Jason D’Rocha: Are We Rushing Kids Into Sports They Never Chose?

Rhett Parker: welcome another episode of Surviving Youth Sports. I'm your host, Rhett Parker, and today we have Jason D'Rocha. ⁓ We seem to be really hitting home runs in Canada, ⁓ which is great. I spent lot of time playing all over Canada, so I'm excited. And he helps ⁓ start something called Sportball, and excited to learn way more about it, Jason. Welcome to the show. Coach Jay: you I said. Brad, thank you so much for having me, brother. I really appreciate it. Rhett Parker: Absolutely, man. So, sport ball, go. Like, give me the brass tacks. Coach Jay: Elevator speech, yeah, sounds good. So it's a multi-sport program. It's a sports enrichment company for children from the ages of 16 months to 12 years old. And the whole concept is exposing kids to a multitude of sports so that they can figure out what they're passionate about at a young age, give them a solid foundation, help to build their physical and social literacy so that when they get up to the competitive levels, which is a natural progression in sport, they have the competence to be successful. Rhett Parker: Yeah. And I feel like sometimes and, know, obviously on this show and others like specialization and I want to hear your take on it. Cause I have mine, but I don't love it, but I also think everyone's path is different. So what you're trying to get not around specialization, but make sure that we're developing the right motor skills and movements and stuff at a young age. Is that right? Coach Jay: Hmm. Yeah, yeah, I think you're right. think, you for us, specialization is something that should come once there's a certain level of confidence and competence. so don't just, we want to set children up for success. And we all know, and anybody that has a sports background, how devastating a negative experience could be, whether it's with a coach or on a court or a field, or even with a parent yelling at you on a sideline that has no relation to you whatsoever, ⁓ by making you feel like don't belong there. Rhett Parker: Mm-hmm. Coach Jay: You need a certain foundation in order to deal with that type of experience, especially as a child. So our goal really is, it's threefold. One is to make an impact on children. The other one is to educate caregivers. we have parent participation classes at the young age. So mom and dad is in the gym with their kid, learning how to play golf and soccer and tennis and volleyball. So we can build that bond, build that relationship. And then also to educate the coach. ⁓ because work with kids at such a young age, we usually get coaches when there's just starting their journey of becoming a great coach. So we teach them how to, not just, ⁓ we care less if you're a wonderful soccer player, great football player, great. But do you connect well with kids? Do how to create a teachable moment? Can you keep their attention long enough that you can impart a lesson that they can actually transfer to other aspects of their life? ⁓ So that's our And if you do that well, they'll have no problem with specialization as the kids get older. Rhett Parker: Mm. Coach Jay: there's lots of kids who show that they have this ability where they rise above the rest of group. And you want to challenge that, channel that in the right direction. ⁓ But I said, just the same way as you wouldn't hand an adult novel to a child who hasn't developed their literacy, you would hand a book with pictures in it first, simple language, and then they would develop their literacy so that they can eventually read that novel that's meant for older ages. ⁓ Rhett Parker: Well, and I was actually just talking to a soccer person about this. How the hell do you know what sport they like? Like, how do you know? You cannot know. And right before we got on, we were talking about, my wife played soccer, I played baseball. Obviously, the kids are sort of into that. We don't force it. You want to go play lacrosse? Let us know. I know nothing about lacrosse. Great. Coach Jay: Right. Yes. 100%. Rhett Parker: And I was telling somebody the other day or yesterday, ⁓ also from Ontario, I love watching hockey. I mean, I can't skate, but I love watching hockey. And it's super fun if my kids were like, Hey, I'm going to go play hockey. Awesome. But let them figure it out. It pisses it. It really pisses me off. So I love hearing that because you don't know. And because you and me and you, you played volleyball and basketball. Coach Jay: Yeah. That's right. You don't know. Basketball, yeah. Rhett Parker: Your daughters who are 911, they put they do gymnastics great. Let them figure let them figure it out. I obviously you're on that train. Coach Jay: That's right. That's exactly right. 