Pop Warner’s Tim Glase on Evolution of the Org. & Coaching Challenges

In this episode Greg sits down with Tim Glase, Director of Operations and Development at Pop Warner. The pair discuss the evolution of Pop Warner (10:22), differences in regional & local leagues (23:24) and the challenges of youth sports coaching (42:56).

Greg also answers listener questions (1:03:50).  Rate, review, subscribe and submit your questions on social @YouthInc

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
A playoff start this weekend, sowish us luck.

(00:02):
Hopefully, we hopefully we get rolling here.
Well, yeah, we great to see you down in Orlando to a little bit
later this year and I don't knowfor that.
Good one. What's up everybody?
Welcome back here on another episode of you think presented
by Audio Rama and body armor a lot going on.

(00:26):
We have started tackle football playoffs.
I told you guys last week that I'd give you an update, we had
our first playoff football game,Saturday morning, we won.
We didn't play very well which was disappointing.
We had been really getting better week in week out.
I mean, we won, we won pretty handily, but as you guys have
heard me say Iran, Like the winds take care of themselves.

(00:49):
So like we won, just because we were better than the other team,
but we're going to have to play better throughout the rest of
the playoffs are. We're back to practice tonight
and we got to get back to work. We had some uncharacteristic
mistakes and turnovers and just,you know, just you know, again
there 10, 11 years old, but nonetheless mistakes, that we
hadn't been making up to this point.

(01:10):
So Lot to unpack there. We'll, we'll get back to work
tonight. We gotta have a great week.
We're playing a really good teamfast athletic.
You know, a lot of good players this Saturday in the second
round of the pop warner playoffsand we'll see.
We are we are on a quest to see if we can win a city
Championship. We got some work to do, we have
some, have some tough teams coming up, so that's the update.

(01:33):
They're both my boys played in the big perfect game.
Super, and I tease this past weekend.
My youngest son TJ's team. They made the semifinals they
lost by one run. They had the tying run at second
in the bottom of the last inningand just couldn't quite get him
in, but the boys played pretty well plates.
Again, these entities attract some of the best teams in the

(01:55):
area from, not only North and South Carolina, but there was a
team from Kentucky and my older Sons team in their age division.
So yeah. So my younger my 10, you team.
They went to the semifinals, my older Sons team, they won the
championship. They won every game.
And they played really well, it's probably the best weekend.
They've had this fall to really talented group of kids.

(02:16):
The coach does a great job and so yeah, I was happy for them.
That the boys all felt really good about themselves.
It was good. So it wasn't her.
It was a busy Olsen weekend. We had nine baseball games, And
one tackle football games. So as you can imagine it was a
pretty it was a pretty wild weekend and while all that was

(02:37):
going on, I was in Los Angeles with my daughter.
She came on the road with me this weekend.
I had to La Cowboy game, she came on the road with me and we
had a blast. We went in studio.
I did some of the pregame shows with Fox.
She came in studio with me. She got the runaround with the
hair and makeup girls, and, and Charissa Thompson, and Erin

(02:57):
Andrews. They Her on set.
She got her tick picture taken with Terry Bradshaw and Strahan.
So she was over the moon. And then after that, she came
with me, of course, over to the stadium.
We got to go to that new sofa Stadium out in in La, which is
bananas. That, that stadium is absolutely
incredible to at five billion dollars, get you and got to see
the Cowboys and the Rams. And then yesterday our flight

(03:19):
was canceled and we flew for theentire day and we got home at 7
p.m. So it was a long, but a great
weekend me and her don't get to do a lot of that stuff together.
So for me and her to just be thetwo of us and have his fun
weekend was was awesome. So while we were hanging out on
the west coast, my wife was running the kids around like I
said, 29 baseball games between the two boys over the weekend

(03:40):
and and the early morning Saturday football game.
So just another day in the life of the Youth Sports Experience.
I know a lot of you guys understand that grind, but we're
giving it our best shot. So we have a really cool episode
for you guys today. Tim glaze Tim Tim is the
director of operations. In development for Pop Warner,
you know, Pop Warner being the biggest, you know, youth tackle

(04:02):
football program in the entire world.
All of us, grew up playing it, you know, or at least grew up
around other people, you know, in familiar with it, my kids are
playing it. Now I'm coaching it.
So it was really cool to have Tim kind of give us a little
back story of how Pop Warner came to be some of the
challenges they see in the future, some of their the
opportunities for growth. I was able to ask him a few

(04:23):
questions that I had just from experiencing it now as a as a
coach and as Father. So Tim was great.
I think you guys are going to get a lot out of it and a really
good insight into what is, you know, one of the most
established in the long, you know, longest-running youth,
Athletics organization, not onlyin the country, but in the
world. So, appreciate Tim for coming
on. Thank you also to our sponsor

(04:45):
body armor, body armor. Not only fuels this show, but it
also fuels the craziness in the wild, world of the Olson Sports
Experience. So appreciate body armor for
being a part of this journey. Me with us here at you, think
there's a lot of choices for Sidelines Sports drinks.
Personally, my favorite my kids favorite is body armor, we love

(05:06):
the orange mango, we love the strawberry banana, the kids just
love it. You know, we stopped at a gas
station, you stop at the grocerystore to and from practice or
heading to a game. You pack the cooler.
And now you go get ice at the gas station, dump it in the kids
are, okay Dad you have body armor, dad you have body armor,
they want nothing else. It's just the way they've always
been and it works out good because that's what we have.
So works out, good body. Of course, he's made with

(05:29):
coconut water, B vitamins, and no, artificial sweeteners, and
you guys can go to drink body armor.com for more information.
So, now, please enjoy this conversation with Tim glaze.
First off, I just want to say, thanks, and welcome you to you
think. Oh, I appreciate being here.
I'm looking forward to this conversation.

(05:50):
And yeah, I know people are verypassionate about pop warner.
So fire away with your questionsand we'll go from there.
Yeah, so for anyone who doesn't know which I don't know how
anyone does it, know what pop warner is.
I mean you guys have been aroundfor since what 1938 or
something? I means for a long time, tell
everybody just what it is, what your mission is, maybe a little

(06:11):
bit of the back story of how this league became.
So prominent not only here in America, but throughout the
world, and just kind of inform our listeners who might not be
too familiar with with the mission and works of of Pop
Warner football and exactly whatyou guys do well, the
organization got his start in 1929.
So we're coming up on our 101. Our 100th year is just going to

(06:33):
in a few years, but in 1929, there was an issue in
Philadelphia where a lot of the factory owners were discovering
kids, just being bored and throwing rocks at windows and so
forth. And they came up with an idea.
Hey, how do we occupy these kids?
How do we get them? You know, before,
extracurricular activities were thing?
They decided to create an extracurricular activity for

(06:54):
these kids and it just happened that they convened, the meeting
in the fall. Fall, when football was the
sport of choice for That season.So it started as just a group of
factory owners backing a team ofkids to get them into football
after school, and get them occupied and still develop

(07:16):
character and develop just them socially and academically as
well. Even from the early parts of it.
Then in early, early to mid 30s I believe with 1934, the
legendary coach. Pop Warner, heeds, coach teeth,
come to Philadelphia area, to coach the Temple Owls, he got
involved, he came in to speak toall the kids one day, and by the

(07:38):
end of the end of that meeting, they decided to be called the
pop warner conference and then it just grew from there.
I mean, it just, there was, I think the first, if I remember
correctly, the first big championship game was between a
Philadelphia conference in New York conference and Frank
Sinatra was involved with the New York team somehow, and it
just continued to Just get more notoriety in 1960, Walt Disney

(08:02):
put together but an hour-long film called Meucci and moochie
of Pop Warner football. I'm just explaining the story of
this kid that we really wanted to play football and going
through that whole process. If you ever watch Gilligan's
Island, Alan Hale was the coach of in that film.
So he was the skipper and Gilligan's Island.
So you can find it on YouTube. It's actually pretty fun to

(08:23):
watch, but once, you know, once just Disney, put it on the map,
it just continued. They get more and more success
in grow and so forth. In the mid-70s, we added
cheerleading, we officially recognized cheerleading as a
sport. So we've been we've been at it
going on 100 years. We've evolved as football has
evolved and we continue to evolve as football has continued

