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+---- Thread: *Exclusive Interview with new BBB Wideout Dip Dhillon (/showthread.php?tid=40115)
*Exclusive Interview with new BBB Wideout Dip Dhillon - Dip - 06-25-2022
Crusty Chris: Heyyyyyy everybody it’s your favorite Bondi Beach Buccaneers journalist Crusty Chris back at it with another player interview! This time we have Dip Dhillon: the BBB’s 3rd round pick from this year’s draft. Say hey Dip!
Dip Dhillon: What’s up everyone! Excited to be here.
Crusty Chris: For those that are unaware, Dip got off the plane yesterday, interviewed with that [censored] James Pirate who keeps stealing my viewers, and visited the team facilities.
Dip Dhillon: I actually think James is a good guy…anyways yeah it's been busy but I’ve loved every second of it. Very glad I ended up with the Bucs!
Crusty Chris: That’s great to hear pal. Today I’ll be asking some questions in regards to you as a person, your character, and your values. Sound good?
Dip Dhillon: Bring it on Crusty! I am an open book waiting to be read (Pause)!
Crusty Chris: What do you see yourself accomplishing in five to 10 seasons?
Dip Dhillon: You know, the future is so uncertain. I’ve experienced that first hand. I’ve gone through 3 season-ending injuries. One morning you can’t wait to play football and the next morning you are holding back tears as a doctor tells you that your season is over. I’ve been there 3 times Crusty. If those moments have taught me anything it's that you can’t spend a lot of time thinking about your future endeavors without spending even more time focusing on the present. The present is all we have. We must cherish it. I am focusing on bettering myself every day. If I were to briefly look toward the future, I would be a solid contributor to an ISFL team. That’s all I can ask for. I hope I am on a team that is hungry for championships because I can tell you right now that I am hungrier. I am always looking to achieve the ultimate award: The Ultimus. That’s all I can really say on the matter. In high school, I was hungry for a state championship and we won it. In college, I was hungry for a major bowl win and we won it. I have a track record of winning big games.
Crusty Chris: That was moving. So, on the topic of the present…are there any short-term goals you’d like to accomplish in the next few months to a couple of years?
Dip Dhillon: I mean I suppose. I really just want to contribute and do my job as best that I can. If I notice that my agility is not as good as I want it to be, then I’ll improve that in training. If my hands could be better, I’ll train that. If I am asked to block a lot, then I’ll work on blocking in practice. I want to put my team in the best position to dominate the DSFL. When people ask who the best team in the DSFL is, I want the answer to be my team. The Bucs want to win The Ultimini and I am going to help get them there. In addition to my personal growth, I want my teammates to know that I am there to help them. I will be there to help them when they fall and that I’ll push them when they are walking too slowly. We are a band of brothers out in Bondi Beach and we are gonna play like it.
Crusty Chris: You mentioned that you are willing to work on whatever you need to get better. What do you believe to be one of your on-the-field weaknesses and what are you doing to improve it?
Dip Dhillon: Well I think my speed is something I am always trying to improve. I have been gearing up for a big training session in the near future that is going to be all about speed. Basically, I am saying that my speed is going to go way up very soon. I have been told by my teammates and the coaching staff that speed is vital in this league and I trust their opinion. Outside of speed, I am also looking into my agility and strength. I am a pretty physical guy being 6’5 230 and so I like to bully the defenders at the line. I am always trying to intimidate and so working on my strength is huge for getting off the line and agility helps me shake the defender and create some space in tight windows which then allows me to make those tough catches look easy. During the Prospect Bowl, I also know that I had a few drops here and there. I know that people watching were probably a little confused by that since y’all know I had the best hands in the Pac-12 during college but I can assure everyone that I wasn’t properly warmed up in those games. You are gonna see me make some big plays and big-time catches this upcoming season.
Crusty Chris: Which strengths do you believe you have that make you a great athlete?
