March 21, 2025 • 27 mins
In this episode of "Game Changers - Athletes," co-hosts Kortney Harmon and Julie Jones dive into the challenges and rewards of being a student athlete and the critical role parents and coaches play in fostering these young talents. From Kortney's personal experiences as a former Division 1 softball pitcher, she emphasizes the importance of teaching quality over quantity in sports practices. The conversation unfolds on how sports teach valuable life skills, such as time management and self-discipline, which can translate into success beyond athletic careers. Julie shares insights from her coaching career, highlighting how dedication and team support help athletes face unimaginable challenges, both on and off the field. Together, they discuss the profound benefits of sports, not just in terms of physical fitness, but in contributing to mental health, social relationships, and long-term achievements. The episode blends real-life anecdotes with practical advice, aiming to inspire and educate parents, coaches, and athletes on building a strong foundation for lifelong success through sports.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I'm seeing student athletes at the age of 12
need to take breaks because they're injured already.
And I think that's happening because us as parents don't know when to say,
okay, here's a down season or you know what? They're going from
basketball to, well, guess what? They still have to do lessons in the side. They
have to go here, they have to go there. They have to do this. Let's
(00:21):
take an honest look in the mirror to figure out why. Because we're not
teaching these good habits because we're just saying, hey, yeah, let's do
this, do more. We as a culture, and I say this from
experience, from my own perspective, we have this do more
mentality. Doing more equals more. It's quality versus
quantity. And we have to really teach our athletes and our
(00:43):
coaches and how we do things. It's the quality of your swings or
the amount of, not the amount of your swings or your
shots or whatever sport you're playing. And I think that's on us as parents and
athletes too. Teach that and understand the value.
Welcome to Game Changers Athlete Edition. I'm Courtney
Harmon, a former Division 1 softball pitcher turned high performance
(01:06):
business coach who knows what it takes to translate athletic
mindset into real world success. And I'm Julie Jones,
a Hall of Famer and former Division 1 head coach with more than 20 years
of experience turned mental performance coach. Together we bridge
the gap between elite athletics and and lifelong achievement, helping you
unlock your full potential on and off the field. This
(01:28):
podcast is your go to source for inspiration,
motivation, amazing guests and actionable insights to
help you elevate your game.
I want to get into the other half of this is the benefits
and you and I know the benefits and I think everybody knows that
there's benefits. But I want to talk benefits today versus
(01:50):
benefits long term. What you see from coaching athletes, what I
see from business. And I think it goes back to like the whole
Simon Sinek the the why but the why equals the
success. So you know,
obviously we talked about the success in business and how many
CEOs were, are, were previously sports,
(02:12):
you know, sport or athletes in general. But
maybe what are like the less obvious things. I can tell
you from my perspective, I
think this is like on a. I'm going to start foundationally of the
things that I think of as, as foundations for what is why
sports. I think my time management
(02:35):
as a human is so much better from doing
sports. Why? Because Julie Jones had me going to study
tables. I had pitching. I, I did not understand Management
of anything. And when I got to college, it was, it
was on my own, first off. Like, you know, mom and dad weren't there, minus
when I was homesick and they had to come take me to dinner the first
(02:56):
night or first week, every single night. But I
understood what it meant. Like, I'm probably that parent to my
children too. Don't forget, hey, what about this? But I want them to learn
these things on their own. And I think my time management overall has
gotten better because I, I realized I had to do my, my academics
because there was an expectation on our team or from you, that we had to
(03:19):
get certain grades. There was no mom and dad pushing me anymore. There was no.
It was on my accountability. I think that has made me
more of an amazing human being in business because of my time
management and my. And ultimately that comes from self
discipline. Yes. Yes. Do you remember
your senior year when you were doing your student teaching during the season?
(03:41):
Holy. Do I remember. Yes. And we practiced at 6:00 in
the morning so you and op could go teach right after that. And then we
would practice at 10 o'clock at night so that we could do it so you
could get home from school and do all your work and then come to practice.
Think about that. We had. We go at 10 o'clock at night and then we
would get up and go at 6 o'clock in the morning. If you think about
recovery, that was really bad. But we won. We won 35 or 38 games,
(04:04):
so I think it worked out. 38 games we won that year. I think it,
it worked out for us. But I think about the dedication
of that team because they knew it was best for the
team. So they're like, think about that. That alone, you know,
everyone was sacrificing for two people for two
people because we knew that that was what the team needed. So
(04:26):
that alone is a lesson. And I go back
to Cassie Gillespie, who played for us at Akan. Really,
really bright kid. I mean, really bright. She went on to
PA school and she came back after like
the first semester and she said, people, she said, coach, people are freaking
out. Like some people have quit before. Like
(04:49):
these tests. They're like, they, they can't manage their emotion. They
can't manage their focus. They can't. She goes, and
it's nothing to me. Yeah. She said,
I really, really believe it's because of the expectations of
our program and the push that, you know, we were
expected to do that has allowed me to sit back and say,
(05:12):
here's what I know here's what's important. Here's how I can work through
this. I can manage, you know, my practice leading up to this,
so that when it's performance time, I'm ready to go. And I, you know, and
I've heard that. So Jen Paul, who played for us at Cleveland State, was a
Federal Air Marshal. And they go through. They literally put
them in a dark room and beat the crap out of them. They can't see
(05:33):
where anything's coming, so they like, literally got. She got her nose laid. I mean,
like, she, like. They beat the living tar out of them, so they figure out
how to defend in certain situations. But what she told me was, she
says the workouts, the physical demands of
it was nothing for her. It was
hard. It wasn't something she had not experienced before.
