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Jason Belmonte: Tuning Out Haters And Tuning In To Supporters | E76 · In Search Of Excellence

• 0:00
  Jason Belmonte: The sound of that hate was so loud. It was so deafening to me, because I would read it that affected me and my mental health a lot. The amount of people that go bowling every year allows the sport itself many opportunities to grow the sacrifice, the dedication, this idea, this dream that you have, that's when it gets difficult because when you start to realize what it's what it's going to be worth in for you to do it. Yeah, if you don't buy into it, 100% you're not going to get this.
• 0:40
  Randall Kaplan: You're listening to part two of my amazing conversation with Jason Belmonte, the greatest bowler in history. If you haven't yet listened to part one. Be sure to check that one out. First, your first tournament 2008, you finished 68 out of 63 contenders. Talk to us about the mental state of mind you were in when you said oh, Jesus is not so great. The first tournament where you dejected or were defeated, make you more motivated to come back and say I got to do better. And I am going to do better. And I want to be the best in the sport.
• 1:14
  Jason Belmonte: Yeah, I think the very first feeling I had when I when I bowled my very first pro event was I wanted to know, like the baseline, like where am I at, you know, these are the best bowlers in the world, the norm Dukes of the world. And I wanted to know where I was at. And so that first tournament, I was shown pretty quickly where I was at.
• 1:36
  Jason Belmonte: It was like, okay, that that was a little a little ego hidden.
• 1:42
  Jason Belmonte: And that was a little hard to handle. Because I, I think I thought I was better. I thought I was closer to the top than I was to the bottom, I didn't think I was going to be near the top, I just thought I would be better than half of them. And, and I really wasn't. But I fell back into that. That idea of what happened because this was a new environment. This was a new oil pattern. These weren't new bowlers that I was competing against. And so there was a learning curve, there was an experience that I had to, I had to eat up to become better. So I also took it with a bit of a grain of salt that first week was like, alright, you know where you are now. But it was your first week like, you're going to have to learn a few of these PBA tour tricks. And that's not going to be you know, it's not gonna be easy. So I think we too, was, I finished 58, I think out of 64. So I improved a little bit that that was a positive, but still, you know, really far behind. And I I really watched, I watched the best players in the world. And I watched what they were doing with the bowling balls and what they were trying to accomplish with ball shape and ball motion and what bowling balls they were using. And I tried to translate that into my game as quickly as possible. And fortunately for me, in my eighth event, I put the puzzle together and was able to win in my rookie year in my eighth event. And that was a that was a turning point in my career that was like when I I felt like I belonged on this stage. You know, for previous to the pro tour. I was really, really great amateur player, very successful. But it's the big fish in the little pond analogy, right. And I wanted to be the big fish in the ocean.
• 3:35
  Jason Belmonte: And so that's when I realized I could do I could actually do this. I beat them all, you know, in my eighth event, like maybe I can. This is this is what I can really do. I can really win out here.
• 3:48
  Randall Kaplan: So many athletes at a young age get recognized and as part of that recognition when somebody knows they're going to be a prodigy or they are they get contracts you'll get LeBron James when I was 18 years old, he signed a reported$80 million with Nike. Ryan Sheckler, one of the best skateboarders of all time had a pro contract when he was 13 years old. Tell us about Tim Mack. And your first contract was storing bowling and how much were you getting paid?
• 4:15
  Jason Belmonte: Yeah. So Tim was an American amateur player, but the best amateur player in the world. He came to Australia for a tournament and it was a tournament that I was also invited to. And so Timmy as I affectionately call him watch me bowl for the very first time this unique two handed delivery.
• 4:43
  Jason Belmonte: And it really blew him away. It was it was weird to say but kind of cool. And the fact that I could do it really well I think excited him so he made the call to his sponsor, which was storm bowling. And he's by To the owner of the company and expressed listen, you gotta say this kid ball. This kid does it in a way that we've never seen before. He's very good at it. I think he's someone that we should, we should we should sponsor. And it wasn't too much longer maybe a year or two after that conversation that Timmy had after seeing me compete in in Australia. I got a call from the owner of the company, Bill Chrisman. And he said, Listen, you know, you're a kid, I get it. You ball a little different.
• 5:28
  Jason Belmonte: Haven't seen it myself. But I'm looking forward to seeing it. So I want to I want to invite you to America, and I want you to bowl in a tournament that I sponsor. And I want to bring you over for it. And I want you to, to kind of do is do your thing.
• 5:42
  Jason Belmonte: So I said I would be amazing. So flew to Las Vegas for this tournament. And I met Bill Chrisman I bowled in front of him. And as soon as I was done bowling, he put his arm around me and he said, I've never seen anything like this before.
• 5:58
  Jason Belmonte: You're incredible. And I want you to represent my company. And so later that night, I think I had this very base. I mean, I didn't have an agent. I didn't I didn't have I didn't really know about contracts. All I knew is I was about to be signed by the best bowling company in the world that to me, I would have done it for free. I nearly did.
• 6:22
  Jason Belmonte: It was basically free. I think I got paid like maybe $1,000 a month to represent storm. And I got my equipment for free. And it really wasn't about the money. It was it was about the fact that I was now a part of this this team that I had access to resources. And it was it was an incredible moment because I wasn't expecting it. But that was in 1999. I think I signed that contract. We're still maybe No, no, no, the first contract Yeah, was an amateur contract that I signed with Bill I think was 2001. That's the first year that I signed with them. And so that $1,000 contract lasted a year or two, and then my performances would allow me bonuses, and I was able to escalate my way up through the ranks. And every year every time I did well like Bill Crispin and storm like they never once it was never an argument. It was like, Hey, you did really well.
