Walking The Walk As Coaches - Knowledge Without Action Is Nothing

In this show we cover how as coaches we apply what we know and have learned over our years working with athletes and other coaches. We share some examples of how creating an environment of growth and development will lead to true success in life as well as on the field. In order to reach excellence in leadership, it is vital that you remain coachable yourself and have a thirst to continually improve, seek feedback and growth.

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Transcript

00:00:00:12 - 00:00:32:22
Speaker 1
Welcome to benchmarked the Leadership Coaching and Mental Performance podcast with Coach Mess along with Coach Larocque. We wanted to start off our show tonight by recognizing you are loyal listeners. We've been grinding away, producing shows, coaching and teaching, and finally took a look where our show has gone since. We've just reached like 25 episodes and we're amazed to see how far we've reach across the world and the pretty amazing people in some pretty cool places that are catching our show.

00:00:33:08 - 00:00:57:21
Speaker 1
I also want to say like how much fun we've been having with our cool guests and gee, I can't believe, like when I looked at and I didn't even know this is something we could do. Check to see where people are listening. We get people from Fort Dodge, Iowa, Omaha, Nebraska, Helsinki, Finland, Montreal, Tokyo. Several places in California have a hopefully a pretty good idea of who those people might be.

00:00:58:08 - 00:01:06:04
Speaker 1
Wasilla, Alaska, Brisbane and Sydney. Man, I love it. We're all we're we're global, buddy. We're global.

00:01:07:00 - 00:01:20:07
Speaker 2
And this is besides our listeners in Canada. Well, we said Montreal, but in northern Ontario, southern Ontario and places far and in between, it's to say that I love it.

00:01:20:07 - 00:01:43:00
Speaker 1
Well, it's fun. It's just. It's great. We know. Yeah, I figured my family and my friends probably felt obligated to listen. But this this is a quite a pleasant surprise. But, you know, we also want to send a shout out to everyone who's reached out and shared with us how our show was impacted. Your leadership and performance journeys hearing from you.

00:01:43:00 - 00:02:03:24
Speaker 1
Really what it does is it continues to fill our bucket and drives us to keep bringing you good guests, great content, all that stuff. So please keep sharing your stories with us. And, you know, we want we love sharing your stories with others. We appreciate anything, any readings or reviews you want to leave with us on Apple or Spotify or like like let us know because we want to know.

00:02:04:08 - 00:02:22:06
Speaker 1
We want to know the good and the bad. Just like coaching, right? You need every now and then to have somebody that's going to tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. And actually, I had that conversation with a kid the other day about being coachable and what it means and what those messages can be for people.

00:02:22:06 - 00:02:26:18
Speaker 1
So yeah, lots of great stuff, agey stuff.

00:02:26:18 - 00:02:47:21
Speaker 2
I'm sorry, I'm going back to those. Those courageous conversations are so difficult to have. It's just like everything else. I think once you've had one or two and then you start, you realize you're helping and not hurting people at the same time. Just by being honest with them, I guess is the the key piece. Everyone takes it differently, but it's, it's how you deliver that message in communication.

00:02:48:05 - 00:03:08:18
Speaker 1
Yeah. And somebody asked me the other day, they're like, Do you like all the stuff that you guys talked about on your show? Do you do that while you coach? I'm like, Well, that's the goal and it doesn't happen. Not all of it happens every day, but over a lifetime we've just tried to keep adding and I said, it's like adding tools to your toolkit of how to deal with difficult situations.

00:03:09:02 - 00:03:35:22
Speaker 1
And there's stuff that you deal with now that, you know, when we were young teachers or and coaches, we probably would have struggled and been stressed out about a confrontation with a parent. Now you just come in and you know, you know how that's going to play out. You have a good idea of of what to expect and you have a good idea of what you need in order to defuze difficult situation before it escalates to become something larger.

00:03:36:06 - 00:04:02:00
Speaker 1
Right. So I think you and I were good like like we were saying in the pre-show, how fun were, how much fun we're having coaching together this summer and even though I've missed a few of the tournaments, the names of the guys, I still love hearing and seeing how they're doing and stuff. And there's a couple of times where we're like, okay, this parent might not understand why we pulled their kid at this time, but be ready to have an explanation of why we pulled the kid at the time, at this time.

00:04:02:00 - 00:04:29:03
Speaker 1
And it is logical and as a coach, yeah, some people would be like, you don't necessarily have to do that, but sometimes people need to know and understand like, hey, whether it's a bad reason, like, hey, your kid, you know, your son or your daughter didn't necessarily align with team culture and this, this, this or this or, hey, we gave your son a choice to do this and this, and he chose this, which meant he was only going to bat in this game or whatever the situation might be.

00:04:29:03 - 00:04:34:02
Speaker 1
Right? So you're arming yourself with stuff to come to the table with.

00:04:34:23 - 00:04:54:24
Speaker 2
I say that because we had practice today and after practice last 10 minutes we ran sprints. So boys are all they break it down. They're getting they're going through their bags and they're exhausted, like they're just gassed. I just felt like I had to talk to them. So I brought them up and I said, running sprints at the end, is that a punishment?

00:04:54:24 - 00:05:18:11
Speaker 2
Is we punishing? They said no. So to me it's not a punishment. What's it for to make us throw harder and hit further? I said, okay, well, what's why does sprinting do that? And then it was just like I said, This is good though. You need to know why coaches are telling you to do things and not just doing it because they tell you to do it.

00:05:19:05 - 00:05:42:07
Speaker 2
Yes, but no. So we broke into fast with muscles and baseballs at fast, which they throw hard, like it's just speed. And, you know, we kind of dug into that, went to a little kinesiology lesson a little bit, but it was good because I think people need to know and I think that's the difference. People, if you can arm people with the right information, then you get better by it, I think.

00:05:42:08 - 00:05:51:20
Speaker 2
And just said instead of just saying, do this because I told you to do it, if you can give them the right ammo and this is why and this is the bigger picture. And then I think you're going to get a better effort.

00:05:52:16 - 00:06:11:10
Speaker 1
Yeah. And I think there comes a time where I think at every level now, you know, between the coach and the player at certain levels, you're, you're probably not talking to the parents as much like explaining your why your decision making to a parent at a division one school or something like that. That's not going to happen or in the pros.

00:06:12:00 - 00:06:32:22
Speaker 1
But, you know, in high school sports or club sports where parents are paying lots of money for their kids to have a different experience, I think it's all part of the package. I think you have to educate the family as well, especially if you're going to have, for example, like in your case, you're you're working with your own kid.

00:06:33:06 - 00:06:55:20
Speaker 1
You're going to follow that kid for the next couple of years. You going to have a group of parents that you're very similar and why wouldn't you expose them to some knowledge and understand what your philosophy is and your thinking as in your culture, so that they buy in and be like, Oh, that's why he's doing this. So you're not sitting there getting confronted in the parking lot on the way home for practice.