100%, I mean, and you hear even the best of the best. We've heard Brady, we've heard MJ talk about this. You want the kids to develop a love for the game, develop a passion for the game, and how are they supposed to know that until they have an opportunity to experience as much as they can? So for us at Sportball, one registration, eight sports. you know probably better than anybody, the cost goes up when you start to specialize and your kids get more and more competitive. You need three and four jobs sometimes and take out a loan on your house. So at the younger ages, where families are, where every dollar is important, especially because you you gotta pay for a variety of things when the kids are young, including diapers. ⁓ those matter. So what we try to do is one registration, eight sports, and let your child figure out, like while they're developing their competency and their foundational skills, let them figure out what they love and then support that direction. Rhett Parker: Because, man, I've taken taking a little bit of heat on this, because I played multiple sports even throughout high school and and but I was recruited in basketball and baseball at the division one level. like It's a little bit different when you're really good at multiple sports and you can get away with it. There's no way could do what I, what I did 20 years ago. Now, not a chance. There's so much going on. And I felt the heat years ago when in the summer I had a passing league, had a basketball and I had doubleheader baseball same day. And I mean, I looked at my dad and was like, dude, I can't do this. Like I'm like 15. I'm I'm exhausted. Coach Jay: I'm Yeah. Rhett Parker: And he goes, okay. pick, pick, pick. And honestly, the sport I might've been best at was football. I didn't love it as much as the other ones. ⁓ And so I became basketball, baseball, but. Coach Jay: Ciao. Rhett Parker: When we decide specialization is not a universal thing. Coach Jay: That's right. You're absolutely right. Rhett Parker: There's people that at 10 should probably do it. There's people at 14 that should do it. There's people that can go all the way through high school and not have to do it. What's your take on that? Coach Jay: That's right. So I have a few, think one from the child's perspective and one from the parent's perspective. You one of the questions I asked you before we jumped into it is do your kids get a vote? I think it matters. I think that when we grew up, our generation was, know, at least in my house, was the because I said so rule. the direction I went in was whatever my dad said, that was the direction we're going in. If I had a vote, ⁓ it just a question. Do I have to? Why do I have to? Because I said so. That was it. What I've found is being a dad of my two young girls is it's so much easier if you give a kid a vote. We don't give enough credit to our kids as they get older, they pay attention. They have all of human history, all of our worlds, all of history and knowledge in the pocket, in their side pocket, in the smartphone that they've got. They're really smart kids. They're exposed to so much more than anything that we were ever exposed to. Rhett Parker: My writer. Coach Jay: Let them have a say. If they really love something and they're showing that they have a passion for it, they're practicing outside of practice. They're on the driveway shooting the ball around or at the field throwing the ball around or hitting the ball. That's giving you an indication as a parent. So I think part one is, do your children have a passion for it? Do they actually want to go down that route? And then two is as a parent, do you feel comfortable that enough about the experience you're about to put your child into? Because I think that's sometimes where we fail ⁓ as as well. we see these lights, go put your child in this program with this coach at this location, but it's not a safe place to put your child. And it's not a supportive environment. And they may have a technical know-how, but they don't take enough consideration ⁓ into your child is and what they bring to the table. They care about your pocketbook and how many players they can get on a team and how many championships they can win. Now, if that lines up with your expectations as a parent, great, that's what you signed up for. So there's a, you you gotta deal with the... the consequences, the repercussions of that choice. And sometimes you're good and sometimes you're bad. But I just think we have to be more informed as parents when we get to the place of specialization because the stakes go up. As soon as you start to specialize your child, the expectations on the sidelines from other parents go up, from that coach goes up, and usually even for yourself on a personal level because you're investing that much more, so you're a little bit more outcome driven. Rhett Parker: Mm-hmm. Mm And outcome can mean a lot of different things because I'm going through it right now with my twins in soccer. And I don't care how much the teams win. I care about the training environment that they're failing. If that makes sense, like, who are you training against? Coach Jay: Yes. Yeah. Rhett Parker: Because when I watch and I actually just had this conversation with my son. I watched you guys warm up. I go are you giving 100 % he's like well no we're just warming up I go well why aren't you taking every drill seriously you're you're getting up in the morning and you're doing some stuff at the house now coach we told you like you want to go do this and this and this and we'll we will support you but you have to show that desire. to want to get better for us to do that. You guys are messing around before the game. Then I look over and there's one specific game I was talking about. look at the other team is just