XANDER SMART – COMMITTED TO MY CRAFT PLAYER DEVELOPMENT FOUNDER & HEAD TRAINER – EPISODE 546

Xander Smart

Website – https://www.committedtomycraft.com/

Email –  committedtomycraft@gmail.com

Twitter – @committedtoMC

Xander Smart is the founder and head trainer at Committed to My Craft Player Development in Dayton , Ohio.  Xander played his high school basketball at Carroll High School in Dayton.  He went on to play 4 years of college basketball at the University of Northwestern Ohio where he was an academic all-conference selection in the 2016-2017 season.

Xander has built Committed to My Craft to train players at all ages and skill levels through his 4 P’s of Player Development – Purpose, Pace, Passion, and Posture.

If you’re looking to improve your coaching please consider joining the Hoop Heads Mentorship Program.  We believe that having a mentor is the best way to maximize your potential and become a transformational coach. By matching you up with one of our experienced mentors you’ll develop a one on one relationship that will help your coaching, your team, your program, and your mindset.  The Hoop Heads Mentorship Program delivers mentoring services to basketball coaches at all levels through our team of experienced Head Coaches. Find out more at hoopheadspod.com or shoot me an email directly mike@hoopheadspod.com

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Grab a pen and some paper before you listen to this episode with Xander Smart from Committed to my Craft Player Development.

What We Discuss with Xander Smart

  • The influence of his father and his brothers and growing up in a sports family
  • How his mindset shifted when he focused in on basketball in high school
  • Learning from Instagram and YouTube as a player looking for ways to improve
  • Your drills should prepare you to play 5 on 5
  • His favorite memory of playing high school basketball
  • His decision to attend University of Northwest Ohio
  • Thinking he would become a CPA when he graduated
  • Doing his own ball handling workouts as a player and having his teammates ask if they could join him was his first experience with training
  • Getting ideas from trainers on social media
  • Putting in the hard work on the court and off kept his first workout partners coming back
  • Learning the game vs. learning the drills
  • “Study the game and see what’s effective and what’s not effective.”
  • “The game continues to evolve and I’m constantly seeing players do new things.”
  • Breaking down the film of players he works with
  • Transitioning from free training to charging for his services
  • The challenge of finding gym time
  • “The biggest thing with gym time is relationships and providing value for people.”
  • How he schedules workouts with players
  • Making sure all his workouts have a competitive element, both group and individual workouts
  • The filmwork he does on and for his players
  • The four p’s of player development – purpose, pace, passion, and purpose
  • “Winners always do more.”
  • How he handles difficult conversations with players and parents
  • “If your trainer isn’t talking about hustling and eye contact and being respectful and how to communicate and different things like the intangibles of basketball, then your trainer isn’t fulfilling what they should be doing for your child.”
  • The non-basketball aspects of running a training business – scheduling, website, accounting, etc.
  • His future plans for Committed to My Craft
  • How he builds relationships with his players

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THANKS, XANDER SMART

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TRANSCRIPT FOR XANDER SMART – COMMITTED TO MY CRAFT PLAYER DEVELOPMENT FOUNDER & HEAD TRAINER – EPISODE 546

[00:00:00] Mike Klinzing: Hello, and welcome to the Hoop Heads Podcast. It’s Mike Klinzing here with my co-host Jason Sunkle tonight, and we are pleased to welcome Xander Smart from Committed to My Craft Player Development. Xander, Welcome to the Hoop Heads Pod.

[00:00:15] Xander Smart: Hey Mike, thanks for having me

[00:00:17] Mike Klinzing: Excited to have you on. I want to dive into what you’ve been able to do with your player development business in a very short time, as a young guy, really curious to dig in and see how you got that done, what your philosophy is.

And we’re going to get into all that as we go through the pod, I want to start out by going back in time to when you were a kid, tell us a little bit about your first experiences with the game of basketball.

[00:00:44] Xander Smart: Yeah. So I picked up a basketball at a young age just because I was for awhile. I was the youngest of three brothers.

So I had two older brothers and then my dad was always in the gym, taking us around to the places that he would play. And we’d be off on the sidelines dribbling a ball [00:01:00] shooting around when we were allowed to probably dribbling a ball onto the court while they were playing and getting yelled at.

But I was just from, from as long as I can remember, I was always in the gym with my brothers or with my dad. And then we had a hoop in our driveway and it had a light on it. So we could be out there as late as we want. And we even used to get yelled at, by the neighbors for being out there too late.

But, but I was kind of just thrown into basketball and all sports really, because we were a sports family and being the youngest of the three brothers and then having my dad be the coach, even if I wasn’t on a team, I was always at practices. So for a couple of years before I even started playing on a team, I had gone through a couple of seasons of practices because. I was always at my brothers practices. And then if they had nine one night or they needed somebody to pair up with somebody for a drill, I was going through the practice and, and doing all those things at a young age. So that kind of really sparked my my love for the game. And then it just continued from there

[00:01:57] Mike Klinzing: Was keeping up with your brothers a [00:02:00] big part of what made you so competitive?

I grew up with only a sister. And so I always, when I think about kids that I grew up with who had brothers, whether they were the older brother and they were the younger brother, it just seemed like those families with lots of boys were super competitive and the boys were always killing each other, whether it was on the football field, whether it was basketball, whatever it was.

So what do you remember about competing with your brothers? Both from a actual playing against them, but then also, maybe just the mental side of wanting to try to do that.

[00:02:32] Xander Smart: Yeah, we were, we were an extremely competitive, competitive family. It doesn’t matter if it was monopoly or basketball or ping pong.

Like we’ve yelled at each other gone in the house, crying, gotten in fights just because of how competitive we are and being the youngest one. We had a lot of other, other kids around the neighborhood, so they would play pretty competitive games of 21 [00:03:00] football in the backyard whistle ball.

They didn’t like it. If somebody was kind of slowing down the game or it was unfair because the young guy was playing. And so my brothers were like, if you want to play with us, then you actually have to be good. You know, you have to, you have to be able to keep up. And so for me, it was kind of always that challenge to be able to compete.

And then once I started to see a little bit of success against some of the older guys in whatever sport you kind of hang on to that and, and and it drives you to do it even more and find those fields where the older guys are playing and tag along with your brothers to the high school, open gyms.

And so I haven’t, haven’t two older brothers. I would say that’s where I get a lot of my competitiveness from it. And the crazy thing is now, even though none of us are still playing the, the four of us because I have a younger brother as well, we still play in a men’s league together every Sundays.

And we’re extremely competitive with that. Yeah, I’m trying to get her to be quiet.

[00:03:59] Mike Klinzing: [00:04:00] That’s all good, man. No worries. That’s funny. So when you think back to that time was basketball always your number one or at one point was maybe another sport first?

[00:04:13] Xander Smart: I was always one of those type of kids that whatever sport I was playing at the time was going to be my favorite sport, whether it was basketball, baseball, or football.

