The WeCOACH Podcast S5E5 - Enhanced Member Benefits Program Partners - The WeCOACH Podcast

Episode Transcript
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(00:13):
Hello everyone, and welcome to theseason five, Episode five of the Week
Coach podcast, presented by our partnerHuddle on with Sports. Huddle is leveling
the playing field for women in sports, both through the technology they create and
important events like Breakthrough Summit. Cocreated with Week Coach. All podcasts episodes
are inspired by collective input from ourWeek Coach community. Please join us every

(00:37):
two weeks for thought provoking discussions focuson timely topics of national significance impacting the
coaching profession. I'll be your host, Vanessa Fuchs, CEO of Week Coach,
a one of a kind nonprofit dedicatedto offering year round growth and leadership
development to recruit, advance, andretain women coaches and all sports and levels.

(00:58):
This podcast is a co production ofWith Sports and Week Coach. With
Sports is the only global podcast networkfor women's sport. We look forward to
bringing you new shows, dropping everyother Thursday. It's August and from our
week Coach family, we'd like towelcome everyone back to school and we wish
you the very best as another academicyear gets rolling. We hope you benefited

(01:19):
from our podcast two part series dedicatedto July's BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month,
and for August, we're going tofeature sneak previews of our new Week Coach
Member Benefits Partners program, something thatwe are extremely excited about announcing on August
twenty ninth. In our effort tocontinually enhance the member benefits we offer,

(01:40):
we've teamed up with numerous Week Coachpartners to impact and elevate our community of
women coaches. Enhanced member benefits willinclude access to national experts, consultants,
speakers, resources, toolkits, products, and much more. And first up
today our three member Benefits partner whowill give you a glimpse of what's to

(02:02):
come with this new program and whenit launches later this month. Let me
start with introductions and then we'll divein. First guests I want to introduce
is my former NCAA colleague and longtimefriend, Matt Banker, founder of MB
Sports Consulting. After decades working atevery level of intercollegiate athletics, the NCAA

(02:23):
A conference office, and most recentlyon campus at Louisville, Matt is paying
it forward by applying his vast skillsets to benefits to benefit excuse me,
athletics administrators, coaches and student athletes. We'll get into more specifics in just
a bit, but Matt, welcometo the Week Coach Podcast. Thanks for
having me. Vanessa, great tobe here and be part of the Week

(02:43):
Coach program. Our second guest isa very special member of our Week Coach
community, doctor Jen Fry, ownerand CEO of Jen Fry Talks. Jen
is a graduate of our very firstever Women Coaches Academy WCA Class number one.
She spent fifteen years coaching volleyball beforeshe started her career as a social
justice educator, and this is hersecond appearance on The Week Coach Podcast.

(03:07):
So welcome back, Doctor Jenfry.Vanessa, thank you for having me and
family. It's good to be backwith all my Coaching Academy fam love it.
And our third guest, I metthrough one of our Week Coach events
at the Women's Final Four in April, and I was so impressed with her.
I just had to find a wayto get her connected with our community.

(03:28):
Yashika B. Martin, executive coach, speaker and owner of YBM Coaching
Services. Yashika, Welcome to theWeek Coach Podcast. Good morning Vanessa and
the rest of our guests, andhello to the week Coach community out there.
Thank you Chica, and thank youto each one of you for joining
us as partners of week Coach.You know, I debated waiting on asking

(03:53):
this question until we got into morespecifics about what each one of you do,
but I reconsidered I think our membersare really anxious to know, and
so can you each provide a briefhighlight of the types of benefits and services
you're offering our members to impact theirprofessional growth and leadership development. You know,
this partner program includes experts who dowork that positively impact entire athletics department.

(04:17):
So as you touch on your services, maybe also touch on the range
of who you serve in your responses. And we'll start with our very own
doctor Fry. Oh yeah, thankyou. That's a fabulous question. So
I kind of hit it in multitudeof waves. So the first thing is
is that I've worked with from pagethrough twelve to college student athletes, coaches,

(04:42):
staff administrators. I've worked with hairCare ANDIH the government, libraries like
I have had a spectrum of clients, and the things that I focus on
is creating a really excellent foundation whereverwe talk about social justice aspects so within
that means that I come into keynotesworkshop sessions. I also have an amazing

(05:03):
E course that's called an Invisible Manual, which allows folks to do the social
justice work by themselves, both withtheir administrations, their staffs, individually,
or even with their student athletes.And that's a really cool component of it
is that they get to do thework with their student athletes as opposed to
just separately in silos. And thenthe other aspect that I do is I

(05:26):
have this great, great collaborative collaborationwhich is like my baby. It's called
the Sports Equity Collaborative, and Iknow that we'll chat more about that.
That's really meant to give the technicalskills about d EI work, Diversity equity
inclusion work two folks who are inthose positions that might not fully understand what
technical skills that they need to beexcellent d EI consultants, administrators, staff,

(05:49):
or whatever the position is. Thankyou, Janyashika. Oh okay.
So with HYBM coaching, I amoffering two services. They are motivational speaking
and executive coaching. And motivational speakingwill hit just about any level from middle
school to high school to colleges,even working with you know, departmental staffs

(06:15):
in that nature and really enjoy talkingabout things from professional development, leadership development,
but I really like to focus ona lot of self awareness and personal
development. I think that's really keyand touching in a lot of those other
aspects that we look to do andgrow as professionals. And then with our
my executive coaching, you can thinkabout executive coaching as an inquiry based approach

(06:43):
to development that allows for self discoveryand awareness that eventually creates action and growth.
So in one on one sessions withprofessionals, and this would be whether
you are a high school coach,a college coach, or an administrator,
we will will in the work toidentify, define, and strategize on bridging

(07:04):
any gaps that a member may havein their personal, professional and leadership development.
So those that are two key areasthat I am offering my services to
the wee Coach community. And Mattyes, thanks Vanessa. You know,
one thing that I've really enjoyed overthe years is just working with coaches and
administrators in the career sort of consultingeven informally, and really wanted to bring

(07:29):
that to WEE Coach and in particularas coaches are you know, focusing on
their day job, but thinking biggerpicture with what their career aspirations are.
And at the point in time whenthey are you know, pursuing a new
opportunity or get a phone call aboutan opportunity and sort of have to stop
and really revisit sort of that processof pursuing, applying, updating resumes,

