communication. Um, I'm more of a I guess a quantity over quality person right now when it comes to communication, but with all that being said, this year's training was very unique. Like, and our athletes were amazing because I spend the whole fall really trying to teach them how to have some level of autonomy and understand what my expectations are, mainly like with the warm-up. Like, how what are my expectations with the warm-up? Because if I know I can instill high-quality warmup ethics and practices, then a lot of what I would have to micromanage or fix later on is just going to be eliminated. And with that, and and appreciating the warm-up, even uh the warm-up isn't just a box we check, it's something that's very important, and I watch my athletes really regard our warm-up as something of high quality and and something that was really important to our training. And so I really I loved and embraced that. Uh, we did have a young group, so a lot there was a lot of teaching moments. Uh, one of the big ones is just like teaching athletes that yes, we celebrate PRs and personal records, but that's not the only reason we go to meets. We go to meets to try to learn, we try to grow, we try to fix things. Because uh one of the things I was thinking about this season, it was probably like around April actually. It was like if you're P if you're getting a PR every meet, that means you're really bad. Because that means that you were so bad that you every chance you got to perform, that you got better. That means your mark was so low that you you were able just to climb that much. Because once you get to the higher levels, that margin of you know improvement gets so incremental that um when I look at it, it's like we're really we're getting to a point where we're trying to just be consistent, and so teaching them that having the maturity to appreciate and understand that that's tough. And and our athletes really stepped up, and I was really impressed the fact that you know, even saying all that, we had so many PRs this year. Uh, I stopped counting when I got to 120, and that was like end of March. We had that many personal best performances just be and it just the athletes worked hard, they developed, they loved it. Uh the quality of our training was really high. There was dips and you know, ebbs and flows in our season, but you know, as a coaching staff, we came together and we made some changes here and there and uh tried to empower some individuals to really step up and bring the program together. Um the last thing is like with our athlete development. Um I look back and I look and I'm like, dang, I'm always thinking like what could I have done differently as a coach to have this athlete just do this little bit here, this little bit there. And those are things that kind of keep me up at night. I I really always kind of go back to those moments where I just wish we could have got that one extra inch or got that one extra block start, and it's something that is I have to live with, but also helps teach me to appreciate certain things in the moment because for athletes, I put all the responsibility of their development on me, like I I wear it, like if they don't develop it, and that's my fault. But they just have to do what I say and have a good attitude and work hard, and my goal is to get them to be the best version of themselves, and that's tough, but my goal is to take some of that oness and that that pressure off of them, and so all they have to focus on is just working hard and listening and following through, and I from that point we see a lot of success. And so, um, specifically, like you know, for Cerritos, like I really work hard to make sure that our program goes to certain types of meets. When I say certain types of meets, I'm talking about like making sure that they're four-year caliber, making sure that's a high quality. We don't just put meets on the schedule because it fits in the date. We put meets on the schedule because we want specific performances from specific event groups, and that's something that you know we take a lot of pride in. Uh, it's not easy because the logistics and the travel to some of these competitions, especially, you know, with the four-year schools, is really tough and kind of daunting because we don't really get a break. Like we're constantly battling, but towards the end of the year, our athletes are battle-tested, they're ready because they've been in high pressure, high-stakes situations. They've lined up against some of the best athletes in the country, and they just went toe-to-toe with them and they've been in those environments. And so when we get to our conference and our regional championships, it's just it's the pressure, the stress, the that level of tension just kind of seems to be a little bit less for our athletes, and they are able to rise to the occasion probably on a higher scale than most people, just because of some of the pressure that we put on them early. When I say we're strategic about our meets, I look back like at the Occidental Invite, where we had two individuals get the A standard, which is a really key performance for um California community colleges in the 10K. We had some big PRs in the 800, and that's mainly for our mid-distance distance group, and that's always been kind of a cornerstone meet for us that we really you know set our program up to um you know perform well there, especially on the distance, mid-distance side. Uh, some of the throws meets that we really try to emphasize is just going down to UC San Diego. Um, we always get big performances down to UC San Diego, it's a high pressure meet, a lot of great schools, a lot of great athletes, especially in the throws. Uh, UCLA is a great place for our sprinters, and it's a place to where not it's not just iconic but high caliber competition, really good athletes, a place to where our sprinters and our relays could be an environment that is kind of catered to them. And so uh with that being said, you know, I love the season. Um, our coach coaches are amazing, like Coach Pagel, like one of the best coaches in the state this year with multiple state champions and being able to produce some of the best marks that the state has ever seen in the throws. So continuing our throw success