Transcript
Speaker: Action. You don't have to be great to get started, but you have to get started to be great. Welcome to the Captains and Coaches podcast where explore the art and science of leadership through the lens of athletics and beyond.
Speaker: I'm your host Tex McQuilkin and I'm going to start with some truth about for incoming freshmen entering into college athletics. That jump from high school to college sports, it isn't about speed, size, or reps, or the amount of work that you did before, whether it was in the summer training program or through your entire high school career.
Speaker: It's about identity. I just went to visit my alma mater as they started school and I got the opportunity to have lunch with my former head coach from my college days who's still installed at the university.
Speaker: And we're talking about his initial meeting with his team to set the tone. We're talking freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors, the whole team, returners and the new guys. The first opportunity they had And I just laughed at the guidance and the advice that he gave them.
Speaker: He wanted to have them establish what they want to accomplish within their athletic career on that first meeting, and that is a tall task. So research about this transition from high school to college athletics has been done.
Speaker: And most freshmen walk in with the expectations that don't match the reality that's waiting there for for them. New coaches, new pecking order, new everything. There's this ah massive amount of fear and unknown that they're walking into.
Speaker: what we're going to do with this episode is give you some tools to avoid the struggle that are many step into and have that fear. so you absolutely dominate the moment you get the opportunity to strap it up and play with your teammates for the first time in a formal practice. So I'm going to give you that plan. Five tools, 10 minutes, hopefully, to walk into fall practice and with the system instead of just hoping or waiting at the end of the line.
Speaker: I want you to step up, leaders lead. So here we go. And this this is for the freshmen, but parents, coaches, You listen closely.
Speaker: All right, five tools. Number one, redefine your role before day one. This is your first tool, redefining your role before you ever step onto campus. You are not just a freshman. You're not a wait and see.
Speaker: And here's some guidance to to let you know what's coming. You're about to walk into a room full of people who are also the best player on their team, every single one of them.
Speaker: And research on this transition confirms what you'd expect. Finding your role inside a hyper-competitive group is one of the biggest single stressors that freshmen face.
Speaker: This is bigger than the workouts. Yes, the volume will double from everything you did in high school. This is bigger than the the practice. Yes, everything will be enhanced from what you did in school and bigger than the schoolwork. So fear over schoolwork, over the amount of training that they had to do was just understanding the the where they stood in the pecking order walking into this hyper-competitive environment.
Speaker: So i don't I don't want you to wait for the depth chart or wait for the practice to tell you who you are. I want you to decide it now. So here's your your tool. I want you to write down a one-page role letter.
Speaker: Who are you? Who do you want to be for your team today? This is not a highlight reel. You're not ah visualizing anything. You're establishing where you can pick up and make your team better today.
Speaker: So three ways that you can find value and give it to this team even if you don't play a single meaningful minute during the fall or upcoming spring season.
Speaker: Maybe this is being the loudest. Maybe this is the most locked in person on the scout team that's going to push the starters every single day and have them reload every single rep because you know each rep is going to lead you to the promised land. Maybe it's being the first at every single meeting, every lift, every walkthrough. Maybe it's being the one who checks on the teammate when they're having a bad week.
Speaker: I want you to write down this roll letter because here's the secret. Coaches are always watching how the freshmen handle not being the dude, not being the one with the ball in their stick every single time.
Speaker: How can you contribute immediately, contribute early, contribute you often? That's the real trial, not the depth chart. So the role I took on entering into freshman sports, I had a very weird ah first coach that recruited. He was a transactional coach through and through, so much so that he brought in 15 freshmen and he stack rank ordered us as roommates. So he put the one with the 15 and all the way down until the middle guys, they were roommates.
Speaker: So I roomed with the best recruit. And the coach let me know exactly that. So I didn't have anything to lose walking into that. I took on that role as glue guy, as leader.
Speaker: So I was wellness check on the freshmen, getting to know the the seniors And being the the the go glue guy, that was my aim. The work that I did outside of this also was the role. I joined the freaking college cross-country team. I was a middle linebacker in football in high school. That does not translate to college cross-country, that's for sure. So have some former record. I did a podcast on this a while ago.
Speaker: ah fifth to last during my single race. I was the heaviest Division III cross-country runner. I hold that title. I don't know if it's confirmed or true, but I'm at least to finish a race, but I'll take that title.
Speaker: And the last thing I did was basically build a weight room. I went to a Division III school. We had a fitness center dumbbells like you would see at a hotel gym.
Speaker: So one of my high school assistant coaches was also coaching at a high school. Well, we got in his truck and we got all the rusty gear that his high school was throwing out and we moved it into the university fitness center and bang, we had an unstable, unsafe squat rack.
