TBC Member Spotlight: James LaGamma

Ever wondered how a simple dad joke could transform a high-pressure situation? Join us this week on The Bender Continues as we sit down with James LaGamma, renowned for his legendary dad jokes and exceptional resilience. From his early days as a soccer player to becoming an accomplished football kicker, James shares his journey of navigating intense pressure and high-stakes environments. Hear how humor, positivity, and a strong mental outlook have been his secret weapons, helping him thrive in both sports and the high-stress mortgage industry.

Discover the mental challenges faced by kickers in football and the critical role of muscle memory and practice. James opens up about his personal experiences, revealing the coping mechanisms he developed to manage stress and anxiety during pivotal moments. Techniques like focusing on fundamentals and employing breathing methods, such as the Wim Hof technique, are discussed in detail, offering valuable insights for athletes and anyone facing high-pressure situations.

In the latter part of our conversation, we explore the profound impact of support systems and mental resilience in overcoming adversity. James recounts his harrowing experience of breaking his neck during a game, the journey of recovery, and the invaluable lessons learned along the way. Emphasizing the power of choice in one’s attitude and mood, James's story is a powerful testament to the importance of staying positive and resilient, no matter the circumstances. Don't miss this inspiring episode filled with wisdom, humor, and heartfelt stories that remind us of the strength of the human spirit.

Episode Transcript

Jonny Strahl (00:08):
Welcome to the Bender Continues podcast.
Joining us is the backbone ofthe TBC operations and,
unfortunately, our dad jokeaficionado.
Where there's a will, this guywill find a way, no matter the
circumstance.
He is someone who has alwaysbeen there when the people need
him most.
At the drop of a hat, he willdo whatever it takes to be

(00:29):
necessarily there to support youand support someone in need.
Today we have a moment where wecan reflect where this man has
had our back.
Please welcome James Agama, ourdiscussion today.

Kenny Massa (00:46):
Golf clap, golf clap, a little golf clap.

Jonny Strahl (00:52):
Our discussion today will take us down the
rabbit hole of a pretty seriousmatter, which is mental health,
a topic that can becontroversial at times.
However, more educating andmore coming to light, as we
resonate in today's society, howthe mental health and the
strength of the mind can be asimportant, or perhaps more

(01:13):
important, to the one's physicalhealth.

Ryan Selimos (01:16):
So join us as we discuss James's experiences,
from managing the day-to-day ofa collegiate student athlete to
the stresses that come withworking in the ever-changing
mortgage industry and touch onthe obstacles we have all faced
at one time or another ineveryday life.
So get comfortable, grab somepopcorn and prepare for a

(01:38):
discussion on how perspectivesand mental outlook keyed success
for a member of the TBC family.
The Bender Continues podcastpresents Embracing Life with
Mental Fortitude.
The James Legama Experience.

James LaGamma (01:56):
Wow, mental fortitude.

Ryan Selimos (01:58):
Big word.

James LaGamma (01:59):
Well, I can give you a little mental fortitude
with a kick us off with a dadjoke here.
I'm a fan Ready for this fellas.

Jonny Strahl (02:07):
Yeah, I'm here for it.

James LaGamma (02:10):
What did baby corn say to mama corn?
Where's popcorn?
I thought you were going to gowith Good good, See we're
starting off with a laugh.
I thought you were going to gowith a laugh here.
Good See, we're starting offwith a laugh.

Kenny Massa (02:25):
I thought you were going to go in with a laugh.

James LaGamma (02:25):
Well, the joke here, Nah, that one's getting
retired.
I think it's a good one, butwe'll save that for another one
Is that your go-to.

Kenny Massa (02:33):
You actually did one off of Wim.
You did one off of Wim a coupleweeks ago and it was pretty
good.

James LaGamma (02:45):
It was actually pretty good.
I tend to do stuff off a whimactually, more often than not.
I have a repertoire of dadjokes, but it's hard to call to
them.

Ryan Selimos (02:53):
Is that what keeps you stable?
You get a real serioussituation.
You're able to kind of pullyourself back with a good dad
joke or two.
It just kind of balances youout.

James LaGamma (03:00):
Hey, that's what it is, man.
Sometimes you just got tospread some laughter.

Kenny Massa (03:07):
Honestly so you think it like calms.
You think it calms the?
I guess the setting A good dadjoke.

James LaGamma (03:16):
It definitely can change the mood real quick.
I've gotten a lot of looks.
Yours is just shaking theirheads, but I'll get some
laughter and people are like allright.

Kenny Massa (03:28):
It's almost like an icebreaker, yeah.

James LaGamma (03:31):
It's kind of like lightens the mood a little bit.

Ryan Selimos (03:33):
You know as much as you don't want to laugh you
just can't help it though, likeas, no matter how stupid it is,
most of the time you just youcrack a smile at the very least.

James LaGamma (03:45):
So a hundred, most of the time you crack a
smile at the very least.
So 100%, we have a quote atwork.
Dad jokes are in the primeright now.
They are premium comedy.

Ryan Selimos (03:53):
We have a quote at work I forget who says it, but
it's where there is littlelaughter there is little success
.
And I think dad jokes can be adirect correlation to that.
Just, you know, just in theworkforce, because it's that
balance it helps keep it.

James LaGamma (04:09):
Especially in a high stress environment.
100%.

Ryan Selimos (04:12):
True, let's talk about high stress high, strong,
high stress environments.
James Ogama, you know a littlebit about your history.
You got your Stetson footballshirt on.
You're an athlete.
Right Kickers are athletes too.
Let's talk about your journeyFor the brand baby.
For Pat, for Pat McAfee, forthe brand let's talk about.

(04:34):
You know, it's such a uniqueposition.
The kicker, right.
You're someone who maybe a lotof people look at a football
team and they're like they gotto make a joke about someone.
It's usually about the kickeror the punter.
And that was you.
So how did you wake up anddecide?
You know, kicking is the routefor me.
How did we go down thisathletic journey and how did we

(04:56):
land here?
Let's start.
Let's tell the people aboutthat.

James LaGamma (05:00):
I mean to be blunt, it's not a miraculous
story.
I played soccer for 12 years.
That's kind of my first sportthat I started out with, and
then I wanted to kind of changeit up, do something different.
So I can't remember the fullstory on why I actually started

(05:21):
to play football.
I know my dad played footballin high school, so naturally he
was excited.
But they used to claim that theypulled me off the soccer field,
saw me kicking the, you know,like a goal kick or something
like that.
We're like, oh, this kid's gota leg, let's bring him on.
And back then in Little League,you know kids couldn't kick
farther than like 10 yards, 20yards.