there, Coach Brian Ramos in his in the distance, mid-distance side with Coach Clarence Roan, he's just like really just took the world by storm because we took individuals that maybe were afterthoughts and you know helped put them on a bigger stage. Uh, you know, the mentorship, the guidance, and being able to help teach them race strategy and understand their strengths, getting them healthy, keeping them healthy, putting them in a position to where they feel comfortable and confident to perform at their absolute best, especially on the biggest stage, having some of the best, you know, mid-distance and distance runners in the state. You know, that was that was a lot of fun this year. Having again multiple state champions and state runner-ups and and a variety of events in the mid-distance, distance side was a lot of fun to watch this year. Um, our sprint side, again, very young but very talented. We had some individuals that got a little banged up just because I I feel that when it comes to competing at this level and this intensity, it's different now. And so that just gives me an opportunity to go back and reflect and see how we can improve there. Uh, but again, like especially on the women's side, to be state champions in the four by four and being one of the best four by ones, even though we, you know, didn't have all the requisite pieces that we would normally have to be one of the more dominant four by one programs, um, but we still were able to advance to the state championships and perform really well. Um, one of the big shout outs I have is I think back to like Xavier Williams, he uh really stepped up this year and um somebody that I didn't never thought was ever gonna finish his first season, let alone come back and be one of the major contributors for us um in our in our state championships and our postseason competition. So that was a lot of fun to watch just because no real track background, you know, ran a 11-8 in high school and ended up running like 1050 in the hundred and just you know, um, and just in a second season. So going from 11-8 to 1050 to running sub-22, and you know, that's somebody that again is just took me by by surprise, and that's why I love coaching at the community college level, just be the athlete development side, and again, our main philosophy is just individual over program. We want to do what's best for the individual, we want to put them in a position to be successful and to maximize their true potential. Um, when I look at recruiting now, like you know, I'm in a position to where at the community college level we're constantly recruiting and we're looking for top talent. So, modern recruiting, it's so hard now. Um, some of the insights that I have that I just want to share is this recruiting at the community college level is so different now, especially compared to like 10 years ago. Um, and some of the factors that I feel play a big role in it is one of them is when the SATs is no longer a requisite to become an NCAA qualifier. So that was a major stumbling block for a lot of individuals. Uh getting the A through G, getting their academic classes together, that was one thing. Getting their GPA to a certain point, that was, you know, that was something else. But that SAT was really what separated a lot of individuals. And those individuals will then matriculate to the community college level. Well, now without the SAT, there it's it's a lot more accessible to Get into these universities. And I look back, and so I constantly reflect on okay, how can we, you know, make sure that we're still recruiting the talent and the individuals that are gonna be right for our program, but at the same time navigating all the different changes in the NCAA, all the rules, and how to identify talent at that level. Uh, the next thing, besides like, you know, the removal of the SATs and the what I would consider the opening or more access to you know becoming an NCAA qualifier is talent identification. Talent identification at the high school and middle school level now. Like there's some high schools that are recruiting fifth, sixth graders right now. They're looking at them and they're forecasting, like, we need to make sure that we're recruiting these individuals. So talent identification, especially in our sport, is at an all-time high. There's not, there's very few diamonds in the rough anymore. A lot of individuals that have natural gifts and talents are being identified and they're being cultivated, and we're seeing that in what is quote unquote the trackflation, especially in California community college or California high schools, and that's a lot of fun and all, but now these individuals are really separating themselves. And so I used to love finding that diamond in the rough. I have constant stories and individuals I can reflect on about that are, you know, what I consider quote unquote diamonds in the rough or athletes that might have been oh you know, overlooked, but that doesn't really happen as much anymore. And for us community colleges, like we still have to actively recruit and find those individuals that have those those skills and those abilities to you know perform. And really for me, like one of my main my main caveats to having somebody in our program is making sure that they have a good attitude and they work hard. Um, we don't have any performance lists or performance standards, and but what ends up happening ultimately is people realize that this they're not made for this life. Uh college track and field is really hard, it's really demanding, it's you what I would consider unapologetic, uh, doesn't owe you anything. Um, you could put all the work you want in and not get what you think that you should get out of it. Uh a lot of people, you know, think that success happens overnight and aren't willing to take the long road, and that you know it's a tough journey. So um going back to like the recruiting side with looking at athletes, identifying athletes. So again, NCAA rule changes, um, being able to see that these coaches at the high school levels are coaching at such a high level now, and the talent identification has gotten younger and younger, but more importantly, just looking at like the transfer portal because we used to also get bounce