Guys, today I’ve got my friends, Ruby George and Mather Wiswall. They’re an amazing brother-sister team. And they run the Florida grid League, a semi professional sports league composing the state of Florida. They’re two of the most driven people I’ve ever met. I personally have learned a lot from each of them. And the Florida fitness community is lucky they decided to move down here. So guys, thank you very much for coming on the podcast. Yeah, I was really I was really excited about this one I thought was gonna be good. So to start off, who are the two of you, Ruby, you go first, because people see that and more often. So.
Ruby
Okay. I am Mather’s sister, has been my name since high school. Sister. I’m two years younger. And I’m the director of operations for Florida grid league. I actually live in Downingtown, Pennsylvania, so I commute to the matches.
Nick
That’s something I think a lot of people don’t know. So that’s pretty cool. And who are you?
Mather
My name is Mather, Ruby’s brother. And in the FGL side of things, I am the Commissioner. So currently head of competition and marketing. So that side of the businesses is where my focus is.
Nick
Cool. And the two of you were originally from the Pennsylvania area, right?
Ruby
Yeah, you live in a house up the street from where we grew up.
Nick
Oh, that’s super cool. I didn’t know that. Yeah, what what got you guys to Florida? How did the Florida Grid League come from some Pennsylvania people?
Mather
Well, the short story is we were running a business in Philadelphia, and then part of which was involved in CrossFit competitions. Do you know the answer to this, by the way? I’m just curious.
Nick
I know portions of it.
Mather
And so we love CrossFit. I’m a big sports fan. I’m Philadelphia through and through. So you know, the big forum I’ve always followed and, and been really involved in. And so we always kind of had our eye, not always, but we got involved with people that originally had their eye on melding the two concepts of team sports and CrossFit together. And so we had, you know, a little bit of event experience in the CrossFit realm, but a lot of event experience outside the CrossFit realm. And saw this milled as a big opportunity and started developing our own thing with some partners in Philadelphia that was actually similar to the concept of grid. And then we heard about grid 20 came out with this thing. And our initial instinct was, well, we’re, we’re kind of done because he’s doing this, he’s got a lot more power, he’s a lot better. He’s got better vision for it. And then we’re like, well, maybe we can get involved. And so we started going down the steps, we went to the initial meeting in Dallas, the first meeting ever about the sport of grid. And we wanted to run the Philadelphia team of the sport of grid. And there was another group out of Philadelphia that applied and got the Philadelphia team in the sport of grid and the initial version of grid. And so we applied for Chicago next, and then we were looking at Miami as like an alternative. And of course, Miami was the one that ended up coming through, and I moved down to make it happen. Right, and that was how I ended up. Yeah, that was my surge. And that’s how I got down here and really got sucked into the Florida fitness market. I mean, it’s very, very different than then Philadelphia is. And it’s incredible. I mean, there’s the size, the significance, the diversity, everything you can think of like, you know, Tampa fitness market is very different than the Miami fitness market, but it’s all encompassed in Florida. So it’s a it’s a huge beast, that I really enjoy being involved with. Of course, you know, Ruby has her hands on all of it from from Philadelphia, but that’s how we ended up with Florida as our primary focus.
Ruby
And after the surge, you know, there was the question of, should we move like should matter come home, you know, should we stick with Florida and now there was just adamant about Yes, we got to stick with Florida, where he wanted to be and you know, we had put down roots in Florida with grids. So it made a lot of sense.
Nick
Yeah, so was that ever a discussion on your end kind of the opposite direction, moving to Florida to make it structurally easier?
Ruby
Yeah. My then boyfriend didn’t want to move. And so we agreed that, you know, the surge was a risk it was all of this has been a risk. And so he was not really looking to move. And then we ended up getting married and having kids and buying a house and so kind of stuck here. Which is fine. I mean, I don’t feel like there’s any disadvantage to it, except that I don’t get to go in person and like, see people and experience the events very much. So I have to watch at home a lot or rely on my mother to tell me how much fun everybody’s having. Because otherwise, my computer and I don’t get to feel it much.
Nick
But I’ll tell you what, I regularly forget that you don’t live down here. Especially as matches are going on. I forget that you’re on the other side of the country, because we’re talking through every one of the events. You seem to know what’s going on in the same room, I’m in most of the time. So I get that all the time.
Ruby
Like the “As one tournament” was the most that I did this, but even during matches, you know, I would say like, Okay, everybody else take care of the kids. I’ve got my phone, I’ve got my iPad, I’ve got my computer and I’m just like going like answering staff questions and putting the score on the computer or on the website. And just it’s fun. It’s like a being a, you know, a pilot or control center or something.
Nick
I think I think if you like yeah, in the space in the in Houston for the the spaceships like controlling everything going on. That’s That’s what I think. Yeah.
Ruby
Yeah, I have it. But I’m so excited to come to matches in person this year, right?
Nick
Yeah, cuz it is fun to watch them. But I don’t think anything can really compare to the feeling of like being in the room as it’s going on.
Ruby
Yeah, for sure. And getting to see the athletes and, you know, talk to talk to the people that like meet the people that I talked to you all the time. I’ve never met some of our staff that we work with all the time. So it’ll be really fun.
Nick
Well, so this is technically a fitness podcast. So I have to ask, you’re both like extremely busy people. Like do you still find time to work out.
Ruby
My level of working out went way, way down. When I had my first son, I had a C section. So it took me a really long time to come back from that. And then I got into a good groove again. And you know, it was working out, we have a home gym, which was super handy for the pandemic. And then I had my second son and I just have not found the time, I also got a full time job at the beginning of the pandemic because my husband needed to find a new job. And so, like this opportunity came up at the exact right time. And so I’m working full time somewhere else. And so my grid time is mostly like early in the morning, kind of stolen moments throughout the day, and then at night, and that’s my, you know, I have my kids otherwise. So I’m trying to find time to workout, it’s really important to me, it’s something that’s gonna happen eventually. It doesn’t happen. Right now.
Nick
I’ve seen video of you working out. I’ve seen it. So I know it exists.
Ruby
It happens as often as I would like.
Mather
Now, yeah, I I went through my competitive phase of CrossFit where I wanted to, you know, maximize my ability, I guess, strength-wise and everything else was actually on the fringe of being competitive like I was on the alternate for regionals. For the team that went to regionals at one point, believe it or not.
Nick
I did not know that that makes all my other media jokes were funnier. Okay.
Mather
Well, to be fair, the people going to regionals wouldn’t even be considered intermediate at that time, because it was it was 10 years ago. Right. But I was very focused on my physical performance, you know, so I went through that phase of fitness, and I’m definitely not in that phase anymore. Once every two, three years, I get dragged into doing a competition. And you know, we’ll relive that for a couple of weeks prior to the competition, and it’s fun, but then I can’t wait to not be doing it. Right after? Because it does. It takes a lot of focus and effort, and I just have other applications. But to get back to your question, yes. You know, fitness is really important to me, it’s part of what we do. It allows me to do what I do for the Florida League and for, you know, my family and my girlfriend, to be to come to fruition, you know, the fitter I can be, the more I can have a high output have high energy to do all those things. So it’s really important from that perspective, but I do try to have fun with it to still and you know, get involved with friends and things when when I can just because that helps keep it motivating and fun, you know?
