Athlete Minded: Stories

Today we talk to Joe Crispin, who was one of my idols growing up, who played in the NBA for about a year, then played about 9 seasons overseas. An awesome episode, and he's now the head coach at rowan university. Check him out at rowanathletics.com.

Today, we talk to Breeja Larson, an Olympic gold medal swimmer who won her gold during the 2012 400 meter relay in swimming.  At the time, she had her pick of sponsors. However, she didn't make the 2016 Olympic swimming team, and, as she says, the media people tried not to look at her when they passed by each other.  The reason for this is that she wasn't the "flavor of the day".   Really awesome episode, and you can follow her on Twitter with @BreejaLarson

We spoke to Michelle Carter before the Rio Olympics about her journey into shot put, and alas, she won a gold medal! We talk about her winning the medal, and what she has in store for the coming years.  Tokyo 2020! Check her website at ShotDiva.com

Today we speak with former collegiate swimmer and co-founder of Dreamfuel, Emily White.  Dreamfuel is a platform that helps athletes raise money for competition or events they may have upcoming in the future. Check them out at Dreamfuel.me.

Today's episode is awesome because we talk to my former teammate growing up playing basketball, Steve Castleberry. Steve played Division 1 basketball, played for the Philadelphia 76ers for a few games, and then played overseas for about 5 years. He's now a real estate agent in Florida, and his story is really inspiring.

In the 3rd part of our USA Handball series, we speak with Ford Dyke who is on the USA men's handball team and who also studies at Auburn University.   This episode is cool because he was an extreme sports athlete growing up, grew into basketball, and now excels in handball.

In the 2nd part of our handball series, we talk to Jence Rhoads, who was an all-american basketball player in college, and who even played professionally overseas for a few years before picking up handball.  She has a really cool story, and it's great to see her transition her basketball skills to a new sport.

Today we talk to a USA handball athlete Sarah Gascon. Sarah's story is awesome because she was a softball, volleyball, soccer, and basketball player growing up, and now she combines all those sports into one by playing handball. Follow her on twitter with @sj4usa.

Today is special because we get to talk to an olympian who was down in Rio who fought in Taekwondo, Stephen Lambdin. this is his follow up episode, and he talks about the training down in Brazil, his competition, and meeting President Obama when he got back to the states. Follow him on facebook at stephen lambdin, or twitter with @stephenlambdin.

Today we talk to a sports psychologist and mental coach for NBA athletes, Graham Betchart.   Graham has been coaching athletes on the mental side for years, having worked with top NBA draft picks and with George Mumford, who helped train Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant on the mental side back in the day.

Today we talk to Martin Braxton, who grew up playing basketball in new york city and who has been a referee for over 25 years.   This episode was really cool because we see the other side of basketball, not from the player, but from the official who has to deal with fans, coaches, players, and who don't get much recognition at all.

Welcome back to the athlete minded: stories podcast.  For today's episode, we step outside of the US and talk to Olympic Wrestler for Canada, Korey Jarvis. We spoke to him before Rio, and he talk to us this time about what it was like down in Rio from his personal experience. The media kept portraying it as this place that wasn't finished, but he said he had a great time. Get in touch with him on facebook at Korey Jarvis, and on instagram at Korey.jarvis.

Alvin Pearman, Former NFL Player and Current Doctoral Student at Vanderbilt joins us to discuss his NFL career and what he is doing now. Alvin's research focuses on urban schooling, social inequality, and neighborhood effects. His current research on education examines the impact of city-wide income inequality on schooling outcomes, the influence of neighborhood gentrification on disciplinary patterns in schools, and the role of neighborhood environments in shaping the efficacy of preschool interventions. Other projects examine the effects of neighborhood poverty on the mathematical trajectories of Black children, as well as descriptive analyses of the social and economic contexts in which urban schools are located nationwide. Overall this was an amazing interview, and I hope we can discuss in more detail in the future.

Cubs Win! Cubs are World Series Champions for the first time since 1908! I was outside of Wrigley Field for the Cubs win in game 5 of the world series this year, and was shocked when they finally won in game 7 in the 10th inning by one run. Absolutely amazing. So this episode is for the Cubs, and JDH.

In this episode of Audiobook Friday, I talk about my life during my sophomore year of college when I was playing Division 1 basketball. A tough time, but it made me realize where I was, and I learned a lot about myself. For more, just to go to hoopdreamsfulfilled.com.

For today's episode, I talk to my main man Bobbito Garcia. When I was growing up, I watched videos of Bobbito with the And1 mixtapes, the Nike commercials, and even "Bobbito's basics to boogie" that they promoted on NBA.comTV. When I came to new york, Dime magazine hooked me up with him, and I have been attending his open runs in new york city ever since he invited me to the first one. I can't name all his accomplishments and all he's done because it's so much, but this episode will be focused on his new york city streetball tournament called full court 21. It's a type of game where it's every man or woman for themselves. If you score a basket you get 2 points, then you have a chance to hit 3 shots from the top of the key for free, with the game to 21. there are a lot of other rules, so if you want to learn more about it just to go fullcourt21nyc.com. Also bobbito just turned 50, so bobbito, happy birthday man, you rock. .

For today's episode I talk to my former south jersey competitor, Kyle Hines. Kyle was a high Division 1 basketball player who has played in the EuroLeague for a bunch of years. most recently he's played for CSKA Moscow in Russia being one of the best players in the league. He's an awesome guy and it's really cool to see someone I grew up battling with being one of the best players in the EuroLeague year after year. You can find him on twitter with @sirhines and check out his academy at teamhinesbasketball.com.

Well, here we are. The final episode of our olympic series. This has been amazing talking to the top athletes in the entire world for their sports. think about that for a second. There's seven billion people in the world, and these are the top 5, top 3, or even top athlete in their sport. In the entire world. that's pretty amazing. Finishing up, we talk to Korey Jarvis. This episode was powerful because he talks about the losses he occurred in the past, even one where he lost in the final 3 seconds. It's heartbreaking to lose in that way, but he mentions how he eventually got back into the training mindset, and how he eventually qualified for Rio. He wrestles tomorrow, Saturday August 20, so look for him. You can find him on twitter with @daddyjar86 and watch him live at nbcolympics.com.

With only a few days left in these Olympic games in Rio, we have two more people to talk to. today's episode is when the pentathletes compete. Last episode you heard Margaux Isaksen, and today we talk to men's pentathlete for the USA, Nathan Schrimsher. Nathan is also in the US Army, and talks about his training, along with his military duties. He competes today, so make sure you follow along. You can do that at nbcolympics.com

These olympics have been amazing so far, and in today's episode we talk to Margaux Isaksen, a women's pentathlete for the USA. This episode is really cool because as pentathletes they not only have to be good at one sport, but 5. these sports are fencing, swimming, equestrian, shooting, and running. She competes tomorrow, Thursday August 18, so check out her compete at nbcolympics.com where you can watch her live, or where you can watch the replay after she's finished. You can also find out more about her at margauxisaksen.com