Speaker 1: Hello, fut around and find out family, welcome back.
Speaker 2: Today.
Speaker 3: We have a very very very special guest. Two of them,
Speaker 3: we had, Miss Jennifer a. Z and Katie five.
Speaker 2: Great to be here.
Speaker 1: Listen, I have.
Speaker 3: To run through these accolades. I have to run through
Speaker 3: your intro.
Speaker 1: So, Katie, I'm gonna start with you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Mine Shorter.
Speaker 1: Everyone knows that you are Asy's mama.
Speaker 3: However, I'm gonna run through this awesome basketball intro of yours.
Speaker 3: So acc rookie of the Year at NC State, then
Speaker 3: transferred to Georgetown for three seasons where you scored sixteen
Speaker 3: hundred and seventy one points. Recently honored as a Big
Speaker 3: East legend at the Big East Tournament that I had
Speaker 3: the pleasure to witness as the first Georgetown Hoya.
Speaker 1: To be drafted in the WNBA. Come on, oh, Katie fun.
Speaker 3: All right, we have Miss Jennifer a Zy. Olympic gold medalist,
Speaker 3: NCAA champion and Final four MVP with Stanford, two time
Speaker 3: Feeble World Champion, WNBA All Star, and Women's Basketball Hall
Speaker 3: of Famer.
Speaker 1: Come on, Jennifer Azy WHOA.
Speaker 3: Thank you guys so much for joining us on the pod.
Speaker 3: It is honestly on honor to host with both of you,
Speaker 3: It's gonna be fun. So first things First, As is
Speaker 3: named after Jennifer Azy Katie. What did Jennifer represent for
Speaker 3: you that made you choose that name?
Speaker 4: Actually, this was just in a speech that I gave
Speaker 4: the other day. First, I think we run into people
Speaker 4: when we're thinking about names that we automatic are like,
Speaker 4: we'll never name my kid. So I wanted to do
Speaker 4: it a little bit differently. There wasn't a ton of
Speaker 4: basketball on TV growing up. I think the first thing
Speaker 4: that I saw was a documentary maybe on your nineteen
Speaker 4: ninety national championship team, So that was first like wow,
Speaker 4: women's basketball on TV. And then fast forward to when
Speaker 4: I was a senior in high school, they did the
Speaker 4: I think it was a WBCA All American game or
Speaker 4: the Nike one. I'm not sure, but it was a
Speaker 4: doubleheatter with the women's national team. You just played China
Speaker 4: and they sat us at a table. And you probably
Speaker 4: don't remember this at all, but they sat us. They
Speaker 4: came on the bus and said who's your favorite player
Speaker 4: on the national team, and then they sat us at
Speaker 4: a table and I was super quiet, super shy, and
Speaker 4: I just sat there and watched you interact with all
Speaker 4: these people you didn't know, the way that you spoke,
Speaker 4: the character that you displayed, just like the actual, just
Speaker 4: human that you were, on top of being a really
Speaker 4: good basketball player. Plus, my maiden name is Smirka Duffy.
Speaker 4: I have red hair, unique things. I just like them.
Speaker 4: So it's like, that would be a really cool name
Speaker 4: for a girl. And I just knew right then if
Speaker 4: I ever had a girl, I would name Razy. I
Speaker 4: thought about changing the spelling so people didn't butcher it
Speaker 4: and do more phonetic, but then I was like, that
Speaker 4: defeats the purpose, so we're not doing that.
Speaker 2: You know what's crazy is I think naming her easy
Speaker 2: has helped people pronounce my name correctly, so I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: I can need to help.
Speaker 1: This is really we're getting the real, Miss.
Speaker 2: Jeffiface my background here, so we're all real today.
Speaker 3: Yeah, like it's very real today. So okay, you and
Speaker 3: Eyes had met, so you guys didn't know each other.
Speaker 4: When we actually met too later my senior year, you
Speaker 4: guys were practicing Colorado Springs and I was trying out,
Speaker 4: not successfully for some USA team. It's okayed to successful, I.
Speaker 2: Believe it or not. This is what no one ever
Speaker 2: talks about. But you know I tried out also in
Speaker 2: ninety two and I was cut from the team. I
Speaker 2: was Actually my claim to fame is that I was
Speaker 2: the last player sent home, So i've I was, you know,
Speaker 2: I was sent home from there as well.
Speaker 4: We have something there. We go.
Speaker 3: A lot of things, a lot of things. So at
Speaker 3: what point, Katie, did you realize that Asy would follow
Speaker 3: in these basketball footsteps?
