Grooming Young Minds for Excellence with Antwaun Thompson

[00:00:00] Elton Brown: Welcome to SpeakUP! International with Rita Burke and Elton Brown.

[00:00:16] Rita Burke: On SpeakUP! International, as you know, we seek to inspire, to educate, and to inform. Today we have a person who is going to be telling his story, and he comes from North Carolina. His name is Mr. Antwaun Thompson. He's written a book for teens. He is a coach and mentor who focuses on personal development.

He's also the founder and executive director of JLT Fieldhouse, which is a not for profit organization. I know for a fact that Mr. Thompson's story is going to help us and SpeakUP! International to meet our goals. Let us welcome Mr. Antwaun Thompson, please. 

[00:01:04] Antwaun Thompson: Hello, Elton and Rita. Thank you so much for having me.

I really appreciate the opportunity and I really look forward to sharing my passion and my mission of helping develop the next generation of leaders, which are our young people.

[00:01:16] Elton Brown: Antoine, that was one of the first things that jumped out at me is how focused you are in terms of The challenges that the next generation of leaders more or less face, but they're not really. doing much to prepare themselves you seem to be that guiding light that wants to guide them into personal development.

 What type of school curriculum do you think our youth needs in order to be developed? 

[00:01:50] Antwaun Thompson: Well, that's a great question and that's a long list and if I could replace everything they're learning now, I replace it with everything that they need. And to be honest with you, I could just give you, there's probably a top 3 to 5, you know, financial, financial literacy is 1 thing young people have no clue about, um, you know, writing checks, balancing a checkbook, Communication, you know, how to communicate with different groups of people.

You know, they talk to adults the way they talk to their friends and understanding there's a respect factor that has to be accounted for in all of their communications, conflict resolution, how young people deal with adversity. They allow their emotions to dictate their, their results of any of their, uh, conflicts or disagreements that they may have, um, and that has a lot to do with, uh, maturity.

And I think the other big thing is it all starts at home. I think we have a generation of parents, unfortunately, they're trying to be friends with their kids instead of being parents to them. And that is a big part of what's preventing them from growing to being mature adults.

[00:02:57] Rita Burke: In your bio I read about your wanting to help these young people that you work with. To complete their personal development expand on that term for me. What exactly do you mean by expanding your personal development?

[00:03:12] Antwaun Thompson: That stems from Rita that's from them understanding that they have the ability to control their own destinies.

And a lot of them don't have the confidence and self self esteem to follow their dreams, and they rely on other people to direct them and guide them. And in most cases, people don't understand these young people understand their passions and their missions. And if you don't understand it, you can't guide and lead them in the direction that they need or want to go in.

And that's a big part of what I meant by that, because the young people I work with, we have a lot of conversations about that. And I ask a lot of questions. And those are two things are really important to me is asking questions and not judging the answer. That you get from them because they're kind of trying to share with you who they are and what they see in themselves at that particular time.

[00:03:57] Elton Brown: You wrote a book, The Ultimate Guide to Success for Free Teens and Teens. What are the three main points in that book that you. want to impress on the minds of our young adults. 

[00:04:12] Antwaun Thompson: Great question. I always love this question because it's the heart of everybody's success, not just kids. But I really wanted to start with them because they have the longest journey ahead of them.

And those three points Elton is simplicity, effort and attitude. Because regardless of what we do in life, we already know that life is not simple, but we have to focus on the simple aspects of what we're trying to achieve. And then the effort part of it, once you establish what it is that you want, you have to understand that it takes work.

Nothing comes easy. If everything was easy, everybody'd be doing it. And, but the, and the last part, which is attitude to me is the most important of the three, because you can't simplify anything and can't put forth any effort if you don't have the right attitude. So positive attitude is the most important thing and I always like to end it by saying, one of my favorite quotes is attitude, your attitude almost always determines your altitude in life.

[00:05:06] Rita Burke: I like that! That is really deep. Simplicity. effort and attitude. So what is positive attitude? Look like sounds like behaves like talk to our audience about that, please. 

[00:05:23] Antwaun Thompson: So I give a perfect example of attitude and you talk about relationships between kids and educators, kids and their parents, kids and employers.

Most kids go into something thinking about the end result. So their attitudes about how can I get what I want? So they don't take into account that the people that they're dealing with are also trying to guide them and make them understand that, hey, you know, you have to work for it and your attitude determine whether you get that or not.

And then a lot of what we hear are young people that are very combative and unappreciative of the things that are provided for them on a daily, on a daily basis. So for me, the attitude is a big part of it because it's the best, it's the best way to connect with kids because once they understand that you have their best interest at heart, it typically changes their attitude.

