Kendria Holmes The Truth About the Grind: How High Expectations Forged the Path to Excellence
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, this is unqualified qualifications with me. Me is the host, comedian V Mack. And today, I'm here with
Speaker 2:Kendrea.
Speaker 1:Kendrea Holmes. Yes. She is a female basketball player. She was big all big east rookie of the year, freshman team, came back the next year, led the team at Providence in points, also had multiple seasons with over a 100 assists, and she's a coach now and an entrepreneur. Tell her about how you doing today.
Speaker 2:I'm doing fantastic. How are you today?
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm doing extremely well. Can't complain. If I did, nobody will listen.
Speaker 2:Nobody wants to hear it.
Speaker 1:Alright. So let's get to it. Where are from, and how did you, where were you born?
Speaker 2:Here in Charlotte, North Carolina, hometown.
Speaker 1:You're short 10.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Born and raised. Betis Ford Road. Uh-oh. Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:Off to Ford.
Speaker 2:Straight off to Ford.
Speaker 1:So she could throw them hands and dunk them. You've been laid up, whatever it is. Right? So so what was childhood like for you?
Speaker 2:Well, I grew up two older brothers, twin brothers. Mhmm. And we just played a lot of sports. That's really my life from the time that I was three years old. Played a lot of sports.
Speaker 2:Did a lot of traveling with the sports. We played outside a lot. Mhmm. You know, that's really the main thing. We were just always together.
Speaker 2:My family, very family oriented, close family. Have a lot of cousins, aunts, uncles. We all used to get together, hang out. Chilling at the house in the backyard. We were always cooking out.
Speaker 2:And yeah, that's, that's kind of what it was just family and sports.
Speaker 1:Okay. And what led you to basketball?
Speaker 2:My brothers, my dad, my dad put a ball in our hands at a very early age. My brothers are two years older than me. So like I say, you know, I've been playing since I was three years old, just following them behind them. You know, we were always outside playing kickball, football, baseball, soccer, you know, but basketball is really what stuck with us. We come from a a basketball family.
Speaker 1:Okay. And you played here in high school, correct?
Speaker 2:Yes. High school, I played advanced high school. We went to the state championship, my senior I mean, my freshman year.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:We lost in the championship game by like two or three points. But then I finished my high school career at Victory Christian.
Speaker 1:And what's that?
Speaker 2:Well, it's a private school.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And when I was in school, majority of the girls, we played AU basketball growing up. They were already there. You know, it was a point in time where, my parents saw a better opportunity, you know, for for my career. And I got a chance to go play with them, we were a nationally ranked team. We won two state titles while I was there.
Speaker 2:We won two national titles. We were in the sweet 16 every year that I was in school. So it was a pretty it was a pretty stacked stacked team.
Speaker 1:Okay. So how what was your experiences with AAU? Because you hear mixed reviews on AAU basketball, like is pushing the kids too much, they doing too much working out or how do you feel about AAU?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm definitely not the person to ask if the kids are being pushed too hard. I mean, that's what it takes in anything you do. But AAU is definitely different from when I was in, I mean, when I was growing up. It's not, they call it travel ball now.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But AAU when I was growing up, you know, I played with the same girls from the time that I was like 14 until we finished playing, through high school. But, you know, you play you play, you had a state chair, you had a regional tournament, you had a state tournament, and then you go play in the national tournament against all these teams from across, you know, across the globe. So, it was great. It was a great experience. It prepared you for, you know, college.
Speaker 2:It prepared you for high school. It prepared you for the next level if that's what you, you know, if that's what you desire to do. And just to, to grow up with a lot of those girls. When I was coming up, it was, we was playing, Maya Moore was on my team. She played at Yukon.
Speaker 2:But we played against the Tina Charles's of the world, the Angel McCautrys of the world. Like you get to play against these girls and you get to see them continue to grow and, and where your careers go from there. A lot of girls went on to play in the WNBA. So, you know, AAU was a great experience. And not only that, my best friends today at 36 years old are girls that I grew up playing basketball with eight, nine, 10, 11 years old.
Speaker 2:So, you know, the the friendships that you that you that you get growing up playing team sports, you know, not just basketball, but any any team sport growing up, think, is is kinda really great in the development of any child. It teaches them a lot of skills, you know, kind of prepares you for things that you don't even know that you're preparing for, in the long run. So, yeah, I'm a I'm a big advocate for AAU basketball, travel basketball, any team sport, really. Mhmm. Any sport in general.
Speaker 2:My daughter plays golf. It's not a team sport, but, you know, to play a sport, I think it it it helps helps to navigate, helps you to navigate through life and and stay focused on, you know, and understand that it's always a bigger picture at hand.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And, you play point guard. Correct?
Speaker 2:Correct.
Speaker 1:So you play point guard?
Speaker 2:The god.
Speaker 1:Point guard. Okay. Excuse me. Well, the coach on the court. So you play point guard your your whole career.
Speaker 1:Correct? Correct. So how did how did translating from high school point guard to college point guard? What was the difference?
