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Life creates many in-between moments.
Whether those in-betweens create grief, sorrow, heartache, or pain, also know that joy, refinement, hope, and transformation are just around the corner.
Dinine Sig wants to accompany you in all of these in-between times–because she herself has seen many. The Space In-
Between is your opportunity to connect, refresh, and renew yourself. Dinine hosts conversations that will carry you through all of life’s significant moments–all of which will help you feel empowered, encouraged, and understood.
Remember, there is magic found in the in-betweens.
TSIB - 3-1 Transcript
Dinine: [00:00:00] Hi friends. I'm Deneen. I'm the host of this show, the Space In Between. I'm a mom, I'm an attorney, I'm an author, and I'm also a widow. We're gonna get into some really important
Graham: stuff today, and I'm really grateful that you're here and you're gonna be sitting with us on this space in between.
Dinine: Hi everyone.
We are back in the space in between. And today's guest on the space in between is Graham Wilkerson. He is the founder of Genesis Sports Performance and Athlete Lead Engine. Did I say that right?
Graham: Yep.
Dinine: I wasn't sure if it was ath lead. Graham heads up the team at Genesis where they serve youth, high school and adult clients like me in three locations across Indiana, helping them improve strength and performance.
Graham is also a business consultant. Men mentoring other gym owners nationwide and helping them scale [00:01:00] through his licensing program. What drew me to Graham's story isn't just his success, it's the grit risk and deep personal belief it took to build something from the ground up, especially when the outcome was uncertain.
One thing that caught me is he lives by a quote from Teddy Roosevelt. Who happens to be my favorite president? And just like Roosevelt's life, Graham's journey is shaped by challenge, purpose, and the relentless pursuit of something bigger than himself. Welcome Graham.
Graham: Uh, thanks for having me, Denine. I'm super excited to be on.
Dinine: I'm super excited that you're here. This has been a long time, right?
Graham: Yeah, yeah. Almost
Dinine: a year. So for you guys out there, um, Graham and I actually live in the same neighborhood. I don't know if you remember this, um. I didn't realize it at first, but I remember seeing this guy walking back and forth in front of my house.
Do you remember this story?
Graham: I, I think you might may have told me. I,
Dinine: I was like,
Graham: pacing on the phone or
Dinine: something. So he was, clearly, [00:02:00] he was on a phone call, clearly deep locked in. I'm believing it might have been a work call. He was locked in. I was in my house on a work call locked in, but my drapes were open and I saw this man just walking in front didn't recognize you yet.
Um. And I stepped out to kind of be like, Hey, are you okay? I didn't know what was going on. Yeah. There's not usually a man that just, I don't know why you picked my house. I feel like it was meant to be. You were just in, do you, you don't remember even pacing, doing it right before you were pacing in front of my house.
Graham: My wife always gets on me about that when I'm on, uh, phone call,
Dinine: but I do. It's what I do. I have to pay. That's why I don't like Zoom because I wanna walk around. Yeah. Um, and I. I'll say hi to people and then I'll go on picture mode because I wanna walk. Yeah. And I don't like sitting still. Um, although we're sitting still.
Right. Maybe I should do a walking show there. We, we go. Anyway, um, I came outside and I think I tried to call it you, you were walking away, but you know you're a ginger. Mm-hmm. So it's [00:03:00] not, you're not easy to miss. Right. Right. Um, and I was like, Graham, that's Graham, that's the owner of my gym. And, um, I told you the next time I saw you.
But then after that, I don't know if you know this story. Um, my friend Christie and I do coffee walks around the neighborhood. Okay. And I consider her to be like a pseudo, uh, mayor of Meridian Kessler. Mm-hmm. And, um, we were walking and your wife, Shelby, was putting your daughter in your car.
Graham: Okay.
Dinine: And she recognized me, but not my name.
And she said, do you work out at Genesis? Do you know this story? Uhuh? No, I Don. You're looking. I don't think I at me. I didn't know if you
Graham: Yeah,
yeah.
Dinine: And I was like, I think I do. I think I know I do. And I didn't understand why she was asking me. Adorable little girl with her. And Christie made the connection.
She knew Shelby.
Graham: Yeah.
Dinine: And then we joked around with your little girl. I guess she was going off to school. Um, and Christie made that connection and so, [00:04:00] um, it was kind of interesting. Uh, we all laughed and kind of walked it off and so suddenly, like this person that I knew from the gym, from in front of my house from now in front of his house, um, it sort of became something I felt connected to.