And I've seen that in the work that I've done with kids. 

[00:06:15] Rita Burke: Isn't that fascinating? You said you need to connect with the kids. There's an adage that says you need to connect before you correct. And that certainly works. You connect. Before you can correct, and I think many educators and parents alike and caring adults.

Need to remember that you can't just walk in and correct. You need to connect at a wonderful level at the special level before you can correct. So thank you for responding to that question. 

[00:06:44] Antwaun Thompson: Yes, ma'am. I'm going to steal that. I like that. You must connect before you correct. I like that. No royalty payments coming your way though.

[00:06:51] Rita Burke: Well, you never know. We may bill you! 

[00:06:54] Elton Brown: Talk to us about the JLT Fieldhouse and what is its mission. 

[00:07:01] Antwaun Thompson: I get goosebumps when I get that question because believe it or not, we wouldn't be talking about the previous topic or any of this without JLT Fieldhouse. JLT Fieldhouse is named after my late father, um, who, uh, He Actually was not my biological father.

He adopted my older brother and myself when we were really young, when he married my mom and what is what he did after that chance transformed our lives and God gave us guidance, love and direction, but more importantly. He raised us as we were, as though we were his biological sons and, um, he served in the Marine Corps for 30 years, served two tours of Vietnam.

And unfortunately we lost him to leukemia in 1996. And when he passed, it was one of the most devastating things for me to deal with first major, uh, setback, or I would say adverse time in my life. And I searched long and hard for years to find a way to honor the man that made me the man that I am today.

And so I started JLT Fieldhouse, which stands for Joe Louis Thompson Fieldhouse, and it's based on paying for what he did for my brothers and I, which is show leadership, guidance and love without judgment and giving kids an opportunity to learn from their mistakes when they do make them because they're going to, but at the same time, always being there for them when they need them.

And it is based around the sport of basketball because we utilize basketball as the. catalyst to connect with kids because we know kids love sports. So if you can get them in, then we teach life lessons through the sport of basketball. And this, uh, has been a tremendous asset to our community. And I know that it could be for many other kids as well. 

[00:08:50] Rita Burke: It sounds like you were well, connected to your father, so to speak, and I hear, I hear the emotion in your voice as you talk about losing him that that that truly is, is touching. I find it very moving. Now, when you coach, when you counsel, when you mentor, there's no questions you need to have a set of objectives. So how, how do you measure, how do you know when you've met your objectives for these young people you're working with?

[00:09:27] Antwaun Thompson: That is a great question, Rita! And you don't believe not you, you answered it by saying that there are no objectives when you go in, because when kids come to you, you already know they need something. So it goes back to what you said earlier. I take the opportunity to connect. So once I connect, then we know where we need to go.

It's not where I want them to be. It's where we collectively, uh, work to get to and there have been some transform, uh, transformations and some kids that have gone far beyond my expectations all because of the connection and then the trust factor that was developed over time. And in some instances they've been in short, like when I say weeks and sometimes it's taken years.

But even the ones that have taken weeks, uh, or are just as important as the ones that have taken years, because the end result is the most important thing, and that is getting kids to believe in themselves and having confidence and making decisions right, wrong, or indifferent, and understanding that they're going to learn from those decisions over time.

[00:10:27] Elton Brown: That is a lot of, a lot of information to have crunch. So what soft skills do you think are really important to know, so when they go out in the world, they are prepared because it's not about the head knowledge, the hard skills, it's a lot, it's a lot to do with the soft skills, they can't communicate. If they can't get up there and project, they're going to be at a loss. 

[00:10:55] Antwaun Thompson: I think one of the first things, Elton, is, is they have to have goals for themselves. You know, they just can't fly through life and just kind of take what it gets. If something goes well, oh, that's what I'm going to do. It's, uh, I use, uh, analogy of like, love, and, and passion.

You know, we all like things, and then we don't like things. And we love things, and then we fall out of love of things. But when you're passionate about something that passion is what drives you like what we're talking about today is my passion. I can talk about it for days, weeks, months, years. But that's one of the things I tell kids is, you know, you must find your passion because once you find your passion, it will help you establish the goals that you want.

Once you establish those goals. Guess what? You've simplified what you want to accomplish. Now at least step two, you've got to put forth the effort to achieve those goals. And then once you achieve those goals and maintain the right attitude, that road to success becomes easier. Yes, there are going to be some dips and Valleys and peaks in that process, but your attitude will help you overcome those.

