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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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#98 MLS All Star and US National Team Forward Brian Ching discusses his Journey from Hawaii to the World Cup

Sunday, 20 January 2019 by John O'Sullivan
He was not always the best player in the group, he didn’t play soccer year-round, and he didn’t have access to see the game being played by the best. He did work harder than anyone else and always kept the mindset there was room to be better. Because he chose work ethic as his guide,
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#94 Can We Promote and Teach Creativity with James Vaughan from the Player Development Project

Sunday, 23 December 2018 by John O'Sullivan
We all want our players to be creative. We structure the way they train to promote creativity. We talk to them about embracing creativity. However, because we structure it, are we prohibiting the potential for creativity to arise? Is the macro-culture of youth sports holding back creativity? James Vaughan, who did a PhD in studying
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#84 How to Build Great Habits and Break Bad Ones with Internationally Known Author and Blogger James Clear

Sunday, 21 October 2018 by John O'Sullivan
Have you ever tried to break a bad habit or create a good one and struggled to get the results to stick? James Clear has solved the problem and shares some of the science behind habits in this podcast and his new book. Listen in now.   Enjoy the Show Show Notes 8:40 How James
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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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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 by John O'Sullivan
Would you be willing to trade 10 minutes at the start of practice in order to shorten training by an hour and increase your team’s learning and development? Many coaches struggle to keep practices short and on task and fear giving up any time to activities like mindfulness training. What Dr. Lynch has discovered, the
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  • Published in Podcast, Team Culture
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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 by John O'Sullivan
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
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WoC Podcast #5: 2x Olympic Decathlon Champion Ashton Eaton

Tuesday, 18 April 2017 by John O'Sullivan
It’s not often you get to speak with the greatest athlete in the world, and pick his brain about coaching, practice habits, multi-sport participation, parental and coaching influences, staying on top of your game, and so much more. This week John sits down with world record holder and 2x Olympic Gold Medalist Ashton Eaton for
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An Open Letter from the Back Seat

Tuesday, 31 January 2017 by John O'Sullivan
Dear Mom and Dad I wanted to start this letter by saying I love you, and I know you mean well. I appreciate all the time and energy you put into taking me to my games and practices, and I know you sacrifice a lot to do it. I also appreciate when you try to
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  • Published in Sports Parenting
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Yes, I Do Play My Favorites

Monday, 12 September 2016 by James Leath
(Article written by James Leath (@jamesleath)) “I am sick and tired of coaches playing favorites” a parent once told me at a speaking event. “A coach should be completely impartial. It teaches the wrong message when he or she only plays favorites. Am I right?” I smiled, took a breath and responded, “I actually think
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Dear Potential Recruit, Your Talent Only Gets You So Far

Wednesday, 10 August 2016 by John O'Sullivan
Contributed by James Leath (@jamesleath) “He is going to be shocked we no longer want him.” “Come again?” I asked the college assistant coach seated across from me at lunch. “You flew across the country to meet him, and now you won’t recruit him anymore?” The coach had recently stopped for a day in another
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3 Questions That Turn Losing into Learning

Wednesday, 03 August 2016 by John O'Sullivan
“Do you want to win every game you play for the rest of your life?” That was a question that Olympic gold medalist and current USA Women’s Volleyball team head coach Karch Kiraly asked his team as they prepared for the 2014 World Championships. “Because we can,” he told them. They could schedule easy opponents,
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  • Published in Coaching, Parenting
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3 Ways Coaches Can Inspire Their Athletes

Tuesday, 31 May 2016 by John O'Sullivan
A few nights ago I went to a graduation. Not a high school or a college graduation, but one far smaller, and far more personal. In fact, there were only seven kids, one of which was my 9-year-old son TJ. He and six others were being recognized by their amazing teacher for their dedication, hard
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  • Published in Coaching, High School Sports, Soccer
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The Rocky Road of Excellence

Tuesday, 09 February 2016 by John O'Sullivan
“How many of you want to be a college athlete?” I asked this question to 3,000 middle school students in Southern California recently. In all, about 1,000 kids raised their hands. “What about an artist? A singer? What about a musician?” Maybe 500 students raised their hands. “What about running a business? Raise your hand
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  • Published in Coaching, Goal Setting, Mental Toughness, Messages for Kids
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The Difference Between Winning and Losing

Tuesday, 06 October 2015 by James Leath
By James Leath (this first appeared on his blog at www.JamesLeath.com) A former student athlete of mine was awarded a full ride to play NCAA D1 football and he called me recently, just to talk. Calls from former athletes are a huge highlight in any coach’s day. “Coach, what is the difference between winning and
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An Uncommon Man: Life Lessons from a True Sporting Role Model

