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Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast, an NFL podcast for

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Speaker 1: the players, by the players. Here is your host, fourteen

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Speaker 1: year NFL veteran and Hall of Famer Enius Williams. Hello,

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the NFL Legends Podcast. I'm a Nius Williams.

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Speaker 1: Today's guests are members of the Legends Youth Advisory Committee,

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Speaker 1: our group which was brought together to guide the game

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Speaker 1: of football into the future. We have with us today

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Speaker 1: two very accurate quarterbacks. I'm whom I've never intercepted, which

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Speaker 1: is never a good thing for cornerback. First, we have

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Speaker 1: Mark Brunell, who played how many teams? Five teams, nineteen years,

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Speaker 1: nineteen seasons, not on when the game has changed? Chad

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Speaker 1: you played eleven We have ja games. Many don't know,

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Speaker 1: James Chadwick. Very few know that, all the New York

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Speaker 1: Jets fans. You would make my mother proud. Now, you guys,

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Speaker 1: this first question off topic, the way the rules and

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Speaker 1: the games have changed. I mean, you guys can still

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Speaker 1: be playing. Well, I'm forty nine years old, chadwa you

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Speaker 1: could have got a few more years in the way

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Speaker 1: the rules have changed, right, Well, I certainly think that

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Speaker 1: the rules um the CBA agreements with offseason and things

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Speaker 1: like that certainly put the players in a better position

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Speaker 1: to have longer careers, There's no doubt about it. So

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Speaker 1: it's fun to see. Let's talk about the legends Youth

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Speaker 1: Advisory committed. First, we got a collection of talent you have,

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Speaker 1: Dion William McGinnis. I mean, all these guys are unreal

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Speaker 1: And what this committee is trying to accomplish what regards

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Speaker 1: to the game of football. How is this an example

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Speaker 1: paying forward with this Youth Advisory Committee. Well, first of all,

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Speaker 1: what I love about the committee, and you named a

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Speaker 1: couple of guys on the committee, but when you look

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Speaker 1: at all these guys, they're quite accomplished when it comes

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Speaker 1: to the game of football. But none of these guys

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Speaker 1: when they sit down at the table and talk about

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Speaker 1: our grassroots of football, our youth in high school space,

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Speaker 1: and our game in general, none of them bring an

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Speaker 1: ego to the table. Um. I really feel like all

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Speaker 1: of these members truly want to work together to make

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Speaker 1: our game better and to elevate our game, and they

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Speaker 1: have a true passion in doing that. And all of

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Speaker 1: our members are involved in the high school space or

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Speaker 1: in the youth space whether it be a league or

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Speaker 1: coaching high school or whatever. So they're in the trenches

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Speaker 1: in the most important part of our game, which is

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Speaker 1: a grassroots level. When we talk when we all get

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Speaker 1: together the Youth Advisory Committee, we do talk about the

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Speaker 1: fundamentals of the game and teaching proper techniques and and

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Speaker 1: uh and all. That's very important, But the the goal

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Speaker 1: is not that not to make our young people better

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Speaker 1: football players, that's part of it, but the larger goal

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Speaker 1: and why this exists really is to teach our football

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Speaker 1: players how to be better young men, to not only

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Speaker 1: develop them on the field, but most importantly developed them

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Speaker 1: off the field. We all learned very basic values from

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Speaker 1: this game, the importance of hard work and teamwork and leadership, accountability,

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Speaker 1: positive attitude, all the things that that this game has

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Speaker 1: taught us. We're trying to do our best to communicate

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Speaker 1: and teach those far more important than teaching a you know,

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Speaker 1: teaching a quarterback how to throw a football or how

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Speaker 1: how for a running back to to carry the ball

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Speaker 1: to a man. All the guys are in it for

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Speaker 1: the right reasons, and at top of the list, it's

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Speaker 1: really developing these young men's character. So balancing in terms

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Speaker 1: of do you do it more? Chat with parallel and

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Speaker 1: as you talked about, mark specific aspects of the games

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Speaker 1: that connect with character, like for me overcome fear, the

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Speaker 1: game of football help me overcome fear and develop a courage,

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Speaker 1: which is not the absence of it, but the willingness

