342. Sergio Gonzales - Real World Lessons from Blue Collar Roots

Hey, everyone. My name is Colton, and I'm the host of the Coach 360 podcast. Here, our goal is to come alongside and equip coaches with the resources to help develop character through sports and raise up the next generation of leaders. Not only do we do that through this podcast and interviewing coaches from across the nation about character, culture, and leadership, but we also do it through our 2 words character development curriculums. If you want to learn more about these or anything else that we offer, visit our website, 2words.tv. That's the number 2 words.tv. Or you can always drop me an email, colton at 2words.tv. Thanks for listening today. Let's get into the show. Have you registered for the Texas Way yet? The Texas Way is a collaborative campaign between Texas High School Coaches Association, Texas High School Athletic Directors Association, and 2 Words Character Development to improve the level of sportsmanship at UIL sporting events. Decrease the number of ejections at UIL sporting events and strengthen communities and the relationships between coaches, athletes, officials, and fans. Register now for this free resource at www.playthetexasway.com. The Texas Way is powered by Mammoth Sports Construction. Do something big. Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of Coach 360 Today I've got Pasadena Rayburn's athletic coordinator and head football coach Sergio Gonzalez on the podcast. Hey coach, welcome to the podcast. Hey, thanks for having me. Uh, I'm excited to be here. One of those guys that I've been always looking for different podcasts and such and people actually sent me y'all's way so it's pretty cool to be on the show. Love it. Absolutely. Well, we're excited to have you on. Why don't you kick us off coach by telling us a little bit more about yourself and your journey to where you are today. Um, you know, I'm a, I was born and raided in Houston, Texas on the east side. Um, small, small, small community called Galena Park. Um, it's more of a blue collar chemical plant, industrial type community. Most people there work in the plants. Um, you know, I grew up, you know, playing football, playing baseball. My dad played football at Galena park. He played baseball there, uh, to his junior year. And, you know, he had to, you know, get a job at a young age when my grandpa got laid off back in the eighties, it was tough. And, uh, You know, it was something he made a promise to himself that if he ever had a son, he wouldn't make him do that. And I got to enjoy life as a kid. I got to enjoy life as a football player, as an athlete. Um, And really just growing up with guys that I've known since I was a kid and it was just, it was a cool deal. I think we were, we were the last. We were the last generation of Galena Park Yellow Jackets that most of us grew up together in that community and our parents went to school together. It was a pretty cool deal. Um, now it's kind of resurfacing, you know, my daughter's in that school district because of my wife. She's an educator there and she's going to school with people that I went to school with and it's pretty cool. Yeah. But I grew up on that side of town, graduated, went to Sam Houston State University my freshman year. I loved it. I loved Huntsville. I just, I don't know. It was just something about wanting to go home and, and, uh, and then what led me back home was my father actually had a work accident. Uh, where he burnt his leg with over 200 degrees of water at the chemical plants. But he was out for about six to eight months. So, you know, me being in college at Sam Houston almost felt selfish of me. So I transferred back, uh, to the University of Houston, uh, I picked up a job at FedEx loading up those eighteen wheelers loading up a freight and I did that all the way till my junior year And that's when one of my former coaches, Coach Dusty McGee, he's now the superintendent of Liberty ISD. We reached out to each other and he knew I wanted to get into coaching. He invited me out to LaPorte High School. And I just, uh, I got to see practice. I got to, got to see the day to day with the coaches and I just kept coming back. So they finally asked me, Hey, do you want to just film our games on Friday? Sure. Did that. Um, and I did that for two years and it was probably the best experience I could have ever gotten because I was essentially able to learn what a coach was without being paid. Um, you know, while I was still working toward my degree, um, And it was very essential to my growth and and possibly my the I guess speeding up my timeline of where I was going to be in my career. Um, after that, I went to Baytown. I started off my career at a middle school in Baytown at Horseman Junior High and just worked my way up all over Houston. Uh, kind of went, I was that guy that kind of went around different places. Um, the thing I will say is Talking to anybody I worked for, they'll tell you that I worked hard. They'll tell you that I never really complained. I just, I just did what I had to do. I just was an ambitious guy. And, you know, do I recommend that for everybody? No, I don't. Uh, I think it's one of those deals where guys get caught up in that chasing, chasing, chasing, but you don't really know what you're chasing. You know, there's, there's no coaching euphoria. It's going to be great wherever you make it. And, And I felt like that was my mentality. Even though I moved around a little bit as a, as a young coach, I always try to make it great wherever I was and then reevaluate at the end of the year what I wanted to do. Yeah. You know, coach, I hear, I hear in your story, uh, and the way you grew up, just that kind of blue collar, get it done grittiness. Uh, that's just probably a part of your DNA. Um, you know, you and I are just getting to know each other, but. That's just what I'm receiving and picking up over here. How does that influence kind of your coaching philosophy, your coaching style, if you will? How does that translate over for you? To the kids. For me, you know, I've been a head coach at HISD for a year and