Discover the secrets of peak athletic performance with high school baseball coaching phenom Jeff Boulware, as we dissect the mental game in our most recent podcast episode. With his background at Bishop Watterston High School, Jeff brings to the table a wealth of knowledge on building confidence, combating negative self-talk, and the surprising influence of maintaining a neutral mindset. His insights provide a playbook for anyone looking to foster resilience in the face of adversity, much like the lesson we learn from the legacy of players such as Bill Buckner.
When it comes to shaping the future leaders of the diamond, it's not just about the game—it's about cultivating character. That's why we take a close look at the integral role of trust and decision-making in coaching, the art of delegation, and the developing culture beyond the scoreboard. Jeff and I get into the nitty-gritty of guiding high school athletes through their journeys to college baseball, weighing the implications of the transfer portal and the vital importance of finding a college experience that enriches life both on and off the field.
Our conversation takes a turn into the intimate corners of coaching, where family ties and sportsmanship intertwine with strategy and playbooks. Laugh along with us at the lighter moments of the sport, including a misadventure with an assistant coach named Nippy, and get inspired by the way we integrate mindfulness and respect into the game. Rapid-fire questions peel back the layers of Jeff's coaching philosophy, revealing the sports legends he admires, and the values that steer his decisions. Join us for an episode that's as heartwarming and informative as it is a testament to Jeff Boulware's unwavering dedication to his players and the game of baseball.
Discover the secrets of peak athletic performance with high school baseball coaching phenom Jeff Boulware, as we dissect the mental game in our most recent podcast episode. With his background at Bishop Watterston High School, Jeff brings to the table a wealth of knowledge on building confidence, combating negative self-talk, and the surprising influence of maintaining a neutral mindset. His insights provide a playbook for anyone looking to foster resilience in the face of adversity, much like the lesson we learn from the legacy of players such as Bill Buckner.
When it comes to shaping the future leaders of the diamond, it's not just about the game—it's about cultivating character. That's why we take a close look at the integral role of trust and decision-making in coaching, the art of delegation, and the developing culture beyond the scoreboard. Jeff and I get into the nitty-gritty of guiding high school athletes through their journeys to college baseball, weighing the implications of the transfer portal and the vital importance of finding a college experience that enriches life both on and off the field.
Our conversation takes a turn into the intimate corners of coaching, where family ties and sportsmanship intertwine with strategy and playbooks. Laugh along with us at the lighter moments of the sport, including a misadventure with an assistant coach named Nippy, and get inspired by the way we integrate mindfulness and respect into the game. Rapid-fire questions peel back the layers of Jeff's coaching philosophy, revealing the sports legends he admires, and the values that steer his decisions. Join us for an episode that's as heartwarming and informative as it is a testament to Jeff Boulware's unwavering dedication to his players and the game of baseball.
We do a book study every year and I've shared this with a lot of coaches. I highly recommend a book called it Takes what it Takes by a guy by the name of Trevor Moad. He unfortunately passed away a couple years ago, but he talks about how you know, if you can just, you don't really focus on positive thinking and you can't eliminate negative thought. But if you can get yourself to neutral and eliminate the negative, the negative self-talk, you can really improve your performance.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Athlete One podcast. Veteran high school baseball coach Ken Carpenter takes you into life's classroom as experienced through sports. Go behind the scenes with athletes and coaches as they share great stories, life lessons and ways to impact others.
Speaker 3:This episode of the Athlete One podcast is powered by the Netting Professionals improving programs one facility at a time. The Netting Professionals specialize in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for baseball and softball. This includes backstops, batting cages, bp turtles, screens, ball carts and more. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen, turf protectors, dugout benches and cubbies. The NegPros also work with football, soccer, lacrosse and golf courses. Check them today at 844-620-2707, that's 844-620-2707, or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. Or check out Netting Pros on Twitter, instagram, facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. If you enjoy the show, don't forget to hit the subscribe button, rate the show and leave us a review. Also, you can follow Athlete One podcast on Twitter, instagram and Facebook. Now to my interview with Jeff Bollware, bishop-waterston High School head baseball coach. Hello and welcome to the Athlete One podcast. I'm your host, ken Carpenter. Joining me today is Jeff Bollware, head baseball coach at Waterston High School in Columbus, ohio. Coach, thanks for taking the time to be on the podcast, hey thanks, coach.
