“THE TRIPLE DOUBLE” #3 WITH ROB BROST, BOLINGBROOK (IL) HIGH SCHOOL BOYS’ BASKETBALL HEAD COACH – EPISODE 835
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The 3rd episode of “The Triple Double” with Rob Brost, Bolingbrook (IL) High School Boys’ Basketball Head Coach. Rob, Mike, & Jason hit on three basketball topics in each episode of “The Triple Double”.
- What to do in August?
- Fall League pluses and minuses
- How much is too much?
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What We Discuss with Rob Brost
- What to do in August?
- Fall League pluses and minuses
- How much is too much?
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TRANSCRIPT FOR “THE TRIPLE DOUBLE” #3 WITH ROB BROST, BOLINGBROOK (IL) HIGH SCHOOL BOYS’ BASKETBALL HEAD COACH – EPISODE 835
[00:00:00] Mike Klinzing: Hello and welcome to the Hoop Heads Podcast. It’s Mike Klinzing here with my co host Jason Sunkle and joining us tonight for Triple Double number three, Rob Brost, head boys basketball coach at Bolingbrook High School in Chicago, Illinois, Rob, triple double number three. Here we go, man.
[00:00:21] Rob Brost: Man. I’m looking forward to it.
And I know Jason is fired up for this one too.
[00:00:28] Jason Sunkle: So I can’t, I’ve got so much to say about these topics.
[00:00:29] Rob Brost: I mean, I think it’s going to be great.
[00:00:31] Mike Klinzing: Hey, we’re on podcast number three. I was telling the guys before we jumped on that. I have never been more energized for a third podcast in a night than I am for this one tonight.
So, we’re ready to go. I got some energy. Jason’s got some energy. I know Rob’s got energy. Let’s start off with topic number one, August. For a lot of high schools around the country, depending on what your rules are, it is a dead period for high schools. I know it’s that way here in the state of Ohio. So Rob, talk a little bit about what you think about when it comes to August?
[00:01:05] Rob Brost: Well, I mean, the first thing I think about with our guys in particular is getting a good start to school. We just had our first day of school with kids today. So my, my first thing with them in August has really little to nothing to do with basketball. You know, I sent them all a text last night and said, if you’re not saying please and thank you to people when you’re at school and outside of school, then you’re not doing it right.
And so just little reminders like that that. That they need to get to off to a good start academically so that they have a firm foundation for when the season starts and we don’t do a lot of basketball stuff in August. And you know, that’s on purpose. You know, obviously. In Illinois, the rules are a little bit different than most other states.
We can only have open gym and those types of things, but I really encourage our guys to take some time off in August because most of them are coming off of busy Julies with their travel teams or AU teams whatever you want to call it, and traveling all over the place. So I think August is a good time basketball wise to Rejuvenate, get a great start off to the school year and then support other programs as well within our school.
You know, our football team plays our first game next well, a week from tomorrow. So it’s an exciting time for our school. It’s exciting time for the start of the school year. And so we don’t talk a ton about basketball. During the month of August, to be completely honest with you.
[00:02:50] Mike Klinzing: How much as you go into school, and this doesn’t necessarily directly relate to August, but when you’re talking about academics, how much do you as the head coach monitor and what’s your process for monitoring the academics throughout the season? How do you guys go about doing that?
[00:03:07] Rob Brost: Yeah. Just curious. To be perfectly honest. I don’t mind, like, if you asked me this question six or seven years ago, I would give you the I check grades twice a week. I check attendance twice a week. We have been fortunate enough to have players that have really handled their business. And obviously I monitor and check you know, academically, and I have my assistants do random checks too.
But for the most part, our guys do a really, really good job. Academically of doing what they’re supposed to do. And if they’re having issues in a certain class, they’ll come to me second, actually, and then go to the teacher first. And so it’s one of the things that we just emphasize that you get a good start.
And, and so it’s not perfect and it doesn’t work out. You know, perfect every single time, but it’s not going to. And so six, seven years ago, I was doing grade checks twice a week, meeting with almost every player once a week et cetera, et cetera. Now I try to make contact with players at least once a day, maybe every other day.
