Mike Candrea Edit
Sat, Jan 14, 2023 8:02AM • 37:50
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
people, coach, kids, life, game, softball, thinking, important, win, athletes, realized, mike, walk, day, years, focus, earned, teammate, young, good
SPEAKERS
Paul Barnett, Mike Candrea
Paul Barnett 00:00
My Kendra. Hello, and welcome to the Great coach's podcast.
Mike Candrea 00:04
Thank you, my honor to be here.
Paul Barnett 00:06
Thank you very much for saying that we're honored to have you. And Mike, could I start with something really simple to kick us off? Just where are you in the world? And what have you been doing so far today,
Mike Candrea 00:17
I retired two years ago from my job that I had for 47 years coaching baseball and softball and thought it was time to start doing some fun things in life. And so right now, I'm an advisor for our athletic director. So I'm still getting my foot in the door, mentoring some other coaches in the department. So that's been a lot of fun, being able to go out and watch practices, other teams be able to sit down and give some feedback to the coaches. And it's been very enlightening, because, you know, I kind of got into it right when we had the transfer portal come in, name, image and likeness come in. And then the realignment of the conferences. So it's been a very busy time, you know, outside of the softball world, but it's been kind of fun, you don't to kind of sit back and look from 100 meters up to something that you've lived all your life. And so I've been able to do some traveling I, presently, right now consulting with the Italian national team. So I've spent the last couple of summers in Italy working with with that program, and just got back from a trip to New Zealand, which was one of those things on my bucket list. My my wife sister lives there. And so we got a chance to catch up with them and learn a little bit about fly fishing and rugby and cricket. So it's kind of broadening my horizons, you know, and it's been fun.
Paul Barnett 01:37
Sounds like we've got you at just the right time to reflect on those 47 years and talk a little bit about leadership. Mike, when I was researching you, you've worked with some big names. And when it comes to just softball, and I'm sure you've met many other people in your travels, when you've gone to the Olympics and all the national tournaments that you've been to along the way, but I wonder if you could just maybe tell us what is it you think the great coaches that you've seen do differently that sets them apart?
Mike Candrea 02:07
Well, I think forefront I always think that the business that we're in is a people business. So I think the great coaches are really good at building relationships, because I think that's the foundation for anyone that's going to help other people get better. And and I think they're good culture builders, um, you know, they, they know what they want, they have a vision, they're able to spread that vision and, and get a buy in from a lot of people because of the way they go about their business every day. And so the great coaches that I've seen right now are just they have a culture, a culture of excellence, a culture of accountability, and they're able to do that for an extended period of time. I think that's one of the I always look at with coaches is, are they a flash in the pan, you know, because they've got good talent one year, are they able to sustain that level of excellence over many, many years. And I think in order to do that, you have to be good at building relationships that are built among mutual respect, honesty, especially dealing with the female athlete, that's everything. And then the culture, I think is a way a way of life that you expect your players to live by each and every day. And hopefully, they they will buy into that and become the ones that keep people accountable for that high level of excellence that you're trying to pursue every day.[PB1]
Paul Barnett 03:25
Mike, there's something you do with your athletes when they enter your program that fascinates me, you take them through a process to envision the legacy they want to leave, before they even take the field. It's a it's a great idea. Can you tell us the reason behind this?