(05:42):
I mean we kick farther thanlike 10 yards, 20 yards.
Maybe we were what?
In sixth, seventh grade.
So yeah, I just tried out forfootball.
I didn't just play kicker inLittle League, I played a lot of
other positions running back,wide receiver, db, basically all
the skill positions.
I had a little bit more speed,you know.
It kind of came in handy.

(06:03):
But yeah, no, kicking wasalways something that I enjoyed,
I was good at, and naturallywhen you're good at something,
you, you, you tend to pursue it,and so I kind of fizzled out of
soccer, where obviouslyeverything was, you know,
kicking a soccer ball.
Now I'm just kicking a footballand I had a lot of fun doing it

(06:23):
.

Ryan Selimos (06:27):
Very nice Is that.
You know that transition.
You got into high schoolobviously we know college like
it was just football high school.
Were you a dual sport athlete?
Was it just kind of footballall the way, just as kicker?
What was kind of a little bitof the context there?
I mean you went to St ThomasAquinas Palace, so what was that
?

James LaGamma (06:43):
like I feel like that's kind of the answer in
itself.
I went to St Thomas, so it'shard to compete in other
positions and it's almost afull-time job there.
I wasn't a dual sport person atthat time anyways, I kind of
strictly was playing football.
I did try out for the soccerteam but didn't didn't make it,

(07:06):
so it was fine, um, and I justput all my focuses on kicking
but I did not play any otherposition because everyone else
there was phenomenal at theirrole on the team.
Very few people uh played notonly more than one position, uh,
potentially on on one side ofthe ball, but rarely played on
both sides of the balls, which Iknow a lot of people in high

(07:26):
school will play both sides ofthe ball.
So you kind of stuck to oneposition and you honed in on
your craft there.
So that's naturally what I didwith kicking and, funny enough,
I actually had three kickingcoaches at St Thomas, which
vastly, vastly changed when Iwent to college.
But I predominantly did a placekicking in a high school for the

(07:50):
first few years.
It wasn't until my senior yearthat I transitioned to me doing
more punting and shared a littlebit of time with place kicking.
Kickoffs weren't really mything.
I just didn't have the biggestleg as I got older so we kind of
fizzled out on that.
But punting was something Ijust enjoyed so much and I still

(08:10):
enjoy it.
If I were to keep playingfootball I would probably go for
being a punter rather than aplace kicker.
Less stress on a punter thanthere is a place kicker.

Kenny Massa (08:26):
True, very true.

Jonny Strahl (08:27):
That is very true.
I've got a.
I've got a question, james.
So you talked about the stresson a kicker and obviously being
in that setting, being in theenvironment where all eyes are
on the kicker at some pointright, you have the kicker at
some point right.
You have the weight of theentire team, a stadium looking

(08:50):
at you.
I mean shoot you kicked in theDallas Cowboys Stadium, right,
like pretty cool stuff.
That's awesome.
You also have the opportunity tobe the hero on the flip side,
the villain, right, or theperson who just failed I guess,

(09:11):
obviously we love you, we dorespect the kickers, we respect
the punters, we respect thebrand, but what I think we all
really really like and reallyenjoy and really understand from
your sake is you know, how doesone kind of cope with that
pressure when you're in themoment?
Cause I think it's incredibleto be able to deal with that,

(09:32):
that type of stress and anxiety,to be honest, yeah, um, I've
only actually been put in thatsituation once.

James LaGamma (09:42):
Uh, where it was to win the game, it was little
league and it took us to theSuper Bowl.
We lost said Super BowlMiserably.
I don't think we got.
I think we got like two firstdowns.
It was awful.
It came out of nowhere, but wewere a powerhouse that year.
I think Ryan was the yearbefore you guys won it, but let
me tell you, I put and it'sfunny because I, I put, I did

(10:04):
not expect this to go peeweefootball.
Oh yeah, 100%.
Oh shit, it was a 40-yard fieldgoal.
Peewee football, that's bigtime.
That was in seventh grade,hilarious.
But no, I rarely have I beenput in that position because
once I got into high school thecompetition was just a little

(10:27):
different.
We were really good and we wereputting up 40 to 50 to 60
points a game.
There really wasn't times wherethere was a field goal riding
on me, very few.
I've had a couple ofopportunities where maybe an
onside kick was happening andthat kind of has a similar
pressure to it, true, and thenin college it's unfortunate but

(10:51):
we sucked.
You know We'll get there abouthow bad we were in college Jeez,
let's cut that.

(11:17):
Listen, man, sometimes you gotto be honest with yourself.
Listen, man, sometimes you gotto be honest with yourself.
And it wasn't too many seasonswhere we went a Snapchat out
there, when I kicked a fieldgoal against San Diego and it
was a long field goal too, Ithink it was like a 40-plus and
I missed it and we were losing,I think, 40 or 50 to zero.

Jonny Strahl (11:42):
And then she posts , can't even make a field goal
Damn.

James LaGamma (11:50):
Little did she know that was her future.
Yeah, that was her futurehusband, uh, but no, and then
someone went on there.
I was like take that down,that's bad, but I mean I've I've
heard it all over the place.
I've seen kickers get deaththreats.
I've seen uh you know kickershaving to carry a gun around on
campus in some of these collegesbecause they're scared like
legit.
I've seen kickers, though, alsocome off of a couch because the

(12:10):
other kickers got hurt andballed out.
It's really hard to say when itcomes to coping with the stress.
I kind of bring it down to liketwo main factors.
You're in a game situation.
I feel like you guys probablyhave the same, similar concepts,
maybe, in your positions, butyou, you practice so much that
you rely on that practice tobecome muscle memory, and so,

(12:33):
when you get up there, you justreact Um, I mean kicking.
Kicking is very fundamental.
Uh, it's no different than golf.
Your foot is literally the golfclub, and so, if anyone ever
wants to complain about a kickeragain, they can realize oh, how
you do on the golf course.
If you do well, then fuck me,but anyways, then you kind of go

(12:55):
to your fundamentals.
The way I've always approachedit, though, is you want to focus
on like two to three things atmost that day.
Like you kind of go throughyour warmups, you figure out
where you're kicking, how thingsare going, when that kind of
stuff and you kind of focus ontwo things, you're like, okay,
this is the things that I needto focus in on.

