S3 E10. 1st Quarter Compilation: Best of Coaches Munro, Tintle, & Heningburg, Part I.

In this episode of Get the Lax Scoop, hosts Big Dawg and Jaybird dive into the world of lacrosse with some of the biggest names in the game. The show, brought to you by Jay McMahon Lacrosse (JML), features a compilation of interviews from top skills trainers in the country including Jamie Munro, Nick Tintle, and Jules Heningburg. Each guest shares their personal lacrosse journey and experiences, from collegiate lacrosse at Rutgers, Brown, and UNC to professional training careers across the United States. The episode also highlights the deep impact of influential coaches and mentors like Wayne Curtis and Rob Hollis on the lacrosse community, and delves into the personal adversities and triumphs faced by athletes like Nick Tintle. The discussions also touch on the importance of hard work, passion, and resilience in both sports and life. Listeners are encouraged to subscribe and leave reviews to support the podcast.

00:00 Introduction to Get the Lax Scoop

00:23 Meet the Hosts and Special Guest

00:59 Welcome Back and Compilation Introduction

01:42 Jamie Munro's Insights and Memories

10:54 Nick Tintle's Journey and Overcoming Adversity

21:55 The Medicine Game: A Perfect Antidote

22:29 Coaching and Building Momentum

22:59 The Desire to Compete Again

23:34 High School Lacrosse Journey

24:30 Sibling Rivalry and Growth

29:01 The Myth of Natural Talent

32:28 Overcoming Adversity at Columbia High

36:40 Triumph at Seton Hall Prep

41:11 Leadership and Success at Rutgers

41:33 Conclusion and Sign Off

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

Jules Heningburg: https://thelaxlab.com/

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

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 Hello everyone. Welcome back to the show and for those who are new to get the lack scoop, a very warm welcome to you as well. As many of our listeners know, we love our compilations and that's because it really hammers home some of the best portions of our previous quarters interviews. And the first quarter of 2025 is no different. We had three of the top skills trainers in the entire country on our show. Jamie Monroe, out of Denver, Colorado. Nick Tinel, out of Dallas, Texas, and Jules Berg out of the great state of New Jersey. The wide breadth of these trainers approach mirrors their wide geographic reach, the reach of the game we all love. We'll start off this compilation with Jamie Monroe, brother Neil's remarks. And let it roll from there. We sure hope you enjoy it and if you do, please subscribe to the show and leave a review. As they say, it don't cost nothing and it sure would help us out. You will find our interview in progress. You know, Moses Brown game field and Brown game field are literally a block away. So being able to walk over there and see all these greats at Brown was really helpful. And Jay, you know, I just want to, I want to point out, having been in Rhode Island a long time myself, these, these two guys that Neil and Jamie are mentioning, Wayne Curtis and Rob Hollis. Those two, for so many people I've heard about growing up in Rhode Island, those were two of the guys who really grew the game, not just at Moses Brown, but all over. And you know, we guys on our podcast, it's been kind of fun. We feel like we've. You know, run across so many people who have told these stories of growing up. And there, there are always those one or two people in each community who are kind of, you know, the catalyst for changing the game and growing participation. And so I want to just shout out again to Rob Hollis and Wayne Curtis, who were two amazing people in the, in the sport of lacrosse in Rhode Island. Wayne Curtis ended up leaving right after my freshman year. He left for the Hill School and then Rob took over. One of the awesome things about Rob though was that he always just wanted to play with you. And so like in those days, it was, there was so much free play going on and Rob was also the soccer coach. So he was our soccer coach, and was the assistant or whatever, but he was involved with both programs, but so much of the free play though, we just like messed around and, and, and Rob would come play with us. He would like literally just be playing. Whatever little game we were playing, you know, at any time. And we used to call him Hacker Hollis'cause he would like Outra and, That's awesome. He was he was a real beauty. Yeah. And he did, he he made a big difference in lacrosse. That's great. RIP Rob Hollis. Yeah. R Gotcha, gotcha. Alright. B and Wayne. Curtis, we, we used to go down and play the Hill School, so he went, he was the head coach at the Hill School. Yep. Ah, and then he was, he ran the tryout at the Hill School for the U 19 USA team. That I tried out for way back one, another connection. Ron loves these connections to that small world team. It also was the founder of the Cocoa Beach spring break lacrosse that went on for years, probably 30 years of spring break down there. Wow. In fact, I mean, I, we went down to his spring break. I'm pretty sure you do like fantasy camp down there. I remember seeing some stuff online about that. Didn't you do that? I ended up kind of doing that myself with 3D. But but just back in the day, we got some good memories that we're not going to get into. Oh, Jamie, trust me. We had to edit our questions significantly. Stays on spring break. It's kind of like what happens in the brother's bar stays in the brother's Absolutely. I like it. So now, Jamie, as we Review there. You had a great career at Brown and talk about playing for some great coaches. Played for Dom Starcia, Mike Caravana, Pete Lasagna. Paul Hooper. Paul Hooper. Absolutely. The Hooper was a great coach. Hooper had played at Washington College and had been an assistant at Carolina, and he came up and was one of my coaches as I was two years behind Jamie and so much knowledge of the game. Absolutely. So tell us some of your top memories playing for those coaches and your fellow Bears. And then we'll take it from there. Yeah. Well, I mean, Brown lacrosse was just an incredible time, you know, of our lives. I mean, just the camaraderie. The