Lets Just Talk About It Podcast with Chuck

(Ep.89) Hits and Heels with guest Terri Bryant

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Breaking barriers and scoring touchdowns in life isn't for the faint of heart. Coach Terri Mims Bryant knows this all too well, as she maneuvers through the tough tackles of being the first assistant female coach for the Derby City Dynamite women's tackle football team. Her journey from the segregated streets of Mobile, Alabama to the nurturing environment of Lexington, Kentucky, is nothing short of inspiring. With a family steeped in military values and a marriage strengthened on the football field, Terri's story is a playbook on triumph and teamwork.

Imagine the power of love when it's fused with the love of the game. This heart of our conversation delves into the compelling narrative of a couple featured in "Black Love," whose shared passion for football and overcoming past personal losses paved the way for a relationship grounded in understanding and support.  This episode isn't just about football; it's about the game of life and the touchdowns we score when we find our true teammate.

In the huddle with Coach Terri, we explore more than just game plans—we tackle the critical importance of self-forgiveness and chasing your dreams. Coach Terri's wisdom serves as a reminder to celebrate the present and to move forward with gratitude for who we've become—a lesson as valuable off the field as it is on. Join us for an honest, transformative conversation that might just change the way you play the game of life.

Chuck:

Welcome back to another episode of Lets Just Talk About it podcast.

Chuck:

I'm your host, chuck, and if you're here for the first time, this platform was created to give genuine people just like you an opportunity to share a portion of your life's journey. So, with that being said, on this episode I have Terri Mims Bryant, better known as Coach Terri, on with me today to share her passion for sports and her experience being the first assisted female coach for the Derby City Dynamite Women's Tackle football team in the state of Kentucky. So, hey, you don't want to miss this amazing conversation today. As a matter of fact, do me a favor Go and grab your husband, your wife, your children, or even call a friend and gather around to listen to my conversation with Coach Terri on Lets Just Talk About it podcast. Hey, let's jump right in.

Chuck:

Welcome back to another episode of Lets Just Talk About it podcast. Today I have special guest Terri Mims Bryant on with me How are doing today? Good. How are you Doing good? Thank you for being on with me. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure, absolutely, terry. I love the jump right in. You know, to have those genuine conversations with genuine people just like yourself. So, first of all, Lets talk about where you from.

Terri Bryant:

I'm originally from Mobile, Alabama, but I live in Lexington Kentucky. Yes, Mobile, I'm a military brat, so I kind of live in different areas, but right now I'm living in Lexington, Kentucky.

Chuck:

Got you. So everybody has a culture. How was that in Alabama Mobile?

Terri Bryant:

Well, I was only there when I was young. But what I do remember is and I think a lot of people would trip on this is that I went to school on a segregated bus. Wow, Like you would think that in this day and age, even at my age, that that was over with. But yeah, the bus that I went to school on was was still segregated when I was immobile Wow, yeah.

Chuck:

So you experienced all of that.

Terri Bryant:

I did.

Chuck:

When was that?

Terri Bryant:

70, no, no, like 80, like early 80s, like 78, 79, 80. Wow, that had to be an experience. That was an experience, yes.

Chuck:

Wow, so moving around a little bit. So when you left Mobile Alabama, how was that? What did you go from there?

Terri Bryant:

Oh, we went to Kansas, so my dad was in the military, and then from Mobile we went to Kansas and again, that was another experience as well, because it was in the middle of nowhere it seemed like, and you would never think that there was black people in Kansas. But there are, and you know, and I learned some history Like Kansas actually has a city called Nicodemus. That was like a black town, but now in this day and age, I think you know, everybody has moved away, there aren't hardly any people there anymore.

Chuck:

Got. You had their own little town, mm, hmm, yes, what did you finally end up at Like settle down, what did y'all, you know, settle down at?

Terri Bryant:

Well, we was in Germany for four years and then we, the military, brought us to Kentucky and from there I settled in Lexington when I had a job that transferred me here and I wanted my daughter to not have the life that I had as far as military. So once she got my school, I wanted her to stay stable, and so that's how I ended up staying in Lexington, lexington, kentucky.

Chuck:

So how was that? A little.

