Latest / The Scene Projects / Building Champions with Coach Cody

Transcript

Building Champions with Coach Cody · The Scene Projects

• 0:02
  Welcome in to a very exciting episode of the Scene Project Sports Network.
• 0:06
  I am your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today is coach Cody Homdahl.
• 0:10
  Welcome to the show, brother.
• 0:12
  Thank you for having me.
• 0:13
  It's a pleasure.
• 0:15
  Well, we've been talking a lot, really, the this past week or so.
• 0:20
  But, for all of our listeners and our viewers out there that don't know you, why don't you
• 0:25
  tell us a little bit about, yourself and then a little bit about, you know, we'll get into the
• 0:29
  team a little bit later.
• 0:31
  Yeah.
• 0:32
  Well, I'm just a 34 year old dude.
• 0:35
  I've coached in football, from Minnesota, born and raised, and, I'm just looking to, make an
• 0:45
  impact in the state and bring arena football back to Minnesota.
• 0:51
  Took on the role as head coach and co GM as the Saint Paul bear of the Saint Paul bears, arena
• 0:57
  team.
• 0:57
  And we're our season starts in, September, but we're already rocking and rolling and, got a
• 1:05
  lot of big things happening for us.
• 1:07
  So
• 1:08
  I'm sure it's felt like an avalanche this last month or two as it kind of, you know, getting
• 1:15
  into the league, having to assemble a team.
• 1:18
  Like, let's take it through the process.
• 1:21
  Right?
• 1:21
  So when do you find out that, you know, when does the owner contact you and kinda peg you
• 1:27
  for this GM coach role?
• 1:29
  And and we'll just kinda baby step it from there.
• 1:31
  Yeah.
• 1:32
  Absolutely.
• 1:33
  So before this, I was a defensive backs coach for the Minneapolis warriors semi pro outdoor
• 1:38
  eleven man team.
• 1:39
  Shout out to coach MJ.
• 1:42
  But during the back half of our season, actually during playoffs, I got a random
• 1:49
  message on my phone, you know, asking if, I was available to coach or looking for other
• 1:56
  coaching, options, after the season, and I was, you know, intrigued.
• 2:02
  So I played along with it, and, it slowly just built momentum.
• 2:08
  And before I knew it, you know, I thought it was gonna be an assistant coach or something
• 2:12
  like that.
• 2:14
  And then I get a message, and it's just like it was the bears, Saint Paul bears Facebook.
• 2:19
  And it said, we would be interested in looking for you to be our head coach.
• 2:25
  And I got mad, I was like, alright.
• 2:28
  Game on.
• 2:30
  Thought about it, weighed out my options.
• 2:33
  The Minneapolis warriors are a dynasty type of team, you know, high caliber players, high
• 2:42
  caliber coaches.
• 2:44
  And we actually lost in the championship game this past year in overtime on a two point
• 2:52
  conversion.
• 2:53
  So my options when I was weighing it out, thinking about it, I'm like, do I stay with
• 2:58
  this team knowing what I got this close to a ring, this close to a natty berth, and or do I,
• 3:08
  you know, take on this endeavor and just grow?
• 3:11
  And, ultimately, you know, you're never gonna grow inside your comfort zone.
• 3:15
  I try to live outside of my comfort zone daily, and this is a jump.
• 3:20
  And so I took it.
• 3:21
  And, you know, everything I do, I do a %.
• 3:25
  So I knew that there'd be some roller coaster rides, some ups and downs.
• 3:31
  I knew I was gonna be tested, tempted, but, you know, God doesn't give us more than what we can
• 3:38
  handle.
• 3:38
  So I'm just trying to enjoy the moment, everything.
• 3:43
  And that's, I think, what attracted me to you.
• 3:45
  We were introduced by mutual friend and new head cheer coach, Kayla Kaye, and she was just
• 3:53
  like, oh, you gotta get coach Cody on.
• 3:55
  And I didn't know anything about you or the Saint Paul Bears at the time.
• 4:00
  But what's attracted me to not just the team, but to you specifically is that there is a
• 4:07
  warrior spirit inside of each and every individual that is a part of this organization.
• 4:14
  Kayla's been a an an a guest on the scene projects, and and her episode came out
• 4:19
  recently.
• 4:19
  It's one of the first ones that I listened back to because I remember the conversation in that
• 4:24
  day being so powerful because we both shared a a a background of, you know, maybe some jail
• 4:30
  time and some addiction issues and and but having things that pulled us out.
