Steph Curry, as we all know, the best shooter
to ever grace the game of basketball. He's changed
the game, but he didn't only just change the
game. Right. He transformed it. And he also changed
what success can look like for an athlete on
and off the court. Right. But on the court, we
know him as the four time NBA champion. Right.
The two time MVP award winner, the all time three
point leader with over 4000 made threes. That's
insane. Right. I consider myself a shooter back
in the day, but. Obviously, Steph Curry is just
an anomaly, right? But what truly inspires me
about Steph is what he does off the court, beyond
the court, right? And I'm talking about, you
know, feeding millions of kids through an organization
he started with his wife, Aisha, called Eat,
Learn, Play, where he builds schools, invests
in literacy programs. He's launching businesses.
And now, you know, he just recently partnered
with Google, which is a 2 .5 trillion dollar
company to bring ai insights to athletes around
the world that's crazy right it's remarkable
this is what this podcast is all about right
it's more than a game it just isn't a title it's
a challenge it's a vision okay and that's that's
going to be what i carry through you know these
episodes if you decide to you know stick around
and listen to your boy right at some point the
final buzzer will sound. And this is for you
young hoopers out there, right? The final buzzer
will sound. You're going to have to hang up the
jersey someday. And the question is, what will
you do next? I don't care if you stop playing
today, tomorrow, or if you have a Hall of Fame
career in the NBA. At some point, you will have
to hang up the jersey, okay? So whether it's
yourself, or if you know someone chasing their
dream, please share this episode with them, okay?
I don't really care about the views, right? If
I have one consistent viewer, I'm going to do
this every week. But I do think that there are
many, many lessons to be learned through the
game, right? And we're fortunate to be able to
play this game that we love and go through these
trials and tribulations, to go through the adversity.
But we also get the opportunity to learn and
grow through this game. It's a beautiful thing.
It's a very beautiful thing, okay? So if you
don't know my name, my name is Jalen. Man, my
story started like many of yours. It started
at a very, very young age. My mom played through
college. She coached through most of her life.
My dad, while he didn't play through college,
he played a big part in my player development.
He coached me for a little bit, but he played
a big part in my training and getting me to that
next level. Really, I was born into the game.
I fell in love with the game very early on. I
played through high school. I even started at
the Division I level for a little bit until I
started battling some injuries and some other
stuff. But I was fortunate to go play Division
I basketball at the United States Military Academy
at West Point. That's another topic in itself.
But I played a lot of ball. I played against
some amazing players. I played with some amazing
players. I've seen a lot of things. But what
I think the young generation of poopers forget
to understand is that there are injuries. There
are life circumstances. Eventually, you will
have to make a choice to keep chasing basketball
or accept that the game was bigger than your
playing career. And that's not a bad thing to
say, right? It's just always going to be more
than just a game. Like I said, you can have the
best career. the most fulfilling career. But
at the end of the day, are you going to be defined
by the game or are you going to use the game
to help define who you are as a person? Ultimately,
right, I walked away from the court. I walked
away from the game. And for a while I was I was
lost. You know, I was I got depressed. It took
a huge it took a lot of time to find myself again,
because again, right, I spent. all my days with
the game, whether it was practice, whether it
was training on my own, traveling, you know,
expending resources, you know, thankful for my
mom and dad for pouring into that, right? But
basketball was my life. It was my identity, okay?
And so I went through a lot, right? I tried to
figure out who I was without the game, and it
was a tough thing to do, okay? But through faith,
through family, and a lot of reflection. and
rebuilding right i found my purpose again right
and now what i want is this podcast to be used
by you know players parents even coaches right
to see the bigger picture on and off the court
okay um so i want to drop you know an episode
every week i'm thinking about doing it tuesdays
or wednesdays early in the morning so if you're
commuting to work you can listen to this or you
can watch it on youtube um or you can just you
know watch it throughout the day whatever Whatever
works. Right. But as long as I have one person
who finds value in what I'm saying, then I don't
mind doing this. You know, I think that is my
purpose now. OK, so, yeah. So welcome to the
podcast. It's more than a game powered by my
company, Elite Fit Connect. And we'll get into
what is that later. But I really appreciate if
you're watching this, if you're listening to
this now, I really appreciate you. Believe it.
