Bash Wieland - Former D1 Basketball Player

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCBS8Nocvnk

Brian Harbin: Hello, my name is Brian Harbin. Welcome to today's episode of the grit.org podcast. Excited to have Bash Wieland here with me today. So, Bash, welcome!

Bash Wieland: Thanks! Appreciate you having me!

Brian Harbin: Absolutely. So, a little bit on Bash. So, originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, grew up playing basketball, ended up playing 5 years at Bellarmine, played 1 year at UT Chattanooga last year where they won the NIT championship. And so, fresh out of college, so excited to dive into his path through basketball and kind of what he's doing now. 

So, before we jump into that first question, just wanna give a quick shout out to today's sponsor is escrow.com. With over $7 billion in protected transactions, escrow.com is the world's most secure online payment method. From automobiles to electronics to business sales and more, escrow.com makes it easy to confidently conduct business online. Visit escrow.com today to learn more about how you can achieve trust, security, and certainty with every transaction. 

So, I wanna give a quick shout out to your uncle as well. So he connected us. So shout out to Brian Wieland. We're actually selling a domain, vakay.com, for him. And, he's like, hey, you gotta catch up with my nephew. 

So, excited to talk to you today. So I know you grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. So tell us about, you know, any early principles that you feel like were kind of instilled in you, any early mentors, people that you feel like really helped kind of set the path for you.

Bash Wieland: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I would start, my mom and dad were always tremendous parents and I think probably the thing that stands out with my parents is they just genuinely wanted what was best for me. And they were willing to sacrifice anything in the process of that. Like, I can't tell you how many times my mom and dad personally, I mean, it's part of being a parent, but I've wanted something. They're like, you know what, I'd rather you go on that AAU trip, or, you know, I'd rather you be able to play that summer with your teammates. And I always really appreciated that. 

Also, they always had me in church. That's my faith is a big part of who I am. So just the fact that they introduced me to that and then it also held that standard and served as an example, I really appreciated that.

Brian Harbin: That's very cool! And yeah, we'll get into some of the faith stuff later in terms of, you know, how you've incorporated that now into what you're doing. So, what about siblings growing up? Was it just you or any other siblings?

Bash Wieland: Well, yeah, well, I have actually 3 siblings. So I have an older sister. She lives in Tampa, Florida now. Then I have a younger sister who's still in college, in Cincinnati. And then I have a younger brother. Who is playing basketball at Wittenberg. It's a Division III school, near Springfield, Ohio. So definitely very close with them, always trying to visit them or do something cool or try something new. 

Brian Harbin: Yeah, so growing up, I guess, is the second oldest but then the oldest son, right? So tell me about kind of the family sibling dynamics and how that kind of worked out. You pretty close to all your siblings? I guess, were you guys pretty competitive, or where were you kind of in the… And the sibling.

Bash Wieland: Yeah, well, absolutely. So my sister— well, actually, my sisters aren't too interested in sports, which I always wish they kind of were so I could either, you know, compete against them or try to get under their skin or something like that. But my brother has always been super passionate about sports, and I wish I could, you know, go back to when we were both younger and we were just playing the game and just having fun and trying to teach him everything that I've learned. I definitely cherish that now. 

Having gone through all those college experiences that he's now embarking on, try to, you know, give him the best advice possible. You know, one of the things that sticks out to me is I wish I would have just had more fun versus just being so worrisome about, you know, how well am I going to play? Am I going to airball? All those what-if thoughts, you know. 

So I'm really close with all my siblings. We're actually trying to plan something where we go to Tampa and visit my older sister, try to do something fun or go catch a concert or whatever. So Super competitive, super close family, all that stuff.

Brian Harbin: And so did you get interested in sports super early? Was it always basketball or what were some early interests for you?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, that's a great question. So my dad has always been super involved in baseball. Actually, he loved basketball, but baseball was more of his passion. And he is now a high school baseball coach at Fenwick High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. He loves that. And I always joke with him. I say, once I decided to play basketball, man, you disowned me. But it's absolutely not true. You know, he still loved basketball. But baseball was a little too slow for me, man. Like, I loved the games. I loved competing. But the practices, man, we'd have 9 pitchers for 1 mound, like freshman baseball. And I'm like, man, this is too much downtime to make a joke or, you know, get a little too distracted. So I always loved that.

Brian Harbin: Yeah.

Bash Wieland: Basketball was super high-paced and, you know, you're always on to the next play. Yeah. So.

Brian Harbin: And so did it start off with rec league or how long did you play rec before you started playing more competitive like AAU basketball?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, I would probably say, from 3rd to— I mean, I've played in preschool, but, you know, do you really count that? Because, you know, you— are we really playing or are we all just chasing the ball? That type of thing. But I would say from 3rd to 6th grade. Played in elementary, loved it, you know, kind of had whatever you want to call it, a select team where you play locally. But I would say my 7th grade year is when I started taking it really serious. I realized, man, I really love this game. Like, I'm going to try to do the best that I can at it. So I would say I started playing AAU my freshman year locally. 

And then my high school journey wasn't too crazy. You know, you always hear the really high-level athletes playing like on the EYBL circuit, which is Nike's like huge basketball circuit. You got Adidas and Under Armour. I never played on the circuit like that. I was kind of more of a local AAU player and ended up working out for me. But yeah, I enjoyed it a lot.

Brian Harbin: And so what were, you know, what did it look like in terms of when you played? I mean, were you more of like a point guard shooter? Like, how did you kind of establish your identity on the court?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, that's a good— yeah, I guess I'd probably explain it best. I love shooting mid-range jumpers. I mean, if you watch any film of me in college or in high school, taking 1 to 2 dribbles and then rising up for a mid-range jump shot. And that helped me a lot in high school because I would, even as it transferred into college, I was not the most athletic, you know? And I still would say vertically challenged, truthfully, vertically challenged, don't jump very high. 

So it was very helpful for me to take 1 or 2 dribbles in high school, know what I was doing when the defender didn't, and just rise up being 6'5. Make the shot, you know, like if you can make a shot that no matter when you shoot it or where you shoot it, the defender has no answer for it. Like it doesn't matter if there's a hand in your face. Obviously I missed, but it was probably the shot that I shot the most. That's kind of my game. Struggled a little bit from 3, especially in college, but mid-range was kind of my game.

Brian Harbin: And then what did it look like, you know, outside of practice? I mean, how much were you putting into your practice, you know, at home and outside of, you know, game and practice time?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, well, so to start in high school, I had a— my high school coach at Lakota East, Clinton Atkins, he was great. He always wanted to see guys getting extra work in the gym. So he would always open the gym early before our workouts. I think we would work out 7 to 9 AM, but before and after he'd stay a little bit. 

