Way Of Champions Podcast

Stuart Armstrong is the Head of Coaching for Sport England. Prior to Sport England, he was the Player Development Manager for the Rugby Football Union. He is one of the world’s top experts on player development pathways and skill acquisition, and has helped thousands of coaches in the UK create better learning environments and develop deeper relationships with their players.   His sports coaching experience is in golf, cricket, field hockey, rugby, and soccer. He leverages the knowledge gained from the various sports he has coached to help create multi-sport, player-focused training programs that assist athletes in not only developing sold skill foundations but great off-field skills to help them succeed in life.   Highlights from the Podcast: Min 10: What is Talent? OR Talent vs Ability Min 18: Why it is important for a coach to develop more than just the technical and tactical  Min 24: How to shift the coach mindset from ignoring the psychological side of coaching athletes  Min 31: Finding the balance of sp

This week on the Way of Champions Podcast, we have a discussion with Lindsey Wilson from Positive Performance Training about the importance of the mental game for athletes of all ages. Lindsey works with athletes and coaches to unlock player and team potential through mental performance training. As an athlete, Lindsey had the privilege to play on many successful teams and collect an impressive athletic resume along the way. As a mental training coach, Lindsey has developed mental performance training tools and techniques for universities, teams, and organizations across the globe.   Highlights from the Podcast: Min 06: Why Lindsey starting a mental coaching business Min 13: Why Being called "Relentless” was important to Lindsey  Min 17: Playing professional, or being liked? Min 21: Recognizing the shift towards accepting mental training in sports Min 24: What Lindsey teaches for mental training (and how to get coaches to “buy in”  Min 31: What to say to a an athlete that just failed? Min 43: How do coaches r

Dr. Joe Baker is one of our favorite people in talent development, sport specialization, and long term athlete development, and our conversation this week does not disappoint. We talk about David Epstein's new book Range, discuss sport specialization, as well as the relative age effect, what great coaching looks like, how poor the evidence shows we are at talent ID, our broken talent ID system, and so much more. This is one you are going to want to take some notes on!   Baker is a Professor and the 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 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 agi

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 with Ian Goldberg Blog: https://isport360.com/blog/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/isport360 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/isport360/   Highlights from the Podcast: Min 07: Ian’s "Ah-ha” moment Min 18: The worst word in youth sports:"Shoot!” Min 24: Mis-diagnosed over-use injuries (parents won’t admit what is happening!) Min 28: What happens when a 6-year-old is going through the kind of stress a senior in high school choosing a college goes through? Min 32: The iSport360 App Min 39: What are some things that clubs should teach parents to help kids? Min 49: You Shouldn’t be shocked at try-outs. Parents, read the evaluation

With over 25 years of experience in player development and a long history as a coach with USA Hockey, Ken Martel was named technical director of USA Hockey’s American Development Model in May 2009. He is charged with helping provide a framework for associations nationwide to follow for optimal athlete development.   From 2006-08 at USA Hockey’s national office in Colorado Springs, Colo., Martel worked on coaching education and player development initiatives. For his efforts using science to advance sport, Martel received the USOC "Doc" Councilman Award for Ice Hockey in 2004.   Prior to arriving in Colorado Springs, Martel was a part of USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program staff as an assistant coach for eight years (1998-2006), including a dual role with responsibilities for player personnel his final five seasons.   Resources Mentioned Game Change: The Life and Death of Steve Montador, and the Future of Hockey,by  Ken Dryden   Connect w/ Ken Martel Twitter: https://twitter.com/kenmhockey Lin

  Celia Slater brings nearly 30 years of unmatched experience in college athletics as both an organizational head and a collegiate basketball coach, most recently serving as co-founder and executive director of both the NCAA Women Coaches Academy (WCA) and The Alliance of Women Coaches (The Alliance). The WCA started as a professional development program and, due largely to Celia’s efforts, soon exploded into a network of women coaches with an ever-growing grant to aid in expansion.   On the court, Celia most recently served at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, as head women’s basketball coach and member of the First Year Experience Task Force. In her early days, Celia was a four-year scholarship athlete and named Most Valuable Player of the women’s basketball team during her senior year at Florida State University. Rounding out her academic experience, she earned her master’s degree in sports administration from the University of Northern Colorado.   Dr. Jerry Lynch has been recognized as one of the to

Jon’s professional career began with the Buffalo Bills as assistant strength and conditioning coach. For 14 years he worked as the head strength and conditioning coach for the Indianapolis Colts where he was the youngest to be hired in this role. His responsibilities were many and are proud to have worked on a fully integrated team with a shared vision. This culminated with a world championship in Super Bowl XLI.   Jon believes in supporting people that want to participate and thrive in activities meaningful for them. Whether in sports, physical education or recreation he embraces the process of the individual and the professionals working in the field. Jon’s vision is practiced with EXOS as the Performance Director for Pro/Elite Sports working exclusively with the The Trust program for former NFL players. Jon serves an instructor and content advisor for Functional Movement Systems collaborating in development and delivery. He consults many organizations and called upon for his experience and instructs with t

