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Travis Reed is a professional basketball player who played 10 years overseas in countries such as Colombia, Poland, France, Belgium, Holland, Estonia, Germany, Australia and more. He was a League MVP in Holland 2004, Winning Finals MVP, League MVP in Estonia and also Baltic League MVP in 2006.
Travis hosts a podcast targeted to athletes who are thinking about or about to embark on a journey overseas, as well as a Youtube show that showcases the journeys of athletes from around the sports world.
In this episode, we discuss:
- His athlete’s journey
- Coaches who made an impact along the way – what made a difference?
- His worst experience with coaches
- What coaches should do to help young athletes determine their goals
- The journeys athletes have shared on his show
- Common challenges for athletes
- Going overseas as an athlete – making the decision, what to know
- Who should or shouldn’t do it?
- https://m.youtube.com/@AnAthletesJourney
About the host
Ross Romano is co-founder of the Be Podcast Network and also hosts The Authority Podcast. He began his career in the pro sports industry before becoming a leading communications, marketing, and management expert working with education companies. He is founder and CEO of September Strategies, a coaching and consulting firm that helps organizations and high-performing leaders in the K-12 education industry communicate their vision and make strategic decisions that lead to long-term success.
Creators & Guests
Host
What is Sideline Sessions?
Designed for coaches, parents and other stakeholders in the world of youth, scholastic, and amateur sports, this show brings you interviews with leaders at the highest levels of their respective sports.
Hear from coaches and performance experts with experience in the National Football League, National Basketball Association, Olympics, and NCAA Division-I, plus those who run elite youth programs, successful high school teams, and more. Hear about their motivations, philosophies, and strategies for success, and take away actionable insights to support the athletes in your life.
Ross Romano: [00:00:00] Welcome in everyone. You are listening to Sideline Sessions here on the Be Podcast Network. Thanks as always for joining us. We're going to have a great conversation here around basketball, around, you know, playing [00:01:00] overseas, around playing at a variety of different levels, the things that make it fun.
A difference both good and bad, right? And also a lot of insights from a variety of athletes from some shows that my, my guest here hosts himself. My guest is Travis Reed as a professional basketball player. He played 10 years overseas in Columbia, Poland, France, Belgium, Holland, Estonia, Germany, Australia, and more.
He was a league MVP in Holland in 2004. He was the finals, MVPA League, MVP in Estonia, and also the Baltic League MVP in 2006. He hosts a podcast called Travis Reed, A Basketball Life, as well as a YouTube show called An Athlete's Journey. On that podcast, that's targeted for athletes who are thinking about or about to embark on a journey overseas.
That's something we're going to talk about here, and on his YouTube show, he talks to a variety of athletes from a bunch of different sports. They share their journeys, lessons, some of the things that they've learned along the way. Also some things that are related to our conversations here, so we should have a lot of [00:02:00] great perspectives for all those things that are important to know and think about when we're working with athletes at the various levels that we work at.
So, Travis, thanks for being here.
Travis Reed: Ah, no problem. Thank you for having me.
Ross Romano: your athlete's journey. You know, I, I gave a little bit of that, right? That was just, it was a lot, but it was just a slice. You know, tell our, tell our listeners about. The different levels you played at, places you play, and kind of how that progressed for you, right?
And as, as you moved up the levels and kind of determined where you wanted to take your career next talk us through that a bit.
Travis Reed: All right. Well, I guess we'll start at the beginning. You know, growing up, my father was my coach, like most kids, you know, you know, he was my coach all the way up to about when I was 12 years old, something like that, 11 years old. And then yeah, anyway, about 11, 11, 12, 12 years old. And Pretty much after [00:03:00] that, you know, he saw my skills grow and grow to where like park leagues wasn't challenging me enough.
My dad always looking for the next challenge for me because I was always a kid that when I was eight, I was playing against 11 and 12 year olds. You know, when I was nine, I was going against 13 and 14 year olds because I was pretty big for my age. So he wanted me to be able to go up against older kids.
So I wouldn't dominate. You know, I would take a lot of lumps and that's pretty much what I did. And like I said, I got better till I was about 12. And then I went to AAU basketball, which was I played with a team called ARC with two NBA players on it, Jason and Jaron Collins. So in my class, you know, it was a bunch of NBA guys, you know, Baron Davis, you know, Jason and J College, Jeff Trap, panga not to even mention, obviously Shake Cotton.
Just a lot of great big name players all in that 97 class. After a, a aau went to Crenshaw High School won the state in state championship as a [00:04:00] freshman and the city championship as a freshman. Then I, you know, I, I switched schools. I ended up going to well, my mom and pop's divorced, and so I ended up going to a school called Ivey Miller in Fontana.
