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Conversations with Kait is like a conversation with your friend, hairstylist, or therapist, where we will talk about music, life stories, and everything in between, with interviews and guests sprinkled in. As an LCC student, it's an honor, and I love bringing a fresh perspective to the podcast menu on LCC Connect. I am your host, Kate. Let's get into this episode. All right, welcome in. I have a very special guest with me today, Ms. Katie Smith. Do you prefer Smith, or would you like to go by Whitaker for Smith Smith. Okay. Just wanted to make sure. Can you tell me about the inspiration for your League of Enchantment?

Sure. So the League of Enchantment is a charity group that visits kids in hospitals. And our inspiration is just to bring hope and smiles to kids in their darkest days. And not only is it to bring hope and smiles to the kids, but all of our members have a reason they're doing. So for them, it's healing. So a lot of it's a healing journey for them while helping kids heal too.

That's wonderful. What was the moment that you realized this idea could become something truly impactful?

So my husband, before I met him, he was Batman. He still is Batman. He's the person that really got this really going. He invited me to do an event, and I met a little girl who was so excited to see me. She was jumping up and down, and her mom brought her over. I gave her this giant hug, and her. Her mom pulled me aside later and was like, she loves you. She loves Wonder Woman so much because she's bullied in school. She's bullied because she's got darker skin and she has short hair. So I pulled the girl aside after that, and I talked about how I was bullied because of my height. Oh, my gosh. And was able to really connect with her. That was my moment, and every member has that moment, but that one was mine.

I love that. That's wonderful. Why superheroes?

Oh, because it connects with every child. Every child knows Spider Man, Batman, Wonder Woman.

Right, right.

It's such a love.

What's the core mission of the League of Enchantment?

The core mission is to bring smiles and hope to kids faces.

Are there any other things that you do besides just go see kids in hospitals?

Yeah. So we do a lot of community events too. So we'll do anything that is based around children or children are gonna be there. So we do a lot of, like, make a wish. We do Ellie's race. We will also be at things like making strides against breast cancer. Cause for that one. It's not just the kids, but it's the women going through breast cancer that identify as Wonder Woman. To be then able to meet Wonder Woman or those other superheroes that they identify with to get them through their hardest times.

That's awesome. Can you share one memorable story or moment from one of your besides the one that you just shared with us that stuck with you to this day?

Oh, gosh. Yeah. It's a tough one, though. His name was Peyton.

Okay.

And we were invited to his house because he has dipg, which is cancer of the brainstem. And he was five years old, okay. And he loved Wonder Woman, Batman, and Superman. So we all came out, and we brought him toys and Nerf guns and stuff. And he and I teamed up, and he decided he didn't like Superman anymore. So he took my lasso, he wrapped him up, and then we took Nerf guns, and we were attacking him. And then two months later, we were invited back to visit him, and we saw a huge change in him. He went from being able to run around to having to sit and being really tired because the cancer was progressing very fast. And then this was early November, and I knew he wasn't gonna make it till Christmas, so I messaged his mom. I'm like, can we bring him Christmas early? Yeah, please. So the week before Thanksgiving, I called the local police department. I said, hey, can you help us? Because he wanted to be a police officer, too. So the police officers knew him.

Yes. Yes.

He's like, oh, I got you. Like, perfect. We did a huge call out to the league, and we had 35 members that came up from all over the state of Michigan to visit this little boy. So we met up in a parking lot. We were meeting the police officer. I thought, like, maybe we'd have, like, a fire truck.

Yeah.

Pulled in. We had Five fire trucks, two ladder trucks.

Oh, my gosh, I'm gonna cry.

Three EMTs.

Oh, my gosh.

And 12 police officer cars. Like, 12 cop cars. Oh, my gosh. Like, I just started bawling. And so we get all of our princesses and superheroes loaded up in the fire trucks, and we drive across the highway, and we all unpile and we walk, like, Top Gun style to his house.

Oh, my gosh.

While singing Christmas carols and all of the sirens blasting.

Oh, my go.

And we brought his family Thanksgiving and Christmas that day. And two weeks later, he passed away. And then myself and Batman were invited to be Paul Barrison's suit.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. And we are still friends with his family to this day because he has made a forever impact in our lives. And his little sister started battling some health issues. She'll recover, but still battling some. So after she got out of the hospital this last year, she and I did a Wonder Woman photo shoot where she. She was little Wonder Woman. Yes. And so precious just to be able. Because he passed five years ago.

Wow.

Yeah.

Wow.

But we all know his name, and we all, as we say, pay it forward for Peyton. So I love that. Oh, my goodness.

I'm, like, sitting here tearing up.

It's.

How wonderful. All right, we're gonna move to, like, the operations side of the business. What's the process look like for preparing for a visit? From choosing costumes, choosing people to go all the way to coordinating with a hospital person. A place.

Sure. So when we want to get into a hospital, we have to reach out to them. A lot of times we have to go through, like, volunteer services or with Sparrow, we're considered among their special guests. So if, like, a celebrity came in, we get handlers from the hospital that walk around with us. But all of our members are background checked because we're not gonna let anybody near a child without that. So everyone is background checked. And then after they become a member, they have to do three events with a leader. So the leader watch them, make sure they can actually handle a hospital visit. And we do have some members that just can't. And they know that. Right. And they're like, no, we want to do the outdoor events. Let's do the fun ones. Because hospital visits can be tough. You do see kids sometimes on their last couple of weeks, or you see ones that are dealing with brain trauma and stuff. So we set up the events, and then once the member passes our training wheels program, then they can set up. Isn't that great? Then they can sign up for themselves for those events. But then we do have a rigorous, like, costuming guidelines, because we want to make sure that our suits, like, the kids are gonna look at it. And I am Wonder Woman. He is Spider man, you know, and not go. My mom bought that from Walmart, too. You don't want those suits.

