The Sports Buzz Episode 25

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By everybody. Thanks for joining us here on the Sports Buzz.
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I'm Dave Caldwell and every week we're going to try
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to bring you Santa Clarita sports, what's happening, the ins
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and the outs, try to get you as much informed
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on what's happening in Santa Clarita sports. And on today's show,
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Legacy Christian Academy is growing their athletic program, which already
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includes twelve varsity sports. Brand new athletic director Troy Leaf
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will be here to talk about what the school is planning.
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Are there more sports in that school's future? And we
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always like to introduce you to a new coach taking
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over a program. Yet Sean DeLong will be familiar to
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Santa Clarita basketball fans as the former Canyon head coach
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is taking over the boys program at Trinity Classical Academy.
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We'll talk about what he sees as the opportunity with
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the Knights. But we are just getting ready for football season.
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It starts this Friday. Let's take a look at the
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schedule that's happening this Friday. It's gonna start actually Thursday
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is the Caste Coyotes are gonna kick things off. They're
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gonna be hosting Buena at seven o'clock on Thursday, and
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then look at that slate on Friday. Valencia is on
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the road, Saugus is on the road, Golden Valley is
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on the road. But then games are gonna be here
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in Santa Clarita. Birmingham will be taking on the Harthawks
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over at College of the Canyons at seven thirty night
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will be facing Canyon High School. Harvard Westlake will take
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on West Ranch. Trinity Classical Academy will be on the road.
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They'll be taking on Sage Hill. That's all starting at
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seven o'clock except for that Heart Dame at seven thirty.
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We're gonna step aside. When we come back, We're gonna
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have Troy Leaf from Legacy Christian Academy year to talk
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all things about the growing programs that are happening at
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that school. So stay with us.
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In the Heart District. Excellence isn't just a goal. It's
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a tradition with top tier academics, championship athletics, celebrated arts,
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and real pathways to college and career. We help every
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student rise, families stay, alumni return, and community pride runs
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steep serving Junior High and high school students across the
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Santa Clarita Valley. Find your school today at Heartdistrict dot org.
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Max Monsey here, did you know six billion bottles and
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cans go unrecycled every year. Recycling those containers instead of
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making new ones would be like taking two hundred thousand
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cars off the streets every single day. So make sure
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you put your recyclables in the Bluebend where they belong,
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or take them to a collection center where you can put.
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Money back in your pocket.
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Visit Green Santa Clarita dot com. I sit from the
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city of Santa Clarita.
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Welcome back inside the studio. I'm Dave Caldwell for the
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sports buzz, trying to bring you what's going on in
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Santa Clarita sports every single week. Legacy Christian Academy. It's
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another school, another private school here in Santa Clarita, and
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the sports programs are blossoming. Certainly twelve as I'm counting it,
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twelve varsity sports for Legacy Christian Academy right now. So
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joining me is the brand new director of Athletics, Troy Leaf.
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Thanks for being in the studio with us, Troy, Yeah,
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thanks for having me. Absolutely you're coming to Legacy. You
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were still you're still going to be the associate head
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coach for men's basketball at the Masters University. You've been
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doing that. It'll be your fifth year if I remember right. Yes, yes,
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you did have an assistant coach, but then you left
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to go to Florida where youah ran a fishing operation.
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That was kind of that's cool.
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I like that.
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Yeah, I wish I could do that every day, but
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at the end of the day, you got to grow up.
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I guess I think the thing that I want everyone
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to understand is the legacy that you bring to Legacy.
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Former UC Santa Barbara basketball player got to the tournaments
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with the Gauchows there, then transferred over to ZUSA Pacific.
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Three time All first Team calpac if I remember, right,
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but also last year the first team All American calpac
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and Western Region Defensive Player of the Year for in
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Division two over there and was able to get to
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the quarterfinals in the Division two basketball tournament. So this
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guy is pretty good when it comes to athletics, and
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so that kind of there's also another interesting thing about
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that too, Trandon. I'm sorry, I'm kind of dominating all
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the conversation right now. But you also spend a lot
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of time coaching NBA players and other professional players, so
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you've had kind of a high level of experience, especially
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in the game of basketball, but in the world of
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athletics as well. Your brother TJ. Leaf was a first
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round pick for the Indiana Pacers. So with all this experience,
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why take on the role as the director of athletics
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at Legacy Christian Academy.
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That's a great question. So if you had asked me
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a year ago if I was going to be doing this,
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I would have said, you're crazy, no chance. One.
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I grew up in private school athletics, so I watched.
