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Podcast with Cathy Helin
16 Plays9 days ago
My guest today is Cathy Helin from Bearcat Coaching.
With a background that includes being a star collegiate athlete, basketball coach, entrepreneur, and a mother, Cathy brings a rich tapestry of experiences to her coaching.
This diversity allows her to connect with teens on multiple levels, understanding their struggles not just academically or athletically, but also on a personal and family level.
Cathy’s own path, from facing struggles with confidence as a teen and young adult to becoming a beacon of strength and leadership, is a testament to the transformative power of developing a strong mindset. Her personal growth narrative resonates deeply, providing authentic inspiration for teens and student-athletes facing similar challenges.
This is so good for families with young athletes!
Go to Cathy’s website here: https://bearcatmindset.com/
Get her book here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DWY1PZXZ?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
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Transcript
Introduction to Podcast and Focus on Family
00:00:31
Speaker
Welcome to Russell Jones Speaks, where we explore big issues that matter to parents, grandparents, and kids. We tackle intergenerational issues. Everything that affects parents, grands, and children is on the table.
00:00:44
Speaker
That includes health and fitness, relationships, attitude, family unity, vision, adversity, God, and anything else that might arise. The goal is for you to take away something that you can use in your life immediately.
00:00:58
Speaker
I really want to help improve the lives of families, especially those with 10 to 13 year old middle schoolers. Let's talk. Go to RussellJonesSpeaks.com to get an amazing gift and then jump on a call with me.
Guest Introduction: Kathy Halene's Journey
00:01:12
Speaker
but Today, guest is Kathy Halene from Bearcat Coaching. With a background that includes being a star college athlete, basketball coach, entrepreneur, and a mother, Kathy brings a rich tapestry of experiences to her coaching.
00:01:28
Speaker
This diversity allows her to connect with teens on multiple levels, understanding their struggles, not just academically or athletically, but also on a personal and family level. Kathy's own path from facing struggles with confidence as a teen and young adult to becoming a beacon of strength and leadership is a testimony to the transformative power of developing a strong mindset.
00:01:52
Speaker
Her personal growth narrative resonates deeply, providing authentic inspiration for teens and student athletes facing similar challenges. So welcome, Kathy.
00:02:03
Speaker
Awesome, Russell. Thank you so much for having me. I'm really excited that we connected and that we have an opportunity to work together to impact the lives of of many. So I'm thankful for the work that you're doing and just grateful for joining forces.
00:02:18
Speaker
Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So <unk> till let's start at the beginning. i know you were born at a very young age, but where are you born? where you go up give me some Give me something here.
Basketball's Impact and Coaching Philosophy
00:02:29
Speaker
Yeah, I won't give you my age, but um i I've always loved sports. I grew up in a sports world. My brothers played hockey. They were older than me. I idolized everything they did and wanted to play hockey.
00:02:41
Speaker
And at that time, we didn't have girls hockey. And my dad looked at me and handed me a basketball because that's what he played and said, I'm tired of sitting in a cold rink. You're going to play basketball. Little did I know that that orange ball would change and save my life um in many ways. It has given me relationships, um confidence.
00:03:01
Speaker
It's about the only place I had confidence growing up. um It taught me discipline and and just so many lessons and connections within my life. And basically the reason why i have Bearcat coaching today is because of that. I'm just thankful for, you know, I had i had an amazing upbringing. I didn't have parents that ah put a lot of pressure on me.
00:03:21
Speaker
um But I always felt that pressure to do more within myself. um And so basketball kind of brought me through it. And then um kind of I've always had it in my life. I've coached for over 30 years. Well, 20 plus years, I guess, almost 30 creeping on it.
00:03:37
Speaker
And ah it just remains as as a part of my life. But the part that goes with coaching is um the impacting of other people's lives. It's not just the game. It's how you reach them through the game. So.
00:03:49
Speaker
Awesome. Awesome. Now, wait, you were the baby of the family, right? I am the baby of the family. Yeah, my brothers are quite a bit older than me. They're nine and 10 years older than me. So um I kind of grew up as an only child. I was very, I was called the spoiled one. She gets whatever she wants. You know, mom and dad were a little bit better off when um I was growing up, we were, you know, middle to higher class, but when my brothers were growing up, it was, it was pinch and pennies and and that kind of
Financial Dynamics and Sports Experience
00:04:17
Speaker
thing. So we grew up in very different dynamics. And so I had the opportunity to do AAU and travel um and, you know, play college basketball and and that kind of thing. So it I am the baby. Yeah, I am the baby. Yeah.
00:04:34
Speaker
So your dad, and well, he got to sit in heated seats driving to and f from endless basketball games. so Yeah, yeah. Not like the arena, though. No, no hockey arena. I love the hockey arena. I loved playing it in there. And um I have nieces and nephew that play and love watching them. But ah yeah, he his love was basketball, definitely. And, you know, we always joke around that he retired when I started playing college basketball just so he could watch every game.
00:05:04
Speaker
and And amazingly, I think they only missed two of my college basketball games, which is crazy to think about. And i think they were at just about every AAU tournament too. So really, really supportive parents.
00:05:17
Speaker
Yeah, we know parents like that for sure. ah so ah So, okay, sports. It's a big part of the American landscape. um you know Sometimes too big a part.
Competitive Nature of Sports and Learning Focus
00:05:33
Speaker
ah Like your perspective, so sports in and of itself, And like the big picture, you know, we have this concept of competition, beating somebody else, a winning, right beating might not be the best word, but, ah and, um and we feel good about it and we feel bad when we lose. Like, like how, how does that work out? Like when you're working with, with kids to like, kind of give them a ah good perspective of what sports is really all about.
00:06:09
Speaker
I think we lose focus when it comes to sports. When we lose focus, I mean, we start focusing on keeping up with everybody else. If we don't do this, then we're not going to have the same opportunity. If we if we don't play every single weekend and we're not involved in every single activity, our kids are going to fall behind.
00:06:28
Speaker
And I think we've lost the whole, ah you know, the purpose of it. And, you know, when I talked about growing up with sports and the lessons it gave me and the relationships, like,
00:06:39
Speaker
That truly is the meaning of ah participating in that. like I understand there's a select few that are going to go on to play professionally and do it as a career and things like that. And they're they're very few and far between. But also when you approach it in a way of like just being present in the process instead of chasing end result,
00:07:02
Speaker
it It totally takes away when you chase that end result, it takes away from the whole experience and you lose focus of like what it really is about. My husband and i just had this conversation this morning about, you know, we, we win, we, we live in such like a, a win. You have to win.