then I've been at Sam Raven for three. It's places where we probably don't have, we won't get off the bus and scare people off the bat. You know what I mean? We're not those type of, we're not built that, that way, but we've been able to build grit into our kids and, and, and, and, uh, heart, you know, bring that heart out of that thing that they have. To show them that nobody cares about your excuses. Nobody cares about being smarter than everybody. Nobody cares about maybe being slower than people. They care about getting it done. And that's what we preach to our kids is You know, nobody cares, work harder, and we live by that, and my kids know, and I tell them, I feel for you, and when people have problems, I understand we all have problems, but at the end of the day, the world doesn't care. Find a way to overcome it. And, and, and we, we talk about compassion. We look, we're compassionate towards our guys. We, we, we love our guys, but at the end of the day, the world doesn't want to hear, you know, well, you know, what's wrong with you today, you know. They want you to find solutions. So we teach our kids confide in those that you can confide in, you know, love those that you love, but to the world, you got to put on a strong, a strong face and ready to meet any challenge head on. Yeah. Uh, coach, can you, can you expand upon kind of like holding those two things in tension? Uh, that idea of, Hey. The world doesn't care. Nobody cares. Work harder. And that balance of compassion and empathy and love, if you will, um, like how do you hold those things in tension? Can you expand upon that more? Um, you know, with our kids, you know, our kids face a lot of different issues. And, and, and what, what that's defined at what it looks like in our program every day is our kids face different issues, but they know that I'm always going to be there for them. They know that I'm somebody they can talk to. They know that I'm somebody that's going to care about them. But they also know that they can't dwell on it. They can't sit there and dwell on. On what's going on. They got to find a solution. Find a way because at the end of the day, you know, if something happens Thursday in the season, we got a game Friday. We got to go play. Yeah. You know, uh, you know, whether it be your girlfriend broke up with you or you failed a test or Or anything like that, you know, and I always tell them, hey, family comes first. Uh, we talk about, you know, something happens with your family. We understand that part. But your everyday day stuff, you know, you got to find ways to overcome or you got to find ways to put that on the back burner until the job's done. Then we'll worry about it later. Um, and that's just how we talk and. And for us, it's a mentality we have to build because there's every excuse in the book that could be had for our kids is, you know, we're not the fastest, we're not the strongest, we're not the tallest. At the end of the day, nobody cares. We got to go play. And, and you know, it, it can be misconstrued different ways, but that's how we get our kids to, to get ready to go plays. Nobody wants to hear the excuses. Let's just go do it. Let's see what happens. See what happens after this game. Every coach wants a player led team, but how do you build a player led team? That's the question that led to the creation of the captain's course, a ten week customizable leadership development course for student athletes. The captain's course will equip student athletes to lead their teammates, Promote the growth of leadership skills, create alignment on your core values from coach to athlete, and help build player-led teams. Learn more at www.2words.tv slash captainscourse. I gotta imagine that that, that builds some really resilient kids, some really tough kids that are solution oriented, looking to solve the problem. Let's figure out how to do it. Yeah, I mean, you know, I guess the, uh, I guess the double-edged sword is, you know, you'll have some kids that will maybe hold some stuff in, but we talk to them. I make sure I intentionally have coaches that are That that are interested in our kids and getting to know them get into yeah to find out who they are, because at the end of the day we don't want them to. Feel like they can't talk to anybody, but we want them to know that you have to have that chip on your shoulder for us to survive program. We have to. And, uh, you know, there, there, there's always a pro and con to everything, but. With our kids, you know, they appreciate how we, how we approach them. You know, we have, we have our, uh, you know, our non-negotiables in the program. You know, if you cuss, you got to go roll, you got to go flip a tire for a hundred yards. You know, if, if, uh, you get a write-up 100 yards, if you get sent to in-school suspension or alternative school, If you got insult suspension, you got 300 yards. If you get a alternative school, then you're probably gonna be flipping that tire for multiple, multiple days. Yeah. Oh, I bet. Yep. Yep. Well, I like what you said too, coach. It's, it's something we, we say in different ways often here that you can have high standards and you can expect a lot out of your student athletes. But with that elevation of standards, with that elevation of expectation comes alongside the requirement of encouragement. You have to be an elite encourager as a coach if you're going to hold those kids to a really high standard. Yeah, they, they gotta, you know, I, I feel like we do a good job and I'm intentional and, That my kids know that I love them is, you know, I have, I have my kids that tell me, man, coach on Fridays, you know, you get crazy, you get loud, crazy, you know, trying to give directions. And but they know it comes from a place of love. You know, I'm not degrading them. I just get excited. I'm excited about the games. I get excited about my kids being able to go out there and perform. And um, but they know at the end of the day. You know, I love them and I'm going to do whatever I need to do for them. Um, but, but also that comes with the price as in buying into the program, buy into what we're