Strength and Community with Will Bullard

00:00It's Friday. Welcome to Instagram Live. I do say every single one of my guests have been special.

00:07Today's guest is especially special and I'm so honored and excited to have on my friend Will

00:15Bullard. This is someone who I've only met in a short time but he's become a very special person

00:23in my life he has an incredible story when we met it was his role as a coach a mentor

00:30harlem globetrotter and in the recent months he is battled cancer and he has just the most

00:38incredible message of hope and strength and resilience and i'm so glad that he's going to be

00:43here to not only share his story but his message and I'm just beyond grateful that he's made time

00:53for me and he's going to be able to put his story out there for all of you. I'm just waiting for him

00:58to join us. I know sometimes it can get tricky. I see Tiffany here. Hi Tiffany. Tiffany is a mutual

01:06friend of will and ours and she is the one that has created these amazing stickers and other

01:14things in support of will who actually there he is good morning good morning how we doing good

01:37look what i have so my son purposely left his water bottle this morning and he said mom first

01:44of all he said i'm actually can i miss school so i can be with you during the interview and i said

01:48know but he said can i leave my water bottle so that will can see and then here is mine um how

01:55have you been nice i've been okay it's been up and down it's like a roller coaster um but i've been

02:01okay yeah tell us a little bit i mean a lot of people know who you are but for those who don't

02:06know who you are tell us a little bit about you well my name is will bullard um originally from

02:10detroit michigan moved up to sonoma county about three and a half years ago um and became a girl's

02:17basketball coach on top of that um uh girls basketball coach at st vincent de paul petaluma

02:23nice you're representing them yeah gotta represent my gang um on top of that also became a coach and

02:30player development um coach with a north bay basketball academy who's based out of san raphael

02:36um and i do other things it's public speaking uh mentor for athletes mentor for all um

02:43personal trainer corrective exercise specialist future performance enhancement uh specialist and

02:49just started to take classes to get my real estate license so i try to keep myself busy try to keep

02:54myself occupied um and also make time for my uh two little girls so um um yeah that's just who i

03:02am very inspirational guy so people tell me that you know but and uh motivational uh speaker so

03:10i do a lot yeah but it's all in all in good spirits and for the people who follow me along

03:15my journey so yeah and as i was saying and then i know she's amazing in the short time that i've

03:21known you i've seen you wear so many hats in coaching and mentor you've been on the podcast

03:26which i'm going to share with our audience because you shared your whole story and that was quite

03:32incredible um speaking of being a father just tell me sort of your biggest life lesson i know

03:38parenting can be extremely humbling i'm still continuing to be humbled every single day tell

03:44me what that's been like it's been going great for me i mean my thing is um i want to step into

03:49their reality to see what's going on in their reality so that way i can uh help uh it helps

03:54me understand my kids a lot more um i understand i am the parent but i also have to listen and

04:00make sure that their needs are being met and i can't do that on the outside looking in i actually

04:05have to step into the roadblocks world and the uh the fortnight world and uh the school world and

04:12the little girl world because i'm a girl dad and um i want to see what their life is like you know

04:18and see the struggles that they go through so i can help them navigate that and that's what my

04:2210 year old now my two year old pretty much just runs me and she said come on dad i'm right behind

04:27her let's go play in the kitchen i'm going to play in the kitchen right so i do what they want me to

04:33do but I also make sure I navigate it uh in a way that I'm learning from them and then they can

04:37learn from me so yeah nothing is really no it's also it's always about well can we do this a

04:43little bit differently how about this way or how about this way it's not no you can't do that

04:47um so that's how I parent I let them do things um confidently uh I let them do dangerous things

04:53uh confidently I just say hey you're gonna do it do it yeah yeah you heard and then you learn so

04:59but um i'm just different yeah but well and that's the ultimate form of connection and i know you have

05:05that with the youth that you work with so as a coach and mentor what are your core values that

