#363 The Performance Doctors on Overcoming Fear and Creating theOptimal Environment for Your Athletes to Perform Their Best
Monday, 12 February 2024
This week we are joined by The Performance Doctors, three leaders dedicated to creating the optimal environment for your athletes to thrive. They are Dr Michael Mantell, Dr, Darin Davidson, and Dr. Brendan Meany. For nearly 50 years Dr. Michael Mantell has focused on how improving mindset climate positively influences optimal performance, helps people disturb
- Published in Coaching, Podcast, psychology, sport psychology
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Do You Work Hard, or Do You COMPETE?
Sunday, 04 February 2024
“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
- Published in Basketball, Mental Toughness, Team Culture
#362 Stephen Rollnick on Using Motivational Interviewing to Coach Athletes to Be Their Best, Overcoming the “Righting Reflex” and Working to Not Be a “Deficit Detective” (replay)
Thursday, 01 February 2024
Stephen Rollnick provides consultancy, mentorship and training on the subjects of motivation, change, teamwork and Motivational Interviewing. Stephen is also a clinical psychologist with many years of experience in service provision and in the training of practitioners. This work, much of it on motivational interviewing (MI), has taken him into diverse cultures and settings. He
- Published in Coaching, Leadership, Motivation, Podcast
#359 Aaron Cusack, Professor of High Performance Sport Coaching and UEFA A License Coach: “Try Not to Let Someone Else’s Decision Define Who You Are”
Friday, 12 January 2024
Aaron Cusack is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Coaching and PE at Plymouth Marjon University in England where he program leads an MSc in High-Performance Sport Coaching. Coupled with his academic career, he is also a football coach with over 20 years of experience in coach education. Formerly a trainee youth player with Plymouth Argyle,
- Published in Coaching, Podcast, psychology, Soccer
#350 George Mumford, Psychologist and Elite Performance Expert for the Chicago Bulls and LA Lakers, on Getting Unlocked, Finding Your Greatness, and Building Strength Through Adversity
Friday, 10 November 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast This week we welcome George Mumford, author, psychologist and Mindfulness & Elite Performance Expert. Named Phil Jackson’s ‘Secret Weapon’ to winning eight NBA Championships, George’s passion is teaching mindfulness to high profile sports, business and academic teams alike; from the Los Angeles Lakers,
- Published in Coaching, Mindset, Podcast, sport psychology
#349 Dr. Lauren McHenry, Sport Psychologist and Educator, on Fostering Connection and Integrating Person Centered Coaching into Coach Education
Friday, 03 November 2023
Dr. Lauren McHenry is a certified mental performance consultant through the Association of Applied Sport Psychology and national certified counselor. As a former Team USA and professional athlete, Lauren understands the pressures, expectations, and emotional highs and lows in the world of elite and collegiate sport. She is the founder of McHenry Mental Performance, LLC and Thriving
- Published in Coaching, Podcast, sport psychology
#347 Ben Freakley, Sport Psychologist and Former Head of Mental Performance for the Toronto Blue Jays: “It’s Not a Skill if it Doesn’t Hold Up Under Pressure” (Replay)
Friday, 20 October 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Ben Freakley (@bcfreakley), is a sport psychologist, founder of ready,Set,Resilient, and former head of mental performance for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball. Ben brings a lot of experience working with elite performers, from professional athletes to working with the 75th
- Published in Baseball, Podcast, Soccer, sport psychology
#346 Troy Urdahl, Athletic Director and Coach: Chasing Influence, Being Intentional, and Knowing Your Coaching WHY
Friday, 13 October 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Dr. Troy Urdahl has spent his professional career at St. Anthony Village High School (SAVHS), a Twin Cities, Minn. public school. For the past 16 years Urdahl has been the SAVHS Huskies head baseball coach. In addition to his head coaching responsibilities, Urdahl
- Published in Coaching, Leadership, Podcast
#344 Major General Scott Clancy, for Director of Operations for NORAD, on Trust, Dealing with Difficult Teammates, and the Difference Between Leading and Coaching Your Teams
Thursday, 28 September 2023
Major General Scott Clancy served in the Canadian Armed Forces as a tactical helicopter pilot. He taught tactics at the Army Staff college and planned expeditionary operations at all levels of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Before retiring after a 37-year career, he served as the Deputy Commander of the Alaskan NORAD Region and finally as the Director
- Published in Leadership, Podcast, Team Culture