So I try to just work on specific things. I really tried to develop my postgame. And so it's interesting because once I translated that to college, you know, I kind of struggle with some— the mental aspect of the game, like just caring a lot. 

And I think that working hard and caring is so valuable, so I don't want to misconstrue that. But the more that I tried in college, sometimes the actual— the harder it was for me to perform because I'm getting all these reps. You start to expect to make every shot, and you start to expect to play all these minutes. And then when you don't get that, it's really—

Brian Harbin: Yeah.

Bash Wieland: Really difficult. So I still worked really hard in college, but sometimes when I shot less or worried about my performance less, then I would actually be able to go out there and make every shot because— or for what it felt like, make every shot— because you don't have the expectations. You didn't put in as much work to overthink it. You're still obviously getting game-like reps. It's very counterintuitive. I hope that I'm explaining that. Well, but it's counterintuitive.

Brian Harbin: No, 100%. Well, and I think too, when you're thinking a lot, you play your muscles tense, right? You're playing with more tension versus playing loose, which is where you really ideally want to be playing from. And so when you're thinking too much on the court and, you know, have all that tension and pressure, it definitely affects your shot and your flow and everything else. I'm curious too. 

So I've been coaching my— I've got 3 boys. My oldest is 18, my youngest is 10, and been coaching. And I know one of the things too is like, what age should kids learn man-to-man versus zone defense? Do you have any particular insight or advice, input on something like that?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, that's a— that's, I feel like, something that should be talked about a lot more too. And I think my dad would always mention, you know, think about at the college level, how many teams play zone? And I'm talking about primarily zone, not like a team at the Division I level that'll just throw a little 2-3 in there just to either mess up the other coach's draw-up or, you know, just show a little bit something different if maybe your man-to-man isn't working. 

The answer to that is only really Syracuse. Syracuse is the one team when they had Jim Boeheim and all these really long athletic players, you know, that are 6'9, get your hand in the passing lane, you feel like there's no option. That was really the only school that played primarily zone. 

So I think, why not teach the kids? You know, you can always transfer back to zone, but why not teach the kids the true fundamentals of what man-to-man defense looks like so they have that? And then maybe you want to drop back and play zone, they still have that option too. But I think man-to-man is crucial for just the development and learning how to—

Brian Harbin: Yeah.

Bash Wieland: Help your teammates. You know, if you have a guy that drives by the dude who's guarding the ball, you got somebody that can go in there and help. I think that man-to-man is so much more valuable to teach younger kids an overall understanding of the game.

Brian Harbin: Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. And I think, you know, playing man-to-man, kids learn how to set screens early on. They learn that they can't just stand there in one spot, you know, and get the ball. They've got to move around. You know, they learn, like you said, if their, you know, guy does get a screen on, they learn to help.

Bash Wieland: Yeah.

Brian Harbin: Right? I think one of the catches to that is, you know, a lot of times that, you know, when you get a mismatch, you know, it can be exploited a bit where if like, you know, there's been times we're out there playing rec and there's a mismatch and coaches calls a play where like all 4 kids get off to the side to create that one-on-one. It's like you're kind of missing the point of, you know, man-to-man.

Bash Wieland: Yeah.

Brian Harbin: But yeah, no, I just was curious your take on that. And so you started playing, you know, high school basketball. Tell us about kind of your progression through high school basketball and what that was like for you.

Bash Wieland: Yeah, so I actually— so like I mentioned before with Coach Atkins and Lakota East High School, so I went to both Lakota West High School my first 2 years and Lakota East High School for my junior and senior year. So it's kind of interesting. My first 2 years, I was more of a shooter, you know, I only really shot 3s. I was kind of one-dimensional just because my body hadn't caught up yet. I'm 6'3, 160 pounds, like literally a stick out there just trying to shoot 3s. 

And so when I transferred to East, my head coach was saying, you're a really good player, you're a really good shooter, but what colleges are going to look for is your toughness. And then also, like, does your game translate? There's only so many places that will just take a person who can only shoot, struggles as a defender, struggles taking the ball to the rim, dribbling, making plays for others. There's only so many schools that are looking at that. 

So I kind of…. I tried to expand my game and work on my mid-range shot and also work on my ball handling and then getting tougher, getting stronger in the weight room. So that I would say overall, you know, transferred from a shooter to then somebody that could be a playmaker, but also put the ball in the hoop.

Brian Harbin: Yeah.

Bash Wieland: So that's what I worked on most. So my junior year I was, I had gained weight, like, from 160 to 180, sophomore to junior year. And my coach was still trying to plant those same seeds. So, my junior year to my senior year, I went from 180 to 200. Now, the funny part about that is, you know, I wasn't… I guess I wasn't gaining weight properly. And what I mean by properly is dieting and, like, actually putting the right foods in my body.

Brian Harbin: Yeah.

Bash Wieland: I told my mom, I was like, I got to gain weight. Like, where's the local McDonald's? And she's like, okay. So, I would have definitely changed that, trying to gain weight in protein-based way, not just eating whatever was in sight. Now, I can't do that same thing that I did in high school, but gained a lot of weight, gained a lot of muscle, tried to expand my game, do it all because college coaches look for really well-coached players who listen to their coach, obviously, and can do everything. They make the team better. It's not just individual stats. I want to make 3s. It's, okay, can you playmake for others? Are you a good teammate? Do you… are you vocal? Do you play defense well? All those things.

Brian Harbin: And why did you transfer your sophomore year or your end of your junior year to go to a different high school? What was that about?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, so, you know, we struggled my sophomore year. I think we were 4 and… or maybe 4 and 17 or something like that.

Brian Harbin: Mm-hmm.

Bash Wieland: I could be wrong about the schedule and how many games we won, lost, whatever. But I realized that the other school, they're putting players in college. And I wanted to… it's not the basis of, okay, it was hard, we were losing a lot, I'm going to quit and go join somebody else. It wasn't that. It was just, you know, looking at the product on the court. They were… Lakota East was putting players in college. You know, that was my aspiration. 

So I felt like if this is my aspiration to play Division I college basketball or scholarship basketball, I need to be around like-minded people who have the same goals as me, who are going to push me to be better. And I would say one of the key players there was a senior when I was a junior. His name was Jarrett Cox. And he ended up playing basketball at Fairmont State and Findlay, which are both Division II schools, scholarship basketball. He made me so much better in that year because he was quicker, he was faster, he's more athletic, he could shoot better than me. And being able to learn from somebody like that really opened my eyes to the expectation and also, wow, he's… not in a bad way, he's a really good player, but he's only playing Division II. Like, what is the level above that? Like, what do I actually have to be? And I think that just opened my eyes to how good scholarship basketball is. 