05:10you want to instill in your youth um core values is self-esteem standing up for yourself speaking

05:16up for others um staying mentally tough um holding yourself accountable and staying determined that's

05:21my get up comfortable brand and if you have a bracelet you see that's it on it that's what

05:26that's it pretty much stands for uh determination accountability toughness and speaking up and

05:32standing up for yourself and for others i mean um with those four traits i think that that's

05:36what's helped me get along so far outside of other things um but instilling values and the

05:42youth that i train is very important i mean a lot of kids got hit during those covid years

05:47um for two years and they just sat around the house and they um lost connections with people

05:53And then when they get back out in the real world in society, you're taking a kid from the sixth grade and put them in the seventh or eighth.

05:59And then they lost so much. Right. When it comes to self-esteem and self-confidence, because they're just sitting in the house all day, you know.

06:07So what I like to do is I want to make sure I know the kid who I'm working with, first and foremost, try to get to know him a little bit.

06:13And I give him my contact information. A lot of kids have Snapchat, a lot of kids have Instagram, IGN, follow me immediately so they can see that I'm a real person.

06:20and they just don't have to be afraid to reach out um i'm pretty tough on some of my kids because

06:26they need that tough love and they need to be pushed the extra mile but i also do it in a

06:31comforting way i like to break them down and then build them up um um and that's how i want them to

06:36uh to to to that's how i want them to move in life i want them to be able to hold themselves

06:41accountable uh and you got to be tough on yourself sometimes but you also got to understand that you

06:45can build yourself right back up um self-confidence is uh one of the main things um a lot of kids

06:52don't have it here in um in the area and that's uh one of the things that i try to instill as much

06:57as possible um because without that confidence it's you really can't do anything but you get

07:03confidence by trying yeah a lot of kids don't want to try a lot of kids have been so coddled

07:08from their parents yeah and yes yes yes yes yes here you go here you go here you go here you go

07:13and sports teaches you no yes maybe uh do i deserve it can i right so sports teaches you so

07:21much and that's what i try to instill with the kids so a lot i love it and one of your main

07:25messages is to stand up for yourself and i know in your cancer journey something that you spoke

07:31so eloquently about and i know a lot of us have shared is when you feel something is not right

07:36you have to advocate for yourself as tough as that might be yeah tell us about that and why

07:41that means so much to you yeah so i partnered with the american cancer uh society uh just for

07:46uh for that reason recently um standing up for yourself and speaking up for yourself is the best

07:50thing that you can do um if something is off with your body go get it checked out especially if you

07:56don't know um a lot of us are web md doctors we all are google certified to get on google

08:04but that causes so much anxiety and so much stress um but if it's something that's like

08:09that's been bothering you consistently for so long definitely go get yourself checked out

08:14um because when your check engine light comes on on your car the first place you go is to the to

08:19the car shop you get a flat tire you pull over immediately and you try to get your flat tire

08:24fixed right so why we can't do the same thing for our body you advocate for everybody else and

08:29everything around you but not for self um a part of my message would get uncomfortable let's take

08:35care of self you know and um if you're something off with your mental health go make sure you go

08:39get that address it's okay to go and talk to people so advocating for yourself and not just

08:45with health it's just with anything in life in general that's setting boundaries and that's uh

08:49um that's standing up for yourself you know yeah um it's something that you when i got my my first

08:56diagnosed i said no that's not right it's kind of like um because i know myself 100 000 i've been

09:02with this body for 40 years and i know when something when something's off you know so

09:06when I went in I didn't like the first answer that I got it was you're young

09:11you're healthy you'll be fine cancer has no age limit so when I went in the

09:15first time I knew something was off and then the second time I went in same

09:21thing you're young you're healthy third time they thought it was tonsillitis

09:24and it gave me antibiotics to try to clear it up and then it was just like

09:30nah it actually got bigger so I knew it was cancer then but I knew it was cancer