And these in the other major part, I think, is accountability slash responsibility. That is one of the major things that young people don't take account of for themselves, personal accountability and personal responsibility. It's always somebody else's responsibility or somebody else's. fault when they don't succeed at something.

And when you allow kids to blame others, they will consistently do that. But if you hold them accountable, they have to step back and say, Hey, you know. Yeah, that's on me. I got to accept responsibility for that. And hopefully later on, I have a perfect example encompassing all of those

[00:12:33] Rita Burke: Accountability responsibility for behavior. No question about that. Now, we're speaking with Mr Antwaun Thompson, who works with youth. And on SpeakUP! International, we seek to inspire, educate, and inform and the story you're telling us, there's no question, is helping us to meet our objectives to SpeakUP! International.

What made you want to work with young people made you want to coach and mentor young people? Talk to us about that. 

[00:13:08] Antwaun Thompson: There are a couple of ways. There are a couple of things. They all kind of tie together in the end. My coaching career actually started in 1985.

I actually did not make the basketball team. High school got cut every year, but I love the sport. And I'm like, you know, I want to find a way to contribute to a sport that I love, but I'm not able to participate in. And I was afforded the opportunity to coach a youth league, 10 and 11 year old boys and the team I happened to coach turned out to be young boys that were not selected to be a part of the league.

They had more players than they had coaches. So they were reaching out and a friend of mine asked if I'd be interested and I was like, absolutely would love to. So the team I was given. It's not a talented team. None of them had actually played before. Uh, and the best thing about it was what happened at the end of that season.

And my team had the same losing record as that handpicked team that these young men were not selected for. And what it taught me was I had an innate ability to connect with kids and to make them believe themselves and they achieve something more than they had expected. And even with the losing record, they fought it thought as though they.

Had won something. And the impact of that is that was almost 40 years ago. And one of the gentlemen on that and on that team wrote a testimonial that is in that book that you referenced earlier. So the relationship started 39 years ago, and it made such an impact that he remembers it almost like it was yesterday.

And that leads to the second part of my answer to that question is one of the other reasons I think is because I believe I honestly believe I was given a gift from the man from above to lead and guide young people, because my wife and I weren't able to have kids of our own, and I feel as though he said I'm not going to bless you with kids of your own because I've given you a gift to impact more.

And I've embraced that to the fullest, and that is what wakes me up, along with the, with the, the remembrance of my father with JLT Fieldhouse, to put forward and do what I can to help the next generation of young people. 

[00:15:13] Elton Brown: One of the things that I've discovered is the lack of basic, like, math, spelling, I'll just say history.

There seems to be a major disconnect. In Canada, Rita and I belong to a book club. Well, this book club is actually for youth, and they get together quarterly, for about six weeks, and we read books with them. I found that some of the kids can't read. I mean, they just flat out can't read, and it's hard, it's, heartbreaking, because For me personally, one of the kids that I work with, I get the feeling that they have a lot of responsibilities and so they maybe don't have the time to spend with their child in order to make sure that he gets up to speed.

How do you deal with children, young adults that are lacking basic school skills that should have been taught to them in school. 

[00:16:20] Antwaun Thompson: As you ask that question, there's a couple of examples that have popped up that I've dealt with in that situation. Um, I'll use the example of training young people through the JLT Fieldhouse Program. And in one on one sessions, I've had conversations with kids and we start talking about education because I asked questions and during the workouts because I want to know how their life's going.

What are they struggling with because they'll tell you without telling you. And if you let them talk long enough, they will give you everything that you need that all of the answers that you need to help them solve or problems to solve. And innately there have been reading, comprehension, math issues that have come up.

And what I found is the kids are being given too much accountability responsibility for learning things that they haven't been taught how to learn. And that is the biggest issue I noticed was affecting kids here in the United States, is that the education system was just a revolving door. Uh, read this, turn this in, here's your test, read this, turn this in, here's your test, next grade, here's your work, read this, turn into work, here's your test.

And then when they get to higher education, we're seeing fewer and fewer kids applying to go to college. You know why? They know that the degree that they're going to school for, they're not going to be able to use when they get out, but yet they're going to amass all of this debt. So they are aware, but it also creates a struggle for them.

What am I going to do? What other options do I have? And nobody's giving him any guidance and direction in that, because all that's there for them is 12 years of school, four to six, eight years of college. Get out there and make it happen.

[00:17:57] Rita Burke: At the beginning of our chat, you alluded to. Communication is an important, important tool to help your mentees with. You talked about conflict resolution. There's no question, I don't have to tell you this, you know this, that reading, literacy plays a huge role. Where does that fit into everything that you do in terms of books and encouraging reading and those kinds of things? Talk to us about that. 

