Phil Beckner: Impact People = Impact Performance

Phil White  00:00

would hear on the box, and then the backup on the computer recording in progress. Good sign, and then fill up just give us a quick 321 countdown in just a second. I'll say we're live and then TD will jump in with the first question. Sound good?

Phil Beckner  00:14

Great. Yep, sounds good.

Phil White  00:15

Fantastic. Okay, so 321 and we alive.

Tim DiFrancesco  00:22

Coach from afar, it appears to me that you spend most of your waking hours these days pouring into others impacting them. And you've, you've made that your life. And it's, it's, it's really great to see. And I really appreciate how much you share of that of kind of your thoughts and what you do with that. But somewhere along the line, I have to imagine somebody poured into you, somebody impacted you as a young man as a young player. And I'd love to know who that person is.

Phil Beckner  00:51

Yeah, that's a really tough question for me, because I had, I think so many people along the way, you know, a little bit of my backstory, I grew up in a, you know, pretty broken home, actually. So went through a lot of different stuff where you didn't have the most secure family background all the time. But there were coaches and mentors and teachers, you know, really along the way in my life that impacted me. So it's really, really hard to pick one. If I take the shortcut to the same sort of part of me, how you open this up, you know, with the impact and others in serving others, a guy who's had a tremendous impact on my career. The last probably eight or nine years is Rod Olson. He's a leader of leaders coach of coaches, I heard him speak at an FCA conference when I was actually leaving Oklahoma City Thunder, and this guy, his stuff was so good, so truthful, to him, I was sitting there, and it felt like he was just punching me in the throat as a leader, as a person and as a coach just challenging me to look within to get better. And you know, there are probably 150 coaches at this conference, and I walked up to him afterwards is like, I need you in my life. I need you to mentor me, he kind of laughs it off. And this dude, I mean, he's big time he works with the Navy SEALs, you served with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Texas Rangers has been all over. So I read his book, we stay in touch. Long story short, it's about two years later, I'm coaching college. And I still feel like I'm not doing good enough. And I remember, we were flying from Boise to South Carolina for an ESPN tournament. And I texted him and I just said, How much give me the amount what I sent you, you're not gonna like whatever it is, he's like, I don't need your money. Let's start with a three month program. And three months is now going on probably eight years, nine years of him mentoring me. So rod, the last, the most recent mentor has been huge in my life.

Tim DiFrancesco  02:43

Incredible. What do you think it is? What is that the foundation of of how he impacts you? or what have you? What are the pillars that he's sort of helped to build within what you then spread out to others?

Phil Beckner  02:57

Yeah, I mean, the first thing he just he has a high level of authenticity and high level relatability. Like he, we see all these different motivational speakers, or high performance coaches, and they've actually never coached. You don't I mean, they've just wrote books, or they've done conferences. And me and Rod, we always have this joke, right? Yeah, all that stuff. Sounds fun. And it really, and it sounds like it's gonna be a really good time until you lose three games in a row or until a kid tells you to screw off. So the fact that he's super authentic, super real. He's walked it as a man he's walked in as a coach, he's walked in as a leader. And you know, one of the biggest phrases, he's given me two of them. Just one is you can't give away what you don't possess, every single person he works with. He challenges them with that. And now I challenge all the coaches and people I mentor with that. Because if I'm demanding my players to be tough, or my players to function in life with a level of gratitude, and I don't have gratitude, or I don't have toughness, I can't give those things away. And then the other thing he always says, which really, really helped us coach in college, because now you know, on our game today, so many coaches are blaming it on the kids blaming it on nio, but, and we have a phrase and I've ran my business by this phrase, the last five years of developing players and leaders, but you're either coaching them to do it, or you're allowing them to do it. So ultimately, we're allowing them to do something that we don't like, or we're coaching them to do something we don't like. So the best place to look is within and look in the mirror if something's going wrong, so those two pounds I call them foundational truths that rod has given me and also held me accountable to has been a big impact on my life.

Tim DiFrancesco  04:46

That that is powerful. I am glad you highlighted those things. You also in the early part of your answer there talked about coming out of a broken home. I do believe if I understand it correctly, though, your mom is is pretty impressive. And I'd love to hear you talk a little bit about why that is.

Phil Beckner  05:06

Yeah, um, no one really asked me about this actually. So even when you asked us now I'm gonna start to get a little bit emotional. She went through a whole lot, just a whole lot. And one passion I have is helping other people kind of myself, I gotta look, but just be better men, because I saw a lot of men not fulfill their responsibilities in our life, whether it was a father, whether it was how you treat a woman, and I saw that at some really, really low really, really poor levels. But here's the coolest thing about my mom, and I never get to tell the story. But um, she never gave up on us as kids, she would work. And I always tell people this, there was a time, we didn't have a place to stay, she would walk a mile to work and get work at a gas station in our small town. And then there was a time she literally was waitressing at a truck stop, and then cleaning houses of other people in our town. And I was in a town of about 9000 people, so everyone knows everyone. So and I didn't know any better as a kid. But when you're growing up, you think these kids are like your friends or Oh, you got to play basketball with them. When my mom was actually going over there to clean their house, it wasn't a playdate. So her work ethic is phenomenal. It's unbelievable. Her level of resilience is phenomenal and unbelievable to go through what she did and never give up and still work extremely hard. And Tim, here's what's crazy. Um, I was just texting her today and and, you know, I get to work with millionaire players. Now in the NBA, I get to train guys for pre draft, but have a chance to, you know, become a first round pick. And you know, they talk about trainings hard or life's hard. Anytime I think something's hard. I actually think about what my mom's doing right now, which is crazy. Because to sum her story up after these marriages after these broken home things, she went back to school to become a massage therapist. She got her degree, one of the top certifications, whatever. But right now this is crazy. She gets up at 430 every morning to be a special ed bus aide. Today. She does that now, today. And she doesn't have to. I'm like Mom Stop. I can. She loves the kids she loves. I'm like, I don't know if I'd get up at 430 in the morning to train a basketball player literally gets about $15 An hour and she does other stuff. But like 15 out to get up at 430 in the morning and help the special ed kids get to school, then she has the rest of her day to do massages. Then she goes back at the end of the school day. So I'm like guys, that that's hard work. What we're doing is basketball that life stuff right? There is really, really hard work.

Phil White  07:47

Wow. That's incredible.

Phil Beckner  07:51

And you guys use the word strong all the time. Like that's right, me, man, that.

Tim DiFrancesco  07:56

That's right. That is strong. I mean that that just yeah, that gives me goosebumps to hear all that.

