Speaker 1: Nine ish nine thirty or so, and we get to
Speaker 1: talk to our mogul and training and we get to
Speaker 1: find out what's going on as he's looking at multiple
Speaker 1: divisions and looking at multiple teams getting ready for the
Speaker 1: starts of their season. So what this means is we
Speaker 1: bring in the man himself, Michael Parkers Parky, what is
Speaker 1: happening John, You, sir, being a mogul in training as
Speaker 1: you are for season two of being a mogul in training?
Speaker 1: You get to and I mentioned it before you popped in,
Speaker 1: it's like you're looking at it from your your team
Speaker 1: perspective with Atlanta United, but then also the ownership perspective
Speaker 1: and overseer perspective at Rhode Island DEFC. What's it like
Speaker 1: handling all of these different personalities of yours heading into
Speaker 1: a season for.
Speaker 2: A chain.
Speaker 3: No different than last year?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 4: I think that.
Speaker 1: What no, no, no comment about well, xbectations are higher
Speaker 1: on both sides considering what happened. Come on, where's my
Speaker 1: expectations or higher SoundBite?
Speaker 5: I mean, naturally, expectations are higher year two than year one.
Speaker 5: That doesn't mean that we're going to go further. I
Speaker 5: mean we could only win one more game at the
Speaker 5: end of.
Speaker 3: The season at least.
Speaker 5: But yeah, to be honest, John, all this d one
Speaker 5: talk is confusing to me. I don't USL is in
Speaker 5: a good place right now. MLS is a behemoth compared
Speaker 5: to USL, and I'm not privy.
Speaker 3: To all the information.
Speaker 5: I'm not on all these Board of Governor's calls with
Speaker 5: USL and owners calls, so I'm not sure what the
Speaker 5: thinking is, but I just don't think it makes sense
Speaker 5: to try and go up against ms. MLS is buying
Speaker 5: and selling players intra league now for ten plus million dollars,
Speaker 5: and you know our budget for players is like point
Speaker 5: five million, So yeah, it's we're on different levels. So
Speaker 5: you know, for me, it just doesn't make sense. That
Speaker 5: being said, if things do go, do do progress, Rhode
Speaker 5: Island will be in the top bracket of USL for sure.
Speaker 1: Okay, since you since you mentioned everything going on with
Speaker 1: Lanty United and getting ready for multiple seasons in multiple
Speaker 1: places as a player, how much did you look forward
Speaker 1: to the preseason in and of itself or did you
Speaker 1: just want to get out there and start knocking guys
Speaker 1: around and have things going for real? What was your
Speaker 1: what was your thought about preseason and getting ready for
Speaker 1: the regular season.
Speaker 2: As a player, I.
Speaker 3: Enjoyed preseason for the most part.
Speaker 4: I think that.
Speaker 5: There's obviously aspects of preseason that you don't look forward to,
Speaker 5: mostly the fitness, but I enjoyed it just because it
Speaker 5: was a time to get to know each other and
Speaker 5: set the foundation for the season. There was no you know,
Speaker 5: pressure yet as far as you know, games and seedings
Speaker 5: and all that stuff, so it was like, Okay, you know,
Speaker 5: this is a good time to just train. And I
Speaker 5: liked the process of training. I liked you know, the
Speaker 5: daily routine of its. So yeah, for me, I really
Speaker 5: enjoyed it. But yeah, I think that there comes a
Speaker 5: time in preseason, even though you're enjoying it, where you're
Speaker 5: ready to start the season.
Speaker 3: And I'm sure they've hit that point.
Speaker 1: When it comes to your mentees these days, and this
Speaker 1: might even play into how you were when you were
Speaker 1: their age. There you go get ready. Literally, it's the
Speaker 1: flipping of the switch. Like it wasn't over the top
Speaker 1: with stallone. You got the hat on backwards, You're ready
Speaker 1: to go. When you were of a young and impressionable
Speaker 1: age starting out in the game.
Speaker 2: So basically last Tuesday. What did you.
Speaker 1: Think about all of the conditioning and the preseason and
Speaker 1: all of these things and getting acquainted with new teammates
Speaker 1: and everything. You know, do you find that your mentees
Speaker 1: understand the importance of a build up, any preseason and
Speaker 1: staying as ready as possible or do you have to
Speaker 1: explain to them, Yeah, I know, you got you've got games.