Terri Bryant:

Lexington is gorgeous If you like horses. So it's got a lot of horse farms in the area because actually Lexington is like the horse capital of the world. So you know we're close to the Kentucky Derby. We also have a racetrack here called Keeneland where they race horses. We have the University of Kentucky here. So if you're into sports, you know which I am, I'm really into sports. So that kind of made it a great place to live and to raise my family.

Chuck:

Real quiet Is quiet. Wow, shout out to Lexington then. Yeah, so I reached out to you, right? Yes, you are social media. You are a woman football coach, right? Yes, I know that caught my attention because we live in a male dominated society, but when I saw you, you were a real, authentic football coach. Talk about it. How did you get?

Terri Bryant:

started with that. I was blessed that my husband has been coaching for like maybe 30 years. Got you, he coaches football and baseball. And so our son which is my stepson his freshman year in high school. He ended up starting as a freshman. At that time my husband was still coaching high school, but at a different school, got you? Well, when we found out that my son was going to start as a true freshman in high school which is unheard of my husband stepped down from being a coach so that he could watch our son. You know, we just wanted to watch him, and so we took that year off. And then middle school coaching position came open. He asked me about it. I was like, oh, I think that would be good for you because it'll get you in the coaching and then it won't interfere with our son's games and then you could still coach. So it was a good fit for him. Well, he comes home and he says hey, I got the job for the head coaching job for the middle school and I made you my assistant head coach.

Chuck:

Wow, wow. So how has that been? You know like doing that.

Terri Bryant:

First of all, it made our marriage stronger because we had just so much to talk about and so much in common. And then our conversations, just you know, I mean we're constantly just talking about the game and you know, game planning and that type of stuff. So so we just completed our fifth season, right? We have two undefeated regular seasons and we've been in a championship game three times and we made the playoffs off season.

Chuck:

And you the assistant and I'm the assistant, so y'all be at home at night running plays. Talk about we're going to run.

Terri Bryant:

Well, we have an office of coordinators so we don't really talk about, you know, running plays. But you know we do strategize together quite a bit and most of it is just making sure that our players are in the right positions. You know, there's been definitely times where I've had my input, where I felt like you know, one of the players would be in a you know would benefit us better in a different position than what we may have them in Right, you know, and I would run and buy him. And you know, and you know, or we, I would see something in the game. You know somebody's you know doing something that I feel like we can counter and I could bring it to his attention during the game. And you know, and then we can make an adjustment and so I do that type of stuff during the game. It's fun.

Chuck:

So you really love football sports.

Terri Bryant:

I love, love sports. Let me tell you something Sports saved my life, talk about. Well, I kind of grew up, you know, with the childhood that was a little bit challenging and having sports as that buffer, you know, to give me something to do. Actually, it helped me to, I guess, raise my self-esteem because I was good, right, I was a great athlete, I was fast and I was very athletic, and so that was like a buffer for me and I just think that it saved my life, because I think I could have went down a really dark road had I not had sports as that outlet to kind of help me navigate through life at a younger age.

Chuck:

Wow, so that was your outlet. Yes, sports Sports was Wow, and you really love the game.

Terri Bryant:

Oh, I love the game and see, of course, growing up I was able to play football. So I fell in love with the game of football when I found out that Emmett Smith was my cousin I think. I think it was like an early age and so like, where I'm from in Mobile is actually across the bridge in Baldwin County and it's really close to Pensacola, and so my grandmother is from Pensacola, she's a Smith and that's where Emmett Smith is from, and so that's where I learned that. And so then that got me interested in football and I started. You know, of course, I played. You know, pick up football with the cousins and the friends and the guys in the neighborhood, that type of thing. I played basketball. I would always be the only girl on the court and can shoot everybody's lights out and you know I would get. You know I would get picked on the team. And then I played on a women's military team, like over in Germany. We traveled across the across Europe and play ball, and then we came to Fort Knox and then I played at Fort Knox.

Terri Bryant:

I got injured and then I had to sub in for the coach one time and then, when I suffered, a coach that's how I got into coaching just period. And then when my daughter was coming up, she was running track and also playing basketball. I got asked to help with her a basketball team and then so I love that. And then I got a job at a school and the head basketball coach stepped down. Like two weeks before the season started Something came up and so I asked if I could have it and they gave me the head girls basketball coach.

