Hosted by veteran broadcaster Scott Rintoul, Better Sports Parents is a weekly video and audio podcast aimed at parents who are navigating the complicated world of youth sports. The intent is to provide parents with an easy to consume resource that delivers important perspectives on how to help create a better youth sports experience for their children. Those messages are delivered by recognizable professional athletes, coaches, executives, and experts who will offer insight into their own experiences in youth sports, their approaches with their own children, and their views on relatable issues that parents encounter in youth sports.
Jesse Levine: Playing for Parents, Swinging in the Rain & Don't Train Kids Like Pros
Jesse Levine was a U.S. junior national champion and University of Florida standout who faced Rafael Nadal, trained with Roger Federer, and later coached tennis stars Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula. He says the best thing parents can do is let kids play, fail and find their own joy. Jesse grew up in Ottawa playing soccer, basketball, baseball and tennis, and didn’t commit to one sport until he was 15 or 16. Today he’s a coach, club operator and tennis analyst for Sportsnet and ESPN. And he sees young kids specializing, training like pros and burning out. In this episode, Scott Rintoul talks with Jesse about why early specialization leads to burnout and why quality beats quantity, even at the pro level. Jesse explains the red flags coaches notice in overbearing tennis parents, and how he brings them alongside instead of shutting them out. He shares what he sees the moment a kid stops enjoying the sport, including the 12-year-old who was training to make his dad happy. He also looks back on his own path: moving to Florida at 13, resisting pressure to give up other sports, and learning to stay grounded through wins and heartbreaking losses, including a match against Nadal. Jesse offers advice on talking with your child after a win or a loss, and why giving them space matters. He also covers the cost of tennis, how accessible the sport is, and why he believes cheating is the biggest issue in junior tennis. Chapters 0:00 Opening 1:34 Introducing Jesse Levine 3:00 Growing up multisport 5:22 Why early specialization leads to burnout 7:30 Coach-parent talks about specialization 9:09 Overbearing parents and red flags 12:18 Bringing parents alongside the coach 14:11 When his dad coached him 17:00 Why kids need normalcy 18:02 Quality over quantity: training with Federer 21:34 Moving to Florida at 13 24:03 Pressure to specialize at the academy 26:13 Choosing tennis on his own terms 27:52 “Dead eyes”: when kids lose the joy 29:24 The boy who played for his dad 31:09 The rain test 32:36 Why competing is joyful 35:19 Mental toughness and mentor Keith Williams 37:18 Outside interests and the Bryan family 41:29 Staying grounded with coach Andy Brandi 46:08 Why kids shouldn’t get too much too soon 46:31 Facing Nadal in Toronto 49:02 The losses that stay with you 51:06 Advice for parents after wins and losses 55:27 Moving into coaching Madison Keys 58:17 “The best coaches don’t need the job” 59:43 Coaching Jessica Pegula 1:02:58 The cost of tennis 1:06:32 Is tennis accessible? 1:08:03 Tennis, pickleball and padel 1:09:37 Number one issue: cheating in junior tennis 1:12:54 Teaching honesty through sport Resources Jesse Levine Better Sports Parents
Camille Martens: Surviving Sport, Red Flags & Becoming the Sports Parent Your Child Needs
Camille Martens survived fear-based coaching and abuse to become a Canadian champion, Commonwealth Games champion and Olympian in rhythmic gymnastics. But she always knew there was a better way, so she now focuses on helping parents build healthy, loving sport environments.Camille has spent four decades in sport as an athlete, coach and parent. She competed at the World Championships and Olympics, founded the Okanagan Rhythmic Gymnastics Club, and became president of Gymnastics BC, a master coach developer, and National Team Coaches Chair for 16 years. She's also the author of MVP in the Stands: Becoming the Parent Your Child Needs in Sport.In this powerful episode, Camille talks to Scott Rintoul about moving away from home at 13, training in Russia and Bulgaria under coaches who normalized fear, weigh-ins and abuse, and competing at the Olympics on a torn labrum. She shares the toll it took on her body and relationships, why she stayed silent to protect her access, and how she tried, and sometimes failed, to build something different as a coach and parent.You'll learn:The difference between "Red flags" vs. healthy "growth edges"Why emotional regulation is the parent's real jobHow intention and impact can be worlds apartTools: keyword check-ins, a fridge scratchpad, the "buddy system"How to build a strong coach-parent-athlete relationshipChapters:0:00 Opening1:34 Introducing Camille Martens3:24 Early path into sport4:54 Discovering rhythmic gymnastics7:15 Moving to Vancouver to train9:03 Making the national team at 1311:01 Protecting an unhealthy environment12:01 Fear-based coaching in Eastern Europe13:48 The physical and emotional cost16:14 A horrific Olympic Games17:26 Starting a club to do it differently18:41 Training in Russia and Bulgaria20:34 Limited contact with her parents22:32 Training alongside teammates in silence23:14 The teddy bear story24:11 Why she stayed25:18 How the sport has changed27:12 What a healthy environment looks like28:35 "Red flags" vs "growth edges"29:04 The coach-athlete-parent triangle30:12 Spotting red flags as a parent33:10 Founding her own club34:06 Repeating ingrained patterns37:11 A hard conversation with her daughter38:02 Intention vs. impact39:45 How her coaching evolved41:19 Why she wrote MVP in the Stands46:07 Parents: sport's biggest stakeholders47:33 Emotional regulation as the real job50:55 Buddy system and keyword check-ins53:14 The fridge scratchpad53:55 Coach-parent talks done right56:29 Why she never coached her own kids58:47 Early specialization in gymnastics1:01:23 Gymnastics in Canada today1:03:19 Her relationship with the sport now1:05:15 The number one issue in youth sports1:07:07 The compliments that mean the mostResources:Camille MartensMVP in the StandsBetter Sports Parents
What's Working: Streetfront with Trevor Stokes
A remarkable alternative schooling program in East Vancouver is transforming the lives of youth through the sport of running. Streetfront began as an idea nearly 50 years ago, and has blossomed into a program that turns at-risk youth who are struggling with conventional education into high school graduates who run half marathons, full marathons and beyond.In this episode of What's Working, Streetfront's Program Lead, Trevor Stokes, describes how removing barriers to entry empowers students, why running every step with the students matters so much, and how life-changing the program has been for children who often live "in the shadows". He also reveals that Streetfront has evolved from the humblest of beginnings into a program that has seen its students run more marathons than any other high school in the world.For more information on Streetfront, visit Streetfront's website and email Trevor at tstokes@vsb.bc.ca.Chapters:0:00 Opening0:41 What is Streetfront?2:17 Running as a tool for self-worth and determination3:51 Turning "running the other way" into buy-in4:46 Why staff run every stride with the students5:21 How the program started in 19776:54 Why running is cheap, local and effective7:52 Removing every barrier to entry8:52 The marathon doesn't care who you are9:54 Earning trust before earning results11:21 Alumni who come back to run with current students12:23 Navigating school and school board politics14:40 The metaphor behind the mission15:15 How kids and families find Streetfront16:59 What success looks like for a Street Front student18:06 300+ half and full marathons in one year20:23 How the funding and finances come together22:04 High expectations, not sympathy23:31 How peers view students after the program25:11 "When somebody wins, we all win"26:24 Advice for communities who want to start their own program
Hayley Wickenheiser: High Costs Hurting Hockey, Let Your Kids Fail & The Lost Art of Play
Hayley Wickenheiser says youth sports have lost the art of play, and parents can help bring it back. The five-time Olympic medalist, emergency physician and mom shares what she'd change for youth hockey and every kid in youth sports. Hayley is a pioneer of women's hockey. She won four Olympic gold medals and one silver, plus 13 medals at the Women's World Hockey Championships (seven gold, six silver). She is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, the International Hockey Hall of Fame and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. She also played softball at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, played professional men's hockey in Sweden and Finland, worked eight years in the NHL including as an assistant general manager, and now works as an emergency room doctor. She founded Wick Fest, a hockey festival that has reached over 30,000 girls, and the Wick Hockey app. In this episode, Scott Rintoul talks with Hayley about growing up in small-town Saskatchewan, where she played hockey with the boys and heard that girls didn't belong. She explains why that made her resilient, why 70 to 80 percent of her skill came from unstructured play, and what she'd tell any parent worried their child is falling behind. Hayley also explains: Why early specialization, year-round sport and early tiering often backfireHow free play builds hockey sense and decision-makingWhy letting kids fail is one of the best things parents can doHow coaches can skip the practice plan and just let kids playWhy she'd choose the lower tier every timeWhy "movement is medicine" starts in youth sports Chapters:0:00 Opening1:35 Introducing Hayley Wickenheiser3:44 The hardest job of all: Parenting7:04 Two rules: an instrument and a sport9:10 Playing hockey with the boys in Saskachewan10:39 "Girls don't play hockey"14:14 Why parents lose their minds at the rink16:50 We've lost the art of play19:55 Why early specialization backfires24:19 Early tiering and the Nordic model27:06 The "little Johnny" pathway myth29:21 Backyard rink creativity31:03 Hockey robots 3:51 Why kids need to fail35:47 Coaches: be brave, skip the practice plan38:05 What a great youth coach looks like40:07 Winning, losing and participation medals44:07 Movement is medicine47:28 Wick Hockey app and Wick Fest50:56 Keeping hockey affordable53:56 Swim, skate and daily school PE56:45 The 1988 Olympics and the barn ski jump1:01:07 Why every kid needs an off-season103:13 Choose the lower tier1:05:47 The coaches who believed in her1:08:07 What would she change in youth sportsResources:Hayley WickenheiserWickFestBetter Sports Parents