Then we had a conversation in the gym and we kind of shared some deep things and, um, I figured out we share more than a zip code. And I started building this idea of interviewing you, and we both hold this deep admiration for Teddy Roosevelt, which I didn't discover until recently. So the overlap, the pursuit with struggle and grit and belief makes this conversation one that I've been wanting to have for a while.
So my first question to you. It's funny how sometimes the most unexpected connections, everything I just described, lead to powerful conversations. And when I think about how we both [00:05:00] found the light in some dark moments, whether it was in the gym or in life, I'm reminded of the resilience that we both share.
Teddy Roosevelt famously said, and I know this means something to you, nothing in the world is worth having or worth doing unless it means effort, pain, and difficulty. That quote resonates so much with your journey. Graham, you started Genesis with little more than a belief and a lot of hard work. You started building a gym without a playbook unless you had one, and you're gonna correct me in a minute.
Can you take us back to those early days and what made you first wanna start a gym, and what did it feel like when the future was uncertain, but you were still showing up every day to pursue that?
Graham: Yeah, when I, when I first decided to start the gym, I had recently graduated, so I'm only 23 years old. I did medical device sales, um, the year prior, and I was working for a small company.
I was on [00:06:00] call all the time. I was doing like trauma implant sales. Um, so I thought to myself, Hey, if, if I'm gonna work this hard, like I'm gonna pursue something that I really wanna pursue. And I had always, you know, been in love with the sports performance side of things, training athletes, strength training.
I wanted to start my own gym, but I had zero experience. I was actually a history major.
Dinine: Oh my gosh, that's
Graham: interesting. So know I had the life experience in the sense that I played football and I had, I had had trainers in the past, but, um, I wanted to figure out, hey, how do I do this? I actually, I went back to ARD where I had graduated and I started helping the football team with their strength training.
I went, I enrolled at Ball State and I got my master's in athletic coaching education and I was studying for a certification called the CSCS that you, you basically need, if you wanna work with like high school or college athletes. I didn't have like my [00:07:00] undergrad in it, so I, I pretty much like locked myself in my room and like studied this textbook for two months.
Passed that, and then I opened up, um, the gym Genesis in 2024 in a tiny, it was like a thousand square foot. Um, it was a former law office, so I just,
Dinine: it's about what we're in, I think.
Graham: Yeah,
Dinine: we're probably in about 700 right, right now.
Graham: Mm-hmm. And so I just remember walking in. I signed a personal guarantee. I emptied my bank account to do it.
I walked in and it wasn't set up right. The lights are hanging from the ceiling.
Dinine: God,
Graham: uh, drywall is all broken. And I'm kinda like, well, I have no other option but to make this work. So
Dinine: had you quit the implant since
Graham: I had quit the medical advice sales and I was like all in, I didn't really have another, another route.
So I knew I had to make it work.
Dinine: Wow. So there's a common idea that building something worthwhile [00:08:00] often feels lonely, especially when your path doesn't look like everyone else's. And we kind of touched on this in your pre-interview, did you ever feel caught between what you were sacrificing and what you hoped was coming?
Yes. When you were looking at those lights falling down and all that?
Graham: Absolutely. I think the first, um. Four to five years were, were hard. Uh, I remember my friends, they had started to get into long-term relationships. Some of them were getting married, some of them were having kids. Um, they were going on trips, they were going golfing on the weekends.
You know, they had the money to spend and, you know, go on vacations together. And I was, I was broke and I was working like 60 hours a week. 'cause I had, I was the only person in there, so I was doing one-on-ones. I was doing group training, I would start my day. I, I remember I had a one-on-one at five, so I would start at four 30.
I'd train until like 10 I'd, [00:09:00] I spent a lot of time learning and educating myself on the training. And then we would go again from like three to 8:00 PM at night. And so it was lonely and I was alone. And I remember the turning point for me on, Hey, we gotta, we gotta make some changes, was when I had met my wife.
And I have, I have a big St. Bernard, his name's Hercules. He ate a stick.
Dinine: Wow.
Graham: And he needed emergency surgery, and it was gonna be like $6,000.
Dinine: Oh my gosh.
Graham: And Shelby, God lover, paid for the surgery. I couldn't do it. And that was the moment I was like, wow, I gotta, I gotta figure something out here.
Dinine: Like, something's gotta change.
Yes. Because I, I would've lost my dog.
Graham: Yes.
Dinine: If it wasn't for this. Beautiful person. Yeah.
Graham: And
she
Graham: wasn't even my wife yet.
Dinine: Yeah. That's like support.
Graham: Mm-hmm.
Dinine: And like that's a ride or die.
Graham: Right. Right. I knew she was the one right about that time. Mm-hmm.