Speaker 1:I appreciate you having me on. It's kind of an exciting time 60 degrees outside today in February, we get all fired up here in Ohio. I imagine that means some snows coming soon, since spring sports is around or just around the corner.
Speaker 3:Yeah exactly when you get a chance to get outside. It's probably going to be snowing, so it's going to be kind of tough. I would imagine that after last season, how do you follow up last season, where you were named Metro Coach of the Year in typical Waterston fashion? You had a great season, yeah well, you know what.
Speaker 1:At any time you get awards like that, it just means you have really good players right. We were very blessed to have a great senior class. That's going to be kind of the challenge this year is replacing some key guys. Our shortstop is now playing football at Ohio State. We've got to replace our entire outfield and a catcher. When you think about being strong up the middle, it's going to take us a little bit of time to get there this year, but the guys are excited. The weather is really helping. As they tick down the clock to try out time, you can really feel the enthusiasm around here. We're excited.
Speaker 3:Last year you had a chance to coach against you. We ran out a guy that's signed with Tennessee. I think this year he's been Max Prep's best player in the state of Ohio. First inning just jumped all over us One. I guess that had to be a big confidence boost for the team when you do that in the first inning. But how did you get your guys ready to attack a guy? That's going to be a big time program like the University of Tennessee?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that was a major challenge. He's awfully good. We're talking about a guy throwing 90 plus miles an hour with just a wipeout breaking ball. I was most impressed to be honest with you, ken with his changeup. I really thought that pitch was almost unhittable and he got a lot of our guys out on that. But the first inning I think there was a lot of enthusiasm around the field. You could really feel it. There was a big crowd and our guys were all juiced up. Our first guy, I think, set the tone really when he turned around. I think it was a fastball for a double or something. He went down the right field.
Speaker 1:Martin, yeah, and it just kind of rolled from there. But if you recall, you guys bounced back real quick at the top of the third or something like that, and we're staring at a brand new ball game, so that was a heck of a game for both teams. We were kind of lucky to come out on top of that one.
Speaker 3:What do you think is the most valuable quality for you as a coach to have and, if you could, who had the biggest impact on you as going from being a good player in high school to where you played in college and now you're a coach?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you know. If you come watch Bishop Watterson play, I don't think you're going to be blown away with how technical we are and how fundamentally sound we are. To be honest with you, we spend an inordinate amount of time talking about the mental side of the game and behavior you know. So I will sacrifice time with game reps to really teach how to handle this game. We do a book study every year and I've shared this with a lot of coaches. I highly recommend a book called it Takes what it Takes, by the name of Trevor Moad. He unfortunately passed away a couple years ago but he talks about how you know if you can just, you don't really focus on positive thinking and you can't eliminate negative thought. But if you can get yourself to neutral and eliminate the negative self-talk, you can really improve your performance. And he shares lots of stories in this book. Like he goes back to Bill Buckner and we have to remember how good a player Bill Buckner was, but we remember him for that one play Right and you know he shares a story about people. Forget that Bill Buckner, before that series, did an interview with a local media outlet and he said you know, the dream for me, of course, is to have good series and, you know, help my team win. But the nightmare is letting a ball go between my legs and causing my team to lose. And he basically spoke this thing into existence Right. And so, you know, we here at Waterston, we just will sacrifice some time to focus on the mental side of the game and take a little bit away from our fundamentals, which, you know again, you can judge for yourself when you come play us. Sometimes we don't do the right things, but that comes from a lot of people.