Geroy Simon: Navigating NIL, Check Your Ego as a Coach & It Always Comes Back to the Child
Geroy Simon is one of the most decorated players in CFL history: three Grey Cup victories, a Most Outstanding Player award, and a place in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Since retiring, he's built a front-office career that's taken him from scouting to the CFL front office and now back to where it started: Executive Director of Revenue Share and General Manager at his alma mater, the University of Maryland.He's also a father of four with very different journeys through sport: sons who played college football at West Point and in Canada, daughters who pursued gymnastics and their own paths. Combine that with his career, and he's sat in multiple chairs around the recruiting table.Geroy and Scott dig into recruiting in the NIL and transfer-portal era, the difference between coaching other people's kids and coaching his own son, why he wants his kids to experience real failure, and the lessons his parents and grandmothers imprinted on him that still guide how he talks to student athletes today. Geroy also tells the story of a player nobody expected much from who's still in football today, and opens up about the toughest stretch of his own career: getting cut seven times in two years before Winnipeg gave him a second chance. Chapters:0:00 Opening1:35 Introducing Geroy Simon3:12 Being Recruited by Maryland, Then and Now5:30 The Other Side of the Recruiting Desk6:18 How NIL Has Changed Recruiting7:44 Transactional vs. Transformational Athletes9:23 His Son's Choice: West Point Over the Ivy League12:50 The Pressure of Carrying the Simon Name14:12 Coaching His Own Son17:21 Checking His Ego as a Youth Coach19:16 His Daughters' Sports Experience20:11 The Real Impact of Youth Sports on His Kids21:37 Growing Up a Multi-Sport Athlete23:39 Is Year-Round Specialization Hurting Kids?25:29 Why Football Was the Right Fit27:26 What Made His Love for the Game Endure32:45 Lessons His Parents Imprinted on Him34:39 Control What You Can Control37:16 Giving Back: Lessons From His Grandmothers38:40 How Family Dynamics Affect Recruiting40:08 Has He Ever Walked Away From a Recruit?41:01 Advice for Overly Involved Parents42:32 NIL, the Transfer Portal, and Free Agency Culture44:28 Building Culture in the Transfer Portal Era47:14 Is This Bleeding Into Youth Sports?49:19 Wanting His Own Daughters to Fail51:37 How Great Coaches Make Every Player Feel Valued53:18 Meeting Every Kid's Different "Why"58:34 Comparison Culture and Highlight Reels1:01:19 Educating Athletes on Gambling and Money1:07:00 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today1:08:06 Cut Seven Times: His Toughest StretchResources:Geroy Simon Better Sports Parents
When Tim Adams noticed an abundance of siblings watching their brothers play on an after school soccer team, he started to design a program that would accommodate childcare and physical activities. Nearly 20 years later, that simple idea has become a citywide program called Free Play for Kids that serves more than 5,000 children and their families in greater Edmonton every year.In the opening episode of What's Working, Tim explains the importance of providing accessible sports programming, why collaborative partnerships with schools and community centres are essential for our youth, and what other cities can learn from the approach Edmonton has taken in leveraging many of its public facilities to serve its population.For more information on Free Play for Kids, visit www.freeplayforkids.com and email Tim at tim@freeplayforkids.com.Chapters:0:00 Introduction1:24 Welcome Tim Adams1:56 What Is Free Play for Kids?4:02 The Origin Story: From CBC Journalist to Coach6:45 From a Volunteer Club to a Staffed Program8:24 The COVID Pivot That Changed Everything9:49 Training Coaches and Volunteers11:10 What Is Social-Emotional Learning in Coaching?13:26 Why This Model Works for Families15:36 Getting Schools and Facilities on Board17:45 Solving the Transportation Barrier21:18 How the Program Is Funded23:47 Advice for Replicating This in Other Communities26:48 How to Get in Touch With Free Play for Kids
James Paxton: Baseball's Velo Culture, Backyard to Big League & I Wouldn't Get Recruited Now
James Paxton pitched on some of baseball's biggest stages, battling through injuries to become one of only two Canadian pitchers to ever throw a no-hitter in the big leagues, and the only one to do it on Canadian soil. Earlier this year, he came out of retirement to pitch for Team Canada at the World Baseball Classic. However, these days, most of his innings are as a husband to Katie, a father to two young kids, and co-host of The Pitch podcast. James and Scott dig into the catch-in-the-backyard relationship with his dad that shaped his love of the game, how getting cut from an all-star team at 10 years old became one of the best things that happened to him, and why he doubts the 2026 recruiting version of James Paxton would even get looked at today. They talk through the "allostatic load" youth athletes are carrying with school, friendships, and training stacked on top of each other without the recovery time James had as a kid. They also discuss why velocity gets over-indexed in youth baseball and what are we actually trying to teach kids through sport knowing that most will never become high performance athletes. James also opens up about untangling his identity from his performance on the mound, why he sought out a therapist, and the simple parenting shift he believes matters most: praise the effort, not the result.If you've ever wondered how a former big-league starter thinks about raising his own kids through sport, this conversation is full of hard-earned, honest perspective.Chapters:0:00 Opening1:35 Introducing James Paxton4:11 Childhood Friendships Rooted in Youth Sports5:33 Late Physical Growth6:41 Getting Cut From the All-Star Team at 108:24 Baseball Was Always His Choice9:25 Unstructured Backyard Play vs. Skills Clinics12:05 Where Creativity Actually Comes From16:12 Recruited to Division I Without Elite Velocity18:28 Why Late Developers Outperform at the Pro Level19:38 Why Velocity at 13 Doesn't Predict Anything20:18 Building the Mental Game With a Sports Psychologist21:13 Are We Over-Indexing on Velocity?22:06 Baseball's Many Paths to the Pros 23:10 The Sacrifices of a Pro Career24:22 "Treating Young Athletes Like Professionals" 25:35 Protecting Actual Childhood as a Parent26:45 The Line Between Joy and Serious Development28:00 What His Parents Actually Talked About After Games30:36 His Dad Catching Bullpens in Steel-Toe Boots32:57 Allostatic Load: Why Kids Are Burning Out34:37 The Fear of Not Being Seen36:39 Less Than 1% Go Pro, So What's the Real Goal?37:11 What Youth Sports Actually Taught Him38:22 Travel Sports and the "Free Agent" Problem39:32 Is Money Driving the Pressure?41:04 Why Every Kid Needs an Off-Season42:50 Coming Out of Retirement for the World Baseball Classic45:36 The Calm That Defined His Career48:08 Teaching Kids to Reach Their Own Conclusions48:56 Why You Learn More From Failure Than Success50:47 The Mentors Who Shaped His Career52:34 The Value of Playing Across Age Groups53:46 Small Steps and Delayed Gratification55:36 Growing Up Without Social Media Comparison58:53 Separating James Paxton the Person From the Player1:02:10 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today1:03:53 Praise the Effort, Not the Results1:05:03 Control the ControllablesResourcesThe Pitch PodBetter Sports Parents
Manny Malhotra: Don't Be That Parent, Coaching Your Own Kid & We're Just Buying Memories
Manny Malhotra is the Head Coach of the Vancouver Canucks and a central piece in a family that has an incredible amount of perspective and opinion on youth sports. Drafted seventh overall in 1998, Manny played nearly 1,000 NHL games across seven organizations, and built a reputation as one of the league's most respected leaders. His coaching career has seen him move from an NHL assistant to a Calder Cup winner as head coach of the AHL's Abbotsford Canucks to the bench boss of the NHL franchise he helped lead to the 2011 Stanley Cup Final as a player. He's also a father of four, including son Caleb, who was drafted by the Canucks this past summer, putting Manny on the verge of coaching his own son in the NHL.Manny and Scott dig into the youth sports household that shaped him, and how that same philosophy now guides how he and his wife Joann, the younger sister of Steve and Martin Nash, raise their own four kids. They talk through the real challenges of coaching your own child, why he and Joann deliberately keep their kids multi-sport despite living in a city with ice available year-round, and why they believe producing good people through sport matters more than producing great players. Manny also shares the story that changed how he thinks about pressure in youth sports today, and closes with a simple truth every sports parent should hear: most of what your kid remembers won't be the score.If you've ever wondered how a former first-round pick and now NHL head coach actually parents through youth sports, this conversation is full of practical perspective.Chapters:0:00 Opening2:05 Introducing Manny Malhotra3:45 Growing Up in a Competitive Household6:52 Why His Parents Made Sports Central to Family Life8:53 Never a Forced Issue10:36 Passing These Lessons to His Own Four Kids13:59 The Challenges of Coaching His Own Children16:17 The Conversation That Changed His Coaching Approach18:33 Stepping Back From Coaching Caleb21:36 Coach Hat vs. Dad Hat24:20 Why "He Was So Polite" Means More Than Stats27:41 Growing Up the Youngest of Four29:47 Married Into an Even More Competitive Family32:08 How Monetization Changed Youth Sports33:01 Intentionally Raising Multi-Sport Kids37:25 "Don't Be That Parent"41:29 The Foundational Lessons: Don't Be Late, Work Hard43:21 Why Kids Specialize So Early Today44:59 Steve Nash's Warning About Individual Training45:57 Skill Level Is Up, Hockey IQ Is Down48:00 The Lost Art of Pickup Shinny Hockey50:28 What Should a Youth Coach's #1 Priority Be?54:47 Chasing Plastic Trophies57:17 Becoming a Role Player at the NHL Level59:38 What Coaches Should Actually Praise1:02:31 The Matheny Manifesto1:04:38 Why Youth Sports Pressure Is Heavier Today1:07:31 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today1:07:43 "We're Just Buying Memories"ResourcesManny MalhotraBetter Sports Parents
