Way of Champions Podcast

Kim Barnes Arico finished her 10th season as the head coach of the University of Michigan Women's basketball team in 2021-22, leading the Maize and Blue to 25 wins and the first NCAA Elite Eight appearance in program history. Throughout her 10-year tenure, she has guided the Wolverines to at least 20 wins in nine seasons, five NCAA Tournament appearances, an NCAA Elite Eight appearance (2022), an NCAA Sweet 16 appearance (2021) and the 2017 WNIT Championship. Barnes Arico is the winningest coach in program history with 218 wins, the only coach to ever eclipse 200 victories.  Prior to joining the Maize and Blue, she spent 10 seasons at the helm of the St. John's women's hoops program, building the Red Storm into a national power. She guided St. John's to four NCAA Tournament appearances, with the Red Storm advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2012.   Barnes Arico compiled a 176-133 overall record and five 20-win campaigns at St. John's. She was a two-time Big East Coach of the Year (2006, 2012) and had 11 players earn All-Big East honors, with six receiving all-rookie team nods. Barnes Arico also completed a two-year stint with USA Basketball (2014-15), serving as an assistant coach alongside Dawn Staley (South Carolina) and Jeff Walz (Louisville) for the U18 (2014) and U19 (2015) teams. She won a pair of gold medals at the FIBA U19 World Championships in 2015 and at the FIBA U18 America's Championship in 2014. In our conversation today we discuss her unique journey into coaching from a lightly recruited player, to a coach who was never an assistant coach until the US National team. As she forged her path as a Head Coach, she discovered how to build and sustain a culture that mirrored her high effort playing style and competitiveness, matched with a belief in her players that turned around struggling programs and led them to national prominence.  BIG NEWS: Save the date, the 2023 Way of Champions Conference will be held August 4-6, 2023 at Colorado Academy in Denver, CO. Click here to learn more, registration will open January 1, and we will be announcing guest speakers and other conference related events soon. Its going to be amazing to be back in person in 2023!  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. 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

Dr. Joe Baker (@bakerjyorku) is Professor and head of the Lifespan Health and Performance Laboratory in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at York University, Canada. He is a world-leader in research on talent identification, developing sport expertise, relative age effect, and high performance athlete development and has held visiting researcher/professor positions in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany. His research considers the varying influences on optimal human development, ranging from issues affecting athlete development and skill acquisition to barriers and facilitators of optimal aging. Joe is author/editor of 9 books and hundreds of peer reviewed articles and book chapters. He works with several Canadian high performance sports teams (e.g., Golf Canada, Wheelchair Basketball Canada) and organizations (e.g., Own the Podium, the Canadian Sport Institutes/Centres, the Canadian Paralympic Committee) in their quests for international success. More info on his research can be found at yorku.ca/bakerj    His new book is called The Tyranny of Talent: How it Compels and Limits Achievement... and Why We Should Ignore It and it is a doozy. In our conversation today we try and define what talent is, and why labels and talent ID systems have been so damaging to children, all the while missing many of our potentially most talented athletes. We discuss nature vs nurture, the importance of practice, how genes effect the ability to train, the damage early labels have on kids, and so much more. Enjoy. BIG NEWS: Save the date, the 2023 Way of Champions Conference will be held August 4-6, 2023 at Colorado Academy in Denver, CO. Click here to learn more, registration will open January 1, and we will be announcing guest speakers and other conference related events soon. Its going to be amazing to be back in person in 2023!  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. 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

It is with a heavy heart that we replay this podcast this week, as we lost a truly great family man, leader, and mentor in the space of coaching, leadership and human development, Dr. Greg Dale. He was only 60 years old and left us far too soon, with so much more to give. He was a massive supporter of this podcast, Way of Champions, Changing the Game Project, and many others in the field of sport psychology and leadership. Who was Greg? In July of 2018, Dale was named to the newly-created Integrative Performance Excellence Group at Duke University, a unit comprised of directors in the areas of Sports Performance, Athletic Medicine, Sports Nutrition and Behavioral Health, as well as individuals representing psychological services, team physicians and primary care physicians.  He was the Director of Sports Psychology and Leadership. The goal of this working group is to enhance the experience of Duke student-athletes by providing an integrative approach to the care of each individual athlete throughout his or her collegiate career while continuing to cultivate partnerships with the Duke University Hospital, Duke Sports Science Institute, Duke Student Health and Duke Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) as part of its holistic approach to student-athlete health.  Dale wrote four books on leadership, coaching, parenting and performance and served as a consultant to numerous athletic and corporate organizations around the world. But more than that, he was a friend, mentor, and a kind soul who always lent a helping hand to those trying to change the game. We will miss you Greg. Highlights from the Podcast: – Teaching “sports athletics” at the university level – Are sports fundamentally good? – Coaches responding to sports during a pandemic – Servant Leadership – What is the essence of coaching? – Learning to coach by spending time with coaches from other sports – How do “one-and-done” athletes effect the culture of a university-level team? – C.U.L.T. Athletics (Connection, Ultimate caring, Love, Trust), a Jerry-ism made up on the spot – How can we build stronger connections with our athletes? – Growing from an assistant coach to a head coach BIG NEWS: Save the date, the 2023 Way of Champions Conference will be held August 4-6, 2023 at Colorado Academy in Denver, CO. Click here to learn more, registration will open January 1, and we will be announcing guest speakers and other conference related events soon. Its going to be amazing to be back in person in 2023!  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. 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