Nick
Yeah, I think it’s really important kind of a bogey guy said Right? Like, just because you’re not working out seven times a week as hard as you can try to max out your lifts. I don’t think that’s the same thing coming from a gym owner. I don’t think that’s the same thing as working out for better life. Right? I completely understand that right? The there were times where I used to spend two and a half hours in the gym. That is not the case. I don’t think it’ll ever be the case again for me. But that’s okay. I like it more now this way, because like you said, I get to use it kind of as a catalyst for the rest of the stuff I do. Right? Yeah.
Ruby
After Cody especially, I noticed that going a week or two, without getting my heart rate up, just simply getting my heart rate up, my mood would plummet. And then I would go do a 10 minute EMOM or something. And I would feel the immediate benefits. And it was it just became like one of those things where like, I have to do this, for my relationship for my family. For me, like, I just have to make sure that I’m getting my heart rate up and doing something even though it’s not, you know, I’m also injured, like, I’ve got all these things going on. So I can’t go just go do any kind of workout. And so I’m still trying to figure out like, what are the things that I can do safely, but it’s, it’s just a necessity, like, I have to make it happen. So going out riding the bike for 10 minutes is considered a workout for me, and I’m okay with that right now.
Nick
Yeah, I think that’s really important to recognize that is a workout, right? Like, that’s because you’re not doing what some of the Gridley players are doing, that doesn’t mean that…
Ruby
My whole social media screw all of these other people that are in crazy shape, and doing all the things and you know, I let that sometimes affect how I think about my own fitness. But when it comes down to it, it’s just a matter of staying healthy and being as healthy as I can, in the circumstances that I’m in.
Nick
Right, I think that’s, I think it’s important for me to get other people to hear that, you know, because especially if you if you’re in like a CrossFit or functional fitness style, like community gym, it’s really easy to see the people who are doing the most. And, you know, if you view yourself as unsuccessful, if you’re not doing the most just get a workout in is better than not getting one.
Mather
Yeah, yeah. And I think there’s a lot of value in understanding where your best ability and performance lies. And so like, for me, I feel like I have a much greater awareness of my genetic potential physically, through my my CrossFit experience, which has led to, you know, understanding nutrition a lot better and understanding supplementation a lot better, and some of the other factors that are involved with maximizing your physical ability, which also translated in other things, but, you know, I think there’s two directions about CrossFit. One is how competitive it is, and how that can be a negative, but also, how do you mentally approach CrossFit for the maximum benefit. And I think the competitive aspect is really valuable, even though it’s not something that I focus on. Now, I’m so glad that I had it, because it, it forced me to look at all these other variables that, you know, helped to achieve an optimal physical performance, but also an optimal being, and then I can have an awareness of how they affect me through that experience, and so if somebody’s just getting into the CrossFit journey, or just learning things, even if they create that competition with themselves, and or the person next to them that’s in a similar, you know, ability level, which is one of the reasons I think level method is great, which is why I’m involved with it, because it defines those people for you, and lets you see who’s kind of in your general realm, and that you can compare to, that, that competition drives you, you know, you’re never going into the games or whatever. But, you know, if you have that desire to maximize your performance, it just opens up all these doors of awareness that you wouldn’t have otherwise, because you’re so driven to maximize that performance. And there’s a lot of benefit in that if you never actually use it in competition even, or, or anything. So I think he’s one of the many benefits to the structure of the way CrossFit works.
Nick
Yeah, I agree with all that, I mean, in what other realm of our life generally do we get to kind of test that or push that or see where that boundary lies and then make that boundary go further?
Mather
Yeah, and just to touch on this real quick, because, you know, we talked about CrossFit and how CrossFit is so great at making you a well rounded athlete and exposing and allowing you to work on your weaknesses, which is incredibly valuable. And we talked a little bit about the value of competition, when grid allows you, you know, to it lowers the barrier of accelerating the, the height at which you can experience some of that competition. So, you know, this doesn’t exist on a great scale now, but your gym knows, you know, being involved at all levels. version of grid allows you to take your normal physical strength, and not being inhibited by your weaknesses and then go compete with it. You know what I mean? So there’s, you get a lot of that value of competition and there’s less bird entry to a higher level of competition to where you just, you know, reap even more benefits. So I think that’s like way, the grid really complements CrossFit in general, to experience some of those, like maximum benefits that it offers.
Nick
I think that’s a really important point that a lot of people probably don’t understand. And we’re going to dive into grid a little bit or a little bit deeper in a second. But if I want to test my fitness in the weightlifting realm, right, in CrossFit, I can be impeded by getting to that testable level by burpees. Now, that can just stop my ability to prove that I can do that or test my ability to do that. In grade, you’re right, like I I’m not doing burpees. Okay, it makes it very easy for me to play around on a barbell or execute some gymnastics or do something more track and field like, without having a hindrance that I’m not great at. That’s a good point. Okay, so let’s go into that then. Like, we’ve done a couple of podcasts on this feed with some of the South Florida sharks players. So there might be a little bit of understanding. But most people listening to this won’t like have inherent knowledge about it.
Ruby
My elevator pitch is grid takes some of the elements of CrossFit and other sports, puts it into a team sport, like football, and packages it for entertainment, like American Ninja Warrior. So it’s got, you know, the strategy of football, it’s got the elements of like CrossFit, weightlifting, gymnastics, but it’s meant for entertainment. So it’s going to, you know, hook you and you know what’s going on very quickly.
Nick
I like that.
Mather
Well, our kind of one liner, and this evolves a lot as we understand people’s perceptions. But our one liner right now, which is like a boiled down version of our introductory paragraph is “The world’s most equal diverse, exciting and captivating sport.” And it’s really the the supporting elements that make that statement true that make grid what it is, and there’s literally 1000s of them. So trying to boil it down is really difficult. But for me, the main factor about grid that makes it important in society is the fact that men and women play together on the same team. It’s the first true to true team sport to do that in true defining as more than four players on a team. And that’s all good and great. It’s a great quality to have. But it doesn’t mean anything, it’s not super exciting, it’s not super fun to play, it’s not super fun to watch. And so the exciting and captivating portion of it is just as significant as the, you know, portion of doing good for society in a way. But those two components are really important and try and include both in in any short description. But that’s like a general overview of what it is it doesn’t really get to how it works, you know?
Nick
Yeah, that’s one of the cool and challenging things about Grid, because has kind of been an ambassador for it in our area, is explaining it to others, right. And what I always try to focus on is, take a thing you like doing, like, however you work out, now let’s turn that into a sport and let’s make it really exciting. Right? And that I think that’s the thing that people don’t understand, right? You know, as I say this, as somebody who owned a CrossFit gym for a really long time. CrossFit competitions aren’t sport, they’re just working out faster than the person next to you, you know, and that doesn’t make them any less like, impressive. It’s really cool to do that. When it’s not inherently sport, right, like grid is sport, there are rules and their strategy. And there’s, there’s ways for you know, I’m one of the coaches to take advantage of, or be taken advantage of by the rules. Like, those are the things in my mind that makes sport versus training.
Mather
Yeah, the sport and or the strategy involved with CrossFit is how to perform your workout better. And that’s the restriction within it. And the rules of grid are how does your team perform better in order to, you know, defeat the other team in a repeatable version of a race, you know, which none of that exists in CrossFit. So it’s like a very, like you said, sport version of some of the movements that are involved with CrossFit, but really, some of those movements as far as the only similarity to what CrossFit is. Right?
Nick
And to be clear, CrossFit didn’t like, create cleaning jerks, you know, right, exactly. Like these are all bodyweight movements that have been done for hundreds of years.
