Episode 67 – Zyzick Owens

We call ourselves the 3 A’s. Always leading with academics. I always like to throw athletics second and then arts third. You know- Okay. whoever wants to say it, it’s we always start with academics. Academics always comes first and foremost, um, here within our organization. Success isn’t built overnight. Right. Right? Y- you gotta go through the trenches, you gotta go through the mud. Mm-hmm. It’s, it’s, it’s, it’sAnd some people just aren’t built for that, right? They, they, they want to quit and y- you want to break early. But if, if, if you have a coreIf y- if your core values in life, whatever those are for you- Yeah. and your family, um, and, and you stick w- to a small little circle- Mm-hmm. and not worry about all the naysayers on the outside trying to shoot you down, put you down- Mm-hmm. you’ll find success. Mm-hmm. But it, but it, but it’s, it’s how far can you go before your mind gets broke? The downs only last for so long before you get back up. The outside naysayers, th- they, they tell you how to run a business but they’ve never been in the business. We’ve had to let people go and I always tell people, like, I’ve never fired anyone in my life. The people fire themselves and I’m the guy that’s gotta deliver the message. Hm. “Yo, this is what you did, this is what you did, this is what you did. You can’t be here. “Our seniors going on to be freshmen at school, wherever they’re playing, University of Maryland, X- Xavier, for instance, for some of our kids this year, um, they’re gonna be ready when they step on that court as a freshman. They’re not gonna be coming off the bench. You know, they’re, they’re, they’re gonna, they’re gonna know like, hey, I’ve gone through the grind. Mm-hmm. I know what the 6:00 AMs look like, I know what the 1:30s look like, I know what the 6:00 PM looks like. You know, this started out at a, at a church and, uh- Unbelievable. 29 people- Unbelievable. and now we’ve got more 5 stars than most colleges in the country. Hey everybody, welcome back to The Blueprint. Today I’ve got Zyzick Owens on. This dude has a school that is literally pumping out athletes like a factory. Can’t wait for him to tell his story. Stay tuned, he’s got so much to tell us about how you can be involved or how you can hear about what he’s doing. But also if you guys can do me a favor and just subscribe, uh, that would, that would really help us get more of these stories out and, um, stay tuned. Zyzick, my man, how are you today? Feeling good man, super solid. Where are you, uh, currently located at? You, I got you, I got you virtually today, I don’t have you in- in-house so I’m just wondering where you’re sitting at? I’m sitting in beautiful sunny Chandler, Arizona. Would love to get down to Texas but, uh, maybe next time we’ll make it down there. Yeah, it’s, uh, we’ve had a little bit of ups and downs. We’ve had some, some cool weather here lately so I’ll, I’ll call you when it gets back warm again butAbsolutely. Yeah. Well cool, um, Zyzick, uh, could you just tell me a little bit about, um, I called it the, the Athlete Factory, but, um, tell us a little bit more about your school and everything that you’re involved in and what you’re doing. Yeah, nice. Uh, once again, thanks again for having me on. Excited just to talk to you and, and, uh, share a little bit about what we do here- Mm-hmm. um, at Skyline Education. So Skyline Education is our charter management company. Uh, we’ve been around for about 25 going on 26 years. Mm-hmm. We have 7 charter schools, uh, under that umbrella. Um, and I wanna kind of just discuss probably a little about AZ Compass who we’re at here today and- Yeah. AZ Compass, um, has been doing it since 2009 and we’ve, uh, built a really, really dominant, dominant, uh, basketball program but we’ve also kind of expanded a little bit to football, um, baseball and also working on soccer right now. Mm-hmm. Yeah I met you with, uh, some friends. We were down at the, uh, Waste Management Open, uh, just happened to run into you man, we kind of kicked it off and, uh, became fast friends after that so, uh, you know, I had no idea what you were doing. You told me you were involved in, you know, athletes in schools and things like that but, um, to see the growth that you guys have had through social media is what I’ve been watching. I was like, man, I gotta reach out to this guy and get him on my podcast because I see him all over the country at these different games and, and I see like these athletes that he’s with and there’s ones that have gone on to be professional athletes and top tier athletes and, and, uh, you know, it’s really cool so I was like man, I want to get him on here to tell the story. And so when it comes to, you know, A to Z like who’s in this? Is this, you know, kindergarten through 12th? Is this after high school? Like what’s this about? Yeah so the schools are K through 12. Um, we actually even have 2 private preschools, um, for three and five year olds and so we really, really start them very, very young. And not everyone that goes to AZ Compass or any of our other affiliate charter schools happen to be involved in sports, right? Mm-hmm. We’re very high academic school and also, uh, an arts program as well, you know? Okay. Different kind of music, different kind of plays, uh, theater all that kind of stuff as well but, um, we call ourselves the, the 3 A’s. Always leading with academics. I always like to throw athletics second and then arts third. You know- Okay. whoever wants to say it, it’s we always start with academics. Academics always comes first and foremost, um, here within our organization. Mm-hmm. Very cool. Well I’ll tell you right now you know, uh, me being a painter I’m gonna see if we can get arts up that list a little bit. Hey I, I need you over here for sure. Bring him for, bring him for class. Yeah let’s do it, let’s do it. Absolutely. Um, so, so how does, how does someone become involved in, in a school like yours? Is this like, hey I was excelling at something in my school, I was at a public school and I was just not getting the growth that I needed to get or it’s someone who was, um, playing a sport that they were just overachieving and they needed to play against better competition or is this people that are really trying to set their goals at, you know, like a long term goal of like I need to make it a, a certain level? H- honestly it, it, it’s a school for all the above, right? You, you hit it right on the, uh, the nail right on the head, you know, that’s why we like to, uh, consider ourselves a, a development, a developmental, uh, school as well. Mm-hmm. Right? We, we focus very, very highly on the skills development. Uh, we have a few pro trainers that work for us on staff, um, that, that have known the game from-from a young age, and knows how to work with young individuals, but then you also need to work with that high-level caliber student athlete. Mm-hmm. Um, and so it’s, it’s a little bit of everything. You know, we have rec stuff involved here at, uh, AZ Compass. Mm-hmm. Uh, we also have, you know, different levels of basketball. Uh, that’s going way down from elementary s- school stuff to JV to multiple varsity teams. Uh, great girls national program and a girls varsity team as well. Mm-hmm. And so it’s, it’s a little bit of everything for everybody. Okay. And so like I was saying, like, if someone saidThey pick themselves out or you help facilitate them coming to your school? That’s, it, it’s, they, they, uh, great, great question, great question. It’s a little bit of both,At, at this point where we’re at right now, and what we’ve gotten to is a lot of people will s- uh, will find us- Mm-hmm. and, uh, hit us up, whether it’s Instagram, whether it’s, it’s through an AAU coach, uh, whether it’s through a college or university that has a kid that wants to play some here- Mm-hmm. um, w- we’re able to be found. And at the same time- Mm-hmm. we do a lot of recruiting on the, on the different circuits. Obviously, w- we’re a Nike e- uh, elite school. And so we’re always on the Nike EYBL circuit, uh, trying to find more kids. But we also, you know, travel to th- other different circuits to check out, uh, kids that might want to come here. Or we might get a hit on a kid like, “Hey, this kid’s gonna be a top potential lottery pick. This kid’s a five star, uh, who needs a little bit of help. “The school he’s at is just aren’t, uh, producing this, the skill level that we need to really get this kid to go to. Mm-hmm. And so, you know, we hear all, all the way from agents to, to, uh, guys that work in the NBA, um, that, that know a kid that, that are, have their eyes on ’em and, you know, guys from overseas will find us a lot as well. And they’ll come over and, and want to be part of the program Um, you know, ’cause our, our skill development is, is really where we, we hone in on, on getting these kids better, right? You want to be all, know how to, how, how to read angles, um, uh, u-understand defensive concept. And, and so that’s where our coaches are, are really, really good at, at providing these kids here. Yeah, I hear a lot of times, I mean, you’re basically teaching them the same way someone would learn in the classroom, you’re teaching them, hey, these are, these are the, uh, the formulas that it takes to kind of break down a defense or, or, or the offense. Like I, I hear all the time, like, you know, Luka sees the, the court better than anybody or blah, blah, blah, and they see things ahead of people. And it’s because of the teachings and that someone’s put into them. Is that what you’re saying? Absolutely. Absolutely. Exactly what I’m saying. Okay. You know, and I, I think, uh, we as an organization have gone out and f- and found the right people to work for us, y- you know? Like, like for us, it’s like our organization doesn’t have the success unless it’s the people that’s, that’s behind it, right? Mm-hmm. I’m, I’m a small part of this organization. Um, even though my title might say something different, um, I’m just like every one of these guys here. I’m, I’m here to work, I’m here, I’m here to build. Uh, I want to see a lot of success. And, and it all comes back to the number one thing is the kids. Mm-hmm. And if these kids aren’t successful, what are we here doing it for? Mm-hmm. And so we want to make sure we’re really creating positive, uh, a- an environment for these kids to be around, um, and have all kinds of access to all kinds of different tools- Hm. to make them successful in life. Mm-hmm. All right. Well, I mean, I think, you know, that was a little synopsis of kind of what your school is about. You know, and, and I want to get back to that here in just a little bit. Honestly, I, I, this story is about inspiration and people making it to do things like what you’re doing, right? And so if we could, if we could just kind of rewind it all the way back to the beginning, like, where is Zyzick from? Um, you know, and, and kind of talk about too, like, Zyzick is a very unique name. Where did that come from? And, and- Yeah. is that a family name or what is that? Absolutely. So Zyzick is definitely a family name and and it, it really, it starts with my mom. Okay. Um, it’s, it’s a, it’s a crazy story. I sometimes don’t like sharing it, but you’re my boy, I, I, I got to tell you the truth. Uh, so if you’ve ever lived in California, drive from LA to Vegas, there’s a street down there, Zzyyyxx, Zzyzx. And so she was just creative, uh, in her mind thinking and came up with it that way. And so that’s how, that’s how the name originated. Okay. Um, and so it’s kind of a funny story, don’t, don’t, don’t share it a whole lot, but people do ask quite a bit and it, it’s, it’s very, very interested and creative. Um, you know, and I, I think I got a very good creative background as well. Is that where she was from or she just loved the area or what was that? She was, yeah, she was from Southern California. Southern California. Mm-hmm. Uh, we, we moved quite a bit, uh, at, at, at a young age. Uh, moved to Oregon for a little bit. Salem, Oregon. Okay. Uh, lived, lived there through junior high and then we moved to Seattle for a little bit. She was running these technical institute colleges, and she was doing a fantastic job. Uh, my dad left us when I was around 8 years old. You know, had, had, had his, had his issues with drugs and couldn’t get clean and so forth, but my mom knew that she would take her kids, my, myself and my, my sister, and, and put us in a, uh, in a great spot, great home. Moved with my grandparents for a little bit. Uh, they lived right next to us. Mm-hmm. My mom bought her home in Oregon, they bought a house right next to her, and so they all transplanted from Southern California to Oregon. Major- Yeah. major difference, right? Yeah. I mean, the amount of rain-was crazy. Yeah. I didn’t mind it ’cause I learned how to snowboard, I learned how to, uh, I, I grew up on the mountains up there, Mount Bachelor, Mount Hood. Uh-huh. Had a lot, a lot of fun doing that and, uh, and it helped create, um, you know, the, the man I am today. Yeah. And just learning that kind of stuff at a young age. Yeah. Are you very outdoorsy? I, I, I’d say, like, I’m definitely, definitely outdoorsy. I like it, but I’m not, like, constantly- You’re a natural. constantly outdoors. You know what I’m saying? Yeah. I can, I can adapt to theI, I love being outdoors. Yeah. Uh, do a little bit of hunting here sometimes with, with some of my friends out here. That’s cool. Um, and, uh, I like to snowboard. I like, like to be on the beach, that, that kind of stuff, soMm-hmm. That’s how- Is your sister, is your sister older or younger than you? She’s younger. Okay. Younger. And how much younger was she? 2 years younger. 