Explore every episode of the podcast Better Sports Parents
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Kerr: Lessons from Broadway Singers, How Steph Maintains Joy & Why I Waited to Coach | 20 Oct 2026 | 01:04:13 | |
Steve Kerr says every kid needs free play, multiple sports and coaches who build joy into the work. The five-time NBA champion as a player, four-time champion as Warriors head coach and 2024 Olympic gold medal-winning coach of Team USA shares what he’d tell every sports parent. Steve played for the Bulls and Spurs, worked as a broadcaster and NBA general manager, but calls himself a son, brother, husband, father and grandfather first. In this episode, Steve talks to host Scott Rintoul about the wear and tear of early specialization, why late specializers catch up fast, and what Steph Curry and Steve Nash show about multi-sport athletes. Steve also shares sports parenting stories like why his parents never said a word during his games, why he and his wife told their kids to fight their own battles, and how one club volleyball coach handled playing-time talks. He also covers building team culture with joy, lessons from Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich and Pete Carroll, making the 12th player feel valued, coaching alongside his son Nick, why the cost of youth sports leaves kids behind, and his one piece of advice for parents. It's a must listen episode with one of the most respected people in all of sport. Chapters 0:00 Opening 1:34 Introducing Steve Kerr 3:26 Growing up playing everything 4:18 Why multi-sport athletes thrive 6:28 Broadway singers and soft tissue injuries 7:28 Why parents choose early specialization 8:35 Steve as a sports parent 9:44 Hand-eye coordination and scouting 13:22 Lessons from Cairo 14:50 Choosing basketball over baseball 17:02 The lost art of free play 19:03 Parents who never said a word 21:59 The coach who banned playing-time talk 23:29 Coaching his son’s team 24:10 Coachable and approachable 25:37 Coaches who shaped him 27:04 Building culture with joy 31:21 Music, celebration and competition 32:41 Phil Jackson vs. Gregg Popovich 35:13 Be yourself as a coach 36:23 Valuing the last player on the bench 39:28 How Phil Jackson made players feel valued 41:35 What Steph Curry taught him 43:11 Steph’s joy 44:23 Watching Macklin Celebrini grow up 47:15 Coaching with his son Nick 51:14 Why he waited until 49 to coach 53:46 Lifelong learning and books 57:12 What he wants for his grandkids 59:15 The biggest challenge: burnout 1:00:06 When sports become a rich man’s game 1:01:18 His one thought for parents 1:02:19 Recess in Hawaii 1:03:01 Message for Canada Resources | |||
| What's Working: HEROS with Kevin Hodgson | 16 Oct 2026 | 00:37:17 | |
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. For more information on HEROS, visit the HEROS website and email Kevin at kevin@heroshockey.com. Chapters 0:00 Opening 1:24 What is HEROS Hockey? 3:04 SuperHEROS and First Nations ball hockey 4:48 From summer camp to year-round program 7:26 The goal: smiles, not NHL players 10:54 From refugee camp to lawyer 12:03 Relationships first: the coaching approach 14:48 Playing the long game 16:47 The $1,000-per-player cost and funding 20:16 Finding and keeping volunteers 23:03 Alumni who give back 24:03 Why the goal is beer league players 27:06 How schools help find the kids 29:13 Reaching families of kids with disabilities 30:25 How to start a HEROS-style program 33:23 “Sport reveals character” 35:19 Adapting sport to the kid | |||
| Jesse Levine: Playing for Parents, Swinging in the Rain & Don't Train Kids Like Pros | 13 Oct 2026 | 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 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 | |||
| Camille Martens: Surviving Sport, Red Flags & Becoming the Sports Parent Your Child Needs | 06 Oct 2026 | 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:
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 16:14 A horrific Olympic Games 17:26 Starting a club to do it differently 18:41 Training in Russia and Bulgaria 20:34 Limited contact with her parents 22:32 Training alongside teammates in silence 23:14 The teddy bear story 24:11 Why she stayed 25:18 How the sport has changed 27:12 What a healthy environment looks like 28:35 "Red flags" vs "growth edges" 29:04 The coach-athlete-parent triangle 30:12 Spotting red flags as a parent 33:10 Founding her own club 34:06 Repeating ingrained patterns 37:11 A hard conversation with her daughter 38:02 Intention vs. impact 39:45 How her coaching evolved 41:19 Why she wrote MVP in the Stands 46:07 Parents: sport's biggest stakeholders 47:33 Emotional regulation as the real job 50:55 Buddy system and keyword check-ins 53:14 The fridge scratchpad 53:55 Coach-parent talks done right 56:29 Why she never coached her own kids 58:47 Early specialization in gymnastics 1:01:23 Gymnastics in Canada today 1:03:19 Her relationship with the sport now 1:05:15 The number one issue in youth sports 1:07:07 The compliments that mean the most Resources: | |||
| What's Working: Streetfront with Trevor Stokes | 02 Oct 2026 | 00:30:23 | |
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. For more information on Streetfront, visit Streetfront's website and email Trevor at tstokes@vsb.bc.ca. Chapters: 0:00 Opening 0:41 What is Streetfront? 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 15:15 How kids and families find Streetfront 16:59 What success looks like for a Street Front student 18:06 300+ half and full marathons in one year 20:23 How the funding and finances come together 22:04 High expectations, not sympathy 23:31 How peers view students after the program 25:11 "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 | 29 Sep 2026 | 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:
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 16:50 We've lost the art of play 19:55 Why early specialization backfires 24:19 Early tiering and the Nordic model 27:06 The "little Johnny" pathway myth 29:21 Backyard rink creativity 31:03 Hockey robots 3:51 Why kids need to fail 35:47 Coaches: be brave, skip the practice plan 38:05 What a great youth coach looks like 40:07 Winning, losing and participation medals 44:07 Movement is medicine 47:28 Wick Hockey app and Wick Fest 50:56 Keeping hockey affordable 53:56 Swim, skate and daily school PE 56:45 The 1988 Olympics and the barn ski jump 1:01:07 Why every kid needs an off-season1 03:13 Choose the lower tier 1:05:47 The coaches who believed in her 1:08:07 What would she change in youth sports Resources: | |||
