Surviving Was Only the Beginning: A Coach's Story of Grief, Resilience, and Playing From the Heart

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Here is my interview with Scott Martin.

What's happening, my friend?

And welcome back to Grit Grace and Inspiration.

Today I have the joy of being in the studio with Scott Martin.

My man Scott, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_00: Hey, good morning, Kevin.

How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_02: I am doing amazing, doing amazing.

It's always a pleasure to get to start the day off with a good conversation.

So I've uh I'm excited to get to dive into your story, man.

SPEAKER_00: Sounds good.

Sounds good.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, it might seem obvious, but what I would love to know, since I know soccer is such a huge part of your story, is where did soccer kind of enter the picture for you?

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I grew up a kid mainly the 60s and into the 70s.

And we happened to have the backyard in the in the neighborhoods.

Everybody came over.

So we'd get on the phone and hey, let's play some baseball, let's play some football, let's get together and play some soccer.

And we just grew up with that not being organized.

I actually, at 16, I was asked to join the Wisconsin Rapids Kickers, which was a group of 20 and 30-year-olds, first generation, second generation ethnic, former college players.

I mean, that's back in the 1970s, soccer in the United States was just the North American Soccer League, and you had Palay, Beck and Bar-Cruff, and they never had a feeder system going down into even college.

So our options were limited, but the club system in the United States was very good.

Really good clubs out of Chicago, St.

Louis.

And here we were in central Wisconsin, and we'd go in and kick some butts too.

So we were kind of uh the little engine that could back in the 70s and into the early 80s.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, okay, that's amazing.

Was soccer always really big, kind of all over the U.S.

at like that point.

Like, I mean, because I'm I'm much younger than you, but I like as a kid, I don't know.

I felt I feel like like, I mean, obviously different parts of the country may be different, but you know, growing up in Florida, I I remember it was more like T-ball, you know, starting off with like the first team sport than like soccer.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, at the time it was inexpensive, but again, it was ethnic.

Kids would aspire to play in the same club as their dad or their uncle, that sort of thing.

It had a long way to go.

A lot of what we did back with the kickers was educate, educate the public.

We did anything and everything to get media attention.

One time, Kevin, we were asked to go uh play prisoners in a maximum security prison, a federal maximum security prison.

Wow to get we got press out of it.

Uh that's what we had to do.

Yeah, that's what had to happen.

You know, we did 10 parades after we won our first championship.

You know, just happened to be part of the Fourth of July parade down 8th Street in Wisconsin Rapids.

And and uh yeah, we had to fight for everything we had to do, but we also had to educate, you know, the offside rule trying to educate to a bunch of white folks in in the Midwest.

It's kind of difficult.

They didn't understand until we brought up the blue line in hockey.

So, oh, okay, now we've got to get it.

SPEAKER_02: I love it.

So now, what was it about soccer that really maybe like interested you more than any other sport?

SPEAKER_00: The artistic side.

I grew up playing football.

You know, you had run this play or you know, run this play in defense, baseball.

There's a little bit more intricacy to it.

Basketball at the time wasn't just fast break, gun and run.

But at the time there was some strategy involved.

But when I really got into soccer and playing with the kickers at the upper level, I mean it was just the whole world open up to me.

I I always saw the game as a Jackson Pollock painting, a drip painting from him in the 40s and 50s.

And it just how everything flowed for 90 minutes, the ball just moved around, and the quality players and the quality teams who were always probing and looking for openings, or defensively, what we did uh very effectively was just shut the opponent down and then start a counterattack as high as we could.

So it was the flow of play, the art that I saw in the game.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I love it.

Now, what was your favorite like position to play?

SPEAKER_00: I grew up as a right winger.

We played with three front systems.

My brother Jeff played on the left side.

So we both had speed, were able to put us in those positions, just had one thing to do beat your opponent in a 1v1 situation and serve the ball onto a dime.

Either onto someone's head or onto an on their uh on rushing foot.

Now, when I went to when I went to college, though, Cap, Jerry Stark was the coach at University of Wisconsin at Oshkosh, and he said very first training session, Scott, I want you to take everything you know as a forward, as an attacker, turn around 180 degrees and run the defense.

Like, what the hell?

I mean, look it back, it did make sense.

Just spin it.

So then I went in and I had to study.

And when I studied the game, is when I found the artistic side plus the mathematics that were involved in it.

So then I was just totally amazed.

And that's also when I started getting into coaching.

Because it that a new side of the game opened up for me besides just the artistic side.

SPEAKER_02: Interesting.

Well, well, that that leads perfectly into my next question was what led you from playing the game to to coaching?

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: When I went in as a freshman, uh, and Jerry did that to me, um, I I entered the program, broadcast journalism, got involved in Hall Government as well.

And something came out, Jerry got me in.

He was the president of the Ashkosh Soccer Club at the time.

And he got me into coaching.

So as a freshman, here I'm with a bunch of 10-year-olds that I they lost every single match the year before I got him, and I think they scored three goals in 12 matches or something.

Uh-oh.

So we just took our time.

I'd bring my boom box, get music involved, open it up, not necessarily do a whole lot of just A to B drills, get them to play, get them to first gain in their confidence, and then creativity would start to evolve.

So by the third season, with those those kids we went undefeated and and uh won a championship with that.

So, and that's not the kids in the book.

That was when I just got started.

Heck, man, one year I coached four teams because it was just needed.

That was crazy.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was crazy.

I loved it.

I can imagine.

SPEAKER_00: I loved it.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I can imagine.

Well, well, I have no idea in the timeline how far ahead we have to skip, but I know it maybe it was even what you were just speaking about.

Was I know like the year like 93 was a big year for you?

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's the illness.

I'll just leave it as that and see where you want to go with it.

SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.

Well, before we get to the illness part of the story, I guess where do we kind of jump from you getting involved in coaching and all that to leading up to the illness part of your story?

Like where were you at in coaching?

What had that become for you?

SPEAKER_00: So all throughout college, I was coaching youth.

And then right after college, I was still playing at this time.

I switched over to the Pepsi Spirits, and I was still able to play.

And I had a degree by that time in physical education, education and coaching and health.

But I all I could find were jobs as a sub because who's gonna waste a physical education position on a soccer coach?

I wasn't done at the time.

So I was still running their soccer programs.

I was substitute.

I said, this is crazy.

But subbing, I learned how to teach subbing.

You just wing it, walk into a room, boom, there you go.

