Reagan Rust Former Captain Of Boston University On Mental Health & Performance

Welcome to the Mike Hartman Show. Mike is a performance coach and former Stanley cup champion with the New York Rangers. Topics on this show are focused around stories, mindset and champions. Mike will also go into details about helping you with your pain points and struggles and finding motivational solutions on how to have the mindset of a champion. Now, here's your host, Mike Hartman.

Welcome to another episode. Today my guest is Reagan Rust. And Reagan is, yes, she's from Mississippi and yes, she was, she still is, is a female professional hockey player. Also was the captain of Boston University. Reagan, great to have you here today.

Yeah, thanks so much for having me.

So I know a little bit about you. You got a really unique story, especially being from Mississippi because I know everybody was will ask you that. Usually you'll hear oh yeah, you're from Michigan, you're from Boston, or you know, you're from Minnesota and you play hockey. But Mississippi, now how did that come about?

That's like my number one asked question all the time. I started playing when I was five year old, five years old. And I don't know if you've ever heard of the Memphis River Kings. They're not playing around this year. But when I was maybe like the 2000s, I started going to their games and my aunt would take me, you know, just like a little fun experience that we would have together. And they knew us pretty well because we were always shaking their hands. And then they told us, hey, like we're going to be starting a little rec league, like you and your sister should come out. There's going to be so many hockey players, boys and girls. And so we showed up. It was literally just me, my sister and one other girl. And then like 30 little boys. And we started playing there in Mississippi for about five or six years, then started playing travel in Nashville. Then my sister started playing in St. Louis AAA and I was playing in Pittsburgh AAA, hockey. And so that's a little like the fast paced story of it all. But yeah, that's how we got started.

Did you live with a family in Pittsburgh or like how did that work?

Yeah, so I actually lived with two different families in Pittsburgh. It's called billeting. And I was there my junior and senior year. My sophomore year I went to prep school and then my freshman year I was still in Mississippi, so I was commuting then.

Oh, wow. Yeah, no, I know billeting. I did it since I was 16. So I, I get that. That's, that's great. So do you still talk to your billets today? Are they friends or the people that you still stay in touch with?

Yeah, I still talk to Kathy Pippi. I'm not sure if you've ever heard of her. She's pretty big in the girls world. She was my billet mom, so she actually helped me so much, especially getting to college, because she was running the Pittsburgh Elite program at the time, and there wasn't really anyone else that could take me in. So she was like, all right, you can come live at my house. I was like, sounds good to me. So I still talk to her. I've worked a lot of her hockey camps, and yeah, she just. She's super awesome. Wow.

Fantastic. So then you work your way. Then you played prep school. And we're going to get. And we have to tell people right off the bat, this isn't going to be a typical hockey conversation. We're going to talk hockey in the beginning. Then we got a lot of other things that are very important to talk about. But let's talk about the. Your year. So then you went to play in Lake Placid, which is a gorgeous place to be.

Oh, my goodness. It was probably the best experience of my life. I had been north, but I'd never been that north besides, like, Canada, but I think that's even farther up than Toronto. And so when I was there, it was freezing cold. I don't like the cold, which is funny because I play ice hockey. But the town was beautiful. My prep school had, I think, 53 kids that year, so there was like a girls hockey team, a boys hockey team, and then there were some skiers and then some kids that didn't luge, and then a few Olympians, too, which was crazy, but it was so awesome. It was a great experience.

That's a great town. I did a little work with the women's Olympic hockey team years ago. I did some performance work, and I played for Ben Smith on one of the world teams, and he and Lou Vero asked me if I wanted to be involved with the program. And I helped the 14 program out at one time with the development with the boys. And then I also did the women's. And I went up there right around Thanksgiving time, when that's the time they're not sure how many players are going to play or be with the team. And it was a neat experience up there. It's a really great place to be. It's a little, little town. You feel comfortable. You feel safe there. I really liked it. It's a great place to be.

Yeah, totally agree. We a lot of the girls that I went to prep school with that year. Like, we still go back and, like, we'll always snap each other, being like, we're back here. Like, look at nsa. So it's pretty awesome.