00:07:18
Speaker
And it's all about winning. And I'll probably get on a tangent about youth sports now and that i and I went down that road. But, um you know, when you make it all about winning and you don't make it about the kids and the process of learning and getting a foundation and understanding what teamwork is about and understanding about building a program and and getting through the failures. and And it's not about you. It's about your team. And um that's when we lose sight of what we're really doing.
00:07:48
Speaker
when we put pressure on our kids that they have to make this team, or um if you don't do this, then you're not going to get that. Ultimately they have to make that decision.
00:07:59
Speaker
it has to be an intrinsic, intrinsic motivation within them. And, and when we lose sight, especially as parents, when we want it more than our kid, that's when the trouble kind of starts and the pressure starts.
00:08:12
Speaker
Yeah.
Changes in Youth Sports and Norwegian Model
00:08:13
Speaker
I think, um you know, Being elderly now, i mean, growing up, you know, in the 1950s and 1960s, sports, you know, it was going down to the field or going down to the park and choosing up sides.
00:08:29
Speaker
There was always, you know, it was the two best kids got to, you know, choose and they picked the other kids. And, you know, ultimately there was the last ones that were picked.
00:08:40
Speaker
And, you I think that that's all gone because the kids, the kids with the last ones picked, either they were the youngest or they really didn't have the ability to play well.
00:08:53
Speaker
And it was kind of reality check for those kids that maybe they should be doing something else. Uh, if they don't want to, you know, if they still want to participate in the sport, you know, going into school and everything else.
00:09:05
Speaker
And I think we, uh, you know When I got back into sports with with my kids, then it was like, oh, my goodness. you know Everybody's on the team. and I'm into participation. But then it was you know everybody gets a trophy. Everybody's a winner. and then But then the kids would would say, well, yeah, but i didn't you know ultimately they're going to say, gee, I didn't really win anything. you know I just got to go on.
00:09:31
Speaker
So anyway, the whole system is totally changed from like pure recreation, you know, the older kids in the neighborhood teaching the younger kids in the neighborhood, if the dads were around because most dads were working.
00:09:45
Speaker
um And now it's it's a whole different thing, you know Yeah. Yeah. It's a whole different animal. And, you know, I don't know, like I played AAU. I loved AAU, Russell. Like that, I met the most incredible people. Like we had amazing memories. um And I do think the landscape of AAU has changed. There's so many different levels and different teams now that everybody can play it.
00:10:10
Speaker
um And it's to some degree about the almighty dollar. But, you know, i was i was reading a ah book about, um you know, um athletes' mindsets and things like that. And they did a study on Norwegian athletes.
00:10:25
Speaker
And the crazy thing about that study is um in Norway, they don't track giving out, like keeping score, making championships or anything like that until they're 13 years old.
00:10:36
Speaker
And if you look at their winter Olympic records, and how phenomenal they are in the Winter Olympics. It's kind of a testimony to what what they're kind of going after.
00:10:47
Speaker
So, I mean, there's two sides of the coin. um You know, I think it's important for kids to learn how to compete and how to lose and get back up and fail and um how to win gracefully and and those kind of things. But, you know, we're just kind of running into this world where things are are changing. And like you said, it's not like how you and I grew up.
00:11:08
Speaker
You know, I would go to open gym all the time and play against the boys and nobody had to push me to be there. It wasn't organized. Yeah. They said the gym was open from this time to this time, but it wasn't like you have to be at this workout and then this workout.
00:11:22
Speaker
And it's just the landscape has changed a lot. Yeah. Yeah. It's, a ah that there's really, uh, really a place for somebody like you,
00:11:38
Speaker
to help put families, not just kids, but families, help them put this whole thing into perspective. What's really important, and what's really valuable. and we'll get We'll get to that in a minute, but I just want to do my playing center rant.
00:11:54
Speaker
So that was your position. Am I correct when you're coming up and playing ball? Yeah. So ah in high school, I played center or post, whatever you want to call it. um And when i I was growing up, the game has changed so much, ah which which I love. I love the different language. I love the the higher level. I love the like women are competing at a different level. um And when I played in high school, it was like stick your butt in the post.
00:12:21
Speaker
Don't come out of there. You don't need to handle the ball. Just put your back to the basket, post up and make a move. And I didn't really get, and I played in AU too. So when I went to college and everybody was significantly taller than I at d two um I had to go to a forward position. And it was it
Adapting Skills: Life and Sports Parallels
00:12:42
Speaker
was a ah pretty big adjustment for me just because I had to develop a different side of my game.
00:12:48
Speaker
And i think we kind of talked about this before, but it's such a metaphor for life. Like if something that you were doing yesterday isn't working today. You have to make an adjustment.
00:13:01
Speaker
and And so many times we get stuck in the, but that's what I've always been good at. And that's what I've always done. um And recognizing where your talents are needed in a different area, especially on a team,
00:13:13
Speaker
When you need to develop a different area so you can support your team and in that way, um you can set aside your your ego and and what you potentially are best at.
00:13:24
Speaker
Now, me stepping out of my comfort zone and and developing my outside game just opened the door for so many opportunities. And when we start to realize that as human beings, when we step out of our comfort zone every single time, we um we open the door to different relationships, opportunities, and growth within ourselves.
00:13:43
Speaker
Yeah. right. So that makes a lot of sense, but it didn't make sense when I was growing up. because let me Let me hear your story. I was the tallest and in sixth grade. I was the only sixth grader that made the...
00:13:57
Speaker
the whatever the age was like six, seventh and eighth grade, but they only took one sixth grader every year. And the only reason I made it was because I was the tallest one. And like by eighth grade, I was six foot two.
00:14:10
Speaker
And the only coaching per se was, and And God bless the, it was dads, you know, just volunteering and everything. And this is just in a small town and everything. And I don't think there was a rich basketball tradition.
00:14:25
Speaker
I mean, you know, I read a book by Jerry West. Probably most people don't remember Jerry West, but, and ah you know, the Knicks were a big deal back then, you know, growing up across from New York. and um But we had to like create our own,
00:14:41
Speaker
we We were told we were a center. You're not going to handle the ball. You go in the post, like you said. um And so I said, okay, if that's my assignment. and i But on my own, I had to develop all at right hand, left hand, hooks, under, up, fadeaways, everything.
00:14:57
Speaker
You know, no shots no more than like eight to ten feet from the basket. and um And then, you know, high school, freshman year, awesome, dominated, went to a big city and still was – everybody hadn't gone through their growth spurt yet.
00:15:13
Speaker
Yeah. And I stopped. Everybody accused me of smoking cigarettes because that was the thing back then. If you smoke cigarettes, it'll stunted your growth, right? Yeah. So I was like stuck at six foot two. And I mean, I was able, i was able to navigate.
