Ask pro athletes

“I became one by living like a pro before anyone called me one: Little Rock to Montverde to Arkansas, 6 a.m. lifts, film after practice, clean diet, and then staying ready in Golden State so when minutes came, trust followed.”

“I didn’t get drafted and I didn’t get a scholarship out of high school, so I made the Bills as an undrafted free agent by showing up every day on time, prepared, and ready to work. Put yourself in position to be successful, compete like your job is always on the line, and don’t quit on yourself.”

“I became a pro athlete the long way: junior college, fighting through dyslexia and a stutter, after teachers told me I wasn't college material. Nobody was going to outwork me, and that hunger mattered more than any scouting report.”

“Recruiting is a volume game now, so I tell kids to email 50 coaches a month, not five. I went to about 15 camps myself starting in eighth grade, and if you want to play, you have to put your face in front of coaches with video, ID camps, and real follow-up.”

“I was a two-star recruit coming out of high school, so rankings never told my story. I emailed every coach I could find and sent my film, because if you want to play at the next level, you have to make it impossible for people to ignore you.”

“I came up through junior college football, so the recruiting path I know is grinding where scouts actually show up, not mailing highlight tapes to schools that never watch them. Put yourself in front of coaches who can say yes, and make sure your grades and tape give them no reason to say no.”

“I used to think nerves meant I wasn’t ready, but at the highest level I learned pressure is just activation. I deal with it by training a reset I can repeat: one breath, one cue word, next play.”

“I used to lay down in the tunnel before games, legs up the wall, and just love the nerves. I trained myself to see anxiety as fuel, not fear: it meant I was ready.”

“I don't fight anxiety, I breathe through it. Thirty deep breaths, a hold, and I take back control of my chemistry. In sports, the breath keeps me connected to my heart, not my nerves.”

“Velocity comes from using your legs to go forward fast into footstrike, not from muscling the ball early. I tell kids to think strong to long, hard out front, because force transfers up the chain once that front foot lands.”

“I spent a lot of time in physio school and early practice thinking throwing hard was about arm strength, then watched too many athletes blow out shoulders chasing velocity that way. Velocity comes from the ground up: legs drive the hips, hips rotate the trunk, the trunk whips the shoulder, and the arm is basically the last link in the chain.”

“I tell guys the same four things: throw hard more often with a real weekly plan, get strong with explosive lifts, stay mobile so you're not a stiff board, and actually recover with sleep and food. Long toss still works, but consistency in the weight room and velo days is what moves the number.”

“Mental toughness is not positive thinking, it is the nervous system trained to stay calm while the body screams. I do this with breath, cold, and a task so hard the mind cannot chatter and must unify with the body.”

“I build mental toughness the same way I build fitness: by stacking small, shitty moments until they stop feeling shitty. My first 100 miler taught me that patience early and passing late beats heroics every time.”

“Mental toughness, for me, came from building a schedule I stuck to no matter what, because motivation fades but discipline doesn't. In every Ironman, when the pain peaked, I promised myself never again at mile twenty, then crossed Alii Drive wanting the next one.”

“Life after sports is a hard reframe. I watched guys lose their identity the day the uniform came off, because the game had been their whole self-worth, and real life doesn't cheer for you.”

“For me, life after sports meant learning I was more than a box score. I had to grieve the player, then rebuild around the person, which is the work I now do with athletes.”

“For me, life after sports didn't start when I wanted it to. A routine physical after the Saints traded for me found an aortic aneurysm, and just like that football was over.”

“Sponsorships came for me after I put in the years of skating contests, filming parts, and showing up at spots like Tampa Pro and SLS Downtown LA, not from chasing brands first. I’d tell any athlete to make yourself impossible to ignore by doing the work in public, consistently, and the right people notice.”

“I didn't chase brands early on; I chased results and let those speak. When I went free agent in 2024, I put my race resume on runwithgrant.com and told companies straight up that I could balance performance with personality. Craft and Pit Viper came because I had something to show, not because I asked nicely.”

“Sponsorships came to me because I built a brand around my actual life, not just highlights. Teams and sponsors want someone whose audience trusts them, so I treated social media like a job interview long before the deals showed up.”