From Burnout to Breakthrough: Nick Tintle's Lacrosse Journey, Part III.

Building the Lacrosse Barn: A Dream Realized with Nick Tintle

In this episode of 'Get the Lax Scoop', hosts Big Dawg and Jaybird delve into an inspiring interview with Nick Tintle, a two-time UNC All-American, MLL Champion, and renowned skills trainer. Nick shares his journey of establishing the Lacrosse Barn in Dallas—a state-of-the-art lacrosse training facility. He narrates his experiences of transforming a dilapidated building into a premier lacrosse hub, incorporating detailed biomechanics and specialized training strategies for athletes. Nick also discusses the influence of his mentors, overcoming significant challenges, strategic hiring, and his future visions for expanding the Lacrosse Barn concept to new locations. Additionally, the episode touches on personal anecdotes, like the creation of the barn's distinctive logo and Nick's favorite food spots, blending lacrosse insights with engaging stories.

00:00 Introduction to Get the Lax Scoop

00:23 Meet the Hosts and Guest

01:01 Interview with Nick Tintle Resumes

01:22 The Dallas Gym Opportunity

01:48 Building the Dream Facility

05:03 Challenges and Triumphs

06:22 Facility Features and Training Philosophy

12:28 Strategic Hiring and Training Methods

17:52 Biomechanics and Speed Training Insights

19:16 Learning from Lacrosse Experts

20:14 The Importance of Understanding the 'Why' in Coaching

23:08 The Lacrosse Barn Logo Story

27:02 Nick's Favorite Local Eats

29:00 Future Plans for the Lacrosse Barn

33:18 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

NEW BOOK!
Inside the Recruiting Game: Insights From College Lacrosse Coaches
-Available on Amazon.com as an Ebook and paperback


Links to training videos:
Master The 5 Best Dodges From the Wing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_7LDOcQQ6Q&t=88s

Blazing Shots... on the Run!
https://youtu.be/XiptPlM63oQ

Check us out...

On YouTube @jaymcmahonlax23
On Instagram @jaymcmahonlax23
On Facebook @: facebook.com/jmcmahonlax23. Page name: Jay McMahon Lacrosse

Check out!... Coach Tintle's Lacrosse Barn:

https://g.co/kgs/eXedCXf

SuccessHotline with Dr. Rob Gilbert on Ironclad & Apple Podcasts

Brian Cain Daily Dominator on Apple Podcasts

Jon Gordon Positive U. Podcast on Spotify

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck, PhD on Amazon.

Lacrosse Charities Mentioned in S2 E36:
https://www.4thefuturefoundation.org/

https://www.harlemlacrosse.org/

https://15forlife.org/

Transcript

0:00

It's time for Get the Lack Scoop, a podcast bringing you all the people and stuff you should know in the game of lacrosse. We take lack seriously, but ourselves, not so much. Join host Big Dog and Jaybird and the biggest names in the game brought to you by Jay McMahon lacrosse. That's JML skills, mindset, and lacks IQ training. Ron Doglish, the big dog, was a collegiate football and lacrosse player at Brown. He was also an assistant lacrosse coach and the executive director of the Sports Foundation. And Jay McMahon, the Jaybird, a three time All American midfielder at Brown. He was the captain of the U. S. Junior National Team and is the founder of JML. And Joining us in the studio, Steve Grisolfi, who's collegiate lacrosse career statistics equals one goal against Dartmouth brought to you by Jay McMahon lacrosse. That's JML skills, mindset, and lacks IQ training, helping the next generation of lacrosse players get to the next level

MacBook Pro Microphone: 1:00

Welcome back everyone for another episode of Get the Lack Scoop. We are super excited to release our interview series with two time UNC, all American MLL Champion and Skills trainer extraordinaire. Nick Tinel. If you have not listened to the first installment, we highly recommend you go back and do so as it ties in beautifully with this episode. You'll find this interview in progress.

