An Army of Normal Folks - Shane Young: Inner-City Rugby (Pt 2)

Episode Date: October 31, 2023

Shane is the co-founder of Memphis Inner-City Rugby, which has brought a sport that was pretty darn foreign to the inner-city to 2,400 students! 100% of them have been accepted into college or the military, 60 of them have played collegiate rugby, and they've helped their players receive more than $5 million in scholarships.Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's Bill Courtney with an Army of Normal Folks and we continue with Part Two of our conversation with Shane Young right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors. Choose business, not boring, with programs ranging from fashion to finance, culinary to commerce, or golf to global business. We deliver business education at its best, with authentic work integrated learning experiences that launch future entrepreneurs, business leaders, and global citizens.

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When you lay suffering a sudden violent brutal death, I hope you'll think of me. Starring Allison Williams. I don't need anything simplified, Mr. Hamilton, thank you. With Tony Goldwyn as Alexander Hamilton. Don't be so sad. It doesn't suit you. Written and created by me, Allison Flark. Why are you doing that goal?

Listen to E. Rast, the murder of Elma Sands. She was a sweet, happy, virtuous girl. No! No! Until she met that man right there. On the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcast. Apple Podcasts! and the zenith. For some, a subridge between the living and the dead, yet for others, is something else entirely. It's the place where our nightmares dwell. Each one of us has

touched the other side and felt the presence of something beyond this world. Welcome to Hip Hop Horror Stories. I'm your host, Belly. In each week, we're going to take you to the limits of your imagination as we explore the reality of paranormal experiences. I believe in the shift for real, and the stories you're about to hear might make you believe too. Everywhere I look, I slow something. And I looked closer and noticed there was a hooded figure. And whatever it is, it's like it became reality.

Listen to hip-hop horror stories on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And now we return to my reading of a testimonial from yet another rugby player and getting Shane's reaction to it. I used to hang out with a bad crowd but rugby changed my whole view of life and it's maybe rethink what I was going to do. I used to be what people called a troublemaker and there's like zero tolerance with the attitudes.

That is Giovanni Merritt and he said, so I learned to channel my anger into something productive. Holy moly, that line, if we could get something to learn to a one-poplar for those listening is where the jail is here in Memphis and it is seven stories tall, packed to the gills, overcrowded, and I'm not sure if it's not more dangerous into a one-poplar than outside of it. It is a disaster. Every city has one. In Memphis on the streets, you don't say going to jail, you say going to 201.

Everybody knows what you say when you say, if you don't straighten up, you're going to end up in 201. I used to say to my players at the NASA's early on is, 201 is filled full of people who did know how to manage their anchor. It's fair. And you know, it's because it's funny who made that quote. That's Giovanni Merritt, who is now one of our best coaches. Giovanni is, it's a young woman. And you mentioned, you know, who is the first person to sign that girl's rugby scholarship?

Giovanni Merritt. Tell us that story. So Giovanni pioneered girls rugby at Memphis, Intercity Rugby, you know, her and coach Sanam Cotton, another teacher America transplant from Chicago, played rugby at University of Illinois, got placed in Memphis in 2014, got placed at which school, Solesville, where Brad, who had already started the Solesville Boys team, was an administrator, and boom, we had access.

It was like, we didn't need to now go ask principal, of course we did, but like, we were already in. Can we start a girls team? Sinams teaching at the school, the perfect access, and Sinams is a big personality, bullish, you know, it really holds you accountable, get in your business kind of young woman coming from Chicago. And so she starts the girls team of that school. Giovanni is one of the first players to come out. Giovanni kicks, but she honestly,

it was tough to watch her tackle some of these young girls. Because she murder him. Because you would see headwip lash, you'd see concussions, you would see a lot. And like she was just so physical, so talented. And it got everybody really excited about girls, rugby. It was like, what do you see Giovanni? And you're like, who is that? And she ends up getting recruited by a life university, which is, you know, a perennial national champion, women's rugby team in a Marriott, a Georgia near Atlanta.