• 7:26
  Jason Belmonte: You deserve a raise. Hey, you did really well this year, you deserve another raise. And I keep I keep asking every year Hey, I did really well. Do I get another raise? And and Mr.
• 7:39
  Jason Belmonte: Chrisman continues to say, yeah, you deserve it. So they've been an incredible partner of mine.
• 7:43
  Jason Belmonte: And yeah, I really do believe that a lot of my my success is due to the fact that I'm using the best equipment, they are the best bowling balls in the world, which allow me to strike more than than I would normally would using anyone else's. And so I'm incredibly grateful and indebted for them to helping me have the career that I've had.
• 8:06
  Randall Kaplan: And all the coaching that I've done over the years. One of the things that I say to people is, if you don't ask, then you don't get and when you were young as part of this sponsorship, you need to get a tour exemption. And instead of asking for one exemption, you ask for two, what's your advice to all those people out there today who are afraid to even ask the first question for something that they want to get or want to do? And how do we inspire them to get up and actually have the courage to do it?
• 8:37
  Jason Belmonte: Yeah, I think the first thing that I would say is, you have to be okay with the response back to you have no, like you have to be okay that you're gonna hear it. You might ask for too much. Whatever it might be, you might ask for something that's unreasonable.
• 8:54
  Jason Belmonte: But you're going to hear no. And so if you can handle the idea of them saying no to you, then asking becomes way easier. The fear of rejection, the fear of upsetting somebody, if you ask, you have to be able to let go and be like, okay, there are good and bad ways for asking for something. I'm going to learn the better ways to ask for something where it doesn't sound rude or arrogant or annoying, but I'm gonna be okay. If they say no. And then the next thing is, is you have to give them a reason to not say no. That whatever you're asking for, show value in what you're asking have it on the table ready to go and say this is what I'm worth, but this is why I'm worth what I'm worth. And if the choice comes down to a yes or no based on purely financials? Well, in my career, I tried to always illustrate, if you're going to invest this much in me, this is how I'm going to return that investment back in profits for you, I want to do these appearances, I want to do marketing campaigns I want to perform well. And when tournaments, I want to be a part of research and development, you give all of these lists as to what their money is getting them. And then perhaps they add to that list with other obligations. And then you have to decide if it's, if it's the right thing for you to do. But that those are the two things that I've really learned is you've got to be okay with them saying no, but you've also got to give them a reason not to say no, like, make it clear. This is what you're worth.
• 11:38
  Randall Kaplan: I've had some incredible guests on my show.
• 11:41
  Randall Kaplan: And one of them was someone named Sam Zell, who is one of the greatest real estate investors of all time, he created something known as the modern REITs, he was a member of the forest frog, who was a member of the forest for 100.
• 11:54
  Randall Kaplan: And unfortunately, he passed away a few months ago. But he was investing in real estate in a way that nobody else was doing before him. And he said to me, and he's talked about this a lot, is he felt like he was doing something that nobody else was doing. When people were going left, he found himself going right. And he was the only one doing and he talked about the loneliness of doing that.
• 12:17
  Randall Kaplan: And he wasn't fearful, he was confident and that what he was doing, but he couldn't understand why no one else was doing it. In your career. The two handed bowling was something that no one else was really doing with success. I think they're one or two people before you, but you change the nature of the sport. And when you start winning funny things happen.
• 12:40
  Randall Kaplan: People are jealous to get angry.
• 12:43
  Randall Kaplan: And it became very controversial, because you were the only one with success on the Pro. You're the only one success on the pro tournament circuit who was winning, and you are called a cheat. And talk to us about what that was like be called a cheater and a professionally when you're winning, and talk about your feeling of loneliness and how you dealt with it.
• 13:06
  Jason Belmonte: Yeah, it's, it's kind of been something that I've had to deal with at different stages in my career. But probably the most painful one was when when you're on tour, because now you're on a much larger platform. And by this point in my career, you know, we had social media, we had the internet. And so the the sound of that hate was so loud, it was so deafening to me, because I would read it, and I would hear it. And I took it all very, very personally. And so that that affected me and my mental health a lot. The hardest part about it all was when you're when you're referenced as a cheat, but you're not actually breaking any rules, that that was the hardest thing. Like I couldn't understand why they use that word. You know, they could have said any other word about how I bold you know, they, whatever they wanted to say. But to say that you cheat means that you are navigating the course beyond the boundaries that everybody else is, is stuck in. And I wasn't I stayed within the lines. I was. I mean, the amount of people that went through rulebooks trying to find clauses or a word or phrase that would bend me. No one ever found it.
• 14:37
  Jason Belmonte: It didn't exist. And that was because I wasn't doing anything wrong. It was just I found a different way to throw a ball down the line. And so I spent a lot of my early rookie seasons, defending myself, like and I'm in pouring a lot of energy, constantly replying back to haters. This is, you know, no, you're calling me a cheat, but I don't break any of the rules.
• 15:03
  Jason Belmonte: I'm just constantly on this defense about, you know what it is that I'm doing? And yeah, it drained me. And I was sad. I was like, Well, I'm not enjoying this. This is this is not a this is not a good time. And so then you look to your friends and your competitors, because you're like, well, they'll they'll get it like that they're doing what I'm doing. So they understand the trials and tribulations of what it's like out here and tour. And it was it was just as lonely because because then I started to have success on the pro tour. And I was taking money out of their pockets that they were trying to provide for their family and I was becoming more famous than they were and there was a jealousy aspect of it all.
