Way of Champions Podcast

Latest Episodes:

#221 "The Better the Relationship, the More You Can Demand" with UNC Volleyball Coach Joe Sagula May 23, 2021

Show notes

Joe Sagula has spent the last 40 years as an NCAA Division I Women's Volleyball coach with the University of Pennsylvania and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. During that time his teams have won over 800 matches and 17 Conference titles. He is a 9x ACC and Ivy League Coach of the Year and ranks 15th all time in Division I wins. More importantly, Joe is an amazing guy, who is focused on creating a culture of love and respect, constantly reinventing himself, and creating a transformational experience for the kids he coaches. In this weeks episode we discuss love, power, vulnerability, culture, being a lifelong learner, joy, and so much more. Buckle in and get ready to take some notes!

This week's podcast is brought to you by our friends at Sports Refund. Many of you probably buy trip insurance, every winter I buy ski pass insurance, to make sure that if I get injured I can get my money back on that expensive investment. Well, many of us spend thousands of dollars on our kids sports club fees, but what if they get hurt? In many cases you cannot get your money back, but now with Sports Refund you can. For just pennies on the dollar, you can make sure that if your child gets sick or injured and misses a month or more you can get your money back, or your club can get paid. It's a great product, just go to www.sportsrefund.com/game and get your free quote, and if it sounds good you can either get your club to sign up, or you can purchase on your own.

Way of Champions Conference 2021

This weeks podcast is brought to you by the 2021 Way of Champions Leadership Conference, August 21-22, being held virtually this year. We have put together a lineup that is out of this world for our event, and just added Tara VanDerveer, the legendary Stanford Women's Basketball coach who just broke Pat Summits all time wins record on NCAA hoops. Other guest speakers include Steve Kerr of the Warriors, Quin Snyder of the Utah Jazz, multiple time NCAA Champion coaches Anson Dorrance, Cindy Timchal, and Jenny Levy, and mindfulness expert George Mumford. Click here to learn more or register before we sell out!

Become a Podcast Champion! This weeks podcast is also sponsored by our Patreon Podcast Champions. Help Support the Podcast and get FREE access to our most popular online courses, a $300 value. If you love the podcast, we would love for you to become a Podcast Champion, (https://www.patreon.com/wayofchampions) for as little as a cup of coffee per month (OK, its a Venti Mocha), to help us up the ante and provide even better interviews, better sound, and an overall enhanced experience. Plus, as a $10 per month Podcast Super-Champion, you will have access to never before released and bonus material, including:

Downloadable transcripts of our best podcasts, so you don't have to crash your car trying to take notes!
A code to get free access to our online course called "Coaching Mastery," usually a $97 course, plus four other courses worth over $100, all yours for free for becoming a patron.
Other special bonus opportunities that come up time to time
Access to an online community of coaches like you who are dedicated listeners of the podcast, and will be able to answer your questions and share their coaching experiences.

Thank you for all your support these past four years, and a special big thank you to all of you who become part of our inner circle, our patrons, who will enable us to take our podcast to the next level. https://www.patreon.com/wayofchampions

#220 Surviving and Thriving During Tryout Season with John O'Sullivan and Jerry Lynch May 16, 2021

Show notes

This past week, John has been assisting his local competitive soccer club with their annual tryouts, and like most years, tryouts are a trying time! How do you balance the "as many as possible, as long as possible" philosophy with facility shortages, lack of trained coaches, and the fact that competitive teams and leagues require different levels of commitments than some are willing to make? How do athletes prepare mentally to perform their best? How can parents support their kids during this time? How do you support the child who gets cut or moved to a new team? And how can coaches be humane and empathize with their players and parents while at the same time make the difficult decisions they are called to make? We have never covered this in depth on the podcast before, so we figured we would give it a shot this week. Please let us know what you think!

Way of Champions Conference 2021

Downloadable transcripts of our best podcasts, so you don't have to crash your car trying to take notes!
A code to get free access to our online course called "Coaching Mastery," usually a $97 course, plus four other courses worth over $100, all yours for free for becoming a patron.
Other special bonus opportunities that come up time to time
Access to an online community of coaches like you who are dedicated listeners of the podcast, and will be able to answer your questions and share their coaching experiences.