And she signed that scholarship. I think it was 2015 or 2016 and sort of blazed the trail there. And so she went to play college rugby on a full scholarship. And if I understand this right, she was the first woman of color to ever get a rugby scholarship to that university. Definitely from this area and at least from Tennessee. And so there was a lot of historic components to what Giovanni did. Now, I will say, we do have kids on full scholarships because of rugby, like Ivy League schools and different institutions right now. Giovanni and what gave life to a lot of our alumni sport services is that rugby scholarships usually aren't full rides. You have to package them together with different,

you know, financial aid packages and scholarships. And so we do that now at, we are like an agency pro bono that puts together financial aid packages, including rugby scholars for kids for Giovanni. We had to do the same thing before we ever had that systematized. Rugby is like a family seniors that would never talk to me because of this ball now do. Samuel Johnson said they want to see me do great and be a better person. So what they instilled in me, I'm still another guy's now. We were just that Sam's wedding two weeks ago. And now in Memphis and her city rugby, his little sister, Caitlin has signed a division one women's rugby scholarship. His

little brother, Jacob is one of our top referees at age 16. He's America's youngest referee. His little sister, his little brother, Christopher is a great leader for PCA, the team that Sam helped start with me. And Christopher's also our built in MC when he comes to games and he's not playing. He's on the speaker narrating what happens. I'm trying to think of I'm missing a sibling, but that's Sam Johnson who just got married and all of his siblings play rugby and we love the Johnson's. I never played sports in high school before the 10th grade.

Rugby has taught me to be a leader outside of my sports and inside my school. I've never been the type to stand up and speak loudly. It developed me as a person. I wasn't a very outspoken person at first and it taught me the difference between being a leader and being bossy. Wow. Wow. Yeah.

That's one of the things I love the most is the leadership development. We are best coaches can push the buttons of kids to bring out whatever, whether they're leading by example or vocally, I love to see our kids unfold as leaders, it's amazing. All right, so you've talked a little bit about it. This team at Kingsbury and then at Freedom Pop and then the four teams became an organization

as a result of what you guys started. Tell us what that organization looks like. You've talked a little bit about the programming you do. But we need to remember, this came from nothing, from some people, not even from a city who just had a passion and a discipline and saw an opportunity tell me what this organization is today. So today, and what you do. So today I serve as the co executive director, meaning you're not teaching.

I'm not teaching anymore. We have five full-time employees and I'm one of them. So we have, and I won't take you down the whole organizational chart, I promise you, but I will just kind of outline it real quick, which is me and a co-executive director. So, we have two directors, you know, and then a alumni support coordinator who runs our whole alumni support programming. That's Morgan. And then we have two full-time pathway coaches, and that's Savannah and Mariah, and they oversee really all the youth programming that happens.

And so our organization has two main pillars K through 12 programming and it's a we have to maybe relate that because it's not really K through 12. It is middle school and high school. So really it's like six grade through 12th grade. We may do elementary at some point. So it's K through 12 programming and then alumni support. And so our kids are engaged in my CR year round. We do seven on seven rugby in the fall, 15 on 15 rugby in the spring, and then a dynamic summer program. And so they're getting all of those

services that I've been rattling off to nutrition, transportation, mental health, counseling, college counseling, travel opportunities, academic support, case management, we will do anything we can for our kids. So when I'm rattling off all these services, those are codified and systematized and we're accountable to deliver those, but we do a lot more than that too. And so these kids receive these services year round, and then when they become juniors and seniors

in high school, our alumni support coordinator starts to engage with them so that they have access to our scholarships, our internships, 90% of coaches at MICR are our own alumni. I mentioned Giovanni Merritt. She's a coach. I mentioned Calvin Gentry. He's been a coach. Most of our coaches are alumni.

It is one of my favorite things about what we do. And same with our academic mentors and alumni support. These are mostly first generation college students. You don't have strong academic backgrounds, but they're getting recruited to go play at Brown University, to go play rugby, Lyndon Wood, elite institutions. There's really academic gaps there, especially since the pandemic. So our mentors are trained and certified to help close those gaps. And 100% of those mentors are alumni under the leadership of our alumni support coordinator, who delivers all the services of alumni support. That's why it's a big family.

You're telling me you have kids from the inner city who, whose prospects of even getting to college were low that are at Ivy League schools as a result of their involvement. Right now in rugby right now. And, and, and it won't be the first either. We have Ivy League's recruiting kids for the class of 2023 right now. First generation college students who found rugby and it's not the institution that's recruiting them. It's that institution's rugby coach that's recruiting them. And one of one of our students that's in Ivy League is Akila Kathy,

whose two sisters also played an MICR. One of them went to Lindywood on a rugby scholarship. Akila goes to Brown on a rugby scholarship. She also is a member of USA under 20s right now. She was in Canada this summer playing against whales, scoring against Canada, wearing the American symbol on her chest. And when we talk about, you know, what pissed me off about how I made the USA team and we went and got killed, well, this is, this is, you know, starting to happen the right way, I think. Now, people like me

will never hopefully make the USA rugby team again if we're able to like do a good job, what we're doing in Memphis, you know. I remember hearing or reading a story that I think had to have been some of the impetus for you developing all of these systems and you can fill in the blanks for me, but you had a player who did great, got a scholarship, but didn't have all of the function around going to college and ended up only your later homeless because he couldn't pay like a hundred dollar fee or something. To me, well, share that story briefly with us, but is that story not one of the very reasons you decided you had to do all this support stuff as well as rugby and everything else. A hundred percent, you know, such a heartbreaking situation and did absolutely color in give life and provide the DNA for what was eventually archaified, you know system of alumni support Directly responsive to situations in case work like this and I won't name him because