Those were kind of the three main ones I play. I played, my mom will be mad if I didn’t don’t include volleyball in that as well. But whatever, whatever sport I was in, I think it was just because I was so competitive. And just being able to compete and go out there and try and win. Whatever sport I was playing was was always my favorite until I got to high school.

And then it really started to separate and, and I think practices were a big thing to do with that. I just enjoyed basketball practices a lot more than baseball and football practices. I really started to focus in on that my junior year was the first year that I only played basketball. And that was my [00:05:00] first year playing a you as well.

[00:05:02] Mike Klinzing: Well, you started the focus in, what did that look like? How did that change what you did in your off seasons, where it may be before? I’m assuming that if it was baseball season, you were playing baseball. If it was football season, you were playing football and now you start to zero in on basketball and you start putting together a plan for how you want to get better.

So what did that look like when you started the focusing solely on basketball? How did that change? What your summer looked like or what’s your off season look like?

[00:05:30] Xander Smart: Yeah, it changed it dramatically because instead of having to split time with all these different sports, I was able to be at everything that we had for our basketball team.

As well as doing everything on my own to continue to get better because I wasn’t in football practice wear myself out or baseball. Till nine o’clock at night. But and then I was able to play AAU as well, that year with which I hadn’t played. And then when I met all of my AAU teammates, I saw what, what other other [00:06:00] players that were trying to play in college were doing in their free time.

And when I was in high school, I never worked out with a trainer just because I didn’t, I was so naive to the basketball world that I didn’t know, that’s what people did in the off season. And so my schedule just became all basketball and I was going to any open gyms that I could go to.

I was shooting all the time and a big part was that’s when I really fell in love with weightlifting as well.

[00:06:27] Mike Klinzing: When you were working out on your own, how did you come up with the ideas, the plans for what you’re going to do was a kind of haphazard where you on YouTube, trying to figure out, looking at drills.

How did you put together what you were going to do on a given day when you went to the gym?

[00:06:44] Xander Smart: That’s a good question because it kind of developed over time. When I first started becoming a full-time basketball player, I really just went in and got shots up. Because I didn’t, I didn’t understand the, all, [00:07:00] everything that went into skill work and skill development.

I just thought it was about shooting the ball. So I would, I had a routine where I would just go in and do five spots, five makes there maybe go elbow to corner, get some shots there, shoot some threes, shoot some free throws. And then I would go lift. And that would kind of be my routine.

But then once I got to college and I was doing some of my own workouts, I would, I was all over YouTube and Instagram got really big when I was in college with the videos. And that’s when a lot of the trainers started to become. And so then I would, I would kind of write some stuff down and that’s where I started to develop my creativity to make up certain drills that work on things or to pattern something a certain way was because I was kind of my first client because I never had a trainer.

So I was always working myself out.

[00:07:48] Mike Klinzing: Do you feel like once you started being more purposeful for what you were doing with your workouts, that you got better and improved a lot faster than you had when you were just kind of going [00:08:00] in and as you said, getting shots up

[00:08:02] Xander Smart: Most definitely. And that’s actually that’s actually one of my keys to my training philosophy is purpose.

So I have four and we can get into this a little bit later, but I have four p’s to player development and the first one is actually purpose. And, and when you’re working with or when you’re doing skill development or player to. Yeah. The, what you’re doing has to prepare you for the five on five game.

It doesn’t necessarily have to have to directly translate to the five on five game, but it has to prepare you to play five on five and then as well with your purpose, it has to be in alignment with your goals. And when, when your workouts are purposeful in those two areas, then it’s a lot easier to see growth in a shorter amount of time.

[00:08:46] Mike Klinzing: I think that there’s such an advantage today in kids being able to have resources, whether that’s an actual human being who is a trainer who’s putting together that plan for them, or if a kid goes out on their own, there’s so [00:09:00] many great resources being able to find drills, ideas, things that you can work on to improve and get better and make your skills into what you want to be.

Whereas I think what I was thinking. I tell people all the time, like I, I used to just do this guy at two workouts. I had a workout that I would do by myself when I was just shooting on my own. And then if for some reason I had a partner to shoot with that. I had another routine where know partner would rebound me.

And for me, we trade off whatever it might be, but I really only had two workouts. I mean, I did that probably for my last two years of high school and my four years playing college basketball. So it’s like six years of St to work out. So I probably got pretty good at those. I got pretty good at those two workouts.

I’m not sure how much better it was really making me compared to what I would be doing if I were growing up. You know, if I were growing up today and having access to all the technology and the, just the knowledge that’s out there from coaches, trainers, things that you can find on the internet to me, it’s [00:10:00] just, it makes it so much easier to improve and get better.

When did the idea of. Playing college basketball. Get on your radar. When did you start thinking that, Hey, it was a realistic possibility that it might be something that you’d be able to do after,

[00:10:17] Xander Smart: To me, it was always a realistic possibility. I was always that kid who would dream of playing in the NBA or playing in the NFL.

And to me I was gonna end up in one of them. It, it just kind of depended on which sport it was going to be. You know, cause I was a dreamer and so I always kind of had this thought that I was either going to play one of the three in college. And then once I narrowed my focus down to basketball, it really wasn’t a question of, of whether or not I was going to play basketball in college.

It was just where I was going to play. And which is kind of crazy for me to think about because I knew nothing about the recruiting process. I have no clue why I was so sure. I just knew I was going to find a way [00:11:00] to get to college and, and play. So it was always, it was always a dream of mine. But I always kind of had a feeling that I was, I was going to get there.

[00:11:09] Mike Klinzing: All right. Before we get into the process of how you chose a school and then your college career, what’s your favorite memory from high school basketball?

[00:11:17] Xander Smart: There’s so many that are going through my head right now. My favorite memory, it would, it would probably have to be when we ended up beating our rival in double overtime.

And at the end of regulation, I had a layup to tie the game to send it into overtime. And then we ended up winning and dope double overtime. And we won in pretty dramatic fashion. And the student section from our school ended up running onto the court. So that’s something that I’ll always remember.

[00:11:45] Mike Klinzing: That’s very cool. Not everybody gets an opportunity to experience that. And I think when you get to do it, especially if you do it there and you got your students and your friends and your family there with you, that’s just something that. You’re never going to forget that you’ll be 90 years old [00:12:00] still telling that story.

And pretty soon it’ll probably be a dunker via half-court dewpoint or something it should change, change that, change that story around. So it’s it’s fun. I got a memory like that too. I tell people all the time, I don’t even know now it was actually on video and I’m not even sure that I remember very much of what my actual feeling was because I’ve seen the video so many times that most of my memories are surrounded by the video as opposed to what my actual experience was.

So, but it’s something that’s in my head. It’s always going to be there. And it’s a story that I continue to tell my kids are probably sick of hearing me. So I’ll just tell them about, tell them about the shot that I made and listen to that. So at any rate college basketball, talk about your recruiting process, how you end up at the university of Northwestern, Ohio, what that looks like and just how you went about the process again, as a kid.

Just, as you said, maybe didn’t know a lot about the recruiting process.