That does not go without notice. OK. First thing,
you know, as we get into the topic of today's
discussion, I want you to understand, and mind
you, I have notes, right? I have a script, but
I'm going to go on tangents, right? Like right
now, I'm about to go on a tangent, right? If
you know me, you know I'm a very introverted
dude. So just, you know, getting the confidence
to do a podcast, it took a lot. But I had a really
good friend of mine the other day tell me that
At least from his perspective, he thinks that
I have a lot to say and that people will listen.
OK, and I've always gone back and forth of wanting
to do a podcast. Right. I started a TikTok late
last year and I found a lot of value in that.
I'm just seeing, you know, young kids and hoopers
interact like I don't have a big following at
all. But just, you know, the few kids and people
that reach out to me, DM or comment, I feel purposeful
in doing that. So back to the point, right. If
you know me like I am innately. a quiet person.
I stay to myself. I stay inside for the most
part. But if you knew me on the court, you'd
understand that I'm a completely different person,
right? On the court, I like to consider myself
a dog. Like I was a dog. And while I would always
let my game talk for itself, as soon as someone
said one thing, it was over. I was talking that
talk. I was talking that mess. But, you know,
I had a game to back it up. But there's a time
when, you know, I played on Texas Ambassadors
and my team was it was full of white kids. Right.
We were solid. We're good. We're great. It was
a great team. But I was one of two black kids
on that team. Right. All the parents thought
I was the sweetest kid. I was respectful and
I was respectful, but like I was quiet. Right.
And it would get to a point where in the games
they thought that the other team, you know, was
picking on me and, you know, just going after
me. Right. And they're like, oh, why are they
why are they so hard on Jalen? Why do they pick
on him? Little did they know is that. I was the
one chirping. I was the one talking, getting
under their skin, because as soon as they say
something, like I said, it was over. Right. Man,
I've had I've had, you know, players from the
other team get kicked out the gym. I've had them
try and swing on me, man. I have story after
story. It could be a little overwhelming, honestly.
But needless to say, like I'm a different person
on the court than off the court. OK, another
another quick story. Right. I was at a wedding
the other day. Actually, a co -founder of my
company, Elite Fit Connect, he just got married.
And I guess someone there, right, he, I guess
he peeped my TikTok, right? And so he asked about
it. And, you know, we started talking about some
topics. But as soon as he brought it up, man,
I was yapping away because I'm just passionate
about this stuff. And if it's something that
I'm passionate about, I have no problem with
just. diving deep into it, right? And going headfirst
into it because I just love it. I love the game.
I love leadership. I love mentorship. And if
there's anything that I can do to get back to
the game, I'm going to do it, right? And this
is just a way for me to do it. All that to say,
right, everything starts with your identity,
okay? And like I mentioned, right, basketball
was a huge part of my identity, okay? But the
real question is, who are you when the scoreboard
isn't telling you who you are, okay? When you
hang up, you know, the jersey. When you throw
away the old sneakers, when you get off the court,
right? Who are you truly, okay? Steph Curry,
we know him, right? Came from Davidson. What,
he weighed about 180 pounds, small school. But
he played like he belonged on the biggest stage,
right? That's why he became so successful, okay?
His Elite Eight run was just remarkable back
in 2008. Upset after upset, right? And soon people
realized that this kid, yeah, he might be small,
but his game is big. Best believe his game was
big. And then fast forward, right? You have people
like LeBron James, Steve Kerr, great shooters
like Reggie Miller and Ray Allen, all calling
him the greatest shooter of all time. And it
started with his mindset, his identity, okay?
Long before those records that were broken, Steph
had to believe that he was more than anything
that the doubters said or anything that their
ranking polls, you know, ranked him at. He was
way more than any of the noise, right? And that's
a big, big step in really finding who you are
as a person, right? So for me, okay, I was fortunate
to go play at West Point, right? Basketball was
my whole identity. And when it ended, I felt
like I ended. Right. The very, very, I guess,
deep way to say it. But I was lost. Right. And
it's real. Right. Like, I'm not the only one
that goes through this. Like, you can see this
in the media with even NBA players who stop playing.