Terri Bryant:

At the middle school that I was working at and my second year we won one of the BT championships. We went undefeated two years in a row. Lost in the second championship game the following year, but it was. That's what really got my attention. And then I started coaching track because I ran track in high school as well, and so as an assistant coach I have two state championships in track in the state of Kentucky for middle school and some of my players still hold some of the records for the state of Kentucky to this day.

Chuck:

Amazing man, I'm still amazed. You said you play pickup football. I'm still trying to see the basketball.

Terri Bryant:

Right. And then I think in high school we had like a little part we called it powder puff or flag football for the girls. We had like one of those little games like that and so when I played that that was that was actually fun and you know, I just think that we didn't have that. But now in this day and age they're bringing flag football to college and it's picking up. We have one school here in Kentucky, camelville, that they're in their second year of flag football for girls, where they're offering it as a sport. So I'm really excited about that. Yes, I'm really excited about that.

Terri Bryant:

Some of my girls that are oh, I guess I need to tell you guys this. So, because of my experience with coaching on my on the middle school team with my husband, I saw something on social media where the Derby City Dynamite, the women's tackle football team here in Kentucky, were looking for coaches. So I reached out and I showed up for the first practice and in the first practice they introduced me as one of the assistant coaches and I'm their first female coach for a women's team, which is crazy. So that is. My pride and joy actually is by being able to coach on a women's team because I would never have guessed that one in a million years to be able to be an assistant coach for all women's tackle team.

Chuck:

That's amazing, amazing. I had saw you the. What was it Yesterday? I think I saw you on your page. Black Love the power couples.

Terri Bryant:

Yes, we got invited to do that. We had no idea what to expect, and so we were very honored to be invited to that and we were their very, very first episode. So, of all the power couples that are in Lexington, we have a whole lot more power couples that are, you know, doing greater things than what we are so it was just definitely an honor to be selected to do that and be in their first inaugural episode for that and we're able to tell our story, and it was. It was fun. It was fun. That was the first time I've ever seen my husband get that transparent, because he's really, you know, our business stays in our house and we don't put our business out in the street. He's like that, which I love that too. So for him to have gotten that transparent yes, on camera live was amazing to me.

Chuck:

I think that's amazing because you talk about compatibility. Y'all demonstrate how important it is to find somebody that's compatible. You know you may not find that perfect person that loves all of your desires or dreams or whatever, but to find somebody that you could talk about the same thing is pretty amazing, and that's football.

Terri Bryant:

And I get that and I have so many male friends and I think that loves sports, but then their spouses don't like sports, and so it's always an issue because they're like, okay, I just want to watch the game on Saturday or Sunday or Monday or Thursday, or or they're into basketball or they're into a different sport, and but then when their spouse isn't into it, it really does cause problems in the household, and so I'm really really thankful that we have that. I think he said that yesterday. He said that was one of the reasons that he asked me out was he had called me. Yeah, he had called me and he was like well, what are you doing? And I was like well, I'm watching football. It was like you're watching football. And he was like well, with who? Cause? He just assumed I was watching someone and I was like no, I'm watching football by myself. And he was like unbelievable. Yeah, he's like unbelievable. He said he said this isn't even your team. He said so you're watching some two teams that are garbage and that's not even your team. I said no, because I just like watching football, I like watching everybody. If there's a football game on, I want to watch it, and so that was it, and then he talked about.

Terri Bryant:

This was the thing that really got him was when we set up our first date. It was on a Friday night and of course you know high school football is played on Friday nights and so the team that he played they got blasted that day that night and so I had sentiment text and was like, hey, you know, if you want to reschedule, I totally understand, I get it. And that, right there, I think, really took him over the top, because he said most women would not have understood just the emotions that was involved with losing a game and that kind. But I was coaching at that time and so I did understand because I hate to lose and so and I take losses very, very personal as a coach. You take them personal because the wins you credit the team and the players, but a loss is all on the coaches and so a lot of people don't really really get that part of it. You really take it personal as a coach when your team takes a loss. And so I understood that and the emotions that was involved with that and that really took him over the top. Wow.

Terri Bryant:

And so then we dated maybe like four years and the reason why it took so long for us to get married, I think was because I had been divorced for a while. So we're both have been divorced, so we had both had messed it up before. You know, we was in relationships where we messed it up but we didn't get it right. I won't say messed it up but we didn't get it right, or it just didn't work and so we were both divorced and so I had had a longer timeframe, whereas I think he was more fresh out of his divorce. So he needed a little more time. And even our first day I asked him, I said you know, I think you need time. I mean I said that, yeah, you know. He was like, no, no, I'm good. Well, that kind of caused us some problems because it was obvious he needed more time to you know, really kind of heal and detox.

