Episodes
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Adrian Ballinger is a British-American certified IFMGA/AMGA mountain guide, certified through the American Mountain Guides Association and a sponsored climber and skier.
Ballinger is the founder and CEO of Alpenglow Expeditions, and has been guiding full-time for 25 years. He has led over 150 international climbing expeditions on six continents, and made 18 successful summits of 8,000m peaks. He is known for pioneering the use of pre-acclimatization for commercial expeditions as early as 2012, which can cut the amount of time typically spent on an expedition in half.
Adrian is the only American to have made three successful ski descents of 8,000m peaks, including the first ski descent of Manaslu from its summit. He is also the fourth American to have summited both Mount Everest and K2 without the use of supplemental oxygen. -
Missing episodes?
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I met Kenton Cool on Mt EVEREST in 2021. He is an amazing and talented Englishman who has scaled MT EVEREST 14 times with no end in sight. He guides clients all over the world and had scaled most of the major peaks out there. This is a super engaging conversation w/ Kenton on where he has been, his philosphy on life and where he's going in the future.
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Shane Jacobson is the CEO of the V Foundation which was started by Jim Valvano and ESPN in 1993. Jim V is a former coach who had won a national championship for NC State and later became a broadcaster on ESPN calling basketball games. He got a brain tumor and in his last speech, echoed those words, “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.”
Today, Shane is carrying on his legacy to raise money and awareness to eventually defeat all forms of cancer. Shane talks about how they are doing this and his association with Dick Vitale. -
Yuriy Boyechko is the CEO and President of Hope for Ukraine. It's a non-profit, set up to help all the people of that country who have been displaced with food, water, clothing and shelter. We had a great chat talking about their mission, challenges and where the war is going. Tune in...
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Shawn Richardson went through a bumpy road a few years ago and was left with, where do I go from here? The mountains came calling and she has now turned her passion into a career while reaping the benefits of being in the outdoors and helping to solve various mental health issues. You never know when failures can turn into opportunities. Go Shawn go...
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This podcast was a wonderful opportunity to speak with film director, Nancy Svendsen, about her 10-year passion project covering the remarkable life of Pasang, a Nepalese climber. She documents the obstacles Pasang had to overcome to climb Mount Everest and become the first Nepalese woman to climb the highest mountain in the world. Fascinating chat learning what she lived for—and ultimately died for.
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The U Conn football team went 4-44 the last 4 years prior to Jim Mora showing up. He turned the football team in 2022 going 6-6 and being selected to play in a bowl game against Marshall. How do you change the mindset of young men who only know whats its like to lose? Listen to Jim Mora on how get got his players to believe and buy in to have a championship mindset. Amazing turnaround...
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Nate Boyer is an incredible American. He served in the Green Berets for 8 years, then decided to go to college at the University of Texas and then walked on the football team where he was the starting long snapper. Although he got a quick workout with the Seahawks, he has gone onto greater things.
He spent two years on a passion project creating MVP, the Movie. It reflects what he has done for athletes and ex military vets who are looking for true meaning and purpose after they are done either playing or serving. It's a great film. -
Tom French is an American mountaineer who I have climbed with on Mt Vinson in Antartica, Cotapaxi in Ecaudor and Mt EVEREST in 2021. Unfortunately, Tom didn't make it to the top in 2021 due to a cyclone storm but reset his mind and came back strong in 2022 and got it done. Tom talks about his facinating tale of how he was able to pull it off.
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I recentlyy met Mike Tomczak at an NFL Golf Event. I had remembered him from his playing days against the Bears, the SuperBowl Shuffle and his time at Ohio State. He had a great career playing 16 years and has continued to stretch himself with many different ventures he is involved with. The best part is his relationship with Youngstown State where he remains active with the school and football team.
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I had a fantastic chat with an old buddy from college that is now, along with his brother Eric is running Nordstrom. Certainly no small feat. We talked about running the family business, how he earned what he has become, his family, charities he supports and his favorite hobby beyond sports, playing in a band. Pete is a great guy who just gets it. Happy for him and his success. Listen to this episode as you can learn so much.