00:06:55:20 - 00:06:58:23
Speaker 2
Drank the Kool-Aid? No, no.

00:06:58:23 - 00:07:21:13
Speaker 1
So, you know, when you think about it, I, I, you know, I wanted to say, you know, to the people that have sent us really strong messages about how our show has impacted, you know, their leadership journey and their performance journey. Well, we love hearing that. And it just I had a message from a young lady the other day, just like this show.

00:07:21:21 - 00:07:41:13
Speaker 1
She was talking about one of the shows that had a huge impact on some decision making she had to make around some stuff and, you know, to me, you know, I respond to say, you know, I appreciate the feedback like this is what fills our bucket. Like we say, if one person if it makes a difference in the lives of one person, it just continues to make me want to do more.

00:07:41:24 - 00:08:01:08
Speaker 1
And I think it's the same thing with coaching, it's the why. And we talked at length with Coach Haynes. What's your way with with China, what's your way? Stubby We go back to a lot of our our our guests. What's your why and it is it's the people it's building relationships with people not we haven't had one guest.

00:08:01:08 - 00:08:26:22
Speaker 1
Maybe we're not getting the right guests on our show, but we haven't had one guest on our show has said the only purpose I have to do what I'm doing is to win. No, I don't. I don't even know if we really talked about that. So yeah, I think that's rewarding for me knowing that there's a whole population of coaches and leaders out there that have a fantastic why and and again keeps driving me to do more.

00:08:28:13 - 00:08:48:14
Speaker 2
That's just kind of opened up a whole can about. That's true not literally unless somebody can correct this no one none of our guests ever talked about winning. And then we got to step on people's heads to get ahead in life and we got to screw some people over and we got to I don't know. Did you hear any of those comments?

00:08:48:15 - 00:09:06:15
Speaker 1
No, no, no. And it's funny because, you know, thinking about, you know, starting a coach with you this summer, I'm just like I needed to coach a team that's 5 hours away. Like, right. Like we didn't have enough stuff going on, but I was like, you know, let's do it a year. And I don't get a chance to do that very often.

00:09:06:15 - 00:09:25:07
Speaker 1
And so I was like, Hey, what's, what's driving on the weekend? I'm going to listen to some books on tape. I'm, I'm going to spend some windshield time with my wife or my daughter or whatever. This is going to be amazing. And I thought that one weekend was going to be it. And so the very first weekend, I think it was the second weekend in May, we were there and I was like, Yeah, I'm just going to parachute in.

00:09:25:07 - 00:09:38:23
Speaker 1
I'm going to coach. I'll, you know, I'll do my thing, you know, get to know some kid. I didn't even know if I was going get to give the kids names, but one weekend and I got sucked in and now I'm like, I'm like, if I missed a game, I'm like, Hey, how did so-and-so do today? Did he hit the ball?

00:09:38:23 - 00:09:47:13
Speaker 1
Well, how is so-and-so pitching today? And I care. And this was like, I'm coming here and I'm coming there, and I don't want to do more because that's what it is, is like it fills my bucket.

00:09:47:13 - 00:09:53:15
Speaker 2
And then you've been in Kitchener since then. You've been in London.

00:09:53:15 - 00:10:23:01
Speaker 1
Kids are like, Oh, here comes another bald guy. That's all you need. But but you know, I think that's when you it's a bug. Like, you just get that bug and you're like, Man, I want to be around these people. And I think that's amazing. That tells me that, you know, the why is the purpose and the reason and the reward is at the end like and I don't know how many of the kids that you've you've brought onto your team, their parents are saying to go to the coach, say, thank you, coach, thank you, coach, after every game.

00:10:23:01 - 00:10:48:17
Speaker 1
And we just finished our spring football camp last couple of weeks ago. And, you know, we had 65 kids in uniform for our spring football camp. And I want to say 30 or so of them thanked me, you know, almost all five days that I was there. It was crazy. And I'm like, this is good. Like, it restores my faith in humanity that there's some really cool things going on with some families and some athletes.

00:10:48:24 - 00:11:07:07
Speaker 1
And I think maybe too I know some some of us were talking to some of the coaches is like our kids just finally so bought in because they missed through COVID and they're just me. And I love playing and I love doing what I'm doing and I need to be here with my teammates and I need to do this.

00:11:07:07 - 00:11:11:10
Speaker 1
And I don't know I don't know what the reason is, but I love it. I think it's really, really cool.

00:11:12:00 - 00:11:26:08
Speaker 2
When I say that I just finished talking about we ran the kids. Two players had a they threw a bullpen so they had to stay extra after to get the running. I know I actually said get running in at home. Then somebody come in the field after us and they kind of love that. They feel like we're not going to kick off.

00:11:26:08 - 00:11:45:20
Speaker 2
We'll just run in the outfield so they get ran and the outfield, they're done. They're running. And then as a staff, we're leaving their sports, we're leaving. And the kid can't even breathe. And he's he's just like, Thanks, coach. Thanks, Coach. Like, he he can really gasp. We made him run again on the punishment just, you know, part of the process to getting better.

00:11:46:12 - 00:12:03:16
Speaker 2
And he's thinking in my head and like, you're thick and you're sweating, you're exhausted. I saw him leave is because I think he's already passed that when got to see what he's thinking and I don't know where that comes from or what that's about but I hope they get it. No, I hope they get it.

00:12:04:05 - 00:12:34:08
Speaker 1
Well, I, I got to share a story about doing sprints and conditioning. And I know we talked about this with Coach Hines about how you can get some you get to know kids, you get to know your athletes in the weight room and in conditioning, eat like it doesn't lie. And we had it on our biggest offensive lineman and I do build up runs so like 40 or 40 yard build up runs shuttle so down in back so like maybe you're going three quarters one way and full speed the other way or full, full, whatever.

00:12:34:08 - 00:12:51:14
Speaker 1
We mix it up and we do a bunch of 40 yard shuttles and I always take a look at like how the biggest kids are doing, the offensive linemen in the house. And it was the second last day of training camp and the biggest kid on the team would not quit. And I kind of give him a look like, are you okay?

00:12:51:14 - 00:13:15:24
Speaker 1
Like, you want like I want to do one more. And he's like, keep, keep them coming. And after practice, I said, Man, I'm really proud of you. You inspired me today with what you did. And he looked at me dead in the eyes as coach. If I wasn't running as hard as I could and the guys around me saw that, how am I going to ask them to go to battle with me on Friday nights on a football field?

00:13:16:05 - 00:13:37:02
Speaker 1
If they don't trust me? And I was like, Dude, that's all it is right there. He's like, Yeah, he's I was like, I was I was speechless. I was my jaw dropped. I was just like, Jesus, 18 year old kid. And he gets it and he gets it. And he says, you know, he says, I, he says, I'll run as hard as I can until I can't.

