Jason Magennis: Welcome to Youth Sports United. I'm your host, Jason McGinnis. I'm a certified high-performance coach who works with executives, entrepreneurs, and athletes to unlock their potential through self-transformation that addresses the barriers to achieving their ultimate goals. Thanks for joining me for today's episode of Youth Sports United. I hope you enjoyed the conversation. If you'd like to support the show, the best way to do so is to subscribe, leave a rating or review, and share your favorite episodes with friends and parents dedicated to creating healthy sporting cultures for our kids. If you'd like to learn more about my coaching practice, head over to jasonmagennis.com/coaching Thanks again for listening, and I'll see you next time on Youth Sports United. Benson, how are you? I'm excited to welcome a new sponsor to Youth Sports United. Today's episode is brought to you by Bearwear. As a coach, host of this pod, and a dad to a 12 year old, I spend a lot of time thinking about what really supports kids as they grow through sport. We talk a lot about growth, confidence, mindset, teamwork, but the truth is, so much of a kid's experience also happens around the game. Early mornings, long days at tournaments, Benson Langat: Doing wonderful. Thanks for having me. Jason Magennis: On today's episode, I sit down with Benson Langette. Benson is the founder and head coach of Benzene Run Coaching and Sports Consulting. He's also an elite marathoner who's finished top 20 in the Boston Marathon and a coaching certification instructor with the Roadrunners Club of America. That's how we know each other. He was my coach when I completed my run coaching certification. Yeah, thanks for joining us here on Youth Sports United. Really excited to have you and to have a conversation about your coaching experience. Benson Langat: Yeah, yeah, I'm excited to be him. Jason Magennis: So, and before we dive in, I can attest to the fact you are an incredible coach and I've experienced it firsthand as for those listening, Benson was my instructor when I completed my running coach certification through the Roadrunners Club of America. So I've gotten to experience his coaching and I'm excited to share his wisdom with all of you today. I'm also a youth baseball coach, and over the last few years, I've observed the negative impact team cultures focused on winning can have on kids' self-esteem and enjoyment of the game. My goal is to create a community of parents and coaches dedicated to enriching the youth sports experience and building environments where growth, development, teamwork, and fun are as valued as performance. the car rides, the snacks, the routines that keep everything moving. As parents, we're juggling a lot. We want to fuel our kids properly, help them build healthy habits and model good choices without adding more stress to already busy days. Our conversation focuses on Benson's coaching philosophy and his beliefs around the importance of supporting character development in our young athletes. We discussed the importance of failure as a learning tool, the impact of social media on youth sports, and the significance of building a supportive culture and environment for our young athletes. Benson Langat: Yeah, was a great class we had. was a lot of fun. ⁓ You guys did amazing as a class overall, so I'm excited to share some of those concepts. So we talked about and, you know, explore a lot more. So thanks for taking the class, by the way. Jason Magennis: On Youth Sports United, I speak to a variety of experts in the youth sports world about how we as parents and coaches can create positive, development-focused sports cultures that accelerate our kids' growth as people, not just players. That's why I want to take a moment to share a brand I genuinely respect and use as a sports parent. Bear aware. Yeah. ⁓ it was amazing. And you know, I know we'll get into it later, but you shared some of your coaching ideology with how you work with your athletes through the course. And I thought, A, that was just great learning for me as a coach to think about how you approach particularly younger athletes, youth athletes, but also B, it's just, it's always so refreshing to hear new perspectives and new ways of helping our athletes grow We also explore the importance of individualization in coaching and how positive feedback can enhance an athlete's motivation and performance. We should always be looking for opportunities to catch our young athletes doing things right. Bearwear was created by a fellow parent who saw a simple but real problem. Plastic lunch gear just doesn't hold up to real family life. It breaks, it leaks, it stains, and frankly, it doesn't always align with the values many of us are trying to teach our kids about caring for their bodies and the world around them. And let's be clear, I'm not against competition or winning. I feel both enrich the youth sports experience. However, I am against winning at all costs. I believe that when we prioritize growth and development, embrace mistakes as part of the process, and create fun team environments, winning becomes the outcome of the positive habits we're teaching. Benson is one of the coaches I most look up to and I was so grateful for his willingness to share his wisdom. Please enjoy my conversation with Benson Langett. Bearwear makes durable, plastic-free stainless steel lunchwear that's designed for real kids and real schedules. It's the kind of gear that survives backpacks, locker rooms, long practices, and full days at school. No gimmicks, just thoughtfully designed products that make it easier to pack real food and build consistent routines. we get started, ⁓ why don't you tell ⁓ us, listeners a little bit about yourself and ⁓ what it you do. Benson Langat: A little bit about myself. was born and in Kenya. came to United States on a track and field scholarship ⁓ to run in college here. Before that I was actually not a runner in high school. I was a rugby player and so ⁓ I chose running right after college and I had a coach who picked me up and said, hey, I just want to coach you and we'll talk about that later. ⁓ Jason Magennis: What I appreciate most is that bear aware isn't about perfection. It's about progress, small practical choices that help families support healthy development physically, mentally and environmentally without adding pressure. Benson Langat: but I had a lot of setbacks trying to lose weight and all that. So I came to United States. Right now I am, I ran competitively for a long time. I'm sponsored by Sketchers, Morton, the hydration company, and ⁓ also Coros, a watch company. So I've spent a lot of time running competitively. And then also throughout my journey right now, I am ⁓ Jason Magennis: If you're curious to check them out, Bearwear is offering our listeners 15 % off. Go to shopbearwear.com, that's shop, B-A-R-E, W-A-R-E.com, and use the code SPORTS15 at checkout to save 15 % on your order. Offer available in Canada only. We're proud to have Bearwear supporting Youth Sports United. Benson Langat: I own my own business, Benzene Run Coaching and Sports Consulting, where we focus on the specific about the running itself. And then also we're doing mental performance coaching, where we spend a lot of time navigating the absent arts in training and getting the athletes to what I call the meta performance. That is a space where many athletes can get to the higher performance. Jason Magennis: and the work we're doing to promote positive growth-oriented experiences for young athletes and their families. Benson Langat: but there is a space of the optimal performance, the meta performance. So that's what my sports consulting is all about. And so I live in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and I enjoy it here. ⁓ It is very cold some days, and then it's not so cold some days. ⁓ And then also I teach for Roadrunners Club of America, which is a run coaching certification, which you Jason just did not long ago. I love that because I get to meet some incredible coaches who want to become better and become better in solving the community. And then I also am also a nonprofit