1:25

So, yeah, so I, so I was in looking for smaller buildings and I get a call from my now investor in in Dallas. He goes, I got this place. And I didn't, I didn't know who he was. You know, I researched and he played the cross played at a high level, played at the pro level. Has done well for himself, but he he calls me and goes, I got a place you gotta look at. I'm like, I'm sorry, who is this? And then I researched and saw, and I was like, all right, I'll come check it out. Not expect anything. And I walk into this building and when I tell you it, it was a shit hole. It was beyond a shit hole. But it was everything I've dreamt of owning a gym. It was a full field house, a-frame, no poles, wide open space, just right. I was so tired, but I, when I walked in this place, I asked myself when I'm on my deathbed. And look back at this opportunity. And if I said no, I would regret it. And that's why I was like, I'm in 100% in now. I asked him like how he found me or whatever, and you know, he's an investor in a bunch of different things, but he found me through mutual friends that I played with or played against or whatever. And everyone told him that I was the guy to run it because, you know, I ran a brick and mortar, but I also Right. Have a lacrosse background as well. So I basically said yes. Took my wife to Dallas. So did, so did he have this idea for the space? He is like, like, this guy's a great lacrosse trainer. This is a great space. I mean, it's a huge space, right? So, so he, yes. So he moved to Dallas and he just thought that they needed something for lacrosse. Lacrosse is not a sanctioned sport, so they kind of get kicked off to the side. So they, they, they don't get indoor field space often. They don't get this stuff. And I was like, he, he, you know, he was like, we could do football, we could do soccer. He wanted to do everything. I was like. I wanna make this a full lacrosse place. I, I think it's time. And my uncle's been down here, coaching coach at the Woodlands. He's in Austin now, but he, oh, wow. He told me to send the coordinates I sent him, he goes, you couldn't pick a better location. It's right between Highland Park, where Presler ISS at now, right. ESD, you got Hockaday on the girls side. You have St. Mark's, you have a bunch of really, you know, you know, Charlotte North went to ESD. She's 10, it's 10 down down the road. That's awesome. High level players, high level teams, right within, you know, 15 minutes of the gym. So I, I told him, I was like, and he looked at me, he is like, okay, we'll, we'll, we'll try it out. He goes, this is your thing. It's a passion project for him. But it, like, it was kind of a risk on my time to make it just lacrosse and I just thought it was the right time to do it. I might be a little early to it, but I promise you since I've done it, people are starting to talk about putting it everywhere. They wanted, right? Huh? Yeah. So anyway, this type of facility, well, I wouldn't bet against you. Yeah. It was my, it was my dream. It was my dream. I swear I've dreamed, I dreamt of a place.'cause when I was playing for Denver, we used to play in the field house at, Bronco Stadium Broncos. And I looked at it, I was like, man, if I had it, I just, all these years I've been designing this facility in my head and now I have the actual bones to do it and start from scratch and make it my own. And I moved my wife from, from California, she's born, you know, born and raised in California. She moves to Dallas. She, you know, she's another angel that was sent to me. She's everywhere. And I come, I show her this place and like I said, I mean, HVAC system were gone. Wire line, like copper wires stolen, windows broken. It was dusty. Like, I bring her in and I'm like, this is gonna be strength. This is gonna be chiropractor, this is gonna be this, this can be this, this is gonna be field tur, blah, all this stuff. I turn around and can't hear it. A peep. And I like, what's up? She goes. What the fuck did you do? What do you mean? But what do you mean this? It's gonna be beautiful. She goes, do you know how much work you have? And I'm like, I'm like, let's stay in the honeymoon stage a little bit for this. Right? And that, that was the start of the project that took 10 years off my life. Pretty much. I, you know, I, I, I stayed in California. I sold Athlete's Choice. I stayed there for six more months working out of that facility. And then I was gonna move to Dallas and within that year, so I thought it was gonna be a six month, you know, a year project. So six month renovation, a year's worth kind of thing. I started and then six months I'll be there while they're building it out. I got there. I. It took two years to get off the bat. So I didn't have, I didn't really have a job for two years when I got here. Obviously I, I was training and coaching at the field, but I, you know, I was also going, meeting up with the architects and meeting up with the town and, and doing all coding and a DA compliance and, you know, putting security cameras in, you know, entertainment systems. Finding a strength coach to, to