backs. Bounce backs are just when an athlete goes to a university and it doesn't work out for whatever reason, they come back to the community college, or they can go to a community college before they go back to a four-year. Well, that's not happening as much anymore because of the fact of the transfer portal. The transfer portal is allowing athletes to go to one school or another and not really face any recourse or sit-out periods, and you know, the community college was the loophole around the sit-out period. You can go to a community college and compete right away and then be able to get your marks up, get your stats up, to be in a position to transfer and find the next school. Well, again, the transfer portal has really taken it or really taken a hit out of the whole bounce back situation that we would normally have with our community college athletes. So, you know, how do we recruit? Is you know, we try to we have a shotgun approach and we have you know a very strategic approach. Uh the shotgun approach is like for us this year, is like we try to reach out to as many different people as we can just to let them know that we're interested and that we are an option. Um, we took a shot at some heavy hitters, and sometimes those things work and sometimes they don't. Uh, sometimes individuals find schools. Like I have so many individuals that I I saw that they had talent early and I got on them and they performed like I knew they would. And they, you know, fortunately enough, they were able to find a school that they wanted to go to, and you know, they committed and signed or whatever ended up on that program. And so um it was it's very interesting. It's uh it's tough because sometimes you can be recruiting a kid, think you have a great relationship with them, and they choose another school for reasons outside of your own um understanding. And I'm always gonna be biased with Cerritos College, especially when it's recruiting against another community college, but I'm never gonna negative recruit, you know. Uh, I'm not a negative recruiter that for if anybody it faces a point. So, what negative recruiting is is if you go to a school or a program and they're recruiting you, they want you to be a part of the program, and they have negative the things, negative things to say about their competitors, they're probably just insecure. They probably just don't have enough to talk about their program, so they have to involve other people and try to put them down to try to bolster themselves up. So, negative recruiting to me is just a sign of insecurity. I'm never gonna have anything negative to say about any other college or community college. Do I think that we have the best coaching staff? Yeah, and if I didn't, then I would be doing, you know, be derelicted to my duty. And if I knew our coaching staff wasn't up the snuff and, you know, wasn't able to serve and optimize our athletes' development. But, you know, I think we have an amazing coaching staff. We have great resources, we we do everything we possibly can to help individuals reach their full goals and their full potential. And I mean, that's all we could do. Uh, no program is perfect. I don't care who you are, where you're from, like, there's no program that is perfect. I've been around the country and I've seen some of the best programs and I've talked to some of the best coaches from the best programs, national champions, and all this, and they have things that they wish were better. So if they have things that they wish were better, you know, who you know, uh who am I to complain, right? So when it comes to recruiting, negative recruiters are just insecure. And if you're a negative recruiter, stop it because you've probably been taught that, or you don't realize that this is really highlighting your own insecurities as a as a coach within your program. So again, if a coach has anything negative to say about another program, they're just insecure and they're you know, so I'll never take it personal. I just have a little bit more empathy for that individual or those individuals that negative recruit. Um, but when it cut does come to recruiting, like we have to put our best foot forward, like we have to do things on social media, we have to make sure that people know some of the quality things we're doing. That's why I love doing our my little you know opportunities to what I call meet a Falcon, uh, just to showcase like you know how great some of our uh student athletes are. We have musicians, we have singers, we have people that you know work in their churches and do volunteer hours, have aspirations to be in the medical field, and you know, so many amazing things. But like for me, I I get caught up in that myself, and I it's tough because there was a year where um we did have some medical ish issues in our in our coaching staff, so I was kind of having to cover a lot of different areas, and I wasn't able to be out and about because I really feel that a good recruiter is you know, it's a cheat code is just to be visible, be everywhere all the time. Uh, you never know who's watching or who notices you or who you're gonna run into. So be everywhere all the time is probably the biggest cheat code to recruiting. So side note, uh, when I was in that position where I was just kind of all over the place, I was coaching the sprints, I was coaching the jumps, the throws, I had my own combined event athletes and jumpers. Uh, I wasn't able to get out and recruit as much. And I did lose out on a few athletes, and I look back and I watched those individuals' careers that I really thought I had an opportunity to get into our program. And um it's tough because I I know that had they been with us, maybe their career or their journey would have ended be a little bit different. Um, can't control everything, but I do know that when it does come to development and cultivating um individual potential, is you know, that's our you know, that's our you know, our wheelhouse. So um, but when it does get tough and you can't be everywhere, you can't do everything, um, try to find somebody that can, try to find opportunities to be visible. Uh, you you I think that recruiting now in the modern era is a lot of it's gonna be digital. Um, there are some individuals that like to talk