Episode 7

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Published on:

3rd Jun 2025

Coaching Complexities: Conversations with Troy Jones

In this episode, Nii Wallace-Bruce interviews Coach Troy Jones, a multi-sport coach who works with both MLB and NFL high-performers. Troy shares his journey from aspiring athlete to accomplished coach (01:30), highlighting his holistic approach to athlete development, which focuses on movement efficiency (05:47) and mental resilience (11:17).

The discussion covers various aspects of athletic training, including the importance of failure as a learning tool and the need for lifelong development (19:46). Additionally, Troy reflects on the cultural differences between U.S. and international sports training and the unique experience of living and working in Canada. The conversation also delves into personal anecdotes about Baltimore, emphasizing the cultural richness and the impact of regional differences on identity.

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Opening and closing music courtesy of Jeremiah Alves - "Evermore".

Transcript
PSP:

Welcome to the podcast Industrial Complex.

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I am your host, ni Wallace Rus,

and we have a special guest.

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We are in a thicker baseball

season, but this guest is not just

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a coach in the world of baseball

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He coaches Super Bowl champions as well.

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He has no off days.

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So without any further ado,

let's bring in the one and only.

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Coach Troy Jones.

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Troy Jones: Thank you

for that introduction.

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I appreciate it.

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It's a pleasure to be here.

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PSP: It's a pleasure to have you with us

and Troy, you're in with the Blue Jays.

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Is this your first time in Canada?

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Troy Jones: No.

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I came last year to visit when

we actually with a team that was

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competing with the Blue Jays.

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And when I visited Toronto,

that was my first time here,

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came here like twice last year.

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And I thought it was great.

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And so I ended up here this year

on a full-time capacity through

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during the baseball season.

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And it's been very welcoming.

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People are, very it's

hard to even explain.

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It is different, but they're,

very casual, carefree loving.

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It's just been a great experience.

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It's been a great experience.

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PSP: Now, Troy, coming from the States,

have you shifted from the likes of Dunking

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Donuts and Starbucks to Tim Horton's?

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Troy Jones: Even though I don't, I

try to stay away from that stuff as

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much as I can, as you already know.

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But yeah, I would say the Tim

Horton donut might be better than

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the Dunking Donuts and the sticks.

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PSP: Alright, and what about the coffee?

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What do you drink?

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Troy Jones: I'm more of a black

coffee guy, Americano with an

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extra shot, something like that.

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Maybe throwing in there occasional

cappuccino with an extra shot.

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But I don't, deviate.

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I'm kind of simple, you know, play simple.

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Black coffee's always good for me.

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PSP: Yeah, that's fair

enough and also good to know.

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Now, what I wanted to get into is

the journey, how you got to where

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you are today because you deal

with some high performance athletes

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across multiple sports, but Troy,

that doesn't happen by accident.

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Tell us a little bit about the

experience of how you became

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the coach that you are today.

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How did it happen?

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Troy Jones: Okay.

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Let me see.

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Where do I start?

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It's a journey for sure.

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It's one of those type of journeys

that, if you are a person of faith,

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you really, truly believe it just steps

of order because the industry chose

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me more so than I chose the industry.

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It started with me as first and

foremost wanting to be an athlete.

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Having some athleticism, having some

abilities to move well and compete.

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And that's where I foresaw the future in

regards to what my career choice would be.

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But I also come from a

background of educators.

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I.

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Family of teachers,

things of that magnitude.

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So the gift of communication came

relatively easy, but I didn't

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know that at the time and the

way I processed information.

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I did notice early on that was different

and it's kind of made me a little

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bit more cerebral in my approach to

when I competed and how I prepared.

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And long story short is when the years

of chasing the professional ranks didn't

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happen the way we would liked it or didn't

go the way we would've liked it to go.

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You have to make some career choices

about in the process of being

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introduced to sports at a high level.

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You have these experiences where you pick

up and learn some things about yourself.

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And one of the things that

I learned in my preparation.

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I would always attract an audience because

I would always break down, break things

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down into progressions, and I didn't

even consciously even understand why.

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I was always looking at, for

example, I was playing baseball.

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I looked at, if I went three for

four, I would, you know, two doubles

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in a home run and one strike.

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I'm concentrating on the strikeout more

so than I'm concentrating on the positive

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things and breaking that down, frame by

frame to figure out a way to avoid that.

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The next opportunity,

when it presented itself,.

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So in that way, I was already preparing

myself to coach, but then the audience

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or people when they would see this, they

wanted to participate and hey, let's

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train together, things of that magnitude.

