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Speaker 1: If you are too in the moment with performance, you

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Speaker 1: won't even have a chance for development because that kid

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Speaker 1: is gonna want to quit. That's where you ask yourself

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Speaker 1: as parents, as my kid one of the top hundred

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Speaker 1: and twenty five players in the country, and that's where

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Speaker 1: you've got to be real with that. Goals are one thing,

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Speaker 1: but they have to be somewhat tangible. This is the

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Speaker 1: Reformed Sports Project, a podcast about restoring healthy balance and

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Speaker 1: perspective in all areas of sports, your education, and advocacy. Hi,

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Speaker 1: this is Nick Boonacoort from the Reformed Sports Project podcast.

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Speaker 1: My guest today is the head softball coach from NC

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Speaker 1: State University, the Wolfpack, Jennifer Patrick Swift. Coach Patrick Swift

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Speaker 1: and I talked a ton about youth sports and the

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Speaker 1: current culture, everything from her experience as a sports parent,

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Speaker 1: from her experience as a D three athlete now coaching

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Speaker 1: in the a c C, and her path along the way.

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Speaker 1: Coach also talks about many tips that parents can use

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Speaker 1: to help their kids navigate today's youth sports culture. Coach

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Speaker 1: Patrick Swift, thank you so much for coming on. We're

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Speaker 1: pumped to have you. Thank you so much for having

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Speaker 1: me I'm looking forward to taking. Yeah, you and I

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Speaker 1: are a little bit more connected than a lot of

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Speaker 1: the guests have. I'm you're obviously softball baseball, but we

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Speaker 1: played at two of the best Division three programs in

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Speaker 1: the country in North Carolina Wesley and when I was

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Speaker 1: there in mephist And you're now coaching at the highest

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Speaker 1: level in college sports right Division one A and in

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Speaker 1: a Power five conference. And and what I want to

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Speaker 1: ask you is a lot of times and youth sports

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Speaker 1: today there's this big chase like everything it starts and

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Speaker 1: see it at like seven years old. You know, parents

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Speaker 1: at times we gotta go D one, D one, D one.

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Speaker 1: It's like, you know, I get it right, that's it

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Speaker 1: should be a great goal. But can you talk a

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Speaker 1: little bit about you know, this whole D one or

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Speaker 1: bust mentality from your experience, what's the difference? Is it

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Speaker 1: all about D one? Just kind of elaborate there if

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Speaker 1: you don't mind, Well, I think the first were in.

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Speaker 1: Part of it is people and you know, parents kind

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Speaker 1: of want to overlook is you know, how good is

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Speaker 1: your kid? Everybody wants to go Division one because they

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Speaker 1: think it's the biggest and best. Like you said, but

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Speaker 1: you know, I know, for me, when I went Division three,

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Speaker 1: I went there because I fell in love with the campus.

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Speaker 1: I fell in love with the coach, I fell in

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Speaker 1: love with everything in addition to softball. Like I knew

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Speaker 1: I was going to play softball somewhere, but I just

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Speaker 1: had that fill in my gut when I went to Methodists,

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Speaker 1: and that's why I picked Methodists. But you know, I

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Speaker 1: think for me, you know, could I have gone do one?

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Speaker 1: I don't know when I came out of high school.

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Speaker 1: I I didn't peak really until my junior year in college,

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Speaker 1: so I probably would have sat the bench for at

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Speaker 1: least two or three years at Division one before I

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Speaker 1: even got a chance. And so that's kind of what

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Speaker 1: like when I'm recruiting, I talked to parents and student

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Speaker 1: athletes about what do you want your college story to

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Speaker 1: look like when you graduate from college and you're telling

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Speaker 1: your kids ten years later, What do you want your

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Speaker 1: story to say to the You know, is it more

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Speaker 1: important to you that I went to this big name

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Speaker 1: school and you know, flashing lights and having fun on

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Speaker 1: football games on Saturday. But I sat at the bench

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Speaker 1: my first two years. Um Or I was a role player?

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Speaker 1: Or is it. Man, Like, I went to a school

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Speaker 1: I loved it. It was Division three, it was a

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Speaker 1: smaller school. You know, I was close to everybody on

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Speaker 1: the different teams, and you know, professors knew my name,

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Speaker 1: and I played for four years and we were a

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Speaker 1: regional championship team. And you know, I think it's just

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Speaker 1: you're right. I think people have gotten lost in in

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Speaker 1: what the hype that they think. And that's the key word.

