Christmas as a Pro Athlete?

Hey!

Hope you’re having a great week. Here are a few lessons from my journey that I hope can be helpful for you. 

For context, Christmas for a professional athlete is never easy. 

You're lucky if you get Christmas off, and you probably have games or practices the day before, so trying to find time to celebrate can be tough (especially if you have kids). 

Being away from them is hard, but even though it’s sad at times, my mindset and perspective have helped me understand who I’m sacrificing for and the greater good of my family. 

So here are two big principles that I’ve followed to help during the holiday seasons as an athlete (with some sweet tools at the end).

CONSISTENCY
How can I be consistent during the holidays?

Stick to the systems. 

With my family it means consistency with the traditions that allows us (no matter where we are) to have special memories together and moments to look back on.

As an athlete, it’s consistency with diet, training, and all the things I share with you guys in terms of tips and tricks. It also comes down to deciding the lifestyle you want to live. If I cheat and have ice cream or I don't get good sleep, I try to be better the next day or at the next opportunity.

It’s living the life of getting 1% better each day, and not beating yourself up after every slip up. 

MINDSET
What mindset should I have over the holidays?

Personally, my mindset heading into 2026  is to continue to focus on my desired reality and matching my emotions to that in order to create frequencies that allow my reality to come to true. 

Now, what does that mean? 

If you're driving to work and you know you're going to make it there safely, why would you react to someone cutting you off? Or if you know you're going to be a successful basketball player, why would you react to a missed shot in a game? It’s beginning with the end in mind every day.

One thing that helps is making sure you’re creating the daily systems that add up to the goals you want. Mindset is big factor over the holiday season.

TOOLS
Christmas Gifts for Hoopers

There are a handful of awesome tools to use as an athlete (I love them), but remember, faith + consistency is the name of the game and will take you to your goals. 

Sleep Mask

Cheap and effective. I use this while traveling to try and nap on buses, planes, and hotels to help block out light and get a better sleep.

Chilipad

These can get expensive but sleep is the most important recovery tool. So if you have issues with sleep because of temperature regulation, I strongly suggest investing in this (aka in investing in yourself).

Affiliate link: https://checkout.sleep.me/ELIJAH14658

Oofos Sandals

A dang good sandal. Helps to absorb more shock and impact. Really good for joint alignments & recovery from different activities. They’re also water resistant, so they could be a good locker room purchase to avoid athlete's foot and other nasty things you might get in the high school or college shower.

WHOOP 4.0

All around health-focused wearable. I LOVE mine. Expensive but really worth it if you’re a stats nerd like me and want to optimize your health. And here’s a link for a free month if you’re interested: https://join.whoop.com/83DFA16B

Toe Separators

Because we’re spending so much time on our feet and in shoes, our feet can have issues which affect the rest of our body and our performance. These are cheap and help our toes get back to their natural position instead of all clumped together in most athletic shoes.

Massage Gun

Also can get expensive but amazing for releasing tension and knots. Huge for recovery. A cheap alternative is a tennis ball and a hard surface but it won’t deliver the same results and can get annoying to work with.

Foam Roller

A cheap but super useful tool for releasing tension and improving muscle recovery. Another must-have at home with the yoga mat and massage gun.

Red Light Therapy

There’s a lot of good studies showing that this can help promote recovery and reduce pain. I use it in ADDITION to foam rolling, stretching, massage gun, etc. I dropped a full video on it if you want to check it out: