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098 - Rough & Tumble: Raising Resilient Youth Athletes w/ Jeremy Frisch
129 Plays8 days ago
What if the problem in youth sports isn’t that kids aren’t training hard enough…
but that we’re training them wrong?
In this episode, Tex sits down with performance coach Jeremy Frisch [@jeremy_frisch17] to unpack why early dominance can be a false positive, why puberty is the great equalizer, and why rough-and-tumble play might be the missing ingredient in modern athlete development.
From wrestling in the basement to obstacle courses in the gym, Jeremy makes the case that athleticism isn’t built through adult-style workouts at age 8 — it’s built through movement literacy, physical play, controlled chaos, and learning how to lose.
They dive into:
- Why “Stop Training Kids Like Pros” should be a movement
- How play-based training builds speed, coordination, and confidence
- The danger of early specialization and tournament culture
- Why some kids dominate early… then disappear
- How to coach late bloomers without losing them
- The maturity shift that changes everything in middle school
- And how to create environments where kids actually want to come back
This episode is for coaches, parents, and leaders who care more about long-term development than short-term trophies.
Because resilience isn’t programmed. It’s wrestled for.
And sometimes the best training plan starts with tag, tackle dummies, and letting kids be kids.
*NEW* Education - Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com
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Transcript
Introduction & Guest Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
talking about pickle um you know where the kids have to run back and forth between you know between bases and not get hit by the ball yeah just for fun my my seven-year-old son he's a good mover because that's all he's ever done just come to the gym every day and run around and jump and dive and do all things like that so anyways we were playing pickle and we just decided to see like how many times would he run up and back in a game like how much distance would he would he cover in that game And like in one of the games, he it was an absurd amount of, it was like 500 yards for a seven-year-old that he covered up and back, up and back, up and back, right? If I told a seven-year-old to go run a 500-yard shuttle, you know, they'd be they'd be like, no, not a chance. They would be walking or, you know, it wouldn't be engaging for them. They'd be tired. They'd be complaining, things like that. So within that game, I mean, he ran 500 yards and didn't even know it. Had no idea. And those those runs were full speed when it comes to children, like,
00:00:56
Speaker
those types of activities that engage them and get them, they go as hard as possible rather than you being like, all right, we're going to a sprint. i want to see you I want to see you guys run as hard as you can, but there's nothing, there's no incentive there for them to to run hard, you know, but you put them in a game and it all changes.
Jeremy Frisch's Background & Focus
00:01:12
Speaker
Welcome to the Captains and Coaches podcast. We explore the art and science of leadership through the lens of athletics and beyond. I'm your host Tex McQuilkin and I have a question for you. What if the most important coaching you ever do happens before a kid ever picks up a ball?
00:01:28
Speaker
Today's guest has been asking that question for over a decade and building the answer one rep, one program, one community at a time. Today I'm joined by Jeremy Frisch, the Director of Athletic Performance at TeamWorks Sports in Acton, Massachusetts.
00:01:44
Speaker
He is a field leader in youth movement, physical literacy, and long-term athletic development. From his days at the collegiate level, watching gaps in his athletes' movement foundation, to building his performance training center from the ground up,
00:02:00
Speaker
Jeremy has made it his life's work to meet young athletes where they are and develop them into who they can become. Very excited for this episode. I'm so grateful for Jeremy to join me and help us raise the game.
Importance of Play in Youth Athletics
00:02:16
Speaker
Enjoy the episode. Ready, ready, and break.
00:02:19
Speaker
action jeremy thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with me i've been a fan of yours for a long time just the creative nature focus on athleticism so one of the most valuable rich instagram accounts i feel out there and i know that's just scratching the surface for the impact that you're having on the youth in your community so if you wouldn't mind just sharing a brief moment about yourself and then i want to take through take the audience through a lot of your history that built who you are as a man and a coach and a leader in your community.
00:02:54
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. So again, my name's Jeremy Frisch and I'm a performance director at a place called teamwork sports performance. Um, used to be called the chief performance.
00:03:04
Speaker
I was the owner and then I sold it to another company. So I just worked for them now, which is, which is really great. Cause I'm not the best, the most business minded guy in the world. So it's nice to, it's nice to have a team to help, to help out with the, with the business stuff.
00:03:17
Speaker
Um, I'm, so I'm, I grew up here up in new England from Clinton, Massachusetts. I'm a father of four. Uh, I got three boys and a girl and, um, yeah, it's, uh, I went to college. I went to high school in the same town as I live in now. My wife did too. So we're kind of townies.
00:03:36
Speaker
And, um, and I went to, I went to college, uh, right down the road in Worcester and Worcester state college, which was great. Played some football and ran a little bit track and field. So was, uh, it was, uh,
00:03:48
Speaker
I know I feel like when you when you grow up around here, it's tough to get out. It's just it's a nice place to live. Yeah. So, yeah, in a nutshell,
Realization of Youth Athletic Gaps
00:03:56
Speaker
that that'd be my life right now. Yeah. And I get it, man. Very community minded minded myself and connected to that.
00:04:05
Speaker
And similar to you, started within the world of collegiate strength and conditioning and then saw a lot of limitations and aim to have an impact and break out. and you were at Holy Cross, what were some moments that you realized, Hey, there's more to development coaching and impact out there for you?
00:04:24
Speaker
Yeah. So when I was, uh, as a collegiate strength conditioning coach, you know i kind of felt like my hands were tied at some points cause I just didn't see, you didn't get to see the kids enough, not all the sports, but most of the sports I worked with. And I, you know, as a small school like that, we, I, you know, there's some places you work with one team.
00:04:40
Speaker
Uh, I think I had 15 teams, you know what i mean? So, ah You're kind of spread thin. You don't always get to see all the athletes. And so you kind of feel like your hands are tied and there's things that they probably could be doing, but they just don't get access to it.
00:04:54
Speaker
And then watching those athletes, I realized like they should probably, and this is not all the athletes, but just some, you know, they should have, there were certain things missing, you know, kind of gaps in their athleticism and their ability, to their movement skill that they probably missed out on when they were younger.
00:05:11
Speaker
And that really kind of started opening my eyes and I kind of started digging, ah you know, kind of digging into that type of stuff and what they should have been doing earlier in their their life and their career.
Programs for Children's Movement Literacy
00:05:22
Speaker
At the same time, I started having kids. So I had my first child. think we have when I was still there, I had my second. And, you know, so I'm watching that. I'm watching them grow up. you know, from an infant to toddler and things like that. And so I started really kind of reading and learning about, you know, youth development and just milestones and things like that. And I wanted to make sure that my kids had like a good foundation of just not even to be a great athlete, but just to have that that movement literacy to go out and do whatever you want.
00:05:53
Speaker
So they kind of collided, you know, they kind of, so I sort of started digging in and those the the collegiate thing, working my way backwards and, and watching my kids start to grow up. And I realized like, all right, I think my, time my time spent should be trying to develop, you know, the youth.
00:06:10
Speaker
And at first it was only when I opened my first opened my facility, I was working with mostly high school kids and I realized, well, those kids got some deficits. So then I started working with middle school kids and I realized those kids had deficits.
00:06:21
Speaker
You know, when you start digging in, you realize that, you know, Even in school, when I was in school, I used to have PE three times a week. You had recess twice a day. yeah And then I realized like that's not even close to what kids are getting now. You know what I mean? They might have they might have maybe recess once a day, and it's a lot shorter than it used to be. and his Phys ed is not even close to what it used to be, maybe once a week. i know my son, one of my kids had it like once every eight days.
00:06:49
Speaker
Yeah. you know So then my other son, he's in middle school now. He had it for... a semester and then they don't have it anymore. So it's like, Oh, you run around a lot. And then for the rest of the year, you don't run around a lot.
00:07:01
Speaker
So it just doesn't make sense to me. So really creating my program and all the different things I wanted to do with, with athletes, just, I, I saw what was happening and I, and I wanted to have sort of a place in my community where we could develop those, those abilities.
00:07:18
Speaker
um Yeah. So it started with my kids and then their friends and, and, you know, I, since I played, I played, uh, you know, all the sports at at my high school.
00:07:29
Speaker
I had a good connection with a lot of the coaches. So then I started getting high school kids coming in and and then it kind of all trickled, trickled down. And so now we have, you know, programs, our speed demons programs starts at age five.
