Matt’s Mishmash Podcast

In Episode 040, Miss Lauren Christ and I chatted about two of my favorite topics: teaching and coaching. Miss Christ is an Elementary School Educator as well as an Assistant Varsity Basketball Coach and a Freshman Volleyball Coach at Raritan High School. She was also a stellar High School and College athlete, herself, which was part of the inspiration for our talk. Miss Christ has the unique perspective of having participated in multiple sports growing up, including some challenging but integral years at the high school level helping to build up the girls' basketball program at Raritan. Now, only a few years later, she serves as a coach on two teams there, and is thus able to juxtapose her experiences as both player and coach. We talked about the highs and lows of being a teacher, the progress that's been made in women's sports, and, more importantly, the advancements and changes still to be made in that arena. Full 4k video of our discussion is available here: https://youtu.be/EYCN7ZC5Yk8 Please be sure to give the video a like and the channel a follow, and please consider leaving the podcast a 5 star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts--it helps a lot more than you know! Thanks as always for listening! #Teaching #Teacher #Educator #Education #ElementarySchool #ElementarySchoolTeacher #ElementarySchoolEducator #WomensVolleyball #WomensBasketball #Coaching #GirlPower #SheCanPlay #HighSchoolBasketball #HighSchoolVolleyball #RaritanHighSchool

In Episode 039, I got to speak with one of the most inspiring people that I know, Nicole Saulnier. I met Nicole when she was a student pursuing her physical therapy degree, and the conversations that we had just blew me away. Her dedication to her craft, her vision for her future, and just her perspectives on life in general made me come away from each chat feeling ready to take on the world. During our discussion, we covered how she came to complete the New York City marathon, what it's been like seeing her dream through of becoming a physical therapist (and completing her program at the height of the Covid pandemic!), what her experiences were like as both a young female athlete and growing up in a sports-centric household with two athlete brothers, and, perhaps best of all, what it was like visiting Kangaroo Island and holding koalas during a study abroad adventure in Australia. Full 4k video of our chat is available here: https://youtu.be/OfCZT0Pheu8 Please be sure to give the video a like and the channel a follow, and please consider leaving the podcast a 5 star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts--it helps a lot more than you know! Thanks as always for listening! #PhysicalTherapy #PhysicalTherapist #NYCMarathon #Marathoner #MarathonFinisher #RunnersLife #Running #Australia #KangarooIsland #Koalas

In Episode 038, I sat down with one of my all-time favorite youth coaches, Sha Parland. Sha coaches the Ocean tackle football team, the Neptune travel basketball team, and his son's AAU basketball team. He's also the father of a collegiate athlete and former two-sport star with his older son. During our discussion, Sha and I covered the current state of youth basketball, his experience in going through the process of coaching his young athletes two times, and the differences in the sports landscape between those two stints. Sha truly embodies what coaching should be about, and he was kind enough to share some personal anecdotes that highlight the incredible character that he has--just one aspect of many that I've grown to respect about him throughout the years. Full 4k video of our discussion is available here: https://youtu.be/uvP-uTBwmZs Please be sure to give the video a like and consider subscribing to the channel! Both go a long way in helping to support the podcast. And if you're able to leave a 5 star review wherever you stream your podcasts, that would be much appreciated as well! #Coaching #TackleFootball #AAUBasketball #TravelBasketball #OceanTackleFootball #NeptuneTravelBasketball #CollegeAthlete #NCAA #Parenting