I was born in the Philippines and had lived in Thailand, where I learned to speak Thai. My parents had taken us all over the world. I had been to the Sistine Chapel, the Louvre and the Alps, and had seen and experienced quite a bit for a seventh grader. I remember thinking, there’s more to me than the fact that I can shoot the ball a little bit.

I have thought about that moment over the years, particularly as a parent. There was nothing wrong with what my teacher said. She saw something I loved and was encouraging it. I have probably done the same thing hundreds of times with young athletes. When a kid is good at basketball and loves basketball, we talk to him about basketball. Other people do too. He spends hours practicing, his weekends are built around games, his friends may come from his team, and before long a pretty significant portion of his life is connected to the sport.

That can be a wonderful thing. Some of my closest friendships and best memories came from basketball. The game gave me opportunities I never could have imagined when I was a kid, and I still love it. But I also know how easily something we love can become connected to how we understand our own value.

When I was 11 years old and living in Thailand, I told my brother that I wanted to play Division I basketball at an Ivy League school and then play professionally overseas. That is exactly what happened. I went to Cornell, became captain of the basketball team, and after graduating I moved to the Philippines and played professionally for ten years. When my playing career ended, I coached professionally for another twelve.

Basketball was the one constant through almost all of my life. I had been Alex the basketball player, and then Alex the professional basketball player, and then Coach Alex. For 22 years in the Philippines, basketball was also my profession.

When COVID hit, my family happened to be visiting my parents in Wisconsin. We ended up staying, and eventually I made the decision to leave coaching. I was 46 years old, living in a city where almost all of my old friends had moved away, removed from the country where I had spent my entire professional life, and no longer doing the one thing I had always been really good at.

I had a wife I loved and three kids I wanted to be with. Leaving basketball was my decision. I had also spoken publicly about athletes finding their identity outside of sports, so none of this was something I was unaware of. It was still really hard.

My friend and co-author Kevin Dalafu had a different basketball journey, but his experience when the game ended was even more difficult. Kevin played four years of college basketball and came to the Philippines hoping to continue playing professionally. He got hurt, was newly married, and eventually decided he needed to step away from basketball and provide for his family.

Years later, he described that time in a way that I have never forgotten: “I didn’t know at the time that my identity was in basketball until I didn’t know who I was.” Kevin struggled deeply for about six months. He tried different jobs and wondered what he was supposed to do with his life. For 14 years after he stopped playing, he didn’t watch a professional basketball game.

I look at our experiences now through a different lens because we are both fathers. Most of our kids are not going to have their athletic identity challenged at 46. It may happen at 13 when they don’t make a team they expected to make. It could happen when another kid becomes the starter, or when an injury takes away a season. Sometimes nothing dramatic happens at all. They simply reach an age when everyone else keeps getting better and they realize they aren’t quite as good as they thought they were.

There is nothing wrong with being disappointed by any of that. If my son works hard for something and comes home crushed because it didn’t happen, I don’t want to talk him out of caring. Sports matter to our kids precisely because they care about them.

What catches my attention is when the disappointment starts changing the way a child talks about himself. Kevin once gave the example of a kid struggling with his homework on a Monday night and saying, “I suck at basketball and I can’t even do my homework anymore. What kind of person am I?” That is a different conversation.

One of the things Kevin and his wife did with their oldest son has stayed with me. Kevin found out about three weeks early that his son was going to be named MVP of his league. His son had no idea. For those three weeks, Kevin and his wife had the chance to talk about the season without the award being part of the conversation. They talked about how hard he had worked, how he had persevered and the commitment they had watched from him. Then he found out he was the MVP, and of course they celebrated that too.

I love that story because I don’t want us to become afraid of achievement. Winning an MVP is exciting. Making the team matters. Scoring 30 points feels great. Our kids should be allowed to enjoy those things without us turning every accomplishment into a parenting lesson. I just want them to hear enough from us about the rest of who they are too.

That requires knowing our kids well enough to recognize when something is changing. It is one of the reasons Kevin and I chose the name Parenting Athletes for our podcast. Parenting is a verb. There is a constancy to it that requires both quality and quantity of time. Some conversations happen because we sit down intending to have them, but a lot of what we learn about our kids comes while driving somewhere, eating together or being around when they decide to tell us something.

Basketball has been one of the great gifts of my life, and I would never want my experience to make my kids love sports less. I hope they find things they care about deeply. I hope they learn to work at something, compete, deal with disappointment and experience the satisfaction that comes when the work pays off. I also hope they always know there is more to them than the fact that they can shoot the ball a little bit.

Jason opens up about raising his daughters with Kylie, why he believes kids should play multiple sports, the importance of letting young athletes have fun, and the lessons he learned from playing sports with Travis growing up. He also shares how being overlooked as a recruit and walking on at Cincinnati ultimately shaped his NFL career, why Travis’ suspension may have been one of the best things that happened to him, and how Jason prepared himself for life after football through New Heights, media, and his documentary. Plus, Jason and Greg talk about their love of coaching middle school football and why the little details still matter.

The moment I finished telling Linda about M, she asked if she could get her on her podcast, Game Changers. I'm thrilled to say that episode is now live, and after listening to the full conversation, I wanted to pull out what made it resonate for me — because it's exactly the kind of story Youth Inc. exists to tell.  You can find the full episode here.  

The coachy gene

M Haskell didn't set out to become one of the rare women coaching boys' AAU basketball. She grew up in a basketball family — her father and uncle coached together at George Washington, American, and Fairfield, and her uncle went on to coach in the NBA. She remembers being in first and second grade, napping after school so she'd be allowed to stay up for Big Five doubleheaders at the Palestra. "This was just our normal," she told Linda. "We were just around the sport all the time."

She started coaching her son almost by accident, in kindergarten and first grade, in running before basketball ever entered the picture. By fourth grade she was coaching his AAU team and telling the parents, half-joking, that she was "signing a one-year contract" — figuring some dad would eventually want to take it over. He's in tenth grade now. She's still renewing that one-year contract, every season.

Walking into a room full of male coaches

Linda asked her the question that sits at the center of this whole conversation: why don't more women coach high school boys? M's answer was blunt. "The AAU world is crackers," she said. "It's very male-dominated. I go into these tournaments and the refs are male, the coaches are male. People think I'm the team mom when I introduce myself... I have to tell them that I'm the coach."

What struck me most is that she doesn't experience the job as fundamentally different from coaching girls, which she's also done. It's the environment around her that treats it as an anomaly — not the coaching itself. And she's clear-eyed about what that costs the sport: there are women coaching boys at young ages all the time, she said. For whatever reason, "it doesn't stick."

Trust, told straight

Ask any parent what they actually want from a coach and you'll get some version of what M Haskell described without being asked directly: trust, communication, and accountability that runs in both directions.

When her team blows a game because she didn't have them ready for a zone defense, she tells them so directly. "That's on me," she said. "We'll get the zone stuff ready for next time." Linda's response — "you're telling me you tell high school boys that you made a mistake?" — is exactly the reaction most people would have, and exactly why it matters. A coach who owns her own mistakes out loud is a coach whose players believe her when she tells them the truth about theirs.

