Ep. 69: Zooming In On the Journey with Youth Runner Michael Studer
Link to Michael’s guest blogpost
Michael Studer Runs (Michael’s YouTube channel)
Michael’s Strava Account (stats on all of Michael’s runs, daily/weekly activity, etc.)
Transcript
Melissa Milner 0:09
Welcome to The Teacher As... Podcast. I'm your host Melissa Milner, a teacher who is painfully curious and very easily inspired. This podcast is ever changing. And I hope with each season, you find episodes that speak to you in your work as an educator. This is the fourth season of The Teacher As and it's exciting to see the growth in how many educators are listening. Episodes are released every other week. If you enjoy The Teacher As... please rate it on Apple podcasts and leave a review. It helps the podcast reach more educators. Thanks for listening.
Melissa Milner 0:42
I'm so thrilled to share my chat with youth runner Michael Studer. He's the son of one of my amazing colleagues, and I have found him so inspiring to watch. Michael talks about how his dad and coach help him deal with disappointment. This reminded me of what we can do as teachers to help students focus on their goals, but have some perspective and a growth mindset. Michael also shares how he learned to appreciate and learn from his track teammates, instead of seeing them as competition. What a great lesson for any educator working with colleagues. It is fascinating listening to Michael's journey to becoming one of the strongest youth runners in the United States. Please make sure to follow his YouTube channel, Michael Robert Studer Runs. The link, as well as the transcript from this episode are on the Episode 69 page of The Teacher As... website. Enjoy my chat with youth runner, Michael Studer.
Michael Studer 1:38
Hi, everyone. I'm Michael Studer. I am a runner. I have been to the Junior Olympics before. I have now been running for three years straight. And I am super, super excited to tell you guys all about myself today. I am 11 years old, and I am in sixth grade.
Melissa Milner 1:55
Michael, I'm so excited to have you on the podcast. First of all, I know you because I work with your mom. So shout out Lisa Studer. I just have been so inspired by your running. And by your YouTube channel.
Michael Studer 2:14
Thank you so much.
Melissa Milner 2:15
Yes, I recommend, I'm gonna put it in the episode notes, the episode page of The Teacher As, because it's amazing.
Michael Studer 2:23
It's also um, if you guys, if any of you want to know exactly what it is, and you just want to go search for it on YouTube. It is Michael Robert Studer Runs. So it's my full name. And then it's just runs at the end.
Melissa Milner 2:35
Excellent. So one of the things that I, you know, when I thought, oh, I want... I definitely want Michael to be on my podcast, is I see you as an inspiration for determination and having grit. There was one race that you were running. And your coach knew that you were struggling with some stomach thing or something. And your parents couldn't even tell but your coach knew.
Michael Studer 3:04
It's probably one of the intro track meets of the season. One of my first track meets actually of the season. That was probably it. And me and him actually discussed afterward we we almost share mine together. I knew it. And he knew it too, which is it's just amazing how he just knows me so well.
Melissa Milner 3:19
Yes, Your mom was like, I don't see anything different. I don't know what you're talking about. So when you are in the middle of a race, and you have pain or discomfort, or what do you do in your mind? What do you do? Because this is the grit that that all teachers are trying to teach their students to have. When something's hard, what do you do?
Michael Studer 3:41
You know, um, I think a lot of it is just trusting yourself and thinking to yourself, I can do this, I can do this, just get through it. A lot of times in races, if any of you have watched my some of my YouTube videos, I do say a lot of times, I'm just telling myself, get through it, get through it get to that finish line, because there's so much relief and finally getting there. And I hate to give up. I say this a lot in my YouTube videos. I don't whether it be a workout or race or just anyday run. I have a reset run and I hate to shorten it or cut it cut it off. So yeah, I think a lot of it is trusting yourself. And I think a lot of it is self motivating yourself. Definitely building up an inner coach, I think my inner coach is definitely helped me get through a lot of things. When my legs are telling me just, you need to stop, you need to stop, my inner coach tells me to keep going. And as the saying goes, I think a lot of times they say your body can handle anything, but it's your mind that you have to convince that you can do it. So I think that as long as you convince your mind, your body will feel good. And that applies to every aspect of life not just running, obviously it applies much to running and all sports, but it also applies to school. It also applies to like any work it applies to really anything in life.
