Speaker 1: We get so wrapped up in early success and we
Speaker 1: want to applaud it, we want to elevate it, and
Speaker 1: then we question why parents chase them. They chase it
Speaker 1: because we hold it in the highest esteem. And if
Speaker 1: we really want to play the long game, if we
Speaker 1: really want to grow our athletes and we want to
Speaker 1: give them skills and develop them, sometimes we have to
Speaker 1: really challenge ourselves as to why is it that we
Speaker 1: celebrate this early success.
Speaker 2: This is the Reform Sports Project, a podcast about restoring
Speaker 2: healthy balance and perspective in all areas of sports through
Speaker 2: education and advocacy. Hi, this is Nick Bonacor from the
Speaker 2: Reform Sports Podcast. My guest today is Kyle Wagner, teacher, coach,
Speaker 2: founder of Go Wags Baseball, author and sports parent. A
Speaker 2: former Wake Forest baseball player, Kyle is coach players of
Speaker 2: all ages from grade school through college, including forty Division
Speaker 2: one athletes and three first round draft picks. He's the
Speaker 2: author of How the Rivercats Won, lessons on relationships and competition,
Speaker 2: as well as green Light hitting from the backyards to
Speaker 2: the big leagues. Kyle and I discussed his belief in
Speaker 2: student advocacy, his skepticism to define a person by one
Speaker 2: metric and the three things that create a fear based
Speaker 2: mindset and athletes. I have another phenomenal guest. I've been
Speaker 2: following this dude for a few years. Few years. We've
Speaker 2: had a couple of conversations, some good interaction on Twitter
Speaker 2: in particular now known as X twenty twenty four. But man,
Speaker 2: I'm super pumped to have him. He is very forward
Speaker 2: thinking and I love it.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 2: He calls himself a student advocate. He's a teacher, he's
Speaker 2: a coach. He's a former absolute stud baseball player, a father,
Speaker 2: sports parent, all the above. My man, Kyle Wagner, coach Wax,
Speaker 2: thanks so much for hopping on man.
Speaker 3: Oh, it's an honor. I'm privilegit. I'm looking forward to Yeah.
Speaker 2: And here's where I want to start with you, Man.
Speaker 2: I love your content. I think you would have been
Speaker 2: my favorite teacher in high school based off of all
Speaker 2: the stuff I see you say. You call yourself a
Speaker 2: student advocate. You put out a recent tweet that I
Speaker 2: thought was very interesting, and I actually had the experience
Speaker 2: with a couple of professors like this in college. A
Speaker 2: student was asking you, why are you giving us the
Speaker 2: questions to the exam you know before the exam, and
Speaker 2: your response on the tweet was, well, because I'd rather
Speaker 2: you know the information than me punished for not knowing it.
Speaker 2: What is that about? What does it mean for you
Speaker 2: to be a student advocate? And why the hell are
Speaker 2: you not concerned with grades? Why do you think grades
Speaker 2: are not a reflection of a kid's intellect?
Speaker 1: Oh boy, yeah, you've been following me to know that
Speaker 1: those are touchy subjects for me.
Speaker 3: I just I'm skeptical of anyone.
Speaker 1: Metric to define a person. And it's not just true
Speaker 1: in school, it's true everywhere. I mean with respect to baseball,
Speaker 1: everyone knows that, you know, batting average doesn't define an athlete,
Speaker 1: and slugging or and earned run average. And I even
Speaker 1: think that my body mass index would qualify me as obese, right,
Speaker 1: And so that's another one.
Speaker 3: And so the idea of the.
Speaker 1: Great thing judging our students I'm really sensitive to. And
Speaker 1: so you know, when when it comes down to it,
Speaker 1: I would rather teach them than judge them. I have
Speaker 1: done so much research on how that judgment component is flawed.
