Encore: How 3 High School Coaches Solved the "No Time for Mental Training" Problem

3 high school coaches share exactly how they fit mental training in without losing a single rep. Get the free training to the system they used 👉 coachfreetraining.com

Real coaches from volleyball, basketball, and lacrosse share exactly how they squeezed mental training into their season without sacrificing a single rep.

👋🏼 I'm Coach Bre, a 4-time state champion volleyball coach and Certified Mental Performance Coach. I've spent 14+ years coaching girl athletes and built The Elite Competitor to give coaches proven, plug-and-play mental training systems that actually work.

Here's what you'll learn in this episode:
✅ How to use dead time (before practice, between school and practice) to run a 15-minute session
✅ The one skill all three coaches kept coming back to
✅ Why their athletes started asking for mental training on their own
✅ How mental skills transferred beyond sport into school and home life

🎯 These aren't theory-based tips. These are coaches in the thick of it, telling you what actually worked.

🕓 Key Moments:  
00:00 Introduction
02:46 Meet the Coaches
08:05 Why They Started Mental Training
15:03 How They Introduced It to Their Teams
28:21 What Skills Made the Biggest Difference
37:43 Team Accomplishments & Results
42:15 Mental Training Beyond Sports
48:26 How to Fit It Into Your Season
55:20 Wrap-Up 

👍 Found this helpful? Like, subscribe, and share with a coach who needs it.
👇 Drop a comment below - what's your biggest challenge when it comes to fitting mental training into practice?
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🎓 Explore Plug and Play Elite Mental Game for Teams: coachfreetraining.com

📌 Other Tools & Resources
📲 Instagram: @coachhergame
🎙 Podcast: Coach Her Game Podcast
🔹 Follow us on TikTok→ @coachhergame
🔹 Championship Program Membership: champions.elitecompetitor.com
🔹 Player Impact Plan: https://elitecompetitor.kit.com/6639eaaf9f|

P.S. Here's what the research shows: 
⚡️ Athletes who use structured reset routines recover from errors up to 40% faster during competition. (Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Mesagno & Mullane-Grant, 2010)
⚡️ Visualization activates the same neural pathways as physical practice, meaning mental reps have measurable impact on skill execution. (Journal of Neurophysiology, Jeannerod, 2001)
⚡️ 95% of elite athletes report using mental training, yet fewer than 10% of high school coaches have a formal system for teaching it. (Association for Applied Sport Psychology, 2021)  

The Coach Her Game channel is hosted by The Elite Competitor and is dedicated to helping coaches of girl athletes strengthen their mental game and team culture in order to develop a competitive edge.

#mentalperformance #coachinggirls #highschoolcoach #mentaltoughness #girlsports

Head to coachfreetraining.com to grab our free training for coaches to quickly level-up your team's mental game!

