The Pure Athlete Podcast

Latest Episodes:

PA Replay: The Wonderful, Wacky, Messed-Up World of Travel Sports Aug 29, 2025

Show notes

Join us as we dive deep into the world of travel sports. While travel has long been a crucial aspect of a young athlete's journey, it has slowly become an increasingly draining and expensive endeavor. How much is too much? What’s the right age to get started? What's the true cost? Are we doing it for our children or ourselves? Many athletes and parents are adamant that travel is one of the best parts of the youth sports experience— so let's keep it that way!

We're delving into all of these pressing questions and even reading through some listener comments as we guide you through the exhilarating yet rapidly evolving world of travel sports.

140. Dr. Riley Nickols: Managing Anxiety, Perfectionism, and Building Healthy Mental Habits for Young Athletes Aug 26, 2025

Show notes

If you are a parent or coach of young athletes, you need to learn all you can about the common mental health challenges and issues experienced by many young athletes. On this episode, Dr Riley Nickols, counselor, sports psychologist, author, and founder of Mind, Body, Endurance shares his expertise and experience gained by working with many elite, young athletes. Dr Nickols discusses the the topic of performance anxiety in youth sports, providing perspective on the difference between normal nervousness vs true anxiety that can become crippling for a young athlete. the discussion includes the signs that parents and coaches can identify, and the reality that the physical discomfort of play that many athletes are used to ignoring often leads to trying to press through mental health issues that shouldn't be ignored. Dr Nickols also discusses the area of perfectionism that many athletes wrestle with, including how to have a healthy approach. In addition, Dr Nickols has deep expertise in the areas of disordered eating, eating disorders, and overtraining, which many young athletes wrestle with, both girls and boys. Finally, Dr Nickols discusses the mental health challenges that often accompany physical injuries that athletes experience, providing guidance on how to address these challenges and provide adequate attention to the overall mental health of your young athlete.

139. Chris Sale: Atlanta Braves Cy Young Award-Winning Pitcher Aug 19, 2025

Show notes

While rehabbing from a fractured rib, Cy Young winning pitcher Chris Sale joins the show to hang out with Jeff, Britt, and Brad and talk a little baseball, youth sports, and parenting. We've talked many times about how kids may be late bloomers in sports and Chris is a great example of that. Throughout youth and high school, no one expected Chris to be a big leaguer, though he loved baseball, as well as other sports, and had great support from his parents and coaches. As a skinny left-hander, Chris topped out around 87-88 mph in high school and didn't land a Division 1 scholarship. Instead, Chris pitched at Florida Gulf Coast University, where he had an average first two years. The summer before his junior year was a pivotal time for Chris and he shares all about what happened that led to his prolific big-league career. Chris also talks about arm care for young pitchers, when to begin throwing curveballs, his sports-parenting approach with his three boys, and much more. Plenty of great insights from Chris for kids, parents, and coaches.

138. Season 4 Kickoff: Are You Navigating The Three Phases Of Youth Sports The Right Way? Aug 12, 2025

Show notes

Jeff and Britt launch Season 4 of the show looking back at some of the best moments in Season 3 and sharing some of the exciting plans for the next year. In addition, the guys have a rich discussion about the different phases of the youth sports journey...the Getting Started phase, the Getting Serious phase, and the All In phase. The guys share how they define each phase as well as what goals parents and kids should be pursuing in each of these phases. Too many times today, we tend to seek goals in the early phases that can't be realized until the latter part of the journey, robbing some of the fun out of the journey for both kids and parents. Taking the time to understand what the goals in each phase should be helps us gain perspective on how to be more effective sports parents. The guys also discuss the challenges in each phase - yes, each phase has them - and the wins, or positive opportunities that each phase provides for young athletes and families. As school starts back, this is a great topic to ponder and reset your priorities for sports parenting in the coming year, based on the phase your young athlete is in.