(13:16):
I key in on, that's it.
If you worry about a millionthings, everything's going to go
wrong.
That happened to me everysingle time, so I always find
that two to three controllablesis always the best way to go, to
be most successful.
But another thing that I did,too, that I think kind of layers
into this topic, is breathingtechniques.
So when you do get nervous orexcited or anxious or stressed

(13:38):
out, one of my coaches actuallygave me a breathing technique,
which it was pretty simple.
It was just two big inhales,hold and exhale nice and long,
and for some reason, he told meto like make a triangle with my
hand and kind of just focus inon that, and then it kind of
just made everything go away.
You kind of block out the noiseand you're able to just go out

(13:59):
there and do your thing, likeyou don't hear the heckling
that's on the field and all thatstuff.
Do your thing Like you don'thear the heckling that's on the
field and all that stuff.
But I've realized recently thatbreathing techniques has been a
big thing in the mental healthdiscussions.
One of the ones that have beengoing around a lot on social
media lately is the Wim Hofbreathing technique and it's
pretty, pretty intense, fromwhat I understand.
I've never tried it.

(14:19):
It's, it's a.
It's not the longest thing, butit's.
There's a lot of holding ofyour breath and you can pass out
.
So they always say make sureyou're in a controlled
environment when you do it.
But I've heard great thingsabout it.
Love that.

Kenny Massa (14:35):
It's interesting that you say that you haven't
had that many case scenarioswhere you've been in a position
where you've had to come intolike this clutch scenario.
I feel like many times you seeprofessional athletes especially
you know, in.
You know, at the NFL, you seekickers having to come to the

(14:56):
stage pretty frequently.
It's like a frequent thing intheir season.
Now, of course there's the oneyou know.
There's sometimes where there'sone circumstance that helps
them win a game or whatnot, butlike if they're having a
difficult season, the kicker isone of the most crucial players
and they continue to be thatmost crucial player.
And you can see a trendsometimes with these seasons and

(15:19):
it's surprising between youknow, you hit what Pop Warner
football, college football, highschool football, all these
games.
I mean dozens and dozens anddozens of games and you haven't
had that situation.
So that's pretty unique.

James LaGamma (15:34):
Had it once.
But yeah, I mean every kick isstill a pressure kick because
most of the time, if you thinkabout it from, like where are we
at on the scoreboard, maybethat field goal puts us just
above the team, the team thatwe're playing against.
So maybe it's like that we'reseven to seven.
This puts us at ten.
Uh, but it's never been a game.
Ending is kind of what I wantto uh put on the stage therefore

(15:55):
.
So um, but there's still.

Kenny Massa (15:58):
Every kick's a pressure kick let me ask you you
know one other thing that I was.
I'm sorry, go ahead, right, Iwas know.

Jonny Strahl (16:03):
and one other thing that I was I'm sorry, go
ahead, ryan, I was going to sayWell, one other thing Go, kenny,
I'm going to shut the fuck up.

Kenny Massa (16:10):
Well, one other thing that I was thinking about
is like kickers are another.
It's an interesting positionbecause you know, from a DB
perspective or a tight end orwide receiver perspective, they
get rotated out prettyfrequently because of their
level of activity.
One they're running prettyaggressively, you know they can
be running pretty hot or aninjury can happen, because you

(16:34):
know just the nature of the gameand if that happens to a kicker
, that could be like crucial toa team season.
Like you know, you have akicker and you don't have five
kickers deep.
In most cases the kicker isreally unique.
They're really leaning on thatkicker for his health, for the
longevity of the season.
They know that with high impactpositions the likelihood of

(16:58):
something happening is there.
The reason why I bring this upis because you've been in case
scenarios and we've beenfortunate to meet one of your I
would say your duo in highschool and he's become a great

(17:18):
friend of ours as well withNolan.
And then in college you hadothers that you shared
experiences with and kind of had, I would say, a a dual kind of
kind of role in your, the dualkind of role in your, in your
position, in both facets.

(17:39):
So how do you deal with that?
Because I that at any moment akicker's at risk of like, oh,
bench him or take him out.
Where a DB slips up and you seehim ride, or a wide receiver
slips up and you see him ride.
Kickers are a little bitdifferent, it's not the same.

James LaGamma (17:59):
Yeah, there's usually less of us on the team
too right, we're not as deep ofa position and we don't travel
heavy either.
So if a kicker were to go downon the road, usually you bring a
kicker and a punter Hopefullythey are versatile enough to do
both and then after that you'rescraping the bottom of the

(18:22):
barrel.
I've seen linemen kick.
I've seen quarterbacks.

Kenny Massa (18:26):
I've seen a bunch.

James LaGamma (18:28):
Yeah, holders will get in there and kick.
I mean, hell, I was a holderfor a few years, but yeah, it's
interesting.
I've actually been in a coupleof case scenarios too with all
these other kickers and puntersand stuff that I've played with,
where I've rotated with them,actually very similarly to, uh,
a, a cornerback and or receiverrunning backs, you know, getting

(18:52):
or splitting time um, which isnot really heard of in the
kicking position.
You're, you're usually eitherbenched or you're, you're,
you're kicking full season Causeyou want to get a kicker to
build confidence.
To rotate them is like a hugeconfidence shock and it's like,
well, I thought I was doing good, but now I got to wait for my
next kick because I'm inrotation.

(19:13):
It's a little odd.
It fostered competitive drivethough.
So I mean, at the end of theday, when I was in these
situations, I always picked teamover me.
Whoever's, the best playershould be on the field.
I think mostly everyone thinksthat way, but they won't show

(19:36):
off that way, because you haveto have that confidence.
You want to fight for yourposition on stuff, and I'm not
saying you don't do that, I'mjust saying by putting team
before me, if you work hard,then the person in front of you
has to work harder to keep theirspot, and it just makes the
team better, and so that waskind of my mantra when I was
going through this.

(19:58):
However, I may have took it astep further.
That could be a little bitdifferent, and I actually would
help the other kicker if they'regoing through some problems,
just because if the other one'sstarting that week I'm not
starting, I might not betraveling.
We got to make sure that we'remaking these field goals right.
We didn't really have kickingcoaches in college, so I had to

(20:22):
kind of step up in that in thatregard.
But I mean, when I was in highschool with Nolan though cause I
, since you brought him up, Imean that was probably the most
interesting thing ever.
I mean, talk about a a weirdmental battle, um, because he
ends up being my best, one of mybest friends uh, still to this
day.
I mean we're talking about 15plus years now.

Kenny Massa (20:39):
Yeah, it's definitely difficult.

James LaGamma (20:41):
But it kind of goes back to that phrase.
It breeded healthy competition,like we genuinely wanted the
best for each other, but then wealso had to compete with each
other.
So when he was doing well and Iwasn't, I either had to find
other ways and or had to try tocontinue to better myself.

