Real Rebels - Parker Byrd

On this exciting episode of Real Talk, Shemar sits down with Parker Byrd, a local ECU baseball player that experienced a tragedy that led to the loss of his leg before his Freshman year of college. 

Shemar and Parker discuss how fitness and health look different for both of them since their lives changed. 

This episode is powerful, inspirational and you do not want to miss it! 

As always, check us out at: www. rebelfitnessnc.com 

Want to support the podcast? Click here and become a one time or continuous donor...we appreciate the support more than you know! https://www.buzzsprout.com/2507079/support

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

What's up, y'all? Welcome back to another installment of Real Talk with Rebel Fitness. Really, really excited to be here with an awesome guy today with a great story. I'm here with my man Parker Byrd. How are you doing today, Parker? Doing great, man. Thanks for having me on. It's a it's a blessing to be here. Dude, man, it's a privilege to be here with you, you know, talking to a a fellow guy in the the fitness and sports space that's you know got a real inspirational story, been through a lot. I'm used to being the most mechanical man in the room. So this is this is pretty nice, you know. It's glad to have a fellow mechanic in here. I'm the same way. Yeah. But so Parker, just give us a little bit of background on you for you know the people that are listening in that don't quite know who you are.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Yeah. Um, so I'm from a little place called Lorneburg, North Carolina. Um, it's about two and a half hours away from Greenville, small town in the southeast part of the state. Um I grew up playing playing everything you could, right? I played football, baseball. Um basketball wasn't very good at it, but uh still got out there. Yeah, that's right. But my I fell in love with baseball and um committed to East Carolina in the ninth grade. Both my parents had gone here, so grew up being an East Carolina fan. Um, and then I got here in June of 2022, the summer going into my freshman year. Um, and one of my teammates had a river house, and we were just kind of hanging out, and we were like, hey, let's let's go down there one weekend. So um it was the weekend of July 23rd, um, and it was the last weekend we were here for summer school. Um, and we went down on a Friday and uh we did everything. You know, we went tubing, we had dinner, just hung out as college kids. And uh that Saturday I was supposed to take one of the guys back to Greenville because he agreed to help an elderly couple move some furniture. Well, he got a call that morning saying, Hey Miles, thanks for volunteering, but we don't really need your help anymore. Um you can just, you know, do whatever you you want to do today. So we're like, hey, let's let's go back out on the river, let's have some fun. So we went out that Saturday and uh we went on the tube, did everything we did the day before, and me and a guy named Dixon Williams were on the tube first, and um we ended up falling off the tube pretty hard, and we're swimming back to the boat, and as I got within 10 to 15 yards from the boat, uh the driver just put the boat in reverse and basically ran me over. Um so from there, uh eventually got to ECU Health here in Greenville. Um I endured 22 surgeries in 46 days, had uh uh amputation below my right knee, um, and then uh got out on August 20th, and then ever since then it was how do I get back on the field? Um, because uh before, like we were talking, man, I I played baseball, that's what I did. So how do I get back to you know being an athlete again? How do I get back to you know being who I once was? So that journey began. I got my first prosthetic leg in December of that year, didn't fit very well at all, so I wasn't fully weight bearing on it. Um got a grant from the Challenge Athletes Foundation in March of 2023, got a sports blade. That was the first time I was fully weight bearing on any prosthetic. And then from then on out it was it was let's go, man, how do I run again? How do I, you know, walk properly, relearn everything. Right, relearn how to, you know, the mechanics of everything, how to not skip one step because you know, in baseball, that's just like you don't have to hit every day to be great, right? Like you you can take a day off and still not lose it. But with rehab, you know, you you can't skip a day.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

You can't really skip one of the sessions in the day instead of doing it three or four times a day, you gotta do it three or four, even an extra time. If you actually want to get back to where you want to be.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

So it taught me how to, you know, not skip steps and taught me that every step does matter. So learned that and then eventually made my way back on the field in February of 2024.

SPEAKER_01 3:58

So that's awesome, man.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

And how much is like a sports blade situation? Yeah. That's like, you know, nothing a lot of people ever really think about. Like I tell people I've got a condo in my leg about my second one.