Wednesday, 08 July 2015 by John O'Sullivan
Back in the summer of 2000, I was just completing my first year as an assistant men’s soccer coach at the University of Vermont. Between sessions of summer camp, I often ducked out of the heat by having lunch in the cool confines of UVM’s famed Gutterson Field House, watching some of the planet’s best
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  • Published in Deliberate Practice, Messages for Kids, Uncategorized
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Help, My Child is a Late Bloomer: 5 Tips for Overcoming the “Relative Age Effect” in Youth Sports

Friday, 29 May 2015 by John O'Sullivan
“Here is my question,” a mother concerned with her 10 year-old son’s sports experience recently wrote me. “I am not afraid that my son will quit sports by the time he is 13.  I am afraid that he will be denied the opportunity to play. My son is coordinated and coachable. He LOVES sports; we
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  • Published in Problems in Youth Sports, Relative Age Effect, Sports Parenting
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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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How to Raise a Lion Chaser!

Monday, 04 August 2014 by John O'Sullivan
“Coach, I don’t want to take a penalty shot,” said a very nervous 13 year-old player of mine a few years back. We were in the Oregon Soccer State Cup semifinals, and this talented but not quite confident young girl looked in no mood to take a shot in the penalty shootout to determine whether
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  • Published in Book reviews, Confidence, Mental Toughness
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A Higher Purpose Than Winning

Wednesday, 23 July 2014 by John O'Sullivan
If you put a bunch of top coaches, sport scientists and psychologists in a room together, they may not agree on much. They would agree on one thing though: an overemphasis on winning and competition, instead of practice and development, is detrimental to the long term performance of young athletes. Unfortunately, today in youth sports
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  • Published in Coaching, Motivation, Sport for Social Impact
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FUN is NOT a 4-letter Word!

Monday, 07 July 2014 by John O'Sullivan
When I was a kid, my parents taught me to avoid those bad four letter words we all have heard. You know the ones I mean, the ones that you would first hear in school and then think it was OK to use them at home, until you saw that look on dad’s face! My
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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 Mindset of High-Performers

Tuesday, 03 June 2014 by John O'Sullivan
“I lost my starting spot on the soccer team. I’m just not good at soccer.” “I failed my math test. I’m just not good at math.” Ever heard such a statement form one of your kids? From one of your players? If so, it is very likely that the single greatest factor limiting their performance
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  • Published in Confidence, Praise, State
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Starting Your Athletes the Right Way

Thursday, 29 May 2014 by John O'Sullivan
(A child’s first contact and first impression of a sport goes a long way to determining whether or not he will fall in love with the game. As basketball great Steve Nash says, upon receiving his first ball and playing in his first organized league at age 13, “I felt like I had a new
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  • Published in Coaching, Motivation, Sports Parenting
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Surviving Tryout Season

Monday, 12 May 2014 by John O'Sullivan
Spring and early summer usually bring about an annual rite of passage in youth sports: TRYOUTS! They can be a time of great joy, or tremendous disappointment. Tryouts can be a time filled with pressure, stress, politics and many of the other unsavory aspects of youth sports. They can also be a time where a
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The Incredibly Massive Importance of Play

Tuesday, 04 March 2014 by John O'Sullivan
Let me be blunt and scream this from the rooftop: the best athletes PLAY sports. They don’t work them, they play them. When sport becomes more work than play, athletes struggle, they grind, and if they cannot get back to playing instead of working, they eventually drop out. From youth to pros, when the fun
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  • Published in Coaching, Deliberate Practice, Motivation, Sports Parenting
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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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Rescue Your Kids From “Affluenza”: Teach Them Grit!

Monday, 16 December 2013 by John O'Sullivan
The recent news out of Texas, where a 16 year old driver was only given probation for driving drunk and killing four innocent bystanders, popularized a new psychological term in the process. Apparently, parents raising children in wealthy suburbs with little oversight, few rules, and utter indifference to their behavior are causing “affluenza,” a supposed
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  • Published in Mental Toughness, Praise, 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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More Important Than Talent

Tuesday, 12 November 2013 by John O'Sullivan
Parents ask me all the time if I think their child has what it takes to play at the college or professional level. They are asking if I think their kid has enough talent. My reply: “How much are your kids willing to suffer?” The answer to that simple question will go a long way
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  • Published in Coaching, Mental Toughness, Messages for Kids
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