WOC #35 Dr. Peter Vint, Former USOC High-Performance Specialist, on Coaching and Parenting Elite Athletes
Sunday, 12 November 2017
Do the principles and beliefs we discuss regarding youth athletes apply to “elite” athletes? How do you approach the process of parenting elite athletes? Dr. Peter Vint, one of the world’s top experts on high-performance athletes, shares his views on elite athletes, quality coaching, and parenting at all levels of the game. Bio Dr. Peter
- Published in Podcast
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WOC #34 Best Selling Author, Dan Heath, on How Coaches can Create Extraordinary Moments for their Athletes
Sunday, 05 November 2017
Everyone has these defining moments in their lives that they vividly recall. Some are extraordinary and some are terrible. As coaches, we do not get to choose which moments our athletes recall, but we do get to choose the moments we create in order to ensure what we leave our athletes with are exceptionally positive
WOC #33 Best Selling Authors Wade Gilbert and Jerry Lynch Discuss What Quality Coaching Really Looks Like
Sunday, 29 October 2017
How do you define a quality coach? Is it number of wins? Are we expert coaches because of the amount of time we have coached the game? Wade Gilbert and Jerry Lynch have a candid conversation with John about what it really means to be a quality coach and the definition is not what we
WOC #32 Emmy Winning ESPN Reporter Tom Farrey on Creating Sport For All and Play for Life
Sunday, 22 October 2017
Did you know only 1 in 5 youth coaches are properly trained in motivational techniques and only 1 and 3 are properly trained in skills and tactics? The big reason for this fact is the myth that volunteers can’t or don’t want to be trained. In this episode, Tom Farrey, of The Aspen Institute’s Project
- Published in Podcast
WOC #31 Mark Bennett, Founder of Performance Development Systems, How Coaches Can Shape Behavior, Influence Training Habits, and Build Accountable Teams
Sunday, 15 October 2017
WOC #30 What Makes Sports Fun for Athletes of All Ages with Amanda Visek, PhD.
Sunday, 08 October 2017
Fun. It is the biggest reason kids play sports and it is also the biggest reason they quit. That is widely known. What is not widely known is the fact kids define fun differently than us adults. In fact, they define fun 81 different ways. You’d be surprised at what they consider fun… Subscribe
- Published in Podcast, Youth Sports
WOC #29 Retired NBA Player, Bob Bigelow, Just Let the Kids Play
Sunday, 01 October 2017
“When I was a child, the vast majority of my sporting activities were in playgrounds and sandlots. Now, the majority of youth sports activities are organized and administered by adults …. The biggest problem in organized youth sports is very simple to explain — too many adults who want to compete through children.” — Bob Bigelow,
- Published in Podcast, Problems in Youth Sports
WOC #28 Brett Fischer, PT for the Arizona Cardinals, on injuries, early specialization, and teaching movement before technical skills.
Sunday, 24 September 2017
Brett Fischer used to see Tommy John Surgery in 25 to 28 year old athletes. Now he is seeing it in 13 year olds. What has happened to simple joy of the game and playing for fun when we push our athletes so hard they need surgeries at half the age they used to need
- Published in Podcast, Specialization
WOC #27 Jen Fraser, Author of Teaching Bullies, The Sports Bullying Episode
Sunday, 17 September 2017
WOC #26 Dr. Jerry Lynch, 36x NCAA Champ, On Mindfulness, Motivation, and How to Turn Your Off-Season into Investment Season
Sunday, 10 September 2017
- Published in Podcast, Team Culture
WOC #25 Dr. Richard Bailey, Head of Research at ICSSPE, On What We Need to Make Coaching a True Profession
Sunday, 03 September 2017
Is the way we coach based upon the latest science, research, and best practices of how children learn? Or is it based upon how we were coached growing up? In this fantastic interview, Dr. Richard Bailey, Head of Research at ICSSPE, separates fact from fiction and discusses some of the common mistakes that he sees
WOC #24 Tom Bates, Head of Performance Psychology and Culture for Aston Villa FC , It’s often not what we say in coaching, but what we do that teaches them the most
Sunday, 27 August 2017
What would your team look like if you let them shape and drive the culture, and if you loved them first as people before you ever tried to be coach? Would they be more like the bad news bears instead of Barcelona? If you said the bad news bears, you are dead wrong. In this
- Published in Podcast
WOC #23 – Jenny Levy, Two-Time National Lacrosse Champion and Coach of the Year, on why it’s not the winning, it’s the atmosphere that matters most
Sunday, 20 August 2017
“…and it may mean you may never win.” What if one of the best basketball coaches in the world told you that doing what you think is best for the culture and the program is more important than winning an NCAA title? Would you be willing to let go of the fallacy of winning for
WOC #22 John Kessel, USA Volleyball, Lines Teach You How, but the Game Teaches You Why
Sunday, 13 August 2017
Neurosurgeons say if they practiced the way they did 18 months ago, they’d be sued for malpractice. Heart surgeons believe if they practiced the way they did 5 years ago, they’d be sued for malpractice. Yet, in youth sport coaching we still practice the way we did when we were kids. John Kessel believes we
WOC #21 Nate Sanderson, Two-Time Iowa High School State Champion Basketball Coach, On The Art of Engaging Parents in a Winning Team Culture
Sunday, 06 August 2017
- Published in Coaching, Podcast, Sports Parenting
WOC #20 Jim Thompson, Founder of the Positive Coaching Alliance, on How Connection Precedes Commitment in Leadership
Monday, 31 July 2017
What if there was a single component you could add to your coaching that would get total commitment from your players, create better relationships with your parents, and possibly help you win more games? Jim Thompson shares this component and more in the newest Way of Champions Podcast. He also discusses the knowledge, strategies, and
- Published in Coaching, Leadership, Podcast
WOC #19 Sam Walker, Best Selling Author of The Captain Class, The counterintuitive leadership qualities of the men and women who led the greatest teams of all time.
