Pro Mindset Podcast

Olympic hopeful and track star, John Register joins Pro Mindset® host Craig Domann as he shares his story beginning in high school athletics, running track at the Univ of Arkansas and his journey chasing his vision of competing in the hurdles in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. After college, John joined the US Army’s world-class Olympic program that allowed athletes to train up to three years before the Olympic Games, so that he could get compensated to train as a member of the US Army.
The Gulf War interrupted his training plan as he was deployed overseas. When he returned to the US, he was too out-of-shape to compete in the 110-meter hurdles, so he experimented with the 400-meter hurdles. His time for his first race was only two seconds off the world’s best. At this moment he caught the vision of competing in the 1996 Olympics and standing on the medal podium in Atlanta.
On a very windy day in Hays, Kansas, he was competing in a track meet leading up to the Olympic Trials and during his race he was injured attempting to clear the 3rd hurdle. This injury was not only a career-ender but also lead to the defining moment in his life. The doctors assessed his condition and gave John a simple but unimaginable choice, and the most difficult decision in his life to that moment. The doctor’s options were (a) amputate his leg and he would have to use a prosthesis for the rest of his life or (b) keep his leg and he would be relegated to a wheelchair or walker the rest of his life. This was a “rest of his life” decision.
John also discusses the following topics:
•How your vision for your life is yours and don’t expect others to catch it
•How it’s impossible to measure elite athletes from different eras and therefore it is unfair and unrealistic to compare Usain Bolt and Jesse Owens, or Michael Jordan and Lebron James
•How he wants to have control of his life and not have other people’s decisions control his life
•His experience competing for the University of Arkansas powerhouse track team in their heyday
•What does “new normal” mean?
Now that you are thinking about John and his decision, take a minute to look at your life and what is holding you back, what is dead weight in your life, and/or who or what relationship is keeping you from growing, elevating, graduating into your best self?
John’s decision and the impact of his decision on his life and other people’s lives will be discussed in the next episode of Pro Mindset.

Hall of Fame Sports Reporter Laura Okmin joins Pro Mindset host Craig Domann as they discuss meaningful and heavy issues. Laura talks about her pivot point in her life when she survived a turbulent plane ride and the changes she made afterwards. She vowed she would start creating a life that would make her care about life. She checked a lot of boxes in her career and then realized that boxes weren't making her happy. She pursued the answer to the question: how do I make my life bigger? That's when her journey really became magical.
What's your plan B? It took Laura about nine months after graduating from college before she got her first job. She heard, “What is your Plan B?” a lot as she watched all her friends have lives, get jobs, have money and relationships, get homes and have babies. Yet she was home with her parents sending out reel tapes. Everybody would ask every day, “What's your Plan B?” She would always just say her Plan B was to figure out how to get her Plan A to work. Craig added from his experience with NFL players, “If they have a Plan B it's only a matter of time before it becomes their Plan A.”
A reporter’s life is being a great storyteller. She loved telling stories and there's no better stories in the world to cover than sports. She shares the key to success is having confidence in yourself.
Laura covered Michael Jordan playing baseball and then followed him back to Chicago and covered him with the Bulls. She shares when Michael walked into a room, you knew it. By the way, she said the same thing about MJ when he walked out on the court. She recalls the feeling in the United Center shifted (she referred to this as the “room tilted”).
Laura, who has covered many Super Bowls, Olympics and major sporting events in her career, also reflected that they that besides MJ the only other times she has ever felt the room tilt was when Muhammad Ali was in the arena and when Bruce Springsteen was at a shopping mall in LA.
For nearly 30 years Laura Okmin has been covering the biggest names in sports on the biggest stages. What Laura is most known for, and most proud of, is the connections she has cultivated over two decades of building relationships … not sources. Trust has been the foundation of every interview she conducts, the content she creates – and now her company, GALvanize, leading the next generation of women sports broadcasters.
Always passionate about her job, GALVANIZE gives Laura a purpose: Training and mentoring young women entering the sports world on – and more importantly – OFF camera.
Laura is the third longest tenured sideline reporter in NFL history. You’ll find her covering the league for the NFL on FOX and Westwood One’s NFL national radio games. She’s covered more than 10 Super Bowls, hosted Olympic coverage from the London, Sochi and Pyeongchang games, and reported from multiple World Series, NBA and NHL championships.
What’s your honey? What has always made sense to Laura and it's still her mantra to this day is if you take a pot of honey and you just put it on the table outside, the bees are going to come. The honey doesn't have to call the bees to the honey. Honey doesn't have to sell itself to the bees. The honey doesn't have to make a big deal about itself. The honey just has to be honey. And the bees will come. Honey time is when you're just right where you're supposed to be and making sure that you're in a place where you can see and receive your blessings. You just need to be in your shoes right where you are.

