#368 Eric Potterat, PhD, Mental Performance Coach for the US Navy SEALs, LA Dodgers, and US Women’s National Soccer Team
Thursday, 14 March 2024
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
- Published in Mental Toughness, Podcast, Soccer, sport psychology
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#359 Aaron Cusack, Professor of High Performance Sport Coaching and UEFA A License Coach: “Try Not to Let Someone Else’s Decision Define Who You Are”
Friday, 12 January 2024
Aaron Cusack is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching and PE at Plymouth Marjon University in England where he program leads an MSc in High-Performance Sport Coaching. Coupled with his academic career, he is also a football coach with over 20 years of experience in coach education. Formerly a trainee youth player with Plymouth Argyle,
- Published in Coaching, Podcast, psychology, Soccer
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
Youth Sports is a Journey (And We Have Lots to Be Grateful For)
Wednesday, 11 October 2023
This week I wanted to share with you some thoughts I recently sent to my local youth soccer club. I wrote these as I was working in the Middle East, visiting a series of international schools and doing coach, parent and leadership education in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Kuwait. It was a fascinating trip, as I learned
- Published in Adversity, High School Sports, Parenting
#341 Christina Murillo, Former NWSL and Mexican National Team Player, On Relative Age, Coaching Boys vs Girls, and Promoting Player Safety and Wellness in Youth Sports
Friday, 08 September 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Christina Murillo (@xtinamurillo10) is a former Mexican international soccer player. She earned 29 caps with Mexico and took her senior year off from the University of Michigan to play in the 2015 Women’s World Cup. She later played in the UEFA Champions League
- Published in Coaching, Podcast, Relative Age Effect, Soccer
“Winning’s the Great Deodorant” (But That is Not Always a Good Thing)
Tuesday, 05 September 2023
Legendary NFL coach John Madden was once asked about the importance of winning in professional football. His answer is one of my favorite quotes: “I’ve always said winning’s the great deodorant, and conversely, when you have a bad record, everything stinks, and everything starts to unravel, and everything falls apart.” I love this quote because
- Published in Coaching, High School Sports, Parenting
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Dr. Jeremy Alland (@JeremyAllandMD) is a sports medicine physician at Midwest Orthopaedics at RUSH, a renowned, consistently top-10 nationally-ranked orthopedic practice in Chicago, IL. In addition to a busy clinical practice, he serves as the head primary care team physician for the Chicago
- Published in Injuries, Podcast, Sports Parenting
Great Athletes Have a Humble Heart
Tuesday, 06 June 2023
(This week we wanted to share another chapter from the leadership section of our new book The Champion Teammate: Timeless lessons to Connect, Compete and Lead in Sports and Life. This chapter is about humility, and shares some great stories of legendary athletes who were so incredibly humble and willing to share any accolades that
- Published in Book reviews, Gratitude, Leadership
#319 A Mediterranean Tapas Chat with Todd Beane of TOVO Academy, Skye Eddy of Soccer Parenting, and John O’Sullivan of Changing the Game Project
Friday, 07 April 2023
This week we bring you a special episode recorded in Sitges, Spain with TOVO Academy Founder Todd Beane (@_ToddBeane), Soccer Parenting founder Skye Eddy (@SoccerParenting), and John. We all happened to cross paths in Spain when John’s team was participating in a training week at TOVO, and we took the opportunity to have a few
#311 Zach Brandon, Arizona Diamondbacks of MLB Mental Skills Coordinator, on Fear, the Difference Between Major and Minor Leaguers, and the Need to Stop Romanticizing the ‘Grind’
Friday, 10 February 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Zach Brandon (@mvp_mindset) serves as the Mental Skills Coordinator for the Arizona Diamondbacks where he oversees mental performance services for players and staff across all levels of the organization. His focus is on helping players and coaches achieve peak performance consistently, while also
#310 Carol “Hutch” Hutchins, Hall of Fame University of Michigan Softball Coach, on Culture, Having High Standards, Coaching Today’s Athlete, and Title IX After 50 Years
Friday, 03 February 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Carol “Hutch” Hutchins wrapped up her 38th season at the helm of the University of Michigan softball program in 2022. She was inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006. With a career record of 1,707-551-5 over her
#309 James Leath, Mental Performance Coach at EXOS, on Using Improv Games to Build Team Culture and Develop Leaders
Friday, 27 January 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast James Leath (@jamesleath) is a mental performance coach, keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, and founder of Unleash the Athlete. He is the former Head of Leadership at IMG Academy and currently is a mental performance coach for EXOS. when not traveling the world speaking