It's such it's so sad and it didn't really have a great ending and you know But it was one of our one of our original graduates who was super talented on the field, you know But really really bright so the academics were there able to figure out a scholarship. And now this is us without any real alumni support systems, being college counselors on our... This is early on. I mean, we would meet at McDonald's on the weekends to be like, all right, let's look at Cap, we just to get the Wi-Fi and his neighborhood down the street

from his apartment, we'd pick him up, go to McDonald's, and we'd be there, as long as there wasn't a rugby game. And then when it was time to do financial aid, okay, back in the McDonald's, I remember, like, it was yesterday sitting in the McDonald McDonald's doing college counseling work, and I'm not a college counselor, but we figured it out. And so we sent, I keep trying to make sure I don't say his name,

but we sent him off to Tennessee State University. And you know, he did well for maybe a couple of weeks before some of that stuff, that first generation college students don't have the awareness or safety net to deal with. Oh, this class, you got into it cool, you're signed up cool. It has a lab component. By the way, that lab has an access code.

By the way, that access code costs $125. Oh, and here's a parking ticket because when you relate, you parked in the staff only parking near the student union to come ask a question. So here's your parking ticket. And you know, this young man has no resources, no money. And not a, it's not that he didn't have stamina But when you face those obstacles and your parents didn't go to college and this is so strange And it doesn't seem like people around you are struggling and you know how Memphis has this boomerang effect too

You know that from working with young young people the boomerang they go and they come back and maybe that's all because Memphis is great It's home. I don't know but sure enough. We couldn't get a hold of them. Cell phone turned off, like the bill wasn't paid. How do we even reach him? I honestly, Bill, I don't even remember how we found him. But we were driving around apartments in North Memphis. And in this apartment with no furniture, a wood floor, there was, you know, our young man, 20 pounds later, you know, and telling us how, you know, he's been like eating like once every three days when somebody comes by and helps him out and he had just,

it was, it was just not good. And so we went grocery store, you know, loaded him up. But the point is, he got into college and he might have been prepared academically to handle coursework, but he wasn't handled for the culture of the social aspects or the rigors or the financial aspects. And that is when you guys decided we're coaching and we're making a difference. And we're spending our weekends and McDonald's helping people get into college, but even that isn't enough. And he won and this case is one of the most heartbreaking because of who he is and how bad it got But he is certainly not the only case that went like that

And so we learned through through a lot of trials and tough times with our young people The type of services and support they need to thrive in their post-secondary pursuits It's not which led to what you have now alumni sport. Yep. Yep We'll be right back. A brand new historical true crime podcast. The year is 1800 City Hall, New York. The first murder trial in the American Judicial System. A man-sense trial for the charge of murder.

Even with defense lawyers, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr on the case, this is probably the most famous trial you've never heard of. When you lay suffering a sudden violent brutal death, I hope you'll think of me. Starring Allison Williams. I don't need anything simplified, Mr. Hamilton, thank you. With Tony Goldwyn as Alexander Hamilton, don't be so sad down front.

It doesn't suit you. Written and created by me, Allison Flock. Why are you doing that goal, I'm going to be here. Listen to E. Rast, the murder of Elma Sands. She was a sweet, happy, virtuous girl, until she met that man right there. On the I Heart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. Apple, murder!

There's a place beyond this place. A middle ground between the light and the darkness. The nature and the zenith. For some it's a bridge between the living and the darkness, the nature and the zenith. For some is a bridge between the living and the dead, yet for others is something else entirely. It's the place where our nightmares dwell. Each one of us has touched the other side and felt the presence of something beyond this world.