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 collected and GSPD is entirely free. In 2015 there were over 60K children who participated on six continents - this past year the number approached 400K!   For more information, please visit the website at https://www.globalschoolplayday.com/.   Quick Announcements: Way of Champions Conference will be in Denver, CO on August 2-4. Visit https://changingthegameproject.com/wocconference for more information!    Become a Podcast Champion! We are now offering you the ability to contribute as 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 e

Dr. Roberta V. Kraus is currently featured as an expert in a new video series launched by TrueSport, an educational program powered by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that inspires athletes, coaches, parents, and administrators to change the culture of youth sport through active engagement based on cornerstone lessons of sportsmanship, character-building, and clean and healthy performance.   Outside of her work with TrueSport, Roberta is President of the Center for Sports Psychology in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Roberta was also the Sports Psychologist for the USA Men’s and Women’s National Wheelchair Basketball teams, who both won the Gold medal at the Paralympic Games in 2016.   Her international reputation comes from extensive experience designing and implementing specific mental training programs about peak performance, team leadership, developmental coaching, group dynamics, communications, and motivation. Her expertise is highlighted in the TrueSport Expert Series, a video series that addresses many of the

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 at University. He has researched, presented and published in the area of the sports experiences of young people, and talent and participant development. As a sports ethnographer, he has experience in educational, coaching and club settings.   As well as working on an European and International scale with sports organizations (currently leading the UoB partnership with the Sports Authority of India), as well as having worked alongside the PGA for the past 18 years in golf education and development. Dr Toms has maintained his links with grass roots sports clubs in the UK as well. As well as playing, officiating and coaching, he is also active in youth sport at a local level.   Q

Join us as we talk toJohn Luetkemeyer about how a youth sports organization went from a local disaster to national recognition based on volunteers changing how we trained players! It is an incredible conversation filled with nuggets of wisdom. John has been coaching since 2005 and have four of his own sons go through the program he shares with us.    Quick Announcements: Way of Champions Conference will be in Denver, CO on August 2-4. Visit https://changingthegameproject.com/wocconference for more information!    Visit us on: Web: https://changingthegameproject.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctgprojecthq Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangingTheGameProject/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ctgprojecthq/   Highlights from the podcast with John Luetkemeyer:   Min 14 The club before making changes Min 18 "As a club, we were losing 7 out of 10 games…” Min 27 The anxiety level at our evaluations decreasedsubstantially for our parents Min 32 How the implementation process went down Min 34 Redefining Suc

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 consultant (CMPC).  Kristen is currently the president of the United States Center for Coaching Excellence and is the director of coaching for WVICL. Her research interests focus on professionalism, ethics and moral decision making in coach development and long term athletic talent development. Learn more about here and her work at the US Center for Coaching Excellence (www.uscoachexcellence.org).   Announcements: Way of Champions Conference date and location coming soon!   Visit us on: Web: https://changingthegameproject.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ctgprojecthq Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChangingTheGameProject/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.c

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 an Athlete- How to Instill Confidence, Build Skills and Inspire a Love of Sport"   Jack turned to writing to further help athletes and parents have enjoyable baseball and sports’ experiences. Jack’s website gives advice on baseball. coaching and parenting. He has been a featured writer for Baseball the Magazine for 10 years. Some highlights include:  4 mins: Jack’s journey to becoming a major league player with no confidence 6 mins: Learning how to be through observing the work ethic of his father and coaches 10 mins: Transitioning from a player to a coach #empathy 15 mins: Changing the focus of practice from th

This podcast would not exist, the Changing the Game Project would not exist, if it were not for Joe Ehrmann. Many years ago, I read his incredible book InSideOut Coaching, and it changed my life forever. It validated for me that there was more to coaching than Xs and Os, and that I wanted to be a “transformational coach, and not a transactional one.” Thus, to celebrate our 100th episode of The Way of Champions Podcast, we bring you Joe Ehrmann and Jody Redman, founders of The InSideOut Initiative, a collaboration with the NFL whose goal is to “inspire and catalyze communities to transform their sports culture.”  This episode is everything I hoped it would be, as the wisdom Joe and Jody share is incredible. Some highlights include:  8 mins: the four-part system that defines the role of sports in schools 9 mins: the difference between performance character and moral character, and how coaches can teach it 17 mins: to be a better coach, you have to be a better you 24 mins: how sports is not meeting the fundamen