Phil White  08:02

That is strong. Now that we're back in that early part of the story, Phil, obviously you mentioned Bob Olsen and the impact that he's had. But could you maybe pick one or two figures in your early life as all this chaos is going on at home as your mom is, is being LIVESTRONG and leading the way for you and the rest of the family? Take us into maybe a high school coach, a leader in the community, somebody, somebody or a couple of people that came alongside you? And maybe maybe it was through the game and maybe elsewhere?

Phil Beckner  08:32

Yeah, Phil, I love this because and I don't mind sharing my story. And I share this with a level of gratitude and humility. I'm not trying to elevate myself saying I went through all this tough stuff. Look at me, I'm anyway like that, but and I hope every coach or leader, whoever is, you know, tuning into this does something I was challenged with about four years ago. And Phil, this is how I'll answer your question. But I was meeting with kind of this life coach, therapist, leader type guy, and he just looked at me, he goes, Phil, like, it's almost amazing. Your life was some of the stuff you went through and how hard it was for your mom and how hard it was for your family. And he said this. And it's given me goosebumps now. And it hit me like a ton of bricks. He said, You must have had some people who really, really cared about you saw something in you and went out of their way to help you. And it was like I just had the biggest swallow in the world. And there were and what I did after that I literally reached out to all of them and made a phone call and told them like hey, I don't think I'd be where I am without you. And I'm not just talking success on the basketball court. I'm talking about just being here and being a functioning adult. And this is funny. There's two of them here still still in the valley. One lady, she was our school librarian and yearbook teacher. She was amazing. And the only reason we went into her office was because she kept candy in a jar at lunchtime, so we're just punk HighScope Kids, we go in there, but she was great lady went to the local church, all that, and after my sophomore year, probably stealing way too much candy. And I ever showed up. She goes, Hey, you're a bright kid, you're a smart kid, I want you to come be part of my yearbook class. And she had a great phrase, there was just two words written above the door in our yearbook class. And this translated so much just to my life, and coaching. And it was just two words, it said be detailed, be detail. So you think about if you're like sports into the yearbook, you got to get every period comma. And so she demanded detail how to every student there, and she also saw something in me and she knew my story and what was going on at home, but she chose me to be in that class. And I think that's what made me more of a detailed college coach or a detailed scouting report guy, because we walked in every day, and we saw be detailed, and she held us accountable to it. The other the other person was actually a, she was my freshman year science teacher. And I called her and thanked her we went to lunch just a year ago, phenomenal lady, but she, she just had a gift of seeing the best in people, no matter what labels, you know, someone else may have put on. So even though maybe my dad got in a bunch of trouble, or this person did a bunch of stuff, she saw me as Phil and gave me a chance to spill from science class to even she became a guidance counselor helping me to get into college. And I remember when my dad passed away our science year great story, she let us watch Billy Madison one day like in like the comedy movie, Billy Madison. And so we'd always talk about snack packs. And I remember I showed up to my junior year of school, and she just wanted to wish me well and what did mean a bit like have a great start. And she gave me snack packs. And it was like a little just Memento kind of thing that like Man, this lady thought about me she cares about me two years later after we joked around this movie. So again, I've taken that and I use it with all the players or leaders I consult with and well I think one of the best ways to connect with people is what she did you create a memory and then you gotta go revisit it. So literally yesterday I was trained and Anthony assignments in Portland, his first year in the league, you know, he didn't play at all do drink more Dr peppers and a more Reese's Peanut Butter Cups than anybody. You're skinny. You're 18 you're 90 like EBA so now he's laid off of them but I was at the store two days ago in Portland and I bought him Dr. Pepper Jelly beans because I saw him but I probably don't do those things if those two ladies didn't see something to me in high school and impact me in that same way.

Tim DiFrancesco  12:44

Wow. It's it's contagious in and in and I could tell just from again from afar, coach you as I'm getting the journey, the story I'm putting it together you your mom went through a lot you stare for went through a lot with her alongside her, your dad passes away. It sounds like somewhere in high school. I can't even begin to imagine how kind of steep of a climb it could feel like at times, where did the game come to you? Where did you go to the game? And was that at any point and at all points may be a respite for you? In some ways from what was what was a really challenging chapter of your life.

Phil Beckner  13:30

Yeah, I think I got to spend about a year and a half, two years training Evan Turner, you know, the Portland Trailblazers killed off yeah. And he said something you know, he went through a lot we've shared stories and you know, he said something that was pretty interesting and I don't know how many players or kids you know, will listen to this, but I hope they hear it. As you're growing up. Tim, you actually don't know it's that bad. Because like you're just living in it every single day. And Evan Turner was one he's like you know what man looking at looking back and I could blame my mom for this or my dad for this and he shared something with me that helped me so much he's like, but back then they just didn't know better. You didn't know better either. So going through it I didn't know better. But I didn't know one way I could give myself a chance or that I found like people kind of finding something in me was as a basketball player. So I started playing in junior high. We lived right across the street from the elementary school and again you don't know any better you have nothing else to do because you live in a house and that we even have air conditioning in Arizona to be honest with you is a swamp what? Oh, it was hot now like a swamp cooler waters just run on pads, the fan goes and that's all. So like might as well go to the park. So you just played basketball all the time. And here's what I think players got to realize and this is something I've struggled with too. Throughout my life if you start to find all of your Identity in that, and all of your affirmation on that, when that goes away, you're left wondering who you are and what you're about. Because so many times, especially people who go through trauma or go through tough things, or are trying to find a way out, they really try to make something of themselves, whether it's an athlete, or a businessman or money, income wise. So people think they're successful. And that's something I've struggled with, they see this outer shell like, oh, man, he's a great player, he gets good grades, and you're really protecting yourself from everything you don't want to be judged on, or everything that maybe went on at home. And there's so many players even now that I mentor and lead in the NBA and they all want all these coaches want great player development drills, drills, how do you teach Lillard how to shoot the deep ball and all we got to teach these guys how to be better humans first, and how to give themselves a little bit of self grace, and be able to separate that identity from person to player and know who you really are, and what your values really are.

Tim DiFrancesco  16:01

Wow, do you remember where that shell was? When your playing days were over? Was that when that sort of came off? And it was like, Oh, wow, I'm gonna have to reconfigure here and recalibrate because I don't have the ability to use that now is what distracts people from you know, this

Phil Beckner  16:19

stuff. If I'm really honest with you, and I love sharing this it actually came after like, pretty much why I walked away from coaching college basketball was that always that thing you could put in front of yourself and look like you had, you know, everything put together and you're super successful, whether you know, played at Kansas Wesleyan, then go right to high school coaching, right to college coaching, and everyone sees fill the coach fill the trainer. And they really, you know, and again, I should I've shared this story before publicly but um, you know, the profession of college coaching just ate me alive after a while the recruiting the demands the winning, and you just look in the mirror, like, why am I doing all this? And so, the last couple years of coaching, coaching college, I really had, you know, with Rod Olsen's help, and some other people like to look in the mirror and be like, Why am I really doing this? What do I really want to be known for? What are we really about? And, you know, and I'm still on that path of growth. And while I'm on that path of growth, now, I'm trying to help others grow. And you know, some of those same areas I had to face and be held accountable to

Tim DiFrancesco  17:26

Bravo to you for going in the mirror and figuring that out. I think that's something that exists for all of us in some scale, level shape or way, but it's a tough look when you hit the mirror. And it's, you've got to answer that tough question. Absolutely.