Thank you for helping us reach 300 episodes of the podcast! To celebrate we will go to one of our earliest guests, and great friend of our work John Kessel. John recently retired from USA Volleyball (USAV), where he had worked since 1985, most recently as the Director of Sport Development. He is one of the most sought after coach educators and speakers in the coach development space. John served as the staff liaison for Disabled Programs, USA Deaf Olympic Teams, Starlings USA, National Parks and Recreation Assoc., the YMCA and over 30 other Affiliated Organizations working with USAV. He was Secretary of the NORCECA Technical and Coaches Commission, and Director of Development for World ParaVolley. He was Team Leader for the 2000 USA Olympic Beach Volleyball Teams in Sydney, which brought home one gold medal, and for the 2004 USA Paralympic Women’s Sitting Volleyball Team in Athens, which came home with the bronze medal. In 1995, Volleyball Magazine’s special Centennial issue named him one of the 50 most important people in the sport in the past 100 years. In 2013 the American Volleyball Coaches Association inducted him as their 60th member of the AVCA Coaches Hall of Fame. Currently John and his wife Lily have opened a retreat center www.PumaHills.com where they host leadership and personal development events in the beautiful Rocky Mountains. In our talk today we discuss how many coaches practice in order to look good at practice, instead of to perform in competition. He also shares some great one liners such as "Fear can be a great motivator but a horrible compass" and our personal favorite when it comes to coaching, "First, do no harm!" BIG NEWS: Save the date, the 2023 Way of Champions Conference will be held August 4-6, 2023 at Colorado Academy in Denver, CO. Click here to learn more, registration will open January 1, and we will be announcing guest speakers and other conference related events soon. Its going to be amazing to be back in person in 2023!  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. 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

Bill Eckstrom (@ecsellsports) is the CEO and founder of Ecsell Institute, the parent company of Ecsell Sports, Ecsell Business and Ecsell Education. Bill’s robust professional career path has encompassed sales, sales leadership, executive leadership with private and publicly traded companies, and as a founder of start-ups. In 2008, he established EcSell Institute to fill a void he witnessed and personally experienced in the coaching and leadership profession within businesses. Since then, Ecsell’s research and improvement programming expanded into the athletic and academic worlds. In 2017 and again in 2022, Bill took to the TEDx stage, where he shared his research and experiences in renowned talks that have five million views. Most recently, Bill co-authored The Coaching Effect: What great leaders do to increase sales, enhance performance, and sustain growth, which became an Amazon best-selling book in its first week of launching in 2019.In our interview today he takes his research and data from the business leadership world and demonstrates how it works in the sports coaching realm, where coaches tend to excel, and where they most often fall short. Get ready to take some notes.  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. 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

This week on the podcast we take a deep dive into what exactly is abusive coaching and how parents and coaches can take steps to stop it. To do so we gathered three experts in the field of bullying and coaching abuse to join John and Jerry for a fascinating discussion.  Dr. Amy Saltzman a holistic physician, mindfulness coach, long-time athlete, and a member of the US Soccer Participant Safety Taskforce. She’s had the privilege of being recognized by her peers as a visionary and pioneer in the fields of holistic medicine and mindfulness for athletes, coaches, and other high performers, kids, teens, parents, teachers, therapists, and allied professionals. We had her on episode 77 talking about her book A Still Quiet Place for Athletes and now her new organization is Spot a Spider, which teaches children, teens, and young adults how to protect themselves and others from all types of abuse: sneaky (covert) emotional abuse (also known as grooming), and obvious (overt) emotional, physical and sexual abuse. Check it out at www.spotaspider.com.  Jennifer Fraser is the Founder of www.TheBulliedBrain.com.  Jennifer earned her PhD from University of Toronto in Comparative Literature. Be A Good Soldier: Children's Grief in Modernist English Novels looks at pedagogical beliefs about children and the ways in which they fuel aggression and war. Her third book Teaching Bullies takes lived experience with an abuse crisis and puts it into the context of psychology, psychiatry, education, law, and neuroscience. What's being discovered in neuroscientific labs across the world has the power to change how we understand our brains and lives. This empowering research infuses her latest book The Bullied Brain: Heal Your Scars and Restore Your Health. Has been on WOC Podcast before Episode #275 and #27. Mitch Lyons is one of the funders of www.EndAbusiveCoaching.org  and is a retired lawyer. He is the founder of GetPsychedSports.org (GPS) in 2002 and the Social Emotional Learning Alliance for Massachusetts in 2011, both of which are tax-exempt 501 (c)(3) educational advocacy organizations. GPS remains the only educational organization promoting athletic reforms that address the fundamental problems of using a 19th century team model in a 21st century world. SEL4MA was the first grassroots educational advocacy group promoting social-emotional learning (SEL) and is now being replicated in twenty-one states under the banner of www.SEL4US.org. Mitch is a former collegiate basketball player and long time youth coach. 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. 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

