Latest / The Strength In Numbers Podcast / EP 22: Nick Mascioli | Transforming the Weight Room Into a Video Game

Transcript

EP 22: Nick Mascioli | Transforming the Weight Room Into a Video Game · The Strength In Numbers Podcast

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I sort of created something called the 2K score.
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It's just essentially A percentile rank score where we
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take like our three strength movements and our four, like
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what we would call like our kangaroo movements to profile
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our students. Then they get an overall rank
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score. And so like around school, like,
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hey, like I'm a 76, you're an 84.
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Kids can have this sort of self competition, but also it
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actually paints a picture for the style athlete that they are.
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That's why I love information. So they can't really escape that
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information. It's it's who you are.
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Like data doesn't lie. And so it's like you have two
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options. One, just ignore it or two, what
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are you going to do about to create that change?
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Can't aspire to get better and better based off of the mile
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markers that you put on them. And so just creating a culture
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of information that is used correctly breeds competition and
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then breeds ultimate ultimately bad results.
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Most people don't need you to preach a sermon.
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They need you to live 1. And so that's what I'm trying to
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do everyday. It's like, I just want like to
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live by example. And that's what sort of I think
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creates change. It's like, hey, it's like
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nothing you said made me want to change my life.
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Is everything you did. If we can be people of action, I
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think we can create better people every day.
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When you show up and you just give the best you possibly can
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to your kids, you just don't know how you're changing their
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hearts and minds for something that's greater than where they
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are right now. Welcome to the Strength in
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Numbers podcast. I'm your host John Bloom and
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today's guest is Nick Massioli. Nick is in his seventh year as
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the Director Athletic Performance at Second Baptist
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School in Houston, TX after leading pro baseball to join
1:31
Second Baptist. Nick has done an unbelievable
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job of building his program, leading the long term athlete
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development model from pre-K threes all the way through high
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school. We dive deep into what the
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phases of that model looks like, how he uses data and his 2K
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score to turn the weight room into a video game, and the
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importance of making the weight room a place students can call
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home. Enjoy the episode, Nick.
1:52
It's a pleasure to have you here today, man.
1:54
You know, we got to have a call last weekend and that talk that
1:59
we had just makes me even more excited to get a talk again
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today. So I appreciate you being here.
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Could you just give a brief back, brief background on just
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who you are, kind of what you do for the people listening?
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Yeah, sure. So my name is Nick Mascioli.
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I had the privilege of working at Second Baptist School in the
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greater Houston area, private Christian School pre-K through
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12. And really my main job, they
2:18
give me a fancy title, but essentially what I do is I'm in
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charge of just really just long term athletic development pre K3
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through 12. So you know, we, we do really
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physical education, motor skills concepts, pre K3 through I would
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say 6th grade really. And then we sort of bridge that
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gap 7th through 12th grade with transconditioning.
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And so it's been a great job. My, my role sort of evolved ever
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since I've been at Second Baptist since 2009.
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But man, I love it. Just being able to work and
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interact with kids that are, you know, on a daily basis.
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I might interact with a three-year old and then the same
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day I might have a senior that could be playing college
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football, basketball, you name it.
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So keeps me nimble, keeps me on my toes, but really love what I
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do. Just allowing or just seeing
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kids succeed and and build life skills that are not only going
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to enhance them with regards to athletic performance or their
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sport or their or their or just any physical pursuit that they
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have, but just skills that are going to last a lifetime.
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And that's something that I've really, I just being able to
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learn since I've been in the middle school in the high school
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setting prior working at collegiates for a little bit,
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had the privilege of working in minor League Baseball.
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I'm actually one of your former guest, Kyle Stark was my boss.
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You know, I work for the Pittsburgh Pirates.
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So I'm really fond of him, love everything about Kyle, really
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revered him. And so working professional
3:34
sports and so been in a lot of different sectors, but just
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really found a home here in the high school setting and middle
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school setting, and it's been really cool.
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Yeah, I think, I mean, I think that's so cool that you get to
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lead that charge from all the way that young through seniors.
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I feel like pretty unique and I've, I've got to think that's
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really refined and growing your ability to teach and understand
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skill acquisition and how to actually teach rather than, you
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know, just, you know, the obvious.
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There's a high level of teaching needed with with pro in college.
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But when you're working with, you know, pre K3 all the way to
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high school like that, you're having to find how to really
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teach people that don't have these skills at all.
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Yeah, no, it's true. I mean, I remember when I worked
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in, I interned in Indianapolis fitness and sports training with
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Mike Robertson and Bill Hartman out in Indianapolis.
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And I remember Mike telling me saying, hey, like, if you could,
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if you can teach like an 80. Year old on how to.
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Hinge or 6 year old how to hinge man you can coach anybody you
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know and so. There's so much truth.
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That right, like I think a lot of people sometimes get the
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allure or just the the gravitas of working with professional
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athletes or high end athletes, which is awesome.
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Like you and me have both have done that and had the privilege
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of doing that. But I think there's something to
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be said though, about being able to teach like just basic
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concepts and skills to young kids.
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And really the thing that I've noticed ever since I've been at
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Second Baptist is that when you really refine and make things
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simple, make things general in the weight room, teaching very
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general skills and concepts. Those are the things that really
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translate to sport more than anything you ever do.
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And I think sometimes and I and I try to teach my kids this,
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it's like, hey, like there's a lot of information out there now
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that they have social media. We live in a world of a lot of
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information. So they can see these colleges,
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these pros, the LeBron James is of the world train, you know,
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and like, oh, well, how come we're not doing this?
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And it's like, well, you know, here's why and educating them.
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And those things really matter, but the thing that you get to
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teach them is that actually the simple things done over and over
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again, there's consistent protocols are actually the
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things that really keep kids healthy, keep kids engaged and
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really have the most transfer of the sport.
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And then as they start developing them and we can talk
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about strength, diminishing returns and all those different
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things. And then maybe you get a little
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bit more specific. But you know, if I can hand, you
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know, our coaches just a really good robust athlete that has
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general foundation, then you know, we're creating a better
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car and then they're they're handed to their skull coach and
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then they're making them a better driver.
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And so that's the things that we're trying to instill our
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kids. Yeah, that's awesome.
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So as we think about starting that young all the way through
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high school, what, what are those different phases look like
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of of maybe the skills you're trying to build to kind of then
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set you up for the next phase, whether it's then, you know,
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those younger kids going into elementary to middle school to
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high school. How are you trying to kind of
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layer that long term athletic? Yeah, for sure.
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I mean, obviously like when you look at long term athletic
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development, it's going to be very different from a pre K3 or
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a three-year old versus a senior, right And so.
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That is the beauty. Of like, hey, like there's a
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shop that I have our kids for 15 years.
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We actually do have a lot of lifers, which is pretty cool.
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We do have kids that show up as juniors and you get 2 years.
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And so how do you navigate that? So I'm creating systems in place
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help that. But yeah, I would say most
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importantly, like with that young age, especially like the
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threes, the fours and the fives, I would say even into kinder,
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you know, you're looking at what we would call like the
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fundamentals with a capital FUN, right?
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So like you want to make exercise fun, right?
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And so how are you teaching skipping, hopping, you know,
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different types of pathways, backwards movements, personal
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space, all these different things in a fun way.
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You know, it's going to be a lot of game orientation, It's going
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to be sort of a lot of self discovery and free play.
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You know, in our in our motor school teachers do a really good
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job of being able to create those lab environments where
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they can sort of self discover some of these throwing, catching
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free play movements. But really just giving them a
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base of man, this is fun. You know, I think I've learned
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too, especially like being in high school, it's like, you
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know, sometimes you just like you can't worry about them
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actually getting it. It's just the habit of doing it.
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And then those reps themselves are, are really coaches for
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kids, you know, if you have kids do like an A skip or a high
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knee. Now, mind you, we might not be
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doing that with three-year olds, but like the emphasis of they
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just continue to do it. Their body might self organize
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and get it done. And so just creating those
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spaces for our kids there. I would say really when you get
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into kindergarten into or say first, the 4th is really where
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you're starting to get a little bit into like, you know,
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teaching skill. And so I would still say you're
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probably using games to teach skill, right?
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Like you're always trying to camouflage things to keep things
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engaged and fun. And so, but you are able to do a
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little bit more skill acquisition stuff.
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Now that might not be like, hey, you're doing solely basketball
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skills or solely volleyball skills, but you can still teach,
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I would say maybe like hitting and striking or receiving
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catching units. And so those do feed into
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volleyball, basketball, you know, but they might have a
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little bit more of a different possessed, you know, creating a
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game concept to be able to teach those things things.