Depending on, on what my schedule is like, and that’s more of just a, Hey, how’s it going? How’s your schedule? What’s happening? Those types of things just kind of You know, a check in it’s, it’s not really a grade check or anything else. It’s just to see how everybody’s doing. Are you checking in on them at 1130 at night?
Like we’re podcasting? No, my, my hope is that most of them are asleep right now. Although I’m sure a lot of them are playing video games. They’re playing Fortnite. Yes, exactly. And so it’s an adjustment just to get up for school for some of our guys, because they’ve been sleeping in and doing their things in the afternoon and workouts at night.
And now you have to get up and be to school and be in your first period class by 7 30 AM. That’s a little bit of an adjustment. If you’ve been sleeping until nine, 10 o’clock and who knows what time. So it’s important for our guys to, we talk about habits and decision making, you know all the time.
And it’s important for them to develop good habits academically as well. Being on time everywhere they go, being polite to teachers and other adults in the building and to other students as well. And really setting the tone for our school. We have about 3, 500 students walk in our halls today.
So I want our 15 to 16, 17 guys to be the most polite and respectful of that whole entire bunch.
[00:05:51] Mike Klinzing: So that’s your guys and what you have them doing and how you kind of approach or think about what they should be doing with their August. What about from a coaching staff standpoint, what are you personally as the head coach?
Thinking about, do you take this time to self evaluate or think about the program? Are you meeting with your assistant coaches at all during August? Just what’s it look like for you guys as a coaching staff during the month of August?
[00:06:14] Rob Brost: I think for me personally, the evaluation of the program is constant.
There’s not something that I set like, well, August, I’m going to do this differently than what I did before. But I, I certainly am in constant worry isn’t really the right word, but yes, the self reflection is, is, is a good way to put it. And we’re always looking at the way that we do things.
And this is a good time for my assistants and I just to run ideas by each other. As crazy as they might be. Do you think this would work? Do you think this would work with our guys? You know, how do you think this would be? You know, one of my assistants asked me today, have we settled on exactly what we’re doing on defense yet for the season?
And it’s stuff like that. And the answer to that is no, I haven’t settled on exactly what I want to do. You know, defensively and for that matter, offensively at this point. And so. You know, I think as we get closer to November, that kind of focus narrows and we, we have to. You know, start getting together in, in end of September, beginning of October, making plans on how we’re going to do things and, and how things are going to be, I’m fortunate enough that my coaching staff has remained pretty constant, all of our head level coaches are back from last year.
So the way we do things and the way we carry ourselves. Those things remain constant and obviously we’ll make tweaks to how we play based on personnel and who we’re playing and all of those things. But you know, the expectations of how we do things as a whole remain pretty constant.
[00:08:03] Mike Klinzing: I think that constant self reflection and just going through and not necessarily pinning it down to, okay, it’s August.
We have to reevaluate everything that we’re doing. As you said, I think most coaches are. Self reflecting throughout the entire year and always looking for ways that they can improve what they do. And obviously that gives you an advantage as you’re thinking about it month by month, week by week.
And it clearly never leaves your mind, even when you’re away from your team. We all know as coaches that that stuff stays with you all the time. Your brain is constantly darting back to what about this or thinking about that? And so the month of August doesn’t necessarily just become specific, but I think you’ve pinned it down of kind of what you expect from your players and then what you guys are doing as a coaching staff to make sure that you’re starting off the school year on the right foot again, both for your kids as basketball players, but more importantly for your kids as kids and as students.
That they’re going to get their school year off to a good start, and then you’ll be ready by the time the season rolls around as you start to get into your fall prep and everything that the month of August kind of sets the tone. Obviously, just like in the season, you get the season off to a good start, you get the school year off to a good start, and now you’re on your way.
[00:09:13] Rob Brost: No question. I think one of the important things for us anyways, is I think sometimes our. Our guys forget that it’s okay to be a typical high school student and go to football games and just have some fun and paint your chest and do the whatever the emphasis is on that. Like we’ll have a whiteout or it’ll be beach night or whatever the.
is for the football game. It’s okay. Just, just to be a student. And so I like to see our guys when they’re baby powder, right? Rob? Well, yeah, of course not. That’s banned in our conference now. Oh, in the conference. Okay. Okay. Conference is banned.