00:15:27
Speaker
i you know, it was my call that I didn't play college ball, but, I just felt so like looking at the game only a couple of years later, I just felt so limited in my skill set, never working on ball handling, just enough to do you know get your shot off and everything. I mean, any kind of shooting, all this stuff.
00:15:48
Speaker
And you fast forward, then one of my daughters decided to play. And was like, I went to a shooting clinic. was like, oh my goodness, this is this is amazing. I never had anything like that.
00:16:01
Speaker
So, yeah, it's it's it's an interesting, ah you know, and I was joking, you know, yesterday with you a little bit about, you know, assigned a position from birth, you know, because of, you know, my stature or whatever.
00:16:14
Speaker
But, um ah yeah, it is a metaphor for a lot of things. it Definitely. um Yeah. And I think, you know, talking about that, we've seen such a shift in the game, too, of,
00:16:26
Speaker
We went from, you know, you play your position and that's your role to we are so focused on skill development, which is great, but then we forget how to take on a role.
00:16:39
Speaker
and and play as a team too. So there's like two different dynamics there. It becomes very center focused of not center the position, but center focused of like the individual of I have all these skills. I need to showcase those skills in a game instead of showcasing what I could do for my team, if that makes sense. Oh yeah.
00:16:59
Speaker
Yeah. Oh yeah. ah yeah It's a totally different game now. And I don't want to be league or everybody about basketball, but I mean, we never played end-to-end, sideline-to-sideline. I mean, unless it was, you know, full-court press at the end of a game or something like that. But, I mean, the game now is just it's just amazing.
00:17:20
Speaker
it It is. The athleticism that that kids have developed because of that, it's it's pretty amazing. All right, so ah let me talk a little bit about coaches. Yeah.
00:17:34
Speaker
Just one story, and you you can just explain this or give a little bit deeper understanding. I had a daughter that decided she wanted to play basketball.
00:17:47
Speaker
you know She was playing little kid sports you know like everybody else, but it was around sixth grade when she said, I really want to be a basketball player.
Building Relationships in Coaching
00:17:54
Speaker
And she really got committed to it and everything else. So um she played like you're talking about. She played school team. She played summer league, aa And, you know, year and every year, all the way through high school, she had a very good high school career.
00:18:12
Speaker
By the time she reached senior high school, finished the basketball season, and she she just couldn't do basketball anymore. ah And she went out for the track team and threw the shot or something like that.
00:18:28
Speaker
Then you know that kind of gave her that mental break and then she went on, she played D3 ball and everything in college. But at the end of her college career, just remember driving and just one of those reflective dad-daughter moments and I said, honey, like all the teams you played on, all the coaches that you had over the years, like who here you know are your favorite coaches? who Who would you want to play for again?
00:18:54
Speaker
And she just named one. She couldn't think of any other except one coach that was coached her during AAU. She couldn't name one other coach that she would want to go and play for again.
00:19:07
Speaker
And every time I think of that story, I get kind of sad. you know like All the coaches out there are why? I know it's a tough job, but you know, when the focus is on winning, when it's, when it's either the school, you know, the, they got to win or it's AAU because parents are playing, everybody's got to pay and they want to win.
00:19:26
Speaker
Um, but like how do coaches, how, how should they be navigating this? Cause it doesn't seem like they take a holistic approach most of the time. Yeah.
00:19:37
Speaker
Did your daughter say why she would play for that coach again? Did she ever tell you why she, she, He just believed in her. He would he would pushhar push her, push her, push her.
00:19:50
Speaker
and But at the end of every practice, there was there was a pat on the back, high five or something like that that just said, you know you know, you're doing great. Come back again.
00:20:01
Speaker
Come back again. Come back again. And it was just that that at the end of every hard workout, every game, It was just that support. There was just that, you know, it was love. He just, he loved on the, on the kids. He just used a great, great.
00:20:17
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Well, you just nailed it right there. it's It's the relationships. And, you know, I believe for the most part that coaches get into coaching for the right reasons, you know, and and and sometimes they get into it because they have a kid that plays and somebody needs to step up or, you know, they love the game.
00:20:33
Speaker
um But you only know what you you know, right? If you were brought up in a certain environment, you bring that upbringing into your coaching. And so if if a coach isn't expanding and understanding like the impact that they're having on kids when they're coaching at the youth level and or even at the high school and college level, um it can have a really big um negative or positive influence on these kids' lives.
00:20:59
Speaker
And when you describe your daughter's coach, it's exactly why people remember coaches on the on the good side. It's because those relationships are developed. They feel more as a person than a player. They're cared about. um and And the lessons behind it. and it's not a you know And just like I talked about before, focusing on the process and the lessons instead of the the end result.
00:21:26
Speaker
And when you when you think of these as as people and developing people and breaking it down and helping them understand why, i think so many times we expect them to just know, to just know the game.
00:21:39
Speaker
and And we also don't understand as, go ahead. No, no, I think that this coach, too you know, something just said to this coach. So, I mean, he was he was a legit coach. I mean, he knew the game. I mean, it wasn't you know he was just going out there giving everybody high fives. I mean, he could he could absolutely because he understood the game, you know, at ah at a high level.
00:22:02
Speaker
But he still had that personal side. I'm sorry. I interrupted you. No, you're good. No, i mean, and there's a balance. There's a balance between holding kids accountable, but still making them feel like they are loved and cared about and that that they matter. There's outside stuff. I mean, through all my coaching, um yes, am I competitive? Absolutely. I want to win more than anybody.
00:22:23
Speaker
But ultimately, it's these kids' lives and future. And, you know, I've had conversations with kids on the side where parents are going through divorce. You know, they they have an eating disorder.
00:22:34
Speaker
They're struggling with a relationship. They're struggling in school. um You know, all these different things come up as a coach. And sometimes we don't realize when we step into that coaching process,
00:22:45
Speaker
position. I've always said you need like a psychology degree in order to to be a coach. But there's something true about that because you're dealing with, I mean, you're spending a lot of time with these kids and you're you're with them on the highest moments of their life and some of the lowest moments of their life.
00:23:00
Speaker
And you have to be that solid ground that they can come to. and that sometimes can be a lot of pressure if you let it be pressure instead of a privilege, because ultimately coaching is one of the most utmost privileges that you could have.
00:23:13
Speaker
you You get to be around the game that you love. You get to be around kids that love the game and have an ultimate impact on them. They get to come to a safe place if something outside isn't safe, that kind of thing. Yeah.
00:23:25
Speaker
Okay. so and So one of the things you do, you still, don't know if you still coach basketball teams, but I know your business um is is working with athletes and their families, right?
00:23:40
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So I do a couple different things. My my business, Bearcat Coaching, I work with individuals one-on-one and parents, but I also work with sports teams, whether they're in high school, college, or club teams.