ready. And they're probably not as good as us. They tied us because they scored two goals in first five minutes because they were ready. They wanted to come out and just smash us and they did. And I go, why aren't like, why didn't you want to like, let's, let's go like, well, my teammate won't. Coach Jay: Yeah. Yeah, right. Right. Yeah. Rhett Parker: that doesn't control your actions. expectations is really what I'm trying to say like, you you want to be good as a kid, your parent, like, what are the parents expectations? Because mine is if you tell me you want to be really good, when I come watch you warm up, you're going hard. And you're trying to get ready to go if if you tell me, ⁓ man, hey, dad, I just want to have a lot of fun and play with Coach Jay: Mm-hmm. Yes, yes, yes. Rhett Parker: play with my buddies and practice once a week and then go play a game. I'm not when I go to the field, I'm going to if you could do whatever you want warming up, it's not gonna be as long as you're getting loose and make sure your body's just gonna get hurt. My expectation is a yes. So how much are you seeing of that being a core issue of problems within youth sports? Coach Jay: That's right. Yeah, your expectations are appropriate. That's right, yeah. Yeah, it's big. think parents go in there where they don't have clear expectations. And it's not just enough to know it for yourself. Everybody that's involved has to be a part of this. The kids have to know what the expectations are before you sign them up. Perfect example, you for you came down on your son and said, hey, listen, that's not what I expect. You show up, you should be up there having, ⁓ you should be on the line. You should be pushing your ⁓ out of anybody that's on that field. And when you come here, I want to see sweat coming down. If you're saying that, but your son's going into it with the attitude of this is just rec, I'm just supposed to be here to have fun with my buddies, you're setting that child up for failure. So expectations being set with your child is really important. Setting those expectations appropriately as your parent and then being consistent and disciplined. can't show up to a rec program and have those expectations. It's not fair on your child. So just make sure that you've set those expectations accordingly. And it's interesting you brought this up. Rhett Parker: right. Coach Jay: At Sportball, one of the things that we do with kids is we actually help them to understand expectations around winning and losing. Because it's a non-competitive skill-based program, so the kids at this, when they come to Sportball, competition is not the point. The point is, is your skill development. what do we, and so inevitably though, know, competition is innately built into sport, and we eventually move to a situation where we now implement those skills into a game situation. And we have kids at varying levels of expectation. We have some kids that think that we're about to hand out the World Series trophy at the end of the practice. We have some kids that are like, I'm just glad I showed up. This was sweet. Let's go get some ice cream. And they're all playing the exact same game. So what we actually do before that game begins is we actually have the scale of winning and losing that we take the kids through to help set expectations in terms of how they should react if they lose that game. So what we do is we take them from Olympics and World Cup soccer. Rhett Parker: Hehehe. Coach Jay: all the way to sport ball, like just a recreational non-competitive, just a skill-based, having fun type of program. And we actually walk kids through it and it's remarkable to see how they answer this. So we'll say, at the World Cup level or the Olympic level, how much time, effort and energy goes in to get into that point? The kids are like, their entire life, they only, I mean, four, it only happens once every four years. They invest their heart and soul into it. So what do you think is a reasonable reaction when they lose? Could they cry? Could they get upset? They may kick a chair and the kids are like, of course, because they may never get a chance to have that experience again. You're absolutely right. So on par at the highest level of emotion because it's the highest level of performance. But what's down one below that? And then we work our way down. Well, then they're like, well, maybe like the Stanley Cup finals or the World Series because it's at the professional level, but it happens every year. So it's not a World Cup. It's not the Olympics, but it's there. Right. So emotion. in line and what's below that and we actually work our way back from college ball to high school ball to then recreational ball to then all of sudden just like playground showing up to sport ball or learning some skills on a field. So where should your reaction be if things don't go your way and they and then it's like an aha moment for the kids but it's interesting because without that mental exercise a lot of the kids are reacting like they just lost the World Cup even though they're just here to develop some skills. So expectation is really important and you should be intentional with it. as a parent, as a coach, because I think it's important for kids to understand what