In episode 18, I chat with my friend & current professional basketball player, Brandon Wood. Brandon is currently with USC Rip City in the Australian NBL1 league after playing for the last decade in several different counties such as Greece, Italy, Hungary, Lithuania, Morocco and Austria just to name a few. Brandon has also had stints in the NBA G-League along his overseas journey and participated in The Basketball Tournament on multiple occasions.

Prior to his professional career, Brandon was a standout at Valparaiso and finished his collegiate career with Michigan State in 2012 where he was coached by the legendary Tom Izzo and teammates with several future pros including NBA [future] Hall of Fame forward Draymond Green.

In episode 17, I caught up with my guy Tyler Neal of Run The Show. Run The Show is a full-service basketball development company offering training, coaching, events, clinics and recruiting worldwide with a physical location in Cranberry, PA — as well as local offering throughout Northeast Ohio & Western Pennsylvania.

Tyler brings over a decade of coaching experience to the show with previous stops at the high school, college and professional level of the game. Tyler most recently an assistant coach in the Cleveland Cavaliers organization and shares an inspiring story of how he got that opportunity early in the episode.

In episode 16, I caught up with Bjorn Broman, the co-founder & co-owner of the Broman Academy. The Broman Academy works with basketball players from youth to pro, helping players develop on & off the court while being guided by Bjorn & his older brother, Anders, who both had amazing basketball careers & are now passing the torch to the next generation of hoopers.

We get into a great discussion about all things basketball — from his playing experience to his current business endeavors and future goals for the academy. Bjorn has mastered in-person training and continues to work on that craft, but also has a massive social media following with over 500k followers on TikTok and nearing 50k on Instagram. We talk about how he’s able to manage the pros and cons of social media and continue to scale his social media while still providing high-quality info.

In episode 14, I am re-sharing a recent podcast episode that I was fortunate enough to be a guest on! You may remember Justin Castelli from Episode 2 of Gem Sessions — he also has his own podcast called “On Our PRST,” named after his multimedia brand, PRST (pronounced pursuit).

PRST is a multi-disciplinary collective founded by Justin Castelli connecting spirit, mind, body, and money in the pursuit of authentic living. The collective is comprised of a media company (blog, video, podcast, etc.), an education & services company, and a lifestyle brand—with more to come in the future.

This week’s episode features Jim Klopman, the author of Balance is Power and Owner of SlackBow Balance - the creators of the SlackBlock!

Jim is a balance EXPERT. He brings a wealth of knowledge to episode 13, diving in on topics such as:

What is balance?
Balance vs. Stability
How to train balance
How to measure balance
Mistakes & myths of balance training
Balance in basketball
and so much more!

For episode 12 this week, I’m joined by the authors of the new book, Strength Training for All Body Types: The Science of Lifting & Levers, Melody Schoenfeld and Lee Boyce!

This book, published by S&C powerhouse Human Kinetics, is a great read for all coaches & athletes, but especially for the hoop world. Their book is all about how to optimize your programming & training based on your body type or special considerations needed due to the unique frame of the athlete.

In episode 11, I was lucky enough to bring on Gonzaga performance coach, Mike Nilson! Mike is not only an integral part of Gonzaga hoops’ coaching staff, but he’s also the host of one of my favorite basketball podcasts, Hoop Commitment.

Mike and I dive into his three pillars of performance: Eat. Train. Lead.

In episode 10, I got to catch up with the CEO and Co-Founder of Exxentric, Fredrik Correa. Exxentric is the leader in flywheel training and I’m an avid user of their legendary kBox device, so this was such a fun episode for me!

Fredrik is also an athlete himself, competing at the highest level of master’s powerlifting, so we talked a ton about training. We spent a lot of time discussing how the company was started back in 2011, what lead him into the flywheel training space after a 10 year medical career and all the in’s and out’s of flywheel training for coaches & athletes to get the most out of their methods.