competition lacrosse in general. I mean, it's funny. It's so again, it's so different now than it was then I mean, I was like way more of a soccer player to be honest with you. I wasn't even lacrosse wasn't really my It was my favorite sport in March, April and May, but I was really played way more soccer. And then all of a sudden lacrosse hit, I started getting recruited by Dom. You know, he didn't, he's an unbelievable recruiter and sort of like relationship builder in the recruiting process. And, you know, you get your love letters from him he's a, he's a volume guy, like love Dom and just like nonstop stuff. And, you know, Pete's. Passion for the game and his, you know, remember the video he made, you remember that? Like look brown lacrosse video that he was Oh yeah. He just did another one. I dunno if you guys saw that. The brown lacrosse. Yeah. It was awesome. Came out and it was narrated. Yeah. And, and then you know, just. The way that Dom just kind of like really got, got the energy behind that program and the passion with Brown lacrosse with a passion. You remember the t shirts, right? Oh, I mean, it was, it was a blast and, and, and just the, the guys, the coat, the, the level of play, you know, you remember Everything about it. It was just a total blast. In my caravana I mean he was like this guy came up from virginia ended up having a great career as a head coach at denison for a lot Of years was the assistant with us that He was he really like was tough on us in the early years. But yeah Because he was a big time attackman at uva. So what was it like having that kind of influence? He was getting in your guy's face a little bit. He just He played a very different way. I mean, he's a Sawanika guy, was a little guy, like straight up and down, you know, played with a Sammy and just was like, you know, this more like a Darren Lowe sort of type of a player and that was not how I played. Gags was probably a little bit closer. To that, but I was like, play a little more dangle and but at the end of the day though learn a lot from him and and have remained friends with him. I keep in touch with my caravan, so it's, it's, it's really been it's been great. I mean, the brown memories. You know, our, our memories of a lifetime, just the best. Right. And it's true with the passion thing. Like Dom's taking all these young guys, you know, just filled with energy and just encouraging that. So, you know, it was high energy when I got there as a freshman, I was like, holy cow, you know, it was great. High energy on the field, high energy off the field. Energy everywhere. It was endless. Hey, Jeremy, you know, I mean, you, you basically have been. You know, I, I, I always think about like, I don't think your brain ever turns off from lacrosse. Like, you just seem like you're always thinking the game and that's always the way you've been. But I'm wondering, you know, you, you kind of been a lifelong coach and teacher of the game. What, I always think like every coach you're with kind of influences your style a little bit. So when you think about those coaches, how do you think those guys impacted you as you moved on to your? Yeah, well, I mean, I'd say with Dom, it was just, I mean, he really I, I, what I learned from Dom, so, so much of what I learned from Dom was about, about how to kind of just sort of run a program with that kind of passion and dedication. His work ethic was unparalleled. His recruiting was incredible. The way he evaluated players too, I would always learn from Dom the way that he. He was always looking for something really special in a player, and he knew it could be different. And he would see something special and athletic, and he would look for that player that he could develop. And it wasn't always just pure athleticism. I mean, it had to do with, like, you know, a presence to that player, or something that they did really, something they did better than anybody else. And it was a really interesting way of kind of looking at it. You know, thinking back to hoops, I mean, the way that That Paul Hooper was able to like create a relationship with an individual player and find something that that player Could really be be excellent at and special with he would come up to me like hey three Three he would call you by your number. He'd be like hey three I got like what do you got hoops? He'd be like, you know, try this, you know, try posting up and then just sort of like You know, think about shooting a backhand and slide it off the, slide it off the side of your stick. And he's like, but don't tell Dom I told you that. Right. Right. Right. You know, and, Was he the one who told you to fake the shot? You faked a couple shots, like faked them behind the back, and then you ran around and scored a couple times. I came up with that little behind the back fake in a, in a tight one on one setup that we were doing one day against Greg Starkins on the roof. Yeah. And this was like, I was just good there and Starkins like turn around and I was like, ha, I'm just like, it's pretty funny. But that happened in the Cordell game. I think when I was a freshman, you did that. And I remember being like, Jamie, it didn't work, move the ball. And you waited a little longer and everyone was looking around the field. No one knew where the ball was. It went forever. And then finally your defenseman looked and you ran around and scored. It was whole. Do you remember that? That was hilarious. It was called John. Yeah. We just kind of like pretend you don't have to take a step. Like you're a little bit tipsy, but that was hilarious. So Jamie, that's like, move the ball. And he's like, no, no, I didn't do the drunk step yet. All right, Neil, enough, Jamie, Neil, enough, Jamie, next up is the great Nick Tin. And then getting through that, getting over that adversity. I know you're starting to write a book about your experience. I'm sure it's not just about that experience, but that's kind of a keystone of it. So tell us a little bit about that time after Carolina, and then what got you out to California? Well, the book is done. Oh wow. I just, you know, we, congratulations. Last, we're on our last bit of editing and stuff. I just had a, a meeting actually