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Speaker 1: to move forward in spite of it. Chat no question,

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Speaker 1: I think the original intent of the committee was to

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Speaker 1: look at all the great resources we have on the

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Speaker 1: NFL level, the greatest coaches, doctors, players, techniques, all the

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Speaker 1: cutting edge things that we have at the top. How

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Speaker 1: do we get this information down to our grassroots? How

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Speaker 1: do we get this information into the hands of a

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Speaker 1: football dad who's coaching at twelve ye little league team

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Speaker 1: and needs this information and needs to understand the he

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Speaker 1: can't coach the way he was coached thirty years ago,

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Speaker 1: and then we must change in order to elevate our

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Speaker 1: game and continue to make our game great. And so

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Speaker 1: part of that is understanding the character and life skills,

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Speaker 1: discussion the values of the game, and as they're teaching

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Speaker 1: the xs and ohs, what are they learning from the

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Speaker 1: teaching other than stepping with my right foot, keeping my

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Speaker 1: head out of the tackle. Show whatever the technique may be,

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Speaker 1: what else are they learning that can go with that?

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Speaker 1: And that's exactly what you're talking about, So trying to

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Speaker 1: put tools in their toolbox, both from a football standpoint

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Speaker 1: and also from a life skills standpoint. I was talking

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Speaker 1: to my dad. He was around my children and I

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Speaker 1: and he was talking to him, and I joked with

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Speaker 1: my dad. I said, I said, man, you've gotten solved,

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Speaker 1: and he said, no, son, there's a better way. How

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Speaker 1: difficult has it been in today's leaders of youth football

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Speaker 1: and coaches to get them to embrace there's a better way.

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Speaker 1: It's it's hard because you know, we can remember coaches

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Speaker 1: that probably weren't the best coaches. And I'm not just

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Speaker 1: talking from an xs and oaths. It was a different

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Speaker 1: environment back then, but that environment still exists some of well,

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Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of coaches that are still coaching

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Speaker 1: like we were coached. And that's one of the purposes

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Speaker 1: of the of the Youth Advisory Committee UM is to

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Speaker 1: communicate and teach that Listen, maybe you've coached for thirty

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Speaker 1: years and maybe you coached some great ones, but maybe

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Speaker 1: there is a better way UM. As a high school coach,

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Speaker 1: I experienced that quite often on Friday nights. There's another

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Speaker 1: coach on the other side. And I know a lot

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Speaker 1: about this coach we play every year. UM. I also

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Speaker 1: know that he's very much like the youth coach that

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Speaker 1: I had back in the day that would take that

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Speaker 1: whistle and just hit you right over top of the head,

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Speaker 1: you know, and would would do drills that were just

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Speaker 1: simply not safe, with no protection of the player in

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Speaker 1: mind at all. It was all smashed mouth, hard hitting,

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Speaker 1: get after it, be a man. All this kind of

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Speaker 1: stuff that still exists that needs to go away, that

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Speaker 1: needs to go away, and that's one of the one

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Speaker 1: of the reasons why we exist. I know where I'm at,

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Speaker 1: and Chad probably too. UM there's still some of that

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Speaker 1: old school mentality. UM coaches that are in a position

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Speaker 1: that are quite literally UM losing players. See, there's a

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Speaker 1: lot of talk about concussions, and there's a lot of

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Speaker 1: talk about the safety issue of the game, and the

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Speaker 1: numbers would reflect that less less people are less kids

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Speaker 1: are playing tackle football. Well, it's not because of the concussions,

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Speaker 1: and it's it's it's really because these young men are

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Speaker 1: having bad experience. My son case in point was one

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Speaker 1: of them. He was ten years old and he was

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Speaker 1: it was the first day of pats and he was

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Speaker 1: playing for the Jacksonville Beach Jaguars and first day of pads,

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Speaker 1: he barely knew how to put these things on. And

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Speaker 1: he gets into a drill first day of pads. This

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Speaker 1: this old school coach. I mean, they're just they're just

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Speaker 1: hitting it. I mean it's a line drill and they're

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Speaker 1: just hitting. And I remember to this day. Uh, this coach, um,

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Speaker 1: my son was was a little hesitant, fearful, and he

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Speaker 1: didn't do quite the proper technique or didn't hit real hard.