Mike Candrea 03:41
Over the years, I have found that the one of the most important things for our program is our tradition. And I want tradition to be something that that kids have reverence for that they they honor the people before them that that did a lot for our sport with very little, you know, if you go back to the pioneer days, you know, we didn't have shoe contracts and equipment contracts and NFL and all the things that are happening today. They just played the game because they love to play the game. If they got a scholarship, great if they didn't, they're gonna pay their way to school and play a game that they love to play. And so I always wanted our kids to kind of know who the pioneers were and who paved the way because I think it's important. You know, I always tell kids, what kind of legacy do you want to leave when you leave Arizona? You know, and that's a pretty tough question for a young kid at 18 years old, you know, the I want to be an all American, I want to be this I want to be that but at the end of the day,
Because for me, it's about, it's about being successful in life, it's got nothing to do with the game. But these are traits that we all have to have to be successful in life, you know, you can't walk through life without discipline, and without being committed and without being a good team member, because we're always gonna have to work with other people. And that was kind of how I started it. And it just kind of revolved in into its own, you know, thing where each and every year that kids look forward to that they look forward to stripping the A and getting it back. And a lot of times, we had kids that earned it within a week, which is really nice to see. But we also had kids that took four months to earn their A, and boy, that was a challenge, because each week they were falling short, and they were falling short, and they were falling short. And the good part about it was they're getting feedback. And feedback is so huge in the world that we live in. And so it really made an impact on a lot of kids. [PB2]
And it actually changed them. Because when I was a young coach, I used to think I could change everyone, if they had the skill set to play the game of softball, I could make them a good teammate. And I could make them passionate about what they do each and every day and be present every day and all the things that we look for. But I realized as I got older that that wasn't the case, you know, some of these kids came to us with some baggage. And a lot of that stemmed from the recruiting process when we were recruiting kids at seventh and eighth grade, not being able to go into the house and see actually where they came from. And because I think in recruiting, you've got to recruit parents too. You know, that's one thing I found, if you looked at my pyramid, when I first started coaching skill set was the very foundation and then I thought I could teach everything, when my last 10 years character was the foundation, because if they didn't have character, they're gonna find a way to screw things up for your program somewhere along the line. And I think a lot of that was just not spending enough time to look at all the layers when you're recruiting kids, you know, recruiting a kid because they're a good player. But at the end of the day, they've got to be good people to you know, because it's a family. And if we're going to go through those ups and downs together, we got to be able to trust one another and we got to have each other's back in so character becomes huge, I think in in the foundation of building a culture and building a program.[PB3]
Paul Barnett 09:20
Like every article I read in preparation for today, announces the fact that you've retired. And then goes on to say, he leaves the sport with 1674 wins and is ranked fourth of any coach in NCAA sport history. And they talk about winning, winning, winning all time, winningest coach and so on and so on. But I wanted to flip that around, actually and ask you what you've learned over this journey about the perils of focusing too much on winning. Yeah,
Mike Candrea 09:47
very good question and very powerful lesson for me because as a young coach, I thought my value was built around whether I won a national championship or not. And I realized that you can't live life that way. I mean, you You gotta be really lucky to win a championship. You can do all the things right and not win a championship. But you know, I thought the sun came up and went down depending on whether I won or not, I had to learn to kind of refocus my thought process on the process on really what am I there to do. And for me, it was about coaching the person and then let the athlete come out versus coaching the athlete and not help the person because in softball, none of our kids are going to make a living playing softball. So it was important to me that I taught them how to be successful in life. So I always in the forefront of my mind was thinking about what can I do to make this kid a better person? And once I kind of changed my process, from the wins and losses to the development of the young person, I became happier, because I think you just you can't, you can't live life thinking that you're only valued when you win. [PB4] Is there a
Paul Barnett 10:52
person or event that triggered this change in thinking?
Mike Candrea 10:57
I've got a lot of life lessons that I've learned in my own life? I mean, when I first took the job at Arizona, I commuted 72 miles one way today. Yeah, so that takes away and you know, that was an hour in the car, two hours a day, you're at work, you come home late, you go to bed, you get up, you do it again. And the one thing that I realized is that I was lacking the time to spend with my own kids, I spent more time with other people's kids on my own. And that kind of woke me up a little bit. Because it made me really think, how long can I really do this. And I was very passionate about the sport and passionate about my job. I love what I did. I never thought I worked a day in my life because I was doing what I love to do. But on the other hand, there were some other things in life that I was kind of forgetting about. And I think that's kind of part of that process. When you when you focus so much on winning, you lose track of the people that are really important to you in life in other things in life.