| Geroy Simon: Navigating NIL, Check Your Ego as a Coach & It Always Comes Back to the Child | 22 Sep 2026 | 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 20:11 The Real Impact of Youth Sports on His Kids 21:37 Growing Up a Multi-Sport Athlete 23:39 Is Year-Round Specialization Hurting Kids? 25:29 Why Football Was the Right Fit 27:26 What Made His Love for the Game Endure 32:45 Lessons His Parents Imprinted on Him 34:39 Control What You Can Control 37:16 Giving Back: Lessons From His Grandmothers 38:40 How Family Dynamics Affect Recruiting 40:08 Has He Ever Walked Away From a Recruit? 41:01 Advice for Overly Involved Parents 42:32 NIL, the Transfer Portal, and Free Agency Culture 44:28 Building Culture in the Transfer Portal Era 47:14 Is This Bleeding Into Youth Sports? 49:19 Wanting His Own Daughters to Fail 51:37 How Great Coaches Make Every Player Feel Valued 53:18 Meeting Every Kid's Different "Why" 58:34 Comparison Culture and Highlight Reels 1:01:19 Educating Athletes on Gambling and Money 1:07:00 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today 1:08:06 Cut Seven Times: His Toughest Stretch Resources: | |||
| What's Working: Free Play for Kids with Tim Adams | 18 Sep 2026 | 00:28:30 | |
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. For more information on Free Play for Kids, visit www.freeplayforkids.com and email Tim at tim@freeplayforkids.com. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:24 Welcome Tim Adams 1:56 What Is Free Play for Kids? 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 26:48 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 | 15 Sep 2026 | 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 18:28 Why Late Developers Outperform at the Pro Level 19:38 Why Velocity at 13 Doesn't Predict Anything 20:18 Building the Mental Game With a Sports Psychologist 21:13 Are We Over-Indexing on Velocity? 22:06 Baseball's Many Paths to the Pros 23:10 The Sacrifices of a Pro Career 24:22 "Treating Young Athletes Like Professionals" 25:35 Protecting Actual Childhood as a Parent 26:45 The Line Between Joy and Serious Development 28:00 What His Parents Actually Talked About After Games 30:36 His Dad Catching Bullpens in Steel-Toe Boots 32:57 Allostatic Load: Why Kids Are Burning Out 34:37 The Fear of Not Being Seen 36:39 Less Than 1% Go Pro, So What's the Real Goal? 37:11 What Youth Sports Actually Taught Him 38:22 Travel Sports and the "Free Agent" Problem 39:32 Is Money Driving the Pressure? 41:04 Why Every Kid Needs an Off-Season 42:50 Coming Out of Retirement for the World Baseball Classic 45:36 The Calm That Defined His Career 48:08 Teaching Kids to Reach Their Own Conclusions 48:56 Why You Learn More From Failure Than Success 50:47 The Mentors Who Shaped His Career 52:34 The Value of Playing Across Age Groups 53:46 Small Steps and Delayed Gratification 55:36 Growing Up Without Social Media Comparison 58:53 Separating James Paxton the Person From the Player 1:02:10 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today 1:03:53 Praise the Effort, Not the Results 1:05:03 Control the Controllables Resources | |||
| Manny Malhotra: Don't Be That Parent, Coaching Your Own Kid & We're Just Buying Memories | 08 Sep 2026 | 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 18:33 Stepping Back From Coaching Caleb 21:36 Coach Hat vs. Dad Hat 24:20 Why "He Was So Polite" Means More Than Stats 27:41 Growing Up the Youngest of Four 29:47 Married Into an Even More Competitive Family 32:08 How Monetization Changed Youth Sports 33:01 Intentionally Raising Multi-Sport Kids 37:25 "Don't Be That Parent" 41:29 The Foundational Lessons: Don't Be Late, Work Hard 43:21 Why Kids Specialize So Early Today 44:59 Steve Nash's Warning About Individual Training 45:57 Skill Level Is Up, Hockey IQ Is Down 48:00 The Lost Art of Pickup Shinny Hockey 50:28 What Should a Youth Coach's #1 Priority Be? 54:47 Chasing Plastic Trophies 57:17 Becoming a Role Player at the NHL Level 59:38 What Coaches Should Actually Praise 1:02:31 The Matheny Manifesto 1:04:38 Why Youth Sports Pressure Is Heavier Today 1:07:31 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today 1:07:43 "We're Just Buying Memories" Resources | |||
| Duff Gibson: Real Tools for Coaches, Mindset Matters Most & Lean Into the Love of the Game | 25 Aug 2026 | 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 30:55 Watching His Own Kids Choose Fun Over Obsession 33:03 The Lake Placid Story: Two Mindsets, One Team4 0:04 Why His Son Walked Away From Baseball 40:51 The Moment That Started Dark Horse Athletic 49:59 Personal Challenges Over Competition 50:58 The State of Physical Education Today 54:17 Coaching Kids With ADHD 56:33 From Wrestler to Rower to Skeleton Champion5 7:28 Handling Olympic Pressure 59:37 Kyle Shewfelt on Trusting His Coach 1:01:47 Is a "Failed" Sports Career Really Wasted? 1:02:38 The Common Upbringing of Olympic Medalists 1:07:44 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today 1:09:33 What a German Olympic Study Really Proves 1:11:28 Roger Federer, Late Specialization & Genetics Resources | |||
| Jamie Huscroft: Conscious of Cost, The Ever-Shrinking Offseason & Develop People Not Players | 18 Aug 2026 | 00:59:39 | |
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-Seasons 13:24 The Norway Model vs. Choosing Earlier 14:21 Top Teams, Early Specialization, and "The Outlier" 15:14 Why He Never Pushed His Own Kids 17:35 Character Development Over Chasing the NHL 19:22 Turning Teenagers Into Mentors 20:38 The Worst Player in Camp, Every Step of the Way 24:35 His Parents' Hands-Off, Car-Ride Philosophy 27:12 A Multi-Sport Childhood in Creston, BC 28:17 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 Lives 33:34 Pond Hockey: Letting Kids Coach Themselves 35:22 Parents Coaching From the Stands 36:48 Building a Mentorship Pipeline for Referees 39:18 Has Parent Behavior Really Changed? 41:50 Are There Really Only a Few Paths to the Top? 43:41 The Attrition Rate of Elite Hockey 44:58 How He Defines Success Through Sport 48:01 Staying in Hockey after 13 Concussions 49:25 How Hockey Has Changed on Safety 54:55 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today 55:54 Keeping Hockey Affordable at Sno King Resources | |||
| Ilya Orlov: Why Kids Quit Sports, Breaking Bad Coaching Habits & Dollars Over Development | 11 Aug 2026 | 01:12:43 | |
