The Truth About Being Volleyball Influencers | Coach Donny x Coach Chijo – Ep. 2

What does it really take to build a volleyball brand online?

In this episode, Coach Donny and Coach Chijo sit down in Las Vegas during tournament weekend to talk about the reality behind content creation, social media growth, editing, filming, staff, pressure, burnout, and the work people never see behind the scenes.

We also talk about the sacrifices that come with constant travel, including missing family and balancing real life while trying to grow a brand and help people through volleyball.

Most importantly, we talk about how volleyball came into both of our lives during difficult times and why we feel called to give back to the volleyball community through coaching and content.

This was one of the most real conversations we’ve had.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

What's up, everybody? Welcome to the Coach Chijo podcast. Real conversations about volleyball, coaching, growth, and the journey behind it all. So let's get into it. Just go. Hey, guess who I'm with? Coach Donnie.

SPEAKER_04 0:16

What's up? What's up? Yeah, good to see you. Thanks for having me on your podcast. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_02 0:21

I'm so excited. This is like the Asian episode.

SPEAKER_04 0:25

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 0:26

Let's go. So, man, I've seen your videos. You're all over the place. You know, and uh I love how you just break stuff down. You know, I'm I'm I'm I'm a simple guy. I just like to break it down simple. Yeah, you know what I mean? Yeah. So then we're we're in Vegas of all places. Yeah. Emperor's Cup. And then you're here. I'm walking by a court and I go, hold on, that's Coach Donnie. Yeah. So then we started talking.

SPEAKER_04 0:56

And I didn't expect to see you here. Yeah. So for the people, for the listeners there, uh, my wife, she's not a volleyball player. Yeah. And she's a huge fan of mine. But then, you know, over time, you're like, you're used to hearing the same thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:09

And so she got into following volleyball social media people. Yeah. And then she found you. And she's like, you should check out this guy, Coach Chicho, he's really good. I was like, ah, cool. So we checked it out. She's like, and it's exactly like what you said. She's like, he break, and I appreciate her non-volleble mind because it's a blank slate. Oh. Right. There's no bias. Right. Because a lot of times when you look through a volleyball mind frame, there's an initial bias of how things should sound. And so for her, I always love to hear her perspective. And so I was like, if it if it makes sense to her as a volleyball beginner, that means the information is simple. So you're doing a good job with that.

SPEAKER_02 1:45

Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, a lot of the kids in my videos are young. And they can barely jump, they can barely hit over the net. Yeah. Um, I'll have lessons where they'll never hit over the net. But I still record it and it's the process.

SPEAKER_03 1:59

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Right? It's not like the success every time.

SPEAKER_03 2:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

So uh yeah, just little kids, and then I thought that's all the people that watch, like the parents of those kids.

SPEAKER_03 2:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

But now I'm going to tournaments and older kids are coming up. It's really cool.

SPEAKER_04 2:16

Well, I think part of it too is that you have a very like nurturing, and probably because you're a dad. But I think it's and I only know this because this is what the fans say to me. Yeah. Because when I come back from tournaments when I'm coaching, my voice is so coarse. But then my fans will say, Yes, this sounds extra deep. But there's something they say is something soothing about that. So my guess is that I think not only the information, but what your your your energy, what reminds of them, and it kind of pulls them in, makes them want to listen. And it's like a comforting, it's like story time.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Story time. Yeah. That's actually it.

SPEAKER_04 2:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

That's another reason why I don't want to give up the editing.

SPEAKER_04 2:58

Yeah. I enjoy putting together the story. Yeah. It's funny that you say that because now they have three editors or three and a half.

SPEAKER_02 3:07

Three and a half editors.

SPEAKER_04 3:08

Yeah. So I'm training one more. Um, but one is for an anime vol anime channel. So one of my other editors is for anime. So I have a separate um YouTube channel for anime. Oh, okay. But I I realized how much I miss editing. It's an art form, it's the fun of it. Yeah. Makes me laugh, it makes me like reflect a little bit. Right. So my goal is once I can fully train my staff, have the financials like fully taken care of. What I don't when I don't have to invest all this time on supporting the business, I want to go back to playing more and and editing videos. Because I miss it.

SPEAKER_02 3:43

Editing what you want to edit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:45

Yeah. Even though, by the way, if my editors are listening to this, you guys are doing a great job. It's that I miss the art of it. And that's that's that's what I miss. So it's not because you guys aren't doing a good job.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at one point I gotta give it up.

SPEAKER_03 4:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

Because I'm doing so much.

SPEAKER_03 4:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:02

But like you said, I'm editing and I'm laughing out loud.

SPEAKER_03 4:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

And enjoying the process and going back through the memories of stuff of how I worked with a certain player, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 4:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

You know? Yeah. And I enjoy it. Uh, but man, it's time consuming.

SPEAKER_04 4:18

Yes. Yeah. You said you have a team of people working for you. So what what other parts of your business do you are you're hiring help for?

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Okay, so I have an operations manager. Yeah. So she does stuff like book all my travel, um, works on more of the the business, like right brain stuff.

SPEAKER_03 4:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

Because I'm like, I'm the guy that wants to put the giraffe on the moon.

SPEAKER_03 4:40

Yeah. That's the joke with my team.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

I'm gonna put giraffes on the moon.

SPEAKER_03 4:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

I don't care how it happens, but we're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_03 4:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:46

Right? And my and and so she so Dina shout out, amazing ops manager. Uh she's the one, one of them, that'll just try to bring me back down to Earth. It's like, okay, is it actually possible? Okay, if it is possible, like what is it gonna take? Yeah, is it feasible? Is it financially sound? Yeah, and then I have Monica shout out. Monica was my longtime assistant coach. Okay, so she and I have coached so long that we we can coach together without even talking to each other. Yeah, like we know what needs to be done, and she'll do whatever, and I'll do another thing, and we know where to cover. So she's the one where we had these parking lot conversations. After practice, we'd go out to the parking lot to go home, and then before we know it, we'd be out there for an hour and a half in the dark, uh-huh, talking about what, like all this stuff, what can we do with volleyball that's other than what we're doing right now, which is helping 10 or 12 kids at a time.

SPEAKER_03 5:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:47

Right? So we had like a couple years of those conversations. So then one time we were coming home from a tournament, driving home from Swokan, P and Q, and we just said, are we doing this? Like, is this a thing? And then we just went like this, so let's go. Like this. And that was a little over a year ago.

SPEAKER_04 6:07

That's really recent. Yeah. So you blew up in just a year.

SPEAKER_02 6:11

Well, the so the the videos going out on social media was about a year and a half before that fist bump. Wow. I was still coaching. I was coaching two teams, I was a club director. Yeah. Uh, and it just got to a point where we're traveling, yeah, and I can't even talk to my team.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

Because I'm just getting mobbed and stuff, and then you know, I just knew something was happening. We would have five, six teams surrounding our courts watching our championship and cheering for us. And I was I don't even know who they are.