(07:55):
you know, going through the interviewprocess, what are the key topics that
universities, for example, are arelooking for. So having been involved with
searches on campus, for example,in a variety of sports, that's one
area I'd love to get involved andhelp coaches who are aspiring and thinking about
the next step. And maybe justeven you know, refresh sessions when you

(08:16):
haven't looked at your resume in awhile, you have you know, updating
your your professional references and just kindof understanding the process of coaching and in
landing that next job. So thatthat's certainly one area I look forward to
to offering to the week coach community. And then also just from an administrative
side of things, having worked inareas like name, image, likeness,

(08:37):
which is one of the more prominentobviously topics and sports these days, especially
at the college level as well asthe high school level, but also recruiting,
advising to parents and club coaches,high school coaches. Kind of how
that process works is another area thatI've I have great, uh, you
know, experience in having worked atthe NSA national office, but also at

(08:58):
the campus level with a variety ofsport programs. So if there's an opportunity
to help and provide sort of perspectiveon those particular areas for the coaches,
and WE Coach definitely excited about doingthat. Amazing and I know that this
is going to be a tremendous benefitto our community. So again, we
can't thank the three of you enoughfor jumping in and saying yes, I

(09:20):
want to continue a little bit morehere with doctor Fry. Have I mentioned
I love saying doctor Fry. Jenjust recently completed her doctoral degree from Michigan
State University. I actually have hergraduation photo proudly displayed on my WE Coach
Wall of Fame. Jen, Beforewe highlight the impact you're currently making in
the world of sports, let's goback to your volleyball coaching days and share

(09:43):
a little bit about your journey toget here. First, I think we
need to make some addendums to whatyou just said. You didn't say it's
the greatest Big ten school in thenation. So I think we need to
make sure we stabilitious. If shethought you came up, this ain't the
time. This ain't the time.As now it is the best Big ten

(10:07):
school in the nation. And aswe know, the Big Ten's about to
have thirty schools, it is thebest Big ten school. So I want
to say then, I also wantto say that my PhD graduation photo is
the anchor of the week. Coachis not just on there, it is
the anchor of the wall. Thatis that is correct, true story.

(10:28):
Okay, just want to make surewe we announced that stuff. So green
go white, so um as Iwas, you know, Vanessa, my
coach and I coached for fifteen years, and I always thought I would be
the coach that coaches for seventy years, and you know, that would be
the only thing that I ever did. And I loved coaching. I loved

(10:50):
coaching because you get to help theseyoung adults figure out their life through sports.
What better way to figure out yourlife than where you're having to war
work with a team, you're havingto figure out your place on a team.
You're having to really understand what itmeans to be a really good teammate.
You have to understand what it meansto be able to help others when
things aren't going well for you.It shows you what it means to have

(11:13):
to maybe put a back seat towhat you want to do for the betterment
of the team. Like it issuch a great learning opportunity. And the
one thing I always say is thatbeing a coach help. The skill set
that being a coach gives you preparesyou for any other career, absolutely,
because you are managing a small companyin some sports a large company, and

(11:35):
so I want especially the members tounderstand your skill set. It's so valuable
and so transferable. And so ifyou're thinking of find the amusing it in
different ways. You can holler itmad about that or Isshika, but like
it is, you have the skilland that's the comfort that when I transferred
out of coaching, I gave myselfthat I was like I used to manage

(11:58):
a small company, working at thisprogram prenair job. This ain't anything compared
to what I had to do,and I loved it. And one of
the reasons I do the work Ido is because I want to give younger
me and younger coaches the skills thatI didn't have that I had to learn
from bumping my notes. And that'sa huge reason why I do the work
is that I'm like man, Ididn't learned about myself. I didn't learn

(12:22):
about cultural competency. I hadn't learnedabout conflict. I didn't learn about all
of these things that I wish Ihad the skills for. And that's why
I do the work that I dois I want to give younger, mid
level and even older coaches skills thatmaybe they weren't taught because they were told
that the X and o's are themost important thing. But the reality is

(12:43):
this coming out of COVID, comingout of George Floyd and OS matter.
But if you don't have the otherwhat some people unfortunately call the soft skills,
if you don't have those skills,your team is not going to be
the team that you want them tobe, and they're not going to be
the team that they want to be. And so that's what I do is
from my experience in coaching, sayingwhat skills did I not have that I

(13:05):
need to have and what skills canI then teach coaches, administrative staff,
student athletes to start building to beexcellent human. I heard a speaker once
say that coaches have the ability tohave the most transformational influence and impact on
the young people that they coach.And you mentioned briefly George Floyd. You

(13:26):
know, in February twenty twenty,when I was at FSU, we were
fortunate to bring you to campus genand the timing could not have been any
more perfect. You were literally thelast speaker, last voice, our staff,
administration, coaches, student athletes hadthe opportunity to learn from, engage
with. Before March twenty twenty happened. COVID shut the world down, We

(13:50):
lost Ahmad Rbury, Brianna Taylor,and then certainly George Floyd was tragically murdered.
You now positively impact the world asport as a social justice educator.
So please talk a little bit aboutJenn Fry talks. Talk also about your
sports Equity collaborative and the approach youtake with this important work. Oh yeah,

(14:11):
like you know, for me,it's helping people build skills, and
I think that's what kind of differentiatesme from other DI speakers, is that
I am really skill based. Whenyou leave my workshop sessions or even my
keynotes, you are leaving with someskills. Some skills it might be hard
to start peeling back and saying,you know, I need to develop the

(14:31):
skill of understanding myself in a morecomplex way. Well, that's still a
skill. That self reflection piece isso big, and so when I talk
about skill based, I really bringeverything back to the person, because we
can't do this work from a distance. We have to keep it really proximal
to ourselves. And so what Imean by that is when I talk about
conflict. You know, one ofthe things I say is that your relationship

(14:52):
to conflict is your culture. Howyou, as an individual a person handles
conflict is a direct correlation of howyour culture is. And many people don't
think about that. So many timesI've talked to coaches who are saying,
you know, my team is thisway, they're that way, and I'm
like, well, it's a directreflection of you. You're recruiting direct reflection,

