December 2, 2025 • 40 mins
Greg welcomes Coach RAC and Coach Ballgame for a conversation that gets to the core of what youth baseball should be. The group reflects on the Savannah Bananas’ stop in Charlotte, the joy and energy they bring to the field, and the inspiration behind Crashin’ Practice, Youth Inc.’s new series that surprises local teams with meaningful, high-impact coaching sessions.To learn more or enter, visit https://www.youth.inc/crashin-practiceSign up for our newsletter at https://www.youth.inc/newsletterFor more, visit https://www.youth.inc/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Youth sports in America are at acrossroads, and I'm here to help
lead the conversation forward. I'm Greg Olson.
Each week we're sitting down with top athletes, coaches and
more to talk about what's working, what's broken and
what's next. Welcome to You Think.
Before we dive into this week's episode, here's a special look
at our new series and contest, Crash and Practice.
(00:22):
To learn more or enter, visit crashandpractice.com.
This is going to be the best dayin.
Life I'm Coach Rack. Hey, Rack.
Can we get a backflip catch or no?
I think that's in store. I'm coach Ball game on your
marks. It's set today.
We're. Crashing practice.
We're here to offer coaching tips, new skill development
techniques. And best practices for parents.
(00:42):
Of young. Athletes.
The first time that I heard of Coach Rack was actually from my
two sons. I reached out to him and I
wanted to make practice fun. It's a six on six scrimmage and
it will be the fastest paced scrimmage you've ever played in
your life. OK, behind the back.
Oh. Come on.
I like that. Double plays in the coaches have
(01:03):
to do 10 push ups. Yeah, that's some push ups.
Who would have thought would I do would be novel, prioritize
joy and character on a baseball field?
I get to be the coach that I wish that I had growing up.
They're going to remember this for a long time and you guys
just made a bunch of little 1112year old boys days.
Very happy and fun for that man Thank you.
(01:27):
All right, well, ball game rack.I want to tell the origin story
of how the three of us have now come together, the exciting
project we're about to release here in the next couple weeks
called Crash and Practice. It all started my Revolution
baseball team. You guys came down to Charlotte
to test this idea. Like, hey, what if us two guys
(01:48):
just like showed up at a youth baseball practice and walked out
of the woods and surprised the kids and just like took over a
practice And I was like, well, Igot a baseball team with a bunch
of kids that would love you guys.
Let's do it. And now here we are on the
doorstep of releasing this. It's going to be not just in
baseball that you guys are doing.
We're going to be able to move this to other sports and really
(02:08):
build a really cool series. But like, just talk about the
origins of us all working together, how fun that day was,
and just an idea what people canexpect from crashing.
Rack lead us off. I'll bet 2.
Perfect man. Two holes usually where the best
hitters go. Yeah, man, we we got the idea,
(02:28):
gosh, around this time last year, maybe a little before
that. And the concept was this like,
you know, these kids maybe watchcoach ball game on social media
or maybe see some, some of my videos on on social media.
We wanted to get in person with these kids and and we figured it
would might, might be kind of fun if we surprised them and and
(02:49):
didn't know that that we were showing up.
And sure enough, yeah, ball, ball game and I came out of the
woods and yeah, what would happen next was a mix of music,
impromptu, maybe some, some trick plays, lots of fun stuff.
But I think that this concept issomething that they can be
(03:10):
applied to multiple sports. I think we've even seen shades
of this, you know, in gosh, it was it Eli Manning, you know,
doing the undercover at at his college.
So there's yeah, there's something special about a
surprise. And when you can pair that with
(03:31):
some good life lessons and make a real impact in person, I think
it it's a winning idea, yeah. We did come out of the woods and
and before we came out of the woods, we were chatting going
you know, I know they're going to know you Rack, but most of
the content I put out is for theparents.
(03:51):
So are these kids really going to know me?
And we get out there and they'relike, you know, their mind is
blown Coach rack. And then they look at me and
they're like, and who's that guy?
And I'm like, yeah, I'm racks dad.
Nice to see you guys. But a handful of kids, uh,
(04:14):
definitely knew who I was, but they all knew Rack.
I I'm I'm happy being uncle ballgame here in this awesome idea
of a show. But I think when you combine the
surprise factor of the coolest Savannah banana player who does
backflips and has a handsome mustache, surprising these kids.
(04:39):
And then I in my comfort zone, just love big groups of kids.
I love emceeing the event and kind of running point guard on
the on the show. And then you got Greg out there
in his hand. Hey, help me be a better coach.
It just makes sense because it it, I feel like these kids and
(05:05):
their parents, when they go homein the car, they have something
to connect with. The parents are talking about
it. The kids are talking about it.
And that's really where I come from when I create content is
how can I, how can I get a father and a son talking and
connecting on a deeper level because of the message I put out
(05:28):
there. So it's just a really cool idea.
And you know, I'm, I'm, I'm happy being Coach Rack's uncle
or a Coach Rack's dad. Let's let's be honest, I know
Rack's the celeb and he he obviously gets a lot of
attention and I got to witness it first hand being with the
bananas when they came to Charlotte and and how excited.
(05:49):
But let's and rack, I'm sure agrees with what I'm about to
say. This can't happen without ball
game running the show boots on the ground.
I mean, for anyone who's seen your Sandlot tour, we got to see
up close and personal when we did the crash and practice
episode with my team. Like you have a gift of
entertainment, lessons, storytelling.
(06:12):
You're beating the drums, you memorize 12 kids nicknames in
like 35 seconds. You have an incredible gift of
like guiding this like very fun loose and but at the same time,
these kids are getting like these incredible life lessons
all while doing a baseball practice and like racks doing
(06:33):
backflips and racks fielding between his legs and rack
signing autographs and telling really cool stories.
Like the dynamic of the two of you allowed me as a coach to
just stand back and be like, this is incredible.
Like this is exactly what kids, especially on my team, this is
what they need. They need fun.
They need light because our practices can be intense.
(06:55):
Our practices can be like the world's coming to an end.
Like that's something that is just innate in my being and
seeing you 2 come with all of your spirit and all of your
enthusiasm and pour into these kids of all the cool shit that
we've done like this is up or atnear the top for for our kids
experiences. Well, that's high praise, you
(07:17):
man, High praise. Yeah, real quick.
I got a high ball game up to a little bit.
Never in my life have I seen a group of kids be more locked in
than when Coach Ball Game is speaking.
He could be talking about anything.
He could be talking about John Stamos or one of his million
salutes. And the kids are just like
glued. And they're like, I have no idea
who John Stamos is, but they're just locked in the whole time,
(07:41):
man. Yes, ball game.
You definitely have a gift. You are the the glue that makes
it work, man. Dude, my.
Kids favorite story if you not to interrupt, but if you ask my
kids what what's their biggest memory from that ball games
given like this really like serious thing about like
bouncing back and dealing with adversity.
And he's like one day I was playing and I got up to bat four
(08:02):
times and I went over four with four strikeouts and the kids are
like hanging on every word and you're like, you know what I did
the next time and all the kids are like you hit the
game-winning home run. It's like a Disney movie story.
He's like, I got up again and I struck out and they were like
dying laughing. And I was like that.
(08:22):
If there was one story that likesummarized it, like that was it.
Well, golly, you guys have tapped into my love language of
words of affirmation, so I'm going to be riding high all day.
Well, I I don't know that peopleunderstand something exists
until they see it anymore, you know with everybody watching
(08:44):
video feed. So what I try to do is go into a
town and, and let specifically parents know that this can be a
both and it's not either your win trophies or your soft
participation trophy fun guy. They can be both.
They're they're it should be both.
(09:05):
I feel like kids play better when they're feeling joy.
I, I learned that from the bananas and from rack in our
discussions that we've had. So going in to Charlotte where
we shot that and and letting theparents know that this is a
really cool combo platter that can happen, but then encouraging
(09:28):
the kids stay on this path rightof feel joy, create a freedom to
fail and then you're gonna fail less, if that makes any sense.
So I love bringing that combo. Obviously, I, my wife many years
ago pushed me in this direction of coach ball game all the way.