That same directness shows up in how she talks about confidence. She spends just as much time building it in boys as she did coaching high school girls — "boys need that," she said, flatly rejecting the idea that young men require a different, tougher emotional register. And it shows up in the small stuff she chooses to celebrate out loud: not the kid who scored, but the kid who set the screen that got him open; not just the assist, but what she calls the "hockey assist" — the pass before the pass that started the whole possession. Nothing that shows up on a stat sheet. Everything that shows up in how a team actually plays.

Building a team that wasn't there yet

One of the parts of the conversation I found most meaningful wasn't about AAU basketball at all. M Haskell's older brother, Chris, had cerebral palsy. As a teenager, she remembers playing basketball in the driveway with Chris and a friend of his who used a wheelchair — neither of them able to lift the ball, rolling it down their legs to her so she could put it through the hoop. (Note--  Chris passed away after this episode was recorded, which makes that memory, and everything M has built since, land even more.) Decades later, when her son was in sixth grade, she met a set of twins at his school who are on the autism spectrum and nonverbal. She asked their mom if the boys would want to shoot around. They did. It grew from there — first informally, then into an actual team, then into what is now the Unified Sports League: students with and without disabilities competing together in real practices and real games. It's not hard to see Chris's fingerprints on all of it.

It started with four kids. It's now roughly 150 kids across ten teams. One of the moments M described has stuck with me: the first time she brought real, if borrowed, uniforms to practice, the kids ran into the bathroom to change into them on the spot. One of them asked, "we get a real uniform?" She was parenting a son with dozens of uniforms sitting in his closet from a lifetime of different sports, standing next to a 14-year-old for whom this was his first one, ever. A family that moved out of state took the idea with them and started their own program from scratch — proof, as M put it, that "it's so easy to get going. All you need is a few interested parents, and it just blossoms."

Seeds that don't stay small

Here's the thing about what M and Linda are actually doing, season after season, one practice at a time: none of it stays contained to the gym it happened in. A 10th grader who's spent years being coached, corrected, and trusted by a woman doesn't leave that lesson on the court. He carries it into a college locker room, a first job, a marriage, a team he manages, a daughter he raises — into every room where he'll eventually have to decide whether he can take direction from a woman, follow her lead, or trust her judgment over his own instinct. That's not a soft outcome. That's the actual, compounding return on youth sports: not the championships, but the decades of downstream relationships those young men will show up to differently because of two years, or ten years, on a roster like this one.

The same is true of the kids in M's Unified Sports League. The neurotypical teenagers who suit up next to teammates with autism or physical disabilities aren't just having a nice afternoon — they're building the instinct to include people who, in a lot of rooms, don't get invited to the table. Multiply that by 150 kids, ten teams, and however many years this keeps growing, and you're not looking at a basketball program anymore. You're looking at a pipeline of future coaches, managers, teachers, and parents who will default to inclusion because it's what they already know how to do. That's the kind of seed that doesn't show results this season, or even this decade — it shows up twenty years from now, in a hundred rooms neither M nor Linda will ever set foot in.

Why this belongs on our site

Youth Inc. exists because we believe sports can teach young people things no classroom can — and because who is doing the teaching matters as much as what's being taught. M Haskell's story is a case study in both halves of that belief: what a young man learns from being led, corrected, and championed by a woman who refuses to soften her competitiveness or her honesty, and what an entire community gains when someone decides that "having fun together" is reason enough to build a team for kids who'd otherwise never been asked to the table.

Linda Martindale's Game Changers podcast exists to surface exactly these stories — coaches who are doing the real work, mostly unseen, that actually changes lives. I'd encourage anyone who cares about youth sports, and especially anyone raising a competitive kid, to listen to the full conversation.  Visit Linda's site at https://martindalecoaching.com/ .  

The series shows Greg Olsen both in the dugout as a coach and at home as a dad, navigating the same tricky questions that youth sports parents and coaches deal with everywhere.

Cameras follow Olsen's team through practices, tournament weekends, long road trips, and everything in between, the wins, the losses, and all of the time these families pour into competing at the highest level.

“I’ve spent my entire life around sports, first as a player and now as a broadcaster, coach and parent, but youth sports gives you an entirely different perspective,” said Greg Olsen, Co-Founder of Youth Inc. “These kids work incredibly hard and these families give up a lot to be part of this journey. We wanted to give people a real look at what that experience is like — the competition, the relationships, the challenges and all the moments away from the field that ultimately make youth sports so meaningful.”

The project fits squarely into what Youth Inc. has been building since Olsen co-founded the company alongside Ryan Baise and Tim Murphy: media and commerce built specifically around the youth sports experience. Tim Murphy, the company's Co-Founder and President of Media, sees the series as a way to tell a story that millions of families already know firsthand.

“There are millions of families living some version of this story every weekend,” said Murphy. “They’re waking up early, driving hours to tournaments, sitting through rain delays, celebrating wins and figuring out how to respond to losses. Greg and this team give us an incredible lens into that world. Partnering with Whistle allows us to tell that story with the access and quality it deserves while staying true to what Youth Inc. is about — helping families better understand and enjoy the youth sports experience.”

No Seasons Off: Youth Baseball with Greg Olsen builds on Whistle’s No Seasons Off franchise, which has historically gone behind the scenes with teams and athletes to capture the commitment, culture and relationships that exist beyond the final score.

This new edition takes that access directly into the youth sports ecosystem, following not only the athletes on the field, but also the coaches and families whose lives increasingly revolve around the travel sports calendar.

“The best sports stories aren't just about what happens when the game starts, they're about everything it takes to get there,” said Rich O'Reilly, VP of Content at Whistle. “That's always been the idea behind No Seasons Off. With Greg, Youth Inc. and this team, we have incredible access to a world that millions of families know intimately but rarely get to see portrayed authentically. There’s more depth to youth baseball than what meets the eye. This series is about the kids, coaches, parents, friendships and commitment that make youth sports such a huge part of people's lives.”

Throughout the season, viewers will get to know the individual players on Olsen's roster as they grow both as athletes and as teammates. The show leans into the intensity of elite travel baseball, but keeps its focus on the human side of it, the friendships, the confidence built and lost and rebuilt, and the lessons these kids will carry with them long after the season ends.

No Seasons Off: Youth Baseball with Greg Olsen premieres August 28th, with full episodes on DAZN and Whistle's YouTube channel, plus additional short-form content across Whistle and Youth Inc. social channels. The series is produced by Whistle in partnership with Youth Inc.

Watch the full episode here:

Stafford shares what the best coaches he has had all had in common, how to tell real success from a good stat line, being a girl dad to four, and what he would say to a kid stuck on a team that is not winning. 

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE

ONE THING FROM THE EPISODE

SIX INCHES MORE OUT IN FRONT

Greg asks how a guy in year eighteen still wants to be coached. Stafford says he sorts for the message and throws out the delivery, because how a coach says it matters a lot less than what they are actually asking him to do. Then comes the part that gives it away. He completes a pass in practice, a good one, and he is already thinking it should have been six inches further out in front. Nobody is harder on him than he is, which is why the rooms he plays best in are the collaborative ones.

FRIDAY NIGHTS ARE  ALMOST HERE.

GEAR UP NOW.

Jared Allen joins Greg for 48 minutes on the road from youth football to Canton, what putting on the gold jacket felt like, and what he has figured out as a parent since. Plus specialization, late bloomers, and how to tell a good coach from a loud one.