(05:55):
So, you know, her like, you know, you think about what a Federal Air Marshal
does and how important that job is, and you think about the training that it
takes. Had. Had she not been pushed past her limits before,
who knows, you know, but time and time and time
again, you know, you know, Jackie Miller,
who was a chief medical officer of a
(06:17):
hospital in California, now has her own practice. You know, I remember her calling
me in at 4 o'clock in the morning on mild day,
right? And, you know, and crying. I thought somebody died.
I can't do this. I can't do this. And I literally said to her right
then and there, I said, if you can't do this, how in the world are
you going to get through medical school? Yeah. She's
(06:39):
like, well. And for those that are listening and don't understand, Julie Jones coaching,
um, we had to perform a red to run a mile.
And when we first came in, it was. It what was our time that we
had run it in, like 7, 7 45, I believe. 7 45. And
as a freshman, you come in, you're like, oh, shoot, this is easy.
But what you don't know is Julie matched your time the
(07:01):
next time from your previous time and always pushed you more. And
it was. We used to call it the Green Mile because at Cleveland State,
it was the track up above. And
honestly, looking back on that, that was probably one of the
things that built the most resistance of us as humans, of who we are
today, because it was mind over matter. Our legs could do
(07:24):
it. How many people vomited? I don't know.
Probably endless. But also in that
process of four different groups running four different miles, you were there the entire
time running with us, pushing us. And I look
back on that And I mean, granted, I wasn't beat in a dark room, but
those are the things that, like, you, you now as an adult, you get
(07:47):
a cancer diagnosis or your parents are going through something, or you have
difficults in your. In your marriage or your career, and it's like,
okay, it's not like, crap, what's next?
It's like, okay, how do we deal with this? Right. Because you learned that foundationally
from small things that were less significant when you were
younger, from that pressure. And let's talk about that right there. Your
(08:08):
sophomore year, your mother was diagnosed with cancer. And it was a real. The real
deal. Right. I mean, it was. That was a scary, scary, scary
time. I mean, I remember being afraid, and
I can only imagine how you felt. But I think about had you
not been on the team at that time and had you not had a
focus at that time, and really had she not had that excitement
(08:30):
at that time, I think it would have been a lot harder for all of
you. Yeah. You know, it's like, it's so, you know, the, the benefits
of sport. And I used to tell the kids when they got to college, at
the very beginning, the awesome part about being on a team is it
multiplies your joys and it spreads your
burdens out. Yeah. If you're in the right culture. Right. So, but, like,
(08:51):
the benefits are so great. Teen pregnancy goes
down for people who, for girls who win sport, who play sports.
Right. Drug use is less for all
people who play sport. Social
connection rises. And did you know that above
all things. Above all things, for
(09:14):
longevity, the most important variable is
relationships. Yeah. It is more important than not. Smoking is more
important than exercise. It is more important than anything. Relationship
has more to do with how long you're going to live than anything
else. So, like, just, you know, you think about
kids in that, what they're doing here. You can't do this when you have
(09:35):
to communicate. There's just so much that allows us to get out of
our comfort zone. Right. To test where our, where our abilities are.
And I think that's what we learn as college athletes. But. But you learn
it at every level that, you know, what I think I can
do and what I really can do are not the same. Yeah.
And sport allows you to get closer
(09:57):
to your ultimate limit. We don't even really
even. I think so many of us don't ever really even get there, but we
give ourselves a chance when we get. When we compete, when we learn
a new skill, something that's hard at first, and then all of a sudden
it's second nature. But I think what we're talking about
here is also understanding the concept of
(10:19):
goal setting and achievement. Like, we were, we were at church a few weeks ago
and we were talking about vision boards and whatever, like, you know,
goal setting. And my husband, who has never been
an athlete, I mean, he played little league and don't get me started, he thinks
he was a thing back when he was 10. But
we talked about it and he's like, I've. What's a vision board?
(10:41):
What, what? I, I honestly, I haven't set a goal for my, I've hit
my goal. I don't know. And it was, it was actually a really fun practice
for us. After we left church that day, we came home and it's like, okay,
let's talk about what we, what we want to do, what we want to do
for the month. Let's have a theme, what we want to do for the year,
what we want to do. And that's ever going to change, but
(11:01):
I don't think I would have ever had that. And I can kind of see
that from other people who don't have sport to drive them. What
is the possible? What do you want to achieve? What, what
is out of your reach? But you're like, hey, that's nothing.
And I, I see that from people that don't have
that and didn't have that background in business to be like,
(11:22):
what's driving you? Who, where are you trying to go? What are you trying to
accomplish? And, and who does that better? And honestly,
athletes, you know, they, they are, bar none, better
to see what they need to achieve and what the vision could be in front
of them. I often talk when I'm off, when I'm talking with
business, sales, whatever, whatever
(11:43):
corporate entities that I go and speak to. I always say that
business people face pressure. They face, they face
change, all these different things. And athletes do too. But athletes
train for them. Yeah. You know, and musicians train for them.
