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Dyami Starks on Building Players Beyond Basketball · Scene Projects Sports Network

• 0:25
  Welcome into the Scene Project Sports Network.
• 0:28
  I am your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today, the head of recruiting and player
• 0:32
  development at All Iowa Attack, Diami Starks.
• 0:35
  Diami, welcome to the show, brother.
• 0:37
  Awesome, man.
• 0:38
  Good morning, Bubba.
• 0:39
  It's good to have...
• 0:39
  Good to be here.
• 0:40
  Yeah.
• 0:41
  It's awesome to have you here.
• 0:43
  We've been talking a lot of ball off camera already.
• 0:46
  But before we get into some of those deeper conversations, NIL and player development in in
• 0:52
  this age, Wanna get a little bit of your backstory, and then we'll pick it up from
• 0:56
  there.
• 0:56
  Yeah.
• 0:57
  So, you know, it...
• 0:58
  It's kind of...
• 0:58
  Basketball's taking me all over the place.
• 1:01
  I love the sport.
• 1:02
  I'm from Duluth, Minnesota, which is not the quintessential basketball town.
• 1:07
  Right?
• 1:07
  It's hockey town, USA up in the Northland.
• 1:10
  But basketball paved the path.
• 1:11
  It connected me to a lot of other people.
• 1:14
  My father was his passion.
• 1:15
  So, slowly but surely build my way into a scholarship over on the East Coast.
• 1:19
  I played at Bryant University, a small d one in Rhode Island, which then took me overseas to
• 1:24
  play professionally for a few years and then ended up coming back.
• 1:26
  My father passed away at twenty fifteen, so I took over his business, his role, his, you
• 1:33
  know, everything in the community back in Duluth shortly after that.
• 1:37
  And then eventually worked my way down to Iowa where I joined the All Iowa Tech program four
• 1:43
  years ago.
• 1:45
  Pretty incredible, how the sport has given you so much, and now you're able to give that back
• 1:52
  to these high school students and building them up.
• 1:56
  Was there anyone, kind of in Duluth and around that area that you really leaned on and that
• 2:02
  really shaped who you've become now inside of the sport or basketball or otherwise?
• 2:08
  Yeah.
• 2:09
  So I mentioned my father.
• 2:10
  He was the main influence.
• 2:11
  My father used to always say, use the game best, but don't let it use you.
• 2:14
  You know, he was kind of the old school guy that have all these clever little aphorisms
• 2:17
  that, you know, kind of pulled me along the way.
• 2:20
  So he was the main influence.
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  Had I a couple guys in my high school, Corey Johnson, Rick Rickard.
• 2:25
  These are two legends from my area.
• 2:27
  Played division one basketball.
• 2:28
  Both played professionally.
• 2:29
  So Rick, I was talking to somebody the other day, actually played overseas.
• 2:32
  So he kind of was my first eye opener to, oh, wait.
• 2:35
  There's there's a professional league overseas.
• 2:37
  I thought it was just the NBA or bust, and then he played in New Zealand so long that he got
• 2:41
  his dual citizenship.
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  So now he hasn't come back.
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  He stayed in New Zealand.
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  So it kinda opened my eyes to, wow.
• 2:47
  Basketball can take you can take you there.
• 2:49
  So So there was these kind of, you know, guys on top of the mountain influence.
• 2:54
  There was guys in between, and then I would say my father was the main influence.
• 2:59
  Yeah.
• 3:00
  Really incredible.
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  And the reason I ask is because with your role now with all Iowa ATT CK and and, you know,
• 3:06
  shaping the...
• 3:07
  You know, not just college careers, but pro careers in the future of these young athletes
• 3:12
  that you're working with, you know, especially these young ladies that that are a part of your
• 3:17
  program that it it doesn't happen in a vacuum.
• 3:21
  Right?
• 3:22
  Most players aren't inclined to coaching or or helping other players like that.
• 3:29
  So I I had an inkling that there was people around you that kind of showed you that there
• 3:35
  was a life after playing as well and beyond that.
• 3:38
  Tell me a little bit, Diame, about playing overseas.
• 3:41
  My my dad graduated in '81 and had an opportunity to do it.
• 3:46
  Unfortunately, I was, you know, born or he graduated college rather in '85, '86.
• 3:51
  I was born and probably ended that dream a little early for him, but, I'm gonna live a
• 3:57
  little bit vicariously through you, I guess, and learn a little bit about that experience.
• 4:01
  Yeah.
• 4:01
  Yeah.
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  So first of all, it's like rolling the dice.
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  It's gambling at the highest degree, I think, kind of professional sports or just, you know,
• 4:09
  entering the workforce after college kind of is.
