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00:07and I'm here with Anthony Johnson all right so this is your first game of the season speak to
00:14us a little bit about that and the team chemistry going into this game we're just gonna use this
00:20game to fill out you know get ready for the rest of the season and try and build some more
00:24chemistry
00:24with each other so first game we'll see how it go try and get the win play together and how
00:32do you
00:32feel about your team in general going into this you know this is we have new teams in this season
00:39and how do you feel like your team will go against that yeah a new team so that's what I
00:46say this game
00:47we're gonna fill it out we're gonna get used to each other and we'll be ready you know each week
00:52take care it comes
01:34what are your hopes and vision for this season you know it's an exciting season new teams new players
01:41what do you hope to achieve as a league by the end of the season well first off we hope
01:47to secure a safe
01:48season for every single player that's out here playing we want them to finish the season healthy
01:52not injured but above all we like making the connection with the players we like a lot of
01:58times this is people's safe space coming out here on the weekend getting a chance to hoop with the guys
02:02and things like that so we want to be able to continue the relationship building with the community
02:06and our players I just wanted to speak about the league we know that this is the third season
02:11going in and I would like to hear a little bit about your thoughts on the third season and the
02:16over there
02:17well yeah so as you mentioned this is our third season I'm glad to be here this is the spring
02:21season of 2026 so we're definitely growing I mean we see a lot of players that have been with us
02:27our
02:27first season so they're liking it they're coming back each season which means a lot to us we've been
02:32able to get a couple players overseas to be able to extend their career so we're just happy to and
02:37blessed to be able to keep going so yeah awesome you mentioned you've been able to get a few players
02:42overseas we would like to hear some of the names and just how they came into the league their stories
02:49a little bit yeah so I mean we've got a few players I want to note he was on the
02:53get back this last
02:54game Jeff Anderson was a player that we we ended up helping get overseas Jaquan Robeson who was here
03:00the last game as well he's another player and then outside of just overseas we have many players that
03:05we have helped get into the ABA as well TJ Moss Jeff Anderson's another one of those guys
03:10uh Telvin Gabriel who's in our league he's going to be in the ABA so it's not just overseas we're
03:16helping guys go pro in in in in a couple different leagues uh even the TBL there's a few of
03:20our our
03:21players from last season who are in the TBL right now so uh we're just just excited awesome that is
03:26a lovely to hear um I also wanted to note that we are in a new location the boys and
03:32girls club here
03:33in Grand Prairie uh we went a different location last season so speak to us a little bit about the
03:38changes and uh your vision yeah so um this is actually our third location so each season we have
03:45played in a new location that wasn't by plan uh sometimes the business side of it kind of gets in
03:50the
03:50way and we have to shift but we wanted to we've already done some work with boys and girls club
03:54uh well
03:55over a year now with some other spaces on soccer and we've held tryouts here so we had a good
04:00relationship
04:00with the boys and girls club and the people who run the boys and girls club um so they asked
04:04us to bring
04:05our league over and we did it awesome uh now while we're fond of the basketball league at next play
04:11nation we do know that it's more than a basketball league uh i would like to hear a little bit
04:15more
04:16about the other teams that are part of next play nation that don't play here at the boys and girls
04:22club well i would say if we're talking basketball um our biggest thing or our biggest program that's
04:28not next play nation basketball uh next play nation as an entity owns an aba franchise out of wichita
04:34falls um you know we're going to be an expansion team this coming year in 2026 so we're growing we
04:42play at kay yeager coliseum that's a stadium that seats about 6 000 people we're going to be on tv
