Kyle Pless: We’re Building Young Athletes Backwards

Rhett Parker: Hi, and welcome to another episode of Surviving Youth Sports. And today we have Kyle Plesh, another basketball episode. I'm super excited. Love basketball and it's changed so much since since I was coming through. So I can't wait to chat with you, Kyle. Welcome to the show. Kyle Pless: Thank you very much, Brett, for having me. This is I've been very, very excited about this for a couple of weeks. Rhett Parker: Awesome, man. Have you I I I I watch like like I said, a few months ago, I'm not the best social media person, but I saw a video and I'm like, yes, this guy gets it and he's in the and he's and he's in the industry. and and I and I think your messages, and some of them are really funny, actually. and there's a couple I made notes on because I I I wanna I wanna talk about them, but I I think you're in the same boat, right? We're we we literally are just trying to inform people. To give them information to make quality decisions, right? Kyle Pless: Yep, agree. I agree. Yep. Rhett Parker: And you played college basketball Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Yep. Rhett Parker: and had a couple trouts for some NBA teams. Kyle Pless: Correct? Yep. Rhett Parker: And now you train mainly. You don't coach any teams, right? Kyle Pless: No, I I don't coach in a team, so I'm a player development coach, so basically I work with kids ranging from third grade to college on just the skills, the ball handling, the dribbling, the shooting, things like that. Rhett Parker: Though none of those are important anymore, man. You just gotta be able to Yeah. It Kyle Pless: No, it does no, it doesn't matter. Nope, it doesn't matter. Rhett Parker: as long as your metrics are there and you can jump out of the gym and have your quick first step, you you'll be you'll you'll you'll be totally Kyle Pless: Yep. Yeah. Rhett Parker: just like baseball, man. It doesn't matter if you throw strikes. If you throw 98, you're fine. But so let's let's get right into that. You have a background, you you have no kids, which is which is your perspective is gonna be gold, right? Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: because even though I played, I'm just sitting here, bewildered at where Kyle Pless: Mulla Rhett Parker: we've gotten and how we've gotten and it might as well have been a hundred years ago since you and I played. Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: I play AAU basketball and I also Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Right. Rhett Parker: play baseball and I also played football and and right before we got on we're I mean, right here's the zero chance, zero I could do all that today. Kyle Pless: Nope, no chance. Nope. Cause Rhett Parker: So Kyle Pless: you'd be told you'd be told what every kid gets told or parent gets told. Dude, well they're gonna fall behind. They're gonna fall behind. And it's not true. Like me and you, I played, I played football, I played baseball, I played basketball, and I ran cross country. But I think playing those four sports and having four different skill sets prepared me to be better as I got older. And I think that's what people have lost the idea of like The more you play, the better you're gonna get. Baseball translates to everything. Basketball translates to everything. I think we've lost we've lost that mentality, a little bit of like the more sports you play, the better you're gonna be, the more coordinated you're gonna be, et cetera. Rhett Parker: What age? Do you need to so I do believe you do need to start leaning into a sport? Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: Doesn't mean you have to stop playing the other ones, and it doesn't mean Kyle Pless: Okay. Rhett Parker: that you can't take your sport that you is your number one and put 70% of your time into that sport and 20 here and 10 here. It doesn't mean you can't do that. What age do you think? Because I'm going through it right now with with my twins that are seventh graders, 12. What age do you do that? And and we've sorta made the decision they're leaning into soccer, both of They're both running track. And k he plays baseball and she plays basketball. Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: Is it the red age? Kyle Pless: I think it I think it varies. Like I think, like, I mean, I would say freshman year high school, you Rhett Parker: Okay. Kyle Pless: know, you kind of I mean, I think middle school is ideally where you want to start, but the problem is we're pushing kids to pick their sport at seven. Rhett Parker: That's ridiculous. Kyle Pless: I mean, I have people that tell me all the time, like I'll have parents be like, I want to I want train with you and whatever. And the kid will be like nine and they'll ask me after a workout, well how come you didn't make any threes? Rhett Parker: Because he c can't get the ball. Kyle Pless: And like the kid well first of I was like, well, first of all, the great the great the Great Wall of China wasn't built in one day. We g he's gotta learn how to shoot first with good form before we put him out of three point range. Like every that's what I mean is like when we we talked before the show started, like everybody's in such a hurry. Like because you the the kid is ref, the kid is nine. He can't even shoot an elbow jumper without throwing it. But we want to shoot threes? How realistic is that's just not realistic. Yeah, it's this. It's this thing right there. Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: This one. This one. The shot button. Hundred percent. I s I can see it right now too. I agree with you, man. And it and it's really hard. I I made a video the other day. Our nine year old, who's super athletic, sort of can pick up the sport and be one of the better players on the team. He didn't make this regional thing and people have been asking me what's more it's in soccer. And on his team, which is one of the top teams around here, that that is a travel team, whatever, he scores a lot of goals and he's one of the best players on that team. Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Right. Rhett Parker: But his skills are averaged to below. Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: And I'm sort of sitting here, and this this regional things associated with MLS, whatever, I'm sort of sitting here and I'm going, because we were kind of shocked. Like, this guy's an athlete, he's big, he's strong, he's. Born in Wisconsin, like I Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: don't you wanna take that guy into your sport and like get him better touch and get I I understand because I actually talked to them because my oldest son is in their program, which is a little bit more training and trying to prepare them for Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: things that are coming, which is great. But I'm like That's a guy that I would if it's a baseball guy and he swings and misses 'cause he's pulls his head out too much, but when he hits it it goes a mile and he's got bat man, I'm gonna be like, dude, give me that guy, cause that guy's gonna be really good when Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: he's sixteen. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yep. Agree. Rhett Parker: What are we doing? Kyle Pless: There's that like me, like I was, I I'm I'm six foot eight for people who don't know and like I I mean I hit growth spurts all through school, but I never could develop any coordination 'cause I was growing so fast. But like coaches with me when I was younger always just believed in like he's gonna be tall, like let's work with him 'cause he's gonna be probably one of the biggest kids in the school and that helped me, but there's n there's not that anymore. if you're not if you're not up to the standard of VSPN sports in her top ten plays, you we we we don't care. for you, you're in the baseball world. I can't imagine the the things you see in baseball. I can't even imagine. Rhett Parker: And baseball's an interesting one because there's there's two there's two things that go on with youth baseball. One, the bats are so juiced, you can have a horrendous swing. Kyle Pless: Okay. Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: If you tap it and you have any size at all, it's gone. It is see ya, like bye. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: And well, there's actually three things. And then the big if you're bigger and stronger, you don't have to have very good fundamentals. And that's true for some other sports too. Kyle Pless: Yep. Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: But Then the fields are so small for some of the kids, they're just gonna dominate regardless. But Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: it doesn't actually help a lot of them, not all of them, but it doesn't help a lot of them because once you hit that 60, 60 feet, six inches, and 90 feet with a BB Corbat, you have a crappy swing. I don't care how strong you are, you're done. You're done. Like you're toast. So Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. True. True. Yeah, true. Rhett Parker: It is a very difficult thing to look at a kid who's having a lot of success at 12 and be like, man, this will not work, this will not work, and this will not work. We have to start to de use some of those things that you talked about earlier. We have to build that baseline of development. It's not gonna be perfect, it doesn't matter, but like Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: I don't imagine basketball's the the exact same. Well maybe it is. G give me the Give me the equation. I'm really talking twelve, thirteen and under here. Give me the basketball, equation for that. Like where where's basketball at? Kyle Pless: We just don't have we have a around here we have a lot of people that coach that are parents that have never played. Ohio. Ohio. Rhett Parker: What what state are you in? What state are you in? Okay, you're in Hawaii, that's Kyle Pless: So we have a lot of parents that coach, which I don't I'm cool. I have nothing against if you're voluntary and 'cause you want to help. I have no issue with that. We need more of you. But I think it's the okay, I'll give you an example. Last year there was a team ret that was a I think it was a six fifth grade boys travel team, right? They s they have scored 12 points all season. The coach, one day at practice, had them shoot threes for one full hour. Not dribbling. Hey guys, we've scored 12 points. Maybe we should learn how to make a layup. Maybe we should learn how to play some defense. But Rhett Parker: boof. Kyle Pless: we're gonna shoot threes for an hour. That's the kind of stuff that bothers me, is like what I do for a living, is like we we we have no We try to build young athletes from the roof to the ground rather than the ground to the roof. And it it drives me insane where these kids go you guys have scored twelve points all year and your advice is let's shoot threes for an hour. Rhett Parker: But and that's a travel team that pays Kyle Pless: Yeah, they're they're paying yeah, I don't even want to I don't even want to know the number 'cause it's out astronomical, but yeah. Rhett Parker: But but but I I I I do put some onus on the parents of dude, you gotta take a step back. And okay, Kyle Pless: Great. Rhett Parker: I'll take one step further. There's people that I know a lot in Seattle that play Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: on the the the C, the D, the E team. Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: It's it's not for baseball. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: It's social hour, it's babysitting, and Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: they're okay with it. They have the means, they have the money. And I and I think the ones that understand that, if that's what you want to do and it's social hour and it's, hey, we're on a travel team, but it's sorta serious, but it's not, have fun with it. I mean, that's and you Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: and you get to go on a travel tournament and get smoked or play in the lower brackets of it, I I'm all for it. However, what I would say is if you can't score or you are one and thirty in baseball. I'm all for you like calling yourself travel but man, you gotta find the right competition because I don't care what you say. There's no way those kids feel good about themselves, man. Like you Kyle Pless: Well, no way. Nope. I agree. No chance. No chance. Rhett Parker: can call yourself a travel team, you can practice more, go play in the rec league. Kyle Pless: Yeah. I mean I've had kids work with me and I'll ha usually have them from the summer, or usually from like my busy season is like June through when school starts back or like October. And kids will come to me, work out all summer, and then they'll go to the team and the dad or mom will be like, Yeah, he's he or she's regressed because they don't do any skill work at practice. It's all plays and stuff, and they're not getting the same coaching that they did when they were with me, where I'm like strictly on like, Hey, make sure you move your foot this way, make sure you keep your elbow in, things like that that People just don't really it's all about we've we've heard it a million times, it's all about wins and losses now. if you don't if you don't win it doesn't matter. Rhett Parker: Okay, but there's no there's no college coach and you're in the same boat I'm in, doesn't matter the sport. That came to me as like, hey man, how many games did that guy win? I mean, it's never happened. And I've been doing this for 15 years, man. Like it it it will exactly it'll Kyle Pless: Nope, never. It's never gonna happen either. Rhett Parker: it will never happen because they don't care. Now, are there some positives? If you play in a winning high school program or you're concerned about winning on the circuit that you're in in tournaments and you play to win and you do those small little things. Yeah, they'll ask about that. But like that's that's you in a silo as an individual, not a hey man, did you if your team your team didn't like nobody cares? But I do think it is good to win when you're younger because it it it Kyle Pless: Mm. Rhett Parker: feels better, it it it it gives you some pride, it gives you some passion for the sport, but y you you gotta find the you gotta find the right the right mix. And I just think it we're so off, right? Like Kyle Pless: Yeah. What do you feel Rhett Parker: All right. go ahead. Kyle Pless: how do you feel about the the people that and there's a lot of them and I have tons in my comments or DMs if you want to read About the people that have like the people that believe that recruiting and exposure starts when you're nine and ten years old. Rhett Parker: I mean, they're they're so off base. I I Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: can't okay, okay. I I I'll take I'll I'm gonna take this even further, man. I love it. Okay. So first of all, okay, and I know that you we'll get some trolls for this, because you said this and you pissed a lot of people off. And I was kinda there for it. I I I kinda loved it. There's no elite nine year old, there's no elite ten year old, there's no elite twelve year old, there's no like like Kyle Pless: Yeah, not such a chance. Rhett Parker: And and what we mean by that, go be great. No one again, me and another guy, Bobby Minor, were talking about this from baseball. Nobody is saying, don't go be a dude, man. Go be a dude. It's fun to be a dude. Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: What we're saying is when we talk about being elite, your body's physically matured. You you you are able to control your body, you are able to go to things that are free because you've hit that level. Of you are a high-end college player, you're a pro player, whatever. There's no eliteness. It honestly, until you get to high school, basically, like you can make some arguments. I've seen some stuff with eighth graders that hey man, they're elite. You can you you like Kyle Pless: Yeah. Agree, agree, I agree. Yes. Rhett Parker: but it that's such an outlier that like there is no elite, man. And I'm sorry if you want to call yourself elite, but you gotta take it in context of what we're talking about, right? Kyle Pless: Yep, agree. Like I made the like the the the video I made re before that one about Steph Curry's dad pulling him out pulling him and stiff out of AAU because it wasn't teaching them what they needed to hear. Go read the comment section. People are like, Well, they have the resources to do that. Most families don't. I'm like, the ar I was like, the argument of this post is not about who has the money or who has resources. The argument of this post is how these programs don't really help you with development. They just help you play more games, which is great. But they're not the sole focus is not getting better. The focus is win, whatever you want to consider it. But like people are like, well, not everybody has the resource. I'm like, it has nothing to do with that. Nothing. Rhett Parker: Nothing. It's it's it's it's the mentality of the parents, because Kyle Pless: Yes. Rhett Parker: the parents are the ones writing the checks on Kyle Pless: Correct. Rhett Parker: what they value and how they want to spend their time and money for their kid. Kyle Pless: Yeah, agree. Rhett Parker: That's the reality, man. And I I will give my dad and I think I said this I actually said this on the last basketball episode is why it's been a while, but I was really good at basketball locally. Okay. Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: My dad goes, All right, let's not be the best player in the gym. Went to the Boys and Girls Club in Kyle Pless: Yeah. Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: the whole Boys and Girls Club, and I'll shout out Al Davies Boys and Girls Club in Tacoma, Washington. There's like there was like Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: there was like five white people in the whole club. Okay. And I'm Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: at this time we had sort of, we were grew grew up in a little rougher section, but we were sort of out in a suburb. at this time when I was in elementary school. And not only that, I played up because he didn't want my back to the basket because I was one of the taller kids from my grade. So so my dad's like, you Kyle Pless: There it is. Yep. Rhett Parker: think you're good? Okay. Only white guy on the team. A couple of those guys played in college. One guy played in the NFL. man, I'll tell you what, man, my eyes were like this. Whoo, baby. First practice. First practice. If you're if your guy scored, if your guy scored, you got punched in the stomach. And I'm like, my goodness. I'm thinking I was in fourth going into fifth grade. I was like, my God. And I'm I'm not even worried. I get the ball. I'm like, it's like a hot potato. I'm passing Kyle Pless: yeah, yeah, yeah. Rhett Parker: it. I'm like, my God. Like, I'm not, I don't want to get punched. and and I I I s I tell that story because and and we were a really good team. I actually started on that team, not because Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: I was the best player or or but because I passed. I played defense. I boxed out. I hit open shots and didn't drive all the time. And there was guys on the bench, honestly, that were probably better than I was. But I had the fundamentals down, and it was really hard to go from, scoring all these points and taking the ball up and down the court to like. Man, my role is completely different here. Like it was so good for me. I I it changed my Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: life and my perspective on life because a lot of the people I played with had nothing. Nothing. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: I I don't even think that exists anymore. Kyle Pless: Nope. Nope. It does not. You're right. Well, and and and like too, like, and I don't mean this as like because you I mean, you watch a lot of us watch the NBA and you know, like take take Nicola Jokic for an example. Like he's really, really good because he has mastered the fundamentals. He's not the most athletic. He doesn't have a 40 inch vertical. He's not dunking with his elbows, but his fundamentals on the block and his footwork is better than most people that have ever played the game. And that's why he's so good. And I try to tell people that all the time. It's not about You know, everybody wants to be Curry or LeBron. I'm like, well, first of all, you're not gonna be a sixteen year old phenom Akron, Ohio, so let's stop. Secondly, we can't pull up from the logo because we're ten years old. Like master the footwork stuff first and then talk about all that other stuff. Rhett Parker: And okay, so you got we're talking about the youth. Sorry to piss everyone off. it's not meant to, it's not meant to discourage anyone, it's not meant to put you down as a parent. If you value those things, that's awesome and you have every right to. but we don't. And that's that's okay. We can have our own opinion. you said something earlier, I want to get back to it. Okay. We started talking about elite, okay? We started talking about re recruiting a little bit. I'm on a phone with a head division one coach at a Power Force school the other day. He's a good friend of mine. We're talking about the class of 2028. So juniors in high school. Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Okay. Rhett Parker: And he goes, We're moving at a glacial pace, Rhett. I'm not gonna go on that guy. I like him. I think he's really good. And he's gonna be really good when he's 21. I don't think I mean, he's probably a division one player, but he's not gonna play here. He's good enough to skill wise to play here. So guy, parents, because I'm gonna ask about basketball 'cause I got a feeling it's in the same boat. Okay. We're talking about junior in high school as a dude. He's a dude. This school and most schools right now are they can't even move on him because they don't know what the portal's gonna look like. They don't know who they're gonna get. They don't know what the junior college is gonna look like. You're talking about a seventh, the kid is about to turn 17. And the and he's a dude. He's a dude. They can't move on him. So you talk about we gotta go, we gotta do more. Bull. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: Fool You don't. Kyle Pless: You don't, right? Rhett Parker: So I I going back to the kid, because they the parents and the kid asked, and they're being great about it. I go, so you brought up Akron, okay, and there's really good baseball school that just won the Division III title, Dennison, okay? I tell Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Yep. Rhett Parker: people all the time: go watch Denison play. Do you ever do this? Go watch Dennison play a game and tell me, go watch your position. Let's say you're a you're a you're a two. Go watch them play and tell me that you're better than that guy. And then go watch Akron, who's really by the way, who has dudes in basketball, Kyle Pless: They do. Rhett Parker: and go watch them play and tell me you're better than him. Kyle Pless: Yeah, agreed. Yes. Rhett Parker: So where where's bas like where is basketball? What do you tell people? like g god, it's and it's a hard world out there too, man. It really is. Kyle Pless: It's I mean for for parents, it's there's a two two part conversation. One is the parent, one is the athlete. If you're if you're a kid in high school, one of the things I tell him is please, please, please, be please be careful what you put on social media. Like if you're, you know, if you're a UConn fan and you like Dan Hurley, if Dan Hurley goes to your Instagram or your Facebook, is he gonna like what he sees with the pictures and the videos and stuff? Please, please be mindful of what you're posting. parents, like it's all, it's like we've got we've gotten to a point with some a lot of sports parents, everything what they need everything to happen so quickly. I equate it to driving. You ever been driving and the person pulls out in front of you and there's on a car behind you for miles? Why'd you did you why did you have to go in front of me? Why couldn't you just wait? Parents, just wait. Everything's gonna be okay. If your kid is gonna grow, he's gonna grow. Your timeline is different than your kid's. Slow down, relax. Everything's gonna work out how it should. Rhett Parker: But you have talked about this. The problem is is the parents are hijacking the experience now. Kyle Pless: Parents hijack the experience by, yelling at the coaches, yelling at the kids on the talking about the other kids on the team. like I I can't tell you, Rhett, how many basketball games I've been to and a coach or a de or a parent coach or just a coach in general will grab a kid by his jersey and throw him down in a chair and yell at him because he made a mistake. And I wa and I told myself when I started doing this, I would never yell or demean a kid to make them feel, to make them lose confidence. Cause we all know, even as adults, co s self-confidence is a very fragile thing. It comes and goes with what you're doing and how you're doing. But when you start doing it that age, that that's something they're always going to remember. And sometimes not for the best. So it's that, it's it's just the stuff I see is it's I mean, I'm sure you do in soccer and baseball. I've heard stories of soccer parents I can't even imagine. I've heard stories of soccer parents, baseball parents, dance school dance teams, hockey. And it's just like it's just not even a not even a my niche thing. It's every everybody. And I don't know and I don't but I'm I don't know how we got here. I don't I can't even I wish I could answer. How did we get so far away from what we did? We played because we had a good time. It was fun. We Rhett Parker: Yeah. Yeah. Kyle Pless: didn't care about we just wanted to play with our friends and play sports. Now it's you gotta be elite. You gotta be on this team and I yeah, I just I don't know how we got here. Rhett Parker: Well, I I it's two I I I believe it's two things. it's money and it's FOMO and people take the FOMO and turn it into money. And they're like, man, I I and and and I would say I mean I ran tournament businesses, man. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: I I ran I had had three of and I I I've been out of that industry for a while now. and I I made good money. I also tried to do everything right. And it's not possible to do everything right, but I tried to. And and Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Right. Rhett Parker: sometimes you have this thing where you're like, it's because it's different than running a team or training or doing the where it's like, God, the baseball person to me is dying over here. Because the the tournament person has to sort of make a decision that the baseball person doesn't, doesn't, doesn't like. And I was fortunate Kyle Pless: Right. Rhett Parker: enough to to get out of out of that world because it was starting to really bother me. But There's a lot of FOMO. and I I you don't have kids. And like I said, I my wife and I played. It's hard, man, sometimes even if what the hell you're doing, to not buy into it. It it is freaking hard. And man, you brought up training, right? The the the the twins who are twelve. w sort of have decided to lean into soccer a little bit more, which is their decision. We have Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: no say in it. I baseball and soccer are they don't mix the time of the year. They they don't mix at all. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: So my son is only gonna pitch next year. He's made the decision, he's done playing shortstop, he's done hitting. He never really liked hitting. So it's it's it's probably a great it's probably a great decision, but he has a lot of baseball friends and He's gonna have fun doing it, and they're doing track right now as well. And she's gonna play basketball for the middle school, and she's gonna have fun doing that. And people are like, man, how can they play other sports? Because they're 12. Like, they're they're they're 12, and they're starting to realize that they have to do more. And it doesn't have to be a lot more, though. Go dribble the ball or juggle the ball for 10 minutes a day. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: If you want to be really good at soccer, you have the time to do that. I'm not going to tell you to do it. Go do it. If you don't want to do it, don't do it. But but Kyle Pless: Yep. Rhett Parker: just understand that repetition and muscle memory and those things, if you do want to be the best version of you in soccer, you will have to do those things. You don't have to. But if you want Kyle Pless: Mm. Agree. Agree. Rhett Parker: to be here, then you'll have to start putting more time in than you have been. That's a fact. Kyle Pless: Yep. Rhett Parker: And that's if you want to accept that, great. If you don't, Mom and I'll be j we're gonna be just fine. Kyle Pless: Yep. Yeah. Well, I love what you just said too about how it's their decision, not yours. And I think there's a lot there's not a lot of that around where it's our decision, not theirs. Like we make them play, whatever. That was that's great. The fact that you guys are doing making it their decision. I think that's important too. That's something we've got away from too. Rhett Parker: Yeah, and it's and it's and it's tough because you have to break some things down for too. The the Twins play in E C N L. Do anything about soccer? Kyle Pless: No, not really. Rhett Parker: It it's basically the top league in the country. Kyle Pless: Okay. Okay. Rhett Parker: first game of their ECNL career is Saturday. This Saturday. It's four hours from here. It's four hours from here. Kyle Pless: Good luck. Okay. Rhett Parker: Against a team that's definitely better than us. Sorry if if people Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: on the soccer team listen to this. I I would be shocked if if it's a competitive game. I I I would. And I'm hoping it is. But but I my son doesn't want to hear this because he's living in La La Land about how good they're gonna do this fall. We're we're going against Seattle, which is way bigger than where we're from. The five best clubs in Seattle kind of have a a lock on soccer in Seattle. Most of these kids is the only sport they play, and they have a pick Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: of a litter from five times the amount of people that we do. And we we're oversaturated on teams here as well. Okay. It's gonna be tough, man. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: So winning, I was telling telling so my daughter plays with the boys. She's a bit of a different type of athlete. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: Most girls. And I'm trying to explain to her because she has way more even keel head than than the boys will. Winning might be losing five to one, and we play pretty well. That's Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: that that's the you're gonna have to that's gonna be a win on some of our games this year, man. Like Kyle Pless: Right. Rhett Parker: we can't quit. And we need to compete Kyle Pless: Right. Rhett Parker: and we need to work on getting better, and we need to I mean, sh she goes, I hate losing. Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: Great. Kyle Pless: We all do good for her, we all do. Rhett Parker: And and my wife, I was telling my wife that she was having this conversation with me, and she she looks at me and she goes, it's a great time to learn how to lose and continue to try to get better. Because it's it's gonna happen. So Kyle Pless: Yeah, it is. Rhett Parker: so you just we'll go back to this. We're gonna lose. Our club does not fare well in this league. Sorry. What's more important? Going and playing, these are the best teams in the Northwest, period. End of story. They're going Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: to get a lot better, even if they lose eight to nothing. What's more important? VAT? Or going and playing in a different league and killing everyone? Kyle Pless: Losing. Rhett Parker: It is. Kyle Pless: You get you get way better playing against kids that are better than you, stronger than you, faster than you. That's the only way you get better. And you think like your story earlier about you were the best player on the in the gym, but you had to go somewhere else and you realize, whoa man, I gotta get better. Some that's a for a lot of people that have, you know, internal drive, and especially a lot of young athletes, that's a motivating thing to be like, Well, maybe I'm only the good best player in my city, but I wanna be the best player in my state, et cetera. And I think losing is the best thing we can do. Rhett Parker: A hundred percent. Kyle Pless: 'Cause if you're crushing everybody, it's like your mentality's gonna be, Well, this is easy. I don't have to work as hard 'cause I'm already good. Rhett Parker: My my nine year old, that's his mentality. Until Kyle Pless: Okay. Rhett Parker: he got didn't make that thing and now he's like, Well, I wanna do this and he's already put more work in and you're just sitting there like, Bam. Good for you. Kyle Pless: Perfect. See? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: okay. We talk about we talk about parents and man, I love I love you saying this. And I think this is how I kinda caught on to you, but I can't remember necessarily. Kyle Pless: Okay. Yes. Rhett Parker: The people that played are the quietest. And I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you the guy who played JV or the guy who played JV in 1999. Kyle Pless: I'm yeah you Rhett Parker: I mean, I laughed so hard, I was like, yes, yes. Kyle Pless: Ha ha ha. So true. I mean, I look at myself and I just I don't have any kids, but I'll go watch my clients playing stuff and I just sit there and watch. I don't yell, I don't scream, I don't you know, whatever. And then you know the guy that's the overactive parent that played, you know, freshman basketball in nineteen ninety eight and didn't play Rhett Parker: Ha ha ha. Kyle Pless: anything and they didn't play anything after that, they think they're trying to and I know it's it's easy to say like they're living through their kids, but I think some people are. I think that they wanna be just so They want to live their life through their children's success. But yeah, like I've seen NBA players go to AU games. They don't say a word. They sit in the front row. They don't scream. They don't yell. They don't get ejected. They don't yell at the referees. And like parents that have never played are the loudest. And I I it it's so true. Rhett Parker: Yep. And I I have and and I I I would say I get loud and get pissed one there's only one thing I get mad at. One. Well technically two. Technically two, but it but it's it's essentially the same thing, has nothing to do quote unquote with the game. If the game becomes unsafe and the ref because I'm a tournament person, I if you do not have control, I will be the loudest person at the field of the gym because I've seen it happen and and I and and and and at my own events and stuff. If you lose control as an official, you honestly, a parent Kyle Pless: Over. Yeah. Rhett Parker: and a coach has every right to get in your face and get and get after you. Period. Kyle Pless: Okay. Rhett Parker: End of story. I will I some people don't agree with me on that. I I I got thrown out of a soccer game last year after someone got kicked in the head. And my daughter got shoved into a into a goalpost by a bigger kid. I mean, it's a boy. And she's on a field, like she's got to be prepared. But like there was no control. And Kyle Pless: Ooh. You got a shot, yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: I got I mean, he's like, You need to go. And I was like, I yeah, I mean, I was yelling. I will always get pissed at that. Or if an official or a coach or a parent starts yelling at players. Those are the only two times you'll ever see me get pissed. And I will get is I will get more pissed than anybody at the entire field, stadium, court, like because I know through my experiences how bad these things can get. It doesn't matter the sport. There's been fights that events I've had that it is so hard to control those things. And it all starts with losing control. of what's happening from an aggressive place standpoint or what people are yelling. I'll never I'll never yell about a call. They don't care. Kyle Pless: Yeah, no I don't care either. No. Rhett Parker: So what's your take? Am I I mean a lot of peop there's a lot of people that don't agree with me. Kyle Pless: My question, I'm I I'm not I'm just taking it all in. I think it's all great. You Rhett Parker: Yeah. Kyle Pless: I what what do you when you say what is your what's your biggest when you say that you are loud when