Speaker 2:The game was a lot faster. I think that's the main thing. Just understanding how fast the game really is at the next level. I mean, from level to level, you know, but going from high school and I went to play in the Big East, which was a powerhouse Mhmm. Conference Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Playing against top 25 schools every night, UConn, Louisville, Rutgers. I mean, 25 schools literally every single night. And to play against those guards, I mean, you had to grow up fast.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:You know? And I started as a freshman, in the Big East, so it was it was a learning curve. But, you know, once you really get into it and and the game begins to slow down, you know, it's just all about the skill development, developing your skills and getting stronger and just continue to grow as a player. And I mean, it was definitely a leap though, for sure.
Speaker 1:So how was the translation from leaving the South to the North?
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1:Let the country grow into the big city.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness. It was something. And being kinda in the South all of my life, you know, to really go to Rhode Island.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, I played at Providence College, which is in Rhode Island. First of all, I didn't even know where Rhode Island was.
Speaker 1:To New England
Speaker 2:state. New e New England state. I learned a lot. I learned a lot. Very different.
Speaker 2:Cold, number one. Yeah. But one thing I will say is that in the summertime, it did get extremely hot. You know, you hear about the cold a lot of times, but we were outside working out in 100 to 505 degree weather. I can remember that as if it was yesterday, but, the winters definitely are a lot different.
Speaker 2:Blizzards, you still going to class. Life still goes on as opposed to here in the South. If they talk about snow, it's shutting down.
Speaker 1:Yeah. I'm curious, like we gotta still go.
Speaker 2:Yeah. You still going, you still going to class, you still going to practice, you still going to play any games, nothing's changing, the world's not not slowing down, but know, culturally the people are different. They always knew that I wasn't from there because I was so hospitable. You know, the hospitality that we show is just natural
Speaker 1:for
Speaker 2:us, you know, you walk by somebody on their front porch here in the South, hey, how you doing? Everybody's speaking, waving, you know your neighbors. But up north, a lot of times you speak to people and they're like, oh, hey, you speaking, like, let me speak back. It's not a second nature thing.
Speaker 1:They might be looking at you like, why are you even comfortable?
Speaker 2:Exactly. Exactly. And that was during the time, I was in school during the time where we were wearing grills heavy.
Speaker 1:You had a pair of grills?
Speaker 2:I had some bottoms.
Speaker 1:Did you see your grills?
Speaker 2:And I was in Rhode Island with letting my grill shine. I mean, so they knew I went from there. I ripped this out proudly.
Speaker 1:It was a culture shock to them. Yep. So did you have to deal with racial issues up there as well?
Speaker 2:Honestly, didn't. Not that I was aware of.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:I honestly didn't experience racism for the first time until I was probably about 28, 29 Mhmm. That I was aware of. So up there, it wasn't because and I think also because we were all me and my teammates, we were always together, and that's kinda how we did. We hung out with each other. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:You know, we partied together. We went to the mall. We was at the mall together. We it wasn't a whole lot of outsiders, and we all got alone. You know?
Speaker 2:So I didn't really experience racism out there.
Speaker 1:So what was the grind of a season in a big powerhouse conference? How was that like in comparison to like, you also went to UNCC, right?
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So it was, was it easier in USCC comparison to playing? No.
Speaker 2:Alright. So let me, let me be very clear. It doesn't matter what level of basketball you play. The grind is gonna be the same regardless. And as a coach now, I try to teach that to my, my kids that I'm coaching.
Speaker 2:If you go junior college, if you go to vision one, if you go to vision two, if you go to vision three, it does not matter. The grind is the same. As a matter of fact, at the lower level schools, the grind is probably harder. But at Charlotte, played for a hall of famer. I believe she hasn't been named a hall of famer, but Karen Astin, I believe she's going to be a hall of fame coach.
Speaker 2:And the way that she did things, she left from Charlotte. Actually, she came from Baylor.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:She went she was an assistant at Baylor for a long time. She won champions hips with Kim Mokie over there. She was at Texas for some time. They had a hall of fame coach. She was an assistant to hall of fame.
Speaker 2:And then she came to Charlotte. She got a head coaching job in Charlotte. But once she left Charlotte, she went back to Texas. Mhmm. And Texas was the top five school when she was there.
Speaker 2:So I say I say all that to say she ran her program at Charlotte. I'm sure the same way that she ran it at Texas as if it was a major division one program. So nothing about it was easy. We had to make a six minute mile time before we got to get our practice uniforms. Every day we came into practice, we had something called forty minutes of pride where it was just like you were sucking wind after forty five minutes, hoping that practice was gonna be over.
Speaker 2:That was just the beginning of it. Practice was super hard. She was very tough, you know, in the way that she coached, but I learned a lot from this lady. My coaching style now, I have to say, is kinda modeled after her. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:She was a tough coach, but she got shit. She got stuff done.
Speaker 1:You curse.
