Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] And what's going on, everybody? This is your boy ig here on the transition podcast. And I'm excited to get this ball rolling. We've been working on it for a little while. Had to do some refinement, had to go back to the drawing board, had to hire some folks, put a team together. It's just the word work. It's just the work. It's what we do. It's just the work. And so I'm excited to bring another episode, if not the first episode of the Transition podcast, to your ears, to your eyes, to your awareness, to your consciousness. I'm excited about this. I'm excited about this and the reason why I'm excited about this because I believe that the transition from sports into the real world, the civilian life, is not talked about enough. It's not talked about enough.
[00:00:55] If you don't know me a little bit about my. I grew up Los Angeles, California neighborhood, and I grew up playing sports. I grew up playing sports. I grew up running track. I grew up playing football. I mean, I was a guy. I was a guy and I had a goal. I had a dream to eventually play in the NFL one day. That was the goal. That was the dream. About eight years old, you look to your mom, you look to your brother, you look to your family and say, look, man, I'm trying to go to the league. That's what I want to do. And so you spend every waking of your existence just moving towards that goal. And of course, there are systems in place to be able to support that process. Of course, if you didn't go to school, if you didn't play high school sports, if you didn't do those little things in order to help usher you into the realm of the possibilities of going to play professional sports, professional football, the NFL, at the highest level, it wouldn't be possible. So we did everything. We did everything we could do. I did everything I could do. I set my eyes and set my gaze on the highest level of football I can possibly achieve, and that's the NFL. And so you know what? By the grace of God, a lot of hard work, support, dedication, commitment, we did that.
[00:02:10] We did that. And it wasn't easy getting there, but it was worth it. And we did that. And so eventually, that ends one day. Now, no matter how long you play, no matter what sport you play, at some point you're going to have to transition out of sports.
[00:02:31] And I don't know if we're ever ready for that. I don't know if we are ever ready mentally, emotionally prepared for that. Maybe some folks are. I can't speak to everybody. I can't speak for everybody. Maybe some folks are those guys and gals that are playing 1011 1213. If you, Jordan, I mean, LeBron, you're playing 20 plus years, and at some point you're just like, hey, I think I'm done, right? But there's a larger majority of us, there's a large majority of athletes who go through this process to get to the highest level they can possibly get to. And all of a sudden, it's done. You play for 34567 years, you play for a few months in the league and at the highest level, and all of a sudden, once it's done, it's done. And there comes a period to which I call the transition. The moment that that's done, the moment that that sport is over, it's complete. You're no longer playing. You can no longer identify yourself with this sport until the moment something else presents itself.
[00:03:46] And so that period I call the transition. So this podcast is to talk about and highlight stories, authentic stories, real life stories about the transition from sports. And it's hopefully going to impact generations, inspire greatness, bring some awareness and tools to this thing that we call the transition.
[00:04:13] I've interviewed over 100 people, I've interviewed over 100 current athletes, professional athletes, ex athletes, just to talk about the transition, just to hear more about what their transition looks like, what their transition consisted of. And, you know, you got a lot of the same things that popped up. It wasn't easy.
[00:04:37] There are some guys and some folks that I spoke to that they surprised me when I heard that their transition from sports was tough. And so they were actually excited about creating space to be able to discuss, communicate, articulate the transition and what comes along with that. And so I'm excited. I'm excited to create space. I'm excited to talk about it. And really, the first question I have as we dive into this is, are you ever mentally and emotionally ready for retirement?
[00:05:07] Are you ever really mentally, emotionally ready for retirement? I know I wasn't. I know.
[00:05:15] You know, I played two years in the NFL. I went over to Canada, played an additional three, played with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Indianapolis Coats, the Buffalo Bills. I went over and played with the Toronto Argonauts. And there was a moment in time, going into my 6th year that I had a contract to go back to Canada. And I'm like, I want to get back to the league. I think I want to get back to the know. I'm a vet. I know the know I have some experience under my belt. I negotiated my own contract. At this point, I think I have what it takes to get back to the league and just to share a little bit about my story. It didn't happen.
[00:05:51] It didn't happen.
[00:05:53] It didn't happen. And I made a decision to put all my eggs in one basket, to get back to the league, to put myself in position, going to combines, reaching out to those scouts, really trying to position myself because I believe I had what it took and I believe I had the faith to do so.
