Episode 30

Former co-host of the Breakside Podcast, Garrett Hallinan, is interviewed by David Adamides. Garrett talks about his experience as a coach for the Ave Maria University Frisbee team and the challenges of transitioning from player to coach. He emphasizes the importance of teamwork and building chemistry during the fall season to prepare for tougher competition in the spring. Garrett also shares his plans to play Frisbee again for Ave Maria in the spring semester while pursuing a master's degree. He believes he still has more to offer to the team and is excited for the upcoming season. Welcome back to the Breakside Podcast, here for episode 30. This is your ultimate destination for in-depth collegiate and professional Frisbee discussions and interviews. I'm your host, David Adamides. For those of you that have followed this podcast from the beginning, you will be familiar with this episode's guest. He is the former co-host of this podcast, one of the best players to be produced by the Ave Maria University Frisbee team. He's my good friend and teammate, Garrett Hallinan. Garrett, glad you're here. How are you doing? David, I'm doing great. I'm doing great. Thank you so much for having me tonight. Of course. This is a treat. Like I just mentioned, you've been with this podcast from the very beginning, helped me create this podcast, so it feels really, really good to have you back, and I just have to lead off. How does it feel to be back but in a different role, in a way, where you're the one being interviewed? It feels great. It really does. There's this sort of adrenaline that you get doing a podcast, and it's so surreal because you look forward to it all day. For me, as a schoolteacher, I was with my students all day, and I just said, you know what? I can get through today because tonight I get to talk about Frisbee with David Adamides, and there's nothing like that. So getting this chance to be here back on the podcast, it feels wonderful. It really does. Sure. There's nothing like two guys just out here chatting about Frisbee, which I think you can easily say is one of the greatest sports out there. So really excited to dive into this. We have a lot of different areas we can touch on tonight because you do come to this with such a wealth of experience and knowledge in a lot of varying roles, and one of those roles that you've experienced with Frisbee has been a coaching role. Back in May, you and I graduated Ave Maria together, but you've stuck around the university in a coaching role, which is very different from a player. Can you just break down what this semester was like, being in this new role, but being able to facilitate such a knowledge to these new guys coming out of the team? As a coach, it's different for sure because you don't have that direct impact on the field that you're used to having as a player, and so what you perceive on the field can be very different from what the guys are perceiving on the field. And so what I try to tell myself is, look, don't always give them what you're thinking because what they're seeing on the field is different, and it's live, and it's action time. When you're off the field, everything happens a little bit slower, and you're really able to see things clearly, which is really nice. So for me, there was definitely that trying to establish that balance between, okay, what should I be sharing with the guys, and what's better to just kind of leave unsaid so as not to mess with the chemistry and what they've got going on the field. Our first semester was great. The team went 7-0, which was very exciting, and so they knew what they had to do, and they did it. And my job was just to motivate them, encourage them, give them a few things to think about just to try and tell them, look, guys, the competition in the spring is going to be greater. So just because we're winning games now, that doesn't mean that we should be all high on energy thinking that we're the best team around because, quite frankly, we're not. There are so many good teams out there. And so those were things I'd reiterate to the guys on top of, you know, kind of in-game strategies and whatnot. But it was definitely hard, again, not being able to make those cuts and those throws, but instead having to have those conversations about those things. It's definitely hard, but it was very fulfilling and very rewarding, and I did enjoy it very much. And this fall semester for college teams tends to be a preseason, right, where they're full college season takes place in the spring with bigger tournaments. You'll have your conference games, your regional tournaments leading up to a nationals tournament as well. But the fall is typically where so much of the work is built on a team, right, those practices where you develop chemistry and learn the basics of a team. And in the instance of Ave Maria, you had a lot of freshmen coming onto this team. So from a coaching perspective, how do you view the fall and how do you just prep this team for what's going to be stiffer competition come the spring? It's all about throwing. It's all about getting those reps. And what really differentiates this year's team from any Ave team that's ever been is the fact that all of these guys can throw, which is huge. You got to be able to throw both ways. Not only should you be able to throw a backhand and a flick very well, it's also really good