Appropriate Training Ages & Methods
00:07:41
Speaker
Um, and then we have, uh, all the way up until, you know, high school, college athletes coming through our door, you know, with the bulk of it, you know, that middle school, early middle school up into high school. Those are, that's really our, um,
00:07:56
Speaker
you know, kind of a bread and butter, so to speak. Yeah. And just growing up in Texas and very football culture, we started weightlifting in sixth grade yeah and you start playing football for the school in seventh grade.
00:08:10
Speaker
Up when in your area, when is weightlifting installed in the schools, if at all? You know, it's not It's not in my area. there There's some schools that probably have it in place, but other schools it isn't. It's not so competitive between schools when it comes to that type of type of activity. um you know We had a really bad weight room growing up when I was in in high school, and it just recently they've started to make some upgrades.
00:08:37
Speaker
um But we know there's there's nothing in place for any middle school kids, for sure. You know what i mean? you know Most of the middle school kids in our town now or introduced it to it when i you know when I opened my facility. Prior to that, you know you weren't getting it. It's weird, too, is we always had a really good, like really competitive for the size of our school.
00:09:00
Speaker
and the kids who we had We've always been really competitive with football, and lot of the kids were just good athletes. you know They grew up doing lots of different stuff, and and they happened to be decent athletes. and you know Every couple of years, we'd have a kid be able to go on to college and play.
00:09:14
Speaker
um Now, it's obviously more competitive. so and We have a lot more kids that are involved in in and sort of off-season strength and conditioning.
00:09:24
Speaker
so And that's one of the things that I truly try to figure out, like I've learned over the years, is like, right, well, when's the best time to introduce you know play type ba play-based training versus sort of semi-organized trainings versus like real strength and and conditioning type training?
00:09:43
Speaker
You know what you mean? And it took me a ah little while. to sort of put all that together. You know what I mean? Um, not every sixth grader is ready to start lifting weights. Um, you know, not every, not every, uh, you know, even, so even some seventh and eighth graders, uh, just like, just their maturity level, they would much rather be, they would much, they would do much better in a more of a play-based semi-organized structure.
00:10:09
Speaker
You know what i mean? Uh, look, a lot of the female athletes who come into middle school, there they always seem to be a little bit more mature. So like my daughter started lifting weights when she was like fifth grade.
00:10:20
Speaker
You know mean? Where my two two older boys started lifting weights like consistently, not till like around maybe grade seven, eight, and then really took it, took like really got into it when they were, you know, they hit high school, grade nine.
00:10:33
Speaker
So it's all across the board. You know what i mean? Yeah. And then. Play-based, when did that light bulb start to go off for you? Did you aim to install a system when you first opened your facility and realized they weren't into it?
00:10:48
Speaker
Yeah, totally. Like, I tried to do things with certain age kids, and I was like, they're just not they're not digging this. You know what i mean? And I can tell you a funny story. Just like one day I had a group of middle school kids that were that were coming in to train with me, and I had an older group that I was just finishing up with.
00:11:05
Speaker
And I told the kids, I'm my guy I just want you guys to go over here in this little corner. And there's a little turf area. I'm like, you guys can play here for a minute. and And I'll be back. And you know i I turn my back helping the older kids. And I turn back to the younger kids. And they're all wrestling.
00:11:19
Speaker
You what I mean? They're all wrestling. And then I'm like, all right, you guys can you know you guys can use the you guys can use the bigger turf now. And then they all start playing tag. And I'm like, oh, they just want to. like If you just give kids open space, you're going to get two things.
00:11:34
Speaker
you're going to get them like trying to beat each other up and rough and tumble play, or you're going to get them trying to play tag. That's like, if there's no ball involved or anything like that, that's what you're going to, that's what you're going to get. You know what mean? So yeah I realized that that's, that's really what they're after. They don't want to do organized training. They don't want to do plyometrics. They don't want to do, um you know, they certainly, a lot of them didn't want to start lifting weights at first, maybe like you could introduce those things. It's kind of novel to them,
00:12:02
Speaker
but it wears away quick with younger kids, you know? So that's really where I started figuring out like more play-based or semi-structured stuff. Like you can do, for example, right?
00:12:13
Speaker
We have our older kids, say you're going your older kids doing like hurdle jumps or box jumps or something like that. It's a little bit, you know, structured jumping activity, but then I can have my third and fourth graders jumping off a ramp over a barrier to see how high how far they can jump.
00:12:30
Speaker
Mm-hmm. we're still doing jumping. It's just a lot more fun. You what I mean? It's just, it's a real, it's a lot more attractive to them to do that than, you know, ah a single leg hurdle hop that you do and, you know, straight to get a shake.
00:12:45
Speaker
Definitely. And, aim to explain the value of the group at that age group. Cause we're starting to see just such individualized personal performance training at that age group.
00:12:58
Speaker
So yes, they have their skill sports one-on-one, which I can see and understand, but then performance at age group. I feel like the the coach has just taken something from the parents there.
00:13:09
Speaker
Yeah. I think, I think it's, you know, you're, they're not, they're, you know, yeah what what do we see? Like we see like just the videos, right? You see the Instagram type stuff. Like give me, when you see a kid doing like the adult style training, like tell me, show me that kid going to be there in two or three months or four months or a year. You know, they're not going to, that's not going to continue. You know what i mean?
00:13:34
Speaker
So yeah, I realized really quickly that, that the play-based model or the semi-structure model really worked well. The kids were engaged and they came back.
00:13:45
Speaker
And the parents kept signing and them up. And then what happened there is they slowly, well, they we one, they would see older kids doing certain things and they look up to those older kids. So eventually they want to do those things.
00:13:57
Speaker
And so I've had really great success having kids start out in this play-based model. And then they kept coming and they got more mature. And eventually they slowly transitioned to the strength and conditioning model rather than just throw them into like this,
00:14:12
Speaker
this adult style training right away and hope some kids stick and some kids don't, you know, which really would be the really good athletes would probably stay. Yeah. Right. And then the kids who are not great athletes would probably drop off.
00:14:24
Speaker
Right. So we try to get the kids to have the most fun as possible, really get engaged, really have fun, really take to to training and really enjoy it. And then we slowly, as they get a little bit older, we start to, we start to add those pieces.
00:14:37
Speaker
You know what mean?
Engaging New Kids & Role Models
00:14:38
Speaker
And i really it's really worked well for us. we've had i mean We're at the point now where we've had kids that are graduating high school going on to play college sports who have been with us since they were in you know second or third grade.
00:14:49
Speaker
Time out. Observation. New coaches getting into the field are really smart and intelligent when it comes to programming. were understanding practice plans and their sport and really bad at people.
00:15:02
Speaker
They have high IQ and low EQ. I spent the past 14 years traveling the world teaching people how to teach people lifting weights, understanding sport, but most importantly,
00:15:14
Speaker
connecting with people. I've taken all those lessons from all over the world and put them into a new course, Why They're Not Listening, Coaching Today's Athlete. If you want the first lesson free, head to the website, listen.captainsandcoaches.com to learn more.
00:15:30
Speaker
And now back to the show. Ready, ready and break. i'd I'd love to highlight and I've heard a lot of interviews and I've seen a lot of the Instagrams with these games. So we mentioned play-based but What are some examples? I know we got pickle. I know we, you got the noodle where you're trying to tag their toes.
00:15:48
Speaker
Yep. So, I mean, you know, we, we do a lot of stuff where we're, where we're, where we're going after the kids, like a, like a tag game like that, where we just add certain pieces to it rather than just, you know, just tag where you just have to touch someone. You can have to pull a flag or you have to get there.
00:16:03
Speaker
You know, they got a, you know, something hanging out the back of their, their shirt. um Those are all good. And you, like I said, if you want kids to, Like you just mentioned playing the game with a noodle and you have to hit their feet. Well, then you're going to get a lot of jumping involved in that game, right? So you're you're working on certain skills. You're going to get plenty of reaction. You're going to get plenty of change of direction.
00:16:24
Speaker
If you play in a really wide open space, you're going to get more like longer runs and more acceleration. If you play in a smaller space, you're going to get way more change of direction. So like there's, you can manipulate how you're doing it to the things you want to, you want them to sort of learn or or get ah exposed to, right? So to speak.
