Transcript: Tyler Ziroe on Hockey, Meteorology, and Work Ethic

Good morning and welcome back to the show. We are here with hockey player and famous U.S. weatherman Tyler Zara. How are you, Tyler? I'm great.

How are you guys? We're great. Yeah, we're doing good. So Tyler, when did you start at U.S. and what led you here?

It goes all the way back to kindergarten. I'm a lifer here. It feels weird to say lifer now since they added junior kindergarten but I was here from the start my parents it was between here and Hawkin before and I ended up coming here when I was really little so I mean I didn't really have much of a say in it but I really appreciate it and I really appreciate my parents decision to come here and I've really enjoyed I mean now this is my 13th year here so it's been it's been a fun ride all the way. You know, as a life for myself, right, you kind of see that progression through lower school, through middle school to high school, and almost how it's like different campuses throughout the years.

How do you think your experience in lower middle school really kind of transformed what you are today now in the high school? I mean, I remember all of my teachers' names, and each teacher has impacted me in many ways, and I can mention a few for all of them, I'm sure. and just in each, the lower and the middle school, like really helped prepare me to become in the high school. I, I've pretty much through every single year, I've been able to transition from classes getting harder, more like workload, more homework, harder tests. Like just throughout all of the years, it's just kind of come naturally where they've prepared me to be better in the next steps of my life.

And I'm hoping, you know, like it'll now in high school to help prepare me to be in college because we're doing all sorts of stuff for that now too so yeah and i don't believe you've announced your college decision yet but you seemingly have already announced your major which will be meteorology for the listeners who don't know you provide the school with a weather update very professional weather report every tuesday am i correct in saying that you'll be pursuing meteorology yeah um i pretty much made that decision kind of over the summer as i was doing kind of a shadow at channel five with trent mcgill and it kind of solidified that this is really what I'd like to do in the future and seeing it done professionally and kind of seeing the back workings the behind the scenes stuff with it was really kind of interesting and just kind of solidified it so yeah if that solidified it what started it what got you into it so it really went back to the end of my sophomore year I was doing course planning and I saw the elective kind of out of the corner of my eye and saw that I had the requirements for it. And I kind of always have been interested in it where I would always check the weather and do my own kind of analysis, whether or not I thought it was going to rain, which, you know, really didn't know much about it. And I was using a lot of like just basic free stuff. So it wasn't like super accurate, but I was interested enough to where I decided, you know, I'll take this instead of maybe an art class, just add another assigned selective.

And going through the class, I really enjoyed it because I've always been a big fan of a public speaking, I've always kind of not shied away from it, but kind of embraced public speaking and standing in front of the class presenting things. And this was kind of no different where I really liked presenting in front of the camera that we would do here in the green screen room here. And I mean, in addition with doing it in school, we then got to take the field trip with the class to the Channel 5 studio, which kind of led me to getting an acquaintance with Trent McGill. and after that it really kind of just solidified that I'm like yeah this is really what I'd like to do this is really pretty fun for me and I know some people don't like you know standing behind the camera knowing a lot of people are watching this you're on live tv but I'm kind of like that seems like a lot of fun to do in the future so I'm kind of excited for it what pushed you to kind of start releasing the weather reports this year and kind of how have you liked doing it since then so I was kind of just thinking over the summer you know after shadowing with Trent I was like really like into it and I was really like hoping to find ways that I can get better as he was telling me that I'm kind of like ahead of where I'm supposed to be because a lot of kids in college really don't start doing stuff with the broadcast and presenting with it till later because that's more of a college kind of focus that you kind of find out but I kind of want to just get as much practice and, you know, get as good as I can before college. And I was thinking to myself, well, I knew we had a green screen room at the school because we used it for the meteorology class.

And I'm like, maybe I could take advantage of that and just maybe do some kind of like weekly report with it. And I decided to stick with the idea. I ended up asking, you know, the people I had to Miss Coy. And after that, I mean, it kind of, they kind of approved me.

And then I talked to Mrs. Dennis, who runs the assemblies. And she's like, I'll give you like a two minute time slot for every Tuesday. So I won't have to submit the long application process for it every time.