on the phone, some don't, and trying to find out what individuals need because a lot of times these athletes that I'm talking to have never been recruited before, and if they've never been recruited before, how can I then be in a position to communicate what they need because they don't even know themselves? So I'm constantly trying to learn the individual and trying to figure out what they like, what their interests are, so that I could help better inform them. I think one of the toughest things is again, there's a lot of misinformation out there, there's a lot of half-truths, and it's tough because like I'm in this world, and this is what I do every day, all day, and it's it's a lot of work just for me to stay up to date and informed. So, God forbid you're a parent that has never been in this world and you're trying to help navigate the journey for your student athlete, like this is tough. So, for me again, it's just want to be informative, want to provide resources, want to educate, and then if there's a connection, then there we go. Uh, the next thing I want to talk about is just you know, one of the epiphanies I had with this 2026 season is the importance of intuition. Uh, I'm gonna figure out ways and uh, you know, uh cheap plug, right? I have my book, you know, coaching in the 21st century uh came out this year, and I talk I talk a lot about developing your coaching intuition, like what's inside, and being able to trust that because beyond coaching philosophy, which are just words, how do you now turn those words into a true behavior and um you know opportunity to practice those behaviors? So for me as a coach, I've really fell on the importance of developing my coaching intuition. Uh, and I do that by volume, like I coach everywhere, anywhere, all the time. I communicate with a lot of different people, I put myself in a position to where I'm trying to learn from a lot of different people, and the more I engage with my sport and my craft of coaching, the better I become. Early on in my career, again, it was just very technical. It was very like I need to know the science, I need to know whether it's like the biomechanics or the anatomy physiology of it. Um, now I need to understand the technical jargon and implication and practical implementation of certain drills and certain, you know, training modalities. So, like, how do I do all that? Um, now I think I've evolved to a point to where it's more of like artistry and being able to know what to use, when to use it, and really simplify it so that it's smooth and it's digestible for the athlete, so that the level of effectiveness and for me personally to now you know be in a position to analyze was that training, was that practice, was that that that whole phase of training, was that effective? And that's tough because again, if you don't know why or what you're doing, you're never gonna be able to really um break down if it is effective or not. So um, you know, with my coaching philosophy now, looking at, you know, always being in a position to not just help myself develop my coaching intuition, but help others realize their own personal intuition is a really good compass if you allow it to be. Um, I've been in a position now where I've had to lean on my intuition quite a bit, and even though it things may not have gone the way I wanted them to, I very seldom, you know, regret following my intuition. So, whatever my instincts or my intuition is telling me, I go towards it. If it doesn't go well, at least I know I did it the way I felt was the right way at the or doing the right thing at the right time. Uh, we have to be careful of not letting insecurities, letting other outside influences, um, potential ridicule or judgment be a motivator for our intuition, because again, that can really cloud your ability to analyze a situation critically and to really feel it inside. Um, with my athletes teaching them a little bit about their intuitions, just so that they can help navigate the world in front of them, whether it's like academics, athletics, or personal life, but then understanding the importance of emotional intelligence. There's gonna be things that come up, and I have to constantly deal with ridicule and you know, having to fight battles and having to explain myself to for certain things, just because I'm always gonna push the envelope, I'm always going to want more, I'm always going to see how I can be the greatest version of myself, not just for myself, for my family, but for others, and it's tough. So, understanding emotional intelligence is probably like the most underrated thing for college student athletes, and the your ability to have emotional intelligence is going to allow you to dissect situations and be more of a problem solver when emotions should run high. And if we could navigate that and put ourselves in a position to where we're having what I would consider you know high EQ, then we're gonna be able to make better decisions. We're gonna put ourselves in a position where we feel like at ease with the decisions that we're doing, even in very difficult times. Uh, one of the things that I'm looking at and kind of talking to a lot of individuals, a lot of young people about is like how to not just trust their intuition, develop emotional intelligence, but now getting to the point to where they're learning how to build their own personal capacity. Uh, when I say personal capacity, I'm talking about like can you hand like how much stuff can you handle? Can you handle the school, the work, the personal life, you know, training? Like that's a lot. That's a lot in of itself. Now you have to have you have family things. There's always going to be something. And being able to stretch your capacity and get out of your comfort zone, you just have to do it. One of the big things that I'm I love doing with uh certain individuals is just telling them to like maybe when they're going home, take a different route, eat some different food, uh, just change things up a little bit because that's really going to change your wiring and your circuitry about how you process being able to step into change. I've noticed that that's really effective, and that's just a starting point, right? I have a whole kind of curriculum on helping individuals step