A short interview between Michael Gervais and Josh Trent exploring honesty and authenticity in professional sports environments. Gervais contrasts locker rooms (often brutally honest and supportive) with coaches' rooms (often politically dishonest), recounts an early pro-sport anecdote where he nearly undermined a hockey team introduction but instead earned acceptance, and emphasizes the value of standing in one’s truth rather than seeking approval.
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Locker rooms spent a lot of time, you know, in elite sport. Locker rooms are some of the most honest rooms on the planet. That is some really good, honest rooms, but it's one of them. People are naked, they're made fun of. Everybody knows what you're able to be, what you're capable of, and whether you're bringing it or not, if you're blowing it in your preparation, if you're a disaster in your life, you're called out, you're supported, you're loved on. It's like there's all of the experience in locker rooms. Not again. You can get a lot of trouble because there's some locker rooms that are pretty damning and, you know, and like really awful. But, but there's the potential for it to be great. Coaches rooms where all the assistant coaches and the head coach and where they get together and team up and have conversations, it's one of the most dishonest rooms. There's protection, they're on two year contracts. One person really holds the power. Whether people stay or go. Their jobs are directly related to how well the athletes do. And so there's, there's a lot of blaming and finger pointing in those rooms because they're trying to keep their job, they're trying to do the thing that they love. And it's not me, it's not my coaching, it's a kid. And so the dishonesty in some rooms is nauseating and the honesty in other rooms is so refreshing.
Dude, it's almost like when there's more to lose, there's more falsities, there's more fakeness with people. When there's more on the line, essentially.
Well, it's the likelihood that you would want to deflect, you know, and not, not be accountable.
So then, so then real power only comes from peace. Because if you're at peace and knowing who you are and knowing that you're great and not caring if you get well, I mean, I don't know if that'd be possible. To not care if you get fired, but to really know who you are, know your own value at any level of sport or life, doing the work on that could probably diffuse the fakeness in any environment whatsoever.
Yeah. When somebody walks in, that's really about it. Whatever it is for them.
Yeah. And they know themselves.
It holds up a radical mirror to everyone else. And so this is like, I've spent the last. I've never really had a formal job where I've had a nine to five thing. I've been an entrepreneur, solopreneur entrepreneur most of my life. And I never wanted to make a decision. Like I don't come from wealth, and I want to be successful on a lot of different variables. Financial success is cool too. You know, it's like spiritual health, emotional health, financial health. Like, there's lots of variables. And so I never wanted to make a decision where I had to take a job because I didn't have enough money in the bank account. So I didn't buy a lot so that I could say, hey, why don't you go fuck yourself? This isn't cool. And so there's a. There was my first moment in pro sport. So the coach brings me in, the GM wanted me there, and I this is a radical mistake. I didn't even realize it. The GM wanted me there, signed a contract, but I didn't know that the head coach actually was not involved. And so in hockey, guys are skating. He asked me to come to practice. The guys are skating. He. He sees me coming to the ice rink, blows a whistle. All the guys come to center ice. He then bags them, gets them sweating, gets him like agitated after practice. And then sends him into the locker room. And he says, mike, come on in. And so as we're passing through the locker room and guys are taking off their gloves and kind of unlicing their boots, he says, hey, boys, take your gloves and your boots off, but stay in your gear for just a second here. And guys are like, what the fuck? Like, smelly, agitated, like, what are we doing? So he, he brings me into his office and he says, chit chat for like three minutes. Pleasant. And I'm like, what are we doing? Why are they there? This is weird. This is my first kind of gig in pro sport. He goes, all right, Mike, let me introduce you to the boys. Brings me out and he says, all right, everybody, this is our shrinker, and if you're fucked up in the head, he's your guy. And he turns to walk off. And I thought I just got fucking done up. Like, oh my, this is the moment. What am I gonna do here? And so as he's walking halfway, this is the off access kind of punk in me. As he's about three steps away as, hey, coach, doors open for you anytime. And I was for sure thinking I was gonna get turned. He was gonna turn around and be like, hey, dude, we've had enough of this shit. I didn't want you here anyways, pus, you know, buzz off. And I needed the money, I needed the job. But I needed to know that I could back myself more. And then the rest took care of itself. The boys started hooting and hollering. One guy takes the Gatorade kind of thing, throws it up and down, and they're like, you know, they loved all of it and instantly slid right into the, you know, the culture that was there. And so it's one of my highlights in sport. And it was my first kind of almost blow the whole thing up. And so it's cool when you. When you can be a little punk rock, when you can speak truth to power.
Yeah.
And it's hard. I find it really hard to do.
Yeah. Because the price that's paid that you talk about with FOPO is we actually lose our authenticity. We lose ourself. What an ultimate price that is.
If you play the second game to be approved rather than to be about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You lose yourself. And you know what? You're giving yourself to them, which is their approval, which is pretty dangerous.
Yeah. And you're also losing the core essence of your own expression, which sucks.
Yeah.
To put it in simple terms.
Yeah.
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