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Speaker 1: And this coach says, come on, Burnew, you gotta be

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Speaker 1: a man. My son's ten years old, and he thought,

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Speaker 1: what did I get myself into? So at the end

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Speaker 1: of that season's dad, I don't want to play football.

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Speaker 1: He didn't play football for another five years because that

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Speaker 1: experience that he had as a ten year old. Uh,

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Speaker 1: in that environment with that coach doing the same that

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Speaker 1: coach doing the same things he had been doing for

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Speaker 1: for two decades, that it's not what we're looking for.

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Speaker 1: That's not good for our young men. My son wasn't

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Speaker 1: scared of a concussion or getting hurt. My son had

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Speaker 1: a bad experience where he was he was being yelled

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Speaker 1: that time and time again from a coach. They had

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Speaker 1: no business coaching youth football. That's that's what we're dealing with.

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Speaker 1: That still exists just like it did when we were kids.

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Speaker 1: Chad is there with this Youth Advisory Council, our committee

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Speaker 1: is there somewhere a parent a number of parents can

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Speaker 1: call if she has a program to her child is

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Speaker 1: involved in, but she would like to get help and

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Speaker 1: awareness to maybe a coach or a culture like that. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I don't think right now our committee is designed to

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Speaker 1: be a council per se. I think right now our

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Speaker 1: focus has been, first of all, let's look at the

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Speaker 1: landscape of the game of football in the high school

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Speaker 1: and youth space, and then let's develop some protocol to

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Speaker 1: get information to them. So, for instance, with our NFL

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Speaker 1: Way to Play um program that La Charles Bentley has

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Speaker 1: helped us develop, we are looking at, first of all,

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Speaker 1: what does that look like, ways to play, ways to prepare,

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Speaker 1: ways to coach. Then how do our youngsters and our

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Speaker 1: adults consume information now? Because it's different than it was

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Speaker 1: twenty years ago. So We've talked with high school coaches,

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Speaker 1: high school players as we show them this these videos

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Speaker 1: and this information, where where do you want to consume it?

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Speaker 1: That's where we created our play Football YouTube channel. This

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Speaker 1: thing has exploded because people are consuming more information digitally

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Speaker 1: than they have ever before, and so really getting this

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Speaker 1: information into their hands with the smart device, our people

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Speaker 1: have information at the tips of their fingers, right and

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Speaker 1: so that's how we're trying to do So that's been

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Speaker 1: our focus right now. Now. We are looking at some

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Speaker 1: peer to peer engagement models, coaching clinics, coaching clinics for

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Speaker 1: former there's legends who are coaching now and being able

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Speaker 1: to get the information into their hands. Because as legends,

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Speaker 1: we are keepers of the game. We've been at the

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Speaker 1: highest level. I feel like we have a responsibility. I

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Speaker 1: don't look at it as an obligation and I look

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Speaker 1: at it as a great opportunity and honor to keep

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Speaker 1: the game and uphold the game and be part of it. Well,

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Speaker 1: do you think it's important for legends to get involved

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Speaker 1: with the future of the game. Like Chad said it best,

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Speaker 1: we're keepers of the game. We have a huge platform.

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Speaker 1: Um If there's a legend in the high school and

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Speaker 1: youth space. You know what will will parents and young

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Speaker 1: players are drawn to that, and so it's, uh, it's

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Speaker 1: I think we have a responsibility, but it's for us,

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Speaker 1: it's really more of a privilege and talking about all

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Speaker 1: the things that we've received from this game, the life

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Speaker 1: skills that we've learned. We've got it, we've got a voice,

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Speaker 1: we've got an opportunity to communicate all of those and

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Speaker 1: it is a responsibility, responsibility to do it right, and

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Speaker 1: that might be different than how we were taught, but

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Speaker 1: this game has done so much for us and an

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Speaker 1: opportunity to give it but give back is great. Not

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Speaker 1: to mention, um, you know, you know Chad coaches high school.