• 15:39
  Jason Belmonte: And so not only are you a little different, I'm also foreign born, I'm not from the US and so I didn't have an entourage of people surrounded by me While I was on tour from people from home, you know, when a tournament would end, we would have a day or two, between the start of the next tournament, I didn't have the luxury of going home, to see my family like my competitors did, they got to go home and see their family and their friends. And so you're on the road constantly. You're you're not getting a lot of feedback that felt positive from the, from the community of bowling, because you're a little different. And you volunteers as an old game, it's a traditional game. And you're beating your competitors. So they weren't really enjoying you out there either. It was hard. It was really, really hard. And it took a change of perspective, to I guess, unshackle that part of my career, the, the, the wanting to please, everybody was something that I had to let go of. And it's just human nature, you know, you could cure cancer tomorrow, and there will still be someone that says, hey, you cured the wrong cancer. Why don't you cure that cancer? You know, it's like, it doesn't matter what you do, everyone isn't going to love you. There will always be people that just fed and unlike you. And once I realized that the focus went from Why am I paying attention to these haters, when I'm noticing there are some fans like there are people that are supporting me and that I say nice things, you know what I'm going to do, instead of replying back to the people who are not in my corner, I'm going to start replying back and engaging with those that are. And, like, overnight, you feel this confidence and the love, like you feel it. Because now you're focusing on these people who are saying, I'm amazing, and I'm inspiring them to be bowlers.
• 17:44
  Jason Belmonte: And that they love to watch me compete, because what I'm doing is crazy to watch, and it's so much fun, and then you start to enjoy, then you start to say, You know what, well, I'm going to do this better for them, you know, I'm going to do this better for me, I'm going to do this better for my family. But I'm gonna do this better for the people who are enjoying this from the community of volume.
• 18:02
  Jason Belmonte: And that I'm just I was so much happier. At the end of the day, you know, you write a post, you go through your filter through the ones that aren't so great.
• 18:13
  Jason Belmonte: And you focus on the ones that do and then all of a sudden now you almost had a group of people that was willing to defend you as well. And so then I felt like I had more support that when someone said, Hey, you're a cheater? Well, before I even would see the comment, I would open it and it would be 50 to 100 people defending me saying What are you talking about? You know, crazy man, like, just because he does it a little differently. And that was when I realized that it's so important to see what your what your focus is on what what are you looking at? What are you really looking at, and what are you really hearing? And there's a difference between hate and constructive criticism, right?
• 18:51
  Jason Belmonte: Like when you hear that you could do something better. I would never label that as Oh, they just hate their haters, you know. But true haters, you can tell you can see them from a mile away. And so you just you have to be able to not make that a focal point made my life a lot happier.
• 19:12
  Randall Kaplan: This episode of In Search of Excellence is brought to you by sandy.com s a n d e.com. We're a Yelp for beaches and have created the world's most comprehensive beach resource by catalog the more than 100 categories of information for every beach in the world, more than 100,000 beaches and 212 countries.
• 19:29
  Randall Kaplan: sandy.com provides beach goers around the world with detailed comprehensive and easy to use information to help them plan their perfect beach getaway at home and abroad. And to make sure you're never disappointed by a beach visit again, plan the perfect beach trip today by visiting sandy.com That's www.sand.com the link is in our show notes. Stay Sandy my friends. Many of us have a lot of haters in our life. And I think the great advice there is cut out the haters of your life because they're a cancer to your mental well being. And it's better to surround yourself with people who are supportive who love you and really want the best for you.
• 20:12
  Jason Belmonte: Yeah, and I also realized that we you know, we live in a day of of social media where you know, a number of followers has some some meaning to some people. And to me, the number isn't what's important.
• 20:28
  Jason Belmonte: To me, it's the relationship or the engagement that I have with whoever is following me. And that is really important on top of that when you break away from that public. I guess you could call them support crew and you you start to then look inwards to your near your inner group your inner circle Till I realized that didn't have to be very big to feel loved to feel supported, you know, that inner circle of mates and family can be really small and still have a huge impact on your, on your well being. And what I had found is when I had allowed that inner circle debate too large, you would get a few fakies that would kind of sneak their way in, you know that that they claim to be close to you, or that they, you know, they love you or that they respect you.
• 21:24
  Jason Belmonte: And then you eventually come to find that that isn't the truth.
• 21:27
  Jason Belmonte: And so you start to weed them out, and that group gets a bit smaller, but the smaller it gets, the stronger that group becomes, because you realize that you all feel the same way about each other. And so you're always going to have each other's back, you're always going to be there to to call you an idiot when you need to be called an idiot. But you also are going to be you know, the first person to congratulate you and feel truly happy for their successes. And that's also made me a lot happier doing that.
• 22:01
  Randall Kaplan: After a horrible start to my career, I have three jobs in eight months, I started to turn it around. When I was 27 years old, I had the chance to work directly for someone who had started to Fortune 500 companies. And when I left that job, for an unfunded untested startup commuting from Los Angeles to Boston, people thought I lost my mind. But an AI took a big risk. And at the end of the day, our company went public when I was 31 years old.
