People! Good day, good afternoon, and good night,
wherever you're connecting from in this beautiful,
wonderful world. Today is a special one. I mean,
every day is a special one, right? Every day
is a special day. But welcome to Sunside Kingdom,
the place where we highlight successful individuals
with roots and or associations to the sunny side
of the kingdom. These successful people have...
A very interesting story to tell and we want
to share their journey and highlight what it
is that has pushed them to achieve what they've
achieved and to also show you guys that it's
possible. So today we have with us Mr. Denzel
Richardson, a remarkable athlete and leader hailing
from St. Martin, born and raised as he just reiterated
and let me know that. Born and raised and one
of the few to achieve the remarkable things that
he's done. Known for his outstanding career as
a professional baseball player, Denzel has represented
the Dutch national team from L &D Amsterdam with
pride, earning accolades like two times best
hitter. twice the MVP, home run king in the Dutch
big leagues, but Denzel influences goes beyond
just the baseball field. He's also a mental performance
coach. I don't know what that is, but I'm sure
we're going to dive into it. Very curious. Fitness
trainer, motivational speaker, and using his
platform to promote mental health, resilience,
and personal growth. We're thrilled to have him
here today with us to share his journey. Welcome
once again. Thank you. That was quite an introduction.
I like that. Thank you. Thank you. People. Welcome
to the Sunside Kingdom Show. So, Denzel, today,
what is your life like today? Today. Well, I
would say my life is hardworking. New chapters
every year. I always strive to do something new.
For example, this year was a challenge because
I just got a house. I bought a house. Oh, congratulations.
Yeah. So it's been a lot, you know. And also
finding your footing and balancing. that and
expenses renovations and trying to perform at
your best as well and pursuing much more in the
mental health capacity so i'm trying to do more
in those you know but it's been a bit busy but
um interesting at the same time and um yeah i
would just basically say the same as grinding
understanding the the nature of the the seasons
and they have lows and highs and you know continuing
to develop myself and you know pushing for more
accolades and what i want to do and what i want
to give to the world yeah yeah that's what i
would say so we just listed so you're you're
playing for the dutch national team yes correct
also a fitness trainer also mental performance
coach yes Let me look at these notes once again,
because I think there was another AKA, a motivational
speaker. Yes, correct. So how do you balance
it all and sort of what percentage goes where?
So for me, when I just came to the Netherlands,
it was strictly mainly personal training. Okay.
And baseball, sorry. So I came to play baseball
and my main job was personal training. me achieving
the achievements I have, it opened the doors
to become a mental coach. And, you know, then
it was diving into making connections because
just by saying I'm Denzel Richardson, you don't
walk. It's like personal training. You just don't
walk in the gym and then you expect to be successful.
Yeah. Just because your name is personal trainer,
you know. True. So you have to make connections.
Try your best to make impact and influence. That
was basically it. Through my achievements, I've
got contacted a couple of times from organizations
to work with them. From possibly being a coach,
a mentor coach. And that's how it came into fruition.
And that's how it came into life of the possibilities
and what I can do. And I end up working with
first, I end up working with a company now called...
house of acceleration where the objective is
to accelerate your mind to perform and besides
that the company is focused mostly on performance
individuals high performers but i also do my
own thing with the people that are not high performers
because i understand in order to perform you
need to be in a certain level and i would like
the people that's not on a level to have an opportunity
to be on that level as well to compete so i focus
on everybody as well and also work with the company
and the company was quite new so it's not like
it was flooded with clients so you basically
have to focus on yourself development as well
don't depend on them so basically that That aspect
is mostly of my time consuming is the personal
training majority of the time. And I have clients
every now and again, every week as well, but
not as much as personal training because you,
you know, for personal training, you work like
20 to 30 hours and then you would work with mental
health, for example, like. seven eight hours
okay as as as you become much more valuable the
doors open and the time slots is going to change
and then the balance might start to shift and
with baseball too it's like 20 hours as well
so you're kind of like trying to fit everything
in and you kind of also have to understand what
can i pursue right now in the season is very
hard to pursue only mental health okay because
you have baseball it takes 20 something hours
27 hours so Now in the off -season, you can really
dive into something new because you have that
extra 20 hours that's baseball not consuming.
Yeah. So how long is the baseball season? Well,
actually, they start practice from quite early
January. Okay. But maybe twice a week, once a
week. And then the season starts in April until
two weeks ago was the Holland Series, the end
of the Holland Series. Two weeks ago? Yeah. Oh.
So it's quite some time. but our team didn't
reach the final so it finished quite early for
us okay Yeah, so basically now is the time that
you can understand. But as the Dutch national
team, what is then the finals? Is this on a European
level, on a worldwide level? No, just a league
in the Netherlands. Okay. So you play a league
in the Netherlands and they have the Dutch team.
It's two separate things. Ah, okay. So you're
in a team in the league in the Netherlands? And
I'm competing against other guys in the Dutch
team because they play in different teams. Oh,
okay. But when it comes to tournaments, we come
together. So how often are those tournaments?
Well, it varies, actually. Some years they have
like three tournaments, four tournaments, sometimes
two. This year is two. Okay. Yeah, we had the
Harlem Hung Ball Wake in July. And I was in Harlem.
And now this tournament is that I'm going to
go to. And the next few weeks is the Premier
12. And what is the Premier 12? The Premier 12
is the top 12 countries of the world. And I would
say... From my knowledge, that is the second
biggest tournament in the world. Oh, wow. The
first is the World Baseball Classic. Yeah. And
that's where you have the major league players
that you saw like recently last year that they
played in the World Baseball Classic. And yeah,
this year we go into Mexico. And for example,
the level of the tournament, if we go to the
second round, we go to Japan. So you can see
that it's a big thing. Just for a week in Mexico
and then the next week just for a week in Japan.
So you kind of see the scale of the importance
of the tournament. So it's the 12 best teams.
12 best countries. 12 best countries. Yes. So
that means that the Netherlands is ranked pretty
high then. Yes, I believe it's number 7 or 8
in the world in standings. including in the Premier
12. I'm going to just state the countries. I
might miss one or two. Hopefully not. But it's
USA, Japan, Korea, Chinese Taipei, Mexico, Dominican
Republic, Panama, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, also
Australia, and Cuba. Okay. So the U .S. is not
included in this bunch? Yes, I just said USA
was the first one. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, it's
okay. Must have missed that. And the Netherlands,
of course. Yeah. And the Netherlands, of course.
So that's the top 12 countries in the world,
yeah. Awesome. So, well, we jump into the here
and now, but let's maybe pedal back and rewind
back to where a lot of this all started. So you
grew up on St. Martin? Yes, correct. And I also
know that you've played in the States as well?
Yes, I played professionally with the Colorado
Rockies. And transitioning from... Well, the
St. Martin is out there. You guys know what more
or less the state of the Little League feel is.
Not the bestest, but transitioning from those
humble beginnings to playing in minor league
baseball in the U .S. I could imagine that that
was quite the journey. So yeah, let's rewind
the clock a bit to a young Denzel and when you
first fell in love with the game of baseball.
Okay. Well, my first... when i first fell in
love with the game is seeing the little league
nine and ten you know eleven twelve i'm sorry
eleven twelve little league um curacao baseball
team and i saw them in williamsport in the united
states and i was like yo i want to be on tv too
and i was such a enthusiastic kid about it and
i was like wow i can i would like to be part
of that as well and um Yeah, I was the type of
kid to have a baseball bat in the living room
while watching baseball. So seeing that and seeing
a kid that looks like me from Curacao, Aruba
or something, and they're on TV and experiencing
this greatness and the commentators. Because
was that like one of the first times that Curacao
and Aruba made it then to television? No, they
have been on television for quite a while. you
know but um it was just seeing that yeah you
know that chance to be on a big stage and the
commentators, I was quite, let's just say I was
quite blown away by, you know, these kids from
Curacao just doing great things. And, you know,
we got this kid from Andrew Jones, and, you know,
he's doing great things, and he's just setting
the floor for these kids to come in. And, you
know, I was just like, wow. And I was thinking
about how do they say that about Denzel? Yeah,
yeah, yeah. You know, Denzel from St. Martin
just doing great things, you know. Yeah, so I
was like, you know, intrigued. How old were you
at that time? I was nine. Nine, okay. So before
that point, you played baseball already? No,
actually not. Oh, wow. You know, I just started
at nine, actually. But I saw it on TV and I was
like, I want to try. Yeah. But it all started
in school where guys would have a tennis ball
and a stick. And they would play. Yeah. Beam
ball. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And then
we would play in the yard. I was just, like,
in awe of, like, you know, hitting the ball far.
And, you know, I was going to Mac School, Methodist
Agagic Center. And, yeah, I would just see those
guys on the basketball court hitting the ball
in the fence and all that kind of stuff. And
I was just, like, I wanted to compete. Because
at a young age, I was very competitive. You know,
so I fell in love with that. And then I had one
kid that was playing tennis ball, and he introduced
me to... He brought me to practice. One of my
first teams and one of my best coaches in marketing
is Coach Tom Burnett. He was the manager of the
Florida Marlins. The Marlins, yeah. Mary Fancy
Marlins, sorry. Mary Fancy Marlins. And that's
where I started my journey at nine. Nice. Yeah,
with Coach Tom. He's still there, right? Yeah,
he's actually still in St. Martin, yes. And he
also did a bit of after -school programs and
stuff as well. Yes, quite an influential man,
and I give him the highest regard, and I think
they should write a book about this man because
he did a lot of great things. He was a coach
for many years, and then he just saw a need for
helping kids that don't get the help and try
to get funding, make friends, and he made a lot
of friends and started an after -school program.
for kids that are in need. And, you know, a man
with a big heart. Yeah, definitely. The name
just clicked to me because we, a few years ago,
some friends of mine, we, after Hurricane Irma,
we started a foundation, Rebuild SXM. And we
also donated some stuff to Tom. The container
that we brought down, all of the different sporting
goods and school equipment that we donated throughout
the island, the container itself we donated to
him to use for the after -school program. uh
for the kids like uh a really good guy yeah he
is he he is you know so maybe that taps into
one of my other questions we just fast forward
into it now no problem is um is is is yeah some
of your most influential mentors what was he
one of those persons for you yeah well in baseball
and martin um i was just grateful opportunity
and um he was a how do I say, he handled everybody
with care, respect, love, made you feel like
a family. He did things I didn't expect. I don't
think I would do it at my time. He would pick
up this guy at this house, pick up everybody
to come and practice. He spent all of his gas.