(08:46):
to need to evolve. And then we've also evolved as
cheer has gone from basically just, you know, a sideline
activity during football games to a sport in and of itself, but
it's really interesting to History is interesting.
And the fact that we're coming up on 100 years and get the
really look at, hey, where are we now?
And where can we go in the next 100 years?
That's the part where I come in and I'm more excited about that

(09:08):
then but the history is definitely interesting.
It's a long history as a good history and I was fascinated
just reading up on it and how you know the war it started with
some of the age groups were a little older, right?
Some of those Factory kids you started playing.
We're a little bit older than you know the traditional ages we
see today which is pretty much, you know, middle school and
down. So I found the That it was a

(09:29):
story. I wasn't aware of until
preparing to talk to you, so that I just wanted to get your
take on it. But one thing I will say you
mentioned that football has evolved and Pop Warner has
involved. Well, I can testify to that
because in order to coach, right?
So I had to fill out a background check and all this
stuff to coach in the pop warnerLeague here in Charlotte.
And part of that process is going through all these like

(09:50):
online courses and you got to get a certification and not like
anybody can just show up at the practice and just say hey I'm an
assistant coach, I'm a dad, I'm whoever Tim.
I failed. I passed the like first aid part
that was easy. The abuse stuff.
Of course, super important. In today's day, that was, you
know, pretty straightforward hada fit the kids for equipment and

(10:10):
then the last chapter was teaching tackling blocking
taking on ball carriers. Tim, I failed the first like ten
tries that I tried to pass the multiple choice.
So to your point about the game,has evolved, the way I was
taught. And now the way that we're being
educated to teach these kids, It's in such a more safe, in a

(10:30):
more efficient function is a testament to the effort that you
guys are putting in along with Heads Up football and USA and
every football USA and all that.So I can Testify the game has
changed because it changed so much that a guy who's lived his
whole life in it. It took me a lot of studying and
a lot of taking the test over and over to even pass it.

(10:51):
Yeah, and you know, it's from myperspective, we took the game
and we broke it down into developmental phases.
So some of the things that you would do at have historically
done throughout your career and even in your youth, you do those
things later in Pop Warner. So one of the things we did from
a safety standpoint was we removed the three-point stance

(11:12):
that the younger for the youngerages remove kickoffs at the
underage ages. And those are those seem to be
big things that big changes. But when you really look at how
people are executing at that age, you know, typically what we
found and what a lot of Studies have shown is like kids win a
three point stance. The first thing they do at a
younger age, they just stand right up.
It's like they're not really coming out of a three-point

(11:33):
stance, the way you may have done it later in your career and
so forth. And as you develop those those
skills and even kickoffs, I saidthere's there's a definitely a
skill set and an awareness of onthe field to cover a kickoff at
such a young age. So I think from a learning
process, we Just broken it down a little bit to realize that you
can learn different parts of thegame as you develop in the game

(11:57):
itself you don't necessarily I don't think it doesn't seem that
a game for an eight-year-old needs to mimic exactly what a
game for a college or a pro player would have mimicked so I
think of those like yeah, it's smart and not to interrupt you
but it's so that's the age. Wherein wherein 11 you.
So we don't do. We do punt return.
Those are the only two lives special team reps that we get,

(12:19):
you know, you go for, you know, in essence, you An offensive
play to get a extra point. We don't do kickoff kick returns
as you said, but I'll tell you the one benefit aside from just,
the kids aren't, you know, you don't have a kid who can kick
you end up. The problem in practice is when
you have to teach them. All of those things, it's less
time to teach blocking and tackling it's less time to teach
the important foundational skills that these kids can use

(12:42):
and develop on because you're spending so much time.
Trying to get a kickoff team, you're spending so much time
trying to and it's impossible. You just end up spending
Spending so much time in the stuff that doesn't matter.
So I think that's smart from your guy's perspective.
And the other thing, I'll tell you the our approach and just in
my experience now with Pop Warner and just seeing how you
guys educate your coaches, my goal for our kids is we want

(13:05):
their experience now through PopWarner to prepare them to make
their middle school team and then that experience in middle
school, hopefully that Middle School coach is preparing them
to one day play in high school. So for you to sit here, you
know, for you to recognize that the object of Pop Warner the
object, the Datian, what you're doing is to teach these kids
lifelong skills within the game,was the game of football, the

(13:27):
blocking the tackling stance, the understand it.
These now they can carry that stuff forward with them.
And add to it. Add special teams at a
three-point stance. Add different elements of the
game as they get older and more,you know, and they have a
greater ability to handle that. So, I think, just from someone
who's been around football, I think the Baseline kind of
objectives that you're trying tohit at different age, groups are

(13:49):
resonating Yeah, thank you for that feedback.
I now from your perspective, even in a coaching, you
mentioned something really key. There is like it changes.
What you spend your time on. So do you think the trajectory
from adding more fundamental stuff from the blocking and
tackling and not worrying about,you know, kickoffs and so forth
like it? I would assume that you actually

(14:11):
see as a prep, former professional athlete.
That that's a better trajectory for these kids is.
So I think to answer your question, the answer is yes I
think saving coaches. From having to coach, a lot of
extra stuff at this early age kickoff.
Team kickoff return. You got to find the kicker.
You got to teach him new rules. You got it.
It's a lot. Then there's the health and

(14:32):
safety component of it, right? You got kids.
Now, running even further at oneanother on a kickoff.
It, I just think the more time coaches can spend coaching,
tackling blocking fundamentals, had to get in a stance.
What are the rules? What are alignments in base
defense has where two alignmentsand just try additional
offensive sets like learn the elements of the game, they were

(14:53):
going to carry them forward. We have plenty of time to teach
them to special teams to teach them extra points and whatnot.
So I think to your question. Yes.
I think those are all really smart choices that are making it
a lot better for people like me who are out there trying to make
the most of their time coaching.Yeah, it's we talk about the

(15:14):
on-field stuff and I wanted to see you asked earlier about our
mission. We really want to instill.
The fundamentals and the character development so forth,
do these kids can benefit from your experience in football.
It will cheer and dance, not just on the field but off the
field as well. So, you also have to prepare
layer and all the coaching. And to make sure these kids not
only know the sport, but no hat.What they can take from this for

(15:36):
and apply it into their into theregular everyday lives, as it
can because the grow up and so forth.
One of the things that my hit mybackground with pop warner
started, I was with their marketing agency and that I
joined a national office about ayear and a half.
If ago, but one of the benefits I had with being with marketing
agencies, I was barely, nobody really knew me.
I was under the radar, was kind of undercover a little bit, and

(15:59):
one of the one of the most fun I've had over the years, is
being able to go from the hotel and ride a bus through during
our national championship. Super Bowl week, I would ride
the bus with certain teams over to the championship site.
So, I was always impressed by the level of coaching that took
place on the bus. It was just me.

(16:20):
I wouldn't know who I was, but didn't stop them from, you know,
having that time with their kidsto coach them about not just the
game, but about what the game means, what they can apply to
the game. And it was really impressed
because most of the coaches at this level leads to get to the
Super Bowl are really deliberateand intentional about their
craft and it's not just about those X's and O's.

(16:42):
It's about everything else that goes into developing these kids
for just life in general from. So from I guess from what your
what I can take from what you'resaying is, if you kind of
minimize some of the stuff on the X's and O's side, you can
also spend more time really developing the children, the
kids for stuff outside of the football World.