2 years younger. Did you find yourself- 2 years younger. as you guys were growing up, were you the, uh, alpha at the house watching over everybody and, you know- Def, def, def, def, definitely, definitely was, you know, and my sister had a very, very strong, uh, personality and a, and a, and a hard right hook. And a hard right hook. But, but, but, but it, it, it was super solid and, and, and even to this day we’re very, very close, you know. Okay. Do you guys live in the same area now? Yeah. We’re about 15 minutes away from each other. Oh, very cool. And, uh, you know, she, she grew up working in the education system here, uh- Mm-hmm. with us, uh, as, as we, as we, as we built this thing out. And so it’s, it’s been, it’s been fun working with her as well. So, as you were growing up through elementary school and you got into middle school, you were in sports at this time? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I grew up, very, very young playing a lot of baseball actually. I, I was more of a baseball guy-uh, rather than basketball. Um, and I also played football as, as well. But, uh- What positions? Uh, in, in, in, in football, wide receiver, quarterback, you know. Okay. Um, baseball, played a little second base till I got my nose broken as a senior in high school, and, uh, I had to show up to prom with a broken nose and, and laces across the-across the front there, yeah. What’d you get a bad hop? Bad hop from, uh, fr- from, uh, the catcher down to second. Oh, no. Yeah, split that thing open, but-it’s, it’s all good. Still look good in my prom photos. That’s awesome. So, when you were, you were going into school and, and you decided that you wanted to, was there an issue that you feel like you didn’t get enough, uh, support through the schools and through your growth? Was, was that kind of the, the seed for this? No. I mean, I mean, th- the seed for this, where, where I think we kinda skipped a part is, is, is my mom was the founder. Okay. And, and, and, and so as she continued to build all these, all these, uh, technical, uh, colleges all the way in, in Oregon and also Washington, that was, that’s what brought us back down to Arizona. Mm-hmm. And then 2000, 1999, ’98, um, there, there was a big wave of charter schools getting built out here. Okay. And I, as my mom being a single mom, she was making $40,000 a year. Mm-hmm. And at that point it’s like, me and my sister still in high school, I thought we were rich. Mm-hmm. You know what I’m saying? We shared a nice condo over here, uh, not too far from where we, wh- where, where my company’s at right now. Mm-hmm. But, uh, she, uh, sh- she, she, she, she had this vision, had this dream, uh, she wanted to help, help, help kids and, and get them educated and, and do it in a different kind of way, you know, different from, uh, a traditional big public school, you know. So she started her school, um, in a church, uh, where she rented a couple of rooms for her. I think she had about 25, 28 kids in that school. Mm-hmm. Uh, and, and she was just running it. And then once I, once I, once I got out of high school a little bit, I kind of actually s- she, she put me to work there as a security guard. Which, which is, which is funny, right? I was just like, I can’t believe it. But it helped me, you know what I’m saying? It helped me understand business and, and, and, and, and how to really build a business. Yeah. And, and she just continued to build this thing up and, and get it a lot bigger, soSo, starting out from a church, you’re renting a couple of rooms, got 28 kids, and how long did it take you to get to 28 kids? Uh, that, it took a full year. A, a full year- Oh, wow. just, and, and there I’m talking about canvassing, uh, a lot of movie theater parking lots on a fr- on a Friday night trying to hit as many cars as we could possibly hit. Okay. Let them know where we were at, who we were, um, lot of, a lot of f- Passing out flyers? Is this word of mouth? Or what are you doing? Passing out flyers, word of mouth. Okay. You know what I’m saying? Like, ’cause it was so new. Mm-hmm. People didn’t know what it was. Mm-hmm. And then, um, that, that started working and it started, we, we’d get through another year, another year would go bigger, or another year would go by and we’d get more kids in the school. Mm-hmm. And, and so, and then it, you know, that’s how we kind of just grew the thing and, and built it up. Okay. So, you outgrew the church obviously in the first year or 2, or how many years before you had to find a new facility? We were there, we were there, we were there 2 years. Mm-hmm. And then after 2 years we, we, we found, uh, literally, like, a s- a strip mall parking lot that had a couple, uh, it was brand new office facilities that we were able to kind of, uh, transform, make, make, make it into a school. Mm-hmm. And so right then we probably had around 97 kids, 100 and, 110. Wow. So, so, so we grew it. Wow. That’s crazy. So, a couple years to get out. first year you had 28 kids, within a couple years you had 97. Like, I mean, part of that is not just being good at your job. Part of that is being a good salesman too, right? For sure. I mean- For sure. And just beating the streets. Like, a lot of people come into this thing and they’ll think, “Hey man, I’m good at what I do, and if I’m just good at what I do, things will come. “And partly sometimes they will. It’s a long growth period though, right? Like, people have to hear from one at a time, you know, uh, interactions with people. Um- Yeah. A- a- my- my stance, and th- th- there’s no s- there’s no s- quick, quick, quick, quick, quick access or quick, uh, success isn’t built overnight. Right. Right? Y- you gotta go through the trenches. You gotta go through the mud. It’s- Mm-hmm. It’s- it’s- it’s- and some people just aren’t built for that, right? They- they- they wanna quit and you- you wanna break early. But if- if- if- if you have a core, if you- if your core values in life, whatever those are for you and your family- Yeah. Um, and- and you stick w- to a small little circle and not worry about all the naysayers on the outside trying to shoot you down, put you down, you’ll find success. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. But it, but- but it’s how far can you go before- be- before your mind gets broke? Mm-hmm. And- and- and so it’s really just, it’s- it’s having positive people around you, great mentors, um, and- and- and watching, wa- watching yourself go through the ups and downs and knowing that the downs only last for so long before you get back up. Yeah. I mean, honestly, like, if you think about, you know, you and your mom and- and your sister, you know, kind of being out there by yourself, and then, you know, hearing about a lot of schools popping up in a certain area, you know, and you’re like, “W- I can do that. “Like, that takes a lot of leap of faith and belief in yourself, right, to- A lot. to- to kind of pick yourself up and take yourself across country and say, “You know what? I’mNever done this before. I’ve, uh, I’ve- I’ve got 2 dependents on me that rely on me for everything. I’ve got no- no support on the other side of that. “Yeah. “Where do I go? “And- and a lot of people would give up at that point, you know? And then to hear, “Not only are you gonna get to that point, but you’re gonna jump over cross country, find a church that’s gonna support your mission, and then all of a sudden get out into parking lots and start selling individuals. “I mean, ’cause honestly, that sounds kind of crazy to me. Like- Yeah. that could be, like, you know, the guy trying to wash my car when I’m trying to get him out of here, you know, on the, when I’m stopped at a stoplight. And you’re like, “No, no. We’ve got a school. I promise. “You know? And it’s likehow- h- how do you think I, how do you think I felt? No, dead serious when I say that. Yeah. ‘Cause- ’cause you gotta realize this too. This is my mom’s vision at- at this point. I’m- I’m- I’m fresh outta high school, right? Right. And so I’m a high school kid, but I got my mom telling me I gotta go fly her cars in a parking lot when you see the next hot girl walking through with her boyfriend or whatever it is to go to the movies, get popcorn. But I’m out here flying cars to make sure that we’re able to eat, you know, on- on- on the next paychecks. And so- so yeah. You really get humbled real quick, you know? And- and it’s a, it’sThat’s why I say it’s- it’s the people who work for you that- that- that make the success 0 of your business. Yeah. You know, on the- I mean, and- and kudos to your mom too, man. Like, that’sThat kind of drive and that kind of vision and then that kind of, like, gumption, I guess is the, is the word for it. To be able to just, you know, say that I’m going to do this and I believe so fully in what I’m, what I’m doing and- and the vision that I have- Yeah. that I’m risking it all, you know? And- Absolutely. and that, that risk-it-all mentality plays so well into the, into a lot of growth for a lot of companies and a lot of people that you see do well. They believe in themselves and they put everything on the line, right? And that’s how you know someone’s gonna fight for it, right? Exactly. Yeah. Well, that’s cool, man. I- I love to hear that, how- how that thing started off. But, you know, you got to the strip mall. Like, what did you guys do? Like, besides, you know, finding more space and- Yeah. and- and making it a- a cool internal, how did you start to be presented seriously to the world from people that are just driving by? Like, were you putting signs on your buildings? Were you making this thing look more professional? Did you have a- a aha moment of, “Man, this really needs to look like a school now, not like a hidden room in the back where you actually can learn”? For sure. I mean, it’s- it’s l- like you said, all- all the above on that. But we were in the strip mall. I was probably in the strip mall there with him about a year. And then, uh, after that, I decided to, I wanted to leave for LA. And so I left for LA and went to design school. I, I enrolled at, uh, FIDM, Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandise, out there, got my degree out there, and built a clothing company. So I hate, I hate to, like, go back and forth and hop- Yeah. all over the place. No, that’s perfect. But, like, I was still, I was still young, right? Mm-hmm. And, and so that was my mom’s vision, and, and, and so she kept building it, kept running it, and, and it kinda stayed at a certain level where she was able to expand it. Um, built a, built another campus in another city called Peoria, about 45 minutes from where we’re located right there. Mm-hmm. And so then now she’s at, she’s sitting at 2, uh, brick and mortar schools, uh, by themselves. Mm-hmm. Um, uh, the Fashion Institute was awesome out there. Worked for, uh, a, a great company, one called Ice Bar, the other one called Critic. Um, I had a, I had