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This is an amazing story of a former pro soccer player that is now using his former skills to organized camps around the world particulary in Turkey to help displaced girls via soccer. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled Iran, Afghanastan, Iraq for the persecution of their religion or normal freedoms we take for granted. Through organized Soccer camps, Joe has provided structure to give them confidence to do whatever is possible with limited resources.
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Jesse Bradley: From professional soccer player to almost dying from an allergic reaction to a malaria shot, Jesse talks about his redemption and life's purpose. He is now a pastor in the great state of Washington and has been on a journey to serve others. Catch his energetic spirit about overcoming adversity and finding his way.
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Tom House was a professional baseball player, turned baseball coach and now has transitioned himself into the guru of teaching NFL Quarterbacks the 4 principles of achieving at a high level. Facinating interview of how he has gotten the best of Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Dak Prescott and many others to excell well into their 40's.
Here is the full episode transcribed.
Hey, everybody's Mark Pattison. I'm back again with another great episode of Finding Your Summit, all about people overcoming excuse me, all about people overcoming adversity and making their way through it and finding their summit. So, anyways, I haven't done this a little bit during the summer here, but we're back on we're back on track and before we get into today's wonderful guests, we're gonna talk about my website really quickly. WWW dot mark pattison, NFL DOT COM. There's a number of things going on there. Number One, the movie searching for the summit, which one and Emmy for best picture, covering my Everest journey by the NFL Um, is now on that website. You can check it out by following the different lengths that are there. That's number one. Number two, I've got over two D sixty podcasts of finding your summit with amazing people at the guy out today doing incredible things which will inspire all. And number three, I continue to have my hands knee deep in my flat. Philanthropy causes with with higher ground. That's the organization that helps um process all these things and and drive money, Um and awareness to people who really need. A lot of these people are military folks who have had PTSD and have had adaptive issues with their legs and norms and things like that. So really about empowerment. My daughter also has epilepsy. So we created this found this campaign called the millions Everest, and we have now raised well over a hundre ground towards these great causes. So, Um, if you want to donate over there, go ahead. Of all the money goes directly to higher ground. Okay, on that note, let's jump into today's great guests. His name is Tom. How's Tom? How are you doing? Very good, happy Wednesday. Happy Wednesday to you. I haven't done this in the spell in about a month and so my got a tongue twisted just a little bit and I normally don't do that, but it's all good. Um. So I I I found you, like a lot of times I do. You know, at some certain point the Dealta of knowing people and then tapping into other people. You hear about somebody and I was so fascinated because they've called you this guru, you know, quote unquote. I don't know how you exactly Um phrase that up, but I kind of want to give away what we're gonna talk about a little bit later and then to kind of go back and see how the building blocks of how you actually got to the place that you were in today. Um Tom, is a guy that I saw, I think, on twitter, and you've been, uh, somewhat infamous, that's the right word, for helping guys like Tom Brady, Dak Prescott many other NFL stars drew brees over the years with their throwing motion and helping them get better. And the interesting thing about all this is that you're really a baseball guy and you're a guy that that went to USC went on, you were drafted by the braves, played over the Red Sox and home my home, uh team, I guess, so to speak, the mariners. I grew up in Seattle, Washington, want to the University of Washington. So you you, I'm sure you know that area well up there. But but let's go back to kind of the route at the beginning of formulating because so much of what you do is just not about how to throw a ball. To me, all mechanics are roughly the same when throwing anything, whether it's, you know, a baseball, a football, a basketball. It's all that fall through shoulders, score a target and off you go. But there's so much more that you do that you contribute to this which is between the years um of making that happen. So let's let's start kind of back at USC and your love for baseball and how did that kind of evolve to where you are today. Mark, that's a great leading and you've done your homework. It's it's awesome to talk to some of it. It has any kind of clue that what I've been doing for the last fifty years. But we'll go back to sc it actually started sitting into that with my mom and dad. There Um not quantifying or qualifying sports as a way to make a living. They only cared about getting an education. So everything I did in sports I had to get an a to be able to play. So that's set the stage. But when I got to USC UM, my first bullpen was next to a guy named Tom Sieber. I had a really good high school career and my my first bullpen at USC with coach Rod Dato, who was the coach of the century, watching over my shoulder and severer shoulder. I was looking at this guy. He was a man child at