SPEAKER_03 6:46

Yeah. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

Stuff like that.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 6:49

And uh, or we'll play a team, and I I don't know, I this is gonna sound weird, but like we'd beat them, yeah, and then they all come over and go, let's take a picture.

SPEAKER_04 6:59

Yes, I know exactly what you're talking about. Really?

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 7:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

So that that was building up about a year and a half, and that's when it blew up. It was like, I don't know, Instagram, there were times when maybe two to three thousand new followers a day.

SPEAKER_03 7:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:15

And that went on for months.

SPEAKER_04 7:16

Yeah, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 7:18

I'm like, what is happening? Yeah, yeah. Because I didn't plan any of this.

SPEAKER_04 7:23

That's usually how it goes.

SPEAKER_02 7:24

Like, I didn't plan any of this. Yeah. This is all like, there's no blueprint for what we do. No. People ask me, well, what do you do? I just say volleyball coach. Yeah. Who do you what age do you coach? Oh.

SPEAKER_03 7:38

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

And then it gets complicated to answer. Yeah. Do you get you get questions like that?

SPEAKER_04 7:43

Like, all the time. Yeah. Yeah. It's well, I I think we're we're blessed to have such a multifaceted job. Yeah. Because I tried corporate just to see what it was like, and it was hard for me to do one thing all day. Yeah. But I love, I love answering emails, then I love doing a lesson. Yeah. Then I'll do this little content. Right. Then I'll work out. Then I'll work with I'll consult with a team, or I'll do some online coaching. And it's like, yeah. It just keeps keeps things really interesting.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 8:12

And yeah, people always ask. I it it depends on who they are. So, and you're you'll probably get to this really soon. So, I'm I'm now at a point where I have my like pre-volleyball blow-up people I know, and then the post.

unknown 8:28

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

And so it's a very interesting phenomenon. And like for me, I was never really that popular growing up. Kind of nerdy, and like people liked me just because I was nice and funny, but I wasn't people that say, I gotta hang out with that person, right? I wasn't anywhere close to getting nominated for Prom King.

SPEAKER_02 8:45

That was me.

unknown 8:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:46

Total introvert.

SPEAKER_04 8:47

Kind of nerd, yeah. Yeah, more introverted. I'd rather sit in a corner somewhere, eat my sandwich, have a strange hairdo. Um and and so that's still kind of who I am on the inside. And so those people that knew me just as this volleyball nut, kind of introverted, kind of has a weird sense of humor, um, quirky person, those are the people that know me, and it's funny because they still talk to me like it's me, which I appreciate. Right. Okay. And then now there's this new generation of people that talk to me as Coach Donnie. Yeah. And it's great because they I feel the energy that I've given them, they're giving me right back. And maybe you've already felt that with the fans, where like you see, like, wow, this person, you can see how much they've ingested and they're so grateful. And you see in their eyes, and like just that one handshake with them is so life-changing. Yes, and those moments are so those are awesome. There's another category where people are starting to name drop me that I don't know that are using my name for whatever.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Like what?

SPEAKER_04 9:53

I don't know. Like, people will say, hey, I met somebody, they said they like your good friends, and I'm like, I have no idea who that is. Maybe I met them once. Oh. And so, and and then so not nothing nefarious yet, hopefully never. Yeah, knock on wood or something. Yeah, and then also I've noticed that I was at a VNL event, and we're in the media section, and there's a lot of, there's like local, there's journalists and there's other organizations, there's and there's this one guy who headed a pretty sizable, well-known company. I'm not gonna say who they are who they who they are, but we're sitting next to each other, and I'm just like, whatever, setting my gear up and getting ready to take notes for this VNM at match. And this guy is well known, okay, and he's talking to everyone around, people saying hi. Yeah, doesn't really say hi to you. He's like, oh hey, what's up? And then that's it. I don't take that's just it, I don't know you, so that's fine. Like, I don't I don't take that personally. Okay. And then when other media people from other countries are coming in, they now are taking pictures with me, and these are other media people, yeah. And then people are walking by and like they're like, Who's that coach done? Like, I'm in a a closed off media, and so he sees all this, and so this guy doesn't talk to me for like a full hour, but then once he sees all this, then he starts talking to me, and I'm and I'm like, and I'm trying not to read too much into it, but the my ultimate, and I spent like four days with him, but to me that's when I realized that I had to be very careful with the people that are trying to get to know me because at the end of it I realized that he he wouldn't have talked to me if he didn't see all those fans, and I don't like I don't like that. Yeah, I'm just gonna be very frank. Like, I I want to talk, I want to know you because who you are, not because of what you're worth or what your fame is, and so that's why I really value those like pre-elevate yourself people. Actually, the friends that said I was never gonna make it.

SPEAKER_02 11:49

Oh, geez.

SPEAKER_04 11:50

Yes, and it's funny. There's when I started my YouTube channel in 2013, um, at you know, I'm still very close friends with the same group of people. They're like, Why are you wasting your time on this, man? You're not gonna make it big, it's so saturated.

SPEAKER_02 12:02

I heard that. And I had three subs on YouTube.

SPEAKER_04 12:06

Uh huh. It was my wife, uh-huh, one of my sons, yeah, and his best friend. Yeah, that's the launch pad right there. And then three boots.

SPEAKER_02 12:16

They had to tell me to put it on there. I'm going, why the heck would I do that? Yeah. Because I don't use social media.

SPEAKER_04 12:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:21

I still don't.

SPEAKER_04 12:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:23

And I'm like, what's the point?

SPEAKER_04 12:24

Yeah. You know, it's funny you say that. I feel like we're we had parallel lives because I was so resistant. Um, Instagram was kind of the the thing in 2017. I was so resistant because I enjoy more in-personal interactions.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

Yeah, it we're we're in the people business. Yeah. You know?

SPEAKER_04 12:43

Yeah. And I also already saw what it was doing to people. Yeah. Um, and then my wife is the one that convinced me. She's like, if you want to grow your business, you need social media. So I had to listen to her wisdom. And I'm glad I did because YouTube is still pretty well known, and that's kind of where I built my platform. But it's funny how kids are more discovering now through TikTok. Yes. Right? And then maybe they discover me from YouTube. Yeah. And so for me to stay relevant as a business person, I have to so I now just use social media for you know the business aspect and stay relevant to see what's what's popular, but and then share cat videos with my wife.

SPEAKER_02 13:19

Do you do any doom scroll scrolling and sometimes?

SPEAKER_04 13:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

I think I I try to avoid that, yeah. I just I I start to look and I go, no, I can't do this. Yeah, that's smart.

SPEAKER_04 13:31

If it's volleyball stuff or training stuff, absolutely. So sometimes. Because I will like maybe if someone's talking about, and I so I try to f I follow a lot of like pro trainers or like orthopedic surgeons, just because I'm like, how do I I I love to learn about the body. Oh, okay. But that's that's about it. Yeah, uh, but other than that, it's uh I just use it for business.

