Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #191: Kibwe Johnson-Spire Institute

Transcript

#191: Kibwe Johnson-Spire Institute · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:10
  Track and field coach, the ones that point
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  people most every season. He's the voice of reason.
• 0:27
  Speaking, the growth gotta prep for you carry the load.
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  Talk to the stove. For those of us, stay on the go
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  pop, the handle, staying in the zone.
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  What you packing for the role is more than one way to go taking
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  those tests. And you told it ain't practice
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  it before it became clear. You can't happen to you.
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  Listen with both ears, can't Mentor, without a mentor, kids
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  of experience, you can reinvent those kids.
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  Every plans got to stand and deliver in the price sacrifice,
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  can you give up Hugh its choice and to fight not to win or lose?
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  It's not a boy, but if I see, y'all can make more movies, not
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  about how to All about why you don't know what you're you know
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  who you are inside. Six, many ways to die.
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  every track coach could be blessed.
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  Hey, welcome back to the Gila FedEx connections podcast, man,
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  we are so glad that you're here. This is the show that you know,
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  our goal is to uplift and honor coaches from around the world.
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  And recently before we get started, here we received
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  another review on Apple podcast and you know feedback I hear
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  feedback around the country every time I go to a track meet
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  or track Clinic us tfcc a literally hundreds of people
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  come up to me telling me about their interactions are positive
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  interactions of the And that means really the absolute world
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  to me and to Gil Athletics. Every once in a while, we'll get
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  someone who will write an actual review, put their name on here.
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  So I just want to read that out. I like to read all of our
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  reviews online here on our podcast.
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  So this one comes from D Davis, ex ETF Saudi Davis ex ETF
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  writes, great podcast, highlighting our stories as
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  track and field and cross country coaches.
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  It's awesome to hear other coaches stories and see how
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  similar. So many of our experiences are
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  as coaches but also hear those differences in our Ads.
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  It's uplifting to know so many of us are in similar Journeys
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  together. So thank you, Judy Davis, ex ETF
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  man. I really do appreciate that.
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  And if you leave a review, eventually, I'll remember to
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  read it on the, on the air, on the podcast here as well.
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  So thinking about those highlights of coaching stories
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  and how similar and how. So I'll hit unique those pads
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  aren't. We're going to find really a
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  super unique one. Today, I'm excited to bring to
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  you from this fire academy up in Ohio, the wise the wonderful mr.
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  Keyblade Johnson giveaway, hauh Are you sir?
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  I'm doing really well. Thanks for having me.
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  Hi. Now, if you're watching on
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  YouTube and this is going to be after the game.
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  So I expect lots of comments, one way or the other, you'll see
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  that he's wearing a Georgia sweatshirt.
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  There he goes. He's making sure he represents
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  the Bulldogs. So we'll know because tonight is
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  that we're actually recording this on the day of the night of
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  the game. So I'm going to ask just a real
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  dump. Softball question.
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  Can wait, who do you got him by? How much?
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  Dogs by 17 by 7 T. The line is like, last I saw
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  when I first came, I was like 13 and a half which I thought that
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  was a lot of points, man. Tcu's playing good.
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  Yeah, they are II go with Kirby man.
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  Like it's coming off of a quote bad performance since he's been
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  there. They've never did never done it
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  twice. So I'm gonna do on that fat.
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  He is one of those coaches that I think adapts really well.
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  Like you may get him one time but it's hard to get him twice.
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  Kind of kind of coach and his staff that he has there.
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  So, it will be a heck of a game. I was just excited that it was
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  the frogs and dogs, but I haven't seen that, like, like
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  mentioned a lot. Like I thought, that'd be the
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  whole campaign. Your marketing came in campaign
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  would be frogs and dogs and I haven't seen it.
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  So write a spell out the same way too, but awf, either way,
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  you could either do you know the traditional dog or a dog?
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  And then frog, right exactly, right.
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  Yeah. Hey, I did see a stat that
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  because the games in California, right?
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  That something like what was the Number some, huge percentage of
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  tickets were bought from Texas and specifically the Dallas and
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  Fort Worth are. I think it's going to be?
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  I mean, dogs dogs travel really well though, but I think it's
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  going to be a lot of purple and the stadium tonight.
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  Yeah, purple and white. But you got Bulldogs by 17:17,
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  you know, I never even liked thought about that.
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  So the the on the spot question I appreciate that and we'll see
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  how good a time as can be All right, well, we're going to find
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  out. I love.
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  It's going to be fun. I'm in there.
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  I'm a huge college football fans.
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  I'm I know where I'm going to be 7:00 my time.
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  That's for sure. So, keep wait.
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  Let's talk about you though. And obviously, Bulldogs are
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  going to play a big part of your story.
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  You have a unique aspect of a fairly long professional career
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  as a hammer thrower. And then, in this new role and
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  roles as director and educator and Coach, let's start kind of
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  give us a. Let's not go. 30,000 feet, but
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  let's not stay in the ground. Give us like a 15 kind of right
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  in the middle. Give us an overview of your
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  athletic career and some of the stops and locations that you've
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  had in that that amazing career as a lot of fun to watch you by
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  the way. Thanks.
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  Well I thought it career was fun and it had it had some chapter
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  so anyone familiar you know there was there was discus throw
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  there was hammer throw a way through.
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  Justice was the first love and Hammer ended up kind of picking
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  up steam. As I got into junior colleges,
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  I'm sure we'll talk about a tiny bit where, when I graduated from
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  there. It became a, my picking
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  football, or my going to pick continuing with track and field
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  and specifically hammer. And so, end up going hammer and
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  going with Judd and kind of never really looked back.
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  And then after our period with Judd there, and then we went to
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  darker, be dr. Bronner Chuck, who at the time
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  was living in Kim's, British Columbia. yeah, and he's
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  credited as statistically, the very best throws coach in the
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  history opinions vary but that's what ever, you know, but it's
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  statistically speaking, there's it's no contest and I think over
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  all those years, the one thread that kind of brings it all
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  together was my interest and improving myself in doing and
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  getting the most out of me. Knowing that that almost every
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  stop that there was more and there and I hadn't quite reach a
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  potential. Yeah.
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  And so as each, you know, it's through each level.
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  That's that's exactly what I did personally and, you know, pretty
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  proud of that has at least some athletic career.
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  Did you have that drive in high school as well?
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  And if so, how did that influence, where you chose the
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  next step? Because you I told her that you
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  and jr. At first, I did forget that
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  part, second second. Yeah, I started at Georgia,
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  started Georgia and what Junior College go to more parties in
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  college. Yeah, okay.
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  And then to Ashland correct. Yeah.
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  Okay. So, did you have that drive that
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  you talked about? You didn't say, you had a drive
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  to set the world record to throw a certain Mark, Etc, the drive
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  was to improve myself. Did you have that coming out of
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  high school and is that why you initially chose Georgia?
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  I think to a certain degree. Yes I don't think it had been
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  totally fleshed out like that. Honestly didn't really come
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  until later in life like probably after I was already a
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  father kind of thing various reasons.
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  Yeah, I mean, yeah, not too much later.
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  Like, I think initially part of the drive was.
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  Yes, I want to prove myself but also to just flat-out be an
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  Olympian. And so in that had been kind of
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  instilled in me for, since I was young, fun fact about me and my
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  family. My grandparents, until these
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  last Olympic Games had been to every Summer Olympic Games since
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  76, except for one. Wow.
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  And so, right? And so every four years, Like
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  the Olympic Games is, is it in my house, from from, you know,
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  from a from a young age, what was their love of the Olympic
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  Games? Was it track and field where
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  they track after? I don't know, maybe track was it
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  the draw for them, but what was their draw to do this, for every
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  Olympic Games? It was specifically track and
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  field, but they would also, you know, I mean, they would but
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  I'll also be Olympic Games as an event and something that
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  probably every human should do wants in life.
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  And so you had a Bend toward track from early life.
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  I mean, they're going to the Olympics there, bring it back
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  anymore, be Leah, they're talking about, all I met
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  so-and-so and you were like, oh, I kind of want to do that too.
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  All right, memorabilia and visiting places all around the
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  world. Yeah, anyway, so, you know,
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  naturally, young kid, I don't know what a hammer is, like, my
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  microphone. I was talking about being an
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  Olympian, I was talking about being a sprinter, that's where I
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  was for a number of years. Yeah.
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  When did that change? When did you realize that that
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  was going to have eight grade? Okay, I had that something going
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  on, hit point there or something, right?
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  I couldn't, I couldn't get the truck that Sprint workout in
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  that day and the coach basically say, why me, you're not going
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  home. So like let's do something and
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  something that he made me do was walk a mile with like a 45-pound
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  plate. I think you think it was like,
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  like, I was in trouble or something.
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  I was, yeah, yeah. Ended up walking by like the
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  throwers and The guy was like, hey you want to try my not
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  really? And I I think I said no wanted,
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  then came back around again and he asked again to his credit I
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  was out of a fine and it was my it was shot, my throat was
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  farther than kids, he was coaching at the time when the
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  old Sandro and I he's like, did I?
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  You know it? Okay.
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  Anyway, they were Off to the Races.
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  This is eighth grade that that's quite amazing.
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  Do you remember that coach's name?
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  Oh, that's think about that one. Yeah, I mean, you know, I have
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  this belief that we're all put on this Earth for something and
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  but not all of us, find that something we all go to do
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  something good and great in our lives and careers, but every
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  once in awhile, it lines up that someone does exactly what they
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  were put on Earth to do and not specifically knowing what we
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  know it was a shotput specifically for you but
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  throwing might have been your one thing like, okay giveaway is
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  going to be an amazing thrower when he's on earth, right?
