Latest / Beyond the Break / Chris Polanski: Building a Championship Culture- Leadership, Lacrosse & Developing the Next Generation

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Chris Polanski: Building a Championship Culture- Leadership, Lacrosse & Developing the Next Generation · Beyond the Break

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Beyond the Break, a podcast where we dive deep into the stories behind today's entrepreneurs, leaders, and change makers, and we uncover what it takes to build something that lasts.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Let's get started.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: Beyond the Break.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Chris Polanski, welcome to Beyond the Break.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you very much.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_02: Happy to be here.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_01: Good to have you here.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_01: You ready for this?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_02: I am, I think.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_01: Well, Coach Polanski, or known as Coach Poe, uh, is near and dear to my heart.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_01: He was our high school coach.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: He coached my sons uh since they were five and six years old in lacrosse.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_01: And today we have a little special prop.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you saw this.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: I did see that.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't how can I miss it?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: This is our uh our state championship ring.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um there's a couple cool things about the ring in particular.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um for one, it's got a nice little diamond right on Panta Vidra in Florida.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's got all our scores on the inside, um, and it's got some other fun stuff on the helmet.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's uh it's it turned out really well.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful, and I love what you have on the bottom here, family.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_02: So my favorite part about that is so we um took a couple of the captains in the room to design the ring, and it was, you know, what do you want?
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_02: We had a slogan, um, all in or go home, or you know, other things that we've used.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_02: And I asked the leaders, I was like, what stands out to you?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: And like unanimously, all five of them were like family, family.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I was like, Well, that's that's the word, family it is.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_02: So it turned out really well.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_02: I was happy with it.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_01: It's you know, just getting into what you've built here.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_01: You're the head coach of a public high school here in Northern Florida.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_01: And what's what's unique about Florida versus some other states, like I grew up in Long Island, is that we compete against private schools for the state championship rank.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_01: And why don't you describe some of the challenges there, what the rules are or aren't in that scenario?
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, there's a whole slew, like um uh personally, like from the coaches' perspective, we operate on a totally different level.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we have about a total of$5,000 to spread out around um nine coaches.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um we have to divvy it up, and there's some volunteers in there.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_02: Um, where some of these other schools, they have private weightlifting coaches, they have full-time staff, um, six-figure salaries, um, you know, endless resources.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so that alone is um makes it unique for us.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: All the guys that coach for us are doing it because they love the community, they love the kids, they love the sport.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, obviously, financial is not an incentive.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so just the guys that we get is a different breed of guys.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_02: The way our team is built and constructed is also different.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we can't recruit, we can't scholarship.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um kids that live in Ponta Vidra School District are the ones that go to Pontavidra School District.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_02: You know, I like to say if we need a lefty attack in, I can't go look at the other 15 schools in North Florida and say, oh, that guy looks pretty good.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: It's we have to make a righty a lefty, or we have to bring somebody else up.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um his son is a perfect example.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't have a Fogo, so Luke became a Fogo.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_02: I couldn't go recruit the best one around, um, where some of these schools they literally recruit, they scholarship, they have dorm rooms of kids from out of state that they put in.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's it's we live live in a two different worlds and by different rules, although we compete for the same trophies.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's great.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: And even practice time and all that.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they're there, it's all you know, they have access to weight lifting in the off-season, film rooms and and uh on-school facilities and a whole lot of other things that we just don't get access to because we're just a public school.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, yet we we compete anyway.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, for sure.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: And the ring shows it.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so this is not your first ring as well, right?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_02: It is not my first ring.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_02: It is my second ring of Panavidra, and then I also got one in high school.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_02: So my my collection is growing.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: Well, let's get into what the foundation of all this is and how you build a program.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: Because one example I feel that just shows what kind of coaching and what kind of program that we have is you had kids literally trying out to be the team manager.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: So you've created something that people want to be a part of.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: And it's hard, but it's not easy.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: There's lots of practices, there's lots of hours, and you demand quite a bit of requirements.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: So how do you approach it from working with the little kids in the club world and the rec world all the way up to the team that you put on the field in the spirit?