• 22:27
  Randall Kaplan: And it resulted in a large financial gain and what I learned at that point in time, and there was a lot of notoriety at that time, because there weren't a lot of companies that were founded by at least one I've one of four founders as 31 years old. At some point, our company had a $35 billion valuation, which was insane.
• 22:49
  Randall Kaplan: When you think about it, it ultimately ended up losing 99.7% of its market value went down at one point $49 million dollars, but it's not backed up typing$16 billion. But right in that heat of the moment where there's a lot of publicity. Regarding you, I learned something that was very interesting, and which was when when you make a lot of money, or you're successful, there are an enormous number of people who are not happy for you. And it was really a wake up call. Wow, how could this be I love reading about people who are successful, I want my friends to be successful. You experienced that as well. I mean, what, what's behind all of this? When you start winning?
• 23:31
  Randall Kaplan: And you have all these haters?
• 23:31
  Randall Kaplan: How do you deal with it? And why do you think people do it?
• 23:36
  Jason Belmonte: You know, there's been a, there's been a handful of times on tour, where a moment of that, for me, was pure joy, some type of success that I couldn't believe I was able to achieve. And I would look around going well, who can I share this with all I'm going to share it with these people out here. And then and then you you try to and you realize, wait a minute, they aren't actually thrilled. I actually had a roommate, one time, I'd won my very first major championship.
• 24:12
  Jason Belmonte: My first one of my career, I was on the most insane adrenaline run. Just I was so excited. And my my roommate hadn't congratulated me up. And it was at the end of the night. And we're kind of, you know, I'm laying on my bed. I look over to him on his bed and I say, you know, I want today or I like I want my first major like, are you not? How are you not happy for me? And he said, The weirdest thing. He said, Why would I be happy for you? And I said, Whoa, I'm like, I don't know, because we're mates and something good happened to me.
• 24:55
  Jason Belmonte: And he goes, Yeah, but you know, you can be happy for you. But why would I be happy for it?
• 24:59
  Jason Belmonte: Like I didn't win. And I said, but if you won, I'd be happy for you. And that's when I kind of realized when you're competing.
• 25:07
  Jason Belmonte: To take it personal is a bit it's hard not to but to him. It was a business transaction. He didn't win, therefore he didn't provide or he didn't attain a goal of his. And therefore whilst it might appear to be selfish from everyone else, I guess it could be considered selfish, but to him it's like, this is what I'm here to do. I'm here to win. I'm not here to be a cheerleader for anybody else.
• 25:37
  Jason Belmonte: And I couldn't understand it.
• 25:37
  Jason Belmonte: Because for me, I'm not saying that you've got to, you know, support every single player on tour but your your roommates or your your closer, smaller inner circle will perhaps, and it wasn't felt for me that that's how it was perceived by the other players even within that inner circle. I don't know why people do it, because I just think it comes down to a lack of happiness. Like, if I see success from someone else, and I feel genuinely happy for that person, it just makes me happier that I'm feeling a version of happiness for someone and to share it with them or to, to encourage them that are great.
• 26:23
  Jason Belmonte: They were like, to me, that just makes me a happier person. And I can't see why it would make someone else unhappy to do that.
• 26:30
  Jason Belmonte: But I think when it comes to, you know, the elite of business or sport there is there is a an element of jealousy that comes in, you know, it's, why did they get the promotion and not me, I wanted the promotion, I wanted to win that event. That's what I want to do, and this other person is doing. And I can tell you, that if you're someone that has success, very seldomly, you don't feel it nearly as much as someone who has a lot of success. As the more success you have, the better business deals that you do, it definitely feels like you are more and more alienated from those in that environment around you, you know, from that inner circle that's beyond it. Sure, you might still get and feel that love. But for me on tour, the more I won, the lonelier it got.
• 27:28
  Jason Belmonte: And it's not a new story. We've all heard it, you know, it's lonely at the top. But I experienced that for the very first time in that way. And yeah, that the hardest part was it, I just didn't have anyone here, no family, no inner circle friends from back home. And so you're trying to deal with this loneliness, these haters, your competitors, hating that you're winning? You know, the only thing that I could really rely on was my sponsors, because they were thrilled that I was winning, right? That they're saying their product when and so it wasn't, it wasn't the worst to have them as as that support curve. But you also wonder like, you know, are you? Are you happy for me? Or are you happy for the business that's doing well through me? And so you have to you have to navigate that, which luckily for me, I think the company itself, I've been there 20 plus years now. So I feel like it's gone beyond a business transaction, we are definitely very close with each other. But that is it is a question, Randall that I often ask people when they don't seem happy for their will, whom I thought was in their inner circle. And I say I'm telling you this is this is unhealthy for you. Because if, if your success is the only cause for your happiness, then if you aren't successful, you're going to be miserable. And no one wants to live a life of misery, and not based purely on success or not like you have to find value in things around you that aren't focused purely on your own success levels to create happiness. And I don't know, I tried to share that with the younger competitors out here right now. I hope they listen.