Let's pick it up and run with it.

That's when I fell in love with teaching in the classroom, Kevin.

And I a couple years in, I said, man, I gotta do something different.

So in one year, one academic year, I took about 50 credits in social studies and history.

I substitute taught, I coached.

I was actually, that was the first year that I I was named uh coach of the year, was within all of that.

I was in a relationship, and it was it was just totally nuts.

And I again I loved it, and I came out with a degree in social studies and history, and and uh West Bank East, they hired me to come in and teach global studies.

So there I started focusing on the soccer program and and teaching, and I was just in heaven.

My girlfriend and I had broken up and everything was clear cut.

And then I had an opportunity to uh attend a coach's clinic in Madison, and there were some friends of mine, we were talking, he said, Hey, coaching positions open it up at Eau Claire.

Why don't you apply for it?

Okay, and you know, Kevin, it's it's it's not necessarily what you know, but who you know a lot of times.

SPEAKER_01: Yep.

SPEAKER_00: The athletic director used to teach at West Bend, and we met down in Milwaukee and had a great conversation, and she hired offered me the job on the spot.

Just okay, I want you to run the program.

Okay.

So that's when I decided I have been looking at uh maybe working as an assistant at Division I college, but I wanted to do it myself.

So that's when I started with the University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire Women's Program.

I had finished my first year there, we were nationally ranked.

I was heading over to Europe that summer again after the first year.

That's what I tended to do during my summers, was take uh a group of kids over and play at the major tournaments there.

But this time a good friend of mine and I handpicked college players to take over.

Uh another time when I was over in Europe, I met a gentleman that was director of coaching at a club in the Netherlands.

I went back just before I took the coaching job at Eau Claire, and here he was as the Olympic team head coach.

So Jan and I got together, and uh it's in the book on how we go out one night, and he tells me he knows some people in the U.S.

that he can help me with my career.

And here we go with the summer when I got sick.

Was I was at a Nike camp.

I was asked, and I knew it went through Jan to go speak at a Nike regional camp with top players from across the country, and there were national team players instructing and college coaches.

So I was able to rub elbows with people like that.

So that's where I actually got sick.

But Kevin, when I showed up, I was wearing Adidas, man, because that's what we wore.

I didn't have a lick of Nike.

So of course, you know, they just said, hey, come out over here, here's some cleats, here, you know, put on the top, here's some shorts, here's some more Nike stuff.

Okay, I'll take it.

So I'll I'll I'll see where you want to go with it there.

So it was at the Nike camp when the illness came into play.

SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay, perfect.

Okay, cool.

So before we get to that, to the illness part of it, I would love to ask you.

So before you started coaching college players, before that, it was all like around like the 10-year-old age?

SPEAKER_00: No, no, I I was at the high school level.

I was usually taking kids and prepping them for going on for other people to go on.

So then I was started running my own programs.

And that's when I really started getting more of a taste and more of a taste.

You know, I was named Coach of the Year four times because I I take a program, I actually coached at three different high schools.

I'd take a program, two to three years, boom, I'd leave.

Uh, two to three years, boom, I'd leave, you know, we'd build something, try to get some of those kids to go play at the college level.

And I was just a soccer rat.

It was, you know, what what what's the next challenge?

I want it.

That's what I was, yeah.

That's what I was doing at the time.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.

I love it.

Well, the the reason I was asking about the ages, and and I mean this this all kind of works out perfect with the ages that you have coached, is is there a difference for the coach in how you coach kids versus you know college students?

SPEAKER_00: Oh Ben asked this.

No difference.

No difference at all.

Okay.

I did everything the same way.

Uh, of course, there are different levels, but really a lot of it was here's the boombox hit play and let's get these kids to play according to music.

That's where I always had music training.

It wasn't for the kids because they shouldn't be listening to it.

I'm what I do with music is I feel the music and try to get the kids to play in that way because I feel there's a great uh commonality between the game of soccer and a lot of the music: blues, jazz, rock, some disco.

All of that I see and I feel that in the game, and that's how I I try to get the kids to play like that.

Didn't matter what level, U10, you know, college level, always the same.

SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay, okay.

Now this is fascinating.

So, because I had already made a note that we were gonna come back to talk about it, we're gonna go talk about it right now.

Is the music in coaching soccer?

I'm fascinated by this.

Explain to me how you even came up with this idea.

Is this maybe this is a common thing in soccer?

I have no idea, but I'm interested to understand how this integrates with one another.

SPEAKER_00: I was always known for uh having headphones on.

You know, I if I go out for a three-mile run or something or in my training, or heck, at six o'clock in the morning, take a couple of bags of balls down to the soccer field and knock the balls around, but I was listening to music.

And it just made sense that to me, and that I would feel the music in my running and training and working with the ball, why not even do it with that first group of 10-year-olds?

And I think that it paid off.

I mean, Kevin, I substitute teach now in high school, and we give instruction if it's not an exam, I'll play music.

And the kids love it.

Because nobody else, I don't understand what people don't do this more.

It's just, you know, here we are in a classroom and it's dead.

You know, let's have some, I don't crank the music, let's have some music going.

We're out in the soccer field, let's let's have some tunes.

You know, it just opens things up, it loosens things up.

Again, it brings back that creativity.

You know, I want to see a Jackson Pollock painting out on the field, even if it's a training field.

Let's let's get it falling with fluidity.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, I love it.

Now, out of curiosity, do you do you see players play differently based on the type of music?

Like, I mean, I would almost imagine if you had playing something real hardcore, fast-paced beat, maybe maybe you're you're you're feeling it in your chest.

You're you're running faster versus something slower.

I mean, does it make any difference?

SPEAKER_00: No, I I really haven't seen that.

I think there's because I've been working on uh uh the music, my playlist for years and years and years.

I'm still adding to it when it comes up in Pandora.

No, there's just there's a thread that basically runs through all the music that I play.

You know, it could be Donna Summer comes up to play, and it might, you know, it's a type of Donna Summer song that's playing off of R.L.

Burnside or a Tab Benoit or some petty comes up.

There's just again, they the kids aren't meant to be listening to it, but they'll feel it.

And again, it's it's my way of kind of using that as a a metronome.

Yeah.

So how the music's going is how the kids I'm trying to get them to play like that.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, no doubt.

Wow.

Okay, that's really cool.

So now, last question, kind of really specific about soccer before we we move forward, is when talking about going outside of the United States, over to Europe and stuff, is there any difference in the game between countries, how it's played, rules, or is everything identical?

