It's time for Stars on Sports! A podcast-radio show dedicated to sharing stories about our athletic program at Lansing Community College. LCC athletics has a strong tradition. 24 national championship wins! Over 170 All-Americans! 19 MCCAA All Sports trophies! Stars on Sports will introduce you to individuals that have contributed to our program success and give you the backstory on what it takes to develop it. We'll also dive into and break down the topics and issues facing athletic departments across the nation and right here at LCC. This is Stars on Sports!

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Stars on Sports. I'm joined today by our assistant athletic director, Steven Cutter, and our producer, Jereny Robinson.

Hey.

And today, gentlemen, we're going to be talking about the team. The team, the team. And Coach Cutter, I know you're happy because it's been a long time before I've been able to get some Michigan references on here. And when most people, I think, in the athletic business here, the team, the team, the team, they attribute the quote to Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler. And I'm going to paraphrase a little bit of that quote. No person is more important than the team. No coach is more important than the team. We win a championship because of the play. As a team. We believe in the team. We do not criticize. It's great to be part of a team. And when I prepare for our podcast each week, I try, and there's usually a theme that sticks out with me. Like, people keep, like, repeating it to me in our conversations over the last week. And the one that hit me up in the last week is the best team had the best teammates. And I heard that a couple times through podcasts and other things. So. And I know that's important to us here at LCC. And there's a number of different ways to look at teams, even in the individual sport that we offer here at LCC. You know, we have nine teams here, six head coaches, over 15 assistant coaches, 170 student athletes. You know, we're part of a college campus, so, you know, different departments on campus. And we've worked hard of being a team as a whole instead of each team kind of being their own. And we've shared that on previous podcasts. But. And we've also talked about contagious proximity and accountability partners in previous podcasts, which all lead to part of a team. And to be successful, it takes a team and it takes a team to be aligned and to be on the same page. I mean, I Think you can be successful without that, but you can be even more successful and successful at the highest. You're smirking over there. Successful at the highest level, being a part of a team. And we know that, you know, one person, one, you know, bad apple, can totally prevent that from happening. So listening to a John Gordon Gordon podcast recently, you know, his three things to be successful were a mission, a team, and a scoreboard. So, you know, I think we can talk about the other. We'll tie into those other two because definitely the scoreboard is a part of athletics. Even though he was talking not just a scoreboard on the field, but, you know, scoreboard of, you know, stacking wins, which is a common theme. So, again, so what do you guys think about. I mean, you both have been part of teams, you both have led teams, and I truly believe it's, you know, the go, go fast, go alone, go far, go together. And I truly believe you need a team around you to be successful. And that was one of the things that excited me about coming to LCC, was the success they had and trying to be a part of this team but taking it to another level.

Yeah, I. I agree. I think you do have to have great teammates if you're going to have a great team. And for the most part, most things are pretty much if you're going to have success, you're going to need a lot of help. Usually what the biggest thing that I see from a coaching standpoint that plays into great teams is not so much the skill piece of it, it's the selflessness and how selfless you can get teams to be, because that's really where you get the support. You get, you know, a word like mudida, which is vicarious joy for other successes, those. That's kind of where you start getting those teams that do different stuff. And most of the time, you'll find that there certainly are certain skill levels, whether it's in the business world or the sports world, that are very helpful for those teams. But really, I believe it comes down to how selfless those individuals on that team can be. And it's more about not worrying about who gets the credit and just more worried about the scoreboard of life and seeing other people succeed around you.

And I agree, and I think it is something leaders have to do with build a team. And, you know, back to a John Gordon reference of the energy bus, getting everyone on the bus on the same page. But to your point, about building a team or having, you know, selfless teammate that starts with the coach, starts with the leader of the department of how they model and teach that. But I think there's many ways teams can go about that. And community service is a way. I think some teams can do it by teaching them to give. Because also the other thing that community service activities do is team bonding activities, which is another, I think, big thing that teams can do to help build a team and get them to work together. I'm a big believer in our team doing, like an overnight trip to try and do some bonding things, or doing a. Bonding might not be the right word. But I know you in your leadership class. You do trust walks and other things like that, just to kind of intentionally and purposely build that team and build relationship. Because that's really, you know, what it comes down to in building a team is developing those relationships so people can know and trust and believe and hold accountable those other teammates. Because you do need team leaders to help build that team and be coaches of the team. So. So I do know you do some of those things to help improve that team atmosphere, which some call culture. But I'm just thinking in general, the general term of team.