But with that, she gave me the two minute slot and I'm just decided to run with it. And from pretty much the beginning of the year, I have just been able to come up here. I, before hockey started, I would do it after school on Mondays to record for Tuesday, because I needed the day before, which is kind of the biggest challenge that I face with it Just having to do it so much in advance like you lose a little bit of accuracy with that which is kind of difficult because I don want to get anything wrong because then you know, it becomes a big deal. Everybody notices it.

But that was the biggest challenge. But I've pretty much been able to overcome that by like giving a sense of like not going in too deep where I can't like kind of like rescind what I say. So it's not like too precise. So I like it's not going to be too wrong if I get it wrong a little bit.

But now that the hockey season has started, then I had to start doing it Monday mornings before school, which is I got to get up early, which is a little bit rough, but I make do and, you know, it's fun. I really enjoy doing it. So I'm not going to complain waking up early to do something that I like. Does Mr.

Gallagher consult you on snow days yet? He has not. I have not been presented in the decision-making process, but I have talked to Mr. Passoff, who doesn't, he's not technically in charge, but he knows a lot of like, he's been here a while.

So he knows a lot of like the under workings of it. So he we've we talk about it sometimes and see what our opinions on it are. So yeah, you know, a lot of kids talk about how US has really supported their entrepreneurial goals or just science endeavors. But how is US kind of support your unique interest in meteorology?

So the first thing that we kind of talked about once I started that meteorology class is that we're almost positive that this is the only meteorology high school class that's offered in Ohio. So first of all, like getting the experience to do that in high school before even college, like if I wouldn't have taken that class, I do not know where I would have gone professionally or where I'd be going for what major I'd be doing in college. And just getting that opportunity and having those resources available to me has been extremely helpful and crucial and creating a partnership with channel five last year was the first year we did it with channel five and introducing me to Trent McGill at the station and creating that connection has been absolutely huge and without the school without that class being offered I mean I have no idea where I'd be right now. What is it like already having such a concrete idea of what you want to do and maybe how do you expect your career as a meteorologist to play out.

So the thing is, is when I was younger, I would play ping pong back and forth between, you know, different careers that I wanted to do. And finally finding this thing that I really have a lot of passion for and finding it now, I feel like is really amazing. It's a really good experience to be able to kind of jump into it before it gets too crazy and hectic in college. And I've really enjoyed the experiences that I've had with it so far. and as far as a career goes it's kind of an interesting profession where each city or each district that you do the weather for has a different ranking by population size so obviously New York and like Los Angeles are going to be the biggest cities and that's going to pay the most and but normally as right out of college you're going to find some really small rural town in the middle of, you know, Texas or Tennessee that really there's not that many people there and you're going to start there and then usually you're going to work your way up.

But Cleveland, actually, I was surprised to learn is actually, I think, 19th in the country because it's not only Cleveland, it's Cleveland Akron, which I think totals around like 2.5 million people, which I was kind of surprised to learn about. But so I kind of get a good start in a place that's kind of actually more populated and more like special than I originally thought. So I know aside from your interest in like meteorology, one of the things that you're also part of is the hockey team, obviously, because the sweatshirt, is that the only sport you've played here at US? So in my high school career, that is the only sport I've played.

It's I don't want to say it's the most demanding, but I feel like it's one of the most demanding sports, at least because, I mean, we start pretty much in early June, pretty much throughout the entire summer we're doing stuff and then fall we're pretty much practicing every day and then in the winter obviously we're practicing every day with at least usually two to three games a weekend but in the middle school I did some like I was on the B baseball team I think but you know other than that I mean hockey's been my main focus I've been playing since I was three I started skating when I was three started playing when I was four so it's pretty much been the main sport career focus or not career but sport focus for me since since I've been young so what kind of got you into hockey and what lessons have you learned from it so I got into hockey when I was really young my parents took me to a monsters game which is the semi-professional league or team here in Ohio it's the AHL and I was kind of really like wow I'd like to do that after watching the game so after that, they signed me up to get some skating lessons. And then from there, I started playing for this, you know, the young kid teams, and then, you know, I've worked my way through travel and, you know, just city teams. So it's been it's been a fun journey. And some of the most important things that I've learned, probably, number one, is just work ethic.