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So I didn't wanna sit behind

a desk and I can communicate

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well, I can explain things well.

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And that's how I kind of began.

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So I started doing a deep dive.

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Into the science aspect of the human body.

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'cause I always loved the human body.

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So I thought about being a position

at one time after the sports

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thing didn't happen the way I had

planned it, but I was like, why?

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I had the gift to play sports at

the level that I can play it at,

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but not be able to achieve it.

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So I was a little bit, I.

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Bitter over that aspect.

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But then, like I said, sometimes God

put you in positions to get you exposure

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to something so he can move you into

another, into another direction.

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And kind of, that was that reason was

because he wanted me to be able to,

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look through the lens of an athlete.

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I.

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So when I can have better communication

with athletes in from an aspect

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of being able to help them achieve

something that they are striving to be.

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'cause I always felt

like I was under coached.

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I always thought that, things were

missing because they didn't see

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the world like I saw the world.

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So, and back in those days, you know,

it was like you showed up, even you were

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talented or you weren't, you know, there

was no such thing as you can teach speed.

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It was either, you were

fast, or you weren't.

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And it was just looking at all those kind

of little, little things that they would

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say that they would attach to players.

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I never felt that was right.

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And they used to say,

oh, , he's an effort guy.

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Or not me particularly, but just how they

would have these little descriptions and

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labels that they would put on players.

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I always felt like that wasn't correct

because if you gave this guy a plan on

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something of a way to approach to a way

to improve, he should get the opportunity

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to do so before you write 'em off.

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And that's how it kind of all began.

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It began.

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It started falling into like a niche

for it and just got deeper and deeper

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with the research and the science

and got a real good understanding

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of the human body and how it works.

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And and here we are today jumped on.

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It started with a ton of youth athletes.

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I had my first few pros about 20,

28, 29 years ago, and it just evolved

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and kept on going and kept on going.

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And I had youth athletes start at

five years old in the program that

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are retired, 10 year NFL retired with

their own kids and family and I'm their

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godfather, their kids, in multiple sports.

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So it was just a great

ride that truly just.

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Developed, over time to

where I am at now today.

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PSP: Yes.

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I'm getting the sense that there's

multiple dimensions, like you said, the

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old school ways were, you're either fast

or you're not, but you seem to take more

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of a holistic approach, more than just

looking at an athlete through one lens.

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So tell us a little bit about

the idea of movement efficiency.

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That's something that's a key

part of your coaching, right?

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Troy Jones: Yes, sir.

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Over the years I would say one of the

worst things you can do is you check all

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the boxes, check all the boxes on what

the strength conditioning world tells

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us to do as far as the weight room,

the play metrics and all those concepts

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and an athlete still not be successful.

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So when you go through a

lot of trial and error.

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Failures and we'll continue that.

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That key word failure is something

we'll talk about later on.

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You have no choice but to figure out

, what the cause and effect is of why are

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you making bad decisions or why is it

not translating over to the athlete?

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Because you can get a

guy extremely strong.

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They don't run fast.

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You can get a guy extremely powerful.

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They get hurt.

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So there's a really a fine balance.

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Or something that ties

everything together.

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And for me early on I figured out it

was movement efficiency, and to me it's

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what the human body was designed to do.

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It's like a science and

it's like an art form.

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It's poetry in motion.

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It's when you see those athletes who

move really, really well, it's just

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like a flow that is effortless in

everything that it's supposed to do.

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And everybody is individualized.

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They have their own strategies

and their own signatures.

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And if you watch closely, they also

have the physics in common of what

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those things that translate over

to efficient movement or causes

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us to be able to transfer forces.

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Those physics don't change, but their

strategies to get there does, and.

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It adapts to all environments in all

situations that a, that adaptation

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can be positive, it can be negative,

but that's the beautiful thing about

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the human body and the efficiency

within movement because it has so

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many avenues that you can go down.

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And I think it's a missing element that

ties it all together for athletes that's

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not recognized enough and is not built

into the program because quite honestly.

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A lot of people don't fully understand it.

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They can't dictate, they can't define

different compensations that impact the

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athlete based on day to day or just pay

just us as human beings based on what

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we're exposed to day to day and, and

we can go on all day about this topic.

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As you can see, I'm passionate about it.

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'cause to me it was the missing

link of problem solving, a lot of

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the issues that I was coming across

with day to day with athletes.

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PSP: Let's go down that path, Troy,

because I know I'm not gonna be a

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pro athlete, but I feel like moving

efficiency is still important.

