The Fourth Quarter Podcast
Living the last quarter of your life with intention around health, fitness, nutrition and joy! Learning from others and tuning in to hear live one on one coaching that educates, inspires and motivates you to move!
The Fourth Quarter Podcast
EP023: Do You Stop Playing Because You Get Old, Or Do You Get Old Because You Stop Playing?
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Your body changes with age, but the part of you that loves to compete doesn’t automatically disappear and pretending it should is a mistake. We sit down with Nick Lusson, Athletic Director at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, to talk about what he’s learned working with athletes across the full age spectrum, from youth players to fourth-quarter competitors and even people still setting goals in their 80s, 90s, and beyond.
We get into why unstructured “just go play” time matters, not only for kids, but for adults who want to stay sharp, confident, and engaged. Nick breaks down how pickup-style play builds problem-solving, self-efficacy, and the kind of ownership that keeps an active lifestyle from fading when motivation dips. Then we push into the bigger framework: lifespan vs healthspan and a third idea we love, your play span, how long you can keep doing the sports and activities that make you feel alive.
You’ll hear practical guidance for training in the fourth quarter of life without building a fragile, one-sport body. We talk anti-specialization, varying your routine with strength training, mobility, and balance, and why community is often the difference between “I’ll start Monday” and actually showing up. Nick also shares the mirror test and the discipline-over-motivation mindset, plus a grounded message for former athletes who want to restart after years off: forgive yourself, start small, and respect recovery.
If this resonates, subscribe, share the episode with a friend who needs a push, and leave a review so more people can find The Fourth Quarter. What’s one goal you want to train for this year?
Wake Up And Show Purpose
SPEAKER_03Wake up, wake up, and listen up. Welcome to the fourth quarter podcast with your hosts, Doug Talmud and Ted Ania. Tune in as we dive into living your best life in the fourth quarter of your life. Hear from health and lifestyle experts, inspirational stories, learn simple steps to keep you motivated or to help get you started. Finally, join us as we coach others live on air who want to begin a healthy lifestyle or just might be stuck and need a breakthrough. Remember, it's never too late to decide to be great. Momentum keeps you motivated, so take a deep breath. Lead in and let's go.
Father’s Day Reflections And What’s Next
SPEAKER_03Hey, welcome back to the fourth quarter with Doug and Ted. We've got an exciting guest this week. Ted, an exciting guest, and I am excited to just break open his head and ask some questions and get deep into some stuff for some fourth quarter people. Ted, remind me real. I've had such a busy weekend. Who did we have on last week? What was oh, last weekend was Father's Day. That was a very tender moment from Ted and Nia and his dad and me and my dad. It was what a great episode, man. I got actually got a lot of good feedback from that episode and just people getting to know us and our fathers and a little bit of why who we are today. And that that was really cool. That was a cool moment. And you know what was what was cool about that, Ted, is that uh that was kind of off the not kind of, it was massively off the cuff. I think it was 10 minutes before we recorded, like, hey, let's do a Father's Day episode. And uh, and here we were, and it it was awesome. And I love that's what I love about our podcast. It is very organic, authentic. It's just ask a question, we're gonna answer it on the spot, and it's gonna be what it's gonna be. So, but Ted, with that said, Oh, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02I actually made both, I've made both my daughters listen to it. That was my father's day gift this year, is that they they actually listened to the podcast one time. Awesome. And what was the feedback, Ted? Did they give you any feedback?
SPEAKER_03They liked it, they liked it. Good, good, good, good. All right, good. So, what do we got coming up, Ted? What's going down? I know you've been working hard on getting people lined up and times lined up, and uh what I'm excited about some of them. What's going on?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we've got uh next week we have my possible cousin. Uh not sure if we're related, right? Uh, but she's 68, lives in New York, uh, hiking, skiing, pickleball, very active. She's gonna come on and just fill us in on what she does and what she's doing to stay healthy in the fourth quarter. We have Hans Carlson still coming on, physical therapist that works with a lot of older people. And so we'll get his take on that. And David Linnell is coming back, the director of Meals on Wheels, Diablo Region, to discuss a number of things. He'll be on just before my birthday challenge, which is fundraiser for meals on wheels, and talk about that a little bit, but also finish or get a little more in-depth in his story. Kind of touched on a little of his story last time he was on, but there's a lot more to it, and we'll we'll get deeper into that when he comes back on. Yeah, so that'll be that'll be fun to talk to him again. And this week we have on a special guest, very special to our family. He he coached both of my daughters uh one time, coached them in soccer in Walnut Creek, and was you know, close friend of the family and meant a lot to all of us. And now he's moved on and has a new role as the athletic director at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, and we'll get into some of the stories of some of the people there that are in their fourth quarter and still still going strong.
Nick’s Path From Coaching To Olympic Club
SPEAKER_02So welcome to the show, Nick Lusan.
SPEAKER_01Great to be here and happy belated Father's Day to you both. Uh look forward to your conversation, thank. And uh and to you, and to you as well.