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Speaker 1: Ye coaches high school. Hih coach high school. You know,

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Speaker 1: we're we're still very competitive. Friday Nights are great. They're

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Speaker 1: just amazing. Just you know, when I when I retired

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Speaker 1: and I was kind of thinking about what my next

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Speaker 1: steps were and what I wanted to do, I got

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Speaker 1: invited to be a voluntary quarterback coach in high school

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Speaker 1: that my kids graduated from, and I had forgotten about

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Speaker 1: Friday Nights and how pure and how basic and just

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Speaker 1: the atmosphere the band and the cheerleaders, and the kids

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Speaker 1: running out and breaking this stuff, breaking the banners, and

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Speaker 1: we're in the jerseys in the hallway. High school football.

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Speaker 1: It's a wonderful thing. So while we have a responsibility

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Speaker 1: to give back, we're and fitting from it too. We

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Speaker 1: had an opportunity to be a part of that and

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Speaker 1: see these young men compete and work and come together

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Speaker 1: and overcome and and face those fears that we all had,

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Speaker 1: as at least I know I had as a young player,

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Speaker 1: and and really to be a part of something special

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Speaker 1: that's high school football. It's great to win, but listen,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to be tenant too every year. But if

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Speaker 1: I'm if we're to intent, I'm okay with that. Um,

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Speaker 1: I might get fired, but I'm okay with that because

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Speaker 1: it really is uh And I'm not saying you lose

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Speaker 1: that the more you play football. But for me, I

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Speaker 1: was reminded, gosh, how could I not do this? How

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Speaker 1: could this not be a part of my life? And

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Speaker 1: I think I'm rewarded more from this than than perhaps

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Speaker 1: even the kids are, because I'm having the time of

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Speaker 1: my life with the opportunity just to influence and be

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Speaker 1: a mentor and and shape these young men. Where else

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Speaker 1: are they going to get it? Where else are they

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Speaker 1: to get what high school football teaches them. So there's

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Speaker 1: a question when you see your former coaches, do you

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Speaker 1: go huggle if they make good decisions while we were playing,

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Speaker 1: not the ones that benched me? Now, you know what,

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Speaker 1: that's a great question, and I do. I do feel

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Speaker 1: the necessity to do that. I grew up on a

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Speaker 1: Friday night bus. Marks a son of a coach as well,

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Speaker 1: and so we kind of have a soft spot in

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Speaker 1: our heart for coaches because we know how valuable they

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Speaker 1: are to our development and to the development of our

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Speaker 1: young men. But absolutely, I mean even the coaches that

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Speaker 1: we may have not seen eye to eye, we can

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Speaker 1: still have productive, loving conversations even after the fact, because

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Speaker 1: I think there's a respect there that that we both

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Speaker 1: see how difficult it is, how hard it is, and

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Speaker 1: not everybody can do it, and they're in it. They're

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Speaker 1: in that fight, and I appreciate them being in that fight. Mark,

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Speaker 1: can you tell us about the coach coaching clinic? The

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Speaker 1: coaching clinic. We had our first annual coaching clinic just

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Speaker 1: a few days ago, and I don't think that it

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Speaker 1: could have gone any better. So each team nominated a

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Speaker 1: coach in the youth space from their market. Um. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I believe there was about twenty eight coaches um from

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Speaker 1: each NFL market, and it was it was limited on

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Speaker 1: the time that we had. It was Saturday in a Sunday.

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Speaker 1: But I don't think it could have gone any better.

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Speaker 1: It accomplished two goals. You've got legends that are coaching,

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Speaker 1: so we feel like with the legends out of coach, well,

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Speaker 1: it was. What I was gonna say is that that

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Speaker 1: you you're you're advancing the game of football. But you

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Speaker 1: know what, when a bunch of legends get together, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know you you you're all coaching and you all

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Speaker 1: have that in common, but you know you have a

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Speaker 1: lot more common because you were able to play in

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Speaker 1: the NFL. I saw three three teammates there, um that

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Speaker 1: I didn't hadn't seen a long time, So you got it.

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Speaker 1: We got a chance to reconnect. It's just a really

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Speaker 1: good environment because we all kind of had the same

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Speaker 1: background and we're all doing the same thing. Chris Ballard,

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Speaker 1: the GM for the Indianapolis Colts, spoke to us. Um.