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I feel like there are things that I

can glean from the high performance

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athletes, and I'm sure my audience

can glean that as well as we apply

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that to our day-to-day activities.

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So maybe there's more

things to keep in mind.

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Again, I'm not gonna hit three for

four, I'm not gonna catch 120 yards,

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but there are some things that

we should be looking at as human

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beings, not just athletes, right?

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Troy Jones: Well, I think efficiency.

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One of

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the first things that, I'll

break it down this way.

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One of the first things that.

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I look at when I meet any athlete,

no matter what the level is, do they

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move well as a human being first?

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And that means more so things

systematically, functionally from

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joint to joint above and below.

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And, in sequence.

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And if those things aren't occurring,

there's gonna be a dysfunction

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above it or below it, and there's

gonna be compensation, which is,

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the faulty movement pattern itself.

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This is gonna rob the athlete or

the individual of efficiency, which

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eventually will lead to injury.

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It's not, if it is more so when

identifying those things will show up

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if you trying to just have, you know,

you got your basic movement screens.

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But just, just watching

the athlete on film.

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On what their strategies are in regards of

how they navigate the field or the court

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or the surface that they actually play on.

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You can be able to see those things so.

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Just, it all begins before you get

to that point, back to just moving

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well, as a human being itself.

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It's all your joints working

simultaneously together.

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And one of the ways that we actually

begin to look at that is we isolate

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to integrate, meaning we look at each

function independently before we integrate

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'em, move them, together to move globally.

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PSP: and it might sound obvious,

but what you tailor for someone

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who is starting their pro career

is going to be different to someone

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who's perhaps in their twilight.

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Is that correct?

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Troy Jones: Not necessarily because

it is for me, , and I try not to

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make it sound as complicated and

I kind of simplified my approach.

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So when I do talk about it, I can

kind of be understood a little

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clearer is I have three ways that

I approach athlete development on.

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Long term, it's first of all, understand

being an athlete is long-term development.

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There is never a time that you

should never stop trying to improve.

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Now there's different phases of

your career based on experience,

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based on volume, based on

maturity, things of that magnitude.

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Because success, these breadcrumbs,

so some of the things that you

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use when you were younger, you

won't necessarily need to use when

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you are at a later stage of it.

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But the big thing for me is you have

to move well as a human being before

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you can move well as an athlete, before

you can move into specificity within

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the sport that you participate in.

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And that's kind of the formula

how I overlay everything for each

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athlete, no matter the level.

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Now, I'd adapt the program to meet the

need of the athlete based on maturity

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and training aid and sporting age.

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But for the most part, that's the formula.

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And we meet them, we overlay that

and meet them where they are.

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PSP: I can definitely see

your background coming through

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with your answer there, Troy.

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I grew up with educators in my household

and continuous improvement was definitely

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a key in my upbringing, so I can see that

coming through with your coaching as well.

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You can never be satisfied

with the status quo.

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You are always trying to improve whether

that be the next event the next day.

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Troy, one thing you touched on is.

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The idea of failure.

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You mentioned, for example, you could

hit three for four in baseball but you're

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thinking about that one out and that

comes back to this idea of improvement,

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how to make it better next time.

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Tell me more about that.

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Troy Jones: Okay.

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I would say let's talk about the

athlete's experience from elite down.

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So, you can reverse engineer that

to be able to lay a pathway of,

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for a younger athlete to follow,

to get to the elite status.

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Or you can actually, when you get to

that elite status, you have to have a

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certain strategy in order to stay there.

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And overall, that journey from beginning

to end it matches the same intensity or

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the same approach, rather over the course

of your lifespan or your athletic career.

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And I would say high performing athletes.

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It's a two part approach.

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It's a two part answer.

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It's the mental approach, which

they weaponize a little different

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than the average individual.

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And I feel like this should be taught

early on in a young athlete's career.

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And what I mean by that is success and

failure are kind of one and the same.

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And a lot of the times with younger

athletes today, we live in a world where.

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Instagram and social media has

the intention of the public, so

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everything is instant gratification

and everything is a highlight reel

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of someone's life or their successes.

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So I.

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The thing about sports, especially

at the elite level, you're supposed

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to be successful all the time, and

that's the far just from the truth.

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From a highly elite competition, you're

gonna fail a whole lot more when you

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start going up the ladder of being able

to compete at higher levels than you

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are in, in regards to being successful

because it's the, the more competitive

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it gets, or that the more elite that

it gets, the more competitive it

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will be because everybody's talented.

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So failure and success become like a yin

and yang, like that old Chinese proverb.

