Transcription
Mind the game, man. We're back. Star-studded cast today, brother. We're happy to, uh, welcome the great Luka Dončić. Thank you. What a pleasure. Big-time pleasure. Had a don on to, uh, speak about multiple topics. Multiple topics are the most important. I think is everyone wants to know, like, what's your take on, uh, the season finale of White Lotus? What was that? What you say? I was saying, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Never mind. Never [Music] mind.
Welcome to Mind the Game, presented by Uninterrupted and Wanderly. In this episode, we're thrilled to be joined by Luka Dončić. We cover a bunch of topics, starting with his move to Los Angeles, playing with one of his idols, LeBron James, and also his work with the Luka Dončić Foundation and the commissioned study he's provided of developing youth basketball players in Europe versus the United States. Stick around to the end of the episode where I'll talk a little bit more about why I'm on Luka's Athletes Council, why it's important to me, and how we can all help improve the landscape of youth basketball. So, thanks for watching. Please enjoy, and we look forward to this episode. [Music]
Honestly, this is, uh, amazing to have you. Um, appreciate it. You know, it's usually just the two of us, but, uh, we reserved a third spot for, for the main man. And, uh, you know, really, I think it'd be unfair for the audience if we didn't ask you off the bat what it's like playing together, how you feel playing with LeBron. I know you looked up to him as a kid, and now you guys are teammates.
I mean, it's great. You see, I've never played with a guy like this and, you know, just being traded to here to LA. I mean, it was different. Uh, but just to play with guys like him, like, it's unbelievable. Like, I could learn so many stuff, you know? Uh, first of all, off the court, you know, all the things he does just to be ready for the game. And obviously on the court, everybody knows what kind of player he is.
What, uh, like, give me an example of a couple things you've seen, like, being around him every day where you're like, he does that? Like, what's he doing over there? Like, is there anything that stands out initially where you're like, wow?
Well, first of all, he shows up like 10 hours before the game. So, I mean, that was really the main, like, I was, what, I came to the arena at 2:00. Uh, he was already done working out. I was like, what? Yeah. Yeah.
Um, and then what about playing together? Like, you guys are so similar. You know, obviously different stages of your career, but you're so similar the way you see the game, the way you process the game, the way you can, you know, abuse bigger defenders, you can bully smaller defenders. You're both computers, the way you read the game. Like, has it been fun to see someone that you understand the way he thinks and to be able to play off each other?
Yeah. For You didn't mention the bounce. The bounce. Oh, the high minus the bounce. Minus the bounce. A lot of similarities. No, it's been great. But just, you know, I think I still think it's a work in progress. You know, when we two are out there and they are, you know, he's been playing unbelievable, and I think it's just still work in progress. You know, I think we're getting better and better every day. I mean, I think you saw today against OKC, you know, it's hard to win here. Number one team in the West for a reason. And we just, you know, we share the ball. Everybody was getting open shots. So, I still, it's work in progress, but we're getting better and better every day.
It was interesting. I noticed, you know, OKC, so handsy, athletic, you know, they speed people up. They can't speed them up. Like, what are your, what's your take when you're saying you have no speed? Just don't show it. But you, you, you handle all that pressure, and then you can dissect the team. Once that pressure breaks, now you're playing your game. Do you notice sometimes when he's able to just calm things down and take, take charge?
No, like you said, I mean, it's always his pace. Yeah, it's always been his pace, you know? It's never been a, a game where like, "Okay, well, you can speed me up. He can speed me up. Okay, this bigger guy can be more physical. Okay, this smaller guy can get up underneath me." It's like he moves at his own pace, and he's never, ever been on the floor where he's allowed someone to dictate where they're going to put him on the floor. It's always been the opposite, you know? And for us, when we all working off of that, we just got to stay ready. You know, you seen, obviously we seen throughout his career, like there's plays and passes that certain guys that in, in the league history, Yeah. Have ever been able to make, you know? And, you know, for us, we all just have to make sure that we continue to stay ready, especially when you're going against handsy teams, athletic teams, teams that try to speed you up. We always have to keep our head on a swivel 'cause you just, you just never know. You just never know when the ball may find you, and that's a good thing. That's keeping the defense off balance, and that's a great thing to have that. Yeah.