(21:01):
It actually kind of led me intopunting a little bit and I got
really good at it really fast,was able to transition, and then
it kind of made that playingtime situation probably a little
less stressful and kind of thatcompetition between one of your
best friends.
Um, at least that's the way Isee it it kind of it kind of

(21:22):
helped a little bit.
But again, at the end of the day, I was always Nolan's biggest
fan on the sideline when he wentout there on the field, I was
always rooting for him.
I was always right there at thekick.
I was always telling him, youknow, keeping his, his two focal
points or whatever, like hey,keep your head down, make sure
you're doing that.
Cause maybe that was the thingwe focused on, uh warmups or
whatever, but you know it iswhat it is.

(21:42):
And then, and then that'sthat's in the two guys Grant uh
Fogle, that I kind of most of mycompetition was against, uh,
they ended up being ourfraternity, um, and so you know
there's still a relationshipthere.
It wasn't like these guys werejust acquaintances.
I mean, yeah, they wereteammates and you don't always
have to get along with yourteammates, but still there's

(22:05):
times when you feel like you'remore deserving to be out there.
But at the end of the day, youcan't throw yourself a pity
party right.
The more you kind of sulk inthat you kind of to have that
almost that moment of solitudeand reflection and and you kind
of go back to the drawing board.
And then what I would do isbasically go key in on the
fundamentals again.

(22:25):
Um, that's usually what alwayshelped me get back onto the
field and or just get my, get myshit in order, um, and then
kind of grow from there onceI've got the fundamentals back
now and put myself in theposition to play again.

Kenny Massa (22:41):
Makes sense.
It is difficult, but I didn'tthink of the position with Grant
Fogle.
It is unique because Nolan youwere really close with and then
you kind of fell into a verysimilar situation in college
with and you know, kickers arealso in a weird place too,

(23:02):
because you're like they're likeoff to the side doing their own
fucking thing in practice.

Jonny Strahl (23:07):
We got to find our own room of the field.

Kenny Massa (23:10):
Yeah, they stick together.
So you guys are hanging out ina different capacity, no matter
what, Whereas, like you know,DBs or wide receivers you could
do your thing and then you comeback as a defense or as the
offensive side and you'reworking together with other team
members.
So it's a little bit different.
I mean, you're in a reallyunique situation there, so it's

(23:30):
cool to see you foster you knowwhat.
It's really cool to see howclose you are with Nolan still
to this day, and both of youwent to amazing colleges and did
your thing there.

James LaGamma (23:40):
Yeah, and he's an amazing kicker, like he's
really really fucking good, he,he.
He just took off senior yearand and then in college he was
so fucking good.
He had some hip problems.
I know injuries always hurtpeople.
I mean shit, I broke my neckand all that kind of stuff too.
I hurt my back in high schoolas well, which hurt my position

(24:01):
and how I was able to play.
It all happens, but yeah.

Ryan Selimos (24:05):
Cool, interesting stuff.
I think, kenny, you kind ofhave said the term a couple
times.
This context we're getting fromJames.
It is unique because you thinkabout sports.
You think about football, oneof the most grueling, physically
tasked sports out there.
But I don't think a lot ofpeople think about that from the
kicker position, right, I thinka lot of people and James you

(24:28):
correct me if we're wrong it ismore mental because you see it
can go from being on top of theworld where you're the best
kicker in the league and it canfall off a cliff real fast, real
quick.
And I think of there was akicker from Florida state,
robert Aguayo got drafted in thesecond round, which is unheard
of for a college kicker going toNFL comes in with all this hype

(24:49):
, missed a couple of kicks youknow that rookie season and was
never the same, could neverrecover.
And it wasn't like he became abad kicker, it wasn't like his
fundamentals, you know, from a,from a physique standpoint, he
lost everything.
It was all in his head.
So I think it's justinteresting.
We get to kind of go insideyour head a little bit and
inside your experiences withthat and understanding from a

(25:11):
different angle.
But I think St At least in myanalysis, I think St Thomas
Aquinas and going to a highschool like that Was able to
teach you a lot of lessons Earlyon, because here you are In a
competition For a position thattypically doesn't have a
competition, but you're lookingat everyone around you and you

(25:33):
know the difference betweenstarting and bench warmer was
minimal.
So you're getting to see thatEvery single day and you're
seeing the success.
You're seeing statechampionships and all those
types of things, and I thinkthat really propelled you for
college.
Because you know, in college Ithink you were one of the
mentally toughest people we hadon the team.

(25:53):
I don't think a lot of peopleknew that, though, because you
were.
You had to battle againstcomplacency every day.
You said this you had threekicking coaches in high school.
You didn't have any in college,so you really could have done
whatever you wanted.
No one would have known, no onewould have batted an eye.
In practice, it was just canyou make the kicks or not?
So I guess, how did you handlethat?

(26:13):
Just your attitude, yourapproach, from you know all that
structure to now you're incollege, you don't really have
anyone watching you.
And how did you?
How did you battle every daywith complacency and oh I'll,
I'll give a little bit of effort, you know, but you did it.
You pushed yourself each andevery day to be your best and I
think people saw that and Ithink people had a lot of

(26:34):
respect for you as a result ofthat.
So can you just maybe take usdown that path a little bit?

James LaGamma (26:42):
Yeah, and first thing I'd like to say about some
of the comments that you'vemade is, if you're a kicker and
I'm drafting on fantasy football, you will be drafted in the
higher rounds.
I'm just saying that right now.
I'm just saying that right now.

(27:11):
It carries on all right for thebrand.
But you know, a lot ofdifferent things come to mind
when we're talking about this.
So, as far as completency, it'svery sports, is very
translatory I don't know ifthat's a word Translates well
into life you are the only onethat can determine how much
effort is being put in to reachwhatever goals or what you're
willing to give, essentiallyRight.

(27:34):
And so, as a kicker, with allthat time on my hands at
practice, with no one to tell mewhat to do except hey, at
minute, what do we used to go upto 240 sometimes at practice,
like 190, you're going to haveto do some field goal practice.
I mean, I got to get warmed upfor that and all that stuff.
What am I doing for the rest ofthe day?

(27:55):
I got to get warmed up for thatand all that stuff.
What am I doing for the rest ofthe day?
So you know, you just have toknow what you want and you need
to work for it.
So, like I could be the lazykicker and I could have went
into the locker room and hungout, played video games or went
to you know, just stretching allday long.
I mean, then you become tooflexible and then the kicks
don't work out well.