Speaker 2:She got stuff done. Yeah, nothing about Charlotte was was easy at all. I mean, you know, we won a a conference championship while I was there. Mhmm. Well, the year before I got there, I was there, but I wasn't playing at this time, but I because I had to sit out, but we won a conference championship.
Speaker 2:We went to the semifinals of the NIT my senior year. You know, we were always in the top half of the conference. So no, Charlotte was very it was much harder than it was at Providence. Providence, we were in the Big East, but we were bottom. It was 16 teams in the conference.
Speaker 2:We were 15 to 16 my first two years there. Now I will say going from major division one to a mid major school, if I would have stayed at Providence, there's no doubt in my mind that I would have been in the WNBA. Be just because of the conference, the politics, you know, I was on the all freshman team as a as a a rookie. My second season there, I put up some good numbers at the school. Had WNBA scouts in the stands.
Speaker 2:And then, you know, I decided to transfer because we weren't winning.
Speaker 1:That's why you transferred?
Speaker 2:Yeah. To be quite frank, I was a winner. You know what I mean? Losing sucked. You know, I didn't come from that.
Speaker 2:It didn't feel good. I didn't know how to maneuver in it. I couldn't operate in it. So, you know, I made a decision for myself to leave and go somewhere else.
Speaker 1:So when you was going through the losing, were you at odds with the coaching and your teammates?
Speaker 2:No. Me and my teammates, we always stuck together. Mhmm. I would I wouldn't say I was at odds when my freshman year okay. I'll take that back.
Speaker 2:Yes. I was my sophomore year now that I think about it. Because what they did was they fired the lady that actually recruited me. She was an assistant, but he fired her. And she's who I really, you know, jailed with more than any anything.
Speaker 2:And when he fired her, you know, it was a situation where he and I didn't really get along too well. So I'm you know, I I made the talk talk to my parents about it and made the decision. Plus, was seventeen hours away, you know, and my parents growing up, my parents never missed a game for me and my brothers. Even when I was in Providence, they tried their best to be at every game that they could. But being seventeen hours away, you know, it's kinda hard on your parents.
Speaker 1:Especially with the winter.
Speaker 2:Exactly. So, know, Charlotte really wasn't my first choice, but it
Speaker 1:What was?
Speaker 2:Well, I was when I was transferring, I was being recruited by, Illinois' Mhmm. Michigan State. I really wanted to go to Illinois' Funny story. Michael Jordan's son played at Illinois. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And I wanted to go to Illinois because I just knew me and Jeffrey were gonna get there.
Speaker 1:You you your crush was gonna lead you up through there. I was
Speaker 2:gonna get
Speaker 1:the man and some jays. Let's
Speaker 2:do it. They were good too. So the head coach that was at Illinois at the time, she's actually an assistant on South Carolina right now. Jolette lost. Shout out to Jolette.
Speaker 2:But yeah, she recruited me coming out of when I was leaving Providence. But I came home, another funny story. When I was transferring, my cousin played at Charlotte some years ago, she's older than me, but they contacted her. They heard that I was leaving. I was coming home to get my hair done.
Speaker 2:So they were like, oh, well, you know, let's actually just make it an official visit. They paid for it. They paid for me to fly out and I made this my visit. Had a ball. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Had a ball. Probably too much fun.
Speaker 1:That's what yeah.
Speaker 2:And before I left, I committed to coming to Charlotte.
Speaker 1:Dope. Yep. Did you have to sit out a year for transferring?
Speaker 2:Yep. At that time Yeah. You had to sit out a year. Yeah. Was gonna I had a few schools in the same conference in the Big East that wanted to recruit me, but you had to sit out two years if you went conference to conference at that time.
Speaker 1:That's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's crazy.
Speaker 1:So then what would you do with your because you played sophomore year, so you sit out two years, would they arrest you for two years or something?
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, I don't know because it was kind of unheard of. Nobody's gonna go sit out two years. Yeah. You know, there's other options.
Speaker 2:I could have went to a junior college and then went back there, you know, that, but nah, really couldn't even tell you the answer to that. I don't know. But the first year when I came to Charlotte, did, it was a red shirt year. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So then you played two more after that. Right. Okay. And when did you, so after UNCC Charlotte and you did everything you could do in college, you went pro, correct?
Speaker 2:Yes. I went and played in The Czech Republic.
Speaker 1:And how did that all come to fruition?
Speaker 2:Well, once I graduated, I got connected with an agent. And then, I mean, from there, your agent kinda does your work. You know, they market you. They they market you to to various teams that they have in their in their network. They're looking for, you know, what it is that you have to offer and negotiate contracts, you know, and things like that.
Speaker 2:And they come back and kind of tell you what they've done, you know, and you let them know what your minimums are, what you'll take. And then, you know, they'll kind of give you your options of what you have from there. And so, yeah, that's kind of how it all worked out.
Speaker 1:Yeah. How, is it true that the money overseas is more than actually the WNBA?
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, it just depends on where you go.
Speaker 1:Because it's different levels, ABC, right?
Speaker 2:Right. It's various, you know, it's top levels, it's mid levels, it's low levels. So it just depends on where you go.
