Episode #184: Coaching the Coaches

For the past two months, I've had the opportunity to work closely with college coaches, helping them build healthier team cultures, stronger communication, and better learning environments. Throughout that process, one thing became clear: parents play a bigger role than they often realize.

In this solo episode of The Significant Coaching Podcast, I share practical ways parents can prepare their child—and themselves—for a more positive coaching experience before the season even begins. You'll learn how to partner with coaches, encourage growth, and help your athlete get the most from every practice, every conversation, and every opportunity.

If we want better coaching experiences, we all have a role to play.

Transcript

0:05

Hey, everybody. It's Coach Matt. H- hope you have had a great summer so far. Uh, I know it's been a long break between podcasts, but the last two months have been extremely busy for me, been great. I've been working with colleges and organizations all over the country, and we're doing a lot of talking about coaching coaches. It's, it's a epidemic in our country. We're losing great coaches. There's not enough going on to help our youth coaches, our middle school coaches, our high school coaches to really grow and improve, and giving them the tools and resources to not only do great work educating, coaching our young athletes, but also giving them the tools to find joy in how they coach and when they coach, so they wanna keep doing it. So I've loved these conversations, and I'm, I'm working with people all over the country, whether it's athletic directors and college coaches, recruiting organizations, sports organizations, youth sports organizations, and I've just loved every conversation I have, because everyone is hungry for this. So today, I'm gonna put out just a, a short podcast. We might do 20, 25 minutes, and it's just gonna be me. I don't have any guests yet. We're lining up our guests. We have a couple guests already in the books, uh, for, for August Uh, we're still working on some sponsors. We've got, uh, three or four organizations said, "Yep, we're in. We wanna, we wanna be a part of this." So we'll have, uh, more to come in the next couple of weeks. But I wanna talk about coaching coaches today. And, and the big reason I wanna talk about coaching coaches goes back 25 years for me. When I was a head coach for the first time, I was hired at Maryville University in St. Louis when I was 25 years old. Actually, actually just- I just turned 26 when they offered me the job. So I was really, really young. I, I was only a head high school coach for one year. I was an assistant high school coach for two years before that, and an assistant, basically volunteer assistant college coach before that. So basically, I had about four years under my belt where I was actually coaching and working with young people. But when I got hired at Maryville, I was the head college coach. I was responsible for everything. I was the CEO of their men's basketball program. So I had so much to learn, and there was never a time where anybody came to me and said, "Hey, this is how we do things. This is how we s- schedule our games. This is how we schedule our practices. This is how we recruit, and we want our coaches to recruit. This is how we handle our budget. This is how we order. This is how we communicate on campus with other departments. This is how we work with organizations outside of our community." None of that. I had to go ask questions. I had to learn. I had to dig. I had to figure it all out. And it took me a good two and a half, three years to really understand this is how you coach at the college level. And, uh, and for me, it was such a great experience 'cause I really had to figure things out. I had to learn on the fly. I was working 80-hour weeks. And, uh, and you've heard me say this on the podcast, I made $7,000 as a head college basketball coach that first year. So not only was I working 80-hour weeks, but maybe 60 of it was for the university. I was doing part-time jobs on the college. I was, like, the tutoring coordinator. Um, at the YMCA, the rec center in town, I was refereeing basketball games on the weekends. So I was doing all these little things. I was working for another company on the side, doing part-time work for them. So- Not only did I not get a lot of coaching, but I was working so much trying to recruit, trying to build a program, trying to make enough money so my wife and I could survive that it, it took me a good two or three years just to figure out where do I begin? Who, who am I? How do I wanna do this? What do I want my program to look like? How do I wanna be perceived? And I made every mistake under the book. You know, if, if there was a mistake to make, I made it. 