you see parents screaming at players, do you get does it is it the fact that they're is it their own kid or another kid? Okay. Yeah. I agree. Rhett Parker: Other kids. you can yell at your own kid all you want. It's it's other kids and I can Kyle Pless: I I think you have no business telling Bobby what to do when your kid is whatever, you have no I mean, yeah, I I don't like that either. I don't disagree with at all. I think where it's just for me it's just like How do we have, like I'm working on right now, I wanna I'm working on right now, I wanna make sure that every youth coach in the country is certified. And Rhett Parker: Love Kyle Pless: what and what I mean by certified is you have to learn how to handle your emotions. You can't just lash out at a kid because he has a turnover. You can't just lash out at a kid because he runs out of bounds or doesn't get the ball within five seconds or whatever. We have to have a way that everybody has the tools they need to be successful where these kids have A have fun and B can take these lessons with them throughout the rest of life. That's my plan is to get something like that going, because I think everybody that coaches sports in the youth world should all be certified on how to communicate, how to talk to people, how to have empathy, and all those things. All those things are important. Rhett Parker: And every kid's a little different. You know, Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: there's some kids I coached. Man, if you don't get after a little bit, Kyle Pless: That's all also true, yes, correct. Rhett Parker: But but you have to, you gotta know what buttons to push for different kids. It's not one note, man. And it's and Kyle Pless: Yes. Yep. Yep. Rhett Parker: by the way, you know, I learned this coaching my own kid. The the way I treated the they would them when they were nine versus twelve. And by the way, the conversations of the dugout between nine, ten, eleven, twelve were are Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: I mean this last year at middle school, this last year, twelve year old, I mean me and a couple of the other dads, these Kyle Pless: Okay, Rhett Parker: are our oldest, were like, what the Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: Okay, like we we're out of elementary school. Kyle Pless: Well, like, speaking of like and I think communication's big too, 'cause I had a kid the other night that I was training and he's a really, really good three point shooter. He's about to be a sophomore in high school. And I was putting him through the shooting zero and he missed like four threes in a row, and I could just see in his face and his body language he was getting really frustrated and started to get those negative thoughts. I walked up to him during a workout, I took the ball, handed it to him, and I said, Look, I said, Your superpower is when you miss, you forget about it and you move on to the next play. Rhett, he hit the next five threes in a row. You have to be able to communicate with kids like that sometimes because you can see in their body language it's uncomfortable. They feel like they're failing, they feel like they're losing. And our goal as coaches and anything we do is like elevate these kids' confidence, get their confidence up to where it needs to be and then we can worry about, you know, what buttons we push and those kind of things. So Rhett Parker: Here's the problem though. I'll tell you what, this is the first time I've ever used a prop on here too. You see that? Kyle Pless: Money. Yep, true. True. Rhett Parker: I have to put on a show sometimes to make it look like I care. Kyle Pless: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rhett Parker: And I have to win to tell you I win to get you to pay me money to have your kid on the team. And and I'm I'm I'm I'm literally like, you just said it. So our 12U team was split a league as well, which was great. We had we had it we had such an amazing Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: run. We had amazing parents, amazing kids. So we break up, right? Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: And we're in in baseball, it's majors, triple A, double A. We were a good, you know, triple-A team, right? We had some really good players, Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Rhett Parker: we had some okay players, we had some inconsistent players, we had some guys that that that probably weren't great. The amount of people that recruited my son and his friends to play 13U baseball. I and and I'm in this world, Kyle. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: I was. I I still am. Floored. Floored. And I'm Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: like, we're not even like we're not even good. We're not even good. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: Like, like, and we have some guys that that that that might be okay, but like we're not the top level even around our area. Like we have some good Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: players. And then I'm like, man, there there's organizations I didn't even know existed. Right down the road. And I'm like, Kyle Pless: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Rhett Parker: you need him to try to get him to fill your team. And then okay, love it 'cause actually this is a great question that just popped in my head for basketball. So we've noticed this in baseball. There's so many freaking teams now. Kyle Pless: Mm, so many teams. Rhett Parker: But the roster sizes aren't big enough, Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: especially even in high school. So everyone's pitching, they're throwing the max every freaking weekend now. And I'm like Kyle Pless: Yeah. I can't even I can't even imagine. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: Where's how many arms do you have on your team? Not enough. So you have a team, but it's not really a full team because you need money to have at least part of a team. So you like, and then it's facility, like, and it's it is a vicious, it's not everybody, man. You know, I got friends that do a great job. But it's Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: a vicious cycle of like you and you and you probably shouldn't have a team, and your 11 guys should be spread out amongst these four teams. And now they Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: have 15 guys instead of thirteen. I man, and it is it is an epidemic in baseball that we don't talk about enough right now. I it's different in basketball because you don't have the throwing aspect, but I can't imagine Kyle Pless: Yep. Rhett Parker: it's that different. Kyle Pless: Well, I'll give you a money I'll give you a money story. So this high school, so the high schools were in in Ohio, they all have travel teams, they'll have A, B, C teams, whatever. And one of the high school teams had a tryout and they invited all the kids in the community to try out. They charge $300 per kid. Okay. So all these kids show up, they all walk in the gym. Rhett, not a single kid got a number. Not a single kid got a wristband, not a single kid got anything to identify who they are or how we picking this team. They all walk in, they all leave. They pick, they already had the teams picked before the tryouts. They took all those people's money and told them this is a tr this is going to be a fair tryout. All those and then my my thought process was, how do you if these kids don't have because when we tried out for stuff, we had numbers. Like zero zero Rhett Parker: Yeah. Kyle Pless: or zero one, so they could identify we'll keep number two, we'll keep number seven. Yeah. And Rhett Parker: Yeah. They taped it on too, by the way, guys. They just Kyle Pless: how do you how did you identify these kids? Because they had there was no numbers on them. It was everybody, it was everybody that made the team's dad is a coach for the like elementary school teams. And I can get and I and I work with not all of them, but a good 40 to 42 percent of them. Some of those kids have no business playing travel basketball. And that's the reality that we're in is that's a very, very sad part that some of those kids think they had a chance and they had no chance. Rhett Parker: So when you go through it Ever turn people away? Kyle Pless: Yeah, all that. Rhett Parker: See, w a and and I would tell you, the twins just started training and the guy they have is great, man. He's great. And they just started they Kyle Pless: Mm. Great. That makes me so happy. Good. Rhett Parker: they just started at twelve because we're like, we're not paying for this. Like you don't need to do it. You want to do it, Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: go kick the ball. By the way, you got a national champion in your house. Go ask her to go do it. Like, Kyle Pless: Right. Yeah. Rhett Parker: so we just started because again. It's it's probably time once a week. And then it's somebody that they can talk to about stuff that's not mom and dad, which I'm sure hopefully your athletes are doing with you. But he doesn't take everybody. That's Kyle Pless: Yeah, I don't either. Rhett Parker: how you friggin' know someone. By the way, that's how you know someone's a good trainer. Because I know this happened in