Let's, let's not, let's, you know, I mean, let's not pretend like we're the only
ones that have the corner on this, on this market. And a lot of people
(12:04):
who didn't play sports are amazing. I have, you know, I have a couple cousins
that are like, or my uncle who was, you
know, you know, has patents and everything else. Not really
an athlete, but amazing goal setter. So it's not as if everyone
else can't. But, no, the, but the truth of it
is, although, even though he wasn't really an athlete. He played catch with, you know,
(12:26):
my great grandpa every day and he watched sports like there that
the, the arena allows us the opportunity
to understand and build these systems and
then we can repeat them and extrapolate them out to every
other aspect of our life. And I think that's really the cool part of sport.
And I mean, you think about even, even down to the. I hear people
(12:48):
talk all the time about the time they spend with their kid in the
car on the way. You know, you've got a
captive audience there, you know, and sometimes my son's reading a
book at 7 o'clock in the morning when we're driving to a swim meet and
that's okay too, but we're there and he knows that I'm there
to, to talk or if he wants to. Right. But I think that, you
(13:09):
know, the, those relationships can
enhance so long as we play the role of
supporter and not constant critic.
Yeah. Right. So that's something we'll get into too, with, with guests. But I,
I, but I do think that there's just so much to it. You know, communities
love these activities. It's,
(13:30):
it brings people together. I mean, it brings people together from all walks
of life. I mean, you and I talk all the time and we don't agree
on a lot of things in a political realm, but this sport
thing unites us. Yep. It's where we
have grown and built this relationship that is stronger than all these other
other things. That's the cool part of what
(13:52):
teams do. Yeah. Right. And just because you're
on a team doesn't mean you're a great team player, but you get the opportunity
to get better at it. Yeah, absolutely. You sent me
something this morning and I would love to include this in show notes too.
It actually had some stats in it talking
about obviously mental, emotional, social
(14:13):
health. Yes. I thought this was interesting. 73% of parents
believe that sports benefits their child's mental health. And
they're absolutely right. It absolutely does.
Talk physical health. I'm not running miles
anymore, Julie. I, I can't say that I
am, but I, it, it plays a part of who I
(14:36):
am still today. And 88 of parents believe that sports benefits
their, their child's physical health. Sure.
There's so many stats that we don't think that
are lifelong for our athletes.
73% of adults who play sports participated when they were younger. This
means they built the creation of habit and physical
(14:57):
activity early. It is.
Oh, you disappeared. Are you there? I am, but I don't see
me. Hold on. 46.
Remove your pull out and pull back. Yeah. Pull up
your camera again. Hang on. Okay.
(15:18):
Okay. There you are. There we go. That was weird.
That was very weird. Not that I need to see you to talk to
you, but I think it's
interesting that, you know, we.
We talk about who we are as an adults and. Deal. 50%
of adults who participate in sports believe that participation in an
(15:40):
activity like this reduces stress and improves mental health.
We, as adults in society
have a hard time with confrontation and conflict. And I
honestly think, like, you and I do. Well, because even if we disagree on
some things, we can talk about anything. And. And I think that's where
sometimes we get away from things of being able to talk
(16:02):
civilly or rationally. And honestly, when you're on
a team, you're gonna not agree with everything. You're not
coach, you're not going to agree with your. Your teammates.
Heck, you're not going to agree with your parents when they give you criticism.
Right. But I think. I think all of this,
that plays into it. I would never change my path and
(16:25):
how I got to where I am today because it has made me who I
am, and I want that for my kids as well.
And, and, you know, you talk about your experience
in such wonderful ways, and for that I am so grateful.
But I mean, let's face it, it wasn't easy every single day for all
kinds of reasons. You know, it's hard as a freshman, your mother was
(16:48):
sick. You didn't always, you know, agree with me. You didn't always agree with
Kyler. You probably agree with me less than Kyler, but, I mean,
you know, but, you know, but the bottom line is that that's part of
growing and that stick to itiveness, of working through the
things that weren't easy has allowed
you to be a champion
(17:09):
in those situations in business. Yep. I mean, and
I see, you know, when I look back at all the athletes that I coach
and all the amazing things that they're doing, you know, I. I take
pride knowing that some of. Of the harder things that
have come in life afterwards. I mean, I've got people, I've
got two people that play for me that lost children. I mean, think about
(17:32):
this. They lost children and. But they
still are functioning and have gone on to do more.
And I look at them and I'm in awe of how they could even
be standing. Right. But part
of that is who they came to me as. And then part of that is
how their sporting experience in these
(17:54):
communities that they build around them have helped. And part of that building that
community is their ability to be a good
teammate in all aspects of life.
And, and I think that that is, you know, when you look at the, when
you step back and you take a 30, 000 foot view of what sport
does, I just want everyone to have the best
(18:16):
experience possible. And I think that's why this podcast is going to be so exciting,
is that we're going to, we're going to find new ways for
us to be better sport parents. Yeah. You and me.
Yep. And, you know, and you mentioned that you coached before you were a parent.
I coached. I was, I was a, a head coach for 17 years.
I'd coached 20 years before I had a child. Yeah. And, you know, and
(18:38):
I think I do look at coaching different because it's been my profession my whole
life. I've really never done anything else. But that doesn't mean I'm great at being
a sport parent.
Right. Because it's different when it's, it's
right there. Yeah. So, you know, the exciting part
is that there is. So when you look at these numbers and people
(19:00):
know that these numbers are, are spot on. The
80 of physical, you know, 80 believe that you're better physically.