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You know, my dad started what was Foothills Christian down
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in San Diego at the time, start that program from nothing,
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grew up mom as a principal, and you know, Christian
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school athletics, private school athletics at the school. So for me,
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it's kind of this marriage of what I've done my
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whole life.
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What I know what.
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I love sports, and not just sports, but using sports
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to impact the lives of young people, right, And that's
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why I'm so passionate about sports. That's why I am
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back in at full time it's not just do I
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love basketball absolutely, do I love sports absolutely, but I
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love what sports can do for young people, what it
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did for me, what I see it do in the
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lives of our players at Masters, and hopefully what it
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does in the lives of students and athletes at Legacy
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for years and years to come. So that's essentially why
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for me it was really hard to not, you know,
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try to juggle both and it is a lot at
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times already, but to the ability to impact young people
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for me is just it's too hard to pis up.
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Legacy is the third Christian private Christian school in Santa
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Clarita to go along with Santa Carita Christian that was
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the original, with Trinity Classical Academy joining along. What just
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as a school, and maybe this is unfair to ask
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the brand new ad of the school, but as a school,
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what separates Legacy Christian Academy from those other schools.
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Yeah, so that's a hard question, right because it becomes
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almost like you don't want to knock anything that any
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other school has going, right. So, one thing I will
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say about Legacy is I've never been in an instance
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that takes academic excellence, so seriously, so one, I think
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you have that piece of academic excellence that not that
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you don't get that at other places. I think it's
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elevated at a place like Legacy. So that is one
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of the things that you're getting there that you might
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not get it at other places, other public schools. But
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just as a whole, like every person that I've met
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at Legacy is directly in line with the values that
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I just shared, which are we care about the individual person.
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Right then, I've been around a place so long at Masters,
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that feels the same. So for me, it just feels
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like business as usual, right you just move on.
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Every person that you turn to cares more.
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About the development of the young person than they do
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about Sure, if you have a science teacher, they care
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about science. If you have a basketball coach, they care
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about basketball. But everybody there has the same mission and
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the same purpose, and that is to pour into these
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young people and help them develop, whether it's in sports
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and academics. And I think that's really what can separate
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Legacy from from anywhere else that you look in.
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You know, I've been around sports for three years, close
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to thirty years. You've been around for a long time
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as well. Both the master's high school level. Now, it's
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really interesting to me to see the impact that the
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true coach who is who has the athletes mindset. Should
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I say that the long term goal for this individual
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to grow up as a human being, those coaches tend
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to be more successful. Is that going to be your
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type of direction that you want to bring as an
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administrator at legacy to be able to say, look, yes,
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there are going to be a few, and only a
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few who can go on and play college ball, and
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fewer still that might get paid to play their sport.
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But what we're really doing is impacting a person's life.
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Is that going to be the goal?
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Yeah, So you can't tell a parent that they're not
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going to make money. That's the first thing, right. Every
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parent thinks their kid is going to go on and
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play in the majors and whatever it is. But yeah,
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for me, it's not about coming out here and saying, hey,
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we want to be the best program in southern California
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as far as athletics are concerned.
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Right.
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The reality is, at a school of two hundred and
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fifty three hundred kids, it's going to be hard.
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To sustain being the best every.
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Year in Southern California in every different sport, right, So
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for me, it's not about that. It's about giving students
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the opportunity to experience high school sports at the highest
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level that we can give it to them.
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Right. So, if you're coming to.
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Live why is that important? Why is that important?
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It's important because everything that legacy stands for is excellence.
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Everything from the way that the school is set up,
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the teachers, the administrators, everything about it is excellent. So
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it's only fair to give those students excellence on the
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athletic side as well. And a lot of times, in
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high school that's the highest level sport you're ever going
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to play. A majority of people, the highest level you're
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ever going to reach in your sport is in high school,
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whether parents want to believe that or not. For a
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heavy majority of athletes, that's the highest level they're ever
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going to play. So for me, it's about give having
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them the best experience they could possibly have because they're
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never going to play that organized again. So it's only
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fair to each student, each parent to give them the
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most professional experience that they can possibly have, whether they
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win twenty five games, win ten games, win five games,
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if they have a coach that they cares about them,
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that is running high level practices, that is setting up
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the games that match the level of their team to
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give them that experience. It just couples with the academic
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side and makes it a full high school experience versus
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just going to a school that's only academics, or the
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flip side of it.
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You have some of these schools.
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They go there and they don't even care about academics,
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They're just doing athletics. So the vision for this is
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this marriage of both this quality academic experience coupled with
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the spiritual life that you get at a Christian institution,
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and you also get to do athletics at a good level. Now,
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obviously that comes with growing pains. That comes with taking
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what we have now and trying to figure out, hey,
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how do we take this to the next level, how
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do we advance this year after year and season after season,
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and that really like my job is not to do
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the daily interaction with these people, but help me sure
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that the coaches understand our vision.