outside of their comfort zone and you know build their own personal capacity. Uh, culture building, and for me this year it was really tough because uh we did have some leaderships, some leadership opportunities for some people, and it's tough because for me I'm always looking at how to integrate um opportunities for them to build their own leadership philosophy. And while doing that, it's it is hard because the leadership for community college is is turning over pretty consistently. It's a two-year school, right? So we not we don't get you know seniors that are 22, 23. Um, we're usually dealing with individuals that are you know 18, 19, 20, and they're still finding themselves, let alone being able to lead others. So building culture is something that it has to start with us as coaches, it has to start with me in being able to practice what I preach in a way and making sure individuals understand that you know you're gonna make mistakes and it's okay. You're going to fall short of your expectations at times, and that's okay. But does it mean that you're ineffective as a leader? Does it mean that you don't bring quality to the team and to the culture and the program in and of itself? Um so the next thing is just like sustaining excellence. Um, when it the next thing is like sustaining excellence, like what does that mean? Uh for me, you know, we're always pursuing excellence. One of the hard things that I have to realize is that I'm not a big cheerleader. Like, if somebody does something well, I'm like, hey, great job, let's move on to the next. I'm not gonna just sit back and we're not gonna constantly, you know, do a whole kumbaya about you know what went well. Like I wanna, all right, well, let's recognize what went well and what's good, and you know, whether it's a performance, whether it's a you know, a milestone, whatever. And then now let's let's find out what the next journey is going to be. And sometimes that could be something that doesn't come off very well because uh some individuals want to celebrate things or you know, you know, kind of sit in those moments a little bit longer than I'm willing to. Uh and that's something that I constantly have to juggle uh because that again, that's just not how I, you know, I operate, is like I constantly want to build and kind of push the envelope, and it's hard because it for me as a coach, it I know that it might come off as if I'm not excited about those things, but at the same time, I do want to make sure that I recognize them, that I acknowledge you know the improvement or the growth or that milestone, but then I also have to be clear that all right, now it's time to move on. I used to just move on, now I'm trying to communicate it a little bit more just because I know that's going to help not just me, but it's gonna help my relationship with that individual so they understand. Um a couple things that I want to go over. So as I kind of have my notes here, uh I'm looking at like just the kind of the season as a whole, and you know, again, I touched on kind of the NCAA thing and how coaching is changing and how we have to be informed as coaches. I really feel it's critical for coaches to just make sure that they educate themselves, that they're aware of all the rules. Like, yeah, it's tedious, yeah, it's you know something that might seem irrelevant even at the time, but how critical it is to make sure that we are as informed as possible because people are relying on us. And like I went to our regional championship this year, and there was coaches that didn't know some of the rules and and things that were in place for so long, and it's like it that for me that's tough. That's tough to that's a tough pill to swallow in the way of like come on, let's let's be better together. And I know people are different, people have different capacities and and priorities of things, but uh you know, as a leader, as a coach, like one of the things like I'm so glad, like for instance, I'll you know, I have to again shout out Coach Brian Ramos. There's times where I miss deadlines or I'm about to miss a deadline or you know, overlook something, and I he's right there, and he he's able to kind of help fill that in and and step in and and like save my butt so many times. And but I know that like we have that relationship. He knows that I might be super hyper-focused over here and I might neglect this thing inintentionally, and he'll he'll recognize that and be able to fill in. Like Coach Allen does the same thing with whether it's like managing the facility or helping with recruiting or you know, helping you know mentor you some of our athletes, and so having people around you to kind of fill those capacities, that's where it is. Not being a micromanager, not being somebody that has to know everything and be the end-all be-all, because what ends up happening is that the program's gonna default to your weakness. And you know, I have a lot of weaknesses, I have a lot of shortcomings, but one thing that I felt I've done really well and I really appreciate it this year is that I have people around me that cover up my shortcomings, so it makes our program that much more robust and effective, right? Um and some of the things that we're working on this year is like like the you know, the junior Olympics coming to Cerritos College, like that wasn't easy. You know, that was a very tough process and a process that I look forward to sharing in more detail once we wrap up. But you know, that was something that just kept me up at night, it kept me stressing. And I, you know, I I look back now and I'm like, man, things that were really, really, you know, not scary, but I procrastinated on just because I just didn't know how it was gonna go, the fear of the unknown of the outcome. And so I just stepped into it and it was a lot easier than I thought. And but still, uh the Junior Olympics is a huge undertaking. The Pacific O'Shockwaves, great organization that is, you know, spearheading this and bringing it to Cerritos College, which I feel is a you know kind of a huge um opportunity for us to do like a farewell of our stadium, uh, because in the next few years, our stadium is. Scheduled to be renovated, which would I when I say renovated, I mean completely torn down. Um, so this