Speaker 4: You know, I think when you have kids, you just
Speaker 4: want them to be happy, right, You want them to
Speaker 4: find their passion. And for Asy, we tried a bunch
Speaker 4: of different things, and she took the basketball. I think
Speaker 4: because it was more social. She really liked her teammates
Speaker 4: and that drew her to the game and kept her
Speaker 4: loving practices and that kind of stuff. I thought she
Speaker 4: was awful when she started. Tim claims he knew she'd
Speaker 4: be good or whatever, but like she was awful. I
Speaker 4: would say. She played in a tournament when she was
Speaker 4: in third grade, and she played. She played two years
Speaker 4: up anyhow, but with a sister program, our point guard's
Speaker 4: dad's program. Our team wasn't going to Nationals and his
Speaker 4: team was to. We asked if he could have Asy
Speaker 4: and Carly. And at that tournament, she really like just
Speaker 4: kept stepping up in ways that I didn't know she
Speaker 4: was capable of. And I was like, oh, well, okay,
Speaker 4: she could get a free education out of this. That
Speaker 4: would be phenomenal, right, And that was like the endgame
Speaker 4: at that point. Didn't think anything past that, like we
Speaker 4: just won't have to pay for college.
Speaker 1: I feel you on and that that was right. Save
Speaker 1: a bill.
Speaker 3: So Jennifer had like, what was your reaction when you
Speaker 3: found out that someone named their daughter after you?
Speaker 2: Well, it's better than having a dog named after you.
Speaker 2: The Ada at Stanford named his dog Asy. And then
Speaker 2: at first I thought it was a joke because it's
Speaker 2: like that's such a big deal, like that's I don't
Speaker 2: I didn't take it lightly. It was like, wow, that
Speaker 2: is that's amazing. And I think Katie, even hearing you
Speaker 2: talk about maybe feeling like you had a sense of
Speaker 2: me and who I was versus just you know, an
Speaker 2: athlete on the court or something, and that makes it,
Speaker 2: I think, feel even that much more special. And I
Speaker 2: had the opportunity to meet Katie and Asy when I
Speaker 2: was coaching at you and so I got to meet,
Speaker 2: you know more, really meet you, right, like maybe we
Speaker 2: are past cross but just seeing what a great parent
Speaker 2: that you were with her and obviously continue to be.
Speaker 2: But that was kind of early on in her journey.
Speaker 2: And you know, you never know how your kids are
Speaker 2: going to turn out. And I can totally relate to
Speaker 2: just wanting your kids to be into something that they love,
Speaker 2: that they're passionate about. Like I have a nine year
Speaker 2: old son and he is all about basketball right now.
Speaker 2: We tried tennis. He was really good at it, but
Speaker 2: he wanted the social part too, and so it's just
Speaker 2: fun to see. I think where your kids can go.
Speaker 2: And I think, Katie, you guys have done a tremendous
Speaker 2: job with your daughter because you know that doesn't happen
Speaker 2: just by chance. That's your support, your love, your being
Speaker 2: there for her and you know, giving giving her your all.
Speaker 2: And I think when you look at successful kids like
Speaker 2: your daughter, you have at least one parent if not
Speaker 2: obviously too behind them believing in them, you know, more
Speaker 2: than anything unconditionally.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it definitely takes a lot of time and effort,
Speaker 4: but with anything, any kind of parenting takes time and effort. Yeah,
Speaker 4: I need We're fortunate that, you know, our kids are
Speaker 4: fortunate to have to involve parents. Some days probably they
Speaker 4: think it's not so fortunate. But down the line though,
Speaker 4: the reflecting definitely.
Speaker 1: Jennifer. You also have a five year old daughter. Correct
Speaker 1: did she play basketball?
Speaker 2: So she's now getting into it. She's almost six. But
Speaker 2: you know, I actually coached both kids soccer teams, and
Speaker 2: that was sort of crazy because I love that. But
Speaker 2: I had my son's group for like four years, and
Speaker 2: I think we lost maybe two games, and it was
Speaker 2: so much fun for me and him to go through
Speaker 2: it together because it's not my sport, so it was
Speaker 2: like we were really kind of doing it together. But
Speaker 2: I got to influence him and his group of friends
Speaker 2: with all the great things that I learned, you know,
Speaker 2: from sports, and that taught me as a you know,
Speaker 2: as a human being. Now, my daughter, when I started
Speaker 2: coaching her, she was just jumping on my back and
Speaker 2: wanted nothing to do with it, and you know, so
Speaker 2: we'll see where she ends up. But she really has
Speaker 2: seems to now take a liking to basketball, and you know,
Speaker 2: we have at one point my son said, Mom, how
Speaker 2: many hoops do we have in the house? And I
Speaker 2: was like, Okay, I don't know, like nine, you know,
Speaker 2: they're like hanging over the shower. But it's not just us,
Speaker 2: it's him. He you know, wants to shoot every chance
Speaker 2: that he gets. And so I think my daughter's seeing
Speaker 2: all this and really how much fun we have with it,
Speaker 2: you know, So we'll see if it if it sticks
Speaker 2: for her. But she also likes to dance, she likes gymnastics,
Speaker 2: and you know, I think my job is to expose
Speaker 2: them and find what, you know, what they really end
Speaker 2: up liking.
