Latest / The Strength In Numbers Podcast / EP 33: Joey Burton | How to Become a Trusted NBA Player Development Coach

Transcript

EP 33: Joey Burton | How to Become a Trusted NBA Player Development Coach · The Strength In Numbers Podcast

0:00
You want to build a business first.
0:02
It's so easy to get caught up in chasing pro athlete or an NBA
0:07
athlete and not actually build a functioning business.
0:11
I just value pouring more into the player and the world doesn't
0:15
have to see it. When I go into a workout with a
0:18
player I haven't worked before, that's an NBA player, I'm
0:20
looking for just small wins and that measurable ones that they
0:24
could say, wow, I feel the difference, or wow, yeah, when
0:27
you tell me to do this, I do it. It doesn't go in and this works.
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You start building trust to small wins.
0:32
How can I use this time to rest, recharge and then and renew
0:37
myself so that knowing it's going to come back and when it
0:42
comes back, it's going to be like a flood.
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I'm ready to be able to be at my best when it picks up again.
0:53
Welcome to the Strength in Numbers podcast.
0:56
I'm your host John Bloom, and today's guest is Joey Burton.
0:59
Joe is an NBA player development coach who specializes in
1:02
shooting development and offensive strategies and he's
1:04
worked with over 20 NBA players. We walked through how he built
1:07
his business from working with youth athletes to now mostly NBA
1:10
players, What he would do if he had to start his business over
1:14
with no clients or connections and the power of getting small
1:17
wins with clients upfront and long term.
1:20
Joey also dives into using social media authentically but
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not transactionally problems with youth basketball
1:25
development America and mentally handling the seasonality and
1:29
fluctuations of a basketball business.
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Enjoy the episode, Joe. It's it's always great to get to
1:34
talk to you, man. Over the past, you know about
1:37
two years you've you've been so generous with your time and
1:41
sharing your insight and and just your support as as we've
1:45
gotten to develop a a friendship and relationship.
1:47
So, man, I'm just thankful for the impact you've been, man,
1:51
thankful to get to have another great conversation with you
1:53
today. I know it's always a pleasure to
1:55
be on your podcast and just be able to share our mutual passion
1:59
for coaching and and helping others.
2:01
Yeah. Well, Joe, could you just give
2:02
a, you know, brief back kind of who you are and what you do for
2:05
people that don't know who you are?
2:06
Yeah, I'm ANBA skills development coach.
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I've been working with NBA players now for nine years, and
2:14
my main focus is shooting. The importance of shooting just
2:18
continues to increase each year and the value that it brings to
2:22
a team. So that's my main focus.
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But I still have a holistic approach to development in
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regards to teaching players how to play the mental side of the
2:33
game and then also just their daily habits and approach
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overall to the game. And so I've been blessed to, you
2:41
know, to scroll training business with NBA players, but I
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still have a passion for coaching.
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And when I have some free time, I currently am helping a local
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high school in the area that I live in, in the land area and
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just will porn still young guys, because that's that's a need
3:00
that the game needs. So it's, it's still needs to be
3:03
directed towards helping young players develop habits and
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understanding knowledge of development.
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And so I I get the opportunity to do that as well, and that's a
3:14
blessing. I love that.
3:16
And obviously with your training business, like I know you
3:18
didn't, you didn't start by training NBA players.
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Just solely like I'd love to dig into and we've talked about some
3:24
before, but kind of your process of going from coaching to
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building this business and getting it to where it is now.
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But I know there is there's lots of ups and downs and a long
3:33
journey to get there. So did you kind of dig into what
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that journey was for you from starting that business and get
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into here now? Yeah, it was actually, it was
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not the purpose of building a business.
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It was just the opportunity to coach.
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I was at Mississippi State with the women's basketball team as a
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director of basketball operations from 2007 to 2012.
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And I wanted to coach men. And so I went after some men's
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opportunities and I I struck out.
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There isn't there is nothing there.
4:01
And so I was able to get an opportunity to work for a man by
4:05
the name of Ed Schilling, who was based in Indianapolis.
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He was coaching high school as well as doing a training
4:12
business. And he had a basketball Academy.
4:15
He's now actually the head coach at Pepperdine University in
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California. And he I moved up there and I
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was there with him for seven months.
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And then he took a job with Steve Alford.
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And I was just kind of thrown into this.
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And my intention was just to get back into coaching and get back
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with the team and just continue to fulfill my passion of
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becoming. One day I was hoping to become a
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head coach. And so it was never a business
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mindset when I got into it. It was just I want to help
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players and I want to coach. I actually was coaching at the
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high school as well. I continued with that, but my
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main source of income was going to be the training business.
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So I just started working with who was available and it was
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junior high kids. And then, you know, I was able
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to get to the guy that was on the basketball team, that was
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coaching and then he, you know, got me in connect with some
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other players. And just over time, it really
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grew to ultimately what I'm doing now.
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And that there was hard times. There was a lot of growth that
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needed to take place in my life and a lot of faith that had to
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be developed during that time. But it was able to come to
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fruition and what I'm doing now, like I said, I don't think was
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the goal of mine, but just, you know, putting in hard, long days
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and just working and working and working and just staying focused
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on who was it. I was coaching with her who was
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in my gym at the time, led me to more opportunities and
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relationships and allowed me to do what I'm doing today.
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And, you know, there's probably a lot of young coach that look
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at you and, and maybe see the pictures you get to put out of,
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you know, with NBA players and training them.
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And they like like, I, I want that.
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But but as you mentioned there, there's times that you need to
6:06
fit. There's there's times with
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hardship, like what were some of the biggest struggles and and
6:12
roadblocks that you kind of faced in the the building of
6:16
that and get into that, you know?
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1st, I had to get over, you know, the comparison trap of,
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you know, seeing other trainers that were, you know, working
6:28
with players that were, you know, the types of player I
6:33
wanted to work with. So how to get over the
6:35
comparison trap? I think that really was
6:37
something that I needed to do. Another thing that I, you know,
6:41
kind of forced me to do was really develop a niche or
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develop one thing that I'm going to really be known for.
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So it's easy to say, well, I want to be known for skill
6:50
development, but there's areas within skill development that
6:53
you can really try and master. And the for me, that was
6:56
shooting. And so I really went in on being
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known as a trainer that if you need help with your shot that
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we're going to go to Joey Burton.
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So that was that was one thing as well.
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As I look back though, you know, if I had, you know, talked to a
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young coach right now about how to get started or what would you
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do? I know one of your questions
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mentioned if I had no clients or didn't have any connections, how
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would I build a business? And that's the focus point I'm
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trying to pour into younger trainers that I'm mentoring now
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is that you want to build a business first.
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It's so easy to get caught up in chasing pro athlete or an NBA
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athlete or trying to get into those spaces and not actually
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build a functioning business. And so a trainer that took over
7:44
for me and that works for me for two years in Indianapolis, you
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know, when he got the opportunity to do what I was
7:52
doing or take over some of the guys, he was able to have an NBA
7:56
player, he was able to have some oversea players.