• 4:12
  But for for basketball, what's so strange is that there's so many different ebbs and flows
• 4:17
  and different rules.
• 4:18
  Like, for example, my first job in Kazakhstan, they only allowed two American players per
• 4:23
  team, which is pretty normal.
• 4:25
  But they had another team that played in multiple leagues.
• 4:28
  They were a good team, best team in our league at the time, and they had five Americans, so
• 4:31
  they could only dress two.
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  And I remember talking to those guys.
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  They were like, yeah, man.
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  Like, half my job is just to practice.
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  I get paid the same amount of money, and I just play on the scout team.
• 4:40
  He's like, I've never done that before.
• 4:42
  So you're living in Kazakhstan, which is a a very different country.
• 4:45
  Let's just leave it at that.
• 4:47
  And he's, you know, getting to play three games a year, which is very odd.
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  Then, you know, my second job, I was playing in Latvia and...
• 4:56
  Which is a very interesting place, very beautiful place.
• 4:58
  They had a rule where, you know, half your team could be Americans, at least in the league that
• 5:03
  I was playing in.
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  So I got to bounce around.
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  Those were kind of the first two years where I just...
• 5:08
  I mean, everything is close.
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  Everything is just, it's it's it's a very different world.
• 5:13
  Let's let's say that.
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  Then once all that was wrapped up, I ended up my last year in Australia, which was...
• 5:19
  You couldn't ask for a a better final year overseas.
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  Australia was beautiful.
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  Had a great time over there.
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  Everybody spoke English, although it's a broken English.
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  We all know how Aussies sound.
• 5:30
  But that was really fun.
• 5:32
  The only downside to Australia, just like a funny side note, was Southern Hemisphere.
• 5:36
  Right?
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  So we're over there, from February through July, which is their wintertime.
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  And I was like, I just left the winter in Duluth, Minnesota to go down in this beautiful
• 5:48
  place that I thought was gonna be a 100 degrees and sunshine and beaches.
• 5:52
  No.
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  It was 30 degrees all the time I was there, so that was funny.
• 5:55
  But, no, it opened my eyes to everything.
• 5:58
  I'll tell you a quick story.
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  So my...
• 6:00
  The the the biggest eye opener for me, Bubba, in my life happened in Kazakhstan when we
• 6:05
  traveled to Turkey.
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  We were in Istanbul, which is an amazing city, and it happened during the Syrian refugee
• 6:12
  crisis.
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  And I'm forgetting my year.
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  I think it's, like, twenty sixteen ish.
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  And it was about a 100,000 people walking through the streets with just their belongings
• 6:20
  on their back and their ashen faces, and it was just...
• 6:23
  It was, like, surreal.
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  I've never seen something like that.
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  And then I turned the news on on my phone, and you could literally see on the news what I'm
• 6:30
  looking at outside of my bus.
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  And I'm like, I'm driving to go play basketball.
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  That was my eye opening moment.
• 6:36
  And I said, I can't take this for granted.
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  So I realized that basketball is a connective tissue, but it's not everything, and that just
• 6:41
  reshaped my whole life.
• 6:42
  So I'm thankful for those experiences, and then I took all that back with me and hopefully can
• 6:46
  give it to the next generation.
• 6:48
  Yeah.
• 6:48
  I appreciate you sharing that story, Diame.
• 6:51
  For me, that moment was living in Mexico for a year, right, and experiencing not resort
• 6:57
  Mexico, but very, you know, off the beaten path.
• 7:01
  I don't know that they'd ever seen a a white male like me before in their lives.
• 7:06
  They definitely hadn't seen very many white blonde hair, blue eyed babies like my son who
• 7:10
  was born down there.
• 7:12
  It it was a different eye opening cultural experience that really shaped who I became from
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  that moment forward.
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  I no longer took the little things that we have here and the freedoms and the life and the,
• 7:26
  really, the the luxury even if we aren't the richest people in the country that we live in
• 7:31
  here in The United States.
• 7:33
  Yeah.
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  There's no question.
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  I have tons of little stories like that, like, you know, day to day stories that make you
• 7:39
  realize, like, you know, good lord.
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  We are...
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  We're privileged here.
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  We we should be thankful for what we have here.
• 7:44
  But but I actually enjoy...
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  So, like, think of the irony of being a professional basketball player, which everybody
• 7:49
  kinda rolls their eyes at.
• 7:50
  They say these guys make millions playing a game.
• 7:53
  Right?
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  It's like, okay.
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  I get it.
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  But there's also a lot of, you know, reasons why they get paid a lot of money.
