The Village Effect

A good community isn’t a slogan on a sign. It’s the moment you realize your kid is safe because a coach notices, a teacher checks in, and a neighbor is paying attention when you’re not. Recording from Mayfest 2026 in Rector, we talk about what makes a small town feel like a real village and why that kind of support can change a family’s entire experience of raising kids.

Coach Lane Stucks joins us to explain why Rector stands out, how youth sports and school leadership shape culture, and what it means to coach alongside the same mentor who coached you. We also talk about the educators who connect beyond the court and classroom, including the kind of everyday care that builds trust with kids and parents. Along the way, we share a few laughs, because community is built in the serious moments and the funny ones.

Then we bring it home with our own family: what it feels like to move, rebuild friendships, and watch your kids get surrounded by people who want them to grow up right. We get honest about the difference between communities that “talk support” and communities that prove it with action, plus how accountability works when you really do have eyes everywhere.

If you care about parenting, mentorship, small-town life, and building a healthier support network, hit play. Subscribe to Almost Brothers Podcast, share this with someone who’s part of your village, and leave a review so more people can find the conversation.

Transcript

Mayfest Banter And Introductions

SPEAKER_03 0:44

Zeke, how's that sun feeling?

SPEAKER_02 0:47

Terrible.

SPEAKER_03 0:48

Terrible. You have a tan just on your back.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Yeah, I'm gonna have a redneck after this.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

Oh, oh, oh. Let's calm down. What's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, what's up, everybody. Welcome back to a brand new episode of the Almost Brothers Podcast. As always, we got Richie Rich. Cricket, cricket, cricket. He's gone right now, walking around shopping. I can't get a hold of him. So anyway, Zeke sir, how you doing? Good. What's up, what's up? Episode two here at Mayfest 2026. How you feeling? Awesome, good. Your sister's already spent some money.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

I'm going strong, zero dollars.

SPEAKER_03 1:36

Zero dollars. And also, special guest, we got Coach Lane Stucks. How you doing, Coach? I'm doing good. How y'all doing?

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Woo!

SPEAKER_03 1:44

You ain't heard claps like that in a while. Doing good, man. Doing good. How are you?

SPEAKER_04 1:49

I'm doing good. I just having fun out here. It's been it's been a good day. I've been here probably 30 minutes. Yeah. So have y'all walk have y'all walked the whole thing already? Yeah, we have. I bought some cookies and snow cones. Yeah. Hannah's got some lemonades and stuff like that. It's fine. It's cool to see the community get out and do stuff like this.

Why Rector Feels Different

SPEAKER_03 2:04

And that's exactly what we want to talk about in this episode is community. Not only just family, but even extended family, and even farther in that community, because you know the saying, it takes a village to raise a household, you know. So uh with with you being plugged into this community for some years now, you know, you grew up here, you know, you you coach here, you've been here for a long time. How do you feel about the community environment that that has been built here in Rector?

SPEAKER_04 2:30

I I feel like it's special here. Uh I've, you know, all these other small town towns are falling down. You know, nobody's there's no upkeep. Rector's special because you have all these people that are constantly getting together and trying to keep it alive. Um I've been here since 2012, and there's really just nothing like it. Yeah. Everybody's been incredibly supportive to me. The kids are great, the parents are great, you know. I coach Pee Wee basketball. Yeah. And you know that you helped me all year, but it's been there's there's really nothing like it here. Yeah, I don't even know how to describe it.

SPEAKER_03 2:56

And you get to now coach beside your coach that coached you coming up, you know. So, what's that been like?

SPEAKER_04 3:01

He coached me for you know all the way through, and I've been with him. I've been helping him since I graduated high school. Yeah, and uh now it's my first year hired there, and it's been great. Great role model. There's a winner in this world, and you know, there's a lot of them, but he's he's a winner. He's a great example. He he leads us the kids and me. I'm learning just as they are, and he's there's there's really nothing like it.

SPEAKER_03 3:20

It's all does it ever feel like you're still in that like high school getting top mode?

SPEAKER_04 3:25

That's that's tough sometimes because I still play with them every day, you know. I mean, I still work in the study halls with them, I practice with them. I'm still a capable body, but it's I I wouldn't trade it for the world. It's it's really awesome. There's nothing like it, director, nothing like Coach Mills. There's there's nothing like this place at all.

SPEAKER_03 3:38

Well, and I know you know you've talked about uh Coach Mills and what he means to the to this community, but also what you mean to this community, you know. So my son is is was new around here and and you know he came in and y'all accepted him in and he really really enjoyed being under you and in your program. So, Zeke, what do you think about Coach Stucks? He's pretty, he's pretty, he's a pretty good coach. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I know for the first like few months, uh he's like, does Zeke ever talk?