[00:12:55] Xander Smart: Yeah. I was pretty naive to [00:13:00] how offers work and how college coaches contacted you. And luckily my parents were very supportive with if me or one of my brothers had something that we expressed to them that we wanted to do.

They also, my sister as well, I keep forgetting her. But they, they would find a way to help us to get that done in any way that they could. And so they set me up with a recruiting website to kind of make a profile and get my name out there. And they educated us a little bit on how everything worked.

But then once I got into college, I learned that it was not that they were wrong, but there was just so much that went into it that even a recruiting site, isn’t going to be able to tell you everything that you can gain through the experience. I didn’t, I didn’t have too many offers. My, because of whatever financial situation I was looking to get a scholarship to go play.

So I didn’t, didn’t really look into the division three route, which now I know that there could have been opportunities that I could have looked at and that way but I [00:14:00] had a couple of NAIA offers and it just came down to UNH ended up being the best of the offers that I had. And, and like I said, I always had in mind that I was going to go play in college.

So that being the best one out of the offers, I chose to take that. And then I ended up staying there for four years and it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made

[00:14:22] Mike Klinzing: What was the adjustment, like both on and off the floor. When you transitioned from high school to college?

[00:14:29] Xander Smart: On the court was probably a lot harder to transition to then off the court on the court was, it was a lot more physical and a lot more athletic than I was.

And off the court the college stuff was really the, the school and the living was kind of the easy part and going to a private school and, and having the upbringing that I did, I was very thankful when I got to college for a lot of the beatings and groundings that I got, because I realized how much it prepared me for the off the court stuff.[00:15:00]

But, but then the, on the court, it w like I said, it was just a lot more physical. The game was a lot faster. And it, I just wasn’t expecting it to be as fast as it really was. And that was, that was at an NAI school. So it took me about a year to a year and a half to really adjust to the speed and the physicality of how everybody was playing.

[00:15:19] Mike Klinzing: When you first got to school, what were your career plans? Did you have an idea of what you wanted to do? Did you see coaching being a part of your future at that point when you first started school? Or were you still focused on being a player?

[00:15:31] Xander Smart: I was focused on being a player, but I was starting to think more and more about it because at that time I had to pick my major and I went into sports marketing and management. And the main reason was because I had to pick a major to go on my visit. So they could give me the tour kind of guided towards that major. And I just, I committed to the school and I’d never really switched it.

And then, so I did that for a year and then I switched over and, and did forensic accounting. And so I was an accounting major [00:16:00] and I actually thought for a while that I was going to just be, get my CPA and be an accountant and, and work for an accounting firm. And then probably coach my kids or, or coach on the side.

It wasn’t really until the end of my college career, when I really had to look at what I wanted to do kind of for my next life post the post player. And that’s when I got steered into training. And then I dove in and haven’t really looked back.

[00:16:27] Mike Klinzing: Right. So tell us the Genesis of that story.  How do you get involved in the training world. Is there a mentor? Is it an idea that you find and see and look at? Wow, Hey, I see some guys doing this and have some success. I think I can do it based on what I’ve done to help myself get better. How did you get to the idea that going into training, that was the way you wanted to go, as opposed to, let’s say becoming a college coach or going, and maybe getting a teaching certificate so you could teach and coach the high school level.

Why training?

[00:16:58] Xander Smart: I think, I really feel [00:17:00] like looking back that I was after looking at the path that I took and how my college career went. I feel like I was forced into training and maybe not forced, but guided into training just with the different assistant coaches that I had, that would be the trainers for our team.

I ended up getting real close to all of them, but each coach from my sophomore, my junior and my senior year, I had a different assistant coach that would work me out each year. And so I kind of. Three different perspectives on player development. But then at the same time, I also met three guys that I really looked up to and I thought they had a really good brain for the game of basketball.

And so that was the first part. And then I really needed to improve on my ball handling, going into my senior year. And our point guard had really good handles. And so I asked him how, how to get better with my handles. And he was like, really, you just have to dribble every day. Like if you set a goal to dribble for 15 to 30 minutes every day in the off season, [00:18:00] then there’s no way you’re not going to have a good handle by the time you get to the next season.

And so I really took that to heart. And for a couple of weeks, I just saw how, how many days in a row can I do 30 minutes of all handling? And then the next thing you know, it turned into a whole spreadsheet and I did for 236 straight days. I did 30 minutes of ball handling and it ended up being more of a mental thing than it, than it did physical.

Through that process. I eventually got tired of the ball handling drills I was doing. So I was looking for more and looking for more. And that’s when a lot of the trainers that you see now Tyler Relph and Drew Hanlon and Jordan Lawley, that’s when they started to really become popular on Instagram.

And I was seeing what their, what they were doing and kind of like you said, I was like, Hey, I think, I think I could do that. And I think I could show some people how to improve at basketball. And, and then my teammates were seeing me doing the ball handling drills and they were like, Hey, can we hop in with you?

And I was like, oh yeah, sure. And then my [00:19:00] 30 minutes of ball handling ended up taking an hour and 15 minutes. And, and so I w I was I was, I didn’t feel like I really got, got much out of that day. So the next day I was like, okay, I’ll come in at 12. You guys come in at, at 1245 and I’ll put you guys through it.

And so that was kind of a couple of weeks before this. So I think I did because I’ve tracked it. I think I did 10 workouts before my senior year. And then so then my, my senior year goes by, and the day after the day after our season ended the red shirt on our team who didn’t play at all, he just texted me out of nowhere and said, Hey, can we get in the gym?

And I was like, man, I’ve just lost. Like, or I just played my last game. I don’t want to go back in the gym, but for some reason I went in there and I put them through a workout and it was, it was really the best thing for me that day. And so for two weeks, me and him just, just worked out.

And then next thing you know, we had a couple of players that were [00:20:00] going to transfer from our school, but me and them still had a good relationship and they were going to finish up the semester. So they said, Hey, can we get some workouts in? So I started working with them. And then. And then some of the guys that were returning saw that we were doing workouts and they asked the coach, Hey, can we work out with Xander instead of working out with the coaches?

So they would do some work with me. And in our gym, in the Lima area was just the place that, that everybody that was involved with basketball would go to train because we kind of had an open door policy and we had a gun that people could get shots up on. And then we would have runs as well with the college players.

And so there was always just pro players and different college players from the Lima area in our gym. And once they saw that I was trained in the players you know, they would be in after us. And then they would ask, Hey, can we come in at this time tomorrow? And, and that’s where I started training.

I wasn’t charging anybody because I didn’t have to pay for the gym time. And, and it was,I didn’t think I should be charging anybody at that time. And, and [00:21:00] those, those players really taught me how to train and how to build relationships with players. Once I graduated from there, I moved down to Dayton and, and just started, it started everything that I built up in Lima.

And I just brought it down here.

[00:21:15] Mike Klinzing: All right. So I want to get into that in a second, but I want to jump back to these workouts that you’re doing with your former teammates and guys that are just showing up at the gym. Obviously you have to be doing something right. In order for yourself to get noticed by these other guys who were coming to the gym, and then for people who want to come back to multiple workouts workouts with you.