00:13:37:02 - 00:13:57:23
Speaker 1
And I just he says, I need to do that for my teammates. I was like, wow. So I said, Better today than yesterday. Better tomorrow than today, buddy. And he was like that. He says, That's all I like. That's how I want to live, coach. And so I was like, This is why I'm here. If if you were one kid on a football team, I would come and coach you and you'd play all 12 positions.

00:13:58:13 - 00:14:16:08
Speaker 1
You know, that's the type of stuff to me that's that's so important. But now do you think since we're like 27 episodes in now and like somebody asked me the other day, but like, are we actually doing the stuff that we talk about on our show? Do you feel like you've changed? You feel like you're doing a lot of the stuff as you're coaching.

00:14:18:08 - 00:14:42:05
Speaker 2
And hoping and hoping. I don't really sit there and have a notebook to myself, say, make sure you do this. Make sure communication skills are really good, make sure you're energetic, and make sure that I was talking to Parker today because in an interview for the TV show and he kind of I don't know, it just happened organically, just like you fall back to your training.

00:14:42:06 - 00:15:03:01
Speaker 2
You fall back to your training. Yeah. And I think the more we're doing this, the more you're cognizant and you're aware, the more you're practicing it and doing it. I believe I don't have a checklist to find out if I have or haven't, but I know I'm more aware of my environment and more aware of my communication skills.

00:15:03:01 - 00:15:24:24
Speaker 2
They're not far from perfect, but I'm aware. I, I'm a little more aware of what's going to come out of my mouth in what situation. Hence today, during practice, something didn't go as we just talked about, brought two boys together, had the conversation in a normal tone. This is going to happen. I know what you're thinking, but the game some time changes and we've got to work through that.

00:15:25:02 - 00:15:50:16
Speaker 2
But you know, JJ 1.0, I would have lost my lead maybe through a fumble in the box or something like that. Oh yeah. I'm just I don't know. I wouldn't want. Well, I'm going to ask you, do you find as you're progressing, you're not as if your blood pressure isn't as high? I think my blood pressure is still high, but in a controlled environment, not in a center of attention way.

00:15:51:03 - 00:16:13:08
Speaker 1
Yeah, I feel a difference. I totally feel a difference. And I think because I'm with you, I don't have a checklist. But I think since, you know, you and I have got together in the last three years and kind of put our brains together and organized, I mean, let's call it organized, our tool chest. We've been doing a lot of the stuff.

00:16:13:08 - 00:16:34:23
Speaker 1
You've been doing some cool stuff. I'm like, I'm going to I'm going to still think and you've done some of the same things. We're collaborating. Isn't that what coaching should be? Is you're collaborating and we're being coachable. You know, we're learning. I'm always trying to learn from other people. And I think one of the biggest things is I've the biggest lessons I've learned are from who I don't want to be.

00:16:35:01 - 00:16:54:00
Speaker 1
And I know I've said that in a previous show, but for what I mean by that is I know the version of myself that I don't want to be. I want to be better than the worst versions of myself that have happened. Or I still think about situations that come up where, like you say, maybe I would have pulled a kid ten years ago.

00:16:54:00 - 00:17:11:16
Speaker 1
I would have pulled an athlete for making a mistake and maybe not taken the time to explain it to him properly on an emotional level, to say, Hey, you're going to get another shot. This is what you need. I need you to regroup. I need you to refocus. So mess 1.0, maybe 2.0 would have been just like You're done.

00:17:11:18 - 00:17:31:14
Speaker 1
You'll have a seat and be so frustrated. And now I'm stewing on it and he's doing on it. And the gap in the relationship is growing rather than and I'm going to fall back to our episode with China being a coach who says, Hey, you know what, I need to make a change in our starting rotation. You are still going to be our guy.

00:17:31:14 - 00:17:51:24
Speaker 1
I need you to go to the bullpen for a couple of weeks. Work this out, work that out however you want to line it up. But I trust you and you're going to get your shot to come back. That's the coach I want to be as trying to describe, like how you would have had that opportunity to give, you know, and be crystal clear on what you need to improve on to come back and be there, you know?

00:17:51:24 - 00:18:15:16
Speaker 1
So to me now as a coach, I used to think about this is how much I know, I know all of this, but all these sports, I can run this power play in hockey, I get 16 different types of defenses. I can run and I can run this scheme and this scheme and X's and knows where. I think a lot of coaches, their egos get in the way of saying these are the X's and O's.

00:18:16:05 - 00:18:40:13
Speaker 1
But it's interesting because this year at spring camp we had we had tried to do like a 12 on 12. And I looked at the defense. I had eight kids that had never suited up in football equipment before, eight kids that were on the field. Why am I going to try to run a really complicated scheme when these kids are like and we talked about alignment and assign coach as a coach, what do I stand?

00:18:40:20 - 00:19:00:12
Speaker 1
How am I going to ask him to cover the number two, you know, like different, like getting all complicated and you got to blitz on this and this. Matt You got to cover this guy and we got to do switches and what's a switch? And my colleagues, their head spinning on like, where do we stay and how do I stand and where do I have to go after the ball snapped.

00:19:01:00 - 00:19:21:09
Speaker 1
So I think that's what it is, is be like, this is not about me teaching this, showing this kid how much I know this is about me helping this kid to find himself in the sport and fall in love and want to come back to play for me in September. So that is not something I don't think I would have been good at 15 years ago.

00:19:22:02 - 00:19:22:23
Speaker 1
Does that make sense?

00:19:23:11 - 00:19:40:11
Speaker 2
Hundred percent. I don't want to add to it. Those eight players that never suited up, like when I'm hearing you say that, I'm starting to think like I got to get to learn more about who they are as people because then I got to have to find out what's going to make them click to what word I'm going to have to possibly used to make it relevant for them.

00:19:41:02 - 00:20:00:01
Speaker 2
Like what I heard you say. Then that's that's the first thing was like, how would I talk to this kid differently than we've talked to Billy this way. And then Jane, I got to talk this way and Susie. And because they're different people, you know, I think we I, I can't say we I, everybody that's just cookie cutter is just this is just the way it is.

00:20:00:01 - 00:20:18:11
Speaker 2
And you have to adapt it for me personally, and it doesn't mean it's right or wrong. I'm learning to adapt with around my athletes and getting to know what makes them click. And then you're trying to find I'm going in my own little world here. I'm looking somewhere else because of all, because you have to. I think it's your job.

00:20:18:18 - 00:20:38:02
Speaker 2
You have to put them in situations where they're going to be successful and then might not be the most successful place. It's not from a society standpoint, and I'll use baseball as an example when you're hitting a certain position that that's pretty low in the lineup, but that's where you're going to be successful because you might see more fastballs, but they don't realize that stuff and mom and dad don't.

