We love telling the story of athletes who began their journey in Frisco and moved on to play in college. We really love it when they come back home to live in Frisco and build a career.
Noah Westerfield is our guest this week on Hustle and Pro. Following his success at Wakeland High School in Frisco, Noah went on to play 3 seasons for Cal, and finished up his football career at SMU. (I love that he sneaks in a #gobears and #goponies whenever he can…)
Knowing Noah as a football player, he surprised us citing basketball as his favorite sport to play, and tennis as his favorite sport to watch.
His experience playing with big-time players and learning from some legendary coaches has positioned him to pass that knowledge on to the next generation. His Frisc0-based business, That’s Game Sports, aspires to be an outstanding educational-athletic organization that provides athletic competitions and personal development workshops to prepare middle and high school student-athletes for the next level.
We hope you’ll enjoy our chat with Noah as much as we did.
Show Notes
- [:30] Quick hits with Noah Westerfield {disclaimer: recorded BEFORE Dal v New Orleans}
- [4:45] Multi-sport athlete as a kid
- [8:15] College commitment: Cal & SMU
- [12:40] Training Mindset: Eyes, hands, and feet
- [16:00] Coachable and correctable
- [18:40] Fieldhouse USA
Resources within this episode:
- Noah Westerfield: Twitter
- Wakeland High School: Website
- University of California, Berkeley: Website | Athletics Website
- SMU: Website
- That’s Game Sports: Website | Twitter | Instagram
- Fieldhouse USA: Website
Connect with Lifestyle Frisco:
Transcript (Machine Generated):
This is Hustle and Pro with Kelly Walker. Join Kelly as we talk sports with players, coaches, organizers and entrepreneurs from pee wee league to pro. Now here’s your host, Kelly Walker.
Kelly Walker: Today on Hustle and Pro, we have Noah Westerfield joining us. Noah’s a former Frisco student athlete and now works in sports here in Frisco. How are you today, Noah?
Noah: I’m doing pretty good. How about you?
Kelly: I’m great. I’m excited to learn a little bit about your story. So first I want to learn some quick favorites about you. Who would you say your favorite team is of all time?
Noah: New Orleans Saints. Till I die. And New Orleans Saints coming up this Sunday night. 7:00 PM is going here. It’s going to be in New Orleans. It’s going to be in the Big Easy. We’re ready.
Kelly: This podcast will air after that Cowboys New Orleans game. So I’m going to go ahead now and call a Cowboys win.
Noah: Ooh, you wanna put money on that?
Kelly: No, because I don’t know as much about it as you since you’re a football guy. But I mean, I’m going to say my Cowboys are gonna win, so we’ll see. We’ll see. If not, I’m going to cut this section out, okay. So nobody will ever even know about it. Ha. What about your favorite all time athlete?
Noah: All time athlete. It would have to be Joe Horn. You know, I received the New Orleans Saints you know, back a few years ago, a guy that not many people talk about for what he did for the city of New Orleans and everything and kind of getting that program back, you know, back in the right way. So, you know, his quarterback was Aaron Brooks running back was Deuce McAllister. Um, a lot of really, you know, great guys that could play the game at a high level but just weren’t able to really succeed just due to the situation as far as football. I mean they were last night, NFC North, I mean they were laughing stock. That was like 2004, 2005, 2006 so like right before, you know, we made that jump with Drew Brees. Yeah, exactly. So like this McAlester I mean that’s a guy, you know, running back. Great running back also. I mean they were all in that era right before Drew Brees came and went. Aaron Brooks was kind of leading the ship and it just wasn’t, it just didn’t look good. It just didn’t look good. But I was a diehard fan though.
Kelly: But he’s your favorite.
Noah: Yeah. He scored a touchdown back in, I think it was ‘05. And he had his phone in the upright, pulled the phone out and called his mom. And that was a moment where I was like, I want to be able to call my mom, you know, it was one of those situations.
Kelly: That name didn’t sound familiar to me personally, but now that you say that, I gotcha. So what’s your favorite sport to play?
