CJ Stroud on Character, Leadership, and the Future of Quarterbacks with Greg Olsen

CJ Stroud joins Greg Olsen on Youth Inc to talk about what matters most—faith, family, and resilience. From his journey as a young quarterback to becoming a leader in the NFL, CJ opens up about the lessons he’s learned on and off the field. They explore the challenges of playing at every level, the importance of mentorship, and what it means to grow not just as an athlete, but as a person.

This episode is in partnership with Unrivaled Sports. Unrivaled Sports is a leading national youth sports organization creating unforgettable experiences in baseball, softball, flag football, soccer, and action sports. The brand's portfolio spans iconic destinations and programs such as Cooperstown All Star Village, Ripken Baseball, Diamond Nation, Unrivaled Flag, Rocker B Ranch in Texas, and Under the Lights Flag Football. In 2025, Unrivaled Sports will welcome more than one million young athletes and over two million visitors across the country.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Make sure you subscribe to both our YouTube channel and our RSS
feed for all future conversations here at You Think.
What's up, everybody? Welcome back here to You Think.
And today we have CJ Stroud. We talk everything from sports
specialization at a young age topicking the right school or
program, learning to lead. I tell some really cool

(00:20):
experience about his childhood growing up, his family values,
the morals, what's kind of guided him to becoming the
player, the leader and the person that he is today.
Obviously second of overall draft pick, former five star
quarterback out of California, starting quarterback at Ohio
State rookie of the year, so on and so forth.
So maybe no better person tend to share some of those ups and

(00:41):
downs of a athlete's journey than CJ and we're super thankful
to have him here on you think all right, so so CJ, so in your
take and again, you're you're fresh in your career.
Can you still be a multi sport athlete and reach the level of
Someone Like You? Yes, 100% agree that you can.
I would say that it's very important to do such because

(01:05):
different sports invite different type of movements,
different type of fluidities, different type of mobilities to
be able to be best at the sport.You ultimately get to pick at
the end. So, you know, baseball could
help with your hand eye coordination, while football
helps with your physicality, while basketball helps with your

(01:27):
footwork. Like soccer helps with your
footwork and your agility and your stamina like, and that can
all play together whenever you decide to, you know, pick one
sport. And then on top of that, it's
just, you know, different type of locker rooms.
Even though like when you're a kid, you necessarily don't have
a locker room, but you have the dugout, you have the sideline is
a football game, you have the bench in basketball.

(01:51):
I don't know how soccer works or, but like I'm sure they have
something very similar, but the bus rides, the the team corridor
things, just the disciplines that each sport brings, like
football, the football disciplines will bring a
different type of discipline than the basketball disciplines
of the fundamentals of basketball.

(02:12):
Not really have anything to do with football.
So football you're more so working on strength
conditioning, eye control, body control or basketball.
It's more instinctual for the fundamentals and ball handling
and things like that. Where baseball, you know, the
disciplines of alligator and theball.

(02:32):
You know, I still got a couple terms that I use.
I love it. Like if I drop a snap, I try to
alligator the football. So I learned that from baseball.
So like there's different disciplines that you can use.
So all those kind of play play together at the end.
Yeah, no, so tell So growing up,you're playing basketball,
you're playing baseball, you're playing obviously football.
Like give us an idea of what your, you know, kind of your

(02:55):
multi sport experience was like just as a kid growing up, you
know, through high school. Yes, I was a three sport
athlete. Basketball would be my first
love, the sport that I really thought I was going to go far
in. But I was, you know, definitely
convinced from my dad and my momto continue to play basketball.
I mean, to continue to play basketball while also playing

(03:16):
football and baseball. So I played those three sports,
play soccer when I was a really young, young kid.
But yeah, those three sports, you know, were, you know, the
things that I bought into and the things that I took very
serious whatever season I was in.
I mean, yeah. So those are the things that I
that I'm part of. So what happens a lot around

(03:38):
where we live and really throughout the country is we're
having a lot of coaches, a lot of these travel ball coaches,
even school coaches that are starting at a young age to get
to these young athletes and say,hey, if you don't pick
basketball, if you don't pick football or baseball or soccer,
you're going to fall behind. And I think there's a lot of
kids that are feeling that pressure.
Like, did you have any coach at any point, whether it was in

(04:01):
high school or even earlier in middle school, or did you have
any coaches that you had to go home and talk to your mom and
dad and say, hey, coach, so and so is trying to get me to just
play basketball or just play football?
Did you have to fight that, likecoming up in your day?
Definitely, yeah, I definitely did.
You know, I had a lot of guru ortrainers or people who are

(04:22):
expertise, you know, at, at these things who are trying to
put pressure on you. And I, and I think to be honest
with you, if I could be frank, Ithink it's a money grab.
And I think it's a, it's a finesse because at the end of
the day, like my dad, at least he would always be honest with
me. Like I play multiple sports is
what he was saying. Like I think it's very helpful.
So it was great. I was grateful to have, you

(04:44):
know, my dad there to help me inthat aspect at that age.
And my mom, she wasn't very likesportsy, but she she was also
very, very, very, you know, hardon us about our morals and our
standard of a family. And one of our standards was,
you know, if you start something, you finish it.
So I wasn't going to start to play baseball and then I finish

(05:05):
it, you know. So I would say, you know, to
those people who are going through those pressures, I mean,
you know, you have to really, really dive deep into like, what
is the, the benefits? So what I used to do is write
pros and pros and cons list. So I would write pros if I
stayed in the sport and cons if I left the sport or if I stayed

(05:26):
in the sport. So both ways.
And I think that's something that is, is important, you know,
that we have to do is, you know,put those pros and cons
together. But yeah, I, I, I wouldn't, I
wouldn't dive deep into those ideas that this would make you
far behind. And like, I think they, they,
they're still kids, you know what I mean?
You're still developing not onlyas a athlete, but as a, as a

(05:50):
person and as a human being. And I think if, if your goal is
to be a professional athlete at 567, you know, preteen, you
know, like that, that to my opinion, that shouldn't be a
goal. The goal should be being a
better person, being a better, being better at discipline,
learning teammate etiquette, learning sportsmanship.