00:23:52
Speaker
um and And so we have a couple different dynamics there. And then I do still coach basketball just because I have daughters at play and I don't want to step down. I want to be a part of that journey too. um And when you live in a small town, it's it's tough to find coaches as well. So I feel like that's kind of what I've been called to do as well. But for Bearcat coaching, um you know, working with with teams, I come in and I work with them like a half day session. I'll come in there as a keynote, whatever the team needs. I have a pretty extensive talk with the coach on what they see, things like that.
00:24:26
Speaker
um And then we kind of develop the program from there. So I've done a couple different things. I've done, you know, like a ah three hour session. I've done, i have ah like a three day retreat coming up in October with a a Division Two basketball team.
00:24:39
Speaker
um And then I have follow up Zoom sessions with these teams as well. And so i've got some pretty cool stories about the successes that we've had with the teams. And it and and it doesn't necessarily always show on the the wins and losses, the ticks up there, but the individual wins that are occurring with that. And then on the one-on-one side, working individually with these these student athletes and um Sometimes I meet with them weekly. Sometimes it's by bi-weekly or monthly. um you know Whatever the the parents, because the most important thing for me is that the parent and the child are on the same page.
00:25:18
Speaker
And naturally, organically, the relationship between the parent and the child becomes stronger, which is really cool to see. um So the things that we discover, and I have parent check-ins monthly to um the things that we discover about their child that maybe they wouldn't have taken the time to to find out or didn't realize.
Parent-Child Alignment in Coaching
00:25:38
Speaker
And of course, what the what the child or athlete and I talk about is private unless it it flags something that's there in danger, but it's a safe place for them to meet. But it also brings a safe place for me to encourage the parents to navigate maybe it this way or give them tools to this way and then give their child tools on how they can navigate certain things. All right. So, okay. So let's just walk me through a sample client. I'm a,
00:26:07
Speaker
um you know, dad and I have, uh, pick anyone in my kids. They probably would, they'd probably say that I wish we had somebody like this in, uh, in, in our lives, uh, when we were playing, because, you know, you just gave us a headache, but, but, uh, we were, uh, nah, they wouldn't say that, but let's just say, you know, I, I reach out to you. you, do you train people remotely too?
00:26:32
Speaker
Yeah. You just had zoom. So let's say I reach out to you. I'm in, uh, South Carolina. I got a, uh, a 14 year old boy that wants to be a basketball star.
00:26:43
Speaker
And I'm kind of lost right now. I'm struggling. I'm struggling. Where do I go? Can I come to you? Yeah. Yeah. So the first thing I do is I'd book a ah Zoom call with you and have a conversation of some of the things that you're seeing.
00:26:58
Speaker
And then the next step would be to meet with your son together to get you on the same page. Because I need to have the buy-in from the kid and you at the same time. And so that's, that's important to me. It's not the parent going, you're going to go see this person, you know, and I've met with people that have been to psychologists and psychiatrists, and I'm not, I'm not saying that's not a good thing at all. I'm just saying that sometimes it's not a fit.
00:27:21
Speaker
And, um, the difference between, ah myself and a psychologist or psychiatrist is I'm a coach. I'm a mom, um, I'm a, you know, an old athlete, um you know, so ah the experience and the wisdom that comes with that.
00:27:38
Speaker
But also it's, you know, it's, it's a conversation about what they love. If your son truly loves basketball and that's what he wants to do, we develop that bond immediately. And then we can have conversations around that.
00:27:50
Speaker
And then everything else that comes from that, we start to open up like the underlying true reason why maybe he doesn't have confidence or, you know, whatever, whatever you is potentially challenged with.
00:28:02
Speaker
And then we kind of work from there. So then we set up a cadence of meetings, whether it's weekly or every other week. um And we do that for a minimum of three months, because I want to make sure that we establish that relationship and we can get ah a good cadence going and, and get the good, it's, it's tough to meet for one month and say, okay, you're, you're ready to go. You know what I mean?
00:28:26
Speaker
um you, you really have to dive deep and sometimes it takes people longer to, um, open up and, ah be open to self-development, discover those things about themselves. Everybody's different.
00:28:38
Speaker
So, ah so you're given the, uh, you're given the athlete assignments in between sessions with you, right? Yeah, not necessarily. I mean, so we we talk about things, but I do give them challenges that are going to um challenge their their mindset. And so if it's one challenge could be stepping out of your comfort zone. So we're going list three things that we're going to do this week that are going to step out of your comfort zone. They may not be big. And and like I said, every kid is different.
00:29:08
Speaker
One thing out of a comfort zone is maybe way different than another kid. um and then i also give them tools that i challenge them to use those tools and practices and games so we can we can talk about it in our next session to say okay what did you notice is something different is there something that we can adjust or do next time it's things like that well okay so uh i mean we'll talk about we can tell people about it later but your book champion your future um yeah i went through that and it's very extensive in terms of areas of life that, you know, when I was 14 or 15 years old, I didn't even and think about.
00:29:48
Speaker
So do you have the kids go through that or is that kind of just comes through you? Or, I mean, I don't know. Can you get a kid to sit down and read a book? I guess. That's the question. Yeah. Some kids you can't. And I've had all different scenarios and that's the beauty of it. Like nobody, it's not cookie cutter.
00:30:06
Speaker
and And my program isn't cookie cutter. Will I walk them through some of the things in my book? Absolutely. Do I think it's important for kids to build core values? For sure. They need to know who they are. They need to discover those things. So some of those tools, yes.
00:30:19
Speaker
And I've also had situations where kids are hesitant to start meeting because they've had bad past experiences and the parent has given them that book and then they've gone to the parent and okay, now I'm ready meet.
00:30:30
Speaker
So everybody's on a different, different path and how that works. Um, Yeah. and And there's a lot of great tools and tips, not only for student athletes. I wrote it for the student athlete. I actually wrote it for the old me. Like what what did I need as a student athlete when I lack confidence?
00:30:47
Speaker
What would I have benefited from reading and picking up? Because I was willing. i was at that that bottom in college where i went to the bookstore at the mall and picked out a self-help book. And that was the first self-help book that I ever got.
00:31:01
Speaker
And if that self-help book, Champion Your Future, was on the bookshelf, imagine what difference that would have made in a person like me. And so it's it's it's written for the athlete, but I've heard parents say they've gotten more out of it as well.
00:31:14
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, just checking boxes. yo we We used to have a thing, a personal growth and development wheel, we called it. And You know, you really want to strive for balance in your life because, you know, we all like to work with our strengths, but a lot of times we kind of try to bury our our weaknesses. But again, that takes away from full development of self.
00:31:38
Speaker
And I think, you know, in your book, you talk about a lot of those areas that...
