Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / BONUS: The Podcast About Podcasts – Featuring Talking In Ovals
Transcript
- 0:00It's bonus time. Here we go.
- 0:02This month in February of 2025, we are doing a podcast about
- 0:06podcast. We want to introduce you to
- 0:08other track and field themed podcasts that are out there that
- 0:11might be great for your listening pleasure.
- 0:14So all month we're introducing a new podcast each and every day,
- 0:17showing you who they are, what they are, how they are, why they
- 0:20got started and even their favorite episodes and most
- 0:23popular. And hopefully this adds to your
- 0:26podcast listening library. So here we go.
- 0:28Let's get started with today's podcast about podcast.
- 0:32Let's hop right into today's podcast about podcast.
- 0:36And why don't you start with introducing yourself maybe a
- 0:3832nd version of what you do in this great sport of ours.
- 0:41And what's the name of the podcast that we're talking about
- 0:43today? Sure.
- 0:44My name is David Hyde. I'm from the wonderful state of
- 0:47New Jersey and our podcast is called Talking in Ovals.
- 0:51And we like to just try to branch out and get love for
- 0:54every athlete in the sport, whether they're Noah Lyles or
- 0:58one of your, you know, fringe pro runners.
- 1:00And we want everyone to be able to have this sport to be their
- 1:03main profession and to make a living off of that.
- 1:05Plus, we delve into a lot to the high school and college realm,
- 1:10especially here in the state of New Jersey.
- 1:12We like to give high school kids their flowers for doing all the
- 1:15wonderful things that they do. Yeah, great state for Trek and
- 1:18Field, but I love that. What kind of style is this
- 1:21podcast? Is it a solo podcast?
- 1:23Do you have a partner? Do you interview style?
- 1:25Tell us a little bit what we can expect when we listen.
- 1:28Sure. It's definitely interview style.
- 1:30It's myself and my partner, Alex Cuesta.
- 1:34We do it remotely and you know, we we have a guest every
- 1:38weekend. We don't dive a lot into the
- 1:41times or the Marks and that purse runs.
- 1:43We like to delve into their story and how they got to where
- 1:47they are and you know how they are.
- 1:49First question that we ask every week is what what is the spark
- 1:51that got you into this sport? So we like to go through
- 1:54everyone's journey and hear those stories because that can
- 1:56really relate well with fans who might be going through something
- 2:00similar. So they can kind of relate and
- 2:02understand exactly what it's like to be an athlete of that
- 2:04caliber or even a high school athlete who's just trying to
- 2:07find their way in this sport. Very cool, very cool.
- 2:10And what is our knowing that there's, you know, a minute, a
- 2:12Max on on everything, but what's the average length of each
- 2:15episode? We try to keep it around an hour
- 2:18depending on our guests, like if we have on a journalist from New
- 2:21Jersey, like a Jim Lambert, because that's kind of our, our
- 2:24main state now. You know, we just had him on
- 2:26this past Monday. It was like an hour 45.
- 2:29It it all depends on where the guest is comfortable and we do
- 2:32record Monday nights, 9:00. So you know, me being a teacher
- 2:36as well, We also have to kind of find time that that works for
- 2:39everyone involved. There are times where we have to
- 2:40move it to different days. We just try to try to
- 2:43accommodate our our guests and fans the best that we can while
- 2:46not putting ourselves in a spot where it interferes with
- 2:50something that we have to get done to.
- 2:53I love that. Thanks for being a teacher.
- 2:54My next question is always about the significance of the name.
- 2:57But I think, I think we have it talking in ovals.
- 2:59So instead of talking in circles, we, you know, we're
- 3:00actually talking ovals. Just kind of a little play on
- 3:04the words. You know, we thought maybe it
- 3:05would just be something that that might kind of bring fans in
- 3:08and just kind of make it work. So that was kind of Alice's call
- 3:12there with the talking in ovals. I love that.
- 3:17Well, Alex gets his mic and everything set up.
- 3:19There's Alex. Let's see if he can hear us
- 3:22here. Alex, we just got started, man.