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Speaker 1: He was incredible and honestly I'm not gonna say this

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Speaker 1: because he's on this podcast, but the best talk, the

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Speaker 1: best speech, whatever you want to call it, I have

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Speaker 1: ever heard given to a group of high school coaches, UH,

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Speaker 1: was delivered by chat. It was. It was perfect. Everything

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Speaker 1: he said, every point he made. I thought, as as

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Speaker 1: he's talking, I'm thinking, I hope they're videoing this because

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Speaker 1: every high school coach all across the country needs to

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Speaker 1: see this talking about values. And it wasn't listen, this

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Speaker 1: isn't an XS and OS thing, it's this is why

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Speaker 1: we do this, this is our responsibility. And Uh, I

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Speaker 1: thought it was just absolutely incredible. We had a panel

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Speaker 1: up there where um, the legends were able to ask

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Speaker 1: some questions, present some questions, and we were going through

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Speaker 1: answering up We were able to meet them all where

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Speaker 1: they're at, what their concerns were, what they struggle with.

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Speaker 1: We were able as a group to talk about those

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Speaker 1: those things and come up with solutions and offer ideas. UM.

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Speaker 1: I mean, it was great, something that I'm hoping hoping

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Speaker 1: we can expand upon and not just take take this

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Speaker 1: clinic and perhaps turn it into a conference where you

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Speaker 1: don't have twenty eight coaches, You've got two coaches that

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Speaker 1: are all legends getting together talking about how can we

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Speaker 1: how can we develop these young men better using the

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Speaker 1: game of football. It was the start of something I

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Speaker 1: think was really really special. Chat. Can you describe some

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Speaker 1: of the modern methods you use in your coaching when

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Speaker 1: it when it comes to um techniques. One of the

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Speaker 1: things that we're talking about when we all played, when

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Speaker 1: it comes to tackling, and yes I'm a quarterback, but

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Speaker 1: I do understan and tackling, a common term would be

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Speaker 1: that you would used to hear coaches say get your

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Speaker 1: head across, get your head across, shoot your head across. Well,

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Speaker 1: when you speak that type of language to a youngster

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Speaker 1: and who is trying to learn how to tackle, the

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Speaker 1: first thing he thinks about and making the tackle is

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Speaker 1: his head. And so then he focuses on his head

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Speaker 1: getting across. He then exposes the v of his neck,

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Speaker 1: and then he is in a position that doesn't protect

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Speaker 1: him from the unnecessary risk. Uh, he forgets about his feet,

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Speaker 1: He forgets to bring all of the different elements that

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Speaker 1: are going to help him make a proper tackle because

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Speaker 1: all he hears is the head. So simple things like that.

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Speaker 1: Now the technique may look the same, but how we

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Speaker 1: teach the technique must be different. So it goes back

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Speaker 1: to language, goes back to language. Mark, what's some of

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Speaker 1: the innovation that you've seen at the youth level? Innovation? Well,

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Speaker 1: if there's any innovation, and it would be at somebody

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Speaker 1: else's school and not mine, we're just trying to teach

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Speaker 1: how to throw, catch, run, block, tackle. That's a good question, Um, innovation.

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Speaker 1: I can help you here. I think I think from

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Speaker 1: an innovation standpoint, it's really not new, but it is

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Speaker 1: new in the youth space. Scheduling and organizing practice. What

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Speaker 1: does that look like? Are we, as youth coaches and

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Speaker 1: even high school coaches truly taking the time to schedule

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Speaker 1: and organize an efficient, effective and consistent practice. Why is

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Speaker 1: that just not copying pace like the league is. The

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Speaker 1: NFL has been great best practices, shared value, shared practices

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Speaker 1: that work right, So why can't a high school copying

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Speaker 1: pace a schedule from another high school coach who has

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Speaker 1: that organization part. We have started to do that, but also,

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Speaker 1: my practice may need to be scheduled differently than marks practice,

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Speaker 1: based upon the needs and necessities of his team, the

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Speaker 1: opponent he's facing in the and the skill set of

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Speaker 1: his players compared to mind. So and I think most

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Speaker 1: of the time, it's just taking the time to sit

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Speaker 1: down and say, Okay, what does the what does these