(17:03):
Absolutely. And that's, I would say that's
our biggest approach mean, I, itwas a little, if I'm being
honest, I think when we, when wejoined this group, some of these
kids had played together in lastyear's like Mighty Mites were
now. Junior peewee, my kid had never
played before handful of other kids that never played before we
all kind of came together, we had played Our sports with these
kids. And then we joined it to coach

(17:24):
with some of these other dads and and whatnot.
And I think for some of the other families that had done it
in the past and then, the way wewere going to do it this year.
Starting in the summer, I think,in the beginning, it was a
little eye-opening, right? It was it was hard.
We're asking the kids to do. You know, things that maybe they
weren't used to doing when they were little younger.
A you talked about being age-appropriate as they get

(17:45):
older? A lot of these kids are in 5th
6th grade, you know, a year from.
Now they're trying out for the middle school team.
They're not they're not Babies anymore, right?
So teaching them what football, practice consists of and teach
them what accountability and doing things the right way, and
earning your position, and earning your plate.
I mean, it was. And I, and I think now after,
you know, being in a month or two into the season, I can see

(18:07):
the kids, the light bulbs gone on right?
I can see the Improvement, I cansee the parents really buying
into our style and buying into our approach.
Because in the beginning, it is a little you are taken back by
how hard and demanding Tackle football is you know that first
week in August starting August 1st, around the country.
Every pop warner. Team starts their quote unquote
training camp and we were out there for two and a half hours a

(18:30):
day for five times a week. I mean it.
Yeah. After the first couple days
you're in full pads and it was agrind and it was hard, but I
think the kids are starting to see that football, unlike any
other sport, the lessons, it teaches you in just grit and
toughness and just continuing towork and it's unlike any other
Sport and that's not a knock on those.

(18:50):
Other sports. My kids.
All love them to, it's just footballs just differ and the
lessons to your point, the lessons that it teaches these
kids, in my opinion are unlike anything they can get from
playing another sport. Yeah, it's um, you know, I've
heard you speak and podcast before and one of the things
I've always been curious about as you talked about, I think you
referred to him as the glue guy.The people that really are come

(19:14):
on to the team and they're healthy a benefit to the team in
the locker room off on a side light and so forth.
Is a lot of that stuff, this is me, putting questions, use
those, you played with those players, we played on Dimension.
I think you said player led teams those types of players
when you get that type of playeris a lot of that drawback to the

(19:34):
coaching. They had at the high school ever
at the Youth Level? Is there a direct correlation to
that? You know, I think that's a
really good question and I wouldlike to say yes, I think a
little bit is inherent. I think a little bit is their
upbringing, you know, their nametheir natural personality but I
So much of what we try to get across to the kids on our team
is from the, the selflessness component.

(19:57):
Right along the lines of those glue guys were very rarely the
starting quarterback, they weren't usually the All-Pro
linebacker, they weren't the wide receiver, the running, you
know, they weren't the guy that the cameras were on but they
were doing. They were doing all the dirty
work. They were the Special Teams guy,
they were the backup. You know linebacker.
They were the third down Specialists they but if they had

(20:18):
a role that they really embracedand Brought a great energy and a
great positive. You know kind of contribution to
the locker room. So when I look at that now from
our perspective working with, you know, fifth and sixth
graders, I tell the kids all thetime.
There's one ball on every play. There's one ball and there's 11
kids that are out there. And on defense, there's one ball

(20:39):
and for the most part, you nevergoing to touch it, right?
So of 22, kids on the field, onekids going to get the ball on
every play. How can you contribute to the
team without the ball? All and I think that's a very
simplified version of saying to these kids.
How can you be a part of this team and not worry about
yourself and not just be worriedabout your touchdowns and how

(21:01):
many calories I got? And this kid got more, my coach
needs me to be the best Blocker on this play be the best
blocker. I need to carry out a great fake
as the quarterback and pull someDefenders.
Whatever do that, I get most of my reps playing linebacker.
I get most of my reps playing safety.
I don't play offense, that's ourbe the best version of that kid.
Because that's Your team needs from you like that mentality to

(21:24):
me is kind of getting lost in sports, in my, in my experience
Sports at this age, right. Everyone wants to be able to put
their kids highlight, scoring touchdowns on Instagram and
Tick-Tock and Twitter. We're in a high light based
world where it's is my kids succeeding.
And if the answer is yes, I'm not worried about it and that's
just not how we run our teams that.

(21:44):
It's just it's not how we doing some people don't like it.
Some people buy into it but so Ido I think there's a Lot of
correlation between the lessons,you're taught early on through
Sports and how you carry those, you know, carry that perspective
and lessons, you know, to whatever height you make.
If it's the NFL, if it's high school you know, wherever that
that train stops. But the selflessness of football

(22:06):
is unlike any other Sport and toteach these kids at an early age
who are playing offensive line, and huo maybe only played
defense. That's their role on the team
but they do it. A great job.
They don't play both ways or youknow, maybe you're a kid who's
the back up and Come in and you rotate but you do whatever your
role is maximize it and we try to teach them that and for the

(22:28):
most part our kids do a really nice job with it.
Good. We just one thing that as far as
our core values we don't recognize or keep individual
stats. So we kind of keep the focus on
the team. The only place we get into
recognizing the individual is based on what they do in a
classroom with college scholarships and academic
recognition. But on terms of the football

(22:48):
field, we keep the The individual stats out of it for
it for just for the same things,you just mentioned.
Yeah. So that's why.
I have a question. I have a, my brother-in-law.
I have a nephew. He plays 12, you ball in Central
Florida. So I, we talked to them every
weekend. They're pretty much living the
exact same life that we are. He's a little bit, he's the next
group ahead of us age-wise. But every once in a while,

(23:12):
There's slight differences in like how they run their playoffs
and how we run ours, and how theseason starts versus when our
season starts. I guess.
My question is, is there a regional component to Pop
Warner? That kind of sets, basic rules,
and sets, basic schedules, and timelines in certain areas, or,
or is there like a national liketemplate?
Because I guess my question is, I don't, I don't know the answer

(23:35):
from the people. I talked to, I seem to get like
a little bit of a different experience in Pop Warner based
on where you live. Like, what is the like Parent
Pop Warner handling trying to lay out like a consistent
experience throughout regardlessof where you live.
Well, so the challenge with thatis we in a lot of ways.
We've got a plan backwards because we are a true National
Championship, you win and you move on all the way to Orlando

(24:00):
in terms of the start dates. So we do have some flexibility
because, you know, Florida is very different than
Massachusetts in terms of temperatures and weathers and
opportunities. So, The colder climates, they
may start a week earlier earlierthan in the warmer client warmer
climates, just to be able to getthose games in, in terms of the

(24:22):
playoff structures regionally versus.
Even at the local level, my understanding is, that's really
based on how many teams are available in that particularly
and so forth. So there could be a little
differentiation with that. But conceptually, we're pretty
conceptually it's pretty consistent, I think the schedule
might change. A little bit based on location.

(24:45):
Florida, you know, you can you know, Florida.
You can still be playing comfortable football late
October. You may not have that ability to
do that up in the northern northern states.
It makes sense. That everything flows down to
like, for example, even a regional championships, the
Florida, south east region is able to go a little bit later in

(25:07):
the infinitive into November andsome of our other regions or a
little bit earlier in November, A lot of that's just based on
availability and also on weatherconditions as well.
We can thicken up predict the weather easier in early November
mid-november that he came in late November.
Yeah. And another and another thing
explain to me the divisions. So everyone in our league here

(25:28):
in Charlotte started out. And I guess what?
They call division 2. And then as the season went on
you, we only got our schedule like one week at a time and my,
my thought is they're trying to like pair up evenly matched
teams. Teams as opposed to just like
laying out and tires. We have a billion teams in
Charlotte. Our playoff has 16 teams just in
our city Championship, Playoff, and I think like four or five

(25:51):
teams and I think there's like 20 or something.
Different associations, we have plenty of teams but everyone
started division two but then there's an advantage to being
division one because I guess those teams can advance further
into the Nationals are we can you know division two teams can
only go into Regional. So just accept one so used to
like the Little League World Series right where like you see
and you win. You Ants, explain your version

(26:14):
of the, you know, the Super Bowlthe playoffs as it pertains to
like a true National Championship.
Well, that's a, that's a good question.
It's not the easiest one to answer that guests can simply a
division. One is like for a larger metro
area division to maybe it's for smaller group.

(26:34):
And then there's we have situations where if you win
several years in a row and division to we Can I move the up
to division one? So we do try and strike some
parity that way. I'm a lot of that may be based
on how many kids per Association, obviously, if
you're in a larger metro area, you're going to the theory is

(26:57):
that you're going to be more, wecan have a stronger team than
somebody in a more of a rural area area.
And there you have Division, 1 division 2.
It's kind of similar to how the NCAA is made up between
divisions or fds and FC. I guess you could say.
But so we're very similar to that, but there could be some
variance and how that's how that's managed at the local

(27:19):
level based on some local conditions.
Interesting. Yeah.
And again, I didn't I didn't know it was our first year doing
it. So when our head coach, send an
email to us, he's like, hey, what division do we want to be
in? I was like, where is all the
other teams in Charlotte? And again we have a million
teams in Charlotte. They're all like, you know wreck
associations in their own, right?
I was like, well, let's just play where everybody else is.

