Within the ongoing trends behind college sports, especially during this extraordinary pandemic, young professionals have had to be resilient in the face of overwhelming odds. Individuals like Jessica DeBry have had to adapt to hot new topics within the sport’s world like mental health awareness, college athlete payments, and social distancing protocols. In our discussion, we speak over here from transition from collegiate athlete to coaching and discuss what lessons were gained in both roles. Jessica has been a collegiate athlete in basketball and volleyball, eventually securing a head coach position in the former. She also has experience with personal training, giving satisfied clients an optimistic workout schedule. Outside of her previous accomplishments, her dream ambitions are to go into sports psychology professionally.
Jessica: I started off playing basketball with my brothers, just as an only girl in the family and it just grew from there. I picked up a basketball and was on a club team when I was in sixth grade and then didn’t pick up volleyball until around junior high when they let you try all these different sports. During my senior year, I was debating on either going off and doing something completely different or going towards the sporting route. That’s when I was able to get a scholarship from Salt Lake Community College, where I ended up playing for one season, learned a lot of things and had a lot of fun adventures. We actually took third in the nation, but I decided to take a step away and take care of my family. I went on some different tours in Oregon and Washington, and I ended up going to another school in Oregon where I played for another year out there and then I came back. The moment I came back, I drove home that weekend from our very last game and coached my very first high school game as a head junior varsity coach. It was a quick transition to make, especially knowing that I just ended my game. I drove about 15 hours up the coast of Oregon to Portland and Portland all the way down to Salt Lake City, which is where I’m from and where I coached for about two years at my old high school.
Grayson: I saw that you had some national and kind of overseas travel related to your basketball and volleyball and I kind of want to ask was there a specific location that maybe influenced your ability to play on the court? Is there one travel that you enjoyed the most and you thought was– you took most out of it?
Jessica: Oh, that is a great question. I used to always go to Thailand during the summer. Those were the hardest times for me to find a court, but I feel like if you really want something, you’ll do it. We have a basketball court and I didn’t really know where gyms were, and I wasn’t able to drive when I was in Thailand and so I would just definitely use my concrete and a ball. As for the most fun that I’ve had with traveling to places, I would just say the gyms that I’ve been able to experience, like we ended up playing the national tournament in Lubbock, Texas. We got to scrimmage in the Texas Tech building and all those things. It was honestly a super fun experience. When I was in Oregon, we had a strength conditioning coach who was so much fun, and he always had ideas and I would say that experience in itself was a whole journey. We had all the equipment that we could have ever needed and a little bit more. But most importantly, we had a coach that really was like pretty much don’t cheat the system, you’re cheating yourself if you do the best you can do now, do what you can and 20 pounds later with pure muscle in my legs, I think I got five more inches on my vertical or maybe four to five by then.
Grayson: Do people involved in collegiate sports typically get established scholarships or full rides when they go to universities?
Jessica: So, it depends on what level it is. Are you a junior college? Are you in an NAIA program? Are you a D2, D3 OR D1? Also, besides that it depends on what the sport is as well. With basketball, you can get full rides, or you can get partial rides. Whereas soccer, with so many kids on the team, it’s extremely difficult to obtain a full ride.
Grayson: Did you know that sports was always going to be a future career for you and were your peers the same way?
Jessica: I would say out of all the people that I played with, there were maybe two or three really wanted to go farther and just get their school paid for. There was none of the girls that I was with who wanted to take that next step to play in the WNBA or to play in the next level for volleyball. The first couple of years that I did play in high school, there was a lot of competition. As the numbers dwindled down and everything like that, it was a little bit easier, but also a little bit harder for us because we didn’t have those numbers that other schools we’re competing with and having on their side. For me, however, I treated it as I just found out I was athletic. I just found out that my brothers really wanted to play with me, which is kind of funny. I was like, oh my gosh, I have a connection with them now outside everything else that’s going on and then once I found out, oh my gosh, I’m actually doing well, I’m scoring 10 to 15 points a game or this or that, whatever it may be, maybe I should dive into it a little bit more. And so I played on varsity my freshman year and ever since then I just was on the varsity slash junior varsity team. Last two years, I started varsity a little bit sophomore year and that was fun to see.
I would say I didn’t expect to play in college only because I knew the recruiting process starts earlier. And it seems as though the recruiting process starts earlier and earlier as the years go on and I’ll have to say that it’s not just about who you know, but it’s about who knows you and when it comes to recruiting that’s really tough. I know guys were completely different. My boyfriend right now currently plays at UTA university of Texas in Arlington and his recruiting process is a journey within itself. As for mine, I just pretty much sent out a bunch of emails, emailing the coaches around Utah and asked if I could have a tryout because it was honestly a last minute resort thing where I wasn’t sure if I was going to play or fun fact if I was going to go and be Miss Thailand, because that was what my mom and I were planning for a little bit. And I just had a gut feeling that I needed to stay and one of the coaches did email me and she was like, “We’d love to have you come and try out.” And then from then on, I just loved being a part of the team and it was honestly one of the greatest experiences I could have ever had and other bits and parts of me where I wish I would have definitely given a little bit more than I did, but I think every athlete thinks that. I think I gave what I could in the moment, but looking back, there’s always those moments in between; a possible or regret or possible, oh, I should’ve done this. What a, could of, should of, you know.
