Latest / The Sean O'Connell Show / Cindy Ball-Malone on the Utah Talons, First season in Utah beginning next week, AUSL's growth + more

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Cindy Ball-Malone on the Utah Talons, First season in Utah beginning next week, AUSL's growth + more · The Sean O'Connell Show

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  Speaker 1: He is by Sean O'Connell show. You were home of
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  Speaker 1: the best inside of your hughes. Let's get back to
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  Speaker 1: OC from the Murdoch Chevrolet Studio of ESPN seven hundred
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  Speaker 1: and ninety two.
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  Speaker 2: To one a f am you, welcome back to the
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  Speaker 2: Sean O'Connell Show. Welcome to the start of our number
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  Speaker 2: two and welcome in Cindy Ball Malone, Utah Talons head coach,
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  Speaker 2: the defending champion Utah Talents in another campaign in the
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  Speaker 2: Athletes Unlimited Softball League opening day Tuesday, June ninth against
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  Speaker 2: the Chicago Bandits at the University of Utah Dumkey Family Stadium.
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  Speaker 3: Coach, thanks for giving us some time today. Welcome to
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  Speaker 3: the show. How are you.
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  Speaker 4: I'm doing great, Thanks for having me.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to start off with the most important thing here.
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  Speaker 2: We have to address the elephant in the bear in
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  Speaker 2: the room. In the room, your nickname is Coach Bear.
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  Speaker 2: Andre Tourney, the head coach of the Utah Mammoth, is
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  Speaker 2: affectionately referred to as Coach Bear. Is this town big
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  Speaker 2: enough for two Bears?
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  Speaker 4: Well it better be right. We've got to make that happen.
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  Speaker 4: But I do think we've got to have some type
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  Speaker 4: of face off. I don't know. I don't know if
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  Speaker 4: this Bear here has been on ice, but you know,
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  Speaker 4: we'll see.
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  Speaker 3: Oh that's awesome.
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  Speaker 2: We got to get you guys together and I don't know,
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  Speaker 2: said get all the Utah Mammoth out for opening day
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  Speaker 2: or something.
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  Speaker 3: Let's talk about by the way, coach Bear.
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  Speaker 2: This coach Bear also the head coach of UCF softball,
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  Speaker 2: So we'll talk about that a little bit in just
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  Speaker 2: a second. Utah Talents, like I already mentioned, your season
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  Speaker 2: begins in just a couple of weeks. We had Hannah
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  Speaker 2: flipping on about half an hour ago and she told
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  Speaker 2: us that, you know, you're about to embark on this
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  Speaker 2: kind of condensed training camp. What are your expectations for
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  Speaker 2: the uh the sprint you're about to begin and athletes unlimited?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean really I'm looking forward to just getting
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  Speaker 4: with them, starting to build relationships with some of the
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  Speaker 4: athletes that I haven't had, you know, prior relationships with
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  Speaker 4: with if it was USA softball or just through college
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  Speaker 4: and recruiting. So that's really my biggest expectation is building
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  Speaker 4: those relationships, finding out what they need. They're highly talented,
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  Speaker 4: as you know, like you said, reigning chants, and all
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  Speaker 4: they've talked about is their eyes are set for another one.
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  Speaker 4: So it's it's just awesome to have such driven women,
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  Speaker 4: you know, doing their thing on their own for a
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  Speaker 4: matter of months and now they get to bring it
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  Speaker 4: to the table and be together, so that that's I
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  Speaker 4: think it's just all good stuff that we're expecting.
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  Speaker 2: I'm trying to figure out the right way to phrase
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  Speaker 2: this question because in an emerging league, right, in a
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  Speaker 2: sport that has a long established tradition in the collegiate
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  Speaker 2: ranks but has not really until now hopefully found traction
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  Speaker 2: as a professional league, and you've been part of a
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  Speaker 2: lot of these efforts in the past.
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  Speaker 3: How comfortable are you?
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  Speaker 2: How much do you like, you know, not only the
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  Speaker 2: ball itself, but like maybe being an evangelist for the
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  Speaker 2: sport and like trying to help sell this new league.
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  Speaker 2: I've been through some of this myself in my own
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  Speaker 2: career in a different sport, and it's not easy, right,
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  Speaker 2: It's a there's some heavy lifting to be done, and
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  Speaker 2: sometimes you just want to focus on competition and in
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  Speaker 2: your case, on softball. But I don't want to put
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  Speaker 2: words in your mouth, So is this a role you relish.