And as I got older, I got better at finding some balance in my life. Because I went through some challenges, you know, I'd come home and I'd bitched and moaned about the kids and say, God, these kids don't care anymore. They don't want to work at it. And my wife would look at me and go, Mike, no one really cares what happened to you today. I go, Wait a minute, you're my wife, you gotta care. She goes, No, just walk around the neighborhood and knock on everyone's door and ask if they really care about my Kendra. They don't. So a lot of it was that self inflicted pressure and you take a look at yourself. And you know, you're, you're probably right, no one really remembers what, who won the championship five years ago, so quit putting all that pressure on yourself, and you need to enjoy the process, you need to enjoy each and every day, because I lost the player at 21 years old to diabeetus played in the championship game. And May was gone in June. And that woke me up a little bit to say, You know what practice is more than just this game. It's about these relationships that we're going to have for a lifetime. Because that's what I love about softball. You think you coach kids for four years, and they leave you they never leave you, you know, you're a part of their life forever. And that is a very unique experience. [PB5]
Because I coached baseball too often guys kind of come and go, they really are not quite as they don't want coach. They may want to coach at their wedding. But these women want you there, you know, it's very important to them, that you're a part of their life. And so that kind of changed my whole process about really, what am I here for in my hair to to win championships? Or am I here to develop people? And I think once I understood that, I think I look back now. And I can look myself in the mirror and say, you know, I like what I see I like what I left too many times people spend their entire life trying to win a championship and they're miserable.
of failure and a lot of misery because it's hard to win consistently. And I you know, at the end of my career when people tell me that it's like, you know, I wasn't something I was keeping track of, and something that I really cared about. It was just, I was doing something that I love to do. And I got passionate about helping young people become better people, you know, and better athletes. And so that became the process and the winds kind of took care of themselves.[PB6]
Paul Barnett 14:41
Mike The other interesting thing I found when I was researching and preparing for today was the traffic light system that you use to strengthen people's mental skills. It sounds fantastic, and its simplicity. And I'm wondering if you could share with everybody what that system is,
Mike Candrea 14:59
well, you know that real It came from a gentleman named Jeff Janssen, who Jeff worked with Mark program for many years does a tremendous job with leadership training and very, very valuable person to my career. But he was the one that kind of talked about the light system,
and we play a game of failure. And so every game, you're going to go into that yellow. And so number one is making kids aware that they're getting into the yellow, and then they have a choice of whether they're going to go into the green, or they're going to go into the red. And if you go into red, you're in trouble, right? We all understand that. So the whole key to this thing was giving them tools to not to try to get into the green, instead of getting into the red, very simple approach. But in our game, that's so important, because the best hitters get a hit three out of 10 times 70% of the time, they're going to fail. So if everything we do is talking about failure, talking about having emotional stability, not allow yourself to get too high, or get too low. And I think one of the things that happens is, it's you know, failure is gonna happen. It's gonna happen a lot during a game, and it's just a matter of, are you prepared for failure? And do you have something to fall back on when it happens, you know, do you have a tool to sometimes it's as simple as breathing, you know, it's stepping out of the box, taking a deep breath, heart rate goes down, and away you go. Because if you can't control those can't control your breathing, you're gonna die. Number one. But number two, it's hard to play a game of softball is a game of relaxed skills, The more relaxed you are, the quicker you can react, the quicker you can respond, the more productive you are because of your mindset, the lighter just kind of reminder, you know, you're gonna get in the yellow, and it's gonna probably happen every day are you do you have the tools to get back into the green, where you're kind of on automatic pilot, you're not thinking about what you're doing, it's just happening, where you get to read, you're thinking about everything, and you can't play this game thinking, you know, it's you got to do it, and you got to let it flow. And so that was just a little reminder for them to be prepared, because you're going to come to a traffic light, and you're going to have to either go or you're going to have to stop. You know, because you have to make a decision. You know, I always tell the kids, there's a lot of flat squirrels on the road, because they can't make a decision, right. And so same thing in our game, we have to be able to have the tools, they put ourselves in the right mindset.[PB7]
Paul Barnett 17:24
Like I it's not just softball players that need to be relaxed, to perform at their best, I can think about multiple times when people walk into a boardroom or a community hall. And they're stressed or their heart rates elevated. And I think there's a great analogy with the way you talk about focus and how what the athletes use to focus on before and after the at bat determines their success. So I'm wondering, do you have any routines that you use with your athletes to help them focus just that little bit better?