Back then it was called Fontucky because nobody knew where it was at. But, I went there with my cousin and Brandon Taylor, and yeah, became one of the best players in the country. You know, I was, you know, Inland Empire Player of the Year, you know, all these other Player of the Years. You know, it was top, top 40 players in the country.
Went to UCLA, was part of the No. 1 recruiting class in the country with Earl Watson, Baron Davis, Billy Knight Shea Cotton, Rico Hines, Ty Ramazard. Went to UCLA for two years. Me and the coach didn't see eye to eye on my playing time. So I left and went to Long Beach state. You know, I played at Long Beach state.
I was first team all big West two years in a row. And then after that I had a decision to make, you know, I, I will, I was going to get drafted like number 58, like two Memphis Grizzlies at the [00:05:00] time. But they had like four guys in my position and I was like, do I want to, you know, do the, go do the G league and all that.
And like my, my, my friend from Long Beach state, Rock Lloyd had basically just told me like, don't go to G league dog. You're going to be in Willacoochee, Georgia, in a apartment with five dudes in it in two bedroom. And I was like, none against Willacoochee. So don't be mad. But you know, I was just like, man, I want to go make more money than this.
So I got, I dealt with his agent, his agent was like, I can go get you, you know, 5, 000 a month right now. So you don't have to worry about, you know, anything. Go get money right now. So that's pretty much how my overseas journey kind of started. You know, I was going to come back, possibly play in the summer league, but they just wasn't paying, you know, enough money for me to keep my place.
So, I literally graduated from college and then maybe like three weeks later I went to [00:06:00] Bogota, Colombia, which is my first place I played overseas. Now that, you know, like I'll just go over the places, you know, if you want me to go into each place, let me know. But Bogota was the first place.
It was Insane. The, I had two armed guards with me at all times because they was, you know, they do some crazy stuff in Bogota. There was no police, so the military was the police. So like I said, everywhere I went, I had two guys with like AK 47s and M 16s on their backs. You know, so whenever I walked around, me and the other Americans, we all had bodyguards.
So that was crazy. After Bogota, I went, I, I signed a contract to go to, and like I said, my first year was my craziest year because I went to like four or five different countries before I got stuck. And so I could tell any player, if you're trying to play overseas, like, don't give up, you know, because like they cut you like, like it ain't nothing, you know.
I, I went to Poland for a couple weeks and they cut me because I wasn't 6'10 And they was like, well, [00:07:00] he's doing, you know, I'm 6'8 and I'm killing. They was like, no, we wanted 6'10 guys. So they cut me and the other American. And then I went to France and the coach got fired in the pre season. So the new coach came in and released me.
Then I went to Belgium and I thought for sure I was going to make that team. And they they cut me too. Yeah. And so after that, I fired my agent, the agent that I had, and I went to Holland for basically no money my first year for 1, 500 a month. After Holland, you know, like, I had a really good year, won statistical player of the year.
That year, my first year, then obviously stayed in Holland for four years, won the championship my second year. I won AVP my second year. And that was probably like, if you want to say my overall best year overseas. Because I won the MVP of the league, I won the MVP of the all star game. You know, obviously we won the championship.
And then [00:08:00] that summer, I came back and played in the Summer Pro League. And my team won the championship. So, 2004 was just a great year. So like I said, I played in Holland for three years. Then went to Estonia. You know? Played over there, won MVP of the league you know, a couple years, and after Estonia I got injured and I missed a year because I had stress fractures in both my shins, and I still have plates in them to this day.
after Estonia I went to Romania. And I hated it there, so I got my agent to get me out of there after a couple months. Went back to Estonia, finished the season, and then I ended up going to Australia. For, you know, for a year. Then I went to Germany, and back to Australia. And after that I wanted to keep playing, but my son was getting older.
He was, he turned three at the time. And You know, I started really missing him towards the end of my career. So I just kind of hung it up after those 10 [00:09:00] years. (ad here)
Ross Romano: Yeah. a lot of those things are changing fast, I think. I mean, even, you know, the college part of it, right? NIL now and and, you know, some changes that were made to the, what is now the, you know, the G League, right? With
Travis Reed: Oh,
Ross Romano: compensation that there's all these, I mean, even the, the calculus I guess for athletes who are, looking at going and playing in college and then maybe what they might want to do after college.
There's a lot of different things to take into account and it makes it, you know, just as important to continue to surround yourself with the right people, get the right advice, right, and make smart decisions. And because it seems like some of those hard decisions are getting, they're coming up earlier and earlier.
There is that push and pull between maybe instant gratification or what seems like the, [00:10:00] you know, the, the fastest option and what might be the best long term option, I would think. Whether it's the, the ease of mobility and making decisions based on going to the The place where there's the quickest path to plank time or where there's a little more money available or whatever all those things are.
