Ep 02: Matt Scott: From Wheelchair Basketball Player to Paralympic Champion

[00:00:00] in the airport, there were thousands of Turkish fans in baggage claim like cheering for us, like waiting for our flight to come home, they lit off of fear inside the airport like our- Welcome to the Champion This podcast with Brianna Salvatore Doic and Chelsea Poppins,

[00:00:27] where we share the incredible stories of athletes and entertainers who are using their platforms to create positive change in the world and the communities they live in. We are fired up because our guest today is a Champion in every sense of the word.

[00:00:41] We have Matt Scott joining us today, a great friend of mine and Chelsea's and Matt is, yeah, super, super fired up to have him here. He's a five-time Paralympian in the world. Wheelchair Basketball. He's metal three times and he's gotten two gold medals including

[00:00:58] most recently at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. He is also money from three. My guy has been dubbed the Steph Curry of Wheelchair Basketball by the undefeated. I can- I can certify that he's a bucket in every sense of the word. He's also the executive

[00:01:15] director of fly without limits, foundation, a global social impact organization which provides resources info and opportunities to help people with permanent disabilities reach their full potential. Matt has been doing this not only is he the executive director of this foundation,

[00:01:32] but he has been a Champion in Pioneer for Paralympic and a Dr. Sports Community as well as for Disability Inclusion on the whole. Matt has also been nominated for an SV in 2008 as the best male

[00:01:46] athlete with a Disability Award and he's also been the first US Paralympian to start in a commercial. So just a few things. Just a little light light time on. You're like, you're like, eccentric, eccentric, eccentric.

[00:02:06] That could be the whole podcast. I love that. We don't want to keep you here. I appreciate the warm welcome. Thank you for welcoming me here on your podcast. Everything that you guys are about. What you just said with the intro, I'm humbled to be here.

[00:02:25] Super happy to be here with other people who are fucking sweet. You guys are true, true, who for his true baller. I've seen it with my own hands. You're our biggest fan that weekend. Oh my god, it's hard not to be like honestly, I remember this one game,

[00:02:42] like the audience needs to kind of take someone to journey with me. It was like, it was like, you guys were getting hacked the whole time. There was a bunch of like,

[00:02:52] I think there was even some blood. There's a lot of smoke. That was the end because bleeding. And you got to be sure I got thrown down. Yeah, like it was it was getting, it was getting really crazy and it was like,

[00:03:02] you guys looked at each other like, all right, we're done with this. Like, breathe or with like a heavy and you were in the, you were in the post like just dominating them. It was, that was a crazy game. But I saw some true present.

[00:03:17] Our great component of edge had to come out. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you saw the switch too. It was like, all right. We're crazy. I think as soon as as soon as that girl threw me down, I, I was like, no.

[00:03:35] Absolutely not. I mean, you, you hit it with like the dream shake like three times. She was lost in translation. I was like, this is crazy. Oh, my God. Yeah. But as we get rocking,

[00:03:52] I mean, I would love to hear a little bit of your background how you got into the sport. What it means to you. Yeah. No. I'm happy to share. So I started playing wheelchair basketball when

[00:04:04] I was 14, but basketball itself has been a big, big part of my life. Like it's been my life for my entire. I grew up in the Anlon Mixing era. I grew up in like the, you know, the Michigan

[00:04:19] five five black sock and baguished shorts. Like where you, where you really earned who you were on the basketball court, like you earned it with your game. So it was impossible for me not

[00:04:30] to be like drag into it. Like I was really, I was really, it really pulled me in because it had like this like transformative ability. I had like this really powerful way of like changing perception.

[00:04:44] I remember when Alan Iverson was on the rise and he was just changing the face of basketball. It wasn't like buttoned up. You had to be this professional anymore. It was like, you know what?

[00:04:56] This is where I come from. This is my, this is my culture and I can kind of change the way professionalism is is seen. And for me as a person with the disability, I've always wanted to change

[00:05:08] the perception of how athletes with disabilities have ever seen. So I kind of started idealizing those types of people, you know? Like the hot sauces on Anlon Mixing, Alan Iverson,

[00:05:20] like I said, the fab five and that was kind of my color. And I wanted to use the power of basketball to transform how people viewed me and saw me but not just me other people with with disabilities

[00:05:33] and other athletes with disabilities. For sure. And you even out that young age because you started you started playing wheelchair basketball at 14. You already were aware of this. This was already kind of that motivating factor for you. Yeah absolutely. And that was only wheelchair basketball

[00:05:48] that I started. I was out on like streetball courts playing for my friend that because I didn't know what I didn't know about wheelchair basketball. Anybody that knows my story already, they know

[00:05:57] that I did not want to play wheelchair basketball when I first heard of it. Because because of what society taught me disability was like disability was like this negative thing. So I'm like,