(06:15):
Like these are the things that Iknow, Greg, you can probably
admit to this as well. These are things that got me to
the NFL. Like if you have the talent, the
town's going to going to show every year in it throughout.
Like you'll be fine. It's those things that keep you
around in my opinion. So those are the things I would
say like don't, don't put pressure on the aspect of making

(06:36):
it right away like that. That shouldn't be the standard,
the standard. It should be a better in every
little thing as a person before,you know, being a professional
athlete. Yeah, it's so well said.
We, we, we've said on this show a few times, if the goal of
youth sports is to be a pro, then everybody should just stop
doing it because it, because it,it's not worth it there.
You know, there's not enough kids that are going to go pro to

(06:59):
make the investment across the board at a young age.
It's all about the growth, it's about the development, it's
about all the traits, everythingthat you're talking about.
So we couldn't agree with you more.
And then the last thing before we move on to our next segment,
I, I, the advice I always try totell the kids, and it's really
the high school kids where we work, where we coach at here in,
in Charlotte. I say, if you have a coach
telling you that you can only play their sport, he's only

(07:22):
telling you that because it's inhis best interest, not yours.
100% it's in his best interest. You don't miss summer football
for baseball or basketball or you don't miss basketball
tryouts for football, or it's inhis best interest, not yours.
And be very, very careful aroundthose people that that's always
the advice I give. So I think it's important for
our listeners to hear it coming from Someone Like You who've

(07:44):
obviously reached the highest levels.
Yeah. And I, I, I 100% agree with you
on that. That's it's, it's a finesse.
There's there's no real man and woman who are in sports.
Like there's no man or woman that really cares and loves for
you that would tell you one thing is just certain for you at
that age. Now, if you're 26 years old and

(08:06):
you're trying to, then yeah, we have to be smarter, you know
what I mean? But like, if you're 12/13/10,
like whatever those, those youthsports ages are, to me that,
that, that that's blasphemous. Like that?
That's stupid. I agree, no doubt, but I think I
think it's a great segment. You just talked about how, you
know, your dad kind of helped drive some of the, some of the

(08:26):
sports decisions and your mom was really big on, on morality
and the way you carry yourself and your growth as a man and
your gross growth as human. So I, I think it's a very
fitting topic. So like, who were those people?
Like where did your leadership traits come from?
Where did you learn it maybe earlier in your life?
Did you have any struggles assuming that role as a leader?
Everyone, I think everyone always assumes the quarterback

(08:48):
has to be the leader. But for some people it comes
earlier, it comes easier. So like, what were your early
kind of interactions as far as saying, hey, I, I need to learn
leadership. I need to be someone that other
people want to gravitate towards.
Yeah. You know, for me, it starts off,
you know, in my household, like you said, with my mother and my
father, they were, you know, pillars in our community for a

(09:12):
long time of, you know, trying to do it the right way as best
they can, being, you know, flawed and broken people like we
all are. But you know, our model, you
know, and, and this is just who I am and what I was raised to be
is, you know, how, how Jesus modeled.
So that was our foundation. That was our core is our faith.

(09:32):
And you know, even though we allfall short, we don't really, you
know, hit the mark every time, but that was the standard to try
to reach that. And, you know, there's one of
the people who kind of stick outto me that I was taught.
You know, I used to watch this movie called The Prince of Egypt
growing up. And it was the story of Moses.
And it was a cartoon. But it really, like give a good

(09:53):
picture of like a what a leader is.
And if you look at the story of Moses, Moses was a man who had a
stutter. He doubted himself.
He was a flawed human. He was a murderer, but God used
him mightily. And so that kind of is like to
me, the the idea of a leader is a flawed human trying to be a
better person for others and to be a servant.

(10:15):
And so that was what, you know, me and my my family did.
We served our community. We served as people as much as
possible. And so, yeah, that was like the
standard and the start of, you know, the leadership side of me.
And on top of that, I'm the youngest out of five, so two
older sisters, two older brothers, and then I'm the
youngest. So I had to be, you know, a

(10:36):
follower before I ever had to bea leader in a locker room.
So, you know, following my brothers and sisters lead, you
know, in the household was definitely good for me to learn
positioning, to learn age, the age differences and maturity of
of of what that brings. So yeah, a lot of those things
had to play a part. And then for me, I would say to,

(10:59):
to the question you asked of like the mistakes that I've made
that that is the reason why I feel like I am the leader I am
today. The mistakes that I've made, I
can have a have a whole bucket list of them, but the, the
mistakes create vulnerability and they create, I'm trying to
think of the best word to use. They, they created ability for

(11:23):
us to relate to one another. So like Greg, me and Greg, if we
were in the locker room together, we probably don't have
a very super similar background.We might, we might not.
Like only time would tell, only conversation would tell.
But the different mistakes, the different things that I've been
through that that Greg has been through, that'll just, you know,
create a opportunity to connect.And so I think for me, that was

(11:46):
the, the mistakes that I've madewere like just just failures as
a young man trying to be a better person.
So I don't know if that answers your question or not.
But no, it does. What makes sense for me?
No, it totally makes sense and Iwant to dig a little bit deeper
into that because I think that what's so cool about an NFL
locker room or just any locker room, college, NFL, whatever

(12:06):
sport it is, is the different backgrounds, the different types
of experiences, but all coming together for a shared goal, a
shared common purpose. I mean, I've had locker rooms,
I've had lockers back to collegenext to guys that we had very
little in common. We had very little shared
similar past experiences and then other guys where we had a
lot of similar, you know, background and a lot of similar

(12:27):
shared experiences. So all shapes and sizes come in.
How do you feel you best connect?
Like what would be your advice to young players, young
athletes? How do you kind of bridge those
gaps? How do you make sure, especially
in your position as a quarterback, how do you make
sure you can interact with your young wide receivers, your old

(12:47):
tight end, your defensive players, your coaching staff?
Like how do you make sure you asa leader, you as the kind of the
the center point of that organization, can still find
ways to relate to people, find commonalities with people who
maybe you don't have a lot of shared experiences, a lot of
shared background, but you stillneed to form that connection,
that trust, that bond. I think it's more art than

(13:09):
science, but like, what is your approach to to that?
Yeah, that's a great question. I would say my approach is time,
like the more time you can spendwith somebody and I I would say
time plus understanding. And so the more time you can
spend with somebody while being vulnerable with one another.
It doesn't have to be unnatural,It has to do, it has to come off

(13:31):
natural. But the more time and the
understanding once you spend that time of why this person is
the way it is and accepting themfor who they are breeds a great
relationship. So like I'll try to give you an
example. So let's go for in college, I
had one of my best friend in college was a guy named mine

(13:52):
Williams. He was a running back for us.
He's playing in the CFL right now.
I'm from Southern California andthe Empire, Rancho Cucamonga,
like where you know, I'm a West Coast kid.
I love California. You know, we have a lot of you
know, we were converse, we were vans, very chill, very laid
back. You know, that that's just my

(14:14):
background. Mine is from Cincinnati, OH,
where it's, you know, very, very, very different.
Like it's snowing. They're wearing coats.
I'm wore, I never wore a coat growing up until I went to
college. They're wearing boots.
You know what I'm saying? Like it's just different.
Like he has a different background with his family, you
know, so like that's, that's a whole different ball game.