team with, to finding our chiropractor and our, and our PT side, and finding coaches that wanna coach there and all this stuff. But, you know, I wouldn't change the world. It, the place came out. It's, it's, it's just unreal. It's, it's, it's a different, it's a different facility. It's a real special place. Yeah. But it looks like a piece of artwork. It is. It's. And yeah, just looking at some of the player testimonials on the site, you know, it's obvious. You absolutely love what you're doing and love these athletes and it, it's made a huge difference, huge impact in so many of their lives. And, you know, in broad strokes, what is your approach? And you could talk a little bit more about the facility too. I know looking at the video online, the number 88 is, is in the, is in the facility. So you could talk about that, but we're just gonna ask a question in broad strokes, you know, what your coding philosophy is like and what are some of your most powerful training principles. But talk a little bit more about the, the layout just so people can kind of get a picture. We'll put the link in the show notes to your website.'cause they gotta check it out. It's just amazing. So it's, it's one building right now. We had two buildings. We had to take down the bubble building that was part of the process of, of the fire compliance. But we're building a second building. It's just in the, it's in the works right now. We finally opened building one phase one, which was the big 70,000 square foot gym. Wow. It has 76 yards of turf long, and then it's about 35 yards wide. It's got two rows of, of seating. So we have like event seating, so we could run sixes in there. We have a box rink that we'll put in two to three months outta the year. That is cool. We want to introduce box to both the girls and the guys. We think it's an antigo part of just becoming an all around player. Yeah. And then with sixes, it just made an easy decision because of the Olympics coming in there. So get, get people situated with sixes and understanding the rules and just, that's great. Like think about basketball, pick up basketball. That's how you get good. Right. So pick up, like pick up lacrosse is sixes, right? Right. So we have mezzanine, every seat in the house is dedicated to my buddy. So 88 is on the every seat of the, of the gym. The bull logo that we have for the lacrosse barn that 88 is in the mesh. So I incorporate that with everything. We have Sweet Oak Fit, which is our strength and conditioning company that we partnered with. They are the best in Dallas. I, I wasn't settling for anything less than the best. We wanted to come out, out the gate running. I found them they've been around for 12 or so years in the Dallas area and their, I guess general manager is from Long Island. He played lacrosse. He trained Brenda O'Neill when he was younger. And he started really, he started really kind of bringing in more lacrosse athletes and strength training with athletes. So one thing that was really important to me is through my strength and condition speed world out in California, I understood and started learning how lacrosse athletes moved and the demand on lacrosse athletes' bodies. So I wanted a strength coach that wasn't giving bastardized football programs to lacrosse athletes. Right. I wanted cross specific training for lacrosse athletes. Yes, they gotta get bigger, stronger, faster, but how do we keep them on the field? Right. Right. On the girls side, it's ACL injury prevention lower back. You know, there's, there's a lot of things that go into the demand of Blue Cross. So we, we hired them strategically on the other side control. Dr. Andrew, he doesn't come from the lacrosse world, but he has worked with Oak Fit in the past. So we were talking to some other companies in Maryland and everything to move out, but if the strength coach and the PT don't work together, if they have different philosophies and methodology, it don't work. And I knew that. So I just said, Hey, Oak Fit, you are our strength and conditioning team. You are our partner. We're in this together. I want you guys to find who you wanna work with closely and then you guys could share space and work cohesively.'cause we wanted to create a cohesive environment. I didn't want to be. That's great. I want to go to work and enjoy working. Right, right. And I wanna be professionals that do it the best in their sector. That's awesome. So that's how we designed that. We have, we, we will eventually have a podcast room, which we're building out now. Cool. We have, you know, a break room and, and different, different things, but everything is lacrosse. You walk, I remember walking into gyms when I was younger and there's baseball jerseys or football jerseys or basketball jerseys on the wall. And you're surrounded by athletes from other sports and yeah, I played football and stuff, so it didn't bother me that much. But never have you seen, like, I, like I always used to watch Cressie in the baseball world and he's like known for, for baseball, right? There's these guys that made it in one sport. There's, you know, in