#219 "Prepare the Child for the Path, not the Path for the Child" with Author and HS Football Coach Clint Schumacher May 09, 2021

Show notes

Resilience is quite the buzzword these days, but what is it exactly, and how do we develop resilience in ourselves, and model it for our children? Clint Schumacher is a husband, father, lawyer, HS football coach and author fo the great new book Second Wind, all about the 14 decisions we get to make about whether to be resilient or not throughout our lives. In this weeks talk John and Clint break down a few of these major choices we get to make, such as viewing obstacles as opportunities, preparing the child for the path, and more. Schumacher is passionate about building teams that are resilient, engaged, and motivated. He has the unique experience of both working to solve complex legal problems and coaching young athletes to succeed. He has studied, applied, and taught the principles of resilience set out in this book. They work. He has completed a marathon, climbed the Sydney Harbor Bridge, won a bellyflop contest, and finished deep in the money at the World Series of Poker, and has many years of experience coaching youth and high school football. He holds a Bachelor of Business Administration from Abilene Christian University in Accounting and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. You can learn more about Clint and his great book here:

www.findsecondwind.com

Twitter: @J_Clint

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/findsecondwind

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clint-schumacher-a81b678/

This weeks podcast is brought to you by our friends at Sports Refund. Many of you probably buy trip insurance, every winter I buy ski pass insurance, to make sure that if I get injured I can get my money back on that expensive investment. Well, many of us spend thousands of dollars on our kids sports club fees, but what if they get hurt? In many cases you cannot get your money back, but now with Sports Refund you can. For just pennies on the dollar, you can make sure that if your child gets sick or injured and misses a month or more you can get your money back, or your club can get paid. It's a great product, just go to www.sportsrefund.com/game and get your free quote, and if it sounds good you can either get your club to sign up, or you can purchase on your own.

Way of Champions Conference 2021

Downloadable transcripts of our best podcasts, so you don't have to crash your car trying to take notes!
A code to get free access to our online course called "Coaching Mastery," usually a $97 course, plus four other courses worth over $100, all yours for free for becoming a patron.
Other special bonus opportunities that come up time to time
Access to an online community of coaches like you who are dedicated listeners of the podcast, and will be able to answer your questions and share their coaching experiences.

#218 Mark Bennett: How Coaches Shape Behavior, Influence Training Habits, and Build Accountable Teams (Replay) May 02, 2021

Show notes

This week we dive into the archives, back to episode 31 where Mark Bennett visited us for the first time. This podcast was a game changer for me in terms of how I coach, communicate with athletes, build accountability, and more. It was so fun to do the editing again and listen to this one. Get ready to take some notes!

Mark is a former British Commando & senior instructor within the Army Physical Training Corps who served 22 years before turning down promotion in order to leave the services & pursue his passion full time. During his Military career Mark was the senior instructor running the commando training wing & was the first person to redesign the preparatory training to focus on developing mental robustness within soldiers to increase the pass rate on one of the toughest courses in the British Army.

Mark works as a consultant, trainer, mentor & coach to various corporations, professional & national sport organizations, teams & Universities around the world, as well as Schools & community sports to help transform the leadership capabilities of every manger, coach & teacher that he comes in contact with. Put simply, Mark makes people better "influencers".

Over the last 3 decades Mark has worked with over 30 sports at all levels & age groups; from grass roots to professional & International teams. He has also supported national sports organizations & global businesses to embed robust cultures that improve wellness, productivity & performance. Mark had the honor of being awarded the MBE by her majesty the Queen in 2006 for his work in developing his systems.

Learn more at www.pdscoaching.com or follow Mark @pdscoach

This weeks podcast is brought to you by our friends at Sports Refund. Many of you probably buy trip insurance, every winter I buy ski pass insurance, to make sure that if I get injured I can get my money back on that expensive investment. Well, many of us spend thousands of dollars on our kids sports club fees, but what if they get hurt? In many cases you cannot get your money back, but now with Sports Refund you can. For just pennies on the dollar, you can make sure that if your child gets sick or injured and misses a month or more you can get your money back, or your club can get paid. It's a great product, just go to sportsrefund.com/game and get your free quote, and if it sounds good you can either get your club to sign up, or you can purchase on your own.

Way of Champions Conference 2021

Downloadable transcripts of our best podcasts, so you don't have to crash your car trying to take notes!
A code to get free access to our online course called "Coaching Mastery," usually a $97 course, plus four other courses worth over $100, all yours for free for becoming a patron.
Other special bonus opportunities that come up time to time
Access to an online community of coaches like you who are dedicated listeners of the podcast, and will be able to answer your questions and share their coaching experiences.