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Speaker 1: next two hours look like for my team? Instead of

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Speaker 1: showing up, grabbing a bag of footballs out of the

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Speaker 1: back of your truck and some cones and saying, boys,

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Speaker 1: let's go practice eleven versus eleven school level. That level

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Speaker 1: of disorganization, it certainly can be. Now they may try

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Speaker 1: to dress it up with some fancy new equipment that

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Speaker 1: they bought at the a f C A coaches convincing,

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Speaker 1: but still the organization and practice is still poor, but

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Speaker 1: they've got the latest and greatest bell and whistle for

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Speaker 1: the practice. So I think innovation in the fact of

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Speaker 1: how we are looking at our practice schedules to make

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Speaker 1: it efficient, effective and consistent really important. Any UH networks,

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Speaker 1: anything out there that we can have legends who are

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Speaker 1: coaching go to to get examples of how to schedule

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Speaker 1: a practice. Is there any resource out there? The NFL

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Speaker 1: Way to Play playbook now has samples of good structure

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Speaker 1: and practice. Um. I think our clinics are actually starting

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Speaker 1: to look at that. For instance, UH just to brag

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Speaker 1: on Central Kentucky. We have a coach at a small

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Speaker 1: program in Central Kentucky and Frankfurt, Kentucky who's putting on

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Speaker 1: a small program football clinic, which I think is brilliant

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Speaker 1: having coaches that are dealing with small numbers around the

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Speaker 1: thirty because those challenges to organize the schedule practice with

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Speaker 1: only thirty players is a completely different challenge than someone

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Speaker 1: who has seventy And what does that practice look like?

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Speaker 1: And so that that's the grassroots that we're talking about.

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Speaker 1: And really what it boils down to is coaches put

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Speaker 1: in away their egos and their competitive natures and actually

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Speaker 1: looking at it as well as the three of us

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Speaker 1: are looking at it right now, at the big perspective,

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Speaker 1: the bird's eye view of the game of football, and saying,

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Speaker 1: how do we make this game better? How do we

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Speaker 1: leave a mark on it? Mark? What coaching practices does

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Speaker 1: the committee wish to improve upon? Well, I think at

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Speaker 1: the top of the list. To Chad's point, it is

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Speaker 1: it is communication and not just to our kids, but

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Speaker 1: but to the parents as well, setting realistic expectations. And

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Speaker 1: Chad uses the perfect word, and he mentioned it earlier,

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Speaker 1: is the partner partnership. It is a partnership between the

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Speaker 1: coach and the parents and developing these young men. UM.

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Speaker 1: I think that's very very important. Um Uh communication obviously,

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Speaker 1: the teaching the proper techniques. UM making sure that there

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Speaker 1: are drills that are beneficial to our young players. And

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Speaker 1: there are a lot of drills that we did, the

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Speaker 1: bull in the ring, the board drills Oklahoma perfect. Those

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Speaker 1: have to disappear, those have to go away. But you know,

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Speaker 1: Chad knows this, and I've seen it in Jacksonville. They're

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Speaker 1: still they still exist and they're still very prevalent. Um So,

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Speaker 1: oh goodness, and I still have my kids. We've never

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Speaker 1: done bull in the ring. We never will. But yet

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Speaker 1: I hear coach, let's do bull in the ring. How

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Speaker 1: do they know that? Because before I got them in

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Speaker 1: their youth programs, they were doing bull in the ring.

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Speaker 1: Dudes in the middle budget. You know, everyone has a number.

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Speaker 1: You yell number three and number three runs out and boom.

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Speaker 1: While they're doing it at the youth level, they know

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Speaker 1: about it because it still exists. So uh, words to use,

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Speaker 1: words to lose, drills to lose, and drills that that

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Speaker 1: are very good. But there's something that's somethings that just

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Speaker 1: have to go away because uh, it puts our our

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Speaker 1: young players in harm's way. Mark and Chad, this has

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Speaker 1: been great. Thanks for being here, thanks for listening, and

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Speaker 1: the best is yet to come. This has been the

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Speaker 1: NFL Legends podcast. To provide feedback or request a topic

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Speaker 1: for discussion, email us at NFL Legends at nfl dot com.