[00:18:28] Antwaun Thompson: As far as can you ask the question one more time for me? 

[00:18:32] Rita Burke: Yeah, I'm saying where it is. actually picking up a book and encouraging the teens to read. Where does that fit into your whole program? 

[00:18:43] Antwaun Thompson: First and foremost, it starts with what are their interests? Uh, again, going back to the connect thing that you mentioned, once you get kids to connect, I'm always trying to guide them to the next step, not telling them what it is, but guiding them.

And what all innately comes back is Have you researched that? What do you know about that? And encouraging them. Well, if that's something of interest to you, you probably want to read up and learn more about it to find out that's exactly what you want to do. Because I think you both know to you just can't say hey you need to start reading a book a month, you know, they're not going to do that, because guess what, we're doing what parents do telling them what to do.

As soon as you start telling kids what to do, they tune you out. And I think that's one of the things that What I've learned in my approach is about the, um, growing with them, getting on their level and grow with them. It's not dumbing myself down, it's getting to the level of a young person that you want to be a mature, responsible, and contributing adult to society.

[00:19:44] Elton Brown: Your stepfather adopted you and treated you as his. He was dad, which is honorable, if I may, if I may say so my myself, what attributes have you picked up and made your own from your dad that you use when you're talking to the young adults at your. Educational center?

[00:20:09] Antwaun Thompson: Two things, one and no disrespect at all.

I've never ever considered my father, my stepdad. He was my father. And because if I say stepdad, that's giving credit to a man that is only responsible for me coming into this world. So my dad's my dad. And so I just wanted to clarify that. Obviously, you didn't know. So it's no disrespect intended. But to answer your question, simple quote that my dad shared with my brothers and I over and over again.

You help people whenever you can without any expectation of reward, pure and simple. That is what fuels me and is what, it's what happens at JLT Fieldhouse and it's also what happens with Coach T's Cornermentry Program. So I help kids without any expectation of reward. If there were any reward, it's seeing their success.

[00:20:58] Elton Brown: So when you help these kids and then they go away. Trade school or university or college, have any of them actually come back and let you know how much you have influenced them and where they are today because of you? 

[00:21:17] Antwaun Thompson: Oh boy. Yes, sir. Uh uh, um, it's a young man who was, I coached an A a U team in 1990 and in 2000 and.

16. He ended up winning the state high school basketball championship as a head coach in high school there. That summer, he came back to my JLT Fieldhouse summer camp as a guest. And, um, what he shared with the campers brought him to tears, brought them to tears, brought me to tears. And to this day, I only coached this young man for two years, but the connection and what he felt as though I taught him in those two years, he actually gave me a piece of the championship net that they cut down after they won the championship.

So, that's one of the. Uh, examples, uh, and then the other just happened about, uh, a week ago. Actually, the high school that I coached from 1988 to 1992, um, I coached the young men when they were freshmen and sophomores and during their season, their senior years, they won the state title and they're celebrating, they celebrated the 30th anniversary of that championship this past Friday.

And I was contacted by four the players as well as to coach and they wanted me to be a part of that celebration because they felt as though those first two years of me coaching them contribute to them winning a state title.

[00:22:49] Rita Burke: That is so touching. So moving. I am very, very impressed. I know you talked about your dad and the influence of him on your life. What would you say is the best piece of counselor advice you've ever been given?

[00:23:14] Antwaun Thompson: Oh my gosh, this is actually a funny one though. So in front of me, I have, um, I framed a uniform from my father in Marine Corps. And on top of that are stacks of letters that he hand wrote to me over the years when he was overseas. And in one of those letters was one of my first, uh, romantic, uh, I had a romantic interest and I had, I was having some issues with how I was going to deal with that situation.

And I remember writing my dad about it. And out of all those letters, this is the one response. I always remember him replying back. He always wrote back every time we wrote and his response was son. And he said, just like this, he goes, son, do you think just because you have a car and you have a job? That every girl is going to like you, you must show them who you are, be respectful, and if it was meant to be, it will be.

And so those are, uh, that's just one of those things. My dad was not a man of many words, but what he said meant a lot. 

[00:24:20] Rita Burke: Was that meant to be? 

[00:24:23] Antwaun Thompson: No, thank God, no. I'm actually, um. My wife and I, we're actually celebrating our 20th wedding anniversary this year. So, um, yeah, I have a, I have a true queen and a great supporter.