Speaker 1: Those are important, but at the same time, you have
Speaker 1: to maintain the self going into those games. Do you
Speaker 1: have to have those kinds of conversations at all.
Speaker 5: Yeah, a little bit, And for sure it changes throughout time, right,
Speaker 5: I mean, as younger players, the preseason is more important.
Speaker 5: These these minutes that you get with the first team
Speaker 5: in these games are super valuable and super important because
Speaker 5: you don't know how many opportunities you'll get sometimes right
Speaker 5: where for me as a veteran later in my career,
Speaker 5: it was like health is the most important thing, Like, Okay,
Speaker 5: you know, I want to get going and I want
Speaker 5: to you know, get sharp and stuff, but like this
Speaker 5: preseason game, I don't really care about as long as
Speaker 5: I you know, feel good and stay fit and get
Speaker 5: healthy coming out of it all, like that was the
Speaker 5: most important. But I do remember being younger, it was like, hey,
Speaker 5: you know, every time you're out there, it's like I
Speaker 5: got something to prove, I got something to earn. So
Speaker 5: you know that that is definitely a different situation for
Speaker 5: younger guys versus some veteran players. And yeah, I think
Speaker 5: that it's important for the younger players to understand that.
Speaker 5: And it's it's different now where players come into camp
Speaker 5: ready to go, and it's so much different than when
Speaker 5: I first started. So in that regard, these younger players
Speaker 5: are in a much better place than I was probably
Speaker 5: when I was younger. But I think that they also
Speaker 5: sometimes put too much emphasis on one game, one play,
Speaker 5: where it's like, hey, that's the beauty of preseason, that's
Speaker 5: why we got six weeks together, right, especially if you're
Speaker 5: training with the first team the whole time, like you know,
Speaker 5: you can you can go out there and it's okay
Speaker 5: to have a stinker or have a bad training session.
Speaker 5: It's more important the response to it and getting back
Speaker 5: on the saddle.
Speaker 1: Well, and you you mentioned that it's okay to have
Speaker 1: a stinker. I would think that, I mean, is pressure
Speaker 1: that much different these days? Where because I remember packing
Speaker 1: by a day, you know, when I actually had more hair.
Speaker 1: You had that pressure from the generations inside your home
Speaker 1: that you know, like the scene in Breakfast Club at
Speaker 1: the end when they're having and Emilio Ostevez, you know,
Speaker 1: he has the big speech. I'm sure that we either
Speaker 1: had parents like that, we had family members like that,
Speaker 1: or we knew folks that were like that, and you know,
Speaker 1: pressure was there. Andrew, your attitude is for ish and
Speaker 1: I'm sure we experienced a lot of that growing up.
Speaker 1: How different is parental influence and family influence on players
Speaker 1: today and on your mentees than it was maybe when
Speaker 1: we were growing up. How different is it? Is it
Speaker 1: different much? I know I'm asking like a four part
Speaker 1: question here, but I guess it has to do with
Speaker 1: parental influence and pressure that's put on from the family.
Speaker 2: How different is it from your observation.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think it's I feel like back in the day,
Speaker 5: it was more pressure of winning and just playing well,
Speaker 5: and now it's a different type of pressure where it's
Speaker 5: like pressure to play your best, be the best, make
Speaker 5: sure that you're in a good spot to get a scholarship,
Speaker 5: or you know, played on your high school team, played
Speaker 5: in college, get a scholarship, you know, it's that type
Speaker 5: of pressure is much more where back when we were
Speaker 5: growing up, it wasn't like I didn't have pressure to
Speaker 5: go play in college or anything. That was just like yeah,
Speaker 5: parents just freaking out trying to win each game, right,
Speaker 5: So I think it was just more short term pressure
Speaker 5: like game to game, where now I think it's like
Speaker 5: a sometimes it's an overarching pressure of like getting to
Speaker 5: a certain level or a certain place by a certain time,
Speaker 5: just because of year round the money that the parents
Speaker 5: are putting into sports, all the extra training, So the
Speaker 5: pressure is still there for sure. And I'm sure it
Speaker 5: was like this back in the day, Like not all
Speaker 5: parents are like that, but you do have some.
Speaker 3: And honestly, I've been pleasantly surprised.
Speaker 5: And maybe it's because that the families that come and
Speaker 5: work with Greg and I obviously have a an open
Speaker 5: mind frame of how we can help their athlete.