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE HERE

ONE THING FROM THE EPISODE

THE CASE FOR LETTING YOUR KID BE LATE

Allen's argument against picking one sport at eleven is not sentimental, it is practical. Bodies arrive on their own schedule, and the kid who is undersized in seventh grade is often the one still playing in twelfth. Play more sports, stay in longer, and find a coach who is developing players rather than protecting a record. Greg pushes on all of it.

EVERY SCHOOL EARNS ON EVERY PURCHASE

 Since 2022 we have been about one thing, which is helping kids, parents, and coaches get the most out of youth sports. The school store is how that reaches your community. Find your school or team, pick out gear from brands you already love, and a portion of what you spend goes straight back to that community at no extra cost to you.

FIND YOUR SCHOOL STORE

Coming up on one year.

We're coming up on a year since we relaunched the show, and I'm proud of what we've built here. A lot of conversations, a lot of people who were generous with their time, and a lot of stuff I've taken straight into my own house.

Over the next few weeks we're pulling the best of it together by topic.

We're starting with the thought leaders. Hope you get as much out of these as I did.

THE BEST OF THOUGHT LEADERS

MALCOLM GLADWELL & DR. MICHAEL GERVAIS

🏃 THE BEST COACHES NEVER LOOK LIKE IT AT THE TIME

JAMES CLEAR

📈 TRAJECTORY MATTERS MORE THAN POSITION

TONY VITELLO

⚾ WHAT HAPPENED TO PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

NEW EPISODE

Hear the whole thing.

The full best of episode is on the feed now, with more conversations from top thought leaders we've had on the show.

INSPIRE

⚽ THE WORLD CUP MOMENTS EVERY PARENT FEELS

INFORM

🥍 CHLOE HUMPHREY ON COMEBACKS AND CHAMPIONSHIPS

ENTERTAIN

🎯 FILL IN THE BLANKS WITH COACH BALLGAME

RECOMMENDS

Remsen St. Mary's Softball's Inspiring Run to State

Defining Success After 3 Olympics and No Medals with Elli Overton

Ask The Experts: How to Adapt Coaching Styles to Different Age Levels

INFORM

💼 ELI MANNING ON WHY PE CAN BE GOOD FOR YOUTH SPORTS

INSPIRE

🎾 JANNIK SINNER'S WIMBLEDON MOMENT

ENTERTAIN

🎒 GREG OLSEN'S DAD SURVIVAL KIT

RECOMMENDS

Beyond the Game: Eli Manning on Building the Future of Youth Sports

Coach, Athlete, and Parent on the College Soccer Journey: Inside Youth Inc. Podcast's Round Table on College Soccer

The Holliday Family Ties in Baseball

"IT'S VERY MUCH MORE ACCESS, KEEPING THE PRICES LOW, AND JUST GROWING THIS." 

— Eli Manning, Partner at Brand Velocity Group

INSPIRE

🏈 THE NATION'S TOP QB ON STAYING GROUNDED

INFORM

⚽ JULIE ERTZ'S TWO NON-NEGOTIABLES 

ENTERTAIN

🎾 THE LONGEST MATCH IN TENNIS HISTORY 

RECOMMENDS

An Iowa Farmer Built His Own Wimbledon

College Soccer Round Table

Is Private Soccer Training Right for Your Athlete?

"A CHAMPION IS DEFINED NOT BY THEIR WINS BUT BY HOW THEY RECOVER WHEN THEY FALL." 

— Serena Williams

INSPIRE

🧡 THE BRAVEST GOAL OF THE WORLD CUP

INFORM

🎙️ JULIE ERTZ AND KEALIA WATT ON HOW YOUTH SOCCER REALLY WORKS

ENTERTAIN

🧤 40 YEARS OLD AND STARTING AT THE WORLD

CUP

RECOMMENDS

Your Cheat Sheet for Watching the Round of 32

IShowSpeed Turns One Fan's World Cup Dream Into Reality

Five Reasons Young Athletes Should Tune Into the World Cup

"IT SHOWS THAT FOOTBALL IS SECONDARY. THERE ARE MORE IMPORTANT THINGS IN LIFE." 

— Virgil van Dijk, on teammate Cody Gakpo

INSPIRE

🌍 WHY THE WORLD CUP'S SMALLEST NATIONS ARE DELIVERING ITS BIGGEST STORIES

INFORM

🤝 JON GORDON'S LEADERSHIP ADVICE FOR YOUNG ATHLETES 

ENTERTAIN

⛳ THE TOURNAMENT SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER'S DAD TRIED TO TALK HIM OUT OF

RECOMMENDS

Soccer Chaos: Hilarious Youth Soccer Moments You Have to See

Four Great Soccer Podcasts Worth Following

The Ultimate Youth Sports Tournament Travel Guide

"IF YOU WANT TO BE TRULY GREAT YOU HAVE TO WORK AS HARD TO BE A GREAT TEAMMATE AS YOU DO TO BE A GREAT PLAYER." 

— Jon Gordon, author of The Energy Bus

 Father's Day weekend is here, and we're celebrating the people who become our first coaches, our loudest fans, and our steadiest ride home. This week: Tim Murphy on why "sports dad" is the greatest title he's ever earned, an amazing conversation between wrestler Spencer Lee and his father, and celebrating the father-son coaching duo of Greg Olsen and his dad Chris.

INSPIRE

🏆 THE GREATEST TITLE I'VE EVER EARNED: SPORTS DAD

INFORM
🤼 SPENCER LEE & HIS DAD ON THE WRESTLING LIFE

ENTERTAIN

🏈 GREG OLSEN & HIS DAD: A FATHER-SON COACHING DUO

YOUTH INC. RECOMMENDS

The Best and Worst Moments of Sports Movie Dads

Fear & Loathing at a Youth Soccer Tournament: A Dad's Diary

Our Top Sports Dad Follows

From all of us at Youth Inc. — and from me personally — thank you to the dads who show up. The early practices, the long drives, the quiet word after a tough loss: that's the work that shapes young athletes long after the final whistle. 

Happy Father's Day,

Greg Olsen

INSPIRE

🥍 HOW KELLY AMONTE HILLER BUILT A LACROSSE

DYNASTY

INFORM

🌟 THE MAKING OF LAMINE YAMAL

ENTERTAIN

⚽ 5 REASONS YOUR ATHLETE SHOULD WATCH THE WORLD CUP

YOUTH INC. RECOMMENDS

June 15 Is Merely the Beginning of the Recruiting Process

How Playing for Fun Changes the Narrative of Youth Sports

Soccer Legend Heather O'Reilly's Advice to Young Soccer Players

"I'LL PROBABLY JUST WATCH SOME NETFLIX." 

— Folarin Balogun, on celebrating his two-goal World Cup debut for the USMNT

INSPIRE
⚽ ROGER BENNETT ON THE WORLD CUP MOMENT THAT COULD CHANGE U.S. SOCCER

INFORM

🏈 THE TRAIL IS PERMANENT

ENTERTAIN

🧢 CRASHIN' PRACTICE: A $5,000 SURPRISE

YOUTH INC. RECOMMENDS

Progress Is Hard to See While It's Happening

The Ultimate Summer Guide for Sports Parents

Youth Inc. Recommends: Whether to Specialize in Baseball

"I KNOW IT'S NOT WASTED BECAUSE OUR LESSONS ARE LEARNED." 

