Latest / The Strength In Numbers Podcast / EP 12: Keith Spencer | Kingdom Performance: Building a Community That Lasts

Transcript

EP 12: Keith Spencer | Kingdom Performance: Building a Community That Lasts · The Strength In Numbers Podcast

• 0:00
  I did this because I'm like, I got tired of the box.
• 0:03
  Like I got tired of the box of the game and I got tired of the
• 0:07
  box of life. Are you really in it for the
• 0:08
  right reasons or do you really love this individual?
• 0:10
  Do you really love this game? If you do that love is going to
• 0:14
  supersede anything that happens along the journey.
• 0:16
  If we can all be on the same page and the same sheet of music
• 0:20
  and be echoing the same language, that is going to be
• 0:24
  embedded in the individual, which then produces the results,
• 0:27
  right? If you get the parents saying
• 0:29
  one thing, the saying another thing and I'm saying another
• 0:31
  thing, the kids has to choose a steadfast on your purpose.
• 0:36
  Stay steadfast on your vision. And if these things don't help
• 0:40
  you get closer to there, you put those to the wayside.
• 0:43
  And I'm always in constant communication with the parents.
• 0:46
  And I actually give them some type of responsibility as far as
• 0:49
  maybe providing feedback, providing film, like something
• 0:52
  to make them feel a part of the process because I'm not there
• 0:57
  all the time. These are their kids.
• 0:59
  And that was heavily deposited into my spirit probably around
• 1:02
  like this time last year. You know, it's it's things have
• 1:05
  become so transactional, but we're in the in the game of
• 1:09
  being transformational. Like we want to transform these
• 1:12
  people. I try to keep everything simple
• 1:14
  because I believe that you know simple scales and fancy fails.
• 1:23
  Welcome to the Strength in Numbers podcast.
• 1:25
  I'm your host, John Bloom, and today's guest is Keith Spencer.
• 1:29
  Keith is the owner and Director of Play Development of Kingdom
• 1:31
  Performance, a basketball training facility in Plano, TX,
• 1:34
  where he works with players from the youth level all the way up
• 1:37
  to the NBA. This is a powerful conversation.
• 1:40
  Keith has so much purpose and passion behind what he does and
• 1:43
  we dive into how to build and feed the community, debriefing
• 1:47
  sessions, partnering with the parents for greater results,
• 1:49
  providing value beyond what people expect and so much more.
• 1:53
  Enjoy the episode, Keith. You know, the the last couple of
• 1:57
  times we've met and talked, they turned into, you know, multiple
• 2:00
  hour conversation like man like that.
• 2:02
  Should we should record that as a podcast.
• 2:03
  So I'm I'm excited now that we're actually recording of the
• 2:08
  podcast and getting it, getting it on, getting on audio, getting
• 2:11
  out to the people. But I'm pumped to have you here,
• 2:13
  Keith. Man, I appreciate it, man.
• 2:15
  Yeah, man, we had our conversations at the coffee
• 2:18
  shop, man, just chopping it up and, you know, really just kind
• 2:21
  of deep dive in, you know, into our personal lives, our personal
• 2:24
  journeys and kind of where we are now and, and how we can even
• 2:27
  collaborate to work together. So I think this is kind of the
• 2:29
  Kickstarter to all those things. Yeah.
• 2:32
  Well, and as you talk about your personal journey, could you just
• 2:34
  give a brief background on on your journey, kind of who you
• 2:37
  are, what you do, a little about Kingdom performance?
• 2:39
  For sure, for sure. Yeah.
• 2:40
  My name is Keith Spencer. I'm the owner and director of
• 2:42
  player development at Kingdom Performance in Plano, TX, just
• 2:47
  north of Dallas. It's my training facility that
• 2:49
  I've been built out since 15 years ago.
• 2:52
  I played Division One basketball at UTSA, played overseas for a
• 2:56
  couple years in the Netherlands. I mean, just wanted to be able
• 2:58
  to create an experience for athletes to come in as they are
• 3:03
  and just really grow not only as players, but as people.
• 3:06
  So, you know, I've been added hardcore, man.
• 3:08
  It's really helping these athletes skill set their
• 3:10
  mindset, you know, helping them get to the next level college
• 3:13
  and pro and just really trying to create just an overarching,
• 3:16
  you know, just community of, of believers that can help these
• 3:19
  players just evolve as people. Yeah, and you just said the word
• 3:23
  community and I I know that that's something you've talked
• 3:26
  about a lot and something I can see from the outside looking in
• 3:29
  about can your performance that it's right.
• 3:30
  It's more than just you working with players basketball, but it
• 3:33
  is more of a community, right. How, how did you go about
• 3:37
  through the years of building that community?
• 3:40
  And you've also, as we talked about, you talked about like how
• 3:42
  you try and intentionally feed that community.
• 3:44
  So how did you build it? And then how do you now
• 3:46
  consistently feed your community?
• 3:48
  Awesome. It's just one brick at a time.
• 3:50
  You know, I mean, it starts off with a vision, you know, of of
• 3:53
  kind of what you're wanting to do and just really kind of
• 3:56
  laying the foundation and really just building, you know, a team
• 4:00
  of people around you. Like, you know, so I had to
• 4:03
  really start with myself and really, you know, kind of unpack
• 4:06
  the vision of what I wanted, you know, King and performance to
• 4:09
  be. And then I had to go out and
• 4:11
  kind of partner with and find people that had that same, you
• 4:15
  know, that same ideology. So, you know, you bring, you
• 4:18
  know, these different individuals who have basketball
• 4:21
  experience, who have life experience and who want to give
• 4:25
  back to the game at a high level.
• 4:27
  And then you just start one day at a time, one day at a time,
• 4:30
  you know, I mean, but again, it always starts with the leader.
• 4:32
  It starts with the person of the visionary who can cast that
• 4:36
  vision out and get the other people to believe in it and see
• 4:39
  it and get behind it. So that's what we've been doing,
• 4:42
  man, for a very, very long time, and it's been successful.
• 4:45
  Yeah. Now that's awesome.
• 4:46
  And with as you're, as you're building your staff, right,
• 4:49
  bringing them into your vision, how are you, how are you being
• 4:52
  intentional about how you're kind of trying to develop those
• 4:54
  people that you have brought in, whether it is from how they're
• 4:56
  communicating the vision of, of Kingdom to the athletes you're
• 5:00
  working with or just from X's and O's, you know, skill
• 5:03
  standpoint or you know, any, anything above there, you know?
• 5:06
  Yeah, for sure. I think a lot of it is just, you
• 5:08
  know, it's a spirit, right? It's just the spirit of the
• 5:11
  individual. Yeah, of course you want, you
• 5:13
  know, guys that have pro experience and Division One
• 5:17
  experience, like that's great just to be able to articulate,
• 5:20
  you know, their their journey with the athletes.
• 5:23
  But more than not, it's really about, you know, the heart of
• 5:26
  the person. You know, you want people that
• 5:28
  are in it for the right reasons. You know, I mean, this game has
• 5:31
  changed, right? There's a lot of different
• 5:33
  things and I'm sure we're going to get into those, you know,
• 5:35
  those topics. And so it's important to really
• 5:37
  have a circle of people who have those core values that mimic
• 5:41
  what you're trying to build. And so those are the things that
• 5:44
  we're looking for. So there's, you know, trigger
• 5:46
  words and there's keywords that I'm listening for when having
• 5:49
  conversations with these people on just seeing how they move and
• 5:52
  seeing their consistency and their passion and their energy.
• 5:55
  And, you know, and, and if it's not just about the job, like if
• 5:58
  you're just coming in and just, you know, doing your session and
• 6:00
  it's leaving, that might not be going to be the right fit for
• 6:03
  you. Because we're looking for people
• 6:04
  that are, are willing to put in the extra time, like people that
• 6:07
  are willing to have the hard conversations that's going to
• 6:10
  pull kids aside, you know, and spend an extra 30 minutes to an
• 6:13
  hour having a conversation with an athlete that has nothing to
• 6:16
  do about basketball. Like those are the things that
• 6:18
  I'm looking for and what we're building here.
• 6:20
  Yeah, and you know, from from seeing you, it, it looks like
• 6:25
  you provide a lot of those things for for your athletes,
• 6:27
  right? You're you're helping them with
• 6:28
  basketball, but you're helping them with so much in life.
• 6:30
  And, and one thing we've talked about before is like, you know,
• 6:33
  you'll go see your kids playing, you know, their their high
• 6:35
  school games and go and watch. And, you know, you'll have all
• 6:38
  these kids and parents coming up and, and greeting you when you
• 6:40
  get there. How do you get to that point
• 6:42
  where you know, beyond just them coming to you a couple times a
• 6:45
  week to to help get better basketball, but that now you're
• 6:49
  a person in their life that when you show up like, hey, like they
• 6:51
  want to come talk to you, They want to come be there, like
• 6:53
  you're an impactful person in their life.
• 6:55
  And then I feel like that like that, that snapshot also is a
• 6:59
  picture of the community aspect that you built where it is
• 7:02
  beyond just, you know, the, the two hours, whatever they're with
• 7:06
  you during the week. Yeah, it comes down to just how
• 7:08
  you treat people, man. And I feel like, you know, just
• 7:11
  having that authenticity, you know, and really being about the
• 7:14
  kid and really being about the family and really being about
• 7:18
  what the mission is, right? And so the mission is when, you
• 7:20
  know, you guys connect, it's about helping these athletes get
• 7:24
  better. It's about helping these
• 7:25
  athletes fulfill their dreams, right?
• 7:27
  And so they feel that conviction, right?
• 7:30
  Initially, they feel that passion.
• 7:32
  They feel like, man, this person is invested or even more
• 7:36
  invested and I am like, as far as helping me get to where I
• 7:39
  want to get to. And so you kind of start, you
• 7:42
  know, with that and that becomes kind of the foundation and that
• 7:44
  becomes kind of, you know, your, your calling card of the
• 7:47
  relationship that you built with this individual.
• 7:49
  And then life happens, right? Like kids transfer kids, you
• 7:53
  know, maybe go to a different AAU team or kids may, you know,
• 7:56
  even go work with somebody else. And then you cross paths with
• 8:00
  them and the relationship is the same, like the interaction
• 8:04
  action is the same or even better.
• 8:06
  Like they're like, whoa, like in their mind, they're thinking,
• 8:08
  OK, I may not be training with them anymore.
• 8:10
  Or we may not have talked in a while.
• 8:12
  But you know, when we came into contact, it's like we never
• 8:16
  stopped. It's like, I'm still getting
• 8:18
  that same love and that same enthusiasm and that same
• 8:21
  connection as if I was just in this gym last night.
• 8:24
  And so I think people feel that because at the end of the day,
• 8:27
  it's not about me. It's, it's about the individual.
• 8:30
  And I'm going to always, you know, be that and be me and, and
• 8:33
  continue to love on these people because at the end of the day,
• 8:35
  they are people. It's if you're bigger than just
• 8:38
  a player, right? It's even after the ball stops
• 8:40
  bouncing, I tell people I'm going to always be there to
• 8:43
  support you. Like, no, nobody's forcing you
• 8:45
  to play basketball. Like your parents are going to
• 8:47
  love you, you know, unconditionally, whether you
• 8:49
  decide to play or whether you decide to do something else.
• 8:52
  I feel I'm the same way. Like if I just happen to meet
• 8:54
  you as just a regular person and not a coach player relationship,
• 8:59
  I would treat you with that same respect.