SPEAKER_03Hey Nick, give us a little bit about uh, you know, what you know, director of the athletic club, and and what are some of the things you did in the past, like when you knew Ted and Randy and myself back in the day, and how did you get to where you are now? What are some of the your I guess call them accolades or things or accomplishments you've had to get you to this point?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well, I've been lucky more than anything. So, you know, luck beats talent, right? Um I I came up as a, you know, I I I chased the dream as a soccer player, then got into soccer coaching. You know, I'd done it a little bit as a player and just kind of gradually work my way up that ladder. I kind of had this mentality of I'm gonna start at the you know very lowest level and you know level myself up. So I went from you know little kid youth soccer to more elite kid soccer, and then I did, you know, the high school thing and then coached collegiately. Um I left collegiate soccer to coach pro women, so I coached the the last iteration of pro-women soccer in the Bay Area. At the same time, I kind of then also dual tracked, I got into the governance side of things, so became director of soccer clubs, got involved in like youth soccer governance, coaching education, you know, so became like a DOC and you know, kind of worked my way through a couple of different soccer clubs out in the suburbs of the Bay Area. You know, I met Ted kind of early in my coaching career, and then you know, shortly after that chapter is when I started getting into like director stuff. I then had a bit of a like career crisis of you know, burned out on pay-to-play soccer. And so I took a really sharp turn about 10, 11 years ago. I left my suburban director coaching job to work for the Alameda Sheriff's Office and got into crime prevention through sport. So I was working in a very you know high crime, undeveloped area, not a lot of resources, unincorporated part of the county, spent five and a half, six years there initially as their soccer director, and then evolved into their athletic director. And that was you know, kind of kind of like a POW program, like police activities league, just sheriff's office. Amazing work, super challenging. You know, we all worked 19 days a week kind of thing. Um, but it was you know, we were in it, you know, the soccer side was beautiful. We had some great programs. We launched a truly pure free-to-play program there. Oh, wow. You know, that got a lot of recognition nationally. After a while, that you know, kind of parenting started to change the math a little bit. And so I stumbled into this opportunity five years ago. It was actually a family that I coached in San Francisco years and years ago. They pointed me towards this job at the Olympic Club. My first response was, no way, like I'm not gonna, you know, sell out and go work for the you know the big rich institution in the city. Um, you know, like I'm passionate about what I'm doing. And then right at that time, my wife and I got pregnant with number two. And, you know, the math just starts to change in your life. And I, you know, remember I had to go to work for an emergency situation on Christmas Day at the old job, and I'm like, I can't keep doing this. And so I then actually looked into the job and realized, wow, this is really this amazing place. You know, the Olympic Club is one of the oldest athletic clubs in the country, it dates back to 1860. It's kind of a little more known as a golf club these days, but actually historically is an athletic club and added golf later on. And you know, so now I get to oversee all of our sporting programs and fitness programs and got an amazing team here. I still keep a foot in the coaching world, volunteer coach my my eight-year-old soccer team now, and I still work for U.S. soccer on the side as a coach educator. So it's kind of stay stay in touch with my roots on the soccer side, but you know, kind of in this totally new chapter that was very unexpected for me. Wow, that's a busy schedule, Nick.
SPEAKER_03That's awesome, though. I love the I love uh your your heart and your passion to you know to work with those who can't afford and can't, because I remember being a parent of a daughter who was in the in the elite leagues and all that stuff growing up through uh high school, and and and it wasn't cheap. It was not cheap. And so I love that you took that direction to to create a no-cost program, you know, probably for underprivileged areas and and all that stuff. So kudos to you, brother. Kudos to you guys. Is that still going on, or what what happened, what came of that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, Sheriff's FC is still there. I was on the board until about a year ago, year and a half. They're doing a great job. It's had to evolve a little bit, you know. The the political realities of the county have changed. Oh, we so they did have to shift into a pay-to-play model, unfortunately. Yeah, hopefully they can kind of circle back to you know that you know, having that high level of access. But it was tricky, you know. It kind of the thing that we built lasted for a while, and you know, winds change sometimes.
SPEAKER_03So yeah. You know, Ted, I want I I loved the story you shared when you were thinking about having Nick come on, gosh, maybe a month or so ago saying, Oh, this do you remember Nick?
The Friday Night Pickup Experiment
SPEAKER_03And and then you told me a story about how he kind of did a little paradigm shift for the kids, the girls that you were coaching, and share that story, frame it up, and then maybe Nick can unpack what that whole concept and theory is all about.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. That was, I think we were on the topic of just what our kids were dealing with, with how they grew up and structured play, uh organized teams versus how we grew up, where parents just said, We'll see you at dinner time, and you went out and did your thing all day. And so Nick, when he was coaching in high school, reserved the tennis courts on a Friday night, brought out a bag of balls and a boom box and rolled them out and had a I don't know, 20 high school kids, boys and girls, and just said, Go play. And they just looked at him like he had three heads. Uh you know, it was like, What do you mean? You you got to tell us what to do. And he said, just just go play. And it was fun to see it because they finally figured it out. But uh what led you to do that? I mean, that was very unique. I would have never thought of that.
