September 19, 2025 • 59 mins
Shea Emry shares his remarkable journey from being a two-time Grey Cup champion in the CFL to competing in World Long Drive Championships, hitting golf balls over 400 yards with a specialized 48-inch driver. His story demonstrates how elite athletes can successfully transition between sports, applying lessons from one competitive arena to another.
• Former CFL linebacker who retired in 2015 and discovered long drive golf in 2022
• Personal record of hitting a golf ball 429 yards using a driver with just 4.5 degrees loft
• Qualified for World Long Drive Championships where competitors regularly hit drives over 400 yards
• Applies mental preparation techniques from football to his golf game
• Credits his multi-sport background for ability to transition between athletic disciplines
• Emphasizes the importance of exposing children to multiple sports rather than early specialization
• Runs a "professional snowball making" business, creating snowball fight experiences for events
• Co-founded Sphere Guide, a platform connecting clients with specialized coaches
• Maintains the same competitive mindset in golf as he did in football, paying attention to details without overthinking
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, team?
Welcome back to the 266thepisode of the Athlete's Podcast
, today featuring Shea Emery.
He is creating world-classteams with Sphere Guide.
He is two-time Grey Cup champion, two-time voted nastiest player
in the CFL and also a worldlong drive athlete An ideal
individual to have here on theAthlete's Podcast, powered by
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(00:20):
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The benefits are insanecognitive and physical
performance.
This is the 266th episode ofthe Athletes Podcast today
featuring Shea Emery.
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
You're the most decorated racquetball player in
US history, world's strongestman racquetball player in US
history.
World's strongest man Fromchildhood passion to
professional athlete, eight-timeIronman champion.
So what was it like making yourdebut in the NHL?
What is your biggest piece ofadvice for the next generation
of athletes, from underdogs tonational champions?
This is the Athletes Podcast,where high-performance
(01:02):
individuals share their triumphs, defeats and life lessons to
educate, entertain and inspirethe next generation of athletes.
Here we go.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
I went to my first tournament July last year, yeah,
and it was in Toronto on theWorld Long Drive Tour.
And that's when I got kind ofexposed to how it all works
right and that's why I went.
We were already going to be outthere and then I kind of, you
know, outlined it to my wife andI said this is what I'm
(01:36):
thinking, this is what I want todo.
I mean, ideally, I'd love tomake it to the world
championships which are in, youknow, at atlanta in august.
And I just got to the pointwhere I was like, okay, and then
I did pretty well, I didn't, Ididn't qualify.
But then I got one of thosesponsorship exemption where my
buddy's like, hey, I have a, Ihave a qualifin, a qualification
(01:58):
, a qualification for the worldchampionships and I'd love to
give you an invite, I'm in.
So that's when I kind ofchanged my mindset, just like
that.
You got that, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
So I gotta ask if you're all Nike but rocking
Adidas shoes, what's going?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
on there.
Yeah, I just like these shoes.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Okay, because I have the same ones.
I have to ask.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Yeah, they're like wider.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
They're crazy comfy.
Yeah, crazy comfy.
I'm excited to get a couplerips in here.
I haven't been playing enoughgolf, but I've been watching you
.
That's more like it.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
There it is there you go, does it hit the house?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, we get to put it Over, oh monster, hey, that's
a good start.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Hey, that's a good start.
It's funny.
Like you know, I've beenplaying so much tournament golf
in the scrambles, which is kindof what I wanted to do Gives me
a chance to practice on course,and so every time I'm on the
course it's like I have to hit.
I'm not hitting my three-wood,which I would choose to hit on a
(03:10):
specific hole, they're like'rehitting the green, let's go,
yeah.
And so it's been fun to be ableto kind of really focus on shot
shapes with the long distancefor sure, typically I'm.
you know if I'm hitting myregular play driver, yeah, you
know, I'm like 330 to 350, youknow kind of 75 percent swing.
Just get it out there straight,yeah.
And now they're like no, no, no, why are you not swinging?
Why are you not trying?
I'm 40 almost, bro, I'm justtrying to keep it straight.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
So you get an extra hundred yards from your, or
maybe an extra 50 yards from theline.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Well, adrenaline's a hell of a drug.
Yeah Right, when you got otherguys and you're hitting 380.
Other guys are hitting 420 andright next to you, but I'm
batting about 200 right nowthat's okay, you got it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I'm gonna rip a couple here.
See, go for it.
And so what is this T function?
You got going in here anythingspecial?
No, okay, these are.
These are what you would use inhere.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Anything special here ?
No, okay, so these are what youwould use in competition, these
things, these T claws here Okay, so they can be put anywhere on
the deck and you can figure itout from there.
But yeah, you just kind offigure out the little
intricacies of how all the prosare doing it and they all come
up with a towel, their six tclaws with all of their t's
(04:28):
already put in it, so that one.
Because you only get twominutes and 30 seconds.
So when you're putting the tdown you're just like digging I
don't care if it went 20 yards,I just grab the next one, next
ball, and then you're ready togo okay, how long is this that
you've been in long drivespecifically now?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
we should do a better job introducing this as we
bring the lawnmower in.
Let me get one rip in herefirst.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yeah, so get in there and don't try and hit it hard.
That is my key is not hittingit hard.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
So you find you're not, you dial it back.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Well, did you ever do ?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
track and field.
I almost qualified forprovincials.
Okay, so track and field.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I qualified for provincials, okay.
So track and field I was atrack guy from from the get-go
okay track and field field event.
So you get javelin discus, longjump, triple jump, shot, punt,
yeah, you get three throws, youget six jumps or whatever it is,
yeah.
And so what you're reallytrying to do with your first
throw or your first jump is justget a good score right, right.
(05:27):
So you're going to go up there.
You get six balls, right,you're going to go up there.
You're going to try and hit agood one out there, 350, nice
and smooth, maybe 75 percent,yeah, so that you can swing for
it right, right.
And that's the best part,because I've done that my whole
life and I'm like, oh, oh, Itotally get this.
Just hit us in a smooth shot,yeah.
And then you can start to like,you know, maybe put a little
(05:48):
bit more break in your knee,yeah, you know a little bit more
angle, you know just a littlebit more effort.
Yeah, I hit that 30-yard 50field goal before the 50 exactly
yeah right and and so you know,when I was able to go there, I
had this guy that was runningall the online tournaments.
Yeah, he, you know, we roomedtogether at the tournament and
(06:10):
he was kind of like my mentorand his name is Mike Zuloff and
he's been on the tour for abouteight years and you know, a real
like steward for the sport,Okay, and he kind of just kind
of like showed me how it's doneand then he's like I don't know
(06:30):
how you got up there, so calm,so cool.
I was like man, we're justhitting golf balls.
No one's trying to hit me inthe head right now.
Hook and ladder, speaking ofwhich it's got to be.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, I mean from a, just purely from a ability to
focus on oneself versus the 11other guys on the field who are
trying to take your head off.
This has got to seem prettysimple in comparison.
Yeah, and I mean not todownplay what?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
but no long drive.
I came in last year when I camehere to do my prep for the
world championships.
I basically, like you know,just like I did in football, in
the locker room or in themeeting rooms, I like drew up my
grid, yeah, you know.
I said I had five poles and Isaid each pole had a one and a
two.
So I wanted to know if I wasgoing to hit, like a, you know,
(07:20):
one, two, three, four, five,like where I wanted to hit the
ball, yeah, and where the windwas coming from Right, and how
that was going to adjust myheight or my launch angle.
And just try to keep it supersimple, because there's so much
data in golf now and I'm likeA-gap guy.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I just got to go straight.
Yeah for sure.
Paralysis by analysis.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Speaking of straight.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Oh yeah, let's see it Nice.
There you go Right on, cue Doesit feel like you're like oh,
that one's over Do you ever feellike you are holding back.
Then, when you're playing anormal round, you're only giving
75%.
Oh, yeah, yeah, it's got toalways feel like you are holding
back.
Then, when you're playing anormal round, you're only giving
75%.
Yeah, it's got to always feellike that.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Especially if you're playing with a big driver like
this.
Yeah, that sounded good.
Ah, a little right, the cameradoesn't see the ball I've got to
warm up without the camerafirst.
There's no shot tracer.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah, where's Mac Boucher when you need him yeah,
this will be the 265th episodeof the athletes podcast.
Yeah, okay, and one of thethings that I was most excited
about specifically for thisepisode is the fact that you've
(08:41):
you're multi-sport athlete now Iam.
Yeah, I feel like even duringyou've talked about you would go
randomly off season, you'retraining guy like randy chevrier
comes to mind, who's anabsolute animal in the gym, you
guys 40 something or I don'tknow.
He might even be 50, I don'tknow I don't know if he'll like
just saying that it it's okay,the CFL does not get enough
(09:06):
credit for the athletes that areinvolved.
For sure, and I think one ofthe coolest parts here about
these conversations that we getto have, that I get to have on a
weekly basis, that we get topeel back layers of the onion of
an athlete the masculinityaround football sports.
How males are portrayed in golf.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Buddy so.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I'm going gonna get right to it, let's do it.
How do you get, how did I getinvolved in long drive?
Okay, so retired in 2015.
Yeah, post football, transitionsport.
You've had this conversation athousand times.
What do I'm doing next?
Right, so I'm living inwhistler.
Big guy was a track guy.
I was like, oh, I said bobsled.
I'm like, oh, I retired due toconcussions, I'm not going to go
(09:48):
do bobsled.
Right, I saw jesse lemston,who's now, I think, the director
of push, canada, yep, or sledpush or whatever it's called,
and and I said, okay, maybe I goin that direction and maybe
it's snowboard cross, maybe.
What can I put my body totowards?
Yeah, because I think I was 29,30.
(10:08):
At the time, I'd only brokenone bone in my body.
2011, right, yeah, yeah, 2015was my last year.
And yeah, 20, I can't rememberwhen it was to be honest with
you, but my it like took me solong to get to the point where,
like I owned a tennis club forfive years, I was like do I be a
become a pro pickleball player?
Yeah, what's?
What's the vibe here, shay.
And then you know, long storyshort, I'm sitting on the couch
(10:31):
one day and my wife got intobodybuilding and she's like
you're working out, you're superstrong, what are you doing with
your body?
Like, what are you pushingyourself towards?
Yeah, I'm on instagram and it'slike bryson dechhambeau and
Martin in 2022.
And it's just like straightbravado.
And I was like that's it,that's what I got to do.
And then my wife said youshould go do that.
(10:53):
And so I signed up for an indoortournament, simulator
tournament in Richmond, and Igot zero drives on the board.
I legitimately had to go grabmy clubs out of the snow at my
storage locker.
Like minus 30 drove down and Iwas just like okay, look, these
guys, these guys are hitting it350, 360 and no, no, disrespect.
(11:14):
I was like I'm way, I can.
I can freaking do this.
I'm way better than these guys.
I'm just that's my mindset.
Yeah, I'm the best.
Yeah, right, and naturally,naturally.
And then the second time I wentdown like a month later, I got
second place.
Then I went and came first andthen I went to an outdoor
tournament and won that.
Then I went to the westerncanadian like team canada
(11:36):
qualifiers and I hit 429.
I was like I'm ready, yeah,yeah and and yeah, like I said,
I was able to be tutored andmentored by my buddy, mike.
He sent me my first long driveclub and, yeah, the rest is kind
of like now it's time toactually commit to it, and last
year it was kind of like okay,I'm like toes in the water,
(11:56):
let's figure this out.
Once you saw the potentialCorrect.
And then this year I didn'tcompete on any world long drive,
tournament events, tour dates.
I just did a couple localqualifier things, yeah.
And and then, you know, I wasdealing with the tricep deal,
injury from the gym and likesomething was going on with my
pack and my neck.
(12:16):
Bunch of MRIs, you know,freaking almost 39 and I'm like
dead lifting 405 and just likegoing being a meathead right.
And and then, happenstance, Iposted something on instagram.
My buddy's like dude, you'relooking fast, do you want to go?
And I said 100, I want to go.
And so that was about a monthago and now we're just in full
(12:37):
prep mode, just you know,tapering my training and trying
to be fast and furious.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
So was it the competitive.
You said adrenaline's a crazydrug.
Yeah, from the beginning, wereyou competing with those guys?
Were you blowing them out ofthe water?
At the beginning?
Did you feel like youincrementally got better just as
the competition rose?
Yeah, how's that progress?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
been.
Yeah, so I definitely felt likeI had more in the tank.
Yeah, you know, you're learninglike I just got this wild like
stallion in my.
Tell me about it.
What is it?
It's so.
It's 48 inch shaft, okay, andit's four and a half degree loft
okay, so you can essentiallybring it down to two and a half
degrees.
Jacked up grip, jacked up grip.
You know, I'm probably, you know, I would say if I, if I, was
(13:20):
gonna really pursue this longterm.
You know, you know you got toget all the sponsors and all the
things, because it's expensiveFor sure, like tennis or golf or
any of those individual sportsthat you have to travel to go do
it.
And so, yeah, I, I basically,when I went to the first world
long drive tour date in Toronto,the I always call him the Phil
Jackson of golf or of long driveCause he's like coached eight
(13:44):
of the last 10 world champions,okay, and he's slanging these
clubs, and I was like, well,this is what these guys are
hitting.
Yeah, I need one and I I won750 bucks usd 750 bucks easy buy
.
So, yeah, and so you know, mostguys are using a little bit
flexier and I just wantedsomething I could try to control
, yeah, right off the bat.