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 Opening 01:35 Introducing Ilya Orlov 03:32 From Player to Coach at 24 04:56 His Soviet-Influenced Sporting Roots 06:21 Relative Age Effect and Late Puberty 07:34 On the Brink of Quitting at 12 09:36 When Parental Pressure Really Starts 14:01 Pushed Out of a Team by a Coach 16:28 Free Play and a Multi-Sport Childhood 17:10 Should More Kids Drop Down a Level? 18:29 The "Overload" Theory of Development 20:11 Tiering, Late Bloomers, and False Perceptions 26:02 Year-Round Training and Missing Recovery 26:51 The Real Odds of "Making It" 28:39 Private Academies and the Pressure to Specialize 30:49 Kids as Revenue Tools in a Money-Driven System 32:03 Overuse Injuries and "Any Given Monday" 33:38 Why Coach Education Needs to Be Evidence-Based 35:18 The Volunteer Coaching Problem 37:42 The Foundation of Coaching: "What" vs. "How" 42:36 The Punishment Run That Changed How He Coaches 46:24 Pro Coaches as Role Models for Bad Behavior 48:45 What a Parent's Role Should Really Be 51:11 Support Them, Don't Coach Them 53:49 The Real Odds of Playing University Soccer 57:25 Why Parent Behavior Factors Into Recruiting 1:00:11 The Real Goal: Raising Good Humans 1:04:33 Social Media in Youth Sports 1:06:09 How Private Coaching Leads to FOMO 1:08:20 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Terry McKaig on the Benefits of Getting Cut | 07 Aug 2026 | 00:12:54 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Matt Nichol: Specialize in Fun, Training Myths Debunked & The Real Lesson from Norway | 04 Aug 2026 | 01:19:21 | |
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 Opening 02:02 Introducing Matt Nichol 03:32 How Youth Sports Has Changed in 30 Years 04:36 The Rise of Privatized Youth Sports 06:13 Who Gets Left Behind in a Private System 08:18 The "10,000 Hour Rule" Myth 11:06 Why Kids Quit Instead of Dropping Down a Level 13:16 Redesigning the System vs. Educating Parents 15:51 Early vs. Late Specialization Sports 16:53 Why Connor McDavid Is a Weak Argument 19:12 The Mental Health Cost of Overspecializing 20:20 FOMO Training and Busy Work 22:52 What Overtraining Actually Looks Like 25:34 Under-Recovery: The Bigger Hidden Issue 29:27 The Magic of Unstructured Play 34:06 Is There Too Much Commitment Too Young? 36:42 The Decline of School Sport 40:08 Could Public and Private Sport Merge? 42:28 What Norway Gets Right 45:36 You Don't Have to Choose Between Fun and Elite 48:00 The Soviet Sports School System 56:15 Why Long-Term Athlete Development Is Hard to Implement 1:00:31 Supporting Volunteer Coaches 1:04:23 What to Look for in a Youth Coach 1:09:06 Values Matt's Parents Instilled in Him 1:12:08 What a Parent's Role Should Really Be 1:17:15 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today Resources: | |||
| Worth Repeating: Allison McNeill on Protecting Joy in Youth Sport | 31 Jul 2026 | 00:17:16 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Jason Strudwick: Kids Aren't Your Scorecard, A Culture of FOMO & Problems with Super Teams | 28 Jul 2026 | 01:12:12 | |
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 Opening 02:08 Introducing Jason Strudwick 03:34 Pushing Kids Harder Than We Pushed Ourselves 07:04 Overexposure and the Injury Risk 08:44 Reading What Your Kid Actually Wants 11:10 "Kids Aren't Your Scorecard" 3:05 No Kid Improves Dramatically in Five Days 15:06 Shane Doan: "We All End Up Here" 18:48 Why Parents Need to Talk to Each Other 23:35 Tell the Truth as a Coach 26:11 The Rise of Private Academies 30:36 The Accessibility Gap in Hockey 32:01 What Age Should Kids Specialize? 36:07 Letting Family Values Lead the Decisions 38:14 Do Travel Tournaments Actually Help? 40:48 The Problem With Super Teams 42:52 Give Your Coaches a Break 44:53 Free Development Tools Online 49:11 Jason's Own Late-Blooming Journey 50:44 Why Multi-Sport Matters 53:24 Skate, Ski, Swim: Physical Literacy for Life 57:38 Physical Activity and Mental Health 1:00:36 When Sport Becomes Your Identity 1:02:56 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today 1:05:39 You're Not Paying for Performance 1:07:39 The Real Cost of Access in Youth Sports Resources: | |||
| Worth Repeating: Steve Mesler on The Importance of Keeping Kids in Sport | 24 Jul 2026 | 00:12:36 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Kara Kalin: Smiling While Dying, The Sweaty Head Test & Create Unshakable Confidence | 21 Jul 2026 | 01:18:08 | |
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. Chapters 00:00 Opening 01:35 Introducing Kara Kalin 03:15 Being Inside a System That Resisted Change 04:35 The Olympic Dream 08:22 Choosing Her Kids Over Her Sport 11:29 Training Beside Olympians 13:29 How She Found Synchro Swimming 14:19 One Moment Changed Everything 16:19 Public Shame on a Pool Deck 17:04 Fear of Holding Her Breath 18:07 Smiling While Dying 19:04 Straight Into Coaching at 16 20:02 Finding Joy in Sport Again 20:34 Her Parents: A Quiet Champion, a Pacing Dad 26:07 Should Parents Fight Their Kids' Battles? 28:15 The Sweaty Head Test 30:04 Asking for Feedback After Practice 31:25 Threat Doesn't Need to Drive Us 33:24 Why Sport Is Full of Trauma 35:27 The Car Ride After a Coach Yells 39:48 The Sweaty Head Test 40:28 Recognizing Trauma in Yourself 41:06 The Definition of Trauma That Changed Her Life 44:21 What Unprocessed Trauma Does to the Body 46:40 When Her Body Finally Said "Enough" 48:00 Do We Pass Unprocessed Trauma to Athletes We Coach? 52:13 Children as Mirrors 54:47 Safe Sport: Too Much Talking, Not Enough Doing 56:14 The 90-Day Window for Processing Harm 57:12 How Shift Change Was Born 1:00:00 Mental Health in Sport 1:01:32 Why Sport Is Stuck 1:05:28 Why LTAD Never Took Hold 1:08:08 Kara's Biggest Issue in Youth Sport 1:11:33 What Often Happens to Those Who Try to Change the System 1:15:25 What She Hopes Her Kids Get From Sport Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Senator Marnie McBean on The Pitfalls of Early Specialization | 17 Jul 2026 | 00:12:13 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Adam Bighill: From Bullied to Belonging, Misleading Money Grabs & Coaches Build Communities | 14 Jul 2026 | 01:06:32 | |