Speaker 1: And ultimately, when we sit down and we make an
Speaker 1: assessment of a student, I think we have to as
Speaker 1: teachers recognize that we are flawed, we are biased, we
Speaker 1: design the questions we judge them. I actually just spend
Speaker 1: today talking about Daniel Pink's research when and he gets
Speaker 1: into the idea of that, you know, the time of
Speaker 1: day impacts how we assess people, and so that that
Speaker 1: tweet that you're referencing, I just think, ultimately, with all
Speaker 1: the hats that teachers, where the most important one is educator.
Speaker 1: And educator means I need to give you information and
Speaker 1: I'm constantly trying to communicate that that. I try to
Speaker 1: extend the time horizon as long as so you know,
Speaker 1: if I judge you on a Wednesday, but you forget
Speaker 1: it on a Thursday, have I done my job? And
Speaker 1: that's sort of playing the long game says ultimately, what
Speaker 1: our job as an educator is is to inspire them
Speaker 1: and educate them. And so that's why I share that
Speaker 1: and I reflect on it often, and that's that's where
Speaker 1: I've landed twenty five years into this profession. If I'm
Speaker 1: if I'm going to choose between teaching and judging, I
Speaker 1: will choose teaching.
Speaker 2: Every time you just mentioned the long game, and I
Speaker 2: know that's something obviously you're passionate about I know you're
Speaker 2: an author as well. I talk about it a lot,
Speaker 2: and you're someone who's doing it firsthand. Huge correlation between
Speaker 2: coaching teaching. Jim Calhoun, who I had on obviously a legend,
Speaker 2: and even Tim Corbin they talk about being teachers in sport. Right,
Speaker 2: So how do we formulate considering our entire ecosystem, whether
Speaker 2: it be academia or athletics, particularly at the youth level.
Speaker 2: It's all based on performance, right. There's winners, there's losers,
Speaker 2: there's scoreboards, there's acceptance into universities. I'm going through this
Speaker 2: right now with my second oldest. So how do we
Speaker 2: curtail that and when we're teaching or coaching keep the
Speaker 2: perspective of, you know, the individual, while still trying to
Speaker 2: help them. Tim Corbin send to me, everyone runs their
Speaker 2: own race? Is that? Is that what we're talking about? Yeah?
Speaker 1: I did a I put a video out the other day.
Speaker 1: I you know, I think there are three things that
Speaker 1: really create a fear based mindset in athletes. It's comparisons,
Speaker 1: It's outcomes, and it's deadlines. And you know, every coach
Speaker 1: knows that, you know, you could get the greatest buy
Speaker 1: in with your athletes and then the minute you post
Speaker 1: a lineup, now now you've you've created a comparison, and
Speaker 1: that that can be challenging, and immediately you've got this
Speaker 1: judgment of running through the program. Uh, and it's undeniable,
Speaker 1: like every coach eventually has to do it, and and
Speaker 1: that can fracture culture if if you're not communicating that
Speaker 1: message and how every.
Speaker 3: Coach works his lineup.
Speaker 1: But what I would argue is I would say that
Speaker 1: so often we create these deadlines and we get outcome
Speaker 1: based when we don't have to create deadlines and become
Speaker 1: outcome based.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, I'm a big fan. I have three hashtags
Speaker 1: that I love it. It's run your race, no finish
Speaker 1: lines and top with carry water, And those are the
Speaker 1: three that I think that if I embrace and I
Speaker 1: can communicate to my athletes, then we can live in
Speaker 1: this love based reality. And I know that might sound
Speaker 1: a little touchy feely, but I really think it's important.
Speaker 1: And in twenty twenty four, it does feel like this
Speaker 1: relationship model is at the forefront.
Speaker 3: It's pushing away this this.
Speaker 1: Social Darwinism, survival of the fittest when it all costs.
Speaker 1: I think it's it's pushing that aside, and I think
Speaker 1: it's recognizing that this love based reality is the way
Speaker 1: to go. So when I hear run your race, that
Speaker 1: gets me fired up. No finish lines, right, lifelong learner
Speaker 1: that idea. And then the chopboy cherry water is you know,
Speaker 1: don't don't swallow the praise because you'll swallow the poison.
Speaker 1: Try to interpret feedback as feedback. Keep it neutral, don't
Speaker 1: get don't get wrapped up in wins and losses, just
Speaker 1: keep just keep moving forward.