Grayson: After graduating from college, you mentioned that there are not too many of your peers that were wanting to take that next step as compared to yourself in being in that industry long-term. I was noticing a statistic that was bringing up on the national level that majority of college students were expecting to go pro or have a long-term career in their respective sport after graduation. The reality is that a very small fraction of that number succeeds. Is that a hard transition in accepting that a dream of going pro won’t occur?
Jessica: I see it a lot more in males than I do in females by any means. I don’t know why that is but I think it’s a similar idea of there’s a lot of people who want to take that next step, but it’s not for everybody. And like you said, there’s only a small fraction of it. I remember way back when there was a statistic where everyone can play pretty much high school and even that– Junior high almost everyone can play, right. You get into high school, it’s a little bit less and then you get into college and there’s pretty much 1% of people who go from high school to college and actually go to a good college team and then coming off from a college team, there’s probably that 1% that we were talking about, or even less, or a little bit more than that who actually go play professionally, whether it’s overseas or professionally. I mean, in the NBA here or WNBA and I think the mental state on them, I think it destroyed someone honestly at the very beginning, because you’re thinking in your mind all I’ve known my whole, or I guess the last few years, technically eight to 10 years is I’ve known that I go to school and get good grades and I play my heart out and practice. And when I’m not doing those two things, I’m probably sleeping or eating. And so to take almost, and I think a lot of college athletes can relate to this whole idea of you’re not just in the gym for one or two hours lifting weights or this or that. You’re probably in the gym for four to seven hours a day. There were times where, when I was playing in Oregon for the very first month, we showed up and we had strength training and conditioning practice, we had nine-hour practices.
Grayson: Was there an easy transition from collegiate athlete to coaching and did your role as the student have any advantages stepping into the coach role?
Jessica: Oh yeah, definitely. There was a, how do I put it? There was a lot, because it was awesome to see– Just getting done and you’re like, okay, I know exactly how these girls feel. I know in their mind right now, because I coached a high school girls’ team and, in their mind, they’re kind of excited to go to practice. They’re high school girls, what do you expect? Some of them are dedicated into the game and really wanted to make it work. I knew how to relate to those girls more than knowing how to relate to the girls who, Hey, I’m only here because it keeps me in shape or this or that. But the best part, I guess, one of the advantages was being able to see, I know what it’s like at a higher level and I know if this is where you want to get, you need to put in more time. And it was really working with those players specifically who really wanted that drive. It was also being able to have those connections to say, Hey, this is what you need to do, email them, this is the next steps that you need to take for them. I would say some of the disadvantages though, would be the fact of man, it was tough to know you can’t get on the court and do it for them and that was something that was so hard. It’s like I can drop all the plays, I can tell you how to hold the ball, whether it’s in triple threat position, which means you can dribble to the hoop, you’re already in your shot or you can pass the ball. That’s what it says you can do three triple threats; three different things and I can only tell you what to do. I can explain it in every single way I could think possible, but I can’t do it for you and that’s one thing is wanting it yourself. And I can’t tell the girls how bad they need or want it. That’s something that comes from inside them.
So that was one thing that I would obviously it was tough for me to say, to come back. I wish when adversity hits, it was to come back from those losses by any means and it wasn’t just a loss because we lost the game by a couple of points here or there. It was a fact of some of them gave up and you’re sitting there and you’re thinking in your mind, especially when you just get done, you just lost, this is a huge opportunity for you to grow, not only on the court, but off the court. And I told the girls, I’m like, if you give up in the game, are you just going to give up in life? And it’s so like that because you want to just sit there and you want to tell the girls like pick yourself up, let’s do this, you got it. You can always build yourself back up, but once you tear yourself down, that’s the hardest part. And so I guess that would be like an advantage slash disadvantage because you’re able to see the girls who really want it and empathize with them, but the girls who don’t want it, it’s a little bit of a frustration between the two where you’re trying to figure out what can I get them to get to that point, but also I don’t want to chase them away from something that is really good for them right now, you know? So that was just, I guess, a little bit of an advantage and slash disadvantage, depending on how you see the situation by any means.
Grayson: Do you think that lack of motivation is getting worse with newer generations?