Duff Gibson: Real Tools for Coaches, Mindset Matters Most & Lean Into the Love of the Game
Duff Gibson won a World Championship and Olympic gold in skeleton, a remarkable achievement at the end of a winding athletic path that took him through wrestling, speed skating, and rowing before he ever touched a sled. He also spent 25 years as a Calgary firefighter, and since retiring from competition has built the Community Coach Program (contact duffgibson@icloud.com) and the multi-sport kids' program Dark Horse Athletic.Duff unpacks the phrase that shaped his entire relationship with sport — "it's just sport" — and how his parents held that belief alongside a genuine passion for competition. They talk through the real difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset, why youth sport is quietly manufacturing the wrong one, and the story of a coach yanking a child by the jersey that led directly to the founding of Dark Horse Athletic. Duff also shares what a landmark German study of Olympic athletes actually proves about early specialization, why the cost of youth sport is a bigger barrier than most people realize, and why he believes the ultimate measure of a youth sport program isn't pro athletes or Olympic medals.If you've ever wondered whether taking sport "too seriously" actually helps kids perform better, this conversation offers a rare, research-backed answer from someone who's lived it at the very top.Chapters:0:00 Opening01:35 Introducing Duff Gibson03:15 From Wrestling and Rowing to Olympic Gold04:04 Raised on "It's Just Sport"08:47 Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset14:30 Helicopter Parenting and the Physical Literacy Decline17:52 Building the Community Coach Program18:46 Purpose: The Missing Piece in Youth Sport22:59 The Rising Cost of Youth Sport25:02 Beckie Scott and the Coach Who Didn't Interfere30:55 Watching His Own Kids Choose Fun Over Obsession33:03 The Lake Placid Story: Two Mindsets, One Team40:04 Why His Son Walked Away From Baseball40:51 The Moment That Started Dark Horse Athletic49:59 Personal Challenges Over Competition50:58 The State of Physical Education Today54:17 Coaching Kids With ADHD56:33 From Wrestler to Rower to Skeleton Champion57:28 Handling Olympic Pressure59:37 Kyle Shewfelt on Trusting His Coach1:01:47 Is a "Failed" Sports Career Really Wasted?1:02:38 The Common Upbringing of Olympic Medalists1:07:44 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today1:09:33 What a German Olympic Study Really Proves1:11:28 Roger Federer, Late Specialization & GeneticsResourcesDuff GibsonDark Horse AthleticBetter Sports Parents
Jamie Huscroft: Conscious of Cost, The Ever-Shrinking Offseason & Develop People Not Players
Jamie Huscroft played more than 350 NHL games with seven organizations, won a Memorial Cup with the Medicine Hat Tigers, and was drafted in the 9th Round after starting out as, in his own words, the worst player at every level he ever played. Since retiring in 2001 after suffering 13 concussions as a pro, he's spent nearly 25 years building community hockey in the greater Seattle area, where he's now Director of Facilities for Sno King Ice Arenas.Jamie and Scott dig into what's changed and what hasn't in youth hockey: rising costs, shrinking off-seasons, and the pressure to specialize early despite Jamie's own multi-sport upbringing in tiny Creston, BC. Jamie shares how his parents' hands-off, "how was your day" approach shaped him, why his own kids never played hockey and he never pushed them to, and how Sno King's philosophy puts character development ahead of chasing the NHL. He also opens up about the toll of his concussions, how hockey has evolved on safety, and why cost — not talent or dedication — is the number one barrier keeping kids out of the game today. Whether your child is just starting out or already deep in the travel-team grind, Jamie's perspective as both a pro-hockey veteran and a rink operator offers a rare, grounded view of youth sports from the inside.Chapters: 00:00 Opening 02:06 Introducing Jamie Huscroft 03:13 Why He Chose Community Hockey Over the Pros 03:59 Concussion Number 13 Ended His Career 06:12 Watching Former Youth Players Become Coaches 08:32 How the Kraken Changed Seattle Hockey 10:29 Rising Costs and Shrinking Off-Seasons13:24 The Norway Model vs. Choosing Earlier14:21 Top Teams, Early Specialization, and "The Outlier"15:14 Why He Never Pushed His Own Kids17:35 Character Development Over Chasing the NHL19:22 Turning Teenagers Into Mentors20:38 The Worst Player in Camp, Every Step of the Way24:35 His Parents' Hands-Off, Car-Ride Philosophy27:12 A Multi-Sport Childhood in Creston, BC28:17 Is Early Specialization the System's Fault?29:59 "If I Don't Do It, Someone Else Will"32:13 Where Win-at-All-Costs Culture Actually Lives33:34 Pond Hockey: Letting Kids Coach Themselves35:22 Parents Coaching From the Stands36:48 Building a Mentorship Pipeline for Referees39:18 Has Parent Behavior Really Changed?41:50 Are There Really Only a Few Paths to the Top?43:41 The Attrition Rate of Elite Hockey44:58 How He Defines Success Through Sport48:01 Staying in Hockey after 13 Concussions49:25 How Hockey Has Changed on Safety54:55 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today55:54 Keeping Hockey Affordable at Sno KingResourcesJamie HuscroftSno King ArenasBetter Sports Parents
Ilya Orlov: Why Kids Quit Sports, Breaking Bad Coaching Habits & Dollars Over Development
Ilya Orlov almost quit soccer at 13 due to pressure from well-meaning parents, punishing coaches, and a body that developed later than his peers. On the brink of leaving the game he loved, his father gave him one piece of advice that changed everything: drop down a level. That decision, and the years of reflection since, shaped how Ilya now coaches as head coach of the University of Toronto men's soccer program, a role he's held for over seven years after playing at York University and captaining them to a national championship.Ilya holds a master's in developmental psychology and has trained as a coach across Europe, giving him a research-backed, data-driven lens on what's actually broken in youth sports. In this conversation, he and Scott dig into the relative age effect, why year-round training without recovery is quietly injuring kids, the real odds of making it to university or pro sport, and why coach education in North America is dangerously subjective. Ilya also opens up about the traumatic coaching moment from his own youth that he vowed never to repeat, what he actually looks for in recruits and their parents, and his blunt take on social media, private coaching, and the number one issue facing youth sports today.If you've ever wondered whether your child should specialize, drop down a level, or just be allowed to have fun, this episode offers a coach's rare combination of lived experience and research.Chapters:0:00 Opening01:35 Introducing Ilya Orlov03:32 From Player to Coach at 2404:56 His Soviet-Influenced Sporting Roots06:21 Relative Age Effect and Late Puberty07:34 On the Brink of Quitting at 1209:36 When Parental Pressure Really Starts14:01 Pushed Out of a Team by a Coach16:28 Free Play and a Multi-Sport Childhood17:10 Should More Kids Drop Down a Level?18:29 The "Overload" Theory of Development20:11 Tiering, Late Bloomers, and False Perceptions26:02 Year-Round Training and Missing Recovery 26:51 The Real Odds of "Making It"28:39 Private Academies and the Pressure to Specialize30:49 Kids as Revenue Tools in a Money-Driven System32:03 Overuse Injuries and "Any Given Monday"33:38 Why Coach Education Needs to Be Evidence-Based35:18 The Volunteer Coaching Problem37:42 The Foundation of Coaching: "What" vs. "How"42:36 The Punishment Run That Changed How He Coaches46:24 Pro Coaches as Role Models for Bad Behavior48:45 What a Parent's Role Should Really Be51:11 Support Them, Don't Coach Them53:49 The Real Odds of Playing University Soccer57:25 Why Parent Behavior Factors Into Recruiting1:00:11 The Real Goal: Raising Good Humans1:04:33 Social Media in Youth Sports1:06:09 How Private Coaching Leads to FOMO1:08:20 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports TodayResourcesIlya OrlovAny Given Monday Better Sports Parents
Worth Repeating: Terry McKaig on the Benefits of Getting Cut
Terry McKaig built the most successful post-secondary baseball program in Canada's history at UBC, sending players to the MLB draft year after year. As the father of two active teenagers, he's also very familiar with what the current youth sports environment looks like as a parent not just a coach. In this segment, Terry discusses how he and so many other successful athletes have been cut from a team and how that experience can be a positive one if players are empowered to use it as an opportunity to learn.Listen to the full episode:SpotifyAppleWatch on YouTube
Matt Nichol: Specialize in Fun, Training Myths Debunked & The Real Lesson from Norway