Phil White  17:41

Phil, was it when you were still coaching in college, or maybe even before that, that you came up with this notion that, as you've written before, and I think it's at the top of your Twitter profile, maybe still impact people equals impact? Performance? That, you know, we talked, talked an awful lot of, as you said, about drills. And sometimes we go technical in some of these conversations. And you may well do that in our part, part two, but but it seems to start with impact people.

Phil Beckner  18:10

Yeah, I think that's the whole foundation of development, especially player development. And that's something that's become, you know, I think I'm gifted at it, I think I'm favored in it. I'm not just you know, the smartest guy in the world, I don't think I'm blessed to be able to connect with people the way we do. But when I was looking at developing players, we actually came up with a pyramid type model. And there's kind of each level of the pyramid and the bottom of the pyramid was character. And we define character a little bit different, you know, there's the old cliche quotes like character is what you do when no one's watching, we've all heard that and I don't disagree with it. But I think character comes down to your behaviors and your responses. Like if we want to evaluate the character of a pre draft prospect or a high level executive I'm working with I want to know what their behaviors are because how you behave in different environments, how you behave in different situations, how you behave when everything's going great for you and you have all the clout in the world like that says a lot about your character your behaviors and then the second part Dame actually says this all the time when a player struggles he's always like, man, that dude has bad responses is bad responses like you know going back to my mom or me or you Tim like we've all had chances in life to respond one way or the other. It might be as simple as a customer service phone call or as simple as like, Hey, I just got fired from my job. I have two kids at home to support Am I gonna go clean these houses or am I just gonna like you know, let my kids star like character comes down to behaviors behaviors and responses so the bottom of our pyramid Phil is characters and you know, even biblically, they say like a house built on sand will will not stand. So like if we build any type of person or buyer from the top down, it probably ain't gonna work. It'd be like building a house and you're like, hey, build the bathroom. No build the closet. Ah, we got to build the foundation first. And the best way to build a foundation with anybody is impacting them as a person connecting with them as a person, no one what makes them tick, no one their strengths, their weaknesses. A great great leader Craig Groeschel. I learned this, and it helps so much with the Oklahoma City Thunder when I was there with their G league team. He said you impress people with your strengths, but you connect with them through your weaknesses. So if you want to impact performance, let's read a verse engineer that we got to impact the person first and impact the person we got to connect and share our weaknesses share a fault, share our strengths. And so I just kind of work backwards from there. And you know, most of the guys have had pretty good results coming from it.

Tim DiFrancesco  20:57

Yeah, yeah, you can say that again. And you talk about the foundation of character I go, I tried to put myself in the shoes that that you walked in at that moment that you were looking in the mirror and trying to figure out do I want to do this do I want to keep grinding myself down to a pulp which the coaching profession can do especially college basketball, and at the high levels that you were at. However, at the same time, you can make a good living, you can justify you can always sort of fall back on the exposure of it, the excitement of it the big time aspect of the levels that you will working up and in and around and it gives a decent paycheck for by most standards if you make your your way long enough. So did you when you hit that point? Where was there some scary moments of saying like, Okay, I'm gonna leave some of the comfortable acts, but aspects of this, the intoxicating aspects of this for something that I'm gonna have to scratch from the from the dirt and make, make my own economic way, make my note my own culture and make my own way to impact others versus having this avenue in front of you. That was a little bit comfortable.

Phil Beckner  22:13

Yeah, Tim, did someone tell you to ask that question? Or did you? Because that was like, that's pretty good. Right. Let's go. Yeah, it's like you talked to a couple of like, my best friends in the coaching profession. And they told you like, you need to ask about like,

Tim DiFrancesco  22:29

oh, man, I wish I could say yes, I didn't. I didn't have my Intel feelers out fired up. But I'm glad I got even a blind squirrel gets a knot once in a while.

Phil Beckner  22:37

Yeah, kudos to you, man. I love what you said though. The intoxicating stuff. But like those are fleeting feelings. Here's something I haven't really shared with somebody when we're at Boise State. We helped turn Chandler Hutchison in from a guy who scored like four points a game to 24 points a game that was the number 22 pick in the NBA. It was just from nothing from something we were picked seventh, we finish third, we were picked whatever we finished second, the next year. And I remember, we'd beat San Diego State at home. Chandler Hutchison had broke like this goal scoring record in a home game. And I walked out and everyone's going nuts. It was a sold out game. And I remember walking off the floor, and I was just like, utterly exhausted. Just this like drained. And you hear coaches, especially at the higher level say this all the time. They're like, man, sometimes winning isn't fun, it's just relieving. And I looked at I'm like, man, I've been through too much shit in my life part of my language to like, live a life that I'm not enjoying to live a life. And I think what what you said is you get the money, you get the accolades, you know, college coach, they give you a free car, all this stuff. And I just really look I'm like, do I want to be unhealthy physically, mentally, spiritually, whatever, halfway unhappy, not even enjoy the most successful parts of this, right? All for surface level success. surface level success, I'd rather have a deep level of significance in my life and other people's lives that I'm working with. And so where the fear came in, I'm walking away from college. I told the coaches of players I'm like, I'm gonna take an NBA job. There are two or three teams that had reached out to me and that timeframe is different, you know, because NBA teams season still going on. Like I'm going to take an NBA job. I went and trained a guy named Tim Frazier in Portland, or I'm sorry, in Houston, who played six years in the NBA. Then I went to Portland to train Dame because I have this time off. And there was something in either side. I think I'm supposed to be doing this. Like I feel on fire. I feel passionate like these two guys want me to train him. I think I'm supposed to be doing this instead of sitting behind an NBA bench. And it was funny. I'm not gonna See what team but a team had called team had just brought me out, visited that team. Another team had called me on Friday and said, Let's talk Monday, the weekend. And this is crazy how your questions add up. I was associate head coach now is 35 years old, I just left more than six figures on the table to leave. And I'm waiting for the next six figure contract, move my stuff, pack it up, you know, whatever, from the NBA team, but I works in college here when I'm talking to Rod Olson. And I'm like, Hey, I gotta call this other team back on Monday as well. And he goes, what do you what do you what do you want to do? And I go, What do you mean, he goes, What do you think God really wants you to do? What do you think you're supposed to be doing? And without hesitancy I said, without a doubt, start my own thing, train Dame train, Tim. And whatever else happens, happens. And he goes, You know what, you could go take this job with the NBA team, you could call the other team back on Monday. But I'd be really, really scared to go somewhere where maybe God doesn't want you. I swear, I didn't even call the other team back on Monday. I did it. And it's five years later of doing this, in fact, tremendous success, not just with me, but like with our players. And I shared this with someone the other day, I wish I would have heard this to start my career. And I share with every young MBA guy, Tony Robbins, always says like As humans, we underestimate what we could do in five years. And we overestimate what we could do in one year. And that really been my story. So there was a lot of fear, a lot of risk. But literally packed up in a U haul with one of my mentors, moved myself to Phoenix didn't take an MBA job, didn't go back to college and just been doing this ever since.