Dinine: That's amazing. Thank you. I'm sure that he appreciates her too, right?
Graham: Oh yeah.
Dinine: Um, did I [00:10:00] meet him? Did he ever come to the gym?
Graham: I don't think you've met him, but you would know if you did.
Dinine: Okay.
Graham: He'd be, he'd Did you
Dinine: ever bring another dog to the gym?
Graham: Um, we, we brought Zeus, which is our other big dog.
Dinine: Okay. I remember that name
Graham: when he was a puppy.
Dinine: Yeah. Okay. Okay. Um, so Wow. So when, when did you see it start to change?
You said it had to change. Um, I forgot your dog's name because now Zeus is in my head. What was his name?
Graham: Hercules.
Dinine: So when after Hercules surgery or during, like, when did you really hit that wall moment where you're like, you woke up the next day and started doing things different?
Graham: Yeah, I, I realized, hey, I'm working, you know, at least 50, 60 hour weeks.
I'm not making enough income to, you know, if an emergency happens, I'm kind of up a creek definitely not making enough money. Or do I have the schedule to be able to like support a family? Um, and I, things had started to get [00:11:00] serious with Shelby and there was a moment right around that point that I, I honestly almost quit.
I had had a job offer from a, a, another organization and I was close. And how
Dinine: close, like this close,
Graham: I mean, I was
Dinine: this close. He's, I'm doing my fingers like almost touching each
Graham: other. So you'll know. I mean, you were around when, when Dale was, was there too. So right around this time. Dale Spec man. My former business partner had reached out.
Hey Dale, shout out. Hey Dale. He had reached out, um, and he had, uh, talked to me about potentially buying his business. At the time was athletic revolution. Dale and I met, we got, we realized we were fierce competitors at the start, but we met and we realized how much we had in common and how much we liked one another.
And so that's when we combined together. And that was a, a great marriage of sorts. Like I had had a lot of these youth athletes and kind of younger clientele. Dale had had the adult bootcamp side. I was connected with [00:12:00] ard, he was connected with Cathedral. So we were able to blend that together and Wow. So,
Dinine: so I just got to wind that back a little bit.
Graham: Mm-hmm.
Dinine: So your fierce competitors with Dale, which I did not know. I knew that you two ended up at some point partnering. What was the, is the right word, ProGene, for actually getting you two To me, because I'm thinking about if I have a competitor and she's someone who I think has taken away something from me, what's making me reach out to her?
What made you,
Graham: we had a common friend that used to work for Dale, JD O'Brien. He had messaged me and said that Dale was interested in. Talking. And so I, you know, I didn't know how it was gonna go, and we met one another and we were like, wow. Like, you know, you have this vision of your competitor as Yeah.
Someone totally different than what they are. Right. You're building it up
Dinine: and, and he's building it up in
Graham: his head. Yeah. I was like, wow, this is a really genuine guy. I like it.
Dinine: Wow. Wow.
Graham: So we, [00:13:00] we knew that, you know, we were cut from the same cloth, we'd be able to, um, grow it together. Then COVID hit.
Dinine: So you and Dale came together before COVID.
And is that where Dale's version of Genesis, I don't wanna say version, but Dale. 'cause you, you mentioned another company that I'm not familiar with. Yes.
Graham: Dale's original, uh, gym was called Athletic Revolution. So we joined together as Genesis.
Dinine: Okay.
Graham: Uh, in 2020. And then COVID hit,
Dinine: and this is where when you and I had that deep talk in the gym, I always thought it was Dale's gym first.
And you were like, no. This is how it came together. And Genesis was my, like, I, I didn't understand it. So now you had two separate gyms and it became Genesis.
Graham: Mm-hmm.
Dinine: We
Graham: combined,
Dinine: which I think was a SA smart move because Genesis, I like that name. Not that I don't like Dale's, but it was a good move. Anyway, peanut gallery, Deene.
Um, so then COVID hit. Oh my gosh. Um, what did you shut [00:14:00] down for? So that's an, that's another struggle right there. That our friend Teddy Roosevelt,
Graham: right.
Dinine: That would've challenged him and pushed him. So go ahead.
Graham: I mean, that's business, right? You know that.
Dinine: So what, but what did you do? You, you,
Graham: yes. It,
Dinine: you definitely.
Rows above 'cause you're still here.
Graham: Shut down for three months. Um, revenue. You know, I had felt like, hey, I'm finally in a good place. Shut down for three months. Revenue slashed in half. Um, obviously doing everything we can to hang on to as many members as we could. So we lended out all of our equipment. I was on Zoom every day doing, uh, virtual workouts.