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. Chapters 00:00 Opening 02:07 Introducing Adam Bighill 03:32 Why He Retired 04:08 Three Kids, All Multi-Sport 06:03 Early Specialization 07:47 Too Many Games, Not Enough Practice 08:39 The Money Grab 09:25 The Power of the Coach 11:07 His Coaching Philosophy 14:41 How to Make Practice Fun Without Losing the Work 17:27 What Bad Youth Coaching Actually Looks Like 17:43 The Best Coaching Advice He Ever Received 20:08 Managing Parents 21:48 The Context of Team 23:47 The Word Every Coach Needs: "Yet" 23:59 Being a Sports Parent on the Sidelines 24:47 What His Dad Taught Him Just by Showing Up 26:41 Applauding Everyone on the Field 29:12 Conditional Love and What It Does to Kids 30:39 Youth Travel Sports 32:43 What Happens Outside Structured Practice 34:40 How Much Commitment Is Too Much at a Young Age? 37:05 Why Kids Play and Why Parents Should Ask 39:12 How Sport Gave Adam Belonging 41:28 Sport Broke Down Every Barrier 43:43 Sport Builds the People Your Community Needs 45:56 "Some Kids Need Football More Than Football Needs Them" 46:23 Canada vs. the US 48:50 Privatization in Youth Sports 52:33 Sport Should Be a Meritocracy 55:11 The Pressure Parents Feel 57:35 What Adam Expects From His Own Kids 59:02 What 14 Years of Pro Football Built in Him 01:01:29 The Mindset That Lasted Beyond Sport 01:03:45 Adam's Biggest Issue in Youth Sport Today Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Trevor Linden on the Rising Costs and Pressure in Youth Sports | 10 Jul 2026 | 00:12:21 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Shannon Winzer: We're Failing Our Coaches, Why Parents Lose the Plot & The Gift of Free Play | 07 Jul 2026 | 01:13:29 | |
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. Chapters 00:00 Opening 01:58 Introducing Shannon Winzer 03:18 Why She's So Passionate About Youth Sports 03:59 Her View on Youth Sports Today 05:22 Why Parents Lose the Plot 07:17 What Shannon Wants for Her Own Kids 08:44 Do Parents Understand Their Role in Youth Sport? 10:04 Fighting Your Child's Battles vs. Supporting Them Through Their Own 11:44 When a Child Approaches the Coach vs. When a Parent Does 12:01 What Learning Looks Like: Reframing Failure 13:49 Please Don't Coach From the Stands 16:23 Why Coaching From the Sideline Adds Noise, Not Help 20:26 Why Shannon Got Into Coaching 22:03 Shannon's Youth Sports Background 24:03 Academies: When They Help and When They Don't 28:19 Setting Boundaries as a Sports Family 30:09 The Greatest Gift We Can Give Kids: Free Play 33:28 How Coaches Can Create Space for Creativity 36:21 Ask What They Love, Not Just Why They Play 39:27 We Are Failing Our Coaches 42:18 Coach Retention, School Sport and the Teacher Problem 47:02 The Missing Recreational Pathway in Volleyball 51:29 Why Shannon Chose Volleyball Over Basketball 52:28 Multi-Sport at the Professional Level 55:53 People Selling Youth Sports 57:42 Shannon's Biggest Issue: We've Lost Perspective 01:01:08 We Need a Framework, Not Just Funding 01:04:31 The Number One Purpose of Youth Sport 01:08:36 Competition and Participation Can Coexist 01:10:48 The Myth Around Talent ID Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Kim Gaucher on Giving Kids the Freedom to Make Decisions | 03 Jul 2026 | 00:13:50 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Brian Johns: The Rat Race of Youth Sports, Parents Need Help & Who is the System Serving? | 30 Jun 2026 | 01:19:25 | |
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. Chapters 00:00 Opening 02:09 Introducing Brian Johns 03:05 What Made Him Start Writing About Youth Sport 05:57 The Biggest Revelation: Everything Is Siloed 08:23 Brian's Youth Sports Background 09:33 His Parents' Approach: Let Him Choose 11:07 Why He Kept Playing Other Sports Despite Excelling at Swimming 12:55 How the Culture of Swimming Has Changed 15:45 Purposeful Practice vs. Empty Volume 16:06 Peak Performance Ages in Swimming: A Unique Challenge 19:55 Managing Young Phenoms: Communication Is Everything 24:14 Creating Community in an Individual Sport 27:41 Competing Against Other Sports for Kids' Time 32:26 You're Not Just Competing With Other Clubs 37:45 Can Sports Organizations Work Together? 43:00 The Death of School Sport and What It Cost Us 45:13 Reframing Sport: Accessibility vs. Competition Is a False Choice 48:29 Pathways for Kids Who Don't Make the Team 53:21 Zoom Out: We All End Up at the Rec Center 54:11 Unprecedented Funding: Can Canada Actually Deliver? 56:10 The Infrastructure Problem Nobody Talks About 01:01:24 Free Swimming Lessons: Vancouver's Experiment 01:03:09 Who Is the Youth Sport System Actually Designed to Serve? 01:07:07 Who Needs to Step Back and Why 01:11:17 Brian's Biggest Issue in Youth Sport: Lack of Collaboration 01:13:59 Identity Beyond Swimming: How Coaches Can Help 01:16:48 Performance vs. Learning: The Flip Turn Story Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Brendan Morrison on Keeping Perspective as a Parent | 26 Jun 2026 | 00:17:43 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Radha Balani: Canada at a Crossroads, Affordability First & Building Healthier Nations | 23 Jun 2026 | 01:10:46 | |
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. Chapters 00:00 Opening 02:04 Itroducing Radha Balani 03:11 Liverpool, Her Father & John Barnes 05:09 Youth Sport Was Luck, Not Design 07:18 Injury, Identity & Losing Sport at University 09:39 Why She Loved Sport: Safety, Repetition & Belonging 11:59 Inclusion, Exclusion & Growing Up Different 16:00 Survivor Bias and Realizing How Lucky She Was 18:48 The UK's 2015 Turning Point 21:27 Canada in 2026: Similar Crossroads, Missing Piece 23:52 Why NSOs Can't Carry This Alone 27:14 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 Recommendations 40:26 Norway, Sport as a Vehicle, Not the End Goal 43:55 The UK Tied Funding to Changing the Rules 45:15 Outcomes vs. Outputs: What Actually Changes Lives 49:01 Travel Teams, Sport Sampling & the Cliff Edge 53:32 Duty of Care: The Governance Piece Missing in North America 56:36 Paying Coaches for Training 59:14 Trauma-Informed Coaching 1:03:09 The Mixed Economy: Public, Private & Community Sport Together 1:06:14 Canada's Biggest Issue: Affordability 1:07:00 What Progress Actually Looks Like Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Angus Reid on Giving Children Agency in Their Sports Journey | 19 Jun 2026 | 00:13:42 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Greg Stewart: Do All the Sports, Encourage Failure & The Power of Self-Acceptance | 16 Jun 2026 | 01:05:36 | |