Tim DiFrancesco  26:46

I love it. And where this is where I was hoping what was going to come out of your answer. And I knew it would is G and H gut and heart right? Because you went into your gut and your heart. And you Yes, Rod Olson challenged you to listen to it. But it was there. Like you said, Without hesitant, hesitating, it was like you just you just answered it. And the answer was there. It's just you had to sort of get pushed into a corner to really kind of blurt it out there. And then though, you followed it. And I think that that is something that is it's something that I look back on. I think everybody can look back on that moment where rubber meets the road. And were you did you have the courage to go into your gut, go into your heart, find what's already there, and then follow it. And kudos to you, sir.

Phil Beckner  27:36

Appreciate it, man. Yeah, it's not for everybody.

Tim DiFrancesco  27:38

I'm sure we've all That's right.

Phil Beckner  27:39

But it's that definitely some scary and unsure feelings. But you know, Dave says this all the time, too. It's like, what do you want to live with the pain of discipline or the pain of regret? And the mean regret, you know, just hurts so much more in the long run?

Tim DiFrancesco  27:53

No doubt.

Phil White  27:55

You've touched on a little bit there an element of this, that it was literally stepping out in faith. So can you talk to us a little bit about your faith journey and where that plays into not only your professional story, but really underpins everything you do?

Phil Beckner  28:11

Yeah, um, I'm not one of these guys. I believe I have a faith I go to church, but I'm not one of these guys who, you know, beats the Bible says I'm perfect. I I've cost way too much. I've done a bunch of stuff I've regretted, I'd say my faith journey is really, really up and down. But it's something that I've learned, I have to be dependent on. Because I'm not good enough myself. I have not not only with the faith, but same thing with other people mentoring or helping us. It's actually a quote right here on my wall. But have it in my office, I share it with a ton of players. And it says all we are and all we have is a gift from God, or from others contributing to our life. All we are and all we have is either a gift from God, or a result of others contributing to our lives. So pretty much that means I feel you haven't done crap. Like either God gave you these gifts to be detailed to be sharper, or like we talked about some of these mentors helped us get there. And Phil sorry, same thing, Tim sorry, same thing like work so that have a faith and a book, you know, our dependence on someone or something else, I think and again, this is you know, strength and being strong. I think that's the ultimate strength. Like, sometimes the biggest battle you win in life is by surrendering is by giving up like strong peoples could surrender strong people could apologize strong people could approach things with humility. And that I mean, I know how screwed up I am and how much I've been through and why it's so important to have a faith or at least different you know, biblical truth in your life, whether you're perfect or not. Because I've also seen all the results of if you don't happen you You know what I went through growing up or past mistakes I've made. So, Phil, to be honest, my journey has still been a roller coaster, there's a bunch of ups and downs. It's never been just one way taking off. And that's something I got to own something I continue to improve on. But I also get to encouragement to others, because so many people think you got to step into this realm of perfection. Not only but in life, and like, that's not realistic. None of us are perfect. We're we're all broken people. Rod says this all the time, people are messy.

Tim DiFrancesco  30:32

Amen. That That is exactly right. So given that, and given what you do at such a high level, and what you've fallen into impacting people, like you said, in order to do that, you do have to start with a connection and a relationship. But I always hear that, I always hear that. I mean, so many people say, Well, you got to make the connection, you got to connect with your players, you got to make relationships. But I don't often hear people say how they do that or give a pro tip of like, how this person that is great at developing relationships, how they do that, what are the ways that you do it?

Phil Beckner  31:08

Yeah, number one, you got to listen to him. These especially professional athletes, like everyone is always talking to them, tweeting at them, you know what, like, you got to just sit there and listen to these guys. And just like any relationship, you know, you hear about I'm not married, but people who are married, like you have to put time into these things. So what I tried to do, I tried to give my time to these guys in three major areas, like three major areas, one is just texting them, like I will literally be strategic. And the guys I call the cheat sheet. And a lot of people in our coach's mentorship group, we go over how to design a cheat sheet, I just spoke to a big electric company in Colorado Springs. And we went through how each salesman and sales leader could have their own cheat sheet. And so whoever's kind of in front of me right now, or whoever I've been given the responsibility to lead, I write their name down on this cheat sheet. So then when I grab my manila folder here and open it up, I'm like, oh, man, when's the last time I've talked with Anthony Simon's windows, so I always text them. The other part of texting. And I know we're always on our phones, and it's a huge distraction. But here's something great. That I think really, really works. I remember one time quick story. I remember one time, I was training Damian Lillard in LA, Los Angeles, California. And that is a guy I've coached since he was 18 years old. And we have this little phrase in GE not good enough. And I'm the guy where like, nothing's ever good enough. Nothing's ever good enough. Nothing's. And it's about the fourth day of training in LA. And he looked at me, and this is like an NBA All Star already been an NBA Rookie of the Year, all of a sudden, just like, Phil, can you tell me anything good? Do I do anything good. And but but here's what's crazy. I know, we laugh. But I'm like, I need to be a better leader. Well, I need to tell this guy and Kevin Eastman says it all the time. But you gotta catch someone doing something, right? We were pursuing that goal of making the playoffs being an MVP being that you forget to celebrate the success or celebrate the wins along the way. So here's a great strategy on connection. Tim, if I'm at dinner with someone, a year from now, and someone's like, man, do you know this guy, Tim, he has a phenomenal podcast he does. Man he just he reached out to me once said he was great. If I hear your name at a dinner and someone compliments you, I text you and tell you that. So anytime someone says something great about someone else, I literally pick up my phone and I tell that person that or Hey, thinking about you. You have no clue how much of a study I do that without my players all the time. And we couldn't have a rule or be better be different through driven basketball all this stuff I do. Like and we just say How dare you not tell someone else? how great they are? How dare you not tell a teammate? how special they are. If you have something great to tell someone, tell them. So that's how I get my time one through texting. And even if it's dinner, I'm like, Hold on, I gotta tell this dude, someone else is praising them or speaking highly of them. That way, it's old school. But I'm probably every other trip. When I leave from working with someone. I leave them a handwritten note. And not just like a summary of the drills, but belief where they've grown in a person what I think of them know, they walk into their locker the next day, they're like, What the heck is this? They don't even see me that day. But there's a handwritten note. Whatever they're going through, I think notes are powerful. You never know how much it will stick with you. There was a young college kid I trained four years ago. He went through like one of the toughest years of his life wasn't sure to transfer or didn't nobody's gonna keep playing. He actually declares for the draft so his mom has to go and clean out his room his dorm room, Tim, I'm getting goosebumps with this one. She sends me a picture I only saw him two times that year and he had both notes on his wall but nothing else on there. No man how how important are our words how important to take the time to tell some a like, and she sent me an um, I got goosebumps right now like with the third way and this is huge. And we talked about this for Formula zero the cam Daymond I, you know, started for elite level high school and college players and it's a phrase our church says all the time and in Phoenix two, but we want nothing from you and everything for you. So every time and this is funny, because two nights ago this one really bit me in the ass. I took Anfernee Simons and one of my assistants to dinner but every time we take a player to dinner, I don't care if it's a $50 million guy or $100 guy we pay for dinner no questions asked no fights, I don't care who you are. So if I take deemed I actually just took and to dinner, there was not a good price that I really liked. But we pay it and I look at him I say hey, we want nothing from you and everything for you. And I say let us be the guy you have to do so much for other people. Because you got money you got the status you got let us be the people to do something for you.