Speaker 4: But most of the.
Speaker 5: Families that we work with, the parents are hands off.
Speaker 4: They put the they set up the.
Speaker 5: Kid, and it's just us, the and the kid working together,
Speaker 5: which is awesome. And every now and then we'll have
Speaker 5: the helicopter parent that's answering the questions and sitting right
Speaker 5: there and everything.
Speaker 4: But I'm honestly been. I was pleasantly surprised in that.
Speaker 1: Regard well, and I know that we've talked about it
Speaker 1: in the past, about the helicopter.
Speaker 2: Parent, and.
Speaker 1: I'm thankful for you to you and for you for
Speaker 1: what you and Gregor are doing to where those instances
Speaker 1: seem to be few and far between, where the parents,
Speaker 1: even though they seem to be wanting to play this
Speaker 1: long game, however long it is about getting their their
Speaker 1: athlete to the next level and next levels whatever those are,
Speaker 1: that they seem to be laying off because I mean,
Speaker 1: once again, going back in my day days of black
Speaker 1: and white television, you had the family members yelling at umps,
Speaker 1: you had him yelling at kids through dugouts, you had
Speaker 1: all these kinds of things. And you know, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: glad that it seems, at least through your prism that
Speaker 1: for the most part, they're laying off. And I think
Speaker 1: that that speaks a lot to I guess what the
Speaker 1: parents are looking for and what they hope to see
Speaker 1: out of their out of their kids.
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure, I do think it's good.
Speaker 3: And don't get me wrong, Hey, you go to any
Speaker 3: Saturday soccer youth tournament and go on a sideline You'll
Speaker 3: be like, yeah, you know, holy smokes, what is going
Speaker 3: on in society.
Speaker 5: Don't get me wrong, But it was like that back
Speaker 5: in the day too, and I so I do think
Speaker 5: that there's a lot of parents that have realized, and
Speaker 5: you know, I think social media can help in this
Speaker 5: regard where it's like you get called out a little
Speaker 5: bit and there's more information out there about like, hey,
Speaker 5: this is not good for our athletes and there's so
Speaker 5: many benefits from losing, so stop freaking out on the
Speaker 5: sideline after every game or during every game. So yeah,
Speaker 5: there's always going to be some that don't get the message,
Speaker 5: and you know, are living through their kids and it
Speaker 5: means more to them than their kids. But honestly, I
Speaker 5: think for the most part, it's getting a little bit better.
Speaker 1: Michael Parkhurst than the Friday free kick, hanging out with it,
Speaker 1: answering all the questions about being an owner, being a player,
Speaker 1: getting ready for the season, being a mentor. But that
Speaker 1: is that's where our focus traditionally is here with what
Speaker 1: they're doing at beyond goals, mentoring at BG, mentoring on
Speaker 1: the twitters, at beyond goals mentoring dot com when it
Speaker 1: comes to social media, Since you mentioned social media and
Speaker 1: how it can be a good influence, it can be
Speaker 1: a good it can be I was gonna say, when
Speaker 1: is the reinforcement ever bad? It can be a reinforcement
Speaker 1: to activity and behaviors, or it can be an absolute negative,
Speaker 1: And if you pay too much attention to the negative,
Speaker 1: then it could take everything and make it all haywire.
Speaker 1: Do you have conversations with your mentees about social media
Speaker 1: and how it can be that that double edged sword sometimes?
Speaker 1: Do you have those kinds of conversations with them about
Speaker 1: the power social media?
Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure, especially the players that are trying to
Speaker 5: play in college, because if I was an assistant coach,
Speaker 5: I would absolutely be checked out their social media to
Speaker 5: see what type of content are they putting out there,
Speaker 5: Who are they as a person, what are the people
Speaker 5: they hang with, what do they do off the field,
Speaker 5: like all that stuff.
Speaker 3: It's super important.
Speaker 5: So yeah, you want it to make sure that your
Speaker 5: social media is a good representative of who you are
Speaker 5: and know that nothing ever gets deleted and it can
Speaker 5: cost you if you're not smart with it. It can
Speaker 5: cost you a place at a university. It can cost
Speaker 5: you a job in the future, right, And yes, people
Speaker 5: will give you a pass if you post something silly
Speaker 5: when you're fifteen or sixteen to a certain degree, but
Speaker 5: that doesn't mean it won't hurt.
