Latest / The Strength In Numbers Podcast / EP 5: Connor Schoepp | Building a Business that Matches Your Long-Term Vision & Return to Play Systems

Transcript

EP 5: Connor Schoepp | Building a Business that Matches Your Long-Term Vision & Return to Play Systems · The Strength In Numbers Podcast

0:00
The sooner I can get the athlete back into the mindset of like a
0:04
performance driven process, the better off this thing is going
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to go. Because the more time they spend
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the training room, the more time they're isolated from their
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team. The more time that they have to
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not feel like an athlete, the worse this thing is going to be.
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Being able to pour into what you want to pour into and create
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what you want to create. Something about it that just
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gives me so much more fulfillment than it would be
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when I was doing those same activities when someone else was
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telling me to do it. And so that's why I think it's
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so important to build these systems of checks and balances
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into the rehab process so it doesn't become this like pass or
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fail test at 8 months. That's going to either set the
0:39
athlete back or allow them to progress forward.
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You become the solution to somebody's problem way before
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they ever actually encounter that problem.
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Welcome to the Strength in Numbers podcast.
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I'm your host, John Bloom, and today our guest is Connor Ship.
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Connor recently opened Rebuild Performance in rehab in
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Pittsburgh after spending the first part of his career working
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in College in the NFL. He's one of the top people out
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there when it comes to rehab and return to play.
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And you will definitely see why during our talk today.
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But we also spend a lot of time talking about his decision to
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leave the team setting and go and start his business.
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Enjoy the episode, Connor. I'm really grateful that you're
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here with me, man. I'm excited for this
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conversation. Could you so I real quick, like,
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like who are you and what drove you to do what you do?
1:24
Yeah, So my name's Connor Shep. I'm the owner and operator of
1:28
Rebuild Performance and Rehab in Pittsburgh, PA.
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So basically what I do now is I, you know, I run my own support
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performance facility, but I also specialize in return to play.
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So basically helping out states kind of bridge the gap between
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injury and actually getting back out on the fields.
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And I spent the last kind of 10 years working in, you know, the
1:45
collegiate professional environment as a kind of a bunch
1:48
of different roles, sports scientists, strength
1:50
conditioning coach. But I always just kind of found
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myself in that return to play role and I just kind of just
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fell in love with it over the years.
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I had some really cool cases early on where I was able to
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have a really huge impact on some some athletes lives and,
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you know, their injury process and just kind of fell in love
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with it, ma'am. And so got to a point where I
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realized that's kind of what I wanted to do with my life and
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then figured I'd just make a career out of it.
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So you know, about six months ago now stepped away from the
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team setting and now opened up my own shop here and Pittsburgh
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about a month ago. Yeah, that's awesome, right.
2:20
We're kind of in similar boats where within this past year,
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both of us stepped away from the team setting, college setting
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and opened her own thing. And one question I know I get
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all the time when I talk to people is they're always like,
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do you miss it? Right.
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And I wouldn't go back. You know, the one thing I do
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miss is like, you know, being part of a team and getting to be
2:40
with the same group and the same staff and all work towards the
2:43
same goal. Do you get that same question
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from people when you talk to them?
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Do you miss it? And how would you answer that
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question so far half a year in? Yeah.
2:53
No, man, I get that question more than I would like to, to be
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honest with you. And you know, I think I'll, you
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know, like you said, man, I'll always miss the relationships.
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I'll always miss, you know, like that is the one thing I don't
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think you can necessarily get outside of the team setting.
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It's just like, you know how it is, man.
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You spent 11 months out of the year with those kids and with
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that coaching staff all committed towards the same
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thing. There's just really no other way
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to recreate that. And it's pretty special.
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But I spent a long time doing it and I'm really fortunate for him
3:20
now. But like, in terms of like, do I
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miss it? I've honestly been too busy to
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even think about it. You.
3:26
Think right, You know, it's such a huge part of my life for such
3:29
a long time. And it was, I mean, it was
3:31
really everything, right? Like when you're a coach in the
3:34
team setting, you don't really have much of A life outside of
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that, right? Like they, they kind of become
3:38
morphed into one. And then, you know, now that
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I've stepped out into something, you know, you know, I'm still a
3:42
coach and I still work with athletes and still doing a lot
3:45
of the same things. But it's, it's so day and night
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in terms of just the lifestyle and everything.
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And I've had to learn so many different new skills and wear so
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many more hats that it's just like, it's, it's been such a
3:56
change up. And I've had to put so much time
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and energy into this to make this work.
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Now I really haven't even like had the time to like think about
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missing it. And, you know, maybe I will.
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I think maybe once I kind of start getting to a little bit of
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a groove of like, you know, a few years from now, hopefully
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I'm in a position where things are a lot more comfortable and,
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you know, I have a little bit more time to reflect on stuff
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like that. But right now, man, it's just,
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you know, we opened up a month ago, so there's really no time
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to think. We got to go.
4:20
Yeah. So you talked a little bit about
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about realizing, you know, making that decision, realizing
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you want to do that based off kind of those experiences.
4:28
But could you take us back like to that actual moment when it's
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like, OK, this is like, this is what I'm doing.
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Because if you're like me, like I thought about it for years,
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like in the back of my head, like, you know, this is
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something I maybe want to do eventually.
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But you know, but then eventually, OK, it's time to
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actually make that decision. What went into the time is now
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and and, and what what did that time span right around there
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look like in terms of actually taking steps towards that?
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Yeah, man. So it was kind of like a a lot,
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It was a long process and then it happened really, really fast,
4:59
right. So I would say like, you know,
5:01
I'd spent about 3 1/2 years at liberty in the last like 2 years
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I was there. I just didn't really feel right,
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right? Like it was one of those things.
5:09
And like there's a lot of problems that we face in our
5:12
field. And I think they're all
5:13
accustomed with, right? Whether it's the financial
5:14
piece, the work life balance piece, the respect piece, the
5:18
fulfilment piece. Like there's a lot of things
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that are, you know, challenges for our field, right?
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And I think for me, man, there was just like a A2 year period
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where I was just like those things started to add up and it
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got to a point where like it was starting to eat away at my soul
5:30
a little bit. And there's one thing that like,
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you know, for me anyways, like I don't believe you can be in the
5:36
team setting and be half in, at least I know I can't be.
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And that's kind of where I started to feel myself shift
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where I was just like, I love what I love training, I love
5:45
rehab, I love the relationships, but everything else just started
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to add up And I could feel myself start to slip.
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And I think in the back of my mind, it was probably a lot
5:53
earlier than before I actually made the decision.
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Like I knew that I needed to make a change.
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And so ultimately I got to a point where I just decided I was
6:00
going to leave Liberty. And then I was like, just had a
6:02
crossroads. Like crossroads where it's like,
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OK, well, what do I do now? And I think at the time, my idea
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was like, all right, I'm going to apply for all these jobs and,
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you know, the pro environment or, you know, high level college
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environment. And I'm going to spend the next
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10 to 15 years doing that kind of thing.
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And I started to interview around, I started to talk to all
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these people. And I had a conversation with a
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guy who I talked about a lot, Alan Murdoch, rehab coach, very
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similar to what I do. And I kind of shared with him my
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story. He shared his story.