Mather
Yeah, it’s the same association as weightlifting across it. You know that weightlifting was Doing CLEAN JERK and snatch is way before CrossFit was. But you know, and initially people would get it confused but and it’s the same with gymnastics too. You know, there’s a lot of movements that are performed in CrossFit that are had been performed in gymnastics for hundreds of years. It’s the same association with us for taking some of the movements from CrossFit, some of the movements from gymnastics, some of the movements from weightlifting, strongman, and even making our own movements in and applying that in a sport, team sport form like yours, like you said.
Nick
So, before grid took over your lives, what were you guys doing? So I know you said you were doing the event management with sports in Philly, right? Or trying to trying to kind of veer into that CrossFit realm. Right? What about before that?
Ruby
So Mather, went to school for design. And so and I went to school for English, but I didn’t really use English literature. And we ended up working both working at the same company, at a marketing firm, so Mather was designing and selling tradeshow exhibits and interior design exhibits and working with clients in that way. And I came on as a project manager. And so that was our first experience working together, I only lasted about a year because I don’t like having a boss. And so and like I my biggest background is in serving. So I’ve been you know, bartending and serving and finding, find any restaurants and catering events and stuff like that for a really long time. And that all informed my project management job. So after that we really liked working together Mather was kind of doing a lot of design work on the side, he started recruiting our mom, who is also a designer, to help him because he was getting too many side jobs. So then he and my mom are working together on on these jobs, and I would kind of overhear them talking about sometimes like, Did you invoice this person? Did I get paid for this job? And I would say like, eventually, I was just like, you guys, why don’t you just let me do the invoicing and you know, the customer relationship and that kind of stuff, and make sure everything’s on track. So really slowly, we just kind of the three of us, like, built this company together. Started in 2008. We did it for about 10 years, I think before is that right now could have been. But whatever we did for about eight years, I think before grid came along. And so the three of us had this company, and we were working, you know, towards that goal. And then one of our clients asked us to, like, you know, we design their website for them. And then and it was the the website for the CrossFit competitions that this client was, was planning and they said, hey, my partner just left, do you want to partner with me on planning these events? And we said, Sure. And that that’s kind of like where Mather picked up the story with the events that we planned. And then we heard about grid and then kind of you know, we still have that that marketing company. So we’ve got like a couple of loyal clients that we’ve been with for years and years and still do pick up some jobs on the side sometimes, but for the most part, we shifted our our focus to grid in 2014.
Nick
Cool and that and that’s G Wis, right?
Ruby
G Wis Marketing.
Nick
Mather needs update his voicemail? Okay.
Mather
Does it still say that.Oh, wow. I didn’t even know that. That’s crazy. I can’t believe it never come to the surface until now.
Nick
I’ve been saving it for five years.
Mather
That is not surprised me. That’s crazy. I’m gonna have to get on that one.
Ruby
Alright, so I’d be sad if you changed it.
Nick
I hope you leave it. I hope 10 years from now it’s still on there.
Mather
I mean, 95 and it’ll still say that.
Nick
So I’m not technically on the FGL staff right but I feel like I’ve been pretty intimately involved for the last couple years, the last five years with with how things go right as are most of the team owners. Now you to embody, like what I kind of view as like the partnership dream, you know, you both have strengths and like relative weaknesses. That the other one like complements perfectly. It’s crazy because I don’t know if I would believe it if somebody told me that, but I’ve seen it for half a decade now. Like I know it to be true. How did that happen? How is that possible? I love my brother. We don’t cover each other’s weaknesses. We just we just fight and accomplish nothing. How do you guys do?
Mather
It Oh, it is kind of freaky. Honestly. We, we’ve had the polar opposites in, like the strength of our parents, you know, we, we’ve noticed that before we started working together in that, like, there’s certain aspects of our parents that they have strengths in that I embody. And then there’s certain strengths that our parents have that, that she embodies. And there’s a kind of the opposite. And I think that’s why there’s always been a natural synergy. Not easily at times, but there’s been a natural synergy in working together because, like the story, she just said, about invoicing. You know, I was, it was a decent source of income for me at the time, but I was like, two, three months behind in invoicing, and I would never, you know, follow up with clients where I just hated the money aspect of it, like, I didn’t want to keep track of it, I didn’t want to deal with it. And that’s where she thrives. So like, you know, it was a clear need, that I wasn’t fulfilling at that time in the company. And Ruby’s like, I’ll do it because that’s what I’m good at, you know, so that was how it kind of like started, but for whatever reason, we just think opposite. But I think how we’ve grown stronger as a team is overlapping our strengths in awareness and understanding of each other’s perspective that allows us strength to be successful, but also, you know, I’ve just become a better business owner, overall. Because I’ve learned to take on some of those natural strengths that Ruby has, by her coaching and ideas in, in, you know, how to implement them in, in, in our companies and things like that. So it’s made my output and my contribution that much better, because we’ve got, you know, 12 years experience working together, and I’ve absorbed some of those natural strengths that she has, and hopefully vice versa.
Ruby
So definitely vice versa. But also, I think we’re both so when we first started working together, our mom would say, every other day, if you know working together starts to affect the family, then we’re not going to do it anymore. Like she, she said that so many times that it was okay, do you not want to work with us anymore? What. But it was, you know, it’s, it’s, for us, it’s always been our relationship, our family first. And, you know, we get to talk to each other every day because we work together. And so like, that’s, that’s been awesome for our relationship, we’ve grown so much closer than we would have if we if we hadn’t worked together. But part of us working together is also like, we’re so committed to our own personal growth. And if we weren’t, I don’t know that we wouldn’t be successful, because we had to work through a lot of, you know, like, hurt feelings from being 10 years old, and like looking up to my big brother, and he did want to hang out with me, and like, you know, fast forward 20 years and like that literally would be affecting our business. Because like, I was feeling a certain way about it. And we had to like dig those out and deal with them. And it was really hard. There was definitely there’s definitely been some conversations that have been really, really difficult, but I am a better person overall, because I dealt with that stuff. And because I learned how to, you know, figure out what was actually wrong and work through it with him rather than and, you know, I attribute a lot of that to him because he is the type of person that will ask the question, Why are you so upset right now? Like, what is it underneath? We’re not actually talking about, you know, the type of project management software we use or like this one email that I wrote or whatever, it’s, it’s what is actually going on, and he’s open to hearing it. Also, you know, like I would get really mad at him for certain things that he wouldn’t like fire back at me for he would say like, let’s talk through what’s actually going on and so it’s been really helpful and I don’t know that many people have a brother. Nobody has a brother like manner but you know there’s just a lot about like our personalities that would have made it really really difficult almost impossible to work together had we not been so committed to our own relationship and to our own personal growth.
Mather
Another big difference between us is that she would bring something like this up on a podcast and I would, so yeah.
Nick
I don’t think anybody can see the recording portion when you’re not talking but I can just see now they’re squirming.
Ruby
I’m an open book I can’t help.
Nick
What it sounds like you’re talking about though is like, like a, like a level of trust, right? Like you. You both trust that you you care about the same end goal and you’re working towards that right. I feel like that’s probably the most common issue that like partnerships come into is that people have want to be right. Or they have a belief that even if the other person is not inherently wrong, that they don’t have the best interests, or the same vision and values aligned. And I remember that Mather, I met you first, obviously. And then Ruby, I legitimately thought you lived in Miami until about six months into the relationship, but I, I met you later, I remember feeling that immediately, like, you know, and what the vision and everything was back then, is nowhere near what it is now. But I remember feeling you to align what I mean is like, it’s much more, it’s declared that it’s defined now. I think if we talked to that first conversation matter of sitting with you, me and Charlie at our gym, that would not be a conversation we’d have now. But I feel like the two of you are always so on board and moving in the same direction. I think that’s really important. Not at one point in the last five years, have I ever felt like YouTube didn’t have the same short term, mid term long term goal in mind.