SPEAKER_02 13:52

Yeah, yeah, you too. I had to get convinced. Monica had to convince me put it on Instagram.

SPEAKER_03 13:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:58

My answer to her, what the heck is Instagram?

SPEAKER_03 14:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

I didn't even know what it was.

SPEAKER_03 14:03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:04

It's like you just gotta put it on this thing. I mean, what are you talking about? It's like, how do you do it?

SPEAKER_03 14:08

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Well, you go like this and you put it like seriously? Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_04 14:13

Yeah. Yeah. Well, I want to add one more thing to like, once you you're probably getting really close to that point um of there's like an inflection point where you really feel like people will treat you differently. Uh I don't know if you already okay, so you're already there.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Yeah, I can tell like the different categories of type of people, and you know, nothing personal to anybody watching this or listening to this, but it is different.

SPEAKER_04 14:38

Yeah, and like to me, I want to be open about this because I like part of my my value system is I want to use elevate yourself. Not only do we want to become better volleyball players, you know, better athletes, but like better people. Yes. And so I want to challenge people. Come on, double fist puppies, dude. That's it. That's that I think that's why our message res resonates so much with people. And I just want to help people.

SPEAKER_02 15:01

Yes. It's from the heart. I don't go from the brain. That's why my team has to provide the brain brain part. Because I'm like, let's go, let's do this. This is fun. This is gonna help more people.

SPEAKER_04 15:13

Yeah, yeah. And so I will meet friends of friends, yeah. And I used to tell them, oh, okay, at first in 2019, 2020, when I was really transitioning to more content creation, I would tell them, what do you do? It's like, oh, you influencer, whatever. And then like, oh what you what is that? Oh, they don't really make a lot of money, right? And then now when I tell them that, like, oh, what's your platform? Whatever, oh, a million, like almost a million subscribers, then they really treat you differently, and I don't like that. So I to me on the litmus test is I tell them I'm I'm a trainer. Because the the perception of trainers is like these random people in the gym just training people for yeah, you know, whatever wages, and if they still want to talk to me, then I'll talk to them. But a lot of times, sadly, it that's where the conversation ends.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 16:04

Oh, that's nice. That's cool. Like then we'll just then we can know each other casually. But I've noticed that when I tell people that you know I'm I have one of the biggest platforms for volleyball in the world, then they immediately want to like so that's my limit test. My second litmus test, I have a good friend, Kai, if you're watching, he's my volleyball channel. Kai? My son's name's Kai. Oh, no way! Yes, yes, so yeah, that is an interesting. I know there's a lot of words, I'm assuming that's Japanese.

SPEAKER_02 16:34

Yeah, so we got it from Kai, because it's ocean. And he was a fish from when he was a kid. He's a major swimmer. Okay, yeah. And we wanted something kind of maybe mixed Hawaiian-ish, you know? And so it was Kai.

SPEAKER_04 16:48

That's beautiful. Yeah. So my.

SPEAKER_02 16:50

So Kai, shout out to Kai.

SPEAKER_04 16:52

Double Kai, both Kai.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:54

Um, he's Taiwanese, so it's uh I don't know what the word means in Chinese, but I know there's a lot of similar words between Chinese and Japanese.

SPEAKER_02 17:02

If the character is similar, it could be something water.

SPEAKER_04 17:06

So he's not well known. So we'll but we'll go to events together and hang out, and usually, I mean, as you know, you go to tournaments, like and you get flooded. Yeah. And when people want to connect with me, which I'm always happy to do, like you know, what business opportunities, or you want me to coach a clinic, whatever. But it's I view it as how they treat him, is my and he's with me. Oh, and and also other volleyball players. Yeah. And so I've met, there's been a good number of times where other people have wanted to play on our team and they're good players, but then I'll see how they treat Kai who doesn't is not well known. And it's very different.

SPEAKER_02 17:46

I was like, uh, are they there for you because you're there? Yeah. Or they're there just because they really want to play.

SPEAKER_04 17:54

Yeah, yeah. Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_02 17:55

I never thought about it that way.

SPEAKER_04 17:57

So, and I think I'm a little bit more sensitive to that as a geeky kid who grew up that wasn't really well known, and like you have to you have to really earn your relationships because I wasn't super popular, I wasn't tall, and so these natural things that gravitate people that that where people are gonna gravitate towards them. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think I I want to make sure that I don't give any biases to people I want to have a relationship with, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 18:27

I don't have very many friends, like real friends.

SPEAKER_04 18:30

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_02 18:31

They go back years, but it's been a long time since I've actually cultivated, you know, it's it's pretty rare to cultivate like a real friendship.

SPEAKER_04 18:41

Mm-hmm. Yeah, me too. My wife says I I need more friends, but because she's the extrovert.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

Oh, I'm totally introvert.

SPEAKER_04 18:50

Yeah, me too. And like I have a very there's a few friends I see like once every other month. You know, everyone's busy with families, but I can make it a point. I want to stay connected with these people, and I'm good. My wife has like hundreds of friends, and she's like, you should get more friends. I'm like, I I don't have I don't think I have the energy for that. See for it or the desire.

SPEAKER_02 19:07

Believe it or not, like in my videos, I am what I how I am because I just enjoy it and I just kind of get energized with volleyball.

SPEAKER_03 19:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

As soon as I go home, uh-huh, I'm like, I just want to chill. I'll just kind of sit around, throw the ball with a dog. Yeah, I don't want to see anybody.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:27

That's that's how I've always been. But but I gotta ask. I hope it was okay, because I saw you playing, you ended the set, you were switching sides, and they actually bugged you when you were switching sides. Yeah, no, that's all good. I hope I didn't like that wasn't offensive. But I'm like, I gotta meet this guy. Yeah, he does stuff from the heart.

SPEAKER_04 19:50

I and I think you did it in like the most respectful way possible because you can you can sense when someone's waiting for you, and the fact that you waited for it to end, because I've had people try to come on the court mid-game to try to take a selfie.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

People have done that, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:07

Right, like me as you're coaching a team, right?

SPEAKER_02 20:09

You're like one of us like my team is playing, yeah, and some kid is walking to my side of the bench, yeah, in front of me, yeah, you know, yeah, like a foot from the sideline. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:20

So you did you did it in the best way possible. So appreciate you waiting. I hope that was. No, no, no, no, that was good. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

Because I knew I had to connect with you.

SPEAKER_04 20:28

Yeah. And I'm glad you did because I don't, I mean, I probably would have walked by your table, yeah, but I had no idea you were here, and I think it was really good that you did that because I then I was like searching for you. I was like, oh shoot, it's Coach Tho. He's probably just as big, he's like busier than me right now, so I gotta find he's probably doing the event, so I gotta find him.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:49

Because you're probably getting flooded, walking around, doing all the stuff.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Yeah, yeah. Do you do you ever? I mean, all the stuff that you're doing, right? Like you say you're an introvert, I'm in avert, you know, I just want to chill out. With all the stuff that's happening, you get stuff coming in left and right, yeah, people want to do this, want that. Do you ever go home and like, okay, no, no more? Like, I can't do this.