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Speaker 1: They think that D one is all about. But it's

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Speaker 1: all about the experience, and you can have that experience

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Speaker 1: at any level. You just got me fired up because

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Speaker 1: you said something and it was beautiful right in the

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Speaker 1: beginning when you said everyone wants to go D one,

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Speaker 1: but how good is my child? So I think, as

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Speaker 1: a parent, and you have children as well, I'd like

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Speaker 1: to think I'm subjective, that I that I'm not like this,

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Speaker 1: but who knows, right, I mean, it's easy to put

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Speaker 1: blinders on, right. I think it's important now. I believe

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Speaker 1: in my hearts and my two older boys are athletes.

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Speaker 1: I can kind of gauge, you know, what their skill

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Speaker 1: set is. But regardless, I don't think people quite understand

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Speaker 1: the levels of Division one and the levels of Division

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Speaker 1: two levels, Division three, and how good you have to

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Speaker 1: be to play at a Power five conference like and

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Speaker 1: I know there are mid major D one schools that

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Speaker 1: can beat some lower Power five in certain sports, and

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Speaker 1: baseball is one of those deals where if you have softball,

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Speaker 1: I'm share is the same. A good picture at a

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Speaker 1: Division three can pound out a Division one school any

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Speaker 1: day of the week. Our picture can make a big difference.

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Speaker 1: But how good do you have to be to play

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Speaker 1: at NC State? I mean not everyone can play there. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: And I think again that's with looking at the program.

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, two years ago before we had

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Speaker 1: the job, and you know, they weren't necessarily at the

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Speaker 1: top of the conference. They were quite honestly at the bottom.

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Speaker 1: And I think if you even look across Power five programs,

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Speaker 1: if you look at like the bottom third or bottom

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Speaker 1: quarter of the conference, you know your top mid major

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Speaker 1: D one schools are gonna win those games all day.

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Speaker 1: I mean, we came from St. Francis where we were

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Speaker 1: posting forty one seasons and we were playing fifteen twenty

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Speaker 1: Power five games a year, and we were beating those teams.

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Speaker 1: Now as we went into the regionals, that's where you

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Speaker 1: really get exploited if you don't, like you said, if

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Speaker 1: you don't have a top ten, top fifteen type pitcher

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Speaker 1: in the country, Um, it's pretty hard to win those games.

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Speaker 1: And we felt like we took it as far as

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Speaker 1: we could at St. Francis. But I mean, if you're playing,

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Speaker 1: let's say the top twenty five and you're one of

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Speaker 1: those people, you know, starting you gotta figure five teams.

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Speaker 1: There's you know, nine ten depending on picture hitter, picture

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Speaker 1: straight pitcher what um I mean do the math. That's

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Speaker 1: not a lot of people. So and again, like that's

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Speaker 1: where you asked yourself as parents, as my kid one

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Speaker 1: of the top hundred and twenty five players in the country,

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Speaker 1: and that's where you you've got to be real with that.

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Speaker 1: Goals are one thing, but they have to be somewhat tangible.

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Speaker 1: You know, if your kid is having problems starting in

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Speaker 1: high school, then I think that you've got to be

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Speaker 1: a realistic Well, are they going to be a starter

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Speaker 1: on the top twenty five team? Probably not? So tell

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Speaker 1: me this. I hear this a lot, and then we'll

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Speaker 1: kind of shift gears here. But and I mean I

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Speaker 1: hear it, I hear it a lot. Coach my ten

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Speaker 1: year olds getting recruited already, you know, my eight year

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Speaker 1: old they're getting looks, and I'm going, what, like what

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Speaker 1: that's what it's turned into, Like come on, are you

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Speaker 1: And I'm not. I know it's funny to laugh at,

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Speaker 1: but a lot of times these individual rankings, you know,

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Speaker 1: and I'm gonna want to pick on any companies or anything,

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Speaker 1: I get it, but these individual rankings like seven, eight, nine,

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Speaker 1: I'm the best eight year old in the country or

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Speaker 1: top ten. Our college coaches out recruiting little league games,

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Speaker 1: are they talking to you know, are they going to

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Speaker 1: machine pitch games to scout talent? I absolutely am not

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Speaker 1: and will not ever do that. Um, you know, I

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Speaker 1: think like in my sixteen years of coaching, there's probably

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Speaker 1: been like two or three times where you know, our

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Speaker 1: camps generally were like eighth grade to twelve, and um,

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Speaker 1: you'd have a six or seventh grader that would come

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Speaker 1: in and that you would just be like, she's just athletic,

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Speaker 1: She's just God blessed her with athletic genes. And there

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Speaker 1: were times where that seventh grader was had a prettier

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Speaker 1: sling than the tenth and eleventh graders. So I mean,

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Speaker 1: obviously you try and keep getting them to come to

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Speaker 1: camp because you don't know that kid might have peaks

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Speaker 1: right there, but you know she might eventually be really good.