[00:09:55] Jason Sunkle: Some major issues with baby powder at the football games last year, I guess.
[00:09:57] Rob Brost: Okay. Well, we’re not quite to that stage yet, and that’s a huge night for us when, and baby powder is involved usually in that. So you know, but It’s, it’s great for our guys just to kind of be, to just be high school students and, and that’s, it’s fun to see them in that realm too, because when we’re playing, certainly we have a large segment of our student population that is just going crazy at our games.
And so we like to return the favor for other programs as well.
[00:10:27] Mike Klinzing: Yeah. I think that’s an important part, right? When you have a good athletic department and you have coaches who kind of understand the connection between all the different athletes to be able to go and show support for. Other programs. I think that’s something that is more prevalent today.
Again, in a good athletic department where the coaches kind of know and Hey, let’s encourage our teams. Let’s encourage our athletes to support one another and everything that they do. And I think it’s kind of cool. I know, at least in my era, Rob, I don’t know how it was for you, but I think back to like, when I was playing in high school, for sure.
And a little bit in college, there’s maybe a relationship, but yeah. Between the girls program and the boys program, like, honestly, like, I look back at the girls basketball photo from like my high school yearbook. I’m like, I don’t even know any of these girls. Like, I don’t think I ever went to a game. I don’t think I talked to anybody on the girls team.
And whereas now you see in a lot of schools, there’s, there’s a big connection of support between the girls and boys basketball team. And then obviously there’s always usually support for football as the one that’s easy to get people to go out and go to those games. But I do think that that’s a huge positive when you can get your athletes supporting other programs in your school.
[00:11:31] Rob Brost: Yeah, I think it’s great. It gets momentum kind of going for the school as a whole. And so I think it’s a big part of high school. And I think nothing against the kids that leave high schools and go to other things. Cause every kid needs different, has different needs, et cetera.
But I think it’s a big part of being a high school student. So I think it’s important and obviously we can always do better as far as supporting others. And I think it’s important for our guys to show support for other programs in particular.
[00:12:09] Mike Klinzing: All right, next topic. Fall Leagues, pluses and minuses of players participating in Fall Leagues.
I’m curious to hear your perspective on this. I’ll kind of give you my perspective after you put yours out there.
[00:12:24] Rob Brost: I have complete mixed feelings about the Fall Leagues. In Illinois, we can’t coach or do anything with Fall Leagues, but our guys could play in them. And, and a lot of times they do. You know, and our guys this fall will be in a fall league as well.
We were last year, but for several years, we didn’t play in a fall league. And it was because of a fall league we played back in, I think it was 2014 or maybe 2013 we were playing. And then. You know, that was a Sunday fall league and they, two of our better players came to me on Monday and were like, coach, everyone is just bickering and moaning and complaining about playing time amongst each other and who’s making the decisions, this, that, and the third.
And I just told them, don’t go. Don’t go anymore. Don’t go. We don’t need this. We don’t need it. We’re not getting any better from it. Everything’s kind of running. So I told our two best players, just don’t go anymore. And they didn’t go anymore. And that was our first year that we made the final four. I’m not saying we made the final four because we didn’t play in fall league or we played the first five games.
And then we, our two best players didn’t go. But I, we didn’t. I just have mixed feelings about it because of examples like that. Now, last year we played or two years ago, we played in the fall league and we made the final four and everybody was great and all of those things. And, and it was fun and everybody enjoyed themselves and that type of thing.
So I have complete mixed feelings about the fall league and I I’m really. You know, 50, 50 on it. And I don’t care if our guys play in one or not. But if they decide that they want to do it, then I allow them to do it. And if they decided they don’t, or nobody wants to bring it up, then we don’t.
And so I think it can be good. But I also think it can do some serious damage to your team if allowed to.
[00:14:29] Mike Klinzing: So in Illinois, what is the rule in terms of how many guys in a fall league could play together? Are you talking about putting your whole team together in a fall league?
[00:14:39] Rob Brost: Well, yes, the coaches just can’t have anything to do with it as far as, like, you can’t wear a Raider You can’t wear, you can’t be coached by a staff member or anything like that.