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So he he was able to be blessed to immediately jump right into
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that. But I continue to emphasize to
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him, but you have to build business.
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You have to have a business model and you have to have a
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business model that you know, is most likely going to, you know,
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be built around the youth clientele.
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And so one of the things I would do is really be more business
8:20
driven if I had to go back and do it all over again where I
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think I was clientele driven and meaning that all with the level
8:28
of a clientele, you know, and part of what's to help build the
8:31
youth business. But then when it started to ramp
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up, I wasn't prepared or I didn't have systems in place to
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be able to take on more clientele because I was
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building, you know, college player clientele and NBA
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clientele. And people wanted that type of,
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you know, trainer to work with their children.
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But I didn't have systems in place because I wasn't business
8:57
minded. So one of the first things I
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would do if I would start with nobody would be trying to really
9:03
focus on what does the business look like.
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How can I build a business and then how could I get the best
9:11
return on my investment when when I did was shooting, I had
9:16
to do a lot of one-on-one So there'd be days on the weekends,
9:19
especially during the season. I'd have 6-7 hours of gym time
9:22
and was I look back I had more of a business model.
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I would have cut a lot of that individual time out and I would
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have built more of a group sessions and then trying to
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continue to build off of those group sessions.
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So think I'm a mistake young trainers are making is that
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they're hunting a clientele or type of clientele rather than
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trying to be business minded. And so easy to get caught up in
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this rat race because of social media.
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And you see, you know, the, the pictures and you see the
9:52
trainers working with, with players.
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But what was funny, I was, I was, it was it in a gym with one
9:58
of my clients right before the season was about to start, one
10:02
of my NBA clients and I was in the gym and I get done with the
10:07
workout and I'm waiting for the player to get done.
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And we're all walk out together and he's in the shower.
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And I, I'm on Instagram and I'm just scrolling and a trainer,
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you know what you can say? Like celebrity trainer posted a
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video of a player that was literally just walking into the
10:26
gym to get his workout in. And it was just funny because if
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you didn't know better, you would think that that player was
10:34
with that trainer at that moment and the player wasn't using the
10:38
trainer that posted him. And so it's just really easy and
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just really reminded me of man. Like it's so easy for us to see
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that and think that that trainer is always with that player or
10:50
his man that, you know, is, you know, is really locked in with
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that player. And it wasn't like that.
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And so I would say try and really be business minded and do
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things that make business sense for clientele.
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I think one of the best things that happened for me to prepare
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me for what I'm doing now is I started off coaching.
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I started off coaching a high school team.
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I volunteered way back in 2004 and I was staying after doing
11:14
skill development workouts. I just thought it was coaching,
11:17
but I was doing workouts with the players and then I was
11:20
seeing how workouts had to blend in or how how, how could it
11:23
complement the team. And so I started to build a
11:26
workout philosophy back in 2000. And then I just continued.
11:30
Anytime I had a chance to coach, I was trying my best to find the
11:34
opportunity to work with the players on either individual
11:37
basis or, you know, hey, two or three guys staying after
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practice. And we're putting in that work.
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And so I think that allows you to develop your philosophy, but
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also it gives you the opportunity maybe to get one of
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those players in the offseason or when they're out of season to
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come to you as a skills guy and allows you to build business
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like that. And especially with you
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basketball, there's so many needs for youth basketball with
12:02
good coaches. And so if you have a passion to
12:05
coach, if you have a passion to get in the skill development,
12:08
but you don't have any clientele or you don't have any
12:10
connections, just volunteering and going to your local rec
12:14
center or wherever the youth basketball organizations are in
12:19
your area and just try and coach A-Team.
12:22
And you will find out that there are a lot of players out there
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and there's a lot of parents out there that are looking for
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quality coaches and quality trainers.
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And it can give you an opportunity to build a
12:35
clientele. And then you got a hustle for
12:37
gym space. You're going to have to really
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find ways to, you know, get gym space and build a, a schedule
12:46
that you can have some consistent gym space.
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It's always going to be, you know, six days a week or five
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days a week. And I only start off with one
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day a week. And then trying to build that
12:54
and showing whatever gym that you're using are the people that
12:57
have the control of the gym schedule that you can add value
13:00
to them and that you could be an asset for what they're trying to
13:04
accomplish business wise and basketball wise as well.
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I think if you do some of those things, it will allow you to get
13:10
started on, on building a skilled development business.
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And then the final thing is, you know, really look around and
13:18
find what does the game need? What do players need?
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That might be a little bit different.
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And one of the things I'm seeing is just players having the need
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to develop, you know, an IQ, decision making, understanding
13:32
where to be on the floor, where the past needs to go next.
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That's a big thing that's starting to be valued even more
13:41
at college and the NBA level. So looking at what skill
13:45
development is lacking and then trying to fill that lack with
13:50
your your gift and your talent, Yeah.
13:52
Now that that that was awesome and one thing, one thing is he
13:55
talked about kind of that comparison trap and you know,
13:59
the the trainer posting an athlete and you know, we've all
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seen it where maybe like someone trained someone one time and
14:05
they post it like they train them forever.
14:07
They're the reason. How do you feel about like
14:10
balancing that though for you and your business, where it, it
14:13
can help drive business to show, you know, that you work with
14:16
certain levels of players, but also making it real and
14:20
authentic and not transactional, where it's like you're just
14:23
using these people's names or images to draw business to you.
14:27
How do you find that balance? Yeah, I'm, I'm probably not good
14:29
at it. I probably erred a lot on the
14:31
side of just, you know, not going all in on social media.
14:35
I think you got to be your authentic self.
14:38
And there's some some trainers out there that they do a great
14:42
job and they really do a great job with social media.
14:46
And you know, that's, that's, you know, the niche that they
14:49
found. And then they're good at what
14:50
they do on the court too. So it's not that, you know, it's
14:53
like, oh, they're just putting out a facade or anything.
14:56
But that just hasn't been been my focus.
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I think in today's in today's society and then where we're at
15:03
today, I just value pouring more into the player and the world
15:08
doesn't have to see it. And I've gotten so I guess maybe
15:11
disconnected with it where I'll I'll post here or there, but I
15:15
got almost so disconnected with it where I I'll even forget that
15:19
like man, I, I should maybe took a picture of that or I, I should
15:22
have maybe, you know, you know, had someone, you know, there to,
15:27
you know, document this. A player that I'm working with
15:30
is having that one of his friends who's a videographer do
15:37
some behind the scenes stuff and you know, he interviewed me and
15:41
I just don't even ask for the hate.
15:43
Do you think I could get that? So it just really doesn't
15:46
sometimes cross my mind. But it's just not something that
15:48
I'm I'm focused on. I'm not focusing on just pouring
15:52
into the player and I just build, trying to spend time
15:55
building a genuine relationship. But I have no problem with
15:58
people that do it and they do it well.