“Winning’s the Great Deodorant” (But That is Not Always a Good Thing)
Tuesday, 05 September 2023
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
- Published in Coaching, High School Sports, Parenting
#340 Brad Stulberg, Bestselling Author, on How to Build Sustainable Excellence, Overcome Target Fixation, and Master Change in Sports and Life
Friday, 01 September 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Brad Stulberg researches, writes, and coaches on health, well-being, and sustainable excellence. His brand new book is called Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything is Changing, Including You. He is the bestselling author of The Practice of Groundedness and co-author with past
- Published in Coaching, Mindset, Podcast, psychology
#339 Becky Burleigh, 3x National Champion Soccer Coach, on Coaching Human Beings, Not Human Doings, What Drives Winning, and The Best Question to Ask in a Player Meeting
Friday, 25 August 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Becky Burleigh began her college soccer coaching career at the ripe old age of 21, coaching Berry College to two NAIA National Championships before moving onto the University of Florida. In her nearly three decades at Florida, she won the 1998 NCAA Championship,
- Published in Coaching, Leadership, Podcast, Soccer
#338 A Conversation with the 2023 NCAA Champion University of Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse Staff
Friday, 18 August 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast This week on the podcast we have a coaching masterclass. John and Jerry sit down with the coaching staff from the University of Notre Dame’s 2023 NCAA Champion Men’s lacrosse team. Head Coach Kevin Corrigan just completed his 35th season at the helm
#337 Jenny Levy, 3x NCAA Champion UNC Women’s Lacrosse Coach, on Recruiting and Developing Leaders in Your Program
Friday, 11 August 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Jenny Levy has led UNC Women’s lacrosse to 3 NCAA Championships, 13 NCAA Final Fours and over 400 wins. She has been named NCAA Coach of the year on three occasions, and ACC Coach of the year seven times. She was also the
- Published in lacrosse, Leadership, Podcast
#334 Molly Grisham, College Soccer Coach, Communication Professor and Leadership Consultant: “Power Can Be Taken Away; Influence Cannot”
Friday, 21 July 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Keynote Speaker and Experiential Facilitator, Molly Grisham (@mollygrisham) helps to build and sustain teams in a wide variety of industries. She believes that teams don’t grow apart; they die apart. She knows that elite, high-performing teams in all industries get stretched and stressed
- Published in Coaching, Leadership, Podcast
#331 Dave Dickerson, USC Upstate Mens Basketball Coach, on Creating a Transformational Environment, and Turning Tragedy into Triumph
Friday, 30 June 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Dave Dickerson is the head men’s basketball coach at the University of South Carolina-Upstate. A former player at the University of Maryland, he has been an assistant coach at numerous schools including Maryland, Ohio State, Tulane and others. His teams have won an
- Published in Basketball, Coaching, Podcast
Great Athletes Have a Humble Heart
Tuesday, 06 June 2023
(This week we wanted to share another chapter from the leadership section of our new book The Champion Teammate: Timeless lessons to Connect, Compete and Lead in Sports and Life. This chapter is about humility, and shares some great stories of legendary athletes who were so incredibly humble and willing to share any accolades that
- Published in Book reviews, Gratitude, Leadership
#326 The Champion Teammate: John and Jerry Discuss the Launch of their New Book, Why They Wrote it, and Their Favorite Chapters
Friday, 26 May 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast This is a very special episode of the podcast this week as John and Jerry celebrate the release of their brand new book The Champion Teammate: Timeless Lessons to Connect, Compete and Lead in Sports and Life. We are so excited for this
- Published in Book reviews, Coaching, Podcast
Be a Thermostat, not a Thermometer: Sample Chapter from our New Book “The Champion Teammate”
Tuesday, 02 May 2023
(Jerry and John are so excited to announce the upcoming release of our new book The Champion Teammate: Timeless Lessons to Connect, Compete and Lead in Sports in Life. Throughout our lives, we will be part of many teams. From sports teams to community groups to our dining room table, our lives are filled with
- Published in Coaching, Leadership, Team Culture
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Sherri Coale was one of the most accomplished and impactful head coaches in University of Oklahoma history in any sport, is retiring after a transformative 25 years at the helm of the OU women’s basketball program. Coale retiring after 25 years, more than 500