Speaker 1:When I was in high school, I knew I wanted to be a coach, but I always thought I'd be a hoops coach. My dad was a basketball coach for 30 years at the middle school level, and that was my first dip into coaching. I just loved it. I loved watching him break down the game, break down the video, prepare his team. He knew exactly what the opponents were gonna do. And this is at the middle school level, and so every book that I read was either Rick Pettino or Dean Smith or John Wooden.
Speaker 1:And then to get an opportunity, you know, to come and coach at Worthington Killborn. You know, I went to Capital for a year to play and then needed money. So I went out and got a job and met a guy by the name of Jud VanSycle who guy's in central Ohio and know. This guy changed my life because he offered me a position as his JV assistant, volunteer assistant, and I jumped in instantly and I was hooked with baseball ever since as a coach.
Speaker 1:So then I got to be a JV assistant, a freshman head coach, a JV head coach, and paid my dues and got to work under Mario Pagliato as an assistant. Got to meet guys like Bill Mosca, who's back coaching at Marietta no, okay, obviously you know. Getting to work with Scott Manahan I think I'm the I might be one of the only guys who I got to play for coach back in the 90s and then I got to coach against him when I was at Kilborn. So I got to see that side of it. And then when I left Kilborn and he brought me over to Waterson, getting to coach with him and what a treat that is.
Speaker 1:So you get to learn how to sort of build the program and do the right things. And you know people call coach Manahan old school. Well, it's just really disciplined right. That's the foundation of what he does and the foundation of most programs. So I don't understand why we call discipline old school. I think it's a necessity. So I've been very blessed with the people who have paved the way for me and there are still guys and you're probably the same way. We're constantly communicating with guys around and, hey, what would you do in this situation? And I think the guys in Central Ohio are fantastic about that, just being up and I'm pretty good.
Speaker 3:That's the great thing about Central Ohio. It's coaching community and it's probably throughout the state. But when you mentioned coach Manahan, I've had him on the podcast when he stepped away from Waterson and he said he was totally done and now he's at capital.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and I'm excited because he's gonna attack that with just as much passion and build that program up. It's pretty cool at Waterson we've got a pretty deep stable of coaches and talented coaches that we can pick their brains, and there's a couple guys that and you guys probably do this with coach Manahan and coach Lombardo, who's our Hoops coach, who's been around forever. We have a therapy session. We call it four or five times a year and coach Manahan's backyard and my job really is just to sit around and listen and typically we'll get coach Micrantz there from Delaware. Coach Lombardo will be there, coach Manahan and he'll usually bring in a special guest or two. Right, and I really enjoy those nights because I just try to be as quiet as I can and soak up as much knowledge as I can, because between coach Lombardo and coach Manahan you've got so much knowledge and so much time doing this and doing it really well, so that's pretty neat.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I can say that he cost me many sleepless nights back in my days at Buckeye Valley when I thought I had a chance to go pretty far and he made sure and entered it for me. That's for sure. But what do you think is the most important factor in building a positive culture in? How do you foster that at at Waterston?
Speaker 1:Well it's, it's, it's not just one person, right? When you think about culture, to me Culture is just what you do, right? So culture set to me, culture set by your, your leaders, your, your returning players, your coaches, and then the culture impacts behavior and to me, behavior produces results. And so we do a ton of, you know, showing clips. We have a little tiny classroom that we've carved out here. Put a little TV up and we show clips of behavior and what the expectations are, and then I think a lot of it has to do with developing relationships with your players from the time they get in the door.
Speaker 1:The hard part about it here in our situation is I I teach elementary school in Worthington so I lean very heavily on the Assistant coaches here. We've got amazing assistant coaches, like Coach Mike N writes been here forever, he's our first base coach infield guy and he's in the building, so he's the first line right to develop relationships. So I'm the bad guy and he's he's kind of that good guy that they'll go to, and then you know we can communicate that or that's the first line. And then you know Tyson Williams is one of our JV assistants and he's in the in the building as well. So Utilizing, I think, your coaches and trusting them, that's another thing that you know. Going back to coach Manahan is in the old days it was just your head coach in your system. You didn't have, like some of these high school programs, have like five, six assistants on each level.
