As young aspiring athletes, the guidance we receive from coaches, trainers, and mentors carries us beyond just sports. We undermine their impact on our lives, and from the moment you cross each other’s path, something that you experienced or were told can stay with you for the duration of your life. Now, the influence goes both ways; the power of impact one can hold is so solid and unrecognizable that you don’t realize it until later in life. I was fortunate enough to pick the brains of various former athletes. Sure, they all didn’t play the same sport, but they all shared something. That is spreading their love for the game to the younger generation.

Francisco Guzman 

Francisco “Frankie” Guzman is a current manager for the West Coast Black Dogs, a travel baseball team out of Chino Hills. Coach Frank has been around the game of baseball since childhood and through his love for the game, continues to impact the younger generation. Francisco’s love for the game of baseball grew further as his grandfather introduced his hobby to him. As a bracero, his grandfather had picked up baseball during his downtime. Throughout his childhood, Francisco and his grandfather had always naturally been close but their love for baseball made them inseparable. As he grew older, his grandfather continued to share his knowledge and passion for the game, leading to Francisco’s obsession with baseball. Fixating on remembering his favorite players’ stats and mannerisms, he made a decision that from that point on, he would become a student of the game. At the age of six, his parents signed him up for the local little league, where he was able to develop his strengths and work hard to overcome the weaknesses in his game. Motivated by the desire to go further than anyone in his family, sure, it would be challenging, but by staying committed to the hard work, his goals would later be achieved. Now, I was lucky enough to ask Francisco a couple of questions, and below are the following responses Francisco shared:

The first question was, “What does a typical day look like?”

Guzman replied, “My baseball day starts around 2 pm with private lessons and ends around nine after my team’s practices or games. With private lessons, I work with returning or new students to work on specific areas of their game. While some of my students require small fixes to their game that can be improved in a couple of weeks, others require a complete overhaul of their physical or mental approach to a certain aspect of the game. After my private lessons are over, I head to team practice. Although private lessons are way different than a team practice, the commonality is that I am trying to get my players to commit to being better than they were the day before. Around nine pm, I head home and eat dinner.”

I followed up with,  “At this level of coaching, how have you passed your knowledge and influence on the younger generation?”

Guzman shared, ” By setting expectations for my players and trying to be the coach I needed when I was younger. When passing on my knowledge, I can’t help but think of my grandfather and coaches who influenced me when I was developing, and I pass on to them a lot of what they taught me. In terms of baseball knowledge, the game has not changed much since its inception about 150 years ago, many of the techniques and approaches have remained the same. However, I also understand that the game has evolved, and being open to newer philosophies is necessary to develop a winning program. In terms of influence, I set a standard for my players and find out what motivates each of my players. Non-negotiables being on time, in uniform, and hustling, I also need to find out what makes each player want to be better, what drives them or motivates them. In simpler terms their “why”.”

The next question was, “What was the transition from being a player yourself to mentoring and developing aspiring baseball players?”

Guzman’s thoughtful response was, “It was a difficult one for me at first; there was a lot of self-doubt initially. Questions like “Is coaching for me?” constantly filled my mind. However, I decided to stick with it and study coaches in a whole different way than before. I realized I had to work with my strengths and develop my weaknesses like I did when I was playing. I had to find my “voice”. I am relatively younger than most coaches so that could make me more relatable to my players. Since I had just finished playing at a high level, I knew the amount of commitment and dedication required for my players to have success. Due to my knowledge, in order for my players to have structure and discipline, I had to be stern and diligent about the standard in which my players conduct themselves. I find myself lucky to be able to mentor and influence the next generation of ball players, and I am constantly reminded of my grandfather’s influence on me.”

Lastly, “As a player, did you ever face adversity, and how does that reflect how you coach?”

Guzman reflected,” As a baseball player I faced adversity in all the countless ways many young athletes do. While adversity sometimes took shape in a season-ending injury, other times, it would present itself as a hitting slump with no end or remedy in sight. Other times, adversity would show up in college when I would be stuck doing homework late and studying while trying to make deadlines, all while having to get up early to hit the weight room. Adversity taught me so much about myself, which I will try to pass on to the next generation.”

Through Guzman’s incredibly thoughtful responses, I intend for his journey to shine a light on the fact that he continues to prove the great impact he carries on each life he comes across throughout his coaching career. His strong influence is shared to countless lives of aspiring athletes as they share their love for the game of baseball.

Shaylynn McMillen

Shaylynn McMillen has been around the game of basketball for many years, and her desire for the game has carried her to pursue her passion at a high level. Eventually, she reached the collegiate level, where she played at Bethesda University under coach Jason Pruitt. After her collegiate career, she coached under Pruitt at La Verne. Now, she is the head coach for the varsity girls’ program at Arlington High School as well as the 17u national girls’ travel basketball team, Rancho Elite Basketball Academy.

The first question was, “Was there any adversity you faced coaching at the collegiate level?”

Shaylynn’s response was, ” As first-year college assistant coach, I believe that some of the adversity that I faced had a lot to do with my age and being so “young”, it felt like I had to earn the respect of coaches from opposing teams and dealing with scheduling games as well as the recruitment process. I had the respect of my own coaching staff but definitely had to prove to collegiate-level coaches that I was able to bring knowledge and a certain standard of professionalism. Nonetheless, I have been able to not only build but maintain relationships with coaches on all levels due to proving over time that I was worthy of the platform I had been put on. By developing athletes to compete at a high level and being a part of a coaches of the year staff, where I contributed all of the individual training for post players and guards.”