00:16:41
Speaker
So that's a great one. You know, any type of like track and field type thing that you can manipulate. So we do tons of like jumps over stuff, you know, how, you know, run and jump over a certain height or jump for distance, you know, like a long jump type thing. Uh, those are always great because the kids love challenging themselves.
00:17:01
Speaker
They love when they sort of land and fall and roll. Like they love that feeling of like, you know, it's great for the spatial awareness. Um, And, and ah you know, they love to go against each other and see who can jump higher and jump further. And within that, you know, within that activity, you get plenty of sprinting.
00:17:19
Speaker
You get a lot of push, you know, you jumping off one leg or two legs. So, so you, there's, there's some athletic, there's almost like these athletic abilities are being developed, but they don't even, the kids don't have no idea that yep they're doing it.
00:17:31
Speaker
You know what i mean? um So, so anything like that, any sprint type, activity where the kids have to chase or race each other. you know, obstacle courses are awesome because you can manipulate, you can manipulate the space. They have to jump over things, climb over things, duck under things, roll, run around things.
00:17:50
Speaker
You know, they can, you can set obstacle courses up where the kids race each other, or you can set obstacle courses up where the kids have to just run through a course and you just time it and see who, you know, who did the fastest one.
00:18:01
Speaker
What's great about it is like a lot of these obstacles that we put out kids come up with different ways to get over or under or through. Like, you know they mean? They come up with their own sort of, um you know, their problem solving skills improve because they're coming up they're coming up with their own way to do things, right? And so, and then within that, right, within that realm, say you're an eight-year-old kid who just ran an obstacle course 10 times. Well, there's a great conditioning effect there.
00:18:29
Speaker
You know what he mean? Like you're just, and he doesn't even know it. He has no idea. And that's so, you know, talking about pickle, you know, where the kids have to run back and forth between, you know, between bases and not get hit by the ball.
00:18:43
Speaker
Yeah. We just for fun one day, i don't know if you ever heard the story, but just for fun, my, my seven year old son, who he was seven at the time, he's 12 now, but you know, he grew up down there. So he's, you know, a good mover. He's a good mover. Cause that's all he's ever done. Just come to the gym every day and run around and jump and dive and do all things like that. So anyways, we were playing pickle.
00:19:02
Speaker
And we just decided to see like, how many times would he run up and back in a game? Like how much distance would he, would he cover in that game? And like in one of the games, he, it was an absurd amount of, it was like 500 yards for a seven-year-old that he covered up and back, up and back, up and back. Right. If I told a seven-year-old to go run a 500 yard shuttle, you know, they'd be, they'd be like, no, not a chance. They would be walking or,
00:19:28
Speaker
you know, it wouldn't be engaging for them. They'd be tired. They'd be complaining, things like that. So within that game, I mean, he ran 500 yards and didn't even know it. Had no idea. And those, those runs were full speed. You know, he's going back and forth as fast as he can, trying not to get hit by the ball.
00:19:43
Speaker
So yeah like right there, you can tell, like just when it comes to children, like those types of activities that engage them and get them, they go as hard as possible rather than you being like, all right, we're going to sprint. I want to see you. I want to see you guys run as hard as you can, but there's nothing, there's no incentive there for them to to run hard, you know, but you put them in a game and it all changes.
00:20:06
Speaker
Yeah. The, the, the three word guidance I gave for the the kids, strong coaches I was working with is capture, keep and direct attention. yeah And often our words as coaches for that age group, they mean nothing. So you got to use your body to show.
00:20:22
Speaker
And you mentioned your older, ah older athletes, kids are looking up to them. Now, how do you aim to teach this age group how to to go through the course or to get creative or to introduce any play or exercise?
00:20:36
Speaker
Do you are you demo? Do get a kid to demo? What's your approach there? Yeah, I, I do, you know, I'll do both. I mean, I I'll demo, but a lot of times, um, I'll have the kids demo.
00:20:48
Speaker
I love that. You know, we've, we've done that for years. Um, I used to work for a company called the competitive athlete training zone, and they were very big on like, just like, just getting your, ah your, your, your athletes, um, to become better leaders.
00:21:03
Speaker
You know mean? And one of the best ways to do that was to, um you know, the kids that, that really took to the training and really enjoyed being there, um, use them as, as guides for the other kids.
00:21:16
Speaker
Um, so we would have, you know, we've had, we've had our athletes lead warmups, you know, we've had, ah we've had, I've had my kids help teach, you know, my son, my oldest son has helped me numerous times teach Olympic lifts to younger kids.
00:21:31
Speaker
You know what he mean? Cause he's a, he's a pretty good Olympic lifter. Um, and so, so when I've used him, uh, uh, in the facility many times, um, you know, I'll grab older kids to be the throwers when we play pickle.
00:21:46
Speaker
Yeah. Right. Um, i all the time, you know, I'll get the older kids to help, to help join any game with the younger kids. So there's a direct connection with like, Oh, like, you know, so-and-so I'll give you an example. Like we played pickle a couple of weeks ago. We got a kid in our facility who He's going to play college baseball, throws, you know, 90.
00:22:07
Speaker
Everyone in town knows him. Every kid in town knows him. You know, and he's jumping in, playing pickle, being a thrower, whizzing the ball about a kid's heads. You know what I mean? But every kid's excited because they all watch him play.
00:22:18
Speaker
Yeah. You know what i mean? So I love that. I love getting the older kids involved in and and what we do. um And I'm getting older now, too. My knees are my knee are killing me. So I'm not i'm not always excited about demoing for everyone.
00:22:34
Speaker
So it's nice to have the younger kids around. one One good rep, Coach. That's all it takes. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. yeah so And for Austin, we organized lacrosse. We got middle school and then high school practice.
00:22:48
Speaker
And so now it's getting those high schoolers to come early. Because, I mean, as you mentioned, these guys are heroes. The the middle school going to the varsity games. So now getting them to instruct face-off, getting them to instruct defense And I love it because now it forces these older guys to really understand versus, and then I like it because they see how actual, how difficult coaching is and communicating. yeah So now I can, I can give them a hard time. Like they give me a hard time, but now they're really understanding the fundamentals and seeing and practicing it with the kids. So yes, building the community relationships and then really having those older guys understand the movement as well.
00:23:32
Speaker
Yep. Agreed. And that's why I always, um I've been pushing for years. It doesn't always happen in our town, but I'm like, I'm always saying like, I coach youth football. I've coached youth basketball. Like I want, I want our varsity guys at my youth practice.
00:23:47
Speaker
You know, I want my, I want my varsity, um, basketball guys at the youth basketball practices. You know what i mean?
Managing Behavioral Issues in Sports
00:23:55
Speaker
Um, and then same with baseball. Like I think those, those kids should be, it should be part of their, if you're going be on that team,
00:24:01
Speaker
I think you should be able to take a few hours out of your yeah out of your week to go and not only help out in practice, just like the technical aspects of it, but also just, you know, the social aspect and just getting to know the younger kids and and letting the younger kids get to know you and and realize like how much that can help a town.
00:24:20
Speaker
You know what I mean? um I remember when I was a young kid in in elementary school, they used to let some of the varsity players come down and the kids would just come in for lunch. So while we're at lunch, the varsity kids would walk in, you know, be Friday. They'd have their game jerseys on. in tears Yeah. And they come they'd come sit with you and talk to you. You know what i mean? yeah and And I looked up for those kids because I loved football and that was my thing.
00:24:44
Speaker
And so whenever I saw the older kids, like that's those those those are the kids I wanted to be like. You know what I mean? And wouldn't you know it? Like I couldn't wait to get to high school.
00:24:57
Speaker
to to do that. And when I was there, i was like, Oh, this is, this is exactly what I thought it would be like. you know So, man. Yeah. yeah And that, that I want to spend a lot of time with character as well.
00:25:08
Speaker
So that's, yeah that's one of those things. Those guys are not too good or too cool to go and do that with the youth. And you're the athletes you have, they are, I mean, they're motivated by it. They feel good giving back to the younger guys.
00:25:24
Speaker
So now, What are some opportunities and tools that you have in place if kids are not acting in line or, you know, they had a bad day. So they're pushing back to you, coach authority.