Speaker 3: Okay, if you were to name of your child, say,
Speaker 3: if you had another one after a basketball player, who
Speaker 3: would it be?
Speaker 2: I mean me and probably everyone in the world, but uh,
Speaker 2: Steph Curt I mean, you know, some more form but
Speaker 2: like you know, uh Steph, you know one of the
Speaker 2: step On me I'm seeing in that family. I just
Speaker 2: I think that he is one of the greatest human
Speaker 2: beings that I've ever met. And you know, what he's
Speaker 2: able to do and the way that he impacts the
Speaker 2: world is really second to Nine and obviously best shooter
Speaker 2: of all time.
Speaker 4: So I will say before we met him that we
Speaker 4: did name our dog after him. And when was at
Speaker 4: USA basketball tryouts. His mom was there with cam Bring's mom,
Speaker 4: and I was like, hey, just letting you know we
Speaker 4: named our dog after your family.
Speaker 2: There we go, that's maybe I'll adopt that since I
Speaker 2: am due to get another dog, I think pretty soon.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I love food.
Speaker 3: So yes, the tradition of naming pets and children after
Speaker 3: the As name and other talented basketball players. Katie recently,
Speaker 3: Asy just met baby As. Could you tell us more
Speaker 3: about that?
Speaker 4: So one of our former players played at University of
Speaker 4: New England. After the final four last year, she sends
Speaker 4: me a picture from Facebook saying, look what I see
Speaker 4: This is one of my teammates kind of thing, and
Speaker 4: it said Azy Alan Porter born for twenty one And
Speaker 4: I was like, no way, like that is at just
Speaker 4: another family name more, you know, there's got to be
Speaker 4: some other connection. So she reached out and asked her
Speaker 4: if she was actually named after a Zy and she's like, oh,
Speaker 4: my gosh, one hundred percent. Well she's at one thousand
Speaker 4: percent yes, And so they came over last night so
Speaker 4: that Aisy could meet Asy. My Asy is a soup like.
Speaker 4: She loves kids, loves babies, so you could pretty much
Speaker 4: get her to do anything if you have a child
Speaker 4: in front of her. And so actually, Liz the mom
Speaker 4: said that the dad Jay is the one. Last a
Speaker 4: year ago September, when they found out they were having
Speaker 4: a girl, he's the one who suggested naming her Asy.
Speaker 4: And then she joked around. She's like, all right, well,
Speaker 4: if they win the national championship, let's do it. And
Speaker 4: then they won and then Aisy got them op so
Speaker 4: then she was like, all right, that's it. So she
Speaker 4: was born two weeks to the day of the National
Speaker 4: Championship game, and she's a cutie.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, that's awesome. Look it started with you, Jennifer.
Speaker 3: Now we got kids named at the easy baby Asy
Speaker 3: gonna be super Baby, a be as.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and there definitely are multiple dogs and cats named
Speaker 4: Asian as well.
Speaker 1: So I've definitely seen that all over socials.
Speaker 4: Like who I will say back in the day when
Speaker 4: I did it, I was like, yo, is she gonna
Speaker 4: think like I'm stockersh.
Speaker 2: I think it's I think it's amazing.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 2: When she committed to Yukon, I had so many people
Speaker 2: texting me as if she's my daughter. It was like,
Speaker 2: you know, it's like congratulations, I'm like, wait a minute,
Speaker 2: Like I met her once. I think she's awesome, you know,
Speaker 2: but it's it's pretty cool to, uh, you know, think
Speaker 2: about what this really kind of extended family feels like.
Speaker 2: It's it's it's pretty awesome. And I know, I lost
Speaker 2: my dad in early twenty twenty four, and he was
Speaker 2: sort of that original girl dad, like you know, for
Speaker 2: me growing up in the seventies and eighties when there
Speaker 2: wasn't you know, obviously no wnba nowhere really to go.
Speaker 2: But he saw how much I loved it, and he
Speaker 2: put a hoop in our driveway that was slanted and
Speaker 2: you know, he had to kind of, i'm sure, borrow
Speaker 2: money to even get the hoop, and you know, and
Speaker 2: he really was that person in my life that encouraged
Speaker 2: me to go to Stanford, that you know, just believed
Speaker 2: in me. And so I think, as this name, if
Speaker 2: you will, continues, it's it's pretty cool for me, you know.