And you know, I would say if Iwas going to do anything I
(14:06):
probably would have bought threeof them.
But again, I'm not going toinvest $2,000, $3,000 bucks when
I already did that to get there.
Yeah and yeah, just having funtrying to control it.
It's wild, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Four degrees doesn't give you a whole lot of room to
forgive, but but we got a littleshout out there yeah, what's
the sticker?
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Jeff Keenan passed away last year in the Avalanche.
You know kind of a legend inthe snowboard community and I
got the sticker at hiscelebration of life and I
figured what a better place toput it as a reminder to kind of
live your life.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Yeah, absolutely Keeping with you, yeah, yeah.
Now you get to shoot theseballs off into the sunset with
them Precisely, precis.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Yeah, now you get to shoot these balls off into the
sunset with them preciselyprecisely not a bad view to be
able to hit golf balls too.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, I'd say, between here, whistler, fairmont
could be worse, you know thatcould be worse favorite place
you've been able to travel towith sport?
I know montreal might be yourfavorite if you were having off
day.
But does that include?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
yeah, pre pre meeting my wife, montreal, was pretty
freaking awesome and evenafterwards it was pretty awesome
as well Food scene, party scene21 to 28,.
I was living there.
Favorite place that, I wouldsay the favorite place that
sports has taken me was when Iwas playing football at Eastern
Washington.
My first ever start as alinebacker, playing college
(15:24):
football, was against westvirginia, when they were ranked
number five in the nation withtwo heisman trophy candidates.
We lost 57 to 3, I think it was.
It's hard to remember because abit of a blur, bit of a blur,
and my I would say it was one ofthose like welcome to the
league moments where first drivea guy that's named owen schmidt
(15:46):
.
He played for the seahawks fora bunch of years.
You may have remembered him.
He like had, he like did thisthing where he hit his face with
his face mask and his blood wascoming down.
So he had seahawks fans thathad these like t-shirts that
said get schmidt faced and I didthat my first drive against him
.
He caught like a little you know, turned around, stiff-armed me
(16:07):
in the eye.
I was blind for five minutes.
It was like 35, 40 degreesHumidity was crazy In West
Virginia, 65,000 peoplescreaming, and then you know,
john Denver's, west Virginia orwhatever, it's country roads.
So at the end of the game thewhole stadium's just jacked up
screaming.
That's at the top of theirlungs and it gives me goosebumps
(16:27):
to this day.
Yeah, just thinking about thatmoment of being like, wow, this
was, this is quite an experienceand you know, from that point
forward I really learned thatyou can do anything regardless
of what you're going through inthat moment, and I was able to,
you know, catapult that into youknow a, you know successful
Canadian football league career.
(16:48):
And then, post football, I'vebeen, you know, shooting my gun
from the hip and kind of livingin the wild, wild west
entrepreneurship yeah, throwingaxes, throwing axes and
snowballs and golf balls and youknow, just providing value for,
for team building and corporateevents and mostly just trying
to provide some perspective inthe personal development world.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yeah and yeah, man, it's been, it's been a blessing
what's with the washington statelinebackers you, adam big hill,
had on the pod, yeah, yeahbiggie was still a baller I know
that guy's, he, I think hemight even be older than me, I
don't know but yeah, I had himon, he was episode 29 or
something.
Oh really.
And so back in the day, duringalmost pre-COVID times, when he
(17:31):
was with the Lions.
No, I grew up watching him playthe Lions, if you want to get
really into it, like him TravisLulee G Roy.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Simon.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Paul McCallum, all those guys but he this is when
he was with winnipeg, okay, andyeah, I mean he was a legend
growing up watching and he'sstill playing asleep.
That one's mind-boggling.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
But he he mentioned that he was washington as well,
and it's like small world thatyeah, he went to central, which
is where my dad went and playedfootball as well, and I mean it
is, and as you've had so many ofthese conversations with so
many accomplished athletes, it'slike it's just a platform for
you to.
You know, you've been able toendure and teach yourself how to
show up for your teammates orfor yourself if you're an
(18:11):
individual athlete, and thatjust teaches you so much about
yourself and what you're able to.
You know, push yourself throughjust with the right mindset.
And you know that's what youknow, my, I would say always,
like on Father's Day, I alwayscall, like all my old coaches,
because I'm like you guys werethe ones that raised me.
You know, my parents raised me,my aunts and uncles raised me,
(18:32):
but you know you spend so muchtime with these people.
They become a part of thefabric of who you are and, yeah,
and that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
That's cool.
Let's hit some more golf balls.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
But that's cool, let's hit some more golf balls.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Let's do it, let's do it, let's do it.
That's something that I'm goingto take with me, because I do
have, you know, coaches in mylife that were definitely
impactful 100%.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
You know they probably Shout out Todd Burnett.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Vancouver.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
College legend.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
BCC.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Yeah, something like that.
All right, let's see if Keep acouple straight, keep a couple
straight here, but that's no fun, right?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Do you prefer hitting a draw or a fade?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
I like hitting it right onto the green or a hook
that one's a good one too.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
What's your natural ball flight, my?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
natural ball flight, I would say is probably depends
on the club.
Oh, okay, with my driver Iwould say it's more of a fade
than a draw.
Okay, but I can control my drawbetter.
My fade is just kind of comesnaturally with my swing, yeah,
and then my the draw.
I'm like I'm like if I want tohit the draw and like I try and
hit the draw, then I'm hittingthe draw.
(19:39):
If I'm trying to hit a fade, Idon't.
I got no control.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, fair enough.
Not as much control, all right,let's see how this ball goes.
Yeah, don't I got no control.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, fair enough,not as much control with all
right.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Let's see how this ball goes yeah, don't hit it
hard, just hit it, it was astraight.
So you know, like I said, I'vebeen in the team building space
for like a lot last decade, yeah, and there's a couple of like
coaching cues.
When I'm coaching ax throwingor anything, yeah, and I'm like
(20:07):
my biggest thing if it's a bigcorporate event, there's 150
people standing in front of meand I'm doing a big you know do
or whatever.
And I'm like is anybody golfhere?
Right, it's a key.
I'm basically just getting tothe story of me telling them I
can, I can smash balls, yeah.
But I said, does anyone anyonegolf here?
And they're like, yeah, and Iwas like what happens when you
try and hit a golf ball as hardas you can at the driving range
(20:28):
around the course?
What happens?
They're like it goes in thewoods.
I'm like it's the same thinghere.
You're trying to hit thebullseye and you're trying to
throw it as hard as you can.
What's happening to it?
It's going into the ground,yeah, so just take it easy and
see what happens there you go.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
What's your swing speed coming in at?
Speaker 3 (20:53):
I think I'm probably in like the 135, 40, somewhere
in there, but my ball speed PRis 221.
221?
, 221.
And my distance PR from lastyear was 429.
But at the World ChampionshipsI hit 397.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Okay, how good did that?
The?
Speaker 3 (21:16):
winning set.
So the winning?
Basically it's like round-robinplay.
So you're playing, you'rehitting with four other guys,
you're hitting six balls and youget points for whatever right,
mm-hmm, and then you movethrough to the match play round,
which is then, you know, oneversus one, and so on the last
set, the world champion hit 413,and the guy who came in second,
(21:38):
who's now ranked number one,jack Smith, he hit 412.
So you know you're right in themix.
So you know you're right.
But it's consistency.
Yeah, right, you got to show up, hit a straight ball,
consistently, and that's goingto give you a better chance to
move through the rounds.
But yeah, I mean, last year Ihit 412 in one of my round robin
(22:00):
sets and the guy hit 416 and Icame second and that that's what
knocked me out, right.
So I just love that.
It's like it was.
You know, it's four guys, justour size dudes.
Yeah, all standing on the t-boxlooking at each other like hey,
like if, mono, mono two guysmove through the top, the bottom
two, they're going home.
(22:20):
Yeah, change your flights,you're headed back, yeah.
And so, like you talked aboutthe bravado and the machismo of,
like you know, athletics, whenI saw that you know bryson and
martin, you know screaming andyou know getting hyped up, and I
was like okay, like I like thatthat's kind of cool, yeah.
And then, you know, I was ableto have a moment like that when
(22:44):
I was in Toronto at the tourstop there and I made it to the
amateur finals and it's like meand one other dude shout out to
Tanner Pipes, he's a I thinkhe's like number six on the
amateur tour, right now what?
a great name.
I know I told him that, yeah,great name for it.
And you know I was able toscream at a couple of golf balls
(23:04):
.
I was like, okay, this is I,like this.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, yeah, okay, how good did that 429 feel.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Oh my, I think I hit 420 right before it.
So I was like, as expected,yeah, yeah, okay, let's hit a
little fade for you here,cutting Something like that.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah, felt good, eh.
Yeah, you got to get the samesoftware that these guys are
using to track the golf ball,hey, or is it capable of
tracking yours?
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
A little draw.
Maybe he's feeling nice now.
Oh yeah, how uh.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Good thing you get six balls.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, you gotta live with that, though when you're
swinging that.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
But everyone does it, I'm not alone.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Yeah, exactly what are your cues?
If you were like three cuesthat keep your hands high or you
get into a certain point,what's?
Speaker 3 (24:01):
your I would say takeaway is key.
There we go.
Takeaway is key.
Okay, standing tall for me,yeah, you know, not trying to be
too off balance, yeah, soreally standing like strong over
the ball because your sizeyou're probably size similar,
but you're not like tall.
But I'm saying I'm saying I'mprobably like I'm same weight
media like heavier guy.
(24:21):
I'm probably one of the heavierguys, yeah, but I mean there's
some guys that are out there 280, yeah, 6263, yeah.
Then there's, you know, worldchampion sean johnson.
Last year, six, seven, lookslike randy johnson.
Yeah, looks like he might evenbe his kid, I don't know.
Got a bit of elasticity there,okay, and but you know, the jack
ronnie shin, all these guys,they're the same.
(24:43):
You know, they're probably 5,10, 5, 9, but they're just
college golfers that can juststrike it and stand tall over
the Right, right.
But it's consistency, yeah, allright, there you go.
(25:04):
It's down there.
It's not on the grid, though.
Yeah, how tight's that grid?
Well, the first one I went to,I think it was about 37 yards at
400.
What so?
Not too wide, yeah, that's, andit kind of rolled out to the
left, so everyone was kind ofaiming to land on the right or
(25:26):
in the middle so they gave it achance to stay in, yeah.
And then at the WorldChampionships it was kind of a
funky grid because you werehitting back on a par 5 from the
clubhouse, oh.
And you know, it kind of wentup grid because you're hitting
back on a par five from theclubhouse, oh, and you know like
kind of went up to the greenand yeah, it was just like I
mean it was.
It was a huge, huge fairway,but then once you got past like
(25:48):
380 and same thing, it was right, there was a, there was water
on the left, so that's mind fuckright there yeah for sure, all
right, come on, buddy.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Slow and steady.
Nice, what was that cue there?
Slow landing, slow and steady,slow and steady.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
You know my takeaway is before you showed up.
I couldn't hit a ball straight.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
No, were you in your head a bit, were you nervous.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You're my lucky charm .
Speaker 1 (26:19):
There we go, there we go, that's better.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Well, like I said, I've got to take my own advice.
You try and hit it as hard asyou can.
That's crazy.
You're hitting it into thewoods, right oh no, crazy.
(26:48):
Hitting it into the woods right, oh no, yeah.
So I think the best part, thereassuring part, when I showed
up last year was that you knowagain, you're shanking every
eight out of every 10 ballsright.
Okay, that's like defeating it'snot landing on the grid, yeah,
right, it's like it's in thewoods, yeah, but everyone was
doing that, right, you know theguy that I'm like, oh, I know
that I've been watching this guyon instagram for a year.
Yeah, and he's shanking theballs.
Yeah, right, he's hooking theball.
(27:08):
He's, you know, hitting it intothe net over there, yeah, and
so that gave me a lot ofconfidence to be able to, like,
step up, be on the deck, hit,hit some balls that land in.
And you know, know that I'mjust there to kind of figure
everyone out and like, what'sgoing on with this league?
How does this work?
Who do I need to know?
What do I need to know?
Yeah, and and then, you know,not take it so seriously that
(27:32):
I'm in my head all the time, andso that's what my coach was
saying.
He was like, like I said, he'slike, your composure, you know,
was the reason why I gave youthe invite.
It's not because you werehitting balls farther than
everyone else or you're moreconsistent, it's because I got
up there, I took a deep breath,I wasn't nervous, I had all my
(27:55):
stuff organized, I just watched,and then by the second day, I
was like, okay, I know exactlywhat I need to do when I'm up
there.
Right, I gotta take my freakingyou know 60s every time I hit
the ball.
Okay, every time I hit the ball, I'm up here, okay, I would
grab the next ball, I would teeit up, and then I would come
back and go through my sequenceevery single time.
Yeah, you know so that I couldReally just not take it.
(28:18):
You know, not try, hit it toohard and that sort of thing.
Just, you know, do my littlething and boom.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
I'm hitting the grid.
Yeah yeah for you.
How good does it feel to justget back competing again?
Speaker 3 (28:42):
well, you know, you have.
You have some as a young buckfrom 2022, I'm in the gray cup
yeah, two-time gray cup champtwo-time gray cup champ.
We went three years in a row,yeah, and so, like that was my
expectation was to be, you know,on the biggest stage and being
(29:05):
able to after a decade of beingoff and just raising a family
and trying to, you know, make anincome and that sort of thing
having an outlet where thatisn't the gym.