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And so I'm, I still, I still think you're probably adopting
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fun fundamentals with those first and 4th graders, but
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you're probably able to do a little bit more different things
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because now kids are understanding spatial awareness,
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different types of pathways and being able to teach those very
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rudimentary concepts so that they can do those things.
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And throughout you're always teaching like just general motor
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skills and motor patterns, right?
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Like can they skip, can they hop, you know, different types
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of crawl patterns, you know, frog leaps, all these different
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things. Just be able to give them
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freedom of movement and self discovery of those things.
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Think sometimes I would say really at that age, like you
9:07
want to guide things, but at the same time you also want to be
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able to create some spaces for kids to be able to like free
9:12
play and self discover because I think that's so valuable to
9:15
them. A lot of kids nowadays don't
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really know how to play, which is really sad, you know, because
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a lot of kids have this Internet.
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They have all these different things that are keeping them
9:23
inside or engaged. You know, I remember my mom just
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like threw me outside and was like, Hey, go play.
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And I had to figure out my life for four hours with my, my, my
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neighbors. You know, there's not a lot of
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that anymore. And so in in physical education,
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we sort of have to try to create some of those things.
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And so we actually try to do that on Fridays where it's like,
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Hey, we have a bunch of equipment.
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It sort of looks chaotic, but kids are figuring out how to
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play with things in a safe and healthy environment.
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And so then I think when you get into probably like the 5th in
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6th, 5th grade is really where middle school starts for us.
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I would argue it really should be 6th grade, but we're not
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going to pick hair about that. I would say 5th or 8th grade is
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really where you're teaching kids what I would call the
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concept of like learning to train.
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And so now they have all these skills, but now you're teaching
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like what it really means to train.
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And so that would be like how what is aerobic fitness look
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like? What is general movement?
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You should get into this 11 to 14 year old range where there's
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that peak height velocity, right?
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Where so kids just exponentially grow.
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And so if we can teach them proper movement, you're going to
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save a lot of problems for a kid that's had poor movement
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patterns for a long period of time.
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And now they're matured and now you have to break those habits,
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which is way, way harder. And so teaching kids to learn
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how to train, I think that's not only from just like a physical
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perspective, but you're actually teaching kids to learn how to
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train. The sense of, of process over
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outcomes where you're slowly integrating, I would say
10:45
competition, but you're still driving the point with your kids
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of like, hey, like the process in the quality of the process is
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what ultimately drives outcomes. And so that if you're continuing
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to do good processes or processes, you're going to get
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the results that you want. And so you do get kids that are
11:01
young, they're like, it's just like winning and losing and
11:04
losing, right? And so how do you navigate and
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teach those kids that like, there's nothing wrong with
11:09
wanting to win or you're always playing to win the game, But
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right now it's like, dude, like we're just trying to develop
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you. I would say like really that
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like 5th through 8th grade is like really true development.
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And so then I think when you get into, I would say high school,
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you sort of find yourself into three different stages.
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I would say like freshman and sophomore year, you're looking
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at what I would say train, train to compete, and then you can
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even get into train to win, right?
11:33
Like now your training is to what?
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Whatever you're doing now, it has nothing to do with like
11:39
almost the weight room or the training itself.
11:41
It has everything to do with what am I doing so that I can
11:44
perform best on the field, court, track, ice, shrink, you
11:48
name it. And so the things that we do are
11:50
only feeding into those outputs, right?
11:54
And so it gives kids a little bit more of awareness now, Hey,
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now we've learned how to train our training to compete and win.
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I would say JV probably is still a little bit more in that
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compete. We're just trying to compete to
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learn a little bit. And then once you get to the
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varsity level, that's where it's really like a train to win.
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But then also too, you sort of have to under lap and underlie
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this, I would say premise of active life.
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And so that's where technically you and me are right now, right?
12:16
Like we, we've our, our competition days are over.
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You know, I was fortunate to play college baseball, but now
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I'm an active life kind of guy guy.
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So like, what are my goals? Well, I want to stay healthy for
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my 2 boys and I don't want them to beat me in anything ever.
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So that's the way I train is to make sure that like I'm staying
12:32
active and healthy for that, right?
12:34
And so we do have kids that and the majority of our kids are
12:37
going to land in that box and inevitably at some point, shape
12:40
or form, regardless if you're, you know, the elixir of life and
12:44
LeBron James, you will, you will enter into this active life
12:47
stage. And so have we created tools and
12:49
have we created habits so that when they don't play sports,
12:53
they can hop into Texas A&M's rec center and feel confident to
12:58
take care of themselves. And so those are extremely
13:00
important, I think concepts to be able to teach, teach kids
13:03
because, you know, early on when I did this, it was like, OK,
13:06
sports, sports, how do we get win championships, all these
13:08
different things. But then when you sort of take a
13:10
step back, it's like, well, it's got to be more than that.
13:12
And So what you realize is for kids, it ends up being more than
13:15
that. It's like wow, like I I took
13:17
Coach Mass's class or I did you know, I played football for
13:20
three years now I don't, but like all the things that coach
13:23
Mass taught me, I can now use and stay healthy life, healthy
13:27
lifestyle and then even make it generational with their.
13:29
Kids. You know, and so I tell kids
13:31
this all the time, like, dude, if you called me like on my
13:33
deathbed and I was like, you know, seriously about to die.
13:36
And they're like, hey, Coach Mass, like I literally just
13:39
bench press the other day and I'm 55.
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Like that would be amazing, you know, and that's what you want
13:43
to see with your kids, that. Was, I mean that was an
13:45
incredible breakdown all the way through.
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And you talk about that last part with, with creating those
13:52
that that knowledge and understanding also kind of
13:55
habits for, for life when you started shifting from it's just
14:00
about winning in state championships to let's create
14:02
these lifelong lessons for them. How did that, how did that
14:06
change your or impact your approach?
14:08
Yeah, You know, it definitely was an evolution.
14:10
And like, it took some time. Yeah.
14:13
When I first got to Second Baptist, you know, definitely
14:16
like. Working in professional sports
14:18
like you know your job at any and at high level college like
14:21
yourself. You know, your shorter jobs on
14:23
the line like you got to, you got to produce like better
14:26
athletes, healthier athletes, all these different things.
14:28
And so when I got to high school and middle school, you know, I
14:32
really was trying to chase, I guess a little bit more of that
14:34
lens. But what I ended up figuring out
14:36
was that, you know, when kids like come into your weight room,
14:40
they're looking for more, you know, they're they're really
14:43
looking for connection. And a lot of a lot what I saw
14:46
was like, man, a lot of these kids that are walking my weight
14:48
right now, like really aren't going to be like either one,
14:51
impact players or two, they're going to play sport the next
14:54
level. And so how do I like really make
14:57
this an environment where working hard is a character
15:01
trait for just anything you do outside of the weight room, You
15:05
know, And so I tell this to kids all the time.
15:08
It's like, you know, we live in a world where it's it's very
15:11
unpredictable, right? Like there's just things you
15:14
can't control. A lot of it you can't control.
15:16
But the weight room or any type of fitness related endeavor, in
15:19
my opinion, for the most part, is really one of the few places
15:23
in this world where you truly can control your effort, can
15:26
actually control it and see positive results.
15:29
And so I think that's huge for kids with like mental health and
15:32
anxiety in a world that's so unpredictable.
15:34
It's like, man, I can like at least hang my hand on something
15:36
one time a day that I know I can control.
15:40
And I think when you have control in something, it allows
15:42
you to feel at ease about the things that you can't control,
15:45
to sort of put things in the context.
15:47
That's really what I started seeing in myself when I was
15:49
coaching these kids, that it was like, it just can't be more than
15:52
sports because kids would have bad days.
15:54
You know, you could tell it's like, man, my grade got, I had a
15:57
bad grade. Like, you know, my boyfriend
15:59
broke up with me, you know, like they're, they're, they're
16:01
experiencing life and, and they're not able to really and
16:04
able to handle a lot of those stressors, you know, And so it's
16:07
like, well, what can I do with my weight room, my space in my
16:11
sphere to create a home for them to be able to work hard, feel
16:15
comfortable, feel like they have something to work towards to
16:19
that is ultimately not only going to make them better as an
16:21
athlete, but going to make them better as a human being.
16:24
And I think I started asking myself that question like, am I
16:27
like whatever I'm programming or doing, is it making kids better
16:30
humans? And if it's making better
16:32
humans, OK, well, then I can ask the question, is this going to
16:35
help them as an athlete? And then if I ask that question,
16:38
I'm doing it, is this going to help them with their sport?