Noah: Definitely basketball. That’s why. I grew up, um, you know, I didn’t start playing football til I was in fourth grade. I hated football when I first started. I was a big, clumsy, really soft, nice kid that, you know, everybody kind of pushed around. I was real soft. I didn’t like football. So basketball, I was a hooper since I was four. My brothers and sisters all play basketball and yeah, I was always naturally really good at basketball. So I love playing. So yeah football. So it’s sort of like a secondary, you know, as far as they loving the place to me.
Kelly: Cause we’re going to talk about football today. Maybe we need to switch gears and talk about basketball. So then your favorite sport when you choose to watch on TV, what’s your favorite there?
Noah: Favorite sports watch on TV? Tennis, I mean it’s just so exciting and so cool. I just love watching the game. I mean, I do enjoy watching football. I do enjoy watching basketball, but I’ve been, you know, I played those for so long. I mean, it’s sort of like that athlete burnout, you know, concept. As far as, you know, you’re in something so long and you’re so invested in something that it becomes work. It’s, you know, a certain point. So I would definitely say tennis because I tried to play tennis after watching Serena and I’m just, I’m actually terrible. Exactly. So I think it’s like, I have so much like, you know just like admiration for just watching them play. Yeah. They’re, it’s fun to watch.
Kelly: What’s the farthest you’ve ever traveled to maybe play sports or to go watch sports?
Noah: Sydney, Australia back in 2016 for the Sydney Cup, uh, with you know, go bears kind of areas and everything. We went in play to Hawaii uh, down in Sydney, Australia. So that was a 13 hour plane trip and the longest I’ve ever been in a plane over the Pacific ocean. I mean, it was one of those things where I was just [inaudible] it’s a little too much, but I mean, it was, it was a really cool experience.
Kelly: Any sports superstitions? When you were a player? Had to do or else it just, it just wouldn’t go right.
Noah: I would definitely say crack my fingers before every single play.
Kelly: For every play?
Noah: Every single play. I’ll crack both. And that’s a lot of cracking. You have a lot, probably have something wrong with it. Probably arthritis in my fingers when I’m, when I’m older. But yeah, cracking, is before every, every single one of them before every single play, just to be ready, like it, just to be ready. And it was more of like a nervous thing is more of a norm, you know, nervous tip. I would just kinda just boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Every single player. My coach was like, dude, why are you doing this? I’m like, I don’t know. I’ve done this since I was five years old. So, you know more like a habit. Yeah, exactly. More of a habit.
Kelly: Let’s rewind to your Frisco playing days when you were little or, so we’ve, we’ve heard you play basketball and football. You’ve probably maybe played some other stuff. So, are you from around here originally? And what sports did you play when you were little.
Noah: So I moved here when I was five years old from Memphis, Tennessee. All my family’s from Chicago, but we all kind of moved to Texas, you know, when I was younger. But so sport wise, I played basketball since I was four years old. I’ve always loved basketball, but football I got into when I was in fourth grade and like I said before, you know, I wasn’t that good. I was kind of the bigger soft kid. And my first year I played with the Eagles. So guys like Kelly Cordova, you may remember, he was a big time player out in Frisco. He went to Kansas, Westland. Um, so he was all my teammates, you know, good friends. We were absolutely terrible. We were not good at all. And he was, everybody get the ball to Kelly. That was the game plan. You just kinda stand over, you know, my case with shoes, I didn’t have cleats yet. You know, I was on the situations while my parents just weren’t prepared for football. They just knew about basketball, but football was more so, okay, just go out there and try to have fun. And in fifth grade I started playing with Longhorns. So that’s Jake Reed’s team. So, you know, his son plays for Georgia now he’s doing, you know, really big thing. So luckily I got a good coach, I got under him and he kinda helped me realize how big I was and you know, how smart I was. And I was like, Oh, okay, maybe I can get this for one thing at night. Uh, you know, a chance. So it was really good experience with them. I won co-defense player of the year, my second year playing football. And then from there it was just, it just took off cause I, you know, realize my size.
