Ken Rouff and Jean Linscott are the authors of What is the Goal? The Truth About the Youth Sports Industry . Today we discuss their new, book, many of the problems with the youth sports industrial complex and how it more often than not negatively effects children and drives them out of sports. Ken, jean and John share their own parenting experiences as well. Jean Linscott, Ph.D., is a clinical child psychologist. She has been working professionally with children and families for over thirty year...
Aug 16, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 390
Neill Collins is a former professional soccer player, with nearly 600 appearances across clubs such as Sunderland, Leeds, Wolves, Sheffield United, and the Tampa Bay Rowdies. As a player he won promotion to the English Premier League with both Wolves and Sunderland, and played under managers such as Roy Keane and Mick McCarthy. In 2018 he became head coach of the Rowdies, and during his tenure reached two USL Championship Final games and was named USL Championship coach of the year. In 2023 he l...
Aug 09, 2024•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 389
Mike Lee (@whoisMikeLee) is a globally recognized keynote speaker, internationally sold author, and coach who shares high-performance leadership lessons from inside the hearts and minds of NBA's elite. His work helps individual contributors, leaders and organizations elevate engagement, win the war for talent, and create cultures of belonging in a world of disruption. For 15 years he spent time with basketball's 1% including NBA MVPs Steph Curry and Joel Embiid. While leading his basketball trai...
Aug 02, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 388
Maggie Mertens www.MaggieMertens.com ) is a writer, journalist, and editor located in Seattle. Her essays and reporting have appeared in The Atlantic, NPR, Sports Illustrated, ESPNw, Deadspin, VICE, The Cut, Glamour, Pacific Standard, Refinery29, and Creative Nonfiction, among others. Her work has also appeared in The Year's Best Sports Writing 2021 (Triumph Books), Women and Sports in the United States (The University of Chicago Press), and has been nominated for the 2021 Dan Jenkins Medal for ...
Jul 26, 2024•58 min•Ep. 387
Tara VanDerveer was the head women's basketball coach at Stanford University from 1985 until her retirement in 2024. VanDerveer was a 10 time Pac-12 Coach of the Year and the 1990 National Coach of the year, and led the Stanford Cardinal to three NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Championships : in 1990, 1992 and 2021. She took a leave of absence in 1996 to coach the US Olympic Team to gold in the Atlanta Games, and was indicted to the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2002. In January 2024, s...
Jul 18, 2024•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 386
Urs Koenig is a veteran executive coach, professor, ultra-endurance champion, former UN Peacekeeper, author, and keynote speaker. All these seemingly disparate paths led him to one idea: that the best leaders lead from a place of humility. Urs has captured those ideas in his new book, Radical Humility: Be a Badass Leader and a Good Human . His lessons come from Big Events like having to pull out of the Race Across America because of a life-threatening condition and watching children in Kosovo en...
Jul 11, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 385
This time of year there is a lot of fear in sport, We see it in the Copa America and Euro Soccer championships, Olympic Trials, and even on the youth level as our kids tryout for teams. In this podcast replay from 2021, we are joined by Owen Eastwood (@oweneastwood), one of the world's most sought after high performance coaches. He has worked with the England Men's Football (soccer) team during the 2021 Euros, reaching the Final, and has worked with organizations such at NATO Command, South Afri...
Jul 05, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 384
Dr. Jay Martin is entering his 48th season as the Ohio Wesleyan Men's Soccer Coach in 2024. During his tenure his teams have amassed 750 victories, making Martin the winningest NCAA Men's soccer coach of all time. His teams have also won 2x NCAA Championships and 26 Conference Championships, so he knows a little something about culture and winning each and every day. So when he says "Coaches don't make great players. Players make great players" we should listen. This week on the podcast John and...
Jun 27, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 383
Stetson Lawrence (@StetsonLawrence) is a former professional bull rider with Chippewa Sioux Native American heritage. He was on the professional tour for over a decade and ranked in the top 25 in the world, reaching 9 PBR World Finals and being the first to ride many of the world's toughest bulls. Bull riding is both an art and a sport where mental strength and stability reign supreme, and today on the podcast Stetson discusses his career,. how he got started, and the numerous injuries suffered ...
Jun 18, 2024•49 min•Ep. 382
Katie Steele (@thrivementalhealththerapy) is a licensed marriage and family therapist and cofounder of Thrive Mental Health, an outpatient mental health clinic in Bend, Oregon. She is also the founder of Athlete's Mental Health Foundation, a 501(c)(3) launched in January 2023. Competing in track and cross-country at the University of Oregon and Florida State University, Katie placed second team all PAC-10 as a redshirt freshman. Through her experiences as an NCAA Division-I athlete, Katie has de...