• 7:58
  It's just...
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  It's a life of luxury, though.
• 8:00
  I can't deny that.
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  And I'm in I'm in Kazakhstan, and we live in a...
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  In basically a project building that was just overrun by all kinds of nonsense.
• 8:09
  And then, you know, the the corner store down the street, everything is just ashen and bear.
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  I I I told my mom, like, my first week out there, I called my mom.
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  Said, there's not a single blade of grass in this city.
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  I'm not making this up.
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  It's just dirt.
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  It's concrete.
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  It's cracks.
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  It's potholes.
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  It's this.
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  But I was like, this is...
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  There was something humbling about it.
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  You know?
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  There was something that that actually forced you to get out of bed and realize, like, okay.
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  I'm actually doing this for a living.
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  It keeps you grounded.
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  It gives you that blue collar feel.
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  So, yeah, life of luxury, but also a life of work.
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  So basketball, it's so funny how it can tie all these life lessons together.
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  So, yeah, I I totally agree, and I'm thankful for it.
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  The universal language of sport.
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  And for me, I've had one foot rooted in sports and one in music, and both of them equally
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  universal wherever you go, and you can connect with people of different cultures and different
• 9:01
  languages.
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  And and when you step on that court, are you able to do that?
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  And I don't know that a lot of, you know, athletes get that unless they go and play
• 9:09
  overseas or air in another country.
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  Yeah.
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  100% right.
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  And I just...
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  I I bring up Duluth all the time because a lot of people from where I'm from, they they don't
• 9:18
  really don't leave the area.
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  And Duluth is a beautiful place.
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  I don't blame them.
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  But I tell all my kids now when I train them, said, I don't I don't want you or need you to
• 9:26
  leave.
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  You go wherever makes sense for you, and oftentimes that's home.
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  But I said, need you to have the skills to do that.
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  I need you to have the mindset to do that.
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  And I think a lot of guys who played overseas, a lot of my friends who I know are wrapping up
• 9:40
  their careers, wrapped up when I played or or played ahead of me all all say the same thing.
• 9:45
  So, yeah, that universal language piece is important.
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  I think I think college sports can still be that.
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  You know, we were talking about all the different nuances in in college.
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  I think we could just keep it simple and say that if I can go play somewhere, whether it's a
• 10:00
  scholarship, no scholarship, paid a lot of money, whatever, and get those experiences.
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  I say college is the time to just go, you know, mess up, do whatever you wanna do, make
• 10:09
  mistakes, fall on your face, do all these things.
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  It's the only time in your life where that's expected.
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  And I said those are where you wanna shape your experience.
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  So basketball can pave that way for you to do that, then do it.
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  And if you wanna stay close to home and do that, that's fine too.
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  But I I I think basketball, to our to our point here, is it's the vehicle and the tool for a
• 10:30
  lot of these kids to be able to do that.
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  So we have to keep the main thing the main thing when we're developing, recruiting,
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  exposing.
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  Whatever we're doing at the grassroots level, it has to be towards that goal.
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  So that brings me to, you know, my next question, an area that I wanna jump into is
• 10:46
  given all of those experiences that you've had, how are you using them now to shape the lives
• 10:51
  of young athletes with the All Iowa attack?
• 10:54
  Yeah.
• 10:54
  Yeah.
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  So I...
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  It's...
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  So Fred, I'll preface this by saying that...
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  So basketball is is my love.
• 10:59
  It's my joy in a lot of these kids too.
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  So that's that's an easy just...
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  It it...
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  There's very few places I've been, Bubba, that where all I would attack.
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  Do you get a 100 kids in the gym that are all like, I will die for this game?
• 11:13
  Right?
• 11:13
  So that that that alone is is really fun.
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  That's what drew me to attack.
• 11:18
  It made it a good seamless fit.
• 11:19
  I I enjoyed a lot.
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  But what I would say is that what runs deeper than that for me personally is I love solving
• 11:24
  puzzles.
• 11:25
  Like, I love figuring things out, which is why the player development hat works so well,
• 11:30
  because it gives me something to do.
• 11:32
  Every player is different, and that's largely how I view my role, not just with attack, but
• 11:37
  any player or or program that I work with is that, okay.
• 11:41
  We have this end goal.
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  We have this...
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  Whatever it is, a kid could say, I just wanna make this team.
• 11:47
  Okay?
• 11:47
  I wanna make our top team.
• 11:48
  A kid could say, I wanna be a top 10 player in the country.
• 11:51
  A kid could say, I want to earn a scallop.
• 11:53
  Whatever it is, you have this goal, and every player is different.