they're signing up for and what conduct in that moment is supposed to Rhett Parker: Do you I have a child who might be the most competitive person I've ever been around. And he's gonna get mad when he loses. And I were working really hard to funnel that in the right direction because I love it. And it might be a little bit different than your philosophy. I love it because man, I know he's passionate now. And we've been working really hard. How do we funnel that into work ethic or being a good teammate or picking people up and understanding there is a next game. Coach Jay: requires. Rhett Parker: There is a next at bat. There is a next free throw there, whatever it is, it doesn't matter. But man, I love the fact that he cares and he's passionate. So again, there's, and there's some parents of some teams I've coached that he's been on and he's very young that like really don't like it because their kid is, picking grass, whatever, kind of like you talked about the different levels, different expectations. Coach Jay: Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Sure. Sure. Rhett Parker: And I'm like, I don't mind that your kid is just out here to pick grass. They're five, six years old. I think that's great. And as long as they're listening and having fun and being a good teammate and, and ⁓ I back and forth sometimes, ⁓ but that kid's going to be successful. The one thing I do know about a lot of the kids I coach, people that like don't like it, they find a way to get better and change the outcome ⁓ most the time. Coach Jay: Sure. Mmm. Rhett Parker: But you gotta funnel it and you gotta understand like you can't hold on to it. And if you wanna get angry for a minute, get angry for a minute. Great. Turn the page. What's your take on that? Cause it sounds like it's a little bit different than some of your philosophies. But like we just said earlier, not everybody's the same. So you're trying to find a way to maybe it's not universal, but talk to me about that. Coach Jay: I That's right. Yeah, yeah. So I want to be very clear. I am one of the most competitive people that I know. I love to win and I hate to lose. And that is something that has been breaded me from, both of my parents used to feel, Jay, why are you sitting in the basement with the lights off? You guys just, you just lost the basketball game. And I was like, you don't understand. This is my life. I've dedicated my heart and soul to this. So, and I got to tell you, the competitive spirit that I had on the court and on the field allowed me to hit certain Rhett Parker: Yeah, that's awesome Coach Jay: achievements in my professional career that I wouldn't have hit otherwise unless I had that same drive. Right? So you do not want to extinguish that. In fact, you want to foster it, you want to grow up. But to your point, you said it, it's how do you channel that effectively? So I have a little girl at home, my oldest, she'll chase butterflies all day. And my youngest, I have to sign up for jujitsu. I don't know. I don't know what it is. It's got to be survival of the fittest kicking in early. Rhett Parker: Bingo. Bingo. Yep. What's what the youngest Coach Jay: I gotta put her in Shijitsu or something to channel this energy. Like at the end of every night, we wrestle at the end of every night, because she's not going to sleep unless she gets this energy out. So we're on top of the bed and I'm doing, ⁓ she's flying elbows ⁓ and clotheslines, all it. ⁓ But I channel it appropriately. And one of the things that I think is really important is, like I said, ⁓ having your child some empathy, just realizing two things. One is, ⁓ there's nothing against, her personality and how she wants to conduct herself in any one way, shape or form, as long as two things. One is she doesn't do something to hurt herself or hurt somebody else. are the two, like safety I think is always paramount. And being empathetic, meaning that everybody sees this world through a different lens. And so, cause she sometimes gets upset if the kids on the team don't look like they're trying as hard as she is. And I get that too. And she has every right to feel that way, but it has to be in the appropriate environment as well, right? So I make sure that I put my daughter Rhett Parker: Yep. Yep. Mm-hmm. Coach Jay: in places where that competition, that competitive spirit is actually celebrated. And there's an expectation from everybody, parents, kids, coaches. I try not to, if she's going to go do something recreational, then I actually will absolutely role play with my daughter. Cause I know what the outcome is going to be. But if she experiences it first with me, and she, cause I know inevitably she's going to lose something and she's going to get upset. But if I know there isn't a trophy or there is an award in place that she's going to be striving towards, and this is literally for fun. Rhett Parker: Mm-hmm. Coach Jay: I have that conversation before I even get there with her. Now, it doesn't always save me, but that's right. But the goal as a parent is to minimize the risk. That's it. You can't control the outcome, but you can certainly minimize the risks of anyone that you're trying to avoid by being a little bit more preemptive. Rhett Parker: Correct. Yeah. Hey buddy, it's