70, almost 75 believe that you're better mentally and
emotionally. And you look at the cognitive benefits even.
Right. Even like Cassie taking her test. I mean, she's
smart, she, you know, she trained her brain. But
(19:21):
that, that ability to manage her emotion at that
time was what helped put her over the edge. Yep.
Because as Chris, our strength coach, Chris Lewandowski, who I
certain will have on as a guest. Yeah. Said the number one
rule in peak performance is to be available. That means it doesn't matter how
good you are, how good your skills are, if you can't show up that day
(19:42):
and play. And he means physically. But I look at it as a mental performance
coach. I look at it from the mental side as well. It doesn't matter how
good you are or what, you know, if you can't show up on that
day and give your best, then nothing else
matters. So our job as parents, as coaches,
and then for our athletes and the athletes that will be listening is to figure
(20:03):
out, okay, what's my system? What's my
plan to show up on that day
and trust my training and trust my talent and trust my
teammates. And if
you, you're not going to pull everything from this podcast to be like, oh, this
is amazing, I need to do this, I'm gonna say it from A perspective
(20:25):
of when I was going to college showcases
as I was getting recruited, because back when I was recruited, it was a little
different. You didn't have this portal where you went to all the things.
Right. But just as
coaches and business teams and everything, you're going to hear one thing. And if it's
just, if you learn one thing and you take away one thing from an
(20:46):
episode, from a podcast, from a series, whatever that looks
like from one of our guest speakers, that is beneficial. So you, as
an athlete, too, need to think, if I can just take one thing and
apply it, I can't take 50. Because I will tell you firsthand, business
leaders struggle when they go to a conference and they're like, I need to apply
these 50 new processes. You're not going to do anything
(21:08):
effectively but take one thing and tweak your
performance, your mental aspect and how you're
approaching the game, the life, the sport, whatever that
is. That is what is key for this whole process, and that's what we're doing
this for. Yes. To get better
game changers. Right. How do we change
(21:30):
the players playing the game? How do
we change our approach so that we can
change the game? The
world, in all reality, right. That sport, I always, in my sport, in
my coaching philosophy, it says that sport is a
microcosm of the world. Everything that goes on
(21:51):
in sport goes on out here. And if we can
manage it in this little world, we're going to be a lot better off at
managing it in this big world. And I think that's what.
That's the real awesome part of sport. And
we sometimes, I think we get lost in that race to the top, as we
talked about at the. At the top of the hour, where, you know, all of
(22:12):
us start to feel like, do I need to have my kid do this? Do
I should eat? And this. We can step back and say, okay,
here's what's right for us. It may not be right for my
neighbor, but it's right for me. And what's right for your kids, Courtney,
is going to be different than what's right for Jensen. Yeah. And that's
okay. But that. But that's. But, you know, that's
(22:34):
what. Because every kid moves a little bit differently and every parent has
a different approach, and that's fine. We're not trying to make everybody
do one thing. This is a spattering of information that
is going to allow everyone who listens a way
to up their game one way or another.
That's the cool part to me. I agree.
(22:57):
And Honestly, the idea of champions are built through
dedication of the right mindset and it's just foundational. It's
let's what can we build upon from the last.
So I'm super excited about this whole journey, Jones.
And I think the value that we're going to bring parents
and, and coaches and some pretty cool guest speakers,
(23:21):
if I can say so myself, for what we talked about thus
far, I think it's going to be fun. I think if
there's anything that other audience members want to hear
too, of how do I. How do I help my kid through
X? I. I read someone in the process of
my Facebook rant where you and I connected is like, I want to teach. My
(23:42):
kids on my football team had to interview when they're
interviewed for the paper. Like, it's
simple things about how we can help our athletes
excel, be amazing champions. And it doesn't mean championships
is or champions are championships. It's the idea of how do we
be their champion and make them succeed. So hopefully
(24:05):
as you as a parent listen in, you have your kids listen in.
Um, it's not just going to be us ranting about why this is
important, but this is really foundationally where we wanted to start
and why this podcast is important and kind of how it came to existence.
Absolutely. And it's going to be a lot of fun. And the most exciting part,
I think, for both of us, Courtney, is our opportunity to learn
(24:28):
not only from our guests, but from our audience and
you know, and then hearing stories of how parents
use some of these tools. Maybe they already use them and they can help us
share their success stories. But then if they do
learn something and they use it, what those outcomes look
like. So I think that's going to be the fun of it is that we,
(24:49):
whenever we are in a community, if we're not learning from the people around
us, then we're wasting our time. We already know what we know. We need to
know what everybody else knows. And that's what I'm excited about.
I think it's going to be amazing if you don't, which I'm sure you
don't at this point in time. Our audience members, we are on YouTube,
we are on Instagram, we are on Facebook. We have an email that you can
(25:10):
email us with. Jones doesn't know all these things yet,
but she's going to be on them. And
honestly, we are going to have bite sized content too. This is going to be,
we've recorded for an hour today. This will be in two more bite sized
episodes and hopefully our goal is to drop weekly and
give you insights and as well as we're going to create shorts and
(25:32):
videos and snips out of this that your athlete is going to be able
to say okay, how do I how do I figure out more or what do
I learn more or let me hear more? So I think this will be
amazing and I hope you continue to
join us as we go through this journey to
empower your student athlete to be a game changer as
(25:52):
well. Thanks for
listening to this episode of Game Changers Athlete Edition. Tune in
next week. Remember, champions aren't born, they're
built. If you found today's episode valuable, share it with a
teammate or a coach. Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your
podcasts and follow us on social media for exclusive content and
(26:14):
daily motivation. Until next time, keep pushing your limits
and stay focused on becoming the game changer you're meant to be.