SPEAKER_04 4:08

Like initially he wouldn't say a word, then all of a sudden he just came out of his shell and he talked just like the rest of it. That's been awesome. It's been awesome to see him grow and he's becoming a man. So it's really cool. It's really been fun to watch.

Coach Hannah And Real Connection

SPEAKER_03 4:19

And it's it's awesome, you know, with all the moves that we made in the past couple years, really getting acclimated to this community and this town, and and and under you as this coach and Coach Mills and coming up, even Coach Mason. You know, we're excited to be a part of that program, also. So it's it's been awesome to watch my kids just really enjoy being here. It it really has. So uh man, it it is it is awesome. And then so talk a little bit about your better half, the other coach here in town. That it it what's amazing about Miss Hannah is the fact that she is connected with so many of these kids outside outside the classroom and off the court. You know, you see her at at football games or walking around, and kids are running up to her. She never gets a breakfast. Right, and just loving, and that shows that that that effect in these kids' life goes beyond that. It's it's incredible.

SPEAKER_04 5:08

Yeah, she's incredible. I've never really seen anything like it. Somebody, I've never seen somebody connect with the kids, yeah, connect with the parents, it's just connect with community around her. She's she's a blessing to Rector and a blessing to me. Yeah, uh, she's she's incredible. Uh I really don't even have the words for it. Well, that's all it's awesome. I've never seen somebody do the things that she does at such a high level. She's great.

SPEAKER_03 5:27

And y'all are y'all are like a power couple, you know, young power couple rolling around just coaching and and making an impact on kids' lives, and it's awesome to watch and awesome to see and awesome to be a part of. It really is. It's it's really cool.

SPEAKER_04 5:37

It's been a blessing to be able to work. You know, we work together. Not a lot of people get to do that, and it's it's it's really been cool.

SPEAKER_03 5:42

Dude, I couldn't imagine. Could you imagine me and mom working together?

SPEAKER_02 5:45

That'd be chaotic.

SPEAKER_03 5:48

Why would it be chaotic though? Hold up.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

God be yelling at each other for the most random things like known to men.

SPEAKER_03 5:54

That would be her, though. I don't that that doesn't sound like that. Coach Hannah might yell at me a little bit. Just a little bit, but it tends to happen. It tends to happen. So I know she got smoked with a with a softball this year, right?

SPEAKER_04 6:06

Yeah, she had a pretty good black eye. Every time we would go in a restaurant, everybody look at me like I was a devil.

unknown 6:12

Like, what are you doing?

SPEAKER_04 6:14

Everybody would smile at her and then cut their eyes at me. It was a good hit. I've never seen a black eye that's a good one.

SPEAKER_03 6:19

Yeah, they'd be like, be like, hey, how are y'all doing? And just look at her. I know.

SPEAKER_04 6:23

What are y'all doing? She is incredibly tough, tougher than me. I'd have been out of commission for a week. She got right back up and went to work.

SPEAKER_03 6:29

And man, I know one thing I love like on her social media, she'll put these videos up of like her falling over stuff. And so it's like, that is so awesome. Because it it it it humanizes you. You know, sometimes you get you get distanced from people, you know, and and people look at you as like, oh, you know, they're they've got it all together, they're you know unobtainable, and and it really does humanize.

SPEAKER_04 6:50

Especially in the realm of education, sometimes people think, oh, they're just they're just teachers, they're just robots. They have just as much life going on as everybody else does. Yeah. But no, she's she's awesome, she's great. I could not ask for anybody else better in my life. Uh and I hope it says that way.

SPEAKER_03 7:03

If she keeps me around. So who is if we get y'all okay on a basketball court and then on a softball field, who's winning?

SPEAKER_04 7:10

A basketball court, me, but uh I can I cannot imagine that I could, if she'd even toss it to me, I'd hit it. I'm terrible. Yeah, uh, I can I can hit anything that was something a mile an hour to me. So yeah, she would definitely want me there. She might shoot free throws better than I do, though. She won the free throw contest at school last year.

SPEAKER_03 7:25

Uh that's right. That's right. I forgot about that. Yeah, that is true, man. That is true. And I've seen you shoot free throws in Brighton. It's like, and it always happens. It's like, all right, kids, like, look, it's not that hard, and you try to show them and then you miss. It's like crap.

SPEAKER_04 7:38

How hard I even shoot straight anymore.