SPEAKER_00: No, there's definitely a different flavor to things.

One term we were in the quarterfinal of the Holland Cup, and I had a group of U13s over there from kids from across the country.

And we went up against uh a team from Italy, and I did some check-in, and people were talking about.

I mean, there were kids on this Italian team, they were 13, 12, 13 years old that had signed contracts.

I mean, they're professional contracts.

Like, oh shit.

Oops, sorry.

Yeah, it's how are we gonna get into this?

We ended up beating them in penalty kicks because we looked at the whole how they were going to play.

So there was an Italian style that they stuck to.

And there is, I guess, there is a German type of style, there's a uh a Dutch type of style, there's an English type of style, a French type of style.

Where other teams that would come in and play against the United States national teams ran into problems, was we have such a blend that you can't just structure us.

I was just watching the U.S.

men play Paraguay and Uruguay.

And Pochettino, the new men's head coach, he has a style, but he's also working and incorporating the style of the individual players.

Emma Hayes with the U.S.

women, that's who I was watching this morning, their replay against um uh Italy last night.

God, they look good.

Uh Emma Hayes, Emma Hayes has her style with what they're trying to do both ways.

I always I always went into matches and looking at not the opponent, I would look at how the opponent saw us.

So when I look at the US men and US women, you can't figure them out.

There's no set, they're gonna do this.

No.

And that's how the quality teams should be.

Unpredictable.

I don't ever want anybody knowing what we're doing, even though we know what we're doing.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

Yeah, that that fas it it kind of makes me think of the whole theme of America as a melting pot.

SPEAKER_00: Exactly.

SPEAKER_02: It's kind of it's kind of dub that into the sport of soccer, which I think is really fascinating.

And I guess it kind of goes back to what you were talking about earlier about your your appeal of soccer, of of this individuality of it, you know, because I mean, I don't think you notice that in football or baseball.

SPEAKER_00: I mean, there are some baseball players like center fielders that just have a style or a shortstop that has a style to them.

But in soccer, it's so much, there's so much fluidity.

Uh, there's so much movement off the ball.

And that's one thing I people need to learn about the game.

It's it's not just that stupid little round thing, as I call it.

Look at everything else that's happening.

And that's the hardest thing to get in the kids' heads.

Stop worrying about the ball.

Look at everything else.

There's a heck of a lot more space than where just where the ball is.

So that's one of the things that I strive for as well, Kevin, is to get them to see the entire green.

SPEAKER_02: I love it.

Yeah, amazing.

Okay.

So back up to where you kind of left us off about the getting sick at the Nike camp.

Yeah.

So talk to me about that.

SPEAKER_00: So I was asked to come in and speak.

Uh I think I came in on Saturday.

I was asked to speak.

Saturday was the last full day.

And I'm watching, I'm asked to participate in drills, and I'm not feeling so well.

I was in training to go over to Europe again.

Maybe I'd be playing against the Dutch uh Olympic team again.

That's what I did the year before when Jan asked me to play.

And so I was in training.

I I think that's where I picked up the illness.

We don't know for sure.

But when I was at Nike, I just I wasn't myself.

I wasn't participating.

Here we had national team players that are running drills.

Man, that that looks like that would be fun.

And I participated a little.

Bit.

But then we played in the evening, there was a coach's match, and asked to play in that.

Like, okay.

I again I wasn't feeling all that well.

Put myself on the left side because I know the work wouldn't be, work rate wouldn't be as high.

And I ended up having to take myself out.

I was just exhausted.

So quick speed it up.

That night, I was either in the bathroom thrown up profusely, or I was sweating like crazy or shivering like crazy in my dorm room.

And even though we're outside of Chicago, I have no idea where the hospitals were.

So I woke up the next morning.

I apologized.

I had to leave.

If you don't know where a doctor is, you know where your mom is, you go to mom.

And my mom was an hour and a half away in southern Wisconsin.

So, and the wisdom of the female species, as soon as she saw me, because I hadn't called her, we didn't have cell phones at the time.

Soon as she saw me, she said, You get your butt over the emergency room, something's wrong with you.

So presented myself, they released me, woke up the next morning, even worse.

I had to cancel a couple of recruiting calls in the Minneapolis area.

And last thing I remember for the next month was my stepfather backing out of the driveway, and my mom standing outside the kitchen door looking freaked.

And she knew something was bad.

So, like I said, I woke up a month later from coma to learn that in order to save my life, my mom and my brother had to make a decision.

Let me die, and I was so sick that I should have, and I was told the only reason I was still alive was I was an athlete, or amputate my hands and parts of both my feet and see how it handled life.

And first thing that ran through my mind when the doctor was trying to explain all of this was uh there goes my playing career, I'm done.

And then it came down to, oh, coaching.

See, I was doing the male thing, Kevin, of I was worried about, you know, I wasn't focusing on how am I going to deal with all of this.

It was, oh, I want to get back to work.

I want to get back to work.

You know, I'm supposed to be in Europe.

I missed the Europe trip, by the way.

They won all three tournaments.

Yeah, so it was a rude awakening to figure out.

And I think we do a pretty good job of telling all of that in the book about, you know, imagine waking up from all of this and their cards on the walls and and balloons that were draping, and that's how I figured out, man, I've been in here for a while because the balloon, you know, get well balloons are sagging a little bit.

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's how I figured it all out.

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

So what what was wrong?

What caused all of this?

SPEAKER_00: It was it's called group A strep with nec necrotizing fasciitis is the death of the skin.

And group A strep, well, what happened was I was so sick that the body takes care of itself if we let it, and it shoots out white blood cells to go attack bacteria.

Well, I was so sick that it shot out maybe also because I was in such good shape, but it was able to handle it by producing even more and more white blood cells.

Well, white blood cells are just going to go into the bloodstream to take care of the bacteria, but it would collect in the extremities, and little by little the blood flow ceased in the extremities.

So from the tips of the fingers and tips of the toes, things started dying as it worked back.

And there are a couple of times in the book when I ask or I a nephew or my brother interjects about watching the skin, you can almost see it, at least for sure from hour to hour, how it would darken going up the extremities because things are just dying.

And there came a point where okay, they kind of had everything under control.

What are you gonna do, folks?

You know, let him go, we pull the plug and everything, or you want to do the amputations?

And I've tried, I have tried to have those conversations.

That probably not easy for my mom.