Speaker 3: You at some point along the road. So yeah, we
Speaker 3: absolutely talk about.
Speaker 5: That and it can be a great tool as well.
Speaker 5: I've got a couple of kids that post all their
Speaker 5: highlights there, which is great. Right If a college coach
Speaker 5: is all of a sudden looking at their social media
Speaker 5: and see some of these highlights like fantastic, that's a
Speaker 5: great way to use it. And obviously you can make
Speaker 5: money off it if you get to a certain level, right.
Speaker 5: So yeah, of course social media is important. You know,
Speaker 5: nil deals in college and all that stuff. A lot
Speaker 5: of it is social media based. So yeah, there's such
Speaker 5: benefits to it, for sure.
Speaker 3: If it's used the right way.
Speaker 5: But yeah, we definitely talk about what the negatives could
Speaker 5: be as well.
Speaker 1: Is it eye opening to a mentee when you talk
Speaker 1: about the negatives because they may just sit there and say, well,
Speaker 1: it's social media and I'm just putting things out there
Speaker 1: and I'm trying to be social. Do you and Greg
Speaker 1: ever sit there and have, you know, call a time
Speaker 1: out when you see something on a social media platform
Speaker 1: that's attached to a mentee and sit there and go, okay,
Speaker 1: this you need to learn from that. You need to
Speaker 1: either take this down or learn from it, or say something.
Speaker 1: Do you do you have those warning conversations with mentees
Speaker 1: at all?
Speaker 3: We haven't had to yet, we have. I've never come across.
Speaker 5: A mentee who's posted something where I thought, you know,
Speaker 5: that's crossing a line, or you gotta be careful here,
Speaker 5: or things, and so no I haven't, which is great.
Speaker 4: Yes, will it happen, probably yes, but not yet.
Speaker 1: That's always a good thing. But the thing is, but
Speaker 1: you acknowledge though you and Greg both acknowledge it hasn't happened,
Speaker 1: it's probably gonna happen. So at least there's that preparation
Speaker 1: level of Okay, at some point, this is coming, and
Speaker 1: we've got to be ready for it. We have to,
Speaker 1: meaning you and Greg have to be. BGM has to be,
Speaker 1: and you have to be prepared to say the right
Speaker 1: things to a mentee in a situation like that and
Speaker 1: sit there and go, Okay, you know, saw something the
Speaker 1: other day and whatever it was is, whatever it was,
Speaker 1: but this is the kind of stuff that will come
Speaker 1: back and hurt you, and explain why it could come
Speaker 1: back and hurt you from that perspective of I'm not
Speaker 1: trying to jam on you, but I'm trying to give
Speaker 1: you advice as to why this can hurt you long term.
Speaker 4: Mhmm. Yeah, no doubt about it.
Speaker 5: It's absolutely part of the journey. It's part of the pathway,
Speaker 5: and mistakes will be made. I mean, shoot, we've all
Speaker 5: made mistakes, so you know. It's it's more about the
Speaker 5: knowledge and growing from it and understanding it. Because I
Speaker 5: think that there's a false sense that you know, I'll
Speaker 5: just delete something, I'll just get rid of it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. No, there's no such thing as fully deleted.
Speaker 1: If you were to tell a mentee how to set
Speaker 1: up a social media account. Because there are times on
Speaker 1: in other sports when I when I look at recruits
Speaker 1: and things like that, or high school student athletes trying
Speaker 1: to get to the next level, they will lay out
Speaker 1: all the information in their their bioblast like on the
Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty character app. It is literally like name, positions, year, GPA, email, contact.
Speaker 2: Info, all of these things.
Speaker 1: Is there such a thing as putting too much information,
Speaker 1: you know, at the front of some kind of identification
Speaker 1: for a coach or something like that. Or is this
Speaker 1: where we are right now? You think where I got
Speaker 1: to put all this information out there and make it
Speaker 1: just as easy for the next level to get in
Speaker 1: touch with me. Or do you still hold some information
Speaker 1: back just because of how social media can be these days.
Speaker 4: It's a good question.
Speaker 5: I definitely when we talk to mentees about creating videos
Speaker 5: to send to college coaches, we always say, either in.
Speaker 3: The email or the front picture.