SPEAKER_04 21:11

I have the opposite problem. What? I have it's tiring for sure. Like, it's so odd that our jobs are more extroverted, but yet we're introverted.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:24

And I get, yeah, I definitely get tired. Like, at the end, I'll probably won't talk to anybody for a couple days other than my wife and my mom and my family. You might not even talk to my mom for a couple days. Yeah, go to work. Um, but I I think my problem is is taking on too much, like saying yes to too many things. Oh. So, but I I think it's just because it's so invigorating. Yeah. Um, and I'm very fortunate to have opportunities that I can like all opportunities are are good ones. I don't have to say no to bad ones.

SPEAKER_02 21:54

Okay. Um that's great.

SPEAKER_04 21:55

Yeah, so I'm really lucky to have that.

SPEAKER_02 21:57

So last summer I burned out. Last summer it was take everything. Monica, it was just Monica and me, just the two of us. And we're like, whoa, that's cool. Let's do that. Yeah, that's a great idea. Okay. Sure. And we just said yes to everything. And then that was the summer, and it just blew up in a bad way. Yeah. And my doctor told me, like, you're gonna have a heart attack.

SPEAKER_03 22:23

Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

I go, uh, I cycle, I work out every day, I eat well. Like, how am I gonna it's from your stress. And that's like, what? And I mean, I'll admit, I had to go get counseling, like therapy. I'm still doing therapy. Good. And I had to take meds for anxiety.

SPEAKER_03 22:43

Good.

SPEAKER_02 22:43

Oh, because it was, I couldn't handle it anymore. Yeah, I was just saying we were saying yes to everything.

SPEAKER_03 22:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:49

So then um, I have a business coach, so shout out to Pete, he's awesome, he's in New York. Um, I said, you gotta shut down.

SPEAKER_03 22:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:57

So for three weeks, no email, no phone, no video, no editing, yeah, no doing anything other than what I wanted to do. Yeah. So I rode my bike every day for three weeks. That's beautiful. The first three, four days was torture. Like, yeah, I gotta check, like, what am I missing?

SPEAKER_03 23:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

But that was the best thing I ever did. Yeah. And then I realized uh a lot of things. Like, for example, I started, I just called up friends. Hey, let's go have coffee. Yeah, let's go have lunch.

SPEAKER_03 23:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:28

And didn't talk anything about work. I thought, man, I missed this stuff.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

So then I was talking to a friend of mine, um, John Canzano, shout out. So uh he's a good friend of mine, I coached his daughter. Uh he's a sports columnist. And uh he said, he told me this story. Mark Cuban. You know, Mark Cuban. Okay, he's got a lot of stuff. I'm sure he has a million people wanting a million things from him. Unless it benefits me and my family, I just say no immediately.

SPEAKER_04 24:02

That's a good litmus. I'm gonna take that.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

It's gotta be good for me, my life, and my family. That's good. If it doesn't fit that, it's just automatic no. I don't even think more than two seconds or whatever.

SPEAKER_03 24:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

So I've been trying to implement that and make decisions more quickly.

SPEAKER_03 24:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

And if my wife is listening to this later, I think it's driving her nuts lately because I'm doing it for everything. For everything. That's great. Like in the house. Like I was I was packing for this trip.

SPEAKER_03 24:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

Okay. And I said, I just need one pair of pants. I just need my shirts, and uh, there's another pair of pants and a couple more shirts that she had just washed, right? It's like, do you need these? I go, no, I'm good. She goes, You sure you don't want to like check again and look? No, I already made my decision. Yeah, I'm not gonna take your mind. I'm not gonna reopen my suitcase, I'm gonna move on to use my brain power for other stuff. Yeah, I'm not gonna waste 10 minutes figuring out what I'm gonna pack.

SPEAKER_03 25:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:03

If I go to a restaurant, yeah, I try to limit my time and make a decision.

SPEAKER_04 25:09

Yeah, that's awesome. I'm gonna steal for sure that the trifecta does benefit me, my family. And what was the third one?

SPEAKER_02 25:16

Well, it's kind of your lifestyle. Like your life. Does it fit? Does it work for that? Yeah. If it does, then you consider it. You don't say yes. Yeah. If it doesn't fit at all, nope.

SPEAKER_04 25:29

I have to credit my wife for like really helping me. Because my problem is I sit kind of like we talked about, I say yes to so many things. Yeah. Like a kid in the candy store. That's dangerous. Amazing. I had a burnout phase in probably 2014. Yeah. When it was like the beginning stages of my YouTube channel. Solo creator. Okay. And I was coaching four teams a year, two high school, two club teams. So I was in the gym for like six hours a day for like eight and doing privates on top of that. So I was, and I was single, so I had, but I was missing a lot of family stuff. Yeah. And I already did a lot, I already missed a lot of family stuff from college. And so, yeah. And I I felt like when I stopped looking forward to coaching, I was like, something's wrong. And I thought if I just took a break, like a two-week break. To me, a break is in between the end of boy season and the girls' tryouts, which is not a break, because you spend that time. So I had that's when I s I realized I had to just I only coach high girls high school. I said, I just need to stop and give myself some time for family or other things. And then got married a couple years later, and it just seems like the bigger the business grows, the more opportunities come up. And I I she's helped me a lot to always, she's kind of my my litmus test of like she'll say, you know, you're you're doing a lot this summer. It's like not only we don't have a lot of weekends together, yeah, and you she also reminds me like you said you want to become an elite player in your 40s. You're not gonna have a lot of time to train, which is true. So I'm like, okay. So she's helping me learn how to say no, but yeah, I'm really grateful for her. So, Jamie, if you're watching, thank you. I guess it's been uh I can't imagine I think I made a lot of those decisions that often led to burnout because I have one mode, which is like I'm gonna dive deep into something.

SPEAKER_01 27:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:29

When I was single, because I didn't have I didn't have a sound wall coming home every day. Oh and I really appreciate that coming home, just having those conversations where she's generally saying, like, you sure you want to do that? Yeah. Or like, I see what happens when that happens.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

Yeah, yeah. I this this is hard. I I really struggle a lot of days with what I'm doing right now because I got two boys and my wife, yeah, my two dogs, you know, and I'm not there right now. My son just came home from college for the summer yesterday, you know. So he's already home and I'm not home. That's hard. I wanted to go pick him up. Yeah. But I already made this commitment for this thing, yeah, you know, and uh I miss my other son, Kean. Yeah, he he plays a lot of soccer. He's hardcore.

SPEAKER_03 28:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:23

And I go to everything I can go to, but there's certain things I miss. And I wonder sometimes, like, is he upset that I'm not there? Or does he understand?

SPEAKER_03 28:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:36

I mean, I maybe I just need to ask him. Because I feel really guilty and sad that I'm missing, you know, you don't get that time back. Yeah. But I still have to kind of help put food on the table.