Such a selfless guy. let's just say a guy that
doesn't care about riches but just care about
riches with new relationships yeah yeah so he
if he can live paycheck to paycheck and still
pick up everybody that was him you know yeah
uh so man um he i don't know i think just his
tone as a as a man and everything you know it
showed me to just appreciate more and and so
so like that Was there a certain seriousness
but still very respectful and loving? Yeah, definitely.
You definitely had to compete. He wanted you
to be the best of yourself. But it was not an
environment, I would say, in the mentoring sense
of I'm preparing your mind for the big leagues
or something like that. It was more of having
a group of guys on the street and I want to give
them a place that they can... understand discipline
and respect. So maybe coming back to what you
were mentioning earlier, where you say that with
the mental health thing, you also want to help
people that the starting point might be more
like zero or one, give them a solid foundation.
So he was more providing that solid foundation
that others could then help him build on to get
you to that professional level. Yeah, because
you got to understand, when you have a group
of kids, let's say they're playing on the street.
Yeah. the direct sense of direction is not yeah
you know so you know to create that environment
that you're accepted you're you're part of something
you know he created that platform for that he
you are part of something and and to be to be
a part you need to be respectful yeah and to
be a part you have to understand hard work and
to be a part you have to be disciplined and be
on time etc etc so it kind of created a structure
for a lot of um directionless people, I would
say, like people that don't have a sense of direction.
Maybe their parents work all day, single mom,
kids on the street, the street is raising them.
You know, he kind of created that space for those
kids and, you know, feel at home. And, you know,
he was American, you know? So, you know, it always
makes me laugh because, you know, you're on TV
watching these people and you laugh. They're
American, they're white boys, you know? You know,
so he's quite nice, and, you know, he did activities
and every weekend something, barbecue or something,
and brought him by the house. So it created that
space to just say you're welcome and feel connected
to something if you weren't feeling that way.
Yeah. Yeah, so that's all I would say about Coach
Tom. Great guy. Awesome. Awesome. But you mentioned,
so for the guys from the streets, et cetera,
those that might not have had certain elements
at home to give them certain aspects of the foundation.
But I'm assuming that your situation wasn't.
No, it wasn't like that. You know, I had a quite
a. moral structure in my house and understanding
of values i had quite a strict mom religious
mom okay you know pentecostal church you know
every day go every sunday going to church and
she goes to church sometimes three times a week
yeah yeah so yeah god was number one in the house
you know respect and those kind of things or
as well you know yeah you know so i think what
coach john provided that was not so there that
i experienced at a young age was being accepted
you know so being part of something and you know
being respected for also too you know being a
part and not only part but when you're excelling
in that part that you have that support as well
great job denzel you know you know like you're
doing good you know i didn't hear very much of
that growing up so so that created that space
on on on that to make me feel like i can conquer
with confidence and i have support like you know
denzel denzel yeah that's the best bath on the
team yeah you know so that that created that
space for me to feel so from nine years old the
um that dynamic got added started to build that
confidence the competitive fire and you started
to burn and what what was the journey like from
let's say nine to about uh 15 16. it was quite
uh you know in life we look forward to a challenge
so the challenge for us was going with little
league to to uh the caribbean international tournament
you know you know the latin american the championships
and i look forward to that and i look forward
to just flying away and performing and baseball
against other people because uh i became a very
How do I say this? Because I was gifted. Because
I was gifted. I became very... Very confident?
Very confident, yes. And very confident and...
Very expressive in confidence. I was very expressive
in that regard as well. The mature Denzel can
pick his words very precisely and wisely. I remember.
I don't deny anything. I try to hide anything.
And some would say very cocky as well. As I look
in back of it, I was very cocky, but I understand
why I was very cocky. And that's very important.
But at that time, I was very expressively confident.
So could you maybe unpack a little bit? As you
say, you reflect back and you also understand
why you were cocky. So why is that? Yeah. So
let's just say in the house I was raised, the
family had a huge impact on me, on my development.
Unfortunately, I was not treated the same. So
I always had to prove. My brother didn't have
to work as hard as me. My sister didn't. It was
basically, oh, hi. And I was like, why me? It's
different. So I never really get to express Denzel
because Denzel was not accepted. So I tried to
copy my brother at a young age, and he didn't
like that. And your brother's older than you.
he is he didn't like that so when you know when
seeing that and trying to be something else because
you know as a young child you're trying to develop
and figure out you know have fun i go here climb
here and every time it was like i was getting
shut down so i was like okay they like my brother
more so maybe let me do everything he's doing
and maybe i'm on the right path yeah no no no
so Only when I achieved something of great. My
first game with the baseball. I hit a grand slam
and I won the game for the team. The grand slam
is when all the bases fall, right? And then home
run. I hit a home run. My first ever game. First
ever game. And Coach Tom, he was working with
Daily Herald. And Coach Tom put me in there.
the small box in the front page of the you know
in a sports page if you know the daily hero yeah
my face was there and i saw my hat and i was
like wow i'm in the newspaper nine wow nine and
then i i remember i i ran i ran to to my old
man i said hey oh my look look look and that
was the first time like i heard you did great
son wow wow so i was like you know in my brain
i was thinking that Oh, love is success. So I
didn't understand that at that time. But I say,
okay, I achieved something. Because in all your
nine years, they never acknowledge you for you
until you. Yeah, it's not that they didn't acknowledge,
but you never get the same treatment. It's like,
why is he getting this so easily? Why is he getting
this so easily? And I'm like, what do I have
to do? Because I'm the darkest in the family.
I even at a point hated my own color of my skin.
And I tried to stay out of the sun. That's how
insecure I was. A very insecure young man. And
I'm not afraid to say those things. And people
say vulnerabilities. You sound like a pussy or
whatever. But that's just basically what fueled
this man in front of you. It's because I was
never accepted just for Denzel. I was never enough.
And that's my experience. And I always had to
prove, and the only time I heard something of
greatness is when I achieved something. So I
became very expressive, you know, vocally on,
oh, I'm the best. I'm better than you. Because
apparently I was blessed with gifted ability.
Athletic ability, I was very gifted in running.
I was strong. I was fast. And in baseball, I
was really good. You know, so I started to just
talk a lot. And I became a very ugly person in
the process. And through my teens, you know,
I had to continuously, because I was being bullied,
I became a bully. You know, and used to talk
down to people just like I've been talked down
to, not knowing that I was carrying on the cycle
of pain. And, you know, at that same time, too,
I never had a relationship with my brother. And
my brother was, how do I say, he was a... natural
charisma good looking man and all the girls in
school was like yeah my mom was a school teacher
okay and all the girls was uh from school but
you throw your son sexy and then um he was just
like you know how much older is he i believe
three years three years two and a half three
years just two and a half three years and and
even more and i was like wow my brother that's
my brother yeah even though not even having a
relationship or a great relationship or anything
like that i was like wow and i wasn't very good
looking back then so yeah there were girls in
my class would be like oh they're your brother
because i was in academy and my brother was an
npc okay and um maybe like that's your brother
i was like yeah but how you look so You know?
And I was like, wow. That Ross and Martin thing.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I was like, wow. Because
my ears were big, I was skinny. You know? And
I wasn't confident, but it was natural to him.
What I was doing was a show, but for him it was
real. I always envy that. And I was happy at
the same time. Because I had so much empathy
in my heart. I just love you. You're my... And
I'm so, wow, can you teach me? And I was looking,
I was like that kind of kid. So I wasn't getting
it. So I kind of like tried to find my own way
and started to just talk about myself and have
a lot of friends because of it. But I kept staying
relevant because the principle in life remains
the same. If you're a person of value, you're
always going to be in the light, regardless if
you're ugly, malted, or anything like that. That's
just a principle, and it's a law. You know, if
you're doing nothing with your life, you know,
you will never be in the spotlight. But if you
are doing something and you're excellent in it,
your name will always be there, even if you're
an ugly person. So I experienced that at a young
age, and I thought love was success. So I grew
up like that. I grew up in my teenage years suffering.
you know very insecure still didn't know who
denzel was because i continued to put something
that i thought people would accept yeah i mean
i don't think any teenager truly knows who they
are it's uh it's it's really that discovery moment
uh yeah and uh and and you go through so many
emotions uh during that time so if if we tap
back into well the element that you believed
was sort of connected to love what what were
some of the highlights and the achievements in
uh in that period so from from that first newspaper
moment to to about 16 -ish highlights yeah well
i was continuously uh baseball i was known as
the best one of the best I would say top two,
top three, always in the whole of the Little
League. I was always considered the best. I had
the most home runs out of everybody. I was very
competitive. I did track and field as well. I
did a lot of sports. Highlights. Continuously
to win in my sports, I would say. And also to
one of my highlights. At a very young age, I
was into music as well. I had a friend, Saverin
Labega. You know, he made beats. He produced
beats. Zavi? Yeah, Zav. Zav on the beats. Okay,
okay, okay. I've seen some stuff. Yeah, so he
was in beats, and I was intrigued about it. I
was like, oh, he was on his computer making Fruity
Loops. I think it was Fruity Loops number FL7.
Yeah, I remember. FL7, damn. Yeah, Fruity Loops.
I was back in the day. I had FL1 on my computer
when I first started. I started on 7. I started
on 7. so um experiencing that and saw him and
i was i was like wow he making music on a piano
on a computer and i said i want to do it too
and then um apparently he was just doing it with
the keyboard like the letters yeah making like
playing the piano on the system that's the piano
with the keyboard the keyboard so i was like
oh and then all of a sudden i started making
beats and i was like oh this sounds good some
simple crap you know but i was intrigued and
then all of a sudden i got a piano and i became
you know fascinated by music and i started to
learn simple chords i started to learn to play
songs and with those songs i started to make
beats okay and zav he can tell you too i became
so very well talented in playing the piano, that
my melodies were better. But his, you know, arrangement
with drums were crazy. So I would make the melody,
he would fix the beat. So we would like collab
in that kind of sense. Awesome. And we still
do it sometimes up to this day, you know, but
I don't make beats no more like that. But if
I have a melody in my head, I would always send
it. But, you know, I was playing piano and one
of the highlights is... But then piano was just
self -taught or you went to piano lessons? Self
-taught. I learned, all things on youtube youtube
was my teacher so at 14 i have videos on my phone
at 14 i was playing um thousand miles you know
all these um these songs you know One Republic,
Too Late. Apologize. Apologize. I learned all
them songs on the piano. Yeah. Neo, all kind
of stuff. And I was like, learning it, learning
it, learning it. And then I got an opportunity
that one of the musicians left our church. And
it was like, Denzel, you're the new musician.
Oh, wow. I said, but I don't know how to play.