Melissa Milner 4:53
So people who are listening right now. Now you know why I had Michael Studer on the episode. Okay? This is what I'm talking about. Okay, so Michael, I just, you're just amazing.
Michael Studer 5:04
Thank you.
Melissa Milner 5:04
So do you want to like tell us like the genesis of when you started running, and then how you got better and better and better? You want to tell us a little bit about that?
Michael Studer 5:13
Yeah. So it's actually a really funny story. Um, I started running, unlike most people started running. Some people, you know, would actually plan to go running some people, their parents started running some people, you know, they have like, they had a reason to start doing it. Um, I had a reason, obviously. But one day will actually one night actually, we were sitting at the dinner table, and we had just finished dinner. And by this point, my dad and my mom at that had both run multiple marathons, they had run, I mean, tons of marathons, half marathons, 5 Ks, 10 Ks, I have been to watch them all I had cheered them, cheered them on. I enjoyed it so much. And one night, my dad showed me, what they have is this running streak list. And basically, the list basically shows when you hit one year of running consecutively, every single day, you get to put your name on the list. And from there on out, they will track how long you've been running. Now, by this point, when that time this podcast is going on for you guys, I've been running for three years straight, so a long time. But my dad basically said to me that night, he said, came over to me and said,"Do you want to try this out?" And being me I was I think nine years old. I was like, Yeah, I'll try it out. He said, like, "Oh, you're gonna run on the treadmill for tomorrow. And if you'd like, you can keep going." And I thought to myself, like I'm gonna run on the treadmill for one day, and maybe it'll last a week, like it's not going to last that long at all. And then the next day, I hopped on the treadmill, and I still have the exact picture of when I started running. It looks so much different. It's incredible. I think I ran about a 12 minute mile, and I got through it. And it was amazing. And from there on out, a week later, we marked my seventh consecutive day. It was a huge accomplishment. A month later, we marked a month. I'd run a few races up to that point after that. And then once we marked a year, it was just it was it was surreal for me. I think we marked 100 days as well. We marked a year and then from there on. We were 1000 days, I think one year ago, which was absolutely incredible. And then soon enough, we're gonna mark for years and I'm just it's it's amazing.
Melissa Milner 7:15
Yes. So when did you join the... what is it... Greater Lowell?
Michael Studer 7:19
Greater Lowell Road Runners? Yes. So um, I joined them in the winter of 2020. As most of you probably know, COVID happened in March. So a lot of my 2020 season actually, almost all of my 2020 season got shot out the window. I did some of the indoor season, we didn't even get to the full indoor track season. I had done the Nighthawks track clubs since I was five. I also neglected to mention that I had started running at five for the Nighthawks Track Club. I wasn't exactly running competitively then. I started running competitively, you know when I started the run streak, but I started I didn't start running competitively with Nighthawks. But I had won a few races with Nighthawks and stuff, and then we joined Greater Lowell to get a little bit of push. And then that's that winter, we cut off and I actually remember fondly the first day of practice. I got a standing ovation from my entire team. And it was it was crazy because I had never gotten this the I had never gotten a standing ovation for anything. I had never gotten this much... I had never gotten this much attention for anything I had done. My coach gave me a lot of inspiring words that day. And it was crazy. It was amazing. And then that fall, we actually had a cross country season, which was the luckiest thing ever. Next winter, we didn't have indoor season, but we had an outdoor season. And we had a cross country season. And then finally this year 2022 We have finally had our first full indoor season, first full outdoor season, and then first hopefully full cross country season at the end of the year.