SPEAKER_03 28:50

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:51

Um, because I I used to hate traveling. I used to hate flying.

SPEAKER_03 28:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

Because I want to be, I'm a homebody.

SPEAKER_03 28:58

Yeah, me too.

SPEAKER_02 29:00

But now I was telling my wife, I said, you know what? I'm flying like two, three places a month. Yeah. And uh it's great for miles and point, man. Yeah. And rewards is great for that. But I said, I kind of like flying now. Because I'm flying to something that is gonna make an impact for some kids.

SPEAKER_03 29:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

And I'm really excited about that.

SPEAKER_03 29:24

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:25

And yeah, I'm kind of upset that I'm gonna miss this or that, but man, the impact that I'm making. So I I mean, I hope my kids understand, I hope my wife understands, I hope, you know, I can try to balance it better, but I'm just having too much fun doing what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_04 29:45

Yeah. I mean, you've it sounds like you've already, like, pre-blown up a year ago, like it sounds like you've already had a lot of time with the family pre-social media blow, right?

SPEAKER_02 29:56

I was a stay-at-home, I ran a website company for 25 years.

SPEAKER_04 30:00

So you've already built that with them.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

I was working, taking work calls with my kids when they were babies, strapped to my chest. Yeah. And eating a sandwich and cleaning the crumbs off his head. And so I I had that. I feel really fortunate. Yeah. I had that all the way through, you know, till they were what they're grown up to now. So, yes, that was good, but it's kind of like because I had that, I want to continue to have that.

SPEAKER_04 30:30

Yeah. Yeah. That's tough. I mean, I I'm sure your kids just having that initial years, I think the flip probably would have been so much tougher where let's say you were gone the first 15 years, yeah, and then you try to stay home. Yeah. And I'm sure that when they see you happy, that probably they probably just want you to be really happy. Because you you you put in your time as a parent, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:53

And I know there's still you want to have it forever, but I want it for I stayed home on purpose and decided to go into web design. I was a photographer. I wanted to travel the world, yeah, photography. And um, I didn't do it.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:08

I mean, that's what I did in college. Yeah. And that's all I wanted to do. But I decided not to do it because I knew I would never be home.

SPEAKER_04 31:17

Yeah. Well, you had those most important years with the kids, so I know.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

We did everything together.

SPEAKER_04 31:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 31:23

Yeah. We did everything together.

SPEAKER_04 31:25

Yeah. Well, it's it's hard for ambitious people like you and me to to balance that. Like, I think about, you know, do you watch football?

SPEAKER_02 31:36

Um, sometimes.

SPEAKER_04 31:38

I don't either. But I love to follow great coaches. Like, anytime there's a good coach in any sport, I I love to read about them. I do too, yes. So Jim Harbaugh, Niners, I don't actually don't even like football. But being in Friendly Bay area and just hearing so much of the impact he's had in the community um through the Niners and like being an impactful coach, bringing the championship back and all these things, and how many of my friends were like so gung-ho about this guy. But when I learned that he sees his, he says he's he I remember one interview, he's like, I see my player, I spend more time with my players than my family. And but he's very close to this family, like his family comes to the games, so there's that bond. But they're coming to his thing, yeah, yeah. And I to me, uh, it's something I'm still thinking through that I would love to hear your perspective on, is I think being ambitious, because we have that global impact, but also wanting to have a family and have those which require like physically being present with them. Yeah. And but then society, we want to celebrate Jim Harbaugh, but does but then do they know that we're also celebrating his time away from his family? And I don't know if it's possible to do both. And I don't know if one is better than the other necessarily, right? Because if we didn't have people that truly gave their all to their ambition, like those are the people that change society. I mean, present like leaders of our country, policemen, like things that like really sacrifice a lot. But on the flip side, you know, you have people that really want need to build high-quality relationships at home. But yeah, I'm always wrestling with that balance of like, I I in order for me to achieve this goal, I have to sacrifice a lot.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

Everything's just you have to sacrifice something to do something.

SPEAKER_04 33:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 33:37

And if anything, I think that's what the your kids will learn from you. Like to achieve this is what greatness looks like. He gave us his best years, you know, when we're younger, and and and this is what it takes to like really build something great.

SPEAKER_02 33:49

So yeah. I I I miss my boys.

SPEAKER_04 33:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:55

Like I'm getting a little emotional. Yeah. I mean, I I just we used to do everything together. Yeah. Everything.

SPEAKER_04 34:02

I I'm sure one day when you have when you have your editor, yeah, and you have a system, the Coach Chijo business system, that's what will I it took me way too long, so I apologize to my family. I actually apologize to my mom for missing Mother's Day this weekend to compete. I'm like, that's one thing I need to do better about next year. Um, but I I finally have a system where, like, okay, this my editor's good, he's taking care of this stuff. I have a content manager now, he's taking care of the scheduling, the thumbnails, because that was just day-to-day. You got that? Yes, it's and I just trained him this month, and I should have done it last year, I should have done it two years ago. Because the day-to-day stuff, that's like the four hours of my day of like trying to search hashtags and keywords and descriptions. What's a good title? And I train him, but of course, I'm thinking like I need to do the thumbnails because I know what I need to look for. And part of it was I just trained and was like, you gotta do it, cuz, and so now I think this year, finally, thank you, Jamie, for being so patient. I finally have a rhythm where like I get to see my wife every night, and didn't have that for a long time, and that's that's and I there is a time I think we have to grind, right? Just to build something, but yeah, I've I think I've grinded too long and used my ambition to like want to grind more. But this is the first time where I feel like I'm spending more time with my family, but I also get to travel, I'm here, yeah, spending time with my wife. But it it's because I had my a system in place with my staff that I've trusted to offload now, and then really kind of like we were talking about, like really picking and choosing, up upping my rates. Like, if I'm gonna, if I'm used to doing something every other month, every other weekend, and people really want me there, then I have to charge what two weekends cost, what I used to charge. Yeah. It's like I don't want to be gone anymore.

SPEAKER_02 36:03

That's right.

SPEAKER_04 36:04

And like people will the people that really want you there will I think will will pay.

SPEAKER_02 36:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:08

And so this year I increased my rates, so it's decreased the demand, but at least when I do go, I'm making very similar. Yeah. So I don't have to be gone as much, and I can still sustain the financial aspect.

SPEAKER_02 36:19

Because you need to live.

SPEAKER_04 36:20

Yeah, uh-huh, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 36:22

People I I don't think a lot of people understand that.

SPEAKER_03 36:26

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:28

Like, can you be here? Can you do this?

SPEAKER_03 36:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:31

Can you do some lessons while you're in Vegas?

SPEAKER_03 36:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:35

Yeah. I got that over and over in the tournament. Yeah. Do you have time like tomorrow? How long are you in town?

SPEAKER_04 36:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:43

No, I can't. I do all my training in Oregon.

