Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / BONUS: OG Guest #8 Zac Ball-Towson University

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BONUS: OG Guest #8 Zac Ball-Towson University · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

• 0:01
  Let's celebrate the 1st 10 guest coaches on the Gill Connections
• 0:07
  podcast. They took so much belief and
• 0:09
  trust in me and Gill Athletics to sit down for a long form
• 0:13
  podcast. No one was doing this and it
• 0:16
  took, it took a lot of risk. And so I'm super proud one to
• 0:19
  uplift and honor these men and women who took the chance and
• 0:22
  we're up to #8 today. So this was Zach Ball.
• 0:25
  He was at 1000 university back then.
• 0:27
  He's gone through a few. Changes.
• 0:29
  This is a snapshot in time here back in 2020.
• 0:32
  Interestingly, this was conducted in my hotel room in
• 0:35
  Albuquerque in 2020 at the Division One National
• 0:40
  championships, or should I say the national championships that
• 0:43
  weren't so super interesting. We had no idea what was in front
• 0:47
  of us in really just a few days, few hours, but it was great to
• 0:51
  sit down, learn his journey, great history with an amazing
• 0:54
  story from the great rest in peace Judd Logan.
• 0:58
  Also a Guild podcast guest. Go check him out as well.
• 1:01
  But here we go, we've got OG #8 Zach.
• 1:04
  Ball. Hey gang, welcome back to the
• 1:08
  Guild Athletics Connections Podcast, where we bring you the
• 1:10
  stories of track coaches from around the world.
• 1:13
  I'm your host, Mike Cunningham, and it is my honor and privilege
• 1:16
  to bring you the stories of these great men and women.
• 1:19
  This week I've got an awesome, awesome interview with Zach Ball
• 1:24
  of Townsend State University. Now in the podcast world, you
• 1:29
  record on one day. You may publish in another day.
• 1:33
  This one is one of those situations.
• 1:35
  So was honored to interview Zach on Wednesday.
• 1:39
  Going into the Division One Indoor National Championships.
• 1:44
  You can tell from his tone and excitement there was a lot of
• 1:49
  expectations, high expectations on his athlete in the women's
• 1:53
  shop foot, which was to be contested on Friday.
• 1:55
  So two days later, we were both just super excited to see how
• 1:59
  this young lady would perform as Towson's first indoor national
• 2:03
  qualifier. Emotions were high, expectations
• 2:09
  were high. I'm now recording this intro on
• 2:13
  Friday and we're supposed to be seeing her compete tonight,
• 2:16
  right? Well, as you probably know,
• 2:19
  unless you're maybe hiding underneath a rock, the 2020
• 2:23
  indoor National Championships for NCAA Division One, Division
• 2:27
  Two and Division Three were all canceled due to the coronavirus
• 2:32
  threat that we have going on right now.
• 2:35
  Completely gutted for all the athletes, their coaches, the
• 2:39
  programs. You know, this effects so many
• 2:42
  people, parents, the workers of these facilities, the NCAA
• 2:47
  workers, people have have put in so much time, effort, money into
• 2:52
  these to host in these supreme top track and field meets.
• 2:58
  So was unbelievably ready to tell you how great she did or
• 3:05
  just, you know, what a wonderful experience she had.
• 3:07
  And unfortunately was not able to have that experience.
• 3:11
  So kind of bittersweet as you listen to this interview, a lot
• 3:14
  of expectation, I'm sure this same expectation was from around
• 3:20
  the coaches in this country. Everybody was ready and pumped,
• 3:23
  ready to put on a show and perform.
• 3:25
  And unfortunately, well, we have to wait till 2021.
• 3:29
  So in the meantime, please enjoy this awesome interview.
• 3:33
  So humbled Zack Ball would sit down to me, the wise and
• 3:35
  wonderful Zack Ball. Yeah, I'm not very original, so
• 3:45
  we just roll right into it. So so we're going here.
• 3:49
  Hey, thanks for for joining me, Zach.
• 3:51
  Absolutely. This is exactly what I was
• 3:54
  hoping when I started this podcast.
• 3:56
  So we are literally in my hotel room in Albuquerque at NCAA's,
• 4:02
  which you just told me This is this is fascinating.
• 4:05
  What a great season. You just this is your first.
• 4:09
  This is Towson's first indoor qualifier.
• 4:13
  Yeah, yeah. So we, we've had a few outdoor
• 4:16
  qualifiers. We had one in the Hammer a
• 4:18
  couple years ago and then a lady in the javelin back in like O5O8
• 4:24
  somewhere in that range and maybe one or two more, but we
• 4:27
  never had one indoors. So, so it's pretty cool to to
• 4:30
  make some history and obviously so we're pretty, pretty excited
• 4:33
  about it and absolutely see what we can do down here and.
• 4:35
  What so is this a weight thrower?
• 4:37
  Is. This your shot thrower?
• 4:38
  Yep. So that's one of mine.
• 4:39
  Yep. So she she's got a a pretty
• 4:42
  interesting story. She was a 3839 foot shot putter
• 4:45
  out of high school and this is her fifth year.
• 4:47
  Last year she actually had surgery, broke her foot.
• 4:50
  So she she was out all year and literally no meats really no
• 4:54
  training, just trying to get healthy, get right.
• 4:57
  And it's just been out of vengeance this year.
• 5:00
  So a. Lot to unpack there.
• 5:01
  First of all, she was a 38 foot. High school shot putter.
• 5:05
  That's right. Is she tall?
• 5:07
  She's like 6 two she. Is probably 5657.
• 5:11
  So she's she's a little shorter, but she's got a big, big motor
• 5:15
  and you know, she's got some pretty good determination and
• 5:18
  her work ethic is just off the charts.
• 5:20
  Right. Yeah, that's that's over half
• 5:22
  the pack it. Could be a great coach and.
• 5:25
  She's, she's definitely come a long way and you know, so we're
• 5:28
  excited about about her being here presenting us so.
• 5:31
  And you mentioned last year she broke her foot.
• 5:35
  Yeah, she, I think it was a ligament or something.
• 5:38
  And actually, I had gotten to the job in September and
• 5:42
  probably two weeks before I started, they had kind of made a
• 5:47
  decision to have the surgery and she'd be out for the whole year.
• 5:49
  So she red shirted all year, you know, watched as another one of
• 5:54
  my athletes who's pretty good broke her records.
• 5:58
  And so now I have both of them this year, which has been a lot
• 6:00
  of fun. And, you know, and so she's just
• 6:03
  just been ripping it through. So her two years ago her PR was
• 6:07
  15, 79 indoors and this year she's thrown 1675.
• 6:13
  What's that in English? I you know.
• 6:14
  I've coached in 15. Years now, by the way, which
• 6:17
  just makes me an old man, I know.
• 6:18
  So I've completely lost the metric.
• 6:20
  Metric, yeah. So previously, I know I'm the
• 6:23
  total officer. Her previous PR was probably
• 6:26
  around 52 feet and this year she's thrown 5556, something
• 6:30
  like that. I don't know the exact feet off
• 6:33
  the metrics. So yeah, it's been awesome for
• 6:35
  her. Who was your predecessor?
• 6:36
  Who was the? Throwser, Jeff.
• 6:37
  Rebels. He he, Yeah, he did, did a great
• 6:40
  job. He's at Illinois State now.
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  You know, he got a hammer thrower to, to nationals a
• 6:45
  couple years after hours and, you know, just really, you know,
• 6:49
  took Lauren to the next level. And so I've just been able to
• 6:52
  come in and take what he did and keep it going so.
• 6:55
  That's awesome. Yeah, you were you.
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  I mean, what kind of emotions did you have so that you started
• 7:00
  this job in town? You come from Northwood, another
• 7:02
  great throws history program there and and you know, your
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  your stud. I'm doing air quotes there, it's
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  out for the year. Of course, of course, you know,
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  it was definitely interesting. You know, we also had, you know,
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  it's good when you have a couple studs.
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  So I have another young lady named Michaela.
• 7:21
  She's also a senior this year. She's a 20679 weight thrower, a
• 7:28
  53 foot shot putter. So she threw over 1630 this year
• 7:33
  and just threw 2066 or 2067 at Ecacs, which was school record,
• 7:40
  meet record. She's Italian, so she broke the
• 7:43
  Italian national record with that throw.
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  So so she, you know, came in last year as a transfer from
• 7:49
  South Alabama and so you know, she did a lot of great things
• 7:53
  and broke horn school records that she had had.
• 7:57
  Yeah, it's a pretty our school has been calling it kind of my
• 8:01
  two headed monster. So in the shop hood and so you
• 8:05
  know, but we have a lot of great girls.
• 8:07
  You know, this year we were the number six weight throw squad in
• 8:11
  the whole country with the USTFCCA rankings.
• 8:13
  I love that they started that. That's probably a year 5:00 or
• 8:16
  so. It's I think they started it my
• 8:18
  first year out of college. Yeah, I think that was 15-16
• 8:21
  something like. That I think that's super cool.
• 8:23
  It gets a little bit away from the team aspect, you know, but
• 8:27
  it is kind of like, OK, well here's the best weight throw
• 8:29
  team, the long jump team. I really it's interesting
• 8:32
  because of the depth side of it. Yeah, yeah.
• 8:34
  And I like because it, you know, it shows, you know, a lot of
• 8:37
  schools have really good kids and you know, but it gives, you
• 8:40
  know, maybe mid majors that don't get a ton of, you know,
• 8:43
  love all the time. But you know, it shows that we
• 8:45
  were deep. I mean, we had four girls over
• 8:48
  18 in the weight this year and three of them were over 1933.
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  So pretty, pretty good girls and.
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  And where is Townsend located? That's in.
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  Yep. Maryland.
• 8:56
  Yep, we're about 10 miles north of the Inner Harbor in
• 8:59
  Baltimore. So.
• 8:59
  Oh, is that? Right, Yeah.
• 9:00
  So it's kind of, you know, just enough away from the city where,
• 9:03
  you know, we don't get crazy traffic, but it's it's a great
• 9:06
  every place and, you know, we definitely love it there and
• 9:09
  everything it offers. So and.