— Victor Wembanyama, after the Spurs' Game 2 loss in the NBA Finals

Today we launch a new season of Crashin’ Practice — a first-of-its-kind series with one simple mission. Coach RAC and Coach Ballgame crash a youth baseball practice unannounced, and from the second they hit the field, everything changes. Out TODAY, June 2nd on YouTube!

Two coaches. One surprised practice. A day no one forgets. 

Coach RAC and Coach Ballgame roll up to a youth practice with no warning, and the kids light up the second they see them. What follows is a practice full of nicknames, creative drills, on-field contests, signed memorabilia, and a full haul of gear from Under Armour and Academy Sports + Outdoors. The kids leave with the best day of their season, and the coaches and parents leave with something that lasts a lot longer.

THE MISSION 

Why We Built Crashin’ Practice 

Costs keep climbing. Pressure on kids keeps building. Crashin’ Practice is our pushback, what happens when the right people show up for kids and let them just play. What we’re really after is a youth sports world where a kid’s experience isn’t defined by pressure, performance, or cost. If even one coach or parent walks away rethinking how they show up for their kids, it was worth it.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE.

Meet the coaches behind the chaos 

Coach RAC, a Nationals signee, Savannah Bananas favorite, and 3M+ followers strong, has built a career proving elite baseball and pure fun aren’t mutually exclusive. Coach Ballgame has spent his career trading toxic youth sports culture for one built on joy and growth. Together they sit down for the full conversation on how Crashin’ Practice came to life and what they want every coach and parent to take from it.

No game was won that day. Nobody kept score. Kids just got to love baseball again, and that’s exactly what we set out to do.

INSPIRE

💪 All I Heard Was "Get Out"

INFORM

⛳The Pitching Ninja on Arm Care, Pitch Counts & Youth Baseball

ENTERTAIN

🎤 How to Put the "I" in Team

YOUTH INC. RECOMMENDS

The Ultimate Youth Sports Tournament Travel Guide

Greg Olsen's University of Miami Commencement Speech

Clear Communication Between Coaches, Players & Parents on the Summer Circuit

“She knows her role. As a parent, sometimes it's better to fade off or not get too much involved in your children's path."

- Victor Wembanyama, on his mother Élodie, who coaches youth basketball for kids ages 4 to 10 in France.

Something personal this week. 

A few weeks ago, Greg went back to the University of Miami to deliver the commencement address. He wrote down what it meant to him and the message he left the graduates with. We wanted to share it with you.

A few weeks ago, I went back to the University of Miami to give the commencement speeches for the engineering and business schools. Twenty years ago I sat in those exact same seats as a graduate, with The Rock at the podium giving the speech and my family somewhere up in the crowd. It was a different seat this time, and I want to tell you what it was like, because I'm still sitting with it. 

You forget how big a place can feel when you haven't really stood in it for a while. The campus is the same in all the ways that matter and different in all the ways it should be. 

My wife Kara was in the crowd. So were her sister and our brother-in-law, both Miami grads too. We met here. She missed my first ever college touchdown because she was tailgating in the Orange Bowl parking lot with her girlfriends, and I'm still bringing it up 22 years later. People assume Miami is a football story for me. It's really a family story. Football was just how I got in the door.

I'm not a guy who pretends to have it all figured out, and I told the graduates as much. I'm not some unparalleled source of wisdom about to launch them into success and fortune. But there's one idea I really do believe in, and it's the one I wanted them to take with them: get better forever. 

If you took a snapshot of my life at any given moment and lined me up against everyone else in the picture, I'd never be in the lead. Not at Notre Dame, not as a freshman at Miami staring across the line at guys who looked like grown men, not in my first year at Fox, not now. The lead was never the point for me. The pace was. Just keep getting better, forever. 

Mario Cristobal was a young position coach when I got to Miami. He demanded something out of me that I hadn't really had demanded of me outside my own family. He saw something I couldn't see yet. A lot of what I've carried into the rest of my life started with the way he coached me as a freshman.

Earlier this year I gave another speech, in front of a much smaller room. I spoke at my brother Chris's funeral. He was 41 when he got diagnosed with brain cancer. He didn't make it to 42. What kept hitting me, sitting with him and our family those last couple of days, was how fitting it was that the person I knew who lived life the fullest had also lived one of the shortest. 

So that's what I left them with, and it's what I'll leave you with too. We spend a lot of energy chasing greatness. Chase it. Start the business. Take the trip. Ask the pretty girl out, try a new sport. But on the way there, don't forget the other part: 

Sometimes to be great, don't forget to be good. 

That one's served me more than any of the rest of it.

INSPIRE

💪 JON GORDON: THE #1 MISTAKE PARENTS MAKE IN YOUTH SPORTS

INFORM

⛳"MY MOM NEVER ASKED WHAT I SHOT"

ENTERTAIN

🎤 ASKING THE HARD QUESTIONS AT THE PGA CHAMPIONSHIP

YOUTH INC. RECOMMENDS

Listen With Your Eyes

Aaron Rai is the Ultimate Role Model

How Establishing Your Identity Outside of Sports Can Help With the Mental Game

“[Golf] teaches you so many things, and it teaches you so much humility and discipline and absolute hard work because nothing is ever given in this game no matter what level you're playing, no matter what course you're playing on."

- Aaron Rai, after winning the 2026 PGA Championship at Aronimink

A Mom Influencer's Brutally Honest Youth Sports

Takes

My Mom's Love for Sports and the Power of Being a Fan

From the Sidelines to Forever

YOUTH INC. RECOMMENDS

Our Favorite Sports Mom Follows

Which Sideline Mom Are You?

What Does Your Mom Mean to You?

“You sacrificed for us. You're the real MVP."

- Kevin Durant to his Mom in his NBA MVP Speech

Watch the full episode here:

Watch the full conversation here:

Nico Williams gave his medal to the woman who walked out of Ghana

Minutes after Spain beat Argentina in the final, Williams climbed into the stands, took off his gold medal, and hung it around his mother's neck. The backstory is why it broke the internet. His parents left Ghana in the 1990s and crossed the Sahara on foot, his mother pregnant at the time, chasing a better life that eventually landed them in Bilbao. "Everything we do is for our parents," Williams has said.

Pedri took a penalty on his dad, and his dad saved it

While Spain celebrated, Pedri walked to the goal, put his father Fernando in net, and took a penalty. It is a ritual he repeats after every trophy. Fernando was a gifted young goalkeeper who gave up the game to support his family after his own father died, so the kick is Pedri's way of honoring the career his dad never got to have.

Raúl Jiménez scored for his dad, then stood frozen in tears

In the tournament's opening match at the Azteca, the 35-year-old headed home Mexico's second goal, then did not celebrate. He looked up, pointed to the sky, and broke down. His father died in March, and Jiménez has said it was always his dad's dream to see him score at a World Cup. Add in the skull fracture that nearly ended his career five years ago, and a simple header became the heaviest moment of the group stage.

Alfie Haaland couldn't get out of his seat

When Erling scored the 86th-minute winner against Ivory Coast to send Norway through, cameras found his father in the crowd. No fist pumps, no jumping. Alfie, a former Norway international himself, just sat there and wept, watching his son do something Norway had not done in nearly three decades.