Okay, then you made your way to Boston University, and you played there. And not only did you play there without getting into the whole hockey thing, because anybody can just go look at, like, Wikipedia or they can go look you up, but you were the captain of Boston University, and that has something. You should be very proud about. That.

Yeah, it was. I didn't think it was going to happen, so it was. It came as a shock to me whenever my. When the coaches told us in front of, like, the whole team, I was like, oh, my goodness. Like, I've only been here one year, and you guys are already giving this to me. Like, I. I don't even have any words to explain it, because I was actually at RIT for my first two years. And so I decided to transfer my junior year, and then it was my senior year that I was captain. So I. Like, I'll never be able to thank them enough for that opportunity. It was a real blast.

Well, you earned it. So a lot of what we do is leadership work. We work with Fortune 50 companies, Fortune 500, many hockey players, professional baseball players in different sports, and leadership's a big thing. Did you feel different wearing the sea? Did you feel like a different obligation or more responsibilities? What was that like wearing the sea out there and being a leader?

It's definitely different because there's a lot of players on the team that are leaders by example. They're leaders by talking up. They're like, they don't have the C on their chest, but they're still leaders. And so I was always that way. Like, I never had the letter. But when my senior year came around and I had two other people to help me, thank goodness we did so much extra work behind the scenes that I don't think a lot of our teammates knew that we were doing, because we were putting together meetings. We were making sure, like, our team was on the same page with, like, who we wanted to be that season, what we wanted to define us and how we were going to act each and every day. And so we actually worked with the leadership development. Her name was Dr. Nichols. She's at. I think she is in San Francisco now. But she was so great in helping our development. Like, she led some of our meetings, and just, like, we can't thank her enough for that either.

Well, you could apply this and I know you're still playing hockey, so you. But when you have the leadership skills within sports, it's easily translated over to the. To the. To the, like, real world, to a corporation. So, you know, once a leader, always a leader, and everybody could be a leader. You said it. You don't have to wear the C to be a leader. But it really says a lot that I don't know if your teammates voted for you or the coach picked it or the organization. It doesn't even matter. The point is to wear that C. You carry a heavy responsibility. And it's also, you know, that you have to be the liaison sometimes between the coach and the players.

Yeah, you definitely do. Especially, like, because I think we start off that season. We lost our first game, 5, 0. I was like, oh, like, am I being a bad captain right now? Like, I was on for all five goals. I'm like, this is my senior year. Like, there's no way this is bad. That happen. And so we went through, I think, like, maybe the first 10 games, just, like, going up and down. And then all of a sudden, we. It, like, started to click. We swept Boston College, we swept Providence, we swept RIT and then, like, we went into the new year, and we were just on a grind, like, doing so well. We ended up getting back into the top 10, which hadn't happened in a while. And then we won the bean pot for the first time in, I think it was like, 38 years, something crazy like that. And they had never done that as a varsity team. So that was a really big accomplishment for us that year just to finally get that monkey off our back. But I think we grew a lot. Like, every player on that team grew a lot just from that year.

That's fantastic. And that's great. That's something you'll carry with you forever, that's for sure. So the other thing, too, is. I know now I'm not sure this is true, but I was told that you turned down the opportunity to play for Team usa. Is that true? Did that happen?

Yes. It was through a friend that had been helping them try to find players. And it was during that time when there was disputes about pay. And so basically, I was just like, I, as much as I would love to be a part of. Of Team usa, like, it's just not for me. I didn't earn this. I have put in the time, but I'm not as good as those girls that are on there. And so I ended up turning them down, but I knew it was right. And so I had to follow my heart on that one.

Well, I don't know if you're not as good sometimes. It's a numbers game, and I'm going to hate to say it. It's also a political game, and I don't want to say anything. Like, I love the coaches that I knew and I. I played for USA a couple times and. But it's a little bit of a political game. You got to remember there's only four left wingers, four centers, four right wing, six defensemen, two goalies, and I don't even think you're allowed to carry anybody extra. So if you get hurt, you go down to 19 players. So we're talking. The numbers are so minuscule. So, you know, and you know, you had a great experience playing college and you did the right thing. And that's what, that's what, that's what it takes to be a leader. Sometimes you, you know, you. You go out of your comfort zone and do something like you did, and you do. You go for what you stand for. And I think that's. That's great. But. So now you're okay. You're playing hockey in Budapest. Explain that to me.

