Vision of a Champion with Anson Dorrance – Details, episodes & analysis

Do you want to enhance your game? Listen to NCAA Champion and 1996 Olympic Gold Medalist talk about sharpening your mental edge. On today’s podcast, Staci Wilson joins Anson to talk about how UNC Women’s Soccer and the USWNT use their indomitable will and mental toughness to overcome opponents. They also discuss how players can make a conscious choice to choose a winning mentality that produces success at every level of the game!

The vision of a Champion is a production of Creative Allies. Intro and outro music by Conquest.

How do elite players maintain their balance on and off the field? Listen to this podcast to hear the greatest women’s soccer players to ever lace up a pair of boots talk about maintaining your balance. On today’s show, we have Michelle Akers, she could score, defend, and had a unique air game that still ranks as the best header of the ball ever in women’s soccer. She helped the USWNT win the 1991, 1999 World Cups, and the 1996 Olympics. At the 1991 World Cup, Michelle won the FIFA Golden Boot Award as the top scorer with 10 goals. Together, we get a chance to hear Anson and Michelle reminisce about their championship runs with the USWNT and we learn what it takes to maintain your balance.

The vision of a Champion is a production of Creative Allies. Intro and outro music by Conquest.

Lucy Bronze on competitiveness, "There's a perception that being competitive is not really a good thing, especially when I was younger, for a girl to be competitive, it's like - no, a girl should be nice. I was just not that girl. I wanted to win at everything. The day that I turned up to Carolina was the day I realized it was ok to be like that." Today, Anson Dorrance and host Natalie Bode talk to Manchester City's Lucy Bronze about her time at UNC and the competitive cauldron.

Vision of a Champion is a production of Creative Allies. Intro and outro music by Conquest.

As soccer has grown in popularity, so too have the number of club teams. Many feel like for those that want to play soccer collegiately, club soccer is the only way to get discovered and recruited. Susan Ellis is a soccer hall of famer, UNC legend, and high school coach at Durham Academy - and she completely disagrees. Today on the show, Anson Dorrance and host Dean Linke talk about the value of high school soccer, being a well-rounded athlete, and the importance of being a reserve on a team.

Vision of a Champion is a production of Creative Allies. Intro and outro music by Conquest.

Sarina Wiegman is the coach of the Dutch National Team and will be the new coach of England's National Team after the Olympics. Today, Anson Dorrance and host Natalie Bode talk to Sarina about her success as the Dutch Women's National Team Head Coach, her time at UNC, what it was like to come over to the United States to play college soccer, and how physical fitness affects how well you can play the game.

Vision of a Champion is a production of Creative Allies. Intro and outro music by Conquest.

Today Anson Dorrance and Dean Linke chat with April Heinrichs, former UNC standout, former US women's national team star, and former head coach of the US women's national team. They discuss technical and tactical development, including Anson's infamous 3-4-3 technique, and how coaches can learn from players.

Vision of a Champion is a production of Creative Allies. Intro and outro music by Conquest.

Tisha Venturini-Hoch is the only athlete who has 4 NCAA championships, an Olympic Gold, a World Cup, and a professional championship.  Today, Tisha and her college coach Anson Dorrance, along with host Natalie Bode, talk about the basics of soccer, leadership, cross-training, and having fun with the game.  Plus Anson shares an unbelieveable story about calling Tisha's dad Chick Venturini to ask him if she really needed that full ride to play at UNC.

Tisha Venturini-Hoch now runs a soccer academy with Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly called TeamFirst.

Vision of a Champion is a production of Creative Allies. Intro and outro music by Conquest.

How do the great athletes become elite? What can the coaches do to drive them to their full potential? On today's episode, Anson and host Natalie Bode are joined by Roy Williams, head men's basketball coach at UNC and three time national champion.  Together, Anson and Roy have coached some of the most driven leaders in athletics on the planet - Mia Hamm, Michael Jordan, Tyler Hansbrough, Marcus Paige, Tobin Heath, Jessica McDonald, and many others. But not all of them were coached the same way. So today we dive deep into what a coach can do to motivate the great athletes to become iconic.

Vision of a Champion is a production of Creative Allies. Intro and outro music by Conquest.

Today Anson and host Dean Linke are joined by Gloria and Yael Averbuch. Gloria is the co-author of Vision of a Champion with Anson, and they wrote it together when Yael was just 10. Yael dreamed up playing for Anson, but he didn't want to recruit a friend's daughter - except that Yael's talent was too impressive to ignore. On the show, Gloria, Yael, and Anson talk about being a parent of a superstar athlete, how entrepreneurship and athletics are similar (Yael is the founder of the Techne Futbol soccer training app), and how fitness is so important in women's athletics.

Vision of a Champion is a production of Creative Allies. Intro and outro music by Conquest.

In today's episode of the podcast, we will move on to chapter three of Vision of a Champion titled "Your Game and Why It's Great." In this chapter, Anson and host Natalie Bode are joined by special guest Crystal Dunn to further detail what truly makes soccer live up to the coined term "the beautiful game," how soccer brings all kinds of different people together, specifically by explaining some of the different soccer personalities that exist and how each of the different personalities are an asset in a team setting.

Crystal Dunn played at UNC from 2010 to 2013 and was an integral part of the 2012 National Championship team. Her success didn't stop there as she moved to the NWSL and the Washington Spirit, becoming the league MVP and Golden Boot winner in 2015 -the youngest player ever to be awarded that trophy.

Vision of a Champion is a production of Creative Allies. Intro and outro music by Conquest.