Sports and entertainment attorney Jonathan Stahler joins Pro Mindset host Craig Domann as they discuss:
•the prospects of the NFL having more guaranteed player contracts,
•who’s #1 GOAT in NBA Michael Jordan or Lebron James,
•the differences and challenges of doing legal work in the sports and entertainment area,
•the mental make-up of superstar performers,
•the myths of working in sports, and
•his motivation for getting into sports and entertainment law.
Jonathan originally from Pennsylvania and currently practices law in South Florida but he was a sports fan way before his sports career. His favorite Major League Baseball team is the New York Yankees, his favorite NFL team is his home state Philadelphia Eagles and his favorite NBA team is the Miami Heat!
Jonathan M. Stahler, Esq. is a Florida licensed attorney in both state & federal courts based in Miami, FL, and is the founder of Stahler Sports & Entertainment Law,PA. www.Stahlerselaw.com He represents clients in the sports and entertainment arena including professional athletes (NFL, NBA and MLB), sports and player agents, organizations and family members.
Jonathan is a graduate of Syracuse University & the David B. Falk Center for Sport Management where he received a Bachelor of Science in Sport Management, with honors. He received his Juris Doctor & Certificate for Sports Law and Policy from Thomas Jefferson School of Law.
Jonathan is a member of the Florida Bar, Sports Lawyers Association, American Bar Association, & a board member of the Florida Sports Business & Leadership Association. He has served as a panelist & guest lecturer discussing issues in both sports & entertainment law & business at Syracuse University College of Law, Florida International University College of Law, Syracuse University, Florida State University, & University of Miami.

Brock Domann, a well-traveled college QB, and youngest son of Pro Mindset host Craig Domann, shares his experiences as a college QB, the best mindset for success, the must-have mindset for big games and his perspective about earning trust with his coaches.
Brock was a 3-time football state champion in high school, won the Southern California Championship in Juco football, and former D-1 QB who walked away from his scholarship to re-charge his college football career at San Bernardino Valley in Los Angeles.
Brock recalls his mindset when he played his biggest college game versus the #1 ranked team in the nation. Brock shows his swagger when he shared, “They (Riverside) deserved to lose because of the disrespect that they showed on the defensive side of the ball. They manned us up the entire game meaning they thought their guys were better than ours and they especially doubted me the opposing QB. I dotted ‘em up all the way down the field the whole game!” Brock mentions that typically if a defensive coordinator respects a QB, the DBs play back, play zone and make the QB take the check downs. If the DC doesn’t respect the QB, then you play man coverage and blitz and that's exactly what Riverside did. “Riverside had zero respect for my game. I saw that, took advantage of that, and made them pay.”
Brock also discusses the following topics:
•The biggest difference between playing college QB and high school QB
•The toughest lessons that he has learned in college
•His belief that coaches don’t look at resumes and past successes but rather only believe what they see with their own eyes
•Letting go of the perception of the way my life should go
•The best mindset, the best perspective, and the best approach to be a successful quarterback
•He also gives his perspective on leadership as a quarterback. Brock suggests that everyone (coaches and teammates) have both a conscious and subconscious belief about you as a player and leader.
Brock shares his love for football and how much football asks of you, especially as a QB . . . every second of every day needs to be dedicated to it. He adds, “I just love how you have to be all in or all out. I love it because I'm willing to be all in and I love knowing that a lot of people aren't and just having that edge of I'm willing to go through more suffering than you are.”
Brock finishes, “It's an addicting feeling when you're at rock bottom and you still have this confidence that you can still achieve everything you want to achieve because you just have that solid belief system in yourself. And no one can take that from you and that's addicting.”