You know, it's a great point. One of the, like, you guys are both incredible passers. One of the things about your passing game that I always really admire is the late pass. Like, did you do that as a kid, or is that something you developed as you got older? But it's like, it's almost over, and then you go, like, almost 180 behind you to sum up, or three. Like, where did that come from? Like, is that something that you always did, or it developed in time?
I think it developed during, during time. I, I don't think I did that as a kid. Yeah. I, I remember that. But just, you know, what I always said to my teammates, you know, once I go up, stay in your spot because I know where you were before, and then if I don't have any options, I'll pass it to you. Yeah. Yeah. I think it through time, you know. I don't think I did it as a kid.
But it's, I mean, it's, I mean, you've made every pass there's been, and you obviously pass over people. But it's, it's great because the natural kind of thinking of a defender is when you leave your feet, is they kind of turn, and they think, "My guy's out of the play. I got to get ready to either rotate or rebound." They, they've come in a little bit. The ball's going over there, and they can't get back out. So, you, you know, but you can't do that without the vision, but also with your size. I couldn't, I can make late passes, but my, my, you know, my matrix of late passes was limited. You know what I mean? So, you're able to make that high one over the top of the defense, catch them sleeping when they already think the play's over for them. Yeah. And so that's something that I really admire about your game. Not a lot of people can do that.
I think that was during time, you know, just probably when I got to the NBA. Yeah. Not in Madrid. I mean, probably some, but not like this. Not like this.
You know what I wanted to ask you? Switching gears a little bit, is you come from a small country. Yeah. Beautiful country. I went there this summer. We were at the Goran Dragić retirement game. How, how'd I look out there on the court?
Pretty. The soccer thing was better. Soccer game was better. Because it was a small court. Small. Yeah, that's true. But, uh, it's a beautiful country. Two million people. Two million people. I mean, which makes it incredible. They won the European Championship, him and Goran, and obviously everybody, but you two leading the charge. Um, you now live in Los Angeles. How was that for you? Like, the day you find out, like, you're, you know, in a city that's bigger than your country? You know, Southern California is like 30 million people. It's overpopulated, right? Like, how, how was that for you culturally to all of a sudden be like, "Oh man, I live in one of the biggest cities in the world"?
Well, first of all, like, this is the first city I play in that has an ocean, and I really like the ocean. So, that was, that was the first thing. I mean, after a couple days, that was the first thing on my mind. You know, it's a lot. I like it. I like it very much. Uh, the only, the only thing is is the traffic. But it's the [ __ ] traffic.
But you, you're also, you're, you're quiet. You're unassuming. Like, you're like, it's Hollywood out there. Is that, take an adjustment for you, or you like, "No, that part doesn't bother me"?
Um, no, not really. But like, there's every time there's famous people, you know, watching our game, sitting courtside, that, that's, I mean, that's amazing to see. But, or not really, not that much. The first time I asked him a question like, "How are you, how are you adjusting?" "Adjusting?" "I like the beach." That's the first thing he said. "I like the beach." I like that. Made it feel okay.
You got to go fishing. Yeah. So, but it's a different pace of life. Yeah. A little bit, traffic like you said, and I like to drive, you know. So you like to drive. Have you gone in? Have you, have you driven outside LA at all yet?
What do you mean? Like, so, for example, like, I think it's, what's cool about LA. We think about LA as a big city, but within an hour and a half, two hours, Santa Barbara, you go Santa Barbara, San Diego, you know, you could go to the mountains, you know, Orange County, Orange County, you go all over the place. Malibu, there's a million places to go within two hours, right? Uh, oh, high or all over the place. So, you know, like you like to drive. Yeah.
But I didn't try it. You, the first time I, the first place I would try was Santa Barbara because I was there when I was 17 or something like that. I went to P3. Yeah. P3. So, I really like that. It's peaceful. Yeah. I like beach. Beach, of course. Quiet. Some good wine out there, too. Like, Yeah. Great restaurants. Wine Valley. It's like a little bit more like Slovenia. Yeah. But I wasn't allowed to drink at 17. So I don't know. In Slovenia. Yeah. 18. You make up for it. You make up for [Music] it.