#217 The Power of "I Love to Watch You Play" with 4x Emmy Award Winning Sports Journalist and Producer Asia Mape Apr 25, 2021

Show notes

Asia Mape is a 4x Emmy Awards winning sports journalist and producer, and the founder of the incredible website "I Love to Watch You Play." She has covered five Olympic games, two Super Bowls and nearly every major sporting event in the world. She has also interviewed hundreds of the top athletes, and has first hand knowledge of what it takes to perform at the highest level. A former college basketball player and mom of three athletic girls, Mape has dedicated the past few years to providing parents and coaches with the latest information on coaching, parenting, nutrition, sleep, and everything youth sports. You can follow her on social media, (@iltwyp) and get instant access to all her latest posts. Here are also some of her best articles:

Kids Tell Us The Truth About Sports Parents 17-Ways I'm going to be a better sports parent Why it sucks to be the parent of a good athlete The crucial lesson parents must learn from Covid

In our conversation today we cover so many items, from the origins of ILTWYP, to five great pieces of advice to best support your kids, to her annual article on how she promises to be a better sports parent. She also tells an absolutely hilarious story about her children's nickname for her when she helps them out with their sports. You can find all things ILTWYP at https://ilovetowatchyouplay.com/

This weeks podcast is brought to you by our friends at Sports Refund. Many of you probably buy trip insurance, every winter I buy ski pass insurance, to make sure that if I get injured I can get my money back on that expensive investment. Well, many of us spend thousands of dollars on our kids sports club fees, but what if they get hurt? In many cases you cannot get your money back, but now with Sports Refund you can. For just pennies on the dollar, you can make sure that if your child gets sick or injured and misses a month or more you can get your money back, or your club can get paid. It's a great product, just go to sportsrefund.com/game and get your free quote, and if it sounds good you can either get your club to sign up, or you can purchase on your own.

Way of Champions Conference 2021

Downloadable transcripts of our best podcasts, so you don't have to crash your car trying to take notes!
A code to get free access to our online course called "Coaching Mastery," usually a $97 course, plus four other courses worth over $100, all yours for free for becoming a patron.
Other special bonus opportunities that come up time to time
Access to an online community of coaches like you who are dedicated listeners of the podcast, and will be able to answer your questions and share their coaching experiences.

#216 How Great Teams "Stick Together" with Author and Coach Kate Leavell Apr 18, 2021

Show notes

Kate Leavell is a speaker, workshop facilitator, and author of the brand new book Stick Together with Jon Gordon. She is a former NCAA and high school coach, corporate sales consultant, and Coaches Education Trainer for US Lacrosse, and now works with teams and leaders across the country to boost performance, connection, and energy as one of the lead trainers for the Jon Gordon group. She is passionate about teaching strategies that turn a powerful vision into reality, while unifying teammates around their purpose and mission. She is also the author of Confessions of an Imperfect Coach as well as a sports parent.

In our conversation today, we discuss her great new book and its simple principles about how great teams come together through shared purpose, ownership, love, inclusion, and much more. Stick Together is a great book for teams coaching staffs, and other groups to read and reflect n together, and Kate delivers this message with great knowledge and passion.

This weeks podcast is brought to you by our friends at Sports Refund. Many of you probably by trip insurance, every winter I buy ski pass insurance, to make sure that if I get injured I can get my money back on that expensive investment. Well, many of us spend thousands of dollars on our kids sports club fees, but what if they get hurt? In many cases you cannot get your money back, but now with Sports refund you can. For just pennies on the dollar, you can make sure that if your child gets sick or injured and misses a month or more you can get your money back, or your club can get paid. It's a great product, just go to sportsrefund.com/game and get your free quote, and if it sounds good you can either get your club to sign up, or you can purchase on your own.

Way of Champions Conference 2021

Downloadable transcripts of our best podcasts, so you don't have to crash your car trying to take notes!
A code to get free access to our online course called "Coaching Mastery," usually a $97 course, plus four other courses worth over $100, all yours for free for becoming a patron.
Other special bonus opportunities that come up time to time
Access to an online community of coaches like you who are dedicated listeners of the podcast, and will be able to answer your questions and share their coaching experiences.