And my last point to that is, I truly think that a player who had just played in high school, maybe hasn't even played any minutes, I, skill-wise, am closer to that guy who barely played in high school than I am to an NBA player. And it's not a knock on me. How amazing… people don't realize how good NBA players are. They all make it look so smooth, so simple, and they're all so good. You're like, no, no, it's just the NBA. Like, the 14th best guy on the NBA roster, if you watched him play against a Division I college player, you would not believe how good they are. It's insane.

Brian Harbin: Yeah. So really just wanting to uplevel your game, and you felt that transferring to another school is going to help you get noticed. And what was that decision for you in high school, or maybe even before then? When did you feel like you made that decision? Like, all right, I'm going all in on playing scholarship basketball.

Bash Wieland: Yeah, that's a good question. I think that seeing my dad played college baseball and I just remember idolizing, like emulating the idea, like my dad is my role model and he loved college sports. He thinks it's so valuable. I want to be like my dad. And I think that's when I really started. And I had enjoyed basketball as long as I can remember, just always trying to shoot in the driveway, always trying to play somebody in one-on-one in middle school. 

And even before that, in elementary school, I just loved watching it. I loved playing it. I loved learning about it, film study, all that stuff. And so I'm like, you know, I might as well really give this a try. So I would say it started early middle school. I wanted to chase this. Wow.

Brian Harbin: And, you know, looking back over high school, was there a particular game or season that you felt like really kind of, you know, gave you that confidence and even maybe started to get you on the radar for some of these colleges?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, I, well, I would say my sophomore year, I had a really rough start to my sophomore year in high school. I was coming off the bench, 6th man on JV, and that same year, 6 to 8 weeks later, I was starting on varsity, you know, so it was not a great start. Benched on JV, down in the dumps. I get called up to varsity. My first game, I score 17 points. I was 5 of 8 from 3. 

And I, it was like, I love listening or reading The Inner Game of Tennis. It talks a lot about the mental performance side of things. And it always talks about like just being in the zone, being in the here and now, staying present. Like it truthfully felt like it wasn't even me that was out there doing it. Like I was just so in the moment. Couldn't believe that this was my reality playing sophomore. Playing as a sophomore on varsity. Don't know how I was hitting the shots, but I did. Scored 17 points, and I was like, there's no way I just did that, one. And two is like, could I actually be good at basketball? So…

Brian Harbin: And so that was a big confidence booster for you at the time. And so I guess, you know, going into junior, senior year, do you just find that you progressively got better and better? And was there a point where, you know, when did that first conversation happen with a college, or when did you start to get recruited?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, so that… this is a great story, actually. So my first offer was from Fairmont State. We had just finished… it was my junior year. We had just lost a heartbreaker against Princeton High School to go to the Final 16 of the state tournament, and I had a crucial turnover. I'm down in the dumps. I cost us the game. I turned the ball over and fouled a shooter. He made both. They win by 1. 

And so I was down in the dumps, and my dad had showed me a text from Joe Mazzulla. And Joe Mazzulla was the head coach at Fairmont State in 2018. He ended up leaving, I want to say it was 2019, to go to the Maine, the Maine Red Claws or something like that in the G League, the Boston Celtics G League affiliate.

Bash Wieland: And so my first offer/recruiting, whatever you want to call it, was from Joe Mazzulla, who is now the head coach of the Boston Celtics. And so that's when I kind of realized, oh, this is real. And then they just kind of slowly started falling in. A lot of Division IIs. I didn't have the athleticism in high school. I would just honestly assess myself to play Division I right off the bat. So Fairmont State and then another school, West Georgia, who's now in the ASUN. And then where I eventually committed was Bellarmine.

Brian Harbin: And so what did that process look like in terms of, you know, what do you think that, you know, really stood out about you? Was it just kind of your versatility out there on the court, you know, combination of size and shooting? And, you know, do you have like, you know, phone conversations, any, you know, anything like that that you can share in terms of just what those conversations were like or what kind of questions they were asking or looking for?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, definitely. Well, I would go back first to, you know, you asked me what had my parents instilled in me or like growing up. My parents had always told me, be coachable and listen to what your coach says. Whether you agree with it or not, say yes, sir. Look him in the eyes. You know, that's something that I always took with me that my parents had taught me. 

So I think what made me stand out is I always looked the coach in the eyes, even if I didn't agree. I said, yes, sir. I wanted his genuine input, feedback. What can I do better? What can I do wrong? Coachability was what stood out. And I would say, you know, I was a really good shooter, really good offensive player, a little bit slow, but I had the size, you know. And when you're slower, you got to have the size. As you get shorter, you just got to be quicker, really. 

So, and then the other part of your question was one, what stood out, and then… oh, okay, cool… how the conversations went. So a lot of them were phone calls. One stuck out to me from Bellarmine before I committed. They kind of had me on a visit. They really liked me. They said, you know, we just had an unofficial, can you go on an official visit? 

So that's where the players will kind of take you in. They'll hang out with you for a night. They'll kind of show you what campus looks like and all that stuff. It was really cool. Flash forward a few months, I ended up committing to Bellarmine. But flash forward a few months before I was going to report, okay, so I'm going to report June of 2019. I ended up reporting… or sorry, I ended up getting a call April of 2019, 2 to 3 months before that. And he says, hey, I know that we said it's going to be a Division II and we're not moving up, but after your freshman year will be our first one… or our first year of Division I. 

And I would say that's the conversation about my recruiting that stuck out the most to me because I'd always prayed like, God, please help me be a Division I college basketball player. That's my main goal. I commit to the 1 out of 5 schools that year that ended up going from Division II to Division I. So I think that that was definitely, you know, a God wink, really. Like, all right, maybe you won't be Division I your first year, but we'll bring you to a school that then moves up that next year. So that was a conversation about my recruiting that stuck out to me.

Brian Harbin: Yeah, that's big time for sure. And what about on the court, like leading vocally? I mean, you know, if your team is up or down, like, you know, walk us through kind of how you would, you know, rally your team, you know, again, just keeping the confidence or, you know, if you guys are behind, I mean, did you find yourself to be a vocal leader in that way or? You know, kind of more the guy that's kind of one-on-one encouraging, or how do you feel like you best led on the court?

Bash Wieland: I would say definitely one-on-one encouraging and leading by example. I always was vocal, say on defense or offense, you know, what I think needed to happen in order for us to win. But I was more so, you know, a quiet leader. Like, I'll pull a guy to the side and say, look, I think you can really get to your spot, or I think you can look for your shot this game. Look for it, you know, shoot that thing with confidence. I didn't really say too much in front of everybody unless I feel… unless I felt like our intensity… that's the only thing that really bothered me is if we didn't come ready to play. And this has transferred to college as well. Like, hey, pick it up. Like, we're only out here, we only get so many opportunities to go and play basketball. So do it with all you got. I think of Colossians 3:23.

Brian Harbin: Yeah.