Hey, the Lord works in mysterious ways. So then
I dive into the realm of a musician, and I played
six years, I believe, in church. And I became
a minister in that sense. And, yeah, so I was
a kid that did everything. I competed in basketball,
too. Basketball was really good as well. I played
for Samaritan National Team as well. Went away
for baseball. I competed with ping pong. Ping
pong? Yeah, I was quite a movable child because
the need to compete and win was so high in me
that I just needed to prove something. I just
like it too. It put me in different environments.
As a child, I did almost everything. I wanted
to do everything. So during this whole part,
how did school fit into the mix? Well, school.
Well, my mom was a school teacher. My father,
he was a big man, taller than me, bigger than
me. And his motto was... Still bigger than you?
Yeah, yeah, he was. He passed away, unfortunately.
Sorry to hear that. Yeah, he was bigger than
me, 6 '4", big man. Less enforcement, everything
else after. And that was a motto, less enforcement,
everything else. And the other one was, learn
to love your house. So you don't want us to go
nowhere. Daddy, can I go movies? You went last
week, that was last month. So you got to go out
every month? That time. Not every day, but every
month. Damn. Every month. Once in a month. Once.
That's a lot, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah. So, yeah, man. You know, that was one of
the matters for school. My mom was, like, very
strict. Had to stay on my... School lesson, everything,
doing this and that. But I was quite a mischievous
child. As a child, I was very rude. And you can
understand why. Because of that lack of acknowledgement.
I make sure you know me. I make sure everybody
know me. Denzel. And my mom was the type of woman,
I got my butt whooped. My mom was the type of
woman to go to school and tell all the teachers.
You see, my child, if you misbehave, you have
my permission to beat him. You have my permission?
You have, because no one from Curacao. She said,
you have my permission to beat him. Yes, you
behave rude, you beat him. And let me tell you,
I got my butt whooped in school. Tell my mother,
mommy, teacher beat me. She don't even ask why
not. She said, that's good for you, because you
did something you was not supposed to do. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, so it was quite like
that, you know, because I was quite rude. I was
quite rebellious. I was quite making sure, you
know, loud and everything, you know. Yeah, man,
I had my share of licks. Oh, man, man, man. Wow.
That makes me laugh all the time, but yeah. That's
crazy. Yeah. So that's what school for me was
like up and down, you know. I was not so serious
about it, but I was smart. Yeah. Yeah, I am smart.
So let me correct that. I am smart, but I didn't
apply myself in school. And the reason why I
touch on that is because some of it I also find
relatable. Yeah. But I also want listeners, viewers
to... to understand that if they're going through
similar things that they have all of these interests
whether it be sports music etc and they're exploring
all of these things and and and the school aspect
of things is maybe not going as smooth as yeah
let's say those that are for um not necessarily
more academically inclined but more more disciplined
to sit down and stick in the books right versus
someone that needs to be way more active and
expressive because you you taught yourself to
play piano yeah i did on youtube that's not something
that that that someone that is not um that doesn't
have brains and gifts can't just do that yeah
yeah and but but but it expresses itself in a
different way yeah um So it's also just more
like a nod out there that if persons are going
through similar things, like it's okay. Yeah,
definitely. I would always still recommend you
to at least finish it up and get those basics.
But you make room for your passions to go and
explore them and really dive into them. Yeah.
So by about 16 -ish. As we were touching on earlier
off camera, there was a bit of a turning point
at a particular tournament, right? In baseball.
So, yeah. So, Little League, it was the last.
It was Senior League in baseball because you
have Junior League, you know, and they have the
Little League, Junior League, then Senior League.
So, what are the sort of age categories? Little
League is 11 -12, Junior League is 13 -14, and
Senior League is 15 -16. Okay. So it was my last
year in senior league. And I believe the 15,
it was one year we didn't go. So 16 was the only
year that we went. Yeah. Because of funding,
they have little league. And then I don't believe
St. Martin had all that money to push so much
age groups to go away. So it was my last year,
16. And that's the only thing I look forward
to. And yeah, I was, like I was explaining, I
had something to prove. Because of not feeling
that I was enough, I had so much motivation to
just work. So it instills something in me. to
work and i would walk from madame estate to the
pond um to the little league ballpark with a
bucket of balls a tea and a bat walking there
like wow walking back hitting by myself off the
tee i have so much people that because you guys
lived in madame's state yeah living in madame's
state yeah yeah so i walked about 20 25 minutes
you know walking in the hot sun yeah my mom was
in the woman to really like you know yeah you
can give me a ride and she's like yeah you mommy
can i go i have to go to church okay i'm not
doing the baseball you know so i said okay so
i was like okay okay so i just developed i didn't
it teach me to yo you want it yeah Go get it.
Yeah, I even tried with a bike to, like, do,
like, a skateboard push with the bucket. You
know, to go on the field, and it worked a little
bit. You know, but I didn't trust it that time
because, you know, soccer guard ain't got some
man there. You can't go there with a bike, yeah?
Yeah, soccer guard ain't in no place you want
to walk. As a young 15 -year -old boy with a
bucket of balls, and see these man there, I'm
like, yo, check it out. Yeah, check it out. I'll
be like, I'm going to miss my field. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. I used to live soccer garden at some point.
You understand what I'm saying? You understand
what I'm saying? It's at road where I learned
to play baseball, actually. Before the road was
built to connect to Pond Island. Like, I think
there's like a construction company and stuff
there now, but before that open field, but it
was just like dirt with rocks. We was playing
there with sticks and tennis balls or like actual
baseballs and getting beam with them things at
10, 11. Yeah, there's where I learned to... Yeah,
so I would walk there every day, just have that
discipline every day to just hit by myself. I
don't know why. I had... a work ethic that was
not seen there was no role model be like i'm
following uh you know jose ramirez i'm following
his footsteps he's did he did this it was just
in me i wanted to practice i had love to feel
like back then it wasn't so dominant with you
know by playstation and stuff like that you know
back then they had game boy advance you know
you know you know those kind of things but i
had a need to be outside and yeah you know so
i just was training by myself consistently consistently
and then you know i went to the tournament and
confident curacao have such a pride the team
tears so we had issues with them say martin because
they looked down crazy thing um because i was
looked down in my my family i was like this i
had a My stomach turned any time when somebody
do the same thing, my stomach turned. And the
Curacao guys at that time, we had issues with
it. They were like, yeah, they're saying Martin,
the last place. No, no, no. Those guys are not
good and blah, blah, blah, blah. I said, yeah.
And then I remember I hit two home runs against
Curacao. And Curacao normally, at these tournaments,
have the whole family. They have such a support
system. There are mothers in the stands with
drums. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. I
said, uh -huh. I said, I reached there. I said,
yeah. Are you going to see Denden right now?
But I remember the first at -bat, hit the home
run, and I do this in the crowd. I said, are
you making noise now? And then after my second
at -bat, hit another home run. I said, yeah,
yeah, boy. I was very competitive, boy. I was
like, yeah, you feel it? Yeah, boy. You still
end up losing, but it was a good game. Yeah,
we still ended up losing, but it was a good game.
I remember that. We had a fight with Curacao,
too. One of the guys dived and kicked the spike
in the other teammate's neck. And, yeah, it was
a fight, you know. But we ended up still playing.
And that tournament is when, because of the passion,
I was like, you're looking down on me. All of
a sudden, every game was hitting a home run.
Puerto Rico hit a home run. Venezuela hit a home
run. To that light of a other fire. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. There's just that I hate the looking down
upon. Don't ever look down upon me. I just had
that in my brain. I hate it. I hate it because
I hated my skin. So I just hated it. So I hate
anybody that portrayed that kind of attitude
and behavior. I just had a conviction to prove.
Because I always prove, like, I always prove.
And I always had a need to prove myself, you
know. And so that was my highlight. And scouts
was talking to me. And people was like, you know,
I was the only one to. Because the scouts, they
were in Curacao at the tournament. No, it was
in Aruba, actually. That tournament was in Aruba.
Oh, in Aruba, okay. And the scouts was there
watching the game because it's 15 -16. And guys
normally sign 16. 17 to go to the dominican republic
oh okay so that was a that was a hot age yeah
so look at guys who decks coming in yeah you
know so a lot of guys in that tournament signed
too like here so i had a couple of guys that
i know personally that signed as well out of
that uh thing as well yeah so yeah start scouts
started talking to me and um you know because
of my uh mouth as well at the time too like yeah
i didn't get the proper support from teammates.
They create envy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They had
a lot of envy. Yeah. You know, and I had, like,
one couple good friends, you know, that was supporting,
like, then, then, then, good brother, you bye,
bro. I'm like, yeah, right? You know, and I had
one friend that I always, he was a friend that,
you know, everybody wanted to be around him.
But nobody, I didn't have that influence. He
was funny. I was funny. But he had such a natural
inclination to have a gathering around him and
people wanted to be around him. And he was kind
of like my brother to tell me, Denzel, stop talking
about yourself. Leave people talk for you. He
was kind of that navigating thing for me at that
time. And I didn't understand why. I was just
a child. My brain was just like, this is what
I know. Success is this. This is what I know.
Because I only hear a good thing when I did this.
I showed that I am this. And that's a thing that
I couldn't articulate at that time. Sorry. So,
yeah, that would be my highlight. And then Scouts
started talking to me and showing interest. I
went to a clinic after in Curacao with the St.
Martin squad. And that's when I got an opportunity
to get invited to go to the Dominican Republic
to compete against professionals at 16. with
the Baltimore Earls and Minnesota Twins. And
then you went, you traveled alone at that point.
Yes, I traveled alone to the Dominican Republic.
It was in school year, so it was within the school
year. But at the time I was 16, I was such a
known face in the office in school. Soon as I
reached in the office to ask for permission to
leave, you know, I believe it was Mr. Sprott
at the time. He was, you know, the... principal
at the time and I asked him, I said, so do you
have some time? He said, no, I ain't got no time.
I said, but I have to leave. Oh, I have time
for this. Come, come, come. So I was like that
type of. Because I always know like Denzel, you
know. Because he thought there was some trouble
like you come in there when you get sent out
of class. Now he got to deal with this nonsense
again. So I said, yeah, I got you. I didn't even
get to finish. I said, yeah, I got this trout
with his base. But I'll come and sign it for
you, man. You know, he was always telling me.
Because in school, everybody know as well. Or
you let everybody know? No, no, no, no, no, no.
And high school was different. You couldn't really
just talk like that because you get thrown in
the garbage. Thrown in the garbage? Yeah, because
I wasn't big at that time. They had guys bigger
than me. And they had, you think he was, let's
just say high school teach you how to walk a
little bit better. True, true, true. And you
can't talk a certain way. True, true, true. So
in high school, I didn't talk a lot. Okay, okay.