Right. They go through depression. They go through
things because their identity was just so tied
to the game that once it all ended, what else
was left? OK. So what are some things that we
can do to kind of overcome that? And I think
the first thing is that you have to understand
that identity isn't your role. Identity is fluid.
It can change over time. For me, I played basketball
for however long I had to figure out who I was
outside of the game. Fortunately, I made it through
the tunnel. thankful to my wife right now because
she was there in a very dark time in my life.
Sade, I love you very much. And probably don't
tell her this, you know, enough, but she brought
me out of a ditch that I didn't even realize
I was in, right? You know, and now we have two
beautiful kids, you know, have a great job and
have the opportunity to do this, right? So understand
that your identity isn't your role, okay? The
next thing is that Character will always outlast
your performance. I don't care how successful
you are in the game, but if you're just a bad
person, no one's really going to care. And you
can see that through today's athletics, through
today's sports, professional sports, right? We
could talk about players who were great at what
they did on the court or on the field, but everything
off the court or off the field, all that noise
defined who they were as a person. And if it
was negative or bad, then they were going to
be depicted as a negative or bad person right
so your character means everything it means everything
okay the next thing is you absolutely have to
believe in who you are becoming and not just
who you are now and I get it right as a young
player as a young athlete it's it's really hard
to kind of think like that right to think about
who you're going to become but I truly believe
that if you start, you know, kind of game planning
on where you want to be in life, whether it's
with the sport or without, you can really define
your path. Yes, you know, there might be hurdles
that you have to jump over or you might have
to take a, you know, another route, you know,
to get to your ultimate goal. But at the end
of the day, right, you can still kind of set
the standards and set your expectations to getting
to. where you want to get to, right? And that's
the great thing about, you know, sports, right?
You have a long journey ahead of you. There's
a process that you're going to go through. You
can define yourself along the way, right? But
at the end of the day, you know that the game
isn't going to define you, but you're going to
use the game to help you become the person that
you want to be, right? And that's the beautiful
thing about the game of basketball and just sports
in general. Right. So for those of you listening
right now, especially if you're a young athlete,
I want you to take 30 seconds today. Write down
what three things about yourself that have nothing
to do with basketball. OK, I want you to do that.
And if you're feeling vulnerable, if you're on
social media, post it. Feel free to tag me, tag
EliteFitConnect, or if you follow me on TikTok,
you know, just tag me because I'd love to see
it, right? I would love to see it and I'll respond.
And I think that's just a good exercise to do
as a young athlete, right? Because at the end
of the day, it's more than a game, right? It
is more than a game, okay? Identity, yes. Okay,
we talked about identity. We understand that
identity points the way, but process builds the
path. which leads to your legacy, okay? And I'm
a big, I vouch, or I talk about this all the
time, right? You have to love the process, especially
when it comes to sports. In the game of basketball,
right, you're not going to see success right
away, okay? I remember I used to play at a middle
school, Pflugerville Middle School, seventh grade,
man. And let me tell you, if we had stuck together
through high school, boy, we would have been
filthy. But I decided to go to another school.
my eighth grade year, and we didn't win a single
game that year. We didn't win a single game.
Let me tell you, I wanted to quit so bad. I was
like, I'm done with basketball, okay? I was in
band. I was a band nerd too. So I was like, I
can just do music for the rest of my life, right?
Forget basketball. This does not feel good. Losing
sucks. But fortunately, I loved the game enough
to endure that process, okay? I didn't let...
that terrible season that I went through define
who I was and who I was within the game of basketball.
Steph Curry, right? He didn't wake up one day
as the all -time three -point king. He was doubted
his whole life. He was small, okay? But it was
the work that he put in that made him who he
is today, right? It was the daily reps. It was
the early morning workouts. He set standards.