before this. We've got, the book has been turned down by 72 publishers. Our, it's just, it, we're not a big four sport. There's, they don't see enough audience for it. And that's the story of my life getting shut down and getting rejected and stuff like that. But this book's gonna be very successful. It's, it's, there you go. You're not gonna take no for an answer. Right. Oh, I love it. I'm actually gonna take all those rejections., I told the literary agents to send me all the rejections. I wanna read'em and I wanna put'em in the book.'cause when it, when it is, when it is successful, that's awesome. And that's, but that's how I'm right. You tell me I'm too small. I'm gonna three be wrong. That's, it's just like, like Mo some people would be crushed by that. Like, I was laughing on the Zoom call today. I was like, I was like, this is great. This is exactly what the book's about. It's about right. Becoming adversity and I I I love that. Right. That's great. So, so going back to college I, I graduated with a communications degree, still not knowing what I want to do in my life. And I actually stayed for an extra semester. The extra semester I get a call from a buddy at my from home. Telling me one of my best friends was shot and killed. Oh gosh. Sorry man. That just, wow. So Sean killed up in Albany, New York. So I graduated, not really, I don't know, in a, in a, in a rough way. I, I got a happy dose of reality in real life. Right, right. You know, entering the real world. So that happened I was graduating, so I had to fly home and bury my best friend and then fly back and, you know, get my diploma. Mm-hmm. And then, and then a month later you know, will, will, will Barrow was another good friend. And that happened a month later. Oh gosh. Yeah. So I buried two really good friends within a month's time. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And yeah, so that was the, the heavy, heavy dose of real life. And, you know, it put me, and I'm not, I look back at this, I'm not really proud of it, but getting, you know, I, I got to a really dark place you know, doing things out of my character. Mm-hmm. I lost my way. I I kind of escaped through drinking and, and other forms of numbing the pain. Mm-hmm. So I was, I was completely lost. I was working dead end jobs. Again, it's a gift and a curse for handling adversity. Right. You use your alumni. Network to get into the real world and jobs and work up the corporate ladder, whatever you want to do. And I, my, my, my dad's a carpenter by trade, and my mom was a teacher, so I didn't come from a lot of money. So I wanted to be kind of the breadwinner. I wanted to make a lot of money you know, be in the corporate world, be in finance, whatever it may be in Manhattan. And you know, I had all these networks that were willing to help me out. They knew what I was going through. They were willing to help me out. And I turned'em down because I told'em I wanted to do it myself. I wanted to do it on my own. I didn't take, I didn't take hand me outs. Now, being in the business world, knowing about that, this, this world is all about networking, right, right. Yeah. So, yeah, so I took a dead end job selling car insurance at Geico. I worked a couple jobs. Yeah. So it, it just, it was a time in my life that I don't like to talk about. It was just, it was a dark place. I dug, I dug a hole so deep, you know, that, you know, it was, it was. The only way to climb out was to start over. Right. So I decided to, I, I came home one night and I was disappointed in what I was doing. And I told my, it was actually my sister. I told my sister that I had to get out here. I'm gonna go to California, which is the furthest place away from New York. Right. Leaving three months. And she said, go, you need to just go and start over. So that's, that's what I did. I I saved a, a little bit of money for the next three months, and then I drove. And did you have like any connection to California? No, I had nobody out there. I don't, I didn't, I mean, I found, I found people once I was out that I didn't even know were out there. But yeah. That's great. I joined Cross Country with three other buddies and we started, it just started over. That's amazing. Well, Nick, man, I, I you know, I'm so grateful for you sharing what you shared. I, I really do think it's important for. Young kids to understand, you know, life can be tough and and you clearly went through some really challenging times and it's still so raw for you all these years later, you know? And so appreciate you sharing it because again, I, I think sometimes, especially as guys and athletes and tough guys, we're not supposed to talk about, you know, those, our feelings and those things that really impacted us. But I think, you know, there's so many people who struggle in different ways in their life and having people who have accomplished what you've accomplished despite all of it you know, it's, it's a, it's an important story to tell. So right. And then I think it probably, it's not easy than I appreciate, right? It's got really tough and, but I'm sure it adds such another layer to your experience that you can share with these kids, right? That it just makes you that much stronger. I mean, it's, really amazing. But go ahead Ron. I'm, I'm cutting you off. When you're ready to give your next question. Well, not only that, you cut me off when I was trying to tell Nick at a very emotional moment in our, in our Ron LAX history, just trying to be positive here, Jay. Good lord. Yeah. But anyway, Nick, thanks for sharing that, man. Really appreciate it. Well, I, I didn't, I didn't share it for so long. I, I buried it Yeah. A long time. I I actually started sharing it right bef, you know, right about when Covid hit, that's when I started opening up because I, I saw these kids struggling on a deeper level than what we were, I mean, what parents were seeing, what teachers were seeing, what coaches were seeing. It gave me the avenue to talk to them on a deeper level and kind of share my experiences, you know, once I figured out what was going on with them. And a lot of kids were in very dark places right. It's the thing I think we're taught to like tamp all that stuff down, right? So