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. Chapters 00:00 Opening 01:36 Introducing Greg Stewart 03:46 How Greg Got Into Sport 05:03 "You Can't Coach Height" — Using What You've Got 05:38 Starting in Grassroots: Soccer, Lacrosse and Everything Else 07:15 What His Parents Got Right: Encouragement Without Force 08:41 Did Sport Feel Like a Place He Belonged? 11:43 25 Years Trying to Prove He Wasn't Disabled 13:09 Leaning Into Able-Bodied Sport: What He Was Really Chasing 15:02 Having Success Without Having Joy 16:51 Chasing External Validation for 25 Years 17:16 Rock Bottom: Almost Failing Out, Fired From Two Jobs 19:36 How He Found Joy in Sport Again 20:26 Failure Is Important 22:26 How He Discovered Shot Put 25:24 Physical Health and Mental Health Are the Same Thing 28:12 Finding Flow State in Sport 30:07 What Greg Tells Young Athletes: Trust, Ownership and Integrity3 3:15 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't 39:23 Why We Need to Let Kids Fail 41:20 Do All the Sports 43:18 Youth Sport Has Become Too Commercialized 44:13 The Coaches Who Shaped Greg 46:04 Ownership and Trust: Who Really Runs the Team? 48:38 What Inclusion Actually Means 52:03 Where Does Healthy Competition Belong in Youth Sport? 55:56 The Objective vs. The Purpose: A Crucial Distinction 57:42 Greg's Biggest Issue in Youth Sport Today: Parent Involvement 01:00:04 How to Bring Parents Along: Lead by Vulnerability 01:02:32 The Listeners We Really Need to Reach 01:03:30 The Mindfulete Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Jesse Marsch on How Parents and Coaches Can Create a Positive Environment | 12 Jun 2026 | 00:13:31 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Jay Triano: Learning from Steve Nash, Practicing in a Parking Lot & Fun is Fundamental | 09 Jun 2026 | 01:10:55 | |
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. Chapters 00:00 Opening 01:35 Introducing Jay Triano 03:18 A Life in Sport: 67 Years and Still Going 04:16 How Jay's Dad Shaped His Love of the Game 05:37 Multi-Sport Until 17: Basketball, Baseball, Volleyball & Track 06:44 Unstructured Play: Street Hockey and Stats in the Front Yard 07:20 How Multi-Sport Cross-Training Made Jay a Better Athlete 08:21 Raising His Own Kids: Let Them Love What They Love 10:00 What Youth Sport Looked Like When His Kids Were Young 11:32 What Jay Looked for in a Youth Coach 12:31 Youth Sport Today: Parent-Driven and Overspecialized 13:55 NIL, Agents at Young Ages & Money Changing the Game 14:17 Higher Skills, Lower IQ 15:47 Too Many Games, Not Enough Practice 18:25 Multi-Sport and Learning to Fill a Role 19:08 Steve Nash: The Best Player Who Never Acted Like It 22:14 The European Model: Growing Together 24:15 Canadian Basketball's Rise and the Affordability Problem 26:14 If You're Good Enough, You Will Be Found 28:04 What Jay Wanted His Kids to Get Out of Sport 29:51 Learning From Bad Coaches Too 29:58 The Coaches Who Shaped Jay 33:32 The Biggest Mistake Jay Made as a Young Coach 36:11 Number One Advice for New Coaches: Make It Fun 38:19 How to Recognize and Reward Every Role on a Team 40:16 Phil Jackson's Rule: Acknowledge the Screen, Not Just the Bucket 44:54 What Jay's Dad Said After the Games 47:15 The Volunteer Coach and Referee Crisis 48:07 No Secrets: Jay's Rule on Parent Communication 52:10 He Wasn't Going to Cut a Kid in Grade Seven 53:51 What a Good Youth Environment Actually Looks Like 58:23 Developing Canadian Coaches: A Missed Opportunity 01:00:14 A Simple Thank You Can Keep a Coach Coming Back 01:02:16 The Parking Lot Practice That Built His Fundamentals 01:04:06 Social Media Is Skipping All the Steps 01:06:01 Are We Over-Parenting? Kids Need Difficult Situations 01:07:38 Learning to Be Coached Hard 01:09:06 Jay's Biggest Issue in Youth Sports Today Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Andrew Ladd on Teaching Skills that go Far Beyond Hockey | 05 Jun 2026 | 00:14:09 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Brock McGillis: The Locker Room Should Be Disneyland, Vulnerable is Brave & Why Words Matter | 02 Jun 2026 | 01:11:25 | |
⚠️ 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 Chapters 00:00 Opening 01:36 Introduction & Content Warning 03:17 The Shift Makers Tour: 250 Teams in 200 Days 04:11 How Locker Room Culture Programs Kids to Conform 08:13 How Do We Go From Thinking the Right Things to Actually Doing Them? 09:15 The Push-Up Story: How Shift Makers Was Born 10:06 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 Differently 19:17 The Real Reason Kids Don't Come Forward 22:14 Why Brock Becomes the First Person They Ever Tell 23:11 Parents Need to Humanize Themselves Too 30:38 What to Do When Your Teenager Won't Talk to You 34:19 Why "I Didn't Mean It Like That" Is Not Good Enough 35:08 How the Culture Became Brock's Identity and His Prison 38:11 Who or What Finally Made Him Be Himself 43:27 Brendan Burke: The Friend Who Changed Everything 43:58 What True Inclusion Actually Looks Like in Sport 46:36 Why "We're a Family" Is Often Hollow 51:26 Stop Talking. Start Doing. 54:21 The Vicious Cycle: Coaches Doing What Was Done to Them 58:51 Talk to Them as People, Not as Hockey Robots 1:00:47 Resources for Self-Harm and Mental Health Support 1:04:14 The Biggest Issue in Youth Sport Today: Affordability 1:07:21 Why Sport Can Still Be Great Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Ross Gurney on Enjoying Youth Sports for What They Are | 29 May 2026 | 00:13:26 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Chris Pronger: It Has to be Fun, Embrace Adversity & Monetization is Destroying Youth Sports | 26 May 2026 | 01:11:39 | |
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. Chapters 0:00 Opening 01:35 Introduction: Chris Pronger 03:40 The Hardest Job of His Career: Parenting 04:48 Being a Parent vs. Being a Friend 06:00 How Chris Was Parented in Sport 08:08 Low Pressure, High Support: What His Parents Got Right 09:29 Unstructured Play and Why It Made Him Better 11:01 Multi-Sport: Why Chris Played Everything 12:41 Taking Breaks From Hockey, Even as a Pro 13:49 Are Kids on the Ice Too Long? 16:28 When It Should Be About Fun, Not Wins 19:22 Travel Sports: How Much Is Too Much, Too Soon? 23:31 His Two Rules as a Sports Parent 24:07 The Conversation He Had With His Son Who Wasn't Having Fun 26:12 Pressure to Have Kids in Hockey? 29:04 Studying the Game as a Kid 32:40 Passion vs. Fit: Follow What You Love 39:08 Parents: Who Are You Doing This For? 41:13 Triple-A or Bust: The Stigma That Kills the Joy 42:27 Even NHL Scouts Get It Wrong 48:58 Standards: Where Do They Come From? 49:37 Victimhood, Accountability and When His Game Turned Around 51:39 Blame Culture in Youth Sport and How to Fix It 53:33 The Monetization and Commoditization Problem 56:28 FOMO and the Genie That Won't Go Back in the Bottle 58:34 Super Teams: Why Chris Hates Them in Any Sport 59:01 Adversity as a Gift 01:05:07 What Youth Sport Teaches Future CEOs 01:09:44 Chris's Biggest Issue in Youth Sport Today Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Will Loftus on the Impact of Coaching | 22 May 2026 | 00:14:28 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Adam Van Koeverden: The Alignment Issue, Fund Physical Literacy & Canada Wants to Win | 19 May 2026 | 01:02:17 | |
