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#99 How to Help your Teams Overcome Fear in Must Win Games: A Fireside Chat with John and Jerry

Sunday, 27 January 2019 by John O'Sullivan
Do your athletes struggle with the right frame of mind for the “big game”? Does the pressure of a “must-win” have an effect on their pre-game mindset? Tune in to hear about some strategies for keeping a cool head win it is all “on the line”. Enjoy the Show Getting in Touch: Jerry: wayofchampions@gmail.com John:
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#96 “Success is Not an Accident; Success is a Choice” with Alan Stein Jr., author of Raise Your Game: High-Performance Secrets from the Best of the Best

Sunday, 06 January 2019 by John O'Sullivan
It’s not what the greatest performers do in the moment of competition that makes them the greatest. It is what they did in the “unseen” moments long before they take to the arena that matter. Success never happens in the moment. It is honed, crafted, practiced painstakingly in days, months, years prior. Choose to be
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WOC #74 Anthony Latronica, US U17 Men’s National Team and US Men’s Paralympic Assistant Coach, on the Importance of Developing Players at Every Age and Stage

Sunday, 12 August 2018 by John O'Sullivan
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to coach the likes of Christian Pulisic when he was a youngster? Have you thought about how life-changing it would be to coach War Heroes on the U.S. National Paralympic Team? Don’t miss this episode where Anthony shares the stories of his coaching legacy. Enjoy the
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WOC #65 The Curiously Elastic Limits of Human Performance with Alex Hutchinson, former elite runner and author of the bestselling book Endure

Sunday, 10 June 2018 by John O'Sullivan
How much of our human performance limits is physical and how much is “in our heads”? According to Alex Hutchinson, the human brain is the next frontier in breaking barriers in performance. We know more about the brain in the last 50 years than we did in the last 500 years combined. Is he right
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WOC #64 “I’m just a kid playing a game”: Overcoming adversity, managing disappointment, and building an athlete warrior ethos with USA Volleyball Player Cassidy Lichtman

Sunday, 03 June 2018 by John O'Sullivan
Imagine playing your entire career with unimaginable pain or working your hardest for four years to fall one spot short of making a lifelong dream come true. Now imagine the kind of warrior ethos required to say “my pain will not control my life and my disappointments will not define me”. This is the amazing
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Can Youth Sports be Both Fun and Competitive?

Tuesday, 03 April 2018 by John O'Sullivan
I got an email from a distraught parent the other day. She described a scene where the coach was screaming at the girls after a loss. She was beside herself at how the coach treated the girls. He was demeaning, he was loud and scary, and he had lost perspective on the age he was
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  • Published in Motivation, Youth Sports
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#55 Coaching John McEnroe and Other Great Tales from 17x NCAA Champion Stanford Tennis Coach, Dick Gould

Sunday, 01 April 2018 by John O'Sullivan
What would it be like to coach some of the greatest tennis players of all time before they became the icons they are today? Tune in to our latest podcast to hear Dick Gould’s stories about these iconic players and more from over 50 years with Stanford Tennis. Subscribe to the Way of Champions Podcast
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Pound the Rock! What the San Antonio Spurs Can Teach Us About Getting 1% Better Every Day

Wednesday, 07 February 2018 by John O'Sullivan
One of the most successful sporting franchises across the globe the last few decades is the San Antonio Spurs of the NBA. With five NBA titles since 1999, 22 overall division titles, having won at least 50 games for 18 consecutive seasons, and having missed the playoffs only 4 times in their history, the Spurs
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  • Published in Deliberate Practice, Mental Toughness
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WOC #30 What Makes Sports Fun for Athletes of All Ages with Amanda Visek, PhD.

Sunday, 08 October 2017 by John O'Sullivan
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
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  • Published in Podcast, Youth Sports
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WOC #9 Rise and Shine with English Premier League and World Cup Soccer Player Jay DeMerit

Monday, 15 May 2017 by John O'Sullivan
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
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Developing Warriors, not Winners, is the Path to Excellence

Sunday, 05 March 2017 by John O'Sullivan
(This week’s blog is written by Reed Maltbie, our new Chief Content Officer and Lead Presenter for Changing the Game Project. If you haven’t seen Reed present for us yet, check out his amazing TED talk on the lasting power of a coach’s words. Drop him a line at Reed@ChangingTheGameProject.com to say hello or if you interested
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  • Published in Coaching, Parenting, Team Culture
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Jordan Spieth’s Multi-Sport Path to Golf Stardom

Tuesday, 23 June 2015 by John O'Sullivan
On June 21, at the ripe old age of 21, Jordan Spieth become just the sixth golfer in history to win both The Masters and The US Open in the same year, joining some pretty illustrious company such as Woods, Nicklaus, Palmer and Hogan.  He must have played only golf growing up to become this
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  • Published in Messages for Kids, Specialization, Sports Parenting, Uncategorized
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Why Kids Quit Sports

Tuesday, 05 May 2015 by John O'Sullivan
“I just can’t take it anymore coach,” a talented but underperforming player named Kate told me a few years back. “I think I am done playing.” My mind went through all the reasons this might be happening: burnout, other interests, team dynamics, I was too hard on her, the gamut. What could it be? “It’s
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  • Published in Coaching, Problems in Youth Sports, Sports Parenting
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Changing the Game in Youth Sports