04:47with k uz channel 6 out of wichita falls but that's you know we use this league as our recruiting
04:53pipeline
04:53for that as well um and that's an opportunity to pay players you know a lot of these players pay
04:57to be
04:58here but the netburners are paying players to play so um yeah outside of this that's our that's our
05:03biggest thing outside of overseas and things that we can actually offer is an opportunity with the
05:07netburners so you mentioned the coliseum and that's a big change in environment and atmosphere
05:13how do you feel like the atmosphere has changed the mindset or even how the players go about their
05:19training and even game days well it changes a lot because you know whether it's college high school
05:24or even if some players have been on a pro level a lot of players have never played in a
05:29coliseum of
05:30that magnitude of that size so it plays i mean it's a lot if it's 6 000 people on a
05:34good day
05:35would add a capacity of 10 000 people so you have the potential to be in front of thousands of
05:39people
05:40a week so it puts i mean there's some pressure involved but it's also a good opportunity for
05:44exposure for the players and that's when you get the tv deals and things like that so we're excited i
05:49mean
05:49it's it's definitely not the boys and girls club so it's going to be a completely different
05:52environment and venue but entirely but we're excited to be able to put players on that platform
05:58who have never been on that platform before lovely can't wait and in terms of the soccer there was an
06:04expansion in the soccer team uh is there anything you would like to share about that um we're working
06:10on that that's a little bit more of a work in progress we do have the north texas prowl that's
06:14going
06:14to be a part of the apsl the american premier soccer league a little bit later in the year of
06:19this
06:19year that's the fall season um but you know that's a little bit more work in progress like i mentioned
06:23all of our natural resources go into our basketball program uh we know that there's a documentary in
06:29the works for the basketball team uh of next play nation basketball teams um tell us speak to us a
06:37little bit about that and what you hope to achieve with that documentary we know that it's in the last
06:42stages of course so very exciting right that's that goes in hand in hand with the exposure side of
06:48things getting a you know putting players in the position to be able to tell their story
06:52their you know their their their what their why what motivates them um you can't get that at a lot
06:58of places so that's very exciting and um it's just it goes with the exposure thing again putting players
07:03on the platform to be able to tell their story that's what means the most to us and that's what
07:07we aim to do well thank you so much for your time it's been lovely
07:16okay so we see that you guys are playing underrated speak to us a little bit about this game and
07:22um
07:23your approach towards winning um so this is our first time playing together but uh we've been in
07:29a group chat last couple weeks my dog he came ready to play uh so we just been waiting for
07:35a few
07:35guys to play so the energy and the efforts there awesome and is this the first time you guys are
07:42playing together as a team or do you have some new memories yeah this is our first time as a
07:46as a
07:46squad but uh we've all played with each other before uh we're a defensive minded team so we're not
07:53really worried about offense like we're going to turn defense into offense
07:56so
08:31uh
08:58.
09:34It's going to be a good night.
09:40He's coming out.
10:10He's coming out, he's coming out.
10:41One more, one more.
10:43One more, one more, man.
10:44Hey, I'm on it.
10:45We're in.
10:46All right, no, no.
10:48Go, go, go.
10:49Hey, go, go.
10:51Go, go, go, go.
10:55Go, go, go.
10:58Go.
10:58Go, go, go, go.
11:00Go, go, go, go.
11:03Go, go.
11:07Go, go, go.
11:08Go.
11:14Go.
11:21Go.
11:24Go.
11:27Go.
11:28Go.
11:29Go.
11:35Go.
11:37.
11:38.
11:51Oh
12:16Oh
12:45Oh
13:10Oh
13:11Oh
13:12Oh
13:12Yeah
13:12Yeah
13:28Oh
13:29Oh
13:30Oh
13:30Oh
13:301, 2, 3, 2, 1.
14:051, 2, 3, 2, 1.
14:301, 2, 3, 2, 1.
14:491, 2, 3, 2, 1.
15:031, 2, 3, 2, 1.
15:061, 2, 3, 2, 1.
15:081, 2, 3, 2, 1.
15:221, 2, 3.
15:331, 2, 3.
15:351, 2, 3.
15:372, 3.
15:381, 2, 3.
15:401, 2, 3.
15:581, 2, 3.
16:051, 2, 3.
16:071, 2, 3.
16:221, 2, 3.
16:291, 2, 3.
16:441, 2, 3.
16:471, 2, 3.
16:531, 2, 3.
16:561, 2, 3.
17:001, 2, 3.
17:021, 2, 3.
17:091, 2, 3.
17:192, 3.