00:25:36
Speaker
What are some things that you aim to, to shape behavior? ah call it punishment to get these guys to focus. Yeah. I mean, a lot of times I, I use like some type of like when a kid's like,
00:25:51
Speaker
if a kid's having a tough day or a tough time, I try to, I try to, you know, get his mind off of whatever he's worried about as quickly as possible and get him into something that he really likes. hu You know what i mean? Especially when it comes to the, you know, the boys that come in are notorious, just notorious for like the moment we start a game, they start arguing.
00:26:13
Speaker
You know what i mean? It's like the literally the second they come in that like, grade three through six or seven, right? It's like the moment we start doing something, we we have this like sort of like, it's kind of like speedball slash football, you know, and they have to pull each other's flag.
00:26:33
Speaker
And like literally the moment they start playing, there's a problem. You know what i you mean? And so sometimes I get them all in and I'm saying, listen, fellas, like we're here to have fun. Like you guys got to stop going at each other, start arguing.
00:26:44
Speaker
stop um Stop arguing. just you you Sometimes you just got to wake them up. But other times, I mean, I literally just will jump in the game myself if they start arguing. I'm like, I'm in, and I'll grab the ball, and I'll just take it from a kid and just keep the flow of the game going rather than them all focusing on how much they hate each other at that moment.
00:27:03
Speaker
yeah You know what i mean? and Or the other one is, so i like I'll take the older kids and like, hey, i need you guys to jump in this game right now. You know what mean? The kids will really enjoy this more if you guys are in there. you know They really look up to that. Um, so I try to like, just get their mind off that, like, ah, I hate, I hate you right now. Like, you know, them, you did this and and I did that and I'm better than you. And, you know, we try, I try to just try to keep them moving as much as possible and keep their focus on the game rather than, than letting the game stop. And, and I, and again, like I'm one of those guys too. Like when we were kids, we would fight and like, we were working out, you know, like so we didn't have parents around all the time or coaches
Benefits of Rough-and-Tumble Play
00:27:43
Speaker
around.
00:27:43
Speaker
and we worked it out and it and it was okay. But sometimes like we get an hour to train or get this in. I want the kids moving because I know just how important it is.
00:27:54
Speaker
They don't have a lot of movement in their lives. So I don't want it to be so like messed up because we're sitting around arguing who pulled whose flag, you know what mean? So that's, that's really my, my biggest one. My biggest go-to is like just, and I and i used to with my kids when they were little, they get upset.
00:28:10
Speaker
You know, I would try to like, get their mind off of whatever they were losing their mind about and go on to some activity that they really, that really loved. And that's why we, you know, my kids probably moved around so much when they were little because we just, I had stuff set up around the house everywhere that we could always like get a different focus to, you know? So, I mean, yeah we had a, but we had a bouncy castle in our basement. It's awesome. Yeah.
00:28:38
Speaker
and And man, and the kids, man, they i mean, I'll be like, all right, if you guys, you know, if you've got a problem, let's just go down there. We'll figure it out. And they would, you know, wrestle and jump. Yeah, du rough and tumble play. And by the end of it, everyone was happy.
00:28:50
Speaker
Yeah. You mentioned rough and tumble. a lot here. I'm very familiar with it. I got five sisters and a boatload of nephews. So I get to rough and tumble a lot. I'd i'd love for you to share the the purpose and the value with our audience that they they can in and get the opportunity to instill this in their kids' lives.
00:29:10
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I can tell you just from like from ah ah child my but my own childhood, I'm the youngest of five boys. So I really got you know i got put through the ringer um as a kid. you know my My older brothers loved like w WWE and yeah So they'd practice moves on me and and things like that. But like, I remember playing football in the hallway with my brother and he'd be on his knees and I'd be like, you know, running and and he'd tackle me, but he'd obviously not tackle me as hard as he could. So there's like that.
00:29:38
Speaker
There's sort of this like thing you learn, especially with, with younger kids, when they start playing each other, there's always going to be a stronger kid and a weaker kid. And if you, if you want ah and you learn empathy because, If you want that game to continue to play, if you want to continue to play that game with that with each other, if you're too rough and too if you hurt someone, the game's going to end. Someone's going get mad, right? So you get if you go too hard when you're the weaker one, the older one ah the stronger one will kind of put in your place.
00:30:08
Speaker
But also the the stronger one knows that they can't beat up on the weaker one You know what I mean? Cause if they do, then that game is going to be over. So you learn this like give and take and how to get along and, and things like that. So that's where that's like the the foundational level of rough and tumble play is awesome. But now physically like it just wrestling and those types of things just build a robust, more versatile athlete. I mean, it makes you stronger.
00:30:35
Speaker
It makes you more mobile. um You know, it makes you less injury prone. Like I just remember my, my, my, my brother always like grabbing me by the head and I'm like, you know, he's trying to pull me down. So you, you know, strengthen in the neck and, and things like that, you know, and I, and then I, we like the, my boys, when they would, when they would wrestle in the, in the bouncy house, they learned how to like, they learned how to like naturally for how to forward roll, how to backwards roll. They learned how to fall, you know? So all those things sort of like started to blossom out of, out of, out of those things. And like I said, I think,
00:31:10
Speaker
I don't know if i can back this up with research, but boys, especially the boys, but even my daughter too, like they just they like that. They love to like grab each other and push each other around. It's just a great feeling for them to kind of, to see how you match up against, you know, how you match up against each other. You know what i mean? My daughter's like, she's in freshman in high school the other night and she came by and she hip checks me, you know what i mean? And,
00:31:33
Speaker
And then, you know, we start pushing and pulling and and my 12 year old son comes by and laughing and he starts like getting in the mix. So it's like, we're still doing that stuff. know, it's the older boys, they're getting a little big. i don't i don't I don't want to mess with them anymore, but but the younger ones, I can still i can still give it to them. So.
00:31:51
Speaker
Yeah. Well, wait till that escalates. Yeah. I got a lot of pals that are girl dads and they still, and still rough and tumble with them to get the the girls confident and Yeah, rolling and contact.
00:32:04
Speaker
Because even in in girls lacrosse and basketball, there's still contact. Sure. they can They can learn to absorb that and continue on the play. And, yeah.
00:32:15
Speaker
So still see a lot of value with with young girls getting involved with with that experience is growing up to get ready for contact sports. I mean, even in gymnastics, you know, yeah all those – my daughter did gymnastics for a couple of years. it's like all those falls, yeah you know, on the floor – you know, on the beam or all those things. Those are, you know, I consider all that stuff rough at double play.
00:32:37
Speaker
So, and and, you know, we also do it at the gym. if If kids are sort of, if some kids are kind of leery about wrestling with another kid or, you know, don't love to be touched, we'll do stuff with like tackle dummies.
00:32:51
Speaker
You know, I'll put tackle dummies and be like, all right, we're going to tackle going to hit with our right shoulder, left shoulder. We're going to throw it. We're going to dive on it, you know? So there's other ways to to start to introduce, um those type of skills without actually having to do it with another kid. If you have kids that are not, you know, it like doesn't feel comfortable with that stuff
Building Confidence in Young Athletes
00:33:09
Speaker
too.
00:33:09
Speaker
And that, so that leads me to my next question about confidence. They're going in timid with their own bodies, with their own abilities. And also in that social environment where they're coming to your facility, you've got kids that have been there for years And then a kid that enters in, this is his first time, he knows he needs it, or his parents think and feel he needs it, and he's not as skilled on day one.
00:33:34
Speaker
So what's your approach to helping unlock that confidence for those individuals? Yeah, so i you know I try to, one, myself, you know obviously you give that kid more time.
00:33:44
Speaker
Because I think if you do a really good job coaching, the like the kids that have been coming for a long time, if you do a really good job with those kids up front, you can take a step back and let them kind of have a little ownership of of what they're doing. ah You don't have to be on their case all the time. And that'll free you up to put more time into any new kid that comes in, right? So that's one thing. And then the other thing is, is that any kids that you have that you think are, um you know, could be a good ally for the new kid coming in,
00:34:11
Speaker
you know you can use, you can use, you can use them as well to sort of help teach. Sometimes, sometimes there's kids that come in that are kind of, they're uncomfortable with me because I'm the coach and they're scared and, you know, they're nervous and they think like, I'm this author, you know, author, what's the word I'm looking for? Authoritarian.