Terri Bryant:

Yeah, for the person you almost have to detox from that previous relationship before you go into another relationship.

Terri Bryant:

I like that, and so that didn't happen. So it kind of caused some problems in the beginning, but because I still knew the dynamics of it, I still was patient enough to kind of just stay in there, you know, and kind of deal with it. You know we had to go through it, though, but I'm so glad that I did because our life is so fun. So now our son plays for the University of Kentucky. He's a freshman. He actually got to start as a true freshman this past year. He led the team in Tackles against Tennessee. He was a freshman player of the week against Mississippi State and you know a lot of people are going to trip on this, but when we played Alabama, he led the team in Tackles against Alabama.

Terri Bryant:

Everybody knows that Alabama is the bombcom, so that is huge about his skill set and who he is as a player, as a true freshman, to come in to the SEC, play against one of the powerhouse teams in the nation and lead the team in Tackles from safety, which is not supposed to happen, by the way. It's not supposed to happen. You're not supposed to lead the team in Tackles from the safe position. So that was just a testament of our son so going to his games. You know, if people see Kentucky schedule and they're watching and or they're listening, I'm sorry, and they're listening. Look at the schedule because we're going to be at a game. Definitely reach out. You want to meet us in person. You will definitely catch us at a Kentucky game, including their wakens, I think. We go to Florida and Ole Miss and we travel to Tennessee and we travel to Texas this year the sub coming season for 2024. So I'm looking forward to traveling to those towns and meeting new people and having fun and having fun.

Chuck:

I'm glad I got you now because I know you're about to take off with all these interviews about coaching and so forth.

Terri Bryant:

It's been an amazing journey. I've gotten two articles and two magazines. That was really, really amazing and, yes, I have been getting calls to do that, but I started my own podcast from this as well.

Chuck:

I was going there.

Terri Bryant:

So my podcast is called Hits and Heels. I started it with my co-host, danny Wright. So Danny was coaching middle school football in Ohio and a mutual friend put us together and so we connected right off the rip because we didn't have anyone else to really talk as a female female to female to be able to talk football with each other, and so we hit it off right off the rip. Our conversations were like, oh my God, this sounded like a podcast and so, because she's done a podcast before, she set it all up, did all our graphics, did all the behind the scenes work, and she set it up and we launched in September of 2022. I think we're like 75 episodes in and it's been a it's, it's. We go live on Facebook and YouTube. Yeah, we go live, so we don't do any editing. Whatever we mess up, you guys see it live and we just wing it. It's been fun.

Chuck:

So let's talk about this title hits and heels. Explain that to the audience.

Terri Bryant:

Hits and heels. So the hits come from the football, you know, from tackling football, because I actually coach tackle football and the heels is from because don't get it twisted I'm still a woman and I'm still, you know, I'm still feminine and I'm still girly and I can still put on the heels and the makeup and and you know and that type of stuff, and that's no shade to any of the females that aren't that way, but just letting people know who we are and where we come from. And so so she came up with hits and heels and I liked it. I thought it was really, really catchy and and I think we're just going to run with it. You like it.

Chuck:

Thank you. Thank you, hits. And heels.

Terri Bryant:

We're here, oh, we're going to hit because, because when we're on the field, we're hit. So if you see some of our games and you're able to come out to any of our games or watch it on you you'll see that we hit, hit, wow. And we're not playing about it, and my girls are. So I really love my girls. You know, they have become my little sisters and my sisters on the, on the, on my football team, and oh yeah, I love the tribe and I love the sisterhood that we've made, that we've created and and so the team that I'm on they they have been around maybe about 14 years, and so this past season we really didn't have a good season. We had lots of injuries that really really hindered us and and we had a new program and so I think it was just too new, we just had too many new things. And so this season we're, we've got the old coach has come back and you know we're going back to what got them to two back to back as championship. So in 2021, they won the division three national championship. So so my team is the only pro team in the state of Kentucky that has bought the state of Kentucky and national championship. They do not get the press for that, like nobody still really knows that they exist. And then 2022, they lost the division to national championship by one point and even in that game they they turned the ball over like seven times and still only lost about one point.