a really, really cool, interesting partner. Um, today some people might know him, his name’s The Food God. Um, he’s got a big, big Instagram following on Instagram. Um, and, and he, it was his idea with this, create that name Critic. Yeah. But as we were selling Nordstrom’s, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, uh, all the high-end boutiques all around the world, not just the US, um, it, it was 2and then it came to be 2009, recession hit, everything crashed. And I was like, “Yo, people aren’t paying their bills. “So now here I am, stuck again at a little older age- Mm-hmm. but not being able to make enough money to, to, to support myself out there in LA. Mm-hmm. So we, we broke off and shut that thing down, then I came back in ’09 to help my mom continue, you know, her vision. Mm-hmm. And, uh, as I came back in ’09, uh, my whole thought process on here was like, “Yo, I’m gonna stick here for a year. Uh, I wanna get back into clothing. “Um, it was a lot of fun, I enjoyed it. I love the style of creativity. And then a year passed, and then another year passed, I’m like, “Uh-oh, uh, I don’t think I’m gonna be pooping back there. “And so I just hunkered down out here and just like, “All right, let’s start building this thing. “Yeah. Yeah. And so then, um, as, as I built this thing up, my, my best friend Swen Andersen, uh, was on the board, uh, for our school. My mom knew Swen very well, um, comes from a very high real estate background. And so with this real estate background, she wanted him to help out, because she was about to build another facility, uh, with, with a guy that, you know, was trying to pull the wool over our eyes on, on the financing and all this stuff. And you know, she, she already put out a bunch of money for down payments and, uh, to secure, to, to secure land and all that stuff. But at the same time, something just wasn’t right. And so Swen was able to come in and help out and, uh, get us back on track as far as the real estate goes. And, uh, short story, or l- long story short, he’s, he’s now taken over, and he’s the president of our company. Man, okay. So- Man, that’s, that’s really cool. You guys have kind of kept it close knit from, from the get, right? It’s like, you, you, the people you kind of came up with are the ones you kind of built with. Correct. Absolutely. Do you feel like that’s, uh, a big part of this? Do you feel like there’sis it a loyalty thing? Is it a trust thing? Like, like, why is that? It’s, it’s, like I said, again, it’s all the above, right? Mm-hmm. It’s, it’s all the above. Um, it’s kinda cliche to say this, and I, and, and I always say this like, as, we’ll get more into this a little later, but when we built the basketball program, my thing was like, “Yo, let’s keep our”Like, like, like you said, like, I didn’t go to, I didn’t go to college to play basketball. I, I didn’t go to college to play any professional Division I sport. But what I was really di- good at is, is, is leading people and, and getting people to believe in, in the vision of, of what we wanna do and what was next. And if you stuck together, we’d, we’d be all right. And so when I say this is a cliche, it’s like, my whole thing was like let’s keep the circle small, right? Mm-hmm. And, and, and go through it together. And so, you know, with the basketball part, there’s, uh, my head coach and current head coach right now. He wasn’t even the head coach when he first got here. He worked in the, he worked in the classroom, um, you know, work, working with, uh, younger students and stuff like that- Mm-hmm. as an aide, you know. But, but, but I knew he, I knew his background came from a, a high, high level prep school in, uh, Nevada called Finley Prep. And he had different pros like Rashod Vaughn, Kelly Oubre, and stuff like that. But he believed in what, the, the vision was. And the vision was to take this school here when I got back, and find a niche, and what can we do to increase the enrollment, right? If we’re able to increase the enrollment, we could, we’re, we’re able to travel more, we’re able to get, you know, nicer things for the, for, for the kids in school. Whether, whe- whether, if the enrollment goes up, you’re, you’re getting, better books, better Chromebooks, just all, all kinds of different things that go along with academics, but it also help, helped the sports program. Mm-hmm. And so our, our main goal was let’s get this enrollment cranked up so we can start doing a little bit better. Yeah. And so that’s kinda how we did it. We just got the enrollment cranked up. And, uh, we had another coach on here, his name’s Ed Gibson. Ed Gibson was, was, was a pioneer, he helped build this thing, built this program, uh, from the, from the bottom when we first created this thing in 2018. Mm-hmm. Um, he’s now moved on. He’s, he’s in his third year at San Jose State- Mm-hmm. as an assistant coach, right? That’s another thing I’m super proud about is we’re able to produce, some of these coaches that come here, they don’t go on to work in another high school. They go on to work at Division I colleges, you know? I, I was knowing that at some point, Ed and a couple of my other coaches, um, Jeremy Pope, uh, have a really good opportunity to probably go work in the NBA. Mm-hmm. You know, that’s, that’s funny. Like, I, I hear you talk a lot about, you know, the, the preparation of the athlete that’s coming through and the coaches you’re picking and where they’re from and the type of people you’re looking for. But in the classroom, ’cause you said this is a full, you know, full accredited school that, you know, your academics first. Does mom pick the teachers and you pick the coaches, or like, how does that happen? Yeah. And well, like, she, she definitely does all the a- on, on, on all the academic side. uh, when we were coming up in, in dealt with all the teachers, all the principals, all the leadership kind of stuff. That’s, that’s, that was her lane, you got messed with it, you know. And then she also did a lot on the arts because she was an artist herself. So she dealed with that, and then she kind of let myself and my partners work on the, on the, on the, um, sports part of it. Mm-hmm. So that’s kind of really how it worked. And obviously, even to this day, I don’t, uh, oversee the academics. Swen does, my partner, uh, and, and he, he has different individuals, great individuals that have been working here a, a long time, um, that, that help do the education part of it. So we’ve, we’ve promoted principals up to, you know, vice pre- vice, vice presidents of education and stuff like that, that, that have been through, uh, what the school is about and, and what it means and the culture that we, we have built here. And so you went from the strip mall, you know, that, where you were at then, right? And soAnd 197 students or something like that, right? And what was the growth pattern from that? What was the next step that came outside of that? Yeah. The ne- the, the next step was, wa- was, was to secure bonds and, and, and, and find money, uh, to, to raise money so we’re able to, you know, build more schools. B- be- because we’re almost starting to get to a point where we’re at capacity. Uh, and so once we’re at capacity, you know, the bondholders want to make sure that you’re able to, uh, fulfill your bond and, and, and cover your payments. And so we were able to do that, uh, by, by, by showing all our, um, you know, financials and all that kind of stuff, and get that all dialed in. Then we went out and found land and, and bought another school, um, and actually, uh, th- and then bought another school. And, and so really, this came from just, just, just keeping these things packed at capacity, right? And then that’s what kind of helped our growth. And just watching the growth, right? You don’t want to grow too fast and too quick. Even though, you, y- I’m telling you that outside naysayers, th- they, they tell you how to run a business but they’ve never been in the business. Right. And it drives me nuts. Yeah. You know, I’m, I’m able to zone that stuff out and just understand, like, if, if, if, if you believe in your team, go through the trenches with your team. Obviously, listen to your, your mentors and y- you find good people, um, in the finance industry that’s kind of helped us build these schools, um, get us to where we need to go, you know? Mm-hmm. Dave Sellers, you know Dave Sellers? Mm-hmm. He, he, he’s, he, he was one of the guys that actually first took his first shot on us when his dad was still, still alive. Wow, okay. Uh, he and his dad built our first, one of our first campuses over in South Phoenix, and, you know, Dave’s had a lot of success as a, as an an- another young guy to, to, uh, r- really tell, tell the story of, you know, coming up. Yeah. He’s, uhI got to get him on the list to, to tell the story as well, so. Absolutely. Um, all right. So, so at this whole time, like, even at these, these young levels or early levels of 28 kids, 29 kids, 97 kids, 197 kids, at this level, are you focused on sports at this point, or is this all education to this point? At this point, it’s really just all education. Right. You know? It’s, it’s definitely all education. Mm-hmm. And then we, weAnd then, and then, you know, we, we hit a snag at one of our, one of our facilities, our second, third facility that we built. Uh, it was, it was probably too big, and th- it, it, it was too big for what we thought we could put in there as far as kids go, right? Mm-hmm. And so we needed to come up with some kind of hook. We had a football field. Awesome. We had a, we had, we had a, we had a gym. Awesome. Football team takes 44, 45 kids. We got to outfit them with pads, helmets, everything like that. Um, high risk of injury. Um, basketball, 10 to 12 kids per team, right? And this is when we were first starting. Let’s just go with the lower risk prior, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. And s- and s- and so that’s how come basketball got picked up. That’s crazy. You know? It was a, a financial, uh, look at the, the, the what was easier to get started. That’s, that’s crazy. It’s, uh, uh, it’s, it’s exactly right. No, no one really knows that story. And that’s, that’s, that’s the truth. You, you know, like, what, what can we afford right now before the doors c- the, the doors could possibly close on us, right? Even though we have success, we have kids, you still got a, a big facility with a big note on it you got to pay every month, right? Mm-hmm. Or else, or else they can come in and take it. And so you got to make sure your financials are always in- intact and in, in the right spot. So, we were able to build a basketball program an- and start with, uh, just getting kids in and, and really just ramping it up. And that was like a- And what year? Go ahead. Sorry. That, th- uh, uh, I was, I was in 2017 going into ’18. Mm-hmm. That, that’s when it first started. And my thing was like, when we first did this thing, it’s like I told my partner, Swen, um, is that, uh, “We gotta get kids in. “And I was telling the coaches, “Just get kids that can dunk. I don’t care what their grades are, just get ’em in they can dunk. “And so I’m talking today, uh, Brandon, I s- I, I, I still get made fun of by some of the coaches. Like, “Oh, don’t worry about it Zy. If this kid can dunk, he can p- play here. “AndAnd tell me, tell me why that is. Why did you want somebody that could dunk? Because it, it’s, it’s, it’sback then too, it was the era of mixtapes and, and, and, and getting- Mm-hmm. these g- getting this stuff out onto social media, build your brand, build your name. And if we can cover these kids dunking and playing at a high level, uh, other kids are gonna wanna follow and, and, and, and see what’s going on. And so- You wanted the aha moment or the wow moment that kinda got everybody to cheer or holler in a game, you wanted to grab those highlights. Not the fundamentals, you wanted to grab those highlights and build off those highlights ’cause that got you exposure. It got me exposure. That’s exactly what I was looking for. I was looking for the exposure. And it, and it, and it worked, you know what I’m saying? Yeah. And then, and then, and then we took that model. Like, some of these kids that first started with us, um, you know, thank God we had one kid in that group that was a Division I