eighteen, nineteen years old and I'm flipping up my little left hand at eighty mile an hour fastball and he's running it up there, you know, in a bullpen. And coach Dato was the first one to make me aware that there were options outside of a pure talent. He said, well, what do you think? A young Tom seewer Tommy House, and I said, rod if you need me to do what he's doing, you got to row left hander. And this is where I've been fortunate my whole life when it comes to someone mentoring me at the right time at a prosp room. He said, I don't need you to be Tom Seeber, I need to be the best Tommy House you can be. Throw your curveball, throw your change up field your position, hold downers close, you'll get innings, you'll win a lot of games with the TROJANS and you'll play some pro bowl too. You know again. But let me let me jump in really quickly, because you're telling me this whole story and the thing that that I'm recollecting again going back to Seattle, watching the Seattle Mariners, especially when they had griffey and Rodriguez and those guys up there. He had a picture named Jamie Moyer, and you sound just like him right, you left. He had could throw probably top s eighty five miles per hour. And you're you're aware that I had jamie for six years when I was a pitching coach with the Texas Rangers. Well, there you go. And and he ended up having a longer career. He Pitched Hill. It was forty eight. Nolan Ryan only pitched untilie was seven. But it was the same information and Instruction delivered to a particularly different human being. But the process created a better chance for an outcome, a positive outcome, with both of them. Okay, so let's talk about let's talk about that process, because it's you, you, I think you you used yourself in Tom Sieber, who I think played for the dodgers way back when, Um, and and then you're talking about Nolan Ryan and Jamie Moyer. Right, Nolan Ryan was just like a Pissy, you know, burning fire out of his nose, throwing Hunter Mile Prior fastballs well into, like you said, his late forties. And then you have Jamie Meyer, probably very similar to you, a lefty that would just right pots coming in and strike people out left and right right. Well, you talk about individuals, whether they're coaches or athletes reaching a semit or getting really good, with mastery at what they do. It's it's really finding order in chaos with with some kind of a process. We cannot what I learned early on, we cannot control outcome, but we can control process and by Hook or by Crook, throughout my playing career and my coaching career I got lucky in learning how to manage the process that I was going through and not getting so caught up in outcomes. Okay, so so, so. So. Go back there, though. I'm so fascinating this because if you can, if you can appreciate, you know, going through major college football with the process, going into the NFL, with the process, I was kind of like Tom Brady, another guy that you mentioned. I was drafted in the seventh round. He was drafted in the sixth round. Had to fight for everything. Obviously Tom Brady's a legend legendary player. I wasn't, but you know, still we all try to achieve our ceiling of what we were able to do and then going on and and climbing all these crazy mountains around the world. That took a process and didn't know what the Hell I was doing when I got into it and then, you know, coming back and helping to revive sports illustrated there was a certain process and so I'm trying to understand from you, like I really want to peel back the layer here and not just glaze over like Oh, there's a process. Well, what does that mean like to you in your mind? What is that process? What's that combined of well, it's it's unique to each individual Um, like there's one set of rules, but there's a million interpretations and it's a function of his movement efficiencies, his functional strength, his mal emotional capacity and his nutrition in sleep to recover. Those are the four basic pillars of health and performance in any sports occupation. And again, I played, but I continue to get education. I went on and got a couple of Bestelor's science, a cup of Masters and a Ph d, an avid learner for and just listen to you talk. You may have you may not have realized it was formal Um, but you're an avid learner or you would not have been able to do the climbing you did on the seven summits of the highest mountain ranges in the world. And it's the individual Um and he doesn't have to be a leader. He can. He can actually follow someone that identifies for himself or herself the path of least resistance, the process that will return the most give it, give the best return for the least akhams raiser, let the the best return for the least amount of thinking or processing. So what I got lucky at is, as a player I was always in front of somebody that gave me a how to with my talent and how a process to make it. They were Clyde King's of the world where he realized I didn't throw hard, but he saw that my e r a when I was in the minor leagues, one time through the lineup my Ra was less than two. By the third time through the lineup it was astronomical. So he was a a statistics guy before an -
Miles Burris: transitioning from the NFL to the acting world and thriving.. He was drafted as a Raider and played 3 years before finding his new passion and career. Learn what he did to discover his new path and what he's excited for about the future.
https://www.youtube.com/c/FindingYourSummitWithMarkPattison
https://www.markpattisonnfl.com/finding-your-summit/
https://twitter.com/MarkPattisonNFL
https://www.facebook.com/NFL2SevenSummits -
Matt Warren: Singer / Songwriter with multiple hits had to go through rehab to find his greatness.
