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Hello!

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Welcome to the Careers4Kids podcast where kids learn careers.

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This is Maxwell Valencia.

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And this is Henry Morrison.

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And today we have Erwin Valencia, a wellness expert and a high-performance coach for the

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New York Knicks.

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Hello, Mr. Valencia.

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Thank you for spending your time to be on Careers for Kids.

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We have a great interview.

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Now let's get started.

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Let's go!

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Tell us what you currently do right now.

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Well, currently I'm on sabbatical after almost 20 years in the world of professional sports.

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My last post was the wellness lead and the director of training and conditioning for

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the New York Knicks.

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Prior to that, I was also the Major League Rehab Director of the Pittsburgh Pirates Major

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League Baseball team.

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And so I am now spending some time for myself, taking care of myself, but continue to have

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conversations with just a few clients that I have coached in the past that have continued

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to ask for my services more, particularly as a high-performance coach and not necessarily

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as a sports medicine expert.

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I like that.

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So sabbatical is like taking a break.

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Sabbatical?

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Go ahead.

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Go ahead, Henry.

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Thanks.

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Tell me more about your career and how you got to this position.

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Well, my career has spanned a number of years of studying and figuring out specifically

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what I wanted to do.

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And that started for me as a young boy at the age of 18 and knowing that my gift was

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the gift of nurturing and caring for people.

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And as an athlete, simultaneously, I was trying to figure out a way that I can work in basically

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the world of sports, but also be surrounded by the best athletes in the world.

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And so my life was going in that direction in every possible way.

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So I did everything possible through school and through internships and through other

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experiences and connections that allowed me to find myself in sports, which I was in for

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almost 20 years.

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That's cool.

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I mean, it sounds like you had a lot of like, you knew what you wanted to do from like an

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early point and you kind of led with that.

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I was 18 when I knew that this was the direction I was going to go.

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I woke up in the middle of the night with a dream that I was in the middle of a basketball

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court with thousands of people around me with cameras flashing and sounds blazing and the

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rumbling of the floor because of the court and the basketballs.

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And I knew that one day I was going to be in that situation.

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I did not expect for that situation to be at the world's most famous arena, which was

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Madison Square Garden.

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That's amazing.

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Your dream actually came true.

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There's only a little people who what they want to be when they're young.

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It actually happens in the end.

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It's really hard.

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But I guess it happens to you.

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You're lucky.

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Yeah, I mean, it can happen as long as you just go through with it.

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Yup.

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That's a message to everyone listening.

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And what part of your job do you enjoy the most and dislike the most?

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I think what I love about my job is being able to be with these amazing professional

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athletes and be able to like push them to the next level.

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A lot of them are very blessed and very raw to be able to have talents and skills that

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not many people have.

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I mean, there are only about 300 NBA players that are in the NBA and then to then fine

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tune that and help those that want to be part of the elite, one percent of basketball players.

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And I think for me, that's the most exciting part is giving an opportunity for some of

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these future superstars to grow and become who they want to be and to witness that next

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alongside them.

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And the toughest part of my challenge is definitely the travel and the amount of time you spend

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being with these guys.

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And it doesn't get any easier each year, it gets harder with the pressure that you feel

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to win championships every year.

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And so you lose a lot of sleep, you don't get to spend a lot of time with family.

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And so that really has become, I think has become the biggest challenge working in professional

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sports.

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Can I speak with that?

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Yeah, I mean, it's awesome to work in professional sports, but you know, there's a lot of like

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pros and cons.

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I mean, there's a lot of pros and cons of every job.

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But this one, the main one seems to be like traveling a lot and not seeing a lot of family.

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But yeah, so I mean, I know you said you had this idea of like, you were like nurturing

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when you were 18, but was this the dream job you imagined yourself doing when you were

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a kid?

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Like, you know, our age?

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Yeah, when I was 18, I knew this was the job that I wanted to do.