SPEAKER_01I it was a it was it was a couple of different things at the same time. So one was you know, I I'd gone to Brazil and played or tried to play, but it lasted like 10 seconds on a roster down there. But I I really encountered street soccer heavily there and the culture around street soccer, and I just had these like amazing experiences. At one point, I I hitchhiked my way through northern Brazil for about two months, and everywhere I went, I played you know, beach for street soccer. The first night I got there, I met a bunch of people, and there's just a whole culture and community around that there. So, you know, as a coach, I brought that with me, and that was this really like amazing magical thing. So I wanted to, you know, expose kids to this, you know, and I just saw like the kids, everything they were doing was so structured all the time. Everything was scheduled, everything's dictated by adults. At the same time as that, I was actually going to grad school and I was writing my thesis on the developmental differences of organized coach soccer versus pick up unorganized soccer. So they were a little bit of my they they fed into my my thesis project, my final paper with grad school. That was I still remember that summer, and that was a really magical summer of like them doing that. It kind of became the scene. Here's the funny like next chapter of that story. I went on to become a director of coaching at another suburban club down at Dublin a couple years after Wanna Creek, and I tried to replicate that. I said, Hey, this thing worked really cool in Wanna Creek, get these tennis courts. Well, at Dublin, I had these nice brand new big turf fields that just got built. So I'm like, hey, let's do the same thing. Friday night soccer. You know, it was great when we did it last time. Built it, launched it, and it was an absolute dud. It was like never took off, never found traction, kept chasing it for months and months, never, never found the angle. I finally came to realize like part of what made it so special was it was a little like tight and constrained. And I almost kind of liken it to if you go to a concert and a show where it's a small venue and everybody's really crowded, the energy that that exists with that. So if you ever go to a concert where it's a big, big stadium and not quite full, and it just feels kind of flat, like that's what it was. And so in my third attempt with the sheriff's office, we did it again. We built our own street soccer fields there. And we used to go buy pizzas on a Friday night. I'd have high school kids come and DJ, which was like all kinds of train wrecks, but it was amazing. And it was their space, they got to own it. And I just showed up with free pizza and you know, some speakers, crappy lights running on a generator. We'd have to run over, get gas all the time on street fields that the neighborhood and the and the deputies all built it. We had some amazing deputies, and it was kind of that Friday night basketball kind of crime prevention thing. Everybody was welcome. And we had some kids come in there that were like, you know, I had other kids warning me about, and like, no, no, they're welcome. They're here to play soccer, let them play. That thing blew up. We would have we had two five-on-five soccer fields. We had we had nights, we had up to 150 kids there. And it was, you know, and I felt like I was a nightclub promoter, and they were there for hours and just hanging out, socializing. Sheriff's deputies were like just internet, just talking to them as humans and engaging. But it was interesting, it all kind of traced back to that experiment in Walnut Creek, and then figuring out you know what works and doesn't work in doing that kind of space. Right.
SPEAKER_03That's interesting. So, in your thesis or or the end result, the outcome, but what did you discover? Like having free play connected to organized play, did it did it elevate the the player's game on the field when game time came? Like what did you discover?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. You having to solve your own problems is a really big deal. And you know, having a coach there, it's gonna mediate conflict, dictate what's going on. It changes the whole change the whole process for a player at any level. And so there's a lot of value that comes in that space to be able to experiment, but also having to advocate for yourself, having to like deal with your own conflict, you know, all of those benefits, you know, and and you're not being defined by somebody else of what you can and can't do. Right. Like, you know, Ted, you're a center back. And in my eyes, you're always going to be a center back. Well, maybe your heart doesn't scream center back. Maybe in your heart you're a striker, and you know, and this coach is never giving you the chance to express yourself as something else, you know, open, free pickup play gives you that chance to be something else. And I think as coaches, we can sometimes be very, very restrictive and limiting to somebody's growth. So there's a place for both. I think you know, coaching does matter and it really helps, but I think it should be a balancing act and not all one or the other.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And so, you know, or go ahead, Ted. Oh, just a funny part to that story was I think you might have just left the club at the time, but I was still on the board at the time. And we were at a meeting, a board meeting, and I brought it up and I said, you know, this should be fun to do. We're gonna do it out at the park where we usually played. And you know, there were a lot of moms and dads on the board and stuff. And I said, you know, we just put them out there and let them play. And they the other parents say, Well, what we got to do is we got to get them, and they couldn't let it go. The parents couldn't let it go. Yeah, it was like I said, this is never gonna work because the parents can't not be structured and structure the kids. I said, The whole idea is letting the kids do it, and I just finally gave up on the idea because it was just not going to work in in that circumstance, at least.
SPEAKER_03That's funny. So, Nick, with working with youth, and now let's fast forward, you know, many years where you're working with multitude of ages, you know, of a huge span from youth all the way into people into their fourth quarter and people in overtime. You were sharing with us off air earlier, you know, 100-year-olds and like that. And we're like, I'm like, oh my gosh. But that that philosophy and that and that idea of having some free time or some playtime or unstructured time, does that still apply to people in their fourth quarter? Or what's your what are your thoughts about that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, I so you know, one of my master's degrees in sports psychology. So I, you know, I kind of carry that as like
Play Span And Competing Past Your Prime
SPEAKER_01a really core tenet of you know what motivates people to do things, you know. So I kind of circle back to the you know the psychological aspects of you know having a sense of control and having a sense of like, hey, I'm good at this, you know, some self-efficacy. Like, and so I think it's very applicable to to older athletes, you know, and it's giving them spaces where like you know, you do have some control and you, you know, you you are able to like go and evolve, you know, continue to evolve. And sport can be a really nice place for people to continue to evolve as a human being, and we get really motivated by that. Like when we're growing, we just you know, we become more alive and more vibrant, and it's this like self-perpetuating cycle that happens with us as a human being. So having there be access and opening for people to explore themselves and in new things, like one of the really cool things we see here, we call them our like second life athletes. So we'll have people join the club, and we have these elite open amateur teams. So you just finished playing rugby for Cal, you know, and you know, you're a national ranked top-tier player. You come to the club uh as an athletic member, you come compete for our open team as a rugby player. You know, we got this really competitive, great program. But at some point your body's kind of like, yeah, I'm kind of done with rugby. Um and then, but then you stumble into squash. You're like, this is really cool, or our swimming program, you know, or tennis or golf. Like, and so we have these people that will discover a new sport at 42 or 53 or 65, whatever, and fall in love with this new sport and and get really competitive about it. And it's it's brilliant, it's amazing to watch that happen.
SPEAKER_03So it's really it sounds like it's really not about the the physical aspect. I mean, it is. We I think competitors love to be challenged and compete, but also just having an outlet to do that. It doesn't really that doesn't matter if it's soccer or running or swimming, it's you know, just give me that outlet to let my body and my mind connect and do these things that I love to do that give me that feeling, that energy, that rush.
SPEAKER_01I I think it the the thing that was eye-opening to me is like your body might not be able to do all the things you were able to do at 26.
SPEAKER_03Amen to that.
