Episode 15: How Two Teens Are Changing Sports Access (with Justin & Jacob Rivera)

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (00:01.213)
Well, welcome back to the storytellers of Mind Movie Makers. I'm Melissa and I am here to help you out there figure out how to be amazing public speakers. let's look at the science to the art form of what makes really great speakers. Now, today we have a special guest. You can see here we have two young men, Justin and Jacob Rivera, and they are founders, believe it or not.

of an organization called levelthefieldsports.org. And we had the pleasure of getting to know each other through the Seattle Sports Commission's awards banquet that just happened about a month ago. So Justin and Jacob, say hello, let us know a little bit about yourself, your age, what high school you're in, and let's just say hello to the audience.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (00:52.984)
Hello everyone, my name is Justin Rivera. I'm 16 years old.

I'm a sophomore and I go to the Bush School in Seattle, Washington. I love playing sports. I play soccer, golf, I snowboard, and I'm a founder of Level the Field Sports. Hello everybody, I'm Jacob Rivera. I'm 14 years old. I'm in eighth grade at the Bush School in Seattle, Washington as well. I also love playing sports, soccer, baseball, basketball, occasionally snowboarding. And I'm also the founder of Level the Field Sports.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (01:20.775)
Okay. All right. Yeah, you guys are busy and athletic. That's awesome. But this also tell us a little bit about level the field sports in your words. What is it that you focus on? And then we'll talk a little bit about like what happened and how this even came about. So what do you what's it like on a day to day basis? What do you do?

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (01:45.366)
So on a day-to-day basis, we're usually pretty busy, you know, responding to a lot of people, not only just, well, I guess I'll give a real-world example.

Just today, I've had to respond to a bunch of people over at the Windermere Foundation regarding grants and funding. So it's a lot of, we send out a lot of emails and talk to a lot of people about fundraising and donations.

And also there's a lot of planning involved. For example, last Friday we actually had a gear drive at Lowell Elementary and before that it took a lot of planning and coordination with the school, the Bush School, to help the gear drive be able to have enough material and equipment needed to donate to Lowell Elementary.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (02:36.838)
All right, so just to fill in a little bit, you are providing funding and equipment to underserved communities because not everyone can afford the exuberant fees that being on a soccer team or being on a softball team or a baseball team, the gear, the equipment, what have you learned about how much that can cost to a family?

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (03:05.038)
Well, we know from experience it's really expensive, right? And we try to focus mainly helping kids, kindergarten through fifth grade, because we're sort of...

focusing on the equality aspect of it, right? Like you have a kid who's starting out playing sports in kindergarten, maybe having some private training and playing on a club team. And so that kid is gonna have a much higher advantage than somebody who joins in middle school, who plays sports in middle school because usually middle schools and the high schools offer sports for their students. And that kid who's joining fresh from no experience is going to be at a major disadvantage

from the kid who's had years and years of practice. And all that practice costs money and it can rack up to tens of thousands of dollars over time. So we try to focus on providing funds to underserved kids and the chance and opportunities to play sports so they're not at a higher disadvantage when they get to middle school and high school. And also lots of kids have a passion for sports but don't realize it because they don't have the opportunity or equipment or the funds to be able to play sports.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (03:56.968)
Yeah.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (04:18.356)
So we help them out so they can realize their passion and really enjoy sports while they're young and continue to enjoy it throughout their school career.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (04:27.804)
Why? Why should we care about a kid playing sports on a team level? What does sports do for kids other than just have fun?

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (04:37.281)
Sports can be...

so incredibly important to many people's lives. mean, whenever I think about it, I just think, are we helping the next Messi or Ronaldo, right? Could we be giving a kid a chance who's gonna be great someday? And just that's an extreme case, and that's just a case that gives me hope. But in reality, sports are super, super good for kids with the health aspect and the social aspect.

really good thing that kids can participate in.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (05:12.338)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, definitely early leadership skills. So learning to work together and it's not just about yourself. Even though that I'm sure that happens. You you got the big, big egos that could probably develop, but even the biggest ego still needs to know how to work with other people for the team. You know, what do they say? There's no I in the word team. Yeah, so you guys, your soccer players, baseball, skiing, golf,

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (05:33.036)
Yeah

Yeah.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (05:43.088)
love golf. Now golf is more of a solo. That's kind of a... Well, you're on a golf team. Is that what you're doing? Okay.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (05:44.11)
you

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (05:49.068)
Yeah, I play for my high school golf team.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (05:51.904)
That's a game. And that's the other thing is that there's a game that you're going to get very good at very young. I actually am weirdly good at golf because I was taught when I was tiny, like I was six years old and someone had a golf ball with a little string on it I'd hit it and then I'd practice in the backyard. But it had an imprint on me. And the thing about golf is it's an amazing sport that you can play throughout your entire life.