Terri Bryant:

So one of the first things I did was come in and was was started with ball control, because, guys, if they would have been able to control the ball in that game, they would have won that game. So so that's kind of what I coached running backs. So I love, and so we run the ball probably 80% of the time. And same with middle school our running backs coached there too and we run the ball probably 80% of the time. So I do manage a huge portion of our offense with managing the running backs and and I do special teams and and overall everything. If I see anything, if I see something on defense, I'll get, I'll get my input. You know, on anything that I see, I'll get my input on it with the game. So, and sometimes I amaze myself at what I know, yeah, as far as the game.

Chuck:

that's amazing. I'm enjoying this conversation. Thank you, here's your passion.

Terri Bryant:

Thank. I am passionate about it and what I really want to do is just get people I really appreciate you being me on. I hope that people come on and we'll go and Google WSA pro football is the is the website and go look up to see if there's a women's team close by and go support these women. So you know, we're not even close to what the WNBA is, and WNBA still probably isn't getting the fan base that they probably should, or women's women's athletics at all. So I'm really a proponent to women's athletics and if so, if people are just interested, it'll be. It'll be really good. Now, it's not the, it's not the. It's not the lingerie league. It's not the lingerie league, but it's real tackle football. They're in full pads. But when I tell you I love the lingerie league, I thought it was the bomb too, but it's not that. But it is very, very entertaining if you love football, and our season starts in April and it goes to June, so it doesn't interfere with college or the NFL. Wow.

Chuck:

Some more quick questions before we close out. I want to ask you are you an introvert or are you an extrovert?

Terri Bryant:

I think there's a word called an ambivert. Ok, so I got it. I think I'm a mixture of both, because I guess if I'm out and about and I need to be extroverted, I can be. That's true, but I love just being to myself at the same time, like I love my alone time. I don't.

Terri Bryant:

I don't have to be entertained, I can sit in the house all day and be good, whereas a lot of people just have to be out and about, like my husband is probably more of an extrovert. He's got to be out and about. He loves the attention for people, but he gets it because of who he is. I think one of the things he talked about too was the fact that when we're out, people are always coming up to him, and I'm patient enough to just be patient and let him have conversations with people that he coached or that admire him, and that doesn't bother me, I love it.

Terri Bryant:

I love the attention that he gets from people and I'm starting to get that traction too. And so just being able to be an extrovert you kind of have to have that and then being able to go live and be on shows and talk I'm getting more comfortable with them, so I kind of have to be an extrovert in order for us to do what we do, but you can go back and be by yourself though, but I love my me time. I love yeah, so I think I might be saying the word wrong. I think it's an advert or something like that, but it's like a mixture of both Both of them.

Chuck:

Both of them, ok. What's the most important lesson that you've learned in life?

Terri Bryant:

The most important lesson I've learned in life is, that is, to forgive yourself.

Chuck:

Talk about. I like that.

Terri Bryant:

You know, you go up in life and you make decisions and sometimes it's the wrong decision and sometimes it could change the whole trajectory of your life. One decision can change the whole trajectory of your life and so I can sit back and think about I'm going to tell you I won't say that it's a regret, but again, it probably it would have changed the whole trajectory of my life. But so I grew up as a military brat. I wish I would have joined the military. Talk about that.

Terri Bryant:

But my parents talk me out of it, but my personality and the way that I do things, and people ask me all the time were you in the military? Because I'm all about the standard operation procedure. If this is how we're supposed to do it, this is how we're supposed to do it, and do it the right way all the time, the way it's supposed to happen. So that's kind of how I operate, and so the military would have been a really, really great career for me and I think that I could have did a good in it. But I did it, and so now I sit back and be like god I could have been here or I could have been there. So I should have been this far in my life financially. But instead of doing that, just forgive yourself that, ok, you didn't make that decision. But forgive yourself for making that decision and just move on with where you are in your life now and just make the most of where you are now.

Chuck:

Right now. I love that. I love that Because some things we wish we could have done, yes, just probably young, or you know, so yeah, forgive yourself.

Terri Bryant:

Yeah, because sometimes you were just too young. In my first marriage I was too young, I hadn't healed from my childhood and it led me to a divorce where I had to forgive myself for that. Right now I don't regret, because now I love my life that I have now, and my ex-husband and I have always remained great friends and we were great co-parents.