00:34:34
Speaker
Yeah, authoritarian. There go. Thank you. ah Like, you know, they, they're, they're kind of nervous around me. So they'll, feel a little bit more comfortable with, um, you know, a student, one of their other students, the kid that they go to school with, you know what i mean? So we'll give them little, I'll be like, all right, well go teach them split squat, go teach them row, you know, and I'll just sit back and, and it, and I actually, app that happens a lot. And, um, then the kids get a little bit more comfortable. They come in a few times and then they're willing to talk to me more and, and go from there. So again, using your, using your resources with your, with your athletes who have been around the block is definitely, um,
00:35:11
Speaker
the way to go when it comes to that type of stuff. Yeah, ah I love it. And how, how would you help approach parents understand confidence? Like is, is it part of a sales pitch?
00:35:25
Speaker
Do you, do you, I mean, lean into that to get them involved because confidence is just, I mean, it's such a buzzword now. Is it part of your approach sales pitch or is it just something that you know is going to happen once they get in the doors?
00:35:41
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's something that I know that's going happen. I try to tell everyone like upfront. The one thing I tell everyone upfront when they first come in is I'm like, listen, the first day you're going to be here, the first couple of times you're going to feel uncomfortable. You're going to be nervous. You're going to be like that. But I'm telling you right now, and I'll be like, look around. You see all these kids talking and be bopping around. And this is going to be like that and a second home for you.
00:36:04
Speaker
You know what i mean? Like some at some point soon, you're going to feel comfortable walking through the doors. And then, and and I always say like, up until that point, I'm going to make sure that you feel like you get what you need. So you get to that point as quickly as possible.
00:36:18
Speaker
You know what i mean? Because that's really what we want. We want, we want those kids to come through the door and just have it be another day for them. Not this like, Oh, like this, the first day, you don't want to feel like that every day.
00:36:32
Speaker
You know what i mean? So we really try to get the kids to get, to feel as comfortable as possible and not be nervous and all he's looking at me or she's looking at me and oh who's that, you know, cause all that stuff goes through their head.
00:36:43
Speaker
They're not going to tell you that, but you know, you know, that's what happens. And so I, I try to just get them whatever way, whatever way you can, whether it's you or using other coaches or, I mean, ah other students or whatever it is to try to get them to feel comfortable as possible, because then it leads to, you know, they'll work harder.
00:37:03
Speaker
You know, they'll take advantage of what they're doing when they're there. you know, all those things start to blossom.
Dealing with Parental Expectations
00:37:08
Speaker
okay And now those new kids, it's important. They're getting small wins. They're getting success early.
00:37:14
Speaker
Is there a point where you intentionally try to dose failure so you can start to teach them how to lose? Is there a point or is it just naturally throughout the program? You're going to be bad at something until you're not.
00:37:28
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i you know, when we when we it's so funny because I had a kid yesterday and i and i and i he gets so frustrated when he doesn't get an exercise like the right way. And he he just started with me a few weeks ago.
00:37:39
Speaker
And I had to sit. I said, listen, it's it's it's totally okay to suck at something. It's totally all right. and he's like a big kid and a good athlete. So he's just kind of probably grown up and just dominated everything he's done. And I'm like, you're going have stuff.
00:37:53
Speaker
and I was like, you're going to have things in life that you're not going to be great at. And and those are the things you want to tackle. You want to like kind of put your time into. I mean, I know it gets you, it gets you frustrated, but like, just take it, take the, take the time to get better at this and you'll see the benefits on the other side.
00:38:09
Speaker
Yeah. So, so I think, I think I also tell the kids sometimes like, especially like teaching something complex, like an Olympic lift. I'm like, you're going to stink at this the first time, like this first day.
00:38:23
Speaker
couple reps are going to feel weird. I'm going to show you what it looks like. And you're going to think in your head, like, okay, I got this. And then you're going to do your first rep and it's not going to feel like what you think it's going to feel like.
00:38:35
Speaker
um So, so I like sort of let them know ah right at right ahead time. But I'm like, by the end of today, by the end of this, this workout, you're going to have this down pretty good. You're going to have, you know, you're going to, you're going to get it. You're going to get it. We're just going to work through it. So, you know, I think,
00:38:52
Speaker
I think just even just laying that out for the kids, being like, this is the process. You're going to stink. You're going get a little better. And by the to end of today, you're going to be actually pretty good at this. And I think they appreciate that a lot.
00:39:03
Speaker
Yeah. And, and they're willing to come back. Right. And that's always the key. Like, can you get them to come back? Yeah. Because that's where you're going to get, you know, the big, that's where you're going to start to make progress is if you just get here consistently and they, they, they enjoy, they, they enjoy coming in here.
00:39:21
Speaker
Time out. I get two a half. This one's all about training. I'm talking about my old bull strength conditioning program that I have available on Train Heroic. This is Training with Wisdom. It's the program that I am following. I understand who you are. You don't have a lot of time.
00:39:38
Speaker
You're a busy leader, and you're beat up from years of athletics, years of training. Here in this program, we target hips, ankles, knee, back health with the barbell. We have fun variations of the squat and the programs, sexy Fridays, bodybuilding. It is an amazing time.
00:39:56
Speaker
It will keep you engaged, it will keep you involved, and keep you on a wise program that keeps you coming back for more instead of digging you a hole you can't come out of that affects life outside training.
00:40:09
Speaker
come check us out for a seven-day free trial in the old bull program a link in the show notes or if you're watching on youtube just click right here all right and now back to the show ready ready and break i'm curious on if you've had any experience with parents coming in and telling you kids goals for them hey my kid's gonna go do this Do you see right through that, that that's the parents' goals for the kid versus the kids' goals for themselves?
00:40:38
Speaker
How do you handle that situation? Yeah, I mean, i've had yup I've had parents come in and, you know, it seems like they're kind of the the boss and and they think they kids need this. And then ah I'll have a kid like the same kid, the parents leave, and that kid's like, I'll show them how to do like a box jump. And they'd be like, what do I have to do this for?
00:40:57
Speaker
Like, what's this do? Like, they have no concept of like how, athletic performance training can help them in their sport. You know what I mean? They're just data. They just, it just hasn't clicked in their brain yet. Um, and so, you know, you got to explain that to that type of stuff to them.
00:41:14
Speaker
Um, just, just so they understand like what they're actually doing there. Um, I've been really lucky. lot of, I guess in our community, a lot, I know a lot of people like grew up here, you know, the parents that come in, they're basically like, um,
00:41:31
Speaker
you know, they know what, they know what I do. Um, they don't have super huge expectations for the kids. I think they just want their kids to exercise and get a little bit better and learn some things and how to move and make sure they're, they're fit and and get a little bit stronger.
00:41:45
Speaker
Um, and then, and then, and and then, you know, for me getting to know the kids and then go, then I go from there, like, Oh, you get to know the kid. What do you want? Not every kid is going to come in and, and, uh,
00:41:58
Speaker
and work their butt off for you. And so sometimes it's a little bit of a, you know, get to know them, introduce them to some things. Okay. Then once you get to know them, all right, well try to get them to work a little harder, things like that. mean, I've had so many kids that come through the door that were slackers, you know, when they came, they came in and it wasn't, ah it wasn't a matter of like that kid's a slacker. He was just too immature to understand what did he need to do to get better.
00:42:24
Speaker
Yeah. And then like a certain age group hits, Whether it's like, oh, they just hit high school and they see bigger kids around and all of a sudden like 180 and they get it. And it's happened to me so many times I thought the first time it happened, I was like, oh, that's weird.
00:42:41
Speaker
Like this kid's really like, this kid's really like turned it around and like wonder what happened. And then I realized like, yeah, it's just like this maturity level. Like they needed to be here for a while.
00:42:52
Speaker
doing these things where they were comfortable and trying to push them or trying to just wasn't, wasn't working. Obviously they still came. And then all of a sudden it just, they just, it hit them. It's like, and then they totally, totally changed focus. And I just think it's a maturity level thing. It's like, they just hit an age where, all right, I get it. And like, you're not going to, no matter how much you tell them when they're younger, they're not going to, it's not going to sink in. So you just meet them they're at.
00:43:20
Speaker
Yeah. You know, just meet them where they're at.
Impact of Puberty on Athletic Development
00:43:22
Speaker
And that's and that's how you go with it. Yeah, I've seen that. That's why I like the the middle school, high school age group for young men, because there's this point where like having fun playing sport is basically playing grab ass and being with your buddies.