Now, if a parent wants to coach them or sit on the bench with them and organize it, that’s fine. So it has the potential to really go off the rails. And, and so if you if it does go off the rails, like it did for us in, I think it was 2014, whatever it was it has that potential to, to do so.
So but you know, And all that being said, there’s sure fall leagues of plenty happening here and they all cost like 800 to get in. So people aren’t making money off the fall leagues and which is another reason why I don’t care if we play in them. So you know, we’ve played the last couple of years, but for the six or seven right prior to those, we didn’t play in any fall league.
So I think they can be good and I understand the purpose of them, but I also think they can go sideways as well, especially here in Illinois.
[00:15:50] Mike Klinzing: So here in Ohio, teams do not go in and play as… So, you would have to go and play as an individual, and I’m pretty sure that the rule in the state of Ohio is the same as it is for AAU basketball here, which they just changed it for this past AAU season.
It used to be you could only have two players per. High school team on an AAU team. And they changed that this year to where there was three. So I’m guessing that that’s probably the same rule change that applies to fall league. So I, I don’t know that for sure, but that’s just what I’m guessing. And so I guess I’m looking at the fall league from the perspective of my son’s experience.
And so for a bunch of years when he was little, he played in a fall league just because it was another chance for him to get out of the court and play. And then last year, so that was heading into his junior year. We had him play in a fall league, so I have a friend who runs a fall league who he and I were partnered up on some things for a while and we’re no longer partners, but I try to support the things that he’s doing.
And so this particular fall league, my son’s kind of a inside player. He’s 6’6 and plays more around the basket. And so he went and played in this league and just signed up again. As himself and not with any teammates and went to the league and just kind of got a chance to have the ball in his hands and do some things out on the perimeter and take some shots and try some stuff that he wouldn’t normally get to do in his normal role.
And so for him, I thought it was a positive to be able to just go out and, okay, you’re out on the perimeter and you got to handle the ball and let’s see if you can shoot it and work on some drives and that kind of thing. And so for him, I thought it was beneficial. I’m not sure now this summer or this fall going into his senior year.
I don’t know. We haven’t really. In all honesty, talked about it yet, whether or not you might do that same thing from that standpoint. I thought it was a positive. And yet, I think here in the state of Ohio, like the talent level of who’s playing in a high school fall league, at least I’m dubious that there’s a tremendous amount of benefit other than possibly what I just described, my son, where you’re kind of going in sort of the way you or I or Jason might’ve approached playing in a pickup game 25 or 30 years ago, where it’s like, okay, maybe the competition’s not quite what I would want it to be, but I can work on some stuff that maybe I wouldn’t normally work on in a more competitive environments.
That’s kind of how I look at the fall league, at least here in the state of Ohio.
[00:18:26] Rob Brost: Yeah, yeah, it’s interesting how it can be different state to state depending on their on the rules, etc. And how those things get set up from state to state. And there’s a certain faction of. Parents, not only in our community, but like if you don’t play in fall league, they’re like, well, we’re getting way behind.
No, no, no, we’re not. I’m just telling you, no, we’re not getting behind. So it’s just interesting how it differs from state to state, but you know, the parental part of it plays a huge aspect to it and they don’t want to fall behind. You know, any other player or any other school or any other.
And, and so you know, I think that drives a little bit of it as well.
[00:19:14] Mike Klinzing: Parental education and communication, right? I mean, I think that’s a case where you have to, as a coach, if you’re doing a good job, right, you’re communicating, Hey, here’s why we’re playing in the fall league, or here’s what we’re trying to get out of the fall league, or here’s why we’re not playing in the fall league and explaining what you are doing.
And so. That communication piece to me, I think one of the themes that it always comes up in conversations with coaches is if you can have proactive communication, it’s way easier to explain something ahead of time than it is after like, okay, the fall league started today and I didn’t say anything about it.
All of a sudden we’re not in it. Now you’re getting four or five calls. Why aren’t we in the fall league? Well, yeah, now you have to be proactive in your communication.
[00:19:58] Rob Brost: There’s no question about that. And one, I made the mistake a couple of years ago, a parent asked, well, do you want to, you think the guy should do the fall week?