Chuck:

Got you.

Terri Bryant:

You know. So I don't regret that part of it, but I wish that I knew to get the counseling earlier, or I wish that I would have healed earlier, or I wish I would have recognized some of the issues that I had that stemmed from my childhood earlier. But now I recognize it in other people. You can see it and you can see it. Yes, you can see it in other people and sometimes they're open to receiving you know what. You should definitely consider counseling, but most of the time they're not, because you know we have a stigmatism as I think it's African-Americans that going to counseling isn't a good thing, and I definitely highly recommend and I highly recommend finding an African-American counselor that can relate to more of what we go through. And that's not being prejudice or anything, it's just that we just deal with different things differently as Black people. Then if you go to a white counselor, like they went to school and they got all the education and they got all the knowledge to help, but they still have no idea what we go through as Black people Because it's always a battle, they don't understand that you have to learn the game.

Terri Bryant:

They don't understand what that means. Even with coaching as a Black female. You not only have to learn the game in corporate America in any job, because we're all on the bottom of the total point, but imagine being a female football coach. So I'm in a male dominated sport where I have no business, and so the first thing they always want to do is you can play the game.

Terri Bryant:

So that's the first thing that gets thrown in my face is that you didn't play. So how can you really really know what you're talking about when you really didn't play the ball, you didn't put, you didn't put on that impact, you didn't take any hits. You didn't. You haven't done any of that, you know. So I get that a lot and that's why I really, really love coaching my women's team, because a lot of they do. They are putting on the pads, they are taking the hits, and so you know a lot of them, when they decide to retire, are going to make great football coaches, because nobody's going to be able to say that they don't know what they don't know. And they got championship, national championships to back it up.

Chuck:

Yeah, Terry, if you could go back to the eight year old, 10 year old Terry, what advice would you give them to prepare her for today?

Terri Bryant:

Like I wish someone would have said what do you want to do for the rest of your life? And I wish that. I think when I was eight I was already into the sports and stuff like that. I wish someone would have said stick with sports, stick with sports. And I wish I would have been able to find an occupation that would have kept me in sports my whole life. And if I can go back, that's how I would have changed.

Terri Bryant:

The whole thing of my life would be find someone, find mentorship, find people that you trust, find people that are doing something that you want to do, and seek them out as mentorship. So, of course, back in the end, we didn't have the internet and we didn't have social media and we didn't have all of that. But if I could help someone today there's somebody that's doing something, especially at a young age. There's somebody if you, as a parent, if you see a child, have a child that maybe has especially in sports and it looks like they have a gift, get them a personal trainer. Get them a baseball coach, get them a hitting coach. Get them a football coach, get them a I don't care if it's gymnastics or softball or tennis or swimming or whatever. Put them in something that is going to hone their skills, because the earlier that you can hone their skills, you know, the easier it is for them to be an elite athlete and get a free education into college, because you want college to be free.

Chuck:

Absolutely. I like that.

Terri Bryant:

You know, I think, yeah, my daughter works in higher ed and so sometimes that we bump heads because I think higher ed is like one of the biggest scams ever Going to college because I had the student loan, I had the student loan, debt and that type of stuff. But now that I know what I know, college is good if you can go and it's paid for for free and you can get something. But if you're going to go to college and you're not going to be an athlete, then you got to go into something that requires some type of a certification. So a doctor, lawyer, something in the medical field, computer science, engineering. You know, going to college for those are really really good. Other than that, it's best to go to a trade school.

Chuck:

Yeah, I like that you be that's honest. You don't hear that a lot yeah.

Terri Bryant:

Yeah, other than that, because you'll make more money getting a trade. Go drive trucks, go go be a barber, go be an electrician or plumber. Those are the jobs that are that are paying the money and that are never going to go anywhere. Absolutely I like that, whereas, whereas I have a degree in business and it taught me how to be an employee, so but those jobs can help you to be an entrepreneur, where you can work a job, but then now you can still leverage your skill set and have a side hustle or start your own business. Right, and I'm a really huge about business that now and not working for somebody else.

Chuck:

I mean, I like you Shout out to you.