SPEAKER_01But that competitive piece of you is still there as much as it ever was.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_01That that edge you have, and you know, that desire to compete, like that that flame doesn't go away for everybody. And I I think everybody actually has if you keep feeding that, like you can do a lot with that flame. And I see that. I mean, I you know, we have a it kind of fluctuates like kind of over 55-ish basketball league. Those dudes are some of the most competitive people in the club. And if you get their stats wrong on how many rebounds they had on a Monday night, like I'm getting that email on Tuesday, you know, you know, and it it is it is, but it's phenomenal to watch. I mean, they're you know, like they're athletes and they're competing, and then they go in a national tournament and they compete against other clubs, you know, in these age divisions, and it's like they compete, they've been competing against those same teams since they were all in their mid-20s. You know, some of these guys used to play youth AU basketball against each other, they've been arguing about the same foul for 50 years, yeah, you know, but that that competitive fire that stays alive.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think that's why you see the huge growth of pickleball. Is yeah, right? It's just it's a sport that older people can do and still fulfill, you know, tennis got to be a little bit too much, too much running, and at least that's what my tennis player friends say. And uh they moved on to pickleball, but they still had that you know that competitive juice that we they were able to do. And I mean, pickleball has just exploded and built some vacation homes for orthopedic orthopedic surgeons, I believe, from what I hear. But yeah, I mean it's it's crazy. That that spirit, that competitiveness never goes away.
SPEAKER_01I was at a conference for athletic directors in this this ecosystem just a week ago. And you know, we've been talking a lot about, and I think you guys talk about it, you know, the you know, your lifespan versus your health span. Yes, you know, and like those things, like that that resonates. Like, I think that's a it's a great construct. They were then talking about your play span, you know. So kind of like a third piece of that of like, now how long can you keep playing? How long can you keep competing? How long can you keep doing these things? You know, and like that that activity, you know, and this is where you know, like we kind of we we sometimes discuss, and it's you know, it gets a little esoteric, but like the difference between fitness for fitness sake, you know, just like I'm working out just to be healthy versus I'm working out to kick your ass on Saturday. Like I'm working out because I want to like I want to win that pickleball tournament on Sunday, or I want to win that swim meet on Saturday, or I want to win you know that water polo tournament we're going to. That's why I'm training and working out. And I think that becomes a like higher order of motivation for people to have that competitive piece, that play span that they're also trying to achieve.
SPEAKER_03Hey, Nick, with the people you see. Coming through the club, how much of a difference, or is there a difference between a 40-year-old preparing to kick somebody's ass and a 60-year-old, 70-year-old preparing to kick somebody's ass? What is that? Is there a big difference, or what does that look like?
SPEAKER_01I think I've I've had to learn the hard way to be very respectful of that 70-year-old and to you know, not trying to think how to put this. I think we have a societal tendency to like talk down to elder people, you know, like people kind of get to their like 70s, 80s, and like suddenly we start talking to them the way we're talking to 10-year-olds. And it's like a really weird dynamic. Like my mom calls me on this one 100%. Like, she's probably the first one that opened my eyes to it. And then, you know, coming here, I'm kind of realizing like, okay, like, you know, don't be condescending to the athletic journey of that older athlete just because their physical capabilities aren't the same. Like, they're as serious about training for their thing as somebody else. I mean, we had a guy here that group of his friends were going to go play in an over 80 basketball tournament in Italy. And he came into, you know, connect with them and he's like, I want to go play in this. And he got hooked up with a trainer for six months. He trained his butt off, lost a bunch of weight, his mobility, his strength, everything got significantly better, all with this like objective of going to play in Italy. And I see the same thing with our you know, 40-year-olds as our 80-year-olds. Like that that's you know, then setting these goals for themselves become this thing to kind of keep them on track, you know, like I'm training for this thing.
SPEAKER_03Love that. Wow, that's awesome. That's awesome.
Respecting Older Athletes And Big Goals
SPEAKER_03Hey, so if you were to look back this kind of a broad stroked question, but let's see if you can hone it down. You worked with a lot of kids years ago, many, many kids, and now you work with a broad span of ages. But fundamentally, fundamentally, what are the things mentally and physically that you think are important to a to a younger athlete and an older athlete?
SPEAKER_01So I think physics, you know, I mean physically, but also skill-wise, I'm very anti-specialization. I I think our youth system does it too much and our adult system does it too much. And I liken it to my metaphor that the best metaphor I have for this, and I stole this one. If I gave you a bunch of wooden blocks and I told you to build the tower as high as you can, well, there's kind of two approaches. One is like I'm you're just gonna start stacking those. And you know, Doug, if you just stack yours straight up, like your tower is gonna get higher faster than Ted's if Ted's just building a big foundation of blocks, right? And then gradually building that foundation like a pyramid, right? Got it. But yours is not gonna be as stable. You might get higher faster, and his is gonna get higher slower, but his is built on a stable foundation of broad athletic development and anti-specialization. And you specialize, you have, you know, you're an F1 car versus a NASCAR. And so I I think that's a really big piece from the physical domain, and I think that also like it's incredibly impactful for youth athletes, but I think it continues to be really important for adult athletes, vary your routines, and that's a it's a push-pull with people, right? Because your routine is something you're you know, like we get really stuck in a routine where we like our routines, right? But like you doing the same cardio spin class, you know, five days a week is not really the best thing for you to do. Now, it's better than you not doing that at all. The fact that you're kind of that routine is really great, right? How do we convince you to do some strength work, do some mobility, you know, do balance stuff, do other things and challenge yourself in other ways? And so it's this like gradual guiding we're trying to get with people of like breaking out of this routine where you're not a very one-sided athlete in your experience.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I love that. I love that. I was just about to ask you to kind of just you know, back that up with what are some ideas that you would tell an athlete in the fourth quarter, you know, or in overtime who has built built that one tower straight up real fast, you know. What could you do to help shape that mindset and that hard set to say to be open to a new experience?