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Well, one of the things that, uh, I really want to talk about tonight is is youth basketball development. We've all gone through it. We've all had to build ourselves up as players. You now have two sons, one who's basically gone through it and the other one who's right in the middle of it. Um, you grew up in Europe, you know, I grew up in Canada. Uh, it always fascinates me how people develop and what systems. And so your foundation, the Luka Dončić Foundation, has obviously made this incredible study. You commissioned a study called Inside Youth Basketball, like 300-something pages where for a month, they studied how people are trained and grow up playing the game in Europe versus how they're trained and playing the game in in the US and trying to find out as many things as possible to help kids get better. Yeah. What inspired this for you?
I think just seeing like kids not pulling out of sports these days. You know, more and more kids are pulling out sports. Just probably didn't have as much fun as I did when I grew up. Uh, so that's why we have study in America and study in Europe. So we're trying to combine the the weaknesses and the strengths together. So, you know, the main thing was just kids to have fun playing basketball, especially when you're young. You, you know, you want to have fun. I think about anything, just go out there and have fun.
So, there's been a study that claims that 70% of kids quit youth sports by the time they're 13 because basically the joy is pushed out of it. Too much pressure, not enough fun. Um, I'd love to know about your childhood, like, how did you both of you, how did you fall in love with basketball?
Well, for me, I wasn't good at any other sports except soccer. I was, I was not like, I've seen your first touch. Not like you, but, you know. But I've also seen you hit a tennis ball. Yeah, I was playing a lot of sports. Tennis, soccer, and basketball were the main ones. I played even volleyball. I played. So, it was for me it was fun just to do sports. And then I went outside, you know, a lot after school. I went outside every time. Just play basketball. Yeah. Playing hoops from a young age, or playing anything? Anything? Anything? Well, mostly basketball. Yeah.
But because your dad, Saša, was EuroLeague, played in the EuroLeague. Great player. So, you obviously he was okay. He was okay. All right. Just making sure. But I mean, but that's also like, like my dad was a soccer player, so I grew up playing in the backyard, playing soccer. It must have had an influence on you.
Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Like I went to his games, you know, I was, well, I started like being a ball boy. I was a lot of ball boy. Uh, in league games, I was a ball boy at Olympia. So that's how I used my time to just get on basketball. The last game before the game, halftime, and after the game, I was just shooting.
And what about you, LeBron? Like, what was the first moment where you, basketball came in your life, you're like, "I love this"?
Yeah. Um, I, I mean, I don't know the exact moment, but, you know, I think I was able to watch it, you know, when I, when I had the, when I got to see some of the greatest that played the game, I was inspired by them. Like, I was inspired by MJ and, you know, inspired, you know, by Anthony Penny Hardaway and Grant Hill and those guys. Um, like their sneakers inspired me. The commercials they used to do back then inspired me. And then, um, you know, just being outside, you know, I just always, I was always a kid that just wanted to play whatever it was. If we was playing, we was playing tag. If we was playing football, we was playing baseball. If we was playing football, everything. Kickball, you know, that was very popular in my community. Just running around and just exerting as much energy as possible till the lights, you know, on in the street came on. And it was time to get in the house. Like, I just wanted to do whatever. And then I think once I got into like, um, you know, the, the youth leagues where it started being competitive, I actually loved the competitive nature of basketball, you know? Um, being out there five on five and we're playing for something, you know? We're playing to see who can score the most points and win the game, you know? And then ultimately, it got to like, "Oh, if we win the majority of the games, we can win something. We win a champ, have a banquet, and have medals and little trophies." Like, that stuff inspired me, you know? 'Cause I watched, you know, NBA guys and college guys at the end of the season, they get to hoist a trophy or whatever. I thought that was pretty inspiring. So, and as a kid, you just always inspired by the ones that's, that's already doing it, you know? I think that that was, um, a big moment for me for sure.