(28:15):
So instead we worked on littledrills.
We basically planned out ourentire practice.
I worked a lot with this longsnappers, but being mindful that
I couldn't kick so many ballsto where I would just have dead
leg and then I couldn't performthat week.
So you had to be strategic andsmart and do a lot of mental

(28:37):
reps actually, which is kind ofstrange.
But the more you do mental repsI mean I can 10x how many reps
I've actually done right, Ithink there's a couple of people
I've talked about doing mentalreps before, but I think one of
the things that benefited memost is I was very I worked hard

(28:58):
at finding different ways ordifferent angles or changing
things up to try to progress.
We used to do plyometrics, weused to work on our core, on our
rotations.
We would do certain trainingsin practice as well, as kind of
focused in on hip explosion andgenerating fast, twitch muscle

(29:22):
fibers, which is why I did a lotof ladder work and stuff like
that, so that way I could takemy role, my position, that much
further to compete againsteverybody else.
And by changing things up I wasable to really learn and hone
in on the craft.
It made me into a halfwaydecent coach too.

(29:44):
I could see things a little bitdifferent.
And then, watching film andgetting all that information and
all that stuff together, wewere able to plan out the week
on how we would approach itPlace kicking on Monday, punting
on Tuesday, kickoffs onWednesday, et cetera, et cetera.
But having that different way ofthinking sometimes creates
better results.
Sometimes it doesn't, and youjust have to kind of evaluate.

(30:06):
So it was a lot of trial anderror.
I feel like I was doing likethe scientific method,
constantly out in the field.
But again, you just you have topractice with intensity.
I'm watching all of you guysbust your ass out there and I'm
just sitting on the fuckingsideline holding chains.
Sometimes you know like it's alittle embarrassing to say, but

(30:26):
I had to go find things to do,um, so I was also combating some
boredom, but you know it iswhat it is.
So we put ourselves in a lot ofsituations.
I remember one game we had suchcrazy wind that I couldn't drop
the punt very well.
So what I ended up doing was Ihad Kevin, our equipment manager
.
I had him pull out the fuckinggiant ass fan and put that shit

(30:49):
right in front of me so that wayI can try different angles of
dropping when there's high wind,so I can get better at
controlling the ball when I'mtrying to pump the ball, because
if I have a 10-yard punt andwe're on the goal line, we're
screwed.
That team's going to have primetime real estate.
They can either kick the fieldgoal or get the touchdown and
then take over so long-winded.

(31:09):
But that's basically it.
I mean other than that, themental battle that you have with
the game.
I mean you just have to have ashort memory, and I think that
that kind of goes on with lifeas well.
As you get frustrated withsomething, you need to have a
short, short memory and justkind of go on to the next thing.
You know, the next kick is anew kick, the next task is a new
task.
You know you're not alwaysgoing to be perfect, but you can

(31:32):
try to develop skills andfundamentals, muscle memory and
all that kind of stuff to to begood.

Jonny Strahl (31:41):
So it's interesting that you know you.
You broke all this down becauseI think Ryan can and myself, of
course, can all agree that youknow you are one of the most
credible people when it comes tobattling mental toughness and
fighting that complacency right.

(32:02):
I think you do all the actionsand things to perfect your craft
and I think that's a testimonyto you.
And I would like to almostpivot and ask you a question
that I think a lot of what youjust explained the buildup and
being the best at what you canbe, even though you were dealing

(32:24):
with difficult variables.
We were going into a year.
We had a season where we weredoing pretty well and things
were kicking, things werescreaming and you had a
traumatic event.
It doesn't even seem realsometimes when we talk about it

(32:45):
now and your positivity alwaysmakes a joke out of it, but I
would like you to kind of breakdown and just really share with
us a little bit about theincident where and you did
tackle the man very well youjacked him up.

James LaGamma (33:01):
I didn't tackle him well, but I hit him hard.

Jonny Strahl (33:04):
Fashion check and breaking necks.
All right, you ended upbreaking your neck in San Diego.

James LaGamma (33:13):
Just walk us through your thoughts of one
finding out the news, how you iteven happened, and then really
the road to recovery and thenjust really ending the following
season as a senior um, you knowwe've had a previous podcast

(33:33):
where I went to the details ofthe actual injury, like how it
all transpired, so I won't't gotoo in-depth on that but for any
new listeners, basically,fourth play of the game, we're
early.
It's maybe two minutes in,nothing like that crazy.
We go four and out.
I go hit the punt.
Sideline tackle has to happen.
I ended up.
Instead of shooting my headacross his body, I put my head

(33:56):
right into his body, broke myneck, didn't know it.
It dislocated C6 and fracturedC5.
It actually was very similar tothe guy on the Brahmas or
what's the.
What is that?
Semi-pro football?
It's not the UF.

Ryan Selimos (34:16):
UFL United Football League with the Rockets
UFL is that what it is now?

James LaGamma (34:20):
Very similar tackle, just on a punt compared
to a kickoff.
But we didn't know that.
I broke my neck, so there was alot of figuring out what the
hell is going on on the sideline.
I'm like something doesn't feelright.
I hit him with my so-calledleft shoulder, but I'm feeling
it on my right shoulder.
What's going on here?

(34:43):
Equilibrium is off.
I can't walk straight.
I started to get that backtowards the end and basically
they take my shoulder pads off.
Tell me I'm not going back inthe game and put a neck brace on
me for crushing.
Well, I didn't get carted offthe field, went to the hospital,
walked myself in with thecleats on straight through the
front door of the hospital.
It could have slipped, couldhave made this thing a lot worse
.
Um, but yeah and yeah, I kindof had no idea what was going on

(35:10):
.
I was still in the game.
I was still wanting to knowwhere we were at.
San Diego is a big game for us,because everyone always wanted
to topple them over in our eraof playing, as much as maybe

(35:30):
someone would think.
Like I was a junior at the time, as you kind of pointed out,
johnny, I came back from mysenior year.
But I don't know.
I just think my normal likejoking self was able to focus on
positivity and kind of thepeople around me and you know I
accepted it early on that I knewthis was a serious injury.
By no means am I underminingthe severity of it at all.
I mean, hell, they went inthrough the front of my neck.