Speaker 2: And I don't know where my son will, you know,
Speaker 2: will end up. But my dad and I actually put
Speaker 2: together his first hoop. I was coming back from a
Speaker 2: trip from India, so we're you know, working together, putting
Speaker 2: his little hoop together. And it's just fun to see
Speaker 2: what basketball does. You know, it brings people together, It's
Speaker 2: it's a really powerful sport, a great.
Speaker 4: Beautiful And you messaged as I don't know if it
Speaker 4: was when she first made the USA team or something,
Speaker 4: you messaged her, emailed or something, and she's like, oh,
Speaker 4: Jennifer Azy emailed me, So she thought that was super cool.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm as proud as I can be from Afar, Like,
Speaker 2: I just think that, you know, she has incredible character.
Speaker 2: Her game speaks for itself. I'm sure she will be
Speaker 2: an Olympian, which is no pressure, but you know she's
Speaker 2: on that tack and we believe it's outstanding.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's definitely her dream. I'd like to be there. So, Jennifer,
Speaker 4: I have a question.
Speaker 3: Are you an inductee of the twenty twenty six Tennessee
Speaker 3: Sports Hall of Fame class?
Speaker 1: Are you?
Speaker 2: Yes? I am?
Speaker 1: Are you? Oh my goodness, concredulations?
Speaker 2: Yeah, unfortunately didn't make it there. We've got the Nines
Speaker 2: event in Las Vegas. But yeah, it's pretty big honor
Speaker 2: there because Tennessee sports are everything.
Speaker 4: So yes, are we played in Tennessee when I was
Speaker 4: in high school? Where were we? We were there? Was
Speaker 4: a North in aalth and now I can't remember where
Speaker 4: we were, of course I'm blanking, but basketball was just
Speaker 4: it was amazing, Like we had good fans in our
Speaker 4: high school. But we went to watch another game and
Speaker 4: we had to park at the middle school and take
Speaker 4: a shuttleover because it was just a pack. So that
Speaker 4: was really cool. Then we got back to the hotel Greenville.
Speaker 4: So as North and South Greenville we're playing each other.
Speaker 4: We got back to our hotel and the people behind
Speaker 4: the desk at the hotel were talking about the game,
Speaker 4: which you know, that's like, you know, early like ninety four,
Speaker 4: ninety five somewhere in there. So that was different, right,
Speaker 4: You just didn't get a lot of people like that.
Speaker 4: Weren't basketball people, just general population people talking about women's basketball.
Speaker 4: And then I had someone come up to me that
Speaker 4: second year that we were there and they just they
Speaker 4: smirk it up, you know, and named my donald for you.
Speaker 1: And that's why I was like, really, thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we had in my high school at our state
Speaker 2: tournament Murphy, Tennessee, we had ten thousand people. Crazy, that's crazy.
Speaker 2: And that was back I wouldn't even say when, but
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 4: So then was that hard for you to leave that
Speaker 4: go to Stanford out in like the wild basically where
Speaker 4: there's not as much interest in women's back very hard.
Speaker 2: I remember my first game there and I'm thinking, like,
Speaker 2: when did the fans show up? Because you know, they
Speaker 2: don't tell you during recruiting there's like no fans and
Speaker 2: it wasn't when everything was broadcast at that time, and
Speaker 2: they're like, oh, we're lucky if you know friends and
Speaker 2: family are in town. So the team, I think before
Speaker 2: I was part of tar Vanderver's first recruiting class, so
Speaker 2: you know, they were building and the year before I
Speaker 2: think the team had won three to five games or something.
Speaker 2: You know, we were five hundred my freshman year, and
Speaker 2: so it was scary for me and then being you know,
Speaker 2: I still had a Southern accent. I'm from Tennessee. I
Speaker 2: go out there, I think everybody's smarter and better and
Speaker 2: we're terrible, and you know, and then one thing led
Speaker 2: to another and Tar ended up, you know, recruiting some
Speaker 2: of the best classes in the country and within you know,
Speaker 2: three years, we won the national championship and we were
Speaker 2: selling out Maple's pavilion. So literally went from I'm telling you,
Speaker 2: I could count the fans on two hands from that
Speaker 2: to eight thousand fans a gain a game at Maple's pavilion.
Speaker 2: And I always say that Tar's a genius because she said, hey,
Speaker 2: three is worth more than two because the three point
Speaker 2: line came in between. You probably remember this, Kdie, but
Speaker 2: between my freshmen and sophomore year, that's when the three
Speaker 2: point line came in and she said, the only way
Speaker 2: we're gonna win is if we can shoot threes. So
Speaker 2: my teammates and I lived in the gym and we
Speaker 2: learned how to shoot threes because it just extended everything
Speaker 2: and that's kind of how we ended up winning. But
Speaker 2: it was hard. It was It was a really hard adjustment.
Speaker 4: That is crazy.