Developing Mindsets and Life Skills
00:31:44
Speaker
you wouldn't say, well, what's this about basketball? I came to you for basketball. and But at the same time, they're they're actually going through ah a serious personal growth period when they're working with you.
00:32:00
Speaker
Yeah. Well, and I think it's important too that we stay diversified, meaning we have a wide range of experiences. when we is so just just observing, this is me just observing. I watch basketball closely. like I watch you know and college basketball, a little bit of the WNBA, things like that. and you know So take Haley VanLith, for example.
00:32:23
Speaker
Have you heard of Haley VanLith? Maybe. Okay. So she, she plays for Chicago sky. What's that? Oh, she's, oh, she's a pro now. I'm sorry. Okay. good She's a pro now. Yeah. So she started out at Louisville, went to LSU and then she ended up at TCU um and phenomenal player, phenomenal player, but she's done interviews and now coming out about her mental health and how she struggled. And one thing she said in one of the interviews that I was like, that's spot on is she talked about how she wished she would have had some outside outlets other than basketball.
00:32:56
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that's so important for people to remember is that when we we get so focused and so specified on a certain thing and we don't broaden our range on on things that can expand our mind and expand our relationships and connections and things like that, um it it almost buries you.
00:33:17
Speaker
and You know, I work with with athletes that are D1 recruits and um have aspirations to go pro, but also bringing that balance their life, like reminding mom and dad that it's okay to say no to a tournament because everybody wants your your kid to play in it because they are good.
00:33:35
Speaker
And it's okay to take time as a family to go to the lake and and have those grounding moments when you're with each other and be outside. And I read your book too over the weekend. And a lot of it resonated with me as well as, you know, making sure that you're taking care of yourself, mind, body, and spirit and doing all the things.
00:33:56
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So, um, there's things around an athlete that you talk about. Environment, relationships, overall health, eating, supplementing, sleep.
00:34:10
Speaker
So that's obviously a lot of those things, you know the parents have to buy into that. The kids, depending what age, they might not even know what you're talking about. So like that's, do you get a lot of resistance from parents if you start addressing those areas?
00:34:28
Speaker
Like, you know, like, excuse me, coach, just stay in your lane. We just want basketball here. or Or, you know, you know we want to eat our junk food. You know, we don't want to take vitamins and we like staying up late.
00:34:40
Speaker
You know, we don't want to sleep too much. I mean, how do you how do you work that into the whole thing? I guess the young person has to trust you and believe in you.
00:34:51
Speaker
But those habits have to be reinforced probably right by home life.
00:34:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. um Fortunately, I feel like I'm in a space where the the parents typically get it. If they're seeking out ah a mindset coach for their athlete, I think they understand the importance of um nutrition and sleep or or it's been brought to their attention in some manner.
00:35:14
Speaker
But there's also little things like I challenged one of my younger athletes um with her cell phone and social media. I said, let's put your phone to bed before you go to bed because she was bringing in her room and staying up all night.
00:35:26
Speaker
And so she plugged her phone in, in the living room. And she told me that her dad goes, Hey, don't you want your phone? And, and like, that was a big aha moment for me to understand, like, sometimes we just don't know what we don't know.
00:35:39
Speaker
And if you're not consciously working on these habits, if you're not aware of it um and you get sucked into the things that are are holding us back, um you know, social media, the sugar, um hanging around people that don't don't drive you and lift you up, um you know, garbage in, garbage out, things that you're listening to, all that.
00:35:59
Speaker
um you just don't know. And so every, every person, every family's on a different level. But like, again, I said before, I feel fortunate that I'm in a space that a lot of people are aware of, of those things. There's just minor tweaks that maybe that we can do and they seem to be very open to it.
00:36:17
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, the social media thing is, it's just off the rails. I
Social Media's Impact and Time Management
00:36:23
Speaker
just find myself, I just, sometimes I'll be, I'll look at something and the next thing I look up, it's 20 minutes later and i didn' how did I get here?
00:36:33
Speaker
I mean, it's, it's a whole different world. This is, it's just insane. But in my point of view and ah you know what am I missing? What, are what do I need to know? What I, you know, Oh, that's hysterical. I do need to laugh. So it's okay.
00:36:48
Speaker
But yeah. ah Yeah. Tell me about, and this is cause I'm like sold. ah Tell me about film sessions. Yeah. Like as when you're coaching a team, I never experienced that. I don't.
00:37:03
Speaker
I guess they had cameras back then. ah Yeah. yeah Yeah. So I wrote about this in my book and I'm like, man, I'm aging myself with this because it's changed so much over the years.
00:37:15
Speaker
And, um, you know, I'm a, I'm a true believer. If you study the game, you understand it more. Like, uh, you know, if, if you're smarter than the opposing team, you can, you don't have to be as talented or, as, as athletic, you can, you can beat them because you know, the game better, but,
00:37:33
Speaker
As far as film goes, like when I was in high school, i don't know if we watched any film. We had scouting. No, I don't even know if we had scouting reports. We maybe talked about the other players. And then when I got to college, we started watching film and it was really awkward for me. I'm like, I have to watch myself. What do you, and I looked at it as more of like, it's about me instead of actually like studying the game.
00:37:55
Speaker
But the funny thing is, is when we watched film in college, it was still on the video cassette Cassette. So if you needed to share film with another team, you had to make make a copy of it, put it in a package and send it out in the mail to the other team.
00:38:11
Speaker
Okay. So that's then. Now we have what we call, huddle. Um, we have game changer, all those different apps, um, online. So you can live stream games.
00:38:24
Speaker
You can share the games with other teams. But the really cool thing is, is when you watch film with your teams, you can break it down to certain moments. so The coach can go in and break film down, point out specifically for a position, assign it to that person.
00:38:39
Speaker
So like take football, for example, if you're just looking at your blockers and you just want to focus in on the plays, you can set that up within huddle. And like put arrows on there and put and call out names of like, here here's the adjustment that you you need to make on this. Like it it gets so detailed and and that's why it gets, it's really, really cool.
00:39:00
Speaker
Don't get me wrong, but it can be overwhelming for a young athlete as they're getting into it. So um it I think it's a wonderful tool if you want to study the game and be really good at it. And um also it's it's great for scouting your opponent as well.
00:39:14
Speaker
Right. So an upcoming game against Team X and we get to watch film and the coach is helping us, tell him you know pointing out tendencies, not just for the whole team, but individuals' tendencies too, right? If you're a man-to-man defense team, right? i mean you're going to know, you know, just this person goes to the left or the right more often. They're, you know, where yeah quick off the dribble, shoots three. Yep.