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I wanted to be the first Filipino that was raised and educated in the Philippines to

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be on an NBA court on a daily basis.

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I was very clear with that vision that woke me up in the middle of the night.

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And I was very clear with what I felt, saw, heard, that I knew one day I was going to

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get there.

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That's really cool.

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Like, that's what I want to do.

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I want to have a vision.

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I want to do it.

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And I want to pursue it.

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And I want it to come true like you.

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Yeah, I mean, that's a message to everybody listening to this, if you are, that as long

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as you, I know you guys probably hear this a lot, but you know, if you really try to

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pursue your dreams, you can't.

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Yes, you can for sure.

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So you're the only Filipino who's on a professional basketball court?

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The only Filipino that was raised and educated in the Philippines, that grew up in the Philippines,

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that was on an NBA court on a daily basis.

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I mean, there are a number of Filipino Americans that were born in the United States that were

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hafirs, if you ask their fathers, were American.

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Yeah, Eric Spolsa's father was Greek.

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You know, Jalen Green, Jordan Clarkson, their fathers were American and their mothers were

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Filipino, but they didn't grow up in the Philippines.

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That makes sense.

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That's pretty cool.

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And who were your main idols when you were really young?

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One of my main idols, really, when I was younger, it was a coach named Phil Jackson.

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Phil Jackson was the legendary coach that won, you know, has 13 championship rings,

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11 of which he was a head coach first with the Chicago Bulls and then with the LA Lakers.

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He won two other championships on his own as a New York Knick, as a player.

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So he was always my idol because Phil was one of the first to really bring the thought

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process of mindfulness, of meditation, of Zen Buddhism and the world of sport.

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He led his players to yoga, they did meditations, they really focused on, you know, really the

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mental part of playing sport.

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And Michael Jordan became who Michael Jordan was because he was able to command the present

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moment on a regular basis.

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And Kobe Bryant became the other amazing and one of the top basketball players in history

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because of his Mamba mentality, all from which stemmed from Phil Jackson's teachings.

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So like, why did you pick this job?

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Like what made you do like this job?

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I mean, I know you had that vision and everything, but of course there are probably some other

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factors.

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Yeah, the reason why I picked this job was because it is every young Filipinos dream,

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particularly in the Philippines, to work in basketball and to work in the NBA and to be

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surrounded by basketball.

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Basketball is the number one sport in the Philippines.

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You have, you know, and almost as the saying goes, you know, the top, you know, the top

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things to Filipinos are number one, God, second, Manny Pacquiao when Manny Pacquiao was really

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up in his, at the top of his game, and then basketball.

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But now that Manny Pacquiao has stopped boxing, you know, basketball has now caught the second

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most important value or the need or want of Filipinos.

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So being able to, you know, be able to be able to fulfill my own dream and then turn,

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we'll be able to fulfill dreams of millions of Filipinos who want to be in basketball

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and want to be in the NBA, which is where the top basketball players in the world are.

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So I really felt like this was a calling for me.

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And I knew that being in the situation and being able to help people while being in the

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situation was something that was very important to me, not just for the present moment, but

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also for the legacy that I hope to leave.

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And what was the biggest highlight of your career?

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Like throughout your entire career, what was the most biggest highlight?

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One of the biggest highlights of my career, I'd have to say, was last November, in November

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of 2022, it was Filipino Heritage Night at Madison Square Garden, and I was honored by

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Madison Square Garden, the Knicks and the Filipino community.

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There was about, you know, out of the 20,000 people that were at Madison Square Garden,

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maybe about 3,000 of them were Filipino.

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And you know, I was honored.

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I was placed on the Jumbotron.

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They made a little video for me, and then they focused the camera on me for a good one

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minute, and then everyone stood up and cheered.

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And for me, that was a dream come true.

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I mean, that was really the highlight of my career, being able to be honored at your own

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arena and that arena happened to be the world's most famous arena.

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Oh yeah, I would really, really be happy if it happened to me.