consultant as well. Jason Magennis: I think it's so interesting ⁓ your approach to coaching and what you just talked about about high performance and then getting to that like ultimate meta performance as you described it. And what I think's really interesting about the way that you tackle this is so often my experience has been or experience I've observed has been is that when we have High performing athletes or those on the cusp of being elite, often as coaches, the tendency is to double down on skill development. So we're gonna focus on the skills to get them there. And often that they'll fall short because they're not developing and growing as humans and as individuals. And what I think is so fascinating about your approach is the way that you are so focused on helping your athletes build character, helping them understand the value of failure, helping them become high functioning individuals where the output then becomes that meta performance. And so that's what I'm really interested in chatting about today is how you balance that desire for elite performance with Benson Langat: Mm-hmm. Jason Magennis: grounding your athletes and teaching them the values necessary to have that strong character and that strong ability to bounce back from failure and achieve through more of an internal versus external lens. Benson Langat: Yeah, that's I mean when you think about first of all thinking about ⁓ How can somebody define a coach? ⁓ I think that really as anybody could be a coach for anything ⁓ Everybody has their own different methods of coaching now as a coach that I coach athletes when I write training plans for specific athletes now mind mind you my athletes are all over the country and outside the country as well, so Online I'm coaching him now that is a programming itself now that is so there's so many coaches who can write plans Who can write great plans they can write a phenomenal plan? But for me, I'm centered into I don't want your experience That I have with you to be just the coaching experience. I want to help you figure out What are you learning throughout this journey? So the concept of? when the run doesn't go well, when you throw a basketball and you miss a shot, or when you're supposed to be winning, what is that moment teaching you? So for me, it's to go back and look at some of those things and say, first of all, why are you choosing to be in this sport? Why are you choosing to be in sport? So the beginning part of it is finding your why. Because if I find out your why, then it's easy for me to come back and say, you know, you're focused on what other people think you're forgetting about your why. So a lot of that starts really is, you know, when you talk about how do you help people stay grounded, it's go back to what is your why for being in the sport? And then you start to walk the journey with them and start to think about focus on, you know, there's so many things that I do I want to know. what motivates this individual. So find your why, what motivates you, and then you start to get into some of those spaces as well to start to figure out what works best for them, what type of motivation somebody needs, what type of communication, how do you even ⁓ communicate with this specific individual. Sometimes there are people who you might need a lot of bit of time after they finish an event. Give them time to calm down a lot of it. before you, ⁓ or more recover a little bit before you start having started conversation. And that's what as a coach I'm trying to figure out. The ultimate goal of my work is to really help you unlock the greatest version of yourself. The greatest version of yourself is through really what I learned from my mentor is through self-discovery. So using sports to what am I learning about myself? I felt that this opportunity that I really felt by showing up, no, let's think about how do we reframe that. So that's the whole context of the process. But it really goes back into what is your role as a coach and how do you want to drive these conversations and help somebody. ⁓ Because eventually I would like to see somebody say, my life is better because of this experience that I had with you as a coach. Jason Magennis: Yeah, that building that greater greatest version of yourself. And I think what's so powerful about that is it is so internally focused. What are you doing to build the greatest version of you? It's not in comparison to what may be going on around you. ⁓ And as an athletics coach, I, you know, we talked about this before we started recording. I think you, you were working with athletes who Benson Langat: Thank you. Jason Magennis: You know, they're, they're on their own. They're in the spotlight when you're on the track, when you're running cross country, if you're running a marathon, you're competing against yourself. And I think what's so powerful about athletics and so much of what I've learned on my own running journey is you, you experience failure at a different, in a different way. Benson Langat: Mm-hmm. Jason Magennis: because there's no one else around you that you can point the finger at or blame. It's on you. And some of the lessons you take away from that are so powerful. I'm curious. That's me standing here as a middle-aged man saying that and having years of reflecting on it. When you're working with young adults and those at the youth sports age, whatever that may be, say middle school, high school, How do you help them embrace failure as a learning tool? Benson Langat: That's a very good question. ⁓ You know, when we talk about athletics in America that is running ⁓ and in other, you know, so, ⁓ and I've worked with athletes, both running and other sports as well. We talk about basketball, talk about American football. You talk about, I'm working with an individual right now who does lacrosse. So I'm getting an opportunity to learn more about lacrosse. But failure really, ⁓ It could be an ending career for an individual. For example, ⁓ I had someone who ⁓ did not do very well in a workout. Just a workout. Just didn't. It wasn't really a good workout. This is a young individual. And so they decided, well, running is not my sport. And I think when you think about young individuals as coaches, I think that's why I mentioned earlier is as a coach, how do you Identify, mean, what is your role as a coach? For me, I want to be that support system. want to be somebody that empowers somebody to always thrive to, you know, how do you define failure? For example, for me, I don't see failure as something that I feel, you know, we don't have bad days in athletics. We have character building days. And I learned that from someone I think I was listening to, Les Brown, I believe. He said, really, if you showed up today and you didn't have a good day, that is a character building. They saw, I lean more into what did you learn about yourself during that moment? And I think when you go into that space, you help somebody realize like, maybe I was anxious before I took the basketball shot when everybody's watching me. Maybe I just didn't have a the greatest day. So I think when you think about working with, you know, like the younger individuals, the first question is, where are you meeting them? In some sports, athletics or running is a punishment. So for example, in basketball, sometimes if you're late to practice, they tell you, well, run some laps or do whatever. So the running already has become punishment, right? So how do you turn that into something? So to answer that question, think when you think about young athletes is the first question I always say is why are you meeting them and then walk the journey with them. Now, there are so many things that when working with younger individuals, this new generation is very different. You got to approach conversations and you know some things from a space of empathy. ⁓ This is a very hard sport. You are alone. It's a comparison sport. You're always comparing yourself with other people. And so failure can come, if you think about the word failure, it comes in so many different ways. Somebody might say, well, I don't have the kind of right of, know, I didn't have the right