Speaker 2: You played ball at Wake Forest, Am I right about that?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 2: All right, So so you played at an extremely high level.
Speaker 1: Now that Wake Forest I played at wasn't the Wake
Speaker 1: Forest that currently exists.
Speaker 3: Like we we were middle of the road.
Speaker 1: Acc we were good. I don't want to I don't
Speaker 1: want to disparage my time there. But certainly Wake has
Speaker 1: a vault into a power power program.
Speaker 2: Sure, but obviously still acc you know the quote unquote
Speaker 2: power five. You're playing at the highest level of collegiate
Speaker 2: athletics at the time and still is. But what I'm
Speaker 2: going with that is you have the perspective of you know,
Speaker 2: a lot of sports parents, youth sports parents, will listen
Speaker 2: to this. Obviously, coaches as well. You have the perspective
Speaker 2: of coach, former high level athlete. You're a sports parent
Speaker 2: as well, so so as a sports parent listened to this.
Speaker 2: Who may not be in form right, they don't have
Speaker 2: the same person, They didn't play in the acc they
Speaker 2: don't coach, they don't teach, they haven't been in the
Speaker 2: classroom for twenty five years. Hypothetically, I'm a thirty five
Speaker 2: year old parent. My kids are just entering the youth
Speaker 2: sports ecosystem where everything's based on performance. How do we
Speaker 2: not get sucked into, you know, results driven with very
Speaker 2: little you know, background to be able to formulate or
Speaker 2: kind of go in there with any shield. Right, It's
Speaker 2: almost like at times you could be going into a
Speaker 2: war with no protection. It's I mean, I mean a
Speaker 2: little you know, might bee being a little extreme, but
Speaker 2: it could feel like that and a little overwhelming. How
Speaker 2: do we prepare ourselves as young parents who may not
Speaker 2: have the background, you know?
Speaker 1: One of the things I call into question a lot
Speaker 1: is what you'll hear people say you got to compete
Speaker 1: at everything you do. And although that might be true
Speaker 1: on some levels, like when you become a parent. If
Speaker 1: you engage in a competitive mindset, you're going to find
Speaker 1: yourself fighting on the sidelines. You're going to find yourself,
Speaker 1: you know, valuing wins more than they should. Because if
Speaker 1: we're competing at everything we do, we need to win.
Speaker 1: We need to win this this nine you baseball game.
Speaker 1: And the one thing that I think often gets overlooked
Speaker 1: is young athletes have young parents. And I think sometimes
Speaker 1: as you age, you simply gain the perspective of maturity
Speaker 1: and you look back and you realize that ultimately it
Speaker 1: is about development, it is about growth, it is about
Speaker 1: developing relationships. And having said all of that, I desperately
Speaker 1: wanted to treat my young athletes as baseball players, and
Speaker 1: I wanted to value the win.
Speaker 3: I wanted to teach them how to compete.
Speaker 1: I mean, it was important to me, but it was
Speaker 1: important only if we did it with integrity. And I
Speaker 1: think as a coach at that youth level, part of
Speaker 1: integrity is making sure everyone has a role.
Speaker 3: Like we're not a college team.
Speaker 1: It isn't like we have bench players that have to
Speaker 1: support the starters, and that's not it. And so if
Speaker 1: I were presenting to a group of young parents, I
Speaker 1: would again, would I would try to emphasize the long game.
Speaker 1: I would try to emphasize, you know, be an ambassad
Speaker 1: for the sport. I would try to emphasize, you know,
Speaker 1: root for your teammates, your son, your daughter's teammates, as
Speaker 1: much as your root for your son and daughter. I
Speaker 1: think when we get that narrow focus of mom and dad,
Speaker 1: sometimes not only do we lose sight of the big picture,
Speaker 1: but we focus our attention on our son and our daughter,
Speaker 1: and then therein lies a lot of the root problem.
Speaker 1: Is that that intensity, that competition that we have to
Speaker 1: get ours and so yeah, it's it's it's retracting the lens,
Speaker 1: it's that thirty thousand foot view.