Kelly: What is your size?
Noah: So right now I’m actually 6’3, 232. So that was my, just a way-in about two days ago in height and everything. But I mean playing days, I mean back in I thought, you know, at Cal was as big as 265 and then back at SMU this past fall season I was 253.
Kelly: When I said what’s your size I can’t believe I asked you and you answered. I would never ask a woman like, what’s your size and how much do you weigh, like playing days. But I’m glad you answered both. That’s awesome.
Noah: I thought it was a serious question.
Kelly: No, it was, I just meant like, what was your playing size. But I love it. It’s not like you’re that far out of playing anyways. I mean you still,
Noah: Definitely. It’s only like, what, a few months now.
Kelly: So you mentioned you got defensive player of the year, second year playing. So you focus on football as you’re going into like middle and high school. Is that all you did?
Noah: No. So actually I played with Deron Williams Elite. I played with Team Texas. I played with a lot of AAU basketball teams all the way through my sophomore year in high school. So basketball, football, yeah. We’re in, you know, football in Texas is very run by the state. So it’s all school stuff, so you don’t, so you don’t really have as many like select or travel football teams. I did play with GHDI and so with Jamal Adams with them, but that was only in sixth grade and seventh grade. But really basketball, I played AAU travel, basketball all the way up till I was in 10th grade. But football was more so of a school thing.
Kelly: Was there a time when you had to choose?
Noah: Never really a time where I had to choose. Marty Cecort over at Wakeland and he tried to make me think that my freshman year. Uh, I love you coach, but he was always like, come on man, you’re a football player, you’re a football player. You know, stop messing with basketball. You’re a football player. Of course, any football player, I mean, any football coach is going to tell you that. But I was always athletic enough to play both and I was always healthy enough to play both. So I mean, I was like, why should I make a decision? And I played basketball all the way to my senior year. Shout out to coach Beddingfield, he’s over at Heritage Coyotes now. I don’t know why he’s over there, but you know, it was a, it was a great experience playing both all the way to my senior year.
Kelly: Did you ever consider playing, trying to be a two sport athlete in college?
Noah: I did. I did have some offers coming out of high school to play both, but you know, my body just wasn’t going to hang.
Kelly: That’s tough to make that work. I mean, there’s only a few that can pull that off. And those are two really physical sports. So then, so you headed over to Cal, go to play football. And so when did you know that was happening?
Noah: So I was actually committed to Northwestern up in Chicago to go play with my family, you know, just around them. And I was committed for seven months there. And I remember I went up for my official visit in December, and y’all December in Chicago is not, it’s not fun. Exactly. So went there for my official visit and you know I’m a cousin to to the cold and everything, but I guess being up there and going through things, as for like being a football player and kind of walking around campus and kind of moving around with friends and everything, it just was, you know, it wasn’t something that I was used to. I thought I was going to be used to it. So after I got home I was like, you know what, mom and dad, this is might be something I want to reconsider. And I always had Cal and some, you know, other West coast schools come knock on the door. And they were always kinda calling me towards the end of, you know, it was like, what was about to be about two weeks away from signing day. And they were like, Hey, you wanna come on an official visit.
Kelly: Oh wow. So it was down to the last year and you couldn’t have gone after. And that’s when sunny California got you then.
Noah: Exactly. And you know, coach Dykes and his staff, I mean he’s from Texas originally, you know with Spike and them. So I mean it was a natural connection just with the staff from, you know, being from Texas and wanting to get guys from Texas. So they were, you know, just in the area, you know, really tough. So I felt like it really good, you know, connection with this coaching staff.
Kelly: So did you make the right decision?
Noah: Oh yeah. I love Berkeley, California. Yeah, it was a, it was a great time. A lot of people here might say, well, Berkeley, California, well that’s kind of, you know, out there, a little left. But I had probably the best experience you possibly could have. I mean, of course it was some, you know, goods and bads, but I had a really good college experience.
Kelly: You ended up back here in Texas though, finishing up playing another year, playing for the SMU Mustangs.