- 3:30Thanks for joining us. Why don't you, we'll catch you
- 3:32up. We literally just got done with
- 3:33the first question, so we're all good.
- 3:34Why don't we catch up real quick and have you do a 32nd
- 3:37introduction of who you are in this great sport of ours?
- 3:40All right, so I'm Alex Plesta. I'm the Co host of talking and
- 3:44Nobles over here with my awesome partner Dave Hyatt.
- 3:49And yeah, we, we're on weekly. We do the show, we interview
- 3:53people and we have a good time. Awesome, I love that.
- 3:55Well, let's go to our next question.
- 3:56You guys get to fight over who answers and what order and all
- 3:59that good stuff. You guys are used to it doing
- 4:01this podcast. When did you start talking and
- 4:04nobles and and why did you start?
- 4:05What was the motivation to get started?
- 4:08They'll let you go, Yeah. Sure.
- 4:09So, you know, I coached Alex when he was an athlete in high
- 4:13school. So we've kind of had a, you
- 4:16know, on and off, you know, like friendly rapport since then.
- 4:20And as he aged, he came back and he was an assistant coach where
- 4:24where I was coaching. So we kept in touch.
- 4:26And I guess it was about two or three years ago, we were
- 4:28watching the World Championships and we're just texting each
- 4:31other back and forth. And Alex had been doing a
- 4:33podcast in the past. I said, why don't we just do a
- 4:35podcast on track? I don't care if anybody listens.
- 4:37Let's just we want to talk about it.
- 4:39So that's kind of where we started, just the two of us.
- 4:42And then we got our first guest. It was Mike Rutt.
- 4:45So thank you, Mike Rutt for being our our first guest.
- 4:48And kind of from there, it's just kind of grown into for a
- 4:52while was kind of more of a New Jersey thing with some pros.
- 4:56And now we're just trying to branch out nationally and, and
- 4:58give every athlete and and coach out there the love and the
- 5:01flowers that they deserve because it's a hard sport to to
- 5:04make your name in. So Alex, about two years ago we
- 5:08started. Is that what I heard from David?
- 5:10Yeah, it was right after worlds. We were texting during worlds.
- 5:14And generally, you know, it was only Dave and I that texted each
- 5:17other. We had only two track nerds that
- 5:19were like, hey, let's talk about track.
- 5:21And yeah, like I said, I have been podcasting for about 5-6
- 5:25years at that point, doing some different things.
- 5:27And Dave, I think jokingly was like, we should do a podcast
- 5:30about track. And I was like, OK, And, you
- 5:33know, then I got a logo together.
- 5:35You know, I'll take credit for the name Dave because I did
- 5:37think of the name, you know, a nice little pun on talking in
- 5:40circles or talking in nobles. And I in about like two weeks
- 5:44after that conversation, I'm like, let's do this.
- 5:46And we started Dave got equipment really quick.
- 5:51And you know, he was, you know, as long as I was serious, he was
- 5:53serious. And we've been going ever since.
- 5:56I love that. That's awesome.
- 5:57You know, in business, like here at Gill, we have a lot of
- 6:00different people that will purchase from us.
- 6:01We'll have moms and dads that'll buy, you know, discuses and such
- 6:04for Christmas. We sell the contractors,
- 6:06athletic directors, but our ideal customer like who we are
- 6:09thinking about when we design a new product, marketed product,
- 6:13What are we what trade shoes are we going to go to is the high
- 6:15school and college track coach. It's the same in podcasting.
- 6:19Many, many different people might partake in your podcast,
- 6:22but you're speaking to a certain type of person who is talking to
- 6:26ovals. What is your ideal listener
- 6:28profile? Who's going to get the most out
- 6:30of watching and listening to your show?
- 6:32I would like to say we kind of have a little bit of something
- 6:35for everybody. You know, we have had on college
- 6:38coaches, we've had on high school athletes, high school
- 6:40coaches, current pro runners, former pro runner.
- 6:45So I like to think that we have kind of a niche for everybody.