16:01
But like I said, it's just, you know, I'm, I'm not better than
16:04
anybody else. I'm not more authentic than
16:06
anybody else. But it's just I try, if I have
16:09
an opportunity to promote them, I try and promote them out of
16:13
support. And if they're working hard and,
16:15
and their hard work is producing results, I think that I think
16:19
that it's OK to let people know that, hey, they're working hard
16:22
and that they're, they're putting in the work and that's
16:26
why the results are coming. But it's just, it's just, I'm
16:29
not good and it's just something I had never really invested my
16:33
time in. Yeah.
16:34
And, and as you talk about like focusing more on just pouring
16:37
into that relationship with that person, also the work that
16:41
person, I feel like that's going to lead to a lot more longevity
16:47
and success. Then maybe sometimes, you know,
16:51
posting whatever might, might bring some success, But I feel
16:53
that's really more fleeting, especially if you're not doing
16:57
the other side of it, pouring into those relationships that
16:59
that's ultimately going to, you know, keep people with you and
17:02
and bring in people that you really want to have alignment
17:04
with. Yeah, yeah.
17:06
And I love that word alignment. I think that's a very important
17:10
part of our profession. I, I want to have an alignment
17:13
with the player and I'm just not going to, you know, ask them to
17:19
do something just to show that, you know, we did it for
17:21
Instagram or we did it for, you know, this, you know,
17:25
particular, you know, opportunity to, to promote.
17:30
It's just if it comes naturally, I would say maybe if it's
17:33
something that flows. I was in France and there was a
17:37
young man who the previous day did a session for the French
17:41
national team and he asked if he could come and do my session.
17:45
And he's interested in trying to, you know, build more of a
17:49
clientele or just build, you know, more of a presence on
17:52
social media. Not, you know, I wanted to help
17:53
him and he did a great job. And then he sends me them and
17:57
I'm like, OK, well, I got some stuff I could post here and you
18:01
know, I posted it. But I think that was just more
18:03
of a natural, you know, progression where I when I went
18:08
to France, I wasn't like, man, I need to find someone that has a
18:12
camera. I need them to be in the gym
18:15
with us every day. I need to be miked up.
18:16
I need, you know, and so that wasn't the purpose of the trip.
18:20
The purpose of the trip was for me to pour into the player and
18:25
be able to build a relationship with the player because I hadn't
18:28
been in the gym with them more than twice before.
18:31
And so I wanted that to be the priority.
18:35
And I do believe at times having unless the player does it
18:38
themselves. But me bringing in some outside,
18:42
you know, video person or camera person to, you know, you know,
18:46
get the social media taken care of.
18:49
I think it doesn't allow us to always find that alignment,
18:52
right? I want to coach him with a
18:54
genuine heart. And I also want to be able to
18:57
maybe have to challenge him. I want to, you know, maybe ask
19:00
questions that that and I want some authenticity.
19:04
And if there's a camera rolling, are they going to be as
19:07
authentic? Are they going to be themselves
19:09
as I'm trying to really coach them?
19:11
And so, so if they want to bring it in, fine.
19:13
But I, you know, I'm not the one that's going to, you know, try
19:16
and set up a production before I get into the gym with somebody.
19:19
I think, yeah, I think that's a great point about that
19:22
authenticity point or as them about really just being as open.
19:26
And I feel like sometimes, I know for a lot of athletes, I
19:28
know for myself to, like, train, like, sometimes, like,
19:30
especially for these NBA players that have so much noise around
19:35
them, like, the gym can be a place to escape all of that.
19:38
Yeah. And then it's like, OK, now my
19:41
trainers bring in all this. And it's like now I'm basically
19:44
getting chased by the media in this place that I wanted to use
19:47
to escape and just go back to the work.
19:49
Yeah. That's a tough thing for them.
19:53
Yeah. And I mean, I like, I think like
19:55
how you approach it is something I probably if I had to, if I
19:59
really were to. Walk in on it more is how you
20:02
approach it there. There's a teaching element to
20:04
it, you know, and that's how I would approach social media.
20:08
And, you know, if I was more in tune with it, I guess you could
20:12
say is that the teaching aspect of it.
20:14
And to, you know, help other coaches and other players learn
20:19
and hopefully that they would be able to, you know, take
20:22
something that they learned from me and implement it in their
20:26
sessions or if it's a player implemented into their game and
20:30
be able to get better at it. And so I like how you approach
20:34
it because there's a, there's a teaching element to it there.
20:37
It's an information approach rather than, you know, approach.
20:43
That is, look at who I'm in the gym with.
20:46
You know, we, we had a conversation about a year and a
20:50
half ago in the summer when I was Lily first starting my, my,
20:55
my training business after leaving college athletics.
20:57
And I remember you talked about in that conversation how it is
21:02
based off the, the, the flow of, you know, offseason in season
21:06
stuff. There's going to be some
21:07
fluctuations in business where you got busy times and there's
21:10
times where there's just not as much going on.
21:13
And, and there's different, you know, obviously different
21:16
financial and mental struggles or differences that can come
21:19
with those times. Could you dive in a little bit
21:21
and just kind of kind of what that looks like for you and kind
21:24
of how you are able to handle maybe those down parts of of the
21:30
natural flow of of the basketball season for yourself?
21:32
Yeah, I used to really worry and and sometimes to be honest,
21:38
panic about those times of, of drought.
21:42
Let's just say or aside, man, I know the seasons.
21:45
You know, about this time when I was wasn't having enough NBA
21:49
clientele to do it full time. I don't remember like November
21:55
would be a month that I was that really like not looking forward
21:59
to because I was start of basketball season when I was
22:01
living in Indianapolis. And, you know, players just
22:06
become really busy and it's hard to continue to, you know, have
22:10
consistent work, especially at first month of the season
22:13
because they're they're, you know, practices are two 2 1/2
22:18
hours with the high school team. They're they're starting games.
22:21
Then also, you know, I felt like there was this time of, you
22:26
know, in December, there was actually the the Christmas
22:29
break. And by that time a player might
22:30
be struggling with their shooting, a player might not be
22:32
playing well. And now the parents like, OK, we
22:35
got it. We got to find some solutions,
22:36
rights. But then November was always
22:38
tough for me because it was everybody's excited about the
22:41
season. They're ready to show the work
22:43
that they put in the offseason. There's not enough games to see
22:46
the results happening or not happening.
22:48
And so it was, it was a hard time.
22:50
Wasn't a time I really look forward to and but as I've
22:53
gotten older and I've been in this longer and there there's
22:56
usually like for me and with the NBA stuff, usually April starts
23:01
to slow down. You know, I or May, I haven't
23:05
had anybody go to a finals or anything like that.
23:07
So, you know, end of April, May is usually when it starts to
23:11
slow down for me. And I used to, you know, once
23:14
again, like panic, worry about it and you know, I accepted it
23:18
more so not, not not out of a laziness or just to sit back and
23:21
not be willing to work. But two things I've tried to do
23:24
is plan ahead, obviously, and seeing whether streams revenue I
23:29
could do. And maybe it's a camp, maybe
23:31
it's a clinic, you know, maybe it's going back and reaching out
23:35
to people that I've worked with in the past and saying, Hey,
23:39
I'm, I'm actually in town so we could maybe get the working.