00:39:40
Speaker
It's just like, oh, that's just amazing. Anyway, okay. I'm dating myself. Sorry, but just, yeah, no, no, no, you're good. It's, it's, it's a fun world. It's, you could get lost in it for sure. Kind of like social media, but it's, ah it's fun studying other teams.
00:39:54
Speaker
All right. So within that and within coaching, you talk about, ah having either the teams you're talking to or the individuals, talk about active listening.
Film Study and Active Listening in Sports
00:40:06
Speaker
Tell us what that's all about, active listening. Yeah, so a couple things with active listening, you know, it's it's actually looking at someone and and either, you know, responding, repeating, if asking questions if you don't understand it.
00:40:20
Speaker
um You know, I've had athletes in the past where the quick answer is, i know, I know, I know. And That tells me, i know you're not listening when you when you already have an answer for something that I'm saying. And and that's such a great lesson. and And another reason why I love sports is it allows you to point out those certain things.
00:40:39
Speaker
Like, did you actually listen in the timeout? Because when you went on the court and you did what I told you to do in the timeout, you didn't do any of that. So active listening is, and if you don't understand asking questions, but you have to create an environment where it's okay to ask questions.
00:40:55
Speaker
And it's OK to pull someone aside and say, I don't understand this. Help me understand it more. um So, yeah, I think that's a big part of active listening. That's eye contact, too, right? That's got to be. Oh, for sure.
00:41:07
Speaker
because I mean, today, I mean, I've been into some schools in recent years and, ah you know, it's just tough making eye contact with kids a lot times. And and i always yeah I had to develop that myself. i that was That didn't come easy for me.
00:41:25
Speaker
but um yeah But it's good to know that somebody's teaching that because i mean that's another one of those skills that it transcends the game. It goes into your your professional business life, whatever you're going to do next.
00:41:37
Speaker
so who ah So what about, let's say, concentration? um That's another topic I pulled out of your book. And just thinking in terms of the state of the world today, we just hear about,
00:41:51
Speaker
ah you the inability to focus, ah you know, and the they attribute of everything from, you know, vaccines, food dyes to, you know, too much sugar ah and everybody, you know, there's labels for a lot of these reasons why they can't concentrate.
00:42:11
Speaker
Do you, do you give, ah like drills or anything that that kids can do, activities they can do to ah better their concentration? Or is that just something that kind of comes along with everything else that's going on?
00:42:26
Speaker
Well, I think you're spot on with concentration and how we lost that because we have so many things pulling our attention. i mean, going back to you're constantly on your phone, you know, I'm doing 14 things when i'm I'm driving somewhere just because I know that's a time that I can get stuff done, whether it's a phone call or or listen to a podcast, things like that. But um as far as like what kids kids do, a lot of ah work that I do with them is breathwork.
00:42:51
Speaker
Breathwork is so important. And when we take the time to breathe and just be present, it allows our bot to train our bodies to be in the moment and not be distracted. And it takes work.
00:43:03
Speaker
Like the first time I did yoga, I didn't like it. I hated it. I thought I needed to sweat. I needed to listen to loud music and I needed to get, get it done. But the older I've gotten, I realized the importance of actually sitting down and doing breath at work. whether it's box breathing, whether it's a five, six, seven count, um, different things. Um, so those, those, that tool alone, like just taking the time to actually do breath work and and there's like YouTube videos out there and stuff like that, that you can do meditation and breath work allows people to center themselves and be present.
00:43:36
Speaker
But the other thing I want to talk about with um not being able to concentrate is trauma. And I don't know if you want to go down that that road of of what trauma does to to kids and and adults even, but having that subconscious mind run of trauma takes away from their concentration.
Trauma, Focus, and Healing in Athletes
00:43:57
Speaker
And what I mean by that, yeah, yeah. And what what I mean by that, so i've I've studied under Dr. Don Wood out of Orlando Performance Institute, Inspired Performance Institute, and um he deals with with trauma. And he works with professional athletes and PTSD war um ah people, Olympians, things like that.
00:44:20
Speaker
And when we understand that In our subconscious mind, if we have something running constantly, that's in protection mode because our mind is meant to protect us. It's not out to hurt us.
00:44:31
Speaker
and And the biggest thing that he talks about and and what I try to to teach kids too is that there's nothing wrong with your mind. It's just doing what ah what it's naturally supposed to do. It's trying to protect you.
00:44:42
Speaker
So when you have something so that happened in the past and everybody's trauma looks different, when you have something that happened in the past and it's running in your subconscious mind trying to protect you, How do you concentrate on something when you're in school or at practice, when you're thinking, well, just got yelled at. I got yelled at. I'm going get yelled at. You know what I mean?
00:45:01
Speaker
Like there were whatever happened in their past. So understanding the importance of breathwork and healing trauma is a big one on being present and being able to focus.
00:45:13
Speaker
Focus. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I just have a hard time. and And again, that's probably why I'm not in that position. You know, we came from, again, from a generation of, you know,
00:45:26
Speaker
suck it up, get the job done. Uh, you know, everybody's got it tough, you know, you know, your situation is not any worse than anybody else's. And, you know, I, I understand that there's like real, real trauma, uh, that is, is real, but on the other hand too, I mean, there's a lot of, uh, I don't want to call it coddling, but I think, um,
00:45:54
Speaker
there's maybe overprotection of kids and things that are interpreted as that are that are called trauma are not really trauma. They're just, yeah.
00:46:06
Speaker
Just life, just life. Right. I'm probably not saying that well at all. but no I, I totally know where you're going and and I don't disagree. Like we have to teach our kids how to be strong and,
00:46:19
Speaker
But with that comes an environment where they feel safe. So if your kids don't feel safe when they go home, it's ah really hard for them to go out into public and take on challenges, knowing that when they come home, they're going to get it.
00:46:33
Speaker
Or, you know, mom and dad are going to be angry or mom and dad are fighting. You know what I mean? So when you have a safe, loving home environment, your kids are more apt to go out and tackle these challenges in the world.
00:46:46
Speaker
And if they have those challenges come up, they have a home that they can come to ah and walk through them and approach them in ah in a manner that, hey, we're going to grow from this. This isn't going to define us or not it's not going to hold us back.
00:46:58
Speaker
Does that make sense? Yeah. And I think having somebody like you um ah you, know, involved as well, you're like that third party.
00:47:09
Speaker
So, ah you know the kids hearing from their parents and you know all of a sudden they hear it you know it's it's backed up by you or vice versa. um But just you know that third party has is powerful. I used that all the time growing up with kids. I'd check with all kinds of people on any kind of, whether it was sports related, school related, relationship related, I'd always double check. So there was always like a third party that I could refer to.
00:47:34
Speaker
And um so you know the role that you have yeah know with the one on your one-on-one kids, especially, ah that's powerful. All right, so sports training.