Exactly. Yes, yes, yes.

Yeah, yeah. And then, yeah, when we go to a hospital visit, we bring care packages. And each care package is specifically set for whatever that kid likes. So if the nurse we're with is like, oh, my gosh, this one really likes Frozen. I already have a frozen bag set aside with a doll of either Anna or Elsa. Coloring books, stickers, puzzles, activities, all themed around that one. I Think we have, like, 15 different varieties of those.

That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. What are some of the biggest challenges the organization has faced and how have you overcome them?

Oh, at the very beginning, it was getting members.

Okay.

Just trying to start to get members because we are completely volunteer based.

Yes.

So every member is donating their time. They're donating their money to their suits. Because, I mean, some of our Batman suits cost 3, $4,000. They're. Yeah, because they're made out of, like, real Kevlar. You want the kid to come up and hit them and go, oh, you're really Batman? Yes. Oh, I love that, though. So just getting members at the very beginning is kind of like, with anything, you get five members to get one or two that are like, oh, I really, really want to do this, and can actually give up their time, because it is a lot. But we have built an amazing team because we've been around eight years now. And to be able to see the growth that we have and just the members and just step up, I think that was the biggest thing is really just getting the members that can come and then figuring out how many events we can actually take versus all the ones we want to take. Because we can't take everything. Right?

Exactly. Exactly. Do you have a favorite that you do regularly?

Yes, I love making strides against breast cancer because I have a full pink breast cancer, Wonder Woman outfits. Yeah, it's beautiful. Okay, so that one. But then my favorite one that we actually. It's not kid based, but it hit close to home. It's tunnels to towers.

What's that?

It is a foundation that raises money to pay off mortgages of fallen and hurt firefighters and police officers. But it originally started because of 9 11. Okay. And they do a 5K in Jackson, and then there's a 5K. It's based off of one specific firefighter that was. Had his day off, was going out of the city to go golfing. First plane hit, he stopped. His car was gonna turn around. Bridges or the tunnels were already closed, so he had his gear in his car. He threw all of his gear on, 70 pounds of gear and ran to ground zero and ended up giving his life to help save people. But his family picked it up. And the 5K that's in New York starts at where he started and runs all the way to ground zero. Oh, my gosh. And I cry like the entire 5K. But Batman, my husband and I have been able to do that for the last three years. And I will always go to do that one because it's.

I don't blame you.

Amazing. Absolutely incredible. So that's my personal favorite. Yeah.

How has the community responded to the League of Enchantment?

Oh my gosh. It has been. It's been crazy. It has been absolutely crazy. The first couple years, like not many people knew about us. And so now when we're going someplace, there's been times I'm like, oh my gosh, aren't you Wonder Woman? It's a very weird thing. Cause like no one knew about us and now everybody seems to. And so it's amazing. And then we had our own personal kind of trauma last year because we lost a lot of stuff when our trailer caught on fire during our move. And we lost a ton of toys and costumes and all this stuff. And to see the community's response.

What was their response?

We got three times the amount we lost.

Oh my God.

Between people donating, we had a judge in Lansing give us a trailer.

Wow.

The amount of packages we had show up at the door was insane. Like, absolutely amazing. I think that alone made me cry almost every single day to see that.

Oh, I bet.

Like the community is there to help us when we're not able to help the community. I love that. It's crazy. I love that.

What advice would you give someone who wants to start a non profit or a similar thing to start a nonprofit?

Have a group of people behind you to help. You can't do it on your own. You cannot do it on your own.

It takes a village.

It takes a vil. Really, really does understand that you're not, you know, for us, we don't make money at it. I know some people can. But to understand you are not gonna make money at it. You do this because you love doing it. You do it because you want to help people. And just to understand it is another full time job. So just be ready for the commitment. But it's worth it.

How much time would you say that you personally spend depending on the time of year?

What's the busiest before the gala? Yeah, that's our fundraiser. And I will spend probably 30 plus hours a week on top of my full time job?

I've got the save the date for that on my refrigerator.

It's amazing.

I will be there next year. And then how much time specifically when you're getting ready for each event? Day of. What does that look like? Walk me through that.

Day of. Since I have curly hair, it's definitely a shower to get the curls to come back. Shower. Just getting ready Hair, makeup. We always make sure our suits are clean. And then it's just head to the event, get dressed there. Cause you don't want to show up in suit because Wonder Woman drives a jet, so they can't see me in a car.

No, no, no. Have you ever had any kerfuffles or snafus?

Oh, yes.

Okay, tell me about one.

So a lot of the time, so with Batman, he can take his cowl off and nobody knows who he is. And that's great. Same with Spider Man. But I have a tiara, so there's only so much taking off a tiara does.

Yes.

And so I've changed. After an event, I'll throw my hair up in a ponytail, throw glasses on. I'm hoping for the Clark Kent effect. Yes. And nine times out of 10, it doesn't really work. So a lot of times, kids will see me, and they're like, is that. And I go, shh. You can't tell anybody my secret identity.

Yes.

And they're like, oh, okay. So then they're my buddy.