You know that I'm like, okay,and I've always been able to
smash balls, yeah, right, I mean, when I was four, when I was
seven years old, I was trying to.
My first golf lesson was rightover there at that hut, yeah,
(29:30):
and I've always been chasing mydad's balls, right, I've always,
you know.
And my dad, he's had two kneesurgeries, two ACL surgeries on
both his knees, so he neverreally used his legs when he was
swinging.
It was always like a supercontrolled, like upper body
swing.
And then when I got to, you know, 12, 13, 14, I'm using my
(29:51):
grandma's clubs that are superwhippy and they're just.
I couldn't control them.
And then I started using mygrandma's clubs that are super
whippy and they're just fine, Icouldn't control them, yeah.
And then I started using mydad's stiff driver and I started
smashing it past them, and soI've always been competing on
the golf course, but having funat the same time, yeah, and the
ability to get out here, youknow, first couple tries at a
(30:12):
tournament and compete with, youknow, some of the best guys in
the world and watch them perform, but also be able to perform at
that level, was, oh, so muchjuice, right.
It made me think like okay, likeryan riesbeck he's I'm gonna
say he's probably 52, 53, he'son the tour right now and I'm
(30:32):
like okay, like maybe I can dothis for four, five, six years,
yeah, you know.
And like golf is blowing upright now and why isn't long
drive in on lift?
Can we get paid 250 milliondollars please?
Yeah, that'd be nice.
Golf balls are expensive, thesedays.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, yeah, that would certainly be nice.
Could definitely use a coupleextra million man.
It's not often I feel very,very incapable of competing with
(31:10):
someone else on the range there, but yeah, when I hit one good.
I'm like it's at least 30, 40,50, 60 yards short.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I'm wearing yours.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Yeah, how much?
What's the difference?
What do we got here?
Oh, there you go, I might missthe golf ball here we'll switch
you go.
Okay, what are we working withon a shafts?
Holy dina, okay, all right,alright, folks.
Oh yeah, that one's.
(31:42):
Oh my god, yeah, that's fourdegrees, yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
But I would say, maybe put it a little bit
forward in your stance a littlebit, a little bit more.
On the upswing.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Are you going like right off the toe?
Yep, yep.
Chris McClure, I gotta give hima shout out.
He's my golf coach when I go totoronto he teaches me up.
I didn't see it.
You, that's right, but that'scrazy that is so long.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Wow, this is.
I've been hitting tailor-madefor the last decade, so this is
nice, feels nice, just the clubhead.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Wow, paradigm, long drive, there you go.
Yeah, that one's might be ontop of that range.
Wow, that one was piped Niceball.
Do you find that, despiteadding a bit more distance, this
can add a bit more?
Maybe mis-accuracy?
(32:45):
Yeah, ah Right, it's kind ofwild, that's crazy, though I
feel like that ball is going toroll a mile afterwards too.
Yeah, wow, keep going.
I need one more.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
It he's got to hit one straight to hit one that's
got a bit of.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
I just need to turn.
I got to be a little bit morepatient.
You had the right cues.
I gotta just get a bit more.
There we go, there we go Crazythough You've got like another
40, 50 yards on that every time.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
That's insane.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
I like that club, though it's not bad hey.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Oh, okay, wow, that's an humbling.
See, shay, I got to tell youone of the best parts about this
.
I didn't realize it at the timewhen I started the podcast, but
I get to do stuff like this aspart of the job quote, unquote
and it not only is it humbling,it's rewarding, because you get
to see how people operate.
Like you said there, it is geezso similar ball shape.
(33:53):
Just an extra 70 yards onwhatever I just did.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Top of the hill over there.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Wow, so that's probably 350, 60, somewhere in
there.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
I don't know.
These are probably taking offat least 10, 15%, eh the range
balls, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yeah, but you know, when you catch it and everyone's
like, oh, that's a.
And you're like, oh my god,I've never hit a ball like that,
yeah, it's awesome.
So I mean to your questionaround like that, the
competitive piece earlier todayI was like man, like I feel like
I'm 20.
Yeah, you know my, I don't.
My knees don't hurt, my backdoesn't hurt, my elbows don't
(34:32):
hurt, wrist don't hurt, neckdoesn't hurt.
I'm like you know I can do this.
Yeah, right, if I was in pain,be a different story.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
So how does your training now look compared to as
a 25 year old in the cfl?
Like give us through a day inlife, yeah, or like a week.
So volume.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
I'm not doing as much running.
You might tell it's a little,I'm a little thicker on their
edges here, but yeah.
So right now I would say I'mabout two 50, two 55, somewhere
in there.
And I would say, ideally I'dlove to be around two 35, two 40
, cause it's a speed sport.
Yeah, but you know, having themass behind it all helps, yeah.
(35:08):
And so let's say my traininghas changed, because I'm not
doing as much like on field work, and then you don't get the the
build up to training camp whereyou're going to lose 15 pounds
in training camp and eat itright back.
But I'm just trying to be thesame sort of explosive Playing
linebacker.
I'm in that same position whereI want to be able to move quick
(35:30):
with my hips and do all thedynamic movements.
But I would say I'm in the gym,I'm riding my you know, mountain
biking with my kids, nice, andjust trying to, just trying to
stay healthy.
Yeah, yoga, lots of stretching,you know, trying to stay off
the off the stuff, you know.
And uh, and you know just likebuilding up this year will be
(35:55):
different than last year,because last year, you know,
didn't stop drinking, was stillsmoking a little bit of weed.
And so, you know, this year I'mjust taking a little bit more
of a holistic, healthy approachtowards trying to show up and be
explosive and be, you know, mybest self, right, right, and you
know, as we all do every singleday, being able to have a coach
(36:16):
as my wife, yeah, she's like Ithink we are.
We already know what the whatthe prep needs to be changed or
how the prep needs to be changed, right, and, and I knew that
internally it's justaccountability partner, when
you're not getting paid to do it, you're just like, hey, I just
want to, I'm just here to havefun.
You know it changes.
When you're like I actuallywant to go win, yeah, and like,
of course, last year, I'm likeI'm a competitor, yeah, I want
(36:38):
to win.
Dress for the job you want, Iwent there billion dollar.
My wife and I would say it'sbillion dollar brand.
I was like applying for allthese big jobs and she's like.
I walked out of the house oneday and she looked at me.
She's like this is not abillion dollar brand and I was
like, okay, okay, okay, okay.
So we, we have this.
You know this adage where we'rejust like that's how you got to
treat yourself Right.
(36:59):
Would you hire yourself rightnow, right, and I'm like, yeah,
right, so being able to havethose conversations as a
accountability partner, as amirror, and, you know, at the
same time, be able to, you know,continue to have those same
conversations that I had when Iwas playing.
It's like, hey, did you doenough film?
Were you in the tub?
(37:20):
Did you lift the way that youneeded to lift this week?
Have you done as much work asyou can before stepping onto the
field and playing free?
If you're not prepared and youdidn't get as much sleep and you
ate the wrong food, and youknow how you're going to feel,
you're going to feel lethargic,you're not going to be as fast
because you're going to beplaying, you're going to be
thinking too much, yeah, and soyou know that paying attention
(37:42):
to the details in preparationand not and not overthinking it
and in action, it's like kind ofa good balance between you know
, soak it all in, right, yeah,so that when you show up to work
, you're like, no, I got this, Iknow exactly what's happening
here.
I got all my sticky tape and myextra gloves and my towels and
my ice cold water and it's allin the right place.
(38:04):
And you know I've been herebefore.
Yeah, right, so just do that.
And you know, put it all outthere, yeah, and so that's,
that's really been my, my.
My biggest learning is that I'mjust grateful that I'm able to,
you know, still have a goodphysical specimen to be able to
go and compete.
Yeah, and you know, just havingthe opportunity to go and do
that is, you know, to like to goto the world championships,
(38:28):
yeah it's a pretty big deal, I'mtelling people like what you're
, like what of course you wouldbe.
What are you talking about?
Speaker 1 (38:34):
yeah, what else would you be doing?
Yeah, it's not like you've beennot playing Canadian football
for 10 years, likeprofessionally playing one sport
, being able to take a decadeoff.
Like you said, raise a familyand then transition into another
professional sport ispractically unheard of.
Yeah, it does happen.
People do it.
(38:55):
Are there specific things thatyou think you did growing up ie
playing multiple sports thatallowed you to do that?
Was it like a knowledge aroundnutrition from a young age?
Were there any parents that hadan involvement around like your
work ethic mindset?
Speaker 3 (39:11):
like yeah, that's what I'm, my mom and dad were,
are both still coaches, okay.
So my mom has been a trackvolleyball coach in the
vancouver area for four decades.
She's retired.
And then all the kids were likeyou're driving us nuts, you got
to go back and continuecoaching.
She's gifted at, you know,building programs from the
(39:32):
ground up and bringing them toyou know, provincial
championship status and and so,and then with my dad, I just got
that insane like just do thework, show up, do the work and,
you know, let everything sortitself out.
So I was very gifted in thatsense where in my home I had two
coaches to, you know, reflecton my work, ethic, right, and
(39:59):
just, you know, to be able toshow me the way.
And you know, I think right nowmy like I was a track guy, so
flexibility, I was flexible,played basketball, so I could,
you know.
And then I moved into footballand soccer and I did all the
sports Right, like you know,like all the best athletes in
the.
And I did all the sports right,like you know, like all the
best athletes in the worldthat's what I'm trying to preach
(40:19):
, though.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Right, that's I literally.
So the goal for the podcastwhen I started educate,
entertain and inspire the nextgeneration of athletes like.
I grew up playing hockey,basketball, golf, baseball,
soccer, you name it.
I played it, not at theprofessional level, but I felt
like I could chop it up enoughand I wanted to be like hey,
this is what you need to do,because this specialization from
(40:40):
the age of six is not workingand kids are getting hurt.
Yeah and oh, by the way, whenthey turn 23 and they know
nothing other than one sport,they become a one-dimensional
individual, precisely, and we'renot preparing them for life
after sport, which is the exactopposite of thing that sport is
supposed to be doing, correct?
Speaker 3 (40:58):
yeah so that's, that's a beautiful mission.
I think there's many people thatyou know are how old are you?
28, 28?
You know many people and youknow that have kind of like,
done their youth amateur sportand now understand what it takes
to reach the next level.
Because you know, we've beenlistening to Wayne Gretzky tell
(41:19):
us this for 40 years hey, Iplayed all the sports right and
I was lucky enough that I justplayed all the sports as it was.
And you know my coach, my dad,you know he was an Olympic
trials decathlete.
So I was doing the decathlon ingrade three.
Yeah, I was doing every weekendin the summer.
I was doing 11, 12 events.
You were Damien Warner, I wasdoing it all, yep.
(41:42):
And so you know, when it came tomy professional football career
, I was the backup long snapper,I was the backup kicker, I was
a backup punter and I was astarting middle linebacker and I
could run down any specialteams, because that's how I
earned my way there.
Yeah, and you know being ableto make plays in open space,
because you know that's how.
What I did with soccer I was,like, you know, playing defense
(42:04):
and basketball.
It's the same thing.
Yeah, it's like, oh, I justgotta keep this guy.
He's not getting, yeah, rightand.
And so that's how I'm raisingmy kids and we're really
entering that age of team sport.
You know, my son's 10,daughter's 9, and so this year
has been the year of exposure.
So it's like pivotal bigconcerts, big sporting events,
like going to all, like going toall the cfl games in vancouver
(42:27):
we can, nice.
We went to one in toronto lastyear.
We went to the harry jerometrack meet, yeah, where my
daughter was like I love this,I'm doing triple jumping and
hurdles.
I'm like, yes, nice, you know,and just being able to like show
them the way, yeah, not tomention, we live in Whistler and
they're mountain biking andskiing and they're happy being
at the top of a peak and, youknow, doing that sort of thing.
(42:48):
And so, just again, trustingthe process for us is really the
key here.
Yeah, for us is really the keyhere, yeah, and I think that the
mission that you're after isreally, you know, there's so
many, like I said, so many folksthat are just really wanting
their kids to do many thingsbecause of that one quote that
wayne gretzky said, or or whathave you, and you know that that
specialization.
Like, hey, I know how to, I can, I can, I got great wrist shots
(43:10):
right but like, can you catch a?
Can you catch a pass with yourstick over your shoulder?
Because you played football inhigh school as well, or
basketball, right, and that'swhere it's, like you know, I
don't know about Conor Bernardif he played high school
basketball or whatever, causehe's just, he's just amazing.
But, like you know, if you'retrying to make it, you're going
(43:33):
to be really in this transitionpiece where this period of
transition sorry, where thesecoaches and the administrators
are seeing the feedback of thespecialization and like the over
coaching and over parenting ofthe coach you know that part,
(43:57):
that part and where you knowpeople are really wanting to
give them a positive sportexperience so that maybe they
come and give back to sport inthe future, and yeah, and so
it's an exciting time yeah,we'll have to introduce your
daughter to Miriam Abdul Rashid.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
She's the 12th ranked hurdler in the world oh, yes,
canadian.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
Yeah, I saw that podcast on your page there yeah,
we represent her for Cook Starkmanagement.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
okay, so we have a few dozen PWHL players,
olympians et cetera, and soMiriam will be one.
We'll have to introduce her toher.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
And she's in Toronto.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
She is in Toronto, okay, so next time we'll make
that happen, and Miriam wouldlove to give her some lessons.