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It's like a push pull, but they

need each other because failure to

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me, is an opportunity for growth.

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It's a catalyst for it.

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Success is more reinforcing and

staying consistent in finding something

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that allows you to build upon it

day to day consistency doesn't mean

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you're gonna be perfect every day.

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It just means you show up and eventually

you'll see successes from that.

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The failure aspect and what you do keeps

you honest to being able to evaluate

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if your process is still where it

needs to be, or does it need to deviate

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based off the situation or based off of

where are you injured or if you had an

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injury or you bulletproof or something

so it doesn't get injured, or where

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you are in the course of the season.

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From a volume standpoint,

are you fatigued?

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Are you eating right?

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There's so many variables that come into

play, but you have to find a consistency.

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That will lead you to be successful.

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And you pretty much just stack those days

over and over and over and over again.

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And if you look up, you'll build

upon some success over time.

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That's why I said it's a lifelong journey.

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. PSP: I love the concept of lifelong

learning, the vulnerability to fail.

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'cause that's how you grow.

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Absolutely.

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You are listening to myself, ne Wallace

Bruce, chatting with Troy Jones.

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Troy, you mentioned failure.

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How that ties into adversity.

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Some guys.

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And have stitched together key

moments, successful key moments.

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What are some trends you've

identified in the hight performing

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athletes that you coach?

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What are some of the things that

they're able to put together in

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terms of building a successful run?

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Troy Jones: Well, besides the mental

approach of understanding that it's

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not the, you can't control the outcome.

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You can do all the

preparing that you like.

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You can research, you can study,

you can have a game plan, but

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you can't control the outcome and

you have to be okay with that.

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But that's where the consistency

comes into play to trust your process.

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I know that's cliche, but it's the truth.

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I think a lot of times these, the.

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Expectation of things to go right

all the time is something that's not

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realistic to where you have to be.

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More so in love with the competitive

aspect of being able to compete

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at the level that you achieve or

just working towards the where you,

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the level that you aspire to be.

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That's more of what the focus should be,

and what that will do is it'll allow you

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to really appreciate your preparation,

which will then allow you to compete.

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A clear mind because if your

mind is clear, a cloudy mind

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can't respond to anything.

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A cloudy, a cloudy mind is a slow

body, meaning if you're, you can't

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process execution and process.

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I would say if you got too many things

going on in your, in your mind and you're

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trying to strategize and process execution

at the same time, it's not gonna happen.

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Your mind has to be open enough to process

and instinct, need to kick in to adjust

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and adapt to situations that it sees.

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If you've practiced that and put yourself

in game scenarios or have your weak broken

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down from a structure standpoint, those

things show up as needed, and I think the

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greater athletes from a mental aspect.

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When they're in that competitive

realm, they don't have time

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to think about anything else.

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They're just responding to stimuli

because you start thinking you slow

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things down, the faster that brain

can send signals to the body, the more

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efficient you are in being able to process

what you see or adapt to what you see.

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And then the second thing I would say

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PSP: I.

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Troy Jones: is most athletes at the elite

level, or I would say all of them have

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a knack for controlling their center

of mass better than most individuals.

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Meaning and center of mass control is

about, about your ability to transfer

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forces on multiple planes, being able

to absorb it, project it generate

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max velocity, being able to whip

it, but just being at being able to

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stay within your base at all times.

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Being, they're very good

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PSP: good

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Troy Jones: at being aware of where they

are in space with great body control.

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They have a great balance of how

they transition forces, whether

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they're absorbing force well.

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They can absorb it, they can project it.

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They're very reactive and they

transition it really, really, really

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well based on how they apply it.

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They have a grasp of that naturally.

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And if they don't, that's something

that they become aware of because

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they're looking for their weaknesses

and how to improve upon it.

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But most of 'em share it at that.,

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And I would say that last thing

for me is even with that ability.

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To have control center mass very well.

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They do one thing really, really well,

is that ability to contract, relax.

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That state of when they're transferring

forces, they can create elasticity

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within their body as they begin to whip

in and, and out of movement patterns.

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Whether it is throwing, whether it

is swinging a racket, whether it is

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changing direction, whether it is

transitioning from max from acceleration

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or maxo, they have a great ability

to contract and relax the body to

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generate or move at high speeds.

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PSP: Yeah, that's a great answer.

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Troy.

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Coming back to the first part of

it, I guess the saying, a failure to

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prepare is a preparation for failure.

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Does that ring true?

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Troy Jones: Yes.

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Okay.

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:

It builds, it builds.

375

:

That's where your confidence comes

from, your process of preparation.