It's like, shh.

Yes. Secret. Yes, definitely.

Where do you see the League of Enchantment in. In five years?

Oh, gosh. Well, hopefully in another state. We definitely want to continue expanding because we have Michigan and we have Chicago.

Right.

But then just more, I guess I'd love to see more members. Like, we have almost 200 right now. That's so cool. We have so many requests, and we still have to deny stuff just because we can't do it. And I think I'd love to see more members another state. And just to see the growth that the League can do and the amount of people we can help in that time would be amazing.

Yeah. Are there new types of characters or themes you're planning to introduce in the future?

So new characters really just depends on, like, what's coming up. Right. Right now, I think we need to add a bluey to our list. Like, we don't have bluey.

I think that would be a great idea.

Would that be amazing?

Or Miss Rachel?

We have a Miss Rachel. You do? We do. Yeah. So any character a kid would know and love. So it's not just superheroes, princesses. We have Star Wars. We have Ms. Frizzle. Yes, yes, I know. But then we have started to introduce some anime, but it kind of just depends on what events we do for that. And then. Yeah, just any kind of character. A kid's gonna know that.

We can bring the Steven Blue from Blue's Clues.

Oh, that'd be Fun. Yeah. I think you would have to have, like, a blue puppet to make him more recognizable, but that would be cool.

Very true. What about any Sesame street characters?

We don't have any Sesame street yet, but we do have a member who's a great puppetee. So he brings, like, Stitch to life. He has him in, like, a hazmat container.

Okay.

And so he's pretending that he's the hazmat, and so he's got Stitch, but he also does that with, like, he has Trixie, a dinosaur. So he is a Jurassic park handler. And he is very loved that way, so it's fun to watch that.

Okay.

Okay.

What can people do if they want to get involved or support the League of Enchantment?

Yeah. So to get involved, go to our website. It's leagueofenchantment.org or Facebook. It's League of Enchantment Michigan. We do have two, and you can email us and we'll send you an application. So it's an application and a background check. Okay. And then if you want to support and go to our website, we have a support button. We're always taking donations. Money goes right. To helping kids in the hospital. No one gets paid a penny.

Yes. And I will verify. I did snoop around the side a little bit. You guys have transparency. Like, everything is right there, and I love that.

Yeah, definitely.

That is something that most places just don't do.

They don't. Yeah. When we started, it was, you have to write out the bylaws and everything, and it was very clear. Nobody wanted to get pa, so it's right in our bylaws.

I love that.

Because we didn't want it to become a job. We wanted it to be something that we all loved. And you get paid. You start to, like. It becomes a chore, then.

Yes, exactly. What has founding the organization brought you, or taught you, rather, about compassion, resilience, and community?

Oh, gosh. For compassion. You don't know what people are going through. Like, you learn to completely not judge a book by its cover, because we can go into a hospital room and the kid can look completely fine. Like, the kid can be jumping off the walls, but you don't know that he actually has brain cancer. And right then that's a good day for him. And same with our members, too. We have members that deal with PTSD who deal with severe anxiety. But putting on that mask helps them. Yes. And what was the other part?

The others were resilience and community.

I think just understanding and being thankful for. For what you have and where your kids are at, Because I have four kids. And you go into the hospital and you see those kiddos in the hospital and you're very thankful that yours are healthy.

Yes.

And then just community. It has made me see how good people really are and how many great people are out there in the hospitals within the community. Meeting all of these other amazing foundations that are based on just helping people has been very eye opening.

That's good. I love to hear that. If you could say one thing to every child patient you visit, what would it be?

Be the hero someone sees today.

I love that. As one of the founders, what continues to motivate you every day?

Just that next smile, that next hug, the next walking down the hallway and you hear Wonder Woman and just a kid comes running out of nowher and just gives you this big hug and goes, I have a toy of you and you're my favorite.

Oh my gosh, that's wonderful. Well, thank you so much for hanging out with me today.

Thank you for having me.

Is there anything going on soon that people could come and see you guys?

Definitely. This Saturday we are at the Meridian Festival back by the Meridian Mall. There's a huge. They have like a food truck rally and a lot of things for kids. Okay. So we'll have people there. We're always at Ellie's race, so you can always see us there too. That's in July. July. Okay. Those are the ones I can remember. Oh, and Thursday for anybody who's down by, like, Chelsea area.

Okay.

It is worth a trip. It is called Sounds and Sights. It's a huge citywide free festival for the kids.

Okay.

And it is so much fun. It really is. I think it's Thursday night at like 6.

Okay, wonderful.

Good to know.

Good to know. Again, thanks so much, Katie.

Yes, thank you.

Thanks for listening to this episode of Conversations with Kate. You can find more information on LCC Connect site as well as all social platforms. Facebook, Instagram, yes, TikTok as well. Big love.

Examining the issues and topics that affect our lives from the local level to the world stage. Listen to the programs of LCC Connect anytime@lccconnect.org.

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K12 operations at Lansing Community College has been a proud collaborator of the Lansing promise scholarship since 2012. The Lansing Promise Scholarship offers graduating high school seniors who live within the Lansing School District and attend a high school within district boundaries an opportunity to attend LCC. Since its inception, over 1,000 enrolled students have saved over $2 million, earning over 400 degrees and certificates as well as 30,000 credits at LCC. For more information on the Lansing Promise Scholarship, please visit lcc. Eduardo.

Hi, I'm Lisa Alexander and I.