Welcome to Hip Hop Horror Stories. I'm your host, Belly. And each week we're going to take you to the limits of your imagination as we explore the reality of paranormal experiences. I believe in the shift for real and the stories you're about to hear might make you believe too. Everywhere I look, I store something. And I looked closer and noticed there was a cutted figure. And whatever it is, it's like K-Bit, it became reality. Listen to hip-hop horror stories on the High Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever

you get your podcast. Hey all, it's Jane Marie back with a new season of the dream. And it's exactly that for you, a dream. For me, it was kind of a nightmare. See, I don't know if you noticed, but things have not been awesome for the past couple of years. I've personally been depressed and binging fast food

and just sitting down a lot or laying down and it seems like suddenly everyone is an expert on how to fix that. Half of all podcasts could be called, do what I say and your life will be better. So this season, we're gonna fix that. Half of all podcasts could be called, do what I say and your life will be better. So this season we're gonna try that. By talking to the experts, those gurus, those guides. Yes, I'm talking about life coaches,

and I'm talking to one about my messed up life. Come see what all the hype is about, and if it's worth it. Listen to the dream on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your stories. Tell me your favorite story of a kid. I know you've got a bunch. Let me say it more fairly. Tell me one of your favorite stories. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There are so many. So just bear with me and I promise you I'll get you one here. It's just crazy to try to to try to pick one, but I'm going to and

it's, you know what, I think it's I think I'll pick this one because it aligns well with some of the, some of the things we touched on on this episode. And I think it aligns well with kind of an army of normal folks. And so this takes us way back to 2016 when we were a year into our girls programming. And girls started to kick, but you talk about documentaries. If you ever go on YouTube and look for you could just Google Nike rugby Memphis because Nike came to Memphis and filmed a short film about our girls team in Westwood who went to the state championship and Westwood is a tough tough tough area. Yeah. And so this this this this team of inspiring young women fought through

incredible obstacles to change the face of rugby and Tennessee. And they were unstoppable. And then the pandemic happened. But I'm taking us back to 2016 when a lot of those state champions were just getting started playing. They were in the state semi-final where we were playing against a team of, you know, what, what most other rugby teams looked like outside of MICR, homogenous, and demographic is all white people. And their sideline was loaded with parents. And our parents are often working on the weekends

and different things. So our sideline's not loaded with our. What where is this? The game is happening out in actually Millington, so not too far away. But we're hosting a team from I think the middle Tennessee area. Got it. And we're're playing and in the first half It's it's competitive, you know our girls are are going back and forth. It's a competitive game in the second half

Our girls really start to on clip, you know, they they are starting to tackle harder They are not getting tired. They are scoring and this thing is opening up from what I think a halftime was like 22 to 25 Now we're talking about like 46 to 25. You know what I mean? Like the score starts to open up. And I am not coaching this game. Remember, I already coached a different team. I'm kind of coaching the coaches. I'm kind of the administrator.

You know, I am the volunteer director of MICR. There was nobody was getting paid back then. And so one of the volunteer roles is carrying a flag up and down the sideline so that the referee can see you raise it at a balance below the whistle. So they're called touch judges. And I'm serving as basically a pseudo-referia touch judge. And so I'm sort of in disguise because I'm running touch

and I'm raising my flag and I'm helping the ref, but I'm on the sideline of the parents of the supposing team who in the second half are starting to go, what is that tackle? You start to hear the word animals. You start to hear the word. You start to hear words that are problematic because our girls, I'm watching the game. I've played rugby my whole life, they're not doing anything

besides winning, they're playing hard, they're not letting up, there's nothing wrong with that. But boy, these parents were not liking it, they were not liking it. And specifically one mother who just kind of people were starting to kind of go to her and say, hey, calm it down, like you're starting to like, these kids might hear you and then it might escalate. And then even an off duty police officer comes over to her and goes, hey, calm it down. Like you're starting to like, these kids might hear you and then it might escalate. And then even an off duty police officer comes over to her and goes, ma'am, like do we need to, you know what I mean?

Like, so that's kind of how the tone and tenor was. Game ends, nothing on the field happens besides a lopsided victory for our Westwood girls. And I'm observing everything that's happening, right? I'm watching my coaches, break their team down. I'm watching the sideline to see anything and I'm noticing this woman aggressively pack up her chair and she looks like she's gonna go confront somebody

and she's marching on the field where the kids at the end of the game, I promise you, I'm gonna start talking about the student. I'm getting to the student to the young woman. But what we do after the girls games, after any game really is meet in the middle of the field and give out the gatorade for the girl of the game. And so the captain of that team

and the captain of our team meet to just, hey, we noticed your number six was all over the field. Here's her Gatorade girl, the game. So our girl, our team is doing it. And Shenaya, who we're super close to even today. She's one of our best coaches of the organization. She's about to graduate college.