People go out on golf courses and do business and people do it after they retire. I mean, it is one of those games that you can stick with. Unlike some other sports, some sports, you know, they're so physically hard, like football. I think when you retire from football, you have to retire. The body can only take so much. And maybe baseball. Do you think baseball could be one? Like rotator cups and stuff like that?

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (06:36.588)
Yeah.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (06:44.75)
Yeah, I would assume.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (06:47.463)
Yeah, yeah, but it's really just great though that you can see this. what has it done for you to, as far as your own leadership skills, being active in sports like that? What have you learned about yourself as a leader?

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (07:03.818)
I've, I feel like they learned that I, I have the skills to lead cause I don't, I'm I'm a type of person that doesn't really come off as a leader. I think I'm just sometimes when it comes to sports, a background character. But if I really sports like collaborating with your team and talking to people and just really getting to know everybody, it gives you the confidence to help you lead and.

It makes you more comfortable and the skills you develop from being comfortable and with the people you know, you can take those skills and apply it to a situation that takes you out of your comfort zone. And it just really helps you with that. Sorry, can you repeat your question one more time?

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (07:48.563)
Just what has sports taught you as a leader in your own leadership development?

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (07:52.14)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I mean I was just I was gonna answer like it's taught me the foundation and like the basis for what a leader is, you know, so And I I may only find the significant in soccer. So a lot

A lot of times people are really hard on themselves, regardless of what sport they're playing. And so my team captains will always make sure that they're holding us accountable to trying and practice as well as keeping positivity, keeping a good morale. I mean, it's just a really important role to have in soccer and like being a leader in sports in general is a is a really powerful thing that you can be. And I just think, you know, the positivity

and the accountability and the responsibility that comes with being a leader in sports is really important.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (08:44.873)
Yeah. And.

The fact that you started a nonprofit, let's talk about that. You started this nonprofit to help these kids because you saw your friend, and we'll talk about that story a little bit, because that ended up going into your speech. So I'll set the stage on that one, literally. They were honored by the Seattle Sports Commission for the Most Inspired Youth Award, and they honored levelthefieldsports.org.

and we learned that this all came to its own fruition when you were eight and seven years old. So tell us a little bit about like how this even came into being.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (09:29.614)
So it all started back on this fateful day in 2018 where my brother Jacob and I were playing soccer and

one of our teammates was that well first of all the ref stopped the game and he walked over to one of our teammates and He benched him immediately and so our initial reaction or my initial reaction was I was super super confused and I didn't know what was happening and then later I figured out that we figured out that he couldn't play because he didn't pay his team dues on time and

it sort of struck me as really as something new because I'd never grasped this idea of having to pay to play sports and that was something that was just so life-changing for me. So we wanted to make a difference and from that day on we started Level the Field Sports to help kids who couldn't afford to pay to sports pay to play sports.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (10:32.767)
That's amazing.

That's amazing. mean, you're eight and seven and you have that much awareness of what's going on in the world. That's incredibly impressive. Okay. So that awareness is something I may it always shine bright as you grow up more and more into this world because we need you. That's the kind of that's the kind of togetherness that I believe in too. I call it heart led leadership. And it goes so much further than ego led leadership. And you are completely

a heart-led leadership, including your parents who I know are very, very involved in helping you run the program, getting sponsors, and on top of that, you know, driving you to all your practices and whatnot. So a shout out to Nancy and to Diego, who are the proud parents of this organization and the sons. So that's really cool. Yeah, so we inserted that. So it's a big night.

It's a big night. You got three minutes and the way you did it was what I would call a duet. And you were telling the story with more detail than what we just did. We did a nice little summary. you know, Justin started it off and then Jacob would add and then Justin would take and he'd add. Tell me about the process because that took some work between us to have happen. First off, what was your thought where you're like, you got a speech coach? Like, what's that going to be?

What was your attitude walking into the work before we even did it? And then like, what did you learn as we were working together?

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (12:08.43)
Um, well, my initial reaction was I was, I was sort of surprised. You know, I didn't think we'd be getting a speech coach. Like that was pretty cool when I first figured that out. But then,

Along the journey of creating a speech, we learned so many new things like learning to talk naturally, like, and raw is so much better than talking in like a, in like a sort of fake like tone, you know, the way like most speeches are spoken. And I just, along the way I thought,

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (12:38.046)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (12:45.28)
wow this is something that is so new to me but it sounds super good you know it sounds like it's coming from the heart and it's actually authentic so that's that's one thing that i learned and for me before learning how to speak naturally and raw i would just try to speed through speech because i always have nerves speaking in front of people but you helped me slow down and kind of really embrace the moment and

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (12:56.489)
Good. Good.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (13:15.194)
And because of such so much practice and visualizing it as a conversation rather than a presentation, I learned to slow down and just visualize it as if I was just talking to another person rather than a whole crowd, which really helped.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (13:32.702)
Yeah.