Yeah, she's going to teach mehow to do it too, but I feel
like your daughter will pick ittough, I know she's gonna have
to compete with her grandma, mydaughter's grandma, my mom.
Speaker 3 (44:35):
Who's like she?
That's, that's how she sheliterally brought the hurdles
home and put them in thebackyard, and she's like this is
how it works.
And so, from a young age, I wasjust always doing it.
But, you know, being able tohave the connections that sport
provides me, to connect with you, to connect, it's like that's
what it's all about, right, andand you know, I think, as a
canadian, I'm it's.
(44:55):
You know, we're in such anamazing like part of the
canadian, of canadian sporthistory, with so much success
look at a summer pinnacle,pinnacle, pinnacle right
everything you name the sport.
Right you got guys you knowwhether it's soccer or swimming
or or basketball, or baseball orfootball.
Right, you got guys that are atthe top and I and I'm like it's
(45:17):
just exciting to see thathappen, because you know I got a
son and I got a daughter and Iwant them to push sport and I
and I'm like it's just excitingto see that happen because you
know I got a son and I got adaughter and I want them to push
sport and I want them to pusharts and I want them to push, I
want them to do it all yeah, itwas the first time ever, the mvp
of every sport of the big foursports.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
Yeah, it's freddie freeman.
They were all canadian.
Freddie freeman, who would nhlwould have beenay.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Yeah and nhl.
I don't who was it.
I can't remember, I'm not Idon't edit that in.
Speaker 1 (45:44):
I don't have a tv at home?
Really no okay, so this bringsup a good like segment.
It's like what fun facts dopeople not know about shay emory
?
Like okay, you know, theyassume football player, they
don't assume that you're givinga TED Talk at Loyola.
Yeah, yeah, I got one.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
Okay, so what do people not know about Shea?
Emery?
Well, I am a professionalsnowball maker.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (46:10):
What goes into professional snowball making?
Well, I've made me and my teammy team and I have made over
250,000 real snowballs.
Because when I started my axethrowing company and I did that
for about four or five years Iwas like how do I like diversify
my offerings as a businessowner here?
And so I created a snowballfight experience, so essentially
like paintball, but withsnowballs, yeah.
And so like next week I'mactually at a golf tournament
(46:31):
for this snowboard youthsnowboard fundraiser called the
chill foundation, okay, and soI'm going to be on a t-box.
People come up.
I'm like, hey, my name is shayand I'm going to tell this story
.
You're going to throw asnowball at this target over
here.
If you hit a bullseye, I get agolf ball hit for you.
I'm going to the worldchampionships.
So I actually am a professionalsnowball maker very cool, very
(46:56):
cool.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
And so these snowballs are, of what size?
Speaker 3 (47:01):
they're typical standard baseball snowballs.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Okay, yeah, and so I imagine you looking like Elf,
the scene from Elf where he'sgot a bunch of snowballs.
Speaker 3 (47:09):
I don't dress up in spandex to do it, even though
these are pretty tight.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
I feel like that's a miss on your part.
I feel like you got to makethat happen.
Maybe that adds next week towhat you put out on the table.
Yeah, and I feel like, hey, ifyou're going for virality with
your content listen listen,that's.
Speaker 3 (47:25):
That's a pretty unique opportunity I've heard
that, I've heard that up thatcommentary before and I've never
done it.
But uh, for my, my son'sbirthday party two years ago, we
did like a basically like angrybirds, minecraft themed
snowball fight, so like my son's, wearing a helmet and a mask
and he's running the gauntletand all the kids are like
(47:46):
slingshotting snowballs at himand he's just like I mean, I'm
just having fun, man, you know.
Yeah, that's the way it shouldbe.
Speaking of which?
Speaker 1 (48:02):
what's ideal launch angle do you have?
Speaker 3 (48:04):
like, I'm sure you have those ideal numbers in mind
I mean, it really just dependson, I guess, what you're going
for.
It's on what the what the windis doing.
Yeah right, what the what thegrid's like, if it's?
You know if it's on a soccerpitch, or you know if it's a
hard.
You know if it's a hard, uhfairway that I'm hitting onto
and it's on a soccer pitch, oryou know if it's a hard.
You know if it's a hard, uhfairway that I'm hitting onto
and it's got a good roll to ityeah, it depends on if you're
(48:27):
hitting a draw, fade, whateverthe difference.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
That's a.
Yeah, I guess there's.
I like to think of it as you'vealmost eliminated all the
variables in with golf, in thesense that you're just using one
club, but it's still Okay.
So why'd you open the stancesignificantly more there?
That one's ridiculous oh.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
Right on the deck.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
It's a good thing that guy left.
That was there earlier.
Speaker 3 (48:57):
His white Tundra would have been smashed.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
Yeah.
What was the question Openstance there been smashed.
Yeah, what was the question?
Open stance there versus closed.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
What was the difference you've done?
You've manipulated a coupledifferent there, I've seen.
Yeah, with that one I wastrying to open it up just a
little bit, oh there you go.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
It's so crazy, though , because I'm still gonna be so
short, so bunch.
Speaker 3 (49:18):
It's.
You know, you're what.
What are you at right now,loft-wise.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
Yeah, nine and a half .
Yeah, nine and a half.
Yeah, it's like disadvantage.
Yeah, I know, but I'm acompetitor, shay, come on, I'm
going to try and hit down onthat golf ball.
There you go, just like.
Speaker 3 (49:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:37):
Turned my three iron into a one iron.
Speaker 3 (49:39):
Yeah, turned my three iron into a one iron, yeah, but
you know I'm learning all thisstuff right, I haven't been
spending too much time on thegolf course the last couple of
years.
I really had I had.
You know, I'm like a grown upwith golfing parents,
grandparents on both sides.
Like I said, my grandfather wasfriends with the owner of this
(50:01):
course and we were around golf,yeah, and you know any golf, any
garage that I would go into,whether it was my grandparents
in washington state or incalifornia and palm springs, or
here in in west van or my house,there was golf clubs like
galore, yeah.
And so I, you know, I got I gota great touch when I'm on the
(50:24):
course and I can smash the ballbecause I'm genetically gifted
being a big dude, right, and so,yeah, like I was just like so
grateful to have that experiencegrowing up, where now it's like
I'm just learning the data ofthe game.
Okay, I'm like one of theseguys.
(50:44):
There's a wind coming fromright, I don't have a, I don't
have a range finder, I, you knowlike I I roll up to in my golf
cart, that's like at least one,that's 145.
Speaker 1 (50:55):
And they're like, oh, it's 146, i'm'm like, yeah,
okay, that yard was not going tomake a difference for me, but
hey, I think there's a level ofthat being a benefit when you're
not thinking about the game toomuch.
Speaker 3 (51:10):
Well, like I said, pay attention to the details
that you can, but don'toverthink it.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
You see that one lost it.
Yeah, all right, let's sit downon this fucking wall there we
are.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
But you know, I had, uh, like I said, I had, you know
, a very generous individualcoach who tutored me into the
game last year and showed me theway.
Speaker 1 (51:44):
See, this is the beautiful part about the fact
that I'm building a studio, too,in Langley.
Oh you are?
Yeah, I'll just be able to getpeople in person.
Like, the Jeep is phenomenal tobe able to travel to people,
get them in person, but there'salso something about sitting
down, I think it's.
I'm gonna probably incorporatesome type of like every period
or some type of quarter segmentyou know where we drive, pick
(52:05):
the guest up, we do a littlelift, we do their sport lift,
run shoot baby exactly, you'refamiliar with cam haynes, you
know the vibes, but I don't wantto be as consistent as lift run
shoot will say it'll be a lift,yeah, and then whatever their
(52:27):
sport is, lift sport, pod kindof vibe, I guess would be the
best way to describe it.
Better, nope, no, better, nope,no.
I was actually so thrilled thatwe were on the range instead of
playing, because I tend to hitit better on the range than I do
on the course.
(52:48):
Oh Got over it, those I just dofor the clips that one was low
enough where I think the cameragot that one.
Those ones are just for theclips.
Speaker 3 (52:58):
Let's see A couple of stingers here, just like that.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
Yo, yeah, I actually finished my swing.
See, it's great.
Speaker 3 (53:15):
That was your driver of the day right there.
But and so you're building astudio.
You've got six years under yourbelt.
The how are you going todifferentiate yourself from
everything else that's out thereon the market when it comes to
podcast vlogging?
(53:36):
Right, you're in the mix.
You're on all the platforms.
You know I see it, I watch.
You know my wife bugs me.
She's like you're on all theplatforms.
You know I see it, I watch, I'mon.
You know my wife bugs me.
She's like you're on your phonetoo much.
I'm paying attention, I gottapay attention to what's
happening and and so like, yeah,what do you?
What's your next step?
Speaker 1 (53:51):
I mean the.
What you got to lean to isultimately being you right and
the differentiating factor aboutthe athletes podcast is that
I'm hosting it and I get to chatwith folks like yourself.
I think that's called fatigueand we get to do stuff like this
.
There's a lot of just golfvloggers out there, a lot of
(54:16):
just hockey, golf or hockeyvloggers out there.
That's the one, yeah, so Iopened up stats as soon as I'm
hooking too much is that onelanding on that might land on?
no, a little short, too muchspin yeah, I I haven't
necessarily been able to lean inas much to that aspect of like.
(54:38):
Like let's go on the footballfield and you take me through
what training camp looked likefor a day, or if it's on the
range, or if it's finley knoxolympic swimmer, like yeah let's
go in the pool.
I'm gonna look like a fool, butyeah it's.
I think I want to make surethat that next generation of
athletes knows like, hey, thisguy, who theoretically did not
(55:02):
have any athletic background, isable to go and hit golf balls
with a world-long driver, isable to bench press with the
world's strongest man, yeah,play pickleball with the world's
best pickleball player, likethose are kind of things that
who's the world's bestpickleball player?
Speaker 3 (55:17):
Ben Johns, ben Johns, eh.
Speaker 1 (55:19):
Yeah, oh, that one was high.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
I played in like a celebrity pickleball tournament
a couple months ago and when westarted the racket club in
Whistler we had 30 members.
Speaker 1 (55:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (55:35):
And then by the end of it, when I left my tenure
there, we had 700.
And I would say 80% of themwere pickleball players because
we ran all these camps.
Steve Deacon I think he's top50.
He's 50 as well.
I got to partner with him forour charity tournament.
I'm playing with Steve Deacon.
I'm like, oh my God, this is somuch fun.
It's such a great sport.
Speaker 1 (55:57):
Yeah, I love it.
I just had April Hutchinson onoh right, great sport.
Yeah, yeah, it's I love.
I just had, uh, aprilhutchinson on his uh oh right
after you'll, you know, thenshe's getting into pickleball as
well.
Yeah, I think that's the sportof the future for sure, because
everyone can play it.
Yeah, I like she could probablykick my ass you know, my
grandma could kick my butt ifshe plays it.
Well enough, right, like, if Igo into aggressive.
That I love that sport.
(56:18):
But that's, uh, to answer yourquestion, I think the way plus,
I've only been doing it at like,you know it's a, it's still the
passion project.
Yeah, I haven't been able tolean into it fully, david my
wife is.
Speaker 3 (56:37):
She was the founder of a place called blow blow dry
bar.
Do you know, blow?
No, you're not.
You're not getting your hairdone anyways.
So dev was is a successfulentrepreneur from by the age of
21, and so we got asked she wasgetting asked so much to do so
many, so many mentorshipcoaching calls, yeah.
(56:58):
And so that's how spherestarted was because she's like
how do I simplify this wholeexperience of being a coach from
remote?
Speaker 2 (57:06):
locations and yeah and time.
Speaker 3 (57:13):
Okay, this is the last ball of the day, best ball
okay, last ball, best ball gottahit the roof ah, that's all
right, that was still ripped.
Speaker 1 (57:24):
That's a good one to end on.
What have you, hey, thank youappreciate your time.
Like seriously, no, this islike.
So tell me more about sphere,what's like?
Speaker 3 (57:32):
because I felt like it's not just for hairdressers,
if I'm mistaken so the wholething is that when she because
of her, how young she was, youknow, when you're 24, 25 and
everyone's now starting theirpodcast or their studio or their
gym or their whatever you knowdev was getting asked to do so
(57:54):
much guidance and coaching, andso what she did is she basically
made it simpler for the coachto facilitate the coaching
through the application that wecreated, which is called sphere,
and now we have 400 coachesworldwide that use our app, like
uber drivers use uber so theyconnect with our clients and
we're able to make a largerimpact without jeopardizing all
(58:17):
of our time to be able to do itdang, so it's like a marketplace
and platform okay
Speaker 1 (58:23):
a curated marketplace of like best in class coaches
good for you proper language andverbiage yeah, wow, okay, well,
we'll have to uh figure out away that we can either direct
people there or, yeah, 100, no,that's.
Uh.
This is part of why we do thesethings, you know.
Beautiful, thank you.
Oh, that's the roof.
(58:43):
Are you happy with your lastball, babe?
Nope, that's the roof ball,though, oh, if it hangs on,
catch a piece Before I let yougo.
Biggest piece of advice for thenext generation of athletes if
you were to leave it here today,what would it be?
Speaker 3 (58:59):
Pay attention to the details, but don't over.
What's up, team?
Welcome back to the 266thepisode of the Athlete's Podcast
, today featuring Shea Emery.
He is creating world-classteams with Sphere Guide.