She's been in our alumni support program. She's the captain and she's given out the girl, the game. She's explained it why. Meantime, the mom that I'm talking about is walking up, you know, and I'm watching the whole thing and I know she's going to confront somebody or something. There's nobody walks that fast. You know, or says a lot of those things if they don't mean, you know, mean business. And so she walks up and right when she walks up, she hears Chenaya like articulating, you know, like how she felt about the game and how, you know, she, she, she was encouraging the team that she just killed, you know, she, she had beat them so bad. And she was now trying to lift them

up, you know. So the mom saw that happen. And I think the mom, I don't think the mom had interacted with black folks a lot. I know she doesn't live in a black community and I don't think she's ever really seen young women play sports like that before looking while black. And that's some of my assumptions, by the way. But I think I'm probably on point with it. And the crowd starts to disperse the girl,

the game situations are done and the mom now has sort of calmed down. And I think Shania showed her the humanization of them. It was no longer an athlete and animal. It was a human and it was an articulate person and it was a talented woman with tons of potential. And I think the mother saw that and she went up to Shania and hugged her and thank you. And Shania didn't know why. She was getting hugged by everybody. She just

won a big state. So I'm not fine. Everybody was hugging her. She was like, hey, you know, a good game. She didn't know what the mother was reflecting on or why she was being thanked. And then she went up to another couple more of our girls and hugged them too. And she just was like, I don't know if she was trying to apologize or what, but I just saw like an adult who was wrong, you know, change, change in front of me. Nobody else was watching that whole thing like I was. And so I kind of, that's the story is special to me. And I'm sorry, I get an emotional because Janai is so special to me. That team, what they did for girls rugby and Memphis and for their communities special. And that's such a small micro example of how we... What the point is, I used to say to my guys at the NASA's when we went out to some areas like that,

that we wanted to win the game. And we were gonna win the game. But you know what, we were also gonna win the referees. We were gonna win the other team. We were gonna win the fans in the opposite stands. And what I meant by that is, there's a societal preconceived notion about who you are as kids from a NASA's coming to play football out in a community somewhere else. About into the game they're going to respect your ability to play football,

but they're going to respect a whole lot more when we're done because the way we conduct ourselves. You can change that there are lens on your community. Right. And the story you're telling and I know why you're getting emotional because I feel it and I remember it like was yesterday. But that young lady on your team won the rugby match because she was a beast. But more importantly, she changed hearts and minds. Yeah. She won a community. And man, screw the score of a rugby match. If you win that, you win it all. And again, none of that happens if two normal goofball kids in Teach for America don't decide, hey, these kids in Memphis need to learn how to play rugby.

I mean, is that not to pay off? Yeah, that's one of the many payoffs, and it's just such a, because I can't imagine now that we've scaled, and I don't see every game anymore, and I'm not always running touch, and I'm not always, you know, I'm not always this secret agent able to observe

all these things, but I know that that story that I just told is happening every time we take the field and make those impressions, you know. I think our kids have challenged the institution of rugby by making their own culture in it and winning in it, you know, and then watching these phases of people not be super thrilled that we're winning, but then see that we're great, you know, and that we have the space in the sport and then embracing us, and I think they've moved the needle they've created systems level change. They've moved the needle for themselves. And themselves, 100% and they've moved the needle for themselves. And themselves, 100%. And they've moved the needle socially. Yeah, 100%.

How many teams are there now? Now we have 12 teams, middle school and high school. Girls and boys are about 50-50. And how many kids have been served of the last 10 years? Just under 3,000 in the last decade, and we serve right now at scale scale like we can't really serve many more than we do right now. We're about at 400 participants and then our alumni support, you know, has a case low that they can they can they're bursting at the seams too because we engage,

you know, 100 plus alums a year, you know, we employ 20 plus and then in our academic mentoring, there's another, you know, 15 right now across the country. Something there's rugby mentoring too. We hooked them up with USA Eagles Olympic players to, you know, who are people of color, who mentor our young women and men who are breaking into college rugby. So that's just a little bit of the numbers, I guess. Why can't Birmingham, Nashville, Little Rock, Omaha, Fort Myers? Why can't Dallas Atlanta a Montgomery? Why can't Miami Jacksonville Tulsa? Albuquerque Salt Lake City and Boise to this. I'm really glad you asked and there's a lot of reasons why and I know

We don't have like all the time in the world to break it down But I will I will just give you you know, I will give you the what we're doing about that You know, in 2022, we were trying to bring our kids to the HBCU rugby classic. It's something that is a kind of a new tradition, exists in Baton, Rusley, Zanna. You can imagine HBCU's historically black colleges and universities don't have rugby, but a few of them do. And they come together once a year. That's a black institution. Our kids are black rugby. They, they, they, they, they, they, we need to be at that, right? We need to get our kids around those people and that, and that so they can be at something

that they're finally not the strangers and the outsiders at. That's a heavy special, right? We tried to do it, but it didn't work out. They were gonna have us plan a Sunday. It didn't work with our budget. It was all these complications. And so we quickly launched the first ever urban rugby championship in 2022.