I'm seeing student athletes at the age of 12
need to take breaks because they're injured already.
And I think that's happening because us as parents don't know when to say,
okay, here's a down season or you know what? They're going from
basketball to, well, guess what? They still have to do lessons in the side. They
have to go here, they have to go there. They have to do this. Let's
(00:21):
take an honest look in the mirror to figure out why. Because we're not
teaching these good habits because we're just saying, hey, yeah, let's do
this, do more. We as a culture, and I say this from
experience, from my own perspective, we have this do more
mentality. Doing more equals more. It's quality versus
quantity. And we have to really teach our athletes and our
(00:43):
coaches and how we do things. It's the quality of your swings or
the amount of, not the amount of your swings or your
shots or whatever sport you're playing. And I think that's on us as parents and
athletes too. Teach that and understand the value.
Welcome to Game Changers Athlete Edition. I'm Courtney
Harmon, a former Division 1 softball pitcher turned high performance
(01:06):
business coach who knows what it takes to translate athletic
mindset into real world success. And I'm Julie Jones,
a Hall of Famer and former Division 1 head coach with more than 20 years
of experience turned mental performance coach. Together we bridge
the gap between elite athletics and and lifelong achievement, helping you
unlock your full potential on and off the field. This
(01:28):
podcast is your go to source for inspiration,
motivation, amazing guests and actionable insights to
help you elevate your game.
I want to get into the other half of this is the benefits
and you and I know the benefits and I think everybody knows that
there's benefits. But I want to talk benefits today versus
(01:50):
benefits long term. What you see from coaching athletes, what I
see from business. And I think it goes back to like the whole
Simon Sinek the the why but the why equals the
success. So you know,
obviously we talked about the success in business and how many
CEOs were, are, were previously sports,
(02:12):
you know, sport or athletes in general. But
maybe what are like the less obvious things. I can tell
you from my perspective, I
think this is like on a. I'm going to start foundationally of the
things that I think of as, as foundations for what is why
sports. I think my time management
(02:35):
as a human is so much better from doing
sports. Why? Because Julie Jones had me going to study
tables. I had pitching. I, I did not understand Management
of anything. And when I got to college, it was, it
was on my own, first off. Like, you know, mom and dad weren't there, minus
when I was homesick and they had to come take me to dinner the first
(02:56):
night or first week, every single night. But I
understood what it meant. Like, I'm probably that parent to my
children too. Don't forget, hey, what about this? But I want them to learn
these things on their own. And I think my time management overall has
gotten better because I, I realized I had to do my, my academics
because there was an expectation on our team or from you, that we had to
(03:19):
get certain grades. There was no mom and dad pushing me anymore. There was no.
It was on my accountability. I think that has made me
more of an amazing human being in business because of my time
management and my. And ultimately that comes from self
discipline. Yes. Yes. Do you remember
your senior year when you were doing your student teaching during the season?
(03:41):
Holy. Do I remember. Yes. And we practiced at 6:00 in
the morning so you and op could go teach right after that. And then we
would practice at 10 o'clock at night so that we could do it so you
could get home from school and do all your work and then come to practice.
Think about that. We had. We go at 10 o'clock at night and then we
would get up and go at 6 o'clock in the morning. If you think about
recovery, that was really bad. But we won. We won 35 or 38 games,
(04:04):
so I think it worked out. 38 games we won that year. I think it,
it worked out for us. But I think about the dedication
of that team because they knew it was best for the
team. So they're like, think about that. That alone, you know,
everyone was sacrificing for two people for two
people because we knew that that was what the team needed. So
(04:26):
that alone is a lesson. And I go back
to Cassie Gillespie, who played for us at Akan. Really,
really bright kid. I mean, really bright. She went on to
PA school and she came back after like
the first semester and she said, people, she said, coach, people are freaking
out. Like some people have quit before. Like
(04:49):
these tests. They're like, they, they can't manage their emotion. They
can't manage their focus. They can't. She goes, and
it's nothing to me. Yeah. She said,
I really, really believe it's because of the expectations of
our program and the push that, you know, we were
expected to do that has allowed me to sit back and say,
(05:12):
here's what I know here's what's important. Here's how I can work through
this. I can manage, you know, my practice leading up to this,
so that when it's performance time, I'm ready to go. And I, you know, and
I've heard that. So Jen Paul, who played for us at Cleveland State, was a
Federal Air Marshal. And they go through. They literally put
them in a dark room and beat the crap out of them. They can't see
(05:33):
where anything's coming, so they like, literally got. She got her nose laid. I mean,
like, she, like. They beat the living tar out of them, so they figure out
how to defend in certain situations. But what she told me was, she
says the workouts, the physical demands of
it was nothing for her. It was
hard. It wasn't something she had not experienced before.