He's spent his career training athletes for the NHL, NFL, Olympics and beyond. And Matt Nichol is telling parents to slow down.Matt has trained some of the best athletes on the planet, but he's clear on one thing: he'd never train a 10-year-old like a pro. So why do so many youth coaches and parents try to do exactly that? In this conversation, Matt and Scott dig into what's actually broken in youth sports right now: the flood of private academies, the misuse of the "10,000 hour rule," and the difference between kids who are overtrained and kids who are simply under-recovered.Matt also takes apart one of the most common arguments parents use to justify early specialization: "Well, Connor McDavid did it." (Spoiler: that logic doesn't hold up, and Matt explains exactly why.) They talk about what Norway is doing differently in athlete development, why the old Soviet sports school model can't be copied today, and what parents should really be looking for in a coach at any level.If you've ever wondered whether your kid is training too much, too early, or in the wrong way, this conversation will change how you think about it. 🎙️ Better Sports Parents is helping parents positively contribute to the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week.Chapters:00:00 Opening02:02 Introducing Matt Nichol03:32 How Youth Sports Has Changed in 30 Years04:36 The Rise of Privatized Youth Sports06:13 Who Gets Left Behind in a Private System08:18 The "10,000 Hour Rule" Myth11:06 Why Kids Quit Instead of Dropping Down a Level13:16 Redesigning the System vs. Educating Parents15:51 Early vs. Late Specialization Sports16:53 Why Connor McDavid Is a Weak Argument19:12 The Mental Health Cost of Overspecializing20:20 FOMO Training and Busy Work22:52 What Overtraining Actually Looks Like25:34 Under-Recovery: The Bigger Hidden Issue29:27 The Magic of Unstructured Play34:06 Is There Too Much Commitment Too Young?36:42 The Decline of School Sport40:08 Could Public and Private Sport Merge?42:28 What Norway Gets Right45:36 You Don't Have to Choose Between Fun and Elite48:00 The Soviet Sports School System56:15 Why Long-Term Athlete Development Is Hard to Implement1:00:31 Supporting Volunteer Coaches1:04:23 What to Look for in a Youth Coach1:09:06 Values Matt's Parents Instilled in Him1:12:08 What a Parent's Role Should Really Be1:17:15 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports TodayResources:Matt NicholLTAD FrameworkBetter Sports Parents
Worth Repeating: Allison McNeill on Protecting Joy in Youth Sport
Allison McNeill is one of the most accomplished figures in Canadian basketball. As a player, she won multiple provincial and national titles before finishing her collegiate career in the NCAA. As a coach, she took over Simon Fraser University's women's program in 1988 and spent 13 years turning it into a perennial national championship contender. She then took the reins of Canada's women's national team, ending a 12-year Olympic absence by guiding them back to the 2012 Games and making them competitive on the world stage. She has coached at every level of the game, from grade twos all the way to the national team, and she still gives back at the youth level today. In this segment, Allison discusses the importance of protecting the joy of sport for all young athletes and some of the factors that are contributing to the loss of that joy in far too many kids. Listen to the full episode:SpotifyAppleWatch on YouTube
Jason Strudwick: Kids Aren't Your Scorecard, A Culture of FOMO & Problems with Super Teams
Jason Strudwick played over 600 NHL games across a 17-year pro career with the Islanders, Canucks, Blackhawks, Rangers, and Oilers. Since retiring, he's become a broadcaster, youth hockey coach, and dad to three kids active in sports, giving him a rare view of the youth sports system from every angle.In this episode, Jason gets refreshingly honest: why he tells parents the truth even when they don't want to hear it, why "your kids aren't your scorecard," and why no five-day camp has ever turned a player into someone 50% better. He and Scott dig into the rise of private academies, the real financial cost of access in hockey, the pressure of FOMO on parents and kids alike, and explains why physical literacy, not early specialization, is the real long-term advantage. He also opens up about his own physical and mental health routine, and the identity crisis so many athletes face when sport doesn't work out the way they hoped.If you're navigating minor hockey, private leagues, camps, or just wondering whether you're doing right by your kid, this conversation is full of hard-earned, no-nonsense perspective.Better Sports Parents is helping parents positively contribute to the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week. Chapters:00:00 Opening02:08 Introducing Jason Strudwick03:34 Pushing Kids Harder Than We Pushed Ourselves07:04 Overexposure and the Injury Risk08:44 Reading What Your Kid Actually Wants11:10 "Kids Aren't Your Scorecard" 3:05 No Kid Improves Dramatically in Five Days15:06 Shane Doan: "We All End Up Here"18:48 Why Parents Need to Talk to Each Other23:35 Tell the Truth as a Coach26:11 The Rise of Private Academies30:36 The Accessibility Gap in Hockey32:01 What Age Should Kids Specialize?36:07 Letting Family Values Lead the Decisions38:14 Do Travel Tournaments Actually Help?40:48 The Problem With Super Teams42:52 Give Your Coaches a Break44:53 Free Development Tools Online49:11 Jason's Own Late-Blooming Journey50:44 Why Multi-Sport Matters53:24 Skate, Ski, Swim: Physical Literacy for Life57:38 Physical Activity and Mental Health1:00:36 When Sport Becomes Your Identity1:02:56 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today1:05:39 You're Not Paying for Performance1:07:39 The Real Cost of Access in Youth SportsResources:Jason StrudwickGot Yer Back PodcastBetter Sports Parents
Worth Repeating: Steve Mesler on The Importance of Keeping Kids in Sport
Steve Mesler is an Olympic gold medalist, a former member of the USA Olympic Committee and the co-founder of Classroom Champions. He's also a father navigating today's youth sports landscape and comes face to face with what many consider conventional wisdom with respect to sports parenting.In this segment, Steve challenges a common question he hears in the youth sports ecosystem and advocates for the importance of sport in building self-worth, confidence, and the skills needed to be successful in life.Listen to the entire episode:SpotifyAppleWatch on YouTube
Kara Kalin: Smiling While Dying, The Sweaty Head Test & Create Unshakable Confidence
Kara Kalin competed at the national level in artistic swimming, coached the sport from club to the Canadian team, and became a clinical counselor and certified EMDR therapist. She then founded Shift Change, a platform for trauma processing in sport and beyond. Kara is also a mother of four children all active in sport, so she has seen the youth sports environment from every angle. And what she sees concerns her deeply.In this conversation with Scott Rintoul, Kara shares the moment a coach publicly shamed her on a pool deck at eleven years old, and how that single experience planted a seed of "I'm not good enough" that drove her career for decades without her knowing it. She explains what trauma actually is, why sport is full of it, and why policies and documents change nothing if the brain never gets to process what happened.She also shares some of the most practical parenting wisdom on the podcast to date: how she developed the Sweaty Head Test for her son, why she built a program called The Power of the Drive Home, and what parents can do in ten minutes after a game that changes everything.Kara makes the case, plainly and without apology, that threat does not need to be the driving force in sport. If the conditions are right, the greatness comes anyway. Chapters00:00 Opening01:35 Introducing Kara Kalin03:15 Being Inside a System That Resisted Change04:35 The Olympic Dream08:22 Choosing Her Kids Over Her Sport11:29 Training Beside Olympians13:29 How She Found Synchro Swimming14:19 One Moment Changed Everything16:19 Public Shame on a Pool Deck17:04 Fear of Holding Her Breath18:07 Smiling While Dying19:04 Straight Into Coaching at 1620:02 Finding Joy in Sport Again20:34 Her Parents: A Quiet Champion, a Pacing Dad26:07 Should Parents Fight Their Kids' Battles?28:15 The Sweaty Head Test30:04 Asking for Feedback After Practice31:25 Threat Doesn't Need to Drive Us33:24 Why Sport Is Full of Trauma35:27 The Car Ride After a Coach Yells39:48 The Sweaty Head Test40:28 Recognizing Trauma in Yourself41:06 The Definition of Trauma That Changed Her Life44:21 What Unprocessed Trauma Does to the Body46:40 When Her Body Finally Said "Enough"48:00 Do We Pass Unprocessed Trauma to Athletes We Coach?52:13 Children as Mirrors54:47 Safe Sport: Too Much Talking, Not Enough Doing56:14 The 90-Day Window for Processing Harm57:12 How Shift Change Was Born1:00:00 Mental Health in Sport1:01:32 Why Sport Is Stuck1:05:28 Why LTAD Never Took Hold1:08:08 Kara's Biggest Issue in Youth Sport1:11:33 What Often Happens to Those Who Try to Change the System 1:15:25 What She Hopes Her Kids Get From SportResourcesKara Kalin Shift Change Better Sports Parents
Worth Repeating: Senator Marnie McBean on The Pitfalls of Early Specialization
Three-time Olympic gold medalist and Canadian Senator Marnie McBean sees many of the problems with youth sports in Canada and she's intent on figuring out what we can do about it. From her international rowing career to raising her 10-year-old daughter Isabel, Marnie has seen sport at every level and has a very current view on what's currently happening in youth sports today.In this segment, Marnie shares insights on why multi-sport participation matters and why early specialization may be preventing a lot of boys from finding their true calling in sport.Listen to the full episode:SpotifyAppleWatch on YouTube
Adam Bighill: From Bullied to Belonging, Misleading Money Grabs & Coaches Build Communities