So what do you think you were doing a really good job of that? When somebody worked out with you, then they went and told a buddy, or they said, Hey, this has really worked for me. I want to come back or somebody who’s just walking through the gym and they see you working with a player or a group of players.

What do you think they noticed about you or about the workouts that you were putting together that sort of led to that word of mouth that you [00:22:00] were describing?

[00:22:01] Xander Smart: It’s actually kind of funny because I look back on those workouts that I did at my college when I was still finishing up my degree. And I just think about how bad of a trainer I was.

And, and maybe I’m probably being too hard on myself, but I think for the players that, that that were working out with me and what the player saw was just the consistency and the commitment. Because I would, it didn’t really matter what day it was. If I could fit him in the schedule when I was first starting out, I would, I would get anybody in the gym.

So I think that meant a lot to the players. And then the, and then also the commitment for them, knowing that I was going to be down there, no matter what drill I was putting them through that I was going to be hustling or playing hard defense or you know, I was going to be back in my dorm room, studying, looking at drills to do, having new things for them.

Sending them different clips. I think just them, knowing that I was putting the work in to be the best that I could be. I think they really saw [00:23:00] that. And that’s why they were willing to give me a chance.

[00:23:03] Mike Klinzing: What are you better at when you’re describing the fact that mannose workouts work? What I would do today, what’s better about what you’re doing today than what you were doing back then?

[00:23:15] Xander Smart: Back then, I was just putting players through drills.

I would see a drill on Instagram or YouTube, and I would put the player through the drill, not really knowing why we were doing it, or maybe I would, I would say, okay, this is why we’re doing it, but I’m just really regurgitating what I heard on the video. And what I do now is instead of learning drills, I started to learn the game.

And when you learn the game and create the drills from the game, you know what you’re talking about because you you’ve created the drills based on what you’ve seen from the game and what you’ve seen work and not. And so that, that I think is the biggest difference is that back then I would learn drills and then put players through drills.

But now I [00:24:00] really just study the game and see what’s effective and what’s not effective. And, and I base my drills off of what I know about the game.

[00:24:09] Mike Klinzing: So, so that to me means that you’re watching a lot of film. What type of film are you watching? Are you watching college? Are you watching pro what kinds of things are you looking for when you’re watching films?

Just describe your process for discovery of the types of things that you’re going to then use to put into players’ games as part of their workouts

[00:24:32] Xander Smart: With film, it’s a few different things. I’m just a basketball junkie, so I could watch a sixth grade CYO game. I could watch a high school JV game.

I could watch any, any type of game and, and pull something. Because I work with players from all levels. So whenever I’m watching a live game or I’m watching something on TV, I’m not really watching it to [00:25:00] see who wins, I’m watching it to learn new things and see what, what player, what types of players are doing, what, because the game continues to evolve and I’m constantly seeing players do new things and be consistent with newer things.

So it’s, I think it’s important to watch the game as it’s happening in regular time. But also I’ve been blessed to work with some pretty good players. And that’s one of the things that builds credibility with players now is, is the film study. And so I just, a lot of times, especially with the quarantine, I just study the players that I work with and I’ll do I’ll do film breakdowns for them, and I have a YouTube page, but it’s really just for a library for me to keep the videos.

But I just study the players that I work with and. And from that, I’ve kind of built a curriculum. And I think that way it’s real because they’re actually players that I’ve seen do the, do the moves or play a certain style. And so I’ve been able to talk to them and pick their brain about, about [00:26:00] why they do certain things and when they do it.

And so I’m able to help other players to, to be effective doing that type of stuff as well. So I’ve really just built my curriculum off of the players that I’ve worked with and I studied their film and it’s enjoyable. I’m always learning something. And then I’m able to send them different things that shows them that I’m locked in on their game and investing time in them, outside of our workouts.

[00:26:24] Mike Klinzing: I think that’s critical when we talk to whether it’s a high school coach or a college coach and consistently, what do they tell us that relationships are the lifeblood of what they do as a coach in order to be able to have success, build the type of teams that they want to do. Those relationships and that trust is so important.

I think training wise is the same thing. Like you putting the time in to study your player’s film, to break that down, to be able to come back to them with a personalized plan and a knowledge of their game and what they’re all [00:27:00] about. Talk about building trust and building a relationship with a flare where why wouldn’t you come back to somebody who’s going to put that kind of time in and dedicate themselves to your improvement as a player.

To me, it makes a ton of sense. You mentioned a couple of minutes ago that you felt like when you first started that you shouldn’t be charging people. Well, at some point you’re going to make a living as a basketball trainer. You have to transition from just doing some workouts with your buddies and former teammates to actually get some clients in the door and deciding that you’re going to charge people for your services.

So what was that experience like for you? I remember when. Stepped away from high school coaching. And this was probably back in 2009, 2010 started, I was going to do a little training. And I remember that when I first started charging people, it was really, really hard for me to tell them how much it was going to cost.

And then after I had [00:28:00] done it for a year or two, and I had more people probably than I could handle, I wouldn’t even bat an eye when somebody would try to start to negotiate with me, I would just say, look, this is the price. And if you don’t want to pay it, then you need to find somebody else. So what was the transition like for you, from going from, Hey, I’m doing this on the side as a favor to some guys that I know to now.

I really want to think about making it a business. What did that feel like? And how’d you handle that transition? Cause I think there are probably people out there in our audience that have thought about maybe getting into the training business. I think this is something that trainers have questions about sometimes.

[00:28:35] Xander Smart: Yeah, that’s a great question. I, I think I, I got pretty lucky just with my situation. When I was at school, I didn’t have to pay for the gym time and and I could just use it whenever it was free, so I didn’t really have any overhead. So I was able to work anybody out for free and, and not really be out anything other than some of my energy for that day.

But so then once I graduated college and I [00:29:00] moved from Lima to Dayton, not many people knew me in Dayton and nobody had really worked with me yet. So that’s when I started to charge players. So I, I, in a way I left my free clientele in Lima and I moved home and then, and then I was, whenever people reached out to work out with me, I had a little bit of a reputation with some of the players that I worked with in Lima.

So I was able to, to charge at that point based off. But for me, when I moved back home, I worked at an air force base as a financial manager for a year, while I was training on the side. And so that, that also allowed me some freedom to not really have to worry about the amount of money that I was making from training, because it wasn’t my full-time job.

And so that allowed me to continue to work with some players on the free side, or have a professional player or a high level college player, take a chance on me and, and allow me to work them out to, to gain the credibility and, and, [00:30:00] and to take that to other people. And so in that situation, I, I feel like I, I got pretty, pretty lucky, but I also kind of set it up that way, but it was kind of funny the last, the last week I was in Lima training.

So I wasn’t trained in anybody and I never, I never asked anybody for money. Nobody ever asked me. And then a pro player came to town and I worked them out all. And he paid me every single day and his name is max Landis. And that’ll go a long way or that, that has gone a long way with me. And I’ll never forget that.

Just because he respected my time and he respected the energy that I was putting in. And, and to me that that’s the definition of a pro is not, not just, not just because he paid me and had the money to pay me, but because he had the respect to, to value my time and what I was doing for him.