• 9:01
  And so, you know, I, I always want to keep that at the 4th
• 9:04
  front of every relationship that I build with these individuals.
• 9:06
  Yeah, Now I think that's a great point because it's like if, if
• 9:09
  an athlete stops working with you or they, you know, if you're
• 9:12
  in college and they transfer schools or whatever, and if, if
• 9:15
  that ends the relationship, that means the relationship probably
• 9:18
  wasn't real from your end or is just transactional.
• 9:22
  So I, I think that's a great point.
• 9:24
  It's like, like, why should that?
• 9:26
  Like just because that aspect changes, like it shouldn't
• 9:28
  change who we are if our mission really is to impact them.
• 9:31
  Man, and and you said it man like that and that was heavily
• 9:34
  deposited into my spirit probably around like this time
• 9:37
  last year. You know, it's, it's things have
• 9:40
  become so transactional, but we're in the in the game of
• 9:43
  being transformational. Like we want to transform these
• 9:47
  people. It's not so much about give and
• 9:49
  take. And I think that's where this
• 9:51
  industry has took a deep dive. And hopefully, you know, some
• 9:54
  some key people can rise up, key influencers, key coaches can
• 9:58
  rise up to help bring it back to what it's supposed to be.
• 10:01
  Because we first started this game of players loving the game.
• 10:05
  We first started coaching and training.
• 10:07
  It was the love. And then it's become about so
• 10:09
  much, OK, my kid, or how can I leverage this for an
• 10:13
  opportunity? It's become so much about that,
• 10:15
  like versus like, dude, are you really in it for the right
• 10:18
  reasons? Or do you really love this
• 10:19
  individual? Do you really love this game?
• 10:21
  If you do that, love is going to supersede anything that happens
• 10:25
  along the journey. No, no, I think that's huge.
• 10:28
  And as we talked about those relationships, like obviously
• 10:30
  it's huge the relations with the athletes, but but also right,
• 10:34
  you're running a business, the relations with their parents,
• 10:36
  especially, you know, middle school, high school kids that
• 10:39
  you know, those, those are the ones technically you're selling
• 10:41
  to, right? They're they're, they're, you
• 10:43
  know, they're the ones paying for it.
• 10:44
  So how how are you pouring into the relationships and being
• 10:47
  intentional with with the parents, especially if you know
• 10:52
  for me to like five, a lot of high school kids like and
• 10:54
  they're driving, they're just coming and and I don't see the
• 10:56
  parents every day like I see the athletes.
• 10:59
  How do you still pour into that relationship?
• 11:00
  Man, I, I love the parents first and foremost.
• 11:03
  I know you hear a lot of people say, man, the parents need to do
• 11:06
  this and parenting. I actually love, you know,
• 11:08
  dealing with parents because they're a part of the journey as
• 11:12
  well. Like they need to be developed
• 11:14
  just as much as the kid needs to be developed.
• 11:16
  There's no difference. And so I mean, the only
• 11:19
  separation that I have when it when it comes to our
• 11:22
  relationship is the actual training, right?
• 11:24
  So if you come to my facility, there's a separate space for
• 11:27
  parents to be and for the plant, the parent, the players to be,
• 11:30
  because I just don't want any distractions.
• 11:32
  I just want to be able to focus on the player.
• 11:34
  And I want the player to be able to focus on kind of what I'm
• 11:36
  giving them versus like, you know, peeking over their
• 11:38
  shoulder every two seconds and looking for their approval.
• 11:41
  So that's the only like separation that I like in, in
• 11:45
  this journey. But as far as like
• 11:47
  communication, like I'm all for it, man.
• 11:51
  Like, you know, so before players just even train with me,
• 11:53
  there's some type of onboarding call, there's some type of in
• 11:56
  person meeting. I'm not about just kids showing
• 11:59
  up and the parents not knowing who I am.
• 12:02
  Like I'm a parent myself and, and I, and it's important that
• 12:05
  parents know who their kid is around like bigger than just
• 12:09
  training this basketball. Like who is this person?
• 12:12
  Like who are you? Like what?
• 12:14
  Let let me shake your hand, let me look you in the eye, Let me
• 12:16
  feel your spirit out. And so, you know, when I have
• 12:18
  these, you know, long conversations, you know, with
• 12:21
  these parents, I'm off board. I'm just like, shoot me.
• 12:23
  Like like give them and give me as many questions, like grill me
• 12:26
  Fact Check, do your call. If I need to give you some,
• 12:30
  some, some my resume, if I got to give you some references, it
• 12:34
  doesn't matter. Like I'm, I'm, that doesn't,
• 12:36
  that doesn't intimidate me because I understand from my
• 12:38
  parents perspective, perspective, your child is the
• 12:41
  most prized possession that you have.
• 12:43
  And so it's important that you know who these people are
• 12:45
  around. And so, you know, I'm always in
• 12:47
  constant communication with the parents and I actually give them
• 12:50
  some type of responsibility as far as maybe providing feedback,
• 12:54
  providing film, like something to make them feel a part of the
• 12:57
  process because I'm not there all the time.
• 13:00
  These are their kids. And so they know them better
• 13:03
  than I do. They know them not just as
• 13:05
  players, but again, as people. They know, you know their
• 13:08
  trigger points. They know, you know, kind of
• 13:10
  what makes them upset. They know kind of what buttons
• 13:13
  to push. And so these are some of the
• 13:15
  things that were unpacking. You're right initially.
• 13:17
  So I have the more Intel that I can have as a trainer and a
• 13:21
  coach and a mentor, the better I can serve your kid.
• 13:23
  And so, you know, we, we build that relationship and we build
• 13:27
  that trust and we build that community amongst ourselves to
• 13:31
  where they know like this is pretty much like an extension of
• 13:33
  our family. Yeah, because I'm in the hunt
• 13:36
  with y'all. I'm a part of the, I'm a part of
• 13:37
  the process with you. And so, you know, the parents
• 13:40
  that can't be at the session to physically see what's going on,
• 13:43
  I have some systems in place to where, you know, they're able to
• 13:46
  get reports after sessions to know, OK, this we worked on
• 13:49
  these some things that we talked about, right?
• 13:51
  So these are conversation starter that you guys can have
• 13:54
  when your son or daughter comes home, right?
• 13:56
  These are some things that you need to look for when you're at
• 13:59
  their games, right? Hey, have you had a conversation
• 14:01
  with the coach? Like I'm trying to bring
• 14:03
  everybody to the table because we all have the intricate part
• 14:07
  in helping this individual achieve their dream.
• 14:09
  Yeah, no, that, that's awesome. Now that's making me think a lot
• 14:12
  about different ideas I could have even like, like you're
• 14:14
  saying, like giving them tasks and making them feel a part of
• 14:18
  it. And that's maybe making me think
• 14:20
  like, OK, like, hey, you know, with with parents, I'm working
• 14:22
  with kids. Like, hey, like if we're talking
• 14:23
  about nutrition or something to sleep, we're like, I can't be
• 14:26
  there, right. But it's like, hey, these are
• 14:28
  the things we talked about, hold them, like try and hold them
• 14:30
  accountable to these things and then check in with them there
• 14:33
  and then boom, like they're Even so more bought into to the whole
• 14:35
  process where you're doing rather than just be on the
• 14:37
  outside looking in now. Now they're in it with you and,
• 14:39
  and working as a team with you. And and I feel like that leads,
• 14:42
  they're going to lead to so much more retention and in long term
• 14:45
  results and and then coming back.
• 14:47
  For sure, because it's all about reinforcing, you know, I mean,
• 14:50
  if we can all be on the same page and the same sheet of music
• 14:54
  and be echoing the same language that is going to be embedded in
• 14:58
  the individual was then producing the result, right?
• 15:02
  If you have the parents saying one thing, the coach is saying
• 15:04
  another thing and I'm saying another thing, the kids has to
• 15:07
  choose. So if we can get on the same
• 15:09
  page and kind of pinpoint some of the same areas and have some
• 15:13
  of those same keywords, now it's going to click and now that kids
• 15:17
  going to be able to retain that information quicker to then
• 15:20
  produce the results. So we all desire for them.
• 15:22
  Yeah. And that's great.
• 15:24
  So, OK, so if a parent athlete that they decide they're coming
• 15:27
  to work with you at Kingdom performance, they when they sign
• 15:30
  up, they think they're getting, you know, this level what
• 15:33
  whatever it is, how do you provide above and beyond what
• 15:36
  their expectation is? That's good, man.
• 15:38
  I, I think it, it all starts with just the initial
• 15:41
  conversation. You're right.
• 15:43
  I think a lot of the times like, and I've heard this and this
• 15:46
  ain't no knock on nobody, but I've heard, you know, parents
• 15:49
  that have emailed people or call people and have never gotten the
• 15:52
  call back or never gotten the e-mail back.
• 15:54
  Like I've talked to parents who say, I sent four or five emails
• 15:57
  to from people and you're the only one that responded.
• 16:00
  And so I think it, it first starts with just
• 16:02
  professionalism. You know, I mean, it first
• 16:04
  starts with engaging the person, right?
• 16:07
  That's step one. Can you did, can you engage
• 16:09
  properly and have a conversation, be it phone, be
• 16:13
  it, you know, zoom, be it in person.
• 16:15
  And, and that takes to the next level with having your own spot,
• 16:18
  having your own facility to where now there's you take the
• 16:21
  guesswork out of everything. Oh, were you trained?
• 16:24
  Oh, I have my own, you know, my own brick and mortar.
• 16:26
  I mean, we, we're going to, we're going to be training.
• 16:28
  And so they know, OK, this is a consistent location.
• 16:31
  It's in proximity of where you live.
• 16:32
  Or if it's not, you can plan accordingly.
• 16:34
  It's not going to be here, there and everywhere.
• 16:36
  So that's another box that kind of checks off, right?
• 16:40
  And then it goes into the booking, right?
• 16:42
  How do you flow them into a session?
• 16:44
  So when are you available? I no longer answer that question
• 16:46
  anymore, right? Everything, you know with
• 16:48
  technology, everything is automated, everything is
• 16:51
  systematized or where, hey, I send you a link, you review
• 16:54
  everything, you look at the contract, boom, you go ahead and
• 16:56
  kick your time slots, you create a profile and then we just go
• 16:59
  from there. And I think just being able to
• 17:02
  get them in the door with a easy, seamless process, I think
• 17:07
  it's huge, right? And we're talking about
• 17:08
  business, right? If people have to jump through
• 17:10
  too many loops and click too many buttons, they get
• 17:13
  distracted and end up doing something different.
• 17:14
  So, you know, just that initial flow to get in the door is key
• 17:19
  that once they're in there, I mean, it's, I'm going to be
• 17:21
  it's, it's over because you know, they get to see the
• 17:24
  facility, they see your spot, they see you in person, they get
• 17:27
  to feel they, they, they feel the vibe and it all makes sense
• 17:30
  now. Now it's like, OK, this person
• 17:32
  that I had a conversation with this person that I saw on IG,
• 17:35
  the person's website that I went to this person's LinkedIn
• 17:38
  profile, that I went to this Twitter or X account.
• 17:40
  But everything is saying this. So now, once they see that the
• 17:45
  actual in person experience, it's better than even what they
• 17:48
  saw online. I mean, it's, it's done.