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  That coach could have could have not asked that coach, could have
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  not asked twice to your point, you know, he could be like,
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  okay, well, you know, I asked him.
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  He said no, look, he's a, he's a sprinter.
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  Let's move on. Yeah, he's his friend.
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  Yeah. And to your credit, you said,
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  okay? Yeah let's let's give it a try
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  and what that Ami what a small you know, it seems very innocent
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  big deal at the time and look what it led to.
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  I mean that is quite a little second question from that coach
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  man. Yeah, no, it really was.
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  And it was something at some point a bit later.
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  I did end up tracking him down and because this, right?
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  Because the eighth grade for me, right?
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  So right. Social media and being able to
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  just pick up a phone and have people up anyway.
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  I didn't of tracking down and like, you know, saying, thank
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  you, kind of thing. And yeah, set the trajectory a
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  little bit. That's amazing.
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  So did you, was it an immediate fall in love?
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  I mean, you want to be a sprinter.
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  You knew about Olympics that he had to have some kind of love
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  and passion for sprinting. When you picked up that shot and
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  started throwing around, Maybe even The discus was there an
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  immediate like oh wait a minute. Like this is fine.
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  I could this I can see myself doing this to be honest.
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  I don't know if I'd call it an immediate love but it was
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  definitely an immediate like this is fun kind of thing and it
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  didn't help that like yes I was I was I was quite good just
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  picking the thing up. You know what I mean?
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  From there it turned into well how do I do it in a way that
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  looks like I know what I'm doing.
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  Which The the rest of the majority of my career.
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  Yeah. That's why that just kept going.
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  Right. Exactly what how did you fare?
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  So that was eighth grade. When you said you were good,
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  there's one thing about being good at your school or even
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  maybe your conference league and then there's, you know, as
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  you've gone on to become you know good in your country and
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  the world things like that how quickly did you ascend into?
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  Like one of the state's best, our high schools best, had that
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  kind of progression go and the throws for you.
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  So, I was so and this is Aurora, Colorado, 8th, and 9th grade.
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  I was there and then I, then I moved to Georgia for tenth
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  grade. So basically, I think I remember
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  making like a ninth grade kind of County sort of me but tenth
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  grade for sure. Pretty sure I made State
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  eyeshadow. Think I did.
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  And then but to answer the question of my junior senior
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  year, like back to that state and back-to-back County and all
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  that stuff. And I'm fun.
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  Here's I was third in the hundred meter and one shot desk
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  and right. Yeah.
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  And there were I think was my junior year actually senior
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  year. We had, we had some fast kids
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  Anyway in the reporter is like he's talking to me and he's
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  talking about like how awesome it is to, you know, to win shot
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  and disc. But he noticed that like my
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  demeanor and tone was just like, like, just kind of frustrated or
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  whatever and he's like, you know, what's going on?
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  Like I got, I got 1,300, I totally didn't really mean to
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  come off that way, but that's kind of what it was like, you
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  know, like, yes, I won those two and if I remember the
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  performances were fine, but I was I was after I think I'd like
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  a specific Mark that in the hundred meter that didn't come.
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  So now let's make a lot of people feel bad here.
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  How fast were you? Running this hundred, are you
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  running some 11 or yeah, I had I think I only have one set of 11.
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  Which means like you know, my average is probably you know,
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  1102 11, 11 ish like I think everyone but you know I'll frame
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  that with. I also didn't practice.
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  Yeah. Sure.
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  By the time like throwing kind of took over especially in my my
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  days at Georgia like I would work on blocks a couple times.
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  But I would, I would pretty much just throw to my arm got tired
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  and then and then maybe trying maybe try to do a little
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  printing. Do the blocks like, okay, I
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  remember how the blocks. Set.
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  Yeah, so, coming out of high school, you're high school in
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  Georgia's where you graduate from.
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  This is not as dumb of a question as it seems, although
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  it is a pretty good softball question for you.
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  Why Georgia So at that time, Georgia had not at that time I
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  guess. But prior to me arriving and
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  then obviously since then we've done with Coach Don Babbitt
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  Georgia had a really great throwing program and of course
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  by that time I had some hopes that because I play football to
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  that football, might play a role.
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  And I have had some books. I had the power 5.
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  I didn't have very much action but like basically, everywhere
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  else it was fine. It was like well, do I really
• 16:26
  want to play football at bad or do I want to try to walk on
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  somewhere that I go for track? And the other part of that story
• 16:39
  is my closest and my mom's sister.
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  She worked for. She was the head executive
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  assistant for the UCLA football coach for like, by the time she
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  retired it was probably about 40 years.
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  Oh wow, right. So My dream coming out.
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  Like, from the time I was young was to go to UCLA and part of
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  that was like, you know, try to get a little like family deal
• 17:11
  and also useless that great Athletics and also sell a, you
• 17:14
  know what I mean? And It just it just didn't walk.
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  Okay and then Senior Year, I go out for Arcadia, invitation on.
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  That was my first kind of like outside of Georgia competition
• 17:30
  where and I remember it was on diced and they did a whole ride
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  up and it's like who's this mystery guy from Georgia, you
• 17:35
  know? And this is part of me going to
• 17:37
  Arcadia and so when I got there it was there was there was just
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  a whole lot of energy about it which is really cool.
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  I don't really know any better and Ended up taking s actually
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  to Lucas McKay is now one of my best friends.
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  Get out. That's awesome.
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  That's, that's when I first met him and his dad and all those
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  guys got second with us. He's actually that throw there
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  was my PR in high school. And during that trip, I went on
• 18:10
  an unofficial visit and saw our kind of hung out.
• 18:14
  And he was like, you know what, like we'd love to have you, you
• 18:18
  know, I think you have some money tied up in some other
• 18:20
  athletes and and he's like but like it could be an idiot to
• 18:24
  leave George. I'm like yeah you're right I
• 18:25
  just wanted to go with like anyway.
• 18:28
  So from that point on it was like it was pretty easy.
• 18:30
  There were still a couple of schools but I kind of made it
• 18:32
  clear that I think Georgia was what it was going to be.
• 18:38
  Strongly advised not to walk onto the football team.
• 18:40
  So I decided to do that and have that scholarship and had a lot
• 18:46
  of fun. What year did you graduate?
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  High school? 9999.
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  Okay, trying to think where because so, I graduated a few
• 18:54
  years earlier in these are just trying to think where, you know,
• 18:57
  kind of where my journey was for track and who I knew and of
• 18:59
  course, you know your talk about 99 for UCLA, still in its Heyday
• 19:03
  with art Venegas as far as who they were having throw for them.
• 19:06
  And It was a Powerhouse at that point.
• 19:11
  I don't know, weird on Babbitt was in his career.
• 19:13
  I've always known as Don is being just a, you know, a
• 19:15
  genius. I'm he's that's why I said it's
• 19:17
  kind of a duck questions. Like of course, you went down
• 19:18
  badly. You could have done a lot worse,
• 19:20
  that's for sure. But I do remember was he like
• 19:24
  where was Reese Hoffa and him coaching?
• 19:25
  You know, like where was that? Was just getting a Georgia or
• 19:29
  what that was. I think Kris had one more
• 19:33
  seasoned senior season when I showed up so that this was the
• 19:37
  Heyday when rho is there. Adam was there, there was there,
• 19:41
  Jason Thomas was there, you know, and I came into that on
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  just was there the hammer thrower like it was it was it
• 19:49
  was pretty badass. Yeah.
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  Yeah. Like I said it could be a lot
• 19:54
  worse places that's for sure. So glad that football didn't win
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  over, I mean, you know, things could be a lot different right
• 20:00
  now. What did you, you know, you're
• 20:02
  Overly tall. What position did you play on
• 20:05
  thinking running back, just because you got the Sprint
• 20:07
  speed, along with the strength and Agility, strong safety.
• 20:13
  Really, what I tell people is I was like the big fast, strong
• 20:19
  safety before Sean. Taylor Made it like really cool
• 20:23
  before the go over the NFL. Dude, I just enforce on Taylor,
• 20:29
  you know, rest in peace. Use.
• 20:30
  Yeah, amazing. But yeah, that was that was kind
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  of my position. And then in junior college so in
• 20:37
  high school it was it was what was still strong safety.
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  And then like I did a little running back there.
• 20:43
  Yeah. That's why I'm gone.
• 20:45
  Yeah, I can imagine you as a SATA.
• 20:47
  Oh my gosh. Returns for touchdowns like my
• 20:51
  senior are like pretty crazy. That's awesome.
• 20:54
  It's awesome. So you go to Georgia Oh, is that
• 20:56
  the first introduction for The Hammer For You?
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  Yes. Like kind of yes.
• 21:03
  And no. So my senior year is probably
• 21:06
  like a month before graduating. I ended up going down to compete
• 21:10
  at in Marietta at Mike's place when judge and if you know my
• 21:16
  judge you're probably like you probably know exactly what he
• 21:20
  would do. You ask about the hammer you
• 21:21
  once wasn't Aaron. So you have, you have to throw
• 21:23
  the hammer? Yeah, there's no there's no
• 21:24
  there's no ask. Its you are throwing the hammer.
• 21:27
  Yeah. And it was kind of sad.
• 21:29
  That is similar to the coaching and Colorado.
• 21:32
  Are I'm like, hmm. I really like I'm, you know, I'm
• 21:35
  here to throw a discus and whatever, not really know how to
• 21:37
  circumstances played out either. I did compete and then, through,
• 21:40
  or competed in, didn't like my performance.
• 21:43
  And then through just take some aggression on kind of thing.
• 21:45
  Anyway, so kind of throwing hated it completely hated it and
• 21:53
  then that was that. Yeah.
• 21:54
  So because it was so different than I mean, course, shotton and
• 21:57
  disc is her completely different.