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So it will be a process.
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It's one of those things that you just got to
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make sure that you have the right people in place
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and make sure that they all share in that same vision.
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A lot of times athletics and administration of the school
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sometimes they're not necessarily seeing eye to eye. What's it
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like at Legacy when it comes to administrative support of athletics.
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Yeah, quite Frankly.
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That's why I feel so good about jumping into this
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is everybody's on the same page, right, Like, we don't
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look at this as athletics versus academics. We're just speaking
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about this today. So many schools you have this this
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kind of you know, you have your teachers and then
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you have your coaches, and you have this line that
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separates them, and there's always clashing and there's always stuff
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that goes on when you talk about sports, and especially
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in high school and elementary school and middle school. But
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everybody there is just in line with, Hey, this is
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all about the student overall experience, and that comes with
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academics and athletics, right that the overall experience you have
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to have both if you want it to be something
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that's sustainable, something that excites you know, not only students now,
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but students that are potentially going to come to Legacy.
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Is Hey, I can go there and I don't have
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to give something up to go there. I can do
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really well in the classroom side, but I can also
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play sports at the level I want to play.
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So I mentioned before twelve sports. I got this all
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off your website. Boys and girls basketball, boys and girls
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cross country, boys and girls track, boys and girls swimming,
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boys and girls, tennis, girls volleyball, boys soccer. Are there
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plans to expand in that, whether it's short term or
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long term. Certainly we're on the precipice of the start
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of football season, which is huge here in Santa Clarita
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High school. Football is massive. There is football possibly going
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to be part of the legacy.
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Yes, that's a great question.
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Like when you talk about varsity sports that we have,
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it's hard with a smaller school like you can have,
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you know, twelve varsity sports last year, you may have
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eight this year or have a different sport this year,
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because when you have you don't have, you know, the
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twenty five hundred.
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It's all based on the numbers that you're going to give.
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You have in your current school right now, so those
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numbers are always going to fluctuate a little bit. You
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might only be able to field a JV team for
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a year and then the next year all those kids
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get older, you can field varsity. So for the most part,
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those are all of our sports. But I think down
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the line, the two sports that were really kind of
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zeroed in on is baseball being one. Obviously, the valley
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is crazy about baseball, so getting something together on a
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baseball side is of major importance to us, So that
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would be kind of our first big push. And then
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you're looking at both footballs on the flag football side
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for girls as well as probably with the size of
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the school, an eight man football team on the boy side.
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So those would be the three that I think we're
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looking forward as like, what can we add to legacy
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to really help us stand out and help us, like
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I said, kind of match the excellence of the classroom,
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And that would be girls flag football, which is a
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growing sport obviously nationwide but especially southern California, gonna.
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Take off in a couple of years when it's featured
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in the Olympics.
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It is it is, So you're looking at that and
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football and baseball is the three that we're really zeroed
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in on, doing everything we can to start those, you know,
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in the foreseeable future, hopefully next year, if not the
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following season.
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What about facilities. What's the situation with facilities Jim baseball
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that requires a field to challenge. Yeah.
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Yeah, So I mean for me, it's just life as
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usual because I grew up in a school with no facilities.
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When I was growing up, when I watched my dad
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Starter program and I watched all of our programs, none
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of us had facilities.
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So it's just normal to me.
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Oh, you got to go figure it out, right, whether
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you're renting gym space you know, from local athletic clubs,
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whether we're at Masters University trying to use their Jim,
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it's just figure it out.
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It takes a special coach to also be able.
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To take that and understand that and understand that, you know,
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the schedule might be a little bit wonky compared to
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your local public school that can just practice right after
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school and then be done. It just takes special coaches
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that understand, hey, I'm gonna have to piece this thing together.
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And it takes athletes that aren't too worried about the
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overall you know, the bells and whistles. If you care
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about your sport and your coach and you have that
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relationship with your coach, it shouldn't matter what gim you're playing.
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It shouldn't matter where you're practicing, what time you're practicing.
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But the facilities are the biggest issue. Right especially in
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the valley, there's so many youth sports. There's very limited
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field space, very limited gym space. So that is the
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biggest issue that we run into when you talk about
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growing sports.
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You know, it's very interesting to me because you talk
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about growing up in the same kind of environment and
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you watched your dad build a program and do those
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kinds of things. What did you learn from your dad
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watching him do that that you're now taking with you
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as you're now embarking on this role.
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Yeah, I would say like flexibility probably being at the
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top of the list. The ability to say, hey, well,
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you know, one week, we might practice in this gym.