- 6:50I will say we have kind of more been focused on the mid distance
- 6:54to distance because that's kind of our background.
- 6:56But we are really trying to branch out.
- 6:58We've had on some throwers and and some Walter.
- 7:01So we're just trying to get the fan who is knowledgeable, but
- 7:05also the casual fan who's trying to look for something to to get
- 7:08themselves invested into this sport.
- 7:11I love that. Yeah.
- 7:12And I think just like, you know, at first we were trying to go,
- 7:15we were just kind of talking track.
- 7:17And then we decided to start doing interviews because of my
- 7:19previous shows. That's kind of stuff that I did.
- 7:22And, you know, I kind of realized, don't have fear, ask
- 7:24anyone anything. What's the worst they could do
- 7:26is say no, right? And we've been fortunate that in
- 7:29the Track World, a lot of people want to talk.
- 7:31And like they've said, our goal is eventually become to tell
- 7:37stories from the athletes, not just hear their accomplishments,
- 7:41but why they got there, the grind they did before that, all
- 7:45the things, you know, we see people win gold medals, we see
- 7:48people win first place to break records.
- 7:50And that's all we know about these athletes.
- 7:52But we don't see all the issues and all the things that they had
- 7:55to go through and we're trying to connect to the common runner.
- 7:59And like Dave said, our biggest goal is to get more casuals
- 8:03involved, to have them see that this sport isn't just no Lyles
- 8:08winning a 100 and 200. It's what Noah had to do in
- 8:12order to get there. And that's a big thing.
- 8:14And I think that can connect to more of the casual fans while
- 8:17keeping the, you know, track enthusiast also engaged.
- 8:21I'm hearing kind of like the audio version of Sprint from
- 8:24Netflix. So the call it the behind this.
- 8:26They stole it from us. Yeah, that's right.
- 8:28That's right, Netflix. Yeah, I hear it.
- 8:30I hear. This next question and again,
- 8:33I'll let you guys divide it up how you want to is what is, you
- 8:36know, a couple of years you've been doing this now, what has
- 8:38been your favorite episode? And this isn't normally always
- 8:41the same thing. What has been your most popular
- 8:44episode? So what has been the most
- 8:46downloaded and listened to and what's been just your personal
- 8:48just favorite, whether it was a guest, a a story, a time?
- 8:51What was your your favorite and what was the most popular?
- 8:54This was the question. I was like, oh, man, this is a
- 8:57tough one. You know, there's we've had so
- 8:58many wonderful guests and moments, whether just, you know,
- 9:01little tiny jokes, you know, between Alex and I that that I
- 9:05recall, you know, being on air sometimes those are just as good
- 9:08because, you know, you have you're realizing that this this
- 9:11connection you have with your partner is genuine and it's
- 9:13real. For me, I'd have to go with
- 9:17Julie Culley or Kiara de D'amato, those ones kind of when
- 9:21I was done, I felt inspired like, so I can just imagine how
- 9:25it felt like after Kiara, I started running again, like, you
- 9:29know, hearing about her story and this long break that that
- 9:32she took and being a mom and coming back and breaking
- 9:34records. So these guests sometimes don't
- 9:37understand how much that they can inspire us as so.
- 9:40And if they inspire us, people who are knowledgeable, I can't
- 9:42imagine, you know, a young girl listening to Julie Culley or a
- 9:46Cure the Model and understanding the struggle that they had to go
- 9:49through and they can relate with them.
- 9:53I'm going to take a cheating answer here and I'm going to
- 9:55kind of group it up because all the high schoolers we have had
- 9:59on the show have been absolutely incredible.
- 10:02Whether it's Emma Zawatsky, Cordial Van, I'm not going to
- 10:06name them all, but just their poise and the way that they're
- 10:09able to come to this space. You know, before we weren't
- 10:13doing it live, we're recording, but now we're doing it live and
- 10:15even to come on live and do it so well.
- 10:19Dave and I always joking on the show, like when we were in high
- 10:21school, we would have been stuttering fools.