'Cause when you're working that hard and so lost and s- trying to figure things out, you become emotional. And I was a young man, and my temper came out, my, my sadness, my depression, my fight for everything, you know, 'cause I, I ha- I had to fight for everything. And I know I didn't handle things well. And, and the only people that really got hurt were the young people that I was coaching. And I think some would tell you they had a great experience. Some are glad they stuck out those first two years that were really hard with me, because the le- next two years got a lot better. But I had to figure it all out, and, and I had to grow up. And I'm still growing up, and I'm still figuring it out. But I wanna make sure we're, we're putting good thoughts out into the world. So I want you to think about... Let's start with a parent, 'cause I know we have a lot of parents that listen to this. So let's start out with you being a parent. What can you do? Well, the first thing you can do is support the coaches that your children have, and you do that by showing up early, getting your kid there early for practices and games. So if a practice starts at 3:00, make sure they're there at 2:30, 2:40, and, and talk to your kid about that preparation. Get there, get dressed, get your shoes on, your cleats, whatever sport it is Stretch, work out a little bit, get a little sweat going, start talking to your teammates, start asking questions to coaches, get engaged, so when practice does start, you're ready to hit that ground running. That is the best thing you can do for your coaches right now. The next thing you can do is always block out 20 to 30 minutes, especially if you've gotta go pick up your kid. Let's say they're not 16, they can't drive on their own, maybe they're 12, they're 13, maybe you're hanging around for practice, maybe you're coming back in two hours. The next thing you can do is block out a good 20 to 30 minutes after practice, so if your son or daughter wants to stick around and work a little bit, take some ground balls, shoot some jumpers, throw the football a little bit with their coaches, ask questions, be engaged, be curious after practice, and encourage them to do that. That's the second-best thing you can do for your coaches and for your kid. So now, what haven't I talked about? I haven't talked about you talking to the coaches. I haven't talked about you necessarily being present in that coach's world, but what are we doing? We're teaching our kids about how success works in the real world. You show up early, people are gonna pay attention. You ask a lot of questions, people are gonna go, "Wow, he or she is curious." You stay after a little bit, you work a little bit extra, you try and get better, people pay attention, and good things almost always come from that. So- Let's talk about the third thing. Your kid's having a problem. They're not starting, they think they should deserve to. They're not playing as much as they thought. They're, they're struggling with a skill. Um, the coach has been really hard on them, and they're not, they don't handle that well. So have a conversation, number one, with your, your child about humility and saying, "This isn't about you starting. This isn't about you being the leading playing type person. This is about you learning, and not just about your sport. It's about you learning to handle things that maybe aren't gonna go your own way. Maybe you're not gonna play a lot this season. Maybe you're not gonna get the love that you want from this particular coach, but what can you do? Well, are you showing up early, staying late? Are you working as hard as you possibly can?" And here's the big one, "Are you putting in extra time when practices are over?" So if maybe you're a club kid, and you practice Monday and Wednesday, well, what are you doing Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday? Are you dribbling that basketball for 10, 15 minutes a day? Are you finding a place where you can go shoot 100 shots and working on your free throws, and working on your balance and your strength? Um, throwing the football, throwing the baseball, getting in the batting cage. Are you doing those things on your own to get better outside of practice? So now all of a sudden, if a coach sees you on Wednesday at practice, and they don't see you again till Monday, how much better can you make yourself between Wednesday and Monday, so when you get there on Monday, that coach goes, "Wow, your swing has really improved. Your follow-through and your jumper has really improved. You are so much cal- more confident with your left hand than you were four days ago." Wow. All right? So now look at what we've done. Your kid's not crazy about the coach, but we're not gonna let that get in the way. We're gonna do the things that we can control. All right, so let's say we've done that for a month, and coach still isn't playing you much, really isn't paying attention to your growth and how hard you're working. Now it's time for a conversation, and you wait till after practice. Most of the kids have left. The coach looks like they're relaxed, and you go, "Hey, Coach, do you have a few minutes for me?" And go, "Coach, uh, I just want you to know I'm gonna do everything you ask me to do, and I know I haven't been playing much, but I've been working really hard, and I'd really like your feedback on what you're seeing out of me, what my reality is, so I understand it, and what I can do to help myself get in a position to play more." So you're asking for feedback. You're not upset, you're not telling them you're ready to quit or you're gonna transfer or you're gonna You know, you're, you're thinking about going to another club. You don't play those games, 'cause you don't want them to play those games with you. So you just say, "Coach, I need f- I'd love some feedback. Not need, I want. I wanna understand what you're thinking, what you're seeing." And, and, a- and I have a perfect analogy for this. I remember when I was 12 years old, uh, no, it was before 12. I must have been 10, 10 or 11. My dad bought one of those big camcorders. Remember the camcorders in the '80s? You know, you put them on your shoulder and you look through the viewing camera. They looked like this, you know, bigger than a bread box. They were huge. And I remember Dad got a used one of these and started filming my games, and we would w- we started watching my games, and