(14:35):
We, we don't come from a similar, from a similar place,
but the time we spent the understanding where like I would
sit there and tell me a life story.
He would tell me his and I wouldsit there and we would just rap,
you know what I mean? Then you throw in a guy like
Kate Stover, my teammate, Ohio State, now my teammate, the
Texans, a farmer, a guy who grewup on the farm working for,

(14:56):
working with his dad, has his own meat company.
Like, you know, I ain't never seen a cattle in my life, you
know what I'm saying? Like that's just not.
Neither have I I grew up in New Jersey.
Right. So like, but like the fact that
we were still able to connect because, you know, I necessarily
I don't think I've ever went up there, but I would buy his meat.

(15:18):
I would pause, but I would buy, you know, his merchandise.
Like I remember one time I wouldI had showed up with the Stover
Farms shirt and he was like, bro, what the heck.
Like I'm like, Nah, I just want to, you know, like support.
And it was just dope, you know what I mean?
So yeah, it's just that that time spent, you know what I

(15:40):
mean? And that understanding of trying
to understand somebody not for yourself, but for who they are,
if that makes sense. No doubt, no totally and and a
simple gesture like wearing, youknow, it's amazing the
credibility and and the connection that you can and the
respect that you can earn in thelocker room.
Something as as simple as hey, you bought you bought your your
tight ends shirt and you wore itinto the thing and he's throw it

(16:01):
like something. It seems so innocent.
It seems so easy, but it can have an unbelievable effect.
You Think is proud to present this episode in partnership with
Unrivalled Sports. This summer while in
Cooperstown, NY, I had the chance to sit down with Andy
Campion, Chairman and CEO of Unrivalled Sports, to hear how
they are providing top tier experiences at every level of
youth. Sports.

(16:21):
All right, so welcome to what's a really special edition.
Here we are in Cooperstown, NY, Andy Campion, chairman, CEO of
Unrivalled Sports. We are here at Cooperstown All
Star Village. A lot to dive into.
We're talking before here on youthink, just give us a snapshot
like what are we looking at? What is this is this is

(16:41):
absolutely incredible. We're going to talk about my
Cooperstown experience, but giveus an idea of just what where
are we? What are we looking at?
This is incredible. Well, we're pretty close to the
Baseball Hall of Fame here in Cooperstown, right?
Cooperstown, All Star Village, the name of this property.
I would say this property represents our mission and
unrivaled sports in its most sublime state.

(17:04):
So it's 12 year old youth baseball, only 12 year olds.
It's a little bit of a rite of passage as they move on to the
next level of baseball, bigger fields, high school, etcetera.
You know, the way we think aboutit is keep the main thing the
main thing. So we have amazing fields themed
by, you know, New York, LA, California, etcetera.
If you're a Boston fan, we got aGreen Monster out there and

(17:28):
that's the main thing. We want it to be awesome
tournament experience and we want to inspire the kids.
And then we've created this environment, a players village,
they stay in a Tavern space for parents, lodging.
And our philosophy is pretty much if we inspire the kids and
they have an awesome time, it'llbe memory making for the
parents. We're going to talk more about
just the the intricacies of the All Star Village here in a

(17:50):
second, but I want to talk a little bit about the work you
guys are doing with Unrivaled. So there's not a day that goes
by that there is not an article about investment in youth
sports, the big business of youth sports.
Tell us a little bit more about Unrivaled What what was the
motivation? Why youth sports?
Why do you guys have such a passion, but not only here for
All Star Village, but Cal, RIP, Gain and some of your other
projects, Just what is it about not only the business of youth

(18:11):
sports, but just the experience you guys can help create for so
many of these young families andyoung kids?
All right. So I'll answer that a little bit
through the lens of why am I doing this?
So that was more lucky than good.
I was really lucky to have had the opportunity to work at
Disney 11 years, work at Nike for 17 years.
I'm actually wearing Kobe 6 Dodgers shoes for a reason.

(18:34):
So cut your leg off. They don't even know what size
they are. My kid would cut your leg off to
steal your shoes right now. Those are Kobe's are a big deal.
Basically in the last few years before he passed away I was
really lucky to get to know Kobeand on a few occasions he gave
me advice and it was almost likehe was giving himself advice.

(18:55):
After basketball, he he said a few times and I have some sign
things from him that say Andy doepic shit always.
And it just stuck with me. And in a way it's like, well,
obviously we'd all love to do epic shit.
Everybody loves youth sports, right?
Everyone wants their kids to play youth sports.
Our mission is provide unrivaledsports experiences to young

(19:16):
athletes everywhere. So for us, that's not just
provide the pinnacle like Cooperstown, All Star Village.
It's a dimension of this kind ofexperience at every level.
That could be league tournament,a showcase.
I think you talked about your oldest playing in some
showcases, local, regional, national.
And so, you know, if you think about what epic means, right?

(19:37):
It's like a long journey, but a huge impact.
And I just think youth sports isone of those things where you
go, it's almost never ending howmuch impact you could have in
it. And that's that's what unrivaled
sports is about. And it's frankly why we chose
the name. We want our experiences to be
inspiring and memory making inspiring for the kids.
And if that's true, it'll be memory making for the families.

(19:58):
We think about it as competitive.
And developmental, we want people to go home and say this
was awesome. The win might be kids are going
home going. Like I never thought about
baseball that way. And frankly, I'd say even more
so there's a value we have, which is we want to set the
standard for youth sports in every aspect of youth sports
we're in. So if we're managing a flag

(20:20):
league, like our flag league under the lights or we just
launched Unrivaled Flag, a flag football focused new brand, we
launched it with a high school girls national championship at
our property in Canton, OH, which is a it's part of the Hall
of Fame complex. We invited the top eight teams
from around the country for freeto come play and we invited

(20:41):
other teams into an Invitationalto come see if they could if
they could compete. We had Ashley clammed on the US
national team. She came and spent the the whole
2 day tournament interviewing the kids, giving them advice.
Then we wanted them to leave thinking the future of
football's female. And I think they did.
They felt like they felt like I'm, I'm Greg Oles.