Transcript

0:00

Coaches, if you have ever thought about implementing some sort of mental training or mindset training into your program or into your team, but you're like, "How the heck do I actually do this?" Because practice is limited as it is, and I've got so much else going on. I don't wanna sacrifice reps for mental training. First of all, I hear you. Second, that's why I'm so excited for this episode, because I got to sit down with three high school coaches who are actively implementing mental training with their teams without spending a lot of time, and seeing phenomenal results in how their team is able to respond to mistakes, setbacks, get off of this rollercoaster of, like, what team is gonna show up tonight? And because these coaches are in the thick of it, they're giving real strategies and real-life tips on how to actually do this without spending hours and hours, or sacrificing reps for the mental game. Now, if I haven't met you, I'm Coach Bre. I am a mental performance coach and a 14-year head volleyball coach, and I, too, do mental training in my program because I know that I need athletes that can bounce back quickly from mistakes, and I don't want to spend time coaching the emotional side of the game. I have lost many games before I started implementing mental training in these situations where we were losing to mental errors. So, I knew I had to make a change. Started doing some simple mental training skills, and it really made a difference. My athletes are able to perform when it matters. We're able to actually come in clutch in those moments where it can easily go the other way. So, it really does make a big difference. But if you want to know exactly how to do it, then I'm going to let you listen to these coaches explain it. Now, these coaches are talking about our program, which is called Plug and Play Elite Mental Game for Teams. This makes it really easy for you to do, for you to do mental training without needing to have a sports psychology degree or a whole lot of time. You literally just get your team together and press play on the short videos. They learn the skills. They talk about it in a little team discussion that doubles as some team bonding, and then they go off and implement their skills in practice and in competitions. It's what I do. It's what these three coaches do. And if you want to learn, learn more about that, head to our free training. It's at coachfreetraining.com. You can learn some simple skills, but also learn about Plug and Play and get a discount on the program. So, that's what these coaches are also referring to, but you will love their stories and also just how real it is. These-- This isn't just, like, theory or here's how you could do it. These coaches are all from different sports. Um, it's-- They're all high school level, but you really get a glimpse into how you can bake this into your practice structure and what you're already doing. So, enjoy. I hope you love this episode as much as I love sitting down with these passionate coaches who are implementing mental game strategies with their teams. All right. Hello, coaches. Welcome to our coach-to-coach panel. I'm super excited for this because we have three wonderful coaches here who are going to be sharing a little bit of a behind-the-scenes look at, at real life. Like, what, what does it actually look like to do some mental training with their team? Specifically, these coaches have used our program, Plug and Play Elite Mental Game for Teams. And how do you do it? So, um, we're going to get right into it, and I'll have each of you introduce yourselves, um, what sport you coach, or sports if you coach multiple, and then we'll get more into the nuts and bolts of, like, how this all went down for you. So, Tom, you're first on my screen. Will you introduce yourself? Okay. Uh, I'm Coach Tom DeMaio. I coach women's lacrosse, uh, high school at St. Mary's Annapolis here in Maryland, which is an extremely competitive area. As everyone knows, Maryland lacrosse and Long Island lacrosse are two of the hotbeds. So, we play an extremely competitive conference, and I've been coaching for a really long time. Long time on the boys game. I was, you know, involved in that for 20 years, and then I switched over to the girls game a few years back. And it's been... You know, one thing I have learned is it's, there's a lot more mental training that we had to apply, and that's what turned me onto your program and looking forward to expanding on it. Yeah, cool. And we, Tom and I just had a podcast interview and like part one of it posted recently, so if Tom looks or sounds familiar, that's probably why. All right, Carlton, how about you? I'm a high school girls coach in Oneonta, New York, which is, uh, upstate New York. And in the off-season we, we run, uh, different leagues and also coach, uh, an AAU, uh, travel team. And so I got invest- interested in this looking at, at, at different programs that were out there for, for mental performance training, realizing that that, that was Another part of, of the, the coaching aspect that, that I really hadn't hit on before, uh, you know, how, how to train, how to train the, the athletes to, to recover from their mistakes, how to be confident and, and how to do that consistently. Uh, and that was one of the big problems. Uh, and, and looking at different programs, I really liked your program. I'd seen something more, more catered towards the, uh, towards the girls' side of sports, uh, and, and girls athletes, which is what I coach. Uh, but I, I think it's, you know, a- applicable to everybody. So that, that's how I got involved in this was just looking for that other aspect. Now, now one of our, one of our themes of the team is, is train your, your mental performance as much as you train your physical performance. So we d- we really try to put a lot of stress on, on that as well. Yeah. Very cool. And you coach basketball. What I love is that you don't just say it. Like, you sent me a, a one-pager. And a lot of times, like, this goes with culture too, you know, we say things like, "Your mental game is just as important," and, you know, family, and val- like, all of that we, we do as coaches, put it on the back of our shirts. But, like, you actually backed it up with being able to, to give them skills to do that, so. Right. And, and, and I did that because, you know, in, in coaching you try not to be reactionary like, "Don't," you know, like, "Don't, don't turn the ball over next time." You know, that's not really helpful. They, they know they shouldn't turn the ball over next time, you know? But, but you, you try to teach them how not to turn the ball over. So I, I got to the point where I thought like, "Hey, just shake it off, you know? Don't worry about it." That, that's not enough. You know, that, that's kind of being reactionary to how they're feeling. You got, you have to be proactive and, and that's... So your, your program really helped me learn how to do that. Very cool. Last time I've got Carrie. Can you introduce yourself? Hi. Hello, everybody. I'm Carrie Francis. I'm a head volleyball high school coach for Minot North High School. A fairly unique experience. We had our first varsity season, and I knew watching the girls and building them and getting ready for it, mental training was the next huge hurdle that we needed to accomplish. And we're not fully accomplished yet, but with the help of the mental performance training that we started last year and are gonna continue to utilize and build, I know that we're-- We saw st- we saw some great improvements in our mental, uh, capabilities of handling a lot of mistakes because we were a brand new varsity team. You know, 20 years into this, I'm a teacher and a coach, and I knew what was coming, but they didn't know what was coming. Mm-hmm. So it was really a way to kinda start handling some of those mistakes on the big kinda stage. And we had started things before, but this was just really a way to kinda keep me more focused and organized as a coach, because sometimes I spend too much time looking for things. So that's kinda what brought me to this, 'cause I knew this was gonna be a huge cornerpiece of our training to get us ready for the next level. And it works at every level for the coaches that are wondering. But I do wanna say it seems really applicable to our girls at the high school level. Yeah. Okay, great. And Carrie, you have tryouts on Monday, right? So- Uh, next, this coming week. Yeah. There you go. I'm on my last vacation, so. Oh, yeah. I, like, literally just got back from my last vacation- Yeah last night. And so next, next week is, like, my prep week, and then we hit the ground running. But I'm working hard to get you some, some of the updates that I'm making to my triathlon plan. Okay. I'll send over to you too. So, cool. All right. Well, coaches that are on and listening, feel free to drop any questions that you have as we go into the chat if you're