SportSquire

In this episode of SportSquire, Brad is joined by Pastor Kent Chevalier (AKA, PK)  who is currently the chaplain of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Kent shares his journey as a pastor over the last 25 years and how he arrived at his current position. Kent and his wife Erica, are responsible for bringing "church" to the entire Steelers organization. Kent is responsible for the men of the organization and Erica for the women of the organization. Kent shares one of the most amazing stories of how they arrived at their joint position. You will want to hear this story!

This conversation is one that is full of encouragement and gives a side of the NFL you don't tend to see everyday. Men and women putting their faith in Jesus and discipling to others. Normal people like you and I trying to find their purpose through Christ. Kent challenges us all to find a small way to make an impact and watch God do his work. 

Kent and Erica Chevalier to many's surprise are not employed by the Pittsburg Steelers but Athletes in Action. They took a leap of faith to become 100% missionaries and are responsible for raising funds for all of their financial needs. If you are touched by Kent and Erica's ministry, you can learn more and even donate/partner with them to help extend and support their ministry. You can find the link to their website below: 

https://www.teamchevalier.com/partner

Kent also shares how much he has enjoyed the bible study plan Mission 119. 10 minutes of reading and 10 minutes of brief commentary. You can find out more information at https://www.mission119.org/ to help you grow in your faith!

n this week's episode of SportSquire, Brad speaks about his recent trip to Breckenridge Colorado  with his wife Carly, where they hiked Hoosier Pass and went on a bit further on the trail to summit up to North Star Mountain. He encourages those listening to utilize hiking as an opportunity to "get away and re-focus".

A few things he talks about in today's episode that he did not expect to learn when reflecting on his most recent hiking experience:

1.) Hiking Takes Preparation: You have to pay attention to the forecast. Figuring out what time of day to head out and ensuring you have adequate water, proper clothing/shoewear, and that you know where the heck you are going are all part of the pre-planning process. This is no different than anything else in life. They better prepared you are for anything the more likely you are going to do well at something and see it to completion.

2.) Sometimes You Have to Take Breaks: When you are gaining elevation there were several times Brad speaks about him and his wife pausing to regain their composure and then they would push back up the mountain. In life, we sometimes run ourselves so hard that we think we can't go forward when all we really need is just a breather and a short break.

3.) Balance Between Looking Where Your Feet are And Looking Ahead: It's easy on a moderate to difficult trail to step on a rock, limb or put your foot in a hole and roll your ankle or misstep. You have to look down at times to ensure you are avoiding danger in the present moment. However, you have to look up to make sure you are going in the right direction. The same goes for your personal journey. You cannot lose sight of where your feet are currently but every now and then you need to look up and make sure you are heading in the right direction!

4.) Sometimes You Just Have to Stop And Appreciate the View: Sprinting up the mountain would not have been that enjoyable. Taking our time with rest breaks to take in the views was absolutely an out of body experience. Sometimes in life, we have to do the same thing. This was a huge analogous moment for Brad to remember that you HAVE TO ENJOY THE MOMENT AND THE JOURNEY. Brad says "stopping and appreciating the view was a spiritual talk with me and the Good Lord. It is a reminder for me personally and encouragement for you out there to stop and find God in the small parts of your day. He is at work in big ways that you sometimes don't take the time to see! "

5.) There Is More Than One Way to Get Up A Mountain: On some trails, some individuals see an opportunity to hike a different path that ultimately gets them to the same spot. I've learned, it doesn't matter what path you choose, just be all in to going the direction you choose and don't look back.

6.) The Top Or End Happens Quick: Getting up to the Summit of the North Star Mountain at 13,400 feet elevation was so rewarding. I spent 5 minutes at the top appreciating the view and the accomplishment of the hike. It made me realize that there is so much more to appreciating a result. You have to learn to enjoy the grind and process because that is where you are spending the majority of your time.