watch that I, so and so has this. And so when you think about that, it's where are you meeting this individual and then figure out how do you help them. continue to grow. Now I speak from a place of working one-on-one with athletes. Now collectively as a team that is a different ⁓ approach. So when working with that group like maybe a baseball group is as a coach what kind of culture do you set? If you're setting a culture of growth people respond to that and if you think about younger athletes they are gravitate. gravitating towards what is, you know, what's gonna help them grow. so coaching, think is like, that's the tone that you said, the culture that you said. And so it brings me back into that, where are you meeting them? And then you start to think about as a coach, how do you define failure? If it's, okay, let's try again as a prompt to, you know, dealing with a setback. Maybe let's try again tomorrow. How do you communicate that? Instead of, well, I knew you were not a great athlete. Again, that takes the power of words that come out of our mouths as coaches and leaders. It really could take somebody's career all the way the other direction. So I always am mindful of that. so empowering individuals to always reframe what failure means to them. So some days I can give you an example. How you, you know, like if you went for a run today and it was not the best run that you've had, how you save your watch, I mean, how you hit stop on your watch, that is going to define how you show up the next day. Most likely, if you say this run was the worst run, tomorrow you're threading the run into, you know, like, I don't even wanna run today. Now, if you save your watch as, man, today was a rough day, but I'm gonna show up. I'm glad I show up. So gratitude jumps back into that space. again, so that's how, when I'm working with younger individuals, again, where am I meeting them? And then how do you walk that journey with them? So if I was working with a group, that's the same approach. How am I meeting this group collectively? And then start to coach that piece of how do you show up every single day? And so that's a lot of bit of in that space of working with younger individuals. Jason Magennis: So I jot down a couple of words that really stood out for me that you said there. ⁓ The first is the idea of individualization. And when we're working with, whether it's one-on-one with an athlete or with a team, even in a team dynamic, you're still gonna be coaching individuals one-on-one at specific times. And that idea of we have to be aware of all of these individuals having their different... needs, their different approaches, their different motivations and how we, we approach them very specific to those needs, you know, emotions and, and motivation. So we're individualizing that approach. The second piece that really came up for me was intention and being really intentional. And it's hard to be intentional sometimes, especially when you're in, the sporting environment where things can be really emotional, they can be hectic. can be competitive. Just bringing yourself back and thinking intentionally about what's the outcome you're working towards with this athlete and being really clear in how you're approaching them to help them get to that outcome. ⁓ And I think that ties directly to the big one that I took away from what you just said, and that's this idea of reframing. And I think as coaches working with younger athletes, we need to be in a constant space of teaching the value of reframing. because younger athletes, I always go back to my baseball team, I coach, which are 13 year olds. A lot of their identity is tied up in who they are as an athlete at that age, right? A lot of people my age are still tied up in their identities as an athlete. And I think when that happens, A, it's a very external view, but also B, when mistakes happen, it can have a- Benson Langat: Mm-hmm. Hmm. Jason Magennis: really personal impact on the individual, because it comes from a space of, I not fulfilling that identity I've created for myself? And so you gave some great examples there of this idea of reframing. And how do we reframe a mistake, a failure, a bad outcome, as a learning to help propel you to that greater outcome down the road? ⁓ I can think of countless examples. through my sporting life, whether it was as a youth athlete growing up or my running now, where I've had coaches do that really well and it's had a positive impact. And actually I left the field feeling pretty good about myself, even though something maybe didn't go as I had planned. And the other side of that where it was treated as an error and I was punished for it. And there's nothing feels worse than. Benson Langat: Mm-hmm. Hmm Jason Magennis: when you're out there doing your best and something doesn't go as planned and your next thing know, you're being punished for it. So I think there's something really valuable there about this idea of reframing and as coaches being really intentional and knowing that's a priority and a skill we have to teach because that doesn't come naturally. Benson Langat: I think going back a lot of it to what you mentioned about identity, I think that's been the biggest, something that a lot of people have been dealing with in terms of why I'm a runner. So that's who people know. I dealt with that myself. A few years ago, was... I'm known to be, you know, in my community, known to be like, you know, the weekend warrior. Like you see me on, you know, like, ⁓ Benson just did a 20 mile a while. That was quick and all that. And I think when we center ourselves with that identity, which I think it's how we see ourselves in that space, if it's so much for the outside perspective, I think it could cause some damage. So what I mean by that is At the point where I was, I'm known to be this, you know, ⁓ this runner who, you know, gets out and, and, gets, you know, runs decent and, just click some fast times and all that. ⁓ you want to be the Strava legend. You want to be the top of the, you know, and so during that time, I was doing some things that sometimes it's outside of what my training needs. So I'm constantly, ⁓ on Strava checking who's in the top of the list. If somebody goes on top of me, you know, on top of the, you know, pushes me to the second, I'm quickly going back to let me go run another run so I can stay on that. So it was taking me to a place where I'm not enjoying the sport anymore. So I say that to say many people have used running as the identity. Well, this is me. That's all I talk about. But I always say really. You just happen to be this athlete who plays basketball. Basketball is not you. So this is something temporary that if it's taken away from you, who are you going to be? I always encourage younger athletes like it's great that you're bodied into this sport, but don't forget that you're also still a student. Number one thing at learning college, you are a student and then an athlete. The number one goal of you being in college was that. So I say that to say, what happens if running is taken away from you, yet this is your identity? What happens when basketball is taken away from you, baseball is taken away from you? That means through injuries, that means through maybe a medical issue that will not allow you to come back. And I think you can see that across different sports. In American football, some people retire and they were, I'm a football player, that's who. the popularities on that and they lose their... I mean, they don't know who they are. They go into digging into habits that they're not, you know, that they're not themselves. So I say all that to say it is really important to identify that I, for example, am Benson who just happened to run. And I'm very good at it when I'm in my peak shape. More so to know that when it's not, that is not going on in my life. Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: Other things have still gone really well in my life. And I think sometimes people sabotage that because of that identity. And so are young athletes too ⁓ in a place where comparison, you know, people are comparing themselves so much with. ⁓ So other people, you know, they do other things that they're not supposed to be doing. Part of that is just trying to gain the popularity and the identity. So ⁓ it's a very good point that you mentioned that because. Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: When you find out who you are, that is the most important thing that you want to take away. Really, the sport is to teach you more about yourself. I'm more resilient. I'm realizing that in South Dakota right now, it's very cold. But I'm realizing, wait a minute, the cold doesn't bother me. Lord, let me get out. So you learn to teach yourself out of that. So in that space of identity, I always ask. Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: in this season of your life, what are you learning about yourself? In the off season of your life, ⁓ of your training season, for example, baseball, softball or football or any sport, what are you learning about yourself? And then come back with that. And so you take that and tie that to you. think sports is one of the best invention for our own self discovery. And so I think when we think about reframing things, we start to think about failure really you turn that into no wait a minute I'm stronger I just need to try more I need to keep trying more and so just wanted to add that a little bit on that you know in the space of identity. Jason Magennis: Yeah, I really value that. And I think the other thing that we risk when we tie our identities too closely to an outcome of any kind, and maybe it's not sporting, maybe it's, you know, I'm Jason the woodworker or I'm, you know, whatever that may be. But I think the risk is, is that when we, when we're too consumed with that identity, Benson Langat: Thank you. Jason Magennis: then we're benchmarking ourself often externally. And so I'm going to make this up, but you know, Benson ran a 10 mile tempo run today. Well, I'm to go out and run an 11 mile tempo run, cause I just want to, in my mind, keep myself a little bit ahead. But then, but I'm not doing what's best for me and I'm not doing what's best for my mastery. And so it's actually detrimental in the longterm to Benson Langat: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Jason Magennis: the growth as an athlete because we're at least the way I see it, the pursuit of identity and the pursuit of external validation works directly against this idea of mastery. And mastery starts by looking internally and figuring out to your point earlier, you know, what's my why, how do I then focus on mastering what I need to do to be able to achieve that why in that, you know, peak performance. And, you know, I often, I have conversations like this, I immediately go to Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant was hands down, one of my favorite athletes ever. ⁓ I so looked up to him because of just his sheer work ethic. And I read this interview with him once where the, person interviewing him asked, you know, Benson Langat: Thank Jason Magennis: Was it that he loved winning or that he hated losing? And his answer was, it's neither. I play the game to learn and to grow and to be the absolute best player I can be. And I'm out there every day just trying to get better. I just, that attitude just stuck with me so much. This idea of focus on self, focus on mastery. not in those external variables. And so that really came up for me as I was listening to you talk about the identity pieces. It actually, I think, is counterintuitive to what you're trying to achieve, which may be the best athlete you can be. Benson Langat: Mm-hmm. ⁓ And when you're talking to us thinking about Kobe Bryant, I look up to him. One of my favorite athletes. I've read so much about him. I've spoken a lot about his habits and Kobe will never be replaced and we can try to be, we can try to, you know, copy what he did, but he has his own skillset on being able to do that. So I think a lot of people what the identity piece of it too and it's customized some of those things like we can read books, the how to do books, the wake up at 4 a.m. or wake up at 5 a.m. and all those things, so go do this. But I think we can just really take some of those pieces and customize that too. Does this work for me? For example, Kobe, I can do whatever Kobe did. I mean, it's just not realistic. Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: but I can borrow some of these disciplines, his mindset on his approach on some of the things. And I think that's what we can teach the kids because when they watch, you know, something on TV and they watch, you know, a race and they're like, I want to be like that. like, well, so-and-so has a different skillset. Now, how can you borrow some of this and apply to what works best for you? And I think when we start to look at that, ⁓ I like the concept of John Wooden, the UCLA former basketball coach. He said, after every practice, I push my athletes in basketball during practice. And whatever happens that day, you leave practice always keeping your head up. Because if you keep your head down, that is like, you showed up, you pushed yourself. Now. During that time, you're always crafting the skill that you need to improve that day. You need to work on that. So I think a lot of that is when we teach that. We teach what is something that you think you need to improve on. I can go a lot a bit on that and say at different seasons of our training basis for my athletes, I'm always thinking about what is the skill that we can improve on that these athletes need to improve on. instead of looking at, well, we need to run tempo, speed and all that. Sometimes that is just, we need to go back down and look at what is a skill that we need to improve this season. And I think that's the ultimate goal because really the comparison game is, I always believe the only person you can compare yourself with is the person you were yesterday. And I think that's the place that when we try to think about identity is, Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: Am I better than the person I was yesterday? Jason Magennis: I say that to my son all the time. ⁓ if he's feeling down on himself, maybe he didn't have a great practice or, you know, something's on his mind, ⁓ specific to his performance and athletics. I, I, asked him that and, then I always ask him, you know, what are we striving for? And he'll say 1 % better every day. Cause if we get just a little bit better every day, Benson Langat: Yeah. Jason Magennis: over time, that's a huge incremental gain, right? So I love that. I love that idea of, you know, comparing ourselves to who we were yesterday as our true benchmark. Where I think it gets tricky for young adults, and you mentioned, you know, the current generation of youth athletes a little bit earlier, is when social media comes into play. Benson Langat: That's massive. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Jason Magennis: ⁓ because it's no secret what people post on social media is heavily curated, right? Nobody posts their four strikeout game on social media. And I watch what my son is watching on YouTube and there's these elite travel teams that they have channels dedicated to these kids. And I just think, A, the pressure that must put on these kids is astronomical, but also B, it just, it adds gasoline to this fire of comparison. And so I'm curious Benson, what's your experience been with youth athletes and social media and how that's maybe impacted how they're performing or how they're seeing themselves? Benson Langat: That's a very good point and I did a podcast, I mean, not a podcast, webinar on that sometime last year ⁓ with a team ⁓ and many questions came about social media. ⁓ Now, in this generation that we live in, we have so much access to information from social media, from anywhere you go. You need something right now, you will get almost that answer that you need right now. go on AI or Google or whatever and type, I need to run a personal best, so I need to strike out best, what do I need to do? Now, we get all that information. We see people living in these amazing lives, right? We see people living like, hey, I just bought this