23:43
But the, I think the more important thing I've, I've
23:45
learned to do is rest and, and take it is almost a divine
23:49
opportunity that, that I have a chance to rest.
23:52
And I didn't take it that way. And when I now have some of
23:58
these droughts, I obviously, you know, got to make money.
24:02
You got to keep revenue coming in.
24:03
But in the past it was just more and more and more I got to do
24:06
more. I got to work harder, I got to
24:07
find more ways. And now I, I take it as an
24:10
opportunity to slow down, maybe refresh, renew, renew where it's
24:15
reading. It gives me a little extra time
24:17
to watch film and things I wouldn't be able to necessarily
24:20
watch when I'm so consumed with watching my clients games and
24:24
going over their film. And so it allows me to recharge
24:27
and get in longer walks and, and being a little more consistent
24:32
with my workout schedule. So I use those Times Now as not
24:35
as much of A how do I make more money as how can I use this time
24:41
to rest, recharge and then and renew myself so that knowing
24:46
it's going to come back and when it comes back, it's going to be
24:50
like a flood. I'm ready to be able to be at my
24:52
best when it picks up again. Yeah.
24:54
And it's, you know, it's really sudden setting yourself up
24:57
mentally, physically to be better when you really need it,
25:00
when it is those heavy seasons. And I feel like like you're
25:02
talking about sometimes it's like, obviously maybe during
25:05
those droughts there are actions we should be taking to try and
25:09
financially make it better. But sometimes, like I find
25:12
myself, maybe you kind of relate to it, but like maybe you're
25:15
just stuck worrying about like what it it is and you're not
25:18
actually doing stuff and you're just kind of you're just
25:20
worrying and stressing and not not actually do anything to help
25:23
it. So I'd better just, OK, let's
25:25
shift the mindset. Just allow me to be productive
25:27
and rest. And the result might be the
25:29
same. But for you, you're going to be
25:31
in a different, totally different spot for yourself
25:33
mentally. Exactly.
25:35
There there is. There was a time here recently
25:37
that it was kind of slow and that I was, I was trying to make
25:43
it work. Had a guy call me and say I'll
25:46
be in Atlanta. It was last minute.
25:48
I'm trying to find gym space. Every gym that I had access to
25:51
was unavailable that weekend. I had another player one.
25:55
I was like, you know what this week was?
25:58
I just got off the road and I was just like, man, this week,
26:01
you know, I want, I want to make some extra money.
26:03
And you know, we're, we're going to be going to Florida.
26:06
So it's always good to try and make some extra money before
26:08
vacation. And literally everything that I
26:11
tried just didn't work to get those workouts in.
26:14
And I was like, you know what, maybe I need to, I, maybe I need
26:17
to, you know, rest. And then the week later, a
26:20
client reached out to me and said, Hey, we, you know, I want
26:24
to, I need you to have your eye or whatever.
26:26
You know, I, I got paid really well and I'm like, I didn't even
26:29
need the, the workouts, you know, And so I was like trying
26:32
to make it work. And that's why I said sometimes
26:34
it's just a, a divine opportunity that God's telling
26:36
you, hey, like nothing's going to work.
26:38
And you could plan as much as you want, but I want you to
26:41
rest. And I want you to, you know,
26:43
focus on yourself, focus on your family, you know, enjoy those
26:47
moments of, of not having, you know, to to be in the gym all
26:52
the time or figuring out how many workouts you need and just
26:56
just being able to rest and being able to just take that
26:59
time to, like I said, rest, you know, you know, renew and then
27:03
recharge. I think those are huge points
27:05
for for people that that are, that aren't always hard, that
27:08
aren't, that aren't always easy to follow, but I think they're
27:11
things we definitely need to hear.
27:13
No, I wasn't hearing my 3435 year old self.
27:17
It was, it wasn't, I wasn't hearing that, you know, and now
27:20
my 46 year old self is like, wow, you know, and it's, it's
27:23
been like that here, you know, especially since I've been in
27:26
Atlanta where there I didn't have that constant, you know, I
27:30
haven't always had that constant flow of I could go work with the
27:33
NBA player, get back from an NBA client in the morning and that
27:37
night I could have 5 or 6 workouts if I wanted to, you
27:39
know. And so, you know, sometimes God
27:42
puts us in position, the forces to rest, because he knows that's
27:45
what's best for us. Yeah.
27:47
Now as we as we talk about maybe a little more with the youth
27:51
players from from when you were working more with them.
27:55
But now as you see youth players coming up and now coming into
27:58
college and NBA they work with, like what are you seeing about
28:02
the development of youth basketball that you think should
28:06
maybe be changed or there needs to be some form of of, of
28:10
difference to change from what you're seeing on the higher
28:12
levels coming as a result of that?
28:15
Well, I think first of all, sports become too business
28:21
driven. You know, I, I tell parents
28:24
that, you know, my kids are in your sports and I, I've told
28:27
other parents this, that, you know, I think one of the biggest
28:29
financial crisis is in America that no one's talking about is
28:33
the cost of youth sports. Parents are putting in 10s of
28:37
thousands of dollars a year to just have their kid on teens get
28:41
the training and, and I'm a part of that world.
28:44
So don't, don't, I don't want to sound like I'm talking and, you
28:48
know, we got to make a living, but it's become so business
28:51
driven that it's causing a lot of the participants and the
28:55
parents to lose, you know, what the ultimate focus should be.
28:59
And that's not having the best 5th grader.
29:02
You know, it's about trying to make your daughter or son the
29:06
best that they can become. And if that leads you to a
29:09
college scholarship grade, it's leads you to the NBA grade.
29:12
If not, you know that, you know that your child, you know, gave
29:15
it their all. But so I think that's a big
29:18
problem is that it's become business driven.
29:20
So there's there's, you know, so my son's in fifth grade right
29:25
now and if he wanted to play basketball all year round and
29:29
not literally have any breaks, we could do that for him right
29:33
now. And why?
29:34
Because there's basketball facilities or basketball
29:38
organizers out there that need to make money and they're doing
29:42
something all year round. So the business side of it, I
29:45
think is it needs, you know, needs a change.
29:49
You know, I don't know if it ever will, but that would be 1
29:51
change. I was in Slovenia this summer
29:54
and I was working out at a a player in in Lubiana.
30:01
It's where Luka Doncic is from and the protein there Sera
30:05
Venus. They also what were had their I
30:07
think it was like 16 and under team and I was able to just
30:11
observe, you know, their their practice and they're like skill
30:15
development session. The other thing that I was in
30:18
this go to where I'm the story is going to lead to where I'm
30:21
would change is that the the coaching in youth sports is just
30:27
not organized enough to where that we're teaching or coaching
30:33
the coaches. Let's just say.
30:34
So the the guy that was running the 16 and under workout
30:38
developed or helped coach a lot of the Serbian players that were
30:42
in the NBA recently, Goran Draghich, Boyan Bogdanovich,
30:46
who's still with the Clippers, the other Boyan Bogdanovich that
30:49
was most recently, I think with the Nets, But he, you know, had
30:51
some really good years in Indiana and with the Jazz.