Ritos College Stadium that's hosted so many, you know, not just state championships in California, but also like you know, U.S. national championships and other varieties of youth and and you know, Paralympic and Masters competitions, um, that stadium's gonna get torn down. It's gonna be completely redone. It's amazing, which is exciting, but at the same time, kind of bittersweet, right? Because for me, like that that's the stadium that I grew up in. That's the stadium not only as an athlete, but I grew up in as a coach. And for it to be gone is is something that you know I'm excited about for the new, but at the same time, you know, get to, you know, I guess send our facility out with a bang with one of the best, you know, youth meets in the world, which is the USATF Junior Olympics. And I'm excited to be able to be a part of it and have this opportunity to not just you know celebrate all the young talent that's coming through, but also being able to, you know, kind of send Falcon Stadium out with a bang. Um, the next thing is, you know, I look at this year, you know, again, yeah, like even going over the like learning all the construction stuff with our stadium, uh, learning how to navigate the politics associated with you know building, you know, a hundred and hundred to a hundred and fifty million dollar stadium um complex is is there's a lot to it. And so um figuring out all those things, working with all the different personalities and all the different you know stakeholders and user groups is very interesting. Um but as I go into this season, we had a great recruiting class this year. I mean, coming into the 27th season, like our recruiting class is is amazing because we have such high caliber individuals, and you know it's gonna be it's a little scary for me because I take on a lot of that responsibility to kind of help these individuals grow, but it's exciting because this is where I feel our program needs to be, and I feel that we're going to be able to help these individuals, you know, do some great things. Like I like there's no reason why again we shouldn't be battling for a state championship on both the men's and women's side. We have all the talent to be able to do it. Um, the hardest part, and I say this, and I hate saying it because it puts me in a position to where it almost seems like it's being negative, but it's just a reality. Like, say we have a hundred people come in, you know, a lot of them are gonna realize that you know maybe college athletics isn't for them. Um, regardless of what program they're in, they'd rather work, they'd rather have a social life, they'd rather, you know, do something else with their time, which I completely understand. And it's not even specific to talent, right? It's like we have some very talented people that decide that they just don't want to do college athletics anymore, and we have some people that probably aren't the most talented, and and everybody in between. Then we have people that just don't want to go to school. We have people that was like, yeah, college and formal education is just not for me, and they want to do other things. Completely respect that. So, and we never know, and they never know. Like, wait, I've had some of the people I've been the most excited about and thinking that man, this individual is really gonna, you know, take the world by storm, and they come and it it's not that just because that's just that's just not what they wanted for their journey. Uh, so a lot of individuals that we bring in, again, the retention rate is very low uh because just like I said, it's a new experience, intensity of college track. They, you know, these individuals go come from high school where it their schedules are very rigid to now being in a position to where they have a lot of autonomy and a lot of freedom. So they really want to embrace that freedom and that autonomy that they're getting, you know, after high school. So kind of figuring those things out. But uh what ends up happening is like after a few people drop off, then you know, another few, you know, you know, they they see things in a little bit different way, they have a hard time realizing the intensity of the sport, but just working on keeping individuals around, helping inform them, helping provide them with resources. I wish I had a secret formula to keep every athlete there, but I just know that's not realistic, and that's okay because again, uh however I can help a student athlete, that's my main, that's my main mission. I'm just using track and field and coaching as a vehicle to be able to help develop, mentor, and guide individuals. And so I have a lot of fun doing it. Uh, but in when it comes to the training side of things, I love being able to get a lot of these new athletes into the weight room because our weight training program is one of the what I would consider a mainstay to how we help develop and maximize the athlete's individual potential because it's not just about moving weight, it's about teaching them structure, teaching them um execution, the the ability to focus, uh, how to you know manage the intensity of a certain training environment. And the weight room is just a great way to do that. The weight room is also an opportunity for me to you know evaluate the individual's functional movements and how they move, so hopefully, we can predict potential what I would consider red flags with their movement patterns so that we can hopefully prevent injury. Uh, that's just something that we've had a lot of success being able to do with these with these athletes coming in, hopefully, you know, getting athletes to realize and respect the concept of the long-term journey and long-term development, being patient, um, having that emotional resilience, um, you know, building the confidence necessary to optimize their own, you know, potential. Um, and when I look at, you know, you know, how these individuals take that, again, everybody learns and is going to digest all that at their own rate. And that's something as a coach could be a little frustrating because you want to like expedite somebody's learning curve, but they might not have the maturity to handle that level of you know expectation and rigor. So for me as a coach, that expectation or rigor. So, me