• 21:58
  What the hated part probably, you know, it's like I think it's
• 22:05
  something that you find. Reasonably often at the college
• 22:10
  ranks is you have someone who's, you know, pretty good athlete.
• 22:15
  I'm okay saying that about myself and then you give them a
• 22:18
  hammer and being a really good athlete and Hammer don't always
• 22:21
  mix be kind of like he got to be a hammer thrower, it's just kind
• 22:25
  of that simple and so that thing kind of threw me around.
• 22:33
  Knowing that like there isn't really that many things in my
• 22:37
  life, but I just haven't been able to do or like enforce my
• 22:40
  will upon, you know. And that is a bit of a
• 22:44
  Difference Maker in the event. That's an interesting spot right
• 22:49
  there to fast-forward a little bit because what you just stayed
• 22:52
  there about imposing your will on the on the event and the
• 22:56
  Implement very much contrast to you and your what I'm going to
• 23:00
  call your attitude today about the Amer just based on your
• 23:04
  social media post and the way you don't even say.
• 23:07
  The way you talk about the hammer, the way you philosophize
• 23:10
  about the hammer. So it's interesting that you
• 23:12
  said there so and for the sake of time, let's do a fast
• 23:15
  forward, so you go to Georgia. You actually end your collegiate
• 23:18
  career at Ashland University, correct?
• 23:21
  Yes. With the great Jed, Logan Gillis
• 23:24
  latex connection Alum and one of the judges, the best people in
• 23:27
  the world. How did that time being with
• 23:30
  such a special person to that? Change you Was it more of the
• 23:33
  same? Talk to us a little bit about
• 23:35
  Ashland. Yeah, absent changed changed me
• 23:41
  in a variety of ways. For one, that's where I met my
• 23:46
  now, wife and right. Not so yeah, yeah, she's so
• 23:49
  awesome. By the way, maybe you got so
• 23:50
  lucky dude. So so we met there and the
• 23:55
  majority of our time, we were there, five years, we were
• 24:01
  dating. And so that part ended up being
• 24:04
  really, really good and training with Judd was amazing, there's
• 24:07
  no, I've never met a better motivator and in terms of
• 24:15
  Exercise selection and like programming stuff.
• 24:17
  And yeah, he pulls from here and here, obviously like I'm not
• 24:20
  saying it's, it was unpleasant Judds thoughts, but I've never
• 24:26
  been a better athlete like I, you know, I could I could jump
• 24:31
  four stories high. If you ask me to kind of think
• 24:36
  that that was a lot of fun. And then and during that time
• 24:39
  though to was Really cementing. the love for hammer and then
• 24:48
  figuring out that you know by the time that we did end up
• 24:51
  leaving and I had graduated and she graduated with her master's
• 24:54
  was like We're going to go anywhere like because one of the
• 24:58
  options was saying but like, excuse me, if we're planning to
• 25:01
  go anywhere, like it's got to be something to, to make this.
• 25:06
  I don't know, go where we think it can because obviously we
• 25:09
  didn't know. But yeah.
• 25:11
  So that was, that was a really, you know, important part of our
• 25:14
  live in plus symbol. And we have a lot of friends
• 25:16
  like Living there was could be kind of interesting especially
• 25:23
  like, I'm from California and she's from British Columbia,
• 25:26
  right? So still West Coast.
• 25:27
  Like it was interesting, don't get me wrong.
• 25:29
  But you know, at the end of the day are probably to this day
• 25:34
  right now, some of our closest friends are from our time.
• 25:39
  When we lived in Ashland, I love that and I love, you know,
• 25:43
  talking to have had several Ashland alums and specifically.
• 25:47
  Judd, Logan, alum, He's on the podcast.
• 25:49
  And you know, we were so lucky to have him.
• 25:52
  Was it two years ago? Now, he's one of a kind of what
• 25:55
  am I? Oh, jeez, I think he was number.
• 25:57
  He was within the first 50, the interviews that we ever had here
• 26:01
  and talking about culture, specifically, is what we were,
• 26:04
  we were discussing. But, you know, just just an
• 26:07
  amazing person. You know, I got to know him
• 26:09
  actually from hiring his son here.
• 26:11
  Gil way back in the day as well. So just always it's always
• 26:14
  interesting when you mention his name, 100% of time, The other
• 26:18
  person, it's an automatic smile because you start having the
• 26:21
  good memories and the effect that, you know, he had on your
• 26:25
  life and multiple aspects. I just would be remiss if I
• 26:29
  didn't bring up the great juggler who is still by the way,
• 26:32
  from a long time ago. Those 130 episodes ago, when
• 26:35
  Judd was on the podcast, top 10 episode that we've ever had so
• 26:39
  100. And I think this one's 191, he
• 26:41
  is still top 10 of all of those 191 episodes, man, and deserves
• 26:46
  every one of the listens. That he gets there.
• 26:49
  So you guys went all in, as you mentioned, you went with dr.
• 26:55
  Bondarchuk. Who, you know, you said you can
• 26:57
  argue if he's never won ever and all that kind of stuff.
• 27:00
  You know, when you get to that level it's kind of like if
• 27:02
  they're in top five, their number one, right?
• 27:03
  I mean, and he's ignored because number one number two, number
• 27:05
  three, who cares? One of the top throwers in the
• 27:08
  country? I'm sorry in the world ever.
• 27:11
  You earlier talked about your grandparents and the love of the
• 27:14
  Olympics and in general and then track and field specifically.
• 27:18
  So it kind of became like I want to be an Olympian, so what was
• 27:21
  it like when you when you first made it?
• 27:27
  It's not as directional that you're doing.
• 27:33
  It was pretty, wow. It was emotional, but not like,
• 27:38
  you know, trying and bowling kind of thing that there's
• 27:41
  anything wrong that there isn't. But I mean, I remember barely
• 27:47
  being able to leave the ring. So this is this is Hammer Time
• 27:51
  2012 12, right? Yeah, that's not trying to
• 27:54
  control either 12, but I thought it was kind of early yet 12 did
• 27:58
  it at the Nike campus and so it's right there, which is an
• 28:02
  amazing it then I can Through P. But, you know, I got the win.
• 28:08
  So but the energy around it was substantial and like the weight
• 28:13
  that I self imposed on my back was substantial.
• 28:17
  So 2008 trials. I'm number one in the u.s. fully
• 28:22
  expecting to make the US team. Barely qualify for the final and
• 28:28
  then fall out 2008. Wife had a similar story.
• 28:35
  She was highly, highly ranked in Canada.
• 28:39
  Didn't perform very well at her, the Canadian trials.
• 28:42
  And so that was kind of like our, what are we going to do
• 28:47
  about what our performances are? And we were in Kamloops like two
• 28:53
  and a half months later and also part of that story is going from
• 28:58
  Ashland going from the United States to Canada, to train with
• 29:02
  doctor. Pete, why the time?
• 29:03
  Like, I think people knew he was there, but there wasn't a whole
• 29:07
  lot of discussion about anything, you know.
• 29:10
  And so it was like this, what is he doing?
• 29:14
  Why you know what I mean? And that first year, as expected
• 29:19
  within my own training group, didn't go that hot.
• 29:22
  And so it's like there was just there was just a lot going on.
• 29:27
  So for, you know, 2010 and 2011 to be great years of 2012 to be.
• 29:32
  All right? Making the team.
• 29:37
  After all of that was was a lot. I had wobbly legs like a rambler
• 29:43
  year either. I was yeah.
• 29:45
  Oh yeah, because I had to do that, stinking, Hammer cage up
• 29:47
  on Nikes game first. Yeah, I went to like Midfield
• 29:52
  and just kind of tried to soak it all in and the grass.
• 29:55
  And I did some grass angels and which When I went down media row
• 30:01
  I immediately regret it. I was so itchy like answered all
• 30:06
  these questions like just ration like you know Larry or
• 30:09
  something. You know, my goodness.
• 30:14
  Yeah, you're right about the atmosphere there though because
• 30:17
  you know that we have it lined up on the sector each way, you
• 30:20
  know, the big stands and then people and then at the far side
• 30:22
  of the sector a little beer garden.
• 30:24
  So there's a lot of people hanging out there, it really
• 30:26
  was. And by the way, so we're on
• 30:28
  Nikes campus. So there are no other events
• 30:30
  going on. There is no 100-meter prelims or
• 30:33
  whatnot. It was Hammer only focused on
• 30:37
  the men and women one day. And it was, I mean, the Tiger
• 30:40
  Woods building is right there. The Michael Jordan mean it was
• 30:43
  everything was Was right here. Let's do it.
• 30:45
  Hammer and what a? I don't regret, but they were
• 30:48
  super, super hard to do that. Stinking of X, we had to bring a
• 30:51
  hammer cage to Nikes campus but it really was kind of amazing.
• 30:56
  Yeah when I say like it was five or six thousand people were
• 30:59
  there and like it was easy, it was credible.
• 31:01
  Yeah. Every year that goes past, I add
• 31:04
  another thousand so I climb up to bother about 12,000 people.
• 31:06
  Yeah, the only thing those, the beer garden was closed by the
• 31:11
  time I came out of sure that Got it, guys.
• 31:16
  Come on. I got this fancy hammer to.
• 31:20
  That was another thing. They did like the rooms is the
• 31:25
  winners or top three. They yeah.
• 31:29
  They like called MC Hammer. Yeah, of course he's like, oh,
• 31:33
  you know what this event is? But okay, yeah.
• 31:38
  Well, and I don't know if you remember.
• 31:39
  Like I'm I was honestly surprised because The marketing
• 31:44
  for the event at first started, like they were calling it hammer
• 31:48
  time and they got to see some assist from like him anyway.