- Published in Basketball, Coaching, Podcast
#319 A Mediterranean Tapas Chat with Todd Beane of TOVO Academy, Skye Eddy of Soccer Parenting, and John O’Sullivan of Changing the Game Project
Friday, 07 April 2023
This week we bring you a special episode recorded in Sitges, Spain with TOVO Academy Founder Todd Beane (@_ToddBeane), Soccer Parenting founder Skye Eddy (@SoccerParenting), and John. We all happened to cross paths in Spain when John’s team was participating in a training week at TOVO, and we took the opportunity to have a few
#317 Nate Boyer, NFL and University of Texas Football Player, Green Beret, and Renaissance Man on Transitions, Colin Kaepernick, and His Incredible Journey in Football and Life
Thursday, 23 March 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Nate Boyer (@NateBoyer37) is a renaissance man. He is a former Green Beret, and played football for the Seattle Seahawks and the university of Texas despite having never played high school football! He currently works as a film producer and leadership consultant, as
#309 James Leath, Mental Performance Coach at EXOS, on Using Improv Games to Build Team Culture and Develop Leaders
Friday, 27 January 2023
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast James Leath (@jamesleath) is a mental performance coach, keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, and founder of Unleash the Athlete. He is the former Head of Leadership at IMG Academy and currently is a mental performance coach for EXOS. when not traveling the world speaking
- Published in Coaching, Motivation, Podcast
304 Tim Kight: Leaders Create Culture. Culture Drives Behavior. Behavior Produces Results (replay)
Friday, 23 December 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast This week on the Way of Champions Podcast we welcome Leadership Expert Tim Kight (@Focus3team), and you are going to want to take some notes. Tim founded Focus 3 in the mid-80’s in Southern California, a life-long student of elite performance with the
- Published in Leadership, Podcast, Team Culture
#303 Kim Barnes Arico, University of Michigan Women’s Basketball Coach, on Charting a Unique Coaching Path, Building Programs, And Adapting Your Style to the Players You Have
Friday, 16 December 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Kim Barnes Arico finished her 10th season as the head coach of the University of Michigan Women’s basketball team in 2021-22, leading the Maize and Blue to 25 wins and the first NCAA Elite Eight appearance in program history. Throughout her 10-year tenure,
- Published in Basketball, Coaching, Podcast
#301 In Memory of Dr. Greg Dale: A Replay of Our Podcast from 2020 “Stop Catastrophizing Failure”
Friday, 02 December 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast It is with a heavy heart that we replay this podcast this week, as we lost a truly great family man, leader, and mentor in the space of coaching, leadership and human development, Dr. Greg Dale. He was only 60 years old and
- Published in Coaching, Podcast, psychology
299 Bill Eckstrom, author of The Coaching Effect: “The only way athletes will improve is if the team has a coach who improves.”
Friday, 18 November 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Bill Eckstrom (@ecsellsports) is the CEO and founder of Ecsell Institute, the parent company of Ecsell Sports, Ecsell Business and Ecsell Education. Bill’s robust professional career path has encompassed sales, sales leadership, executive leadership with private and publicly traded companies, and as a
- Published in Coaching, Leadership, Podcast
#295 Ryan Bernacchi, Fmr. Navy Captain, TOP GUN Instructor, and Commander of the Blue Angels on Character, Leadership, Team Building, and the Importance of Visualization to High Performance
Friday, 21 October 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Listen and Watch the Podcast on You Tube: @WayofChampionsPodcast Captain Ryan Bernacchi, USN (Ret.) is a retired naval officer who possesses a unique background in aviation, leadership, high performance teamwork, and organizational culture. During his distinguished 25-year career in the Navy his notable positions include the Commanding Officer and Flight Leader of
- Published in Leadership, Podcast
#292: Christopher Kolenda, Retired US Army Colonel, on Servant Leadership, Getting Buy In From Your Team, and Taking Lessons from the Battlefield to the Sports Field
Friday, 30 September 2022
Listen on the web, iTunes, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher Christopher Kolenda is a West Point Grad and a retired US Army Colonel, as well as the founder of the Strategic Leaders Academy, Kolenda helps leaders and their teams soar to new heights. During his military career, Kolenda, a combat leader and trusted adviser to three four-star generals and two undersecretaries
- Published in Leadership, mental health, Podcast