coach pitch and we're not keeping score. And the other coach doesn't care if he's out or safe. We're trying to move the game along. So when you yell at the other coach, I have to sit you on the bench because you're six and you're like, dude, and my wife was a very humble player, very didn't talk to say a lot. I probably wasn't as much. she, she's like, ⁓ she's like, ⁓ my God, it's so embarrassing. I go, I Coach Jay: Bingo. Rhett Parker: I hear you like try being on the field and that's your kid like it's worse. So we, we, we started to make him sit with her in the stands and go, this is the consequence. We, we, we told you and you need to calm down. And once you calm down, you come back and if you, if you want to apologize to your teammates and me and the other coaches, we'll put you back in the game. Coach Jay: Yeah, right. Yeah. Mmm. Rhett Parker: And then he was like stubborn the first couple of times. And then he, I'm sorry, sorry. And then he's like back in it. honestly, it happened probably a quarter of the games. I mean, you're like, dude, yes. Yup. Yup. Coach Jay: Great. Yeah. Yeah, because the game is the oxygen, right? Your kid loves the game. That's his oxygen. And when you deprive him of it, even for a little while, he wants to get back there. And he realizes the stability. And I love the fact you said you and your wife. You guys have to be that stabilizing force for your kids. think that's probably a lot where children learn what they live. And when they see mom or dad losing their cool or they lose their emotions, the kids are taking in all of that. And so to have somebody that that stable, which is like, I know they love me. They have my best intentions at heart. I'm their favorite player on the field. And they're asking me to come and sit beside them because something about my conduct is not worthy enough for me to be out there. Like they may not have the words to articulate it like that, but that's what they internalize. And if you're consistent, and I think that's what parenting really is all about, is just consistency is showing up every day. Then eventually you are going to see an uptick in your child's behavior in the direction that you're trying to have them go. Rhett Parker: And yeah, cuz I was joking with one of my college coaching buddies the other day about it. And I was like, man, if you give me 15 of that guy, we're gonna win a lot of games at a higher level. We just are cuz they're just gonna figure it out and we just gotta make sure that he doesn't try to hurt somebody or yell at the umpires. And the reality is, unfortunately for me, he's gonna do that sometimes. And we're just going to have to continue to work on it because that's just the way it is. And, it's passion. And I really want parents to hear. I'm going to go to things and I want your opinion on them. Okay. ⁓ The ⁓ is you be a chef. And as long as doesn't have to be sports, ⁓ you be a drama person. You can be a robotics person. Man, if you're that's what your kids into. Coach Jay: Sure. Rhett Parker: Get behind that maybe it's not as fun for you for you, but it ain't about you It's about your kid and what they want to do and what their passion because your relationship with them is gonna be stronger And I what I hear a lot of sport ball That's what you're trying to achieve in sports, but maybe it's not even sports Coach Jay: Hmm. That's right. Yeah. That's exactly right. it's when you think of like, parents at that level, our goal really is to again, minimize the risks that, ⁓ not the risk, but also set the child up for success. So when we start with young kids in our programs and we have parent participation class, they're already honing those self-regulation skills, those social skills that are innately built in. So it's almost like when you're developing a sports skill, you can't help but develop the social skills that go with it. That emotional regulation. the ability to empathize with a teammate, ⁓ to win and lose, to use pro-social language, understanding the concept of teamwork and fair play. All of those things happen at the youngest of ages. So what we see it as being is, it's almost like preventative care. So as your kids get older, they've already developed some of the social skills that they need so that when they do have that competitive, like I see a ton of competitive kids in our sport ball classes, a ton of them. And they start out the same way, where it's like, what do mean we're not keeping score? Or, know, the only child on the court, I keep score at home with my dad all the time, so why are we not keeping score? To the point where they don't even keep score in their head, even though the coach at Sportball may not be keeping score, because they're built like that. But what I find even with those kids is, if you start to focus on the leadership skills and the social competency and the self-regulation, it's really remarkable, because then in the game, they start, start realizing that, wow, if I pass, we can still have the same outcome. We can still score a goal. If that person's open, I don't have to be the person scoring the goal in this situation. All of sudden, their court vision starts developing a little bit more and their turn taken starts developing a little bit more. And then they