We would host like coffee meetings for the members and our members. I mean, they, a lot of them really, really supported us. So like, they kept us afloat, right. So we're super thankful for that. Um,
Dinine: it's a great community at Genesis. Absolutely. I mean that's absolutely, that's part of the reason I've stayed.
Like it's a great community. I appreciate
Graham: that.
Dinine: Thank you. And I like the people that are there. [00:15:00] Um, so you pushed through COVID and, um. So I wanna move a little bit, I don't wanna not talk about COVID, but um, I think this sort of ties into it a little bit. You've said the pressure of taking out loans, working nonstop, and trying to build something stable, which I think COVID kind of destabilized everyone, and especially small business owners who didn't have a lot to fall back on.
But you said to me, um, before we sat down in pre-interview that it sort of rewired how you move through life. What does that rewiring look like now, or how does it help you now or possibly hinder you? Because sometimes you can rewire through something traumatic and it could trigger you, but what does your rewiring look like?
Graham: Yeah, I think I've had both. Good. And if we wanna use the term rewiring, good and bad [00:16:00] rewiring throughout my time as a gym owner, I think the good would be I can, I seem to be able to handle a lot more curve balls, stress. I can undergo multiple things at once and kind of keep my cool like, you know, just last week we had tax, all the taxes, gym acquisition.
Started up a, a practice management at another gym. I flew out to Vegas. Like that's a lot going on in a week. And I'm, I'm pretty calm with it. Right. I know that is a lot. Some people might be a little bit stressed there. Other things stress me out. I, I think the, maybe the battery wiring for back of, for lack of a better term is that, um, you're almost kind of always on edge as in like, Hey, what's the next curve ball that's gonna be thrown at me?
Makes it a little bit harder to maybe appreciate where you're at and stay in the moment. 'cause you're always trying to prepare for the next [00:17:00] bomb that's going to get dropped on you or the floor that's gonna fall out on you. Um, I'm
Dinine: picturing,
Graham: yeah,
Dinine: a catcher. My son played both catcher and pitcher and he recently switched up and went back to catcher and club baseball and it's a different mindset than pitcher.
It's like offensive versus defensive. So now he's constantly at the ready to receive a bomb, a wild pitch of something that could throw the whole game off, right?
Graham: Mm-hmm.
Dinine: Whereas as a pitcher, you're more, I think you're a little bit, or you're supposed to be more in control. So now you're, you're sort of in a, I don't wanna use the word trauma, I don't wanna put that on you, but like.
If you're rewired to constantly be ready, it's like you're there with your glove, right? Where's it coming from? And you're, you're sort of tilting, and maybe that's not always bad, but if you're trying to be present, which you've mentioned also, does that take away from it. And I don't know how you [00:18:00] can be a successful business owner and not be in that anticipatory stage.
Maybe if you had. A hundred gyms, but then I, I don't know. I'm veering off a little bit of my topic here, but I want to go there 'cause this is a space in between. What if you did have a hundred gyms, have you ever envisioned that for yourself?
Graham: Yeah, I think I tend to try to work my way outta that feeling, but that it just, it never goes away.
Right. So, you know, we have the three gyms. I have a, a license program. Yes. Where I have, yes. 20 gym owners that I'm kind of teaching, teaching our systems trying to scale. Yeah. With the goal of, of franchising that. Right. I have a, we're we're trying to do some real estate stuff, so there's that side of things that Shelby's helping with.
So I almost feel like I create, things do get smooth, like, oh, all right. Like it's easy going. And I, I almost have to have [00:19:00] that
Dinine: challenge,
Graham: challenge to keep my head space. Good. Or it's like, oh, this is, you know, I, I will start thinking about too much and I'll get an anxious unless I have like a big task that I'm tackling.
My wife like literally makes fun of me for it. She's like, well what, what are you gonna do this year? Like, what gym? Are you gonna open it up now? Like, how many businesses do we do you have?
Dinine: Right. But it's just, she might be mad at me for this question then. Sorry Shelby, if you're listening. Um. I just was wondering, is there any amount of success that you think would stop that trigger?
'cause sometimes people say to themselves, if this, then I'll be calm. If this, then I'll be, I know you're not saying that 'cause I know you're very happy with your life now, but if this, then I'll be happy if this, then I'll be calm. I thought if I bought the car that I did, it was going to bring me a lot of happiness.
And it did. I love driving my car and it's really fun, but you can't do everything with your car. You know, it's not, but it was a sort of symbol for me [00:20:00] that I had achieved some level of success. Um, so it's not an if this, I also thought this show, like we were just talking before about being neck and neck with Martha Stewart, like that looked like.