Speaker 1:And how was your time over there in The Czech Republic?
Speaker 2:It was different.
Speaker 1:It was cold.
Speaker 2:It was very much cold. I remember, so my birthday's March 23. I was over there for my birthday. March 22, we had a it was 88 degrees outside. March 23, it was a blizzard.
Speaker 2:No lie. I called my mama like,
Speaker 1:no. What is this?
Speaker 2:What is happening right now? But yeah, I mean, was it
Speaker 1:was a How long are their seasons?
Speaker 2:Seven months. I was over there seven months.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. And how did you perform over there?
Speaker 2:I played I played pretty good. It was different. Basketball overseas is very much different. The rules are different. The style of play is different.
Speaker 2:When you're a foreigner, the referees definitely ain't giving you no calls. But yeah, for my team, we went, we made it to the second round of the playoffs and then we got knocked out in a It was a five game series.
Speaker 1:Yeah. How long did you stay?
Speaker 2:I was at four season.
Speaker 1:That was it? Yep. And then, so when did coaching come involved in all this? Did you-
Speaker 2:Coaching actually just came into play about- So
Speaker 1:what did you do between coaching and check?
Speaker 2:Yep. So after the Czech Republic, I came back, I had a tryout with the Harlem Globetrotters Uh-oh. Which was pretty dope. And then I got pregnant. So then I had my daughter, and then from there, I went and played.
Speaker 2:After I had my daughter, I got back in shape, and then I started playing semi pro.
Speaker 1:Where?
Speaker 2:Here in Charlotte, my cousin owned the semi pro team.
Speaker 1:And what does that look like? What does that semi pro basketball like?
Speaker 2:It's just like any other, you know, league you play against other obviously semi professional teams from across, from wherever, others from state to state.
Speaker 1:Is it unisex or is it just
Speaker 2:No, is a female league. And then you play and then you have a national tournament.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:We won the national tournament, what's this, '24 probably in 1718.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:We won the states or the regionals three years in a row. So, I mean, you know, it was, it was pretty competitive. It was a way for me because I wasn't ready to be done playing. I could have went back and played overseas, but I had my daughter and I had to make some decisions. And, know, again, very family oriented.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I couldn't do that. So, you know, semi pro was, was good for me. It gave me an opportunity to continue to play. It gave my daughter an opportunity to see me play. It gave my family an opportunity to continue to, you know, to see me play family in the stands.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's no other feeling like it. You know what I mean? Being able to play. And even now, if I'm playing in a parking rec game, if my family's in the stands, you know,
Speaker 1:Go harder.
Speaker 2:I'm putting on the 100%.
Speaker 1:Just for you, dad.
Speaker 2:1000%. But yeah. No. It's semi pro was good. I had a good time with that.
Speaker 1:Okay. So then after the semi pro in 02/2017, 02/2018, what was next?
Speaker 2:Then I started coaching.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. How did that come into fruition?
Speaker 2:So Joe Badgett shout out to Joe Badgett. I call him my uncle. But Joe's been asking me to coach. Joe hadn't asked me to coach for probably about six or seven years. Co Joe is a a high school basketball coach here.
Speaker 2:He's won multiple state championships. Anybody in the basketball world knows who he is. But he even asked me to coach. Wasn't ready because I was still playing. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And then I think it was the year before the pandemic. The pandemic was in 2020. Right? Yeah. So the year before the pandemic, he reached out to me.
Speaker 2:I had finally was like, yeah, I'm retiring. I'm I won all I needed to win. I have nothing else to prove. So then when he finally asked me again, I was like, yeah, why not? Let's see what let's see what it's about.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. So then I started coaching the middle school team, the middle school girls team, and we actually went on to win.
Speaker 1:What school?
Speaker 2:Carmel Christian.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. You win. Right?
Speaker 2:No. Went to Victory Christian. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So Carmel Christian, coached the middle school team. My first year, we won the middle school championship. You know, I didn't even know they had championships, tournament or whatever, but we won that. And then my next year, so I was at Carmel for six years total. Coached middle within my six years at Carmel, I coached everything.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. The middle school girls, the middle school boys, the varsity girls. And, you know, I had a pretty good career over there. Some things happened at Carmel. And so last year I went to Charlotte Country Day.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. I left Carmel as a head coach, took the team to their first, tournament. Mhmm. We won our first tournament game, ever in school history. And then, like I say, I left, then I went to country day.
Speaker 2:I took an assistant job over there.
Speaker 1:For what grade?
Speaker 2:High school, varsity girls.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And we had a pretty good season last year. I think it was the best the girls team had ever done in school history. So, I mean, from there, I don't know when this will drop. However, I'm gonna let you know that, I've been offered a job at Victory Christian. Dope.
Speaker 2:The school that I appreciate that. School that I came from, they offered me a head coaching job over there. So I'm for sure gonna take that and go build the program back up to a nationally ranked program like we were. And I feel pretty good about it. I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's dope. Yeah. Congratulations.
Speaker 2:Appreciate that.