(09:49):
And she said, well, you love theater arts, you love writing,
you love directing, you love music, you love poetry, you love
storytelling and you love baseball.
Why don't you just marry all that stuff into this thing?
And over 21 years of doing it with really great mentors, I've,
I've learned how to get kids to lock in, how to hang on to
(10:10):
every, every syllable that I, that I speak, but more most
importantly, teach love of play and build character.
I mean that that's what youth youth coaching is in my book, is
creating great humans. And then the winds, the skill
development is all by product ofthat.
(10:31):
So yeah, you, you caught me in my comfort zone, guys.
Love it Rack. Let me ask you this, so going
forward, right, like this was not a one off this spring, you
guys are going to go out and do three crash and practice series
episodes. Teams right now, teams all
across the country are submitting.
They can go on, they can submit,they can apply.
(10:52):
Try to be one of the three teamsthat you guys surprise and crash
and run their practice like you did mine last year.
Give us an idea like you've toured the country.
You're you've been on every morning show everywhere you look
like you guys yourself and the bananas and all include like all
inclusive. They're like as you guys have
traveled the country in the response that you have gotten
(11:14):
both individually and with the team, what would you say is like
your dream response? You're hoping the first time you
go, you guys now go crash one ofthese practices, but it's not my
team, right. It's not someone that at least
you know, like these are going to be people that you probably
don't know. Like what do you want to say to
those teams out there that rightnow are submitting and applying
for you and ball game to show upto run their practice?
(11:36):
Like what are you hoping to get out of it?
I am hoping that we have the time of our lives like
regardless of like what age group these kids are or where
they come from. I don't know if they're the best
team in the nation or there's some thrown together wreck ball
team. I want to show up and I want to
be a kid with those kids and I want to just have a great time.
So I think first and foremost, that's that's what I what I
(11:58):
want. If they they happen to know who
ball game and I are and they getfired up to see us, awesome.
But I think that what ball game touched on earlier is where the
true magic happens. I, the, I, I think that the
beauty of this isn't just what we capture on video and the cool
reactions like that's exciting and memories that maybe the kids
will remember for a long time. But what I want the kids to walk
(12:21):
away with are potential role models to look at and to be able
to see this idea that that you can have fun while playing
baseball and still strive for excellence.
That's what I want them to walk away with and that's something
I've seen this year specificallyin a way that I've never seen
(12:44):
before with the Bananas. I feel like especially this last
part of our season, we have played some of the best ball
I've ever seen anybody play. I mean, we we've made it through
full games while doing trick plays without making a single
error and while batting like while putting up good at bats,
while like playing the fundamentals well.
And I've been able to see that and we are having the most fun
(13:04):
we've ever had in our entire life.
And no one's putting pressure oneach other.
We are spurting each other on toget better.
We're showing up early to to putin early work, but we are firing
on all cylinders. And it's such a fun environment
to be in. And more than anything, like
when you're growing up, you haveall these different, different
coaches with some sometimes maybe good intentions, sometimes
(13:28):
maybe not. But when I was growing up, I saw
lots of potential different likerole models that that I could
potentially grow into. And what I want these kids to be
able to see is someone like my dad or coach ball games dad or,
or you Greg, who, who cares about the game and who loves to
(13:51):
have fun and ultimately wants these kids to be the best human
being possible. And I want us to show up to
whatever park it is that we showup at.
And I want these kids to have the time of their life and then
look at the way that practice isran and, and take that on into
whatever teams they they go on from there.
And I also want the parents where we show up.
(14:13):
I think this is another element that is, is especially unique
about this. I want the parents to see the
way the practices are ran, and Iwant them to get ideas for ways
that they can have fun with their kids.
I think that baseball and all sports in general, is such a
unique opportunity for parents to connect and develop
relationships with their kids. My dad and I bonded over
(14:34):
baseball in a way we couldn't bond over anything else.
Him throwing me batting practiceafter work every day, that was a
special, unique connection that my dad and I have and will
always have. And so I want parents, in
addition to the kids to be able to see the sport of baseball as
a unique opportunity to develop a relationship between them and
(14:57):
one that will benefit them for the rest of their life that
actually grows them closer. So, yeah, I mean, yes, there's a
lot of things I want out of this, but more than anything
like, yeah, the the, the character that it develops and,
and showing people how beautifulbaseball can be at uniting
people, I think that that's likethe overall like mission and
goal with what we're doing. Ball game, I want you to talk
(15:18):
more about that connection to the parents, because obviously
this is about the kids and it's about growing the game and it's
about that. But I think your ability to
connect with parents through your storytelling, through your
humor, through your anecdotes, like how are we going to
accomplish that when we get out on the road this spring for
these next couple episodes of Crash and Practice?
(15:40):
Well, I'll give you 2 quick stories from the road to just
the past couple weeks. I've been in a bunch of
different cities and this happens in about every city.
But it, it went even further where a dad came up to me and
said, hey, I just want to tell you, I used to be that dad.
I used to yell and it was a pretty elite space of travel
(16:03):
ball and I was living through myson.
And then I, I caught wind of your message and my relationship
with my son is now thriving. On top of that, I think you
might have saved my marriage too, which is a heavy thing to
hear. But it's like, if there's
tension between father and son, father and daughter, when it
(16:25):
comes to the, the field like that can seep into the marriage
too. So you know that that's real
stuff. And so I, I, I, I, I love seeing
a bearded guy on the road who's tearing up saying thank you for
giving me this light bulb moment, that this is their
(16:47):
journey. This is my kids sports journey.
It's not mine. I think a lot of parents, maybe
me, started out this way as well.
Like I wasn't exactly happy withhow my playing career panned
out. So you live through your kid and
you hang on to every single pitch and you micromanage and
you overbear. And then the car rides are very
(17:09):
miserable. And Kirk Gibson calls that a
lose. Lose the the kids going to lose
the love of the game and they'regoing to lose the love of you.
They don't want to go camping with you.
They don't want to go fishing with you.
It's just tense. So that's a big one.
Another story from Virginia was a dad got up in front of all the
(17:31):
coaches. We have a coaches and parents
conversation after our sandlots and he said 10 years ago, my
kids, seven years old, were in the backyard and he's throwing
the ball and we're working on his skill.
And he finally got to a point where he was doing it right and
he was he was aiming at the target.
He was hitting the target. And I said, son, fine, there you
(17:52):
go. We did it.
We've been working on this so hard and you did it.
And he runs up to me, gives me this huge hug, and he says, I'm
just so thankful, dad, that you're finally not disappointed
in me. And it crushed him.
It crushed the dad when he heardthat word that so this whole
(18:12):
time when we've been working on this thing, you felt like I was
disappointed in you. It was a light bulb moment for
him. His son is now 17 years old and
they have a great relationship, but he takes the time to tell
every sports parent he knows or meets that story because who
(18:33):
that hits you in a heavy way. So I think the secret to the
secret is really educating, equipping parents and just just
shine in a mirror and saying, hey, let's be self reflective
here. We both want our kid to go 3 for
four with a couple of bombs. What's gonna be the most
(18:54):
productive way to do that? Yeah.
So let me ask you, you both brought this up and I think it's
such and this is something again, hand raised, honest, a
blink. I don't know whatever the A.
Honesty salute. Honesty salute.
Also vulnerability salute. Like vulnerability salute.
Too, man. All right, so I gotta learn all
these. I gotta learn.
I gotta learn. I just do that.
(19:15):
What is it? Brad Pitt is Brad Pitt is that.
One Brad Pitt's the left hand, John Stamos is the right.
Yeah, but you got to have a hairline like Rat with Ball
game. Holy shit what a hairline you
have. That's impressive.
It's better than. Mine.
It's better than mine. I hear it's your mom's father,
So thanks, Grandpa. There.
You go. So the origins of my anxiety and
(19:39):
stress watching my kids play sports is not their overall
performance. I do not need my kid to be a
professional athlete. I don't need to live their life
of like going to college like I don't I do.
That is not my motivation. I have a hard time watching
people underperform. I tell my kids all the time
(20:00):
there's nothing the most the thesaddest thing in the world is
wasted potential. All I want from everyone,
whether it's in school, whether it's.