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And it really resonated with me because he was like one of those
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people that like I was like, OK, like that's basically like what
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I want to do with my life and very similar paths.
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And we got to a point he kind of, he hit me with this question
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that kind of like struck me. And it still sticks with me to
6:44
this day of like, oh, what is success to you?
6:46
Right. Because we got in this like
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conversation of like, well, like, what do you consider
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success? And like, why do you want to be
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successful? And like, I didn't really have
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an answer. And for him, his answer was 1.
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He wanted to be able to wake up and live his life on his own
6:58
terms every single day, right, and pursue things that he's
7:00
passionate about, not because somebody else tells him to do
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things right. I was like, oh, wow, yes.
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And then two, be able to reach his potential and I'm like, wow,
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that's like the best way I've ever heard that be put in.
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Like to this day, I still have it written down in my notebook
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and I look at it occasionally. It's just like, yeah, that's
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what I want. And then when I was able to
7:18
reflect on that, I was like, what?
7:19
I don't think I'm going to be able to get that in the team
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setting, right? And then so I was like from
7:23
there, it was just like, I got to go out and do my own thing.
7:26
And then just kind of like that, man, after about, you know, 3 or
7:30
4 weeks after I stepped away from Liberty, I was like,
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alright, man, like, you know, life's too short.
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None of these other positions are working out.
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I know this is ultimately what I want to do with my career and
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it's just like, go for it, right?
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So I opened up the LLC that day I'm pretty sure, and the rest is
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history. Yeah, and I love that that
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thought about like what is success and like, what do you
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want our life to look like? Sometimes I feel like especially
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in the teams and like we just get stuck like doing it like and
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we never really think about like where are we actually going and
7:57
and taking ourselves long term. So as as he asked you that
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question and you didn't, you don't have an answer at that
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point. And his answer, you know,
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resonated with you. Have you gotten to a point now
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where you've refined that for yourself of what that vision
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looks like? Yeah, I think that would be my
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answer to this, right? Kinda became my answer.
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But the vision of how I'm gonna get there and what that's gonna
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look like has become a lot more clear.
8:24
I think creating because it's really easy to say something
8:27
like that. Like, I want to be able to live
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my life on my own terms and I want to, you know, reach my
8:31
potential. But then it's like, it's a whole
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nother thing to actually think, like create that and actually
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have like, a division of like, OK, this is how I'm going to do
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this. This is how I'm going to map
8:38
this thing out. And this is how I'm going to go
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about actually making that a reality.
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Right. So far, it's off to a good
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start. But you know, long way to go.
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Yeah, yeah. And I know for me it's like
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starting this business now, like my, my current life right now
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isn't necessary like what I want, but it's building towards
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that and setting the foundation for it in terms of flexibility
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or hours or, or or work, whatever it is.
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You know, for you, I'm guessing right, starting up, you know,
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just home in the facility, like you're saying, you got to run a
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lot of, you know, handle a lot of rules as one person, a lot of
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different work. Like you probably don't have
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that, you know, flexibility necessarily.
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Live how you want every day right now.
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But how how are you building towards that?
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Like what, what, what does now set the foundation for for your
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ultimate end game? Basically, to kind of allow
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yourself to have that life. Yeah, man, I think that, you
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know, like, and this is the same thing I tell like even like I
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get a lot of young coaches that reach out to me about like
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career development and stuff like that.
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And like this is like the one piece of advice I always give
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them is like the more clear the picture you paint, the more
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clear the path becomes to get there, right.
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And so like now that I like have an understanding of like what I
9:44
want that autonomous lifestyle to kind of look like now it's
9:47
just all about making the sacrifices and doing the work.
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And the hard part is it's all kind of for not for right now in
9:52
the sense that like, there's no such thing as like and
9:54
gratification of a life of, you know, being able to live on your
9:57
own terms. Like right now, man, like I'm
9:59
grinding, I'm working a lot of 12 hour days.
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I'm making a lot of sacrifices, man.
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Like I'll never forget my first day of it.
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It was kind of funny the first day I opened up my business or
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at least opened up to the public.
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I remember I woke up that morning like 6 AMI wrote on a
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book that I'm working on. I trained 2 NFL players
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back-to-back. And then later that night I was
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training like 812 year old volleyball girls in a birthday
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party room at this like fun zone, right?
10:24
It's just like, man, this is a crime.
10:26
And as you know, it's, it's not necessarily all it's cracked up
10:28
to be right away, but it's starting to pay off, man.
10:31
Like it's, it's crazy. Like even in just in the last
10:33
month, how fast things have started to take off and how fast
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these things are starting to unroll.
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And like, once I was able to clearly identify like what it is
10:42
I'm going to be able to do to get there, it's become a lot
10:46
easier. Or I shouldn't say that.
10:47
It's never easy, a lot more simple in terms of like how I'm
10:51
gonna go about doing that. So I don't know if that answers
10:53
your question. Yeah, now that now that's cool
10:55
and I'm glad things are building well.
10:57
And, and one thing that that makes me think about is
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sometimes like, like we're talking about like this
11:02
autonomous lifestyle. Sometimes when people look at it
11:05
from afar, it's like, OK, you're gonna run your own business.
11:07
You get to determine your own schedule, like when you work,
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how you work, like it's just, it's just all great.
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But but obviously there's a lot of sacrifices there.
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And as you're handling all these roles, like you're saying about
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opening up, like sometimes they can just consume your whole day
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and week and your thoughts, right, because you're solely
11:23
response responsible for the success of it now and and
11:26
financially like whatever you put in, like you're going to get
11:29
out. How in that position, how do you
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not allow it to fully consume you?
11:35
And in the past, you know, we've talked about some struggles you
11:38
had and like cycles of burnout with than a team setting.
11:40
Like, how do we not let those patterns fall over into this and
11:44
just a whole, you know, a different wrapping paper?
11:46
Yeah, no, it's a good question, man.
11:48
It's like, it's probably like my favorite thing about being in
11:51
the private side and like that was one of the things I struggle
11:53
with in the team setting was that like, you could be the best
11:56
at what you do in the world and it could not make a difference
11:58
at all if you're not with the right people or doing, you know,
12:01
have the right kids in the building or so on and so forth.
12:04
Like like especially even just like a job security standpoint,
12:07
like you could be the best at what you do and get fired that
12:09
year because, you know, some unfortunate situation that
12:12
happened with an athlete, right? It's just completely out of your
12:14
control versus now it's like it is all on me.
12:17
And like, that's awesome because like you said, what I put into
12:20
it, I get out of it. But it's also the scary part
12:22
because if this thing fails, you know, there's no one to turn
12:25
around and kind of point the finger at like it's just me.
12:27
So in terms of like, how do I handle that balance, man?
12:30
It's tough because like when you do own your own business in like
12:33
a physical location, there's always something going to be
12:36
done. Like even on days where things
12:37
are lighter, where you know, like, I think today I only had
12:39
to train 1 athlete. I got a market, I got to check
12:42
the books, I got to clean the facility, I got to work on these
12:46
three other projects that I have laid out right now, right?