(15:13):
you're hiring to direct reflection of you. All of those things within the
ecosystem of your staff, your team, your department is a direct reflection,
and that's a hard pill to swallowsome times for people because they want to
kind of distance it, especially ifit's not going the way that they want
it to go. Well, that'snot me, that's this athlete, that's
that it's like, well, no, it's how you handle all of the
aspects, the good and the bad. And so I try and keep this

(15:35):
work really really approximate to people andreally focus on pulling back the layers.
If you see me present, Iwear my hair in an afro. I
usually wear a sleeveless top or ashort sleeve shirt because I want people to
see my full sleeve not because Ipaid a lot for it, you know,
if they at the cost of asmall car my body, but because
I want people to see what beingauthentic looks like. And as well as

(15:58):
pursuing your passion. I think somany times we're told, as public speakers
or as people in the light,you have to have a certain persona and
a certain look. And I wantedto throw that away and say you can
be a professional. You can havea PhD and have a full sleeve tattoo,
and have a nose ring and haveaffro or a mohawk or colored hair
or whatever it is that you vibewith, and so given people the freedom

(16:21):
to be who they are and stillbe quote unquote professional. But the biggest
thing is that I want people leavewith skills, and that's why I create
the Sport Equity Collaborative. It's twelveweeks. It's six weeks to Zoom sessions
and then also six weeks of selfpaced modules and the coals and the goal
is to give skills technical skills.You learn how to create an audit,
how to do an assessment, howto do surveys, how to think about

(16:45):
your organizational culture better, how todo trauma informed di and especially how to
focus on crisis management because people don'tknow what to do until hit the fans,
right, that's when people figure outafterwards. Well, I want to
help you beforehand, say okay,what things can I put in place to
be really proactive so that when itdoes hit the fan, we have some

(17:08):
guardrails in place. And I thinkYeshika and Matt both have come from college
athletics where it's always hitting the fanevery day, and so you learn how
to better handle it after you wentthrough it. But what my goal is
to help you be proactive so thatit doesn't hurt as bad or you don't

(17:29):
make a bunch of mistakes and figureout the right way to do it.
So the Sports Technique Collaborative is reallymeant for people who do who have some
type of di work on their plate, to say, hey, let's keep
you the skills that you need inorder to be excellent at that position and
not have to be bumped on thenose too much and have too many losses
to figure out the right way todo stuff. Well, I can't thank

(17:52):
you enough again for the impact youmade coming to Tallahassee and impacting my FSU
family back in twenty twenty, andthen recently we had the opportunity to go
down to San Antonio to the TexasHigh School Coaches Association Coaching School. Sixteen
thousand boys and girls coaches at thehigh school level were there and had the
benefit of hearing from doctor Fry,engaging with her, and learning from her.

(18:17):
I can't thank you enough for pouringinto their community as well. My
next question, I'd like to openit up for all of our guests and
Yashika will start with you on thisone. But Jen touched a little bit
on what she hopes to achieve withthe schools and coaches, administrators, athletes
she works with. Can you talka little bit about a key takeaway you

(18:37):
hope to get across each time youwork with a client, whether that be
an individual such as a coach oran administrator, or a group such as
a team or staff of people.Yeah, of course. At first,
I want to say, you know, I don't. I don't personally know
Jen. And I mentioned to herearlier that I have been a part of
some of her presentations, whether it'sbeen virtual in person, and I can

(19:00):
tell you listeners out there that evenif you just heard her speak, that
you will get the bang for yourbuck utilizing her services. I've always thoroughly
enjoyed her presentations because they're all sofull of data and information. And I
found myself, uh, you know, taking that information back to my circle
of friends and extending those conversations thatwe have. So I just wanted to

(19:23):
page in some flowers right there andcongratulate you on your doctorate. And um,
you may know my good friend AstonHenderson, so all the time I
got to hear about this whole youknow, go green, go white,
Yeah, same, yeah, yes, yes, that's Vanessa to me too.

(19:44):
You hear all about them go green, yes all the time, flowers
definitely, definitely UM. And Soto answer the question about like takeaways that
I would want UM, you know, clients and members of week Coach to
get when they're working with me.It piggybacks a lot off of what Jen
was talking about. And a lotof the things I like to focus on

(20:04):
is UM. You know, ourpersonal growth. UM. I think we
neglect personal growth a lot when itcomes to our professional development, our career
transition, our leadership development, andwe discount a lot of what we do
from a personal perspective. Our youknow there in our daily lives and how

(20:26):
they play a part in UM.You know our perspectives and our biases and
you know even what we our trajectoryand what we're looking for. So UM,
something you're gonna hear me say alot, and I'm gonna use this
word is that when when I workwith clients, the thing I want them
to walk away with is the beliefof it's possible. You know, I

(20:48):
believe that possibility breeds hope, andhope is what drives us to dream.
Hope is what wills us to tryover and over again. And so I
want each person to know that growthand development is possible regardless of the time
it takes, because we do haveto realize that it is not something that
happens overnight. And so whether youare a coach and administrator, student athlete,

(21:11):
or a support staff, you know, it's important to see possibility in
every circumstance so that you can continueto show up every day and put your
best efforts forward. And I thinkwhen you know, as generous saying,
when you can know what your skillsets are, when you have these skills,
understanding how how how you use themand growing them allows you to to

(21:34):
get through any mistakes that you've made. It allows you to kind of work
through whether you considered be a messup and be vulnerable in those in that
sense. And you know, Vanessa, I believe in my forty something years
on this earth, you know I'veseen possibility and hope sustain people in the
toughness of time. So the conceptof it's possible is something that I want,

(21:57):
you know, clients to take wayfrom every interaction that they have with
me, because if they believe thatit is possible, they're more than likely
willing to put in the work.And so when when we're working together,
when I'm working with you know,clients across the board, that's the one
thing I want them to be motivatedto kind of get out there and actually
take a step towards something that theywant. And I'll get a mike to

(22:19):
the next person who wants to talkabout their takeaways, right, Thanks Yashika
and Vanessa to your question, Um, you know, just about takeaways for
the week coach community. You know, in providing career services, you know,
the big thing for me is recognizingthat coaches are super busy with coaching