SPEAKER_01You know, I mean, everybody's a little different, but it, you know, again, it's you know, you don't want to, you know, going up to some people and saying, like, oh, you're doing it wrong, like that never, that never plays well. You know, it's it's asking questions, but it's also kind of understanding, like, you know, understanding and listening to the person, I think is really the starting point. So it's like, I gotta listen to you and I gotta listen to your experience and I gotta listen to your reality. Sometimes it's just predicated on you know the logistics of life. Like, I can only get here at this time, and this is the only thing that you guys are doing at this time. This is the only, you know, and I like group fitness and I just want to do this thing. I really want to try this other thing, but I've you know getting into a pool for the first time can be really intimidating, right? And it's actually intimidating in a place like this where we have current Olympic level swimmers that will train in our pool, you know. So it's this like and it like I've I've gone through this. I started swimming this year, but I had this like massive fear of swimming in our pool because I was scared I was gonna jump in the pool and I'm gonna have like Jack Alexi on one side and Ryan Murphy on the other side, you know, like you know, like eight foot six guys with like four percent body fat, you know. Like I was like, Oh my god, I was scared of getting in the water, and you know, so understanding where people are coming from and having there be like easy inroads into those things. Um what are the obstacles to you mixing it up? And then how do we problem solve those obstacles? And everybody's a little different with it, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that's a great point. I was with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law yesterday, and they were doing some deal where you sat on the floor and you had to stand up without using your hands, without putting your hands on the floor, and I couldn't do it. And I said, you know, I just I'm just not in that kind of shape. And they said, But you go out and you can walk 10 miles and do what you do, and I but it's to your point, I get into my routine and I'm comfortable with it, and I need to start trying to do other things to vary it a little bit because you know you're you're strong doing one thing, but you know, your balance may be off. I we were we were doing some balance things, and I said it's a good thing I don't drink anymore because I could never pass a sobriety test. I mean, just trying to walk uh with heel to toe, I just can't do it anymore. Wow, so that's a great wake-up call, Ted. You gotta start getting comfortable, brother. Come on. We all kind of get into those. You think they're healthy routines, which they are, like you said, you're you're better off than not doing anything, but it's gotta vary a little bit, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, it's it's like the modern, you know, you don't want perfect to be the enemy of good, right? So, hey, the fact that you're into a thing, like that's that's terrific. Like, you know, be into a thing, it's just you know, like, how do you how do you understand like there's other things that are gonna like help you do that thing for longer? Like, you know, one of the arguments we've tried to make with golfers here is okay, golf is your thing. You've fallen in love with golf. We have a really big, you know, golf situation here, right? Right. But what we talked to them is like, hey, think about how many rounds of golf did you miss last year because your back hurt, you know, or your hip hurt, or your elbow, your shoulder, you know, like you know, some of these chronic injuries you get with that sport, you know, it's a heavy rotational sport that's really tough on your body. How many rounds did you miss? If you come and spend a little bit of time with our personal trainers doing this or our group fitness classes doing that, you're gonna get those rounds of golf back. And so it's like that value proposition of, you know, let's help you do the thing you're passionate about for longer. Like, Ted, I think you're really into cycling, right? Like, you know, okay, you want to keep cycling. Well, you need to do these other things that are not cycling in order to be able to cycle for longer. And only doing cycling is actually gonna like again, it's like that building block, like you're you're on that like fragile specialized tower. Like, the more you build the base of it. And I think the other message is like it's never too late. I mean, obviously, like the earlier you start with these habits, the better impact. But you know, what's the what's the quote about planting a tree? The best time to plant a tree was yesterday, the second best time to plant a tree is today. Like you just start doing that now, start changing it.
SPEAKER_02I love that. Yeah, and that's that's a great message because that's what we keep trying to tell people is just start, you know, it's not too late, just get started, just start moving, whatever, whatever that looks like.
SPEAKER_03Hey, let's have a little fun and and let Nick share some some fun and inspiring stories. Nick, if you were to, you know, just again, we don't need any names or anything like that, but if you were to recall some moments with some people who are living in their fourth quarter or even in the overtime, like you were sharing about the hundred-year-old off the platform diving and all that stuff still, like what have you seen in the in the last five years that is like, oh my gosh, that's that's epic.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's been it's it's been a it's been a piece of athletics that I just didn't have on my radar until I came here. And I'm gonna I'm gonna step back to my question just for a second to think about like the way we tend to look at athletics is kind of going up this pyramid, right? Like I'm leveling up and leveling up, and I gotta, you know, climb this pyramid to get to the top and get to the elite level. And what's my pinnacle? What nobody ever talks to you about in that journey up is what happens after it. Like what happens on the back end of that. So, you know, you've reached your your top tier as an athlete, then what? Because I know for me, like, you know, my top wasn't anywhere near as high as I had hoped it to be. But after I peaked and gave up on the you know, quest to play pro, like I had a massive identity crisis. Cause then it's like, well, if I'm not trying to go up and achieve this thing, who am I? Like I've spent my whole life trying to try to do this thing. And it's a very common challenge for athletes where you know you'll see people go from being elite athletes to like never touching that ball again or never doing that thing again because it's like they don't feel like there's any validity to going down. Um so I think planting those seeds early on is really important. I've seen you know the impact of that now being here, because in getting here, I'm seeing all these athletes that are in their post-elite athletic careers.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01And it's an incredibly vibrant culture of people doing it. And you know, the leagues we have and the competitions, you know, tennis players that are you know in their 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s out there playing and competing and ranking and going into tournaments and you know, are absolutely serious about it. And you see what it does for them as human beings, you know. They're you know, you I end up somebody's conversation and it's like, wait, you're 89? Wow, like how are like, oh my god, like you're doing stuff at 89 that I'm at 49 and I'm struggling to do. Like, this is this is interesting. You know, we've got swimmer I mentioned earlier, we had a swimmer that you know, he said, I think it was like four new national records of over 100 swimming, you know, still going off the blocks, you know. And like as much as I think like Ryan Murphy and getting to meet him is really cool. I actually find that guy more inspiring. You know, that that member who is that age still competing in their sport, you know, that that to me is incredible sports stories. And you know, we've got some ultra marathon runners that are in these chapters of life. You name it, you know, and we've got some older masters teams, like
Anti-Specialization And Mixing Your Training
SPEAKER_01you know, we got a water polo team that you know, there's the there's the open team with a bunch of like you know, just monster Olympic level studs. And then we got the you know, the senior masters guys, you know, that's like over 50 group, and you know, they're traveling the world to go and play in a big tournaments, and it's it's community, it's belonging, it's culture, it's pride. Like those athletes are just it's it's phenomenal to watch them get after their thing and do their thing.
