#366 Ian Goldberg and Amy Masters of iSport360 on Sports Parenting, Winning vs Enjoyment, and Managing Expectations in Youth Sports
Friday, 01 March 2024
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
- Published in Podcast, Sports Parenting
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Don’t Be a Starving Baker
Wednesday, 08 November 2023
Have you ever heard the parable of the starving baker? Once upon a time, there was a baker renowned for his delightful pastries and delicious breads who took great pride in feeding his community. As the town’s population grew, so did the demand for his baked goods. The baker, determined meet this need, started working harder. He started skipping his own meals.
- Published in Coaching, mental health
Is FOMO Ruining Youth Sports?
Tuesday, 17 January 2023
(Yesterday I had the opportunity to present to a group of orthopedics, physical therapists, athletic trainers and coaches on FOMO: Fear of Missing Out, and why I think it is driving early specialization, burnout and dropout for our young athletes. I figured it was a good excuse to share an old blog of ours on
- Published in Coaching, Mindset, Parenting, Problems in Youth Sports
How Adults Take the Joy Out of Sports (And How We Can Fix It)
Tuesday, 03 January 2023
We have all seen it. I was recently watching a 12-year-old boys soccer game, and I saw it again. Like a deer in the headlights, the left defender on the blue team was seemingly stranded on the field and unsure where to go or what to do. He turned to one sideline, where his coach
- Published in Coaching, Long Term Athlete Development, Problems in Youth Sports
#293 Linda Flanagan: How Money and Mania Have Ruined Kids’ Sports, Why it Matters, and How to Take Back the Game
Friday, 07 October 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Linda Flanagan is a freelance journalist, researcher, and former cross-country and track coach. A founding board member of the NYC chapter of the Positive Coaching Alliance and 2020-21 Advisory Group member for the Aspen Institute’s Reimagining Sports initiative, her writing on sports has appeared in The Atlantic, Runner’s World, and NPR’s
- Published in Podcast, Problems in Youth Sports
Creating the Ideal Learning Environment
Thursday, 01 September 2022
I have been on the road the last few weeks, visiting with some high performance teams and coaches across numerous sports from New York to Belgium to Vermont and finally, Colorado. In that time, regardless of whether these coaches were working with adults or children, similar questions kept popping up. “What does a great learning
- Published in Coaching, Leadership, Talent Development
Timeout! The Importance of Downtime for Youth Sports Families
Thursday, 04 August 2022
“But dad, we have so much going on!” “Do we have to go mom? I want to play in another tournament?” “Will we miss out if we don’t do the extra private training?” Have you heard these types of sentiments before from your spouse or your children? I know I have. The past few weeks
- Published in Family Values
#279 Martin St Louis, Montreal Canadians Head Coach and 6x NHL All Star: “I was Really Good at Getting Better.” (replay)
Friday, 01 July 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Martin St. Louis is currently the Head Coach of the Montreal Canadians of the National Hockey League. During his career, he played over 1,000 games and scored 1,000 points in an NHL career that began with the Calgary Flames in 1998 and ended with the New York Rangers in 2015. St.
Confidence is a Feeling, Competence is a Behavior
Tuesday, 24 May 2022
We have all seen the interview many times. The star athlete comes off the field or court, and the first question the interviewer asks is “You were looking really confident out there today, what was your secret?” We might even say the same thing to our own young athletes that we coach and mentor: “Wow,
- Published in Confidence, sport psychology, Sports Parenting
Don’t Win the Race to the Bottom During Tryout Season
Wednesday, 04 May 2022
“My kid is so stressed, she is so worried she won’t be able to play with her friends anymore,” a mom recently wrote us. “We have friends who tell us their daughter is physically ill with worry. She is 10!” Sound familiar anyone? It is the annual rite of passage we call tryouts in youth
- Published in Tryouts
#269: Dr Lee Hancock, Performance Psychologist, Discusses his New Book “Talent Zones: 10 Tools to Help Kids Develop Their Talents”
Friday, 22 April 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Dr. Lee Hancock (@DrLeeHancock) is a professor, performance psychology coach, and program creator who works with students, athletes, coaches, educators, parents, organizations, and other high-level performers. Dr. Hancock earned his Master’s and Ph.D. from Arizona State University and is a tenured professor in kinesiology at California State University Dominguez Hills. He
- Published in Coaching, Podcast, Talent Development
#258 Bill Beswick, Olympic and World Cup Sports Psychologist, on the Mindset of Winning Teams and Habits of Elite Coaches (Replay)
Friday, 04 February 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Bill Beswick is recognized as a world leader in the field of applied sports psychology and especially renowned for his work with professional elite soccer teams. With an academic background to Masters degree level and experience as Head Coach to England Men’s Basketball Team (Commonwealth Games Gold Medal Winners), Bill was
Can You Over-Sample in Youth Sports?