And I literally said, I don’t care if they do it or they don’t do it. And then, so that parent of course was like, coach doesn’t care if we do fall week, he doesn’t even, he doesn’t even care. So. That’s not what I meant, but I literally just meant I don’t have an opinion on if they play in the Fall League or not.
You know, last year I didn’t go to any of our Fall, I didn’t go to one of them, and I don’t even know what our record was, but now Trey will be involved, that’s my son, so. You know, I’ll probably go and watch a little bit and I’ll probably close my eyes for most of the game or games depending on what’s happening out there.
[00:20:44] Mike Klinzing: Absolutely. All right. Let’s leave the fall leagues behind topic. Number three, how much is too much? And I think this is a question that we all ask ourselves, I think as a parent, I know I asked myself that question as a coach, you ask yourself that question, because clearly with the availability of gyms and trainers and leagues and camps and showcases and AAU tournaments and everything else that’s out there, it is super easy to It’s super cool.
Do as much as you possibly could ever want. The opportunity is there. So just give me your perspective as a high school coach and as the dad of a player who’s going to be playing high school basketball. How do you think about this topic?
[00:21:32] Rob Brost: I think you hit it right on the head. Coaching is a lot like parenting.
You are in constant struggle, not the right word, but self reflection, maybe as Jason puts it. Am I… Giving them too much rope, or am I not giving them enough? Am I disciplining too much? Or am I giving them too much freedom? Those types of things are constant, at least in my mind, not only with my team, but the individuals on my team and with my own kids.
And so I, I think you have to really be careful. And use some caution that you’re not doing too much. And I think it’s important to have a little balance there. And I get the, Hey, you have to grind and you have to work hard. And somebody is working harder than you. I get all of that. And I understand all of that, but sometimes what you need is rest and not to do anything.
And that falls against a lot of the common things that you see, especially on social media. You know, I’m grinding today and I’m grinding tomorrow and I’m grinding every day or whatever, however they say it. And so I think it’s… rise and grind. Yes, all of that. And so it’s true. And It’s true with my own kids.
It’s true with my team and it’s true with the individuals on my team. I’m in constant reflection on, are we doing too much as a group? Am I pushing too hard individually? Am I pushing my own son too hard? And sometimes you just got to say no to some of the things that are out there.
Just because you need a little balance, at least that’s my perspective. And I think it’s easy to get caught up in it. It seems like. Everybody’s putting something out there on social media every time they do something and whether it’s a workout, a showcase, a league, a highlight, or whatever, and kids are enamored with that more than the actual work and or what they’re getting out of the work and all of those things.
So I just. You know, it’s a topic that’s interesting and it’s in constant flux in my mind. How hard are we pushing? Are we pushing too hard? Even when practice starts, when official practice, are we practicing too long? Are we giving them too much? You know, is everybody healthy? Is everybody fresh?
Those are constant questions I ask. And you know, I’m much. more cognizant of our, our, our guys fresh. And are they able to play a full 32 minutes at the intensity level that we want. And that a lot of times means not practicing as long or backing off a little bit. And even 10 years ago, I probably wouldn’t have done that, but now I think I have much better perspective on all of that.
[00:24:28] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, there is a ton in what you just said to unpack and I think there’s two different pieces to it. So, the first is how you approach it with your team and with team activities or with team practice. And then I think there’s the second part with how do you approach it with a player, whether you’re approaching it as a coach or as a parent.
So let me take the team part of it first. I think that What you just described in terms of thinking about, Hey, is my team fresh? What do they need? Do they need more rest? Are we doing too much? That is definitely something that has changed without question in the last 10 years. If you go back 10 years ago or more, you were not hearing, reading about or seeing coaches who were thinking about, Hey, we need to do less in terms of a daily practice. I go back and I laugh now when I interview these college coaches and they’re talking about how they’re monitoring their players for how tired they are and we’re practicing. We know we have to day before a game, we’re going for management. Yeah. We’re going for 45 minutes and all this stuff.
And I think back to when I was playing and we’d be in games When I was a sophomore, junior and senior, I probably averaged, I think legitimately, I think I played 36 or 37 minutes a game. I mean, I just basically never came off the floor. And so you think about that now and you’re like, well, it probably would be important to keep Mike fresh during practice and yet we’d have like game weeks where we play on a, play on a Wednesday, play on a Saturday. And so Monday you’d have a three hour practice and then you’d come back Tuesday and you’d have a hour and 45 minute practice and you’d play Wednesday night at Ball State.