(22:41):
and recruiting. Right, it's hardto kind of step back, press pause
and and sort of look at whatyou've accomplished, you know, recalibrate on
the things that are going to beimportant through you know, the interview,
application process, all this sort ofcareer trajectory and opportunities, and kind of
having some assistance and perspective on thatprocess when you're not necessarily thinking about it

(23:06):
every single day. Right. Wecoaches have day jobs to coach and to
educate and to mentor or so youknow, for me that the takeaways that
I would like to provide the weekcoach community UM as as coaches kind of
think about where they want to gowith their careers in particulars to feel prepared
and feel empowered UM when they arelooking at that next opportunity. And you

(23:29):
know that takes some conversation in somesessions to include you know, things like
mock interviews, you know, goingthrough UH cover letters, coaching portfolios,
UM to bigger picture things like coachingphilosophy, recruiting philosophy UM and making sure
the fit is there for that jobthat they may be looking at. So
it's it's both holistic and sort ofpractical and programmatic in terms of the process

(23:56):
itself. But you know, hopingcoaches that I can assist feel that they
are empowered and prepared and have reallyput their best foot forward when they are
putting their name in for a jobopening in this industry. Thank you,
Matt, and we'll stick with youhere for a couple of questions. You
know, I'm super excited when youcalled me for your new endeavor, and

(24:19):
before we dive into that, Ireally want to make sure that our WEE
coach community generally gets an opportunity toget to know our partners to this program
and so give our listeners a bitmore about your background your experience before we
get into your new recent career pivot. Sure thing, And you know,

(24:40):
we had the good fortune of workingtogether years ago at the NSA National Office
and certainly have stayed in touch overthe years. As the college community,
whether you're a coach or an administrator, you know, ends up being kind
of a small community in some waysas you build a network of colleagues and
friends across the country. And soI spent several years at NCAA National Office
up in Indianapolis, uh, youknow, doing everything from working with different

(25:04):
NCAA committees that included some coaches,to you know, helping draft some of
the rules, you know, lookingat waivers for student athletes, um,
you know, kind of ran thegamut to also helping launch the NCAA Eligibility
Center, which handles all the initialeligibility UM certifications both on the academic and
amateurism side. So I was reallythankful to have that experience and also the

(25:27):
many people that I still stay connected, like VESA to this day, that
have stayed in and around you know, college sports and sports in general.
And then from there I've worked ata division one conference office, the Ohio
Valley Conference, and had a greatmentor there in the commissioner, Beth de
Bush, and you know, hada chance to both handle everything from some

(25:48):
compliance and rules education for the leagueto the national letter of intent program,
to helping with our conference championship tournaments, you know, men's and women's tennis,
to men's and women's basketball and others. So had a great experience there
in Nashville at the Ohio Valley Conferencefor a few years, and then found
myself arriving on campus, which wassomething I wanted to do from a career

(26:11):
standpoint, is that I had aunique path of working at the national office
and then a conference office and knewthat I really wanted to be sort of
front and center with student athletes andcoaches and being on campus and had that
opportunity at the University of Louisville,where I spent the last nine years working
both in compliance risk management, butalso as a sport administrator for women's lacrosse,

(26:36):
women's rowing, men's soccer, andhelping on a variety of other topics
of the day, which one webriefly mentioned earlier, certainly name image.
Likeness had a prominent role at UFLhelping develop policies and sort of the operations
around NIL. So I've been reallyfortunate for the career path that I have.
And part of the motivation of gettinginto consulting full time is really feeling

(27:00):
like you've gained these experiences. AndI think Jen and Yashika feel the same
as is you're harnessing some really goodexperiences that you feel you could help others
u in different capacities. And that'skind of what prompted me to to make
this move into consulting full time.So u that that background is kind of
what brought me here, including youknow, running searches for both coaches and

(27:21):
administrative positions at the college level,and that's where I'm certainly bringing that experience
to the table here UM and justreally enjoy it. You know. I
think of many times were informally whileI was at UFL, you know,
coaches would ask for feedback that we'reon our staff and hey, I'm thinking
about the next move and what doyou think and how does this work?

(27:41):
And who's on the search committee andall those good things. Because I had
been sort of on that from theinside out at a university. So um,
I'm excited to get started and tobe helping um, you know,
coaches and administrators kind of figure outtheir path and their preparation for what maybe
their next love it. I lovewhat you said earlier about ensuring that our

(28:03):
women coaches feel prepared and empowered asthey navigate their career journey. And that's
where I think aligning with MB SportsConsulting is going to be so beneficial for
our community. Similar to Jen andNishika, you have recently embarked on launching
your own firm, MB Sports Consultingand a wide variety of services and areas
of expertise that you've shared. Isthere anything else you want to elaborate on

(28:26):
as far as this new endeavor thatyou've taken on and what you're what you're
hoping to do and impact as faras our our week coach women coaches.
You know, one thing that asyou know, our panel today has been
talking that that sort of struck meis really important is the recognition that college

(28:49):
sports high school sports is really evolved. And then I think that's also a
reflection of things certainly as as Jennand Yashika mentioned happening in our society and
community but it's more complex, youknow, being a coach, and certainly
at the college level, so there'sa variety of hats that coaches where and
certainly helping not just again from acareer in job pursuit standpoint, but also

(29:12):
just from a sort of management andmaking sure I don't have blind spots in
my roles. I think is justreally important as something I've really recognized and
saw really the last few years fora variety of reasons. You know,
other things like the pandemic certainly hada significant impact on college sports, so
you know, coaches weren't certainly immuneto any of this, and certainly their

(29:36):
role has evolved from where it wasmaybe five twenty years ago, for sure,
Matt, I want to spend alittle time talking about male allyship.
Here you are on this podcast,you're out numbered three to one by women,

(29:56):
but you know that's not always thecase. In the world of athletics.
It's well known own men hold morepositions at every level of sport,
especially the highest levels of sport,including coaching positions, and we coach,
we feel strongly about the importance andthe role that male allies play and advocating
for and intentionally grooming talented, qualifiedwomen and people of color to have opportunities

