Stars on Sports Intro: 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 Sport. I'm joined today by our assistant athletic director, Steven Cutter, and our producer, Jereny Robinson.

Hey.

And today we'll be discussing toolboxes. Gentlemen, in our office again, I try and pick a theme that we've discussed a lot over the last week or two, and we've always. We've been talking about the right tools, and it applies to leadership, it applies to building teams, and it applies to your own personal life. And, you know, I'm not a handyman at home by any stretch of the means, but my son in law is. My nephew is, you know, my son in law came over a couple years ago during COVID and helped build a deck. And the tools he brought over just made it so much easier to build it. I have a circular saw. That's the only saw I have. And he had the other one that angles and that, and it just got me thinking about, wow, if you have the right tools, it looks nicer, it's cleaner, saves time, energy, frustration. And then, you know, this summer, my nephew then he was redoing a cottage, and he talked about the large amount of money spent up front to have the tools to get everything done himself and how over time, it saved them. And again, that's real life. And I'm sure we have stories of that. What makes me think of it is in one of my favorite podcasts. It goes, if you had advice to a new athletic director, what tools would you have them get? And I always joked it'd be a fire hose, because you're putting out fires every day. It'd be a swiss army knife because it's amazing the things you gotta fix on this job. And we've talked about that little thing, and it'd be a calendar just because of, you know, how important a schedule is to our job. So, you know, kind of jokingly, but always thought, you know, how important tools are. And I carry a little tool, multi tool thing at my desk if I need to fix a net or, or it has a screwdriver or knife, you know, all the little things on there that get the most basic job done. It wouldn't get the tool done, but, but also in leadership, you know, when you're putting a team together, it's about having tools. You know, technology. We just talked about the 100 meters final in the Olympics, but even characteristics of people and their tools to be successful. So this could go a bunch of different ways today. And again, we can hone in on certain ones, but even before the podcast, we're talking about alarm on our phone. Or again, back to the technology and the 100 meters finals. So what do you guys think of when you think of tools and being successful?

Well, as you were speaking a little bit, I like, I always like to turn around what you're talking about. And for sure, having the right tools is extremely important to being efficient and doing a good job. And it's very important. But there's also another side of it, and there's also people that have tools and they don't use them. And so there are plenty of whether that goes back to sports, it goes back to technology. There's technology that we have, and I say we as just humanity that we don't really use, but we have it. And so there's a duality to it. Tools are very important, but probably the most important of having tools is using them.

Yeah, and that's a great question. And it's like the chicken or the egg. Is it the tool or is it the person using the tool? Because you're right. If you have the best tool, but, you know, you have shaky hands or you don't, your heart's not into it and you really don't want to do it, or, you know, you don't understand how to use the tool that can definitely impact that, too. So you're right, there are definitely both sides of that, and I think that's true even as a coach. You know, when you're putting your team together in each sport, you have certain ingredients you need to be successful, let's say in baseball, a starting rotation or whatever, but it's using the right tools or knowing when to use those tools to be successful. So you're right. They're definitely a duality to it. So what about you, journey? What do you think of when you think of toolbox and using the right tools or your experience with tools?

All right, so as you guys are talking, I got convicted because I produce music. And I just thought about thinking about a guy who crafts swords, you know, the anvil and everything. And I just thought about that sitting in my basement and me upstairs playing a game, and that's just rusting and not using my tools. So. But I think it's huge with me being a producer, it's certain things that I have gotten that usually would take, I would say, a half an hour to get to this certain point, but the technology makes it so I can just drop it right onto the music, and it could take care of that within minutes. So.

Yeah, and that's right on. Having the right tools will definitely save you time and energy, and it'll probably give you a cleaner product. And you mentioned something a little bit, too. If you're not using the tool, then your opponent is Orlando. You know, are you staying caught up with your competition? Or if you have the. Do, you know, even like in sports, it's so important, you know, pitching machines or shooting machines or volleyball spikers that, you know, do you have one? Do you have two? Do you have three? How many does your opponent have? And we know it definitely helps practice be more effective to having those tools that allow, you know, like a shooting machine, basketball, you can get a hundred shots up in two minutes instead of, you know, someone rebounding for you. And, you know, you probably get 30 shots up in two minutes. And. But if you're not using it right or you're not shooting well, then you're reinforcing bad habits. But the important thing is having those tool to be successful. When researching this, the other side of it was, can you eat a steak with plastic silverware?

A good steak You can.

Oh, and my tender.

Oh, really?

Yeah, for sure. When I think about tools a little bit, I think a good analogy for it was something that somebody once told me, and it's, it's really fits to coaching. And when you're coaching, you're trying to put not only the best tools and the best people in the best spots for them to be the most successful, but you're also trying to use the tools that you have, whether it's technology or anything else. But the analogy was, Tom Brady was one of the greatest quarterbacks in history as far as when it came to winning. And he touched the ball on every time they were on offense. But if he would have been put in the center position, he still would have touched the ball every time on offense, but he, that wouldn't have been his best tool.