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  Most of your kids from that area, I mean, it's a big area
• 9:13
  to. Yeah, Lauren's actually from the
• 9:15
  state of Maryland, so it's pretty cool to, you know, stay
• 9:19
  in the state and and all that. But we have a lot of girls from
• 9:22
  PA, New Jersey. Like I said, Michaela's Italian,
• 9:26
  so she actually is from London as well.
• 9:30
  That's where her mom lives. So she's she's got a very
• 9:33
  interesting story too. It's pretty cool.
• 9:35
  Yeah. So a lot of, you know, from
• 9:38
  within the area, you know, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New
• 9:40
  Jersey, just kind of all the bordering States and, and
• 9:43
  Ireland of course. Well, I mean, the population
• 9:45
  density there is off the charts a lot of good athletes, gardens
• 9:49
  for. Yeah.
• 9:50
  So, you know, and again, congratulations for getting
• 9:53
  what? What's the young lady's name
• 9:54
  here? Oh, Lauren.
• 9:55
  Lauren Coleman. Yep.
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  This is, I say this every the time I can the the D1 indoor
• 10:01
  national championships, hardest meet to make maybe in the world.
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  I know the Olympics is tough and I know the trials is tough.
• 10:08
  Holy cow, this meet every year, it's amazing.
• 10:11
  And I walk away saying it'll never get back.
• 10:14
  Like there'll be a down year the next year and then the next year
• 10:16
  is amazing. You know, last year in the span
• 10:18
  of what, two hours or you know how many world records and it's
• 10:22
  crazy. So I mean to get a kid here
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  regardless of event is. Of course.
• 10:26
  Unbelievable. Yeah.
• 10:27
  Now it was, you know, we were, you know, she's had a great year
• 10:31
  and kind of her last four weeks of the season, you know, it's
• 10:34
  just keep throwing farther and farther and farther.
• 10:37
  And what's cool is we actually came down to Albuquerque four
• 10:40
  weeks ago for the Doc Kirby meet in hopes of getting here,
• 10:44
  getting in the facility and, you know, being back.
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  And so that's where she threw her PR and so she got to throw
• 10:50
  there. She also competed at USA is that
• 10:52
  same weekend. So to have kind of that
• 10:55
  experience for both of those, she, she, you know.
• 10:57
  There's a lot of good feelings about this.
• 10:59
  Place yes I told her like even when we got off the plane we
• 11:02
  came out of the same gate and like I'm in the same I'm in the
• 11:05
  same hotel room that that was the last time so like just both
• 11:08
  of us are feeling pretty comfortable right now so that's
• 11:11
  a good feeling we. Lose the sometimes the the
• 11:15
  psychology side of it, it's all about, you know, the strength
• 11:17
  and the technique, but there is absolutely some positivity
• 11:21
  feelings on how kids perform or don't.
• 11:23
  Perform absolutely. And, you know, that's one thing
• 11:25
  she's done a great job is she's just, you know, she's she's just
• 11:29
  very, you know, just normal all the time.
• 11:32
  And she doesn't get too high. She doesn't get too low.
• 11:35
  She stays really focused. And she usually tells me to calm
• 11:37
  down when I get too excited. Yeah, I know.
• 11:41
  Yeah. So she's been great.
• 11:43
  And so like I said, we're excited.
• 11:44
  She's here to represent herself in the school and us and.
• 11:47
  What's her major? So she actually is in NBA right
• 11:51
  now, so holy crap. Yeah.
• 11:53
  So she's in grad school, She graduated last year with their
• 11:55
  bachelor's and she's got like a three-point 73.8 GPA in her in
• 12:00
  her master's right now, so. It doesn't surprise me that a
• 12:03
  kid that accomplished athletically also has it all
• 12:06
  together, it seems. She like she did an internship
• 12:09
  with the NCAA last summer, like some type of camp or something.
• 12:14
  And so she's someone that you're going to see probably the NCA
• 12:16
  president someday or something. Like that I was about to say
• 12:19
  maybe we need to hire her, but she's she's pretty awesome.
• 12:24
  So she's. Going to be really successful
• 12:26
  and that's really cool. Yeah, so take a step back from.
• 12:29
  NCAA S you guys also. Compete in the ECAC.
• 12:33
  I I don't know much about the ECAC IC4A, yeah, but you guys as
• 12:37
  a team won it. We did, we did.
• 12:39
  We just won it on Sunday. So and what was crazy is we won
• 12:43
  it and Lauren didn't even go because we were preparing for
• 12:46
  this. So we won it without a.
• 12:49
  That's 10 plus points. Oh yeah, and she's wow, that's
• 12:52
  number one shot putter and probably top three in the weight
• 12:55
  throw of that. So.
• 12:57
  So how how many? Tell me about the easy AC.
• 12:58
  Yeah, of course it's a big like, yeah, I, I have this vision like
• 13:02
  it's like 50 plus teams. Yep, it absolutely is.
• 13:05
  I don't know how many teams actually went to the meet, but I
• 13:08
  know 47 teams scored at the meet.
• 13:10
  So, so probably 50-60, maybe a little more.
• 13:14
  So it's, you know, all the Division One schools for the
• 13:17
  most part on the East Coast. And last year was a we got third
• 13:23
  and that was the first time we ever, you know, ranked that
• 13:27
  high, right? And so we felt pretty good about
• 13:30
  this year. And, you know, and, and the
• 13:32
  weight throw, we got 21 points and we scored 21 points in the
• 13:35
  60. And we had a pole vaulter, a
• 13:37
  hurdler, A200 shot put. So we were, you know, a triple
• 13:41
  jumper. So kind of had a lot of
• 13:42
  different areas covered so. What and is that in lieu of a or
• 13:47
  is that your conference meet or is.
• 13:48
  There Yeah. So the our our conference is the
• 13:51
  Colonial Athletic Association, but they don't sponsor an indoor
• 13:55
  conference. So it's you know it's the week
• 13:58
  before NCAA is the ECA. So that's kind of our indoor
• 14:01
  conference meet. But like I said because NCAA is
• 14:04
  with Lauren like we're like we're focusing on that.
• 14:06
  We want to get ready for that. So to go out up the I was up at
• 14:10
  Boston at BU and to go up there and.
• 14:12
  Is that where? It's.
• 14:14
  At WAS I was just up there like 2 weeks.
• 14:15
  Ago. Yeah, There you go.
• 14:17
  Their head coach, Gabe. Oh, yeah, of course, Gabe.
• 14:19
  Great. Yeah, awesome.
• 14:20
  Well, yeah, I got the interview. They're they're doing some good
• 14:22
  things up there. Yeah.
• 14:25
  So see, that was fun to get up there.
• 14:26
  And that was the first time Towson's won the ECAC.
• 14:29
  Ever. Yeah, that's amazing.
• 14:31
  Yeah. Last year I said third was our
• 14:32
  highest finish ever and then this year we want it so.
• 14:36
  Who's the head coach of? Towson, Mike.
• 14:37
  Mike Jackson. So yeah, yeah, so he was at
• 14:40
  Ramapo College for I think 10 years, something like that.
• 14:44
  And this is his 5th or 6th year at Tulsa now.
• 14:47
  And he's just an incredible person, an incredible leader
• 14:51
  and, you know, just really allows me to just kind of
• 14:53
  control my group and do what I do and, you know, helps me as
• 14:57
  much as you can along the way. So wow, he's he's taken tossing
• 15:01
  a long way in a very short amount of time.
• 15:03
  How big of a school? Yeah, we're, we're state
• 15:06
  schools. So we do have I think we're at
• 15:08
  23,000 something like that. So, so it's pretty big and it's
• 15:12
  kind of growing exponentially in the last I think five or six
• 15:16
  years it's enrollment's gone up like 5 to 7000 people or
• 15:21
  something crazy like that. So it's constantly growing,
• 15:25
  there's construction everywhere and building and expanding.
• 15:28
  So it's it's, it's pretty cool. To be a part of what?
• 15:30
  What's the cost to go to school there?
• 15:32
  In state tuition, I want to say is about 9500, something like
• 15:36
  that. And then out of state, I will, I
• 15:39
  got a ballpark at like 18 maybe something like that.
• 15:42
  So that's not that's not exactly that's not bad.
• 15:45
  I know, right? It's crazy.
• 15:47
  So, so yeah, it's a great, great place to be and definitely
• 15:50
  fortunate that Mike gave me the opportunity and, you know,
• 15:54
  allowed me to come out of division two and, you know, come
• 15:57
  in Division One and have that experience.
• 15:59
  Well, so you said coming out of division two, you know, outside
• 16:03
  looking in now, there's a lot of great coaches that will listen
• 16:07
  to this and the the smart ones know.
• 16:09
  Oh yeah, yeah. Like there may be a Division
• 16:11
  One, division two and even of course a Division Three.
• 16:13
  But especially in the throes, there is some major
• 16:17
  compatibility. So before 1000, you coach at
• 16:21
  Northwood? Yep.
• 16:22
  Michigan. Yep, correct.
• 16:24
  And they either are or were in the same conference as the
• 16:28
  Ashland. They still are OK because.
• 16:30
  There was some split, right Finley?
• 16:32
  Yeah, Finley, Tiffin, Walsh, Malone, schools like that, they
• 16:36
  all went to the GMAC conference in Hillsdale and so they all
• 16:40
  kind of split there and so, but Northwood State in the GLIAC,
• 16:43
  so. So who's all in the GLIAC?
• 16:46
  It's Ashland, Northwood, Saginaw Valley, Grand Grand Valley
• 16:50
  State, you know, some some pretty, pretty big powerhouses
• 16:55
  there, Ferris State, Northern Michigan, Lake State, Michigan
• 17:01
  Tech. So teams that are constantly at
• 17:03
  the top, top of the rankings and constantly have tons of kids
• 17:06
  going to national. So that's that conference.
• 17:09
  Used to be unbelievable. It doesn't sound sound like it
• 17:12
  maybe got a little. Easier a little.
• 17:15
  It's still yeah, yeah, it's, it's it's a great conference.