376

:

PSP: And thinking about the

next two points, that ties in

377

:

with the movement efficiency.

378

:

If you're not in control of

your mind, it's gonna impact

379

:

how you control your body.

380

:

So if you've got stuff going on between

the ears, you're not fully control

381

:

of your extremities as a result.

382

:

And if you're not in control

of the extremities, you

383

:

can't maximize the objective.

384

:

Whether that's throwing a ball,

catching a ball, swinging the bat

385

:

is that, would you agree with that?

386

:

Troy Jones: I agree 100%.

387

:

PSP: That's got me thinking now because

one thing I think about is the guys in

388

:

leagues who are getting traded or who move

to different teams in free agency 'cause

389

:

what happens is it's no longer about the

job on the field of play in isolation.

390

:

They also have to think about moving

cities, new teams, new people to deal

391

:

with and that can impact the mentals.

392

:

Troy, is there anything that your

coach can assist with, perhaps with

393

:

the external stuff that goes beyond

the field of play that impacts

394

:

what's going on between the ears?

395

:

Troy Jones: Yeah.

396

:

Sure.

397

:

We spend most of your time there.

398

:

There is no elite athlete

without, it is not just physical.

399

:

And I think that's the mistake that most

people who watch elite sports believe.

400

:

They think this people are just

so overly talented that that's

401

:

why they play at that level.

402

:

It's not, you can be really talented,

but that's only one part of the equation.

403

:

You have to be mentally strong.

404

:

Like I said, you have to

weaponize your mental approach.

405

:

And that's all supported by your routine.

406

:

You have to have a, a championship

routine, meaning you've built your

407

:

routine based on who you are and

you've gotten to know who you are and

408

:

you've become a student of movement.

409

:

The things that you do well, the things

that you don't do well, and you've

410

:

learned to make your body resilient

so you can go out there and compete.

411

:

There's no neuro guarding or you're not

trying to avoid, certain positions that.

412

:

Sometimes become unavoidable because of

competition that you might find yourself

413

:

in, but you're safe enough to be able

to make and contort your body to make

414

:

that beautiful play because you've

exposed yourself to it in training in

415

:

a safe way to where there's no guardian

in a competitive way when it counts.

416

:

Mm-hmm.

417

:

PSP: Mm-hmm.

418

:

Troy Jones: Okay.

419

:

PSP: Okay.

420

:

, You grew up in Maryland, right?

421

:

Troy Jones: yes, right.

422

:

PSP: Baltimore.

423

:

I love that city.

424

:

I love me.

425

:

Some old bay love me, some seafood, crabs,

everything about the city of Baltimore.

426

:

Troy Jones: You been there.

427

:

You talk about Old Bay.

428

:

You been there.

429

:

PSP: Yes.

430

:

I went to Oreo Park at Camden

Yards last year with my buddy Adam.

431

:

Shout out to Adam.

432

:

He has a good home run call, by the way.

433

:

We'll get onto that

later in the discussion.

434

:

But Baltimore is a really great city,

and it's just down the highway from DC.

435

:

I guess that's probably the DMV actually.

436

:

What is the DMV?

437

:

Help me out please.

438

:

Troy Jones: DMV is Delaware,

Maryland, and Virginia.

439

:

But you called it DMV, but do not, do not.

440

:

Tell them in person that they all one of

the same because they will argue you down.

441

:

You.

442

:

That's an insult.

443

:

'cause everyone's totally different

444

:

PSP: Mm-hmm.

445

:

Troy Jones: they will remind

you that I'm not from there.

446

:

Now they will say DMV, when they're not.

447

:

In the area when they're like in

other places of the USA or around

448

:

the world, they would say DMV.

449

:

But when they're home, they

will never say that down.

450

:

Even from Baltimore to DC they

don't claim the same things.

451

:

They don't claim each other.

452

:

They are totally different.

453

:

The way they speak, the way they

dress, the way they approach

454

:

everything to the music they listen to.

455

:

It's totally different.

456

:

PSP: Yeah.

457

:

Okay.

458

:

I will make that mistake again.

459

:

Troy Jones: No, we can, we're not there.

460

:

So we can talk about DMV and when you're

DMV, when you're outside of the area,

461

:

you can say DMV, but when they there,

, they don't identify with one another

462

:

only when they're outside of the area.

463

:

It's the weirdest thing, man.

464

:

It is weird.

465

:

yeah,

466

:

I hear that now coming from

Baltimore, will you dig into

467

:

the Baltimore House scene?

468

:

Yeah, yeah.