• 11:56
  So in a gym with a 100 players and all Iowa attack, the intensity of that gym will raise
• 12:03
  the floor to the point where you're just fighting for your life.
• 12:05
  And that's...
• 12:06
  There's something to be said about how that alone...
• 12:08
  Forget the skills and the fancy stuff you see on Twitter.
• 12:10
  Like, that alone is player development.
• 12:13
  Like, that is the best form of player development you can get.
• 12:16
  But what I like to say is I like to connect those dots.
• 12:19
  So kinda shore those gaps up where, okay, in a practice of a 100 kids, you're not getting the
• 12:24
  specific teaching points or the specific blueprint to how we're gonna take where you're
• 12:28
  at now to where you're gonna go.
• 12:29
  So I like to build clarity chains with a lot of my players, Bubba.
• 12:32
  So a clarity chain is just kind of what I laid out.
• 12:35
  It's just three steps.
• 12:36
  You start where kind of a player wants to go.
• 12:39
  Like, we have to see where we're going, create that clarity, that vision.
• 12:42
  Right?
• 12:43
  Just goal setting.
• 12:43
  And then that second step is gonna be understanding ourselves.
• 12:47
  So, like, a lot of times in all Iowa Tech or any type of program that plays on these
• 12:51
  circuits is it's a rat race.
• 12:53
  It's nonsense.
• 12:54
  It's constant stress and fear and worry.
• 12:56
  We play seven games in a weekend.
• 12:58
  That's too many games.
• 12:59
  It's just...
• 13:00
  These kids get beat down.
• 13:01
  They play 50 games in the summer and then have play 30 more games in the winter.
• 13:04
  So, like, we have to be aware of all these things is our point, trying to figure out how
• 13:08
  we can manage their bodies, their stress levels.
• 13:10
  I mean, these are kids at the end of the day.
• 13:12
  And a lot of times, the parents, they call me the unofficial therapist of the team.
• 13:16
  I don't know what to make of that.
• 13:17
  I have no comments of the unofficial therapy part because mental health is real, and I am
• 13:21
  not a therapist.
• 13:23
  But giving kids oftentimes the the space to just kinda say, oh, this is hard or, oh, what
• 13:30
  am I supposed to do here?
• 13:31
  Or just kind of like that breathing, that that that breath, that sigh of, like, man, this
• 13:35
  is...
• 13:36
  This this journey is a grind.
• 13:38
  A lot of times, that can be player development because the kid can kinda reset and refresh.
• 13:42
  So that's kinda step
• 13:43
  two is just helping them understand where they are.
• 13:45
  Yeah.
• 13:45
  And then step three is create the plan.
• 13:47
  So when a kid has purpose and a kid is driven like that, they can they they can do so many
• 13:53
  incredible things.
• 13:53
  That is my main role that I like to say.
• 13:55
  And a lot of times, that can be 10 different things on a given day.
• 13:59
  But because I love to put puzzles together and constantly figure things out, it is...
• 14:04
  It goes so much deeper than basketball.
• 14:06
  And I think that passion is what parents and players really latch on to.
• 14:09
  Basketball is just the medium.
• 14:12
  Yeah.
• 14:12
  Player development means a a lot, a lot more at this age, especially.
• 14:18
  You're you're not just crafting and and and, you know, teaching them a craft rather.
• 14:23
  You are shaping who these young people are going to be off of the court as well.
• 14:28
  And I think that's really important, especially as the game is changing, before our eyes, not
• 14:34
  just at the very top in the league or in, you know, collegiates, but it's changing the game
• 14:40
  at the high school level.
• 14:41
  Yeah.
• 14:42
  No.
• 14:42
  That's that's quite right.
• 14:43
  So the...
• 14:45
  It it is cliche to say, you know, we're helping them off the court.
• 14:50
  To to me, I see no shame in...
• 14:52
  I mean, we are a Nike EYBL program.
• 14:56
  You know, we've had Caitlin Clark play as as most everybody knows.
• 15:00
  It is a it is a very prestigious high level program.
• 15:04
  Right?
• 15:04
  So I think there's no shame in, you know, pushing kids to the absolute brink because
• 15:09
  that's what life can do for you.
• 15:11
  Right?
• 15:11
  So, like, a lot of times, you know, people might equate, like, a nonprofit or a, like,
• 15:18
  Salvation Army.
• 15:19
  We had rookie basketball association where I'm from.
• 15:21
  So, like, these were a lot of free programming and programming for, you know, volunteer work
• 15:26
  where parents would come in and teach kids how to play, and there's a lot to be said about
• 15:29
  that that I don't think that All Iowa Attack is ever going to be something like that nor should
• 15:34
  it be.