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. Chapters 0:00 Opening 1:35 Introducing Adam Van Koeverden 5:11 The $755M Announcement: Largest Sport Investment in Canadian History 8:00 How Will the $755M Show Up in Your Community? 8:28 National Sport Organizations & the Alignment Problem 12:37 Hockey Canada and the Trust Deficit in Governance 14:30 Do We Need to Overhaul National Sport Organizations? 15:38 Underfunded at Every Level 16:39 Nation Building Through Sport: Why Adam Put His Name on a Ballot 18:24 What Parents Are Telling Him 21:46 The Case for Coed Sport Until Age 12 23:19 Can Government Incentivize Multi-Sport? 26:18 School-Based Sport vs. Club Sport: The Balance We've Lost 27:31 Not-for-Profit vs. For-Profit Sport 29:20 Sport Saves Kids 30:42 Adam's Youth Sports Journey 32:45 Why Kayaking? 34:12 Physical Literacy for All Canadians 37:12 Screens and the Generation That Stopped Moving 39:44 Competition vs. Participation 41:49 What Adam's Parents Did Right 43:05 The Norwegian Model: Kids Are Not Olympians 45:43 The Foundation for Success in Sport 46:39 What a Positive Sporting Environment Actually Looks Like 49:08 Valuing Coaching 54:48 Cost of Living, Sideline Pressure and Sport on the Chopping Block 56:05 What Does Success Look Like for Canada in 5, 10, 15 Years? 59:48 Adam's Biggest Issue: Declining Participation 1:00:46 Reasons for Optimism Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Steve Kindel on Choosing Multisport in a Sport Specialized System | 15 May 2026 | 00:10:02 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Laurent Duvernay-Tardif: Two Worlds of Sport, Lessons from Andy Reid & Build Bigger Funnels | 12 May 2026 | 01:03:14 | |
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. Chapters 00:00 Opening 01:36 Introducing Laurent Duvernay-Tardif 05:32 Why He Never Gave Up Medicine for the NFL 08:26 What Makes Andy Reid a Special Coach 09:57 Youth Coaches Who Let Him Stay Multi-Sport 11:30 How Martial Arts, Badminton Made Him a Better Lineman 12:50 His Parents' Approach 13:56 Two Years Away From Organized Sport 16:09 Being Left on an Island 17:06 Coming Back at 15: Hungry for Sport Again 17:58 Playing to Have Fun 19:32 What His Parents Asked After Games 20:47 The Contract Call: His Mom's Reaction 22:22 What Unconditional Love Looks Like in Sport 23:38 Why He's Not Ready to Coach Yet 24:02 What a Good Youth Coach Should Be 25:48 What to Look for in a Team Before You Enroll Your Kids 27:33 The Performance Industry vs. The Community 29:21 Building a Bigger Funnel 31:22 Importance of Elite Sport 33:17 Why More Participants Means More Champions 34:40 The LDT Foundation 37:10 Why Summer Matters Most for Kids Who Need It 38:09 How Playing Violin Made Him a Better Athlete 40:06 The KC Locker Room: Pokemon Cards, Fashion & Surgery 43:44 Why Football Became His Sport 46:08 Mahomes, Kelce and the Case for Multi-Sport 47:11 Were You Free to Play as a Kid? 48:01 Connecting People Through Sport 50:06 Why Kids Should Try Every Position 51:11 Affordability and Access: The Gap We're Creating 53:06 Don't Push Too Hard Too Soon 53:51 Where Should Money in Youth Sport Go? 55:39 Why Intergenerational Play Matters 57:15 The Most Influential Thing a Parent Can Do 57:56 Screen Time & Social Media 59:01 The Biggest Issue in Youth Sport 1:01:02 Jumpstart's Rethink Initiative Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Cammi Granato on Allowing Your Kids to Navigate Adversity | 08 May 2026 | 00:10:41 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Ryan Huska: Coaching Challenges, Adversity is Vanishing & Why Youth Sports Feels Like a Job | 05 May 2026 | 01:06:09 | |
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. Chapters 0:00 Opening 01:35 Introducing Ryan Huska 03:27 Is Being a Sports Parent More Stressful Than Coaching the NHL? 04:02 How Youth Sports Has Changed 04:49 The Rise of Individualism 06:10 The Problem with Early Specialization 07:12 The Fear of Falling Behind 09:22 Late Bloomers and Different Paths to the Top 10:26 The Fire That Comes from Taking a Break Between Sports 11:33 When Sport Starts to Feel Like a Job 13:54 Getting Kids to Their Ceiling Too Fast 15:35 Entitlement & Learning to Accept a Different Role 17:09 Growing Up in a Small Town 20:25 His Parents' Role in Ryan's Sports Journey 24:05 How Ryan Learned to Talk to His Own Kids After Games 26:25 The Carpool Secret: Why Other Kids in the Car Changes Everything 28:23 Why Ryan Chose Hockey Over Baseball at 15 30:25 Getting Humbled at Kamloops 34:04 How a Part-Time Job Became a Coaching Career 36:47 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 Games 47:36 Unstructured Play and the Loss of Creativity 48:13 Why Coaches Should Add Small Area Games Back 49:28 What Advice Ryan Gives Volunteer Coaches 51:10 How to Communicate With and Manage Parents as a Coach 53:11 The Problem with Too Many Leagues 55:51 Why Parents Are Losing the Plot: Intentions vs. Outcomes 57:08 The Rising Cost of Youth Sports and the Affordability Crisis 59:07 The ROI Problem 1:01:35 Ryan's Number One Concern in Youth Sports Today 1:03:19 What Ryan Hopes His Kids Took From Sport Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: John O'Sullivan on How to Positively Support Your Child in Sport | 01 May 2026 | 00:13:18 | |
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: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Dr Oliver Finlay: Invest in Coaching, Raising Robots & The Biggest Fallacy in Youth Sports | 28 Apr 2026 | 01:10:04 | |
Dr. Oliver Finlay has seen youth sport from every angle: athlete, physiotherapist, performance director, and global sports investor. In this conversation, he makes a clear-eyed case for what's broken in North American youth sport and what needs to change. Growing up in the UK, Oliver played a multitude of sports, guided by parents who simply encouraged commitment and let sport do the teaching. The result was a confident adult whose business network is built on the same values he learned in locker rooms. What he sees across North America is something very different: a $40 billion industry that has turned child development into a revenue model. Over-coached kids who can't think for themselves. Early specialization pushed by clubs whose incentive is to fill programs, not develop players. Coaches with no formal training. And parents being told their child will be left behind if they don't commit to one sport, one team, one pathway — right now. Oliver breaks down why unstructured play produces 47% more physical activity than organized sessions, why the best athletes he's worked with played multiple sports well into their