[00:24:41] Elton Brown: That is wonderful! Here in Canada, and I know in the United States, there are many marginalized communities. A lot of the kids don't get food at home. They just don't have the money to feed them. What does the, your educational center do for individuals that Just, I mean, they can't learn anything if they're hungry.

I mean, that's just a fact. So how do you handle that? 

[00:25:09] Antwaun Thompson: Well, we actually do fundraisers for, uh, other nonprofits here in the area. We do for, uh, children that have been removed from home because of domestic violence or sexual misconduct, if you will. Uh, but we don't directly do, we actually have a Meals on Wheels route that we sponsor and we've done for.

Seven years, I believe, leading up to COVID, two years of COVID we didn't, but that's our contribution to helping kids in the community, specifically the lower income areas of Salisbury, which is where I actually live.

[00:25:48] Rita Burke: I'm curious. I'm always curious. There's no question that you're passionate about helping youth to actualize and to become the persons they are on this earth to be. What's your own educational background? 

[00:26:05] Antwaun Thompson: Oh, this is a good one. So I actually went to college for education, did not like it, uh, started, uh, cooking.

I love to cook. So I parlayed that into a 20 year career in the club industry. I was a sous chef, an executive chef, food and beverage manager, system manager, ended up being a general manager of a country club here in Salisbury. So my education is in management, uh, country club management, but, and more importantly, throughout all of those years, one of the biggest assets that I was always told was my ability to connect with the older members and the younger members, meaning the kids, uh, so much so that, uh, I look forward to going to work to interact with the kids more so than with the adults.

And so regardless of what part of life, if you have a, if you have a, a gift, it always shows it shows itself in any environment. So that's one of the things, and that's a, that's a skill I get from my mom, my social skills. So my mom is very outgoing and I have a very outgoing personality. So that's the one thing that I'm very most, that's what I'm most proud of, uh, attributes I've gotten from my mom.

[00:27:19] Elton Brown: I think most black women have social skills. I remember as a kid going to church, church end at three o'clock. By the time my mother had to say hello to everybody, she got to hug everybody. I'm sitting on the steps waiting for her. I'm like, why wouldn't this woman come out of there? I go in the church.

I says, Mom, come on. Okay, I'll be out in five minutes. Well, a half an hour later, she's still in there laughing and joking and talking to people. And so I find that, uh, that was probably very important then for, uh, for women to network, uh, to make sure that they had these connections that they knew they were going to need.

Uh, in the future, immediate future, it was something that was very, very important. I'm trying to figure out how and where does the JL Phil House sit educationally. Were individuals funneled to you from, I guess, regular educational centers? And they were sent maybe to you for special treatment. I hate using that word or where is it was JLT Fieldhouse.

Just another, I don't want to say just another, that's not right, but, uh, an educational center that kids were allowed to attend. 

[00:28:47] Antwaun Thompson: So I think the best way to answer that Elton would be, um, at the time that at the, um, the origination of JLT Fieldhouse, I was coaching basketball at this particular private school.

I approached the head of school about starting it and telling her about the what I felt the benefits were, it would be an opportunity for me to truly showcase the benefits of teaching young people about life through sport. So she goes, Sure. So my first two years at this school. I won six games and lost 34 in two years.

So not very good. The next eight years or I should say the next seven years, we went to seven straight championship games. We won five of those and three of those were undefeated seasons. 75 percent of the kids on those teams were part of JLT Fieldhouse one on one group clinic, summer camp, summer league program.

So year in and year out in year round. They were taught about accountability, responsibility, communication, teamwork, conflict resolution through sports that in fact carries over to life. So through this process during the summer, word of mouth got out and it grew from just a school where I was coaching that we had kids from multiple schools that reached as far as Winston Salem and um, Charlotte, which are 40, 30 and 40 miles away.

So people heard and saw the benefits of, and so we started to grow from there. People started to see the results of that. And it's, uh, it's one of those days when you believe in yourself enough, all you want to do is be given an opportunity to showcase what you can do. And the end result was to literally turn a program around the irony and all of this.

And I think this is, I want to break this full circle. In 1990, I, going back to when I said I was coaching the freshman and junior varsity team at, uh, Meadowbrook High School. Well, I coached both of those teams at the same time, and both teams won the district. Uh, they had a combined record of 30 wins and four losses.

Well, the local paper did an article, um, interviewed me, uh, for an article, and I was actually about to start coaching the A A U team that summer. Well, in that article, one of the things that I said in was that I believe that I could get somewhere and build a program. Well, I didn't know it was going to take me 30 years to do it, but I believed enough in myself that I could get somewhere and build a program.