So I actually was in Budapest earlier this year. I'm back in California now. So I went over in August. I think I was there like maybe the last day in July or the first day of August. And we had a quarantine for two weeks and which was fine. Me and one of my best friends from bu, she's actually a captain with me. We basically did workouts in the apartment because they're super strict. They would come and like knock on the door. And by they, I mean like the policeman of Hungary. And so it was really crazy for the first two weeks. And then we finally got out, we started practicing with team. We were having a blast. And then I think it was maybe like four weeks after that. The COVID numbers went from like 5, 000 to 80, 000. And I was like, oh, no. Like, this isn't good. Yeah, so the coach, he was living in Austria. He still does. Like, that's where his family lives. So he was commuting like via train. And like for that week, he couldn't get in. And so I ended up talking to them. I was like, maybe this isn't a good time right now. Like, I really appreciate the opportun. I just want to let you know, if it wasn't anything other than the COVID concerns, I would still be here because I had so much fun with the Girls, the coaches were awesome and just the environment was so much fun too. We were really competitive in practice and that's what I liked. So hopefully I'll be going back once this is all over and we'll see how it goes from there.

Yeah, that's great. Sometimes maybe there's a. People say, and I don't know if I always like what they say, but there's a reason for everything. Things happen for a reason. It's, you know, you don't want to hear that, but there could be a reason for it. And that's where I'm going to get into this next topic because we're going to spend a lot of time on a little bit about your career, because what caught my attention is you're a mental performance coach. And we have, you know, we have a lot of similarities. I was a hockey player, pro, played pro hockey for 17 years and should have retired earlier. I was going to play 10 years in Europe, but that didn't work out because my kids were growing up and they didn't want to live over in Europe. So I spent about a year there. But being a mental performance coach. Tell me a little bit about that.

Yeah, so I started that once I got back from Budapest because I was like, well, this is what I'm good at. And like, I've been mentoring girls since I was in my senior year of high school. So for like seven plus years now, I've been mentoring girls. And. And so I basically have been working one on one with girls. And it's. I say I'm more focused on the female athlete because I know, like, their background, I know what they've been through and like, I know what they can go through. And so it's pretty personalized. It depends on the, on the athlete that reaches out to me because each person has a different question, they have different struggles. And so I kind of just work with them on what they need. And so far it's been really good. And I just actually launched a community called the Female Athlete Society. And it's like a free community where girls can go on. All female athletes, any sport. I've had European sports, I've had American sports, New Zealand sports. So it's been pretty cool to talk to these girls and see how I can best help them.

Mental health is becoming a big thing. I'm seeing a lot of former players that are talking about they have mental health issues. A couple guys that I played with, Clint Millar, Chuck being one of them. I was on the ice for the most awful thing I've ever seen in my entire career without getting into details. I was playing for the Buffalo Sabres. He caught a skate. We were playing against the St. Louis Blues. We had. There was two people that passed. There was people that passed out in the stadium, and one person had a heart attack. It was. It was terrible. And he's been battling mental health issues for years, and there's been a handful of players that have. That have actually gone through this. You know, one of my. You know, one of my good friends, another player in the NHL without saying his name, has had these different battles, and we hear more and more about it. But you've had some setbacks in your life as well, or is that the wrong word, setbacks? Or you've had some. You've had some things happen personally with yourself, correct?

Yes, definitely. I've had my fair share of struggles.

Well, okay. Yeah. It's not something that I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable. It's not why we're talking about this. But I think I really respect the fact that, you know, being a captain, like you were being a leader, playing a sport, it's really easily. It's a lot easier to relate to people that have been. That were in your shoes, like another female hockey player, because you've lived it, you've been through it. And I know there's. I just had somebody on the show recently, and I met this gentleman. His name is Terence, and he lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, in the mountains, in a cabin. And he was a first responder to a terrible accident. He was just on our last show, and it was a terrible accident that he witnessed. And he started having a lot of different issues and lost his family. Now he's. Now he's doing well, but it took a long time to get back on his feet, and. And I think people have to realize there's a lot of people struggling out there with this. We have a lot of people having anxiety, especially with COVID There's so much going on, and for. For somebody like yourself to be there as a mentor, as someone to be there by their side. I think that's. That's fantastic.