athlete, but the rest were JUCOs. Mm-hmm. K- kids’ grades were terrible, you know, they can’t even qualify for NCAA. Mm-hmm. And so they had to go to JUCO. And so we got that thing going for about 2 more years, trying to build the hype. And then it got to a point it was like, “You know what? Let’s make this top team only Division I athletes. “Okay? And, and so every kid since 2000 probably f- 20, 21- Mm-hmm. has graduated from that team and gone Division I. So that was a, that’s a pretty, pretty remarkable and amazing thing to happen. You know, I think we’ve put a total of 94 Division I athletes in school, uh, over the last 9 years. You know- And that, that, that’s include- uh, that includes girls as well. Th- the funny thing is, is that you just said like, “Hey, get guys that can dunk,” and then it’s like, yeah, that’s cool, I- I’m, I’m building this thing up so I can get some social, but second to that is, you know what? I’m gonna do a whole nother one that’s just Division I athletes. Now, anybody can say, “Let’s just get Division I athletes and let’s move forward,” and let’s move forward with that and build a program up with that. But now going and finding kids that actually fit that mold that still want to go to your school- Yeah. there’s so many levels to making that thing happen, and you just said, “Hey, let’s just go do it. “Yeah. How do you go source these guys now? It’s not like I say, “Hey man, I want to go get, you know, major leaguers and build my softball team. “It’s like y- you can’t , you can’t just, you know, think it up. Like, what, uh, what were the steps to making that happen? The s- the step’s sort of finding a really, really good recruiter. And, and that recruiter was Pete Caffey, you know, and Pete’s still with me to this day, that’s my brother, my family. Um, he’s now our head coach and program director. And, and he was the guy that was able to get th- get out there and talk and, and sell the story, right? I sold him on what I wanted to do here, he believed in me, and now it’s his turn to likeyou know, it’s my turn to believe in him and sell the story and, and getting these kids in here. Mm-hmm. And he did a fantastic job. He’s from Minnesota, Minneapolis, and he went and found a kid named Booth Gotch. Booth is currently playing overseas. He went to, he, he went to University of Utah, uh, got a little small cup of coffee with the Orlando Magic, but he’s still playing overseas to this day, uh, making a lot of money and, and he believed in us, took that one shot. I’ll never forget this, Brandon. Pete called me and goes, “All right, this kid’s flying out, he got himself a ticket, he’s coming out, he’ll be here tomorrow. “Um, and then we had a phone call later on that night, he goes, “Hey, his brother took him to the airport, he’s backing out, he’s not coming. “I said, “Pete, you do whatever you gotta do to get this kid on this flight. Don’t, don’t do this to me. “That’s, I mean, that’s our first Division I athlete. Yeah. Uh, and, and, uh, he got him here the next day and, and, and the rest is history. Like, to the todayto this day Booth is still family to us. That’s awesome. You know, you, you break that mold of like, it just takes one, you know what I mean? It just takes one to prove it. Just take one. You know? And so building a model based upon using that guy’s name of, hey, we got this guy here, look what he’s done, you know? Mm-hmm. And so you can show everybody that we have the ability to level something up just by taking a risk on one or taking a loss on one and proving the, proving the theory, right? And I’m telling you right now, like, 0 obviously like to this day, like right now, we’re ranked number 5 in the nation, um, in, in, in, in, uh, for our, for our top, for our top team right now. And, and that’s pretty amazing, right? Um, I think we’re in week 14 right now, but, um, when we first built this thing, we, we, we took loans. I’m talking loans. Like, like, we’d go out, we’d, we’d drive out, spend every dollar we could have that we could raise as fundraising money goes and get a hotel for one or 2 nights max- Mm-hmm. we were definitely not staying over 2 nights because we didn’t have the money or the budget. We’d take school lunch from here, pack it in coolers, get in our vans and drive one, 1, one van out to, uh, to Las Vegas because that was like one of the closest states we could go play some out-of-state competition from. Um, I’d drive my own personal vehicle, he’d drive his own personal vehicle just to make sure we could get these kids there and- Mm-hmm. and, and ha- and ha- have a good trip. But then you’re playing against other pro- top prep programs at the time. And these guys would take us on, no problem. Yeah, these guys are nobodies, right? We, we can thump on them no problem. But it helped us, it helped us with the recruiting, right? Mm-hmm. Because we werego out and play these top prep programs, we’d get thumped, we, we’d hang with them maybe the first half-And then after that, it was, it was, it was downhill. There, there was no way. get beat by 15, 20, 25, 30 points. But it was still the experience, right? And we’re still selling the experience to these kids, and we were able to get film from- for these kids or playing against other top kids and, you know, like I said, just take one kid to get these kids going in, in Division I. And like I said, the first few years, it wasn’t only Division I. We had Division II kids and, and, and some of those kids that really stepped up and didn’t know what they were getting themselves into those first few years, I love them to death. You know, this place wouldn’t be a thing without them. Mm-hmm. They, they, they took the opportunity, took the chance on us. Now we got kids that are, that are there that didn’t quite make Division I or something like that, but they’re out making big money in real estate, real estate development, all kinds of stuff, and they still see what’s going on. They come back and talk to these kids, and they’ll donate back to the program to help this thing go because hey, um, th- those kids thought they were really, really good at the time, but don’t really see what, what, what it is now. And this is, it’s, it’s, it’s a excitement of love to like, “Yo, this is where I’ve came from. This is where I was born. This is where I was made at when it comes to sports. “Mm-hmm. And so now it’s just kind of, it’s, it’s a snowball that has just carry re- rolling in the right direction for us, and it’s been a lot of fun. That’s crazy. I mean, honestly, like, the, the forging that you’re talking about there of going through the process ofYou know, a lot of people are trying to find people of their own caliber to measure themselves against, and you guys are like, “That’s not where we want to be. “Mm-hmm. “So let’s not go play people who are just like where we’re at. “”We wanna go play people who are where we want to be. “Correct. “Yeah, we’re gonna get punched in the face a lot. “”But guess what? This is who you want to be. This is the standard. This is the mark. Now you’ll know. “That’s also the, uh, the, the same aspect of like, uh, the dunking kid, right? “Show me the highlights. “Mm-hmm. Yeah. Well, now I’ve got a highlight of my kid versus your top tier kid-because we stepped in the same realm, right? Exactly. Ex- exactly right. And it, it helped us, it helped us tremendously, you know, and it, it got these kids ready to where they’re at today, soHave you seen the, uh, there’s a painting, uh, or an illustration that’s like a, it’s a goldfish and it has a shark fin strapped onto the back of it? Hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. And it says, “Fake it till you make it,” right? 1000%. Yeah. Right? That’s so funny. I, uh, I used that all the time back in the day. Uh-huh. N- no joke. Me, me, me and a couple of buddies and just people I work with, “Just fake it till you make it. “And, and, and, and, and realistically it’s like, we were never really faking it. Mm-hmm. We, we, we were, we were just really just trying to- Forging. make it happ- make, make, make, make it happen, right? And, and it’s a easy way to say it, “You’re faking it. “But like, no, it really wasn’t faking it. It, we, we were really living life getting whooped on, you know? But, but we’re fighting through the struggles, right? That’s, that’s the hardest part is fighting the struggles. They suck sometimes, you know. You don’t want to go to work, you know, it’s, it’s gonna be tough, but if you’re gonna fight through those, those tough times, it makes the, the, the, the brighter times so much better, you know? Isn’t it funny too as people start to recognize the vision, there’s people that want to get on board with people that see the vision with you? Yeah. And sometimes they’re just a step behind you and they just need to be able to see that vision and see what you’re doing, and then they’re like, “Oh, cool. I got this. I see where we’re going,” and now- Yeah. they’re on board. There’s always the person that’s the opposite too that can’t see that vision that wants to naysay you, right? That wants to, you know, shovel dirt on top of you because they can’t see it, and then when they bail out and you still end up succeeding and they’ve gone a different direction. Have you had any of those like, “Hey, man, we just gotta cut ties. “Like, “You’re just not, you’re not going that route. “Yeah. Absolutely. Mm-hmm. A- absolutely. Um, I, I, I wouldn’t say a ton of, a ton of them, but there’s, there’s definitely a handful of them, right? Mm-hmm. Definitely a handful of them. And, and the vision, and, and I think more like today over the last few years is people see the, the, the, the brand that we’ve built here, and you think they’ve come in for the right reasons, but they’re not here for the right reasons. They, they want to eat off that name, AZ Compass- Mm-hmm. and they, they want to do their own thing. They, they, they think that’s the way to do it. That’s not the way to do it. And if you want, if you want to build your own thing, I’d rather have you come to me and be up front with me and tell me you want to do it- Yeah. so I can mentor you and tell you how to do it. That’s cool. Right? And, and s- and so, yeah, we’ve had to let people go, and I always tell people, like, I, I have never really fi- I, I’ve never fired anyone in my life. The people fire themselves. And I’m the guy that’s gotta deliver the message. “Yo, this is what you did, this is what you did, this is what you did. You can’t be here. “Yeah. You get what I’m saying? Like, I, I, I, I, I don’t fire people. People, people fire themselves. Because I’ll tell you what it else, w- what else is hard for me. ‘Cause once that person does get let go, it’s gonna be my job to figure out who I’m gonna replace that person with. Mm-hmm. I’d rather coach you up to do the right things and give you a chance, have your chance, have your chance, but sometimes it just doesn’t work that, like that in life, because your vision’s over here, well, we’re going this way. Right. Yeah, it’s, it’s a lot easier to coach up than start from 0, for sure. So much easier. And people know, uh, you know a little bit about that person, they know a l- a lot about you and your company and what you’re going and where your vision is. Correction is, is so muchit is a better approach. For sure. Uh, but sometimes you gotta cut the arm off, right? You do. You do. And, and, and it sucks. You get what I’m saying? But I’m telling you what, it’s better to cut the arm off, because you give that person the opportunity to go figure out what they did wrong, and hopefully they can fix it. Mm-hmm. Right? And if it’s, and, and if, if, if, if I’m letting someone go, and it’s not, it’s not something super, like, uh, detrimental, uh, to the point where, like, I can’t bring the guy ever back, I’ll give him, uh, I might give someone a opportunity. Mm-hmm. You, you know what I’m saying? To, to, to come back. Mm-hmm. I’m, I’m, I’m not that dude. Right? Yeah. But if, if it’s, if it was that bad, then yeah, you’re, you’re done for a while, and sorry. Yeah. So I, I like to work with individuals to make sure that, um, you know, they have the opportunity, I’m able to coach them up, and they, and they see the vision. Mm-hmm. Well, all right. So, uh, no, I can see that. And like, and, and what about as far as athletes go as well? Is there any