And any aspect of life I have this whole like, if you're going
to be a bear, be a grizzly, likeif we're going to do it, let's
do it to the best of our ability.
And if we're good, we're good. If we're great, if we're not
good, like whatever it is, I'm not a big like participation
(20:24):
guy. Like I'm just doing it for the
sake of doing it. That's just not in my brain.
It doesn't work. So I've now passed that on to my
own kids, right. So I hear you guys say like the
fun and all that. Like it was hard for me at
practice last year to just step back as we're like kissing
second base and rubbing our button second base.
Like that's hard for me. But then I look and all of a
(20:45):
sudden we get like the best in and out of our life because the
kids are bouncing around having fun.
So like, I have a hard time watching my kids underperform
because they don't put the work in their attitude.
They're not taking coaching, They're not XY and Z.
Like how do we continue to promote excellence?
Rap the word you used and say ifwe're going to do this, let's be
(21:08):
good at it because if not, that to me is not fun.
But also realize let's have fun.We can make this journey of
excellence enjoyable. Like how do we do both?
I can play this off or I can. Go get a little something there.
Yeah, so I love that you're thatway and I'm that way too.
(21:31):
And I, I want everybody to be that way.
Like I, I can't do something without giving it my all.
And I feel like it's a waste if I do something and I'm not
giving it my best shot. And I think there needs to be
more of that in everything. I think people settle too easily
and I think that people get too comfortable and are just OK
being OK. And for me, like if I'm doing
something, I want to be great. That being said, where I learned
(21:57):
that I don't know if that I I think it was just demonstrated
by the actions of my parents more than anything.
When my mom would do something, she do it to the best of her
ability. And when my dad would do
something, he would also do it to the best of their ability.
And I saw the way that they worked hard and I think that
their actions really motivated me to work hard more than
(22:20):
anything. And Greg, I bet your kids, kids
probably say the same thing. They see the way that you strive
for excellence in everything that you do, whether that was
your playing career, whether that's currently now, like in
broadcasting and everything thatyou do, you clearly strive for
excellence. And I bet they see that and also
want to strive to do the same. I think that with my career, my,
(22:45):
my parents never pushed me to excellence.
I think they kind of knew that Ijust wanted to be great.
And as long as they saw that like I was, I guess they always
saw me put in the work, like behind the scenes, like I wanted
to like my lifestyle reflected the goals that I had.
(23:06):
And so that is a tough question and I'm not sure I even have the
answer to it. But but what happens when the
goals that kids have maybe don'talign with their work ethic
because. That's that's yeah, my mind.
Yeah. And then you want to.
Take this team, I'm going to play 2 sports in high school
and, and at times my kids do exercise like the right
motivations. And I'm like, whatever happens
(23:28):
this weekend, you go, oh, for three, we can live with it, but
don't go over 3 and be mad. And all week you did nothing and
you didn't get in your tee, you didn't do your batting
progressions, you didn't do yourwork.
You didn't have a great outing on the mound.
What did you do? Your arm care?
Did you do all your bullpens? How was your flat ground?
Did you focus when you played catch or did you just talk and
(23:48):
play catch and throw it around and half ass And then you get on
the mound and you can't find your fastball.
Like that's connecting the work to the outcome I think is the
hardest thing for young kids in today's world because all they
see is positive outcomes around them.
No one posts I struck out in thebottom of the ninth with runners
on 2nd in a one run game. No one posts that they only post
(24:13):
I hit the game-winning walk off double.
But they don't like they not having the work leading up to
the highlight I think is creating a lot of bad habits.
Yeah, I think the seek this is great and and I think we all
want this. We all.
That's the Holy Grail. Can we make it extremely fun for
(24:35):
the kid while they strive for excellence?
That's the goal of every coach. And I think it starts with
connection. Every kids are a little bit
different. I learned this from Dusty Baker
and Mike Schilt of the Padres. They they call it a key, like
you got to find the key for eachlock of each kid.
So that building trust factor ishuge because one of your kids
(24:59):
might respond to firm while the other one responds to humor
while the other one needs an assistant coach, Mr. Miyagi, to
just go for a walk with him. So the connection part is huge.
And then they need to know, the kid needs to know that your joy
(25:19):
is detached from their result onthe field, that the O for five,
the five for five, they're treated pretty equally.
But if there was an O for five, how did we respond?
Right? What an opportunity we have here
to respond to work on this. So as a coach, we need to look
through the lens of character development.
(25:41):
And one of those aspects is workethic.
So I always award kids that are showing up early, stay in late,
hustling other choices like being kind, cheering for their
teammate, being brave. There's a lot of a lot of fear
that needs to be overcome. And and these life lessons,
(26:02):
they're huge down the road. The game, the eight U, the 9 U,
the 10U games, not life or death, but if we can find the
key to unlock each different personality and give that kid a
tool or a couple tools to overcome failure, adversity,
that could be life or death. When they're 18/19/20 they're
(26:23):
tempted to make some bad choices.
So I just, I think it's a no brainer.
The, the the skill development and the winds have to be
byproducts of of that lens of character development and joy.
I think it gets a little convoluted when parents are
(26:45):
attaching their joy to the win or to the accomplishment.
So, yeah, when when my daughter,when there's something that's
creating tension there. And I know if I approach her
with this, hey, we need to do this with our hands.
We need to do this with our knees.
You need to do this. I feel like I've been asking her
(27:05):
to make her bed for 11 years. So it's going to go in one ear
and out the other. But she respects the heck out of
Coach Rack. So if I call Rack and say, hey,
would you talk to my kid about this thing?
I bet she'll jump on board with it.
So I call that the the professional pass off Man, it's
huge. It really is.
And by the way, my daughters, mydaughters were like, please tell
(27:29):
Rack we love him, even with his mustache.
So there you go. So that that professional pass
off, Greg, if you haven't used it, it's dynamite.
And real quick, real quick, I got something to add on to that.
I think you, you struck gold when you say you got to like
learn each kid because I've noticed that kid, like so many
(27:49):
people are different. What I needed to hear is very
different than maybe what the guy next to me needed to hear.
Like for me, I needed my parentsto really say nothing, stand on
the side and like be ready to throw me batting practice.
And that was it. And that's how I thrive like
that. That made me want to go put in
extra work. Like I felt like the results
were all in my hands. No one was pushing me towards
anything. And I was like, cool, I can run
towards this. I've also seen people though,
(28:10):
and teammates that I even have now that are like, hey, I want
you to get on me and say no, go put some work in.
And so some people like need that.
But if someone did that to me, Iwould be like, what?
You don't see all the work that I'm putting in behind the
scenes. No, I am.
I'm working on it. Like, all right, so every kid I
think means, I think the coach needs to learn the kids and know
(28:31):
what what motivates them to success better.
But the common denominator is fostering a love for the game
and the kids knowing that your joy isn't attached to their
results. I think those are the the common
common denominators there. What's up guys, do you want
custom fan wear like this cricket shirt for Charlotte
Christian School? We've got premium apparel from
(28:51):
your favorite brands. The best part about it is I
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It's turned into my uniform. Go right now over to Youth dot,
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(29:13):
And remember itsnot.com, it's Youth dot Inc.
Now back to our episode. We, the word we use with our
teams is winning as a byproduct.And that is a, that is a very
broad statement. It's going to be a byproduct of
how well we practice. It's going to be a byproduct of
our attitudes. It's going to be our work ethic.
It's going to be our ability to communicate and be organized.
(29:35):
It's going to be a byproduct of tension, The detail.
It's going to be a combination of 1,000,000 little tiny things
from how we get dressed before practice to being on time.
We coach the our football and baseball teams.
We coach the hell out of warmups.
We coach warmups. Like I had an NFL coach, one of
(29:56):
our offensive line coaches, JohnMascombe, and he said offensive
line every single day on Saturday before he'd say, hey,
tomorrow we're going to win warmups.
I don't know what's going to happen in the game, but we are
capable of winning warmups. And that's always like struck a
nerve with me. So like whether it's a practice,
a walkthrough or the championship Sunday game, we
(30:18):
warm up the exact same way everysingle day.