late teens, and why early specialization leads directly to overuse injuries, burnout, and kids quitting sport early. He also gets into what real team culture looks like, how to evaluate a club beyond the fancy kit, and the two investments he'd make to fix the system today. Chapters 00:00 Opening 01:35 Introducing Dr. Oliver Finlay 03:26 Why youth sport shaped everything for Oliver 06:36 How sport transformed a painfully shy kid 08:52 Growing up multi-sport in the UK 11:14 What Oliver's parents got right 13:09 Europe vs. North America: a tale of two systems 16:34 When youth sport becomes a $30–40B business 18:51 The overcoaching problem and the robot factory 22:05 Sport for life vs. sport for performance 23:33 Access, equity, and why most kids quit within three years 28:34 The missing recreational pathway 30:52 Why collaboration is the key to fixing the system 32:23 Coach licensing: Europe vs. North America 35:27 The best coaches come from teaching, not playing 37:51 Burnout, overuse injuries, and undertrained coaches 41:32 The professionalization of youth sport 42:52 Early specialization: the biggest fallacy in youth sport 45:29 Why late specializers dominate international drafts 47:49 How to actually evaluate a club 49:37 What high performance really means, and when it starts 51:23 The car ride conversation: what to ask after the game 52:23 What real team culture looks like 57:13 Winning and development aren't mutually exclusive 58:33 Why winning-at-all-costs loses your best late developers 01:00:15 What organizations do that actually create lifelong athletes 01:03:12 Where to invest to fix Canadian youth sport 01:07:25 The biggest issue in youth sport today Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Gareth Rees on What to Look for in a Coach | 24 Apr 2026 | 00:13:14 | |
As a rugby player, Gareth Rees was arguably the most prominent Canadian to represent his country on the world stage and was inducted in to the International Rugby Hall of Fame and Canada's Sport Hall of Fame for his efforts. A father of two boys, Gareth has coached professionally and at the amateur sport level, which gives him a unique perspective on what parents should be looking for in a quality coach for their children. In this segment, Gareth highlights important qualities to look for in a youth coach, reveals red flags to be wary of, and shares an example of how creating a great relationship with a player allows a coach to deliver tough feedback when needed. Listen to the full episode: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Jason D'Rocha: Age-Appropriate Expectations, Pay Coaches Well & Improving Access Together | 21 Apr 2026 | 01:13:52 | |
Jason D'Rocha didn't plan to spend his career in youth sports. A blown knee in grade 12 ended his dreams of playing university basketball, and what followed — a degree in child psychology, a summer camp job that lit something up in him, and an introduction to Sportball — became a calling he's never walked away from. Jason's now the Vice President of Sportball, the author of multiple children's books, and a father of two daughters who are very much in the thick of the youth sports world he thinks about every day. Jason brings something rare to this conversation: he's simultaneously a child development expert, a career coach, a sport administrator, and a parent sitting in the stands trying to get it right. He's also someone who grew up in Toronto's inner city, where organized sport wasn't always accessible, which gives him a perspective on cost and inclusion that isn't theoretical, it's personal. Scott and Jason explore what it really means to build confidence in children through sport, why celebrating outcomes fails the 99% of kids who will never play at the elite level, and how a misalignment of expectations — from parents, coaches, and leagues — is at the root of so much of what's broken in youth sports today. Jason also shares what great coaching actually looks like, why getting parents out of the gym can be one of the most powerful things a program does, and what he tells his own daughters when sport gets hard. If you're a parent trying to figure out how to support your child's athletic journey without stepping on it, this conversation is for you. Chapters 00:00 Opening 01:35 Introducing Jason D'Rocha 03:47 From Injury to a Career in Youth Sport 05:14 Jason's Childhood: Pickup Ball & Access to Sport 08:33 His Parents Approach 14:17 Why Sportball? 26:31 Why Parents Should Leave the Gym 29:00 Competing Authority: Coaches vs. Parents 31:33 What Jason Looks for in a Coach 33:24 Age-Appropriate Development 38:15 What Physical Literacy Really Means 41:29 How Sportball Trains Its Coaches 44:43 Modeling Matters 46:19 What Booing at the Raptors Taught His Daughters 48:18 Taking Off the Coach Hat at Home 51:13 What He Wants His Kids to Get Out of Sport 52:31 The Recreational Gap for Teenagers 55:11 Recruiting & Retaining Great Coaches 59:08 Resources for Volunteer Coaches 59:49 Sportball, Cost & Accessibility 01:02:15 Why Multi-Sport Matters 01:04:01 The Danger of Outcome-Based Self-Worth 01:07:15 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports 01:09:24 Expectations & Social Media Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Shane Doan on Playing the Long Game | 17 Apr 2026 | 00:12:33 | |
Affectionately known as Captain Coyote, Shane Doan played 21 seasons in the NHL and has worked in executive positions with multiple franchises since his playing days ended. The former Memorial Cup MVP and three time Gold Medalist at the World Championships is also the father of four children, one of whom, Josh Doan, plays in the NHL for the Buffalo Sabres. In this segment, Shane uses Josh's story as a late bloomer to illustrate that development is not linear while advising parents to simply let their children play the games they love as long as possible. Listen to the full episode: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Lauren Bay-Regula: The Elite Oxymoron, The NeverEnding Season & Play Has Become a Job | 14 Apr 2026 | 01:19:19 | |