It was five and a half hours away. You’d come back Tuesday and practice for three hours come back Thursday and practice for three hours again. And you just, it was just not. That’s just not the way it was done. I mean, it just, it was not on anybody’s radar to think about, Hey, are we keeping guys fresh?
And are we doing too much? It just wasn’t, that just wasn’t something that was thought about. So, I think from a team perspective, I think it’s super important. Not that there’s a standard amount of time or there’s this or there’s that. I think it’s more a case of what you’re describing is you’re just kind of trying to get a pulse for what works for your team.
And for different teams, it’s probably different, right? Where, Hey, this team needs a little bit more film work and a little less time on the court, where another team might need more on the quarter. Maybe we need some skill development today versus doing team stuff, or maybe we just need to walk through.
And I think coaches today, I think have a much better understanding. Yes. What you’re trying to do as a team and I think without being able to give standard advice because it’s not one size fits all, I guess what I would say on this topic for me from a team standpoint is you have to just self evaluate your own team and figure out what do these guys need on any given day at any given time of year.
And if you have a pulse of your team, if you have a pulse of your team, you’re going to figure out how much is too much.
[00:27:44] Rob Brost: I get questions all the time at clinics and those types of things that I do and. You know, what do you do with it? I go off of feel probably 95% of the time now, and I didn’t used to do that.
I used to just hammer until I got done everything that was on my sheet or everything that was on my plan or everything that I thought we needed to get done. And now 95% of the time, it’s the same with substitutions. It’s the same with how we discipline sometimes is by feel and what that particular student needs.
Obviously we have standards and all of those things, but you know, each situation is a little bit different. Just like each team is different, like you were saying. And so I go by feel a lot more now than I did, say 10 years ago.
[00:28:36] Mike Klinzing: I agree. All right, let’s talk about from a player perspective. So, as a coach, I think what you want to do with your players when you’re talking about, like, let’s say, during August or the offseason, where maybe you want to get them some rest.
I think there are some players that are just maniacal that you may have to tell them, hey, Hey, It might benefit you a little bit to take a day off here or there. And I think that’s where sometimes it’s hard for coaches to say that to a player because again, the mentality that’s out there is we want you to be working out all the time we and look.
As coaches, right? You dream about guys that want to get in the gym every day. Like those, those kids are not, they’re not there every day. They’re not there all the time. You don’t get every kid who wants to be in the gym, working on their game, trying to get better. Like those kids don’t come around all the time.
Not everybody’s wired like that. So when you do have a player or two that are like that, it’s hard to, I think sometimes tell them, Hey, take the foot off the gas. But it’s again, going back to what you just said, it’s a feel thing, right? You have to know That player, you have to know that kid. You have to know who they are.
You have to have that relationship where you can say to them, Hey, you might want to back off for two days, or, Hey, you might not want to go to that showcase because we’ve just done X, Y, or Z, or you’ve been involved in, in this. And it’s a trust factor between the player and the coach and all those kinds of things.
So to me, with a player, when you’re talking about from the perspective of a coach, I think you have to just make sure that you have a good relationship and then. You can do what’s best for the player and give them the right advice in terms of how much they should be doing and how much they shouldn’t be doing, if that makes sense.
[00:30:17] Rob Brost: Yeah, no doubt. I think the relationship with each player is the number one thing, and then you can advise accordingly for that player. And you hit it right on the head. You have some players that are maniacal about their work. I’ve told this story a couple of times, but one of our players we had in 2015, who was one of the players that I told not to go to fall league.
Anyways, we were playing in the sectional semifinal on a Tuesday night and I walked through the gym on my way to the office and it’s like six 15 when I normally walk through there. And I mean, he’s in there the night of our semi-final game or the, the morning of our semi-final game all by himself.
And I walked through and, I mean, it’s not getting up jump. It’s like he is ringing sweat. I mean, he is working and I, his, his name’s Prentice and I said, P you know, we have a game tonight. Like you might want to just tone this down a hair. And he was like, coach, I got this. And he had 37 that night. So then we won and then we played in the sectional semi or the sectional final on Friday night at home again.