• 15:35
  So regardless of where a kid is and their commitment level or growth, they have to have
• 15:41
  something that reflects what they need.
• 15:43
  And I think that what All Iowa Tech provides is that ambition, that teaching kids how to grind
• 15:50
  what it means to work because you and I were just talking about how you could just get up
• 15:56
  after, you know, whatever wakes you up in the middle of the night, and you just grind and go
• 16:00
  to work.
• 16:01
  Right?
• 16:01
  I mean, that's that's something that you learn at a younger age.
• 16:04
  It's something that you learn from somebody else.
• 16:06
  Because if you don't have that guidance, you don't really understand what metric you have to
• 16:09
  chase.
• 16:10
  So I don't think there's anything wrong with pushing kids to the absolute brink for a game
• 16:15
  because it's more than a game as long as we're tying that into your point to how this can help
• 16:20
  you later in life.
• 16:21
  We have so many players.
• 16:22
  I think the coolest thing is in the summer when we get kids coming back from college.
• 16:25
  They'll come in the gym in one.
• 16:27
  Of them don't play.
• 16:28
  They just come and say hi because they're like, I'm not doing that again.
• 16:30
  Our practices are so hard.
• 16:31
  They're like, nah.
• 16:32
  I'm just gonna watch, which is hilarious.
• 16:34
  But they they all talk about...
• 16:36
  And this is true.
• 16:37
  It's not a knock on colleges, but they all say how the practices in college are like a breeze
• 16:42
  compared to what they went through with us, and that's by design.
• 16:44
  Like, that is on purpose.
• 16:46
  You come to our practices, you might see some maniacal stuff, some coaches yelling and
• 16:50
  pushing, you know, but none of the players ever feel hated.
• 16:53
  None of the players ever feel like it's unfair.
• 16:55
  I mean, they understand what the mission is, and we...
• 16:58
  You can feel that often...
• 16:59
  That authentic teaching where it's like, hey.
• 17:01
  This will help you next level.
• 17:03
  Look at the results.
• 17:03
  Look at the kids in front of you.
• 17:05
  So when we do tie all that back to basketball, it resonates on a deep level.
• 17:08
  I think that's it's one of the few programs I've seen above in all my years, including my
• 17:12
  playing career where, our founder, Dixon Jensen, he does that better than almost anybody
• 17:17
  I've ever seen.
• 17:19
  Yeah.
• 17:19
  It's not to say that, you know, the collegiate level is the end of the journey and that the
• 17:24
  work stops there, but your job is to put them through the paces and to prepare them to get
• 17:31
  there.
• 17:31
  There's so much competition now, and you see it especially with the EYBL, just in the league
• 17:38
  that you play in.
• 17:39
  So you have to push these players to their brink.
• 17:42
  If you have that goal, then you have to be willing to do whatever it takes to reach that,
• 17:48
  and we are going to make sure that you're able to handle it and to get there.
• 17:53
  And I think that the testimony of the players coming back and going, I'm good, is is a great
• 17:59
  point to to exactly what what you've achieved and what the program is doing for these young
• 18:05
  athletes.
• 18:06
  Yeah.
• 18:06
  You're you're you're spot on.
• 18:08
  I I love what you said earlier.
• 18:09
  One of my favorite saying is it takes what it takes.
• 18:12
  A lot of times when parents are new to the program, I'll talk to them.
• 18:16
  I'll...
• 18:16
  I kinda have them just share their their fears, their thoughts, their worries, their
• 18:21
  insecurities because I always tell parents, bubba, I say, hey.
• 18:24
  I'd rather you have me be the lightning rod for your emotions than your child.
• 18:28
  So, like, get all those, you know, whatever crazy thoughts.
• 18:31
  Get all of them out with me.
• 18:33
  You know?
• 18:33
  I I won't use them against you.
• 18:35
  I wanna hear.
• 18:36
  I wanna know where you're at, you know, all these things.
• 18:38
  And that way, obviously, your kid doesn't...
• 18:39
  Because there's too much pressure these kids feel.
• 18:41
  I don't want their parents in the car telling them to do this or be more aggressive or be
• 18:45
  more of this.
• 18:45
  So as I'm talking to these parents and you'll hear kind of all these stories of like, man,
• 18:50
  that's a lot.
• 18:51
  Like, last weekend, one of the parents were like, goodness.
• 18:53
  How much are they going to play?
• 18:55
  And, oh, like, how can my child do this?
• 18:58
  And I said, well, listen.
• 18:59
  It takes what it takes.
• 19:00
  I I I don't know the true answer to that.