• 17:51
  Like I mean it, it really is. And I, and I say that with
• 17:53
  humility because you know, when you put a lot of work and love
• 17:56
  and what you do, you know, you want people to get it right.
• 17:58
  You want them to walk into the door and you want them to see,
• 18:01
  OK, protect this Kingdom the night.
• 18:03
  OK, I see that, you know, the spiritual vibe.
• 18:05
  I see it's clean. It's organized like OK, man,
• 18:08
  it's a beautiful spot. Like all those things are
• 18:10
  playing, you know, into your emotions and playing into your
• 18:13
  decision making process. And then once we get on the
• 18:17
  court, I mean, honestly, I tell people all day long, the
• 18:19
  basketball, that's the easy part.
• 18:20
  Like when you've been doing this for so long and you love what
• 18:24
  you do and you're really locked in with these kids and these
• 18:26
  individuals. I mean, it's just like, it's
• 18:28
  just a dance. Like you're in there and you're
• 18:30
  going and you're asking questions and you're encouraging
• 18:32
  the athlete and you're holding them accountable and you're
• 18:34
  pushing them and you're in the trenches with them, right?
• 18:37
  You're doing that for an hour and it's just a grind.
• 18:41
  And that kid walks away feeling so empowered and so different.
• 18:44
  And then you follow it up with the debrief and, and you know,
• 18:47
  the kid is pretty much selling the program for you.
• 18:50
  He's telling you about all the things he's learned and this,
• 18:53
  this, that and the 3rd. And, you know, I feel like it's,
• 18:55
  it's kind of a done deal. But the biggest thing that I
• 18:58
  want people to understand is that it's not about just the
• 19:02
  drills. It's not about just the
• 19:04
  basketball. Like the basketball is the easy
• 19:07
  part. A lot of players that come to
• 19:08
  me, they're, they're deal with confidence issues, right?
• 19:11
  You know what, they they're playing for a different team or
• 19:14
  whatever the situation. I don't want to even go into the
• 19:16
  what could destroy kids confidence because we all know
• 19:19
  the different variables. But you know, these kids are
• 19:22
  needing something, right? Like rarely kids are coming
• 19:25
  through the door. That's just like, I got it.
• 19:27
  I got to figure it out. Like I'm, I'm on my way.
• 19:29
  Like a lot of kids that God has brought into, you know, my on my
• 19:32
  doorstep are kids that, that, that are in need of something
• 19:35
  and parents that are in need of something.
• 19:37
  And I'm just grateful that I'm able to have the tools and the
• 19:40
  resources to provide that need and fill that void to then help
• 19:45
  that kid kind of research and become either who they were and
• 19:48
  better, right. And so that's just kind of how I
• 19:51
  how I look at it. So I think, you know, a lot of
• 19:53
  people think that they're going to come in here just, you know,
• 19:55
  for dribbling and shooting. Yeah, we're going to work.
• 19:58
  But you're going to get a deeper connection.
• 20:01
  You're going to feel as a parent, you're going to feel
• 20:03
  like, well, I have somebody that can kind of echo some of the
• 20:07
  things that I've been saying, right?
• 20:09
  That's going to help this kid be a better kid.
• 20:13
  Right, be more responsible because I'm putting a lot of the
• 20:15
  onus on the kid, right? So I'm kind of giving the parent
• 20:18
  a break, right? I'm, I'm challenging the athlete
• 20:21
  in front of their parent. Like, dude, like, hey, this is,
• 20:23
  this is what you want, right? Nobody's forced you to be here.
• 20:26
  It's time for you to take responsibility and take
• 20:28
  ownership of what you want to do, right?
• 20:30
  Like your parents are willing to provide what you need now.
• 20:34
  It's time for you to take the range.
• 20:35
  And so I try to make the parent feel like really what it is that
• 20:39
  I'm on your side, I'm with you in this and helping rear this
• 20:42
  child to greatness. And so together, you know we're
• 20:45
  going to get the results that this kid wants if he's willing
• 20:48
  to put the work in a time in. Yeah, I love that.
• 20:51
  And you know, just reminded when we talked before you talked
• 20:54
  about, hey, like we're, we're not actually selling like
• 20:58
  bassets. So right, we're selling
• 21:00
  confidence. That's what people are buying is
• 21:02
  confidence. And that's going to bleed into
• 21:05
  everything in such a big level than just, you know, just just
• 21:08
  the jump shot or just the the handles or whatever it is.
• 21:11
  Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think all that's a
• 21:12
  byproduct, like, you know, the the skills and is this a
• 21:15
  byproduct or just the time you put in and how you feel about
• 21:19
  yourself? And so, you know, a lot of these
• 21:21
  players just, you know, they they may haven't heard it,
• 21:23
  you're right. They may haven't heard certain
• 21:25
  things. They may haven't even heard
• 21:26
  like, like, hey, dude, like, and it's not, you know, massaging
• 21:29
  their ego. It's just like, hey, man, like,
• 21:31
  no, you got it. Like some kids haven't even
• 21:33
  heard that. Like man, like, no, Because, you
• 21:35
  know, sometimes you get in situations to where if, if
• 21:38
  you're, you may not be the guy, right, right.
• 21:40
  You may not have gotten a lot of opportunity or you just may be
• 21:44
  in an environment where you haven't been put in a position
• 21:47
  to be seen. And so in this closed
• 21:51
  environment, you know, in this controlled environment, in this
• 21:54
  safe space, we're able to tap into some things and see some
• 21:57
  things that maybe some people have not been able to see.
• 22:00
  And so off of that, I'm able to give them a different
• 22:03
  perspective. Like, hey, man, now, like
• 22:05
  there's something there. Like there's something there.
• 22:07
  I mean, if you're not nowhere near where you need to be, but
• 22:09
  it's, it's in you. Like some kids don't even get
• 22:12
  that conversation with coaches, right?
• 22:14
  And then, yeah, they may get it with their parents occasionally.
• 22:17
  But you and I both know like after a while, like kids don't
• 22:20
  listen to their parents. Like, I mean, they, they, they
• 22:22
  hear them, but they don't really, they're not really
• 22:24
  listening. Like they, it's just like water,
• 22:26
  they're off a turtle's back. Like they, the parents say
• 22:28
  something good, bad or indifferent.
• 22:30
  And it's like, OK, well, it's positive.
• 22:32
  So you're supposed to say that because you're my parent or it's
• 22:35
  negative and OK, I'll you're always hard on me.
• 22:37
  So, you know, being somebody who's not so close to it, but
• 22:41
  still respected because of just experience and tenure and what,
• 22:45
  you know, been able to build through this, you know, industry
• 22:47
  when I say it and when my team says it sticks a little bit more
• 22:51
  right? And, and, and we're not only
• 22:53
  saying it, but now we're in the trenches with you doing the work
• 22:57
  and helping you get there. So it means a little bit more,
• 23:00
  you know, coming from somebody, you know, from this position
• 23:02
  that we sit in. Yeah.
• 23:04
  And then you mentioned the the debrief a couple of times and I
• 23:07
  think that's, that's a huge, really good idea.
• 23:10
  Can you breakdown like what that actually looks like?
• 23:12
  I know kind of using some of the technological systems you have,
• 23:15
  you can put notes and stuff. So you talk a little bit more
• 23:17
  about what that looks like for a session.
• 23:19
  Yeah, man. So it's, it's, it's simple, man.
• 23:21
  You know, you know me, I, I try to keep everything simple
• 23:24
  because I, I believe that, you know, simple scales and fancy
• 23:27
  fails. Like if there's too fancy, if
• 23:29
  there's too much going on, I mean, it's going to be hard to
• 23:32
  be consistent with it. So I try to keep things super
• 23:35
  simple, super functional, right? If it's a 5 minute conversation,
• 23:39
  10 minute conversation, you know of us just hashing it out.
• 23:43
  Hey, OK, so you had a tournament this weekend.
• 23:46
  What are some as a player, what are some things that you felt
• 23:50
  you did good? What are some areas of
• 23:51
  opportunity? And then they're able to unpack
• 23:53
  from their perspective. And then I'll.
• 23:55
  OK, from a parent's perspective, what are some things that you
• 23:58
  saw? Because you're going to probably
• 23:59
  get two different stories, right?
• 24:02
  And we're trying to get to the middle ground.
• 24:03
  OK, so we got that. OK, So this is what you said.
• 24:06
  It's what your parents said. OK, cool.
• 24:07
  Like did you have a conversation with your coach after the
• 24:10
  weekend? Did you get any feedback from
• 24:12
  him? Blah, blah, blah.
• 24:14
  Yes, no, whatever, right. So then I take that and then I'm
• 24:17
  able to do some things maybe that I have seen, be it on the
• 24:21
  court, be it in film or whatever it is.
• 24:23
  And now we're bringing all that information to the table, right?
• 24:27
  And now we just start figuring out what are some tools and what
• 24:30
  are some things that we can do to help maybe mitigate some
• 24:33
  issues and that help kind of build on this good stuff that's
• 24:36
  happening, right? And so it's just a quick little
• 24:39
  conversation. And as far as the system stuff,
• 24:42
  you know, there's some things that I have just kind of through
• 24:44
  my platform to where, you know, I have a report that comes to me
• 24:47
  and I'm able to fill it out in detail and they get it and it
• 24:51
  saves into their profile. And we can always revisit those
• 24:53
  things so we can track kind of their progress.
• 24:56
  And if there's some of the same things that we're talking about
• 24:58
  over and over and over again, OK, there's an issue, right?
• 25:01
  There's there's an issue because we keep, I'm looking back at the
• 25:03
  last six weeks and I've been saying the same things and we
• 25:06
  haven't shifted. So what's really going on?
• 25:09
  Like let's let's get to the to the nitty gritty.
• 25:11
  So just little things like that that can just help us continue
• 25:14
  to build the player. Yeah, no, that's, that's, that's
• 25:16
  really cool because I think I know for me, sometimes it's like
• 25:19
  you get people coming in and out and you got other people coming.
• 25:22
  You don't always have the time to have those conversations.
• 25:24
  So having those systems built in where you can have the check
• 25:28
  insurance and like you're saying, go back and look and
• 25:30
  then see like do we keep talking about the same things and like,
• 25:33
  like what's going on there? And, and I'm guessing even the
• 25:35
  athletes can go back and look at it and just have a, have
• 25:39
  something to reference rather than just, you know, we had the
• 25:42
  session and then now it's it's done.
• 25:44
  And and that can't ever go back to it.
• 25:45
  I agree. I agree.
• 25:46
  Yeah. And, and even on the front end
• 25:48
  of it too, I mean, there's some, again, there's some things that
• 25:50
  we, you know, kind of unpack before we even start working
• 25:53
  out, like, you know what I mean? Like rest, hydration, you know,
• 25:56
  what are some, what did you work on before you got here?
• 25:59
  Like I need to know, like did you cause some I'm hurting.
• 26:01
  OK, so before you get to me, I need to already know.
• 26:04
  OK. Did you have weights?
• 26:05
  Did you have practice? Did you have another session?
• 26:07
  Like within 24 hours you have a game?
• 26:10
  What are some things you guys did like?
• 26:12
  So it's really like, and what that does is that makes players
• 26:17
  again, ownership, that makes players take more of it.
• 26:20
  That makes players really deep dive more into their own career
• 26:24
  and it trains them to be a professional.