In episode 009, I’m joined by Portland-based performance coach, Brian McGill to talk about his approach to basketball preparation. Brian is a former basketball standout himself, having an all-league collegiate career at the University of Alaska Anchorage that eventually lead him to his professional debut in Germany. After his hoops career, Brian immediately jumped back into coaching and training where he is currently making an impact on the game as a basketball coach, sports performance trainer and assisting athletes with on-court work as well.

In episode 008, I’m joined by Victoria Saucedo, aka Saucy Vic, aka Coach Sauce! Victoria is the Director of Sports Performance for VCU Women’s Basketball after stops at Wake Forest, St. Louis, Northern Arizona and a successful athletic career at Utah State.

I fully intended on diving in deep on basketball strength & conditioning with Coach Sauce. I planned on talking about periodization, programming models for women’s hoops and all kinds of other in-depth topics on the tactical side of training basketball players.

But… the conversation took on a life of its own! We talk, in large part, about the other side of coaching; relationship building, buy-in, trust, communication and all of the more human aspects of what we do.

In episode 007, I’m joined by Massachusetts-based basketball development trainer, Tyler Leclerc. Tyler is the owner and founder of TJL Training, which is not only his training business, but a brick-and-mortar facility location located in Lowell, MA.

Tyler works with athletes from youth to pro, and has a unique & inspiring career path that he details throughout the episode. As a high school athlete, Tyler actually began his training career in the midst of his own athletic career. He’d train his teammates, friends and other athletes in the area growing up.

Episode 006, I’m joined by one of my favorite performance coaches I’ve met over the last couple of year, Jess Racz. Jess has been on her grind in the industry since she was 18 years old — going from mopping floors at a local CrossFit gym for a free membership to opening her own performance facility during the pandemic and outgrowing it in 3 years.

Jess currently works with basketball players of all level, from NBA, WNBA and G-League all the way to first-time hoopers learning to lift and play the game for the first time.

Episode 005 is another solo episode with host, Justin Ochoa, detailing the “hybrid” training model which entails both sports performance & skill development training under one roof.

Episode 004 is a solo episode! And, even better, it’s a white board episode. I decided to break down my entire basketball offseason programming template from A to Z. I highly suggest not only listening to this episode, but actually watching it to get the full effect.

In episode 003 of Gem Sessions, I am joined by Scott Agness. Scott is an Indy native and the Beat Writer for the Indiana Pacers. He’s also the host of the Indiana Pacers behind-the-scenes podcast, Fieldhouse Files. Aside from his work with the Indiana Pacers, Scott is also a play-by-play announcer for various sports and leagues around Indiana and the Midwest.

In today’s episode, we cover all things basketball - specifically IU, Indiana Fever and Indiana Pacers. Scott has worked for the last 20 years in the world of professional basketball, both in the NBA and WNBA, so it was great to get his perspective on many NBA/WNBA topics from someone that is in that environment daily.

In episode 002 of Gem Sessions, I am joined by Justin Castelli. Justin has been in the financial industry for nearly two decades and brings a wealth of knowledge to the show (see what I did there?).

He’s the Owner & Founder of RLS Wealth - a financial planning & advisory firm, he’s the Co-Founder of The AGC - a rapidly growing community of financial advisors from all over the globe, and most recently, Justin launched his newest venture PRST (pronounced pursuit). PRST is a collective of media, education, services and lifestyle brands that encourages creativity, experimentation, wandering, financial responsibility, risk-taking, and the refusal to be placed in a box.

In the first episode of Gem Sessions, I wanted to set the tone for this entire show and bring on one of the most inspirational, influential and motivating people I know — Derick Grant. Derick Grant, or DG, is a former Harlem Globetrotter - turned professional basketball skill development coach - turned mental performance coach. DG is a husband and a father of two, just like myself. His coaching firm, DG Mindset, helps athletes, executives and entrepreneurs get out of their own way by learning how to master their mindset and mental performance no matter the environment or circumstances.

In the inaugural episode of the Gem Sessions Podcast, host Justin Ochoa gives some background into how the podcast came to life! Justin details his career path, educational background, entrepreneurship journey and explains the origin of Gem Sessions. This is the intro episode to Gem Sessions to give clarity on who the show is for, who / how it can help and what to expect in the future as the show grows.