Mather
I feel like I would, I would agree with that. There’s times where we have to, you know, figure out what those are between us, because we have slightly different versions of that, or how we get to them, whatever. But we we, you know, when we set up, particularly with the Florida grid, like we’d been through it a few times at that point, we had a business plan, we wrote it together. You know, we were completely aligned on all the aspects of it had those one year, five year 10 year goals. And, I think that is, you know, we set off on this this path the same way, and it’s gone, you know, obviously different directions than we thought it would at times, but we’ve been pretty aligned, and how to overcome the issues that have come up.
Nick
Yeah, I think that’s super cool. And I kind of hinted at this earlier at the beginning, but like, I meant it, I’ve personally learned so much from both of you. I feel confident saying that, like my business wouldn’t be where it is right now. Had I not met you guys, when I met you, Ruby, I can’t matter and even know if you know this, the amount of times I’ve hit up Ruby and like helped me with this administrative task that I cannot figure out, you know, like, this is a linchpin of the business and I cannot figure out and I know that we’re going to lose a ton of money, or we’re gonna upset a ton of customers, we’re going to make all these issues that we shouldn’t have, because I’m too stupid to figure out Google Sheets. You know, and Ruby’s answering me at nine o’clock at night, when I’m pretty sure she’s already in bed saying like, this is, this is how you do this. And administratively, Ruby, the stuff I’ve stolen from the Florida grid lately, you might not realize, for our events, I mean, just so much better that we never would have happened otherwise. And Mather, I have learned so much about communication since I met you. Your ability to not get angry at things that should want 100% make you angry is a super human skill. It. I was on a podcast that I think I released this this last week. And when one of our coaches Chris asked me about some, he actually asked me that, like, how do you not freak out when people are doing things that should make you freak out. And I was so mad at myself because I didn’t bring you up because when that happens, what I do is I put on my imaginary dreadlocks and my recycled cucumber shoes. And I think, okay, like how would Mather handle this situation? Because your ability to communicate with people, all kinds of different people. And to get a bunch of people on with different, maybe different obvious goals towards a goal that everybody’s happy with towards a resolution that everybody wants is astounding. I don’t think I would have had either of those skills I met you guys and I’m like, eternally grateful for that.
Mather
First of all, that’s awesome. I mean, it’s, it’s amazing part of the amazing experience in this whole thing. But you know, obviously, before we before I’ve learned so much from you, from you know, being involved our company, you know, we’ve had our, you know, five minute combos that turned into hour and a half combos about life and business and everything else. And, you know, I mentioned beforehand, like I just sent a book to Ruby in its vivid vision. So, you know, I know that’s something that we need to do in the near term. And so that just exemplifies you know, the fact that we, you know, build from each other, and we build from the natural strengths that each other has, because honestly, I think that’s just a natural but I have a lot of natural efficiency that have to work really hard on but I think a natural efficiency that I had is the ability to take the hits and just keep going. And, and I think it’s weird because I’ve actually thought about this because I don’t think about it as a unique skill. Because it just natural to me just like Ruby can, you know, organize a spreadsheet, like a wizard, and it’s a natural thing for her. But I’ve thought about like, Okay, why can I do this, and I, when I say like, just keep a cool head or think about what needs to happen when people are screaming at me or have their clearly had their own agendas that are coming to the surface and, and affecting how they think or communicate. And I really attribute it to my careers in construction, I had these two bosses that were super hot heads, like, you know, scream at the drop of the hat, fire you if you did something wrong shooting nail gun at you, like just, you know, serious things. And, you know, most people didn’t make it working for him, you know, but the people that did, you know, they really rose up on a pedestal. And, and I think that experience I did for six years, and I will learn how to build a house from top to bottom from them. And it was a really hard thing to get through because it was so challenging in so many different ways. But I think that attributed to the ability just to take hits and keep going. And you know, when you get an interaction that really would fire a lot of people up just to kind of be able to take a step back. And, and, and I’ve definitely recognized how few people are affected that way. Since then. So I think it’s it’s a, you know, one of the skills that I’m really appreciative to have and just kind of came naturally, along with some experiences, but I think is under valued in your grip, the grand spectrum of what’s important to operate a business, but just, you know, have hope, fulfilling relationships and life. And, you know, those fulfilling relationships, like, being a part of Florida Grid League has made me such a better person from having people like you, and Matt and Taylor, and all of the team owners, Chris and Storm, and everybody has a different perspective, a different way of looking at things. Everybody’s got significant accomplishments, owns businesses, there’s not a team owner in the league that doesn’t own multiple businesses, with the exception of maybe Chris, but he’s got a full time career and he runs a team as well. So, you know, I think, you know, having this collection of accomplished people that are very diverse from their perspectives, and how they approach things to do things just makes us all better. And it’s a huge value to be a part of. And the NPGL was the same thing, like, you know, a lot of people and I think a lot of people left that experience, like that was a complete waste of time, and money and everything else. But I, I would do it again, if it left me flat broke and whatnot, because I came out of the other side of that a completely different person that will excel at so many new things because of who I was exposed to the experiences I went through, but really primarily who I was exposed to, you know, and being involved with people like you and other, even even sponsors now, like sponsors are coming up to that level of, you know, having a really positive influence on on my personal life. And so I think that’s as much the benefit of being a part of a group like this than anything, and it’s really shaped just so much. You know, for me personally. I just went on a tangent, sorry.
Nick
I’ll let you go for two hours.
Mather
I could have kept going to if I wanted to say just now.
Nick
oh, man, well, I wanted to make sure you guys heard that for me, because I’m super thankful for that. So what are some of the unexpected hurdles we’ve had over the years? Right? Because like we know them, right. But every, not every year, almost every year, there’s been a pretty significant event that’s happened like at the beginning or at the end of the season, right? What are some of those for people who maybe don’t know about them and think this is just a flawlessly running ship at all times?
Ruby
Hurricanes? The damn hurricanes. Yep. Canceling matches, canceling championships.
Nick
Yeah, me, too. Right.
Mather
Hurricanes. Yeah. And then, you know, we’ve had significant partnerships that have been really bad as far as the outcome, quote unquote bad wouldn’t change it. You know, it put us on the path that we’re on now. And think is an incredible path to be on. And, but, you know, every year we’ve had to cancel significant or change significant things, you know, because of a hurricane or a natural disaster like a pandemic. But every year, we’ve gotten stronger. And I think that’s the, it’s not, I think, you know, our ability as a team, all of Florida League, the team owners before to get the staff, but also the players too, because they’ve got to be mentally nimble to overcome all of these things and not be like, at a minimum, what the hell they’re doing blah blah. But to be able to see the bigger picture. So I it’s a testament to a whole group. But it’s more than that a testament to the sport, you know, this sport will live on and drive forward, as long as it’s given the opportunity. And all we’re doing as a group is giving it that opportunity. Because it needs to exist, like there’s just too many reasons for it to exist to allow something like a hurricane or a pandemic to slow it down. And that’s the reason that it’s, you know, continued to strengthen year over year, even with these significant challenges that, quite frankly, you have put a lot of other similar entities right out of business.
Nick
I was thinking about this right before we got on right, and the as one tournament, which we did last year, or this last winter. Maybe couldn’t have been accomplished had, we not already had to learn how to do back flips, because of the hurricanes and the ways that the other seasons had to be changed so drastically, right? I mean, Ruby, I talked to you a lot during the As One tournament, right? But like, how the hell did you guys accomplish that? First off, what was that? What was that tournament?