• 26:26
  Like, well, you just can't show up and just do whatever and
• 26:30
  leave. No, like there's a there's a
• 26:31
  process to this thing, right? And I feel like the more like
• 26:35
  work or little tasks you give them, not trying to give them
• 26:38
  busy, but the more little tasks that you give them that connects
• 26:41
  to the thing, it just makes it mean more, right?
• 26:45
  Because now it's like, OK, I had to do this check in.
• 26:48
  Now I'm going to now their mind is already prepared.
• 26:51
  Now that OK, cool. So we already know we're going
• 26:52
  to be and I'm even asking what what do you want to work on?
• 26:55
  What are some things that areas of opportunity you want to work
• 26:57
  on? OK, so now we're working on some
• 26:59
  things that you said you want to work on.
• 27:00
  So maybe now you're going to have a little bit more, you
• 27:03
  know, more buy in, you know, to it.
• 27:05
  So this little stuff like that man that I've just, you know,
• 27:07
  and it's all trial even there. Like, you know, when you're,
• 27:09
  when you're an entrepreneur, you know, you're trying to kind of
• 27:12
  build something that you know, is that that hasn't been done
• 27:14
  before. You know, it's, it takes some
• 27:17
  work. It takes some, you know, some
• 27:18
  efforts in other areas, but you see what works, you know, and
• 27:22
  you stick with it. If it doesn't work, you know you
• 27:24
  make some adjustments like anything else.
• 27:26
  Yeah. And it's interesting with like
• 27:27
  the ownership piece you're talking about.
• 27:29
  What I've seen, I feel like throughout this past year, being
• 27:32
  in the private sectors, like as these athletes, like 1, they're
• 27:35
  making the choice, the active choice to work with you rather
• 27:38
  than maybe a high school. Like you've got to go to this
• 27:41
  list, you've got to go to whatever.
• 27:42
  So like there's that choice there, which automatically
• 27:45
  brings a little bit more ownership.
• 27:46
  I feel like, and just just for me, it leads to like, like, you
• 27:49
  know, smaller setting versus a whole team setting at the high
• 27:53
  school where, you know, training, you know, maybe it's
• 27:55
  somewhere, maybe it's a little bit different, but I feel like
• 27:57
  the piece sometimes like just working with me, it's like it
• 28:00
  does bring a different level of ownership to some of these
• 28:02
  athletes because of those, those more one-on-one conversations we
• 28:06
  can have about nutrition or sleep or the, the habits that
• 28:09
  they're doing. And then they just start to take
• 28:12
  ownership of that. It just, you know, it impacts
• 28:14
  what they're doing at their high school, impacts what they're
• 28:16
  doing here, where it's not like maybe when I do anything crazy
• 28:19
  training wise, but just because they're making the choice to be
• 28:21
  there. And then we had we're able to
• 28:23
  have more of those conversations around the, the other stuff,
• 28:26
  right? The stuff outside the gym.
• 28:28
  It just feeds into that and, and, and brings the results
• 28:31
  where, you know, maybe, you know, the training may not be
• 28:34
  able to be crazy different or anything.
• 28:35
  It's just their mindset and their approach changed through
• 28:39
  how we interacted. Yeah, for sure.
• 28:41
  And and it's personalized too, like, you know what I mean?
• 28:43
  So again, you get two different experiences and like people have
• 28:46
  the conversation. What do you prefer?
• 28:47
  You prefer a group, You prefer training.
• 28:48
  I don't want you. I mean, I mean, I like
• 28:51
  everything. I like a hybrid.
• 28:52
  Like I don't like, I like a balance plate.
• 28:54
  I don't like just one thing. Like I think you need to know
• 28:57
  your strength. You need, you know, your, you
• 28:59
  know, your, your team stuff like your practices, your team
• 29:02
  skills. You need, you know, maybe a
• 29:04
  small group, you need the one-on-one like you, we need
• 29:06
  everything because that I feel like the different environments
• 29:10
  is going to give you something different and it's also going to
• 29:13
  bring out something different. So why should we isolate
• 29:16
  ourselves to pick? But you got to pick this or you
• 29:18
  got to pick. No, I feel like all of it has
• 29:20
  benefits and you just never know.
• 29:22
  Like kids, they they need that. Like I've had again, kids
• 29:26
  players come to me and before we even start working out, my
• 29:28
  boyfriend broke up with me. Oh my, you know, I mean this
• 29:30
  happened. Oh, this happened with my
• 29:32
  family. And so it's like they're not
• 29:34
  going to say that at a team practice, They're not going to
• 29:37
  tell their school coach that like just in a group setting,
• 29:40
  right? And so if if the coach never
• 29:42
  gets that private time with them, they don't even know what
• 29:46
  their kid is dealing with. And so you're just like getting
• 29:48
  on them in practice, Like, man, get your head out of your.
• 29:50
  I mean, it's like, but it's like, OK, but you didn't even
• 29:53
  have that 5 minutes, 10 minutes prior to practice with just in a
• 29:58
  safe environment to just even talk about that, right?
• 30:01
  And then be able to mentor and advise, right, to then help them
• 30:06
  see a different perspective, right?
• 30:07
  And then they're able to move forward, right?
• 30:10
  And so I think that it's important for them to understand
• 30:14
  really themselves. It starts with self-awareness,
• 30:16
  understand yourself and really being willing to be vulnerable
• 30:19
  and being transparent in these environments because, you know,
• 30:23
  keeping things bottled up, keeping things, you know, closed
• 30:25
  off is going to hurt your growth and your progression.
• 30:28
  And so we as coaches have to sometimes kick start some of
• 30:32
  these conversations and these moments to get these kids to
• 30:36
  know that, hey, it's OK, right? It's all right.
• 30:38
  We all deal with stuff like it's a part of your journey, right?
• 30:41
  Yeah. This is, it's not going to be
• 30:42
  the first. This is the first time, but it
• 30:43
  won't be the last time, right? But at the end of the day, we
• 30:47
  have to keep the main thing, the main thing, right?
• 30:49
  We have to continue to move forward.
• 30:51
  And so that's what it's all about.
• 30:53
  Yeah. And you know, along the on the
• 30:55
  lines that we were talking about right there.
• 30:56
  But also earlier you talked about how like in your close
• 30:59
  setting, maybe you can sometimes see things about how they're
• 31:02
  playing or how they're working or or the game that maybe in the
• 31:06
  team setting can't be seen just because of the bigger
• 31:09
  environment. Like what are some of those
• 31:10
  other things that you feel like in your environment you can
• 31:13
  maybe pick up on or see a little bit more because of the context
• 31:17
  of that? Good, man.
• 31:19
  It's just a lot of this is areas of opportunity, right?
• 31:21
  Because when you're in a team setting or you're in a system,
• 31:24
  sometimes like your sister system tells you to do this,
• 31:28
  right? Hey, my system is a corner
• 31:29
  catchy sheet, right? And I and I get that we all are
• 31:32
  role players in that in a sense. However, there's still room to
• 31:36
  be able to grow other areas of our game.
• 31:39
  Like we don't want to just isolate that, especially for
• 31:42
  young players. Like, yeah, man, if I'm a
• 31:43
  veteran, I'm in the NBA, like I'm getting millions of dollars
• 31:46
  and they want me just to spot up, by all means, I'm doing it.
• 31:49
  But you're talking about like these high school kids, man.
• 31:51
  And like, like, you have to figure it out.
• 31:53
  Like we don't even know what you are like.
• 31:55
  Yeah, the, the team, the teams, they had a tryout 1/2 day a week
• 32:00
  at best. And they are.
• 32:02
  We're going to have you do this. Boom, boom.
• 32:04
  That's your job, right? Yeah, for the moment, Right.
• 32:07
  But but in the grand scheme of things, we don't even know what
• 32:11
  this kid can become. And so it's my job to put you in
• 32:14
  different situations to show it to be like, OK, cool.
• 32:18
  Like, you know what? Do like your mid range game is,
• 32:21
  is impeccable, right? And that's happened a lot where,
• 32:24
  you know, players have said, yeah, my coach doesn't he
• 32:26
  doesn't believe in mid range shots.
• 32:27
  And I'm going to praise God for SGA and what he's doing.
• 32:31
  I think that's starting to change people's perspective on
• 32:34
  the mid range because I love the mid range.
• 32:35
  I'm I'm a old school Kobe Jordan guy getting to the elbow,
• 32:38
  getting to that 1-2. And so that there's a huge chunk
• 32:42
  of time to where that was taken out because the percentage is
• 32:45
  bad. So, you know, we want to, I
• 32:47
  mean, I get it. But at the end of the day, if
• 32:48
  you got a kid that can get to it, I'm not taking that away
• 32:52
  from him. And so there's been moments
• 32:54
  where kids have brought that to the table.
• 32:56
  And just because of our training, we're getting to that
• 32:58
  spot and it's and these kids are efficient and they're, you know,
• 33:01
  with defenders on them hitting right over and using their body.
• 33:04
  I was like, dude, like this is something that that that could
• 33:06
  be a game changer for you. Maybe not where you are now
• 33:10
  because that coach is not going to allow you to, but we're not
• 33:13
  going to stop working on it just because you can't do it now,
• 33:16
  because at the next level you're going to be able to do it.
• 33:19
  And and that ends up being the case.
• 33:21
  And so being in that controlled environment where you're able to
• 33:23
  kind of just throw everything at the kid, you're able to see more
• 33:27
  versus role player system. This is your job and only do
• 33:32
  this. And if you do anything else,
• 33:33
  either either coming out or I'm dog cussing you out, like giving
• 33:37
  them the freedom and the creativity to grow and be a
• 33:40
  player, right? And that's honestly boom, to be
• 33:43
  real with you. That's why I started this.
• 33:45
  I did this because I'm like, I got tired of the box.
• 33:49
  Like I got tired of the box of the game and I got tired of the
• 33:52
  box of life. I got tired of it just being
• 33:55
  SO12345. I might do like at some point.
• 33:58
  Like this is still an art form. Like basketball is an
• 34:01
  entertainment. It's about creativity, right?
• 34:04
  And so a lot of the times we take it out because we just want
• 34:08
  to win. We just want, OK, we don't want
• 34:10
  any risk, right? How can I get from point A to
• 34:14
  point B as quick as possible without any wrinkles?
• 34:18
  I get it. Like I understand that some of
• 34:20
  y'all like your job isn't on the line, like y'all in middle
• 34:22
  school, like y'all like you're not playing for nothing.
• 34:25
  So these kids need to be put in every type of position.
• 34:29
  I don't care, man. Bring the ball up.
• 34:31
  Like, I don't care if you. I don't care if you the tallest
• 34:34
  kid right now. You may not be the tallest kid
• 34:36
  three years from now. So if I'm putting you in the
• 34:38
  block, I'm hurting you, right? And so those are the, some of
• 34:41
  the situations that I was kind of put in as a player to where I
• 34:44
  was like, man, dude, like I, I want to have a space, man.
• 34:47
  I want to have a program to where I'm able to give kids kind
• 34:51
  of that ownership and give them that autonomy to just go be what
• 34:55
  what do you feel you can be? OK, so let's go like, let's see,
• 34:59
  OK, all right, you, you you may not be ready to bring the ball
• 35:02
  up, but let's see if we can get you on the elbow.
• 35:05
  Let's see if we can start there with just one, two move.
• 35:07
  OK, boom, we build that. OK, Then we start to expand your
• 35:10
  game versus saying, Oh, you can't dribble, so we don't put
• 35:13
  you over. Oh, you can't shoot.