- 10:23But they are so well spoken and so well put together.
- 10:27They're so that's kind of, you know, I can echo Keira and Julie
- 10:30'cause I always talk about those being two of my favorite
- 10:33episodes, but I think the high schoolers together have really
- 10:37been some of my favorite things in connecting with all the high
- 10:39schoolers. And their willingness to come on
- 10:41has been so great. And in terms of our most
- 10:44downloaded stuff, once again going to cheat because we had a
- 10:48series where we had Olympic polls.
- 10:50They were Olympic, Olympic Trials qualifiers for USATF, and
- 10:55there was a group of seven that we had on and together there was
- 11:00a ton of talents and a ton of success.
- 11:02But it was again, telling their stories and trying to get people
- 11:06to help fund them, to continue their dreams, to help them get
- 11:10to the Olympic Trials. Because one of the things that
- 11:12we always highlight on the show is our pros don't get paid.
- 11:16Then, you know, our very few are on top that get paid.
- 11:19And then everyone else is kind of trying to figure out a way to
- 11:22live paycheck to paycheck, have another job, you know, working
- 11:26out of college just to train. So that was something that was,
- 11:30I think, really successful for us and for good reason because
- 11:34all seven of those individuals that we interviewed were
- 11:37fantastic humans and deserved everything and are going to
- 11:39continue to be prominent in our sport.
- 11:42I love that. Good.
- 11:43No, I was just saying, you know, and also since with with our
- 11:47background, any episode that we have usually with someone from
- 11:49New Jersey who's who's a original or an athlete, they
- 11:52they do really well for us because you know, a lot of our
- 11:55friends and family are, are from that that area.
- 11:57So that has helped generate and we've got a pretty good rapport
- 12:00going with that state and their coaches and athletes willing to
- 12:04come on to talk about everything that's going on.
- 12:06So that's been wonderful too. Very cool.
- 12:08Love that. You know, some of our listeners,
- 12:10some of them have been with us since day one.
- 12:12They've listened to each and every episode up until what we
- 12:16just published out there. But most of our listeners come
- 12:19in and out, right, whether it's they see the guest or even time
- 12:22of the year for them. But you guys have been behind
- 12:25the mic every single episode, every single day.
- 12:28What have you guys learned from starting?
- 12:31You know, Alex, you had some background here in podcasting.
- 12:33What have you learned from hosting this podcast?
- 12:35It's not necessarily a, you know, oh, that Kara runs this
- 12:38for a workout. It's more of, you know, the
- 12:41marketing, the hardware, the software, the interview style,
- 12:44the, the working together. What, what have you guys kind of
- 12:46gotten better at over the the two years that you've done it?
- 12:49I'd say the biggest thing when you're working with a partner
- 12:53and I salute everybody out there who does this solo and does this
- 12:57by by them them themselves. Having a rapport with a person
- 13:01that you can trust. Like if if Alex is sick, I can
- 13:04step in or if I'm not feeling well, he can step in.
- 13:06So having that connection and that partner that you trust and
- 13:10is huge because there's been many times where we wouldn't
- 13:13have had a show if we didn't have a positive relationship
- 13:17with each other. You know, do we always agree?
- 13:19No, but we can usually find common ground where we can both
- 13:22make it work, where we both feel happy and, and proud of the
- 13:26content that we're putting out there.
- 13:28And just trying to make sure that everyone has Internet that
- 13:30that's huge too, you know, to make.
- 13:32Sure that you know. Getting on early and, you know,
- 13:35resetting the Internet and just making sure that everything's
- 13:38good. That's the world that we live in
- 13:39now. We never have that issue here at
- 13:41the Gill Connections. You know, one of the things I've
- 13:47learned because I've been podcasting for seven or eight
- 13:49years now at first too was like kind of keeping Dave encouraged
- 13:55because when I started, I did a show solo.
- 13:58It was all about sports. I could go back and listen to it
- 14:00and it was absolutely terrible. Like there was nothing and
- 14:04nobody should ever listen to like the 1st 10 or 11 episodes
- 14:07of I did the Sports Opinions podcast was the name no one
- 14:10should ever listen to that. It is should be graveyarded.