Speaker 1:It's crazy yeah in the old days those guys did everything, and one thing I've learned from him is is just the ability to evolve and you can delegate certain things to different people. We try here to do at least once a week pulling our kids in one at a time. We just calm check-ins, just see how things are doing and have conversations that have nothing to do with baseball, and and that's just something that I picked up from him and from from guys around central Ohio. The other pieces that can, I think, is you have to be honest with these guys, like here's your role, this is what we see you're going to be, and and then stick with it. Or, if they want it to change, here's how you can change it.
Speaker 3:But I think anytime you you tell an untruth, your culture is going to be impacted in a major way right and and by bringing those guys in and and you're checking in with them weekly, and it's not just baseball that that trust between the bond between you two becomes a lot stronger, I'm sure.
Speaker 1:I think so and then it really pays off. You know, when you have those moments in a game, you've built that trust where you can have a conversation, an honest conversation, and you know it's gonna. It's gonna pay off or they're gonna truly be listening to you Because you, they know you want what's best for them and that's why we're doing this right. We're trying to impact kids. That's the bottom line. So it just takes effort and sometimes after a long day of teaching, you know and you've got things to do at home as well. It's easy to skip that part, but if you do, it's gonna. It's gonna hurt you in the long run, for sure.
Speaker 3:Well, each year you you know waterson is constantly putting guys out there to play college baseball. What advice do you give players, considering that when they go to college, a lot of these teams are now Don't the transfer portal versus pulling the guys out of high school?
Speaker 1:It's it's so hard.
Speaker 1:I it's a different ball game anymore, right, and I told we've got a guy who's gonna head up to Baldwin.
Speaker 1:Wallace was talking to Brian Harrison a couple weeks ago and and I was telling I just I was sharing with this young man like you are going to be competing in less than a year against grown men and you need to be prepared for it. And it's a conversation to have with parents too, because it's a retirement breaker if you make the wrong decision Sometimes right, if we're talking about the division three level, which is where most of our guys live and you choose the school that now suddenly is in the fit, because you're not getting what playing time you thought you were gonna get or whatever, and Suddenly your classes don't transfer to whatever new school you want to go to. I mean, this is a significant amount of money. So it's a conversation that we have constantly about you. Let's try to make the right decision and sometimes Putting baseball at the forefront of it is Steering a student athlete in the wrong direction, which sounds Different than the conversation that we would have had several years ago. The transfer portal has changed everything right.
Speaker 3:I almost treated it like Whatever school you're gonna go to, Imagine. You know you don't want it to be like that, but you get injured or you decide baseball is not for you. Is that a place that you're gonna be happy with? To just go to school?
Speaker 1:I mean 100%. Yeah, we talk about return on investment, right. So then, what is your intended major gonna be? Right? Are you just going there for baseball? Do they have something to offer that is gonna help you when you graduate To live your life? And sometimes, again, we just think baseball, baseball, baseball, and, and it's the wrong choice. So, again, it depends on the athlete and what their, what their goals are, because you brought up a kid like a you know a brain Crenzel, who's got a different goal set than somebody else may have, right. So you just have to know your players, right. Well, what is something unique? Or?
Speaker 3:different you do as a coach that Most high school coaches probably don't do. Well, I would tell you at Bishop Waterston I don't, I don't make anything up creatively myself.
Speaker 1:Everything I do is stolen from somebody like you or around or around. But At Bishop Waterston it is a significant challenge figuring out how to run practices and the CCO is a run practices and the CCL schools can appreciate this when you have one field and and 50 plus players and a given time slot. So we have to figure out day to day who's on the field at what time, who's in the gym at what time, who's in the bar hitting barn at one time. We have this little carved out Clubhouse, we call it, that has a little bit of tiny space with a net and we could put some teas or we can do whatever in there. We're do some classroom work and then we have to figure out what coaches are going to be available at what time, because there's a lot of, you know, part time coaches. Okay, who's here on Tuesday and who's here on Wednesday and has this gonna line up?