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  Speaker 4: Oh absolutely, I mean, first and foremost to even have this,
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  Speaker 4: you know, opportunity is such an honor, not only with
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  Speaker 4: a great league and a great leader in kimming and
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  Speaker 4: then my GM an our GM Lisa for I mean,
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  Speaker 4: it's you know, I am definitely pinching myself and I
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  Speaker 4: and just like how this has all come about, and
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  Speaker 4: when I look at our roster when I got this opportunity,
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  Speaker 4: and I looked at the roster and I'm like, I've
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  Speaker 4: been on the field either you know, on the same
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  Speaker 4: team or against more than ninety percent of this roster.
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  Speaker 4: And so to be able to be a part of
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  Speaker 4: it is and to have a little piece of it
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  Speaker 4: is so amazing. But I have to really go to
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  Speaker 4: the leadership of the league and everybody that just the
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  Speaker 4: driving force of it. I mean, I can't take much credit.
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  Speaker 4: They're just going to allow me to play a small
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  Speaker 4: role in it. And I just couldn't be more excited
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  Speaker 4: for that. And what you talk about how fast this
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  Speaker 4: league is moving and how how quickly they're doing it
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  Speaker 4: in such a great manner is I mean, it's incredible
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  Speaker 4: to watch it and so to be able to help
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  Speaker 4: it along and be a part of it is again
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  Speaker 4: I'm truly honored, and I think, you know, to be
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  Speaker 4: able to say I do something that I love, I
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  Speaker 4: truly love every day and now this Wow, blessed are
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  Speaker 4: the words that I have.
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  Speaker 2: The obvious comparisons when you look at, you know, what
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  Speaker 2: this league is trying to do, you go to what
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  Speaker 2: the WNBA is doing right now and how prominent they
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  Speaker 2: are on you know, major sports networks, and how those
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  Speaker 2: athletes have established real followings inside and outside of basketball.
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  Speaker 2: The soccer NWSL is thriving, and obviously our national team
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  Speaker 2: in women's soccer has always been incredibly popular. Hockey and
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  Speaker 2: softball now coming along and trying to maybe capture some
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  Speaker 2: of this momentum.
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  Speaker 3: How do you do it?
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  Speaker 2: How do you make sure that you know the growth
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  Speaker 2: is there the same way that it took the WNBA
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  Speaker 2: like thirty years to get to where they're at right now.
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  Speaker 2: So maybe the early stages for athletes unlimited, but how
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  Speaker 2: do you follow that at that?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, again, I'm going to say I I can't I
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  Speaker 4: can't say that I'm in the the room making those decisions,
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  Speaker 4: but I think it's just really listening to those leaders
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  Speaker 4: that understand how to push this thing faster, and you know,
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  Speaker 4: just as much as those other sports and leagues have done,
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  Speaker 4: but we're going to do it on a more accelerated pace.
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  Speaker 4: And you know, what better person to drive us than
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  Speaker 4: who who's in charge of us? And and I think
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  Speaker 4: that that whole group of advisors is just doing such
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  Speaker 4: a great job of paying attention to the details what's important.
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  Speaker 4: And I think the other thing, too, is just how
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  Speaker 4: incredibly amazing they they take care of these athletes, because
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  Speaker 4: that's so important, right and and people love to watch them.
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  Speaker 4: They are great at what they do. It's exciting, and
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  Speaker 4: you know they're they're getting to reap the benefits of
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  Speaker 4: the products they put on the field. So I just
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  Speaker 4: again I think the whole infrastructure around it. Again, I'm
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  Speaker 4: just going to work on the curve balls and the
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  Speaker 4: changeups and all of those pieces and just helping along
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  Speaker 4: some of these athletes. But the infrastructure around it is
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  Speaker 4: the people that are building this. Just truly love not
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  Speaker 4: only the game, but the people in it and the
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  Speaker 4: idea and the process. And to see how fast it's building,
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  Speaker 4: the word I have is incredible. It takes my breath
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  Speaker 4: away to see it because I did play in a
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  Speaker 4: league many years ago where I felt like I was
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  Speaker 4: paying to play, and I think a lot of athletes
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  Speaker 4: can say that. So it's a long time coming, but
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  Speaker 4: that you know, they're putting it to work really quickly.
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  Speaker 4: And I appreciate you acknowledging that too, because it is
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  Speaker 4: hard work.
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  Speaker 2: Coach Bair not the one you're used to, Cindy Baum alone.