00:47:47
Speaker
All right, this this is a and this is a big one for me. ah For a number of years, I treated athletes' injuries, working with some some people, had a clinic up north.
00:48:00
Speaker
and we we just kept talking about all the injuries in sports all the injuries in sports and uh you know i saw in your book you talked about skills and i oh goodness gracious skill training for your sport totally on with that but now you know and ah maybe it's evolved i don't know but the The way that athletes are put in the weight room or their parents bring them to a gym and they're introduced to strength training, I think, in my opinion, my experience, I think that sets kids up for more injuries than they should be having.
00:48:42
Speaker
we yeah
00:48:45
Speaker
Just comment on that. I'm a believer in nonspecific training just to become physically more efficient, physically stronger.
00:48:56
Speaker
But but if you come to me and say, well, this is a basketball weightlifting workout, I would i would have a problem with that, you know. And the other part of it is, is, you know, and maybe comment on this. You've been in the college world and everything else.
00:49:12
Speaker
ah Technique and form, ah you know, just seem to, it's not as important as it should be.
00:49:23
Speaker
it's ah It's getting the weight from point A to point B. And, you know, did am I lifting as much as the next person? it's it's in It's even in our own minds, it's a competition. We have to lift more, otherwise we're not getting stronger.
00:49:35
Speaker
when oh but we really need to know about you know how it's affecting our nervous system, you know how our muscles are turning on and turning off efficiently so that it can be applied to every part of our life.
00:49:47
Speaker
So ah you know just talked a little bit about that, about you know strength training as it applies to your athletes. Yeah. I mean, know I'm not in that, that world all that much with strength training and, you know, I did it a little bit in the past and trained athletes to train myself.
00:50:06
Speaker
Um, and it it has changed over the years and, you know, we used to do a lot of Olympic lifting and, and now looking back, um, it probably would have served us to work on the overall athlete as far as, you know, agility and jumping and plyos and, and quickness and things
Well-Rounded Training and Engagement Challenges
00:50:21
Speaker
like that. And, um,
00:50:23
Speaker
Yeah. When you don't understand, i totally agree that form is a hundred percent. You need to have form. You need to have the foundation in order to start lifting that way, but there's a process and, you know, I'm not going to speak like, I know everything about the, that process as far as, you know, an athletic trainer and and what that takes or strength and conditioning trainer.
00:50:46
Speaker
um but yeah just promoting the the overall athlete and making sure that you're a well-rounded athlete, if that makes sense. Yeah. i Just do a quick story. I'm part of the association of all-time Barbell and Strong Men.
00:51:02
Speaker
So it's strength athletes. Men, it says strong men, but there's strong women in it as well. just ah do It's a fraternal group that honors athletes of the past that have achieved great things, whatever. And um one of the guys actually the current guy that heads it up he's the head uh he was a coach for the united states olympic team and um i went over to see him once in new york he had a place in queens new york where he was training olympic athletes and um i went in there and there was a big most of the guys that were there and women were there were european
00:51:41
Speaker
um And he was training them in the snatch or the clean and jerk, I forget which. And my daughter was with me. and We went over to to see about what this ahic you know Olympic weightlifting was really all about.
00:51:54
Speaker
And we were there talking to him for about an hour. And these guys, and they were jacked, these the guys that were there working out. And all they were doing was with a broomstick.
00:52:06
Speaker
They were practicing form, technique, form, technique. And finally I said to him, his name is Artie Dressler, said, Artie, that's all these guys do. Aren't they bored to tears? He said, well, they can always leave.
00:52:18
Speaker
He said, because he says, if your technique is not correct. And I said, well, how long do these guys do it for? He says, it takes months for a lot of them to get the technique right with just a broomstick.
00:52:30
Speaker
And so, you know, and then I reflected on, you know, what goes on in high school weight rooms and in just regular gyms and CrossFit, not to match CrossFit, but I can because my sister does it.
00:52:43
Speaker
She's hurt. So, but ah it it just seems like it it's a very powerful tool, strength training, but it can also be very, very dangerous.
00:52:54
Speaker
So rant over. Okay. Yeah. the Now, ah what about, and I think we addressed it kind of before, but what about like peaking too early for kids? I think you referred to that where, you know, kids get too specialized too soon.
00:53:12
Speaker
um They don't have diverse experiences. ah You know, maybe there's the superstar of their eighth grade team and then they disappear. Is that like, is that a mental thing? Is that like what?
00:53:26
Speaker
I mean, are they just or they just you know matured early and they were stars for a while and then they disappeared. They just get burnt out. but How do you see that? Yeah, I think there's a few different scenarios. um you know You have the kids that that don't grow until later. like My husband grew two to three inches after high school. You just have those boys. like He played football until his junior year of high school, and then his senior year, he was sick of getting beat up. I mean, you're 6'1 and 140 pounds, 50 pounds. So it it it doesn't it doesn't fit. But then you have those kids that peak really early.
00:54:06
Speaker
And the kids that peak really early are used to winning and they're used to having that success. And then when everybody starts to grow up around them and develop more skills and and get better and stronger, they're not having that success. And they may not like that.
00:54:21
Speaker
Um, so you have that. And then there's burnout too, you know, kids that are, are peaking early and, and standouts in this youth age. And we, like we were talking about before, you know, getting all these tournaments and all these, these games in and, and go, go, go, go. go And pretty soon they're like, yeah, I'm done with it.
00:54:39
Speaker
So, you know, I never want to count a kid out. And that's like in youth sports, I'm such a proponent of always giving a kid a chance because you don't know when that spark will hit.
00:54:52
Speaker
You don't know when that growth spurt might hit or they'll start to develop these different skills or you can. find a place in a program for their specific skills, whether they have speed or strength or or what that looks like.
00:55:06
Speaker
um So i think it's important that we see a lot of drop off in middle school with sports. And I don't know if you've noticed this too, but they hit that junior high and we see a lot of people just just quit after youth sports instead of stick with it.
00:55:22
Speaker
um And I feel like they need, we need kids to stay involved. We need them to stick with stuff, to feel a part of something. And I get it if it's not their thing, but when they quit because they don't feel like they they fit in or that it's, you know, it's not this equal play thing and and it's getting more competitive. It's finding the...
00:55:42
Speaker
What what do they bring and and really focusing on that and and developing that and and keeping them a part of something? um So kind of got off a tangent there, but um I really believe, you know, the I mean, there's just not enough physical in this world today for kids growing up. So, yeah, to to keep them engaged in.
00:56:04
Speaker
Some sort of physical activity is yeah is a good thing. And if it's a good thing with a good coach and with good teammates, there's all also great lessons that come from that. Yeah, for sure.