curious. If you, uh, just wanna hear, like, overall, like, how did, how did each of you do this? Or if you have a sp- a specific question for a specific coach, just drop that in the chat because we will be grabbing those as well. Okay, kicking things off, um, you, all of you kind of shared a little bit, but what were you looking for? What problem were you trying to solve? Like, take us back to, like, as a coach with your team, what made you even want to consider Plug and Play or start mental training with your team in the first place? So Tom, I'll start with you. Yeah, so, you know, I think, and I think you, I've heard you say it in your podcast before, so that, you know, you can have this team that, you know, practice is great, plays great in practice or leading up to a game. You just don't know who's gonna show up. And, uh, and then, you know, so, so I started to see that a lot more on the girls' side of the game, is that, you know, you, you'd have as much talent as another team, maybe more talented, and for some reason you just, you'd blow a five-goal lead or you'd come back from five goals. It was very up and down. So I started to really do some research into the mental side of the game. Not that I hadn't done that on the boys' end before, but I had noticed in, uh, both the boys' and the girls' side, they would d- everyone was doing this in college. Yeah. Really training the mind because the stakes are higher. And, you know, and so when I got into the conference that is, you know, one of the best in the country, I realized it wasn't just gonna be about skill training. And all the things that I was really good at is, you know, X's and O's, skill training, you know, trying to really get the most out of my players, which I felt I always did, but I started to feel like maybe I wasn't. And so I started to really get into the girls' side. I do have four girls myself, as a dad. Yeah. So I, I, I already had a little experience in, in dealing with it, but it really turned me on to your program, and then when the volleyball coach came to me and said, "Hey, I got this program I'm really looking at," I was like, "This is great." You know? Yeah. "We wanna do this. I don't know if I have the time during my season to do it." And so we took the next steps. You know, I promised I'd give it a run, and we gave it a run. It was great. And so- Well- I look forward to sharing more about how it worked for us. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. We'll, we'll leave it at that, give a little cliffhanger. But I was kind of in, in y- the same boat as you, Tom, when I first started, like, going down this path. It was like, I feel like I, you know, I have such a talented team and, you know, I'm coaching in a really, like, you know, an area that has a track r- history, a record of success, and, like, I feel like I'm the one actually not giving them the skills that they need to be able to perform. So yeah, there's definitely a camp of coaches that are in that boat too. Okay, Carlton, how about you? Um, yeah, it was like, uh, you know, looking at, at the, the, just, just the confidence in overcoming, you know, their mistakes. So what I added to that was, was confidence and, and overcoming what they perceived to be mistakes. Yeah. You know, 'cause it, it, it may not be a mistake, it's just part of the game. You know? So if they get themselves down on, on every turnover, every missed shot, every time they give up a basket, they're, they're never gonna be effective players. So, you know, looking at, uh, you know, their confidence and, and how to get their confidence back and, and, and some things are, are just part of the game. It, it's, it's not, it's not a problem. It's not something they did wrong. And, and that, you know, coupled with, with, with your, your bounce back and the snap routine, uh, has really helped us im- im- improve quite a bit. Uh, and, and it is different be- between, um, you know, the, the, the boys' side and the girls' side. And one thing I heard recently, and then I believe this is, is for boys, they have to win to be confident and happy. And girls have to be confident and happy to win. Mm-hmm. And so it, it, it's a, it's a, it's a different approach between coaching girls and, and, and boys. So boy- I think with girls you need to be much more proactive with their mindset going into practice and going into a game. Yeah. Yeah. That's so important. I know we've all had these teams and these athletes who we're like, "You have so much potential. Like, it's actually not your talent. Like, we're training the skills really well and, and you've got it, but it's your confidence in yourself and your self-talk. And like, if you were just to believe in yourself more, like, you, it would be a different game." So yeah, I hear you there. Okay, Carrie, take us back. Okay. So when I was trying to kind of game plan for next year, I don't have a lot of time, and I needed something that was ready to go. Um, I know that you had had some conference calls, like kind of asking what we would need as coaches and, and I need it broken up. I need it simple, easy to use. I am teaching a full day every day with a highly le- I'm a biomedical science teacher with high-level labs, and I'm also as dedicated in the classroom as I am to my other classroom, which is the gym, and I need something that's ready to go, and I just found that your program was laid out how I needed it. Like, I needed it in the classroom. Like, this is how you do it. You go from one to the other. Here's the questions. Here's some ideas. You had a lot of kind of questions you can ask even within it, within your program to try to tailor it, but it comes ready to go. My fear was the first time I kind of saw it was like, "Oh my God, what is it gonna cost?" And then I saw the cost, and I was like, "Okay, I think I can do all this," um, because it's taking-- it's saving me so much time to find the good resources that I need. You've already got them right in front of you, and it's literally the plug-and-play aspect. 'Cause sometimes I'm-- you know, I need to be worried about their mental training, and it's can be put on the back burner 'cause you're so skill-focused, especially like, okay, do they have the skills? But like Carlton had mentioned, like you need to build those connections within those, within the girls, but you also have to give them the tools to find ways to come back to each other, but they have to come back to themselves first. And I just, I just really loved the ease of it and the way I can tweak and tailor things to fit my team, and you just had it all laid out, and I just saw it and I was like, "Oh my gosh, she's speaking my language." So I was just so appreciative of that and the ease of it and the formats you bring us. It was really, really nice, easible, usable chunks, which was great. Yeah. For sure. Yes. Teacher, former teacher there too. Yep. Mm-hmm. So it's like you can't have- You can't have, you know, you have all of your preps, you know, for the actual content that you're teaching as a teacher, and then you've got to plan for volleyball, and then it's like the mental training is, like, another prep. You don't have the time. So I am in the same boat, too. I'm like, I, I just need something that's already, like, there for me, so. Yes. Yeah. And that's what I think separates your program from a lot of other ones is how it's broken down, the ease of it, and just it's ready to go to use. Yeah. Very cool. Okay, let's go to Take me through how, how did your athletes respond to it? There's a couple of There's some big questions I'm gonna answer for coaches because this is what I'm seeing. I'm seeing questions around, like, how do you even introduce this? Which part- that's baked into Plug and Play as well. But, um, you know, 'cause some coaches are afraid that they're like, "This is new. I don't know if they're even gonna, like, uh, take to it." Um, and then we'll kind of go to what results did you see, what were they actually, like, doing that was making a difference, and then we'll get into the nuts and bolts because I know we have my teacher planner, coach planners who are like, "Lay it all out for me." So let's start first, though, with, like, how did you introduce this to your team and, and how did they respond? Tom, go back to you Yeah. So, you know, we, we knew, I knew I wanted to do this before the season, and we talked about it as a team during our, after our tryout process, during our, you know, um, off-season workouts. But I didn't really feel like I was gonna institute it full until we got into more of a high-stakes environment. Mm-hmm. And we, I almost felt like we had to, we had to fail first. And, you know, we had girls who weren't, not, you know, not everyone plays, right? And that's part of this process, too, is, you know, having a full holistic experience, whether you're playing or not, is being involved in the team. And this is something that, you know, we waited till