Adam Bighill made more tackles than all but five players in the history of Canadian football. He won three Grey Cups, was named the CFL's most outstanding defensive player three times, and is a shoe in for the Canadian Football Hall of Fame.But the most revealing thing about Adam's relationship with football can't be found on the stat sheet. Born with a bilateral cleft lip and palate, Adam was bullied as a kid and used sport to do the one thing it does better than almost anything else: earn respect and build belonging. His proclivity for sport and his relentless work ethic meant he was always one of the first picks. Sport levelled the playing field and gave him a place where he fit.Now retired from the CFL and coaching his three kids in flag football, Adam has a clear-eyed, no-nonsense view of what's wrong in youth sport today: parents with mismatched expectations, a money grab masquerading as development, and coaches who yell instead of teach. His philosophy is simple, and the results speak for themselves. His team went from chaos to competing at the national level on one practice and one game per week, and more importantly, every player improved and contributed to the best of their ability.Adam is very direct on the importance of coaching, the need for more resources, and his belief that sport can help everyone build confidence and self-worth. 🎙️ Better Sports Parents is helping parents positively contribute to the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week.Chapters00:00 Opening02:07 Introducing Adam Bighill03:32 Why He Retired04:08 Three Kids, All Multi-Sport06:03 Early Specialization07:47 Too Many Games, Not Enough Practice08:39 The Money Grab09:25 The Power of the Coach11:07 His Coaching Philosophy14:41 How to Make Practice Fun Without Losing the Work17:27 What Bad Youth Coaching Actually Looks Like17:43 The Best Coaching Advice He Ever Received20:08 Managing Parents 21:48 The Context of Team23:47 The Word Every Coach Needs: "Yet"23:59 Being a Sports Parent on the Sidelines24:47 What His Dad Taught Him Just by Showing Up26:41 Applauding Everyone on the Field29:12 Conditional Love and What It Does to Kids30:39 Youth Travel Sports32:43 What Happens Outside Structured Practice34:40 How Much Commitment Is Too Much at a Young Age?37:05 Why Kids Play and Why Parents Should Ask39:12 How Sport Gave Adam Belonging41:28 Sport Broke Down Every Barrier43:43 Sport Builds the People Your Community Needs45:56 "Some Kids Need Football More Than Football Needs Them"46:23 Canada vs. the US48:50 Privatization in Youth Sports52:33 Sport Should Be a Meritocracy55:11 The Pressure Parents Feel57:35 What Adam Expects From His Own Kids59:02 What 14 Years of Pro Football Built in Him01:01:29 The Mindset That Lasted Beyond Sport01:03:45 Adam's Biggest Issue in Youth Sport TodayResourcesAdam BighillOperation Smile CanadaBetter Sports Parents
Worth Repeating: Trevor Linden on the Rising Costs and Pressure in Youth Sports
Trevor Linden played 19 seasons in the NHL, captained the Vancouver Canucks to the 1994 Stanley Cup Final, and performed under the most intense pressure imaginable. But as a sports parent to his 8-year-old son? He's about as low-pressure as it gets.In this segment, Trevor discusses the advent of travel tournaments to major markets for teams with very young players, the rising cost of youth sports, and how adults set the example of what is acceptable with their behaviour.Listen to the full episode:SpotifyAppleWatch on YouTube
Shannon Winzer: We're Failing Our Coaches, Why Parents Lose the Plot & The Gift of Free Play
Shannon Winzer has coached volleyball at the highest level on two continents:national teams in Canada and Australia, and now as head coach of the Dallas Pulse in Major League Volleyball. She's also a mother of three kids actively playing youth sports and a volunteer lacrosse coach in her community. That combination gives her a perspective on youth sport that very few people have.What she sees frustrates her deeply. Coaches who have lost sight of the developmental needs of young people. Organizations selling dreams to parents who don't know enough to question them. A volunteer coaching workforce that is expected to do everything and supported to do almost nothing. And a youth sports culture so focused on winning, medals, and the next academy program that it has completely forgotten why kids play sport in the first place.In this conversation with Scott Rintoul, Shannon is direct, honest, and at times quietly furious. She talks about talent identification, the myth of early specialization, what the best professional athletes all have in common, the role of school sport, and the one question every parent should be asking their child but probably isn't. Her diagnosis of the biggest issue in youth sport is simple: we've lost perspective on what the purpose of youth sport actually is. Better Sports Parents is helping parents positively contribute to the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week. Chapters00:00 Opening 01:58Introducing Shannon Winzer03:18 Why She's So Passionate About Youth Sports03:59 Her View on Youth Sports Today05:22 Why Parents Lose the Plot07:17 What Shannon Wants for Her Own Kids08:44 Do Parents Understand Their Role in Youth Sport?10:04 Fighting Your Child's Battles vs. Supporting Them Through Their Own11:44 When a Child Approaches the Coach vs. When a Parent Does12:01 What Learning Looks Like: Reframing Failure13:49 Please Don't Coach From the Stands16:23 Why Coaching From the Sideline Adds Noise, Not Help20:26 Why Shannon Got Into Coaching22:03 Shannon's Youth Sports Background24:03 Academies: When They Help and When They Don't28:19 Setting Boundaries as a Sports Family30:09 The Greatest Gift We Can Give Kids: Free Play33:28 How Coaches Can Create Space for Creativity36:21 Ask What They Love, Not Just Why They Play39:27 We Are Failing Our Coaches42:18 Coach Retention, School Sport and the Teacher Problem47:02 The Missing Recreational Pathway in Volleyball51:29 Why Shannon Chose Volleyball Over Basketball52:28 Multi-Sport at the Professional Level55:53 People Selling Youth Sports57:42 Shannon's Biggest Issue: We've Lost Perspective01:01:08 We Need a Framework, Not Just Funding01:04:31 The Number One Purpose of Youth Sport01:08:36 Competition and Participation Can Coexist01:10:48 The Myth Around Talent IDResourcesShannon WinzerLong-Term Athlete DevelopmentBetter Sports Parents
Worth Repeating: Kim Gaucher on Giving Kids the Freedom to Make Decisions
Kim Gaucher was a member of the Canadian Women's Basketball Team for more than 20 years, captaining the team in multiple Olympic Games. Her prolific NCAA and professional career led her into coaching and eventually her current role as Head of the Players Unit with FIBA, the governing body of international basketball. In this segment, Kim discusses the benefits of kids playing in unstructured environments, how players benefit when they're not coached during games, and how the focus on individual skills has taken away from team play.Listen to the full episode:SpotifyAppleWatch on YouTube
Brian Johns: The Rat Race of Youth Sports, Parents Need Help & Who is the System Serving?
Brian Johns is a three-time Olympian and was a world record holder in the pool. He also thought he knew what youth sport looked like — until he became a parent.What he found when he put his daughters into youth sports was an eye-opener even for someone who has spent decades in sport at every level. Sports operating in silos, parents left to figure everything out alone, nine-year-olds being tiered into competitive groups without equal resources. He started writing and speaking about it because the problems were obvious but the solutions felt stuck.In this conversation with Scott Rintoul, Brian draws on his background as an Olympian, a coach, and Head of Coaching Science at Form Swim to make the case that youth sport isn't failing because people don't care, it's failing because organizations are just trying to survive, and nobody is coordinating the bigger picture. He argues that the answer isn't just more funding or more facilities. It's collaboration, purposeful programming, and a willingness to put the child in front of the organization.🎙️ Better Sports Parents is helping parents positively contribute to the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week. Chapters00:00 Opening02:09 Introducing Brian Johns03:05 What Made Him Start Writing About Youth Sport05:57 The Biggest Revelation: Everything Is Siloed08:23 Brian's Youth Sports Background09:33 His Parents' Approach: Let Him Choose11:07 Why He Kept Playing Other Sports Despite Excelling at Swimming12:55 How the Culture of Swimming Has Changed15:45 Purposeful Practice vs. Empty Volume16:06 Peak Performance Ages in Swimming: A Unique Challenge19:55 Managing Young Phenoms: Communication Is Everything24:14 Creating Community in an Individual Sport27:41 Competing Against Other Sports for Kids' Time32:26 You're Not Just Competing With Other Clubs37:45 Can Sports Organizations Work Together?43:00 The Death of School Sport and What It Cost Us45:13 Reframing Sport: Accessibility vs. Competition Is a False Choice48:29 Pathways for Kids Who Don't Make the Team53:21 Zoom Out: We All End Up at the Rec Center54:11 Unprecedented Funding: Can Canada Actually Deliver?56:10 The Infrastructure Problem Nobody Talks About01:01:24 Free Swimming Lessons: Vancouver's Experiment01:03:09 Who Is the Youth Sport System Actually Designed to Serve?01:07:07 Who Needs to Step Back and Why01:11:17 Brian's Biggest Issue in Youth Sport: Lack of Collaboration01:13:59 Identity Beyond Swimming: How Coaches Can Help01:16:48 Performance vs. Learning: The Flip Turn StoryResourcesBrian Johns Vancouver's Free Swimming Proposal
Worth Repeating: Brendan Morrison on Keeping Perspective as a Parent
