As Ryan drug me all over the country coaching juniors events, every once in a while he would get a call from a professional team that wanted his help to train, or needed him to come work them through a tournament. My first experience getting to be a part of one of these practices was when he and I went out to Huntington Beach and ran a training session for Ed Rattledge and Ty Loomis. I was more of the ball shagger and the guy up on the box hitting balls for defensive drills while Ryan ran the practice. It was my first experience getting to see what a practice at that level was ACTUALLY like in comparison to the training my partner and I had done back in our tiny mountain town. This was the real deal. I was so excited for the opportunity that I could barely contain myself. I was getting to be on the court soaking up knowledge and it was with guys I had always really looked up to in the game. It was an unreal experience for me!
I'm not going to lie, as I stood up on the box and watched as Ed's massive wing span eclipsed the angle I was trying to hit the ball into, I was quite intimidated. I was in awe of how much area he could cover along with how fast Ty was behind him. They made plays look so effortless. It was crazy to me.
As practice finished up and Ty packed up his plethora of training equipment and recovery equipment, I was pretty much silent. I packed up all the balls and we all headed to lunch. We sat outside on the patio and again, I just sat and listened. Cool thing was, the guys all tried to include me in the conversation. I was so lucky to have gotten the opportunity to work with them, and now we were just chillin at lunch together. It was pretty surreal!
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