So like that to me is we're going to if we add up all these
little good habits and we have everybody add them up all
together, we're going to win a lot.
We're not going to win always and we're not going to coach the
scoreboard and we're not going to coach there's the my hardest
post game speeches to some of the kids have been after we've
(30:39):
won a football game 30 to nothing.
I said I'm going to coach you harder when we're up 30 then
when it's A1 score game because we can't let the scoreboard tell
us whether we're doing things right or wrong.
We need to be honest with ourselves.
When we're doing it right, we'regoing to tell you.
And when I tell you, you do a good job, you did a good job.
But not everything's OK and not everything's right.
(31:01):
And just because we won by 30 orlost by 10 doesn't mean we
played good or bad. And winning is a byproduct of
everything we do. And that is just like the only
way my brain works, and it's notfor everybody.
And hard to believe it's a novelidea that we we are going to
teach these life lessons to makethem a well-rounded human being
(31:25):
when they become an adult. And, and, and that is novel
because especially in the elite space, it is winning is held to
such a, a high priority that youlose sight of the joy, you lose
sight of the kid being teased because your focus is on
(31:47):
winning. You lose sight of the kid that
wants to quit because nobody's paying any attention to him.
So yeah, it, it, it's not, it's not an easy job to be a youth
coach, but I would say it's the most impactful job anybody will
ever have. It's the favorite thing I do
outside of like my family circle, like husband, father.
(32:08):
It's the favorite. It's my favorite thing that I do
in the world. All right, this last thing
before we wrap again, crash and practice.
Come into a city near you. Super pumped for you guys to go
on the road and make bring this thing to life.
Super proud to partner with bothof you.
You both spend a lot of time on the road.
I'm going to start with you ballgame.
I'll let rack. I'll let rack wrap us up ball
game. You've been in every city in
(32:29):
America for anyone who follows you on social media, you've seen
it all. Different ages, different walks
of life, different backgrounds. Give us a big picture view of
like, evaluate the world of youth baseball.
Like, how would you summarize it?
The good, the bad, the ugly, everything in between.
As you go coast to coast, what seems like on a daily basis
(32:51):
interacting with communities bigand small all around America and
on baseball fields in everyone'sbackyard.
I don't think kids have changed in the past 5000 years.
I I think kids are the same. They, they love something that
feels like a birthday party and they love something when they
(33:15):
know the coach cares about them as a human.
So that's what I try to do in every town and I try to show
every parent it's not as difficult as you think to do
those two things to create a joyful vibe that moves and to
connect with human beings. So I what, what I notice is a
(33:41):
lot of parents, maybe they haven't been there, done that,
they haven't played the game of baseball.
So that creates a lot of anxietyor a lot of insecurity.
Either way, there's toxicity that that stems from that.
And the other thing that I notice is that there's not
enough self reflection specifically in men to just say,
(34:04):
you know what? I overreacted.
I took my tough week of work andI just threw up onto a youth
baseball field and I need to apologize.
We don't see enough of that. So I feel like those are the
real secrets is league board members, coaches of all youth
(34:24):
baseball leagues, travel, rec, whatever, like come together
once a week and say, you know what, what went right this week?
What went wrong? How could I do better to to make
this kid want to come back next year?
Because when me and my staff, wego to it plays in every city.
When you have kids moving and you connect with them on a human
(34:46):
level, they, they, they want to play the rest of the night.
I also notice that when I break out a volleyball instead of a
baseball or a tennis ball or maybe a broomstick instead of a
bat, kids jump on that and there's not enough of that.
So it doesn't just have to be the $400.00 bat and the $600.00
(35:06):
helmet. Get a broomstick, get a lemon
like Roberto Clemente and play in your cul-de-sac.
So, yeah, I, I don't think kids have changed.
Maybe parents have changed a bit.
So that's my ultimate goal here is to is to shine a light on we
can we can bring back the goldenera of baseball baby.
(35:29):
I love it, Rack. What say you I've?
Seen I've seen the same thing man.
I kids love to just play before games.
A lot of times one of our guys, Danny Hasley, will break a, a
football out and we'll just be throwing footballs back and
forth with, you know, kids in the crowd.
And there's just, there's so many ways to connect with the
(35:50):
game of baseball. I'll see some kids who show up
and know every single person's stats on the entire team.
And I, you know, they know everyone's baseball card and
they know my, they know my origin story better than I know
my origin story. And so like there's those kids
that are just obsessed with the stats and like, you could tell,
like they, you know, who knows if they'll play this game at a
high level, but they just, they love the game.
(36:10):
And then you'll see these kids who are just like freak athletes
that are taller than me and bigger and stronger than me and
they're thirteen years old. And you know, I, I see all over
the map when it comes to the game of baseball.
The one cool thing that I've gotten to see is I've gotten to
meet several kids and parents who have specifically said, Hey,
(36:31):
my, my son quit baseball last year, but he wants to play again
because he's falling back in love with the game and, and
loves what what you're doing here.
When I hear stuff like that, it makes me excited and wants to
keep doing what we're doing here.
I think that by us going and crashing practices and, and
maybe some kid sees that video on, on social media or wherever
(36:54):
the video's AT and it's like, oh, that looks like fun.
OK. Oh, if, if that's what baseball
is, I want to, I want to get into that a little bit.
Like if we can capture that and just show how fun this game can
be, then I think we've won. And I I want to say that
baseball is such a special, unique sport that more people
need to appreciate. And seeing the way that even
(37:18):
numbers watching the game have kind of maybe declined a little
bit over the past so many years.I would just love to see over
the next few years the game of baseball become bigger and
better and a way for not just bigger and better in numbers but
also bigger and better in that it creates better human beings.
(37:42):
Like ball game would say no. Doubt I think, you know, as I
kind of reflect on this whole journey of crashing practice, I
think the coolest thing is we'reat dinner in Charlotte.
My kids obviously love you guys,my two boys that have played a
ton of baseball, watch all your videos, know everything you guys
put out before I do how a randomdinner in Charlotte kind of
(38:02):
talking you think talking all things you'd sports.
Hey, would you guys want to cometo our practice?
Oh dad racking ball game should coach our practice.
How this kind of organic idea over just kind of hanging with a
couple young teenage boys and two guys, one guy that they
don't want to listen to, but twoguys that they do put a lot of
value and what they put out and say has turned into what we
(38:24):
think is going to be a really special opportunity.
The two of you taking it and running with it, not only doing
it with my team as kind of a test pilot, but then following
the the response to that now hitting the road this spring to
go can connect with the community.
It's pretty cool how it's all come together from just that
random dinner with my two boys and here we are now a year later
(38:45):
about to turn this thing into reality.
So I can't thank the two of you enough, your messaging, what you
do, not only with you think and not only with our mission, but
just individually, your own brands, your own content.
And I'm super thankful. I'm super humbled that you guys
want to work with us in partnership to bring crash and
practice now to life officially.And I can't wait to see what you
(39:08):
guys pull off with it. I think it's going to be
amazing. Oh, man, honored for a bona fide
pro like yourself to get back into this game, It means so much
and and and so many more ears will be opened just because
you're passionate about it. So I had a boy.
I had a boy. This is going to be the best day
in life. I'm Coach Rack.
(39:28):
Hey, Rack. Can we get a backflip catch or
no? I think that's in store.
I'm coach ball game on your March.
Get set today. We're.
Crashing. Practice.
We're here to offer coaching tips, new skill development
techniques. And best practices for parents.
Of young. Athletes.
The first time that I heard of Coach Rack was actually from my
two sons. I reached out to him and I
(39:49):
wanted to make practice fun. It's a six on six scrimmage and
it will be the fastest paced scrimmage you've ever played in
your life. OK, behind the back.
Oh. Come on.
I like that. Double plays and the coaches
have to do 10 push ups. Yeah, that's some push ups.
Who would have thought would I do would be novel, prioritize
(40:10):
joy and character on a baseball field?
I get to be the coach that I wish that I had.