Speaker 3: I can't imagine a brand new like rule, a brand
Speaker 3: new right like huge, Like literally you were playing basketball
Speaker 3: at a really high level at the time, like one
Speaker 3: of the highest levels.
Speaker 1: To have something that.
Speaker 3: Big change and be a part of the game and
Speaker 3: now it's forever part of the game.
Speaker 1: That is amazing.
Speaker 4: That's pretty cool to say that you were in it.
Speaker 4: I guess it's like if you were six on a
Speaker 4: side basketball.
Speaker 2: Although yeah, that was a little that's even more drastic, right,
Speaker 2: But no, that was cool, And I.
Speaker 1: Think Yukon's crazy.
Speaker 2: Our record held for years and we start shot over
Speaker 2: fifty percent from the floor, like we just literally shot.
Speaker 2: And I think Yukon broke our three point record somewhere
Speaker 2: in the like maybe twenty fifteen or sixteen, somewhere around there,
Speaker 2: but it held for a long time.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that you.
Speaker 4: Should get even more.
Speaker 1: Let me go to that for sure.
Speaker 3: So, Jennifer, you also are Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame finalists.
Speaker 1: Congratulations, thank you, And I know there's an opportunity for you.
Speaker 3: I believe you're going to get recognized or all air
Speaker 3: during the final four. What does it mean to be
Speaker 3: recognized by the Naismith Hall of Fame.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm not exactly recognized yet because you know, I
Speaker 2: feel like I'm like always a bright made I've been
Speaker 2: I've been in a timeless i don't know, a few years,
Speaker 2: a few different times. And you know, my big thing
Speaker 2: I think with the Nasmith Hall of Fame, and I'm
Speaker 2: actually on one of their committees right now, is seeing
Speaker 2: more of this you women, as you know we go
Speaker 2: into the future, because you've now you now have all
Speaker 2: of these generations, and you know you're going to need
Speaker 2: a place for you know, for all the great athletes
Speaker 2: that have you know, come, you know, not just from
Speaker 2: my generation, but now throughout until this you know, current day.
Speaker 5: I'm not competitor as if I'm in, I'm not. You know,
Speaker 5: so well, we're believing, we're believing right in regardless. Yeah,
Speaker 5: it's going to happen.
Speaker 1: Is happening.
Speaker 3: Okay, So we talked about the huge change while you
Speaker 3: were playing, adding the three point line. How do you
Speaker 3: think it's different, like the path for top women's basketball
Speaker 3: prospects now versus when you guys were both playing.
Speaker 4: I didn't. I mean, I think everything has changed so much,
Speaker 4: not necessarily for the better. There's a lot, I means,
Speaker 4: but I just think there's more access and visibility, and
Speaker 4: I think it's easier for coaches to see who players are.
Speaker 4: I think it's easier for players to figure out where
Speaker 4: they want to go if they want to take the
Speaker 4: time to find the right place for them. I know
Speaker 4: for me and probably for you too. Like you're getting
Speaker 4: recruited and you've never seen these people play, right, you
Speaker 4: can't watch them on TV. You know, you have to
Speaker 4: go there and watch a game in person, and most
Speaker 4: of the time that wasn't happening. Most of our parents
Speaker 4: couldn't just drop things and travel like that. So I
Speaker 4: think just the visibility, and I think I don't think.
Speaker 4: I mean, now you've got all the players jerseys out there,
Speaker 4: and you see little boys wearing you know, women's jerseys,
Speaker 4: which to me is a huge thing. As if we
Speaker 4: teach boys at a young age to respect female athletes,
Speaker 4: they're not going to grow up to be men that
Speaker 4: tweet about getting in the kitchen. You know.
Speaker 3: I'm know that's right, Katie, because they can cut all
Speaker 3: that out. Because when we can do all things that
Speaker 3: man can do, do you what do you think?
Speaker 2: I agree completely. I think there's more, just more access.
Speaker 2: I always tell kids when I talk to them, if
Speaker 2: they want to be good at anything, they have access
Speaker 2: to everything. I mean, I feel like I'm more handy
Speaker 2: around the house because I can just watch a YouTube video, right.
Speaker 2: You can watch what the best athletes do now at
Speaker 2: whatever whatever sport or whatever thing you're interested in, and
Speaker 2: you can learn. And so I think there's just more knowledge.
Speaker 2: Even in training. I think the way that the athletes
Speaker 2: train now is a lot smarter, it's a lot more functional.
Speaker 2: You know that I think helps just the game itself
Speaker 2: in the way that you know, the way that people
Speaker 2: are able to train. But I think you know, basketball
Speaker 2: is still basketball, right. A free throw is a free
Speaker 2: throw that has not changed in you know, since I
Speaker 2: was playing, Katie was playing. So there are some fundamental
Speaker 2: things that you have to do. Like my son, like
Speaker 2: he'll want to go as far back as you can
Speaker 2: and launch it, and his little it's amazing actually how
Speaker 2: or he can shoot from. But as I've been he's
Speaker 2: allowed me to kind of work with him a little bit.
