The Post Game Podcast

Ryan Watson is the Chief Marketing Officer at MTNTOUGH, the #1 Fitness and mental training toughness app for hunters. A Missoula, MT native, Ryan attended the University of Montana before spending 7 years at OnX Maps prior to joining the team at MTNTOUGH. He is a hunter, fisherman, martial artist, and fitness nut. What You'll Learn About: Fulfillment doesn't always have to come from a job What is the next lesson you want to learn? New opportunities coming from a strong reputation Building relationships with awesome people MTNTOUGH's fitness and mental performance app Documenting and blogging about things you love to do The idea around just getting started Timestamps: (0:00) - Intro to Ryan (2:50) - Growing up in Missoula & Martial Arts (7:18) - The Outdoors in Montana (9:40) - Work in Montana (14:10) - Trades Industry (18:03) - Feeling a sense of pride in your work (19:00) - Get involved in community (21:30) - His time at OnX Maps (25:50) - Opportunity to join MTNTOUGH (28:04) - The best opportunities are word of mouth (30:30) - Build relationships with awesome people (32:10) - What is MTNTOUGH? (36:28) - Mental exercises built into the app (38:30) - The MTNTOUGH Community (42:30) - MTNTOUGH during / after COVID (45:55) - What Ryan enjoys about his work (48:30) - Getting 100,000 people to change their lives for the better (50:00) - Relationship with Michael Easter (54:00) - TOUGHFEST 2024 (55:45) - Online Entrepreneurship Opportunity (58:20) - Starting something that you're interested in (1:01:09) - Where to find Ryan / MTNTOUGH References: MTNTOUGH Website Instagram: @ryanunderbigsky MTNTOUGH Instagram: mtntough_fitness The Comfort Crisis⁠ by Michael Easter

Pratik Patel is a Former NFL Coach with the New York Giants (Nutrition / Performance / S&C). After graduating from Kansas State with a degree in Kinesiology, he went on to work as a a sports dietitian at Kansas State and Michigan State and was the Director of Sports Nutrition at The University of Oregon. He is currently a personal coach and an advisor / consultant to teams, startups, and Venture Capital Firms in the health & wellness space. What You’ll Learn About: Providing value to an NFL team in multiple capacities A look behind the curtain of coaching in the NFL What goes into a good Strength & Conditioning program You can’t coach a guy until you know him Working with an inner energy coach Controlling the controllables Timestamps: (0:00) - Intro (3:30) - Pratik's Family (6:00) - Experience coaching with the New York Giants (7:45) - Better to be specialist or generalist? (14:35) - Defining a good S&C Program (19:13) - The art of building trust with high performing athletes (23:00) - Leveraging existing relationships to build trust with other players (27:10) - Indian players and coaches in the NFL (30:30) - Going from the NFL to individual coaching (34:00) - Rediscovering things that make you happy (37:00) - Personal Accountability (39:00) - What Makes You Feel Worthy? (40:44) - Stay present in the moment and what can you control? (43:30) - Advice to kids looking to get into S&C field (46:00) - Have people who can speak on your behalf Where to find Pratik? LinkedIn: Pratik Patel Twitter: Pratik Patel Instagram: @pratikxpatel

Derek Jenkins is a former teammate and a great friend. After playing four years of Division 1 baseball, “Jenks” was drafted in the 26th round by the Los Angeles Angels. He went on to play parts of four seasons of pro ball, making it up to AA with the Angels in 2017. He is second in all time stolen bases in Seton Hall history and in 2016, was named the school’s Male Athlete of the Year. I’m pumped to have had him on to talk about his experience getting to Seton Hall, playing pro ball, and transitioning away from baseball and into a career in the insurance world. What You’ll Learn About: Playing multiple sports growing up The culture of a tight knit college baseball locker room Baseball memories and his experience getting drafted The mental “bubble” pro guys can put themselves in to lock in Transitioning away from baseball into the professional world Timestamps: (0:00) - Intro to Derek Jenkins (2:00) - The journey to playing baseball at Seton Hall (12:50) - Freshman Fall in college baseball (18:00) - Jenks’ college career (21:35) - Favorite baseball memories (25:10) - Experience with the MLB Draft (30:30) - Getting drafted Senior year (34:40) - Expectations going into professional baseball (44:00) - His mentality in pro ball (47:25) - What separates the guys who make it to big leagues? (52:00) - Life experiences shaping who we become (57:15) - The brain is powerful (1:00:00) - Transitioning away from baseball (1:05:15) - Fulfillment after hanging up the cleats (1:13:00) - Finding balance and hobbies to keep you going Where to find Jenks: Instagram: @djenks6 LinkedIn: Derek Jenkins