Wednesday, 02 February 2022
Every month we get interesting emails and messages from our Changing the Game family, and once in a while we get one that is worth throwing to the community. We got an email from a set of parents, both former NCAA Division I athletes, with three young children highly involved in sports. As avid readers
- Published in Specialization, Sports Parenting, Talent Development
Celebrating the Life of a True Coaching Mentor
Tuesday, 11 January 2022
Teenage girls. If you have ever coached a group of teenage girls, you know how incredibly wonderful they can be. Happy, fun, so much love and bonding, matching headbands, energy and passion. You also know that they are coming into their own as young women. They start to form cliques. Jealousy may arise if one
- Published in Adversity, Coaching, mentorship
#246 Alan Stein: Surviving and Thriving as a Youth Sports Parent
Friday, 12 November 2021
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Alan Stein Jr. (@AlanSteinJr) is a world-renowned coach, speaker author and a father of three aspiring young athletes. He spent 15+ years working the highest performing basketball players on the planet, from Kevin Durant to Kobe Bryant, and now teaches audiences how to utilize the same strategies in business that elite
- Published in Podcast, Sports Parenting
#233 Dr. Jean Cote: Long Term Athlete Development Starts with Immediate Positive Experiences
Sunday, 15 August 2021
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Dr. Jean Côté (@JeanCote46) is professor and Director in the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies at Queen’s University at Kingston (Canada). His research interests are in the areas of children in sport, coaching, positive youth development, and sport expertise. Dr. Côté has published more than 130 papers on a variety
- Published in Coaching, Parenting, Podcast, Specialization
Youth Sports is a Journey, Not a Destination
Monday, 14 September 2020
COVID. Demonstrations and riots. Divisive politics. Home schooling. Wildfires. Smoke. As a coach for 30 years, and a parent for nearly 15 of those years, I am probably like most of you in that I cannot remember a crazier, more stressful, anxiety inducing year than 2020. It seems every time we take one step forward, we
- Published in Parenting
#172 How to Be a Great Sports parent and a Better Coach with Seth Taylor and Skye Eddy Bruce
Sunday, 14 June 2020
This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome Skye Eddy Bruce and Seth Taylor. We dive into the youth sports world and discuss the topic of being a great sports parent like how to get parents to listen to what their children want/need, the difference between encouraging and distracting sideline behavior by parents,
- Published in Podcast
Do Sports Actually Teach Character?