Melissa Milner 8:47
Yes. And then just recently, you had a little Olympic situation.
Michael Studer 8:54
Yes.
Melissa Milner 8:55
And your and your sister.
Michael Studer 8:56
Yeah, right. So me and my sister, consecutively together, have been to I think it's now five Junior Olympic Games for USATF. So what USATF is the USA Track and Field governing body so they organize all the track and field events for the seniors, for the elites in the US. So we have been to five youth national championships. And the first one was chaotic. The second one was chaotic, and to be honest, all of them really had their little like things that you remember them by the first one it was really hot. The second one it was super muddy. The third one, the third didn't really have any crazy weather conditions. But it was crazy cuz we went to New York and stuff. So we visited a lot of places. But yeah, so it's been really fun. At my most recent one, I did win two bronze medals in both the 1500 and the 3000 meters or for you guys who don't quite know what that is, a little under a mile or a little under two miles. And then I did run the 800 meters which is two laps around the track. I did not end up qualifying for the finals. I got very close, two seconds away, but we'll try next year.
Melissa Milner 10:02
Yes. And that that comes back. That brings it right back around. You have a lot of victories; you win a lot of races.
Michael Studer 10:10
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 10:11
What do you do when you don't win?
Michael Studer 10:15
Let me tell you the story about the one time that I finally realized, Michael, you're not going to win every race. It was. It's a it's a very funny story. So it was, it was the basically the end of cross country season, I had two more races to go in this cross country season. That was the regional championships, to go qualify for the national championships to contest for a cross country, Junior Olympic youth national title.
Melissa Milner 10:40
Okay, so so there was no pressure at all.
Michael Studer 10:42
No pressure all. Just had to finish top 13.
Melissa Milner 10:47
Oh, that's nothing.
Michael Studer 10:48
Actually either way I was going to be able to go anyway, because there was no qualifying that year. But still, to make it interesting, we'll just say I had to finish top 13. So basically, I had had a pretty good cross country season up to that point, I had not lost a race up to that point. And I was feeling pretty confident I was, I, as anyone who hadn't had an undefeated season up to that point, you were pretty confident and you felt as though you had to win this. Otherwise, the whole thing was your whole life was over. And that's kind of how I felt up to that race. Now, as this race progressed, and long story short, I did not win the race. I got beat by an incredible runner, who is now a great friend of mine. But he and me, we've had some times together we've had a he actually went on to place fifth in the other Junior Olympic National cross country championships, AAU, and I actually went on to finish 11th in the cross country national championships for USATF. But at the end of that race, I was incredibly upset. It was a I mean, I don't I thought the world was ending. You saw me that then you would have thought that. I mean, the world literally like the world was ending in my mind. And basically, it took me a little while to get over the fact that I had that defeat because I hadn't had made up to that point. And even with track season, especially, I didn't really have that many defeats and my only defeats really came at Junior Olympics. And considering that was being my first Junior Olympics, even then, I still came up with the gold medal. So it was really hard for me to accept that. But I ended up getting over it. It actually took me a little while to write in my journal. And I just I don't know, it felt that was like kind of the first race where I thought to myself, you have to kind of, you know, you're gonna you're not gonna win every race. And that night actually, I was. We went to a friend's house and I was sitting in the car, like, how could I possibly lose this race tonight? How in the world am I going to get over this and my dad came out and he said, "Listen, you can do one of two things. You can sit in this car, you can mope, you can whine, and you can not do anything about it. Or you can get back on your feet you can enjoy today, the fact that you got second in the regional championships, and you can get back out there tomorrow, train hard for the next two weeks and go possibly when in and Paris, Kentucky." Not Paris, France, for any you thought that Paris, Kentucky, but he basically yeah. And that kind of opened the door in my mind. Like, what am I doing here? Like, what am I why don't I just enjoy this, I finished second. And I finished second in the nation at regionals. And I can just go back out there. This isn't the last race of my life. It's not it's not over after losing this one race. That I mean, this is I'm not getting a winning prize for it. It's just it's just a race. I still qualify for nationals. And I just thought to myself, go enjoy tonight. Get back up tomorrow and just do what you have to do to get to Nationals.