Speaker 3: Ultimately, we're trying to grow in the game, not win
Speaker 3: a game. I guess that would be my message.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like sports parents, and some rightfully so,
Speaker 2: get a bad rap. Oftentimes, you know, you'll hear people,
Speaker 2: even I for that matter, will say, Hey, we drop
Speaker 2: our kids off at school. They're in the classroom. We're
Speaker 2: not sitting there watching them take a test. You know,
Speaker 2: We're not sitting there watching them get their lecture or
Speaker 2: doing whatever assignment they have for the day. So why
Speaker 2: do we feel like we need to impede upon a
Speaker 2: coach during a practice. Why do we need to be
Speaker 2: so engaged? Do you notice that the classroom has changed?
Speaker 2: Is there a correlation? Are parents the same with the
Speaker 2: classroom aspect of it their students in the classroom as
Speaker 2: they are with sports, or do you notice a difference.
Speaker 1: Well, obviously, I'm a teacher, I'm a coach, I'm a parent,
Speaker 1: I'm all the above. I'm just going to speak from
Speaker 1: my perspective, Like if I were on a practice, I
Speaker 1: would invite anyone to stay and watch, like I just
Speaker 1: enjoyed my time coaching athletes and practice planning that I
Speaker 1: enjoyed having the parents there to watch and learn. Like
Speaker 1: for me, I wanted my message to resonate behind closed doors.
Speaker 3: I wanted them to talk about what it was.
Speaker 1: We were learning, so they could, you know, they could reiterate
Speaker 1: my message, they could emphasize my message. There are some
Speaker 1: coaches that might perceive that as a parent imposing on them,
Speaker 1: like this is my time and I want my message.
Speaker 1: But I was always more inclusive in that way. I
Speaker 1: would invite the parents for a postgame talk.
Speaker 3: Again, I was talking at a youth level. I'm not talking
Speaker 3: at at like a high school level or a college level.
Speaker 3: But I'm not saying it couldn't be done.
Speaker 1: I just I'm a I'm a big fan of transparency
Speaker 1: and I would share as much as possible. And I'm
Speaker 1: even humble enough to recognize.
Speaker 3: I wrote a book How the River Cats Won, and
Speaker 3: I had.
Speaker 1: Some amazing parents, and you know, I talked in there
Speaker 1: about being challenged by parents when my emotions got too hot,
Speaker 1: and they were right, and I'd like to think that
Speaker 1: they were capable of challenging me because I created an
Speaker 1: environment that they were permitted to do so. So it
Speaker 1: is absolutely a sticky wicket like it is absolutely one
Speaker 1: of those those tough things to navigate, but I have
Speaker 1: found that it is way easier when the guy in charge,
Speaker 1: the head coach, is humble enough to say I don't
Speaker 1: have all the answers, but I've I've got a ton
Speaker 1: of experience, and I do a lot of reading and
Speaker 1: I try to stay up to speed all the latest research.
Speaker 1: But if you come across something that you think might
Speaker 1: help the boys the girls, I'm all in. And so
Speaker 1: I don't know if that directly answered it, but that's
Speaker 1: just how I want to do agress.
Speaker 2: When we return, Kyle and I dive into coaching transparency.
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Speaker 2: Sign up to learn more about how Team snaps evolving
Speaker 2: platform meets your sports business needs, head to teamsnap dot
Speaker 2: com and sign up today. Where we left off, Hyle
Speaker 2: and I were about to discuss his approach to communicating
Speaker 2: with his player's parents and the downsize of early praise.
Speaker 2: So I know, in my coaching experience, I always have
Speaker 2: like a pre practice first meeting, you know, like an
Speaker 2: introductory thing. I give him a little bit of my background,
Speaker 2: and this is what it could be seven years old,
Speaker 2: you know, eight years old, nine years old. Just hey,
Speaker 2: here's what we're gonna do. Here's what I think. Let's
Speaker 2: and I try to set a boundary, you know, and
Speaker 2: I even send a long email like, hey, these not
Speaker 2: a long email, but I try to touch on something
Speaker 2: these kids are seven or their rate, you know, like
Speaker 2: let's keep that perspective. Do you set a boundary, like
Speaker 2: do you try to set expectations? Because I totally agree
Speaker 2: with your transparency. You know, the lines of communication have
Speaker 2: to be open. I think a lot of times where
Speaker 2: we get up parents is when there is no transparency.
