#401 2x Olympic Champion Ashton Eaton and 2x Olympian Gabriel Costano on the Importance of Their Multi-Sport Childhoods, the Character Lessons Learned from Sports, and Transitioning to the Workforce After Professional Athletics

Ashton Eaton is a 2x Olympic Gold Medalist (2012 and 2016) and a 5x World indoor and outdoor champion in the decathlon. He was the former world record holder in the decathlon and still holds the world record for the heptathlon. At the University of Oregon, he was a 5x NCAA champion and all American. Yet he grew up in Central Oregon a multi-sport athlete who only learned about the decathlon as a senior in high school when he was considering going to play Division III college football.

Gabriel Castaño is a graduate of Penn State University and a 2x Mexican Olympic Swimmer in the 50 freestyle (2020 and 2024), and was once ranked as high as 4th in the world in his event. He, too, spent a childhood as a multi-sport athlete, competing mostly in road cycling and mountain biking after watching his father race motorcycles as a child. He began swimming in high school, and joined swim team to be with some friends, yet improved rapidly as he fell in love with the sport, eventually becoming an NCAA swimmer and Olympian.

In today’s podcast, John talks to Ashton and Gabo about their multi-sport childhoods, and how their parents and coaches allowed them to develop ownership, enjoyment, and the intrinsic motivation to compete and improve. They speak about their love of competing, and how the skills they developed as athletes translate into their lives after being a professional athlete. So many athletes are scared of this transition, and think that they do not have the skills to go into the corporate world, but Ashton and Gabo share how important it is to use the discipline and drive they learned as athletes to first explore and find your next passion, and then become a coachable employee, seeking feedback and improvement on your journey. It is a great conversation!

THE CHAMPION SPORTS PARENT IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON!!

WE ARE LIVE! This book is a great compliment to The Champion Teammate, as your parents are a huge part of your culture. Click here to order now or email John@ChangingTheGameProject.com to inquire about bulk book pricing!

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NEW WOC MASTERMIND AND CERTIFICATION PROGRAM IS SOLD OUT!

Our 2025 Mastermind and Certification Program is sold out, but we do have a waitlist as well as a collection of coaches who are interested in being part of our next cohort. If you want to take a deeper dive then ever offered before into your coaching and personal development, or work within your school or club improving coaching or transforming the culture, or you want to hit the road as a speaker and presenter working with teams and youth sports organizations, we will give you the tools and support to do so. We are collecting names who are interested at this moment in joining the waitlist or being the first to know when we offer another program, you can do so by clicking here and adding your name and email to the list.

This week’s podcast is brought to you by our friends at Sprocket Sports.  Sprocket Sports is a new software platform for youth sports clubs.  There are a lot of these systems out there, but Sprocket provides the full enchilada. They give you all the cool front-end stuff to make your club look good– like websites and marketing tools – AND all the back-end transactions and services to run your business better so you can focus on what really matters – your players and your teams.

Sprocket is built for those clubs looking to thrive, not just survive, in the competitive world of youth sports clubs.  So if you’ve been looking for a true business partner – not just another app – check them out today at https://sprocketsports.me/CTG.

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