(30:18):
to advance in their careers and leadat the highest levels of athletics. One
of your first orders of business withMB Sports Consulting, and I'll never forget
this was you reached out to meand asked, how can we partner with
each other? We Coach and MBSports Consulting, and you wanted to impact
women coaches. So talk about yourdecision to support WE Coach as a partner

(30:40):
and as a male ally. Shareyour experiences and specific examples of what being
a male ally looks like for sure, I mean a super important you know
topic to me. You know,in my experiences, including having had the
chance to work with you know,female coaches at U of L and in
other capacities in my career, isto really find ways to help and advocate

(31:06):
for female coaches that are really goodcandidates, very qualified. And part of
that is just sort of you know, connecting the dots to make sure that
the people who are you know,in those positions of running a search,
um know about great female coaches thatare on the rise, in those who
um you know, could be thehome run higher. And so that's been

(31:27):
important to me. You know,I have the good fortune of working with
you know, our women's growing women'slacrosse in you know, seeing both you
know, at the coaching level andour student athletes, and even the administrative
level, you know, trainers,nutrition staff, sports medicine, our team
physicians, you know a lot ofdifferent roles that females played in the success

(31:51):
of our programs really across the board, men and women's sports was something that
was of particular importance to me.And just helping those women at any level,
whether they're coaching, administrative role,um, you know, and certainly
you know personally having family members andin nieces who have competed in sports at

(32:13):
different levels, and just seeing thatthe importance of the opportunity and being an
allies is really not a difficult thingto do at all, Um, from
where I sit, so, UMthat that's something as I knew, Vanessa,
you took this role with week coacheslike boy, this this seems like
a no brainer. UM. Iknow there's a lot of great female coaches
and administrators out there, and ifI can help them in any way,

(32:35):
shape or form sort of take thatnext step, UM would love to do
it. And that's why I'm here. Well, we appreciate you and you
could you want to add something?Yeah, I actually wanted to jump in
at and I think Matt for um, you know, his words and the
idea of being a male allyship andthe importance of it. I can think
back to when I first graduated fromcollege. Um, Fred Bachelor was a

(33:00):
head coach, took over the programthat I played at Division three school,
and he recruited me, and Ido mean heavily recruited. I kind of
kind of felt like I knew whata Division one after he felt like from
a coaching's perspective, because he wentafter me for four months to be on
his coaching staff with him, andcoaching was not something that I had wanted
to you know, tip my toein at all. And Um, I

(33:22):
now recognized that it was the bestdecision of my life. It was the
thing that put me on this trajectoryto be involved in sport, to be
able to impact young people in sucha way, and through his his tutelage,
um, you know, and justbeing able to see things from his
perspective and watch how he interacted.It was. He was the coach of

(33:43):
a woman's basketball team and so tokind of watch how he interacted with um,
uh you know, our women playersand moving forward in that nation,
and so we'll just kind of um, you know, he got me on
a path to recognize that it's importantto see men support and push and advocate.

(34:04):
And so he was the reason Iended up getting my master's degree.
He was the reason that I stayedand coaching as long as I did.
And he was also the reason thatum, you know, planned to see
that I can begin to make changethrough administration in college athletics. So I
just think it's really important that,as Matt was saying there that uh,
you know, to have that opportunityto um show that support for everyone.

(34:27):
And it was so I'm really givea big shout out to Fred Bachelor who's
at you and mesh coaching the women'steam there. So uh yeah, that's
why I just want to throw mytwo cents in there. Thanks for sharing
that Yeshika and Matt are wee coach. Community welcomes you with open arms,
appreciate the support. It is soimportant that our women are not only learning
from other women, but they're alsogrowing and developing and learning from other men.

(34:51):
Uh, there is room enough foreveryone, and we are at our
best when everyone is represented in theroom. This X one, I'd like
to throw it out to Jen tostart, and then certainly chime in if
others have some thoughts but just wantto talk a little bit. I hear
often from our coaches what challenges theyare facing, and I'm just curious to

(35:14):
hear from your perspective what you thinkmaybe the one biggest challenge coaches face in
their profession today and maybe not onlydiscuss that challenge, but maybe even offer
a strategy for helping our coaches breakthrough. Ooh, that's a hard one.
And if I would have to saythe one challenge that coaches are facing today,

(35:36):
I want to really stress that,like the ton of trauma, that
they are not able to impact becausethey are having to move forward at a
sprint because everyone wants everything to bethe same because of money. And so
they are sitting here coming out ofCOVID, or even still in the middle
of COVID. They're coming out thetransfer poort Nil all of the trauma on

(36:00):
their shoulders and they can't even startto comprehend it because they have to focus
on their team. They're coming outat a time where they were maybe by
themselves, maybe they were caretakers,maybe they were having to be their kids,
teachers. They're having to maybe doit all at once and take care
of other people's kids, help tokeep their team on track, recruit,

(36:23):
watch film, watch games online.All of that trauma they have not been
able to unpack at a level thatcan then help them work on their mental
health. And I think a lotof the mental health focuses on student athletes,
where we should have a lot offocus. But if the leaders and

(36:45):
role models aren't getting the mental healthmental health help that they need, they
are not going to be able tobring them their full selves to work,
to be able then be the bestthat they can to help those those young
adults become great humans. And justevery time I have presented, I see
these coaches and staff with the traumathat's sitting on their shoulders that they have

(37:07):
not been able to touch. Theymaybe had deaths in their families, they
maybe had to deal with really badCOVID with themselves or their family, and
they have not been able to processit. Once essentially the schools have opened
up, it's been fast forward.Whatever happened to you got put in a
box on the shelf, forget aboutit and move on. And so that's

(37:28):
what I think is right now.The biggest challenge is how do I rectify
really what I've been through and focusingon making sure my athletes aren't transfering and
making sure that my athletes are doingwhatever nil stuff that they need, and
and and I have to sit andwake up every day with anxiety of is

(37:51):
Monkey Pops gonna be the new COVID? I have to wake up with anxiety
that my athletes are going to transfer. I don't even have a chance to
talk to them. Am I gonnaworry about the anxiety of recruits saying,
well, these people can give mebetter nil deals and I mean Division one
through three because we have them excellentD two and D three athletes who are
getting nil deals like all of thatstuff, and win and win at the