You're still kind of around the college game. What have you observed? And I mean, that stuff has happened really fast, I think in the past few years. And we still don't exactly know. I think it's going to be a while, maybe another five, 10 years before it's really clear. What does all of this really mean for college athletics and, and whether it's a, is it a good thing, a bad thing?
What's good? What's bad? But I guess, you know, what have you observed around the types of decisions that athletes need to make now and how they can try to, you know, You know, [00:11:00] find some helpful guidance the same way there were different things of course when you were looking at what are my different options here, right?
There were different people that you had to rely on to give you some information because it's like there's certain things that might seem like not your first choice, but that might have a little more upside. Like what's that looking like?
Travis Reed: Well, you know, let's just say this. Like, okay, this all started because of my friend, Ed O'Bannon. He was the one that started this, you know, whatever it was, ten years ago. He was, you know, they had a NCAA basketball game. He was on it, he was in it. And he was like, he saw one of his friend's kids playing it, and he was like, that's me!
And he ain't seen no money. And so he won, he won in state court, but I think he lost in the, either settling or something like that in federal court. Because they ruled, he was the first ruling [00:12:00] for And so, you know, that was just the beginning of what, how, what we are now. And I can tell you this, how old I am, when I transferred, I had to sit out a year.
You know, when I, when I transferred, if you wanted to go from like, let's say a Pac 12 or it was a Pac 10, man. If you want to go from Pac 10 to another Pac 10 school, cause I really wanted to go to Oregon. You know, and they wanted me, but I just couldn't sit out two years. You had to sit out two years, if you wanted to go from in conference. So what happened was for me, like I would tell like, you know, my son's in high school now. So, any player that's going to college, you know, like I wouldn't take the best NIL deal, you know, because the, like, it's cool to have the money, but you don't want to be that guy where you just go to school, leave, go to school, leave.
And now I know the money sometimes is so outrageous for these football players that. Dudes are leaving, not even, dudes are leaving mid season like the dude from UNLV. [00:13:00] I would say make sure you get everything in the writing. And so, you know, like no verbal like, oh yeah, we're gonna give you so and so amount of money.
And when you get there, they ain't giving you no money, you know? You know, I would, I, it's, it's more It's still loving it, but I think it's a little bit more business like, right? Because let's face it, I mean, What do Caleb means? Caleb wins, make last year fast seed, three, four million dollars, you know?
And he made that two years in a row, he made, you know, like eight, nine million dollars before he even got to the NFL. And what I do feel about this, you know, the NIL, And you don't have to be like the main guy getting three, four million, you could be the The bench guy getting 75, 000 to 100, 000. What it does for us is gives us options after school.
So let's just say you go to, you know, I go to UCLA. You know, I'm a new student at UCLA. I go there five years. Right? [00:14:00] Say I get a medical redshirt or whatever. I don't know. But even if I stay four years. Say my freshman year, I blow through the money because you're in the 18, you're getting a hundred thousand, you know, Oh, I'm gonna just blow through it, give it to, you know, money to moms, whatever, whatever, you know, but even if you blow through your first year's money, you save up the next three years money.
So you're getting a hundred K, you save up 75 of it a year, you know, you're leaving school with 225, 000 in your bank account. And you know, you don't have to take a job that you don't want to do. And that's what a lot of athletes, former athletes, have to do. You know, so we'll take it, like for me, you know, when I, when I, I worked at Enterprise at one point, you know.
Cause, you know, I was like, I need a, I need a job, you know. And I don't have, I have money saved up, but like not enough to just live off that forever. For So, you know, [00:15:00] what the NIL does is gives you an opportunity to figure out what it is you want to do, instead of doing what it is you have to do.
Ross Romano: Yeah. Yeah. I say, I think it'll take some years of seeing what's happening in college, what's happening with some of these athletes if they go pro. There's clearly, you know, positives in shifting the power balance between coaches have always had freedom of movement, right? To go where the best offer is.
And, and so, it's not fair that. An athlete wouldn't have that or would have to sit out one or more years to be able to transfer if they are recruited to a school and then that coach that recruited them leaves, or it's just, you know, for whatever reason, right?
Travis Reed: I was like, think about everybody who was at Oklahoma with Lincoln Riley, right?
Ross Romano: right.
Travis Reed: He had kids who he recruited to Oklahoma, signed, sealed, and delivered. And then, [00:16:00] boom! SC. I want SC. Or Brian Kelly, same thing. You know, signs with, you know, leaves Notre Dame and goes to LSU.
So, like, the players should be able to do that. the same as coaches, you know, because I feel like coaches are making, you know, nowadays they're making 10, the low, the low ball is probably five. So like, it's so much money out there from colleges that like you said, eventually it's going to be a situation where they're going to try to govern it.