(27:40):
So when we get to the The playoffs, we're in this nice,
big 16-team bracket and we'll play it out.
And if you win the city Championship, then I guess you
move on to like a regional whether it's North Carolina or
whatever it is, I said, so let'ssee what that looks like.
But I guess one of the other teams that's pretty good.
They went to division one but they're the only team in their
bracket so they automatically advance to Regionals.

(28:03):
So I don't know. I just didn't, I didn't
understand it. I was like well how do they get
to automatically go if they're just the only team in the
bracket they automatically win like will And then we only have
to beat them, you know? I don't know.
It just didn't make sense. Yeah, it's a good question.
I don't have any. Yeah, it's probably a local
thing. But anyway, I just again, I'm

(28:25):
learning Pop Warner like everybody else is but I want to
change gears, just a little bit and I want to just talk more
just like globally about how yousee the Youth Sports kind of
engine. That's happening.
A big reason why we started thisshow was to kind of explore the
good and a little bit of the ugly.
E of what has Now. Youth Sports has turned into
right, the big business component of it.

(28:45):
And, you know, the way adults have kind of taken over the
scene. What do you guys have pop
warner? When you sit there and evaluate
the landscape again? You guys have been around now
almost 100 years and you've seena lot of change, not so much,
the football part. Thanks.
What have you seen as the challenge?
Is, as far as the parents, the coaching the way, you know,
making sure we still keep this about the kids that like, what

(29:07):
are the challenges that you guys?
See and what are steps that you guys are taking to address it?
I think from a football standpoint, we don't really have
this Challenge on cheer and dance.
But we have to figure out how they work together for our
organization football, just because of the nature of, it
will never be your route. We have were limited to just the
fall and even that tracks with some of the high school rules in

(29:30):
some states. Do you only play in the fall
tackle? Anyway, so it's makes it
challenging for us. When you see some of these other
sports build, a year-round modelwhen you get somebody into Ring
and you want to keep them through all year round.
So what we're trying to impress upon as getting back to getting
like really going challenging, the idea of sports

(29:53):
specialization and really going back to say look you want to see
you want to play a lot of different sports and we hope you
forgive football, a try and in the in the fall that's been a
big thing of ours right now. Because, you know, we are only a
fall season for football, cheer and dance.
We have expanded the The calendar for the year round,

(30:15):
what we have to do better, or have to do more of that regard,
is create more opportunities in the spring for our cheerleaders
and answers. So we're working towards that.
The bigger the bigger issue is in, this is kind of what I'm
going through a process right now with our team is, as a
governing body, we have to figure out what it is that we
do. What the value is that we bring,

(30:36):
right? So we talked about all the rule
changes and evolving the game offootball and we did.
Very similarly, on, Sharon dance, as well and with the kid
that kid in mind with safety in mind, but at the national office
and even with a regional management team, the people that
were closest to our the league administrators Association
presidents and volunteers developers in general coaches

(30:59):
like what do we do to make theirlives easier?
And I think that's the biggest question that we're asking and
we don't really have all the answers yet, but we're going
through that process and figuring out what it is.
What does it mean to be a governing body?
That Have an impact in a value on these leaves, in the
association's, what kind of benefits and resources?
Can we bring to the table? What can we do to make all these

(31:20):
people's lives, a little bit easier as your coach as well?
You're a parent as well. I'm sure you're running around
with your kids and it's just hard to manage your kids
schedule. Maybe you're coaching schedule,
then you layer in all the volunteer work, all the
administrative stuff and everything that's typically also
parents. You know, how do we free them up
a little bit? That's been more time with With

(31:42):
the, with their kids with in that in that environment.
So that's something that we're looking at.
Right now that the the raised the increase in technology and
some of the things that are available to people from
different solutions and so forth, roster Solutions,
registration Solutions. Really make forces us to rethink
where we step in as a governing body.

(32:04):
If used to be several years ago,it was you had to come through a
pop warner, just to get, you know, your how-to manual in
terms of how to do it. But It's just different now with
the rise of the internet and so forth.
And you know what? It means to be a part of Pop
Warner. So we're going through that
process right now and trying to figure out, you know, how we can
better position ourselves for the next 100 years.

(32:26):
And I'm excited about it becauseit's, it really puts us in a
position to be more member focused, more resource driven
and I think I think we're kind of on the cusp of that right
now. Yeah, in the sports
specialization piece is really interesting.
You know, my oldest son, plays plays baseball and the team.

(32:48):
He's on plays fall baseball and seven of the seven of the boys
that are on the baseball team. It's a very like competitive
through the spring in the summerthey play they travel around the
country. It's like a very competitive
baseball team but seven of the twelve of the Thirteen boys play
on our football team. So this fall has been a really
interesting kind of experiment for all the families were all

(33:09):
kind of living it together. Where half the team of baseball
is just playing baseball, right?So, their whole fall is open.
They play baseball year-round and and it's great.
And then, for the other half, they don't want to lose out on
playing on the baseball team. They don't want to lose their
spot. They don't want to fall behind,
but they really want to play football is, right?
So, we're trying to make this work, but I can tell you if you

(33:30):
don't have parents and kids thatare really, really committed to
playing both, I can see. Now, why people just pick one.
Picking one is just easier. So I guess my question to you is
like in the in regards to that Sports specialization like is
that your biggest challenge as far as getting kids out to play
tackle football? Of course we all know the

(33:50):
elephant in the room is the safety concerns which we can
dive into here in a little bit, I think are very overblown but
like is that year-round travel baseball, travel basketball
lacrosse, your soccer like, is that your biggest challenge or
is it what we all hear in the news every day that you know,
the biggest challenge for youth sports?
Youth tackle football is the health concerns?

(34:15):
I think it's definitely one of our bigger challenge to help
concerns. In my opinion is is definitely a
concern. We can't we can't avoid that but
I can tell you this year we're seeing I don't know the total
numbers yet but we're projectingthat.
We're adding about 10% a player stop, so that's really good.
So we're seeing a good wave of growth in that regard.

(34:38):
The and that's really got the association level Associated
that it really us adding more The association that any more
kids. So for some reason, for a lot of
reasons football is coming back,is keeps getting more interest
now and we're seeing that in thenumbers, I'm I would predict
that once all the numbers come in through a doubt, the entire
category football, all of you football is going to be up for

(35:01):
the first time in a while. So that's a, that's a promising
thing. And I think a lot of that reason
is because we've done a pretty good job of really stemming
those safety issues. Not just in terms of the what
we've done from a rules for sure.
Effective in terms of the three-point stance for
elimination and kick off elimination and some of the
rules we have in terms of havinghow much contact you can have

(35:23):
during a practice during your divorce during your practices
and games and so forth, that's definitely helps.
But we're also seeing a lot lesscoverage.
A lot less media coverage of theissue of safety and a lot of
that is because over time I think it's been you basically
have said earlier than you thinkit's overblown I think it's

(35:44):
Laying the idea that it is a little overblown but that's
really that's, that's the best good word to use.
For this overblown, we still recognize that we need to make
advancements in safety and we continue to do that.
But yeah, I think the dose do things for specialization as
well as safety or probably two of the things that we have to

(36:05):
look at. One of the things that we, we
have the response to the safety side in terms of, you know,
making the game safer. And so forth, the response for
sports specialization. One of the responses we cannot
do is just add strength a football.
That's a step that we're not, we're not going.
So that's been that's been another issue.

(36:28):
And then the other part of it isin Spring, you do have a lot of
flag football. You have a lot of 707 coming up
and so forth, limited tackle. So that does exist in this, in
the spring, but the flag football and the tackle football
crowd. Of the administration of it
seemed to be very different but the experience of it.