Speaker 1:So one of the things I've gotten fairly good at is Practice planning and putting this puzzle piece together, and if you ever look at one of my practice plans is like a stream of consciousness that Nobody can really decipher, except for Mike and right, our assistant coach, because he's like alright, I know, I know what he means by this. Yeah, typically what we try to start with is a pre-practice meeting, right, and that might involve some mindfulness or some, you know, actually, you know, laying on the ground and just Zoning out for a little bit, because they this is a pretty tough school to go to to begin with. So we'll start with a little bit of that at just downtime and Thinking about what we're about to do. Then we'll review the practice plan and often it's one of my assistant coaches who's doing it, because I'm Driving down 315 at 70 miles an hour, trying to get to the Waterston as fast as I can. You know, we jump on the field and do our thing, and then you know, and then we just go.
Speaker 3:It's about a hundred miles an hour and it's all sorts of crazy, but but we make it work right, and that's the side of the, the game for a high school baseball coach that 99% of the people don't even realize it's going on in and they and, when you think about it, what you're getting paid to do to do that. You know people just have zero idea sometimes.
Speaker 1:Well, and you have to throw in now, and I'm lucky here you have to throw in. You're also a meteorologist Because you also then have to make the call are you going to be inside for practice, or are you going to be outside for practice, or are you going to play the game, or you're not going to play the game? Then who's practicing at what time? I mean, it is a full-on Circus, but everybody in central Ohio and beyond has to, has to manage it, and I guess they we do a pretty good job about it. I don't think too many people do see that side, as you said, right. But the.
Speaker 3:The next question I have for you as a coach what has been your best moment?
Speaker 1:Oh my. So mind has nothing to do with wins and losses that. I have a 12 year old son now and You've been through this. My favorite moments are when he gets to be on the bench, and it doesn't happen often, but you know, we were on a. We were in a game last year where we hit a walk-off Single or something and there was this big dog pile and it was wasn't a big game or anything like that.
Speaker 1:But I look up and and you know, there's my son kind of right, right in the middle of it and all of the players are are Right there with them. They're not pushing them away. He's part of the whole thing and and I can recall just Having this stupid grin on my face like what a great moment this is, so getting the time to do that because, as you know, can we spend a lot of time away from our families, yeah, and I miss a lot of games and he misses a lot of what we do, and I miss my daughter's swim meets and things of that nature. So I Now have my dad who's our scorekeeper, and he likes to tell me what to do Because he's in our press box, which is in earshot, and my son is, you know, the part-time bat boy and sometime will bring friends and to me that's. That's really Some of the most enjoyable things I've been a part of as a coach and for me.
Speaker 3:We were only able to have one one child and my son, he. When he got to be there for the games or ride the bus with us, I and the way the players accepted me, that was the the best part, in my opinion, because I that that was like he had 18 big brothers running around in there for him.
Speaker 1:I think it's so impactful it's one of the perks, right, that we get what other kids get to do that now he may learn a few words he shouldn't know at this time. Yeah, we're gonna have to balance that out.
Speaker 3:I recall I Was getting on a team after a game about something and he was standing there in a huddle and he was young and he Spoke up and said well, you know it's not. You're not supposed to yell at these guys, you're not, that's not nice, you know? That's like Exactly. That changes it real quick, you know. Yeah, now, on the other side of it, what's the funniest experience you've had as a player or a coach?
