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Welcome to the Amy Egan podcast, where
each week, Lindenwood University head

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women's basketball coach Amy Egan talks
women's basketball and much, much more.

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We all talk about past games during the
season, but really Amy, during the spring

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off season, we talk about a lot of things
that are just generally related to

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basketball and not the games themselves,
because obviously those are many months

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away.

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And first of all, welcome.

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Thank you.

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I'm excited to be here as always and
having the opportunity to share and grow

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and talk about maybe some things besides
X's nose in the off season.

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I think that's always fun.

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Okay, so the Ohio Valley Conference, of
course, of which Linda Wood is a member,

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just recently announced a new strategic
plan.

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Are you able to share any of those plans
or kind of give us a feel for what that

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looks like?

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know, I think, you know, I'm headed
actually down to our OVC meetings today,

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later today in Nashville, and we'll sit,
have the opportunity to sit and talk a lot

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as coaches and with some administration
about, you know, our student athletes and

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our programs and.

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how we can continue to grow the OVC in
Division I and continue to grow our

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programs within the OVC.

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So I'm really excited about that, but this
initiative that the OVC put out for some

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strategic growth within the OVC has a lot
to do on student -athlete benefits and how

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we can continue to provide benefits to
student -athletes to help programs grow

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and compete and be competitive.

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And also it also has some stuff to do with
scheduling with a lot more scheduling, a

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lot more good non -conference division one
home games and so forth with it.

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So I'm really excited.

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I think the OVC is definitely dedicated to
improving our student athlete experience

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to continuing to make us more competitive
within the NCAA.

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And I think they're showing that by
releasing some of the strategic growth

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announcements.

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So there's a new sport in town, it's
called the Portal.

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And of course, it applies to all, I think
all college sports.

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And I'm not.

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particularly the nuance in the portal
rules.

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But I want to give you a scenario.

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You're a coach, you've been successful for
a long time, and there are, I'm guessing,

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Amy, countless families that have already
made the decision for this year and maybe

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thinking about that decision down the
road.

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Let me give you a scenario.

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And I want you to kind of give that
guidance from your historical experience

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as a long -term basketball coach and now a
Division I head basketball coach.

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if not just to future Lyndon Woods
students and athletes, maybe to others who

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might listen to this podcast.

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So here's the fictional scenario.

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This family's child is a solid basketball
player.

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They're good enough to be a strong
contributor to a D1 team, but probably not

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good enough to start or even get enough
playing time based on what they like.

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They are way above average academically,
but probably not top 50, not Harvard, not

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Yale, not

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Michigan, those kind of places.

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It's the end of a season, whatever season
that may be.

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I know you focus on basketball and a
portal decision is needed to go into it or

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not.

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Give these poor folks some guidance
because I know it's got to be tough.

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Yeah, yeah, I mean, I think it is really,
really tough, especially in the world we

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live in with, I think kids think it's
pretty normal to just go into the portal

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every year and find a new place.

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But to some of us old folks over here that
have been in coaching for a while, we take

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it a little bit harder and we see some
things that maybe it's harder for us to

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deal with.

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than kids just going into the portal.

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But I think the biggest thing is kind of
even the recruiting trail and the things

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we talk about with kids is really just
continuing to figure out what you want out

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of your experience.

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I think there are some situations where
going into the portal is a really good

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thing for some kids if they're not getting
out of their experience what that is.

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Maybe like you mentioned or said maybe
they're at a university that they don't

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feel like.

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is fitting their academic needs for what
they want academically, or maybe they feel

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like they need to go somewhere else so
that they can be challenged more on the

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court.

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I think it just depends on the kid, but I
think I would hope that every kid would

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really take a deep dive into what they
really want out of their experience and

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what that looks like, because I don't
think the grass is always greener.

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I don't believe those things.

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I think you have to make sure that when
you're looking at another school or

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another program that you really make sure
that they have what you're looking for

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that's gonna make you happy.

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And that's different for every kid.

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In the situation you said and managed, if
I thought that kid can contribute to us

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and can continue to grow in our program, I
would challenge them to come back and...

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and really work to take that next step in
our program.

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Academically, I would challenge them, hey,
let's see if there's something in St.

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Charles or St.

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Louis that we can grow your resume and
continue to challenge you academically.

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So I think there's things coaches can do
as well if they want to try to keep the

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kid at their institution.

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But I think it's just a hard thing for
student athletes these days.

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And I think, like I said, a lot of them
think it's pretty normal.

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But to some of us that have been in
coaching, it doesn't seem as normal maybe.

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But we're growing with the times as a
staff and we've got to be able to

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understand some of that and help guide
kids as much as we can.

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And the NCAA has had that long running
advertisement.

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Well, it says something to the fat coach
that 99 % of all NCAA student athletes end

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up as a professional in something else.

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And the reason for my comment is it's
really the academic piece is what's going

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to serve these children for 40 years.

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It's a sports piece that is for four
years.