SPEAKER_03So wow, that's awesome. What are some of the things you you glean from them just watching and observing that would be great takeaways or something to share to people in their fourth quarter? Some things they should hold on to or make or try and make part of their daily habits or rituals or mindsets or whatever, whatever's on your heart there, Nick.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I you know, I think the you know, discipline beats motivation is a big one. You know, I'm a and you know, I'm I'm in that chapter of life, like I get an eight-year-old and a four-year-old. Right. So it's like all the excuses in the world to not work out today and not do something today because you're like just you're just in it all the time. And I and I see some of the people here, and they're like, no, no, no, like this is you know, prioritizing my activity and my fitness and my sport that makes me a better father, that makes me a better mother, you know, like that, you know, I'm I'm now modeling for my kids what these things are. And I'm, you know, like for me personally, I'm in the middle of kind of resetting my thinking towards these things and realizing like, oh, it's important for me to model for my children, me competing, you know, and like they need to go see me play and they need to see me do these things so that they understand that, you know, to never stop playing, never stop competing. It's kind of that there's that Khalil Gibron quote from the prophet about the stumbling stone, you know, and so somebody that stumbles, you know, is is a warning to those behind them, but also, and I'm not gonna get the quote right, but you know, it's this idea of like when you stumble on something, there's this like responsibility to those people that already went ahead to have not pointed out the stumbling stone to those behind. And so I think for us as fourth quarter athletes, I think we actually, you know, when we get into those chapters, we get to be older athletes, giving those cautionary details to younger athletes, talk to them, plant those seeds with them to like keep doing your thing, don't ever stop, keep evolving, keep competing. You know, yeah, you're never you're not gonna be 23 the rest of your life, but like keep that mindset of being an athlete and evolving your whole life.
SPEAKER_03So, man, Nick, you're just dropping some gold here today, brother. Thank you so much. That's awesome. I love this stuff. This is awesome.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, and you you really hit a point that we kind of touched on last week on our Father's Day episode was setting the example for your kids, being healthy, that they learn as much from what they see as from what they hear, you know, and just being being that example. And you know, we're trying to do that for our kids and our grandkids now to see them. I mean, I just I love going out. I was with my granddaughter at the park the other day, and she goes and she counts my push-ups while I'm doing them, and yeah, tracks how many sets I've done and jumps on my back and makes me do push-ups with her on them. But you know, just all of that at some point, you know, she's gonna remember that and see that and want to emulate that as she gets older. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, my my current goal is like, I don't want my kids to be able to beat me as long as possible. I like that, Nick. Don't lose that, don't lose that mindset, man. Yeah, you're not gonna like we I've picked a couple things with the boys of like, I'm never gonna let you win at chess, I'm never gonna let you win a foot race, and I'm never gonna let you win one-on-one soccer. Like, but the day you beat me, it's because you earned it, and you know, you keep it healthy, but also like you know, let's make it real accomplishments, you know, and also a challenge for myself. And that and my other one is I wanna, I mean, I I've totally gotten enamored with the sporting competition, the world masters games, and then there's like regional masters games, and they have the over 100 100-meter dash. So, life goal of mine, I want to compete in the over 100 100-meter dash at the world masters games. Wow, my new favorite sporting competition.
SPEAKER_03So that's that's I love that challenge, man.
SPEAKER_02I love so so just jump on that a little bit though. I'm curious what the world masters competitions, what what do those entail? Yeah, it's it's it's the Olympics for old people.
SPEAKER_01That is not their tagline. Um that's the tagline. It's not their tagline. That's funny. Um, yeah, but it it kind of mirrors an Olympic event. It's it starts as low as 35 and older, it depends on the support. I think there's like over 50 sports next year. It's gonna be in Japan, so in like the Kyoto region of Japan. So obviously, beautiful place to go to. People come from all over the world, and they're competing in all these sports, like it's the Olympics, and they have you know, like swimming and running have these age divisions of like every five years up to over 100s. They have team sport competitions, and people register and one registration, you go compete for like up to five different sports, and it's it's competitive but also participatory, and the they blow it out. Like we had some teams, people have gone to these competitions here from the club. You know, they do an opening ceremony, a closing ceremony, medals, like it's really well run. We're we're looking to send about a hundred of our athletes next year to Japan to go compete in this, uh variety of sports, but it's really cool, and you'll have to go to represent too, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it'll be a tough work trip.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, somebody somebody has to oversee the whole thing, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I saw something. Do you do some event at Lake Tahoe?
SPEAKER_01Is there yeah, that's a really fun day of work. So, we this is our 50th anniversary this summer of the Trans Tahoe Relay. So we run a relay race across the lake, about 11 miles. So we have a huge rough water swimming community here, and you're on a relay team of six people. Uh, you got a boat that's going along with you, and it's a relay race across the lake, and we'll have uh 300 teams this summer competing in it. Wait, so you swim across Lake Tahoe?