John Morris is a former Major League Baseball Player and current Special Assistant to the GM for the Cincinnati Reds. A former 1st round draft pick by the Kansas City Royals in the 1982 MLB Draft, he played seven years in the big leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, and California Angels. He has been inducted into the Seton Hall Hall of Fame, Cape Cod Hall of Fame, and New York Baseball Hall of Fame. In addition to a life in baseball, he has become heavily involved with St. Jude’s hospital, where he assists families who have children with cancer and mentors the next generation of successful kids. What You’ll Learn About: The power of a Coach providing words of encouragement The most important aspects of mentoring The qualities of a great teammate Identifying things we love doing / turn us on and light us up Get rid of clutter with the Rule of Thirds Having a short memory Become the best person you can and share it with other people Timestamps: (0:00) - Intro to John (1:20) - Growing up the youngest of 6 kids (3:30) - Accomplishments come without being handed a lottery ticket (6:15) - You’re the best player in the league, start acting like it (10:10) - Does confidence breed success or vice versa? (13:25) - How we interpret experiences is up to us (14:40) - Embracing the opportunity to come off the bench (17:00) - Reflecting on his mentality in the big leagues (20:30) - John’s favorite teammate of all time (23:20) - Keeping notes / diaries throughout his career (25:30) - MLB career winding down (30:00) - Thoughts on what was in store after baseball (33:00) - His work giving back through St. Jude’s (36:00) - Leadership development program (37:45) - The Rule of Thirds (40:00) - One thing he’d do differently (42:30) - What he’s excited about right now (45:55) - Be kind to people Cool Article on John: Ballnine Article on John Morris

Greg is a former professional baseball player with the St. Louis Cardinals and current Partner / CEO of Valor Cybersecurity. Valor partners with organizations to help them face cyber threats head on. “The ultimate measure of our success is the enhanced business resilience and security of our partners.” In addition to running the business, Greg hosts a Podcast called “The Connected Mindset,” where he sits down with leaders, authors, and entrepreneurs to discuss the impact of connectivity, digitally and in our relationships. What You’ll Learn About: You can learn a bunch of stuff, but none of it matters unless you take action If you’re not in the role you want to be in, ask why and what you have to do to get into one that aligns How security is something that can bring people together We are more connected than ever before, but less connected at the same time The power of asking “What are you struggling with?” Asking yourself how you are showing up in the world and being honest with yourself How questions can be the best answers How chasing money can often times lead to earning less Timestamps: (0:00) - Intro to Greg (1:15) - Growing up in a military family (4:50) - Testing himself as a college athlete (7:16) - Ups and Downs of College Baseball (13:40) - If you’re not in the role you want to be, ask why (14:10) - Pro baseball career winding down (16:30) - The origin story of Valor Cybersecurity (20:20) - How connected we are internet wise and culturally (21:45) - Why he created his show “The Connected Mindset” (23:45) - Superficial connection vs. getting to deeper levels (25:50) - Importance of self-awareness (29:30) - Questions are the best answers - what do you want to contribute? (33:00) - Money is an exchange of value (35:00) - Speed Round of random questions Where Can You Find Greg? LinkedIn: Greg Tomchick Instagram: @Greg_Tomchick YouTube: The Connected Mindset valor-cybersecurity.com

Michael Gardon is the CEO of Rejoin Media, a digital business holding company. He also hosts a podcast called THE BREAK where he helps career pivoters and folks who are looking to change their careers, start a business, or make a significant change in their life. In 2018, after spending years feeling unfulfilled by his career path, he decided to “break” his career and pursue a calling to help others do the same. What you’ll learn about: Building a future that is uniquely “you” and carving your own path Balancing giving your kids a great life while letting them experience their own struggles The amount of opportunities in front of you you are blind to Thinking internally about your situation and mapping out areas of life to create an advantage for you Teaching younger people how to listen to themselves better Reconfiguring how we think about our work Timestamps: (0:00) - Who is Mike Gardon? (1:10) - Mike’s upbringing and his family today (5:00) - Generational improvement and growing up with struggle (8:00) - When he first realized he needed to “break” his career (11:28) - Investment in Loss (13:30) - Not taking crazy risks, but also taking appropriate risks (16:28) - “It doesn’t start with the idea” (17:45) - Where can you create an edge? (22:20) - How do we figure it out sooner rather than later? (23:25) - The way society is situated for work (26:10) - Teaching younger people to deal with uncertainty (28:30) - Breaking stupid rules (29:50) - What is “The Break” (33:15) - Future of working remotely Where can you find Mike? careercloud.com LinkedIn: Michael Gardon Five Things You Can Do To Become More Resilient During Turbulent Times

Introducing…The Post Game Podcast! The transition from being on a high level sports team or serving in the military isn't easy. The Post Game Podcast will act as a bridge between one part of life to the next. I'll be talking to former college / pro athletes, military vets, and other high performers about their careers, mindset, and more to help you answer the question "What's Next?" The goal is for their stories to inspire you to pursue what you love to do and hopefully close the gap to figuring that out sooner. Thank you for your support!