to be able to go over the top. And these guys this year can throw hammers and they can throw scoobers, not to say that they're throwing them all the time in games, but the fact that they have that in their arsenal, that they can pull that out at any given moment is dangerous. And so the fall season is so important because you got to get those reps. You have to visualize what that competition is going to look like in the spring so that you can prepare yourself for those situations. Definitely. It's so much about building up the chemistry in the team, all those great points you just mentioned there. And you've had this great span, a few months, in this coaching role, right? And in just less than a year, you go from being one of the star players on this team to graduating, to coaching this team, very big transitions, and just knowing you off of this podcast, you've had several conversations of what your role looks like with the team. And I won't spoil it. I'll let you do the sharing here. But let's start with the Southeast region on notice, as you had some kind of recent developments in your life of being able to play Frisbee again for Aave. So please just kind of share what your plans are for the spring. Absolutely. Well, the last Frisbee game that David and I played for our audience members, I'm sure you guys remember hearing about this earlier on the podcast, but we played against Berry College in the regional championships back in April, and we lost on Universe Point. And to be honest with you, there's not a day that's gone by when I haven't thought about that game. And I don't mean that just to have people pity me or anything like that. It's Frisbee. I'm the first one to say it. It's a game that I love. And in the grand scheme of things, I know that's not the end-all be-all. But as a competitor, as someone who is so immersed in this Aave culture and wanting to help put Aave on the map by playing Frisbee and playing against competition, sure, of course, I wanted to win that game. We didn't. It is what it is. Now, the summer rolls around, and I got some exposure to club Frisbee, which is super fun. I learned new things. And I knew that I'd be coaching for Aave in the fall, which I did, which was great. Michael Mindendorf gave me that opportunity. And about two months ago, I would say, if we're in December now, yeah, back in October, early November, I thought to myself, what would I have to do to get to play Aave Frisbee one more time? What would those steps be that I could take to do that? And right away, I knew, well, I could do the master's program. But I said to myself, my sole purpose shouldn't just be to play Frisbee. If I'm going to do master's, I got to do master's with intention, and I need it to make sense for my career. And the way that it all lined up, it made sense. And basically, I'm a teacher. For those listening, I'm a fifth grade teacher. That's what I do. And so it's a tough job for sure. And a lot of people have asked me, like, will you even have time to play Frisbee and to do master's and to teach? And I said, oh, look, I'm nervous about it. I'm not going to act like it's going to be easy. But heck, I'm going to give it a try and see how it goes, because I realized that this is my only opportunity to do it. I have the eligibility to do it, which is great. But not only that, that's kind of the side stuff. What's really big here is the fact that I get to do the master's program at Aave, the online MBA. And it's only a year program. So by the time that year elapses, I'll have taught at Mason Classical Academy for two years. And at that point, I can kind of pivot and say, do I want to keep teaching, or do I want to utilize this MBA in order to do a business-related job? And in the process, I get to play Frisbee. I'm like, that sounds like a pretty good deal. So that's what's going on there. A little bit crazy, but yes, I will be playing for Aave Frisbee in the spring. I am very much excited about it. There are some things to figure out for sure. But to my Southeast region competition out there, I do look forward to taking the field with you. And against you, again, it should be a very exciting spring. That's incredible. Like you just said, very exciting. I'll have to put Walter Eller, coach of the Berry Bucks, and Colin Hill, star athlete over there on notice that you are coming back to play. And just look at the scope. You say you want to play again. You want to get back out there. Do you have some overarching goal of why you want to do this, like impact the team or just play again? What are you looking to ultimately achieve by playing this spring semester? I think that my best frisbee is still out there. I would like to say that I've peaked and I've done everything I can. I don't believe that's true. And so having that kind of nagging me in the back of my conscience has really inspired me to say, look, let's give it one more go, because I really do think that I have more to give to the program as a player. Just having played club frisbee this past summer with El Nino and getting to coach back in the fall, I feel like my experience has definitely grown. So those are big driving factors there. Why else? Well, you've got to do it for Mary, right? For that name that's imprinted on her chest, that's what we've always talked about on this podcast whenever Ave Frisbee comes up is you do it for her. And so it's not all