Jessica: Oh yeah. I feel like the older generations, they worked with a chip on their shoulder and I can and it’s funny, you talk to a lot of people who are done now and you’re just like they didn’t have all these personal trainers, they didn’t have all these extra resources. The gun that you have that gives you the ball back, we didn’t have any of that. Or if we did, it was slowly transitioning into our later years, when all this technology came out. It was you and a ball and if you were able to get to a court whether it was a park court, a church gym, or heck your neighbor’s backyard, whatever it could be, that’s what you had. And some people of course, as you’ve seen in movies or if you’ve heard stories, they’re working because they want to support their family. What I like to say, especially as a coach is what is your why? Why do you keep going? And I think when it comes to kids now they have all these necessities. I mean, they have all these utilities that they can use and some of them use them and they use them great. But some of the people don’t have the knowledge of the resources, but also it’s the lack of motivation. Like we said, there are certain people who have this natural God-given talent, but you’ve also heard the quote where hard work defeats talent when talent fails to work hard. And I think that’s something that’s so relevant is when I was coaching I’m not going to lie, I didn’t have the most talented team by any means, but I had a group of hard working girls who it was so fun to watch the blood, sweat, and tears that went into certain teams.
Grayson: Did you prefer the one-on-one aspect of personal training or do you prefer being able to manage an entire team through your coaching?
Jessica: Oh, that’s a good question. I like both. I’ll have to put it that way. I am a person that’s kind of an introverted extrovert, if that makes any sense. So naturally coaching, it feels better to me to have that one-on-one connection cause it’s like a personal touch. I understand you and you understand me to some extent. I’m also able to work better with the skill sets that you need personally, versus in the group setting, which Orange Theory provides. I used to train programs that had over 20 kids in a single session. And one thing I learned was you must train the kids at their highest potential, because if you train at their lowest then that will be their level moving forward. I think the reason why I like the one-on-one training a little bit better than group training is because you’re more able to get a benefit out of it because it’s personalized to you.
It’s the same thing as an eating plan, which I won’t get into that too much, but it’s like, everyone’s bodies are so different. Everyone’s shot is different, even though there’s one way to shoot a ball, there’s one way to hit a ball but everyone’s body mechanics are not all the same. And so, what may work for one person probably won’t work for another person. To be able to do that personal training, one, you’re not comparing yourself to the people around you, which can and cannot be a good thing depending on how you take life. The only person that can hold you accountable is yourself. The person that you look in the mirror every day and say, Hey, did I do this? Because you can lie to anyone else that walks your way. But only you can hold your own self responsible and to be a coach and to say certain things like that, it’s tough. I had a girl come in the other day for the first time, we have a lot of people that like to come into Orange Theory and she was telling me how excited she was, but she was starting from scratch and she was telling me how she used to deadlift over 275 pounds and all this stuff and she gets into the workout and about halfway through, I could see the frustration on her face. So I’m giving her slight check-ins to the point where saying, “Hey, you’re doing great,” positive acclimation. I’m realizing that’s not getting through her head.
Grayson: Compared to the vulnerable situations you’ve been in, do you have any perspective on the Simone Biles’s situation and what that has brought to mental health awareness?
Jessica: I think everyone sees themselves as different by any means, right. But when it comes to athletes, it depends on what level you’re at, or even are you the oldest in the family? Even that in itself is like you have a lot more pressure put on to you. Simone Biles has done all of these crazy things. To go into the Olympics and to go into this people are expecting a lot on her. And what does that do to you mentally? There are some people who rise up to the challenge and they thrive off of that. But there’s others who worry that it’s way too much. It’s too much pressure, it’s too much this or too much that and it almost creates that anxiety and it pulls them back from being the best that they can be. Or if they’re the type of parents who’ve learned, all right, this is a kid who we’re putting all our chips into the bag. We’ve already tried this out with everyone else, but you’re our golden kid, you know. And I think those pressures, and that’s why you go back to the idea of support is, are you having the right support system? Does Simone Biles have the right support system? Do these athletes have the right support system? Whether it’s their parents, whether it’s their peers, encouraging them to drink, encouraging them to smoke or encouraging them to do the right thing and say, Hey, you need to get enough sleep, you need to make sure you’re eating and eating the right foods, right.
Grayson: I can imagine through coaching and as a collegiate athlete, you’ve had to juggle a lot of different things. Is there any advice as far as dealing with a wide amount of stress?
Jessica: Whether people believe in this or not, I take it back to the times that I was most successful was when I took some time just to myself to meditate and to pretty much focused on–, to let go of what needed to be let go of, to be grateful for what I had in those moments and to focus on what I wanted and having those three different steps allowed me to say, Hey, you know what? I realized this was the case. It’s gone, put it away, put it to the side. The next step is saying, this is what I have, this is what’s going to help me get to where I need to be or this is what’s going to help me just in general. And then focusing on it, creating that imagery in your head of this is how I see myself, or this is how I want to be or this is all this and that. I think those and it’s taking time just for you to really be vulnerable with yourself if you’re not going to be with anyone else, because you can lie to anyone else, whatever, this or that is but you can never lie to yourself because that’s the person that you go to bed with every night and taking that time, getting to know who you are and what you want and outside of the pressures, it actually almost is more serene than anything. And so when it comes to the social pressures, they’ll always be there, especially with social media growing to what it is now and what it is going to be. And I know a lot of people talk about that more recently, and there’s a lot of old people who are open about it, but it’s knowing that you’re securing yourself enough to not worry about those social pressures that come by.