it's interesting how it was coming up to you as you're seeing these kids go through just a bigger struggle than most people would ever have gone through. So that's, that's pretty cool. So, so Nick, is it a, isn't it an exaggeration to say that, you know, you, you go out to California and, and is is finding physical training and lacrosse training, did that kind of get you back, get your mojo back in terms of things you loved and now you were sharing things you loved with other people? You know, what role did that play in kind of your rebirth, so to speak? It, it did eventually when I first moved out, I just needed to find a job and pay for rent. Yeah. Right, right. So I actually, I moved to California and the, the story goes like this. I I got, I took a job selling solar panels, door to door canvassing doors. Lacrosse was in the rear view mirror for me. I never thought I would pick up a stick again, to be honest. Wow. I was so burnt out after college then that happened and I was just, you know, I didn't think about it. I just thought about what's next. And yeah, I was too busy climbing my way outta the hole that I dug for myself. So it really wasn't, wasn't there. But I canvass at her house and I, I thank this lady for yelling at me this close to my face. She, you know, stopped soliciting at my door and like, yell, I mean, cursing. Every curse word came outta of her mouth. And I sat across. So she finally left, and then I went across the street and sat down. I was like, I don't want to do this right. I don't wanna do this. So I call my mom and I go, mom, I, I'm gonna quit this job. And, you know, she's obviously has more wisdom than I do at that age. And she told me, don't quit until you find another job. I call my other buddy and he is like, we're drinking Corona's on the beach in Huntington Beach. And I go, yep, I'm quitting. So I hand my clipboard to the guy, I go, I go drink on the beach in, in Huntington Beach, California. And I wake up on, you know, on the weekend and Monday comes around, I'm jobless and I got all these bills to pay and I'm like, I'm screwed. So I, I I hired a headhunter, got me a couple of corporate interviews. And this is where this comes back full circle as I'm sitting in the interview. And at this time I actually interviewed for a job in Manhattan that I got. It was nine interviews long. It was for like a financial advising. And I got the job out 300 applicants. It was like three people got got asked to, to come on board and I turned it out because I was gonna California. But I just, I was in a competitive mode of like seeing if I can get this high end job. So I was really good at interviewing. I, I knew what to tell people, what they wanted to hear, and so on and so forth. So I was at this Fortune 500 company and the last question she asked, she goes, where do you see yourself in five to 10 years? And I, I sat there for a minute and I thought, I really thought about it on the beach drinking Coronas. Holy kidding. And so I really thought about the question for a second, and I, and that's when it was kind of, that's, that was like my aha, aha moment of like, what do I love? What do I, I love strength and conditioning and speed because it helped me when I, when I had no answers, that was the only answer that got me to where I wanted to go. So I got my strength and conditioning. So she asked me, where do you see yourself in five to 10 years? And I go, and, you know, the answer is I see myself climbing up the corporate ladder, being a manager, a leader of a team, and, and you know, whatever that is for that company. And I told her, I said, in five to 10 years I see myself owning my own gym. And she goes, okay, well it was nice to meet, right? My head hunter calls me and goes, what the, what are you whatcha doing? I go, I found out what I wanna do. I'm gonna get, I'm gonna go get my strength and conditioning certifications. I'm gonna get my speed. And I really, my, my gift was speed change direction, stuff like that. So I really want to dive into the speed world, and that's what I did. So I I went to the first gym that I applied to. I went into it in, in like a meetup with them, and they hired me on the spot. They didn't hire me because I had my strength and speed certification. That was one that was, you know, it's a cherry on top, but my resume read All America UNC, lacrosse. Lacrosse, lacrosse. So they're like, we have a bunch of lacrosse athletes that need a lacrosse specific trainer. I was like, I don't, I don't do that. I, and they're like, well that's, that's, that's your resume and that's what we need you for. So if you don't wanna do that, then we don't have a job for you. So I I took it and started coaching both boys and girls lacrosse. And then That's funny. That's kind of when I, you know, the, I, I talk about this. You couldn't get away from it. You couldn't get away from it. It, it came after you. I got away, I got away for it for six years, but it came back into my life Right. When I needed it. I, I, right, right. Tend to tell people, you know, like we call it the medicine game and yeah, I never really paid attention to that or understood that, but I 100% believe that it was the perfect antidote for me at that time. Right. It got me back, it got a stick back in my hand. I was making$10 an hour. I was eating subway for lunch and dinner. So I was by, at the time it was$5 foot longs I was close to be. So I would order a$5 foot long and cut it in half, you know, have half for lunch and half for dinner. Barely have enough gas in my car to get to and from work. But I loved what I was doing. I was coaching kids, I was teaching'em speed, teach'em strength, getting some, some you know, some hours logging strength and speed, and then doing the lacrosse on the side and building the lacrosse thing. And then I start, you know, start getting these kids really good at lacrosse. And I'm, I'm starting to gain momentum and then I go to a couple games and watch. And then I started, you know, I was coaching a club team. I was coaching high school, and then I'm like on the sideline and I'm like getting more nervous than the kids are. And I'm like, those butterflies are like, I want to, I wanna compete again. I wanna play again.