But right now, like I said, for the next couple of years, it's going to be the wild, wild West until they bring it in.
Ross Romano: Yeah. And if you're a great college athlete and you're part of a program that's making money for your school you know, you deserve to realize some financial gain from what you're putting into it, because that might be, you know, your opportunity, you may, you may not pursue it beyond that, but it also, I think what we'll kind of learn a little bit [00:17:00] is either, you know, is it Spider Man with great power comes great responsibility, or it's like, you know, mo money, mo problems of like, now that you have.
more autonomy and more choice. You also have the responsibility to make the right decisions for yourself. Because in the old days, when, you know, like sometimes 18, 19 year olds don't necessarily know what's best. And when they were in a program, they would have to stick with it and they might learn more and end up coming out better out.
Now they have the ability to go somewhere else or, you know, if they want to. But. Ultimately, as you mentioned, you know, if you're, I mean, there's a student athlete to have transferred three, four times is that best for you in the long, like, did you develop or at the end of that, you know, did you feel like you were able to make the choice you want to make, but at the end, you didn't really come out with the skillset you might [00:18:00] have if you stuck in one place and you were part of a program and you had more continuity.
Travis Reed: don't, I don't agree with like kids just transferring because they're not starting, you know, like now it's getting to the point where I thought they're not, they're a high recruit and they're not starting. They're not going to, they, they might, you know, not play as much as what they think they was going to play their leading, which is stupid to me.
You know, I think that. I always say, well, you know, the great Frederick Douglass said, without struggle, there's no progress. And sometimes you need adversity to understand the blessing that you have of being a student athlete, you know, even making it to the pros, like I think if you notice the best quarterbacks now are guys who went to different schools, you know, like they didn't just, you know, I mean, obviously there's some that didn't, but like.
Let's just say right now you take out Beck from Georgia, you know, he had to sit though, you know, a couple [00:19:00] years. Cam Ward from Miami, you know, was at Washington State, you know, even the last year's group with Caleb Williams and the Heisman Trophy winner of
Ross Romano: It was Daniel's.
Travis Reed: Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jaden Daniels.
There we go. You know who transfers. So to me, I just think that like, you know, I don't necessarily agree with guys transfer. I think there should be a limit, you know, like to maybe two transfers, you know, in, in, in, in a span. And if you do transfer a third time, then you have to sit out a year. You know, like, but I see, like you said, I see guys that basically go to four schools in four years just because they're looking for the next NIL deal.
Like, that's not what the NIL was for. It was for students that are grinding, you know, and like they have their name, image, likeness for this school. For example, the perfect person, like a Reggie Bush type. You know, what he did at SC, what he [00:20:00] became, one of the best college players ever. That is for what the NIL was for.
Tim Tebow, or whoever, you know. Not just the guy that's a mercenary, that comes into a school, gets his money and then transfers and goes to the next school with more money. If they have a dollar more, like that ain't, I don't think that's what the NIL was actually for.
Ross Romano: Yeah, I mean, I would have to agree, but it's all, you know, it's, it's kind of part of that. Yes, you have this ability to do this, but what's best? Because I think there's plenty of examples, and we'll see more as it goes on where there's clear examples where you know what, this athlete didn't do it. Develop and didn't become what we thought they would because they kept moving around or, you know, I, I think one example that
Travis Reed: ha.
Ross Romano: I mean, you know, based on the individuals involved, maybe, but a lot of times you wouldn't see it [00:21:00] happen too much today.
And it was only, you know, Five, six, seven years ago at Alabama when Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa were right there, and they each lost the job to each other. I mean, it went back and forth, but I'm sure that made both of them better because they were competing. They were, you know, and nowadays, I don't, I wouldn't think of an example where the first time the starter lost his job, he wouldn't immediately transfer the next season.
And. You can go to some place where there's not really competition for that job, but does it make you as good as you can be? So there's a part of, like, it does just creates more of that responsibility on the athletes to embrace the competition, embrace hard coaching and, You know, it's not abusive, but right, but a coach who's going to push you and really challenge you to become your best self, which [00:22:00] doesn't always sound like fun, right?
It doesn't always make it easy for you, but to say, look, if I really want to become as good as I can, or if I want to play on the best possible team that I can, that means. There's going to be a lot of guys who are just as good as me or better. If I'm by far the best guy, then the team's probably not going to be that good.
So, it's just, it's something for those athletes to think about for their parents, for their coaches, as they move up those levels to really talk to them about, I think, to say, look, the very best of the best embrace that and they want to compete against the best. And And that's, you know, what that looks like, but I'm wondering, you know, another thing that, that I've heard about but you've had firsthand experience playing overseas, especially, you know, probably specific to Europe.