Because they had guys that has good action. But
by 16, you're in what, third, fourth form? Yeah,
third form. Third form. I was in third form.
But because I stayed back multiple times. Okay.
Yeah, so, but I still didn't talk. I had that
from first form, you know. I did get thrown in
the garbage once. So I kind of like, never used
to be like, yo, I bigger than you, stronger than
you. Yeah, throw me in the garbage. No, no, no.
You know? You know? This sounds like some Fresh
Prince of Bel -Air shit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So
you kind of adjust your ways a bit. Yeah, yeah,
yeah. Well, one of my best friends banned it.
He got... Oh, colors. Yeah, he got, he got, he
got, well, one of his most known songs, at least
from back, back then, is Boss Look Here. Yeah,
Boss Look Here. And in Boss Look Here, you want
your child learn to survive, send him school
in Samaritan. Yeah. We the break all the rules
in Samaritan. Yeah, I remember that song. I remember
that song, yeah. That was recorded in my house.
Oh, man. I was at showroom there. Yep. Yeah,
I remember that. But that's why I wasn't talking
so much at that time. You kind of learn because
they had some bad man. Like, yeah, you couldn't
operate in that certain sense. So, you know,
that was basically when I left. It was like,
yeah, man, you know, I signed this leave. And
then I went there in the Dominican Republic.
And that was my first time experiencing professionalism.
Seeing guys trying 95 miles per hour. I've never
seen, I've seen some mountain guys pitch. And
I was dominating. I was the best. I went there.
And I stand up at home plate. And the guy pitched
the ball. And I jump out of the box. Everybody
was laughing at me. Oh, shit. So I was kind of
like embarrassing myself. Yeah. But it was so
fast, I thought it was going to hit me. Yeah.
And I was scared. I had anxiety. My anxiety was
really high. And I didn't know how to react.
Because you're also there at 16. Yeah. getting
presented this huge opportunity but you're also
technically there alone yeah the support system
everything yeah it's uh yeah so experiencing
that was a bit tough and um yeah i liked it because
i saw that it humbled me yeah so that was quite
a humbling experience that yeah you're not you're
not the best yeah you know and then after experiencing
that i had horrible um horrible tryouts i didn't
perform very well the only thing i was good in
was running so so that so that experience kind
of shot your confidence for a little definitely
actually make me wanted to quit because i was
like yeah i'm not good and stuff like that and
i was like my mom said you need to keep trying
and i was like you know what i keep going hard
i went in the field more hitting then um i had
an opportunity to play in the states when i was
17. it's called summer baseball in the united
states and um so how did that opportunity come
about One of my friends that was older, Omar
Williams, he was going to college at the time
in Florida, and he was going to play summer ball.
And this summer ball league is for high school
graduates to get opportunity to get signed to
go to a college. Okay. So you could get, you
know, signed and get a scholarship. So I went
to this tournament, and it was quite nice. my
first game i went with him he invited me and
it was a florida porkers um i performed quite
horribly and then after that omar talked to me
and he was like bro we know you're good relax
everything you know and we did some training
etc etc and then um i exploded i went i went
off that tournament i was a highest average the
most home runs and um Omar was one of the best
hitters in Florida, but he was heavier, so he
had to lose some weight and stuff like that.
So he had to be damn near perfect. If they wanted
to sign him, man, he has to be so perfect. Because
of the heaviness. Yeah, heaviness and the slowness.
And sometimes he was working on it, but he was
such a gifted hitter. Yeah. Power. And, yeah,
so the scout came to see him from the University
of Miami. And he didn't perform well, but I performed
extremely well that tournament. I had two balls
I hit off the fence. I had a ball that I hit
straight to the third baseman, rocket. It hit
his chest. He picked it up. I already was safe
at first base. No shit. So my speed was like,
I was like crazy fast. And then I didn't think
nothing of it, actually. I just was playing.
I love it. Just playing your game? Yeah, just
playing my game, actually. And I was like four
for five or something with like four RBIs. And
then the scout said to the coach that they can't
do anything for Omar. However, who's this kid's
Denzel? I want to know everything about him.
I'm very interested in everything. And the coach
told me that in front of the team. And I was
like, everybody was like, oh. And I was like,
oh, really, me? And then they had a power showcase.
And this showcase was, you know, you get to express
your best tool. So they have home run derby.
They have running. Yeah, and an all -star game.
Yeah, so my coach, I had power. And I was like,
yeah, I'm going to do home run derby. And my
coach was like, nope, you're going to run. I
was like, no, but my best tool is home runs.
He's like, Denzel, the scouts doesn't look at
that. They look at your speed. That's the best
tool you have. And I was like, okay, great. So
then I ran, and I ran the fastest. It was 100
people running. Wow. And in my age group. I ran,
I was 17 years old, and I ran in an 18 -year
-old group. And I ran faster than everybody that
was 18, all Americans that was there. I ran 6
-7. No, yeah, 6 -7, yes. Those legs was developing,
walking 20 -something minutes in the hot sun.
Carrying all their baseballs. Yeah, so when the
guy... Them Americans would get them dropped
off in air -conditioned minivans. Yeah, so when
that happened, like, the coach was saying, like,
oh, I want it bad. I want to just send me with
school information. I want to sign this guy.
I'm going to give this guy a scholarship. Let
me know what he's doing in school and check the
transcripts and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
You really switch these accents flawlessly. Oh,
yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I remember it. I remember
it like yesterday. I'm quite the person. I watch
the TV and be like, you know, copy them like,
hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. You know, like I used
to do that. Yeah, so he was like, we want to
sign him. We're going to get him a scholarship.
Let me know his school, see the transcripts,
and see what we can do. Blah, blah, blah. I said,
okay, cool. I said, am I getting hype? No. But
then again, he said, send transcripts. Yeah,
from where? No, no, no. I was like, transcripts?
And I was like, what do I mean? And then the
coach was like, yeah, check your grades and everything.
Check my grades? I said, check my grades. Oh,
yeah, because these people leave in high school.
Yeah, going to college. But you need to have
a certain degree of... And you was reattured,
Ford Farm at the time? Yeah. However, if my grades
was good, I would have been connected to a school
to do summer school quickly to get to go to college.
Oh, wow. But because my grades were so bad, if
you look at my report card, and I was like, and
I told my coach, I was like, coach, my scores
are bad. My grades are bad. And he was like,
come on, it's okay. Let me just see your grades.
He's like, holy moly. I said, you got a two for
maths? You got a couple twos on here. He was
like. You're not going to get a chance to go
to D1 college. Because my dream was to go to
Division I college. I had a dream. I wanted to
go to the United States. I was telling my mom,
Mommy, I want to go to the States. I want to
play baseball. And she's like, I'm going to help
you. I'm going to do your best in school. I'm
going to help you. We're going to go there. We're
going to blah, blah, blah. And the crazy thing
is I was reaching my dream. Everything was mine.
But then because of my foolishness in high school,
It came back to bite me big time to crush my
dream to playing in university or college because
I guarantee you I would finally get the facilities.
I was there and holes in the floor, hitting balls
and stuff like that. And I was like dreaming
of going to the United States. And I felt so
horrible about school, regret and everything.
And I was like, okay, Denzel, the fastest way
is to do your GED. And then you could go to a
community college for two years, and then you
could be eligible to go to a Division I college.
So I say, okay, that's the route I'm going to
take. I'm going to just be a little bit older,
whatever. So while I was doing the GED, the Colorado
Rockies came to St. Martin. Some guy invited
the Colorado Rockies, and I went to the tryout.
I wasn't even supposed to do the tryout because
you had to sign a piece of paper that, you know,
like... Yeah. When you read the paper, it was
basically saying that this person would be your
agent and it would take 25 % if you sign professionally,
blah, blah, blah. And because I was in the realm
of speaking of signing, people were aware of
me of like, Denzel, watch out for this, watch
out for that. So I didn't sign. But I still went
to the field just to see because I love baseball
and I was going to train after the league. And
my plan was as soon as the trial just finished,
I go on the field really quick and try to hit
the ball. So maybe somebody look at me. that
had quite a winning spirit. And while I was in
the stands sitting and watching the trial, they
were doing a 60 -yard dash. One of the scouts
said, like, why is the kid with the best body
is in the stands? And then the person that said
that I needed to sign came to me and was like,
you know. you don't need to sign a paper, you
can do the tryout. And then the person walked
by, the scout came right next to her and she
was like, oh, yes, he's going to do the tryout.
You know, and that's how the journey started.
And I performed very well because I just had
the experience of playing in the United States.
You know, so I participated at a higher level.
But let's pause a little bit at that moment of
where you got that proper advice at the right
moment. of having a few of those people around
you before to to even make you aware that signing
that piece of paper was not the best move and
and and definitely not hastily signing anything
before having it checked over by by others um
because I actually have a similar story. When
I was doing music and the performance on BET
around that time in New York, I could have got
introduced to one of the record execs. I believe
it's an A &R, they call them, the ones that are
scouting the talent. But before introducing me,
they also wanted me to sign a management paper,
this TIC contract. And I hesitated quite a few
times, said, well, I need a digital version of
it. Once I got the digital version, I sent it
home. They had lawyers check it out, and then
they called me immediately, like, do not sign,
because essentially, those persons will still
have claim on whatever it is I'm doing today.
Because it's like they're 15, 20 % in perpetuity.
Yeah. So kids, don't be signing papers without
having lawyers check it. If your family can't
afford lawyers, then where should we send them?
Somebody that's somewhat educated that can read.
Yeah. You know, so, yeah. And that's how my journey
started. And I went to trial and I killed it.
cold i ran cold and i ran fast you know and they
kept asking me how old i am because you know
in the dominican republic they have a system
where some kids lie on the age just to get more
money you know so they kept asking that and i
understood that now at this age you know you
understand why they keep asking but it was surprise
based off my ability you know so uh the invite
because at this time you're about 17. i'm 17
now so now they said oh do you want to invite
you to the dominican republic Have you ever been?
I said, oh, I've been there already. He was like,
oh, really? I was like, yeah, last year with
the Orioles, but it didn't work out with the
Twins or the Orioles. He was like, okay, well,
you got another chance. I said, yeah, cool. So
I went there and faced the same professional
95 -mile -per -hour guys, and I remember my first
at -bat was against Juan Nicasio. He was in the
big leagues for the Colorado Rockies, and he
was throwing 98. uh i was like oh and it was
like 98 miles per hour yeah and it was like that's
like 150 something kilometers per hour so that's
that's faster than our speed limit in the netherlands
so so um i started to do the same thing i run
out the box the first about and i i talked to
myself i i and everybody and i started to talk
to myself i said yeah you're going to do it i
did not come here again for nothing yeah you're
going to do it And the guy threw the next pitch.