• 4:36
  For me and Kayla, I think music is a big part of that.
• 4:40
  But for a lot of young men and young women, sports is the way out of that.
• 4:45
  So I see so many similarities between, you know, not just my own story, but a lot of, you
• 4:51
  know, stories of triumph.
• 4:53
  And no I don't think there's a better encapsulation of that than Arena League
• 4:58
  football.
• 4:59
  You know?
• 5:00
  The these indoor football leagues, these these young men have dreams of playing at the highest
• 5:06
  level.
• 5:07
  And for whatever whatever reason in their past, they've have probably been passed over for
• 5:12
  opportunities at the high school level, at the college level, obviously, the pro level, and
• 5:17
  and but they just keep coming back.
• 5:19
  And I know you guys just went through a big tryout camp.
• 5:24
  You obviously have to bring in a whole team.
• 5:26
  You're brand new, so you have to build this team from all these people that are out there
• 5:34
  trying to live their dream and living it every single day.
• 5:38
  Can you talk about the energy that that brings and what that first tryout was like for not
• 5:44
  just yourself, but for these players as well?
• 5:48
  Yeah.
• 5:49
  No.
• 5:49
  Definitely, the energy was there.
• 5:51
  I'm a high energy type of person.
• 5:53
  I'm always right away in the morning, bringing it with the energy, you know, all through the
• 5:59
  day until I pass out.
• 6:01
  But tryouts was amazing.
• 6:04
  The energy was, on point.
• 6:08
  It literally felt like we already had chemistry.
• 6:12
  It felt like we were in the middle of the season.
• 6:14
  It was that good.
• 6:16
  And I know that this second one's gonna be even better.
• 6:20
  Well, how big is the team for for Arena League like this indoor football, UIAFA.
• 6:25
  Right?
• 6:26
  U IFA.
• 6:26
  Yep.
• 6:27
  Yeah.
• 6:27
  You're right.
• 6:28
  Yeah.
• 6:29
  So our roster, you know, 30 it'll run 30 deep, and, we'll travel with 21.
• 6:37
  So it's definitely different from the fifty fifty man a 50 man plus roster for NFL, and,
• 6:45
  you know, it's just it's it's gonna get tough, you know, cutting that roster down.
• 6:51
  So and just set that.
• 6:52
  So I'm excited.
• 6:56
  I have, I haven't played football in a long time, coach.
• 7:00
  A big fan, but, something about the the coach's son being a year ahead of me when I was in high
• 7:07
  school that just I was like, no.
• 7:08
  I'm good.
• 7:09
  I think I'm good.
• 7:11
  We already know who's getting the ball.
• 7:12
  So does everybody else.
• 7:14
  Yep.
• 7:14
  I'm good.
• 7:15
  They had some success.
• 7:16
  I'm not gonna hate on them, but I think that my love of football has definitely come more
• 7:23
  recently.
• 7:24
  I I've always been a fan of of the game, cursorily.
• 7:28
  I grew up a bears fan, so this is a very natural thing for me here.
• 7:32
  I will tell all of our fans now that I have converted.
• 7:36
  I I rock the purple with my wife now and have become a Vikings fan over the course.
• 7:41
  But what sold me on this Vikings team really was the coach.
• 7:44
  You know?
• 7:45
  Coach Kevin O'Connell, I think he's just a a a just a man that I would aspire to be.
• 7:50
  And I think that was the the start for me.
• 7:54
  And and seeing you and how you've approached this challenge and, you know, from being a
• 7:59
  defensive backs coach to stepping into not an assistant role and not just the head coaching
• 8:05
  role, but you are the general manager of this team.
• 8:07
  You are building this team for your first time ever.
• 8:11
  It's a lot to take on.
• 8:13
  And I think you alluded to it earlier.
• 8:16
  You know, God doesn't give us more than we can handle.
• 8:18
  How much has your faith kind of tied into your whole story to get where you are?
• 8:25
  And we won't get into your personal story too much today.
• 8:28
  We gotta save something, for the documentary, but just share what your faith means to not
• 8:34
  just your personal story, but what it means when you bring it to the football field as
• 8:38
  well.
• 8:39
  Oh, well, first of all, faith is everything.
• 8:44
  I I literally, you know, I have no worries.
• 8:49
  I know that God takes my worries and replaces them with miracles.
• 8:53
  I wake up, and part of my morning routine is a prayer.