30:54
Those are three and I he had he had, I think two others.
30:57
And I mean, this guy was in his 50s and he has, you know, coach
31:03
at the highest levels in Europe and he was fine just coaching
31:06
some 16 year old kids. And the the workout was just so
31:11
well ran. Players were getting better.
31:14
They they weren't teaching just moves.
31:16
A lot of the drill rarely started with a dribble move.
31:19
It usually started with the catch and then immediate attack
31:22
or immediate pass and then follow what were the past win or
31:26
do what you know, the past triggered other players to do
31:30
right now it there was, I like to call it like they, they were
31:32
really teaching the macro the, the, the, the whole of the game
31:36
Where in America with the 3rd or 4th grader, we're teaching them
31:40
the micro. We're teaching them how to do a
31:43
step back, but they don't even know how to, you know, relocate
31:48
where the ball, when the ball is driven, you know, something
31:52
simple as that. And so after seeing that, I was
31:54
just really blown away about how they approach the skill
31:57
development and then the quality of the coach.
31:59
And I know it's hard to find coaching and and youth coaches
32:03
aren't getting paid, but these organizations that are allowing
32:09
the youth coaches to coach, they need this coach to coach it
32:12
better. There needs to be, you know,
32:14
whether I know USA Basketball has some certifications, there
32:17
needs to be more of that in the youth sports because I'm just
32:23
not seeing quality coaching. And then I go and I'm over in
32:27
Slovenia and I'm like, this guy could have ran a high level
32:31
Division One practice and he's working with 16 year olds, you
32:34
know, and so and, and younger And so I would, I would really
32:40
challenge the system to how are we coaching the coaches?
32:43
What are we doing to give coaches a better understanding
32:47
of how to coach what is needed, what's important?
32:50
And we still just have a lot of coaches that a play the game,
32:54
maybe in high school, watch it a lot.
32:56
They think they have a good, they think they have a wise
32:59
opinion or they have an opinion about the game and they think
33:02
they really know basketball. And you know, it's hard.
33:05
Coaching is hard. It's it doesn't matter if you
33:08
coach a fourth or fifth grade team or you coach a high major
33:11
Division One team or NBA team. It's hard no matter what level
33:15
and, and we have to do a better job of equipping our youth
33:18
coaches so that they could do a better job of teaching our our
33:21
young players. I think we get we, we kind of
33:24
get hard on the players that all players these days don't know
33:26
how to do this or players these days are doing too much of this
33:28
for players these days. And it's really the adults
33:31
around them that are creating this environment and the ones
33:34
that are in charge of hiring the coaches aren't giving the
33:39
coaches they hire the opportunity even to grow and
33:42
develop and help with their their growth as a coach.
33:46
Yeah, no, I think, I think that that was that was really good.
33:50
And I don't know if you saw it all the big report Luca and his
33:53
foundation put out about youth sports and youth basketball and
33:57
development, some of the changes they're making with the Luca
34:00
Dodger Foundation, but but that was pretty cool.
34:02
And they're, they're all the studies that they did throughout
34:05
the world with with youth sports and basketball.
34:08
Definitely recommend people to check that out if they haven't.
34:11
Yeah, I need to look at that because I haven't, I haven't
34:14
seen that. But maybe even the just the way
34:15
that the game is structured, you know, 12 year olds are playing
34:18
on a 24 second shot clock. You know, I'll just have my
34:21
son's youth basketball game. There's no shot clock.
34:23
You know, my, my since 10 year old, 10 years old, you know,
34:27
shooting breeze on a 10 foot rim.
34:30
And in Europe he'd be shooting on a 9 foot rim.
34:33
And so like, he's not using these movement pattern or he
34:37
wouldn't be using these movement patterns.
34:39
And, you know, muscle groups that really aren't, you know,
34:44
required as far as maybe like shooting with two hands or
34:47
pushing with two hands or, you know, loading, you know, your,
34:51
your, your body and your shoulder more.
34:53
You know, you wouldn't probably be needing to do that as much if
34:56
you played on the lower a lower rent, you know.
34:59
And so I think that just the structure of youth youth
35:03
basketball and now just being, you know, in Europe several
35:08
times and being around pro teams, it's just the also the
35:12
the the way that club teams are. So you got the main club and
35:15
then you got a, you know, whatever 18 you club and then
35:19
you got whatever I think is 16 you and it kind of goes down
35:22
from there. And so if I'm a 16 you coach, I,
35:26
I might have a chance one day to become the head, you know, coach
35:30
of the main club. And so I'm going to learn and
35:33
see what they're doing. And I'm going to be really, you
35:36
know, involved with their philosophy or, or trying to, you
35:40
know, mimic what they're doing. I think high school coaches
35:42
usually do a good job of, you know, doing that with their
35:45
feeder programs. But it's, it's still a little
35:48
bit different than like if like the, you know, you know, let's
35:51
just say the Mavs had the, you know, legends and then the
35:55
legends had the team under that and that team had another team,
35:58
you know, and now you're just really developing these players
36:01
with the within the same rules because it's all 24 second shot
36:04
clock. Everything's the same regarding
36:06
the, the lane line, regarding the three-point line,
36:09
everything's the same. So now you're really, you know,
36:13
working on their understanding of how the games played at the
36:17
highest level. Another another thing I I I
36:21
think there is an issue is just like with Europeans, it's just
36:27
so it's so team oriented. It's just, you know, they're,
36:32
they're not, not really, you know, have it sound like
36:35
someones at the game with get the mix tape ready for, you
36:39
know, a 12 year old when they get off the court in, in Europe.
36:42
You know, so there's a, there's a lot of differences that I've
36:46
I've seen and you know, and I, I have to say European has Europe.
36:50
The European model, from what I've experienced, is a better
36:53
structured and organized model than than American basketball.
36:56
Yeah, Yeah. No, that's there's a, there's a
36:59
lot of changes both from like the business that you're talking
37:01
about and all that that need to be made.
37:03
But it's it's hard to see how you know how to how to get those
37:07
things to happen. Yeah.
37:09
But it's just, it's hard because everything is ran by money.
37:12
And, you know, and, and from what I've experienced with some,
37:15
you know, the European teams I've been around, obviously
37:18
there's there, there's money there.
37:19
But it's not, it's not. I think the only thing that you
37:23
know is the final factor of how they operate, you know?
37:27
One, one thing I wanted to ask you about with with the NBA
37:32
players you work with, how, how are you building the trust with
37:38
them where you know they could go work with anybody they want
37:41
to work with? They've probably had tons of
37:44
coaches throughout different levels of college, high school
37:47
and all that stuff, even an NBA and experience different types
37:50
of training. So how are you getting their
37:53
trust that you are the guy that they need to stick with and keep
37:58
working with and you're gonna get them where they need to get
38:00
to? It's a good question.
38:01
I think first is that you have to, you know, have some small
38:06
wins within the first workout. You know, think in your world it
38:11
would be you do an exercise with the player and they're like,
38:14
hey, there's some knee pain here and you're like, hey, let's
38:17
release some of that knee pain or let's do this, you know,
38:19
reset. And then it did, man, my knee
38:22
feels a lot better, right? And then boom, that's a small
38:25
win. You get instant trust and that's
38:27
the same with me. I know.