16:40
And so I usually sort of use that hierarchy, like human,
16:42
athlete, sport, man. If I can make better humans,
16:45
it's going to feed to them as an athlete.
16:46
And then if that can make them a better athlete, I can make them
16:49
a better sport player, whatever you might want to say.
16:52
And then when I end up finding out is that the things that are
16:55
really simple, like the generic things like I use this concept
16:58
from Tony Holler all the time. I remember him saying this at a
17:01
conference a couple years ago. He's like, be general in the
17:04
weight room, be extreme with sprinting and they'd be specific
17:06
with sport. And I found that like so simple
17:09
and so easy and obvious where it's like, man, like the simple
17:12
things really are the things that end up making you better at
17:16
whatever you're doing. It's the atomic stuff that, the
17:19
habits that you create in those things that really make kids
17:22
better. And so when I ended up dumbing
17:24
down some things a little bit, it actually made our program way
17:28
better. And I was like, Hey, like,
17:29
that's awesome, you know? And so I'm still learning,
17:32
right? Like there's like, I'm always
17:33
like trying to think of like a better way to do stuff.
17:37
And I think that's, that's how every coach should be.
17:40
You know, there's a great quote that I always love telling my my
17:43
employees is like, Hey, all models are wrong, but some are
17:46
useful. You know, like my model
17:48
inherently is wrong because there's other models that are
17:51
just as good and getting better results.
17:53
But there are things that are useful about my model.
17:55
And if I can continue to refine those things, it's going to
17:58
create a better product for our kids.
18:00
You know, like you're talking about there that that's a battle
18:02
I constantly have with myself. It's like you get this poll,
18:05
like, oh, I want to add in all these things and that are going
18:07
to just completely change the game for these athletes.
18:09
And you started the things that start adding up and like the
18:12
complexity adds up and and I and I battles.
18:15
I was like, no, like we got to just trim the fat.
18:17
Like let's let's shape it down to these things that like you're
18:21
saying, like we can just attack and work and be consistent with
18:24
continue to get better. And that's going to make them so
18:27
much better than trying to Add all these things, do way too
18:30
much and like not be able to put the the needed effort or
18:34
intensity or just focus into because they they're trying to
18:38
figure out what they're doing with all these other things.
18:40
It's like, Hey, let's just let's narrow down to those things.
18:44
And then like you're talking about with creating like that
18:47
home with a weight room for, for these kids and, and, and that
18:51
pull, like you're saying, like, as I come from college athletics
18:54
and now going into this high school, it's like I have that
18:57
pull too. We're saying, OK, we're trying
18:58
to create the best athletes we can because like, our job is to
19:01
do that. Our job is to win.
19:02
But then like I reflect back on when I was in high school and
19:06
when I in middle school and high school and fell in love with the
19:08
weight room myself. And like, like you're saying,
19:10
the weight room was like a home to me.
19:12
Like it's where like, obviously I was trying to get better for
19:15
my sports, but that was like, where like my, me and my best
19:19
friends would hang out. Like after we lifted, it's like
19:21
we're at an incredible relationship with my strength
19:23
coach and we would just, you know, be there all the time and,
19:26
and, and talk and like it was a place to connect, to place our
19:29
relationships to get better, but also to have a home that I mean,
19:32
that's just a great reflection for me as I'm moving in this
19:35
position where like, yes, we have we want to make them better
19:38
athletes, but what is our real mission here with impacting not
19:43
just athletes, but impacting people?
19:46
And especially as we talk about middle school through high
19:49
school, like, how are we setting up for life, especially when
19:52
there will be, you know, however few Division One, division two,
19:56
Division 3 athletes and the rest of them are moving into that
19:59
active life period you're talking about.
20:01
Yeah, no, and you're and you're right, John.
20:02
Like, I mean, I think that's like the questions we should be
20:05
asking ourself, like how can we make this place in an
20:07
environment and at home for our kids?
20:08
You know, and I think to a tough thing, especially in high
20:11
school, in middle school athletics, especially in the
20:14
space of Sprint strength, conditioning and the unique
20:17
thing about us that every high school, middle school is
20:19
different standards. Like athletic periods like so,
20:23
there's always. It's going to be like just
20:24
every, every program is going to look different just based off
20:27
those things. And so like, how do you grade
20:29
yourself? Like, how do you grade yourself
20:31
on if you're doing a good job, you know?
20:33
And so, you know, a lot of things I've tried to hunt, hang,
20:36
hang my hat on has been like, man, like, what are the
20:38
relationships that I still have today of kids that aren't in my
20:42
program anymore, You know, like that they text me, see how I'm
20:46
doing. Hey, can I come back and get a
20:47
lift? You know, those things matter to
20:49
me. You know, like, hey, like, who
20:50
actually wants to be there? Like, wow, like people want to
20:53
come in and like, literally just hang out.
20:55
Like, you know, it's so funny. We joke about this all the time.
20:57
Like our weight room is almost like the place where people come
20:59
to chill. Like literally during lunch
21:01
period, people will walk into our weight room and they'll just
21:04
hang out like 1520 guys just like hanging out and chilling
21:07
and talking. It's like it's a place that like
21:08
people feel loved and care for and like, well, this is a place
21:11
that I should be at. And so in a world where it's
21:13
like data-driven and listen, I love data.
21:16
I love showing that progress to our kids.
21:20
But in a world where it's like numbers, numbers, numbers, you
21:24
know, I think there's a lot of things to be said about, you
21:26
know, relationships and people wanting to be around you.
21:28
I think it's really valuable. No, that, that, yeah, that
21:32
that's powerful as, as we talked about kind of those different
21:34
stages when we look at that middle school period when when
21:37
we were talking last, you talked about how more and more you've
21:40
seen how important it is to prioritize and pour energy into
21:43
that middle school group. Could you, could you dig into
21:45
that a little bit more? Yeah.
21:46
Sure. So yeah, when I first got the
21:47
Second Baptist, you know, I really was just like, man, there
21:50
was a couple strength coaches back-to-back to back that it
21:53
just didn't work out. And I don't know why.
21:55
It could have been Second Baptist, you know it it could
21:57
have been, you know, whatever variabilities, right, You know,
21:59
and so you know, I'm coming in and it's like I'm the next guy
22:02
on the on in the role. I'm like, man, how do I just
22:05
create this innate buy in with our coaches and our high school
22:08
kids? And that's really what I sold
22:09
into. And I think like any other
22:11
coach, that would be my place. I would say that is the same as
22:13
well. But knowing what I know now, I
22:15
would have went completely head in earlier with middle school.
22:19
And the reason why is because those are the kids that are
22:21
going to be able to set the foundation for your program in
22:23
the years to come, you know, And so at that age, especially like
22:27
in 5th and 6th, I would say for us it's a little bit more in 6th
22:30
grade, is that you can sort of mold them into a love and
22:34
appreciation for a weight room compared to sometimes maybe a
22:37
high schooler. That doesn't mean that you like
22:38
a kid that never liked the weight room before as a freshman
22:41
or sophomore won't like it and you can teach him out of it.
22:44
But there's just something about that age where it just you can
22:47
teach good movement and you'd be very basic.
22:50
You can almost be a little bit more scholastic because it
22:52
really is a part of their day and give them just like this
22:55
love and foundation for exercise.
22:57
And so that's really what we try to do is like especially 6th
23:00
through 7th in 8th grade. Yeah, we've had the most
23:02
attendance that we possibly have had in the past couple years
23:04
just because we've like tried to find, hey, how can we get them
23:07
the weight room and what are some classes we can create?
23:10
How can we get 6th, 6th grade PE?
23:12
Just like every week they're in the weight room to some capacity
23:15
and getting an appreciation for it.
23:17
And so I think it all starts from like a love for it and then
23:21
also just an underlying, hey, here's why you need to do it.
23:24
And for 6th graders and 7th graders and 8th graders, like
23:27
that can be a lot of different things, right?
23:29
Like there's kids that like love sports.
23:31
It's like, well, if you want to be a great athlete, you got to
23:34
you got to invest some way, shape or form into the waiter
23:37
for those. Kids that like.
23:39
Don't necessarily love sports entirely, but they play and it's
23:41
like, well, it also actually is a a life skill that essentially
23:45
can save your life or make your life longer.
23:47
Like skeletal tissue is the elixir of life.