• 35:14
  So we don't put like like people are making decisions for 15 year
• 35:18
  olds that if you just put time and effort in a year, he could
• 35:22
  be completely different. And so that was kind of my, you
• 35:26
  know, onus to do doing this from a basketball point and then from
• 35:29
  a mental point of just being there, like building the bridge
• 35:33
  between life and sport, right, because we talked about
• 35:37
  basketball is lot is lot a lot like life, But where are these
• 35:40
  conversations happening? Like where are the where where
• 35:43
  is this community happening? You know, it becomes so much
• 35:46
  about the transaction of winning and it doesn't become about
• 35:49
  which he actually said it was supposed to be about, which was
• 35:52
  nurtured developing young men and women.
• 35:54
  So having an environment that that pinpoints those certain
• 35:59
  things is why we do what we do. Yeah, no, that, that's so good.
• 36:02
  And you know, I've been I've been reading a lot lately and
• 36:05
  just about, you know, long term athletic development and and,
• 36:09
  and it's such a problem now where everything's gotten like
• 36:12
  pushed earlier and earlier and earlier and like pre selecting
• 36:16
  of like who is good, who is not good, who is going to fill these
• 36:20
  certain roles like you're talking about?
• 36:22
  It's determined so much earlier, but like, especially, you know,
• 36:26
  youth athletes, like there's early bloomers, there's late
• 36:29
  bloomers. Like you don't know, you can't,
• 36:31
  you can't select and, and determine potential at that age.
• 36:35
  Like it's going to change. Like you're saying it's going to
• 36:37
  change so much. And it's like, if we can, the
• 36:39
  more we can keep everybody in the game for as long as
• 36:43
  possible. And like you're saying, expose
• 36:46
  them to different skills and roles as much as possible.
• 36:49
  That's going to allow the best results long term when people
• 36:53
  get into their full development as opposed to OK, like you're in
• 36:57
  middle school and we're already going to tell you like, you're
• 36:59
  stuck at the post, right? And then, and then like you're
• 37:02
  saying you don't, you don't grow anymore.
• 37:04
  And it's like now you're not tall enough to play in the post
• 37:06
  and now you don't have guard skills.
• 37:08
  Like you're kind of you're messed up for the future.
• 37:12
  So yeah, that's really good. And so, you know, if you talk
• 37:15
  about K. So if if if there's a kid,
• 37:17
  they're playing for a team where it's like we're only we're only
• 37:20
  shooting at the rim or three-point, nothing in between,
• 37:24
  but they do have a good mid range.
• 37:25
  How do they approach that? You mentioned kind of OK, like
• 37:28
  we're going to just work on on our own, But how do I, how do I
• 37:31
  still get better at that in a way that I actually can have the
• 37:34
  confidence to use it in a real game down the line?
• 37:37
  If I'm not using it in a game, is it like, OK during the school
• 37:41
  year, like I'm not going to use it, my coach doesn't want it and
• 37:43
  then AAUI can start throwing it in my game there or what does
• 37:46
  that look like for a kid? Yeah.
• 37:48
  You just said it, brother. I think it's just, you know,
• 37:50
  it's it's situation based, right?
• 37:52
  So high school, we cannot do this, but AAU I have the freedom
• 37:56
  to do this. But now that you had the
• 37:58
  freedom, if you hadn't been working on it because you were
• 38:01
  in a system that didn't allow it, you're not ready for it.
• 38:04
  And then you go out there and try to do the thing that you
• 38:06
  haven't been working on that you think you can do and it doesn't
• 38:09
  work. So then now it kind of now it
• 38:11
  becomes a spiral, right? And so it's about hey, like,
• 38:14
  yeah, this is where you are now. This we're working on today and
• 38:17
  again, and I'm and I'm very again, respect is given.
• 38:20
  Like I'm always, I'm always given respect.
• 38:22
  I'm not, you know, downplaying. And that's the thing that I
• 38:24
  want, you know, coaches to understand because I've, I've
• 38:27
  coached, I coached in high school for eight years.
• 38:29
  So I understand, you know, the, the challenges that high school
• 38:32
  coaches have when you're, you're trying to game plan and, you
• 38:36
  know, create, you know, that culture to go out there and,
• 38:39
  and, and try and win, right. And so I understand like you
• 38:42
  can't put certain kids in certain positions because it
• 38:45
  doesn't help the bottom line. And so I, I, I understand and
• 38:48
  that, and I think that's why it's important to be able to
• 38:51
  build either a staff that can help support those other areas
• 38:55
  or, you know, refer out and entrust, you know, outside
• 38:58
  people, you know, to, to help you, you know, to help you build
• 39:01
  that because in return, it's only going to help you.
• 39:03
  And by the grace of God, I've been able to, you know, build
• 39:05
  some really good relationship with some high school coaches,
• 39:07
  really top level programs. And it's constant conversation
• 39:11
  going back and forth. It's constant, Hey, we're
• 39:13
  working on this. OK, cool.
• 39:14
  We're going to make sure we we bring that to the forefront of
• 39:17
  our sessions. However, there's some other
• 39:19
  things that I would like to address as well.
• 39:21
  Boom. And it's kind of just have that
• 39:23
  just healthy dialogue, you know, without having, you know, a
• 39:26
  power struggle, right? And so, you know, with these
• 39:29
  players, it's really just giving them the fullness of it.
• 39:32
  And again, being communicating and being transparent, like,
• 39:35
  hey, OK, this is where you are. Let's make sure we get adequate
• 39:38
  reps and what it's going to look like Friday night, right?
• 39:42
  However, we're going to spend some time on getting to this
• 39:45
  because we know we got to keep this sharp.
• 39:47
  But when that opportunity presents it, so, you know, for
• 39:50
  you to be able to do it. And then another thing that I
• 39:52
  also challenge players to do as well is, hey, yeah, maybe
• 39:56
  there's a reason why your coach has you here.
• 39:58
  You know, show him in practice that you could do other things
• 40:03
  and maybe the trust will get built.
• 40:05
  Like, yeah, he may say, son, we don't want you bringing the ball
• 40:08
  up, but hey, we're working on your ball handling here in these
• 40:10
  sessions, so hey. When you get it off the glass,
• 40:13
  push it up one or two times, like in practice, like don't
• 40:16
  just do it in practice a couple times and just see if you know,
• 40:18
  if if he starts to kind of ease off and say, you know what, we
• 40:22
  have something here. So I just try to give them
• 40:24
  again, ownership and responsibility to kind of take
• 40:27
  it. Take it to take the steering
• 40:28
  wheel at moments because you have to as players, like, yeah,
• 40:31
  like I'm not I understand. Yes, as coach, if you want to
• 40:34
  listen to what the coaches are saying and obey and all that,
• 40:37
  the end of the day, you do have to rock the boat.
• 40:39
  Like, I mean, we're we're not, we're not called to stand in
• 40:42
  line and wait our turn always like this.
• 40:45
  Sometimes we got to be like, Nah, I'm about to go here.
• 40:48
  Like I have to take I have to take a chance.
• 40:50
  I have to take a chance on myself.
• 40:52
  And in return, once the coach sees that, they'll be like,
• 40:56
  whoa, okay, now I'm exposed something that I don't know that
• 40:58
  this player can do because they had the heart and the courage to
• 41:01
  do it in spite of what I said, right?
• 41:04
  So it's it's a balance and a give and take in that regard.
• 41:06
  Yeah, Now that that's really, really good, switching gears a
• 41:09
  little bit, kind of kind of looking at you and how you
• 41:12
  operate. And I know you, you've got lots
• 41:14
  of stuff going on, right? You're running a business,
• 41:15
  you're running camp, right? Things are, things are always
• 41:17
  going to be popping up with everything going on.
• 41:19
  How are you prioritizing action and prioritizing and finding
• 41:24
  task clarity and, and what you're doing on a daily, weekly
• 41:27
  rhythm, man? I'm open to suggestions, man.
• 41:32
  I think, I think it's just, it is really just just trying to be
• 41:34
  trying to be organized. I think like, you know, as, as
• 41:37
  you get older, like this turned 40 this year.
• 41:40
  So I'm an unk officially. So as you get older, you get
• 41:43
  wiser, your patience gets there. You start to really see things,
• 41:47
  you know, from a different lens, right?
• 41:49
  Like it's, it's still the same energy to stay in the same
• 41:53
  mentality, the same go, go, go grind.
• 41:55
  But you do start to, you know, move with knowledge and you
• 41:58
  start working a little smarter in some areas and you start to,
• 42:02
  you know, even transition in a sense, you know, you're, you
• 42:05
  start to scale and transition in different ways.
• 42:08
  And so for me, what's really about again, always keeping the
• 42:11
  vision in the forefront and not taking on things that don't feed
• 42:16
  the vision. I think if you don't, if you
• 42:19
  don't like, for instance, I was in Mexico, you know, doing a
• 42:21
  camp this past week and you know, we kept talking about a
• 42:24
  lot, man, y'all got to lock in this week.
• 42:25
  Like we had like kind of an open ceremony with all the players
• 42:28
  and the parents and this it's a great event, you know, and it's
• 42:30
  a great way to start the camp because it gets everybody geared
• 42:33
  up and gets them ready. Then just getting on the court
• 42:35
  and just doing drills. Like, no, I want to, I want you
• 42:37
  to look me in my eye. I want you to feel my heart
• 42:39
  before we even pick up a ball. I want you to know what we're
• 42:41
  about to do, right. And so we kept talking about
• 42:44
  locking in and like one of the parents mentioned that he was,
• 42:47
  it was the last question. He was like, coach, I'll keep
• 42:49
  saying locked in, locked in. What are some ways that I can
• 42:52
  help my kid lock in and so on, so on and so forth.
• 42:56
  And So what I told him was I'm like, the first thing is before
• 42:59
  you really you can lock in, you have to go all in.
• 43:01
  Like you have to go because if you're not all in on anything,
• 43:05
  what are you locking in on? You're just like, like a, like a
• 43:08
  dog chasing his tail, you know, I mean, you're just kind of all
• 43:10
  over the place to scatter, right?
• 43:11
  You know, I mean, so it's like you have to first and foremost
• 43:14
  be all in on what you're trying to accomplish.
• 43:17
  And so having that vision, having that purpose and with me
• 43:21
  and you've experienced it too bloom, like, I mean, I can't sit
• 43:24
  down with somebody longer than 10 minutes before that question
• 43:28
  come out. So what's your vision?
• 43:29
  What's your purpose like where what's your end game like that
• 43:32
  that's going to come out within the 1st 10 minutes of me talking
• 43:36
  to you or me meeting you like cuz I want to know just like,
• 43:39
  hey, like what's really inside this person?
• 43:42
  And so the same thing with these kids and these individuals is
• 43:45
  like, OK, what's your purpose myself?
• 43:47
  I ask Keith, what's your purpose?
• 43:48
  OK, stay steadfast on your purpose, stay steadfast on your
• 43:53
  vision. And if these things don't help
• 43:56
  you get closer to there, you put those to the wayside.
• 43:59
  And, and honestly, man, that's one thing that I kind of
• 44:02
  somewhat always had even as a kid, you know, I was raised, you
• 44:06
  know, I was my, I only have a younger sister.
• 44:09
  So I was pretty much kind of raised like as a, as a only
• 44:11
  child for like 11 and a half, 12 years.
• 44:14
  And then my younger sister has autism.