Speaker 1:So how, was it hard for you to translate from being a player to a coach?
Speaker 2:No, not at all. Because again, point guard skills, I was already a coach. Literally a, this on the semi team pro, on the semi pro team that I played on, our coach sat down because I was already the coach on the floor. So no, I mean, wasn't, it wasn't the hardest, I wouldn't say hard because it's just basketball. I've been doing it since I was three years old.
Speaker 2:I speak the language first. Mhmm. But the biggest adjustment that I had to make was just understanding that the girls just don't know what I know.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Do you know what I mean? Because I would catch myself using terminology that at the middle school that they have.
Speaker 1:Excuse me, ma'am.
Speaker 2:Picking what? Right.
Speaker 1:You put me to slide. What?
Speaker 2:Right. So really dumbing it down, you know, to the simplest form, but no, it's not. It's really something that come second nature and I've been coached by some great coaches.
Speaker 1:And you on your way to be a great one yourself.
Speaker 2:I hope so.
Speaker 1:No. You're going to be it. So when did the entrepreneurial spirit come in?
Speaker 2:It's always been there. That's always been there for me. I sold candy when I was in seventh grade to everybody. I was at school, always selling something. You know, I had my first basketball camp in 2014.
Speaker 2:So that's kinda, you know, it's kinda something that's been in. And then I have entrepreneurs in my family. You know what mean? So I've seen people build things from scratch and work for themselves and understand what it takes. My dad's an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2:He has his own lawn care service. You know, I have a cousin who's has a top private investigative firm in the state of North Carolina. You know? So and then my aunt, she's a seamstress. She has what we call a sewing house, you know, so she's a business owner.
Speaker 2:So I've kind of seen it, you know, all my life. And then I got my first job when I was about 25, 24 when I got pregnant. But I did. What
Speaker 1:are doing?
Speaker 2:I worked at a call center.
Speaker 1:Who? Call center life.
Speaker 2:Love it. Call center life.
Speaker 1:Oh, high school with the with a check.
Speaker 2:Exactly. That's all that Drama. They need
Speaker 1:a Everybody TV show. With somebody and did a what what how long was your break? What was you in the car doing in the break?
Speaker 2:Yeah. They need a TV show. But but So once I did that, I I I kinda knew. I left out of there and said, man, next time I work in a call center, I'm gonna own it. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so I knew working for somebody else had was never really was never really my thing.
Speaker 1:Mhmm. So explain how you set up your first basketball camp. Like what was the process?
Speaker 2:So it was actually through my church. I was actually overseas and I knew that once I came back home, I wanted to do something basketball related. So kind of put it into action. And once you put, really once you have the resume within this sport, in any sport, when you have a resume to back up what it is that you're teaching or what it is that you're talking about, it kinda is, it's easy. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:And especially in a sport like basketball, everybody's looking, wants their kid to be good. A lot of people don't know how to play, they have to put their kid, pay for their kid to play or something like, so if you provide the platform, if you provide something for them to bring their kids to. And then also it's kind of a babysitter's club. I've learned something.
Speaker 1:How how how so?
Speaker 2:How Because people will pay for you to watch their kids.
Speaker 1:And the kid don't even wanna play the sport.
Speaker 2:Well, sometimes they don't. You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:How you react with the kid that don't wanna play?
Speaker 2:If you wanna sit down the whole time, that's between you and your parents. No. But, I mean, really, what I mean by that is, obviously, if, you know, the kid is interested in playing a sport, their parents are gonna find something for them. And if they have an opportunity for to drop their kid off from nine to five while somebody else watches them while they go to work, I mean, they'll pay for that. Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know what mean? Especially in youth sports, folks, the money, business wise, the money is in youth sports 100%.
Speaker 1:I can only imagine and AAU.
Speaker 2:Yes, youth sports in general. You know what I mean? Whether they're looking for a trainer, whether they're looking for a camp, whether it's AAU, definitely youth sports for sure.
Speaker 1:Okay, so you started off your first camp and then you, what was after that? What was next?
Speaker 2:Entrepreneur wise?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Next comes a call center.
Speaker 1:You bought your own call center?
Speaker 2:Well, my cousin and I, we started one. Dope. We were in collections, ran that, managed that for about three years.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And learned a lot, you know, really in administrative the administrative part of the entrepreneurial business and payroll and, you know, How many people
Speaker 1:you had on your payroll?
Speaker 2:We got up to one point. We I think we had about 15 people in the call center. Yeah. But you know doing that then hiring and firing and you know just having to put handbooks together and you know attendance policies and just stuff that you don't really know about until you get into entrepreneurship. Payroll, it ain't no Well, it may be a class on payroll, but people aren't just taking classes on payroll.
Speaker 1:No, no,
Speaker 2:You know what I mean?
Speaker 1:Financial literacy.
Speaker 2:Right. Know, being able to really get a taste of that and then to dive deeper into it, that's kind of really where my entrepreneurial journey, I would have to say really kind of started to take off from there.
Speaker 1:When did you get up with the skate?