Host a show called who's that Star?

On LCC Connect.

This show is all about an inside.

Look at the LCC community where you.

Get a chance to meet our faculty and staff plus learn about their passion.

Projects at work and at home.

You can catch who's at Star here.

On Elliot LCC Connect or listen anytime@lccconnect.org as a young teenage boy, I didn't even know what autism was. How do you even spell that? A few years later, I heard that a friend's cousin's son had been diagnosed with autism.

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Told me his son had been diagnosed with autism. We were both in shock.

I still remember the day I walked into the house and saw that look on my wife's face.

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I'll never forget how I felt when.

She said our son has autism.

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You're listening to Art Happens Here, the podcast that explores the often curious and occasionally amazing art installations on, in and around the campuses of Lansing Community College. I'm your host, Bruce Mackley. So one of the sculpture ideas we had was for a cube. A big simple square, a block to reside right on Washington Square. Oddly enough, you know the irony there? What we had was we started out with three designs, usually top tier, mid level and low tier, cost wise for fabrication, installation and so on. We always recognized the the importance of keeping these keeping a budget in mind for these. We never went over the top. In fact, it drove every decision we made about doing any of these installations. The three designs, the three original designs. The top one was, let me see if I can remember this. It was a large black, I think it was painted Black and. And it was, it was going to be fabricated like it was melting. Like the bottom part was coming down into the scoop and it would have been the pedestal and it was turning into like liquid gold.

Right.

I'm not sure what the significance of it was. Really, visually, visually engaging. Right. The mid level design was picture just a metal steel cube with drawers pulled out with various sections like pulled out and angles and crevices and so on. In retrospect, it would have been a nightmare to fabricate for welding and grinding and finishing the edges. It just would have been way over the top, cost wise. The basic model was just a simple square. It was a simple, perfect multicolored cube. Thinking of the colors, I wanted to do something a little originally wanted, I was thinking more subtle. But as it turned out, what inspired these colors were military commendations, military badging. You know, the implied nature of. Of that was the inspiration for. For the direction we went on with these. And they were all, you know, fenced off. Various different widths and shapes and. Not various shapes, different widths and. And so on. So that was the one that was chosen. And I won't lie to you, it was a little disappointing because I wanted the drawer version, but this one was by far more fiscally responsible. So hard to design. Not so much. I mean, I think it would took me 20 minutes to do to do the sketch and then another hour to do the final art. Come to find out that the real beauty with this thing was the paint. Paint and how they fabricated it. The company, and I'm going to mention the company, it's AIs construction equipment. Fabricated this thing and they painted it. There's a phrase, it's called oil can. It was tossed around and what it refers to is dense. You know, you see like metal or you know, body of a car dinged. You know, it just gives it. It gives up the illusion, if you will. And we wanted to avoid that, that. So I did see pictures of the cube, this particular cube before it was put together. And inside is structurally complex. I mean there it's made from. Made from pretty heavy gauge steel. I think it was eight feet across. This. The sides were eight feet square. And it. Yeah, it was put together. And the seams, there are no seams. The edges and the corners were perfection. I mean, and the paint job, you look at it now and it looks minted. I can't figure out how they did it with the colors coming together. I don't see any overlap. Nothing. That's where I think the perfection of this, of the sculpture lies is in its simplicity. We have it up on an end, it's upended on a 45 degree angle. Part of that is establishing a visual tension. It sort of looks like it's floating. There's some landscaping around it and you can get up to it but you can't really. Can't really touch it. But it's just like a few feet away. Truth be told, not really one of my favorites, but it is approaching icon status. I see it in a lot of photos. It's occupied plenty of selfies. I noticed people, plenty of students taking selfies in front of it because it's just, it has like a very strong presence behind you. I think I would have chosen more subtle colors, but maybe not. I think it performs great. You might even be able to see it from a plane. From a low flying plane. I don't know, but was a lot of fun. Leonardo da Vinci once said simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Come visit Newton's Cube on LCC's downtown campus. Compass Art Happens Here is a production of LCC Connect. If you want to check out what I've been talking about, visit lcconnect.org thanks for lending us your imagination.

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Hey there, this is Dadalion and I want to invite you to join me for a show called behind the Connection. It dives into what's happening behind the scenes here at LCC Connect. It also provides you early introductions to new podcasts, some of the Connect initiatives that we are putting forth, and of course, insights into the concept of building the voices, vibes and vision of LCC Connect. Find out more about it at our website. It's lccconnect.org.

Have you had to choose between picking up a prescription or buying groceries paying your utility bill or insulating your attic. You're not alone. Every day, people across Michigan are faced with choices. Michigan Community Action is a network of agencies helping people achieve greater financial and personal independence through programs such as weatherization, food distribution, utility assistance, and Head Start preschools. The programs supported by Michigan Community Action benefit people all over the state. Maybe you've just lost your job and are having trouble making ends meet, or maybe you're retired and Social Security isn't enough. Whatever your situation, we may be able to help. Visit MichiganCommunityAction.org or call 855-mi-action to find out more. Helping People Changing Lives Sponsored by Michigan Community Action and Michigan Broadcasters.

The Adult Enrichment Program at LCC offers classes in watercolor, creative welding, motorcycle safety, photography and more. All classes are non credit. Information about the Adult Enrichment program is available at LCC.edu KeepLearning LCC Connect Voices, Vibes Vision.

It'S time for Stars on.