Mike Candrea 17:56
Well, you know, I have a, I have a saying Be Where Your Feet are. And basically, that's all about focus. It's all about being present. And that was a lesson for me to learn. And again, it was my wife, I'm sitting there eating dinner one night with her, and she's talking and telling me about her day, and my mind is still in the sixth inning of the game, and I'm not hearing a damn thing she's saying. And she says, you know, you got to do a better job of being focused. And I, I took that to heart saying, You know what, you're right.
When I'm at work, I need to be at work. But when I'm at home, I need to be at home, you know, and so trying to get athletes to understand that you have control over that focus, you have control over being where your feet are. And I think that's helps them, you know, kind of plan for that success, or that lack of success or whatever they need to do. And so yeah, we have routines, and I think every kid has a routine. [PB8]
But, you know, I think that the biggest thing with our game is it's not a game that you can sit there and grind, you know, for seven innings because there's times that you can relax and let your mind wander. And then there's times that you have to focus. And so I always use the funnel theory with with our kids saying that when you're sitting in the dugout, number one, how do you watch the game? What are you learning before that at bat, you know, and then as you walk in, put your batting gloves on and put your helmet on, that focus needs to start getting narrower to where you get in the on deck circle. It's about timing, you walk up to the batter's box and see ball hit ball. So you've kind of taken everything from a really broad focus to a very narrow focus. And a lot of times in our game defensively, I always tell them about a hula hoop, you know you're you get out of the hula hoop, you can let your mind wander, relax, breathe, whatever it may be. But when the pitcher gets on the on the rubber, and they start committing that next pitch, you're in the hula hoop. Now your focus has to get back into the contact point. And so getting people to be able to do that, you know, time and time again, is a little bit of an art and I think it's just something that you have to practice Every day to, you know,
it's like failure, how often do we practice failure in a practice situation? And how often do we practice our recovery plan, when something happens, you know, miss a ground ball, I always when I'm watching kids, I love to see how they react, I don't really care what happens, but I want to see how they react to what happens[PB9] .
And so I think you become better, once you're aware, a process that you need to go through all the time, even in my life, today, I try to be where my feet are, you know, I try to have the focus that I need to and
leadership is all about being a good listener, you know, it's about building relationships, it's about being a good listener, you know, and you can't, you can't do any of that stuff unless you are focused, unless you are pressed. And to me, I think that was a lesson that I had to learn because, again, you go back to that, what are you in the game for, and if it's all about wins, wins, wins, and, you know, you kind of lose focus on everything else. And that's, that's kind of where I was at. And, and I took it to heart, you know, I said, I gotta be better at this. [PB10] And so, I always tell our kids, you control the controllable, when you can control the controllable, then you got a chance of being successful. And that is your attitude, your effort, and your focus. Those are the three things we can all control, you know, but the focus part is really hard for young kids to come into practice every day and kind of check in and say, All right, the most important thing right now is what I'm doing is taking ground balls, it's hitting this next pitch. And in life, you know, we were all multitasker. And sometimes we we try to do so much stuff. And we don't get the important stuff done.