as a coach, I have to evaluate the athlete's maturity and help them develop the maturity necessary to compete at a high level. Just because somebody's physically gifted and talented doesn't mean that they have the maturity necessary to, you know, take advantage of their physical gifts. And so that's another thing that we we spend a lot of time doing is helping individuals develop maturity. And if they can maximize their maturity, gosh, like they're gonna, they're gonna far exceed their own or what I would consider their own capabilities, just because they'll navigate um bad situations like with resiliency and being able to be a problem solver and not get too you know stressed out about certain things, being able to regulate emotion, be able to move on from you know one thing to another. These are all skills and and traits that I'm really excited to see individuals do, uh, specifically with the junior college. And I mean this can go for any young athlete, but you know, um, what is your identity and are you able to be mentored? Uh not we talk about mentorship and why mentorship is important, but there's not a lot of conversation happening about how to mentor mentors to be their mentors, right? Like what are some best practices of being a mentor? We don't talk about that enough, and then we don't talk about how to be mentored, we don't talk about that enough. Uh, how to be mentored is something that needs to be a conversation. How to be vulnerable, how to be honest with yourself, how to have a level of um uh reflection and self-efficacy to handle ridicule, guidance, information uh is it's tough and we don't talk about it enough. So we spend quite a bit of time, or at least I do, trying to really pitch out little nuggets of opportunities for individuals to understand how to be mentored and that they do need mentorship, they do need structure to help not just um develop but to also believe in themselves. Um going into um lessons learned for me as a coach, and as I wrap up, um, you know, I try to pour into everyone, not everyone's receptive to me or my approach. Uh, so I have to make sure again, I surround myself with individuals that I could now maybe, hey, go talk to coach this, go go over here, bring ex-athletes in and mentors and alumni to be able to, you know, maybe guide these individuals in areas that I might not connect with them with. Um, so again, I just want them to grow. It doesn't matter how they do it, it doesn't have to be because of me, but it's just we have to find a way to help every individual grow. Um, learning when to push and winning, learning when to listen. Uh, there's a lot of times where I just want to go, go, go, go, go. And I learned maybe it's with old age, but sometimes I have to pull back. Uh, one thing I experienced a couple times this year, we, you know, with our family, we experienced um some loss. Uh, we experienced not just in our track family, but in my own personal family. There was a it was a very emotional year. Um, and you know, sometimes as a coach I faced emotional fatigue, which then, you know, made me even question my own ability, maybe question like why am I doing what I'm doing. And these are real things that I had to navigate. Like, yeah, my own emotional fatigue could really put me in a position to where you know I maybe wasn't what I felt was effective, and then I would feel bad because I wasn't effective, and then it would only, you know, almost be a trickle-down effect. And one of the things that helped me get out of those little ruts was just calling people I haven't talked to in a long time. Um, and you know, reinforcing those connections. Uh, this podcast was has always been a breath of fresh air for me. Um, yeah, it's a lot of work, but it's again, it's like one of these things that you know, you know, uh like kind of revitalizes my passion about why I'm doing what I'm doing and how I'm doing it. And again, uh it's tough because again, facing emotional fatigue, it's almost like a vicious cycle. But uh when I talk to individuals, when I connect with other people, when I reach out to friends and family that I haven't talked to in a while, that just for me, that was something that was like my way of getting out of those moments. Um and so as a coach, making sure that you know we have good outlets and positive outlets and you know, outlets that are healthy are are really you know one of the you know important pieces to growth and being able to navigate emotional fatigue, um balancing leadership and empathy. Uh there was we had to make some hard decisions this year with individuals, like individuals had to learn some certain lessons, and it is tough because I want to save everybody. I want everybody to thrive. And you know, I I can't. And some individuals, again, aren't ready for the opportunity, and I have to give them the gateway to be able to do it. And the hardest thing, again, is like we have limited resources as a community college as a whole, anyway, but then individuals that don't appreciate or respect those um, you know, those sacrifices and those resources and maybe take them for granted, then now that's less resource that I can give to the people that do care. So, how do you manage that as a coach? And that like that's hard. Like you you do almost have to give you know equal attention to everybody in the program, but some don't reciprocate it the same way as others. And it's like, man, I want to stop giving energy to this particular person and just give that energy to this person, but that's just not how it works, and that's tough, and that's always something that we have to balance. And maybe we have to bring in outside resources again. We we have to might maybe uh delegate certain um relationships and leadership and mentorship obligations to others, uh, and it can lead a variety of different ways. Um, the pressure of leading a big group, like you know, we have Monday meetings and we have conversations, and my goal every year, every meeting is just to not just inform them but keep them updated about how I'm feeling about certain things, and we you know like to celebrate you know what we did in the past, but again, leading a large group is is tough, but you know, it's something that you can't lose sight that there are individuals within that