• 31:54
  But yeah, that was a lot of fun surprise to hear from him but it
• 31:57
  was totally cool because I like born samhsa's go but grew up in
• 32:02
  Oakland so right. So yeah for me right?
• 32:07
  Yeah that is cool. I love that.
• 32:10
  So let's move forward, let's set aside our athletic.
• 32:14
  Career and it was amazing. We could do hours just on what
• 32:17
  you have done athletically sir. But I want to get into your next
• 32:21
  stage of your career of coaching and performance and I don't
• 32:26
  know, I want to call it Hammer Guru and I'm really I'm actually
• 32:29
  you know maybe not even say calling a hammer Guru in our
• 32:32
  philosophy philosophizing but more throwing philosophizing in
• 32:37
  thought processing and really kind of going into your
• 32:42
  continuing your How do I improve myself in my event and things
• 32:47
  like that? So we're does.
• 32:49
  You're very smart guy. Very bright guy.
• 32:50
  You've had a lot of different experiences in this world.
• 32:53
  You could have gone a lot of ways in your career but your
• 32:57
  career did move towards the coaching side, but even kind of
• 32:59
  a unique coaching side, you're not coaching at Georgia because,
• 33:02
  you know, Babbitt still there. So you're, you're, you got a
• 33:04
  while for that one but you've done some other things.
• 33:07
  So talk to us. Why did you go into coaching
• 33:09
  him? Kind of what was the first
• 33:10
  opportunity that came about for you?
• 33:14
  So in the last couple years in canister dark to be, I had
• 33:21
  recognized that I'm probably in the last few years of my career
• 33:27
  at least the ones where I was throwing what I consider to be
• 33:32
  good results. You know which by the way that
• 33:36
  was part of the decision to leave was not wanting to be The
• 33:44
  best in the US for the sake of being the best in the u.s., my
• 33:47
  drive was at that moment. I didn't always have that drive,
• 33:50
  but that drive that helped me choose or pick to go with dark.
• 33:53
  Be was to be amongst the best in the world and that means like
• 33:57
  throwing far that Students are a a message from the wife.
• 34:09
  That's always important. Don't with, you know, they'd be
• 34:11
  afraid to answer that if you need to I've seen or met her
• 34:14
  effect. I met her at the.
• 34:15
  I think it was the hammer time. Maybe it was another one of the
• 34:18
  US Nationals at. Well, no, no, because your
• 34:20
  little girl was born. So, this wouldn't have been 12.
• 34:24
  Brooklyn was around been, okay? Yeah, memory.
• 34:27
  Okay, so Brooklyn was just boring.
• 34:28
  So I remember seeing her in talking to little baby but yeah,
• 34:31
  she was geez, no wonder To mess with.
• 34:33
  So don't don't be telling her that.
• 34:34
  I said, you couldn't answer her texts because you were never be
• 34:37
  okay. I don't want to know wrath of
• 34:39
  mom is coming my way, trust me seriously.
• 34:44
  Yeah, and so, you know, between between my own personal
• 34:47
  relationships and conversations and my agent and it is kind of
• 34:51
  like, put it out there like, yeah, I'm interested in kind of
• 34:54
  seeing what I can do, whether that's retire, right?
• 34:58
  This second and sort of job or is there somewhere?
• 35:01
  I can just kind of segue it or Or whatever.
• 35:04
  And there were some NCAA thoughts as well, but ultimately
• 35:09
  like, at the time, I was leaving it open.
• 35:12
  So The opportunity comes through for IMG Academy, Florida.
• 35:22
  And what I really liked about it was I would have the opportunity
• 35:29
  to coach anyone. And just about it anytime.
• 35:37
  Or. In see a like there's you know
• 35:40
  depending probably depending on Mike where you are in
• 35:42
  conferences and all that stuff, there's restrictions on that.
• 35:46
  And so going into it, like it was never going to be a
• 35:50
  flattened know for me but I but I wanted to kind of keep options
• 35:53
  open basically, at that time. And also I knew I would still be
• 35:56
  able to throw. And at the time I was still kind
• 35:59
  of the mess in the US, but holding on to like, getting back
• 36:02
  up to 79 80, 81 meters, which didn't end up coming, but But I
• 36:09
  can still train and so that the time that seemed like best for
• 36:12
  me and then seriously like within 12 hours of being offered
• 36:17
  and accepting. I had a friend of mine from
• 36:22
  Ashland. He took over as director of a
• 36:26
  program and asked if I could be a stress cartoons like oh no.
• 36:30
  So I that that's just part of what made that also.
• 36:33
  So in terms of like my coaching life that wasn't pretty, that
• 36:36
  was a fork right there, right on.
• 36:38
  Probably still be in and say yeah.
• 36:42
  So that's kind of the story there and then there's there's
• 36:45
  been, you know, obviously just like any other time soon as the
• 36:47
  recruiting you know Carousel gets going there have been
• 36:51
  conversations but I like what I do.
• 36:55
  Yeah, so talk to us about. I am GI not a lot of people may
• 36:58
  be no of IMG specifically for track and field.
• 37:01
  I mean I am G's football team. Certainly gets in the news a lot
• 37:04
  and things like that. I've had the pleasure of being
• 37:07
  on campus before. Or we did the division, two
• 37:09
  national championships down there, several, several years
• 37:12
  ago and it's it really is a unique Place.
• 37:16
  Talk to us a little bit about IMG Academy and what was your
• 37:18
  role specifically? So my role was throws coach and
• 37:24
  a bit of kind of recruiting / business, kind of person
• 37:28
  anything that I could help drum up business, which kind of came
• 37:31
  into play when I would facilitate like Europeans like
• 37:37
  for their training Start with ended up being fun so I would
• 37:41
  have like friends or people who then became friends because I
• 37:44
  knew them from the throwing scene and it would come through
• 37:47
  so that that for me was a lot of fun.
• 37:50
  So I'm G itself is a sport academy and it started as a
• 37:57
  tennis academy way back in the day.
• 38:01
  Bulla Terry. I think it's very actually is
• 38:03
  actually a week or two ago and I'm G ended up coming through
• 38:11
  and buying it. I forget when but you know,
• 38:14
  maybe 10, 15 years into their journey and it's just kind of
• 38:19
  like grown into this to this really big thing.
• 38:25
  When I got there in 15, we were in year.
• 38:34
  Some for of track, I think 13 kids that year.
• 38:39
  And by the time I left we had 56.
• 38:42
  Wow of that number. I had 10 crores seven of which
• 38:49
  remain event and I had five seniors and all five got
• 38:53
  scholarships and this is the code that year to write.
• 38:55
  So like, half the season was just thrown out the window but
• 38:58
  they had already demonstrated enough.
• 39:00
  So I was really, really proud of that.
• 39:02
  Fact from you haven't got full scholarships like it was and one
• 39:04
  of them was a converted swimmer swimmer would never throw him
• 39:06
  before. Wow, you got some money.
• 39:10
  So it was like it was it was probably my That was really fun
• 39:14
  year, despite the world was that a swimmer at IMG that converted
• 39:19
  the throws? Or because one guy was wondered
• 39:22
  if you go there to be very hyper focused on your spoor.
• 39:25
  So I always imagine that there would be less cross sport there
• 39:29
  at, I am G because you go there to do football or you do
• 39:31
  baseball etcetera. So it was that swimmer.
• 39:34
  Think, did you confront them? Like you steal from the swim
• 39:36
  team? She's so her dad worked on
• 39:40
  campus and academics and there is no swim.
• 39:43
  Like program there. And so she did swimming with
• 39:45
  off-campus party. Yeah.
• 39:48
  So she would have so there's a program where you can go to
• 39:52
  school there and not participate in the sport but you basically
• 39:55
  get to do everything else. So like all the mental and
• 39:58
  nutrition that stuff and so at at like the check-in like
• 40:07
  opening opening weekend, our table the track and field table
• 40:11
  was next to the table for For that group apd's what it's
• 40:15
  called, right? The ones who come, but don't do
• 40:18
  a sport. And, you know, I'm like, What do
• 40:22
  you do? You know like you want some?
• 40:25
  You want to throw? You should do trash.
• 40:26
  You should. You should throw anyway.
• 40:28
  And so yeah. She ended up coming out and
• 40:29
  doing it was fun. Wow.
• 40:31
  Yeah. I always imagine they're just be
• 40:33
  less cross-play there unless someone was specifically like a
• 40:36
  track football person. So I was wondering if I didn't
• 40:39
  know, they didn't have swimming, we like it is open and there for
• 40:45
  sure has been athletes, do multiple Sports. and our
• 40:51
  experience, it kind of came down to Communication between the
• 40:56
  directors and at the time, the truck director and the football
• 40:59
  drug use and get along. So we didn't have anyone that
• 41:05
  like that, you know, you spent how many years five six years?
• 41:11
  Yeah, about that five. Yeah.
• 41:12
  A coaching at the IMG in regards to you mentioned all the things
• 41:17
  like nutrition and mental, Etc. That there may be a little bit
• 41:21
  abnormal compared to the average high school, but you've been
• 41:25
  Been to some pretty intense programs collegiately and you
• 41:28
  know of other people in different programs.
• 41:31
  How does IMG what makes ing different?
• 41:34
  Like, why do people go to IMG? Obviously people go to IMG
• 41:40
  because they Have a focus on either getting to the next
• 41:47
  level, the next level being University or or for their sport
• 41:55
  professional. So that's something that you can
• 41:56
  kind of get in sports like Golf and Tennis.
• 42:00
  You know, we had kids that were in high school or straight up
• 42:02
  Pros. Making just a ton of money and
• 42:06
  the school itself is like it's the most expensive High School
• 42:08
  in the world. That's just what it was and it
• 42:11
  kind of has been for or I don't know how long 10 years at least.