• 44:16
  And so, you know, and my dad was in the Navy, so he was traveling
• 44:19
  the world. My mom, you know, she was high
• 44:21
  up in corporate America. And so I was a last key kid in
• 44:24
  elementary school, walking a kid, cooking for myself, like
• 44:27
  hooping, running on, like I was kind of like self-sufficient in
• 44:30
  the sense. And so I was always I always had
• 44:33
  to be raised with responsibility and making decisions for myself
• 44:37
  and to making sure that I was good and making sure that when
• 44:40
  my parents came back, everything was good.
• 44:42
  And so I think that kind of was the fabric of me kind of
• 44:46
  thinking like, OK, Keith, like if these things can't help you,
• 44:49
  you probably don't need to do them.
• 44:50
  Like, you know, I mean, that kind of was like the emphasis
• 44:52
  stages of that thought process. And then once you get older, you
• 44:56
  know, you get in high school and you get a relationship ships and
• 44:59
  things are happening and no, you get, you know, influence is
• 45:02
  happening. You try, I'm trying to go to
• 45:03
  college and like that these guys are going over here doing this
• 45:06
  and this girl doing it like you start this site.
• 45:08
  OK, go back to those fundamentals, OK?
• 45:11
  If it doesn't help me get closer to my vision and my purpose, I
• 45:15
  probably need to be doing it. And so that is kind of been like
• 45:19
  a core and in a sense to help me stay on task and a stay in
• 45:23
  alignment with where I feel God is taking me.
• 45:26
  Yeah, that's all what I've come to recognize more and more to.
• 45:31
  It's important to know what to do, Yeah, but it's probably even
• 45:34
  more important to know what not to do.
• 45:37
  Come on, when it comes down to it.
• 45:39
  Come on, that's big. That's it.
• 45:41
  And again, that's something that has to be discussed.
• 45:44
  You know, we, we can't be afraid to have these conversations.
• 45:47
  Like want us to have said something?
• 45:49
  I want us to have mentioned it before you go out into the
• 45:52
  world. I don't want you finding out
• 45:54
  about or hearing about something before you left my presence.
• 45:57
  So we're going to talk about it. We're going to unpack it, but
• 46:00
  it's going to always, you know, lead you back to you and where
• 46:03
  you're trying to go. Yeah.
• 46:04
  No, no, that's great. You talked about like the camp
• 46:08
  in Mexico and you've done another a number of other
• 46:11
  international camps like what's been that experience and kind of
• 46:13
  how you built into that and just what the what, what the the the
• 46:17
  vision and purpose of that is for you?
• 46:19
  Man, but man, that's, yeah, I'm shaking my head because dude,
• 46:22
  this is, it's everything. I'm, I'm not going to lie to
• 46:25
  you. I'm not even going to like,
• 46:26
  downplay it, man. Like, dude, like I, I love it.
• 46:29
  And, and, and kind of how it derived was like for me playing
• 46:32
  overseas, you know, and being there for a couple years, you
• 46:35
  know, living in, in the Netherlands, just me just
• 46:37
  loving, just loving the vibe, like just loving the culture,
• 46:40
  loving the food, loving the energy, you know, the weather,
• 46:42
  depending upon where you are, could be, you know, a little
• 46:44
  shaky, but just like, I don't know, it's just something it, it
• 46:47
  feels different. Like it, it does not just feel
• 46:50
  like this side of the world, like, you know, you're somewhere
• 46:53
  different. Like, and it's, and that just
• 46:55
  always resonated them in my spirit.
• 46:57
  And so, you know, when I was playing overseas and I was kind
• 47:00
  of building out the framework, you know, of my business, you
• 47:03
  know, and coming home in the summertimes and doing camps and
• 47:06
  beginning to work with kids and individuals, you know, the, the,
• 47:09
  the vision of going back and serving, you know, those foreign
• 47:13
  demographics was always again, you know, at the top of the
• 47:16
  brain. And I mean, and so just time
• 47:19
  consistency, you know, of just doing what I do here, you know,
• 47:22
  connecting with people, you know, and all of a sudden you
• 47:25
  build relationships through playing and then they get into
• 47:27
  coaching and now they bring kids and then, you know, years pass
• 47:31
  and then, hey, we want to host you over here.
• 47:33
  So it really was like an organic thing, man, I'm not gonna lie.
• 47:36
  There was never on the DM. These people let me send this
• 47:39
  e-mail, let me it never was a kind of manufactured type of
• 47:43
  thing. It was just kind of just let in
• 47:45
  time and and I'm grateful that it went that way because, you
• 47:48
  know, I have to get ready for that.
• 47:50
  You know, I mean, I didn't want those kind of things out the
• 47:53
  gate. Like, you know, I was willing to
• 47:55
  crawl before I walked, you know, I and I I wasn't trying to, you
• 47:58
  know, be, you know, traveling and training top athletes, year
• 48:02
  one of training at training players.
• 48:04
  Like I wanted to start from the basement and really, really
• 48:07
  learn like the language and understand kind of what these
• 48:09
  kids needs because being a player and being a coach and
• 48:12
  trying to, there are different things.
• 48:13
  And so you have to actually, it helps you, but you still have to
• 48:17
  like learn each bucket, right? And so I took my time, man.
• 48:22
  I really did. I took my time with it, you
• 48:24
  know, and I figured it out. And so, yeah, man, now we're
• 48:27
  going on like year three, you know, of traveling to Amsterdam
• 48:30
  multiple time, probably about 6 * 7 eight times in the last
• 48:34
  three years. Germany, Japan last year, going
• 48:38
  back to this fall, Mexico a couple times in the last few
• 48:41
  months, man, and just building it, man.
• 48:43
  And and that's really where my heart is, man.
• 48:45
  I'm not going to lie to you. Like I, you know, when people
• 48:47
  have their Democrats traffic of people that they want to serve,
• 48:51
  right, I felt like, like that's, this is my demographic and I
• 48:54
  didn't really know that off the bat that and this is going to be
• 48:56
  it. I just knew that it was
• 48:58
  something that was just in my spirit from the beginning.
• 49:00
  And then when it actually happened, I was like, oh, yeah,
• 49:04
  I'm, I'm home. Like I'm, I'm here.
• 49:05
  Like this is where I belong. Like, you know, and this and I
• 49:08
  love American kids and American kids are going to always be the
• 49:11
  top, you know, I mean, athletic wise, resource wise, like, you
• 49:15
  know, you can't be, you know, the, the American soil and what
• 49:19
  these kids are doing over here is phenomenal.
• 49:21
  These players are great, you know, but Europe, Mexico, Asia
• 49:25
  and these other countries, man, they got some players coming up
• 49:28
  and they also just have a different mindset.
• 49:30
  I I'm not going to say better. They're just going to have, they
• 49:33
  just have a different approach and a different level of respect
• 49:37
  because it's not so readily available.
• 49:39
  Like here in America, you can find AAU team and a trainer on
• 49:43
  every corner in Dallas. Like it says they're like QTS,
• 49:47
  like they're everywhere. So if you don't like your team,
• 49:49
  you switch up, you don't like your school, you go to a prep,
• 49:51
  you can like, you can just run around and just, you know, I'm
• 49:55
  training with this guy and I'm over training this.
• 49:56
  Like it's like, and it and it kind of waters down the
• 50:00
  experience in a sense, because you feel like you feel that
• 50:03
  sense of entitlement, right, versus when you go access these
• 50:07
  kids that and it's and it's they don't like, it's not that they
• 50:09
  don't have it because they're in some impoverished area, like
• 50:12
  that's not the case. They just don't have it because
• 50:14
  it's just not there. They just don't have facilities.
• 50:18
  They just don't have, you know, experienced coaches that have
• 50:21
  played and that have work with players and help players get to
• 50:24
  the next. They just don't have access to
• 50:26
  it. Like that is so this is not
• 50:28
  there. And so when you get in front
• 50:30
  these individuals, it's like water to somebody who, who's
• 50:33
  been in the drought and they just in their appreciation and
• 50:36
  their love. And then you can feel like
• 50:38
  they're, they're, they're really trying to just go hard and
• 50:40
  they're really, and they're really, they're really fighting
• 50:42
  for that dream. Like they really trying to get
• 50:44
  out of their country to get to the States, right.
• 50:47
  And so I just, I just love it, man.
• 50:49
  I just can't put in the word balloon.
• 50:51
  It's just, it's just a different vibe.
• 50:53
  Like honestly, like I'm going to give it to you.
• 50:55
  My dream is even is to live back over there.
• 50:58
  I'm not, I don't know when or my, my daughter, she just
• 51:00
  started high school. She's got four more years.
• 51:02
  And once I get situated in the college, she I even take her
• 51:05
  with me and she wants to go, you know her, my, my wife and my,
• 51:08
  you know, my stepson. We will go as a group and just
• 51:10
  and just live it, live it up over there and I can work with
• 51:13
  kids and then come back. So I kind of have it in my mind.
• 51:16
  But again, I'm leaving room, you know, for, for God to leave me
• 51:20
  and guide me because at the end of the day, I don't want what I
• 51:23
  want from me. I want what he wants from me
• 51:25
  because honestly, he's the reason why I'm doing this man.
• 51:27
  Like, because I as a young man, I never saw myself like even one
• 51:31
  in the coach or train, but it really kind of became a calling
• 51:35
  over time that, you know, that's been working out.
• 51:38
  Yeah, that's so cool to hear you talk about.
• 51:41
  And for both, for both the kids overseas, the kids here and
• 51:44
  America, how are you focused on building up young men and women
• 51:49
  beyond just as basketball players, but as as as people and
• 51:54
  not letting you know as you're running a business that the
• 51:57
  profit and loss statement, not letting that to get in the way
• 51:59
  of that mission? I mean, again, it starts with
• 52:02
  the beginning. I mean, yes, it's a business.
• 52:04
  Yes, you know success and you know, you want to you want to
• 52:07
  live good, you want to take care of your family and I and I'm
• 52:10
  blessed to be able to to do that.
• 52:12
  But at the end of the day, Willie, at the start of it all,
• 52:15
  let me say that the start of it all, if it was only about just
• 52:18
  the money itself, I would have chose something different.
• 52:22
  Like that's just the read. That's just the reality of it.
• 52:24
  Like it's like, I mean, like if you I go to college, I get a
• 52:27
  psychology degree. Why?
• 52:28
  Because I just it was something about like wanting to know the
• 52:31
  human brain and emotions and how those things work.
• 52:34
  And like I didn't even really know how I was going to use it
• 52:36
  by just know that I love people, I care for people.
• 52:39
  And I just wanted to figure out just kind of how to make how do
• 52:42
  they click and how, you know, some trigger.
• 52:44
  And so by the grace of God, that makes sense for what I'm doing
• 52:48
  here in the basketball space because a lot of it is
• 52:50
  psychology, like a lot. So I see kind of how it worked
• 52:53
  out. But again, even me making that
• 52:55
  decision, right, to get a degree in psychology, right, Clearly I,
• 53:00
  I wasn't just chasing, you know, you know, a high dollar item.
• 53:04
  Like if I'm going to just do something for just the profit
• 53:06
  side of it, I'm looking at finance, I'm looking at medical,
• 53:09
  I'm looking at law, I'm looking at something in regards that
• 53:12
  could produce a lot of revenue like out the gate, right.