SPEAKER_03Yes, east to west. Wow, and it's you said that's a so I didn't know that was a that's 11 miles. Is that what that is?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean it's always tough. Like rough water is always a little like you know, depending on waves and currents, like if there's official measurement, and then there's what you really end up swimming. Yeah, uh, it is a wild community. We had one of our rough water swimmers, she is, I think beginning of July, she's taking off on her swim California challenge, where uh her name's Kat Breed. She's gonna swim from the Oregon border to the Mexican border, the entire coast of California. Wow, so it's a four-month journey. She's the same woman, she swam from the Golden Gate Bridge to Half Moon Bay, she swam from the Fairlands into the bay, she swam the entire perimeter of Lake Tahoe last year.
SPEAKER_03My God.
Fourth-Quarter Legends And Community Culture
SPEAKER_01The rough water swimmers are just built different. You start talking to them, it's like you're talking to a superhero, they're amazing. Yeah, but yeah, Trans Tahoe is an awesome event, it's really fun. We have elite-level swimmers in it, and then we have teams that they've been swimming this race for 50 years, you know, and it's a it's an annual reunion of maybe they all swam at UCLA together or Stanford, something like that, and they come back together. And um, you know, so we have those teams as well as you know, open level teams.
SPEAKER_03Awesome.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, Nikki, I guess the message you're sending is stay active.
SPEAKER_03Yes, exactly. Stay active is definitely the message.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, I think it's the same thing, you know, you guys are talking about it, you know, like you know, the social piece and the active piece, you know, like you know, you you piece those two things together, you know, and that's your formula. And you know, like don't don't do it in your own little bubble. You know, your garage gym's wonderful, but like at a certain, you know, you you need community, you need other people. You know, we're we're social animals, and right you know, finding spaces where you're doing these things with other people, it keeps you on track and it's what carries you through the rough periods of it. You know, like I think those are really big difference makers when you have you know the community social piece and not overlooking that piece. The impact of it is phenomenally important.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. You know, Nick, I love that you spoke earlier about uh discipline over motivation. You know, discipline over motivation always wins. And you're inspired something in my heart to, you know, kind of make that not just saying and stopping there, but making it a lifestyle. Like what the what are key and important questions to ask yourself in those moments of discipline over motivation, right? Maybe it could be, you know, do I have the beer this time, yes or no, or do I have the the pizza this time, yes or no, or do I don't want to go for the run this morning? How do I, you know, what are questions we can ask ourselves to create that internal lifestyle prompt so that we are choosing discipline over motivation every time? But what comes to your head as I'm saying all those things?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I remember I so my first sport was actually wrestling. And I I my my father was a wrestling coach and I grew up in the wrestling room, which like you know, when it comes to sports, you know, there's there's not many that are more disciplined than the wrestling community. Yeah, I don't ever done anything as hard as wrestling, which is why I went into soccer because I was too soft and pretty for wrestling. My wrestling friends will will happily point out to me. But I remember one of our one of our coaches talking when I was a kid and always stuck with me that mirror test, you know, and like so looking yourself in the mirror and you know, asking yourself these questions of, you know, did I do my best today? Did I did I improve today? You know, did I meet my standard? And you know, I think to me that's that that trigger of the discipline piece, you know, like you know, you're the only one that really knows. Yes, everybody else's perceptions are external. You really know if you if you met your standard today or not. No one else can define that for you or answer that for. You and so you know, can am I gonna pass the mirror test today? And you know, it's it it's the the other guardrail of that is like it can lead to being really like hard on ourselves, and you know, but I think there's also that level of like, okay, when you give yourself some grace, you know, but if you can live between those two guardrails, I think you know you're on a pretty good path.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I love that. Hey, we're gonna go to the section of the show where Ted's gonna play a song, but before we do, before we do, I'm just gonna create a scenario because I always like to speak to the person who was an athlete in high school or was an athlete in college and and has let time pass, maybe had kids or had something or situation come up, and now they're, you know, 15, 30, 50 pounds overweight, they've been struggling, but they have that competitive mindset. I remember when I did this, or I used to be able to do that. And they're sitting on the couch wishing they can get started. What would you say to the person in their fourth quarter right now who is sitting there struggling and but hasn't done anything for for years? What would you say to them to encourage them to get to move into to to do whatever, to get back into action?
SPEAKER_01So you know, I frankly, I'm I'm right there with you. Like I'm I'm that athlete. I've you know, I've let it slide, I'm trying to catch back up to it. It's okay. You know, there there are so many of us that are right there with you. And you know, forgive yourself, like it's okay, you know, that you've you've got into this place. And now, you know, a little bit of something, you know, just small differences really add up over time. And you know, you don't need to go, you know, zero to one hundred in in catching up on this. Like, I know that's kind of my, you know, I tried to go zero to a hundred and I, you know, now I can't move for a week, right? Just you know, you know, we're gonna just try to overdo, I'm gonna catch up with like 10 years of you know, not training, you know, with with one session. So, you know, give yourself you know, it took time to get out of shape, it's gonna take time to get back in shape, and that's okay. Like, there it is now, but just little little steps, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And that's what we we keep harping on is not
Discipline Over Motivation And The Mirror Test
SPEAKER_02competing with the younger version of yourself, yes, because that's the toughest thing to do. I used to be able to do this, and you know, and like you said, you go out and try and do it all in one day, and yeah, and you're sitting on the couch for a week, and that's the time to recover.
SPEAKER_01My my head thinks I can still do that movement on a on a soccer field, my hamstring disagrees.