• 17:19
  And, you know, obviously I went to Ashland, so, you know,
• 17:23
  competing for Judd and then compete against Judd in the same
• 17:27
  conference. Well, you know it's his fault.
• 17:30
  He creates too many good. That's right.
• 17:32
  Become good coaches. That's right.
• 17:34
  That's. Right.
• 17:34
  So that's a good thing, you know.
• 17:36
  And I definitely want to get to, of course, so much of Judge.
• 17:42
  Absolutely. So, but let's start with
• 17:44
  Northwood and work back. How long were you at Northwood?
• 17:46
  I was there for three years. I started part time, you know,
• 17:49
  making nothing. That's most coaches start off
• 17:52
  and was a program that had had a few national qualifiers here and
• 17:56
  there. But I came in, I think there was
• 17:58
  6 throwers, 5 throwers and you know, by the end of three years
• 18:03
  we had like 12 to 14 throwers. I'm at broke in almost every
• 18:09
  school record there and now. That was a decent little throws
• 18:12
  program. Yeah, like I said, they.
• 18:14
  They break the school records. They had a lot of people that
• 18:16
  were like top end, but the depth was just never there.
• 18:20
  And so to be able to create that depth and, you know, come have
• 18:24
  kids become all Americans and get the nationals and tons of
• 18:26
  provisional marks. So it was a great place to kind
• 18:29
  of go in and start my own, you know, kind of thing.
• 18:32
  And I knew if I could compete with Judd, not beat him, but
• 18:35
  just compete with him, that I was, you know, maybe this is the
• 18:38
  job for me as just a coach, so. Did you know you always wanted
• 18:42
  to be a coach or did that kind of come late or was it a last
• 18:45
  resort or? No, yeah.
• 18:46
  I mean, you know, obviously at Ashland, you know, Judd has tons
• 18:49
  of throwers and so, you know, he likes to, you know, rely too on
• 18:53
  a lot of the older guys helping out the younger kids to get them
• 18:56
  ready. And you know, they do tons of
• 18:59
  camps, things like that. So like I was always involved
• 19:01
  with that and always involved coaching, you know, at the camps
• 19:04
  and helping, you know, my younger teammates and things
• 19:06
  like that. And just kind of as the years
• 19:09
  went on, I just kind of like hit harder and harder and I liked it
• 19:11
  a lot more. And I was like, you know, this
• 19:13
  guy wears sweatpants and AT shirt every day at work.
• 19:17
  There's the draw. You know, so that that that was
• 19:19
  the one right there and you know, we got got to be, you
• 19:23
  know, paid to be in track and field all the time, which I
• 19:25
  thought was just crazy. So, you know, I internship with
• 19:30
  Judd my last year and just kind of watched for behind the scenes
• 19:34
  some of that stuff and it just, you know, I knew this is that's
• 19:37
  kind of what I think I wanted to do.
• 19:38
  And then after a few years at Northwood, I know there's no
• 19:41
  turning back that. You're five years into the
• 19:43
  career or not. That's right.
• 19:44
  That's right. What was your you were exercise?
• 19:46
  Science. Yep, exercise science.
• 19:48
  What did you think before the light bulb kind of turned up for
• 19:51
  coaching? What?
• 19:52
  What did you? Think, yeah, I mean like
• 19:53
  strength conditioning obviously, and I think those kind of almost
• 19:56
  go hand in hand, you know, or being an exercise physiologist,
• 20:00
  stuff like that. But just working with some type
• 20:02
  of athletes, some type of sport, it's stuff I definitely.
• 20:05
  Enjoy. So, but then I was, you know,
• 20:07
  when I could kind of move it to coaching, I was like, this is
• 20:10
  perfect, you know, so. Did you went high school in Ohio
• 20:15
  where you obviously did track? Of course.
• 20:17
  Any other sports? I played football when I was
• 20:20
  younger, did basketball, did wrestling.
• 20:22
  I actually used to race 4 Wheelers.
• 20:24
  So, you know, tell. Me more about that.
• 20:27
  Yeah, that's that's well, my dad did it for forever and got us
• 20:31
  into it when we were probably ten that month, gosh, even very
• 20:35
  less than that and ended up being pretty good at that,
• 20:39
  actually. Organized.
• 20:41
  Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was 4. Wheel Racing.
• 20:43
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, like big dirt tracks and
• 20:47
  things like that. And so at the age of like 8910,
• 20:51
  I couldn't even tell you how old I was.
• 20:53
  Like I won some, it was either the federations championship or
• 20:58
  the state thing. I, I, it was a long time ago,
• 21:00
  but I was pretty good at in something that, you know, I got
• 21:02
  to travel a little bit with that and some good experience kind of
• 21:05
  outside of regular sports. But I think that kind of
• 21:10
  started, you know, just the toughness and stuff like that
• 21:12
  and. Are these normal?
• 21:14
  Like if I go buy a four Wheeler from four Wheeler stores.
• 21:17
  Yeah, not. That kind?
• 21:19
  Are these modified? Pretty, pretty modified.
• 21:21
  Like I said, they I was pretty young at the time, so they were
• 21:24
  the smaller ones. But you know, definitely my dad
• 21:26
  was the mechanic on everything and so knew how to soup them up
• 21:30
  to, you know, whatever the regulations were and all that
• 21:33
  stuff. So it was, yeah, it was cool.
• 21:36
  I mean, you know, like I said, we got to meet a lot of
• 21:38
  different people, go around a lot of different places.
• 21:40
  And you know, once I got into like football and track and
• 21:45
  basketball, wrestling, I just kind of phased out of that.
• 21:48
  And so my brother still does it now.
• 21:50
  He's three years younger than me so.
• 21:52
  Still races. Yeah, he did.
• 21:54
  So he's 20 something and still races.
• 21:56
  So is he on like the pro Am circuit?
• 21:59
  It's just kind of like, I guess amateur type of thing, local
• 22:02
  tracks and stuff. I don't think it's anything
• 22:03
  crazy. It's kind of like an outlook for
• 22:05
  him and something he enjoys and you know, something that, you
• 22:09
  know, maybe get out of the house for a few hours and I'll tear up
• 22:12
  the track and come home. You must have to be You talked
• 22:15
  about your dad's mechanic intuition.
• 22:18
  You must have to be a pretty good mechanic because you got to
• 22:20
  fix those things on the fly. Yeah, yeah, he did all that
• 22:23
  That's you didn't. Get into that side of it.
• 22:24
  Not. Not at that age at least.
• 22:26
  I mean, you know, I can fix things around the house here and
• 22:29
  there, but you're not going to see me tearing a fire to car.
• 22:34
  That's good handiwork for a throws coach too, because all
• 22:36
  the implements and things you can do.
• 22:39
  Call me like a mad scientist sometimes because I'm just
• 22:42
  sitting there and putting everything together and trying
• 22:44
  to make different implement sizes or lengths or whatever it
• 22:47
  may be. So depending on what we need.
• 22:49
  Some of our top innovations comes from throws coaches.
• 22:51
  You do so much more with that than, say, a starting block.
• 22:54
  Yeah, exactly. A pit and things like.
• 22:56
  That of course, yeah, absolutely.
• 22:58
  So let's get into you went to throws Mecca you Yes.
• 23:04
  Why did you choose Ashlyn? It's a really funny story.
• 23:07
  So my senior year, I threw 170 some feet in the discus and I
• 23:16
  worked with a guy named Mark Valenti.
• 23:17
  Mark is, he was used to be a professional Highland Games
• 23:21
  athlete. He's real close with Judd and
• 23:24
  with Adrian. Mel Wilson formerly blew it.
• 23:28
  And so he had sent multiple people to Ashland before and
• 23:33
  kind of did like, I don't want to say personal training, but
• 23:36
  kind was like one of the first people to start like the sports
• 23:38
  training in the area, kind of just like lifting and throwing
• 23:43
  and all that stuff. And so after I threw that, he
• 23:47
  kind of got me in touch with Jude and and I went on a visit
• 23:49
  there and I and in general tell you this too.
• 23:53
  At the time he was like, I just don't know if I have a spot for
• 23:55
  you. Like, you know, we have a
• 23:56
  million throwers and. How many coaches would like to
• 23:59
  be in a spot where 170 foot thrower store comes in?
• 24:02
  You're like, yeah, I don't know. You know, and so, but, you know,
• 24:05
  I I sent him an e-mail a little bit later and and I was like,
• 24:09
  hey, like, I don't know why. I just have this gut feeling I
• 24:13
  need to go here. I need to come throw for you.
• 24:15
  And, you know, and so he let me on and because I, I got
• 24:19
  recruited by nobody. Is that right?
• 24:21
  Yeah. Really.
• 24:22
  No phone calls, no nothing. And.
• 24:24
  I mean, you're in Ohio's a great area, Midwest in general, but
• 24:28
  Ohio's lots of great throwers, lots of great throwing schools.
• 24:32
  And we mentioned a bunch of the D2 programs that are right
• 24:34
  there, but also the Mac is right there a bunch of great.
• 24:37
  Throwers come out of Mac and. Of course, the Big 10, etcetera,
• 24:39
  but I'm surprised by that. Yeah, I mean, I think like,
• 24:43
  like, I'm not that old at all, but like just YouTube wasn't
• 24:46
  huge at the time. And just like I didn't reach out
• 24:49
  to anyone and I think I was from a very small school and yeah, it
• 24:54
  just didn't happen. And, and so which was fine, you
• 24:57
  know, obviously it was a blessing in disguise, you know,
• 25:00
  and so I got the opportunity to to go to to Ashland, so.
• 25:03
  You walked on to Ashland. I did.
• 25:05
  I did, yeah. I was a All American before I
• 25:09
  had a scholarship. So.
• 25:11
  But you know, it's just. In the ham I just assumed.
• 25:14
  Hamburg, Yeah, the way. The way.
• 25:16
  Yeah. So, but you know it, it was
• 25:20
  something where, you know, I came in and the first four to
• 25:24
  six weeks was very rough and I know what I got myself into with
• 25:28
  training and. Just the intensity or the
• 25:30
  volume? All of it, yeah.
• 25:33
  And just like, who knows, Judd answered that same question the
• 25:35
  same way. All of it.