SPEAKER_04 36:46

Yeah. Yeah, they will come to you. Yeah. I'm sure actually I've seen your videos. People do come to you. Yeah. So there you go. You're already on your way there.

SPEAKER_02 36:53

Yeah, so that's, you know, I mean, I'm fortunate that I have, you know, I have the OGs, you know, that I train, and I I won't give them up. Because they they they always tell me and their moms, like, don't forget this, don't forget us. I know you're like famous and stuff, but remember I was in your first video. Yeah. Stuff like that. So um, but yeah, people do come.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:24

But I have to be selective because it's I really don't do a whole lot of lessons anymore. I used to do like 30 hours a week.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:32

But I I really don't. I do maybe two to five a month a month.

SPEAKER_03 37:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:37

That's it. Yeah. Because now I'm traveling and doing a lot of other fun projects that are gonna hopefully impact even more kids.

SPEAKER_04 37:46

Yes, yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah. The lessons will always be there. Once you're ready, just once you get tired of traveling, you can probably build it back up again. So it'll be there for you.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

I mean, I need the lessons because I that's my video. Yeah. That's those are my real lessons. That's true, that's true.

SPEAKER_04 38:01

That is the base of your content.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

I know. So uh, yeah, it's it's a challenge.

SPEAKER_03 38:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

I mean, I I do enjoy that, you know, one-on-one, or one on two or three kids, and yeah, we're working together on something. Yeah. Seeing progress. It's it's rewarding.

SPEAKER_03 38:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

I do clinics and I see 24, 48 fit, you know, kids over a course of a couple days. Yeah, I see the progress, but I don't know if I'm ever gonna see them again.

SPEAKER_04 38:31

Yeah. Yeah. And some people I find like Capsa Clinics, I'm doing less of them. Kids are showing up to get reps, which they need reps, and I'm happy for them. Yeah. But I want to see engagement and improvement, and it's most most athletes are not gonna do that at a camp. They're gonna come to have the experience, which is great, but like I yeah, I know what you mean. I think it's the relationships, the impact, yeah, the growth. I miss the relationship. The light bulb. The light bulb. Oh, that's the best. That's it's a it's a drug.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

You actually talk about think about light bulb? That's what I think about. I've always thought about the light bulb. Yes, like thing turned on. Yes.

SPEAKER_04 39:15

I had this one shout out to Olivia. She's like 5'3, and she's she's she's athletic, she's a basketball player, yeah, super scrappy, hardworking, like good build. And you know, the coach runs a 6'2 with her and wants a bigger block, understandable. But I'm like, dude, you're a baller. I want you to be ready for a 5'1. Because I think you can ball, I think you can attack.

SPEAKER_02 39:39

She's 5'3.

SPEAKER_04 39:40

5'3, got good hops.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

How's she gonna run a 5'1? She got hops?

SPEAKER_04 39:44

She's got hops, and she's got this. She's a she's a gamer, but I don't think enough coaches have given her a chance to just try it out. Um so for me, I have a library of people. I if I I I have I have a height, I have an Olympic or a VL player of every height for both genders. Because the moment people will say I'm too short or I'm too tall, because let's say if I'm a libera, let's say if I'm 6'6, but I love to pass, I will find you Rich Lamborn, 6'5, USA Olympian, gold medalist. Um Sanchez, 5'7 bronze medalist from Tokyo, Argentina, um, for men. Um I forgot her name, totally blank on her name. Five foot zero bronze medalist from Japan, 2012. And she blocked Gamova, 6'8. So that's the first thing. So I already have these people in my library to say, doesn't matter, yes, the all just act against you, but if it's in your heart, go do it. Like, then like you decide at what point you it's no longer fun. If you're tired of people hitting OT on you, then okay, then you can move on. But don't do it because somebody said you couldn't do it. And so for her, I was like, we need to work on your blocking. She's like, well, I never play front row. It's like, but you you might. And do you like to win? She's like, Yeah, I love to win. It's like, I know, I could tell. You put so much effort to our lessons. So, how about I give you more tools to win? So then we would taught her how to swing block, and initially it was here, then now she's here, and I finally hit one like hard into her hands to really challenge it, and went boom boom. And I screamed louder than her because I was like, Yes, like that's what I saw on you like three months ago. Wow. I just needed to get you there. You just had to believe yourself, and I just had to get you there. But that's the light bulb I'm talking about. It's so addicting. It is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:41

It is, it is. Well, yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_04 41:45

We gotta do something together in the future. If are you ever in the Bay Area?

SPEAKER_02 41:49

Uh well, my family, I got still family living in San Jose. Okay. Where I was born. Okay. Except when when I was born, it was all dirt. And now it's all.

SPEAKER_04 41:59

Dude, remember San Jose Tofu?

SPEAKER_02 42:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:01

It shut down.

SPEAKER_02 42:03

No way.

SPEAKER_04 42:03

20 years ago. I my parents used to go, so even now there's family.

SPEAKER_02 42:09

We shopped there. We that's where we go.

SPEAKER_04 42:11

No, my family did too. Fresh tofu. Yeah. Get it out of the tub.

SPEAKER_02 42:15

Yeah, out of the water.

SPEAKER_04 42:16

So, because growing up in Fremont, some Asian, but still mostly white, we had to go to Oakland, Chinatown for Asian groceries. Okay. And we knew all the Asian people shopped. You just see the Koreans, Vietnamese, Japanese, like we knew we can only find our mushrooms in different areas, right?

SPEAKER_00 42:31

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:31

Now there's ranch nine everywhere, which is great. Right. But I was so sad I went to San Jose Tofu. And the owner the owner couldn't find someone. He the owner didn't, it's like second or third generation. Um, they didn't even want to like sell it for a million dollars. They just wanted someone to carry it on, and they couldn't find somebody.

SPEAKER_02 42:51

Carry it on the right way.

SPEAKER_04 42:53

Mm-hmm. And that was sad because those are my some of my best memories. San Jose Japantown. Wow. So maybe when you retire, you can reopen.

SPEAKER_02 43:01

Retire? What's that?

SPEAKER_04 43:03

San Jose. It's next phase in life. San Jose Tofu. Oh. You could do it. What? Yes. You could do, you open your own facility and then have a tofu shop in the same place. Come on, what's more, what's more nutritious than like fresh tofu for these athletes?

SPEAKER_02 43:23

That's a crazy idea.

SPEAKER_04 43:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:26

Why don't you do that?

SPEAKER_04 43:27

I have I think I have some other fantasies that I'm thinking of. There is this one place in Chinatown called Gum Gulk. It's like street style Hong Kong food. But I've always wanted to have like a little street cart. Yeah. So maybe one day.

SPEAKER_02 43:42

I like to cook.

SPEAKER_04 43:43

Yeah? Yeah. Where do you like to cook?

SPEAKER_02 43:45

I do the cooking at home.

SPEAKER_04 43:46

Oh, nice.