12:48
And so it's just like, it is a little bit of like a hamster
12:51
wheel, but like, I think for me at the end of the day, like
12:54
there's nobody putting pressure on me but me.
12:56
And so being able to, I think, step back and like, you know,
12:59
dictate the way that I'm going to go about that has been really
13:02
good for me and learning to balance that stuff on my own
13:04
because I don't have anyone else set my schedule.
13:06
Like I set my own schedule. And like, if I feel myself
13:09
getting burned out, that's no one's fault with me, right?
13:11
And so like, the nice thing about it is you don't have these
13:14
external pressures of like people, you know, leaning on you
13:17
or stuff like that. And, you know, there is, right?
13:19
There's family, there's friends, there's a lot of people that
13:20
made a lot of sacrifice for me to be in this position.
13:23
But like, at the end of the day, like it's my decision what goes
13:26
into this and it's my responsibility to balance those
13:29
things out, right? So like I, I would say the
13:31
positive side of this thing is like I'm in total control now.
13:36
You know, hopefully, you know, the last 10 years, like some of
13:39
the stuff we've talked about before, I've learned my lesson
13:41
and I've, you know, learned how to manage some of those things,
13:45
especially now, like I said, because I was no one to blame by
13:48
myself. Yeah.
13:49
And do you know, as you talk a lot about that ownership aspect,
13:53
do you feel like having ownership and having a better
13:56
fit purpose and passion wise? And maybe even like with that
14:00
ownership and just autonomy and stimulation of it of like like
14:04
this is I'm creating something. Even if like you had those 12 or
14:08
whatever our days compared to the same 12 hour days in a team
14:11
setting, that that ownership piece allows a less propensity
14:17
for burnout because of like the mental aspect and like the work
14:20
might be the same, but because of how you're mentally
14:24
perceiving it like you're in a better spot.
14:26
Does that make sense? No, absolutely, man.
14:28
And yes, absolutely, man. Like that was my that was my
14:31
tough day. I think in the team setting,
14:32
man, I was just like, and to be honest, I could probably go back
14:36
to when I was even just like a kid.
14:37
Like, I just don't like being told what to do, right.
14:40
I've never been that way. I've never been one to take
14:42
orders. Well, and I'm not saying that's
14:44
a good thing. This is kind of the way that
14:45
I've always been. Yeah.
14:46
Now that it's I'm the one choosing what I pour into man.
14:49
Even if it's the same thing that I would have had to do in the
14:52
team setting, cleaning the facility.
14:54
I'm not just cleaning the facility, I'm cleaning my
14:56
facility. And it's my room.
14:58
And it's, you know, this is my space.
15:00
And like, yeah, there's something fulfilling about that,
15:02
man. It's just, I don't know what it
15:04
is, but just like being able to pour into what you want to pour
15:07
into and create what you want to create.
15:08
Like even like, you know, it's just something about it that
15:12
just gives me so much more fulfillment than it would be
15:14
when I was doing those same activities when someone else was
15:18
telling me to do it. You know if that's right or
15:19
wrong, but yeah, that's kind of the past.
15:22
It's worked out for me anyways. Yeah, No, I, I definitely agree
15:26
with that for myself. So let's rewind.
15:28
Let's go back to when you're in college and let's say at that
15:33
time, you know you're going to open a business.
15:36
At that time in college, how would you alter your path if you
15:40
would, knowing that you're going to open a business?
15:42
Yeah, ma'am. So it's tough.
15:44
So one, I would have started way earlier just in terms of like
15:47
developing a business, just a basic understanding of business
15:51
and the knowledge. And like, I would have started
15:53
putting myself out there way earlier, right?
15:55
Like I started to create a little bit of AI.
15:57
Don't want to say brand because I feel like an asshole when I
16:00
say brand, but I guess it is. Yeah.
16:02
I didn't start doing any of that stuff until I got to Liberty and
16:05
my boss kind of made me do it. Yeah.
16:07
I worked for a guy by the name of Henry Barreiro, who was one
16:10
of the coolest people on the planet.
16:11
Somebody has done a lot for me. But like, I had worked in the
16:13
SEC, had worked in the ACC, intern in the NFL.
16:17
I'd interned with some NHL team and it was just like I didn't, I
16:21
hadn't really done any of those things, right?
16:23
Like I never shared myself. Nobody really knew who I was.
16:25
I thought it was lame looking back, man, like, gosh, if I
16:28
could have just started to like get myself out there more when I
16:30
was in those positions, how much bigger I would be now and how
16:33
much like more of an audience I would have had.
16:36
I think that would have been, you know, a game changer.
16:38
One of those things I tell a lot of kids, like whatever people
16:40
choose to do with their work is up to them, man.
16:42
Just getting putting yourself out there and like creating that
16:45
brand. I think it's just so important
16:47
for setting yourself up for that business piece down the road.
16:50
And then in terms of like what I would have done differently,
16:52
it's tough to say, man, just because I wouldn't be able to do
16:56
what I do now had I not been in the team setting and made all
17:00
those sacrifices and developed the skill set that I have now,
17:03
right? I just like, I don't imagine,
17:06
and maybe it would, I don't know, it's, you know, it's
17:08
hearsay at this point. But like, I don't think I could
17:11
have ever gone like a different route into like the private
17:14
setting and acquired the skill set that I have now just because
17:17
I wouldn't have been able to be exposed to the people that I
17:19
were now. And it's cliche, but it's one of
17:21
those things like I do think things happen for a reason.
17:24
And, you know, you have these periods in your life, these
17:26
exposures to people and experiences and educational
17:29
opportunities that present themselves to you that kind of
17:32
make you who you are. And had I not gone into the team
17:34
setting and made those sacrifices, I don't think I
17:37
would be in the position to do what I do now.
17:39
So I guess in the roundabout way, what I would have changed,
17:43
I would have, you know, put myself out there a little bit
17:45
more. But in terms of the experience,
17:47
man, like, I don't know that I would have changed a whole lot.
17:49
You know, maybe I would have went back and got my DPT, my
17:52
physical therapy, just because it's, it's definitely a
17:56
challenge being a performance coach in the rehab world at
17:58
times. But you know, I also don't
18:01
really want anything to do with that either.
18:02
You know all that to say, I guess it's all kind of worked
18:04
out. Yeah, no, that's cool.
18:06
As you talk about putting yourself out there and, and,
18:08
and, you know, kind of constructing a brand
18:11
practically, what would you tell people, you know, that maybe are
18:15
still in the team setting and, and maybe they're looking to
18:19
step outside of that or maybe just, you know, trying to bring
18:22
in another side of income or just to, you know, start
18:25
creating opportunity. Like practically what steps
18:28
should they take to do that? I know there's, there's always
18:30
like a hesitancy, like you're saying, like you don't want to
18:32
say the word brand, like brand of like, like something it's
18:35
like all about me or like selling out or whatever.
18:37
But like, how do we do it? Like in a positive way, that's,
18:40
that's helpful for our careers and our lives and our, you know,
18:44
livelihood, but also like, in a way we feel good doing it.