#215 "The Children are Listening!" How to Build Psychological Capital with Your Athletes with John Yeager Apr 10, 2021

Show notes

The children are listening, they are paying attention, and they need us more than ever. That is what our guest this week John Yeager is telling us. John Yeager is a positive psychology consultant and performance coach who works with coaches and athletes at the youth, high school, college, Olympic, and professional levels. As a former elite athlete, John was both collegiate and professional Lacrosse Player and is a member of the New England Lacrosse Hall of Fame. He has also been a coach and currently is the chief education officer at Yeager Leadership, his presentations and training programs have motivated and inspired audiences around the United States. He works with many college teams and athletes, as well as corporate leaders. His brand new book which he co-authored is called The Coaching Zone: Next level Leadership in sport and its really good. It talks about self awareness, what he called "The Team Dance" and a concept I really like, how to build psychological capital with your athletes. I just want to tell you this about this interview. John tells a story in the first few minutes, and one in the last few minutes that gave me goosebumps. You are going to love this talk about the powerful influence we have as coaches.

Way of Champions Conference 2021

This weeks podcast is brought to you by the 2021 Way of Champions Leadership Conference, August 21-22, being held virtually this year. We have put together a lineup that is out of this world for our event, and just added 2021 NCAA Champion coach Tara VanDerveer, the legendary Stanford Women's Basketball coach who just broke Pat Summits all time wins record on NCAA hoops. Other guest speakers include Steve Kerr of the Warriors, Quin Snyder of the Utah Jazz, multiple time NCAA Champion coaches Anson Dorrance, Cindy Timchal, and Jenny Levy, and mindfulness expert George Mumford. Click here to learn more or register before we sell out!

Downloadable transcripts of our best podcasts, so you don't have to crash your car trying to take notes!
A code to get free access to our online course called "Coaching Mastery," usually a $97 course, plus four other courses worth over $100, all yours for free for becoming a patron.
Other special bonus opportunities that come up time to time
Access to an online community of coaches like you who are dedicated listeners of the podcast, and will be able to answer your questions and share their coaching experiences.

#214 Olympic and World Cup Champion Mary Harvey: Protecting the Rights of Children in Sport Apr 04, 2021

Show notes

Mary Harvey is currently the CEO for the Centre of Sports and Human Rights and has dedicated herself to making sport better for athletes of every age. She enjoyed an illustrious playing career in soccer, winning the 1991 World Cup and 1996 Olympic Gold with the US Women's National team, and since then has spent years in the corporate ranks and sport governance. She is A former senior executive at FIFA (2003-2008), where she became involved in the reform process at FIFA by launching the #WomeninFIFA campaign with Australian Moya Dodd. The campaign was successful in achieving gender inclusion as a core tenet of the reforms passed in 2016.

Mary has served as a sport envoy for the US State Department's Sports Diplomacy Division on several occasions, including missions to Iraq, Jordan, Canada and Mexico. On these missions, the key objective was engaging key stakeholders via sport outreach to promote acceptance and integration of diverse groups. Mary also serves as the Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Green Sports Alliance, an organization dedicated to leveraging the cultural and market influence of sports to inspire sports leagues, teams, venues, their partners and millions of fans to embrace renewable energy, healthy food, recycling, water efficiency, species preservation, safer chemicals and other environmentally preferable practices.

In our conversation today we discuss many of the issues in sports, such as the role of women in sport governance and the importance of investing in women's grassroots and professional sports, athlete activism and using their platform for good, the effect of COVID on children and sport, and whether this pause will revert back to the fundamental inequalities that existed pre pandemic, or whether we will be able to use this time to make important changes. There is a ton of great stuff here from a woman who has been a pioneer and trailblazer as an athlete and an executive, so buckle in.

Website: https://www.sporthumanrights.org/en

Podcast: https://www.sporthumanrights.org/en/resources/special-podcast-children-sport-and-covid19

Way of Champions Conference 2021

Downloadable transcripts of our best podcasts, so you don't have to crash your car trying to take notes!
A code to get free access to our online course called "Coaching Mastery," usually a $97 course, plus four other courses worth over $100, all yours for free for becoming a patron.
Other special bonus opportunities that come up time to time
Access to an online community of coaches like you who are dedicated listeners of the podcast, and will be able to answer your questions and share their coaching experiences.

#213 How to Intentionally Create Extraordinary Moments for Your Athletes with NYT Bestselling Author Dan Heath Mar 28, 2021

Show notes

Every once in a while we do a flashback to an oldie but goodie from the archives, and we decided to do that this week because it was spring break here in Oregon, and I was headed out with some friends to tech free cabin up by Mt Rainier in Washington, and I realized last second I needed a book to read. So I grabbed one off the shelf that I had not read in quite a while, yet it is one I talk about at almost every single presentation I do. It is called The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath, and this book is truly required reading for coaches. Why?