about me, right? It's not all about winning or beating Barry or whatever. It's about glorifying the Lord, glorifying Our Lady. And we've always talked about it, Ave, how important it is to do that by using your body. And so I really do believe that I just have more to give there. And as a teacher, it's hard. You come home and you're like, man, I miss feeling a part of something like that. I miss being a part of that routine with those guys and wanting something more. And so this spring, though it'll be a shorter season for me, it won't be a full season, but I'm excited to get to be a part of that again. And I wish that I could just continue on and on because it's so fun. But I'll have those couple months to give it another go for Ave Maria, which I'm very excited about. I think your enthusiasm here is such a testament to the culture of that team. We talk about culture all the time, that it's so important to the success of a team. And I think to hear you speak about this desire, desire to give and leave it all out in the field, it's a testament to what a good team culture can produce and give. So honestly wishing you all the best success in this next step. But I want to take us a step back here and look a little bit more at your Frisbee story, how you got into this sport. I think it's a very interesting story with a lot of lessons we can learn from it. So you want to take me back to your freshman year at Ave and just share what your initial interactions were with the sport. Absolutely. So first week, freshman year. Everyone's looking for something to do, right? How am I going to make an impact? What am I going to do here? And for David, for our listeners, that was cross-country. He was in on that right away and I met David very early on and formed a nice friendship with him. But for me and for a lot of guys, we didn't necessarily know what that thing was going to be for us. And so a good friend of mine, Greg Anderson, hopefully he's listening in on this podcast and I was listening to a couple, but Greg came up to me and said, Garrett, you're going to love Frisbee. You're going to love it. I know it. I've got to give it a shot. I said, Greg, I'll come out. I've got nothing to lose. Why not? It was a club team at this time. This was about four years ago. And so I went out to that practice. I didn't have cleats. I just had sneakers. And I was loving the movement of the game. I couldn't throw to save my life. Oh, my gosh, it was so bad. But I knew how to cut and I knew how to run and I knew how to find open space. And that kind of just came from experience of having played basketball, playing a little bit of football as a kid, just doing a lot of backyard sports. And so Frisbee really translated well. And it's a sport, too, where height doesn't really matter that much. Sure, it's so nice to be tall and to have the length 100%. I wish I was six foot. I'm not. But I realized that you can have such a good impact if you hustle, if you work hard. And that's always been my big thing with sports is I'm not the biggest guy out there, but I'll guarantee that I'll always try my hardest. And so I kind of learned with Frisbee that if you outgrit your opponent, there's a good chance that you're going to win. Maybe not that game, but you'll win that matchup if you just outwork him or outwork her. A lot of times, obviously, we play against other guys. So that's kind of what drew me in. And I really fell for the sport. And I never, never regretted it ever. All comes down in that little story there is the power of invite. The person invited you into this sport, I think that's so important that the relational side of Frisbee is typically a bunch of guys just come together and is such camaraderie. And you experience that from day one, that kind of introduces us to your freshman year. But then sophomore year, you took a big leap in your in your leadership role on the team and was actually presented with a big challenge of because that was the year of COVID, which, you know, for those out there, I'm sure everyone's familiar, just there are no games being played. And it was a challenge of keeping this team together. But being only a sophomore and in such a leadership role on a team, so that's kind of uncommon being younger in college to have that role. What kind of enabled you to rise to this occasion and keep this team together? So at that time, it was all about survival. That's all that mattered. Let's keep this program alive, because we have something so special here, and we can't let that die. And so James Showalter and I really had that mentality going into that season. And Billy Derrick was around too for a bit, but unfortunately, he got a little bit busy with things. So James Showalter and I really knew that was our mission. And coming off my freshman year, I still couldn't throw the disc. So it was hard to lead the other guys in that sense. Throwing wasn't my specialty. That was James's specialty. So he knew how to do that really well. And my specialty was cutting. I could teach guys how to get open, how to play gritty defense, and James could really teach guys how to throw and how to move well. So we formed a really good unit there. And we had so much fun that sophomore year, because we weren't supposed to be practicing because it was COVID. So we'd have some AVE worker come up to us and be like, you guys aren't supposed to be doing this. And we're