• 25:36
  Yeah, you know, and, and just my, but my mindset wasn't there.
• 25:39
  I was kind of like, I had a a bad edge to me and maybe a like,
• 25:44
  you know, when people were telling me stuff, I wasn't
• 25:45
  responding how I should and stuff like that and did.
• 25:48
  You come in with the an attitude of like, I'm good so I'll be
• 25:51
  able to fit in or more of like just a kind of a rebel, like I
• 25:54
  really understand that. Yeah, I think it's kind of
• 25:56
  personal. Responsibility.
• 25:57
  Yeah, I think the Rebel and you know, it was just, I think a lot
• 26:01
  of people thought it was not a great fit and I wouldn't last.
• 26:04
  And you know, the last week of fall conditioning, the last day,
• 26:08
  literally I just had, we were doing Tabatas.
• 26:12
  And if no one knows what that is, it's 20 seconds of as many
• 26:16
  reps as you can and then 10 seconds off and then 20 seconds
• 26:19
  again. You do that for.
• 26:20
  It's in the weight room. Yeah, in the weight room workout
• 26:22
  and it's like for like 4 to 5 minutes it's it's hard.
• 26:26
  And and so I did a work out there was not good.
• 26:31
  And then kind of I did it again because it wasn't good the first
• 26:36
  time and everyone kind of rattled around me and whatever
• 26:39
  happened in that moment just kind of made me change my
• 26:41
  thought process. And, and from there, you know,
• 26:44
  it was just there was just different, I guess.
• 26:47
  And, and I bought in everything that Jet said, the program and,
• 26:51
  you know, just the amazing teammates around me.
• 26:54
  And, you know, it's just it, I try to explain it to people and
• 26:58
  as you know, like, it's just a different place.
• 27:00
  So you don't understand how special Ashland is until you're
• 27:03
  there? And I appreciate you saying
• 27:05
  that. And while I know some, I still
• 27:08
  can't, you know, although I'm kind of getting this, this
• 27:10
  picture, I remember someone shared a video of the weight
• 27:13
  room and it was this combination of WWE.
• 27:20
  Who's the big motivational speaker guy?
• 27:22
  You know, I mean like almost to the point.
• 27:25
  And I was never an athlete close to what you and those guys are
• 27:29
  not very close. But I've been in some what I
• 27:31
  thought were intense situations of coach, whether when I was a
• 27:35
  coach or whatever. It was just a 15 second clip of
• 27:40
  a squat PR attempt. And it was like, like I remember
• 27:45
  it was on Facebook and I remember commenting going and I
• 27:47
  don't work out at all. And I remember coming going, I
• 27:50
  want to go squat right now because of this like.
• 27:52
  It was part of me thinks I almost will know exactly.
• 27:55
  Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 27:57
  But it just seemed like this, like if you can't, if that can't
• 28:01
  motivate, if you can't get self motivated, not only what the
• 28:04
  coach, not only what Judd was doing.
• 28:05
  That's one part of it. Of course you have to have a
• 28:07
  ringleader, but there has to be. The circus still has to buy into
• 28:13
  it. Right.
• 28:13
  Of course, of course. Everybody in that video, there
• 28:15
  was not a single person. There was a lot of people in
• 28:17
  this video. There was no one who didn't look
• 28:19
  like they weren't bought in. Everybody looked like not only
• 28:22
  that they were bought in, but that they cared if that person
• 28:26
  actually made the attempt or not.
• 28:28
  And that and that person did make it.
• 28:29
  And of course it was, you know, mayhem of.
• 28:31
  Course. But it really felt like if the
• 28:33
  alternative had happened, if that kid had not made it, that
• 28:36
  everybody would have been bombed.
• 28:37
  They would have personally hurt everybody.
• 28:39
  Yeah, yeah, you know, and it's like Ashwin in itself, in the
• 28:43
  throwing. What Jet has created is special,
• 28:47
  but the weight, like the weight room is just a whole another
• 28:49
  level. I mean, like when we had Max out
• 28:52
  days when when I mean even just a normal low volume train day,
• 28:56
  like it was just always loud music, people screaming like
• 29:00
  like there was nothing but just mayhem all the time.
• 29:03
  But that's, that's why they're so we're so good all the time
• 29:07
  and they're still so good and, you know, doing what they're do.
• 29:10
  It's just, you know, it's, you go into that program, you go in
• 29:14
  every day knowing you need to be the best.
• 29:16
  Because if you're not let alone somebody else in the, in the
• 29:20
  nation, your teammate is going to pass you because that's, you
• 29:23
  know, I mean, it's, it's, it's just, I, I can't say enough
• 29:26
  about it and. What?
• 29:27
  What is the secret sauce? You know, the judge I mean, I
• 29:31
  mean, that's it, you know? Shout out to Judd Logan right
• 29:33
  now. Of course, people that know, you
• 29:34
  know, he's going through health issues.
• 29:36
  And. And someone else said this again
• 29:39
  on South through social media. They said if anybody can beat
• 29:42
  cancer, it's this guy. He literally was the most like
• 29:45
  you hear that in a rah rah side. For different.
• 29:47
  People that have been afflicted with that that horrible disease,
• 29:50
  when it was said about Judd in the little that I know about
• 29:53
  Judd, I mean, I know Judd not even a you know, and I was like,
• 29:57
  oh, yeah, like, yeah, of course, like, yeah, yeah, he's fine, but
• 30:00
  he's going to be good. Like he's going to kill this
• 30:02
  thing you. Know yeah, and that's exactly
• 30:03
  what it was and it was like, you know when all that kind of
• 30:06
  happened and I think it was about a year ago when it when it
• 30:09
  all kind of came to you know out or whatever.
• 30:13
  And you know, at first you're like, man, this is crazy.
• 30:16
  But then you're like, if anyone is going to probably break
• 30:20
  records and beat this the fastest, it's him.
• 30:21
  And he has, you know, and that's, you know, the model he's
• 30:24
  kind of done is I don't need it to be easy, just possible.
• 30:28
  And you know what, what's cool is about his mindset.
• 30:30
  And again, it goes right back to what happened with, you know,
• 30:35
  why Ashland's so good is he treated his doctor like his
• 30:38
  coach and, and she gave him his practice plan to, you know, beat
• 30:43
  it, do everything you need it to.
• 30:45
  And, and you know, and so that was the mindset he had and
• 30:48
  that's why he's, you know, beat it so fast.
• 30:50
  And you know, he all his tests and everything are still 0.00%.
• 30:57
  He's just been a smoke show with, with destroying it.
• 31:00
  And you know, he's still getting chemo and stuff like that, but
• 31:04
  it's just kind of like the extra fry everything.
• 31:06
  So it never comes back again. And you know, then obviously the
• 31:09
  whole story of how you know they won the nationals indoors and
• 31:14
  outdoors as a team. Which is.
• 31:15
  Crazy and you know, because I mean when I was there we were
• 31:18
  second twice third twice, 4th twice like so I and I was on
• 31:23
  some really good teams with, you know, Drew Wendell was a one
• 31:26
  45800 guy. I mean, we had 46 second 400
• 31:32
  guys off the charts and 7778 hurdlers and I could go on and
• 31:37
  on and on. And but you know, it's just that
• 31:39
  team just just put it together and did it.
• 31:41
  And like it was just, I mean, I watched it last year on live
• 31:44
  stream and it was just like like if I felt like I would and I was
• 31:49
  not there or even remotely a part of it.
• 31:50
  But that's just how I think special it was to just all the
• 31:54
  alumni, you know? You won't get to watch it this
• 31:56
  year because you'll be busy. Yeah, that's right.
• 31:58
  Hopefully you'll get. My own My own Hallmark this.
• 32:01
  Year you will. So what have you been?
• 32:04
  And you know, we can talk about Judd for hours and shout out
• 32:08
  Judd. Logan's going to listen to this.
• 32:09
  I got to get Judd on the podcast.
• 32:11
  I want to hear about. Not only, you know, he'd be one,
• 32:14
  I could do a 3-4 hour because, you know, in growing up how he
• 32:18
  got into athletics and then he got coaching and of course, now
• 32:20
  this latest chapter, I had the good fortune.
• 32:24
  One of my first hires at Gill Athletics was his son, Nate.
• 32:27
  So. Which with a blessing only
• 32:29
  because Nate is an awesome guy as well, but that allowed me to
• 32:31
  get to know Judd through that as well.
• 32:34
  Which you know, it's a. Incredible family, so I'm
• 32:37
  definitely very blessed and fortunate to.
• 32:39
  So what coming from that type of environment, which is an
• 32:43
  extreme, you know, culture is the hardest thing to build,
• 32:45
  easiest thing to destroy. Obviously Ashland has this
• 32:49
  culture. For one, definitely throws, but
• 32:53
  as you mentioned to Drew and other people and one of our team
• 32:55
  pacer athletes, Katie Najat, came.
• 32:57
  From the women's side of Ashland.
• 33:00
  So there is a tradition of this culture of competing and
• 33:03
  competing at an extremely high level and kids that weren't
• 33:07
  necessarily at that level coming out of high school.
• 33:11
  What have you taken from that to 1st at Northwood and now at
• 33:16
  1000? Yeah.
• 33:17
  You know, I think the biggest thing is just, you know, I'm not
• 33:21
  going to sit here and say I'm the best coach, I write the best
• 33:24
  plans. But one thing I think I do
• 33:26
  really, really well that I got a lot from Judd is I make kids
• 33:30
  believe that they can do stuff more than they ever thought they
• 33:32
  could. And so it's just pushing kids to
• 33:35
  new limits, you know, not only physically, but just mentally to
• 33:38
  know that they're confident that they're ready to go and that,
• 33:41
  you know, it doesn't matter what happened yesterday, what's going
• 33:44
  to happen tomorrow. Believe in yourself for the
• 33:46
  moment and just move forward. And so.
• 33:48
  Now you, you said that very easily that that statement you
• 33:52
  made right there, that could be a a Twitter post, right?