[00:06:09] I was trying my best to be like, I'm not, I'm not that disabled. You know, to be like, I'm not, I'm not disabled enough to play that sport, you know. But when I finally saw this sport,

[00:06:19] and I saw what it was in the competitive edge that they had in the skill level that it took to be dominant out there, you can't, you can take away from it. So I checked it out at 14

[00:06:33] and never gone. Let's go. So you checked out wheelchair basketball at 14 that, okay. Okay. I was getting the timeline. Did you start playing pick up in all of that

[00:06:45] at a younger age and then how did you, how did you find your, how did you get connected with the people in that community? That's a great question. So I was always told like, when I would go to

[00:06:59] like the doctor's office and they'd be like, oh, like you know, you seem like you're really, you're really active. You should try out wheelchair basketball. And I'm good. I'm okay. I play with my friends. It's okay. And finally, I just think I was just positively encouraged,

[00:07:14] positively encouraged by my doctor. He told me that there was a, there was a league that I could check out kind of locally and I want to go, I was like, fine, I'll, I'll go check it out. And

[00:07:25] I want to go see it. The game was incredible. It was just more of a practice like a skimage. But I mean, you absolutely don't know. Yeah, they were shouldn't.

[00:07:34] Now, so I, I, I, I just came to watch. Just kind of like check it out to see if it was kind of my vibe in the, yeah, it was, it was certainly was my vibe and I haven't heard. Well, speaking of which,

[00:07:46] right when you jump in, you actually, one of the youngest players that was ever recruited to play on the US national wheelchair basketball team. You were literally in high school of my guys. So

[00:07:58] soon as you found that passion, you were all in, you were getting buckets and you were elite. But what were those first years like for you playing on the team? Obviously, you know,

[00:08:07] you had to scale level to be there. But when you're first on the come up, you're a rook, you're young on the squad. Just give us a little insight into into that experience. You've paid that picture perfectly because my, my first years on the national team

[00:08:21] wearing incredibly humbling. It was like this rise to making the team. You know, like I had a very quick rise. For 14 to 18, I grew as an athlete. I feel like I got one of the scene and

[00:08:35] I was like, oh yeah, I'm here. I'm here. Maybe like, you know, it's not young to have been talented to. You're like, I'm good. I'm made it. Oh, man. We got into, we got into some international

[00:08:48] competitions and we, I mean, we got our ask a lot. We, we held our own, but it was, it was more than me that was just young. How was the youngest? Well, we had an entire core of young guys who really

[00:09:00] needed to kind of get like, just left around a little bit to kind of show show us what what it was to like really, really love this shit and really take it to the next level. So at the time,

[00:09:12] it was, it was kind of hard because you know, we went to our first games in 2004 and we didn't even metal. Like, we didn't come home with a metal. And that's pretty embarrassing. Like, even when

[00:09:22] you turned on the Olympics, when when TUSA doesn't win gold, people are like, yeah, a lot of pressure. Yeah, it's really, really funny. So we felt really bad about not coming home with a metal,

[00:09:36] but those losses really shaped us. It really changed my entire approach to basketball. Like, I started eating differently. I started training differently. It just became a whole different style. It's wild how sometimes even like you learn more from an L that you do from a dub, right?

[00:09:53] You learn more from adversity and you grow more as an athlete and as a person in those moments of, like, okay, I got a little humbled here, but this, I could either let this like defeat me or

[00:10:06] I can rise up and it's really cool to hear how you were able to, you know, he said, okay, no, this is fuel to my fire. You and the rest of the squad kind of took that as like,

[00:10:14] okay, I have a job on my own children. Now let's give this done. Yeah, that's right. And you guys know, like as as basketball players, as teams for athletes, it's more than you go and out there and just

[00:10:25] having a great game. Like, it takes a lot of camaraderie. It takes a lot of like jelly-nazotine. And I think with the national team, when everybody is so used to being like the man on their team,

[00:10:36] when everybody's so used to being great on their team, I think we lack the ability to sort of like then who we were to make for the greater good and, like, as we continue on,

[00:10:49] like in the 2008-2002, as we started to understand, like, okay, maybe on my club team, this is who I am, what on the national team just is why I need to be. So we learn those things pretty.

[00:11:00] We've learned from the hard way, but we've learned it. Absolutely. Even in basketball, the role you play is changes so dramatically from playing overseas to playing in the WBA, WMBA. And then who you were in college is completely different than who you developed into.

[00:11:16] Absolutely. Yeah. Well after high school, you went on to play with the UW-Whitewater Warhawks in the NWBA College Division. What was that like? And you want a couple championships? Well, just a few natties. Let me take, let me take one.

[00:11:35] I just like this. I can't talk in the locker room. For those of you who can't see this listeners, he's got on his like UW-Whitewater Warhawks college gear. There's love power by tradition. There's levels to his flex. That's right. Yes. Power yet there is. There is absolutely.