23:50
So if I have more skeletal tissue than the next person, you
23:53
know, I am more likely to fight off morbidity than the other
23:57
person. And so I think, you know, you
23:59
can picture and point some ideas for kids that might stick with
24:03
them and be like, OK, well, yeah, maybe I need should do
24:05
this. You know, and I think too, a lot
24:07
of it is like, how do you feed them correctly so that they feel
24:10
like they're accomplishing something?
24:12
And so, yeah, just how you teach movement, how you how you scale
24:15
things to make sure that they're progressing is valuable.
24:18
But yeah, ever since we've done that, man, it's been great.
24:20
And kids love it. And and also too like to get a
24:23
little bit more on the performance side.
24:24
When you invest like 2 to three years with your kids in middle
24:27
school, it makes like your freshman class just like, well,
24:30
this is what we do, you know, oh, and this is how we do it.
24:34
And so we've seen a lot of that where it's like there's less
24:36
like teaching every year and it's more like, OK, we can sort
24:40
of move forward a little bit quicker.
24:41
There's always going to be this kids that come in never seen the
24:44
weight room. You create systems in place for
24:46
them to to adopt it quick. But the more you have people
24:50
like in line, that's like, Oh yeah, this is like exactly what
24:52
we do. It makes it 10 times easier for
24:54
you and your sport coaches. Yeah, now that's awesome.
24:57
How how, how do you find the balance?
24:59
Like this is one thing I've been thinking about as I've really
25:01
started training this, the 7th and 8th graders.
25:03
I have like the balance between creating a really solid
25:07
foundation of how to do these movements.
25:11
But then like you're saying, also making it a place that they
25:14
really want to be where like sometimes like they're trying to
25:17
teach us like, like, oh, we want to do maybe more fun or cooler
25:20
looking things or like take another step there.
25:23
But it's like, OK, we got to own these things, but I still want
25:26
to make it engaging and in a place they want to be.
25:29
So how do you kind of weigh between those two and then find
25:33
find a way to deliver both of those?
25:35
Yeah, sure. It's a great question.
25:38
I would say where I've sort of found the sweet spot is this
25:42
sounds bad, but I, I would say sometimes like I create a
25:46
spectrum of like what's acceptable.
25:48
So for instance, like I think a lot of people are like, we're
25:52
going to do PVC pipe for nine straight weeks until they get it
25:55
right. And it's like, there's nothing
25:57
wrong with that. But how many kids you lose in
25:59
the process? They're like, if you like,
26:01
listen as an athlete, like it's like, dude, if I had to do APVC
26:03
pipe for 9 weeks when I'm ready for something more, I probably
26:06
would check out too, you know, And so I would say we, we, if
26:11
you can learn how to scale, I think patterns like I, like,
26:14
I've sort of got into like this like skeleton model of, of I'm
26:18
not picking exercises, I'm picking patterns and then I'm
26:20
picking adaptations. OK, I want strength.
26:23
OK, well, that can fill certain buckets, you know, right.
26:26
OK, well, strength, well for a middle schooler, you know, they
26:28
don't need to do ones twos or threes.
26:29
Let's stay between 6:00 and 12:00.
26:31
OK. They can build just by
26:32
repetition, you know. OK, so I'm trying to get
26:34
strength to produce force. OK, well, there's a bunch of
26:36
different exercises I can do that with.
26:38
And so I just pick that exercise or I pick that pattern and then
26:42
I pick an exercise that's going to scale and see fit.
26:44
So if I'm doing a squat pattern, we'll like there's ten different
26:47
squat patterns you can give a kid.
26:49
You just have to figure out what works for them.
26:50
And so like we might have kids doing a plate squat, heels
26:53
elevated. We might have a person doing a
26:55
body weight squat. We might have a kid doing a
26:56
gobble squat. So they can hit 45 lbs, Great.
26:59
When they hit 45 lbs, we show them the barbell, great, can
27:02
they load a little bit more with X amount of weight?
27:04
And so like you just start scaling things from there.
27:06
And you know, I think I've learned that if you don't keep
27:09
kids just like in a on a level because it's just what you need
27:14
to do, you actually see kids thriving more.
27:16
It's the same thing in scholastics too, right?
27:18
Like, hey, like if there's a kid better at math, he should learn
27:21
harder math than the other person that is not good at math.
27:25
So in my French contrasting, like, you know, a 7th grader,
27:30
probably not. But like, you know, my point is
27:33
is like, you still can scale some things that keeps kids like
27:38
we do. Like we do have kids that are
27:39
pretty strong that like I've sort of like laid a pretty
27:42
strong, you know, they've hit puberty as an eighth grader.
27:45
And so it's like, OK, well, like I probably can start training
27:47
them a little bit like a freshman sophomore, you know,
27:49
And so maybe the loading parameters are going to look a
27:51
little different for them than a 7th grader that literally is a
27:54
twig. And really we're just impacting
27:58
the nervous system. And so they can develop, right?
28:01
You know, And so I would say that's like #1 is that like,
28:03
hey, like there's a spectrum and like, it's going to be OK.
28:08
Like you intuitively know as a coach what good movement looks
28:11
like. And so it's like you can figure
28:12
that out. Like, for instance, like, like
28:14
we with my middle school athletic performance class this
28:17
past week, like we taught the front squat.
28:18
Some look fantastic, some looked OK, some looks not good, but it
28:24
was like 15 lbs. Like it was like, you know, it's
28:26
like, it's not like there was like 145 lbs and like they're
28:28
dying. So like it was like there was,
28:30
there was a spectrum that was OK.
28:31
And then as they do it, it's going to get better, you know,
28:34
and you just sort of like subjectively try to create those
28:36
scales for kids to thrive and be OK and feel comfortable and
28:40
they're going to be OK for math. So I'd say that's like #1 is
28:42
that like you're able to scale some things?
28:45
And then lastly too, like they're, they're still, they
28:47
still want to have fun, right? So like, I think kids really
28:50
respond to like data and like measuring things.
28:53
So like we're all was trying to measure something.
28:55
It's going to look a little different than if they're in
28:57
high school, But like we'll still we'll still track spring
28:59
times. They like twice a week say, hey,
29:01
we're going to go outside, like hit some fly times.
29:03
Great, Did you beat your score? Great.
29:05
You know, we do a bunch of dot box jumps like I, I give less
29:08
parameters for this thing. Hey, like jump on the box.
29:10
I don't care how you do it, just get on the box, get off the box.
29:13
We have some hurdles, like just do some type of jumping thing
29:16
and you sort of fill that box right.
29:18
So it gives them a little bit of a free play, self discovery.
29:21
And then yeah, like you can measure a bunch of different
29:23
other stuff like broad jumps, vertical jumps, like I think in
29:26
instilling some of those things where kids can actually see
29:29
positive increases. And then really to like when
29:32
you're able to scale exercises, like subjectively, you're able
29:35
to measure those things. Like, hey, like I told a kid the
29:38
other day, man, remember when like you literally had to use
29:40
the training bar and now you're doing the barbell front spot for
29:43
£45 for 10 reps? Like that's still a way to
29:45
measure strength, but it's not a one around.
29:48
And so just finding ways to like feed into, Hey, see how you got
29:53
better. And we you didn't even know it.
29:55
It was almost like a tree and like it just grew, you know.
29:58
And so those are ways that like I think in middle school that we
30:00
try to do it without being like, hey, we're going to have a test
30:02
week and we're going to measure your 10 five tests.
30:05
And then we're going to measure, you know, like we're not
30:07
creating like this athletic profile yet for you, which you
30:09
don't really need yet. Yeah.
30:11
You know, that, that that's really helpful to think about.
30:13
You know, as as you talked earlier about how when you came
30:16
in, you weren't fully over the entire school was was it was
30:20
just high school or some middle school too when you first came
30:22
in? Yeah.
30:23
Really was just partnering with coaches and OK, yeah, almost
30:28
like trying to create something for nothing.
30:29
So how could you talk about how how your role shifted and
30:33
developed into really taking over the long term mental
30:36
development from all the way to those young kids?
30:39
And was that something that you pushed for or did you start to
30:42
show value in school? Was like, hey, we want to, we
30:46
want to push you into this bigger role with this school.
30:49
Yeah, good question. So I just my my jobs were to
30:52
start as this just a strength conditioning coach, you know,
30:55
and I'm from the Northeast, I'm from just outside of
30:57
Philadelphia. I learned very quickly
30:59
everything's bigger and better in Texas.