Jack is the writer of Young Money, a Finance blog that consists of everything from personal finance to travel stories to career advice. He is also the editor of Exec Sum, a financial newsletter started by a popular meme page Litquidity. After graduating from Mercer University and playing 4 years of football, he started down a traditional career path during COVID and quickly realized it wasn’t going to work for him. Since then, he’s done some traveling, grown a newsletter to ~45,000 subscribers / ~250,000 readers, and is proof a traditional career path isn’t for everyone. What You’ll Learn about: Putting content out there to prove you can adequately do a job Embarking on an untraditional path through writing online Focusing on doing more things that will move the needle Not going for the “big stuff” because we don’t have to Good writing coming from good inputs Advice for kids out of college entering the professional world Timestamps: (0:00) - Intro to Jack (1:10) - Walking onto the Mercer Football team (4:18) - Starting down a traditional career path at UPS (6:25) - Starting career remotely during COVID (9:00) - One way ticket to Barcelona (10:30) - Starting finance blog to prove he can put out content (12:00) - Leveraging internet stuff vs. consulting or banking (15:16) - Getting outside the Internet Bubble and into Real World (16:00) - Nothing Wrong with a normal job (18:05) - Value of an Ivy League MBA (20:30) - Leaning in to Resistance (Steven Pressfield) (22:24) - Why do procrastinators procrastinate? (25:30) - Internet can lack context (28:45) - What’s next for Jack? (33:00) - Advice to kids right out of college (34:15) - Advice to kids wanting to travel for a bit (35:40) - Thinking about starting your career as a writer? (37:30) - Random Speed Round Questions Where can you find Jack? Youngmoney.co @JackRaines on X LinkedIn: Jack Raines

On Episode 7, I was joined by Malcolm Lemmons. Malcolm is a former college and professional basketball player, author, and entrepreneur. He is current building a newsletter called the Hype Report: A Weekly newsletter helping sports tech founders and investors become smarter about the industry in less than 5 minutes. He frequently speaks on entrepreneurship, Sports business, Sports tech, Startups, career development, personal branding, and personal development. In 2017, he published Lessons From the Game. In the book, he talks about his experiences dealing with failure, depression, adversity, politics in sports, life after sports, and much more. Malcolm is a great example of a guy who’s not afraid to throw things at the wall to see what sticks and is a guy that focuses on adding value to people without asking for anything in return. Excited for you to check this one out. In this episode, you’ll learn about: Preparing for the transition to business and professional world while being an athlete Regardless of other people’s opinions, you’re the one that has to live with it Working on projects because you love them, not necessarily because there’s a monetary objective Defining your metric of success Finding a tribe of people who can derive value from your work Putting people first and being willing to serve - Business is all about people Timestamps: (0:00) - Intro to Malcolm (1:00) - His upbringing with his Mom and brother (3:35) - Basketball and lessons learned from his career (5:15) - The Coach that made the biggest impact in his life (7:00) - The transition away from basketball (10:30) - Nobody really cares as much as you think they do (12:55) - Balance between persistence and knowing when to quit (15:50) - Differentiating himself in a saturated media space (18:00) - What’s his version of success for the newsletter? (20:30) - Advice to athletes transitioning out of sports (22:40) - Being intentional with follow ups (24:30) - Building relationships with people on the same plane as you Where can you learn more about Malcolm? LinkedIn: Malcolm Lemmons Go check out his Newsletter: The Hype Report His Book: Lessons from the Game

On Episode 6 of Howie Doin’, I talked to Angelo Gingerelli. “Ang” has been the Strength Coach at Seton Hall University in South Orange, NJ since 2005. Before arriving at Seton Hall, he held similar positions at Virginia Tech, North Carolina State and with the Pittsburgh Pirates. In addition to being a full time Division 1 Strength Coach, he regularly performs stand up comedy and is a published author. The man does it all. His book Finish Strong: Resistance Training for Endurance Athletes came out in 2021 and is a great read for endurance athletes looking to level up their game. I had the opportunity to learn from and work alongside Ang from 2013-2017. To me, he is a great example of a guy who doesn’t take himself or life too seriously and is pursuing things he loves to do: Working out, comedy, and writing. In this episode, you’ll learn about: Having an idea of what you want to do and asking for it A look into the life of a college athlete through his perspective How an “I’m going to get this done” attitude can help you Addressing athletes as people more than players to get results Thoughts for college athletes making the transition into a career Building a resume online to prepare for career you want to pursue Timestamps: (0:00) - Intro to Angelo (1:20) - Growing up in Toms River, NJ (3:45) - Story of how he got to Seton Hall (5:43) - Living out his childhood dream at the SHUcademy Awards (7:00) - Realities of being a college athlete (10:55) - Working across a number of different sports (12:00) - Traits of most successful athletes he works with (14:50) - Designing workout programs and how they’ve evolved over the years (17:30) - His coaching style - I don’t lift weights I lift spirits! (22:00) - The process of writing Finish Strong (25:15) - Comedy intertwined with college athletics (31:45) - Transition from college sports to a career (33:55) - Don’t be scared to do other things you enjoy (35:00) - Advice for pursuing job in strength & conditioning industry (37:35) - Using the internet and social media as a tool Where can you find Ang? Instagram: @mr5thround Book Instagram: @finish_strong_book Check out his book on Amazon: Finish Strong: Resistance Training for Endurance Athletes