Bash Wieland: So that was kind of how I led, you know, one-on-one, more by example. I think that the best leading… you can say whatever you want to say, guys, we need to do XYZ, but the reality is all that doesn't matter if you don't take care of what you need to take care of on the court. And I think the biggest component of being a leader is you show up every day, you're the first one there, you're the last one to leave, and you take care of business on the court. That's what really matters.

Brian Harbin: I love it. So you're off at Bellarmine now. What was that transition like for you going from high school to college and managing school and being away from home and all those things?

Bash Wieland: It was definitely different. And looking back on it, I wasn't quite ready for the college level. There's just such a transition period. The speed, the knowledge, the plays, all that stuff. It's just a whole nother level to get to. And it was eye-opening my first year. I was like, I just went from being the best player on my high school team to now I'm the 13th, 14th best player on my team. So it was a huge adjustment period. The big positive about that is Louisville is only 2 hours away from Cincinnati. 

So, you know, if I wanted to go home, I could. It wasn't ideal, but my parents were just close enough where they're not going to show up on my doorstep every day, but also I could go back and spend time with them if I wanted to. So that definitely helped, you know. It's not like a California to Florida or something like that. It was just manageable enough. My teammates were great too. My coaches, you know, they wanted me to succeed. They wanted me to have a great college experience. So definitely leaning on teammates helped.

Brian Harbin: And yeah, so walk us through, I mean, how did you work your way up from being the, you know, 13th guy on the team? Is it just, you know, patience, hard work, or how did you find yourself getting better and better?

Bash Wieland: I think one of the things that my dad always references is he talks about his board of directors. You know, like, who in your life are you going to go to when you need advice? You know, you don't have the answers. So that's what I tried to do. I tried to lean on teammates who have been there before, who had done that. And they were kind of sharing with me like, look, this is a really good program. You're just a freshman. You have a lot of basketball left. Just keep getting better every single day. 

And I think one thing that helped me a lot and has continued to help me even outside of basketball is just taking it moment by moment, day by day, staying present. The book The Atomic Habits talks about 1% better. I think that is so powerful because so many times we'll all focus on an outcome. You know, I want to do this at a certain time or set an expectation for ourselves versus if you just say, I want to just get 1% better today, or I want to do one thing better today. It's such a short, narrow focus, but it takes away a lot of nervousness. And then all of a sudden you compound a year and you're like, wow, I got so much better just by focusing on getting better each day. I think it's a way less nerve-wracking way to gain progress.

Brian Harbin: And looking back over your time at Bellarmine, any specific, you know, teachable moment from a coach, any game, any practice, any… anything that really stands out in terms of just kind of a defining moment for, or the highlight of your, you know, time at Bellarmine?

Bash Wieland: Definitely a highlight of my time at Bellarmine. It was my senior year, so not to go too deep into it, but my first 3 years I really struggled. I struggled with confidence, you know. I eventually, like you said, worked my way out of it, really had a successful career, but my first 3 years struggled with a lot of anxiety, just trying to play perfect. All these things. I came back my senior year having got a lot deeper in my faith and also The Inner Game of Tennis, which is a great sports performance book, kind of pouring into all those things. Like, clearly something that I'm doing is not working. I care way too much. I'm so nervous out there. What's gonna break? What's gonna give? And I come back my senior year, I start the first 8 games, and one of those games, we played at Duke.

So we had played at Duke twice. I played them once my sophomore year, now playing them my senior year. They had Derrick Lively, Kyle Filipowski, both in the NBA. Jeremy Roach had a really good career at Duke. All these players. And I end up taking a charge. And this is going to be kind of like an interesting story from a different perspective, but I end up taking a charge on Kyle Filipowski. He busts my eyebrow. Like, I'm bleeding a little bit on the court. My trainer takes me over to the side. 

And with being so immersed in the game, obviously you're a little nervous. You know, you're playing against Duke. You just get so wrapped in the moment. He takes me over to the side on the sideline, kind of stitches me up or whatever, and my parents come down courtside, and I get to give my dad a high five. I give my mom a hug, and it kind of dawns on me like, man, this is something that I've dreamed of my whole life.

I've watched Duke so many times play North Carolina in a rivalry on ESPN when I'm 12, 13, 14. You know, I've loved Duke basketball, all the lore behind it of just loving everybody who had went there. And I just look at my parents, I'm like, this is real. Like, I just took a step back and saw, man, this is real. So I would say playing Duke, getting to see my parents courtside, it kind of dawned on me like not everybody gets to do this.

Brian Harbin: And yes, that's a moment that really stuck with you, you know, being able to play against Duke. That's…

Bash Wieland: Yeah.

Brian Harbin: And you've mentioned Inner Game now. So what do you, you know, what do you feel like you've taken most from that and how you've applied it to you personally? Because I know you mentioned you struggled a lot with kind of that putting that tension and just overthinking too much. So how did you let go of that and overcome that?

Bash Wieland: That's a great question. I would… I'll reference 2 parts of the book. The first part is the author kind of talks about… he, in one of the chapters, he says, in a competitive society, when winning and losing is so valued… like, it's this, our society that does it to us. Like, you're gonna have winners and you're gonna have losers, but since the society values winning and making the most money and all these things, it's inevitable that there's gonna be losers. You know, if there's so many winners, there are gonna be losers. And his whole point to this is, if you feel like your identity comes from how well you play a sport, or you feel like you can be valued by how well you play a sport, that's not true. And who said exactly that's true other than the society, the pressure that our culture and our society puts on us that says we're valued more if we play well? 

So I kind of took a step back and thought, well, my identity is not dependent on how well I play a sport. And for me, it took me a long time to learn that. My first 3 years, I struggled with it. I kind of realized that my identity is rooted in who Jesus says I am, you know. And I always related back to Romans 8:1. It says, therefore there is now no condemnation for all those who are found in Christ Jesus, meaning that God sees me as perfect and blameless because of what Jesus did. So why am I sitting here through my performance trying to earn something or feel like I'm more valued because of what I'm doing on a basketball court. Like, I'm already saved because of what Jesus did for me. 

And that's just my background, you know. Plenty of different people can find their purpose a lot of different ways, but I think that that's my true purpose. And so that was the first aspect of the book that I like. Now the second part.

Brian Harbin: And being really able to separate yourself as a person from, you know, Bash the athlete and being able to kind of build on that identity as an individual and, yep, you know, your love of Christ.

Bash Wieland: And yeah, it's not who I am, it's just something that I enjoy doing, right? And Inky Johnson… sidebar… but Inky Johnson played football at the University of Tennessee, I want to say early 2000s. One of his favorite, or one of my favorite quotes that he says, he says, can you be committed to the process but not emotionally attached to the result. And I thought that that was so good, and I asked myself that a lot in my career, and the answer was, I don't know how. I gotta find a way. 