Jun 14, 2024•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 381
Jeff Jones (@jonseyjeff1) has spent the past four years as the Arkansas St. Red Wolves' Assistant Athletics Director for Athletics Performance. He has 19 years of coaching experience at the collegiate level, including prior stops working with football at Arkansas State, Boise State, Auburn and Appalachian State. Jones came to Arkansas State owning previous Sun Belt Conference championships with both the Mountaineers (2019) and Red Wolves (2012), while also collecting an SEC title at Auburn in 20...
Jun 06, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 380
Andrew Simpson (@coachandrewsimpson), Founder of Player's Fitness & Performance (PFP), fell in love with fitness while in college. He discovered that by transforming his own energy, athleticism, and mindset, he was able to change his life for the better and knew he needed to help others do the same. In 2013, Andrew established PFP and began a lifelong mission to ignite change and raise the bar for leadership in gyms and youth sports across the country. Over the past decade, Andrew and his te...
May 30, 2024•55 min•Ep. 379
Welcome to a new edition of one of our famous fireside chats, where John and Jerry discuss some of the common questions we receive. This week we are discussing our new book The Champion Sports Parent , which will be released in late summer. The book is a companion to our 2023 bestseller The Champion Teammate , and is a guide to help parents be the best they can be for their kids. We break down some of the chapters and themes and ways parents can help their athletes perform their best and become ...
May 23, 2024•58 min•Ep. 378
Jamie Mittleman (@flamebearers) is the Founder & Host of Flame Bearers. Founded while Jamie was receiving her Masters of Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School, Flame Bearers is the first global storytelling platform celebrating the stories of women Olympians and Paralympians. From household names to unsung heroes around the world, each featured story highlights the successes, struggles, and social issues that drive the world's most prestigious athletes. Flame Bearers brings t...
May 16, 2024•59 min•Ep. 377
Margaret Domka is the Executive Director for the US Center for Mental Health and Sport (@mentalhealthandsport). She is a PhD Candidate at Clemson University where her research focus is mental health and sport. Additionally, she has done work in bringing mental health and sport initiatives to Veterans, individuals with paralysis, and Paralympic athletes. She is an ACT! Mental Health Awareness Certification and Mental Health First Aid instructor and holds the International Olympic Committee's Cert...
May 10, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 376
For over 20 years Graham Betchart has worked as a mental performance coach with the worlds top athletes and companies and is now sharing his wisdom through keynote speaking and music. For the past two years he has worked with University of Connecticut Men's Basketball Players, winning back to back NCAA titles, and has also worked with the NBA's Sacramento Kings as well as a who's who of individual NBA stars. His gift is simplifying mental training and making it accessible for all. His unique vib...
Apr 30, 2024•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 375
Angela Hucles Mangano is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist for US Soccer, two-time World Cup Bronze Medalist, former professional soccer player and the US Soccer Foundation's 2009 Humanitarian of the Year. She is currently the General Manager of Los Angeles' women's professional soccer team, Angel City FC, overseeing the sporting vision of the club, and all soccer operations including coaching, the first team, player care, medical and performance, sports science, and all wellness programs and res...
Apr 25, 2024•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 374
Pete Steinberg is a leadership and innovation expert with extensive experience consulting with top Fortune 500 professionals. He also has more than 20 years of experience as an elite rugby coach, coaching the USA Women's Rugby Team at two World Cups and the Rio Olympics. As a former U.S., international, and Olympic sports coach and commentator for major outlets such as CBS, ESPN, and Fox Sports, Pete has a track record of bringing teams to victory. He has won 11 National Championships with the P...
Apr 18, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 373
Pete Steinberg is a leadership and innovation expert with extensive experience consulting with top Fortune 500 professionals. He also has more than 20 years of experience as an elite rugby coach, coaching the USA Women's Rugby Team at two World Cups and the Rio Olympics. As a former U.S., international, and Olympic sports coach and commentator for major outlets such as CBS, ESPN, and Fox Sports, Pete has a track record of bringing teams to victory. He has won 11 National Championships with the P...
Apr 18, 2024•1 hr 27 min•Ep. 373
Former Navy SEAL, professional athlete, and entrepreneur Chad Metcalf (@chadmetcalf) is the author of Young Athletes' Ultimate Guide to Mental Toughness . Chad's journey began when he was a child. A self-described 'late bloomer,' he had the importance of faith, self-belief and focus instilled in him at a young age, equipping him with a strong mental toughness that he would carry forward and apply to every challenge he faced. Following a 12-year career in the SEAL Teams, he chased his PGA Tour dr...