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  Speaker 2: You take town Llan's head coach, who was also affectionately
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  Speaker 2: referred to as Coach Bear is our guest here on
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  Speaker 2: the Sean O'Connell show, So you already kind of alluded
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  Speaker 2: to this. You look at the roster, you look at
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  Speaker 2: what's available to you with this Utah talent squad, and
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  Speaker 2: you're going to have to, you know, kind of cobble
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  Speaker 2: it together quickly because it's a very condensed training schedule
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  Speaker 2: and then a very condensed actual competition schedule. What are
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  Speaker 2: the I don't know, benefits and challenges of that sprint?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I think, you know, getting right into the games
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  Speaker 4: is so important because we have a squad full of
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  Speaker 4: just competitors and winners. And I know every coach can
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  Speaker 4: say that, but I've seen handily seen it on the
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  Speaker 4: field of or I've seen it with my own eyes
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  Speaker 4: of you know, the women on this roster, they want
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  Speaker 4: to be out there, they want to compete, they want
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  Speaker 4: to keep driving this game as well, and they have
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  Speaker 4: been training hard. You know, though we may not be
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  Speaker 4: in the same spot, like, there's been a lot of communication,
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  Speaker 4: you know, a lot of building up where they want
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  Speaker 4: to be and and just having their their process of
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  Speaker 4: where they're going. And again, the best, the best person
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  Speaker 4: to be in charge of all of that is our GM,
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  Speaker 4: Lisa Fernandez. So she I mean, if you if you
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  Speaker 4: look at her track record and Utah gets to know
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  Speaker 4: it really well because she's amazing. She's she is the
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  Speaker 4: founder of our sport, and she thinks of every detail
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  Speaker 4: and just loves this game so much and wants to
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  Speaker 4: build it up along with the people in it. So
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  Speaker 4: I think that's the exciting part, and the challenges of
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  Speaker 4: us not being together, that's going to be the fun
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  Speaker 4: part because we actually get to play as a squad together.
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  Speaker 2: You're in a very unique position, uh as far as
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  Speaker 2: pro sports go, because you're also a college coach. So
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  Speaker 2: the pipeline of talent that comes into athletes unlimited softball
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  Speaker 2: is for the most part, correct me if I'm wrong,
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  Speaker 2: is going to come from you know, college softball, and
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  Speaker 2: is going to come from the domestic college softball pool
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  Speaker 2: that we've got. And you're at UCF and when we're
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  Speaker 2: we're talking about that pipeline, and you know, you get
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  Speaker 2: to see kind of both ends of this is what
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  Speaker 2: the professional product is supposed to be and looks like,
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  Speaker 2: and this is what the next wave might look like.
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  Speaker 2: How does one feed the other in your mind? How
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  Speaker 2: does what's happening right now in college softball prepare these
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  Speaker 2: athletes to take this league to the next level.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I think it's a really unique situation
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  Speaker 4: because you don't see that happening, you know, across the
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  Speaker 4: board in all sports. And you know, people when we
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  Speaker 4: announced here that I was going to be a part
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  Speaker 4: of the Talents, I had so many people reach out
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  Speaker 4: like we're going to miss you so much, and like
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  Speaker 4: I'm not going anywhere. You know, they did this right.
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  Speaker 4: They made it to where we can incorporate both of
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  Speaker 4: them and it doesn't affect our seasons. And if you
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  Speaker 4: have a well established staff at the university that you're at,
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  Speaker 4: it allows you to go and help build the game.
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  Speaker 4: But I'm telling you, in just the conversations with the athletes,
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  Speaker 4: with the staff, with the coaches, it has built up
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  Speaker 4: our brand here in Orlando at UCS. And so I
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  Speaker 4: mean that's that's a big part of it is you know,
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  Speaker 4: you're getting to see the athletes that you might be
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  Speaker 4: coaching or facing, and you know, just the conversations, Like
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  Speaker 4: I have athletes on our team and like we they
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  Speaker 4: they aspire to go out and be a professional athlete.
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  Speaker 4: And so now I get to have those conversations of well,
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  Speaker 4: this is what it looks like every day over the summer.
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  Speaker 4: And so I think it's you know again, I think
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  Speaker 4: it helps both. I think it's going to help me
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  Speaker 4: build as a as a person and as a coach
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  Speaker 4: as well. And this sport brought so much into my
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  Speaker 4: life and has brought me to a point that I
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  Speaker 4: never imagined having a career in this sport and doing
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  Speaker 4: as well as we're doing when you first, you know,
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  Speaker 4: pick up the ball. And so now to be able
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  Speaker 4: to be in this moment and be able to give
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  Speaker 4: back and really set the you know, set the path
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  Speaker 4: for the people that are going to come after us,
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  Speaker 4: is I feel really proud to be a part of that.
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  Speaker 2: You'll have to forgive the novice question here, because like
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  Speaker 2: I enjoy watching college softball, I have not watched a
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  Speaker 2: lot of pro softball. Are the games different in any
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  Speaker 2: measurable way?