start to realize that this isn't a sprint, this is a marathon. And it's remarkable because learning happens without them even realizing it. But it's because the coach is intentional. and the parents are educated. So the conversations that you're having with the child is not just about, you score today? Did you win today? It's not just that. It's, know, do the names of the ⁓ kids are in your class? Did you help anybody that was struggling out there on the field today? Did you go up there and help demonstrate this at the skill practice with the coach? And all of a sudden the kids start looking for other opportunities for success. And I think people conflate winning with success. ⁓ Winning is a type of success, but it is not the only success, especially in the sports environment. if we only counted the successful athletes as winners, ⁓ everybody the NBA would be considered a loser when Jordan was going through his run of six championships. Thank you, right? But he is one of the most successful NBA players of all time. was on the All-Star team, he went to the Olympics, he won the MVP, very successful athletes. And I think we have to just make sure that kids understand that. Rhett Parker: Charles Barkley. Mm-hmm. Coach Jay: There are other ways to measure success in a class as well as parents in that program as Rhett Parker: And you'll to your point, you'll know when it's important to win. Like you'll know. And I wanted the second part of that kind of sort of alliance because if you and your wife or husband are not aligned, you're screwed. You're screwed. I just I've seen it so much and that is so important that you guys are aligned in youth sports. Coach Jay: 100%. Rhett Parker: or you, you're, it is. Coach Jay: It's frightening. It's, know, Napoleon Bonaparte said the best way to conquer people is to divide and conquer. And kids, I'm sure they don't know who Napoleon is, but they seem to have that instinctually. They can tell when mom and dad are not on the same page. And it can tear a relationship apart. And kids, like I said, they learn what they live. But to know that they can have a conversation with dad in one room, they can walk into the next room and mom's gonna back up everything that dad just said. you have your disagreements. Rhett Parker: Mm-hmm. Coach Jay: but you have it, you don't have to have them in front of the kids. You guys are this team, you're both head coaches in that family. You sit with one another, you talk it out, you make sure that you're both on the same page. And that governs everything. It governs your interactions with your kids, it governs your interactions with the coach, it governs your interactions with the other parents at the field. It's just being that unified front for those kids. Man, having that stable force at home, makes a world of a difference. Rhett Parker: world. I mean, it's not even close. ⁓ So I really loved hearing about sport ball. ⁓ Give us your, as we wrap up here, give us your best ⁓ piece advice. ⁓ And going to two part you again. What's the biggest issue you see? What ⁓ are just struggling with? ⁓ it seems like We have no chance to get out of the new sports and and give us the best piece of advice coaches parents athletes could could be to one specific group or all three Coach Jay: Okay, thank you. These are two really wonderful questions. I'm gonna start, I'll start with the second. think there's a, the best advice I have for parents and coaches, it's not about the kids. We have to get it right as parents and coaches and organizations that we're a part of. We have to set the rules of engagement. To your point earlier, expectations, we have to make sure that our expectations are correct. At the lower levels where it's rec and the kids are developing those skills and the- fundamental skills, make sure that you have the right expectations around that and be supportive in that environment. You have to be just as much involved in a child's fundamental development of sports and recreation as you do at the competitive age. I think sometimes it's like, ⁓ I could be disengaging. I'm to drop my kid off. He's going to go up with the coach. He's just going to go have some fun and I can go do something else. No, I think that if you can pay attention in those early moments, it will completely impact how you interact. at the higher levels when your kid starts to do things at a competitive level. And the best advice I have is be a part of preventative care. Everyone always asks me, Jay, so what do you suggest to parents that are already in the thick of things and they're dealing with these competitive leagues and these travel teams where they're paying a fortune and they're not happy with the coach and there's parents yelling at their kid because the expectations are off and it's not even their kid. And it's so hard because that's treatment. you're now already a victim of the circumstance that you're in. And there may be an opportunity for you to even prevent yourself even from getting in that space altogether. And part of the reason is, and it happens at all, you see this in healthcare a lot, millions and millions of dollars are funneled in to treatment, but very few are funneled in to preventative care. And we see exposing children to sports and helping to