00:56:16
Speaker
So, okay. So now I use the word good like 10 times because that's what i want to ask you about. Because this is, okay, I need i need a mindset mindset. ah ah I need help with my mindset, so I'm reading your book and the word good comes up.
00:56:33
Speaker
Can you just give us what's good about? but so I love this this term. So if you've ever listened to Jocko, he's got some amazing, you know, podcasts and motivational stuff.
00:56:47
Speaker
ah He's written the book Extreme Ownership. And a little bit of background about me is my husband and I own a service business. We do plumbing and heating and and stuff like that. And we've grown this business together.
00:56:59
Speaker
and It's not always been rainbows and butterflies, right? When you're growing something, life isn't isn't all about that. And one thing that has helped us, and we learned this from Jocko, is that we look at each other when something goes bad. We look at each other and we say, good.
00:57:16
Speaker
What's going to come out of it? What can we do better? What did we learn from
Growth Mindset and Honest Coaching
00:57:20
Speaker
it? what What lesson and how is this going to make us stronger? And it it's kind of become a like kind of funny, but not really. It's it like motivates us when something goes awry.
00:57:31
Speaker
We look at each other and we go, good. Now what? How are we going respond? You're controlling what comes out of your mouth, right? Because what's That's important because that's you know programming your own subconscious mind.
00:57:46
Speaker
And yeah, so instead of me like, you know, cursing out Murphy because of his law that something went wrong, I'm just going to good.
00:57:57
Speaker
Yeah, good. Because ultimately, like, especially when you have employees and things like that, like you have to take responsibility. I'm responsible. Like if something happened, like my kids do something silly, like, okay, what, what do I need to teach them?
00:58:12
Speaker
What, what haven't we learned? So this doesn't happen again and again. um so it's, it's just referring back to good and it changes your state to go, all right, now what are you gonna do about it?
00:58:22
Speaker
How are we going to learn from this and move on? Cool. Good stuff. Okay. so Excuse me. So as a woman coaching teens, ah is it easier to coach girls or boys?
00:58:36
Speaker
Or each one brings its own issues? Yeah. Everybody's individualized. I don't like... For me, I grew up with brothers. I work in the trades or I have worked in the trades. So nothing gets a little more manly than that. Right.
00:58:53
Speaker
um And then worked in athletics, too. So i was surrounded by men when I was working in athletic departments and things like that. Um, so I love to hunt and fish and, and don't have an issue connecting.
00:59:06
Speaker
um and so, and that's the whole thing. It's just building trust, connecting, um, having conversations and, um it's all about how you make them feel. So do they feel safe? Do they feel heard? Do they feel, um, that they, they can improve all those different things. So I wouldn't necessarily say there's a difference between,
00:59:27
Speaker
um boys and girls, males and females. It's just more about the connection. connection. Yeah. All right. And last thing I want to talk about too, dreams and fantasies.
00:59:42
Speaker
ah Is there any point where you're working with somebody where it's really time for a reality check? You know they're talking about being a D1 athlete.
00:59:55
Speaker
and you're not convinced that they're you know they're going to be a varsity athlete in high school. um it's like I find that, and I put it in my first book and whatever, where we were we would talk about that, where it's like, okay, when when you get a work workload, okay, I'm going to be a D1 athlete.
01:00:21
Speaker
Okay, what are the steps to get there? And, but then all of a sudden, well, I'll get to it tomorrow. I'll get to it next week. ah um'm I'm going to work on that.
01:00:32
Speaker
and But if you've been working with somebody like that, do I mean, is there ever a point where you have to say, hey, look, you know, if you don't put the work in, you know, it's a nice dream to have, but it it sounds like it's more like a fantasy for you.
01:00:46
Speaker
you ever get to that place with a kid? I think that's what my clients appreciate about me is my honesty and ability to be to give hurtful truths instead of comforting lies.
01:00:58
Speaker
um One of my mentors had had given me that quote, Mike gay but you know i think it's important would you and and asking them, hey, Would you rather hear comforting lies than hurtful truth or vice versa? You know what i mean? and And most people want the honest truth. They don't want to be lied to.
01:01:14
Speaker
um So it's it's being straightforward with them, but also breaking it down. Okay, if this is in fact your goal, your target, let's break it down and reverse engineer it. And here's what the habits of this type of athlete needs to have. Here's what you need to do. Are you willing to do that?
01:01:32
Speaker
Is that something that ah you can hold yourself accountable and have discipline for that? And the other thing, um you know, I've learned within the last couple of months too, is, is look at your, look at your 10 year, five year plan.
01:01:44
Speaker
Look at your five year plan. If your five year plan is say you're in high school and you want to play college ball and you try to accomplish that in six months, right? um And and you you work towards that. So you take on the habits and you take on all the things that you need to do to be at that level and you don't accomplish that.
01:02:02
Speaker
That's okay. But look at the progress you've made. And if that progress is going to get you closer to that goal, then we know, okay, now we have a starting point. But if you're not willing to put in that work, if you're not willing to um sacrifice and and do those things, you have to be honest with yourself. And if this is something that is for you. Yeah.
01:02:24
Speaker
Good, good stuff. ah So how can folks get in touch with you for your services or get your book? Give us a little bit about that.
01:02:36
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. um so you can go to BearCatMindset.com and you can book a call with me there, whether you're a parent, a coach or athlete. um And we can have a conversation to see if it's a fit to work one-on-one or with your team, um things like that.
01:02:52
Speaker
I do most online sessions, but I also have an office here in Minnesota where I'm located. So I do one-on-one in person as well. And then my book you can find on Amazon. It's Champion Your Future.
01:03:02
Speaker
um You can buy it right there on Amazon. And yeah, awesome. Thank you so much for your support. I love that, Russell. Hey, well, that's a wrap. I hope everyone enjoyed today's episode and you got some takeaways that you can use.
01:03:17
Speaker
More information about Kathy Helene and Bearcat Coaching. Pages and website will be in the notes. Please share this with your friends. And don't forget all my stuff at RussellJonesSpeaks.com.
01:03:29
Speaker
If you're a parent or grandparent or mentor to a 10 to 15-year-old, check out our 60-day transformational interactive video series, Top Secrets Success for Kids and Parents. It's amazing.
01:03:40
Speaker
It will equip and encourage parents and kids. Yes, RussellJonesSpeaks.com. Get on our email list. Jump on a call with me. And in the words of the inimitable Hulk Hogan, say your prayers, take your vitamins, and you'll never go wrong.
01:03:53
Speaker
Then you can all go and make it a great day. Bye for now. Russell, thank you so much for having me. i appreciate all the work that you do with with kids and and the mission that you're on.
01:04:04
Speaker
it's It's awesome. Thank you.