Melissa Milner 13:41
So that's really obviously a life lesson. It's not just about running, right? Yeah. Any any defeat. Yeah. And I think it's so important. You know, part of that grit is to is to be able when you're down to say, wait a minute, I got this. And I love I love your dad's, you know, just perspective.
Michael Studer 14:02
Me too. I love that that night that still rings in memory in my mind forever. And he does that a lot to me. I need that a lot. So I always say in my YouTube videos, my dad and my coach are like my two biggest people to cheer me up or you know, bring me up and everything.
Melissa Milner 14:18
Yes, you talk about your coach all the time. What does your coach do like during practice? Also, what did you do right before a race for you? What are the things that like that teachers could learn from your coach?
Michael Studer 14:33
First of all, shout out to my coach Joe. He does everything in his power to make my life when running at these championships, all the more easier. He stays up at night. And he studies the race at 3am. He tells me what to do before the race. He gives me the strategies. He helps me win. And then he has gotten me through so much. But first of all it practice let's back up to practice and then we'll get to the races after practice. So basically, when my coach does at practice, I have a hard time with this, I love to compete competing is one of my favorite things ever. And I get someone who likes to compete, someone who likes to win, it's kind of go hand in hand with each other. My coach has to reign me in at practice, and says you're not competing, I love, I love to compete with not just people my age, but with people much, much older than me. And my coach has tell me, you're not competing with these people, you're here at practice to get better, and learn from these older kids, you're not here to compete with them, not here to beat them, you're not here to look at them as your enemies or as your rivals, you're here to look at them as teammates, they are teammates, they're here to make you better, you're not going to ever I mean, most of them are not doing it ever compete against in my life. So it's like, my coach always tells me you are not competing you you're not going to compete against these kids ever, unless you go. I mean, unless you go to the Olympic games together, you're never going to compete against them again. So you're not here to compete with them. You're here to learn from them, get knowledge from them, get better from them. And I think I've learned over the past year, especially that you're what like, why aren't you using these kids, they are here for a reason. They are here to make you better, they're here to make you faster, but they're not here to be your competition. So don't treat them like competition. Anyone else who feels that way, I highly, highly recommend, do not treat your teammates like competition, you can have some friendly competition with them. You can have you know, you can race each other every once in a while. But don't feel like every rep or every workout or every you know, every training run, you have to beat one certain person or a certain group of people. Because I mean, I still am working on that to this day. So I highly, highly recommend use your teammates, as teammates and not as competitors.
Michael Studer 16:49
And then for races. I definitely think that and my coach, obviously, you know, he patrols all that and stuff. He also has to hold me back from going too fast at times. So...
Melissa Milner 17:01
The whole pacing, yeah.
Michael Studer 17:03
Pacing is very important. My coach knows what's best for me. So it's funny, my parents can tell me the exact same thing. And then my coach goes and tells me and I'll listen to him. But when my parents tell me, it's like water off a duck's back, if anyone knows what I mean. Um, but yeah, so that's probably all I have to say for practice. And then let's move on to races. Racing, I would say, as I told you guys, before I told you guys about the practice and training my coach the night before, it's insane. I don't know how he does it. He wakes up at like two or 3am. In the morning, he will study the race, he prints out the schedule. He knows when everyone's race is, he takes video. Oh, and videos, too. He takes videos of everyone to monitor their form to monitor how they run. And then he'll give him give them feedback, which I also found very interesting. It's very nice to know what you have to improve on. And what's what's funny is, my coach, when we race always stays until the end to watch every single kid come across the line. Because what he likes to do is when we go back to practice the next day or the next week or something after a race, you'd like to point out what kids did really well. And what not only kids on our team did really well in what in what kids on other teams do really well. But also what kids on our team and other teams did not do very well so that we can learn and not do those same things again. But yeah, so he, when we get on when we get to the race, either that morning or that night, he'll typically pull me aside. He'll talk to me, he'll tell me all right, this is your race plan. This is your race strategy. You're going to run how I tell you to run and sometimes you'll tell me you got to hold back. You can't just go all out. You have to hold back and just sit back and wait against some people sometimes will tell me Michael, there is nothing you have to worry about. You can go all out and I don't care. And when my coach gave me the green light to go all out, you know that he's not lying. And every time he's given me the green light to go all out, I've seen to have one of the best races of my life. So you know, my coach is a very inspiring person. He's a very knowledgeable person. Um, and he you know, he loves us. He loves his athletes. And he just you know, he loves everyone.