Right here in Memphis at our home field at Advanced Middle School, and we brought, there's an intercity program in Los Angeles, there's one in D.C. And there's two endowlists that we brought to Memphis. And we got funding to bring them to bring them to Memphis to have a tournament. And that was the Urban Rugby Championship. It was such magic. It was so special.

And there's also, if you go on our YouTube channel, you can look up the Urban Rugby Championships 2022. You can see a short film on that. Then we did it again in L.A. just about six months ago this past spring in Los Angeles for the second annual Urban Rugby Championship. I'm almost done here explaining it all, but we're doing the third annual in DC in March 9, 2024. You can start to see this thing getting legs.

We just launched Urban Rugby America when you can go on urban rugby.org and see our website, which is our attempt to sort of rescue the broken institution of American rugby by uniting, advancing, and empowering. Anybody, a teacher, a coach, a rugby enthusiast who's trying to leverage the game to make a difference in under-resource communities, the institution of American rugby is literally bankrupt.

USA rugby doesn't have any money, they're in debt. There is no one they can turn to. They don't have any expertise and understanding of these urban education landscapes where you can partner with schools and where you need to institute trauma informed coaching where you need to provide access and new services at urban rugby America. We're pretty much the experts of that because of what we've done in Memphis and how we've linked up with the group in LA and co-founded urban rugby America. And so that's just getting started. It has no money. It has a website. It has some people. We are just trying to get it going right now to sort of solve for what you were just mentioning. Why can't all these cities do this? Well, it's so, so hard. And that's why we launched

Urban Republic America to make it not so impossible for those who might want to do it in the future. We'll be right back. A brand new historical true crime podcast. The year is 1800, a city hall, New York. The first murder trial in the American Judicial System. A man-sense trial for the charge of murder. Even with defense lawyers, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr on the case, this is probably the most famous trial you've never heard of.

When you lay suffering a sudden violent brutal death, I hope you'll think of me. Starring Allison Williams. I don't need anything simplified, Mr. Hamilton, thank you. With Tony Goldwyn as Alexander Hamilton, written't be so sad, that's right. It doesn't suit you. Written and created by me, Alison Flock. Why are you doing that goal, I'm gonna hate you. Listen to E-Race, the murder of Elma Sands. She was a sweet, happy, virtuous girl.

No, no. Until she met that man right there. On the I Heart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcast. Apple Murder! There's a place beyond this place. A middle ground, between the light and the darkness, the nature and the zenith.

For some, it's a bridge between the living and the dead, yet for others, it is something else entirely. It's the place where our nightmares dwell. Each one of us has touched the other side and felt the presence of something beyond this world. Welcome to Hip Hop Horror Stories. I'm your host, Belly. In each week, we're gonna take you to the limits

of your imagination as we explore the reality of paranormal experiences. I believe in the shift for real and the story's here about to hear, it might make you believe too. Everywhere I look, I store something. And I looked closer and noticed there was a cutters figure. And whatever it is, it's like K-Bit, it became reality. Listen to hip-hop horror stories on the High Heart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Paul Muldin, a poet who over the past several years had the good fortune to spend time with one of the world's greatest songwriters, Sir Paul McCartney. We talked through more than 150 tracks from McCartney's songbook, and while we did, we recorded our conversations. I mean, the fact that I dreamed the song yesterday leads me to believe that it's not just quite as cut and dried as we think it is. And now you can listen to our conversations in our new podcast, McCartney, a Life in Lurics.

It was like going back to an old snapshot album, looking back on work I hadn't thought much about for quite a few years. Listen to McCartney, a Life in Lurics on the iHeart Radio app app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. So somebody listening out here is playing rugby, knows rugby sitting into pecan says I want to do it. Go on the website, fill out the application to be an affiliate partner, and they'll be eligible for our services, which are not much right now.