it was a sixth grade basketball game. I was probably playing in a church league or, you know, the rec center league, and I thought I was really good. I thought I was really fast, I thought I was the best athlete, and I watched myself on film for the first time, and I was appalled. I, I looked out of shape. I looked doughy. Okay? And at 10 or 11, you don't know what doughy really is, but I didn't look like I was an athlete. My hands were always on my hips or I was always bent over. Looked like I was always out of gas. Uh, I was not getting up and down the floor the way I could've. Um, I thought I was a really good ball handler, but man, the ball was always loose and it was always too high. And I just, for the first time in my life, it was like somebody had punched me in the face and said, "You aren't working hard enough." Nobody had to tell me. I could see it. And that reality really changed that day who I was gonna become as an athlete. I was never, ever again gonna be the kid that didn't work harder than everybody else. I was never, ever gonna be the kid that didn't run the sprints as hard as I could. I was never gonna be the kid that didn't pound the ball and, and try and be really good at what I was supposed to be good at. And then being a great teammate is a big part of that. So when we think about those things, those are the conversations we have with our kids, and we say, "Listen, this is hard. You gotta work hard if you wanna be good at this. Okay? If you just wanna be a part of the team, well, go right ahead, but you're not gonna be as happy, 'cause you're not gonna play as much, you're not gonna have as much success You're really, you're gonna find it hard to help the team win and be a part of that culture. But if you really want this, then 10 to 15 minutes a day, especially if they're 10, 11, 12 years old, you gotta find that 10, 15 minutes a day. You gotta get better. And not just every Monday, but you gotta do it every day. If you can't find 15 minutes to dribble a basketball, or play catch with a football or baseball, or swing into a net with baseball or softball, or whatever your sport is, if you can't find 15 minutes a day to get better and really work in those 15 minutes, well, this may not be for you. So how does that help the coaches, those conversations? Well, when your coach starts giving criticisms and constructive criticisms, it's not gonna be the first time your child hears it, 'cause they're hearing it from you for the first time. And they're going, "Okay, this is what Mom and Dad have been telling me. This is my reality. Now I'm hearing it from somebody else, not just Mom and Dad trying to light a fire under me. My coaches are saying the exact same things." So if you're a parent The more you can be honest with your kid, and it doesn't have to be in your face, "Hey, you suck," or, "You're not working hard enough." You know, you don't have to do that. You can just say, "Hey, I'm watching you, and you're not working as hard as you can, and you're not putting the time in outside of practice to get better. So if you wanna play, and you want the coach to really respond to you in the way you want, you gotta work a lot harder, and that's your choice. And, and maybe you're gonna realize that you don't really like this as much as you want, and you don't love it or don't find the joy in it, and then we'll help you find something else. But if you really wanna be good at this and you really wanna get the results out of it you want, you gotta work harder, and then you gotta listen to your coaches. And whatever they're telling you, you gotta try and implement it. You gotta try and execute it, and then you gotta work on executing it better when they're not around." So again, those type of conversations are really important. And if you don't have that relationship with your son or daughter, it's a great way to say, "Hey, I, I wanna change kinda how we talk to each other. You're at that age where people are gonna expect more out of you, and Mom and Dad are gonna expect more out of you as- right now as well. We're gonna start giving you some chores. You're gonna take the garbage out every time it's full. You're gonna start vacuuming your room once a week. You're gonna start doing your laundry on Friday night, Saturday morning, Sunday afternoon, and we're gonna teach you how to use the washing machine and the dryer. We're gonna teach you how to fold it and put it away. You're gonna make your bed every day." So those things go such a long way to them learning not only how to be a stronger, healthier, happier, more successful athlete- But it helps them start understand what that work ethic and what that accountability looks like. Now, I started this conversation today about coaching coaches. I just don't have it in me to put a lot of pressure on the coaches when I'm also seeing coaches show up with lots of energy and passion to practice, and they, maybe they've got 12 kids there, and six of them are there because mom and dad needed to get rid of them for a couple hours. Or mom and dad needed them to do something besides play video games for a couple hours, and they enrolled them in a softball or baseball or basketball league. And the kids showed up with no understanding of what's going on and how to be prepared for that. And that's really not fair to our coaches when our kids are showing up not prepared for what's gonna happen. Even mom and dad, if you've never played sports, you know, you're an adult, you know that you f- how, what a work ethic looks like. And if you're not telling your son or daughter that, "Hey, this is gonna be hard, so you