He is two-time Grey Cup champion, two-time voted nastiest player
in the CFL and also a worldlong drive athlete An ideal
individual to have here on theAthlete's Podcast, powered by
Perfect Sports Supplements.
(00:20):
If you use the code AP15, youcan save 15% on products like
the best coffee crunch bar onthe market creatine that
everyone should be taking,whether you're 18 or 80.
The benefits are insanecognitive and physical
performance.
This is the 266th episode ofthe Athletes Podcast today
featuring Shea Emery.
Here we go.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
You're the most decorated racquetball player in
US history, world's strongestman racquetball player in US
history.
World's strongest man Fromchildhood passion to
professional athlete, eight-timeIronman champion.
So what was it like making yourdebut in the NHL?
What is your biggest piece ofadvice for the next generation
of athletes, from underdogs tonational champions?
This is the Athletes Podcast,where high-performance
(01:02):
individuals share their triumphs, defeats and life lessons to
educate, entertain and inspirethe next generation of athletes.
Here we go.
Speaker 3 (01:12):
I went to my first tournament July last year, yeah,
and it was in Toronto on theWorld Long Drive Tour.
And that's when I got kind ofexposed to how it all works
right and that's why I went.
We were already going to be outthere and then I kind of, you
know, outlined it to my wife andI said this is what I'm
(01:36):
thinking, this is what I want todo.
I mean, ideally, I'd love tomake it to the world
championships which are in, youknow, at atlanta in august.
And I just got to the pointwhere I was like, okay, and then
I did pretty well, I didn't, Ididn't qualify.
But then I got one of thosesponsorship exemption where my
buddy's like, hey, I have a, Ihave a qualifin, a qualification
(01:58):
, a qualification for the worldchampionships and I'd love to
give you an invite, I'm in.
So that's when I kind ofchanged my mindset, just like
that.
You got that, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
So I gotta ask if you're all Nike but rocking
Adidas shoes, what's going?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
on there.
Yeah, I just like these shoes.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Okay, because I have the same ones.
I have to ask.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
Yeah, they're like wider.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
They're crazy comfy.
Yeah, crazy comfy.
I'm excited to get a couplerips in here.
I haven't been playing enoughgolf, but I've been watching you
.
That's more like it.
Speaker 3 (02:30):
There it is there you go, does it hit the house?
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Yeah, we get to put it Over, oh monster, hey, that's
a good start.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
Hey, that's a good start.
It's funny.
Like you know, I've beenplaying so much tournament golf
in the scrambles, which is kindof what I wanted to do Gives me
a chance to practice on course,and so every time I'm on the
course it's like I have to hit.
I'm not hitting my three-wood,which I would choose to hit on a
(03:10):
specific hole, they're like'rehitting the green, let's go,
yeah.
And so it's been fun to be ableto kind of really focus on shot
shapes with the long distancefor sure, typically I'm.
you know if I'm hitting myregular play driver, yeah, you
know, I'm like 330 to 350, youknow kind of 75 percent swing.
Just get it out there straight,yeah.
And now they're like no, no, no, why are you not swinging?
Why are you not trying?
I'm 40 almost, bro, I'm justtrying to keep it straight.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
So you get an extra hundred yards from your, or
maybe an extra 50 yards from theline.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
Well, adrenaline's a hell of a drug.
Yeah Right, when you got otherguys and you're hitting 380.
Other guys are hitting 420 andright next to you, but I'm
batting about 200 right nowthat's okay, you got it.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
I'm gonna rip a couple here.
See, go for it.
And so what is this T function?
You got going in here anythingspecial?
No, okay, these are.
These are what you would use inhere.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Anything special here ?
No, okay, so these are what youwould use in competition, these
things, these T claws here Okay, so they can be put anywhere on
the deck and you can figure itout from there.
But yeah, you just kind offigure out the little
intricacies of how all the prosare doing it and they all come
up with a towel, their six tclaws with all of their t's
(04:28):
already put in it, so that one.
Because you only get twominutes and 30 seconds.
So when you're putting the tdown you're just like digging I
don't care if it went 20 yards,I just grab the next one, next
ball, and then you're ready togo okay, how long is this that
you've been in long drivespecifically now?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
we should do a better job introducing this as we
bring the lawnmower in.
Let me get one rip in herefirst.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Yeah, so get in there and don't try and hit it hard.
That is my key is not hittingit hard.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
So you find you're not, you dial it back.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Well, did you ever do ?
Speaker 1 (05:01):
track and field.
I almost qualified forprovincials.
Okay, so track and field.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
I qualified for provincials, okay.
So track and field I was atrack guy from from the get-go
okay track and field field event.
So you get javelin discus, longjump, triple jump, shot, punt,
yeah, you get three throws, youget six jumps or whatever it is,
yeah.
And so what you're reallytrying to do with your first
throw or your first jump is justget a good score right, right.
(05:27):
So you're going to go up there.
You get six balls, right,you're going to go up there.
You're going to try and hit agood one out there, 350, nice
and smooth, maybe 75 percent,yeah, so that you can swing for
it right, right.
And that's the best part,because I've done that my whole
life and I'm like, oh, oh, Itotally get this.
Just hit us in a smooth shot,yeah.
And then you can start to like,you know, maybe put a little
(05:48):
bit more break in your knee,yeah, you know a little bit more
angle, you know just a littlebit more effort.
Yeah, I hit that 30-yard 50field goal before the 50 exactly
yeah right and and so you know,when I was able to go there, I
had this guy that was runningall the online tournaments.
Yeah, he, you know, we roomedtogether at the tournament and
(06:10):
he was kind of like my mentorand his name is Mike Zuloff and
he's been on the tour for abouteight years and you know, a real
like steward for the sport,Okay, and he kind of just kind
of like showed me how it's doneand then he's like I don't know
(06:30):
how you got up there, so calm,so cool.
I was like man, we're justhitting golf balls.
No one's trying to hit me inthe head right now.
Hook and ladder, speaking ofwhich it's got to be.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
Yeah, I mean from a, just purely from a ability to
focus on oneself versus the 11other guys on the field who are
trying to take your head off.
This has got to seem prettysimple in comparison.
Yeah, and I mean not todownplay what?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
but no long drive.
I came in last year when I camehere to do my prep for the
world championships.
I basically, like you know,just like I did in football, in
the locker room or in themeeting rooms, I like drew up my
grid, yeah, you know.
I said I had five poles and Isaid each pole had a one and a
two.
So I wanted to know if I wasgoing to hit, like a, you know,
(07:20):
one, two, three, four, five,like where I wanted to hit the
ball, yeah, and where the windwas coming from Right, and how
that was going to adjust myheight or my launch angle.
And just try to keep it supersimple, because there's so much
data in golf now and I'm likeA-gap guy.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
I just got to go straight.
Yeah for sure.
Paralysis by analysis.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
Speaking of straight.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Oh yeah, let's see it Nice.
There you go Right on, cue Doesit feel like you're like oh,
that one's over Do you ever feellike you are holding back.
Then, when you're playing anormal round, you're only giving
75%.
Oh, yeah, yeah, it's got toalways feel like you are holding
back.
Then, when you're playing anormal round, you're only giving
75%.
Yeah, it's got to always feellike that.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Especially if you're playing with a big driver like
this.
Yeah, that sounded good.
Ah, a little right, the cameradoesn't see the ball I've got to
warm up without the camerafirst.
There's no shot tracer.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Yeah, where's Mac Boucher when you need him yeah,
this will be the 265th episodeof the athletes podcast.
Yeah, okay, and one of thethings that I was most excited
about specifically for thisepisode is the fact that you've
(08:41):
you're multi-sport athlete now Iam.
Yeah, I feel like even duringyou've talked about you would go
randomly off season, you'retraining guy like randy chevrier
comes to mind, who's anabsolute animal in the gym, you
guys 40 something or I don'tknow.
He might even be 50, I don'tknow I don't know if he'll like
just saying that it it's okay,the CFL does not get enough
(09:06):
credit for the athletes that areinvolved.
For sure, and I think one ofthe coolest parts here about
these conversations that we getto have, that I get to have on a
weekly basis, that we get topeel back layers of the onion of
an athlete the masculinityaround football sports.
How males are portrayed in golf.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Buddy so.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I'm going gonna get right to it, let's do it.
How do you get, how did I getinvolved in long drive?
Okay, so retired in 2015.
Yeah, post football, transitionsport.
You've had this conversation athousand times.
What do I'm doing next?
Right, so I'm living inwhistler.
Big guy was a track guy.
I was like, oh, I said bobsled.
I'm like, oh, I retired due toconcussions, I'm not going to go
(09:48):
do bobsled.
Right, I saw jesse lemston,who's now, I think, the director
of push, canada, yep, or sledpush or whatever it's called,
and and I said, okay, maybe I goin that direction and maybe
it's snowboard cross, maybe.
What can I put my body totowards?
Yeah, because I think I was 29,30.
(10:08):
At the time, I'd only brokenone bone in my body.
2011, right, yeah, yeah, 2015was my last year.
And yeah, 20, I can't rememberwhen it was to be honest with
you, but my it like took me solong to get to the point where,
like I owned a tennis club forfive years, I was like do I be a
become a pro pickleball player?
Yeah, what's?
What's the vibe here, shay.
And then you know, long storyshort, I'm sitting on the couch
(10:31):
one day and my wife got intobodybuilding and she's like
you're working out, you're superstrong, what are you doing with
your body?
Like, what are you pushingyourself towards?
Yeah, I'm on instagram and it'slike bryson dechhambeau and
Martin in 2022.
And it's just like straightbravado.
And I was like that's it,that's what I got to do.
And then my wife said youshould go do that.
(10:53):
And so I signed up for an indoortournament, simulator
tournament in Richmond, and Igot zero drives on the board.
I legitimately had to go grabmy clubs out of the snow at my
storage locker.
Like minus 30 drove down and Iwas just like okay, look, these
guys, these guys are hitting it350, 360 and no, no, disrespect.
(11:14):
I was like I'm way, I can.
I can freaking do this.
I'm way better than these guys.
I'm just that's my mindset.
Yeah, I'm the best.
Yeah, right, and naturally,naturally.
And then the second time I wentdown like a month later, I got
second place.
Then I went and came first andthen I went to an outdoor
tournament and won that.
Then I went to the westerncanadian like team canada
(11:36):
qualifiers and I hit 429.
I was like I'm ready, yeah,yeah and and yeah, like I said,
I was able to be tutored andmentored by my buddy, mike.
He sent me my first long driveclub and, yeah, the rest is kind
of like now it's time toactually commit to it, and last
year it was kind of like okay,I'm like toes in the water,
(11:56):
let's figure this out.
Once you saw the potentialCorrect.
And then this year I didn'tcompete on any world long drive,
tournament events, tour dates.
I just did a couple localqualifier things, yeah.
And and then, you know, I wasdealing with the tricep deal,
injury from the gym and likesomething was going on with my
pack and my neck.
(12:16):
Bunch of MRIs, you know,freaking almost 39 and I'm like
dead lifting 405 and just likegoing being a meathead right.
And and then, happenstance, Iposted something on instagram.
My buddy's like dude, you'relooking fast, do you want to go?
And I said 100, I want to go.
And so that was about a monthago and now we're just in full
(12:37):
prep mode, just you know,tapering my training and trying
to be fast and furious.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
So was it the competitive.
You said adrenaline's a crazydrug.
Yeah, from the beginning, wereyou competing with those guys?
Were you blowing them out ofthe water?
At the beginning?
Did you feel like youincrementally got better just as
the competition rose?
Yeah, how's that progress?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
been.
Yeah, so I definitely felt likeI had more in the tank.
Yeah, you know, you're learninglike I just got this wild like
stallion in my.
Tell me about it.
What is it?
It's so.
It's 48 inch shaft, okay, andit's four and a half degree loft
okay, so you can essentiallybring it down to two and a half
degrees.
Jacked up grip, jacked up grip.
You know, I'm probably, you know, I would say if I, if I, was
(13:20):
gonna really pursue this longterm.
You know, you know you got toget all the sponsors and all the
things, because it's expensiveFor sure, like tennis or golf or
any of those individual sportsthat you have to travel to go do
it.
And so, yeah, I, I basically,when I went to the first world
long drive tour date in Toronto,the I always call him the Phil
Jackson of golf or of long driveCause he's like coached eight
(13:44):
of the last 10 world champions,okay, and he's slanging these
clubs, and I was like, well,this is what these guys are
hitting.
Yeah, I need one and I I won750 bucks usd 750 bucks easy buy
.
So, yeah, and so you know, mostguys are using a little bit
flexier and I just wantedsomething I could try to control
, yeah, right off the bat.
And you know, I would say if Iwas going to do anything I
(14:06):
probably would have bought threeof them.
But again, I'm not going toinvest $2,000, $3,000 bucks when
I already did that to get there.
Yeah and yeah, just having funtrying to control it.
It's wild, that's for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Four degrees doesn't give you a whole lot of room to
forgive, but but we got a littleshout out there yeah, what's
the sticker?
Speaker 3 (14:22):
Jeff Keenan passed away last year in the Avalanche.
You know kind of a legend inthe snowboard community and I
got the sticker at hiscelebration of life and I
figured what a better place toput it as a reminder to kind of
live your life.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Yeah, absolutely Keeping with you, yeah, yeah.
Now you get to shoot theseballs off into the sunset with
them Precisely, precis.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Yeah, now you get to shoot these balls off into the
sunset with them preciselyprecisely not a bad view to be
able to hit golf balls too.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Yeah, I'd say, between here, whistler, fairmont
could be worse, you know thatcould be worse favorite place
you've been able to travel towith sport?