Brendan Morrison played over 900 games in the NHL and centred a line known as The West Coast Express, the league's highest scoring line for a couple of seasons. As a parent, he and his wife Erin have raised four children, all of whom became NCAA Division I athletes... but that was never Brendan's or Erin's goal. In this segment, Brendan discusses the pressure too many parents place on their kids in youth sports and how to keep a realistic perspective without killing your child's dreams.Listen to the full episode:SpotifyAppleWatch on YouTube
Radha Balani: Canada at a Crossroads, Affordability First & Building Healthier Nations
Canada needs change in its sport system; Radha Balani has seen this before. As an expert partner in strategy and leadership at Think Beyond, she spent decades inside the UK's sport system, including its radical 2015 overhaul. Since then, she's worked with several countries and companies directly, including Jumpstart and the Canadian Paralympic Committee. She knows exactly what it takes to change a national sport system at scale because she's lived it.In this conversation, Radha traces her own youth sports journey growing up in a small English village, playing every sport she could find, and the progressive PE teacher who simply refused to put kids in boxes. She's candid that her own success was luck, not design — the system wasn't built for someone who looked like her, and she knows it.Radha breaks down exactly why the UK's 2015 reform worked, why Canada's current moment looks similar but lacks a critical component that made the difference, and what it actually means to measure outcomes instead of outputs. She makes the case for a mixed economy of public, private and community sport, explains why affordability is the single biggest barrier in Canadian sport today, and lays out what model nations like Norway and Australia got right by treating sport as a vehicle for health and wellbeing rather than the end goal itself.Better Sports Parents is helping parents positively contribute to the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week.Chapters00:00 Opening02:04 Itroducing Radha Balani03:11 Liverpool, Her Father & John Barnes05:09 Youth Sport Was Luck, Not Design07:18 Injury, Identity & Losing Sport at University09:39 Why She Loved Sport: Safety, Repetition & Belonging11:59 Inclusion, Exclusion & Growing Up Different16:00 Survivor Bias and Realizing How Lucky She Was18:48 The UK's 2015 Turning Point21:27 Canada in 2026: Similar Crossroads, Missing Piece23:52 Why NSOs Can't Carry This Alone27:14 The System Is Fractured — Can It Be Fixed or Rebuilt?30:05 Is Sport in Canada Truly Unaffordable?34:16 What's Missing: A Strategy, Not Just Recommendations40:26 Norway, Sport as a Vehicle, Not the End Goal43:55 The UK Tied Funding to Changing the Rules45:15 Outcomes vs. Outputs: What Actually Changes Lives49:01 Travel Teams, Sport Sampling & the Cliff Edge53:32 Duty of Care: The Governance Piece Missing in North America56:36 Paying Coaches for Training 59:14 Trauma-Informed Coaching 1:03:09 The Mixed Economy: Public, Private & Community Sport Together1:06:14 Canada's Biggest Issue: Affordability1:07:00 What Progress Actually Looks LikeResourcesThink BeyondFuture of Sport in Canada Commission ReportJumpstartKick4Life
Worth Repeating: Angus Reid on Giving Children Agency in Their Sports Journey
Former CFL centre and Grey Cup champion Angus Reid is now a high school football coach, a keynote speaker, and recently authored his second book, "Teenager: A Story About Finding Your Way". In this segment, Angus shares why he refuses to charge kids for coaching, what children can teach coaches and parents if they take the time to listen, and the critical difference between being demanding and demeaning.Listen to the full episode:SpotifyAppleWatch on YouTube
Greg Stewart: Do All the Sports, Encourage Failure & The Power of Self-Acceptance
Greg Stewart spent the first 25 years of his life trying to prove to people that he wasn't disabled despite being born without half of his left arm. Once he changed his mindset, he found the sport of shot put and won two Paralympic gold medals.Greg is a three-time world champion in para standing volleyball, a U Sports Defensive player of the Year in able bodied basketball, and he stands seven foot two. But the most interesting thing about him isn't his resume. It's the path he had to walk to get there. A path that ran through able-bodied sport, university, rock bottom, two lost jobs, and an eventual breakthrough: accepting himself exactly as he was.In this conversation, Greg talks about what sport means when you spend years doing it for the wrong reasons, why failure is one of the most important things we can teach young athletes, and what the word inclusion actually means when you strip away the box-ticking. He shares the three values he brings to young athletes — trust, ownership and integrity — and makes a compelling case that the real problem in youth sports right now isn't the coaches or the kids. It's the parents... who he also believes are the solution.Greg is 40 years old, newly married, a brand new father of a three-month-old daughter, and studying for his master's in counseling. He has more to say about sport, identity and mental health than almost anyone we've had on this show. 🎙️ Better Sports Parents: helping parents positively contribute to the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week. Chapters00:00 Opening01:36 Introducing Greg Stewart03:46 How Greg Got Into Sport05:03 "You Can't Coach Height" — Using What You've Got05:38 Starting in Grassroots: Soccer, Lacrosse and Everything Else07:15 What His Parents Got Right: Encouragement Without Force08:41 Did Sport Feel Like a Place He Belonged?11:43 25 Years Trying to Prove He Wasn't Disabled13:09 Leaning Into Able-Bodied Sport: What He Was Really Chasing15:02 Having Success Without Having Joy16:51 Chasing External Validation for 25 Years17:16 Rock Bottom: Almost Failing Out, Fired From Two Jobs19:36 How He Found Joy in Sport Again20:26 Failure Is Important22:26 How He Discovered Shot Put25:24 Physical Health and Mental Health Are the Same Thing28:12 Finding Flow State in Sport30:07 What Greg Tells Young Athletes: Trust, Ownership and Integrity33:15 Are Parents Owning the Right Things?35:19 Your Discomfort Is Leading the Way: A Message for Parents 38:17 Mental Health Support in Sport: What's Changed and What Hasn't39:23 Why We Need to Let Kids Fail 41:20 Do All the Sports43:18 Youth Sport Has Become Too Commercialized44:13 The Coaches Who Shaped Greg46:04 Ownership and Trust: Who Really Runs the Team?48:38 What Inclusion Actually Means52:03 Where Does Healthy Competition Belong in Youth Sport?55:56 The Objective vs. The Purpose: A Crucial Distinction57:42 Greg's Biggest Issue in Youth Sport Today: Parent Involvement01:00:04 How to Bring Parents Along: Lead by Vulnerability01:02:32 The Listeners We Really Need to Reach01:03:30 The MindfuleteResourcesGreg StewartThe MindfuleteJumpstart
Worth Repeating: Jesse Marsch on How Parents and Coaches Can Create a Positive Environment
Jesse Marsch, coach of Canada's National Men's Soccer Team, has seen youth sports development from every angle: as a player, as a coach, and as a parent. Jesse doesn't give parenting advice: he gives coaching insights rooted in decades of professional experience and the lessons learned from watching his own three children navigate sports across the globe. In this segment, Jesse reveals the secret he learned as parent that made him a better coach, how coaches can bring parents alongside them in their child's sports experience, and why a positive environment produces the best results for players of all abilities.Listen to the entire episode:SpotifyAppleWatch on YouTube
Jay Triano: Learning from Steve Nash, Practicing in a Parking Lot & Fun is Fundamental
Jay Triano has spent almost all of his 67 years in sport. He's a former captain of Canada's Men's Basketball Team, the first Canadian head coach in NBA history with the Toronto Raptors, and a current assistant with the Dallas Mavericks. He's also the son of a high school basketball coach and the father of three kids who all played youth sports, which means he's seen every side of the equation.In this conversation, Jay draws direct lines between how he was raised in sport in Niagara Falls and the NBA coach he became. He talks about playing basketball, volleyball, baseball and track until he was nearly 18, why Steve Nash never acted like the best player in the room despite being exactly that, and what a parking lot practice with no hoops taught him about fundamentals that individual skill sessions never could.Jay is direct about what he sees wrong in youth sports today: parent-driven environments that prioritize exposure over development, social media that skips all the steps, and a growing culture of selfish play filtering down from the professional game. And he's equally clear about the fix: fun, teamwork, open communication, and coaches who understand that they're coaching twelve kids, not just yours. 🎙️ Better Sports Parents: helping parents positively contribute to the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week. Chapters00:00 Opening01:35 Introducing Jay Triano03:18 A Life in Sport: 67 Years and Still Going04:16 How Jay's Dad Shaped His Love of the Game05:37 Multi-Sport Until 17: Basketball, Baseball, Volleyball & Track06:44 Unstructured Play: Street Hockey and Stats in the Front Yard07:20 How Multi-Sport Cross-Training Made Jay a Better Athlete08:21 Raising His Own Kids: Let Them Love What They Love10:00 What Youth Sport Looked Like When His Kids Were Young11:32 What Jay Looked for in a Youth Coach12:31 Youth Sport Today: Parent-Driven and Overspecialized13:55 NIL, Agents at Young Ages & Money Changing the Game14:17 Higher Skills, Lower IQ15:47 Too Many Games, Not Enough Practice18:25 Multi-Sport and Learning to Fill a Role19:08 Steve Nash: The Best Player Who Never Acted Like It22:14 The European Model: Growing Together24:15 Canadian Basketball's Rise and the Affordability Problem26:14 If You're Good Enough, You Will Be Found28:04 What Jay Wanted His Kids to Get Out of Sport29:51 Learning From Bad Coaches Too29:58 The Coaches Who Shaped Jay33:32 The Biggest Mistake Jay Made as a Young Coach36:11 Number One Advice for New Coaches: Make It Fun38:19 How to Recognize and Reward Every Role on a Team40:16 Phil Jackson's Rule: Acknowledge the Screen, Not Just the Bucket44:54 What Jay's Dad Said After the Games47:15 The Volunteer Coach and Referee Crisis48:07 No Secrets: Jay's Rule on Parent Communication52:10 He Wasn't Going to Cut a Kid in Grade Seven53:51 What a Good Youth Environment Actually Looks Like58:23 Developing Canadian Coaches: A Missed Opportunity01:00:14 A Simple Thank You Can Keep a Coach Coming Back01:02:16 The Parking Lot Practice That Built His Fundamentals01:04:06 Social Media Is Skipping All the Steps01:06:01 Are We Over-Parenting? Kids Need Difficult Situations01:07:38 Learning to Be Coached Hard01:09:06 Jay's Biggest Issue in Youth Sports TodayResourcesJay Triano
