“Well, my young bull has officially left the nest and is stepping into a new chapter, moving into his college apartment and chasing his dream. I couldn’t be more proud of you,” wrote Asjia O’Neal’s father, Jermaine O’Neal Sr., for his son. However, weeks before making this post, O’Neal Sr. and his volleyball star daughter had an interesting conversation.

After Roomie Diaries, episode 5, went live on the LOVB YouTube channel, a snippet revealed what O’Neal discussed with her father ahead of her brother moving to SMU. In the clip, the 6x NBA All-Star explained how he was proud as a parent. “We feel like we’ve done an amazing job, and to see our kids go out and go after dreams,” confessed O’Neal Sr. But the question that came after the admission made it fun.

“In the last episode, we were talking about how you didn’t coach me in sports but that you coached my brother. So, how do you feel now that you’re not coaching him?” the back-to-back NCAA champion asked her father. However, before answering how he felt about not being able to coach his son anymore, Jermaine O’Neal Sr. addressed something else.

“Well, I mentally coached you in sports,” O’Neal Sr. told the inaugural LOVB champion. Cut to Asjia O’Neal’s confession about her father’s tough love in her formative years as a volleyball athlete to teammate Logan Eggleston in Episode 4, “Not that my dad was my hater, but my dad was like brutally honest with me the whole process.” 

“Like he was the dad that would pull me to the corner after a bad game, where I’m just like not even playing bad, but just like energy/vibe is bad, and he would yell at me for like 20 minutes,” she added. However, Asjia O’Neal did admit that her father never said anything that wasn’t true. “I’d be like, ‘You’re right. But I’m embarrassed now,” admitted the volleyball star. Yet, as Jermaine O’Neal Sr. pointed out, “I kept you going, girl.” Then again, he also admitted it wasn’t easy.

Asjia O’Neal’s father spoke about the balancing act

While her father’s initial answer made the volleyball icon chuckle, her former NBA star father explained how coaching his children was never an easy task. “Honestly, it’s always tough to coach a kid because you have to have a balance on how hard you’re going to be,” said the 46-year-old. After all, O’Neal Sr. was a world-class basketball player as his kids were growing up.

And while the former Boston Celtics center didn’t coach Asjia O’Neal because he had no volleyball expertise, he instilled in the middle blocker a winner’s mindset. “You have to make sure that, from my perspective, that you don’t, you know? You don’t treat them any better than you would treat anybody else on the team,” said the South Carolina native.

O’Neal Sr. treated both his athlete kids the same and showed them the same tough love that the basketball player would show anyone else for making a mistake. “You want to treat everybody, you know, the same, and reward them based on the work,” explained the retired NBA player. That being said, Jermaine O’Neal Sr. also counted his blessings for having such a wonderful family.

Although O’Neal Sr. is no closer to advising his daughter on how to play volleyball, he and the rest of Asjia O’Neal’s family have always supported her. “I’m super proud of her… There’s no greater feeling than watching your kids succeed,” O’Neal Sr. told The Players Tribune after his daughter, who continues to win despite two heart surgeries, lifted the LOVB title earlier this year.