I think that we've found the biggest value in finding out what teams are made of is adversity. And if you really want to find out what a team is made of, and we're not just talking about sports teams, but in general, what families are made of, what businesses are made of, there's. There's gonna have to be some mountain in the middle, and you're gonna find out who's gonna climb it and who's gonna climb it with you. And that's. In the sports world, that's really the best measuring of what. What type of team you've gotten. And there's thousands of examples in the sports world of teams that have faced some type of adversity. And then all of a sudden, you hear the terms they pulled together.

Yeah. Overcome adversity.

Yeah. When I. When you said that, I thought automatically. Cause we was talking about sports. But my mind went to, like, families who have a mom who has to go to school and how everybody around her has to step up and pick up different things while she's in class and stuff like that. And it's the selflessness in that of being a team and still getting the win. Cause at the end, she get the degree financially, they get an upgrade, and it benefits everybody. But that's really cool.

That's a great point. I had a superintendent. Each year he would give out a lapel pin for, like, the theme for the year and one year he gave out a wagon and to be part of a team is everyone has to pull on the wagon. And some days I might pull the wagon more, and some days you might pull the wagon more. But overall, as a team, the goal is to pull the wagon forward and doing that other people stepping up when maybe you're having a bad day, and you step up when you don't have a bad day. Because I think there's some rules to being part of a team, and it leads right into that is, you know, everyone has like all these rules, don't be late to practice. But to me, it comes down to. And I can't think of any other rules right now, but don't let your teammates down, do your job and represent your team in school well. And those three general things, I think, sum up all those little rules that we could sometimes put in place, that it's still being part of that team, part of the respect you have for each other, being able to pick up if, you know, you use your. The mom's case of working, but our case of a kid, you know, breaking up with his or her girlfriend or boyfriend or failing an exam that, you know, it's part of a team to pull your teammate up. I mean, encouragement is a big part of a team, but also stepping up and maybe performing at a level to help your team out if one of your other players hasn't. So the question, with a team, though, and you know, we've had this conversation before, with talent and hard work, can a team with less talent win over a team with great players that doesn't play as a team be better? Or could a team that had less talent, with a better team atmosphere beat that other team?

I lost every single time to that team who worked together better. Yeah, like every time, me and my boys, we could be talented. We can dribble, dunk, do all this stuff. But that team that know how to move that ball and play as a team, we're down 20.

There's certainly lines on it, too. You have to have a certain level of skill, you know, and. And the teams that lack the skill are only going to be able to get to a certain level, even if they work really well together. So there's some lines there. But for sure, I think with families, whether it's a team family or your own family, you're going to work best together. When you're on the same page and you're selfless and you, you have the, you know, a huge word like trust and another big One like love. And that's good. There's some. There's some empathy for what others are going through.

Yeah.

And I think especially in coaching, it doesn't matter what level you're bringing people together, and they're. They all have their own things in their lives that are happening. And sometimes for us, it might seem really simple that they need to get a new battery in their car because it's getting colder. It's not a big deal. A few hundred bucks, you can get a new battery. But to them, that could be a lot. And who's going to do it? They're away from home. And sometimes there's relationship issues, there's homesick issues, there's class issues, there's friends issues, there's apartment issues, there's playing issues, you know, and you got all this stuff. And I think it really comes down to, you know, trust, love, and some compassion for what's going on.

I definitely think those are like the glue of team, and you hit it. Love and empathy are two big ones. And trust in there, too, of what makes a great team a great team. And I think we all agree from what we just said, that throughout history of sports and championships, great players haven't won championship because they weren't surrounded by a great team. They couldn't do it by themselves. That it took them to either get some supporting players or just developing that team atmosphere. And I think you're right that one of the most telling things to know if you have a great team or not is the adversity part. And I'm a. You know, I always talk about how that first contest is a great way to tell where your team can go, because that's really the first adversity you probably face in a season that it's not, you know, on the field or on the court that can determine not where you're at, but where you can go.

But usually the adversity in the wins or the losses that happen, those usually aren't big enough to see kind of where things are at. Usually it has to be a little bit deeper or bigger than just a loss on the court because those happen so often that they kind of get breezed over there. There usually has to be something a little bit bigger than that for, you know, maybe just a little bit bigger of a mountain to climb.