• 33:54
  It seemed like seemed like that might have been like a mantra of
• 33:56
  yours. Did you get that from a Judd or
• 33:58
  from a book or? From no yeah, I mean that's just
• 34:01
  kind of for sure from Judd and just kind of my own mindset, you
• 34:05
  know, to like, I don't know, like I said, I you know, I don't
• 34:09
  I'm not a cocky person. I don't really want to talk
• 34:12
  about myself. That's just not who I am.
• 34:13
  But you know, I'm very confident in what I do in my girls, in,
• 34:18
  you know, my team and in my life and, you know, and and if you
• 34:22
  can be confident and and you know that you got a chance every
• 34:24
  day, crazy things are going to happen.
• 34:27
  So it's. A very live in the day, live in
• 34:28
  the moment. Yeah, and that, you know, my
• 34:31
  first row, my first Nationals, I had a four foot PR and went from
• 34:36
  like 14th to 5th, ended up 5th and and ever since that moment,
• 34:41
  like to me that was just my like switch the light on, you know
• 34:45
  what I mean? It's.
• 34:46
  Just. Like I had no training had said
• 34:49
  I was going to throw far or nothing like that, but I just
• 34:52
  believed in my training and I believed in myself and just went
• 34:56
  out there and let it fly. And, you know, crazy things
• 34:58
  happen. And so that's what I've done.
• 35:00
  Coaching is, you know, try to be extremely energetic and
• 35:04
  extremely motivational and you know, make sure that that no
• 35:08
  one's going to be as excited as me on the day.
• 35:10
  So, and I think you. Know and and again you know, I
• 35:13
  don't want to keep harping on Judd because this is about you
• 35:16
  Zach, which I love Emma Buster chops are a little bit you know
• 35:19
  you don't like to make it about me.
• 35:19
  But as soon as I put the call out of who wants to be on the
• 35:22
  podcast Zach was the first one not as bad.
• 35:25
  I mean this no, of course, of course, you know, starting this
• 35:27
  podcast was about learning about this person and and, and, and
• 35:32
  then inside a track and field, which you know, for a guy like
• 35:35
  who's done it for a long time, a guy like me who's done it
• 35:38
  through when, you know, I was a poor athlete, but through that
• 35:42
  through coaching career now at Edgill, it's just so fascinating
• 35:45
  to learn about how you do what you do absolutely and living in
• 35:49
  the moments of that right there. So and what I mean by not
• 35:53
  harping on judgment. So how do you, what do you do
• 35:57
  with your coaching style that is like, Oh yeah, I 100% do that
• 36:00
  because Judd taught me that versus OK, I'm not Judd Logan,
• 36:05
  right? I'm Zack Ball.
• 36:06
  I have to create my first of all, what a great name for
• 36:10
  throwers. And so how do you add and do the
• 36:15
  Zack Ball style for sure, right? For sure.
• 36:18
  And that's what, you know, one thing I've tried like the energy
• 36:21
  of me, like this year, a lot of my athletes, we went to Penn
• 36:24
  State, we usually go over here and Ashley came this year.
• 36:27
  And so a lot of my athletes, I introduced them with Judd and
• 36:29
  they kind of got to see him coach and they all just looked
• 36:32
  at me and laughed because they saw the energy and stuff like
• 36:34
  that. But, you know, what I've tried
• 36:37
  to do is I've had a tons of great mentors, a ton of people
• 36:40
  who've, you know, done a lot for me.
• 36:45
  Yeah, Of course, AG Kruger obviously was at Ashland for
• 36:48
  forever. And, you know, I'm a lot like
• 36:50
  him in a, in a lot of different ways with maybe some pickiness
• 36:54
  with how I like things to be. And, you know, organizations.
• 37:00
  It's crazy, right? And if and, and anyone that
• 37:02
  knows will laugh because they know that it's so true it's not
• 37:04
  even funny. But I mean, you know, he's one
• 37:07
  of my, you know, just huge people that have been hugely,
• 37:11
  you know, made me who I am as a coach and as a person too.
• 37:14
  And, you know, Kurt Roberts when he was at Ashland, you know,
• 37:18
  another guy that's just got tons of energy and just attacks
• 37:21
  everyday hard and, you know, was just a skinny little dude in
• 37:25
  high school from Athens, OH, and ended up throwing the shot.
• 37:28
  What's 7172 feet? And, you know, just an amazing
• 37:32
  person. And, you know, so I think, you
• 37:34
  know, and I could go on and on and on about plenty of other
• 37:37
  people and but you know, people like that, I've just kind of
• 37:40
  like, you know, I think they all do a great job of having that,
• 37:44
  you know, Ashland energy. But they all, you know, also
• 37:47
  know where they are and who they are and kind of adjusting and
• 37:50
  you know, I know I'm not at Ashland.
• 37:52
  And and so, you know, I try to take, you know, what is Towson
• 37:55
  have what what are the people on my team?
• 37:57
  Who are they? What gets them going?
• 38:00
  And so, you know, taking that and you know, I have girls that
• 38:03
  are a little more soft spoken that, you know, when I get crazy
• 38:07
  and they just kind of stare at me like I am crazy, which which
• 38:10
  I am. So it's all good, you know, and
• 38:12
  I have another girl who's just just as high as I am.
• 38:15
  And so, you know, just kind of balancing all that.
• 38:17
  And you know, I think every athletes different, so you coach
• 38:19
  them a little bit differently depending on who they are.
• 38:22
  And oh, it's just telling somebody this the other day.
• 38:25
  I don't think like if I look back at every year of coaching,
• 38:28
  I don't think I've done anything the same every year because
• 38:31
  every year my group changes, my facilities change, right, The
• 38:34
  weather changes. You know, obviously Michigan is
• 38:37
  not the greatest for outside all the time when I was there.
• 38:40
  And so, you know, I am who I am. I'm pretty passionate.
• 38:44
  I'm, you know, I'll do anything for any of my athletes at any
• 38:47
  time and you know, when they're not feeling the greatest set day
• 38:52
  on and right there to bump them up and get ready to go so.
• 38:54
  I think what's important, you said a lot of good things there
• 38:57
  is Zach, but we talked about that flexibility of building
• 39:01
  your own program and how things change and a few coaches
• 39:06
  nowadays it's getting, I don't know, I don't want to overstate
• 39:09
  and say that there's less and less nowadays, but few coaches
• 39:12
  are like a Judd that have been there for, I mean, how long
• 39:14
  should have been there, 20 years.
• 39:15
  It's got to be pushing. Longer than that, yeah, I want
• 39:18
  to say like 20-5 years or something.
• 39:21
  So in that case, like if you had been when you were being
• 39:23
  recruited by Ashland, if you were more of a reserved
• 39:28
  introverted type and you went to a practice and saw how they did
• 39:30
  it, you, you would have been rightfully so turned off.
• 39:33
  Yeah, that's not I don't want that.
• 39:36
  That's not how right. So what's hard for you at a
• 39:40
  talent in your second year because you're you know, you're
• 39:42
  you inherited people from from Jeff and I'm and I know Jeff is
• 39:47
  is a different style. There's some similarities.
• 39:49
  There's some differences there. You're build you're bringing in
• 39:52
  kids now and they're in. So when they're recruiting,
• 39:54
  they're able to see, OK, this is how I, this is who I do and how
• 39:57
  I am as a coach. And they can make the decision
• 39:59
  then like, Oh yeah, that's the style of Coach I.
• 40:01
  Look like exactly. But that hard part is, is, you
• 40:05
  know, it's got to be 1520 years in the making.
• 40:09
  Yeah, exactly. You know, I think like, like one
• 40:12
  thing I tell recruits all the time and why I think like all my
• 40:17
  groups that I've had over the last five years have been really
• 40:20
  tight and like, you know, no issues and, you know, they've
• 40:22
  been able to push each other is like when I recruit kids, you
• 40:26
  know, just as much as it's the right fit for me, it's got to be
• 40:29
  a right fit for them. And so I think that balance is
• 40:32
  important. You know, if the number one
• 40:35
  thrower in the country wants to come to Towson, but you know,
• 40:38
  she just is not what we want and is going to come in and ruin the
• 40:42
  chemistry that we have or whatever, then I'd rather take
• 40:45
  the kid that throws 5-6 feet less.
• 40:48
  Who's got the right mindset, who's got everything, you know,
• 40:51
  that's going to come in the lead immediately, you know, mesh with
• 40:54
  my girls and, and, you know, probably throwing as far
• 40:57
  farther, you know, and, and, and just a few years later.
• 41:00
  And so I'm. Going to challenge that.
• 41:03
  I'm so glad you said that on record.
• 41:05
  It's easy to say that, and I've heard that before.
• 41:07
  Of course. And you know, you're 27, so
• 41:10
  you've got, here's the crazy part.
• 41:12
  And there's a lot of 27 and 30 year olds that think, oh man, I
• 41:15
  got to have everything. I'm like stuck together.
• 41:18
  I'm 30 years old. You're pushing that when in
• 41:20
  reality, especially with how medicine is getting better and
• 41:24
  better, you've got 30-40, fifty, 60 years left of coaching.
• 41:27
  That's right. So you're going to be, I know, a
• 41:30
  a guy of your talent and of your passion and desire to be in
• 41:34
  coaching and to improve not only the athletes that you that are
• 41:37
  in your group, but the team in general.
• 41:40
  You're going to you're going to be challenged one day.
• 41:42
  You're going to be at XYU University.
• 41:45
  Maybe it's at Ashland, maybe it's somewhere else that the
• 41:48
  number one top ten kids going to want to come to your school and
• 41:51
  they're not going to be a good fit, right.
• 41:53
  And you're going to tell them no.
• 41:54
  Yeah. I want to make sure that when
• 41:56
  that happens, we come back to this podcast and say how you did
• 42:01
  that of. Course, of course now that
• 42:03
  doesn't mean we're not trying to get the number on kids, right,
• 42:05
  you know, absolutely. But you know, I do think that's
• 42:07
  really important is just the chemistry of what we have.
• 42:10
  And you know, like I said, I mean, Lauren was a 38 foot shot
• 42:14
  put her in high school. You know how many how many
• 42:18
  people recruit her? Probably not a ton.