And I always talk to them about, you know, you've got a jar, and you got a bunch of little pebbles and you got some boulders, you know, and if you're worried about the little pebbles, you fill the jar up, you don't have room for the things that are important, and that's the big boulders. But if you if you take care of the big things first, then you can always fill in the little things, you know, and I think that's kind of how young kids, they don't quite understand that, because they're being pulled in 18 different ways. And so trying to get them to be present, I think is a challenge. But it's also it's quite an accomplishment when it happens when you know that this kid is, you know, you always had the game or the kid that's always ready. And a lot of that is just nothing more than that kid is present man, they they enjoy what they're doing. And it's it's not a challenge for them to concentrate, and to focus and to be where their feet are,[PB11]
Paul Barnett 22:34
Mike, I've gone back over the last 10 years reading articles. And through all of them, you are consistent in your belief that one of the biggest roles of a coach is as a confidence builder. And I'm, I'm wondering how you go about helping someone when they're going through a period of low confidence? Well,
Mike Candrea 22:58
first of all, confidence is a very vague term, we don't have any dust that we can sprinkle over someone and say, you're going to be confident. So to me, confidence is earned in confidence, the better I can make a kid in their skill set in their mental preparation, the better they feel about themselves, the more confident they become, you know, so it, the confidence is a result of, I think a lot of hard work, doing the other things. I mean, if I'm good at golf, I can't wait to go play golf. And I love playing golf because I'm good at it. Right? If I'm not good at it, I'm not gonna look forward to go and play. And I think that's what you see a lot in life is people tend to do what they're good at. And when they're good at something, you never talk about confidence because they haven't, you know, but we have young kids that that have been put on this pedestal. And then now all of a sudden now reality sets in, and they go oh my god, I I'm not as good as I was. I mean, I've had kids that ended up being all Americans come in my office and cry, because they didn't think they could play the game anymore. You know, and it was just a matter of, you know, they're we've kind of taken them outside their comfort zone. You know, they they haven't learned how to be comfortable feeling uncomfortable. And I think all of those things kind of help develop confidence. [PB12]
I look at a freshman in our program, not many freshmen walk in confident, because there's they don't know what's at the end of the tunnel. You know, and if you ever think about it, and you walk, you know, walk through a dark tunnel. I mean, you're on edge a little bit until you get out of it, because you don't know what's at the end. But once you've been there 1000 times, you're not going to worry about and so I think a lot of it is just is preparation. It's about improving their skill sets for me in our game, if if I can make them a better hitter, they're going to be more confident hitter. If they struggle off offensively, they're not going to be as confident but I haven't found any dust that I can sprinkle on him and say, Alright, you're confident. Let's go you know, it's something that's earned and it's it's part Part of the process the process develops confidence in young kids.
Paul Barnett 25:05
Mike, I hesitate a little to ask this next question, but I'm gonna ask it anyway, because you've been very open and forthcoming with the lessons, but you have experienced some heart wrenching loss in your life. You talked about losing a player. And understand you've also lost a child and a wife when it comes to helping others mend a broken heart. And I know this is not a leadership or a coaching question, right. But when it does come to helping others mend a broken heart, what do you tell them?
Mike Candrea 25:34
Well, for me, it's a big part of my faith. It's something that that's important to me. And something that I think, in today's world, many people kind of get away from that. And because you're when things happen in life, the one thing that I realized is that I did not have good balance in my life. When I was coaching, and trying to win championships, I was forgetting about my own kids. And my, I mean, I wasn't spending time with the people that I love. When you lose someone that's perfectly healthy one moment and gone the next day, a lot of things go through your mind. Number one is every day is important. I live every day, like it's my last because I've seen it happen. But the second thing is, is I realized that for me to get through those tough times i in for me to be happy, I have to have balance. My family is the center of my life. And it should always be and for everyone it should be my profession is something that I love doing. But it's it doesn't define me, you know, what defines me is is my faith, I think of a one for that I wouldn't have got through it. You know, because when you lose people you love it. There's always a question Why Why me? And many times when people are don't have a strong faith there, they're going to constantly ask those questions. But I have the answers. I know that they're in a better place. And I know that I could move forward in my life because of that. So yeah, it is a challenge. And it's it's, I mean, everything that we're talking about is all intertwined.
I mean, me as a young coach, and me as a coach today is probably completely different. Because I I wasn't even worried about that. I never even thought that that was going to happen to me how when my my dad turned 40, I thought he was an old man, you know, and now I'm 67 years old going, my dad was pretty young. So life has a way of teaching us lessons. And I just think that we need to realize how special everyday is in how special our relationships with the people that we love are. And the good thing about it was I there wasn't a day they go by that I didn't tell them, I loved them. But you look around the world today. And there's so many dysfunctional families that, that hold grudges for years and years and years. And you're going why? I guess once you go through these things, you realize that, you know, we're here for a short time, I'll give you a good quick story. And this will kind of sum things up for me.