SPEAKER_00 4:10

They don't understand. Yeah, they they have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 4:14

That's like 60k for an internal prosthesis like I have.

SPEAKER_00 4:17

100%. So yeah, the they vary. They they um so the leg I'm wearing right now is just what they call a walking leg. It's nothing too fancy, um, but it still can get up to probably 25,000. And then once you get to the specific legs, like they can get up to like 60k. So I mean it's it's like a driving a car, and right. They I mean you need them because they're essential to living again. That's the only way you can move, right? 100%. And like one thing that a lot of people don't understand, too, is with prosthetics, like insurance only covers a walking leg once every three years. Yeah. So this walking leg is covered by insurance. However, the fancy prosthetics that I wear on the field and all the blades that people wear in the Paralympics, all that kind of stuff, that's not covered by insurance.

SPEAKER_01 5:09

That's not necessary movement, right? It's not a necessity.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

They say that sport is quote unquote a luxury. So that is where the system fails you, you know. 100%. And then so then there's these foundations out there, like Challenge Athletes Foundation. I'm currently starting a foundation on my own, but like there's these foundations out there that provide grants to these people, that provide hope to these people and families that didn't think there was any hope. 100%, man. So that's why I've been very fortunate to have CEF in my life that have given me three grants now. And yeah, you know, I I have the stuff that are needed to play baseball again through those foundations, but you know, 90% of the population out there, they don't, 95% they probably don't. Yeah. So it's it's definitely a a bad situation to be in.

SPEAKER_01 5:59

But yeah, nah, that's just I feel like something a lot of people don't even think about, right? Like when you're like when you're going through something medical, like the only thing that you and then the people around you as well are thinking about is like how like when are they gonna be well, right? Like how when are they gonna be healthy again? But then on the other side, it is just like holy cow, that was however much money on top of already being like yeah, like like I wanted to, you know, need a new leg, right? And you're gonna put me in debt because I yeah, I'm not gonna be able to get it.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Which the thing I don't understand with insurance not covering it is you know, they they say that it's too expensive, right? They say that, you know, getting these blades and these fancy legs, they're covering that will be too expensive. But what they don't think about is on the other end, if you don't get these blades, the physical health of people are going to decline. They're not gonna get back into the sport, they're not gonna get back mental health, like it's it's real. So like they're gonna cover the medical bills.

SPEAKER_01 6:57

Yeah, like they don't want to cover hard like anybody else, right? Like it's hard to pay extra for someone to have a leg they can be physical with, but it's also hard to pay on the back end for all the heart problems and bad verses and you know, organ failure and whatever comes along with just being super sedentary.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

That's exactly right. So would you rather pay on the front end and you know provide these people with a stable life? Yeah, and or would you rather, you know, pay it on the back end where people are depressed, where people are obese, having heart issues and organ issues, and so it's it's crazy how you know that world thinks, but you know, we're pushing a law right now called Reagan's Law. Um, so a girl here in Greenville actually lost her leg. Um she just kind of had complications through surgery, lost it above the knee, and her dad was some congressman, and um so they're trying to push a law for her, but I'm getting in with them, and I'm like, hey man, I don't care what it's named, bro. I could you can name it the Ronald, I don't care what it's named. I just want this passed through for people, the next generation, the people now like they need this because like I mean, as you see now, like mental health is more real now than it's ever been. There's so much stuff in our face all the time, and you know, people are going down rabbit holes that have never been explored before. So um and your physical health does so much for that.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Yeah, like I tell people in the world. The best rehab ever. Your day-to-day workouts are for your mental health, right? Like when you're going through a program, when you're doing it every day, week after week, month after month, like of course that changes you physically, right? But showing up today at the gym, like that's for your mental health. That's a therapy session. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