• 29:17
  Jason Belmonte: Because I went through it, I saw it. And I can tell you that it's not. It's not a great way to live. If you know you want everyone else to fail, and you want to be the only successful one, it just life doesn't give you that. So you can't expect it. You've got to find the joys and other things in other people. When
• 29:37
  Randall Kaplan: our company went public, I was 31 years old. And there were not a lot of 31 year old especially in Los Angeles, the tech market there hadn't really taken off now there's it's one of the premier tech hubs in the United States, large amount of startups venture capital firms, but it wasn't like that back then. So there were only a few of us one in particular who had really done very, very well his company had gone public when he was 26 years old. And it's very lonely. You do talk about the loneliness, you do talk about attention, criticism, and I was 31. It bothered me. And it happened very, very quickly. It wasn't like we had started this 10 years before our company and this is a record that will never happen again. It went public a year later, once we started the company, but it was very, very helpful to me to speak to someone who had been through something similar like this at a young age because it's very lonely. There's no one else to talk to. And he gave me some great advice, which was among many other things to note the haters and don't listen to them and it's hard to do frankly.
• 30:47
  Randall Kaplan: You're young I'm immature to some extent and new to this entirely new, life changing event for you were, in my case, I bought a beautiful house, my dream house and I was 31 years old. And at some point, it was a little unusual to have your friends come over. Because I was living in a two bedroom apartment next to the jack in the box, I went from that to a very beautiful large home. And it's just something that was very, very difficult to deal with,
• 31:19
  Jason Belmonte: he had to tune them out pot is it's a conscious decision that you have to make, right. And even when you said you bring your friends over, and it's a conscious decision that you have to make to be able to find the weeds. But more importantly, you have to, you have to allow yourself to be okay that this is this is a part of the game you're playing, this is a part of it. You can't change the rules, some people will not like that you have become successful, that's ingrained in the coding of success. That's just it, deal with it. And if you try to think that you can recode it, that you can change all these people's opinions about your success, and that they will, overnight over a period of time become happy for you. You're chasing an impossible goal. And it's it's not going to end well for you.
• 32:15
  Jason Belmonte: And so the tuning out whilst it's really difficult. If you can take a step back and say, Well, what's really important, like what is really is this individual person that I'm reading or that I'm hearing from? Are they that important to me that it matters? And the answer to that, for the most part is no, they're not that important to me. Do I care that Twitter user 11213 hates me?
• 32:49
  Jason Belmonte: Like, no, you know, I don't know this person, I'm never going to know this person. And so you, you start to chop the fat really quickly. Those are the easy ones, when it gets a little harder, is like yeah, when you invite your friends into your new beautiful home, and you know, they're still living in a small one bedroom apartment somewhere, and they're struggling to pay the rent or whatever it might be, and they see what you have. But you have that jealousy. If it's too much for them, and it comes out.
• 33:20
  Jason Belmonte: That's, that's a difficult one.
• 33:24
  Jason Belmonte: Because sometimes we have people that we think are going to be there for you or have that happiness for you, and they're not there for you or they don't have that happiness for you.
• 33:35
  Jason Belmonte: Those are the ones that are really hard to let go of because you you've probably experienced time with them, you've experienced thing when you were potentially both on the same playing field where you financially, you might have had the same stuff or career wise, you might have achieved the same things. And then when you go beyond it, and they stay stuck there, that's a really hard one, it's, for me, it's more about it's more on them, right and dealing with that issue on their side than it is for me to, to have to deal with it. But letting those people go is hard.
• 34:06
  Jason Belmonte: It's really, really hard. But you know, it's the right thing to do. Because you just don't want to spend your time with people who are looking at ways to, you know, to pull you down a peg or two you want people to lift you up, it was actually a quote norm Duke gave me that I will never forget. And when a lot of the haters were very vocal on tour norm came out in support of me, he would he would come in in interviews and how great I was and how incredible the things that I'm doing. And that's that was one of the very emotional times is my idol was actually stepping up for me like, you know, they say don't meet your idols. Well, I'm so grateful that I did meet mine because this this this man was, was an incredible human being.
• 34:53
  Jason Belmonte: And I approached him one time and I said no, why are you saying these things and you don't have to? You know, you don't have to do this. You're a norm Duke. Everyone loves you.
• 35:02
  Jason Belmonte: Bye bowling. You're not saying nice things about me is not changing your career. And you said oh contraire that it is though. And I said why said Well, let me give you two scenarios and tell me which one you would rather have. Come come true. If I were to trash you.
• 35:25
  Jason Belmonte: And I was to say that you're awful, and that you're terrible talent. And then let's say we were to compete against each other. Well, now I'm supposed to win because I've just trashed you. I've said to everybody that you're awful. And so now if I beat you, there is just this expectation of how hum this was meant to happen because no I'm so great and he's so bad. But if you beat me after I've just trashed you What does that look like for me? Okay? Now, conversely, if I tell people how great you are, if I lose to you, well, he's great. There's no shame in losing to someone who's great. And if I beat you, after telling the world how great you are, he said it elevates me. He said, The only other thing I would add to this is Don't say something unless you think it to be true. So don't lie. Don't say that someone is great at something if they're not, but find something that they are great at. And, and focus on that use that as the point of reference when talking about them, because it's only going to elevate you when you win against them. And it just slapped me across the face his bucket of water, just, you know, in real time hit me in the face like he's so right, like, people who say that I'm awful when I beat them. What do they say back neck? What's the next thing they say? Because they've lost that leverage. I they no longer can say that. I'm bad. Because if I beat them, they're below me.
• 37:06
  Jason Belmonte: They're behind me. So what does that say about themselves? And I love what Nam told me then because I do I try to find a positive in someone's body, even if it's someone who I've known, has been quite nasty to me. If asked directly about them, as a player, I think about well, what are they great at? And you know what, if they're great at it, they should get credit for it.
• 37:30
  Jason Belmonte: They've, they've spent a lifetime developing that skill.