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Speaker 1: So that's like the only time that I'm ever looking

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Speaker 1: at kids that young, and that's just because they're on

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Speaker 1: my campus for camp and it's fun to see. You know,

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Speaker 1: the majority of kids, you know aren't that great at

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Speaker 1: that age, so when you have somebody that is, it's

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Speaker 1: just fun to interact with them and see them. But no,

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Speaker 1: I mean, unfortunately, you know, the last two or three years, UM,

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Speaker 1: a lot of the rules that have come out within

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Speaker 1: softball specifically, UM, I don't agree with because I like

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Speaker 1: to build relationships with kids and with families. And so

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Speaker 1: for me now, trying to build a program that was

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Speaker 1: at the bottom of the A C C and trying

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Speaker 1: to get it to a top twenty five program with

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Speaker 1: recruiting only being Saturdays and Sundays and for a couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks in the fall, and and now we can't

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Speaker 1: talk to them and you know, until their junior year,

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Speaker 1: and UM, where we could do it before if they

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Speaker 1: were on campus, things like that to let them know

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Speaker 1: we were interested in recruiting now it's to the point

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Speaker 1: where I can't build those relationships with kids anymore. But

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Speaker 1: I wasn't one of the people out recruiting fix six

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Speaker 1: seventh graders, and so unfortunately, I think a lot of

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Speaker 1: those rules were made because of the four or five

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Speaker 1: programs that might have been doing that. But at the

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Speaker 1: end of the day, if I can tell you, like,

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Speaker 1: it's not happening here, it's not happening with my kids,

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Speaker 1: and and to be honest, you know, it shouldn't be

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Speaker 1: happening anywhere because kids have to be kids, Like, that's

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Speaker 1: a huge chunk of your life that you won't get back,

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Speaker 1: and parents need to realize that at the time, and

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Speaker 1: kids aren't going to realize that at the time. And

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Speaker 1: it's just you've gotta as a parent and speaking as one,

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Speaker 1: you cannot live through your kids. And I see that

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Speaker 1: a lot. You know, Um, it's awesome to have kids.

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Speaker 1: If you have them that they're that talented, that young,

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Speaker 1: that's amazing, And like I said, God gifted them with that,

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Speaker 1: and hopefully they go on to use that that. You

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Speaker 1: have got to stay humble, and you've got to stay grounded,

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Speaker 1: and your first and foremost is to be mom. Or

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Speaker 1: be dad and raise that child. Um. And then as

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Speaker 1: they get older and get to that point in their

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Speaker 1: life when they're in high school and think about those things.

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Speaker 1: But I I see it a lot where it's parents

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Speaker 1: living through kids, and that's just you know, it's a

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Speaker 1: hard conversation for someone to have, but somebody needs to

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Speaker 1: have that with those parents. Um. But it's not going

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Speaker 1: to be me. You know, it's easy to get sucked

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Speaker 1: into it. There was a ton though, I I would

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Speaker 1: say it's probably about a year or so, maybe two

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Speaker 1: years where I was like, I don't want to say

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Speaker 1: living through my kid, but I had those car rides,

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Speaker 1: you know, where I'm in my kids in the back

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Speaker 1: seat and I'm breaking down his at bats when he's

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Speaker 1: eight years old, you know, seven years old, and he's

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Speaker 1: trying to eat an Italian ice or a hot dog

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Speaker 1: and I'm there. You know, I remember one time breaks

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Speaker 1: my heart. I told him I was disappointed at him

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Speaker 1: because he made an error and maybe struck out. And

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Speaker 1: now I look back and I'm like, God, what an

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Speaker 1: idiot I was. You know, like all think its supposed

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Speaker 1: to do as you tell them, you love them, you

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Speaker 1: love to watch them play. It's so much fun to

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Speaker 1: watch them, no matter how they perform. And I think

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Speaker 1: it comes back to there's too much focus, I believe,

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Speaker 1: and I would love you to go into this little

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Speaker 1: bit on short term performance versus you know, long term development.