[00:11:54] So power by tradition is the perfect statement like written across one of chess right now. Your question was what was that like? You know, winning those national championships and establishing

[00:12:05] sort of a dynasty. It was awesome. And I'm proud to say that I am a part of of an era that made Whitewater a powerhouse in college wheelchair basketball. Honestly, so many national team players,

[00:12:20] so many gold medalists, so many legends of wheelchair basketball came through the Whitewater Program. And I was kind of a part of the big wave of greatness that came through there. It's a very small school. It's a D3 school and there's nothing there. I mean, it's like cornfield

[00:12:42] and yeah. And county miles right? I can tell what's fate this is in. This Iowa, you said cornfield. No, no, no, it's a lot of things. Basically basically Iowa. They got a little more of a cross beer in cheese. That's right. Yeah, no, the cheese because I actually

[00:13:01] have a big love for Wisconsin. I really learned how to be, I learned how to just go from like a talented player that had a few skills to learning how to like work my ass off and learning

[00:13:14] like what it was to like balance my time, what it was to be a good teammate. Like why water teaches basketball the right way. I had a coach by the name of Tracy Chenowif. He knew I was good,

[00:13:27] but he always pushed me to be great. He didn't, he didn't allow me to. I had a big problem with referees as a kid. You know, like I was just like they would call a foul on me and I would immediately

[00:13:39] take it. I would take it personally like oh, this they don't like me as a player. They don't like me as a person. So I would get really upset and I would go at them in my coach which just

[00:13:48] be like listen, like you can't you know you have to. He kind of molded me into like I had to be more amen about it, you know. You kind of talk, you talk me how to just go from being like this like a

[00:13:58] emotional kid to like harness the emotion. Yeah, so it was it was really great. I think that they have great coaching staff there and they have an awesome coaching staff there now. It's one of my

[00:14:10] best friends and national team teammate and he won his first national championship. We know Marna is the best. That's right. Congratulations to the to the Whitewater Warholks for winning on that. Let's go. So they've pretty much, they've stayed dominant since you were there too.

[00:14:27] Or we've had some of them. So they, um, there's there's this one up and down. There's been some wins but as of late they've, they've taken, they've had a few different coaching changes and

[00:14:38] they've had a, had a little bit of a, of a re-build but this year they've re-established that a dynasty and I think that they're, that your jacket was really on. I love how you said that

[00:14:48] your coach helped shape you into the athlete that you are today and the person that you are today more importantly because the people and power of people that are guiding like in college

[00:14:58] as our college coaches and or coaches in general are the people shaping your kids today and to see what they're able to do with you with us and and helping guide us as more than just athletes. I

[00:15:13] think it's so key and I love that you put that in there. Hmm. Yeah, it's, it's an underrated skill as a coach like you have to kind of, you have to show us not only what to do on the court but these

[00:15:27] skills are skills that we take from on the court to to life, you know, like even in like my corporate job like, you know, I want to be punctual and I want to, um, I want to show up for my teammates

[00:15:38] and I take the skills that I learn as a college athlete and national team athlete and those, I was coached to take these skills and use them in a ply of the NLs. Yeah, so it's

[00:15:49] underrated. I've like every single work metaphor that I use is like something related to basketball but really this kind of crazy how transferable those skills are into every element of our life and

[00:16:02] and I think basketball in the sports arena is yeah, it really is a great metaphor for a lot of things that we overcome in life and the mindset that we bring to our everyday. Shout out to those

[00:16:15] great coaches out there coach. Coach Stanley. Oh, Jen Gross you see Davis. So I wanted to circle back on your journey with the Paralympic team so just again to recap for the listeners you have competed in the Paralympic Championships five times starting in Athens in 2004 up to Tokyo 2021

[00:16:40] where you officially retired from the national team. During that time you won one bronze medal, you have won two gold medals and I know there's a process to that as well. So I want to kind of

[00:16:53] dive back into that, you know, you mentioned your first year with the national team, um, y'all that great but it kind of put that fuel in your fire to let's get this together, we're young

[00:17:03] squad. What is it going to take to, you know, really win and be motivated and come together as a team? So can you talk to us a little bit about that process and I'm sure even you, your role on that

[00:17:13] team and your role is a leader within the squad shifted so we'd love to kind of hear about that and yeah the mentality that you all had coming together and doing what it takes to win.