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The next week, we might be somewhere else at seven pm.
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The next week we may be having to get an
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early morning practice in and watching him not only do it,
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but do it at a level where if you know
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anything about Foothills Christian basketball from playing in a homeschool
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league to four years later being the number one team
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in San Diego County and so seeing that, oh, this
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is one hundred percent doable. It takes a coach, one
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that's flexible with that, like, hey, I'll drive anywhere I
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need to drive. Practice all we were practicing in six
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different gym, six different days, all over San Diego County,
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playing our home games in local high schools.
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And it takes that.
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And then it just takes a coach that knows their
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sport and knows what it takes to grow that sport
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and understands the difference between short term gains and long
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term progress and trusting a process of at a place
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like legacy, when you're just starting a sport, you're probably
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going to start with a majority freshman and that's okay,
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and then let it grow and build and build over
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the course of time, it eventually becomes what you wanted
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to become.
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Those freshmen are coming in from youth sports. What's your
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take your current take on youth sports? High school sports
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in twenty twenty.
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Sixols loaded question, loaded question.
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So I kind of alluded to it a little bit.
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Parents are as out of control as I can remember.
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Maybe it's because I've been coaching college right since twenty
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sixteen as well, and in the last ten years it
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has changed significantly or huge High school, youth, the whole thing.
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It has become its own like cult. Almost where you
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have parents, every parent thinks their kid is baseball, football, basketball,
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whatever it is. Every parent is making decisions to move
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their family across cities, to pick up and move over
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here because everybody thinks their kid is a Division one
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football player, a Division one baseball player.
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It's not true. And I don't know.
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I don't know if it's social media. I don't know
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if it's trainer culture. And for me, I'm not knocking trainers.
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I did that right. Like I've been an individual basketball trainer,
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so I love the training aspect of it. But now
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you almost have trainers in every sport that will pump
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kids up because they want the parents to hear this.
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Oh, trust me, he's got a chance.
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He's gonna play Division one because guess what, the parent
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keeps paying them if they keep selling them that. You
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get that in every sport. And then I don't know
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if that feeds into the parents. And then social media.
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When I was growing up, you had a mixtape in
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basketball if you were top ten guy in the country.
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Now we have mixtapes for guys that are playing you
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know in ayso soccer and eight you soccer.
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On a Saturday morning.
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So we have this whole culture of just taking sports
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and making it one all about myself and two if
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my son doesn't make it to the majors, make it
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to the NBA, make it to the NFL, I've failed
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as a parent.
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And it's it's.
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Just it's created a unsustainable culture. That's why you see
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a mass exodus of college coaches at the college level
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right now. It's sports is rapidly changing, and I love sports.
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I'm not gonna leave sports because of that. I think
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we have a job to help usher in this new
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era of sports as college coaches, as high school coaches,
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and not feed into all of that garbage, but help
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try to, you know, kind of correct the path. It's
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wobbling a little bit right now. So I'm not saying
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it as like a I hate sports. I love sports.
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I do this for my life, for my job.
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I love sports.
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But I think we definitely have to do our very
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best to of course correct it's going to be different.
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Things change.
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I'm not one of those old school guys to say
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it has to be how it was in the nineties
395
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or it's not gonna work. Things change, But we have
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to do a better job as coaches, as college coaches,
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high school coaches a speaking truth to parents and speaking
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truth to athletes, and if they don't like the truth,
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then it is what it is.
400
00:19:19.559 --> 00:19:23.519
Isn't it helpful for parents to understand that ninety nine
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point nine percent of all high school athletes are not
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going to be getting paid to play their sport, and
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00:19:29.640 --> 00:19:33.000
that perhaps getting back to your original point of why
404
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you're diving in to be the director of athletics at
405
00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:40.839
Legacy Christian Academy. Isn't the goal to create good human
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beings and productive young men and women who will have
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a very productive life moving forward for the next hopefully
408
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eighty ninety one hundred years.
409
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That should be the goal, right, That's your goal should be.
410
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I'm going to use this sport to learn life lessons.
411
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If I happen to be good enough to play in college, great,
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I'm going to work as hard as I possibly can.
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A parent should help their kid try to get those
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trainers and try to get to that level. I'm not
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saying don't do that and don't help your kids chase
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their dreams. By all means, I would never say that
417
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I chase my dreams. I hope every kid chases their dreams.
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But at the end of the day, like the game
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of basketball taught me so much about life and how
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to just give everything that you have towards one goal.