shoe, this is the best shoe, you need to buy this. And then you hear somebody say, I need this shoe, I need this shoe. Anyway, all these things I say this to say, It goes back into when working with athletes, what journey are you on? I've always asked a question that somebody mentioned one time to me, like, I saw this somewhere and they said, well, you need to do this. And the athlete was like, why am I not doing that? And the question to me was, do you know this person's journey? Did you know how they get here? And a lot of the time, even for adults, ⁓ in the sport, we're always comparing or wanting the next piece that could shortcut us to getting to the next highest level. And so I think technology and social media, it's amazing when we can look at. And it goes back into the comparison game. If Jason can get here, I wonder what he did to get to this place. Maybe I need to go work hard so I can get to this place instead of like, well, so-and-so is living this life, well I guess my life is miserable. I guess ⁓ if so-and-so has so many likes, I guess I'm not that good enough. All the social media now, the conversations within that is I'm always thinking about what is your journey? What journey are you on right now? What season are you on in your life right now? Because if you're comparing yourself who is in that peak shape right now and you're in your base building, And I'm talking about running here. You're talking about two people walking different paths. Now, many people, and I've coached athletes, that during off season, I see them doing incredible work. They're putting in a lot of effort. Now, when season starts, they start to decline. Part of that is because of what the trends are out there. And so it's always reminding these individuals. Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: Do not always go, always learn from them, but always think about what journey am I on right now? So when you have that person thinking like, show them where they are part of really this is to educate. As coaches, I think we could be really good at educating. ⁓ Talk about nutrition right now. So many things about nutrition come up. Everybody wants to jump on that. But I think centering people into, yeah, all this amazing, try and see what works best. but always find one or two, three things that works best for you and stick with that. Now, if it's all about, you know, the trends, we can control that, but we can teach these individuals and I always say, you know, like, where are you at right now in your life? A freshman could be comparing themselves with a senior and I'm like, wait a minute, you are just a freshman. You compare yourself with the Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant, I mean, Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: know, side with last Colby, but maybe let me use a different example. Maybe ⁓ LeBron James, you compare yourself with LeBron. LeBron and you are in a way different, different, you know, age groups and all that. So, but you can always aspire to be at the level they are by trying different work ethics. And so I think when it comes to social media, I always encourage Lon. But when you filter that information, filter that information to what works best for you, not only what you, you know, what it's out there. Cause really all, most of the stuff on social media, they're reals. Like you said, people don't talk about failures. People don't talk about, they talk about what's going really well. But sometimes that is just not all true. So it's always, I always believe that you want to educate, educate, educate. Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: and always be supportive. like, so that way they can have perspective so they can have their own filter of like, I like this and this needs to go. This is what I aspire to be. This is not what I aspire to be. And I think that part of it, so they, you empower them to be able to know what's right and what not to do. Jason Magennis: Yeah. And what I'm taking away from that is it's almost about educating the athlete on just how to be aware of what they're consuming from a content standpoint. And so we'll use the LeBron James example. So what can you take away from, you know, a highlight reel of LeBron James, you know, from the last game? Well, you're probably not going to be able to do maybe the athletic things he can do, especially if you're say a high school basketball player, just from where you're at. But you can look at how did he show up as a teammate? What was his work ethic? you know, how did he, ⁓ hold himself accountable? There's lots of great lessons that we would all benefit from no matter what the pursuit is. So it's almost as if. Benson Langat: Perfect. Jason Magennis: the opportunity is to see what these individuals are doing and look under the water line, right? Like I think about, you know, a great coaching analogy is, you know, getting your athlete or getting your client below the water line. So we only see the top of the iceberg, but there's a whole bunch of stuff going on in a brief, right? So it's almost like, how do we get? Benson Langat: Yeah. Jason Magennis: these kids when they're consuming this content to think, well, what's below the waterline? What did LeBron do to get there in that moment? Benson Langat: And that's a good point because I've always what I've always done too is I always ask our individuals, especially the younger group that I'm working with, who's somebody that you look up to in your sport and then study them, see what they do. And so how do they show up as outside of the sport? ⁓ And one thing that came out from one athlete was like, they are spending a lot of time recovering. And I'm like, Jason Magennis: Mmm. Benson Langat: Now, look at some of the small things. You talk about the underwater. The things that you normally don't see is, wait a minute, they're spending a lot of time doing recovery. They actually focus on clean eating. So those are the things that we can look and think about. For me to get to this level of play or running or whatever, it's how are they doing the small things? Focus on that. And I think when we focus on this last but better, social media right now, you can go there and can find anybody that can tell you, give you an answer about something. But then you don't know like, are they the master of the sport? And that's why when you ask these individuals, are they younger group, like who do you look up to the most? And then go back, go a little bit deep and ask, like you said, are they a better teammate? How do they communicate with the team? Are they supportive? And because of that, you start to think about now, How do you want to show up as a teammate? How do you want to show up as an athlete? Are you the kind of athlete that when you show up you're high-fiving everybody? Or you're removing yourself from the scene and cursing and doing all this? It's always what type of athlete do you want to show up as? Do you want to be a better teammate? And then again, they can learn from some of those. And then, you know, I talked earlier about this meta performance, this higher performing person, this ⁓ optimal performance. This optimal performance, this space is about the small details. Focusing on the small details. How did I reframe my failure? And then you ask this individual now, how can you take that, what you learned and apply to your homework that you had in school? How do you take that to... I always like math because it's an easy reference to take what you learn in sport. You're not always going to hit all the home runs. Some days you're going to miss and so are you. You're going to miss some time in math as well. And so how can you relate that and take that into that? So again, just a little bit of a segue in that into how do you learn from the sport? But then you learn from some of these individuals who are doing the best, the masters that are doing it, narrow down into the small things that they're doing that you don't normally don't see. Jason Magennis: Yeah, yeah. So it's funny, right before you said the word reframe a minute ago, I wrote reframe on my notepad ⁓ because that's where my mind