we had some failures. We knew we had a tough schedule coming up, so we, you know, we decided to implement it leading up to that. And- Yeah and that's why I thought it was most effective for us as, as rolling it out the first time. And I think, as I stated before, you know, the girls are really receptive to it because they had just experienced some failure, right? Mm-hmm. It's like, what are we gonna do? You know, hey, we've been training awesome. We've been doing this now off-season, in-season. You know, we feel like we train harder and better, and we're faster. You know, we've improved. Why aren't we seeing this on the field? And it's like, okay, let's try this. And, you know, this is what we've been talking about. So I think they're really receptive to it. Um- Mm you know, it's classroom environment, it's a little different than the field. Um, and so, you know, I think timing-wise, that's how we roll, we rolled it out. Not that everyone has to do that, but- Yeah I do believe, you know, we sh- sort of shortened the program and scratched the surface. But for us, in the first time using it, I think that was the best scenario for us doing it. So, um, but it, it was receptive and, and we just, we, one day we just rolled it out. It was, we called it Mental Mondays. And we just on a Monday leading into a big week, we sat the girls down, you know, in our film room and, uh, and we watched your video. We talked about it. We gave some homework assignments, and the following Monday we built on that. So, uh, like you said, w- you know, like, like Carrie said, it's really easy to implement, implement and, you know, the plug and play was a good term for it Yeah. Okay. That's great. And that's awesome that you also know, you know your team, you know your girls, right? Because if things are going well and you're just dominating, and sometimes they're, you know, athl- athletes especially that age only see, like, this far in front of them. And Carrie said this. She's like, "I know what's coming. You guys don't know what's coming." And so you're like, we know we're going to need this, but, you know, kind of holding out until we experience some failure, that's a great way to introduce it also. I love that. By the way, those coaches that are on right now, go ahead and drop in the chat, where are you from, what sport, um, are you coaching right now, where are you at in, in your season? We have all... What's pretty cool, we have a fall sport coach. We've got a winter sport coach. We've got a spring sport coach. So we've got all, all three in here. But if you're here watching, drop where you're, where you're coming from and what sport you coach. All right. Carlton, how did your girls take to it? And when did you- Uh- When did you start it? 'Cause I think you did it on the off-season. Yeah, I didn't get in un- until the spring. So our, our- Yeah our winter season was over, so I, I, I was watching some of the videos and, and really con- concentrating on that bounce, back, and the snap the first few videos. Um, a- and kind of think about how I was gonna implement it in the season Uh, and, and I had a girl that, that didn't play in the spring because of confidence. Um, you know, her friends played, she, she just- Hmm didn't continue playing. Uh, so, you know, I talked to the parents at end of spring as we're getting ready for summer league and, and I asked if she was playing. They said it's more of a confidence thing, but she- Hmm I think she wants to. And I said, "Well, if she does, I'll, I'll do what I can to help her out." And, and, and I was thinking of, of this program when I said that. So we started the summer season and, and so for a couple practices I started talking more about, you know, mental performance, mental preparation, and kinda going over some of the things that were in the videos, particularly, you know, how to y- y- the physical, you know, bounce back- Yeah uh, from, from a mistake. Um, so we had a lesson. It was her and two other girls who were friends. That's the first time we watched the videos, and they really got interested in, you know, they're, they're the breathing, they're, they're, they're holding their abdomen, you know, just like the, the, the video says and, and, and telling me what their, what their recovery word is gonna be, what their bounce-back, you know, signal is gonna be. And I said, "Well..." And the, the lesson was right before the practice, the picture that I was trying to show you. And I said, "Well, do, do you think the rest of the team would benefit from this?" They said, "Yeah, definitely. You know, everyone needs to see this." So then we did it at the practice as well. And then we've done it, we've done it at different lessons and different practices. So, so the one girl who, who didn't play because of confidence, she's, she's seen the videos four times now. Oh my gosh. She, she said she's ready to teach them herself. Okay, great. And, uh, but she's the one that really needed it. But, but that's a good sign because she's coming to all the practices and, and all the lessons that, that we, that I showed the videos. I've showed them four times, and she's been there all four times. So that's a really good sign that she's, she's that interested and that confidence in, in what she's doing. So I think during the season, um, we don't have the first time slot after school, we have the second time slot. Hmm. So most of the team or all the team for that first time slot, they'll sit around and do their homework or, or, you know, do whatever they do, just kinda hang out. Uh, so- Yeah I'm gonna just get them together probably about 20 minutes before practice starts in, in the hour and a half free time they have and, and start doing the videos and, and using that time more for not only mental prac- but, but also practice and game prep as well. Oh, that's great. It, it, it won't cut into our practice time. I'm kind of fortunate to have that time and, and all the Rather than going home, all, all the kids just stay in school for that hour and a half anyway. Yeah. I, that's a great way to utilize that time. We're in this, we, we have the same situation. Our school gets out now on Mondays at 1:10, and we don't practice until 4:00. And so, like, that's a lot of time to do a lot of things that they're probably not supposed to do. So I'm like, we're gonna, like, direct some of that time also. That's such a good story, though, of this, of one of your players, um, you know, d- just e- even that she shared with you, it's, or her parents shared that it's about confidence. As a coach, you're like, "W- what do I, what do I do?" You know? "How do I, how do I help?" So I love that that was ready to go for her. Um- Yeah. And she's, you know, she's d- more confident in her play every week, and, and she's modified, so we asked her to play up on JV for a week, and she did. She jumped at the chance to do that. Awesome. Uh, trying out for JV soccer right now, which she probably wouldn't have done before. So she's really a successful story for this. And, and not just her parents. The more I mention I'll send out a group chat about things that we did, I mentioned the videos and mental preparation. I'm surprised how many parents have approached me with, with what they're struggling with their children w- with at home. Yeah. And, and, you know, so sometimes we kind of get into, "Okay, you're doing this. I'm doing this. Let's, let's, let's just touch base every now and then, see how we're doing and, and how we need to adjust this." Yeah. So it, it, it's really helped in that respect as well. Yeah. Oh, that's great. And when you share this with your parents, so we have, in Plug and Play, we have, like, an email with some resources to blast out to your parents to tell them about what you're doing, and resources for them. Like, it's, it's a real value add to your program, because parents are wanting this for their kids, and they don't know. So a lot of times they're lost on how to help, too. So, um, yeah, that's really great. Okay, Carrie. And Carrie, it looks like you have, you have somebody you know in the chat Um, it, I do actually. Um, um, I used to live in Minnesota, now I live in North Dakota. Um, and Bill is a teacher, colleague, coach that was there at my very first school when I very first started head coaching. And, um, he saw me at my, probably my, my most, uh, rough- Like no mental training. It was figure it out or you're out. Yeah. Yeah. That doesn't work, guys, just gonna tell you that much. But- No, I heard once if you're not- It is, yeah, so small world I heard once if you're not, like, a little embarrassed of your first year coaching, then you're not doing it, because you're, you haven't grown. So there you go. Good. Okay, just wanna keep that, keep that real. Uh, so some of it with my girls is that we have started our program from the ninth grade moving forward, and we were the new school. So we were the brand new school. 