MacBook Pro Microphone-3: 22:59

He wants to play again. He wants to compete again, but it's been a while since his UNC days. It's the age old question that haunts every athlete sooner or later, and that question is, does this old jalopy still have gas in the tank to find out? Tune in next week.

23:16

And now we'll tune into our interview with four time All Star Jules Henning. But it was all kind of like. Me just figuring it out along the way and having to, yeah. To be like, all right, like, let me, let me just try to lock in a little bit more if this is what, you know, I kind of want to do. That's cool. Nice stuff. Yeah. And we love, you know, talking about the relationships, you were talking about, you know, your dad and then your brother Dylan, and then, you know, taking a look, your high school at Columbia, you went there to 10th grade and then mm-hmm. As you, as we were saying, you went to Seton Hall after that. But looking at the stat sheet, you know, you had, they have all the stats on there for Columbia High School, like every year. So I could see, like when you're in 10th grade, I. You had like a few more points than your brother Dylan, but he did have a few more goals. So, but I was thinking that must have been so cool to play with your brother. I have a younger brother, but he kind of was like a maybe a year behind where he wasn't as good. He wasn't gonna play in the same midfield as me. I was a midfielder. But tell us about that. That must have been awesome to be playing and at, at this stage, you're really getting competitive with it playing with your older brother there at Columbia High School and looked like you guys had a good little season there. So tell us about that. Yeah, JI mean, you know, you kind of hit the nail on the head. The opportunity to, to play with your brothers is definitely a special one. I, I think you, you might take it for granted when you're, when you're young you know, our dad was definitely pushing us around it and looking back on that, like that, that's such a special experience. But in, in the time, me and him butted heads a ton, honestly, really. I think it started in the backyard. We had this like dirt court with like tree roots grown out of it. And my dad put up a basketball hoop. And you could raise it higher or lower. So we started pretty young, like you could put it lower and we would just go at, go at it after out there. And he's got a completely different build than me. Like I'm slim. He's, I'm six two, he's 5 8, 5 9. But like stocky, more like a Matt Rambo type. Yeah. I'm skin and bones. He's solid. I'm more shifty, you know, we're playing against each other. It was always competitive and eventually I figured out like how I could beat him. Right. And become like, all right, I can't have my, my younger brother beating me. So, right. Like, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna foul the outta you. So starts dropping the hammer. Exactly. Like I'm shaking past you. I go for a layup and I'm just getting like, jumped the ball. I would, I would never have done such a thing, Jay, that's I, I, oh yeah, right. Ron. Ron was the oldest of, he seems like Dylan and I've had a similar strategy. Yeah. Oh man. Dylan's not here to defend himself. He just had a baby. He was gonna be on the podcast to let everybody know, but, but that's great. No. And I got, I gotta give him his flowers though. Like, we'll get a statement from him perhaps, and he'll admit that like I, because we have a great relationship now, and that, that's why I want, you know, wanted to get him on here. He's a, he's a brilliant lacrosse mine. He is the offensive coordinator at Lawrenceville. Yeah. National championship program. Yeah. That's awesome. When you, in high school, like I was more of a gifted lacrosse player from like, the overall sense, because I worked really hard and I was, you know, I was shifty, but he was actually more naturally talented than I was. He just didn't like put in as much work as a player because, you know, I just, I loved to, I loved to work hard. Like I, that was my thing when I was young. Mm-hmm. I knew I was good, but I didn't ever feel like I was the best, but I was competitive, so I was like, what's it gonna take for me to, to become my best and, and beat these other guys that are playing on the club or they're, they're getting this ranking or whatever. He was, I'm always just naturally talented and, and bigger. So he would just show up and he'd be like, it's game time. Like I'm, I'm right. Get it. And so in, when we would look at the course of a season when I was younger, I would be the more productive player. But when mm-hmm. To you wanted to give him the ball'cause you're like, he's just gonna go get us a goal. He's a gamer. He's a gamer. Yeah. I wasn't a gamer growing up. I was more strategic, high iq. Like, I'm gonna make everyone better. And I had to develop a gamer kind of sense for, for me. And you know, it's, it's funny'cause my dad was like, if you could combine you two, you'd be like the best lacrosse player ever. It was like just, you know, figuring out things. And he's taken more of the, the work ethic approach now as a coach for Right film. You know, what he does for his guys and, and just that side of things. But he has always loved the game. So, you know, it's kind of coming together for him full circle as a coach where. I talk lacrosse with a decent amount of people, but like there's only a handful of people that I will actually trust, wholeheartedly, trust their opinion about the sport with. And, and he's one of those guys and he wasn't always that way, but he's worked himself to just understanding the game at such a high level to where now I can throw something at him and he's gonna be able to give me solid advice about it. And, and so we, we bond over that and it, we have a a solid relationship now in that, in that aspect. That's great. Despite all those hard fouls, you've, you've gotten over it, despite the hard fouls, the controllers being broken and, and you know, like just throwing me through a window. Like I, a lot of stories, I mean, Jules, it doesn't sound like you harbor any ill will.'cause if I could summarize what you just said about Dylan. Well, basically I was a better athlete than him, and I was smarter. He is worked harder. And now I kind of e listen what he has to say about the game. I mean, is that, have you heard this a pretty good summary from your brothers out there, Jules? I mean, yeah. That, that, that's a, that's a pretty good summary. And I, I would just, I was always like, yo, like I'm, I'm a good player. I'm like, dude, why don't you just come work with me? Like, yeah, you, you would be, you would actually be the goat if you came and worked with me, but you want to go do this, go do that. It's like, all right, I'll just work in silence. And then we show up, shocker that I'm, you know, the, the better player. And he would, he would literally at the time be like. Like, screw you, this and that. But now he's like, no, Jules just, he literally just worked hard. He didn't do anything special. Like talented.