But I was sitting at my desk one day, and I pulled out this tape measure that I had in my drawer and I was sitting there playing with it. And for some reason my dad came to mind. And I'm thinking from a tape measure, why am I thinking about my dad. And it was interesting, because I pulled out the I pulled out 77 inches and that was my dad died at 77. And I I took away this at the time 65 That I was and I said that's what I've got left. You know, and I think it's just a matter of taking the right snapshot about life. There's more to life than winning, there's more to life than coaching. I mean, there's, there's so many things that are important in life. [PB13]
But you have to have, you have to have happiness in who you are and being able to look in the mirror and say I like what I see. And part of that is is that balance and my faith. You know, I don't preach it. Never have I just live my life that way. There's I mean, Sunday's had mass are pretty important time for me to reflect to to give thanks for the good Lord taking care of the ones that we've lost. And you know, I always walk out of there feeling so much better. can't explain it, but don't. It's just me. It's just the weapon brought up, you know, and I think everyone's going to lose you. I mean, I've lost my parents and lost a child lost a player lost a wife, man, you wonder what else could happen. And sometimes you get to a point in life where you're, you're a little bit numb to it. And I just lost a good friend of mine, George Young. And George was a four time Olympian won a bronze medal in Mexico City and the steeplechase but he was the one that got me into softball. He's the one that taught me into going into softball, and he just passed away, you know, and it's it. It I started looking back and right now I'm at that age where all my friends I mean, I'm losing people right and left and it's, you know, you got to grasp on to things that are important to you. We're only here for a short time so we better enjoy it. We better find the tools that allow us to enjoy the people that we love each and every day and spend more time with them. And that's really what retirement was all about is being able to do that you know Because the one thing about coaching as a profession as you just spent a lot more time with other people's kids and other people than you do on your own.
And it's a challenging question, because it's I think it's hard to have balance when you're pursuing excellence. I haven't figured that one out yet. But I do know that if I didn't spend the time that I did in my profession, I wouldn't have been as successful. Right? And so that's the million dollar question. How do you do it? You know, I think you can, I think in today's world, there's a lot of women that are in coaching now. And they can have kids and they can have a family. And they can do both. But it takes special people around them. And that's the one thing that I've always tried to do is to take care of my village. One thing I realized in life is that it takes a village for you to be successful. [PB14]
In it too many times, young people that are not people oriented, don't understand that. And they don't take care of the people around them, that help them reach success. And that's one of the things I deal with, with young coaches every day is the you know, who cleans your office every day? Do you ever think the equipment person you ever think the guy that's mowing your grass every day, working on your field every day, I made them a part of my team. And that was kind of part of my success, I think is the way I treated people. I think sometimes, that's a simple thing to do. But if you're, if you walk around with blinders on in life, you don't think that that's important. And so, all of this, these pieces to the puzzle have definitely allowed me to grow up a little bit and realize, you know, how special life really is. And so I'm enjoying life, and I live it every day. But I also thank the good Lord every day for the blessings that, that He's given me. And without that I know, Mike Kandra would be you know, and I, I feel good about being able to move forward in life because of that long winded answer. But I hope that answers your question.
Paul Barnett 31:56
More than answers my question. Thank you, Mike, good to join the Santa lifetime's worth of learning. But I am going to ask one final question. Yeah. And you start we started off actually talking about legacy and the fact that you get your your team to close their eyes and envisage their legacy. And you also said you like what you see when you look in the mirror? And I I think if I'd asked them I can Dre every 10 years through his career, this question, I think I might have got a different answer each time. But the mike Andre, who's who's now 67, and he's been coaching since 1976. When that Mike Kendriya, thinks about the legacy, he hopes he's left with the many, many people that have been connected with the team, not just the athletes, what do you hope is the legacy that you've left with those people?