I just swing the bat. And the ball was one bounce
off the wall. Off right field. Off one knee cast.
I hit a double off the wall. And I reach on second
base. And I was like, whoo. I'm that guy. I'm
here. Crazy thing is, next three at -bats. three
strikeouts oh and that was every game so every
game i would hit a ball on the wall yeah and
i would strike out yeah every game hit a ball
on the wall strike out every day was getting
better yeah and better i've seen the ball much
more better i've seen it i'm reacting much more
because in in general outside of these two moments
in the dominican republic you you weren't facing
anybody that could teach 95 miles per hour no
i in in the in the In the high school tournament
that we played in the United States, I met two
guys that were 95, 94, 93. And I only got a hit
off of one of them. The guy 95, I did not get
a hit off of him. But I finally was able to hit
that 90 miles per hour fastball. So it just progressed
off of that. After more seeing it and seeing
it, you kind of adjust to the level. Because
it's like anything, you need to practice. Yeah.
yeah that that that's the interesting thing about
about about this part of the journey and the
story is like you you start off with this being
sort of your comfort zone and as you stretch
out of your comfort zone um it's it's scary it's
difficult yeah but if you consistently push yourself
out then it grows yeah you push yourself out
then it grows and at some point you didn't have
um any anyone to push you to that to to to grow
beyond the the big comfort zone you already created
which so so what was you hitting on average then
80 miles yeah yeah 77. uh yeah 80. so jumping
from 77 to like 95 that's that's that's that's
a huge difference yeah definitely so And then
after a week of playing games, they invited my
parents to come over, and they actually signed
me. And that's how I started my journey. I signed
professionally, and at the time, I didn't even
finish my GED. And I was like, yeah. And my mom
told me. My mom was a schoolteacher. And she
told me, she's like, Dan, if this is what you
want to do, and you really want to do it, I want
you to be happy, I support you. Wow. I said,
wow. I said, my mother would tell me that? I
thought she was going to tell me. It's lesson
first. Finish school, she's like, I know you
don't like school, but, you know, if this is
what you want to do, I want you to be happy.
I say, wow. So I say, yeah, I went for it and
signed. And that's how I started my journey there.
And I played two years in the Dominican Republic,
fighting, developing myself to become a professional
first year. And then I was much better the next
year, and then I went to the United States. you
know and um experience my dream you know being
against americans you know because i was fond
of them for something yeah yeah yeah i mean coming
from the islands you don't think much of your
of your island members but you you grew up thinking
oh you know alex rodriguez derek jeter you know
you're looking like oh states is everything you
know yeah and being there in that environment
knowing what your capabilities are and knowing
that you dare to like you know i was just fun
you know everybody was making fun of me my accent
you know just quick quick um story like for example
my accent i remember i wasn't happy with my my
my bp wrong my batting practice wrong so the
guy threw six balls to everybody and then rotate
rotate rotate but we was finished and i said
coach can i get another round of tree um our
coach was like what i said i said can i get another
round of tree he's like denzel what say it again
i said can i get another on a tree you want to
run around a tree i said And then after, you
know, because I was quite a clone too. Yeah,
yeah. And then I started speaking in white. My
voice was like, no, can I get another round of
three? Can I get another round of three balls?
And then he was like, oh, but why didn't you
say that from before, Denzel? Speak in your white
guy voice all the time. You know, so it was a
constant battle to, you know, to lose. what's
natural to you, your accent. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And you have to speak a little bit more proper.
Yeah, yeah. You know, and you have to learn to...
So you start yanking. Yeah, just a little bit.
Just a little bit. You know, and every time you
speak to somebody, dude, I'll be like, yeah,
man, so I go in on the road and then they had
this girl, she checked me and she was looking
good, but... And he'll be like, what? Most Americans
will be like, what? Dude, I don't understand
what you're saying there. So you always had a
constant repeat, but I didn't want to lose that
for myself. So I had to speak a little bit more
better, articulate a little bit more better.
So that was my journey there. Scale back some
of the rawness. Yeah, so I had to do that. And
I was quite stubborn too. I was sick. Because
you kind of see... the side of like okay i was
so fond of americans and i was like then you
see the side of some people i'm like why are
you from samaritan exactly you know these people
here you know but then you start to take more
pride in uh in in home yeah and the lessons and
uh because the foundation home taught yeah because
they So it's like St. Martin, you know, we have
this mentality like, you know, these man dumb.
The behavior, we don't mean that they're dumb,
like they can't comprehend anything, but these
guys just dumb. And when they're in the States,
I said the same thing. These man just dumb too.
They're just different, you know. And then you
start to like see the world as competition because
it is a competition. Nobody is your friend. I
thought I felt at home being in America because
I wasn't Dominican. And I didn't speak Spanish.
Yeah. But I learned to speak Spanish. Oh, yeah?
In those two years? Oh, wow. In those two seasons
I played there. But I learned Spanish there.
But, you know, when I was there, I was like,
it was a breath of fresh air. Like, I could speak
English. You know? And, you know. Yeah. And that's
how my journey there and see the politics there
was horrible. It made me. Like, not even enjoy
baseball no more because, you know, it's a money
game. It's politics. And I didn't understand
it at the time, and I didn't have any self -control.
You know, so they invest 700 grand in this guy,
and this guy suck. Like, he sucks. He sucks.
And I would play and perform, and I'm like, I'm
so much better than this guy. But he would always
get an opportunity. So when you look back, why
do you think that is? Yeah, why I think what
is. That the person got the opportunity and you
didn't get the opportunity. Yeah, because investment.
Because they invest 700 grand into this guy.
They already invested the 700. Yeah, he already
invested the 700 in this guy. Yeah. And they
invested 30 grand in me. Okay. So that was my
bonus money. So they were more looking that they
need to get the ROI on that 700? Exactly. On
that 700K? So he's going to get opportunity more
than me, even though he sucks more than me. So
he's going to get that window of opportunity,
even though I'm more talented, even though I'm
more work. My ethic is much more, you know, so.
Did he have certain agents, certain things behind
him that maybe you didn't have? No, it doesn't
matter about agents. Okay. It matters about if
they invest in you. that money you have a better
opportunity yeah your window of failure is much
more greater when you sign a guy like me for
the money i got you better perform while you
go home so i didn't have time to like develop
myself in the states i had time like denzel get
your stuff together or you know it's a great
senior you're a great guy everything i'll see
you next time you know hopefully keep going or
whatever you know that's the the whole uh thing
there yeah i didn't have room to breathe yeah
it was like perform and then i because i had
anxiety and panic attacks the the pressure of
of of of of that kind of like was too was too
much for me to bear yeah and i couldn't handle
it mentally so i can and and all this time you
also uh you dare alone yeah at uh at what age
is this now 19 i was 20 20 i was 20 21. 2021
yeah so at that time i couldn't handle it because
like for example i question authority all the
time so example if i'm on the bench four days
i'm like yo i'm gonna bench four days yeah i
would walk up into the manager office like yo
big man Just like this, though. Yo, big man,
why are you not playing? I was like, Denzel,
it's just not your turn as yet. I said, but I'm
on the bench four days, coach. What do you mean?
He was like, yeah, it's just how it is. You've
got to wait for your turn. I was like, yo, I'm
on the bench. This man sucks strikeout every
day. I was that kind of heated in front of management,
not understanding that respect and everything.
It got me into some issues as well because I
didn't know how to navigate my feelings. Because
I want it to be done right by me versus those
business decisions and et cetera, et cetera.
So at this point, you're trying out for the minors?
No, I'm in the minors. This is in the minors.
So I'm in the minors already. I'm in the United
States. I was in Colorado and I was in Washington
State. And you spent four years in the minors?
Yes. One year independent league. One year independently.
And earlier you mentioned that during the season
you would be there. So that was like about a
six -month period? About, yeah, six months. And
then you would have to head back home? Yes, head
back home. So as soon as the season is finished,
we head back home. And even when you're in the
States, you always have to go to the Dominican
Republic for instructional league. So you finish
the season, let's say August. You go home for,
like, three months. And then in the end of November,
you go for another month. And then in February,
you go for another month. And then you come back
in April for full season. Okay. So you're basically
gone eight months of the year. Yeah. Yeah. So
that's how it was. And if you was a prospect,
you spent even longer in the States. So you would
be, like, gone ten months, nine months, you know.
So, yeah, but I didn't experience that. So that
was basically the game. Like, you really had
to perform. understand controlling emotions perform
when you're not a person that received a lot
of funding you need to perform you know have
respect have a good attitude be likable uh if
not yeah man yeah just prepare so do you think
think anything would have been any different
if you had let's say some type of mentoring From
someone that is more closer to where you from
to kind of point and guide you along that journey?
Most definitely. What I had at home too is like
a lot of crabs in a bucket. So I would go back
home and play softball and people would be like,
yeah. You're going to get released, you know,
like this guy. Let's just say this is a guy that
signed professional, but he strike out in softball.
Like you always had a constant thing to even
prove to your people. Instead of you come home
and people be like, Denzel, we're proud of you,
you know. We're proud of you. You go on the baseball
field and you see these people just talk negative
about you and talk to you like a joke. You know,
like it's unless you reach to a high degree.
Unless you become World Series champion. Yeah,
they still drink beer and just talk crap about
you. Yeah. And that's the thing we have on the
island. We don't have that support. Like, you
know, when you see Curacao, you got flags, you
got, you know, you have billboards of players,
their face everywhere. And that's just something
that we lacked. And at home, I didn't even get
to feel good. Like, come on, Denzel, you can
keep going. Of course, they have the select few.
Yeah, yeah. But the majority? Yeah. I know exactly
what you mean. It's the same thing. And that's
the thing in life. In life, I learned in baseball,
even though you sign professional, nobody cares
unless you do something great. And only when
I perform very great with a Dutch team and the
Netherlands and stuff like that, here comes,
for example, the government. Oh, we want to invite
you. And I was upset about it, but I needed to
understand it. Success follows these kind of
things. Nobody cares about your journey until
you make it somewhere far. I had to learn that
and I had to take my feelings out of it and understand
that. Understand the rationale of it. That's
just part of the game. If nobody cares, unfortunately,
so you just have to make yourself a person of
value and make sure that your face is there and
then when people care. And that's what I experienced
here in the Netherlands with the baseball here.