Growing up, they're going to remember this for a long time
and you guys just made a bunch of little 1112 year old boys
days very happy and fun for thatand thank you.
To learn more or enter, visit crashandpractice.com.
Youth sports in America are at acrossroads, and I'm here to help
lead the conversation forward. I'm Greg Olson.
Each week we're sitting down with top athletes, coaches and
more to talk about what's working, what's broken and
what's next. Welcome to You Think.
Before we dive into this week's episode, here's a special look
at our new series and contest, Crash and Practice.
(00:22):
To learn more or enter, visit crashandpractice.com.
This is going to be the best dayin.
Life I'm Coach Rack. Hey, Rack.
Can we get a backflip catch or no?
I think that's in store. I'm coach Ball game on your
marks. It's set today.
We're. Crashing practice.
We're here to offer coaching tips, new skill development
techniques. And best practices for parents.
(00:42):
Of young. Athletes.
The first time that I heard of Coach Rack was actually from my
two sons. I reached out to him and I
wanted to make practice fun. It's a six on six scrimmage and
it will be the fastest paced scrimmage you've ever played in
your life. OK, behind the back.
Oh. Come on.
I like that. Double plays in the coaches have
(01:03):
to do 10 push ups. Yeah, that's some push ups.
Who would have thought would I do would be novel, prioritize
joy and character on a baseball field?
I get to be the coach that I wish that I had growing up.
They're going to remember this for a long time and you guys
just made a bunch of little 1112year old boys days.
Very happy and fun for that man Thank you.
(01:27):
All right, well, ball game rack.I want to tell the origin story
of how the three of us have now come together, the exciting
project we're about to release here in the next couple weeks
called Crash and Practice. It all started my Revolution
baseball team. You guys came down to Charlotte
to test this idea. Like, hey, what if us two guys
(01:48):
just like showed up at a youth baseball practice and walked out
of the woods and surprised the kids and just like took over a
practice And I was like, well, Igot a baseball team with a bunch
of kids that would love you guys.
Let's do it. And now here we are on the
doorstep of releasing this. It's going to be not just in
baseball that you guys are doing.
We're going to be able to move this to other sports and really
(02:08):
build a really cool series. But like, just talk about the
origins of us all working together, how fun that day was,
and just an idea what people canexpect from crashing.
Rack lead us off. I'll bet 2.
Perfect man. Two holes usually where the best
hitters go. Yeah, man, we we got the idea,
(02:28):
gosh, around this time last year, maybe a little before
that. And the concept was this like,
you know, these kids maybe watchcoach ball game on social media
or maybe see some, some of my videos on on social media.
We wanted to get in person with these kids and and we figured it
would might, might be kind of fun if we surprised them and and
(02:49):
didn't know that that we were showing up.
And sure enough, yeah, ball, ball game and I came out of the
woods and yeah, what would happen next was a mix of music,
impromptu, maybe some, some trick plays, lots of fun stuff.
But I think that this concept issomething that they can be
(03:10):
applied to multiple sports. I think we've even seen shades
of this, you know, in gosh, it was it Eli Manning, you know,
doing the undercover at at his college.
So there's yeah, there's something special about a
surprise. And when you can pair that with
(03:31):
some good life lessons and make a real impact in person, I think
it it's a winning idea, yeah. We did come out of the woods and
and before we came out of the woods, we were chatting going
you know, I know they're going to know you Rack, but most of
the content I put out is for theparents.
(03:51):
So are these kids really going to know me?
And we get out there and they'relike, you know, their mind is
blown Coach rack. And then they look at me and
they're like, and who's that guy?
And I'm like, yeah, I'm racks dad.
Nice to see you guys. But a handful of kids, uh,
(04:14):
definitely knew who I was, but they all knew Rack.
I I'm I'm happy being uncle ballgame here in this awesome idea
of a show. But I think when you combine the
surprise factor of the coolest Savannah banana player who does
backflips and has a handsome mustache, surprising these kids.
(04:39):
And then I in my comfort zone, just love big groups of kids.
I love emceeing the event and kind of running point guard on
the on the show. And then you got Greg out there
in his hand. Hey, help me be a better coach.
It just makes sense because it it, I feel like these kids and
(05:05):
their parents, when they go homein the car, they have something
to connect with. The parents are talking about
it. The kids are talking about it.
And that's really where I come from when I create content is
how can I, how can I get a father and a son talking and
connecting on a deeper level because of the message I put out
(05:28):
there. So it's just a really cool idea.
And you know, I'm, I'm, I'm happy being Coach Rack's uncle
or a Coach Rack's dad. Let's let's be honest, I know
Rack's the celeb and he he obviously gets a lot of
attention and I got to witness it first hand being with the
bananas when they came to Charlotte and and how excited.
(05:49):
But let's and rack, I'm sure agrees with what I'm about to
say. This can't happen without ball
game running the show boots on the ground.
I mean, for anyone who's seen your Sandlot tour, we got to see
up close and personal when we did the crash and practice
episode with my team. Like you have a gift of
entertainment, lessons, storytelling.
(06:12):
You're beating the drums, you memorize 12 kids nicknames in
like 35 seconds. You have an incredible gift of
like guiding this like very fun loose and but at the same time,
these kids are getting like these incredible life lessons
all while doing a baseball practice and like racks doing
(06:33):
backflips and racks fielding between his legs and rack
signing autographs and telling really cool stories.
Like the dynamic of the two of you allowed me as a coach to
just stand back and be like, this is incredible.
Like this is exactly what kids, especially on my team, this is
what they need. They need fun.
They need light because our practices can be intense.
(06:55):
Our practices can be like the world's coming to an end.
Like that's something that is just innate in my being and
seeing you 2 come with all of your spirit and all of your
enthusiasm and pour into these kids of all the cool shit that
we've done like this is up or atnear the top for for our kids
experiences. Well, that's high praise, you
(07:17):
man, High praise. Yeah, real quick.
I got a high ball game up to a little bit.
Never in my life have I seen a group of kids be more locked in
than when Coach Ball Game is speaking.
He could be talking about anything.
He could be talking about John Stamos or one of his million
salutes. And the kids are just like
glued. And they're like, I have no idea
who John Stamos is, but they're just locked in the whole time,
(07:41):
man. Yes, ball game.
You definitely have a gift. You are the the glue that makes
it work, man. Dude, my.
Kids favorite story if you not to interrupt, but if you ask my
kids what what's their biggest memory from that ball games
given like this really like serious thing about like
bouncing back and dealing with adversity.
And he's like one day I was playing and I got up to bat four
(08:02):
times and I went over four with four strikeouts and the kids are
like hanging on every word and you're like, you know what I did
the next time and all the kids are like you hit the
game-winning home run. It's like a Disney movie story.
He's like, I got up again and I struck out and they were like
dying laughing. And I was like that.
(08:22):
If there was one story that likesummarized it, like that was it.
Well, golly, you guys have tapped into my love language of
words of affirmation, so I'm going to be riding high all day.
Well, I I don't know that peopleunderstand something exists
until they see it anymore, you know with everybody watching
(08:44):
video feed. So what I try to do is go into a
town and, and let specifically parents know that this can be a
both and it's not either your win trophies or your soft
participation trophy fun guy. They can be both.
They're they're it should be both.
(09:05):
I feel like kids play better when they're feeling joy.
I, I learned that from the bananas and from rack in our
discussions that we've had. So going in to Charlotte where
we shot that and and letting theparents know that this is a
really cool combo platter that can happen, but then encouraging
(09:28):
the kids stay on this path rightof feel joy, create a freedom to
fail and then you're gonna fail less, if that makes any sense.
So I love bringing that combo. Obviously, I, my wife many years
ago pushed me in this direction of coach ball game all the way.
(09:49):
And she said, well, you love theater arts, you love writing,
you love directing, you love music, you love poetry, you love
storytelling and you love baseball.
Why don't you just marry all that stuff into this thing?
And over 21 years of doing it with really great mentors, I've,
I've learned how to get kids to lock in, how to hang on to
(10:10):
every, every syllable that I, that I speak, but more most
importantly, teach love of play and build character.