MacBook Pro Microphone: 29:02

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a great time to talk about one of the biggest myths in all of sports. The idea that some players are just born with talent while others aren't the truth. No one is born knowing how to cradle shoot dodge, or throw a perfect pass. Everything you see an athlete do with a lacrosse stick. They had to learn. Think about the greatest athletes of all time. Let's look at basketball. Steph Curry didn't come out of the womb draining threes. LeBron James wasn't born with a perfect slam dunk or jump shot. These guys put in countless hours of work. If they were just naturally talented, why would they need to practice so much? Why? Because skill beats talent. When talent doesn't work hard, I. Remember that skill beats talent. When talent doesn't work hard, lacrosse is no different. If you want to be great, it's not about whether you were born with it in quotes. It's about how much time you're willing to put in your skills, your lacrosse, iq, your mindset. Those are all things you can develop. The difference between a good player and a great player. It's not talent. It's who's willing to do the work, who's willing to get on the wall, work on their weekend, break down film, and sharpen their mind. So if you ever thought, I'm not just as talented as that guy, stop it right there. So if you ever thought, I'm not just as talented as that guy, stop right there. Talent is just potential. Skill is what you create through effort and the best part, skill has no limits. You can get better, you can close the gap. You just have to be willing to put in the work. So the question isn't, do I have talent? The question is, how much are you willing to earn your skill? Think about that one, folks. Now, we'll, return to our interview and you'll find that interview in progress.

