Today we’d like to introduce you to Dustin Smith.
Hi Dustin, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
After several surgeries and a love for coaching, I learned a more efficient way to develop athletes to play the position of quarterback. Areas of focus that I never received when playing. From that, the business QB Elite was formed, and eventually, Ty Detmer and several other coaches and former players were added to the team. We currently work with hundreds of football players every year from around the country at all levels of the game.
During that process, I felt the need to address more serious areas of concern with young people as they related to mental health, suicide prevention, bullying, social media use, resiliency, apathy, and sportsmanship. The nonprofit organization, Especially for Athletes (E4A), was formed and the motto of Eyes Up Do the Work was created.
We now work with thousands of athletes, coaches, and parents in all sports on how to better use sports and their time in what we call “The Sportlight” to improve culture, team and individual habits, and lifestyle. A curriculum was developed with the help of educators, current and former coaches, and athletes and we now speak to teams and schools and around 10,000 athletes a year. Together with Shad Martin, I wrote a book and we host a weekly podcast, both called “The Sportlight.”
Sports is one of the only tools we have to bring all ethnicities, religions, political groups, and backgrounds together peacefully. It’s the international language of respect and friendship and we should leverage that right now to teach young people how to be more respectful, resilient, compassionate, empathetic, self-aware, and appreciative of the word and its goodness, the people in it, and the great opportunity to push themselves to become whatever they want to become.
QBelite.com
especiallyforathletes.org
@QBElite
@E4Afamily
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, and I’m grateful for that. Starting any business usually comes with some bumps in the road. I put on average around 33,000 miles a year on my truck traveling to speak and work with people, usually by myself most of the day, and it took several years to build what we now have. I’ve seen and had shared with me the real pain that young people and parents are dealing with, and had many long nights wondering if this was the correct path for me. I learned that hope isn’t a strategic tactic, eventually, we need to pull up our sleeves and really do the work. Sports and teams have a very important place in our world, and I’ve seen them ease pain and bring real joy to people and families. I’m fortunate to be in the industry in love for a living.
Like any business, there is always a risk, but I think when you are doing what you love, for me, it’s coaching and inspiring, and you believe passionately about your “why” that the bumpy times in the road are simply opportunities to self diagnose, pivot and get stronger. I have great, great people helping me, and together we’ve been able to do some good things. I thank God every day for that.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Working with athletes to help them better execute their skill in competition is fun, but it’s short-lived and sometimes a bit shallow I feel. Does it really matter in the big picture? I love competition, winning, and losing, but what are we as adults doing to truly make all of this time we give, and money we spend on sports for ourselves and our kids really matter in 5 or 25 years from now?
At QB Elite and Especially for Athletes we want every athlete to excel in competition, but we truly are interested in their development as men and women after the sport, and we make it a point of emphasis in every workout, meeting, camp, podcast episode, book, or presentation. I’m most proud of the thousands of emails and messages from athletes and parents from the two programs who’ve reached out to me over the years after their “Sportlight” has turned off to tell us they are still living with their “Eyes Up” and trying to “Do the Work” and fighting to earn success.
Winning should be hard, it should have to be earned, I’m proud of the service and good our athletes have been giving to their communities and the wins they are earning as a result, and hope we’ve helped inspire some of it.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Growing up, I enjoyed a lot of different things, all sorts of music, the mountains, being outside, and especially doing anything competitive. I served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ in Chile and loved every bit of the culture, people and experience. I don’t think I was super loud or outgoing growing up, but I was very aware, motivated, and always trying to learn from others.
I was good at several sports, but not really great at anything. I always believed I was way better than I really was. Ask my family, they’d say I still do. I had some secret interests few know about like writing, studying world history, I love fishing, talking with strangers, and always loved business development and leadership and management training.
Contact Info:
- Email: Dustin@especiallyforathletes.com
- Instagram: @EspeciallyforAthletes and @QB_Elite
- Facebook: @Especially for Athletes
- Twitter: @QBelite @E4Afamily
- Other: qbelite.com and especiallyforathletes.org