Good, that's awesome. I remember that specific rehearsal that we had. So I call it rehearsal, you guys will call it practice. Same thing, you know, we're getting together. But yeah, so to the audience out there, you know, we learned that a lot of people, and this is just a part of the iterations that you're going through when you're preparing to be in a public speaking situation. You know, it's gonna go from really rough and gritty where you're trying to find the stories, trying to refine, and we did that.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (13:41.774)
Good.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (14:03.893)
going in and saying, let's make sure that the thank you portion is at the end instead of throughout the whole thing. Like there was just cleanup that we were doing once we had the structure of what we were going to say. But.

It's common for me to see when someone is reading that monotone sound that Justin was kind of referring to. It's like, you know, I am reading and I am going like this. It's your turn now. You know, and that was happening, but that's OK because you were still getting the content.

in your ownership, right? And then once you got the content, once you knew like, like what we're saying, I like how we're going to say it, then I said to you, talk to me as if we're at a coffee shop and you're just telling your story.

And that's when it does become a more natural sound. How do you think the audience responds when someone is speaking more naturally, even though it might be memorized? It might be a memorized speech, which yours was. You did come off very natural. Do you think that that works for the audience?

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (15:10.094)
100 % I mean if it's It's a conversation right then people are gonna be listening and retaining what you're saying, right? But if somebody's just talking at you then it's they're not gonna be really retaining it They could be listening, but they're not gonna be retaining it

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (15:27.838)
right.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (15:28.0)
And it feels more engaging as if you're a part of it, like you're being talked to rather than just hearing something that's not authentic and memorized.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (15:40.446)
Right, right. And there was times I was listening to the audience and what I was very impressed with and very thrilled for, and I wasn't surprised though because I knew you were doing the work. I knew you were practicing. Practice and again, not to be perfect, but to be comfortable.

to know what you're gonna say. So if something happens, a dog runs across the stage, you're not gonna be completely thrown by it because you know your content. So good job, guys. I know that you were committed to that and that also will always serve you. It will always serve you. There were a few people that I've seen in my day that get up there and go, I'm gonna wing it. And...

That's not necessarily the best move. And I'm a professional improviser. I could actually wing something probably a little bit better than others might because I'm trained to wing things, right? That's what improv's about. But when you're doing a formal speech and it's a big night, I mean people are dressed up. There were a thousand people in that room. What was your thought when you walked up on stage? Because we visualized it. was like, every rehearsal I was like, okay you're gonna be here. You're gonna hear clinking of plates and glasses.

and people are going to be, you're going to hear a little low hum of people talking, but they are listening to you. Did that help you?

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (17:06.837)
I mean...

I guess yes and no. mean, it's complicated in my sense, in my case, because I really, really tried not to think about like the audience. You know, I was just focusing on my, like my coach tells me this, don't focus on the game, focus on your game. So I mean, focusing on how I'm doing. And if I'm doing, I'm performing to how I think.

if i'm performing to the standard that I want to be performing at Then I know that it's just gonna come out flawlessly And that's sort of how I thought about this speech was I wasn't really thinking about what other people were Were seeing I was mainly thinking about what I was saying and I was seeing Myself and my brother delivering a speech and it wasn't I wasn't thinking about the thousands of eyes that were that were seeing I agree with Justin, but if i'm gonna be honest

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (18:02.847)
Okay, I love that.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (18:08.4)
the lights shining in my eyes kind of helped me not look at the audience and kind of just help me focus on my own speech. Yeah.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (18:14.687)
You

I know there's a little comfort to that, isn't there? You're like, I can't see anything, so I have nothing really to be nervous about. You hear it mostly, because so when we were practicing about practicing on that, I talked about the sounds. And this is a tip to everyone out there who's listening. You probably will not be able to see the audience in a situation like that because the lights are so bright. So that can be a relief. So that's why the practice and just, but trying to be in the room before you're actually in the room.

can be very powerful. I know athletes do that before a game. They see themselves on the field, you know, and they see themselves catching the ball and kicking and scoring and doing all that stuff. So same thing. I think it's applicable to everything. And so then what did it do with all of that preparation that you mentally were doing and physically practicing? What did it do for your confidence when you walked up on the stage?

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (19:11.828)
it totally helped. I mean, if I were to, like you were saying earlier, even if I had the training to improv, I don't think I would deliver it in a way that would make it satisfying for me. But being prepared and getting to work with a speech coach totally boosted my confidence. was...