It's funny you said the commercials. Like, I didn't really start playing hoops till I was about 13. Like, played hockey, soccer, baseball, lacrosse, all sorts of stuff. He's good at soccer and tennis. I saw you, you know. Still play tennis. You saying a little louder? No, he's. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He still play tennis. Yeah. He's good. Still, still love to play. That's the kid in me that never goes away, right? Like, I, I still just want to be out there playing. Um, it brings up like a, you know, I was going to say though, that like when I was 13, what really got me into basketball was Michael Jordan, the first Air Jordan shoes commercials with Spike Lee, just like you were saying, like, that stuff inspires you as a young kid. It's like a fun time to get into the game. But what I, what I heard from both of you that I think is really important is you played informally. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. For sure. You weren't playing on the playground. You were playing in the street. You were playing all the time informally. And it leads me to a, a topic here that I think the study really highlights is that, you know, especially in the United States, youth sports has been commercialized. Yeah. Youth sports. So, like, this is my way of explaining it. You know, when I grew up, you play soccer and hockey in the winter, you play baseball, box lacrosse in the summer, and it cost you like a hundred bucks a season for each sport. Well, somebody, some entrepreneur, someone says, "Well, I need to make a, make a business of this." Said, "Well, if I can sell the dream to the family, the little Sarah or Johnny, you know, they might have a chance to go somewhere with this, but they got to commit to this sport for the year." At 86. That's the worst thing you can do, right? So, what happens is now the parents are involved. There's a system. They're not playing informally. You know, it leads to personal trainers, strength and conditioning coaches. Like, trying to unpack that and rewind it is like, now we don't, like, how many times do you drive by a park now and see kids playing basketball? Very rare. Not much. Your, your boys just come through the whole system? Like, do they go to the park and play with their friends?
Very rarely. Yeah. Very rarely, you know. Um, you know, they did play outside a little bit, but mostly it's indoors. They didn't program. Yeah. And program and and and they lived, you know, for the majority of the time, my kids growing up lived in, you know, South Florida and lived in Southern California. So, like, you know, it was no reason for them not to be outside. You know, I get it if they, the majority of the time grew up in Northeast Ohio where you have four seasons and it's hard to get on the outdoor court where it's six inches of snow or it's raining crazy. Um, it's just, it's not the thing. And like you said, I think not allowing kids to to just go out and just, you know, explore all sports, you know, basketball, football, soccer, lacrosse, track and field. Like me and my guys, we ran track and field as well when we were like super duper young, you know. We played football all the way, American football, all the way through high school, you know. Um, we didn't just cap it at one thing. You just did one thing all year round. And I think a lot of kids burn, they burn the hell out. Out. You just tell them to do just, okay, I'm going just do this one all year round. I'm just play basketball or just play volleyball or just play soccer all year round. You, you burn out at 22, 23, 24, you know, because you've just been doing it since you are young. 13, they start, you know, they say, "Fuck the hell with it. I'm, I'm done. I don't even want to play no more, you know?" So, you know, I don't think putting a cap on these kids being able to, they should be able to just explore, man.
Do they still play on the playground in, in Slovenia?
Not much. Even there, it's still more programmed now.
It's fascinating to me because I think like what happens is that's where we develop the joy, right? It's playing with your friends, not a coach telling you what to do. It's trial and error. And it's like on the playground, you're allowed to make mistakes and nobody's going to say anything. And that's, I think that's like one of the main points, too. And and that's where you, like, I think every generation learns from the one before, but you also learn from the playground trial and error. Yeah. Like, you go and play, you try stuff, it doesn't work, no one says, "Don't do that." Like, you know, like these late passes like that develops, you know, things you did at your size that no one did. It didn't do if you weren't handling the ball. You had a coach saying, "You're our four from the time you're, you know, 10 years old."
Yeah. I mean, I didn't have a, a basketball trainer until second, third, maybe fourth year in the NBA, right? Like, my, my basketball training was just being on the court. Let's just go hoop. Yeah. Let's go hoop. Let's five on five or two on two or three on three or like a game that we played, um, you know, when I was growing up was called 33 or 21. You know, basically it's one man for himself, and you could be guarded by all your friends, and if I score, I go to the free throw line, I shoot two free throws, and I get it back. Like, it's like, and and that's how a lot of creation started with me being able to dribble around three or four guys, going behind the back, going, being able to shoot, you know, getting physical with your friends, like, you know, so it's just, it definitely helped me out a lot.
And let me, let me ask you, let me get, pose this for you. So, you're out there trying to get to between two, three, four guys at your size, your size, or even my size. What is more joyful? Where do you learn? We learn. We learn a lot faster through trial and error, or a coach saying, "Here's the cones. I want you to cross over, spin." Like, that's gone for our kids in a way. Yeah. Right? We don't get that time to just play, to try things, to make mistakes, to play weird games, right? Like, you, you, you would never go to a, you know, a skills coach right now and you'd be like, "All right, guys, 21." No, right? You know what I mean? It's like, we got a program, we're going to try to teach. And so what happens is the joy, the creativity comes out of the game, and that, that's why you get kids quitting at 13. Right. So, like, did you ever have that? Like, do you ever have skills coaches when you were growing up in Slovenia, or just your coach?