7.) Who You Hike With Matters: If you are going to go on a long journey and trip you better enjoy the other person's company! Brad speaks about how great of a bonding experience it was for him and his wife to accomplish this hike together. "Sharing an experience and a challenge and seeing it through is one of the most forging things one can do to improve a relationship".

8.) Don't MIss An Opportunity to Celebrate

Go to AllTrails app to find some trails in your neck of the woods and start enjoying the positive benefits of exercising outdoors! You won't regret it!

In this week's SportSquire Wellness Corner, Brad speaks to the importance of finding spinal neutrality while sleeping and explains the negative impacts that asymmetrical sleeping can have on your spine and extremities in regards to anatomical structures being compressed for longer periods of time. He speaks about stomach sleeping, back sleeping, and side sleeping and some easy implementations you can make to help create a more neutral spine environment. 

TakeAway: Pay attention to where you are waking up with stiffness or pain and reverse engineer what you can do to influence this spinal neutral philosophy to help reduce stress and pain upon waking. If you make these changes and you still are having pain you may want to look at your mattress as the culprit for poor positioning as the National Sleep Foundation recommends replacement of your mattress every 6-8 years. 

This week's episode of SportSquire is a special one as Brad interviews his older brother Steve Howell. Steve has an incredible story of triumph to speak about as he has learned to navigate his newly found diagnosis of Spasmodic Dysphonia. Spasmodic Dysphonia is a voice disorder that causes involuntary spasms of the voice box or larynx. Steve speaks at the end of the episode about his experiences with struggling with losing his voice and gives advice to others who are seeking representation and support with this neurological disorder. The episode does not start there however, it highlights Steve's unique story of being a Division 1 College Quarterback, to selling high end real estate, to transitioning into a full time acting pursuit of acting as a career. 

Steve was a standout high school basketball and football player who turned down several division I scholarship basketball offers to pursue his dream of playing Division 1 football as a Quarterback. He began his college career at Montgomery College where he took over the starting spot as a Freshmen and helped turn the program into a top 3 school in the nation and led the Junior College Division in passing yards and touchdown passes his Sophomore year despite missing  games at the end of the season after separating his shoulder and fracturing his clavicle. Before the injury he was being recruited by California, Auburn, Kansas State, and several other schools. He ended up going to the University of Massachusetts and celebrated in an Atlantic 10 Championship as a Junior. After his playing career was over he landed a job working in real estate in the Wilmington, North Carolina region. He speaks about how his transition into acting happened while in North Carolina and how he landed the series role of a highly touted Arkansas QB Troy Jameson who gets drafted in the TV Series, One Tree Hill. Steve speaks about his experiences with acting and how he poured everything into learning the craft and improving his skillset, presence, and artistry when on screen. Throughout his career his was featured in One Tree Hill, Criminal Minds, Bold and Beautiful (Still laugh about this one), Coors Light Commercial with Jim Mora (aired during entire NFL Season), and won several awards in his work in the short film arena. He speaks about how he was so close to landing so many lead roles during his time in Los Angeles but knows everything has led him to exactly where he was supposed to be. He met his wife Rohini in L.A. and they both decided to move to New York City to support Rohini's dream of realizing her unreal artistic talents at the New York Academy of Art and for Steve to pursue business interests. 

This is a story of Triumph and hopefully and inspiration for those who listen that you should never settle! Steve has pivoted so many times in his life and everything he has done has been with intent focus and an unbelievably hard work ethic. His attitude, faith, and support from family/friends have really helped him through a challenging diagnosis. His words of encouragement to those going through the same or similar challenge as him is inspiring. Great story from a great individual!

In honor of raising awareness for Spasmodic Dysphonia, we will be editing/clipping the specific portion of this interview (and releasing in it's own segment) in which Steve talks specifically about his experiences and what he has learned through the process to help others who are struggling and seeking counsel as they navigate their new reality. His hope is that he can help bring HOPE to those who are struggling as he has been there. In this edited version, we will expand on useful tips that Steve has found helpful that can be pursued by individuals who are diagnosed with this neurological disorder. In the meantime, we pray for Steve, the physicians overseeing care of this diagnosis, and all individuals who are affected by this disorder that there may one day be a cure. 