was going as you were saying that is so often we see this success and whether that's the professional athlete, whether it's the elite 14U travel team from Charlotte, North Carolina that my son follows. Benson Langat: Thank Jason Magennis: Whoever it may be, ⁓ we so get caught up in the presentation of their success. And how do we help our young athletes reframe that into, well, what's that athlete doing to achieve that level? And what lessons can you learn there? ⁓ I think a story that I've shared with my son a couple of times, and we watched it together, is... Benson Langat: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Jason Magennis: I'll go back to Kobe, but there's a documentary on Netflix about the Redeem team. And this was the USA men's basketball team that came back to the Olympics and won gold after not winning gold a couple of years in a row. And the program was kind of, you know, in a lot of, there's a lot of questions, a lot of things happening with the program. And when the team is at their training camp in Las Vegas, Benson Langat: Thank you. Jason Magennis: The last day of training camp, they played some scrimmages and then the team all went out partying that night in Vegas, except for Kobe. 5 a.m., the team is coming up the elevator after a night of partying and the door opens and there's Kobe standing there with his gear getting ready to go to the gym. And I use that example with my son, not as saying that you need to be up at 5 a.m. going to the gym. Benson Langat: Mm-hmm. Jason Magennis: But just as an example of A, that's what hard work gets you. Putting in those reps is how you get to your level of mastery. But also B, it's about commitment, right? And if you're gonna commit, then you commit fully. And I just don't think I've ever encountered an example of someone being more committed than that. Benson Langat: Mm-hmm. Yeah. When I think that's really you think about, mentioned I've watched the episode and it's incredible, you know, how Kobe is like everybody. And I think everybody was coming back from, you know, partying all night. They had to think about, wait a minute, what are we doing? It's how Kobe showed up as this is who I'm going to show up as. Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Benson Langat: I, this is a dream team, this is we need to go win gold. I need to show up better. And through that sometimes, you know, like people are able to see it like, wait a minute, this is somebody who is really dedicated. So it's a really, really good example of how to, you know, show other athletes as well. ⁓ And even like, like for example, your son, or like, what do you learn out of that? What do you learn out of that? How do you want to show up? Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: And I think it's very important when you talk about that because coaches also, that's what we want to influence. We want to athletes to be able to think bigger. We want to emphasize the aspect of, of course you want to help the team win. But also if you don't win, how do you go about that? But also, Reinforcing the Small Things, Atomic Habits is one of my best books that I read and you mentioned the 1%. The 1 % every day, it could be both ways. You can eat one bowl of ice cream today and you won't see the difference but over time, you will see the results. You can choose to go walk a mile every day today over time. But I think when we go back into the fundamental, the basics, Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm, I love that book. Benson Langat: the small things that people can see and say, wait a minute, if you show up every single day trying something, it's not easy in the beginning. The train is always uses a lot of energy such as the rocket in the beginning. And so is our motivation to get out. It's hard. The muscles are not willing to, but when we want to improve something, always use those examples because a kid would see like, wait a minute, If I actually did this consistently over time, this is what it would result to. And so are some of the things that they learn out there. If you keep learning the most negative things, comparing yourself consistently over time, they would amount into frustration and stress. So when we talk about that, the point that I'm trying to get to is that perspective. I always ask, what do you think about that? Jason Magennis: Hmm. Benson Langat: So when you hear somebody give you the perspective on how they see that sudden scenario or a sudden race, then you take, go back and help them kind of have a better perspective on that. So I'll give you an example. Um, you know, when, when Faith Kipiagon was trying to break four hours in a mile, mean, uh, break the mile, uh, you know, to go under four hours in Paris, I was talking with an athlete and their perspective on that was like, this will never be broken. This will never be broken. And I was wondering why. And I, we went a lot inside and part of that was he had looked at how that would be impossible for women to break that. And it still hasn't been broken, but it's getting closer and closer. And I asked this specific athlete, when you look at your goals, why do you think Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: You're not breaking certain things yet you're doing all these things. And when we switch the perspective of a growth perspective from a fixed perspective, while I live here, so I don't have access to certain equipment and certain things, but I'm like, but what do you have control over? You have control over the showing up, being a better teammate, being, you know, you have refrigerated food, you have a choice to make when What choice do you make about how you pick those? So when we help athletes with that perspective of, this is so-and-so's journey, this is how they show up. I think that helps a lot in when reframing things or helping people think about, this is what works best for me, and then they can become better that way. So young athletes, their brains are not mature yet, and so we have influencers coaches to positively Push them to become better through some challenges through some setbacks Reframe the setbacks and also continue to empower them to say hey remember when you couldn't run three miles to you know a month ago now you do it for and That brings a lot of like yeah, I remember that and the other part of it is how we actually praise athletes so Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: in running or in sport, sometimes you may say, hey, you look good. I don't know if you mean that I look good on what I wear. But I think really going back and being very specific, hey, I like how you bouncing the basketball is not so high. That helps with more efficiency. I like also how you are maybe moving around the court. I like how you becoming more agile, more flexible. Some of those specific things. Jason Magennis: Mmm. Benson Langat: People are quick to remember those things. I like how your form is going. I like how you're pumping your arms when you're running. I think when we go into specifics about those small things, athletes are quickly able to say, so and so is watching. So and is noticing my better form now. On the other end, too, it's saying, hey, I'm noticing your form has collapsed a little bit. I'm wondering what's going on. Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. ⁓ Benson Langat: And then being specific about those again, those are some of the things that we can help athletes to see. So how we compliment them, how we praise them, or how we look at some of the challenges that they may be facing, I think it really adds value, especially with the younger individuals, because they learn from that. Because I remember one time I had my coach be very specific about something and it changed everything for me. So. Again, how we go back around those praising and encouraging and pointing and giving feedback is I think it's most important. Jason Magennis: Yeah, I think there's something really, again, powerful, but also intentional about how we frame that feedback in a really effective way. I think effective is the right word that I'm thinking of here. And what I mean by that is, first of all, who's the individual? How do they respond to feedback? What's the best way of delivering it in a way that will help them achieve their outcome? Benson Langat: Definitely. Jason Magennis: But also there's something I really like about what you just said and this idea, what I wrote down when you said that was, know, catching them doing things right. I did a training course almost 10 years ago now in Houston, Texas with a gentleman named Mike Jones. It's called Discover Leadership. And I took so much value from this course. But one of the things that always stuck with me was Benson Langat: Mm-hmm. Okay. Jason Magennis: You know, as individuals in the workplace, professionals, ⁓ it's very easy for us to catch people doing things wrong. ⁓ you should have did this, you should have done that. Like, it's harder to be deliberate and catch people doing things right. And what I find, my experience working with young athletes is when I reinforce something they're doing really well, and then add in a little bit of feedback about what they could do better. Benson Langat: And. Okay. Jason Magennis: they are so much more receptive to it. But it takes effort and it takes being intentional in those conversations. But the outcome of that effort is huge because now they're not solely focused on, ⁓ making this mistake, I need to figure out this mistake. It's more, I'll talk about pitching because that's where I'm most comfortable, but you know, ⁓ you've got your mechanics down in this way really, really well. Next time, let's just try and make this little tweak and see what happens. It just, lands with so much more effectiveness. It's just, that's, and I think, sure, kids, I think we all respond like that. Benson Langat: Mm-hmm Yeah, yeah. Well, I think that's a very good point, too, when you think about that catching people doing the right thing and really just like that's where many younger individuals actually take away a lot. You know, it's like, hey, parents would ask athletes, hey, how was practice today? Well, guess what? The first thing they'll talk about. Coach complimented me on this and said, this is what I'm doing. It's like, oh, this is good. Now, I Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: That's a very, very good thing to think about that. But also it goes back into in team sports. As you think about, I've worked with different athletes and sometimes you may ask, what is the reason to why you're not playing anymore? When my coach say this about me or I don't run because of my experience with my coach. that is so disheartening hearing that. But I think it's just where is the level of trust? with the athletes, with the individuals, because if people don't trust that, they don't trust you as a coach, sometimes they'll go back and say, well, I think they're just making it up. They just want to make me feel good. so I think that's the bridge, the glue that I think helps coaches and athletes to grow better is the level of trust. I've been grateful enough to have. incredible coaches in my life. think I'm coaching because of these individuals who added value to me. Of course, they pushed me to a level. So I'm like, well, but I think I needed that level. And part of that is because I had incredible coaches in my life. And so I look back and I'm like, what are some of the takeaways? And that some things are probably my, you know, I've changed a lot of it because of you customize it to who you are as a coach. Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: I say all that to say kids are sponges to different things and coaches are the pivoting, let me change that, they are the bridge to helping athletes to reach their greatest level of themselves. And I say that because they can also be the downhill for some individuals. So how we give feedback, are they ready to welcome feedback? Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: Are they in a place where they show up trying to be better? And so every coach is very different again. But I think that's a critical point, like giving feedback when they're ready to receive feedback and when they're doing good. think that is, you know, something that I'm, I wrote that down as well. like, them doing the right thing. I think it's just, I think it's very important. Jason Magennis: Yeah. And the other thing about it is as a coach, it feels really good. It feels really good to catch your, your, your athletes and your, your kids doing things right and reinforcing that like, shouldn't we all want that? Like that just, it just feels great. So, you know, selfishly, there's a benefit to where as a coach, I leave practice thinking, wow, the kids worked really hard today. They had fun. You know, they did a couple of things really, really well. Benson Langat: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Jason Magennis: More could I want than that. Benson Langat: Well, when you give people, you receive. Whatever you give out, you receive. You provide something that is more powerful, encouraging, more you receive the same thing. You know, and that's what I feel as a coach. And somebody would say, Benson, what is the best job that you've ever had? Coaching is the best job that I've ever had, mostly because it comes back to me, seeing people across the finish line, seeing people, you know, ⁓ I have athletes. Signing with colleges and they're saying well and you hear back and you follow them along the journey sometimes come back and and I've got a letter some of saying that's in my life is better because of this and in the moment You're not really like thinking about it, but it comes back. I like, wait a minute So the impact that you make there is a book called the four agreements that I really really like number one thing is is the words can be powerful, so Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: When you tell athletes, when you think about yourself, sometimes that's what you become. If you think negative, if you keep running that in the back of your mind, guess what that is going to be? Well, I'm not good enough or I'm not tall enough or all these things. But also as coaches, the words that come out of our mouths, that come in a text, well, I guess maybe you're not meant for this sport. That is a word that could take somebody down into a rabbit hole. because people are glued to the negative more, they lean more to the negative. And so as coaches, I think to your perspective is, and even parents, this is an important point is like parents have very much influence into the growth of an athlete, specifically the younger individuals. When I teach the coaching certification courses, and more so when I work with athletes, sometime I ask, Who is your support system? The support system, as human beings, we are people who we want to belong. We want to belong. And so if the support system, if there's a separation with that support system, think about somebody who wants to give an example of my, I get an athlete saying, my spouse is not supportive of my activities. there would be a disconnect in that space because if they're not supportive of them, they're resenting them for going for runs and things like that. the athlete is not really feeling so much supported. So when you think about youth and parents, the number one support for youth is the siblings and the parents, but mostly the parents because Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: whatever word that they say to their kids, even how parents do show up to their sport. Kids do not perform at their best when their parent is yelling from the bleachers, when their parent is the one throwing things and yelling and doing things. And of course that's sports. But I think when we, when the parents are showing up as a support system, if they're supporting their apps, if they're supporting their coaches, and of course there's some irregularities, Jason Magennis: Yeah. Benson Langat: But there's better ways of addressing some of these things. Athletes have actually, I've looked at some athletes who have been able to quit sports because they're embarrassed of their parents. Because they become the talk of the town. And the athletes are always, you