What if they want to know the truth about how it was and all of that can they email you? And in the first call or interaction email, like I'm gonna tell them, like some of these people I'm gonna try to scare away because of how hard it is, but some of them who already go in or show the propensity to make it happen,

like we're gonna run with them. Do you get all their hand in help them? To the extent that we have the bandwidth, and that's why I can't- I mean, just mentoring through it. Oh, absolutely. I've already been doing that for years. I get a call once a week, it seems like from Oakland,

Baltimore, New Orleans. I've helped people in Philadelphia, Oakland. I've helped people everywhere across the country. I've helped people in everywhere across the country. People, hey, I tried to call you as a rug. What do you guys do down there? How do you do it? I get emails, we get Facebook messages, I get it all the time because people like what we do and they want to see if they can.

So how do they contact you? So they can do any, so I'll give you a couple of them. S. Young, Shane Young, but S. Young at Memphis IntercityRugged.org. Or if you're national, you want to fill out that application on urban rugby dot org, do that. You can go on Memphis Intercity rugby dot org, you know, fill out the contact us form. I, we don't have a marketing team at Memphis Intercity Rugby. I have, you know, I do that all myself. So if

you message our Instagram, our Twitter, our Facebook, it's me. So you can get me that way too. Dude, you're a, you're a New Jersey transplant shows up in Florida from a failed diner who gets into the easiest school to get into kind of by hooker quick and Florida ends up teaching for America because you have a heart to serve. Start a rugby team in inner city on a wing in a prayer by Hoker crook and 10 years later Have served three thousand kids Many of whom are going to college most of whom now go to college some of whom go to Ivy League schools

But most importantly who have changed their entire approach to life? approach to life. What is it that you think about when it's just you and you at night and you go to bed about this experience and where you're going because that is a phenomenal story, Shane. And I appreciate it. And this isn't one of those like coach speak humble answers. It's almost a problem with our sustainability because, you know, you can talk about the past in our organization

and think about how hard and gritty and inspirational those early days were, but it is no easier today. In fact, it is harder in the post pandemic era of social emotional regulation, of trauma, of deepened poverty, of academic melt. We are dealing with extremely difficult problems with our young people and

funding and capacity. And we are doing our absolute best. So when I lay down at night and when I reflect, I'm still robotic. I'm still in robot mode, meaning I just have, I mean, survival mode for lack of better words because I have to go do the really hard stuff the very next day and then try to motivate every coach who got burnt out, who got beat down, who, you know, whose kids didn't show up to practice or those who got 35 at practice and then their assistant coach wasn't there. So they were all alone in a fight broke out and somebody at the basketball court was

a distraction. And then this kid, you know, who's the best player in the team, failed out of math class. So they can't play this weekend. Even though we're building the game plan around them, keeping all those coaches managing all 400 K through 12 students right now, keeping them motivated. And then I got to raise the money and then go do all that. So I'm not complaining, but I'm just highlighting there is no world and no day and no situation where I'm sitting there going, man, this was special.

This was what an achievement because I can't take a breath. And while I'm saying this, it's my plea to those listening to invest in things that are grassroots, things that are gritty, things that aren't shiny, open the hood on the charities you donate to, turn the stones of where you invest. Maybe go on one less vacation a year,

because that's how deep the deficits are in the communities we're serving. That's how deep the deficits are in the communities we're serving. That's how I've given my whole 20s to this. I have no problem telling people to make sacrifices because I gave everything to try to bring it to this. And so there's no time to sit there and say this was great because we're still on the brink of existence. And I'm hoping and praying and you know, I said I have to create an enemy to fight against I'm creating them every day for myself so I can end these unsustainable difficult days and bring us some breathing room and buy our employees Some sustainability and give our kids more resources that they deserve and so again. I'm not complaining

I just have to highlight that because there's no there's no reflections and warm feelings when we are still very much in survival mode. 10 years later, would you go back and say, I'm not gonna do it? No, because I don't know who I would be with that. It's almost like it's who I am, right? It's like my story. So I don't know what in life I would have done or where I would have gone or what I would have become if it wasn't for this community embracing me and these kids doing such incredible things through rugby and

embracing this work. So no, I don't regret it. I would still do it. But it's a hard question to answer because it was so hard. It is hard. And I remember the days. I had four kids and a wife at home too, and I had a business to grow. And there's nothing easy about it. But I can give you 3,000 reasons why every minute of it's been worth it for you. And I can give you, let's see, an average of 50 times seven. I can give you 350 reasons of my own case why every minute of it is worth it. And that's what it means to be in an army of normal folks. Members of the army fight, but at the end of the day it's worth the fight because you exact some measure change in your corner of the world and my friend you have made a massive difference in the lives of 3,000 people and the next 400 a year more.