• 8:57
  And, you know, somewhere in that prayer, I head in.
• 9:00
  I expect miracles, and I get miracles in abundance.
• 9:03
  With you, everything is possible, and everything is true.
• 9:05
  And that's I I that's a % spot on.
• 9:10
  You know, I know that no matter what, he's with me, you know, through the ups and the downs,
• 9:18
  and it's just been it's it's been amazing.
• 9:22
  Some things have been happening to the point where, you know, there's no other explanation.
• 9:29
  You know, I I give all glory to God, honestly.
• 9:34
  It's I believe my faith has just gotten so much stronger over the past few years, actually, and
• 9:44
  we will get into that and save it for the documentary, though.
• 9:48
  But, you know, just bring it to the football field, you know, letting these guys know, you
• 9:54
  know, it's the sport, it's more than just on the field.
• 9:58
  You know, it's off the field too, and, you know, I got I got some plans for our team.
• 10:04
  So that's for sure.
• 10:05
  We got we got some big things going.
• 10:07
  Well, I think God has plans for your team.
• 10:10
  The Saint Paul Bears are a miracle.
• 10:12
  They're like, the and me knowing a little bit more and everyone else as we continue to build
• 10:18
  this story and team up to tell this story, a little bit of inside baseball, we're gonna be
• 10:24
  working real close for, well, probably the next, rest of our lives.
• 10:28
  But but there's so much to tell that you couldn't squeeze it all into one podcast even
• 10:34
  if you tried.
• 10:35
  And what I kinda wanna focus on today because we have such a big weekend coming up here as,
• 10:41
  not just myself goes out and for all of our listeners.
• 10:46
  My band starts and ends.
• 10:47
  We'll be playing up in Minnesota this weekend at the Grand Casino.
• 10:51
  We got an opportunity to rock a battle of the bands, and you don't go to war without calling
• 10:55
  your without calling your squad.
• 10:58
  And, it came to me.
• 10:59
  We had teamed up on, you know, already talking about doing this podcast episode, but it was
• 11:05
  like, coach, you know, could you bring a few players?
• 11:07
  I got some free tickets to this thing, and I wanna make it memorable.
• 11:10
  And and what better way to do that than to show up with with a bunch of guys that know what
• 11:15
  hype is.
• 11:16
  So March 29, we're all gonna be getting together at the Grand Casino there in Hinkley,
• 11:20
  Minnesota.
• 11:21
  And it's kind of a coming out party for not just my band, but also for the Saint Paul Bears
• 11:26
  as you introduce yourself to the community.
• 11:28
  Can you talk about, you know, what your team's gonna bring to that event for us?
• 11:33
  Yeah.
• 11:33
  I mean, first of all, we're gonna bring the hype.
• 11:36
  We're gonna bring the energy.
• 11:37
  That's just who we are.
• 11:39
  And, you know, this is a huge opportunity, and I'm so grateful for it.
• 11:44
  You know, God placed us together for a certain reason, and we're gonna rock and roll with it.
• 11:51
  But yeah.
• 11:52
  No.
• 11:52
  It's this is an amazing opportunity to get our faces in front of the community, in front of
• 11:59
  the state.
• 12:00
  Grand Casino is a big venue.
• 12:03
  So this is just, this is gonna be huge.
• 12:06
  We're extremely excited.
• 12:09
  We will be bringing some merch for the fans.
• 12:12
  So, you know, I will I can't give away a lot, but it might be a couple autographed footballs
• 12:18
  and, you know, we'll we'll see what goes on.
• 12:21
  There's gonna be some special treats in there for sure.
• 12:25
  And, coach, I'll admit, I didn't know how big the venue was.
• 12:28
  As a musician, you kinda put in for a lot of these things, and, you do so many of them that
• 12:34
  you kinda forget.
• 12:35
  And that's exactly what happened to me about ten days ago.
• 12:39
  And I got an email that's like, congratulations.
• 12:42
  You've been selected.
• 12:43
  And I was like, what is this?
• 12:45
  Is this I'm afraid to click the link because I think it's they're gonna try to steal my Social
• 12:50
  Security number.
• 12:51
  Not that that's worth anything anyway, but, you know, bunch of debt.
• 12:56
  Right?
• 12:56
  And I click on it.
• 12:58
  I was like, oh, this is a big deal.
• 13:00
  Right?
• 13:00
  There's a there's a pretty big cash prize at the end of this, and and I wanted to win.