that you’ve brought into the fold that just really didn’t fit who you were, and you say, “You know what? We gotta, we’re gonna have to let you go”? Oh, for sure. For sure. And that usually happens every single year. Mm-hmm. Right? Um, this year, this year’s been actually pretty solid. Pretty solid. And I’m, I’m super thankful for that. But, you know, in, in the past, over the years, um, there’s always a kid that, you know, comes from, you know, may- may- maybe somewhere back East where it’s dark all the time, and you don’t, you don’t get this nice beautiful sunshine, and you can be outside all the time, getting into stuff. And they come out here and they see it and go, “Oh my gosh. “And then they, they, they, they go, they go, they go the wrong route instead of staying focused on the main goal. Mm-hmm. The main goal is to make sure you’re out here in the gym, you’re working out, you’re getting better, you’re taking advantages of all the tools and opportunities that we’re able to provide you guys as far as your weight training goes, uh, your meal prep, your, uh, nutrition, and your skill development, right? Mm-hmm. And if you’re not taking advantage of that and you’re more worried about hanging out with the girls or doing whatever you wanna do on the side, breaking curfews or doing, you, you know, that kind of stuff, it’s, it’s not gonna work. And, and, and we never just let a kid go just 00 over one infraction. Mm-hmm. It, it, it’s not us, ’cause, right, we’re, we’re in the business of, of coaching. Mm-hmm. We’re in the b- business of, of, of, of teaching and serving, right? And, and so, a kid’s neverJust like an employee, never, ne- ne- ne- never have to fire the kid, and never wanna kick a kid out, unless the kid kicks himself out. Mm-hmm. And, and, and so that’s, that, that, that, that, it sucks sometimes, and I have kids come back and tell us, like, “Man, I shoulda got it when I was there. Now I see what you’re saying. “And we’re great, you know what I’m saying? And, but, but, yeah, you, you gotta ta- you gotta teach kids sometimes the hard way, and then just to send ’em home. Mm-hmm. And, uh, and they’re like, “Hey, you can’t be here ’cause you don’t see the vision. “And you’re gonna, you’re gonna hurt what we’re trying to build here. ButIs there a specific type of kid that you’re really looking to focus on? And I don’t mean how high they can jump, dunk. And I don’t mean how athletically gifted they are. And I don’t mean what they do in the academics. Is there a, a little bit of all of that- Mm-hmm. but is there a, uh, certain, uh, personality style, or a trait, or things that you look for to pull away from people as they go to, “Hey, that’s our guy. That’s our kinda person. This could be a X, Y, Z for us”? Yeah. Yeah, so like, f- f- for our top team, right, um, some, a m- a majority of the kids don’t live here in Arizona. They all live out of state, and so forth. And so we’ll get on Zoom meetings just like this, have our full staff on, on there, all our coaching staff, our academic staffs, our deans, all that stuff, principal on the, 00 on a call, and we’ll kind of vent the kid, and then we’ll also vent the family. You know, make, make sure it’s a right fit. And you can kind of pick up, like, are they communicative, d- do they talk well? Or do, do they, they just kinda on the call ’cause the parents want them to be here, but the kid wants to be back at home at his, at his normal local high school- Mm-hmm. because it’s easy, I wanna get out of my comfort zone. You know? So yeah, it, it’s all the time, we’re really trying to figure out what kind of personality this kid has, and if we think it’ll fit right with this team. Mm-hmm. And so it starts from the minute we finish our, uh, our, our tripThe Chipotle Nationals are, are, are, are our main, uh, final game of the year is, is to figure out who’s the best in the nation. Mm-hmm. And I’m talking the day after we shut down Chipotle Nationals, we’re on the phones, banging phones, talking to parents, talking to kids to figure out, hey, is this gonna be a good fit for you for the following year? Mm-hmm. And as you’re building your programs, are, are you still expanding now? Or do you feel like you’ve got 4 or 5 teams or whatever? Is it always looking to grow? 13. Or do you think, hey, we’ve got- Thir- 13 teams. 13 teams now. 13 basketball teams. All the way from elementary school, yeah. So, do you want more? Or do you think, I’ve got a system here, and I just want to get the best of the best inside of that system? Great question. And, and, um, that’s exactly where we’re at. And, um, I’m gonna even go back to like when we first built this thing. People wanted us to expand, expand, expand. That was not my model. My model was like, let’s get this first team that’s really, really good the best they can possibly be. Mm-hmm. Right? Because I don’t need to start another team, start a post-grad team, start this team if I can’t get this thing organized and dialed up the way I need it to do it. Mm-hmm. That’s why I go back to saying, hey, keep the circle small, focus on being really, really good at what we’re really good at, and then we’ll start to expand, and that’s how, that’s kinda how we broke out and expanded. And when I say like, we weren’t ready, it’s like, we wanted to expand when, when we barely had a, a, a deal with a, with a shoe company. Mm-hmm. Right? Our, our first deal with Adidas was, was really not a deal. You know? It was, it was, it was through a friend of a friend who hooked us up with a partner and was able to get us, uh, uniforms and I’m talking like our, our numbers were peeling off it, running on the court. Couldn’t afford to get new uniforms and it, it, it sucked. It was terrible, but you know, that, that makes, that makes the growth and the sacrifice that much more worth it. Mm-hmm. And so then we were able to switch over and we got over to, uh, Under Armor, um, and Under Armor really took care of us, man. Great, great, great group. Um, great leadership over there, and really believed in us ’cause they saw the vision before, you know, before really anyone else did, and was like, “Oh, these guys know what they’re doing. All right. We can work together. “They have great leadership in their program. They have great basketball coaches. They got great kids. They’re respectful when they’re on the road. They’re cleaning out their locker rooms. Uh, when they leave, they pick up the trash on the benches. It’s the small detail things- Mm-hmm. that me as a leader, I make sure to try to really instill in these kids. Right? You’re a representation of not only yourself, but you’re representing that brand on your shirt that you’re, that, that, that you’re wearing. You know? And, and p- don’t, don’t, trust, trust me when I say this, they see that, that, the name on that backpack, and if you have a kid acting up in an airport, which we travel a lot now these days, they’ll, they’ll, they’ll send an email to myself or a president or, or principal and they’ll get ahold of us and let, let, let us know something happened. Hm. Right? And so thankfully, uh, it’s been a minute since we’ve got those emails. But what, but we, we, we work on it, instilling that kind of discipline and that kind of model you heat, you gotta be, people are always watching you. Your, your, your name, your brand is too big. Let me ask you this. As y- you were talking about all the stuff was falling off your jerseys and, you know, was outdated or whatever, and so did you reach out to Adidas? Adidas found you? Or was it like- No. We, w- we kind of reached, I can, I, I said it wasn’t even really Adidas Adidas at that time. We reached out to a friend that was connected with someone from Adidas- Yeah, yeah, yeah. and that’s how that connection kinda happened, and then we talked to Adidas a little bit, and we were actually even paying for stuff at the time for, from Adidas. And it, and it was nothing great. It was, uh, at least we could match each other. Yeah. You know, it’s probably the worst of the worst. Yeah, yeah. Or we have some extra sizes of this, all right, let’s hook you guys up. This is what we have. You know, that’s kind of how that worked. And then like I said, Under Armor came in, took care of us for a few years, and- Yeah. they did a real good job and then, um, and then, and then Nike. And then Nike- Yeah. uh, really came in and said, “All right. We see what’s going on. “And they, they, they did school tours. You know, they brought, they brought executives down to do school tours to- Mm-hmm. see hey, is this really a school or is this a, a pop-up basketball school? No, it’s a, it’s an actual brick and mortar K through 12 school. You know, they wanted, they wanted to vent that to figure out really what it was because there’s so many programs, and even to this day, that, that aren’t really basketball. They’re not, not actual schools. Right? Their schools are attached to some kinda different kinda academic platform, uh, maybe a private school over here that they can outsource the, the, the school part and go online, but we have all that in-house here. Mm-hmm. We have real teachers, you have real academic deans. Mm-hmm. It’s, it’s a real school. Counselors. All that. When you, when you leveled up from, uh, Adidas to Under Armor and then into Nike, like, was that a certain level of like, you now start looking around at your guys internally and you’re like, hey, w- w- we’re starting to get there, right? As, as- Yeah. Were those moments for you where you felt like accomplishment was happening, or do you feel like, uh, “We deserve this. This is who we are. We’re punching above our, our, our weight, but this is where-” Yeah. ” we’re supposed to be. “I, I, I never wanna say I deserved it, right? The, the’Cause I, I, I just don’tThat’s not my mindset. I’m not wir- like I, I deserve anything. I’m n- I do- I don’t deserve anything unless I work for it. Right. And, and, and so I feel like we’ve worked for it, and that’s why we got it. Mm-hmm. Does that make sense? Yeah. You getYou know what I’m saying? Like, ev- everything that we have in life and everything that we do is, is, is ’cause we work hard at it. Mm-hmm. You know? Like, when, when somethingWhen, w- when people, people don’t see, um, we’re here Monday through Friday, but then we also have to leave S- Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and we go back to work on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday. Mm-hmm. It’s gonna be like that for the next 3 weeks for us. We go to LA onWe go to LA this weekend, on Friday. We return Sunday, back to work and school on Monday. Fly to Boston on Thursday, out there for Martin Luther King holiday, and then fly, fly back, and then boom, back to school again. There’s, there’s gonna be- Mm-hmm. no days off, but- Mm-hmm. uh, this is, this is what these kids, uh, at this high level are getting ready for. Mm-hmm. You know? We’re, we’re, we’re the show. We’re the show in high school. And th- and that’s what these college guys are doing, that’s what the NBA guys are doing. They’re playing on Christmas, you know what I’m saying? Mm-hmm. There’s, there’s, there’s no days off like that. Yeah. And so all we’re doing is really preparing their mind. And I, I, I, I, I’m super grateful and super thankful that I’ve seen it, and now I know, like, when we get our freshmenOr, our seniors going in to be freshmens, um, at school, wherever they’re playing, University of Maryland, ex- Xavier, for instance, for some of our kids this year, um, they’re gonna be ready. When they step- Mm-hmm. on that court as a freshman, they’re not gonna be coming off the bench. You know? They’re, they’re, they’re gonna, they’re gonna know like, “Hey, I’ve gone through the grind. “Mm-hmm. “I know what the 6:00 AMs look like. I know what the 1:30s look like. I know what the 6:00 PM looks like, going 3 times a day sometimes, depending on what part of the season we’re in. “Mm-hmm. And so we really break these kids down and put ’em in, put ’em in s- situations. The coach does a fantastic job, Pete Cappi, of, of really putting these kids in, uh, certain, certain, um, certain, uh, plays or something like that when they’re on the court, and, and breaks ’em down, likeAnd, and he’ll be the referee and so forth on, on scrimmages, and, and presses their buttons and not call a foul even though it’s a foul, and see how they