[00:30:50] Mike Klinzing: Very cool.

I think not everybody would do that. And the fact that he was willing to do that. And I’m sure that gave you some [00:31:00] confidence that a here’s this guy that I’m working out, that he’s a pro player and he respects me respects what I’m doing and respects my time, as you said, and I’m sure that gave you confidence as you’ve moved forward in your training career.

You mentioned a little bit about doing it on the side. Did you. I have thoughts that you wanted to do it full time or when you were in that year, did you think I’m going to just continue to do this on the side, see where it goes, or what was your thought process in terms of thinking whether you could make a go of it to be a full-time trainer?

[00:31:37] Xander Smart: My thought process was that I was in that job as short as I could possibly be. And whenever I can take it full time, I could take it full time. And luckily I’m a, I’m a few years out now, so I can say that without feeling too bad, but yeah, I, I always wanted to be a full-time trainer. The, the job that I was working was just, just a means to an end and it, it, I, [00:32:00] I, I made some lifelong relationships and so I, I don’t regret the time that I spent there, but I’m definitely happy with what I’ve been doing the last few years.

And so for me, it w it was just kind of a timing thing too, because with training it seasonal. So I was able to kind of work through the fall and the. And then when, when the summer started to hit that’s when I was able to quit I’m right in the middle of June. So I was able to get that full off season.

So I was able to work for the first half of the year, and then I was able to train for the second half of the year. And so that really kind of kick started my business and, and sent me out on the right foot, especially going into the going into the pandemic.

[00:32:40] Mike Klinzing:  What was the biggest challenge of getting things started on a full-time basis?

[00:32:44] Xander Smart: Just gym time, gym time is the biggest thing. I was training out of high schools. I was training out of the YMCA. And then finally I was able to get connected with, with the place that had a court in the warehouse. And they had, [00:33:00] they had a team that used it for practice from November to February, but outside of that, they didn’t really have anybody coming in and it just ended up being the perfect situation for me.

And once I was able to secure that, that really kick-started my business, but I had quit my job without having that facility, just knowing that I had to free up my time in order to be able to find a place that could accommodate what I wanted to do with my business. And so I took a little bit of a chance, but it ended up paying off and, and I’ve been training ever since then.

[00:33:36] Mike Klinzing: Describe your process for having a discussion with a facility, whether that’s a high school, whether that’s the facility in the warehouse, one of those conversations look like when you’re talking to them about wanting to come in and train, because we all know that as you said, getting gym time is a challenge.

There are some school districts, schools, [00:34:00] facilities, I don’t want you in there, or we want to charge you an exorbitant amount to use their facility, which is probably otherwise sitting empty. So just maybe what’s your negotiating tactics or how do you go in, what advice would you have for a trainer? Who’s looking for a place to train when they go in and talk to a facility, what was your process for having that conversation so that you could get the gym time?

You wanted it at a fair price that would enable you to make a living doing what you’re doing.

[00:34:27] Xander Smart: The biggest thing with gym time is relationships and providing value for people. And so my, my kind of strategy when I started off was I would try to build a relationship with a coach or with players. I knew that could get into the gym or with the people at the Y YMCA.

And so then a lot of coaches have kids and the coaches, kids weren’t trained. So if, if I work a coach’s kid out for an hour and. Then he lets me stay in the gym for the rest of the [00:35:00] evening. I can schedule three more hours. And so that was, that was my strategy. And that way I was able to have no overhead.

And so I would just develop relationships and I had four or five gyms that I was able to kind of piece my schedule together and make it work for all my clients. But now that now that I was able to get the warehouse gym it’s just been much easier to have one facility that everybody can come to.

And, and I think when you build the right relationships, you just get put around the right people. And that’s what happened with me and the owner of the building that I’m at. And he has a son and his son comes in and does training. But he, he’s just a, a really good guy. And I don’t think you’re going to find too many business owners that, that have the, the mind that he has.

And, and for him everything that we do back there in the warehouse is kind of a bonus. His kid gets to be around it. And we have we have baseball back there too as well. So I just, I I’m in a really good [00:36:00] situation with where

[00:36:01] Mike Klinzing: What’s your process for scheduling your training with clients? How do they go about getting on your schedule?

I know one of the things that was a challenge for me was trying to carve out regular time for every client. So somebody wanted to train at such and such a time on such and such a day. And if I couldn’t make that work either because of my own schedule or because of the gym schedule, as you said, that consistency is so important.

So how do key, how to play your schedule with you and how do you keep on top of that?

[00:36:37] Xander Smart: Scheduling has probably been one of the, the most overlooked parts of getting into this full-time for me. I didn’t realize how much I would be using my phone and talking to people. The best thing that I did was I got a second line and transferred all of my contacts for basketball over to one phone so that I could keep everything at one [00:37:00] place.

But for me, it, I just have players texts, me, or parents texted me and they let me know what days and times that they’re available. And then I piece the schedule together from there because I’m very particular about what players work out with who, and not in, not in a sense of this player from this school, can’t work out with this player from this school.

But I like, I like to have players that are gonna push each other and challenge each other to be better, you know? And so I like to have people that are going to be similar size and position and skillset. And so I’m very particular on who works out with who in that regard. So that kind of makes my schedule a little bit more difficult, but that way I think we can be really efficient in the gym and the players can get the most out of the work.

But then also on the flip side, you have a lot of parents and players that want to come in at a specific time, or they, they want to work out with this group of players. They want to do is [00:38:00] only individuals. And, and that, that gets kind of hectic, especially when you try to, to appease everyone and get everybody there times, because at the end of the day, you’re not going to be able to get everybody the time they want.

And you have to be able to say no. And, and to to tell people that, that if they want to come in, that these are the times that you have and be okay with them saying that they can’t make it at those times.

[00:38:24] Mike Klinzing: How do you look at training an individual player by themselves versus a group? What are the things that you try to do with a kid when you’re working with them on their own, versus when you have two or three kids at a workout, how do you structure each of those scenarios to make sure that you’re getting the player.

What they need, obviously, when you have multiple players, you can have them going against one another. You can make it, make it more game-like when you have an individual player, you may be able to zero in more on the details on that particular piece of footwork or skill. So just walk me [00:39:00] through what it looks like when you’re working with an individual, versus when you’re working with a group?

[00:39:03] Xander Smart: I think in both scenarios, you have to make sure that they’re competing and especially in the individual, a workout, because like you said, with the group workouts, they can compete against other players. They can do game-like situations, but in the individual workout, it’s still important to compete. And I think the two ways that, that you can compete are against yourself or against the time.

And so w in an individual workout, it’s important, I think, to still make those competitive so that you’re getting the game pressure and the game like. As well as working on more technical things than you would, maybe in a group workout when, when players come in individually cause I, I grew up a lot of the players together.