- Published in Coaching, Motivation, Podcast
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
#306 Vince Ganzberg, United Soccer Coaches Director of Coach Education: “The Novice Coach Wants Recipes; the Master Coach Wants to Understand People”
Friday, 06 January 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Vince Ganzberg is the Director of Coach Education for United Soccer Coaches, the largest soccer coaches association in the world. Ganzberg has earned his US Soccer A-License, United Soccer Coaches Premier Diploma, and National Youth License along with a Master’s Degree in recreation
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
How Labeling Young Athletes ‘Talented’ Limits Athletic Achievement (And Why We Should Ignore It)
Tuesday, 13 December 2022
The word “talent” gets thrown around quite often in youth sports circles, but what exactly does it mean? And do we really know what talent looks like, what its components are, how to properly develop it, and how labeling kids talented at a young age can actually limit their achievement? These are the questions we
- Published in Talent Development
#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
#291 Steve Magness, Author and Former Elite Runner, on His New Book “Do Hard Things: How We Get Resilience Wrong and the Science of Real Toughness”
Friday, 23 September 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Steve Magness (@stevemagness) is a world-renowned expert on performance, well-being, and sustainable success. His most recent work is Do Hard Things: Why We Get Resilience Wrong and the Surprising Science of Real Toughness. He is coauthor of the best selling Peak Performance and The Passion Paradox. In his coaching practice, Steve
- Published in Mental Toughness, Podcast
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
#287 Adam Kuhn, Founder of Satori Soccer, on Using Surveys and Data Analytics to Improve Player Experience and Build a Better Youth Sports Organization
Friday, 26 August 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Adam Kuhn is the director of a nonprofit startup, Satori Soccer (www.satorisoccer.org), a youth soccer coach, and has a business background in data analytics in the field of improving customer experiences. In a youth sports world that is increasingly using analytics to improve performance on the field, the importance of player
- Published in Data Analytics, Podcast, Problems in Youth Sports, Soccer
#286 John Kessel, Former USA Volleyball Director of Sport Development: “Lines Teach You How but the Game Teaches You Why!” (replay)
Friday, 19 August 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher John Kessel (@JohnKesselUSAV) is the recently retired Director of Sport Development for USA Volleyball and one of the most sought after coach educators and sport developers in the world. John has been coaching since 1971 at the collegiate level or above, including Women’s U.S. Open titles in 1986 & 1987, Disabled
- Published in Coaching, Podcast, Volleyball
#284 Steve Gomez, 3x NCAA Champion Women’s Basketball Coach at Lubbock Christian University, on Selflessness, Sacrifice, Coaching Males vs Females, and Building a Sustainable Championship Culture
Friday, 05 August 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Steve Gomez is the 3x NCAA Champion women’s basketball coach at Lubbock Christian University. He graduated from LCU in 1988 with a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Mathematics, and played on the mens basketball team where he is still in the top of many categories in the record books. He then
- Published in Basketball, Coaching, Podcast
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
#282 Dre Baldwin, Founder of Work on Your Game, Author of 31 Books, and Former Pro Basketball Player on Overcoming Fear, Discipline and Resilience
Friday, 22 July 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher As CEO and Founder of Work On Your Game Inc., Dre Baldwin has given 4 TEDxTalks on Discipline, Confidence, Mental Toughness & Personal Initiative and has authored 31 books. He has appeared in national campaigns with Nike, Finish Line, Wendy’s, Gatorade, Buick, Wilson Sports, STASH Investments and DIME magazine. Dre has
- Published in habits, Mental Toughness, Podcast
#281 Wayne Goldsmith, World Renowned Coaching Professional, on Issues with Early Talent ID, and How to Fix Coach Education
Friday, 15 July 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Wayne Goldsmith has been at the forefront of sports innovation, education and development for over 25 years. His unique “whole of sport” background – having worked across every level and aspect of sport around the world gives him the insights to see the real problems in your sport and help you
#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.
#276 How to Become a Transformational Coach with Dr. Jean Cote, World-Renowned Expert in Youth Sports and Coach Development (replay)
Friday, 10 June 2022
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, Podcast, sport psychology
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