Speaker 5: Before your video starts, have some of this information because yes,
Speaker 5: GPA is super important. Right A coach says sees that
Speaker 5: you've got a one point something, he's probably not even
Speaker 5: gonna watch the video. No, right, it's not waste my time. No,
Speaker 5: So you know that that is important. I don't think
Speaker 5: it needs to be front and center, like in your
Speaker 5: face all the time. So that's that can be a
Speaker 5: little bit information overload, because that's you don't want to
Speaker 5: do that either, right, I think we all OI all
Speaker 5: can be like, oh, shoot, they get bogged down. That's
Speaker 5: how I feel at the grocery store sometimes, especially coming
Speaker 5: back from Europe, where I was like I was in
Speaker 5: the Cereal Aisle, and you know, just after being in
Speaker 5: Europe for five years, it was like I came back
Speaker 5: and was like, oh my gosh, there's seven hundred cereals
Speaker 5: to choose from.
Speaker 4: I'm overloaded.
Speaker 3: That's also how I.
Speaker 5: Feel when I go to, uh, golly, what's the name
Speaker 5: of the restaurant. It's got a whole menu.
Speaker 4: It's like a book.
Speaker 2: I mean that I can't remember that.
Speaker 4: It's a huge chain.
Speaker 1: But if there's a restaurant that's got like seven hundred
Speaker 1: things and their menus like an inch and a half thick,
Speaker 1: you kind of get lost.
Speaker 5: It's like, that's what I'm saying, you get too much choices,
Speaker 5: too much information shut down. So that's that's what I'm
Speaker 5: saying too about information about you know, on the front
Speaker 5: right it's cheesecake factory, Thanks Ricky. Yet too much information
Speaker 5: right in your face right away can also be a shutdown.
Speaker 3: I think. So, yeah, there's a balance there, but I
Speaker 3: do think, you know, you do need.
Speaker 5: To provide some information right of like, yeah, GPA and
Speaker 5: contact info is probably about it.
Speaker 1: Though, when it comes to mentees trying to get in
Speaker 1: touch with coaches or whomever at the next level. Have
Speaker 1: you had the chance to help them navigate those kinds
Speaker 1: of things? It's like, okay, initial conversation, it's like it's
Speaker 1: like what they see in a relationship or a business relationship.
Speaker 1: Don't call on Monday, don't call on Friday. Best business
Speaker 1: is always done on Tuesday. Have you gone through those
Speaker 1: steps in trying to help your your mentees and the
Speaker 1: families navigate Okay? If you're going to reach out, reach
Speaker 1: out in this way to this person at this time
Speaker 1: to do these things, or is it just kind of like,
Speaker 1: all right, we'll just put the information out there and
Speaker 1: then let the contacted individual come back to me. It's
Speaker 1: like I want the coach to talk to me. Here's
Speaker 1: my first piece of info. I'm going to leave it alone.
Speaker 1: Or do you encourage mentees after that first contact? Hey
Speaker 1: did you get my tape? How long do you wait
Speaker 1: before did you get my tape? Those kinds of things
Speaker 1: Navigating the next level, I guess is where I'm trying
Speaker 1: to get at.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we're actually putting together in the very early process,
Speaker 5: John putting together a whole playbook for such things.
Speaker 2: I interviewed the size of the cheesecake factory, a menu.
Speaker 3: I hope not.
Speaker 5: I hope we can dissect it a little bit and
Speaker 5: get down to what's most important.
Speaker 4: But I interviewed a.
Speaker 5: D one assistant coach yesterday actually, and so it's part
Speaker 5: of the process of like helping out with what information
Speaker 5: is important, when to contact, who to contact, and you know,
Speaker 5: how to get in touch with some coaches with the
Speaker 5: benefit of going to id camps. You know, this type
Speaker 5: of information that I think a lot.
Speaker 3: Of people are looking for and could use.
Speaker 5: So that is definitely one of our goals probably for
Speaker 5: the first half of this year, is to try and
Speaker 5: get more of that information out there. I mean, yes,
Speaker 5: we do it right now on a one on one basis,
Speaker 5: but to have this information available for those that you know,
Speaker 5: we're not mentoring full time or something like that, I
Speaker 5: think is valuable.
