Melissa Perkins

Welcome to the Live Louder podcast, sponsored by FITKYT. 

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I'm welcoming today Eron Gordon, 24 living in Indianapolis. His mother is from the Bahamas and he was born in Indianapolis.  He plays basketball with Valparaiso University. I hope I pronounced that right and welcome Eron.

Eron Gordon

Yep you pronounced it right. I'm glad to be here.

Melissa Perkins

Your a basketballer.  How did you get into basketball?

Eron Gordon

Well my dad played.  At the time Eric Sr. (among the top 20 on Liberty’s all-time scoring list) was one of he all-time scorers at university in the 80's.  Both of my brothers played it. So, it was kind of just my turn to to join in on the family fun.

Melissa Perkins

Was your dad a big star? and your brother?

Eron Gordon

Yeah, my dad actually was. He was Indian also which is you know, really big because in Indiana it's key and both my brother's actually play professionally. My brother Eric actually played professionally for the Houston Rockets and then my brother Evan just got done playing in the CBA which is a Chinese Basketball Association. So you know it runs is it definitely runs in the blood?

Melissa Perkins

Yeah, it sounds like it. Now, how tall are you?

Eron Gordon

I'm actually 6 foot three, you know, probably what you would think of as a taller person written in, you know, everyday life was actually a shorter person on the court?

Melissa Perkins

Are you the shortest in your family?

Eron Gordon

Oh no. I'm in the middle. My dad's about 6, 2-3inches my brother Evan is about 6 foot 2 and my brother, Eric it 6/4. So we're all you know, within an inch or two of each other. So I'm right in the middle.

Melissa Perkins

Is there any family rivalry?

Eron Gordon

Oh no, not really. I think we've always been extremely supportive of each other we know how hard basketball is and how much of a global sport it is.  It's taken me to many different places and I have seen where basketball has taken both of my brothers and all my family to different places. So we've only been extremely supportive of each other.

Melissa Perkins

Yeah, I love that. It's really critical, isn't it? Particularly when you're in, more of the senior roles and competitive environment, because the stress is really challenging to deal with. So, how do you manage stress? What do you do?

Eron Gordon

There's a lot of different things I do. I do things like, pray, I play video games, I try to meditate, I try to do different things to get myself off my mind.  I do certain things, like take walks. The things that a lot of people are talking about - taking away stress is key. Because it's always really hard to get your mind off basketball. Especially when you love it.

Melissa Perkins

Yes, it seems like it is everything that you do. 

Take me through some of your gaming stats?

Eron Gordon

So last year, I averaged seven points a game and five rebounds.  I rebound really well.  At college I have always been really good at rebounds.  I am a bigger guy for my position. So those have always been in my strengths in my game.

Melissa Perkins

What would you like to achieve?

Eron Gordon

I would definitely want to become a better ball handler going into, professional play, for me. I definitely want to be able to solidify that, you know, that I can play the point guard position.

Melissa Perkins

Who do you want to play for?

Eron Gordon

It's pretty much up in the air. I am someone who is looking forward to playing professionally. I'm not sure about what league that I will being playing in. But, hopefully I want to be able to play in the NBA or in the NBA G-League at some point. So I guess since my brother plays for the Housten Rockets, I'll say the Rockets.

Melissa Perkins

Yes, keep it in the family. 

Is it a lot of pressure these days on younger players? In sport and particularly being chosen for University and the university League.

Eron Gordon

Yeah, I think that there's a lot of things that go on especially right now because with COVID happening. A lot of students really can't and I know still opening up more and more, but a lot of students really can't necessarily travel as much as they want to. They can't go on campuses. So a lot of their decisions are based upon Zoom meetings or based upon other people's experiences instead of their own. I honestly think it's, (in terms of the climate right now) with social media being so big. It can put a lot of stress on you, the recruiting aspects of, how people are, mentally, making these decisions their emotional toll, it's probably really high because they'll be gone away from their family.

I would say playing in college is definitely something that a lot of people aspire to.  Over the last couple of years there has been a big difference.  Especially with NIL deals that you can do now.  There is a lot more of a business aspect.

Melissa Perkins

What do you like to do for fun?

Eron Gordon

I like to game. I mean, I'm a video game player. I love to stream.  I like Fortnite, Call of Duty, NBA2K. I  play Crash Bandicoot. So for me, I like to, get my mind off it (the game). I have a pretty fun fan base of several hundred people. So I've just been able to hop on a game and just share that experience with people. I'll play with some my subscribers and kind of have a little community of my own. 

Melissa Perkins

I will have to get my son streaming with you because he is obsessed with NBA2K.

Eron Gordon

NBA2K is a really good game. It's really hard to replicate and it gets better every year and they've done a great job of doing that.

Melissa Perkins

He gets really into it, very vocal.

With, your daily fitness journey, obviously to be an elite basketballer you need to be very fit. What's your daily routine?

Eron Gordon

So, for me being a basketball player, it is really hard, because basketball is a sport where tests a lot of different things. It's not just about endurance, not just about strength is not just about speed and agility. It's about everything.

So, for me, every day, when I go into the gym, it's probably going to look different and with that comes with a lot of different goals.  As an example with meal preparations. Like what is your goal because if you're talking about a football player more than likely, you're going to want to put weight on, you're going to want to eat, food that's going to keep weight on. If you're a soccer player or if you're a track runner, you definitely want to keep the weight off. You're going to want to try to be as lean as possible.