Lauren Bay-Regula is a three-time Canadian Olympian in softball, and one of the most honest, self-aware voices you'll hear on what it actually looks like to parent in today's youth sports world. Her path back to the Olympics at 39 wasn't just about softball. It came after six years of postpartum depression and identity loss following the 2008 Games, years she describes as being buried from a mental standpoint. With three kids under ten and a business to run, Lauren found her way back to the sport she loved. In doing so, she found herself again. That journey now shapes everything about how she parents her three teenage children through sport. She and her husband Dave have a full yearly calendar just to protect family time. She texts coaches directly about what her kids will and won't attend. She canceled an entire week of activities mid-season because she hit a wall and needed five nights of family dinners more than another tournament weekend. And she'll be the first to tell you she doesn't always get it right. Lauren brings a perspective that's equal parts world-class athlete and exhausted, trying-her-best sports parent — and she has a lot to say about an industry that has turned play into work, development into an afterthought, and schedules into something that can split a family across three different states in a single weekend. If the phrase "elite competitive eight-year-old All-Star" sounds like an oxymoron to you, you're going to love this conversation. Chapters 00:00 Opening 01:35 Introducing Lauren Bay-Regula 04:04 Youth sports then vs. now 06:40 Growing up in Trail, BC 09:19 What sport should really teach kids 10:30 Did she ever feel pressure as a kid? 14:00 The road to her first Olympics 20:00 Parenting three kids through youth sports 28:00 The overwhelm meltdown 34:22 Being mom, not coach 35:07 When sport has no off-season 37:50 Coming back at 39 with three kids at home 41:46 The motivation: herself and her children 43:31 Bronze medal in the fruit bowl 45:24 Six years of depression and identity loss 46:55 Why high achievers resist getting help 49:09 Talking to her kids about mental health 54:00 Being the lighthouse 57:25 The mirror test 58:57 Do parents have agency to change things? 01:01:20 The one-upper mentality in youth sports clubs 01:06:09 Her biggest pitfall as a sports parent 01:10:20 What makes a great youth coach 01:12:07 The biggest issues in youth sports today Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Travis Snider on The Car Ride Home | 10 Apr 2026 | 00:11:31 | |
Former Blue Jays' first round draft pick Travis Snider is on a mission to change youth sports. After experiencing the highs of what appeared to be a nearly flawless ascension as a youth star, Travis came face-to-face with the lows of struggling to perform as a pro due in large part to an identity that was tightly bound to results. He now pours his energy into teaching parents and coaches a better way to guide children through youth sports. In this segment, Travis discusses one of the most relatable challenges most parents face: the car ride home after their child's game or practice. Listen to the entire episode: Watch on YouTube | |||
| Farhan Lalji: The Real Color of Sport, Academy Conundrum & Make the Big Time Where You're At | 07 Apr 2026 | 01:08:15 | |
Farhan Lalji is a very recognizable face and voice in Canadian sports. Since 1997 he's been with TSN, covering everything from the Olympics to the Stanley Cup and the Super Bowl. He's a CFL Football Hall of Famer in the media category and a BC Football Hall of Famer as a builder thanks in large part to creating a high school football program from scratch in New Westminster. He also sits on the national board of KidSport and has spent years watching the youth sports landscape up close, from every angle. But in this episode of Better Sports Parents, Farhan isn't talking as a broadcaster or a Hall of Famer. He's talking as a dad. One who got caught up in hockey's spending arms race when his son was six years old, who made mistakes coaching his son that he's doing differently with his daughter, and who at one point realized he could still coach his son, but no longer push him. Farhan has one of the most quotable lines in the show's history: "In hockey, there are two types of parents: those who have money and those who borrow money. There's no not having money." He talks about what it was like to live inside that reality as a parent, even as someone with his level of sports awareness, and why the privatization of youth sport is his single biggest concern for the next generation of Canadian kids. This is a conversation about coaching, community, access, identity, and what it actually means to be a sports parent when you know everything about sport and still can't always get it right. Chapters 00:00 Opening 01:35 Introducing Farhan Lalji 03:37 How sport influenced Farhan's life as an immigrant kid 06:50 The high school football coach who never left his life 08:03 What his parents stressed (and didn't) about youth sport 09:23 Are we over-parenting in youth sport today? 10:21 The loss of free play and what's filled the gap 13:03 Devices, screen time & holding off on phones until 14 15:47 From SFU communications to TSN: the career decision 17:20 What coaching taught him about life lessons through sport 18:17 How to connect with kids who have different competitive goals 22:12 Valuing the player who just wants to belong 25:14 A quarterback who said "I'm done after senior year" 26:16 Where the line is between participation and competitive sport 27:36 The pressures of youth hockey 30:08 The academy bubble: socialization, entitlement and what kids miss 32:38 "The real color in sport is green" 34:42 The two types of hockey parents we've created 35:06 Farhan's confession: he got caught up in it too 37:14 Are we pricing ourselves out of hockey as a nation? 39:12 Is the environment we've created in hockey a net positive? 41:05 Why he chose to build a football program from scratch 46:26 The Justin Morneau playoff game and what community sport can look like 48:06 How do we get back to community sport? 49:15 We need to pay coaches 51:22 Why he left New Westminster and what his son actually wanted 54:25 "I can coach him, but I can't push him" 56:33 You're not coaching football. You're coaching kids. 57:21 When is the right time to coach your own child? 59:15 How he set boundaries with parents as a coach 01:01:21 How a player taught him a valuable lesson 01:02:47 Parenting his son vs. parenting his daughter in sports 01:04:48 The number one issue in youth sports: privatization Resources | |||
| Worth Repeating: Andrea Neil on Demanding More of Clubs & Coaches | 03 Apr 2026 | 00:13:24 | |
Andrea Neil is one the greatest players and leaders to ever wear the jersey for Canada's National Women's Soccer team. She played in multiple Women's World Cups, captaining Canada to a 4th place finish in 2003, its best ever result at the event. In this segment, Andrea implores parents to demand more from the people and organizations who oversee the development of children in sports. Listen to the full episode here: Watch on YouTube | |||