But to answer your question, finally, short story long… sorry about that… but the second part of the book, he's going to a tennis tournament, and he, as he's leaving, he's got like a 3-hour drive. As he's leaving the place, he's like, man, I'm gonna go win this tournament. I'm the best player at my club. I'm the best player at this tournament. I'm gonna go win it. And by the time he shows up to the venue, he's overthinking, he's doubting. He's like, man, I'm not the player that I thought I was. I'm so nervous. I'm shaking. I'm anxious. I don't think I can do it. And so he sits in seclusion with himself and he really just thinks about the worst-case scenario. The worst-case scenario, he loses 6-0, 6-0.

Then he plays the what-if spiral in his head. He says, well, people at my club would probably make fun of me. They'd say, man, I thought you'd play better than that. Then eventually time would pass, he'd start playing well at his club, and everybody would forget. Then he rehashes the best-case scenario in his mind. He wins 6-0, 6-0, plays that what-if spiral. 

Well, I'd eventually have to win or lose, and then I'd go back to my home club, and eventually… everything would go back to normal. And this is the part of the book that I love so much is he says, so then what did I really want? I went through the worst, I went through the best. What do I really want? 

And he said, what I realized I really wanted was to overcome the nervousness and the self-doubt that had plagued me my whole career. And that opened my eyes to just… I didn't realize… I realized I didn't really care about if I made or missed a 3 or a shot. I just wanted to be able to shoot it without shaking or being so nervous or caring so much about the result. 

And so, when I viewed my performances like overcoming fear and playing with full true self-confidence versus the needing, wanting, wishing for success, I thought that that was so powerful. It opened up my eyes to a whole different purpose in sports.

Brian Harbin: It really is. And, I grew up playing tennis and you know, all the way through high school. And unfortunately, I didn't learn this till after high school. But yeah, one of the things that he talks about in that book that is so true and applies to everything in life, it's the most important part of a tennis match for the mental game is not during the point, it's in between points.

Bash Wieland: Yes.

Brian Harbin: Right? And you think about in golf, it's in between shots. Like, what are you telling yourself? In basketball, it's in between those 3-point shots. What are you telling yourself? What's your self-talk? And I love that because it really helps you focus on the part that most people don't even realize is the most important is what are you telling yourself. 

And you mentioned watching the, and I love the interview with Lee Humphrey, who was, you know, 2-time national champ with Florida and was their 3-point specialist. But he was like, let it fly, you know. And that was his thing. And it just, even saying it, you know, I say that to the kids that, you know, 10-year-old kids I'm coaching. I'm like, hey, just let it fly. Don't think, just shoot. You know what I mean? And some are gonna go in, some won't, but just take that next shot. 

And, you know, I think like you said, when you're playing though at that, you know, really, really high level in college, you feel like there's all that pressure that, you know, hit 60%, 70% versus just, hey, take that next shot and don't worry about it, you know?

Bash Wieland: Yeah. The other part… oh, sorry, what were you going to say?

Brian Harbin: No, no, no, go ahead.

Bash Wieland: Well, I was just going to say the other part to that is I struggled a lot during my college career. You know, you want every performance to be linear. If you want to shoot 40% from 3, which was my goal, you want every single game to be 2 for 5, 2 for 5, 2 for 5, 3 for 6, 2 for 5. But that's not how it works. Some games are going to be 4 for 5, other games are going to be 0 for 7. 

And I struggled with that a lot, is the ups and downs of shooting. You got to be able to just, like you… like Lee Humphrey said, let it fly. But it's a lot easier said than done if you're somebody like myself who overthinks it. Sometimes the worst thing that you can say to somebody is oh, it doesn't matter, just let it fly. I'm like, what? It doesn't matter?

Brian Harbin: Yeah, no, absolutely. And, you know, and everybody works differently, right? You kind of have those different triggers and you got to know. And, you know, I think that's where learning, like you said, learning from mentors and people that can help you, and you're taking different ingredients of what works for different people to kind of craft this perfect concoction of, hey, what's going to help Bash have the best game that he possibly can? 

And, so, at Bellarmine, you know, senior year, you've been there for 5 years and then you had a big decision to make. So, kind of walk us through what happened next.

Bash Wieland: Yeah. So, I was thankful. I was able to get my undergrad in finance at Bellarmine and my master's of business administration. So, that was kind of the positive of the COVID year. I was able to get another year. And so, I completed the fast-track program. I was able to take undergrad classes but also master's classes. 

So, I finished that in 5 years. I really liked the program. I thought that, you know, the coaches poured so much into who I was as a human and, you know, my career. And I really appreciated that. I loved the people that I played with. I explored some degrees that I could get and there wasn't really an answer. 

So, you know, we didn't have a great year. My 5th year, my last year, we were like 8-23. We really struggled with injuries. We were a lot better than 8-23, but we just struggled. You know, we couldn't get everybody healthy. Point being, I kind of had that thought, you know, I can't get another degree. Why not? Like, I already had played 5 years here. I know what this entails. If I come back my 6th year, I have a degree. I have 2 degrees, super thankful, but I need to go try something. Like, I need to go take that leap of faith and try. And it was Tennessee Chattanooga. I can't really explain it. It was better than I could have ever asked or imagined.

Brian Harbin: And so you went into the portal, right?

Bash Wieland: Yeah.

Brian Harbin: At that point. And at that point, you know, once you're already in college, you basically go to the portal and then coaches that are interested can see who's available and then would contact you from there, right?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, it was an interesting process because what a lot of people don't talk about is once you tell that other staff, once I told Bellarmine like, hey, I'm going to enter the transfer portal, you know, they still try to recruit you back, but you don't. 

Sometimes you don't have access to like the same, the team facilities. You can't do the team workouts. Like some coaches are really cool about it, and they're like, "Look, we want what's best for you. Use our facilities." Da da da da. But some coaches are like, "I don't really want you around the team." You know, like you decide you're deciding you don't want to be a part of this. Like we're gonna go about our business, and you can go about yours. And so it was just kind of like a weird period of, you know, you still love the teammates that you played with, but you're not working out with them and you're trying to figure out your other options. 

So I entered the portal April 1st and I ended up committing to Tennessee Chattanooga April 19th. So it was a really fast moving pace and you kind of just don't know what you don't know. You got to make your most educated guess about the coaches that you're going to be playing for at your next school. What kind of talent do they have coming in? What kind of area am I going to play in? Is this a good university? Thankfully, I was able to get my Master's of Management at Tennessee Chattanooga in one year. So that was really cool that I wouldn't have had at Bellarmine. So.