Melissa Milner 19:18
Amazing. Amazing. Maybe...maybe we'll... maybe I should have him on the podcast too.
Michael Studer 19:23
I know, he's amazing. Shout out Coach Joe.
Melissa Milner 19:25
Shout out coach Joe. I noticed on your videos and that this is probably with you know, your coaches inspiration is you like to have other runners on and other including your sister.
Michael Studer 19:40
I do love to have guest speakers on?
Melissa Milner 19:42
Yeah, how was your race and how did it go and like you interview them and... I think that's really great that you know, you're not like me, me, me and I'm the only one who has anything to say on my YouTube channel.
Michael Studer 19:53
It is very fun. I say a lot. I don't like talking about myself. Um, I actually had to work myself up to talk about myself in this podcast, because a lot of times I'm the one who's like, I'm trying to refrain from talking about myself, I want to talk about other people. I want to give other people compliments. When people give me compliments, I like I don't actually know what to say back to them, because I'm like, Oh, well, thank you. Um, but yeah, so I love having other people on because I feel like, you know, I, it's my YouTube channel. But again, other people I want your people want to hear about other people's races, too. When I've given you a 20 minute recap or a 30 minute recap of my race. You want to hear about other people's races as well. Yeah, I mean, eventually, I even tell my all my watch along with my listeners and watchers, you guys might get sick of me. So I mean, I'll show you other people's races, and plus a lot of my teammates who like a lot, especially a lot of my, you know, younger teammates, and even kids my age, they're like, Oh, my God, that's so cool. And that's just I love making kids happy with it too because it's like, I mean, I mean, it's cool to have yourself on a YouTube video. Like you don't get that every single day.
Melissa Milner 20:55
Yeah. And it's a great way to kind of be a little leader, too.
Michael Studer 20:58
Yeah, exactly.
Melissa Milner 20:59
You know, because you don't know how many of those kids will decide to have their own YouTube channels. And who knows? You do a lot of teaching on your YouTube channel.
Michael Studer 21:10
I do try to do a lot of teaching on my YouTube channel. Yes.
Melissa Milner 21:13
So, I'm impressed with how you break down like the parts of the race, like you're always like, Oh, I don't remember the names of them. But like, you get to a certain part. And you're like, Well, that's what is it called? Like different parts of the race. You know that it's the next like distance in the race.
Michael Studer 21:30
Typically, I'll try to say like the next distance or the next turn. What my favorite race recaps are the ones where Junior Olympics. I actually have the video on there. And I'm like, the self commentator. Those are my absolute I love those. But yeah, those are my favorite ones to film ever.
Melissa Milner 21:44
I highly recommend you guys check out this YouTube channel.
Michael Studer 21:47
I haven't been able to film a ton lately. I have tried to do a few quick videos about like daily stuff. Middle school is really hard to get a lot of stuff done. So I I try to do as much as I possibly can. But afternoons can be very busy. And especially with everything that's going on. I mean, I want to be outside tonight; it's so nice out. And obviously I think once winter comes that's going to be the time to get everything done?
Melissa Milner 22:10
Yes. And you're right now you're on two teams.