• 53:15
  So I knew it was going to be something that had to be
• 53:18
  passion. And then I really believe, you
• 53:20
  know, your purpose and passion. You know, you can, you can turn
• 53:23
  a profit if you do, you can turn a profit in anything if you do
• 53:26
  it the right way, right? And so, and that's kind of
• 53:29
  always been my MO, right? It's like, yeah, I have a value.
• 53:33
  I'm not going to shortchange myself.
• 53:34
  And and my value is not just because of my experiences and
• 53:38
  the results that I can help your player produce, but it's also in
• 53:43
  the environment and what you're doing it.
• 53:45
  It costs like it like it. I'm not out outside training
• 53:49
  your kid. I'm school.
• 53:50
  I'm not, I'm at I'm at my own spot that I've invested in like
• 53:55
  that. I put me and my business part of
• 53:56
  we put our own money up in our own sweat equity into this.
• 54:00
  There's a value that comes with that, right?
• 54:03
  You know, I mean, so, yeah, there's a lot of there's a lot
• 54:06
  of loss. There's a lot of loss in this
• 54:08
  game. But at the end of the day, it's
• 54:10
  worth it because it's my purpose is.
• 54:12
  And so I always keep the purpose in the forefront and knowing if
• 54:17
  I do things the right way, if I, you know, if I, if I'm honest,
• 54:21
  if I help people and the results are there, you know, and I give
• 54:25
  them an experience that's under deniable, then the profit, the
• 54:28
  money's going to come. It's just and it, and it has it
• 54:31
  by the grace of God. I mean, again, I, I definitely,
• 54:33
  I'm open for more. Why not?
• 54:35
  I mean, I want to definitely, you know, be able to take care
• 54:36
  of my family and do more and more amazing things, man.
• 54:39
  And, and that's a beautiful thing about even being a
• 54:41
  business owner. Like it's not Even so much
• 54:44
  about, you know, you profiting to just forward and you, we're
• 54:48
  profiting to put back into the business, right.
• 54:51
  And so I think that's something that could be said and the
• 54:54
  parents and the players can see it like because, because you
• 54:57
  can't be out of Kingdom for six months at a time and not come
• 55:00
  back and see man, y'all did this, y'all added this all.
• 55:03
  Y'all got a podcast studio, y'all got a this, now y'all have
• 55:06
  this one. So it's like, you see that we're
• 55:08
  giving back, right? We're yeah, we're taking that
• 55:11
  profits and we're charging these the players to train because it
• 55:15
  it's people's time. And I want to address this too,
• 55:17
  because, you know, I'm hearing people talk about a man, you
• 55:20
  know, trainers, man that they taking yeah, there's also people
• 55:22
  that's taking people's money. Like they're taking people's
• 55:25
  money in all industries, not just basketball trainer.
• 55:27
  So we need to stop isolating basketball and just criticizing
• 55:32
  the basketball trainer. And we ain't talking about the
• 55:34
  football trainer, the golf, the tennis trainer.
• 55:36
  We only talk about basketball for some weird reason.
• 55:39
  I don't get it. But at the end of the day, if
• 55:41
  somebody has gone through the trenches themselves, right, and
• 55:45
  has shown themselves approved, studied and shown themselves
• 55:48
  approved as a player, built a business, built a brand, built a
• 55:53
  great reputation, right, has a platform and has the
• 55:56
  understanding and knowledge to help these players be better and
• 56:00
  to go off and make millions of dollars because that my, some of
• 56:03
  my players are doing that, right?
• 56:05
  Why? Why isn't that something of
• 56:07
  value? Why, why shouldn't that be
• 56:09
  compensated for, right? Why shouldn't my time be
• 56:11
  compensated just because I'm doing basketball?
• 56:13
  I shouldn't be compensated? Like when, when basketball
• 56:16
  players are some of the highest paying people in the world.
• 56:18
  Why? So we need to kill that
• 56:20
  narrative. Like now, like, again, there's
• 56:23
  some people that shouldn't be doing it, that are doing it for
• 56:25
  the wrong reason. Yeah.
• 56:26
  Like, they need to be exposed. But there's a lot of people
• 56:29
  that's doing great work and producing great athletes, and I
• 56:33
  feel like they should be compensated for what they're
• 56:35
  bringing to the table. Yeah, as we have this
• 56:37
  conversation, as you talk right there, right, you can, you can
• 56:39
  feel, I can always just feel the passion and the purpose that you
• 56:43
  speak and live with, you know, the other conversation we have
• 56:45
  too. And, but, but Despite that, I
• 56:48
  know that as a, as a, as a coach, as a business person, as
• 56:52
  a just a human right, there's still lots of hardships and
• 56:55
  struggles that come along right through that.
• 56:57
  So during times of burnout or struggle or overwhelm, if you
• 57:01
  face those things like how do you personally overcome those
• 57:04
  things during life? Man, it's a phenomenal question,
• 57:06
  man, I just, it's really just try to just lean, just lean
• 57:09
  closer to my relationship with God, you know, lean and my
• 57:13
  relationship with my family, you know, and, and unplug.
• 57:16
  Why and, and take some time to just unplug because you're
• 57:19
  right, man, it, it's, it could be the struggle is real, right,
• 57:22
  You know what I mean? But at the end of the day, it's,
• 57:24
  it's their for a reason. And, and the struggle does make
• 57:27
  you stronger, right? And, and the, and the struggle
• 57:29
  doesn't mean that things are bad.
• 57:30
  Sometimes the struggle means that you're going to a different
• 57:32
  levels. You know, you, you have to go
• 57:34
  through those things, but then you have to also kind of take a
• 57:37
  step back and unplug to be able to see it from a different
• 57:40
  perspective before going back in it.
• 57:43
  Because sometimes if you just stay in it so long, stay in it
• 57:46
  so long, I mean, that's when the burnout happens.
• 57:48
  That's when the crash out happens.
• 57:50
  That's when, Oh my man, just throw the baby out with the
• 57:52
  bathwater, man. We're not doing that, that like,
• 57:55
  you know, we, we put too much time and effort and resources
• 57:58
  and, you know, to, to, to stop now.
• 58:00
  And so, you know, it's about having conversations and being
• 58:04
  vulnerable, man. Like, you know, there's a lot of
• 58:06
  things that I'm embarking on that I won't get too in the
• 58:08
  detail with, you know, on this particular conversation.
• 58:11
  We would once, you know, things kind of get revealed, but you
• 58:14
  know, there's some, you know, you kind of go back and forth.
• 58:16
  And for me, that's hard because, you know, I, I have one of my
• 58:21
  core values is, is, is doing what you say you're going to do.
• 58:24
  And, and if you have a vision and you, and you speak it out,
• 58:28
  you have a responsibility to now make that happen.
• 58:30
  Like that's near and dear to my heart, right?
• 58:33
  It's, it's like, OK, you said you were going to do it, Keith,
• 58:35
  you got to do it, right? And so in saying that and, and,
• 58:39
  and professing that you still deal with reality, which is
• 58:43
  getting it done on top of everything else.
• 58:45
  And so having conversations with my family, having conversation
• 58:49
  with trusted counsel, having conversations with God, like
• 58:53
  man, God, I'm feeling a little anxious, you know, about this.
• 58:55
  And I normally don't feel that way.
• 58:57
  Like I normally just I'm a pedal to the metal type person.
• 59:00
  I'm like, if I see it, I feel that I wanted, I do it.
• 59:02
  I don't if I if I have to go back and forth too much, I
• 59:05
  probably end up I just I just won't do it if I just ping pong
• 59:08
  it too much. But if I know for sure it's it's
• 59:12
  my destiny. Am I calling to make it happen?
• 59:14
  I just take take the time I need to just flush it right, flush it
• 59:19
  out like I get it out, I get out all the emotions, man, I'm
• 59:22
  feeling this, I'm feeling like this, I'm feeling like that,
• 59:24
  right? And then I'm able to receive a
• 59:27
  different perspective to people that know me, right, That, that,
• 59:29
  that, that, that see my 6 right? They don't, you know, they're
• 59:32
  not going to just tell me what I want to hear.
• 59:34
  But then I'm like, I understand that I see that point.
• 59:36
  How however, man, like if you do this, it could happen.
• 59:38
  So it all goes back to our first initial, you know, kind of
• 59:41
  question was community. You know, having the community
• 59:44
  around you, you know, that can that can keep you, you know, in
• 59:48
  position to continue to move forward.
• 59:50
  Like if you're on the island by yourself, I mean, good luck.
• 59:53
  So making sure your family, making sure your your
• 59:56
  relationship with God, making sure your relationship with your
• 59:58
  staff and people around you, they understanding, they get you
• 1:00:02
  and they're able to you know they're you can have those
• 1:00:04
  conversations with them and they can.
• 1:00:06
  Provide that insight that can help you continue to move
• 1:00:09
  forward. Yeah.
• 1:00:10
  What's been the most gratifying moment of your career?
• 1:00:13
  Man is a couple. I mean the first one is the most
• 1:00:16
  gratifying. Was the hardest was just the
• 1:00:19
  transition, just having a transition from being, you know,
• 1:00:23
  a player to what I'm doing now. Like, because you know, again,
• 1:00:26
  15 years ago, like this wasn't this wasn't a cookie cutter
• 1:00:30
  thing. This wasn't something that I
• 1:00:32
  just stepped into this something that I had to like create.
• 1:00:35
  So like having a vision and having an idea and like the name
• 1:00:39
  king, because the name king of performance that came in 2006
• 1:00:42
  when I was a UTSA, right? And now I'm talking to my
• 1:00:46
  teammates and talking to, you know, different people about,
• 1:00:48
  about what I wanted to do, you know, after my career.
• 1:00:51
  And they're like, really. Like, there was not, there was
• 1:00:54
  no visuals. There was nothing that you could
• 1:00:56
  see physically in the world like that could give people an
• 1:01:01
  understanding of what you're trying to do.
• 1:01:02
  So you're trying to explain stuff from, you know, with a
• 1:01:06
  little bit of experience in your mind.
• 1:01:08
  And and it doesn't always land, but you have to keep believing
• 1:01:12
  it happened and having to continue to push forward.
• 1:01:14
  And so, yeah, like transitioning from being a player, you know,
• 1:01:17
  to to opening my business and opening my facility was
• 1:01:20
  gratified because then you get to see like, you know, the hard
• 1:01:24
  work, the efforts, the energy, you know, the division and all
• 1:01:27
  these things that you once saw in your mind and felt in your
• 1:01:29
  spirit actually be in physical form, you know, was was
• 1:01:33
  gratified. And then the other one is just
• 1:01:35
  kind of like an overarching, like I won't pinpoint a specific
• 1:01:38
  player. I'll just kind of talk in just
• 1:01:40
  general, like really just all the players that you know and
• 1:01:44
  parents that come, you know, a lot of the time, like I said,
• 1:01:48
  they come in with struggle, like man, this happened or man, he
• 1:01:51
  needs this or, and she needs that or we're dealing with this.
• 1:01:54
  And like, you know, and me being able to like look them in the
• 1:01:57
  eye and say I got you, like like I got you.
• 1:01:59
  I'm I'm in it like I'm with you and I'm almost kind of like
• 1:02:02
  guaranteeing them their kids don't get there without using
• 1:02:06
  the word guarantee. But like no, we're going to make
• 1:02:08
  it happen. Like no, he's got it, she's got
• 1:02:10
  it. We're going to see this through.