OK, it wasn't about the goal. Yes, your goal
is important. You need to set those benchmarks,
have that goal. Right. But it's all about the
standards, because without standards, your goals
don't mean anything. OK, and now we can look
at Steph Curry today with his partnership with
Google. Again, a two point five trillion dollar
company where he's using AI to analyze shot quality,
track performance and teach. I'm sorry. Teach
the next generation how to train smarter. That's
awesome. That's remarkable, right? He keeps trusting
the process. And that's something that we can
take away from that, right? Even after four rings,
it's all about the process. And you just have
to love the process. Love the process, okay?
When basketball ended for me, you know, as I
mentioned, right, I had to build my own process,
right? Through faith, through my marriage. through
my kids and through my career, right? I learned
that consistency will always beat intensity,
okay? Just those small daily actions are going
to create the biggest changes in your life, right?
And so we talk about basketball, right? You're
not going to get better if you're not in the
gym every day, if you're not in the lab working
on your craft, working on the details of your
game, right? You're just not going to get better,
okay? You can go to the gym one day and have
the best workout of your life, but if you don't
work out those next few days, right, all that's
going to be a waste. And no one's going to remember
that, right? You have to be in the lab every
day, whether it's on the court or whether it's
in the classroom or whether it's, you know, getting
that promotion or building relationships, right?
It takes work. Life is not easy. And I think
a lot of us athletes, you know, who have gone
through it, we forget that it takes time. It's
a process to get to where you want to be. We're
just so used to being involved with the sport
every single day for year after years after years.
Right. That it just becomes a natural thing for
us to play. And, you know, we work out and stuff,
but we don't really think about the time and
the effort that we actually put into the game
to get to where we got to. OK, you have to apply
that to other aspects of your life. Like I said,
your relationships. Your faith, your career,
everything, right? It's very translatable. And
again, this is exactly why this podcast is called
It's More Than a Game, okay? Consistency is going
to beat intensity, all right? And then when it
comes to loving your process, there are some
takeaways that we can talk about, right? And
first and foremost is your standards are more
important than your goals. And I mentioned this,
right? If you don't have the right standards,
if you don't set those expectations for yourself,
those goals do not matter. And you're just not
going to reach those goals, right? Set those
standards, be ahead of the game, set those standards
and expectations. So that way your journey can
just be that much easier. It's not going to be
easy, but it's not going to be as difficult if
you're just doing it on the fly, right? The next
thing is consistency beats intensity. Like I
mentioned, right? You got to put in the work.
You absolutely have to put in the work. The last
thing is if you're into like finances or like
investing, right? You understand the concept
of compounding interest, okay? You can put it,
you can put, let's say you open a brokerage account,
right? You put in $50 a month in your brokerage
account. And let's say you invest in like, you
know, some ETFs, you know, so that you invest
in the S &P, okay? We know the S &P, historically,
it's always rising up, okay? You put in $50 every
month, all that's going to compound, right? You're
going to accrue all this compounding interest.
And then your gains are going to really be good.
And you're going to get most gains, you know,
years from now, right? You might not see it right
away. But in 10, 20 years from now, you're going
to see that that $50 a month, it grew a lot,
right? So that's what I mean when I say process
compounds over time, right? So if you put in
the work daily, same amount of work. Even on
the days you don't want to work out or get in
the gym, it's all going to be worth it in the
end. And it's just all going to build on itself.
It's going to compound and you're going to reap
the benefits at the end of the day. If you have
a teammate grinding right now, if it's you that's
grinding right now, if you have children, whoever
it may be, let them know that process matters
and help them understand that. It's okay to go
through things. It's okay to go through adversity,
but you just got to love the process. Process
is going to build success. I promise you, right?
But the next thing is purpose will build your
legacy, okay? And this is where I think my story
kind of comes in full circle. But first, let's
talk about Steph Curry, right? I mentioned he
has a foundation called Eat Learn Play, which
has given 25 million meals to kids. He's built
schools and has invested over $75 million doll
hairs in literacy programs, okay? That's awesome,
okay? That's just awesome, okay? He shows us
that the game can give back, right? He's still
playing. He's still one of the best players in
the league right now. He's still the best shooter
to ever play the game. But he's not letting the
game define who he is. He's using the game to
build who he is, right? Which he's done very
well. But the game isn't defining who he is.
