Talent is Common. Discipline is Rare. The Combo is Elite” with Tim Kight of Focus 3

Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher This week on the Way of Champions Podcast we welcome Leadership Expert Tim Kight. Tim founded Focus 3 in the mid-80’s in Southern California, a life-long student of elite performance with the passion and drive to help organizations achieve their goals. In his college days, Tim transferred from Ohio
Read more
No Comments

#186 Lakey Peterson, professional surfer, “Fear is the Cancer of the Athletic Soul”

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast we welcome the amazing Lakey Peterson, professional surfer and currently the #3 ranked surfer on the world tour. Lakey won the junior nationals at 14 and qualified for the World Surf League at 16. She is an incredible role model for young athletes and shares many great
Read more
No Comments

Youth Sports is a Journey, Not a Destination

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
Read more
No Comments

#185 3x Olympic Gold Medalist and 2x World Cup Champ Christie Rampone and Dr. Kristine Keane on How to Be All In as a Sports Parent

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast we welcome Olympic and World Cup Champion Christie Rampon and Dr. Kristine Keane. Christie and Dr. Keane wrote a book called Be All In: Raising Kids for Success in Sports and Life. During our conversation, we dive into defining trust as a coach, why many parents find it difficult to
Read more
No Comments

#184 Steve Morris, author of What Size Balls Do I Need?: A Roadmap for Survival In The Dizzying World of Youth Sports

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast we welcome Steve Morris, author of What Size Balls Do I Need?: A Roadmap for Survival In The Dizzying World of Youth Sports. Coach Steve encourages parents to enjoy their kids’ brief 10-year window in youth sports, a goal best accomplished by dialing down the pressure and tempering their
Read more
No Comments

#183 “The Two Most Important Words a Coach Can Use” with Nick Levett, Head of Coaching for UK Coaching

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast we welcome Nick Levett, Head of Coaching for UK Coaching and an expert in talent development. Prior to his current position, he spend eight years at the Football Association as Talent Identification Manager. After years of trying to get him on the podcast, we finally connected with Nick
Read more
No Comments

#182 “Great Athletes See The Field From Above” with Michael Murphy, author of Golf in the Kingdom

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast John and Jerry welcome Michael Murphy, author of Golf in the Kingdom. This is a little bit different of a conversation than we normally have on here, but well worth your time. Jerry and Michael go way back and Jerry credit Micheal as being a huge influence
Read more
No Comments

#181 NHL Hall of Famer Martin St. Louis: “I was Really Good at Getting Better”

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast we welcome Martin St Louis, a Canadian retired professional ice hockey player. What if we were all really good at getting better? Take out your notepad and something to write with and get ready or some great insight on becoming a tremendous athlete from a hockey player who
Read more
No Comments

#180 Robert Weintraub, author of The Divine Miss Marble: A Life of Tennis, Fame, and Mystery

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast we welcome Robert Weintraub, author of The Divine Miss Marble: A Life of Tennis, Fame, and Mystery (amazon link). In The Divine Miss Marble, Robert traveled the country to uncover her fascinating story. And the more he learned about her, the more her mysteries and contradictions deepened. Alice
Read more
No Comments

#179 “Be the Best Player for the Team, not the Best Player on The Team: A Conversation with 4x Olympian Bo Hanson”

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast we welcome Bo Hanson, 4x Olympian and 3x Olympic Medalist. We talk about using failure in childhood as fuel to success in adulthood, setting goals and defining values with teammates, and why a lack of role clarity leads to a bad culture. Bo Hanson’s career within the
Read more
No Comments

Great Coaches are Both Firm AND Flexible

I was reading through some of the comments on some old blog posts recently, as they are often enlightening. I came across a few comments, such as: “Are we supposed to be a competitive club, or have fun?” one coach asked. “Are we teaching these kids and demanding excellence, or giving everyone a trophy?” another
Read more
No Comments

#178 How to Overcome Disruption and Build More Team Unity with Dr Wade Gilbert and Dr Jerry Lynch

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast we welcome back Dr. Wade. Gilbert, an award-winning professor in the department of kinesiology at California State University at Fresno and the author of Coaching Better Every Season: A year-round system for athlete development and program success. We started with an insightful discussion on Zoom fatigue, etiquette
Read more
No Comments

#177 “It’s not about the setback, it’s about the comeback!” Sports Psychology Consultant Dr Rob Bell discusses his new book “Puke and Rally”

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome back Sport Psychology consultant Dr. Rob Bell. Dr. Bell is a Certified Mental Performance Coach of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. We dive into many important topics, including helping our kids overcome hardships, recognizing the big moments that define us, and his new book,
Read more
No Comments

#176 22x NCAA and World Cup Champion Coach Anson Dorrance Discusses the Difference Between Coaching Men and Women, Building the Competitive Cauldron, and the Keys To Building a Winning Culture with UNC Women’s Soccer

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we replay an episode from 2018 with a 36-time NCAA Champion Sport Psychology Consultant and one of the greatest coaches of all time! This is a show you cannot miss! Dr. Jerry Lynch and Anson Dorrance join John this week to talk Dean Smith, John Wooden, Alonzo
Read more
No Comments

#175 How to Coach Kids with Chris Snyder and Nadine Dubina from the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome Chris Snyder and Nadine Dubina from the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee. These two individuals have done TONS of work in the area of coach development for youth sports. We dive into how to put fun back into coaching, how to handle push-back from coaches
Read more
No Comments