469

:

You definitely, you've been there.

470

:

Yeah.

471

:

Baltimore house growing up, my kind of

my generation was the one that really

472

:

made the house music a thing and like

for example, in DC the music is Go-Go.

473

:

You ever, did you hear the go-go music?

474

:

It sounds like they're playing

on trash games for this.

475

:

PSP: I didn't hear it when I was down

in DC but I know that Washington DC's

476

:

G League team is called the ca City.

477

:

Go-Go.

478

:

And I believe that is a play

on the Go-Go music scene.

479

:

Troy Jones: Yes.

480

:

Yep.

481

:

They play that Gogo music,

Baltimore plays the house music.

482

:

It is totally two different sounds

and they both claim it's the best.

483

:

PSP: Understandable, two different

sounds and I'm definitely

484

:

not touching that debate.

485

:

Next time I'm going down to Baltimore

and DC I'm gonna enjoy the music,

486

:

enjoy the Oreos, enjoy the food, and

I will not talk about the d and v.

487

:

Troy Jones: Yeah, the Virginia people,

they'll tell you real quick, they got

488

:

this thing about zip codes down there.

489

:

I'll tell you No, I'm from 7, 5, 7.

490

:

You're like, okay, that's fine.

491

:

I don't even know where that's

at in Virginia, but, okay.

492

:

But they, they, it is, it's

just, they're funny, man.

493

:

I, I, I, I love home.

494

:

It's just a melting pot.

495

:

But they remind you they're,

they're not the same.

496

:

PSP: Yep.

497

:

I hear that there's

nothing like home cooking.

498

:

Now, Troy, do you get to head

home during the season or are

499

:

you largely planted in Toronto?

500

:

Troy Jones: Not much.

501

:

Between being on the road with

Toronto and and at home or being on

502

:

the road, I don't get a chance to

go home unless we go play Baltimore.

503

:

And then I can actually bounce in

there and see family and friends.

504

:

But this time of the year

it becomes kind of tough.

505

:

I probably don't get a chance to go.

506

:

Maybe later this year I'll get a chance

to, and I then when the season ends, but

507

:

even in off season's, very short-lived.

508

:

You know, I have NFL too after that.

509

:

So it's adapting to being on the road.

510

:

It's something that I like and

something that I actually wanted to

511

:

do, but it definitely has this days

where it can become challenging and

512

:

it comes into that mental aspect.

513

:

It's like you, you ask for this,

so you need to be grateful for it.

514

:

And you need to figure out other

ways to stay positive on those

515

:

days that your feelings tell you

otherwise, and then understanding

516

:

that your feelings are temporary.

517

:

You know, I, I'm a man of faith,

so I always say, you, yes,

518

:

you, you, you lead your heart.

519

:

You don't follow it because

feelings will betray you.

520

:

And we live in a world today

now where everybody's telling

521

:

you, oh, identify your feelings,

522

:

PSP: Mm-hmm.

523

:

Troy Jones: embrace your feelings.

524

:

I'm like, no, that's wrong.

525

:

That's why you got so many

people needing therapy.

526

:

Because they need to understand

the truth behind their feelings.

527

:

That their feelings aren't real.

528

:

They're te, I mean they are

real, but they're temporary.

529

:

PSP: It's situational,

it's a moment in time.

530

:

There are going to be times where you

might feel down and that's normal.

531

:

As long as you don't stay there, get

back up again eventually, and I'm gonna

532

:

piggyback off what you said before.

533

:

I believe that we aren't brought to

situations just to be in said situation.

534

:

We're brought to a moment

to get through that moment.

535

:

You know what I'm saying?

536

:

It's all part of the journey.

537

:

Troy Jones: Absolutely.

538

:

It goes back to what I said about

that Chinese proverb of yin and yang.

539

:

You need failure.

540

:

In order to achieve success, you

need, they, they feed off one another.

541

:

That's how you learn.

542

:

That's how you improve.

543

:

Yep.

544

:

PSP: And you're involved in baseball,

a sport where if you are hitting

545

:

three out of 10, that's elite.

546

:

Those are elite numbers.

547

:

Troy Jones: That's, that's elite.

548

:

That's Hall of Fame.

549

:

PSP: mm-hmm.

550

:

Troy Jones: But it just

shows you that the level.

551

:

The level of, of competition and

competitive, even down to football.

552

:

You look at football, right?

553

:

So you say a wide receiver.

554

:

Wide receiver catches

eight passes in the game.

555

:

That's, that's elite.

556

:

He had a great game.

557

:

PSP: Mm-hmm.