react. Right? And so they’re in the moment, and then he, he’ll tell like, they’ll, they’ll react the, exactly what we expect them to react. Then we go back in coaching like, “We did this on purpose. “Mm-hmm. We’re testing you because being able to do that to a ref when you’re playing Aspire Academy or Montverde Academy or IMG- Mm-hmm. th- y- you know? Y- you have to fight through it. And, and, and our game might be on the line, down 10 points in the 4th quarter. How are you gonna react? And so we really test these kids to get these kids prepared. It’s like results from preparation, uh, setting them up for that, the same way you get results from Adidas, Under Armor, Nike, from the preparation you guys have done before, right? Right. Correct. It’s like all, all the effort, all the setup, all the role play, all the everything you go through to get to the point to where people start to recognize, these are the results that come from effort, from- Yeah. composure, from dedication, right? Correct. Correct. It’s a lot of it. A lot of it. Yeah. As you, uhDo you guys have a mantra that you give the kids of like, “Hey, this is, this is who we are. This is, you know, how we carry ourselves”? Not, not really a mantra. And, and it kinda switches ev- e- every year, you know? Like, uh, that w- we did have one, like, we did a docuseries, and it’s called Purpose Over Dreams, right? Just r- r- really believing in the purpose. Mm-hmm. So that kinda got the kids going, and, and, uh- That’s cool. we are actually gonna be dropping a new docuseries, uh, this year. So you’re really one of the first ones to know about it. We got a guy that’s filling. Um, and so he’ll be traveling with us, and it, it, it’ll be really cool to watch these kids interact, you know? You have 5 stars and 4 stars in the kids. You have kids on the team making a lot of money off the NIL, right? Mm-hmm. It’s, it’s just part of the, it’s part of the world these days, right? And then, and then- Mm-hmm. it’s, it’s hard f- It’s not hard for us as a school, but it’s, it’s, it’sIf you don’t move with the change and find out the right and legal way to do it, you’re gonna be left behind. Yeah. And, and so that’s what we’re always doing is constantly navigating through those, uh, obstacles. Because the school down the street who can also do the same thing that we’re doing here are able to get those kids ’cause they have, uh, you know, financial backing or, or, or a big donor that was able to put money into these kids’, uh, pockets and to help them like- Does NIL go all the way down to high school? Oh yeah. Yeah. What’s the lowest you’ve seen I- NIL go down to? High scho- High school only for us. High school only. But in the industry? Only thing I know is high school. Wow, that’s crazy. Yeah. I didn’tI would never even have thought about that. But I’m j- but I’m s- I’m sure. I’m, I’m sure there’s some kinda 8th grader, some kinda 7th grader, something like that getting paid, right? I, I don’t know. I’m not ready for it yet. No, that’s crazy. How does thatHonestly, like, I, I see the benefit comes outta all that, but man, the transfer portal that’s out there right now is out of control. There’s like 2,000 or something kids inside that this year, right? Yeah. H- Everybody’s about catching that bag, right? And soCorrect. So how do you deal with that? Like, how do you skirt that? I, I mean, I didn’t even think about askingThis is gonna open a whole new door for me now, now that we’ve gone into this, this part of it, but as you guys go into competing with people, it’s not even about what the service you offer or how good you can make somebody. It’s about the bag. So how do you- It is. How, how do you handle that? Well, thank God, like, we, we, we’ve been very, very lucky, um, of, of handling it without dropping bags like that, because w- w- we literally can’t. We’re, we’re a school, and th- this, thisIt just doesn’t work. Um, we will sometimes help with kids if, if, if, if. If, if they have an agent or need an agent, or wanna talk to somebody, we’ll point them in the direction, but we stay out of that. You know, as, as far as the school goes, just, uh, it’s, it’s not our bag. And, you know, um, we, we will, we’ll guide them or put them i- in contact with another parent that’s come through our program that’s had to deal with it- Mm-hmm. and let them talk to that parent, you know. But it’s happening all the time and, and if you think it’s not, you’re crazy. Mm-hmm. And the comp- competition level’s got to be huge on that for you guys to be number 5 in the nation and, and skirting that- Yeah. pretty well. Like, kudos. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. But, uh, but, you know, like I said, I, I think it does go back to, you know, these guys do a really good job of getting these kids developed, right? Mm-hmm. Right? Their development when they come off the court. I don’t know if you know, but we, we sent the 7th pick, Jeremiah Fears, that went to, um, the New Orleans Pelicans, right? Mm-hmm. He was with us, worked with us as a s- as a junior, and he was playing as Cooper Flagg- Mm-hmm. uh, Derek Queen, and- Yep. and, and all those guys, they played- Mm-hmm. for Montver at the time. Mm-hmm. We’d, we’d, we’d have major battles with those guys. But, um, he was a junior and, and, and he just got really, really good over that last junior year and, and, and his mindset was just like, “I, I’m a pro. I’m a pro. I gotta move on. “It’s like, um, “All right. Well, if, if you believe it, we’re gonna help you get there, and, and the only way we can help you get there is help training you the right way and coach you the right way,” and then, you know. Then he wanted to play, uh, Nike EYBL basketball over the summer and no one knows, but he had this plan and his family worked with, uh, my mom on the academic part of it to make sure that he was able to dial in and go to summer school. And so he went to summer school that whole entire time playing EYBL on the circuit, got them right, got his credits right, and he was able to graduate a year early. Went to, uh, Oklahoma as, as, asHe should’ve been an incoming senior. He went as an incoming freshman to college, and so he played that freshman year when he should’ve been a senior with us, uh, and had a killer, killers year, and was able to, to, to get dialed in an- and, and become a lottery pick in, in the draft last year. And, uh, I’m not sure if he followed me a- at all this year, but, you know, he’s still in the running for Rookie of the Year. He’s top 5 for sure. That’s crazy, man. I mean, honestly, those got to be huge success stories for you guys as you start, you know, putting out these types of athletes. And, and again, like, from dreaming it, making it happen, forcing your way, and, and playing up, like, how do you play up past that? You have to have somebody that turned into a Hall of Famer that’s come through your group, right? Like- Mm-hmm. like, the story is coming. Like, you’re putting- Yeah. out all these seeds and the s- Yeah. something’s gonna hit, right? For sure. For sure. I think it will, you know? And, and, and nextThat, that, that’s, that’s a reward to us. Mm-hmm. Right? It’s, it’s not about getting free tickets or, um, you know, big donations back to the program. This is, it’s seeing these kids change their lives, and not even change their lives, it’s changed their family lives. Mm-hmm. And so, uh, that, that, that, to me, makes me smile. Like, “All right. That’s why we did it. “And then the best thing for me is, is when these kids come back and they work out with the kids. You know? When Jeremiah was here playing the Suns, uh, a few months ago, came in the gym, was, was down here working out, doing his thing and, you know, and then went back to his hotel. But, like, they, they always come back and give back because they know, like, hey, or even if I’m going through a struggle, I’m, I’m struggling a little bit, we’ll have kids fly out here. Let me get in that gym. Mm-hmm. And I know, I know that’s whereI know that’s where I got really, really good at and I, I feel like I’m at home. I need to get my shot back. And they’ll come out here, fly in for the weekend, stay, get shot’s up, work with our, uh, our excellent skill developer, uh, Maurice Riddick, Coach Mo. Love the guy. He’s a s- he, he’s a, he’s a pro. But, uh, they love him and he, and he does a great job of just building relationships with these kids. Mm-hmm. And, you know, like, it’s, it’s not just me. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. It’s not me. Yeah. It’s, it’s the team around me that makes us as good as we are. Mm-hmm. So let’s, let’s dive into those guys just for a minute. You guys start bringing in coaches. Like, what are the fundamental choices that you have to make when you go to start finding coaches? Like, what are you specificallyIs it, um, you’re a good glue guy or you’re, you got these skins on the wall or you’ve played in the pros orBecause some of that does have a little bit of draw to it. If you say, “Hey, so-and-so, Kidd, come over here. You’re gonna now play for,” you know, Dirk Nowitzki or, or LeBron, you know, and they’re gonna go, “Yeah. I’d love to do that. “You know? Or, “I’d love toI’d love Jason Kidd to coach me, you know, while I’m, while I’m doing whatever. “Right? So is it name or is it, like, culture fit? It’s culture fit and it’s definitely a little bit about name too. Are, are you talking about the coaches? Yes. Yes, sir. Yeah, so, so, so, so with the coaches it’s like, let’s just talk about Maurice Reake real quick for a second. Uh, he, he, he’s got a great little organization called I PLAY and he’s played a lot of overseasprofessional basketball and he, he, he loves kids. You know, you can see it in, in his passion. Um, and, uh, when, when he came, uh, to, to work for us, uh, our other head coach at the time, Ed Gipson, helped bring him in. But he stuck around us for over a year, not getting paid. You know, just loved to be around the program. ‘Cause y- y- y- people that want to come around the program, they won’t stick. They’ll stick there for a month and like, “Oh, I can’t do this. This ain’t right. “And then they, they, they weed themselves out. But with Maurice, it’s like he built himself into, in- into this organization, you know? Mm-hmm. Like, like how his family, his, his wife, uh, was, was always around too. She was here, uh, just checking on Moe and stepping in, and now sh- she works here at the school too. Her kids go to school here, right? Mm-hmm. It’s a family environment, you know? This campus, AZ Compass, only has about 600 kids on it, um, so it, w- we call it a boutique, right? A lot of these kids are here for their specific sport or their specific art or academics. But you, you, you, they’re just push each other, you know? With mandatory study halls. I don’t care if you have straight As, you’re still gonna get in there, you’re gonna do some work for this hour and a half, you know? Mm-hmm. You gotta check in. It’s like, uh, the, the kids’ grades don’t fall. We don’t have any issues with kids not being able to, be able to get on the court because their grades aren’t right, there- Mm-hmm. There’s too many people put in place fr- with our systems that we, w- it’s, it’s hard to fail out, it’s hard to fail, right? And if, and if you’re not failing, and if you are failing, this is probably not the spot for you. Yeah. You know what’Cause there’s too many opportunities that w- we make sure that you have the opportunity to get the stuff done in the classroom. Mm-hmm. Yeah, you gotta get- So, and then youGo ahead, sorry, sorry, keep going. But then, then, then you just a- and you know, and you go back to Coach Moe, he’s l- he’s literally the best skills development basketball coach I’ve ever worked with and, and ever seen. You know, he builds these relationships with these kids, not just on the court but off the court, right? He works with them on weekends, he talks to them after schools. He’ll even jump on the game if he has to, right? You know, he’s funny. Great, great, great human being. Mm-hmm. Blessed. Are you, um, are you involved when it comes to recruiting coaches? Are you doing that yourself? Do you have somebody you lean on for that? Like, what is the, what is the curation process going forward with that? Combination of both. You know, obviously we, we come tog- together as a collective staff, right, um, that, that cr- currently here, and if we recruit new coaches, we’ll, we’ll bring it to the table, w- we’ll bring them in and have meetings. And so it’s kind of a little bit of everybody. And just knowing the personalities that we currently have that work here, we know what we’re looking for, right? Mm-hmm. Um, one of our assistant coaches, Luke Jackson, he was at Fresno State and, and, uh, uh, University of Washington. He had a buddy he met, uh, you know, Titus Shelton. Titus Shelton came to us last year from USC. So we get, we, we get also Division I coaches that coach for us on this high level team because sometimes, and at a prep school like us that has very, very high ranking kids, and we’re producing as many pros as we’re producing, you might work with more pros at, in the high school level than you, you are even at that Division I school. You know, our track record of producing pros is, uh, is, is at a higher rate, you know, than some colleges. Hm. So that’s, that’s the cool part. So that’s howcome we’re able to attract some of these college coaches. Well, that’s crazy. I didn’t, I didn’t think about that. You guys are producing more, uh, professional athletes than a lot of the colleges are? Yeah, I wouldn’t say, I wouldn’t say a lot of them, but, but a majority of them for sure. Wow. You know? Okay. Why do you think that is? I mean, other than, I mean, uh, ’cause you’re, you’re prep all the way up through high school, right? And you’re saying by the time they get to you guys- Mm-hmm. you’re handing them to top tier schools. You must be- Correct. Ah, I got it. Okay. So, so, so basically, like, on, on our team, we, we could have more than 15 star. Some of those colleges might only have 15 star. We might have 3 or 45 stars. You know what I’m saying? 