develop their physical and social literacy at a young age as preventative care. If you can give them enough positive associations with sport at a young age. hopefully to develop a passion for physical activity. They have enough of a fundamental ⁓ understanding of the game so that they can pursue competitive sports. And then when they come out of competition, they're not lost. They don't feel like Andre Agassi, which I don't have a love for this game. I have a detest for this game because I was forced into this or the pressures of performance were too much. They have a lifelong love. They can go out and play ball with their boys. They can go play ball with their girls. They can... watch it on TV, they can still participate in it because they had enough positive associations with it at a younger age. And I think that will also lead to a lot less cardiovascular issues and obesity issues and sedentary behavior. All the things we like to complain about and wring our hands about on social media. Well, as opposed to talking about it, why don't we do something to prevent that even from happening? And I think it starts when kids are very young and it starts with mom, dad, coach, and the little ones in a really safe. Rhett Parker: I just had a little bit of an aha moment because my wife is a physician and you're 100 % right. I actually just realized that the youth sports market with clubs collecting money and this is not everybody I never paint a too broad of a brush. There's some really good people out there. Kind of like I mean the insurance companies don't want you to be healthy. Like they really don't. They don't. Coach Jay: their business goes away really quickly. Rhett Parker: Yeah, so preventative care doesn't really help them. Man, preventative care might not have people wanting to spend $10,000 a year on XYZ sport. Hmm. It's interesting. I'm just trying to, I'm I, and I've told people this before, man, I'm learning as much as anybody, man. I mean, I mean, this is I'm trying to survive these sports, just like you, and a lot of the parents you deal with, like, I don't have all the answers, neither do you. Like we don't. Coach Jay: Mmm. Yeah. Right. Yep. Rhett Parker: But I think the more we talk and the different people that we talk with, we're just trying to collaborate enough to make sure that other people's experience can possibly be the best, because there is no one right answer. There just isn't. But that's interesting. Coach Jay: That's right, that's right. It's a great point, it's a great point and then it boils down to you. So what do we wanna get out of this? What do we wanna get out of this for our kids? Because at the end of the day, 1 % of 1 % are gonna get to that professional level or gonna get to the level that we're all hoping one day our kids can get to because they have that drive, they have that spirit, they have the talent, But is that... Rhett Parker: Mm-hmm. Coach Jay: what happens to the 99 % of the general population that doesn't get there. So I think we just have to give that some weight as well. But yeah, very, very worthwhile conversation, certainly. And I just hope that if people watch this and listen to our conversation today, I hope they just realize this isn't, like you said, not everyone has a silver bullet. There is no answer. This is a marathon. It's not a race. But we have to come to the table and we have to want what's best for our children, not just what's best for ourselves. Rhett Parker: Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Well, man, I love it. Sportball, check it out. I was ⁓ kind of looking into it earlier today. I think it's a really cool thing. let's figure out what kids like to do. So, ⁓ Jason, man, thanks. Thanks for joining us today, man. ⁓ Again, I leave these episodes I feel like, ⁓ I'm learning a lot and I'm surviving by doing this. ⁓ Coach Jay: Yeah, yeah. We all are, Rhett. We all are, man. But I can't thank you enough for creating this platform for these types of conversations. This is how we're gonna make a difference. So I really appreciate you having me. Rhett Parker: So how people ⁓ involved with Sports Ball? can they find you? ⁓ Obviously it's growing. ⁓ It's North America type thing. And you know, what are your plans for it? Coach Jay: Thank you for asking. So they can certainly get a hold of me personally. If you go to LinkedIn, you can certainly find Jason D'Rocha on LinkedIn. Happy to connect with you. If you're looking for a sport ball franchise opportunity, we have franchises right across the country of Canada. We're only in five states in the U.S. and our focus is on growth in the U.S. There's a wonderful initiative that's a government initiative actually called the 6330 Initiative. They want to have 63 % of youth participating in sports by the year 2030. We want to get behind that. ⁓ So anyone that is wanting to bring sportball to their community within the U.S., please feel free to reach out. Go to sportballfranchise.com. And lastly, if you're interested overseas, we launched in Singapore in 2010. We're about to launch in New Delhi, India ⁓ on June 1st. We wanna make sportball a global brand. We wanna hit 100,000 kids by 2028. And we wanna work with passionate folks who are purpose-driven and have an entrepreneurial spirit.