Mike Candrea 32:39
Well, foremost, I would hope that they would say that I'm just I'm a good person, I care about people, I've treated people the right way. Because at the end of the day, that was probably the most important thing for me, you know, I'm a people person, and I love putting smiles on people's faces. So I, I kind of go back to my, you know, people say, What's your philosophy? And I go, Well, you know, there's three things that are important to me first is that I wanted to be competent at what I did.
So I was always a student of the game. And I think that was one of the, one of my assets is I grew up amongst a lot of really good baseball coaches, and I, I was a good player, but not a great player. So I had to work hard at the game. And so I was always my ears are always open. And so I would always listen to people talk about the game. So I think that's been an advantage for me is, is being a student of the game every day, I wanted to be consistent, because I think that young kids need consistency in leadership. You know, I would never hire someone in my program that didn't have stability in their own life, because it's hard for them to bring it to young people. And I think the one thing young people don't need as a roller coaster ride, because they're on one anyway. So stability, to me is a huge part. [PB15]
And I hope that that when people look back, they they can say that I was that I provided a stable, safe environment every day in my culture. And the third thing is that I cared about them as people. I always told our kids, you can go for 30. And you know what, who cares? It's this game's not going to ever be life threatening. I can walk you across the street to the cancer center and walk you through a ward of little kids that can't do what you're doing. So don't make the game life threatening. I think that's been a huge part is being able to help grow people, and then have fun. You know, I think at the end of the day, as a young coach, I probably didn't have a lot of fun. Fun wasn't a priority for me. You know, because I think there's, it's kind of funny when you look at the progress of the students that we deal with today. When I grew up, I was very task oriented. Someone say here, here's a task, and I would get after night and I wanted to make them proud that I did it right. And I did it good. Right today. Kids are pleasers. They want to please you, but they're also very pleasure or He ended. And I think that's one of the things that I had to learn is that you know what it can't be always pedal to the metal, you know, you've got to make things fun. And I think in today's world, that's so important. You know, if, when I was young and I got, someone gave me $5,000, I'd put it in the bank, and I would save it, right? Today's generation, you give them a gift of $5,000, they're gonna go on a trip, they're gonna go to Hawaii, they're gonna go somewhere, they're gonna have fun with it. Right. And so I think that's one of the the things that we've had to deal with, you know, is that athletes are different. You know, are they were they tougher back in the early days, I don't think they're any tougher, they're just different. They had a different environment they had TODAY'S KIDS has a lot more baggage that they have to deal with, you know, you think about half of my career, I never had to deal with a cell phone or social media, or any of these things in today, for a kid to be able to balance all that. It's, it's pretty challenging. And mental health is, is an issue. I mean, it is, it's a real thing. And it's not just because of COVID I think it's just because of young kids being able to deal with society today, you know, and all the choices that they have to make, and, and navigate through. And, you know, I've got three grandkids right now, and I'm trying to think, man, what's this world gonna look like? When they get to my age? You know, I mean, you look at our politics in the United States, it's ugly, you know, it's, it's just not right. You know, so, yeah, my, I just want people to know that I was very passionate, but I really cared about people. You know, and I, I would hope that people would look back and say, You know what, he's a good guy. I mean, he was really a professional, a good person. Hey, won a few games. That was a result of all this other stuff.
Paul Barnett 36:50
Mike, it's been a masterclass. Tonight, you've given me a great shot of energy that I need to get through the rest of. Yeah, I appreciate you making the time and thank you.
Mike Candrea 37:00
So absolutely. Keep me on your list. When you're doing these podcasts. I'd like to listen to some of them. But I think it's, it's, it's, it's always great to talk and reflect and, you know, I just like I said, I've got I've been blessed to do what I do. And I always tell people, I've never worked a day in my life. And I really mean it. It's been to be able to follow your passion in life is so special. But on the other hand, I think we need to all stop and give thanks to the to the people that you don't do it by yourself. That's one thing that I hope. I hope that guy that works on my field, knows how much I appreciate them. And I know he does, because he was a big part of my team. It's the little things that make a big difference, you know? So, but thanks for having me.
Paul Barnett 37:48
Thank you, Mike.