18:49
Yeah, So I, I think one thing, man, they're like our field
18:51
really struggles with is like there's, there's almost this
18:54
like inherent concept of like when you get into this field,
18:56
like you should be ashamed for not wanting to make money, which
19:00
is one of those things that's always just kind of like drove
19:02
me crazy. It's just like I, I've never
19:04
understood that, like why you're, it's like a badge of
19:07
honor and like not want to, you know, make income like, because
19:11
at the end of the day, like, you know, to me, it's a means to an
19:13
end. And I love what I do and I love
19:15
the coaching field and I love all these things.
19:16
But like, at the end of the day, man, I think about like what I
19:18
want for my life. Like I want to have kids, I want
19:20
to get married, I want to be able to afford these things.
19:23
I want to have a lifestyle that fits what I want to do with my
19:26
life. And so like, I think there is
19:27
like an inherent pressure to like not do those things, but
19:30
man, I just think like, and this is like goes back to like part
19:33
of my decision. Step away, man.
19:34
Like life is way too short or to worry about what other people
19:37
think about you in regards of like doing some of those things.
19:40
Like, and I think as long as you, you're genuine about what
19:43
you do and you're authentic and you do things that you like and
19:48
enjoy and genuinely believe in, I don't think there's any reason
19:51
not to, right? And so if you're going to work
19:53
in the performance field and like outside, unless you know,
19:56
you have a good in at a higher level school and a great set of
19:59
job security, which the jobs are very few are far in between.
20:02
Like, I think you have to start doing some of that stuff, ma'am,
20:05
and. I think there's different
20:06
avenues to go about it, right? Like I don't think everybody
20:08
needs to have a social media, you know, extensively social
20:12
media accounts or stuff like that, but just networking and
20:15
building relationships. And I think building a niche is
20:18
probably the one thing that I wish I would have started
20:20
sooner. I guess if I could go back.
20:22
Like, you know, it's one of the things that I think I talked to
20:24
a lot of these people that have gone on to be successful leaving
20:27
the team setting and starting their own business and doing
20:29
these things is like continuing to niche down more and more,
20:33
right? And like for me, that was
20:34
basically the return to play piece of like, right?
20:36
Like I know I'm a performance coach by trade, but for me, like
20:40
I know I want to be in the return to play setting.
20:43
Like that's what gets me up in the morning.
20:44
That's what drives my passion. So being able to lean into that
20:47
and create somewhat of a brand off of that as I think it's been
20:50
huge for me. The quote I heard the other day
20:52
was like, you become the solution to somebody's problem
20:54
way before they ever actually encounter that problem.
20:56
And now I'm at that point in my career because I was able to do
20:59
some of those things like, you know, hamstrings, for example,
21:02
like I wrote an article a couple years ago that did really,
21:04
really well online and I just, you know, gained quite a bit of
21:07
a following for it. And then not until just the last
21:09
couple months, man, when I think when people start to see me as
21:12
maybe a little bit more of a business entity and it's like,
21:15
oh, this is actually the something that this guy does
21:17
full time now. I get a lot of people reaching
21:21
out to me about that stuff, man. And it's really, really cool
21:24
being able to like, you know, you know, I do like online rehab
21:27
and stuff like that, man. Like I've been able to rehab
21:29
athletes in like 9 different States and two countries outside
21:32
of the US just in the last couple months, man.
21:35
It's just like, that's awesome. If you would have asked me that
21:36
like a couple months ago, if I would have been able to do that,
21:38
man, I'd be like, no, there's no way, right?
21:41
Like nobody's cares about like what I have to say about these
21:43
things. But you know, because I was able
21:45
to put myself out there and do those things and start to
21:48
develop a niche, man. I think like I'm in a position
21:50
where I'm just starting to kind of reap those rewards and now
21:53
it's at a point where it's like, OK, like how can it continue to
21:56
build on this and continue to niche down more?
21:58
Yeah. And it's definitely cool like as
22:00
you put yourself out there or just create different
22:02
connections through different things you're doing.
22:04
I think especially that see in business now where you know,
22:07
you're doing all these different things to see the sometimes
22:10
delayed, sometimes more immediate, but just the
22:12
different compounding results from it.
22:15
Like you're saying that kind of results from that for you and
22:17
just how they just continue to build and sometimes from some
22:20
little connection or something you did just all of a sudden
22:22
down the line at least this opportunity now that's super
22:25
cool. You know, as you talk about
22:26
niching down for maybe like younger coaches, how, how should
22:30
they be thinking about when they should be ready to do that or,
22:33
or how to figure out what to do? Because there's also the aspect
22:36
of like, OK, just just like with athletes, you know, a little
22:39
level of not just like specializing in sport too early
22:42
and like having this more diverse background.
22:45
And I think somewhere for coaches like having a little
22:47
more diverse background, different sports, different
22:49
areas, and then kind of finding from that experience where we
22:53
can go into so how, how, how should they know when they're
22:57
ready to do that and not jump in the gun too early.
22:59
Yeah, man. So what I would say is this, I
23:00
have a true believer in, in the performance realm, you need to
23:04
be a better generalist before you can be a specialist, right?
23:07
You like, you need to have a, a high level understanding of all
23:11
of the major aspects of performance before I think you
23:14
can start to delve into some of those things.
23:16
And I'm not saying you need to be an expert in every single
23:18
field, right? But you need to have an
23:19
understanding of strength, speed, conditioning, nutrition,
23:23
psychology, sporting demands and those things like that.
23:26
And I think those things just come with experience, right?
23:28
Like you can't force those things.
23:30
It takes time, right? But then I think you'll get to a
23:32
point where you'll start to identify what it is that gets
23:35
you excited and what wakes you up in the morning.
23:38
And then I think once you reach that point, that's when you know
23:42
that that's what you should be leaning into, right?
23:44
Like, let's say this, for example, like strength does
23:47
nothing for me, right? And like, I'm a big believer.
23:49
I love strength training. It's what got me into the field.
23:52
I, you know, I think it's the foundation of a lot of athletic
23:55
qualities, but like, I could not like be more bored talking about
23:59
like sets and reps, like a dynamic effort versus Max effort
24:02
and stuff like that. It just doesn't do it for me,
24:04
right? Like extremely, extremely simple
24:06
stuff. But you start talking to me
24:08
about like return to play timelines, return to runs, like
24:10
Sprint mechanics, different injuries and cohorts and methods
24:14
and stuff like that. Like that's what gets me going
24:16
and that's what wakes me up in the morning.
24:17
And it's just like, I know for me, like I'm going to be really,
24:20
really good at that just because of how passionate I am about
24:23
that. And I think as a coach,
24:25
especially as a young coach, figuring out what it is that
24:28
that is for you, right? Like once you are able to
24:30
identify that, man, like lean into that because like, that's
24:34
ultimately what's going to separate you.
24:35
Like, you can't fake being passionate about something.
24:38
You can't fake being an expert in something because like, it
24:40
takes work, man. Like, I've spent the last, you
24:43
know, I'm hosting A hamstring workshop in two weeks and it's
24:45
like I've spent the last two months reading every hamstring
24:49
article in the world that I can find.