Success for me. So I took a picture of it because I don't know if I'll be there again, but it, it didn't stop me from feeling like I still have to do something. So, and I definitely am not at the apex of anything here, which, so I'm not trying to say I am. Um, which for you might be a hundred gyms. I don't know.
I'm just wondering. Out loud. Maybe for our listeners too, like what is that level where a person feels like, Hey, I can relax tonight. My kid's in bed safe. My wife or for me, my husband. Like, we're all, everybody's okay. My kids are okay. Can I relax? Like that's a great feeling. And I do wish that for you and for my listeners too.
Graham: Hey, [00:21:00] just wanted to jump in and let you all know that the B three lab is happening March 13th in Indianapolis. Come join us. Details below in the show notes.
Dinine: So the Roosevelt quote, effort, pain difficulty is something you literally carry with you and on you according to our pre-interview. What was it about that message that felt like a compass during your harder seasons?
And the two part question, do you relate to that need to keep moving forward even when you're not sure what's next?
Graham: Yeah, absolutely. I remember I got it painted on the like cinder block on the wall 'cause. I'd get in there every morning at five, and there were so many times where I'd ask myself like, man, why am I, why am I doing this?
Right? So I, I just remember looking at that a lot, and that was kind of like my guiding light. Would you
Dinine: read it out loud?
Graham: I, in my head I would, yeah. My [00:22:00] guiding light when I was going through it, uh, just like the business startup, um, I have it framed now. I got a frame of the wall, so like I could. Remember that 'cause we leased the facility.
So I have a, a, a frame picture of that in our basement. And then I have the tat the, uh, quote of Teddy Roosevelt tattooed on my chest. 'cause I just wanted to remember like everything that it took to get started and everything that I had, you know, battled through to get to where I was. And I, I, I never wanted to lose that.
I still use it as like a memento today. Like, Hey, this has kind of been your. Since you've been a young adult, some of the most formidable years of your life, you went through, you know, breakups, parent getting sick, starting a business, a little bit of, you know, hardship starting. I know other people have had many more challenges than I have, so I don't wanna milk what I'm, what I had to go through.
But it's, it's, it's [00:23:00] definitely been a, um, a guiding light for me. Yeah.
Dinine: So what would you say the quote for us here.
Graham: Yeah. Nothing in this world is worth having or with doing unless it means effort, pain, and difficulty.
Dinine: When you hear that yourself say it, is there any specific moment that your mind goes to when you had it tattooed?
Was there any moment that your mind went to when you had it? Like when you, or is it 20 moments that pass by your eyes?
Graham: Yeah, it just reminds me of like. Honestly, right now thinking about it, I'm thinking about a time when I was, I knew I had a 12 hour work shift. I was sick at the time, like laying on that, laying on the rubber floor of the gym, like looking at it in between sessions, knowing like, all right, I got like the flu.
I gotta train for four more hours.
Dinine: Down the Tylenol.
Graham: Yeah, where? Where's Lady? There's really no [00:24:00] end in sight here, right? Because you don't. You don't know, like, is this gonna be successful? Are you gonna do this off or not? Right.
Dinine: That's, that's where you drew your light, like it felt dark.
Graham: Mm-hmm.
Dinine: And that, that quote really carried you through.
Are there any other times of like maybe when your dog, was that ill before Shelby offered, or during that time? Or is there any other time when you were offering support for your mom where that quote really. No, no. I'm just wondering where it translated across just business like, not just business, but it really, 'cause you have it tattooed on your body.
Graham: Mm-hmm.
Dinine: Mm-hmm. So I'm just, in my mind it's, it's bringing you strength.
Graham: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. I remember like. You know, um, I got, I had started out, I was paying rent. I had had all these kids and then they all go back for, um, [00:25:00] football. So I like lose 'em all. And then there was another moment where I had like been training maybe 15 to probably 15 like adults, and they were all friends and like one of 'em decided to go to another gym and they all left at the same time.
And then I remember kind of along the same time I was going to these schools and doing free speed sessions and inviting people in to train for free, and it just felt like nothing was, was working.
Dinine: Clicking.
Graham: Yeah. And I'm, you know, seeing my friends start families and, you know, have get married and I, I remember like, it was like oh eight o'clock, like calling my mom on the way home from one of the schools and just being like, I don't know if this is gonna, you know.
Yeah. In a dark, not in a place of this isn't working. I'm struggling and I don't really know how to get out of this,
Dinine: but that is a dark place. Right. It doesn't mean it's the end of your life. Right. But it's a dark, I mean, darkness has, it's [00:26:00] dark, it's darkest right before dawn. It doesn't mean it's not about to be light.