• 19:03
  I don't.
• 19:03
  I don't know what the exact right amount of work is.
• 19:06
  Does does anybody?
• 19:07
  It's all about the market.
• 19:09
  And so if another kid down in Texas or Arkansas is willing to do that, well, then you have to
• 19:15
  do that as well.
• 19:16
  It takes what it takes.
• 19:17
  And I think that that cuts away a lot of the kind of maniacal nature of all this where it's
• 19:22
  like, we're not trying to tear you down on purpose.
• 19:24
  No.
• 19:25
  We are doing what it takes to see, one, can you do this?
• 19:28
  And two, we need to prepare you for that.
• 19:30
  It's boot camp.
• 19:30
  It's no different than boot camp.
• 19:32
  And I think that all of those...
• 19:34
  I think everybody who's been through boot camp would tell you it was necessary, it was needed,
• 19:38
  and they would do the same exact thing to the next generation knowing what's on the other
• 19:42
  side.
• 19:44
  Yeah.
• 19:44
  It's exactly necessary to get where you need to get.
• 19:48
  You have to know where your breaking point is and to know what you're capable of.
• 19:52
  And I think that's something that only these highly competitive leagues and teams and
• 19:57
  programs can really bring that out.
• 19:59
  To be a champion, winning is a product of the work, and you have to know what you're willing
• 20:05
  to give to this game if you ever wanna take something away from it.
• 20:10
  Yeah.
• 20:10
  No.
• 20:10
  And and and so, like, let's zoom into player development a little bit.
• 20:13
  So, you know, specifically with player development, I like to delineate different
• 20:19
  categories.
• 20:20
  So I I interviewed a lot of my coaching friends, just over 50 of them, and I I just
• 20:25
  asked them.
• 20:25
  I said, you know, rank, you know, six things I gave them a list.
• 20:29
  I don't need to go over all six, but it's your general stuff like your mental toughness
• 20:33
  skills, you know, athleticism, whatever.
• 20:35
  I said, those six things in order of immediate impact.
• 20:39
  So meaning an 18 year old who graduated from high school, what things should they prioritize
• 20:44
  or what things could potentially hold them back in order of importance to making an impact
• 20:49
  right away as a freshman?
• 20:50
  And you'd be surprised.
• 20:51
  So not only did I get a a really good feedback, I mean, the number one answer overwhelmingly
• 20:55
  was their mental capacity.
• 20:56
  Right?
• 20:57
  So mental toughness, resiliency, able to figure things out, problem solve, etcetera.
• 21:01
  But it's like skills were at the bottom.
• 21:04
  Right?
• 21:04
  So, like, a lot of times in in our space, Bubba, it's skills training.
• 21:08
  So a lot of...
• 21:08
  Especially girls.
• 21:09
  A lot of girls rely on skills trainers because girls aren't above the rim players.
• 21:13
  So, you know, you get a seven foot guy, 17 year old guy who's, you know, got a 40 inch
• 21:19
  vertical.
• 21:20
  He's probably going to make the NBA.
• 21:22
  Will he stay?
• 21:22
  I don't know.
• 21:23
  He's gotta get better.
• 21:24
  The point is he's an above the rim player.
• 21:26
  You go to the girls level, you just can't rely on that.
• 21:28
  Even the best athletes still have to have some variance of skill.
• 21:32
  And so even with that said, these coaches are like skills at the bottom because skill...
• 21:37
  It's not that it's an easy thing to get.
• 21:39
  Basketball is a difficult sport, but it's the easiest thing to attain.
• 21:44
  So, basically, just spend time in the gym dribbling and shooting.
• 21:47
  You should become more skilled.
• 21:49
  What is the blueprint for mental capacity, mental toughness, confidence?
• 21:52
  That's the number one question I get asked by parents.
• 21:54
  It's like, what is confidence?
• 21:56
  So as I take this list, I say, okay, guys.
• 21:59
  Like, one, is your time off the court reflecting what these coaches value?
• 22:04
  And that's so important because in our practices, we'll get you meant...
• 22:08
  Mentally tough.
• 22:09
  That's our job.
• 22:10
  It's boot camp.
• 22:10
  Right?
• 22:11
  But what are you doing outside of that?
• 22:13
  So a lot of kids will shoot or get a skills trainer or dribble around cones for an hour.
• 22:18
  That's not really what's going to separate you at the next level.
• 22:21
  It's necessary, but I like to say it's only 5% of the game.
• 22:25
  You have to watch basketball, study the game, take care of your body, learn preparation,
• 22:29
  learn how to problem solve on your own.
• 22:31
  I tell parents all the time, make your kids figure stuff out on their own.