[00:17:24] Well the collective mentality definitely shifted. I told you in 2004 like we came and we just took an immediate hell. I feel like we were closer than it looked on the standings because we

[00:17:36] really lost a quarter final by three points but it still, it's still knocked us out of contention and kind of shaped the way that we approached 2008. So we came back in 2008, I told you I started, I started lifting differently, I started eating differently. I started, um, I started

[00:17:52] just training a lot differently. Like I felt like I was like all right, I really want to make this jump. And individually I think I made a jump. Individually I think our team made a huge jump as

[00:18:03] individual players. Like we brought a we brought what I think collectively was the best team in the world of the USA and in a collectively like if you took if you put it on paper like this this

[00:18:14] roster of athlete but we just couldn't yeah but we just didn't put it together in performance. So we ended up losing in triple overtime in the semi final. Yeah, we lost the triple overtime game.

[00:18:29] So that kind of knocked us out because we had this thing, anything less than a goal as a disappointment. That was our that was our motto like we're the with the best team here. Like

[00:18:38] there's anything less than a goal is a disappointment. So we got knocked out of the semi final into the bronze middle game and we came in there, um you know I don't want to speak for my teammates at

[00:18:48] the time but I feel like we came in there kind of soaking and not appreciative of the moment. So we could have taken home a bronze middle but instead we just kind of you know why are we here?

[00:19:02] We we already lost out on the go and we and we came home empty handed again. So this this kind of shook up a team USA will take basketball. We kind of we came back with a new core,

[00:19:14] we came back with a new mentality and this time we weren't just working on our individual game. We were working on how to be better teammates, you know like we you know hey call in each other up

[00:19:24] just be like hey you know how you do and let's let's check on each other. Let's hold each other accountable and that helped us win the bronze middle in 2012 but still we were missing something. We were missing

[00:19:35] like I think we were kind of old old mentality wheelchair basketball. We're still trying to play you know the big guys and you get under the basket and the the guards have the ball and in 2000

[00:19:47] in like that next so after 2012 we got a whole new coaching regime and we started playing kind of like small ball kind of like lawyers you know positionless basketball you know hey you know what if you're

[00:20:01] at the 3.9 yeah should that 3 if you have the ball handle that ball and shout out to Ram like it's because he changed the entire way that wheelchair basketball is played right now. He took

[00:20:13] that national team and he turned us into gold medalist it was amazing we really bought into a system and I think that's huge too because I think on national teams you a certain amount of

[00:20:23] ego comes with it. I'm proud to say that I have a ego I think you should as an athlete you should hold on to that ego it's your you know you should it pushes you a drive you but you also have to

[00:20:35] check that ego and our coach helped us check that ego he was like listen I want you guys to have your competitive edge but this is how we're going to play we're not going to play like you guys have

[00:20:46] been playing we're going to play this way any turn this into champion. Wow was there anything specific that he asked you guys to buy into that was kind of difficult to adjust and have own.

[00:21:00] Anything that he asked to buy into yes definitely because he's more of a like do simple better like just be the best at just playing simple basketball. Say fundamental backball bring it back yeah yeah he was and like it was just like we didn't

[00:21:22] really understand that concept that first because we've got some guys that can do some amazing play like you don't want to be real in like you know yeah yeah come on come on coach you

[00:21:33] want to see a half-quick pass from from now so we started doing simple better and that's that's the that's the thing that we bought into right off the bat coach came in and he cut

[00:21:44] some of the best players on the team and that really like made everybody like and and and wheelchair basketball is shook and they were like oh that that that 12 isn't going to be able

[00:21:57] to do anything and like it turned he kind of made his made us all come in together and be like hey look it's us 12 versus not just the team it's against everybody everybody thinks we're going to lose you

[00:22:08] know they don't they don't they don't believe enough and he really made us like come together and even to this day those are my brothers like the my national team brothers like they like those are

[00:22:17] my guys forever and he created that culture and culture is so important when it comes to being a champion it's not just the best players it's not just the best coaches you have to actually

[00:22:28] build a culture of winning and he does better. It was awesome we're excited to tune in this summer as well watch team USA wheelchair basketball give buckets get that gold again shout out Jorge Sanchez

[00:22:40] and the squad yeah we'll be tune in I know expected and excited for some big things yeah yeah I got you I got you I mean so they have the opportunity to three feet so after all those after all of

[00:22:54] those losses and finally the bronze we won the gold medal in real that was you know an amazing climb to the top and then we repeated that in 2021 so this is this is the opportunity for the

[00:23:07] and I'm really excited yeah so you played for you play you've been playing for 15 plus years is that right on the pro circuit so I played in the pro circuit so right after college

[00:23:24] I went straight to I actually played in Istanbul Turkey for about six years it was awesome I played for a team called Gallicesser I actually some of the WMBA players that you and you

[00:23:35] know we're actually on on the women's team so let's see who is there Diana Terrasi played there at the time Tina Charles, Simone Augustus we they just had a squad we had a squad too I wheelchair

[00:23:47] basketball team had a squad but it was nice to be able to to connect with some of them too I was I feel like as a college player I was just very like glued into like playing with Terrasis while