Moises Caicedo ran straight to his parents

After Ecuador stunned Germany to reach the knockouts, the captain skipped the on-pitch celebrations and went looking for his family in the stands. What followed was one long, tearful embrace with his parents while the rest of the squad partied behind him.

Another World Cup in the books, another Summer full of memories and feel good moments. Until 2030!

The hardest part isn't that I didn't win an Olympic medal. It's what I believed that "no" said about me. For years, I thought that answer meant I'd fallen short. It took me a long time to realize that what hurt wasn't missing a medal, it was the meaning I'd attached to missing one. I didn’t think I’d “failed to win a medal.” I thought I was a failure.

In my recent TEDx talk I share some ideas that have been brewing in me for the last couple of decades as I have become a mom of two, a coach to a huge summer swim team, and, more recently, trained to become a mental health professional. It's about the price of our "winning is everything" culture and why redefining success isn't lowering the bar, but creating the conditions for people to thrive.

“Thinking that success is the only thing that counts can leave us feeling like we’re never enough, can harm our mental health, and can hold us back from reaching our potential.”

Watch the full TEDx talk here.

Healthy Attitudes to Success Feed a Lifetime of Success

“We need to stop reinforcing the one track way of seeing success only in the gold and only in the wins, because people perform at their best when they believe in themselves and they feel confident, so how do we help with that?”

In my talk, I suggest some healthier definitions of success, achievement, and failure: definitions that help us move on from disappointing results and leave us feeling ready to keep working towards our next goal. If we can see success as a journey rather than a destination, and focus on the process instead of the outcome, we can get the most out of ourselves. And if we can see failures as opportunities to learn, then they are still part of our journey towards success.

Perspective has come to me with time. When we think about our lives and the most important moments, we realize that winning is transitory, and that the things in life that are most important to us are the relationships we foster, doing what we love to the best of our ability, and knowing we’ve made a difference.

Raising a Generation That Values Effort, Resilience, and Growth

All of us who are shaping the next generation, from parents to teachers, and coaches to leaders, can help foster healthier attitudes to success and failure that balance out the messages that are so prevalent in today’s performance culture.

“If society continues to bombard us, and our kids with the messages, and the accolades, and the payouts only for winning, we need to fight back, because it’s our mental health that’s paying the price.”

If we can see achievement in the effort, courage, and skill we bring each day, we can feel proud of ourselves even when the result doesn't go our way. And if we can untangle our identity from our outcomes, and see our worth in our growth rather than our results, we're free to keep learning, keep striving, and keep becoming who we're capable of being.

Criticism of specialization has grown. Athletes speak openly about burnout and identity loss, and documentaries like Weight of Gold highlight the imbalance it can create. But much of the conversation stops there, identifying the problem without offering a path forward.

If specialization is here to stay, the question is how to prepare young athletes to handle it. In theory, one solution would be to reduce commitment to sport. In practice, that is unlikely in the current environment. A more realistic approach is to reconsider purpose and expand what development means. Too often, development is treated as purely physical, focused on technique, strength, and repetition. But any athlete who has competed knows that performance depends just as much on the interaction between mind and body.

Pressure changes everything, affecting timing, coordination, and decision-making. The same athlete who executes effortlessly in practice can struggle in competition, not because of ability, but because of how pressure affects the body.

Over time, successful athletes adapt. They learn to manage that pressure and develop the ability to stay composed, execute, and perform. But this process is usually incidental, left to experience rather than taught directly. That is the gap in the current approach.

If young athletes are guided to understand how their mindset affects their physical performance, and to recognize and work with that relationship, they gain something far more valuable than sport-specific skill. They gain the ability to function under pressure.

That ability transfers to school, to work, to relationships, and any challenging environment where performance matters. Recognizing that this capacity is being developed through sport provides a new and different sense of purpose. It becomes less about narrow results and more about broader development.

The challenge is that this idea is easy to agree with and harder to implement. The focus should shift from abstract concepts to simple, practical habits that can be introduced early.

Some Practical Solutions

Build awareness
Ask simple questions: Does it feel different playing in a game than in practice? Where do you feel it? Tightness, nerves, shortness of breath? Can you describe it? The goal is not to diagnose; it is to help athletes begin paying attention to what is happening internally.

Treat pressure as a skill to develop
Young athletes practice constantly to improve sport-specific skills. The same should apply mentally. Handling pressure is not a personality trait; it is a learned skill and a trained ability.

Reframe discomfort as growth
Pressure and failure are often avoided or feared. They shouldn’t be. They are the mechanism for growth. Just as muscles strengthen through stress, the same is true for mental resilience. Growth comes from discomfort.

Make peak performance less mysterious
Athletes often describe being “in the zone.” Instead of treating that as a random phenomenon, ask what it feels like and when it happens. The more athletes understand it, the more accessible it becomes.

Connect sport to life outside sport
Public speaking is a clear example, since most people find it nerve-wracking. The first time is uncomfortable, but repetition reduces fear. Eventually, it becomes a simple matter of execution. Sport provides this same cycle regularly, often with greater frequency and intensity. We may be reluctant to seek discomfort, but understanding that it will make us stronger allows us to maintain composure when it finds us.

Introduce simple tools
Breathing techniques, routines, and grounding habits can help calm thoughts and regulate performance under pressure. These do not need to be complicated, but they should be intentional. Encourage young athletes to observe what elite athletes do in pressure moments. Before a free throw, a serve, or leaving the starting gate, most athletes show a deliberate change in breathing. It may be subtle, even subconscious, but it is there.

The Real Opportunity

Specialization narrows focus, which carries risk, but if approached differently, it can also create something valuable. Sport provides repeated exposure to pressure, failure, and performance—conditions that are difficult to replicate elsewhere. If young athletes are taught to understand and work through those experiences, they develop skills that extend well beyond sport and become more than athletes.

Specialization may be unavoidable, but how we guide athletes through it is not.

Watch the full episode here.

Eli is a Partner at Brand Velocity Group (BVG), where he sources and helps build the firm's portfolio companies. BVG recently acquired RCX Sports, one of the biggest platforms in youth sports. We wanted to understand why — and what it means for the industry.

The timing matters. Senator Christopher Murphy (D-CT) and Representative Christopher Deluzio (D-PA) recently introduced the "Let Kids Play Act," and it's sparked real debate. Most people agree with the spirit of the bill — protecting kids and families from predatory practices in youth sports. But a lot of the pushback we've seen is about the specifics: critics argue the bill paints private equity with too broad a brush.

Here's the thing — we don't think this is a PE problem or a "mom and pop" problem. We think there are good actors and bad actors on both sides. PE-backed and privately owned youth sports companies alike can exploit families, and PE-backed and privately owned companies alike can also expand access, improve quality, and help more kids play. The bill, as written, likely needs to evolve to have a real shot at passing — and that evolution needs to be grounded in what's actually happening in the market, not assumptions about who's doing the harm.

That's exactly why we wanted Eli on. Not to referee the debate, but to add a firsthand voice to it — he makes the case that BVG's acquisition of RCX is motivated by exactly the outcome this legislation is trying to protect: more kids getting access to and participating in youth sports, and that private equity can be a force for that good, if it's held to the right standard.