I mean that that's what youth youth coaching is in my book, is
creating great humans. And then the winds, the skill
development is all by product ofthat.
(10:31):
So yeah, you, you caught me in my comfort zone, guys.
Love it Rack. Let me ask you this, so going
forward, right, like this was not a one off this spring, you
guys are going to go out and do three crash and practice series
episodes. Teams right now, teams all
across the country are submitting.
They can go on, they can submit,they can apply.
(10:52):
Try to be one of the three teamsthat you guys surprise and crash
and run their practice like you did mine last year.
Give us an idea like you've toured the country.
You're you've been on every morning show everywhere you look
like you guys yourself and the bananas and all include like all
inclusive. They're like as you guys have
traveled the country in the response that you have gotten
(11:14):
both individually and with the team, what would you say is like
your dream response? You're hoping the first time you
go, you guys now go crash one ofthese practices, but it's not my
team, right. It's not someone that at least
you know, like these are going to be people that you probably
don't know. Like what do you want to say to
those teams out there that rightnow are submitting and applying
for you and ball game to show upto run their practice?
(11:36):
Like what are you hoping to get out of it?
I am hoping that we have the time of our lives like
regardless of like what age group these kids are or where
they come from. I don't know if they're the best
team in the nation or there's some thrown together wreck ball
team. I want to show up and I want to
be a kid with those kids and I want to just have a great time.
So I think first and foremost, that's that's what I what I
(11:58):
want. If they they happen to know who
ball game and I are and they getfired up to see us, awesome.
But I think that what ball game touched on earlier is where the
true magic happens. I, the, I, I think that the
beauty of this isn't just what we capture on video and the cool
reactions like that's exciting and memories that maybe the kids
will remember for a long time. But what I want the kids to walk
(12:21):
away with are potential role models to look at and to be able
to see this idea that that you can have fun while playing
baseball and still strive for excellence.
That's what I want them to walk away with and that's something
I've seen this year specificallyin a way that I've never seen
(12:44):
before with the Bananas. I feel like especially this last
part of our season, we have played some of the best ball
I've ever seen anybody play. I mean, we we've made it through
full games while doing trick plays without making a single
error and while batting like while putting up good at bats,
while like playing the fundamentals well.
And I've been able to see that and we are having the most fun
(13:04):
we've ever had in our entire life.
And no one's putting pressure oneach other.
We are spurting each other on toget better.
We're showing up early to to putin early work, but we are firing
on all cylinders. And it's such a fun environment
to be in. And more than anything, like
when you're growing up, you haveall these different, different
coaches with some sometimes maybe good intentions, sometimes
(13:28):
maybe not. But when I was growing up, I saw
lots of potential different likerole models that that I could
potentially grow into. And what I want these kids to be
able to see is someone like my dad or coach ball games dad or,
or you Greg, who, who cares about the game and who loves to
(13:51):
have fun and ultimately wants these kids to be the best human
being possible. And I want us to show up to
whatever park it is that we showup at.
And I want these kids to have the time of their life and then
look at the way that practice isran and, and take that on into
whatever teams they they go on from there.
And I also want the parents where we show up.
(14:13):
I think this is another element that is, is especially unique
about this. I want the parents to see the
way the practices are ran, and Iwant them to get ideas for ways
that they can have fun with their kids.
I think that baseball and all sports in general, is such a
unique opportunity for parents to connect and develop
relationships with their kids. My dad and I bonded over
(14:34):
baseball in a way we couldn't bond over anything else.
Him throwing me batting practiceafter work every day, that was a
special, unique connection that my dad and I have and will
always have. And so I want parents, in
addition to the kids to be able to see the sport of baseball as
a unique opportunity to develop a relationship between them and
(14:57):
one that will benefit them for the rest of their life that
actually grows them closer. So, yeah, I mean, yes, there's a
lot of things I want out of this, but more than anything
like, yeah, the the, the character that it develops and,
and showing people how beautifulbaseball can be at uniting
people, I think that that's likethe overall like mission and
goal with what we're doing. Ball game, I want you to talk
(15:18):
more about that connection to the parents, because obviously
this is about the kids and it's about growing the game and it's
about that. But I think your ability to
connect with parents through your storytelling, through your
humor, through your anecdotes, like how are we going to
accomplish that when we get out on the road this spring for
these next couple episodes of Crash and Practice?
(15:40):
Well, I'll give you 2 quick stories from the road to just
the past couple weeks. I've been in a bunch of
different cities and this happens in about every city.
But it, it went even further where a dad came up to me and
said, hey, I just want to tell you, I used to be that dad.
I used to yell and it was a pretty elite space of travel
(16:03):
ball and I was living through myson.
And then I, I caught wind of your message and my relationship
with my son is now thriving. On top of that, I think you
might have saved my marriage too, which is a heavy thing to
hear. But it's like, if there's
tension between father and son, father and daughter, when it
(16:25):
comes to the, the field like that can seep into the marriage
too. So you know that that's real
stuff. And so I, I, I, I, I love seeing
a bearded guy on the road who's tearing up saying thank you for
giving me this light bulb moment, that this is their
(16:47):
journey. This is my kids sports journey.
It's not mine. I think a lot of parents, maybe
me, started out this way as well.
Like I wasn't exactly happy withhow my playing career panned
out. So you live through your kid and
you hang on to every single pitch and you micromanage and
you overbear. And then the car rides are very
(17:09):
miserable. And Kirk Gibson calls that a
lose. Lose the the kids going to lose
the love of the game and they'regoing to lose the love of you.
They don't want to go camping with you.
They don't want to go fishing with you.
It's just tense. So that's a big one.
Another story from Virginia was a dad got up in front of all the
(17:31):
coaches. We have a coaches and parents
conversation after our sandlots and he said 10 years ago, my
kids, seven years old, were in the backyard and he's throwing
the ball and we're working on his skill.
And he finally got to a point where he was doing it right and
he was he was aiming at the target.
He was hitting the target. And I said, son, fine, there you
(17:52):
go. We did it.
We've been working on this so hard and you did it.
And he runs up to me, gives me this huge hug, and he says, I'm
just so thankful, dad, that you're finally not disappointed
in me. And it crushed him.
It crushed the dad when he heardthat word that so this whole
(18:12):
time when we've been working on this thing, you felt like I was
disappointed in you. It was a light bulb moment for
him. His son is now 17 years old and
they have a great relationship, but he takes the time to tell
every sports parent he knows or meets that story because who
(18:33):
that hits you in a heavy way. So I think the secret to the
secret is really educating, equipping parents and just just
shine in a mirror and saying, hey, let's be self reflective
here. We both want our kid to go 3 for
four with a couple of bombs. What's gonna be the most
(18:54):
productive way to do that? Yeah.
So let me ask you, you both brought this up and I think it's
such and this is something again, hand raised, honest, a
blink. I don't know whatever the A.
Honesty salute. Honesty salute.
Also vulnerability salute. Like vulnerability salute.
Too, man. All right, so I gotta learn all
these. I gotta learn.
I gotta learn. I just do that.
(19:15):
What is it? Brad Pitt is Brad Pitt is that.
One Brad Pitt's the left hand, John Stamos is the right.
Yeah, but you got to have a hairline like Rat with Ball
game. Holy shit what a hairline you
have. That's impressive.
It's better than. Mine.
It's better than mine. I hear it's your mom's father,
So thanks, Grandpa. There.
You go. So the origins of my anxiety and
(19:39):
stress watching my kids play sports is not their overall
performance. I do not need my kid to be a
professional athlete. I don't need to live their life
of like going to college like I don't I do.
That is not my motivation. I have a hard time watching
people underperform. I tell my kids all the time
(20:00):
there's nothing the most the thesaddest thing in the world is
wasted potential. All I want from everyone,
whether it's in school, whether it's.
And any aspect of life I have this whole like, if you're going
to be a bear, be a grizzly, likeif we're going to do it, let's
do it to the best of our ability.
And if we're good, we're good. If we're great, if we're not
good, like whatever it is, I'm not a big like participation
(20:24):
guy. Like I'm just doing it for the
sake of doing it. That's just not in my brain.