My my mother has passed away, but for my brother, you know, even looking back now, he's 30 years ago, probably difficult.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

Wow.

Now, what is it like waking up from being in coma for a month?

Do you wake up just feeling like you just woke up from a normal night's sleep?

I mean, is is there any difference?

SPEAKER_00: I describe it in the book exactly how it happened.

Uh, I had no idea what was going on, and then the I could hear women's voices laughing and like they were playing a sport.

And I saw the back of a woman in, I think she was dressed in green, looking up at, oh, okay, now it's a television.

And here are these women are playing beach volleyball, and the woman turns around and looks at me.

She ends up being Lindy, my nurse, who kind of became my surrogate mother.

She was always working, it seemed, taking care of me.

So it was, what's this?

And then she went off and got the doctor to come in, and you know, I was a little bit more awake at that time and to explain everything.

And I had lost 40 pounds and it was mainly muscle.

And I couldn't move.

I thought maybe I was paralyzed because I had no idea what was going on.

I just couldn't move because my muscles had atrophied so badly.

And I was in a neck brace and described by other people in the book about how many machines were in my room.

It was hard to figure out where I was in bed.

Wow.

Because every there was so much technology going on.

Yeah.

Yeah, I was freaky.

Wow.

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

Can you even remember when either you knew yourself or the doctor told you about them having that you no longer had hands or feet?

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and my brain shot down.

I just, okay.

Didn't want to, I didn't even touch it.

It w they were just words that were said.

And then I heard, it was it.

Okay.

So, all right, what's the date?

Did I miss Europe?

You know, oh, well, after Europe, we're, you know, the the players are showing up at at the university for preseason training.

Oh my, can I get back there?

There was no way.

Yeah, I I still look at it as that's the stupidity of males.

We look at, you know, we're taught to, or else we're just wired that way.

Maybe it's just me, Kevin.

I don't know about you.

But it was just, man, I want to work.

I want to, let's, you know, this is nothing.

We'll get past this.

And okay, yeah, okay.

Well, I ended up paying for it because of that.

So we'll get into that, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was gonna say, so to talk to me about what happens next.

Because I mean, I would think this would be a very long physical recovery process.

I mean, mental I is I know is is way longer, but but what what does happen next in this story?

SPEAKER_00: I start training.

I was still in the ICU, and I started doing exercises little bit by little bit by little bit, gaining back some strength.

So within a couple of weeks, I was transferred over to um rehabilitation.

So I gained some weight, but anyway, I gained strength back.

And then God, the opening uh in rehab was Kathy, the um one of the people there, had me sit up on the side of the bed for 60 seconds.

It was like, oh my god, that was the most difficult thing I I thought I would remember besides all of my training as a player.

Just sitting up for 60 seconds, it was that hard.

But it was just work, work, you know, let's let's get back.

I mean, I was so one month in a coma and then four months in rehab.

Wow.

Yeah, and it was all work.

SPEAKER_02: Now, during the four months in rehab, were you able to keep yourself always focused forward, or did you ever have moments where you would break down?

SPEAKER_00: One of the nicest things that the head of Dr.

Mowen, the head of rehab, told me when I first met him was it's not gonna be easy, man.

If if you want to just say, ask for the door closed, go ahead.

I mean, that was the best advice anybody gave me.

Otherwise, it seemed that, you know, okay, now I saw this person, then I saw that person, and at 2 o'clock in the morning they came in and drew blood, and then somebody else came in and helped me with urination, and uh just it was like crazy.

I didn't take him up on that very often.

One of the most difficult points was point blank being fitted for the hooks.

And one of the chapters is titled The Bane of Captain Hook and how I had to face it.

I'm using this.

I mean, being amputated at the mid-forum, you know, just keep my arms down under the blankets and I don't see it.

But when you're starting to fit be fitted for hooks and training with those, that's reality.

And my brain would shut off.

And I think I got pretty good at shutting off my brain.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

Our bodies have a way of doing what we need them to do to survive.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.

Listen to our bodies more.

SPEAKER_02: Exactly.

Exactly.

Wow.

So after four months in rehab, you get out of rehab.

What do you do do then?

SPEAKER_00: Well, here's a way I describe it in the book.

First thing I did.

I had an apartment on the university campus because I was I was the head women's soccer coach and I was also an assistant hall director, so I had my own apartment.

First thing I did was pop in Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd.

I just locked my door, put headphones on.

I don't know how many times I listened to that.

I just I think I put it on, you know, just continuous play.

And my cats would jump up on me and they hadn't seen me in five months, you know.

So it was just one of the only times I took the time for myself.

And I should have done that more.

Because I was starting to fall into a pattern for myself.

And it wasn't long before I described as the fog rolled in, where my brain would just shut down and I had no idea.

I lost the sense of feeling, which is tough.

And I think emotionally I lost the sense of feeling as well.

That's that's where I started getting into the fog, and that's there are so many things that were going on at the time, Kevin.

I had a foot that wouldn't heal, I had multiple operations that would I would scoot around in the apartment on my knees.

I did that twice for a month at a time after surgeries.

I mean, it was just, God, it was difficult.

But I was still running a soccer program, and that's what I focused on.

We still had nationally ranked teams.

Uh how I did that, I don't know, but I think it's because I pushed aside all my emotions, and I just focused on the game and the program.

SPEAKER_02: So how did you physically continue running this program?

SPEAKER_00: I mean, because I guess I mean, were you I mean, were you in a wheelchair and having to be no wheelchair, and when I ended up getting back driving, I never I've never parked in a handicapped spot uh or disabled spot.

No, I refuse to do that.

I think part of my own attitude, here's one way to summarize it, Kevin, is in the beginning when I first got out of the hospital, it took me three hours to get dressed.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: I it wow.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: I mean, that was even after by the time I I left the hospital, I had my myoelectric hands.

I wasn't wearing hooks.

I was switched over to these myoelectric hands that kind of work like hands, they open and close, but uh still wasn't, you know, trying to learn everything again.

Wow.

But I never I I I didn't get mad, really.

I didn't get mad.

It was just, okay, accept it.

I accepted failure, which is it was tough, but that's what I had to do.

It was like, for me, it was like um learning how to make a soccer ball do funky things, to make a bender on a wall of six players or something, you know, to make it dip underneath a crossbar and a goalkeeper.

And that was just go out repetition, repetition, repetition, make a mistake, make a mistake, go run after the ball, bring it back, go run after the ball.

Same thing.