24:51
And it is, you know, unbelievably boring at times
24:53
reading all these like articles somewhere aren't even like
24:56
written in English translated over on like Google.
24:59
But because of that and because like, I do have a passion for a
25:03
man, like am able to, you know, lean into that skill set and
25:06
continue to develop that. All that to say, man, is I
25:08
think, you know, like I forget what the quote is exactly, but
25:11
find what you're passionate about and let it kill you.
25:13
Just whatever it is, find that and lean into it.
25:15
Yeah, It's like, like you're saying like that passion, if we
25:18
don't have that, like we're not going to be able to spend the
25:21
time to develop and become super good in that area.
25:25
And I think also like, like you're saying with like strength
25:27
training, like that's not what gets you going.
25:29
Like I feel like if, if we're trying to deliver something to
25:32
our athletes and, and we don't have passion about it and it's,
25:36
it's really bland for us, like that's going to come out and the
25:39
athletes are kind of going to feel the same way I feel like.
25:42
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
25:43
So as we talked about your niche, let's let's get into that
25:48
a little bit with with the turn to play and rehab.
25:50
One question I have for you. So as we think about someone
25:54
going through return to play process and let's talk about
25:59
situations where they don't go to according plan and, and they
26:03
either get delayed or there's, you know, there's different ups
26:05
and downs or, you know, it's just not going well.
26:08
What do you feel are the most common factors that lead to
26:12
rehabs going poorly? Yeah.
26:14
So I think there's a lot. There's I think at the start, I
26:18
think nailing the diagnosis and creating reasonable expectations
26:23
about how long these things are going to take is very, very
26:26
important. You know, for example, I'm going
26:28
to like I said, I'm on a huge hamstring kick right now.
26:30
So it's like you could have a grade 2 hamstring.
26:33
And I think, you know, some trainers would say like, oh,
26:35
that's three weeks out and they'll be good to go.
26:37
It's like, well, if it's in the muscle belly, yeah.
26:39
But if it's in the tendon, we're talking about 6 plus weeks,
26:42
right? And then some ass, some, you
26:44
know, people on that side of things aren't willing to look
26:46
deep enough to identify which one of those things that is.
26:49
And then they try to rush them back in three weeks and things
26:52
don't go bad. Well, it's like, it's, it's not
26:54
what you did that was necessarily it's just how you
26:56
did it and like the route that you went to get there, right?
27:00
And so I think like one, creating reasonable expectations
27:02
and then two, I would say creating a plan, right?
27:06
And I think like strength coaches, I think usually do a
27:08
pretty good job of this of like, you know, they have their macro,
27:11
their annual plan, you know, their macro cycle, their micro
27:14
cycle or mesocycle, the micro cycle, so on and so forth,
27:17
right? And like the reality is you
27:19
don't really just see that in rehab.
27:20
I mean, that's more like, I don't blame, you know, trainers
27:23
or physical therapists or doctors, just it's just not what
27:26
they're really taught, right? It's an educational issue more
27:29
than anything. And when you don't have a plan,
27:31
like the old adages, if you fail to play and you plan to fail, it
27:34
leaves things up for a lot of Gray area, right?
27:37
And when you have all these different stakeholders involved
27:39
in this return to play process, that's the last thing that you
27:42
can have is like some people doing this, some people doing
27:45
this, but not everybody's on the same page.
27:48
And ultimately you're just setting the athlete up for
27:49
failure. So I think creating like a
27:51
clear, a clear guideline of like how you're going to go about
27:54
this thing and how you're going to go go about disassociating
27:56
these roles amongst the stakeholders within that
27:59
process, I think is incredibly valuable and probably the first
28:02
thing I see when I see mistakes made, right.
28:05
I can't tell you how many times when I was working in the team
28:07
setting, I would have a kid on a Monday, we'll say like a knee
28:11
injury, right? And I have him in the weight
28:13
room and you know, we're hammering his right quad and
28:15
hamstring and all these different things.
28:17
And then I talked to the trainers.
28:19
I'm like, OK, let's let's have a lower day tomorrow in the
28:21
training room with you guys. And then I walk in there and
28:23
he's getting BFR leg press to failure, right?
28:27
It's just like, what are we doing here?
28:29
We're just burning the candle at both ends.
28:31
I think just creating an environment where everybody's on
28:33
the same page and has very clear designated roles within the
28:37
process. To me, like that's the biggest
28:39
thing. And you can at least do that and
28:40
get on the same page. You got a shot, but I don't care
28:43
like how good you are. Like if everybody's doing their
28:45
own thing and it's not all driving the ship in the same
28:48
direction, nothing else really matters.
28:50
And do you feel like, as you talked about like, you know,
28:53
kind of being in the minority as a performance coach in that
28:55
return to play sector for yourself, does that type of
28:59
thinking set you apart and kind of make what you do stand out
29:03
differently to athletes? I guess what do you mean by Q
29:06
slap right on that. Well, like, like you're saying
29:08
like, you know, as a performance because you know, you, like you
29:10
said any of your DPT, right, compared to a lot of other
29:13
people doing rehab, you have a you've had a different
29:15
background, kind of a different way of thinking about it with
29:18
like these long term plans. Like does the way you deliver
29:21
that, is that part of how you feel like you stand out and now
29:23
you like even your business stand out from approaching rehab
29:28
like that? Yeah, absolutely, man.
29:29
It's one of those things, it's sad.
29:31
And again, it's, I don't want to like just shit on the sports
29:35
medicine community because it's easy.
29:37
I'm sure they could all do the same thing about the street
29:39
conditioning community. Like we all have our own issues,
29:41
but again, they're just not really taught rehab.
29:43
And so when you walk in a lot of these rooms, man, like you see
29:46
the same things. Like you walk into just like any
29:48
training room in the country in the college environment, you're
29:50
going to see the same piece of paper.
29:51
It's going to be an excel sheet with exercise, exercise,
29:55
exercise date, date, date, date. And that's just a check box or
29:58
like a number of like 3 by 10, three by ten, 3 by 10, three by
30:02
ten. It's just all those like super
30:03
low intensity stuff and there's no real progression or
30:06
regressions or like plan in place, right?
30:09
And so I think like, yeah, like when you work with an athlete
30:11
and you actually like sit it down and you put it in front of
30:14
them and you lay out this road map to return of like how you're
30:17
going to go about this thing, what the objectives and methods
30:20
are for each phase and what are the exit criteria to make sure
30:22
that you're progressing in the right direction and just having
30:25
a plan, right? I think it's just so valuable
30:28
just to give them a vision and understanding of what it is and
30:31
what this process is going to look like.
30:32
Because I think for athletes, it's so hard.
30:34
Like that's a whole other topic of like getting into the
30:36
psychology piece of injury and all these things where it's just
30:38
like when you're injured, the hardest part is just not
30:41
knowing. You just don't know.
30:43
And they're like when you don't know, that creates anxiety.
30:46
This anxiety builds upon itself. And just like all these worries
30:49
and all these things that lead to kinesiophobia and increased
30:54
pain and neural inhibitions and all these things that make it
30:57
worse and worse. But when you include them in
30:58
that process and you can just show them just the fact that you
31:01
have a plan in place and get them involved, right?