In this week's SportSquire Wellness Corner, Brad highlights the work done by Russian Psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik who discovered sitting in a 1920's diner that waiters/waitresses could remember complex orders and unpaid meals but once the orders were filled and paid the servers were unable to recall detailed information about the orders. This observation led her to study the effect that incomplete tasks can have on recall and therefore create "cognitive stress". 

Takeaway:

1.) Create A Plan and Stick To It: Since your brain creates cognitive stress to help you remember you need to complete unfinished tasks, make a plan for how and when you are going to complete the task. Your brain is not great for RAM or Storage so get your tasks out of your head and on to paper or your calendar. I highly recommend a book by David Allen called Getting Stuff Done: The Art of Stress Free Productivity. In the book, he speaks to this concept of unloading your brain on a regular basis and strategies to organize tasks to reduce stress. 

Implement this strategy this week and see how much better you feel! This will help clear some mental space and allow you to spend more time on YOU through exercising, spending time with the family, or other activities you enjoy. 

Make it a great week!

This week's episode of SportSquire was inspired by a conversation Brad had with a family member on vacation who had been suffering from forefoot pain for several weeks. Family gatherings increase opportunities for pro bono opportunities to help out your loved ones. :) No but seriously I have educated several patients on this topic of flip flops and it sparked me to add into our SQ Wellness Corner as it is a helpful coaching tip to understand how flip flops change the mechanics of your walking and therefore increase stress on your forefoot and allow for increased gait compensations. 

Even though my cousin by marriage did not get forefoot pain from wearing flip flops she did have exacerbated pain by wearing flip flops. Her signs and symptoms and history all lined up and presented like extensor tendonitis. If you suffer from similar forefoot symptoms her are some tips: 

1.) Wear tennis shoes instead of walking bear foot. Eliminate flip flops. 

2.) Stretch Your Calves: Dropping your calf off a step is one of the best ways to stretch your calf muscles but sometimes individuals with this type of forefoot pain this is too painful so if this is the case for you then use a belt or long beach towel around your forefoot with legs straight out and hold 2x30 seconds. 

3.) Improve the strength in your arches: Work on scrunching up towel or pick up objects with toes such as marbles, balloons, etc. 

4.) Add ankle circles in clockwise to counter clockwise wise fashion to strength ankles in all 4 planes of direction. 2x20 repetitions

5.) Work on "Quieting Toes" by sitting in chair or standing up and pulling ankles up without leading with toes. This will strengthen your Anterior Tibialis Muscle on the front of the shin bone and will further reinforce a stretch on the calf/achilles complex. 

6.) Focus on Heel to Toe Progression with Your Walking: The point of 1st contact in your walking pattern should be your heal hitting the ground with ankle moving upward at a 10 degree angle at minimum. This allows for proper preparation to shift weight through midstance and then get to "Toe Break" or point where the front of your toes bend where you almost feel an arch stretch. Walking with this proper sequence re-emphasizes the necessary ROM to maintain good healthy feet while setting you up for more efficient weight transferring with your walking. 

Take better care of your feet by implementing these simple steps and thinking twice about wearing flip flops!!

In this week's SportSquire Wellness Corner, the focus is on the Science and application behind habit formation. Habits are formed in our brain as a primitive way to automate and save energy with tasks that bring reward. When creating positive habits you can become much more efficient with your time and energy according to leading research. Brad references James Clear, author of Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones and his blog How To Start New Habits That Actually Stick found here https://jamesclear.com/three-steps-habit-change. 