00:43:38
Speaker
And then having be having fun with your sport is – your skill improves. And you're like, oh, I am good at this. yeah And it's it's different from everybody. And, yeah, freshman, sophomore year, majority clicks, and the guy that's still playing grab ass is usually – he's left behind until he has his moment.
00:43:59
Speaker
Yep, for sure. And I think, too, what happens a lot with, like, you know, puberty is like the great equalizer. You know what I mean? you You just, that changes a lot too. You kids feel their body change and they get taller and they get leaner. And, and all of a sudden, like they start running around with their friends and maybe they were a little bit, a step behind their buddies. And all of a sudden, like, Whoa, like I'm keeping up with these guys. You know what i mean? And the big, huge kid that you grew up with is now the same, you're the same size as him. And yeah things start to, things start to change. So um yeah, that's always fast, you know,
00:44:36
Speaker
to go back to that, that, that, that thing has always fascinated me when, when, a when a kid totally like gets it and really starts to focus and put their time in. Um, I wish I had like a magic elixir. I could give a kid younger that that would get them to do it. But I realized like, just, if you just meet them where they're at and and make sure that they keep coming back and they're comfortable, they'll hit those things. They'll hit, you they'll eventually they'll get it. They'll understand.
00:45:02
Speaker
yeah So i've I've heard you speak on that puberty and early dominance is a false positive. How as a ah coach can I communicate to parents that, I mean, dude, sidelines, stands, those are nasty places. so kids are not allowed to make mistakes in a fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth sport. It's unbelievable.
00:45:25
Speaker
so Yeah. sometimes that early puberty false dominance kid, he gets surpassed because he doesn't learn the lessons he needs to at the time.
00:45:36
Speaker
How can we communicate to parents like, Hey, allow these kids to fail score. Doesn't matter at this age group. It just doesn't development does development does. Yeah. And not, and not worrying about, not worrying about wins and losses, uh, you know, right now and you know what tournament going to plan and,
00:45:56
Speaker
how far you can go, you know, local or regional or, you know, national, national level tournaments, like all that type of stuff is just should not be, you know, the importance. It should be ah how, how well you can develop, you know, how well you can develop. So you can just see it all the time. it's I think for a lot of those bigger kids, right. The the more advanced kids when they're young, everything's so easy.
00:46:24
Speaker
And they never learn how to sort of work hard. You know what mean? um And so having a really good coach is important with, I think for those kids, because, you know, you got figure out a way to challenge them. They might dominate on the field, but maybe in the weight room, you can start introducing them to a little bit more advanced training than everyone else and start to teach like, oh like, you know, trying to teach those like kind of hard work and dedication and things like that. Because a lot of times those kids just show up and dominate.
00:46:54
Speaker
You what I mean? And so it's unfortunate that that happens because then they get to high school when, when puberty does sort of um even things out and they struggle, they struggle a little bit, you know what I mean? So, and at the same time, like those other kids that fall behind a little bit are always a step behind.
00:47:12
Speaker
You're worried about the things that worry or be about them is that they get frustrated because they're not good enough and they go find something else to do. You know they quit, they get out of the sport when they actually they,
00:47:23
Speaker
The reality is a lot of those kids have really good skill, right? Their skill level is probably pretty decent. They just don't have the physicality yet to show it, you know? So that happened with my youngest. My oldest son, you know, he was always a little bit he was a little bit heavier growing up as it like a but through middle school.
00:47:40
Speaker
You know, he was a pretty good mover, pretty coordinated, but he just wasn't like as fast and as strong as like some of the kids that he played football with. um but he had good technique and he could actually run fairly well. He looked fairly coordinated and then like puberty hit and then he shot up and found the weights and, you know, and then he was, he, it totally changed this whole, you know, changed everything for him. So, you know, I think, i think the the kids who get the best, when you see kids that are good, but they still struggle, they don't go out and dominate every night.
00:48:18
Speaker
Some games are they play well. Some plays some games they don't. And they learn like, all right, someday um'm you know I'm going to have good days. going to have bad days. I'm going to still have to work hard. I'm still going to have to put the time in and go from there. So, yeah, that's a fascinating subject about, you know, the early, you know, the guy who dominates early versus the kid who,
00:48:40
Speaker
you know, who's maybe a little bit smaller, the late bloomer versus even the the kids in the middle and how they all kind of pan out and where
Problems with Early Sport Specialization
00:48:46
Speaker
they fall. So I think they all, they all need a different approach yeah that you work with for sure.
00:48:52
Speaker
Time out. Tech's here at Train Heroic headquarters meeting with the team to talk about the coaching experience that I'm able to provide for my athletes. So if you're a coach and want to put your program out there on an app that athletes actually enjoy using, Train Heroics for you. I've been using it since 2014. delivering literally over tens of thousands of workouts to athletes.
00:49:15
Speaker
And Train Heroic allows me to provide the unique coaching experience that I want to. Uploading video, providing coaching feedback, directions, and building a community, that's why I love Train Heroic. And if you want to take your athletes where they can't take themselves, that they want to go, head to trainheroic.com slash captains and check out how you can deliver programming to them.
00:49:37
Speaker
And now, back to the show. Ready, ready, and in.
00:49:43
Speaker
Yeah, um'm I'm fortunate just that the state of Texas lacrosse, I guess pun intended there, the we'll take anybody late. Like where you are, you got to be born with a stick in your hand to compete.
00:49:55
Speaker
Here, you just you got to be an athlete with a great attitude. So right every at every year a freshman gets cut from baseball or basketball, dude, come on out.
00:50:06
Speaker
And we can teach them enough to have fun and just get up and down for four years or two years, however much time we got. So, sure yeah, I mean, it's it's almost character attitude first and being part of a team.
00:50:19
Speaker
And, yes, when the game's on the line, we're going the ball to the dude. But at the same time, yeah like, you're you're as much his boy as anybody else. hundred You know, and and if you're so right. Because, like, even, like, looking at, like, our high school team this year, like our high school football team, like, we had a good team. We went to the state semifinal.
00:50:37
Speaker
Like, there's some studs trickled in that, obviously, on that team. It's lot of average kids. who just bust their butt. You know what i mean? Like with some decent athleticism, but you put them in a position and, and, and, and get them to do their job and they have fun doing it. You know what I mean? I, swear, I, so I swear I could take a good athlete and make them a great defender in any sport.
00:50:57
Speaker
you what you mean like ah like yeah You know you know, basketball, give me a, give me a lanky fast kid, you know, wiry kid. I'll put them on the court and teach them at a box out rebound and, and, and run a kid down all night. You know what i mean? Um, you know same Same thing with football. ah You can turn those kids into a safety or a cornerback or you know even outside linebacker. and just they They become ball hawks.
00:51:20
Speaker
They do it all the time. and I love that. like I love getting a kid who maybe doesn't know where they're at in the in in the shuffle um and you know getting the kid to get getting that kid to come out for a sport that he might not might not have known he was good at. and then and Then all of a sudden, like wow. this this you know He surprise surprises himself And it's a great, like, just like life lesson for him. And it's a great experience for him to remember the rest of his life.
00:51:48
Speaker
Yeah. know So so ah we had a kid going to college next year to play baseball. But, you know, I begged his dad to come out and play sixth grade football. And, you know, he did. And he liked it the first year. And then he kind of took a year off. And then he came back.
00:52:01
Speaker
And he ended up being all, you know, he he went out in high school. And wouldn't you know it, like the baseball guy, he was, you know, baseball, everything, end up being all league and football, outside linebacker. He just, man, he could just flat out tackle.
00:52:15
Speaker
Flat out tackle because he's just a good athlete and he just run kids down. And it was so fun to see, you know, so fun to see. So I agree on that. I think, you know, trying to get those kids that sign up maybe, you know, got cut from another sport and kind of lost kind of lost their way, there's ah there's a place for them somewhere.
00:52:33
Speaker
Somewhere, yeah. and then lacrosse I'm taking. Yeah. Yep. I was, I didn't start playing until I was 16 and was still able to go play in college, but a middle linebacker turned defensive middie, like use my head as a weapon.
00:52:47
Speaker
There's a place for me on the field. So I, I truly believe that with, with all these kids and that's, that's on us as coaches to accept them and accelerate their development and just find a role for them, wherever that may be.