I know montreal might be yourfavorite if you were having off
day.
But does that include?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
yeah, pre pre meeting my wife, montreal, was pretty
freaking awesome and evenafterwards it was pretty awesome
as well Food scene, party scene21 to 28,.
I was living there.
Favorite place that, I wouldsay the favorite place that
sports has taken me was when Iwas playing football at Eastern
Washington.
My first ever start as alinebacker, playing college
(15:24):
football, was against westvirginia, when they were ranked
number five in the nation withtwo heisman trophy candidates.
We lost 57 to 3, I think it was.
It's hard to remember because abit of a blur, bit of a blur,
and my I would say it was one ofthose like welcome to the
league moments where first drivea guy that's named owen schmidt
(15:46):
.
He played for the seahawks fora bunch of years.
You may have remembered him.
He like had, he like did thisthing where he hit his face with
his face mask and his blood wascoming down.
So he had seahawks fans thathad these like t-shirts that
said get schmidt faced and I didthat my first drive against him
.
He caught like a little you know, turned around, stiff-armed me
(16:07):
in the eye.
I was blind for five minutes.
It was like 35, 40 degreesHumidity was crazy In West
Virginia, 65,000 peoplescreaming, and then you know,
john Denver's, west Virginia orwhatever, it's country roads.
So at the end of the game thewhole stadium's just jacked up
screaming.
That's at the top of theirlungs and it gives me goosebumps
(16:27):
to this day.
Yeah, just thinking about thatmoment of being like, wow, this
was, this is quite an experienceand you know, from that point
forward I really learned thatyou can do anything regardless
of what you're going through inthat moment, and I was able to,
you know, catapult that into youknow a, you know successful
Canadian football league career.
(16:48):
And then, post football, I'vebeen, you know, shooting my gun
from the hip and kind of livingin the wild, wild west
entrepreneurship yeah, throwingaxes, throwing axes and
snowballs and golf balls and youknow, just providing value for,
for team building and corporateevents and mostly just trying
to provide some perspective inthe personal development world.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
Yeah and yeah, man, it's been, it's been a blessing
what's with the washington statelinebackers you, adam big hill,
had on the pod, yeah, yeahbiggie was still a baller I know
that guy's, he, I think hemight even be older than me, I
don't know but yeah, I had himon, he was episode 29 or
something.
Oh really.
And so back in the day, duringalmost pre-COVID times, when he
(17:31):
was with the Lions.
No, I grew up watching him playthe Lions, if you want to get
really into it, like him TravisLulee G Roy.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Simon.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
Paul McCallum, all those guys but he this is when
he was with winnipeg, okay, andyeah, I mean he was a legend
growing up watching and he'sstill playing asleep.
That one's mind-boggling.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
But he he mentioned that he was washington as well,
and it's like small world thatyeah, he went to central, which
is where my dad went and playedfootball as well, and I mean it
is, and as you've had so many ofthese conversations with so
many accomplished athletes, it'slike it's just a platform for
you to.
You know, you've been able toendure and teach yourself how to
show up for your teammates orfor yourself if you're an
(18:11):
individual athlete, and thatjust teaches you so much about
yourself and what you're able to.
You know, push yourself throughjust with the right mindset.
And you know that's what youknow, my, I would say always,
like on Father's Day, I alwayscall, like all my old coaches,
because I'm like you guys werethe ones that raised me.
You know, my parents raised me,my aunts and uncles raised me,
(18:32):
but you know you spend so muchtime with these people.
They become a part of thefabric of who you are and, yeah,
and that's what it's all about.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
That's cool.
Let's hit some more golf balls.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
But that's cool, let's hit some more golf balls.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Let's do it, let's do it, let's do it.
That's something that I'm goingto take with me, because I do
have, you know, coaches in mylife that were definitely
impactful 100%.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
You know they probably Shout out Todd Burnett.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Vancouver.
Speaker 3 (18:52):
College legend.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
BCC.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Yeah, something like that.
All right, let's see if Keep acouple straight, keep a couple
straight here, but that's no fun, right?
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Do you prefer hitting a draw or a fade?
Speaker 3 (19:08):
I like hitting it right onto the green or a hook
that one's a good one too.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
What's your natural ball flight, my?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
natural ball flight, I would say is probably depends
on the club.
Oh, okay, with my driver Iwould say it's more of a fade
than a draw.
Okay, but I can control my drawbetter.
My fade is just kind of comesnaturally with my swing, yeah,
and then my the draw.
I'm like I'm like if I want tohit the draw and like I try and
hit the draw, then I'm hittingthe draw.
(19:39):
If I'm trying to hit a fade, Idon't.
I got no control.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, fair enough.
Not as much control, all right,let's see how this ball goes.
Yeah, don't I got no control.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, fair enough,not as much control with all
right.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
Let's see how this ball goes yeah, don't hit it
hard, just hit it, it was astraight.
So you know, like I said, I'vebeen in the team building space
for like a lot last decade, yeah, and there's a couple of like
coaching cues.
When I'm coaching ax throwingor anything, yeah, and I'm like
(20:07):
my biggest thing if it's a bigcorporate event, there's 150
people standing in front of meand I'm doing a big you know do
or whatever.
And I'm like is anybody golfhere?
Right, it's a key.
I'm basically just getting tothe story of me telling them I
can, I can smash balls, yeah.
But I said, does anyone anyonegolf here?
And they're like, yeah, and Iwas like what happens when you
try and hit a golf ball as hardas you can at the driving range
(20:28):
around the course?
What happens?
They're like it goes in thewoods.
I'm like it's the same thinghere.
You're trying to hit thebullseye and you're trying to
throw it as hard as you can.
What's happening to it?
It's going into the ground,yeah, so just take it easy and
see what happens there you go.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
What's your swing speed coming in at?
Speaker 3 (20:53):
I think I'm probably in like the 135, 40, somewhere
in there, but my ball speed PRis 221.
221?
, 221.
And my distance PR from lastyear was 429.
But at the World ChampionshipsI hit 397.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
Okay, how good did that?
The?
Speaker 3 (21:16):
winning set.
So the winning?
Basically it's like round-robinplay.
So you're playing, you'rehitting with four other guys,
you're hitting six balls and youget points for whatever right,
mm-hmm, and then you movethrough to the match play round,
which is then, you know, oneversus one, and so on the last
set, the world champion hit 413,and the guy who came in second,
(21:38):
who's now ranked number one,jack Smith, he hit 412.
So you know you're right in themix.
So you know you're right.
But it's consistency.
Yeah, right, you got to show up, hit a straight ball,
consistently, and that's goingto give you a better chance to
move through the rounds.
But yeah, I mean, last year Ihit 412 in one of my round robin
(22:00):
sets and the guy hit 416 and Icame second and that that's what
knocked me out, right.
So I just love that.
It's like it was.
You know, it's four guys, justour size dudes.
Yeah, all standing on the t-boxlooking at each other like hey,
like if, mono, mono two guysmove through the top, the bottom
two, they're going home.
(22:20):
Yeah, change your flights,you're headed back, yeah.
And so, like you talked aboutthe bravado and the machismo of,
like you know, athletics, whenI saw that you know bryson and
martin, you know screaming andyou know getting hyped up, and I
was like okay, like I like thatthat's kind of cool, yeah.
And then, you know, I was ableto have a moment like that when
(22:44):
I was in Toronto at the tourstop there and I made it to the
amateur finals and it's like meand one other dude shout out to
Tanner Pipes, he's a I thinkhe's like number six on the
amateur tour, right now what?
a great name.
I know I told him that, yeah,great name for it.
And you know I was able toscream at a couple of golf balls
(23:04):
.
I was like, okay, this is I,like this.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Yeah, yeah, okay, how good did that 429 feel.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Oh my, I think I hit 420 right before it.
So I was like, as expected,yeah, yeah, okay, let's hit a
little fade for you here,cutting Something like that.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah, felt good, eh.
Yeah, you got to get the samesoftware that these guys are
using to track the golf ball,hey, or is it capable of
tracking yours?
Speaker 3 (23:38):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
A little draw.
Maybe he's feeling nice now.
Oh yeah, how uh.
Speaker 3 (23:50):
Good thing you get six balls.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, you gotta live with that, though when you're
swinging that.
Speaker 3 (23:54):
But everyone does it, I'm not alone.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Yeah, exactly what are your cues?
If you were like three cuesthat keep your hands high or you
get into a certain point,what's?
Speaker 3 (24:01):
your I would say takeaway is key.
There we go.
Takeaway is key.
Okay, standing tall for me,yeah, you know, not trying to be
too off balance, yeah, soreally standing like strong over
the ball because your sizeyou're probably size similar,
but you're not like tall.
But I'm saying I'm saying I'mprobably like I'm same weight
media like heavier guy.
(24:21):
I'm probably one of the heavierguys, yeah, but I mean there's
some guys that are out there 280, yeah, 6263, yeah.
Then there's, you know, worldchampion sean johnson.
Last year, six, seven, lookslike randy johnson.
Yeah, looks like he might evenbe his kid, I don't know.
Got a bit of elasticity there,okay, and but you know, the jack
ronnie shin, all these guys,they're the same.
(24:43):
You know, they're probably 5,10, 5, 9, but they're just
college golfers that can juststrike it and stand tall over
the Right, right.
But it's consistency, yeah, allright, there you go.
(25:04):
It's down there.
It's not on the grid, though.
Yeah, how tight's that grid?
Well, the first one I went to,I think it was about 37 yards at
400.
What so?
Not too wide, yeah, that's, andit kind of rolled out to the
left, so everyone was kind ofaiming to land on the right or
(25:26):
in the middle so they gave it achance to stay in, yeah.
And then at the WorldChampionships it was kind of a
funky grid because you werehitting back on a par 5 from the
clubhouse, oh.
And you know, it kind of wentup grid because you're hitting
back on a par five from theclubhouse, oh, and you know like
kind of went up to the greenand yeah, it was just like I
mean it was.
It was a huge, huge fairway,but then once you got past like
(25:48):
380 and same thing, it was right, there was a, there was water
on the left, so that's mind fuckright there yeah for sure, all
right, come on, buddy.
Speaker 1 (26:02):
Slow and steady.
Nice, what was that cue there?
Slow landing, slow and steady,slow and steady.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
You know my takeaway is before you showed up.
I couldn't hit a ball straight.
Speaker 1 (26:16):
No, were you in your head a bit, were you nervous.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You're my lucky charm .
Speaker 1 (26:19):
There we go, there we go, that's better.
Speaker 3 (26:26):
Well, like I said, I've got to take my own advice.
You try and hit it as hard asyou can.
That's crazy.
You're hitting it into thewoods, right oh no, crazy.
(26:48):
Hitting it into the woods right, oh no, yeah.
So I think the best part, thereassuring part, when I showed
up last year was that you knowagain, you're shanking every
eight out of every 10 ballsright.
Okay, that's like defeating it'snot landing on the grid, yeah,
right, it's like it's in thewoods, yeah, but everyone was
doing that, right, you know theguy that I'm like, oh, I know
that I've been watching this guyon instagram for a year.
Yeah, and he's shanking theballs.
Yeah, right, he's hooking theball.
(27:08):
He's, you know, hitting it intothe net over there, yeah, and
so that gave me a lot ofconfidence to be able to, like,
step up, be on the deck, hit,hit some balls that land in.
And you know, know that I'mjust there to kind of figure
everyone out and like, what'sgoing on with this league?
How does this work?
Who do I need to know?
What do I need to know?
Yeah, and and then, you know,not take it so seriously that
(27:32):
I'm in my head all the time, andso that's what my coach was
saying.
He was like, like I said, he'slike, your composure, you know,
was the reason why I gave youthe invite.
It's not because you werehitting balls farther than
everyone else or you're moreconsistent, it's because I got
up there, I took a deep breath,I wasn't nervous, I had all my
(27:55):
stuff organized, I just watched,and then by the second day, I
was like, okay, I know exactlywhat I need to do when I'm up
there.
Right, I gotta take my freakingyou know 60s every time I hit
the ball.
Okay, every time I hit the ball, I'm up here, okay, I would
grab the next ball, I would teeit up, and then I would come
back and go through my sequenceevery single time.
Yeah, you know so that I couldReally just not take it.
(28:18):
You know, not try, hit it toohard and that sort of thing.
Just, you know, do my littlething and boom.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
I'm hitting the grid.
Yeah yeah for you.
How good does it feel to justget back competing again?
Speaker 3 (28:42):
well, you know, you have.
You have some as a young buckfrom 2022, I'm in the gray cup
yeah, two-time gray cup champtwo-time gray cup champ.
We went three years in a row,yeah, and so, like that was my
expectation was to be, you know,on the biggest stage and being
(29:05):
able to after a decade of beingoff and just raising a family
and trying to, you know, make anincome and that sort of thing
having an outlet where thatisn't the gym.
You know that I'm like, okay,and I've always been able to
smash balls, yeah, right, I mean, when I was four, when I was
seven years old, I was trying to.
My first golf lesson was rightover there at that hut, yeah,
(29:30):
and I've always been chasing mydad's balls, right, I've always,
you know.
And my dad, he's had two kneesurgeries, two ACL surgeries on
both his knees, so he neverreally used his legs when he was
swinging.
It was always like a supercontrolled, like upper body
swing.
And then when I got to, you know, 12, 13, 14, I'm using my
(29:51):
grandma's clubs that are superwhippy and they're just.