It doesn't work. So I've now passed that on to my
own kids, right. So I hear you guys say like the
fun and all that. Like it was hard for me at
practice last year to just step back as we're like kissing
second base and rubbing our button second base.
Like that's hard for me. But then I look and all of a
(20:45):
sudden we get like the best in and out of our life because the
kids are bouncing around having fun.
So like, I have a hard time watching my kids underperform
because they don't put the work in their attitude.
They're not taking coaching, They're not XY and Z.
Like how do we continue to promote excellence?
Rap the word you used and say ifwe're going to do this, let's be
(21:08):
good at it because if not, that to me is not fun.
But also realize let's have fun.We can make this journey of
excellence enjoyable. Like how do we do both?
I can play this off or I can. Go get a little something there.
Yeah, so I love that you're thatway and I'm that way too.
(21:31):
And I, I want everybody to be that way.
Like I, I can't do something without giving it my all.
And I feel like it's a waste if I do something and I'm not
giving it my best shot. And I think there needs to be
more of that in everything. I think people settle too easily
and I think that people get too comfortable and are just OK
being OK. And for me, like if I'm doing
something, I want to be great. That being said, where I learned
(21:57):
that I don't know if that I I think it was just demonstrated
by the actions of my parents more than anything.
When my mom would do something, she do it to the best of her
ability. And when my dad would do
something, he would also do it to the best of their ability.
And I saw the way that they worked hard and I think that
their actions really motivated me to work hard more than
(22:20):
anything. And Greg, I bet your kids, kids
probably say the same thing. They see the way that you strive
for excellence in everything that you do, whether that was
your playing career, whether that's currently now, like in
broadcasting and everything thatyou do, you clearly strive for
excellence. And I bet they see that and also
want to strive to do the same. I think that with my career, my,
(22:45):
my parents never pushed me to excellence.
I think they kind of knew that Ijust wanted to be great.
And as long as they saw that like I was, I guess they always
saw me put in the work, like behind the scenes, like I wanted
to like my lifestyle reflected the goals that I had.
(23:06):
And so that is a tough question and I'm not sure I even have the
answer to it. But but what happens when the
goals that kids have maybe don'talign with their work ethic
because. That's that's yeah, my mind.
Yeah. And then you want to.
Take this team, I'm going to play 2 sports in high school
and, and at times my kids do exercise like the right
motivations. And I'm like, whatever happens
(23:28):
this weekend, you go, oh, for three, we can live with it, but
don't go over 3 and be mad. And all week you did nothing and
you didn't get in your tee, you didn't do your batting
progressions, you didn't do yourwork.
You didn't have a great outing on the mound.
What did you do? Your arm care?
Did you do all your bullpens? How was your flat ground?
Did you focus when you played catch or did you just talk and
(23:48):
play catch and throw it around and half ass And then you get on
the mound and you can't find your fastball.
Like that's connecting the work to the outcome I think is the
hardest thing for young kids in today's world because all they
see is positive outcomes around them.
No one posts I struck out in thebottom of the ninth with runners
on 2nd in a one run game. No one posts that they only post
(24:13):
I hit the game-winning walk off double.
But they don't like they not having the work leading up to
the highlight I think is creating a lot of bad habits.
Yeah, I think the seek this is great and and I think we all
want this. We all.
That's the Holy Grail. Can we make it extremely fun for
(24:35):
the kid while they strive for excellence?
That's the goal of every coach. And I think it starts with
connection. Every kids are a little bit
different. I learned this from Dusty Baker
and Mike Schilt of the Padres. They they call it a key, like
you got to find the key for eachlock of each kid.
So that building trust factor ishuge because one of your kids
(24:59):
might respond to firm while the other one responds to humor
while the other one needs an assistant coach, Mr. Miyagi, to
just go for a walk with him. So the connection part is huge.
And then they need to know, the kid needs to know that your joy
(25:19):
is detached from their result onthe field, that the O for five,
the five for five, they're treated pretty equally.
But if there was an O for five, how did we respond?
Right? What an opportunity we have here
to respond to work on this. So as a coach, we need to look
through the lens of character development.
(25:41):
And one of those aspects is workethic.
So I always award kids that are showing up early, stay in late,
hustling other choices like being kind, cheering for their
teammate, being brave. There's a lot of a lot of fear
that needs to be overcome. And and these life lessons,
(26:02):
they're huge down the road. The game, the eight U, the 9 U,
the 10U games, not life or death, but if we can find the
key to unlock each different personality and give that kid a
tool or a couple tools to overcome failure, adversity,
that could be life or death. When they're 18/19/20 they're
(26:23):
tempted to make some bad choices.
So I just, I think it's a no brainer.
The, the the skill development and the winds have to be
byproducts of of that lens of character development and joy.
I think it gets a little convoluted when parents are
(26:45):
attaching their joy to the win or to the accomplishment.
So, yeah, when when my daughter,when there's something that's
creating tension there. And I know if I approach her
with this, hey, we need to do this with our hands.
We need to do this with our knees.
You need to do this. I feel like I've been asking her
(27:05):
to make her bed for 11 years. So it's going to go in one ear
and out the other. But she respects the heck out of
Coach Rack. So if I call Rack and say, hey,
would you talk to my kid about this thing?
I bet she'll jump on board with it.
So I call that the the professional pass off Man, it's
huge. It really is.
And by the way, my daughters, mydaughters were like, please tell
(27:29):
Rack we love him, even with his mustache.
So there you go. So that that professional pass
off, Greg, if you haven't used it, it's dynamite.
And real quick, real quick, I got something to add on to that.
I think you, you struck gold when you say you got to like
learn each kid because I've noticed that kid, like so many
(27:49):
people are different. What I needed to hear is very
different than maybe what the guy next to me needed to hear.
Like for me, I needed my parentsto really say nothing, stand on
the side and like be ready to throw me batting practice.
And that was it. And that's how I thrive like
that. That made me want to go put in
extra work. Like I felt like the results
were all in my hands. No one was pushing me towards
anything. And I was like, cool, I can run
towards this. I've also seen people though,
(28:10):
and teammates that I even have now that are like, hey, I want
you to get on me and say no, go put some work in.
And so some people like need that.
But if someone did that to me, Iwould be like, what?
You don't see all the work that I'm putting in behind the
scenes. No, I am.
I'm working on it. Like, all right, so every kid I
think means, I think the coach needs to learn the kids and know
(28:31):
what what motivates them to success better.
But the common denominator is fostering a love for the game
and the kids knowing that your joy isn't attached to their
results. I think those are the the common
common denominators there. What's up guys, do you want
custom fan wear like this cricket shirt for Charlotte
Christian School? We've got premium apparel from
(28:51):
your favorite brands. The best part about it is I
don't have to just wear it to Charlotte Christian's events.
I can wear it to golf. I can wear it to lunch.
It's turned into my uniform. Go right now over to Youth dot,
Inc Sign up for our newsletter. It talks about our podcast for
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landscape of youth sports. And you can win one piece of
merch for your school by going to Sign up today.
(29:13):
And remember itsnot.com, it's Youth dot Inc.
Now back to our episode. We, the word we use with our
teams is winning as a byproduct.And that is a, that is a very
broad statement. It's going to be a byproduct of
how well we practice. It's going to be a byproduct of
our attitudes. It's going to be our work ethic.
It's going to be our ability to communicate and be organized.
(29:35):
It's going to be a byproduct of tension, The detail.
It's going to be a combination of 1,000,000 little tiny things
from how we get dressed before practice to being on time.
We coach the our football and baseball teams.
We coach the hell out of warmups.
We coach warmups. Like I had an NFL coach, one of
(29:56):
our offensive line coaches, JohnMascombe, and he said offensive
line every single day on Saturday before he'd say, hey,
tomorrow we're going to win warmups.
I don't know what's going to happen in the game, but we are
capable of winning warmups. And that's always like struck a
nerve with me. So like whether it's a practice,
a walkthrough or the championship Sunday game, we
(30:18):
warm up the exact same way everysingle day.