large group, and um I know I can't connect with everybody the way I want, but I try and I make sure that I surround myself again with people that I know are going to represent what I feel is a high-quality relationship to help that individual grow. So, again, surrounding yourself with great people in this year was just um again another testament to um how amazing our coaching staff is. Um, one of the things I even you know thought of this year is I I'm pretty confident that we're the longest standing um coaching staff in the state. Uh no one's had this many coaches stay together for this long ever. So um so it's a you know that's a really cool thing. Um the importance of being present over perfection. So, you know, when I when I talk to our athletes, it's just like just show up. Even when you don't feel like showing up, just show up because you never know what you can get from the opportunity of just showing up. And sometimes we feel that we have to be perfect, like our outfits have to be perfect, everything has to be in in the right place, like in and it's just not going to be that way all the time. So um I realized this year athletes don't always remember the workout, but they remember how you made them feel while they were struggling. And um, that's something that just kind of resonated with me this year is that you know, we I always think about like sometimes it's easy to think about the highlights, but really when you think back about like what's memorable about each track season, it's like a van ride, it's eating at a restaurant, it's like how you guys hung out at a trip, it's you know, a funny moment at practice. These are the things that we usually like first thing I go, hey, think about back, you know, to that season. Yeah, we can maybe rattle off like stats or placings and things, but most of the memories are really those other things. And again, for me at Cerritos College, it's so important that I create opportunities for those things to happen, and it's not easy. Um, I can I can go whole all my my whole season and not try to facilitate opportunities like that, but I know it wouldn't be the program that I would want to represent. So um with that being said, uh I definitely want to understand, and I mean I'm understanding now, you know, my higher calling when it comes to coaching, um, you know, winning is a different thing to me now. Um, championships matter, PRs are great, um, advancement to the state championships and who got through conference and all that stuff is great. But did the athletes gain confidence? Um, are my athletes transferring, like constantly teaching them and talking to them about wanting more for what their life is, what their journey is, and pushing them to their limits and getting them to apply to certain schools and commit to certain places and take that real, that real brave step to make that next um, you know, turn in their journey to the next institution. Like so constantly working on getting athletes to be present enough and confident enough to you know embrace that transfer journey. Um athletes growing into leaders, like watching individuals go from like quiet or you know, lone wolves into you know program leaders, um, learning discipline, watching how you know just our athletes convey and conduct themselves at a track and field meet is just like something I'm so proud of. Um, you know, a lot of times, yeah, it's cool when our athletes get across the finish line first or they're in first place in the jumps and the throws, but like competing with character, you know, just carrying themselves with like this like higher calling, and it's just something I've always been proud of with our Cerritos College athletes. Uh, not that we're anybody's perfect, but when we're at a competition, I I feel that you can tell there is a difference between a Cerritos college athlete and most other community college, let alone four-year schools. Learning accountability, uh, teaching them that they can come to me and us as a coaching staff and talk about what their needs are and that we're not gonna judge them when it comes to accountability. It's tough because they've been taught to don't make mistakes, but I'm trying to tell them that they're going to make mistakes and it's okay. And if they need help navigating how to create a solution for their mistake, that's when we can work together, that's when we can collaborate. And then ultimately, hopefully, the athletes can walk away and understand their identity and who they are and what they want to get from this. So, this is just a long-winded recap of not just the becoming uncommon podcast, but just for me as a coach this 2026 season, uh, I learned a lot. I think this again was one of those years that was pivotal for me to kind of hit that next stage of my coaching career, which I feel is going to be a lot of uh servitude, leadership, and making sure that I reinforce connections, not just with my athletes, but coaches in our local area. So outside of that, uh continue to you know watch the Become an Uncommon podcast. I have a lot of cool episodes coming up. Again, this being the kind of like the halftime call for it. Uh just again, an opportunity to thank everybody that's supported me, everybody that's had kind words, had you know, words of you know positive criticism and and and ways to kind of you know help me become better. Uh, this has again been a lot of fun. Uh, I know that you know it's a long road, and I'm you know, I look forward to again connecting with many of you. Um, but if there's anything I can say about the Becoming Uncommon podcast in my 2026 season, is that I learned the importance of connection. And um, again, as an introvert, that's not easy to say, and but I do really appreciate connection and I'm going to you know kind of step into that with a little bit more vigor as I kind of wrap up the 2026 and go into the 2027 track season. I'm gonna step into that a little bit more just because I realize that you know I have a little bit more confidence in doing it now, and I, you know, I really feel that my purpose and my ability to connect is only going to not just help me, but put me in a position to help others, which is really my passion. So outside of that, again, thank you. Hope you enjoyed and um stay on common.