listen to your coach, you pay attention, you look them in the eyes. They ask you to do something, you try and do it to your best of your ability. If you don't understand what you're being told, raise your hand, say, 'Hey, Coach, I don't understand this. Can you help me? I, can you show me what you mean?'" And get them learning how to have a conversation with an adult. So all those things are really valuable before we get into coaching the coaches What does that do for our coaches? If they've got 12 kids engaged, respectful, working hard, oh, that coach can't wait to show up for the next practice, can't wait to have fun and create new drills, and be progressive with their growth, okay? And teach them how to get better from the last time they were there. That's what progressive means, right? We know that. It's, "I'm not happy with the status quo. I wanna get better, and then I wanna get better again." And the more our kids show up ready to engage and work hard, what happens? We automatically have coaches that wanna work harder and wanna be more engaged and wanna stick with it, 'cause they're seeing the results. They're seeing kids that wanna get better and want to learn, and that's fun. That's why we sign up to coach. Whether we're a volunteer youth coach or getting paid a couple thousand dollars to coach a middle school program or lucky enough to be a high school or maybe a college coach, it doesn't matter what level. You look at the NBA, the WNBA, the Major League Baseball, NFL, you name it, those coaches, they get excited when their guys and gals show up engaged and ready to work and ready to learn. So we can all do better. That includes me. We can all do better in helping our kids prepare to be better learners. All right. Coaching our coaches. One of the things that I'm talking to- I'm, I'm, I'm coaching three, four, I think five college coaches right now. We're doing executive coaching and recruiting coaching and doing lots of things, and really helping them learn how to be the CEO and the leader of their program, and I'm loving it, 'cause all these coaches are engaged, they're hungry, they want information. You know, they're all fairly young. They're all under 30, and they want to get better. And one of the things we're talking about is understanding who they are. Okay? Who am I as a coach? Why am I doing this? Is it because I want all the accolades and championships, and I want people to talk about me, and I, I wanna coach professionally, and I know I gotta start here? Eh, there's probably a little bit of that in the back of their minds, but really why they're doing it is, "I just love teaching. I love coaching." So for you, um, hiring managers, principals, ADs, superintendents, um, dean of students, university presidents, one of the things I'm going to ask of you, and you can say, "Matt, you are full of baloney. I don't even wanna listen to you anymore," but hear me out When you hire somebody or you're going through the interview process, let's start there. If you're not digging in to find out if these, if these candidates you're interviewing are teachers first, and I'm not talking can they teach English or math. I know some of you are strapped with that. If you're gonna hire a coach, they've gotta be able to teach in your school district. I understand that. But I'm talking about are they teachers? Do they love to teach? And loving teaching is mean they prepare. They know how to prepare a practice plan or a lesson plan. They know how to show up and have their facility, whether a wrestling coach or a baseball, football, doesn't matter what coach, but they have their facility ready to go. They've got a plan and a strategy, and they're excited about teaching the fundamentals. And you've gotta ask those questions. "Can we see a copy of your practice plan? Can you send that to us before the interview? We'd like to see, like, your first practice of the year, maybe one in the middle, and maybe, you know, maybe what you finish with." What's one of your later season- Like, for a basketball coach, I typically have two-hour practices in October and November and December, but when we get to January and February, I pull back those practices to hour 45, hour 30, maybe even hour 15, and we really- I try not to beat down my players because it's a long season. So my practices at the first of the year are very, very fundamental-heavy. The middle of the year, they're more balanced between fundamentals and playing. And at the end of the year, they get really short, so maybe we do 15, 20 minutes of fundamentals and then maybe 30, 40 minutes of more game experience stuff, and then I send them home 'cause I want them to get their studies done. I want them to get enough sleep. I want them to feel like kids. I want them to feel like they get to have a life. So as the season progresses, my practice does. So if you're a hiring manager or you're sitting on a committee to hire a coach, make sure you're talking about finding teachers. Does it matter if they're coming from someplace where they've won a lot or lost a lot? It can. It absolutely can. If you're coming from a champ- you know, a, a high school program that's won five out of the last ten state championships and you're- you've been the assistant, the lead assistant on those teams, you're probably coming in with a really good foundation of what a winning culture looks like and how to build that. Uh, if you're the assistant, you weren't the head coach that's been leading all that and creating all that, but you've been able to see it, interact in it, and do it, so that's great. That's a g- really great resume