31:01
Just but just like, you know, just sports in school, it's just
31:04
a different world. You know, like a lot of school
31:06
is driven by sports. It really is up north, not to
31:10
say that it isn't, but just a different flav, you know, And so
31:13
really like I didn't know know much about anything.
31:16
I figured, OK, like, well, school's for school and so I
31:19
guess I'm going to be training kids in the mornings, in the
31:21
afternoons, which really what I was going to, I end up finding
31:24
out that I have like a, a performance training class that
31:27
I was supposed to teach in high school.
31:29
I had like 3 kids signed up and I was like, OK, like in, in my
31:32
mind, I was like, am I teaching these kids like exercise
31:34
science, you know, because that's where my mind was still
31:36
going. And So what ended up happening
31:38
was, is that, you know, it's like 3 kids, they were athletes,
31:40
they played sports. I was like, you know what?
31:41
Well, I guess if they're here, we might as well work out or
31:43
train. And so we started doing that.
31:45
It was fun. I enjoyed it was like one time a
31:47
day and then I was like, well, I mean, why don't we just do this
31:51
with all our athletes? Because one of the problems I
31:53
was finding was like, man, how am I supposed to get all these
31:55
athletes in in the morning, in the afternoon?
31:57
Like it's a physically impossible the space that we
31:59
have. And so brick by brick, I started
32:01
creating, pushing for class, encouraging coach to have them
32:04
sign up, getting kids in the weight room, seeing the value.
32:06
And we've been able to build that class model for the past
32:09
6-7 years and it continged to evolve now.
32:12
Now it's even a little bit more sport based where it's like now
32:15
we're test, test piloting sports, being in the class, you
32:19
know, and make it almost like a, an athletic period for our kids,
32:23
you know. And so I think through strength
32:25
conditioning, I was able to sort of create like a proof of
32:27
concept of like, wow, like Nick's impacting a lot of kids.
32:31
And then like, then I start dipping my toe in the middle
32:33
school working physical education.
32:35
And then really I was able. To sort of prove.
32:37
Through the just other things that like I was able to take
32:41
over physical education, sort of see a little bit more of a model
32:43
of like, hey, like if we sort of stagger things together, these
32:47
all interconnect and are the same thing, but they just might
32:50
look bit different based off the age.
32:51
And so, yeah, had some conversations, was able to sort
32:54
of, this is my second year doing everything.
32:56
And once again, I just sort of organically happened, just like
32:59
with building some good relationships with our
33:02
administration, you know, lower school, middle school, upper
33:05
school, head of school. And so it's been a good journey
33:08
and just trying to figure things out to make the best thing for
33:10
our kids. Yeah, I think that's just so
33:12
cool. You've mentioned data a couple
33:14
times and I think that's one of the things that I first saw from
33:18
you on Instagram with your school Instagram page there was,
33:22
you know, the testing stuff you're doing the record, you
33:25
know, rank publish, the, the, you know, speed limit signs,
33:29
the, and the 2K score. So could you talk about how
33:32
especially for those high, that high school group, you're really
33:35
trying to gamify the weight room and even dig into like that 2K
33:40
score that you have? Yeah, for sure.
33:42
Yeah. So, you know, I this would be go
33:43
without saying that, you know, really we, you know, we're,
33:47
we're fortunate enough to have some really cool technology in
33:51
our wayground, you know, a lot of affordances that we're really
33:54
thankful for. And because of that, we're
33:55
thankful, you know, And so really so we, we use Rock Daisy,
33:59
we use other things like output capture, we use.
34:03
Dasher So we have all these different.
34:05
And so, you know, really one of the things that I think I
34:08
started learning when I was in this space is, you know, we
34:12
live, we we're coaching the Gen. ZS athlete, am I right?
34:15
You know, And so because of that, they have this world of
34:19
information, you know, that has been untapped more than anything
34:23
we've ever seen before, right? You know, the coach, teacher to
34:27
student relationship, you know, has changed a lot in our
34:30
landscape. Like when I was in high school,
34:33
you know, I would show up to school, my coach or teacher
34:35
would say, here's what we're doing.
34:37
I was like, OK, sounds good. I would do it.
34:38
I'd go home. And so there was just this
34:40
innate buy in with a teacher and a coach to a student.
34:44
Like they were the wealth of information.
34:46
They were the access point for information, where now because
34:49
kids have smartphones, they have all these different things.
34:51
There's an innate skepticism that's involved now with
34:55
teachers and, and, and training. It's like, well, dude, like I
34:57
can just like look up you where you've been.
34:59
Also, I can just look up anything I want and I'm like,
35:02
this is the type of training that I need, even though maybe
35:05
at a point it could be good training for them, but
35:07
appropriately right now it's not.
35:09
And so. There is a little.
35:10
Bit more of a buy in more than ever as coaches to sort of, you
35:14
know, show ground and and and solidify why our programs should
35:18
be what they are and why you should be involved in it.
35:20
And So what I learned is, is like, OK, so we live in a
35:23
technological world. How can I use technology to be
35:27
able to show those things to our kids?
35:29
And so teaching kids to curate information to make worthwhile
35:33
change. And that's why I say to our kids
35:34
all the time, information or good information leads to
35:38
change. That if you actually have data,
35:41
you can create sound information in action plans to hit targets
35:45
that you want to occur. And so we're teaching kids to
35:47
not have, you know, privilege without responsibility.
35:50
You know, like, hey, like, you know, you have all this
35:52
information. I feel entitled, but how do you
35:54
use this information to actually impact change?
35:57
And so that's really what I've tried to do with a lot of the
35:59
technology that we have is like, hey, we're collecting data for a
36:02
reason, not just to collect data.
36:03
And when you actually get information and use it wisely,
36:08
it allows you to be a better person and create change.
36:11
And so that's really what we did with Rock Daisy is, you know,
36:14
with all these integrations that we're able to do with them, I
36:17
sort of create something called the 2K score.
36:19
To be honest, there's probably tons of other coach that use
36:21
Rock Daisy. They might call it something
36:23
different, but it's just essentially A percentile rank
36:25
score where we take like our three strength movements and our
36:29
four, like what we would call like our kangaroo movements that
36:32
allow, you know, us to sort of profile our students.
36:35
And so there's two things that we get from that 2K score.
36:39
One, it allows kids to sort of see like a 2K, right?
36:41
So if you think of NBA2K, if you think of Madden, you know, kids
36:46
resonate with the video game, you know, where it's like, oh
36:48
wow, his shooting is a 97, his passing is like a six, like a
36:52
87. And then you get a whole
36:54
percentile rank and that's your score.
36:56
Essentially. That's what we do with the 2K
36:58
score. The kids get all these different
36:59
percentile ranks with these metrics and then they get a
37:02
overall ranked score. And so like around school, like,
37:04
hey, like I'm a 76, you're an 84, John's a 92, you know, and
37:08
so kids can have this sort of self competition, but also it
37:11
actually paints a picture for the style athlete that they are,
37:14
you know, if they're if their metrics are shaded to more
37:18
strength and less power, It's like, well, you know, we need to
37:22
work on rate of force development and get you more
37:25
quick twitchy and more kangaroo. Like maybe you're quick twitchy,
37:28
but you're not strong. It's like, well, we need to
37:31
build strength because it's going to help reduce the risk of
37:33
injury and you're going to tap out and you're going to have a
37:34
ceiling where you can't produce the force that you're doing
37:37
anymore as much or you're not good at anything and let's just
37:41
get better. That's like your 8th grade to
37:42
10th grader, right? Or you have a well-rounded
37:45
athlete. And so it allows us to profile
37:47
our kids, one, to create competition, but an easy way for
37:50
me and the other coaches that I to work with to be able to see
37:53
what style of athlete we have. And so that we're able to feed
37:56
into a little bit more of those things maybe in the program
37:59
design or emphasize that to our kids.
38:01
Hey, listen, dude, I love, I know you love getting into the
38:03
barbell and squatting your brains out because you're super
38:06
strong, but you're sort of slow. Your RSI is not great.
38:11
And so like we need that strength to transfer.
38:14
And so you really need to focus on these things.
38:16
And so they really at this point, and that's why I love
38:19
information, is they can't really escape that information.
38:21
It's it's who you are like data doesn't lie.
38:24
And so it's like you have two options.
38:25
One, just ignore it or two, what are you going to do about to
38:28
create that change? And we've found out just through
38:31
other ways of incentivizing kids, whether that's through,
38:34
you know, our speed boards and then signing it and like getting
38:37
better truck stick metrics and all that stuff.