How to be a Great Sports Parent During and After COVID-19

Many years ago, when I first started Changing the Game Project, I travelled to Los Angeles to speak at a parent education day for The Brentwood School. The keynote speaker that day was psychologist and author Madeline Levine. She has written two NY Times bestsellers on parenting (The Price of Privilege and Teach Your Children
Read more
No Comments

#174 “Talent can be the obstacle” with Allon Khakshouri, former manager of world #1 Novak Djikovic

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome High Performance Expert, Allon Khakshouri. Allon Khakshouri is a recognized personality in the sports world, and has managed the careers of some of this generation’s greatest tennis players, including current world number one Novak Djokovic. We dive into what separates the great players from everyone else,
Read more
No Comments

#173 How to be an Effective Coach with David and Keith Mayer

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome David and Keith Mayer, authors of the book Gold Dust: How to Become A More Effective Coach, Quickly: How to become a better communicator. We discuss intentionally evolving as a coach, writing a book with a family member, and why good coaches are great teachers. You can
Read more
No Comments

#172 How to Be a Great Sports parent and a Better Coach with Seth Taylor and Skye Eddy Bruce

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,
Read more
No Comments

Why Volunteer Coaches Need to be More Like Volunteer Firefighters

If you are a longtime reader of this blog, you may know that my father was a firefighter on the New York Fire Department many years ago. His father was a firefighter. My brother was a firefighter. But what you may not know is that after seven years on the job, my father was badly
Read more
No Comments

#171 The Miraculous Story Of Austin Hatch: From 2x Plane Crash Survivor to University of Michigan Basketball

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome Austin Hatch, a two-time plane crash survivor and inspirational speaker. Hatch’s story is nothing short of Miraculous. On Labor Day of 2003, Hatch and his family were flying home from their vacation home in northern Michigan. As they were preparing to land, the aircraft crashed
Read more
No Comments

#170 The Language of Great Coaching: Nick Winkelman Discusses the Art and Science of Teaching Movement

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome Nick Winkelman, head of athletic performance & science for the Irish Rugby Football Union. He is also the author of The Language of Coaching, a book that focuses on the impact that communication has on an individual’s ability to learn and perform a movement. We discuss
Read more
No Comments

#169 (Bonus Episode) How Do We Get 40 Million Kids Back to Playing Sports Safely? Bill Kerig from GreatCoach.com has some answers

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome Bill Kerig, founder and CEO of GreatCoach.com. Bill Kerig was a collegiate ice hockey player as well as a professional skier. In addition to Great Coach, he founded the sports fundraising platform RallyMe and was the COO of the extreme sports portal LevelRed as well as
Read more
No Comments

168 Dr Neeru Jayanthi: Overuse Injuries, Specialization and the importance of Providing a Healthy Youth Sports Experience

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome Dr Neeru Jayanthi, Emory Sports Medicine & Tennis Medicine physician specializing in research on safety and risks of young athletes. You may recognize his name. We have mentioned him in blogs and podcasts, and his work is cited all over the youth sports world. We discuss how
Read more
No Comments

#167 What is the Purpose of Youth Sports? A Fireside Chat with Joe Ehrmann, Jody Redman, Nate Baldwin and Bev Smith

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome Joe Ehrmann, Jody Redman, Nate Baldwin and Bev Smith for an incredible cup of virtual coffee as we dive into what the purpose of youth sports is and what we should do when sports start back up. We discuss how the pandemic will change the demand
Read more
No Comments

#166 The Purpose of Coaching is NOT to Fix the Next 30 Seconds: A Conversation with Mark Bennett and Alan Keane

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome Alan Keane and Mark Bennett, both previous guests on our podcast. We dive into the purpose of coaching, how to be a “deficit detector”, and the behaviors a coach needs to help their players become problem solvers. If you have listened to episodes #31, #76, or #90,
Read more
No Comments

#165 Hall of Fame Coach Tara Vanderveer, Head Coach of Stanford Women’s Basketball Team

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome Tara Vanderveer, Head Coach of the Stanford Women’s Basketball team. Coach Vanderveer is a 2-Time national champion coach, has been to 12 Final Fours, coached the 1996 US National Team at 1996 Olympics, and has been named Pac-12 Coach of the Year 10 times! She is also
Read more
No Comments

What Will You Be Proud of When We Return to Sports?

Tony Robichaux was a legendary collegiate baseball coach upon his passing in 2019. His teams at McNeese St and Louisiana won numerous conference titles, well over 1000 games, and made over a dozen trips to the NCAA Championships, including a College World Series in 2000. The other day I came across a quote from Robichaux
Read more
No Comments

#164 It’s Not a Skill Unless it Holds Up Under Pressure: A Conversation with Ben Freakley, Toronto Blue Jays Head of Mental Performance

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome Ben Freakley, head of mental performance for the Toronto Blue Jays. Ben brings a lot of experience working with athletes at a high level, from working with the 75th Ranger Regiment to now going into his 4th season with the Blue Jays. We dive into
Read more
No Comments

#163 George Mumford: How to Become a Mindful Coach, and Develop Mindfulness in Your Athletes

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome George Mumford, author of The Mindful Athlete and Mindfulness & Elite Performance Expert. We dive into why sports are so important in teaching life-lessons, how to get buy-in from players, and the most important lesson to teach athletes for peak-performance. Named Phil Jackson’s ‘Secret Weapon’ to winning
Read more
No Comments