31:05
Like that's a whole another issue of just like, I can't tell
31:08
you how many times I've had an athlete coming to me and it's
31:10
just like they don't like they don't even know what the surgery
31:13
it was that they went into, right?
31:15
They just know that they got their knee done right, but no
31:17
one actually took the time to just sit them down and say like,
31:19
hey, this is actually what this means.
31:21
This is what they're going to reattach here.
31:24
This is where they're going to get that from.
31:26
This is how long it takes for a hamstring graft to actually
31:28
solidify itself. This is why we have to be a
31:30
little bit careful. This is when we can start to
31:32
introduce forward translation of the knee, right?
31:35
And just all these like little, little things.
31:36
And it may seem minute, but just the fact that you're getting
31:39
them on the same page as you and explaining this plan to them, I
31:43
think it's just paramount. And for me, it's just one of
31:45
those things, man, like as a field we've got to start to work
31:48
closer towards. Because right now, man, like the
31:50
floor of work, I think in the sports medicine community is way
31:54
too low. Just one of those things I think
31:57
of an entire field like we got to do better.
32:00
Because the stories that I continue to hear every day from
32:02
like even high level organizations, man, Like it's,
32:05
it's crazy and it's sad, man. Because you see way too often
32:08
these, you know, relatively minor injuries just derail a
32:12
kids career. Yeah.
32:14
And you know, I think that part you talk about of the, of the
32:17
psychological part with athletes that that's really interesting.
32:20
You talk about the, the plan part, because I know I can even
32:23
think back when I was an athlete, it's like, you know,
32:24
maybe I had something, it's like bothering me.
32:26
And it's like as soon as like there's, I remember even times
32:29
it's something minus like as soon as I went to see somebody
32:32
and they like told me what it was and like what everything was
32:35
is like, like, it feels better now.
32:37
Like just just part of that knowing how do you see that with
32:40
long term rehab? You know what, like an ACL or
32:43
something and throughout different stages of that and
32:46
really keeping them in the loop of of all those stages and where
32:50
they're at and how they're progressing, how that impacts it
32:53
compared to just very vague, like you're gonna do these
32:56
different things and not really part of the process.
32:59
Yeah. So for me, it's just like laying
33:01
it out in front of them in terms of what that's gonna look like,
33:03
right? And setting the expectations
33:05
early on, like the return, like I'll say like the return to run
33:10
process, right? Like when an athlete tears our
33:12
ACL, the first thing they're going to ask you is like, well,
33:14
when can I run again, right? It's just like, well, that's
33:16
just not how this works. That's not how it should work
33:18
anyways, right? You still see some people out
33:20
there using like timeline based criteria where it's just like 04
33:24
months, you can run. Cool.
33:25
It's like, well, that doesn't really acknowledge how this
33:28
individual is going to respond to treatment.
33:29
So I think creating a criterion based system and walking them
33:33
through a place by place. So probably me just roll to the
33:35
ACL part quick, right? Like you got phase zero, that's
33:38
pre op. We're going to be doing our
33:39
strengthening, we're going to get a plan laid out that
33:42
everyone's on the same page and the exit criteria for that's
33:45
going to be surgery. Boom, we're out phase one,
33:48
allowing time for biological healing, start to address neural
33:50
inhibition, start to address mobility, right?
33:53
Exit criteria for that is just basically, can you walk when you
33:57
perform a unloaded body weight squat?
34:00
Has the post surgical swelling gone down?
34:02
Cool, right. Phase two, now we're focusing on
34:04
strength, hammering, movement patterns, all these different
34:07
things and so on and so forth all the way to phase five of
34:10
just like, hey, this is what we're doing in this phase, this
34:12
is our expectations. These are what you need to focus
34:15
on and these are the things you need to do in order to move on
34:18
to the next phase. And so just by putting them,
34:21
putting that in front of them and like laying out an actual
34:23
criteria and getting them involved in that process and
34:26
giving them like tangible goals, right?
34:29
I think is very, very important. Because like one of the worst
34:32
things I think I see people do is they basically just say like,
34:35
all right, at 8 months, we're going to throw this whole
34:37
testing battery at you. And if you don't pass, you got
34:40
to go back to rehab. And if you do pass, you get to
34:43
go on to your sport and you're full clear and you're full to
34:45
go. And it's just like, dude,
34:47
there's so much more in between there like so that's why I think
34:50
it's so important to build these systems of checks and balances
34:53
into the rehab process so it doesn't become this like pass or
34:57
fail test at 8 months. That's going to either set the
35:00
athlete back or allow them to progress forward and more likely
35:03
and not way too soon. I think just like by creating a
35:06
system. And again, like I always tell
35:08
people, man, if I could just like tattoo system on my head, I
35:10
would like system, system, systems.
35:13
Like, you know, once you have that system in place, it's so
35:16
much easier to build upon it. But if you don't have like a
35:19
foundation of anything and like it can be so simple, it could be
35:22
the simplest thing in the world. But if you don't have something,
35:26
it's really, really hard to build upon it and like progress
35:29
and regress and do all these things to it, right?
35:31
And like when you do have that system, you can have an
35:33
understanding of like each individual component of that
35:36
system, but then also more importantly, how each of those
35:39
components fit back into the system and work together, right?
35:43
And so I just think like, again, taking the time to create those
35:47
things and be intentional with those things and how you would
35:50
actually go about communicating that to athletes is so much more
35:53
of an art than it is, I guess, the science piece.
35:57
Yeah. And you know, as you talk about
35:59
that system and not just also not just like, you know, and the
36:03
end of eight months testing like we're either good or we're not.
36:06
Like when you have that system so finely broken down into
36:11
different pieces and, and you completely understand and grasp
36:14
every area of it, like, and you're constantly monitoring
36:17
along the way, that allows you then to know when something is
36:21
not where, where it's supposed to be, right?
36:22
And then you can make a decision in that moment rather than maybe
36:25
that happened at month 5. You get to month 8, you know,
36:28
you fail and it's like, OK, where did, where did we go
36:31
wrong? Or like, where do we need to go
36:32
back to that we, that we missed something?
36:34
And you know, I think about that with like actual performance
36:36
too. It's like, I don't want to, I
36:38
don't want to test the beginning of the summer and then test at
36:40
the end of the summer and like hope we got better.
36:42
And, you know, maybe we did, maybe we didn't.
36:44
It's like I'm going to integrate testing and stuff within our
36:48
training every week so that like we know, are we going in the
36:51
right direction? And if we're not like we can
36:54
address it right in the moment and make changes and constantly
36:57
know are we, are we going where we want to go?
36:59
And I think that also, you know, as you're talking about giving
37:02
like clear goals and like clear tasks to the athlete within
37:05
certain phases, like athletes, athletes like part of them is
37:08
like executing what they're told to do, like in executing what
37:12
their role is. And I think the more we can let
37:15
them feel like like an athlete and feel like, OK, I've got this
37:18
mission, I've got to go accomplished it, work hard on it
37:21
and like dominate it. Like the more that they they
37:23
feel like they're getting back to where they want to be rather
37:27
than just stuck as like this Guinea pig stuck in rehab being
37:30
watched all the time type of thing.