Speaker 2: Is like no master, like two feet from the basket.
Speaker 2: Like there's some principles of getting good at this that
Speaker 2: are that are the same. But what I noticed, and
Speaker 2: Sue Bird said this a while ago, the ball handling,
Speaker 2: I think is one of the things that's changed a lot.
Speaker 2: Like we were minimal dribbles. I mean, if you you
Speaker 2: get from A to B and you know you have
Speaker 2: two dribbles max or whatever it is, which I still
Speaker 2: think is good because the ball moved a lot. But
Speaker 2: just the way that athletes now can handle the ball
Speaker 2: I think has changed a lot. And they're bigger, strong,
Speaker 2: like I think the athleticism is is definitely.
Speaker 3: There more technology, more knowledge how to become a better athlete. Jennifer,
Speaker 3: what do you see an Acy's game that feels familiar?
Speaker 2: I think if you know, I don't know that it's
Speaker 2: necessarily like, I mean, she can shoot the ball, like
Speaker 2: that's a you know, that's a given. But she's she's
Speaker 2: definitely a stronger player than I was, Like, she is
Speaker 2: so physical, so strong, you know, she can play multiple positions.
Speaker 2: And but I I would say that if there's a
Speaker 2: common thread between us, it's it's it's the desire to win.
Speaker 2: It's that whatever you're doing, you're going to try to win,
Speaker 2: and you're going to try to get the most out
Speaker 2: of the people around you and be that team player
Speaker 2: and ultimately the goals to win a championship. Right, Like,
Speaker 2: as much as she has the accolades, as much as
Speaker 2: there's a lot going on, I see her as someone
Speaker 2: that is a winner and that wants to win.
Speaker 1: I know she's gonna love hearing this back.
Speaker 3: Can you what part of your experience did you try
Speaker 3: to pass down to a Z And is there anything
Speaker 3: you wanted to go differently?
Speaker 4: I think just the work ethic, right, and just put
Speaker 4: in you know, I always say, consistent effort over time
Speaker 4: is what we're going for, or not eight hours one
Speaker 4: day and you know, nothing for the next two weeks.
Speaker 4: So just you know, consistently do a little bit more,
Speaker 4: whether it's been you know, ten minutes a day, do
Speaker 4: bull handling, or shoot an extra twenty five shots after practice,
Speaker 4: like those are the things we started with when she
Speaker 4: started playing. And that was more just to kind of
Speaker 4: teach that life lesson of hard work and persistence, whether
Speaker 4: she was going to be good at basketball or not.
Speaker 4: So I think that and I think that took maybe
Speaker 4: a little too well. I think sometimes she needs to
Speaker 4: breathe and not be so hard on herself and so
Speaker 4: try to be so perfect. But you know what did
Speaker 4: I want to be different? I wanted her to be
Speaker 4: in an environment where women's basketball was respected. And I
Speaker 4: think that's more prevalent nowadays than when I played and
Speaker 4: where I played, But I think there are still some
Speaker 4: some schools where you know, men's basketball football take like
Speaker 4: way higher priority and the women kind of get you know,
Speaker 4: left to the side a little bit. So I wanted
Speaker 4: her to be somewhere where she felt valued, where she
Speaker 4: felt like the work and effort that she put in
Speaker 4: although she can't jump aside as the guys and don't
Speaker 4: that you know that that extra time they're putting in
Speaker 4: is the same, and I wanted that to.
Speaker 3: Be realcting ladies. The ladies is dunking now. Yeah, the
Speaker 3: ladies is dunking now.
Speaker 2: You know. I feel like I should just talk to
Speaker 2: you offline too and pick your brain more, Katie, because
Speaker 2: you know, it's interesting with two things. When I was coaching,
Speaker 2: I was head coach at USF for six years, and
Speaker 2: I all the players told me they want to play professionally.
Speaker 2: So I was like, well, if you're going to listen
Speaker 2: to anyone, listen to me, because I've done it. So
Speaker 2: I would say like, okay, meet me fifteen minutes before practice,
Speaker 2: stay with me fifteen minutes after practice one or the other,
Speaker 2: and I can help you get there. And it was again,
Speaker 2: it's to your point, Katie, it's those little you know
Speaker 2: in that fifteen minutes suddenly is like, you know, fifty
Speaker 2: hours if you really you know, if you start to
Speaker 2: add it up, and so that's I think how you
Speaker 2: master a skill. And in my time at USF, two
Speaker 2: players did it. So those two players ended up being
Speaker 2: our most successful players, and with Maclin. With my son, now,
Speaker 2: I'm cautious to not really try to let him kind
Speaker 2: of ask me, but what I've told him is kind
Speaker 2: of the same thing. We both wake up early in
Speaker 2: the morning. Do you want me to rebound for you?