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Speaker 1: How important is it to focus on the development of

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Speaker 1: the human being as opposed to just well, you were

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Speaker 1: all for three today, or you swim the fastest time,

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Speaker 1: or you've got two goals performance versus development. Well, to

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Speaker 1: be honest, I think that if you are two in

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Speaker 1: the moment with performance, you won't even have a chance

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Speaker 1: for development because that kid is going to want to quit.

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Speaker 1: And so if you want them to develop and continue

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Speaker 1: to love it and want to say, hey let's go

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Speaker 1: play catch in the backyard, or hey let's go hit

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Speaker 1: a little bit, you have got to control yourself when

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Speaker 1: it comes to performance in the moment. And I know

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Speaker 1: for me it was really hard for me. I'm not

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Speaker 1: a natural athlete. It's funny, like I say, if you

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Speaker 1: put me on any other court or field or um

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Speaker 1: bowling alley, anything like that, you would never believe I

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Speaker 1: was a Division one coach. Ever, I was a dancer

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Speaker 1: and a cheerleader in my whole life. But softball I

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Speaker 1: loved and I wanted to be really good at it.

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Speaker 1: It didn't come naturally to me, and I had to work.

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Speaker 1: So for me, when I look at my kids, Um,

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Speaker 1: you know, my oldest one is a lot like me,

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Speaker 1: and I wanted so bad to come I wanted for

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Speaker 1: her to come easy, and it doesn't only because I

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Speaker 1: know how how hard I had to work even to

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Speaker 1: get okay at the sport. And so for me, I

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Speaker 1: find myself being like frustrated that gosh, like I just

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Speaker 1: wish I would have gave her better jeans, you know,

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Speaker 1: I wish it just came easier to her something like that.

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Speaker 1: So I just have to constantly tell myself, like, let

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Speaker 1: her have fun. She's got to have fun, or she's

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Speaker 1: never gonna want to pick up that ball and pick

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Speaker 1: up that bat. And so, you know, it's it's one

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Speaker 1: of those things where there won't be development in the

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Speaker 1: future because that kid will walk away. I've seen it

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Speaker 1: so many times. I've seen it as I was growing

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Speaker 1: up with my my friends and kids i've played with,

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Speaker 1: and I see it every year on the recruiting trail,

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Speaker 1: and most times it's it's a stud. It's a stud

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Speaker 1: that walks away because they've been pushed too hard for

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Speaker 1: so long that there is no enjoyment out of it.

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Speaker 1: So that's where I think you've got to enjoy the

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Speaker 1: day to day and if they go over three, you've

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Speaker 1: got to find a way to find a positive in it.

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Speaker 1: Like you've busted so hard out of the box on

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Speaker 1: that one, you know, And I'm not wanting to give

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Speaker 1: like false praises and things like that, but again, if

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Speaker 1: you're dealing with the sticks seven year old, you absolutely

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Speaker 1: have to do that. Like you want to get them excited,

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Speaker 1: and they're just trying to please mom and dad at

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Speaker 1: that point, right or wrong. So if they get excited

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Speaker 1: and you get excited, that's what it's about. And then

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Speaker 1: if you can continue that relationship as you get older

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Speaker 1: and they get older, then you have the chance to

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Speaker 1: develop when their body can physically do that. That's Jennifer

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Speaker 1: Patrick Swift, head softball coach and see State Wolfpack when

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Speaker 1: we come back. Coach Patrick Swift and I will discuss adversity,

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Speaker 1: how dad and metrics affect you sports, and her advice

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Speaker 1: for those hoping to be recruited by the wolf Fact.

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Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Reform Sports Project podcast dom Nick Bonacourt,

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Speaker 1: and today we have Jennifer Patrick Swift, head coach of

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Speaker 1: the n C State softball team. Where we left off,

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Speaker 1: Jennifer and I were about to dive into the effects

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Speaker 1: adversity has on developing athletes, how and when coaches should

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Speaker 1: utilize data and measurement tools, and what she looks for

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Speaker 1: in new recruits. One thing that comes up a lot

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Speaker 1: is adversity, right, and you hear it all the time.

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Speaker 1: I remember when I was coaching people who never played

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Speaker 1: the game, like, why is my kid in the outfield?

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Speaker 1: And I'm sitting here going what I couldn't understand that

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Speaker 1: at first, Like what do you mean your kids in that?