Brandon is a former professional baseball player in the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners organizations. Brandon played baseball collegiately for UCLA. He grew up in Southern California, his dad played college baseball at the University of Redlands and his brother Erik played college baseball at Arizona State. Naturally, baseball was in his family’s blood. On their family vacations growing up they would visit different professional ballparks. He had the opportunity to go to UCLA, play baseball and he was a captain.
When host Craig Domann asked Brandon to share his valley or gutter experience, Brandon shared that in his second year of pro ball towards the end of spring training, he “didn’t want to play anymore” and went to his manager and told him so. He was hitting third in the lineup and was a starter but his heart was doubting his future. He actually went home that night and knew in his gut that it didn’t feel right and that he couldn’t end his career that way. The next day he went back and fortunately the manager let him return.
Brandon continues that he couldn’t imagine if he didn't play that year, how different his life would have turned out. One of the most powerful life lessons for him was he stuck it out, played it out and gave it one last shot.
Brandon shares with Pro Mindset host Craig Domann the fun moments of batting against his brother Erik twice when ASU & UCLA played each other. His brother hit him in his first at-bat and his brother threw a 0-0 count (first pitch) changeup on the second at-bat. The brotherly love and competitiveness is obvious when Brandon talks about his relationship with his younger brother.
Brandon Averill is Managing Partner of Athlete Wealth Management, aka AWM Capital. Brandon is a CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) professional and holds the Certificate in Investment Performance Measurement (CIPM®) from the Chartered Financial Analyst Institute (CFA).
Brandon and his younger brother, Erik, had a vision and a passion for providing financial advice to professional athletes. While most would consider the prospect of working with professional athletes as an exciting clientele, it was their experience as former professional athletes and their personal exposure to bad financial advice that fueled their desire to start AWM. Check-them-out at www.athletewealth.com or www.awmcap.com .
Brandon resides in Glendale, CA with his wife Anne who is a Chartered Financial Analyst and two beautiful children, Luke Joshua & Charlotte Grace. Brandon is passionate about wine, cycling and loves being behind the camera in his free time.

Erik Averill is a former professional baseball player with the Detroit Tigers and Seattle Mariners organizations. Erik played collegiately for Arizona State. During his career as an ASU Sun Devil, Erik earned honors as 2003 Freshman All-American Honors, 2004 & 2005 All Pacific-Ten, and Pitcher of the Year for the 2005 College World Series Team. Erik Averill is the co-founder of AWM and he is a Certified Financial Planner™ (CFP®) and a Certified Private Wealth Advisor (CPWA®). He is the co-author of PAID: How To Maximize Your Signing Bonus, Simplify The Money Game and Secure Your Future and is the host of Athlete CEO podcast.
Erik shares with Pro Mindset host Craig Domann the typical challenges and dysfunctions families and athletes face when money is involved. He shares there is potential dysfunction in the family circle when an athlete outpaces his parents and siblings in the money world and when they put the athlete up on a pedestal. He recommends that parents keep parenting their athlete child in order to maintain normalcy and harmony in the family circle.
Erik also talks about how money is a magnifier as it tends to increase the natural disposition of the athlete. Generous athletes who gain riches tend to continue to give and give more, whereas, unhappy athletes tend to become more unhappy as they get more money.
Erik talks about his mountain peak experience as an athlete as well as hitting rock bottom. In his valley experience he was let go by the Detroit Tigers farm director and he shares his shock, emotion, identity crisis and recovery from such.
Erick applies his experience as an athlete to assisting athletes manage their money, develop a career plan and relationships. Erik is an excellent communicator and teacher and utilizes those skills to impact his clients’ understanding of the business of professional sports.
Erik had a vision and a passion for providing financial advice to professional athletes. While most would consider the prospect of working with professional athletes as an exciting clientele, it was his experience as a former professional athlete and personal exposure to bad financial advice that fueled his desire to start AWM.

Zach Miller, a TE, was the 38th pick in the 2007 NFL Draft out of Arizona State by the Oakland Raiders. Zach played for the Raiders for four seasons and then for the Seattle Seahawks for four seasons during which he won the XLVIII Super Bowl with the Seahawks.
Zach shares with NFL Agent and Pro Mindset host Craig Domann his dedication to be a professional and focus his energy on being the best tight end that he could be. Whether that was in the weight room or in the film room, making plays, or doing whatever was asked of him as a team player, Zach shares he would do everything over again, even playing through injury. He tore both his plantar fascia in an NFC divisional game in 2012 and got injected so he could play and went on to have approximately 140 receiving yards in the game.
In reflecting on his Super Bowl season with the Seahawks, Zach shares that his head coach Pete Carroll, one of the best coaches he ever played for, talked about winning the Super Bowl constantly. Coach Carroll emphasized “never giving up on a play and never giving up on a moment because any one play can completely change the game.” That's how you build a championship and compete for multiple championships.
Zach gives his perspective on the difference between the NFL and college: “While the speed is different, the hits are different, the athletic ability is different, it's every week you're going against someone that's probably a Pro Bowler or a really good player. There is no offweek like there is in college. Some guys can just dominate with athletic ability in college but that is not the case in the NFL. You win some but you also lose a lot of battles in the NFL. You have to be good mentally (short-term memory has to be incredibly short) as you have to remember almost nothing of the play before but just refocus on whatever job you have to get done on the next play.”
Zach is a financial advisor for AWM Capital, Inc. To learn more or contact him, visit: www.awmcap.com .