Mm-hmm. It's a dark place. And that quote or your mom. Or your mom and the quote, right. Sort of. I think
Graham: mm-hmm.
Dinine: I mean, if that's your motto for life, it, it must have really meant something to you. And it's, I think it's, um, that was how, I don't know what Teddy Roosevelt did to continually find his light. I don't know if he told himself.
That same quote every day or if he just told himself buck up. Like I, I often wonder how he got through some, when I hear this thing about losing his wife and his mom in the same day. I just don't understand. I do understand getting shot and continue, like for some reason, I don't know why that doesn't, but I do.
I don't understand losing two people you love that much in the same day. Um, so I really appreciate your answer. [00:27:00] So you help other gym owners scale and find their footing with your licensing program. What's one thing you would tell them that you wish someone had told you when you, and I don't know if you're always helping out new owners, but what's one thing you would tell them that you wish someone had told you when you were starting out?
Besides just keep going.
Graham: Yeah, but
Dinine: like
Graham: practically speaking, the most practical device probably would be. When I first started out, and I see them making a lot of the same mistakes. They, we, they focus so much on, we all get in, all of us got into this business 'cause we love coaching and that's the main focus for everyone.
Yet it will leave you in that cycle, that vicious cycle of training all the time and not, not being able to, you know, have employees or scale your business if you don't. Look at the business side. That's my number one piece of advice for most of them. They spend hours and hours and hours like [00:28:00] doing certifications and working on their craft, which is great.
You have to have a great product, but they definitely, um, neglect the business side of things.
Dinine: So when we talk about the business side, would you include, um, other things like social media or outreach. I know I get a lot of emails from Genesis. Do you consider that the business side or do you consider you going and meeting with people?
I remember last summer, um, I said something to Derek when he was training me and I was like, well, I haven't seen Graham in a while. And he's like, that's good. We don't wanna see him. We want him out there talking to people or whatever he said. And I was like, okay. Like I wasn't, it wasn't yes or no for me that you weren't there.
I just mentioned like. I haven't seen him in a while.
Graham: Yeah, it's, I mean, it's, it's a, it's all of that. It's the marketing piece, it's going and making relationships with coaches. It's, you know, setting up an email list, the social [00:29:00] media.
Dinine: So we have three questions from long timers at Genesis. Um, what one, once, two of them are kind of serious one's, really lighthearted.
What do you look for when you're in interviewing or recruiting staff for the gym?
Graham: Yeah, that's a great one. Um, I love hiring people that were in the service industry. Um, whether it's like, Hey, you've we're a waiter. Like, because that is some of the intangibles that's very hard to teach. Like you have to be able to develop the relationship.
Service the clients and we, we actually role play that every Friday. Oh, okay. Um, I can teach you the X's and O's when it comes to training, but the interpersonal skills is what I really hone in on when I'm doing an interview.
Dinine: Soft, is it, do we call those soft skills? Yeah,
Graham: soft skills. Exactly.
Dinine: So I noticed Gabe, who's no longer with us, um, no, no.
I mean, no longer with Genesis. Not no longer with us. [00:30:00] Sorry. That was weird. Um, and Derek both served in the armed forces.
Graham: Gabe did. Derek didn't.
Dinine: Oh, I thought Derek did.
Graham: Cody did.
Dinine: Oh, I'm not sure if he did that. Okay. I got that wrong. Sorry about that. Um, so I thought maybe you were also looking for people that served our country.
I didn't know if that was a thing too.
Graham: I, it's, I mean, that's not necessarily like a prereq requisite I have. Okay. I mean, I think that obviously, like, obviously it's great, right? They have a lot of, uh, good qualifications. Yeah. That would lend itself to the job. But I definitely, my, my, my biggest thing is definitely the interpersonal skills.
And if you are like, we want quality people, quality humans, right?
Dinine: Yeah. Everybody who works there is pretty great. So interpersonal, being able to build relationships. Um, okay, so the second question. Is a little bit more serious. So I don't know. Um, this person wanted to know, do you think that the early morning gym sessions truly help a fourth, fifth, or sixth grade [00:31:00] athlete who might also have all day school and then even after school practice or a game?
I guess her question was more like, why, why are they coming that early in the morning when they have all that f Like what is the. What's the benefit to that type of athlete?
Graham: Yeah, I mean, sometimes it's the only time that they can potentially come and if all they're doing in, in this day and age with like athletics, you know, you have a son that plays baseball, it's like that's a year-round sport, right?
You have travel, then you have high school. It's, they, they really don't get a break from it.