OK, now, when I left the game, I thought my impact
was over, as I mentioned. But I quickly realized
I can still change lives just in a different
way. Right. Like I'm not on the court breaking
ankles, shooting threes, doing whatever, talking
smack mess, whatever. But I can do what I want
to do without the game of basketball, without
being on the court, without playing. Right. Big
reason why I built my company, Elite Fit Connect.
OK. And what Elite Fit Connect is, it's a digital
platform really to free coaches from scheduling
payments and admin headaches, right? I want to
help players access real development and not
just politics or money grabs, right? Especially,
you know, we see the chaos that NIL has brought,
right? I'm all for it, you know, I stand on it.
I'm all for players getting paid. But what we
forget to understand is, is that... There are
some terrible people in this world, right? And
when we look at the game of basketball, when
we look at the AAU circuit, EYBL, all these,
you know, programs and stuff and schools, right?
There are a lot of coaches and trainers who are
in it for the wrong reason. And they want to
make a buck off these kids. They want to build
their own brand. And they really, at least I
think, they don't really care about player development,
okay? So Elite Fit Connect, what we're trying
to do is sit in the middle of all of that, okay?
Sit in the middle of all of that, create an environment,
a safe environment for kids to really grow in
the game, right? And give opportunities for coaches
and trainees who actually care about player development
with tools to streamline their back office operations
so they can spend more time on the court, okay?
At the end of the day, I'm trying to restore
integrity in youth sports. Youth sports is a
multi -billion dollar thing now, whatever you
want to call it. And that's crazy to me, right?
That is crazy to me. It should be fun, right?
Yes. You know, we have our goals and stuff, but
now we like it's, it's turned into such a business,
unfortunately, that, you know, we have to really
be smart in where we put our kids, who we allow
to coach and train our kids. Because like I said,
there are a lot of people in this world who just
want to leech off someone else's success. Okay.
So I really think that the future of sports in
general, but more specifically, basketball training,
player development, is in AI tools. It's in this,
you know, evolving technology that I do think
sports is lacking, is behind, right? Now, professional
sports, that's a different story, right? They
have the money, they have the funds, the investments,
right? But at the youth level, and even collegiate,
right? More times than that, we don't have the
right resources, okay? What if I could create
something that could really, really help out
that landscape, okay? I'm talking about AI tools
for trainers that, like I said, speed up their
back office operations, player analytics to help
players really improve back by data, and then
systems that will give time back to coaches and
opportunities back to kids. That's the future
in what I see. That's the legacy that I want
for myself, right? To give back to the game.
to provide opportunities for the younger generation
of hoopers. I'm very big, if you've ever watched
my TikTok, like I'm very big on providing like
actionable steps, especially for the young generation
of hoopers. Like we can theorize all day. We
can talk about concepts. We can talk about, you
know, players and which I would like to, absolutely.
But I want this to be especially impactful for
people involved in the game. Okay. So with that.
I want to introduce the following steps right
so number one is three circles right understand
who you are understand what basketball might
say who you are and then understand who you are
becoming right And I think that just will give
you a perspective on your own personal journey
through the game or whatever you're going through
in life. And you can kind of get in front or
get ahead of the game defining you. So you can
use the game or whatever you're going through,
the process to help, you know, determine who
you'll be. Use the game for your benefit. That's
what I'm trying to say, right? Don't let the
game define you. You define yourself through
your experience. OK, the next thing is setting
a seven day standards. Right. And this this is
in order to, you know, set those habits that
we talked about. You know, I think you've got
to track you've got to track your habits, you
know, track your daily habits. OK, whether it's
eating right, whether it's getting in the gym,
whether it's doing some mindfulness, some meditation,
some praying, whatever, whatever it looks like.