38:40
Kids aspire to get better and better based off of the mile
38:45
markers that you put on them. And so just creating a culture
38:48
of information that is used correctly breeds competition and
38:52
then breeds ultimate, ultimately bad results.
38:55
Could you talk about how you chose what those movements or
38:58
exercise were that that actually build that score and kind of
39:02
your process of deciding what what you thought was critical
39:06
and worth putting into that to actually determine that?
39:09
Yeah, no, for sure. So the seven movements that we
39:13
use are so the three strength based movements we use is a
39:17
squat pattern, front or back. And the reason why we sort of do
39:20
front or back is because like we just won't back squat a kid
39:24
that's not ready and the front squat just a cleaner pattern.
39:28
So we'll use that. And then we use trap bar, easy
39:32
force, production exercise, total body, and then a bench
39:34
press. And really outside of it just
39:38
being like those are sort of like your 3 standard strength
39:42
movements that like every school slash, I wouldn't say every
39:45
college, but like people know them, right?
39:47
And, and for a lack of a better reason, kids sort of like like
39:51
them, you know, like it's, it's sort of like, OK, you know,
39:54
like, I mean, yeah, we could talk about maybe different like
39:56
reverse lines, you know, all these different things that
39:59
could go into that. But I just think for the sake of
40:01
like simplicity, like those movements are pretty like basic
40:05
and measurable put pretty easily.
40:07
And we tend to go to them more frequently than other movements.
40:11
So I would say that's number one of the main reasons why we
40:13
picked those and. The other four we do are the
40:16
broad jump, vertical jump, and then we do our 10-5 test, which
40:20
is our, our side metric that we use from output.
40:22
So Pogo jump test, bounce test, and then we also do our flying
40:26
10. And so the reason why we chose
40:28
those is I think broad jump shows, you know, a little bit
40:31
more of like a horizontal power output, vertical power for the
40:35
the jump. And we love the 10 five.
40:37
I mean, if there's really a test that like, I'm like, I sort of
40:40
hang my hat on a little bit. It's like that, that bounce
40:42
test, man, like if you are like bouncing with a high RSI number,
40:48
I'm like picking you for my team.
40:49
Like man, like you're just sort of like a kangaroo.
40:51
Like there's probably a lot of cool things you can do.
40:53
I think it's just a really important metric for kids.
40:55
I'm in a lot of different things of being able to be like, well,
40:58
why am I strong, but I'm not fast.
41:00
I think you can link some of those things to that.
41:02
And then lastly, speed. I mean, I think speed and I
41:06
think it's been a growing theme and a lot of people's programs.
41:09
One not only. So that is a great measurement
41:11
for readiness. It's very trainable.
41:15
And I think really, you know, not that I not that I would call
41:18
myself like a, you know, a Tony Howard disciple, but he's been
41:21
very profound. And you know, the way we try to
41:24
model our program, but you know, it's the tide that lifts, lifts
41:27
all boats. You know, if you really get
41:29
faster from a nervous system perspective, it feeds into all
41:32
those different things. And so those are the reasons why
41:35
we choose all of them. And it gives a wide variety of
41:37
like measurements, you know, better power kangaroo related.
41:41
It gives a chance for kids to actually be good at like a
41:43
couple of them versus like, man, if we only did Sprint tests, you
41:46
know, sort of put kids back a little bit, you know, And so and
41:49
also too, it tells kids like, like if you really are good at
41:53
every one of them, like that's pretty awesome.
41:55
You know, where it's like, I think a lot of kids, especially
41:59
males can just like go do like what's your bench number?
42:02
And it's like, dude, like that really doesn't matter.
42:04
You know, like, like no one's like no coach ever is is on the
42:09
side and be like, OK, hey, what's John's bench press?
42:11
OK, let's get him in. You know, like it's like, can
42:13
you play the sport? And so, and we'd be able to use
42:16
a lot of those like Sprint metrics, there's RSI metrics,
42:18
there's jump metrics actually to our our coaches to actually care
42:24
about those more than like how strong they are.
42:27
You know, strength once again fills a lot of buckets for you,
42:30
but at some point it's like how strong you need to get.
42:33
So we really like I, I think I'm a little different.
42:38
Like I, I used to do like test weeks, right?
42:42
And I think for some schools that might work for us.
42:45
It's like dude. Kids are just like.
42:47
So like all over the place, every like every week.
42:51
It's like if I were to do a test week, like I could land on a
42:53
week where they're not good at all, you know?
42:56
And so 100% I sort of let it like organically happen a little
43:00
bit. And where it's like, hey, I tell
43:02
kids like, hey, if you feel like really good on the day, like,
43:04
and we do that based off of like, hey, like what's your drum
43:06
score survey, all that stuff. Like, yeah, let's go for it, you
43:09
know? So we organically collect that
43:11
information as the year goes on and we're measuring something
43:15
like once a week, I wouldn't say from a strength perspective, but
43:17
like some type of brawl jump, RSI, I mean we're measuring some
43:21
form of Sprint every week. So we're able to get a lot of
43:23
good information like frequently and you know, based on how we
43:27
might progress some of like our force production days slash
43:31
weeks, you know, we might tap and tap, hey, like try to move
43:35
something a little bit, you know, VBT wise and then we're
43:37
able to get a number from there. Yeah, no, that's super cool.
43:39
With like you said like with the strength ones, are you, are you
43:42
doing that off like a straight one or a Max or are you using
43:45
kind of velocity based training to predict that?
43:47
And then with with the athletic movements for the Sprint, what
43:51
is your build in there? And then like you're saying, how
43:52
you are going to be taking it? Are you just constantly updating
43:55
that score every time you input a new number?
43:58
Yeah. So, yeah, the score
43:59
automatically will will change based off of the new metric
44:02
that's uploaded. So this can always like see like
44:05
a change, right. Yeah, the the strength numbers,
44:08
yeah, we sort of let DBT Dr. that a little bit.
44:11
We don't do a predicted one around, but we do do, I would
44:16
say put pretty strict parameters on like it's, it's, it's
44:20
measured by DBT. So like whenever we're doing
44:22
something like, hey, we're going to test like a, a heavier lift,
44:26
we let DBT sort of drive like hey, you're done or we probably
44:31
can try one more. So like we usually actually I
44:33
took this from Cody Hughes, but he sort of does like a .9, a .6
44:36
and a .3 and like, hey, how much can you do at .9?
44:40
How much can you do at .6? How much can you do at .3?
44:43
And that actually sort of be able to sort of fill some
44:45
specific buckets. Yeah, when we do when we do
44:48
maybe look more of a heavier single, like we'll, we'll let
44:50
that that, that VBT number drive.
44:54
Nope. Or yes.
44:56
And so like if a kids like at like .4 and it's like just like
45:00
if like, you know, that's enough, like hey, like we're
45:02
done, you know, or a kid like does a solid .4, it's like, OK,
45:06
like maybe let's try another one, you know.
45:08
And so we do let VBT drive it. We don't do like a predicted one
45:12
or M, but we definitely let like VBT, Dr. the how how long we're
45:17
going to try this. This one around.
45:19
One thing that I sometimes go back and forth my head when
45:22
using data and you know, printed out, putting out leaderboards
45:26
and things like that is as I think about the lesser athletes
45:29
or maybe sometimes also the newer athletes that might be
45:32
stepping in for the first time where they're just not as
45:35
athletic as the people at the top there.
45:37
And, and I think about if I'm ranking these, am I sometimes
45:41
demotivating or impacting that kid negatively mentally by them
45:47
knowing, Hey, I'm never going to get to the top of that?
45:49
I'm I'm always at the bottom, Like, and it's like not even
45:51
worth trying to get better because I'm not going to, I'm
45:54
not going to get first. So just way too far ahead.
45:56
How do you think about that? Our balance that where we're
45:59
motivating and pushing the kids, maybe in the middle up, but also
46:03
still finding a way to make it about the process for the kids
46:07
that just aren't as athletic. Yeah, that's a great question.
46:09
You know, I think, I think kids can sometimes fall in a couple
46:12
different buckets, you know, and I think one thing I try to
46:15
emphasize to like, like there's here's here's here's an athlete,
46:18
there's athletes that are super amazing, like just God-given
46:22
fantastic skill sport athletes. Like, I mean, you've probably
46:26
even seen it. Like, dude, these guys are the
46:27
best athletes ever seen. And like they're horrible in the
46:30
weight room. You know, like like like they're
46:32
just not good, you know. And so, you know, we try to tell
46:36
like our kid, like we try to tell our kids.