Brian Harbin: And is one of the challenges to the portal of like, you know, they reach out to you on the 19th, you're like, okay, well, should I wait another week? Is there another team that might be interested? But then you kind of have to just make a decision on the fly, right? Because if you… how soon does he want an answer if he reaches out to you on the 19th? Is it you got 24 to 48 hours to…

Bash Wieland: Yeah, that, I'm glad you brought that up cuz that's another great angle. I had got an offer from Chattanooga, I think April 16th, and they were like, look, we like you. We want you to make an educated decision. We care about you. But at the same time, like we have a job to do as well. So if you're not sure about coming to this university, we gotta move on. 

And so there's pressure on both sides, like, because I'm trying to do my due diligence. Like, one of my other schools I was looking at is Lipscomb. You know, I had to do my due diligence in that, try to pursue that. But they're also… the other time, the other side of it is they're talking to probably 3 different athletes because they can't just put all their eggs in one basket with me because they got 2 other players that they need to be ready to fill this. So it is, to your point, extremely nerve-wracking. You got to make quick decisions.

Brian Harbin: Yeah.

Bash Wieland: And thankfully for me, I made a quick decision with Chattanooga. It was better than I could have imagined. Our coaches were great, really good players and teammates. One of my… the point guard I played with, Honor Huff, he's playing at West Virginia right now, averaging 17 points a game. Everybody loves him. You know, he's such a good shooter. He's viral all over social media. Like, I got… I was thankful I played with a lot of good players.

Brian Harbin: I mean, because you really don't even have time for an official visit at that point. It's like, hey, you know, let me Google some stuff about the college and, you know, what town is it in? You know, I mean, obviously UT Chattanooga, you know, but I'm saying in terms of when you're getting calls.

Bash Wieland: Yeah.

Brian Harbin: So you show up, you know, what is the vibe like when you show up, you know, as an older guy, you know, coming in, you know, you're probably taking somebody's spot that's there, right? You know, how do you kind of manage that whole dynamic when you come into a team like that off the portal?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, it taught me a lot, truthfully, because I know that I'm going to be doing a lot of those things, you know, as I go into my career. You know, you're… sometimes you have to have uncomfortable conversations and uncomfortable experiences. And I think one of the things that I always try to do is just lead with authenticity. You know, like, if I truly invest in this person, even though maybe I am going to take his minutes or maybe he's going to take my minutes, just truthfully caring about somebody beyond basketball, you know, like pouring into them. Hey, man, I've been in your situation. I know you're a little bit nervous. I struggled with this earlier in my career, like just pouring into them like that, truly caring about them outside of basketball. And I think that when you do that and you lead with authenticity and you genuinely care about people, everything works itself out anyway.

Brian Harbin: And so tell us about that year at UT Chattanooga. You guys, you know, obviously go on to win the NIT championship. So kind of tell us you know, a bird's eye view of that season, what it was like for you, the progression of your, you know, your time there and then winning the big dance.

Bash Wieland: Yeah. So, well, to start, I committed in April, reported June 6th of 2024, and it was really hard to start my first 2 weeks. I'm like, man, what did I do? I don't know any of these guys. I wasn't playing very well because you have to learn a new system. You know, it's really difficult. You don't know how the team plays. So you're trying to learn all this new stuff. It breeds a lot of overthinking. 

And so I was a big overthinker my first month, and I finally started to buy in and love being around my teammates. And I loved the city. If you haven't been to Chattanooga, I highly recommend it. There's a lot to do. There's mountains, hiking, waterfalls, all types of outdoor stuff you can do. Clearly besides the point, but started off, another thing I should probably mention is 3 straight years I broke my hand. 

So this was my 6th and last year at Chattanooga, I had broke my pinky and wrist the previous 2 years. And so it was September, loving it, starting to kind of get the whole hang of Chattanooga basketball, how they play. I dive into the bleachers or really trip into the bleachers, break my right hand.

Brian Harbin: Hmm.

Bash Wieland: And I'm like, man, I thought one injury was already a freak accident. Then I thought 2 was crazy. And now for 3 straight seasons in a row. I've broke my hand.

Brian Harbin: And this is your shooting hand, right?

Bash Wieland: And now it's my shooting hand. The other 2 were non-shooting. So I'm like, man, I'm… this is just all the intrusive thoughts that I was thinking. Like, this is just kind of a snapshot into my brain. I'm like, man, I was already struggling with confidence shooting the rock, and now I broke my shooting hand. Like, this is… this… well, God, what do I do? Like, this is just gonna be treacherous. I don't know what to do. 

And so I come back, we have a West Coast trip. At UCLA… or not UCLA, USC. Played at USC and St. Mary's. I was out for both of those games. I come back against Austin Peay, play really well. I come off the bench, and then I had… then I started the rest of the year. But I'll flash forward to our SoCon tournament. So we're going to Asheville, North Carolina for our SoCon tournament early March. 2 days before we get out there in Asheville, our starting big who was second-team all-conference, he's now playing in Finland. His name's Frank Champion. He goes to pivot and turn his body, he tears his meniscus in his knee. And he was a guy who had the ball in his hands a lot. He made a lot of good plays, really good passer, really good with the ball in his hands. 

Honestly, a matchup nightmare because he's a little bit shorter than all the other starting bigs, but he's quicker and he can get around them and he can make plays. He can handle the ball. And his athleticism makes up for his lack of height. And so we lost him. We ended up making it to the semifinals of the SOCON tournament and lost to Furman, who, really good players as well. One guy, PJ Smith, who was their point guard, is playing in, I wanna say, the United Kingdom. 

And then another dude's playing in Belgium. Like, really good players, really good. They beat us in overtime, so we're down. We're like, man, I cannot believe… we wanted the big dance. I could not believe it. I was beside myself that we finished first in the regular season and did not make the NCAA tournament, something I always dreamed of. 

And I think that before I finish the story, this is just how God works to me. It can be so different than you ever imagine or you think, and it can still turn out great. So we ended up… I just kind of came into the NIT. We won our regular season. The caveat to that is you have to be… the big basketball rankings is Ken Palm Basketball Rankings. I don't know if you've ever heard of it. But to make the NIT, in order to kind of get some higher majors or some high major schools into it, they made you have to not only win your regular season title in your conference, but also be 120 and above in Ken Palm ratings.

Brian Harbin: Hmm.

Bash Wieland: So we were like 115, maybe. We had barely made it. So we're like, okay, cool. We're in the NIT. So we make the NIT. We're just like, man, we're just going to enjoy it. I'm just thankful that we get extra basketball. I kind of had it set in at that point. Like, I only have 5 games left at max. And we were all like, man, we just love this team so much. So many great guys, so many great players. It was a blessing. And we just enjoyed it as long as possible. 

First round comes. We play at Middle Tennessee State. We beat Middle Tennessee State. Dayton comes and plays us. At Chattanooga, we beat Dayton, who was the number 1 seed in the whole tournament. Go to Bradley in the NIT Elite 8, beat Bradley after being down 20 in the first half. We go to the Final Four at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, beat Loyola Chicago, who was a really good team in the A-10. 