09:35prior um because i was a web md doctor but also me just knowing my body and um knowing uh things

09:42from uh personal training and corrective exercise that deep dive into a lot of things um i just knew

09:47it was something funky and i wanted to get my um tonsils removed but my oncologist told me that if

09:53i did that it'd make take risk of me getting more infection in my mouth and things like that so we

09:58had to be aggressive with the chemotherapy and the radiation so um when i found out it was cancer

10:05our action doctor just looked at administration said okay what's next you know it was not um

10:10oh my gosh i got cancer like no this is it no i just asked him what's next you know i immediately

10:16jumped into that mindset because i didn't want to um let cancer overwhelm me as much as it already

10:20did um but i think advocating for myself and standing up for myself was the best decision

10:25that i could have done especially at the time i did it because it was already at stage two

10:29borderline stage three because it was so close to my lymphatic system on the left side um so i

10:35had to stand up for myself if i didn't do it nobody else would have you know and um i didn't

10:40care about what everybody else thought about me on the outside because that's what we tend to do

10:45as people we let people um dictate what uh what goes on in our life but nobody else has to live

10:51it you know so um yeah i think advocating for yourself and setting boundaries and um speaking

10:58up for yourself is very important very important and well your life experience had led you to be

11:04incredibly mentally and physically tough and then i can only imagine with this cancer journey

11:09because one of the things is you're so real and raw with everything that you put out there which

11:14i know is so hard to do but it's so important and i'm sure a lot of people have really whether

11:19they're going through something difficult or they've gone through something very similar

11:23what has that been like i mean you had some preparation in terms of the toughness but then

11:29you're going through this whole other journey at this stage in your life and all the many roles

11:33that you have what was that like and so what were those sort of aha light bulb moments for you i

11:39mean it's just that um all the adversity that i have faced in my life prior to getting the cancer

11:45diagnosis um i'm still alive to this day i think that um every time i went through some type of

11:51adversity whether as it was a kid from being homeless sleeping in cars um dealing with a

11:56mother who's a drug addict dad who's not around or the brother was a drug dealer um then going to

12:02college um facing adversity being kicked off the team um due to the coach not liking me um being

12:11humbled by that experience um and just a lot of things knee surgery eye surgery dislocated shoulder

12:17when it ran fell on me in hundo it's just so much adversity um relationship adversity um i'm still

12:23alive to this day to talk about it right and i think about i find positives in every negative

12:28situation um that i've ever been in in my life and i think that's very key is to know that whenever

12:35you are faced with a challenge or some type of adversity it's just a beginning but it's about

12:39the journey of how you navigate through it i guess you can be sad you can be mad you can be

12:44upset that it's you that it's happening to but you can also find the positive and make it the

12:48best journey ever so when you look back on it you can say damn i handled that very well and that was

12:54very inspiring and motivating for me so now i know how to handle and move forward um with uh with any

13:01challenge i may face so i think all the challenges that i've been through in my life it helps it's

13:06helped me for this moment so when I got the cancer diagnosis I was like oh okay what's next

13:10I'm ready like how bad is it going to get okay perfect okay I'll be mentally ready for it because

13:15there's nothing tougher than um um than this and x y and z and just I put myself in the mindset of

13:22just like being that elite athlete that I am um and just being mentally strong um because I knew

13:28that I was going to come out alive um with a few wounds with a few uh scars but it's nothing that's

13:35uh, uh, there's nothing that was going to keep me down for forever. You know,

13:40I lost 40 pounds. Um, I can gain weight back. Um,

13:45skin and stuff like that was messing up, but that's coming back.

13:48So all the things that's happened along the journey, um,

13:52um, it will come back eventually, even if it is altered,

13:55I still made it out alive. Like one of my favorite sayings is, did you die though?