I don’t do as many individual workouts because I think players can push each other harder than they can push themselves. And so when, when we do have an individual workout, a lot of it will be centered [00:40:00] around shooting. If that’s something that they really, really need to work on. As far as mechanics cause that’s harder to do in a, in a group workout, it’s easy to get a lot of shots up, but it’s harder to focus on, on one little thing or structure drills that really hold them accountable to do one certain thing with shooting.

But then also kind of every, every aspect of the game, if, if, if ball handling is what they really need to work on, then if they’re in an individual session, we might do 50 to 60% of that being ball handling. If that’s their main area of focus. So I think what the individual workout, it’s just about making sure that it’s competitive and then making sure that, that it has the most purpose and is really in alignment with that specific players goals and whatever is going to help them get the best, the quickest.

[00:40:49] Mike Klinzing: So with those group workouts, and you’re putting the kids together, I’m assuming that in some cases, when you put them together for the first time, the kids maybe don’t know each other. And so [00:41:00] they got to get to know each other as you go through with our working out together and you can put them up against and compete, as you said, so that they’re trying to get the most out of it.

Are you thinking back to earlier in our conversation, when we’ve talked about film work and you sharing things with the players about their own game, do you share things with those players that they have to do? I don’t know if homework’s the right way to say it, but when you’re sending them those clips.

I’m assuming that you expect them to have review things that you’ve sent to them so that when they come in, you’re not spending 10 or 15 minutes of that workout time explaining and talking through things that you’ve probably already sent them to do an advance, if that question makes sense.

[00:41:46] Xander Smart: Yes. I’m kind of sporadic with the videos that I send players. But when a lot of times I will send the younger players that I work with a film study of the [00:42:00] professional or college player. And so if I’m watching it, then I expect them to watch it, especially once I’ve clipped it up and turned it into an easy 10 minute YouTube video.

And so then we can talk about that type of stuff. But I’ll find different videos from places and, and I’ll have videos saved on my phone that I’ll see something happen in a session. I’ll go over and put everybody in a group chat and text, text them that video and have them watch it because it related to what we are working on.

But yeah, that’s, that’s a great way to just build that, that relationship and that rapport with players is to give them things to do outside of the workout. So that way they have to think about the things that you’re doing in, in the workout outside of, of, of the actual workout time.

[00:42:44] Mike Klinzing: If you had to give some advice to the parent of a player and you can pick any age, or maybe it applies across all ages about what they should look for in a trainer and what makes a trainer, [00:43:00] someone who’s really going to truly have an impact on their child, both as a player and as a person, what should parents look for?

And I guess, going along with that, what’s your sales pitch. When somebody comes in and says, Hey, we were considering. Working with you Zander, can you tell us a little bit about your philosophy or what you do? What should parents be looking for when they’re considering who they want their child to work with when it comes to basketball training?

[00:43:27] Xander Smart: I think a big thing for finding a trainer for your kid is finding someone that you can trust and that your kids can trust. I think trust and building that relationship is the biggest thing. If the trainer isn’t able to have your son’s ear or their attention then you probably need to find a new trainer because something just isn’t clicking with that kid.

But I, I think a big thing with trainers is to just make sure [00:44:00] that, that, that what they’re doing has purpose and, and that they’re leading by example, because I think a lot of kids are gonna pick up on. On how a trainer is and what they stand for more than they’re going to pick up on what drills they put them through at the end of the day. 

[00:44:19] Mike Klinzing: You mentioned earlier your four P’s. So can you go through and share those with us and how they tie into your overall philosophy and the success that you’ve been able to have with committed to my craft at this point?

[00:44:31] Xander Smart: So the four P’s are actually something that, that has been developed over the last three or four years.

And I really started to define them. I read, I read coach cup’s book. He’s a, he’s a popular coach here in the Dayton area. And he just released a book. And, and I read it and he was talking about defining your values. And so I always had the four P’s of player development, but it was just in the recent months that I finally defined what they [00:45:00] actually are and what they look like.

And the four PS of player development, our purpose, pace, passion, and purpose. All right. And with each one of those, there’s a few different, a few different elements to each one. So we got into purpose a little bit earlier. The purpose of the workout has to prepare you for five on five, and it has to be in alignment with, with your goals.

Whatever your goals are with you want to become a better, better shooter. If you want to make the varsity team, if you want to you know, become a better ball handler, whatever your goals are. The workout has to be in alignment with those. And then pace also has a few different meanings. Part of pace is basketball is played with a certain pace.

And especially when you have the ball in your hands, you have to play with, with pace. You have to change speed. You have to change direction. When you’re, when you’re cutting. When you’re coming off a ball screen, you have to change speed. You have to change directions. But pace is also having a sense of urgency when you’re in the gym.

Paces is not dawdling in between. Pace, it is kind of stealing time, stealing inches. If you’re in the gym for [00:46:00] 60 minutes, having a good pace to your workout is not having a lot of dead time and it’s getting the most out of out of that 60 minutes. And then the next one is passion.

And the first word that I always think of when I think of with passion is just extra. You know, the players are going a little bit harder than somebody else, you know? They’re, they’re doing a little bit more there. They’re coming in in the morning. They’re there hustling harder in between when they’re running from spot to spot, rather than just jogging passion is passion is competing.

And the quote that I think of for passion is, is winners always do more winners are going to go the extra mile. And then the last one is posture and posture in a literal sense and also in a, in a mental sense. Because posture, when you’re playing the game of basketball, you have to keep your chest up and you got to keep your.

And most athletic stances, when you start to get your chest down and your chin is down, you’re going to end up losing your balance. And you’re just not going to be successful in whatever basketball move you’re trying to make. So with posture, you have to have your [00:47:00] chest up and your chin up, but also having good posture is having good body language which I think is very important for basketball, but especially in a workout because a lot of players that have poor body language leave the gym feeling like they got worse and the same player or a different player could go through the same workout, kind of perform the exact same way.

Have positive body language the whole time and leave the gym feeling a lot better. And so those to me are kind of the four, in my opinion, those are the four main things that you have to have for player development. That’s going to make you the most efficient and help you get the best results.

[00:47:38] Mike Klinzing: Let’s say you have a player that you bring on board. It seems like it’s going to be a good. And you do a couple of workouts at the player, and they’re just not holding up their end of this bargain about living up to those four PS. How do you have those difficult conversations with a player or a parent where [00:48:00] you say, Hey, either you got to step up to the plate and get these things done and they come a part of who you are, or maybe this player, trainer relationship, isn’t the right one.

And you might want to look elsewhere. Have you had to have that conversation? And if you have, what does that look like? Or what does that sound like?

[00:48:21] Xander Smart: Yeah, those are, those are definitely uncomfortable conversations and you’re going to have to have them as a trainer, especially trying to run your own business.

And for me, I always try to go through the player first. No matter what the age is, if I feel like a player isn’t, isn’t living up to the standards. That we have at, at our workouts, then I let them know first. And if they’re kind of on their last legs, then I’ll tell the player, Hey, if this continues, then I’m going to have to go to your parents.

If they’re a little bit younger or I’ll tell them, Hey, if this continues, then I might not be able to get you on the schedule for workouts, because I have other kids that might want that spot. [00:49:00] Or you’re just kind of killing the workout that I’m doing for these other players. And they’re not getting as much out of it.