• 37:33
  Jason Belmonte: I don't have a problem telling somebody that they're doing something really well. If anything, it just makes me motivate me even more, to be better at it than them. And so it's just one less thing that they have against me when they want to. They want to trash me so I don't know. I often think about that thing that Norm said,
• 37:50
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• 38:14
  Randall Kaplan: Get your next amazing gift and order a copy of blitz speeches by clicking the link in our show notes. So many of our listeners and view. Many of our listeners and viewers right now are thinking, how do you bowl with two hands? I think we can all see it when we're 18 years old or four years old. But describe for us the technique the RPMs the science behind it. And does this take harder toll on your body after the in the long term terms of what you can keep doing from an insurance perspective?
• 38:49
  Jason Belmonte: Yeah, it's a good question. Because I don't I don't know. I don't know any other way. All I can tell you is that I wake up every morning and I feel fit, I feel good. I don't have aches, I don't have pains.
• 38:57
  Jason Belmonte: And so I don't know what the style will do. In the long term for everybody. I think everybody's different. Injury is a part of sport. And so I do my best to try to prevent injury as much as I can like, like most athletes tried to do. But I just don't know the science, if there's a specific percentage on how much less friction on this part of the body is cause I don't know, I just know that it doesn't hurt me, I think. I think the best way to describe how I do what I do, if I were to use only words is imagine a rugby pass. That's how that's how I ball, like a pass in rugby. And if you're not a rugby fan, and you don't know what that is, then the best way to describe it is go to YouTube and type in my name and then just watch it for yourself. That's the easiest and fastest way to figure out how it is to do what I do. But the interesting thing is in today's bowling climate and you know, there's, I guess the number that gets thrown around a little bit is somewhere between 70 and 80 million people go bowling in the US alone every year. And it's it's said that close to 30% of that bowl in public will bowl to handed or try to handle now. And to me that is a that is just the most wild thing to think about because you grow up as an individual as a solar as solar solar. You know the what I'm trying to say solar it the singularity. That's the word I was looking for. Let me let me say that again. And so it's super wild. To me, that there's such a high percentage of people that are now trying because growing up, when you're an individual, you're a singularity. To see hundreds of 1000s Millions of people attempt to do what you do. It's easier to be part of a movement that is, you know, allowed a new technique to become normalized is, dude, it is wild, it is really wild.
• 41:24
  Randall Kaplan: Let's talk about some stats you mentioned 70 million people in the United States of roughly 100 million people. In the world who bowl.
• 41:29
  Randall Kaplan: The first documented appearance of bowling appeared in ancient Egypt with wall drawings depicting bone being found in a royal Egyptian tomb, data 230 200 BC and miniature pins and balls and an Egyptian child's grave. Around the same time through 200 BC balls were made. Using the husks of grains covered in the materials such as leather and bound with strings.
• 41:55
  Randall Kaplan: The bowling industry has grown from 4 billion in 2014 to 10 billion in 2018, is projected to go to 60 or 70 billion in the next five to 10 years. It's an affordable sport, a lot of families will do it. The TV contracts are very, very small.
• 42:15
  Randall Kaplan: Today they're on Fox did a deal in 2018. It's not even on a fox channel, it's on Fox, I'm Fs one I think is the channel. Could bowling be the next WWE E or Formula One. Or even pickleball, which is the fastest growing sport in America.
• 42:37
  Jason Belmonte: Yeah, I'd like to, I'd like to think so for sure. Um, you know, just to kind of touch on that, on that comment about Fox. In fact, our relationship with foxes has been really, really great. Last this last season that just went by, you know, we're on on big Fox Network Television. Nearly, I think it was like 10 times out of the 18 times that were on television. So more than half of it now was on the major network.
• 43:03
  Jason Belmonte: And that relationship is growing more and more positively. And who's to say that, you know, all of Bolin doesn't move to network television rather than being on FS one. And so that's a really positive thing. The industry as its as a whole is a dragon. It is a wild beast. And the amount of people that go bowling every year allows the sport itself many opportunities to grow. What we hope, and what we rely on is that the people who are running the different parts of our organizations and parts of our industry, do the do the right thing, do the do their research and, and make great decisions.
• 43:52
  Jason Belmonte: Because ultimately those stats, everything, it just doesn't matter if you've got the wrong people at the helm, you know, and so I'm hoping that our sport chooses the right people, that they make the best decisions.
• 44:11
  Jason Belmonte: And then who's to say that we can't be Yeah, another version of WWE. I don't know why we couldn't be more successful. I mean, WWE is pretty huge. I mean, be quite arrogant of me to suggest that we would be as big as them. But the idea of it growing on that same kind of bell curve, like you know, because at one point WWE or WWF at one point, it wasn't as successful as it is today, you know, and so why not think we can do something similar? You know, I'd like to think I'm a I'm an optimist, and not in that regard. I like to think the best can happen.
• 44:51
  Randall Kaplan: Let's talk about your World Series come back after 71 games, you trailed fifth place by 324 pins, you had 12 matches to make up the deficit. And you had this quote that you've given. And this is how you think about a tournament I think I've won before even throw a ball down the lane. How important is mental preparation and confidence to our success.
• 45:15
  Jason Belmonte: It's it's a huge element to the recipe of success, the self belief, the confidence in believing you're capable. If you don't have that, I assure you, someone else does.