Speaker: But that that was it. I was going to be the hardest worker on the team, establishing, hey, this is my role. I may not get on the field, but I'm gonna use my head as a weapon and I'm gonna have a freaking great time being on this team and practicing with the intensity in 10 cities.
Speaker: That was the role that I made and established through myself. But it wasn't visualization. It's not being whiny that I'm not getting the ball or playing time or any of that. It's accepting and creating my role that I knew the team needed that I was capable of providing.
Speaker: So there you go. Establish your own role. Number two, build your support system in week one, not week eight, when you're already underwater and overwhelmed and this is too much.
Speaker: So isolation at college athletics is very tempting. Hiding away in your dorm room, avoiding social situations, hiding away in the library, Avoiding study hall because of the distractions and isolation is a quiet killer for Freshmen.
Speaker: This is an opportunity for us to learn who we are. There are moments that we need head down focus, but if that is our default is Isolation new town new team new academic load This may be a lot for you, but if we're defaulting to isolation, well, then we're not going to feel part of the team when we're doing team activities or when we're we're working hard together.
Speaker: So a lot of you, this is going to be your first time living away from your family. and all of this is is landing in the first six weeks of school, that's a lot. And your first exam is going to come within that first six weeks too. So the tool, I want you identify three people on purpose in week one.
Speaker: The first, this is going to be connected to your sport. This is going to be an upperclassman mentor. Somebody who's already survived the exact transition and can translate the unwritten rules of your program.
Speaker: of what coach actually means when they say certain phrases. I'm going to reserve some of the phrases that my freshman coach threw our way.
Speaker: ah They're just too funny and probably not appropriate for this podcast, so I'll i'll reserve them. And this classmate, they're going to help you understand how a locker room at this level actually works.
Speaker: And i have plenty of college friends, college coaches friends that talk about the incoming freshmen that they have. And their biggest frustration is that the athlete that is coming to them, they were the best player on their high school team. So their high school coach neglected them.
Speaker: He looked at them and said, all right, Chris has got it. I don't need to worry about him. I'll worry about everybody else. That's a 90-10 coaching rule where you ignore the top 10%. So you got to coach the hell out of the 90.
Speaker: cause you're not worried about that. Well, guess what? You were the top 10%. So you're walking into systems and schemes and expectations and levels. I want your expectation two to be to start.
Speaker: So you've got to find an upperclassman to understand the schemes, the connections, what coaches mean, anything about your sport that can help you on day one have success. An upperclassman's got to show you that.
Speaker: So who can you trust? Sophomore, junior, senior, captain, whoever it may be. Find someone to explain the systems of your and the expectations of your sport coach so then everything that you will learn it's not like drinking from a fire hose have them explain it piece by piece offense defense transition whatever it may be find someone and have them literally whiteboard through it or take you through film teach you how to watch film at a college level because i will say this college film is a different experience than high school film
Speaker: High school film, we basically watch the whole game through, press pause, coach makes a couple points or a couple jokes, couple jabs. In college, the expectation is you learnt you saw a mistake on film, you learn from that mistake, and you do not make that mistake again.
Speaker: Or else they'll find somebody who will not make that mistake. So the stakes are higher. Can you get this upperclassman to help you understand the sch systems and schemes and...
Speaker: teach you how to watch film like a college athlete. Number two, now we're moving away from the sport. Very important. You need an academic contact, your advisor, a tutor, academic services.
Speaker: Find out where these resources are, who they are before you need them and reach out before your first exam, not after a bad one. My welcome to college moment was my first history class test. I got a 30-something. Embarrassing. Dead. Earmuffs.
Speaker: So fortunately, the professor gave me grace and sent me to receive academic assistance to understand how to take a freaking college test.
Speaker: This isn't high school anymore. you can't just wing it based off of ah you know some wit and some banter. So understand where these resources are and have a contact in there before you need it All right, and number three, you need an adult on campus who has nothing to do with your stats, training, performance, or playing time.
Speaker: A chaplain, athletic trainer, a professor. Somebody whose relationship with you isn't tied to performance. And that relationship is it will keep you grounded and remind you that you are a person first and an athlete second.
Speaker: very fortunate to find this person in one of my first classes as a freshman that first semester amazing professor that i was able to stay friends with throughout my whole academic career now into a doctorate program got to see her on campus and meet her students on day one so shout out professor on all night all right so some of this the uh it's going to take courage to initiate these conversations don't wait for any of these people to reach out uh so and it's going to feel awkward but this is this is part of leading up this is part of being a leader can you it's not calling anybody out but can you initiate a conversation and it it doesn't have to be complicated something like hey
Speaker: I'm a freshman. I really respect how you carry yourself on the team. Would you be up for grabbing lunch sometime or watching film or writing down and showing me how our offense operates? It's that easy.
Speaker: So initiate that conversation. Don't anticipate or wait for any leaders to lead. I encourage you to lead up. Low pressure, but extremely high return when it comes to playing time.