(38:15):
highest levels because if I don't win, I'm going to be fired. And
a lot of these coaches, especiallyOlympic sports, had to worry about the
stress for two years of potentially beingon furlough or their sport being canceled.
They literally stat up and watching otherschools within their sport canceling their sports and

(38:37):
so there's I might be on thechopping block. Next, what is my
family going to do? What arewe going to do for money? That's
a lot of trauma to have tonavigate and now pretend like it all doesn't
exist so that we could win forour teams. So I say that,
in my opinion, is the biggestis the biggest challenge? Again, you
and I must be on a wavelemphere because that is the exact same thing

(38:59):
that I was thinking when when whenVanessa mentioned that question. And so I'm
not going to go through the wholerigamar role because you hit on just about
every aspect that there could be outthere that our coaches are doing. And
so the thing that I will offeralong the lines of that is that I
think our coaches, even probably asa staff, as a suggestion, should

(39:21):
probably get together and talk about thesethings amongst themselves at least, you know.
Unfortunately, you know, we alwaysa fighting against time, and I
always here, so you know,I don't have enough time and I need
just a time management. And asyou said, there are so many different
directions and so many things that arepulling from them U And one of the

(39:42):
biggest keys in you know that determiningyou know, people go out there.
It's self care. It's understanding thatthat time is probably the most consistent thing
that we have as people. Weall time is always the same, you
know, exactly where it is atthe exact spot. And so it comes
down to our self man management andin order to care for our student athletes,

(40:02):
in order to truly be your bestand be able to give them your
best, uh, you have tobe willing to be a little vulnerable.
And what I mean by that isbeing able to share with your team,
maybe not the details of what's goingon, but letting your team know that,
you know, hey, we twoas humans are going through some things.
We are impacted and affected just thesame way. And so I don't

(40:27):
know if there are organizations out thereor you know, hey, programs such
as we Coach and the things thatthey offer, what we can begin to
offer a space for coaches to comein and not just actually uh, you
know, get the skill sets andthe strategies to kind of deal with that,
but to continue to learn how tobe more vulnerable with their own teams,

(40:49):
because I think it is something thatum, you know, our athletes
need to see that, you know, even as adults, we don't always
have the answers, and we don'twe know we're out always at one percent.
So being willing to be a littlevulnerable, being willing to be more
self aware about your own needs.And then when it comes to asking for
help and using available resources, um, you know, we have to start

(41:13):
using modeling that behavior that we're askingof our athletes, you know, so
we know that our athletes are payingattention, and so when you're trying to,
you know, funnel them towards theresources that are out there, you
know they're paying attention or whether ornot you are utilizing those resources as well,
or how you are handling your business. So I think our athletes listen

(41:35):
to our coaching staffs and sometimes youare you know, their person. And
so the more you can talk aboutthe fact that you might be going through
some trauma, or you might havesome mental health concerns or just some you
know, being overwhelmed, I thinkit can help our student athletes talk about
it more. And I think itmakes it more of a safe space for
your coaching staff. And that goesall the way down to your like your

(41:57):
managers and everybody you have on here. So I completely agree with Jen on
the fact that mental health is areally big, you know, point of
contention with coaches right now. Wewere, yeah, and get a therapists,
Get therapists, Get therapists, getthepist. Yes, get therapists.
You know they have resources on campus. Use the heck out of those resources.

(42:20):
But yeah, I get therapists.We were just in Pittsburgh yesterday for
a regional workshop and when we hadbreakouts, all of the topics were critically
important, but certainly Lisa Auld's roomconnection counseling and coaching. Lisa allD used
to be at pitt as an administratorin student athlete development. She now has
opened up her own practice and herroom was filled to the max both times

(42:49):
we rotated through these breakout sessions.Mental health continues to come up, and
certainly on top of COVID and socialjustice and equality issues that we've seen over
the last couple of years. Yearswe then also have been grieving and mourning
the tragic loss of several student athletesat the collegiate level, certainly a topic
of primary focus and at the forefrontfor our WEE coach community. Yashika,

(43:13):
you touched on how time is sucha limiting factor. So I want to
now spend some time focusing on youand YBM coaching services. You know,
later this month, we're going tohave the opportunity to go to Tuscaloosa and
Yashika and I will have the opportunityto impact the women's staff at the University
of Alabama. And the topic thatYshika will be presenting on is work life

(43:37):
balance, work life integration, harmony. You know, there's this concept has
kind of been renamed so many times, so I'm curious, one, how
do you refer to this concept andcan you give a brief preview of what
you plan to share with the staffand coaches down there at Alabama. Yeah,
so, first of all, Iam so excited about the opportunity to

(44:00):
uh, you know, partner withwe coach and to bring um hopefully a
great message to the women of theUniversity of Alabama later this month. And
so how do I refer to thisidea of work life balance, integration and
harmony. I personally don't believe inthe concept of it that's generally accepted right
to me, I am a semanticsperson, and so the idea of work

(44:23):
life is something that I reject Irather, um, you know, refer
to it as maybe life role balance, because I feel that work life insinuates
that work in life are two separateevents and they aren't. Right. We
have this one life that we haveright now, and it's comprised of many
different roles that we play in ourin our lives and work. It's just

(44:45):
one of those roles that we do, um and uh. The unfortunate thing
is that in each role, weend up playing roles within those roles,
and so that actually becomes the balancingapp So at the Alabama event, be
exploring a lot about that concept throughtwo truths and a lie. And I'm

(45:05):
not going to give those away rightnow because I don't want to spoil the
anticipation for any of our Alabama folkswho might be listening. But you know,
one of the things that really wantto get across and even to our
week coach community, is that Iwant us to believe that there is and
this is Air quotes, the possibilityof balance. However, that balance is

(45:28):
supposed to look different from your peers, you know, depending on what you
got going on in your life.The idea and the talk of balance is
actually it's a subjective word. Youknow, we get we talk about having
it all, and I think thatwe individually get to choose what it and
all really means. So how youmanage those things are going to be important

(45:52):
and it's going to look different.And in today's world, you know,
we do a lot of comparison,so we're always looking at other coach and
you know, or other people inour lives and wondering how are they handling
certain things, And oh, mygosh, they must be great that they
have, um, they have everythingfigured out. And I think you know
all the stuff that Jiner said asfar as um, you know the things