Speaker 2: It's not necessarily an over communication, but just kind of
Speaker 2: set the expectation from the on sects. I'm sure a
Speaker 2: lot of people will hear this and go, how do
Speaker 2: I navigate that balance right? That juggling act.
Speaker 1: Yeah, transparency doesn't mean all the time, I think, you know,
Speaker 1: we have to account for the fact that anytime that
Speaker 1: a parent and a coach engage in some sort of
Speaker 1: communication in public, every every set of eyes is allowed.
Speaker 3: To interpret that communication however they want.
Speaker 1: And so what I was always hesitant of is that
Speaker 1: that public communication in front of others that could could form.
Speaker 3: Their opinion and one that I didn't want them to form.
Speaker 1: So I said, look, you know, your son, your daughter
Speaker 1: might be struggling, and we might have some communication where
Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna sit them down for two games
Speaker 1: and just let them, you know, assess the situation from
Speaker 1: a different angle.
Speaker 3: We're going to talk about that. But I still believe
Speaker 3: in you.
Speaker 1: I'm still going to give you opportunities and then you
Speaker 1: know you're you're gonna You're gonna find your way back
Speaker 1: in the lineup. But if mom or dad come and
Speaker 1: approach me at the end of the second game, uh,
Speaker 1: and I had every intention of playing them the next game.
Speaker 3: Now parents see that interaction.
Speaker 1: And then all of a sudden that that that child's
Speaker 1: in the lineup, they're.
Speaker 3: Free to go. Oh, this is how it works.
Speaker 1: If I confront coach, then I get in the lineup,
Speaker 1: and I don't want that. So I make it clear
Speaker 1: that look, I want transparency, but I would love to
Speaker 1: do it away from the public arena. I want to
Speaker 1: talk about your son and your son only your daughter,
Speaker 1: and I'll tell you exactly where they fit. And I'm
Speaker 1: doing my best to try to get him in opportunities
Speaker 1: to develop. But if if if people see us talking
Speaker 1: and then I play them like, I don't know if
Speaker 1: that's fair to me. And so that was how I
Speaker 1: always communicated that in the preseason.
Speaker 2: Stuff to kind of shift gears a little bit, but
Speaker 2: stay on the youth piece. This is something I think
Speaker 2: you and I actually connected through this topic was the
Speaker 2: early specialization, you know, multi sport thing, which I got
Speaker 2: to tell you, man, in the last decade plus, but
Speaker 2: really especially the last like you know, five to seven,
Speaker 2: ten years. Man, it's hard. It's hard to you know
Speaker 2: who's right or wrong. I don't know if there is
Speaker 2: a right or wrong. Well I shouldn't say that. I
Speaker 2: think there is a right or wrong. I think it's balanced.
Speaker 2: But but it's becoming harder. It's becoming harder. Everything is
Speaker 2: year round. I mean, I believe you're I think, are
Speaker 2: you down in Georgia?
Speaker 3: I live in Pennsylvania. Is that is that what you're asking?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Okay, so you live in Yeah? Okay, so so
Speaker 2: you live in a colder climate state. I'm in North Carolina,
Speaker 2: so you can't play everything year round. You know, I
Speaker 2: grew up in the Northeast and you couldn't play baseball
Speaker 2: year round. And then it's also thirty years ago. But
Speaker 2: you know, how do you as a coach? I mean,
Speaker 2: for God's sakes, I saw a post the other day
Speaker 2: where apparently there's and it's not just I saw the post,
Speaker 2: but I've heard it. There's like travel coaches encouraging high
Speaker 2: school kids not to play for their high school because
Speaker 2: it's it's not good enough. They're not good enough, They're
Speaker 2: going to get worse. It's like how do we juggle?