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Speaker 1: What does that mean is that? What do you think

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Speaker 1: it's a downgrade? Like I don't understand. Number one, I

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Speaker 1: don't want to put everyone in the infield, because at

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Speaker 1: those ages some kids can get hurt. But what ends

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Speaker 1: up happening is if you've got two fairly good athletes

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Speaker 1: who want to play shorts up a dad will or

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Speaker 1: mom whatever, We'll take their kid off their team and

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Speaker 1: they'll start their own. And you hear it all the time.

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Speaker 1: Let's create the path for our kids instead of getting

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Speaker 1: our kid ready for the path from your experience, and

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Speaker 1: we're talking about a little bit older here and getting

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Speaker 1: into middle school and high school. How important is it

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Speaker 1: for us as parents to let our kids fail and

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Speaker 1: to face adversity and learn how to overcome it. It's

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Speaker 1: extremely important. I got about half my doctorate done in

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Speaker 1: psychology because after I got my other degrees, I wanted

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Speaker 1: to be able to most importantly help the mental side

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Speaker 1: of my athletes, help them reach their potential as individuals,

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Speaker 1: so that collectively our team could reach our highest potential.

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Speaker 1: But within that, there were so many things that I've

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Speaker 1: taken that I now apply in recruiting, and a lot

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Speaker 1: of that is I'm going to be diving into that

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Speaker 1: recruits path. Tell me where did you play for how long?

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Speaker 1: What positions did you play when you started playing? You know?

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Speaker 1: And if there is a you know, I've played on

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Speaker 1: this team in this team where I'm recruiting a kid

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Speaker 1: in ninth grade and by the time they're a junior,

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Speaker 1: they've play on three different teams. And again there's exceptions

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Speaker 1: here and there. Um, it's not a hard fast statement,

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Speaker 1: but there's there's a reason for that. One is that

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Speaker 1: the parents, too is it the kids. I try and

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Speaker 1: do a good job of getting to know the kids

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Speaker 1: because sometimes you have parents that are a little bit

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Speaker 1: more involved maybe than they should be. Will say that word,

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Speaker 1: how important is it for the kids to speak for themselves?

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Speaker 1: Is that what you're talking about? Well, I mean just

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Speaker 1: involved with everything. Maybe the kid didn't want to leave

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Speaker 1: the team, but the parents did. The parents wanted them

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Speaker 1: to have, like you said, to create that path. And

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Speaker 1: so like there are times where you know, parents have

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Speaker 1: one personality and the kid is completely different. Those someones

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Speaker 1: are few and far between, because most of the time

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Speaker 1: that apple doesn't fall far from the tree. So again,

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Speaker 1: like when I'm recruiting, obviously people are like, what do

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Speaker 1: you always look for? Number One, You've got to be

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Speaker 1: able to play. People don't talk about that either, Like

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Speaker 1: you can be a great person, you know, and we

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Speaker 1: look for that too, great person, great teammate. But at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day, I'm trying to get to

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Speaker 1: Oaklandhoma City and win a national championship. You've got to

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Speaker 1: be able to play, but too, you have to be

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Speaker 1: a good person, you have to be a good teammate

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Speaker 1: and all of those things too. But that path to

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Speaker 1: how you got, where you are is going to determine

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Speaker 1: where are you going to go? Like, where are you going?

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Speaker 1: Are you done going there? Are you going to go further?

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Speaker 1: When you're away from your parents or your parents going

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Speaker 1: to almost hold you back because it's a continual problem

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Speaker 1: with involvement. You know, tell me this. You know there's

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Speaker 1: a data heavy component. Now it's a baseball and softball

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Speaker 1: and other sports, and I'm learning a lot more about them.

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Speaker 1: You know, your spin rates, your your exit velos, your

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Speaker 1: your launch angles and all that, and I get the

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Speaker 1: purpose for those things. How important though, is that at

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Speaker 1: the youth level I'm talking twelve you, I think the

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Speaker 1: most important thing is for the coaches that are coaching

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Speaker 1: those teams to know what the heck they're talking about.

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Speaker 1: And I don't think there should be sensors on bats.

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Speaker 1: I don't think there should be sensors on balls when

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Speaker 1: you're talking about twelve under ten under like those are developments.