This is the role we want Youth Inc. to play in the industry: a platform where the full spectrum of this ecosystem — operators, investors, policymakers, and families — can hear each other out and work through hard, nuanced questions in public, not just in press releases or committee rooms. We're not here to tell you what to think about the Let Kids Play Act or about PE in youth sports. We're here to make sure you're hearing from the people actually building and legislating this space, so the industry can get to real, workable change together. Change that actually helps more kids experience the joy of playing.

Give this one a watch or a listen. Available now on our YouTube channel and wherever you get your podcasts.

Host Allyson Tucker sat down with Aaron Rodgers (Head Women's Soccer Coach at Ohio University), Scout Murray (former Ohio University D-1 player), and David Murray (Scout's dad and author of the acclaimed new memoir Soccer Dad) for an eye-opening conversation of how the three parties experience the same events. 

Listen to it here.

It's Not Just About Us

David wrote Soccer Dad as a diary of what it's like to raise a daughter through youth sports, recruiting, and college soccer. Though the book dives into some sensitive moments for Scout and her coach, the three agree on one thing: this is about something bigger.

Despite initially being nervous about how the book would make him appear, especially to people uninitiated to Division I coaching, Scout’s former head coach said he came to feel this story isn’t really about him, in the end: “It’s about how we can help other parents and young people understand and navigate what it’s like.”

That sentiment sets the tone for the whole conversation as a place to help other families and coaches learn and grow.

What Parents Wish Coaches Knew… And What Coaches Wish Parents Knew

David poses the question every sports parent has thought but rarely says out loud: what would you tell a college coach if you had five minutes?

“This was my three-year-old kid that you're now coaching,” he said. He points out that it can sometimes feel like there is a gap between player and coach when the coach doesn’t know the whole childhood that got them to this point. David claims he would’ve loved to share a bit about Scout’s childhood and learning style.

Aaron's coaching perspective adds a layer to this: he reminds us that he only sees the “Athens, Ohio child,” not the “Chicago child.” Parents, meanwhile, are watching through “parent goggles,” a lens that doesn’t always understand the college version of their kid. This can sometimes create a disconnect between parent and coach.

Scout jokes that she’s not sure she would've wanted her parents getting five uninterrupted minutes to share her childhood story with a college coach.

The Confidence Question

The conversation then shifts to confidence, something that wasn’t a big problem for Scout until college. Instead of being the best player on your team, you’re now competing for playing time against two dozen other star athletes. “We felt unprepared for what happened to your confidence,” David admitted to Scout.

Aaron responds encourages players to shift the focus away from playing time and to life experience and growth: “How am I gaining experience in life and resilience? You are learning and gaining such great experience from being a student athlete.” His point is that confidence tied entirely to playing time is a trap, both for the player and for how parents measure success.

Scout also opens up about the day-to-day anxiety of not knowing her role from game to game, and Aaron acknowledges the tension coaches face here too. Most programs reveal starters the day before, but he wonders aloud if there's a better way to give substitute players hope they’ll without creating constant uncertainty among some of the starters.

Recruiting

Looking back, Scout says she didn't ask many questions during her own recruiting process. “I don't think I asked enough questions, but I think I got very lucky,” she said.

What stood out to her was how she found herself talking about the program. During campus visits, Scout encouraged recruits to ask her anything. It was during those moments that she noticed just how highly she spoke of her team and coaches.

David adds one more piece to this: though Scout desperately wanted to impress her coach, she was never afraid of him. “If you're afraid of a person for four years, that's a bad situation,” he said.

Would She Do It Again?

Asked if she could ever picture not making it through all four years, Scout doesn't hesitate: no, because of her teammates. That bond, she says, kept her and her teammates on the field, and totally committed to one another.

It’s a reminder that sports usually aren’t just about performance and playing time. The relationships and friendships formed through sport mean much more.

Honesty Hour

The round table closes with the group playing a quick word-association game:

College soccer is...

• David: Hard
• Scout: Intense
• Aaron: Rewarding

College soccer is not...

• David: Important as its own goal
• Scout: Easy to navigate
• Aaron: For everyone

David sums up the entire conversation with a simple statement: “This shit is hard. Even in the best-case scenarios, you better love soccer, your coach, and your teammates.”

In the 72nd minute of the Netherlands' round of 32 match against Morocco, Cody Gakpo scored. And then the 27 year old, one of the best players of this entire World Cup, stopped. He looked up, and he broke down. The whole Dutch bench emptied to reach him. They did not celebrate the goal so much as surround the man who scored it.

Three days earlier, Gakpo and his partner Noa van der Bij had shared news no family should ever have to carry. Their unborn son, Elijah, had passed away during pregnancy. He was due in October. "With broken hearts," van der Bij wrote, "we share the devastating news that our baby boy passed away." They asked for privacy. They asked for space. And then Cody Gakpo, somehow, chose to stay with his team and play.

You can talk about resilience all you want. You can put the word on a locker room wall. But this is what it actually looks like, and it is quieter than the highlight reel suggests. It is a grieving father walking onto the biggest stage in his sport because the people around him made it safe to. His coach gave him the freedom to be with family in the days before. His captain, Virgil van Dijk, said it plainly: "It shows that football is secondary. There are more important things in life."

The Netherlands lost that night, on penalties, the way they so often have. The goal did not save the game, and a trophy was never what made the moment matter.

What made it matter is worth holding onto, whether you are the athlete on the field, the coach on the sideline, or the parent in the stands. A team saw exactly what their teammate was carrying and chose to help him carry it. A grieving father trusted them enough to let them. That is what sport, at its very best, is really for, and the scoreboard is the smallest part of it.

So this weekend, hug your kid a little longer after the final whistle, win or lose. Tell a teammate you have got them before they have to ask. Results fade. The way we show up for one another is the part that stays.

This young fan's reaction to attending the Brazil vs. Scotland match is priceless

Not a dry eye in site after watching this reaction 🥹

A dream come true for this young fan.

Watch it here:

Cape Verde is a prime example. A small island nation off the coast of West Africa with a population of just 525,000, they arrived at their first ever World Cup and promptly held a powerhouse Spain team to a 0-0 draw, earning their first point in World Cup history.

In their second match, they earned a 2-2 draw against Uruguay, scoring their first World Cup goals in the process. Two games in, Cape Verde is undefeated. With a final group game against Saudi Arabia ahead, a spot in the knockout round is very much within reach.

At the center of it all is goalkeeper Josimar José Évora Dias, known as Vozinha. The 40-year-old only turned professional at 25, and went largely unnoticed outside Cape Verde, until now. His performance against Spain, where he made seven saves and shut out one of the top-ranked teams in the world, made him an overnight sensation and earned him the Player of the Match award.

Another team writing its own chapter is Curaçao. The smallest nation by population ever to qualify for the World Cup, they announced themselves on the world stage by scoring their first ever World Cup goal against Germany. Then, in their second match against Ecuador, goalkeeper Eloy Room delivered one of the most remarkable individual performances in recent World Cup memory, making 15 saves to earn Curaçao their first ever World Cup point in a 0-0 draw. With a population of just 158,000, they are proving that size has nothing to do with heart.