Dinine: I hate that by the way. I mean, he's in college now, so, and he's a grad student now, so he's playing club. But I hated that when he was younger because we skied and I wanted him to develop his ski abil, you know, I wanted him to play football or basketball, but it was so hard because it's feels like by the time they turn nine or [00:32:00] 10, they want them in baseball like all year.
Mm-hmm. So, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you, but as a mom, I just wanna say I hate what has become of like. Youth athlete.
Graham: Right. And we don't, I mean, I'm with you. Like it's, it's harmful, I think in terms of development and the reason why we have to offer those early morning sessions why it is beneficial.
I, I, I definitely value sleep and that's something that we speak with these athletes about, Hey, you need to be going to bed early. But they have to get different movement skills. They have to move their body in multiple planes. They have to be able to strengthen their tendons, their ligaments, their bones, to keep that.
Schedule and with all you're doing is one sport. You're over training those movement patterns. You're over training those, those muscles. Yeah. So, you know, we would like to be, play a part in to help balance that out. And most of those athletes are coming two times a week. Right. It's not like they're waking up Right.
Every morning and
Dinine: No, I just, yeah, I guess she wanted to [00:33:00] know and I just, you just jumped into something that is, I think what didn't exist when I was little, when my brother was playing. Um. I, I swam for a small part of my life, and the reason I didn't do it for a long part is my mom refused to take me to practice at 6:00 AM She was like, I'm, I have three kids.
I'm not doing it. And I had a lot of promise as a swimmer, but she just was like, that's not, that doesn't benefit our family. It might've benefited me. But, um, so when my son was starting to hit, um. I guess, like I said, like almost like 10. His baseball coaches almost started, I wanna say I don't, they were like almost making fun of him for skiing in the beginning of like the end of February and March.
Yeah. And it really bothered me 'cause it's a different set of muscles. Mm-hmm. He was really a powerful skier on slalom and I just was like, let him finish the season. Right.
Graham: It's good for him.
Dinine: Like why can't like, and it was like. [00:34:00] Cole, if you wanna be, if you wanna be on this team. Mm-hmm. You know, you don't, you don't go skiing.
What are you like some preppy. He's like 10 years old. And they were constantly ribbing him and I really hated it. And then in the summer, if he wanted to take a surf lesson, it was like, oh, you're not gonna be grinding it out here with us. And. It's only fall ball in the fall and it was, it just always bothered me.
So what are your thoughts on like, what, what you are seeing in the ath the youth athlete specifically, once he got to college ball? I did leave everything up to his coaches. Um, but what do you think in the youth athlete culture now? Because I think it's gotten too far, but yeah, I'm not in it. I'm, I don't have a 10-year-old anymore.
Graham: Right. I mean, you're, you hit the nail on the head and there's a lot of. Coaches in, in my industry that are trying to kind of combat it, right? Like the skill level of these athletes, insane the performance and the athleticism. It's poor. 'cause all they're [00:35:00] doing is again, like going to, hitting the same mechanics, going to hitting lessons, going to practice, going to pitching lessons, right?
And what happens is it just, you know, they have less movement skills, they're more prone to injury burnout. Um, and if you look at like. The data behind, you know, how, how many of these kids are gonna go like division one or play professional? It's, it's very slim to none. Right? And even if, let's say that that was in the cards, those athletes all play multiple sports.
Like those are the athletes that the, that you know, they're looking for. Um, so yeah, I mean, don't. I don't love it. I think, you know, with my daughter, she's gonna play multiple sports throughout the year. She's not gonna specialize. And if she does fall in love with one, like we'll wait, we'll wait till, till high school and we're definitely gonna have like dedicated off season time so she can be a kid.
Dinine: Well, I'm, I'm really glad to hear that. And I really did fight back against [00:36:00] that.
Graham: Mm-hmm.
Dinine: But it was, it got, by the time we got into late middle school, it was so hard. And even my daughter with volleyball. It got very hard. We really,
Graham: yeah, and I, I definitely sympathize with parents. I had a parent just telling me the other day, like, I know you're telling me this, but what are my options?
Because my daughter's not gonna be able to make the team if she doesn't do this.
Dinine: That's exactly the threat that hangs over. All right. And especially. The high school team. Mm-hmm. That's the biggest threat because not everybody's following the travel or the, for my daughter, the club team, but they, they need to be on that high school team or mentally it wrecks them.
Graham: Mm-hmm.
Dinine: That's, that's hard. Um, here's our lighthearted question to bring us a little bit out of this. YOY Graham, and I'm with this person. Can we not have a regular clock upstairs with a second hand? And can we get that? Can we get you to say yes to that right now?