50 years it's been, you know, the, the same structure, and it, it was a huge change. So my girls were putting themselves out there, not by choice. Um, on top of it, we were splitting, um, a fairly large town into two, and now not competing with upperclassmen to, like, look up to and see. And I knew we were setting the standard for that. And one of the pieces that kind of makes, I think, my situation a little unique is I'm, I'm taking, you know, one of my athletes home with me every night. And- Oh. the struggles and the changes that happen. Mm-hmm. And, and I'm a coach's, head coach's kid, too, so we're like third generation here in our house. But, um, kind of the things that I saw her dealing with and trying to separate themselves, the person from the athlete, and that their value is not tied into that. And I, I think that's kind of the underlying theme of all mental training is I'm in control and the outcome is whatever it is and, and the process and how to do things. And, you know, we, we picked themes and we picked things, and it, ours is journey this year with the word our bolded from it, and embrace it. Oh. And some of it is the mindset. Actually, FYI, it came from Florida. I was watching the current SEC football. I love watching other coaches coach. So if you're- Yeah ever looking for things, those are awesome. I, I just love football, too. But, um- Yeah they have a huge banner with journey and our is bolded right through it. And then I added- Awesome um, embrace the journey and every moment matters. So mental training, I think, keeps you in the moment, and I knew that with how much we were gonna be on stage, the brand new school, this team, they're feeling that pressure. And then it becomes them, and they think that their play is them, and it isn't. Yeah. They are so much more. And mental training is that one piece where I think it brings back to knowing- It's okay to make mistakes, and they're about learning, and this process is fun, and the journey is fun. And sometimes we get so caught up in the outcome. I'm extremely competitive. I coach hard. I know you mentioned it a couple times in the program. I think this allows me to coach hard, knowing that I've spent the time building them with the skills so that they can... I'm not saying scream and yell, I mean, but I'll get after them and, and it's intense. Like, the game is intense, but at the end of the day, they know that they are more than that game, and they are so, you know, beautifully made on this journey that we get to take together that your program is so relatable 'cause it is you talking, and you have so much experience. And it is a, it is a different approach than sometimes always, um, I'm sorry, I love all programs, but sometimes males just coming across and saying, "This is how you do it," and that's great. Mm-hmm. But that connection that they can kinda have with their coach and you, and if you're a male coach, I think it does allow them to hear it from a female perspective at the same time. Mm-hmm. Um, but all of your skills are adaptable to every sport and every situation, and I just really, um, you know us that have to take them, take our kids home, Tom included, I, I don't know if you took four girls home at the same time, but, um- Yeah I have to give them the skills 'cause as parents, sometimes we just wanna pick them up and protect them, but if they come home a little bit more intact, it has helped, I think, with the parent relationship dynamic of playing a high-level sport and knowing that the skills are there for them to breathe. So by the time they get home, rather than just word vomit and be so emotional when they go home, and then now- Yeah the parents don't know what to do. So I feel like I'm giving them the skills to handle that and segment it out in their, in their lives. Yeah. Oh, that's so great. Yeah, and that, that pressure, that pressure is real when they're like, "Okay, you're the new team. You're the new school. You're the-" My God, everybody came. I'm like, "Oh, my good God." Like, everybody- Yeah is here. There's, you know, 10,000 people it felt like, but there wasn't. It just felt like that. Yeah. So they are, they were on, on the performance stage in the biggest way, so. Mm-hmm. And no one's mentioned this yet, but it made me think of us as coaches, too, that sometimes watching these training, like these videos with your girls and kind of going through it as a coach, too, helps. It's like, oh yeah, now I have some skills as a coach, too, because I- I get flusters, uh, flustered as a coach. I fall into this, like tying my ego to the wins and the losses and how I feel about myself. And so a lot of it's good from just coaching mental game, too, so. Um, all right, let's go back to Tom. Uh, Tom, I already know how you're gonna answer this, but I want everyone else to hear. What was, uh, what was your, your girls', like favorite part of the program, skill that they used the most? Let's talk about that. I- I think the, the snapback was definitely their, the skill they used the most, the one we probably spent the most time on. Mm-hmm. Um, you know, there's, there's times in games, someone makes a mistake and, you know, like all coaches, we'll pull them off. And I think that when we did our end of year meetings and we got feedback from the girls, I- I asked specifically, "What'd you think about, you know, I- I pulled you out, you know, in this game, that game, two or three times, and, you know, how, how do you think you reacted to it? How'd you feel about it?" And, um, you know, most of them thought the snapback routine was something that was extremely beneficial to them. So, um, I would say that was probably the skill that they picked up that, um, you know... Honestly, I never even thought of snapback routine until, uh, this season and this program, so, uh, that was helpful for me to really watch players in practice and And, and in games and know that if I took them off, 'cause we would always take them off and give them a coachable moment, but- Yeah also allow them to reset themselves. 'Cause, you know, everyone knows when they make a mistake. I mean, I know as a coach when I make a mistake. It's like, man, I- Yeah I should've called that timeout two seconds earlier, or, you know, I should've done this, or I should've done that. I mean, we beat ourselves up as coaches, especially after a loss, you know, for days sometimes. So, uh, you know, you can imagine what these girls are doing when, you know, they don't hit. In, in our sport, it's like, like a free position. It's almost like a free throw in basketball. A lot of pressure is every... The, the clock stop, everyone's standing there, and everyone-- the ball's in one person's stick, and they either score or they don't. And, and uh, and it's a lot of pressure on some of these girls. So they know when they make a, a, a good play or, or, um, you know, something that helps the team, and they know when they hurt the team. So I think the snapback was definitely the skill that they enjoyed the most, and it, it also opened up a lot of good interaction, and I mentioned this before, between like our juniors and our seniors and our freshmen, who- Mm-hmm this was totally new to was our freshmen who, you know, they, they haven't played in this type of environment. They haven't even seen this level of lacrosse. I mean, it's, it's borderline college lacrosse is what we're competing in. And, you know, for them to learn this skill as, you know, 15-year-olds, um, it's gonna help them for the next eight years of their career. So, um, you know, I think we really sold it as they're doing this in college, and we're trying to get you guys to do this in high school because, you know, we want you to compete at that level. And, you know, almost 80% of our players are gonna want to play college sports- Wow if not lacrosse, and a lot of them are Division I players. So this is- Wow a skill that we're giving them early in their career so we can get the most out of them and, and I keep hearing the word confidence. I mean, in the end, it's boys, girls, boys, girls. No matter what the sport, it is truly about confidence. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Um, can you talk a little bit about what y- you, you did a little incentive, um, for this as snapback, and this is not required or anything, but I thought it was cool what you did. Yeah. So- I, I was just sort of thinking about, like, the snap back routine, what would be the reward? As, as coaches, we all know, you know, whether you're competing in a practice, a drill, whether there's a reward or a penalty at the end of it, it is, you know, it's, it's the best way to, to, to structure things. So I thought what would be the best way to get them to pay attention to the snap back was to actually give them a snapback hat, which I don't have with me. Mm. But it is on our podcast. Yeah. Um, but so we bought a bunch of snapback hats, and after, after the first game we won, after we did the snapback routine, we picked out three or four girls who really exemplified, you know, snapping back in that game. We did come back, I think, by three goals in this, the third quarter in that game. So, uh, we had some really great performances by different people. We swapped goalies in that game, and, like, a lot of stuff happened in, in a- Yeah really big win. So, uh, we gave out the snapback hat, and the girls were really receptive of it. I'm actually out of them right now, and I got some on order. So, uh, it was great that we got to give out a bunch of them and, you know, I thought that was a good way to do it. It's not the only way to do it, but when I did share that with some of my, uh, you know, my, my long-term friend women coaches, they thought it was great, and I sort of vetted that through them, and they were like, "It's a great idea." And- Yeah so that made me feel confident, me feel confident about, uh, about doing it that way. Yeah. Yeah, no, that's great. It's like, you know, the, the whole emphasize what you wanna see more of or celebrate what you wanna see more of and, you know, like, what a great way after a win like that. Like, yeah, there's a lot of stats we could probably recognize and a lot of other great, great things, but to recognize their ability to come back from a mistake, like, that's huge because it'll lead to more of those outcomes, too. Yeah. Really great. Okay, Carlton, were there any specific skills or aspects of the program that stood out to you that were really helpful for your girls? Yeah, it, it, same thing that the snapback, uh- Mm-hmm bounce back and the snap. Um, you know, it, it, first videos you get to as a coach looking at it, and, and I think, uh, those videos are about 15 minutes long, and, you know, we stopped it along the way, had a discussion, and afterwards had a discussion and, and, and equated that not just to, you know, sports but, but also, you know, school and life, too. You know, like how do you- Mm if, if, if you're anxious for a test or anxious 'cause you have to give a presentation in, in the classroom, you know, that, that breathing technique works for that as well. Yeah. You know? And, and, and same thing, so it wasn't just I tried, tried to go beyond the application in sports and, and, and apply it to, uh, to life, uh, out- outside of the gym as well. Uh, and, and the girls, uh, you know, they, they, they picked up on that well. I think the other aspects, um, I probably would need a little more time than, than I had in the summer 'cause I didn't have additional time, so if like I'm able to make use of that, that time before our practices, uh, that, that'll be better suited for those. It's funny, we just had our last, um, our last practice of the summer and had a party afterwards, so we got the girls together and I, I gave them that PowerPoint slide and, and, uh, I said, "Okay, do you guys remember your breathing technique, right?" So they all inhaled, and, and one thing that we hadn't talked about since they watched the videos, wh- and they all said, that you exhale like you're blowing on a cup of hot chocolate. Oh, yeah? So I, I, I thought that was funny, you know, two months after we watched the videos and, and we talked about the different aspects. We never mentioned, you know, exhaling like you're blowing on a cup of hot chocolate, but, but they all knew that, and they all acted like they were holding a hot chocolate and blowing on it. So, you know, the, the- Yeah they, they remembered those little parts of the video that we hadn't really been, been focusing on. Yeah. Oh, that's great. I love that. We'll talk in a second about how you kinda did that in the off-season. I know you shared a little bit, but that's a big question that coaches have, too. Um, okay, Carrie, any, any specific things that, that stood out for your girls? Um, I didn't really know if they were completely bought in, to be like 100% honest. Yeah, of course. They just kinda do the stuff I, like, make them. They're, they're pretty, like, good. They're like, "Okay, we'll give it a try," type thing. Yeah. Yeah. Um- They're compliant. And, yeah, they are. And then all of a sudden, we kinda had a weird schedule thing at a tournament, and it got thrown off, and they're like, "Are we gonna do our visualization?" And I was like- Oh. Oh, okay. Um, that's, that's... We, we will probably have to just amend it a little bit, so we, like, did it on the sideline because we couldn't go into the hallway and just, like, gather ourselves. And I was like, "Oh. Oh, oh, okay, so they're actually, like, using the words and wanting it." So they were just... It was part of our routine, and it- Mm-hmm it kinda... Sometimes, um, it is hard. We come right after school and transition into practice, and I actually took a couple other strategies from you to try to get them going right away, and then build it in a little bit. Um, but that whole idea of being able to transition from one thing to another was really something your program helped with, and giving ideas as to kinda how to reset them in that snapback routine, but also how to start practice. 'Cause sometimes, um, they carry a lot of stuff with them from school. Yeah. And what happened in the hallway or it's- Whew you get a lot. So how to, um, handle that. And I did just really enjoy how it also helped me transition, too, from one thing to the next, and I appreciated that from a coaching standpoint as well. Yeah. But thank you. That's awesome. But yeah, they're, they're asking for it. Yeah. Mine started to do that, too, and they were like, "I don't even know, like, what other..." Because at this point, my seniors for the past two years have been doing it for four years in a row, and so they're like, "What do other people do before a game? How would you not, like, do a little visualization around..." Like, it kinda just helps them, I don't know, reset and, and, you know, you can tell them all they want, like, all you want, like, "You should breathe," or, "You should, you know, journal a little bit," or you... And they're not gonna do it- Mm unless you, like, build it in. Okay. I have just a couple more questions as we wrap up. I'd love to give another opportunity to share if there's anything specific that you were like, "Wow, this was unexpected," or Tom, I know you guys made some history this season. So any, um, any, like, accomplishments or things that you want to call out that you thought mental training helped with? Tom, I'll start with you. Yeah, so, you know, I think, you know, like I, like I've said a few times, we play in a really, really tough league, and I think four or five teams in, in our particular league are ranked in the top 20 in the country. Uh, we probably fall in somewhere a little bit behind that. So, um, we have a handful of teams we just haven't beat as a school in, in, you know, f- multiple years. One team in particular, 20 years. There's another that's been five or six years. So one-- we s- just by-- I, I'm not gonna call it coincidence, but we, we started the, the training going into the iron of our schedule, and we won, I think the w- the next week, we won one of those games, uh, which was pretty historic. And, you know, the girls were really excited about it, and then we continued the training and we won another one of those games the following week. Now, um, so those were probably our biggest, like, tangible, uh, I'd say, you know, tangible accomplishments. But I, I do see a lot of individual accomplishments that we had in it. Um, you know, we did have one game, we were losing five to one on the road. It was a game we probably should've won or been winning. Uh, you know, I called a timeout, we got together, and I think the girls were looking at me like, you know, "He's gonna yell at us." Yeah, there you go. Like, "What are we doing?" Yeah. And, uh, we just kinda got together and we, we did like a snapback routine. I just said, "Breathe," right? And I look at that as like- And we end up winning the game in the end, like 10-11 or whatever it was- Oh, man or we won late in the game. But I look at that as an accomplishment as a team and as a coach, and for all the girls, you know, who performed or, or were on the bench and, and having excitement. So we had a lot of great accomplishments. But I'd say even more than those huge historic wins we had, Bre, um, we had this great bench this year. We had 37 girls on the team, which means that, um- Oh my gosh. you know, 20 of them don't play, right? Oh, wow. That... Yeah. So, you know, how do you handle, how do you manage, you know, 20 really good lacrosse players sitting on the bench, um- Yeah who, you know, some of them are committed to playing college and, you know, or, or desire to. So but they ended up having an article written about them, about how great they were. They were called the Bench Mob. Uh, so- Oh my gosh about how great they were and how much spirit they had, and they got interviewed individually and like that, that all come, started