And same deal. I walked through at 615 and here he is again, just all by himself. I don’t even know how he got in there or who, how he got anything. So, and he is just. And I said, again, P, we, we have a game tonight. And he said, coach, I got this. And he had 32 that night. And so now I’m kind of like, where are all the guys at 6:15?
No. So that’s an extreme case, but he can handle all of that. Do that and it made him better. I’m not so sure a lot of players could do that. absolutely. Is what I’m getting at.
[00:32:07] Mike Klinzing: So I think that there’s no question.
[00:32:08] Rob Brost: And obviously he’s a special talent. He played at Iowa State and has played overseas for several years.
So, I mean, he was a really, really talented player, but mentally he was at a whole different level. So it plays right into what you were saying. It’s, it’s, it’s an individual thing and it’s, it’s the feel. That you have to get with your players.
[00:32:29] Mike Klinzing: How do you think about it from the perspective of a parent when you think about your son?
So for me, when I think about with my son, I always look at it as. When he was younger, he didn’t have that maniacal sense of like, I got to get to the gym and do things like he just didn’t have that. And that shifted, I guess he’s going to be a senior this year. So I think that shifted like maybe after his ninth grade year, somewhere in that point, it just.
Yeah. Shifted from, Hey, I’m just kind of doing this thing to, Hey, I’m doing this thing. Yeah. And so now whether he’s in the gym or he’s lifting, he’s doing whatever it is that he’s doing, he’s just become a completely different person. And there’s times where like he had his last day, you turn him, he got kicked in the toe.
And I mean, his toe, like. swelled up and probably is broken. We took it to like the x ray tech and they’re like, we don’t even have to x ray it because even if it’s broken, there’s nothing we can do about it. And so he is like, well, you could rest, but you know, it’s not really, are you going to really take six weeks off for this thing to…
You know, and as a parent, part of me is like, boy, I’m really negligent in, in, in doing that. And, and I’ve told, I probably shouldn’t even say this on the podcast, but you know, you, you, I remember like my, his, his like freshman or sophomore year, he’s like, yeah, this one kid on the team, like every day he goes in and he sees the trainer.
And then one day he was in there in the trainer’s office and the trainer told him, Hey you have to, you have to miss the next like three weeks or whatever. And I’m like, you know what? If you got a little nagging something, I’m like, stay away from those trainers, man. Like you don’t, you don’t want to go in there and see the trainer and all of a sudden they’re like, yeah, you’re going to need to sit out the next month of games.
Yes. I’m like, yeah, you want to avoid the trainer’s office as much as we can. So it’s funny because now he and I’ll have conversations and he’ll, he’ll say things like, Yeah. You know, like this kid, man, he just why is he sitting out or what’s his problem.
He’s like, I’ll play through anything. And so it’s just, it’s so interesting, like as a parent trying to navigate how much is too much and trying to figure that out. And I guess what, what it’s come down to for me at least is that I feel like if it’s driven by. Him, then whatever is fine. Like if he wants to do six hours of whatever, then go ahead, man, have at it.
If it’s you now, if it was me saying, Hey, you need to get in the gym this amount of times, then that would be completely different. But I feel like if it’s driven by the player as a parent, Hey man, go out, go for it. That’s at least the way I feel.
[00:35:10] Rob Brost: Agreed. And my son is a little bit behind yours age wise, but it’s starting to move into that stage that you said your son was, was getting to like, okay, I’m going to do this.
And so Trey gets his license in less than a month and he’s already like, dad, can I go to the gym anytime once I have my license, like anytime?
[00:35:33] Mike Klinzing: That is an amazing thing, Rob. Honestly, when I no longer had to drive him. Yeah. To the gym because now it’s like he goes and he does whatever. And I, I’ve said that earlier before he was driving, I was much more hands on in terms of, okay, here’s what we’re going to do and this is what you need to work on.
And now it’s like he goes, he comes home and like, Hey dude, what’d you work on today? And then he’ll tell me, Hey, I did this, this and this and this, I’m like, great. And I’m now just a encourager slash maybe overseer to some degree of like whatever, but it’s so awesome when it becomes driven by them and not by you as the parent.