Speaker 1:The funniest I've ever had as a coach. Well, gosh, I don't know. We have one of my best friends in the world. His name is nippy priest and he is our our bench coach, and A lot of people around central Ohio know nippy and Nippy can be Vocal from time to time and I can recall an interaction we had where you played a game against. I can't remember who we were playing, but it was a bang, bang play at first base and we had a guy who was Supposed to bunt and you miss the sign and I'm running off the field because he gets thrown out at first base on a ground ball whatever, and Nippy yells out you missed it. Well, we had an umpire with some rabbit ears who hears this and gets upset and he starts getting into my face and he's yelling about my assistant coach named tippy. He goes. You need to. You need to get tippy to be quiet. You know we're gonna throw him out.
Speaker 1:He can't be saying that and I tried to explain in a kind way to the umpire that no, he's just barking at our player because he just missed the bunt sign for the sixth time, you know, in the last five games. And so it actually became a thing, because then they dragged nippy out on the field and we laugh about it to this day. It's kind of funny, we pick on him.
Speaker 3:Yeah, nippy's a great guy too. I love sit down talking to him. He's a lot of fun. He doesn't like being called tippy. Yeah, how much time you know you talked about the, the mindfulness and the mental toughness and things like that For for a coach that's possibly listen, how much going back to that, how much time do you devote? Is it like a daily practice thing or is it a couple times a week?
Speaker 1:So we, yeah, it's, it's, it's several times a week, but we can't, we don't do it every day, I don't, you know. So these kids go to school all day long, right, and then sometimes we have them at practice and you know three hours, and then, hey, let's go lift and they're not getting home. That's time to do a couple hours of homework because they're in a challenging school and they got to sleep and they got to eat, like. So we really try to keep our practices to two hours and that leaves us. You know, if we're gonna do a lift, which we do a couple times a week, we'll do that and then with those other three days, we will spend the time at the end of practice On. We really teach specific behavior. You know, tom Neuber at the sales and I've talked about this a lot too I Don't understand what's happened recently where it's not good enough suddenly for our kids to just win the game.
Speaker 1:We have to tell the other team that we won the game and we have to chirp and we have to. I don't understand why this is happening. So I can remember a couple years back I I played a clip on on. It was like a Twitter clip and it was of two teams that clearly did not like each other. And you know, one team would come off after the third out and four guys would run to the baseline of the other Team. So they could run to the first baseline and they would wave goodbye or they would whatever. And Then the other team you know guy, hit a home run and he'd be chirping all the way around the bases when we're slamming balls, that we're staring each other down and all this chipping us.
Speaker 1:I really don't understand why we need to do that. So I I play this clip and I open it up just for discussion. Hey guys, let's talk about this. What do you think? And and I had a right fielder at the time was one of the best athletes I've ever coached, just fast and strong and a great kid. And he raises his hand and says a coach, you know what an honor it would be to play in a game like that. Look how much they care.
Speaker 1:And I had to take a step back and go. Oh, this is not going the way I had hoped it would go and we had to restart and just alright, guys, you understand, like if this was you here, you don't get to play anymore, right, and you know. So we do these, we have these conversations quite a bit. I think it's important. I don't want to just be a successful team and win a bunch of games. I want our guys to be good human beings and I don't think we need to To remind our opponents that we want. What's the point of that? The scoreboard says it already. You know, they know that, so we.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that's, that's part of it, right. But we spend a lot of time on on mindset and how can we recover from failure and how can we you know all that stuff Next play mentality. There's no momentum, all that stuff we talked about from that book. But I also think we need to do a better job of teaching behavior. If it's important to us and and right for me it is, does that mean Bishop Waterston is always successful at that? No, we certainly have our moments. Yeah, I really hope.
Speaker 3:My, but it's almost like you got it. You know it's not good enough to be like, act like you've done it before you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, everybody's doing a dance at second base now and again I think enthusiasm is important. They go right. Good play, that's a good thing, but you don't need to rub it in anybody's face. Celebrate with your teammates. That's just the way I am. I think so again You're gonna come to Waterston and watch us play and you may look at us and say wow.
Speaker 1:Fundamentally, they're not as good as I thought they were, but hopefully after the game you can say that's a solid team of new kids and they do it the right way. That's my goal.