SPEAKER_02 43:47

Yeah. But I I make stuff up. Okay. I don't do recipes. Okay. I'll watch shows and stuff, or I'll go out to eat and I'll try to figure out how to make it. Nice. It doesn't turn out that way. It turns into something else, and I'll feed it to my kids. I go, here's dinner. I don't know what it's called. Just eat it.

SPEAKER_04 44:05

Oh, that's awesome. And they'll eat it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

So far they haven't gone sick.

SPEAKER_04 44:10

That's a success.

SPEAKER_02 44:11

But I I like to create stuff.

SPEAKER_04 44:13

Yeah. Well I'm sure it all is tastes good. Because you're if you're cooking a lot, your chops are good.

unknown 44:17

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:18

I was an art major.

SPEAKER_04 44:20

Me too. What? So I went, I was trying to be a good Asian kid and did engineering first.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

Okay, I did econ.

SPEAKER_04 44:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 44:28

I was trying to be the typical go-to office work.

SPEAKER_04 44:32

Yeah. Yeah. Corporate. Yeah. So I hated it. And then I switched to art. Actually, I I started coaching my freshman year of college because I lived at home. I went to community college.

SPEAKER_01 44:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 44:42

So I was helping out my old high school team, fell in love with coaching that way. And I was like, what career will allow me to coach? It's like teachers, all the all my all the coaches I knew were teachers. Yeah. So I got into, I switched to art and I because I thought I wanted to be like a game designer. And then that's when I really fell in love with coaching. So I was like, I just become an art teacher. So yeah, I was an art major too.

SPEAKER_02 45:06

So I was a high school teacher when I learned how to coach.

SPEAKER_04 45:08

Oh, no way. So you were like the reverse of that.

SPEAKER_02 45:11

Yeah. I was a high school teacher, it was September. Yeah. I just walked down to the gym, see what's going on, went up to the head varsity coach. I go, can I help out? Yeah. So he goes, see that spot on the floor, that mark? Take this ball, hit a down by I want you to hit that spot.

SPEAKER_03 45:30

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 45:30

So I hit it. Okay, you can be our volunteer assistant freshman coach.

SPEAKER_04 45:35

Yes. And you because you already had volleyball experience, so no wonder you could do it.

SPEAKER_02 45:41

Yeah. So then I did that, and then I took over the freshman job the next year, and then the third year I was varsity assistant.

SPEAKER_04 45:48

That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 45:49

And Doug, who was, I mean, he's my mentor. I mean, he he taught me that coaching is teaching, and it's to teach the growth to the kids to teach them how to do what they need to do.

SPEAKER_03 46:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:06

Don't just tell them do this. It's the teaching aspect.

SPEAKER_04 46:10

Yeah, that's powerful.

SPEAKER_02 46:11

So that's how I started, and I feel really lucky.

SPEAKER_04 46:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:14

And it was lesson plans. Like all my practices were all planned out. I deviate and stuff, but at least you got a I got a plan.

SPEAKER_03 46:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:24

And a progression. Yeah. And he taught me how to do that, how to make a lesson plan.

SPEAKER_04 46:28

That's great. Dude, you know, sadly, most coaches don't even do that. Oh, I have my lesson plans going back years. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 46:35

Yeah. They're all filed away.

SPEAKER_04 46:37

Yeah. That's good that you got a good mentor as your first one, because if if you didn't if it was a negative experience, you would have never coached.

SPEAKER_02 46:46

Because my playing was was bad. I played in Japan.

SPEAKER_04 46:51

You played in the club system there?

SPEAKER_02 46:52

No, I for high school.

SPEAKER_04 46:54

Wow. Well, even though that's still pretty competitive.

SPEAKER_02 46:56

And it was brutal. Oh. Every day I go home hobbling, going, this is it, I can't do this anymore. I'm gonna die. Yeah. Because it was, you know, you shank a ball, they they they'll hit a ball in your face. Yeah. It's punishment.

SPEAKER_03 47:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:11

Then you gotta go do frog jumps all the way around the gym. Man, you better make it back before your turn or you go again.

SPEAKER_04 47:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:18

It was brutal.

SPEAKER_04 47:19

You should talk to Lloyd Ball about his experience with Japan. I see him every year. I see him at trade tournaments. I know him like as an acquaintance. Okay. I mean, I watch him way more than. Oh, he's awesome, but he has a really great book that talks about his experience. His first pro opportunity was in Japan. But it's hilarious. Now it's different because I think they've allowed a lot of uh foreign coaches to come and contribute to the Japanese systems. I mean that's why the Japanese, you combine extreme discipline with creativity from the French coaches, you get a beautiful system right there. Um but he was talking about how he lost like 30 pounds because part of the training they would actually climb a mountain and then and then do like jumps, like planometrics, and then they would do skill training, then eat lunch, and then have another skill session at night, yeah, and then do more, do more of that work. And he's like, I was so skinny.

SPEAKER_02 48:19

We had to run around a lake. Yeah, we'd get on this, we'd get on the train, uh-huh, go out to this place near Mount Fuji, get off the train, yeah, right? Go change.

SPEAKER_03 48:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:33

One lap around the lake.

SPEAKER_03 48:35

I was dying. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:36

I mean, it's and not all the sections had trails, so you had to like scrub and uh yeah, old school.

SPEAKER_04 48:46

Yeah. That's so fun. And oh man, that's so fun. Do your kids know, like, or your the your athletes know that that's the system you were raised in and that you don't coach like that?

SPEAKER_02 48:55

I don't think so. That would be such a fun story because the fact most I might have told some people at some point, but basically, I I I took what I knew could be used. Yeah, so discipline. Yeah, like some people mix up discipline with like punishment, but discipline, right? I think that and structure is important. Yeah, so I did that from day one as a coach. Yeah, the other is it's a team, there's nothing else. Yeah, there's no room for anything other than war together.

SPEAKER_03 49:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 49:31

Yeah. That was ingrained in me. That's part of the culture, yeah, you know, growing up. So I think those two things helped me out, but I I had a whole list of things that I knew I'm not gonna do because I'll get arrested in the US. People call cops if I did what was done to me in Japan in America. Yeah. Yeah. It was, I mean, I had to bow down, get on my knees, kiss, kiss your your foot. Oh man. Get drinks thrown in my face if I didn't like bow properly.

SPEAKER_04 50:05

Oh man. That's intense. That sounds like some of the corporate, like it's the salar man culture.

SPEAKER_02 50:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:12

Man.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

It's brutal.

SPEAKER_04 50:14

You know what's interesting. I sorry I have to get to my dinner soon, but I want to share one story to add to that.

SPEAKER_01 50:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 50:21

I had the privilege of getting hired to play in a pro-Chinese tournament. So they would take some Chinese American players from San Francisco, we'd go compete, and it was nine-man and six-man. And we actually beat one of the pro teams in China, and these guys are monsters. These are like national team pipeline sports schools.

SPEAKER_02 50:41

Oh, yeah. The family send them away, right?