(05:55):
So, you know, her like, you know, you think about what a Federal Air Marshal
does and how important that job is, and you think about the training that it
takes. Had. Had she not been pushed past her limits before,
who knows, you know, but time and time and time
again, you know, you know, Jackie Miller,
who was a chief medical officer of a
(06:17):
hospital in California, now has her own practice. You know, I remember her calling
me in at 4 o'clock in the morning on mild day,
right? And, you know, and crying. I thought somebody died.
I can't do this. I can't do this. And I literally said to her right
then and there, I said, if you can't do this, how in the world are
you going to get through medical school? Yeah. She's
(06:39):
like, well. And for those that are listening and don't understand, Julie Jones coaching,
um, we had to perform a red to run a mile.
And when we first came in, it was. It what was our time that we
had run it in, like 7, 7 45, I believe. 7 45. And
as a freshman, you come in, you're like, oh, shoot, this is easy.
But what you don't know is Julie matched your time the
(07:01):
next time from your previous time and always pushed you more. And
it was. We used to call it the Green Mile because at Cleveland State,
it was the track up above. And
honestly, looking back on that, that was probably one of the
things that built the most resistance of us as humans, of who we are
today, because it was mind over matter. Our legs could do
(07:24):
it. How many people vomited? I don't know.
Probably endless. But also in that
process of four different groups running four different miles, you were there the entire
time running with us, pushing us. And I look
back on that And I mean, granted, I wasn't beat in a dark room, but
those are the things that, like, you, you now as an adult, you get
(07:47):
a cancer diagnosis or your parents are going through something, or you have
difficults in your. In your marriage or your career, and it's like,
okay, it's not like, crap, what's next?
It's like, okay, how do we deal with this? Right. Because you learned that foundationally
from small things that were less significant when you were
younger, from that pressure. And let's talk about that right there. Your
(08:08):
sophomore year, your mother was diagnosed with cancer. And it was a real. The real
deal. Right. I mean, it was. That was a scary, scary, scary
time. I mean, I remember being afraid, and
I can only imagine how you felt. But I think about had you
not been on the team at that time and had you not had a
focus at that time, and really had she not had that excitement
(08:30):
at that time, I think it would have been a lot harder for all of
you. Yeah. You know, it's like, it's so, you know, the, the benefits
of sport. And I used to tell the kids when they got to college, at
the very beginning, the awesome part about being on a team is it
multiplies your joys and it spreads your
burdens out. Yeah. If you're in the right culture. Right. So, but, like,
(08:51):
the benefits are so great. Teen pregnancy goes
down for people who, for girls who win sport, who play sports.
Right. Drug use is less for all
people who play sport. Social
connection rises. And did you know that above
all things. Above all things, for
(09:14):
longevity, the most important variable is
relationships. Yeah. It is more important than not. Smoking is more
important than exercise. It is more important than anything. Relationship
has more to do with how long you're going to live than anything
else. So, like, just, you know, you think about
kids in that, what they're doing here. You can't do this when you have
(09:35):
to communicate. There's just so much that allows us to get out of
our comfort zone. Right. To test where our, where our abilities are.
And I think that's what we learn as college athletes. But. But you learn
it at every level that, you know, what I think I can
do and what I really can do are not the same. Yeah.
And sport allows you to get closer
(09:57):
to your ultimate limit. We don't even really
even. I think so many of us don't ever really even get there, but we
give ourselves a chance when we get. When we compete, when we learn
a new skill, something that's hard at first, and then all of a sudden
it's second nature. But I think what we're talking about
here is also understanding the concept of
(10:19):
goal setting and achievement. Like, we were, we were at church a few weeks ago
and we were talking about vision boards and whatever, like, you know,
goal setting. And my husband, who has never been
an athlete, I mean, he played little league and don't get me started, he thinks
he was a thing back when he was 10. But
we talked about it and he's like, I've. What's a vision board?
(10:41):
What, what? I, I honestly, I haven't set a goal for my, I've hit
my goal. I don't know. And it was, it was actually a really fun practice
for us. After we left church that day, we came home and it's like, okay,
let's talk about what we, what we want to do, what we want to do
for the month. Let's have a theme, what we want to do for the year,
what we want to do. And that's ever going to change, but
(11:01):
I don't think I would have ever had that. And I can kind of see
that from other people who don't have sport to drive them. What
is the possible? What do you want to achieve? What, what
is out of your reach? But you're like, hey, that's nothing.
And I, I see that from people that don't have
that and didn't have that background in business to be like,
(11:22):
what's driving you? Who, where are you trying to go? What are you trying to
accomplish? And, and who does that better? And honestly,
athletes, you know, they, they are, bar none, better
to see what they need to achieve and what the vision could be in front
of them. I often talk when I'm off, when I'm talking with
business, sales, whatever, whatever
(11:43):
corporate entities that I go and speak to. I always say that
business people face pressure. They face, they face
change, all these different things. And athletes do too. But athletes
train for them. Yeah. You know, and musicians train for them.
Let's, let's not, let's, you know, I mean, let's not pretend like we're the only
ones that have the corner on this, on this market. And a lot of people
(12:04):
who didn't play sports are amazing. I have, you know, I have a couple cousins
that are like, or my uncle who was, you
know, you know, has patents and everything else. Not really
an athlete, but amazing goal setter. So it's not as if everyone
else can't. But, no, the, but the truth of it
is, although, even though he wasn't really an athlete. He played catch with, you know,
(12:26):
my great grandpa every day and he watched sports like there that
the, the arena allows us the opportunity
to understand and build these systems and
then we can repeat them and extrapolate them out to every
other aspect of our life. And I think that's really the cool part of sport.