00:20:38:16 - 00:20:55:16
Speaker 2
And then, you know, that's this year. And I, you know, I never I don't think I ever plan things for this year, especially with the age group and I are working with. I'm seeing what things are to look like in three or four years, but I don't know if that's right or wrong because we may not have something for three, four years because people need are not looking that far ahead.

00:20:55:16 - 00:21:05:20
Speaker 2
They're just looking this summer teaches on. But I'm literally looking at what are things going to look like in three or four years. So put them in certain situations.

00:21:05:20 - 00:21:25:21
Speaker 1
Process over outcome. Process over outcome. Process over outcome. Right. Microscope and telescope you got it tells me you have the view of that where you can hold the kid. And this is one of the things that I, I enjoy watching your coaching is you're in the moment with a kid and you can hold a high expectations of them.

00:21:26:06 - 00:21:45:05
Speaker 1
But you also know that that kid's going to grow in three years and to be able to do more. And but you're preparing him for that moment where all the the Rubik's Cube clicks together and you're like, oh, my God, this is amazing, right? So I think that's important for us. It's like, I'm not coaching for the moment.

00:21:45:05 - 00:22:01:21
Speaker 1
And remember, we've talked about this with other guests as well is you don't need the best 12 year old in town. You don't need the best 14 year old in town. I'm not even sure you need the best 16 year old in town. You know, and I think, again, I don't want another rabbit hole that we've gone down to.

00:22:01:21 - 00:22:22:20
Speaker 1
The boat is specialization and to me, I look at the kids and say, Well, that kid is a fantastic athlete. I had a conversation with a with a student athlete the other day, and she's a three sport athlete. And she says, at what point should I just focus on she's she's a she's a sophomore in high school right now.

00:22:23:10 - 00:22:45:24
Speaker 1
And I said she says, what at what point should I stop playing the other one just to focus on the other on on the one I said you are good enough in your major sport that they're going to notice you and I think any coach worth their salt is going to want to know that. You've played two other sports exceptionally well that are also contributing to your development in your primary sport.

00:22:46:12 - 00:23:04:22
Speaker 1
So, you know, you'll know and I say to people, you'll know when it's the time to be like, I can't do this anymore. Or maybe I go from 3 to 2, you know, and like seasons are going crazy now, right? Like you're playing in one sport all year round. But yeah, there's a great thing today, a great message on Twitter where it's like coaches should also support each other.

00:23:05:09 - 00:23:30:17
Speaker 1
And I think that's not something that we do. We do not do that well. We're all fighting for the same kids, but we're we're talking out of both sides of our mouth by saying, you know, yeah, it's good for you to play multiple sports, but don't miss my winter soccer practice for your winter hockey game. Right? Like that type of stuff doesn't make sense to at a level come in and be like, Hey, what you're doing is going to help us in the spring.

00:23:31:07 - 00:23:42:05
Speaker 1
There's going to come a time, there's going to come a time where you're going to have to make that switch in that decision. But at a young age, like, you know, and I said, at least don't even think about it until you're able to drive.

00:23:43:05 - 00:24:07:18
Speaker 2
The I think the point you mentioned there, because the kid was asking you, but you answer the question, I'm sure, and I was going to ask anyways, it's the adult, it's the coach that has to realize this stuff. The kids are looking for guidance and some of us, they're not necessarily giving them best guidance when we're asking them to pigeonhole themselves at 13, 14, 15, 16, whatever it depending on the sport, obviously.

00:24:07:19 - 00:24:08:01
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:24:08:12 - 00:24:33:18
Speaker 1
Yeah. But yeah, yeah. I mean it's wild. So, you know, it goes back to, you know, we talked about some of the critical elements and you know, I talk about this all the time. It's like I feel like we're our shows. We've we've done like two dozen plus episodes. The messaging keeps being the same in people relationships, hard work, attitude.

00:24:34:05 - 00:25:03:08
Speaker 1
You know, we talked about habits and mindset and accountability. Like there's some sidekicks to what our nine elements have been. And it's we knew going into doing the show that our nine elements, one, we wanted to be our central kind of gravitational pull. And it seems like everybody's sharing the same thoughts and feelings on on what makes people successful leaders, successful athletes, you know, in the mindset and I'm starting to hear more and more people, but like what's your mindset and all that stuff?

00:25:04:08 - 00:25:25:00
Speaker 1
Like, none of this is one, it's not expensive. And that's why I keep telling people like areas like what I need to do better work, paying more people. I'm going to get the best strength coach. I'm going to get the best shooting coach. I'm going to go to this hitting. And they're all they're important. Sure. But if your mindset is not right, if you're not accountable, you don't have the habits.

00:25:26:02 - 00:25:47:15
Speaker 1
It's you're throwing your money away, the stuff that you need to be successful is zero cost to you, right? Like it's I mean, yeah, I mean, you might need to buy a book or whatever, but there's a million properties and my go to I'm old school. Do you remember going to this speaking a let's go down a rabbit hole.

00:25:47:16 - 00:25:55:11
Speaker 1
You remember like being a kid going library to public library and you used the microfiche and you just zoom through that thing and that was awesome.

00:25:55:24 - 00:26:00:14
Speaker 2
But not.

00:26:00:14 - 00:26:06:21
Speaker 1
Oh man, I totally just derailed my dream. Thought I used.

00:26:07:01 - 00:26:10:09
Speaker 2
To ride to the library, to that library. And this goes.

00:26:10:09 - 00:26:30:13
Speaker 1
I dare, I dare you to go to that. Yeah. Mass went to the library once. Maybe, maybe that's when you do a benchmark field trip. The librarian try to ask librarian for a microfiche. Yeah. Oh, man. So, yeah, it's. And this is what I'm telling people all the time. And like, we had Zach Sorenson on our show and he runs a fantastic podcast.

00:26:30:13 - 00:26:54:01
Speaker 1
Dr. Gilbert So between Dr. Gilbert and Zach Sorenson, that's 8 minutes of your life that you don't have to pay a plug nickel for and you're getting amazing messages. And this is where I tell people everybody's like, I need I'm going to see so-and-so. This is the best strength and conditioning coach in town or I'm going to you know, I have this nutritionist and I have this and this is like, you don't need to do that.

00:26:54:15 - 00:27:20:21
Speaker 1
Everything you need to be successful is for your willingness to be successful. Number one, your willingness to be coachable. And I think as a leader, I think that's one of the biggest things that I find in the lack of leadership these days is leaders who are lacking coach ability and like I know we see that because they just don't they're they're so stuck and they just cannot shift away from being stuck.

00:27:22:04 - 00:27:54:09
Speaker 2
To throw it out. There could be sometimes because of success. When I say success in life success, I'm talking about wins and losses. And that becomes a slippery, slippery, slippery slope. I'd love to hear feedback from successful companies. Let's just go companies, what they're looking for. And in people when they hire, because you can't tell me like I'm going to hire the best engineer and the best kids are applying to get into colleges, universities.