The following question was, ” As a former player who eventually coached under their prior coach, can you share how your desire to teach the basketball game to females carried on even after you were done playing?”

Shaylynn states, “I believe my desire as a player to become a coach came way before my playing days were over. Going into my junior year in college, I tore my ACL, and I had been allowed to see the game from a different lens, an analytical part of the game. I got to experience this under my college coach, that I eventually was hired to coach alongside. As a player I didn’t understand the ways he wanted the game to be played, we bumped heads all the time to the point where he had to bench me on numerous occasions. However, that year allowed for my IQ and love for the game to grow differently. Learning from Jason Pruitt, was instrumental in my desire to come back and coach women’s basketball. I wanted to be able to pour into my players from a different perspective not only from a skill level but to understand the game and truly build character.”

I have been very lucky to be coached and mentored by Shaylynn, and from a player’s perspective, I believe that she has impacted not only my game as a basketball player but who I am as a person. The significant influence a person can hold is great and truly beautiful.

Brynna Laidler

Next, I was able to receive very generous responses from Brynna Laidler. Brynna was a multi-sport athlete, playing both basketball and softball. She continues to share her love for the game of both sports by coaching both softball and girls basketball. She also coaches alongside Shaylynn McMillen for Rancho Elite Basjetball Academy, mentoring the young ladies on the National 17u team. Here were the following responses shared,

“Being a multi-sport athlete, was it difficult to decide when it came to playing either sport in college?”

Brynna followed up with, “Yes, it was actually very difficult; what made it difficult was my time management. Luckily, throughout college, I was able to be a dual athlete. However, I did not know how to manage my own workouts, I didn’t know which sport to pour “my time” into. One sport was going to get more attention and fine-tuning than the other one. I had to truly dig deep and ask myself which sport came more naturally-which sport would take me further. Once I settled on that, my drive became 70%-30% within my time management for both sports. It hurt me in the long run because I didn’t give one sport 100% attention until it was too late.”

The next question asked was ” What philosophy do you carry being a former athlete, and how do you plan on passing that down to the younger generation?”

Brynna’s attentive response was, ” The philosophy I carry and that I can only hope to pass on to the next generation would be confidence, being present, and staying in the moment. Life is hard; the, real world is tough. If I can get my players to just hone in and work to mold their craft and let all the outside disappear for practices and games.”

Amani Alexander

Amani is also a coach at Rancho Elite Basketball Academy, where she is the head coach for the national 16u girls’ team. She previously attended Rancho Cucamonga High School and attended college at Cal State East Bay and San Francisco State.

The first question was, “Can you share your journey of playing basketball, as well as playing overseas?”

Amani replied,” My basketball career has been a whirlwind. I went to three different high schools, chasing the dream. I got a scholarship from Cal State East Bay but, unfortunately, didn’t get much playing time. I got a release and worked out for a year where I went to junior college. By the grace of God, I got picked back up and got another scholarship and graduated from San Francisco State. A few months to a year after that, I played on a semi-pro team in Oakland. I got a call from an overseas team and got to play in Egypt, Kosovo (Europe) and Mexico. Playing AAU and probably overseas were my most fun times playing basketball because that’s when my mind was most at ease. Playing overseas is such an amazing experience; traveling, trying new foods, and doing what you love for free all because of the time you put in makes it all worth it. It was crazy at first because of the language barrier, being far from home and a new place but I grew to love it so much.”

The next question was,” What advice do you have for the younger generation who want to further their career in playing basketball at a high collegiate and professional level?”

Her response was” Remember why you love the game. Although the game is always evolving, don’t be too hard on yourself, give yourself grace and have fun. Give your all to this game, the laughs, the cries and the hard work. You never want to look back on this game and think, what if, what if I played hard that game, worked out more, etc? The game isn’t all the take, what you put in, it will definitely give back. So when it’s time to finally hang it up, you know you gave it all you got.”

Amani Alexander, Brynna Laidler, and Shaylynn McMillen are all individuals that play a huge part not only in my athletic career but my personal life as well. They demonstrate everything a role model should do and through that continue to inspire young athletes like myself. Once again, words cannot express the presence these specific individuals carry on athletes by paving the way for them.

Although these coaches had different experiences and diverse paths to get to where they are now, I hope that these words express how influential these figures are. Not just for us as athletes but those who coach, mentor, or are simply just present; although words can only express so much, I hope there is a mutual understanding for the impact brought on individuals. It’s crazy how sharing your love for the game can be so influential; I am fortunate enough to have so many amazing individuals not only guide me and believe in me but do the same to the various upcoming athletes who aspire to fill the shoes of those ahead of them. Through the power of a sport, relationships and strong bonds never fail to come about. Now, whatever sport it may be, these coaches and mentors are amazing role models in the eyes of young boys and girls. They are people who, when your child hears about them, light up their eyes and sparkle like never before. They are individuals who radiate desire and energy that contributes to turning a hobby into a lasting love.