Then there's the Democratic Republic of Congo. Making their first World Cup appearance since 1974, they faced a Ronaldo-led Portugal and more than held their own. Ronaldo failed to find the net, and a goal from Yoane Wissa earned DR Congo a 1-1 draw and their first ever World Cup point.

The lesson here for young athletes is simple: never count yourself out. The biggest teams can be beaten. The most unexpected players can become legends overnight. FIFA's decision to expand the 2026 World Cup to 48 teams has already produced a more globally inclusive tournament and some of the best stories the sport has ever seen.

Let these teams serve as a reminder: the underdog moment your team has been working toward is more possible than you think.

@the_coaching_dad

Brad, also known as the coaching dad, uses his account to provide coaching and parenting tips to help followers navigate youth sports with confidence. He addresses real, relevant issues and gives advice to tackle these problems head on.

@mark.bland7

Mark Bland has the best skits and comedic relief for any sports dad. From ordinary fatherhood moments to youth sports travel days, he adds some humor to it all.

@vicariouslysports

Vicariously Sports, hosted by @KFCBarstool is a series about parenting, coaching, and raising young athletes in the circus that is modern youth sports. He covers relevant events, key topics in youth sports, and personal stories as a sports dad.

@healthysportsparents

Jonathan Carone, founder of Healthy Sports Parents, shares advice on sports parenting, burnout, multi-sport participation, and how parents can help kids enjoy sports. He uses both his podcast and social media to spread his message around healthy sports parenting.

@leemjelias

Youth Inc. hockey ambassador Lee Elias uses his Instagram account to highlight relevant sports topics and events. He shares uplifting takes on trust, teamwork, and leadership, and ends many of his videos with his iconic mantra: "I believe in you, you should too."

@gregolsen88

Youth Inc. co-founder Greg Olsen is the blueprint for youth sports dads and coaches. You can find most of his youth sports content on @youthinc, but he shares additional youth sports moments and personal stories on his account.

My daughter Eloise is 18. My son Owen is 16. And together, with my incredible wife Kathryn beside me every step of the way, we have lived one of the most rewarding journeys I could have ever imagined — the youth sports journey.

Eloise: Grit, Grace, and the Girl on the Bench

Eloise earned the captaincy of her varsity lacrosse team. As her dad, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t tear up a little when I heard the news. Captain. It wasn’t just a title — it was her teammates and coaches recognizing everything we already knew about her: her leadership, her heart, her commitment to the people around her.

Then came the ACL injury.

Any sports parent knows that phone call, that moment on the sideline when everything stops. For Eloise, it wasn’t just about the physical recovery — it was about watching a season she had worked so hard for slip away from her in an instant.

But here’s what made me most proud, and I mean most proud — more than any goal she’s ever scored, any award she’s ever won: Eloise chose to show up every single game and be the loudest, most positive voice on that bench. She cheered. She coached. She lifted her teammates. She was injured, she was hurting, and she was still the captain — in every way that actually counts.

That’s the kind of character that youth sports can build, and that’s the kind of young woman she’s become. I couldn’t be more in awe of her.

Owen: The Grind, the Dream, and the Conference Championship

Owen is on a mission. At 16, he has set his sights on playing college baseball, and he pursues that goal with a discipline and drive that honestly humbles me. He wakes up early. He puts in the extra reps. He doesn’t need to be pushed — he pulls the rest of us along with him.

There’s something extraordinary about watching your child find something they love deeply enough to suffer for. Owen grinds. He perseveres through the rough patches, the slumps, the setbacks that are inevitable in a sport as demanding as baseball. And he keeps coming back. Every time.

But Owen doesn’t just play baseball. He also suits up for varsity basketball, and this past season, I got to sit in those stands and watch his team win the conference championship. I’ll remember that moment for the rest of my life — not just the celebration, but the look on his face. That’s what we do all of this for.

What Youth Inc. Has Always Known

At Youth Inc., we talk about what sports can do for young people. We talk about confidence, resilience, teamwork, leadership, and purpose. I’ve watched those values come to life in my own home, and it has deepened my belief in this work more than anything else could.

Eloise and Owen are both great students, great kids, and great people. Do sports get all the credit? Of course not. But those long drives to tournaments, those early Saturday mornings, those moments of defeat and triumph — they shaped something real in them.

A Thank You That Doesn’t Feel Big Enough

None of this happens without Kathryn. My wife has been the co-pilot, the logistics mastermind, the emotional anchor, and the loudest fan in the stands. Being a sports parent is a team sport in itself, and I am so grateful to be on her team.

To Eloise and Owen: being your dad is the privilege of my life. You have given me more joy, more pride, and more love than I ever knew was possible. Every mile traveled, every game attended, every practice watched — I would do it all a thousand times over.

This Father’s Day, I’m celebrating from the only place I ever wanted to be: the sideline, the stands, and wherever you need me next.

Happy Father’s Day to every sports dad out there doing the same.

1. The Power of Playing Together

The biggest stars may grab the headlines, but World Cup matches are won by teams that play together. Watch how players communicate, cover for each other, and make sacrifices for the good of the group.

What to look for: Sideline focus and support, players celebrating teammates' success, and how teams respond when facing adversity.

2. Different Backgrounds, One Game

The World Cup brings together athletes and fans from different countries, cultures, and life experiences. That mix is front and center at this World Cup. In Boston, Scottish fans have being welcomed with open arms. It's a reminder that sport has always been one of the best bridges we have.

What to look for: Team traditions, fan celebrations, and the unique styles of play that different countries bring to the game.

3. Resilience Matters More Than Perfection

Not every game goes according to plan. Even the best players make mistakes, miss opportunities, and face setbacks. What separates great athletes is how they respond. Japan already showed us this, coming back twice to tie a strong Netherlands side, and scoring their equalizer in the air despite a clear height disadvantage.

What to look for: Body language after mistakes and teams that fight back after falling behind.

4. Fundamentals Never Go Out of Style

The world's best players have incredible talent, but they're also masters of the basics. Passing, communication, positioning, and decision-making are often what make the difference in big matches.

What to look for: Simple plays executed well, smart decision-making under pressure, and players doing the little things that help their team succeed.

5. A Reminder To Dream Big

Every player on the World Cup stage started somewhere, many on local fields that looked a lot like the ones youth athletes play on today. One of the tournament's most powerful moments so far: Curaçao scoring their first ever World Cup goal against Germany. They lost the game, but that one moment represented an entire nation's dream becoming real. That's what this is all about.

What to look for: Player backstories and the work and time it took them to get here.

The World Cup is more than a showcase of elite talent. It's a classroom for young athletes. It's a reminder of why we play sports in the first place: to learn how to compete, connect, and work hard when faced with adversity.

With the addition of the Automated Ball-Strike challenge system in baseball, we saw a lot of overturned calls early in the season. While some of the overturned calls are borderline, there have also been some egregious calls rightly overturned. This got me thinking about the often stressful relationship between parents and officials in youth and high school sports.

Most sports fanatics can think back through their youth to bad calls they specifically recall because those calls stick with you. For me, there was the Mike Renfro catch that wasn’t for the Houston Oilers in the 1979 AFC Championship game and the Aundra Franklin fumble recovered by my NY Jets that wasn’t called a fumble in the 1982 AFC Championship game. More recently, we had Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga lose a PERFECT GAME with two outs in the 9^th inning when a runner was called safe at 1B who was clearly out. I am sure there are many others I am missing, but these are the ones that come to mind right now.