Tuesday, 01 October 2019
Head to any sports field this afternoon, and you will hear whistles blaring and coaches urging on their players to work harder and compete more. You will see exhausted athletes with their hands on their knees being implored to do one more set, or a coach shout “do it again” when a rep is not
- Published in Article
#110 Understanding the Sport Parent Psyche with iSport360’s Ian Goldberg
Sunday, 14 April 2019
Ian Goldberg is a sports dad, coach and Founder of iSport360, a SportsTech company that is helping coaches, kids and parents set goals, share player feedback and track player progress. His informative and frequently-funny youth sports newsletter has 70,000 subscribers, earning Ian a place on the Advisory Council of the National Alliance for Youth Sports. https://isport360.com/ Connect
- Published in Podcast
An Open Letter to the Out of Control Sports Parent Sitting Next to Me in the Stands
Wednesday, 20 March 2019
Dear Out of Control Sports Parent, You. Yeah, you. The one shouting “Get the rebound!!!” to your kid. The one with the heart palpitating so loudly that you cannot contain yourself. The one yelling and complaining about the coach. The one hollering at the 13-year-old referee. The one angry at my kid for making a
- Published in Article
#106 “How to Put Play Back into a Child’s Day” with Eric Seibel and Tim Bedley from “Global School Play Day”
Sunday, 17 March 2019
Global School Play Day is an ad-hoc leadership team of educators inspired by Dr. Peter Gray’s research on the decline of play and the adverse psychological, emotional and physical effects this has had on children. They continue to be a shoestring operation, promoting almost entirely through Twitter, Facebook and occasional spots on educational podcasts. No fees are
- Published in Podcast
#104 “You Coach a Child, Not a Sport!” with Dr. Martin Toms
Monday, 04 March 2019
Dr Martin Toms is a senior lecturer in Sports Coaching in the School of Sport & Exercise Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences. Dr Toms has been involved in sport coaching and development for a number of years, and has experience of teaching in schools, as well as coaching (Professionally) prior to undertaking posts
- Published in Podcast
#102 “Is there a difference between Coaching Girls and Coaching Boys?” with Dr. Kristen Dieffenbach
Sunday, 17 February 2019
Kristen Dieffenbach is an associate professor of Athletic Coaching Education and the director of the Center for Applied Coaching and Sport Science at West Virginia University. She earned her PhD in exercise and sport science with an emphasis in sport and exercise psychology and is an Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) certified mental skills
- Published in Podcast
#101 How to Create a Season to Remember with former MLB player Jack Perconte
Sunday, 10 February 2019
John Patrick “Jack” Perconte (born August 31, 1954) is a former second baseman in Major League Baseball who played from 1980 to 1986. In addition to his Major League baseball career, Perconte has authored three books: “Creating a Season to Remember: The New Youth Sports Coaching Leadership Handbook “The Making of a Hitter- A Proven and Practical Step-by-Step Baseball Guide” “Raising
- Published in Podcast
Our Favorite Books for Summer 2018
Tuesday, 22 May 2018
Every year, as summer rolls around, we give you the list of our favorite reads of the year so far. Between Memorial Day, Fathers Day, and that upcoming vacation I hope you are taking, it’s a great time to catch up on some reading. There have been some great new books that have come out
- Published in Book reviews
Parenting and Coaching The Perfectionist Athlete
Tuesday, 08 May 2018
Last week, we received a question that we get often, so we thought it would make a great blog: “I was wondering if you could provide some advice. My son is 8 years old and plays on a travel baseball team. [He is ] blessed with athleticism. He’s fast and has great hand-eye coordination. The
#56 “Some parents are crazy, but most are just stressed!” Why parent engagement is key to fixing youth sports with Skye Eddy Bruce, Founder of SoccerParenting.com
Sunday, 08 April 2018
Are you one of THOSE sports parents? All too often, we lump sports parents into one large category based on the behaviors of a few. Skye Eddy Bruce joins us to explain that not all parents are that way and the key to creating a better sports experience may be found with engaging parents more effectively.
- Published in Podcast
#54 How Desirable Difficulties Help Our Children Succeed in Sports and Life with Jessica Lahey, Author of The Gift of Failure
Sunday, 25 March 2018
Are we robbing our kids of valuable self-directed executive function when we solve everything for them and don’t let them make mistakes? This is a valuable life skill needed to succeed in college and beyond. Listen in as Jessica Lahey explains on the newest podcast. Subscribe to the Way of Champions Podcast on iTunes Show
- Published in Podcast
When Will Youth Sports Actually Serve the Needs of Youth?
Wednesday, 07 March 2018
In late February I was traveling and speaking in Sydney and Perth, Australia, working for a variety of sports organizations including the Football (Soccer) Federation of Australia, Football New South Wales, the Western Australia Department of Sports and Recreation, and the WA Aussie Rules Football Committee. While on site, I got to visit the brand
- Published in Problems in Youth Sports, Relative Age Effect, Specialization