- 14:12But it was kind of like keeping Dave encouraged because you do
- 14:15kind of noticed and you know, I don't go back and listen
- 14:18episodes as much as I used to, but I know Dave was like
- 14:20listening to every episode basically like watching film.
- 14:23And it was like keeping Dave encourage.
- 14:25And now Dave fantastic. He's a great host, a great
- 14:28partner, really good knowledgeable out the wazoo,
- 14:32especially in New Jersey track and field.
- 14:34Like when we have some New Jersey people that are
- 14:36knowledgeable, I just sit back and enjoy Dave shooting it with
- 14:39the other guests. The other thing I've learned in
- 14:42terms of doing this, and you know, like you probably will
- 14:46trumpet this, is being flexible when you're dealing with guests
- 14:49because things happen, you know, even things happen here.
- 14:53We had one scheduled earlier. We needed to move it.
- 14:56I almost didn't make it this morning.
- 14:57That's why I'm doing it from a car.
- 14:59So it's like being flexible and learning that people have things
- 15:03to do. And especially with track and
- 15:05field, you're dealing with meats, you're dealing with pros
- 15:07at times. It's you have to not be so
- 15:11rigid. We're not network TV, We're not
- 15:13something like that. It's OK, we do.
- 15:15We go live Monday nights, but they can't do Monday.
- 15:19OK, we have nothing to do Tuesday night.
- 15:21Let's move it to Tuesday. Our fans will understand.
- 15:24And it's kind of keeping that mindset and that flexibility and
- 15:27not being so rigid because, you know, in the end, Dave and I are
- 15:31doing this for the love of the sport and for fun.
- 15:33So we don't want to pull that out of it.
- 15:35What a great podcast lesson. What a great life lesson there
- 15:38as well, Alex. I, I also just want to add one
- 15:41thing, you know, like when we first started, we were all
- 15:43audio. So that was kind of a transition
- 15:45to go live on, you know, like there's no editing.
- 15:49It's, it's kind of like this is what is it?
- 15:50You got to be just mindful of every of everybody in your house
- 15:54and where you are and, and the surrounding.
- 15:56So, you know, like, luckily we haven't had anything, you know,
- 15:58we've had guests have to plug in and, you know, run around the,
- 16:02the, the, the, the, the house. But I I think just the the whole
- 16:05live aspect really adds a different component to what it
- 16:09is. Yeah, for sure, for sure.
- 16:10All right. Last two questions, where can we
- 16:13find the podcast? So I would start with the three
- 16:15main ones. So Apple, Spotify and YouTube,
- 16:18are you on all three of those? Yes, we are.
- 16:20Yes, and then we're. Also.
- 16:22Yeah, where else? And what is this live component?
- 16:25So Monday nights we are live at 9:00.
- 16:27Typically it's Monday nights, we can do our interviews at 9:00
- 16:29and we are a lot when we're live.
- 16:31We're going on YouTube, we're on Facebook.
- 16:34We're also on X, formerly known as Twitter.
- 16:36So we're live on all three. So wherever you want to access
- 16:39it, you can get on all them and it's talking and ovals.
- 16:42If you go search us, you know, I've searched there is no other
- 16:45podcast with our name yet. So you'll find us, you'll see
- 16:48our logo, it's a track talking and ovals in it.
- 16:51And you can catch us live at 9:00 there.
- 16:53And then I try to work as hard as I can to get it all, you
- 16:57know, to go to the audio version, I edit it out, make
- 17:00sure it sounds good. Then I try to get it up by the
- 17:03next day. I think I've been lazy right
- 17:04now, but I try to get it up by the next day for the audio.
- 17:07And then it's out. Basically anywhere you can
- 17:10listen to your podcast. It's Spotify, it's Apple, it's
- 17:12Amazon. And I go through a great
- 17:15service, iheart. So we're basically anywhere you
- 17:17can find a podcast. Typically next day for the audio
- 17:21but video, YouTube, Facebook X. I love that.