46:38
Like the reality is like if, if it really is about your sport,
46:41
that everything that we're doing in the weight room or slash
46:45
performance related aspect is just trying to in feed into that
46:50
and create a better engine for you to express that for your
46:54
sport. And so it's like, let's say your
46:56
2K scores are 29. Like usually that's going to be
46:59
a freshman that came in. Like, dude, like you haven't hit
47:01
puberty yet. Like don't get upset.
47:04
Like you, you're able to paint pictures like hey, like you
47:06
shouldn't be like a 93, you know, because you're a freshman
47:11
and you haven't even built muscle like you can get there.
47:13
You know? I mean, I also think too it's
47:15
like there's a huge thing about like the late onset
47:17
gratification, you know, like, hey, you're going to be willing
47:20
to work for it. And like teaching kids that like
47:22
that dopamine hit like later is so much greater than just like
47:26
trying to get immediate, immediate, immediate
47:29
gratification right off the batch.
47:30
I think from there it's like, just like painting the picture
47:32
of, hey, you're gonna continue to improve.
47:34
And even if you are like a 45, like first I'm talking to an
47:37
athlete right now. It's like, hey, you're a really
47:39
good athlete, but like your 2K score is not great.
47:41
Was like, well, dude, like you're playing in games.
47:43
Like would you rather have a 952K score or would you rather
47:47
and and not play or be playing 32 minutes in your basketball
47:51
game and scoring 20 a night, right?
47:52
Like it's like put things in context, you know, and so, but
47:56
you may be increasing your 2K score makes you even better,
48:00
right? For the person that is not
48:02
playing, you know, maybe like still like, hey, we're still at
48:04
development, right? Let's continue to increase your
48:06
2K score because that's going to increase your ability
48:09
potentially to play on the field, you know.
48:12
And so I think it's just really just like, and then for the Gen.
48:14
pop people, people, it's like, hey, like this is where you are,
48:17
Let's see if we can get better. Like it's like you're, I'm not
48:19
grading you as an athlete because you're not, you know,
48:22
and so I think you can just like find different conversations for
48:27
different kids, you know, and I think that's helped out a lot,
48:31
you know, where it's like, hey, like there's kids that are very
48:34
analytical where it's like, hey, like, I want to, it's great.
48:37
Like I can, I can go through this 2K score with you and
48:40
you're like, great, I'm going to work on that, right?
48:42
You're going to have kids that like get disappointed and like,
48:45
hey, let's put things in context and perspective.
48:47
You're going to have the kid that doesn't care.
48:49
And it's like, Hey, here's why this should care a little bit
48:51
more to you. You're going to have the kid
48:53
that only cares about his numbers.
48:54
Here's why you should care not as much, you know.
48:57
And so I think it's just all, it's just all about unique
49:00
conversations with the specific type, type of kid that you're
49:02
dealing. With we talked about the idea of
49:04
serving those who want to be served.
49:07
What does that mean to you in your role?
49:09
Yeah, well, you know, I think in high school setting, like you're
49:12
going to the reality is you're going to have kids that are
49:14
going to be with you. You're going to have kids that
49:15
aren't going to be in your weight room.
49:16
So you're going to have kids that should be in your weight
49:18
room that aren't in your weight room.
49:19
You're going to have you're going to have all these you're
49:21
you're going to have a kid using a personal trainer.
49:23
Like that's just the nature of just the beast that you live or
49:27
work in with related to high school, middle school, strength,
49:31
conditioning. And so your, your mind always
49:34
will go to what am I doing wrong for why they're not there, you
49:39
know, and maybe there is things that you always can do better,
49:41
right? I think being self reflective,
49:43
being able to self analyze. But hey, like, what's a way that
49:46
I can do something better to maybe bring that kid along in?
49:49
But I also think there's something to be said about
49:52
really being present with the students that you have and the
49:55
athletes that you have, because that's really what ultimately
49:57
creates the buying and kids wanting to be there is the
50:00
experience that they get. They're your greatest salesman,
50:03
right, Like wow, like take coach masters class or coach Willis,
50:06
who's my assistant, like man, like final waiting because
50:09
they're just awesome to be around.
50:10
Like there, that's the place you want to be and you're going to
50:12
get better, right? I mean, so I remember my wife
50:14
told me that like I was really down one time.
50:16
It was like a couple years ago and I felt like there was a
50:18
couple of kids that like really should be there that weren't,
50:21
you know, and sometimes you have to rely on your head coaches to
50:24
do that, you know, so there's just this tug and war battle,
50:26
right? It's not as cut and dry maybe as
50:28
college or professional sports, right.
50:31
And she remember saying, like Nick, like, hey, like, stop
50:33
caring about the people aren't here.
50:35
Start caring about the ones that are in front of you.
50:37
And it really hit me hard. It was like, wow, like that was
50:39
that was the moment where I was able to like invest in the kids
50:41
that were there. And it's really helped me be
50:43
able to not only grow the program that we have at the same
50:46
time, like just enjoy my job even more to be intentional and
50:49
relational with kids. And so I think serving the
50:52
people that are present is extremely important.
50:55
And then I think that allows you to serve more kids based off of
50:58
the the ability to do a great job and open my doors are always
51:03
open. And that's why I tell kids like,
51:04
like I had a kid this summer that I.
51:06
Really just. Didn't think at all he would
51:08
want to be in our weight room just based off like just
51:10
trajectory. Some things I heard.
51:12
And he signed up for Cam and absolutely love that he's bought
51:15
in now, you know, And so you just don't know the amount of
51:19
impact you're going to have on a kid or when that person comes.
51:22
And so I've had plenty of those stories where it's like, man, I
51:24
just felt like I sort of wrote them off just because I figured
51:27
they just wanted to do something else.
51:28
And man, they felt in my door and they absolutely loved it.
51:30
And they saw me as a really impactful coach.
51:33
And those are the people that, you know, you really sort of
51:36
hang your hat on just like, thank thankfully the opportunity
51:39
to do that. Yeah, and and I feel like those
51:41
those situations and those relationships can often be like
51:45
the most purposeful and impactful for us as coaches
51:50
where it's like it's maybe not the star athlete, but it's like
51:52
someone that maybe we you know, like you're saying we we would
51:57
never thought they would have wanted to even be in there or
52:00
they're not even playing a sport.
52:01
But then they just fall in love with it.
52:03
And then they go so much further than anybody else.
52:05
And maybe like their final, their final distance isn't quite
52:08
still as high as the other people.
52:09
But like from where they started.
52:11
And just seeing as you talk about the active life, like the
52:14
Impact now that they've fallen in love and completely changed
52:17
their mindset, change their habits now, like you know, that
52:20
Impact is going to probably be with them for the rest of their
52:22
life beyond these other people that are even playing sports
52:26
right now. Yeah, yeah.
52:27
And I and and though it's it's crazy, like when you you know, I
52:31
think Billy Graham might have said this quote words like
52:33
coaches impact more, more kids in a year than than most people
52:37
do in their entire lifetime. And you know, there's been a
52:40
couple moments where like I feel like I've had maybe like very
52:43
limited interactions with a student in the weight room, but
52:47
I've gotten responses from like their parents.
52:50
So like I can't tell you the impact that you've had on my
52:52
kids life and it. Really was like.
52:54
Man, I feel like I did. Do like a ton.
52:56
You know, and so it is always, it always is good to show you
53:00
that, you know, you know, maybe like the one day that you just
53:05
like everyday when you show up and you just give the best you
53:07
possibly can to your kids. You just don't know how you're
53:11
changing their hearts and minds for something that's greater
53:14
than where they are right now. And so that should have been the
53:16
perspective that I have is that like, regardless of like people
53:20
choosing me or this or that the other like if they're there,
53:23
like I'm all in and maybe this one training session could
53:26
change their life. Not saying that it does all the
53:28
time, but it could. That's powerful.
53:30
As you think about, you know, you started more just strange
53:34
thing there. Now it's evolved and grown to
53:38
really leading the long term ethical development of the whole
53:40
school. Is there a place that you're
53:43
still trying to build your role or even just your career in
53:46
general too? Yeah, it's a great question.
53:48
I feel like I'm always trying to answer that question.
53:52
Yeah, If I can be completely honest, I think I've lived a lot
53:55
of my life of this, this like posture of like more, right, the
54:00
next thing, the next thing, the next thing.
54:02
And I don't think there's something in it.
54:03
I don't think there's anything inherently wrong of wanting
54:06
more, of wanting or wanting something better for yourself.