(36:50):
The Gateway from flag, to tacklefrom tackle, back the flag.
At least getting these kids playing some level of football
is definitely available to them all year round.
Just not tackle in the spring. Yeah, and that's a non-starter,
you can't do tackle your around anyone, that's clamor.
I can't even imagine, people areeven pushing for that, and if
they are, they need to take a step back and not be heavily

(37:10):
involved, because that's a nightmare.
But, you know, but along those lines, the biggest challenge.
I've always thought football hadaside from, just being hard,
right? Sometimes kids just don't like
things that are hard. The thing that football has
going against it that the other sports, especially nowadays is,
it's the only Sports these kids practic dude, where they
practice more than they play, right?

(37:32):
When you play travel baseball and travel across and you play
56 games a weekend, you may practice once or twice during
the week, but then every week and your plan five or six games,
it's a blast in football for every one game we We practice
three times. And then you get one crack on
Saturday and then it's back to work on Tuesday again.
So, like, for these kids that are doing these other sports

(37:54):
experiences, because we've gotten so game Centric,
everything's at ornament, everything's a showcase, the
idea of practice and developing skills, and developing
foundational platforms that theycan build off of as they get
older and develop have been completely abandoned in the
other sports, right? And I think a big reason for

(38:15):
that and it's kind of segues into my next question.
Is a lot of that is just coaching priority, right?
I think so much of coaching priority in today's youth
sports. Landscape is so much on
acquisition of players, if my team's not winning.
It's just because I don't have enough good players.
And if I need to play as many games as I can, to show my
record to show how good of a coach I am, and the development

(38:38):
of the kids in the skill work and the training, and the
foundation is lost. The great coaches that I've been
around that, my kids have playedfor and what not, they
understand that they understand how important these early years
of laying that foundation and learning the skill and learning
the fundamentals are to their long-term growth.

(38:58):
How do you guys attract more developmentally minded coaches
into the pop warner kind of Chain versus the coaches who the
only thing they can stand, they're worried about is their
record when they're advancing towhat championship.
And if this kids not good, he Put on the three team, that's
another whole thing that I couldgo into.
That drives me insane. We're like some of these

(39:21):
leagues. They have like one or two and a
three and all the best kids get put on one and then two and
three get left behind and then they go around and they beat
everybody. I'm like well yeah no shit you
hand-picked the best? 20 kids in your Association
benefits, a whole different argument.
How do we find more coaches thatare into, developing the
foundation and the fundamentals for these kids versus worrying

(39:42):
about just finding new better players.
Because it's easier than teaching the ones that I have.
Well I think that's that's a good question.
I think there's two things there.
I mean is you sports right now? It's it's sometime.
If you're in some, in some areas, it's hard enough to find
coaches and general. So, we need to figure out just
get coaches in and then Beggars campus.

(40:03):
Sometimes Beggars. Can't be choosers, right?
Yeah, I get it. But going back to what I had.
Previously said it mean in termsof us being in the National
governing body be able to do those create those resources and
benefits. I think it's it, can we Take it
on, take, on a role where we help coaches.
We end up developing coaches to a certain degree to get to the

(40:24):
point where you just mentioned in terms of it's more about the
development and the fundamentalsand so forth, less about the
less about the record and all the games play.
Sometimes that's just a communication issue.
This us being able to communicate it appropriately and
so forth. And I know several years ago I
was on a start-up Sports Resort project and one of the that we

(40:45):
had to go into is looking at soccer and one of the things you
may want to look at it. If this is going back to melee
2012. But you know, soccer had that
issue was they were they compared the American soccer is
always compared to European soccer and what they had found,
what they were starting to argueat least in 2012 ish.
Was that one of the reasons why we lag behind the Europeans as
we play we did nothing but play games and it's all games and no

(41:08):
fundamentals and so forth. To the point where the I think
the advisement was player tournaments every other week,
And and then focus on development in between.
So I kind of take that in terms of and apply it to what we do
here in terms of, you know, the development is so important to
the safety aspect of it. You have to be ready for that
game. So we're always going to be more

(41:31):
development and more practice and more and more than anything.
Then again and it how that translates to life is, you have
to be constantly have to be prepared for opportunities, and
preparedness passed out way all the opportunities because
they're usually few and far in between some times.
So I don't know how the answer your question in terms of how
you get coaches to think that way.

(41:53):
That's a really. That's a good question.
I think it kind of starts with some communication that we just
have to until someone has to coach.
The coach has good, we can really look in terms of making
some strides in that area, but we see it as well.
We see, I'm sure of you follow some of the forums and message
boards around popcorn around youth football for all out there

(42:14):
and there Go anywhere. They'll go they'll travel three
states away per game. I don't know if we're going to
completely eliminate that but I think we can influence it for
sure. Yeah.
And we all know the reason there's a few reasons why nobody
wants to coach and in this isn'ta pop warner.
This is just a youth sports landscape issue, right now, it
doesn't, you could pick the sport male, female doesn't

(42:35):
matter. It's happening in every one,
every one of them so many qualified coaches who really
have something to bring. They have an understanding, they
have a passion, they haven't. Experience, whatever it is that
they could bring to a coaching staff.
And as a by-product bring to these young kids, they shy away
from because, sometimes the experience as a coach, there's

(42:55):
nights where I come home after coaching all day, everyone
else's kids, but, and I say to myself, is this worth the
aggravation? Is it worth the emails?
Is it worth the complaining? Is it worth the whispering in
the bleachers? And you know what?
A lot of coaches say? It's not worth it.
I'm going to coach my kid. I'm not gonna deal with all the
nonsense. Sense of all the parents, no

(43:16):
one. Appreciate, you know, not
knowing a lot of people appreciate it, but the ones who
don't or the loudest of the group and we're pushing away,
parents moms dads non-parents, who just really qualified people
who really have a passion for helping young kids, learn these
lessons, and learn these Sports because so much of the
experience of being a youth coach right now sucks.

(43:39):
And that's just the fact of the matter and it sucks because of
the other adults, it doesn't suck as the kids, the kids are
great. How do we?
And I don't know if you had the answer this, we've been
searching for this now for six months.
Now, in this podcast, How do we get parents to let coaches coach
and understand that they're volunteers and that they're

(43:59):
doing the best they can? And the more we rip these
coaches the less coaches there are and we're gonna have to
settle for inferior ones. Guess I think a question we're
all struggling with. I know it's hard.
I don't know. One has it.
No one has that answer but to methat's that's the answer to fix
all of this. Yeah, no.

(44:22):
Well it's Yeah, we've talked about it a lot internally about,
you know, how we we, we have a growth mindset.
We want to grow pot morning, what everyone playing the part,
we want to brand and the plate of hot water.
Bring it takes a certain coach to be able to come and break
some of their our fundamentals, and our values, and so forth.

(44:43):
I'm so, we typically attracted ish to track coaches, that are
already, you know, a step in thedirection that you're hoping
coaches, get to. So, that's been a benefit for
us, but we still, we still see it a little bit one.
I've experienced in my just being around you Sports in
general. Is it's usually cultural.

(45:03):
If there's a what I've noticed that on a baseball field even
football or on a soccer field isif what you're explaining, if
there's one bad parent or one parent or what a group of
parents on a team, it's usually that whole team and then there's
different teams that are like model teams that you wish to
wish you would do. And it's just seems like if we

(45:24):
can change the culture of each team, At least influence the
culture of each team. You could eliminate a lot of
that stuff. And I've actually my start with
the coaching not necessarily theparents.
I don't know really, that's the Silver Bullet to that, but it's
going to be a question. I think we're going to be asking
for, for quite a while. We are bad at, we benefit up hot
water Beast because of, you know, the value system we have

(45:47):
in a spouse that we kind of don't see it as often as we
might in the general, see, Sports landscape.
So we benefit from that regard. I think that again I didn't
expect you to have the magic answer if you did you'd be a
hero but you know these are justsome of the frustrations on the
ground that I hear from other guys that are coaching other

(46:07):
moms dads that are coaching teams or it's like I would love
to do it and I think I'd be ableto bring a lot to these kids.
I just don't want to deal with the aggregation and that's to me
that's such a shame right? Like we're taking such great
resources away from these kids and great opportunities for them
to learn and to grow and developbecause the adults are tired of
the other. Adults and it just it never a