Yeah, I'm actually very open about my mental health because I know that there's a lot of people that suffer in silence. And I've been struggling with depression, anxiety since I was 14 years old, like, ninth grade. And so I carried that with me throughout high school, throughout college. A lot of my friends had no idea that I had struggled so badly in high school, because I had a lot of suicidal thoughts and everything that comes with that. And even when I got to college, I, I still really struggled. So I've always talked to a therapist. I'd say since probably my 11th grade year, I started talking to a therapist. And whenever I went to bu, like, that first year was really tough. And like, I'm somebody who went to five high schools, I went to two universities. But like, that change for some reason was really tough on me. And so I actually, I don't think really anyone knew when I was struggling at bu, I kept it pretty on the down low to my teammates and my coaches. But I'm like, thankful for the therapist and the psychologist that I had to talk to.

Yeah, well, thank goodness for now because back in our day, I'm a little bit older than you. In fact, my kids are your age. My daughter's 26 and she's living in New York City. And my son's finishing college. He's 22. And the, the interesting thing is, you know, back in our day, we didn't, you know, if we talked to the team psychologist, there's something wrong with you. So I know we, we had one of our episodes. I had Glenn Healey on. He was our goalie for the New York Rangers. And, and he joked, he said the last thing you wanted to go do was talk to the team psychologist because you don't want to let you, you know, let the team know that there's something wrong. But nowadays it's open, which is, which is such a benefit to, to people and players and everybody else.

Yeah, I definitely agree. I would say even back when I was in ninth grade, it was not talked about at all. I didn't know anyone else that had depression or anxiety or people that were talking about it. And when we got to college, it started to get a little bit better. And then, like, I'd say around my junior and senior year, my teammates and I were talking about it pretty openly. So it was nice to have people that actually understood we were going through, because I think that's the hardest part about having depression or having anxiety is that, like, you feel very alone because you think that it's just you in the battle, but in reality, like, you have so many people around you that care and that are going through the same thing. Yeah.

And I'm trying not, I'm not an expert, of course, or like, I'm a performance coach, the leadership coach, but I, I did a little research. You know, there's different types of disorders. Like you mentioned, there's anxiety and bipolar Eating disorders, post traumatic stress disorders. The reason I had to do the research is because I've been interviewing mental health professionals, people like yourself that have been through it, and they're also taking the liberties amongst themselves to help others. So I figured, you know, it's. I better dive into this a little bit more. And the more players that come out and talk about this. I just saw Shane Corson, who was a good NHL player, and he was just talking about, you know, what he went through, and you never know it. That. That's the thing you said. So you, you know, you didn't let people know it is. Is why is that? Why didn't you want anybody to. To know it?

Initially, I would say back in high school, I just. I was still figuring out what I was going through, so it was harder for me to speak up about it. And I would say, even like in my senior year of high school, when I was struggling, it was like, oh, are my teammates gonna think of me differently because I'm talking about my mental health? And then it was when I was in college, I was like, no, like, it's okay to start talking about it, like, because there's more people going through it. And so there's kind of just, like, I wouldn't say, like, a fake image we like to keep ourselves to, but, like, as athletes, we're seen as, like, the strongest, we're seen as the toughest. Like, we don't have much wrong in our lives. Like, how could a jock have anything going on? Or. I know people don't like the word jock, but, like, how can an athlete have these problems when it looks like their life is great? And so just like, that image was really hard to let go of.