Michael Studer 22:14
I am on two teams. Yes. So I am on Greater Lowell which I call my club team. Because they're like the separate club outside of Rec or Town. And then I also have my middle school has a track and cross country team. I am a part of also my Stony Brook, which is the name of my middle school. I'm part of the Stony Brook track and cross country team as well.
Melissa Milner 22:34
Okay, so you have two different practices.
Michael Studer 22:37
Yes.
Melissa Milner 22:38
How many times a week like what what are you talking about here?
Michael Studer 22:41
Up to four times a week? Double sometimes triple times a day?
Melissa Milner 22:46
Oh, my goodness. So you're definitely getting your run in each day?
Michael Studer 22:50
Yes, we actually have to refrain me from doing too much and too hard. Because otherwise, bad stuff happens.
Melissa Milner 22:57
Yeah. And you're still growing too, right?
Michael Studer 22:59
Yeah. It's a lot. Yeah.
Melissa Milner 23:01
I mean, wait, how old are you?
Michael Studer 23:04
Eleven.
Melissa Milner 23:04
Eleven. Yeah, so, gotta let those bones kind of you know,
Michael Studer 23:08
I try to rest them as much as I possibly can when I get the chance.
Melissa Milner 23:12
So my last-ish question, is this whole grit and determination? And when you don't do well, and how do you deal with it with your schoolwork? Is the running informing how you are as a student as far as grit? Do you study a lot because you know, just because you have to, you have to practice a lot for running. You know, you have to study a lot like is it helping you with your schoolwork?
Michael Studer 23:38
You know, I'm not the type of person who's going to barricade themselves in the room on a Saturday or Sunday. And just like study, I'm also not the type of person who's going to be like, I'm not going to do my homework today. I'll just do it later. But yeah, so again, like any one school is never my favorite thing in the world. I mean, I, if I had the choice, like I wouldn't choose to go to school for six hours. I love school. But again, if I if someone gave me the choice, you can go to school or you can go on a field trip today to the waterpark. Like I'm always gonna choose the field trip to the waterpark. But yeah, so I do try to managing both of them is can get very hard. Sometimes I definitely have to say, I do sometimes will have a very hard time on getting my homework done. I have had times where I've just I've been exhausted. And sometimes I'll have to save homework for the morning. Sometimes, when I have to read for 20 minutes, I'll listen to an audiobook in bed. So like just getting creative with ways to do homework. But yeah, typically when I have to do homework, I always get it done. I know some of my friends, they don't always get their homework done. And I'm not I'm not going to call anyone out. But sometimes I'll hear like, some of my friends be like, Yeah, I'm not going to do that today. And I'm I just in the back of my mind. I'm like, I don't know why, like, I don't understand. It doesn't make any sense. Like it's not, I don't know, it's like it's not a choice. I mean, it's like training for a race like I'm just going to skip a week of training like that's no an option.
Melissa Milner 25:00
Yeah.
Michael Studer 25:01
I mean it is, but you're not gonna get anywhere from skipping a week of training than a week behind where you originally were. You could have gotten the week better, but you, you just stayed at the same level you were. Um, so yeah, I think a lot of it, I think I definitely, you know, I'm not I don't want to get in, you know, F, I don't want to get an F on the test. But I also am not going to like if I get like, if I don't get an A plus, and I get an A, like, I'm not going to be the person who's like, oh my god, like this is the end of the world for me.
Melissa Milner 25:28
Yes. And has the running helped you with that?
Michael Studer 25:31
I think the running has definitely helped me with that. Yeah, balance. I think. I don't even think it's like, get the I don't even think it's school. That's like the hardest thing. I think it's the homework part. I will have a lot of homework some nights, I'll have little homework some nights. I I love those nights, I get little homework. It's like thank God, like it's a blessing that I get no little homework that night. Um, but yeah, so I think the running has definitely helped me, I do try to strive to do my best in every single class. I'm not always the best at every single class, but I'm the one person who I'm not going to give up on anything. I'm not about to you know, if someone gives me a paper, I'll do it. If someone gives me a worksheet, I'll do it. If someone gives me a quiz, I'll do it. I'll put 100% effort into it. And what 100% effort whether that means I get you know what that means I get an A plus or I get a B,
Melissa Milner 26:18
That's awesome. Have you had any teachers that know about your running? And and you know, talk to you about it and are interested in it? So do they show interest and in your running?