I finally collect my thoughts and I understood
the principles of winning. I finally control
my mind. I control my emotions. And I experienced
winning, winning, winning, winning over and over
year after year. Always win awards. And it opened
doors for me to understand. So really your professional
career. really took off here in the netherlands
versus in the states yes like like like i said
before like i said before in other podcasts as
well i said everybody's born with wings but not
everybody experienced flying you know and the
netherlands is where i really learned to stretch
my wings and finally understand how to fly so
why you think the difference Let's just say it
was forced. I put myself in a comfortable position
because I wanted to respect myself. I came to
the Netherlands after my mom passed away. Your
mom passed away? Yeah, so my mom passed away
right after Irma. She died after a month after
Irma. So I said, I'm not going to stay in St.
Martin because if I stay in St. Martin, I will
never be something of greatness or something
I want to pursue. So I came to the Netherlands.
to to build something of myself that i would
respect myself and be proud of myself because
i continuously always had to add help and stuff
like that and lean on women and stuff because
i was weak mentally emotionally and blah blah
blah blah blah and i wanted to stand on my feet
so i came here an uncomfortable position and
and put myself through the test and um yeah i
performed very well at personal training i started
personal training first month made 300 euros
until I reached to a point that, you know, you
don't want to speak about it figuratively, but
my goal was just like, you know, I want to make
a living, like two grand, two and a half grand,
and I'm happy. Because it was conditioned that
in order, and conditioned from young, and I want
to be nothing because I don't have an education.
It was conditioned to me, and I was like, oh,
two and a half. And something happened, I started
to be more, I understand how the mind works,
and I started reading, I started to meditate,
and I started to create a program in my mind.
All of a sudden, 10 grand happened. And I was
like, yo, that's crazy. And I bought my car,
bought my Audi, did get this and save money.
I could buy a house now. And I was like, and
in the beginning when I started to make that
money, I had a proving thing. I was still proving.
I said that my aunt studied this amount of years
in school. I'm going to make more money than
her. And when I made the money, I was such in
a mature state that I said. I still don't have
to prove this. And I still saw that. I still
didn't let go of the proving mechanism. And I
grew up, I grew, I matured, and I understand
it for what it is. I understand my family for
what it is. Both sides. Both sides have issues.
People that hold on to pain and become a pain
giver. The generational. The generational curses.
The generational things. And I said to myself,
I'm going to create a new Richardson. And my
bloodline is not going to have any envy. My bloodline
is not going to have any unforgiveness. My bloodline
is not going to have any of these things. Because
I study so much about the mind, I understand
that you could take your blood out. And in your
blood, they can check what kind of person you
was. What kind of character, the traits that
you had, the habits. So I said, wow, that's astonishing.
So the things I do now is in my blood. Because
that's what you'll be passing on. So I thought
to myself, I want to give my... future offsprings,
everything that I didn't have. Feeling enough,
feeling confident, belief, hard work, intelligent,
kind, smart. And I kept working on those things.
And I keep pushing myself, motivating that I
would want to have my children to have this easy.
And controlling your mind, relax, always approaching
things in a relaxed condition. So that was one
of my motivations to hard work and continue pushing.
And crazy the thing is, because of the lack of
acknowledgement when I was younger, it instilled
that hard work ethic in me. So it never left.
So that's partially why I worked so hard too,
because I always had to prove something. So that
shaped me into the man I am today. And through
my consistent winning, opened the doors for being
a mental coach. I was in the Volkskrant. I was
in the Telegraph. I was in this TV show, all
kind of stuff. I was on RTL, T -Sports, you know,
and, you know. And the principle is the same.
Like I said, you make yourself a person of value
and things will be attracted to you. And I understood
these principles very strongly. And that really
just propelled me into the person I am today
and now impacting others. And just like you,
I see this beautiful podcast and everything.
I had a dream of having a podcast because with
everything success, you need to plan. And I thought,
Denzel, I want to be. a person of influence on
the mental aspect. So how do I do it? And I said,
okay, mouth -to -mouth is going okay. Continue
to win in baseball and then have an interview
is okay. However, how can I do it? And have a
larger impact. Yeah. And I thought I need to
amplify what's already existing. And the way
I can do that is actually being on a podcast
and having my own podcast and making small snippets
on. and put it on every day daily on Instagram
so that I can always have people intrigued and
actually connecting and relating to what I'm
saying so that they can understand, man, how
do he deal with a loss? Like his mom and dad
died. How did he do it? Because I'm suffering
right now. And most of the cases, basically,
I see myself as a, I see everybody as a seed.
I said this before. Sometimes the seed never
gets an environment to grow into a tree. They
always stay on the windowsill, never get to get
nourishment, never get to, you know, so your
fruit never gives, you die without giving your
fruit to the world. So I see myself as a person,
that environment to help your seed grow, the
soil, the sun, everything. And the continuous
program that's being imprinted in your mind that
becomes you in your subconscious mind, It allows
you to actually bear fruit, the fruit that you
was meant to give. So I just see myself as that
environment, and I keep telling myself every
day in the mirror, Denzel, you're great, you're
impactful. You're a good looking man. I always
speak positive for myself. Always. I said nobody
could touch my energy. No homo. I was going to
tell you that earlier when you were saying I'm
an ugly child. I'm like, dude. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
What you talking about? I grew into that one.
You grew into it. You'll have to show me some
photos then. I grew into that, man. I grew into
that because I started going to the gym when
I was like 16 and my neck come out and my hair
is shaped better. Oh, then it balanced out. My
hair was big too when I was young. Yeah. And
now it looks... And they always used to take
me for my nose, saying that I had a nose too
big. But yeah, everything starts to balance out.
Yeah, man. So that's why I tell myself every
day so nobody could touch my energy. Because
my opinion is the most important opinion. And
when you have that power to say that, like nothing
outside. They have an African proverb, I heard
it. If there's no enemy within, the enemy outside
can never do you no harm. True. And that's why
I understand I'm a person that walk paths that
nobody ever walk. And I don't know how I'm going
to do it, but I have so much faith because I
believe in God. And I believe in the word. I
was raised on the word. And crazy thing is I
disconnected from the word. And I read successful
books. And all those successful books I read
is the same as the Bible, but just interpreted
in a different way. That's why they have motivational
speakers like Tony Robbins. He only can reach
a few. Les Brown, he can reach a few because
they connect to different people. It's just people
interpreted in their way. He actually speak good,
but didn't click for me. Oh, this guy clicked
for me. So I just wanted to be that other person
on a platform that I can maybe click something
mentally for my group of people and try to impact
as much people as I can. And that's the beauty
of pain because I've been living in the dark
so long in my life that... I can read people.
That's my neighbor, man. He used to live on the
back street of me there. He live on Insecurity
Street No. 6. That's my neighbor right there.
He live on No Confidence Is Me. generational
curse wrote over there yeah man that right in
my neighborhood you know so you kind of smell
people you can see them you can see how they
talk you can see how a person you can see you
could tell a lot by how a person talks yeah and
it became very easy to read people and understand
where the problem lies that's why i don't take
anything personal because if somebody just approached
me like then so this podcast was not so great
i didn't like it i understand why this person
say it and then i look at their life i'm like
yeah he actually did get the support and he still
didn't end up being anything of greatness so
he's saying i'm a liar because it didn't work
for him yeah yeah you know so you have to understand
these things and understand that people say things
are not black and white but in actuality it's
black and white it's simple as simple as it is
yeah they got different ways but it's still black
and white yeah and when you understand the root
of issues is where you could actually changed
those behaviors because i understand because
i wasn't this i wasn't getting this young yeah
i was behaving like this yeah i became unlikable
and then crazy thing is is that i heard one of
my great mentors because i i got involved in
reading a lot of books and one of my great mentors
i would say is my dr miles monroe and he says
monroe yeah dr miles monroe i'm not familiar
with him oh man he's a great oh man i'll leave
you this i'll send you something okay And he
said, it's crazy to say that when confidence
meets insecurity, they always call it arrogance.
And I remember before baseball season. Makes
total sense. Yeah. I remember before baseball
season, I had a little interview like this. And
he asked me, what's your plans for this year?
I said, my plans, it's already done. I'm an MVP.
And he was like, how do you know? I said, because
I already know it. And it's because. i know myself
and i will be the mvp and i said i'm a different
um sports um setting i had a football club and
i was speaking and i said um i already told that
person that i'm going to be the mvp and people
told me that i'm oh this guy's cocky or whatever
at the end of the season i was the mvp and i
said is it ironic or is am i cocky or is something
i'm doing that is Oh, what is he doing? He said
he's going to do it, and it actually happened.
Instead of the people learn of what I did, they
focus on, oh, that's the insecurity in them.
And not crazy enough, because I had that interview,
it pushed people into another world, another
realm of bettering themselves, because it was
like, how this guy could say this? Really? And
it pushed them, and that's actually what I wanted.
By my words, it's influencing you to do more.
And that was the beauty of actually it, and understand
the principle of... As a man thinketh in his
heart, so is he. It's in the Bible. And when
I understood that in Hebrew it's not heart in
your chest, it means your lower mind. So as a
man thinketh in his heart. So if I keep telling
myself I'm the MVP. In my house, I had a picture
of me in a baseball uniform with trophies, photoshopped,
saying Denzel 2022 MVP. Every morning I woke
up and I saw that image. Crazy thing is, Denzel,
we go to the party. And I had a game the next
day. Easy decision. I said, yeah, wait, hold
on. Why, bro, I can't come now? Because I got
to sleep. Because if I sleep, if I don't sleep
good, I'm not going to perform my best. And if
I don't perform my best, I don't get my best
opportunity to be MVP. So your principles are,
you started to be really, you know, really. Guided,
really strict. Yeah. Because you create an environment
for success. Because in my house, I see success.
I see things that remind me who I am. Yeah. and
remind me who I want to be. Essentially, also
a lot of the principles that were taught by your
parents, just in a different form, are coming
back. Yes, but I didn't believe my mom when she
told me, Denzel, you're my black boy. Because
I used to say, Mommy, I'm black, and all that
type of thing. She's like, Denzel, you're my
beautiful black boy. And I was like, oh, beautiful.
And she told me, you're going to be great. My
mom told me she saw me in lights. She had a dream
and people was interviewing them in lights. And
Denzel, because of Denzel, he was in lights or
something. He was doing something of greatness.
And the crazy thing is I know I have greatness
in me, but because of my environment, it was
hard to see. And that's why Miles Monroe said,
he said, sight is ability to see things as they
are, but vision is a capacity to see things how
they can be. So when I heard that, I was like,
wow. Because of my conditioning of my environment,
even going on a field, people think low. People
still think we go away, we lose. That's a mentality.
So when I understood that principle, that vision
is a capacity to see things how they can be and
do not hang around people that are realistic.
You got to be real. You got to be real. Realistically,
I don't hang around people like that. Another
word for pessimistic. Exactly. I'm an optimist.