The Four Stages of Habit: 

1.) Cue

2.) Craving

3.) Response

4.) Reward

How to Create a Good Habit: 

1.) Cue--Make it Obvious

2.) Craving--Make it Attractive

3.) Response--Make it Easy

4.) Reward--Make it Satisfying

How to Break a Bad Habit: 

1.) Cue--Make it Invisible

2.) Craving--Make it Invisible

3.) Response--Make it Unattractive

4.) Reward--Make it Unsatisfying

Take an audit of your habits both good and bad. How can you apply these simple scientific steps to better your life through positive habit formation? 

In this week's episode of SportSquire, Brad speaks about the benefits of high intensity interval training on your health. He highlights benefits as being: 

1.) Burns More Calories Compared to Continuous Aerobic Capacity

2.) Benefit From EPOC (Exercise Post-Oxygen Consumption) which is the body's natural ability to return to homeostasis after exercise. 

3.) Studies show You are more likely to stick with your routine: The variety of HIIT options are endless which allow for creativity and increased engagement compared to continuous aerobic activity. 

4.) HIIT Workouts Boost Your Endurance/VO2 Max/Heart Efficiency: HIIT training increases the flexibility and elasticity of arteries and veins better than continuous aerobic activity secondary to the increased pressure demand on your blood vessels. One study shows, HIIT training is not only safe but also easier to tolerate than more moderate workouts in people with coronary artery disease. 

5.) Improve Your Results in Less Time! A Study in the Journal of Physiology compared sedentary men in two different scenarios through a prospective study. One group of sedentary men did 40-60 minutes of cycling at 65% of their heart rate max five times a week. The other group did sprint interval training for less than 12 minutes each time three times a week. Both groups saw similar results including reduced aortic stiffness and increased insulin sensitivity. 

In this week's SportSquire Wellness Corner, Brad speaks to the deleterious affects of sitting on your overall health including an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, dementia, and musculoskeletal/postural dysfunction. He gives quick tips on how to combat the sitting routine and how to sit less and move more to improve your overall health. Challenge yourself to find ways to improve your movement activity throughout the day and take inventory on how much you are sitting to make a true change. If you are listening to this podcast, you are an individual striving to be more active and sitting more can combat the gains you are making through all your hard work in training! 

Welcome to the launch of the SportSquire Wellness Corner! As we push forward, every Tuesday you have a quick 10 minute (or less) informational episode that will help to call you to action as you improve your knowledge. This week's week's SQ Wellness Corner focuses on the importance of taking your joints through a full range of motion to help with prevention of musculoskeletal joint degradation and overall movement capacity. 

When we all move, it tends to be in a limited manner that may include repetitive movements such as walking, sitting to standing transitions, getting in and out of a car, but we don't always give our joints the opportunity to go through and maintain the full range of motion we need to optimize joint health. Brad speaks about the "Overhead Squat Assessment" in reference to assessing dynamic flexibility, core strength, neuromuscular control, and overall balance from the top of the chain to bottom. Highly encourage you to research this assessment if you are unfamiliar and learn how to best learn from your assessment results and how you can implement certain strategies to improve your areas of limitation. If this is something you struggle to learn on your own, finding a knowledgable Physical Therapist with experience in movement restoration can be highly beneficial. 

Some quick tips to help improve your overall mobility: 

1.) Scan Your Body at EVERY joint from Your Neck to Your Toes: By doing this take notes of the different ranges of motion at the particular joint that "Feels Tight" and focus on mobilizing these areas until they feel less tight. Most likely tightened muscle areas can lead to problematic postural dysfunction injuries if not dealt with properly. For Example: When Scanning Your Neck: Draw your chin to chest (Does it feel tight? If so work on that motion with a 5 second hold and repetition focus to help stretch the soft tissue and take the joint through full range) If you don't feel tight there is no need to focus on that joint at the current time. Move to the next motion or next joint once you have cleared all!

2.) Incorporate Functional Movements: Squatting, lunging, overhead movements, pulling shoulder blades down and in, turning your head side as a few examples. 