(35:53):
I've got a little scar up here.
I mean, the surgery soundedgruesome.
My mom was freaking out.
She's all the way across thecountry and I'm just sitting
there telling her like no,you're good, I'm all right, you
don't have to come.
I felt fine.
I didn't really feel pain andmaybe that's part of it, maybe
it was the adrenaline, I don'tknow.
But I think it's because I knewthings were out of my control

(36:14):
that I just let them happen andthen I just took them one step
at a time.
I didn't really harp on thefact that I was injured.
I didn't let it kind of becomea burden In my head for some
reason.
Deep down I knew I was comingback.
I just I knew I was in goodhands.
I had a great doctor Um, Ithink it was at sharp medical

(36:36):
out in San Diego and you know Ijust again, I just took this to
next step after next step afternext step.
It was first, all right, I gotto get surgery.
Then it was okay, we're goingto fly home.
Got to get in and out first.
That's the lighthearted mentalapproach that I took, instead of
being down and out and pissedoff like, dang it, my season's

(37:01):
done.
The team is set up in a way tocarry on without me.
Same thing at work too.
You could be sick one day andthe team should be set up in a
way for it to carry on.
So I knew I was in good hands.
Now I had to change and take ona different role and I needed
to be that guy that could help,or just there on the sideline

(37:21):
with them.
I made it to every practiceexcept for one right, and I just
took the rehab and every stepalong the way as I needed to,

(37:48):
kind of just stayed happy theentire time.
It wasn't like a magical thing.
I feel like there is some somechoice in your um, mood and your
emotions and I just chose to bepositive.
So I answer every question youhad there, johnny.

(38:09):
Can I answer every question youhad there, johnny?

Jonny Strahl (38:17):
I think you're on mute there.
My friend, I am on mute.
My apologies.
Yes, you answered everythingand I think the main focus is
you just had to be positive,which I think is very critical
and important, so I appreciateyou sharing that.

Kenny Massa (38:33):
Yeah.

Ryan Selimos (38:35):
I think it's a great takeaway, man, because you
know, as someone who and it'sbeen referenced before I feel
like I dealt with withdepression, going through an
injury, and you had every I meanyou broke your neck.
You, you couldn't fucking turnyour shoulders without, you
couldn't turn your neck withoutmoving your entire shoulder,
like you had every reason tocome up with an excuse to sulk,

(38:57):
to have a bad outlook, and you,you did it.
And I think that's one.
I think, if no one takes, ifanyone watches this and that's
the biggest takeaway is just, nomatter your situation, you
control your outlook and as aguy in a neck brace, you know

(39:17):
you're trying to, you're tryingto do college, you're trying to
figure that out.
All your you mentioned.
You're in a fraternity, you'reon a football team, and then you
have a fucking broken neck likeyou could have thrown in the
towel right there.
Nobody would have said a word,no one would have judged you for
it or anything.
And yet there were times whereand then you're the guy picking

(39:38):
people up, You're the guy who'sfinding a way to look at the
positive side of things and youlook at this guy who's trying to
be this positive person.
It's like dudes in a frickingneck brace and it's inspired man
.
So I just want to say thank you.
You were that.
You were a light for me.
You were probably a light for alot of people and I hope that

(40:01):
anyone who does hear this youknow it helps them take a step
back and and you always hearthings aren't as bad as they
seem.
They're also not as good asthey seem, but, but I think you
know your experience is a greatexample of just how your mental
outlook, that mental fortitude,you know you control, you know
how you approach things, and youcan't get a better example than

(40:21):
a guy who broke his neck.

James LaGamma (40:29):
I mean you met your wife with a broken neck.
It doesn't get much better thanthat, no, no, I mean again,
there's things that you can doto kind of help you stay in that
positive mindset and not gointo that dark hole.
I mean, simply put, you can dothings that make you happy.
You have a lot of extra time.

(40:50):
When you're injured or ifyou're going through something,
you can key in on things likehey, I know this makes me happy,
I'm going to go do that,elevate my mood, and then it
carries on, and then you cancarry out that day a little bit
happier.
I remember Adam and I.
We were both hurt at the sametime, so we played video games
together.
We played a whole career, likewhile everyone's on traveling,

(41:12):
we're getting status updatesLike how's the team doing, how's
everyone prepared for the game,and actually I think that was
our best season too, which iswhen I wasn't playing
Correlation.
I think not, but you know wewere both hurt and we got to.

(41:37):
You know, do something that wasfun and kind of lighthearted
and got us out of that funk.
But to that point too, it'slike you want to be around
people, right, be around thepeople that you love.
They help you get throughthings right.
And so, like I had all you guys, I could lean in on the
fraternity.
I was able to lean in on myfamily, I was able to lean in on
the team and that helps.
You've got the training staffand all that stuff going on.
I mean you just kind of have totrust the process, and that can

(42:01):
go for anything.
It doesn't have to be myspecific scenario.
If you trust the process andengage with professionals or
whatever the situation may call,you can enjoy it rather than
just sulking it.
It doesn't all have to be funand games, right, there's
definitely some hard work thatneeds to get put into it.

(42:23):
But there is fun stuffhappening in your life and if
you just let all the sadnesskind of creep in, not only does
it affect you but it affectspeople around you and people you
just let all the you knowsadness kind of creep in, not
only does it affect you butaffects people around you and
people don't want to be aroundyou.
And then and then you know it'sharder for you to get through it
with others.
So again, you kind of have toposition yourself, be patient,

(42:47):
you know, take those incrementalsuccesses as they come, as they
compound into just major stepsforward, or else you can just
keep spiraling out of control,and that's what no one wants for
anybody, in any situation.
That's hard, you know.
Break things down, do thingsthat make you happy.
Those kinds of things make ahuge impact when you're going

(43:08):
through stuff.

Kenny Massa (43:11):
No, that makes sense and you've seen it in many
different case scenarios.
But more so because ofobviously a unique injury that
many people don't experience.
You have the ability to gothrough more challenges than, I
would say, the average justbecause of your perspective.
So your unique view hasdefinitely allowed and your

(43:34):
mentality has allowed you topush forward, and I think that
that doesn't only lead like onand off the football field.
We've been talking about that alot and I think that that
mentality and I have seen it inthe business world a lot that
mentality and I have seen it inthe business world a lot but the

(43:56):
mentality of that athlete thatyou begin to cultivate as a
young person and you get thesemorals and characteristics
instilled into you from an earlyage that you continue to use
and leverage through yourathletic career for many years.
It becomes such a big part ofyou that drives you in many
facets of life, and it has forme and I know for a fact that it

(44:18):
has for many athletes.
But do you use that samementality off the field and in
different circumstances, whetherit be business or family or
relationship, friends, anything?