Every situation I have. i i think that i can
do it even if it's 20 chance i still think of
it i can do it yeah so that's how i i continuously
push myself and understand more of the mind and
understand that we are human beings, our body
is made up of water and what we say matters.
That's why we say there's power in the tongue.
You can bless yourself or you can curse yourself.
The water can hold memories. Exactly. So the
more that you speak positive into it, it remembers
the positive. The more you speak negative into
it, it remembers the negative and that carries
on with you every day. Yeah, so actually to dive
deep, I don't mind if I dive deeper in that water.
I saw an experiment, some Chinese guy, he did
an experiment on frozen water. And he just put
a sticker on one water, on one frozen water,
on a cup he put love, happiness, et cetera, et
cetera. things of positive. And the water froze
into some beautiful symmetrical, beautiful shapes.
And the other one he put ugly, hate, hatred,
you know, disgust, you know, envy. And all of
those things. And that water produced ugly vibration.
When it froze, it showed an ugly vibration. Like
it was just nastiness in the water. It looked
like really ugly. Looked like a child just doing
whatever. You know, it was not really sound.
So it clearly showed us the experiment was expressing
that there is power in words. Yeah. And when
you think about it, human beings are made up
of, I believe, 70 % of water. Yep. So your self
-talk. Talk. You know, your self -talk is important.
Yeah. And your self -thoughts. That little voice
in your mind. And the self -thoughts are very
important. Yeah. So however you think yourself
is, your whole molecules in your body is going
to attract that for you because you're not producing
no harmony to actually attract that. yeah per
se because you will never reach to another another
plane mentally if you don't think mentally differently
your attitude is not um mentally in that place
you know so it's it's also to understanding your
fullness of actually who you are yeah you know
like um Miles Monroe said, Dr. Miles Monroe said,
he used an analogy and it was very powerful to
me. He said Ford Motor Company makes cars to
go up to 180 miles per hour. So the capacity
of the car is 180. And then you come to the Netherlands
and we have 50. And you never really get to understand
that society is making you believe that you can
only drive 50. And what is... okay is to drive
50 so society is not trying to make you a leader
it's making you a slave or a consumer therefore
you never get to experience those the full potential
potential of what the car can actually push yeah
and when i heard that i was like wow and then
he also said When you decide to break the speed
limit. Go beyond 50. Beyond 50. Beyond society's
norms. That's when people are going to come out
the woodworks and your enemies are going to come
and try to pull you down. They're like, who do
you think you are? And et cetera, et cetera.
And society, that's what you're seeing nowadays
as well. As soon as you break free, they want
to cancel you because you're not representing
50. Yeah. You're not representing what we want
culture to think like because if we have so much
free thinkers above their mental plane that we
taught them, we can't control them. And if I
have less control, there's no profit in that.
So you always have to make sure that you're above
the game and understand the game. Understand
the market for what it is so that you can compete
to the level that you're supposed to compete.
And understand that there's no feelings in business.
If you put your feelings and your morals in front,
yeah, my heart says there's no heart in business.
I had to learn that the hard way. You can do
right by people, but people's insecurities, people's
own preferences and their desires are over your
feelings, even though you're a good man, good
woman. That's why they said nice guys finish
last. And those good things that you do, they
aren't always reciprocated. Exactly. So it's
very important that you develop yourself. But
I still would say it doesn't... You can still
do those good things, but you should know. There's
balance. Yeah, exactly. There's balance. You
cannot be your full self, but you can understand
to get into the market, the market does not operate
in morals and values. It operates in a different
kind of thing. Profits and losses. So sometimes
you have to go a certain way so that you can
actually be in a position to actually finally
make that impact. So you have to suck it up a
little bit to actually make the impact when you're
in a place of influence. So that's the most,
you know. you know, profoundness, I would say,
to make sure you develop yourself mentally so
that you could approach these things quite easily.
Like, I would say one thing. A person asks me,
like, yeah, I had a rough time, and, you know,
life is lifing, and, you know, using these dumb
terms, I don't like it. But people tell me, like,
oh, you come from St. Martin, and you come in
this weather, the weather sucks and everything.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I hear that all the time.
I use this analogy and it's crazy to think. I
said, you came to Nellis to this weather? Yeah.
I knew it was cold. You know what I did? I bought
a jacket. I knew it rains, so I bought a raincoat.
I knew it rains extra, so I bought an umbrella.
What is your excuse you're looking for? And when
you use that with your mind, same thing, the
same thing. It rains, so you have to protect
yourself mentally. And your mental preparation
is, for example, like that equipment. I bought
a raincoat so I can stand the rain. I bought
an umbrella so I don't get as wet. And if you
strengthen your mind around that principle of
continuously getting equipment for the environment,
you can actually overcome any. any circumstance,
negative circumstance, you can handle COVID.
I handled COVID righteously. I made more money
in COVID than I made in normal, when everything
was operating at its norm. I made more money
because I was calm. With the fitness training.
Yeah, for example, I was calm, collected, and
ideas came to me. I was in control of my mind.
I understand what I needed to do, take a deep
breath. strengthened myself and ideas came to
me and flowed. And people that was doing personal
training longer than me was asking me for advice.
And I'm younger than them, 10 years younger than
them. This is why you do this. And it's clearly
showing that if you do not know how to handle
yourself, handle tough times, tough times will
handle you. True. So I continuously upgrade my
way of thinking. And I'm grateful for all the
challenges in my life. My mom and dad passed
away. And my dad passed away before baseball
season. And I dedicated that season to him. And
at the end of the year, I was the best hitter
and MVP that year. I cried. But I used something
that my father and my mom worked really hard.
So I did not want to disappoint them. So I did
not want to go to train much. But I injected
something in my mind. of shame. I would feel
ashamed if I waste my mother's money. I would
feel ashamed that my dad, all my hours my dad
worked hard for would go to waste. So that forced
me, Denzel, if you don't go to practice today,
even if you're feeling sad, nobody cares. Nobody
cares. Your father wants the best for you, and
he did not waste that time for you to sit at
home and watch TV and feel sorry for yourself
for months and everything. There's no time for
that. And I basically said, Denzel, if you don't
go to work, you're Embarrassing your parents.
And that shame of me disappointing forced me
to work. And I changed. Yes, I gave room to cry
and let it go. But you didn't have no zin. I
didn't have the energy to continue and find passion
in it anymore. But I got a job done anyway. When
was this? This was three years ago, I believe,
three or four years ago that my father passed
away. Okay, so your mom passed away before that.
Yeah, she passed away before I came here. So
they died almost two years apart. Oh, wow. So
back to back. So my mom died, and I came to the
Netherlands, and then a year after, a year and
a half later, my dad died. So I experienced that.
And I see how strong I am and I can keep moving
no matter the condition. Loss of a parent, lose
a job. How do I come back from that? How do I
get my mental state in a place that I can compete?
How do I keep going? Because there's no mommy
and daddy anymore. I have to pay my bills here.
How do I get that help and keep pushing? I don't
speak Dutch. How do I compete in a market that
is of this? And I'm black too. So how can I compete?
People think that it doesn't have a factor. It
has a factor. But you need to work harder. You
need to work harder and be smarter. And that's
why I said if you continue to make yourself a
person of value, there's always opportunities
for you. And that's why I'm grateful for this
opportunity to be here. Crazy thing, I was telling
your colleague, Claire, I was talking to her
and I said, before here, and I was like, the
crazy thing is I was talking to a friend and
I said, I'm going to buy this podcast set and
I'm going to set this room up and it's going
to be a podcast set. I'm going to make sure snippets
of small motivational things to help people in
a different way. And next day you send me a message
on, hey, would I invite you to the podcast? And
I was talking about spreading the word and now
I have an opportunity to spread some words on
that too. I'm getting goosebumps, but I can't
remember specifically what clicked. Because we
already said that we weren't recording anymore
for the year. And then something flashed by on
Instagram and I saw you. And then I was like,
because I seen some stuff of yours flash by already
over the past year or two. And then I was like,
shit, man, this dude doing some really interesting
things. You know, I feel I need to do this one
last show this year. let me just reach out yeah
and she already told me like you sure you want
to do another one and i was like i don't know
i just feel so and then you responded immediately
yeah it felt like like like yeah let's do it
was on that plane of you know it's crazy that
it might it was on that yeah because you know
what you want it connected and yeah i guarantee
you the same thing i want is what you want the
impact and what you're doing is Having a platform
to share the messages, the same thing that I'm
obsessed about, is finding the root issues of
what makes a person move. And I find that very
interesting. So you have people here that express
their inner ways of what made me push this hard.
And the crazy thing is I was on that plane of
trying to impact people, and Bea was on that
plane of impacting people. And, you know, we
came in contact, and I was like, wow, that's
crazy how it works, huh? Yeah, man, it's crazy
how it works, man. It's crazy. The Lord works
in mysterious ways. Definitely, definitely. Crazy
thing is this is an opportunity also for me to
practice. We think like, oh, this is this and
that and this and that. No, but every opportunity
I get to talk, I'm crafting my gift because motivational
speaking is one of my passions. Speaking on stage
is one of my passions. I do workshops as well.
How do I... how do I make this much more appealing
and comprehensive to people? And I work in on
my gift. Oh, this person speaks like a story,
like his wording, his using, and how he combines
that. I find that interesting. I want to be talking
like Dave Chappelle, but in my own way, because
Dave Chappelle is a very intellectual comedian,
and he speaks so tremendous, profound stories.
I listen to all his comedies over and over, and
I said, if I can tell stories like that, but
in a way of helping people, man, that would be
so interesting. I am interesting. I keep telling
myself I am interesting. You're on your way.
And I'm finding my ways of getting to where I
want to be. I was even more intrigued. Obviously,
what you see of a person online is only the snippets
that you see. And then in this long -form conversation,
I was actually more blown away by the conversation
than, let's say, the stuff that I saw online.
So there's a lot up here, man. Yeah, definitely.
You've been putting in serious work. What do
they say? Got to give you your flowers on that?
I appreciate it, man. I appreciate it. Just one
more thing. I know we're on time, but I just
want to basically say that do not leave your
environment dictate your next steps. You have
to see beyond. And people that don't ever see
it, they lose faith. And people that don't have
faith don't have God. Because faith to me is
believing in the unseen, believing in the unknown.
So if you don't believe in something greater
than your eyesight, your vision, you never get
to experience your potential. And potential is
dormant ability. Until you put yourself in that
mental plane, you will always have a dormant
ability. It's there, but it's never being manifested.
So my curiosity is I want to die empty. I want
to die seeing all of my... All of the things
that God has for me, experience. Denzel, he has
five books for you to write for this world. Denzel,
he has you to be on TV. He has you on this episode.