Speaker: All right, tool number three, master the schedule nobody warned you about. High school athletics is practice, maybe a lift, mom is dropping you off or mom is reminding you. Well, in college athletics, it's practice, lift, treatment, study hall, film, travel, and no one's coming to save you.
Speaker: If you're lucky, you got a roommate that's also an athlete. So if you forget something or you're so focused on your schoolwork that you you know, oversleep or they got to drag you to something, their alarm goes off, then you're in a a fortunate position.
Speaker: But that's not going to be everybody. How I want you to accomplish this is the Sunday reset. Syllabus is set. I want you to take 15 minutes before you go to bed or before Sunday night football.
Speaker: But every Sunday night, I want you to pull out the practice schedule, your class schedule, anything you know about travel that's coming up. But I need you to be proactive and have an accountability a buddy.
Speaker: So if anything does change, they come knocking on your door and let you know. And then be proactive with that. Initiate accountability buddies. Be somebody's accountability buddy when you're letting them know, hey, this is the plan. Or if I'm sharing classes with somebody, if we have a English class before practice, hey, we're going to go to class together and then we're going to get set up and go to practice together.
Speaker: So I'm having my schedule set. I'm preparing. for anything that will change and go wrong by having an accountability buddy. This may be your roommate. I suggest it not being your roommate because maybe the accountability buddy saves you and your roommate because my my personal biggest fear is oversleeping for a morning run training session or practice.
Speaker: God forbid. ah I did that once my sophomore year and yeah, We had to run. the The fear of God was struck into me during that fall, and I never, I still have nightmares about it. ah who and feel shame that my team had to freaking hammer 17s because and didn't set an alarm. Or I don't have excuse. I don't remember. I didn't set an alarm. i'll I'll own it now.
Speaker: Sorry, coach. You're learning time management this first semester. That's going to set you up for success for the rest of your athletic career and life. So every time you sit down and discipline for this 15-minute Sunday reset, this is a leadership ship rep.
Speaker: Captains are the ones who never look surprised by the schedule. They're prepared. They're anticipating when things can and potentially will change. So you're building a habit the of preparation and focus now.
Speaker: and you're quietly training to lead a locker room two years from now with this simple sunday reset and when the the schedule does change or coach drops something on you you're not going to complain because you've mapped it out and seeing where you can make adjustments in the week versus banking on this specific time frame and window that you only have to finish a project before it's due and then coach schedule some some off-site deal, team building, practice, running, whatever it may be, and you just lost your window pushing for an all-nighter.
Speaker: No win. All right. We got to move on. Tool four, manage your body like it's your job. Because starting right now, as soon as you walk on campus, it is. Your training load is about to jump in a way most freshmen are not prepared for.
Speaker: Expect shin splints, expect nicks, nacks, injuries, training volume to spike, and running and logging miles, even if you are an explosive sprint speed athlete.
Speaker: Sport coaches just don't know. They're trying to hammer you into the ground and teach you a thing or two. So we need to take care of our bodies because the coaches won't. And you go from two to three practices a week.
Speaker: And a lot of those practices are not intense. And you're the best player on the team. So you're not doing as much because the other players, they need more reps to understand. Well, it's not like that anymore.
Speaker: Now you need all the reps. And it's yeah It's your job. You're there for academics and athletics.
Speaker: A lot of your your school money or your scholarship or admission into the university relied on you doing this. So we we got to show up for it. We got to treat our bodies just like we do any anything else that we truly care about.
Speaker: So... you're done living like a high schooler. Late nights, inconsistent meals, no sleep hygiene, it's over. You gotta change, you gotta to evolve, and this is an opportunity to do so.
Speaker: So your body doesn't know the difference between excited freshman energy and overtraining. You may not wanna show face, so you're gonna mentally push through it, but this could be leading to compounding stress fractures.
Speaker: So this is not just about accumulating, you are accumulating a large amount of stress, but we need to counter that with recovery. So here's what I want you to focus on to accelerate recovery and put it into control because I mean you are, some of you, NIL, a professional athlete.
Speaker: That's the mindset I want to take. So three easy fixes. Number one, protein at breakfast. Breakfast. I'll say that, breakfast. and make sure it's got protein in there.
Speaker: This is the one anchor habit that is achievable within your dining hall, or if you're practicing early, get some freaking peanut butter and bagels or peanut butter and anything into your dorm room so you have something before you're up in mood.
Speaker: It's going to be intense practices. You need fuel. Get a freaking electrolyte salt and hammer some peanut butter and then get after it. But you can't not eat before because if you get lightheaded, again, I'm trying to protect you. Yes, understanding your body, but also protecting you from a lot of social situations because if you're always lightheaded or you're always throwing up during this, sport coaches will start to label you a malinger or not in shape or this or that.