• 13:06
  You know, as someone who never really won a championship in my life, I always loved team
• 13:10
  sports.
• 13:11
  I was big baseball player, kinda got there, but not all the way.
• 13:15
  And and I've always loved because a team is a family, and and it's a family that you choose.
• 13:21
  And you wake up every day, and even if you don't agree with them on every single aspect,
• 13:27
  you agree to the task at hand.
• 13:30
  And that's why I speak about football being so reflective of of life.
• 13:36
  Right?
• 13:36
  We can't always choose who is on our team or at our job, but we are uniting around one purpose.
• 13:44
  And that purpose for a football team is bringing home a championship, And for us this
• 13:49
  weekend, it is the same.
• 13:50
  We are going there to win, and that's why, you know, when they gave me free tickets, they were
• 13:55
  like, oh, we'll give them to a few fans.
• 13:56
  And I was like, well, I'm six hours away in South Dakota.
• 14:00
  So anybody who's a fan of my band is probably not gonna show up anyway.
• 14:03
  So I'm gonna do you one better, and I'm gonna call these guys that are ready to make a big
• 14:08
  noise in the state of Minnesota, in in this UI FA football league, and to to be something to
• 14:17
  be something greater than the sum of our parts and and to be a championship caliber football
• 14:22
  team.
• 14:23
  And, I'm so happy to be a part of it.
• 14:25
  I know you got another round of tryouts coming up here, coach.
• 14:28
  Can we, get some dates for that and shout out to all the young football players that are
• 14:32
  hungry for an opportunity to play more ball?
• 14:35
  Yeah.
• 14:35
  No.
• 14:36
  I'm actually my I just got a notification on the phone.
• 14:42
  We are gonna be shooting for April 6.
• 14:46
  It's a Sunday.
• 14:48
  Time still be, still to be determined, but, we'll probably figure that out as soon as I get
• 14:55
  off this podcast.
• 14:56
  So Incredible.
• 14:58
  Got some
• 14:58
  football players.
• 15:01
  April sixth.
• 15:02
  Do you know the venue?
• 15:04
  Yeah.
• 15:04
  It will actually be at our new team facility, Toka Soccer Center in Burnsville.
• 15:10
  We're extremely excited.
• 15:11
  I wanted our second tryout to be there just so players could come in, see the facility, look
• 15:18
  at all the amenities that we have to offer, and, trying to, kinda get that feel for what
• 15:24
  the season's gonna bring.
• 15:26
  Yeah.
• 15:26
  What better way to give the players that little extra incentive, not that anybody needs it, but
• 15:31
  to walk into the building and go, this is where I could be spending a lot of time.
• 15:36
  Bring that extra juice, man, that extra 10% that maybe you didn't know you had.
• 15:42
  And that's to say that everybody's given a % when you're coming out to these things, but
• 15:47
  who's got that extra heart?
• 15:49
  Who's got that little bit of extra to give?
• 15:51
  And then that's that's who you're building this team around.
• 15:53
  And I know you're gonna have a hard job when it comes down to having to make cuts and to
• 15:58
  building the 30 man roster, but, you know, I think you're you're the man for the job, and
• 16:04
  they couldn't have picked anyone better, coach.
• 16:07
  I appreciate that.
• 16:09
  And, yeah, that's, I purposely made the first tryouts, 8AM, you know, just to see who's
• 16:16
  hungry, who really wants it, who's gonna get up, you know.
• 16:20
  Are you gonna stay up on Saturday night, go out partying, or are you gonna stay in knowing you
• 16:25
  got something important in front of you?
• 16:27
  So that was the first test.
• 16:30
  Well, you're testing me now because I was supposed to come home April 5 from Minnesota,
• 16:35
  but I might have to stay one extra day, catch some tryouts, and then I can drive home on
• 16:40
  Sunday.
• 16:42
  Most definitely.
• 16:43
  As we got
• 16:43
  gotta be there, man.
• 16:44
  This is my team.
• 16:46
  Gotta make it happen.
• 16:47
  So Well, coach, there's something I grew up saying that I wanna bring to this squad too,
• 16:52
  and that's bear down.
• 16:54
  Hey.
• 16:54
  Let's go.
• 16:56
  I like for being on the show, coach.
• 16:58
  Thanks for having me.
• 16:59
  I can't wait for this weekend.
• 17:00
  Everybody come on out.
• 17:02
  Let's do it.