And I just went, okay, I dropped a glass, I'll clean it up, and then just to the point where didn't have to think about it anymore.

It became second nature.

That was a long time.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: A lot of work.

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

Wow, wow, wow.

Now, what about the prosthetics in terms of both your your hands and do you have prosthetics for your feet?

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're called AFOs, they're they're braces.

I mean, there's a story in that, and that comes up in the book too, Kevin, about it reached one point where they somebody said, Oh, just do a baloney amputation.

Because after my foot kept opening up, I know this isn't happening.

Finally getting to a point where I found a prosthetist who knew of a solution.

And since that time, it's been eight years now, foot doesn't open up anymore because someone solved the problem, which was fantastic.

So wow.

SPEAKER_02: Okay.

So you're the the team that you were coaching when when this happened, how did they respond?

Afterwards, you're still showing up.

Did did you notice a change in them?

SPEAKER_00: So I was in the hospital.

I was in rehab when they started the season on an East Coast trip.

I were taking a coach bus at the time, and they set all this up.

NBC National News covered the team coming to visit me on their way out east.

And I hope I don't tear up here.

They stopped in and everybody crammed into the hospital room and everything.

And I didn't know that they were coming.

So I was just, oh my God.

I mean, it felt good and it felt bad, and I was embarrassed, but it was also nice to see all of them.

You know, our goalkeeper, a lot of people had to help out when I was gone for five months with my apartment.

They had people had to get into my apartment and take care of the cats.

Players and other coaches and uh hall directors and friends would come in and they organize it all.

And our goalkeeper, because sometimes I I had a uh a green Adidas, emerald green Adidas goalkeeper jersey that I'd like to wear sometimes if I was training her.

She wore that all season.

She took it out of my closet and she wore it for me.

And and she was uh she was all American that year.

And I I just what she did, Diane Kelch, that was just amazing.

She also, here we go, Kev, I transferred hospitals up to Eau Claire, and Diane in the afternoons would come over, put me in a wheelchair, take me down, kind of throw me into her truck, her little pickup truck, throw the wheelchair in the back, take me over to training, and I would train her.

And uh yeah, and Cindy Kapersky, our assistant who was filling in for me, she'd train the field players and I worked with Diane.

And somehow she, you know, she was just amazing that season, you know, first team All American.

It was just it was crazy.

That's just crazy.

Yeah, looking back and yeah, that would make a damn good movie, wouldn't it?

It was pretty fun.

There was a lot to it.

A lot, a lot of we got together like eight years ago for something, and saw them again, a bunch of the players, and you know, a lot of them are parents now, might be a couple of grandparents, a couple have passed away.

Yeah.

Time goes on and uh kids grow up and they have.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

Yeah.

But but what you just shared, man, that's just to me, that's the good stuff.

Is so many times we we feel like the world is so cruel because uh it is.

Until you get down to an individual level and you get to realize how amazing the world is, and what a beautiful example of it.

Oh my gosh.

I yeah, that's that's absolutely incredible.

I love it.

I love it.

Well, so talk to me about life.

What happens?

Where do you go?

What starts you on a journey to get you kind of you know into a next chapter of life.

SPEAKER_00: So four more years, I coached for four more years.

The program wasn't as good.

I my recruiting wasn't as good.

I was I lost my confidence in just approaching players like, hey, you know, it used to be, hey, I coached at the university, I think you could play, you know.

Let's talk about what you might be wanting to study.

I stopped doing that because a cold call and it was difficult with me.

You know, I lost my confidence.

And for an athlete, that's not good.

So some a couple of things also happened.

I ended up resigning, and I knew I just needed to break myself down in order to build myself back up.

So I resigned.

There's right after I resigned, I had I went out east for a couple of um interviews, came across one bad example of discrimination that I mentioned in the book.

Oh, yeah.

I went from a white guy in athletics, you know, doors are open as long as you prove yourself.

If you win, yeah, go next step, to being disabled.

SPEAKER_01: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: That's big switch.

And I came across, still do, people thinking lesser of me.

I would before matches.

Oh God, Kev.

Yeah, I think we do a good job putting it all in the book about discrimination side and how things have not still not changed so much.

Yeah.

So um, and there's a little thing uh about a uh two-week$10 million um medical malpractice lawsuit in there.

unknown: Okay.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

Just the throw that in throw that in at you, Kevin.

Um, remember when I said when I presented myself the first time they they released me?

Well, temperature of about 103, it didn't check my blood.

And kind of wish they would have, because that's yeah, the trial came down to they said one thing, we said another.

And perception is key.

That's actually a title of one of the chapters.

Perception is key, how things are perceived.

So after that, without telling you exactly what happened in the trial, it's in the book.

I sold everything, threw away all my awards and everything, everything that didn't fit in my car.

My cat Bogart and I headed west, ended up in Washington State, and I was working uh as an unpaid assistant out there with a deal for the guy to he when he was very well known for the guy to help me get into the next step, get back into coaching.

And he happened to know somebody at Gonzaga uh who was leaving.

So that's when that didn't work out the way I anticipated.

Again, I'll just leave it for readers to go find that out.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: And one night was watching a news program about a disaster that was going on in Haiti, and there were some orphan children.

And like something went off in me.

Wow, I'm supposed to do something about this.

I'll cut to the chase.

A year and a half later, a little boy and a little girl from Romania came home.

I no was no longer coaching.

A year after that, a little boy from Ethiopia.

Two years after that, uh little girl from Ethiopia, and two years after that, another little girl from Ethiopia came home.

So I went from being a soccer coach to running five kids as a basketball coach, I guess.

You know, the way things were as a full-time parent of all these toddlers.

So I mean, I was I left coaching ex unless one of them, some you know, if one of them was playing rec to help out.

And that was to get away from just that, the physicality side, just being ta ta, which is Romanian for father, just did that.

So yeah, that was a that was a bit of a change in life.

But it was, I think it was needed.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah.

Wow.

Wow.

I mean, you definitely are an example of changes in seasons of our life in the most radical of ways possible.

You betcha.

SPEAKER_00: There's some expensive days for you.

You betcha.

Yes.

SPEAKER_02: Wow, wow, wow.

Okay.

Wow, yeah, we can do a whole interview just on that one piece of you adopting all of these children.

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00: Well, you know, in the in the book, Kevin, all we we use it as a bridge to go from following the trial into coaching again, returning 20 years later.

So the kids are just, I didn't want to, none of the names are in, don't want to get them involved or anything.