And that that's why I feel like people today have found the gym more because of the mental side. I I I don't think it's all about you know being how big it is. I mean, eventually it will for of course, but the initial factor of getting in the gym, I think it's more mental health than it is physical.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Yeah, I think so many people just need something. Oh, you know, they just need something in their routine, they just need something where they feel like they're making progress, right? Because for a lot of people, after school, after sport, like who's actually just telling you like good job? Or where do you just get to see yourself progress and get better and improve? Unless it's every so often at work, right? But how many people go years without a promotion? So are you supposed to go years without a win, years without improving yourself and seeing that and feeling good about what you're doing? Yeah, like that would be miserable, right? I can imagine. No, I agree, man. I've I've said before how much just like I work out so I can still live my life, you know, and that's that's kind of what it burns down to, right? Because if I don't work out, I know I can't do what I want to physically, but also I won't be the person that I want to be mentally. And if you're not who you want to be mentally or emotionally, you're just not gonna do anything physically, even if you're able to. And you're clocked out. Yeah, that's not a good life. Sure. I also like what you said about like learning how to not skip a step, right? Because when you're kind of naturally athletic, you're inclined, sometimes you do just get to skip a step, right? Like certain guys have to take extra cuts or do extra reps in the field, whereas like you just kind of get that more easily and can go on to harder drills or you know, better drills for specific improvement. So, what does it look like to kind of scale back and learn how to go step by step?

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Yeah. Um, so you know, before my accident, before everything really changed, I was a person that was, you know, wor worried about the main lifts. I was, you know, your bench squat, hankling, all that stuff. That really mattered to me. I was trying to see how heavy I could bench, how much I could squat. Um I would ride Peloton all the time, run, stuff like that. But I would never really think about the stuff like stretching. I would never really think about the stuff like doing little hip mobility exercises, you know, these T-spine rotation exercises, stuff like that. And then after my amputation, I realized how important those small muscles really are. I re I realize how the small muscles fuel the big muscles to go. So beforehand, I was thinking, you know, big muscles, big muscles, that's where, you know, the show muscles, everybody's gonna see how big your biceps are, how many, how many adds you have, all that stuff. But afterwards, I was like, man, I I now when I'm in the gym, I don't really care about like how much I bench. It's more about like how fast I move it. And then I'll I'll go over there and do like hip cap stretches or like you know, hip mobility stuff. And so that matters more to me now because I understand that those little steps are is what builds the big wind. So that's that's one of the things that I focus on more in the gym now. And I some of the stuff I do in the gym now, man, like you know, it's not like really hard, like as in like I'm not gonna probably walk out of there like dripping in sweat. Yeah. But I'm gonna walk out of there knowing that you know my small muscles are functionally improved. Yeah, because obviously, like my not having a right leg below the knee now, like the stability comes from my hip. And so I had to learn how to get the hip stronger without you know having any lower body or lower limb. And then same thing with a hamstring, yeah. Like it's it's hard to do like hamstring curls because you know, you don't have that much leverage anymore. So just finding ways to do, you know, the small stuff and um learning that that stuff is really important to you know long-term success and long-term, you know, help.

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Yeah, because the the smaller muscles, all the stabilizer muscles are really what help out with longevity, right? Like having like juicy pecs is great, but like having a barrel chest doesn't really help get you out of bed in the morning, right? Doesn't really help with you know mental decline when you're getting older, doesn't really help with, you know, being able to go up and down the stairs. Like it's great, but like functional muscle is so much different than you know, show muscle. Right. And that's that's why there's just so many different facets of fitness, right? Like there's bodybuilders that look incredible, but behind the scenes, they're falling apart because they don't train any stabilizers, they don't do the proper body maintenance, right? And then there's people that might not look air quotes as healthy, but their joints are in great shape. Their VO2 Max is awesome, they just do what it takes, right, to be healthy, and that's why health can look different. That's why wellness is different across the board, right? Before an injury, after injury, before surgery, after surgery, like there's still wellness for everybody that just changes and looks a little different.

SPEAKER_00 13:37

Definitely, yeah, yeah. That's that's great. Yeah, because you know, everybody's body is different as well, and I've learned that as well. Because like, you know, what worked for one person may not work for the other. Yeah. And like it's not a copy and paste black and white thing, like never, yeah. You know, somebody, you know, somebody's body fat may be different to other ones, and that might be a genetic thing rather than you know just what it is. So I've learned that, you know, th via other EPTs and stuff, like telling me stuff like, hey, this really worked for me. Well, I've tried it, it didn't work for me, but this did. And so now I'm telling other epithets, hey, I've done this, but it might not work for you.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Yeah, this is just something to try.