• 45:29
  Jason Belmonte: And beating that person becomes exponentially harder. So you've got to walk into the boardroom, the business, the bowling center, the golf course and you have to have that belief that no one here is going to win this tournament or do a better deal than you know one. And it's a very fine line but to In arrogance and confidence, I get it. So you have to choose your words sometimes very carefully when you're trying to present that confidence. But ultimately, it doesn't matter. If you believe it, then you're already, you're already a step ahead of someone else who doesn't feel that way.
• 46:09
  Randall Kaplan: All of us dream as a kid, we want to be successful at some point in our life, we want to be the next Tom Brady. And we hope to be LeBron James or Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan. What was it like dreaming as a kid that you wanted to be the best? And what kind of responsibilities do you have today that you are the goat and bowling are the best ever?
• 46:30
  Randall Kaplan: And what are your responsibilities going forward in the sport and to the community at large?
• 46:35
  Jason Belmonte: Yeah, I think when you're when you're young, the the understanding of what it means to be the best in the world. You know, it's, I don't think the gravity of it really hits you, it's more of just the thing that you say, right. And as you get older, you understand what it's going to take. And that's the moment that you have to like buy into it, the sacrifice, the dedication, the time that you're going to give up to chase this, this idea, this dream that you have, that's when it gets difficult, because when you start to realize what it's what it's going to be worth in for you to do it. Yeah, if you don't buy into it, 100%, you're not going to get that. So you have to, you have to do that, I think, for me understand understanding that the juice is worth the squeeze, as they say.
• 47:31
  Jason Belmonte: That's what motivates me now is you may call me to go, someone else may call me to go. But I have my own position that I think I'm at, and I have my own goals that I want to reach. And the moment that I get complacent in allowing myself to say, hey, well, Randall thinks I'm the goat. So I'm good. I'm done. You know, that's when I think my career will suffer, it's its biggest fall is allowing others to dictate where I think I should be. I'm not there yet.
• 48:03
  Jason Belmonte: There's so much more for me to do. Therefore, the motivation levels have to be high, the sacrifice still has to be high.
• 48:10
  Jason Belmonte: And the belief that I'm going to reach my own goals is still going to be there. If I do those things, when it's time to lace them up, then I'm very happy to look back at my career and stack it up against anybody else's.
• 48:26
  Jason Belmonte: And we can argue black and blue.
• 48:26
  Jason Belmonte: You know who's the best ever.
• 48:31
  Jason Belmonte: But I'm not there yet. So I gotta get there.
• 48:34
  Randall Kaplan: Tiger Woods single handedly increase the popularity of golf, you have single handedly increased the popularity of bowling, people want to see you they know you.
• 48:45
  Randall Kaplan: You're the star of the circuit.
• 48:45
  Randall Kaplan: But you're also a lot more than that. You've done some things that are very unique, that have raised your profile, it made you a more well rounded person. And entrepreneurs. Well tell us about the Google Glasses and throwing 140 mile an hour strike outside of a NASCAR car.
• 49:04
  Jason Belmonte: Yeah, I mean, and this kind of links back into because I didn't get a chance to actually answer your other question about responsibilities, what I think my responsibility is, but I think part of all of what you just said is, it's fun, it's so much fun doing this type of stuff to actually take the game that I love and that I do competitively. And be able to, to not do it, at that level, to be able to just do something fun and crazy is awesome. But it also I think is part of the responsibility of creating awareness of the game and to generate in a respect a, I guess an acknowledgement that we exist, bowling definitely has taken a backseat in terms of the mainstream media sports. And so doing a do perfect video, throwing a ball out of a NASCAR whilst fun, it's, it's promoting the game and just letting everybody know, hey, we're still here. And I'm a part of it. And doing interviews like this, again, broadens that reach a little bit. To be very specific with what it's like to do. Dude Perfect and NASCAR in particular, the guys from did perfect are they're brilliant, brilliant guys. Very thoughtful.
• 50:20
  Jason Belmonte: Very funny. love what they do and their their craft is what you see it through their videos.
• 50:30
  Jason Belmonte: They truly love what they do.
• 50:30
  Jason Belmonte: throwing a ball out of a NASCAR was something I never thought I'd be I'd be doing in my life but going around the track with with Eric all Merola was just that to get in the seat and say, Yeah, John as fast as you want and just for him to smash that track. can go quick, was was thrilling enough, let alone holding a bowling ball in my lap and making that last turn saying, Are we good, and he gives me the thumbs up and then I throw the ball out the window trying to get a strike. You know, doing all of those things.
• 51:10
  Randall Kaplan: You say that again, because we we lost you for about 30 seconds, they're throwing the ball from a NASCAR car if you just pick it up there.
• 51:20
  Jason Belmonte: Yeah, and so, you know, Never did I think throwing a ball out of a NASCAR would be something that I was doing. But you know, in fact, just sitting in the car with with Eric Allen Merola. And saying to him, yeah, hit the track as hard as you might like, I love speed, you know, and letting him just flog this car around the track. And just that in itself was thrilling, that was exciting just to sit in the car, let alone have a bowling ball in my lap, seeing the pins on the road coming up him moving into position and kind of give him the thumbs up that it's good to go. And then throwing a ball out there to only then somehow throw it at the rights trajectory, hit the track at the right spot to get the strike.
• 52:02
  Jason Belmonte: That was an incredible moment.
• 52:02
  Jason Belmonte: That was an incorrect. And actually a little fun fact about that is right after we nailed that strike, the engine itself overheated. And the car was it was unavailable for us to use for the rest of the day. So it was like before, we didn't even know it. But it happened to be our last attempt before the car overheated. It was just one of those wild, you know, it was meant to be, you know, the universe was saying you're gonna get it now. Because the cars about to blow up.