5 stars, one through 20 in the nation. You know, this started out at a, at a church and, uh, 29 people- Unbeliev- unbelievable. and now we’ve got more 5 stars than most colleges in the country. Unbelievable, yeah. It’s, it’s special. Man, what a, what a blessing that is. That’s, that’s, that’s really, really cool, man. I’m pretty, really proud of you. Um- Appreciate it. Yeah, and, and just to even bring the culture to, to where it’s at today and still continue to, um, you know, build this dream and stay humble and, and, and continue to grind, because a lot of people would kind of, you know, sit back in the easy chair. But you, you want to be, you know, front and center still in the mix on this, right? absolutely. Every, every year I always, uh, uh, ask to kind of step away a little bit more and more, you know- Mm-hmm. so we can continue to build other, 0 other, um, projects that we have coming up, um- Mm-hmm. And I’ll tell you one thing, like, go back to my, my, my other partner, uh, back in the day, Ed Gipson, our head coach, um, when he was here, he had me sitting on the bench with him, right? “Get at the end of the bench, watch what’s going on with body language, keep me in the game, know what’s going on. “Um, and so I did that. And then, and then after Ed left to go to San Jose State, Pete stepped into this role and says, “No, you gotta stay on that bench. “Like, “You guys, come on. “He said, “Stay on so we, we get some more networking with, with, with our guys,” and so forth. But they yet to let me get off that bench. And then another issue, I thought I was gonna be off this year. I’m back on the bench again this year, but I got the House twins, Cailick and Cayden House. Okay. Right? And, uh, and, and another, another senior, Quincy Wadley. from, from the D. C. area. Mm-hmm. Um, I was with them last year, and it’s hard to let these se- these, these juniors go that were here. I know they’re gonna have a f- th- they’ve had a fantastic year this year. They’re all committed to colleges, but I can’t let- let those guys go, and Iand, and they want me around. And, and so that’s what kind of brings me back to working on that, working out on that bench and, and constantly travel with them and, you know, making sure all our travel itinerary is set up and dialed in. I’m very, um, very, uh, anal about making sure that things arethe detail is dialed in to, to how many flights we have and make sure that I’m working with the different travel coordinators and stuff like that, that way we know what’s gonna happen, our 10 itineraries, when study halls are- Mm-hmm. and all that. And so I’ve kind of given up some of thatsome of the roles a little bit this year, I’m trying to step away just ’cause, you know, we have some other opportunities and, and some plans to continue to build. Um, uh, but, but it’s- it’s- it’s been- it’s been hard, you know what I’m saying? I lo- I- I love it. It’s- it’s a passion. I was talking with an individual this morning today, he goes, “You do that ’cause it’s a passion. “And it’s like- Yeah. sometimes when you love it, you don’t even realize it’s passion. Mm-hmm. Even though is it gonna suck to re- do these next few trips? It’s gonna suck, but it’s gonna beit’s gonna beit’s gonna- it’s gonna be a blessing at the same time, you know? The cool, the cool thing is, is that you’re building relationships with these kids who turn into something down the line, right? Yeah. Um, you’re- you’re planting seeds, not just with, like, what they can do, but the relationships that you’re building for success for them, you know- Correct. is really cool. Correct. You know, and that kind of transitions over to, you know, the way that you’ve grown this from what it is. I mean, maybe you end up one day, you know, uh, president of, uh, Nike or,then, then you end up being the GM of the Mavericks or something like that. You know what I mean? And- Absolutely. then you make one of the worst trades of all time, but I don’t know. We’ll see where this goes. I ain’t making that trade. That was so bananas. That, that, that still hurts me to this day, but- Oh, yeah. But we’re in a good spot. What do you, what do you think about that one? It’s tough. You, you know what I’m saying? Like, y- y- y- you hear, you hear like, it wasit wasn’t his decision, you know, your, your GM’s decision to make that and it can’tbut, but I’m not sure. You know, there’s so much underlying s- uh, information that we don’t know and that we’ll- Mm-hmm. never know, that will probably never make the public. Honestly, all it is is speculation. Yeah. You know? I don’t think Luka wanted to leave. Um, I- I think he wanted to be in Dallas, you know, but at the same time, there’s other people working behind the scenes that we don’t hear about. There’s always gonna be a fall guy that’s gonna take- Mm-hmm. the blame for, for, for making that call, so. Mm-hmm. Oh, you’re thinking there’s potentially some, some back end story that, uh, somebody was really pushing their way one way or the other and it just- Yep. and it came to a head and, and they had to pull the trigger? I think so. I, I, I think something like that possibly. A, a me-or-you-type scenario? W- what do you mean? Uh, like aOh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yes, yes- Okay. yes, yes, yes. Exa- exactly. A, uh- Him or me. me-or-you. Yeah. Yeah. Mirrored, yeah. And then they s- and they still get him out of there. Yeah. You know? And then it ended up being both of us. So- Yeah. uh, it’s tough. L- L- Luka’s a dog though. He is a dog. Uh, we got another dog here now with, with Cooper Flagg, man. I mean, you know per- firsthand. You saw, saw him play. What do you, what do you think about him? Cooper, man. Whew. The, the kid’s amazing. And, and, and the cool thing- Mm-hmm. I can, I can say that ’cause I see these kids in high school. Um, this is the game. We were at Chipotle Nationals 2 years ago when, uh, Jeremiah, Cooper going toe to toe with each other. Mm-hmm. Boom, boom, boom. Uh, I’ll, I’ll send you some film and some stuff just to watch these 2 kids in high school. Mm-hmm. Um, Montverde had a historical season that year. They didn’t lose one game. They ended up winning the, the, the, the national championship. They beat us to get there. Mm-hmm. Um, still hurts to this day, but, you know, it’s, it’s basketball. Yeah. And we were the only team at halftime to be up on them, at halftime that whole entire year. So we were up on them, we were feeling good. Cooper didn’t have a firsta, a good first half. He came back and just shut us down. I was like, “This kid is different. “Different. And, and, and so I’m happy for him. I got to talk to him a few times on the road, just being in the hotels ’cause when we travel, Nike always puts us in the same hotels, we’re all making schools- Mm-hmm. and soor at all the same events and stuff like that. And so I got to talk to his parents and, and talk to him and always very, very respectful kid, you know? Mm-hmm. Had, had, had a great head on his shoulder. Mm-hmm. His twin. HeYeah, he has a twin brother too, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so his, his twin brother was, was also just a, a, a great kid, soMm-hmm. Yeah, it’s, it’s funny to see, ’cause, uh, I mean, uh, we really love, you know, our athletes around here, and we want them, like everybody, we want them to be here for a million years. And he seems to be the, the type of fit that, you know, y- everybody would want. He’s a gym rat, he’s a, you know, keep his mouth closed. He’s not m- you know, barking back and forth at the referees like you guys coach all the time, you know. For sure. And so, um, he seems to be, you know, kind of the right fit for what we’re, what we’re looking for. And we’re- For sure. you know, although we’re really bummed, you know, Luka got booted, you know, we kinda got a, a good gift out of this thing by, by that thing, by going down like that, soYeah, definitely. I was shocked to see him though, you know, being with Nike as long as he was, with, with, with, with Montverd and those schools- Mm-hmm. and, uh, Duke. But I wa- I was super shocked to see him sign that, uh, uh, New Balance. Deal with New Balance, yeah. Yeah,But, you know, he, he’s maybe starting new waves, you know? Mm-hmm. And the k- the kid’s got the opportunity to do that, you know? So, it’s, it, it’s probably a, a very hard decision, you know? School is part of his hometown and stuff like that, butMm-hmm. You know, sometimes you just gotta take that chance. Are you a shoe guy? I love shoes, yes, yes. What’s the, what’s the collection look like nowadays? Uh, ton of Jordan 3s, Jordan 1s, um, I, I’ll, I’ve gotten a couple of the, the, the new Runners, bunch of Air Maxes. Yep. You know? It’s, it’s majority all Nike. Uh-huh, yeah. Oh, I, I imagine. I’m, I’m kind of the same way. What’s, uh, what’s the number up on the collection too right now, there? Probably about, I was just counting boxes. Uh, 185 maybe, something like that. Whoa. Yeah. You got me beat by 100, so now I, I feel good now, soYeah. NowI’m gonna tell my wife we gotta get some more, ’cause somebody got 185 on me already. I’ll t- I’ll tell you what, man, my wife is actually creeping up on me. I, I think she might have more than me, ’cause like, I swear to God, they don’t sit on the s- on the, on the, um, on the shelves anymore. They’re sitting on the f- bottom of the floor of the closets. Uh-huh. Or th- or in the living rooms. Yeah. What’s your, what’s your favorite pair? Uh, prob- probably the Jordan 1s. Mm-hmm. ‘Cause it, it’s old s- it’s, it’s a classic, it’s easy to wear. You know what I’m saying? And, and, and so I, I’ve always loved those. W- what are your st- You got a color way that you’re looking for? A color way? I don’t have a favorite color way. Obvious- obviously the, The Originals are, are amazing, but I did get a pair- Mm-hmm. of these, um, like, almost like, what, call them like North Carolina blue, black and white. But they’re pa- pat leather. Okay. You know what I’m saying? Yeah. So, so if you’re kind of tryna dress up a little bit or step out a little bit, they still look a nice shoe. Like, I got to try those things on. Yeah. When you’re, uh, when you’re on the end of the bench over there, are you, uh, you f- you know, flexing with your shoes, or what are you doing? Every game. Every game, new pair every game. Every game, every game. You knowWell, I mean, honestly like, that’s, that’s really cool, ’cause it’s, you know, 2 parts. 