[00:23:59] I didn't really watch a lot of pros so I was unfamiliar with you know Diana Terrasi I was unfamiliar with Simone Augustus I was unfamiliar with Tina Charles and to see them the way that they approached

[00:24:09] the game it really changed my whole perception for for the way professional professional basketball goes I mean I know that they would all what they would play in the WMBA and then come all the way over

[00:24:20] to the to Europe and then just come on I think you got 12 months you got 11 months season beater bodies down yeah but yeah but there there approach really changed my my entire perspective on the entire game

[00:24:36] I mean not not just basketball women's basketball but just how to be an athlete at at a high level and I just really admire those players. Well was that experience playing overseas like versus playing

[00:24:48] in the the US because obviously Brianna and I have some pretty pretty gory horror stories that will save very stories but also wow yeah so it was it was a little bit crazy like you said

[00:25:04] I started over in Turkey which anybody that has seen Turkish wheelchair basketball knows that the fans are wild. They love they love that game they love they love sports you know they are really infatic and really passionate fans we've actually had riots in our games like

[00:25:22] Dave there's there's been like your gas. Like stop the game oh yeah. Is that Turkey or Athens? So check it out if so whoever whoever's watching this right now you know you can pause it right

[00:25:38] now or you can watch it after but you can go to YouTube or watch wheelchair basketball brawl and you'll see you'll see your first free but out of there like not only that to the show notes

[00:25:47] yeah it was crazy. Yeah just the Homer Simpson into the bushes. I mean they were they were throw it like sharp of glass up to the court. I'm not gonna have to go that my friends played an

[00:26:02] Athens for forget their name Olympiacos yeah and they would they would have people they had glass around the court because people were with throw things on fire at the game because they were so

[00:26:17] passionate about each team and who they were supporting and there would be fights breaking out every single game and I was I've never witnessed had had something like that happen to me but

[00:26:27] I would be just like you I'd be like I'm gonna go I'm gonna get on the bus. I'll see you there. Hey I'm paired with this. So so one cool story that I had so we won we had like what was called like

[00:26:40] the club the club team like world championship so you had your winner from Europe you had your winner from North America with you know all of different regions and so we went to Japan and we

[00:26:51] won the the world championship on my first year in Turkey and when we landed in the airport there were I mean thousands of Turkish fans in baggage claim like cheering for us like waiting for

[00:27:05] our flight to come home they lit off of their inside the airport like I don't play you better happen in an American I think that's like a felony or like a like they'd be bought in

[00:27:20] slam so fast yeah it was crazy but it was like the I'm gonna try to send you the link if it's on my face but it was the craziest thing there was media everywhere there was fans like

[00:27:32] crying that's that's when I was just like I was like yo this is this is actually a vibe I love playing out here this is a vibe I'm Turkey was your famous spot Matt Turkey was a famous place

[00:27:44] let's talk was Turkey my favorite spot so I played in five different countries and I liked them I liked four of them for a for all different I would say that

[00:27:59] we won't say which one I would say I would say Italy was amazing because of the food the culture I feel like I learned a lot about just people in Italy I thought it was great

[00:28:13] I liked to eat I liked to eat a lot and just kind of like sitting back drinking wine eating pasta was like my vibe let's see Germany was amazing it was like this old old towns like a

[00:28:25] lot of history and the basketball was with top notch Turkey I learned a lot as well it was just a different culture yeah like these were these were great places to play basketball I love that

[00:28:36] so we wanted to switch gears a little bit and you know we talk about the athlete mentality a lot of things that make us great a lot of that comes from overcoming adversity so would love to

[00:28:49] kind of if you're open to it talk to you about a big adversity that you had faced so 2018 you had a pretty big health scare you fell ill with substance you were hospitalized for a few months

[00:29:01] and you were in a coma for two weeks what really got you through this time what was your mentality coming back and do you have any words of wisdom for our listeners really overcoming adversity

[00:29:15] in those difficult spots and kind of how they can approach those seasons that's um that is that's easy for me to give that sort of advice because that was that was tough to get through

[00:29:29] and I'm always whenever I can never see someone going through a hard time or someone has a setback at their at the height of their career I immediately feel I immediately feel for them

[00:29:41] and I know what they're going through that was that was a dark time for me because I mean it was like the light shut off it was like I was you know at the top of my game top like peak physical

[00:29:52] condition I felt was very good and then it was just like light turned off and all of a sudden like now I'm in the hospital I'm better at it and it was it was um it was interesting because

[00:30:06] I've always I've always been someone even though even though I have a physical disability I'm always someone that is looked at as physically strong in case of 100 and when I

[00:30:16] and when I when I woke up from that coma they tried to like hand me a glass of water and I could hold it up like I couldn't hold up a glass of water so it was just like this really scary

[00:30:27] oh my god like is this is this me now like am I is this my new reality what got me through that is just I feel like I made myself a lot of promises