Tim DiFrancesco  36:23

Talk about impact. That that's the that's the kind of thing I'm talking about is not just you telling us now you got to get up there and create you're gonna get out there and create relationships with your players and connect with them. But those are those are real, thank you.

36:39

Yeah, no problem

Phil White  36:41

you mentioned be better be different. Can you talk to us a little bit about that and particularly where the the name and the philosophy came from?

Phil Beckner  36:50

Yeah, I'm glad you asked her the name of philosophy came from because a lot of people don't know the original story Phil it's pretty cool because now like you know, all these dudes are wearing the hoodies and wearing the shirts and the wristbands and they believe in the message of being better and being different than messages is really simple. Be better be different the better means we have all been given some god given gifts or talent and I always say in development to to get better or to become elite like you got to be great at what you're good at. So like Tim, if I worked with you I want to find your greatest strength your greatest gift your greatest talent and let's maximize that and let's build upon that because everyone's better is somewhat different right like I can't get out of bed and be Jana sort of LeBron I use that I like they're better but like everyone does have some type of better that we got to maximize and use and fine like that great thing. And then obviously if you're better is not maybe what Jana sort of LeBron has How do you catch them? Or how do you find a way to separate yourself or close the gap? Well, that's different and different comes down to your character your attitude your responses, we actually have like a the word different stands for a little character curriculum. Each letter stands for something you know, discipline, integrity, faith, fight, empathy, are resilient. II enthusiasm well letter a mile now E R, and in no excuses, T teamwork. So we go through all that with these guys. And here's what we say. If you're better, you have an advantage, right? You have an advantage. Sure. If you're different, you have an advantage. If you're ever both, then you have a chance to be elite. And here's and here's the background of where it came from. It's really really cool. Larry Shai? It did this clinic in Florida. Forever. It was like it used to be this top secret clinic and I was a ops guy and Weaver State. I heard about this clinic the best of the best go there. I wrote him a handwritten note and I said, Coach, I just want to come learn. I'll sweep the floors. I'll record it. Like, I heard Doc Rivers goes Brad Stevens was a butler. I go I just want to learn. I won't bug anybody. I won't talk to anybody. I know Kevin Eastman went to it. This and that. And same thing, Larry shy, it's phenomenal. It cares about impacting coaches, and that's why I try to pay this forward so much now. But um, he wrote me back an email. He goes any friend and Kevin Eastman says a friend of mine, Phil, you could come we'll send you the info. I'm like, my jaw drops. I'm like, Oh, my God. I'm literally sitting there at a table with like Dell Harris. Travis Ford. Brad Stevens is buying like I'm shaking and I know better than like to talk to anybody. Here's what happens though. This was so freakin powerful. We're at Weber State. We're trying to get over the hump. We have not won we won the conference championship but we haven't gotten to the NCAA tournament. We also have this really good guard who has been a conference MVP for like one or two years and he's like six two thinks he can people think he could be pretty good. I'm negative. I'm like, at best. He's a late first round pick, maybe. But this guy, it was actually Darren Horne. And I'm good friends with Darren Hardy talked about, he talked about this all the time, Darren Horne, and just took a year off from coaching. And he went around, and he watched the best of the best. And so going back to be better be different. He got up there he goes, You know what I figured out? The people who win at the highest levels in college sports, or pro sports, they're either just better, or they're different. And the light went off in my head, and I don't remember anything else from the clinic that day, or just like hold on. So Damian Lillard isn't better than maybe these guys at Kentucky or UCLA or Duke. So what do we have to do? We have to be different. What, like we don't have as much money as some of these schools. So what do we have to do, we have to be different. And what happened and Dane gets all the credit for this, he was different for so long, and he maximize his strengths. He actually became better than everyone else. Not everyone, but you know, most of those guys too. Yeah, then once you're better and different, then you become elite. And so um, we've always just used this philosophy training lives. And it was crazy one year, I trained about 15 NBA guys, I got them all wristband made. And when I handed to them, some of those guys acted like I handed them a Mercedes and like McHale bridges who never misses a game for two years straight, he were the same be better be different risk. vento broke. So the message works, they believe in it, there's character behind it, there's, you know, high performance coaching behind it, but we truly believe like, if you're better, and you're different, you're gonna have a chance to be elite.