It’s just incredible.
[00:36:15] Rob Brost: There’s no question, right? It’s going to be a little unique with Trey and I, cause I’m the coach as well and the dad all in one. And so it adds some challenges to it, but I’m looking forward to it. And he it’s going to be up to him how good he wants to be, or how, how much he wants to, to do this thing.
And so that’s going to be mostly on him, but I can tell you, he’s really looking forward to getting this license. So he doesn’t have to, Hey dad, are we going, when are we going? Like, can we stay a little longer? Like today I went and picked him up from the gym and he said, can I lift? And I was like, dude.
Dude, no, I’m not going to sit here 45 minutes while you’re lifting, we’re going to go now. And so of course he wasn’t thrilled about that piece. But that’s where we’re at right now. I just started school today, so I’m actually working now. So now it’s a whole nother deal.
So we’re just getting into that stage that new one you said you were in, so we’ll, see how it goes. And we’ll report back on the next a triple double a year from now to see where we’re at.
[00:37:25] Mike Klinzing: I love it. I mean, it’s just, again, when you think about the journey and you guys will have an even different journey, as you said, because you have the added bonus slash complication of you’re going to actually coach him, which I think, again, anybody that I’ve talked to, there’s obviously challenges to it, but there’s also just, again, the ability to have that experience together.
I think there’s nothing better if you can figure out the right way to navigate. That’s going to have to be a conversation topic at some point moving forward, just about coaching, coaching your, coaching your own kid and what those experiences are like and some advice we can throw that out there.
[00:38:03] Rob Brost: I need some advice. That’s for sure.
[00:38:08] Mike Klinzing: It’s tough. I mean, it’s tough to figure out again. I think what it always boils down to is, how much do you push and then also how do you make sure that everyone is treated the same. And I think it’s more the perception that it is actually what you do is how is everybody else perceiving what’s going on amongst the team.
And I think if you can navigate that, then you’re in pretty good shape. No question. Anything else on any of the three topics that we didn’t touch on before we wrap up? Is there anything we missed?
[00:38:45] Rob Brost: Man, I think we got it all. Jason, are you good? I mean, I don’t, I know it’s getting late, especially Eastern time. So I just want to make sure you’re still with us.
[00:38:57] Jason Sunkle: Okay, perfect. Great.
[00:39:00] Mike Klinzing: He’s awake, and he’s good.
[00:39:02] Rob Brost: I thought he was going to bring up the golfing in August.
[00:39:07] Mike Klinzing: What should we work on? Like, just give us one golf tip here to wrap up the pod. What should you look for as a golfer?
[00:39:13] Jason Sunkle: Well, I don’t golf as much as I’d like to if something to do with four kids, nine and under.
[00:39:18] Rob Brost: Well, I mean, you put yourself in that situation.
[00:39:22] Mike Klinzing: What about putt putt? What putt putt tips do you have for me?
[00:39:24] Jason Sunkle: Well, I’ll tell you what I tell my kids all the time. I say try to line up with the hole and aim generally in the direction.
But more importantly. Just hit the ball. You don’t need to get a hold of you guys.
[00:39:44] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, we need to get a hold. You’re a big guy on pace of play, man. You should be hired as a PGA Tour official, right? You can get out there and try to hurry guys up.
[00:39:51] Jason Sunkle: It’s more of like, guys, you’ve taken like 30 shots on this because you’re not lining up to the hole.
[00:39:58] Rob Brost: Line the putt up, kids.
[00:40:00] Mike Klinzing: Those are great days. I remember those days well where you’re like, Are you looking at the club and where you’re hitting the ball? Like, how do you think that where you are hitting the ball is going to go anywhere near the hole? And yet it didn’t matter. The next shot, the next hole, it was exactly the same.
And you’re like, where’s the depth perception and spatial awareness? It’s like not here at age. Four or five or six that I could just, it was not there, at least with my kids.
[00:40:26] Rob Brost: No question. Well, we got to get together at some point and do a putt putt now. Yep. That’s it. Jason, we’ll have to do it.
[00:40:35] Mike Klinzing: All right. So let’s wrap it up there. Triple double number three, and we appreciate everyone out there checking out the episode tonight and we will catch you on the next one. Thanks.