• 42:17
  and I think from a track perspective, An athlete who
• 42:25
  comes out of something like that.
• 42:28
  They Should I don't like, should they're more likely to have?
• 42:38
  an upper hand on a kid that goes out of you know, Joe Schmo High
• 42:44
  School. Not always on the end of the
• 42:47
  day, it comes down to, you know, genetics and stuff but he can't
• 42:52
  beat that. Yeah, that's the difference.
• 42:54
  I know if you're watching on YouTube you're like what is the
• 42:56
  difference between kidwai and me it's just genetics.
• 42:58
  That's the only thing you brought up the cost of IMG and
• 43:04
  when we went down for our site visit and I can't remember who
• 43:08
  the director was back then. Nice guy.
• 43:09
  I really like them. Daughter was a good track
• 43:12
  athlete on the tech team as well and an eye.
• 43:15
  I asked them was like, you know, and I was like asking us every
• 43:17
  College I go to anyway. Just because I'm curious, I got
• 43:19
  to, you know, I got two kids, you know, 12 and 9.
• 43:21
  So I'm like, well, I'm gonna be paying this one days.
• 43:22
  I, how much does it cost to go to school here?
• 43:24
  So I asked him, I was like. So, what you, how much does it
• 43:27
  cost to go to IMG? He's like, well, how much do you
• 43:29
  think? And as I go, I know it's a lot
• 43:31
  as I can, I've got a pretty stupid number in my head but he
• 43:33
  goes, go ahead. What's that?
• 43:34
  Stupid number? And I was like, man, it would be
• 43:35
  just stupid if it's like 60, 65 expecting to go.
• 43:39
  Oh, yeah, no, no, it's lower. He's like, yeah, no more.
• 43:41
  What's look? Yeah.
• 43:47
  And a few years, you might have to double that.
• 43:51
  Yeah. Because I like the business
• 43:53
  structure, I guess it is like it.
• 43:55
  If I could, seriously keeps going up, it would have every
• 43:57
  year I was there for sure. It's gone up every year since,
• 44:01
  but, like, people are still paying them, right?
• 44:05
  So, Well, I'm quite happy with my school system here, and allow
• 44:13
  so you did. Well, you mentioned, several
• 44:16
  kids going on for scholarships to throw and taken swimmers and
• 44:19
  making them throwers. Even they get scholarships for
• 44:21
  crying out loud. And obviously, you were a good
• 44:23
  coach. Where do you, how do you, how
• 44:27
  did you kind of come up with your coaching style and
• 44:29
  philosophy through this point? Are you doing any?
• 44:32
  You had some amazing coaches. I mean so let's just talk about
• 44:34
  three of them that you have that we've already talked about from
• 44:36
  Babbitt to Judd to dr. B, I mean, give me the oh gosh,
• 44:43
  what's it called? I'm a terrible historian.
• 44:44
  What's it called? The president's thing Mount
• 44:48
  Rushmore, Mount Rushmore every every historian right now is
• 44:51
  yelling at me, like, how did I forget Mount Rushmore?
• 44:53
  I've never been right. Sorry?
• 44:55
  So, give me the Mount Rushmore of throws coaches.
• 44:57
  Those three might be three of the four.
• 44:59
  However, many that are on there. Did you just take?
• 45:02
  I shouldn't say just did you take parts of their style of how
• 45:05
  they coached you to start formalizing, how you coach or
• 45:09
  any other coaching education? What did you do to kind of start
• 45:12
  creating your style? I think that's I think that's
• 45:17
  pretty safe part of it was probably intentional and part of
• 45:21
  it is just what got, you know, absorbed through osmosis just
• 45:26
  being around everyone. And what I like about that is
• 45:32
  there isn't is is the combination as the experience in
• 45:38
  a stereotypical North American program and then also doing
• 45:42
  something like what, how a doctor be code is right?
• 45:46
  And so there is there was obviously value across the board
• 45:54
  One's not better than the other for the sake of just being
• 45:57
  better than the other. Like I think that's done, you
• 45:59
  know. But there's there's there's just
• 46:03
  a lot. There's a lot of stuff out
• 46:04
  there. There's a lot of stuff to do is
• 46:05
  always put stuff to experiment with and the first especially
• 46:09
  the first little walk. So the other side of IMG as a
• 46:15
  coach and business model is we need camps like to try non-stop
• 46:23
  by seriously probably 50 51 weeks here I was coaching Camp.
• 46:27
  So now I didn't the first few years I probably had campers, I
• 46:34
  don't know at least 40 45 weeks of the year and the last couple
• 46:38
  years it almost kind of flip flops for whatever reason they
• 46:41
  changed how they do stuff. And then I got like a and but
• 46:45
  whatever. And so the opportunity to kind
• 46:49
  of no spit out what it is that I wanted to see and do and talk
• 46:55
  about what athletes twice a day 5 days a week, I think really
• 47:01
  helped me kind of hone in on on stuff.
• 47:06
  And then also just my personal Journey.
• 47:08
  So like I mentioned a little bit earlier, like things did change
• 47:11
  for me as an athlete because I was still competing.
• 47:14
  And then as a man and then I was as a coach when my first
• 47:20
  daughter was born in 2012, so I think a lot of that is just kind
• 47:24
  of it all kind it just, you know, relates across-the-board
• 47:30
  parenting, being a being a partner, being a husband, you
• 47:33
  know, to mean cleaning directing coaching.
• 47:34
  Like it's all Too much, the same conversation.
• 47:37
  You're just inserting different words.
• 47:40
  No one thing is the thing, right?
• 47:42
  Yeah. Yeah.
• 47:44
  On those three coaches that you did have and we don't talk X's
• 47:47
  and O's here on this podcast. We're not talking about workouts
• 47:50
  and things like that. But you have three Uber
• 47:54
  successful coaches in their own rights.
• 47:56
  I mean begin, you may have the argument that all three of them
• 48:00
  are in the top five ever Hammer thrower, throwing coaches, the
• 48:03
  throwing coaches in general, how Radically different were they
• 48:08
  coaching for you? Like and not going to be
• 48:11
  necessarily like like oh well Judd was the most charismatic
• 48:16
  and motivational and dr. B was the most technical.
• 48:19
  But what did they like that? Each of them have conned their
• 48:22
  own idea of how the hammer should be thrown technically
• 48:24
  wise or were they all the basics?
• 48:26
  All kind of same and they were just maybe little differences
• 48:28
  that they brought to the table. So I think that's a good
• 48:32
  question. I kind of got Taco this with one
• 48:34
  of my athletes here. Last week.
• 48:37
  Maybe and For the most part, especially, I would say like,
• 48:45
  you know, my travels and being all over and talking Hammer with
• 48:47
  anyone who will listen. Sometimes for the most part,
• 48:53
  people understand the event, the same Regardless of geographic
• 49:01
  location or whatever else, the the nuances in communication,
• 49:06
  how do people get out what they believe to be, you know, true or
• 49:11
  the case to their athlete and that's kind of where you end up
• 49:14
  with, you know, quote, good that coaches, even though that's not
• 49:17
  really a thing for me either, but it's like, it's the
• 49:21
  communication. How do they get out to the
• 49:24
  athlete? How what it is?
• 49:27
  That they See. Who do you think you most
• 49:31
  resemble out of those three as a coach?
• 49:40
  Probably dr. Be the most would probably Judd
• 49:44
  and dr. B, I think are you a smashing
• 49:47
  chairs in the weight room? No, that's my if you're a judge
• 49:52
  from the videos and stuff is like, oh well, if you're not
• 49:54
  smashing chairs and I'm not sure, I think like kind of like
• 50:00
  I mean, I think my kind of the relating part.
• 50:03
  So with dr. B, that I found interesting and
• 50:07
  eventually grew to love is You know, he taught himself the
• 50:12
  English language, like, by reading a dictionary.
• 50:16
  He's on TV, right? Yeah.
• 50:18
  Oh, wow. So there wasn't a lot of
• 50:22
  communication. and I think most recently and the stuff that
• 50:30
  interests me and that I spend time reading and watching the
• 50:32
  whatever like there was a ton of value in that and Not showing up
• 50:38
  the practice and being bombarded with 50 different things, you
• 50:42
  know, I mean, there was like, the one where the two things and
• 50:44
  then if I did it, well, he would say good or double?
• 50:49
  Excellent or triple excellent. These are real terms here or, or
• 50:54
  like, or no or no, you know, so I heard know so much so much.
• 51:06
  It was like an immediately transported me to be in seven
• 51:08
  again. Like it was that's it.
• 51:10
  Got to be like that. Sometimes there's like no and
• 51:13
  he's not going to beat around the bush about it.
• 51:15
  Like if we're if we're not doing the thing like the know for me,
• 51:20
  you're like, here's what the source, let's find.
• 51:21
  Some other words for no. Anyway, you know so now like him
• 51:28
  and what has you know educated and learn it as he is like I
• 51:32
  wonder if like some of that was intentional or not.
• 51:35
  I don't know that. I'm totally like we are but like
• 51:40
  so he's a doctor pedagogy, so coaching right?
• 51:43
  And with that comes a lot of work and a lot of psychology,
• 51:50
  you know what I mean? Courses and whatnot.
• 51:51
  So there's certain things like that would just kind of hit me.
• 51:57
  While I trained with them, for all that time.
• 51:59
  And then sense, as I've started working through my own thing,
• 52:02
  I'm like, hmm, I wonder if you did that on purpose.
• 52:08
  Wait a minute. Usually, the best ones have a
• 52:16
  plan. I bet he always had a plan.
• 52:18
  Yeah, you got a plan. It was written down, and all of
• 52:22
  that. That's awesome man.