Then in the championship game, down 6 with a minute left, we beat UC Irvine, and they had a wide open layup. And my teammates always make fun of me because it was me. I just sat there like a kid that was scared. And he missed the layup to go up and beat us. And we… I was like, okay, sure, I'll celebrate. We won the NIT. But it was better than I could have ever asked or imagined. I know I said that a few times, but it was seriously just a God wink to realize how much I was overthinking it my first month and didn't even know if I wanted to play basketball. Like, man, I don't have to play basketball. I already have my degrees. Thinking about not being a part of the team. It was wild. I was in my thoughts a lot. But then to win the NIT, it was such a blessing.

Brian Harbin: That is so cool! And what, you know, looking back over that tournament, would you say there was kind of a tipping point or defining moment where it was like, you know, the team really rallied and like, okay, this is a team that can go all the way? Was there a moment like that that you felt like, you know, that early on come-from-behind win?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, I would say it would probably be the first game in the NIT, and we were down probably 10 in the first half to Middle Tennessee State, and it was a 3 overtime game. We won 109 to 103. And when we won that game in overtime, because we couldn't get a stop, clearly we gave up 103, they couldn't get a stop either. 

So when we realized we won that game, we're like, you know what, we kind of could be good. And then Dayton comes to play and we definitely believed that we could win, but we were like, you know, they're the number 1 seed in the whole NIT. If we lose, you know, it's kind of like we probably should have, but if we win, it's like, okay, now we can do some special things. So I would say MTSU, then we beat Dayton. Last one I mentioned… oh wait, no, go ahead.

Brian Harbin: Real quick with Dayton though, I was going to ask you, okay, so the big, you know, the big dogs are coming in, you're playing them, obviously you guys are probably a little bit timid. Was there a point in that game where you felt like belief was like, okay, we can do this? Was it early on? Was it until later? And that, was there any tipping point in that Dayton game specifically even?

Bash Wieland: I would say early on when we were scoring a lot, we're like, okay, we just got to get stops and we could actually win this game. We knew we had a lot of players that could make stuff happen, but our little guard that we were, that I was talking about, Honor Huff, now plays at West Virginia. He started making some shots and I was like, okay, he's hot. Like, he's… we need to give him the ball. And he just kept making them and kept making them. And our other guard was playing really well. I was like, okay, we could do something. We could do something. 

And then to kind of finish though, your whole question finally is we were playing Bradley. We were down 20. And I remember looking at my roommate and still best friend to this day, Garrison Kiesler. And we're down 20 in the first half. I'm like, hey, let's just enjoy it. We look at it, we had that look at each other like, this might be the end. Like, let's just enjoy this. And we kind of just played carefree from there. We're like, whatever happens happens. And we ended up winning the game. I was like, there's no way we just won that game. And that is the pinnacle moment where I was like, let's just go win this whole thing. I can't believe we even won this game. Like, what do we have to lose? Let's just, yeah, go all out.

Brian Harbin: That's amazing! And before we kind of jump into, you know, what you're doing now, what I'm curious to just… I know a lot of basketball has changed over the years. I mean, I think most schools nowadays are doing like 5-out, right?

Bash Wieland: Yeah.

Brian Harbin: In your opinion, if you had to kind of draw up the perfect offense again, I know you guys, you know, it's complicated. You guys run a whole lot of schemes and plays and everything else. But in your opinion, what is the best general strategy for offense for a team?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, I would say in a general term, you have to keep the ball moving. And my first coach, my head coach at Bellarmine, Coach Davenport, he would say just look for a half of a man advantage. So what he means by that is a long closeout where you can attack the defender and just get him on your hip, and then you can get the chase going where you can make a pass out, and then you make another pass, and then you drive, and then you kick out for a 3. So just looking for a half-man advantage. 

So in order to create a half-man advantage, you gotta keep the ball moving. And so many times I see a struggle with teams, especially in Division 1, is they're like, all right, we're gonna come down the court and we're just gonna run a ball screen. The issue with just running a ball screen with no movement or no passes before is the defense is set. Like that weak side defender can just tag the big, guard him for a second, and then go back out to his man versus if you keep the ball moving and now the defenders are running in and out of help, meaning like they're running on the opposite side of the court to go help their teammates and get into help.

Brian Harbin: Mm-hmm.

Bash Wieland: Then all of a sudden they're a little bit later in help and the closeouts are longer and then you can make something happen. So to break it down more specifically, what Chattanooga kind of recruited to is, it's called Princeton offense. So when people say Princeton offense, you're kind of getting a big guy to catch it around the elbow. So what we would do is we'd, as guards, we'd throw the ball to the big, okay? And so it's 4 out, 1 in, so to say. So we'd throw that ball to the big and we'd either go screen away for a teammate or we'd act like we were screening and then go cut. So it's just a lot of read and react. So say, I'll give you an example. So say our big guy has the ball.

Brian Harbin: Okay.

Bash Wieland: I pass it to him, he dribbles back out, or he dribbles back to me as I try to accept the ball near the 3-point line. Say my defender is gonna go under the screen, okay? So meaning the big guy has the ball right here, he's gonna try to go under it. What I would do is accept this screen, pop back, he'd flip me the ball, and I'd shoot that 3. That's what I mean by reading and reacting.

So now say that I pass that ball to the big guy, my guy jams up on me and he's like, I don't want you to go get the ball. So I fake like I'm gonna get a handoff and I back cut because that's the option that I'm reading. So a lot of it was a read and react and having a big guy that could really handle the ball.

So say I go throw it to him, he plays my side, there's nothing there, he can just go pass it to the other side and then he go get… he goes close to the elbow, he pings it back to him. And I… it's really hard to explain like without a visual, but it's just getting the ball moving and reading and reacting. If your defender is trying to make sure you don't have the shot, you should probably cut to the rim. If they're trying to switch everything, then you should fake screens. Like in the NBA, it's super big. They call it ghost screens. So whenever you see like a player act like he's setting a screen and then go fake or like roll to the basket or not actually touch the guy, it's because they think that maybe they'll switch. You know, if they're not switching, set a real solid screen and you'll get your teammate an advantage.

Brian Harbin: Yeah, it's kind of like when they run motion, you know, pre-snap in football, they're trying to see what the defense is going to do and then adjust accordingly. So looking for that half-man advantage. 

And the thing that I find so fascinating, we went to watch, you know, my son's got a, you know, pretty good high school basketball team. And I mean, the level of athleticism even in some of these high school teams is pretty incredible. But just the quick releases that, you know, it doesn't… you don't have to have much time or space to get a shot off nowadays. You know, these guys have such quick releases. 