421
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Everybody's gonna stop playing at some you know, at some
422
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stage most people after high school, the next right right
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after college, whatever college level they play at. If you
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can not allow basketball, football, baseball to be your identity,
425
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we talk about that all the time with our players
426
00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:38.720
at Masters. This is not your idea. Your identity is
427
00:20:38.759 --> 00:20:42.400
not in basketball. If you like you could take basketball
428
00:20:42.440 --> 00:20:45.440
away from me or baseball away from me, that's not
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00:20:45.519 --> 00:20:49.039
who I am. I love it, I absolutely love it.
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But we need to start teaching these kids that it's
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okay if you don't get to that. We're gonna I'm
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gonna do everything I can to help you get to
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that level, everything that I possibly can, But at the
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end of the day, it's okay if you don't reach it.
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You should be able to look back and look at
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all of the life lessons and the relationships that you've
437
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created through your sport and say that sports served its
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purpose for me.
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00:21:07.640 --> 00:21:09.960
You know, most athletes, and I'm sure we got to
440
00:21:10.000 --> 00:21:12.240
end this, but because we can keep on going forever.
441
00:21:12.279 --> 00:21:15.680
But most athletes will say the thing that they love
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the most during their time playing their sport was the
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time in the locker room, was the time on the
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practice field, was the lessons they got from the coaches
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and how they saw that play out with their teammates.
446
00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:30.480
They don't actually talk about wins and losses. They don't
447
00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:33.319
talk about I'm better than you. They never do that
448
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kind of thing, do they.
449
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No, it's all about the lessons that you learn, the
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relationships that you create. And I do think that again,
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we as coaches, athletic directors, administrators need to do a
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better job of helping kind of bring back what sports
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truly are and that there's just the top of the
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top of the top, get to play at the next
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level and then the level beyond that and everybody else
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just do your best right And we're seeing that in
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the valley there.
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The valley is a small community. The valley is an
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unbelievable community.
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First of all, like I've really enjoyed, I've enjoyed being
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back here and being around the community, but there's very
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few people that are going to leave the go play
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high major college sports, there's not that many of them. So,
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but if you go to a Saturday event, you have
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one hundred parents that all think my son's that one, Mike,
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and my daughter is that one.
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It's just not the case. So we just have this level.
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Of disillusioned coaches, trainers, and parents, and it's on us
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as administrators coaches to not put people down and tell
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them that you're never going to make it, but just
471
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to speak more truth into people and to also.
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Let them know it's okay if you don't make it.
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To the professional level of whatever your sport is. Troy Lee,
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it's the director of athletics at Legacy Christian Academy. It
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is always a pleasure to talk to you. You're always
476
00:22:54.559 --> 00:22:57.079
welcome to come back in here and keep the conversation going.
477
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And I hope you enjoyed this opportunity to hear what
478
00:23:00.640 --> 00:23:03.079
this man had to say and take it to heart.
479
00:23:03.319 --> 00:23:05.680
Give him a call. He'll probably do some more about
480
00:23:05.680 --> 00:23:08.480
it as well. We're gonna take a quick break when
481
00:23:08.519 --> 00:23:10.519
we come back. Sean DeLong is the new head coach
482
00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:13.759
over at Trinity Classical Academy in boys basketball. He'll be
483
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in the studio when we return.
484
00:23:19.240 --> 00:23:20.039
Max Mounsey here.
485
00:23:20.319 --> 00:23:22.839
Did you know six billion bottles and cans go unrecycled
486
00:23:22.880 --> 00:23:25.799
every year. Recycling those containers instead of making new ones
487
00:23:25.880 --> 00:23:27.920
would be like taking two hundred thousand cars off the
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streets every single day. So make sure you put your
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recyclables in the Bluebend where they belong, or take them
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to a collection center where you can put money back
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in your pocket. Visit Green Santa Clarita dot com. A
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message from the City of Santa Clarita.
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What's the better idea for healthcare? What if the key
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to peak performance was having a team that worked together
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integrated care from Kaiser Permanente a better idea for healthcare?
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Welcome back inside the Sports Buzz studio. Basketball season is
498
00:24:23.759 --> 00:24:25.720
a little bit away, but still it's a lot of
499
00:24:25.720 --> 00:24:27.559
fun when you get a brand new coach coming into
500
00:24:27.559 --> 00:24:30.079
a program. But for a lot of basketball fans. As
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00:24:30.119 --> 00:24:33.119
I mentioned earlier in the program, Sean DeLong is not
502
00:24:34.160 --> 00:24:38.039
an unfamiliar face to Santa Clarita basketball. Sean the new
503
00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:41.799
head coach at Trinity Classical Academy formerly at Canyon High School.
504
00:24:41.920 --> 00:24:42.920
Thanks for being with us.
