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.
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What began as a one-off summer camp to expose marginalized youth to hockey has grown into a national program that annually serves over 800 youth in nine cities across Canada. Hockey Education Reaching Out Society (HEROS) provides free hockey programming for at risk children and youth, offering a safe and stable environment for them to grow, connect and succeed.
In this episode of What's Working, HEROS Executive Director, Kevin Hodgson, explains how the program is empowering youth who never imagined they'd call themselves hockey players into confident, resilient adults who share a lifelong passion for the fastest game on ice. Kevin discusses how the HEROS and SuperHEROS approach differs from those in traditional minor hockey environments, why volunteers keep coming back year after year, and how learning to go "bar down" led one participant to a call to the bar as a future lawyer.
Jesse Levine: Playing for Parents, Swinging in the Rain & Don't Train Kids Like Pros
Season 2 · Episode 56
Tuesday, October 13, 2026 • Duration 01:15:01
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
Camille Martens: Surviving Sport, Red Flags & Becoming the Sports Parent Your Child Needs
Season 2 · Episode 55
Tuesday, October 6, 2026 • Duration 01:09:24
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 job
How intention and impact can be worlds apart
Tools: keyword check-ins, a fridge scratchpad, the "buddy system"
How to build a strong coach-parent-athlete relationship
Chapters:
0:00 Opening
1:34 Introducing Camille Martens
3:24 Early path into sport
4:54 Discovering rhythmic gymnastics
7:15 Moving to Vancouver to train
9:03 Making the national team at 13
11:01 Protecting an unhealthy environment
12:01 Fear-based coaching in Eastern Europe
13:48 The physical and emotional cost
What's Working: Streetfront with Trevor Stokes
Season 2 · Episode 2
Friday, October 2, 2026 • Duration 30:23
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.
2:17 Running as a tool for self-worth and determination
3:51 Turning "running the other way" into buy-in
4:46 Why staff run every stride with the students
5:21 How the program started in 1977
6:54 Why running is cheap, local and effective
7:52 Removing every barrier to entry
8:52 The marathon doesn't care who you are
9:54 Earning trust before earning results
11:21 Alumni who come back to run with current students
12:23 Navigating school and school board politics
14:40 The metaphor behind the mission
Hayley Wickenheiser: High Costs Hurting Hockey, Let Your Kids Fail & The Lost Art of Play
Season 2 · Episode 54
Tuesday, September 29, 2026 • Duration 01:10:16
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 backfire
How free play builds hockey sense and decision-making
Why letting kids fail is one of the best things parents can do
How coaches can skip the practice plan and just let kids play
Why she'd choose the lower tier every time
Why "movement is medicine" starts in youth sports
Chapters:
0:00 Opening
1:35 Introducing Hayley Wickenheiser
3:44 The hardest job of all: Parenting
7:04 Two rules: an instrument and a sport
9:10 Playing hockey with the boys in Saskachewan
10:39 "Girls don't play hockey"
14:14 Why parents lose their minds at the rink
Geroy Simon: Navigating NIL, Check Your Ego as a Coach & It Always Comes Back to the Child
Season 2 · Episode 53
Tuesday, September 22, 2026 • Duration 01:09:55
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 Opening
1:35 Introducing Geroy Simon
3:12 Being Recruited by Maryland, Then and Now
5:30 The Other Side of the Recruiting Desk
6:18 How NIL Has Changed Recruiting
7:44 Transactional vs. Transformational Athletes
9:23 His Son's Choice: West Point Over the Ivy League
12:50 The Pressure of Carrying the Simon Name
14:12 Coaching His Own Son
17:21 Checking His Ego as a Youth Coach
19:16 His Daughters' Sports Experience
What's Working: Free Play for Kids with Tim Adams
Season 2 · Episode 1
Friday, September 18, 2026 • Duration 28:30
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.
4:02 The Origin Story: From CBC Journalist to Coach
6:45 From a Volunteer Club to a Staffed Program
8:24 The COVID Pivot That Changed Everything
9:49 Training Coaches and Volunteers
11:10 What Is Social-Emotional Learning in Coaching?
13:26 Why This Model Works for Families
15:36 Getting Schools and Facilities on Board
17:45 Solving the Transportation Barrier
21:18 How the Program Is Funded
23:47 Advice for Replicating This in Other Communities
James Paxton: Baseball's Velo Culture, Backyard to Big League & I Wouldn't Get Recruited Now
Season 2 · Episode 52
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 • Duration 01:06:33
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 Opening
1:35 Introducing James Paxton
4:11 Childhood Friendships Rooted in Youth Sports
5:33 Late Physical Growth
6:41 Getting Cut From the All-Star Team at 10
8:24 Baseball Was Always His Choice
9:25 Unstructured Backyard Play vs. Skills Clinics
12:05 Where Creativity Actually Comes From
16:12 Recruited to Division I Without Elite Velocity
Manny Malhotra: Don't Be That Parent, Coaching Your Own Kid & We're Just Buying Memories
Season 2 · Episode 51
Tuesday, September 8, 2026 • Duration 01:10:15
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 Opening
2:05 Introducing Manny Malhotra
3:45 Growing Up in a Competitive Household
6:52 Why His Parents Made Sports Central to Family Life
8:53 Never a Forced Issue
10:36 Passing These Lessons to His Own Four Kids
13:59 The Challenges of Coaching His Own Children
16:17 The Conversation That Changed His Coaching Approach
Duff Gibson: Real Tools for Coaches, Mindset Matters Most & Lean Into the Love of the Game
Season 1 · Episode 50
Tuesday, August 25, 2026 • Duration 01:15:37
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 Opening
01:35 Introducing Duff Gibson
03:15 From Wrestling and Rowing to Olympic Gold
04:04 Raised on "It's Just Sport"
08:47 Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset
14:30 Helicopter Parenting and the Physical Literacy Decline
17:52 Building the Community Coach Program
18:46 Purpose: The Missing Piece in Youth Sport
22:59 The Rising Cost of Youth Sport
25:02 Beckie Scott and the Coach Who Didn't Interfere
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
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