37:31
Yeah, no, absolutely, man. That's one of the first things I
37:34
think you got to do is like, I mean, training and rehab are
37:38
really the same thing, just different ends of the spectrum,
37:40
right? Like there's a lot of blurred
37:42
lines there, right? That's one of the biggest
37:44
mistakes I see made in the sports medicine community and
37:49
it's tough. Again, I don't want to shoot on
37:50
them, but just the idea of just like the sooner I can get the
37:53
athlete back into the mindset of like a performance driven
37:57
process, the better off this thing is going to go.
38:00
Because the more time they spend in the training room, the more
38:03
time they're isolated from their team, the more time that they
38:06
have to, you know, not feel like an athlete, the worse this thing
38:10
is going to be. So even if it's just something
38:12
man, of like, hey, doing their rehab in the training room or
38:15
I'm sorry, in the weight room and putting them in a
38:17
performance environment, like that's such a small little
38:20
victory that I think adds up over time.
38:22
Like you want to talk about like compounding interest, man, don't
38:25
take an athlete through an ACL rehab and just watch these
38:27
things. Like your ability to just stack
38:29
little wins like that over an extended period of time.
38:32
Dude, it's it's amazing. Like I can't tell you now.
38:35
And like, I've been super fortunate just in the sense of
38:37
like, I've literally gotten to work with athletes now with like
38:39
if I have them for long enough, I can make them a better athlete
38:43
by the time they get back to their sport than when they even
38:46
before they tore their ACL. And it's just only based off the
38:49
fact of like, this is the only time in their career where I'm
38:52
going to get to work with them without having to compete with
38:54
the stressors of their sport. And if I can just spend 7 to 8
38:58
months just stacking small victories, man.
39:00
Like it's crazy what that does, not just for the physical piece,
39:02
man, but the psychological piece.
39:04
I've seen kids come out of these things, man, like a completely
39:07
different person. And that to me is like the most
39:09
rewarding part of just like being able to see the
39:11
psychological aspect of that and like watch them literally work
39:15
themselves to that point, right? And like, it's cool for me
39:20
because like, I get to be there to kind of help them, guide them
39:22
through that process. But ultimately, man, it's just
39:24
these kids showing up every single day and just putting in
39:26
the work for the extended period of time, man.
39:28
It's amazing what it'll do for them.
39:30
No, no, this, this, that was great.
39:33
And I think it's I think it's apparent why, why you have niche
39:36
down into this this part because you're really good and really
39:39
smart at it. Now the last thing I, I got 3,
39:42
three questions here to kind of end the podcast on.
39:44
And the first one for you is like when, when you realize that
39:48
there is some skill gap or some deficiency, how do you close
39:52
that gap for yourself? Extrapolate that on a little bit
39:54
more for me talking about like in the business sense or
39:56
everything. Anything, let's say in business
39:59
now you're learning that on new skills and it's like, OK, I need
40:02
to level up this skill. Yeah.
40:03
How do you approach that that skill acquisition process for
40:06
yourself? Yeah.
40:07
So it's, it's funny, Sam, because this is definitely one
40:09
of those things that's changed over the years for me.
40:11
And it's different in business, which is again, is a challenge
40:13
for me because like performance and rehab, like that stuff's
40:16
easy for me just because like the way that I learn is I lock
40:19
myself in a room, I grab a paper and I just read, man.
40:22
I just like, I draw and I get on the whiteboard and I do all
40:25
these things. And like, that's always worked
40:26
really, really well for me. It's not that simple in
40:29
business. And so for me, when I feel like,
40:32
you know, learn these skills, I got to get out of my comfort
40:34
zone a little bit and I got to go reach out to somebody that I
40:36
know has done at a high level. And thankfully I built a
40:39
community and some relationships where I've been able to, you
40:42
know, work with some people that have been able to help me kind
40:44
of through that process and talk to me about what those things
40:48
are. But then I think it's it comes
40:49
back to me and it's like, OK, actually taking those things,
40:52
actually applying it and then figuring out what it is that
40:55
does and doesn't work for my environment.
40:57
Right? I would say like, that's the
40:58
biggest thing is just like, because I can't tell you how
41:00
many times, like I've listened to business podcasts, I'm, you
41:03
know, followed all the tweets and all these different things
41:05
and all these different even influencers out there.
41:07
But it's just like a lot of that's so like hearsay and like
41:10
every situation is different, every environment is different,
41:12
every business is different. But until you actually take it
41:15
and try it and see what works and doesn't work, you don't
41:18
really know, right? And so I'd like the biggest
41:20
thing for me is just my ability to like, I guess like one of the
41:23
best things for me in this process so far was just the
41:25
ability to fail fast and be able to take in information and take
41:28
advice from people that have done it before at a high level,
41:31
apply it to my situation and see what works.
41:33
It doesn't work. That's for me how I've been able
41:35
to, I think, close this gap a little bit of things that I'm
41:37
not as accustomed to. Nice.
41:39
Yeah. Like I think in sport, but also
41:40
definitely in business, if you if you feel like you've got to
41:42
have the perfect plan, like the perfect knowledge of everything
41:45
before you actually act, you're you're definitely going to be
41:47
waiting way too long. You kind of you kind of you got
41:50
it. You got to do it and and figure
41:52
it out and continue to adjust over and over and over.
41:54
Next question. So what have I not asked you
41:57
about? What have we not talked about
41:58
today that's really important that we talk about?
42:01
What have we not talked about today that is really important?
42:05
What have we not talked about? Man, we've we've covered quite a
42:07
bit today. This is a tough one.
42:09
Put me on the spot here, John. One of the things that we have
42:16
not talked about today, I mean, man, I would say for me, man,
42:19
and this is just like kind of the biggest thing, and this goes
42:21
back to a little bit more the theme of the podcast.
42:23
But like, I think your ability to endure the unknown, I think
42:30
is so incredibly valuable in terms of creating a successful
42:34
product, right? I'm still an appointment.
42:36
And we're like, I'll be honest, my first month we like did not
42:40
turn a profit. And I, you know, took out quite
42:43
a bit of a loan and poured in a lot of my own money and to make
42:46
this thing happen. And it's been a really slow
42:49
start, right? Like I came to Pittsburgh, I
42:51
didn't really know anybody. I'm in an area where I
42:54
definitely don't know anybody. I stepped into this thing, like
42:56
I said, just kind of out of the whim without having much of A
42:59
plan. And, you know, thankfully we're
43:01
at a point now where things are up and running and doing all
43:03
these things, man. But there's still a lot of what
43:05
ifs. There's still a lot of chances
43:06
going into this thing. And you know, there's still a
43:09
lot of things that have to fall in place for this thing to work
43:11
out. And it's tough, man.
43:13
Like I'm terrified like every single day of like, like even
43:16
the people I work with now it's a guy.
43:17
So at what point do these people just going to stop showing up,
43:19
right? So it's just like that always
43:22
sits in the back of my ahead. But it's just a thing that I
43:25
keep hearing from all these different people that have done
43:28
it at a high level and continue to just try to lean to.