And that's what I did at this particular school. So that's one of those things I think is important to share with kids, too. You may not get what you want when you want, but you will get what you want when you need to get it.

[00:31:36] Rita Burke: I really like it that you seem to massage and tease the best out of the young people that you work with. I really like what I'm hearing and I'm sure that they benefit tremendously and they appreciate everything you're doing. I want to know, how do you teach those young people to communicate? How, what are some of the strategies you use to teach them?

Because that's one of the elements of what you do. How do you teach them to communicate? 

[00:32:11] Antwaun Thompson: It's going to be a short answer, but I hope it brings home what I do. I empower them. To be responsible for their own success. And one of the things is if they just listened to me as a, and it was as a coach, if they only listened to me as a coach, they only received the information from coach to player or from coach to student.

But if I say, this is what we do when you see. You can determine what you do because I allow kids to fail. That's part of my coaching is I allow them to fail. I give them the tools to succeed, but they got to find out what works and what doesn't work. And this may be a great opportunity. If you don't mind, I want to share a story that really encompasses, uh, accountability, excuse me, communication, accountability, responsibility, teamwork, and goal setting all of those.

And this happened. Two years ago. So we had a player on a team that had broken a team rule and I knew nothing about this. And the boys that I'm coaching were 7th and 8th grade boys. So these are 12 and 13 year old boys. So I knew nothing about this. And 2 of the 8th graders came to me the next day and I said, Coach T, we had a player that broke a rule and they wouldn't let me know about it.

My immediate response was, well, what are we going to do about it? And they were expecting me to say, okay, I'll take care of it. I said, no, what are we going to do about it? And without hesitation, this is what they said to me. They said, we want him to sit in the bleachers and watch us run for his mistake.

And I said, uh, okay. I kind of smiled. I'm like, wow. Okay. That's kind of harsh, but I said, I like that. And I like that so much. I'm going to use that as my punishment. Cause I couldn't think of anything at the time. I'm like, so I'll steal theirs. Um, but if you guys want to. assess any further disciplinary action that will be up to you as a team to determine.

So I called the young man over and asked him if he'd in fact, uh, committed the infraction and he admitted that he had. So I said, well, here's what's going to happen. You're going to sit and you're going to watch your teammates run. So I make them run and I've never been a coach. I don't believe in running for punishment because it's not punished.

You're not punishing them. You're just making them run. Everything has to have a purpose. So I've always incorporate skills and part of our training and so forth to condition if you will. So, after they're running and after practice, uh, they had a little 5 minute meeting as a team. And after five minutes, they came back to me and they said, coach, we've all discussed it, voted on it.

And it's unanimous for our next game, which happened to be the alumni game, biggest game, a home game of the year. This young man would not get to play. Nor will he get to dress out with the team, but he could sit on the bench with the team. And I'm like, if you guys voted on that, I support it, but that's not the end because this is the most important part of it.

So I asked a young man, I said, do you understand what's happening here? And he goes, yes, sir. And I said, well, what are you going to do now? He says, I'm going to go home and tell my parents why I'm not playing and why I won't be dressing for the next game. After that incident, we won the game and all that.

We ended up going undefeated that season. That situation was never brought up again. Um, he was never, he wasn't treated any differently. The situation was resolved, put behind us and we moved forward. The lesson and then by the way, I couldn't tell you this story without getting their permission to tell it because I told me it was a team thing.

So I want to respect something that I agree with them. They're like, I told him this is a story that many people need to hear. So they understand the power and the ability. That these young people have, if they're given the opportunity. I gave them, I empowered them to hold themselves accountable and responsible.

They communicated with their team, and they came up with a solution to a problem. A solution that benefited everyone, including the young man and the team, and ultimately the team, by winning a championship. And as a coach, you couldn't be prouder to see your players take accountability and take control of a situation that could have easily gotten out of hand.

[00:36:36] Elton Brown: I think this is a beautiful thing where the parents or you or anyone basically had to step in to do anything. They took care of it themselves, which was a excellent form of leadership as a and working together as a team. So how can parents. Get in touch with you if they're interested in maybe having you mentor their kids, uh, help stimulate the kids passions. How are they able to do that? 

[00:37:15] Antwaun Thompson: So, you know, with social media, so many ways, he just wears my email address, which is coach T. www.coachtscorner.com and my website. You can go to our www.jltfieldhouse.org website and you can also get through uh, instagram, which is JLT_Fieldhouse. Also we are on facebook - www.facebook.com/JLTFieldhouse/ as well and I do have a coach's corner and face JLT Fieldhouse facebook pages as well.