30:57

I did. Didn't work. Say all that. Yeah. And, and you know, if I did, I would've been a better player. So I, I appreciate him for, you know, kind of us having those conversations and dialogues as you get older.'cause when you're young, yeah, we're just in the trenches together and, you know the season and everything. But definitely being really competitive too. Well, I get you Jules.'cause I was a worker and it's hard to convince people like dog who's a big talker and loves the game and everything, who just shows up, you know, it's like impossible. So I, I get it. Oh yeah. Jay, I'm a grinder. I'm a natural athlete who showed up. I never, I thought I was a natural athlete, but I did work hard, Ron. I You did. So gotta give that. I will. I will give you that. Jay, you were a grinder. Jay Grinder. You were a grinder. I'm a grinder. I'm not sure how we got that back to you, Jay, but George, you'll notice. Well, I'm just encouraging our guests that Jay will bring it back to him. Quite often. That's all right. It's, you know, I'll let you have it. Hey thank you Jules. So, you know, moving on, you, you then go to Seton Hall Prep and I will give Jay props. He does some tremendous research for our shows and to learn that you were the first worker run grinder, you were the first high school all American. That's kind of a cool thing, you know, to be the first All American ever at your high school, and then you lead'em to a county championship. So first of all, why'd you move on to Seton Hall Prep? And then how did your career grow? And really, I'm sure it's in those years where now you're putting yourself in position to be, you know, a Division one big 10 lacrosse player. Yeah. Honestly, the, so when we were growing up, the, the rec program, right, which was the club program originally Maplewood. They were selling, they were selling me a dream. Like honestly, they're great salesmen. All the coaches there and, and the, the development that they were looking to have with us to get to the high school. And so I bought into that. I was like, I'm gonna go to the Columbia High School. I'm gonna be one of the great that have been there. I'm gonna break all the records. Like that was I, and I thought a bunch of my teammates were all like, yeah, like, we're gonna go to Columbia, it's gonna be great. And eighth grade comes and all the, my team just like leaves to go to other schools, basically like all the good kids. Hmm. So in my mind I'm like, wow, like we just spent all this time together growing up playing rec, we had an amazing experience. And then eighth grade kind of starts to dip. May maybe some guys don't go to puberty, some guys aren't working as hard, which I think that's what you see in eighth grade. And then ninth grade came and everyone was gone. But during that time, I would, I would play I would play up. So I, in the summer times and in maybe in the tournaments that we would go to with each other. I would be playing with the older kids and I would, I would be doing well and like I wouldn't just be doing well. I'd be like one of the best guys out there. So there was always a sense of when I got to Columbia that I was gonna be a freshman on varsity and, and make a big impact. And then the coach that was there originally, he moved on to another school. So they got a new coach and he kind of was a little bit more old school. And I, I think his rule, I know his rule is freshmen cannot play varsity, which is, I'm a coach now. It's a ridiculous rule. And I would never yeah, have that in place. But like, I get it, like everyone kind of has their own approach. And if it works, it works. But we weren't good. So like if we, if we're not a good program, like you need to put the best players in the position possible to help your team succeed. And so when I started hearing from my brother and some of the upperclassmen, they're like, Jules, like you're not gonna be able to play varsity. I'm looking at these guys like they got 10 heads.'cause I'm like. Let's go out to the field right now and let's see. Right. Let's see who's best player he is. Like, I'll take you. I'm only another guy out there that I know who's more talented than me. And, and that's it. And so I was like, I'm just gonna go to the coach's office and I'm gonna ask him like, I don't know why this is this kind of weird gray area when we've been playing together for three or four years. Like, I, and this doesn't make sense. So I go in there and I asked him and, and he was like, yep, you know, freshmen can't play varsity. And I was like, I'm not asking to play. I'm asking for a tryout. I'm asking for you to evaluate my skillset based on where, where I'm at right now, according to the, the rest of the group. And he was like, nah, it's just not gonna happen. And I was crushed, you know, like,'cause that was my, my dream for a long time. And I, I also thought, if you don't play varsity as a freshman at Columbia, like how am I ever gonna play at the next level was also my mindset. And I kind of, you know, I took that in stride and I flipped this switch and I was like, okay, I'm playing freshman lacrosse for a team that, you know, with 90% of kids that have never played lacrosse before. Because all my rest of my teammates left and I made the most of the experience. I got to play jv, we won the JV championship, you know, like MVP of the JV championship, whatever. And so that gave me, you know, some, some sense of like confidence, belief in myself. I see what I can do, even though maybe the coach doesn't see it. Even if he does, he doesn't care. He is got rules, whatever. But the next year comes and he starts to like, honestly pick on me and bully me. Which again, crazy thing to do as a coach now is, is someone working with young men and women. He would just be saying things that were just completely off, off base. And I would just kind of have to take it on the chin. And I, you know, eventually my, I wouldn't talk about it'cause I was just like, whatever. But my brother would, would bring it home to my dad and then my dad would catch wind of it. And then my dad, you know, like. He's a big