Everybody's Mark Pattison, I'm back again with another great episode of finding your summit, all about people overcoming adversity and finding their way. Can't wait to jump into today's guest, who certainly fits that bill. But before we do, I want to direct your attention to my website, www dot mark pattison nfl dot com, and I've got my film Emmy Award Winning Best Picture searching for the summit. You can check it out there. It directs you over to NFL three sixty. So fortunate that they film my amazing journey up and down Mount Everest and back Um and and what a beautiful story at the end of the day. And if you haven't seen it, check it out again. Best Picture Emmy. I've got the hardware comments, so I'm excited about that. Number two is I've done over two and fifty episodes, uh, going on out two or three years, and I've got so many amazing people doing incredible things and it always inspires me to talk to these people, like we're gonna talk to today, just what they're doing, how they've gone about life and their success and we all need that. I'm not the or you're not the only one I need it to to Jack me up and keep me going up and down these mountains. And finally, we continue to raise money for a millions everest all proceeds go to higher ground. It's all about empowering others and that's what we aim to do. Um, we we show the film, we've done these campaigns with Amelia, so on, so forth. Uh. And I think we have something coming either to the south down of Mississippi, which I hope Matt would be included with. That's coming on just a minute. Uh, and in southern California with Um, some pretty cool people. So tune into that, um all, if you do go on to that length. Philanthropy, millions Everest of all proceeds go directly to higher ground. It doesn't come to me in anyway. So on that note, let's get into today's awesome guest. His Name Matt Warren. Matt, I've met you two years ago down in the Great State of Mississippi, the little town of Greenville, at a wonderful common mutual friends, Steve Azar. He's another Delta Blues Singer, in your case singer Songwriter. I hope I got that right, Matt. Welcome to the show. Thank you so much for having me. Brother. I'm I'm excited to be on here and it's a real honor. Thanks for asking. Well, listen, you know, let's let's just rewind this, because we're gonna talk about your life. We're gonna talk about dreams, we're gonna talk about failures. You know, we talked about the name of the show is finding your summit. There's peaks, the valleys. Um, you've been in valleys. You've been in peaks. I've been in a whole probably more valleys than you've been, and I've been on a couple of peaks and it's fun when you're standing on the top. But you know, to develop that character over time you have to go through some stuff. Right. That builds that character, that broils that grit, that builds those other things that you ultimately are made up. But I want to go back just two years now and and I want to tell you my experience, Um, for the audience. So there's a there's a common friend of of Matt and mind. His name is Steve Azar. He's a Delta Country Blues he's had a number of hits. He's a singer, he's a songwriter, just like our guest today. Um. But he he throws a a Gulf event, a fundraiser, and then we're fortunate, the people that come down to be able to listen to these these amazing voices that Steve. He calls friends up on stage on a Friday night and I was sitting back with my girl dares, and I was I was this Guy, man Warren, was introduced. He came up and belt it up and we're looking each other like, oh my God, this guy sings like a flippant angel, I mean so talented. And afterwards I said something, you know, and we didn't really talk too much after that. And this last year, a couple of months ago, we got to talk a lot more. And again you got up and you sang a beautiful song and and so, I mean again, where did this love? When did you figure out that when you opened your mouth, you have this magic that could actually come out and it's I mean, I'd sounded pretty sweet. Gosh, that's an interesting question. Um, I've kind of got a funny story, uh, about that because, Um, I wasn't really sure, Um, that I had a beautiful voice, and the reason being, Um, you know, as a kid I was a product of what my parents listened to. I can remember being, you know, sitting in front of a record player, flipping records, you know, from one side to the next, while my mom was in the kitchen or doing whatever she was doing. And that was kind of my babysitter, was the record player. Um. And so from a very young age I loved music and I would lock myself in my room as I got older, and I had a whiffleball bat and I'd stand in there and, you know, Air Guitar and I'd sing it. I always thought that I had, well, I don't know if I thought I had a good voice, but I enjoyed singing. I thought that I could sing pretty much to anything. And Uh, and then in the what not? Okay, glad