Grete Eliassen (@grete.ski) is a Red Bull sponsored professional skier, 6x Winter X Games Medalist, and world record holding half pipe and free skier. She started out as a national team ski racer from Norway, winning the GS in the World Junior Championships, before pursuing her free skiing passion. She won multiple US Opens, Dew Tour events, and has appeared in numerous Warren Miller ski films. In 2006 and 2007 she won X Games gold medals in the half pipe. She also served as the President of the Women's Sports Foundation for two years before resuming her professional skiing career. Check out her podcast "What's Your Line with Grete" for some amazing interviews. In our discussion today we discuss how Grete balances courage and fear when attempting difficult tricks, jumps and dangerous ski descents, where confidence comes from, how to find your passion, and so much more. Get inside he mind of a world class athlete. 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. 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  

Captain Ryan Bernacchi, USN (Ret.) is a retired naval officer who possesses a unique background in aviation, leadership, high performance teamwork, and organizational culture. During his distinguished 25-year career in the Navy his notable positions include the Commanding Officer and Flight Leader of the Blue Angels, command of a fleet Super Hornet squadron, and TOPGUN Instructor, with worldwide deployments aboard aircraft carriers, including major combat operations. In academia, Ryan has complemented his operational expertise with the study of strategy, cyber, culture, leadership and ethics. Ryan served as the Director of Leadership and Character Development and an ethics professor at the United States Naval Academy. He was twice selected to serve in strategic roles as a Director Fellow for the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group, and as the Navy’s Federal Executive Fellow at MIT. Ryan received a B.A. Degree from the University of California in Cultural Anthropology and is a Distinguished Graduate of the U.S. Naval War College with a M.A. in National Security and Strategic Studies. Ryan is a recognized expert with compelling vision in high performance leadership, character, teamwork, and organizational culture.  During his time at the Naval Academy, Ryan served as the Officer Representative to the Women's lacrosse team and Head Coach Cindy Timchal. In our podcast today we discuss Cindy and her amazing team, as well as vulnerability, team culture, confidence vs. ego, how people learn difficult tasks, and more. We also have a fascinating talk about visualization, and how the world's best pilots fly every flight in their head before they fly it in real life. This one will require many pages to take notes. 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.  Yeah, 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. 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

This week on the podcast, Jerry Lynch and John O'Sullivan answer some questions sent to us by our Patreon Podcast Champions. These are our biggest supporters, and we gave them the chance to ask us anything. The most popular type of questions revolved around some recent topics, including: using physical exercise as punishment do we need a national sports governing body in the US? If my club or school does not align with my values when I am coaching, should I leave? How do we improve grassroots coaching, and what should we teach them first? We had a great time answering these questions and plan to do another one in the near future, so please become a podcast champion and send them our way for our next go.  One special note: this week we surpassed 2 MILLION DOWNLOADS of this podcast which is amazing, and that is thanks to all of you incredible listeners who take the time each week to listen and share our work. We are even more fired up than ever to keep bringing you amazing guests and topics in the future, but we couldn't do it without all of you. So, from the bottom of our hearts, thanks!! 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.  Yeah, 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. 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

Raymond Verheijen (@raymondverheije) is a world renowned fitness coach and has been involved as an assistant in 4 World Cups and 4 EURO’s working under Legendary Dutch coach Gus Hiddink, as well as working with several European top clubs like FC Barcelona, Chelsea and Manchester City. As a youth player Verheijen was part of the famous Dutch Youth Academy structure. Unfortunately, his dream of a professional career ended as a chronic injury forced him to retire at the young age of 18. This disadvantage became an advantage as Verheijen started his coaching career at the age of 19. He studied Exercise Physiology and Sport Psychology at the Free University Amsterdam and completed his Masters Degrees in 1995. In 1995, Verheijen developed his Masters thesis into the book ‘Conditioning for Soccer’ which became the coach education book of the Dutch FA (KNVB) in 1997. Verheijen became a pro-license instructor at the Dutch FA in 1998.  In 2014, Verheijen published the best-selling book ‘Football Periodisation’. More than 30,000 copies have been sold worldwide. His latest books are ‘Football Coaching Theory’ (2020) and ‘Tactical Principles’ (2022). In our discussion today, we talk about the importance of understanding fitness as the number of game actions a player can complete in a minute, not mindless running. Fitness must be focused on the ability to repeat game actions, not simply run without the ball. We also discuss injuries, how the US develops slow players because of our tournament model, how playing up must be managed better, and so much more.  Learn more about Raymond and grab his books at www.fcevolution.com.  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.  Yeah, 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. 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