00:27:54:09 - 00:28:19:00
Speaker 2
They all have the same grades. Start looking at other things. There was a a teacher right now he's a retired teacher, came back to school and he taught my son. He wasn't a teacher. He worked for the government. They told me the government had a checklist and he said they would put a piece of paper before you walk when you walked into the room for the interview process and if people had picked up the piece of paper to throw in the garbage, it went under.

00:28:19:00 - 00:28:37:00
Speaker 2
I can't remember what he told me. All these different boxes they would check, but it was already telling them something about you and they literally set you up for it. And people just walked over. Or if they picked it up, yep. But that's not wins and losses. But I really feel like wins. Wins? You can't hear me if you're not.

00:28:37:00 - 00:28:57:09
Speaker 2
Watch the YouTube channel. But then Eric asks. Yeah, why not come today? They might not come next year they might not. But that's kind of the kind of Generation X we're part of the one everything now hits. Credit cards are maxed. We want everything now. We'll pay for it later. If you keep doing the right things, the success will come.

00:28:58:02 - 00:29:14:00
Speaker 2
And it's tough, man. It's a grind. It's a grind. And I cannot keep doing the right things. And it sounds bad that wins will come, but that's literally how it works. That's Leonard, how it works. And when I say wins, I don't mean like on a on a website for wins and losses. I'm talking about, like, life.

00:29:14:20 - 00:29:38:20
Speaker 1
Okay. Now, is there a way can we say and I'm setting you up for this one, so let's just say I'm hiring you and I know, like, okay, you're you hit our nine elements, you hit our name. Now I'm some like this, what I'm looking for in a hiring and I love it. You're hired. And let's just say your first season, you're losing, you're losing, you're losing and you stick to your guns.

00:29:38:20 - 00:30:04:11
Speaker 1
And I know you said this in a previous show. You have to be willing to lose in order to truly be successful. How is your method of developing better people? So like your true why? And you're developing better people and you're treating them fairly. You're building trust and you're building character and you're building leadership. How can that turn into actual wins on the scoreboard?

00:30:04:15 - 00:30:19:13
Speaker 1
Yes, it's going to turn into wins in life. But at some point we all admit that you have to actually win a game or two just to still work and be employed at various levels. How can you do both.

00:30:20:20 - 00:30:37:19
Speaker 2
Of depends for me again, when is the big win? Again, reverse engineering like I don't know what. Give me a spoiler if you want or situation or are you taking a younger team to build? Are you trying to build to win this year? Give me some I need. I need more. More on this.

00:30:37:19 - 00:30:59:03
Speaker 1
One. Okay, well, I'll just say like let's say we're coaching baseball and you're coaching a high school baseball team and you are in a community that expects success like like scoreboard success. And you come in and you're candidate and you're like, you, you. Yeah, that's fine. But this is the way we're going to do it. We're going to have good we're going to develop good people.

00:30:59:18 - 00:31:25:04
Speaker 1
The athletes are going to be held accountable. They're going to go to class. They're going to get decent grades. They are going to be good people. They're going to have, you know, like a standard of character that they're going to hold up in their classrooms. They're going to be good citizens, and that's fine. And yet you have not talked about talent, you haven't talked about skill, and you haven't talked about like, you know, good plays, stuff like that.

00:31:25:13 - 00:31:35:03
Speaker 1
Like how does building better people turn into wins on the field?

00:31:35:03 - 00:31:49:04
Speaker 2
I just don't do it. Just well, there's just so many parts of that I can go into and I'll go into Rabbit Hole with this part. Like, I got to meet parents, I got to see what type of kids we're dealing with. Because, you know, I know you're saying this. I might not want to be part of your culture at the end.

00:31:49:08 - 00:32:03:15
Speaker 2
Like, I don't I know from a coaching perspective what you want wins now, but at what cost? So you I don't want to be part of that that process of we need to be successful. Now, maybe if you were to ask me ten years ago, I'd be all over because I thought this would be good for my ego.

00:32:04:00 - 00:32:23:10
Speaker 2
But now if we're trying to build something, I don't want to build something for a year. I want to build something that's going to last for generations, basically. And to be able to do that, you have to bricks and mortar if you think I'm stealing from you there, but you have to really start from from the bottom. If you have a great foundation already and you're coming into something.

00:32:23:10 - 00:32:25:11
Speaker 2
But I still want to know how that foundation was built.

00:32:26:03 - 00:32:44:24
Speaker 1
Yeah, I love it. I love it. I think that you're you're right. And and you did a good job. I gave you a really tough question to answer, but that's what it is. Or you just have to be patient. And, you know, they're if you get them to buy into a good attitude, a good culture, you're not dealing with kids that are not academically eligible.

00:32:44:24 - 00:33:13:03
Speaker 1
So they're not playing for you on the weekend or on Friday night, or I'm just using football as an example or you're they're not getting suspended from school and or maybe they started maybe they are getting suspended from school last. So they're playing, you know, these are all different things. So, you know, we had a phone call with Jason Koons, a former Navy SEAL, and I'll never forget, and that's where I'm going to say, like he talked about doing it for other people and the performance will follow.

00:33:13:13 - 00:33:41:12
Speaker 1
So your service over your own status will make you better over time. Developing Good Habits. I could take an average athlete and help them develop good athlete habits, a proper mindset, accountability, and they will become above average. Right. And we talked about these things. Didn't Dr. Gilbert say extreme becomes extraordinary? So to me, that's the stuff that you can do.

00:33:41:12 - 00:33:58:13
Speaker 1
And again, the trajectory is progress is the standard. And then all of a sudden you're winning half your games and all of a sudden here you're making the playoffs. And they maybe get into a championship. These are all the things that are going to happen and you're going to have less hassles. The entire community is going to benefit from it.

00:33:58:13 - 00:34:22:01
Speaker 1
The athletes are going to benefit from it, the families are going to benefit from it. And now you develop like you see a generational culture, right? Coaching says they're living, breathing organisms. It's not just something you slap on a wall and you say, effort, and that's it. No, you got to you got to build that thing, right? You got to build that thing.

00:34:22:02 - 00:34:41:13
Speaker 1
So to me, those are all important things that, you know, as we continue to go and go and grow in this show, we want to make sure that we drill deep into these things, you know, like and it's not about just being, like, I say, an inch deep and a mile wide. I want to go a mile deep and an inch wide on every one of these things.

00:34:41:13 - 00:35:00:02
Speaker 1
Right. Like, to me, this is so important that we look at all the aspects of what can make people successful in their lives and their situations get through tough situations because it's not always going to be rosy. Let's face it, like sometimes we paint a picture of like, Oh, this is great, blah blah blah. But it's, it's not always like that.