football you have defensive back coaches, you have linebacker coaches, you have, right, you have specific. So I wanted to really niche that down. So that's kind of how we, we designed the whole place lacrosse. That's great. When you walk into the lacrosse barn, I wanted you to understand that this is lacrosse first. So when you walk into the left, we have benches that are our benchmark and we have all our kind of core models. And then on the left of the wall, we have a full museum type piece. Of the origins of the game. So think it's a Native American piece with old wooden lacrosse sticks, and it has the history of the game from when it started all the way until the Olympics. That will be coming in 2028. That's so cool to teach, especially in Dallas, not a lot of parents have played the game. So we want to teach them and educate them where the game came from. You know, kind of give it a little bit of an ode of, of how special the game is. And especially with my story, right? We, it's the medicine game and we, we try to incorporate that into our training and everything like that. So everything is lacrosse specific. We partnered with Legends, so they do our apparel. Scott Hoad over there, just, you know, his apparel's, you know, above everything else, so he ized it for us. That's great. We have a ping pong table upstairs. We have a flat screen TV with Xbox. We wanted the experience to be for kids not to come for an hour in training and then leave. We want parents to be like, this is a safe spot. They could shoot, you know, they could train, they could shoot if the bay's open, or they can go upstairs and play some Xbox or ping pong. We have a foosball table, you know, they can hang out. Go, you can go go grocery shopping or go run errands and, and leave'em there and let'em, you know, they'll be fine. They'll, they'll have a good time. We also have two home and away locker rooms that are customized with the, the LB logo and, and bull logo. So when we have the box tournaments or the Sixes Leagues, you'll have a home and away locker room as well. Cool. Man, that is just phenomenal. Beautiful, incredible, unbelievable. I mean, congratulations, man. It, it it seems like the culmination of of a lot of dreams and hard work and overcoming adversity. It just sounds like an amazing place. Looks like an amazing place online too. It is. And, and the one, the other thing that I wanna add to that, and if you guys don't mind,'cause I'll talk all, go right ahead. Go right ahead. Go into our training strategies. So I was very strategic on who I hired as well. My mentor trained Jack Posey, who played at Penn State. Oh yeah, he plays for the chaos right now. Right? He had that devastating ECL injury his senior year, actually got an extra year and then didn't find himself back on the field much his senior year extra year. But he tore his ACL before the final four. So he has that adversary story of, of the comeback. He came back a lot earlier, played in a couple games, his, you know, his extra year and then Right. Got invited to chaos and actually stepped on the field quite a bit for chaos this year. So he's got a great story. He's absolutely way more mature than I was graduating college. The guy is more, you know, more wisdom than I had at that age. So he's got a great head on his shoulder, shoulders. He's great with kids. He's teaching very detailed tactical, defensive work that. We haven't, I don't think we've seen you see like, you know, different drills that you see repeated over and over, Right. He's challenging that. And that's kind of what, where my philosophy comes through is I challenge things that I learned because yeah, I learned'em from great coaches. I'm not saying they're wrong, but has anyone thought of, is there a better way to do something? Right. In my opinion, lacrosse is the most understudied sport out there. Like if you look at baseball pitchers and stuff like that, they're, they're measuring so many different things with baseball pitchers or hitting instructors and stuff like that. I don't think we even, right. I don't even think we've started that in lacrosse. Yeah. I mean, I agree with skills training. It is just skimming the surface and trying to get people to buy into it and realize it's an integral part of baseball, football, basketball. It should be the same for lacrosse. Right. Exactly. So we take that approach and now I. Then my other coach, coach early, he runs early elevation and you know, he works for the lacrosse barn and I picked him, he played at Gordon College. There's, there's a bunch of coaches in Dallas that played at Syracuse and here and there and big name guys, right? Yeah. We're, we're looking to maybe train at the barn. I, I chose Austin. That's correct.'cause I came out and, you know, he followed me through Inkit. So he knew we were building this. I invited myself to one of his training sessions. I wanted to see how he interacted with the kids and did, and, you know, he might not have the accolades or he might have not have played, he picked up the stick really late in his career. He was from Virginia. Didn't play until later, went