Speaker 2: How do you juggle this? And more importantly, like how
Speaker 2: did you navigate it with your It's because I know
Speaker 2: you have kids that played at a very high level
Speaker 2: as well.
Speaker 1: So one of the banners on our inside co egs
Speaker 1: that was our training facility was competer developed at something
Speaker 1: year round and those words were intentional computer develop right,
Speaker 1: And so so often coaches with an agenda only ever
Speaker 1: focused on developing, like we have to sharpen the blade,
Speaker 1: we have to get better. Everyone's improved. They can't waste
Speaker 1: any time. I think they missed that component of compete.
Speaker 3: You know, I would.
Speaker 1: Tell any baseball player that you know, you're standing on
Speaker 1: the foul line down one with two seconds to go.
Speaker 3: I mean, how could you not argue that that wouldn't.
Speaker 1: Be helpful from an athletic standpoint. And we actually have
Speaker 1: a very specific case here in my backyard, Redland High School,
Speaker 1: where we have a really high level baseball player, like
Speaker 1: a high end draft status in the July draft coming.
Speaker 3: Up, and yet he's a great basketball player.
Speaker 1: And the coaches got together and they designed a program
Speaker 1: together for the athlete that allows him to.
Speaker 3: Continue to lift, continue to hit, continue to do what
Speaker 3: he needs to do. And yet he's still playing basketball.
Speaker 1: And I don't think that happens if you don't have
Speaker 1: flexible coaches, you know. And I've actually gotten a little
Speaker 1: debate I've shared I've shared his story with others, and
Speaker 1: there are.
Speaker 3: Some basketball coaches that said, no.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't accommodate him in that way. And my response
Speaker 1: would be, if you're not going to accommodate him, you're
Speaker 1: probably going to lose him. And so we can't just
Speaker 1: dump the burden on the athlete and say, hey, play.
Speaker 3: As much as possible.
Speaker 1: The coaches need to accept some responsibility too, and say, look,
Speaker 1: the pressure is immense. It's immense for these athletes with
Speaker 1: so many eyes on him in the social media world.
Speaker 1: You know, what can we do to assist we can
Speaker 1: be flexible? We can we can potentially say, hey, this
Speaker 1: particular athlete might not have to show up for a
Speaker 1: six am lift because he needs his sleep and he
Speaker 1: doesn't want to lose the weight. And so those are
Speaker 1: some concessions that I'm always I'm always impressed when a
Speaker 1: coach shows some adaptability in that area. But yeah, it
Speaker 1: is it is strange that that the travel world is
Speaker 1: imposing on these communities in ways that we're losing our.
Speaker 3: Structure a little bit. That's unfortunately. I hope it turns around.
Speaker 1: I think the more podcasts like this give it a
Speaker 1: fighting chance.
Speaker 2: Do you feel as though that I actually when I
Speaker 2: had David Epstein on a couple of years ago, and
Speaker 2: he kind of brought up the point it almost feels
Speaker 2: like as a young parent you have to go rogue,
Speaker 2: you know, against the system, because he knows all the data, right,
Speaker 2: He's done the research, you know, with range, and he
Speaker 2: knows you know, the value of you know versatility, and
Speaker 2: you know sports sampling or just sampling in life, and
Speaker 2: it's like you almost feel like you have to go rogue.
Speaker 2: And now I am confident in my perspective as a
Speaker 2: parent to be able to give my kids a broad
Speaker 2: buffet or help them adapt their palette to different things
Speaker 2: and let them find their path. But it almost that fomo. Man,
Speaker 2: how do you navigate the fomo as a parent?
Speaker 1: Well, I mean your initial question to me about grades,
Speaker 1: you know, it sort of stems from that, Like we
Speaker 1: tend to elevate and reward people before the race is over.