It made it so easy. I agree. In fact, think knowing the whole foundation of the speech really helped me. I think I could have added on to a few things, just coming up on my own. But I really knew everything because of lots of repetition and practice to really be authentic.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (19:52.128)
Yeah. Good. Well, I remember like afterwards, you know, because it's a buzz that's going and I think it was you, Jacob, that said, I didn't even feel nervous.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (20:04.865)
yeah, yeah.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (20:06.943)
i don't even feel nervous? I'm like, that is awesome. Because that means that you've controlled the energy, but you probably felt something in your stomach. I know that your presenter, Tom Gorman, was talking to you all before you got on stage. He was very impressed with you. And he felt like he could relate to your story because he was a tennis player and he had a similar situation where a tennis organization saw his talent and then he couldn't afford the dues. And back then it was $3.10.

They hadn't given him a scholarship he would not have gone on to be a tennis champion that he traveled the globe doing if that hadn't happened. So he was almost at like 80 years old I'm not sure if Tom's age but he's old he's older he was giddy to to present for you so that was kind of magical like you don't expect you don't know what to expect because it's we're all really a bunch of strangers getting together and putting on an amazing show which an applause to the Seattle Sports Commission.

I mean that was a massive, massive show. I'm glad, I'm so glad that it was a positive experience for you too. It was fun for me as well. And so I think it'll be really fun for our audience to actually see your speech, okay? So we're gonna cut to it right now. It's a three minute speech. You're gonna see these two young men take the stage. There's a thousand people in the room. Everyone's from the head coach of the Seahawks.

to agents, to players. I mean, it is the who's who of sports in the Seattle region. And they came on and they accepted their speech with grace and with professionalism. And let's take a moment and watch that.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (21:56.03)
Okay, so then we're gonna cut, we're gonna cut, we're gonna show it. Now I'm gonna come back and we're just gonna kinda, this is so Hollywood what we're doing right now. We're gonna come back and then just compliment it and then I'm gonna ask you some closing questions and then we'll be done. You're doing great, okay? So Carl will cut, we'll add their speech for that I have on YouTube and here we go. All right.

There you go, that's how it's done. That's how it's done. And this is a 14 and a 16 year old that took that stage like they were pros. High five guys. And now you have the beginnings and I think you're gonna be telling lots of speeches, but you can be doing this with every presentation that you do. It's the same idea and I'm always gonna share, like when school happens and it's time to do a presentation.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (22:22.765)
you.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (22:31.15)
Thanks.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (22:50.273)
and you have to do a pie chart, start with a story that the pie chart's indicating, because that's putting heart behind the chart. So then when you show those numbers...

The story is going to make us care about those numbers because you took the time to create a story about what happened. Okay. It's not just the numbers. Everyone's like, no, it's the numbers. Everyone's the numbers. It's not. It's the story that the numbers represent. So this is a school, a tool that you will have for the rest of your life. And it's been an honor working with you. What's next for levelthefieldsports.org?

What's next for you guys? What do you need? How can we support you?

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (23:34.214)
I guess what's next for us is, I, is just the vision that I have is working with the most, like the highest amount of sports teams that we can, especially in Seattle. After that event, after the Seattle sports commission event, we hope to connect with everybody that we can and.

Just expand, right now we're operating in King County, but we've helped kids in Pierce County, and kids just outside of King County. And we wanna expand our reach and just help as many kids that we can.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (24:15.249)
And does that happen with funding where people donate or do you need more volunteers? Like what specifically do we need to do to help you?

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (24:25.87)
I would 100 % say funding. Funding is a huge thing when it comes to helping these kids. And then I guess just spreading the word about our work and just in marketing. That's what we really need. The PR push is what we need to get ourselves out there.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (24:29.087)
Okay, yep.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (24:45.343)
Well, check, check, check. can help you with all three of those. when we post this podcast, a whole bunch of people are going to see it. And pay attention to them. We have a link that will be at the bottom here where you can go and check out and learn more about their organization. And you'll see more about their parents who are very involved with it. It's such a family endeavor. But I wish you all the best. I think you have such bright futures on so many

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (24:47.946)
Awesome. Thank you.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (25:15.337)
levels including your own sports careers. So thanks for coming on the show. Thanks for being such good hard workers in everything you do. It's really impressive. Yeah. So everyone that was this episode. We hope you enjoy it. This just shows that you can be that you can be a powerful public speaker at any age.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (25:18.616)
Thank you.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (25:40.919)
at any age. In fact, I thought you were two of the strongest ones in that whole show. yeah, because you, well, I was biased, but you were, you were very good. Okay, everyone, thank you again, and I'll see you at the next episode. So keep watching, comment, share, like, do all those things, and we will keep this podcast going to help people become more confident in their public speaking. All right, until then, we'll see you soon.

Justin Rivera And Jacob Rivera (25:49.356)
Mm-hmm.

Melissa Reaves, Story Fruition (26:10.512)
Bye!