It was just an example of one one chapter about how this went through, you know, the politics of getting them home.

Senator Patty Murray had to come in for the two from Romania.

The three from Ethiopia all experienced their parents dying of AIDS.

I it's just that was wow, that that would have been too much.

As we learned from earlier publishers, that was too much, that whole thing.

So we'll capsulize it for you as well.

unknown: Okay.

SPEAKER_02: Yes, yes.

Okay.

So that bridges us to you getting back into into coaching again.

Yes.

And a very different Different team than maybe you'd been used to.

And so I've been very excited for us to get to this part of the story.

Because, ladies and gentlemen, if you've been like, oh my gosh, this story is depressing and crazy and all this.

Well, well, now here's the whole kicker.

And I think I believe this is the whole kind of hook that you even reached out to me in the first place.

And I was like, whoa, this sounds like yet another movie.

SPEAKER_00: Um, it was pretty wild.

Yeah, I I love the chapter.

The chapter is called Soccer Rats, when the kids are introduced.

It was 20 years after I left Gonzaga, and my youngest was firmly in high school.

And I said, Okay, time for me to get back.

Here's where a little bit more life is cruel stuff comes in first, though, Kat.

Oh, I yes.

We're living in Bellingham, Washington at the time, and there was a very large soccer club where parents would spend thousands of dollars for their kids with the expectation of them being prepared for possibly signing scholarships for college and maybe going on playing pro national team, whatever.

I mean, there were examples of that.

So, and with my experience, which you all are fully aware of now, I came in and was hired not to coach uh the A team, not to coach a B team, but to coach a C team of 12-year-olds from the director of coaching, you wouldn't shake my hand.

So I think I have an idea about why I was coaching.

Yes.

Which, but you know what, Kevin, this is what how life just kind of bites other people in the butt because it I think it backfired on them.

Because I I attended the two uh tryouts, and A-team coach tended to take bigger players, B team coach took the next size players.

I had kind of the runs, and my kids didn't show so well in controlled type environment because they lacked confidence.

Because I think because they were shorter and they nobody expected much out of them, they just kind of fit that role.

Well, here I came in going, you know what?

And I mentioned kids out, and I won't go into too much here.

People can read it.

I had one kid that could do this, one kid could do it.

Like, wow, they left me some pretty good uh players to work with here.

All right, I think we could do something.

So we started getting together, and uh in the book again, I I think we do a pretty good job of the kids coming to get to know me and understand me and being a disabled person and having a disabled coach.

And through the book and the kids and myself, I think we're able to explain what it's like to be disabled.

I mean, at least for my disability, and some examples of being disabled in the world.

So we get together and we work through everything and it kind of comes out.

But I know you want to get into you know what how the whole thing went.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.

So I'm curious to know.

You you kind of you get you get stuck, we'll say, we'll use that terminology.

You get stuck with with these kids.

Yeah.

And now it's up to you to do something with them.

So you just bust out the boom box and say, let's get to work.

SPEAKER_00: Pretty much, man.

Yeah.

Pretty much.

Pretty much.

Yeah.

Music came and not in the first session, but it was get to know you sort of thing.

The hardest thing, Kevin, was to get these kids to turn away from structure and start playing the game like I wanted them to, or the freedom I wanted them to feel.

They lack confidence.

Well, there's nothing better to boost one's confidence than to be told, okay, go play.

Just play.

Stop thinking.

I always had a phrase.

Here's where the title of the book comes out.

I always had a phrase I use, turn off your brain and play from your heart.

Well, that's too long of a book title.

Yes.

And it's not as catchy.

So turn off your brain is just play without thinking, because that's where the beauty, that's where the Jackson Pollock paint drip painting comes in, how I see it.

The freedom to play.

So you don't have to think about it, you just do it.

Then you can play from your heart.

Bing, there's the title of the book.

For sure.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: So that's what I worked on.

And God, that was the most difficult thing, was to get them to just turn off their brains first.

And then you can't play from your heart unless you're confident.

And that was a difficult thing as well, especially because they're males.

You know, they're they're 12 and maybe 13-year-olds just turning 13, some of them males.

And society's pounding them with all this maleness and trying to be this way.

And no, accept making mistakes.

That was another one of my statements to them.

You're not training properly unless you make mistakes.

So go freaking make some mistakes and try something new.

So there was a process involved in there.

Yeah.

The summer was interesting.

So I'll I'll let you you tell me where you want to go with this, Kev.

SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.

Well, well, please share with me the season starts.

I mean, how how does it go?

Okay.

SPEAKER_00: So we have an A team and a B team, and I don't see any difference.

So I go up to the A-team coach and say, hey, you want to scrimmage each other on a weekly basis?

No.

Well, I knew what that was.

I mean, he would look silly if he Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

So I went to uh Jose, the B team coach, he said, hell yeah, let's do this.

So every Wednesday, the B team and the C team would get together and scrimmage.

So the first time we scrimmage each other, B team whooped us, seven zip.

And so you know where I'm going from here then.

It's just okay, now I now we have a baseline.

I had to make them first change their view of that other team.

We said, oh, they're the B team, and we're the C team.

No, no, no.

They're another team in a club, and it's our objective to get to a point where we can beat them.

So we have to work together.

So we started training, doing our things, and and working.

This is the summer, because Washington State is different.

Summers for tournaments, fall is for league play.

So we had five tournaments that summer.

First match we played, we won.

But but, and I knew this was gonna happen.

It's like, okay, you guys are cocky now.

Well, cocky, excuse me.

You guys are arrogant.

Cocky's good.

I think cocky is good.

I wanted them to play cocky.

I wanted to become cut.

I didn't want to be arrogant, though.

So we went into the second match going, okay, I'm not gonna touch this.

I'm gonna let them learn a lesson.

This is our first tournament.

It doesn't really matter what we do.

They went in and lost.

You know, there's I wonder why, guys.

You know, we talked about that.

That was a pivot point, though, Kevin, I think.

I wonder why, you idiots.

Because you thought that you could do anything.

No, you need to work, change your.

So we made it out of our group.

We got into the playoffs and then lost, but that was okay.

But they won a couple of matches and they got to feel, now we're starting, now we're starting to get together.

I think it was the next week or so.

We tied the B-team.

Now it's coming.

We get into the next tournament and make it out of our group.

We actually won our group and we made it to the semifinal.

I think we lost in the semifinal.

Okay, here we go.