54:09
But I do think sometimes it can, it can sometimes be crippling if
54:12
that's all you're aspiring to. And so I think as a young man,
54:16
that was something that I really struggle with and I still do
54:20
where it's like, man, I want to be the best friend coach.
54:22
I want people to know me. I want people to know what I do.
54:25
And then it's like, well, I want people to see like my, my
54:28
success and all these different things.
54:29
And I think when I've started to be like, we just talked about
54:32
when I think I started to be more present and just like enjoy
54:36
what I'm doing, it's really allowed me to grow as a
54:39
professional and, and, and receive more responsibilities,
54:42
you know, And so I've really enjoyed, I think maybe like the
54:45
private school setting and, and sort of education, like I, I
54:49
really have enjoyed that. I've almost like, think to
54:51
myself, thought to myself, like, man, where would I, where would
54:54
I go outside of this, you know? And so I think I could
54:57
definitely see myself like maybe coming, becoming a little bit
55:00
more administrative out of school.
55:02
I think I would always love to get my doctorate degree.
55:04
Like, I definitely feel maybe a calling to maybe like be ahead
55:08
of school one day, you know? Yeah.
55:11
So I can see myself doing that, but I also think I've been able
55:16
to be OK with like maybe I, I die with a whistle around my
55:19
neck. That's all my tombstone, you
55:20
know, where it's like, hey, maybe I'm a coach, you know?
55:23
And so I think, I think living in both spaces, like I'm, I'm
55:27
happy and present with where I am now, but also like trying to
55:30
discern what's next. I can see those things.
55:32
I. Mean that that's a great
55:33
perspective because it's like you're saying if, if, if that,
55:37
that that thing you're looking for, you're just pulled towards
55:40
and you're always chasing it. If you live in that that arena
55:43
like that, once you get there, there's always going to be
55:46
another thing you're chasing and then another thing, another
55:48
thing, another thing and you're never like you're saying you're
55:50
never going to just get experience and appreciate the
55:53
present of where you are and the people that you are currently
55:56
with and the role you're currently in.
55:58
Where like, obviously we still have to plan.
56:00
We still have to look to the future and have those thoughts,
56:03
but allowing us to kind of have that separation where I'm still
56:07
here, I'm still where I need to be, and I'm thinking about the
56:10
future, but I'm not getting pulled by the future away from
56:14
where I am right now. I think that's a great posture
56:16
to have and I think it takes time.
56:19
I'm still learning that and just being able to be content with
56:23
where I am, but also like just big, Hey, like, you know, look
56:27
into the future and see what other possibilities are.
56:29
I think having that posture because I think you always can
56:32
play the comparison game. And I think in our world too,
56:35
there's a little bit of that, right?
56:36
Like it's like, man, this coach is doing this.
56:38
He's doing that social media, he's doing he's cool stuff,
56:40
right? Like you always can play that
56:42
game, you know? But I also, when I talked to
56:44
other coaches that maybe you're asking a little bit about what I
56:47
do, I tell them like, Hey, I'm going to tell you what I do.
56:50
But my, this is my school at Second Baptist.
56:53
Once again, like this is my model.
56:54
It's inherently wrong, but it could be useful to you in some
56:57
way, shape or form. And so I wouldn't ever say, hey,
57:00
adopt my model and place it at XYZ school, you know, because
57:04
there's just so many different other indicators that could make
57:07
it hard to do that. And so that's just all in a
57:10
roundabout way to be like, hey, like being open handed, you
57:13
know, try to become the best professional you possibly can
57:16
be. And inherently, I think if you
57:18
do that, you're going to be OK. Yeah.
57:20
Yeah, no, I love it As we talked about being the present in, in,
57:24
in your in your role now like when, when do you feel closest
57:27
to your purpose within your role?
57:30
Yeah. I mean, you know, obviously
57:31
like, you know, I work at a, you know, I work at a Christian
57:33
School. Faith is extremely important to
57:35
me. You know, like that's, that's
57:37
the most important thing on my relationship with Jesus, you
57:40
know, and so we we live in a school where, you know, my my,
57:44
my passion for strength conditioning gets mended with my
57:47
personal, personal or or sorry, my purpose in building disciples
57:51
for Jesus. And so I feel my closest when
57:54
I'm able to, I think, show kids through my passion and desire to
58:00
get them better, not only as humans, but as athletes opens
58:03
little gateway, gateway into the spiritual and, and really the
58:08
ultimate satisfaction and purpose in your life can come
58:10
through. And that's a personal
58:11
relationship with the Lord. So I'm I'm very fortunate to be
58:15
in a school like that that allows me to be able to combine
58:19
faith with my passion. That's no, that's awesome.
58:22
Yeah. I, I feel like, I mean, the way
58:24
you've talked to this whole conversation, kind of what I see
58:27
outside here, but like it's, it, it is just so evident the way
58:31
how you're driven by a purpose to impact the people that you're
58:35
working with and yes, make them better athletes.
58:39
Like you said, like human 1st and, and, and leading with your
58:44
faith and leading with impact. I, I, I think it's just really,
58:47
really cool. And I just, you know, I just
58:48
want to give you that encouragement that it's, you
58:50
know, I'm not there, but it seems like you're doing an
58:52
incredible job of that, of impacting those people.
58:55
Thanks, John. I really appreciate that.
58:57
Yeah, that's yeah. So I try continue to do and I
59:01
think, you know, kids more than ever are looking for people to
59:05
be authentic. And more than ever, you know,
59:08
there's a great quote by Inky Johnson.
59:10
He's a motivational speaker and he always said, hey, like some
59:13
people say, most people don't need you to preach a sermon.
59:15
They need you to live 1. And so that's what I'm trying to
59:17
do everyday is like, I just want like to live by example.
59:20
And that's what sort of I think creates change.
59:23
It's like, hey, it's like nothing you said made me want to
59:26
change my life is everything you did.
59:28
And so I think actions speak louder than words.
59:30
And so if we can be people of action, I think we can create
59:33
better people. Yeah, and I would assume that's
59:36
probably why you've gotten those emails from parents saying about
59:40
how you impacted those kids, because in our heads it's like,
59:42
okay, I didn't have this big speech or this huge conversation
59:46
with this athlete that was life changing.
59:48
But it comes down to like you're saying to just the way you're
59:51
living and your daily actions and just living that out and how
59:54
you talk with them and and coach them interact daily.
59:56
And it doesn't, it doesn't seem like anything special or crazy
1:00:00
to us, but it might be different and unique to what they're
1:00:03
seeing in the rest of their life.
1:00:05
Yes, absolutely. Well, Nick, this has been, this
1:00:08
has been awesome, man. I mean, I think so much value in
1:00:10
so many ways from the from what you shared in this conversation,
1:00:13
if, if people wanted to. Learn more about what you're
1:00:16
doing or connect with you. Is there a place on social media
1:00:19
or, or where they could go to connect with you or see kind of
1:00:21
what you're putting out there? Yeah, sure.
1:00:23
I mean, you guys always get like anyone who wants to talk shop.
1:00:26
My e-mail is annemassioli@secondbaptistschool.org.
1:00:30
That's a handful right there. But you can, you can totally
1:00:34
e-mail me. And then we actually have our
1:00:36
strength conditioning page, which is at SBS under score
1:00:40
Athletic performance. And so we just really try to use
1:00:43
that page just to, I would say just like shine a light on our
1:00:46
kids. We don't really use our page to
1:00:49
like promote our training concepts.
1:00:52
We just sort of want our kids to feel shined on, loved.
1:00:55
Wow, this is cool things we're doing.
1:00:57
And if you, if you, if you follow that on at SBS under
1:01:00
score athletic performance, you'll be able to see a little
1:01:02
bit of Snapchat and or a snapshot of what we're doing.
1:01:05
And then if you wanted to DM and never talk shop, we could
1:01:08
exchange numbers and we could talk from there.
1:01:09
Awesome, I appreciate that. And again, you're doing awesome
1:01:12
things, both from a training side, but just also as a as a
1:01:15
human and A and a coach. So just keep doing that, man.
1:01:18
I appreciate you being on and and hope you get some rest this
1:01:21
weekend after I know school is starting some long days getting
1:01:24
back into it. Thanks, John.
1:01:25
And so it's been a pleasure to be on the podcast.
1:01:27
Love your work, love the people you've had on and you're doing
1:01:30
an awesome thing. Just being able to shine a light
1:01:32
on a lot of cool coaches and man, you're doing great things
1:01:34
too. So appreciative of our
1:01:36
friendship and look for it forward to looking forward for
1:01:39
it to grow more. Thank you, Nick.