Worth Repeating: Andrew Ladd on Teaching Skills that go Far Beyond Hockey
Andrew Ladd is a Stanley Cup winner, a 4th overall NHL draft pick, and a former NHL captain who played 1,000 games in hockey's top league. He's also a proud father, husband and youth hockey coach who wants to improve the youth sports environment who all kids who play. In this segment, Andrew shares powerful stories from his pro career and details "1616" - a mental health initiative he founded to equip young hockey players, coaches, and parents with tools to navigate the challenges that arise in both sport and life.Listen to the entire episode:SpotifyAppleWatch on YouTube
Brock McGillis: The Locker Room Should Be Disneyland, Vulnerable is Brave & Why Words Matter
⚠️ This episode deals with serious topics including mental health, self-harm, and abuse. If you or someone you know needs support, contact Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868) or the Suicide Crisis Helpline (988).Brock McGillis became the first openly gay player to have played professional hockey, but the path to that moment nearly cost him everything. Depression. Daily drinking. Self-harm. A sport culture that told him, in a thousand small ways every day, that he couldn't be himself.Today Brock runs the Shift Makers tour, visiting over 250 hockey teams across Canada in a single season. What he finds in those rooms is alarming: over a thousand players disclosing thoughts of self-harm or suicide, thousands more sharing mental health struggles, and more than 50 who had never told anyone they'd been sexually assaulted — until they told him. In this conversation, Brock talks about why sport culture continues to silence young people, what true inclusion actually looks like versus what organizations claim it looks like, and why the answer isn't more analysis — it's action. He also shares the story of Brendan Burke, whose friendship and tragic death became the catalyst for everything Brock does today. This is one of the most important conversations Better Sports Parents has had. Better Sports Parents is helping parents positively impact the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week Chapters00:00 Opening01:36 Introduction & Content Warning03:17 The Shift Makers Tour: 250 Teams in 200 Days04:11 How Locker Room Culture Programs Kids to Conform08:13 How Do We Go From Thinking the Right Things to Actually Doing Them?09:15 The Push-Up Story: How Shift Makers Was Born10:06 Challenging Bravery: "Tell Me Something You Wouldn't Tell a Teammate"12:10 "The Locker Room Should Be Disneyland"15:04 Why Kids Won't Talk to Parents and What Brock Does Differently19:17 The Real Reason Kids Don't Come Forward22:14 Why Brock Becomes the First Person They Ever Tell23:11 Parents Need to Humanize Themselves Too30:38 What to Do When Your Teenager Won't Talk to You34:19 Why "I Didn't Mean It Like That" Is Not Good Enough35:08 How the Culture Became Brock's Identity and His Prison38:11 Who or What Finally Made Him Be Himself43:27 Brendan Burke: The Friend Who Changed Everything43:58 What True Inclusion Actually Looks Like in Sport46:36 Why "We're a Family" Is Often Hollow51:26 Stop Talking. Start Doing.54:21 The Vicious Cycle: Coaches Doing What Was Done to Them58:51 Talk to Them as People, Not as Hockey Robots1:00:47 Resources for Self-Harm and Mental Health Support1:04:14 The Biggest Issue in Youth Sport Today: Affordability1:07:21 Why Sport Can Still Be GreatResourcesBrock McGillis' advocacy and speaking platformKids Help PhoneJumpstart
Worth Repeating: Ross Gurney on Enjoying Youth Sports for What They Are
Veteran sports agent and advisor Ross Gurney has helped players like Duncan Keith, Devon Toews, and Zach Benson navigate their way to and through the NHL, but he's also a father who's had to navigate the youth sports environment with his own two children. Though he's seen what it actually takes to make it to the highest levels of sport, Ross doesn't believe that early specialization, "elite" camps, and rushing kids up levels have improved the youth sports environment or experience for kids. In this segment, Ross encourages parents to slow down and enjoy youth sport for what they're meant to be - a joyful experience filled with growth and learning, not one that replicates the demands of professional sports.Listen to the full episode:SpotifyAppleWatch on YouTube
Chris Pronger's NHL resume reads like a fairy tale: second overall pick, Stanley Cup champion, two Olympic gold medals, Hart Trophy, Norris Trophy, Hockey Hall of Fame. But ask him what the hardest thing he's ever done is, and the answer isn't hockey. It's parenting. In this conversation with Scott Rintoul, Chris draws a direct line between the low-pressure, multi-sport, creativity-driven childhood he had in Dryden, Ontario and the Hall of Fame career that followed. He talks candidly about the two rules he gave his own kids — work hard and have fun — and what happened when one of his sons stopped doing the second one. Chris doesn't mince words on the state of youth sport. He believes we've monetized and commoditized childhood sport to the point where the kids have been forgotten entirely. He's watched joy get extracted from talented players at every level, seen parents chase triple-A status for the wrong reasons, and watched super teams steamroll opponents while teaching kids nothing about adversity. His message is simple: fun comes first. The passion, the work ethic, the resilience... it all comes later. If it isn't fun, the rest of won't matter.🎙️ Better Sports Parents: helping parents positively impact the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week.Chapters0:00 Opening01:35 Introduction: Chris Pronger03:40 The Hardest Job of His Career: Parenting04:48 Being a Parent vs. Being a Friend06:00 How Chris Was Parented in Sport08:08 Low Pressure, High Support: What His Parents Got Right09:29 Unstructured Play and Why It Made Him Better11:01 Multi-Sport: Why Chris Played Everything12:41 Taking Breaks From Hockey, Even as a Pro13:49 Are Kids on the Ice Too Long?16:28 When It Should Be About Fun, Not Wins19:22 Travel Sports: How Much Is Too Much, Too Soon?23:31 His Two Rules as a Sports Parent24:07 The Conversation He Had With His Son Who Wasn't Having Fun26:12 Pressure to Have Kids in Hockey?29:04 Studying the Game as a Kid32:40 Passion vs. Fit: Follow What You Love39:08 Parents: Who Are You Doing This For?41:13 Triple-A or Bust: The Stigma That Kills the Joy42:27 Even NHL Scouts Get It Wrong48:58 Standards: Where Do They Come From?49:37 Victimhood, Accountability and When His Game Turned Around51:39 Blame Culture in Youth Sport and How to Fix It53:33 The Monetization and Commoditization Problem56:28 FOMO and the Genie That Won't Go Back in the Bottle58:34 Super Teams: Why Chris Hates Them in Any Sport59:01 Adversity as a Gift01:05:07 What Youth Sport Teaches Future CEOs01:09:44 Chris's Biggest Issue in Youth Sport TodayResourcesChris Pronger's Book: EarnedChris Pronger: Hockey Hall of Fame
Worth Repeating: Will Loftus on the Impact of Coaching
Will Loftus played more than a decade in the CFL, won two Grey Cups, and is enshrined in the BC Football Hall of Fame for his excellence on the field. But Will truly found his purpose once his days on the gridiron were over. Through Game Ready Fitness and the Washington Kids Foundation, he and his team are on a mission to ensure that every child has access to quality coaching and mentorship, regardless of background or skill level. In this segment, Will talks about the impact coaches have on people's lives and why that responsibility should not be taken lightly.Listen to the full episode:SpotifyAppleWatch on YouTube
Adam Van Koeverden: The Alignment Issue, Fund Physical Literacy & Canada Wants to Win
Adam Van Koeverden has paddled over 120,000 kilometres in his lifetime. He's a four-time Olympian, a multiple world champion, and one of the most decorated kayakers Canada has ever produced. He's also Canada's Secretary of State for Sport, and that may be where his biggest race is being run.In this conversation, Adam traces the full arc of a sporting life that began with a mom who needed somewhere for her kid to go after school. The Oakville canoe club was affordable, it was welcoming, it ran on volunteers, and it changed everything. Adam wants every Canadian kid to have access to that same kind of experience, and he's now in a position to do something about it. He talks candidly about the $755 million federal investment in sport recently announced, and what it's actually designed to do. As Adam puts it, every world champion Canada has ever produced started out splashing around in swimming lessons or kicking a ball at a community center, and the foundation for elite sport is an active society.He also weighs in on the issues sports parents know too well: early specialization, the pressure to travel at young ages, the cost of living squeezing family budgets, and the gap between what the research says about youth development and what's actually happening on the ground. He shares his honest view on what a good youth coach looks like, what his own parents did right, and why the Norwegian model keeps coming up as the gold standard. And he makes the case that physical activity and play are human rights.Chapters0:00 Opening1:35 Introducing Adam Van Koeverden5:11 The $755M Announcement: Largest Sport Investment in Canadian History8:00 How Will the $755M Show Up in Your Community?8:28 National Sport Organizations & the Alignment Problem12:37 Hockey Canada and the Trust Deficit in Governance14:30 Do We Need to Overhaul National Sport Organizations?15:38 Underfunded at Every Level16:39 Nation Building Through Sport: Why Adam Put His Name on a Ballot18:24 What Parents Are Telling Him21:46 The Case for Coed Sport Until Age 1223:19 Can Government Incentivize Multi-Sport?26:18 School-Based Sport vs. Club Sport: The Balance We've Lost27:31 Not-for-Profit vs. For-Profit Sport29:20 Sport Saves Kids30:42 Adam's Youth Sports Journey32:45 Why Kayaking?34:12 Physical Literacy for All Canadians37:12 Screens and the Generation That Stopped Moving39:44 Competition vs. Participation41:49 What Adam's Parents Did Right43:05 The Norwegian Model: Kids Are Not Olympians45:43 The Foundation for Success in Sport46:39 What a Positive Sporting Environment Actually Looks Like49:08 Valuing Coaching54:48 Cost of Living, Sideline Pressure and Sport on the Chopping Block56:05 What Does Success Look Like for Canada in 5, 10, 15 Years?59:48 Adam's Biggest Issue: Declining Participation1:00:46 Reasons for OptimismResourcesCanada's $755M InvestmentFuture of Sport in Canada Commission ReportCanadian Tire Jumpstart Charities