Dip Dhillon: That’s a great question. I feel that my strengths lie in my passion and desire to be the best. I know that when I step onto that field it is the big leagues and that every play matters. I love to scrutinize my play on the field. I think that is the only way to improve yourself fully. If you keep telling yourself “oh I didn’t play great but at least I did okay” then you will never be great. You must tell yourself every day that there is a gap between where you are and where you want to be. There is always an area to improve in. The key is to not focus on the gap but instead on how to close the gap. If you keep remaining fixated on doing things that will close the gap then the gap will close before you realize it. We can’t focus on the goals, we must focus on what will lead to the goals – this is the secret to being the best. The best receivers in DSFL history put in the work every day. I fully intend to do the same. I care about this team. I care about winning. I care about myself.
Crusty Chris: Why are you so passionate about playing sports?
Dip Dhillon: Sports changed the direction of my life. Growing up in Tulsa, I had always been on little league teams in just about every sport but I never took them seriously. I was always below average. Coach would never put me in close games but I never blamed him for it. If I were him I wouldn’t put the bums in either. When I came back to Arizona, I told myself that if I wanted something, I would try and get it. When I started watching football in middle school, I thought to myself that it would be awesome to actually join a team and play. I kept hiding this from others until the summer after freshman year when I signed up to join the team. My friends, who were other nerds, all laughed at me until they saw me lighting it up on JV sophomore year. When I got promoted to varsity, they all cheered me on but I heard what they were saying behind my back when I first joined. Football allowed me to become a better man, meet so many new people, and discover what I wanted to do with my life. It left like a had become a new person. This sounds extreme, believe me, I hear it, but I honestly feel that football forever changed my life. Don’t worry I still have that nerdy side to me but I have learned how to prioritize the different pieces of my life.
Crusty Chris: Talk to me about that other side. Do you have any hobbies or interests outside of sports?
Dip Dhillon: I mean I love learning. I read books whenever I’m not at the facilities. I read just about anything. Just last week, I was literally reading a Biology textbook. I owe that one to my parents. They kind of made me read a lot when I was growing up. I would pretty much check out the entire library at my school every week. I also like participating in volunteer activities, especially teaching underprivileged kids. I have worked with a few non-profit organizations since my college days and I like spending some free time helping with different activities from teaching to organizing interesting games and activities to make learning fun for kids. Another hobby I have is spending time in nature and capturing all of the beauty with my camera. I have been doing nature photography since I was young and I have an extensive personal connection at my house. Perhaps my most near and dear hobby is when I reflect on the day. I drink some herbal tea and analyze my thoughts. I think about the mistakes I had made or the reason why I was angry or sad or happy. I analyze if I had been happy at anyone’s cost. I find the reason why I had been sad or angry. I try to find the faults in myself. From here, I think about practical ways that I can improve tomorrow. True failure is not learning from one’s mistakes. We all make mistakes so it is important to reconcile with them and turn your back and walk away when they occur.
Crusty Chris: What clubs, teams, or other extracurricular activities were you involved in during high school?
Dip Dhillon: I was pretty involved in high school. I was in the National High GPA Society, which was for all students with a 4.0 GPA throughout high school. I was on the football team obviously. I also did the pre-physical therapy club at my school. After my injury junior year, I really got into the science behind injuries and I actually wanted to become a physical therapist until college football came into the question/picture. I was also a member of the computer science club at my school. We learned how to code in Java and Python and did some projects together. We worked with the sports teams and created websites to view their stats without having to filter through the stats of other teams. It was a huge success and I think we were in the school paper or something like that.
Crusty Chris: No wonder you got into Harvard! How do you manage your athletic responsibilities and other outside recreational and non-recreational activities? Both in high school and now?
Dip Dhillon: That’s a great question because I think a lot of the kids watching now really want to know the answer to that and I think it's important that they learn how to do so. First of all, there is no such thing as balance when it comes to activities. Your mind can’t play football and study at the same time. You must instead prioritize and designate time for everything. If you are a high school football player, you need to ask yourself where you want to go in life. Do you want to talk to college coaches and try to get some offers? Great, reach out and see what you can do. However, just know that very few people make it to college football and even fewer have success in college. You need a backup plan. I don’t care if you are a 5-star recruit with more offers than there are states in the US. Have a backup. I had a backup and I “made it.” Just imagine you are in the last game of your senior year. You committed to Alabama. You know you are going to start in college. CRACK. You just took a hit to your leg and your femur got cracked right in half. You aren’t playing in college anymore, you can’t walk, and no one wants to hire you since you had a bad GPA in high school. Don’t be that guy. Life tried to put me away 3 times in my football career. Luckily, I fought my way out but not everyone is lucky. Sorry I got off track. Let me get back to the idea of prioritizing. Establish what is important to you. List all of your responsibilities into things you have to do vs. things you want to do. Really think about this. After you list them appropriately, make time for all of the things you have to do. Move your schedule around to put these things in the most ideal order. Now sift in the things you want to do. Playing video games for 2 hours is not a necessity. Picking up your little brother from school when no one else can is a necessity. Let go of what is weighing you down. Put in the work and the rest will happen on its own. Trust me. It was not easy to balance football, schoolwork, and all of those clubs I mentioned. I made it work because I put in the effort to do so. I cared about those things. It is easier to make time for things you care about as opposed to things you hate.