00:53:01
Speaker
Um, Yeah, I'd love to get into sports specialization for a minute here because I know you're passionate about it and just watching all the different training and styles, it's clear there's all different sports in there, all different movement, preparation, attitude, everything.
00:53:20
Speaker
And in Texas especially, it's, i was football made me a man, you're going to play football, it's gonna make you a man. There's almost this skirt of responsibility from parents that they're putting on sport that, I mean, you're, you're giving the greatest gift that you have at your kid to somebody else and entrusting them to teach them to be a man when it's just roll of the dice, who that coach is.
Encouraging Multi-Sport Participation
00:53:48
Speaker
It could be a jerk they could be a great coach. You don't know. Sure. yes Yeah. I think, you know, that's, that's one part of it. Like,
00:54:00
Speaker
you know, we get we around here. It's like, so well, you say, you know, lacrosse, soccer, you know, kids get into that sport like age five, you know, maybe even earlier. And it's like, that's your thing.
00:54:12
Speaker
and And everything's geared towards that. You know, they spend their all their time, you know, going to tournaments and, you know, one-on-one training and, And you name it. and And, you know, like, oh, you don't like this coach and this club? We're going to go to this club. And they jump from club to club to club to club.
00:54:29
Speaker
You know what i mean? It's like you wonder why kids are jumping in the portal now because that's what all they've done when they were kids, just like never happy about development. They're always, you know, this team didn't win enough or I didn't play enough. And, you know, instead of worrying about developing and in your with that group, you're always jumping to somewhere else, always trying to get to a new place.
00:54:48
Speaker
You know what i mean? And then the whole thing with early sports specialization is like, you're always doing that one thing and you're never exposed. Like children should be, the their movement, their, their life should be nothing but diversity and variety, whether it's in school, you know, learning different subjects, but movement wise, they should be exposed to everything that you can expose them to.
00:55:12
Speaker
And then when you're just playing lacrosse from age five, that's the only thing you're ever doing. right? You're just doing your stick work and just doing those movements that are involved in that sport.
00:55:26
Speaker
And then you miss out on this whole, all this other stuff that can make you a better mover, make you a better problem solver, make you stronger, make you more resilient. You know what you mean?
00:55:36
Speaker
And so what happens a lot is, is that kids, maybe they're fine. Maybe they're, they're, they're doing good in, in their, their perspective sport, their lacrosse or soccer. But what I see is a,
00:55:48
Speaker
At some point, the physicality of the game changes. And if you don't have those physical skills, the strength, the speed, you know, all that type of stuff, you're going to fall by the wayside.
00:55:59
Speaker
You're going to get to a point where, you know, there's going to be a lot more contact in a lacrosse game, you know, maybe at age 13 or 14 than and there is at age nine or 10. If you're not prepared for that type of stuff, you're going to drop off.
00:56:13
Speaker
right and so you spent all these years just doing one thing whether you could have been doing a whole bunch of things playing multiple sports doing you know parkour you know uh whatever it is like just things that make you a better athlete make you stronger make you more physically able um because you were just focusing on one thing and so you see it a lot you see and that's when i get some kids i get in that don't they don't join the gym till they're 13 or 14 because all of a sudden like now they're slower and they're not keeping up and they're getting knocked around and, and, and now they're like, Oh, we got to, they're, they're almost trying to play catch up and they're going to start, they're going to start doing something outside of their sport to get better.
00:56:52
Speaker
Yeah. So that's the, that's, the you know, that's the one thing that I'm always talking about when, when it comes to sports specialization is like, you're just missing out on this whole world of, movement skill that you can be developing. and These skills will help you later on when you want to, you know, early specialization should specialization at all should be a late thing, not an early thing.
00:57:11
Speaker
You know what I mean? You should definitely want to get to that point. If you're an athlete and you, you know, you have goals for your sport, you definitely want to get to that point where you specialize. You know I mean?
00:57:21
Speaker
Just, it's about when not early that, you know, you want that foundation to be wide with a lot of different movement experiences. And then, it builds up over the years. You know, I mean, my old, my two, I'm all my kids.
00:57:35
Speaker
I mean, granted we live in a small town. So our, our, our sports program would probably not survive if we didn't have multi-sport kids. Yeah. But you know, my oldest plays college football right now, but he, his, you know, he played last year, his senior year, he played football. He played basketball. He played baseball.
00:57:55
Speaker
You know what I mean? And my, I have a junior now in high school and he plays three sports and my daughter, She's in the middle of basketball season right now. We're going to go right from basketball to softball. You know, there we're a multi-sport family because I just know how important it is to, yeah you know, to to be able to do a lot of things.
Resisting Early Specialization Pressure
00:58:12
Speaker
Yeah. And how would you help arm the parents that are feeling the political pressure that certain travel coaches are putting on them in this fear that their kid may fall behind if they don't specialize now?
00:58:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's ah it's a big, it's the biggest lie. It's the biggest lie going. And I hate coaches who do who use this because they they have no idea. Because when you really look at the best athletes in the world, those athletes did a lot of stuff, lot of different things growing up.
00:58:42
Speaker
You know I mean? That's a big, art you know, we were just having an argument about that on on Twitter this week. Because in in the soccer world, it seems to like, you know, these guys, even these elite coaches are like, if you don't specialize early in soccer, you'll never be good because so-and-so,
00:59:00
Speaker
all he did is play soccer growing up. But I'm like, it's just, there's millions and millions of kids who didn't make it, who specialized, right?
00:59:11
Speaker
Or maybe thousands, sorry, maybe not millions, but still thousands of kids that did specialize and never made it, never made it to, you know, the world cup. So like, that's not actually true.
00:59:22
Speaker
So I try to tell parents all the time, like you really need to develop your athleticism. If you don't develop that, those those skills, if you're not strong, if you're not fast, if you're not mobile, if you know, you don't have good body weight strength, and all this, true this specialization, that the thing that this, these coaches are trying to tell you to do, you're, it's never gonna, it's never gonna pan out, you know? Cause again, these club teams, this is a business. They're making money.
00:59:48
Speaker
You know what he mean? So sometimes it's like, you wonder, i don't understand it because like your club team could be better if you had some type of like strength and conditioning program and, in place or a place where you can send your kids to become more athletic.
01:00:03
Speaker
And a lot of times it's it's like, they're like, no, we just want you. We want all your money and you're not going anywhere else. Yeah. You know what i mean? I can't say there's a, there's a really, really large popular.
01:00:16
Speaker
They send kids. so that There's a very, very strong soccer organization. And and I've had numerous players that train with me over the years. um You know, they've gone on to play in college.
01:00:29
Speaker
And every time I reach out to the coach, the dude won't write me back. And he knows that I've trained a lot of these girls, some of his best girls. And the guy just like literally refuses to acknowledge my existence. It's wild.
01:00:41
Speaker
Just because like, i don't know what he's scared of. Like I'm here to, I want to help you. Let's let's do more of this. You know what i mean? But no, it's it's frustrating. Yeah, a lot of ego.
01:00:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I'm a big Pat Riley fan and I mean he's managed some egos in his career and he calls ego edging God out. So any of those guys on his team that started to express or show that he aimed to get ahead of it with some guys ah just ah older adults in this industry is too far gone.
01:01:16
Speaker
So hopefully they don't put, and I call them fantastic lies when those coaches sprinkle these thoughts into kids' minds or parents' minds. Because I've had teams that were negatively affected by it. Because you get this high school coach who's not getting paid that amount telling you right you're here, but somebody else told you you're up here.
01:01:37
Speaker
And who's wrong? Right. Right. Sure. It's, it's, it's had some nasty impacts in, in my coaching career. Oh, for sure. So yeah, just a ah fun question. I always love to, to end on who's the, your favorite fictional coach of all time, any sport, any genre anywhere.
Favorite Coaching Styles & Approaches
01:01:59
Speaker
Fictional, fictional.
01:02:03
Speaker
Hmm.
01:02:06
Speaker
Let me see. Fictional. Oh, You threw a curveball at me there. um Let me think through my my favorite stories here.
01:02:24
Speaker
Fictional coach. Give me one second.
01:02:37
Speaker
I don't know. I can't. I can tell you who my favorite real coach is. I'll take that.
01:02:47
Speaker
But a lot of people don't like him right now.
01:02:51
Speaker
But obviously, i'm ah i'm a huge i'm a huge ah I'm a huge New England fan. I would say not it was probably it's probably a tie. It's probably between Bill Belichick and Casey. Do you remember Casey Jones?