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's um I could go on there for a couple hours.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_02: Um the the start, the biggest thing, and I think this is true for any team, um, not just in sports, but any team in general, it's called the same page philosophy.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I talk about with state championships, there's teams that have won it playing really fast, playing really slow, playing man defense, playing zone defense, um, full field press, uh, like we did a lot this year, sitting back.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: There's a million different pages in the playbook.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: But every team that's ever been successful, they pick that page, and then everyone buys into it.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's the same page.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't matter what page we're on, it just matters that we are all on the same page.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of what we do, and it's hard to see it in the moment, is getting everybody on that same page, the coaches that we put in place at youth, um, the way that we select coaches, the way that we have high school and our college alum come back to help, it's all of these guys that are on the same page.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_02: The guys that we hire on our staff, it might not necessarily always be the guys with the greatest resumes, but it's the guys that are on the same page and believe in the same things that we do.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um and over the over time, right, if we continue to do this and we're all aligned, we're gonna get really good at that same page.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and it's what's happened here.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um culture is the other one.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: Culture is a super buzzword and all sorts of things, right?
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_02: We need to change the culture, we need to change the culture.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_02: What does that mean, right?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_02: Like culture to me is things that aren't okay, right?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_02: And and this is one thing that I am very proactive at, but culture to me is somebody does something, instead of just sitting back and letting it happen, it's this is not okay.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_02: And and that's how culture becomes something.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's it's not okay to show up and not be prepared.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: If you show up and you're not prepared, you're gonna get called out.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's not okay.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_02: There's there's the obvious lacrosse decisions, you do X, you you know, X, Y, Z, you're not gonna play anymore.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: But it's more of the other stuff.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_02: If um Like an energy vampire, an energy vampire, exactly.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_02: Like Yeah, John, perfect.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_02: If if if you're on the bench and you're not cheering, you're not gonna be on the bench for the next game.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's just unacceptable things we confront right away.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and that's I think part of the culture thing.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_02: And and so then what happens is we've created these expectations, we've created these things that aren't okay.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: Then you you wrote that in with, now I've been here for a long time, and and the culture is now coming full circle and generates itself.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_02: My my favorite thing to do is we have all these great alumni, and it's I can sit there and talk to our youth and say, you guys need to come extra and do extra work after practice.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: You need to come early, you need to go rin the bridge, right?
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_02: And and we can say it till we're blue in the mouth.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_02: Or I can say, you know that Dylan Hess kid who just re-signed for the PLO?
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_02: He's here before you guys shooting at Davis.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: He's here after.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: You see him running the bridge.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_02: You see Maddox Johnson, who's already playing for JU and has a scholarship.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_02: He comes practice early and shoots early.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_02: He's in the weight room outworking you.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_02: And so when we we started and we start creating these non-negotiables, and then you get the show-me by example kids where these alumni come back, the culture just turns into this machine of things of like we have kids that don't play lacrosse anymore because they are like, I can't do this work.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_02: I don't want to do this work.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_02: And that is what like it's terrible when a kid quits, but that is a sign of culture.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_02: When they know I can't do the work, so this is not the place for me.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_02: And and that is, I think, how we've competed and done so well over time, where it's even at the younger levels, it's maybe not, you know, a hundred percent maximum intensity, but it's if you want to play here, you need to work on your stick skills.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_02: You don't have stick skills, you don't play.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_02: And it it's we've been doing this since they're 12 years old.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_02: And then when they're 17, I don't have to tell them anymore.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_02: If they're late for practice, the other 34 kids are calling out the one guy who's late.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_02: If the guy doesn't finish the sprint, the whole team is yelling at him, not me.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_02: And that I believe is what culture is.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: And again, it's really easy to say, you know, culture, change the culture.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you have to do that by one establishing the line and then it and reinforcing that, hey, this guy did this well.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_02: You want to be like him?
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_02: Go do this too.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: I you know, one thing I've observed as you uh coach the team over the years is just the fact that you bring the best out of a kid who might not be a starter or very good, even in ninth or tenth grade, where a lot of people feel like by then you you know who's good on your team.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: Uh unfortunately as people that think by 10 years old, you know who's going to be able to do it.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: So why don't you use a few examples of people who have been a surprise over over time and how that how that worked out.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's um it's really easy to create expectations in yourself, right?
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_02: You see a seventh grader, this kid will never make it, right?
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_02: This kid's gonna be a phenom.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_02: But what's important is is right, we talked about we surround yourself with people who help push these boundaries, right?