You know, there's been discussion of definitely in recent years, right, in the NBA about, okay, why are these [00:23:00] European players becoming so dominant? And. And, you know, one of the things I've heard about it is that, you know, the balance between how much time they practice versus play games is totally different, right?
In the U. S., it's AAU. You play, you know, just play games all weekend. There's not really a lot of practice time. In Europe, it's practice, practice, practice. And I think we see that in some other sports as well, you know. baseball players from Japan, like they, they, they practice way more than they do here. And so they're that much better at the fundamentals and, and their, their baseline level, you know, if you say controlling out for talent, like their average player is that much stronger because of that practice time.
And I, you know, I think see that when they talk about, okay, how come, you know, You know, all the seven foot European guys can shoot and pass and, you know, like it's, and that's something again, [00:24:00] like when we think about what coaches might want to prioritize here, and some of it's at the system level, some of the systems just aren't set up the way the schedules are right where there's not a lot of practice time available.
But to say like, yes, playing games and competition is important for a lot of reasons, but. There's a lot of development that happens in that practice.
Travis Reed: well, I could tell you this being overseas, you know, it's really simple, you know, why they're better, you know, like if you think about the top four or five players in the NBA, probably all Europeans are not from here. You know, like you said, AAU's in a way is kind of killing the basketball for Americans, because like you said, I've been, I've, you know, like my AAU time.
Like, don't get me wrong, you would, you would play games, but like, you would also practice. You would also get time off to maybe go play football, go play baseball, go play [00:25:00] whatever. Where you go back, you actually, you know, now you go to your high school team and go play with them. You wouldn't play with your AAU team during the season.
You know, you might go to certain little tournaments, but most of the time you're trying to win state with your city or championship or CIF championship with your high school team. And those, you know, those old school coaches were tough, you know, period. And so like, you know, when I was in overseas in Europe, like, you know, you practice twice a day, you know.
Five days a week and then you, you will play on Saturday and then you would have Sunday off and then practice twice a day, every day, five days a week. Now, their schools, their schools are just same way. Like they have basketball academies where they're practicing, you know, two, three times a day. You know, every single day they play one game a week.
That's literally it. They're not going, they're not playing four and five games in a day. They're not, you know, three or four games [00:26:00] in a day. They're not playing four or five games in a weekend. They're not doing that. They're, they're practicing and working, like you said, working on the fundamentals every single day.
Now, the best, the best ones, they, they go pro. So, when I was there, I saw two players. I saw the kid Rudy Fernandez. Rudy Fernandez. He's Spain, he played in the NBA. He was about 18 playing in Spain. Spain is, if anybody don't know, like Spain is the number 2 league in the world behind the NBA. The most of the guys who play in Spain, a lot of them have been drafted, or, you know, have been in the NBA, that kind of thing.
You know, when I was there, I played against Marc Gasol right before he went to the NBA. Right before he got drafted by the Lakers, and then traded to Memphis. But It was Rudy, like I said, Rudy Fernandez and the point guard he got drafted before Steph Curry. He was from
Ross Romano: Ricky Rubio.
Travis Reed: Ricky Rubio. Yeah. He was 16 starting in [00:27:00] Spain because he was on my friend's team, Jerome Moiseo.
And I saw him. I was like, this kid is nice. He was 6'5 He can handle, he can really, really pass. Shooting was okay, but he could run a team. And so like, that's what happens. Like the best of the best at a young age, they go to that. And what these teams do, they sign their, their, their great young players to five, six, seven year deals.
And so like they stay within the team and within the system so they practicing with us every day. I was in Holland. There was two kids. I was, I was with the rookie of the year twice, both my first year and my second year to where like, you know, the kids like they didn't play as much, but they did play.
And they were young, but they were playing with grown men. And like I said, practicing every day with us. And like I said, that's how their system is, you know, their system is that like, they don't. AAU is great. I'm not knocking AAU, but like, like I said, the fundamentals, like parents are kind of living through their kids and so they think [00:28:00] that, you know, like, Oh, my kid's going pro, you know, give him, you know, a half a season in college and he's going number one and they don't listen and, you know, like it's entitlement.
And so all the teams, all the kids, you know, You know, the best kids just gang up on one team, and try to win a tournament, they ain't never practiced, they ain't never, you know, they barely do plays, you know, they just kinda one on one, one on one, you go one on one, he go one on one, where in Europe, they move the ball, and you're right, the big man learn, like, every big man is, look, Joker's the best player in the world, but all the big men in Europe are like that, you know, all the big men in Europe can shoot, They can play in the post.
They know how to use elbows and angles and they know how to, you know, they know how to draw fouls. They know how to flop. You know, like all these things I had to learn myself, you know, my first year I might've, I might've charged about three times a game because they knew how to get in front of me. Oh, you know, right in front of the ref charge, [00:29:00] you know, even if it was a flop.