• 22:33
  Stop giving them the answer to everything.
• 22:35
  Stop doing their laundry.
• 22:36
  By the time they're 12 years old, make them do their own laundry.
• 22:40
  So, anyway, you you could go on and on about just all the things that fall in that mental
• 22:44
  capacity umbrella.
• 22:46
  That is true player development.
• 22:48
  So if we're back to my clarity chain and we're on the court and I see a player struggling,
• 22:52
  I'll go back to whatever mental block that they have before I talk about anything with
• 22:57
  basketball.
• 22:57
  I think when we talk about player development, it's a little bit different.
• 23:01
  It's, like, vastly different than what a skills trainer will provide.
• 23:04
  Skills are a part of it, but I think it's only 5% of what the entire puzzle is.
• 23:08
  Yeah.
• 23:09
  It's much more human development than just the the basketball player.
• 23:13
  Good way to put it.
• 23:14
  Yeah.
• 23:14
  Good way to put it.
• 23:16
  So, Diame, you do a lot of work outside of the team and with all Iowa Tech.
• 23:21
  You're working with players one on one.
• 23:23
  Is there is there one that is more rewarding than the other and getting to really dig into
• 23:28
  one player and not necessarily a team, or is it is it kind of an equal playing field across the
• 23:34
  board?
• 23:34
  Yeah.
• 23:34
  It's a good question.
• 23:36
  So first of all, I love doing trainings in groups.
• 23:38
  If I can make a quick aside, the number one most requested service, the one on one workout,
• 23:43
  basketballs play five on five, so the numbers don't quite add up there.
• 23:46
  One on one workouts are only good for very specific players or at a very specific point in
• 23:50
  their career.
• 23:51
  I think young players benefit from one on ones if you're trying to really break down how to
• 23:54
  make a layup or how to dribble, be in a stance, whatever, because then you can give them that
• 23:58
  one on one feedback.
• 23:59
  Right?
• 23:59
  So in a group setting, that can be kind of challenging, but at the same time, I'd rather
• 24:03
  have my kids be in a group than a one on one setting if they're young.
• 24:07
  The other advantage of a one on one would be if somebody's a pro.
• 24:09
  Right?
• 24:09
  So I had a player that was training to play overseas in Australia.
• 24:13
  Right?
• 24:13
  And I was like, hey.
• 24:14
  It's so funny.
• 24:15
  She goes, what are some of the things I need to know about Australia?
• 24:18
  Like, I heard when you went down there, it was cold and it was warm.
• 24:20
  Is that true?
• 24:21
  It's like all these things, right, about being in the Southern Hemisphere I was talking about
• 24:23
  earlier.
• 24:24
  And I said, yeah.
• 24:25
  Like, there there are so many things about playing overseas that have nothing to do with
• 24:29
  what skills we could build in this gym.
• 24:31
  So I have to be able to talk to this player one on one.
• 24:33
  I can't do that in group setting.
• 24:34
  So, anyway, point is, yes, there are times for one on ones.
• 24:38
  My favorite is to work in a group setting, I love to work in a setting with about six to 10
• 24:42
  players.
• 24:42
  We can compete.
• 24:43
  We can have bodies to play defense.
• 24:45
  We can do a lot of more read and react, and that's still small enough for me to engage with
• 24:49
  certain players.
• 24:50
  A lot of times in my workouts bubble, what I'll do is after about...
• 24:53
  I follow a a three ten rule.
• 24:55
  So, basically, don't work on more than three things in a session, and don't work on one
• 24:59
  thing for more than ten minutes at a time.
• 25:01
  Kids start to check out after that.
• 25:02
  So after our first ten minute segment, I'll pull everybody in.
• 25:05
  I was like, I need to see eyes.
• 25:07
  Because you could see if the kid is retaining what you're saying.
• 25:09
  Right?
• 25:09
  Do they have that glossy look like they're in six six period math class on a Monday, or do
• 25:14
  they have that look like I'm I'm really engaged?
• 25:17
  I wanna, you know, I wanna know more if that makes sense.
• 25:19
  So, anyway, that's how we would...
• 25:21
  That's typically how my sessions go, six to 10 kids where I can see their eyes and engagement.
• 25:27
  Well, and outside of all of the things that you're doing, you're also kinda building your
• 25:31
  own program.
• 25:31
  I don't know if you're at liberty to talk about it quite yet, but I wanted to give you at least
• 25:36
  an opportunity if you could.
• 25:38
  Yeah.
• 25:38
  Yeah.
• 25:39
  Yeah.
• 25:39
  So my my job takes me all over the place.