Speaker: You don't have time for that. So be prepared. Eat breakfast. Ensure it's got some protein. Peanut butter is super easy and cheap. All right. That's your anchor habit, number one. Number two, track your water.
Speaker: Something visual, something dumb, simple, you can't not not do it. So hydration isn't an afterthought during your two-a-days or rolling into this. Because if you're already thirsty, it's too late.
Speaker: So make this dumb simple. This is a half gallon. I'm chugging this every day and then put one of the electrolytes that deals in there. This is dumb, but it works.
Speaker: All right, because, I mean, you can't wake up and chug water and be hydrated. This is not how it works. You've got to be hydrated, rolling into that. Okay, number three, you've got to get an old-school alarm clock here.
Speaker: I want your phone out of your room at a set time. We need sleep hygiene. this is goingnna I'm setting a sleep alarm that I'm going to initiate my bedtime routine.
Speaker: It's very tempting to hang out and be social in the dorms. I get it. The fear of FOMO, but you also got a responsibility. So set a sleep alarm.
Speaker: Keep your your phone if you can. If you've got a study cubby or a living space within your dorms, put your phone in there. This is where an accountability buddy is going to be necessary because they got to come knocking if you're not where you need to be on on time But the phone is going to be a distraction. It's the light. It's the energy. It's all that crazy stuff. It's the the constant pull from it.
Speaker: Isolate from it. Get it out of the room and make sure that you've got a pal that's prepared. If they don't see you or your light on or your door open, that they come in knocking. ah that's But that's my own personal fear, sleeping sleeping through something.
Speaker: All right. so here's our three things do them relentlessly they are super simple but they'll start to prepare your body if you need shin splint specific stuff shoot me an email anticipate that it's going to start from the ground up strengthening your feet and preparing for all that good stuff all right so number five bringing us home five get comfortable being coached hard in high school you A lot of you got the individual attention because you were the the best and coaches gave you softer delivery because that 90-10 rule, they didn't have to worry about you.
Speaker: So they had to really over coach the 90% just to compete. Well, in college coaching gets more direct, it gets more public and there's a lot less handholding.
Speaker: There's expectations, high expectations and often low support. because your coach isn't managing a handful of standouts anymore. They're managing 30, 40 athletes that their job is responsible for.
Speaker: So I want you to understand that the sport coach that is leading your team, it is their job to win. They have a lot of stresses on their plates. Yes, they do care for you, but at the same time, if we're not getting the results, they're gone.
Speaker: get used to the intensity that they're going to try to push you. but it's it's understanding where they're coming from. This is not personal. It may be direct. It may feel personal, but at the same time, what are they trying to say? Filter through it of how can I improve this skill?
Speaker: What can I do to then step up? Or how do I see they're communicating with other people and learning from those mistakes so I'm prepared when it's my turn to take that challenge on?
Speaker: So this is where I'll introduce and hand off to you 24 hour rule. When a coach's feedback stings, and it will, don't react in the moment.
Speaker: Take a breath, next play. Work on that skill, next play mentality. And with the words that the coach gave you, i want you to give it a day.
Speaker: Use that window to to strip away the motion and ask yourself one question. What's the actual lesson here? Not the delivery, not the tone, maybe not the timing. What's the target? What do they need me to to correct?
Speaker: and I got to take it. I got to run with it and I got to fix it. And then you're showing coach that you are coachable and that may change the tone, the intensity in which they're applying to coach it.
Speaker: Hopefully not. Hopefully they continue to give you high expectations and high support. That's great coach. Rapid fire to bring us home. One, redefine your role before day one.
Speaker: Two, build your support system in week one. Three, master the unseen schedule with a Sunday reset. Four, manage your body like it's your job, because it is.
Speaker: And five, get comfortable being coached hard. Freshman year was never about proving that you belong. It's about building the habits that the team, the coach, everyone around you can count on you and you keep showing up.
Speaker: So if this hits home, send it to an incoming freshman you know, teammate, younger sibling, a kid you coached last spring, whatever it may be. So this this is a handful of lessons and expectations and guidance ah that that I'm bringing to my workshops. I launched workshops. I'll be up and down East Coast working with college and prep schools.
Speaker: So that's the fun thing is is training team captains how to then grow as leaders and then build their team. So excited for that. If you are interested in that, want to learn more about it, head to workshops, that's plural, workshops.captainsandcoaches.com for all the info on that one. Super excited to get those rocking and rolling in the fall.
Speaker: Expect to see more lessons shared from those. All right, so. I don't believe in luck, but I want the freshmen to get out there and crush it. I won't say good luck, but, hey, have a great time, and then write down the lessons that you learn as you learn them and hold on to them so you can be a mentor when it's your time. So that does it for the Captains & Coaches podcast.
Speaker: Thank you for tuning in, and see you next time.