Sport, a podcast radio show dedicated to sharing stories about our athletic program at lcc. Past and present.

Lansing Community College athletics has a strong tradition. 25 national championships over 190 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.

Come down and celebrate with me tonight. We'll all go wild after our victory.

Calm down.

Go wild. Well, I'll have a real good time.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Stars on Sports.

I'd say that again.

Hello and welcome to another episode of Stars on Sports. I'm joined today by our assistant athletic director Steven Cutter and our producer D'Dallian Lowery. And gentlemen, we're going to be talking today about communication which we already just learned how important sound can be to a part of that communication or not. And this could go many different.

I will say that was my bad. I pressed the wrong button there. It's a complicated job.

Real complicated. Well, this podcast only going to get better from here. That's what. Again, how we respond to that, that's not going to define us at this podcast. So we're going to move forward and do our best and communication is something we've probably talked about on every podcast. But now I have really dived in and I believe it's one of the most in all important aspects of a team, one of the most important aspects of society. And again, this could be a three or four part series, but we're just going to generally hit on it today and how important I feel it is when I have coaches meetings, when I talk to coaches, I always bring up communication. As I've said before, that a coach can get by on is communication and organization. But communication is number one on my list. I had a boss teach me real early in my career that communication solves all problems and it's at the root of all problems. And if you really dive into that, I believe that, I mean, probably a breakdown in communication or a miscommunication or a lack of communication is probably why something can escalate and go astray. And the only way to solve it is to communicate through it.

George Bernard Shaw said something like, the single biggest issue with communication is the illusion that it's taken place.

Yes.

And so that really sums it up beautifully of what you said.

Yeah. And again, we'll go in many different directions and there's so many different forms of communication and I even think we're not going to talk a lot about it today. But body language is communication that coaches have really hit on. And we'll talk a little bit about it, but that's something. Maybe we can dive into a whole podcast later. But back to George Bernard Shaw. I've taken that a little further. And two of the things I tell my coaches in the coaches meeting is it's not what you say, it's what they hear. I mean, you think you can give the best presentation ever, but if it went way over their head or they didn't listen, you get that illusion of.

It taking place, you know, step back in time a little bit. It's kind of like us. I mean, we're so used to being able to have phones with Google Maps or Waze or whatever it might be you can punch in. But do you remember what it was like when probably more for like you, Greg, but like.

Oh, I remember what it was like when you had a loss, but you.

Had to ask for directions and it was up to somebody to explain where you're supposed to go?

Yes.

And they might have felt like they explained beautifully where you're going because they most of the time they knew right where you're supposed to go. But whatever you received, you end up going. I'm not really sure was that the.

First left or that after I took the first left out of this parking lot.

And so it isn't about what you say. It's, it's, it's what's heard and how you can communicate it.

So again, great quote from George Bernard Shaw. Well, nice contribution, Cutter.

Thank you.

And again, it is so the illusion that it takes place in and for coaches, it's so important because you communicate regular. You know, in some jobs you might be a little more private, a little less communication, but in practices there's constant communication. And again, I wasn't even going to bring it up, but we'll talk a little bit about a new communication technique you've started this spring in silent practices. So, yeah, I go over it with our coaches all the time. You know, when I'm looking to hire a coach, I look at communication as a value part to bring to the job. I love associating with people that have specialized in communication backgrounds can help me be better, but also help coaches be better or become good coaches because I think it's that important. And there's so many realms of communication. As we've talked about body language or nonverbal or, you know, in a previous podcast on our year podcast, we talked about listening, how important that is. And that's an important part of communication. To your point of the illusion, I explained this drill as well as possible, and they go out and, you know, run it totally astray and consistent. Consistent communication. As you know, we talked about consistency on this podcast and social media, how that's impacted our jobs in an effective form of communication, because that's where a lot of our student athletes get their communication from.

It really becomes a bridge between confusion and clarity. And that communication's right in the middle. And if you're in a leadership role, and most people are one way, shape or form, it's super important that you can communicate not only verbally, but with your actions. You know, your body language, your zest or your energy for what you're doing, that kind of stuff, because people can see that, they can feel it. And if you're trying to say something but you don't have the other modeling piece with it, that's where the stuff doesn't get heard.

And we've talked about in our office how important words are and even at the beginning of this podcast tone, and how through text and email, you might not always get that. And I like sarcasm a little bit, so you have to be careful because through text and email, they might not get it or understand it, but how important all those factors are into communication. And coaches, you know, in high pressure situations or under stressful circumstances or trying to get attention across the, you know, if you're yelling to Your left fielder from the dugout or to a player down 94ft away from you or a cross country runner out on the course, you gotta yell. In general, I really encourage our coaches not to yell personally at them. And in some sports I think it's gotten out of hand a little bit with demonstrative communication and the effectiveness. I actually just saw an article yesterday or day before regarding the University of Michigan's new basketball coach. And he's soft spoken on the sideline. And they asked, can that be effective in the Big Ten? And a lot of people are going, you're crazy for even bringing this up. And two previous coaches was pretty soft spoken too, and he was successful. But the perception is you got to be loud and on the officials and on your players to be effective in the Big Ten. And I disagree with that. I again, I encourage our coaches to work on their communication on the sidelines when they're in public. I think that sets the tone for the whole event.

I have not had the opportunity to see cut coach ever. Is that more your approach? Because you seem like a soft spot spoken guy.