Yeah. And injuries could be a part of that. I do think losses can be. Not early on in this. He's not that first contest. I agree. Because there's so much of the season in front of you, and Even the sport that play less contest. But I do believe losses, whether it's a losing streak, whether it's even a slump in, like hitting or shooting, those are small enough. But for a team that has high expectations or high pressure that can weigh on that team, on whether, you know, they're going to reach that level of success that they thought they were going to reach, in the end, it's still how you handle it. I didn't bring this quote today, but it was from Pirates of the Caribbean I saw on a podcast the problem, not the problem, it's your attitude on how to handle the problem is the problem. And I think that's true on a team. And we've talked about, you know, ero lots of times on this podcast, too. But back to that adversity piece of how coaches and team leaders handle that adversity within the team. Because it can be, you know, we've talked about influence before too, where trying to influence the majority of the middle group to that focus group and that group, that's all in. And adversity can be that tale for a team of which direction that team goes and then how soon you address it and how much you let it, you know, feather throughout that season.

I was thinking you think that appreciation plays a big part of it, like appreciation and small things. Because I know, like, if you are like on the baseball team, you may be on a bench, but your mindset is, you know what? Most people don't have my position or they're not able to play on the team, and I actually got to play on the college team. So, like, just having an appreciation of small things, I get to travel and see a different city that I never seen before. I think that could play a big part in building a good team, is having appreciation in just those small things.

It's so true. And it's probably one of the harder things to do. But a couple words I use all the time, and I've talked about it, is like, seek perspective. And those two words, even though it's pretty easy to do, it's hard to remember to do that. And it's just perspective. 7% of the kids will play a college sport that play high school sports, you know, so I'm part of 7%.

Yeah.

The population, you know, it's those kind of things where you seeking perspective is huge in everybody's life. It's the saying of, you know, this might be tough, but somebody has it worse.

And, you know, I used the word encouragement earlier because I think the words I were thinking to make a team great were encouragement and accountability genuine. But the point you make journey is when I think of appreciation, I think of recognition. And I think good teams do find ways to recognize those small wins and show appreciation. I think I even struggle with it because even with my own staff of showing appreciation, because it just expect, you know, if you have a high standard, that's what you expect to happen. And sometimes we forget to recognize and show that appreciation, which could help back to the kid that's struggling with a battery or with something else in their life. That if we show appreciation of stacking a small win in a sport, whether it's getting a big hit or making a great play or hitting a jump shot, that that will help with confidence and trust and buy in of that team. Because in the end, you know, we're selling a team that they have to have buy in. So I think appreciation and recognition is a big part of that. And I think coaches, the good coaches do a great job of that on a daily basis, especially if you're using competition as a way to get better of finding ways not just on the scoreboard either, but the little things. And I've seen drills from coaches recognize like the focus of that drill instead of like the score of the game. You get a score, you get a point for not making an error, or you get a point for grabbing a rebound and using scoreboard like that to develop the focus on a skill that you're trying to improve that team. But in the end it's really, you know, appreciation or recognition of succeeding in that task. And I'm sure you have examples of, I mean you, I mean your drills are built around that, of trying to, on what you're trying to focus on, not just the overall score of the game. So yeah, I think appreciation is a part of that.

Yeah, I think you're trying to compete or have a competitive environment and people are going to fail in those environments. And if your, your competitive environment is a scoreboard, which for a lot of athletes it is, it's understanding that it's more than just what the numbers are on the board. It's what kind of person can you be? And I think the best teams really have the best people. And they don't always have the best players, they have the best people.

That's awesome.

I agree. And that, and that comes down at our level, recruiting and recruiting people that fit into the system you're trying to build. It's a lot not easier at our level compared to high school level where you're dealing With a fixed population of what you have in those hallways where here I think the great coaches have a back to John Gordon, have a mission for their team and then recruit, which is a huge part of our team. Student athletes that fit that mission. And I want to hit on this I only briefly touched on earlier. Even in the individual sports and at Lansing we have cross country and track and I know some of the. And they went at a high level, but they like being a part of a team. And even as an individual, they like the team helping them be successful. And whether it's a coach or another player or even the athletic trainer is all part of that team. So even in the individual sports, you know, I think we lose focus that it's an individual goal and an individual performance. But it took them a team to get there and I think they realized that that team that really helped them be successful.

Yeah. Especially for track, because I ran track and it's huge to have good people around you because if you're the fastest person, there's nobody else that's even close to you. You're not going to get better.

Right.

So you need people actually, you're running within your practice that actually can push you that have the good attitude to run hard because you can just like I ran three laps and do the bare minimum. But if everybody's pushing hard, contagious.