like, that's OK. We'll just go drive a mile down the road and do it at North Park, and you won't have jurisdiction over us there. So we'd drive down to North Park. It would be like lightning and thundering over us, because in Florida in August, September, it rains every day and it storms. So we would just blink our eyes and be like, oh, I blinked, and we would just keep practicing. And so that's what that sophomore season looked like. It was just so much fun, and it was hard. It was really hard because the guys were so hungry and wanted to play against other opponents besides FGCU. We got to play FGCU a couple of times that year, but we wanted more. And we were a good team. We had a lot of potential that year. But the fact of the matter was, we just couldn't play against other teams because of COVID. But we made the most of it, and we had a ton of fun that year. It really was a blast. It's such a challenge, but I can testify the amount of effort you put into those practices, prepping, what you're going to show to the guys. Talk to me a little bit more about, from a captain's perspective, what it looks like to plan practices, get everything in line, and get your guys together out there. So what I would do, I'm a very simple person. I don't really ever have a crazy, elaborate, complex plan. But what I would do as a captain is I would just get on my notes on my phone and say, all right, I've got to figure out what are we doing from 4.15 to, say, 6 o'clock. That's my window. I'm going to try to make this practice as enjoyable as possible. As a player and as a captain, I really have this belief that it's all about routine. Get guys in the motion of doing the first couple things. Have that be the same. So for us, we ran a lot of go-to drill, which is just making that 10, 15-yard cut, coming back, getting those reps throwing. A lot of box drill that year. Honestly, too much. I know. I definitely overkilled it. But those first couple drills, it was very repetitive. It's like, look, we're going to get into this routine. We're going to get into this flow. We're going to get the reps. It's not going to be super fun, but we're going to do it. And for us, that sophomore year, after that, after a few drills, after getting some throwing in, we would scrimmage. That's just what we would do. I don't think there's anything better that you can do to improve your game than to scrimmage. Drills are great. I love drills. But there's nothing like getting that experience of being able to call your own fouls, call picks, experience those matchups, playing the full length of the field. So we scrimmaged a lot that year. And it definitely took a toll on our bodies. I don't advise people out there to just scrim, scrim, scrim if you're leading a team. But it helped us for sure. And so that was kind of my mentality as a captain is, look, let's get everybody involved as best we can. Let's make sure guys are having a good time, that we're keeping it competitive. And let's really establish this routine so that guys know kind of what to expect going into practice. But those were kind of my philosophies as a leader on the team. Definitely. And so you were captain this sophomore year. And then coming into your junior year, you were also a captain for the team. And something I think was really good about this team is there was a really special team camaraderie, team bonding, and chemistry that we displayed on the field and even off the field. Talk to me about how you facilitate a good team network, good camaraderie on there. How do you facilitate as the captain of a team? It's all about giving those high fives, giving those words of encouragement. I'm a big guy who's into words of affirmation. I'm not a big guy myself, but I'm big into words of affirmation is what I mean. And so as a captain, I recognized how important it was to give guys credit when they deserved it. I was going around all the time saying, hey, good job, good job, good job, because that doesn't really mean much after a while. But if David made a great throw downfield, I was one to make sure to recognize that and say, look, we scored that point because you started it. You made that good throw. Likewise, if, let's say, Noah Padgett made a good defensive play, I would try to hype up Noah Padgett and say, Padgett, that was sick. Great D. That's what we needed. Those words of affirmation is really what I think facilitated the camaraderie that was shared on that team, especially junior year once we started to go out and actually play teams. My philosophy was, look, we really need to build a culture from within and know that we can trust each other so that when we play people who we've never played against before, we'll be okay because we'll have built this bond and this unity. So when our backs are to the walls, we can support each other and do what we need to do in the games. Definitely. There's so much that goes into building a good college club team, whatever that is, and you touched on several points there already, but when it comes to the game of ultimate, I think a lot of people naturally, I want to be on O-line. I want to play offense. And people usually say, you know, offense is easier than playing defense. It's hard to play defense in the Frisbee. But while looking at your playing style, you're someone who grinds on defense, right? You're never going to give up on a play. You're always going to push through. How do you communicate or how do you teach good defense to somebody on a team? Absolutely. That's a great question. Defense is so hard. I always say that to people, but what I always tell people is, look, you've got to give it your best. Like, you have to give it your all, right? 