Moving Towns And Finding Belonging

SPEAKER_03 7:39

There was a time though, I promise. That's so awesome, man. Well, man, dude, it has been, like I said, a blessing to be able to get connected with you and man just been just be a part of the community. And and I really do look at it as as an extension of our family, is coaches and teachers, you know, that are that are there to help raise, and and it really is uh important to have a community and and have a group of people. Y'all are the kind of people that makes it easy.

SPEAKER_04 8:04

You know, it's uh it's not me, it's it's you know, kids like Zeke and and coaches and you know and fathers and like you. Y'all y'all awesome. I really really have appreciated y'all. Y'all have been a blessing to me.

SPEAKER_03 8:14

Well, thank you so much, man. And we are we are excited to be here, that is for sure, man. Right, Zeke? What do you think? You think we'll stay stay a while?

SPEAKER_04 8:22

Yeah. Hope I get to see it through, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_03 8:26

Yep, yeah, and that's what we asked them like, well, do you like here or Malden better? And it's like, oh no, here. Okay, that's what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_02 8:32

See, okay, for Malden though, like their teachers, I feel like their teachers are better. Yeah. But that's like, that's basically the only thing though. Not the PE teacher, though. Not the PE teacher.

SPEAKER_03 8:43

Yeah, not the PE teacher. Not all the teachers. Yeah. Which you grew up with, you know, you were there with them forever, you know.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

So I had like a bunch more people that I knew. Because there's there's like 3,000 people in Malden.

SPEAKER_03 8:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:57

And I grew up there for 11 years. Yeah.

Extended Family That Shows Up

SPEAKER_03 8:59

So makes it a little bit easier. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Well, coach, man, you take it easy, buddy. Thank you for having me. Y'all be safe. Have fun at the graduation. Sure, I will. Yeah, man. Y'all take it easy. Thank you, coach. Yeah, man. So what do you think? Like, what do you think about like our extended family and and community and and you know how important it is in our lives and in your life as you know, as a teenager growing up, having having those people around you, you know, not just me, your mom, your sister.

SPEAKER_02 9:28

Um, it's pr it's pretty, like, it's pretty good because like you get to know you get to have more people.

SPEAKER_03 9:38

Okay, you get to what now?

SPEAKER_02 9:40

You get to have more people that like protect you and everything, and like just is on your side 24-7. Cause like we have like we got Jay's family, grandma's family, and they're all they're all in molding, but we're in rector, so it's like a long stretch and everything. And I remember when you used to teach at Clarkton, and I got to know some of the people there for playing basketball and stuff, so yeah, that was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_03 10:08

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and and I mean you you know, you really start thinking about like the Feast family and the Randall family and and our church family, and like you really built out a a life and a community with people.

SPEAKER_02 10:20

Yeah, because I remember last night when uh we went to some some restaurant and like three group chats because you kept forgetting people. Kept adding people on. There's one with like 16 and then 17 and then like 19 in it.

SPEAKER_03 10:36

Yep, yep. And it it it it's awesome to watch. It's awesome to watch like like even just the kids of of multiple families grow up together, you know, and and do things together and and be a part of our lives. Because we went, you know, we were out last night because we went to uh Brittany's graduation, you know, and that's another family that we were able to support and go to. So it's just awesome to see, you know, even your like your basketball games. You know, you've got a crowd with people in it, you know, and and we have 20 people there just to to support you, you know, because you got your grandma and grandpa and Jay and all these people that come to support you.

SPEAKER_02 11:10

So Yeah, and in um in school, like if we go to the car lines, so I do this thing where at the end of school, uh, there we go into like the PE room, yeah, and everybody's like sitting down and everything, and I give all the kids like a high five and stuff like that, so I could build a connection with them and like help them through life and everything.

SPEAKER_03 11:33

Yeah, yeah. So even that goes further than just the people looking out for you, you're looking out for others also.

SPEAKER_02 11:38

Yeah, because some some like some kids, like some fourth graders or like like some even fifth graders, you know, they're like they're calling me like a brother, basically, to them, because I'm helping them like do what they need to do with their life.

SPEAKER_03 11:54

That's awesome, man. Awesome. Well, Bubba, I sure love you, man.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Love you.

SPEAKER_03 11:59

Keep keep holding on to that money and not spending it.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

I let's hope I go strong.