Ruby
As One tournament was the first time that all eight teams were together, and playing and got to play each other, which was really cool. And so it was a two-day, I don’t want to say it wrong. It wasn’t a double elimination.
Nick
It was a tournament,
Ruby
Every got to play twice. And then four teams got to move on to the playoffs in the championship. And so we we put on eight matches in one day, which was a god awful idea that we’ll never do again. But it allowed everybody to play and like that, that I think was the biggest thing that I came away with, with from the as one leading up to it, and after it was over was just people like, really, really loved to play, there was no fans, no spectators, because of COVID. And just everybody was saying that the energy in the building was just like, more so than any time they’ve ever, ever played any other way. You know, and so it’s just like, people love the sport, and it has a place in society to make people happy, and better. And, you know, all of the reasons that Mather said before, but like, it’s just fun, you know, so when we started, you know, when we had to cancel the season, which was right around this time, last year. It was like, super unsure, we did an online competition first. And we, you know, had that idea, like, immediately, and it took us a couple of weeks to put it into motion. And by then a lot of other competitions were happening. But we had that idea immediately, because it was like, well, we got to do something, you know, to keep people playing and talking and the and the energy up. And then, you know, we were planning along the way and and all along, it was kind of like I halfway hope this doesn’t happen. Like I hope that the government shuts us down or like something to tell us that no, you actually can’t do this. So that it wasn’t our decision that we were going to go forward. And then something you know, like, if there was an outbreak at the As One Tournament, or something like that, like I would have felt personally responsible for all of those people’s health. And that would have, it was really, really scary for me personally. And so just like going up to it was was always kind of like, well, we don’t even know if it’s gonna happen, but we’re going to act like it’s going to and just in case it can, and it turned out to be such an awesome experience. But I was gonna say like some of the challenges we got leading up to the As One we’re just, you know, like, we had our staff set, we were like, Alright, awesome. And then we lost both of our chief refs. So we had no, no, like, you know, unwrapping is one of the most important parts of fair play and in, in, in a match. And so we were losing staff left and right, teams were losing players left and right. And it was just, you know, consistent challenges and challenges and challenges leading up to it. And it was just like, we’re used to this, this is just what happens. Like, I have this list of challenges that we’ve we’ve experienced since starting the Florida Grid League, because someday we’re going to write a book, and so I’m keeping track of them all. And there stuff like Mather’s computer got stolen like four days before our first match, and you know, like, just random stuff like that, that like, just should have derailed us. And we’re just so used to it that we just keep going. It’s like, right. There’s another one, Jeff.
Mather
And one thing I want to point out related to the as one was that, and this is just a testament to who we lucked out with as team owners, but everybody just rolled with the punches, you know, and I’ve been involved with businesses before where that is not the case where, you know, people are like, no, no, like, this is my objective, this is what I want, you know, there has to be this way. But everybody’s just like, you know, we all know that this is we’ve got to be flexible to make this happen. And everybody’s ability to come at it with that perspective. And then, you know, basically have that trickle down to their teams, because the players also came with that mentality, like, look, we just want to play, we just want to go compete, we want to have fun, and we want to try to win. But you know, the ultimate goal is to go there and compete and have a positive experience together. And because everybody was thinking in that way, it was able to have, if everybody had thought, like, it had needs to have this type of situation, or I’m not doing or needs to have this type of scenario, or I’m not doing it wouldn’t have happened, you know, so it was as much about the the, you know, positive leadership of everybody involved at the team ownership level that made that possible.
Nick
I think there were so many adaptations that people had to make businesses had to make as to what they did in the year 2020. You know, I think this is, it was amazing that it happened and it went as flawlessly as it could have given everything. I mean, like I think I talked to people who are watching, and they weren’t aware we had any hurdles. They were like, that was a great man.
Ruby
It was shocking how well it went even with, you know, very few staff and just people were. Well, but again, you know, it’s, it was our fifth season, so or no, this is our fifth season. This are performing Yeah, yeah. But it was, you know, it was the first time that we’ve done this. So like, matches have a process, you know, we had people there who had done it before. And so they’re just continuing to teach new people how to do everything and make sure that, you know, we went as smoothly as it did. And it wasn’t our it wasn’t because of us that it went that smooth, it was because of all of our team that was making it happen.
Mather
I want to make something very clear here. And that is that I’m able to look back now and see that as a positive experience. First of all the week before, for whatever reason, you know, like the hits kept coming. Yeah. We want to, you know, we want everybody to be happy to have a good experience, and when things get in the way. Because we want to do such a good job for everybody that’s involved, that puts anything towards the event team, owners, players, everybody that’s involved. Anxiety rises, I literally didn’t sleep for probably four days, like I was getting an hour to sleep at night. And at the event itself, like, almost no, zero sleep, you know, so the, I hadn’t slept very minimal for like five days. And of course, there were problems. Like it wasn’t, you know, there was a lot of problems. And one of them was super crushing for me personally, and it had to do with the media. And so there was like, a week hangover, where it was really tough to get out of bed, like I couldn’t get anything done. Like functionally it was, it felt like I was trying to climb out of quicksand. You know, what I mean? Just mentally, the the, I was crushed. And that was one of the, you know, I feel like I say that after a lot of events, but that was definitely the worst I had felt after an event. And so, there was like, even though we were getting a ton of positive feedback, it took a really long time before I really felt like, Okay, that was worth doing. All right, that was a good positive event. Just because I was in such a low point, you know, physically and mentally because of how hard that event was, you know, and, and I think it’s important for people to know that too, because like, if we just can’t say, oh, yeah, it was awesome. It was great. There was a big, big toll paid by everybody that was in a leadership role. And that includes team owners and everything else. And then so like, for me, personally, like I said that there was a week of before I could even felt like, I wanted to do anything, honestly. And then it took a while after that before I was like, Okay, that was successful. The other thing I will say is, even though I felt like that I was looking for new ways to have grit. I was like, How can we get an event as soon as possible, I don’t want to wait to the next one. And it’s just this weird paradox that goes on that you just can’t really explain. But it’s a very real thing. So I think it’s important to recognize that it wasn’t all sunshine and roses. It was, it was a brutal, brutal experience. But I think that’s part of what 2020 was, and ultimately, you know, either learned and grew from that, or you didn’t.
Nick
I know, I loved it. You know, our, our team personally, didn’t do too well, still had a really good time, still had a really, really good time the entire time. Interestingly, that by far, the worst, like, statistically, our, our team has been in a season, right? If we’re counting that wins and losses, nothing but positive feedback from the players, like just 100%. We love that we can’t wait to do that, again, can’t wait to do something like that, again, different from our normal season. So I think that says a lot, right? Because generally, a team getting their ass handed to him for an entire day doesn’t leave with like a great taste in their mouth. And everybody still really enjoyed it. So that was cool.
Mather
Yeah, and I mean, I think there’s some variables that contribute to that. One of which is, there was a really awesome moments and you guys performance? Yeah. Yeah. You know, we’re, we’re had to contribute to like, seeing the ability of the sport to have a positive impact on people. You know, regardless of philosophy, and they, but like, winning a gridlock, or making it to agree that I shouldn’t say, was an incredible experience that that had not happened to that point. I think that but also, you know, so much of our experience is hinged off of expectation and I think that that tournament, is no better demonstration of how we set our expectations is how the incumbent outcome is every single time. And so as a team owner, you know, I hope we take, as League owner, and as team owners, I hope we take a cue from that, because, you know, what is important when we play this sport? What is important when we go to have a match? And how do we want to be on the other side is knowing that we can’t control everything that does happen? So I think that was a good good kind of perspective. opener in that regard as well.