after we started this mental snapback routine type stuff. And so I'd say it had these great accomplishments as a team. And, and you know, we know great culture equals wins, and we all know that as coaches. And so out of this season, I'll take that the most out of anything is what we accomplished as a, a collective group of 37 girls and, you know, having fun and yeah, we didn't win a championship, but, um, we accomplished a lot. We accomplished some really huge wins, but we also accomplished a lot, you know, together as a team. And I th- I think this program had a lot to do with it. I think when we met with the girls individual at the end of the season, we asked them all about what they thought about the program and most of them, and, um, they thought it had a huge influence on how they, uh, they perceived their role on the team, whether they played or they didn't play. Yeah. Yeah. That is, that's awesome. And I, I both am like, I wouldn't wish that bench on anyone, like 30, 20 people not playing, and also like, wow, your bench is deep and they bought into their roles and, you know. That's amazing too. I will say a note on that, and I don't know if you use this, but we've since added, um, our, like player impact plan into the program. So coaches that are listening, they're like, "How do you buy into your roles?" We have a little resource in there on how to help with that, how to communicate that to players, how to communicate that to parents. So, but yeah, that's amazing. And I would say like, of course, like our program has had a lot, a lot of success as well, and you can't bl- you can't, I would say, I hate to say blame, you can't attribute it to all one thing, right? Like- But I say mental training didn't hurt us. Um, and it showed up in the, the biggest, you know, it usually shows up in those moments where you need it most. It's like, is this working? Is this doing anything? And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, yeah, like they fall back on their skills in those big moments. So yeah, so good. Yeah. And just to expand, you know, something Carlton said earlier in, in the, you know, I'll say all high school, but these, these girls have so much pressure on them- Yeah outside of just the couple hours a day we have with them. And I think a lot of them, you know, academically, whether it's social media, I think a lot of them applied this stuff to other parts of their life. And, and, you know- Yeah certainly we encourage them to do that. Uh, yeah, sports, it- it's great if it affects them in sports, but, you know, there's so many practices this year, I realized it was more than just sports affecting them. Yeah. And, you know, and, and I have a daughter on the team too, so you get kind of a pulse of what's going on. It's like, you know, we're up to 3:00 in the morning doing homework and, you know, we have three tests this week. And, you know, and, and that's a lot of the anxiety's driving that. And then when they make a mistake on the field, it's like compounding times 10. Yeah. Yeah. Um, that's I think it helps off the field too in a, in a, in a huge way. Yeah. Okay. I'm glad you brought that up too, because that's so true. Um, okay, Carlton, I know your season is around the corner, so you, any- anything you want to pull out as, as accomplishments or things that you noticed? Yeah. We, so during the, the summer, you know, a lot of kids work or they travel on vacation, so you, you get what you get when they show up. Yeah. Uh, so we played a lot of games with, you know, six or seven players that, that, that were all guards or small forwards. You know, we didn't have a lot of height. We couldn't really get into like a half court game with, with other teams. So we played a very up-tempo type offense, which meant that, you know, if the girls hung their head about a mistake, uh, they, they missed the next play and, and, and it really hurt us. Um- Yeah so we put a lot, a lot of full court press, you know- So the, the, the, you know, the, the, uh, the emphasis on that was, hey, you, you gotta snap back, you gotta stay in the game. You know, you can't, you can't get behind the play. You, you, you can't watch the next play. The most important play is the next play. Um, and, and they did a good job. There were some games where, where we fell behind and we got in a hole because there were some girls and, and it seems like if one does it, it's contagious. You know, it's- Yeah it's contagious both ways, you know? But if you have one girl, particularly if she's, uh, one of the leaders, if she starts hanging her head and getting frustrated, then, then, then that, that's contagious on the team. So we had some bad games for that. Uh, a bad period, sometimes it would take a timeout or, or, or a timeout at the end of a period to get them back, uh, get their mind back in the game. And, and sometimes it took, you know, the, the time between games. We played a lot, our schedule was a lot of, lot of games back to back. Um, you know, you get 10 minutes between games and you just sit down and you talk about it. Uh, and, and sometimes you'd see a, a big difference between the first game and the second game, just going over about, okay, how do you recover from your mistakes or, or, or what you're doing that's not, not really a mistake, it's just part of the game, you know? And- Yeah so I, I saw a big difference in that. And, and, and the girls could see a difference, you know, between like when, when they knew that they were, you know, kinda dropping their head and, and, and, and, and they were falling behind the play to when they were just, you know, snapping their fingers, recovering, getting right back into it and, and, and playing hard. So it was good that, that they saw that. You know, they could, they could look at their performance and say, "We, we're really bad in this game," or, "We're re- really bad in this half." Uh- Mm-hmm or say that, "Yeah, we, we all played together. We all, we all, you know, kept our heads up, up tempo games that we have to play and, and, and we did really well." So we had some good games, we had some bad games. We, we fell in a lot of big, big holes, deficits, and, and a lot of times we climbed our way back out of double dig- digit def- deficits in the second half. Uh, and, and the... But the, you know, the success was the girls could see the difference in, in how they respond to how they play and how that equates to how they play in the next play. Mm-hmm. Yeah. So even though it was the off-season, that, that was big for us. Yeah. And you're laying the foundation for, for your season to come too, so that's really cool that they already kinda have some of this. Yeah. Um, okay, Kerry, I know you've already shared a lot, but is there anything else that stands out that you're like, "Oh, wow, this was, this was it I just think overall it, it gave us common language to talk about things, and it brought it out there so that it isn't, um, something that's like mystifying and this like weird thing like, "Am I the only one thinking that?" Yeah. Um, and that we talked about it as being very natural, and this is what life is, like recovering from your mistakes. I think I've failed more times than I've ever succeeded, but they have to be confident to do that. And I think just as I step back and I've, you know, gone with my daughter, and I mean, sometimes there is a little bit of tough love that you have to give as a parent. But in terms of sports, I think it's helping build their character, build their confidence, demystifying this like brain that they're full of hormones with, and it's okay. And it When you learn about things like that, I think it puts you more at ease, and that you can continue to challenge and grow. And, and I just, uh, really have gotten into some neuroscience stuff, and yours is really strong in that, and it does talk a little bit about the science, which totally makes me excited every time your little 10-minute segment does that. So, um, there's so much we're learning about the brain and, and how powerful it is. And, um, we know many of our conferences, whether it's Tom or Co- I mean, we're all, like, sometimes this far apart, and other times we're this far apart. Mm-hmm. But man, if we're this far apart and we're a little mentally tougher, that game gets better, and then we can challenge them. Or if we're this far apart, this might be that little edge we need on the team that isn't maybe doing that as strong. So I just think it's a all-- it's not one moment, it's just a bunch of little moments that really did matter, so. Yeah. Yeah. That's a great, that's a great way to look at it. Yeah. Yeah. Because I would say, like, physical or mental training can't replace physical training. Like- No, no you still have to be able to do the, the things that you need to do out there. But- Mm-hmm um, yeah, when you're matching up head-to-head, especially if you're of similar ability, like, this is gonna be the thing. Yeah. I