00:35:00:02 - 00:35:20:22
Speaker 2
Man, no furthest thing from it. And when we first started doing episodes of Still Coaching, when I was, we weren't in wins and losses mode, right? We're just work grooming young men and women were figuring things out, were strategy and technique. And now that we're in the trenches and you get to see the game, I can see I struggle.

00:35:20:22 - 00:35:40:23
Speaker 2
Even though it was even last weekend where I was telling some of the coaches where the man I'm living, I'm still living on every single pitch that's thrown. Right. So the comparison at work or on football and every snap it was like was almost like you're holding your breath and I got to the point, I'm like, I got to let go.

00:35:41:06 - 00:35:54:24
Speaker 2
I have to let go. And letting go means you've done what you could. Now it's their turn to perform, because once the ball is let go, it's not on. It's not on you. You've done what you could. And if they make the play, they make the play. If they hit the ball, they hit the ball. They don't hit the ball.

00:35:54:24 - 00:36:21:18
Speaker 2
They don't play. It just is what it is. But what I'm finding also is the game is slower with that perspective, life slows down. You just don't get as fired up on things as you would before because you're still thinking if things don't go where there was plan, good. It happens for us. It happens to us, not for us.

00:36:21:23 - 00:36:39:10
Speaker 2
It doesn't happen to us. It happens for us in those situations. So it's like, okay, perfect. We'll learn from that and we'll move on now, the game I thought we were going to lose. We're in the seventh inning last, you know, with we turned around and won. But I had my speech in the sixth inning because I just have a good gut feeling where the game was going to go.

00:36:39:10 - 00:36:54:13
Speaker 2
And we played well, the other team played well, and my postgame speech was going to be, Hey, there's some games that you play well and you lose. That's just the way it is. I thought you guys did a great job. We're on the flip side. You know, I've had games, we we won and we had a two hour meeting afterwards.

00:36:54:23 - 00:37:17:04
Speaker 2
Yeah. Like the results don't dictate the mood, right, if that makes any sense. Yeah, it's what happens for that duration of time. We're together the three periods. If you're playing hockey, the four quarters, the first half, the second half, it's that more important anyways for me specifically than it is, you know, the scoreboard at the end of the day, what was the process like throughout the game?

00:37:17:16 - 00:37:30:00
Speaker 2
You could have thumped the team regulations, but anybody could beat that team. We didn't play well and we took stupid penalties and we're talking back to the officials. But that's not fun. I don't care if the score is 70 to nothing like that. We did not gain anything from that.

00:37:30:09 - 00:37:40:13
Speaker 1
There can be some real and this is going to be a controversial statement, but there can be some real crummy wins, like crummy wins that just almost set you back rate.

00:37:40:23 - 00:37:42:03
Speaker 2
So controversial. That's a.

00:37:42:03 - 00:37:46:19
Speaker 1
Fact. Well, I know some people like on wins a win. I'll take the win no matter what. Right. But they will.

00:37:46:19 - 00:37:48:00
Speaker 2
Have that conversation day.

00:37:48:08 - 00:38:10:01
Speaker 1
Now, maybe if we're in the pros. Right. But you know, we're not in the pros. And if we were, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation. But I think that for us, I think to me it's this there's lessons all the time. And I think that's important, too, that we I love the fact that you said sitting down and letting the game slow down and play itself out.

00:38:10:01 - 00:38:28:20
Speaker 1
And I think, you know, coaches that have an ego will over coach, they'll manipulate too much and then you get the kids spun up. I feel now is as we've evolved, as I've evolved, I don't want to throw you under the bus on this one, but I think just just put them out there. Let them let the kids surprise you.

00:38:29:02 - 00:38:45:21
Speaker 1
Let them surprise themselves. Or the other thing is they can play themselves out of a position as well. Or they can play themselves into a position. I know we had a situation with the kid on your team. I was just we were like, you know, is this the right situation to keep him? We thought about substituting. I think there was two or three guys.

00:38:46:01 - 00:39:06:13
Speaker 1
We're going to make a wholesale change in a tight game and we just decided to let it play out. And those three guys were instrumental in a big finish for the win right? They did. It played great. And it was just like there was a good reminder for us to say, trust the process, you've prepared them. And although they weren't flashy, they got the job done.

00:39:06:13 - 00:39:24:14
Speaker 1
And I think to me that was good. They now their confidence grew, they were put in, they were allowed to play in a tight situation. So without doing anything, we made a really good move for that athlete, which I thought was really, really cool, very rewarding when that stuff happens.

00:39:25:02 - 00:39:26:07
Speaker 2
And then when it doesn't and doesn't.

00:39:26:24 - 00:39:41:09
Speaker 1
And then you're like, you're like, I should have taken up. But again, what did it cost? What would it so if you were to lose that game now you got a learning, you got you could say, hey, listen, we learned from this. So you did this, this and this, and we're going to learn from it. And the next time you're in that situation, you'll execute a little bit better.

00:39:41:20 - 00:39:45:18
Speaker 1
So there's always lessons to be had. So which is really, really cool.

00:39:46:16 - 00:40:07:18
Speaker 2
So it's how we as coaches, we have that. We have to practice it ourselves to be able to see if our athletes are going to do it. And to example, talk to an athlete in a situation where I thought the athlete would be disappointed on the ball they hit. So my feedback's like, you know, big situation, you know, the infield.

00:40:07:18 - 00:40:26:19
Speaker 2
How do you feel about that? It's like I just missed it. I was like, Paul, this kid's teaching me something where I'm sitting there, think, man, he's going to be upset. And I can't believe what the team does with me. I just missed it. So, meaning, like, I'll get it next time. No big deal. Yeah. Wow. And he, like, he's he is teaching me like, man, I need to have that mindset.

00:40:27:05 - 00:40:55:03
Speaker 1
Because you're coachable and you're ego. Your ego is not in the way of you taking that in a way that's like, man, you made an out, like, you can't be happy, right? So I love that. I love that. So anyways, the pressure's on for us to keep doing what we're doing. And I think that's while it's not pressure, it's, it's awesome and I'm looking forward to it and having time, I realize having the time off that I really missed coaching man, that I ever missed it.

00:40:55:03 - 00:41:22:06
Speaker 1
And I really look forward to doing more with the kids and, and having now relationship stuff like we're humans, we need human interaction, right? And I think it's really cool that we, you know, you've given me the opportunity to coach with you this summer, which is which is so much fun. And, you know, I think one of the things that going into football season next year, what I'm looking forward to is, you know, on a in a program like ours that we've won so much.

00:41:22:06 - 00:41:44:10
Speaker 1
And I think maybe I don't know if I haven't hadn't been as successful on wins and losses and having banners and rings and national championships and stuff like that. If I hadn't had that, would I be? And now I'm thinking, Hey, I have these eight kids that have never suited up. They're excited to play football. I'm going to teach them the game may cost us a couple of games, but they're really fantastic people.