Tim DiFrancesco  41:39

That that's special. I have to imagine, though, when you're trying to be better and different. There is a temptation to fall into do more, which doesn't always have to be the way it sometimes I think anyways has to be trained harder, but smarter. Do you ever have to help some some of these players that have it in them to be better and different to pump the brakes a

Phil Beckner  42:00

little bit? Tim, that's where you're a genius, the different part is doing less sometimes right? Part is recovery, the different part is being able to count on the compound effect of our body of work over time. Literally last night, I was just in Portland, Damon and shot together. And we're just working on an inverted jab, just working on moving our right hip, our right shoulder all the way through. So we got to move our ball all the way back and then shoot through our shot. And I told them, I'm like, hey, I want to go at about a 50% pace, but 100% movement, and like Damian Lillard could not slow himself down. Like the chit like he was going 100% pace 100% I'm just sad. But you're right. And I think so many kids and not even just kids, man I struggle with right? We think. And here's what we say, You know what? And I don't have the answer for all of this yet. I would love your guys's feedback on this even right now. But how you would define this, we tell players kids at formula zero, the executives, we work with Dane, like you want to be the right kind of different. I don't know how you would define it. But like too much in our society, everyone wants to be different for the wrong ways to draw attention to themselves. And so like you got like to train, like, we need to be the right kind of different, we trust our body of work, we go to bed at a decent time, we don't just, you know, wake up at five in the morning to train just to say we did it in your body's gas three days later. So um, that's definitely a challenge, especially with the high performers to get them to tone it, you know, tone it down a little bit and trust the process. And I think guys can always trust the process, when there's a phenomenal plan in place. And you know, that's our responsibility as a coach, but it's their responsibility as a player to buy into it. So

Tim DiFrancesco  43:57

good. Pause for a second coach. We're at 45. Right now, I respect what you asked for out of the gates. Is there a chance we could go another 10 to 15?

Phil Beckner  44:06

Yeah, I'll tell you what, you guys are really good at this. So edit this part out where I give you a compliment. But of course, let's keep rolling. I mean, I know you guys said some of this is cool, because I just think a lot of people could get something from it. So son of a

Tim DiFrancesco  44:21

gun. Thank you so much. That means a ton to us. Phil, do you want to take Take? Take it?

Phil White  44:28

Yeah, thanks. Great. There's an example of what you just talked about fail. I believe that day maybe put in 37 straight days of practice at one point and maybe you're like, Whoa, okay, so one of the things this guy has to be better and also different is obviously just this ferocious work ethic, but how do you how do you deal with that kind of pumping of the brakes while also getting people to still develop and making it feel like that not undermining their strengths.

Phil Beckner  45:03

Yeah, Phil. And here's what I think to what what happens. Dana dame's a freak, I mean, he really is, I'll probably never coach a guy with the same mindset and mentality that he has. I mean, just the odds of it. And I think too many times, we want everyone to fit into the same cylinders, or areas that every other player did. I think what you just asked about how do you get a kid to pump the brakes? Or here's what I would challenge, you know, you have to sometimes, how do we get a kid to freaking hit the gas. And at that time in dames development, I was trying to get him to hit the gas. That's what I wanted him to do. Because the back end of that story, he got pissed off at me because I kept calling him a 5050. Guy. I said, One day, you work hard. The next day you don't. And that's a label. We'll call guy sometimes, like now you're a 5050 guy, or you want to work hard for days of the week, then you get to Friday, Saturday, Sunday, you want to go out and party and but that's a 5050 guy. So he looked at me, he goes, I don't want to be a 5050 guy anymore, I'm going to show you. So he would literally do our team workout workout with me and not take a day off. And the reason why it was 37 days straight was because on Sundays, he would go to the gym, and I would try to get him to quit. I'm like, No, I'm not training you. Because it's always easy to show up with a guy you're gonna prove wrong. Yeah, I'm not gonna train you. So I'd have to go open the the Event Center for him, he'd get on the gun, and he would shoot and this isn't an article somewhere from a long time ago. And I would actually hide up top because I thought like, hey, this cat probably stayed out till two in the morning. Like all these college dudes, he shows up at 8am has we opened the gym sets the gun up, and he's like, I'm out, I'm taking the locker room, or I'm taking a nap in the locker room, I'm going back to the dorm, you know, but I'd sit up there and watch him and he would just shoot and shoot. And this is one of the coolest Lillard stories of all time. But I would text him. So it was like four or five. And I would just say how many, like the first one means make, like how many makes he made 250. Next week, I'm like, How many 350 next week 450. And I got the number saved somewhere on my phone. But it was like the fourth week. And I said how many any text me talking about goosebumps again. He goes like 670 Makes my shoulder hurts. And I'm just like, but what we had to do that I think this is what's really important for coaches and players to hear is we had to hit some milestones along the way and their development. And I just talked about this with another group. Like everyone thinks there's this light bulb switch that goes off like, yeah, please like that. There's a habit to their growth. And Phil, the secret sauce. The the sweet spot is whether you gotta get that kid to hit the gas or pump the brakes. And that's where the art of coaching comes in. And you got to combine it with the science of their body and their recovery and all of that.

Tim DiFrancesco  48:12

Wow, that that takes me to a kind of brings me back to a Kobe memory and rip, obviously. But he used to weed out the 5050 Guys, maybe a little bit more abrasive way than that. So he wouldn't go out with guys very often. And that's well known that he would kind of be to his he had his own sort of beat and path that he took and was very, very focused and driven to that. But once in a while, he said, alright, I'll go out with you. And then you're coming out with me in the morning. And so he I then he would bang on doors, he'd go out, he'd be late, it'd be late and then he'd be up at the time. He said he was gonna be usually it was in the threes or the fours ATMs, and he'd be banging on doors. And the ones that he got to come to that door and come out with him. He knew Okay, he maybe you got a chance. But the ones that he couldn't get out of the bed, and he's calling security to get in that door then he knew what he was dealing with. But that that is it. Like you said, it's not for everybody. Both I we talk and just sort of, I'm taking so many notes and experiences you've had with Damian Lillard and just kind of what you've said even on this episode and elsewhere, how much you've taken from him and how special that has been in the model that he is to making an impact on you and to others that both of you now work with and share with. And that's that's out there. Right? The Damian Lillard model is out there for those thanks to you and to Damian for putting that model there. Who are you mentioned a few I don't know if these are the ones that that the answer is but you Chandler Hutchinson, Tim Frazier, who are the ones in is there one that maybe there's an unsung person, that player that you feel like you know what, they've done something, not just what they've done, but how they've done and maybe haven't haven't hit all the points where they're going to get all the publicity for it, or they just aren't at a place where that's coming to them right now that we should hear the name of.