Speaker 1: The BGAM Handbook for contacting I get it, and and
Speaker 1: I mean that's a valuable piece of information that folks
Speaker 1: can have. You know, It's like, okay, not all coaches
Speaker 1: like to be contacted by email. They like to you know,
Speaker 1: they like carrier pigeon, they like to have things in
Speaker 1: a PDF, they like to have things mailed, and literally
Speaker 1: you're having to navigate individuals who have complete and totally
Speaker 1: different character traits about contact. And it's got to be
Speaker 1: something that you know, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen year old athletes,
Speaker 1: they've got to know and it has to be a
Speaker 1: case by case basis, because you can't just blanket assume
Speaker 1: that everybody wants to be contacted the same way at
Speaker 1: the same time. Because you get you get a coach
Speaker 1: at the wrong day, at the wrong time. He might
Speaker 1: have been interested in you as a talent, but because
Speaker 1: you took that misstep, that might be something that pulls
Speaker 1: them back from any kind of further contact or interest.
Speaker 5: Yeah, for sure, absolutely, And there's still so many college
Speaker 5: coaches that have been around for a really long time
Speaker 5: that they see things differently than possibly a college coach
Speaker 5: who's in his thirties or forties, right, So, yeah, it's
Speaker 5: dealing with these different coaches.
Speaker 4: It's not all it's not all the same.
Speaker 1: No, before we get you out of here, it is
Speaker 1: the last week of the preseason, and I know that
Speaker 1: folks just want to get out there and then have
Speaker 1: games for real.
Speaker 2: They want it.
Speaker 1: It's like, look, man, they can see they can see
Speaker 1: this first finish line. They're like can we go ahead
Speaker 1: and just get games to play in whatever tournament you're
Speaker 1: talking about? Are multiple things when you're getting close to
Speaker 1: that finish line and you're getting ready for games for real,
Speaker 1: what was the anticipation level like for you?
Speaker 5: Uh yeah, really excited, but also like, hey, a little
Speaker 5: bit more serious and a little bit more okay.
Speaker 3: This is crunch time.
Speaker 5: This is real, Like these points are just as valuable
Speaker 5: as points in September. So you want to start off
Speaker 5: well and be prepared. And you know, so much of
Speaker 5: the focus the whole preseason was just US US US US,
Speaker 5: and and now all of a sudden, you know, leading
Speaker 5: soon leading up to Week one, you have a little
Speaker 5: bit of focus on the other team and how are
Speaker 5: we going to play against this specific team rather than
Speaker 5: just us working on our own thing. So it changes
Speaker 5: a little bit, but I think it's it's it's awesome
Speaker 5: that change and change into the routine of like, okay,
Speaker 5: now we're prepping for a game, a real game that matters,
Speaker 5: is really cool.
Speaker 1: I know that before the next time that we talked
Speaker 1: to you, there will have been a home opener down
Speaker 1: here in a Jersey that you previewed a while back.
Speaker 1: The anticipation for an opening night and a crowd that
Speaker 1: you know that is as ravenous as the seventeens are
Speaker 1: looking forward to a season in general, regardless of what
Speaker 1: you were talking about, But what was it like for
Speaker 1: you on an opening day and an opening night? Knowing
Speaker 1: that the anticipation is there, Knowing that the what the
Speaker 1: fans are looking for is they're knowing.
Speaker 2: What the players are looking for.
Speaker 1: What is opening night like for someone who's never experienced it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you're nervous, you get the goosebumps to you know,
Speaker 5: tough to sleep the night before, Like all that stuff
Speaker 5: is normal no matter what age you are. I think
Speaker 5: that you really look forward to that first one just
Speaker 5: because it's that unknown, right, the anticipation of like, you know,
Speaker 5: is it going to be a full house?
Speaker 3: Is it going to be so loud? You know, are
Speaker 3: we prepared?
Speaker 2: Are we ready to go?
Speaker 5: You know, there's just so much unknown, and so I
Speaker 5: think that brings a little bit of extra nerves. I
Speaker 5: think that just those that have played in front of
Speaker 5: the crowd before know what it's going to be like,
Speaker 5: could be, like, will be like. So they want to
Speaker 5: feel that energy, right, That's one of the best parts
Speaker 5: of being a professional is playing in front of that
Speaker 5: environment and having the people cheer for you, and it's
Speaker 5: just amazing. So I think that everybody will be really
Speaker 5: looking forward to that. The nerves will be a little
Speaker 5: bit high, but that'll be a fun night for sure
Speaker 5: for all.
Speaker 1: Are you the kind of guy that you know once
Speaker 1: the whistle goes, you're locked in or is it that
Speaker 1: first tackle that you that.