(46:29):
regardless of the sport. It's the it's stood the test of
time, you know, when you look atthe landscape of football, you
know, through the youth footballlens, I'm not asking to evaluate
what the NFL wants to do or anything.
Like where do you see the futureof it?
Like where do you see Pop Warner's greatest opportunity
right? We talked a lot about some
challenges and some things you're working through but like

(46:49):
what is the greatest opportunitythat you guys have your the
you're the largest, you know, football brand for kids in the
world. You guys have so many positives,
we're living it. Now you guys do a great job like
where are still some of the untapped opportunities that you
guys have in that. Make you guys excited about, you
know, as you mentioned this nexthundred years.
Well, one thing that I think we're going to have to get a

(47:11):
little bit. We have to make some strides on
is just our value proposition for leads and associations.
I think that's where we can makethe work.
You make a lot of effort going forward, just making sure that
people want to be a part of Pop water.
We have a great. We have a great story to tell,
we would great structure in place.
We also see opportunities to getinside the flag part as well as

(47:37):
rookie tackle and some of the developmental process in terms
of how people engage with football, we are primarily a
tackle program, but I do think we can get into some of the
areas and be more of a, I would call like a maybe 360 version of
football including components offly.
Components of rookie tackle, developmental, programming

(48:00):
death. We've done that.
A little bit with the USA Football just kind of bridge
from flag off. The tackle, There's an
opportunity with that as well. I think there's a lot of growth
prospects for us. It's we're very unique in a
sense that we have a true National Championship that
people do like and enjoy. But we want to sit there and be

(48:22):
a little more engaging at the very at the very local level,
and not be so focused. Gaston like what we do from a
national perspective and the more we do that, I think the
biggest it was our biggest growth.
And our biggest opportunity is just really engaging with
solving some of the issues at the local level.
I'm issues that we're trying to identify right now and going
through a process of learning a little bit more about the pain

(48:45):
points of Administrators and so forth.
So that's the part. I'm excited about and I think
that from a governing body, I think that's the part that we
have to really embrace them. Terms of setting us up for the
next one. Deers.
What's rookie tackle? The rookie tackle was a program
that USA Football devised a few years ago and we partner with
them on that. It's just a modified version of

(49:07):
tackle, it kind of sits between your flag environment, your flag
experience, and, and your tasselexperience, and it's on a
modified smaller field, a smaller team sizes, but they
are, they're implementing a lot of the taco, taco type of
football, but just at a reduced,a different set of rules.

(49:29):
So it's full tackle like they'rehitting each other blocking.
Tackling take it into the ground, they're wearing helmets
the so we're footpads. Mega interesting.
I never heard that before. Yeah.
It's um we piloted it, I believein Austin Texas that we had some
success down there and say something we offer and a lot of
times the our groups want to go straight to the stereotypical

(49:51):
Taco programs. But yeah, you know, we think
that's a that's a little bit of a It's a good bridge between
tackle and flag. So I thrust, I think we're well
poised to continue Pop Warner for into the future and so
forth. I'm excited about it.
I'm excited about some of the things that we can do from
governing body perspective and Ithink seeing the numbers of kids

(50:15):
come back to the sport this yearin terms of our growth and kids
is very promising, you know, theNFL got their agenda but they're
always going to be. They're going to be the the
biggest sport in the country fora long time yet.
So we're always going to have that.
I know their interests are and it is to really develop not just
a game that just developed tackle or flag for the future

(50:38):
NFL player, but it's a futile Thing Future fan as well.
Total. Yeah, that's a huge part of it.
Yeah. Be most fans part as an adult,
played the game as a kid so we just want to get more kids
exposed to the game flag, tackleanything modified.
So We're good. We're good shape.
Yeah, and I'll tell you another thing that I think leads, I

(51:00):
think this is a complex reason. Why be mentioned so many kids
coming back. I mean, I even just look how
many kids are in our age. Group are 11 you at our
association. We have 311 you teams just in
one age group at one Association.
Like I said, there's 20 some oddof them in town.
We have like 70 something kids just in our age group between

(51:21):
the three teams each team has like we have 24.
The other two teams are somewhere in the Yes.
I mean, so to your point I thinka big reason for that is a
couple years ago when you guys got, don't got more age base and
you got away from some of the weight class stuff I think kids
are bigger. Now, they're more physical, for
whatever reason, kids did not look like this when I grew up
playing football, but the kids now that maybe in years past

(51:45):
when there was weight limits hadto wait till High School to play
football or wait till their middle school if they had them.
I think that's another good thing that you guys did where
you open the doors to everyone said, okay we're going to play
by our age now. No more older light.
Are no more having to make smallkids play up against older kids
just because they're a little bigger.
I think that's also a bigger reason why I think the
participation has gotten a little bit.

(52:05):
I think that was a good adjustment to encourage bigger
kids that they don't have to be punished for being bigger kids.
They can still experience the sport just like everybody else.
Yeah, no. We've seen definitely strides on
that. We see a lot of Associates are
leagues, being able to add associations because of our
moved age-based. But in terms of being able to
retain kids would also has done is it's kept.

(52:26):
Friends together, they can come up and they can experience a
sport from together. There's, there's no growth spurt
that moves you from one team to another.
Yep. So that's what we're seeing some
dividends on that as well. And we've seen anecdotally and
we've seen in the statistics as well.
Yeah. All right.
Before I let you go, I am going to make one suggestion box.
That's small. It's small, but it's something

(52:48):
that we found and I just want totalk through it and you tell me
if I'm wrong. So you have your mercy rules
right in baseball if you're up by 8.
After four Innings, the game is over, right?
But in football, as you're not going to cancel the game at
Halftime. So you guys rightfully.
So there's rules in place. If once you get up by 28, you
can't throw. That's obvious the part that

(53:10):
we're struggling with. We've had a couple games we're
at halftime, not even half time you get up by, you know, four
touchdowns, right? Which in 11, you football can
happen pretty quickly. Your you have to run the ball
between the tackles, okay? So just hear me out on this.
We love in those games because we get a chance to play a lot of
kids, a lot of reps in the second half, who may be in some

(53:32):
of the closer games don't play as much, right?
There's minimum play requirements and all that.
So they're a little closer to those minimum plays but what
happens is especially with the offensive lineman, when we're up
by a lot, and we have to turn the ball and hand the ball off
to a running back and run between the tackles the entire
Stadium knows. That's all you're allowed to do.
You can't throw and you can't run outside, so it's twofold.

(53:55):
I could only give the ball to myrunning back and they have 11
kids standing over the center and it's tackling practice.
So, what do I do? I say, well, I'm not going to
get my running back her. I'm going to keep my starting
offensive lineman in. So, in a whole half of the game,
we're all these other kids couldbe getting a ton of reps at
offensive, line, blocking and all that, because we can run our
whole offense. I don't want to throw it.

(54:15):
I'm not looking to run the scoreup, but just to be able to
function, it really limits how you can develop The rest of your
roster because of those rules. So that's my feedback to you
guys. I understand the nature of the
rule, but I think it actually works counterproductive to some
of the development of the rosterwho might not get as much

(54:37):
playing time in the closer games.
Now, that's good feedback. I've heard similar in the past.
One thing I can say about that. Rule is everybody understands
the need for it. Everybody agrees for the me
poorly, where the differences are, like, what it looks like,
and how we implement it. So, absolutely.
That's always under review and it's safety thing, right?

(54:59):
Like to me, it's a safety thing.If, for the next two quarters, I
got to put Johnny at running back and say, hey, Johnny, all
we're allowed to do is turn around and hand it to you and
you have to run straight. And by the way, they know that,
and they're just going to tackleyou for the next two quarters.
The poor kid looks at me, he's like, well, I don't want to do
that, right? Like to me, it's a safety

(55:22):
mechanism and then to protect the kid with the ball, you keep
your better blockers in and thenyou keep your better blockers in
and the kids, your backups are now standing on the sidelines.
No. Understood.
Now we can think back, take thatback to her board and that's
one. That's my one observation.
I've again in closing, I think alot of the rules.
You guys haven't placed your great again.
We've only experience it at the 11:00 news so we'll move up and

(55:44):
continue to experience it at different levels.
But I think the rule is in place, I think the training for
the coaches. Although, this coach admittedly
struggled with some of the new age techniques, it was a good
education. It was a good re-education for
me as someone who grew up in learn the game, you know, as a
kid in the early 90s where was very different?
We were, we were taught a very different style of Youth

(56:06):
Football that I, you know, in essence played the rest of my
life. It was a good re-education, it
was a good reset. It's been a good introduction
for my own son and the other 20 some-odd kids that we coach,
Ouch. So I tip your cap to you guys.
I think you guys are trying to give these kids a really good
product as anything know there'sno perfect system.
But so far, our experience has been good.