(21:02):
They I think they left going like I'm a Pro Football player.
Part of the future here, I'm part of this growth.
That's awesome. I've always, I've always been
very open and honest about the, the best thing that ever
happened to me in my career. I grew up in suburban North
Jersey right outside of New YorkCity, you know, metropolitan
Northeast. And then I went to school at the
University of Miami. Completely different inner city

(21:26):
background, most of the kids, different backgrounds, a lot of
South Florida. Best thing that ever happened to
me was going outside of my comfort zone, outside of all I
ever knew of New Jersey and going down and sharing locker,
sharing stories, sharing meals, going to each other's
apartments, going hanging out and just getting to know a very
different part of the country, avery different background, very

(21:48):
different stories of growing up.It was the best thing that ever
happened to me in my growth as an athlete, as a person, as a
friend, as a teammate. And those were lessons and
stories that I was able to carryforward all the way through.
There was never a locker room that I didn't feel comfortable
in. There was never a type of guy I
didn't feel comfortable around. And I think 1 of, and so to your

(22:09):
point, it's so true, like the whole experience, everyone
focuses so much on the football,but so often the football is a
lot better when all of the personal stuff is better, when
all the relationships are better, the connections are
better. So I, I, I think you're spot on
with that. Yeah, and I think you hit on the
nail. Like the fact that you were
uncomfortable is what to me, like sparks my interest because

(22:33):
as humans, we, we, we run away. We run away from uncomfortable
situations and pain. But those are what breeds us is,
is to become better. So being on the nails, like
pushing yourself to be uncomfortable, like it was the
most uncomfortable thing ever togo 2000 miles away from home to,
to to Columbus, OH, where like it's nothing like where I'm
from. But I like you said, it's the

(22:54):
best thing that could ever happen to me.
Totally, and and and some of those guys are still my good
buddies to this day. We became NFL teammates
together, You know, John Beeson and Devin Hester and I I going
on like just guys that I never would have met.
I never would have been around if I didn't go down to South
Florida. And you know, obviously the next
20 years took care of itself, but it was the best thing that
ever happened. Before we move on, I want I want

(23:16):
to just touch on one last thing about the whole leadership,
right? It the player to player
connection is is one thing. Is there a certain type of
coaching leadership that you found early on you gravitated
towards or maybe a style of leadership from coaches you
maybe didn't appreciate? Like is there a a coaching type
of method that you've been more comfortable with, more attuned

(23:38):
to, whether it was early on a high school coach or a youth
coach or all the way up through obviously a guy we, you know,
I've gotten to know really well and through you, Ryan Day up in
in Ohio State. Like is there a certain style
that you love that you found is the best leadership style from a
coach in your eyes? Yes, you know, I think Coach J
is a perfect example of like thestyle that I wanted and I didn't

(24:02):
want. And he'll tell you this like we
didn't always have the best relationship.
I'm a kid, you know, my, my father was incarcerated at 12
years old. So around that age until I was
about 14, he was my dad was in and out.
So like I had a really hard timedealing with like male
leadership and like male, I would say guidance where like,

(24:28):
you know, a lot of my life, I mean, a lot of my times of me
becoming a man, I was raised by my mother.
So like, because they same same thing.
Like his father had passed away when he was when he was a young
child. So we we, we off the back, we
didn't connect off that we didn't even know because we
didn't spend the time to understand one another.
So a lot of it was just miscommunication, but when one

(24:51):
day out of out of nowhere, he called me in his office and we
just had a talk for I would say probably 6-7 hours, just like
just talking At the time. We really didn't get along.
Mind you, I'm a starter at Ohio State.
Like this is like into the season that we're like doing
well. It's you would think everything
was fine. But like, deep down we both have
some things that we had to, you know, be men about and, you

(25:11):
know, put on the table. And we were to do that.
And after that, our relationshiphas been great ever since.
Like I consider him, you know, agreat not only a great coach of
mine, but a father figure, somebody who I look at as a
friend, as a brother and, you know, somebody who I know that I
can call if I really need him and he can do the same with me.
But yeah, so like my, my favorite type of coaching style

(25:34):
is the same way I like to to think of like being a good
teammate is to build time and tounderstand who I am as a core
because we all have brokenness that that we're trying to, you
know, heal and trying to get past.
But as coaches for a lot of times, especially doing with
young kids, there's a lot of traumas.
Children don't know how to do it.
And you're the only person that they could be leaning on at that

(25:56):
moment. So it's very important to
understand the players now. I can't tell you that I enjoy
being yelled at and cussed at and things like that.
But at the same time, there was a, there was an idea that, I
mean, there was an idea, but there was a standard that my
parents put in place that I was going to respect elders no
matter what they were saying. So that was a thing.
But also that was not what I like.
But once I explained that to a coach, that's what they

(26:18):
understood. So I think there has to be an
understanding from the coaching side of like this is let me
figure out these guys, these different personalities.
Then there has to be a a a understanding from a kid to a
player that, hey, I might not like everything, but I have to
move some. I have to move off my mark just
a little bit to try to understand this coach as well.

(26:39):
It can't just be just the coach.It has to be the player as well.
So that would be my my thing waslike, I know I'm probably giving
you a a vague. No, this is great.
I. Love it.
I would say just like there's there isn't one coaching style
or one style that I would like or dislike.
It's it's a mixture of who I want.

(26:59):
I want that person to be exactlywho they are.
If that's a yeller, somebody whodoes a lot like, OK, cool, but
understand where I'm coming fromtoo.
You know what I mean? That's that's the what would be
my? Yeah, it's a two way street,
right? It's a two way St. and both
people understand the, the source.
I, I always said before I can coach you.
We, we, we coach a lot of our kids teams here at school and

(27:20):
and you know, independent traveland all that.
I always say, like I, I can't coach you the best until I know
you the best. And some kids you need to get
on, you need to kick them in theass and it's got to be every
day. Because if not, they're not self
starters. Other kids don't respond to
that. So like getting to know what
buttons to push, what levers to pull, that's kind of the art and

(27:40):
the beauty of coaching in my mind.
And not every kid responds to the same.
I don't respond to the same. So no, I, I think what you said
makes complete sense. And I, I think it's super
important for, for our listenersto hear.
Yeah. So I always tell the story.
I'll lead off with saying my first ever big decision CJ that
I made, which was where was I going to go to college?

(28:01):
I went to University of Notre Dame out of college, out of high
school. I got there after my high school
graduation in June and by Augustof that year I had transferred
to Miami. So I made it.
I made it there three months. So I would say like the first
ever big boy decision that I gotto make, I didn't even last
three months there before I changed my mind.

(28:21):
So the art of decision making, Ithink is ever changing.
I think people get better. So when you look back early on,
whether it was picking your Pop Warner team or picking your high
school or obviously bigger decisions like college and
whatnot, like take us through that thought process.
I think it's something that young families now are dealing
with even more so than we did growing up.

(28:41):
There's so many choices, so muchopportunity to move around and
bounce around. You know, you give us a little
insight into maybe some of your big decisions and what led into
ultimately what you decided. Yeah, for me, I mean, to your
point, first it's it's it's a tough day and age now.