38:29
And what's really measurable is shooting.
38:31
So it's like, hey, if I tell him to do this right, hey, let's
38:35
look to try and just just do this one little thing.
38:38
And when they do it, it works and they haven't done it before
38:41
most likely. And then they do it again and it
38:43
works. And now they're, you know,
38:45
they've done it multiple times. That's just a small win.
38:48
So when I try and when I go into a workout with the player I
38:51
haven't worked before, that's an NBA player, I'm looking for just
38:54
small wins and the measurable ones that they could say, wow, I
38:58
feel the difference or wow, yeah, when you tell me to do
39:01
this, I do it. It does go in and this works.
39:03
And so you start building small or you start building trust to
39:06
small wins. And then as you continue to
39:09
build that trust, you'll start to experience, you know, bigger
39:12
ones. And, you know, it's hard.
39:14
I mean, it's not there. There's there's times where I
39:17
still like man, like if, if a player doesn't, you know, shoot
39:20
it well, I feel like I lost the game, you know, because I have
39:25
so much, you know, investment into the process of it.
39:29
So it's hard because there's going to be highs and lows and
39:32
you're always like, man, if they're experiencing lows, is a
39:35
trust broken or, you know, how are they?
39:38
How are they viewing me? And then there's a lot of
39:40
thoughts that could go on inside your head and some insecurities
39:43
to pop up. And so I just continue to try
39:46
when I'm with the player, focusing on small wins.
39:49
And I think over time, small wins lead to big, big changes
39:54
and big wins. And then you celebrate those.
39:56
And, and then when, when, when it gets hard, you just continue
40:00
to really pour in to the player and show that you're invested in
40:04
them. And I think players know when
40:06
you're invested into them. And that you're really wanting
40:10
to see their success and that you're locked in on the process
40:17
of what it takes for them to be successful.
40:19
And so they're, they're aware and they're observant.
40:21
And so when you're pouring into them and you're really trading
40:26
these small wins that, you know, generate bigger wins, they're
40:29
going to start to really understand that, hey, this guy
40:31
is is good for me and he's there for the right reason.
40:34
Yeah. And I think, I think there's so
40:36
much power in small wins and that's that that as I think
40:39
about that's something I tried to do too.
40:40
Like you're saying, like if you know, maybe there is some
40:43
clients coming in that want to let you know, they're first
40:45
chowing it out or it's the first time.
40:47
It's like, you know, maybe it's something like a vertical jump
40:50
test. And I was like, hey, like do
40:51
this and they get a higher jump. It's like, how can we like show
40:54
them they're going to get results when maybe they're not
40:56
like, you know, obviously we're not going to change everything
40:58
in one session, but it's like let's, you know, show them what
41:00
it could be like, especially long term.
41:02
Because because there is there is a lot of things where like
41:05
the real long term results, you're not going to see the the
41:08
you're not going to see the outputs from those inputs right
41:10
away. Yeah.
41:11
But I think we can manufacture a way to show how we can add value
41:16
and in the beginning to create some of that initial buy.
41:19
Yeah, yeah. And I mean, we're, we're a
41:21
society that are, is constantly living on dopamine hits, right.
41:24
So it's like little quick dopamine hits.
41:26
And so how can I create a dopamine hit within the first
41:30
workout? And that's a small win, right?
41:33
You know, I, I don't know of any player that they did a bird test
41:36
and then you tell them a teaching point or give them a
41:39
cue that will increase their birth 1/2 inch or one inch just
41:44
off the queue. That's a dopamine hit, you know,
41:47
and so we got it, we got to feed into what they're, they're,
41:50
they're, you know, getting constant, they're getting these
41:52
dopamine hits. And so we just got to kind of,
41:55
you know, play into that and give them some small wins that
41:59
are intentional though, right? It's not like, like you're just
42:01
like, well, yeah, of course if you stretch your, your calf,
42:05
your calf's going to feel better, you know.
42:06
But like what, what little cue do you know that has worked or
42:11
that will work for them in your preparation scene, whether in
42:15
your case, how they move or some of the things that they need to
42:17
get stronger. And in my case, how they shoot
42:19
the ball. What what are there's a cue that
42:22
they might not have right now or know about that could, you know,
42:25
give them that win? And then that creates some
42:27
dopamine. And one of the players I worked
42:29
with, I was just with the Mets. I'm only for two sessions.
42:32
And my friend who represents them or said immediately after
42:36
the first session, he talked to his dad and he's like, man, it
42:40
was awesome. It was great.
42:42
You know, he felt great after the workout.
42:44
And that was because we in the first work, I like he needed
42:48
more arc. And so I didn't focus on all
42:50
these different little detail was just like, let's just try
42:53
and shoot it higher. Let's just get the ball up
42:55
higher. And I explained some things that
42:57
he could do to get a higher and he was making shots and over
43:01
small wins that we were able to carry on to the next workout.
43:05
Then it led me to go into France with him.
43:07
And now we're we're going to continue throughout the season.
43:09
So I, I don't think it would have started if I came in trying
43:13
to show how much I know or, you know, coming in trying to, you
43:18
know, have this, you know, big production of man, I got these
43:23
cool drills really probably never done before.
43:25
But when I just focus on the client and what can give them
43:28
small wins, it really starts building the trust immediately.
43:32
And then now you have the foundation you could build off
43:34
of that. You know, one one thing you'd
43:36
brought up during that is how when you're working, maybe these
43:41
high level players and it's just you're you're really OK, you're
43:44
full time with these couple of guys.
43:46
Their results are now a little more attached to you.
43:51
Where like, you know, in my sense, I see maybe if someone's
43:54
like, OK, they're this NBA guys trainer.
43:57
If that person has an injury, that's a little more of a
44:00
reflection on them versus if I'm training a bunch of youth
44:03
athletes and one of those people gets hurt, but I've still got,
44:06
you know, 30 other kids I'm training.
44:08
Or if you're in the team setting and maybe one of your plays is
44:11
hurt, but you still got the whole team.
44:12
Similar with y'all where like, you know, if you're coaching the
44:14
team and one person's having a bad shoe tonight, you know,
44:17
there's still the guys that might be shooting good.
44:20
And same thing with youth athletes.
44:21
But now if you know your couple of guys aren't shooting well,
44:26
those results are a little more impactful then when you have a
44:29
mass of people. So how, how do you, how do you
44:32
approach that mentally and not, you know, you, you mentioned a
44:35
little bit like, like not allow those fluctuations and results
44:39
create mental and emotional fluctuations for you and then
44:42
kind of be on a, you know, a mental roller coaster ride
44:45
throughout the season based off what they're producing.
44:48
Yeah, it's starts with just thinking long term and one of
44:53
the things with the value of shooting going up over the years
44:57
and, you know, NBA teams are valuing it at at at the highest
45:01
that they've ever valued it before.
