4 Lessons Athletes Can Learn From Kirk Herbstreit's Book Out Of The Pocket

are you a basketball player who's experienced some low points along your journey have you struggled with self-doubt as your striving to achieve your Big Dreams well today I'm going to share some valuable lessons that can help you through those times this is something that any basketball player really any athlete can use to help them through those times and I'm going to take these lessons straight from the pages of Kurt herb Street's book out of the pocket let's jump and [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] discuss welcome back to hard smart to get her I'm Coach Dave I'm here every week to help basketball players become the smart confident players that coaches love so this week it's the well we're we're wrapping up summer I can tell we're wrapping up summer because it's really hot um but fall is right there you can feel fall it's right there and I love this time of year I love this time of year for a lot of reasons one we're all anticipating the start of basketball season but in addition to being a basketball coach and a basketball fan I'm also a huge college football fan so I don't know if you're a college football fan or even a football fan if you even follow the sport you'll still get really good value out of what we're going to talk about today because I'm going to talk about a personality one of the sports casters that is known as kind of Mr Football Kurt herb Street and I'm a big fan of Kurt herb streets I this time of year you'll find me 6:00 a.m. up watching college game day snacking on some pop Tarts every Saturday morning to watch the show college game day love the personalities on there um but Kurt herb chep really stands out as one of the most famous kind of football sports casters as well as really like sports casters that we have right now on ESPN and so Kurt herb Street has a book out Kurt herb Street out of the pocket don't know if you've read it but I decided to read it before this college football season started because I'm always fascinated in really successful people especially athletes coaches things like that I'm always fascinated in what's their story how did they get there okay what obstacles did they overcome things of that nature and this story was really fascinating and it wasn't just a fascinating story which it was I highly recommend you get the book and read it if you love those kind of stories but what I learned is there was kind of four themes that I pulled out of it for lessons if you will that could apply to my audience to you basketball players and really to any young athlete who might be you know like I said hitting those low points along your journey or struggling with self-doubt because I think we can learn a lot from looking at the stories of really successful people successful athletes that go on and do great things I mean her herb Street's about as successful as you get in the World of Sports so what can you learn from this book out of the pocket I'm just going to pour four P pull four lessons out that you can learn one is you're not the only one struggling with self-doubt okay Kurt herb Street he had kind of a difficult childhood Ood you know family life uh had some struggles there um he had a really successful High School um athletic career he was a five-star recruit quarterback could have had his pick of schools to go to um of course he had his dream School Ohio State and um his dad went to Ohio State his dad was a captain on Ohio State so he had kind of a legacy and he had grown up being a huge Ohio State fan but he was a you know successful baseball player uh a successful football player a quarterback you know came in feeling pretty good he got recruited obviously by Ohio State as well as other schools but there was self-doubt when he got to Ohio State he didn't achiev that immediate success in fact he sat for four years he almost considered quitting football they were trying to play him on defense at one point there was some real low points along his career until he got to his year and got to start for at quarterback for Ohio State and Achieve one of his dreams right there was pretty much a four-year low point there that he struggled he struggled with some some self-doubt but what did he do with that self-doubt that self-doubt actually drove him and that's really lesson number one that self-doubt drove him to work on his craft work on his skills as a football player work on his game the whole way through he always was a worker he always wanted to be prepared overprepared in some cases as he transitioned from college to become a sportscaster on radio at first and then kind of small TV and then ESPN and then on to game day each step along the way he struggled with self-doubt like am I really read ready for this I mean there's plenty of quotes throughout the book where he's like I I don't know if I'm ready so what did he do he doubled down on his work he worked on his craft he overprepared there's some funny stories in there about interviews where he showed up like and spent the whole night preparing for this interview and done all this work and it was Overkill but for him that's how he addressed his self-doubt he made sure he was prepared he worked on his skills he worked on the habits that he could rely on that would Propel him into the next step and on to success so that's a lesson for you number one even though you're struggling with these low points these self-doubts focus on what you can control focus on building your skills building your habits and working on your craft whatever that might be we're talking about basketball but that could be sports that could be school that could be a career it doesn't matter really use that that those low points use that little doubt that Creeps in your head is am I good enough am I prepared enough to put in the work to build that that those skills that you can depend on number two don't neglect mindset I know you know some people totally buy into this whole idea of mindset and being mentally tough and things of that nature but it's important it's interesting between Kurt like at the end of his fourth year at Ohio State uh the athletic department brought in a sports psychiatrist and the football team's reaction especially the coaches were kind of rolling the eyes you know he's introducing himself to the team here I am a resource for you they're like no we're big tough guys we don't you know we don't go in for all that you know Sports Psychiatry or you know mindset or any of that we're we're football players but something got Kurt to go and introduce himself to this guy between his fourth and his fifth year well he credits A lot of the mindset work that they did and really kind of dealing with a lot of those negative thoughts in his head that he has and a lot of that self-doubt he credits that relationship to propelling him to becoming a starter his fifth year and achieving a lot of his dreams at Ohio State you know getting to achieve some he didn't achieve all his dreams but he was pretty darn successful his his fifth year being a starting quarterback at at Ohio State hey I'll get back to the episode in just a