I was talking today to another former professional athlete, and we were just talking as friends. What I do is you talk a little bit about rituals, and I'm going to get into that in a second. But I was going through a walk on what is called the Greenway here in North Carolina. It's about a. You know, it's about. You can go four miles down, four miles back. It's about eight miles or so, and it's great. So I get. Sometimes talk to my friends or I'll listen to music. I'll try to detach. Really what I should do is not talk to anybody. But we were talking that we saw this athlete without saying his name on Cameo. And he had such an image about him. When he went out for warmups, he looked like a clean pro. He was. He's a very Smart guy. And then he started having drug issues, some mental health issues, and he's just not the same person today, so. And then people I, I know I was talking to my friend and he said, man, this is not the same person. And this is how from the outside it looks like, yeah, we look great in our uniforms. Look at our brand new clean. You know, in the NHL you got socks, you got your BU sweater on. All the girls are, you know, there's girls that are dreaming in Boston to play for Boston Univers diversity. And they see you out there and they think, wow, they're invincible. But really, you know, you know, as athletes, we're not.

Yeah, we are. Definitely not. Especially because like all the pressure that comes with being in the spotlight all the time. I know, like, we had to be on our best behavior wherever we went. We had to make sure our rooms were clean. We had to make sure we talked to the girls after. We had to do like meetings with upper management within like BU and like all the time management is tough, especially on top of school. And like people forget that when we're playing our sports in college, it's a full time job. It's. Well, it's like a part time job, but it feels like full time or maybe like five hours a day and then five hours of school and like when do you have time for yourself? And so it can be really hard to manage all of that.

Yeah. And the pressure, because I know I saw this somewhere, that there was a quote that somebody else did not, not me from not hearing it from you, but I can't, I don't know who the person is. They said your philosophy was whatever it took, you know, that's what's going to happen. And you know, you were all in from the start. Like you were one of those players that gave 100%, you did all the right things. So to, to have setbacks and being the captain, it's not easy to even go and talk to somebody at that time because you're supposed to be the one in charge. You're the leader, you're the college hockey player like we've been talking about. It's not easy.

Yeah. And I think it's even more important when you're wearing that seat that you talk about what's going on. And so I was very vocal about it my senior year and I made sure to check in with my teammates. And so like we kind of all had our person on the team that would check in with us. And so that was nice. But there was more than just me struggling my senior year. And like, all throughout high school, there was more than just me struggling that weren't able to talk about it because they were still scared.

But you were one that was organized. You were one that had a plan. At every age, and we talk about in leadership, it's very important to have a plan. And I read somewhere that you had a plan at a very young age. Maybe it was 10 years ago old, I can't recall. But you knew what you wanted, you knew where you wanted to go with hockey and in your life, and it was that. Were you just one of those organized people at a very young age or is that true what I read?

Yeah, I wouldn't say I was the most organized. I. But I love getting all my work in on time. I made this 10 year plan when I was in fifth grade with my uncle. And in it it was like, I want to go to really good prep school. I want to play D1 hockey at Harvard. I want to be a brain surgeon. I want to be on the U.S. olympic team. And it's like, funny how I accomplish a lot of those things, but not in the way I had imagined because I ended up playing at Harvard and then we beat them at Harvard for the bean pot. And so that was like one way I accomplished that. And then definitely did not become a brain surgeon. I'm more of a business slash mental performance coach now. So, yeah, I'd say I like the way I came out of that because I'm still working with the brain, but not as a surgeon, thank goodness, because I don't think I'd be good at that.

So what was your biggest struggle? Like, like, or even now? Do you have any struggles that you're dealing with today?

I'd say today I've been. I guess I've been struggling with my purpose in life because as an athlete, you. You put your entire identity into being an athlete. And I think a lot of people forget about that, that when they're in high school or when they're in college that they are putting a lot of time into being an athlete. But like, that's not all that we're made up of. And so whenever I graduated, I took a three month, well, two and a half month backpacking trip through Europe. And I just walked and walked and walked and met new people. And it was kind of like the first time in my life that I wasn't on someone else's time. And it was a good experience for me to just be able to figure out who I was. For a little bit of time. And so I'm grateful that I had hobbies. Like, I'm huge into photography. I love writing. I like going and hiking. I like being outside. I like doing other things outside of my sport. Just like adventuring. But there's a lot of athletes that just like to train, that like to work out and like that's the only way they can decompress. But for me, like, I found all these other methods that helped me, especially once I was transitioning out of college when it wasn't really a full time job anymore.