But then when you talk to the parents, if you explain it to, to them in the, in the with money in mind, it, it kind of sparks their interest a lot more. And they’re, they’re willing to see how their, their son is kind of, or daughter is wasting their money and wasting their time. Because if they’re not going to, to, to change the things that their parent is coming in there to, they’re bringing them in there and paying for them to.

Then they’re wasting their money. They’re wasting my time and they’re wasting their parents’ gas and time taking them to and from. So when I explain it to the parents in that regard they I’ve had some parents that have said, you know what, you’re right. If he’s not, if he, or she’s not going to do this, this and that, then it’s not worth me putting all this time and energy.

I could be sitting at home or spending this money on something else. And so I’ve had parents do that, but I’ve also had parents kind of go the other way and, and kind of get mad about that and then not come back for that reason. But it, it, and the thing is with, with the [00:50:00] players and, and with the four PS is not, everybody’s going to be perfect with that.

I think that’s like people think trainers are only supposed to coach the skills. It’s the little things that, that make you a great basketball player. And if your trainer isn’t and you go back to what your parents look for in a trainer, if your trainer isn’t talking about hustling and, and eye contact and being respectful and how to communicate and different things like the, the, the intangibles of basketball, then, then your trainer isn’t fulfilling what they should be doing for your child.

A lot of people just think it’s about the skills and shooting and adding moves to your bag. But I think it’s about becoming a well-rounded basketball player and a great teammate.

[00:50:42] Mike Klinzing: I think it’s important. This is a word that comes up a lot on the podcast. You have to be intentional about that as a coach, as a trainer, that you make that a part of what you’re doing on a daily basis.

And I think you have to really think about that because sometimes it’s either. To get lost in the [00:51:00] drills. It’s easy to get lost in the minutiae of the fundamentals or the particular move or skill that you’re trying to teach. And sometimes we forget that there’s this other piece of it, too, that you just described that if you’re not doing that, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to impact the kid now as a basketball player, but you’re missing out on that opportunity to impact them as a human being.

And I think just like a coach, who’s coaching their team. It’s easy sometimes to get caught up in this, out on that. And to your point, I think that you have to be intentional about looking for those opportunities to teach the kid, Hey, here’s an opportunity where you’ve got to hustle. Here’s an opportunity where you’ve got to look the coach in the eye, even when maybe they’re telling you something.

You need to hear, but you don’t want to hear it. Maybe they’re telling you the truth about your games for the first time that somebody else hasn’t told you that you got to work on this or that this is a weakness. And I think those lessons are things that good coaches, good [00:52:00] trainers try to impart as often as they possibly can.

They look for those teachable moments so that they can have a greater impact on the kid than just strictly as a basketball player. To me, that’s so important when I think about what makes a good coach or what makes a good trainer, it’s really somebody who’s looking to develop. Yes, the players basketball skills, but also develop them as a human being.

And that’s really, I think, critical to the success of what really makes a good coach as you’ve built your business. How have you handled the business side of the business? Because obviously you got into this to be out on the court, to work with players. That’s where your passion lies. But in order to have a successful business, you have to do some other things.

You have to have a website, you have to schedule, you have to keep the books. So how have you handled that business side of it? What’s been, what, what part of that? What parts of that do you like? What parts of [00:53:00] that? Do you not like, have you outsourced any of it? Just describe sort of the behind the scenes process of building committed to my craft.

[00:53:07] Xander Smart: So, behind the scenes I would probably start with, with the accounting. I don’t mind doing that because I was an accounting major in college. So that was a blessing to have an expertise in that and then go to run a business. And so that, that part has been pretty easy. The scheduling, as we talked about, I overlooked how much time I would spend scheduling.

And it’s time that you don’t even realize a Sunday evening. That you’re sitting on the couch. And then next thing you know, I haven’t said something to my wife in an hour or, or just, I get home one night and then I have to shore up some things for the schedule for the next day. That’s something that I, I had that I didn’t, didn’t think of when I was getting into it.

And it’s not, it’s not the worst thing, but I wish I could outsource things like that. It’s not necessarily in the budget yet. [00:54:00] But I think with, with doing a website, I did a lot of, of the website and the online stuff during the pandemic. And so I was able to spend a few days at home really working on that because we all had to be home.

So but outside of that, I, I kind of got that up and running and haven’t put too much time into it, but I focus a lot on the basketball that I need to spend more time on the business. And I was watching a video of another trainer that I really respect and learn a lot from it. And he gave me that reminder in that video just a couple of days ago, but it, when it, whenever you’re, you’re, you’re an entrepreneur and you’re starting to run a business your, every part of that business.

So if you don’t do it, then it doesn’t get done. And what I’m learning is sometimes you just, you have to figure out what is, what is really important to get done and, and what things you can, you can kind of push off and, and, and not neglect a little bit, but, but handle when you have a little bit more free time, because with, with the schedule, [00:55:00] some days you might be in the gym from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM, and you’re not able to do all the outside stuff.

And if you do that for a few weeks and you have to take some time on a weekend or, or in the mornings to get everything else situated with the business side.

[00:55:16] Mike Klinzing: It’s something that I think people tend to overlook is how important those backend tasks can be to running a successful training business, because if you’re all over the place and you don’t have a good website where people can find out more about you, because again, let’s face it.

Everybody goes to the web immediately to check out, oh, what’s this all about? And where can I go? And what are the locations and who is this guy? Even if they hear about it through word of mouth, they still are going to go and check you out on there. And if you’re disorganized on the backend, it makes whatever you do as a basketball coach, much more limited because people just look at it and say, oh, this thing is disorganized.

And it doesn’t look the way it should. So running that back end of it is [00:56:00] really, really important. And obviously your accounting background helps you in that way to be able to handle the financial piece of it. And then as you said, during the pandemic, I think a lot of people taught themselves some new skills, learned some things that are going to help them over the course of their business.

When you look ahead. Do you see yourself eventually expanding, adding some more trainers so that people are working underneath you or you’ve sort of taught them those four PS, you’ve trained them to be ready to train players. Do you see that on the horizon? And if you do, how far away is that and what do you think that’s going to look like?

[00:56:37] Xander Smart: I definitely see the business expanding and to more people. I’ve recently hired an intern. I should use the term hired lightly. He’s been coming in and helping me out with, with workouts and, and learning. And he, his goal is to get coached up enough to where he can start to do his own sessions under committed to my craft.

And so [00:57:00] we have that in the works, but the, I have, I have ideas to turn it into to more of just a, more of a business that than just a sole entrepreneur. Yeah. And bringing in other trainers and being able to, to offer different types of sessions and have more availability for the people of the Dayton area.

And my main goal is, is to get my own gym. And I think once I’m able to do that, then, then I think everything in regards to the business and adding more people were really start to take off.

[00:57:32] Mike Klinzing: Do you see yourself staying strictly in the player development side of it and the training or you see if you were to get your own facility that you might consider jumping into creating an AAU club or something along those lines?