45:03
Well, it seemed are valuing it even more, you know, especially
45:07
now you got some of these NBA assistants have, you know,
45:09
dropped to in college. That's all.
45:12
A guy at Florida State shot 21 threes here in the last game,
45:17
right? I mean, that was that would have
45:18
been unheard of at Florida State two years ago, right?
45:21
And so they're valuing the shooting.
45:24
And so one thing that I have to keep reminding myself, I'm
45:27
focusing on shooting and shooting development isn't just
45:31
a small period of time. It's not like hey, 1 offseason
45:35
and then this is going to happen.
45:36
It's not a period of, hey, if we do this for two weeks, it's
45:39
going to have immediate results. Shooting development isn't every
45:44
day thing, just like your nutrition has to be an everyday
45:48
thing, just like your rest has to be an everyday thing, just
45:53
like your, your, your, you know, the way that you take care of
45:55
your body. Well, you know, with your, your,
45:58
your sports performance, you know, obviously it's always
46:00
going to be an everyday thing, but that, you know, it's the
46:02
same thing with shooting. And it has to be something that
46:05
you're just constantly working on.
46:07
And, you know, you just see, you still hear coaches and say,
46:11
well, you know, in the exit meeting, hey, we need you to
46:13
come, come back. She could really become a better
46:15
shooter on this offseason. You know, Anderson, help us.
46:20
You're going to be in a better situation.
46:22
And I'm all for that. But it doesn't usually work that
46:25
way. And we need to look at it in a
46:27
long view of time. And I remember growing up
46:32
watching Jason Kidd play and you would have never thought that at
46:36
the time, Obviously the volumes increased so much.
46:38
But at the time when he retired, he was like the third or fourth
46:41
ranked all time leader in makes from three-point.
46:45
Well, you know what, the guy who played and play whatever 15
46:47
years, however long he played and over what time he got better
46:53
at shooting. And so I have to remind myself
46:56
that. And that's one thing I try and
46:58
do with the clients is I don't want to just be the workout guy.
47:02
I hate you. We're in town for a week, so
47:05
I'll work with you and you go on work somebody else.
47:07
Like I try and build my business upon long term development and
47:13
let's commit to this thing. You know, let's come into it for
47:16
a year, see where you're at. And then if you don't think I'm
47:19
the guy for you, that's fine. But we have to commit long term
47:23
because especially with the shooting focus, it's just really
47:26
hard to see results in a matter of a month or, or or two months.
47:32
And it you have to keep the long due in in mind and got to keep
47:35
that pop your mind. I think in any field, you can't
47:39
let the results be connected to your identity.
47:42
That's always hard for us as coaches, right?
47:44
Like players, it's hard for them to get their identity outside of
47:48
the game, right? And same thing with us.
47:50
So just always constantly saying that, hey, my identity, my
47:54
identity isn't based upon the result of this process, you
47:59
know, And so that's another thing that I do.
48:01
And finally, I just think that, you know, you, you have to be OK
48:06
at the end and saying, you know, I did, I do everything that I
48:10
needed to do to get the result that we were going for.
48:12
And if, you know, that you did everything you needed to do, you
48:15
know, you didn't have shortcuts. You didn't, you know, miss
48:18
opportunities to, you know, do the extra work or put in the
48:21
extra time and it didn't happen. You know, it wasn't, you know,
48:25
meant to be maybe. And you got to be OK with that.
48:27
And so I think in the social media era still, it's like we
48:31
always want to just show the successes and successes, the
48:34
successes and it's just aren't real life.
48:36
And I think if we kind of, you know, it's go back to use
48:40
basketball kind of an example, I think what parents don't see
48:44
enough. And I think it's the same thing
48:46
that we could take as coaches. We don't see enough of when
48:49
we're as a coach, we poured into this player and it didn't work
48:52
out and maybe it didn't get the goals that we wanted to.
48:55
All right. And just like as a parent,
48:57
parents see all these kids really good at 5th grade and
49:01
they don't see that that kid that was at 5th grade, it's
49:04
still probably not going to be good enough to be, you know,
49:07
like a high level college player, right at the end of the
49:10
day. And we don't take these long
49:12
views of these players that, you know, we see in 4th and 5th
49:15
grade and we and, but you know, we don't, we don't talk enough.
49:20
And and not not to bash the people, but we don't talk enough
49:23
about the players that didn't make it that were highly rated
49:26
when they were 4th and 6th grade.
49:28
All we talked about is the players that made it.
49:30
And we celebrate that. And it's the same thing with
49:33
coaching. All we talked about is the
49:35
celebrating in the wins, wins, wins.
49:36
But how many, you know, it's like, you know, it's older
49:39
example is like John Wooden. He had what, 12 seasons at UCLA
49:43
before he even won a championship and he wasn't
49:46
winning all these games. It took him 12 years.
49:49
And obviously that doesn't happen these days because of the
49:51
business side of it, but it's still the fact that matter is
49:54
that, you know, we, we don't really even talk about that.
49:57
We always know about it championships, right?
50:00
And we celebrate the wins. And so sometimes you do
50:03
everything you could do and it's just it, it just didn't work
50:05
out. And I've had that happen with
50:07
players and you know what, they've never never blamed me.
50:10
They've never said, oh, you, you, you, you didn't try, you
50:14
know, it's always like it just didn't work out.
50:17
I know I tried my best. You gave me your best.
50:19
And it's just, it just didn't work out.
50:21
And and, you know, I'm OK with that.
50:23
And I'm going to continue to just be my best and, and
50:26
wherever the career takes me, it takes me, you know, and some
50:30
guys, you know, didn't stick in the NBA.
50:33
They didn't stay in the NBA and the the game took them to
50:36
another country. And then they're finding joy in
50:38
that part of the game. And, and they're finding joy in
50:41
that type of process. And they're still trying to get
50:43
better and they're still trying to, you know, work on the things
50:46
that's going to allow them to be successful in their, you know,
50:49
different part of their journey, in the different stage of their
50:52
journey. So those are some of the things
50:54
I try to focus on as I'm going through a whole process with NBA
50:59
player or any client in general. And, you know, I think 1 great
51:02
point in there they that you kind of made with when it comes
51:05
to launching comments, like the consistency of a player's
51:08
commitment is going to lead to the consistency of their
51:12
development. Because you know, if through
51:14
those ups and downs, if, if a player's like, OK, once they
51:17
start having an, you know, a downs, if I was like, I'm going
51:19
to go jump to this other person. And that's not we're going to
51:22
jump to this other person that there's no consistency there and
51:26
there's no commitment. And they're always going to just
51:28
have these ups and downs versus being with someone, obviously
51:33
find someone good and you know, there's going to be downs there,
51:35
but they're constantly going to be elevating like type of Jason
51:39
Kidd, like they're eventually going to continue to rise and
51:41
rise and rise versus if you're always jumping around, you may
51:45
get better, you you may not. Yeah, the jump around, I
51:48
haven't. I've tried.
51:50
And like, in some ways, like study it in the sense of like,
51:52
OK, what did this player need? You know, whether they were
51:55
showing stuff on social media, what did this player do?