10 seconds, assuming you're guarding the guy with the disc, right? Get him as high on that stall count as you possibly can. Make that throw so hard for him, right? There shouldn't be any gimmies, like, no freebies. For me, the way I position myself when I play defense in Frisbee is very similar to how I play it in basketball. You get low, right? You bend your knees. You've got to be athletic with a proud chest, arms out wide, right, with open palms. And that way, you can block a disc, right? Get a hand block. Maybe get a foot block if you're flexible enough to make that stretch. That's huge. An active mark, right? People forget about the fact that you have to be active, right? You don't have to be hopping all over the place. I've watched film myself and realized at times I was too active to the point where I was like tiring myself out and wasn't really doing anything. But it's good to move a little bit, right? Make guys uncomfortable. On the last podcast, David, that you did with the guy from overseas, Connor is his name, right? Connor McHale, yes. Connor said, look, you've got to make the other team feel uncomfortable. Like, if you want to win the game, you've got to put them in uncomfortable situations. So as a defender, right, if a team has the disc on the sideline, don't allow that swing. Like, don't allow them to dump reset middle and go opposite. No, make that throw super hard, especially when you pin them into their own end zone. Don't allow the swing, right? Even if they're forfeiting yards, don't allow that. You never want the offense to have the disc in the middle because that's where they're most dangerous. That's where they can expose you. You want to keep the disc on the sidelines as a defender. So just, that's always been, those have been things that I've really thought about more and more, and I've tried to tell guys when I've coached or when I've played on the field. I think there are a lot of different strategies and mindsets you can have about how to best attack defense or tackle the art of defense in Frisbee. I think you could probably boil it down to attitude and effort are such main components that anyone out there, and just give it your darn best you can do. So great insight you have there, and I want to kind of continue on your story through playing at Aave. You know, we've talked about how you were a captain your sophomore year, a captain your junior year, and then this was kind of an interesting transition, I believe. At the end of your junior year, you stepped down from being a captain, and the team was elevated to a varsity status, which is very rare for college ultimate, but I do believe it's becoming a little more common as universities recognize the potential of this sport and how the sport continues to grow. But as it was a varsity sport, you were no longer in this captain's role, but you still found a place to have a very vocal voice and led the guys, even if you weren't in that position of leadership. Talk to me about how you can still impact the team when you don't necessarily have a title. Someone who I think of right away is Montana Millward, who's been on this podcast before. He is a big role model of mine, and I know he's one of yours, too, David. Montana, when he was a senior and David and I were freshmen, he was not a captain, but he was one of the best players on the team, without a doubt. He moved so well, his defense was real good, he could throw it, he could do everything. But Montana, led by example, he's a man of, I don't want to say a few words, because he's social and he loves to talk, but when it comes to playing, he plays his game. He shows by his actions and by his leadership. For me, when I was a captain, I tried to be vocal. I wanted to be loud, I wanted guys to hear me, I wanted to try and anchor the team. But when senior year rolled around, I realized I've given so much vocally to this team that now it's time for other voices to be at the forefront of this team. I need to step back a little bit and really just try to lead by example. That's really what was at the forefront of my mind senior year, is, hey, look, let Liam O'Rourke use his voice, because he's the future of this program. Let Nick Fitz step up and say what he needs to say. For me, I'll always be there, but I need to allow these guys to assume their roles of captainship and I need to be right there below them. If they need me, I'm there for them. I always strive to show by example, and Montana Millward is someone who I really thought of during those times. I think you did excellently there. It goes back to the idea that everyone has a role to play on a team, even if it's as simple as making sure you show up to practice on time or being intentional with your throws. I think it's things like those that go a long way to creating a good team, a positive team culture, and that won't necessarily translate onto the field. You mentioned Montana Millward several times. Something he mentioned when he was on this podcast is the idea of being a good teammate. If you're just giving those high fives to the guys, giving the encouragement, the