[00:06:09] I came back home, man, I ended up buying a house. Then I'm like, damn, I got a mortgage. Now I got to pay this mortgage. I ended up getting a job and store to life. Just kind of took me in a direction which I really didn't anticipate going. And once I looked up, a year later, I'm announcing my retirement and I wasn't ready. I wasn't emotionally equipped. I wasn't mentally equipped because I was not prepared for the ending of my professional career. I was not prepared or equipped emotionally, spiritually, mentally for the ending of something that I have contributed my whole life to. Over 20 years of practice, over 20 years of dedication, commitment, focus, drive.
[00:07:01] And all of a sudden it stops like that.
[00:07:06] Are you ever really prepared for something like that?
[00:07:10] Are we ever really prepared for something like that? You know the question that always gets asked as a child, when you're a child, when you're playing sports, right? What's the question that either your auntie, your uncle, some professional speaker or motivational speaker comes in and asks you all remember this one question, what's your plan b?
[00:07:34] What's your plan b? What are you going to do if the sport doesn't work out? If you were anything like me? I don't have a plan b. Plan A is it, we going all the way with this one?
[00:07:46] And I think that's fair. I think that's fair. I think in order to accomplish the highest level of achievement when it comes to playing your sport, you have to be all in.
[00:07:56] You can't really have a backup plan. I'm not saying that you shouldn't. I'm not saying that you can't. I've learned to sort of shift the language and say, how can we leverage this sport in order to do something or acquire something when it's all said and done? Because sports is a great leverage for opportunity, right? For bigger opportunity and more opportunity outside even the sector of sport. And so I've learned how to rephrase it. But when you're talking about a plan b, man, we were all in. We were all in once it ended, for me in 2017, it was rough.
[00:08:40] It was rough. I'm talking about depression. I'm talking about anxiety. I'm talking about confusion. One word that I honestly will contribute or one word that I'll honestly associate my transition with. It was torment.
[00:08:55] It was hard.
[00:08:58] It was hard. I didn't know who I was. There was a lack of identity.
[00:09:04] There was so much. And I'll dive deeper into it as the episodes move along, but there was just so much associated with having to end something so suddenly.
[00:09:17] And so the question becomes, are we ever really prepared for that? Right? Are we ever really prepared for something so sudden, something so unknown? I mean, that's the question I love to ask and hear from you all.
[00:09:32] Were you ready for your transition? Are you ready for your transition? Do you even know that your transition is coming one day? Whether you like it or not, it's going to happen.
[00:09:44] And so as we're moving through space and as we're starting to open up this conversation of the transition from sports, one of the questions I ask myself is, what do I want to accomplish with this podcast? Well, I want to be able to help equip and prepare and impact the next generations to come when it's their turn to transition out of sports. Right. So how do you prepare? How do you prepare for a tranSition?
[00:10:16] How do you prepare for a transition when your whole life, you've put everything you've had into sports, right?
[00:10:25] You, what, what do you do?
[00:10:29] You're talking ABout high school, college, pros, everything you've done, everything you've done.
[00:10:38] How are you supposed to prepare for that if you're a professional? The one thing that I always say is, when I speak to professionals, talk to somebody about retirement, whether it's your first year, whether it's your second year, whether it's your third year, the way I believe that current professionals can prepare themselves for the transition for life after sports, I think you talk to somebody about retirement. This is what I want to do with my money when I retire. This is the type of life I want to live once I retire. This is how I want my life to look like. This is where I want to live. Start talking ABout the professionals. Start talking to the professionals about what your life after football would look like and develop a plan. So talking to professionals, that's one of the words of advice and the suggestions that I have for young guys going in, I mean, you talk about guys going in 21, 22. I went to the league at 21. Didn't know X Y from Z was getting paid $900 a month for a scholarship. These kids getting a bag today, that nil was crazy. We were getting $900 a month. I mean, at the end of the month, you probably had $200 to spend on shoes, if that.
[00:11:52] Pay your phone bill, pay your rent, pay your light bill. You had to pay PG and e with your little scholarship money.
[00:11:59] And then after that, you on your own. I mean, we'll provide the food and all the rest of the stuff for you, but after that, you on your own.