• 1:02:12
  They're going to get a scholarship or no, they're going
• 1:02:13
  to the league, like they're going no pro overseas or
• 1:02:16
  whatever. The goal realistic, the goal is
• 1:02:18
  for that player like and looking them in the eye at an early
• 1:02:21
  stage in their career, not like when they already 4:00 and 5:00
• 1:02:24
  and clouded, but like when people turn their back on these
• 1:02:27
  individuals and saying like, no, it's going to happen.
• 1:02:30
  And it when it happens and then to then celebrate with that
• 1:02:34
  individual and their family, there's no better feeling.
• 1:02:37
  They're just there's no better feeling than that because then
• 1:02:39
  it's like, whoa, like you believe like you saw it, you
• 1:02:42
  felt it like you embraced it like man, like thank you like,
• 1:02:47
  and that's just like, OK, like I'm I'm on the right path.
• 1:02:50
  And it's not even always about again, the basketball, even on
• 1:02:53
  a, on a even deeper level, you know, after seasons, like, you
• 1:02:58
  know, AAU seasons or this season spending with kids and players,
• 1:03:02
  you know, the parents coming to me saying like, man, like I'm
• 1:03:05
  seeing a different person. Like they're maturing.
• 1:03:07
  Like man, like they're praying. Like they started like one day I
• 1:03:11
  said, he never would pray. And all of a sudden like we're
• 1:03:13
  having dinner and he's like, Dad, can I can I say a prayer?
• 1:03:16
  Like that may be a small thing for a lot of people, but like,
• 1:03:18
  that's, that's a, that's big like to be able to develop that
• 1:03:22
  affair life in a, in a spiritual life.
• 1:03:25
  Like that's what we're here for at the end of the day.
• 1:03:27
  Like that. Another thing that's just like
• 1:03:30
  super gratifying, like, OK, like you're in it for the right
• 1:03:34
  reason. You're doing what you say you're
• 1:03:35
  going to do and it's working and and people's lives are being
• 1:03:38
  changed. Yeah, that, yeah, that that's so
• 1:03:41
  cool to hear and and definitely so special to see when those
• 1:03:44
  things happen. Last three questions I'd like to
• 1:03:46
  ask you, then this podcast for everybody.
• 1:03:48
  So the first one is when when you realize that there's a skill
• 1:03:52
  set you need to improve on, like how do you close that gap of
• 1:03:55
  where you need to get to? So a personal skill set or a
• 1:03:57
  skill? Set a personal skill set for
• 1:03:59
  yourself. I mean, I, I just hit the ground
• 1:04:01
  running, man. I just, I, I just, I do what I
• 1:04:03
  need to do in order to figure it out.
• 1:04:05
  Like I'm studying, doing research, you know, like that's,
• 1:04:10
  I just lean in on it. Like I try not to avoid things
• 1:04:14
  that I struggle with. Like, for instance, earlier I
• 1:04:16
  talked about organization, like, you know, I mean, I had to
• 1:04:19
  figure it out. Like I had to, you know, have
• 1:04:21
  conversations with people who were better at that thing that I
• 1:04:25
  was and they had some solutions for me that made sense so I
• 1:04:30
  could fulfill that gap, fill that gap.
• 1:04:32
  So that's the the thing that I do is I seek the information.
• 1:04:36
  I do the research, I study, I have conversations.
• 1:04:38
  I'm very transparent with where I'm at and my struggle.
• 1:04:41
  So the person knows like, you know, this person's a student,
• 1:04:44
  like they're not going to push back if I try to give them, I'm
• 1:04:46
  going to give them, I'm going to coach them up because I'm not,
• 1:04:49
  I'm not above being coached up at all.
• 1:04:50
  And so those are the things that helped me kind of fill those
• 1:04:53
  gaps that, you know, in which I need to fill in my life.
• 1:04:56
  Now, right this this podcast of the Strength and Numbers podcast
• 1:05:00
  coming off the theme of the book, right, of, of coaches
• 1:05:03
  impacting coaches, mentoring other people.
• 1:05:05
  So who have been some of the most impactful people or
• 1:05:09
  impactful situations to your coaching journey along the way?
• 1:05:13
  Man, I think I have some really good people, man.
• 1:05:15
  Like some really family like this, this family, that church
• 1:05:20
  family that I've been to like, like, like my business partner
• 1:05:22
  ride like another good buddy of mine, Eric, who, you know, who's
• 1:05:27
  been a part of this journey for a very long time.
• 1:05:29
  So it's a lot of people like that who again, I, I casted the
• 1:05:34
  vision to early and they were like, dude, like, no, like
• 1:05:38
  that's you, you got it. And they just encouraged me like
• 1:05:41
  it wasn't like I'm gonna put you up on game.
• 1:05:43
  I'm gonna lob you in. I'm gonna, I'm gonna have you
• 1:05:46
  meet with this person and they're going to give you.
• 1:05:47
  It was never like a handoff situation.
• 1:05:49
  It was like, no, you got like, you got it.
• 1:05:52
  It's in you and we're going to continue to encourage you to
• 1:05:55
  continue to move forward. I think it was a lot of that,
• 1:05:58
  that that really helped me like those type of coaches, those
• 1:06:01
  coaches of encouragement, right? And, and, and, and I don't take
• 1:06:05
  that lightly. And that's what I, you know, in
• 1:06:07
  return, I give that back to my players.
• 1:06:09
  It's like, no, I, I believe in you.
• 1:06:11
  I believe in your vision. Like there's no dream that's too
• 1:06:14
  big. And so just having people in
• 1:06:16
  your life that, you know, don't reflect maybe some of their
• 1:06:20
  insecurities, right, or their fears, because some people may
• 1:06:24
  fear something and they like, well, if I can't do that and if
• 1:06:27
  I don't see that, then I'm just going to project that on you to
• 1:06:31
  where now you start questioning. So even if those people had to
• 1:06:34
  like, for instance, my parents, like my parents, my mother,
• 1:06:37
  corporate America, my dad, you know, Navy, like they never
• 1:06:40
  really had an entrepreneurial spirit.
• 1:06:42
  They, they were very like, like my mom traditional go to
• 1:06:45
  college, get a good job on like my dad, man, going to the
• 1:06:48
  military. They seem that I was a different
• 1:06:51
  type of kid, like, and never did they try to say Keith, you know
• 1:06:54
  what, like my dad would use the military thing as kind of like
• 1:06:58
  like a scare tactic. Like, dude, if you don't get
• 1:07:00
  your act together, you can go into the military.
• 1:07:02
  Like he did that a couple times. But like, it was never like,
• 1:07:05
  son, I think you should go do this or son, you should.
• 1:07:08
  It was like whatever is in your heart, like, you know, whatever
• 1:07:11
  you feel like, you feel like you can.
• 1:07:13
  OK, like, and I think that's all I needed.
• 1:07:16
  I just needed people just to like, I'm gonna give you the
• 1:07:18
  ride and I'm gonna stand out. I'm gonna, I'm gonna get out the
• 1:07:20
  way. But if you need me, I got you.
• 1:07:22
  Like if I and I think that was all I really needed to just kind
• 1:07:25
  of take off. Yeah, that's really cool.
• 1:07:28
  The last question, you can take a second for this if you need
• 1:07:31
  to, but what have I not asked you about today?
• 1:07:33
  That's really important that we do talk about today, though.
• 1:07:36
  Ma'am, But what's one thing I think like what kind of what are
• 1:07:39
  some things that we could provide to help push the culture
• 1:07:43
  forward? You know, I mean, talk again,
• 1:07:45
  like I talked about, I feel like a lot of the times like, you
• 1:07:48
  know, people get on these platforms and like, you know,
• 1:07:51
  they just want to bash like everything that's happened, it's
• 1:07:54
  easy to call out an issue, but you got to bring something to
• 1:07:58
  the table to help make it better, right?
• 1:08:00
  And so I think, you know, us just having the hey, man, what
• 1:08:03
  do you think will be, you know, some key things that can help
• 1:08:07
  advance, you know, athletic development where some key
• 1:08:10
  things you think that can help players be more confident?
• 1:08:12
  What are some different? How can we, you know, help the
• 1:08:15
  high school, a college pro system?
• 1:08:18
  How do we, you know, maybe help, you know, the American system be
• 1:08:22
  somewhat similar to the system of Europe to help kids be more
• 1:08:26
  disciplined and maybe less flighty?
• 1:08:29
  Like I think those type of conversations, while I think
• 1:08:32
  will just get us thinking in a different way.
• 1:08:34
  And us being coaches, you know, we're all about getting better.
• 1:08:36
  You know, we're all about helping our players get better.
• 1:08:38
  We're all about getting better. So I think like keeping the
• 1:08:41
  light on forward and bashing the the stuff that we can't change.
• 1:08:46
  I think that is kind of some questions that I think we could
• 1:08:49
  dive into as well. That's great.
• 1:08:51
  This has been awesome. You know, every, every time we
• 1:08:53
  talk and this conversations just like that, I leave feeling
• 1:08:56
  inspired and motivated to go impact people and live with
• 1:09:00
  purpose. And, and I, I can just see you,
• 1:09:02
  you breathe that type of life into the people you're around.
• 1:09:05
  So I, I mean, I just appreciate you being on here.
• 1:09:07
  If people wanted to see more of what you're doing with Kingdom
• 1:09:10
  Performance or reach out to you, like where should they go to
• 1:09:12
  learn more? Man, I appreciate that man.
• 1:09:13
  Before I get into that bloom, I just want to tell you, man,
• 1:09:15
  thank you, man, Thank you for you being you, you know, and
• 1:09:19
  you, you know, being for the athlete, being for the people,
• 1:09:22
  you know, you're in it for the right reasons.
• 1:09:23
  And I felt that, you know, immediately, man, like, you
• 1:09:26
  know, you're, you're a go getter, you're very
• 1:09:28
  professional, you're very prompt, you do what you say
• 1:09:31
  you're going to do like, and I appreciate you man.
• 1:09:34
  And I I'm grateful to be on this platform with you, brother.
• 1:09:36
  Like, I mean, again, you asked me to guess was definitely, you
• 1:09:40
  know, that was the only answer. But yeah, man, people contact me
• 1:09:42
  with me man, on, you know, Instagram, you know, under score
• 1:09:45
  Keith Spencer, that's my personal.
• 1:09:47
  And then Keenan Performance, you know, it is the business.
• 1:09:50
  You know, we do a lot of things on there.
• 1:09:52
  We try to be consistent with our content on there.
• 1:09:55
  Also YouTube, you can type my name in Keith Spencer or you can
• 1:09:58
  just do at Keenan Performance. Now I've been really, you know,
• 1:10:00
  consistent with doing some long form content as well on that
• 1:10:04
  platform website, keenanperformance.org.
• 1:10:06
  You can tap in with us. We have Academy training for
• 1:10:09
  kind of the beginner intermediate athletes and then
• 1:10:11
  for the more advanced elite level players because I do
• 1:10:14
  specialized private training for them as well.
• 1:10:16
  We also have like AAU teams for like the young pups.
• 1:10:19
  So yeah, man, we're just doing, you know, some great things in
• 1:10:22
  the community. I'm traveling a lot man, and
• 1:10:24
  just trying to continue to build the culture.
• 1:10:26
  You know, again, I'm grateful for you saying that, grateful
• 1:10:29
  for you doing this, and just appreciate all you're doing for
• 1:10:32
  so many people. Appreciate it man, love you bro.