• 52:25
  So you spend five six years at a unique place.
• 52:29
  This is not your average high school at IMG.
• 52:33
  Do you go from IMG, straight to Spire.
• 52:36
  Was there somewhere in between or wasn't in between.
• 52:38
  We actually went to Vancouver Island so and this is still like
• 52:46
  kind of covid and all the other stuff, right?
• 52:49
  Right right. There was just a bit of time
• 52:56
  where we didn't really know what was going to happen and then we
• 52:58
  ended up kind of logging in you, like, you know what, like, let's
• 53:01
  go somewhere we want to be and at the time we decided that, you
• 53:07
  know, Canada felt pretty good. Let's go to the island so we
• 53:10
  don't have to go where the weather, you know, sets most of
• 53:12
  the Year and that was a really great opportunity.
• 53:16
  And so I was going to find some stuff to do.
• 53:20
  And, you know, at the end of the day, it is.
• 53:22
  Being liked. My girls were in a really great
• 53:25
  school and and Crystal was working at this.
• 53:29
  It's the only equestrian High School like boarding school in
• 53:32
  Canada. It was really, it was so cool,
• 53:36
  but I did kind of yeah, kind of like, Miss coaching and coaching
• 53:40
  us profession in Canada, is not what it is here.
• 53:44
  Now you have purchased right? But they there with clubs, they
• 53:46
  typically either make very little money.
• 53:49
  If all they're doing is club or they have another job and they
• 53:52
  get caught So as a as a career, for what I want for myself and
• 53:59
  my family, that was a really viable for me.
• 54:06
  Yeah, and along the way to white-phillips of all people are
• 54:08
  actually connected me with a gentleman by the name of Ted
• 54:13
  here at spire and our conversations with great.
• 54:18
  Because that's what I had to say.
• 54:18
  Like, medium to say he actually started.
• 54:22
  I am G with Nick bollettieri. Oh, really?
• 54:26
  Yeah, I didn't know that part of it.
• 54:28
  Yeah. So there was a lot of several
• 54:32
  members of senior leadership that have ing.
• 54:35
  Connections. And so it was like this is this
• 54:38
  really kind of cool Vibe going on where it's like, yeah, we
• 54:44
  haven't many of us had that experience but now we're here
• 54:46
  and we're really trying to build this thing.
• 54:48
  Obviously, it's similar, right. Everything that I said about ing
• 54:52
  is what this place is structurally but we are trying
• 54:58
  to lean towards a bit of a difference.
• 55:03
  Yeah, so that's that's what I ended up going.
• 55:05
  So, tell us about Spire for those of us listening that have
• 55:08
  no idea. We keep saying Spire Academy
• 55:10
  like like it's, you know, University of Georgia.
• 55:13
  Well, most of us know where that is right.
• 55:15
  Talk to us about Spire Academy. What it is, where it is,
• 55:18
  etcetera, kind of give us a catch up there.
• 55:20
  Yeah, so Spire Academy is a sport, boarding school and we
• 55:27
  are in Geneva. Oh Ohio, which is about 45
• 55:31
  minutes or so from I'm cleaning the city, so between Cleveland
• 55:34
  in here right on the lake Summers and late Springs and
• 55:41
  early Falls. Absolutely beautiful here.
• 55:45
  And then there's the rest today. Today was sunny, it's great.
• 55:52
  I was like I'm at coaching, but the ring is like in One
• 55:55
  Direction but the sun's behind me.
• 55:56
  So I kept turning around, get the stuff.
• 56:00
  I thought that was funny. And so the difference for us
• 56:05
  right now is the academy itself is really young like this is,
• 56:08
  you're too kind of and a half which again, it started, it
• 56:13
  started basically during covid. So Spire as a facility, has
• 56:20
  hosted and the director prior to myself.
• 56:23
  Charlie pal. Rachel.
• 56:25
  How I should say Charlie panel? Yes, who spent a number number
• 56:30
  of several decades. I suppose three decades at least
• 56:32
  at upin, then you came here. She came here.
• 56:38
  Basically, when the facility was first built it was it was around
• 56:41
  about ten years. It's the doing events, prior to
• 56:46
  an intense effort, to have an academy.
• 56:49
  And so that happened with the new owner who came in and
• 56:52
  December, 2019, and then I came in like a sea year after that.
• 56:58
  So, they want a year. Essentially trying to get their
• 57:01
  ducks in a row, then figure out what direction that they were
• 57:05
  going to go. And then I came in February
• 57:09
  2021. And imagine I want to say 80s,
• 57:16
  maybe 90 maybe 90 student athletes across all our Sports,
• 57:21
  we have camps. We have no post-collegiate
• 57:24
  program. Now that I, that I got off the
• 57:26
  ground and then of course, like the academy itself.
• 57:30
  So it's 9th through 12th grade plus year post-grad 13th grade
• 57:34
  basically. Yeah.
• 57:36
  It's going pretty well, you mentioned the events, you know,
• 57:38
  it's hosted NAIA National. Is it hosts Big Ten?
• 57:42
  Indoor track championships all the time?
• 57:45
  We've done NCAA championships. There.
• 57:47
  It's quite the Charlie. Gave me a tour.
• 57:50
  Once a several years ago now, the old Cleveland Cavaliers
• 57:54
  basketball floors down there and one of the, and that's just one
• 57:57
  of the areas for basketball, by the way.
• 57:58
  There's a lot of basketball there.
• 58:00
  I love where the outdoor track sits.
• 58:02
  I kind of like that just, you know, in between everything kind
• 58:05
  of feel to it. Yeah, yeah, I just, I just love
• 58:07
  that, but it is really an interesting place with Amazing
• 58:11
  facilities. I've seen lately, where you've
• 58:15
  hired several other coaches to come in and start helping build
• 58:18
  out the, the team talk to us about them.
• 58:20
  And then some of these camps that you're doing, you're doing
• 58:21
  some pretty, I mean, once you explain who the people who are
• 58:24
  you hired, you'll understand that the cams are high level
• 58:26
  because you're hiring high-level people.
• 58:29
  So talk to us about the people that you've got going.
• 58:31
  Yeah, right. So we have some mac 2004 of a
• 58:35
  big gold medals and pole vault he coaches I'm vertical and
• 58:41
  horizontal jumps with obviously probably the specialty and pole.
• 58:45
  All but he's taken a bunch of continuing education classes,
• 58:48
  with USA Education, the last two years because he's found out
• 58:54
  that like he just loves the jumps and so that that works
• 58:57
  really well. And then this past season, we
• 59:02
  added Quran Stewart. So from yeah, Auburn
• 59:07
  representing, Jamaica still to this day.
• 59:09
  I think. She's a thief all time in the
• 59:12
  hundred meter this last year, or actually, probably the last
• 59:15
  couple years has been so wicked and he got moved down a couple
• 59:20
  spots. I think she was fourth or fifth
• 59:22
  going into the last two years and has been bumped down a few
• 59:25
  times, but just an absolutely phenomenal coach.
• 59:29
  And I got pretty fortunate, walking around.
• 59:33
  And in our camp. So, fortunately, I don't have to
• 59:38
  do camps 50 weeks a year. Yeah, not 52.
• 59:41
  That's right. But we do have we have a good
• 59:44
  bit of cans. We just had our last campus, our
• 59:49
  holiday Camp, which is about four days in between like
• 59:53
  Christmas and New Year. And since I've been here that
• 59:56
  was our biggest holiday Camp. So I know that's really going to
• 59:59
  bode well, in terms of like our marketing efforts and just
• 1:00:01
  keeping her name out there, Both as fire.
• 1:00:05
  And then, also, as us as coaching staff paper here, it's
• 1:00:08
  not just go. Do you check field campus fire
• 1:00:11
  because at the moment still, right?
• 1:00:13
  People are like, what spiral? I know that is, but go to camp
• 1:00:17
  with Tim, chronic Care by, right?
• 1:00:20
  If you are an athlete, any one of these events, it's probably a
• 1:00:25
  good idea. Not bad, not bad, right?
• 1:00:28
  You can, if you can get yourself here.
• 1:00:31
  So, We'll have one for spring break and then our summer camp
• 1:00:37
  season, I think we have four, five, maybe six camps over the
• 1:00:40
  summer and one of which is like a big like three weaker.
• 1:00:44
  And then the other side of that is yeah, we have like designated
• 1:00:47
  Camp dates but we're also basically just open at any time.
• 1:00:52
  So say an athlete can't come for, you know, one of the summer
• 1:00:58
  we camps. They could come and met with
• 1:01:02
  something that's not really. Designated at all and stay for
• 1:01:04
  two or three weeks. And just, you know, I mean it's
• 1:01:06
  been there's a different rate for that sort of thing to which
• 1:01:09
  ends up being. We've had, we've had great
• 1:01:12
  success actually. Since I've been here with having
• 1:01:15
  athletes just here, to train the call it extended training camp.
• 1:01:18
  Basically, you mention Heaven, some International Teams, come
• 1:01:22
  and train down in Bradenton for IMG.
• 1:01:25
  Are you experiencing that yet expire?
• 1:01:27
  Or is that on the goal list, as you look towards the future?
• 1:01:33
  So, it has happened. The Toronto University of
• 1:01:38
  Toronto which is here for like a week ago week and a half or so
• 1:01:42
  federation's not yet. I thought we were going to have
• 1:01:46
  a couple Going into Worlds and Oregon last year, the two places
• 1:01:54
  that I was talking to, in the up, not working out, but that
• 1:01:58
  stuff like that, but there just aren't that many events here.