[00:12:06] So that's one thing, that's one suggestion, and that's one word of advice when I'm talking to young professionals going into their first or second year with playing professional sports is talk to somebody about retirement. What does that look like for you?
[00:12:21] Put together a plan. Like my boy Marshawn lynch said, beast mode, take care of your chicken.
[00:12:28] Because there's not a lot of working opportunities for, I would say, the average american. I mean, when you're in the league, you're making a bag every two weeks, whether you're getting paid one week every week or every two weeks, man, you getting paid like nobody else was getting paid. That is a blessing. That is a blessing.
[00:12:53] Take care of your chicken. I remember when I retired, man, I started working at some residential homes. One of the things that I wanted to do is start supporting the youth, right? I had to re identify myself. I didn't know which way to go. I didn't know what I wanted to do. And so the first thing that I said is where my passions lie. I want to be able to support young men that grew up in fatherless households, grew up in urban city Americas.
[00:13:20] I wanted to be able to support young men who grew up in the urban cities, who grew up without fathers in the household, men of color. And I want to be able to serve and support them, pour back into them. So I started working in residential homes, doing some life skills, coaching, some life coaching. And I remember I had to clock in like, damn, I only get paid if I'm on the clock.
[00:13:51] Whoa, no, don't judge me. I'm saying that with the goodness, from the goodness of my heart. A lot of people do it. I was not used to it. I'm talking about you coming off of x amount of dollars worth of contracts, hundreds of $1,000 worth of contracts. I'm getting paid millions of dollars worth of contracts, and then you go back into the working world. And only get paid if you put your finger on the clock. I'm like, damn, this is tough.
[00:14:26] This is tough.
[00:14:29] This is tough. And so take advantage, athletes take advantage of where you are right now because there are not a lot of opportunities out there like that. So when you're talking about preparing for your transition, take care of your chicken, take care of your money.
[00:14:49] Spend it right, use it right. Invest it right.
[00:14:53] Allow it to propel you. I mean, and this is all new. This is new. This was new for me. I'm 21, 22 years old, don't know left and right, getting a bag. I'm like, okay, I can do what I want.
[00:15:06] I mean, I didn't do a lot. I didn't go crazy, but it was like, I can do what I want.
[00:15:14] And so there's a lot of things out there now which I'm excited to talk about as we move forward in this process. We're talking about financial literacy when we're talking about social and emotional sort of resources and opportunities to grow and paradigm shifts around money, et cetera, et cetera. So there's a lot of great resources, opportunities out there now I think, that we didn't have prior, but again, when you're talking about speaking to professional athletes, take care of your bread. And even all these young college kids is getting paid bread, take care of your money, because it's different out here in this working world. I'm just trying to tell you what I know. I'm just trying to tell you what I know. So how do you mentally prepare how do you mentally and emotionally prepare for the transition? I am excited to have guests on this show. I'm excited to bring other folks, individuals, men and women, who had to experience the transition, because I'm curious to hear, and I'm curious to know how did they prepare for the transition for life after sports, if they prepared for transition for the transition for life after sports and if there's some tools or some resources that they believe that can help impact the next generations to prepare them for life after sports? Me? I wasn't ready. Me, I was not ready mentally. I didn't know it was coming. I mean, you never believe that the end is coming.
[00:16:37] I'm going to be honest, I got picked up as a free agent to the Buffalo Bills, and I got cut maybe after the fourth month. I was on a practice squad. I got cut after the fourth month. And let me tell you, when you get cut, you're just another average citizen. It's like you're out of a job.
[00:16:54] I mean, you're still in a pool of free agents, but there's no guarantee that you'll get picked up by another team. And so I remember when I got picked up, they had to let this gentleman go. I can't remember his name, but I remember he was a linebacker. I remember reading the article, and I remember praying, like, damn, I'll be good. I mean, I'm grateful for my chance. I'm grateful for my shot, but brother's out of a job, right? It's almost like a revolving door. I got let go because they had to bring an offense alignment in Andrew Jackson. I actually went to college with him. They brought him in. I was on the bubble as a defensive back, and I got let go. Now I'm out of a job, and you never know when you're going to get picked back up. You never know. And so even as young athletes coming up, right, we play pop warner football for about four years. You go through high school football for another four years. You go through collegiate football for another four years. You're constantly, like, evolving. You're constantly growing, right? There's really no end. You just keep getting better, right? And again, some people do face the end after Pop Warner football. Some people do face another end after high school football. There's about a million kids who play high school football and don't go to collegiate level athlete sports.