Now, a couple weeks later, I think we we go to the next tournament and we get to the final.

Okay, good.

Losing final.

All right, and they were, they didn't play their best because I think it was their first time they'd ever really been there.

So, all right, it's a stepping stone.

Next week, I think we beat the B-team.

Next tournament comes around, play well, winner group, go on defeated, get to the final again, lose the final again.

So now it's starting to set up with all right, let's see where this thing goes from here.

Well, training continues, you know, we're really heavy into playing music now, and now they're understanding just the freedom that they're they're accepting the freedom I've given them.

And now we go into our fifth and final tournament of the summer, and here we are, you know, win our group, play the quarterfinal, play the semifinal, win that, get into the final, and here we are against this lime green team with this kid I explain in the book that just drives me crazy because he's so coughed and he's just beautiful, he's just shine shoes and everything.

And I'll let the readers find that one out.

We ended up losing in the final again, but we then had end of the summer evaluations, and every single one of those kids, when I asked them, how did they feel losing that last match?

And they were crying, and they said, It hurt.

It hurt.

I knew I had them, it hurt, therefore, they had gained the confidence to expect to win.

So now we've done a full 180.

Now is the most important time, and we get into the 18 match, long three or three or four months playing?

18 matches state league season.

So you want me to go from there?

SPEAKER_02: You want to Yeah, yes, please.

SPEAKER_00: All right, here we go.

First match, we're playing outside of Seattle, beautiful playing fields and everything.

We're up on this team 1-0.

I swear to God, this is what happened.

And that's exactly how I wrote it in the book as well, Kevin.

A ball is served into our box to our goalkeeper.

Our goalkeeper goes up, one of their players runs into him, ball goes off of our goalkeeper's hand and out of bounds.

And our goalkeeper goes down.

Four seconds we're left.

Referee blows the whistle, crosses his arms, and stops his watch to stop the clock.

Because he feels that it's most important not to let the game freaking game finish, but to stop the clock and take a look at the players.

Both players got right back up.

But because he stopped the clock with four seconds ago, they have the ball as a corner kick.

So it's their free kick out on the side of the field.

Here we go.

I turned somebody says, I don't like this.

The ball that match should have been over with.

So here we go.

Referee blows a whistle, they take the corner kick, here goes the ball across three, two.

They go up to try to look to head the ball.

My God, the guy gets a head on it, and the the whistle blows as the ball goes into the net.

So we tie the first match one to one, and we should have won it.

Yeah, here we go again.

And I was very concerned.

I I truly, Kevin, I was worried that these kids might revert back to before the summer started.

Like, you know, what can we do?

We can't, we still can't, you know.

Well, this is all against us.

They didn't, you know, they didn't.

I mean, it's all, you know, we break it down.

That lime green team again was in our our league that we lost that last final to.

We play them and we beat them.

And guess who, because we get down, we go back and forth, and going into the final match of the season.

Am I cutting it?

Am I going too fast?

SPEAKER_02: Should I last match of the season, man?

SPEAKER_00: I mean, here's some drama.

Dun dun dun dun dun.

They're one point ahead of us, the Lime Green team.

I call them the Limeys.

They're one point ahead of us.

So you get three points for a win, one point for a tie.

We were undefeated, but we had a couple of ties.

So they only lost one match.

So they're a point ahead of us.

That match was to us.

Final match of the season.

It's at home against the Limeys.

Uh, the kid with the coifed hair isn't playing on the field.

He's playing in the goal because he's their best overall player.

All they had to do was tie us and they win the state championship.

That's all they had to do.

So they put their best player in the goal.

Uh oh, I didn't plan for this.

So we had been working on a system of what we were going to do to beat that opponent based on the two other times we've seen them.

And the kids are involved in this decision-making too.

Because I always had a thing with my players, I'm going to tend to ask you more questions than I'm going to tell you what to do.

Because if you can respond, and sometimes even if you're wrong, at least if you respond, then you're learning the game.

So we went in, we went up 1-0 in the first half.

And I'm thinking, okay, second half, they're going to pull him out of the goal because they're losing now.

If they lose to us, we win the state championship.

Okay, they're going to put him up top as their forward, their goal scorer.

You know, nice hair, great cleats, and everything.

He looked great in that lime green.

I hate that color.

Um I hate that color.

I see that anymore.

It's like, oh, I remind that reminds me of that kid.

So I gotcha, buddy.

The second half starts, and they put him in a goal.

It's like, okay, dummies.

So in the first half, we it's described in the book, has something to do with the movie Rocky, on how from first fight with Apollo and second fight and what they do.

So we do the same sort of thing to get the kids involved.

And I yell Rocky, and we switch from going right-handed to left-handed.

In the movie, Rocky goes from left-handed to right-handed.

So we go right and we switch our point of attack and what we're doing and are overshifting.

And anyway, I think I think it's described for non-soccer people in the book.

I think they'll get it.

SPEAKER_01: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: So 10 minutes to go, boom, we hit another one, and we go up 2-0.

Now they're scurrying.

They have they yank their cutie boy out of the goal.

They switch him into a field player jersey, and uh oh, here we go.

And he comes in to play up top.

I hate a two-goal lead, Kevin, because you think about this.

You're up 2-0.

The opponent scores one, you drop a little bit, and they go sky high.

So then there's a tendency for them to then, if they tie again, there we go, we lose the state championship.

So it's all right, we had this ready to go with what we were going to do for them.

We changed our style defensively on what we did from the prior matches and all in preparation for holding that lead.

Didn't care really if they if we gave up one, we couldn't give up two.

So it was all about milking the clock.

And my kids had learned how to milk the clock.

Take your time as you know, running in, take your time going to get the ball, tick-tock, tick-tock.

So as it goes and the clock ticks down, something happens with our goalkeeper out.

It's in the book, it's pretty cute.

And boom, we end up winning.

And those kids, I mean, parents are going, everybody was just that the director of coaching, I think.

I hope it stuck him because he thought at one time he told me, just, you know, it's the C team.

We we need the money in order to keep the club going.

It's like, how the hell, how dare you?

So we stuck it to him and ended up going undefeated and uh winning the state championship.

So that was really cool.

Twelve of those kids ended up being advancing to the A and B team the next year.

SPEAKER_01: Wow.

SPEAKER_00: I was very proud of them.

Nothing was nothing was said to me.

It was just okay.

So I came back to Wisconsin and won another state championship.

So we did.

I took another group, started with four teens.