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_02: And and you have maybe a predisposition of this player's not going to be good or this player is good.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, my our assistants, Keeler Kilby, Curtis, Jack, are do a really good job of we got to look at this guy closer.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah um to your point, the guys that didn't start hot and that turned into great players, we could go on forever.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_02: There's um Hudson Conway.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_02: He was probably one of our top three MVPs this year.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_02: Hudson played lacrosse forever.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_02: Forever, he was always kind of the bottom-tier kid.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_02: He was never great, but he just kept working and we kept it around, um, kind of circling on topics here.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_02: With as a public school, we need to take every resource we have and get the most out of it.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like you said, I can't cut Hudson Conley loose as a 10th grader just because he's not a stud yet, because there's no one else to replace him.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: So we put in the effort on Hudson, and then about his at the end of his junior year going into junior summer, he started getting stronger, he started getting confident, and he turned into an absolute machine.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um there there is uh Especially with boys, like you said, their bodies changed dramatically.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, he like he he grew six inches in the last year.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's you never know what you got, and someone who's dominant as an eighth grader might not grow another inch.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, which there's um, you know, four four guys um a couple years ago that were our best freshmen, right?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_02: Three of them made varsity.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: The fourth one didn't it, the fourth one just committed to the biggest school out of all of them because he got hungry and worked harder.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_02: And it's again not that anything changed, but it's what happens when we're and we were the ones that put them on JV.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_02: We've said these other three kids are better.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_02: Now those kids gone and committed, right?
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_02: Things can change, kids can get better.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_02: Um, just like all things, though, you have to you have to give them opportunities to get better.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_02: Like you said, it's it's really easy nowadays to give up on players, right?
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_02: To give up on anything.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_02: It's you don't get instant gratification.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Ryan Smith was a uh kid, he picked up lacrosse late, his stick skills were terrible.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_02: By the time he was a junior and senior, he was one of the best kids on the team because he continued to work and put in the effort.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and part of that culture thing, he's all around these all other guys, and he's well, my stick skills suck, right?
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_02: Jeremy and Matt's are great.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_02: I need to go catch up to them, right?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: And then those guys see, well, this new kid just his stick skills are getting better and they need to work.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there is hundreds and hundreds of examples of guys that weren't studs when they were young and turned out to be studs, and the ones that I won't personally name, but we've had guys that made varsity as a freshman, and by the time they were juniors, they got cut, and the three kids that were on JV are now starting.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it there's a lot of room to grow in in young kids.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, one of the challenges I think now is where there's so much so much travel where you make a team, quote unquote, or or get cut, and that could be a career ender for a kid, but talk about what you built here that keeps people involved and keeps them playing and gives them that second chance.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it is.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's not just lacrosse and it's it's just an all-sport thing where the AAU model has come, the seven-on-seven, where the elitist of the elites go and get together.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I am not against those models.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: I think really good kids need to play with really good kids sometimes.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_02: But what we have and what's special in Ponte Vidra is we've created something where the super studs can come play and the beginners can also come play.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_02: And and that is very, very, very unique, I think, nowadays, where um most of the time it's the superstars are on this team, the kind of the B-level guys are here, the C and the D, and it all kind of trickles down.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_02: But the kind of community infrastructure that we have built where kids don't want to play for other clubs.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_02: They have the most fun playing with their friends, even if I'm the best player on my team and my friends can't catch every single pass I throw.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_02: But it's more fun being with those guys you grew up with.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it's more rewarding to be with those guys you grew up with when you win with the guys that you've lost seven years in a row with.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we have a kid, he's a senior this year, Gavin Besquite.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_02: Nuch is was on this team.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_02: Their um the group was awesome.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_02: But his mom always reminded us they never won a youth tournament ever.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_02: They'd always get runner-up, they'd always be close, they never won a single tournament.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_02: Junior year, all of those juniors had a huge role in the state championship, and they came together and they played as a team, and there's a big reason why we won.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_02: Um but kind of back to that original question of it's it it helps that we have something that they know that they can come and they can get challenged at by their coaches.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and to your point, it's we had a kid, Brendan Nace, who went and played Division I cross and at Queens, and he was a conference freshman, all player.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_02: He didn't play any of those big clubs because he was short and overweight and not the best athlete when he was young, and he turned into the 6'3 Eudonis, um, and he popped late, but he didn't do any of that stuff.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_02: And when he got good enough, the coaches surprise, they will find you.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_02: They will find you.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: You don't always need that whole resume of 10 years leading up to when the time is there.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_02: He did need every Tuesday and Thursday at Landrum when we were practicing to develop his skills and get better.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and I've talked with you about this.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_02: I do believe in all sports and all things, you do need to find someone that has it that's what's your long-term development, right?