disc will find you, because your teammates will want you to succeed, and in turn, I think that will enable the team to succeed as well. Again, I think you did an excellent job at that this past season. I do think, I don't think, I know the school recognized you for that role as well, where at the end of this past season, you were recognized in front of the entire athletic body with receiving a leadership award, which I think is really special, because we just mentioned you weren't a captain this past year, but you were able to impact the team so much. What did it feel like to receive that leadership award, to be recognized for all the hard work you put in? It felt good. It really did. There are two awards that are given out there. You get MVP, or you get leadership role, and most valuable player, of course, you want to be that. You want to be that guy. Of course, I wanted to get the MVP award, of course, but that wasn't my role. Zach Gunn got the MVP. He was very deserving of that award. He was a phenomenal player. I loved playing with Zach Gunn. He brought so much value to the program. Receiving that leadership award was very rewarding. I was very excited about it, because I knew that I gave it my all, and I always tried to lead by example and to almost act as a coach at times, not say I was a coach, because I wasn't. I was a player. Now, I'm a coach. This past semester, I was a coach, but it meant a lot. It meant a lot to get that coach's award. It's something that I definitely hold dear, for sure. As much as maybe I wanted to get that MVP, that wasn't in the cards for me. That wasn't my role, and that's okay. I'm proud to say that I was a leader of the team, and I helped in that regard. It's something that I can always be proud of, which is great. Exactly. Thank you for that recognition for all the hard effort that you put forth. Looking overall at the college club scene, you've been a part of it for many years now, and in varying roles like we've been talking about here. I think there are a lot of challenges that these club teams in college face. As someone who's been through all the hassle that comes with being a leader on a team, that captain, or now this coach position, what are some challenges you think these club college teams face, and then what kind of support do you think they would be needing to succeed and to elevate this growth of this sport? Nowadays, people talk about money a lot, and things are really expensive. When you've got a group of guys who are hungry for the same thing, in this case it's to play ultimate frisbee against various opponents, that's a good thing. But you need to afford that trip. You've got to budget it. You've got to put the money aside and say, look, we need to figure out how we're going to do this. Playing for Aave's senior year, I didn't have to worry about that, which is really nice, because Michael Middendorf did all that for us, which is a blessing. But what Aave Frisbee is doing right now is they're fundraising. Over this Christmas break, they're raising money. They're spreading the word. They're saying, look, we've got a great program here, and in order for us to continue to success, we need money from people who support our mission and support what we're doing. That's a humbling task. One of the hardest things to do is to ask others for money. It's so hard, especially nowadays, just because people are paying so much money for this thing and that thing, and then all of a sudden, people come to you saying they need money for a frisbee team, and you'll probably have people like, are you serious? But it's like, no, yes, we are. We are serious, because this is something that is very good, and it's very beneficial towards this university, because it's helping put the university on the map, having guys who are so dedicated to the Lord and are glorifying him by using their bodies on the field. So that's a challenge, financially, 100%. Playing for El Nino this past summer, we finished our games on Saturday, and the captain came up to me, and he said, Garrett, I need you and one of the other newbies to figure out where we're all staying for tonight, and I was like, oh, my gosh, because our plans had fell through, right? We had booked hotel rooms, but then something happened there, some glitch, and we were left to find new accommodations, which we did. We figured it out. But that's a struggle. That's a big struggle for teams is the financial aspect of it, and I'm not saying it's impossible. It's just a matter of guys really putting that effort in to say, look, we've got something good going here, and we need others' support in order to do what we want to do. Definitely, and I think as the sport continues to grow, especially in the college area, there are a lot of very talented college teams out there. I think universities will continue to elevate these teams to varsity level, as we saw at Ivory Maria, and that did take the burden off the player so much and allow us for the focus to remain on the game and to produce top-level, quality game play. So in the college sphere, I think that will continue to grow, and in the club post-college area, that's definitely a challenge. We do experience that, playing with our club team out in the Fort Lauderdale, Florida area, but I think it comes down to just we need the sport to grow. We need visibility in the sport, and as that continues to go, it's a win for