And so I just know that like the academies and things like that, And, you know, playing with grown men at a young age, that's how they're so much better. That's how, you know, Luka Doncic would come in, you know, at 20 years old and dominate the NBA. Because he was in Europe doing it already at 18. Because he was playing against grown men at like 13, 14.
You know, same, you know, same with with Joker. Same with, you know, a lot of guys who come in to the NBA and now, you know, Giannis. I mean, don't get me wrong, it took some of these, you know, Joker and Giannis some years. But look at 'em now. You know, like if you wanna count the top five in the NBA, it is probably you know, joker one, Luca two Giannis three, maybe MB four, you know?
Ross Romano: Yeah. I mean, the best, like, the things that you notice are the, you know, the, the highlight plays, right? But the best players are always the best at the basics, at the [00:30:00] fundamentals. They get that by those years of practice. And You know, one of the things that I think might be promising in this d regard was when I've talked to people who are, you know, helping student, you know, high school athletes navigate the recruiting space.
For example, nowadays with the internet, with social media, with video, right, you can make yourself discovered wherever you are. So it do, it can't, it doesn't only happen as showcases or an a a U tournament or so, if you really want to focus on being the best you can. You may have more options to go about that than feeling like, oh, I hat this is the only way to do it.
And because you see it at every level of every sport. I mean, look at it. You know, that one of the big conversation topics right now is we're recording this. right after week four of the NFL season. And the big conversation is how terrible the games were all of September. And why is that? [00:31:00] It's because nobody plays their starters in the preseason.
They barely practice anymore. They actually don't practice, you know, at least at full contact. And of course that's done for safety issues and that's for primarily, but it shows on the field. Like when you don't practice. You're not ready to play. And it just, you know, comes across sloppy, and these are guys who are professionals, who are the best at what they do, and yet If you're not sharp, you're not sharp.
And, you know, most of us are not at that level. So if you're not putting in that work and that practice time, and that's a sport that only plays once a week and you have, you know, that time. And again, the thing that happens in Europe, right? I think with, I'm not an expert in European soccer, but my understanding is they pretty much same thing.
They play on the weekend, they train all week. And those are the elite players in the world at the world's most popular sport. They're spending most of their time training. And then, you know, the game is the reward for the practice. [00:32:00] You know, that's how we used to think about it in football. It's like, that's the reward for the hard work you put in at the end of the week.
Not, you know, nobody enjoyed that practice, but we knew what it was for. But it wasn't, you know, like, I think a lot of athletes over the years as these, the sports systems in this country have changed to really prioritize game number one over practice, you know. Athletes have picked up on that and now it's like they're not really interested in that practice time because they're only interested in the game and maybe taking the wrong lessons.
I mean, if whenever somebody talks about the greats, right, Jordan, Kobe, what do they talk about? How hard they practice all the time they spent in the gym by themselves. It's not, it's not about, oh, well, they, they used to play the most games. You know, in this tournament or that tournament, it's all that practice time, and that's how they become the best they can and, you know, some of it at the program level I would guess that there's a, [00:33:00] you know, there's a lot of coaches out there or people in positions of coaches that aren't necessarily professional coaches, but they're a parent or they're coaching youth or coaching whatever, and they maybe haven't thought as deeply about this.
What are the things that are, you know, maybe the easy thing or the fun things, but what are the things that are really going to help these kids? improve and develop if they love the sport or if they just want to see how good they can be, right? Do we have to push a little harder on focusing in on that practice time and, and making the most of it?
And, and I, but I think a lot of these examples of looking at, even though most people aren't going to become professionals, they're not going to be in the MBA, they're not going to be, Three time MVP, like Jokic, right? It's like, but yeah, but how did he get to where he got when you, you look at him and when he was drafted, everybody's like, Oh, this guy doesn't look [00:34:00] like he's going to be a superstar. He, you know, he didn't just roll out of, out of bed like that. He worked on it.
Travis Reed: No, yeah, I would, I definitely agree with you on that. I think, like I said, Europe is just different when it comes to that. Like I said, like you're practicing, you know, two times a day minimum. Sometimes, you know, like you might just be going, you might go to the weight room or something in the morning for a practice but like it's still a practice, you know?
So for me, I took everything very seriously, you know? So when I go to the weight room, I was really lifting. I, you know, I, I lifted extra days, you know, because I didn't want to be injured, you know, a lot of football players now, it's more prevalent than now, ever, I think, that you see all these injuries from athletes you know, football players especially, because like you said, like, they're not putting pads on in the, in practice, and they're not playing in preseason games, and like, you know, Iron kind of [00:35:00] sharpens iron, you know, like you cannot be Like we're not gonna do anything and then all of a sudden go full speed They usually you know, especially for like, you know, wide receivers running backs all these people Hamstring pulls if you notice, I don't know how many People are out, you know injured this year because of this or that You know, because like they're not, you know, I said, they're not sharpening, you know, like when I was in Europe, I don't, you know, besides the surgery, I never got injured, you know, I never got hurt.