17:231, 2, 3.
17:281, 2, 3.
17:39Come on, come on!
18:02Yeah, I see now.
18:31Goal!
18:44I'm thinking about it.
18:48Goal!
18:59Goal!
18:59Goal!
19:00Goal!
19:05Goal!
19:05Goal!
19:05Goal!
19:05Goal!
19:06Goal!
19:07Goal!
19:10Yes, sir!
19:13Wow, hey!
19:15What are you playing?
19:16I'm talking about that.
19:19Good to see you.
19:20Alright.
19:29Good to see you.
19:36Yeah!
19:39Let's go!
19:41Get out!
19:42Get out!
19:42Goal!
19:43Get out!
19:47One, two, four, four, four.
20:16Oh, yeah, we got it.
20:18Hey, man.
20:19Where do you need him?
20:26Yeah, we got it.
20:33Oh, yeah.
20:34Hey, man.
20:36Where do you need him?
20:38Oh.
20:40Hey, man.
20:41Oh.
20:45Woo!
20:50Hey!
21:13Hey!
21:15Come on!
21:21Come on!
21:23Come on!
21:28Come on!
21:29Come on!
21:29Come on!
21:33Watch out!
21:34You got those guys!
21:37Go!
21:44Come on!
21:46Go!
21:48Go!
21:52Hey!
21:53Hey!
21:55Hey!
21:57Hey!
21:58Hi!
22:08All right, so I'm here with Tocchi, winners of Underrated vs. A17 Diamond, speak to us
22:15a little bit about what it took to win this game specifically.
22:19We went in with a dominating mindset.
22:22We kind of understood that we did have the speed, the size, and we all knew that we wanted
22:25to play defense.
22:26Defense is everything.
22:27So once that all started to fall into place, we ended up going up 10, going up 20, I think
22:32we almost beat them by 30.
22:33I really wanted 50 points, but at the end of the day, that's what really matters.
22:38We ended up pulling out the dove and we ended up playing together.
22:42You spoke about playing together, speak to us a little bit about, since you mentioned
22:47it's a new team earlier in the interview, speak to us a little bit about how the team
22:51is going to gel moving forward the next game and even as you pursue the championship for
22:56the rest of the season.
22:58I mean, we've already played together before, like all of us have.
23:01So, you know, it was nothing new.
23:03We all had one mindset and that was, you know, dominate, play defense.
23:06You know, that's our identity.
23:08And, you know, we ended up, you know, just dominating today.
23:11It looked like a bloodbath.
23:12So, you know, moving forward, that's how we're supposed to win every single time.
23:16It shouldn't be a close game.
23:17And even if it is a close game, we want to be able to dominate in certain aspects.
23:20We dominated on the rebounding.
23:22We got steals.
23:23We got out in transition a lot.
23:25You know, we did shoot the ball fairly well today.
23:27Could have been better.
23:28But a lot of our points came from, you know, just playing defense.
23:32All right.
23:32And in terms of the league, Next Play Nation, speak to us a little bit about your thoughts
23:36on the new season and even the league in general.
23:40I think the league is, you know, pretty awesome.
23:42You know, guys were able to use this film and go, you know, places.
23:46I think it was Kwon.
23:47Kwon ended up using our film and he ended up playing somewhere.
23:49And, you know, he's back.
23:50We, you know, get back.
23:51You know, that's a really tough team.
23:52So, you know, for as long as we keep it professional, you know, you can use this film to go
23:57anywhere.
23:58You know, you could, you know, college, you know, pro.
24:01But, you know, that all starts with being professional out the gate.
24:03You know, I mean, if we're showing up, you know, tardy to our games, as you can say,
24:07we only played three quarters.
24:09We got the fourth and one because the other team was not here.
24:11So, you know, professionalism is everything.
24:14So, if we're not showing up on time, if we're not, you know, ready to play, then, you know,
24:18it makes the league look bad.
24:19So, you know, for the guys at this show up late, I hope y'all, you know, take ownership,
24:22take accountability and learn from it.
24:24All right.
24:24Thank you for your time.