Are you sure you're not part of our family? This is all about you. But it's kind of funny. So. My daughter's a writer. She went to nyu. My father was the photographer for the Red Wings, the Lions and the Detroit Tigers and Sports Illustrated. That was his side hustle for many years. He was a photographer for. I had one rule I didn't allow him when I was playing against the Detroit Red Wings to be around. And he still put that damn camera right in my face. But, but besides that, I said, and we love to hike and be outside. So those are great hobbies. I mean, do you plan on taking them anywhere? Is that just your. Your rituals, things that you love to do?

It's honestly just things I love to do. I mean, I take pictures all the time still, like anywhere I am, if I see a cool shot, I take it on my phone. Um, and then I just bought a drone recently over quarantine, which was super nice to like be able to see from different angles. And I've been getting into videography more mainly just for like social media and like showing people my life. But it's. I just think it's so much fun.

Well, I know you have a business major and an economic major, but I thought of a really great idea once. In fact, my. I can't take credit for this. My friend who was my billet named Bob Langley, he's. He was one of the people on our show. He played. He played hockey with me and Junior. He's a guy that wrote many poems. He's a writer and a photographer. So what he would do is get this really good art and then write about it and tell a story behind it. So, you know, with your background in coaching and performance. Now I'm not going to tell you how to run your. You're an economic and business major, right? So I'm not going to tell you what to do. But it's not a bad idea like taking pictures and journaling about It. Writing about it. I would, I would read your stuff.

Yeah, it's. I don't know, I kind of put them into my captions on Instagram. I'm not sure if you're big on there, but I like it just basically anytime I have a, a good thought and a good picture, I post it on there. But I send a lot of my thoughts to my friends and they love listening to it. So maybe I should start putting it out there.

Yeah, put it on your website because it will draw people in and it's the, the algorithms change all the time with Google, but it's good for SEO. Not that you're doing it for that reason, but being a young performance coach, I mean those are great to draw people in because it's pulling. It's like pull marketing instead of push. You're pulling people to you. You might be the first person in. In all of our. I think I've done 60 plus interviews and we, we're talking a business. I like it. I'm talking to an economic major, so I may be really cool to. To do. Because you have that writing background and, and the photography and it's just every day I hear these. I don't want to say anything bad about a coach or. But they're putting up these basic mindset stuff that people have been writing about for 30 years. Okay, okay. Mindset this and all these cliches and the same old quotes that they re engineered from somebody else. But something like what with your background, that would be cool.

Yeah, for sure. I'll definitely think about it. I've been pretty busy lately, but I'm down to try something new.

Yeah, why not? So. So you've had this great background here. You're, you know, being the captain, working your way through eventually. I'm going to share a quick story, then I want to. I'll share this with you. And it's. You talked about identity and a lot of us have this identity crisis when we're done. And when I was in Charlotte, I just moved here and I was invited to this professional athletes luncheon. They had. So they had 30 professional athletes and then they had all these businessmen within Charlotte, very reputable businessmen from the banks to you name it. And each pro athlete had to stand up and talk about themselves. So every guy standing up and saying I'm so and so. And I played for the Baltimore Ravens and yada yada, and I do this and other guys stand up. I played for the Carolina Panthers and, and I'm just going through this and I I stood up and I just said, yeah, my name is Mike. I'm a performance coach. And then the guy got mad at me there. He said, hey, tell him what you did in hockey. I said, nobody cares. And he got mad. He got really mad at me at this event. He goes, what do you mean nobody cares? I said, well, they can look it up, but right now, I'm a performance coach. Then another gentleman stood up, and he was this big, big football player. And he stood up and he told, you know, I'm so and so. I don't want to say his name. I'm a site. I'm a psychologist. I work for these. You know, he works here in Charlotte. And this guy had a great background. He. I think he was in the. Maybe in the Pro Bowl. And I. And I said, wow, that was great. So after I walked up to him, I said, I'm really impressed because everybody stood up, because. Not that it was bad, but everyone. We identify ourselves with what we used to do. And I actually learned a lot from this guy. I actually sent my son to talk to him at one time just because I wanted to talk to somebody. And he was such a good guy. And he said, you know, the thing is, a lot of us have identity crisis when you're done. A lot of us go through mental health situations. A lot of us have different things going on. So who we used to be, that's great, but who we are now is important. So I understand that identity thing. I thought I had to throw that. It was a good time to tell that little story.