Support Has To Be Action

SPEAKER_03 12:06

Keep going strong, man. Well, we're actually gonna get your mom on here and talk to her about the importance of community and and what it means to have help, you know, of your friends and your extended family and your community to help, you know, with the when you're looking for people to help kind of raise your kids and keep them straight. And you know, I love the thought of of knowing that if y'all are out and about and you're doing something you're not supposed to, we've got people everywhere. Yeah, we've got eyes on you everywhere. So, babe, welcome. My my beautiful, amazing, lovely, fantastic wife. How are you doing? Good, how are you? I'm doing good, doing good. So, we're just talking about the importance of community and and how much this means to to uh not only have your your immediate family, but have friends and family and everybody, you know, the saying, you know, it takes a village to to raise kids. You know, so the importance of having community in our lives.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Yeah, it's very important. It's it is to where you're not you're not alone in every situation. Raising kids, uh doing ministry, um you know, just trying to provide. So it's top tier.

SPEAKER_03 13:23

Yeah, top tier.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

It's it's up there.

SPEAKER_03 13:25

S tier, S tier as as they say. Yeah, it or you know, talking to coach, and it's like, you know, the teachers and coaches and and you know, leaders in the community are an extension of our family, you know, when our kids are at school or when they're at practice or when they're doing stuff, they're able to have those people help lead them in the direction they need to go.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

Yeah, because um I have seen communities where they just don't show the support. They say it all day long.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

But you know, you need action behind it.

SPEAKER_01 13:57

Right.

SPEAKER_00 13:57

And I've seen communities not have any action at all. Um so they talk to big game.

SPEAKER_03 14:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:05

But now here, you know, such a small town, I see it so much.

SPEAKER_01 14:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

And it's it's awesome to be a part of, which of course it has its flaws, just like any um town, community, you know. So you have to discern, you know.

Friends Teachers And Being A Wingman

SPEAKER_03 14:23

Take the good, take the good with the bad. Yeah. Yeah. Well, Zay, how about you? What what do you feel about having having good teachers and coaches and people around you that help, you know, help be there for you, even outside of your extended family right here?

unknown 14:37

I feel good.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

You feel good? Is that it? That's uh I just feel good. Total works.

SPEAKER_05 14:44

Yeah, so my friend, she uh we were going down a hill and she broke, well, fractured her foot. Yeah. We saw we saw our teacher and she was like, oh my god, are y'all okay? Yeah. And I feel like that's just a good teacher.

SPEAKER_03 15:05

Yeah, yeah, being there for you and supporting you, yeah. Well, and even you know, you you become really good friends with Emma and Emily and all them, you know, our extended family that help that that are there for you, you know. So it's important to have those those friends outside of your your home. You know, so how how do you feel about being here at Rector? Are you loving it?

SPEAKER_05 15:24

Um, I like it.

SPEAKER_03 15:25

Yeah. Not loving it. Like it, I like it.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

I got this one friend, right? His name's his name's Andrew.

SPEAKER_03 15:32

Why you you gonna put him on blast?

SPEAKER_02 15:34

Like man, okay. He could deal with it. Oh, okay. He didn't text me back. So, um, this guy, right? He's my friend. Um, his grandpa is the superintendent of like of the high school and everything. Yeah. And and like I'm not I'm not his friend just because, like, the superintendent thing. It's actually cuz I like I like talking to him and everything. Yeah. And I like messing with them. Cause he got there's this one girl in our class, right? Um, she likes Andrew, but Andrew don't. You better not stop putting these people on blast. I'm trying to get him with this girl. Yeah. And bro, it's such a struggle. Cause like he's just fighting back the urch.

SPEAKER_03 16:22

You're goofy.

SPEAKER_02 16:23

So technically, like, I got plot on.

SPEAKER_03 16:25

So you're trying to be uh you're trying to be a big brother?

SPEAKER_02 16:27

Yeah, I'm trying to get a I'm trying to like be a wingman.

Mayfest Wrap Up And Goodbyes

SPEAKER_03 16:30

Okay, I like it. I like it. That's your son. That's so funny. Well, I sure love y'all. Love you. Are you happy you got your butter squishy? Yes. Okay, I'm I'm glad.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Still going zero dollars.

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Lord, that's I'm going strong. Zero dollars spent.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Yeah, that's what I like right here. A solid chain over there that I like. I don't know how much it is.

SPEAKER_03 16:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Y'all better be working this off. Y'all need to find a booth somewhere that needs help.

SPEAKER_03 16:57

You ain't lying, dude. Go sweep or do something.

SPEAKER_00 17:00

Are you hiring?

SPEAKER_03 17:02

Y'all need help loading up in or out? Come on now. Put y'all to work. Y'all go pick up some trash afterwards or something. All right. Well, I love y'all. Y'all are okay, I guess.