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of the sports world we live in, most of these people, their goal is just to get you to sign up again, right?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: They do it for a living.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_02: All right, I'm in this world too, but their primary goal is not to get you better, it's to get your money again.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_02: And if they can get you better too and do all these other things, that's great.
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_02: But what a lot of these kids need is the uncomfortable truths of be told what you're doing isn't good enough.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_02: You're not working hard enough.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's not pretty, it's not okay.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_02: Like you need to go work harder.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and it's tough for a lot of kids to hear that.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's tough for us to say it to them.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_02: But that's exactly what they need to hear.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_02: And in our community, our culture, we have almost every one of our youth coaches is now like on year four or five, right?
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: They're not, our goal is not to get you to sign up in the fall.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_02: Our goal is to get you better.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_02: And we're gonna tell you things that make you uncomfortable to get you better.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and I do think that is is it's tough to find in the sports world now.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, what you what's also interesting is you're so active in helping develop the rapid program and the younger kids as well, where a lot of high school coaches are not part of that.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: So you've created the culture from and you help us coaches and coach those kids in your way as well.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_01: But a lot of your focus is not on the wins and losses at the youth level, right?
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_01: It's more on the development.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: So talk about like some of the skills and activities that you do that are not learning sixth place instead.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's um it's it's something I feel very, very strongly about, and I think it's something that separates us from a lot of programs in the South.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's we don't worry about winning at the youth level.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, if you go to a lot of youth practices around the state, and even some of ours before I got more involved, it's let's say you have two hours of practice.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: Well, they're spending an hour of that two hours on on plays, right?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_02: Chris, you run to the crease, I run over top, and then the next guy goes here.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, those plays require zero athleticism.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_02: They require zero skill to learn, right?
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: It's just do this play.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, then, so we spend, let's, so let's say we spend an hour in that practice, and we have 20 practices in the fall, we spend 15 to 20 hours just learning plays.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_02: Well, then in the summer, you get with new kids and a new team and a new coach.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_02: We have to spend 20 hours again.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's let's call it 30% of your practice time.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the plays are great, but what we can't teach those kids to do, real quick, is to catch and throw and to shoot on the run.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_02: We can't teach them to escape pressure and pick up a ground ball and move it.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_02: So what we do is we spend all of that time on the skills, and we spend very, very minimal time on the plays.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so our kids, every single one of them, can catch and throw.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_02: They can shoot with both hands, they can pick the ball up and move it from pressure.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_02: And are we the most organized in club?
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_02: Probably not.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_02: But we still beat a ton of people because our skills are just superior.
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_02: Um the varsity, right?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_02: We we run a very basic offense.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_02: Our U-12 team runs our same offense, and every team in the state knows what we do, but they can't stop it because we can catch and throw and move the ball.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_02: We literally call it OG right buckeye.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_02: We play 12 U coaches that coach varsity and they're laughing.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_02: Like, you guys haven't running the same stuff.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not that we run any magical things.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_02: It's that we just do it better and we trust each other and we can move the ball.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and that is where like a lot of parents come to our drills and you did this two-on-one drill for 30 minutes.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_02: Well, they still aren't doing the two-on-one drill right, you know, and and not to get too in the weeds on it, philosophy, but like everyone wants to see these big plays.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_02: Well, a lot of what sports are, it's you give the ball to the freak athlete.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's football, you give it to the running back and the quarterback, and everyone else has to figure out the roll across.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_02: We give the ball to the best dodger, right?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_02: And and we let him go.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_02: We gave it to Baylor and JP last year.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the other 14 guys on the field have to figure out how to catch and throw and move it.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_02: And Baylor worked very, very hard, but nothing I taught Baylor created him to be that elite threat.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's he's a freak athlete who worked hard doing a lot of other things, but it's not me generating some special offense.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_02: Baylor's just a freak and scary.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_02: So Baylor goes and does his thing.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: Well, now the other five guys, because we've doing the fundamentals since they were 10 years old, when they draw the double team, can catch and pass, pass, pass, goal, pass, pass, pass, goal.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_02: Baylor scored, I think, one goal on the state championship, maybe zero, right?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_02: And all the other guys just did their role and pass, pass, goal, pass, pass, goal.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so long-winded answer short, building the fundamentals, building the foundation is what is going to pay off.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_02: I say it in our tryout, I can take every mom, aunt, younger sister, and I can teach you offense, right?