14:00no i didn't but i also learned a lot and i also can inspire and motivate people uh whoever is on

14:07a journey or whatever you are going through life you got to do it positively because if you don't

14:10just want to kill you even quicker so yeah and what has been the biggest surprise that you've

14:15learned about yourself and also the support that you've received from the community um when i talk

14:21about support that i received from the community um it made me fall in love with this place um

14:27i want to say a hundred times over um the support that i received from the people here in sonoma

14:35county and just from around the world has just been unreal um and it made me love this place

14:41even more it was a point where i didn't even really want to live here because i was faced

14:45with so much adversity and i wanted to run um not really run but just get away because i didn't know

14:50how to navigate through it um but that's when i had to realize who i was and all the things that

14:55guys faced in my life and then I just had to sit back for a few weeks and just be like you know

14:59what I'm gonna stay I'm gonna stick it out and um I think that's what made me uh um a little bit

15:05stronger right um but the support that I've received here is like second to none I don't

15:11think that I would ever leave this place and I'm so indebted to everybody that's around me in my

15:14circle um that has been supporting me it's been overwhelming the love and the support that I've

15:20received um and it's to the point where people actually genuinely get to know me through this

15:25process you know a lot of people who's really close with me that's extremely tight to me like

15:31tiffany they know that i don't like asking for help but there's been time that there's been

15:35points here where i have no choice but to ask for help and then things just happen immediately you

15:40know um but that just comes from childhood trauma and i want to ask for help and i ask people for

15:44anything and um i got a few parents uh here of kids that i train they're like we don't care

15:50where you at we bring it we're coming to you we know how you are you're stubborn sometimes it ain't

15:54that i just don't know how to you know ask for that help but i think it's also this journey has

15:59also taught me to ask for help it's also taught me to uh make sure that when i'm talking to kids

16:04to tell them it's okay to ask for help you know it's okay um to be vulnerable in that sense right

16:10you're asking for help doesn't mean that you're a weak individual um just because you're reaching

16:15out to people doesn't mean that um um you necessarily uh are like just a weak individual

16:22not to all that's what i can correlate it to just being a weak individual but i don't think like

16:26that anymore so i think that has what that has taught me a lot is that reaching out to people

16:30never hurts um yeah i think there's just a lot like it's it's been a lot of love and support and

16:37And I'm forever indebted to everybody who has helped me out a lot along this journey.

16:42And I seriously mean that.

16:44Coming from a place out of Detroit, Michigan, where you don't have any family anymore.

16:49Mom is in here. Mom is deceased. Dad is deceased.

16:52Older brother who's in jail. My older sister lives in Detroit.

16:54And she's finishing up her cancer journey and her story as well.

17:01Another little brother who's in jail. My older brother lives in Florida.

17:04So here I have no immediate family.

17:06right but now since all this has went down and the way that it did go down sonoma county is my

17:11family and i really mean that like i i see people all the time out on the street hey coach what's up

17:16how we doing and um i don't i don't never think that i'm famous right i never move in that sense

17:23well for all the right reasons you certainly it's what you've put out there and hopefully you're

17:27getting back because this is something you've spent your whole life doing so yeah it's just

17:32a testament to how much people value you and how much people adore you and also how much

17:37people want to give back to you because you've given so much to them i appreciate that a lot and

17:42i think that's one thing that um i gotta start taking uh key to have my psychiatrist tell me

17:46all the time be grateful and be thankful um and celebrate yourself a little bit because i don't

17:52you know never was taught how to that emotional intelligence is very um important and that's what

17:56i tell my kids emotional intelligence that's something new that i'm going to start adding

18:00into training be proud that you made that three point shot be proud that you scored that touchdown

18:04like be proud celebrate it right this is what you work hard for right this journey so uh yeah it

18:10taught me a lot and for people who are feeling like they're at rock bottom they're really

18:16struggling they feel stuck they don't know how to get themselves out what would be your words of

18:21advice for them um find um find your peace um find something that you can depend on that keeps you

18:29positive find that one thing that um that makes you happy find that one doesn't matter what it

18:35is it could be somewhere i know um for me for example at times my 10 year old makes me extremely

18:41happy um and if i'm going through my depression spell she cuts my depression spells a little bit

18:46shorter and um it just by her calling me and saying some uh words like riz or slay or skibbity

18:54And then I'm slowly coming up out of my depression spills.