Speaker 2:We started rolling COT in 2000 in the pandemic. So 2020 is when we kind of started it. We had our first events Labor Day weekend, so September fourth of twenty twenty.
Speaker 1:How did that all come together?
Speaker 2:Man, it was so I had an idea for a roller skating rink with a bar and lounge here in Charlotte back in probably I was at the call I was at the call center, so probably about 2016 Mhmm. The idea kinda came, set on it, you know, kinda started taking some some business classes. I took a a business incubator course, kinda where it takes you ground level on how to build a business. Everything, know, from ground zero on up. So and the skating rink idea for me was that in that course.
Speaker 2:So he kinda walked me through how to get everything I needed from the business plan to, you know, everything that it takes. And so from there, I kinda sat on it a little bit more. Then I came in contact with this girl that was in class with me. Her name, Brandy, Penny Fox. We met in this course, in this class.
Speaker 2:And time had passed, and in the pandemic, she randomly reached back out to me and was like, you know, what's up with this skating rink idea that you had in, the class that we took? And she had another homegirl who had an idea for a skating rink. So from there, we all kinda just
Speaker 1:Meshed together.
Speaker 2:Meshed together and came together with our ideas. And that's how Rolling CLT came into inception.
Speaker 1:And what's going on with it now?
Speaker 2:Well, we're actually currently in the process of selling. We started it, grew it for two years, and it was a 6 figure business both years that, you know, we were, on the ground in the ground running. And now we've made a business decision to sell it. We've gotten a lot of inquiries over the over the last two years about, you know, we wanna do this in our town and how can we do this and great idea and all. So we had idea to now we're we're gonna sell it and get way more money than we invested in to begin with.
Speaker 1:That's the name of the game, right?
Speaker 2:That's the name of the game.
Speaker 1:So you didn't think about franchising it?
Speaker 2:No, we thought about it, but for the three of us where we are in our lives is really just best to sell it.
Speaker 1:Yeah. You're coaching now and you're entrepreneur. Well, new entrepreneurial activities or anything you got going on?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So recently over the last four months, I got a new job within the team career organization as the middle school director of girls basketball. And with this position, it allows me actually to host various events, AAU events. So my first tournament is father's day weekend of this year. So that's something that, you know, that I'm doing in entrepreneurial world, even though I'm under the umbrella of the Team Career Organization, you know, I'm kind of building this event up myself.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And it's really funny because I can really see how God is flowing in my life from hosting skating events, a ton of skating events. Putting together those type of events to now I'm flowing into something that I've always wanted to do, which is host AAU events. So yeah, mean, that's something that I'm really looking forward to. I also have a basketball training business.
Speaker 1:Explain more about that. Tell us more about them.
Speaker 2:Yep. So it's really just player development, mental development for the any kid that is trying to get to the next level.
Speaker 1:What ages?
Speaker 2:All low. All ages. I started about I mean, you know, I'll take a maybe a six year old Mhmm. If they have some if they can listen, I'm a say that.
Speaker 1:They ain't gotta dribble, they just gotta listen.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah. Because I can teach you how to dribble.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:But if you listen to what I'm telling you and you understand and you're comprehending what it is that I'm telling you, then I got something to work with. So I'll start at about six years old and I mean, you know, on up.
Speaker 1:How long has it been going on?
Speaker 2:I've been training for about six years now, five or six years now. And I enjoy it. You know what I mean? It's doing camps, doing clinics, personal training, just being able to pour back into the youth, the next person that wants to learn this skill because it took me far and wide. Basketball saved a lot of lives for people that I Yeah.
Speaker 2:I see. And, you know, to be able to give this back to somebody else and allow it to do for them what it's gonna do for them in their lives, you know, I who am I to not who am I to not share what it is that I have? And for me, you know, I'm walking in my purpose. This is a purpose for me. This is something that I'm called to do.
Speaker 2:I've been playing basketball since I was three years
Speaker 1:old. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:And for a long time, it baffled me because I knew that I was league material.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Still to this day, know that I could go play in the WNBA, but it was a reason that God didn't put me in the league.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And, you know, I had to to search to figure out what that is. And I believe 1000% that I'm on the right track on the journey that I'm supposed to be on. I'm on the assignment that I'm supposed to be on to give back to the youth right now. I believe that there's, you know, a a larger platform. I don't believe that I'm gonna stay in the youth field with this because I believe that the knowledge that I have, you know, is for the highest level.
Speaker 2:But this is where I'm called to start and I enjoy every second of where I am right now.
Speaker 1:Did it take you a while to get over the fact that you could have played in the WNBA when it bothered you?
Speaker 2:It didn't really bother me simply because I'm just not built like that.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean? Like, I'm in touch, I'm in tune with my father, which is in heaven and the conversations, you know, and I've always trusted him. You know, I've trusted every direction that he's sent me in. Plus for me to be honest, I mean, I'm a hooper and I know that I can play. And I played against a lot of girls that were in the league and I know what my capabilities are.