everyone involved. So a lot of different areas, a lot of different challenges that are faced there. I kind of want to shift our conversation here a little bit now and bring us back to this podcast. You've been with the podcast from the very beginning. You helped me create this podcast, and actually, the name of the podcast is attributed to you. You were the one that came up with the Brakeside Podcast, and for those out there, we've got to know, what was your inspiration for the name? How did you come up with it? Brakeside, oh my gosh. So for anyone who plays for us, or anyone who's watched it, you'll know that a lot of teams like to throw a force, and for most club teams, it's a force flick. Guys typically tend to struggle with their flick when they're new to the game. Over time, they develop that flick, but in the beginning stages, they tend to force flick. So if you're a cutter, 95% of the time, you're going to cut to that open side. You're going to try to get the disc where that flick is coming from. Now the idea of brakeside is, well, look, let's try to get a swing, right, instead of just always looking up line, up line, up line, O-I, O-I, O-I, it's, well, hey, we can forfeit up a few yards, get it recentered to the middle, and swing the disc to the brakeside to open things up, because as soon as you get the disc moving horizontally, and then you expose it to the middle, and then you brake to the other side, back and forth, now the defense is broken. You've broken them. They can't keep up. They don't know what the force even is. So I've always thought of the brakeside in that sense as, you're confusing the defense because you've worked the disc to the side where they were so certain they had it blocked off with their force, and by the way, that every single other guy was marking their player, but now that you've made that open, your chances of scoring go up exponentially. I don't know what the statistics look like, to be honest with you, but that's the idea of brakeside. It's, look, play together as a unit. Play as a team. It's not all about forcing up lines all day long. That'll work for a while. You're going to play against a good team eventually who's going to make things uncomfortable for you. You have to work it to the brakeside. The last part of that is, as a cutter, it's not always about me, me, me, me, me, right? I get disc, I get disc, I get disc. There has to come a point in time where you say, look, and Montana Millward was huge with this. He said, he would tell me, you've got to cut brakeside knowing that there's a very good chance you're not going to get the disc, but that's okay. You're going to free up space for somebody to then make that deep cut or to maybe make that open side cut. It's going to open up that lane because you cut brakeside, because you took that attention away from yourself. You're then able to put somebody else in the spotlight. So that, those are kind of the origins of the name, the brakeside. Pretty technical there, but hopefully that gives viewers a little bit of a clearer picture as to why this podcast is called the brakeside podcast. Love it. Thanks. Thanks for sharing all of that. For those out there that have kind of been around this podcast a little bit, they've typically are used to hearing my voice, but if you go back to the beginning episodes, it was you and I and, you know, off podcast, you and I have talked about this, trying to get you to come back to this podcast and, you know, do some work. And I'll let you do the introduction of a way that you are going to come back and have a presence here on this podcast. Yeah. So part of the reason, guys, why I've been gone so long is because teaching started up and I'm a fifth grade teacher and David's working too. So it's like, how come Garrett can't do this and David's doing this? I'm thinking the same thing all the time, but the schedule just got real busy for me and I got a little overwhelmed there for a bit. So I really had to focus on teaching, but things have been going better for sure, which is great. And I feel like I'm able to really manage my time more effectively. And so David reached out to me just the other day and he said, look, I want you back on the podcast. Like, David, I'd love to be back on the podcast. He said, a good way for us to really work on this is to establish this sort of series, this compilation of episodes that are focused on specific subjects where we're not going to be conducting those interviews that we typically do where we pull in a third party and we talk to him or her about what their Frisbee journey has looked like. Instead, we love doing that, but instead, we're going to focus on one subject where the viewers can listen in and hopefully extract something from what we're saying. They can learn something from this and hopefully apply it to their lives. So that's the idea. David, I'll allow you to say what kind of this first episode here of the series is going to be about. Yeah, definitely. It's very, very exciting to have you back with this new project and how it's going to look now at the break side. So we'll continue to do a weekly episode interviewing a player out there and you will continue to hear just these crazy, awesome stories from around the different avenues of Frisbee and then continue to enrich your own knowledge about the sport, hearing everyone else's take as well. But in addition to