Not really. Just, just my coach. Yeah. I don't think, like, skill coach existed. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I was born in '99. So, '99. I mean, that, but like, it's still '90s, barely. Oh my god. He's born in '99. That's crazy. I just got instantly sleepy when he said he was born in 199. I was your age in '99. That's crazy. You notice the grays.
But, uh, but it is, uh, it's not everything's bad, right? Like, I'm not here to say that everything's bad. Some things get better and better and better. We know more about the body. We know more about a lot of things nowadays. But I do think that the commercialization has really made it less joyful, less creative, right? And then you don't have the social aspect as much, right? You know, it's like, um, the pressure the system puts on a parent, like, "I can't take this away from my kid. I got to give him this chance," instead of the kid being like, "I'm going to the park to play," or "I'm going to go in the backyard." And so I think it, it makes it complicated. And, you know, I don't know how we kind of add that piece back into this puzzle where kids are playing informally. I don't know. Like, maybe this is what you're going to try to do.
That, that's what we're trying. Like, like I said, you know, the way I grew up was just going after school, go on the court, and then go to practice. So I was just like, I was outside a lot. I even tried the skateboarding. They built a new skate park when I, when I was playing basketball. So I even tried that. No, I was wearing everything. It wasn't good. I was too tall for that. That's amazing.
So, what about the, this project, you know, um, Inside Youth Basketball? Like, how, how do you see it? Like, how do you envision making an impact?
Well, first of all, I think we got great people on it, like yourself. Yeah. The Athletes Council. Yeah. And, you know, just like, we got people that grew up in different places playing basketball. So, you grew up in Canada, uh, Steph grew up in, uh, US, Derek grew up in Germany, I grew up in Slovenia and Spain. So, we're just trying to combine everything, like, you know, like everything together, you know, see the weaknesses, see their strengths. So, just combine everything and let the kids have fun. That's the most important part. Let them have fun like I had when I was growing up.
Yeah, it's a great concept. I mean, how can we put our heads together and like, like I said, a lot of what we're doing, and I'm not trying to disparage all skills coaches. It's just like, it's become an economy that's taken away the informal play. How can we put our heads together and kind of find a part of the puzzle that is informal, that isn't pressurized?
So, this is what you want to do, is to help educate coaches, programs, instill it in different places around the country.
Yeah. And I'm, like, I'm saying, I think it's a lot for the kids, you know, having all these different kinds. When I grew up, I didn't have anything. I just had one coach, and that was it. There was, I think we're putting a lot of pressure on our kids nowadays. Yeah. Just by having, like, strength coach, everything. Right.
I think, I think a lot of the problem is, you know, with now with social media and everything that a lot of our, a lot of people, like, and I can only speak for America because I grew up here and I live here. A lot of the skills coaches and trainers and stuff over that, that that's involved in a lot of these kids' lives, they, they actually want to be more famous than the actual kid. They think they're more important than the actual kid that they're training. And their motive is not pure. Their motive is not pure. Like, they, they want to be on on in the camera. They want to be recognized. They want to talk to the media. Say, for instance, "I train Luka for two summers and he has a breakout season." Now they want to do interviews with people. Like, that's not the [ __ ] objective, right? The objective is to be there trying to help this kid get better, try to help this kid, you know, in a sense of him seeing the game maybe further than what he did before. It's not for you now to be famous. And I think that also changed a lot of the landscaping too of of kids not knowing the purity or the essence and the beauty of the game. Yeah. You know.
Yeah. It's, you know, it's tough because I think for me, it all stems back to the commercialization. Yeah. For sure. Everything being a business now. Your business as a personal trainer, or your business as an AAU team, or now we have NIL, or whatever it may be. You know, I think that makes it tough. Now the parents feel the pressure of providing this for the kid. Whereas, you know, my parents were just like, "Do you want to play soccer this year? Great. You're signed up." You know what I mean? And then you go play. And then in the backyard, you're playing, you're playing with your friends. So, it starts with that. I think, like, like you said, we mentioned burnout, right? We mentioned burnout. We mentioned, you know, a lot of players that are now committing to one sport early. We've, there's been studies done of NBA players coming in the league at 19, their their MRIs don't look the same because they didn't go and play football or baseball or change the dynamic and have that creativity, that joy, that fun.