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: Offense is very simple.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_02: Chris, you run right, I go left.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: We, but I can't teach you all these skills.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_02: And so then when they're juniors and seniors and they can catch and throw better than everybody, and we spend a little bit more time refining the offense, that's how we're able to compete with teams who board in scholarship and have more division one players than I can count and coaching salaries that are make you upset.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and but we do that because we own the little things.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we didn't have a bunch of six, four athletes running around this year.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't have a pile of D1 commits.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_02: We had a bunch of really, really good skilled players that could do their job and they played within themselves.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it shows, right?
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: We had nine goals in the game, seven different players scored.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, you know, you think in the fourth quarter we had a freshman score, a defensive pole score, and a phone goal.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like those are things you normally don't count on to win, but everybody contributed.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's because like you said, you've developed all those players to be fully skilled at not memorizing sixth place.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_02: And and it's also it's easy for me to say, and and truthfully, like it's very rewarding to spend uh you know 10 years with Mac Recco, right?
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_02: And get to see him go from a little kid up.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but it's also important because when parent coaches in particular are in it the first time, it's this is the Super Bowl.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_02: When you're a 13-year-old in Orlando Open, this is the biggest sporting event you've ever been to.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_02: And it's it's I'll use JP Dolan, right?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_02: It'd be very easy for us to give the ball to JP 17 times and we are little kids and let him plow through everybody.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: But we wouldn't let him.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's JP, let's let Jack go, let's let Matt go, let's let these other guys go and have that long-term development in mind of when it matters, we need the other guys to do stuff.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: We can't give the ball to JP 25 times and let him go through.
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_02: Other kids are going to grow and catch up and do these things, but it's really important that you keep that long-term focus.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_02: As again, as much fun as it would have been to give the ball to JP, so Nooch could have gotten a few more wins.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_02: Nooch developed, Jack developed, Liam, all these other Charlie, Miles, all these other guys, Baylor, Carson, were able to develop because we forced the ball to be shared and to do all these things.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_02: Again, rather than hey, JP, just go dodge again and go run through kids and score.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and and again, as much as it would have been fun to have a few extra t-shirts, I don't think any of them are second-guessing it right now.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, it shows you with the rings, but uh, you know, it's so much of a the community as well that's come together and surrounded you and done a great job of working with the coaches and getting this mentality through.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: And it's hard because people want to win after a Saturday, Sunday tournament.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: But there's times where we talked in the past where that was no, you know, we lost, but I think the kids got better this week.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: And that's what we always talk about.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_02: 100%.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_02: And like our world, it's very easy to see.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_02: We would go play these Orlando all-star teams, the South Florida all-star teams, you know, and it's the Pontavidra town team that we would go play with these guys.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_02: And it is very easy, and like I see how parents can get down this line of well, I can just this other team beat us.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_02: Let's just go play with them this weekend.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_02: You know, but if if we if JP goes and plays with LCO and Baylor goes and plays with Stealth or another team, well, then now our other guys aren't getting better because they're not with them.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_02: But keeping everyone together and and just staying the course is is not.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: As easy as it seems now, right?
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_02: There was a lot of times where we'd go when they were seventh graders, we'd entered the eighth grade tournament and we'd go 0 and 5, right?
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_02: But to your point, as long as we're doing the right things, I think the word to describe it is process-oriented and not result-oriented.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_02: It's really easy, right?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_02: We could go enter a tournament that's not as great and go win it, or we could go enter the best tournament there is.
• 22:24
  SPEAKER_02: Our skills get really challenged and we go two and three, right?
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_02: But the process was right.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_02: We did the right things.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_02: We're just playing against guys that are way better.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I think in youths that gets lost a lot.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_02: It's results-oriented.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: They go play in a tournament where they're the oldest, biggest kids and they're playing young guys.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, we won.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_02: We can do A, B, and C where it's like, well, was the process right?