43:29
It's like if you can just continue to endure the unknown
43:33
longer than the other people in this situation, it will work
43:37
out. And it's easier said than done
43:38
for sure. But so far, it's off to a good
43:41
start. But it's going to be a long time
43:43
before I ever lose. I think, you know, that edge or
43:46
at least that anxiety that's kind of keeping me up at night
43:48
of just being able to like endure the fact that like, it
43:51
will work out. Yeah.
43:53
Because yeah, it's it's definitely easier said than
43:55
done. Yeah, no, I, I feel like though
43:57
that that constant kind of voice in the back of your head, like
44:02
it's hard, but it's also kind of thing that drives you.
44:05
It'd be great and and continue to develop and push ahead kind
44:08
of what you're doing, yeah. Absolutely, man.
44:10
All right, last question, like you know, you kind of mentioned
44:12
right the along the lines of right, this the theme of
44:15
strength in numbers who, who have been three of the most
44:19
impactful people in your career or three of the most impactful
44:23
just situations and and situations for your career to be
44:26
kind of where you are today. Yeah, man.
44:28
So I would say a guy by the name of Anthony Paroli, an interim
44:32
kind of all around the country early on in my career.
44:37
And I remember I got into this point where like I had two, I
44:40
really had like one decision. I was either going to, I was
44:43
headed back home from the University of Miami to go intern
44:47
or just to go home. And I just didn't really know
44:49
what to do. Well, I had an opportunity to go
44:51
GA at my alma mater and I know I didn't want to do it right.
44:55
So I was like, I was driving up from Miami.
44:58
I was, I hit Atlanta and I just like had this like gut feeling
45:02
of like, dude, like this is just not the move right now.
45:04
It's like I spent five years there.
45:06
Like going back, there's not going to help me get to where I
45:08
want to get to. And so I just, I called this guy
45:11
and it just so happened that he was getting a job at Mississippi
45:13
State at the time and he's like, hey, we need interns there right
45:16
now. You want to come?
45:18
And so I was like, cool, let's do it.
45:19
So I took a left at Atlanta, went to Starkville, Ms. and
45:23
just, yeah, literally on a whim, had no idea what's going on.
45:26
I had no idea I was going in turn 4.
45:28
But all I'd say is I went and got to work for a guy by the
45:31
name Anthony Parolee, who basically got me my first job in
45:34
the field. And it was the first person that
45:36
ever went out of his way to make sure that I got a job in the
45:40
field. And if it wouldn't be for him, I
45:42
would be selling insurance in Sioux Falls, SD right now,
45:45
hitting myself, right. So that was a huge one man from
45:48
there, I would say Henry Barrera.
45:52
I was because we, you know, I'd gotten to Mississippi State.
45:55
We got let go on the football side, covet hits.
45:58
My position got cleared out and well, let's backtrack a little
46:01
bit. I would say then it was probably
46:03
buddy Morris because after we had gotten cleared out of
46:05
Mississippi State, I went home for a little bit.
46:07
And this is right in the middle of COVID and nobody was hiring.
46:09
The every school was on a hiring freeze.
46:12
Nobody was leaving their jobs naturally, because there was
46:15
just so much unknown out there. And like, I couldn't beg
46:18
somebody to call me back, right? Like I was sending my resume, we
46:20
made at every school in the country, every professional
46:22
team, all these different places and just like nothing, right?
46:25
And then thankfully because of my connections that I've made
46:27
previously, Buddy Morris gave me an opportunity to come out to
46:30
the Arizona Cardinals to intern for him.
46:32
And that was just like the best experience of my life.
46:34
One, just because it was a great opportunity, but two, Buddy was
46:39
Anthony's mentor. And so I basically got into like
46:42
learn from this, like kind of this tree of people and these
46:45
tree of coaches of like how they do things and how he did these
46:49
things and how he got to where he did.
46:51
And just gave me an opportunity that like, had I not gotten
46:54
again, I probably would have gotten out of the field at that
46:56
point, right? And then from there, when I
46:59
finished up, I went home again for a little bit longer.
47:02
And that's when, you know, everybody was still kind of on a
47:06
hiring freeze. And I know I want something new.
47:08
And then Henry Berger gave me an opportunity to come out there to
47:10
Liberty and kind of that was really the first point where I
47:13
really started to lean into the return to play stuff.
47:16
I'd been around it a bunch before and done a lot of it
47:19
before, but I like a very low, low level, right?
47:24
That was the first place where I went where I actually had some
47:25
autonomy to do what I want to do and explore and create and, you
47:29
know, do some things I'd never had the opportunity to do
47:31
before. Just like for the first time in
47:33
my career, I really felt like I had somebody that believed in
47:36
me, that really made me believe in myself and really challenged
47:39
me to put myself out there, be more creative, dig into what
47:43
drove me and my passions. And so, like, had it not been
47:46
for those three people, man, there's no way that I would be
47:49
in this field still. And I love hearing that
47:52
background and just the way those people, people went out of
47:55
the way to help you. And I know Henry, Henry Henry's
47:57
awesome. So that man, that's cool to
47:59
hear. So where can people find more?
48:01
And you mentioned an article, you've mentioned social media,
48:03
like where can people find more of what you're doing if you
48:06
know? I know you're doing a lot of
48:07
stuff with both in person, online with athletes, but are
48:10
you doing anything with coaches for education or anything like
48:14
that? Yeah.
48:14
So I would say you can find me on all social medias.
48:18
I'm pretty active on just about everything.
48:20
Rebuild under score PR or rebuild under score P under
48:23
score R very active on there. Honestly, it's probably easier
48:26
to get a hold of me on Instagram and it's by text message or
48:29
e-mail, which is like fortunate. But yeah, so very active on all
48:32
those things. And then in terms of coaches and
48:35
stuff like that, I do do consultations.
48:37
I know it's kind of a buzzword in the field of right now, like
48:39
every retired strength coach is also a consultant.
48:42
I have been really fortunate I've been able to consult in a
48:44
lot of return to play cases. So helping out coaches that way
48:47
has been really, really cool. But then later on down the road
48:51
here, we have some cool continuing education
48:54
opportunities out there for coaches that I'm really, really
48:56
excited about. But in terms of stuff do right
48:58
now, I think I've got like 14 podcasts out there right now,
49:02
got a few articles right now. And then hopefully within the
49:04
calendar year we'll have a book out there soon.
49:06
But we'll, we'll talk a little bit more about that later on
49:10
down the road. Yeah, nice.
49:11
Yeah, no, I know for everyone this man if y'all have, you
49:15
know, a situation trying to play, reach out to Connor.
49:17
I mean, I can't think of a better option to do right.
49:21
And you know, sometimes if we are more in that general
49:23
position, it's hard to manage everything and know all the
49:26
insurance and outs of like creating that system for all
49:28
these are trying to play. So I'll be able to lean on and
49:32
and learn and and and, you know, walk that path with somebody
49:35
that's like fully into that area.
49:37
I think it's so valuable and just helps that process so much.
49:40
So reach out to Connor. OK, but but I appreciate you
49:43
being on here that this is awesome stuff.
49:45
Appreciate you, Connor. Yeah.
49:46
Thanks, John. Good time as always.