Nick
So with us for years, down four seasons down, about to start the fifth season, right? What’s been each of your just like, favorite moments we’ve had so far are gonna be favorite, favorite part of what you’ve gotten out of grid, we’re going to talk specifically about the Florida really not MPGL or any the experiences beforehand.
Mather
I would say I don’t think it’s a one single moment. But it’s kind of like a collective moment. And it happened in 2020. But it’s when, you know, social media started taking off. And I think it was a combination of a lot of things, but it was complete verification that everything we knew is true, as far as where the sport would go, the impact it can have on not just people to play it and interact with it, but people that watch it and appreciate it. So doing something like this is such a huge risk. And when you have those moments of clarity and validation, it’s super, super rewarding. And, and I would say, we have like 26x, the social media following from this past year that we did going into it and, and so that kind of journey is probably what I would say.
Ruby
Yeah, I think for me, it’s seeing and other and working with other people that get it and then want to learn and grow with us. So we’ve been working with Lindsay, our seasoned director since year one. And she reached out and said, “Hey, this is cool, can I help” and I assigned her one spreadsheet, and she did it really well, which is very rare to find in people who want to help. And so she just kind of like kept growing her role. And when we had, you know, when we needed somebody, because I was here and we needed somebody to run some matches, you know, she stepped up, and she was able to do it. And then she found some other people and people would drive from Tampa to Miami for every match, because they wanted to, they felt such ownership of the matches and of the sport that they wanted to be involved with everything that they could to ensure the highest quality of an event. And that is something that I have been in every job I’ve ever had, you know, and I think about like fine dining a lot like going and having like, 26 steps that you have to do for every table and you’re at a different step, you know, at each table that you have, and you all have to be kind of a team and seamlessly working together. And, you know, watching the NPGL had their equipment crew and kind of like everything was really, you know, we were on NBC right away. So like the refs and the, like everybody on the crew had to be like, almost part of the entertainment themselves. It couldn’t be like, crazy, everybody’s running around with their heads cut off kind of thing. It had to be seamless. And that’s been, you know, our goal from the very beginning of like creating that kind of experience for our staff have it and then just watching that kind of come to fruition like we’re working with four or five different interns now. So we’ve got like a crew of interns that we’re working with. And we’ve got, you know, Lindsay and Kathy, and Tomas and Miguel and like all of these people that have been with us for years now. And, you know, Kayla, we’re bringing on our First Person full time to work with us, essentially. We’re growing our staff, our team are like, behind the scenes team. So exponentially now. And that is the thing that gets me the most excited, because, I mean, ever since like, I like I said, I hate having bosses, I don’t like it at all. Because they never do things the way I think they shouldn’t be. And so I just, you know, one of my goals, since I was like, early 20s, is I want to be a boss, where other people, like, enjoy working, because I let them in, like do things the way that you know, make sense. And this is like, kind of the realization of that dream is, you know, one of my goals is to have this company be one of the top 10 or 100, I don’t know, companies to work for by Fortune magazine, like, I want that I want that. Named, we’re a good company to work for. And so, I don’t know, it’s just, that’s really exciting. And it started, you know, in in 2016, when Lindsay started coming on, and it’s just growing, and we’re getting better as leaders andpeople are growing within the organization. And it’s just, it’s really fun.
Nick
I love that. I love that that like, so, like, as the owner of shark bite, I love that. That’s I resonate with that so strongly, you know, the the want to be somebody who people want to work for and work with. I totally understand that, that Yeah. That’s awesome. I’d say my favorite has been just like the people we’ve gotten to meet, you know, the, like, the relationships that I wouldn’t have, if not for the grid League. You know, we I talked about that on the podcast with Derek and Francisco, two of the players on our team. And we we talked about how many friends we have now that we just literally never would have had otherwise, you know, how many how many connections professionally and personally each of us have now that we can use and hopefully have the next 20 years, you know, and I like I didn’t grow up playing sports. So I didn’t have that naturally, you know, to have that now it feels awesome.
Mather
Yeah, yeah, it’s so true. I mean, there’s a level of respect, connection, appreciation that happens, no matter the difference between you and somebody else in a journey like this, you know what I mean? And so, you know, that can’t be established and other ways, and you can fall back on that in so many ways when you need to in the future, you know, so that’s also a very rewarding thing as how I’ve grown from knowing people like you in the league, and working with a common goal with people like you and Emily, and then having, you know, hearing about conversations that you’ve had with Courtney and other people that you know, have had impact on you and vice versa because of this leak, you know, and that’s that’s an awesome awesome thing. Yeah.
Nick
Well, so now that we got emotional about the past, what about the season coming up, right, season five. There’s some statistic I’m gonna mess up where it’s like, X percent don’t make it to year five of anything, right. We’re doing it it’s happening. We’re blowing that away. Right now, what what do you guys most excited about for the season?
Ruby
Being there! I really, really, really am excited to come to an actual event, and, you know, I’m gonna leave my kids at home. So I get to just focus on, on, you know, doing what I feel like I do best which is, is running events, like it’s just so fun to, to be working with staff and to kind of, you know, make sure everything’s going well. And then to also get to see the players and, and, you know, it’s going to be a really cool and exciting season because we have so much going on Europa games to start off, and then you know, we’ve got like, double headers, and we’re growing so much our sponsors are really cool. Like, I’m, I’m excited to keep announcing those because there’s some really good ones. And that’s what me personally not what I’m excited for, for the company.
Mather
I’m really excited, because I think we’ll be able to support people that have been involved in are getting involved in a way that we’ve never done before. So financially, physically, you know, experientially. The team owners, the players that have devoted their time and effort into playing the sport, the sponsors that have supported us for years, but also the new ones that are, you know, still not knowing what they’re getting themselves into, but see something there, and they know, they need to be a part of it. That just means so much to me that, and we talked about it all the time, it’s like, being able to provide value from being an elite for those people, I think is going to take a big step up this year, through a lot of different channels. And part of a shining a light on on the players and the teams like I just love that ability, because there’s so much incredible talent that the world is starting to recognize and see, like, that’s why we’re growing on social media so fast that we are because the players in this league are freaking incredible. And people are like, wow. And so just doing more of that, you know, and shining a light on their abilities, getting more media out there into the world. And, you know, I really believe will be on a television network in in 2022, maybe even the end of 2021. But we’re having those conversations now. And we it could have even been before now If 2020 wasn’t what it was. But I really believe that that’s coming soon. And that really gets me excited, because everything is in place there. And, you know, we already know the potential of the players and the impact they can have on people we’re seeing it, it’s a live thing. And when people become more and more aware of how the sport works, and what it does, and, and how important it is, it’s only going to, you know, make the the fan base grow as well for the players and for the teams. And that’s what that gets me going.
Ruby
The amount of comments that we get about people saying, you know, I’m inspired to go try this in the gym. And you know, like you guys keep doing what you’re doing, because this is so inspiring and exciting. And, like, that’s so cool to see that people from around the world are watching the people play in our league, you know, people are traveling from around the world in order to play me. It’s just like, it blows my mind. And I really think about it, because every day, it’s like, we’re just going along, we’re playing the season, just like any other time. But when you stop and think about where we are and how many people are watching now.