Everyone has these defining moments in their lives that they vividly recall. But these moments are not an accident. Science actually tells us which type of moments people are most likely to remember in any experience. Some are extraordinary and some are terrible. As coaches, we do not get to choose which moments our athletes recall, but we do get to choose the moments we create in order to ensure what we leave our athletes with are exceptionally positive moments. Dan Heath joins us on the podcast to discuss how these moments arise and how we can help create them. This episode originally aired back in November 2017, but it is so good I wanted to replay it for you this week.

Bio

Dan Heath is a Senior Fellow at Duke University's CASE center, which supports social entrepreneurs. At CASE, he founded the Change Academy, a program designed to boost the impact of social sector leaders.

Dan is the co-author, along with his brother Chip, of three New York Times bestsellers: Decisive, Switch, and Made to Stick. Their new book, The Power of Moments, was my favorite book of 2017. Amazon.com's editors named Switch one of the Best Nonfiction Books of the Year, and it spent 47 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. Made to Stick was named the Best Business Book of the Year and spent 24 months on the BusinessWeek bestseller list. Their books have been translated into over 30 languages.

Previously, Dan worked as a researcher and case writer for Harvard Business School. In 1997, Dan co-founded an innovative publishing company called Thinkwell, which continues to produce a radically reinvented line of college textbooks.

Highlights

Dan's new book Power of Moments and how we are all defined by special moments

"Wise Criticism" when high standards and assurance are used in feedback

The tightrope of being a mentor/coach who allows players to take risks

What have you failed at this week?

The quest to find Peak Moments

The Magic Castle – An "average" motel with Overwhelming experiences

Transitions – the importance of the "first day experience"

The FOUR qualities of defining moments

The profound obligation of a coach to "get these moments right"

The Tarantula study

How do you create more moments of pride in sport?

Get in Touch

Website: HeathBrothers.com

LinkedIn: Dan Heath

Way of Champions Conference 2021

Downloadable transcripts of our best podcasts, so you don't have to crash your car trying to take notes!
A code to get free access to our online course called "Coaching Mastery," usually a $97 course, plus four other courses worth over $100, all yours for free for becoming a patron.
Other special bonus opportunities that come up time to time
Access to an online community of coaches like you who are dedicated listeners of the podcast, and will be able to answer your questions and share their coaching experiences.

#212 Early Specialization, Diversification, and the Battle to Provide Healthy Youth Sport Experiences with Dr. Joe Baker and Sandy Mosher Mar 21, 2021

Show notes

This week on the WOC Podcast we ae so excited to welcome back Joe Baker from York University in Canada, along with one of his PhD students Sandy Mosher @sandymosher. You can follow Joe at @bakerjyorku on Twitter.

This was a very challenging podcast, as you all know what an advocate I am of sport sampling and Joe Baker did much of the early research in this space. Joe's research focuses on optimal human development, largely to understand how someone gets to, and stays at, the highest levels of performance. He is one of the worlds foremost experts in talent identification and skill development, and his book Developing Sport Expertise is a must have for any talent developer. He looks at various psychosocial and environmental factors influencing athletic skill development across a range of sports with a goal of building better theory/models and construct superior learning environments.

Sandy Mosher is a PhD candidate studying under Joe at York, and her recent article with Joe and Jessica Fraser-Thomas entitled "Is it too early to condemn early sport specialization" has caused quite a stir as you might imagine, so I knew I had to have them on to discuss. Sandy's research in this area has found that we have potentially been making some false assumptions around early specialization, namely that if early specialization is bad, early multi-sport participation must be good. She says this is not necessarily the case as far as the evidence goes, and that there are actually many barriers to multi sport participation, and that some of the things we accuse early specialization of causing, such as injury, may be attributable to poor training more than specialization itself. Like I said, it is controversial stuff.

In our talk today we speak about many of these problematic areas, such as what exactly is early and what exactly is specialization, as we actually have no definition. In other words, if we go simply by the research, we cannot say that specialization is bad, nor can we say that diversification is good. HOWEVER, what is really clear after this talk is what is really bad for our kids are youth sporting environments that take away enjoyment, autonomy, and connection, do not teach multi movement skills, and over train athletes at far too young an age. It's a fascinating talk, so I hope you are ready to listen closely to this one.

Way of Champions Conference 2021

Downloadable transcripts of our best podcasts, so you don't have to crash your car trying to take notes!
A code to get free access to our online course called "Coaching Mastery," usually a $97 course, plus four other courses worth over $100, all yours for free for becoming a patron.
Other special bonus opportunities that come up time to time
Access to an online community of coaches like you who are dedicated listeners of the podcast, and will be able to answer your questions and share their coaching experiences.

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