- 17:24And last question is, you know the average podcast listener
- 17:27listens to between 7:00 and 10:00 different podcasts being
- 17:30podcast host. I'm assuming maybe you guys are
- 17:32podcast listeners. I wanna know what is each of
- 17:35yours favorite podcast that isn't your own and isn't track
- 17:39related? Isn't my own, it isn't track
- 17:42related. I would.
- 17:43I'll have to go with anything and it's been a sad couple years
- 17:47dealing with the Brooklyn Nets. I am a die hard Brooklyn Nets.
- 17:50Fan so. I torture myself and listen to
- 17:53how we're we're going to be good in five or six years from now.
- 17:55But I know, but generally anything sports related is is
- 18:00this kind of my niche. You know, I obviously listen to
- 18:03a lot of track and field podcast, you know, Sidious Mag
- 18:06coach Bennett things of of of that nature.
- 18:08But when it's not sports, it's usually Brooklyn Nets or New
- 18:11York Yankees or, you know, something of of that nature,
- 18:15trying to see how my teams will venture going.
- 18:18Forward. I'm sure for a New York sports
- 18:21fan, there's lots of options out there.
- 18:23Yes. It's.
- 18:24Alex, what about you? So when it comes to me, one of
- 18:27the things that doesn't get to shine too much through on the
- 18:29show is I'm a giant nerd and I love comics, I like gaming, I
- 18:33like anime, manga. So when it comes to that,
- 18:36there's one show I love called Side Scrollers.
- 18:39Back in the day, I liked this thing on YouTube in the Wild
- 18:41West, YouTube called Screw Attack, and it was all a gaming
- 18:43list. One of the individuals,
- 18:45Stuttering Frank, started a show called Side Scrollers where they
- 18:49talk about all the gaming news, culture news, complain about
- 18:52things that we don't like to get flowers and things we do.
- 18:55So that's a show that I watch basically every day and listen
- 18:58to every day. Then another one because I'm a
- 19:00big Dragon Ball. Dragon Ball Z fan, again, a
- 19:02giant nerd, is contentious with a podcast.
- 19:04They cover everything Dragon Ball and we keep on getting
- 19:07content. So there's a reason for that.
- 19:09Podcasts still exist. So those are the two that I
- 19:12frequent. I love that.
- 19:13That's very good. All right, listener, you see
- 19:15from your podcast that you're listening right now, we're about
- 19:17done here. So here is my challenge to you
- 19:19on the same app that you're using right now.
- 19:22Hit pause because we're done here.
- 19:23Hit pause. Go to that search button, put in
- 19:25talking and ovals. That'll bring up their podcast.
- 19:28And here's how I like to kind of dive into new podcasts.
- 19:30One is definitely listen to their latest episode, right?
- 19:33That'll give you kind of the style and flavor that they're in
- 19:35right now. But then you heard their
- 19:37favorite podcast episodes. You heard their most popular
- 19:40ones, maybe you go back into their library and check that out
- 19:43as well. And maybe this is a podcast for
- 19:45you and your listening schedule that you have there.
- 19:48Don't forget, always hit the subscribe button for their
- 19:50podcast. That way you'll know the exact
- 19:52time their latest one comes out. If Alex is being lazy and it's
- 19:54not until two days after the live version, you can always
- 19:56catch that out and always, hey, check out this live version.
- 19:59You know, we do a live show here every once in a while and you
- 20:02know how fun and kind of it's unscripted.
- 20:05You know, most of our podcasts are unscripted.
- 20:07Live is definitely unscripted. So I would encourage you to go
- 20:10check that out. I bet they have a pretty lively
- 20:12chat option and and fun in there as well.
- 20:15And and some questions from the audience, if you will, I bet
- 20:17goes on there as well. So go check them out.
- 20:19Talking and ovals. Alex, Dave, thank you so much
- 20:21for what you do in our sport and for giving value and appreciate
- 20:24you guys being here today. Thank.
- 20:25You, Mike. Thank you, Mike.