• 42:20
  And, and you know, I'm her third coach in five years and you
• 42:23
  know, everyone she's come in gotten better.
• 42:25
  And I, you know, I just, we had a young lady this year who was
• 42:30
  from a Division Three junior college, Rowan Glaucauser and
• 42:35
  that coach there did an awesome job with her.
• 42:37
  And I mean, she threw 55 meters in the hammer last year and this
• 42:41
  year has come in and just got second ECACS and and she threw
• 42:47
  the weight like 1974, I think as a junior.
• 42:52
  And I think she's hopefully got a pretty, pretty, pretty big
• 42:56
  hammer throwing her this year. I'm not, I'm not a distance guy
• 42:58
  to say stuff, but I think it's going to be pretty Dang far.
• 43:02
  And you know, but she's a person who again, like her talent level
• 43:06
  is just off the charts. I mean, she is just big, strong,
• 43:09
  fast, like everything you want mindset is perfect.
• 43:12
  And, and not a lot of people talk to her.
• 43:14
  And the second I met her, I was like, this is exactly who I
• 43:17
  wanted my program. And she's a stud.
• 43:19
  So, so it was a double, you know, so, but you know, we all
• 43:24
  the people that you know, we've signed already for at least the
• 43:26
  throws is, you know, under that same mindset.
• 43:29
  They came in and, you know, enjoyed the team and you know,
• 43:31
  we do recruiting visits, you know, by that time they've
• 43:34
  talked to me plenty, you know, so I try to have them be with
• 43:37
  the team as much as possible. And you know, I asked the team
• 43:39
  at the end of the visit, like, what did you guys think?
• 43:42
  You know, do you think this will work?
• 43:43
  Do you do you guys like this person or, you know, what were
• 43:46
  they saying? And, and I think that's why the
• 43:48
  culture that, you know, I've kind of created in two years of
• 43:52
  my own and obviously, you know, come off, you know what Jeff,
• 43:55
  you know, did a great job of and, you know, been able to just
• 43:58
  take it to another level. And, you know, we we want to be
• 44:02
  really mean competitors in the ring, but you know, outside of
• 44:04
  the ring, we're able to goof around and and be like a nice
• 44:07
  close knit family. So it's so it's a great thing.
• 44:09
  How is how have things changed? It's been 15 years now since I
• 44:13
  coached. I always tell people I'm so
• 44:15
  thankful you know, cell phones were just starting social media
• 44:20
  was really just starting it. Facebook had just gone to other
• 44:24
  campuses. So I did not coach in that era.
• 44:28
  Thank goodness. And today with the NCAA, with
• 44:35
  likeness rights and the transfer portal, how in just the five
• 44:39
  years you've coached, so think of yourself as when you were an
• 44:41
  athlete goes four or five. Years.
• 44:43
  Versus now, how much has that changed?
• 44:44
  What kind of what, what, what struggles do you deal with with
• 44:47
  that environment? Yeah, You know, I think, you
• 44:50
  know, every day things change and every year definitely
• 44:53
  changes. And, you know, I think with cell
• 44:56
  phones and with, you know, social media, stuff like that,
• 44:59
  there's a lot more, you know, mental health issues out there,
• 45:02
  you know, as we all see. And so, you know, just
• 45:05
  understanding that, you know, these girls have a lot of
• 45:07
  pressure on them, you know, to get good grades, to go to class,
• 45:11
  to throw really well and and stuff like that.
• 45:13
  And so just trying to find, yeah, exactly, you know, have a
• 45:16
  life outside of track too, which I think is equally as important.
• 45:20
  And excuse me. And, you know, so I think that's
• 45:25
  a big one that changes every year.
• 45:27
  So, you know, for me, I try to, you know, the better I know the
• 45:29
  girls, the better I can understand who they are, you
• 45:32
  know, when they're having a bad day.
• 45:34
  And so, you know, when those situations arise and a girl
• 45:37
  comes and she looks at me and just like, I just, it's not
• 45:40
  there today. Like it's just one of those
• 45:42
  days. You know, we adjust training.
• 45:44
  We, we make that day a lot less stressful for her.
• 45:47
  And, you know, try to come back the next day and, you know, make
• 45:50
  it better. And, and I also tell them too,
• 45:52
  I, I think practice can be an outlet for life too, and an
• 45:56
  outlet for other things they may have going on.
• 45:59
  And so a lot of them, you know, take advantage of that and, you
• 46:02
  know, really enjoy coming to practice.
• 46:03
  I, you know, maybe they say otherwise behind my back.
• 46:07
  Hopefully not not. Every day, but most.
• 46:08
  Yeah, but I I think they really enjoy coming to practice and
• 46:11
  being with everyone. And, you know, because we spend
• 46:13
  a lot of time together. I mean, I see that more than
• 46:15
  their families do. And, you know, they see me more
• 46:18
  than my family does me. So, you know, definitely, you
• 46:22
  know, just constantly changing and communication and, you know,
• 46:25
  just understanding, like I said, who they are, what makes them
• 46:28
  tick, and, you know, using that to kind of be great, I guess.
• 46:32
  You mentioned some of that I think is really important.
• 46:34
  Is that life outside of track as the track coach and as the track
• 46:38
  athlete, we get very in tune to that 20 hours a week or
• 46:42
  whatever. Is this still 20 hours?
• 46:43
  20 hours a week. That maximum of 20 hours plus
• 46:46
  the travel. And then of course there's
• 46:48
  academics that come into it because you, you got to make
• 46:51
  sure that they're on the right steps for academics and stuff
• 46:54
  like that. And then they're a person, so
• 46:56
  they have interest and likes and family and stuff like.
• 47:00
  That. What do you do outside the
• 47:03
  check? So what is Zach Ball the person?
• 47:04
  Right. You know, some people are going
• 47:09
  to allow this, but I mean, I I love just going home, sitting on
• 47:12
  the couch watching The Office on Netflix and relax.
• 47:15
  Don't get me started on the office.
• 47:19
  It little known facts. My good friends know this for
• 47:22
  eight, and this is no hyperbole. For eight years in a row, I fell
• 47:27
  asleep to the office every night.
• 47:29
  That's awesome. Every night.
• 47:30
  I recently just dumped Netflix for Disney Plus because I have
• 47:33
  two kids of. Course.
• 47:34
  Of course, but yeah, the office I could probably recite every.
• 47:37
  What's crazy is I was extremely late to the office.
• 47:42
  Like I think the first time I watched it was, I actually think
• 47:47
  it was last year. Oh yeah, you are late.
• 47:49
  Holy. Cow.
• 47:49
  And I just never like, you know, my friends in college watched it
• 47:52
  and my teammates watched it and I just never like for whatever
• 47:56
  reason, got into it. And then I started watching it
• 47:58
  and I mean, it's, it's just hilarious.
• 48:00
  Everything about it is hilarious.
• 48:01
  Who is the Zack Ball of the office?
• 48:04
  Are you a Dwight? Are you AI?
• 48:06
  Don't know if I'm a Dwight Tuna. Yeah, maybe, maybe, maybe a
• 48:08
  Tuna. I'll say maybe a gym.
• 48:10
  You know, I got the little pranks in me.
• 48:12
  OK, you. Know family person but you know
• 48:15
  so I I would say maybe yeah definitely not a Dwight
• 48:18
  definitely not a Toby so say I like doing that and you know I
• 48:25
  like playing golf that that's always a nice outlet I haven't
• 48:28
  done it in a little while but you know I always enjoy that
• 48:30
  and. Is that something was in high
• 48:33
  school or did you pick that up in college?
• 48:34
  Or not. I did a lot in high school and
• 48:38
  we used to play with friends a lot and in college played a lot,
• 48:42
  you know, with my teammates. I played with Judd AG is a
• 48:45
  really good golfer. Is that right?
• 48:46
  And. I could see hammer throwers
• 48:48
  being good golfers because of the access.
• 48:51
  Access, I guess into angles. And I think stay relaxed.
• 48:56
  I always compared a lot to throwing because it's like your
• 48:59
  best golf shots feel easy and like you didn't do anything and
• 49:02
  the technique and. That's why I'm a terrible
• 49:04
  golfer. No golf shot feels.
• 49:05
  Easy. I wish my golfing was as good as
• 49:07
  my hand was throwing. So maybe so Yeah, I like doing
• 49:11
  that. You know, we have two animals,
• 49:13
  so. What do you have?
• 49:14
  I have a, we have a black cap and he's just kind of does this
• 49:17
  thing. But then we have a 10 month old
• 49:19
  bulldog and she's she's a little, little nut, so.
• 49:23
  What are their names? Maisie and Rennie, so we went up
• 49:26
  to them. Maisie the Cat.
• 49:28
  The dog, the dog. The dog is Maisie and the cat is
• 49:30
  running. So yeah, they're the Bulldog is
• 49:33
  quite the handful. A puppy, any puppy, but then a
• 49:36
  bulldog. Yeah, so, but my, my athletes
• 49:38
  love her. So they, they love taking her on
• 49:40
  walks and stuff and helping me with everyone I travel because
• 49:43
  obviously I'm going a lot, right?
• 49:44
  What? What kind of bulldog?
• 49:45
  English. English Bulldog.
• 49:47
  Yeah, she's she's an English bulldog.
• 49:49
  She's black and white and just got all the, all the wrinkles,
• 49:52
  all the I love it, the under bud and all that stuff.
• 49:54
  So that's fun. My favorite dogs are the
• 49:57
  Bulldogs, the pug, anything that face when I was at Mississippi
• 50:00
  State relatively soon when I got there, I got to meet bully the
• 50:04
  bulldog. That's coming back on you, Steve
• 50:07
  McDonald's that's coming back to McDonald's.
• 50:08
  I had a bag of, you know, probably quarter of a pounder
• 50:11
  and fries and bullies there and went petting with the with the
• 50:15
  caretaker and I reached in like, oh, can I give it a fry?
• 50:18
  Oh, you would have thought I like cursed at the dog.
• 50:22
  That dog does not. It's on a high protein.
• 50:24
  I'm like oh that dog eats better knife.
• 50:26
  Yeah, no, they're, they're crazy.