SPEAKER_00 14:15

And don't get discouraged either, because like it's a learning process for everybody. Like, whatever may work for you, it might also work for me, but there might be something that also works for you that doesn't work for me. 100%. Yeah, so like it's just like it's an ongoing thing, and yeah, you know, we're all learning from each other, and that's the power of community and the power of a team.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Yeah, and fitness is just a lot of trial and error anyway. Like, there might be, like you're saying, a workout that's great for somebody, but for my injury history, my anatomy, my you know, whatever, that's just not a good exercise for me. Doesn't mean it's a bad workout in general, but maybe for me, I'm not the athlete for that workout. Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. And then when it came to like kind of having that that mindset of like getting back to the field, right? What was that like emotionally? I know you mentioned your faith a lot. So what was that, you know, what was that like spiritually?

SPEAKER_00 15:07

Yeah, yeah. Uh dude, so like before my accident, my life was going according to plan, right? Like, you know, everybody has their life in plan. Like by the age of 18, I'm gonna be doing this, 20 this. Everything was lining up perfectly, right? So all my life I've been like, man, you know, my plan's God's plan, right? Like, not that God's plan is my plan. It's my plan, it's God's plan. He's gonna fulfill what I want because I'm faithful, this and that. And to be honest, looking back, I was just a lukewarm Christian that thought that God was just like magic genie. Like I thought you were just providing because you were doing it. Because I was doing good, yeah, because I was a good human being, but not a great Christian, right? And I thought that, you know, I could rub this magic bottle and he would he would make wishes. Well, whenever my accident happened, I realized, you know, like in Jeremiah 29, 11, it's a so common verse, but it says, For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope in the future. Well, I realized that, you know, it's not about like what I become, it's not about if I'm the starting shortstop for the East Carolina Pirates, it's not about if I'm that Major League Baseball player for the Braves. It's all about like who I become, how do I empower, you know, Christianity upon people, show people God through my life. And I also realized that, you know, my plan isn't the best plan. And it took a while to understand that. It's not something that I realized as soon as my accident happened after my amputation, I wasn't like, oh, this is perfect, right? And um I there's a lot of times where I was mad at God. I was mad, I was the why me person. I was, why did you allow this to happen to me?

SPEAKER_01 16:43

And I feel like that's a natural place to be in, right? After something so traumatic, so painful, so emotionally difficult, right? Like you're you're entitled to ask those questions.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Yeah, and so I I was. I was asking a lot of those questions, and then you know, God started showing me things that you know I didn't see before. I started seeing, you know, a purpose behind all the pain. I saw her seeing how my life could impact others and show them hope. So I, you know, really took a head on and was like, you know what, like I can be the first to do this, but I could also show people hope and light and you know, show them that there is a reason to get out of bed. Um, so there was moments throughout my hospital stay where I was really angry, and there was one specific moment where I was with my mom and I was, you know, really down and she could tell because you know the mother's instinct. And she was like, Well, like Parker, what's wrong? And I was like, Well, mom, I don't think I'll ever be able to play baseball again. And she was like, Well, why do you say that? And I was like, I don't know if you've done your research or not, but there's never been a division one player to ever play with a prosthetic leg, to my knowledge. And she's like, without any hesitation or any question, she goes, Well, there always has to be a first, why not you? And that's a moment where the light switched off in my head, and I was like, Man, you know what? Like, I can do this, like as long as I keep putting my best foot forward and you know, getting one percent better each and every day. Absolutely. You know, we say that a lot at ECU and it can get overused, but the power of it is like it's so real. Like there's one percent of you understanding.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

What one percent really looks like, you know, because it it seems weird because it feels like, well, today I didn't get any better, or today I got five percent better sometimes, right?