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: And I do think it's really easy to lose that sometimes.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_01: And I think it's important that they they stayed together since they were little.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: And it really showed, you know, I was blown away during the state championship game.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Again, I was fortunate to be on the sidelines near you and the team as a staff guy.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_01: But I got to see when the most stressful moments I was stressed.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_01: The kids and you were because they were such a trust in each other.
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_01: And they knew they've been playing together since they were seven.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_01: If something goes wrong, all my teammates got to pick me up.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_01: And that's so much more powerful than a team that got put together in the offseason and has five kids together.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just where you built it.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I just said it, the process oriented.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_02: I, you know, we had our um the 2022 team, right?
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_02: That team was very similar.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_02: They just lost by one goal, right?
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_02: And if we we could have bounced two off the post, Luke could have gotten stripped and go the other way, and we lose that game.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_02: But the process was there.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_02: It's they they were a team.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_02: They trusted each other.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: For 17, 18-year-old kids, that's very hard.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's hard to trust that if I pass the ball, dude's gonna give it back to me when it's my turn.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but they did.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_02: And and that is, to me, the most rewarding part where like this ring is awesome.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: Don't get me wrong.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_02: But there's other teams that have had awesome processes that I they're just as high to me and mean just as much because they did it the right way.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: But this this group, obviously, they got a cap, but it was a perfect example of our our best player this year was Baylor Vu.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: He was hurt, he couldn't do it.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: Baylor trusted if I pass it to the next guy, he's gonna do his job.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_02: Um, our defense was a bunch of just really solid players that trusted if I do what our game plan is, the next guy's gonna do his job and we're gonna work and do it together.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and again, it's back to the culture word, when they spend so much time together, right?
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_02: And and the same, the the same page speech, right?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_02: When the parents are on the same page and when we're doing it for so young, it it just meshes, but you can see it going the other way.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_02: If you have a dad that's saying, Luke, that guy never passes to you.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_02: Stop passing, you just go shoot.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_02: Yes, right?
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_02: Why is Poe not playing you enough, right?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: You need to do, right?
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_02: It it it you can get these negative thoughts, you can get these cancerous things, you can get why why are you dodging more, right?
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_02: Well, Poe does this JP's got the shorty.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: JP's dodging, right?
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_02: And but if he starts dodging more, then everything can break apart.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_02: But it was the startup from the parents to the coaches to all our infrastructure, the the PVAA.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: Um, it it all has to be on the same page.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_02: But then when we are, like you said, we get a penalty that I probably didn't agree with, no one panicked.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_02: It was we got each other's backs, we're gonna be just fine.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_02: Um move forward for sure.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think you know, how do you approach, because in in any sport, there's injuries.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we've had we had some key players go down at certain parts of the season, but you were you were unfazed and then the kids are unfazed.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_01: How do you how do you compartmentalize that as a coach?
• 25:38
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's so I'm a big proponent of get it out and then move on.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_02: So coaches have a group text and the Baylor injury happened, and that night we aren't gonna be able to do this, we're done at this, we can have do this, and then the next day it's it's we don't have them anymore.
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's it's I I truly believe it's a big mental thing of one you can dwell on things, but when it's time to move on, it's move on and you can't look back.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_02: And this is now the pieces that we have.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's part of to being a coach, we've talked about, right?
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_02: At the end of one year, you're driving home on the bus and it's a six-hour bus ride.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: The first three hours are how miserable you are and then and bad you're gonna be.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_02: Then the next three hours are wait a second, this eight-kid A, B, and C comes up.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_02: So part of it is being the coach and just constantly of just retooling in just that mode, but it's also the trust in the kids.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_02: It's Baylor went down and we didn't know if he was gonna play.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_02: Well, JP Miles, Jack, the Keegan, Hudson, et cetera, et cetera, are ready to go, right?
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_02: And and maybe they're not as efficient, but we don't need a superstar, right?
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_02: Like it certainly helped having him drop seven goals, don't get me wrong.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but just our general philosophy is we don't need that guy, right?
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's if he's not there, it's just like Baylor's dyer, we'll just keep going through.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and then when we share that mentality, it's not like that first practice.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_02: What are we gonna do on man up without Baylor?