Speaker 2:So I don't trip that I didn't make it, you know, to the W, but I still was able to play basketball and I was grateful for that. Even now, every chance I step on the court, I'm grateful for it. I've never had an injury, a serious injury. I've never had anything to keep me from playing whenever I wanted to get out there and play. So I'm grateful for every second that I have to get out there.
Speaker 1:Dope, man. That's real dope. So when you teaching these kids coming up, can you pick out the dime?
Speaker 2:1000%.
Speaker 1:You could pick the person out that this is gonna be the one.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:And how often do you see those people?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm gonna be honest with you. The team that I have now, my AAU team that I coach, I coach 14 year olds with team Curry. And it's an elite group of girls. And I kid you not, I have 10 basketball players that can be division one basketball players. Great.
Speaker 2:Now all of them aren't going to be, be just because that's just how the numbers are. Mhmm. You know? And you got different variables that are gonna get in
Speaker 1:the life. Right.
Speaker 2:Right. I legit have a group of 10 that could go play division one basketball because they have that much potential, number one. But it's just a special group. I mean, it's it's a special group of girls that are willing to learn. They wanna learn.
Speaker 2:Now there are a few that, you know, are just dogs. Mhmm. 100%. And you know who they are when you see them. If you walk into the gym today, when my team out there, you gonna know who the dogs are.
Speaker 1:Mhmm.
Speaker 2:You always have those. And, you know, I'm I'm I'm lucky to be able to coach this group of girls that I have now because they are going to be special.
Speaker 1:And is your end game to coach D1?
Speaker 2:My end game is to coach in the WNBA.
Speaker 1:Oh, excuse me. Stopped too short. My bad.
Speaker 2:And to be honest, the day I was talking to my best friend and I was like, friend, you know what? I believe that I could coach in the NBA. And you're seeing it now. You know what I mean? You're seeing women get more opportunities to coach on the men's side.
Speaker 2:You see men coaching women, why women can't coach men?
Speaker 1:Yeah, the Hornets is interviewing women for their terms.
Speaker 2:Lindsey Harden. Yep, she was at Duke, former Duke player. I know exactly who she is, but yeah. And her team just won, she coached in the D League and they won their championship or whatever they have at that level. But yeah, I mean it, and women and you gonna hear the conversation more often now, but women understand the game a lot better than men do anyway because we have to.
Speaker 1:It's the purity of it.
Speaker 2:The fundamentals of the game. We don't have the athleticism. We not well, we getting there. Yeah. You know?
Speaker 2:But we're not dunking between the legs and we have to have the fundamentals of the game and that's what makes the game more exciting. Mhmm. But we understand the game at the fundamental level. So, yeah, I would like to coach in the NBA. If I got the opportunity, I wanna own an NBA team.
Speaker 2:Mhmm. You know what I mean? I definitely wanna coach at the at the highest level that I possibly can.
Speaker 1:So what would you tell the old version of you about everything that you've been through?
Speaker 2:Keep going. Simple as that. Mhmm. You don't know. It's a lot of unknowns, but keep going and trust god because he has had me at every turn.
Speaker 1:Do you in high school, you don't recruit people, do you? I ain't supposed to. My bad.
Speaker 2:No, you don't.
Speaker 1:No. We we don't recruit.
Speaker 2:No, of course not. No. No. What are you
Speaker 1:talking about? No. We we ain't go do that. No. Alright.
Speaker 1:Well, next. No recruiting in high school, only in college. So how do you talk to your players? Like, what are the like, what would you tell your players about the game that they don't know even when they think they know it?
Speaker 2:You mean, what am I telling them now?
Speaker 1:Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's a lot, man. It's a lot that they don't know. You know what I mean? And they don't know what they don't know. Just that, you know, trust the process for number one is is is is one of the big things that I tell them now.
Speaker 2:Just continue to trust the process, stay in the gym, become a student of the game. Mhmm. Because watch it because that's extremely important. You know what mean? It's a lot of athletes younger that don't watch the sport, but you can't I don't believe that you can be a great player if you don't watch it because it's I mean, you just gotta be a you gotta become a a a student of it.
Speaker 2:You gotta know what you're supposed to do. You gotta know what your teammates are supposed to do. You gotta know what the other team is about to do. You gotta be able to think 10 steps ahead of, but you only can do that when you've watched it enough. You know.
Speaker 1:Should they watch men or women?
Speaker 2:They should watch everything. I think it's something to learn every game that you watch at every level. I watch basketball at every single level. Obviously, you know, starting at the high school level. But yeah, I mean, because it's things that are being implemented at every level that you don't know that you're missing if you're not watching.
Speaker 2:The game at every level is different. It's a universal game, but at every level is something different that you could be learning. They do things differently at every next level.
Speaker 1:Okay. And you say you golf now, right?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And you and your daughter golf, right?
Speaker 2:Correct.
Speaker 1:Did you try to put a basketball in her hand?