(56:27):
I'm hoping our playoff start this weekend so wish us luck.
Hopefully we hopefully we get rolling here.
Well yeah, we great to see you down in Orlando to a little bit
later this year and I don't knowfor that.
Good. Well we'll see what the problem
is. We're in division two.
Oh yeah, so every the whole everyone in Charlotte was in
division. Until last week and they sent

(56:48):
out the bracket for this upcoming, Saturday is games and
one team moved up to division one.
They were undefeated. They're the only team that we
had lost to Week 1 and then the rest of us are just where we've
been the whole year, but no one ever likes said anything to us.
Like you want to move on? So my understanding is we can
only go to Regionals if we won like the city Championship which

(57:09):
I don't know if we can win that.Anyway.
Yeah we'll see. Well good luck to you.
Hey look one more thing. Try was really, really
appreciative of You guys gettingthe teams on the field during
the preseason game at the Panthers.
That was fun. I thought it was great.
Good exposure for us. We enjoyed it.
So and it particularly having the cheerleaders on the
sidelines was great as well. So, I but the question I had for

(57:29):
you on that was like, we see from the kids standpoint, like
what was it like for the kids tobe on that field in that
environment? Well, it's funny you ask.
So for the kids it was a blast. They they were very nervous.
I would all be honest. I think we were all a little
nervous, right? Like That was Art.
We had never, we hadn't had a game yet.
That was like, our the next day,the next morning was opening

(57:52):
opening day so we had yet to play our kids and like a live
environment. So that in itself, there's a lot
of unknowns like, alright, we'vebeen practicing all this time.
Like are we any good? So there was that, there was the
nature in, which the Panthers asked us to do it.
Which we only each got five plays.
You weren't allowed to huddle you because there was like, this
strict time constraints. So it was like a mad scramble.

(58:15):
Double of chaos and you only getfive plays on each side of the
bulb, we got 20-something kids, we wanted every kid to play in
the game, of course. But then you got to make sure
every kid in the game. You can run certain plays that
everybody can handle it. So there was a lot of elements
that played into it that caused a chaotic experience but it was
more chaotic for the adults thanthe kids.
The kids came away from that like to play in front of our

(58:38):
many thousand people albeit, youcould have took that was the
Super Bowl to them, you couldn'ttell those kids that it was a
preseason game. It was the Super Bowl, they
loved it. Come running out of the tunnel.
We got the warm up in the indoorbubble and then walk across.
And if that to them, it felt like they were in high school,
right? It felt like they were walking
to a big rivalry game. It was a great experience.
I'm glad the Panthers asked us to be a part of that and it was

(59:03):
really cool for the kids. I think they came away with a
great life experience and I think as coaches we were just
glad when it was over because itwas extremely stressful.
So what you just explained thereif I were you warmed up in the
And then he came over through the tunnel the first time.
They step in the stadium onto the field.
It was packed. They didn't see.
It was having game. It was telling me that was

(59:24):
there. Yeah they want right out in the
middle of he walked in. They walked in with five minutes
say five minutes to go in the second quarter.
We stood behind the bills bench where they kind of like
corralled us and we just stood there and then the second, the
clock hit zero, they started blowing whistles and yelling at
us and we had to go right out there, no huddle and line up and
run play number 1 and then To play number one quick,

(59:47):
substitution play number two. So we had it like organized.
It was like rehearsed. All right, here's our play.
Who's in Play One you know your play go okay.
Play number two, teams to like three kids would run on.
Three would run off, they'd run a play and we would just do
that. It was like watching like a
hockey game. Wow, that's a lot.
It was, it was it was good for them know like for them to learn

(01:00:09):
how to operate in those environments.
Not, everything's going to be quiet.
You know, not everyone in the gyms going to be some tennis
right where everyone has to be quiet.
Wyatt. No one it's not golf.
Football is an intense sport footballs loud.
You don't get to tell the other team to stop screaming, you
don't get to tell the other coat, you know, you gotta play.
So I think for these kids to getused to operating in those
environments is good for them. Great.

(01:00:29):
Well I'm happy you guys did. It was good to see him.
Yeah. Thanks for having me on today.
Definitely enjoyed the time here.
Well, I appreciate again, Tim glaze.
Thank you so much with pop warner coming and talking a
little bit about your future, your past, kind of where things
are now and we appreciate you Tim for I think our viewers are
going to love the conversation and take a lot from it.
So thanks for joining us on today on you think?

(01:00:52):
Thank you. Have a good day.
Thanks. Tim.
I hope you guys enjoyed that conversation with Tim glaze.
I just think it was a very fitting conversation being that
it's the fall. And so many young kids
throughout the country are you know experiencing tackle
football and the vast majority of them are experiencing tackle

(01:01:12):
football. Just like my kid is and just
like my family is through the world of Pop Warner and just
hearing how their story came to be how it all kind of started in
those factories and Philadelphiaof trying to keep kids out of
trouble. And now it's grown into an
international organization that serves.
Is, you know, millions of kids throughout the world, is just a
really cool story and I just really appreciate the work that

(01:01:33):
they're doing. They understand the, you know,
some of the obstacles that the sport of football is facing that
youth sports is facing and you know they tackle a lot of them
head-on and they're open-minded.They're open to suggestions,
they're open to feedback and I just think it was a great
conversation. Very you know I know I took a
lot out of it just as a dad and as a coach and I'll take a lot
of that back with me. Just when I go to practice

(01:01:54):
tonight and just some of the things that we can continue to
work on to give these kids, He'sas good as experienced as
possible, you know, learning thegame of football, which is at
this stage, what? It's all about.
So I appreciate Tim for joining us.
Maybe we'll have him back here in the future.
Once we wrap up this season, we can kind of give them a, give an
update on how the Old South Charlotte Patriots, fared in the

(01:02:15):
in the pop warner playoff. So appreciate you guys checking
in. Again, at this time, you guys
know what's coming. Tasha is going to join us, but
again, Tasha probably my favorite.
Check into the. If each week's episode can we
get a Syracuse Orange can? A little update.
How we doing? We had a bye week last week so
she did much to update. So yeah, we did great.
No one was injured Flawless, love that.

(01:02:37):
Yeah, what does your debt? Did you know what?
Like what is your dad's approachfor anyone who's just listening
in or has lived in a cave? Tosh's?
Father is the head football coach at Syracuse?
What is his by week approach? Like does he kill the kids and
go like real hard practices? Does he take Germany idea?
No. It's most I mean a little bit
it's mostly Rust in the beginning.