Noah: Yeah. Pony up.
Kelly: What brought you back here then?
Noah: So actually I actually I red shirted my senior year, cause I had a foot injury after the UCLA game my junior year is a red shirt. That last season at Cal. And then we had a new coaching staff come in with Justin Wilcox for go bears. But I’m actually red shirted and kinda, you know, had a conversation with coaching staff and everything as far as like where I wasn’t a depth charge and I was like, you know what, maybe it’s time to transfer. Maybe it’s something that you know do what’s better for me. And you know, we, the whole system changing everything too. So I was kinda better equipped for the SMU staff. So after that, coach Dykes was over at TCU, then got hired as the SMU head coach around the bowl game, takes about two weeks before the bowl game. And um, from there he called me up and I was like, Hey coach, what’s up? He’s like, you wanna play? And I was like, yeah, sure. So, you know, came back home and I’m from Frisco originally, so it was only 30 minutes down south and it just worked out perfectly. It’s worked out perfectly.
Kelly: What’d you go to school for?
Noah: So undergrad I did, environmental sciences or data science now. And then in my grad I did a sport management. So I just graduated this path about two weeks ago after I finished my internship. Yeah. About two weeks ago.
Kelly: Two weeks ago? Wow. I didn’t know it was that fresh.
Noah: So, yeah, it was super fresh water. Well, you know, I graduated, you know, you know, quote unquote, back in May, but you know, my, you know, like actual paperwork and paper came through, you know, just yeah.
Kelly: Official, made it official. So what about those Ponies? How are they looking right now?
Noah: Oh, they’re looking great right now. They’re looking you know, it would just be TCU came off a real high, but it’s week to week, you know, it’s zero, zero right now, you know, going into that game. I think we have Tulsa, I believe this week. So I’m going into that week. I think my guys, Delantay Scott, you know, Richard Moore, will be back, that transfer from Texas, Shane or we know him personally, but you know, great guy and I think is going to get them right. So I think we might go undefeated this season, so I’m feeling good.
Kelly: Where are you watching your Ponies play right now? Are you there or are you home with friends? Are you out?
Noah: Home with friends, and usually, you know, at my job I, you know, actually closed on the weekend. So usually I’m at Fieldhouse USA kind of watching them on my screen, like not working. I’m kinda like, you know, just pushing away my, all my responsibilities at work and run to the TV and watching that.
Kelly: Don’t tell your boss that.
Noah: No, he’s the one who put the game on for me. I was like, man, go over there.
Kelly: Well, Fieldhouse is a good place to watch. There’s a million TV screens in there.
Noah: There was only like two games on which we need to fix. But you know, as some will work on though.
Kelly: Do you, will you get to go to home games though?
Noah: So I’m planning to go, I forgot which game. It’s not Cincinnati. It’s one of the other ones and later October that I’m planning to go to, but I’m going to bring some of the kids that I train out there with me and I’m going to have a little field trip and kind of, you know, introduce the guys and the coaching staff and everything. So I’m really excited about that.
Kelly: Let’s talk about that. So you were a sports science, okay sports management. Sorry, I’ve got those two confused. Sports Management. Um, and you have started the business involving football. Is it just football or is it all sports?
Noah: So it is all sports, but right now we’re really just focused on football just because, I mean, that’s what I played and that’s what I kind of know and you know, something that I feel really good about. Right now I did open up, you know, coordination training for all sports with volleyball, lacrosse, basketball, everything. It’s kind of like, you know, all incorporated. But I mean right now all the guys I’m really training, it’s probably about 95% football.
Kelly: So what’s your take on, like how are you preparing kids or is it all just physical training or are you kind of talking mindset and coachability and those kinds of things too?