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Speaker 1: Those coaches just need to make sure that can this

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Speaker 1: hitter move properly as in, you know, can they hit

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Speaker 1: a ball and drive through a ball and you know,

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Speaker 1: have a decent swing, and can they filled the ball

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Speaker 1: out in front and move with the right footsteps and

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Speaker 1: you know, throw the ball and play catch like that

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Speaker 1: is the level where that needs to happen. It's you're right,

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Speaker 1: this is trickling down. The data is amazing. I use

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Speaker 1: it every day in my job. But that shouldn't be

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Speaker 1: happening at those levels. And as that it comes down

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Speaker 1: and the amazing science and technology behind what we have

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Speaker 1: at our level continues to grow. I already see it

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Speaker 1: taking away from just teach them how to play catch,

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Speaker 1: teach them how to make contact, from how to hit

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Speaker 1: a ball, you know, like if as a coach, if

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Speaker 1: I'm a twelve you coach, and I love that stuff

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Speaker 1: and that's my passion, that's my hobby for me to

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Speaker 1: learn in the background, and that's honestly what I do

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Speaker 1: and how I use it. I'm dealing with, you know,

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Speaker 1: really good athletes. But most of the technology I'm using

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Speaker 1: behind the scenes, I'm analyzing, I'm interpreting that data and

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Speaker 1: then I'm just saying, you know, going out to one

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Speaker 1: of the players and saying, hey, we need to swing

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Speaker 1: the bat a little bit faster today, we need to

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Speaker 1: get after it more. I want you to try and

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Speaker 1: run it out a little bit more knowing that the

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Speaker 1: last three or four days, you know that their exit

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Speaker 1: VLO has been down, But I'm not going to go

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Speaker 1: up to them and say that right away, you know.

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Speaker 1: So I just think that, especially at that level, I

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Speaker 1: don't think there needs to be any part of it

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Speaker 1: at that level, because again, if you're doing it at

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Speaker 1: that level, it's because you're trying to get a number,

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Speaker 1: probably to push the kid, to try and recruit a kid.

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Speaker 1: So that shouldn't be happening in my opinion either. So

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Speaker 1: none of that matters. All that manags is can they

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Speaker 1: hit a ball? Can they play catch? You know, let's

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Speaker 1: focus on that and let the minute detailed development get

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Speaker 1: get to the point where one, if that's where your

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Speaker 1: kid wants to go and that down that path, they

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Speaker 1: can do that maybe on their own if they want

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Speaker 1: to specialize when they get in high school and since things,

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Speaker 1: and obviously in college too, but they're not ready for

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Speaker 1: them minute details like and and and it's just too

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Speaker 1: overwhelming for them mentally as well. Let's pretend there's one

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Speaker 1: young ladies softball players that are freshman in high school

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Speaker 1: sophomores asked to want to come play for the wolf

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Speaker 1: Pack thirty second piece of advice you'd give them. The

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Speaker 1: big thing is keep your grads up. Um, work hard,

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Speaker 1: and work hard because you want to, not because you

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Speaker 1: have to. And challenge yourself every day when you get up,

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Speaker 1: when you think, I get to go to school, I

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Speaker 1: get to go to practice, I get to go play today. Um,

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Speaker 1: you don't have to do any of that stuff. You

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Speaker 1: know you're blessed to be able to do that, and

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Speaker 1: the challenge needs to be what do you want to

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Speaker 1: do with that? Do you want to play at the

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Speaker 1: highest level? And then where is your skill set? Comparatively speaking,

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Speaker 1: if you want to play college softball, you can find

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Speaker 1: a place for you and what does that look like?

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Speaker 1: And if it's not at NC State in the wolf Pack,

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Speaker 1: we'll be honest with you. But we also have a

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Speaker 1: lot of contacts at all levels where you know, I

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Speaker 1: might send you to, Hey, checkout Methodist. It's a great program.

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Speaker 1: It's the same coach there, um you know, And it's

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Speaker 1: one of those things where is sometimes it's tough, you

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Speaker 1: got to be real, but at the same time, I

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Speaker 1: would rather see a player player for four years and

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Speaker 1: we have a great experience. If it's not an NC

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Speaker 1: State to do it somewhere then for them to come

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Speaker 1: and sit the bench at NC State just because their

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Speaker 1: talent level isn't quite where it needs to be for us.

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Speaker 1: That's Jennifer Patrick, Swift, head softball coach at NC State University.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the Reform Sports Project podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: Nick Bonecourt and our goal is to restore a healthy

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Speaker 1: balance and perspective in all areas of sport through education

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Speaker 1: and advocacy. For updates, please follow us on Facebook, Twitter,

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Speaker 1: and Instagram, or check out our website by searching for

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Speaker 1: the Reform Sports Project