Mather
It’s incredible, I wouldn’t say like, that is a really incredible thing. And that’s 110% because of the players and what their ability to do. Because people are recognizing that they’re seeing it in like, holy crap, that’s amazing. And it’s what a player can do. The only thing we are doing is giving them a vehicle to showcase what they can do. Or we’re not even giving but it’s like creating a structure for people to be able to see what they can do. And people love experts, people love extreme ability and in the players in this league have abilities that are literally top in the world in play. And, and so, you know, that is an incredible thing to be able to showcase and we’re seeing the result of that. And, you know, working it up the ladder of being more aware of the sport is like the secondary thing that we’ve got to do a good job of capturing but the fact that we’ve got more attention now is 100% of the the players. And so it’s important to recognize that appreciate that and continue to highlight that and then just work on doing our job of letting the excellence of the sport itself shine as well.
Nick
So I told a couple of the players that I was gonna ask those and have you guys on right? And I got Mather, a question for you that I thought was really interesting. So to be clear, this is from a, you can relax. It’s not a bad one I promise. For some for some context, this is from a player who’s been a player for many years and is still a player, right? So I thought that made the question more interesting. What would you say to potential players who were who are scared because grid looks like too dangerous for them? Right and especially talking to potential players from say, like a CrossFit or weightlifting or tracking field or gymnastics or insert any other competitive athleticism background, right? Like what would you say to them, they think green is too dangerous, because they are seeing things like Quinton doing backwards, roll the sports or Bella flying around on the rings of the bar, or they’re seeing Noel move a bar faster than should be humanly possible, right? Like, what? What do you say to them?
Mather
I say, if you enjoy football, if you enjoy hang gliding, if you enjoy skateboarding, if you enjoy skiing, if you enjoy and then a if you enjoy rugby, any of those sports are more dangerous than the sport of grid. I’ve thought a lot about why people focus on these movements being performed quickly as, quote unquote dangerous. When it’s not really dangerous in the spectrum of sports whatsoever. It’s in fact, it’s probably in the bottom 5% of danger when it comes to sport. And I think personally, my own theory is that CrossFit has this reputation of being injury prone. But that has to do with training CrossFit over a long period of time as a person that’s in fitness, right? So people want to scare people away. Because they think, oh, you know, snatches shouldn’t be performed for time, we shouldn’t be doing kipping pull ups 100 pull ups in a workout. Okay, that’s somebody’s perspective. And then the way that CrossFit has been traditionally, which is not now but traditionally they fight fire with fire, they come back with snarky comments and things like that. And it just exacerbates people that want to put CrossFit down. And so there’s generated this whirlwind of people when they see a kipping pull up their immediate responses, that’s dangerous. You know what I mean? And it’s like, it’s created a whole culture around any movement that remotely looks like a thing that CrossFit does is that’s dangerous and even even infiltrates CrossFitters. You know, they have to defend why kipping pull up is a reasonable thing to do. And in competition, again, it’s one of the safer things you can do in competition when you compare to other sports that are popular in the world. But a kipping pull up, you defend that. And so when we go and do something that’s even crazier than a kipping pull up, well, even CrossFit is like, wow, that might be dangerous. You know, okay, go tackle a 300 pound dude, without a helmet, and you’re playing rugby. And that’s, you know, go get hit in the face repeatedly in MMA get choked out in MMA, and then go tell me doing a kipping pull up is dangerous. You don’t mean it’s like it, but it’s not I’m not mad about it. Like I get passionate about it. Because I think there’s such a disconnect. There’s such a disconnect in in reality, but the way people are valuing it in their minds. And that’s just a challenge that we have to overcome. It’s like, you know, sports, there’s an inherent risk in sports, no matter what sport you play, when you do things fast. When you’re searching for the peak of human capability, you’re pushing your limits, that’s the definition of sports, you’re pushing your human limits, and that comes with risks. And the benefits that come from it are worth those risks for most people, and that’s why they do it. And I know personally, I’ve taken risks I’ve gotten injured, wouldn’t change it for the world. Some people get dramatic injuries. But when you talk about the risk of playing grid in the spectrum of sports, it’s minuscule. You know, and, and so I think, you know, that’s like, a passionate topic that I appreciate you asking, because when you look at it in those terms, it’s a no brainer. It’s like if I’m going to go compete in sports and do something that my body’s naturally built any for anyway, you’re lifting weights because you’re bigger and stronger, doing pull ups because your body’s more adapt to it because grid rewards that so it’s literally probably besides, you know, curling. This one of the safer sports to play.
Nick
So the amount of passion you just got from that, like I’ve had a similar reaction to that conversation when I was in college, I had to do a research study on exactly that on injury rates in CrossFit, right. And the majority of that oh kipping looks dangerous mindset comes from a study that by the NSCA, that was proven untrue years later, it was completely falsified. There’s been like, a very expensive lawsuit ongoing and then settled in which CrossFit made a lot of money off of the NSCA. Because they just falsified a study that is then like permeate into people’s consciousness many years later. And like, man, it’s a sport, it’s sport, you take risk in sport.
Mather
Yeah, you got people, you know, hanging off on the side of a cliff with no safety net. And that’s their sport a little bit higher risk than, you know, doing a butterfly muscle a little bit. But, you know, I think it’s so funny, because the way CrossFit has traditionally approached these situations has just made people feed fuel to the fire. Like they’re gonna, you know, they’re gonna fight and I don’t think, you know, I think the new leadership is taking a little bit different approach, but I welcome honestly, but I think the way they have in the past has just led to people creating like, these CrossFit fails videos, and like, you know, just trying to demean the sport because they used to come off. So like, just let us do our thing. And, you know, forget you or like, you know, combative rather than construct to, to cool for you and they when they shouldn’t, and we’re trying to teach people about a brand new thing.
Nick
Ruby, I was told by a little birdie to ask you about your passion for dancing. And specifically, your passion for teaching other people about dancing. Okay. So apparently, you have a history with it?
Ruby
Um, yeah, so I’ve been a dancer my whole life, it’s like my number one thing I do. Don’t even think about doing it. I just dance every day. Another huge difference between Mather and I. After college, I moved to California, because I wanted to be a backup dancer for Britney Spears, and it didn’t work out so well. So I came home after a year. But that’s probably a little known fact.
Nick
I did not and I’m still happy. I know that.
Ruby
And then, so when I came back, I started this was like, around the same time that Mather and I and our mom started working together, I thought to my a couple of friends asked me to teach them how to dance for their weddings. So, you know, I didn’t have experience with it, they just knew I knew how to dance. And so two different friends who are getting married a week apart, asked me to teach them how to dance for their weddings. This could be something and so since you know, we were a website, design company, my mom and my brother designed a logo and a website went through it up and, and, you know, I really didn’t market it that much, I put it up on like, the not.com, or something like that. And over about 10 years, I grew it to, to be about probably like half of my income. You know, I was I was teaching hundreds of couples a year. And I had really good feedback, because I came at it from, you know, a kind of, you know, you go and learn a wedding dance. And it’s like, this is the most important thing of your whole day. And I took the opposite approach, like, this is just dancing, it’s fine. But it was also kind of like therapy, because, you know, a couple learning how to dancers, generally speaking, one that is a little bit more anxious, and, you know, controlling, and there’s one that’s usually a little bit more, you know, sure, whatever you say kind of person. And in dancing, it’s usually the opposite, you know, the in, in traditional dance, the male is the lead, and the male has to tell the female what to do. And this is also true in in gay couples, that that I have taught that like in my experience, so learning to switch those roles. I’ve had couples say that their entire relationship is different because they went through a couple of classes with me and learned how to communicate, not with like, you know, talking at each other and you’re doing this wrong kind of way but through a completely different language of movement and and body language and stuff. It’s really, really cool. I got into it for a very long time. I kept doing it. We moved out to Downingtown, had a baby. I kept doing it for a little while. And I you know, being a panda I was just like, I gotta take my wife down like I just, I can’t I don’t have time I have to now get like childcare. It’s a whole big thing just to have one class. But it’s something I wish I could get back to someday because it’s it’s really fun to watch people get it, you know, to say like, oh, here’s where the beat is. I’m gonna learn where that is. And I’m gonna move my feet to it and then I’m going to, like, lead her to do it with me and it’s just it’s really cool. I love dancing.