18:59But it's because I have kids that I need to provide for.

19:02And if I'm down for too long, I can't do that.

19:05And I want to make sure that I'm teaching my daughters how to navigate through these things.

19:09So I tell them always find something positive.

19:12One thing that you like positive is just keep building off of that.

19:15Also, I've learned that when people are down at rock bottom, because I was there this summer after I found out my cancer diagnosis,

19:21it was just that that shock when it finally did hit me that i had cancer um i actually turned on

19:27music music is one of my things where i uh listen to i love it i turn on music i try to get it to a

19:33rhythm or i try to do something that's uh gonna get me up and moving and get me out of this rut

19:39you know so finding something positive in a negative situation is the best thing that you

19:43can do um but you actually have to uh uh believe it you actually have to um um believe that this

19:51thing that you're reaching out to or depending on is actually a positive thing that can actually

19:55help you get up out of this rut or this um rock out of this rock bottom moment it's not easy at

20:00all yeah i know how um i make it sound easy but it's really not easy just getting up and moving

20:06around doing something that's out of the ordinary that helps out a lot if you're down and out and

20:10sitting in a dark house or a dark room or anything like that get up go walk around outside speak to

20:15random people hey how's it going that might help right just doing um some things that's out of the

20:20ordinary um but making sure it's positive i think that it helps out a lot um um just just finding

20:28just finding something those one or two things awesome what are some projects some future gigs

20:36that you're looking forward to i'm looking forward to um i'm looking forward to an amazing summer

20:42um i got a lot of things under wraps right now don't want to speak on them too much but it's a

20:46lot of positive things for the youth and for the community um i'm working with a few guys um working

20:53like i said working with the american cancer society so hopefully um uh we can get some things

20:57going and um yeah i have a lot of things lined up i know a lot of kids have been hitting me up coach

21:03when are you coming back to training y'all give me at least like a month i gotta gain at least

21:0810 pounds back or 10 or 15 pounds back before y'all start throwing me around the gym uh but uh

21:15yeah i can't wait to get back to training with all the kids uh with all my athletes college high

21:19school middle school elementary school it doesn't matter i just want to get back into the gym not

21:24being able to work until april is killing me um but um i um i do my best so but i got a lot of

21:32of raps for the youth and everybody so be ready we're all waiting for you where can our viewers

21:38find out more about you and your work um instagram instagram or um facebook facebook is william

21:46bailey bullard instagram is bullbody84 or bullbody society i'm going to start building that page up

21:52because i feel like this summer battling this cancer uh uh spent um i've created a society

21:57like the support system has like been like a society for me it's like coach what you need

22:02what you at what you're doing here's a joke laugh at this like you know like and i feel like i

22:07created something that everybody that's a part of the society can depend on right it's people who

22:11love helping people and that's what i wanted to create since i've been uh since i've been living

22:16here um there's a place where people actually genuinely care you know and that's something

22:20that's lost um i think in translation nowadays but instagram facebook um i need to get more

22:28active on social media because social media runs the world now we can't we can't send out no um

22:34no no text strings or no no no emails or smoke signals we gotta use instagram and facebook so

22:41yeah yeah and there's an upcoming event in your honor i know that's something i'm going to sign

22:47up my son and his two friends tell us about the bunker house the three versus three tournament

22:53yeah so the three v three tournament um a parent a parent that uh of a kid that i trained actually

22:59approached bunker house and was like can we do anything uh to help out coach bowler and they

23:03was like yeah sure whatever you want to do so the uh the parent was like maybe a three on three a

23:07free throw-a-thon um and things like that and uh they was up for it bunker house reached out to me

23:13It was like, hey, we're going to do this event honoring you and everything that we raised, go to your GoFundMe.