doing. Um, and, and they know that and they know that we take care of them, you know, like this Friday, uh, you know, we're about to get to spring break and they don't know that my father, who's just retired. He's coming out with his barbecue pit to make some hot dogs for the guys. Right on. Yeah. We do things like that. We cook out. Um, We try to show them that it's okay to bond with your brothers. Let's create good hobbies. Let's not have negative hobbies. You know, today we're finishing up the athletic period and a kid that had been sent to alternative school for You know, you know, that vaping stuff and all that two years ago, you know, we've tried to help steer him towards positive hobbies and around positive people in our program. And today he's over here showing me all the fish he's caught, saying he's gotten great at fishing. And you know, I'm telling him, son, that's such a great hobby. Better than what you were doing before. And he just says, I don't even realize, like, that I'm not doing that stuff no more. I just love fishing. And, you know, it's an outlet. And that's what we're here to do is teach our kids that There's more life than what the world's telling you to do. You know, you can find hobbies in anything, you know, um, and we, we talk, you know, we don't, we don't, we don't. Just always talk about faith, but I use, I use the word God and I tell them, you know, there's things that are meant to, that are meant in this world that God's given us that to enjoy that we don't need all that other stuff. We don't need that negativity. Yeah. Yeah. Amen. You know, coach, why don't you, uh, expand upon, uh, the culture we talked a lot about kind of that blue collar toughness, that grittiness that you guys, uh, that kind of flows out through you to your student athletes. Tell us more about the rest of the culture of, uh, of Rayburn and kind of some of your, your values and what you guys hold as non-negotiables. For us, it's accountability. You know, accountability is big for us. We tell our kids, if you're going to miss, you need to call in, just like a job. If you don't call in, no call, no show. Hey, we got tires free, you know, things like that. We were trying to teach them real world. We're trying to give them real world lessons without them having to learn it as adults. Yeah. Which, which is in that. You know, we take pride in as a staff that we, that we're going to hold them to a standard. Um, everybody has each other's back. You know, we have some guys that joke around and they joke around and they, uh, you know, they, You know, maybe play a little too much, but, but they're, they, they are who they are and that's who, that's their personality. They get their job, the work done. But our culture is be you, be you in the sense of be you while being a part of the team. Don't lose your individualism, but know that you're part of a greater good. And that's what we preach in our kids. Love it. That's awesome. Well, coach, uh, as we kind of start to wrap up our time together, I've got a question I like to add. I've been asking a lot of those that have been bringing on the podcast. Um, and that's, what is the, what is the most important thing you feel like coaches today need to know about leading their student athletes? I think the most important thing is. Uh, you know, that I look around the room and the faces are getting younger and I'm getting older. I remember being the guy. Um, and you know, I, I think it would be easy for me to, you know, how do you say the low hanging fruit to say guys need to be willing to. To, uh, you know, do the dirty work and start at the bottom, you know, that's easy to say and I get it, you know, we're in a different generation, but I think it's. Before you can lead, you need to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, are you somebody that you would follow? You know, that's something for me that Even when I became a head coach, I think it took me two years to look in the mirror and say, if, if I were looking for a leader, would it be me? And I had to change some things. I reevaluated some things. I changed some staff members just because I felt like it was not bringing the, we weren't bringing the culture that I wanted and for us or for me as a As an older coach now, I say older, I'm only thirty-six I've been a head coach for four years. So it's, it's crazy. But yeah, um, I would say, I would say humility, look yourself in the mirror, look yourself in the mirror and make sure that you're worth following as a leader. Would you follow yourself? That is a powerful litmus test and parting word for our listeners coach. Hey, thank you again so much for your time today. Uh, if our listeners want to connect with you, uh, maybe pick your brain a little bit more about what's, uh, something they heard today, uh, what would be the best way for them to connect with you? I would say on, well, I still call it Twitter. Um, I have my, my Twitter handles at G O N C five three zero seven I'm always on there. Um, In my, my email, uh, I don't mind giving out my email. It's my personal one is G-O-N-Z 5307 at gmail.com. And, uh, you know, just reach out to me there. I'm always willing to talk, always willing to help out. Um, I'm a big believer in giving guys chances, but, but also with that is. You know, with those chances comes a lot of responsibility. Yep. So that's just what I believe in. I had great mentors who are now ADs or superintendents of districts and You know, they didn't give anything to me. I had to go earn it. And that's how I feel. You know, I'm not going to give you anything. If you earn it, you're going to get what you deserve. Yeah. Coach, thanks again for your time today. We really appreciate it. Thank you. Hey guys, one last note before you head off your day. Over 1400 schools across the nation have or are using one of our curriculums. Are you ready to jump on board? If you want a turnkey program to develop character in your athletes, give us a call at 281-723-9943. We will work with you and your budget to make it as easy as possible. Thanks again for listening to the coach 360 podcast. Now let's have a good one today.