For the most part. I think that especially in coaching, really important thing is knowing when to respond and when not to and understanding where those lines are. Because there's a lot of things that are going to happen in a work environment or a team environment and there are times that you need to respond and there are times that you don't need to. And so I think that's kind of the same in the game situations or in practice situations. I will be soft spoken, but there will be lines. And I really believe like communication is less about what you know and more about how you act and how you believe in what you think you know. Here's a quote for you.

Effective communication is 20% what you know, 80% what do you feel about what you know.

Right.

Wow. That's okay. Peter F. Drucker. Yeah, I like Peter Drucker. He had some good books. And again, that's about passion too, and about response. I've seen coaches cut many times and I don't think I've ever seen him lose control. In fact, I haven't seen him lose control.

My bad.

That was Jim Rome.

Jim. Okay, not Jim Rome. Jim Rome. And I think that's important because in sports sometimes you think you need to get out of control to like send a message to your team or motivate your team. And sometimes that is effective, but for the most part it still goes back to ero and how you respond to certain situations.

Just my perspective. But it goes back to model. For the most part, student athletes are not going to be at their best. If they're losing control or losing their minds, they're going to model that. And we've seen that as an athletic department, and you've seen it, I'm sure, for a long time at the high school level, if a coach gets really demonstrative, then typically what it does is it allows the fans to take their seatbelts off and they can start getting demonstrative towards the officials, too. So it's just kind of one of those things where if you can keep a calm mind while everybody else is kind of losing their head, it's a modeling thing. And your players, they're going to go through the same waves at some point. Maybe in that situation, maybe another one, they kind of have some guidance. Okay, this is what it looks like. Even though the seas are super rough around me, we need to keep somewhat of a level head through all this. And that does feed back into E plus R equals O. And it doesn't mean that you're going to be perfect. It doesn't mean that I'm not going to be perfect, but it means like. Like this is what the standard is, and that's what we're trying to meet.

Yeah, and it definitely helps solve the problem because if it goes out of control, it's an avalanche, it's contagious proximity. It's all those things that if you remain calm, the one person that's out of control, you can help bring them down. Then three or four more people getting technical or ejected or demonstrative. And, you know, I always try and talk to coaches or student athletes that get a technical or unsportsmanlike conduct. And just the learning lesson of that's the line. We do get to that line sometime, but don't go over the line. If you do go over the line, there's consequences. You know, usually a suspension of some sort.

And the lines are so different, too. That's really hard. If you start looking at the lines, it's hard to understand because the things that somebody like Coach Izzo or a basketball coach can say to officials cannot happen in the sport of. Of baseball, that does not happen. You will be thrown out immediately on the second word, you know, and so the lines are so different. Same thing in football. It's just different lines, and you have to understand what environment you're in. And.

Well, and sometimes people are enforcing those lines, and some people have different definitions of those lines or different tolerances of the lines. And as good coaches, you learn as you get to know people what those lines even have your players, the officials, the parent, the crowd that you can get away with more with a certain official than another. And I disagree. There were some demonstrative baseball managers back in the day. But you're right, nowadays it has changed.

You could do a lot of different things, but what we're talking about here is still communication. It's just a different form of it. And that's why it's so important in everything you do.

In our area that communication can be verbal, but that's also where body language comes in significantly of throwing your arms up or yelling or screaming and getting red. And it is important for our coaches to maintain that. And we have had some coaches that have been more demonstrative in the past that have mellowed out and we have some that are younger and maybe trying to find their way in that. So there are different lines out there, but there's still a standard view setting that we have. And thankfully our coaching staff is usually pretty good on the sidelines of representing LCC well, which is our main mission and goal anyway. But you know back to that quote you talked about because I did have this word on here is enthusiasm and passion and like I love my job, I love educational athletics. So if you get me talking about it, I just start going and I lose track of time and I get real passionate about helping kids succeed in the classroom, on the playing field. So I might not know a lot, but I have a passion for it. And I do think coaches have a passion for their sport. So that helps them get through things too because one, I think it also helps them learn. So you start to learn more, know more of what you're saying. But I think that is an important characteristic too of communication is believing in what you're saying and having a passion for what you're saying. I think those for the most part successful coaches, those epitomize what successful coaches have. Other parts of communication that you know, we've dived into is like trying to find our brand in the community. Things that I have done is I put out a weekly or bi weekly newsletter that I send out to local high schools and people on the college and local media. We've implemented software in our athletic department where I'm able to communicate to all our student athletes and their schedules on there and trainer schedule. You help set up Google sheets that we can send that out there. Text vs Mailman I already talked about. So. So again it's so Important in our department because one of the different things about athletics, especially when at the high school level, is when you work in an educational setting, you spend a lot of time in that institution. But in athletics we're the one main, one that talks to many other institutions. We're communicating with institutions across our state. Like I've done a cross country zoom meeting today with ads from Maryland to Florida to Arkansas to Kansas that we have that opportunity by competing or interacting with, you know, with our travel, that communication is important, not only internal but external and finding ways to disseminate that information. You know, another thing I do that a lot of ads in our league do or some do is send out communication before each of our contests. All our constituents, the local media, the official, the opposing school, all the people on our institution that could be impacted by having that contest on a given day. So our security knows that we're going to be in the gym tonight, starting at 3:30 and going till 10 o' clock at night. So finding effective ways of communication is important because you're right, the illusion of it happening is one thing, but how handling to make it happen is other things. So those are certain things that I have tried to implement in our athletic department to communicate to all our, our constituents and always looking for better ways. I have not done as well on social media. I've tried to put things out on Instagram is what our student leadership has told us that their main way of getting, they don't go to our website, they go to Instagram to get information. And I've shared that with the college of how important that is.