(29:02):
You know, I I grew up, I feel like in the back end of like old
school where like you were goingto listen to your parents like
at the end of the day, like I didn't really make a real
decision till like you going to college.
That was my decision. My mom had some influences, my
dad had some and and my brothersand sisters did it well, but it
was core mine. But back when I was like a kid,

(29:25):
like it was my parents, like they were making every decision.
But it's really hard even for the parents now because social
media, the fact that we even have like Yelp and like
different review reviews that guys, I mean, you can give like,
and people are doing a lot of emotion.
So like I would say for, for me,if I was giving somebody an

(29:47):
advice, I'll just go from, from,from my, from my decisions that
I've made. So for one of my first one was
part of the high school that I was going to go to.
So I played youth ball for this team called the Alsaloma
Warriors. It was a junior All American
team, had a great experience with them.
Then I end up going to play for Snoop, Snoop Dogg's team with
the SYFL. That was a decision that my

(30:08):
father made that I that I had a little bit of say so, but he
wanted me to like brought in my ability to play with more inner
city kids, kids that look like me and that come from, you know,
you know, like I wouldn't say similar backgrounds, but like
have different backgrounds that I could correlate with.
So that was very helpful then. So when I get to the SYFL, my

(30:29):
coach, his name was coach Fly, somebody who who was a father
figure for me, somebody who was a pillar in my community, who
who do great things for me, you know, not only me, but his sons
and and his family. He wouldn't coach at this.
The school called Upland, which was Rancho, the school that I
end up going to was one of the rivals.
And so he wanted me to go to Upland, but Upland already had

(30:50):
quarterbacks. So and also did Rancho.
Rancho had like a a quarterback as well.
And I was going to come into a freshman year and I was like,
man, you know, trying to like put in, trying to put it all
together. So what I did was I put a pros
and cons list. It's like I got pros of me going
to Rancho, pros of me going to Upland, cons of me going to
Rancho, cons of me going to Upland.

(31:11):
I made my decision off my pros and cons list.
Hey, I have more pros and, and it doesn't just have to be
sports, it can be a lifestyle. Like I knew that I had more
friends going to Rancho. I knew that I had an opportunity
to play on a better basketball team.
I could possibly have played baseball.
The, the education was a little bit better.
The, the, the administration andthe counseling was better at

(31:34):
Rancho in my opinion at the time.
So there was a lot of things that were better for me to go to
Rancho. So that's, that's that decision
going into college, it was really tough.
I didn't have my father at the time.
It was just me and my mother andmy sister and my brothers were
around, but they were like working and stuff.
So I was going on a lot of thesevisits, just me and my mom and
my brother. And we don't really have like

(31:55):
nobody who like made it to this level.
So that decision had to come into a lot of blind faith and
trust and wanting to God to and to the program that I was going
to trust. So it had to do with a lot of
just, you know, I don't want to get Bible on y'all, but.
You do you, man. Whatever you, you be on it, you
do. You yes, Sir, in, in, in

(32:17):
Ecclesiastes 3, it's it's King Solomon.
Solomon is, is known as the wisest person to ever live.
He asked God for wisdom and that's what he got.
But he also made bad decisions. But if, if you look in
Ecclesiastes 3, he talks about how there's never a time.
I mean, excuse me, he, he explains it there.
There's a time to plant, there'sa time to harvest, there's a
time for rain, there's a time for sun, there's a time for

(32:38):
happy. There's a time for satellite.
There's a time for every single season.
So at this time, there's a time for a season of taking a step
into blind faith. And So what I did was I took as
many visits as I could. I, I had a pros and cons of
everything, but also I had to make a decision as a man to
decide to get out of my comfort zone.

(33:00):
And that was probably one of thebiggest decisions that I've ever
made to, to be out of my becausegoing to Rancho wasn't very hard
for me. Like it was right up the street
from where I'm from. I had friends that went through
going to Ohio State was all the way out of my comfort zone.
So I had to make a blind trust decision.
And I also had to listen to my mom, her and her thing was like,
whatever you start, is it whatever you start, you're going
to finish it. So just like you, Greg, I wanted

(33:21):
to transfer. I was when I got there.
I hate I I wish I hated it, but I didn't understand the, the
goals that they have for me at the time.
Because recruiting you're on an all time high.
Like you're like the man everybody wants to cater to you.
You're getting the best treatment.
And then when you come as a freshman, you're at like the,

(33:43):
the, you're the shrimp, you're the, you know of the.
Yeah, you're the bottom of the barrel.
Yes, it's it's hard, man, if youdon't have like a good support
system, it's hard to stick in there and fight and I'm
grateful, like I'm so grateful from a guy like that.
My mom instilled that into me and I had coaches.
I coached Mick and you know, coach Quinn, my our strength

(34:03):
staff like that. You know, you're with them
majority of the time, especiallyif you enroll early, then like
that's that. I have like Justin Fields,
Crystal live a Garrett Wilson and the guys who like poured
into me, you know, that, you know, were like, hey, it was
like this for me as well. It didn't happen overnight.
So like that's, that's my background on like this since I

(34:25):
made and I don't know if that would help, but like, yeah,
that, you know, like just sometimes it takes that blind
faith, but you want to make calculated decisions where like,
hey, I'm OK with the worst case scenario.
You know, that's that's how I kind of made my decisions.
Before we get back to my conversation with CJ Stroud,
let's continue my conversation with Unrivaled Sports CEO, Andy

(34:46):
Campion. How do you guys balance here at
All Star Village, the baseball experience, which is maybe a
couple hours a day, and then allthe other time, like how do you
capture the priorities of the experience when they're here on
and off the field? Yeah.
So first of all, I'd say Cooperstown All Star Village is

(35:07):
the best possible expression of youth sports from our
perspective. To your point, it's because it
combines so many things. It's a baseball tournament, it's
camp. Every one of the kids, we have
82 teams, 82 to 84 teams a week,stay in bunk houses with their
team, with their coaches. They're having food, playing

(35:28):
Wiffle Ball, hanging out with their teams in the Players
Village. So it's camp meets baseball.
And then there is some theming. But I'll put it this way, like I
was at Disney 11 years and I look back and go, nobody at
Disney must have ever visited Cooperstown, Ulster Village
because if they did, they would have said this is better than
Disneyland. Is there something unique about
baseball? Like, give me an idea.