SPEAKER_00 18:28

But when you really like dial it in and you are getting one percent better, like yeah, that's a lot of people don't realize that the days you do feel like you get five percent better is because of the days that you feel we're stalling out. Yeah, you know, it was those days that stacked up to the big win. Those zeros, you know, you had to have a couple zeros to then hit a five, right? Exactly, exactly. So I realized the power of that. When I was in the hospital, I adapted this mindset of like what's next because like I'm a person that I just need to go all the time. And I learned the power of patience, you know, and that's not really patience and people. I tell people all the time, I grew up with two sisters, like I know patience with people. I've learned that all my life, right? But it's this patience and the progress, and patience with yourself, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 19:11

Patience with life and the plan that's ahead. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

And the when the progress feels slow, it doesn't mean that you know the growth isn't happening, that you you're really building that firm foundation that you're gonna build upon one day and you're gonna look back at those moments and realize, you know, thank you for those zero percent days. Because now I get to, you know, learn that life isn't always fairy tales and rainbows.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

Right. Because I mean, there's I feel like there's a there was a time in my life that I learned that when I became, you know, less good of a baseball player, I became a much better person. Right. Right. Because I no longer had that to fall back on, right? Like, well, I'm struggling in school, but at least I'm really good at baseball. Yeah, right. Or I, you know, I wasn't I'm sometimes I'm not nice to people, but at least, you know, I'm like the best guy at baseball in my school, right? So it's just like uh you could always like it's it's just yeah, it's like it's it's who I am, not what I do, you know, versus really learning to who you are, I think is such a powerful thing. Like I am Shamar who sometimes plays baseball. I am not a baseball player who just so happens to be named Shamar, right?

SPEAKER_00 20:13

Definitely yeah, the the power of that, man, that that's so true because and it's it's so natural that we make things in life our God, right? Like baseball before my accident was my God. I idolized it, I it's it's what it's not just what I did, it's who I was, right? It's I mean I think they kind of talking about it. Parker the baseball player, just like we were talking about. I was Parker the baseball player, the ECU commit, the you know, the star player, all that stuff. But after my accident, like obviously like not as good as I was before, right? But now I've learned the power of actually being a great human and you know, being a great Christian. And you know, I wouldn't take being the starting shortstop any any day of the week over what I have today, just because like the things I've learned throughout the way, the people that I've met, the people that you know see hope in their life because they just saw me get onto a baseball field. And that's not because like, you know, anything of me, I'm just you know, fulfilling my dream, but also fulfilling God's purpose. But like that's you know, God working through me to see it to reach others. And it's just it's so cool to see like how your impact can be somebody else's just because you shine a light that on somebody that you never never thought. And you know, Matthew chapter five, it tells us to shine our light light around the world to show God's grace, and that's something that you know I really take, you know, up every single day and and I try to do just because you know, I was that person at one point that I didn't see any hope. Yeah, I didn't that needed the light. That a hundred percent. And my mom provided it to me. She's she planted that seed in me. God watered it and made a mountain, right? But it it um it's so cool just to see like The impact that one person can have on you. And there's been so many people that have poured into me, not just my mom, my parents, like both of them, my sisters, they, I mean, they literally moved from Warrenburg to Greenville as soon as my accident happened just because they knew the power of community. They knew that in order for me to live out my dream, in order for me to get the 1% better each and every day, I needed that power. I needed that support group. So they uprooted their lives. My sister was a junior in high school, I believe, and then my other sister was a fifth grader. So that's like the peak of both childhoods, right? 100%. I mean, but they they did without hesitation. They moved up here, and luckily, you know, Greenville is not a bad place to move to. It was it was not not a terrible move for them, but it was it was definitely hard. You know, my dad had to find a new job, but they understood that power of community. And, you know, if I I encourage people, if they don't have that support group, if they don't, you know, have that community behind them, find something. Get into a small group, get, you know, into a gym where people have the like mind. Like there's there's so many people out there that are like-minded like you, you just don't know where they are.

