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Youth Sports is a Journey, Not a Destination

Monday, 14 September 2020 by John O'Sullivan
COVID. Demonstrations and riots. Divisive politics. Home schooling. Wildfires. Smoke. As a coach for 30 years, and a parent for nearly 15 of those years, I am probably like most of you in that I cannot remember a crazier, more stressful, anxiety inducing year than 2020. It seems every time we take one step forward, we
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  • Published in Parenting
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#172 How to Be a Great Sports parent and a Better Coach with Seth Taylor and Skye Eddy Bruce

Sunday, 14 June 2020 by James Leath
This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we welcome Skye Eddy Bruce and Seth Taylor. We dive into the youth sports world and discuss the topic of being a great sports parent like how to get parents to listen to what their children want/need, the difference between encouraging and distracting sideline behavior by parents,
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Do Sports Actually Teach Character?

Tuesday, 01 October 2019 by John O'Sullivan
Head to any sports field this afternoon, and you will hear whistles blaring and coaches urging on their players to work harder and compete more. You will see exhausted athletes with their hands on their knees being implored to do one more set, or a coach shout “do it again” when a rep is not
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#110 Understanding the Sport Parent Psyche with iSport360’s Ian Goldberg

Sunday, 14 April 2019 by John O'Sullivan
Ian Goldberg is a sports dad, coach and Founder of iSport360, a SportsTech company that is helping coaches, kids and parents set goals, share player feedback and track player progress.  His informative and frequently-funny youth sports newsletter has 70,000 subscribers, earning Ian a place on the Advisory Council of the National Alliance for Youth Sports. https://isport360.com/ Connect
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An Open Letter to the Out of Control Sports Parent Sitting Next to Me in the Stands

Wednesday, 20 March 2019 by John O'Sullivan
Dear Out of Control Sports Parent, You. Yeah, you. The one shouting “Get the rebound!!!” to your kid. The one with the heart palpitating so loudly that you cannot contain yourself. The one yelling and complaining about the coach. The one hollering at the 13-year-old referee.  The one angry at my kid for making a
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#106 “How to Put Play Back into a Child’s Day” with Eric Seibel and Tim Bedley from “Global School Play Day”

Sunday, 17 March 2019 by John O'Sullivan
Global School Play Day is an ad-hoc leadership team of educators inspired by Dr. Peter Gray’s research on the decline of play and the adverse psychological, emotional and physical effects this has had on children. They continue to be a shoestring operation, promoting almost entirely through Twitter, Facebook and occasional spots on educational podcasts. No fees are
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#104 “You Coach a Child, Not a Sport!” with Dr. Martin Toms

Monday, 04 March 2019 by John O'Sullivan
Dr Martin Toms is a senior lecturer in Sports Coaching in the School of Sport & Exercise Sciences, College of Life and Environmental Sciences. Dr Toms has been involved in sport coaching and development for a number of years, and has experience of teaching in schools, as well as coaching (Professionally) prior to undertaking posts
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#102 “Is there a difference between Coaching Girls and Coaching Boys?” with Dr. Kristen Dieffenbach

Sunday, 17 February 2019 by John O'Sullivan
Kristen Dieffenbach is an associate professor of Athletic Coaching Education and the director of the Center for Applied Coaching and Sport Science at West Virginia University. She earned her PhD in exercise and sport science with an emphasis in sport and exercise psychology and is an Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP) certified mental skills
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#101 How to Create a Season to Remember with former MLB player Jack Perconte

Sunday, 10 February 2019 by John O'Sullivan
John Patrick “Jack” Perconte (born August 31, 1954) is a former second baseman in Major League Baseball who played from 1980 to 1986. In addition to his Major League baseball career, Perconte has authored three books: “Creating a Season to Remember: The New Youth Sports Coaching Leadership Handbook “The Making of a Hitter- A Proven and Practical Step-by-Step Baseball Guide” “Raising
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Our Favorite Books for Summer 2018

Tuesday, 22 May 2018 by John O'Sullivan
Every year, as summer rolls around, we give you the list of our favorite reads of the year so far. Between Memorial Day, Fathers Day, and that upcoming vacation I hope you are taking, it’s a great time to catch up on some reading. There have been some great new books that have come out
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Parenting and Coaching The Perfectionist Athlete

Tuesday, 08 May 2018 by John O'Sullivan
Last week, we received a question that we get often, so we thought it would make a great blog: “I was wondering if you could provide some advice. My son is 8 years old and plays on a travel baseball team. [He is ] blessed with athleticism. He’s fast and has great hand-eye coordination. The
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  • Published in Coaching, Parenting
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#56 “Some parents are crazy, but most are just stressed!” Why parent engagement is key to fixing youth sports with Skye Eddy Bruce, Founder of SoccerParenting.com

Sunday, 08 April 2018 by John O'Sullivan
Are you one of THOSE sports parents? All too often, we lump sports parents into one large category based on the behaviors of a few. Skye Eddy Bruce joins us to explain that not all parents are that way and the key to creating a better sports experience may be found with engaging parents more effectively.
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#54 How Desirable Difficulties Help Our Children Succeed in Sports and Life with Jessica Lahey, Author of The Gift of Failure

Sunday, 25 March 2018 by John O'Sullivan
Are we robbing our kids of valuable self-directed executive function when we solve everything for them and don’t let them make mistakes? This is a valuable life skill needed to succeed in college and beyond. Listen in as Jessica Lahey explains on the newest podcast. Subscribe to the Way of Champions Podcast on iTunes Show
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When Will Youth Sports Actually Serve the Needs of Youth?