Phil Beckner  50:24

Yeah, I'm gonna flip that a little bit first before player Dame has had a tremendous impact on so many people as a leader. There's story after story in Portland, and he deserves so much credit for it. But he also doesn't want to take the credit for it. That's what makes him so different. Even starting the formula zero camp, and wow, the formula what we call the formula is based on three things, character, work ethic and accountability. Those are the three things that have been like the staples of his career, but there are some people in his life that not everyone always hears about Phil Beckner. Now, Randy Ray, we've received these guys who have coached him, but there's a guy named Raymond young in Oakland, California, who was his AAU coach, who made that dude run with bricks and sell pizzas at Raiders games to play a you, too, would kick him out of the gym. There's a guy named Chris bar, who's a big part of our formula formulas here who is his pre draft trainer and from Oakland and instilled a level of toughness and conditioning and, and what makes this so special. It is maybe the dame formula. But this dude is such a freak. He says he told all these kids at camp, the top top 20 high school kids top 20 college players, and he just goes guys, I'm not the formula. I'm just a product of it. Everyone here is who created this formula. Raymond Young's the Chris bars, Damian Lillard is dad, Phil Beckner. Caleb can now the NBA. And like for him to say that, like people need to know that he needs to be that level of he needs that level of what's the word? Empowerment as a leader, because it is zero. But he's saying like, hey, we can all have the formula. All these guys are part of it. He's like, I'm just the greatest example. And I've had the greatest success of using it. potently cow. I mean, he's so special. So the player, here's what I would say you actually said the guy's name. Because, like, everyone loves the Damian Lillard stories, right? He's an all star, you know, to season or I'm sorry. To play off ending series clinching game winners won the three point contest, one, the skill contests, rookie, all this stuff. But like there's another example of a player and I actually talked about him with all the corporations and teams I speak with and it's the guy you said, Tim Frazier. Wow. So people don't know Tim Frazier story than Tim is a guy. He went undrafted at Penn State, he had to go straight to the G Li. He started off with like two or 310 Day contracts kept getting cut. Finally, like maybe got a contract with Philly, but then goes to Portland. And he sees Dame like third year in the league, whatever it is, like always the first one in the gym. This is a great story. And it's never told like you guys need to clip this for everybody. I'm telling you temsco Has dude working. Tim wants to survive on his 10 day. And he's like, bro, I see how hard you work. Can I work out with you? Can I shoot like what? And Dave looks at me goes if you can keep up. Here's what's powerful though. Tim Frazier has kept up for about the last seven years. And people always want these all star great stories. I tell the story all the time. Tim Frazier has been in the NBA seven times, seven times they have told him you're not good enough. We're not renewing your contract, go home whatever it is. The Washington Wizards New Orleans Pelicans twice actually Portland Trailblazers, pistons magic, and I have this picture. It's actually in my office right here and it's signed by him. And it was after COVID People are like hey, you're never gonna make it again. You've been cut seven times. They said he couldn't shoot the ball he would follow me and aim around everywhere just worked on his shot the last however many years after COVID It's super hard to get a job now and there's a picture of him standing like this screaming he has a be better be different wristband on and he's wearing a Memphis Grizzlies jersey. And he got a contract with them after he had been cut like seven times in the NBA. So you talk about character, work ethic and accountability. That's the formula and Tim deserves all the credit in the world but him and Dame have been like at the hip like goes to the do to fight and workouts found each other a game so like it's through we've thrown basketballs at each other like you have no clue but Tim is an example of what a lot more players could be. Not everyone could be Dane they need to be a Tim Frazier and find a way to survive find a way to be better find a way to be different find a way to keep making it. So that's the guy man like he's a just poster child of resiliency and battling through things.

Tim DiFrancesco  55:34

Well, isn't that the definition of what you talked about earlier of what's part of what you it's behaviors but responses, right? So what's your response? When you hit the mat? What is your response? When someone tells you you're not good enough and his seven times two by one team? Most people don't make it all seven of those without saying, You know what, white flag I'm gonna we got to find something different here. I can go get a bunch of money somewhere else. And I can, you know, put this part of the dream away and stay in the game somehow, some way? It's his response, right?

Phil Beckner  56:06

Absolutely. Pretty. So he's, he's an unbelievably special dude. So proud of him. Incredible.

Phil White  56:13

We can't say that maybe, you know, part of that responsiveness can come from emotion sometimes. And one of the things as we were researching this pretty hard, we came across something you had written, which was one of the biggest differences between a pro and a prospect is the emotional maturity. Each one shows up with prospects, emotions, determine actions, pros, passion and purpose determine actions. Could you take us into that a little bit?

Phil Beckner  56:43

Yeah, one thing we've done, we dove into a ton the last four years me and my team is what's the difference between a pro and a prospect? Like there are a million prospects out there, people who are being a vet, and this isn't just basketball guys, this is like, like, you're a prospect for a job, you're a prospect of if the chick wants to marry you or not like you're right, bro, when you get the contract, you become a pro when you get the job. And then like we tell all the young guys we're leading and coaching now, it's actually gotten easier to make it nowadays to the NBA, it's gotten way harder to stay in the NBA. When you look at this, like there are more there's more jobs, there's 510 jobs in the NBA right now, because of two way contracts. It used to be 450. There's, there's more job, it's gotten easier to make, it's gotten harder to stay. But so many times especially in the world we're living in and function in emotional maturity is huge, like in your emotions, determine your actions every day meant like, there's a lot of days, I don't feel good. And I don't want to go work out, there's a lot of days, my mind somewhere else, and I don't want to organize all my plans or go through my business documents. And if we base those things on emotions, and we know this, emotions are fleeting, emotions are up and down. Like it's a roller coaster of emotions in life, we all go through that. But the guys who are pros who stay in the NBA, or who Outlast others with their jobs, those are the guys who are making decisions based on like uses their mission, their purpose, their convictions, what they really, really, really believe in. And that's a part you know, going back to development, man, if we don't help these kids identify those things, and know what they're relying on and believing on. They're gonna go 800 different directions. We always talk about this high clarity equals high performance. If you know where you're going, how you're supposed to get there, when you're supposed to get there, you're gonna get there a lot better and more efficient than the guy who just has some vague instructions or or vague directions. And that goes back to the same thing with emotions, like if Tim Frazier would have made his decision or did like you said, Tim, determine his response based on his emotions, those first four days after he got cut. Yeah, you're shaking your head because he would have never made it again. But he did it on his convictions, his mission, his ultimate purpose, his ultimate goal. And when you look at our world, now, everything is sped up with social media, everything is sped up with phones and technology. There's not a lot of time to just sit there. And yeah, I mean, you're shaking your head again. But like you're saying, sit there and really determined what we want, and who we want to what we want to be known for and who we want to be. And when we have those, those will easily outweigh emotions when things get really really tough.