I didn't, I didn't really miss because, you know, I was practicing every day, you know, hard and, and I was, you know, in good shape. And I was, you know, like I was working out and my, my joints and my bones are solid. And so like that's the difference, you know, that's why you see so many people that can't even make it through a whole season in the NBA no more.
Because I think their bodies are, you know, the game is more about speed than it is about [00:36:00] strength. And, you know, now, like I said, like dudes are, it's more, you know, It's different, you know, obviously I know I'm not trying to be the old guy getting my day. You know, I'm not trying to be like that because the game is just different, but the injuries have, you know, went through the roof, you know, and not just the regular superstars, you know, like regular players, superstars too.
I mean, you know, Magic played 81 games like seven, eight times, you know, in 11 years. Mike played, you know, 10 times or whatever it was, 11 times. Like, Who goes 81 games now? You know what I'm saying? None of the superstars do. None. Zero. You know, maybe, maybe Tatum and Brown from the Boston Celtics probably go to most.
But, it's just, like I said, I think it's, you know, it's a different time period to where, you know, it's so, it's such a money grab business. I want to go a little bit back to what you [00:37:00] were talking about the AAU thing. Now, like you said, like, how everybody can be, like, seen or known from anywhere, right? Like, when I was coming up in AAU, there was no internet, and there was no stuff like that.
So, like, wherever you did as a player, you had to earn your name, you know? Whatever name you have, you was top 10 in the country, top 5 in the country, top whatever. Like, you had to go to, you know, this place. In this place, in this place, you show your game and people had to see you. There was no like, you know, internet where a guy has five dunks, you put them on YouTube and like this guy, he might've had 16 points, but they make him seem like he's, you know, Michael Jordan because he had five dunks.
And so I just think now it's just, it's just really different. You know, I'm not going to lie to you. It's such more money grab. That's why you see, you know, dads coaching their sons cause they want that. You know, that Nike sponsorship or Adidas or [00:38:00] whatever. Hey, you money. It's, you know, big money grab. (ad here)
Ross Romano: Yeah, what so what are some of the things in your opinion coaches should do and they should try to have a role in as far as like helping their Young athletes determine their goals, where they might want to go with their sport. You know, if we're talking about, they could, you know, let's say high school level, or maybe heading into high school.
Athletes who have ambition around it, right? Who, who think they want to push it as far as they can, but but need a trusted source of guidance to help them with because there's a lot of You know, there's a lot of people out there who either just don't know and maybe can't provide the best insight.
There's people who have their own motives. Right. And and we want to think that hopefully our coaches and our high schools and all can trusted on that. And I talk about that to a lot of [00:39:00] people here, like what. What responsibility is there? And there's varied opinions. Some people think high school coaches shouldn't get too involved in that stuff because it's just not their place.
Other people would say they really should try to because there might not be anybody else in that student athlete's life who knows anything about the recruiting process or what options are out there. And that might mean that they never achieve their potential because nobody gives them those insights or tells them the importance of keeping their grades up or, you know, making those visits or whatever the case may be.
Travis Reed: Well, I would just say, as you know, if you're a coach, tell the kids the truth, you know, like no matter what it is, you know, if kids need to work hard, you got to tell them like, look, man, you lazy. And even if he leaves your program, then he leaves your program. You know, I think that like a lot of cultures, And college coaches are victim of this too.
Where they just, they want to cater to the [00:40:00] kids and cater to the big name kids. So like, Oh my God, this kid is like top five in the country. So I got to cater to them. Like, Hey, you can go out there and do whatever you want. You don't have to work. And then it goes to the college and like, look, the college, you know, like, look, let's just win.
And then I know you're going to go pro. Like, I would just say like this, just be honest with the kids. And like you said, like my dad would be. If he didn't know something about college and about recruiting, he would talk to somebody who did. You know, that was his thing. Like he would talk, he knew, you know, he, my dad made great connections, you know, because of his job at the time and, and because of me.
So he talked, he found people like, you know, like when I was in my recruiting process, it was hard. It was a lot of schools that were coming to recruit me out of high school. You know, I had about 200. 350 scholarship offers, but I didn't, you know, I, I, I knew myself, right? And my dad knew, he knew me too, so he knew [00:41:00] that I probably wouldn't be going to nowhere far and then nowhere cold.