And I mean, you think about even, even down to the. I hear people
(12:48):
talk all the time about the time they spend with their kid in the
car on the way. You know, you've got a
captive audience there, you know, and sometimes my son's reading a
book at 7 o'clock in the morning when we're driving to a swim meet and
that's okay too, but we're there and he knows that I'm there
to, to talk or if he wants to. Right. But I think that, you
(13:09):
know, the, those relationships can
enhance so long as we play the role of
supporter and not constant critic.
Yeah. Right. So that's something we'll get into too, with, with guests. But I,
I, but I do think that there's just so much to it. You know, communities
love these activities. It's,
(13:30):
it brings people together. I mean, it brings people together from all walks
of life. I mean, you and I talk all the time and we don't agree
on a lot of things in a political realm, but this sport
thing unites us. Yep. It's where we
have grown and built this relationship that is stronger than all these other
other things. That's the cool part of what
(13:52):
teams do. Yeah. Right. And just because you're
on a team doesn't mean you're a great team player, but you get the opportunity
to get better at it. Yeah, absolutely. You sent me
something this morning and I would love to include this in show notes too.
It actually had some stats in it talking
about obviously mental, emotional, social
(14:13):
health. Yes. I thought this was interesting. 73% of parents
believe that sports benefits their child's mental health. And
they're absolutely right. It absolutely does.
Talk physical health. I'm not running miles
anymore, Julie. I, I can't say that I
am, but I, it, it plays a part of who I
(14:36):
am still today. And 88 of parents believe that sports benefits
their, their child's physical health. Sure.
There's so many stats that we don't think that
are lifelong for our athletes.
73% of adults who play sports participated when they were younger. This
means they built the creation of habit and physical
(14:57):
activity early. It is.
Oh, you disappeared. Are you there? I am, but I don't see
me. Hold on. 46.
Remove your pull out and pull back. Yeah. Pull up
your camera again. Hang on. Okay.
(15:18):
Okay. There you are. There we go. That was weird.
That was very weird. Not that I need to see you to talk to
you, but I think it's
interesting that, you know, we.
We talk about who we are as an adults and. Deal. 50%
of adults who participate in sports believe that participation in an
(15:40):
activity like this reduces stress and improves mental health.
We, as adults in society
have a hard time with confrontation and conflict. And I
honestly think, like, you and I do. Well, because even if we disagree on
some things, we can talk about anything. And. And I think that's where
sometimes we get away from things of being able to talk
(16:02):
civilly or rationally. And honestly, when you're on
a team, you're gonna not agree with everything. You're not
coach, you're not going to agree with your. Your teammates.
Heck, you're not going to agree with your parents when they give you criticism.
Right. But I think. I think all of this,
that plays into it. I would never change my path and
(16:25):
how I got to where I am today because it has made me who I
am, and I want that for my kids as well.
And, and, you know, you talk about your experience
in such wonderful ways, and for that I am so grateful.
But I mean, let's face it, it wasn't easy every single day for all
kinds of reasons. You know, it's hard as a freshman, your mother was
(16:48):
sick. You didn't always, you know, agree with me. You didn't always agree with
Kyler. You probably agree with me less than Kyler, but, I mean,
you know, but, you know, but the bottom line is that that's part of
growing and that stick to itiveness, of working through the
things that weren't easy has allowed
you to be a champion
(17:09):
in those situations in business. Yep. I mean, and
I see, you know, when I look back at all the athletes that I coach
and all the amazing things that they're doing, you know, I. I take
pride knowing that some of. Of the harder things that
have come in life afterwards. I mean, I've got people, I've
got two people that play for me that lost children. I mean, think about
(17:32):
this. They lost children and. But they
still are functioning and have gone on to do more.
And I look at them and I'm in awe of how they could even
be standing. Right. But part
of that is who they came to me as. And then part of that is
how their sporting experience in these
(17:54):
communities that they build around them have helped. And part of that building that
community is their ability to be a good
teammate in all aspects of life.
And, and I think that that is, you know, when you look at the, when
you step back and you take a 30, 000 foot view of what sport
does, I just want everyone to have the best
(18:16):
experience possible. And I think that's why this podcast is going to be so exciting,
is that we're going to, we're going to find new ways for
us to be better sport parents. Yeah. You and me.
Yep. And, you know, and you mentioned that you coached before you were a parent.
I coached. I was, I was a, a head coach for 17 years.
I'd coached 20 years before I had a child. Yeah. And, you know, and
(18:38):
I think I do look at coaching different because it's been my profession my whole
life. I've really never done anything else. But that doesn't mean I'm great at being
a sport parent.
Right. Because it's different when it's, it's
right there. Yeah. So, you know, the exciting part
is that there is. So when you look at these numbers and people
(19:00):
know that these numbers are, are spot on. The
80 of physical, you know, 80 believe that you're better physically.
70, almost 75 believe that you're better mentally and
emotionally. And you look at the cognitive benefits even.
Right. Even like Cassie taking her test. I mean, she's
smart, she, you know, she trained her brain. But
(19:21):
that, that ability to manage her emotion at that
time was what helped put her over the edge. Yep.