Speaker 1: I don't understand why we have to celebrate the A
Speaker 1: on October eighteenth, Like why does that define someone? It's
Speaker 1: a letter on their transcript and we can't remove it,
Speaker 1: and an A is elevating them, it's raising them above
Speaker 1: the sea. And then it speaks to the same point
Speaker 1: you're bringing up here, is that you know, we get
Speaker 1: so wrapped up in early success and we want to
Speaker 1: applaud it, we want to elevate.
Speaker 3: It, we want to hold it to the highest level.
Speaker 1: And then we question why parents chase that, Well, they
Speaker 1: chase it because we recognize it and we hold it
Speaker 1: in the highest esteem, and if we really want to
Speaker 1: play the long game, if we want to really want.
Speaker 3: To grow our athletes and we want to give.
Speaker 1: Them skills and develop them, sometimes we have to really
Speaker 1: challenge ourselves as to why is it that we celebrate
Speaker 1: this early success. And you know, I've coached lots of
Speaker 1: high level athletes and and some I was fortunate enough
Speaker 1: to be first rounders, and you know, there there were some.
Speaker 3: That were elite at a very early age.
Speaker 1: I was fortunate enough to coach Anthony Boltby and I
Speaker 1: remember coaching him as a as a ten year old,
Speaker 1: walked into the nurses office the next day at school,
Speaker 1: I said, I just I just coached the.
Speaker 3: Future Big leaguer And that played out. But then another.
Speaker 1: First rounder, Benny Montgomery from the the Rockies organization. He
Speaker 1: didn't start on the varsity team as a as a freshman,
Speaker 1: but you could see his potential. He was going to grow,
Speaker 1: he was gonna get he's gonna get super strong, and
Speaker 1: yet you know, there were lots of people that he's.
Speaker 3: Passed along the way. It's this it's this.
Speaker 1: Early praise that I think just gets people chasing their
Speaker 1: own thing. So that that's again, that's that no finish
Speaker 1: line mentality. It's like, why are we celebrating success when
Speaker 1: excess is miles away?
Speaker 2: Coach wags. I want people to connect with you. I
Speaker 2: love what you do, I love your perspective. I think
Speaker 2: you have tremendous insight that can help a lot of people.
Speaker 2: Where can they find you on your platforms? I know
Speaker 2: you're on ex Twitter, Where else can they find you?
Speaker 3: That's really it.
Speaker 1: I had an incident where an unfortunate incident where I
Speaker 1: was hacked, and so I jumped off of Instagram and Facebook,
Speaker 1: and I had all kinds of stuff out there.
Speaker 3: But it's it's X.
Speaker 1: And I mean, I've shared my green Land hitting book.
Speaker 1: I'll share with anyone that's I can share that online
Speaker 1: through X. But that's that's my primary resource that I use.
Speaker 3: Just the X.
Speaker 2: Where can people find your book?
Speaker 3: You can get it on Amazon.
Speaker 1: How the Rivercats Won. How the Rivercats Won was a
Speaker 1: It was my model, my framework for developing not only athletes,
Speaker 1: but you know, growing teams. A lot of a lot
Speaker 1: of young coaches are curious about, you know, the cutting
Speaker 1: process and how they try kids out and you know, shoot,
Speaker 1: should we should we try to keep the same team
Speaker 1: as we grow, and so I sat down and wrote
Speaker 1: a book, How the Rivercats, one that's on Amazon, and
Speaker 1: then the green Light Hitting book that I wrote in
Speaker 1: twenty twelve.
Speaker 3: That thing got so darn expensive.
Speaker 1: I don't even suggest anyone buys the hard copy, although.
Speaker 3: Some people do like it.
Speaker 1: You can get that on Blurb is actually the site
Speaker 1: for that.
Speaker 2: Kyle Wagner coach WAGS, thank you so much for coming on,
Speaker 2: sharing your time, your perspective. We're going to run this
Speaker 2: back again. I can't thank you enough.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 3: You're very welcome and I love that you invited me.
Speaker 3: I appreciate the time.
Speaker 2: That's Kyle Wagner, teacher, coach, author and sportsparent. Thanks for
Speaker 2: listening to the Reform Sports Podcast. If you've enjoyed this episode,
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