558

:

Troy Jones: routes did he run that game?

559

:

He probably ran if there's

60, 70 offensive snaps.

560

:

If many routes, did he actually

have to run to get eight catches?

561

:

Maybe 40, maybe even 50 if it's a, wide

open offense, but he ain't shotgun the

562

:

whole game, so, and it's, you look at

our running back, for example, he, he

563

:

averages four, four yards of carry.

564

:

He's pretty good.

565

:

Four to five yards of carry.

566

:

He is pretty good.

567

:

That's not that far, but he gets

the ball 20, , 25 times a game.

568

:

The average 3, 4, 5 yards of

carrying is cumulative over time.

569

:

It's the same thing, you know?

570

:

And it is, people seem to think that the

elite level of sports, that everybody's,

571

:

and one of the problems with U Sports

is they think everybody's supposed to

572

:

always be a successful, in this, this

massive way of you are always supposed

573

:

to drop 30 on the court, or you are

always supposed to go four for four, and

574

:

if you're not, then you're not good at

what you do and things of that magnitude.

575

:

And you got these kids that get

frustrated and depressed and all

576

:

these things because they expectations

of being successful needs to be.

577

:

Taught the correct way and how to

embrace failure and how, again, I

578

:

always like to say weaponize it,

to use it to continually grow.

579

:

That's the strategy that

should be taught because it's a

580

:

lifelong journey of development.

581

:

What you do at 10 or 12 years old?

582

:

It don't matter till you get to 17, 18

when you get ready to leave high school.

583

:

Yep.

584

:

PSP: Now, hold on for a second.

585

:

Troy.

586

:

You follow basketball, right?

587

:

' cause you've raised a good point here.

588

:

' cause I know a lot about the

a U situation in America.

589

:

Some of these kids have been

put on pedestals and parents

590

:

will get stuck into coaches if

they're not getting the minutes.

591

:

Actually, a lot of sports

is like that nowadays.

592

:

I wanted to highlight basketball

'cause a lot of these kids.

593

:

Going to high school with

these highest expectations.

594

:

At the same time, you're seeing

guys coming from Europe, other parts

595

:

of the world, and they're playing

in the NBA, and it's like they've

596

:

already gone through failure.

597

:

They're more battle hardened

than some of these guys.

598

:

They're coming through

the American system.

599

:

How do you feel about that?

600

:

Troy Jones: Hmm.

601

:

Good, good question.

602

:

Honest answer.

603

:

Yeah.

604

:

The world has caught up with USA in

a major way because of work ethic and

605

:

commitment to improvement over time.

606

:

And you see basketball, you go back all

the way back to the dream team days.

607

:

I.

608

:

To where basketball now, you know,

to say the best players in the

609

:

world didn't come from USA back

in those days would've been crazy.

610

:

He would look to the

person, think he was fine.

611

:

You've lost your mind.

612

:

Now you can easily count.

613

:

On one hand, the best players in the

world might be just one or two of those

614

:

guys might be from the states, everybody

else might be from around the world.

615

:

And that's really based upon.

616

:

The work ethic and the commitment

to improvement over the course of

617

:

their young athlete career is to

the point of where it mattered.

618

:

They just continually

work to get better and.

619

:

They spent more time developing

than they did competing.

620

:

I'm not saying competition is not needed,

but at a certain age, a certain age point,

621

:

you don't need to play all year round.

622

:

You need to work on developing your

body, your mental and your physical,

623

:

and within that approach to the game

itself or the sport of choice, you also

624

:

need to be a little bit more diverse.

625

:

Experiencing multiple sports to move on

multiple planes, which develops overall

626

:

athleticism because you become one

dimensional in regards to repetitiveness,

627

:

and you start getting these overuse

injuries at 11, 12 years old that

628

:

you got, you were 28 to 30 years old.

629

:

After being a pro for six or seven, eight

years, that's another problem because

630

:

it's people are too busy worried about

the wrong things and being successful at

631

:

10 more so than being successful at 20.

632

:

You're not making no money at 10.

633

:

It's just a conversation piece.

634

:

I more so care about how I develop

that young person in preparation.

635

:

What's to come later on in life?

636

:

'cause that's what matters to me.

637

:

PSP: Yes, and that's the thing.

638

:

That's why playing sports is so

important, in my opinion, whether

639

:

you become a professional or not.

640

:

It's the teamwork aspect.

641

:

It's being fit and learning how

to overcome adversity, it's life,

642

:

how to deal with these situations.

643

:

Troy Jones: It's life.

644

:

It's life.