James LaGamma (44:36):
Yeah, you know, I think the ability to react well
when you're facing a mentalbattle or facing adversity kind
of comes from built upresilience, right, something
that you develop over time.
I mean resilience is basicallybeing flexible and responding in

(45:02):
changing situations, right.
So I mean through parenting,teaching, coaching, friendships,
my environment as a whole.
It's kind of pushed me intothis mode of thinking or
positive, having flexibility,creative thoughts and processes
and behaviors that it just kindof allows me to almost just be

(45:28):
ready to face any obstacle thatmay come in my way.
There's, there's something Ican pull from any of those
factors in in life where maybeit came from football and then I
transitioned it into somethingthat happened, um, in in life
and personal life that you knowI can.
I can take that step back andkind of evaluate and see, okay,
maybe from like a non-biasedperspective, what's going on

(45:51):
here, and then kind of evaluateand choose to be positive, laugh
, smile and kind of lean intothat.
Right, life's going to throwyou a bunch of obstacles.
You have to have the ability tokind of like let it go, know
that it's not in your control,don't let those things define

(46:13):
you and definitely don't let itinhibit who you actually are.
So kind of like that's themantra that I have is, when
something bad happens, don't letit define you right.
Be who you are right, be whoyou are.

(46:33):
And when difficult times strike,you want to be able to show up.
And so once you have thatmental clarity again, you can
show up and be strong for othersor yourself.
And although you may not havethe answers, you slow down, you
take that breath, you ask thequestion, you listen a little
bit, you kind of learn throughevery situation that gets thrown

(46:54):
at you.
Maybe hard to keep a level headat times, but again kind of
comes back to going throughthings with people.
You're never really alone, andso you kind of again you can be
present with family and friendsand support groups or whatever.
Talking about it, I think, hasactually been the most help for
me when I'm going throughsomething I know you know, you

(47:16):
guys have been there for me in alot of my personal battles and
it helps to have those trustingpeople to be able to talk to,
because then you can kind of,you know, get it off your chest,
have that ability to moveforward and move on in a
positive direction.

Kenny Massa (47:35):
Yeah, I like what you said there.
I think that's something thatcomes to mind when you said that
others are likely going throughthe things that you're going
through.
I think that I learned this insports early on, and probably
you did too.
But it's like the chance thatyou're going through something
that some, that no one else hasever experienced, is like

(48:00):
excessively, excessively,excessively minimal.
Like even in your, in the mostdifficult hurdles, whether it be
personal or it might be a groupthing or a business or family
or friends, someone else hasgotten through that and it is
about finding guidance andseeking someone that might be

(48:22):
able to shed light on their waythrough that circumstance,
because one of the best ways tobe educated to move forward
through something is not justbeing educated in and of itself,
but it's by talking withsomeone who has experience in it
, understanding the experiencesthat you've acquired and then

(48:54):
really truly putting to work andliving the things that you have
experienced based off of yourpast Meaning.
You experience something in afootball game and you're like,
oh, wow, it probably isn't thebest thing to freak out about
this case scenario, because wehave seven seconds left on the

(49:15):
clock.
Like me, freaking out isn'tgoing to get the job done, but
me being more strategic and morestructured to do so will maybe
get the job done, and thenyou're really good at applying
those things and using it aslike leverage to move forward.
So I applaud you for that.
That's something that I've seen, especially you keeping your

(49:36):
composure in circumstances thatdon't call for composure, and
dealing with Ryan sometimes isdifficult.

Ryan Selimos (49:46):
I was going to say , dealing with you sometimes is
difficult in terms of composure.
You and I can agree that wehave the least composure out of
the four people on this call.
We'll let James and Johnny dukeout who has the most, but I
think you and I yeah, but hedidn't have to live with you.
We'll have to get into that,into those discussions.
But I will say, you know, livingwith James, you know we've

(50:08):
spent a lot of time together,right, and you hit on it, james.
You know being able to stepback, be a mediator, um, really
hear people out.
I think that's a great takeawayfor individuals, cause we all
deal with problems with thisfamily.
It's friends, whatever.
There has to be that personthat has that, that balanced
mindset, um, and I think you'rethat for us, which is awesome.

(50:30):
Certainly not me, it'scertainly not Kenny, but I think
one thing that goes I don'tknow if it goes unnoticed, and
sometimes it might be stressthat you put on yourself, but
you love vacations, you lovebringing everyone together, but
that comes with a lot of that,can come with stress, that can
bring opinions, and we have alarge friend group.

(50:53):
We've talked about that and youdo a great job of wanting to
manifest moments to bringeveryone together where, whether
it's your lake house, it's acruise, it's whatever trip.
So what's process on yourapproach to being there for
everyone, right by like, whenyou schedule these events, you

(51:17):
always find a way to to ensurethat everyone is taken care of
and I'm just genuinely intriguedbecause the amount of time and
effort and thought process onplanning and saying well, johnny
loves to do this, let's makesure we build that into the trip
.
Well, kenny loves this, we'regoing to make sure that we have
time for that.

(51:37):
I mean, you find a way andprobably overextend yourself a
lot to try to make everyonehappy, and that takes a lot of
effort.
So where does that come from?
Why do you put yourself throughthat stress?
And then how do you managethrough it?

James LaGamma (51:55):
Um, I mean, naturally I gravitate to be
around people and to surroundmyself around people, right, it
always picks up the mood and, nomatter what, any day of the
week, if you're feeling down andyou gave someone a call or you
got around with a group offriends, your mood always
elevates after that.
So, by building these eventsand making sure everybody's

(52:18):
happy to your point, I neverreally, I guess, truly plan it
by myself.
Sometimes we've planned thingswith committee, where there's a
couple of us and we can figureout what we want to do, but a
lot of the times it's justgetting feedback.
You know you can ask peoplelike what do you guys think
about these options?
And then, after deliberation,you know someone has to make a

(52:41):
decision and so then you justkind of gives the you'd make the
decision.
That gives the group the mostopportunity for enjoyment.
But I think the way of lookingat it to make everyone happy or
they're not wasting their moneygoing on this trip or doing this
thing, which is usually the topof mind for me, is I don't want
people to waste their money,their hard-earned money, their

(53:02):
time.
Those are two things that arevery hard to come by, and so I
want everyone to have fun whenthey're getting together with
everyone else.
There's always some element ofwhatever we're doing as a group
that someone will find enjoymentin.
You can take anything, or youcan put a spin on something

(53:24):
anything at all and someone'sgoing to have something that
they like about that thing, alittle element of it, and it may
actually expose them to likethe whole thing in its entirety.
I can use golf, I can use goingout onto the lake or whatever.
You know, I mentioned Adamearlier.
We'll harp on him for a secondhere.
Adam doesn't like bodies ofwater.