• 50:30
  Like their personalities are pretty cool, so.
• 50:34
  They're so loyal and kind of clumsy.
• 50:36
  I think maybe that's why I like, because they're clumsy and.
• 50:39
  They're the dorky dog because they they have energy for short
• 50:43
  bursts of time. They sleep a lot, eat a lot.
• 50:45
  It's it's just, it's a gross coach.
• 50:47
  And and that's also. Exact.
• 50:50
  So yeah, so you know, so yeah, enjoying that.
• 50:52
  Obviously I'm enjoying family and one day I'll say travel.
• 50:56
  But you know, traveling with track is is, is what we do so.
• 51:01
  So you talk about traveling and, and things like that and, and
• 51:05
  something that you mentioned, I, I caught it when you talked
• 51:08
  about the dog and the cat and you said we, Yep.
• 51:11
  Who? Who is we?
• 51:12
  Yeah. So I'm, I'm engaged.
• 51:13
  So we got engaged in August. So that's so.
• 51:16
  That's recent. Yeah, yeah.
• 51:18
  So I appreciate it. So it's about nine months ago
• 51:21
  and getting married in September 2021, so.
• 51:24
  Yeah, we did the same thing along about a year and a half.
• 51:27
  And just, you know, obviously taking the time.
• 51:29
  Before September, so not during track season.
• 51:31
  Yes, so right, track training person.
• 51:35
  Yeah, kind of. You know, she played basketball
• 51:37
  and stuff too. And, and so, you know,
• 51:39
  definitely fortunate for that and to have, you know, oh, she's
• 51:43
  great to come home too. And how is she dealing with the
• 51:46
  coach, track, coach lifestyle? You know you're on the road
• 51:48
  every week. Yeah, of course she she handles
• 51:50
  it well, you know, I think well. There's no hesitancy there.
• 51:53
  Yeah, you know, obviously it's hard for anyone, you know, but I
• 51:56
  think, you know, she's very understanding and very, you
• 51:58
  know, allows me to, you know, follow my dreams and, and do it.
• 52:01
  And, you know, she loves the success and is, you know, super
• 52:04
  supportive of all of us. So, you know, it's, it's great,
• 52:08
  great sports system at home and. Is she a Townsend person?
• 52:11
  Like, did you meet her? And we met up in Michigan, so
• 52:15
  that was fun and. That is, you know, you hit the
• 52:19
  nail on the head when you talked about you know, your spouse with
• 52:21
  your a male or female coach, your spouse.
• 52:23
  It has to be someone a special person to deal with.
• 52:29
  I'm amazed. I look at some of these coaches,
• 52:32
  you know, the older guys and gals that have been married for
• 52:35
  2034 and I look at the spouse and I'm like, God bless you.
• 52:38
  Like I know where that person has been through their career
• 52:41
  and you've been there. They're thick and thin, man.
• 52:43
  Also definitely thankful for that and you know, thanks for
• 52:46
  the, you know. So for a huge year, you get
• 52:50
  engaged. Your team wins the.
• 52:53
  ECAC first indoor athlete, what's next?
• 52:57
  Holy crap. Hopefully an all American
• 53:00
  that's. Right, we got business to do.
• 53:01
  Here, Yeah, that's what like we won the ECAC season.
• 53:04
  Everyone's like, wow, like what an incredible indoor season.
• 53:07
  I'm like, we're not done yet. I said we got one more, one more
• 53:10
  box to check this week. So I you know, I'm pretty
• 53:12
  excited for her. You know, she's training's been
• 53:15
  off the walls and you know, she's confident.
• 53:18
  I'm confident. And like I said, four weeks ago
• 53:20
  is where her PR was here and we were in the same hotel.
• 53:23
  And, you know, I mean, when, like I said, we flew into the
• 53:26
  exact same gate that we did last time.
• 53:28
  So there's just a lot of little omens that are telling me that,
• 53:31
  you know, it's, it's it's time. So we'll see what's next.
• 53:35
  And so you talked about traveling and obviously for
• 53:38
  track travel a lot of different places.
• 53:40
  You think you said you head to Texas next week for outdoor
• 53:43
  opener. Where have you personally?
• 53:46
  And it could be through a tractor, but where have you
• 53:48
  traveled that you're like, man, this was a cool place?
• 53:50
  So it's what's track is last year.
• 53:53
  So my second best shot putter, Michaela, she competed for Italy
• 53:58
  last year at the European Under 23 Championships, which was in
• 54:02
  Sweden and. You got to.
• 54:03
  Go. And I got to go.
• 54:05
  So that was my first time out of the country.
• 54:07
  And so to go over there with her and, you know, she made the
• 54:11
  final and to compete and just watch, I mean, the best of the
• 54:15
  best. And, you know, with these
• 54:16
  coaches and with these athletes and, you know, just all these
• 54:19
  different languages and just being somewhere totally
• 54:22
  different and driving the smallest car I probably will
• 54:25
  ever drive again in my life, you know, so little.
• 54:28
  So so it was an incredible experience.
• 54:30
  I was over there for a week with her and.
• 54:33
  Did you drive on the wrong side of the?
• 54:34
  Road Nope, Sweden's not the same as us so.
• 54:36
  Obviously, I was a little. Worried about that, so, you
• 54:39
  know, but yeah, it was it was an incredible experience and Sweden
• 54:42
  has great coffee, so if anyone likes.
• 54:45
  Coffee guy I'm. I'm I like a cupboard 2 or 4.
• 54:48
  I came in with the Starbucks. Yeah, you know, I got a.
• 54:50
  Couple 3-4, yeah. And my girls always there, like
• 54:53
  how many they had that I'm like just I'm good to go.
• 54:55
  Let's roll. Now, are you a coffee guy or are
• 54:58
  you a coffee snob? No, I just.
• 55:01
  Order coffee? Or do you order the Coco Minto
• 55:04
  Latke Frappuccino? Plain black, that's.
• 55:07
  Good. Yeah.
• 55:07
  No, no. Cream, no sugar.
• 55:10
  So I when I first started going to Starbucks, you know, I was
• 55:12
  like, can I just have a medium black?
• 55:14
  And that's not how you how you say it at Starbucks.
• 55:17
  Yeah, I got the lingo down so. I do, I still go medium.
• 55:20
  Yeah, you can translate. Whatever you want to.
• 55:24
  Do you get coffee or do you get So I just switched a few years
• 55:28
  ago to Americano. OK, OK.
• 55:29
  Have you had Americano? I I actually had one in Sweden.
• 55:33
  I think I had like a cappuccino too.
• 55:35
  I tried some different stuff because everyone told me that
• 55:37
  the coffee there is just off the charts.
• 55:40
  Yeah, it was, it was different. Like I was wired for someone
• 55:43
  with like 1 cup and then I and like like I can you know,
• 55:47
  caffeine for a throws coach is like nothing.
• 55:50
  I don't. Know what to do over there, but
• 55:51
  it's it is oxygen. But it's a lot of fun, you know?
• 55:54
  So that was a great experience. So, yeah, but I'm just just
• 55:57
  plain black, you know, Starbucks is I guess the preference and
• 56:01
  but, you know, Duncan's fine. Duncan's good.
• 56:04
  I think McDonald's has really good regular coffee.
• 56:07
  Yeah, You know, so I think just, you know, like a cup or two or
• 56:10
  something. You know, like I said, maybe
• 56:11
  meet day four or five, you know, whatever, whatever.
• 56:13
  So. You got the coffee maker in the
• 56:15
  hotel room. Yeah, I had one this morning and
• 56:18
  then went down to breakfast and had a couple more and, you know,
• 56:21
  then got a Starbucks too. So I guess I'm like, move
• 56:24
  forward today. So, so, but you know, we got it
• 56:27
  in late, so I got to got to make sure that the.
• 56:29
  We've got to get like Swedish coffee and send it to Judd and
• 56:33
  his group and just, I don't know what that would be like a
• 56:36
  nuclear. Ruin there?
• 56:37
  Yeah. So that's it.
• 56:39
  I've left a cup of coffee. Where, where do you want to go?
• 56:42
  Where's a place that you're like, you know, I've never been
• 56:44
  there, but I'd love to go. You know, I, we're hoping my
• 56:49
  fiancee grandparents live in California, so I've never met
• 56:52
  them. They're 90 and like 91 years
• 56:54
  old, so hopefully go there. They're near LA.
• 56:58
  I could not tell you the city, but they're they've been there
• 57:02
  forever. They actually came over from
• 57:05
  Korea or Japan or China, one of those, I probably messed it up
• 57:09
  like 60-70 years ago and and so, but they've lived in LA for
• 57:13
  forever now first. Of all, make sure you know that
• 57:16
  before you visit. I know, right?
• 57:17
  Second of all, that's super interesting.
• 57:19
  Yeah, yeah, very cool. So hopefully go meet them in
• 57:22
  California this summer and country wise.
• 57:26
  So Michaela is still going to throw for Italy obviously moving
• 57:30
  forward. And so you know, we'll see what
• 57:33
  happens with all this crazy health stuff right now.
• 57:36
  But your Euros is like senior Euros is in Paris this year.
• 57:42
  So hopefully we'll get her to go and so I'll go to Paris with
• 57:46
  her. And so that would be a great
• 57:47
  trip and. Does she have a shot at the
• 57:48
  Olympics? You know, we'll see, you know,
• 57:51
  Yeah, there's, you know, in Italy she was the second best
• 57:56
  one last year. You know, obviously it's all
• 57:58
  about hitting the magic distance.
• 57:59
  So, you know, we we have a little bit of ways to go to do
• 58:02
  that. But I think she's definitely got
• 58:03
  the talent to do that. It's just what happens this year
• 58:06
  and I guess what I have her do so.
• 58:09
  To be in that position special, I mean, great athletes never
• 58:14
  even get to that type of aspiration.
• 58:16
  Absolutely, absolutely. So it's pretty cool.
• 58:18
  So be around with her and I have another young lady coming in
• 58:22
  next year that'll be a freshman and her mom's from Barbados, so
• 58:26
  she's going to compete for Barbados.