(46:14):
that our coaches have to go through, That in itself should tell you that
no one has it all figured out. And life isn't supposed to be figured
out right, it's a it's athing of Evan flows. And so we'll
talk about that through a little bitas well. And UM, if I
could give any advice to our weakcoach community, I would tell you that,
UM, if you're looking to makesome change in your in your balance,

(46:39):
or your integration, your harmony,whatever word you want to use in
that place, UM, know thatit doesn't have to be one hundred and
eighty degree change right out the gate. You know sometimes that that first step
is more powerful, more effective,and sustaining than the fifteenth steps. So
so look to start small, makethe changes in very small areas, and

(47:00):
I promise you that those little changeswill have big, major impact in your
life and your schedule if you continueto stay true to it, if you
continue to practice it. So that'sjust one of the things that you know.
I'm looking forward to sharing and givensome other strategies when we're at Alabama.

(47:21):
Yeshika, that's a new one forme. I really like it.
Life role balance. I might stealthat or borrow it, so thank you
for that. We'll back up alittle bit. I want to actually talk
some about YBMC, your vision tobe one of the leading coaching firms for
professionals and leaders to connect their passionto action. Sounds like you took a

(47:43):
bit of your own advice and connectedyour passion to action when starting YBMC just
over a year ago. So congratsfirst on your one year anniversary, but
talk about your your comprehensive professional experiences. We were in the acc togein you
spent many years at Clemson and whatled to the inspiration for YBM coaching services.

(48:07):
Well, Vanessa, thank you forthat question. Um. You know,
so prior to last year, Ihad been in higher education and collegiate
athletics for over twenty years, andthat was as an athlete, as I
mentioned earlier, as a Basketball Codewomen's basketball coach. I've been support staff
and um, you know, academicadvising, and I've been a leader,

(48:28):
you know, whether it's been spearheadingcommittees, being on strategic alliances, being
integrated into the campus community even outsideof just athletics, and in that way,
and that's across all division levels,including junior college and professional organizations.
And so one of the things thatI love about sport is that it can

(48:52):
be a bridge. It can bea bridge to different people, experiences,
industries, and places. And sowhen I started YBM coaching h it was
really basically because I find joy inhelping people realize possibilities. Um. I
enjoy inspiring people to be motivated totake action in their lives. And a

(49:15):
lot of a lot of um myfriends, my close circles and stuff would
tell you all the time, youknow, they start throwing out things about
things that they want to do,or they wish and they hope they could
do. Uh they always um,you know I start talking, They're like,
oh god, shit goes Yashika becauseI can't help myself from just letting

(49:35):
people know that, you know,if there's something out there you want to
do, you want to explore thistransition or stagnation that you may be having
in work or in life, thatit is possible to um to pivot right,
it is possible to to explore somethingwithout blowing up everything that you're that
you're currently in and so um that'sbeen a part of who I've been my

(49:57):
entire life, even from a froma kid in so when when I kind
of realized that there was a pathwhere I could use my gift to positively
impact people and create a livelihood,it's like, come on, I signed
me up, get me out ofthis nine to five. Um. You
know, I like the idea ofbeing able to control my schedule and being
able to talk and and expand myreach and impact beyond one campus. Um,

(50:23):
you know, one particular area ofcampus, and now I can um,
you know, touch other campuses andother industries and other coaches and and
just kind of be able to breatheand rejuvenate others UM as well as UH,
you know, working through some thingslike action planning and UM, you

(50:44):
know, increasing confidence and increasing selfawareness and understanding UM your transferable skill sets.
Those are all basic words that we'vewe've all heard and learned, but
very rarely do we actually put thosethings into action. And so, UH,
whenever you're working with me and workingwith UH, especially in an executive

(51:05):
coaching realm, the goal that I'malways trying to do right. I'm not
a counselor, so we're gonna putthat out there first, and I'm not
out here to ask a lot ofwhys. I want to ask a lot
of what in the house. AndI want to always move us, move
you toward the goal that you're thatyou're looking for. So UM, So
it was a kind of a nobrainer to to jump into UM you know
this this realm of entrepreneurship UM andcontinue to connect with the people in the

(51:29):
sports world. You offer expertise ona number of different topics. Is there
any one preferred or favorite topic orworkshop that you enjoy presenting on? Actually
it is, and and again it'sa if you if you you can tell
and what UH, and when Italk that I don't just always talk about

(51:52):
the you know those quick buzzwords thatwe all like to hear. Um.
I don't like to reinvent the will, but I want people to reamagine in
the world what you can use andhow you can use that. And so
one of the things that I enjoyspeaking on. And I'm actually doing a
presentation in November at Clemson University UHwith their with their Women in Business program.
Um, it's it's possibility, right, And you've heard me say this

(52:15):
throughout this path podcast. Um.You know, if we were in a
in a group right now and wewere asked to introduce ourselves, most people
would say things like, Hi,I'm Jane Doe and I've worked at Said
Plays for this long and I lovedogs, or I'm John Doe and and
I'm at the Said Company for youknow, this ex place, and I'm

(52:37):
just happy to be here. Andthen you'll get around to me and I
will stand up and and and sayHi, my name is Yashika. I
am a reader, thinker, jokester, and a possibility and then I would
sit down and it's it's never feltto generate conversation, whether in the moment
or throughout the convention or seminar orwherever we may be. And it's because

(53:00):
I am passionate about believing in possibility. And it helps me when to connect
to coaching clients, and it helpsme when it comes to speaking on topics
like self awareness, professional development,success and failure, you know, self
care, we're talking about work lifebalance. All that has to do with

(53:21):
you believing that the thing you're wantingto achieve is is possible. And so
and when I'm speaking, you getto feel my authenticity and my zeal because
I fully believe in this this conceptand I want other people to know that
they too are a walking, talking, breathing possibility. So at the end

(53:42):
of the day, as a motivationalspeaker, I always want my message to
challenge the audience to think different,feel different, and do different. And
so whenever I get a chance tospeak on the concept of possibility, it
always hits for me. I'm alwaysup for the challenge and it's probably something
I can do on a fly,you know, And I'll do it anywhere.