Right.

You know, so it's really, it's not so much about, um, having the tools. It's using them the best way that you can. And yes, you might only have a circular saw versus somebody that has a chop saw and a jigsaw and that kind of stuff, but you can still do stuff with your circular saw. It's just understanding techniques. You can still cut trees with your handsaw and all those different things that you were using to cut some tree limbs, which was pretty incredible, which I think equated to having a plastic knife on some of those trees that I did.

So coach Cutter is alluding to. I had to cut down some trees in my yard a couple weeks ago, and I didn't have a saw specifically for trunks, so I used the different saws I had in my garage. And it was a difficult task. I was sore, you know, although I was frustrated. Also, I was worried about safety and making sure it fell the right way. But I did get most of the things I got done. But that's an interesting thing about tools, is because most tools are designed for a certain intention. And can you use them for a different one, and do they work as effectively if you don't, per se, a circular saw or a pitcher, or, as you mentioned, a quarterback as a center or wide receiver? And if you do, how does it usually end up, I know, in certain place with a patriot now that we're talking about Tom Brady, like, give the ball to the running back and have him be a receiver and. Or even having him run even. He was probably one of the. I don't want to say worst quarterback, the quarterback sneaks, you know, but, you know, back to using those, the tools for what they were intended for, helped maximize the production of it.

Yeah, I heard this saying. Cause he was literally on the same thing when he was talking about having the right tools. Cause you can have a lot of different tools, but what's the saying about jack of all trades but a master of none? If you don't learn to master a certain tool, you can't be truly effective in what you're doing. You just be okay or kind of good.

Yeah, it's powerful.

Yeah. And it is in certain areas, it's good to be expand your skill set. But at the highest level, some, you know, mastering that skill usually is something that takes you to that other level. But as a leader, I'm a big believer in understanding people and the tools they bring to the table. I've taken a lot of leadership tests, and when you search this, the Myers brig, the Clifton strength, emotional intelligence tests are becoming a lot more popular, which is a pretty interesting thing that I am learning more about. But knowing your people, most people don't think of people as tools, but they are or resources or, you know, we're not going to have this conversation today, coach cutter. But, you know, people or money, which one do you need? And we have this conversation a lot in our office that we will have a separate podcast about people or money. But both of those are tools. Both of those are resources to be successful. But, you know, I'm a big believer in understanding people, to utilize them to their strength and maximizing becoming together as a team or helping them become better as a person or leader. And there's certain tools that you need on a team. Like I always look at when you put a team together, it's like putting a jigsaw puzzle together and fitting them in. But you gotta know yourself. You gotta know the people that you're bringing in. And that's true for even putting a team out on the field or court, of knowing, like you said, what position best suit them. And how often do you experiment, especially at this level of switching players around? Insignificant. You know, some positions, you know, are interchangeable. But, you know, I think quite a bit.

I think the more that you can stay open, the more possibilities that you can find. And I feel like sometimes in the athletic world, athletes will get a little too fixed minded on who they are.

I.

And it becomes their identity, and you can start making some changes on that, and you can, you know, it was, it was like when I was in high school, I was six five, and I was a guard. I handled the ball. The ball. But at that point, that was pretty uncommon unless it was at the NBA level.

Right.

But I could dribble, you know? And so it's. It's just being open. Our coach was very open to allowing me to do that. But in, at our level, it was, if you were tall, you were a center, you're in the post, you know? So I took something from that, and I use that today where it's like, you know, just because you're bigger doesn't mean that you need to play first base. That may not be your best position, you know, and just because you're smaller doesn't mean that you need to be a second baseman. So in baseball, we have a lot of things that are just somewhat status quo of this is the expectations. And I think I talked about it at, at one point in one of the podcasts, but when I was a high school coach, our starting shortstop was a freshman that was left handed, you know, and so that's really uncommon, too. But it. But if you can find people and you can put them in the best places, and it might not be what everybody else thinks is going to be that best place. It's just being open minded. And it's no different than Tom touching the ball every time at quarterback or touching the ball every time at center. But his obviously was further in the backfield for him, but for the next person, it might have been touching the ball every time when they're center. So I think that analogy and that life story fits for humanity.

Yeah.

I think that's the same for, like, USA Basketball right now. Cause they. They have a super good team. But I'm watching one of my favorite players struggle, Seth Curry. He can't hit anything right now. And I'm like, what is going on? But it's just. It's different. All the people around him, he's not getting the same amount of touches that he used to getting. And so it's different. And you're seeing what player can plug and play and what players need a certain rhythm in order to play well.