[00:30:39] that I was going to be back on that gold medal stand that I was gonna be that was gonna return to basketball and you know I've talked to people that aren't athletes to like oh that's silly like you know basketball was your you know your your only motivation

[00:30:53] to like get out of this dark spot and I'm like yeah yeah it was yeah it was like basketball that's my life and it really it really was my motivation to like get there I wanted to be next to

[00:31:07] my teammates I wanted to I wanted to make my family proud and I wanted to show myself that even though I got knocked down to basically the beginning that I I'm that kind of guy like I can get

[00:31:20] myself out of this and I really wanted to prove that to myself I really truly I truly believe that with the right mindset almost anything is over you can overcome and I think especially

[00:31:32] surround yourself with the right people and that that goes for that that circumstance or any circumstance I think being around the right people is the only way to get to your goals

[00:31:44] you can't get anywhere by yourself so there's no way that like I could have sat in this hospital bed and like got myself out of this you know I had a strong support system I had people helping me like

[00:31:56] do you know mind you know mindfulness and things like that just kind of reminding myself that everything's going to be okay if I take the right steps I remember one thing like I became

[00:32:09] a very big 11-11 person right so I actually haven't I haven't tattooed on my own level yet because I you know I'm still laying in this hospital bed and I got this big ass pocket first

[00:32:20] while so I'm in Germany I'm in Germany I don't speak I don't speak the language so like my nurses my nurses spoke kind of English kind of not so I kind of felt very alone there you know so

[00:32:34] I was I would have like I had this big ass clock that's been struggling with my bed and I would just wait for it to get 11-11 and I would just wish that I was out of there all the time right

[00:32:44] like I just like oh my oh this 11-11 has got to work right no so and finally I remember I remember looking at it the last time my last 11-11 it was finally time to get in my wheelchair

[00:32:56] and get out of there and I actually yeah got attached to you on my elbow um yeah but getting through hard times um is all about mindset mindset surrounding yourself with the right people

[00:33:09] and just in just believing you know like if you if you doubt yourself if you doubt the things that you're going to be able to accomplish that's going to hold you back and if you're around people

[00:33:19] that doubt you then that's going to hold you back as well. That's the mine is so powerful and like it's so easy to get caught up in those that negative self-talk or kind of the doubt and the

[00:33:29] even like well-intended people sometimes they're like feeding you lies or lowkey like doubting yourself worth and you're like no I know that I'm like creative for big things I'm worthy I'm confident and being able to really lean into that belief in that hope like I think is so

[00:33:46] so powerful like you said the mindset of it and and then like Matt you overcome that adversity and you win more championships get a gold medal like let's go you know wasn't like a chill combat

[00:33:59] like yeah I'll come back and I'll be like I got this. It's something like that will really make you frame your why and it'll make you frame what what is this really all about like what is

[00:34:13] what am I meant here to do um you know that was very much a near death situation um you know I was about as close to death as I possibly could have ever been um so you know coming back from

[00:34:25] that is really like okay this this is uh you know I've got to live at a time here how am I going to make my presence felt like what is why am I doing this? Am I taking things for granted? What

[00:34:37] am I you know what is my um what are my intentions um and I feel like finding purpose is very important in terms of like being a successful athlete being a successful individual just finding your

[00:34:51] purpose um I feel like lately like I feel like I've just been on a tear like I've gotten you know gotten a new we've got a new um what do you call it when they uh I've gotten a uh endorsement deal

[00:35:04] I need more words Matt I need more words no yeah I need a new mindset coach pick up no so so I've um I was you said earlier I was a I was a business associate at visa

[00:35:18] and I have recently taken a new position at visa which is a little bit okay I love it um yeah so that that has been one way that I've improved been able to start my own um nonprofit organization

[00:35:32] which I'm really pumped about and then just continue to spread the word about the parylipic movement the uh adaptive sports movement and just feel like I really been um able to promote that in the

[00:35:44] most positive way possible um so outside of getting off of that I have to be a bit of winning championships I feel like I'm continually winning these like personal championships and being able

[00:35:54] to spread love all across our community. Talk a little bit more about your role in that community and being an advocate for that and um advocate for inclusion and universal partnership participation words are hard for participation in sport. Where's our heart the word I was looking for

[00:36:12] was from the family. I can't find that word I was like a reach you didn't I was reaching my head like what where do I look for found it so yeah I can't talk to you a little bit about that

[00:36:27] I've always felt a responsibility to my community as someone who is capable and willing I want to I want to share my capabilities and share a positive light on what the what the

[00:36:44] disability community is capable of. I think that we are very um hmm where we can be the underdog sometimes I think that sometimes people can take people in the disability community lightly but we're really capable of great things and as I continue to excel and continue to

[00:37:03] reach higher and higher heights I want to show people like that this isn't just me there's a lot of greatness in the disability community and I think that that's starting to become more evident.

