The Tipping Point in Youth Sports 2024
When our patience for our kids development no longer exceeds our expectations of their performance, we reach a tipping point that leads to stress, anxiety, dropout and more.
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Learning from Losing: Life Lessons from Roger Federer
Roger Federer is a 20x Grand Slam champion and one of the greatest players of all time, yet he only won 54% of his points played. Champions learn from losing.
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Saying Goodbye to My #1 Fan
On April 19, 2024, I said goodbye to my #1 fan. I said goodbye to the person who always told me “I love watching you play.” To the person who believed in me no matter what, and always encouraged me to dream big, and to jump off the cliff and grow my wings on the way down. On April 19, my beautiful mom Kathleen O’Sullivan, known by all of us as Granny O, passed away. I am heartbroken.
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Winning Vs Fulfillment: How Society Teaches Us to Focus on the Wrong Things in Youth Sports
I recently spent a few days with some NCAA Division I programs I have worked with the past couple of years. Both programs have been very successful on the field, winning conference championships and achieving high national rankings and recognition. Both programs also want to keep pushing to the next level, to compete for national…
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Do You Work Hard, or Do You COMPETE?
“But coach, I am working hard out there,” many of us have heard often as a coach. “Yes Dad/Mom, I am trying my best” sounds familiar to many a parent. We all want our athletes to work hard and apply themselves in training and games. But is something more needed to truly excel? Is working…
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2023 Most Important Books of the Year
It’s that time of year for us to share our favorite, most important books of 2023. We were able to interview some amazing authors this year, and read so, so many good books, but a few books really stood out to us as exceptional. Many of these books have been impactful on both a personal…
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The Storm Has Its Purpose
The other day I was on a live webinar with a couple of dozen parents of young athletes, almost all moms. They were there to gain some insight into how they could best support their children on the sporting journey across a variety of sports. I was asked a question that is a very common…
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Don’t Be a Starving Baker
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.…
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Youth Sports is a Journey (And We Have Lots to Be Grateful For)
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…
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“Winning’s the Great Deodorant” (But That is Not Always a Good Thing)
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…
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