505
00:24:42.920 --> 00:24:45.039
No, thank you for inviting me. I got your text.
506
00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:46.599
I was really excited. Can talk about Trinity?
507
00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:49.759
Yeah? I mean you were the assistant coach with Chat Phillips, Yes,
508
00:24:49.799 --> 00:24:52.160
from twenty six to twenty twelve. Then you got the
509
00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:54.880
head coach job when he went on to Georgia. I
510
00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:57.240
think you remember right, he moved on to Georgia. You
511
00:24:57.279 --> 00:25:00.319
get that job coach at Canyon until twenty six teen,
512
00:25:00.680 --> 00:25:02.920
took a year off, come back for another couple of years.
513
00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:05.839
So it's been since twenty twenty that you were a
514
00:25:05.880 --> 00:25:09.039
head coach. What was it that prompted you to decide?
515
00:25:09.039 --> 00:25:10.480
You know what, I think I want to jump back
516
00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:13.319
into the head coaching world and take this job over
517
00:25:13.359 --> 00:25:13.839
at Trinity.
518
00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:16.319
That's pretty funny. I didn't want to, and nothing had
519
00:25:16.359 --> 00:25:18.119
prompted me. I have three daughters and ones going to
520
00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:20.319
high school with me now over at Canyon, so it
521
00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:22.519
was not something I was looking to do. And just
522
00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:25.319
several people had seen the position and kept coming up
523
00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:26.559
to me, coming up to me think it was a
524
00:25:26.559 --> 00:25:28.640
good idea. So finally I just decided to give it
525
00:25:28.640 --> 00:25:31.599
a shot, prayed about it, and sure enough, after a
526
00:25:31.640 --> 00:25:34.839
couple of different interviews and sending resumes in they thought
527
00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:37.039
I was the person to take over, and so I
528
00:25:37.079 --> 00:25:39.119
felt led to do it and accepted the job and
529
00:25:39.160 --> 00:25:41.319
have been trying to work ever since to do the
530
00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:42.000
program right.
531
00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:47.759
What do you see as the advantages disadvantages the differences
532
00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:51.559
between coaching at a public school like Canyon and coaching
533
00:25:51.559 --> 00:25:54.000
at a private school like Trinity Classical Academy.
534
00:25:54.279 --> 00:25:55.839
So, to be fair to Trinity, I've only been there
535
00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:57.680
since May, is kind of when I started and tried
536
00:25:57.720 --> 00:25:59.200
to put a summer program on. They haven't had one
537
00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:00.839
for a couple of months or for a couple of years.
538
00:26:01.039 --> 00:26:04.039
But there's a lot of advantages and disadvantage. They're actually
539
00:26:04.119 --> 00:26:07.759
really different. It's almost like two completely different planets. So
540
00:26:07.799 --> 00:26:09.799
Trinity is a smaller school from what I understand, is
541
00:26:09.799 --> 00:26:12.680
about one hundred and forty high schoolers total. I think
542
00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:16.039
we had eleven have interest in the basketball program as
543
00:26:16.079 --> 00:26:18.119
it is, so when you go to Canyon, I think
544
00:26:18.119 --> 00:26:20.680
one of my last years we most had seventy tryouts. Yeah,
545
00:26:20.799 --> 00:26:22.440
having to make cuts and go through all that. And
546
00:26:22.680 --> 00:26:25.400
they have sign ups at Trinity, so whoever we've been
547
00:26:25.519 --> 00:26:28.519
interested in sports signs up, so it's a different dynamic.
548
00:26:29.440 --> 00:26:31.720
It's a little bit I like the fact as a teacher,
549
00:26:31.880 --> 00:26:34.359
you get who's in your classroom and you have to
550
00:26:34.359 --> 00:26:35.920
finagle that and manage that and do the best you
551
00:26:35.960 --> 00:26:38.480
can and reach each kid. When you're kind of choosing
552
00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:41.039
your own players, it's a little bit different. You have
553
00:26:41.079 --> 00:26:43.519
a little bit more less flexible, I guess, because you
554
00:26:43.559 --> 00:26:45.200
can more flexibil you ca get rid of them if
555
00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:47.759
you need to make changes. Sounds really harsh, but like
556
00:26:47.799 --> 00:26:50.119
build the program the way you can. When it's who's
557
00:26:50.160 --> 00:26:55.440
in your class and who's on your team, it's a
558
00:26:55.480 --> 00:26:57.640
different dynamic of how to make them successful trying to
559
00:26:57.680 --> 00:26:59.519
build and I have a different mentality one.