So like that to me is we're going to if we add up all these
little good habits and we have everybody add them up all
together, we're going to win a lot.
We're not going to win always and we're not going to coach the
scoreboard and we're not going to coach there's the my hardest
post game speeches to some of the kids have been after we've
(30:39):
won a football game 30 to nothing.
I said I'm going to coach you harder when we're up 30 then
when it's A1 score game because we can't let the scoreboard tell
us whether we're doing things right or wrong.
We need to be honest with ourselves.
When we're doing it right, we'regoing to tell you.
And when I tell you, you do a good job, you did a good job.
But not everything's OK and not everything's right.
(31:01):
And just because we won by 30 orlost by 10 doesn't mean we
played good or bad. And winning is a byproduct of
everything we do. And that is just like the only
way my brain works, and it's notfor everybody.
And hard to believe it's a novelidea that we we are going to
teach these life lessons to makethem a well-rounded human being
(31:25):
when they become an adult. And, and, and that is novel
because especially in the elite space, it is winning is held to
such a, a high priority that youlose sight of the joy, you lose
sight of the kid being teased because your focus is on
(31:47):
winning. You lose sight of the kid that
wants to quit because nobody's paying any attention to him.
So yeah, it, it, it's not, it's not an easy job to be a youth
coach, but I would say it's the most impactful job anybody will
ever have. It's the favorite thing I do
outside of like my family circle, like husband, father.
(32:08):
It's the favorite. It's my favorite thing that I do
in the world. All right, this last thing
before we wrap again, crash and practice.
Come into a city near you. Super pumped for you guys to go
on the road and make bring this thing to life.
Super proud to partner with bothof you.
You both spend a lot of time on the road.
I'm going to start with you ballgame.
I'll let rack. I'll let rack wrap us up ball
game. You've been in every city in
(32:29):
America for anyone who follows you on social media, you've seen
it all. Different ages, different walks
of life, different backgrounds. Give us a big picture view of
like, evaluate the world of youth baseball.
Like, how would you summarize it?
The good, the bad, the ugly, everything in between.
As you go coast to coast, what seems like on a daily basis
(32:51):
interacting with communities bigand small all around America and
on baseball fields in everyone'sbackyard.
I don't think kids have changed in the past 5000 years.
I I think kids are the same. They, they love something that
feels like a birthday party and they love something when they
(33:15):
know the coach cares about them as a human.
So that's what I try to do in every town and I try to show
every parent it's not as difficult as you think to do
those two things to create a joyful vibe that moves and to
connect with human beings. So I what, what I notice is a
(33:41):
lot of parents, maybe they haven't been there, done that,
they haven't played the game of baseball.
So that creates a lot of anxietyor a lot of insecurity.
Either way, there's toxicity that that stems from that.
And the other thing that I notice is that there's not
enough self reflection specifically in men to just say,
(34:04):
you know what? I overreacted.
I took my tough week of work andI just threw up onto a youth
baseball field and I need to apologize.
We don't see enough of that. So I feel like those are the
real secrets is league board members, coaches of all youth
(34:24):
baseball leagues, travel, rec, whatever, like come together
once a week and say, you know what, what went right this week?
What went wrong? How could I do better to to make
this kid want to come back next year?
Because when me and my staff, wego to it plays in every city.
When you have kids moving and you connect with them on a human
(34:46):
level, they, they, they want to play the rest of the night.
I also notice that when I break out a volleyball instead of a
baseball or a tennis ball or maybe a broomstick instead of a
bat, kids jump on that and there's not enough of that.
So it doesn't just have to be the $400.00 bat and the $600.00
(35:06):
helmet. Get a broomstick, get a lemon
like Roberto Clemente and play in your cul-de-sac.
So, yeah, I, I don't think kids have changed.
Maybe parents have changed a bit.
So that's my ultimate goal here is to is to shine a light on we
can we can bring back the goldenera of baseball baby.
(35:29):
I love it, Rack. What say you I've?
Seen I've seen the same thing man.
I kids love to just play before games.
A lot of times one of our guys, Danny Hasley, will break a, a
football out and we'll just be throwing footballs back and
forth with, you know, kids in the crowd.
And there's just, there's so many ways to connect with the
(35:50):
game of baseball. I'll see some kids who show up
and know every single person's stats on the entire team.
And I, you know, they know everyone's baseball card and
they know my, they know my origin story better than I know
my origin story. And so like there's those kids
that are just obsessed with the stats and like, you could tell,
like they, you know, who knows if they'll play this game at a
high level, but they just, they love the game.
(36:10):
And then you'll see these kids who are just like freak athletes
that are taller than me and bigger and stronger than me and
they're thirteen years old. And you know, I, I see all over
the map when it comes to the game of baseball.
The one cool thing that I've gotten to see is I've gotten to
meet several kids and parents who have specifically said, Hey,
(36:31):
my, my son quit baseball last year, but he wants to play again
because he's falling back in love with the game and, and
loves what what you're doing here.
When I hear stuff like that, it makes me excited and wants to
keep doing what we're doing here.
I think that by us going and crashing practices and, and
maybe some kid sees that video on, on social media or wherever
(36:54):
the video's AT and it's like, oh, that looks like fun.
OK. Oh, if, if that's what baseball
is, I want to, I want to get into that a little bit.
Like if we can capture that and just show how fun this game can
be, then I think we've won. And I I want to say that
baseball is such a special, unique sport that more people
need to appreciate. And seeing the way that even
(37:18):
numbers watching the game have kind of maybe declined a little
bit over the past so many years.I would just love to see over
the next few years the game of baseball become bigger and
better and a way for not just bigger and better in numbers but
also bigger and better in that it creates better human beings.
(37:42):
Like ball game would say no. Doubt I think, you know, as I
kind of reflect on this whole journey of crashing practice, I
think the coolest thing is we'reat dinner in Charlotte.
My kids obviously love you guys,my two boys that have played a
ton of baseball, watch all your videos, know everything you guys
put out before I do how a randomdinner in Charlotte kind of
(38:02):
talking you think talking all things you'd sports.
Hey, would you guys want to cometo our practice?
Oh dad racking ball game should coach our practice.
How this kind of organic idea over just kind of hanging with a
couple young teenage boys and two guys, one guy that they
don't want to listen to, but twoguys that they do put a lot of
value and what they put out and say has turned into what we
(38:24):
think is going to be a really special opportunity.
The two of you taking it and running with it, not only doing
it with my team as kind of a test pilot, but then following
the the response to that now hitting the road this spring to
go can connect with the community.
It's pretty cool how it's all come together from just that
random dinner with my two boys and here we are now a year later
(38:45):
about to turn this thing into reality.
So I can't thank the two of you enough, your messaging, what you
do, not only with you think and not only with our mission, but
just individually, your own brands, your own content.
And I'm super thankful. I'm super humbled that you guys
want to work with us in partnership to bring crash and
practice now to life officially.And I can't wait to see what you
(39:08):
guys pull off with it. I think it's going to be
amazing. Oh, man, honored for a bona fide
pro like yourself to get back into this game, It means so much
and and and so many more ears will be opened just because
you're passionate about it. So I had a boy.
I had a boy. This is going to be the best day
in life. I'm Coach Rack.
(39:28):
Hey, Rack. Can we get a backflip catch or
no? I think that's in store.
I'm coach ball game on your March.
Get set today. We're.
Crashing. Practice.
We're here to offer coaching tips, new skill development
techniques. And best practices for parents.
Of young. Athletes.
The first time that I heard of Coach Rack was actually from my
two sons. I reached out to him and I
(39:49):
wanted to make practice fun. It's a six on six scrimmage and
it will be the fastest paced scrimmage you've ever played in
your life. OK, behind the back.
Oh. Come on.
I like that. Double plays and the coaches
have to do 10 push ups. Yeah, that's some push ups.
Who would have thought would I do would be novel, prioritize
(40:10):
joy and character on a baseball field?
I get to be the coach that I wish that I had.
Growing up, they're going to remember this for a long time
and you guys just made a bunch of little 1112 year old boys
days very happy and fun for thatand thank you.
To learn more or enter, visit crashandpractice.com.
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