mean, that's what happened to us in the last state tournament, and it was, like, very clear- Mm-hmm that the other team was, like, falling apart mentally, and we-- I was like, "Oh my gosh, this is, like, happening in real time." So, um, okay. Last, last little question before we wrap it up. Um, just logistics, because I know we have some coaches on that are like, you know, like you, Harry. Like, uh, you know, "I'm, I'm a teacher, I've got full day of prep. Um, I don't have a lot of time." Like, how did you actually fit this into your seasons? How long did it take you? Did you do all of it, or did you just kind of piecemeal-- or not piecemeal, but, like, do parts of it? So let's talk about that. Tom, I'll start with you. Yeah. So we, we did piecemeal a little bit, like I said before. And so we're, we also a few days a week have that slot too that was mentioned. So we might stop practice at 4:30 or five o'clock, which gives us daily time, if we wanna choose to, to get, have the girls get to the field house a little bit early. And that's what we decided to do on Mondays. On Mondays, we'd just kick off, like, a half hour early, and we would put the videos on. And, uh, you know, that was a benefit we had that, that they had an hour and a half or two hours after school to have time to maybe do some homework or get some food. So we slipped it in before practice on that, those what we call the mental Mondays. Um, and we just kind of dedicated that day to do it. Um, and if we didn't do it on Monday, if we had a game or something, we'd do it another day that week. Um, but we did somewhat piecemeal. We focused specifically, we, we focused specifically on the snapback and the visualization. Um, and I thought that was good for what we had for this season. 'Cause unfortunately, our season's only, like, two months in the spring. It's, it's the shortest of a- any other sport, I think, um, that- Yeah, that's super short anyway, it- it's extreme. I mean, I was texting with a coach last night complaining about how short our girls' season is. We play, you know, 18 games in basically two months. So we, we, and most of our girls play three sports. So I don't see them much, or at least consistently, like Carlton was saying, until, you know, we start in February, mid-February. So, um, yeah, so I, I would say, you know, that, that's how we implemented it. There's probably a different, thousand different ways to do it. We waited till the season. We waited till we were comfortable with where we were at as a team and had some failures. But I do think dedicating specific time is a really good way to do it and say, "Hey, we're gonna do this every Friday after school," or, "We're gonna do this every- Yeah every Monday." Or i- and, 'cause if we don't do it as coaches, if we don't dedicate that time, we probably are gonna not do it, right? So- Right. Oh, yeah. I mean, just too much going on, too many excuses to not do it. You know, we gotta work on this, we gotta work on that. You know, do you really have time to sit down in the classroom and take a half hour of these girls' time to do this? But if you don't do it, if you dedicate the time and you don't do it, the girls are all like, "Hey, we're not... Why didn't we do it?" You know, "Why aren't we doing this?" Yeah, they are. So now they're holding you accountable. Mm-hmm. So, um, I personally think that's the best way to do it, and it worked for us. Yeah. Love that. Okay, Carlton, how about you? I, I've just done the, uh, bounce back and snap part of it in, in the, in the summer. Um, and like I said, I introduced that to, uh, to three girls in, in a, in a lesson. Uh- Hmm and then when we did that in practice, you know, the- they're the three that, that led the discussion on it. Oh, cool. And, and they kind of took a lot of pride in the fact that they did that, you know? Um, same thing that the PowerPoint slide I sent you, I gave it to- Mm uh, three girls that I had a lesson with, you know, prior to our last practice, and, and just to go over, just make sure it made sense to them. So when we're talking about in practice, those three girls kind of led the, led the conversation about it, you know, so, so I'm not the one doing all the talking and, and, and leading the conversation, the girls were. So I'm gonna do the same thing with the rest of the program. As we get through that, looking out to the season, I'm gonna use the lessons that I'm giving in the, uh, in the fall here. And so I'm gonna- Mm-hmm start doing the rest of the program then, so then when we get into the season, those girls will have had it, and, uh, and, and they can help me lead the discussion or just lead the discussion themselves on it. Cool. I love that. Yeah, you guys both did it a little bit differently. I will say that there is a plan in there, like if you literally just wanna plug and play, show up, do it, like you can follow the plan. I put my plan in there as well, like how I do it with my 13-week season or, or so. So, um, yeah, but those are great ideas. I love also empowering your captains and your leaders to help with this, so. Carrie, I think you did it more kind of as prescribed. So how did you make this all- A, a little bit more. I did have to like kind of tweak and tailor a few things if we were... You don't have to go in the exact order that you have, and we like jumped around a little bit- Mm just for time. Um, sometimes it was a little overwhelming 'cause I have a very large program. I have seven teams, um, three ninth grade- Oh my gosh two sophomore, one JV, and one varsity. Um, and it was a combination of at times we did some of the really important things together, and other times I like broke it out. Yeah, it's a lot. I got like 70-plus kids coming on, on Monday for these teams. But, um, anyway, I, I did some large group, some smaller group, and then some coach led, some... So it was a little bit of a all over the place, um, for the modeling of the program. But- Even if, if maybe I possibly know I made mistakes and things I want to improve for next year. Um, but I think if you start with what you have listed at the very beginning, and even if like many of the coaches, uh, that have talked have started there, um, that's definitely the meat and potatoes, I would say. Mm-hmm. But the rest of it just continues to reinforce it in other ways. I was extremely drawn to your perfectionism stuff- Mm-hmm because volleyball players have a tendency, not all of them, but many of them, to be highly perfectionistic due to the fact our game is based on mistakes. Right. And the whole thing is. So, um, I, yeah, especially I take that child home with me who's a high-level, high-performing perfection. She's got some of that from her mother as well. Um, how do you handle that, and how do you, do you process that? And, and some of them really, I got parent emails that were positive, like, "Oh my gosh, my daughter came home and said you did this at practice. This is so cool." Oh. "Thanks for doing this." And you know, sometimes you kind of get that parent email and you're a little, "Oh, okay, what are we getting in this one?" Um, and I actually got some, some really positive feedback that the kids didn't even know that their parents had just said, "Hey, you know, I'm seeing some things," or, "She's saying some things that are really good." And those were my ninth graders and sophomores. It wasn't even the ones that I was like, "Okay, we got to do this." But, no, I think it's a program and just everything was, was very, very easy to follow and very ch- you could tweak it any way you need to. Yeah. Oh, that's great. I totally feel, feel, feel you when you get a parent email and you're like, "Oh, we're... Oh, it's something good. Okay, that's great." Wow. Well, thank you three so much for sharing so generously. Coaches that are listening and those of you that are, um, looking at investing in Pl- Plug and Play for your seasons, just know that we have that discount that, um, is going on right now until Monday for $300 off. The license is good for three coaches. So Tom was mentioning that, you know, it's like the volleyball coach, you, and then one other coach that has the license. Other coach, yeah. Yeah. Or you could give it to other people on, on your team. But if you need more licenses, it's $50 per coach, so it's, you know, easy to add more seats into that as well. So, yes. Um, and we have a clickable link in there. Abby hopped on. She's our operations manager, so thank you, Abby, for jumping in there. We have a brochure you can share with your AD. I know ADs are swamped this time of year but, you know, if you want to get anything past your AD, we have a brochure we can put, and we do accept purchase orders. Those are kind of the, the main things that we get asked. So anyways, thank you Tom, Carlton, and Carrie so much for sharing so generously. And coaches that are on, good luck to you the, this season. If you have any questions, you can feel free to shoot me an email