• 58:29
  So we'll get to do some cool stuff with her and I would like
• 58:33
  to go to Australia one day. I think that would I.
• 58:35
  Think everybody wants to get, you know?
• 58:36
  If it doesn't, right, So, but yeah, you know, I've never
• 58:39
  traveled a ton, you know, but kind of.
• 58:42
  Stayed in the mid Midwest. Yeah, Midwesterns tend to do
• 58:44
  that, I think. That's a huge.
• 58:45
  Liberation. Midwestern hospitality, right?
• 58:49
  So, yeah. So hopefully more traveling in
• 58:51
  the future. And you'll get Kentucky for
• 58:53
  regionals and then Austin again for national.
• 58:56
  Yeah, hopefully Austin and we'll be in, like I said, Texas next
• 58:59
  week. We'll be down in Florida for
• 59:01
  Florida Relays, you know, go to Philadelphia is pretty close,
• 59:07
  but we'll be in pen relays. And so a lot of a lot of cool
• 59:10
  places. Yeah.
• 59:12
  So see what the year brings. Yeah, I hope you know, you
• 59:14
  mentioned, you know, the health thing that's coronavirus and.
• 59:17
  Whatnot, of course. Yeah, I hope that you know,
• 59:21
  they're, they're cancelling stuff left and right.
• 59:23
  It's. Amazing.
• 59:25
  And I'm glad, you know, obviously the incident blade,
• 59:27
  we're continuing on here with indoors, but Texas Relays came
• 59:31
  out and said, yeah, we're still good to go for now.
• 59:34
  Pin relays, the Jamaican federation.
• 59:37
  So they're not sending any of their high schools and that's a
• 59:40
  huge issue. They're a huge.
• 59:41
  Part of that, yeah. It's crazy.
• 59:42
  I didn't hear that. Yeah, it just came out.
• 59:45
  Yeah, the things that I have to monitor because of sales and.
• 59:48
  Stuff, of course, Of course. But yeah, it's amazing how it
• 59:51
  affects people and then what you are you seeing it at thousand at
• 59:55
  all like some? Schools are going.
• 59:57
  To online only for the next couple.
• 59:58
  Weeks yeah, I mean I'm sure we'll probably go to that too.
• 1:00:02
  It's just a precautionary type of thing you know so.
• 1:00:04
  But we'll see what happens. I mean, you know, we were Lauren
• 1:00:07
  and I were talking about a little yesterday and and we're
• 1:00:10
  just like, you know what our goal right now is just get out
• 1:00:13
  there Friday, you know, American and, you know, take everything
• 1:00:16
  else day by day and, you know, kind of go from there.
• 1:00:18
  So it's not something I'm going to lose sleep over right now
• 1:00:21
  and. You know, I think that's the
• 1:00:23
  right. Attitude, yeah, You know, I'm
• 1:00:24
  going to focus on what's in front of me and what I got going
• 1:00:26
  on now and. And what you can control.
• 1:00:28
  Exactly. That's probably the key phrase
• 1:00:30
  right there, you know, So we'll see what happens and when our
• 1:00:34
  challenges come, we'll take care of them as as they come.
• 1:00:37
  So, well, in in the podcast world, you record on one day and
• 1:00:41
  you don't necessarily know when it's actually going to publish.
• 1:00:43
  Right, right, I think. This will publish on I think so
• 1:00:46
  when people are are going to listen to this, how the first
• 1:00:49
  opportunity to listen will be Saturday.
• 1:00:50
  And since the main audience is track, I'm assuming no one's
• 1:00:53
  going to listen to it on Saturday because that's the
• 1:00:54
  finals for everybody. Cruise everywhere.
• 1:00:58
  Yeah, it'd be great on the plane Sunday.
• 1:01:00
  That's exactly right. So it'll be fun to put in the
• 1:01:05
  notes how she does. Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:01:08
  Is competition Friday or Saturday?
• 1:01:10
  Friday. Yep, she competes Friday at 5
• 1:01:12
  PMI. Think I'll put in the notes
• 1:01:15
  about how you know, hey, you know we talked about this before
• 1:01:17
  and then here's what happens. I think something special is.
• 1:01:19
  Going on. I hope so.
• 1:01:20
  I hope so. I guess I've got a pretty good
• 1:01:22
  feeling and she's got a good feeling.
• 1:01:24
  And you know, the support of Towson's been incredible team
• 1:01:28
  mates and administrators and you know, the president's been
• 1:01:31
  shouting her out on social media, stuff like that.
• 1:01:33
  So a lot of a lot of backing. And like I said, she actually
• 1:01:36
  works in the athletic department and does game day stuff.
• 1:01:39
  So, so she's a pretty popular person around and so we're
• 1:01:42
  pretty excited and you know. Well, she sounds special and
• 1:01:51
  special athletes have special coaches and support staff
• 1:01:55
  administration behind him and Zach.
• 1:01:56
  It's been so awesome. I know we got to get ready, you
• 1:01:59
  got to go practice, you got a job to do.
• 1:02:01
  That's right, I got, I got to actually work from now, so I
• 1:02:04
  can't just sleep at night, you know?
• 1:02:06
  Well, you get too much caffeine in.
• 1:02:07
  You. I don't know.
• 1:02:09
  So you got practice today, today's Wednesday, right?
• 1:02:12
  So Thursday another practice session and compete on on
• 1:02:16
  Friday. Yeah, we're going to go kind of
• 1:02:17
  just shake out today and just get in the environment and just
• 1:02:20
  kind of take everything in and get her comfortable and do.
• 1:02:23
  You have any superstitions? For me, I really don't.
• 1:02:27
  I guess when I was an athlete I did, you know, it's the same
• 1:02:29
  socks and what I ate and stuff like that.
• 1:02:31
  You know, as a coach, you know, it's just, I guess, you know,
• 1:02:35
  maybe time to get there and just kind of, you know, what she
• 1:02:38
  likes to do moving forward. But like I said, she's very
• 1:02:40
  simple and she doesn't let changes, you know, deter of what
• 1:02:44
  she wants to do so. That's a huge for her.
• 1:02:47
  Yeah, it's it's great for a coach, too.
• 1:02:48
  It's. Very, very cool.
• 1:02:50
  Yeah, you know, so but yeah, we're going to get there today,
• 1:02:53
  just get her comfortable in the environment, go over, you know
• 1:02:55
  just how everything is going to be and then shake out.
• 1:02:58
  And then tomorrow I have a little pre meet throw session,
• 1:03:01
  get a cure or two that's working for us and on Friday so.
• 1:03:06
  That's it, man, That's awesome. So excited for you.
• 1:03:11
  I love the pedigree that you come from.
• 1:03:14
  More important, I'm excited to see the pedigree that you leave
• 1:03:17
  for other athletes and other coaches.
• 1:03:19
  You know, I have no doubt that one day, 20 years from now,
• 1:03:23
  we're going to be talking about the Zach Ball as we talked about
• 1:03:26
  Judd Logan. Yeah, hopefully, hopefully, like
• 1:03:28
  I said, you know, I've been fortunate to have great mentors,
• 1:03:31
  great family, great, you know, people behind me supporting me.
• 1:03:34
  And so, you know, I'm going to give what I can to the to the
• 1:03:37
  sport and my athletes and see how far we we can go.
• 1:03:41
  So awesome. Man, thank you so much.
• 1:03:42
  Yeah, I appreciate it. Awesome.
• 1:03:44
  Absolutely. It's been such.
• 1:03:45
  A blast. Now go out and do your job.
• 1:03:49
  That's right, take another coffee.
• 1:03:50
  That's right, Go go, Tigers. That's it, baby.
• 1:03:56
  Well, Zach, thank you so much again.
• 1:03:59
  Just so incredibly humbled you would spend some time with me.
• 1:04:03
  You know, again, completely gutted for Zach's athletes and
• 1:04:07
  all the athletes and coaches around the world.
• 1:04:09
  You know, we work extremely hard on a daily basis to empower
• 1:04:12
  coaches with innovative equipment.
• 1:04:14
  And you know, you know what, that doesn't matter if you don't
• 1:04:16
  get to perform and practice. So just completely gutted.
• 1:04:19
  We are looking forward to the future.
• 1:04:21
  We move on just like coaches do. You continue to prepare for what
• 1:04:25
  is next, so you can only control what you can control.
• 1:04:29
  And so let's all work together and go make the best experience
• 1:04:33
  for all of our athletes and programs in 2021.
• 1:04:38
  Hey, if you've made it this far, man, really appreciate you
• 1:04:40
  joining us today on today's podcast.
• 1:04:42
  Hope you enjoyed connecting with Zach as much as I did.
• 1:04:44
  He's a great young coach. We were sure to hear more from
• 1:04:47
  him as his career continues to elevate.
• 1:04:50
  Make sure to subscribe to the podcast on your podcast player
• 1:04:54
  of choice, whether that's iTunes.
• 1:04:56
  I personally use Overcast, whatever app you may use for
• 1:05:01
  that, but make sure you're subscribing because this won't
• 1:05:04
  be a regular every Monday every week or something like that.
• 1:05:07
  As I get guest and we record, I will publish them.
• 1:05:10
  Speaking of that, if you would like to be a guest on the show,
• 1:05:13
  we can do this by phone. I do prefer in person because I
• 1:05:17
  just think there's more magic that way.
• 1:05:19
  But if we can't do it in person, we can certainly do it over the
• 1:05:21
  phone on the app that I use to create these podcasts, the
• 1:05:25
  Anchor app. But if you want to be on the
• 1:05:28
  show or you know someone that should be on this show, contact
• 1:05:31
  me at HURDLE at gilathletics.com.
• 1:05:38
  That's right, Hurdle at gilathletics.com.
• 1:05:41
  In the meantime, hope you feel led to share this podcast on
• 1:05:44
  your social media network of choice so others can enjoy this
• 1:05:47
  podcast episode and the others that we have.
• 1:05:49
  Make sure you go back and check out the backlog and again
• 1:05:52
  subscribe so you can see the future log.
• 1:05:54
  Join us next time when we once again connect you with another
• 1:05:57
  great track and field coach. Bye.