to Gordon College, had a good career, but, you know, not like, you know, not the D one guy. Mm-hmm. I chose Sam because he's the best coach I found as far as skills coaches in the Dallas area and beyond. So I chose him very strategically. I didn't care about accolades or anything. I was like, how do you interact with kids? How do you make them better daily? How do you, you know, program your training sessions for regression and progression and how do you make it fun as well? Right? So it was very strategic of who I hired. And the way that we break these things down is, I went to a lot of camps when I was playing pro and Alex and Pro and I watched the, the best guys in the world teach youth athletes how to play lacrosse. The problem or the disconnect is that these little kids weren't born with the talent that you have. They can't just do a skip split. They can't just do a role like you do. They can't, they don't have it. they haven't learned it or they just haven't been naturally blessed with it. They can't pick it up, right. So I became obsessed and I mean obsessed for the last 15 years of breaking down the biomechanics of Blue Cross athletes shooting form, technique, mechanics. Challenging the stigma of like these drills that have been around for but never. You just, you hear it regurgitate all the time, right? I wanted to find ways to teach a 6-year-old that same drill with like, like for instance, like everyone teaches like on the run shooting to backpedal down the alley, right? Every time you teach a young kid to backed down the alley, what do they do? They fade. How do we from fading from day one is we have them learn how to run on a curve. A curve. If you could run on a circle, you're gonna learn naturally how to lean into it and not fade. What they don't know is not how to, how to lean. So it was different. So we, we, I've challenged these ideas and I've found out better ways to teach it to the youngest kids. So they create better habits. At an early age, which allows, and I know there's an old school mentality and a new school mentality. I kind of fit in the middle. I wanna build a strong foundation of fundamental overhand and all that stuff. But if a kid is ready to. Go behind the back and teach'em why and when to do it or, you know, get out of different things and do, like, the game is evolving and changing. So that's heavy into my thing. It's not flashy. Right. Seeing these guys do some crazy things these days, you know, the way I look at it, I, I say this to all the coaches that like challenge me. I go, imagine someone told John Grand Jr to stop shooting behind his back. Right. Wouldn't have John Grant Jr. Right, right. Exactly. Or tell Mac O'Keefe not to shoot underhand. He's got one of the best underhand shots ever. Right. Kids are gonna go to what they feel comfortable with and what they practice most often is what they're gonna be confident with. So why are we taking that away from them? Let them create and then what we should do as coaches is gear them in the situations that they should use that and the situations they should use An overhead shot. Right. Right. Absolutely. That's great. I like that. Given that latitude. And then, and for me, with my speed background, because I was obsessed with speed, so it was, biomechanics of breaking down, like foot strikes, shin angles, head positioning is huge. Weight distri distribution, where your weight should be on your, on your foot when you're dodging, like it should be on the inside foot. Not many people know, but you're landing on the foot and then you're rolling over the big toe, which sets your arch and then eventually sets the Achilles, which is your piston. Right? So that is the thing that makes you fast. But kids don't know how to drive over the big toe. They don't know how to set that arch. So we teach the, those like really detailed things so that that kid that can't naturally do a double jab or like has that shake, we could teach it to him in some capacity. Now, is he gonna be a Kyle Harrison? Is he gonna be a Jordan Wolf? Or, you know, a sos or a Grant? Amen. No, he's probably never gonna get to that athletic, but we can make him faster. We can make him, we can make him better than what he would do if he was never taught those things. So I don't, I don't know if you know, but did you see Jay glowing there when you started mentioning the foot? I'm a former foot and ankle doctor, Nick. Yeah, I mean, when you were talking, you're talking about loading the windless mechanism. I love it. The toe and the arch. I mean, Jay was just like, oh, this guy, the detail, I love it. Yeah, it's a hundred percent spot on. And that's the thing, like, and then we like, so I know my strengths, I know that my strengths are breaking down, that type of stuff. You know, you had Jamie Monroe on, I studied Jamie Monroe stuff because that's not my strength. I wanna be better at that stuff. He's great with the X's and O's, the two man being just, you know the savviness and the IQ stuff, right? So if I can, create and break down Dodgers and get them more athletic, because he's right with the