so I say all that to say, relationships are very important. And in sports, that's who we want to lean into the most is who is supporting us. So, Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: If parents are very supportive of the coach, they're very supportive of the athlete, an athlete is going to show up in the best mental game. They know they have the pillars that are supporting me. Now, if the parent is the opposite, is the one that's always yelling, always saying something, always negative, the athlete is picking that up. And when they show up, they're lacking confidence. And so I say that to say, That piece of it too, when we talk about helping the athlete to become the greatest version of themselves, it's not just the athlete, it's the ecosystem. It's the ecosystem, it's who's around them, it's the coach, it's the chiropractor, they're always supporting. Whatever is the ecosystem that builds up the athlete, the environment, who the exposure to the things that they read and things like that. Jason Magennis: Mmm, mm-hmm. Benson Langat: I think that's very important when we talk about youth sports and also across the board with is your environment plays a bigger factor. Jason Magennis: Yeah, and to build on that, how do we as coaches and as parents and those of us who play that dual role, try and create those environments that will set the kids up for success? And I think it all goes back to being intentional. We need to be intentional with how we show up. We need to be intentional with how we communicate. we need to be intentional with the... the effort we're putting in to be that support and to be that ecosystem because it's incredibly important. And, you know, I think about, so my son is 12 and he plays 14 U baseball, but 13, 14, 15, those are the years when kids start dropping out of sport. There's so much data on it. It's so discouraging. Benson Langat: Is it? Jason Magennis: And you've already alluded to it. It's already, it comes back to maybe a, you know, bad coaching experience, maybe a bad experience with their parents and their parents' expectations. And so I just, I say that because I think we all need to be super aware of the impacts we have and, and how that impacts the future state as well. And so I guess, you know, what I'm saying is I'm, here with you advocating for, for great support networks for our kids, because that'll let them truly get the most value out of these experiences. Benson Langat: I to that, saying that again, mean going back to what you just said, go take your remote and get to, you know, like turn on your TV, go on social media, go everywhere. It is a world full of a lot of negativity. Sport is one of the most amazing things that it brings, I always say running brings people together because again, it's You go on starting line again, that is a sport that it doesn't matter who you are, just run. And it brings people together. Sports have an opportunity to change the culture in so many different ways. Basketball, the team camaraderie changes everything. The basketball team, mean the baseball team, the culture that is being set up there, it could be the reason somebody's better because of it. Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: And the support system, why is it so hard to have support systems? Because this is a good thing. Now, this is a very good thing. are a very good thing. motivation, not everybody is going to become the best of the best. And maybe people are aligned with the sports that they're not supposed to be doing. And again, that is a different story. But I say this to say, Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: If we all came together and support the youth sports and support, become supportive of these sports, knowing that this is a positive thing because what's the other alternative? What if a kid chose, I'm not doing sports anymore? Where are they going to spend their time? There is not so many positive things going on in the world right now. And the sport is where they can find that they're pushing themselves. Jason Magennis: Mmm. Benson Langat: that they're grinding and doing whatever they need to do to become themselves. Number one, think physically when they get better. Mentally, they get better. Soul set wise, they get better too because they find the joy of like, ⁓ I helped somebody. This, when we live in a world right now where technology is taking over, sometimes kids don't even know how to talk to each other. Guess where they learn to talk to each other? In sports. Jason Magennis: Yeah. Benson Langat: sports teachers communication skills. They teach hard work. They teach just so many things that you think about. So I say all this to say in our sport right now, all the sports in the world that we live right now, if we empower the younger generation to focus on and give people access to these opportunities and the community and the parents to rally around this and say, Jason Magennis: Mm-hmm. Benson Langat: Let's create an environment where kids do thrive. Yeah, let's make it competitive, but also let's make it a healthy competitive way. If we lose, let's shake hands instead of throwing rocks. Let's show a good example because this is the next generation and the next generation could thrive from a sports perspective. And I've met people who lead organizations and they take so much credit to what they learn. Jason Magennis: Mmm. Benson Langat: in sports and I'm like, if we can empower younger kids, we're really not setting themselves up to just win the championship game, but to also win the championship of life. Jason Magennis: Yeah, we're building champions of Benson, I don't think truer words have been spoken. And ⁓ I just think that is such a fine point to kind of put the end to our conversation here. think such, such wisdom. And I agree if we can all work together to create these, these really healthy environments, then the trickle down effect of that will be huge. Benson Langat: Yeah, yeah. I agree and I think ⁓ it's going back to James Clear. It's the power of one. The one person that if that one person gets better today, it trickles down into so many other people. So imagine a community where one athlete gets better today because of something and so it trickles down into the environment. again, it has a lot of, you know, there's so many things that could change. Jason Magennis: Yep. Benson Langat: It really goes back into the part of one, how do I choose to show up today as a coach? How do I choose to show up today as a parent? How do I choose to show up today as an athlete? How do I choose to show up as an employee? And anything that is happening in everybody's life. If you choose to show up better, this is beyond sports, if you choose to show up better today, the people around you will notice that. And then over time, it all trickles down and that's really a healthy ecosystem to me. Jason Magennis: I love it. Benson, thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining me today. It's been a great conversation. ⁓ If listeners are interested in learning more about you, about learning, ⁓ you know, about Ben saying coaching, like where's the best place to find you? And, you know, we'll put these in the show notes as well. Benson Langat: Yeah, again, I appreciate the time. mean, I could talk about this all day. This is something that I'm really passionate about. And I'm glad this worked out. But anybody wants to learn about Benson coaching again, we do mental performance coaching and we also do run coaching as well. So if they're interested, can visit my website again, where link will be provided. Also on Instagram and LinkedIn, those are really spaces that I'm really ⁓ focus more on and also Facebook. So ⁓ all the links will be provided to you. That's where you can find me and also you can also give my email just in case you want a direct access or you can reach out to me on email as well. Jason Magennis: Sounds great. Benson, thanks again. This was a great conversation and yeah, looking forward. Maybe in the future we'll have you back on. We'll keep the conversation going. All right, take care. Benson Langat: Awesome, thank you very much. Yeah, bye.