[00:37:14] I think that we're starting to get more opportunities in uh in media we're starting to get more opportunities in sport we're starting to get more opportunities in the corporate world and I proud to say that I'm a I'm a pioneer 100% 100% one of the other things you kind of

[00:37:31] touched on a little bit but you've also founded again your own nonprofit fly without limits foundation the global social impact organization again providing those resources info opportunities to help people with permanent disabilities reach our full potential. Why why did you decide to

[00:37:47] start this foundation how is it going tell us a little bit more about this yeah so you know I grew up with my disability um grew up with my disability didn't have the resources didn't have the right direction I told you I didn't find wheelchair basketball in celais 14

[00:38:06] I want to I want to help people get connected to a adaptor sports quicker and not just through adaptor sports I want to help them reach their full potential in whatever way they see fit

[00:38:17] if they if they need help you know finding resources for employment or education we want to be we want to be that resource um we have a we have a we have a program going on called camps for

[00:38:29] champs through our through fly without limits and we're sending multiple kids this year to wheelchair basketball camp of their choosing because I want them to I want them to be able to learn those

[00:38:40] skills that I learned as an athlete and be able to use them for the for the future um we also have a we have a program called taking flight where we're getting into the community and we're identifying

[00:38:50] people with physical disabilities that are experiencing what we would call an obstacle or a barrier and we're we're moving that barrier um we don't you know we don't care if it's financial we don't care

[00:39:01] if it's um if it's societal we are removing that barrier and we're we're tracking that and following those stories and bringing people along with what we're at what we're up to um we're not we're not

[00:39:13] at the point right now we're out here and we're going to affect the entire disability community but we are taking one person at a time we are taking one um one obstacle at a time and we're

[00:39:25] building a community and my my goal is that that community continues to build and build until um until we are able to affect the entire community. Yeah let's go I love it and I think it's also

[00:39:37] powerful what you said about you know not every single whooper that comes through the program is going to be uh five time pair Olympian but every single individual that participates in a doctor's

[00:39:50] sports pairs sports they're going to be affected by that experience and they're going to take away those skills we talked about earlier like that confidence resilience discipline all those things that we know have an incredible impact on our careers and our lives in general um so yeah really

[00:40:06] love that Matt and you know we listeners like get out and support Matt support this amazing nonprofit fly without limits foundation you know we want to we want to we want to champion you

[00:40:16] and get involved as well. Thank you I appreciate that you know my moniker has always been my so fly and so fly without limits just kind of felt like the the right way to go that because

[00:40:29] there there are no limits to that the only you know everybody knows that the only limitation is your mindset if you have that positive mindset we want to we want to continue to promote that positive mindset

[00:40:40] and make sure that people feel empowered in our community we are empowering people with physical disabilities and we are not a organization that feel sorry for us we have disabilities it's like

[00:40:51] no we are out here we're living we're winning and you can join the movement if you like do you have any stories of the ways you've been able to impact anyone who's come to you for a help

[00:41:02] assistance or advice absolutely I'll start I'll start with the young man by the name of Naz so he um he lives out in the East Coast he lives in New York he's a recent gunshot victim um he reached out

[00:41:14] to me because so I post I post my workouts every day on Instagram I just I just do I don't know our guy we're gonna we're gonna leave it but he will get right they they follow along with me

[00:41:29] and you know I don't know who they're gonna reach all the time you know but I put them out there for the world to see and this kid Naz he reached out to me and he said hey listen I'm currently

[00:41:41] I'm in the hospital you know I just I was just recently shot um I'm never going to walk again I have you know I'm paralyzed I you know randomly you know algorithm or whatever it is I randomly

[00:41:54] ran into your videos and I'm super inspired man like I want to know what the next portion of my life is look like can I can that be me can I can I do those things and I want to tell them like yes

[00:42:06] that can definitely be like you're just in the hospital right now so instead of just writing them back and sending them a DM and telling them everything's gonna be okay we should all out there to

[00:42:16] to New York we went and hug out with him at the at his recovery at the rehabilitation hospital that he's at we noticed that he's in like a hospital chair like it's like one of those chairs that they put

[00:42:27] you in when like you know you like spray your ankle or something really old school it's nothing that it's nothing that you could feel confident in so what so what we did is we we worked with our

[00:42:38] partners at performance who make custom really fly wheelchairs and we had we had Naz a custom wheelchair built so now so yeah now we're gonna we're actually it's it's just finished we're going to fly

[00:42:52] that chair back out there too and we're going to deliver it to him so not only is he going to start his journey as a person with the disability he's going to do that feeling a bit more confident

[00:43:03] out there I'm also you know we talk we talk on a weekly basis I'm going to you know get him into some different workout routines I want to help him get involved with adaptive sports and kind of