560
00:27:00.519 --> 00:27:05.559
Because you're you're given the paint and the brushes and
561
00:27:05.599 --> 00:27:08.160
now you've got the canvas in front of you to
562
00:27:08.279 --> 00:27:11.759
use the colors that you've been given to create something
563
00:27:11.880 --> 00:27:15.319
on that canvas. That is that kind of exciting from
564
00:27:15.400 --> 00:27:18.039
a from a coaching perspective or is it going to
565
00:27:18.039 --> 00:27:18.799
be more difficult?
566
00:27:19.160 --> 00:27:20.799
Well, the way you put it is art. I'm kind
567
00:27:20.839 --> 00:27:22.400
of really excited. I'm not an artist, but that got
568
00:27:22.440 --> 00:27:26.279
me going. It's just in some ways as difficult because
569
00:27:26.440 --> 00:27:28.799
you have the players you have, But in some other
570
00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:30.680
ways it's easy because you get to know who they are,
571
00:27:31.119 --> 00:27:32.920
a lot of the players at Trinity are younger, so
572
00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:34.640
there's a hope that you get to build up three
573
00:27:34.680 --> 00:27:36.839
or four years with the kids. The kids over their
574
00:27:36.880 --> 00:27:39.079
hard been great. They've shown up, they work hard, they
575
00:27:39.119 --> 00:27:42.720
have a desire to be successful. The talent level is
576
00:27:42.759 --> 00:27:44.680
going to be something we keep working on and building with.
577
00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:46.400
But the work ethic, if they keep putting it in,
578
00:27:46.480 --> 00:27:49.400
I'm excited for it. Using the art, yeah, it is
579
00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:51.119
like a canvas that we get to kind of create.
580
00:27:51.559 --> 00:27:54.319
The biggest, you know, incentive for me is I'm trying
581
00:27:54.359 --> 00:27:56.359
to create it more with God is the lead on
582
00:27:56.400 --> 00:27:58.559
this as what does he want to create? What does
583
00:27:58.599 --> 00:28:00.440
he want painted as opposed to me and it's my
584
00:28:00.519 --> 00:28:02.680
way or the highway. And so that's been something that
585
00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:04.319
I've learned over the last six years how to kind
586
00:28:04.319 --> 00:28:06.440
of turn from my way to the highway or to
587
00:28:06.440 --> 00:28:08.000
what does God want for this program for me?
588
00:28:08.759 --> 00:28:11.240
And in Trinity has had great sports, They've had some
589
00:28:11.279 --> 00:28:13.960
great athletes that have come through. And there's a lot
590
00:28:13.960 --> 00:28:16.559
of people, a lot of families that choose they want
591
00:28:16.640 --> 00:28:19.839
to have that kind of an education, the classical Christian
592
00:28:19.920 --> 00:28:24.039
education for their families, and sometimes you have some great
593
00:28:24.079 --> 00:28:26.880
athletes who then have gone on to play college ball,
594
00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:30.480
whatever sport it may be. So Trinity has has had
595
00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:33.200
a great track record of having great athletics.
596
00:28:33.400 --> 00:28:35.799
Oh definitely, And just to be immersed in what I'm
597
00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:37.000
kind of trying to get in with the school just
598
00:28:37.000 --> 00:28:39.680
over the last couple months. It's amazing that the education
599
00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:41.599
they put on for the kids and the things they
600
00:28:41.640 --> 00:28:44.079
teach them and prepare them for life. And you wish
601
00:28:44.119 --> 00:28:46.240
every kid could have that kind of advantage or you know,
602
00:28:46.279 --> 00:28:48.279
to be able to have that opportunity. So the kids
603
00:28:48.279 --> 00:28:49.799
who come here, do you have a great opportunity in
604
00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:52.000
front of them. It's also trying to tie in, you know,
605
00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:53.720
how do you use it in the real world with sports,
606
00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:55.519
and how do you grow and deal with other people?
607
00:28:55.599 --> 00:28:57.079
And I think that's what I get to add as
608
00:28:57.119 --> 00:28:58.960
a coach. And then the main thing is to kind
609
00:28:58.960 --> 00:29:01.200
of get them thinking about God, growing closer as men
610
00:29:01.400 --> 00:29:02.799
to what we should be in this world and how
611
00:29:02.839 --> 00:29:05.240
we should treat others. And that's one of the big aspects.
612
00:29:05.240 --> 00:29:06.519
I get to do a little bit more now than
613
00:29:06.519 --> 00:29:07.759
I got to do at a public school.