SPEAKER_04 50:44

And like six, you know, seven, we had those two seven-footers. Yeah. The the person who bounced the ball the highest was their setter, like a six-four phenomenal athlete. And we beat them at five. And the coach was so mad, and that's exactly what they did afterward. And afterward, the coach was standing on their bot just ripping balls at them. I was like, oh man, they have like intense training. It's like, no, that's their punishment for losing two years.

SPEAKER_02 51:08

It's not training.

SPEAKER_04 51:09

There's no it's punishment. Versus like having video of like, hey, let's figure out why we lost.

SPEAKER_02 51:15

No, no, there's none of that.

SPEAKER_04 51:16

And to me, I'm cracking up because I grew up in that culture. Like, we understand where that comes from. And like I'm laughing because also I taught in a school that was mostly East Asian. Okay. And so, you know, all these kids are trying to get into Stanford and Berkeley. Yeah. But I see the academic rigor abuse that they have to go through. Like, you were doing Saturday, Sunday, SAT class from 9 a.m. Oh, you got a B plus more tutoring. That's it. Yeah. Quit you, no sports for you. If you get A minus, you're off the and we're not letting you play volleyball. Yeah. But to me, I laugh at it because I'm so blessed that my parents weren't like that. They probably like, where do we get this?

SPEAKER_02 51:57

Even though they were straight from Japan.

SPEAKER_04 51:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:00

But yeah, I mean there were certain things that were very, you know, strict.

SPEAKER_04 52:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:05

Yeah. Man.

SPEAKER_04 52:08

We should share more stories like this. I know. This is this is this is it. This is the story time. This is starting. I would love to hear more stories about like, yeah, just playing in Japan and um yeah, and like just to me, it's so fascinating. You came from that, but you didn't not, you didn't pass it on.

SPEAKER_02 52:26

I didn't want to.

SPEAKER_04 52:28

Because our human instinct is like what we were raised is how we pass it on. And so I think it's really powerful that you that's what you took away from it. You still took some strengths.

SPEAKER_02 52:38

Here's why. I'll tell you why. I can do what I what what was done to me. Because volleyball saved my life. Even though I had to go through that brutal thing, I I was I thought here, I mean, like in California, I thought I was um Japanese.

SPEAKER_03 52:57

Right?

SPEAKER_02 52:57

And that's why they were picking on me, calling me Jap and stuff. So when my family moved to Japan, I'm like, oh, I'm gonna go find me somewhere where I'm gonna fit in. Yeah, it was worse there. People are like, you gotta be like this, be more Japanese. Yeah, why do you act like that so cocky like an American? I said, like, I don't know what you're talking about. Yeah, this is all I know. Yeah, and uh so volleyball, even though it was brutal, it was my way of just going all out. And at first, um, I sat the bench, and then I'm trying to figure out why those guys are playing, yeah, and they're yelling, cheering, you know, all this stuff, and I'm an introvert, quiet. Yeah, so I said, I want to get on the court. So I started screaming and yelling, I didn't care what I was saying, yeah. And then I was like a sixth row outside. Heck yeah, and I thought, okay, I'm just gonna keep so I created this volleyball meme.

SPEAKER_03 53:57

Yeah, you know, I know, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:59

Um so that was my release from the rest of school and stuff where I was picked on more than when I was in California.

SPEAKER_03 54:08

I believe it.

SPEAKER_02 54:09

Because there were times I thought, this is it, I'm ending it. Yeah, I can't live like this anymore. Yeah, like for real, yeah, literally. And so if it weren't for the volleyball and my friend who said come try it out, I go, what the heck is volleyball? Yeah um, we need you, you're tall. Yeah, uh, it saved my life.

SPEAKER_04 54:32

I believe it. Yeah, volleyball saved my life too. I was going through a really bad depression, had to go through therapy. That's what I had in my early 20s, and the only thing I knew that brought me any joy was volleyball. It was like a place to escape, and to go all out for something was very releasing. It was a release.

SPEAKER_02 54:54

Total release.

SPEAKER_04 54:55

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:56

Sweat, yeah, dive, hit, yeah, yell.

SPEAKER_03 55:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:00

Yeah. So I knew that it saved me. And so I don't want to say like I'm saving lives, but I want to make an impact for kids because I get all kinds of kids over the years. Like moms will come tell me, hey, make sure that you don't ever see the dad in the parking lot at the end of practice because we got a restraining order on here. And that's I can't even I can go on and on about all kinds of weird family dynamic stuff. And it's like, okay, I'm gonna tell the mom, when your daughter comes in, she's inside the lines and practice, we check in. I'm gonna give her two hours of space to be safe and do something, and I kind of treat it that way.

SPEAKER_03 55:44

Yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:46

Yeah. So I'm I'm trying to do what was done for me, but in a healthier way.

SPEAKER_04 55:53

Yeah, yeah. Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 55:57

That's the way I I can explain it. Yeah. So that's why I wake up.

SPEAKER_04 56:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 56:02

That's why I wake up in the morning.

SPEAKER_04 56:03

I understand. Yeah. I think that message travels through that you know, now that you've talked to me about like why people watch your stuff, I think it comes through. It's it's all that. I think it's not just the passion. Because there's I mean the the volleyball content creating market is is so big now, which is awesome. But I think people are drawn to Coast Chicho because I think they get that energy, the the life-saving energy. It's more than just passion, it's more than just fun clips. It is, they feel like this guy's speaking to my soul. And he's trying to. I said, yeah. My my wife is.

SPEAKER_02 56:41

I'm like getting goosebumps. I think we're kindred spirits. From coach done.

SPEAKER_04 56:46

No, no.

SPEAKER_02 56:47

Seriously.

SPEAKER_04 56:48

I think we're kindred spirits. It's crazy how similar like some of some of our life experiences are. And I think being Asian American is a big part of that. But like my wife, she's a very she's she she speaks her mind, for better or for worse. And when she says something speaks to her, it speaks to her. But she'll also say, eh, that's a bunch of garbage. Like, and so she doesn't show me a lot of stuff, but she showed me yours. Like, like this guy's really good. I I f I sense him. Wow. So I think she gets that.

SPEAKER_02 57:21

Well, I'm honored to hear this from you.

SPEAKER_04 57:25

Yeah, absolutely. It's just me talking to another Volvo junkie. I'm just saying what I observe. Thanks. Hey, it's really an honor to meet you, man.

SPEAKER_02 57:38

This has been great.

SPEAKER_04 57:39

Yes. Thanks so much. Yes. I wish we could go longer, man. This is such a fun conversation. But we'll we'll get back.

SPEAKER_02 57:44

I'm hungry. I gotta get dinner. Yes. You're hungry, you gotta get dinner. Yes, yes. So we're gonna sign off.

SPEAKER_04 57:49

That's it. We're gonna go eat.

SPEAKER_02 57:51

All right. See everybody. Appreciate you being here today. Keep learning, keep growing. And remember, let's play volleyball because it's fun. And we'll see you in the next episode. Just go.