• 25:42
  Again, basketball, connecting dots.
• 25:44
  So I have my own training company, which is the OmniStarts basketball.
• 25:48
  The Army Starks Basketball has been around for a while.
• 25:50
  It's been around for over two years, just training, player development, all the stuff we
• 25:53
  were talking about there.
• 25:54
  And then All Iowa Tech is the AAU side of things.
• 25:56
  That's where we're traveling, playing, coaching.
• 25:58
  You get the point.
• 25:59
  What I've recently talked about with All Iowa Tech and some of my employees at the Army
• 26:04
  starts basketball is the the rising cost of youth sports is getting ridiculous.
• 26:09
  Right?
• 26:09
  So, like, yes, parents do have to pay to train with me.
• 26:12
  They do have to pay to play for attack.
• 26:13
  I mean, these are things that gym space, overhead expenses, etcetera.
• 26:16
  Like, these are businesses.
• 26:17
  That's true.
• 26:18
  But that's not to say that these parents who want to play at the highest level, who want to
• 26:23
  train and the rising cost of inflations or hotels or gas or food, bar them from having to
• 26:28
  even play the sport they wanna play, that's a problem to me.
• 26:31
  So what we've launched is play without limits, and it is a a program more or less centered
• 26:37
  around making youth sports more affordable.
• 26:40
  Okay?
• 26:40
  So we'll offer all kinds of things from free camps and clinics, sponsoring athletes with
• 26:44
  their club fees, sponsoring kids and, you know, their travel expenses, whatever they need to be
• 26:49
  doing.
• 26:49
  And we'll have 13 events planned here starting this, November over Thanksgiving break going
• 26:54
  all the way to next June.
• 26:55
  And then after June hits and that second cycle of AAU and fall leagues and everything starts,
• 27:00
  we'll start to sponsor kids in their club fees.
• 27:02
  So it's gonna be a major initiative.
• 27:04
  I'm excited for it.
• 27:05
  We're going to launch that any week now, and that's gonna be something that's gonna be
• 27:08
  independent of the army starts basketball and all Iowa Tech.
• 27:12
  We really want to build a space for kids to explore the game of basketball and other
• 27:18
  sports.
• 27:19
  We're going to start with basketball.
• 27:20
  In my opinion, basketball is the most accessible sport there is.
• 27:23
  Ball, hoop, shoes.
• 27:24
  It's all you need.
• 27:25
  Ball, hoop, shoes.
• 27:26
  Other sports, yes, some are easy, some are not.
• 27:29
  But I think with basketball, it's the easy way to get kids in the gym, get in meeting other
• 27:33
  players, getting to love the game.
• 27:35
  And if they don't love the game, that's perfectly fine.
• 27:37
  Play for the joy of it.
• 27:38
  Play other sports.
• 27:39
  That's perfectly fine.
• 27:40
  But that exploring is what's missing in new sports.
• 27:43
  So, yes, you'll still have your high achieving kids, Bubba.
• 27:47
  You know, the kids that are, like, diehards and parents can afford to take them all over the
• 27:50
  place, and they're gonna do their thing.
• 27:52
  That's great.
• 27:53
  Then you have kids who just wanna play recreationally.
• 27:55
  But what about those kids that don't know but can't afford?
• 27:59
  Those are the kids that we're trying to help.
• 28:00
  So, yeah, we are we are very excited.
• 28:04
  Well, I'm I'm very excited, and I hope that we get to be a part of those events in the future
• 28:09
  as well.
• 28:09
  We've had some talks already and looking forward to kind of flushing some of these
• 28:13
  things out.
• 28:14
  Diami, I absolutely love, what what you're doing with the game of basketball.
• 28:19
  Who you are as a man is very inspiring to me, and watching you shape the lives of these young
• 28:26
  people is is really awesome, man.
• 28:29
  So I I appreciate you spending some time with me today.
• 28:31
  Looking forward to working with you in the future and doing everything we can to prepare,
• 28:36
  those high achieving young adults for a a life of playing basketball, hopefully, into their
• 28:41
  professional careers as well.
• 28:43
  It's gonna be some exciting stuff.
• 28:45
  Well, Bubba, thank you for your time.
• 28:46
  Thank you for all that you do as well.
• 28:48
  I'm excited to see where we can go going forward, and thank you for the kind words.
• 28:51
  Yeah.
• 28:51
  There's there's a lot to be done here in this space, so I'm excited for what's next.
• 28:55
  Aldi Ami Starks, thanks for your time today, and thank you for being part of the scene.
• 29:00
  You got it, Bubba.
• 29:01
  Alright.
• 29:01
  Thank you.