(35:49):
Would you guys look at the landscape?
Yeah, creating these destinationfacilities?
Can we do this awesome question other sports?
The way we're looking at it, unrivaled is baseball's
actually, as you know, with yourkids, right, one of the most
developed sports ecosystem. You have Little League, you have
travel, you have showcases, you have the Little League, World

(36:09):
Series, something. For everybody.
There's something for everybody,right?
Starting AT ball and all the wayup to like high school select
tournaments. OK, let's keep doing that in
baseball. Now.
By contrast, flag football, to me, I think we're in the
equivalent of the.com era. When before have has there been
a sport that's a new sport that's very accessible?

(36:30):
Think of how easy it is to play flag football, but then has all
of the like, fandom and emotion that you and your teammates and
the NFL have and college football have created.
People love football and all of a sudden there's this
opportunity to bring it to a tonmore kids and to girls.
And so I look at Unrivaled Flag and our other businesses in flag

(36:51):
football, under the lights, our league, as we get to create the
future of flag football and baseball, We get to take this
like amazing ecosystem of baseball and go like, let's make
every part of it. We plan better because it's such
an amazing sport. So how do we keep the integrity,
the kids, their best intentions at heart?

(37:12):
How do we keep that as the main thing, but also build really
well thought out, well constructed businesses around it
to not only grow and make money,but also elevate the expectation
and the level of experience these families and kids can have
like this? Like, I think it's a little bit
of a fine line. How do you guys manage?
That yeah, One of the things I've learned over the years is

(37:33):
instead of trying to make everything in life absolute,
it's this or that. Lean into the paradox.
The more kids playing sports, the better, and that's a much
more inspiring way to run a business.
I think there's a role for philanthropy in youth sports and
a role for business, and I don'tthink they're distinct.

(37:54):
I think you can do some of thosethings together, make you can
offer an amazing, sustainable, growing portfolio.
Businesses like we are with Cooperstown, All Star Village,
Ripken Baseball, Unrivaled Flag,which we launched.
And so I think there's a way to do that in business, work with
high schools, local parks and recs, et cetera, and work

(38:14):
together. I think if you can lean into
both ends of that spectrum, that's the only way you can have
epic impact. What I think about is I want to
do something epic. Like I look out here and I go
like, there's nothing better than making all of these kids I.
Said just hit a home run as you were talking that was like faint
exactly. You guys talk about like your
your, your, your pyramid, right?What your priorities, your

(38:37):
hierarchies of how you guys set you have these elite high level
destinations and then you build out those portfolio kind of
downstream. Explain it to us.
Give us an idea, because I thinkit's important to picture not
only where you guys are now, butI think it'll give our listeners
and our followers a really good idea of kind of what's to come.
Where are you guys going to keep?
Yeah, kind of pave. The I love it.
We run leagues and so that's that's the most inclusive.

(39:00):
Like that is that lifeblood of the pyramid.
We run tournaments. But think about it this way.
In youth sports, there are destinations and there's
programming like running a tournament.
The model we love the best is destination plus programming
equals experience. So we love these destinations
like exactly like we can make sure the fields are turfed and

(39:23):
if they need to be returfed, thereturf, we've got the right
officials, we know that they're available right?
You know, like field time is a thing and we've got the field
time. We can control that.
And then what is the tournament play, etcetera.
So that I would say that level of our pyramid would be like a
really well run diamond or rectangle facility.

(39:43):
The next level in our pyramid isripped in baseball.
So that level is you control thedestination and the programming,
but you have really dialed it upthe destinations theme.
Like there's an emotion and I even haven't started playing
that ripped in. And then that takes you to like
Cooperstown, All Star Village inRocker Beach.
But when you're here, you're notwondering what's over there.
Like you're in it. This is life, right?

(40:04):
So that's the pinnacle of the pyramid for us.
So you said, Mick, and my ears perk up.
So when I went to Notre Dame, Mickey Morati, your strength
coach who's still at Ohio State,he was my strength coach at
Notre Dame. So that first summer I went to
Notre Dame, Mick was the one making us, you know, midnight
lifts. The everything you hear about it
was Mick was awesome. I when I come up to, when I came

(40:24):
up to visit you guys, I still goup and visit Ryan.
But when I first came up there to visit, when I met you for the
first time, it was good to see Mick because I don't know if at
the time when I was 18, I ever loved going to see Mick.
But now I look back and I'm like, man, like I know it was a
short window, but God, I learneda lot about myself on those hard
ass summer workouts. But so a name that me and you

(40:46):
now also have in connection withone another getting through a
Mick workout. But I want you to stay there
because what I think you just touched on the the the fear of
making a bad decision, the the unknown.
Then once a decision is made, seeing it through till the end.
In this day and age, with transfer portal in college, high

(41:06):
school pretty much has turned into the Wild West.
Kids are going to 4 high schoolsin four years.
It's happening at the youth level.
Kids are traveling, playing on different travel teams on a
weekly basis. There's really no messaging
anymore to just pick a team, stay with it and let it ride out
and see it to the end. So talk a little bit about that
struggle because I I think everyone sees CJ Stroud.

(41:27):
He's a first round pick. He's rookie of the year.
He's all pro right off the bat. He's the starter at, you know,
at Ohio State, everything's beeneasy.
He's always been the best player.
He was a top recruit, but there are a lot of low points.
There are a lot of moments wherewe sat in our dorm rooms.
I had this at Miami where I called my dad and he goes, how
do you like it? I said, I love it.

(41:48):
It's beautiful. The campus is insane, but I'm
never going to play here. You know, when when I got to
Miami, we were coming off back-to-back national titles.
I, the guys in that locker room my freshman year, we had six
first round draft picks like the, the, the, the vision of me
ever being on the field with Sean Taylor and Vince Wilfork
and it never made sense to me. I was like, I'm not as good as
these guys, but there's always the doubt.

(42:11):
Talk a little bit more about that because I think that
vulnerability of that is so valuable for young athletes who
all they see is your best play. All they see is your 4 touchdown
game. All they see is you holding up
your number one Texans jersey, but they don't see the nights
you lay in your dorm room sayingI can't do this anymore or the
days you you throw 3 picks at practice.

(42:33):
Like, yeah, I think it's super important that everyone
understands there's another sideof the coin here that even the
guys at the highest level like you go through.
Yes yeah, I mean I have stories on stories so I'll explain 1
fast. But so I had AI had a coach.
He's actually coaching at team north now.
I still love him, but his aim iscoach Alfred.

(42:56):
And when I first got to Ohio State, I did not understand
like, like I told you guys before, like, like the
development that they were putting me through.
I didn't understand the plan that they had for me.
And I didn't even know if there was a plan.
And just like you, I'm like, man, I don't know if I can play
here. Like you guys are really good at
what they do. And so I remember after
practice, like I was really downto dumps.