Rebecca Smith is the founder and CEO of Complete Performance Coaching and Perform Happy. She has been helping high achievers thrive under pressure for more than 20 years. A recovering perfectionist, former gymnast, and coach, Rebecca struggled with mental blocks for years before they destroyed her gymnastics career.
Rebecca joins veteran NFL agent and Pro Mindset Podcast host, Craig Domann, to discuss the “flow” and the conditions present when an athlete hits the flow. The focus and fun of flow happens in a random fashion when the athlete is out of their own head and just playing in the zone.
Rebecca shares her life mission of minimizing and eliminating “fear” in her athletes so they can play with higher confidence. She suggests athletes should legalize failure in their performance so they can recapture the joy of playing the sport and naturally increase their performance and success.
Rebecca and Craig also talk about the following topics:
•How to build confidence?
•How to overcome fear and the fear of failure?
•How to keep your sport from becoming a job?
•What does it mean to design your own perfect coach?
•How to approach championship or Olympic-like competitions?
•What are the circumstances present when an athlete plays in the “flow”?
Rebecca’s deep passion lies in using an evidence-based approach that allows fearful young athletes to learn to trust themselves again. Her athletes learn to have a voice and stand up against the toxic culture of youth sports that has existed for decades.
When she’s not coaching in Perform Happy, she’s at the beach with her husband and her mini-gymnasts Ruby & Violet. Check out Perform Happy at www.completeperformancecoaching.com .

Coach Mike Riley has 27 years of head coaching experience in professional football and college football (San Diego Chargers, Oregon State Beavers, Nebraska Cornhuskers, CFL, AAF and XFL) joins Pro Mindset host Craig Domann and shares his experiences about greatness, obsession mindset, “it” factor, player recruiting & development, and the challenges and rewards of coaching football. Coach Riley played college football at the University of Alabama under the Legendary Bear Bryant and shares his take-aways from Coach Bryant that he applied to his own coaching career.
Coach talks about the excitement and challenges of coaching young men and helping them develop, as well as, encourage the players to feel an important part of the team regardless of their standing on the depth chart. Coach has many stories about his experience as a head coach and one was his appreciation for his "Saturday Soldiers" at Oregon State. These players started player-run workouts on Saturdays during the off-season in their pursuit of greatness.
Coach has coached several QBs in college who have gone on to play in the NFL and a few are still playing in the NFL. He gives his perspective on the importance of the QB to a team’s success and the attributes and traits that he believes are the most important ones needed for a QB to be successful.
Coach Riley’s philosophy is “Love what you do, love where you do it and love who you do it with!”

Drew Pittman, NFL sports agent, shares with Pro Mindset host Craig Domann his perspective on the agent business, best fit clients and the evolution of the agent business over the years. Drew and Craig were business partners for 22 years and have shared many experiences in the agent business.
Drew is the author of First Team Dad, Your Playbook For A Winning Family intended to assist men in becoming better leaders of their homes. NFL Hall of Famer Tony Dungy writes the forward to his book.
Drew and Craig discuss both the “it” factor and mindset that many successful NFL players possess. Drew shares a story of one of his clients who played in the NFL for eight years but started in the Arena League and his audition in the NFL was one preseason game with the Cowboys. His client turned a one preseason game audition into a career!
Drew also talks about the importance of relationships with NFL front office guys that allows him to get better feedback for his clients, get more money in contract negotiations and get critical intel from all NFL teams when he has a player hit free agency.
Drew loves to golf, fish, hangout on the lake with his family and he is an avid cyclist. He resides in the Texas hill country North of Austin with his wife, Layne, and has two sons attending Baylor University, Jake and Eli.