athletes. They'll, they'll figure it out. They'll, they'll be able to adjust. But what about the guys that can't move that way? We gotta teach him how to move that way and then be savvy. So I take things from him. Long time. I think he's a lacrosse savant, like nothing but praise for Jamie Monroe. Yeah. Because he did stuff that I don't comprehend and I'm trying to learn from him as well. But I think there's, I think the missing piece for me is the athletic development through the game of lacrosse. Right. And, and that goes into like, shooting, like, you know deceptive shooting. And then just, you know, rotation and extension and different things like that. So we really try to break that down. And then I think I'll end on this'cause I'll keep going with it, but I wanna make sure that all the kids, so what I see online a lot is cool Instagram drills that necessarily, I can't find the why behind. Every kid that does these things that we're talking about, a high level, I probably wouldn't tell'em about rolling over their toe. I would just cue them differently so they understand it. But they all are learning the why behind we do anything. If I don't have a why, like if I give them a drill and they're like, and they ask me like, why are we doing this? And I don't have an answer for them, or it doesn't make sense that that's not coaching, right? That's just doing random things, right? So I make sure that there's a why behind everything. And I think what I really got good at over 15 years is not, not adding drills, but taking drills away, right? Yeah. This drill doesn't get me or the athlete from point A to point Z fast enough. I don't need it. Let me find something better or let me replace it with something that's already been been done. And you know, if you coach long enough, every kid learns differently. I have a thousand different ways to teach a roll dodge because each kid gonna understand it differently. I think that's part of it. That's great. That's awesome. Yeah. I mean, if, that's the thing with motivation too, for kids, if they don't know why they're doing something, they're just not gonna come back and do it over and over again. So that's, that's huge. That's great. Awesome. Awesome stuff. You can you imagine Nick tangle and and and Jamie and Row in the same room talking lacrosse. Good lord. Good Lord. Forget about it. I love it. Awesome. I mean, it, it, it's so awesome to see, you know, and you and Jamie are very different people and it's funny, a as you were talking, thinking about the different ways you two think about the game that kind of matches your personalities, you know? Yeah. And you each in your own way are thinking in ways that a lot of people don't think about the game of lacrosse. So it's really neat to see the juxtaposition of you two and the ways you approach your work. Yeah, absolutely. No doubt. So is our roving reporter around. Steve Sfi. Yeah, we're ready to go. Outstanding. There he is. It, it was really interesting to hear you guys talk about the you know, the mechanics of the speed game.'cause Ron and I used to discuss that a lot back in the late eighties. I mean, didn't, did we, Steve? I mean, I, I mean the blazing speed and I, I mean, I really down to the pizza place and back, I, I used to drive off my toe like, like you wouldn't believe Steve, Nick. I mean, we would, we would be lucky if we, if our shoes were tied at that point, we counted that as being advanced. I mean, my, I always thought my Achilles was a piston, Steve, and you know that, you know that to be true. Steve Piston outstanding. All right, so Nick, I have a few questions for you. They, they limit me to non lacrosse questions for obvious reasons, but I have to hear the story about the Lacrosse barn logo. It has to be in the running for one of the best logos in the sport of lacrosse. Who came up with the Longhorn skull idea? Those t-shirts are fire. Tell us about how, how that came about. Well, so as you guys know now, the, the building, the build out took two years. So I had a lot of time to think and do things. And with my, with my mind, it's just like, it's, it could always be better. It could always, like, I'm like a perfectionist in some manner. So the logo was done by my my mentor through his team. He would send me a new logo every day for six months. And it was Nope, nope, not there. Nope, not there. Not there. And then I was like, can we put the 88 in the mesh? And then he brought it back and he is like, he literally wanted to ring my neck. He's like, pick a logo. Like, I'm like, no, it, it's not right. And I don't have to make a choice'cause the building's not anywhere close to getting completed. So I'm just gonna, you know, hammer away at this. And we had a logo when we first started, so it was a little bit busy. It was a little bit more of a billboard logo. And I kind of was like, you know what, if we take the bowl a lot by itself, I think that's gonna be a stronger like, logo for, for clothing. Then. So for the benefit of the listeners who, who you know, aren't watching the video, the, the logo is a Longhorn skull where the actual head, part of the