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Is there a way, this is a rhetorical
question, feel free to pass on if you

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want, where parents can help their
children recognize

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it's the academic piece and the sports
while important is supplemental.

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Yeah, you know, I think it's hard to do
with young kids.

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You know, I think even when we have
freshmen on campus, us continuously

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getting them to understand how important
their freshman year academics are for

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their senior year, or if they want to get
into a grad program or anything like that,

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how important it is to do that from the
beginning.

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I think it's hard.

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You know, I think that, you know, every
kid's different with that and every

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family's different with that.

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But, you know, one of the things I tell,

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all the families and kids that sit down
with me when they're in my office is that

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at some point basketball is going to come
to an end in your life.

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You know that may mean that sometimes it's
after they go overseas and play you know

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or or sometimes it's after four years.

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I mean you just never know but at some
point it's going to come to an end in your

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life and

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How are you, what are you doing to prepare
for that next step?

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And that's what we really tried to do
throughout their time here is prepare them

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for that next step with stuff, because I
do think it's really important.

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I tell them, you know, we want them to
pick careers and to make lots of money and

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then to, you know, never forget to donate
back, right, Erie?

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That's the most important thing.

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So, you know, we kind of joke about that,
but it is real life stuff, you know.

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Basketball does come to an end and...

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and we need them to be prepared to be able
to get a job and to lead a successful life

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in those areas.

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So I do think it's important.

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Sometimes it's hard to see for an 18 year
old.

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And then sometimes it's hard to see with
parents, but I think it is important.

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And I think we really try to strive to
help them achieve some things so that they

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are ready for that.

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So I saw a Twitter post last night and I
have not gotten around to calling it X

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yet.

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So a Twitter slash X post.

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You had a chance to see an interesting
experience in the hospital this past week.

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Can you share that?

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Oh, it was so cool.

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You know, we went down to me and then
there was another student from campus and

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then one of our freshman players who's a
pre -med major, Alyssa Nielsen went down

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and toured Barnes Jewish Medical
Laboratory, which is one of the top

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medical laboratories in the nation.

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And I probably could have spent all day
there because I was probably in awe the

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whole time that we were there.

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I mean, just such a cool experience.

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I think, you know, when you can give your
players something, an experience like that

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where, you know, we walked in and I mean,
you know, for me, even myself, I'm a nerd

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at heart, you know, I went to Truman
State.

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So I am a nerd at heart and I love that
kind of stuff.

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But it is just amazing to me how many
different career paths and opportunities

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are out there that kids don't know about.

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And I think, you know, for, for we call
her Lou, but Alyssa,

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for Lou even stepping in there and being
able to say, hey, if I don't exactly want

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to go and be a doctor, look at all these
awesome opportunities there are to do

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other things within the medical field.

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I don't think a lot of kids know that or
realize those things, but I think it did

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open her eyes to some possible different
career paths if she would choose to do

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that.

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And I think that's the biggest thing is
presenting opportunities for our student

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athletes.

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that maybe they didn't know about that can
maybe trigger something that that they

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want to be passionate about and have a
career in.

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You know, I talk about my my youngest
sister, her husband is a profusionist.

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And until she met this guy, I had never
heard of what a profusionist was.

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And so, you know, it's crazy.

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Like, there's just so many, I think,
opportunities, whether it's within the

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medical field or or whatever that is that.

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you just don't know about until you have
the opportunity to tour in that.

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But it was such a cool tour and I'm so
appreciative of the people down there that

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took the time to speak with our student
athletes and to explain to them even like

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what the job looks like.

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Like, hey, you're a visionary person.

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This might be a field you're interested
in.

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I don't think kids get enough of that
early in their career.

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And I think for Lou and then hopefully for
some of our future pre -med kids, it's

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gonna be really, really beneficial for
them.

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So this is something you'd like to be able
to do at least annually, if not more

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often, for just after.

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OK.

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I think, I mean, I think it would be very,
very beneficial for anybody.

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You know, even on campus, if you're
looking at any kind of med field to see

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something like that, because I know even
talking with everyone down there, there's

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still a need for a lot of, you know, a lot
of people in those areas.

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And there's so many different areas.

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It was amazing just to see how many
different areas there were.

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They're in need of people.

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And I think it's something that,

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Again, if kids don't know about those
opportunities, they don't even look into

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those fields.

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So you are, Coach, you're officially past
the one year mark.

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I've asked you this question a couple of
times over the past year, but now you're

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officially past it.

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Now you've got to be looking ahead to year
two.

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How does your program grow in year two
from year one?

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Yeah, well, you know, we'll spend a lot of
May and preparing for that next step in

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our program.

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I mean, we're still recruiting.

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We still need two kids for this upcoming
year.

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So we're still working really, really hard
on that.

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And once we can hopefully get our roster
solidified, I'll feel a lot better about

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that, where we can really start to look to
move on.

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But, you know, our kids will be back in
June.

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So they're leaving this week and then
they'll be back in June.

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So.