1, it’s a conversation starter. You know what I mean? It’s, it’s just, it’s really cool that you guys can do those things to where it, uh, y- people really like that one you were wearing there, or what’d you, where’d you get this from, or what’s the- Yeah. story behind it? And you really, you know, kinda crack the ice with a lot of people. Yeah. Um, on the other thing too, it’s like, uh, you know, it, it’s fun for us as we get to try something new and bring something new to the table, or, uh, you know, search through another, you know, journey of selecting the craziest kicks we’ve ever gotten before. Exactly. It’s like Christmas every day, right? So, but- Yeah. what’s it, what’s it like when you go, when you go on the road? Like, how often are you traveling to, to go to games? Um, when we’re in the s- th- the middle of the season, it’s like, we’ll start off, uh, just with fall leagues, and we’ll start in fall leagues, uh, September, October, and just do a bunch of home games here. And then once the season really starts, it really kicks off in November. Mm-hmm. We’ll, we’ll, we’ll host our first home game here, do about 4 or 5 regular home, home games, and then we’ll end up in Utah. Uh, Utah is usually our first stop for the West Coast. So we’re part of the Nike EYBL Scholastic League. Um, we got 20 teams in it all across the nation. There’s a, there’s a East Division and a West Division. We’re part of the West Division. Mm-hmm. And so we get to cross, uh, over and play some different conference games and so forth. Like we’ll be heading to Boston, not this weekend but the following weekend, which we’ll play 2 of the, uh, East Coast divisions. Uh, Link Academy out of Branson, Missouri, and Long Island Lutheran out of, uh, New York. That’s cool. So you guys have, uh, the East and the West, there’s 10 a side. So everybody meets in Utah- No, no. to, to play like a tournament, orSo it’s, no they’ll, so they’ll break some teams off to play on the West and some teams to play on the East that’ll be going on at the same time. Yep. And stuff like that. And then they’ll also link them together with different kind of tournaments, that you might have some regular public schools, high, high, high level matches with public schools. Like Millennium High School might be part of it, the MATHA, um, y- you know, just the, the prestigious, uh, high school, um, local teams from that, from that, from that area and so forth. So when you guys have the local games that are current to where you’re at, like you said you have 4 or 5 games coming up. Are you playing other, uh, AAU teams, or are you playing like- No, if-high level high school teams? No, ’cause if it’s, if it’s warm season, it’s regular high school. Okay. There’s, there’s, there’s, there’s no AAU. It’s, it’s regular high school. Kids have to be, uh, enrolled at a school and, and go to the current school that you’re playing for that team on. So it’s regular high school rules. we’re part of the Scholastic League, and, and, and it’s, it’s, uh, Nike that puts it on. Uh-huh. And so Nike sets the schedule of where we go, um, and makes sure like all, uh, everything is taken care of on, on all our travel, all our food. All our, um, charter buses, all our flights, it’s, it’s all covered. So here in Texas, we got it divided up by, um, 1A, 2A, 3A, 5A, 6A, right? Yeah. Or Division II, Division I, whatever. Are you guys under the same format when it comes to that, or how- No, ours is more independent. You’re independents? It’s more, it’s, it’s more independent. It’s more definitely an independent league, you know- Okay. uh, with the, with the sch-, with the Scholastics League. And, and, and right, the Scholastics League is handpicked by Nike, and- Well, I mean, for high school in general. Mm-hmm. For high school, we have, n- you know, uh- Yeah, yeah. 5A, 6A, whatever, right? Yeah. And so then- I know exactly what you’re talking about. OkayAnd so what I say is, is Nike’s created a league vI’d, I’d say that trumps all those 1As, 2A3, 4A, 5A, 6A schools. And so it’d be sit at the very top of it if it w- Okay. if it was, uh, a state-associated school. Yes, sir. Yeah. Th- that makes sense? Yeah. But the 4 to 5 games a year saying you play against, you say it’s the high school level, right? Yeah. It’s, is that in the Nike or is that you’re playing against other- No. 00 other, other prep schools, they’re independent. Other prep schools, independent schools. And so a lot of these s- so a lot of these prep schools that, you know, they, they kind of take the mindset of, of when we, what we wanted to do back in the day- Mm-hmm. in, when we first started this thing. And, and there’s a bunch of them still out here trying to do that. And so we’ll play those kind of guys to give them the opportunity to, you know, see what kind of talent they have, w- w- w- and what they want to compete with. It’s, it’s how it’s usually done. Yeah. That’s what I was wondering. I mean, ’cause there’s, there’s very few of you guys. You guys have to travel the country to meet up to play similar talent. Now you’re on the other side of it. You’re not punching up, you’re allowing others to punch up at you. Correct, yeah. Right. So warmups and scrimmages and you know you’re probably going to beat people by 20, 30, 40 points on, on- For sure. certain nights, but- Absolutely. by the end of the day, you need, you need to, you need to get some run. Yeah. And we’ve, we’ve also built a, a tournament here locally. It’s called Compass Classic after AZ Compass, and we’ll host it. We’ll have teams come in and fly in and, uh, or local teams that will play in it, and it get a lot of good run in that as well. Yeah. Okay. Well, very cool. Well, what does AZ Compass stand for? Arizona Compass Prep. I mean, but- That’s-what was kind of the mantra behind it? It’s from A to Z, you’re going a certain direction. Like, where are we at with that? Yeah, you know what? That’s, uh, that’s a great question. I wish I could answer it, you know, but th- that’s gotta come from my mom ’cause she’s sh- she’s the one that founded the name. Okay. And I gotta, I gotta ask her that. I don’t know if I’ve really actually asked for that. It’s just been a staple in Arizona and across the nation for, for a minute now, you know, but- Nice. Uh, uh, uh, I like that. I know you’ve kind of been quoting it from A to Z. From A to Z, Arizona. Let’s go. Yeah, I mean, I mean, honestly, from, from the school part of it, you know, I mean, you could j- you could just say it’s f- you know, we cover all of this, right? So, um, didn’t know if there was a, a hidden meaning or a double entendre behind it or whatever, but, um, didn’t know if there was a, a hidden meaning or a double entendre behind it or whatever, but, um, I thought it was, uh, thought it was clever and I wanted to see if I can dig out of it. So s- shoot me a message, let me know what mom says. Yeah, I’d d- I’d definitely have to circle back with you on that one. Absolutely. All right, so I’m gonna, I’m gonna, I, we’re kind of getting down to the end here, but I’m gonna, you know, just kind of reach back out. What are the goals going forward? Goals going forward? Uh, uh, obviously just t- to make sure that we can touch every, e- every kid that comes through our program, you know, show them and guide them in the right direction, you know, if how, how to be a good young man, good young woman, you know, um, and just really just help them to succeed in whatever, uh, aspect of life that that possibly is. Mm-hmm. Um, uh, more goals are just to continue, like, our, the number one g- goal for the basketball t- team this year is to win a national state ch- national state, uh, national title- Mm-hmm. through Tripoli, through T- Tripoli National. Right? We’ve come very, very close. Uh, came as runner-up one year few years back. Um, I feel like this team is, i- is, we, we really have the team this year to do it. Mm-hmm. You know, we have the coaching staff for sure. We have a lot of good people in our circle that, that help guide us and, and, and, and, and help us to go where we want to go to right now. So it’s, it’s, it’s been amazing. So that’s it, man. That’s, th- that’s, that’s some of the goals and obviously we’re gonna continue to build. You know, we’ve, we’ve, we’ve brought in, um, uh, a football coach, his name’s Jalen Strong, to build our football program. We want to build the football program out. Uh, he played for ASU and played, uh, for the Texans- Mm-hmm. uh, in the league for a little bit and he’s brought on a good, great staff of football guys and he’s really done a fantastic job of trying to mimic what the basketball has done, but he’s got to run his own race and, and, and, and, you know, we’ve gone through our ups and downs with him and just, a- and he’s staying the course. He’s listening and he’s learning. And so I think that program’s really, uh, right, right, right in line to be right up next, uh, up playing really top, top talent, you know. Mm-hmm. Next year for them is gonna be really good. Mm-hmm. He’s won the s- He’s won the state title, um, in Division 3, I believe it is, for the CAA out here in Arizona- Okay. uh, the last 2 years in a row. Last year, he went undefeated. Uh, you know, didn’t, didn’t lose a game. Mm-hmm. So that’s that. That’s, that’s another goal is just to really build that program out. Uh, third is our baseball team. Um, coached and head up by, uh, Junior Spivey, uh, and, uh, Junior Spivey’s kind of really come in here to, to help build that program as, as well, you know, on, on the national level. You know, he’s got another guy helping him, Brett Jenkins, who’s been working with us as a team, but also has a professional background, uh, uh, as, as well. And Bryant Nelson, who’s another, uh, MLB guy, who’s also helped tee that pro- tee that thing up. And so they’re really focusing heavy on getting the right kids in here- Mm-hmm. develop them, and, and these guys know all about development. The cool thing is, we don’t really talk about it but, the way our academics were set up, we do all our academics in the morning from 8:00 to 1:30. And then at 1:30 we break off and they go into their special. And their special, they’re still getting credit for, but whether that’s baseball, whether it’s football, whether it’s basketball or, or arts or whatever it is, it still works out. So parents aren’t picking their kids up after school taking them to practice somewhere else, or practicing till 7:00, 8:00 at night. It just doesn’t work. You know, I want these kids to have a family life as well. So, it’s been working out really well. Mm-hmm. Uh, we got a golf team on the future? I hope so, man. I hope so. You can come down and coach. I, IUh, yeah, we’ll get you one. We’ll get you one set up. We’ll, we’ll send one down there. I’m sure there’s a lot there in, in Arizona. I mean, that’s- I’m, I’m scared to play against you, man. You whoop me. Well, I’ll, I’ll say this, we can go down there and have a good time. You guys have a course on every street corner, so, uh- That’s true. That’s very true. And I’m still not good. Hey, we can go out there and have a good time, that’s all that matters. That’s what’s up. Um, honestly though, I, I really do appreciate you, you coming on and talking to us, and, and telling us a little bit more about this. And, uh, if you want to tell everybody in the, in the audience like where they can find you, how they can find out more information about your school or anything like that? Yeah. Well, our, our charter management company is SkylineSchools. com is the website. Uh, our basketball program, AZ Compass Prep. Uh, AZ Compass Prep Hoops, uh, is the Instagram and Twitter. Um, just look up AZ Compass, uh, Basketball or just AZ Compass in general, uh, in Google. It’ll, it’ll pull up for you for sure. And really appre- do appreciate you taking the time to have me on here, share a little about our story here at, uh, AZ Compass and Skyline Education. I’m super grateful and thankful, man. 100%. No, it’s, it’s really cool. You guys have one of the best stories that we’ve probably ever done, for someone just, uh, literally pulling themselves up by the bootstraps and, and sticking to a dream, so- Yeah. I really am proud of you guys. And man, you are a, uh, really humble cat that I’m, I’m, I’m really proud to call friend, so, um- Yeah, right back at you, brother. Yeah. Thanks for coming on. Absolutely. 100%. Thank you so much. Well, until next time everyone, that’s The Blueprint.