builder, okay? Success in the past is great, but now you gotta find out, can this person execute their vision? Do they know how they want to teach it? Is teaching it important to them? It's huge, okay? One of the things I recommend if you're gonna hire coaches, and some of you are part of a board with your club and, and maybe you don't directly hire coaches, but you oversee the people that do hire the coaches. Talk to them about before the interview, the first interview happens, or maybe after the initial phone interview, give each candidate an assignment. Say, "Here's our problem." It, it can be a hypothetical problem. It doesn't have to be a real problem, but here's our problem. We've got kids that show up late consistently, and parents will schedule dentist appointments right in the middle of a practice that's been planned for a month. Or we've got kids that talk back, or we've got parents that yell in the stands, and they really make it uncomfortable for the coach and the kid. Whatever that problem may be, say, "Here's that problem. We'd like you to write out just a... You know, it could be, be a one-pager. We'd like you to write out how you would deal with that situation, how you would handle it proactively to keep it from happening And we need, you know, your interview's gonna be next Tuesday. We'd like this from you on Friday, and it will be a part of the discussion during your interview on Tuesday as well, but we'd like in writing kinda how you'd handle that. So what does that do? It solves a couple of problems. Number one, we get to find out how prepared this person is. Will they follow through with that assignment, get it to us by Friday, get it to us in time? We get to find out their thought process. How do they actually think about this? How would they handle it? We get to think ab- we get to learn about their character a little bit. And then let's say we're gonna interview five people. We get five different perspectives on how it should be handled. So now as an AD or a hiring group or a committee, we get all these different ways to look at this problem we've been dealing with, and we get to figure out how we want that problem solved. Okay? If you're the CEO of a company, do the same thing. You know, say, "Hey, we're struggling with increased revenue here," or, "We've got, you know, we've got a, a structure right now with too many people below each of our VPs. How would you fix that structure in our company?" Okay? All of a sudden, you're getting these free ideas, free consulting from people that you're thinking about hiring, and you get to see how they problem solve and how they work. So it's a great thing to do. So for me, as I'm coaching high school and these college coaches that have asked me for help, and that I'm, I'm, I'm actually doing executive coaching with, I'm getting them prepared for those things. Who are you? What's your why? What kind of teacher do you wanna be? How are we going to explain that? How are you gonna explain to a hiring committee why teaching is so important to you? How do you deal with problems? How do you deal with parents? How do you deal with a, a kid that doesn't play enough? How do you deal with a kid with a bad attitude that maybe it's not really a bad attitude, there's something deep-rooted at home that's going on? Maybe mom or dad have left. Maybe dad's in the, mom or dad are in the Army. Uh, maybe there's, uh, some physical abuse. Maybe there's alcohol problems. Maybe there's drug problems. Things you don't know, and that's why this kid has a bad attitude, 'cause maybe they're not getting the love and the support at home that they need. And f- and I'm teaching those coaches, how are you gonna handle that? 'Cause you don't wanna be a first-time head coach and one of these problems comes to you, and you haven't even thought about it. You haven't even thought about, "Who am I in this moment to deal with this? How do I want this handled? If I was in that parent's shoes or that kid's shoes, how would I want somebody to talk to me and help me through that journey?" So those are the type of things we're doing, and then we're doing the practical things. We're learning how to build a practice plan, a lesson plan over not over just one or two days, but over the course of a season. When do we give the kids some breaks? When do we remember that this has to be fun, and we have to kind of flip the tables to say, "Okay, we're gonna take a day off here, and we're gonna play kickball. We're gonna go to the movies. We're gonna go for a hike. We're gonna, you know, we're just gonna have fun games for a day, okay? And we're just gonna mix it up and remind these guys and gals that they love their sport." So that's a big thing I do with all my coaches, make sure they know who they are, so what their philosophy is. We talk about s- problem-solving and how we're gonna handle things as they pop up. We talk about building really good practice plans that are healthy. They make sense. There's time that, you know, if we need to go a little bit longer, we know how to extend that drill and maybe cut a drill out, and we have that ability to do that, and we know when that's important and when we should just say, "Okay, that drill's over. It's time to move on." And then for the college coaches I'm working with, I'm doing the same thing with them. I'm getting them thinking, remember when you were 16 or 17. What would have made your day if a college coach reached out to you? What would have gotten you excited? A thousand-word email about how great the school is? No, probably not. Uh, a thousand-page email on how great my program is and