guy. He's not, he's not scared anyone. He goes up to the coach and he is like, yeah, you got something to say about my son. Like, I'm happy for you to tell me about it and let's talk about it. He didn't like that. He was definitely afraid of, of that conversation. And so my brother and I were there, my brother graduates. I'm like, I'm not staying here. Like, there's no way I'm staying at this school. Right. And then that's, that's what brought me to Scene Hall. And ironically one of the kids I had left the program, he, once people started to catch wind that like, what was going on? Like this coach was doing this, and then they were like, Jules is leaving. Everyone's like, that's crazy that this is going on, but like, gotta get him to C Hall. Don't let him go to, you know, there's like a bunch of parochial schools. And so I had a friend and he, he was vouching for me. And then that coach was the coach of, that we're based in counties in New Jersey. So they'd have these county tryouts and the coach of our county tri, like tryout was the, the seed hall varsity head coach. So I go there and then like he sees me, gets to meet me in person, you know, I'm the best, best player on that county team. And so that it became like a no brainer that he was like, I don't understand what's going on here, but come one, come all happy to Right. Pick you on. Yeah. And so I, you know, I'm forever grateful for, for him to do that to, you know, to see in me like a, another coach could have been like, oh, you're a problem. You're this, you're that. But, but he took me at face value from the tryout, from the in, you know, the conversations that we had and then you know, had a, a crazy experience at, at c Hall, like I got there. And they, they weren't very good at that point, right? When you first got there? No, it's, so the, the weird thing was they had some tradition at the school and not as much as I thought there was more tradition.'cause it had some programs in the past. Coach Deco was coached them to a state championship in 2004. So I knew there was some tradition. I knew they had division one players. But when I got there, like we had won in the off season in the winter tournament and you know, I, I was a part of that. I was, you know, guys started to learn about me, what am I bringing to the table? I'm building relationships with these guys. Then the season starts and we just, we are two and eight because I have to sit out for the first 10 games of the season'cause of transfer. Oh really? Yeah. Transfer rule. Yeah. And, and so I'm sitting there and I'm like, I can't believe I just transferred to this school and I had a better record at Columbia with a bunch of kids who just we're just playing lacrosse. You know, granted, like, honestly, the schedules weren't that much different either. And, but we had talent. So I was like, okay, again, I gotta figure out what, what can I do to make an impact, a positive impact. I gotta make the most of this. And then I started playing and like, honestly, they just needed someone to, to reel it in a little bit and be the quarterback. And I, that speaks to like how important that. That role really is, and they just happen to not really have that on the team. Mm-hmm. And so it kind of just worked out with some synergy there that I came in, I slotted in, you know, first game we win and like, everyone's like, wow. Like that felt so much different. And then all of a sudden we, we go on this 10 game winning streak. We, we beat Del Barr in their ranked number one in the country by inside lacrosse. Wow. Won the county championship. We lost in the finals to Don Bosco. Incredible. Don Bosco. Oh man. Yeah. But it was kind of a Cinderella story thing where we went from two and eight to 11 and nine, like didn't lose until the state championship. And Wow. The following year the coach is like, Hey, like you're a captain now. Which like, you know, I was a transfer. No one knew who I was. I didn't play. And then all of a sudden I'm a captain. So it's again, speaks to like him as a, just as a coach, as a man for giving me that opportunity. I would not be here if he didn't do that. And that was, that was just how it worked out. So really. It always felt like I had a lot of belief in myself. But my circumstances just weren't really the best for me and for all intents and purposes. But I didn't ever let that like, define my experience. Like I was always like, what can I do to control and do the best I can? Whether it was on the freshman team, whether it's on sophomore where the coach doesn't even want me to be there, I'm on an a team that's two and eight. Like I was always just kind of trying to write my own story and eventually, you know, the story started to to work out for me. That's great. Good stuff. And, and a little bit of that research that came up that you weren't a ranked recruit. I guess the way things were done at that stage, Ron and I, there was wasn't much of a ranking. People might have had some rumors, but there was, there was nothing published. But then you go into their r to rts, Jay would've had himself high in the rankings. Oh yeah. Just so you know. He would've, the rumor wa the rumor was I was very high in ranking actually. That's great. That's, that's all he wanted to say, Jules. That's why you brought that whole thing up as long as you earned it, Jay, you know, that's, that's what I respect. Exactly, Jules. Lots of hard work. But you know, there you are at Seton Hall, you become a leader there. And then same thing at Rutgers, you're a two time captain, so by the time you're a junior, you're one of the leaders on the team. And then by the time you're a senior, you're one of the best attacker in the whole country. So just awesome stuff there. So tell us, tell us about that journey there at Rutgers with the Scarlet Knights.

MacBook Pro Microphone-2: 41:29

Uh, yes. What a journey it was. To hear all about it. That is how Jules Denberg, metaphorically speaking, wrote a powerful steed, dressed as a scarlet night onto victory. Tune in next week, my friends.

41:46

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.