basketball too. Dude, it's like everyone who played JUCO baseball is like, hey, I'm training at 75 bucks an hour. Like, what Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: And some Kyle Pless: I Rhett Parker: and I and listen, I'm not trying to beat anyone up. Everyone's gotta make a living. I I'm I I get it. But what value do you have to take this nine year old's money because you played it, you know, this junior college? Like that doesn't Kyle Pless: Well, I think too, like most of the people I have have been with me for at least more than three years. I rare I sometimes I'll take new people occasionally, but a lot of the people I've had I've just had forever. Rhett Parker: Mm-hmm. Kyle Pless: And there's a lot of loyalty there and trust and things like that. And I would say is my goal, I do this every session. I the kid comes in the gym. I'll have them warm up and I'll just talk to them about Everything. How hey, how's school going? How's how's life? How's your grades? How's how's your mom and dad? Whatever. I try to get them not to think about basketball or what's going on outside of the the gym when we're doing our workout. And to their credit, a lot of them will be completely honest with me. Well, Kyle, like, you know, my girlfriend just dumped me or I'm having a bad day at school or whatever. And, you know, we work through those things. But I think for me, my superpower is always relating to them like I am their age. If that makes sense, where I don't make that seem like I don't make it they enjoy coming. They don't go, my god, I gotta go Coach Kyle, he's gonna make me run. It's never it's never that from what I've been told. So Rhett Parker: That's awesome. Well, congratulations on that, because I I think everyone's experience is different. The the other part that it must be tough in your work, because I used to train. I was playing indie ball Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: and I got a body experience training, man. I I had no money. I trained Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: a lot and there was a few times I was like, my God, I am not because I worked at a facility. I was like, why is this person in here? Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: But it's It's tough to be honest with those people sometimes, man. It really it it it it it it really is, and have some of those honest connections about where they actually are and not pr promise anything to them. I feel like that's a lot of the times it's like, what do you do when a parent, and maybe this is more not just you, but the proverbial you Kyle Pless: Right. Rhett Parker: of of of trainers. They think then they just hand the dough, all of a sudden that guy's gonna hit a ball or throw a ball harder or make threes. Kyle Pless: I have so probably three years ago, I had a mom come to me and ask me if her son was going to make the seventh grade basketball team. And I told her no. And she was like, well, she made this look on her face, like, well, why? She's been with you all summer. I said, he cannot dribble with his left hand. And I said, I can only do so much in the hour I have him, but he has to do these things on his own, too. Like he can't just come to me and expect to be an NBA player. He's got to work hard. on his own by himself to approve his left hand. And she, to her credit, she has she was very gracious and grateful and she was like, You're right. And when the session was over, she looked at him and she goes, Why don't you practice on your own more? That's the kind of thing we have to be we have to be honest with people. We can't just say, Hey, we'll charge your we'll charge you fifty bucks, take your money and have no investment in that kid's success whatsoever. But also If the kid's not up to your standard as a trainer or as a whatever, don't take them just to have them because you're doing a disservice to everybody involved. Rhett Parker: Yeah, but that's happening. Everywhere. Kyle Pless: it is, it is, you're right. You're it you're right. You're right. Yep. Agree. It's money. I money. Rhett Parker: I mean my first ever prop. Kyle Pless: Forty billion what what I see there today, youth sports is a forty bil billion dollar industry. It makes more than the NFL's revenue. Think about that, people that are listening to that. Youth sports makes more money than the number one sport in the United States of America per year. I I can't even I I think about that number and I can't even wrap my head around like that is that that prop you just put up exemplifies that right there. Money. Rhett Parker: And we both have make and made money on that industry. But I I I put my head down at night, okay, and I'm not as involved as I used to be, nowhere near. I provide a lot of value. I provide an unbelievable experience. I still try to help as many people as I can. And if you're doing those things legitimately, then you go make as much money as you want. I I I that that for Kyle Pless: Great. Rhett Parker: me I always believe that. I just feel like you you asked how we got here, people are so scared that they feel like they can spend more money and things will click. And then people that played at Ajuco are like, Wow, this guy's making f $75,000 a year. I'm gonna go do that. I'm gonna start my own thing. I'm gonna like and there's Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: so many there's enough people that are like, here, here, I I'm falling behind. Like, it is just such a vicious Kyle Pless: Exactly. Rhett Parker: cycle, man. And I man I don't care what anyone says. I don't see a way out other than people like us and and and this podcast, which again, the the goal of this podcast isn't to be some global phenomenon. It's for the Kyle Pless: Right. Rhett Parker: few thousand people that might view. Kyle Pless: You're not trying to be on you're not trying to be on the Kelsey brothers pod? Rhett Parker: No, I'm good. I I think I'm gonna be okay. It's it's it's very therapeutic for me, man. honestly, Kyle Pless: Yeah, I agree. Rhett Parker: because people I've had some people ask me this. They're like, Man, how are you so confident in doing this or doing this? I go, one, we we let our kids make a lot of decisions. We guide them there. Like it's not a hundred and zero. But guys, I'm not confident all the time. You don't think I get hit sometimes? Like, man. God, what is going on here? When when our nine-year-old didn't make the team, we were like, what the? Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: We would have any other, and it was heartbreaking. He cried and it was heartbreaking to watch as a parent. And you Kyle Pless: Tough, yeah. Rhett Parker: have this desire in your in your body, Kyle, to be like, well, what can we do to help this? And this is someone that's hosting this freaking podcast that played Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: his wife, like who who get it? And we're having those thoughts, man. Like, Dude, I can't Kyle Pless: Great. Rhett Parker: imagine the same person who played JV, you know, basketball in nineteen ninety eight. You know, I I can't imagine what's going through their head though. I mean, they must be getting Kyle Pless: Mine. Yeah. Rhett Parker: hit ten times harder than than I am. Kyle Pless: Yeah, true. Yeah. Like I don't even know. It's like I I mean I I'd be honest, like I was I didn't play a liquid middle school basketball. I got cut seventh grade and eighth grade and then high s I said my summer of eighth grade year I said Started practicing and playing every single day, but it was a motivating factor for me. I think also now, too, where it's like if you are honest enough with a parent, your kid doesn't make the team, granted he gets a fair shot or whatever, we have a tendency to, well, the coach doesn't like him because of this. I'm like, is that really why? Maybe, maybe, but also too, like, did he do what was necessary for when he was supposed to? That's a big thing, too, or her. So, and like you you're a in a couple different experiments than me 'cause you have kids and you're in it as more than I am as far as that goes. But like what do you think is the if we could come up with one thing together to help this problem, what would what sh what would you come up with? Rhett Parker: We're missing, in my opinion, I'm just kind of noticing it. We're sort of missing a step. Okay. There is wreck, there is wreck out there. But it's so bad that like you it's almost you feel like if you have any competitiveness at all, you sort of feel like you're wasting your time. Then there's no next level. Of, like, okay, take it on the financial basis. Let's say rec costs $100. Okay, let's say travel cost $5,000. There's no $1,500 Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Middle round, yeah. Rhett Parker: solution or a thousand dollar solution or a $500 solution, even of like, here's a league that is more than rec, that that, but isn't travel. There's nothing. There's Kyle, there's nothing in the middle. There's nothing. Kyle Pless: That is true. That is true. Yeah, I agree. Rhett Parker: Because there's not enough money in it. There's not. Just think about it. There's not. Kyle Pless: Yeah, it's not. Rhett Parker: There's there's there's too much time to volunteer your time. You're not really gonna get paid. And then, you