So with the studying of excellent teams and what those excellent teams look like versus the average team teams, you really find that one of the key denominators there is communication. And that communication leads to either a team that will work together or a team that just happens to be together. And I think that's one of the bridges that separates excellent teams from just average teams. The teams that that communication allows them to work together or to just happen to be together if it's lacking.

And that's a great segue because the last part of my notes is that what communication leads to, and we've talked about it before and how important is this team is trust and relationships. And you're right, the successful team by communication have more trust and stronger relationships which lead to better performance.

And the communication isn't always going to be, you know, positive. It's not going to be the, the blue skies and 75, you know, it's, it's going to be filled with honesty. But I think before you can give a whole lot of truth or honesty, there has to be some trust built into that. And through that trust becomes a little bit of belief, you know, and once you have that, then you can add some honesty in there and that helps with growth. And then you're also adding, you know, the other sides as well. But it is communication so, so important in our world and it is extremely important as well in the sports world and makes a huge difference between teams that are, you know, just somewhat status quo or average and then the excellent teams. And if you look at any excellent teams, it doesn't matter what sport it was, it doesn't matter what time it was. Communication is one of the bigger things in every one of those team environments.

And again, we focus on verbal communication. But even in those cases, it's the non verbal. You can see the joy, the happiness, the celebrations, maybe high five, you know, Jim Harbaugh, the big high five person, and how contagious that is of just giving a high five. How like it pumps you up, it gives you a positive vibe of connecting with another person. And we see that a lot when something good happens, happens. But you know, the good team, that's even, you know, if you strike out or miss a free throw with someone. It seems to be a common thing in basketball when the free throw shooter shoots it, they gives a handshake to the two people.

And now we can bring in the Peter F. Drucker quote. It is the most important thing in communication is hearing what isn't said. So there you go.

Interesting. Thank you, Peter.

Yeah. Really? Yeah. And I'm looking at the one at the bottom there. The art of communication.

The art of communication.

Communication is the language of leadership. That is James Humes.

There has been a lot of study on communication and it's still unfortunate that we all struggle with it sometimes. And even some would argue, I mean, that's human nature, we're a work in progress.

So you're going to see some of those struggles.

But another quick thing to hit on, especially when we're limited by time, is effective of communication in like, is it to inform, is it to persuade, is it to entertain, is it to disagree with? And I think coaches have to. You know, another podcast topic just for you that want to listen in the future is choosing your battles. Is using communication in the right way, whether it's through an email, whether it's having a team meeting, whether, like to your point, like, you know, the kid just struck out, do you want to go yell at them now or do you wait and let it, you know, soak in? And just finding the right times too can be calling. You know, I've seen game one lot by coaches calling timeouts in the right second or changing pictures. I saw a great cartoon the other day. It said, with a picture on the mountain, the coach comes down, he goes, how come you never come out here when I'm doing a good thing? You know, And I thought, that's funny, you know, and back to Charmin and sensitive society to a certain extent. But how important it is, especially in sports when success is on the line per se. I mean, much more than wins and losses, but even again, that pitch, belief system or confidence or morale, it's important.

Into who we are as well. Because I think communication provides clarity, which then eliminates confusion.

Yeah, and I agree. I mean, when you have clarity, you're going to be successful. And I believe confusion for some reason is a lack of clear communication. But to get back to clarity, you need to communicate correctly. And I don't mind taking, like if I think I explained something and they did it wrong, like a teacher on a test, like if a kid fail a test, I think the teacher had ownership that the content wasn't communicated correctly, just like the same as coaches. And I have that same thing. Well, obviously I had a role in not communicating that effectively to that person. That again, some of it's ownership of the person, but working hard to find the best way to get through to student athletes. And that's because the other thing I always tell my coach is every student athlete is different. I encourage our coaches to talk about or their staff talk to every kid every day just to get a feeling of how they're doing or what they're doing. So, yeah, I spend a lot of time on communication and coaches meeting. I hit those points every time. It's that important. Repetition is necessary, for sure, and consistency is a superpower. And I think consistent communication can go a long way. And I think sometimes we focus in athletics on when something bad happens. But I, you know, again, I think that the emphasis can also be when the good things happen on how to, how to handle that and how to communicate that well. And, and I'm, I probably don't do a good enough job in communicating when people do well because I expect that, you know, let's, let's celebrate. And for sure, much more of a.

Thinker and, and, and might be communicated in my head, but then oftentimes forget to, you know, say what I'M thinking.

About so I will say that I'm guilty of that.

Yeah yeah. And I think we all are. And again something all we continue to get better on even the best and you know even our president that have been great communicators can get better. I like using humor in communication as you mentioned. I do a lot of thinking too and processing or writing it down as we talked about journaling or finding the time to speak it and know that timing's everything too in to it just.

Goes a long way. I just to kind of finish up you know Dalian reached out to me a couple months ago or whatever and said a couple things about about you know podcasts and he didn't have to say that kind of stuff but he was being honest and that stuff goes a long way but you know we all oftentimes think it but then we just kind of fail on the communication part where it can it can help somebody either get better or just commit might help them with their day at.