Saturday, 21 June 2014 by John O'Sullivan
On April 26, 2014 I had the honor of presenting a talk at TEDx Bend Oregon entitled “Changing the Game in Youth Sports.” The power of the TED platform, and its international recognition as a brand that brings “ideas worth sharing” to the forefront of conversation, was such an incredible platform to be able to
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  • Published in Leadership, Problems in Youth Sports, TED talks
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The Bare Essentials: Three Things Every Athlete Needs to Succeed

Thursday, 06 February 2014 by John O'Sullivan
Elite performance is determined by a number of factors, amongst them innate talent and genetics, hours of deliberate training, coaching, and luck. But performance is also great affected by what is between an athlete’s ears: mindset. An athlete’s state of mind is perhaps the single greatest factor that affects performance. In his great book The
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  • Published in Coaching, Motivation, Sports Parenting
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The Armpit of American Youth Sports: “Friday Night Tykes”

Tuesday, 21 January 2014 by John O'Sullivan
The armpit is the part of the body that is dark, stinky, and unattractive. Everyone has one, but no one wants to see it or acknowledge it, and would rather cover it up and move on. The armpit of American youth sports is the culture of win-at-all-costs, uneducated, over the top coaches and parents who
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  • Published in Coaching, Football, Injuries, Leadership, Problems in Youth Sports
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The Most Thought Provoking Sports Books of 2013

Monday, 16 December 2013 by John O'Sullivan
Now that I get to make my living as a writer and a speaker, I have many perks. Perhaps my favorite is that I get to write off all of my book purchases as a business expense, research for past and future writing! In 2013, I read a ton of great books, but here are
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  • Published in Book reviews, Coaching, Leadership, Sports Parenting
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Our Biggest Mistake: Talent Selection Instead of Talent Identification

Monday, 09 December 2013 by John O'Sullivan
Many youth sports coaches claim to be great talent identifiers, and point to the results of their 11 year all star team as proof. Yet they are not talent identifiers. They are talent selectors. The difference could not be more striking, or more damaging to our country’s future talent pool in many sports. Talent selection
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  • Published in Coaching, Problems in Youth Sports, Sports Parenting
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The Missing Ingredient

Monday, 02 December 2013 by John O'Sullivan
If you have coached long enough, you have probably said this about a player: “He’s got a lot of talent, but he is just missing something.” I have written on similar subjects in the past, and there has been academic research in this area. In all likelihood, that missing ingredient was often the inner drive
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  • Published in Mental Toughness, Sports Parenting
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Our Unhealthy Obsession with Childhood Athletic Achievement

Monday, 18 November 2013 by John O'Sullivan
From the Little League World Series to American Idol, we have an unhealthy obsession with “discovering” the next generation of great youth talent in this country. This is especially true when it comes to sports. I am not saying it is bad to identify talent. Our problem lies in how we define talent at the
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  • Published in Coaching, Problems in Youth Sports, Sports Parenting
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Coaches, a Little Common Sense Please!

Tuesday, 29 October 2013 by John O'Sullivan
“My 8 year old had 6 days of soccer last week!” “My 11 year old’s coach said he could not play on any other soccer teams except his. No futsal with his friends, no indoor, nothing but this team.” “My 13 year old was told that if he did not commit to play Fall baseball,
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  • Published in Coaching, Leadership
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Is Losing Stressing You Out? Try This New Mindset to Fix it!

Saturday, 19 October 2013 by John O'Sullivan
As a young coach, I was convinced that there were only two possible outcomes to a game, winning or losing. Of course, losing was to be avoided at all costs, even if that meant not playing weaker players, benching underperformers, criticizing referees, you name it. Then I started to study people whom I would call
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  • Published in Coaching, Leadership
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Mental Toughness Week

Tuesday, 01 October 2013 by John O'Sullivan
Why are we so afraid to challenge kids these days, or to let our kids be challenged? We all know that our greatest accomplishments, the things we are most proud of in our lives, be they building a business, or our family, or athletic achievements, all came with struggle! Nothing great comes easy. This week
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  • Published in Confidence, Mental Toughness
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Why We Rage: The Science Behind Crazy Parents and Over the Top Coaches

Friday, 13 September 2013 by John O'Sullivan
Have you ever noticed when you go to your child’s soccer game that you react one way to bad calls, aggressive fouls, or intense situations in your game, but have little or no reaction to similar situations in the game prior to yours, where you have no emotional stake? Do you can sit there with
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  • Published in Coaching, Leadership, Sports Parenting
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Why Kids Play

Thursday, 05 September 2013 by John O'Sullivan
One of the great divides in youth sports is the divide between why kids say they play, and why parents and coaches think they play! Lucky for us this issue has been studied numerous times, all over the world, by institutions of higher learning. The results are quite profound. Check out my latest video to
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  • Published in Coaching, Messages for Kids, Problems in Youth Sports, Sports Parenting
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“Never Stop Learning!” Part III of Three Things Great Coaches and Leaders Do

Monday, 12 August 2013 by John O'Sullivan
In part III, I share perhaps the biggest realization I ever had as a coach; the best coaches do not know it all! In fact, they are the first to admit it, and they never stop learning, never stop asking questions, and always are looking for ways to improve. If you want to be a
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  • Published in Coaching, Leadership, Sports Parenting
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