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  Speaker 4: I mean, they're probably just going to play a little
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  Speaker 4: bit quicker, I guess to say. But I mean you're
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  Speaker 4: going to see like elite dominant pitching and that that's
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  Speaker 4: just you know, there's the best of the best pitchers
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  Speaker 4: are going to be in this league. So I would
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  Speaker 4: say that across the board, very consistent, and then it's
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  Speaker 4: it's going to be similar, not always too but like
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  Speaker 4: I'm this is my first year in it, and so
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  Speaker 4: I'm I make come back and answer that question, you know,
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  Speaker 4: next year and say, wow, I really blew that question.
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  Speaker 4: I had so many other things that could have said,
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  Speaker 4: but I think really the big thing is continuing to
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  Speaker 4: show that, you know, it is a game, it's a
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  Speaker 4: part of the competition and winning, but the entertainment of
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  Speaker 4: this game is unreal. I mean, what these women can
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  Speaker 4: do on the field is it's no different. And I
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  Speaker 4: think that that's what's really important, and we need to
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  Speaker 4: start continuing to get out there is you know, people ask, well,
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  Speaker 4: how do you coach women, Well, we just coach athletes.
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  Speaker 4: The women can do just as many things as those
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  Speaker 4: men can do. Maybe maybe they don't lift as much,
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  Speaker 4: and you know, their speed is a little different, you know, comparable,
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  Speaker 4: but I mean it's still is it's an entertainment that
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  Speaker 4: very hard to replicate, and so that's I would say,
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  Speaker 4: it's just at the best level, the most elite level,
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  Speaker 4: and you have more more mature maturity when it comes
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  Speaker 4: to the mental performance piece, so you're probably seeing less
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  Speaker 4: uhhs during the game as you would in maybe college.
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  Speaker 4: And I think that it goes true to you know,
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  Speaker 4: they're hitting their peak physical performance at the age that
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  Speaker 4: they're in when they are in the league, and so
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  Speaker 4: it's exciting to be able to have the opportunities for
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  Speaker 4: these athletes at the time where they're at playing their
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  Speaker 4: best softball.
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  Speaker 3: Did you have Utah connections before taking this job.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, I have lots of friends. The head coach
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  Speaker 4: there at Utah is somebody I've always been connected with
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  Speaker 4: and whatnot, But I mean no, not other than that
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  Speaker 4: the coaches at Utah and I did coach at Boise
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  Speaker 4: State for a short time, so I know that area.
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  Speaker 4: But it just kind of all wound up, you know,
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  Speaker 4: connecting together when you were at.
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  Speaker 3: The University of your Pacific right.
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  Speaker 4: As an athlete and a coach for a little bit.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah right, didn't you overlap with Lynn Roberts? Do you
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  Speaker 3: know Lynn Roberts at all?
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  Speaker 1: The name?
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  Speaker 4: Yes? Okay, but not yeah, not didn't over but I
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  Speaker 4: do know the name.
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  Speaker 2: It just it's a you know, you look at your background.
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  Speaker 2: It's like, I wonder if they because she was a
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  Speaker 2: great coach here before moving on into the w NBA,
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  Speaker 2: and I don't know, you know, athlete circles are sometimes small,
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  Speaker 2: but depending on how big an athletic department is, like,
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  Speaker 2: there's not always a ton of crossover anyway, just wondered, Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I think that I miss I miss Lynn by a
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  Speaker 4: couple of years, if I'm not mistaken with the timing
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  Speaker 4: of things.
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  Speaker 3: Okay, that's so.
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  Speaker 4: I just know by you know, being a proud alum
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  Speaker 4: and reading about the different sports and everything.
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  Speaker 2: The Dunky Family Stadium is a really cool facility, one
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: of the many upgrades that the University of Utah athletic
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: program has made on campus. And you know, they got
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: that thing done a long time before the baseball team
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: got there done, but similar views, similar kind of backdrop,
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  Speaker 2: a wonderful place to come out and watch a game.
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  Speaker 2: So I hope that you guys get the A tendency deserve.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to do our best to help in that
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  Speaker 2: effort because I'm a dad of three daughters and I
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  Speaker 2: should be bringing them out to games, and I want
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that women's sports are really thriving by
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  Speaker 2: the time they get old enough to be participating them themselves.
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  Speaker 3: So we look forward to seeing.
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  Speaker 2: You June ninth, and then beyond good luck with everything until.
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  Speaker 4: Then, Thank you, I appreciate it.
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  Speaker 3: That is Coach Bear.
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: Cindy ball Malone is the head coach of the Utah Talons,
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: the newest professional franchise in the state of Utah, the
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: defending champs in Athletes unlimited Softball