00:41:44:23 - 00:42:03:12
Speaker 1
I don't know if I'll never know. Like, if, you know, I didn't have medals already, would I be able to be that have that relaxed approach? And I hope I would. I really hope I would. But it makes it easier for me to say, like, hey, I want to share my success with these kids and they want to be a part of this culture.

00:42:03:21 - 00:42:15:01
Speaker 1
So to me, I can't wait for August camp to start and we get in there and share that with those kids and help them develop and continue to grow.

00:42:15:18 - 00:42:35:00
Speaker 2
Not saying you're a Hall of Fame coach, but I remember having this conversation with another coach and he was pretty adamant that the coach he had the way he coach was the way. And, you know, he exactly told me that. He said, well, you know, my coach is in the Hall of Fame for, you know, in this state and so on, so forth.

00:42:36:04 - 00:42:53:04
Speaker 2
And I said, Is he the only coach in that whole thing? And he looked at me and said, I'm pretty sure there's a coach in the Hall of Fame as well. Yeah. So I was like, Well, you can't tell me there's one way of doing it because there's a lot more people in the Hall of Fame, and there's definitely more than one way of coaching if there's that many more people in the Hall of Fame.

00:42:53:04 - 00:43:13:23
Speaker 2
So work for him. Awesome. But that doesn't mean everybody else. Selfie Hall of Fame did it the same way. So kind of like what you're talking about. Yeah, we'll never know. But at the same time, some coaches are going to be ego driven, some are going to be more receptive to what's happening. So we're still learning, and that's just what makes this fun, to be honest with you.

00:43:14:08 - 00:43:33:09
Speaker 1
Yeah. And that was the other thing I wanted to say, too, is one of the things that I've learned in the last couple of years is we're all replaceable because, you know, you and I, there's so many behind us. There's there's always people that are willing to come in and do it. But to me, that's the thing. It drives me to be like, I still want to be the best version of myself when I'm doing it.

00:43:33:09 - 00:43:50:10
Speaker 1
And I think that's I say that to my own kids, like, whatever you do, be the best version of yourself doing that thing in that's going to be in your career, that's going to be in sports, that's going to be in school, whatever it is that you're doing, just try to always be the best, very best version of yourself.

00:43:50:20 - 00:44:05:00
Speaker 1
And if you're going to you're going to make mistakes, forgive yourself. Eyes up next. Target, that's all. And move on from there. And I think that's where we got to be, is is people have a hard time accepting failure and it's just it's just tough.

00:44:05:16 - 00:44:21:03
Speaker 2
So I want I want to build off that. When you're saying that I had that feeling two nights ago and just like it was just routine, my routine was like I was going to leave and I knew and I was conscious. I was like, I'm not going to do this. And it tells me not to do whatever that was.

00:44:22:08 - 00:44:39:21
Speaker 2
And I got to talk to myself and I said, It's okay, and you get to lean on somebody else, but good for you. And I flipped the script on myself. It's lean on somebody else. Let somebody else carry you for a little bit, and that's okay. So I had, you know, I had to play that. Oh, because you sound like you said it's going to be, you know, it's not all rosy.

00:44:39:21 - 00:45:01:03
Speaker 2
It's going to be grind, it's going to be difficult, there's going to be losses, air quotes, again, and whatever it is. So be able to surround yourself with good people who are self accountable and being vulnerable that we talked about that offer for yourself the vulnerability I have that use it that's a tool because you're also empowering somebody else, right?

00:45:01:03 - 00:45:10:22
Speaker 2
Just like some people are going to lean on you and they're going to need you. But on the flip side, you might have to be the person getting carried through a little bit in the farmers blocks that oh.

00:45:11:01 - 00:45:11:07
Speaker 1
Good.

00:45:11:07 - 00:45:11:21
Speaker 2
Analogy.

00:45:12:19 - 00:45:34:07
Speaker 1
So much work to do. And that's what I look at is just going to keep grinding away like there's still more I want to learn and I want, I want to learn so I can be better so that everything else just continues to to grow and improve, right? So, so much work that 1% that 1% is magical. And I explained that to the football guys.

00:45:34:23 - 00:46:03:05
Speaker 1
What is your 1%? Yeah, there you go. Wearing the wristband, 1% better. Right. So I want to explain to them what that 1% means. They could see the eyes. They're getting massive and they're like, well, that makes a lot of sense, coach. Like 1%, like it's attainable. Well, measurement is motivation, right? And this is what it is. So, you know, I've always said I like the word discipline over motivation because motivation will ofttimes will trick you.

00:46:03:06 - 00:46:24:03
Speaker 1
Motivation is tricky where discipline is consistent and doesn't lie. So but but measurement. So discipline you can measure. I made my bed today. I mean, I did my cardio, whatever. I ate my prune, all that type of stuff that we do. I think that that is something that we have to continue to instill people. What is your 1%?

00:46:24:13 - 00:46:45:06
Speaker 1
You know, are you continuing to strive for that? And I think it's easy and this is what people say, like, oh, man, like where you find all this stuff for podcast. I was like, It's easy. Like it's, it's everywhere. It's free. Like, you know, 1% better, like, be a good person, you know, build good relationships. It's like, I mean, anybody could it anybody can do it.

00:46:45:14 - 00:47:01:07
Speaker 1
Anybody can do it. Right? Right. And so we're just trying to help you and put it in a way that it makes sense and it's relatable. And that's all our goal is, is to help you be like, Man, I can do that. And that's what is and we want to continue to do that for you guys.

00:47:02:01 - 00:47:22:16
Speaker 2
And I agree with you, but I'm going to open it up a little bit more. Say everybody can do it. It's not everybody can do it because not it looks good for the first day or the first episode. The second episode, the third episode, fourth and I got would have time and those types of things. So it's to be able to continue grinding out when you don't feel like it.

00:47:22:16 - 00:47:24:19
Speaker 2
We started doing that. Then I'll get into.

00:47:25:00 - 00:47:52:02
Speaker 1
Oh my God, I left this morning. I'm just going to share the story because it's pretty funny. Like I had a late night, I don't know what I was doing. Like it was a hangout, I guess start that over because that's going to sound corny, but so I had a lift this morning talking about like that, like wanting to do it and it was a 615 lift and I was like, Oh, I'm nothing.

00:47:52:02 - 00:48:08:22
Speaker 1
And I got sucked into watching a movie, okay? And I'm like, I got an early morning tomorrow, but I got sucked in and I know this is a habit, whereas, like, I don't, I can't do this. I got to get to bed like my sleep and I got sucked in. Anyways, I woke up in the morning, I felt like a bag of hammers.

00:48:09:01 - 00:48:31:15
Speaker 1
Okay, so my training partner shows up and I'm like, I got to be here for them, right? I have to be here for this person because the expectation is there that they're going to get better. They're here to get better. They don't know that. I stayed up late watching a movie that I should have been in bed and, you know, so I was like, okay, I'm going to I'm just going to grind it out.