Terri Bryant:

And not working for somebody else. You know so. So I do work a full time job and I tell people all the time I call it the plantation because it's like going on the plantation, because it is I'm thankful for. I'm thankful for the paycheck every two weeks and I'm thankful for the benefits that it provides. I'm thankful for you know the lifestyle it provides my family, but I absolutely hate making somebody else rich Rich.

Chuck:

Ah, that's good, Terry, you're right.

Terri Bryant:

I absolutely hate making somebody else rich.

Chuck:

Yes, I got you as we close out. Who is Terry? If you could describe yourself, what's unique about you?

Terri Bryant:

Besides being one of the only female football coaches in the world Outside of football, outside of football.

Chuck:

Yeah, If that wasn't there anymore who is Terry, if the football?

Terri Bryant:

oh, you know what I love being a motivator or a person that helps to inspire people to reach their goals, like at one time I was wanting to be a life coach, yeah, like. So if I wasn't a sports coach, I would be a life coach. So I would say my alter ego is a life coach because, like, I have a gift of seeing. Well, terry, this is what I got and I don't know what to do, and I can see just the gifts and people and helping them to get to another level and I'm resourceful, so I can be like, oh, you need to go talk to this. Let me connect you to this person. You should go start a YouTube channel or you should go get this skill set. You should try it.

Terri Bryant:

I have that gift and so so, just outside of sports coach, I'm a life coach and I love helping people and motivating people. I love helping people to lose weight. I love helping people to live their healthy lifestyle. That's really, really huge for me. You know, I grew up in Alabama.

Terri Bryant:

All my family are healthy, healthy, and so just because that's what we grew up with, in our medical history, from our family, because you know, when you go to the doctor, they always ask for your medical history from your family. Well, you don't have to do that, you can change your lifestyle. And I tell doctors I was like I don't know why you asked me that because I don't live the lifestyle that my family live, that my parents and my grandparents live. I don't live that lifestyle, so so it doesn't apply to me, and so you. So I help people, you know, in that area, as far as just just changing that, I have a health and wellness business that I promote non-toxic products, because my husband is a cancer survivor and so I do not want my husband to have to go through that ever again, and so I do my best to keep toxic products out of our home.

Terri Bryant:

And my dad died of cancer, and so I've had lots of friends that have had contact with cancer, and so now I'm an advocate with. Well, this is how we can kind of prevent cancer from happening by, you know, by going this route and going to this new store that offers healthier and safer products for you and your family. And so that's me Amazing.

Chuck:

That's me. Many sides to Terry, many sides.

Terri Bryant:

Many sides. I hold lots of hats, you know I'm also I'm on the board of the Lexington African-American Sports Hall of Fame. We created that and we help legends shine, so we shine the light on former athletes that are from the Lexington area, that have never been recognized for their athletic accomplishment, and and so I love that too.

Chuck:

So that's me highlighting that that's that's cool. That's cool. Thank you for being on. What's your social media that people can get in contact with? Hits and heels? Or your Facebook, or whatever?

Terri Bryant:

Yes, so Hits and heels on Facebook Instagram should be Coach Terry Bryant. I'm Terry Mims Bryant on Facebook, coach T on X and I think I'm Coach Terry Bryant on threads. But you can go to wwwcoachterrybrientcom and get everything amazing.

Chuck:

Thank you so much and shout out to Cisco, bryant and y'all keep doing your thing. I really appreciate you being on, terry.

Terri Bryant:

Hey, thank you so much for having me. It was, it was a joy. I can't I can't wait to share it.

Chuck:

Absolutely. I appreciate you and talk to you soon.

Terri Bryant:

Yes, sir, thank you so much.

Chuck:

Wow, what an amazing conversation. Shout out to Coach Terry for having this dialogue with me. You know, one of the things that really stuck out to me about this conversation, amongst many other things, was when Terry talked about learning how to forgive ourselves for the choices that we made in the past and alter our lives today that we wish we could get back. But after listening to Terry, we can forgive ourselves for those mistakes and be grateful for what and who we have now and move on. So shout out to you, coach Terry. Again, thank you so much for always tuning in to let's Just Talk About it podcast, and please check out my website. Just Google let's Just Talk About it podcastcom and then hit that subscribe button to receive all the new episodes every Friday. You can also find me on Facebook. Just type in Chuck L J T A I, which means let's Just Talk About it. So, as always, until next time, don't hold it in, but let's just talk about it. Talk to you soon.