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You know, we've really already started
looking at some things for June workouts

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and stuff that we need to get to to help
us.

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I think, you know, when you look at year
two, our program grows majorly in one

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area, and that's experience.

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You know, whether that's us as a staff
being at Linda Wood now for a year and

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having that all that experience.

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And, you know, it's just the little things
sometimes you don't realize that.

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You just learn how you have to do the
paperwork and how you have to do things

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behind the scenes with scheduling in the
gym and that where now we're just so much

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more comfortable with all those kind of
things.

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And then you look at the experience that
now all of our young kids are now

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sophomores or juniors, you know, in our
program with stuff.

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So they now know what they're doing.

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They now know expectations.

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They now know how to work.

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I think just that having that experience
is going to be so, so beneficial for us

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when it comes to June.

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I think they can really take in the new
kids and really just, you know, bring them

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into our program and help with some of
that transition where last year, nobody

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knew, you know, what we were doing.

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So I would say in those areas, I think
we've got, you know, three commitments

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already for this next class and three
really, really good kids are going to

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contribute to us immediately.

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They're super talented.

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So.

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I'm really excited about those three
already and adding them in.

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I think we've already gotten a lot better
with stuff.

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Good.

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And then you and I have talked about this
previously and during the summer months,

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we'd like to invite guests, really other
high school coaches probably, maybe

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athletic directors, maybe folks from
inside of Lindenwood.

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Tell us about what kind of folks you're
going to be reaching out to invite to join

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you for the summer series of the Amy E.

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we're going to try to reach out to a lot
of different people and different

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occupations within women's basketball.

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You know, I anticipate at some point we'll
probably even have on maybe our strength

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and conditioning coach just so people can
see some different ideas and different

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things of what he does.

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I think, you know, I'd like to have on our
next guest.

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I'm hoping it's going to be one of my good
friends that's at a junior college so we

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can give some insight into.

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uh...

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junior college and what that looks like
for steven division one uh...

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and then some more high school i think
it's really neat when you can share just

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different experiences whether it's high
school coaches uh...

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division three uh...

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division two you know junior colleges i
mentioned i think it's really neat because

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you know basketball is basketball and i
think uh...

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anytime you can share different ways that
you do things or uh...

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explore different ways that we do things i
think it helps grow the game and that's

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really what's about us

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continuously growing the game,
continuously growing women's basketball.

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Those things are happening in a real big
level right now.

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And so we want to contribute to that as
much as we can.

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And then finally, Amy, a couple of weeks
ago, Lindenwood hosted an event they

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called Pickleball with the President.

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And for those that don't know, Lindenwood
has 12 fabulous, lighted, dedicated

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pickleball courts on campus and 30 teams
of about 60 students.

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It was a king of the court kind of format.

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And Amy, you played with a faculty member
and the president of the university played

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with, I think, a staff member.

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Tell us about that event, what you had the
chance to do, the kind of students you had

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a chance to meet.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I think it's pretty cool when President
Porter wants to get out and spend some

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time with the students.

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And I obviously wasn't all student
athletes.

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It was just students that want to play
pickleball.

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And I think he is truly invested in giving
everybody a great experience.

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And if you see him, which you do a lot on
campus, you see him a lot walking through

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practice, or you see him a lot walking on
campus, or he comes by the offices and

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that, he's really involved in not just

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athletics but the overall campus and
helping everybody continue to grow and

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making this into something really really
special.

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So I think it's pretty cool to see him out
there amongst the students and talking

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with them and giving them some insight and
you know I think he would tell you that

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you know he he's pretty competitive if you
can't tell so I think that that helps us

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on the athletic side but he loves to get
out and get to know them.

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and see kind of their experience here
through their eyes by asking them

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questions.

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And I just think that's really important.

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I mean, that was one thing when I was
looking at this job that really intrigued

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me about this job and really made me want
to come here is because of how he

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presented it to me, his investment in it.

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And I think people ask me all the time,
how was your first year?

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And I think everything that we talked
about, whether it's Jason Coomer or him,

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has come to light and I'm really excited
about that.

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So I think when you look at our program,
we still have a long ways to go in regards

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to continuing to develop within division
one, but we're getting there and we're

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taking some steps in the right direction
with stuff.

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So that's really exciting, but he's a
very, very big part of why that's

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happening.

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And I guess as I wrap this up, if you're a
high school coach or athletic director

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listening to this and you'd like to have
your first or another podcast experience,

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reach out to Coach Egan.

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It's A .Egan, A -E -A -G -A -N at
Lyndonwood .edu.

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Say you'd like to be a star on her
podcast.

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I'm sure Amy will follow up promptly and
we'll certainly find a time to get you

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slotted in.

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During the non -season months, we're doing
it about every other month.

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So we've got plenty of slots to fill.

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So reach out and we've come to the end of
this podcast episode.

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with Lyndenwood University head women's
basketball coach Amy Egan.

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We'll look forward to seeing you and
having you join our podcast soon.