Michael Studer 26:30
I have had many teachers who show interest in my running, especially from third grade on when people people are a lot of times because one of my friends know how big of a runner I am. So at times they'll spread it to teachers, and then teachers will ask me, and again, going back to that part where like, I hate talking about myself. I'm like, I love I love when I'm getting spread, but at the same time I'm like, Oh wait, I actually have to talk about myself to people. But yeah, so I do. I have had many teachers, my third, fourth, especially, my third grade teacher was super interested. But all through my third, fourth and fifth grade were all interested first and second weren't quite as much, because I hadn't really started running huge yet. So they weren't like I mean, it wasn't I wasn't really wasn't really talked about that much. But once you got into third, fourth, fifth I was and then now in six. I mean, one of my teachers actually, we had a cross country meeting and they announced me on the Announcements how we won the whole thing and she was like and my math teacher was actually like, Michael, you're really fast. And I was like...yeah.
Melissa Milner 27:31
Yeah I am.
Michael Studer 27:34
So it's cool. I mean, spread it and getting the word spread is very cool.
Melissa Milner 27:37
Yeah, that's awesome. It's so amazing. I'm gonna end with what are you… What are you like zooming in on right now? I know you have school and the running is? Are there other hobbies? Or is it really just school and running? What are you zooming in on right now?
Zooming In soundbite 27:53
Michael Studer 27:54
Um, so I'm definitely zooming in on the running, especially. The school and the running kind of zooming in on hand in hand. I'm definitely earning looking toward my next race this season. If we're going a little bit farther, I'm looking towards actually going to the Junior Olympics for cross country and then hopefully beyond that I have actually, just a few weeks ago, I've actually taken up a new hobby. I've wanted to learn how to play tennis. So it's, it's an interesting one. I don't really know how I got the joy to play tennis. I started off with Wii Tennis. Some, I mean, most of you probably know Wiiis. But it's like we started it started off with a Wii Sports. And it was basically I found I found it fun. And I was like, I want to take this outside. I don't want to be inside all day playing this. So I got two tennis rackets. I got a few tennis balls. And then I went out to the courts to my friends. I shot shot some balls around and we did what we could. So...
Melissa Milner 28:52
Yeah.
Michael Studer 28:53
I'm still I mean, it's only my second. As of the time we're filming this. It's only on my second day. But you know, I'm gonna keep working at it and getting better.
Melissa Milner 29:01
That's awesome.
Michael Studer 29:02
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 29:03
It's so funny because there's so people don't realize how much running is involved with tennis.
Michael Studer 29:08
Yeah.
Melissa Milner 29:08
So you should be good on that account. Yeah.
Michael Studer 29:11
It's shown to be very hard. Although I do just like you know, I sometimes will even go up my backyard. I have a shed there. I'll just shoot some balls at the shed sometimes. And you know, a little bounce on the grass. It'll come back to me and I'll try to play like a one on one game since I don't have like a tennis wall, per se. I'll just shoot it at the shed and we'll see what happens.
Melissa Milner 29:32
Awesome. You're amazing. You go run or relax or whatever you're gonna do. Thank you so much.
Michael Studer 29:40
Thank you so much, Melissa.
Melissa Milner 29:41
For my blog, transcripts of this episode, and links to any resources mentioned, visit my website at www.theteacheras.com You can reach me on Twitter and Instagram @melissabmilner and I hope you check out The Teacher As... Facebook page for episode updates. Thanks for listening and that's a wrap.