Speaker 2: Because you'll get a lot out of ten or fifteen
Speaker 2: minutes where I can just rebound for you, pass it
Speaker 2: back to you, you know whatever. And then I heard
Speaker 2: him bragg into his friends. My mom and I get
Speaker 2: up and we shoot for an hour every morning, which
Speaker 2: is not true, but I think instilling those behaviors early
Speaker 2: without again, I'm going to call you offline because without
Speaker 2: overdoing it right, because you know you've been successful, so
Speaker 2: you know what it takes. But I guess maybe can
Speaker 2: I ask you the question, like, where's the line that
Speaker 2: you feel like you didn't overstep to where she would
Speaker 2: just kind of not want to do it anymore? Or
Speaker 2: was there a line?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I definitely. I can't say that it was all so easy,
Speaker 4: but I do think, and so I do. I train,
Speaker 4: That's what I do. So I see a lot of
Speaker 4: parents come through and then like it kind of just
Speaker 4: makes me twitchy. A little when parents are like, well,
Speaker 4: I'm not going to force my kid to practice outside
Speaker 4: of whatever, And I'm like, but you're paying for them
Speaker 4: to play, you're paying for them to train, you're taking
Speaker 4: time out of your day to drive them to practice,
Speaker 4: to stay in the gyms all weekend on tournaments, to
Speaker 4: pay to get in, like they owe you a little something.
Speaker 4: And so you know, I said, so, if your kid
Speaker 4: comes home and doesn't want to do math homework, you're
Speaker 4: good with that, right, Like that's cool because we're just
Speaker 4: gonna let them do what they want to do. And
Speaker 4: they said, no, they got to do their math homework.
Speaker 4: And so my thought is if they if they say
Speaker 4: you want to play something, or you say this is
Speaker 4: my goal, it's our job as parents to hold you
Speaker 4: accountable until you change that goal. Right, So, if you
Speaker 4: say you want to be good at basketball, we all
Speaker 4: know there's days we don't want to get up and
Speaker 4: do what we're supposed to do. But because we've built
Speaker 4: the life habits and the discipline, we get up and
Speaker 4: do it. And that's what success looks like. And so
Speaker 4: I think more importantly then whether you reach your goals
Speaker 4: or not, is building that life habit you say you
Speaker 4: want you say you want to be a three point shooter. Well,
Speaker 4: in order to do that, we've got to master two
Speaker 4: feet in out. I was literally just talking to a
Speaker 4: divisional player the other day about that. I'm like, we're
Speaker 4: gonna make you a great shooter. You're super quick, your
Speaker 4: handles are great. But in order to do that, we
Speaker 4: shot for half an hour from like four feeting in
Speaker 4: and her arm got tired. I'm like, you clearly don't
Speaker 4: shoot enough if your arms tired after doing this. But
Speaker 4: it's like master all the little details. Hone in on
Speaker 4: every little thing in here, and as we move out
Speaker 4: then we don't have those out there. But I think
Speaker 4: that goes back to the access to know things and
Speaker 4: to see things. These kids have its immediate gratification for everything,
Speaker 4: and so you can just go on YouTube and watch something,
Speaker 4: you can go on Instagram and see what you want
Speaker 4: to see, watch a reel, do a TikTok boom. Everything's
Speaker 4: right there and you're getting validated right there. And so
Speaker 4: they go spend ten minutes on something and they think, well, okay,
Speaker 4: I did ten minutes, I'm good. I should be good.
Speaker 4: And the understanding of that it takes so much longer,
Speaker 4: you know, to master that skill. And I, like you said,
Speaker 4: fifteen minutes is like fifty hour. Literally, when I run clinics,
Speaker 4: I tell kids, let's do a math equation. If you
Speaker 4: spend ten minutes a day, six days a week, give
Speaker 4: yourself one day off ten minutes a day, six days
Speaker 4: a week. So that's what like ten reels. However long
Speaker 4: a reel is, right, like six times a week, you know,
Speaker 4: six times ten is how much sixty? And then how
Speaker 4: many weeks are in a year? Fifty two? Okay, well,
Speaker 4: what's that equation come out to? And yeah, it's like
Speaker 4: three thy two hundred something, or it's just sixty two hours.
Speaker 4: What is fifty two weeks in a year? Fifty two hours?
Speaker 4: And that's ten minutes a day. Yeah, right, And you
Speaker 4: can't tell me you don't have ten minutes today, and
Speaker 4: if you miss one day, do twenty the next. But
Speaker 4: it'll all balance out. But it's just the willingness to
Speaker 4: be consistent, the willingness to say this is my goal
Speaker 4: and I have to, you know, slowly work to get there.