Yeah, I mean that's exactly what it is. And if you're 65 and you're always a 65 and you're around eight people, people that are 85s, you're going to start raising that 65 up to a 75. But if you're around somebody that's in 85 for one day you might raise up a little bit, but then you're going to come right back down to what you naturally are 65. And so the sayings like iron sharpens iron, that kind of stuff, that's all very, very true.

And to your point journey, it's the help up front of getting you to be better. But it's also afterwards when you accomplish your goal is the sharing it with somebody. Right. Whether it's your family, whether it's your team, it's. It's still that be fun to be a part of something greater than yourself.

Yeah, that's what everybody wants.

Exactly.

Something greater than themselves.

Yeah, I agree.

And what a good way to end it. But that's what a team is, is accomplishing something great. But that's not how we're ended. And I still got the question.

Yeah.

This is great. Actually, I watched one of our previous podcasts, and it led to this one today. And we had a little conversation after our last podcast. And today, gentlemen, we're going to be talking Pop Tarts. I think Pop Tarts get a bad rap in society. Jerry Seinfeld just did a movie on pop Tarts, and I think most people think, why do you put rectangular thing in a box that is bland? And, you know, I did some research on there. There's over 30 flavors of pop Tarts. And the first question is frosted or unfrosted Pop Tart?

Frosty.

Frosted for sure. And you should look up the history of Pop Tarts. I think some kids, you know, one of the companies here in Michigan was making them and they thought they were terrible, so they threw them in the dumpster and some kids found them and I did not know that, dug them out, and they just thought they were incredible. And that's kind of how they started rolling with those.

So I did not know that. Wow. But, but I agree, there's no place for an unfrosted Pop Tart. It has to be frosted.

And they go best in a toaster.

Okay, see, I, I, that's not, I don't need a toaster, actually, I like them toasted, but I don't need a toast. I wouldn't even ask that question. Journey, what's your. Sure.

So to me, a toaster is like the extra. You know, if I don't have a toaster, I can grab and go, but if I got the toaster, it takes it to the next level.

Okay, I agree. I can easily grab and go, but having it toasted does take it to another level. So then the last question. Is your favorite flavor?

Chocolate.

Chocolate.

Favorite flavor? It depends on how I'm feeling. You know, I'm the chinka tender man who likes the different sauces, so I like to be able to change it up whenever I feel like it. So brown sugar? Strawberry.

Okay.

Don't shake your head, man.

Yeah, it's okay.

They so good. I'm gonna order you some. But yeah, brown sugar and strawberry. Strawberry is classic. S'mores is real good, too.

My two answers, Brown cinnamon and s'mores.

Yeah.

So again, I think it that peeps marshmallow thing. Two of us wine and one of us is, you know, not part of this team.

Maybe it's okay to be different.

Yeah. But I do agree. I like different kinds. I, I do like brown cinnamon and s'more. You know, I just, they have new kinds out which are getting a little crazy. They have strawberry milkshake. They actually have Boston cream donut, which I like Boston cream donut and tried.

It and the Oreo one's not bad either. Yeah, you might like the Oreo since you like chocolate.

So. So, yeah. So again, branch out there a little bit. Help overcome that bad rap.

And when's the last time you've had a Pop Tart?

You know, when I've been on this job three years and my first year and a half I had pop Tarts in my like snack stash. Cinnamon brown sugar. They usually come with cherry cinnamon, brown sugar and one other flavor. The last year I haven't, but I still get them. I'm the only one eats them in our family. So I just had the bottom and cream donuts probably about a month ago.

So you have a snacks stash?

I do.

Okay.

Hey, my cupboard. And where's your cookies and peanut butter? And peanut butter and graham crackers behind me and my Great to know.

Yep, yep, graham cracker stash is gonna get raided.

That's okay. We need snacks in our business. And. And that's where I got hooked on Pop Tarts. With running track, I would seem to be a common, easy snack that you could take to a long all day track meet.

Right.

And have and, and eat. So good stuff. Good stuff. So enjoy your pop Tarts until the next time we meet. Go Stars

Stars on Sports is recorded live at the WLNZ studios. Engineering and production assistance are provided by Daedalian Lowry and Jereny Robinson. You can listen to this episode and other episodes of Stars on Sports on demand at LCCconnect.org to find more information about our athletic program, visit LCCstars.com thanks for listening. Go Stars!