SPEAKER_03Exactly, or even what's what's what I've noticed is there are many things that I can't that my 40-year-old self could can do today, but I don't recover like my 40-year-old self. And so that's and then I'm like, okay, just be so I have look I've come to realize that just because I can do it doesn't mean I should do it. And if I want to do it, I should, you know, maybe scale it back a little bit. Let me try a smaller step first and see how my body responds, especially in the recovery aspect. Because as we get in the fourth quarter, longevity and recovery, though, those are key words, man, we have to embrace and really get educated about and understand what that means. Because it is hard to stop this locomotive in my head going, you can do it, you can do it. And and I can. Unfortunately, well, fortunately and unfortunately, I can, but when I go out and do it, man, I'm paying for it the next few days or a couple of weeks, and sometimes through an injury, but mostly just through like, I mean, I can't walk because I'm so sore.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll do it, Ted.
SPEAKER_03All right. So, Ted, so every week, Nick, Ted chooses a song. I don't know what it is. The guest doesn't know what it is, and he just kind of thinks about what the song, what this episode is kind of gonna be about, and then he chooses a song that might mirror it sometime, and most of the time he hits it right on the money, and then you and I will get to comment what the song brings to our heart, to our mind, and then we just uh end the show and sign off.
SPEAKER_02Well, that Nick was there at the start of this because when we did the podcast, one of the things I told Doug was remember the pasta feeds we used to have, and we'd do the music at the end. That's that's where this came from, and you know, I just wanted to kind of carry that on and bring it. So I I mean, I guess I guess the one thing is just again just not taking anything for granted, just enjoying enjoying your health and enjoying that as long as you can and appreciate everything that you've got with your health. All right, here we go.
SPEAKER_00How's it feel to be low? Wishing you could fix something that you know you want. So you gotta enjoy it while it lasts. These are the best days that we have. In this life you come go by. So you gotta enjoy it while it lasts.
SPEAKER_03Man, that was I love the title. Enjoy it while it lasts. And and I love the part where he says, you know, in this life we can't look back. You know, it reminds me of a quote, uh I don't know who said it, where there's a reason why your rear view mirror is really small and your windshield in your car is really big. You know, that's our focus is supposed to be going forward always. And but every once in a while there's some wisdom and some and some nuggets that we can glance back at to remind us and remember, you know, what held us back before or what propelled us ahead, and take those little nuggets with us as we're looking through that that windshield of life and enjoy it. You know, that's that's huge, man. Enjoy it while it lasts, because tomorrow is not promised, right? All we have is today, the present,
Getting Started Again Without Going Too Hard
SPEAKER_03and that's why it's a gift, right? Nick, what came to your mind, to your heart, when you heard that song?
SPEAKER_01Uh, you know, I I I go to parenting and I I pride myself on listening to advice for people. And you know, every every parent I know, and you know, Ted, you're one of them, gave me the same advice in becoming a parent of like it goes really fast, and be there as much as you possibly can, be around for as much as you can. And I've made life decisions and shifted gears to to try and do that. And you know, you're you're both fathers, like you blink your eyes, you you know, you your kids were four and eight, you know, 10 seconds ago, I'm sure. You know, and like I'm blown away by this, you know, how fast these moments are going and how fast these years are flying by. It's amazing. And I, you know, those moments where a four-year-old is incredibly difficult, and you know, just the wildest little dude, you know, you reminding yourself like you know, I'll I'll reach a chapter of my life where I'll wish that I was in a you know standoff with my four-year-old over bedtime. Like, you know, I'll miss these days, but you know, I'll miss all these days. So yeah. So I think just kind of enjoying the parenting piece and reminding myself to enjoy all the moments.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. I just I just saw a quote kind of along those same lines said, the bad news is that time flies, the good news is you're the pilot.
SPEAKER_03Okay, that's good. I like that. Yeah, and to you know, Nick, uh, you reminded me that there's there's been so many moments, you know, as an empty nester. Thank God for grandchildren, though, I'll tell you. But I remember being a parent and just getting so frustrated with, you know, they'd leave a can of soda, you know, a three-quarter can of soda full, or or the plate out, or all these messes, little messes all around the house, right? And I'm just like, oh man, when are these kids gonna get it? And man, I look back and my heart yearns for that mess. You know, I I
Song Pick And Final Takeaways
SPEAKER_03wish I could have that, you know, full can of soda to put away, and and I wish I could have the empty, messy plate to clean up after them. And you miss those things, man. It's crazy, it's crazy. So it's great that you have that in your heart and in your mind. And man, embrace that stuff, embrace it. And you get to choose how you respond to all those little messy moments, brother. You get to choose how you respond to those. But Nick, I want to say thank you so much. Ted, great call bringing this dude on, man. We got to have him back again. We got to definitely have him back again. But Nick, thanks for dropping some nuggets and and sharing with our audience. I know they're going to appreciate and enjoy what you've shared today. And just want to say, God bless you, brother, as you continue to raise a beautiful family and and help all those around you living in their fourth quarter and beyond in what you do professionally as your in your career as well.
SPEAKER_01Well, thanks for having me on. It's really uh I enjoyed our chat. It's been an honor getting to chat with you guys and reconnect. And I love what you guys are doing. This is this is great. I, you know, it Ted, you kind of joked with me over a text about this of like, you know, I'm not in my fourth quarter yet, but I think you know, we're we're never too early to think about what that looks like, you know, it's not great until we're there. And you know, that's my that's my big takeaway from you guys. And so thank you for helping me open my eyes a little bit more about it. So it's always a pleasure.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely. Ted, any final comments? No. All right, then I'm gonna do like I always do and say God bless and peace out. If you like what you heard, be sure to subscribe, follow, share an episode. If you want to leave a comment, go to the show notes. There's a text link there. We will receive an anonymous text from you with any comments or suggestions. Thanks again for tuning in, and most importantly, keep on coming back.