[00:18:16] That's their transition. Then there's another small percentage that make it to the collegiate level, and then there's a very small percentage that make it to the professional level.
[00:18:27] And so as we keep evolving, at some point it ends. But for someone who keeps having the ability to evolve and grow, once you get to the pinnacle, there is no more.
[00:18:39] It's not like you go to the league, and then you can go to another league. Once you get to that league, pray you play as long as you possibly can, because once it's over, it's over.
[00:18:54] But you never really think like that because you've always had the ability to go and grow and evolve.
[00:19:01] So I didn't know it was coming.
[00:19:04] Even when I was an undrafted free agent, and I knew that there was a possibility that I wasn't going to get drafted to the league, to the NFL, I still believed, in my mind, it wasn't over. And so once it ended, it was shocking. It was all of a sudden I didn't have the tools.
[00:19:24] I didn't even have the awareness that it was coming.
[00:19:28] I thought I'd be doing this forever. I mean, will you do it forever? No, but you never think about its end, right? You never really think about its end. At least I didn't. I didn't really think about its end.
[00:19:44] And so when I talk to younger athletes, student athletes, I really try to help bring some awareness and understanding that the end is coming. Now, that doesn't mean that you have to be afraid of the end, but prepare for it. So how are you leveraging today? How are you setting yourself up today, positioning yourself today to get ready for that? And how do you do that mentally and emotionally? I think it's a really great idea moving forward, especially now that athletes are seeing more money, seeing more opportunities at such a young age. They have more resources, and you start to see this thing a little differently. I think every athlete should be able to have a therapist. I think every athlete should go through collegiate football. I think every athlete should go through high school football, and every athlete, every athletic team should have a personal therapist. I mean, of course, I'm sure there are some red lines, some dotted lines around that, but I do personally believe that every athletic team moving forward in collegiate football and collegiate sports, in high school sports and high school football, that there should be a dedicated mental health specialist specified to that team and to those players.
[00:20:54] There should be some sort of sports psychologist, some sort of grief counselor, someone that is prepared to support the athlete's mental journey along the way, to better equip them for the endurance of the journey, to better equip them to perform at a high level. And, of course, what we're talking about, when it's all said and done, your identity is not wrapped into the sport. And we say this all the time, football and sport is what you do. It's not who you are, but because we've done it for so long, it's become a part of your identity.
[00:21:26] And so how do we equip and prepare our athletes for life after sports? That's one thing that I talk to professionals. I speak to student athletes. Hey, man.
[00:21:39] Hey, young lady.
[00:21:41] How are we working through this mentally? I think the institutions can do a better job. I think the school systems could do a better job. And I think that's something that only prepares and supports not only the athlete, but the institutions.
[00:21:58] And again. Right, it's something that we don't believe is coming. Take it from me, it's coming. And so I want to conclude this episode by saying thank you. I want to conclude this conversation by saying thank you for tuning in. My question always becomes, how do you believe? For me, to you is, how do you believe athletes can better prepare themselves for the transition for life after sports. That's my question to anybody listening to this, to current players. My question to players who have been through the journey, who have already played at the highest level, who have retired, who may have done and played at the d one level or collegiate level. My question to you is, how do you believe that we should be preparing our athletes for the transition for life after sports? That's my question. I love to hear from you. I love to hear your comments. I love to hear your remarks. And even those who may not have played, I'm hoping you time in too, right? I love to hear those folks who just may have opinions, but I'm really interested in hearing from those who've done it at the highest level, who've experienced the transition from sport. I'd really want to hear, and I'd really want to know is how do you believe that we can better equip and prepare our athletes for the transition for life after sports? Once again, this is your boy IG. We're here to inspire greatness, impact generations and equip our student athletes. Equip our athletes. Equip our folks for the transition for life after sports. I look forward to tapping in like comment subscribe I want to hear from you. I want to hear from you because it's going to be on us to change the course of history. It's going to be on us to impact the generations to come. And let's do it. I'm all in. I'm excited about it. Once again, this is your boy IG on the Transition podcast. And we out.