(53:48):
He doesn't really he's notcomfortable in that area.
So when he comes to Lake Placid, we go and we post up at the
sandbar so he's not in deepwater, he can see the bottom,
and then he can still enjoyhimself.
Yeah, he still wants to drinkand have fun and stuff, and I
think that ends up edging offhis mood a little bit there.
But that put him in a positionto where he can have enjoyment

(54:10):
and have fun.
And then he's doing.
The thing that he likes to dois hanging out, drinking with
friends, whatever stuff thatwe're doing, and they're
listening to music.
We could be playing spike ball,volleyball, whatever.
There's so many things you canbring to the table to add a
different element to the task athand or whatever thing you're
going to be doing, or whateverthing you're going to be doing,

(54:35):
but not every time are you goingto actually make everyone happy
, and I think you have to comein with that mindset as well.
And so the way I look at it ispeople love three things.
It's very simple when it comesto doing stuff.
They like food, they likelaughing and they like being
around people that they love.
It's pretty easy.

(54:56):
The event itself is just avessel.
The memories make themselves.
We all get together and wecreate those memories.
It's not the actual thing thatwe're doing.
It's however we're acting, whenwe're having fun and hanging
out and doing things togetherlaughing jokes and stuff.

(55:16):
That makes the memory.
It's not that.
Oh, I did this really coolthing.
It's man, we were like 40 of ustogether.
We had a great time, we wereall doing this together.
It all came together and it wasit was just a blast.

Jonny Strahl (55:37):
I love it.
I think you've put togethersome really great events.
James, give yourself a pat onthe back.
All right, I know you're tryingto say a lot of us chip in and
chime in and help out, but 97%of the time.

(56:03):
So we appreciate you andincluding us sometimes on the on
the committee, where we chimein a question.
For you to kind of close thisout here, it's like what are
some of the tactics or what aresome of the things that you're

(56:23):
doing?
I know you're a big individualwho likes to learn right.
What are some of the thingsthat you've taken from an
approach standpoint or reallylooked into that help you with
distress management as a whole?

James LaGamma (56:37):
Yeah, actually I think you helped me with one
thing, johnny, specifically.
Yeah, you kind of put a term tosomething that maybe I was
trying to practice, but that's,uh, you know, seeking to
understand.
So, when you're stressed out,if you kind of take that step
back and and self-reflection, um, you can assess your situation

(57:02):
and then create a plan to kindof lay it all out there and be
like all right, I can tacklethis.
Now it doesn't seem as daunting, right?
Um, as well, as if it's justlike something new to you can
still take that step back, um,and then again plan to choose
that uh, positive outlook, um,I've looked into the breathing

(57:23):
techniques.
I really like the breathingtechniques.
I think they're they're great.
Um, I've, I've done a lot ofthe breathing techniques now in
the mornings to set myself upfor the day.
Usually I'll do that prior togoing to the ice plunge or
something like that, or if I domeditation or stretching or
mobility work or whatever.
I think the breathingtechniques they really get you

(57:46):
in the right mindset, of getsyou in the right mindset.
We've talked about it before onthe podcast.
I think when you're in a highstress environment, doing
something hard can kind of wakeyou up and get you into a better
mental state, doing somethingphysical or mental kind of

(58:12):
combats what's going on.
Even though you're goingthrough something hard, if you
step away from it, do somethingelse that's equally as hard.
You'll come back and realizethis isn't actually that hard.
I think, kenny, when we weretalking about this, you
mentioned how you'd get on likean hour Peloton bike ride.
That's a mental and physicalbattle and then when you get

(58:32):
done with it, you feel goodYou're ready to attack whatever
is ahead of you.
As I mentioned before, focusingon like things that you can
control, that's huge.
You know, don't try to controleverything.
That might actually add morestress to you.
You know, take on the littlesmall things it's kind of part

(58:57):
of that plan and execute portionSmall things before you expand
to the bigger things.
Let them compound a little bit.
Going back to your fundamentalsBack, as I mentioned when I was
kicking, when you're goingthrough hard times you can't
figure something out.
Go back to the fundamentals,fundamentals.
Try different angles.
You never know Differentthought processes, do some
research, whatever A differentway of thinking.

(59:18):
Go talk to a colleague and belike hey, I'm having this
problem, can you help me out.
Here there's people that willhelp you through things.
So I think seeking help,seeking help, seeking to
understand self-reflection, allthese things, um, can really
help you in a stressfulenvironment.
But at the end of the day, yougotta you gotta kind of let let

(59:39):
some things go a little bit kindof to hold on so tight and be
yourself.

Ryan Selimos (59:46):
It's awesome, James.
Just just thank you, man, Thankyou for for kind of taking us,
taking us down this path, takingus down your journey, your
experiences.
I know we hit a lot on football, which is just interesting
because that's probably thething you least want to tie
yourself to, you know, withJohnny, and I Kenny, with the
sports stuff, but you know,again, that perspective is just

(01:00:08):
so unique.
So thank you to kind of send usoff.
You know, for anyone watchingthis, anyone following this,
what's maybe your message toanyone from a mental health
standpoint, and just what's yourmessage to those folks who are
going through tough times orthey're going through those

(01:00:28):
those ups and downs that we allface in the normal day-to-day?

James LaGamma (01:00:35):
Yeah, I don't really claim to be a master of
mental health I'm not anindustry professional at all but
I think all of us are able toreflect on situations in our
lives and kind of draw someconclusions from them on your
mental capacities.
You can learn a lot fromself-evaluation and basically
just continue to grow.

(01:00:56):
Life is always going to haveobstacles.
You're always going to have totry to overcome them and it gets
hard at times.
So when it does get hard, Iguess the biggest thing I could
say as a takeaway from here isthree words Just reach out and

(01:01:17):
say I need or four words I needyour help.
Not I need help is what I wasgoing with before.
But make it more personal.
Go reach out to a person, agroup of people, support groups,
people that have gone throughsimilar or like situations that
you're going through, and you'llbe able to get through it.
On the other side, there'salways light at the end of the

(01:01:38):
tunnel.
Just take those small steps andbe yourself throughout the
whole process.

Kenny Massa (01:01:49):
Awesome.
Well, thank you, jamesames, weappreciate it and uh if only
johnny could.

James LaGamma (01:01:56):
I don't think johnny could have heard that
right, johnny's like I don'tneed this I know.
Hopefully I didn't bore himlike I did garth in previous
episodes.
I appreciate it guys thanks,thanks for letting me chime in
here, awesome well, until nexttime.

Jonny Strahl (01:02:18):
Bender continues.
Stop, bender continues.
Johnny, great you.