Because as Chris, our strength coach, Chris Lewandowski, who I
certain will have on as a guest. Yeah. Said the number one
rule in peak performance is to be available. That means it doesn't matter how
good you are, how good your skills are, if you can't show up that day
(19:42):
and play. And he means physically. But I look at it as a mental performance
coach. I look at it from the mental side as well. It doesn't matter how
good you are or what, you know, if you can't show up on that
day and give your best, then nothing else
matters. So our job as parents, as coaches,
and then for our athletes and the athletes that will be listening is to figure
(20:03):
out, okay, what's my system? What's my
plan to show up on that day
and trust my training and trust my talent and trust my
teammates. And if
you, you're not going to pull everything from this podcast to be like, oh, this
is amazing, I need to do this, I'm gonna say it from A perspective
(20:25):
of when I was going to college showcases
as I was getting recruited, because back when I was recruited, it was a little
different. You didn't have this portal where you went to all the things.
Right. But just as
coaches and business teams and everything, you're going to hear one thing. And if it's
just, if you learn one thing and you take away one thing from an
(20:46):
episode, from a podcast, from a series, whatever that looks
like from one of our guest speakers, that is beneficial. So you, as
an athlete, too, need to think, if I can just take one thing and
apply it, I can't take 50. Because I will tell you firsthand, business
leaders struggle when they go to a conference and they're like, I need to apply
these 50 new processes. You're not going to do anything
(21:08):
effectively but take one thing and tweak your
performance, your mental aspect and how you're
approaching the game, the life, the sport, whatever that
is. That is what is key for this whole process, and that's what we're doing
this for. Yes. To get better
game changers. Right. How do we change
(21:30):
the players playing the game? How do
we change our approach so that we can
change the game? The
world, in all reality, right. That sport, I always, in my sport, in
my coaching philosophy, it says that sport is a
microcosm of the world. Everything that goes on
(21:51):
in sport goes on out here. And if we can
manage it in this little world, we're going to be a lot better off at
managing it in this big world. And I think that's what.
That's the real awesome part of sport. And
we sometimes, I think we get lost in that race to the top, as we
talked about at the. At the top of the hour, where, you know, all of
(22:12):
us start to feel like, do I need to have my kid do this? Do
I should eat? And this. We can step back and say, okay,
here's what's right for us. It may not be right for my
neighbor, but it's right for me. And what's right for your kids, Courtney,
is going to be different than what's right for Jensen. Yeah. And that's
okay. But that. But that's. But, you know, that's
(22:34):
what. Because every kid moves a little bit differently and every parent has
a different approach, and that's fine. We're not trying to make everybody
do one thing. This is a spattering of information that
is going to allow everyone who listens a way
to up their game one way or another.
That's the cool part to me. I agree.
(22:57):
And Honestly, the idea of champions are built through
dedication of the right mindset and it's just foundational. It's
let's what can we build upon from the last.
So I'm super excited about this whole journey, Jones.
And I think the value that we're going to bring parents
and, and coaches and some pretty cool guest speakers,
(23:21):
if I can say so myself, for what we talked about thus
far, I think it's going to be fun. I think if
there's anything that other audience members want to hear
too, of how do I. How do I help my kid through
X? I. I read someone in the process of
my Facebook rant where you and I connected is like, I want to teach. My
(23:42):
kids on my football team had to interview when they're
interviewed for the paper. Like, it's
simple things about how we can help our athletes
excel, be amazing champions. And it doesn't mean championships
is or champions are championships. It's the idea of how do we
be their champion and make them succeed. So hopefully
(24:05):
as you as a parent listen in, you have your kids listen in.
Um, it's not just going to be us ranting about why this is
important, but this is really foundationally where we wanted to start
and why this podcast is important and kind of how it came to existence.
Absolutely. And it's going to be a lot of fun. And the most exciting part,
I think, for both of us, Courtney, is our opportunity to learn
(24:28):
not only from our guests, but from our audience and
you know, and then hearing stories of how parents
use some of these tools. Maybe they already use them and they can help us
share their success stories. But then if they do
learn something and they use it, what those outcomes look
like. So I think that's going to be the fun of it is that we,
(24:49):
whenever we are in a community, if we're not learning from the people around
us, then we're wasting our time. We already know what we know. We need to
know what everybody else knows. And that's what I'm excited about.
I think it's going to be amazing if you don't, which I'm sure you
don't at this point in time. Our audience members, we are on YouTube,
we are on Instagram, we are on Facebook. We have an email that you can
(25:10):
email us with. Jones doesn't know all these things yet,
but she's going to be on them. And
honestly, we are going to have bite sized content too. This is going to be,
we've recorded for an hour today. This will be in two more bite sized
episodes and hopefully our goal is to drop weekly and
give you insights and as well as we're going to create shorts and
(25:32):
videos and snips out of this that your athlete is going to be able
to say okay, how do I how do I figure out more or what do
I learn more or let me hear more? So I think this will be
amazing and I hope you continue to
join us as we go through this journey to
empower your student athlete to be a game changer as
(25:52):
well. Thanks for
listening to this episode of Game Changers Athlete Edition. Tune in
next week. Remember, champions aren't born, they're
built. If you found today's episode valuable, share it with a
teammate or a coach. Don't forget to subscribe wherever you get your
podcasts and follow us on social media for exclusive content and
(26:14):
daily motivation. Until next time, keep pushing your limits
and stay focused on becoming the game changer you're meant to be.
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