[00:43:14] changes life a bit so that that's him you know you've developed a great relationship and we've been able to get we've been able to get him in the right equipment and also just given

[00:43:23] a community that surrounds him the next person his name is Paul he goes by the name of ghost what a name and I think it's a cool nickname. Yeah I think it's a cool nickname but it cuts so

[00:43:36] candidly it makes me a little bit sad on why he quite shows that name ghost he felt like he felt like he was you know he needed to like make himself invisible he felt like he was

[00:43:46] you know he was going down a little bit in terms of terms of just being like depressed and like during the pandemic and things like that so he kind of started to own that and like make

[00:43:58] it his moniker he's making it a brand we actually weave we got him a new like a personal like not personal assistant a physical coach that's helping him lift weights

[00:44:13] we got him want to work out plan and we were paying for his gym membership for the entire year and just making sure that he feels as confident as strong as he possibly can so

[00:44:22] we're out here, we're changing the lives in a small way but you know in a way that that feels good to us you know that's very small I would say that's huge is there any way that listener's

[00:44:34] can support you become involved in your foundation that you recommend to them? Absolutely flywithout limits.org just come check us out during the movement we have a YouTube page flywithout limits on YouTube our Instagram flywithout limits flywithout limits foundation at his own Instagram

[00:44:56] just follow along and we're not a kind of organization that is like you know put a give a penny here and follow what you do our hands are not like that we actually just want to build our

[00:45:11] want to build our community and we want to take people along on the journeys of our community we're happy to we're happy to have anyone that is able to check us out and help us continue to

[00:45:22] build but we're more of a strategic partnership type of organization and we're going to use those strategic partnerships to impact the lives of many people with disabilities. Amazing so Matt we have one last question for you before we jump into our lightning rounds so you know

[00:45:37] off the hook yet but our last question and we've been outking each of our guests is what words of advice you have for listeners in terms of following their dreams and their passions

[00:45:47] unlocking their own purpose and why and how can they embrace their their position as a role for positive impact in this world. One a just completely positive note don't ever let the doubts of others dictate the way that you feel about yourself you know that goes to people

[00:46:08] with disabilities that goes to able body to individuals don't let people project their fears and their doubts on you. I feel like that's always been something that I've always pushed. I have so I probably have some of the last few dreams and goals that you've ever

[00:46:24] experienced like you used it and talked to me you'll hear all my my goals and dreams and some people look at me like what are you talking about but then then suddenly they'll start to see

[00:46:34] those dreams come to fruition because I truly believe in them and I am a big firm believer of just kind of cutting off anyone that doesn't believe in those dreams like you just have to.

[00:46:46] Yes. Just have to it's like unfortunate you know it's sometimes it can be unfortunate because I think people mean mean well and I think people have great intentions but when they tell you that you

[00:46:58] can accomplish something it's because they can accomplish it and not you so my advice is to go after whatever those dreams are we're only here one time I think you should go after the things that

[00:47:09] you truly believe in with your heart my next my next advice would be find your purpose don't do things aimlessly do everything with intention and find your purpose and that will that will guide you to to your successful life. That's a word I love that.

[00:47:26] Three, two, one yeah we're gonna have your own TED Talk. I got you. I got you. Chelsea want to take us through the lightning rounds. Yeah we got next. We need some buzzers like

[00:47:39] lightning round quick questions. Trying to answer them in 30 seconds so all those passes you can breeze and one word last time and we were like that's part of that. Okay what did President Barack Obama say to you when you had a chance to meet him?

[00:47:59] He told me I look like a champion. You're going to change. Oh dude okay what is your favorite country you had to play the chance to play pro and think we can already touch on this bit but.

[00:48:14] Yeah Italy was my favorite because of the food my favorite my favorite country to play ball in though was Rio de Janeiro. What's your go to pregame meal? Ooh. So many rides I'm pretty simple. Yeah okay next question most point you dropped in a game.

[00:48:37] Yo what okay Caitlin Clark. 50's and I was salty that I didn't hit Steve. Oh you got around up make it even. Wow that's a favorite basketball moment. Favorite basketball moment by far was winning that gold medal in Rio de Janeiro. It was the

[00:49:00] first time that you know it was like that culmination of such a long journey that I told you about all the losses all that blood sweat and tears that was the best moment. Is everyone one more how much can you lift? Ooh.

[00:49:18] That actually whatever you got to call us instead of your life. What you got? Good answer. That's great. Matt thank you so much this has been an absolute pleasure. You are incredible we love your story um super fired up after having this conversation.

[00:49:39] Chels let him know where they can get a hold of his social handles and all the good information on the show. Yeah so if you like this podcast like share follow share with your friends

[00:49:47] any feedback we will we appreciate it any of Matt's contact information, socials, plugs to his foundation will be in our show notes and any questions you can reach out to us at Champion This podcast