• 1:02:02
  And also, Usually when Europe is looking for training camps, it
• 1:02:09
  is winter months so so we don't really have that Advantage but
• 1:02:14
  if anyone's trying to come like throwing the summer, I think
• 1:02:16
  like there is the opportunity and plus it's pretty quiet and
• 1:02:20
  also like pretty quiet on campus in terms of events and stuff.
• 1:02:27
  But the area is like, it's It's banging around here, like,
• 1:02:31
  Geneva on the Lake which is kind of Right next to it.
• 1:02:37
  That that place is happening every weekend from Memorial Day
• 1:02:40
  to Labor Day, really like concerts and stuff, or what got
• 1:02:45
  like little, it's not like a big like kind of dumb or anything
• 1:02:48
  but yeah, there's bounces out there.
• 1:02:49
  It's bit of like a like a like a walk.
• 1:02:53
  I guess. I don't know how you say.
• 1:02:54
  Like the like a boardwalk. Like San Antonio's going to
• 1:02:57
  board my local restaurants and shops and stuff.
• 1:03:03
  And it's, it is, it's really cool and then a lot of those
• 1:03:06
  every, and then some bars and Wineries and stuff.
• 1:03:08
  Is this area is known for wineries.
• 1:03:10
  He a lot of wineries, I remember that.
• 1:03:11
  Yeah, produces the most amount of wine outside of New York or
• 1:03:16
  California, is that? I didn't know that this little
• 1:03:20
  area is crazy. I remember I remember being
• 1:03:23
  Florida. How many wineries were when I
• 1:03:24
  was driving up there. I was like, what?
• 1:03:26
  It's not? What I would have expected, but
• 1:03:28
  that much, holy cow, man spider needs to have its own wine.
• 1:03:34
  Probably move in addressing their Uganda.
• 1:03:37
  So can we tell us? What is your role there?
• 1:03:41
  So what is in what I mean your role meaning what is the goal
• 1:03:44
  set? So you're there to help bring
• 1:03:47
  the Olympics there in 2032. I know you're not, but please
• 1:03:50
  don't actually. That's you just don't want to
• 1:03:52
  handle. You don't want to host it.
• 1:03:53
  Yeah. But what are your goals?
• 1:03:55
  That's like, what are you working to accomplish with your
• 1:03:57
  team and then the support staff because it's not just a Quran
• 1:04:00
  and a Tim, you know, you got to You got Financial people, Etc,
• 1:04:04
  marketing people, there to help Drive things.
• 1:04:07
  What's the, what's the goals here?
• 1:04:08
  What are you trying to? What are you going to accomplish
• 1:04:10
  there? So yeah, as the Director of the
• 1:04:15
  program and coaching throws like, what I want to see happen
• 1:04:19
  is just a destination where an athlete can be here and they can
• 1:04:23
  get top-notch training, they can have really great schooling and
• 1:04:28
  from high school age, you know, the extended training age
• 1:04:32
  post-collegiate it there might be a way at some point to have
• 1:04:37
  people who are taking quite like college classes and so ideally
• 1:04:42
  like when I look at critical factors for How the u.s.
• 1:04:49
  develops, its athletes versus other countries, right?
• 1:04:52
  So other countries Club system. And while there's no shortage of
• 1:05:00
  Talent and our country. I feel like whenever you see or
• 1:05:05
  at least for the most part, when you see an athlete from another
• 1:05:08
  country do really well, or, you know, I mean or beat some of our
• 1:05:12
  athletes that were like, you know what?
• 1:05:14
  Like we totally didn't think that was going to happen.
• 1:05:18
  Austin Times. That athlete has come from a
• 1:05:24
  trans situation where they've been with a coach for a long
• 1:05:27
  time. You know what I mean?
• 1:05:30
  Like I hesitate to say all the time but most of the time that's
• 1:05:35
  how it is with a lot of the European athletes.
• 1:05:37
  You know. And because of how our system is
• 1:05:42
  set up, that's almost it's almost impossible and you know
• 1:05:47
  if I'm thinking of like a dream go like that's it.
• 1:05:50
  All right I'd like the kid to go to school from fifth grade and
• 1:05:54
  do you to high school to you know to under 18 Teen to
• 1:05:59
  under-22 seniors and be able to stay kind of in the same
• 1:06:03
  situation where both same coaches for.
• 1:06:05
  Because my thing is like if we can do that America like they
• 1:06:09
  they probably at that point. I've changed the sport because
• 1:06:11
  we want everything, right? Yeah, it is amazing.
• 1:06:15
  The success that we do have specially here in the last
• 1:06:18
  decade or so with the how little development that we have
• 1:06:23
  specifically in the hammer. You know it's I think it's
• 1:06:25
  officially only in one state it's unofficially I think in
• 1:06:28
  Tuesday's High School level and that's it in its Pockets right
• 1:06:32
  mentioned Mike Judge and his crew down there.
• 1:06:34
  I know there's a great culture up in the Washington area.
• 1:06:37
  California area has some Good high school, Hammer coaching
• 1:06:41
  culture there but you're not getting it in Dallas, Texas,
• 1:06:45
  you're not getting in Chicago Illinois, there are there
• 1:06:47
  actually are two coaches there that work with high schoolers
• 1:06:49
  but not in a you know there's there's not a ton of them doing
• 1:06:52
  it. Yummy it's 1 or 2 etcetera.
• 1:06:53
  So it is quite amazing and it's kind of thought provoking of
• 1:06:57
  what would happen if it became a high school event.
• 1:07:00
  Look at the jabba, jabba has gotten a lot better and now
• 1:07:02
  we're up to I think 25 or 26 states, which again is only half
• 1:07:05
  for crying out loud, but we're starting to get more kids.
• 1:07:08
  In the event earlier, and it'll be an, it's still just in its
• 1:07:12
  infant stage in several States. It'll be interesting to see how
• 1:07:15
  that grows that event on the Collegiate and then
• 1:07:17
  International scene. Get to get these kids involved
• 1:07:19
  early, because you're right, you're up against International
• 1:07:22
  that not only have been consistent with the same coach
• 1:07:24
  for a long time, but I've been doing it since they were some
• 1:07:27
  sense, they were born, you know, that's a hard thing to go up
• 1:07:30
  against, that's for sure. Well, keep waiting, you've got
• 1:07:33
  to go to practice. So before we wrap up here today,
• 1:07:37
  you are one of my It and you've been even slacking lately, my
• 1:07:40
  friend one of my favorite social media posts to read because of
• 1:07:44
  your towel of hammer am. I pronouncing that right as a
• 1:07:46
  towel I say now. I think, you know.
• 1:07:51
  All right. Well, I'm from Alabama, so we
• 1:07:53
  say Tau, I used to call p.f. Chang's Pachanga because I know
• 1:07:58
  that F was a knee. So it was enlightening to me,
• 1:08:01
  the boy from Alabama, when someone's like, what are you
• 1:08:03
  talking about Pechanga? And I was like, it's like a
• 1:08:05
  potato? That's great restaurant.
• 1:08:07
  They're like, that's pfft idiot. I was Like, I'm out, I'm from
• 1:08:09
  Alabama. So it's towel of hammer, but you
• 1:08:11
  have these really thought-provoking not just for
• 1:08:15
  Hammer, by the way. I mean, they're really focused
• 1:08:17
  on Hammer, but for a guy who is not a hammer thrower, by any
• 1:08:20
  means, like, I read them like more makes a lot of sense.
• 1:08:23
  Maybe there's something else in life that this should apply to
• 1:08:25
  as well. Where did that start kind of
• 1:08:27
  this Confucius, like thought process when it comes to the
• 1:08:32
  Hammer? Not just, hey, do these many
• 1:08:33
  turns. Hey, release velocity is X.
• 1:08:36
  You're talking about, and this is where the full circle comes
• 1:08:38
  in about. About not fighting yourself.
• 1:08:40
  That's what a lot of your philosophical quotes are about
• 1:08:44
  as like, hey, let the hammer work with you.
• 1:08:46
  They can an extension of you don't fight, you not muscle in
• 1:08:49
  this thing where did that kind of thought process come into and
• 1:08:52
  then how do you create these quotes?
• 1:08:54
  Man, just something you're just sitting around waiting for the
• 1:08:56
  kids to come to practice and they hit you in the head or
• 1:08:58
  what? Sometimes sometimes it just
• 1:09:04
  hits. Sometimes it might Be spawned
• 1:09:09
  from something again like that I'm reading or or part of.
• 1:09:14
  I don't know if I can pinpoint exactly when it started but I
• 1:09:17
  think part of the journey. So again, you know, personal
• 1:09:20
  Journey kind of stuff. But I think I could attribute it
• 1:09:26
  to sort some point in my life, early career, I would hear
• 1:09:31
  people talk about the event handler, right?
• 1:09:36
  I'll never forget my first the first time I met Lance deal.
• 1:09:41
  I was a freshman on my first big like you know, track trip. like
• 1:09:50
  when I was with Georgia and we didn't talk that much but the
• 1:09:54
  first time I met him and bore was just kind of you know a fly
• 1:09:58
  on the wall in the midst of everyone else, having the
• 1:10:00
  conversation, it was like this guy like It really talks about
• 1:10:05
  it in a way that was like, I felt it, but it was clearly over
• 1:10:10
  my head. Like, I didn't, you know what I
• 1:10:12
  mean? Now, Granted again.
• 1:10:16
  This is your one of hammer really and honestly I was still
• 1:10:20
  like I was recruited and I went there to throat this case I
• 1:10:23
  threw Hammer like once a month maybe kind of thing and so fast
• 1:10:29
  forward a few more years and I'm meeting more Hammer throwers and
• 1:10:33
  guys who are you know or 79 80 81, 82 83 guys.
