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This week, in order to celebrate Christian Pulisic becoming the first American male to win the Champions League, we dig into the archives for our interview with his father Mark. Mark is a former collegiate and professional player and coach, and our talk took place soon after Christian completed his $73 million transfer to Chelsea of the English Premier League. Since then, Christian has hit some incredible heights, and experienced some devastating injuries and extreme disappointment, yet came through it all to become a Champions league winner with Chelsea one week ago.   Today we speak about a variety of topics, including what it was like to raise Christian, how many times Mark and his wife Kelly said no to great opportunities, how they limited his competitive team practices to 2 sessions per week, dealing with pressure, Christian’s goodbye in Dortmund, and so much more. We trace Mark’s professional career and his short stint coaching in Germany and what were the major differences with coaching youth players in the US. His answer might surprise you.   This is a great conversation with some terrific insight into the childhood and early sports career of one of world soccer’s brightest stars.  

Other Highlights from the Discussion:

  • How important is it to allow kids to develop their own passion for the sport?
  • How do you know if your kid REALLY loves the sport?
  • Is there a way to increase accuracy without losing creativity in children?
  • Parents need to be able to say “No” to coaches.
  • Does the tournament culture create “slow” players?
  • What is missing here in the US, where and when do our kids fall behind?

 

Connect with Mark Pulisic

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Way of Champions Conference 2021

This weeks podcast is brought to you by the 2021 Way of Champions Leadership Conference, August 21-22, being held virtually this year. We have put together a lineup that is out of this world for our event, and just added Tara VanDerveer, the legendary Stanford Women’s Basketball coach who just broke Pat Summits all time wins record on NCAA hoops. Other guest speakers include Steve Kerr of the Warriors, Quin Snyder of the Utah Jazz, multiple time NCAA Champion coaches Anson Dorrance, Cindy Timchal, and Jenny Levy, and mindfulness expert George Mumford. Click here to learn more or register before we sell out!

Become a Podcast Champion! This weeks podcast is also sponsored by our Patreon Podcast Champions. Help Support the Podcast and get FREE access to our most popular online courses, a $300 value. If you love the podcast, we would love for you to become a Podcast Champion, (https://www.patreon.com/wayofchampions) for as little as a cup of coffee per month (OK, its a Venti Mocha), to help us up the ante and provide even better interviews, better sound, and an overall enhanced experience. Plus, as a $10 per month Podcast Super-Champion, you will have access to never before released and bonus material, including:

  • Downloadable transcripts of our best podcasts, so you don’t have to crash your car trying to take notes!
  • A code to get free access to our online course called “Coaching Mastery,” usually a $97 course, plus four other courses worth over $100, all yours for free for becoming a patron.
  • Other special bonus opportunities that come up time to time
  • Access to an online community of coaches like you who are dedicated listeners of the podcast, and will be able to answer your questions and share their coaching experiences.

Thank you for all your support these past four years, and a special big thank you to all of you who become part of our inner circle, our patrons, who will enable us to take our podcast to the next level. https://www.patreon.com/wayofchampions

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