SPEAKER_01 23:16

If you isolate yourself, you'll never find them. 100%.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

That's a cool thing about fitness as well, is like it it gives you that community of people that are like-minded, and you don't have to really go out and look for them. They're right there in your local gym.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Like I think people miss out a lot on the fitness because they think because you have maybe a different goal, you can't have a like mind, right? Like, but just because you want to squat 600 pounds and I want to be able to do muscle ups doesn't mean that we're not like-minded individuals, right? We might want to train differently, but we both just want to see how strong, how cool, you know, how long we can keep getting one percent better, right? Right. So I think that's what people miss out on, right? There's so much division these days, right? Like, are you a swifty or are you this? Are you this or are you that, right? But just why isn't everybody just kind of like you're talking about okay with being themselves, right? Like just being who you are, and maybe you also like Taylor Swift and you also like insomnia cookies, but it's not that you are this. I'm a Swifty and a Yay, you know, Yay stan and a whatever, a pink pony club member. Like you can you can just be you whatever with interests or dreams, aspirations, goals, and those things can change, and that doesn't change who you are. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:29

That's that's powerful, man, because you know, everybody tries to you know fit the perfect mold of the bigger. It's all about checking boxes these days, man.

SPEAKER_01 24:38

There's so many boxes to check. Yeah, and just be yourself, be you. I agree, man. And I mean, that was pretty powerful just like that. That was that was already great. Yeah, yeah. If you had one piece of motivation, right, to offer to somebody that's really, really low, that's just in a I can't do it, you know, greatness is not for me, whatever the situation is, what would be just one piece of advice?

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Yeah. Um I would tell them, you know, greatness is for everybody. It is. It's the decision to be great. Um, it's not a specific formula to be great, but um, you know, getting out of bed is hard. Yeah, but once you take that first step, you're already better than what you were, right? Absolutely. And um, you know, the thing that really I had to stop doing was the comparison piece. And and that wasn't really, you know, comparing it's really a lot to comparing who I was now to what I used to be.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Because that's that's been the hardest part for me, too, right? Like it's it's easy not to compare to other people because like, well, they they're not me, they haven't been through what I've been through, but they're so they're gonna be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

They are you know doing their they're able body. That's what we would say. Like they're able-bodied people, they should be better at baseball than me. But it's really the comparison within yourself. And once I got over that, I was I was and I still struggle with it. It's not never something that you There's always gonna be that little that little bit. Yeah, that little right, but it's slowly gotten quieter, right? And that's what a lot of people struggle with is a comparison piece. But on the flip side of that, the comparison piece can also be good because if you're in the lowest part of your life, like get better. Like it just get out of bed and compare who you used to be, because now you're already better. Yeah. But you know, once you you've hit the where you want to be in life, don't really compare because that's that's whenever, you know. Yeah, that's that's that's a thief of all joy. That's what they say.

SPEAKER_01 26:40

Yeah, that's a great piece of advice, though. Because like I I tell people all the time that you have to start acting like who you want to be long before you are that person, right?

SPEAKER_00 26:48

Like if you want to be able to get into existence, right?

SPEAKER_01 26:50

If you want to be a bodybuilder, you've got to eat like a bodybuilder and train like a bodybuilder long before you look like one. Right. If you want to be a marathon runner, you've got to start carving up and hydrating and running every day like a marathon runner. You're not just gonna wake up and be like, Oh, I'm a marathon runner. I'm a marathon runner today. I'm gonna go do 13.2, just a little halfy today. Nothing for me, right? That's not how it happens. So, like, same thing. If you want to be super able-bodied, you have to get up and move as able as you can until you are an able-bodied person, right? If you want to just be someone that walks without a limp, you have to walk with a limp until that limp improves, right? I think so many people just either don't think it can get better or they don't think that voice can get any quieter. You know, they think that voice of comparison, of self-doubt, of self-deprecation will always be there. But what quiets that voice is the dignity of showing up for yourself, you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

Definitely, yeah. That's that's it right there, dude. And you know, the you're talking about the small stuff like the gait pattern. You just reminded me of it, like to walk in. Like that stuff's real, man. Like, and you have to think about it all the time. And like we were talking beforehand, but like when we were a kid, like we didn't think about how to walk. Like, if you're able body, most of the time you're not thinking about like if your heel strikes feeling this, but like just the that's the one percent better. It's like, you know, most days it was something that physical therapy that you know nobody would really notice but myself. And like that's the part that a lot of people stop, is when the progress is slow. It's not because they're not capable of, you know, being great, they're not capable of, you know, you know, getting that one percent better. It's just they don't see the progress. They don't the one percent isn't the people aren't clapping, right? They're the people aren't giving them praise, they're not saying, wow, you look great today. Like, they're not doing any of that. It's the days that those those hard days are the ones that build up to the days where people are applauding you, where people are like, Wow, man, like two months ago you weren't you weren't you've lost like 50 pounds. I didn't even notice until today. Yeah, that's the days where you know it makes everything worth it.