51:59
And then what was the result of it?
52:01
And then it's like, OK, they didn't get the result they
52:03
wanted. So then you see another summer
52:05
there with another trainer and it's like, OK, what are they?
52:08
It's like you see that a lot of times in NBA circles that, you
52:12
know, players do go to different, you know, trainers
52:15
and you know, but I've also seen ones that have just stuck with
52:19
the same one overtime. And man, you know, it wasn't
52:23
year one that it happened. It wasn't year 2, but maybe 4:00
52:26
and 5:00. That's when breakthroughs
52:28
started to happen. And we have to remember whether
52:31
it's, you know, we're so short sighted on development.
52:34
I mean, it's like it and I, I kind of, I think college
52:38
basketball's moving a little bit more this way in the sense that
52:41
they want the complete player now.
52:43
They want the player that's complete for their level.
52:45
So it's like, no, we're not going to take a high school kid
52:47
because we don't have time. I get it.
52:48
They don't have time to develop them, maybe because it's such a
52:51
win now culture, but that's where they're going to go to for
52:53
the division two kid that's 21 years old rather than an 18 year
52:58
old player that needs a good full year of just strength and
53:02
conditioning just to be physically ready to play.
53:05
They may have the skill, but to be physically ready to play.
53:08
And so it's just it's interesting where we we really
53:11
kind of lost sight of the development in the process It
53:14
takes to where we want the player to be ready now and it's
53:18
all the way down to youth basketball.
53:20
They want they, they that's why the tall player and the bigger
53:23
player always gets to play more because they're ready now or
53:27
they have the advantage now. Now rather than that kid that's
53:30
a little scrawny, hey, in five or six years, that kid that was
53:33
scrawny is going to hit a growth spurt, is going to get bigger
53:38
puberty is going to hit and wow, that, that dudes a dog now, you
53:41
know? And so, yeah, I, I do sense
53:44
there's a we, we want at all levels now, the, the ready
53:47
player, rather than taking the time that it takes to develop.
53:52
I, you know, I tell, I tell trainers I'm mentoring, you
53:56
know, like, especially with the shooting, like it's a risk.
53:59
You're taking a risk when you're trying to change something or
54:01
you're trying to help a player become better in that area,
54:04
especially later in life, as they've already had these habits
54:08
that are cemented. But also it's, it's a challenge.
54:12
And I find the challenge intriguing and it keeps me
54:16
motivated trying to have to figure things out.
54:20
Is is good for me. And it continues to help me,
54:23
help me grow and and and develop and prepare me for the next
54:27
challenge. You know, today we, we've talked
54:29
a lot about, you know, how you build your business, kind of
54:32
what you do with that and kind of how you're operating it.
54:35
As you think about the future, what what do you see yourself
54:38
building your business to, especially, you know, as you get
54:41
older or maybe you don't want to be in the court as much, you
54:43
don't want to have to be traveling as much.
54:45
Like what does that look like for you in the future of what
54:47
you want to build it to? Yeah.
54:52
You know, I've, you know, thought about opportunities that
54:55
could be on possibly, you know, present themselves or I don't
54:57
know. I haven't really ever had this
55:00
like strong desire to get back into coaching.
55:03
So I think that's probably where I'll I'll, you know, end up
55:07
with, with trying to, you know, get back into coaching and and
55:11
being around the team setting there.
55:12
There's aspects of that that I miss, the camaraderie, the
55:17
challenge of of competition and what, what that could bring out.
55:22
And I think as things are moving forward with even college and
55:25
all what I'm doing, there's going to be more of a demand for
55:29
it. And so I can see myself here in
55:32
the future, putting myself out there more for opportunities
55:35
with, with an organization, whether it's in college or, or
55:39
NBA. And so that, that's probably
55:41
where I would, I would go. But I still love being on the
55:44
court a lot. You know, that's, that's a place
55:47
I don't want to, I don't want to, you know, leave.
55:49
And I, you know, I've heard and, and see some people like, man, I
55:55
just don't want to do this as much or I don't want to be out
55:58
there and I, you know, as much and I, I don't, I just can't
56:02
relate to that. I want to be on the court, you
56:05
know, as much as possible. That's the joy of, of my, my
56:11
heart to be on the court and just to work with players and,
56:15
and I love when it's the empty gym and then, you know,
56:17
sometimes it's me playing a rebounder and just really one of
56:21
my players called the crafting man and we just craft, we're
56:24
just crafting. And I love that, that process.
56:27
I remember they're like one of the, I guess you'd say, like the
56:30
father of skill development was Tim Gergarich and he had this
56:34
camp for years out in Vegas. And I remember one of my clients
56:38
play for the Troy Pistons. And I'm not saying I'll be this,
56:41
this guy, you know, but he was like 88 with the Pistons and he
56:46
was still in the gym when I was going there with my client, like
56:50
watching the workout. And he, you know, and I guess
56:53
he, he didn't, his wife lived somewhere else.
56:57
I think he, he, he would, he would more of a consultant at
56:59
the time, but I think he would like sleeping in the office, if
57:02
I remember correctly. But like, he just, you can just
57:05
see the passion of of and his love for just being on the court
57:11
and teaching still shining through at 88.
57:13
I'm not. I don't think I'll make it that
57:15
long, but there's a joy there that's always been in my heart
57:19
since I first started doing this at it's it's stronger than ever.
57:24
Judge, it's been an incredible man.
57:26
I appreciate you being really authentic and just, you know,
57:30
sharing, being completely open and sharing how you've gotten,
57:34
where you've gotten the struggles you have, how you how
57:36
you're dealing with those, what you're doing.
57:39
And I know, I know you're impacting a lot of obviously the
57:41
athletes do it, but I know you've impacted a lot of other
57:43
coaches. You've invested me and you just
57:47
do it a really, really cool, authentic way.
57:49
So, so thank you for for what you're doing.
57:51
No, I appreciate that, man. I appreciate your friendship and
57:54
the things that you are doing in your space, in your area.
57:58
The book Strength in Numbers, if, if you haven't got it yet,
58:01
make sure you get it. It's a very, very resourceful
58:04
book that will impact you no matter what sport you coach or
58:09
even if you're a leader in another area of whether it's
58:12
business or some type of organization school.
58:15
It has the ability to impact you as a person as a leader too.
58:19
So appreciate that resource that you provided for many other
58:23
coaches and leaders as well. Thank you man, Thank you for
58:26
being part of that. If if people wanted to maybe
58:30
reach out to you, if they wanted to check out what you're doing
58:32
on social media, where could they go to find more?
58:34
Yeah, just on my Twitter's just Joey Burton, JOEYBURTON.
58:39
And then Instagram is Coach Joey Burton.
58:42
And then I have a website just www.joeyburton.com and I have
58:47
some resources on there as well. And you can always reach out to
58:50
me via e-mail at coachjoeyburton@gmail.com.
58:55
Awesome. Well thank you again for this
58:57
man. I hope you have a great rest of
58:58
your day and praying for you and your family.
59:00
Thanks, John. Same with you, brother.
59:01
You have a good one man.