Crusty Chris: What do you believe is the greatest challenge most athletes are facing today?
Dip Dhillon: That is a great question. One thing that immediately pops into my mind is the way athletes constantly let people in the stands and online get into their heads. The fans will never understand how difficult it is to get to where we are. They will never feel the weight of the world on their shoulders every time they step out onto the field trying to be great. They will never understand the discipline and hard work it takes to even see the field. They are always gonna be outsiders looking in. That is why it is even sillier when I see my teammates and just athletes, in general, getting angry or sad over any hate they receive online. You should only take criticism from people you respect and people you wish to emulate. I listen to my family, friends, and coaches. Of course, you will have the people that yell out at you during games. Even as I heard my name getting called during the draft I could hear some boos in the audience. There is nothing you can do about that other than moving forward and doing what you need to do. Too many athletes give the haters the time of day. Why? Look straight ahead and do your job.
Crusty Chris: Describe your worst sports performance. What did you learn from this experience?
Dip Dhillon: Hmmm… that's an interesting one. I think we can all agree that my sophomore and junior year seasons in college were poor but I won’t include those because of the external factors at play. I think my worst performance had to have been either during my senior year at ASU in the 5th game of the season or the Prospect Bowl in general. I remember that game 5 was away at the University of Washington. The corner that was covering me wasn’t that good. I remember that he gave up 2 touchdowns the week before against a receiver that was worse than me. I was expecting 150 + yards and like 3 touchdowns. I ended up with 55 yards and 1 touchdown. What really stung was that I had a season-high 10 targets but I only caught like 4 of them. The DB only knocked away 2 of the 6 I missed. The other 4 were drops or poor positioning by me. I could have had a crazy game but I let that overconfidence get to me. We ended up losing that game by a field goal and I feel somewhat responsible for that. On the flight back to Tempe I didn’t say a word. I just replayed those drops over and over again in my head. I got over it but only after realizing my mistake and what I could have done better. Moving on, I’ve talked about the prospect bowl earlier in this interview but it's still fresh in my mind. During the Prospect Bowl, those drops were uncharacteristic and I know that people watching were probably a little confused by that since y’all know I had the best hands at ASU. Like I said earlier: I can assure everyone that I wasn’t in the right mindset for those games and that they do not reflect my actual abilities. The Bucs know that. That is why they drafted me 17th overall.
Crusty Chris: What does your daily routine look like?
Dip Dhillon: Oh boy that is gonna take us a minute to discuss. On free days, I will wake up
at 8 am. From here, I will brush my teeth and put on a fresh change of clothes. At around 9 am, I will meditate and journal for a little bit. I will then eat breakfast. After breakfast and until lunch, I will get any work done that I might have. I will have a snack during this time. I will then do some stretching and mobility work right before lunch. I might go into the backyard and shoot some hoops for a little bit. After eating, I will get some more work done. Around 4 pm, I will read a little bit. I will then head out to train and work out. A little after 6 pm, I will go eat dinner. After dinner and until 8, I will get some more work done. From here, I will spend some time in the sensory deprivation chamber I have in my house (thankful for all of the NIL deals I received). I will then eat a snack while relaxing. I will probably go to bed around 10:30 pm.
Crusty Chris: Wow that is great stuff. Well, that is all we have for you guys today! Thank you Dip for coming on the show!
Dip Dhillon: Of course! Thank you for having me and Go Bucs!