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: What do we?
• 26:59
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, what do you mean we're not we're gonna put Jack there?
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: What do we just what do you mean?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: What are we gonna do?
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_02: Hudson's gonna get go up here on man up, and Keegan's gonna play more here.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: And it's just this is what we're gonna do.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_02: And and when you just uh especially in sports when the injuries happen, but in general, I think in life, when you just these are what's in front of me, right?
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_02: I can't think of the glass that fell off the table and broke, it's gone.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_02: This is how I can I can go forward, this is how I can create my meal.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's a much healthier way because it's we can all look back at what we lost, right?
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: We can I can look at players that transferred or a a football player that would have been a freak D Midi that didn't play, and there's always these what didn't we have or what broke or what fell off.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_02: But if we look right in front of us, we still got something pretty awesome too.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_02: And it it might not be the same it was before, but it's okay, now without Baylor, now Miles, we can go more lefty, right?
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: And that's we would the very first thing we talked about is okay, well, Miles can do this now and we can do that.
• 27:53
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like you just have to look forward and not look what's behind because it's again, it's just like if you're constantly looking back, your game plan on what's on the table is not gonna be as focused.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's the way you handle adversity, right?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's just summarized.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: And and you and the team have such a steady hand on it.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_01: And because I remember earlier in the season, people are like, what are we gonna do?
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_01: Who's gonna be on defense?
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_01: Who's gonna do that?
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_01: And like everybody's those are sideline naysayers, and you're like, I got my 35 kids and we're gonna go forward.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: And and that confidence is felt by everybody, you know, I think that's important.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_01: And it's funny now, right?
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_01: You know, what now?
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you want to stay, you gotta you gotta practice in the fall, you you're gonna start in the spring, and and you've got the next phase, right?
• 28:37
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, and it's just kind of that same thing.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: It's driving back on the bus instead of crying, we were, you know, this is awesome, and then it's what's next year, and it's that that same thing, and it but to me, and what I think it's very special about what I do, it's this next group, the Jack Larkin and Liam Larkin and Nuch and Miles and Charlie and Sam and Kelly.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_02: I've coached those guys for 10 years, right?
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_02: Like although we lost Baylor and JP and Carson and Hudson and Tate and and other Carson and you know good and Luke and go down the line of what we lost, it's the next phase of what's new and and the next kids to mold and you know, the next kid to pull aside and work on his leadership and and tweak and and do all these things.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_02: And especially being in this community for long term, it's just this constant journey of now I get to see Kelly Smith go to college and see what he you know turns into next.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um is very rewarding.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's great.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I think you got you know more uh more wins ahead of you, but more importantly, more you know developing players, and that's and then that takes care of the wins uh in the end, right?
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_01: But like you said, there were times you didn't have a ring, but still the group produced, they got better, and they were all reached their potential.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_02: And it certainly helps now when when I'm given these process-oriented speeches of like the process did work, see, but but it is like you know, you saw there are people who doubted it, and why doesn't he do more plays?
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_02: And why doesn't he do this?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_02: And back to that same page speech, it's like I know there's other ways to do it.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm not even saying that my way is the best way to do it, but it's the way we're gonna do it, and we're all gonna buy in, and like you were great, the PVAA they bought in.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: It's like the way that we did Riptide, it was kind, it's all kind of around this general philosophy of you know, the fun, like doing it that way.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_02: And it's again, it's I'm not even saying it's the best way to do it, but it's our way to do it, and everyone has bought in and it works very, very well.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, good.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_01: Well, now you you've I've seen you when your first ring was a wedding ring.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I've seen you have uh two kids and grow as a father as well.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, in our community, you're coach Poe and you've done a great job developing our kids to be the best they can be.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and I I really appreciate that.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: And and thanks for coming in today, Poe.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_01: Anything else you want to wrap up or think about?
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_02: I'm again, I'm very blessed to be here.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's again, it's just being in the community, seeing the kids come through.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's very unique perspective, and it's very special.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_02: I'm very, very happy to be here.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: Well, congratulations on the recent win and all the work you do with our kids.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_02: I appreciate you.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you guys for having me.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for tuning in to be on the break.
• 31:07
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• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: We've got more real stories, sharp insights, and powerful turning points coming your way.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: See you next time.