second I hope you're enjoying today's episode and if you are please share it share it with a player share it with a parent share it with a coach anybody that you feel might need to hear it I also wanted to give you a free gift that I've made available to you just for hanging out with me today it's a a checklist of skills for basketball players that want to become a better player a better teammate and to stand out to their coaches now these skills are skills that are often overlooked but they can be the foundation that a player can use to really achieve their goals you can download it at hardart together.com for / intangibles I'll put a link below in the description as well but it's hard smartt together.com SL intangibles now let's uh jump back to today's episode um so don't neglect your mindset what's another thing that another lesson you can take from this book and from his story his journey make the best decision for you at the time what do I mean by that there's a couple of examples that stand out with with Kirk one is during his recruiting Journey yeah he had a dream he wanted to be at Ohio State for his family Legacy and for you know his just all of the reasons that he was a fan and grew up basically living Ohio State football but between the time he was recruited he was recruited he was a RPO quarterback which is run pass option it's a style of football you don't need to really know football just know that that's a style and that the coaching staff that recruited him to Ohio State recruited him in because that was the style he played well between the time that he got recruited and the time that he showed up at Ohio State there was a coaching change now this new coaching staff had a different style they were traditional pocket passing you know offense and he didn't fit in that scheme but he made the decision to continue going to that school and he made the decision to stick it out at Ohio State for a number of reasons he made the decision not to quit football he made the decision to you know keep working towards his dreams maybe when it would have been easier to just say you know I don't fit there anymore and just go to God forbid Michigan or another school that fit his style a little bit better he made the best decision for him at the time and it worked out pretty darn good cuz he's achieved a lot of success another area when he was just getting out of college he was looking for jobs he didn't get drafted he didn't want to really tag around and be you know a third string quarterback in you know the NFL or Canadian Football League or whatever the case might be so he was looking at the option between being a sales rep for like medical devices or his dream in the back of his mind was even though he was didn't take these courses in college he wanted to be in kind of Sports Talk he wanted to be on the radio like the guys he had listened to in the past he wanted to be part of that world now he got faced with a choice he actually got an offer to be a sales rep something like a 100 Grand salary back then it was big money um bonuses a company car benefits The Works gets to stay in Ohio in Columbus Ohio where he was living everything was great he got an offer for a radio gig he'd be kind of like a second personality on one little show and they could pay like 12 Grand a year no benefits no car no guarantee no nothing everybody's like well that's an obvious choice time to give up the sport stuff you're going to go on and become a successful sales rep and you know start your life there but he made a different Choice he made the choice that was right for him at the time he chose radio I'd say that choice ultimately paid off at the time everybody thought he was crazy his girlfriend his friends like whoa whoa whoa you're turning down what for what but for him that was the right choice so the next lesson you can take from this is make the best choice for you at the time every choice that you make what team you play on what a team you play on you know all these choices they you know make the best choice for you they're not life and death choices I'm sure if he had you know failed miserably at at at uh being a commentator on uh on the radio a couple of years later could he have gone and and picked back up in sales sure so but it worked out pretty well for him so make the best choices for you and then the last thing the last real great lesson you can take from his story is focus on relationships man it's fascinating the am amount of relationships that he built over his time you know as a high school athlete a college athlete you know at Ohio State I talked about the mindset coach that he worked with that was one big relationship but there was relationships that helped him helped Propel him each step of the way whether it was getting recruited to Ohio State whether it was you know coaches teammates the mindset coach that he worked with right all helped him along his athlet career to Ohio State when he got out of Ohio State hey it was connections it was relationships that got him the interview with the sales shop it was relationships connections that got him the interview with the radio station when he was at the radio station it was connections and relationships that he had built that got him to TV that got him to ESPN that got him to a bigger show that got him on game day it was relationships at game day that have helped Propel him to become kind of like Mr Football in America right it was relationships like you know Chris Fowler and if you know the show Coach Corso he credits all these people you don't have to do it alone when you're an athlete sometimes you kind of feel like you're alone but family friends coaches administrators teachers contacts everybody that comes through along your path is a relationship that can help Propel you on on your pathway to success so those are the four things that I think you can really take away from this I still recommend buy the book and read it because it's a fascinating story and I love reading stories about successful people especially athletes but as an athlete again when you're struggling with self-doubt double down and focus on building your skills and habits working on your craft number two don't neglect your mindset I know we work on our physical bodies and our skills there but mindset can be a Difference Maker number three make the best decision for you at the time that you're making a decision and number four focus on relationships those are the people in your life that are going to help you throughout life throughout School throughout College throughout your career throughout your athletic career every step of the way focus on building those relationships so a little bit of a different talk today you know not necessarily a book review but love the book highly recommend you go out and read it um but those are some important things that you can take away as a young basketball player so always like the likes if you enjoy this and you want me to share more I'm always reading so if you want me to share more of these kind of things you know let me know in a comment below and until next week remember to play hard play smart and play together see you next week [Music]