skull is the, is a lacrosse head and it, it has the number 88 in the mesh of the lacrosse head. Right. Maybe it's available. Get a little on YouTube. I'll hold that up. Maybe hold a little closer. Yeah. That's awesome. But yeah, Dave, you know, you know what I, you know, what I appreciate on the shop is you can get three x, you know, that's what I, Nick knows is a lot X lacrosse players. And Steve, for Steve, double X, double X just isn't what it used to be. I'll tell you. Oh, is that what it is? You know, I, I really appreciate and shrunk down the double X. Huh. Yeah, Ron just has to hang that in the backyard to dry. He can't put that in the dryer. No, no he can't. I tell my wife that all the time. What the hell are you doing? Dog's had a clothes line in, you're fit that goddamn thing now. Jesus. So how many iterations did you go through before you found, you wound up with that one?'cause that one really is great. Probably went through 50 to a hundred iterations. Oh my God. And finally he came back to me and he's like, I got it. And I was like, all right, let's see. And he sent it to me and I was like, yep, that's it. You just like, I just knew it was, it, was it that that was it. Now it evolved a little bit over the last seven months because we started apparel and, and that logo that you saw on the, on the gym was the initial logo. But now we separated the bull and the, the, the lb. So I was watching Yellowstone. You know how they have the wa on the barn and I'm like, I got a lacrosse barn. I don't have a bull brand. Like, you gotta have a brand like that. You would bull like, you know. Oh yeah. Yes. Couch. So I came back, I was like, can we put the L and the B together, but have separate things? So we have the LB and then we have the bull logo and, and stuff like that. I, I came up, so I was sitting in Laguna Beach when I in California and I was like, what am I gonna call this place? And I just saw a-frame and I was like, it's Texas. I mean the barn, the lacrosse. And it just came to me. And once you like had the lacrosse barn, like I put it into like a, a, a system and built a logo for myself and it was just like a red barn with the lacrosse barn underneath it. And that's how it started. But then I was like, okay, what else is in, in Texas? Okay, the big Bulls, they have the longhorns, let me do a Longhorn. And then it, and then some, like I was thinking, I was like, well, I want to put a lacrosse stick in there so they know it's lacrosse, but I don't like, you know, I don't like the lacrosse stick crosses and stuff like that. Like, I, I wanted to make it where like, you saw a bull first, but then you noticed the lacrosse stick later. And then we hit the 88 in there and then, you know, kind of all these reiterations kind of just kept going back and forth. But I think it, I think it came out awesome. Yeah. Well done. Totally well done. Alright, so in my research I dug deep and I need to ask you a question about what pizza place in Levittown serves the best Buffalo slice. Oh, that's easy. Umberto's. Umberto's Okays. Umberto's. I think it might be on the corner of Levittown and Au, but Umberto's for sure. All right. Not, not the one in Elmont, right? This is the, like the, the, the one satellite location. It's the one right on like Au Levittown border. It says that your favorite slice was the buffalo slice. Was that basically what you ate every day? Buffalo slice of Roberto's was. When I come home to Long Island and see my parents, I mean, I make the runs. I literally gain 10 pounds every time I come home. It's, you know, the hungry man in the morning. It's some albertos for lunch or chicken parm, hero. It's, you know, pasta, whatever it may be. Or it's, you know, going back to Fred's Deli to do, you know, a, you know, another chicken sandwich or a chicken cutlet sandwich. It's nonstop cards. My wife, the first time she came to New York like after day three, she goes, can we please have a vegetable? Right? They don't have vegetables on Long Island. It's just bread and more bread. Let's do it. So, I know there's not a lot of good pizza options down in Dallas, but what place have you learned has the best barbecue down there? Ooh, good question. I've been to a couple places. My new place that I go, you can't, so Alright. By my house there is hard, hard eight. It's hard. Eight. Yeah, that's a really good one. I pass it every day and they start smoking it at like six in the morning and you just see it like smoking and you smell it. You're like, you, you go to that place and you smell like barbecue for the next week. And then the one by my gym is called Oaked. We actually just went there the other day. That place is incredible. But the barbecue is, yeah, it's, you can't, you can't really go wrong with any place you go to. But yeah, those would be my two favorites. Awesome. Awesome. All right. Nice. So I'm almost afraid to ask this question based on how it went the last time, but where do you see yourself in five years? All right. Well, we, we talk like my wife always thinks that nothing's enough for me. Where she get that idea from. I don't, I don't