Speaker 4: It's not an immediate gratification thing. So it's funny that
Speaker 4: you said at the exams like, I mean, I.
Speaker 2: Think, I think there's just some principles, there's life principles
Speaker 2: in order to be successful, and you know, those are
Speaker 2: the things I want to I want to teach my
Speaker 2: kids too. And it's funny you said that about the video,
Speaker 2: because just because you watched it, you're not accomplishing anything
Speaker 2: unless you take it and go do what they were
Speaker 2: doing in the video. You know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I will say so with Asy, we constantly kind
Speaker 4: of just checked in with her, right we were you know,
Speaker 4: do you still want to do this? Do you?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 4: And it's hard when you're the hardest working player in
Speaker 4: your group, right, And I wouldn't. I would tell her
Speaker 4: call up such and such, see if she wants to
Speaker 4: come to the gym with us, And sometimes we get
Speaker 4: takers and other times we wouldn't, and I'd just say, well,
Speaker 4: that's why you're you, and let's go. In about eighth grade,
Speaker 4: she called somebody to go work out and they didn't
Speaker 4: want to go, and I was like, well, and she
Speaker 4: looked at me and said, I know, Mom, that's why
Speaker 4: I'm me. Let's go, you know. And it just but
Speaker 4: but at that point, you know, once again, I said
Speaker 4: early on, like she got good enough for us to
Speaker 4: not have to pay for college, okay, great, And so
Speaker 4: you know seven eighth grade, when you know the days
Speaker 4: were hard and she didn't want to work out, I
Speaker 4: would flat out say, if if you don't want to
Speaker 4: do this and you don't want to be great like
Speaker 4: you you just want to like maintain status quo, you
Speaker 4: could get a divisional scholarship right now, Like you can
Speaker 4: just stay as good as you are, you don't have
Speaker 4: to get any better, and you're gonna have free education
Speaker 4: and that's winning. That's huge. But if you do want
Speaker 4: to do those things and we have to continue to push,
Speaker 4: but that it's your choice. And you know she'd always
Speaker 4: just say let's go. But but yeah, it wasn't. It
Speaker 4: wasn't like she wasn't skipp into the gym every day.
Speaker 2: And I believe that. I mean I think about even myself.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you as well. Like there are days where
Speaker 2: I was like, well, if we're going to win, I
Speaker 2: we got to go.
Speaker 4: You know, it's just you right your bag and let's
Speaker 4: do that.
Speaker 2: Even now, like I run every morning, there's I don't
Speaker 2: I don't know that there's a day that I'm like, yes,
Speaker 2: I am I can't wait to go for my run.
Speaker 2: It's just like I know if I do it, what
Speaker 2: my day is going to look like. And if I
Speaker 2: don't do it, I know what my day is going
Speaker 2: to look like.
Speaker 4: So yeah, right, discipline doing you need to do? Know
Speaker 4: what you want to do?
Speaker 1: All right, listeners, you heard it here first.
Speaker 3: It takes a little a lot of bit of discipline, dedication, sacrifice,
Speaker 3: and just getting up and getting it done. And that
Speaker 3: is something you can apply to all parts of your life,
Speaker 3: not just if you're a basketball player. Ladies, thank you
Speaker 3: so much, Jennifer Azy, thank you for joining us. Katie Fud,
Speaker 3: thank you so much for having us. I think that
Speaker 3: that's a wrap lady.
Speaker 4: Yeah, this was wonderful.
Speaker 2: And Katie, I am gonna you're gonna get text for me.
Speaker 2: Hey what do I do here when he's doing?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, send your send your son to Katie. Katie
Speaker 3: has already trained people at a gem I workout. Everybody loves.
Speaker 3: Just send them all right, you guys, that is a rap.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much Jennifer and Katie for joining us
Speaker 1: on this week's pod.
Speaker 4: Thanks for having us.
Speaker 1: Listeners.
Speaker 3: Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe to futt Around
Speaker 3: and find Out wherever you get your podcasts. Futt Around
Speaker 3: and find Out is a production of iHeart Women's Sports
Speaker 3: and Unanimous Media. Executive producers are Jesse Katz, Eric Payton,
Speaker 3: Charla Sumter Brugette, and Stephen Curry.
Speaker 1: Co executive producer is Kleanor Maria Cutney. Producers are Mike Coscarelli.
Speaker 3: Grace Ughs and Mackenzie Fitzpatcher, and co producers are Kurt Redman,
Speaker 3: Maya Howard, and Jacquelin Schoeninger.
Speaker 4: This podcast is edited by Mike Coscarelli and hosted by
Speaker 4: me Aizy Fudd and Ashanti Plummer.