  Do your athletes struggle with the right frame of mind for the “big game”? Does the pressure of a “must win” have an effect on their pre-game mindset? Tune in to hear about some strategies for keeping a cool head win it is all “on the line”.   Getting in Touch: Jerry: wayofchampions@gmail.com John: john@changingthegameproject.com Show Notes 3:00 Show up to win the day instead of win the game 17:30 What is spiritual talent? 27:30 When the massive underdog wins because they believed more 43:30 Playing with love and removing the fear 54:30 Jerry’s final thoughts before the “big” game     CHECK OUT OUR ONLINE COURSES:   Warriors, Not Winners - Want to create gritty, resilient athletes who succeed beyond the game? Purchase Warriors, Not Winners now!   Transformational Coaching - Take your Coaching to the Next Level with Transformational Coaching. Become a Transformational Coach Today –   If you are enjoying our podcast, please help us out and leave a review on iTunes. How to leave an iTunes rating or review fo

He was not always the best player in the group, he didn’t play soccer year-round, and he didn’t have access to see the game being played by the best. He did work harder than anyone else and always kept the mindset there was room to be better. Because he chose work ethic as his guide, Brian Ching succeeded in soccer. Hear his story.   Getting in Touch: Email: bkching@houstondynamo.com Twitter: @BrianChing   About You can add Brian Ching to the growing list of players that have risen to USMNT caliber by playing in Major League Soccer.  The first Hawaiian to ever play for the USMNT, Ching earned his caps from coach Bruce Arena by rising from relative anonymity to a spot in the San Jose Earthquakes' starting lineup in only two years. It culminated in the spring of 2006 when the Houston Dynamo striker was rewarded for his strong start to the MLS season by being named to Arena's 23-man roster for the 2006 World Cup. While he did not see action in Germany, Ching's high work-rate and powerful shot continued to impres

You can take courses, read a bunch of books, listen to a thousand podcasts on what you should be doing to be a champion. Dana Cavalea hs been there too, but he had a front row seat to Champion Habits as the Strength and Conditioning Coach of the New York Yankees, and he knows exactly what Champions do to be Champions.     Getting in Touch: Website: danacavalea.com Email: dana@danacavalea.com Twitter: @danacavalea Book Link: Habits of a Champion   About Dana Cavalea spent 12 years with the New York Yankees Organization, many of those years  as the Director of Strength and Conditioning & Performance Enhancement winning a World Series in 2009.  In addition, he was the recipient of the 2009 MLB Nolan Ryan Award. This award is given to MLB's top Strength Coach as voted by his peers. During his career, Dana has had the opportunity to train greats such as Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte, Justin Verlander, and more. "My objectives are to bring the same techniques, culture, attitude, se

It’s not what the greatest performers do in the moment of competition that makes them the greatest. It is what they did in the “unseen” moments long before they take to the arena that matter. Success never happens in the moment. It is honed, crafted, practiced painstakingly in days, months, years prior. Choose to be successful now. Don’t wait for a lucky moment…Hear more insight from Alan in our latest episode.   Getting in Touch: Book Website RaiseYourGameBook.com Website: AlanSteinJr.com Twitter: @AlanSteinJr   About Alan is a world-renowned coach, speaker and author. He spent 15+ years working the highest performing basketball players on the planet and now teaches audiences how to utilize the same strategies in business that elite athletes use to perform at a world-class level. Alan specializes in improving individual and organizational leadership, performance and accountability.  He inspires and empowers everyone he works with to take immediate action and improve mindset, habits, and productivity.   Show

We present a lot of theory on the Way of Champions podcast, but putting that theory into practice is what matters most. In this episode, we talk with veteran basketball coach, Greg Garrison, about 5 practical methods you can use with any team, in any sport, to begin a culture of winning tomorrow. Enjoy the Show! Getting in Touch: ggarrison@asij.ac.jp   Last chance to join us at the Future of Coaching Conference! Future of Coaching Conference Registration Page   About Greg Garrison is currently coaching basketball in Japan after several decades of teaching and coaching in Oregon. He was a 3-time Oregon coach of the year, 2 time State Champion, and won 500 games during his coaching career in Oregon.   Show Notes 5:45 Winning takes care of itself when we choose to give our players a great experience 11:15 The great coaches who helped shape Greg’s career as a coach 20:45 Greg’s employment of the “Guest Coach” 29:45 The “note card” as a way to communicate with players 38:15 The “poor man’s game ball” – marking

We all want our players to be creative. We structure the way they train to promote creativity. We talk to them about embracing creativity. However, because we structure it, are we prohibiting the potential for creativity to arise? Is the macro-culture of youth sports holding back creativity? James Vaughan, who did a PhD in studying the cultural significance of creativity in sports, weighs in on this topic.   Enjoy the Show Getting in Touch: Twitter: @JimiVaughn Player Development Project: www.playerdevelopmentproject.com Join us at the Future of Coaching Conference! Future of Coaching Conference Registration Page About James Vaughan is the Lead Researcher at Player Development Project. James has played Futsal for New Zealand and carried out his Masters with the Football Federation Victoria in Melbourne. He is currently based in Barcelona where he is completing his PhD in Creativity & Motivation in football.   Show Notes 2:30 Sociology of sports - The start of it all for James 17:00 Does Culture dictat