SPEAKER_01 28:59

I agree, man. Yeah, that's that's sick. And then you said you were looking into, you know, starting a foundation, helping out with some of these laws, but like, what's next for Parker Bird? Yeah, since you're you're always on to the next thing.

SPEAKER_00 29:11

That's right. Yeah, uh, so Paralympics, man. Yeah, so I started throwing discus. That's awesome. New sport, it's been fun to learn. Um, but next year I'm gonna go out to San Diego State University. They have an adaptive track and field team. Yeah so uh the throws coach for them is Team USA's Paralympic throws coach. And she she wants me to come out there and throw for a couple years with San Diego State and then obviously train for the Paralympics in 28. So I think that's the next next thing, man, and it's gonna be a fun ride. And hopefully, you know, I'll be in LA in 28. But um, if not, man, it's it's still gonna be a cool ride. But yeah, that that's what's next. You know, baseball is sadly coming to an end after this year. It's my last year at ECU, and I'm a senior this year, so I'll graduate and uh I'll go out there and get my masters.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

So yeah, and how is that how has that been? Like being back on the field, right? Even like not to the same capacity, but you know, working so hard to be back on the field.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Yeah, I mean, it's been a dream. I mean, my dream has always been a D1 baseball player at ECU, and so fulfilling out that dream, man, it's it's been so cool. And you know, I found my community as well through ECU. I found, you know, the my the my teammates that were there for me whenever everything was was so low, and even the teammates now that have come in at a freshman. I mean, there's still that that positive light, they're the reason why, you know, I I still go because they're so encouraging, but also like great human beings, right? So, you know, the the power of community, like I was talking about earlier, ECU became my community, they became my why, and and baseball just happened to be there. And so it's crazy that why.

SPEAKER_01 30:52

We talk about that all the time, man. Until you have a why, like why would you show up, right? Why would you get up? You wouldn't you wouldn't. Yeah, you literally wouldn't.

SPEAKER_00 31:00

So I yeah, that's another thing I would encourage people is you know, find your why. And everybody's why is different, right? Like mine's to inspire inspire others through my life, right? Yours might to be, you know, to be the best version of yourself. Somebody else's might be, you know, to look good and bench all that pounds. So I mean, everybody's why is different. So find your why and you know, let that why motivate you and let that why get you out of bed every morning and be the best version of yourself.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Nah, I mean that's that's that's all folks. I don't think we can get much better than this guy. You know, so that's awesome. I just want to say, you know, thank you for being here today, my man. It's been awesome talking to you, getting to know you a little bit. Yeah can't wait to see everything that you achieve. You know, I'll be watching you in 2028 for sure. I already know you're gonna be there.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

You know, but is there a closing statement you'd like to give? Uh nah, thank you guys for having me on, man. It's it's been a privilege. Your story is incredible as well, dude. I mean, you know, we've been talking about my story, but what you've endured since 13 years old, I can't imagine it happened to me at 13. So, I mean, I'm I'm proud of you for where you are today. And I appreciate it. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

100%. Well, this has been a great one. Can't wait to see y'all back again. We got Carissa back here almost crying in the background, but y'all will see her soon. But yeah, season two, off to a great start, and we'll just keep seeing y'all back here with great guests, great topics, and great information. Have a great day. This was Real Talk with Rebel featuring Parker Bird. Hey. Yo, this is about to really hurt some people's feelings old. If you're a little sensitive, you might as well turn it off. Are you afraid to drop a dime when you already drop the dime?

unknown 32:44

Got away from home, but you said.