(43:17):
I don't really practice much. Like I was going with like the
threes and like it was, it wasn't great.
Like I, I, I, I, I didn't want to be there.
I was like, like, man, I if I went to USC, like I'll play,
like if I went to some school close to home, like I, I would
be the man right off the bat. And like, yeah, these things
might have been true, but you know, so when I sat down with

(43:38):
Coach Alfred, it was, it was cold as heck.
We're sitting there. It's like we're, we're doing
really well this season's COVID years.
It's it's like an awkward year. So everything's kind of like
off. And he sat there and looked at
me. He was like, man, he was like,
and he just was honest. He was like, man, you'll be
foolish if you left this opportunity.
And he was like, you know, sometimes development seems

(43:59):
seems like demotion, like it seems like denial.
But no, it, it's just, it's a, it's a process of you becoming
great and, and, and it like stuck out to me.
And I thought, you know what, he's right.
Like let me, just let me try andlet me, let me, let me try to,
to, to not be perfect and just to, to attack the situation.

(44:20):
And that's what I did. So you know, it, it took me a
minute to, to understand, but it, I look back and like now
everybody's like, Oh, it made sense.
But at the time, like kind of what you're saying, like it, it
didn't make sense at all. Like for me to stay it, it was.
And so I'll, I'll go back to like to now like what I would
think of like just as, as what Iwould give it for advice.

(44:42):
If it's too easy, don't do it because there is nothing
rewarding too easy. If you look at some of the most
successful people ever to do anything from business to, to
sports to whatever the case may be, you, you, you have to
understand that it takes time tobecome great and it takes
pruning and it takes, if you look how gold is made, it's made

(45:03):
in fire. It's it's, it's broken down,
it's beat up on, it's, it's not sunshine and rainbows, you know
what I mean? So for me, the days of when I
didn't want to do it, when I didn't want to get up and go to
practice, when I didn't want to get in the weight room, when I
didn't want to go see Coach Mick, when I didn't want to be
disciplined, when nobody else islooking.

(45:24):
Those are the reason why I made it.
Like it wasn't because I threw the five touchdowns or had a
great game against Georgia. Like those are just testaments
to the work that I put in when nobody was looking.
And I know it sounds cliche, butit's it's the God honest truth.
So yeah, I mean, you have to have some type of blind faith,
man. You have to have some type of
trust in yourself and gives us some grit to you, man.
Like, like if you think it for the for especially for like the

(45:48):
high school kids and and college.
If you think when you get to theNFL, it's just as like if, if
you just think it's going to be easy or you, you have another
thing coming because this every single year, another guy coming
for your position. And then on top of that, it's
political. Like you, you, if you just get
up and leave, you're, you're, you're setting a tone not only
for yourself before everybody around you watching that you're

(46:10):
a quitter. And that's just the God honest
truth. So I believe in grit and I think
there's some respect in that andlike getting some dirt on your
nails and some grit and some scars.
Like, like I wouldn't for me, like if anybody's listening to
this call will call me out, likeplease do.
But like I, there's people who know me.
I got some scars, man. I got some things that, that,

(46:31):
that, that are the reason why I'm sitting here on this call
with you. And I know Greg, the same thing
for you. Like you have some things that,
that you have experienced doing such.
So that's why you have a following listening to you, you
know, via Youth Inc. So like, I think like if you're
listening to people to tell you to transfer and to do that,
like, and they don't got no grit, they don't got no scars.

(46:52):
They don't got no stories to tell.
You don't listen like at all, atall, because how you going to
tell me what to do? And you never did it yourself,
you know? What I'm saying, trust me, we're
going to bottle what you just said and we need to share that
with every single high school athlete in the country right now
because what you just said is the message and you couldn't
have said it any better. Yeah.
So we've actually talked to a couple guys.
So we talked to Adam with a 3D QBI know there's QB country,

(47:15):
there's quarterback trainers everywhere doing all sorts of
really good stuff. The quarterback position is so
special, right? Is it is the hardest position in
all of sports That the skill, the mentality, the mindset, all
of it. Just give our listeners a little
idea of like what goes on for you.
And this could be all the way back to your high school days or
prior when you're away from yourteam, you're not with the

(47:37):
Texans, you're not with Ohio State, you're not with Rancho
like you are by yourself, just trying to improve and develop as
an individual. Like, tell us a little bit about
that journey. Yeah, for me that, I mean, it's
been steps of like development. So starting off like I really
didn't have a quarterback trainer until until I really got
to college, all through high school didn't really have I had

(48:00):
like I had camps and stuff that I learned drills.
And so when I when I went and learn these drills at these
camps, I will go home and apply the same drills.
And I would just do it over and over and over and over and over.
And I will watch a lot of tape. So like in high school for me,
when nobody was watching, I'm, Iused to watch a ton of Drew
Brees, a touch of a touch. Excuse me, a ton of Drew Brees,

(48:20):
a ton of Matt Ryan, a ton of guys who didn't really like play
my type of playing style just tolike learn something new.
The one thing that I learned from there was like play action.
And like, even though I was never under center in high
school, I still worked on it when nobody was watching because
I seen it doing, it was being done at the highest level.
Watching ton of Brady. He did a lot of it.
And then I, yeah, I watched likesome Michael Vick, some Deshawn

(48:42):
Watson, some Cam Newton, some ofthe guys that kind of like the
style that I wanted to play and I would learn some things from
them and from them. I would say the things that
stuck out from those type of guys were the the instincts of
where Brady Breeze for the rivers, like, you know, Ben
Roethlisberger's of the world. Those guys necessarily didn't

(49:03):
have the physical makeup or likethe instinctual things.
They were more so mental. Like they would process the game
faster, they would see coverage,they would do those things.
So like I took a step to learn that.
And for me it was playing Madden.
Like I learned coverage from Madden.
Like cover two, Hey, it's this, it's cover 4.
It looks like this. And they're not a bunch of rules
and guidelines in Madden, but like it taught me the base layer

(49:26):
of coverage. And then I would take it and
watch YouTube videos and like try to learn that way.
And then it, it grew in college to where then I met Adam, I met
Taylor Kelly, I met John Beck, 3DQB Tom houses the people, you
know, and that's what they're working with them.
And then that took a step and, and then I've been running with
that ever since. And that's been and that was a
process like first with them, you know, everybody's seen that

(49:48):
doing the the shoulder back hip separation where he's doing the
like little funny dance, like don't that stuff is dangerous
for kids like that, that that's all being in inside your, your
like your AB work. Like if you're not developed as
a as a person, like you shouldn't be doing stuff like
that in my opinion yet. So my advice would be to the
people who are looking to develop is to go to these camps,

(50:10):
go to these, these, these placeswhere they're teaching you in
person, they're teaching you things and do it once or twice.
Do it 3 * 3 or 4 * a year. But I don't, I don't think it's
necessary that you need to be 8 years old training every
weekend. Like to me, you need to be going
to the park, you need to be playing, you know, different
type, you need to play in the neighborhood with, with with the

(50:31):
kids and like learning how to instinctively play at a high
level with with some regards to the training that you learn.
So I think a mixture is great. And so when you when you do
decide it's going to be a profession or that's something
that you're going to try to invest into is then when you
invest the money into the trainers and things like that.