23:19And that GoFundMe, all of that stuff goes straight to the family.

23:22I don't even see it because that way deals and everything are taken care of.

23:25So when it happened, I was in shock and I was just like, man, that's the power of community.

23:32That was the support, right, like that I talked about earlier.

23:35It's like I never know what people are trying to do for me, but I love it and I appreciate it so much.

23:40um and um yeah it's going to be uh towards the end of the month it'll be at the bunker house

23:47uh three on three you can go to bunker house their instagram and or their uh website sign up

23:53come out participate if i'm filling up for it i'll be there as well just to be on the sideline

23:58and see uh see if i can make a few trick shots or something i'm not sure what i'll be able to do

24:03but we'll be waiting for something yeah i know right so i'm gonna try my best to uh to get out

24:09there because um sometimes during this cancer uh stint my my mental exhaustion and fatigue

24:15hits me out of nowhere like last night my girls had a game and um i was ready i was ready for it

24:22but i got in a car and i just slowly started to feel like my body just shut down and this

24:26happens within like five or ten minutes because i'm still building up that energy and that uh

24:31um and that um and that power that i once had you know um but sometimes now it's just like i can be

24:38up happy and excited then 10 minutes later i can be asleep for like a few hours and um that's one

24:44of the things that i've been dealing with um with this cancer step and it's tough you know but um

24:53um i feel like it's all worth it at the end of the day um and i feel like when i go to bunker

24:59house hopefully i'm there and i'm ready i might have to get an energy drink but i want to be there

25:03to just to show face and things like that so yeah well we're gonna be waiting for all the

25:10incredible things you're going to be doing we're going to keep supporting you Tiffany thank you

25:14again for these amazing stickers that's another friend that I made through you so thank you so

25:21much for bringing all of us together and I'm going to keep sharing things that you're going

25:26to be working on I'll be at the event so some pictures and videos from that event and I know

25:31you're going to be back on the court in no time and i have a 10 year old who's excited to work

25:35with you so and i know thousands of others so yeah thank you so much for all that you do

25:40we're here for you thank you for being here for us and to ride your days ahead i appreciate it i

25:47appreciate it a lot thank you guys for supporting me continuously non-stop um thanks chef once again

25:53as always and she'll actually be up here uh i think the 17th or something like that so i'm

25:58i can't wait to see her yeah i can't wait to see her um but yeah i mean along this cancer journey

26:04i do want to say thank you to everybody who's reached out um who's been there for me who's been

26:10um a part of this journey a part of this process with me um and thank you for making me get

26:16uncomfortable and actually reach out to you guys for um that extra support that i may need um my

26:23My life's journey has been a struggle.

26:25It's been about ups and downs.

26:26And I think that before I leave this earth in the physical form, I feel like my legacy will be left here because I want to make sure that I constantly inspire and constantly motivate because I can't take none of this knowledge with me when I pass away.

26:42Nobody's getting out of here live, FYI.

26:44So I want to make sure that everything that I leave here, people know that it's real and it's genuine and it's authentic.

26:49um i show everybody the ins and outs of everything because i want you guys to see the journey i just

26:55don't want you guys to see the finished product you know so um i think that that's one thing that

27:01i can be very appreciative of is people making me get uncomfortable in order for me to share my

27:05message and to share my story with everybody and um i will continue to do that um until you guys

27:12get sick of me so and we're thankful then we're better because of it so thank you for all that

27:17you do thank you to everyone who joined feel free to follow will follow me we'll keep sharing more

27:23things and i just want to wish everyone a happy friday all right happy friday everybody enjoy the

27:30weekend um i got cleaning up and doing folding clothes so yeah never ending right i know right

27:36yeah and you and i are going to see each other soon so yes we definitely will for sure

27:40for sure see you in a bit thank you everyone happy friday all right bye