• 1:10:38
  And I essentially, I observe that like they do, they talk
• 1:10:43
  about it in a way that is different than everyone else
• 1:10:45
  that I might talk to you about Hammer.
• 1:10:47
  So, okay, well, there's something there.
• 1:10:53
  But I think for me, A lot of it was, Conversations with Lance,
• 1:11:04
  like so not when I first met him.
• 1:11:06
  But you know, as I got older and stuff and trying to and then in
• 1:11:11
  sorry and then, as I started throwing farther, you know then
• 1:11:15
  I would meet up with him at a media tour just just kind of see
• 1:11:19
  randomly and that we talked. And so it turned into being able
• 1:11:22
  to essentially kind of understand a little bit more,
• 1:11:24
  right, my level of awareness was hired now, hey because I'm
• 1:11:28
  throwing farther but not necessarily because the balls
• 1:11:30
  going farther it's because I'm crew be.
• 1:11:33
  Different things to it. I'm a little bit more aware of
• 1:11:35
  my throw and my place in it as I got older.
• 1:11:39
  Okay. And what I thought was that
• 1:11:45
  perhaps, It might have been. Pretty abstract.
• 1:11:57
  And I thought I might be able to find a way to verbalize.
• 1:12:04
  More of what, like I was feeling.
• 1:12:07
  You know, I mean and now that I say that I think I'm it is kind
• 1:12:14
  of funny because I mean, people would say you know, doubt a
• 1:12:17
  completely abstract. So you just you just can't wait,
• 1:12:21
  I guess, I don't know. But essentially, I think that's
• 1:12:25
  the answer. Like I was I was trying to find
• 1:12:28
  the way to verbalize. Not only well less important how
• 1:12:36
  to throw. It's more.
• 1:12:37
  More of what does it feel like When the, when the throw was
• 1:12:43
  like, yes, that's the throat. Here's what it feels like.
• 1:12:46
  And how can I help an athlete feel that for themselves?
• 1:12:54
  And how can I help a coach help their athlete feel that for
• 1:12:57
  themselves? It's hard to put into words,
• 1:13:02
  sometimes how we feel. Not just emotions, especially
• 1:13:05
  when we talk about athletes and events like hammer, and pull,
• 1:13:08
  Vault, and high jump. Like a lot of body awareness
• 1:13:10
  kinesthetic stuff. It's like, well, how'd that
• 1:13:11
  feel? And you know, we're asking 18,
• 1:13:12
  19, 20 year-old kids in there like good bad.
• 1:13:17
  So I like the exercise of, well how do I put that into words?
• 1:13:21
  You know, in words, that people are going to have to understand,
• 1:13:24
  by the way. So I love that.
• 1:13:26
  So kid. Wait, we're going to, I'm going
• 1:13:27
  to leave you with just a couple of things as we wrap up here
• 1:13:30
  today, man. First of all, thank you so much
• 1:13:31
  for being here, you know? I'm just so blessed and honored
• 1:13:34
  you give us some time to learn about your journey when your
• 1:13:37
  camera is playing some funny tricks.
• 1:13:39
  Did you notice how it's pulling out?
• 1:13:40
  And yeah it was really like a director was a it was a your you
• 1:13:46
  have a director there filming either but when it panned out
• 1:13:48
  just a minute ago to your right, the sticker fortius is there.
• 1:13:53
  I want to encourage you. That is the name of your
• 1:13:55
  podcast. You did a web I'm called a
• 1:13:58
  webinar series lat. Asks, there's probably two years
• 1:14:02
  ago to it. Was the boat.
• 1:14:04
  Yeah, it's covid ear, which you had again, amazing speakers a
• 1:14:07
  hammer thrower, him or coaches and stuff like that.
• 1:14:09
  But a really one of the most extensive sport psychology in
• 1:14:13
  that aspect of the sport as well.
• 1:14:15
  I want to encourage you to do that in some form or fashion in
• 1:14:18
  your role there, Inspire or separately whatever but there's
• 1:14:22
  a lot of value in the podcast and those webinars that you were
• 1:14:27
  doing and are doing that. I think is there's a lot there
• 1:14:30
  and a lot. I hear and honestly for you with
• 1:14:33
  a lot here, right here in your heart and soul to give.
• 1:14:37
  And the last thing I want to encourage you to do is somehow
• 1:14:40
  collect all these Dow of hammer quotes.
• 1:14:44
  If you will, I don't know what to necessarily encourage you to
• 1:14:47
  do with them. But keep them in a collection,
• 1:14:49
  whether they become a little booklet one day or its own
• 1:14:53
  social media platform or something.
• 1:14:55
  But you know, again, those are important things that I think
• 1:14:59
  transcend Hammer even The very most of them are Hammer focused
• 1:15:02
  but there are a lot of person focused type stuff.
• 1:15:06
  So I would encourage you to, you know, pin those somewhere so
• 1:15:09
  that you have easy access to the one day, there's something there
• 1:15:12
  for the greater good of particular, specifically people
• 1:15:15
  in our Sport and our coaches and specifically there.
• 1:15:18
  So, but you're such a giver, man.
• 1:15:21
  That's what I love about you the most.
• 1:15:22
  That's what, you know, from the days that I have met you, and we
• 1:15:24
  hung out a little bit and at the meats and things like that and
• 1:15:26
  had some talks, it's always about for my perception of you.
• 1:15:30
  It's always about About giving to others.
• 1:15:32
  And I think as we learned today that see there it goes.
• 1:15:35
  You got to dream again. I think it's like a certain
• 1:15:37
  position that you would like gratitude is just feeling.
• 1:15:42
  All right. I think it really really is.
• 1:15:44
  It's like juicy Georgia. That gets always like a reminder
• 1:15:46
  Georgia. Yeah, exactly Georgia.
• 1:15:50
  But I think a lot of your and I'm we didn't get into this
• 1:15:54
  maybe fortunately or unfortunately family although we
• 1:15:56
  did talk about Grandparents but you've had a lot of people pour
• 1:15:58
  into you from the doctor bees and Thuds and I imagined on
• 1:16:02
  poured into you as well. Honestly, that Middle School
• 1:16:04
  coach poured into you and in his own way you know having you pick
• 1:16:08
  up that shop put so I think I don't know if you feel this
• 1:16:10
  sense but you certainly act in this sense of giving to others,
• 1:16:15
  and I think that's I'm so I'm so happy that you did go into
• 1:16:17
  coaching, you could have done a million other things, man,
• 1:16:19
  you're such a bright guy and charismatic person.
• 1:16:21
  You could have run your own business in some other form or
• 1:16:24
  fashion and you're given a lot of value there.
• 1:16:26
  But here in our sport, you're given so much value to athletes.
• 1:16:29
  And I think you have a lot of you to give to other coaches as
• 1:16:32
  well. So I just want to encourage you
• 1:16:33
  to just explore that and just keep doing what you're doing,
• 1:16:36
  man. Just pour fire on what the pour
• 1:16:38
  gas on the fire, the you already have burning there, okay?
• 1:16:42
  Yeah, I really appreciate that. I'll leave it with, you know,
• 1:16:45
  one of my favorite things in the multitude of things.
• 1:16:48
  Judd said, is you know what I had, I gave that one so hearing
• 1:16:52
  you say that. Like I've never, I've never
• 1:16:54
  applied that to myself but like you're, you're right.
• 1:16:58
  I think that is what I'm after and not for the sake of a word
• 1:17:03
  like Legacy but like just I think there's there's stuff
• 1:17:06
  there because at the end of the day I'm not wanting anyone to do
• 1:17:11
  it for me or because of me, like, my aim is Is like this is
• 1:17:18
  the self, you know what I mean? I think hammer and throwing it.
• 1:17:21
  Any other kind of discipline as a tool for self improvement.
• 1:17:25
  Essentially? Right.
• 1:17:27
  I love it man. Take it.
• 1:17:29
  I mean not even Improvement. Just just self-actualization.
• 1:17:32
  Who are you on the inside? Do this thing here?
• 1:17:35
  Hammer throw chocolate discus Javelin obviously you know you
• 1:17:40
  will actualize what you are by doing these things.
• 1:17:42
  I love that man. Hey and if you listen today and
• 1:17:45
  you love to give Boy story, I got to encourage you.
• 1:17:47
  He we talked about one person a lot.
• 1:17:49
  Judd Logan he is on has been on the podcast as well, it would be
• 1:17:53
  such an honor for him and his family and his legacy.
• 1:17:56
  Use the app that you're using right now, if you're watching on
• 1:17:58
  YouTube, everything is on there. Just search Judd.
• 1:18:00
  Logan Gil, Athletics our guilt connections that will bring up
• 1:18:03
  his episode and then I must have been on a hammer kick because
• 1:18:06
  either right before, or right after it was back-to-back, I had
• 1:18:08
  Lance deal on the podcast and Lance, I've known for a long
• 1:18:11
  time as well, working with the University of working for USA's
• 1:18:14
  and incidentally, What just a fantastic human being by the
• 1:18:18
  way? I mean just funny, amazing
• 1:18:20
  Storyteller and I love that. You know, you brought him up and
• 1:18:24
  talked about the influence that kind of just listen to him like
• 1:18:26
  my mate he thinks different he's talking about this event just a
• 1:18:29
  little different than I've heard before.
• 1:18:30
  So again I just encourage you kind of have a hammer palooza if
• 1:18:33
  you will. You got kid way here today go
• 1:18:35
  check out Judd Logan and Lance deal on the podcast as well kid.
• 1:18:39
  Why go to practice man I'm making you late and you know you
• 1:18:41
  have your athletes in trouble if they were doing it.
• 1:18:43
  So thank you so much. Keep we appreciate you, man.
• 1:18:45
  Have a great day. Thank you.
• 1:18:47
  Take care, guys.