(54:04):
I give me a Walmart counter,put me in the airport if there's
somebody who's out there, and Ican hear the dejection or this imposter syndrome
or the idea of man I reallywant to but I can't. I'll get
on my soapbox real quick without aproblem. I love it. It's possible,
and thank you for making this relationshipwith WE Coach possible and YBM Coaching

(54:25):
Services. Yashika, I am sograteful that our paths crossed at the Women's
Final four. We like to wrapup each podcast with a question, and
I'll start with Matt if you'd liketo begin, and then others want to
chime in briefly give us your thoughtsand advice. How do we move the
numbers in terms of supporting and increasingwomen coaches in all sports and levels.

(54:46):
Yeah, thanks Vanessa, and thanksfor having me on the podcast today.
You know, I think it's reallyimportant for both coaches who have been in
the industry at any level, whetheryou're a high school coach or college coach,
as well as administrators to be keepingan eye out for rising stars.
I think that's kind of a responsibilitythat we should all have, especially those

(55:07):
who are working at the different schools, universities, and colleges and finding and
mentoring and not just necessarily being thementor for that person, but also finding
other good mentors for them, Ithink is really important and that's going to
help, um, you know,push great female coaches forward and to land
in some of the opportunities in coachingpositions that are out there to increase those

(55:31):
numbers. So I think that's youknow, having been at a campus the
last nine years, that something certainlytook to heart as as I saw different
coaches across different sports trying to figureout, you know, can I make
that leap from assistant coach to coachingor even from an admin position into a
coaching role. UM. And that'sa responsibility you know, certainly we all

(55:52):
share. I'll go ahead and jumpin on that question. UM. You
know, on a previous podcast,when saw her do say this statement,
if she can see her, shecan be her. And I believe that
concept is also applicable in terms ofadministration. You know, it's not only
that we need to have or seemore women at the table with impactful decision

(56:15):
making power, but how can weeducate all our athletes, all genders,
that there are other ways to beinvolved in sport that can lend to them,
supporting, impacting and increasing the numberof women coaches and kind of along
the lines of what Matt said.You know, additionally, how can we
begin to prepare them for coaching readiness? You know, how do we expose

(56:37):
aspiring coaches to the non technical sideof coaching, because we all know that
coaching isn't just ex os and timeouts, right, son, Can they
begin to develop and strengthen the necessaryskills they'll need along the journey to become
in a coach, which I thinkif they if they can develop those skills,

(56:57):
they'll be able to sustain, sustain, sustain in the coaching business longer
once they get in, once theyget their foot in the door. So
I think those are some important thingswe can think about in increasing the number
of women coaches in sport. Man, y'all got to offer some damn childcare.
We cannot expect these women coaches tocoach and not have to be concerned

(57:20):
with childcare, especially how expensive itis they be spending for like two or
three kids, like three four thousanddollars a month. How do you expect
women coaches sustain coaching when that occurs? So I think for me, it's
that schools need to start thinking alot more thoughtful and intentfully about how they
can support women who have kids andto keep them in coaching. They need

(57:45):
to think about that. They needto do some type of partnership with some
daycarees around the area. They needto offer after school programs. Heck,
if they got some type of schooleducation type of thing at their school,
they need a partner with them theylike. The schools that think really intently
about childcare are the ones that Ithink could absolutely continually to increase the number

(58:08):
of women coaches, And as aby product of that, it will then
assist male coaches, LGBT coaches,staff members as men. It will help
people better do their job knowing thatthey are not having to spend two,
three, four or five thousand dollarson childcare or have to say I either

(58:28):
could coach or watch my kids.So I think that's one of the biggest
things I think schools can do tohelp women stay in coaching is childcare.
I think another thing is start togive women coaches the same type of experience
or education that they give male coaches, because what we tend to do is

(58:50):
we tend to silo off coaches andsay, okay, women coaches, you
can only learn from here. Mailcoaches. You get to learn from everywhere.
Nah, send your women coaches tolearn from mail coaches. Because we
are okay with males coaching women,were not okay with women coaching men,
and so we need to start openingup more doors for women coaching men.
And to do that, they needto gain more skills from the men's side.

(59:13):
And so i'd say those are mytwo things. Well said, thank
you for that. We're working rightnow. You mentioned childcare, and obviously
with this we're going to roll outthroughout the year new member benefit partners.
As part of our fiftieth anniversary,we're also rolling out a toolkit for how
administrators best support women in coaching andkeep them in coaching. So, Jen,

(59:35):
a lot of the suggestions you madeor exactly what we're trying to focus
on in this toolkit. But Iwas talking yesterday at our regional workshop with
one of our other partners about theidea of as part of this member benefits
program, is there a national servicethat would be beneficial for our women coaching
community that would offer childcare as theytravel around for recruiting for their different competitive

(01:00:02):
athletic events and team travel. Isthere a national childcare service that we can
partner with so that as our womencoaches are traveling throughout the country, they
have support and can continue to thrivenot only as a mom at home,
but in their coaching career. Sothank you for that. And yes,

(01:00:23):
we know that there's five percent womencoaching men's sports, and we certainly have
a lot of room to grow interms of moving the numbers there. We
are running low on time today,but Matt Doctor Jenfry Yeshika, thank you
so much. Our entire WEE Coachcommunity salutes you, and we are so

(01:00:44):
excited to have you pour your expertiseinto our members as part of our Member
Benefits Partners. Thank you, andtogether we will move the numbers to support
an increase women in coaching. AllRight, we coach community, be on
the lookout. August twenty nine isour Members Benefits Partners announcement. Thank you
for listening to episode five of theWeek Coach podcast, and thank you again

(01:01:06):
to our sponsor, Huddle and productionpartner with Sports. Please join us again
on August twenty five for a sneakpreview of another and long time WE Coach
supporter, also a Benefits Partner programmember, the US Marine Corps will be
joining us and follow us and shareyour comments on Twitter at we coach and
at with sports, or on Facebookat we coach sports and at with Sports.

(01:01:31):
Interested in learning more about any ofour upcoming events, resources, membership
and donor options, please visit ourwebsite at we coach sports dot org.
And until next time, keep movingthe numbers. We teach, we inspire,
we motivate, we lead, Wecoach s

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