614
00:29:08.119 --> 00:29:13.599
So what should parents and potential players, whether it's the
615
00:29:13.720 --> 00:29:15.880
kids that are already eleven year talking about that are
616
00:29:16.079 --> 00:29:19.599
already at the school, perhaps coming up through the school,
617
00:29:19.599 --> 00:29:22.440
maybe wanting to transfer to the school. What should they
618
00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:25.519
know about Sean DeLong and what is important to him
619
00:29:26.000 --> 00:29:28.880
as he coaches basketball. What do you want them to know?
620
00:29:29.240 --> 00:29:31.279
Okay, I want them to know that, first off, I'm
621
00:29:31.279 --> 00:29:34.720
a human being. I've made mistakes. I will continue. But
622
00:29:34.759 --> 00:29:36.599
as the human being makes mistakes, my goal is to
623
00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:39.279
honor God. It truly is to make everything I do
624
00:29:39.359 --> 00:29:42.039
make him proud of it, to glorify Him and everything
625
00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:44.039
I am and everything about the program of my life
626
00:29:44.240 --> 00:29:46.599
goes with my family too. I'm so thankful for my wife.
627
00:29:46.680 --> 00:29:48.559
She's put op with me all these years and continues
628
00:29:48.599 --> 00:29:50.559
to encourage me to go and be led by the Lord.
629
00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:52.880
My daughters are also in this process too. They're getting
630
00:29:52.880 --> 00:29:54.480
to be teenage agent. They want to be a part
631
00:29:54.480 --> 00:29:55.960
of it, and they want to see what Dad's doing.
632
00:29:56.440 --> 00:29:58.519
But I want the players to know that, first and foremost,
633
00:29:58.839 --> 00:30:01.240
God did not put me in this spot, in my opinion,
634
00:30:01.480 --> 00:30:03.440
to win and lose. They put me in the spot
635
00:30:03.480 --> 00:30:05.920
to help raise these guys to reach whatever potential He's
636
00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:07.680
had and created for them. And so They're going to
637
00:30:07.720 --> 00:30:08.960
know that the coach is going to love them, not
638
00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:10.799
always going to like everything they do, but that they
639
00:30:10.839 --> 00:30:12.640
got someone for life that's going to be their form
640
00:30:12.680 --> 00:30:13.640
In any way I can help them.
641
00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:16.680
What do you find? I mean Wally and Liz, Wally
642
00:30:16.680 --> 00:30:21.400
in Shadow, the people who created Trinity Classical Academy run
643
00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:24.799
the school as well. I know that they have nothing
644
00:30:24.839 --> 00:30:27.279
but support for your program as well as all the
645
00:30:27.319 --> 00:30:28.240
athletics programs.
646
00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:30.839
Yeah, Liz especially. I've met Wally a couple of times,
647
00:30:30.920 --> 00:30:33.400
but Liz has been more of the meetings and talking
648
00:30:33.400 --> 00:30:34.880
to her. And they both attend my church at Grace
649
00:30:34.920 --> 00:30:37.440
Baptist too, which has been such a great base for
650
00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:40.799
me and my growth. But the support, the energy Lisz has.
651
00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:42.880
If I could bottle that up and put that to me,
652
00:30:42.920 --> 00:30:44.200
I'd get through all the jobs I got to do
653
00:30:44.200 --> 00:30:46.960
all day long. But their support has been great. They
654
00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:49.000
know my name, the kids, my daughters, they met and
655
00:30:49.039 --> 00:30:50.759
they come back and say hello to them. It's just
656
00:30:50.839 --> 00:30:53.440
you don't get that everywhere you go, and it's really
657
00:30:53.480 --> 00:30:56.079
special to be at Trinity. So I'm forever grateful for
658
00:30:56.119 --> 00:30:58.799
them for giving me this opportunity to put my stamp
659
00:30:58.799 --> 00:30:59.799
as a part of this too.
660
00:31:00.119 --> 00:31:03.359
On along the new head coach for Trinity boys basketball.
661
00:31:03.720 --> 00:31:05.759
Thanks for being with us, and thanks for sharing a
662
00:31:05.759 --> 00:31:09.599
little bit about what you're about so that parents' perspective
663
00:31:09.799 --> 00:31:12.680
players can kind of get an idea about what's in
664
00:31:12.960 --> 00:31:14.960
what's in store for them. Thank you, Dave. I appreciate it.
665
00:31:15.039 --> 00:31:17.599
Sounds really exciting. Thank you, bet Well. That's going to
666
00:31:17.640 --> 00:31:19.960
do it for us today on the Sports Buzz. Remember
667
00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:21.640
we're here for you, Santa Clarta. We're going to be
668
00:31:21.680 --> 00:31:24.920
covering Santa Carita sports every week, so make certainly you
669
00:31:24.960 --> 00:31:26.799
stay with us. We'll see you again next time.