Graham: A second clock. So we have the, we have the [00:37:00] digital one, not the
Dinine: digital.
Graham: You guys want, uh, a just a.
Dinine: A regular clock. Oh yeah.
Graham: That
Dinine: gives us a second hand so we know what time it is.
Graham: We'll
Dinine: do that. Thank you. All right.
Graham: All you, all you have to do is ask him. We'll get it done.
Dinine: Well that's, I just, I've been asking Derek for a year and he keeps blowing me. No, he doesn't. He tries to show me how to work it and he comes up and sets the remote, but I just wanna know what time it is.
Just
Graham: like a hand one.
Dinine: Yeah. Like you have downstairs. When we do wall sits and other things, we could time it out by looking at that one or planks that we have to do. Okay. That was me and another member, by the way. I'll, I won't remain anonymous on that one, but I will let her remain. I will let her remain anonymous.
I'll you
Graham: a clock,
Dinine: I promise. Okay, thank you. Yay. Okay. Um, so you mentioned to me in our pre-interview that your daughter is your why now, and I really caught onto that because there's a song by Huba Stink called The Reason.
Graham: Mm-hmm.
Dinine: I don't know if you've ever heard it.
Graham: Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Dinine: My friend, my very good friend was getting married and she was, [00:38:00] the song came on the radio when it first came out and she was like, Blake is my reason, her new husband.
Mm-hmm. But I had just had a baby and I always associated that with Cole as my reason, my son.
Graham: Mm-hmm.
Dinine: Um, he was only like nine months at the time. But even though I think it's about romantic love, that song will always be about my son to me. Um, so I grabbed onto that in your pre-interview. How has becoming a father changed how you lead, how you work, and how you see yourself?
Graham: Oh yeah. I started talking to my daughter. I get it.
Dinine: I know. You're, you just got a little choked up for a second.
Graham: Yeah. I mean, I, I think you, my decisions are based on, you know, wanting to,
Dinine: don't, I didn't mean to make you cry,
Graham: but I know I'm not, I'm, I shouldn't, I shouldn't. I. I shouldn't be tearing up at that.
I don't know
Dinine: why I am. Well, it's your kid. I, when I first heard the reason I literally cried 'cause it reminded me so much of Cole.
Graham: Yeah, it's, yeah. I just,
Dinine: and I love you, Grayson. [00:39:00] That's my daughter. But, but that song, I only had one kid at the time.
Graham: Right.
Dinine: My reason, my why.
Graham: Yeah. I just wanna, uh,
give her the life that, you know, I think she deserves. And so all of my, my, um. Decisions are made around, you know, I, I, I like to have my why's why for like, Hey, why am I pursuing this? What, what's the reason why, you know, and for me it's like my family's first, um, faith, my, my fitness. So like, I want to be able to do all three of those.
And so, um, yeah, I won't take anything on if it's gonna prevent me from like, you know, missing anything out for her. And then I just wanna, um. I'll be able to set her her up for success and be a good role model for her and treat her the way that hopefully her husband treats her one day.
Dinine: You're setting her up that way.
If, and you know what, you're already doing it because they model [00:40:00] how their dad treats them. And so, final question, um, and it really ties into it, you've gone from survival mode to impact mode. Mm-hmm. And I'm glad to have witnessed just a small part of it. This really ties into Reese, but what does legacy mean to you?
And if you've already feel like you've already just touched on it, that's fine, but what does it mean to you now, just not in with the business, but as a man, a father and a leader, or as is it all tied into one?
Graham: Yeah. I mean, being able to make a, a impact on the clients that we serve. Um, being able to, to make an impact on my family.
And then also like our staff. We have 16 staff. We have. Not only my daughter, Kendrick has a baby boy.
Dinine: That's right.
Graham: Cody has two baby boys. Like I, I wanna, I, I don't take it lightly that a lot of people, um, depend on the success of what, of the business and the other things that we have going on. And I, I, [00:41:00] that has always been a big driving force for me.
I think that's part of the reason why I try to take on so many things because I, like, I want everyone to be able to, um, you know, have stability in our organization and it's, it's something I pride myself on and something that I ensure that I'm, I'm constantly keeping in the forefront of my mind.
Dinine: Well, I think you're doing a great job from this, like, thank
Graham: you
Dinine: membership, you know, member perspective.
And, um, neighbor perspective. And thank you so much for sitting with me on the space in between. I'm so glad you came today, Graham.
Graham: Thanks Denine. I'm, I'm, I'm happy to have been able to be on it. I appreciate you inviting me on.
Dinine: Thanks again. Alright guys, thanks so much for sitting with us. Have a great day.
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