PA Replay: Dr Neeru Jayanthi: Research Expert on Youth Sports Specialization Aug 05, 2025

Show notes

Joining us today is one of the world’s leading researchers and experts on injury prevention. Dr. Neeru Jayanthi, the Director of Emory Sports Medicine and Research, chats with the guys about healthy training models and sport specialization for young athletes. Dr. Jayanthi has been on HBO’s Real Sports, ESPN, ABC, NBC, CBS, while also working with MLB, NFL, US Soccer, ATP/WTA Tennis, among others. We discuss his research on thousands of young athletes on topics such as:

- high intensity sports impact on young athlete bodies

-research results on risk-rewards of early age sport specialization

-injury propensity for male vs female athletes

-load management advice by age

-benefits of multiple sport playing

-benefits of "free-play" sports activities

-benefits of multi-sport participation and breaks

PA Replay: Clemson Head Football Coach Dabo Swinney Jul 30, 2025

Show notes

As summer ends and college football approaches, we thought it was time to replay one of our most popular episodes, with Frenchy's good buddy Coach Dabo Swinney. Dabo shares his compelling youth sports journey, including how he credits sports for giving him sanctuary from a difficult family situation. The coach shares incredible insights about coaching, what he prioritizes in his interactions with players and his coaches, life lessons that are available in sports, how he parents his own kids, and his unique overall approach to coaching in the current state of college football. If you are a coach, this episode will inspire you to strive for excellence but also to prioritize the impact you make in player's lives.

PA Replay: Matt & Leslee Holliday on Sports Parenting Jul 26, 2025

Show notes

Having just Ethan Holliday drafted in the first round of the MLB draft by the Colorado Rockies, following his brother Jackson being drafted #1 overall several years ago, we believe it's a great time to replay our conversation with Mom and Dad. Former MLB Star Matt Holliday and his wife Leslee are raising their four kids in today's complex world of youth sports. Their oldest two boys shared their dad's passion for baseball, and their talent led the family into the crazy world of travel ball. In addition to Ethan and Jackson, Matt and Leslee have another younger son and daughter who have other passions, which Matt and Leslee are equally committed to supporting. In this episode, Matt and Leslee share their hearts for how they wanted to raise their kids, not just as athletes, but as high-character people. They share how they are navigating the craziness of sports and other activities to support their kid's dreams, but not at the expense of their marriage, their family life or their faith. You will be challenged and encouraged to hear Leslee's and Matt's hearts and wisdom as a sports mom and dad trying to get all of it right.

137. Coach Ballgame: The Right Approach to Sports Parenting & Coaching Jul 22, 2025

Show notes

If you aren’t familiar with Coach Ballgame (James Lowe), you are missing out on one of Major League Baseball's best and most important ambassadors. This week, the guys have an inspiring conversation with Coach Ballgame, learning about his story as a talented college player to being MLB’s representative to promote the fun and life lessons available to youth players all over the country. Coach Ballgame shares a pivotal moment in his baseball career, involving a college at bat against Justin Verlander. He discusses how his relationship with Joe Buck led to his current role with MLB, and share the primary message he takes to kids, parents, and coaches around the country. This episode is full of positive, challenging, and specific advice for youth coaches and parents to ensure kids learn the game, learn to love the game, and most importantly, learn important life lessons from the game - and his message extends beyond the diamond to other sports and activities. If you are a youth coach or parent, you don’t want to miss this fun and informative episode.

125. Dr. Mark Kovacs: What You Need To Know About Physical Development in Youth Sports Jul 19, 2025

Show notes

On this episode, we welcome back renowned Sports Science expert Dr. Mark Kovacs, who shares a wealth of valuable and practical insights to help coaches, parents, and young athletes understand many critical physical development factors for boys and girls, emphasizing strategies to enhance performance while also minimizing the risk of injuries and long-term burnout.

Dr Kovacs shares valuable scientific information including the risks of overtraining during peak growth spurts, the prevalence and impact of Vitamin D deficiency for athletes, the importance of annual bloodwork panels and what to test for that impacts performance, the differences in development of girls vs boys, and much more. In addition, we discuss the risks of sport specialization, and have a very interesting and fun discussion, based on his experience and expertise, on which sports requires the highest level of athleticism, and which skill, from all sports, is the most difficult. This conversation is packed with great information to help ensure young athletes - boys and girls - are physically in the right place to maximize performance and prevent injuries.

124. Mental Performance Coach Justin Su'a: Developing a Winning Mindset For Young Athletes Jul 08, 2025

Show notes

Struggles with confidence, poor body language, negative self- talk, and response to failure are just some of the mental performance challenges that young athletes must overcome to maximize their performance. On this week's episode, we discuss these challenges and more with Mental Performance expert Justin Su'a. Justin was previously the Head of Mental Performance at IMG Academy, before working for the Boston Red Sox, Tampa Bay Rays, and Cleveland Browns, as well as with PGA golfers and ATP tennis players. In addition, Justin co-hosts the popular Diggin Deep podcast with former MLB players. Justin brings his expertise, experience, and positivity to our conversation, inspiring parents, coaches, and kids to train the mental side for success both on and off the field.

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