And also one of my website, I actually have free resources on there as well for parents to download the sea of success and overview of what the sea of success is breaking down simplicity, effort and attitude, even more so, so they understand the impacts and what those three things can do for their young people's lives.

And many parents, I think the other message I want to share is I'm not trying to be their parents. I'm trying to be a, an extension of them and providing their kids what they're not getting from the school. The education system and also a support system for what they're trying to teach their own kids and also provide some insight from my experience.

[00:38:25] Rita Burke: The story you told about that young person and how did The team circled that person to help them to grow and to become reminds me of something a friend of mine, who's a vice principal does. She says, when you call out. And sometimes we need to call people out for the infractions. You need to call back in.

And I see that in what you just described. There was a calling out for inappropriate behavior. But the person was left out. They were called back in. And that's a wonderful strategy. It's a wonderful strategy for including people, even those people. Who sometimes mess up, so to speak. So, so I like that approach.

That was truly wonderful. Now, is there anything that you haven't told us or told our audience, told our listeners that you want to talk about now? 

[00:39:29] Antwaun Thompson: Oh, I honestly believe we've touched on a lot, but I think if there's a message that I, I would want to convey. is that parents are not out there by themselves.

Even though I'm not a parent per se, I've worked for so many kids and kids have shared with me things that they have not told their parents. And the reason they've done that is because I've developed a level of trust with them and so much so that they feel comfortable sharing with me and knowing that what they share with me is going to be incompetence.

But more importantly, if they can do that with me, that means they can do that with their parents. And I think for some parents, I would only say, listen to your kids and don't judge, because most of the time they just want to be heard. And they get advice from everybody all day, every day. Sometimes they just want to share.

And then walk away because they're releasing and getting things off their chest. And it gives you an opportunity to reflect on what they've shared with you. And then you in turn can create a conversation after when you follow up. I think that's the other part too is sometimes you got to let kids lead the conversation.

They already know that there's an unwritten rule that the authority figure in the house or the parents. But same time. They are a family. That means every family, everyone in the family should have a voice at some given time. Um, that doesn't necessarily mean giving total control, but it's about having conversations, building relationships with your kids.

Like I've mentioned with my parents, what's, what's so great about our relationship is we've always kept the lines of communication open, whether good, bad or indifferent. And then I think that's what's really important for parents to understand is your kids already lean on you and expect you to lead, but sometimes they expect you.

Just to let them lead some, and it'll only enhance and grow their relationship over time. All right, 

[00:41:22] Elton Brown: I have a sticky question to ask, how are you funded? The JLT Fieldhouse and your other projects, how are they, how are they funded? Are they funded through the state? 

[00:41:35] Antwaun Thompson: So, we actually have local, uh, donors and we actually have, uh, local foundations that we get grants from annually to help also with, but we also have a fees associated with some of our programming, um, I, our summer camp, some leagues and.

Private lessons to things, but so the donations and donors, we have annual donors and then we have semi annual donors. And then we also have a couple of anonymous donors that, uh, we're most grateful for that donate every year. And they just asked that we don't tell anybody. And I'm like, Hey, I'm not going to say anything.

You're helping me help kids. So do appreciate that. 

[00:42:14] Elton Brown: I want to talk a little bit about the type of kids that go to your school. Are they from marginalized communities? 

[00:42:24] Antwaun Thompson: No, it's very, uh, it's very, I'm actually no longer coaching school, but I just still do, uh, my programming. But it's come from all walks of life and we encourage that and we actually to your point is one of them so important about those anonymous donors, they allow the, uh, underprivileged kids in our community to participate in our programming.

And that's really important to me is to be able to connect with as many of our young people as we can, specifically, uh, young kids of color in the lower income areas. 

[00:42:53] Elton Brown: What types of, uh, advertisement do you use in order to reach out to? Your communities? 

[00:43:01] Antwaun Thompson: Most of it is through social media. We don't do a lot of outside our local paper.

We used to do some things there, but not much there. But there's a couple of sites that we actually reach out to other schools within a 50 mile radius sharing with our programming. Um, Pete's yard is one of the sites that we utilize to reach administrators and also other schools in the system sharing what we do.

And offering opportunities because one of the things we do to my dad, I do, I should say, is speaking with young people as well as with parents. And I do that in small groups with our camps as well as our summer leagues. Cause I feel that that say other big part too, is my message doesn't just have to be with the kids.

It's gotta be with the parents because you must connect with the parents before you can get with the kids. And I understand that as well. 