how great I am and how many w- wins, games w- eh, that might get their attention, but it's probably not gonna wow them. But would an email that says, "I just watched your film, and you are a great shooter. You can definitely play at our level. Could I get you and Mom and Dad on a Zoom call this week?" If that's the email, tell me a 16 or 17-year-old doesn't go, "Holy cow, this coach saw me? They love my ability, and they wanna, they wanna schedule a Zoom with me?" There's not many kids that aren't gonna be excited about that. So teaching coaches how to put themselves in the shoes of their recruits has been quite a journey for me, and it's been, it's been a lot of fun to see these college coaches' eyes open up and go, "Oh, I can't believe I've been doing the opposite to these recruits what I would want." I go, "Yeah, 'cause you're trying to sell. Instead of selling you and your school- Sell this kid that you believe in them. Sell that first, and then sell you. Say, "I love coaching. I love being around you. If you wanna be a part of this, part- this is a family. Um, this isn't a four-year relationship. This is gonna be a 40-year relationship. Y- when you're part of my family, we're family forever." So those are the things that I'm doing. Those are some of the things that I hope you'll take back to your community, and you'll have those conversations. And if you'd like me to have that conversation with your board, with your athletic director, with your parents, with your students, just reach out to me at coachmattrogers.com. Schedule a strategy session with me and we'll talk about it and see if, if I'm a good fit. I'm happy to do that. Um, make sure you're ha- if you're a parent, make sure you're having those conversations with your kid about work ethic and being engaged and looking coaches in the eyes, about showing up early and staying late, and all those things that we talked about early on. You can make a huge dent in your child's future by having those conversations today, and then helping them execute them. And you're gonna make a huge dent in the relationship they have with their coaches, because your kids are gonna show up more prepared and more ready to, to do the things that they need to do, and your coaches are gonna appreciate it, and they're gonna respect it, and they're gonna be thankful for you, 'cause they know this kid isn't showing up just naturally with these abilities and these thoughts and this work ethic. They know that Mom and Dad have taught him that. So the respect that coach has for you, when it does come time for you to have a conversation with that coach about anything The first thing out of their mouth is, "I really love coaching your kid. Thank you for raising such a great kid. I, I can't wait to the next practice because of your child. It makes me want to be a better coach." That's what you want a coach to think about you as a parent. So I went a little longer than I expected. 32 minutes. As you can tell, I'm passionate about this. I love talking about this. Um, it's gonna be a huge part of my next 10 years, um, and hopefully longer, about how I, how I'm gonna work and how I'm gonna develop and how I'm gonna help others be better. And coaching coaches is gonna be a huge part of that. 'Cause I know if I can coach coaches to be healthier and happier, I know our kids are gonna be healthier and happier. But I need your par- I need you parents, I need you helping me. Let's sandwich this together. Let's make sure that together we're helping coaches and our kids be healthier, stronger, stronger work ethic, work ethic, and good things are gonna come. I'll try and do a couple of these before August 1st. Uh, for those of you that are crazy enough to like listening to my voice when you're driving in your car to work or you're at the gym working out, um, I'm gonna try and do a couple more of these, and they won't all be on the same topic. I'll, I'll mix up the topics. Um, but I hope you enjoyed these. Thank you so much. Um, in the last two months it's been amazing. I haven't put out a podcast in nearly two months, and we're continuing to get 4- or 500 downloads and streams every day. People are going back and listening to the old podcast, which just makes my heart explode. I'm, I'm so thankful for all of you. Our subscriptions on YouTube have gone through the roof. Um, I don't know how, but people are hunger- hungry for this. Uh, I've got a great coach already lined up for our first episode for season four. Uh, I've got three or four more that are just trying to find a time. Um, we're building great relationships with some of the coaching organizations that wanna be a part of this and, and, and I'll explain more about that as we go. Um, but thank you to all of you. Have a great rest of your week. More to come, I promise. Keep being patient with me. I'm trying to reinvent the wheel a little bit in a good way and, uh, make sure I'm continuing to be progressive in my work, and I'm growing and excited about my work, but I'm gonna keep sharing these things with you. Please leave me a comment. Uh, please let me know what you think of this. Uh, and I can handle brutal honesty, but if there was some good out of this today that you're gonna take with you as either as a parent or as a coach or as a leader somewhere, I'd love to hear it. And if you do want me involved or engaged with your community or your team or your child, please let me know and, and we'll talk about it. If I'm not a good fit, I'll be the first one to tell you. Uh, but if I am a good fit, I'm always gonna be excited to work with you. Thank you, everybody. Have a great day