dunno. So the barn was a big undertaking and you know, like I, I tell you what, when my mom first started, she goes, how the hell are you gonna pay your investor back by doing the cross lessons? We use some cart, some kind of idiot. And I'm like, it's a commercial real estate. I'm hoping that the commercial real estate continues, you know gain traction. I'm, I don't expect to, if I did that, I'd be, I'd be coaching for four, four lifetimes to pay my investor back. Right. So is your mom savvy enough to know that, asking you that question is just gonna make sure that you're gonna make it happen? So, when I first, so when I first walked into the barn, it was enormous. It was huge. It was like the biggest space I've ever been in and I can't believe this is gonna be mine and so on and so forth. I've been there for seven months and I'm already feeling like I've outgrown it, you know? That sounds weird and not outgrown it business wise. There's still work to be done to do it, but. You know, I don't, I, I'm getting constant emails and dms about starting at other places and that, ooh, franchise the barn that is not off the table. So I'm just, you know, I'm gonna do it. It has to be in the perfect loca location is key. You have to find the right building. So there's, it's very few that you can do it and few places you could do it. But yeah, I think in the future is to have the lacrosse barn in other states. And to be completely frank, not, not in Long Island, not in Philly, not in Maryland. I just, they have so much long lacrosse is so, it's so popular that they get space in these multi-sport facilities. But to bring the expertise with a lacrosse only facility to up and coming areas like maybe Utah. Or Denver or Colorado, like Oregon, maybe Oregon, something like that. There are places where people can fly in and get, and, and, you know, come to see you, right? Yeah. So that's the best part about Dallas is ev like I get people flying all over the country to come see me and it's two and a half, three hour flight to everywhere. So it's really nice. That's cool. Actually located, but I wanna, my goal is Maryland, laund, Philly, all j Jersey, they're gonna be fine. They're gonna continue to grow the sport. The sport has got its roots in there. I want the roots to grow other places and really get high level training. For athletes.'cause I mean, being in California, these, these parents are spending fortunes to, to just fly across the country to play in a club tournament over the weekend. They come back, their kids are exhausted, they train once and then they fly back and it's tournament to tournament flying. East Coast, west coast. East coast, west. Same they with Dallas. My goal is with this barn, is to bring college coaches to it, to bring, you know people to us so that we can show the talent that's in the Dallas area.'cause there's a lot of talent. They just need a little tweaks here and there. But there's a lot of, a lot of really, really good players. Cool. That's very exciting to hear. Good luck with that, Steve. I, I know I can speak with for you, in saying that you and I are available to be speed trainers at the lacrosse plant. I mean, you, I mean, I'll do it for a charge. I'll, I'll do it, but I'll have to charge because I'm such an expert on speed expertise. Well, you should. Hey. Hey Nick. You should see the size of this fucking guy's calf. He's like a freaking nature. I mean, it didn't help him joke. I Volkswagen, if, if you need me to teach people how to do that, I'm your guy. God, I have a powerful Achilles on this guy. He does a tremendous calfs. Jay, this is a, for me, during an episode, during an episode buying gear from our guest, I just bought my burnt orange lacrosse barn t-shirt in three. Beautiful, beautiful. It's on its way. Yeah. Yeah. For our listeners out there, you have to go to the lacrosse barn website and check out the swag. It's amazing. Well, you know, maybe we will get on the road. In six months or something and come out and see the barn, do another episode. Guys are invited anytime. Hey Nick, we're really really appreciate all the time you've given us tonight. We're really, I, I mean I'll speak for me. I'm so excited for you, man. You've worked so hard for everything you've earned. It's really exciting to see breaking new ground in this facility and I'll look forward to your book being on the New York Times best solo list. Yeah. And I'm excited for us'cause we just got an amazing interview. Awesome stories. Absolutely. Well, thank you guys for inviting me on. I appreciate it. Hey, it, it was awesome. Absolutely phenomenal, tremendous story. And I'm excited, I'm excited for your book and we've gotta make it out there someday. Whenever you're to Dallas, just stop on by. All right. Alright, Nick. Thanks man. Absolutely. You really appreciate it. Alright man, this was great. Good luck with the facility. I keep following you on Instagram. Great stuff. All right, man, take care. Until we meet again. Here's to hoping you find the twine. We're signing off here at the get the lax scoop. Thanks again so much. We will see you the next time.