So he's got the tools, right?

Yeah.

Really just having some other tools around him to be able to help him maximize the tools.

Yeah.

So, and that's then that's what I mean, where sometimes you will see people that have tools and they're just not using them. They're choosing to, like you said, maybe sit up and watch a movie or something where you could be actually using your tools to do something else.

Right.

But that's where a leader and being a leader or being a coach is important, because knowing the strength of your team or individual player, then trying to get that team to mesh well together and, you know, it'd be hard to move. You couldn't move Seth Curry to a center position because he's a shooter. But does he need to shoot as much on a team that has other shooters and knowing your role and knowing. And leaders, knowing how to handle that? Cause I agree. I think a lot of coaches, especially at the youth level, which we've talked about getting kids quitted, they look at the size or the demographics of a student and start them in a certain position and leave them there instead of, well, maybe they can move to another. And I think that's common where you at least have some characteristics that you start and put them in a certain position in sports, but being open to. Well, no, they bring more tools to the table, or even though they're this, they're not that, and they don't totally fit that piece that the good coaches are open to. Finding the best fit for each individual student instead of like forcing a circle, a square and a peg or a peg in a square hole or whatever that saying is. I've totally butchered that. But, and it's even harder at the highest level when you have, you know, elite. LAUGHTER athlete that, you know, I mean, biggest time is knowing who to play and when to play. But I think that's just knowing your team. And we've come a long way in sports, too, of having tools at our disposal to help figure out those things because it used to be just simple organization and communication would be the tools you need to be a successful coach. And now we have all these technology has really changed it of helping us implement those characteristics. But, you know, even as a team, I mean, what, you know, you use a lot of technology in your, your sport coach, but compete against teams that use similar or more or less. But isn't that important, you know, when you have a defined season to have the tools and mainly even that equipment to be successful?

Well, I think you and I would agree that having resources makes a large difference. It doesn't make all the difference. So because you can see whether it's in sports or in life, people can do amazing things with very little resources.

Sure.

So it still goes back to not the tools you have, but what you can use.

Yeah, back to your point, a drive earlier, the drive. And sometimes when you don't have the tool that it makes you hungrier or you have to be hungry or more motivated to overcome those obstacles. But, you know, in sports and in life, I would argue, I think we both that it creates more frustration than the we we know. We don't know, but the ones that excel or exceed by not having the tools, we hear stories about. But I think too many, if you don't have the right tools, get frustrated and end up quitting or trying to find something else.

Yeah, that's a very true statement. And it happens because it's just that much harder. If you don't have money for groceries, it's, you've got to put in more effort to find food pantries and stuff like that. It's just harder. If you don't have a vehicle, it's a little bit harder to get from point a to point b. So it's because it's harder. Not everybody can work their way through it, but everybody has the possibility to work through it. It's just harder. And so that's where like, you need, typically need some support from others. You need somebody there to let you know that keeps taking steps forward. You can do this.

And I would agree, having an encouraging teammate or having an accountability partner are also tools that you need to be successful. We both have stories of, you know, where someone was failing or struggling or quitting, and an encourager comes along and helps build them up and be successful. One of my favorite memories is we were walking up sleeping bear dunes one time and there was a person that was halfway up and just sitting there and we started talking to him and, you know, he was there by himself and was like ready to quit. And if you quit on sleeping bear dunes, that's a couple thousand dollars to have a helicopter. So we just, we joined him and we encouraged him and we just walked him up so many steps and eventually got him to the top. And it was need learning about him and telling him. Again, it's just having people have that resource to be successful. And I think that's where teams can really help out. But we've seen bad teams that, you know, teams have quit because they don't have the right tools or the right pieces in place to be successful.

It's a whole other podcast. But resilience, it's one of those things where when you want to quit and people are telling you to quit, resilience is like that dark drug that just whispers, keep going. Resilience is one of those really powerful.

Things, and it is, and you're right, that is another important characteristic in sport. And even me cutting down my trees, I finished, even though I was. I tried every tool out that I had. I was so sore from my arms moving. But, you know, I was determined to get it done. I didn't want that squirrel on my house anymore.

Oh, that's the motivation.

There's always a watch.

There is a why. That's a great one, too. But I still believe, you know, we've seen metaphors and sports born on third base or, you know, people that might have been inherited or handed it, you know, certain things to get them farther along. But your point earlier is you still got to utilize those tools well to be successful, whether in life or in sports.

Absolutely.

Anything else to add on tools, real quick?

Yeah, something about tools. I was thinking about how I got a lot of tools now, but when I was younger, all I had was, if y'all remember Fisher Price karaoke, it was like a little, small karaoke with two little mics. And I used to listen to an end of a song and record the end of a song and then find the exact point and record it again to create my own instrumentals, just so I can, like, try to wrap over and stuff like that.