645

:

They used to call us back in the

day, they used to call dumb jocks.

646

:

'cause those who weren't athletic,

they used to say, oh well we

647

:

weren't good for anything else.

648

:

Not realizing that life.

649

:

And sports were one and one.

650

:

Sports was a roadmap for life.

651

:

You can take those lessons that you do

in a team environment and sports and

652

:

carry it over as some, as something

that could help you navigate life.

653

:

The problem is the appreciation for

development in act in actuality,

654

:

or what the definition of being an

athlete really is, has been lost.

655

:

In the states anyway, not gonna say

around the world, in the States.

656

:

And that's one of the distinguishing

differences on why the world is

657

:

actually caught up with the states

and are still continuing to catch

658

:

up base best baseball players in the

world, not from the states anymore.

659

:

Best basketball players in the

world are not just from the states

660

:

anymore, you know, you know, hockey.

661

:

We are never the best in the world.

662

:

We got some talented players, but

you know, we still got a ways to

663

:

go hockey, soccer, not even close.

664

:

So I mean.

665

:

We're not as dominant as we used to be,

and that's probably our own fault as

666

:

a country in changing our pro, culture

or getting back to the culture that

667

:

helped us fall in love with competitive

sports in general, which is that

668

:

fact that we just wanted to develop.

669

:

PSP: Coach fallen in love

with this conversation.

670

:

Where can our audience find out

more about you and your work?

671

:

. Troy Jones: I have a website that

needs to be updated though, but

672

:

it's coach@coachtroyjones.com.

673

:

I'm also on Instagram at Coach

Troy Jones's, coach, I think

674

:

it's Coach Troy Jones as well.

675

:

And my contact information is on there.

676

:

You can email mail me at

coach@coachtroyjones.com.

677

:

I'll say that one more time

'cause everybody gets confused.

678

:

Is Coach.

679

:

At coach troy jones.com

680

:

and then you, if you've got

questions, just wanna talk

681

:

shot, shoot me out an email.

682

:

Be glad.

683

:

I'm always an open book.

684

:

PSP: Fantastic.

685

:

Tony, this has been a great chat,

but before I let you get out of

686

:

here, you came from Baltimore.

687

:

You're now in Toronto.

688

:

One thing that links the two

cities at the moment is a hitter

689

:

by the name of Anthony Santander.

690

:

You may have heard of him.

691

:

One of my guys actually has a

home run call for the current

692

:

Blue Jays slugger, Tony Taters.

693

:

I'm gonna share it with

you, so gimme one moment.

694

:

Santa is coming to town.

695

:

How'd it go?

696

:

Troy Jones: Yeah, I know who that is.

697

:

PSP: Yeah, that's

698

:

Troy Jones: Yeah.

699

:

PSP: Adam.

700

:

Troy Jones: So how'd he go?

701

:

What man said yo, did you say ho, ho, ho.

702

:

Tony Tatu coming to town.

703

:

Okay.

704

:

Not bad.

705

:

I don't do it as good as him, but

706

:

PSP: But yeah,

707

:

Yeah, the Adam version is the original.

708

:

It's like Old Bay.

709

:

It can't be imitated.

710

:

You have to get it

straight from the source.

711

:

You have to go straight from

Maryland to get the original

712

:

old Bay, and it's the best.

713

:

Can't be imitated.

714

:

But

715

:

Troy Jones: for sure.

716

:

Troy,

717

:

PSP: Troy, we really appreciate your time.

718

:

Troy Jones: No problem at all.

719

:

Thank you

720

:

PSP: All the best for

the rest of the season.

721

:

Troy Jones: I appreciate it.

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About the Podcast

Pro Sports Podcasters
No Sport Left Behind
The Pro Sports Podcasters is hosted by Nii Wallace-Bruce, and Justen Williams. On this podcast there is no sport too big, or too small for us to cover. You'll learn something every episode!

#NoSportLeftBehind

Our guests include the top athletes in their sport, coaches, sports broadcasters, sports agents, league administrators, and dedicated fans. We cover every sport from every angle, and provide perspectives that other podcasts ignore. Each host has expert knowledge in a number of sports. So when the opportunity arises to educate our audience, we take every opportunity.

Our hosts Nii Wallace-Bruce, and Justen Williams have all spent time in front of the camera as well. Having appeared in commercials, dramatic roles, music videos, public events, and Live performances. The Pro Sports Podcasters are more than the voices you have come to recognize hearing twice a week.

Enjoy the podcast, and to connect with the Pro Sports Podcasters there are links in the show notes of every episode!
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