Noah: Well, yeah. So, our method is eyes, hands and feet. So that’s actually how we kinda train them, just starting off first day with me. So eyes, you know, you have to be able to see where you’re going, right. You know, feet, they’re really important because they help you get to what you’re seeing, right. And hands actually, finishing the move, you know, finishing whatever you have to do. So that’s kind of our method right there. And then I, you know, honestly it has to be 50 50 physical and mental. Cause a lot of my guys want to play safety positions, want to play quarterback, want to play receivers. And these are those high intellect positions. You know, same with defensive line and offensive line. But all, every position of football is high intellect. So you have to understand what you’re doing. Cause guess what, if you don’t, somebody else will or you’re gonna screw up in a really big place. So one thing that I always kinda tell my guys is we have to have the IQ part of it. We have to have the football knowledge part and that’s how I kind of train. That’s like a big, probably the biggest part of my training is the IQ part of it in developing, you know, how you’re supposed to see things in the future. Not right now, right. Cause you know, let’s say we have 11 guys on the football field, like nobody’s moving. And you know, right now, I mean after I say Hut, everybody’s gonna be moving, doing different things. You have to understand how everything works together.
Kelly: So I didn’t think about it that way. I mean, I’ve never played football minus powder puff in high school, but you know,
Noah: And even there you got to know something, right?
Kelly: Not really, but I’ve never thought about it that way. I just assumed, you know, training kids that you’re like, you know, y’all are just doing reps and, and workouts.
Noah: Yeah. And you know, I think a lot of people think that and kind of come into it thinking, okay just hop on the ladders. You know, I’m gonna throw you the ball, run as fast as you can, what you can do anywhere. So really what set, you know, separates us from everybody else and all these other coaches who are charging these, you know, exuberant amounts of money. It’s actually teaching them, Hey man, like I want to teach you football at its most basic level. I want to teach you football because I love football so much. And I was, you know, blessed enough to understand and come from, you know, Marty’s Cecort’s program at Wakeland and where he actually taught us football, he didn’t, and on to Cal with Sonny Dykes, and then being with Wilcox, you know, one of the, probably the best defensive minds in football right now is blessed to be with him for a year. And then even coming back with doc staff and being with Randall Joiner, I mean these guys were all high IQ, high just intellect guys. And it was just, you know, I was really blessed and I was really lucky to kind of have these guys around me because now it’s like coaching just comes naturally because if you asked me five years ago to go out there and coach a kid, I probably would’ve, I would’ve just kinda fell on my knees and be like, help.
Kelly: So you got such good coaching and obviously you absorbed it and so you’re using it and sharing that, sharing that with others. I think I read something probably you tweeted that said about being coachable, being correctable. So do you talk to your kids about that mindset that you know, well you may think you are all that, but you gotta be flexible, right?
Noah: And let me tell you about this guy named Grayson Gordon. So this guy, you know, his dad, you know, big wig, great guy, you know, he works, I mean, I think he works in insurance or his dad makes a lot of money, right? He lives in Frisco, Texas. And you know, his dad kind of reached out to me through email. He’s like, Hey, you know, my kid can do this, he can do that. And I’m just kinda reading an email like, okay, you know, he’s good. He, you know, he’ll be solid. And he came to my first day of training and you can tell this kid had so much confidence. This kid just had it all. You don’t get the smile, you had the laugh, he got the movements, he had everything. But on my first drill, he wasn’t listening. And I’m like, come on man. Like you have every gift available. You have every gift. A lot of gifts that I didn’t even have. You know, you have everything, but guess what you don’t have right now the mind, you know, you don’t have the mindset, right? You don’t have the mindset and being correctable. Why I say that is people always say coachable. Be coachable. Because what does that really mean? It’s all about being correctable, right? So if I’m telling you your mistake, wait, do you have enough, you know, aptitude to know what you’re doing wrong and then be able to fix it the way I’m telling you to fix it. Cause I’m not gonna give you the wrong way to do it. I’m gonna give you the right way to do it. So with that example right there, that’s a kid who had every physical talent. I mean, just so many things going for me is going to be a great player in the future. I go to the game on Saturday. I mean he had to pick sixes, a great kid, just a great family and everything. But that mindset, that’s the one thing that can kind of deviate him.