Worth Repeating: Steve Kindel on Choosing Multisport in a Sport Specialized System
Steve Kindel is a former professional soccer player, the Technical Director of a youth soccer club (North Van FC), and the father of NHL forward, Ben Kindel. Steve not only had a front row seat to watch his son grow in various ways through multisport participation, but he also witnessed how NHL stars Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini benefited from playing soccer into their teens. In this segment, Steve describes the reality of year-round opportunities in so many youth sports, but advocates for families to hold firm to their beliefs and values with respect to multisport participation. Listen to the full episode here: Spotify AppleWatch on YouTube
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif: Two Worlds of Sport, Lessons from Andy Reid & Build Bigger Funnels
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif contains multitudes. He's a Super Bowl champion with the Kansas City Chiefs, a practicing physician in Quebec, a business owner, and the founder of a foundation dedicated to giving underserved children access to both sport and the arts. He is also one of the most thoughtful voices on youth sport you will find anywhere.In this conversation, Laurent traces the full arc of a remarkable life: from a childhood spent sailing with his family across the Caribbean, to playing badminton and violin alongside football as a teenager, to meeting with the Dean of Medicine before meeting a single NFL team, to sitting out a season to serve on the front lines of COVID relief. At every step, his story challenges the assumptions that dominate youth sports culture today. Laurent argues that sport and physical activity have quietly become two different things: one is an industry of performance, the other is a lifelong health behaviour. He believes the youth sports environment has tilted too far toward the former, narrowing the pipeline of kids who stay active. He talks about what Andy Reid understood about coaching that most coaches never do, describes the Kansas City locker room as a place where Travis Kelce's interest in fashion was treated with the same respect as a surgical reduction of a fracture, and how that culture of permission made the team better. He also opens up about his LDT Foundation, now active in over 60 schools & 400 summer camps across Quebec, which fuses sport and art to serve children who would otherwise have neither. And he makes a case that the goal of youth sport should not be to produce more elite athletes, but to produce more active humans.Chapters00:00 Opening01:36 Introducing Laurent Duvernay-Tardif05:32 Why He Never Gave Up Medicine for the NFL08:26 What Makes Andy Reid a Special Coach09:57 Youth Coaches Who Let Him Stay Multi-Sport11:30 How Martial Arts, Badminton Made Him a Better Lineman12:50 His Parents' Approach13:56 Two Years Away From Organized Sport16:09 Being Left on an Island17:06 Coming Back at 15: Hungry for Sport Again17:58 Playing to Have Fun19:32 What His Parents Asked After Games20:47 The Contract Call: His Mom's Reaction22:22 What Unconditional Love Looks Like in Sport23:38 Why He's Not Ready to Coach Yet24:02 What a Good Youth Coach Should Be25:48 What to Look for in a Team Before You Enroll Your Kids27:33 The Performance Industry vs. The Community29:21 Building a Bigger Funnel31:22 Importance of Elite Sport33:17 Why More Participants Means More Champions34:40 The LDT Foundation37:10 Why Summer Matters Most for Kids Who Need It38:09 How Playing Violin Made Him a Better Athlete40:06 The KC Locker Room: Pokemon Cards, Fashion & Surgery43:44 Why Football Became His Sport46:08 Mahomes, Kelce and the Case for Multi-Sport47:11 Were You Free to Play as a Kid?48:01 Connecting People Through Sport50:06 Why Kids Should Try Every Position51:11 Affordability and Access: The Gap We're Creating53:06 Don't Push Too Hard Too Soon53:51 Where Should Money in Youth Sport Go?55:39 Why Intergenerational Play Matters57:15 The Most Influential Thing a Parent Can Do57:56 Screen Time & Social Media59:01 The Biggest Issue in Youth Sport1:01:02 Jumpstart's Rethink InitiativeResources LDT Foundation JumpstartJumpstart's Rethink Initiative
Worth Repeating: Cammi Granato on Allowing Your Kids to Navigate Adversity
Hockey Hall of Famer Cammi Granato is a pioneer in women's hockey, breaking down barriers on and off the ice. Currently the Assistant General Manager of the Vancouver Canucks, Granato has experienced the game as a player, a coach, an executive, and a parent. In this segment, she discusses how to guide your children when they encounter adversity - from the pressure they may feel in competitive environments to learning to cope with a less than ideal coach to making mistakes while playing the game.Listen to the full episode here:SpotifyApple Watch on YouTube
Ryan Huska: Coaching Challenges, Adversity is Vanishing & Why Youth Sports Feels Like a Job
Ryan Huska has seen youth sports from just about every angle. As head coach of the Calgary Flames, he operates at the pinnacle of professional hockey. But as a father of three, he's also lived the full experience of the sports parent. Certain aspects of what he sees concerns him.In this conversation, Ryan reflects on two decades of parenting in youth sport and pulls no punches. He believes early specialization is producing a lo of technically gifted players who've lost their feel for the team game. He traces that back to a youth sports culture that rewards individual development over collective play, and that has created so many leagues and avenues that kids never learn how to handle adversity, adapt to a new role, or simply fall down a level and work their way back up.Ryan talks about the car ride home, the importance of asking open-ended questions instead of offering critique, the value of multi-sport development, and what he learned about hard work and teamwork during his Memorial Cup years with the Kamloops Blazers.He also addresses the proliferation of leagues and options that let families opt out of any environment that challenges them, a trend Ryan thinks is sending the wrong message to kids, fragmenting communities, and creating more problems than it solves.🎙️ Subscribe to Better Sports Parents, a podcast dedicated to helping parents more positively contribute to the youth sports environment.Chapters0:00 Opening01:35 Introducing Ryan Huska03:27 Is Being a Sports Parent More Stressful Than Coaching the NHL?04:02 How Youth Sports Has Changed04:49 The Rise of Individualism06:10 The Problem with Early Specialization07:12 The Fear of Falling Behind09:22 Late Bloomers and Different Paths to the Top10:26 The Fire That Comes from Taking a Break Between Sports11:33 When Sport Starts to Feel Like a Job13:54 Getting Kids to Their Ceiling Too Fast15:35 Entitlement & Learning to Accept a Different Role 17:09 Growing Up in a Small Town20:25 His Parents' Role in Ryan's Sports Journey24:05 How Ryan Learned to Talk to His Own Kids After Games26:25 The Carpool Secret: Why Other Kids in the Car Changes Everything28:23 Why Ryan Chose Hockey Over Baseball at 1530:25 Getting Humbled at Kamloops34:04 How a Part-Time Job Became a Coaching Career36:47 Coaching His Daughters in Soccer 39:57 "Too Much Too Soon"41:48 Does Specialization Actually Create Better Players?44:22 Why Kids Need to Watch Full Games47:36 Unstructured Play and the Loss of Creativity48:13 Why Coaches Should Add Small Area Games Back49:28 What Advice Ryan Gives Volunteer Coaches51:10 How to Communicate With and Manage Parents as a Coach53:11 The Problem with Too Many Leagues55:51 Why Parents Are Losing the Plot: Intentions vs. Outcomes57:08 The Rising Cost of Youth Sports and the Affordability Crisis59:07 The ROI Problem1:01:35 Ryan's Number One Concern in Youth Sports Today1:03:19 What Ryan Hopes His Kids Took From SportResources Jumpstart KidSport CalgaryAthletics for Kids
Worth Repeating: John O'Sullivan on How to Positively Support Your Child in Sport
John O’Sullivan, a former professional soccer player and coach, founded of Changing the Game Project to help parents, coaches, and organizations understand how they can better support all young athletes. He's recognized internationally for his positive work in the youth sports environment.In this segment, John breaks down why so many well-intentioned parents accidentally harm their child’s long-term development and what to do instead. You’ll learn why shouting instructions (“shoot!”, “pass!”, “go wide!”) steals vital reps from kids, what healthy sideline support ACTUALLY looks like, and why volunteer coaches need to hold themselves to a high standard. Listen to the full episode:SpotifyAppleWatch on YouTube