3.) If you sit for several hours throughout your day (Like many of us do these days) find a way to take breaks ever hour to hour and a half and go for  5-10 minutes of consecutive walking bouts. This will help to mobilize all the joints throughout your kinetic chain that are shortened with prolonged sitting and combat the negative affects of sitting. Sitting is the new smoking!

Tune in each Tuesday as we continue our SportSquire Wellness Corner! Combine your KNOWLEDGE WITH YOUR ACTION!

Brad goes 1 on 1 with President of the NHL's New Jersey Devils and Prudential Center, Jake Reynolds. Jake speaks about his early love for sports and how his competitive skills were really solidified through his basketball upbringing. He tells a story about sneaking into his Athletic Director's office in High School during lunch break to take the gym key so hey could go to Home Depot and make a copy to keep for himself. He said he spent every night in the summer in gym working on his game. It was that dedication that led him to be Player of The Year in the state of Utah. It is through basketball and playing many other sports through his upbringing that helped him learn about discipline, hard work, sacrifice, and how to compete. These skills are what have fueled Jake into a quick ascension through the Sports and Entertainment industry before the age of forty. Jake has had success with the Indiana Pacers, New York Giants, Monumental Sports (Washington Capitols, Washington Wizards, Washington Mystics), Philadelphia 76ers, and now the New Jersey Devils. 

Jake speaks about the 3 C's when hiring and developing talent: 

1.)  Curious

2.)  Coachable

3.)  Competitive

Jake mentions something during the segment that stood out. API. ASSUME POSITIVE INTENT. He has fostered and taught this methodology to his teams over the years in regards to taking feedback and being coachable. He speaks about how much a culture can change when individuals within an organization realize that others who give constructive feedback are just trying to help them with their development and growth. 

Brad asks Jake about how he manages his stress. Jake highlighted: Spending quality time with his wife and three daughters,Exercise (Peloton, Tonal), playing basketball on game days, and meditation. He credits meditation to a more calmed mind and has been practicing for over a year and has really noticed the mental benefits. "I don't have a lot of stillness in my life so meditation has helped me to slow things down. It has been a game changer."

Great conversation with a very passionate and energetic leader who is taking the Sports and Entertainment industry by storm!!

In this week's episode of SportSquire, Brad is afforded the opportunity to sit down with former Southport High School teammate and current Head Basketball Coach and Athletic Director at Crispus Attucks in Indianapolis. Chris Hawkins has proven to be the one of the fastest coaches to 100 wins in Indiana High School Basketball history and doing it in just over four years!! His preparation met opportunity in 2017 as he led the Crispus Attucks team to their first State Championship since 1959. 

Chris took over the historic Crispus Attucks Program that was made famous in 1955 when they won the Indiana State Championship and became the first All-Black team in the nation to win a state championship. The Attucks Program was dominant during the 1950's winning State titles in 1955, 1956, and 1959. The 1955 and 1956 teams were led by the ever talented Oscar Robertson. When asked about what it means to coach at such a historic program, Chris said, "I'm just looking to add to the legacy of what has already been created here at Crispus Attucks". 

Chris speaks about his 8-10 year journey of being an assistant coach and head AAU coach.  He describes this time as being a necessity in what would later prepare him for taking over the Attucks program. In referencing an AAU team he coached which had several high level division 1 commits, he states " I learned how to manage egos. I learned how to manage parents and expectations. The experience was invaluable". He gives credit to several local Indy coaches who have and still today serve as mentors to him. 

When speaking on the value of his previous experiences that prepared him to be a head coach, Chris states, "You have to sit in seat fifteen to know how to handle seat one. Because when seat one is set on fire and you haven't really been through the fire as far as  watching how head coaches handle things like parent meetings, meeting with district principals, and district AD's it can backfire quickly and then you are out of a job. So, No. I wanted to master chair fifteen before I got to chair one". 

This is a can't miss episode. Chris is a rising star among young men and an exceptional basketball coach! His wisdom and leadership advice is beyond his years!