You took a tool that you had, but you had the passion to do it right, and you found a way to get it done. So you really ate steak with plastic silverware. So that maybe we need to change our topic.

That's a good steak.

Pardon?

I'm telling you, that's a good steak.

Well, we'll talk about steaks here in a second, because I had different questions, but we'll leave. But. But other couple tools for those listening now here that coach Cutter had on before our is, you know, having a song as your alarm on your cell phone, and then.

Yeah, I think that's a super important thing because you're. You can choose to wake up in the morning with an alarm that's going beep, beep, beep, beep. Or you can put a song on there and change it as things move along. But the song's gonna be roughly three minutes long, and it gives you a little time to wake up. Plus, it's something that really gets you going. That song could be, you know, whatever kind of gets to your vibe, but it's something really powerful in the morning, and also, it helps you win because you're not hitting the snooze button, because you got about three minutes to listen to that song going off, and it's a good way to start your day.

I think that's a great tip and very good that you shared with us. I'll be sharing that with. With people of mine. And what was your other one, coach, about directions on your phone?

Oh, yeah. Like, I think you should, absolutely should be using the app ways, because it does a great job of getting you from point a to point b. And then when point going from a to b, something happens and you miss an exit, or you're not paying attention and you miss a couple exits. But not only that, it's gonna let you know where the police officers are, if there's something in the road, all this different stuff. So you're saving lives, too, because you can report that there's a pothole, there's a tire in the road. I mean, you can report all this stuff. It's pretty automatic, and it is a game changer will also kind of assimilate to your driving, so your times become really accurate when you're going to get from point a to point.

You can change the voices?

Yeah, absolutely. You can. It's incredible.

You can change the voices. They got celebrities.

Yeah, I don't use the way that I just use the regular app that I'm hoping we are not a really good tool.

You probably should add that to your toolbox.

I have it on my phone, but I.

He doesn't use it. So that feeds into this podcast? No, the tool, but he doesn't use it.

But that's a great point. And, you know, knowing what's in your toolbox and utilizing those best things and getting rid of tools that you might not need or even like, tools that wear out over time, eventually you got to replace them. I mean, again, home, other things of what helps tools be successful. So, yeah, still good stuff. I thought those were good enough to bring up. I will definitely be using both of those two things and sharing with them. I am not good with directions, so I need the best app I can.

Do you have a song that you would have for your alarm?

Oh, now you're asking the last question of the day. Coach taking over this podcast.

You can do two. We can do two.

We will. Well, I was gonna. I had a couple, but I like the state question. That's a good question. Jereny, you got one off the top of your head to give me time to think a little bit.

Wake up song. Yeah, well, I just was talking about karate kid, so.

Yeah, you're right.

You're the best. The artist. I do not know. I just know if you search, you're the best.

It will pop up for the karate kid song.

Karate kid won. The ending song. It was a song that kind of, like, send it, like, when he did a special move and they started playing the music, and that's solid.

Mine right now is Tina Turner the best.

That's a good one. That's a nice beat to it, dude. That's why I can't get that one out of my head right now. To think of. I. I go to Bon Jovi and try and think of one of his.

It's better than coffee in the morning, I'm telling you.

Oh, I got one. Andy Mineo. You can't stop me.

Ooh, good one, too.

That's good.

Yeah, you're good.

It's all about how you start your day.

I think if I had the tiger, some of those rocky ones, you know, just, you know, any warm up songs. What was that?

You're gonna wake up fighting, you know, jab.

Sometimes you have to. Someone might be attacking you. Your kid might be trying to wake you up for an hour.

So start working out with milk jugs, you know, use whatever he had.

We kind of got off topic. I think that's a good last one. You know, we kept talking about steak in this podcast, but I don't know where to go with a question regarding maybe where best steak is, but I'll have to think of something along that line. But I had a couple is what skill do you want to learn that you don't already have in your kind of toolbox? I always go back to, I want to learn the piano. I can play a little basic, but I would love to learn the piano. And that's, again, not a deep as a skill of, you know, being a little more disciplined with my time management, which is I'm trying to do with, with the calendar app and such. Do you guys have any skills you.

Wanna, if you want to just talk about like that type of skill? Bass guitar.

Okay, bass guitar. Basic skill. You coach, you got anything I can.

Appreciate the guitar stuff. I know that that was a skill I kind of wanted to, to achieve. Even bought a guitar and started practicing stuff like that, but I stopped just because I didn't have a deep enough. Why me? Neither necessarily want to as bad, but.

Yeah, so I have, you know, again, a couple other, but we'll save those for the next one. But again, great conversation about tools. Great conversation about, you know, things, you know, going on. So always appreciate your contributions. And until next time, go stars.

Stars on Sports Outro: 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!