Sunday, 23 July 2017
What do the Collingwood Magpies, the New Zealand All Blacks, Barcelona Football Club and the New York Yankees have in common? They’re all members of author Sam Walker’s list of the 16 greatest sports teams ever. It’s not the talent, the coach, or the strategy that made these teams great – it was the Captain.
- Published in Leadership, Podcast
WOC #18 Ryan Holiday, Best Selling Author, The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is the Enemy, and the Value of Philosophy in Sports
Monday, 17 July 2017
Ryan Holiday is a strategist, speaker and best-selling author. He dropped out of college at nineteen to apprentice under Robert Greene, author of The 48 Laws of Power, and later served as the director of marketing for American Apparel. His company, Brass Check, has advised clients like Google, TASER, and Complex, as well as many
- Published in Podcast
WOC #17 Lynn Kachmarik, First Female Coach of a Men’s Division I Sport, On Protecting Our Children In Sports
Monday, 10 July 2017
WOC #16 Stuart Armstrong, Head of Coaching for Sport England, “Learning Happens in the Ugly Zone” and other coaching factors
Sunday, 02 July 2017
Stuart Armstrong is the Head of Coaching for Sport England. Prior to Sport England, he was the Player Development Manager for the Rugby Football Union. He is one of the world’s top experts on player development pathways and skill acquisition, and has helped thousands of coaches in the UK create better learning environments and develop
WOC #15 Julie Foudy, Two-Time World Cup Champion and ESPN Analyst, on Choosing to Matter
Sunday, 25 June 2017
Julie Foudy is a two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist. She played for the United States women’s national soccer team from 1987–2004. Foudy finished her international career with 271 caps and served as the team’s captain from 2000–2004 as well as the co-captain from 1991–2000. In 1997, she was the first
- Published in Leadership, Podcast
WOC #14 Mark Upton, International Skill Acquisition and Coaching Education Expert, on Quality Coaching
Sunday, 18 June 2017
As co-creator of social enterprise ‘myfastestmile’ and with a role in the UK Olympic sport system, much of Mark’s work revolves around understanding learning & expert performance in order to facilitate the development of sport participants, coaches and leaders. He is passionate about creating dynamic environments for people at all levels of sport to be
WOC #13 Nicole LaVoi, Co-Director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport
Sunday, 11 June 2017
Author of Women in Sports Coaching, Nicole M. LaVoi, Ph.D. is a Senior Lecturer in the area of social and behavioral sciences in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Minnesota where she is also the Co-Director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport, and the co-founder of the
WOC #12 Jay Fiedler, Former NFL Quarterback, on Pursuing Your Passion
Saturday, 03 June 2017
After a record setting career as a quarterback at Dartmouth College, Jay Fiedler went on to play for 10 years in the NFL. He was tutored by some of the top names in the world of offensive football, playing under coaches such as Tom Coughlin, Jon Gruden, Brian Billick, Norv Turner, Chan Gailey, Marc Trestman,
- Published in Podcast, Specialization
WOC #11 Jon Gordon, Best Selling Author and Leadership Expert, on The Power of Positivity
Monday, 29 May 2017
Jon Gordon’s best-selling books and talks have inspired readers and audiences around the world. His principles have been put to the test by numerous Fortune 500 companies, professional and college sports teams, school districts, hospitals, and non-profits. He is the author of 17 books including 5 best-sellers: The Energy Bus, The Carpenter, Training Camp, You
- Published in Leadership, Podcast
WOC #10 Angela Hucles, 2x Olympic Gold Medalist Talks About Leaving Space for Introverts to Lead
Sunday, 21 May 2017
Founder and CEO of Empowerment Through Sport Leadership, Angela Hucles is a two-time Olympic Gold Medalist for US Soccer, two-time World Cup Bronze Medalist, former professional soccer player of the Boston Breakers and the US Soccer Foundation’s 2009 Humanitarian of the Year. After her retirement from professional soccer, Angela was a sports broadcaster and analyst for
- Published in Leadership, Podcast
WOC #9 Rise and Shine with English Premier League and World Cup Soccer Player Jay DeMerit
Monday, 15 May 2017
Jay DeMerit has one of the most unique stories to success the sport of soccer has ever seen. An MLS reject that backpacked to Europe and climbed the English soccer pyramid from the 12th tier to become the captain of Watford FC in the English Premier League. He also represented the US Mens National Team
WOC #8 Catch Them Being Good with Olympic and World Cup Champion Coach Tony DiCicco
Tuesday, 09 May 2017
Tony DiCicco is the former Head Coach of the US Women’s National and Olympic Soccer Teams, as well as the US U20 Women’s National Team. He coached the US National Team to their famous victory in the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Championship, the largest women’s sporting event in history. In 1996, he coached the
WOC #7: Destination Unstoppable, The Journey of No Teammate Left Behind with Author Maureen Monte
Tuesday, 02 May 2017
Maureen Monte is the author of the incredible book Destination Unstoppable: The Journey of No Teammate Left Behind, one of our favorite books of 2016. She was also a participant in our first ever Way of Champions Conference in 2016, and will be joining us again in Princeton NJ June 2-4 for our next event.
WOC Podcast #6: USOC Coaching Education Director Chris Snyder
Tuesday, 25 April 2017
It is not often you get the opportunity to speak to a coach that has the task of supporting and assisting some of the best coaches in the world, across a multitude of sports, but that is what Chris Snyder does. Chris is the Director for Coaching Education in the Sports Performance Division of the