Speaker 2: You create a moment going the other way? What kind
Speaker 2: of a.
Speaker 1: Player were you when it came to Day one and
Speaker 1: whistles and getting into that zone?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: No, whistle, whistle blow, because.
Speaker 5: For me, I think that was important because you don't
Speaker 5: know that first touch, the first tackle, the first moment
Speaker 5: that you're.
Speaker 3: Involved could be super important. So they have to wait
Speaker 3: for that moment to then get into the zone. It
Speaker 3: could be too late.
Speaker 5: Uh So you know, for me, it was the whistle
Speaker 5: and it was like, you know, you hear the noise,
Speaker 5: and you hear the the horn and then you know
Speaker 5: you got the whistle and then it's like, Okay, I
Speaker 5: don't hear anything anymore. I just hear like I just
Speaker 5: hear noise or just background noise.
Speaker 3: So yeah, opening whistle.
Speaker 2: I was gonna ask.
Speaker 1: It's like once that whistle goes, do you know, like
Speaker 1: Costner said, and for love of the game, you know
Speaker 1: it was it released the mechanism and then you just
Speaker 1: heard yourself and then everything else was in the background.
Speaker 1: Was so that was It was that way for you,
Speaker 1: literally whistle and then like white noise and focusing on
Speaker 1: the game.
Speaker 3: Yeah for sure, Okay, yes.
Speaker 1: I didn't know how certain athletes go certain ways, but
Speaker 1: for you it's just whistle goes, white noise, locked into everything.
Speaker 1: Are you coming down in eight days or are you
Speaker 1: gonna stay up there?
Speaker 2: What's your plans?
Speaker 5: I'm not getting down for the opener, but I definitely
Speaker 5: will be down to catch a couple of.
Speaker 1: Games because I know you gotta go to the games
Speaker 1: in Rhode Island also in early March, and I know
Speaker 1: you got to sit there and balance.
Speaker 2: I know, I know how this goes.
Speaker 3: Uh well, Rhode Island doesn't even have a how many
Speaker 3: home games until May.
Speaker 2: So because of like weather and things.
Speaker 4: It's because of the stadium and they stay.
Speaker 1: Oh that's right, Oh that's right, Tidewater landing, Yes, yes, yes, yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so you're on the road and then okay, so you're
Speaker 1: stockpiling all of the home games, so when Tidewater Landing
Speaker 1: is open and so you're on the road for correct.
Speaker 2: Okay, So all right, so now that's got.
Speaker 5: A couple of buys in the first eight weeks or
Speaker 5: six weeks or something, and then yeah, six six away
Speaker 5: games like two buys and then we're home.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So so basically what you're seeing is we need to
Speaker 1: road trip up there for like the home opener or
Speaker 1: something and the unveiling of the stadium.
Speaker 3: Probably should Okay, just check.
Speaker 2: Be well, my friend.
Speaker 1: As always, it's great to catch up with you on
Speaker 1: what you and Gregor are doing and applying it to
Speaker 1: uh the every day and helping spread the messages across
Speaker 1: the board. As always, my friend, have a great weekend.
Speaker 1: When's your next golf game?
Speaker 3: May God, I haven't swung a club since before Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3: It's been way too long.
Speaker 1: John, right there with you, brother, all right, So just
Speaker 1: be safe, have a great weekend, stay warm. Okay, there
Speaker 1: it goes parking and it's always fun. He puts up
Speaker 1: with my crap like nobody's business. Everybody on the show
Speaker 1: puts up with my crap like nobody's business. So at
Speaker 1: BG Menoring, at MF Parkerson, the two hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: character app, and all of the all the things that
Speaker 1: they're doing. They've started at Beyond Goals Mentoring TV. They're
Speaker 1: doing video stuff now, so Beyond Goalsmenoring dot com and
Speaker 1: at BG Mentoring on the twitters and you can sit
Speaker 1: there and find out what Greg and Parky are doing
Speaker 1: on a daily basis, helping out the next generation of
Speaker 1: athletes and getting them on the path to success whatever
Speaker 1: that whatever that word entails next level, next levels and
Speaker 1: next level of play, next level of activity, being more
Speaker 1: secure in themselves when it comes to their everyday life
Speaker 1: and how it can apply to their everyday lives going forward.
Speaker 1: So great stuff from Greg and Cap and they put
Speaker 1: up with my questions like you know what, so