Denzel, you actually had a book that went for
cartoons for children. Denzel, you have all of
these things. You're traveling worldwide. You're
making $20 ,000 a night for speaking to motivational
speaking. All of those things are possible for
me. And I really want to dive finding out. how
much things I can actually get. And that's up
to us, but you must have vision. You have a connection
to God. And if you don't believe in God and people
see the universe, great for you. If you don't
believe in nothing, great, okay, good luck. I'm
fine. I'm doing very well, and I'm helping people
to understand where the root of everything comes
from because you cannot do it alone. And I've
been alone most of my life. And I've been in
the dark most of my life. And I'm telling you,
if it wasn't for my mom prayers and me putting
myself in a position to succeed, reading books,
listening to podcasts, I would not be here today.
So I just want to make sure, say that, do not
let any environment tell you that you can't be
something of great value. Because value is for
the person itself. Value is for everybody, but
not everybody wants to go for it. Because of
the conditioning of your house. Even though your
parents are negative, even though your family
is negative, even though your bloodline is known
for this, you have a chance to actually create
a new. It's naturally new that genetically is
given to you that you might most likely, but
your journey and battle is harder. So you have
to fight harder. is that that's with temptation
but let's just say if you have a promiscuous
you know family or your father is a womanizer
and all kind of stuff it's in your blood to always
want to urge to touch a woman or something like
that your battle is harder yeah doesn't mean
that it's not possible it's just harder for you
and it's a matter of your willpower and that's
what separates everybody your will yeah and that's
all i wanted to say yeah Super dope, man. We
still can't close it off without asking our classic
question. So, 30 years old, turning 31 just now,
looking back to your 18 -year -old self, what
advice would you give 18 -year -old Denzel? Because
he's in Santo Domingo at that point. Yeah, yeah,
he's actually in the Dominican Republic. He's
in the Dominican Republic. What would I say to
my 18 -year -old self? Okay, that's quite a lot
I would say to myself. But what I would say is,
Denzel, develop yourself because you're not ready
for the world. And never trust somebody else's
opinion. The only opinion that matters is yourself.
To trust your intuition. Not only trusting intuition,
but your own opinion about yourself. If you're
diving into new quarters and new chapters, trust
yourself and believe in yourself. Be your own
hype man because you have your inner talk. Your
inner talk. Be hyping yourself up continuously
regardless of your environment. And know it's
hard that in your environment that you can see
something different because even everybody around
you. are speaking negatively and laughing and
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. But nothing
great comes at the expense of mediocrity. So
you have to work hard and believe in yourself
and stop worrying about people and stop living
for people. Live for yourself, find yourself,
and connect yourself more to God. Acknowledge
yourself. The same thing I tell you, the man
that knows is a man that can play. The man that
do not know, well, watch me play. Yeah. That's
why they have spectators and they got people.
Why you think people spend so much money on basketball
games? It's because they are in awe of those
people's consistency and discipline to put themselves
in that stressful position to compete at that
level. And some people are just inspired by their
discipline. And they're like, wow, that's LeBron
James. Wow, he trained every day. Wow. You know,
they're inspired by that. So either you're going
to be a person that inspired or be a person of
inspiration. It's a choice. And that's up to
you, Denzo. Man, these words are hitting hard.
And they're very well articulated, sir. Oh, thank
you. I do my best. Any last words or thoughts
on the future plans? You mentioned podcast. Yeah.
You just actually went through a whole dream
scenario of writing books, et cetera, et cetera.
So let's maybe then talk about the close future,
not necessarily the distant future, but the close
future. Anything that you want to share? Yeah.
Well, for me, I believe. And my path is going
to be partnering with a company and helping people
on the mental health aspect. For example, I understand
how the mind works. So I can help anyone. For
example, fertility. I had a person that was getting
pregnant and wanted to get a child and didn't
have the mind for it. And the principles are
the same. So injecting the program of self -belief,
self -love, and changing the self -talk. is preparing
the best outcome chance for conception. Same
principles aligns with any business. I help people
clean up their minds so that they can actually
perform at their best. So if you have a messy
room, it's harder to get to the result. If you
have a clean room, you work more smartly, efficiently,
etc., etc. So my plan is to partner with a company.
I even dive into things that don't have nothing
to do with me, like let's say fertility. Partner
with a company. to help people have a positive
mindset and belief system about themselves and
find a new you. Because if you're operating in
a place of, I don't think I can enough, maybe
let's try you. Have a mindset that's never able
to receive. So basically preparing anyone for
what they really want in their heart. So partnering
with a company along those lines and try to impact
as much people as possible. Also too, podcasts.
My purpose right now, I bought a house, basically
renovations. I'm saving for a podcast set so
that I can do snippets on Instagram and actually
have a YouTube channel like you. But in a different
format, just a little bit. And maybe I might
do a little interview in there, but it's not
going to be based on interviews. So save for
a podcast and try to reach as much people as
possible and connect with as much people as I
can so that I can reach that goal of speaking
to 10 ,000 people. Yeah. You know, being on stage
and being ready for that moment, being ready
to be relaxed. You know, in the beginning of
this, I can admit, I don't know why my stomach
was like, geez, I couldn't sit properly. But
now you could see like, yeah, I'm really chill.
And it's like, Denzel, I need to work on something
because I was not perfectly relaxed in the first
10 minutes, 10, 15 minutes. Yeah. I was drinking
water continuously. I'm very well aware of these
things. You didn't even think about it. But I'm
very well aware of these things. So it's being
aware of the things that you need to develop
on. I didn't necessarily notice in the first
minutes that there was a certain uncomfortability.
What I did notice is when the intensity increased,
when you started to get more comfortable and
the world started to like... pour out yeah i
did notice like whoa he just shifted to a new
gear yeah that's that's when i actually everything
is gone like yeah and i was like denzel i want
to have that from the beginning not during after
20 minutes and stuff like that so i'm very well
aware of where i need to work on and understanding
that you can actually be a better performer yeah
and being ready for this uh for what life is
having you know for you and i believe in life
winning is intentional So you have to plan for
it. Life is not happening to you. You have to
make sure life happens for you. So that's the
chapters. That's the direction I'm going in.
Podcasts, books, motivational speaking, getting
more speaking engagements, being in a position
to work on my craft, speak to more people, and
try to expand as much as I can. And as I reach
there, other things are going to come too. Other
things like the... let's just say a series for
kids kids dealing with anxiety and insecurities
i have a book that i'm basically writing and
it's called perspective change and it's basically
for teenagers i have it written down but i haven't
finished it as yet and it's for basically giving
a child a different perspective in any case scenario
you like a girl you don't have confidence how
do i approach it how can i see it you have a
different perspective so it's basically a book
on stories on how you can actually see a different
way out And I find that's very impactful and
very useful in this day and age when we're dominated
by social media and TikTok is grabbing your attention
and you're being lost. And the kids nowadays
are dealing with way higher levels of anxiety
because of all of this constant feed. Yeah, this
constant feed of, you know, your value is based
off your social media, famous. And that's very
sad. You know, I was grateful to go outside.
and break parts of my body. Me too. Yeah, so
that's what would be in the near future for me
and just continue to, you know, knowledge myself,
read, you know, and put myself in a position
to win because winning, again, is a choice. It's
an intent. And if you choose to just relax, you
will never compete with me. That's why I said
I'm the MVP because nobody's going to work as
hard as me. You know, so you've got to have that
mentality. And understanding. And anything is
possible for you. That's what I believe. Truly
in my heart. That's right. Yeah, man. Mr. Denzel
Richardson. Thank you very, very much for coming.
All the way down in the south. Here in Eintje.
Is it Eintje, guy? And I'm thoroughly impressed.
And I say that with all the genuineness in my
heart. I know it was going to be an interesting
conversation because otherwise then I wouldn't
reach out. But the conversation kind of blew
me away. Yeah, I really appreciate that. There's
quite some details in there that I obviously
wasn't aware of. But then also the motivational
speaking part and then the way that you articulate
and tell your story and reference and make these
connections back. It's impressive, man. Well,
if you're saying that, then I'm happy because
it's... It's a thing that I want. That's the
impact I want, to be in that position that people
can be like, yo, that was crazy, man. That did
something to me. It made me think differently,
and that's why I'm happy. I have gratification
when people are just like, yo, Denzel, that helped
me be a better man. That helped me be a better
woman. All of those things is part of my journey.
I've been in the dark, so I just want to help
as much people to be in the light as me. Like
I said, in a football club, I'm a beast and my
job is to make you a beast so we can have beast
conversation and beast conquer the world. Yeah.
So that's, that's what I kind of like my messages
to people. So you could develop yourself to be
that person so we can actually be on a level
to work together. Yeah. You know, so yeah. All
right, then I think we're going to have a couple
more beast conversations. Yeah, man, you know.
So where can people find you? Oh, they can find
me on my Instagram. I post a lot of content,
fitness content, but soon I will be posting some.
small snippets on basically how to handle stress.
Small 45 seconds, you know, how I deal with stress,
how they can do it. And hopefully that can channel
people in the chat group to actually, you know,
ask for some sessions, et cetera, et cetera.
But they can find me on Facebook as well, Denzel
Richardson. And on Instagram, Denzel underscore
Rich. I don't use TikTok or anything like that.
Don't know if I want to, but if the market determines
that that would help my success, I would have
to look into it. But as of now, Denzel underscore
Rich is my Instagram, and Facebook is Denzel
Richardson, and you can also reach out to me.
If getting your mental health in a place that
you... That is very serious to you. You can message
me and I can help you actually get that mind
where it needs to be and you can find your purpose
and give the fruit you was meant to give this
world. So you do like one -on -one coaching type
of situations? Yes, I do. And I actually have
a community of people in my group that, you know,
people can share their journey and be like, you
know what, I went through this phase of, you
know, and they can share it and help each other
as well. So the objective of leadership is following
a leader is not to be. become a follower is to
become a leader. When you're in a power position,
it's not about power, it's about empowerment.
Empowerment. So that's the whole thing that I'm
focusing on, empowering people to become leaders,
not to remain as followers. Awesome. Yeah, man.
Well, I don't have much words. Denzel took them
all today. But this was definitely amazing. And
if you made it all the way to the end, then you
are amazing. I think this might be our longest
episode, but it's filled with so many gems. So
even if you need to watch this in parts, you
watch it in parts because it's a must watch.
Thank you so much for tuning in. Like, subscribe,
comment. Let us know your thoughts. What were
some of the best moments? What were some of the
highlights for you? And yeah, share this with
your friends. Share this with the world. We signing
out. Sunside Kingdom Season 2. I think we're
making this the finale. Bless.