• 52:33
  Randall Kaplan: We talked about mental preparation has been one of the most important factors in our success. You talk about something I call extreme preparation, preparing way more than anybody else, and how it's been important and a crucial element of your success. And give us some examples, please.
• 52:49
  Jason Belmonte: Yeah, experience is the first thing I would say that helps you understand what preparation really means. I think when you're when you're younger, you have the it's almost there's an arrogance to like, you know, I need to practice side, I need to worry about this thing. I'll just I'll rely on my natural natural talent. And so that realization that when it's not true, you have to, you have to be able to dedicate time into the preparation of art, where are you going? What are you doing?
• 53:20
  Jason Belmonte: Why didn't you do well, the last time you did this, and when you start to think of it like that, and you start to be honest with yourself. And I think that's probably a key, right, Randall is having an honest discussion with yourself as to the things that are causing you not to do as well as you possibly could, then you can start to rectify those things. But you know, you see it all the time, you see the boxer who thinks he's the, you know, he's the he's the best boxer ever that's ever, you know, stepped into a ring. And yet someone will say, but yeah, you know, you don't have the great defense. And he says, I'm the greatest defender there ever is in boxing, and then all of a sudden, he gets in the ring with someone who's faster and better than here. And the defense doesn't hold up and he gets knocked out. It's like, well, if you hadn't been honest with yourself, that there was improvement there, you might have been able to block that punch. But now you get, you know, smashed in the face, and you're on the canvas. So the same thing can be said about you know, pretty much everything else is if you know there's a weakness, then acknowledge it.
• 54:22
  Jason Belmonte: It's not shameful, everyone's human. We're not all perfect. So the goal is to figure out where you can improve and then and then dedicate time in doing that. And I think that's part of the preparation is the understanding of where you want to go. But what is required to get there, and What elements do you not have that is holding you back from getting that those those honest questions that need to be answered honestly, then need action after it to rectify it. So you can do all that. I think you've got a big chance of being successful.
• 55:01
  Randall Kaplan: Before we finish today, I want to go ahead and ask some more open ended questions. I call this part of my podcast fill in the blank to excellence. Are you ready to play far away? The biggest lesson I've learned in my life is love yourself. My number one professional goal is
• 55:19
  Jason Belmonte: I want to I want to leave a legacy that's impossible to catch.
• 55:25
  Randall Kaplan: My number one personal goal is
• 55:28
  Jason Belmonte: to incrementally become a better human being every day.
• 55:32
  Randall Kaplan: One of the things on your bucket list is to play a few games with Roger Federer. Are you going to achieve that goal at some point in your life?
• 55:43
  Jason Belmonte: Pretty much retired from tennis now so he's got more time on his hands. So there may be an opportunity now to be able to you know find him somewhere but So I'll leave that one to the universe to handle if they put us on the same path somewhere to be able to hit a tennis ball with him or ball a ball with him would be definitely a highlight.
• 56:05
  Randall Kaplan: Why not just pick up the phone and call them?
• 56:08
  Randall Kaplan: I am 99% confident he would ball or play around a tennis with you with you being the greatest bowler in history?
• 56:16
  Jason Belmonte: Yeah, you know, I might just start looking up the possible phone numbers of the world and just start dialing random random ones inside Hello?
• 56:22
  Jason Belmonte: Is this Roger Federer? No. Okay, scratch that number off the list and just keep going until eventually I hear Rogers voice and I go, Ah, I knew I'd finally get you. Roger, would you like to have a game of bowling with me? I don't have his number. I don't really have a way to contact him. But like I said, if the universe wants us to pair up at some point, we will.
• 56:44
  Randall Kaplan: Okay, you can call us management company agency. It's a public record.
• 56:47
  Randall Kaplan: And once we're off the show, I'm going to help you do that. If you could go back in time, the one piece of advice you'd give to your 21 year old self is,
• 56:59
  Jason Belmonte: is it's not always meant to be easy. So deal with the challenges except that that's part of life. And not expect not expect it to be easy because it shouldn't be.
• 57:13
  Randall Kaplan: If you give me one person in the world, who would it be? Other than Roger Federer.
• 57:18
  Jason Belmonte: If I could meet one person in the world? Yes.
• 57:27
  Jason Belmonte: This is a weird one. But I don't know. I actually don't know why this person more than any other person but Judge Judy Sheindlin.
• 57:34
  Jason Belmonte: I'm a huge fan of Judge Judy. I love her show. I think it's outrageous. And I just love the way that any interview I've ever seen of her. She seems like someone who is just oozing with wisdom. Like, the way she talks about things is not over. It's not over complex, complex. She really simplifies it. But boy, does she she has some great pieces of wisdom and she's hilarious. She's I'd love to just have dinner with her. That would be just a thrill.
• 58:11
  Randall Kaplan: Jason, this has been awesome. I greatly appreciate your time. You have a phenomenal story. I love bowling. I hope people will go out and play bowling. I hope the watch I hope will follow your career. And I really appreciate you being on my show. Thank you for doing In Search of Excellence today.
• 58:27
  Jason Belmonte: Randall no problem in the world. Thank you for hosting me and yeah, I'll continue to listen to other guests that you have on your podcast. It's a great podcasts are I'm enjoying what I'm learning through you and I again appreciate you having me on your show.