Looking back, I wish that I'd taken some practices a little more seriously and focused on giving 110 all the time even though it doesn seem like it matters And then additionally I feel like just learning to listen is a really important thing. Throughout my years playing hockey, I've always kind of, my coaches sometimes have described me as very coachable, which I kind of take pride in, because I really enjoy finding my flaws and kind of working on them. And I appreciate when the coaches have something to say to me. When they don't say anything to me, I'm kind of like egging them on to find something so I can try and improve.

So just finding new ways to improve, you know, learning to listen to what people have to say so that you can get better. There's probably, those are probably my two main ones. And working your way up through such a successful U.S. hockey program, I'm sure has been a great teacher for many of those lessons. You guys have a huge game against Shaker coming up.

What is the mindset going into that game? I think pretty much the entire team is really hyped up to go. It's obviously one of the biggest games of the year, especially because it's usually pretty busy there and the environment is just really different at Shaker versus Shaker game. so we're all pretty hyped up we're ready to go and we've got a another i think week or two before we get there so we're going to be in toledo this weekend and we're we're pretty i feel like we're pretty dialed in for this last um end to the season we're gonna we're gonna start winning some some more games and i'm confident that we'll make it pretty pretty far through the state the stage for the state title um you know i anticipate that's kind of gonna be like a big game but also So with weather reporting and all these different things that are happening in your life, still trying to get back college acceptances and seeing where you're going to go, there's a lot of things on your plate. What's it like trying to juggle those responsibilities and handle all that stress?

From pretty much when I was in middle school, I kind of really learned time management pretty well. It kind of came pretty easy for me. And throughout high school, it pretty much hasn't been much different. I've never been a big procrastinator.

I've always been kind of the mindset just get it done now get it done and for high school I just think that everything comes in an order for me so what we always talked about in hockey is that there's three main things during the hockey season that first comes family second comes school and third comes hockey so I've kind of followed that pretty heavily throughout my high school career but I think it's really important to kind of follow those three things like I mean obviously family is the most important. If you have something that's like dire family need, that takes priority. But I feel like I've never had to put hockey over school. It's kind of just flowed pretty well where I've been able to do everything that I need to in time.

And with the addition of the weather reports, since it's in the morning, it really doesn't affect me that much just by waking up a little bit earlier. So other than that, I feel like my time management has been pretty well where I just like, I focus on one thing at a time and then I know what I need to do next. So I just move on from thing to thing to thing and just kind of everything comes and it's done on time. So yeah.

That's great. And have you had any mentors throughout your high school time that have U.S. or outside of U.S. that have kind of taught you those lessons? So I'll say for sure, Mr. O'Brien here has been a big help in the kind of like thinking beyond the classroom because he's really focused on the mental the mental stuff about school and stuff beyond school which I find is really important and additionally my hockey coaches throughout my career um have also been super influential to me because they've taught me lots of different lessons and For me, I played a part of a travel team when I was younger, which really was almost as demanding as high school is now, except for practice every day, where weekends were almost consistently out of town.

And there wasn't a lot of time for me to do much besides hockey. And I think from there, my parents and my coaches have really taught me how to balance things pretty well. So, yeah. and I want to go back to that hockey game because you know again Shaker I'm sure it'll be an electric atmosphere and but you've played in some amazing atmospheres um does the student section help you guys like do you actually feel that energy on the ice it's a little confusing like some for warm-ups as soon as we get on the ice everybody I feel like on our team is here and that the student section is roaring and ready to go but I feel like once the game starts to get going we sort of kind of get in our zone we get going and things kind of fade out a little bit but especially when we're on the ice when we're on the bench I kind of feel like you hear it a little more especially in Shaker you guys are usually right next to us but I feel like it adds kind of like beyond like there's more to it than just the game on the ice like it's kind of like it's the rivalry game where the student section kind of adds this really cool atmosphere to play in where you've got the students cheering for you and you've got the almost like I mean half the school probably going for you and it's a really neat environment to play in but there are some times where it really like you really feel it and then there's some times where you're kind of just in your own zone and you're just going that makes sense you know this year you guys are coming back from a year where you lost the state championship and you lost in the state game but you have this coach Coach Giroux who really just been through the highs and the lows of the U hockey program How do you think he's really lead your team, and what lessons does he really bring that you guys all carry? I think that he's been a really great coach throughout my high school career.