That point And I think I'd like to end on that point before we go to our end of the year question or into this podcast question not end of the year yet unless we're getting canceled after these conversations. The dalian but one you know my original intent of this communication thing was how one word can change the whole conversation because we've talked about that so we'll go into that another topic just again but I haven't talked about you know even reputation one word can change a reputation. So and I'm not I have a strong vocabulary so I wish I tried to read more even at my age to be better at vocabulary because I think that helps in communication. And then the second thing is what a great example example to end on And I've since the pandemic I've tried to do better is send out thank you notes show your appreciation to people, tell them give them compliments and you know, be kind in this world when we can be anything be kind and do that through communication that if you see something you like or you see something down bring them up, send them a note. And I've tried to do more too of you know on Fridays I try and send out a thank you to someone on campus or across the country. I wasn't good at that. You know I had my previous boss was so I took it from him. And then the pandemic I had time and I saw the impact that it had on other people. I mean they would send me something back much nicer than I sent them you know, I think that was not my intent. I was just thinking of you, and I wanted to send something positive. So I encourage all three listeners out there to do that. So thanks, mom and dad. Last question, gentlemen. I had two I was debating on, so we might do two if we're not. But first one, we'll go with pasta. You know, I love pasta. It's a good meal for student athletes, for the most part. You know, with carbohydrates and starch and such. So do you have a favorite? Pasta, I guess is where I wanted to start. Do you like pasta?

Well, you said sports, and I remember in high school, we'd go over, you know, on game days or the night before and have a team dinner and things like that. And it was always spaghetti. And my mom makes world famous spaghetti, so I think it's kind of just been spaghetti. And because she made world famous, famous spaghetti, now I make world famous spaghetti. And I think only my daughters would agree to that. Usually my wife.

That's one good crowd.

Only crowd that matters.

Yeah, Right. So spaghetti with meatballs or without meatballs?

With me, but not the balls.

Okay. With me. I prefer meat sauce, too. Thin, straight lines. I mean, that's what spaghetti is, right.

When we're clarifying that the noodles cannot be al dente.

So a little story behind spaghetti. I hate to do this because we're late in the show here.

I know. Sorry.

But it is one of those things where I've got to share this, and I don't think Mom's gonna hear this, so I don't think it's gonna be a big deal. And I am sorry, mom, if you do hear this, but my mom, growing up, made the worst spaghetti in the world. It was the thinnest, disgusting, most worst, terrible spaghetti with these big chunks of tomato in it.

I don't like tomatoes either.

And huge chunks of meat. And then one day, and, you know, and I thought for the longest time I hated spaghetti. And then she bought, like, ragu or prego or, I don't know, something in a jar one day, prego, she put it on there. And I went, oh, my God, I like spaghetti. I like spaghetti, Mom. So after that, she never made her own. Own spaghetti sauce. I guess she kind of knows the story. So even if she does hear it, that is good.

But do you have a favorite pasta?

Well, if you're talking. If you're talking about a particular Italian dish, I am a huge fan of manicotti. But when it comes to actual pasta, I like the seashell. Pastas in my Mac and cheese.

Okay.

Because it cups that cheese and it.

Adds like, that, that cheese vibe. Okay. I love it. I want to see sharp pasta dish on your mom. But I didn't like tomatoes either. My mom would put them in a blender and, you know, so they weren't chunky because I did not like cooked chunky tomatoes for making spaghetti. Oh, so gross. And growing up, you know, even when you go to the college, it seems like you learn how to do laundry and cook and, you know, you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. But making pasta was a pretty cheap and easy meal you made. And you throw it against the refrigerator to see if it sticks to see if they're done. Because I don't like overcooked cook pasta either. And I'm glad you brought up. I wasn't thinking Italian dishes. I was thinking pasta itself. But I'm a big ziti person.

Oh, zita's good. Yeah.

But I love there's some good manicotti. There's a restaurant in Ann Arbor that had a great manicotti. But again, those are my favorite pasta dishes. But my go to is Mac and cheese. I could eat Mac and my wife make the best. My mom made the best homemade Mac and cheese. And, you know, and during Lent and other times, you know, live on macaroni. I can get macaroni cheese at the any.

I'm trying to have to bring in my Mac and cheese sometime. All right, well, help you, because that became my quest during 2020. I was, like, looking for the best Mac and cheese recipe, and I found.

It, I think, and they've added too many ingredients to it. You know, you can add any protein to it now. I just like a good cheesy.

Oh, I don't mind a little protein.

A little bacon. I don't mind it. I was saying you could too, but so again, so manicotti. I love spaghetti. I like meatballs. You might just need to open up.

A food podcast here.

I just really tell them we're listening to our food. Tater Tots was so funny.

The other one stars concession stands.

There you go. But that's why I like having it at the end here. Just to have some time to spend on food in general. So until next time, go stars. Stars on Sports is recorded live at the WLNZ Studios. Engineering and production assistants are provided by Dadalion Lowry and Journey Robinson. You can listen to the episode and other episodes of Stars on Sports on demand@lccconnect.org to find more information about our athletic program, visit lccstars.com thanks for listening. Be sure to join us next time for more stars on Sports.

Go stars.

Have a real good time.

This has been a presentation of LCC Connect, a weekly program that features the voices, vibes and vision of Lansing Community College. All shows featured on LCC Connect are recorded at the WLNZ studio located on LCC's downtown campus. Each program is podcast based and can be heard anytime@lccconnect.org if you or someone you know would like to be a guest on one of our shows, connect with us by emailing LCC ConnectCC.

Edu.

Sam.