01:03:05
Speaker
He coached for the Celtics back in the 80s when Larry bird yeah Bird was there. i just can't imagine... I can't imagine having to like, so that, you know, that team, they had bird and age and, and, uh, parish and McHale. Like, again, like you were just talking about Pat Riley, like having to manage those guys and so like with how good they were, what he did to make those guys click.
01:03:28
Speaker
You know what I mean? And obviously, you know, we could talk about bill Belichick. He's I've always been like privy to like the grumpy old man coach, like who makes you work really hard. Like those guys never bothered me. Cause I played for a guy like that in high school.
01:03:42
Speaker
Like the Bob Knight too is another guy. Like i always loved, like I would love to play for him, even though he's probably an SOB. Like imp personally, like I would love to play for a guy like that because you end up loving those guys. and And when you, when you actually get to know them, you know what I mean? We actually get to to know guys like that. Or you trauma bond with your teammates and your lifelong friends.
01:04:04
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure. So, you know, um mean even my college high school, um my my college football coach, you know, he was a guy that was there for a long time. You know, and a little little intimidating at first, and then once you got to know him, like, you loved playing for You know, so I love that stuff. you yeah I'm going to have to get back to you on the fictional the fictional coach. that's a You just threw a curveball at me. I mean, i'm gonna have to people people love the Ted Lasso. I'm Chubbs Peterson, personally.
01:04:34
Speaker
Just attention, baby. I love Ted. I mean, i've watched i watched that that I watched that from start to finish and and loved it. Totally loved it. Um, so, you know, it funny. Like the, uh, do you remember the, um, do you remember the movie, uh, major league?
01:04:52
Speaker
Oh yeah. Yeah. Like that guy thing. Yeah. Yeah. That guy, right. Like they found him in a used car dealership or something. And then, you know, and he's, and he's, uh, he's, you know, one of the, I, I just love those old guys. I love the old, the old fart coaches. there Any, any, any, any, uh, any guy like that, it's, it's, uh,
01:05:12
Speaker
great for me because I love playing for those guys. Yeah. he Yeah. The, what I love about the fictional coaches, they almost turn up the volume on the caricature of coach.
01:05:24
Speaker
And then my high school coaches, whether it was football or lacrosse, they were just characters. So now whenever I get together with my high school buddies, we're all doing impersonations and telling the stories and it just,
01:05:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's such a fun representation. So there was a lot of character and trust and growth moments. But at the same time, man, there's some one liners that we will never forget that the guys threw at us.
01:05:51
Speaker
And it's like, what is this real life right now? 100 percent. 100 percent. My coach would say these like weird like like the like if it was raining out.
01:06:03
Speaker
He would say it's a quagmire out there because apparently that's like a swamp. Quagmire is the name of us, like another word for a swamp. Okay. And none of us, are none of us, yeah, none of us have heard that word before. And he's like, it's a quagmire out there. I'm like, what in the hell is it? had to go home and ask my dad, you know, it's like, so yeah, I totally feel you on the one-liners. always had something to say.
01:06:25
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, so i I always try, just use that as a tool to relate and in any way, shape, or form and just be sticky. Because then that's the voice inside their head. They're remembering, one, the fun stuff.
01:06:40
Speaker
But then like the short cues, the directions, alignment assignment technique, I turn those into one words. yeah Yeah, just layers to that. But it's yeah it's a way of connection in my mind, too.
Creative Coaching in Lacrosse
01:06:53
Speaker
That's cool. You know, it's funny, too, because I am not. I am not that coach to the guys I like to play for. I am not that guy. You know, I am, I'm much more like upbeat and like kind of fun and let's go and let's, you know, it's was interesting that I enjoyed playing for a certain type of guy and that I'm not that type of coach.
01:07:12
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, there's, there's that, that's the beauty of, you know, tonality. i can, I, switch it on when I get up here, they know what's serious. And I, yeah I, I aim not to, to curse at all. And I try to shape the the language of the other staff around because the kids that green lights them to curse in my mind and we can't hold them accountable if we're doing the same deal. So But then I was telling the coach yesterday that just, I was half joking, but it's kind of true. that I think about it. I'm like, I got, I got three F bombs in my back pocket for this season.
01:07:49
Speaker
So when I say it, the kids are, they know I'm going to mean business. I was half joking. um But now that I thought about it, I'm like, actually, yeah, I got three punch card here. So.
01:08:01
Speaker
Yeah, that's funny. That's a great, that's going to to steal that one for sure. t Take it. Well, Dude, i I appreciate you, man. One of the best follows. And then ah Yeah, just I got to lead middle school coaches to keep practice fun and engaging.
01:08:19
Speaker
So I'm going to like break it up into games where it's, yeah, it's specific skill, but then, hey, three fun minutes. And I'm going to be stealing a lot of lot of your stuff to keep them engaged and fun, but it's athletic.
01:08:32
Speaker
So we're we may have a stick in our hands, but i know I know the deep meaning behind a lot of the stuff we're going to As long as the parents see a stick in their hands, they're to be okay, right? So I'm going to tell you, can I tell you a quick story? Please. Years, ah years ago, I was working at a different facility and it was a big indoor facility. facility So they have like indoor fields and stuff.
01:08:52
Speaker
And they had a lacrosse clinic going on and the coach never showed up. And they're like, listen, dude, like we need someone right now. And I was off. So I didn't have anything going on. Like we need a, I'm like, I've never played lacrosse in my life.
01:09:05
Speaker
They're like, it doesn't matter. Like we need a coach right now. So I'm like, all right, whatever. So I jump out there. And I just like was like doing drills where like we jump over our stick or they were doing lunges with their stick overhead or we were just like swinging. And I was like, had the kids spread out they were like swinging their stick around. Like I was like, oh, this is great for your, you know, throwing. And like yeah the parents could hear me, right? The parents could hear me the whole time.
01:09:29
Speaker
And at the end of the thing, they all like a bunch of them went into the office were like, we want this guy to teach this clinic for now on. Like that was the best, that was the best lacrosse clinic And I like, I don't know one thing about teaching lacrosse skills.
01:09:42
Speaker
But, yeah, that's this is just like you said. Just get the stick in their hand. And then the parents are like, oh, this is amazing. Yeah. Yeah. So, dude, that's – but they had fun. And they connect that to lacrosse, and they're going to keep playing. Like that's – Sure. that That's the goal. And I try to get that message across. The goal of a sixth-grade coach is to get them to be a seventh-grade player.
01:10:05
Speaker
And then that's a win. um Yep. Yeah. Awesome.
Jeremy Frisch's Social Media & Programs
01:10:09
Speaker
Cool. Well, if if people want to give you a follow and continue to learn and um yeah, man, you got a lot of knowledge to share. So I'd love to to pass that along. If you wouldn't mind sharing contact and where to follow you.
01:10:23
Speaker
Yeah, you can find me on, um you can find me on Instagram. I'm pretty sure it's just Jeremy Frisch. um It's same on Twitter as well. Just look up that name and and you'll, I'm sure you'll find all the posts and most of the, But I spend a lot of time on Instagram just you know trying to spread the good word and get everything that we have on there so people can see it. And really what I won what always aim to do is just give people examples and things that they can take and use themselves. You know what I mean? So and then in the last couple of years, I have a an athletic games course that I sell. And I also have...
01:11:02
Speaker
Another athletic development program that's called Speed Demons as well. That's so people can get access to and and kind of learn and do things on their own if they wanted to have ideas for their practices or at home in their backyard or their own facility. There's always athletic development stuff you can do. Running, jumping, sprinting, rolling.
01:11:22
Speaker
you know, there's always something
Conclusion & Call to Action
01:11:23
Speaker
you can do in the beginning of of your sport practice that's going to enhance the athletic ability of your athletes. Thank you for tuning in to another episode the Captains and Coaches podcast. If you like what you heard here today, be sure to like, subscribe, rate, and review the show. If you want to continue to get updates weekly,
01:11:40
Speaker
For my work in the field and highlights coaches like Jeremy, sign up for our newsletter at newsletter.captainsandcoaches.com. Thank you again to Jeremy for joining us.
01:11:52
Speaker
You for listening, everyone. See you next time. Thank you for helping us. Ready, ready? See? Bye.