I've had him for the past two years, and he's really brought this, as I was saying before, this work ethic where every moment counts. I'll walk into practice some days and not be feeling amazing. My legs are sore from a three-day game the weekend before, and I really don't feel like trying that much, but I feel like he's able to bring this atmosphere of even though we're teammates, still bring a level of competition where he always says that iron sharpens iron, where it's, you can't get better without people trying to push you. And we're all trying to get better in practice.

So we have to push each other to a point where we're going to build off of practices and gain momentum to go into the weekend. And he's really helped create a really good environment for that. And additionally, he's also taught some valuable lessons. One of the cool things that we have on the hockey team is Shark Monday, which is the thing that sharks don't care whether or not it's Monday.

They're still going to eat everything in the ocean and not care. So he brings that mentality to the team where it doesn't matter what day it is. It doesn't matter what happened last weekend. It doesn't matter what happened last season.

We just got to keep going. Every day has just got to be a battle. Iron sharpens iron. Keep going, keep going, and build marginal gains until finally we get the result we want to see at the end.

So you kind of talk about those lessons that Coach Joe really instills into the team and takes you through the rest of the season, like that Shark Monday example that you told us. What kind of, if you could go back and talk to Kindergarten Tyler and give him some of those lessons or some words of advice, what would you say? One lesson for sure is definitely focusing on every moment and making every moment count because I can think back to kind of my younger self and my hockey career and kind of just like going, what we say a lot of times is going through the motions just without putting in all of our effort and without giving it our all and trying to get better from every play, even though, you know, even in practice, something might feel kind of stupid to you and doesn't feel like it's helping, but really everything that you do is going to help you in the future. And I feel like knowing that was, you know, for my younger self, I feel like that really would have been able to push me forward a lot farther.

But I'll say that I'm happy where I'm at. And even with lessons like that, I feel like I kind of got to a spot where I wanted to be right now in my hockey career. I'm not looking to play in college, maybe kind of like intramural, but I'm not going to play club or probably D3 hockey. So I've kind of come to this culminating point in my hockey career and kind of want to finish it off with a bang and end my senior year season, hopefully on a high note.

So, yeah, I mean, hopefully we won the state championship, right? You mentioned that in your in your speech that you would wake up early to go to the weather station and watch some recording and help out even as early as 4 a.m. sometimes. Tyler, so many of that takes a lot of commitment. So my question is, and we ask this a lot, what is your why?

What pushes you through times like that? I think that what's most important to me, as I said, for hockey is work ethic. And I feel like work ethic is something that really just can't be taught. It's something you have. and I feel like getting a head start in my career now is part of that where I'm now able to hopefully have a jump start when I get into college and have a little bit of experience under my belt going into college you know looking for an internship I can say that I've been doing this for a little bit now I did it in high school and I've already worked with a mentor here in Cleveland.

And I think that's just like, one of my biggest things is like, you got to push through it, you've got to keep going. And even you know, like those three 4am mornings where I went to the station, it really doesn't matter. Like, this is helpful. And even when I went there at three in the morning, I enjoyed going there at three in the morning, you know, I woke up, you know, wasn't super tired, because I went to bed crazy early.

But I got there and I was like, pumped and ready to go learn about some things and find out more about how they do the weather and how they're getting ready for the day early in the morning. And I think that's just one of my biggest things is just you gotta, gotta be ready, you gotta keep going, push past the 100%, find the next level and be, you know, try and be better than everybody around you. Well, Tyler, it's been great having you on the show today. Thank you so much for taking the time to kind of share those stories and share those valuable insights.

To our listeners, thank you so much for tuning in and we hope you'll join us next Wednesday for another episode of Late Start Show. Thanks, Tyler. Thank you.