know, like you can't charge an like i i I I don't know what it is. Is it government subsidizing it? Is that what it is? Is it bringing it back into the s because to me You're probably looking at the the the schools, man, and going, Work Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: because then you can practice every day. You can pay that coach a stipend. You don't have to worry about gym time. That's probably what it is. And it won't be rack, man. Because Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: you'll have enough good players and you'll have enough time to practice and you'll play games and you won't have to pay tournaments. And I mean, God, it'd probably piss Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yep. Rhett Parker: a lot of people off at a friends of mine, but and then if you don't want that. Go go do travel. But the fear is, is that like you take the people on the school team, they'll be people that try to do both. And they'll burn out. It c it just it's such a Kyle Pless: No. Rhett Parker: I don't know man. Thank God I don't have to try and solve that problem, I guess. but I think we are though, Kyle. I think you getting in front of the camera and you have you you have a good following of people and what you're saying is is true, even if it pisses people off. Kyle Pless: It it's the comment section's a wild place to be, Red, I'll tell ya. I read some of those comments and I go, This is not even I I can't even I don't even know what you're saying. It doesn't make any sense. Rhett Parker: Yeah. And you have every right to make that comment. If you feel like we're wrong, this is the beauty of of I think what we're discussing here and plenty of other conversations we've had. If you don't like it and it doesn't work for your family, don't do it. We're not even saying what you're doing is wrong. We just maybe don't agree with it. Yes. Kyle Pless: Correct. Yeah, we're just giving you an alternative because we are people that have played at an exceptional high level and we can give you some insight that maybe you haven't considered because as we both said, JV in nineteen ninety eight. Rhett Parker: And by the way, you look at our level, dude, we're not even, I mean, you talk about the the highest level, we're not even close. We're not even I remember Kyle Pless: No, no, no. Rhett Parker: being on fields with guys and you've been in basketball gyms where you're like, my God. Dude, I got no shot here, and I'm really good. Kyle Pless: Yeah, different animal. Yeah, like watch l like like watching LeBron in high school was like watching a grown man against eight year olds. Rhett Parker: Right. Kyle Pless: Like it was just it was just bigger, faster, stronger than everybody, and it was just it was unreal. I mean it that's where Rhett Parker: And by the way, some of the games that he played against other those were good players. Kyle Pless: Good players. They went D one. They all went Oklahoma and Xavier and Nebraska and Ohio State and he made them all look like children. So there Rhett Parker: Yep. Kyle Pless: so there, hey anybody listening, that's when you're elite. Rhett Parker: Yep. Yep. Well, I I I here here's an interesting take, because I've said this a little bit about kids over the years and some some some former players of mine that I did I have good relationships with, I'm so close with, and I know you you obviously just said it with LeBron. It it's not even that you're bigger, stronger, faster all the time. You are, but the game and it's so hard to explain this to people that never played the Kyle Pless: Slows down. Rhett Parker: It just looks like they are, it's just slow for them. And they might not be the fastest person. They might not be the biggest or strongest. They obviously have some of those traits and attributes. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: But it just, I mean, they take a pitch in baseball. It's a really good and it looks like like nothing. And you're like, okay, you're different. Like, it's hard to explain Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: that to people. Kyle Pless: It is. It is. it's like when you get like some kids will get the ball in basketball and you can tell my how I was like, what's the game look like when you get the ball? They're like everything's moving a hundred miles an hour. And you ask some kids that, are a little bit more advanced and better, they'll be like, I mean it's it's pretty slow and like that's what I need you to know is it's you slow your brain down. You're good. Well like Rhett Parker: Yep. Yep. Kyle Pless: well like in like a baseball river, it's like like like look at look at Otani. How are you this guy's pitching and hitting thirty home runs a year like it's no big deal. Rhett Parker: Yep. It's nothing. It's nothing. And and people, you know, go to the next part of it too. It it's slower, but also, you know, everyone wants to talk about there's this way to swing and launch angle and all these things. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: And everyone wants to use Aaron Judge, Aaron Judge, Aaron Judge. Well, man, like I I I I again, and that swing might work for people. I'm not a you have to do drive line or you have to do this or you have to do that. Like you're six eight. Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: The guy who's 5'10, his mechanics are not going to be the same as yours. I I the your training methods should not look exactly the same. I there's baselines for everything, but they're always gonna be different. But Aaron Judge is 6'6, 250. He can do things that most people can't do. Like, don't teach Kyle Pless: Correct. Yeah. Correct. Rhett Parker: a guy who's gonna be 5'10, 175 to hit like Aaron Judge. It's not gonna work. Kyle Pless: Yeah. You'll you'll appreciate you'll appreciate this fun fact, being a baseball player. My dad actually used to play for the Cincinnati Reds. Rhett Parker: Okay. Kyle Pless: He was on the he was on the big red machine from sixty-seven to seventy-five. He was a pitcher. And Rhett Parker: Really? Kyle Pless: yeah, he's always he's always said to me, like baseball is he doesn't really watch as much anymore, but he always used to like talk about how like you're a good baseball player when you can swing level and not look like you're trying and the ball goes far. Like his example of like perfect slings is like Ken Griffey Jr. and Tony Gwynn. Like just textbook. Griff Rhett Parker: Griffey. I mean, I grew up watching Griffey Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: all because see I was there all the time. I mean, it was just it was effort. Effortless. Effortless. He doesn't get people don't know. If Kyle Pless: Yeah. he was the he was the best. Rhett Parker: he doesn't get hurt, I mean you talk about Barry Bond's home runs. Griffe's at eight hundred plus. People have no Kyle Pless: Agree. Rhett Parker: clue. no clue. Kyle Pless: Okay. Rhett Parker: but genetics play a large role, and that's why the the elite We say that about the elite 9, 10, 11, 12U player. They aren't elite because you don't know what their genetic makeup is going to be. You just don't know. And man, if you want to call Kyle Pless: Agree. Rhett Parker: your kid elite, call him elite. If you want to pro pump him up and that works for your kid, man, I am not going to, downgrade what you think, but I I want the parents to understand it doesn't equate to your kid being a dude. when he or she is twenty. It does n it means nothing. That's why we say it. Kyle Pless: No, Rhett Parker: I'm like we're that's gonna be a clip. I already know you know the our producer's gonna make that a clip, Kyle. And there's gonna be people that get pissed. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Well, I would say anybody out there listening that has anybody that plays any kind of sport, especially if you play basketball. My roadmap for development is always the same. Eight to ten, make sure they love the game before you do anything else. Worry about travel ball and stuff. Then eleven to like thirteen, eleven to fourteen, focus on the fundamentals, their footwork, their spacing, their dribbling, their ball hailing, all that stuff. And then 15 to 18. Let them do it. Push them to be as good as you think they can be. But don't do it before then. Because you're skipping, as we just talked about, a lot of steps. Fo f follow the roadmap. You'll be f you'll be good. I know it's Rhett Parker: Yep. And by the way Kyle Pless: hard to hear to wait till fifteen because it seems like it's a far away away, but like just let them let them fall in love with the game first, everything else. Then they'll enjoy going to practice and they'll want to get better because they enjoy it, not because you're making them play. Rhett Parker: And by the way, just unfortunately, there will be a kid who does none of that, who's going to pick up a ball and be better than your kid. Kyle Pless: Also true too. Also. Also true too. Rhett Parker: I I I I when I dude the guy I room with in spring training, man, he he he drank he drank a lot, a lot of alcohol, man. he'd Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: roll out of bed, he grabbed the ball, and we sat in ninety six, ninety eight. Kyle Pless: Yeah, and it just j just it's it's gonna happen, but yeah, it doesn't it's