You've had two boys now going through it. Like, maybe talk a little bit about the systemic pressure, like, what's that like as a parent to feel like all eyes on these kids trying to get a scholarship or whatever it may?
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, for, for me as a parent and, uh, and like you said, having my two boys go through the whole AAU program, the all-year-round basketball seasons where it's never a break, like I've made sure that our kids, and my wife included, have always taken a break, you know?
So, what does that look like? What time of year? And how do you say it to them?
Well, it, it, it usually takes part in like July, you know, 'cause I, I, I remember when I played, you know, the last tournament was usually like right before the 4th of July. That was the last like AAU tournament, and then you didn't play again until the fall when it cracked back up. Now there's like tournaments right 4th of July, right after the 4th of July. There's more tournaments in August. There's more tournaments like, like throughout the whole summer. There's money to be made. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. And I'm, and myself and Savannah, like, we've told our kids, like, this is not an all-year-round thing for you guys. One, we don't want y'all to burn the hell out. And two, there needs to be some family time involved as well, too. Like, listen, we get it. We, we know y'all want to play or whatever the case may be, but there needs to be family time as well. And also, you, when you get away from things, it actually makes you even more hungry to get back to it, right? And that's the burnout thing that we was talking about. You know, it allowed them to come home and, okay, now it's your want to play the video game, go ahead, play the video game. You know, you want to just hang with your friends, all right, cool. That's not going anywhere, right? You know, um, but I, I had an opportunity to be a part of it for so long 'cause I grew up in the, I grew up in that system as well. I grew up in the AAU system. I grew up in the tournament system. I grew up in the program system, but I mean, I also grew up going to a five-star academy, you know, where it was all outdoor basketball all day long, you know? So I grew up in that area as well, like, and that, um, definitely made us grow a love. If you can be outside on blacktop in the summertime in 95-degree weather and you can actually see the steam coming up from the blacktop and you still love it. Yeah. Then you already know that's what it is. You don't need to do that all year round to know that I love that if I came back to it, you know. So, um, you know, I think we did a great job as far as just making sure, yes, if this is what you want to do, you're committed to it. Okay, cool. But also, there's no problem with just, you know, taking a little break here and coming back to it. It's no problem at all.
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I hope you enjoyed that conversation with Luka Dončić. Uh, being a part of his Athletes Council for his Inside Youth Basketball study has been a pleasure for me. It's something that's near and dear to my heart, uh, as someone that fought his way all the way, uh, through a long career of basketball. It always fascinates me, um, the landscape that kids have to navigate. How can we help them reach for their dreams? Of course, not all kids are going to make the NBA, but in all sports, kids should have joy, passion, support, belief, systems that allow them to learn the characteristics of teamwork, collaboration, learning how to succeed, fail, uh, growing up at the appropriate times, uh, resilience. There's so many things that sport affords us. And when his study came out, and other studies similar that have said that 70% of kids have quit sports by the time of 13 because there's too much pressure in the system, there's not enough joy or fun, not enough childhood involved in youth sports. It's alarming, and it's something that I feel very passionate about, not just from the athlete development component, but from developing the health and wellness of our kids in our communities. Sports is such an incredible tool that offers us a place to learn, to grow, to find out who we are, to make friends, teammates, to collaborate. So many gifts that allow us to succeed in life, whether it's with our families, with our careers, jobs, dealing and navigating with the adversity that we, we find, we all find in life. Um, these are all things that can really be developed through sport. So, when I hear kids are quitting sport, you know, I think it's important for us to really dig deep and find out why kids are quitting and why sport for life is not the goal here, where joy and passion and being able to enjoy, uh, the fruits of a childhood being active, being healthy, being a teammate, having core memories around sport, uh, is so important to our communities, to our families, to our kids. So, I feel honored, one, to have spoken to Luka deeply about why he commissioned this study, why he wants to affect youth basketball the way he does, uh, and how we can all come together and learn, share best practices, and find a way to be more efficient and effective at helping our youth enjoy sports. Whether you're a high performer, or whether you're just participating and want to be a part of a team or learn a skill, so important for our communities to give our kids a place to learn, to grow, to fail, to bounce back, and to ultimately succeed in life. So, thank you for watching Mind the Game. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Please subscribe if you haven't. Look forward to seeing you next time. [Music]