(50:52):
So that's my honest, you know, advice that I would give
somebody to do that is like, youknow, start off with the camps,
the once in a while training andlearn from that.
Take whatever you can and apply it at home with the essential
things of going to the park, playing in the street, like, you
know, having fun with with kids,707 AAU basketball, things like

(51:16):
that. And then as time goes on, when
your body starts to develop, then take it more serious.
Love it. Well, CJ, man, I, I can't thank
you for your time. I know you're in New York.
I know you're. I know you got a lot going on,
man. But ever since I came up and
visited spring ball a couple years ago and had a chance to
meet you, it's been so cool to not only follow you at Ohio
State then, but now get to know you, call your games, be there,

(51:37):
do production meetings with you.Obviously watch you Rookie of
the year. Now you're going into year
three. It's it's been really cool, man,
to just see the way you carry yourself, obviously on the field
that's been off the charts, but just everything away from the
field, just getting to know you and talk to you, man.
I can't thank you enough for joining us that you think the
wisdom, the experiences, the vulnerability that you share to
our audience and athletes, it's so valuable, man.

(52:00):
So I can't thank you enough for joining us and and and being
here with us on you think. No, thank you, man.
I really appreciate the the timeand, you know, the ability to
give a couple of my my two cents.
But yeah, man, I think you thinkyou is doing a great thing and
something that I'm I'm proud to be a part of and something I
think is necessary for this time.
And I don't think I know it's necessary because the structure

(52:22):
is good, you know, and the foundation is being built with
you think. And I think it's, it's going to
take off. So I'm excited to be a part of
it and, you know, very grateful.Thanks again to Unrivaled Sports
for partnering with us on this episode of You Think.
Now, let's wrap up my conversation with CEO Andy
Campion. All right, so for anyone who's
lived the youth sports in, you know, journey and, and lived in

(52:44):
this world, there's really two elements to it, right?
There's two groups of people, there's the kids that they need
to be the goal. And I think for a lot of adults,
at times they lose track of who really all this is for.
Because then the other side of the coin are all the adults that
could be coaches, parents, umpires, referees, tournament
directors, all the adults that of course make events possible,

(53:06):
make teams possible. And all that with your efforts,
not only here at All Star Village, but just all of your
projects, all of your propertiesand unrivaled.
Like, how do you guys make sure that even though adults are
making all the decisions and you're driving adult experiences
and family experiences, all of that never loses sight that it
is about the kids at the end of the day and ultimately their

(53:29):
experience. You're pretty.
Fond of saying something like focus on the dreams and desire
and drive of the kids, not of the parents in youth sports.
And I love it because that's youcould end the sentence there.
You could say focus on the dreams and aspirations of kids,
not on the parents or the adults, as he said, right?
But then as you and and you've talked about this a lot too, but

(53:52):
it's a little more dynamic than that, right?
And what you've talked about is so kids first, the short of it
with kids is the more kids that play sport, the better.
It's almost that simple. Like if you said, what do you
guys measure if that's the best,that's the single most important
measure for us is more kids playing sports and kids playing
more sports, right? So, so that's most important.

(54:15):
But then you go to the adults and you kind of lump this all
into one category. And so I know I kind of know
what I'm up against with parentsbecause I have kids that kids
that play sports. So the way I think about it is
what we'd love to do is is get the parents engaged in the most
family oriented way possible, not in the game itself.

(54:35):
So tonight at Cooperstown All Star Village, for example, we
have fan appreciation night and a credit to our team here.
They just launched it this year.So fan appreciation night, this
one like you can't help but smile when you say it.
Mom's Home Run Derby. We've had to expand it to like
qualifying rounds because it's become so popular in just a few

(54:55):
weeks into the summer that everymom wants to do it.
Us as parents, we're we're on the sidelines going.
Like I kind of want to get around on the field.
Great, get on the field and playin the Home Run Derby.
I'd say the second element of adults that you talk about a lot
is coaches. There might be almost nothing
more important at that to this age, right?
Because they're an authority figure.
They're teaching the kids, but we don't hire the coaches.

(55:17):
The clubs and teams hire the coaches.
And our assumption, but we pay pretty close attention is, is
are we giving them the right environment to be a great coach?
Then you have the officials, youknow, you put like, you know,
black and white stripes on someone and you get a negative
connotation usually. The reality is in youth sports,
it's got to be the opposite 1. You want the games to be fair.

(55:37):
That's baseline. But the officials and the
umpires are basically running the field.
They're kind of the general manager of the game, right?
You have the teams on the field and you have the coaches.
And there's really one adult to use your term out there.
And it's the UMP. And so we have kids that are
like taking selfies with Umpire Mike and posting them like our
UMPS are they're great at officiating and they're great

(56:00):
people. Like it's 12 year old kids.
We want them to be great. How do I experience any of the
unrivaled properties next? Like how do I say this was
incredible. Yep, but I want to do it again
next year. Where do I go?
Take me there. OK.
So first I'll just give you the landscape over the past year.
We've we've we've become a national organization in
baseball. We now have a national

(56:21):
footprint. We've got everything from
Cooperstown, All Star Village toDiamond Nation, which is
actually the high school age. You probably are familiar with
that in New Jersey. We have ripped in baseball in a
number of different locations, but the one I've been kind of
saving for last is called RockerB Ranch in Texas.
So it's 325 acres, a little overan hour outside Dallas.
It's right now baseball. So we've expanded the number of

(56:43):
baseball fields, but we have some acres, we have some land.
It's Texas, right? We're definitely going to expand
rectangle fields as you might call it, flag football, soccer,
etcetera. We're in that process.
But what's awesome about it, it's Texas.
So we have lodging there. It's our other only other
property. We have casitas, lodges,
etcetera. There's a Music Hall and again,

(57:04):
food wise, we got Traegers out there, but.
Food Ranch to play baseball. It's called Rocker B Ranch.
It's a, It literally is. It's like it's country meets
baseball. It's awesome.
So this, I'd say, is the Disneyland of baseball.
That'll be the Walt Disney Worldof youth sports.
Thanks again for joining us. We'll catch you next week right
here on You Think.