not a reflection of how your kid's not there. It just not it just yeah. Genetics play a role and so does this. Rhett Parker: Nope. Nope. Nope. And and but but but but what I what I will say is that guy never pitched in the big leagues because Kyle Pless: Okay. Rhett Parker: he didn't take care of his body at all. And he ended up getting hurt and breaking down. And so Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: it doesn't mean just because you have that talent either, Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: but just just work hard, have fun, build passion for it. So we gotta wrap this up. Kyle Pless: Cool. Rhett Parker: what advice Do you wanna give what's the takeaway that you wanna give any parents, coaches, players, all three? from from from from you that's that's obviously been doing this and doing a great job for a while. Kyle Pless: I try I want to say any parent that's out there, any young athlete that listens to this, coaches too, when you're starting at when you're trying to develop a young athlete, please, please, please start with the foundation first and work your way up. Don't start with the roof and go backwards. Because if you can't when you're building a house, you start with the foundation, that's how everything holds, everything stays, everything doesn't move. If you skip that and you try to go from the top down, it's gonna crumble. So please, if you're listening, Start foundation first, work your way up, not top bottom. Rhett Parker: And you're talking passion, fundamentals, building commit. Kyle Pless: Passion, fundamentals, skills, a can just a y any any of those things. Yeah. I mean really yeah. Rhett Parker: And being competitive, being a good teammate, doing doing those I mean, do doing those Yeah. Kyle Pless: Yes. Be a good teammate, be a good student. Please be coachable. If if if a coach, any coach is out there and corrects you on how to do something, and your response is, Well, I made it though, didn't I? We're telling you something because we I get that response a lot. A lot. If Rhett Parker: I I I tell I've I've heard people I've I've heard people say that. That's really funny. Kyle Pless: you're we understand you made it, but we're trying to help you because something was a little bit off. For me, maybe it was your elbow, your wrists. You might have made it. But doesn't mean you're gonna make the next three. So please be coachable. Please be a good teammate. Please play as hard as you can for as long as you can. If you need a water break, please say I need a water break. Don't try to be too prideful and play longer when you're exhausted. Those things are important too. Rhett Parker: I I would also say Kyle I'm gonna help you here. I've been waiting to say this to you. I've waited to the end of the episode. This is very important. It's very important. I I I this is gonna help all trainers out there and and Kyle Pless: More props? Rhett Parker: and parents. No, no, no more props. Props Kyle Pless: What's Rhett Parker: are over. This is done. We've talked about enough. Okay. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: And I say this because I've experienced this. I obviously played. I've been a college coach. I've been a scout. I've had so many jobs you can freaking have in baseball. So I know a lot of baseball. My son, my oldest one, doesn't want to hear a freaking thing out of my mouth about baseball. And I played. And Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: I have people that play at the highest level that I've coached, that I still give advice to in different capacities. Okay. Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: And I still help kids go to college and still have college, you know. My kid does not want to hear anything from me. Zero. Whatever, dad. Okay. Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: My middle guy's sort of in between. Okay, depends on the day. My youngest guy won't listen to anybody else. So I'm actually we're trying to work on that. Okay. But my point is this, Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: because this will help trainers and parents out there. Shut up. Like, if you have a trainer that is really good. Just shut up as a parent. Shut up. Let them do their job with your kid. If they want to talk to you about it, talked about it. And every kid is different. My daughter wants to talk about the wins, the mistakes, the all of it. She's my son doesn't want to talk about it. He does like, and I made the mistake the other night with a soccer thing and I pushed it. He looked at me and I was like, great. He's gonna now he's sour. And I'm like, shoot, I didn't pick up like I just didn't pick up on it. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: Just be quiet. Especially if you got somebody like Kyle in battle. Let them do their job. If they're good, they're in good hands. Just shut up. Now Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: I have to pay somebody who's a former player of mine to give pitching lessons to my son because I c it break my a piece of my soul leaves my body every time I hand the money over. But it's a listening lesson. It's not. I know all the things we talk about, the same mechanical stuff. I talk to him while my son's clo picking up all the balls or closing everything down. I have to be quiet though. That's really friggin' hard to do. I played. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Yeah. Rhett Parker: That's the best. I've tried to help you there. Just be quiet. Let these guys, if you're paying for a trainer, let them do their job because actually you make their job harder when you because then they're like, I gotta listen to dad. I don't wanna go see Kyle. Ugh. Because they already don't like it. Kyle Pless: True. Very true. I I agree. I agree. Rhett Parker: I'm trying to help. Hopefully that helped you specifically. Yeah. Kyle Pless: That good. I would say too, one more th I would say too is like make sure if if you get a if you have your son or daughter get a trainer and they work with them on some a certain set of skills, the most important thing that you can you can do is when you show up, have a good attitude. And just like just like Rhett said, don't you don't need to speak. You're hiring us because we're good at our jobs and you believe in what we can provide. And How you handle after what goes on after that hour, I that's up to you, but during that hour or an hour and a half workout, let us do our job. Let us focus on how we can help your young athlete get better, and everybody will be cool. Rhett Parker: what do? I leave. I'm I'm close Kyle Pless: That's a good one. Rhett Parker: I'm close enough to leave, right? And even if I Kyle Pless: That's a good one. Yeah. Rhett Parker: wasn't, I would still leave. And then if it Kyle Pless: A good one. Rhett Parker: to me, all I do at the end when they're picking the stuff up, I have a two to five minute conversation and get an update from a Kyle. And that's and I that and I and I ask a question if I need to, and then I leave. Especially with soccer. Kyle Pless: Yeah. Rhett Parker: I I know nothing. Kyle Pless: Well yeah, I I could yeah, I'm I don't know a thing. Rhett Parker: Yeah. So like it's okay to be involved and know what's going on, but you don't have to be there. You don't. And in fact, I used to be a trainer, you probably agree with this. I don't want you there. Like, I'd rather just be with your kid. And I'm I'm good. Like, I don't Kyle Pless: Yeah. I agree. I agree. I agree. Agree. Rhett Parker: I don't wait. Parents, Kyle's client, did you hear that? I'm just kidding. man, this has been great. This has been an awesome one. I don't think we've gone this long for for the last few times we've done this, but I really appreciate having one. I love the certification idea with coaching, man. If I can ever help or we can ever help, there's so many people that what we've had on the show that we're gonna have on the show that that Just it's we're building we are building a coalition of people that get it, I think. Even if we don't agree on every single thing, we Kyle Pless: Mm-hmm. Rhett Parker: don't have to. But people that want to see the youth sports world be in a better place. And I I Kyle Pless: Great. Rhett Parker: love I again I love what you're doing. I really hope that people dial in on this episode and I'm sure the trolls will be out. That's that's great. but keep keep doing what you're doing, man, and and and like I said, if we can ever support it. Anything you got going on, we would love to. Kyle Pless: Yeah. I appreciate that. thanks for having me. If you guys want to follow me, it's between underscore the underscore lines PD. and then obviously thank you guys very much. If you guys want to help with the certification too, I'll shoot you guys a DM. We can exchange phone numbers and we can talk about how I can have you involved too, because you're in a different sports world than me. So yeah, Rhett Parker: Yeah. Okay. Kyle Pless: this has been great. I'm glad we're having these conversations now because I think with the momentum of these conversations, it's going to impact change very, very quickly. So Rhett Parker: I hope so too. I hope so too. Well I appreciate you, Kyle man. Thanks for coming on, bro. Kyle Pless: Thanks for having me. Appreciate it.