00:48:31:15 - 00:48:54:05
Speaker 1
So I went outside, get some fresh air. Then we had gym and I started warming up and I was just like I kept I kept in my mind 1%, 1%, be present, don't be perfect, be present. And then, you know, turned on some great music, just crushing some tunes, got a good warm up in and we had an amazing session.

00:48:54:15 - 00:49:13:11
Speaker 1
So to me that was disciplined and I was just like, okay, if I can get through that. It was hard. It's kind of like that person who's struggling to get out for their walk. They haven't been out for a walk and they want to. They want to lose weight or they want to read that first book, or they want to take that challenge that they want to take on.

00:49:13:24 - 00:49:35:19
Speaker 1
It's taking that first step is really, really tough. Getting to the start line is the hardest thing to do. Get there, most people right on, right on. So I mean this is so we want to thanks for taking care of so many cool you know we'll cut that one too. That was terrible. So let's keep the pressure on.

00:49:35:19 - 00:49:57:09
Speaker 1
We're going to keep coaching. We're going to keep doing this thing and hopefully we will keep sharing with you guys some, some fantastic stories of our journey in coaching and leadership. So we want to hear from you. Send us a DM through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook or email us at Benchmark Podcast at gmail.com. Where are you and your leadership journey?

00:49:57:09 - 00:50:15:04
Speaker 1
What's your 1%? And let us know like which one of our shows so far has impacted you the most. And we hope to connect. We want to hear from our listeners all over the world, even our local listeners. Throw us a message. We want to hear from you. Anything else, Coach? Gee.

00:50:15:19 - 00:50:21:00
Speaker 2
I've been missing my taglines. I'm just waiting for it now. By the way, let's go.

00:50:21:02 - 00:50:42:24
Speaker 1
I want to do can I do a story before we before we end the show? So this is this happened two weekends ago, and I wanted to bust your chops about it because I knew it was going to get to a soggy sun, hits the ball, guys coaching the base and his son hits a rocket to the gap.

00:50:43:04 - 00:51:04:03
Speaker 1
Okay, it's over at what's left centerfield gap. It's over the center fielder said it's going to be off the wall, out of the box. He's thinking triple. I know he's there and he's got the Jets on anyways. The play was close at third. The third baseman dropped the ball, he's safe. And I'm like, This is the first kid in the history of mankind.

00:51:04:20 - 00:51:24:00
Speaker 1
He runs through this. You gave I saw you get your hands up. You totally gave him the stop sign and he just blew right there. I said, Here's the first kid in the history of baseball to get in shit for hitting a triple. Oh, my God. And he came back. You ended up scoring and I said, I said, hey, hey.

00:51:24:00 - 00:51:38:19
Speaker 1
What did he say to you? It was like I was like I was like it was so funny and so funny. I was like, dude, you put a you put a jolt into that ball. So it's pretty funny. And I wanted I never had a chance. I was going to Buster Jobs about it was like you didn't yell at him, did you?

00:51:39:04 - 00:51:41:01
Speaker 1
Would you say to him when he got the third base.

00:51:41:19 - 00:51:53:21
Speaker 2
What are you doing here? What are you doing there? And then he threw our first base coach right under the bus at him, and he told me to go, oh.

00:51:53:21 - 00:52:01:08
Speaker 1
So he hit it and I was just like, three, three, you go on three. He's going three anyways. But they did, the other team did a good.

00:52:01:08 - 00:52:09:03
Speaker 2
Job getting I heard from my other coaches, the kids are laughing, they got it and they're like, Man, you're the only person who gets a triple and your dad just lets you have.

00:52:11:05 - 00:52:36:16
Speaker 1
Running through the stop sign. Oh, you know what? And this is where I had to tell the story and we might have him on the podcast one day. I got to have him because he's such a great dude to talk to. So his name's Scott and I'm my first year coaching at Nelson and I'm at third base and we're playing my old team in the finals of a big tournament.

00:52:37:06 - 00:52:59:05
Speaker 1
Okay. And it's kind of bittersweet for me because I'm coaching against kids that I had coached against the previous year. My coaching staff from last year was they're my new coach and I got these new kids and we're we're we're a stronger team. Like, they're just stronger. And the game was sort of close and I knew the kid that was on the mound, he was just a lovely kid.

00:52:59:05 - 00:53:20:23
Speaker 1
He's such a nice kid. Anyways, there's two guys on and our number three hitter is up named Scott and it looks at me throw count and I give him the handcuffs like no swing. Like, like, you know, we're up. I think we may be like two or three runs at the time. And he steps out of the box and he kind of looks at me like, Come on, us, like, let me swing.

00:53:21:18 - 00:53:41:19
Speaker 1
And I was just I gave him the handcuffs, like, no, no, no. And he he kind of just gave it. And I really have a good relationship with this guy. We're still friends to this day, like, it's so, so long ago. But anyways, he steps in the box and he swings through my my red light like I give him, and he swings through and he hits a ball over.

00:53:42:07 - 00:54:06:24
Speaker 1
So there's like he hits the ball over the light standard. Like, like, you know, and then that movie, The Natural, he blows up the lights. This kid hit it over the lights. It was it was the furthest ball I had ever seen hit. Okay? And it lands like it hits the wall over the train tracks on the other side of the right field wall, and it hits the building.

00:54:07:03 - 00:54:22:20
Speaker 1
That's on the other side. It was like, I've never seen it. And it was one of those ones. Like the other team, when he starts rounding the bases, all came out of the dugout and they started giving him like a like an ovation. Like they did like even the pitcher, like, tipped his hat to and he's rounding and I'm mad.

00:54:22:20 - 00:54:38:12
Speaker 1
Like, I'm first of all, I'm like, I can't believe that ball went that far. And now I'm like, I'm like, I'm going to shake his hand when he comes around third base. Like, I'm so upset with this guy and he comes around second. He's got like this 6 million watts smile on his face and I'm like, I'm done.

00:54:38:16 - 00:54:53:00
Speaker 1
I can't be mad anymore. Give my five and everything like that. And then I apologize to the pitcher. Afterwards, I was like, I didn't give him the greeting. He's like, All mess, this mess. That was the best ball. Easiest. If I'm going to give up a homerun, I'm going to give it up, big man. So it was good.

00:54:53:00 - 00:54:55:13
Speaker 1
So it's okay. Third base coach is tough. Tough gig.

00:54:55:13 - 00:54:56:19
Speaker 2
Man. Oh, baby.

00:54:58:01 - 00:55:07:13
Speaker 1
Well, let's end on that one. So. Well, that does it for this episode of Benchmark. Thanks for listening. Until next time.

00:55:08:11 - 00:55:10:14
Speaker 2
Keep crushing it.