With basketball, it depends on your team situation. One position, you may have to put on five pounds of muscle, next year you may have to take off 10 pounds. Depending upon the different position. So everyday looks a little different, especially with basketball.  Some days maybe a heavy cardio day next day maybe it's an agility day and the next day, maybe a power day, so it's definitely really tough.

Melissa Perkins

Yeah, it definitely sounds like it and just what keeps you motivated? To get up each day to do your exercise.

Eron Gordon

Yeah, I would just say knowing that you have a future in the sport. Because, I feel like that basketball is a sport that the most dedicated get the most out of it. They get rewarded. If you take a look at the professional veterans in the game, that are playing in the NBA, G-League and Euro-League some of the top leagues in the world, a lot of veterans get well rewarded for doing this day in day out. They reap the benefits of staying on teams and possibly becoming coaches one day. They get well taken care of by their community and by the organization. So this being one of those guys that can come in every day and delivers, that is really important to me.

Melissa Perkins

That's really powerful.

And just with your nutrition, do you take supplements? How do you look after what goes into your body?

Eron Gordon

I think diet is really important, and I take supplements, you know, depending on what type of year it is actually one thing that a lot of people have to understand too, is climate plays a big deal into it. That's one thing the time of the year because if you're in, I was in New Jersey when I play for Seton Hall and you know taking certain pills because there's less sunlight, you know, vitamin D vitamin C, something that you would lack, you kind of have to take those pills. You can't necessarily put that into your diet if there's no sun, versus if you're in someone like Houston. Maybe you may need to eat more because you'll be sweating more and making sure that you have more, electrolytes, just different things. So for me, like I said before, it's a really versatile thing. But right now I'm not taking any supplements other than a multivitamin. Would you consider multivitamins like, supplements?

Melissa Perkins

Yeah. I would but I am not a nutritionist. 

Eron Gordon

Well multivitamins, but there's no other supplements that I take. I think that right now, for me just making sure that I eat well and making sure that I'm getting the right stuff into my body rather than taking a supplement is better for me.

Melissa Perkins

Yeah. And and how many hours do you train a day?

Eron Gordon

So normally I wake up every day at around nine am. And honestly, I'm not a big person in, waking up  at six am. I know it's kind of cool. I know it shows dedication, but for me I need sleep. So I've always felt like working out at nine-ten. It gives me more of a rest and I recover better.  So I've always woken up at around 8-8:30am.

I do my first workout around 9-10 and then I do an afternoon strength or conditioning (whatever I need for my body) later on, about four-five o'clock.

Melissa Perkins

I really like that. You're listening to your body and what it needs rather than trying to get into that peer pressure.  

Eron Gordon

Maybe something for some people mentally.  I know for me, I've never been a person that has struggled getting up, but there's something about waking up every day. Especially with different obligations.

It's hard for your body to go to sleep at 9:00 8:30 10:00, you know, around that time.  Because you're naturally going to want to, be with family, go out to eat, go to a movie.  It's hard for your cycle to go to 8:30pm when you could just wake up maybe two or three hours later every day and still, get your proper sleep in.

Melissa Perkins

Absolutely. What's the last movie you watched?

Eron Gordon

Top Gun and it was really good. I watched Top Gun last Saturday and it was really good.

Eron Gordon

Yeah, it was great, wasn't it? 

Yeah it is a really good movie. I watched it with my family and it was absolutely amazing.

Melissa Perkins

Yeah, for sure for sure.

So what are you studying at Uni?

Eron Gordon

So I actually just graduated with my Masters in Sports Administration and I got my undergrad in Journalism.

Melissa Perkins

Oh wow, that's that's super impressive that's really amazing.

Eron Gordon

Thank you. Thank you.

Melissa Perkins

Yeah. So where do you want to end up after basketball?

Eron Gordon

My Dad has a family business as well as my brother its called e3basketball acadamy.  Evan has it over in China right now?  Because he is coaching over there.  My dad is in Indianapolis. So, I definitely want to help out the family business and see where it can go and grow. And now you know, that's kind of my goal.  I can even help out during the off seasons.

Melissa Perkins

Well we will be cheering you definitely from the side lines here. Yeah. I love family businesses, father and sons and thank you. It sounds like you've got a really close family.

Eron Gordon

Yeah, we're very close.

Melissa Perkins

That's wonderful. So what does living louder mean to you?

Eron Gordon

I would say that 'Living Louder' is doing everything that you can possibly, you only have 24 hours in a day, you only got seven days a week, so I'm making sure each and every day and week, you're accomplishing everything that you want to, you should definitely, laugh, cry have a lot of joy in your life and live every single day to the fullest and get done what you really want to get done. Because I've always felt, really passionate about, going through your feelings and having a good understanding of what your point on this earth is.  That's what Living Louder means to me.

Melissa Perkins

I'm so impressed at 24. I'm in my mid-40s and I still sometimes don't know. It's so impressive at 24.

So how can people follow you, what's your social pages?

Eron Gordon

So, if you follow me on Instagram, its @erongordon and if you follow me on Twitter, it's erongordon1 and on YouTube, it's just Eron Gordon.

Melissa Perkins

That's easy to remember. Well, thank you so much for joining us Eron. It's, amazing to have you on our Live Louder podcast.

Eron Gordon

Thank you. Thank you.