I couldn't control them.
And then I started using mygrandma's clubs that are super
whippy and they're just fine, Icouldn't control them, yeah.
And then I started using mydad's stiff driver and I started
smashing it past them, and soI've always been competing on
the golf course, but having funat the same time, yeah, and the
ability to get out here, youknow, first couple tries at a
(30:12):
tournament and compete with, youknow, some of the best guys in
the world and watch them perform, but also be able to perform at
that level, was, oh, so muchjuice, right.
It made me think like okay, likeryan riesbeck he's I'm gonna
say he's probably 52, 53, he'son the tour right now and I'm
(30:32):
like okay, like maybe I can dothis for four, five, six years,
yeah, you know.
And like golf is blowing upright now and why isn't long
drive in on lift?
Can we get paid 250 milliondollars please?
Yeah, that'd be nice.
Golf balls are expensive, thesedays.
Speaker 1 (30:48):
Yeah, yeah, that would certainly be nice.
Could definitely use a coupleextra million man.
It's not often I feel very,very incapable of competing with
(31:10):
someone else on the range there, but yeah, when I hit one good.
I'm like it's at least 30, 40,50, 60 yards short.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
I'm wearing yours.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Yeah, how much?
What's the difference?
What do we got here?
Oh, there you go, I might missthe golf ball here we'll switch
you go.
Okay, what are we working withon a shafts?
Holy dina, okay, all right,alright, folks.
Oh yeah, that one's.
(31:42):
Oh my god, yeah, that's fourdegrees, yeah.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
But I would say, maybe put it a little bit
forward in your stance a littlebit, a little bit more.
On the upswing.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
Are you going like right off the toe?
Yep, yep.
Chris McClure, I gotta give hima shout out.
He's my golf coach when I go totoronto he teaches me up.
I didn't see it.
You, that's right, but that'scrazy that is so long.
Speaker 3 (32:10):
Wow, this is.
I've been hitting tailor-madefor the last decade, so this is
nice, feels nice, just the clubhead.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
Wow, paradigm, long drive, there you go.
Yeah, that one's might be ontop of that range.
Wow, that one was piped Niceball.
Do you find that, despiteadding a bit more distance, this
can add a bit more?
Maybe mis-accuracy?
(32:45):
Yeah, ah Right, it's kind ofwild, that's crazy, though I
feel like that ball is going toroll a mile afterwards too.
Yeah, wow, keep going.
I need one more.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
It he's got to hit one straight to hit one that's
got a bit of.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
I just need to turn.
I got to be a little bit morepatient.
You had the right cues.
I gotta just get a bit more.
There we go, there we go Crazythough You've got like another
40, 50 yards on that every time.
Speaker 3 (33:22):
That's insane.
Speaker 1 (33:23):
I like that club, though it's not bad hey.
Speaker 3 (33:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
Oh, okay, wow, that's an humbling.
See, shay, I got to tell youone of the best parts about this
.
I didn't realize it at the timewhen I started the podcast, but
I get to do stuff like this aspart of the job quote, unquote
and it not only is it humbling,it's rewarding, because you get
to see how people operate.
Like you said there, it is geezso similar ball shape.
(33:53):
Just an extra 70 yards onwhatever I just did.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (33:59):
Top of the hill over there.
Speaker 2 (33:59):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
Wow, so that's probably 350, 60, somewhere in
there.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
I don't know.
These are probably taking offat least 10, 15%, eh the range
balls, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (34:10):
Yeah, but you know, when you catch it and everyone's
like, oh, that's a.
And you're like, oh my god,I've never hit a ball like that,
yeah, it's awesome.
So I mean to your questionaround like that, the
competitive piece earlier todayI was like man, like I feel like
I'm 20.
Yeah, you know my, I don't.
My knees don't hurt, my backdoesn't hurt, my elbows don't
(34:32):
hurt, wrist don't hurt, neckdoesn't hurt.
I'm like you know I can do this.
Yeah, right, if I was in pain,be a different story.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
So how does your training now look compared to as
a 25 year old in the cfl?
Like give us through a day inlife, yeah, or like a week.
So volume.
Speaker 3 (34:48):
I'm not doing as much running.
You might tell it's a little,I'm a little thicker on their
edges here, but yeah.
So right now I would say I'mabout two 50, two 55, somewhere
in there.
And I would say, ideally I'dlove to be around two 35, two 40
, cause it's a speed sport.
Yeah, but you know, having themass behind it all helps, yeah.
(35:08):
And so let's say my traininghas changed, because I'm not
doing as much like on field work, and then you don't get the the
build up to training camp whereyou're going to lose 15 pounds
in training camp and eat itright back.
But I'm just trying to be thesame sort of explosive Playing
linebacker.
I'm in that same position whereI want to be able to move quick
(35:30):
with my hips and do all thedynamic movements.
But I would say I'm in the gym,I'm riding my you know, mountain
biking with my kids, nice, andjust trying to, just trying to
stay healthy.
Yeah, yoga, lots of stretching,you know, trying to stay off
the off the stuff, you know.
And uh, and you know just likebuilding up this year will be
(35:55):
different than last year,because last year, you know,
didn't stop drinking, was stillsmoking a little bit of weed.
And so, you know, this year I'mjust taking a little bit more
of a holistic, healthy approachtowards trying to show up and be
explosive and be, you know, mybest self, right, right, and you
know, as we all do every singleday, being able to have a coach
(36:16):
as my wife, yeah, she's like Ithink we are.
We already know what the whatthe prep needs to be changed or
how the prep needs to be changed, right, and, and I knew that
internally it's justaccountability partner, when
you're not getting paid to do it, you're just like, hey, I just
want to, I'm just here to havefun.
You know it changes.
When you're like I actuallywant to go win, yeah, and like,
of course, last year, I'm likeI'm a competitor, yeah, I want
(36:38):
to win.
Dress for the job you want, Iwent there billion dollar.
My wife and I would say it'sbillion dollar brand.
I was like applying for allthese big jobs and she's like.
I walked out of the house oneday and she looked at me.
She's like this is not abillion dollar brand and I was
like, okay, okay, okay, okay.
So we, we have this.
You know this adage where we'rejust like that's how you got to
treat yourself Right.
(36:59):
Would you hire yourself rightnow, right, and I'm like, yeah,
right, so being able to havethose conversations as a
accountability partner, as amirror, and, you know, at the
same time, be able to, you know,continue to have those same
conversations that I had when Iwas playing.
It's like, hey, did you doenough film?
Were you in the tub?
(37:20):
Did you lift the way that youneeded to lift this week?
Have you done as much work asyou can before stepping onto the
field and playing free?
If you're not prepared and youdidn't get as much sleep and you
ate the wrong food, and youknow how you're going to feel,
you're going to feel lethargic,you're not going to be as fast
because you're going to beplaying, you're going to be
thinking too much, yeah, and soyou know that paying attention
(37:42):
to the details in preparationand not and not overthinking it
and in action, it's like kind ofa good balance between you know
, soak it all in, right, yeah,so that when you show up to work
, you're like, no, I got this, Iknow exactly what's happening
here.
I got all my sticky tape and myextra gloves and my towels and
my ice cold water and it's allin the right place.
(38:04):
And you know I've been herebefore.
Yeah, right, so just do that.
And you know, put it all outthere, yeah, and so that's,
that's really been my, my.
My biggest learning is that I'mjust grateful that I'm able to,
you know, still have a goodphysical specimen to be able to
go and compete.
Yeah, and you know, just havingthe opportunity to go and do
that is, you know, to like to goto the world championships,
(38:28):
yeah it's a pretty big deal, I'mtelling people like what you're
, like what of course you wouldbe.
What are you talking about?
Speaker 1 (38:34):
yeah, what else would you be doing?
Yeah, it's not like you've beennot playing Canadian football
for 10 years, likeprofessionally playing one sport
, being able to take a decadeoff.
Like you said, raise a familyand then transition into another
professional sport ispractically unheard of.
Yeah, it does happen.
People do it.
(38:55):
Are there specific things thatyou think you did growing up ie
playing multiple sports thatallowed you to do that?
Was it like a knowledge aroundnutrition from a young age?
Were there any parents that hadan involvement around like your
work ethic mindset?
Speaker 3 (39:11):
like yeah, that's what I'm, my mom and dad were,
are both still coaches, okay.
So my mom has been a trackvolleyball coach in the
vancouver area for four decades.
She's retired.
And then all the kids were likeyou're driving us nuts, you got
to go back and continuecoaching.
She's gifted at, you know,building programs from the
(39:32):
ground up and bringing them toyou know, provincial
championship status and and so,and then with my dad, I just got
that insane like just do thework, show up, do the work and,
you know, let everything sortitself out.
So I was very gifted in thatsense where in my home I had two
coaches to, you know, reflecton my work, ethic, right, and
(39:59):
just, you know, to be able toshow me the way.
And you know, I think right nowmy like I was a track guy, so
flexibility, I was flexible,played basketball, so I could,
you know.
And then I moved into footballand soccer and I did all the
sports Right, like you know,like all the best athletes in
the.
And I did all the sports right,like you know, like all the
best athletes in the worldthat's what I'm trying to preach
(40:19):
, though.
Speaker 1 (40:19):
Right, that's I literally.
So the goal for the podcastwhen I started educate,
entertain and inspire the nextgeneration of athletes like.
I grew up playing hockey,basketball, golf, baseball,
soccer, you name it.
I played it, not at theprofessional level, but I felt
like I could chop it up enoughand I wanted to be like hey,
this is what you need to do,because this specialization from
(40:40):
the age of six is not workingand kids are getting hurt.
Yeah and oh, by the way, whenthey turn 23 and they know
nothing other than one sport,they become a one-dimensional
individual, precisely, and we'renot preparing them for life
after sport, which is the exactopposite of thing that sport is
supposed to be doing, correct?
Speaker 3 (40:58):
yeah so that's, that's a beautiful mission.
I think there's many people thatyou know are how old are you?
28, 28?
You know many people and youknow that have kind of like,
done their youth amateur sportand now understand what it takes
to reach the next level.
Because you know, we've beenlistening to Wayne Gretzky tell
(41:19):
us this for 40 years hey, Iplayed all the sports right and
I was lucky enough that I justplayed all the sports as it was.
And you know my coach, my dad,you know he was an Olympic
trials decathlete.
So I was doing the decathlon ingrade three.
Yeah, I was doing every weekendin the summer.
I was doing 11, 12 events.
You were Damien Warner, I wasdoing it all, yep.
(41:42):
And so you know, when it came tomy professional football career
, I was the backup long snapper,I was the backup kicker, I was
a backup punter and I was astarting middle linebacker and I
could run down any specialteams, because that's how I
earned my way there.
Yeah, and you know being ableto make plays in open space,
because you know that's how.
What I did with soccer I was,like, you know, playing defense
(42:04):
and basketball.
It's the same thing.
Yeah, it's like, oh, I justgotta keep this guy.
He's not getting, yeah, rightand.
And so that's how I'm raisingmy kids and we're really
entering that age of team sport.
You know, my son's 10,daughter's 9, and so this year
has been the year of exposure.
So it's like pivotal bigconcerts, big sporting events,
like going to all, like going toall the cfl games in vancouver
(42:27):
we can, nice.
We went to one in toronto lastyear.
We went to the harry jerometrack meet, yeah, where my
daughter was like I love this,I'm doing triple jumping and
hurdles.
I'm like, yes, nice, you know,and just being able to like show
them the way, yeah, not tomention, we live in Whistler and
they're mountain biking andskiing and they're happy being
at the top of a peak and, youknow, doing that sort of thing.
(42:48):
And so, just again, trustingthe process for us is really the
key here.
Yeah, for us is really the keyhere, yeah, and I think that the
mission that you're after isreally, you know, there's so
many, like I said, so many folksthat are just really wanting
their kids to do many thingsbecause of that one quote that
wayne gretzky said, or or whathave you, and you know that that
specialization.
Like, hey, I know how to, I can, I can, I got great wrist shots
(43:10):
right but like, can you catch a?
Can you catch a pass with yourstick over your shoulder?
Because you played football inhigh school as well, or
basketball, right, and that'swhere it's, like you know, I
don't know about Conor Bernardif he played high school
basketball or whatever, causehe's just, he's just amazing.
But, like you know, if you'retrying to make it, you're going
(43:33):
to be really in this transitionpiece where this period of
transition sorry, where thesecoaches and the administrators
are seeing the feedback of thespecialization and like the over
coaching and over parenting ofthe coach you know that part,
(43:57):
that part and where you knowpeople are really wanting to
give them a positive sportexperience so that maybe they
come and give back to sport inthe future, and yeah, and so
it's an exciting time yeah,we'll have to introduce your
daughter to Miriam Abdul Rashid.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
She's the 12th ranked hurdler in the world oh, yes,
canadian.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
Yeah, I saw that podcast on your page there yeah,
we represent her for Cook Starkmanagement.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
okay, so we have a few dozen PWHL players,
olympians et cetera, and soMiriam will be one.
We'll have to introduce her toher.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
And she's in Toronto.
Speaker 1 (44:22):
She is in Toronto, okay, so next time we'll make
that happen, and Miriam wouldlove to give her some lessons.
Yeah, she's going to teach mehow to do it too, but I feel
like your daughter will pick ittough, I know she's gonna have
to compete with her grandma, mydaughter's grandma, my mom.
Speaker 3 (44:35):
Who's like she?