your weekly interview episode, Garrett and I will be releasing a mini-series focusing, like you said, on different aspects of the sport. So it's very exciting here for the first time to introduce what will be known as At the Whiteboard, which will be an educational mini-series that Garrett and I will be doing, addressing different aspects of the sport and ways that you can tangibly take them and apply it to your college team, your club team, or whatever avenue of Frisbee that you do play. So very exciting to have Garrett back on that. And if you're listening to this on the day it's released, get excited for just a few days later, we'll be releasing episode one of At the Whiteboard. So excited and thrilled to have you back for that project there, Garrett. And I want to open this up. You come to this interview, you come to where you are now with a wealth of knowledge. We've heard about this so much of all the different roles you've had over college. If you could give a piece of advice to a new player that's showing up to their first college practice with very little experience, what would you share? I would say to him or her, I would say, look, just give it everything you have and think about those sports that you've played before because they matter. Hoops, football, lacrosse, soccer, whatever it is, take that, right? Don't leave it. Don't disregard it. All of those years of being an athlete didn't matter because they do. Take that knowledge and implement it into this new game. Some people come into Frisbee and they're really confused as to what's going on. And that's okay. That's normal. It's not a bad thing. But think of it like, no, I do know what's going on here because I've played sports that I can really mesh those concepts and use them towards Frisbee. There's nothing to be scared of. That's what I would tell somebody. I'd say, look, there's nothing to be scared of here. This is a great sport. The throw's not going to be there right away. It's not. It's not. Even for naturals, it takes time, right? Some people pick it up faster than others. So, right, get those reps. If you want to grow in terms of talent, practice. Throw into the wind, not just with the wind, right? Practice OIs and IOs. Make it situational. But don't be scared. There's nothing to be scared of. It's a plastic disc that weighs 175 grams and you're running around with six of your close friends against seven other people. There's nothing to be scared of. Enjoy it. Savor it. Use that knowledge that you've gotten from previous sports experiences and implement those here because you're an athlete. You wouldn't be here if you weren't an athlete. It doesn't mean you don't have to be an incredible athlete to play this sport. You just have to work hard and put in those reps in order to succeed. Wonderful. I appreciate that there, Garrett. This kind of brings us to the close of this interview. I do want to open it up, though. Is there anything else you would like to share? Frisbee, we could talk about it all day, but it really is so, so special and I attribute this sport to so many of the friendships that I have. And so I really do think that this podcast is having such a large effect on people because they're realizing more and more that this is such a great sport and it deserves to be held in a greater spotlight. Not to say that it's not currently. It is. Every year, it seems like it's getting more and more traction with the AUDL and the video compilations and whatnot. But for our listeners, if you don't play Frisbee, give it a shot. And if you are playing it, just keep playing it because you only fall more and more in love with it and it really does. It builds so many memories. It fosters so many friendships. And for me, personally, I know that I've grown so much because of Frisbee. And I know the same is for you, too, David, as well. And so my last thing that I have is I just want to ask you, how has it been these past 15 weeks doing the podcast by yourself? I appreciate it. I usually don't get asked questions on here, so I appreciate you throwing one back at me. It's been a big joy. I think you just mentioned the very fact of why it is, is that this sport continues to grow and it is an exciting time to be a fan of Ultimate Frisbee. Because wherever you look, there are so many talented people that have great stories that don't have a platform to share them. So it's been a really, really enjoyable way to facilitate a platform for people to share their experiences, their trials, their struggles, and what they have used to overcome that. So I appreciate you asking me, because it's been a lot of fun. But I am looking forward to having you back with me at the new segment that's coming out later this week. So stay tuned for all that out there. But Garrett, thank you so much for everything you've shared with us here on this episode, your wealth knowledge, your experience of the college club scene, and all your tips of how to build a good college team. Really appreciate it. And I do think that has an impact on others out there. So once again, thank you for being on this podcast. Thank you, David. It's been an honor. Definitely. And as always, make sure you check out the Breakside Instagram at breakside underscore podcast. And that brings us to the end of episode 30. This is David Ademidis with Garrett Hounan of Ave Maria University. Thanks for listening. Have a great night.