So I know playing defense is, you know, is a tall ask. But, yes, I wanted to get into… so, you know, you graduated and left UT Chattanooga and want to talk about a couple things you're doing now. So you run a couple social media handles, Christ First Athletes.

Bash Wieland: Yep.

Brian Harbin: Both on TikTok and Instagram, and that's something that you're real passionate about. And tell us, you know, the inception behind that and, you know, your messaging through your platform and what you're hoping to help people with through that.

Bash Wieland: Yeah, so the whole reason that I started Christ First Athletes is because my first 3 years of college I struggled a lot with overthinking, and I kind of realized that my identity was embedded in how I performed on the court. And so what I mean by that is every performance that I did well, I associated with I was on a high, but every time I failed or I didn't play well or I didn't play as many minutes as possible, I was on a low. 

So I realized I was personally associating with basketball, and the issue with that is you're moody when it goes well, you're excited when it goes bad, and I realized that that's not what God is calling me to do anyway. And I realized that my identity is much bigger than just playing a sport. I'll only play a sport… now I'm 24 years old, Brian. I'm done with basketball. You know, I'm not going to play it competitively anymore. What do I want to be remembered by? Is it, oh, he scored 20 points against whatever school? No, I want to be remembered by how I helped people and demonstrating what I say. You know, the fruits of the spirit… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness… like becoming more like Jesus in the process. 

And so the whole reason I started this page, to answer your question, is I want people to have the resources that I maybe didn't have or didn't realize that I had. I want to remind people that their identity is not wrapped into how well you dribble a basketball or how well you throw a pitch or how well, you know, you throw to a wide receiver. Whatever example you want it to be. 

And so I try to, you know, put that into perspective through The Inner Game of Tennis, through some other books that I've read, through the Bible, Jesus's parables that he has in the Gospels, just to kind of put it into perspective. Like, man, the real process or the real motivation is to have fun and to learn and enjoy. There's this… one of my favorite things to mention is there's in The Inner Game of Stress, which is kinda just a spinoff by the same author of The Inner Game of Tennis. He has this triangle called the PLE triangle. 

And so, on the left corner, the left bottom corner of the triangle, so right here, it has enjoyment. And on the other side of the triangle, right here on the right, if you wanna draw this really quick, is learning. So you got enjoyment, learning, and at the top of the triangle is performance.

Brian Harbin: Mm-hmm.

Bash Wieland: And so what the author is saying is basically, as you go up this triangle where you're learning and your enjoyment increase, you reach this pinnacle of high performance or being a high achiever. And I just realized how much better my career would have went if I emphasized learning and enjoyment versus stats, accolades, playing all the time, you know. If you just if your true motivation is learning and enjoying, you're going to perform so much better because you're not needing, wanting, wishing. You're not striving. You're just out there trying to be a better version of yourself.

Brian Harbin: Yeah, I love that! That's fantastic! 

And you know fitting too, especially considering you know you're at a pivotal point in your life, right? You finish basketball, kind of you know moving on to that next chapter professionally. And yeah, you know the… You know, finding something that you can learn and enjoy, and that's where you're going to kind of find that synergy. And so for you, what, you know, kind of looking forward ahead, anything specific you feel like you're looking for? Do you feel like you're just going to try and build on what you've done? And anything that you feel like you're kind of focused on here in the short run?

Bash Wieland: Yeah, absolutely. So I would like to continue, first off, to grow my social media pages. I actually just had a few coaching clinics, you know, where I kind of put the link through my TikTok and my Instagram. If you want one-on-one coaching, I'd love to help you with that. So I kind of want to grow my page through, you know, continuing to post videos but also helping athletes who truly need the help or kind of realize like I'm overthinking too much. 

So I'd eventually love to do that full-term or full-time, but right now, just continue to need to post and gain more of attraction, you know, helping more people. Outside of that, I worked a medical sales internship at my first school, Bellarmine, and I really loved that. I had a passion for helping people in the OR, and just helping patients get better and receive, you know, the surgeries that they need and kind of oversee that. 

So I would say those are the 2 things that I kind of have my eyes on is, you know, being a medical sales representative and being in the OR, being in hospitals. And also, just continue to grow this page, realizing that our true identity is not in how well we play a sport.

Brian Harbin: I love that! That's fantastic!

And our last question, Bash, with the Grit Creed. These are 12 principles that we really try and bake in the next generation through all the things we do with our summer sports camp, Grit University, our podcast, and everything else. But what part of the Grit Creed resonates most with you and why?

Bash Wieland: Yeah. Well, first off, I just want to say how much I like The Grit Creed. I think that that's a tremendous idea. It just goes to show how many amazing things you guys are doing, and I can't wait to implement those in my life. 

The first one that I want to mention is, I don't find an excuse, I find a way. I thought that that was really powerful because, you know, if anything, the whole dimension to like the mental performance is speaking life over yourself. Like so many times we have the what-if spirals, the negative thoughts, the I can't do this. A lot of the Grit Creed is speaking life over yourself and realizing, you know, what… how does God see me? And I need my thoughts and my words to align with that. I think of 2 Corinthians 5 talking about taking your thoughts captive. 

And I think, I don't find an excuse, I find a way, is a great way to kind of speak life over yourself and realize, like, I am capable, I'm called, and I know that I can do this. The second thing or the second principle that I really liked is the Serenity Prayer. God grant me the gift, or God grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things that I do, and the wisdom to know the difference. 

Whatever, you know, kind of was the exact quote, but that's what I got out of it. I think that's so powerful. My parents had kind of shared that with me earlier in my life, and it's so powerful because some… how many times do we think about things we can't control.

Brian Harbin: Absolutely. And, you know what, I've really enjoyed getting to talk to you. I especially enjoy talking to young people that are, you know, you've been in the trenches here recently and you've been through it. And, you know, I think, you know, what's so… I enjoy hearing from you and the reason I know you're going to go on to do amazing things is because, you know, so much of life is mindset and how you look at things in perspective. 

And, you know, you've got an incredible foundation with your, you know, through your faith. You know, all the work ethic and time and effort and ups and downs you've been through in your career, but you stayed through and, you know, ended up winning the NIT. Not that it was all about that, but it's like, you know, through all the ups and downs, you know, and everything you went through, the broken hands and, you know, different schools and, you know, perseverance. 

And so I, you know, really enjoyed getting to, you know, hear about your journey, learn about your journey, you know, meet you. You just have, you know, great enthusiasm about you and definitely excited to, you know, follow your channels here and excited to see what, you know, what the future holds for you. So, thank you again for being on today, and I really enjoyed it.

Bash Wieland: Absolutely. I appreciate you having me! Let me know the next one. I'm ready to go. 

Brian Harbin: All right. Yeah, we'll have to do a follow-up here before too long, see what's next. But yeah, that's a wrap for today's episode of the grit.org podcast. 

Thanks again, and we'll see you guys next time!