[00:43:49] Rita Burke: I'm glad that, uh, that you talked a little bit about the parents, because you obviously couldn't do what you do without working closely with parents. Please expand a little bit on the collaboration or the necessity, the importance of working closely with parents of the young people that you work with.

[00:44:10] Antwaun Thompson: Why that is so important. I get the best way to explain it. When parents reach out to me, we'll use JLT Fieldhouse example. When parents reach out to me, the first thing they're thinking about is I want my son or daughter to get better at basketball. Well, I'm like, I'm like a kid listening to a parent. I don't hear that.

Because that's a given and I already know that and I could do that with my eyes closed. I have enough experience. I know how to assess kids and I'm confident in my abilities to work the skills and all that. What I'm doing when they come in, I'm already assessing where they are mentally, where they are emotionally, and also I watch the communication between student and parent.

That tells me a lot about the dynamics of what's going on at home. Because I've had situations where I had a parent come to the gym with her daughter for a lesson. Both the daughter and the mother had been crying. And I'm like, okay, you're coming to a lesson. And you both are upset. Something's not right.

So I asked her mom about it and she started explaining to me that her daughter had been disrespectful to her. And my response was, and you're rewarding her by bringing her to me to give her a lesson. I said, that's not happening. Not on my watch. I'm not going to be a contributor and enable this kind of behavior.

So I sat down and said, Hey, you've already paid for the time. So the time is yours, but it's not going to be giving you a lesson. So we'll have a conversation. Well, that conversation led to finding out and getting to the root of the problem in an hour, almost like a Law and Order episode. We got it resolved in an hour.

But what it was, it turns out that the young lady, the father of the young lady and the mother are not together. He lives in another state. She wanted to see him, but the mom wasn't able to get her there, so she was lashing out because she couldn't go see her father. And there were some other issues there.

But the three of us ended up sitting there having a conversation and they left feeling better. The daughter apologized to mom and everything was fine. But that's just an example of how I pay attention to what's happening. And I'm always aware that I'm not always aware, but I'm Conscious of the dynamics between a child and their parent.

[00:46:26] Elton Brown: Well, Mr. Thompson, I really want to thank you so much for telling us exactly what's going on at the educational center that you work from, which is the JLT Fieldhouse. We learned so much from you about what you're looking for when you receive these. kids, helping them to design their own future, helping them get soft and hard skills, which are really, really important.

And then to top it off, communication and you being able to zero in on areas that each of the kids need to develop so that when they leave JLT Fieldhouse. They're prepared. They're going to go out there and, and flip the world upside down based on the confidence that you give them along with the, uh, foundational education, which is so, so, so important.

And I wish that we had about a thousand clones of you. That we could spread across the US and Canada in order to help these kids because you, sir, are kind of like a net, catch all of these kids before they actually hit rock bottom and get them back on their feet and send them on their, on their way, kind of like toddlers when they fall, pick them up and you say, , it's okay.

It's all right go ahead and the kid stops crying and, you know, wobbles away. So thank you again, Mr. Thompson for your passion and your determination to take our marginalized youth and make them better. 

[00:48:16] Antwaun Thompson: My pleasure and I want to thank you for the opportunity. Yes, yes, I appreciate it. And like I said, it's, uh, it's always a pleasure to get the opportunity to share my passion and more importantly, in detail, like we did today, you know, sometimes you can talk about it on the surface, but sometimes you really have to get down to the nitty gritty and really share.

What's important because our young people are, they're, they're in dire straits right now. And it is important that we get as many people involved in their lives and let them know that they're loved, cared about and we want to guide direct and lead them to success! 

[00:48:51] Elton Brown: Thank you for listening to SpeakUP! International! If you wish to contact Mr. Thompson, please be prepared to leave your name, your email address and the reason you wish to contact Mr. Thompson through the website at www.Jltfieldhouse.org. 

Are you interested in the opportunity to be interviewed and have your cause promoted by SpeakUP! International? We invite you to connect to us by sending a message that includes your name, company, or organizations name, the valuable service you offer to your community and your email address to info@speakuppodcasts.ca. 

Worried about your confidence as an interviewee? Don't fret! SpeakUP! International can provide you with the necessary training so you shine during an interview! To receive training information and a 10% discount about the SpeakUP! Podcast Interviewee Training program, email us at infoatspeakuppodcast.ca. 

You can also reach us using Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. 

To connect to our podcasts, use Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform and search for SpeakUP! International. You can also find our podcast using our web address, www.speakuppodcast.ca. Our logo has the woman with her finger pointing up mouth open speaking UP! 

At SpeakUP! International, we aim to inspire, to inform and to educate!