Wednesday, 07 March 2018 by John O'Sullivan
In late February I was traveling and speaking in Sydney and Perth, Australia, working for a variety of sports organizations including the Football (Soccer) Federation of Australia, Football New South Wales, the Western Australia Department of Sports and Recreation, and the WA Aussie Rules Football Committee. While on site, I got to visit the brand
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  • Published in Problems in Youth Sports, Relative Age Effect, Specialization
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#45 How a tiny Vermont town quietly became a Cradle of Olympians with Karen Crouse

Sunday, 21 January 2018 by John O'Sullivan
A small town in Vermont, with only 3,000 full-time inhabitants has put at least one athlete in every Olympic games since 1984, including the highest ever finisher in the ski jump from the US. What are they doing to create such elite athletes? The answer has little to do with sports… Bio Karen Crouse is a
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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 by John O'Sullivan
If an athlete’s inner dialogue is made up of the voices they hear most often and most intensely in their daily lives, what are we as parents and coaches saying that can form a champion’s mind? Join us as we talk to Two-time Iowa High School State Basketball Championship winning coach, Nate Sanderson, to discuss
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  • Published in Coaching, Podcast, Sports Parenting
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Looking for Answers? Get Our FREE Booklet With Links to Our Most Popular Articles for Parents, Coaches, Athletes and Youth Sports Organizations

Wednesday, 12 July 2017 by John O'Sullivan
Here at Changing the Game Project, every week we get a call or email that says “remember that article you wrote about…? We want to use it in our newsletter and we can’t find it. What was it called?” Well, after four years of publishing thousands of words a month, we have realized that we
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WOC #13 Nicole LaVoi, Co-Director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls and Women in Sport

Sunday, 11 June 2017 by John O'Sullivan
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
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  • Published in Coaching, Podcast
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The Talent That Whispers

Tuesday, 18 April 2017 by John O'Sullivan
The scouts snickered. They looked at the time again. To this day the 5.28 second 40 yard dash time is one of the slowest for quarterbacks in the history of the NFL combine. His 24.5 inch vertical leap didn’t have them lining up at his door either. He had been a good, but not an
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  • Published in Relative Age Effect, Talent Development
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It’s Time to End the Sideline Sportsanity

Monday, 10 April 2017 by John O'Sullivan
As soon as I stepped out of my car in the parking lot, I could hear it. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon of travel soccer, but there it was. You know what I’m talking about: that sometimes beautiful, often times excruciating cacophony of sounds that we have come to know as “cheering for our
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  • Published in Problems in Youth Sports, Sports Parenting
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Don’t Turn Your Young Athlete Into a Mini Me

Sunday, 19 March 2017 by John O'Sullivan
“Dad, am I a disappointment to you?” My son asked, choking back tears. I stopped dead in my tracks. We were walking out of a local amusement park on our way to the car. We had spent the day at the park to bond. It seems the plan backfired. I gathered myself. Inside I was
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  • Published in Sports Parenting
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The Unspoken Problem in Sports

Wednesday, 18 January 2017 by John O'Sullivan
(This week’s blog was written by Alecko Eskandarian (@alecko11), former US National Team player and current Assistant Coach of the NY Cosmos of the NASL. This article originally appeared 11/18/16 on the Players Tribune and they have graciously granted us permission to reprint it. We have read many articles about concussions, and this one really
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  • Published in Concussions, Injuries
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Coaches, Stop ‘Dealing with Parents’ and Start Engaging Them!

Monday, 12 December 2016 by John O'Sullivan
(This article was written by Nate Sanderson and originally appeared on Breakthrough Basketball. Nate is a great friend of Changing The Game Project and coach of the Iowa State Champion Springville Girls Basketball Team.  We highly encourage every coach and parent to read this and institute this in your team). For the past 14 years
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  • Published in Coaching, High School Sports
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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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What is Your Club’s D.N.A.?

Sunday, 24 January 2016 by John O'Sullivan
(This weeks blog is written by Todd Beane, Founder of TOVO International. Todd is the co-founder of Cruyff Football and Senior Advisor to the Cruyff Institute, and has consulted for FC Barcelona, Ajax Amsterdam, Chivas Guadalajara, Melbourne City FC, Mamelodi Sundowns, Austrian Football Federation) “We pretty much let the coaches decide what to do with
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  • Published in Leadership, Team Culture
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Does Youth Sports Get the Math All Wrong?

Monday, 14 December 2015 by John O'Sullivan
“I did not know there would be math on this test,” is something I say (jokingly) when I get a difficult question at my speaking engagements. Recently, I received an email from a frantic mom, and it got me thinking about math. Yes, math. When it comes to our current sporting environment, I think we often
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  • Published in Problems in Youth Sports, Specialization, Talent Development
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Redefining Success: 8 Tips for Being a Great Sports Parent

Wednesday, 28 October 2015 by John O'Sullivan
By James Leath “When did parenting get to be so stressful?” began a recent post on the Changing the Game Project Facebook page. “I worry that if I don’t provide them with the best equipment, or get them on the best team, or take them to every camp or tournament, then I am letting my
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Release Your Child to the Game!

Sunday, 27 September 2015 by John O'Sullivan
“I don’t know where to turn,” an exasperated dad recently told me after a speaking event. “My son is fast, and he is skilled. We do lots of extra practice, we go to a private skills coach, we are doing everything it takes to get to the next level, but something is not right. He
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  • Published in Goal Setting, Sports Parenting, TED talks
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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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The 4 Biggest Problems in Youth Sports Today

Friday, 03 April 2015 by John O'Sullivan
When you run an organization such as the Changing the Game Project, you hear many youth sports stories from parents, coaches, and players. Some stories are absolutely heartbreaking, others inspiring. Recently I encountered the absurd. Many of us have seen the news about a volleyball player from Washington DC who was taking her playing time
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  • Published in Family Values, Problems in Youth Sports, Specialization
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