What does leadership mean to you, and how did that figure into it?

I mean, just, you know, obviously a lot of players are going to look up to me.

You know, it's my ninth year already, which is crazy.

Wow, that is crazy.

But just, you know, I've been in this situation before.

I'm my own leader.

I have my own way to lead.

Why is that important to you?

But what was the adjustment?

I think I was like first five, six games, you know, I was kind of nervous.

I said, like, maybe this is not for me.

Because I was, like, first five games, I think I was terrible.

But then it was, like, just, I tell myself, like, just remember how you play.

And just translate your game from here to here.

And I always talk about having fun on court, smiling, and that's really true for me.

How do you guys, you individually, or do you guys collectively handle that and still go out there and play? Because now you have somebody who understands, who is like-minded, who understands and goes through it.

Real Madrid.

Yeah.

I mean, it was, it was a difficult decision, honestly.

Uh, first, I didn't know the language yet.

I, I know a little bit, just like, "Hello, how are you?" Uh, but then nobody spoke my language.

I, I was learning a little bit of English, so I knew a little bit.

Uh, uh, but it was hard.

At halftime?

What inspired this for you?

I think just seeing, like, kids not pulling out of sports these days.

You know, more and more kids are pulling out of sports, just probably they don't have as much fun as I did when I grew up.

Uh, so that's why we have a study in America and a study in Europe.

So we're trying to combine the, the weaknesses and the strength together.

Mm-hmm.

So you grew up in Canada, uh, Steph grew up in, uh, US.

Dirk grew up in Germany.