So I knocked out, you know what I'm saying, a lot of schools. I knocked out, you know, 150 schools. So, you know, I think for me, it's like, get the information, the right information for the kids. And give them the, your honest opinion. Now, your, your opinion can be wrong. They can turn into whatever they wanna turn into, but you have to be honest.
You know, what you think. Like, look, you know, like, I can, I, I can tell you or I can tell my son, like, t you know, like, I like your game. You're a good player. I think that, you know, you know, solicit something thrown at UCLA. It's a school for you because they run a good offense and you know, you talk to the coach, you know, they run a good offense.
They're going to push you academically as well. And, you know, I think you have your best chance to succeed. Now, a lot of these kids, they're just going to the biggest bag. [00:42:00] Like, you know, if UCLA offers 100, 000, Michigan offers, you know, 200, 000. I'm going to Michigan because they're offering 200, 000. Like, no.
Pick you, you know, like, give the kid the honest assessment of your coach. Because coaches are teachers. You know, you're, you're, you know, you're, you're like a teacher. You're, you know what I'm saying? Like, you're molding a kid to, you know, like for his future. And you have to be honest with them, you know, like you don't have to hurt their feelings or be brutally harsh.
But you have to be honest, you know, and You know, that's what I would want my son like a coach I don't need my coaches to kiss my son's ass kiss my ass. Excuse my language but I would want them to be honest like look he needs to work on shooting dribbling whatever You know, just tell the kids the truth And then I think that parents will respect you more rather than just blowing smoke up their [00:43:00] butt.
Ross Romano: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if they're going to be successful, they need to have the truth and be able to determine what level, what types of programs, what do I need to do to get where I'm going? And who in, in my life can tell me that? And if I, if I can't trust. my coach to give me some of that information. Who else is there?
And,
Travis Reed: Pay your coach to find somebody.
Ross Romano: make, right? I've, I've seen the difference it can make. If you take the same program, you know, the same school, and replace one coach with another one, and one who really engages in that process, all of a sudden, oh, you know, they're sending, they're sending guys to all these schools that never happened in the past.
Well, if it's a public school, right? I mean. There's outliers, but in general, the talent pool didn't change. So what changed? The change was, you know, there was just more guidance [00:44:00] there and better engagement with schools. Better you know, leadership around, yeah, these are the things you need to do. And there's a lot of the things that are outside of what happens.
on this field or on this court. And it really matters. It might not seem like it matters to you, but it does because you can't get admitted to a school if you don't meet the requirements. It doesn't matter how bad the coach wants you, right? There's things you need to do. And you need to get Somebody to tell you that before it's too late.
So it's really important. So Travis, before we wrap up, I want to give you a chance to, you know, tell our listeners a bit about the shows that you host, what they might hear there. You know, the floor is yours on that.
Travis Reed: Well, I would say my, you know, I, I host a couple of shows it's called a show called Believe in UCLA. You know, me and my friend TJ Cummins you know, he's son of Terrell Cummins who played in the NBA 15 years. Yeah, like 15 years, yeah. TJ played, you know, played in the NBA, played overseas, you know, played at UCLA.
We talk about, you see, [00:45:00] right now, he's, he don't do the football, but he do the basketball with me. Right now, I'm talking about the football and things like that, but like, you know, pretty soon, basketball's coming, so he'll be doing that with me. My number one show, I have also, I don't know if he said, she said, but it's acquired taste.
But. My number one show is An Athlete's Journey that is on you know, Spotify, you know, all these, all those, and as well as YouTube. Pretty much, you know, on An Athlete's Journey, I've interviewed NBA players, former NBA players overseas players tennis, baseball, football, basketball, hockey. No, hockey's the only one I haven't done.
Gymnast. Bodybuilding. I just, I've done, I've done, you know, like in this, pretty much the show is about you know, like former and current athletes talking about their journeys. And for me, the main thing is like what happens after, you know. I struggled with it. I know a lot of my friends who struggled with it.
[00:46:00] So, I just want, you know, people to hear their, you know, different stories of how they struggled and how they persevered to get to where they are now. Just to let people know they can learn from my mistakes and their mistakes, you know, and become, you know, better, better than I ever was or better than what they ever were.
Ross Romano: Yeah. Well, if you like this show, you probably liked that conversations, you know, with athletes from all different sports and And thinking about how it applies to you, what you might want to impart that wisdom to the young athletes in your life. So we'll put the links to those below where you can find them check them out if you haven't already, please do also subscribe to sideline sessions.
The rest of our season coming out here each week for season three of the show and a lot of great conversations from all across the sports landscape, or you can also visit the podcast. network if you want to learn about our other shows focused on education. So thanks for listening and thank you again, Travis, for being here.
Travis Reed: Thank you. Appreciate you having me on. [00:47:00]