Apr 12, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 372
Colleen Munson concluded her 19th season at the helm of Western Michigan volleyball in 2023. During her tenure at WMU, Munson has posted 10 20-win seasons, including a program-record eight in a row from 2005-12. She has taken the Broncos to the NCAA Tournament in 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2023, including a berth in the Sweet 16 in 2008. Taking over a program in 2005 that had finished better than third in the MAC West just three times since 1990, Munson has led Western Michigan to six MAC West champio...
Apr 05, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 371
Steve Tashjian is the Founder of Elevation Project , which collaborates with elite organizations, communities, and institutions to build high-performance teams and systems. Steve is an expert physical therapist, sports scientist, movement specialist, and director of high performance. He was the High Performance Director of the Columbus Crew of MLS before becoming the first full-time American performance specialist in the English Premier League, leading the Sport Science efforts for Everton Footb...
Mar 29, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 370
Becky Carlson (@tfcoachcarlson) is in her 13th year at the helm of the Quinnipiac Women's Rugby team, where she led the transition from a new varsity program into a three-time national champion. As the original head coach of the Quinnipiac women's rugby team added in 2011, Carlson boasts an all-time record of 81–33-1 including back-to-back-to-back Division I NIRA national championship titles in 2015, 2016 and 2017. Under Carlson's tutelage the program has been to nationals 6 out of 7 seasons and...
Mar 22, 2024•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 369
Eric Potterat, PhD, is a clinical and performance psychologist and a leading expert in individual and organizational performance optimization. Eric retired as a commander from the US Navy after twenty years of service, during which he helped create the mental toughness curriculum used during Navy SEALs BUD/S training. Eric spent several years as the director of specialized performance for the Los Angeles Dodgers and has also worked with Red Bull athletes, the US Women's national soccer team, the...
Mar 15, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 368
Mark Johnson ( www.ironstring.com ) is a sportswriter and sports photographer. He has covered cycling and endurance sports since the 1980s. His work often focuses on the business of pro cycling—a topic that frequently intersects with the sport's long history of doping. Along with U.S. publications like VeloNews, his work is published in Cycling Weekly in the UK, Velo in France, Ride Cycling Review in Australia as well as general-interest publications including the Washington Post and Wall Street...
Mar 07, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 367
Ian Goldberg is the Founder and CEO of iSport360, a youth sports technology company that is changing the culture in youth sports for over 4M people. Ian's career started at the White House where he worked for the economic advisors to two US Presidents and then spent more than half of his career in digital product management and sales for early-stage technology companies. Outside of his role leading iSport360, Ian is an Advisory Board member for the National Alliance for Youth Sports and is the E...
Mar 01, 2024•53 min•Ep. 366
Dr. Mitchell Greene (@greenepsych) is a nationally recognized licensed clinical and sport psychologist, whose success over the past 15-plus years is his ability to tailor personalized solutions to his client's problems. Dr. Greene works primarily with athletes pursuing high performance goals, or coaches and athletic departments looking to educate their student-athletes on mental health and performance enhancement strategies. Typical clients are either college (or college-bound) student-athletes ...
Feb 22, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 365
Dr. Mitchell Greene (@greenepsych) is a nationally recognized licensed clinical and sport psychologist, whose success over the past 15-plus years is his ability to tailor personalized solutions to his client's problems. Dr. Greene works primarily with athletes pursuing high performance goals, or coaches and athletic departments looking to educate their student-athletes on mental health and performance enhancement strategies. Typical clients are either college (or college-bound) student-athletes ...
Feb 22, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 365
Wells Thompson is a former Major League Soccer Player and the Founder of Soccer Resilience, an mazing resource for players and teams to build inner strength and help athletes think better so they can perform better. Wells was an all ACC player at Wake Forest and the 5th pick in the 2007 MLS Super Draft. he played for the New England Revolution, Colorado Rapids and Chicago Fire, winning the 2007 US Open Cup, 2008 Superliga, and 2010 MLS Cup. He was also the 2011 Colorado Rapids Humanitarian of th...
Feb 16, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 364
This week we are joined by The Performance Doctors, three leaders dedicated to creating the optimal environment for your athletes to thrive. They are Dr Michael Mantell, Dr, Darin Davidson, and Dr. Brendan Meany. For nearly 50 years Dr. Michael Mantell has focused on how improving mindset climate positively influences optimal performance, helps people disturb themselves less , and creates lasting positive behavior change. Since earning his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania in 1976, he's be...
Feb 12, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 363