Yeah, definitely. And, like, even it's funny because when I'll be in class with, you know, like, the boys hockey team or, like, other soccer players or anything like that, when I was at BU and at rit, they'd be like, yeah, I play ice hockey. And, like, that's. That would be their fun fact about themselves. And I didn't really like doing that because I'm so much more than just a hockey player. And I think sometimes people only see athletes as athletes when there's way more behind the scenes that they are like, brother, sister, a wife, a mom, even, like, I'm a photographer. I am super creative, all of that. And so I think it's really important to be able to tell people who you are besides just what you do and what you play.

Well, it's even worse as you get older. Nowadays, when I meet somebody, they go, hey, so what do you do? Like, what do I do? My name is Mike. Nice to meet you. Like, I always Believe that life is built on relationships. I teach my kids that I still have the same relationships of people I've known since I was 5 years old. My best friend who is a hockey coach, Marty Corders, he coaches junior hockey now in Wisconsin. And we've been friends forever, and we don't even talk hockey. When we talk, we talk about life. And it's funny when people you just meet say, you know, so what do you do? Well, it doesn't. That doesn't define who I am. What do I do? You know, what's I, I. That's my biggest. One of my biggest pet peeves, actually. So do you have any pet peeves like that? Like, you're so. But you're so young now. You got your whole life ahead of you, which is great. But is there any pet peeves? Like people judge you or put a label on you?

Yeah, I mean, it kind of. I mean, I guess it doesn't really bother me as much anymore. I will say one fat peeve. I don't know why this was the first thing that popped into my head when you said that was when I hold the door for people and they don't say thank you. I'm like, your lack of awareness hurts me. So, yeah, that's one thing.

Yeah, I'm right with you. Know what they say in Charlotte? We don't swear on our show. I don't swear. I don't even. We don't even edit. But the funny thing is, they say, bless your heart. And I didn't know what that meant. I'm not going to go into that. So in New York. So we just moved back from New York. We were there for the past three years, and we come back and I don't know what I like better there. We're in the elevator. You hold the elevator. They don't say a word. And then, oh, gosh, boy, these people are rude. Like, not everybody, but. And then I come back to Charlotte and everybody waves. You're walking down the street. Or they'll say, bless your heart. So I'll leave it at that. But so what I want to do is I want you to tell people a little bit about your community, because I think with your background, if you have a young athlete or any mom out there that really would like to get in contact with Reagan, where can people find you?

So my website is reaganruss.com but for the female athlete community, it's called femaleathletes society co. And within that community, it's actually been awesome so far. We have almost 200 members. And we launched, I think it was about a week and a half ago, maybe less. And so basically, girls can get resources on mental health, the mental side of the game, nutrition, workouts, recruiting, all of that. And then it's also a place where they can connect with female athletes from around the world. So, like, we have girls that played netball. I'm not sure if you know what that is, but they also play basketball. I do, yeah, yeah, yeah. So we have girls that play netball, volleyball, soccer, literally every sport you can imagine. And it's just fun to connect with those people. And I think starting in probably mid January, we're going to start doing live events where one week will be a live workout, one week will be talking with one of our mentors or coaches where they can ask questions, do about anything regarding sports. And yeah, so it's going to be a lot of fun. We're really excited about it.

Well, I'm going to add you, so you're going to be here in the show notes so people will see your URL here within the directory that they're listening this to on. And I'm also going to add you to the Hartman Academy website, so I'm going to add you there as well so people could find you. We have a lot of the people that we've worked with in there. It's a direct link back to your website. That's Hartman Academy. A lot of our listeners know if you. And I'm also involved with a very large sports organization that has over 700,000, and I'm definitely going to share your information to them. I don't know if anything's going to happen, but maybe it will. They're a great organization and I'm going to share it with them because it's great. I mean, you have such a great background, you have such a great story. Even being from Mississippi, you. You give people hope. Reagan, it was great to have you on the show today.

Yeah. Thank you so much, Mike. It's been awesome.

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Sam.