Speaker 3:And I can't think of a better way to do it. So that's, that's, that's the most important thing, I think. Well, I'm going to switch you over to rapid fire now. Hey, hey, losing or love winning. I hate losing. Why is that?
Speaker 1:Well, I, you know when we're at. When we win a game, I'm already ready for the next game, right, the second. The game is over, I'm moving on to the next one. When we lose, I Don't stop thinking about it ever. I remember, I'm sure the same way I can remember almost every one of our losses and I can remember why and why I messed up and how things went wrong. But sort of the wins, you know. Okay, we won, that's great, I'm happy. Let's go to the next thing. I can't stay on losing.
Speaker 3:And it's funny that you say that, because I'm a hate the losing part guy too and we played Waterston my first year as a coach at Buckeye Valley and they were a top seed and we went down there and we lost the game on a ball that was pitched, hit the home plate and bounced over the backstop and I was like, yeah, I'm telling you, god is all right. So you're an MLB manager, you can have these three players on your team Group A Lou Brock for your base stealing, barry Bonds for your hitting and your catcher is Yadier Molina. Group B is Ricky Henderson, your hitting guy is Hank Aaron and your catcher is Johnny Bench.
Speaker 1:Cool, I'm going Group B just based on Johnny Bench. I know, I know Yad is pretty darn good, but Johnny Bench, he, he changed the whole position. He changed the game all by himself. And you know how are you going to go wrong with Hank Aaron and Ricky Henderson gives my team some swag. So I'm going Group B All right, all right.
Speaker 3:Here's one that this upcoming season you can only have one a great hitting team or a great defense.
Speaker 1:I will. You know what I will go great defense, pitching and defense to me gives you a chance every single time and it doesn't matter. You know again in high school I'm going to go with, with, with pitching, and that was our thing last year. I don't think we were that great of a hitting team. We struck out an awful lot, but we had a shot in every single game because we had solid pitching and pretty good defense. I think you know, if you give me a shot, you know we could win a game by 12 once in a while if we have good hitting. But you know we could also be 12 to 11. So those are no fun games. I'd rather have a quick. You know games, pitching and defense and and take our chances that way.
Speaker 3:Now these next two questions I'm going to finish up with. I'm going to have a hard time getting you to answer this, this next one, but I'm going to try. Okay, If there's a movie made about you as a coach, what actor plays you?
Speaker 1:Probably Will Ferrell.
Speaker 3:Will Ferrell. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:I can see Will Ferrell in a baseball uniform. Didn't Will Ferrell play in a spring training game and play all nine positions? He's a baseball guy, yeah he did yes, yeah, listen, we're a clown show over here. Man Will Ferrell fit right in.
Speaker 3:There you go, absolutely. I was thinking you were going to say Brad Pitt, maybe, or Kevin Costner? No man, are you?
Speaker 1:kidding me, I'm ugly those guys.
Speaker 3:Okay, and to finish up, you can have dinner with three sports legends, any sport. Who would the three be?
Speaker 1:I would go Muhammad Ali, I would go Augie Guerrero and I would probably go with Phil Jackson. To be honest, with you, big basketball, I got good book.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there you go and you talk about three all-time grades. That's definitely up there in each of those categories, that's for sure. Yeah Well, coach Boulware, it's Jeff Boulware, bishop Waterston High School Coach. Thank you so much for taking the time to be on the Athlete One podcast, and I know it's a school night and you're not even home Probably haven't had dinner yet, so I really do appreciate you taking the time to do this Now happy to do it.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me, Ken.
Speaker 3:Special thanks to Jeff Boulware, head baseball coach at Waterston High School, and best of luck this upcoming season. This episode of the Athlete One podcast is powered by the netting professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. Contact them today at 844-620-2707. That's 844-620-2707, or you can visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. Once again, thanks for listening to the Athlete One podcast. I'm your host, ken Carpenter. Take care.