I want to give you one chance to plug every organization like yours needs money and funding. If somebody doesn't coach rugby, but loves what you're doing and wants to drop a check in the mail or reach out to you to talk about what you need to continue. All of the amazing services you're doing foreign beyond coaching rugby. What do they do? Well, just thank you Bill for the encouragement and the platform. And so, you know, just go on Memphis IntercityRugway.org, you know, and there's a big donate button in the top right corner. So we just need all the help we can get. And, you know, if you're local, or even if you're not, please travel in on December 8th at the Memphis Botanic Gardens. We have the fourth

annual evening for MICR. It's a really special event. It sells out every year. It's an absolutely magical opportunity to honor our students, our alums. You will see the MICR family front and center when we, when we do that. And we're also going to premiere a short film at that. And it's just to highlight the magic of our alumni support programming, which is kind of the misunderstood thing of MICR. But it knows we play rugby youth programming, but they don't see the special nature of our, you know, the economic upward mobility. We cultivate through alumni support. So we'll premiere a video about that December eighth at the Memphis Botanic Gardens. You can buy tickets now, buy tables now, get it, get your sponsorship

package on Memphis inner city rugby.org. And there's the event tab or just donate if you not able to make the event. And just thank you so much for anyone who's able to contribute. We really need it. We bought a table, right? Yes, you guys did. And we look for, yeah, that's that's actually how Alex the producer set the back of check. I'm embarrassed because I didn't even say that the first sponsor for the fourth annual evening for my CR is an army of normal folks. And so thank you for coming in as a sponsor. It's just you and world rugby shop right now. It's our honor. And we appreciate it greatly. You may not want me to say that but to brag on it, let's really go in this company doing it. It's really not the army. So no, leave it as army and normal folks. That's who's doing it. We promise you. For listeners who know the truth

of it too. It doesn't matter. You run across a guy like Shane with that passion, that energy and that willingness that has made that much difference in this city. A little bit of money to buy a table is no big deal. Shane, you are just phenomenal. Your passion oozes out of you. I know why the kids around you at the very beginning played so hard and I know why the people around you work so hard for your organization. I hope to goodness our listeners. Hear your passion through this microphone and my friend, you're absolutely an army of normal folks and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you sharing your story with us today. Oh my friend, you're absolutely an army of normal folks and I can't tell you how much I appreciate you sharing your story with us today.

Oh my gosh, such an honor Bill. That's a good that from you means a lot and I just appreciate the platform. This was a fun conversation, so thank you. I appreciate it. Do you mind if I quickly cover a couple of things? Why not? You always do this. She would have to put up with.

Shane, this is my wife Lisa. Hi Lisa. Nice to meet you. Shane, you know all about Shane now. Yeah. So there you have it. It's not really about road. No, it's not. What's going on? No. And ironically enough, he's now going to go start a surfing team. I'm served once in my life. He said his parents would, if they saw his hair, all right. And on behalf of all the red-headed people on the face of the planet, we really appreciate you guys for joining us this week. If Shane or another guest has inspired you in general or better yet to take action by starting and intercipe reputation by donating to Memphis Center City Rugby or something else entirely, please let me know.

I'd love to hear about it. You can write me anytime at bill at normalfokes.us or you can be like Badger and call us at 901-352-1366. If you enjoyed this episode, share it with friends and on social, subscribe to the podcast rate and review it. Become a premium member at normalfokes.us. Do all the things that will help us grow. An army of normal folks. For premium members, we'll have bonus content from this episode, and it's Shane and I

talking about the awesomeness of rugby culture. If you don't want to miss it, become a premium member today. Thanks to our producer, I'm Mike Labs. I'm Bill Courtney. I'll see you next week. I'll see you next week. Choose Business, not boring, with programs ranging from fashion to finance, culinary to commerce, or golf to global business. Apply now at Humber.ca slash business. A brand new historical true crime podcast. When you lay suffering a sudden brutal death, starring Alison Williams.

I hope you'll think of me. Erased, the murder of Elma Sands. She was a sweet, happy, virtuous girl. Let it go with me! Until she met that man right there. Written and created by me, Alison Flop. Is it possible, sir? We're standing by for your answer.

Erased, the murder of Elma Sands. On the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your podcasts. I'm Paul Muldoon, a poet who over the past several years has had the good fortune to record hours of conversations with one of the world's greatest songwriters, Sir Paul and Cartney. The resultwriters, Sir Paul McCartney. The result is our new podcast, McCartney, A Life in lyrics.

Listen to McCartney, A Life in lyrics on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You get your podcasts.