(01:02:59):
Like they take it pretty easy and just recover from the games
that they've already played. Yeah.
So I think it's more restful in the beginning.
I'm not sure. I'm not sure if he kicks it into
gear but I think back to collegewhen we had a bye week, it was
like the most miserable. It was the most miserable week
of the year because the practices were harder.
You did get the weekend off which was nice but man, our

(01:03:21):
practices were hard. They were long.
It was I. But again, that was that was a
different world. All right.
Well, But no Syracuse got a big one this week, right?
Yeah. We play in Sea state so I guess.
We'll see ya. We'll see if rusting was the
case or not. We'll see next week's next.
Week's going to be a big update here on.
You think that's everyone's going to tune in.
We want to know. We want to get the inside scoop

(01:03:43):
of how the Syracuse Orange did, I'm psyched.
Okay, all right. Yeah.
What kind of questions you got for us today?
Yeah, so we have three questions.
The first one is from Ryan on Instagram.
He says, about to begin JV, girls, volleyball tryouts.
Outs so far 60 have signed up and I'm taking only 14 how do
you think I should handle? All the cuts I need to make I

(01:04:04):
cannot see myself making a phonecall to 45 parents and players
and I'll tell you the worst partof you Sports in my experience
of just being around it. Now is the sports that you need
to do cut. You know we do them for our
baseball. Team is really the only time
we've done them at this stage and it's really, really hard to

(01:04:27):
tell Young. Kids, thank you for coming.
We appreciate it. But unfortunately there's not a
spot on the team and it's just it's gut-wrenching.
It is horrible. I don't envy the position Ryan's
in, it's my least favorite part of the entire thing.
I almost want to say like I'll come coach the team but you make
the team, you pick the team and I'll come after tryouts, because

(01:04:48):
it gives me like anxiety. It gives me like such stress of
like, having to have these conversations with these kids
and obviously through their parents.
But it's Of the deal, right? So he's talking about high
school kids and the unfortunate reality is when you get to
Middle School sports even and then for sure High School
sports, it's ultra competitive. We are living in an era where

(01:05:10):
the high school sports experience is very competitive.
It's very Cutthroat. We got kids that are
specializing because it's their only way of making the team.
It's the only way that they can put in enough time to give them
selves a chance to at least one season, you know, you know, make
one of the school's team. So it's a challenge, I think my
Vice to Ryan would be, you know,obviously, Runner.

(01:05:31):
Encourage the parents to come tothe tryout.
That would be one thing that I would highly recommend is have
parents come to the try out so everyone can see what you do.
Everyone can see that. Everybody was given the same
opportunities. Everyone went through the same
drills, everyone was evaluated and treated on a Level Playing
Field. So to me the more people you
have involved in the try out thebetter.

(01:05:52):
If you're athletic director could come and sit through the
trial, that would be great. Like as many people that can
Justify not who you pick, right?Like you're the coach, you get
to pick who you want but just tojustify that the process was
fair. The process was in all the kids
best interest and they had an opportunity to lay out and put
their best foot forward. So that would probably be my
first, my first piece of advice and then as far as once you pick

(01:06:14):
the kids all you can do to thesekids for as hard as it is, is be
honest with them. And at the end of the
conversation, the 45 or so kids that unfortunately don't have a
spot this year, leave them with one thing they can.
Ruben, leave them with one hey between now, and next year's
tryouts, because again, this is JV.
So there's no seniors through these.

(01:06:35):
Kids are all going to have a chance to come back.
In this case, these young girls work on this and that will give
you a better chance for next year.
Focus more on this and you'll have it, right?
Like give them something they can walk away from, give them
something, they did well and then give them something that
they need to improve on. To give them a chance to maybe
have better success, especially if they're young underclassmen

(01:06:56):
who has a chance to do this for a couple more years.
So That would be, those are probably the two biggest things
that I would leave them with leave Ryan with, but I don't
envy his position. But unfortunately, you can't
have 60 girls on the volleyball team and you have to do what's
in the best case for the entire team, which is the put together,
the best group of girls to make the best team.
Maybe not the best 14 girls. But the best collection of girls

(01:07:18):
that makes the best team that complement one another.
That play off one another and sometimes it's hard to evaluate
that in just a tryout setting, but you have to be fair.
Be organized. Give everyone an equal
opportunity and then have the hard conversations and move
forward and Coach, the girls that you keep as hard as you
can. Are you a fan of them like just

(01:07:38):
posting it in the hallway and you run and look at your name,
like the old-school way, or wereyou going to call up each
parent? I think, you know, I think I
think there should be a little bit more of a personal approach.
I think with 60 girls, it's hard, right?
That I mean that that's a very time-consuming conversation.
I don't know if it's realistic to have 45 conversations with
the parents, but I do think you can have 45 conversations with

(01:08:01):
the girls with the kids. I think you owe them that I
think they can come by and stop into your You know, take a
couple girls each day for a weekor two, and just have a good
conversation, be upfront, be honest with them and and go from
there. I don't necessarily think you
have the time or the obligation to have a full sit-down meeting
with every single parent, I don't think that's realistic.

(01:08:23):
I don't think you want to set that precedent but um I do think
you want to have the conversation with the kids,
right? I do think the kids like I said,
need that feedback. Leave them with.
Not just okay. Your name's not on the list, but
why didn't I make it? Where do I I have to improve.
What did you see for me that youdidn't like that?
You did like like give them somefeedback, not all the kids are
going to, some of those kids will never show up to a tryout.

(01:08:44):
Again, that's fine but to the girls who really want to play.
Hopefully they take one or if one or two of those girls takes
your feedback and works on it for the next year and comes out
and makes the team. The next year, it was worth the
extra time that it took to have those one-on-one conversations.
Alright. Alright our next question is
from Twitter. From Joshie says if you feel

(01:09:04):
like you've lost the locker roomas a coach, Are their tactics to
try to get it back. You know, I think the biggest
thing and this Falls for all coaches are just really all
leaders in general, as you're going to mess up, you're going
to be out of line. You're going to treat people.
Unfairly, you're going to make areal quick, you know, emotional
response to a situation. And then upon reflection say you

(01:09:25):
know what, I took it out on the wrong person or you know,
whatever just be honest, right? Be able to be honest, be able to
accept blame be able to say hey you know what?
I was wrong here. I took in the moment we thought
it was you but it turned out that it was me like people
whether it's kids or whether it's adults.
They want their leaders to be able to have humility, have to

(01:09:46):
the ability to admit when they're wrong.
And not always just continue to defend themselves defend
themselves and refuse to kind oftake that step.
So, I think the biggest thing leaders can do whether, you
know, in this case coaches, justbe honest with your kids, admit
their failures. If you're able to admit your own
failures and your own, your own mistakes, they're going to be a
lot more accepting of you. Now, their mistakes and their

(01:10:08):
failure. So, I think it's got to be a
two-way street. And to me that's just great
leadership in general, whether it's sports, or whether it's
just business or life or family,whatever it is, you have to be
able to admit, you know, be strong.
Be hard on the kids demand a lot, but you also have to demand
a lot of yourself be vulnerable people.

(01:10:29):
Anyway, I was our last question is from also Instagram.
Her name is melty. I think you Sally.
Renounce it. She says, I seriously need to
ask because I've been a Panther fan.
Since birth Cam Newton was a Transcendent player for us fans.
What did his teammates love about him, teammates seem to
always be smiling when they talked about him.

(01:10:50):
You know, I think, I think the biggest gift that cam had is
just his presence. You know, his, his personality
when cam was around, when cameras in the room, you knew
it, you felt it, you knew it, you heard them.
And I think that was just--. He genuinely was he loved the
game of football? He loved his teammates.
He loved being around the guys. He loved being wanted to show it

(01:11:13):
just, that was what he was. That was just how he was just.
It was how he was built. And you know the thing about cam
is he loved to compete. He loved to go out there and
perform he loved to entertain. He loved having the spotlight
and he owned it and he cherishedit and it just it was organic
because it it fell organic and everyone appreciated because it

(01:11:34):
truly was who he was right. It wasn't some act it wasn't you
know that it just came on. When the spotlight came on, it
just it was who he was and and you learn to love them and you
appreciated him for being what he was.
And I've been the first to admit.
He was one of the best things that ever happened in my career.
We had a ton of success together.
Love getting to know him off thefield.
Obviously had a lot of success on the field together and he's

(01:11:56):
just one of those guys. He just had a you know just one
of those personalities that you couldn't help but just love and
and gravitate towards and you know at times he drive you crazy
but End of the day you love thembecause he was, he was genuine.
He was a great teammate and the guy loved to compete and he
loved to go out and perform and those are a lot of really good
qualities in a quarterback and they're just a lot of good

(01:12:18):
qualities in a person. You know, he's someone that you
enjoyed being around. I think that's probably the best
compliment you could give them. It's good stuff.
Well, there you heard it first Cam Newton was Transcendent on
and off the field. That's all the fan questions we
had today. So thank you guys so much for
listening and you can submit them on Twitter.
Instagram, or Tick-Tock at Greg Olson, or you think appreciate

(01:12:41):
you guys. Thank you.
Tasha go, orange. You guys can continue to rate
review. Subscribe wherever you guys get
your podcast. Thank you so much for continuing
to follow along and listen here on you think and we look forward
to see you guys next week.