They're all uh well, there's one as a senior in high school right now.

Uh it was two years ago, but uh the other ones are in college, some of them playing soccer in college, so I was very proud of that group too.

Good kids.

SPEAKER_02: Wow.

You you know what hit me when I was listening to you is I kind of helped but think that with you as their coach, having gone through what you have, having overcome what you have, and just the person that you are, I have to believe that those kids on your team, they got to learn so much more than just how to become a better soccer player.

They basically had a life coach there with them, teaching them about how to do life.

SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Kevin.

SPEAKER_02: And I do, and I I I truly mean that.

And I I have to think those kids came away with more than winning, losing.

They got to learn how to be better people.

And I personally feel like that's what a coach is about.

Yeah.

Because, yeah, you want to coach them to win, but you also just want to coach them to become better versions of themselves.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah.

You know, I think I could take this philosophy at the professional level as well, because I think that's one of the things that's missing.

I think a professional and national team is kind of, well, I don't know so much about the the U.S.

teams, what I'm seeing.

But I think they're passing over the human side because that's what's gonna make players play more freely.

You know, if if if they trust, if they know that they are trusted to make decisions on the field.

There's one thing, Kevin, my mouth is shut during a match.

I'm make taking notes and I'm like, what am I gonna do?

Yelling on the sideline.

The kids should not be listening to me.

You watch an NBA game, all the coaches are yelling at us, shut up.

unknown: Yes.

SPEAKER_00: Let them play, and they will play better if the coach shuts his or her mouth.

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: Yep.

Yep.

I love it.

I love it.

Well, well, listen, we we've walked through this amazing story of yours.

We we've referenced the book.

Give us the details as far as what's going on with the book right now, when exactly it's gonna come out.

I know right now it's in pre-sale at the time of this episode's release, but uh, but talk to me about the book, where we can sign up for the pre-sale, all the stuff.

SPEAKER_00: Everywhere books are sold.

Amazon, Barnes Noble, uh Simon and Schuster as our distributor.

I mean, that tells you everything right there.

It's it's gonna get out there.

My publisher, Usher Morgan, is kind of like me.

We do a lot of work and we're scattered on everything we do, but we end up getting the job done.

But the book drops on June 9, 2026.

June 9th, book becomes official, and that's two weeks before the World Cup Opener down in Mexico City.

So we're timing on that.

We're doing a long pre-sale because here's my objective, Kevin.

I want the book to gain some bestseller lists.

I that's what I want.

And you know, and you're not gonna sell a memoir to reach that unless it's grassroots, unless it's like this a positive story during negative times, and we have negative times.

So you know, and what I also want to be doing with for the disabled community, because the disabled community is splintered and it needs to be organized.

So there's a lot of different things, reasons why we want to be doing this, and I'm doing over 40 podcasts I have scheduled so far, starting to get into magazines.

United Soccer Coaches uh Soccer Journal magazine is doing a story on us for the winter edition.

So that will open doors within the soccer community.

So this is full bore.

We have three different avenues we're going into disabled community, soccer community, and I'm really finding a lot of people interested like your show, the inspirational community.

I guess there is a community for that.

A lot of people, especially today, Kevin.

I think we need something positive.

And your show is one of those things because I've listened to some of your episodes, and you do a nice job of presenting, you know, inspiration.

Well, it's right there in your title.

Yeah.

We have a responsibility, and you're you're taking on your responsibility on what you're doing with that, Kevin.

I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_02: Oh man, well, well, thank you.

Well, well, I'm I am super excited about the book, and definitely for anybody interested, please check out today's show notes.

There will be links for you to easily be able to get that that pre-sale going right away.

You can also, if uh show notes are confusing to you, just go to my website.

You can go directly to this episode's page, which is simply grit graceinspiration.com slash Scott Martin.

And um, that will be an easy way for you also to find all the links that you need because I'm telling you, after hearing the story in this abridged version of the book, I am super excited for the book itself.

And um, Scott, man, it's been a real pleasure getting to hear your story today.

And I uh thank you in the most sincere way for uh taking the time to be here.

SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Kevin.

I you keep doing what you're doing because we both have responsibility in front of us.

So let's make sure that we do our thing.

Okay.

SPEAKER_02: Absolutely, man.

That sounds like a plan to me.

For you, my friend, I hope you've enjoyed today's episode.

Again, please be sure to check out the episode show notes or head on over to the episode webpage to be sure that you continue the goodness that is Scott Martin in his book.

So, my friend, until next time, I'm your host, Kevin Lowe, and this is Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

SPEAKER_04: I got some bird on our knees, no lines on the feet, just run till you breathe.

No whistles, no clocks, no set routine, just a ball beat, and a wild dream.

A boom box command on the sideline grass.

Let the rhythm each what words never can.

Don't tell me where to go, don't tell me when.

Just hit play and let it begin.

Turn down the noise inside your head.

Feel the space.

Feel what's here between the steps, between the sound.

That's where the game is found.

Hit play.

Let it move your feet.

Let the bass tell your body when to breathe.

Don't think, just feel, just thought.

Turn off your mind, play from the heart.

Let it be, let it break, let it flow like all the motion.

No fear, no plan, just thought.

Turn off your mind, play from the heart.

Losing the rhythm, jazz in the run, rock in the push.

When the moment comes, there's cold lights in the afterglow.

Every has got somewhere to go.

No, straight lines and a living thing.

Every old running's listening, you don't chase.

You arrive on time when movement learns to rhyme.

Clock keeps ticking, but we don't race, we ban the tempo, steal some space.

If you trust the field beneath your feet, the game starts playing.

You back, sweet it play.

Let it move your feet.

Let the bass tell your body when to breathe.

Don't think, just feel just heart.

Turn it off your mind, play from the heart.

Let it bend, let it break, let it flow like God in motion.

No fear, no plan, just heart.

SPEAKER_03: Turn it off your mind, play from the heart.

Turn off your mind, play from the heart.

SPEAKER_04: Now slow it down.

Now press now.

Speed it up.

Break the line.

Lose control to find the time.

No script, no cage, no charge.

Just spacing sound and hard.

Hit play.

Feel the ground respond.

Every step says you belong.

No foe, yelling from the darkest rhythm.

Breath and heart hit play.

Let the moment stop.

Turn off your mind.

Play from the heart.

SPEAKER_03: But the feeling stays.

Long after the field's been put away.

If you can move, you already know.

Just hit play.

And play from the heart.