[00:57:46] Xander Smart: Cool. I don’t know if I’m feeling AAU talk to me in a few years, maybe when I have my own kids, but I like, I like being able to, to work with players [00:58:00] in the capacity that I. If I, if I work to get my own facility, that probably would be something that I would have to look into because it’s just another, another avenue to be able to help players and to be able to have more time with them to teach them because that is the one area that you don’t get to.

You don’t get to touch players on, in the sense of them playing five on five and going through the adversity with them and being able to tell them that’s that’s your shot, shot selection? Is it wasn’t good tonight? Or you didn’t give us much effort on defense. That’s the type of things that you’re not able to get to the players on.

A lot of the times when you’re just working with them as a trainer and I think with the AAU team that would be, those would be things that you can you can help players with and really go through with them. That’s definitely an interesting idea, but I don’t know if I’ve kept my head around.

[00:58:54] Mike Klinzing: I understand. It’s not, it’s not in the imminent expansion plans right now. I get it. I get it. How often do you get a [00:59:00] chance to go and watch a player that you’ve trained play in? Whether it’s a high school game or an AAU game? Obviously you’re really busy with the training that you’re doing, so it can make it tough to get to games.

And you’re spending a lot of time with their film. So it’s not like you’re not seeing them play, but you get an opportunity occasionally to go out and see some of your players play live in an actual gym. And of course the pandemic has prevented that in a lot of cases as well, over the last year and a half or so, but just talk a little bit about maybe getting out and see the kids when they’re, when they’re actually planning.

[00:59:33] Xander Smart: Yeah, So the last few years it’s kind of been a rare occasion for me to get to watch players because I coached with the high school girls team in the area. And so those, those were really the only games that I had much time to go to. And then I would still do in season training as well. So if I was in the gym, I was either doing training or I was with our team.

So any, any times that I had a night or a Saturday that I didn’t have one of those two things, I was able to [01:00:00] go see a player. I would, I would take advantage of it. But I’m excited for this season because this is going to be my first season as a trainer, not coaching. And so I’ll have time to do my NCS season workouts, but then to travel around and watch the players and, and be there live to, to support them.

Because I think that’s the biggest thing about watching a player live is it’s just the support that, that you’re there. And then you can talk to them after the game, because I can watch, I can watch a lot of their. You know, their parents can send it to me or I can find it on the different websites and stuff.

But I think being there to support players, especially when they know you drove an hour to watch him play, or you took your, your Tuesday night to go watch their game and then give them a few tips afterwards. I think a lot of it is just continuing to build that relationship with them.

[01:00:49] Mike Klinzing: Absolutely. That means everything.

I think we’ve talked earlier about building that trust and just the fact that you’re willing to show up at their game, sit in the stands and watch them. And [01:01:00] hopefully we’re going to be able to do that here in the state of Ohio with I’m sure we’re going to have mass on probably in a lot of schools.

Maybe it’s something won’t, but it looks like we’re going to be back to at least normal capacities in gems. So I know I’m looking forward to the opportunity to go. And my son’s a sophomore I’m looking forward to going and sit in the stands and just, just watch games and not have it be only the parents.

In the stands. And I know that all the players are looking forward to being able to play in front of their classmates and play in front of bigger crowds and what they’ve been able to do over the certainly over the past season, before we get tossed to the end here, I want to ask you one more question.

It’s a two-parter when you look ahead over the next year or two, and you think about what you feel was committed to my craft and where you’re trying to go with it. What do you see as your biggest challenge? And that second part of the question, when you get ever, when you get up every morning and get out of bed, what puts a smile on your face?

What brings you the [01:02:00] most joy about what get to do every day? So your biggest challenge and your biggest joy?

[01:02:05] Xander Smart: My biggest challenge I would say my biggest challenge going forward will probably be being able to being able to continue to operate my business at the level that I am. Even if I go through some, some different life changes you know, cause I’m 25.

So I’m at that age where certain things might start happening. So I think that’ll be probably my biggest challenging is, is managing all of that at the same time. But I think the biggest joy and the thing that puts a smile on my face is just the people that I get to work with, whether it’s the, the players, the parents of the players, the brother of the player that comes in to every workout and just sits on the side.

You know, the intern that I have the different coaches that I talked to on the phone, just all of the people that, that I have met and that I interact with through basketball [01:03:00] they, they all just really put a smile on my face and sometimes I’ll be in the gym from the morning until nighttime.

And I’ll just be driving home, thinking about how, how special it was that I got to be in the gym with those people that. And I’m, I’m around some amazing people and not just amazing in the sense that they’re good at basketball, but just some really, truly amazing people and down to earth great human beings that are just a joy to be around and put work in.

And to me, that’s what keeps me going is knowing that there’s so many more people like that, that I can continue to meet. And in the game of basketball one of my mentors says, it always says that that basketball just has great people and he just loves the people of basketball. And I really second that,

[01:03:44] Mike Klinzing: Yeah, that’s fantastic.

I think when you can wake up every day and feel that way about what you get to do and who you get to do it with, I think that’s one of the things that is special about the game of basketball is that you get to have an impact [01:04:00] on people using something that you love. And then. In a lot of cases, the people that you’re working with love, not in every case, but in most cases, the people that you work with love the game and you love it.

And to be able to use the game, to have an impact on people, to me, there’s nothing better than that. And when it comes to your challenge, I’m just going to say that you are a hundred percent spot on. I’m going to leave it at that. We don’t have to go into any more details, but I will tell you that you are a hundred percent spot on that that will be a challenge for you to navigate.

And I’m sure you’ll figure it out. Your passion for training and for basketball for your business. And so the kids that you work with definitely comes through. We hear it on this end of the microphone. Without question, before we wrap up, I want to give you a chance to share how people can find out more about committed to my craft, how they can reach out to you, share a website, social media, email, whatever you want to.

How people want to connect with you, find out more about what you’re doing, [01:05:00] how can they do that? And then I’ll jump back in when you’re done and wrap things up.

[01:05:03] Xander Smart: Okay, awesome. My Instagram is committed to my craft and then my Twitter is committed to MC if you go online, you can type in committed to my craft.com and you can find my website and there’s a place where you can reach out to me on there.

You can also send me a message on Twitter, Instagram, and then if you look up, I’m committed to my craft on YouTube. You’ll find my YouTube channel and there’s a bunch of a bunch of videos that I’ve done of my players for film study. If anybody wants to go on there and look at those.

[01:05:37] Mike Klinzing: Xander, we cannot thank you enough for taking the time out of your schedule.

We’re so glad that Mark Schult connected us to you. This has been a lot of fun to talk to you about player development, about what you’re doing, about what you’ve been able to build. I think there’s a lot of people out there. That are in this position where they’d love to start a training business, or they’d love to be a trainer.

I work with kids and I think you’ve [01:06:00] laid out a pretty solid blueprint of what it takes to be a successful trainer. So congratulations to you on getting that started. And again, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time out of your schedule to join us tonight and to everyone out there. Thanks for listening.

And we will catch you on our next episode. Thanks.