you're gonna say that. The seventh in the seventh grade, I tried out for the church choir and I was the only kid that didn't make it. So I was devastated, you know, because well, a you know, everybody should make the church choir. I mean, you know, we're all just, you know, praise in Jesus. But when they you know, I was I thought to myself, maybe maybe I'm not a good singer. You know, if I'm the only kid that didn't make the choir. So, Um, I was a little confused because I knew that I enjoyed singing and I thought that I was a pretty good singer. Um. And then it wasn't until the tenth grade that I had the courage to try out again for a for chorus in high school, and it was basically because my but these all my buddies I played football with. You had to have an elective and the reasoning for uh doing chorus was on my on. My budd said, they're all the cute girls were in there and it was a lot of fun. So I got the courage I have to to try out and I think I tried out with George all in my mind, by Ray Charles and my chorus teacher, Mr James Story. He uh, he just he said, where have you been? And so that was at that point that I thought, okay, well, maybe I was right, maybe I can't sing, and then he gave me a solo. Um, that Christmas we had a Christmas show at my high school, at Gallas in high school, and he let me Sing Jingle Bell Rock and that was the first time I'd ever sing in front of a group of people and I actually didn't even tell my mom and dad that I was going to be singing until the night before and I remember telling my dad I said, I think you guys should come to the Christmas program tomorrow and I I've got a solo and uh, my dad just looked at me and solo at what, you know, and I'm single Bell Rock. And so that was the first time that was it wasn't until then really that that I thought that I had a decent voice and I guess the approval of the crowd after the cheers. You know, that that kind of was what hooked me. You know, I was like you. I was, um, an athlete, a four spoor athlete my whole life, you know, a team, team player, and it went until I stood up on that stage by myself and sang a song that I was I was hooked. Yeah, I can tell you that really quickly that in high school, my senior year, after football season, UM, myself and some other football guys tried out for as a cast for the musical Ballyga doone and I was going to be in the village and I just singing, just dish. I had to sing in front of a hundred people and I was terrified. I knew that was not my place, but that was that was my story. So I want to mix this in. So now now, you you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you get up on stage, you're singing jingle bow rock, you know, you know, you finally like Hey, maybe I can do this. You know, as you're you've got a little confidence boost, you know, going and and then and then. I know we're kind of fast foreign forwarding at the clock a bit, but over the arc of time, you know, you find your place and you start writing songs. So where does the connection come from? You're, you're okay, I got a voice. Now I actually, rather than singing jingle bow rock and all these other, you know, songs that that you get up it's like Karaoke night, but you're actually you're gonna screate your own like, where the where did that inspiration come from? Um, so, I knew that I wanted to be my ultimate dream is to be the lead singer in a band. I mean that. That has never changed. Um. And so I had a band. I had a cover band, and we were basically signed to play like frat houses and bars in the SEC at Alabama or L S U or Tennessee. and Um, the band broke up and a couple of the guys wanted to go do a thing where they were playing original music. And I realized pretty fast that if I wanted to continue chasing my dream of being a lead singer in a band, I was gonna have to have some songs of my own, because I think my thought process back then was, and it's still this way. Um, no great musician is wanna gonna want to just play covers, so you're gonna have to have your own songs, Um, and that I started writing songs out of necessity because I needed a band, Um, and that's really what put me on the path to writing songs. And and at the time, you know, I still don't know how to read or write music. I just I know what chords I'm playing and I can hear them. I was just imitating Van Morrison and and and Willie Nelson, you know, generally speaking, because I would listen to some of their records and I how I started writing songs was I would just copy the chord structure from like Willie Nelson Song or a van Morrison Song, something pretty simple. You know, Tom Petty Song. I would copy those chords and the structure and the rhythm and then I would learn how to put my own words and my own Melly over top of those chords and that chord structure and that rhythm, and then I would change the rhythm up a little bit. And so I would, you know, create my own my ow - Show more