Nick
Obviously, yeah, one of the one of the big beacons to look forward to at the upcoming Europa games is apparently to catch Ruby dancing at every single match. I was told that we on camera on that constantly.
Ruby
My favorite DJ Marlone always throws on to Britney for me and that gets me going
Nick
That’s awesome. I’m so happy. I did I now know that you were doing Britney Spears back dancing. That makes me happy in a way you can understand.
Ruby
Okay, here I didn’t actually get to be a backup dancer. And I do know all of her dances from like, circa 2000 I know all of them still.
Nick
Well, Google here we come. So final question. Very important. Mather, what’s up with that lawnmower, bro?
Mather
You mean, my manly lawnmower? You just stared down a little bit. Yeah, so I have what would be classified as the manliest lawnmower you’ve ever seen. I tried to be sustainable and also financially responsible. So I bought a very small lawnmower. That’s battery powered. And I look completely ridiculous when I use it because it’s tiny. But it’s not the only thing that makes me look completely ridiculous and then I’m fine with so just roll with worth another thing. I actually like it It gets the job done. And serves all my objectives.
Ruby
Just to get just to give everybody a visual, he literally has like bend over
Nick
Well, he sent me a video of it. I couldn’t believe it was real.
Mather
My neighbor who, who we didn’t know at the time because we just moved, came over. He’s like, Yeah, it looks like this should be bubbled blowing out of that Walmart.
Nick
It kinda looks like a baby’s first shaving kit. But for lawn mowers. Oh, man, guys, is there anything that you’d like to bring up that we can go over?
Mather
I guess I just real quick question for you. You know, being involved with Florida Grid League, you have a lot of your own serious ambitions. You know, you own three gyms. I have an idea of where you want to go with that. And, you know, we’ve talked about that before. What’s the you know, that takes a lot of time and energy. And you have big vision, big goals. You want to support a lot of people? What makes you want to be involved with something that also takes a lot of time and effort and focus? And that’s being in the sport of grid when maybe not directly, at least on the surface, it doesn’t contribute to your bigger goals with with SharkBite. But I’m just curious.
Nick
That’s a great question. I don’t know if I’ve ever told either of you this. So every year, at the end of the season, I reevaluate that. Right? Like, after the hangover, you talked about, you know, like, I let that go away. And I think okay, you know, does this still meet the goals that I need and want it to meet? Like, am I still bought into what I was when we had that first conversation, you know, and every year, the answer has been Yes. And it’s been Yes, because there’s probably like, emotional reasons and then logical reasons, right? Logically, it provides benefits that probably couldn’t get other ways, right? I get a professional network. That is literally top tier. I mean, you guys Alina, the other team owners. Every rep that i become friends with every player I become friends with. You both know that I’ve hired people to run our gyms through this team, there are logical benefits to it, right? But then emotionally, man, it is just so much fun. You know, like, it’s, it gets stressful, just like anything that you’re passionate about gets stressful, but it’s fun, I look forward to this, this is a, this is a part of, you know, when I, when I put my food on my plate, this takes up a spot like it, it and it’s earned that spot because it’s something that I feel like I gain intrinsic value from. I’m a player now, full transparency, I don’t think that’s gonna last much longer. I’ve hit my peak, and I’m on the way down. But that’s like the least cool part of it, you know, that getting to getting to be a part of all the other people kind of like what you said, review want to be a part of it and want to grow and want to learn and want to push it forward. Getting to be part of that is like a drug. You know, it’s so much fun. It is so, so much fun and so fulfilling. So every year when I do my little reevaluation. At the end of the season, I’m like, okay, is this something I want to continue doing? I think the logical portion would have to get pretty damn low for that part to not outweigh it no matter what you know, is that that’s probably why. I don’t think I’ve ever told either of you. I do that before either.
Mather
So yeah, yeah. I mean, I’ve asked team owners before, a similar question, because everybody’s driven, everybody’s got lots of goals. And, ourselves included, like, you know, grid doesn’t pay our bills, just so grid does not pay our bills. Yeah. And so it has to fit into our lives. And I think, and so while all we talk about on things like this is the FGL, our lives are made up of a lot more than that. So we have to have that evaluation every year as well. And we had that evaluation, we went from the NPGL to the Florida. And what’s interesting to me, and your answer is none of it has to do with the significance of the sport in the future. And for me, that’s a big driver, like that’s it, but it’s different for other people. So that’s kind of what I was getting it. But I knew that about you after the conversation that we’re having, you know, I guess it was like six months ago when we’re talking about, like, where is the future of this sport going? You know, and that answer was very different amongst the team owners. And it was something that was was surprising to me. So I love the answer, because there’s no better value than what you get right now. And you’re getting enough right now, no matter what to really benefit from it. And that’s the way I feel too. But I’m also driven by what I see the future to be. You know what I mean with the sport.
Nick
Now it can only be much better as we go on. Right? It can only be a higher return on that anyway.
Mather
Right. Exactly. So, thank you. I appreciate that. Thanks for being a part of the league. It’s been an awesome ride. Can’t wait for much more.
Nick
Thank you, both of you. Seriously, you know for stuff outside of this podcast and for coming on this podcast. Thank you. I’m excited for the season. Real quick. Ruby, Mather, how would people find you they want to do?
Mather
On Instagram, FLGridLeague. And then just if you Google Florida Grid League, you can find it. Me personally on Mather Wiz on Instagram. That’s covers me basically, Ruby doesn’t know her Instagram handle.
Ruby
Rubs Irene.
Nick
Yeah, that makes me so happy.
Ruby
I have like 25 followers, so I don’t post. But I do behind the scenes grid stuff sometimes. So if you’re interested in grid
Nick
If somebody wanted to find out more about the grid, like how would they how would they contact the league? What’s your website?
Mather
vfgl.com or floridagridleague.com.
Ruby
Cool. Yeah. And like anything, you know, interested in working with us interested in just coming to the events or like how to live stream or watch live streams or whatever, you know, we answer every single email somebody on the team will get back to you.
Mather
Thank you guys. Thank you, man.
Nick
Appreciate it. All right. Thanks for hanging out with us today on the shark bite show. If you’d like to get ahold of us, you find us on Facebook or Instagram at Shark by fitness nutrition, or on our website at Shark by fitness.com. If you’d like to find out more about our guests, their information will be in the show notes. If you’d like to talk to us about getting more fit. Feel free to schedule a free no sweat intro at one of our locations in Cape Coral, Fort Myers or Naples, Florida.
Be sure to check out this episode of the #TheSharkBiteShow.
Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or any podcast platforms.
https://redcircle.com/shows/the-shark-bite-show
**Powered by Shark Bite Fitness and Nutrition
Website: https://sharkbitefitness.com/
FB and IG:
@sharkbitecapecoral
@sharkbitefortmyers