That's, that's how she sheliterally brought the hurdles
home and put them in thebackyard, and she's like this is
how it works.
And so, from a young age, I wasjust always doing it.
But, you know, being able tohave the connections that sport
provides me, to connect with you, to connect, it's like that's
what it's all about, right, andand you know, I think, as a
canadian, I'm it's.
(44:55):
You know, we're in such anamazing like part of the
canadian, of canadian sporthistory, with so much success
look at a summer pinnacle,pinnacle, pinnacle right
everything you name the sport.
Right you got guys you knowwhether it's soccer or swimming
or or basketball, or baseball orfootball.
Right, you got guys that are atthe top and I and I'm like it's
(45:17):
just exciting to see thathappen, because you know I got a
son and I got a daughter and Iwant them to push sport and I
and I'm like it's just excitingto see that happen because you
know I got a son and I got adaughter and I want them to push
sport and I want them to pusharts and I want them to push, I
want them to do it all yeah, itwas the first time ever, the mvp
of every sport of the big foursports.
Speaker 1 (45:33):
Yeah, it's freddie freeman.
They were all canadian.
Freddie freeman, who would nhlwould have beenay.
Speaker 3 (45:39):
Yeah and nhl.
I don't who was it.
I can't remember, I'm not Idon't edit that in.
Speaker 1 (45:44):
I don't have a tv at home?
Really no okay, so this bringsup a good like segment.
It's like what fun facts dopeople not know about shay emory
?
Like okay, you know, theyassume football player, they
don't assume that you're givinga TED Talk at Loyola.
Yeah, yeah, I got one.
Speaker 3 (46:00):
Okay, so what do people not know about Shea?
Emery?
Well, I am a professionalsnowball maker.
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Okay, okay.
Speaker 3 (46:10):
What goes into professional snowball making?
Well, I've made me and my teammy team and I have made over
250,000 real snowballs.
Because when I started my axethrowing company and I did that
for about four or five years Iwas like how do I like diversify
my offerings as a businessowner here?
And so I created a snowballfight experience, so essentially
like paintball, but withsnowballs, yeah.
And so like next week I'mactually at a golf tournament
(46:31):
for this snowboard youthsnowboard fundraiser called the
chill foundation, okay, and soI'm going to be on a t-box.
People come up.
I'm like, hey, my name is shayand I'm going to tell this story
.
You're going to throw asnowball at this target over
here.
If you hit a bullseye, I get agolf ball hit for you.
I'm going to the worldchampionships.
So I actually am a professionalsnowball maker very cool, very
(46:56):
cool.
Speaker 1 (46:56):
And so these snowballs are, of what size?
Speaker 3 (47:01):
they're typical standard baseball snowballs.
Speaker 1 (47:03):
Okay, yeah, and so I imagine you looking like Elf,
the scene from Elf where he'sgot a bunch of snowballs.
Speaker 3 (47:09):
I don't dress up in spandex to do it, even though
these are pretty tight.
Speaker 1 (47:12):
I feel like that's a miss on your part.
I feel like you got to makethat happen.
Maybe that adds next week towhat you put out on the table.
Yeah, and I feel like, hey, ifyou're going for virality with
your content listen listen,that's.
Speaker 3 (47:25):
That's a pretty unique opportunity I've heard
that, I've heard that up thatcommentary before and I've never
done it.
But uh, for my, my son'sbirthday party two years ago, we
did like a basically like angrybirds, minecraft themed
snowball fight, so like my son's, wearing a helmet and a mask
and he's running the gauntletand all the kids are like
(47:46):
slingshotting snowballs at himand he's just like I mean, I'm
just having fun, man, you know.
Yeah, that's the way it shouldbe.
Speaking of which?
Speaker 1 (48:02):
what's ideal launch angle do you have?
Speaker 3 (48:04):
like, I'm sure you have those ideal numbers in mind
I mean, it really just dependson, I guess, what you're going
for.
It's on what the what the windis doing.
Yeah right, what the what thegrid's like, if it's?
You know if it's on a soccerpitch, or you know if it's a
hard.
You know if it's a hard, uhfairway that I'm hitting onto
and it's on a soccer pitch, oryou know if it's a hard.
You know if it's a hard, uhfairway that I'm hitting onto
and it's got a good roll to ityeah, it depends on if you're
(48:27):
hitting a draw, fade, whateverthe difference.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
That's a.
Yeah, I guess there's.
I like to think of it as you'vealmost eliminated all the
variables in with golf, in thesense that you're just using one
club, but it's still Okay.
So why'd you open the stancesignificantly more there?
That one's ridiculous oh.
Speaker 3 (48:53):
Right on the deck.
Speaker 1 (48:55):
It's a good thing that guy left.
That was there earlier.
Speaker 3 (48:57):
His white Tundra would have been smashed.
Speaker 1 (48:59):
Yeah.
What was the question Openstance there been smashed.
Yeah, what was the question?
Open stance there versus closed.
Speaker 3 (49:07):
What was the difference you've done?
You've manipulated a coupledifferent there, I've seen.
Yeah, with that one I wastrying to open it up just a
little bit, oh there you go.
Speaker 1 (49:14):
It's so crazy, though , because I'm still gonna be so
short, so bunch.
Speaker 3 (49:18):
It's.
You know, you're what.
What are you at right now,loft-wise.
Speaker 1 (49:22):
Yeah, nine and a half .
Yeah, nine and a half.
Yeah, it's like disadvantage.
Yeah, I know, but I'm acompetitor, shay, come on, I'm
going to try and hit down onthat golf ball.
There you go, just like.
Speaker 3 (49:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:37):
Turned my three iron into a one iron.
Speaker 3 (49:39):
Yeah, turned my three iron into a one iron, yeah, but
you know I'm learning all thisstuff right, I haven't been
spending too much time on thegolf course the last couple of
years.
I really had I had.
You know, I'm like a grown upwith golfing parents,
grandparents on both sides.
Like I said, my grandfather wasfriends with the owner of this
(50:01):
course and we were around golf,yeah, and you know any golf, any
garage that I would go into,whether it was my grandparents
in washington state or incalifornia and palm springs, or
here in in west van or my house,there was golf clubs like
galore, yeah.
And so I, you know, I got I gota great touch when I'm on the
(50:24):
course and I can smash the ballbecause I'm genetically gifted
being a big dude, right, and so,yeah, like I was just like so
grateful to have that experiencegrowing up, where now it's like
I'm just learning the data ofthe game.
Okay, I'm like one of theseguys.
(50:44):
There's a wind coming fromright, I don't have a, I don't
have a range finder, I, you knowlike I I roll up to in my golf
cart, that's like at least one,that's 145.
Speaker 1 (50:55):
And they're like, oh, it's 146, i'm'm like, yeah,
okay, that yard was not going tomake a difference for me, but
hey, I think there's a level ofthat being a benefit when you're
not thinking about the game toomuch.
Speaker 3 (51:10):
Well, like I said, pay attention to the details
that you can, but don'toverthink it.
Speaker 1 (51:20):
You see that one lost it.
Yeah, all right, let's sit downon this fucking wall there we
are.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
But you know, I had, uh, like I said, I had, you know
, a very generous individualcoach who tutored me into the
game last year and showed me theway.
Speaker 1 (51:44):
See, this is the beautiful part about the fact
that I'm building a studio, too,in Langley.
Oh you are?
Yeah, I'll just be able to getpeople in person.
Like, the Jeep is phenomenal tobe able to travel to people,
get them in person, but there'salso something about sitting
down, I think it's.
I'm gonna probably incorporatesome type of like every period
or some type of quarter segmentyou know where we drive, pick
(52:05):
the guest up, we do a littlelift, we do their sport lift,
run shoot baby exactly, you'refamiliar with cam haynes, you
know the vibes, but I don't wantto be as consistent as lift run
shoot will say it'll be a lift,yeah, and then whatever their
(52:27):
sport is, lift sport, pod kindof vibe, I guess would be the
best way to describe it.
Better, nope, no, better, nope,no.
I was actually so thrilled thatwe were on the range instead of
playing, because I tend to hitit better on the range than I do
on the course.
(52:48):
Oh Got over it, those I just dofor the clips that one was low
enough where I think the cameragot that one.
Those ones are just for theclips.
Speaker 3 (52:58):
Let's see A couple of stingers here, just like that.
Speaker 1 (53:08):
Yo, yeah, I actually finished my swing.
See, it's great.
Speaker 3 (53:15):
That was your driver of the day right there.
But and so you're building astudio.
You've got six years under yourbelt.
The how are you going todifferentiate yourself from
everything else that's out thereon the market when it comes to
podcast vlogging?
(53:36):
Right, you're in the mix.
You're on all the platforms.
You know I see it, I watch.
You know my wife bugs me.
She's like you're on all theplatforms.
You know I see it, I watch, I'mon.
You know my wife bugs me.
She's like you're on your phonetoo much.
I'm paying attention, I gottapay attention to what's
happening and and so like, yeah,what do you?
What's your next step?
Speaker 1 (53:51):
I mean the.
What you got to lean to isultimately being you right and
the differentiating factor aboutthe athletes podcast is that
I'm hosting it and I get to chatwith folks like yourself.
I think that's called fatigueand we get to do stuff like this
.
There's a lot of just golfvloggers out there, a lot of
(54:16):
just hockey, golf or hockeyvloggers out there.
That's the one, yeah, so Iopened up stats as soon as I'm
hooking too much is that onelanding on that might land on?
no, a little short, too muchspin yeah, I I haven't
necessarily been able to lean inas much to that aspect of like.
(54:38):
Like let's go on the footballfield and you take me through
what training camp looked likefor a day, or if it's on the
range, or if it's finley knoxolympic swimmer, like yeah let's
go in the pool.
I'm gonna look like a fool, butyeah it's.
I think I want to make surethat that next generation of
athletes knows like, hey, thisguy, who theoretically did not
(55:02):
have any athletic background, isable to go and hit golf balls
with a world-long driver, isable to bench press with the
world's strongest man, yeah,play pickleball with the world's
best pickleball player, likethose are kind of things that
who's the world's bestpickleball player?
Speaker 3 (55:17):
Ben Johns, ben Johns, eh.
Speaker 1 (55:19):
Yeah, oh, that one was high.
Speaker 3 (55:23):
I played in like a celebrity pickleball tournament
a couple months ago and when westarted the racket club in
Whistler we had 30 members.
Speaker 1 (55:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (55:35):
And then by the end of it, when I left my tenure
there, we had 700.
And I would say 80% of themwere pickleball players because
we ran all these camps.
Steve Deacon I think he's top50.
He's 50 as well.
I got to partner with him forour charity tournament.
I'm playing with Steve Deacon.
I'm like, oh my God, this is somuch fun.
It's such a great sport.
Speaker 1 (55:57):
Yeah, I love it.
I just had April Hutchinson onoh right, great sport.
Yeah, yeah, it's I love.
I just had, uh, aprilhutchinson on his uh oh right
after you'll, you know, thenshe's getting into pickleball as
well.
Yeah, I think that's the sportof the future for sure, because
everyone can play it.
Yeah, I like she could probablykick my ass you know, my
grandma could kick my butt ifshe plays it.
Well enough, right, like, if Igo into aggressive.
That I love that sport.
(56:18):
But that's, uh, to answer yourquestion, I think the way plus,
I've only been doing it at like,you know it's a, it's still the
passion project.
Yeah, I haven't been able tolean into it fully, david my
wife is.
Speaker 3 (56:37):
She was the founder of a place called blow blow dry
bar.
Do you know, blow?
No, you're not.
You're not getting your hairdone anyways.
So dev was is a successfulentrepreneur from by the age of
21, and so we got asked she wasgetting asked so much to do so
many, so many mentorshipcoaching calls, yeah.
(56:58):
And so that's how spherestarted was because she's like
how do I simplify this wholeexperience of being a coach from
remote?
Speaker 2 (57:06):
locations and yeah and time.
Speaker 3 (57:13):
Okay, this is the last ball of the day, best ball
okay, last ball, best ball gottahit the roof ah, that's all
right, that was still ripped.
Speaker 1 (57:24):
That's a good one to end on.
What have you, hey, thank youappreciate your time.
Like seriously, no, this islike.
So tell me more about sphere,what's like?
Speaker 3 (57:32):
because I felt like it's not just for hairdressers,
if I'm mistaken so the wholething is that when she because
of her, how young she was, youknow, when you're 24, 25 and
everyone's now starting theirpodcast or their studio or their
gym or their whatever you knowdev was getting asked to do so
(57:54):
much guidance and coaching, andso what she did is she basically
made it simpler for the coachto facilitate the coaching
through the application that wecreated, which is called sphere,
and now we have 400 coachesworldwide that use our app, like
uber drivers use uber so theyconnect with our clients and
we're able to make a largerimpact without jeopardizing all
(58:17):
of our time to be able to do itdang, so it's like a marketplace
and platform okay
Speaker 1 (58:23):
a curated marketplace of like best in class coaches
good for you proper language andverbiage yeah, wow, okay, well,
we'll have to uh figure out away that we can either direct
people there or, yeah, 100, no,that's.
Uh.
This is part of why we do thesethings, you know.
Beautiful, thank you.
Oh, that's the roof.
(58:43):
Are you happy with your lastball, babe?
Nope, that's the roof ball,though, oh, if it hangs on,
catch a piece Before I let yougo.
Biggest piece of advice for thenext generation of athletes if
you were to leave it here today,what would it be?
Speaker 3 (58:59):
Pay attention to the details, but don't over.
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