Tim DiFrancesco  59:48

That's so onpoint and I think that it brings me to someone that I consider a mentor and one of the greatest leaders I've ever been around Mitch Kupchak and I work for Mitch with the Lakers. And the thing that made him a pro's Pro is a term we hear. But what does it mean to me, it really does come down to this idea of, I always knew it was steady. I always knew what I was going to expect. He was very clear with his expectations of me. But I always knew what to expect of him. He was not a rollercoaster of emotions, he was not Hi one day low another day, this that and all over the place and hard to kind of peg which were version am I going to get? And to me that that is sort of it just sort of the person that defines exactly what you just talked about, of not letting our responses be dictated or behaviors be dictated by our emotions. And just exactly as you had laid it out there. It's it's a beautiful thing. Coach, I have one question. Before we get to the final question. I'm dying to hear this because I hear so many people just killing the game just you know, old, old men and women on the porch, and they're saying the game has changed, it's changed for the worse, it's getting terrible out there. I can't even watch it. I used to be able to watch college now I can't even watch that. Forget about the NBA. I can't watch it all this other stuff. Squash that because you know, you're leading the charge of what Yes, we can all sit here and admit that the game is changing. And I would say it better be because that's what things that evolve and get better do. But it go go counter the the old man or woman on the porch, you're saying it's getting worse in front of our eyes

Phil Beckner  1:01:30

will tip I will counter that. But I also got to admit, I've been that guy some time like me to go to the park and work on my kids let us know. Because of Instagram trading, so I am guilty of that and a part of both Twitter, they'll see some of that. But here's a good one. You want a good one that I got confronted with? For our game, especially for coaches leaders, are you guys doing this? With change and with where this stuff is going with? And here's a like Doc says this all the time? You know, I've worked with the Sixers the last two years as a player development consultant. And he looks at guys on our team. And he's like, people always ask who's better, like, my generation are the players now. He's like, Guys, I played 15 years in the league with one hand, he goes I he's like the players nowadays are so much better. They play longer, faster, more athletic, you know, and he's just like, You guys are so much better. What he does say, though he goes, I don't know if they're more together, though. He goes, because when we got on a bus doc says this all the time we got on a bus. And he's like, if Jordan cooked you, you weren't on your phone or on your headphones. Everyone is telling you about how Jordan cooked you? Or how you feel like there's good and bad that you maybe you missed some of that. But like there are players making plays that no one could do. And and here's the question we got to ask ourselves, you know about the game and what we're doing for what we appreciate. And this is such a humbling question. To me, I'm not posing this question as like, I'm perfect. I'm posing this question. It's like, I got to ask myself this. Are you an advocate for where the game is going? Are you an arsonist for where the game is going? Are you trying to build this up and support it? Are you trying to burn it down? Like there's a lot of advocates out there. There's a lot of awesomeness out there. And here's here's what I would say about where the game is today. That I think is phenomenal. The pace, the space, the multi positional players, the multi positional offensive that are out there. It allows so many more people to play and compete in this game at every level. I really, maybe I'm outside the box. But now like you go to Lifetime Fitness, there are more dudes shooting threes and five guys on the perimeter. We're like when I grew up playing pickup, if I was six, three in the tallest on the core, they're like Phil, you're out there. And I was a shooting guard. They're like, Well, you got like, no. So now you look at the pace, the space, the shooting, the multi position, same thing high school kids like now more kids could play the game at the high school level because you can play five guards out there. It's not like well, we need a token. Well, we need and I think that's a really, really good thing for the game for the sport of basketball right now. Because it also increases decision making and skill level. Now as as a player who's going to work, you can't just always you know, knock the hell out of someone with your size and athleticism. Right now a big separator is your decision making or the skill levels that you have and I think that kind of evens the playing field sometimes which makes it a more competitive sport then

Tim DiFrancesco  1:04:55

I hadn't thought about it that way but that is that is beautiful. Okay, Coach, final question. This is the basketball strong podcast. The question you can answer it from your gut your heart, and put it through your mind and tell us what what comes to mind here at first. But what does it mean to you to be basketball strong?

Phil Beckner  1:05:22

Initially, and this is where I probably got to get better. I love this question. But like, I don't think basketball is strong. Whenever you use the word strength, I go back to just that foundation of, you know, impacting people and performance and trying to build from the ground up, I think being really strong nowadays. And obviously, we shared a little bit about what I went through, it's like, you gotta be able to take punches. The people who could take punches are super, super strong. It's not always the guy throwing the punch. And I talked about this with you know, boxing, sometimes everyone thinks like, these price fighters, like the world champions that are like, oh, yeah, they knock people out, or they're a great puncher. But to be someone who goes like 30, you know, or when like 25 fights, you also got to be able to do what take a frickin punch, you are taking punch after. So like strong individuals, they could take a punch, they actually liked the taste of their own blood. I'm a little sick dame's a little fake, like, we liked the taste of our own blood sometimes, like they said a little bit. But you know, what really strong basketball players do. I will say this. And I think this is a ultimate separator and development. And this is what NBA teams are looking for college teams are looking for everyone conditions players to do what run and be in shape. But can we condition their mind and their body, their mind and their body condition, their mind callus their mind and their body to be able to shoot, guard and perform at an extremely high consistent level. So like a lot of like, just core strength, hip strength, we do shooting drills, a lot of trainers, you got to run down and back 10 times and then shoot five shots. We shoot like 50 shots in three minutes and your shoulders burning we want to be current condition our body that would be conditioned to shoot the ball, be conditioned to sit down, be conditioned to take a charge to your chest. And the same thing would be basketball strong, you got to condition your mind, you really got to have your mind condition to attack to compete to take a punch. If your mind is not conditioned, you're never going to be able to condition your body.

Tim DiFrancesco  1:07:47

So good. And that's that couldn't be more true. I mean, we all know it that we don't know when but we know a punch is coming whether we're talking in a micro version of in a game or we're talking about a certain section of the game a play whatever it is, or we're talking in life, it's common. And what what what is Tyson What did Tyson say? He says everybody has a plan until you get punched in the mouth right? And so what what are you going to do that and that's the response that that was that was just excellent and this has been outstanding coach tell people where they could follow where they could check in where they can just soak up more of what you got.

Phil Beckner  1:08:27

Yeah, um I don't have a ton of stuff my Twitter is at Phil Beckner My name if anyone wants to reach out and I could do anything for them personally professionally player development wise my email Phil pH il at develop de vie LLP the number to compete So Phil at develop to compete.com Yeah, anyone's more than welcome to reach out.

Tim DiFrancesco  1:08:51

Beautiful you're active on Twitter. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, great. And and what's the handle on Twitter real quick.

Phil Beckner  1:09:01

Add Phil Bednar. Just my name. Yeah.

Tim DiFrancesco  1:09:04

That's easy. That's easy. Coach. Absolute fire. Thank you so so much.

Phil Beckner  1:09:09

You guys are great. Thanks for having me. Love your purpose of all you're doing this. I love your passion and why you're doing this. Phil, thank you for having me. Questions. were phenomenal. And continue to do what you do and love, love what you guys are doing.

Tim DiFrancesco  1:09:21

Thank you. That means a ton coming from you, sir. Yeah, ready? One second. Hey, yo, what's second? Wow. onwy