Kelly: Right. But that’s the first step. He’s got the skills. So the mind you can fix too. He just has to flip a switch and be willing to, to be correctable.
Noah: Exactly.
Kelly: But some of that’s vulnerability too. If you say you’re the coach, like you said, you’re not going to tell them the wrong way to do it, but you have to put yourself out there to be the athlete that tries it. It’s gonna feel you probably fall in whatever you’re doing and look stupid, do it wrong a few times, whatever it is. And you thought you were doing it perfect. And then your coach is telling you change it up and it’s going to be awkward. So you gotta, that’s probably hard for your young athletes to be willing to do.
Noah: And kind of going off of that, I mean, this kid, I mean, guess what? The way you’re doing it right now, it’s wrong. But guess what? You’re going to get past and beat everybody else around you just because you’re bigger and faster and stronger right now. But guess what, when they get better technique, when you know three, four years down the line, then you’re going to get beat. Cause right now all that all like the bad technique and everything can go past [inaudible]. But then, you know, once you get older and then know, once everybody catches up to you, you know, that’s where it sets you apart.
Kelly: Yeah. You got to have all the other stuff to back it up. So what’s your business called?
Noah: That’s Game Sports.
Kelly: But then you also spend time at Fieldhouse like you said, and you deal with football camp.
Noah: Yeah. So flag football camps, well, actually just, just football camps. So we actually have flag football leagues and everything, but football camps and the front desk staff and then you know, parties, everything else kinda that, you know, runs. I’m sorry about that. But everything that kind of runs, you know, the field house, but, but really my, you know, my focus area is the football camps.
Kelly: Yeah. And for those of us who don’t know Fieldhouse USA now. No, I shouldn’t have said us. I am very familiar with Fieldhouse. I mean I’m a sports parent so I feel like I’ve spent lots of time at Fieldhouse because I’ve got kids that have played, let’s see, I’ve had cheerleaders come through there and volleyball players and basketball and that’s just one kid. Oh and lacrosse. I was there this weekend for lacrosse. Yeah, no, like her lacrosse league actually play their games there Sunday night Frisco Fury. It’s playing indoor in the fall there to avoid some rain out situation. So lacrosse over there in the turf. And then another kid plays basketball there and that might be it for him. Basketball. And then my husband plays soccer on the turf there every now and then when he rotates around from other indoor sports facilities. But um, gosh, I don’t think I’ve personally had any sports activities inside Fieldhouse, but I’ve done my fair share of sitting in the bleachers watching and listening to all those dang whistles. There’s a lot going on in there.
Noah: Yeah. Eight courts. You know, we have seven other counsel, we have EXOS in there, we have Dallas Patriots, Cheer Athletics. I mean it’s just, it’s too much, you know, you walk in and I think for me, I kind of just kind of take it all out and I kind of like, you know, put the, put the earphones on, but other people walk in, it’s just so much going on and I’m looking at my, this a normal day man. Right.
Kelly: It is a lot. That’s, I think I’m used to it now. I’m kind of, you know, getting numb to it except when I’m into watching a kid’s basketball game and I hear a whistle on the next court and I swear it was on my court. Yeah. But anyway, I love it because Fieldhouse is so Frisco.
Noah: Yeah. It really is.
Kelly: That’s saying a lot. Like that’s a loaded thing, Frisco with sports. But I love sports and I love Frisco, but there’s a lot of powerfully emotionally charged parents and kids in there. Sometimes. Sometimes they need to rein it in and then get back to the realization that these were children playing sports. Let them have a little bit of fun and chill out a little bit.
Kelly: So cool. Well, thank you for taking your time out today. I know you hopped over here. We’re just a skip away from Fieldhouse. You probably could have walked over here to our studio in Texas, right?
Noah: Well not in Texas.
Kelly: Not in this summer heat in Texas. But I appreciate you taking the time and learning your story. So I didn’t know all about your basketball and football background, so I’m glad to know it. And next time you guys are in Fieldhouse, say hello to Noah Westerfield.
Noah: Thank you so much for having me.
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