Speaker 2:I mean, my daughter plays basketball. She doesn't love the sport, the way that I do, the way that my brothers do, the way that, you know, a basketball player would, but it doesn't bother me one bit because number one, my daughter got a lot some big shoes to fill. Mhmm. But but I mean, not only that, you know, that's her life.
Speaker 1:You know
Speaker 2:what mean? I'm really, I'm not mad that my daughter doesn't wanna play basketball because I want our relationship to stay intact. You know, when you have, and I see it all the time, when you have parents coaching their kids, it alters their relationship. And I don't want that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know, that's my baby, that's my daughter, you know, and if she was to play this sport, I would have to teach her. Yeah. I wouldn't give her to anybody else. I would be doing her disservice, But yeah, mean, she's get she gets in the gym with me now. And here's the thing.
Speaker 2:My daughter could be good if she wants to. Whenever she decides, if she decides, because it's not too late for her. Because we're always in the gym. She's always in the gym with me. She's working out.
Speaker 2:She has the skill set. I mean, she's continuing to develop her skill set, but she's not developing it to, in her mind, to go play. She's developing it to stay in shape.
Speaker 1:You know
Speaker 2:what mean? And it's time that we get to spend together. But as far as coaching her, I want our relationship to stay intact because you see it so often, relationships are are hindered because, you know, some parents don't know how to cut it on and cut it off or, you know, there's no line in the sand for them and I don't want that.
Speaker 1:So she took the golf?
Speaker 2:So, yeah, my family, you know, my dad introduced us to golf probably about ten years ago, my brothers and I. And by that, I mean, it was too late for us, you know, we just did it just because it was something to do after basketball. It was fun, you know, we found it a good time. And so, excuse me, we started taking our kids out there when we go out there, two, three, four years old. My daughter has had golf clubs since she was about four.
Speaker 2:And not even really to look at it as something that she may wanna do, but just to take our kids out there. And it was something that stuck with her.
Speaker 1:I've never played.
Speaker 2:And she loves it. At 10, she's been playing now since she was about seriously, since she was about seven. She started playing in her first tournaments last summer. She won her first tournament.
Speaker 1:Congratulations.
Speaker 2:It was it was very dope to be a part of something different. And just to see my baby excel in something, you know, that she really loves to do was, yeah, me and my daddy, invest in, and her father, we invest in everything that we possibly can. She wants to go to the LPGA's, you know, so, you know, for me, again, I speak basketball terminology, but it's the same track. You still gotta work hard. You still gotta invest in your kids.
Speaker 2:You still gotta be on the golf course all the time. The same way we were in the gym all the time. The Same way we were working out. It's no different. You gotta be in shape.
Speaker 2:You gotta have good eating habits. It's just another sport, you know, and I'm putting her in the best possible situations that she could be in getting her trainers, you know, and getting her coaches and making sure on the golf course three, four days out the week as much as possible. Because that's just what it takes. She say she wanna be in the LPGA's.
Speaker 1:We gonna
Speaker 2:we gonna do this until you say you don't. So but no. It's fun. It's it's fun. She's introducing my family to something different.
Speaker 2:She's introducing her father's side of the family to something that they're never they've never been accustomed to. And to see, look, black kids in in this sport is, something that's needed and black little black girls is something that's very much needed. It's a lane for her to excel in this. So I'm excited to see where it takes her. And in the process, I'm also becoming a very good golf player.
Speaker 1:Uh-oh, watch out now.
Speaker 2:You better watch out.
Speaker 1:You're gonna have to fill her shoes.
Speaker 2:There's no age limit to be in the LPGA. So You
Speaker 1:could be in the classic division.
Speaker 2:I'm just saying.
Speaker 1:So okay. So the name of this podcast is called Unqualified Qualifications. Right? So at what point in your career or in anything have you done that you feel you feel qualified, but the rest of the world thought you was unqualified?
Speaker 2:You know, I'm a be honest. I don't know because I really don't listen to the rest of the
Speaker 1:world. Mhmm.
Speaker 2:Ever. You know what I mean? I've never been that person to do that. My family is everything. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:And and we do a lot of building of each other up. And I really don't listen to the outside noise. I really couldn't tell you. I don't know.
Speaker 1:Just confidence reaping. That's the point God in her.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know.
Speaker 1:Give me the ball damn it. Give me life. I'll take it.
Speaker 2:Straight up.
Speaker 1:All right. So tell everybody we about to get about of here. So tell everybody your social media if you want them to know you like that.
Speaker 2:Yes. You can follow me on Instagram, boss lady underscore Ken. And I am on Facebook, Kendria Holmes as well. And I have a my business page, my training page is WC sports events on Instagram. And I believe that's it.
Speaker 2:I have a few other pages, but if you follow me on boss lady king, you'll see everything you need to see.
Speaker 1:Congratulations on your future endeavors as well. You're about to be the next head coach. That's pretty dope.
Speaker 2:I appreciate that.
Speaker 1:I had the first interview. Alright, y'all. We about to get up out of here. This is unqualified qualification. I'm comedian V Mac.
Speaker 2:Kendria Holmes.
Speaker 1:Be great, y'all.