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Like a minute of just being honored by every single person in the stadium and people watching

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it on TV is just surprising.

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Yeah, that's gotta be awesome.

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I don't play basketball.

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I know Maxwell does, but you know, it's gotta be awesome.

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Yeah.

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Even with people who just don't play basketball.

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Yeah, I mean, it's all part of like, just a bigger idea of like, well, we've said this

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three times already, but like pursuing your dream.

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Yep.

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So like, what are the biggest challenges that you think can be solved by our generation

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that you would want us to solve for you?

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Well, I think there's so many things that you can kind of solve, but I think the biggest

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thing that I feel in your generation is going to really take advantage of is the ability

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to use technology for good.

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And if there's a way for anyone in your generation to understand the value of technology, we're

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to the point that you can use it to inspire, to make a change in people's lives and to

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maybe raise funds in order to do good in this world.

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And I think that's one of the things that is definitely necessary in your generation

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because there has been a period of time that darkness where technology has been used for

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evil and it still continue to be, but it is going to be up to your generation to make

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those decisions in a better light, hopefully making a difference in the world rather than

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destroying it.

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Like, yeah, that's, that's a really good message.

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Like, that's a really good message.

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Like, yeah, there's a lot of technology nowadays.

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You can't be sure.

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Like, I mean, you'll pretty much never, you're never going to be sure of technology, but

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like that's definitely a good message.

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Then use it for good.

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And like military technologies is a type of technology.

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And also if someone like me wants to follow in your footsteps in your careers exactly,

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what would you tell him or her?

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I mean, I'm going to tell you what I told a Filipino news channel that interviewed me

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when I first got the job at New York.

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We had one of the major news channels came to my facility, my practice with them and

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interviewed me and asked me what advice do I have for kids that want to follow my footsteps,

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especially back home in the Philippines.

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And I said three things.

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One visualize it, two prepare for the path, three manifest it.

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When you visualize it, it's about being clear with what you want, what you absolutely want,

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what your dream is, absolute clarity and with no doubt of what that looks like and what

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that feels like.

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Prepare for the path.

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Number two, it's doing everything and anything you can in order to get to that situation

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or that all you have to do is make sure you prepare for yourself so that when a call arrives

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that your skills are ready.

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It's doing the internships, it's going to school, it's making the right connections

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and then making sure that you yourself are ready for any type of challenges you can face.

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So that three, when you manifest that job that dream that you've always had, you know

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you're up for the task because sometimes most of us, you know, we dream of something but

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then when the dream comes face to face with us, we're not prepared and we don't know what

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to do, which then sets up our for failure.

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So it's important to know that when you do dream, you make sure that you prepare yourself

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first so that when the job shows up, you're ready.

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I see that like many people are just not aware of their dreams and not really focusing on

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what they want the most.

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Some people do that, but they just don't prepare.

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Yeah, I mean, I get how it would be hard to prepare, but even if you're like not prepared,

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you still like, this is your dream.

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You got to like, you, I mean, you don't have to stick with it, but it's like a really good

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idea to just stick with it.

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And even if you're not prepared, try to get prepared and go with it.

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Yeah.

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And yeah.

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What is your main life advice for kids listening to this podcast?

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I mean, you've heard it many times already since the beginning of our conversation here,

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but it is to be clear with your dreams, understand what your why is, understand what your purpose

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is.

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I think all these questions that you have to ask yourself at a young age so that then

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as you continue your journey through life, you'll be able to find yourself really doing

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what not only you love, but also inspiring the people that do follow you.

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Yup.

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Wow.

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Yeah.

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That's all I can say.

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Wow.

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And thank you so much, Erwin, for allowing us to interview you.

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I'm sure more kids will be inspired by this interview.

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Whoever is listening, thanks for a great season one and for listening to the Careers for Kids

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podcast.

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We'll see you in the next episode and in the next season.

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Bye.

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Bye.

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Thank you.