Go read. Right. Build those habits, those winning
habits that translate to not just on the court,
but everything else off the court, okay? I want
you to build a well -rounded life, okay? You
can become the best player in the world, but
if everything else in your life sucks, you're
going to be a sad person when it all ends, I
promise you. You're going to be a very sad person,
all right? The next thing is what I call service
play, right? And that's just having a serving
mind, right? So think about one thing that you
can do to give back this week, okay? It doesn't
even have to be about basketball or sports, right?
What is one way that you can give back this week
and make an impact on someone else's life, okay?
Think if you do those three things, right? So
the three circles, seven -day standards, and
service play, I think that's going to help tremendously.
And what I'm going to do is if you if you're
vulnerable enough and you want to post what you're
doing through these actionable steps, what are
the results? Right. If you post that, if you
tag me or if you just didn't DM me and let me
know, we can highlight that in future episodes.
Right. This should be collaborative. I want you
guys involved. I don't want to just I mean, it's
just me right now. So I am talking. Right. But
I want to build off of your comments, off of
your thoughts. Right. So this just can be an
engaging experience for everyone. All right.
And I do plan on having guests. I don't even
want to use the word guests, but I do want to
have some co -hosts. Right. But I do want to
make sure that these people who join this podcast
are aligned with my vision and understand the
purpose of it's more than a game. OK, so stay
tuned for all that. How much time do we have?
We are at I don't even know. 30 minutes. And,
you know, I think that's a good, for a first
episode, that's pretty good, right? I think it's
not bad. I want to aim for 45 minutes to an hour,
you know. But again, a lot of this is going to
be based off of your feedback, right? I have
a schedule. I have topics that I want to discuss.
But at the end of the day, whatever you guys
want to talk about, that's what we're going to
talk about, okay? We can get into player, you
know. Right. We can talk about player archetypes.
We can talk about the league, NBA and WNBA, because
I think the WNBA is is amazing right now. Talk
about college basketball. We can even talk about
high school basketball. I don't care. I really
don't care. Anything and everything basketball
related. But it's always going to be tied back
to it's more than a game. And I'm going to do
my best to give you some actionable steps that
you can follow if you're a young player trying
to get to that next level, right? Because that's
the goal, right? We want to get to that next
level, right? We want to use the game to our
advantage. It doesn't matter if we play for 20
years, 10 years, or we stop playing right now,
okay? To close it out, you're not behind, okay?
Again, if you're a young basketball player, if
you think you're behind, you're not behind. You're
early, okay? Trust the process. It's going to
be a grind. You're going to go through failures,
right? But don't let those failures define you,
okay? Steph Curry has shown us that the game
can build businesses, can build families, it
can build communities, right? can even build
futures. And that's the beautiful thing about
the game of basketball that I love so much, right?
If you're watching this or listening to this
today, I appreciate you wholeheartedly. I appreciate
you taking the time, taking 30 plus minutes out
your day to tuning in. If you know me, reach
out to me, give me some feedback. I'm all about
debates. I'm all about healthy debates, okay?
So don't come to me with some unsensible anecdotes
or opinions, right? Because I'm just saying,
ignore that, right? That's why I have to talk
to talk to talk crazy with some of these people.
But this podcast, you know, again, I wanted to
be engaging. So reach out to me. Let me know
what your thoughts are. Tell me what things what
other things you want to talk about. OK, but
thank you. Thank you for tuning in next week.
I want to dive deeper into loving the process,
even when progress feels invisible. OK, because
I think that's a big thing that, you know, the
typical player goes through. Right. If you're
not a five star, four star, three star recruit
or if you have no stars. Right. Like it's going
to be very hard for you to kind of be motivated.
Right. To keep going, to keep pushing yourself
when you don't get that feedback, you know, that
positive feedback. Right. So what does that process
look like when everything else feels invisible?
So I think next week, that's what we're going
to dive into. Right. And always remember. This
is more than a game. Basketball is more than
a game, but it's a great tool for life. And again,
I appreciate you guys. This was It's More Than
a Game podcast powered by Elite Fit Connect.
Looking forward to talking with you next week.
Peace.