For most of history, officiating was based entirely on humans making calls with no assistance from replay. I know that is hard for younger people to fathom, but it is true. Instant replay was not adopted as an officiating tool until 1986 in the NFL. The NFL used it until 1991 and then discontinued it as it took way too much time and failed to get enough calls correct. The NFL reinstated it in 1999, and it has been in use ever since. Baseball has been the sport most hesitant to use replay technology, but it introduced it in 2008 and this season went a step further by using radar technology for its Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) System, which allows teams to challenge a pitch call. Times have definitely changed.

The main character in a baseball saga a few weeks ago was umpire CB Bucknor. He has been the focal point of a lot of frustration because he has had numerous calls overturned. Some of them are really hard to fathom. I do know that officials make mistakes, as it is part of the human condition. In most cases, those mistakes involve razor-thin margins for error and can only be overturned through the use of super slow-motion, high-definition video review. The reality is that the majority of officials are exceptional at their job. The problem is that all it takes is a handful of bad officials to give fans and parents the impression that all officials are terrible, and that is not the case. This impression then carries over to their kids’ sports, and in many cases it gets ugly. Both parents and officials are to blame, but I believe most of this is due to parents not keeping youth sports in perspective.

As I have mentioned in previous articles, parents put too much importance on youth sports, and this causes most of the problems with youth sports officiating. As a high school student, I would umpire youth baseball games where I grew up. I wasn’t perfect, and for the most part the parents were good, and I don’t recall any serious blowups. I certainly made mistakes that coaches would question, but nothing like what we see today. As a parent and coach, I was aware when the high school kids were umpiring and never made an issue of it, but I have seen coaches and parents act ridiculously toward a teenage umpire in a rec baseball game, to the point that the kid’s father would come to the game to observe and make sure no one took advantage of his son. This is unacceptable behavior for coaches and parents with any official, umpire, or referee, let alone a high school kid.

It gets worse in the travel sports arena, as those are certified adult officials. Coaches and parents think they have more leeway to complain or judge the job an official is doing. I have seen a horrendous situation where two coaches almost came to blows over a call in an 8U baseball game. That’s right, 8U baseball. The issue in this case wasn’t the umpire, it was the parents, as it is in most cases.

I am not immune to getting emotionally invested in a game and frustrated by a call. I have been thrown out of a hockey rink, and also had another parent wrongly thrown out, at a 14U game for making a loud complaint over a call. And it was the second comment that did it. I’m not proud of that. That was entirely my fault. It doesn’t matter what the call was. A great piece of advice I received is that when a fan or parent is upset with a call, it is usually the second sentence that gets you thrown out. If you must express your frustration, keep it to the initial frustration sentence. Don’t add on to it.

The worst part of parent reactions to officiating is that all it takes is one parent to be griping about a call and then other parents chime in. On top of that, THEY AREN’T GOING TO CHANGE THE CALL! So, we can gripe all we want, but we aren’t having a positive impact on the officials. If anything, we are just embarrassing ourselves. A few friends who are officials have told me that kids on the ice have commented that they wish their parents would just shut up. Think about that. Your kid is out there working hard and is wishing you would shut up in the stands. We as parents, and coaches, need to be better. We need to keep perspective. We also gain a reputation, which can put a preconceived perspective in an official’s head that doesn’t benefit our kids. Officials are human. How many comments can they hear before it affects them?

Now, here is my one caveat about the outlier officials who give the vast majority of their counterparts a bad name. As a parent and coach, my only ask is that officials treat every game as important, regardless of the level. The kids playing in that game have practiced hard and deserve officials who approach it with the same level of commitment. I have been on the sidelines and in the stands where I have seen someone mailing it in for a paycheck. Or just trying to get the youth football tripleheader over so they can get home. That is not fair to the kids. Football, specifically, is a sport where there is a whole week of practice and preparation for one game. Having an official who isn’t 100% focused on wanting to do a good job for the kids isn’t right. I realize they may have high-level high school games the same weekend and see the youth game as unimportant, but it is important to those kids who worked all week for this game. Note that I didn’t say for the coaches and parents. This is about doing right by the kids. Honest mistakes are one thing, but I have seen refs who just don’t seem to care. That is the biggest issue for me. The only ask I have of any official/referee/umpire is to show up with a mindset that understands the importance of how hard the kids worked for the game they are playing in and to leave any bias at the door.

Correction: I have a second ask. In contact sports, please set a tone early in the game by calling penalties on borderline cheap shots to keep the game from getting out of hand. I am a proponent of contact sports and am not looking to soften the games. I want the borderline dirty hits to be addressed EARLY. I have seen too many football, hockey, and lacrosse games be allowed to become borderline cheap-shot physical, which then spirals as the kids ratchet up the physical play until it gets out of hand.

Then you have parents concerned about their kids getting hurt because the game is out of hand. Referees can control the tone of the game by not allowing it to get out of hand. I have had an official say to me that they don’t set any tone. I have a hard time with that line of thinking. I’m not saying I am right, but I have seen games officiated both ways, and there is no question that a referee who understands the dynamics of teenagers in a contact sport can positively impact a game by calling cheap shots early and sending a clear message about what will be tolerated.

To be clear: the overwhelming majority of the issues come from parents and the ridiculous importance they put on their kids’ sports. The more we can shift the perspective of parents, the better it will be for our kids. But we also need to have an understanding that officials play their part and can either help or hurt the situation. Most importantly, treat the youth games as you would a high-level high school game, the kids worked too hard for any less. And for contact sports, please understand that you do have a direct impact on keeping the game from getting out of hand.

What is your favorite youth sports memory?

Pond hockey, without a doubt. While I played organized sports of every variety, there was nothing like the feeling of getting out of school and running down to the pond with skates, stick, puck, and just playing pond hockey.

Who has been the most influential coach in your life?

The most influential coach in my life was my dad. He coached my brothers and me in Little League Baseball all three years and it was a great experience. He instilled in me the understanding that it's possible to work hard, to get better, to compete, and to do all of that without losing sight of the real priority, which is to have fun. And that's something that I've applied in sports through my life and later in my career.

What's one lesson you've learned through sports that has shaped your life?

I think the most important lesson I learned through sports was how to lose. When you love sports and you start to focus on a single sport and you get better, you start to view yourself differently. And when you run into competition, which you ultimately and inevitably will, it's really tough and can be an almost existential problem when you lose. There has to be something more to sports than just winning because you're never going to beat everybody. I learned to deal with pressure and to function under pressure through sports. And I don't know where I'd be in my career if I didn't have that ability.

You've spent decades representing Olympic athletes. What's one thing people consistently misunderstand about their journey?

People generally understand that it's a lot of work and it's a lot of focus, but to be truly great in a sport requires a level of sacrifice that has really significant costs, personally. Unless you see it firsthand, it's easy to underestimate that. If you want to truly realize your athletic potential, it does require you to give so many things up. And with that, you end up developing a more narrow identity for a time. That can lead to difficulties and tough transitions. I think that the effect of that sacrifice is probably overlooked by many.

As co-founder of the Reformed Sports Project, what inspired that — and what are you hoping it changes?

At the age of seven, my son really had to choose to play hockey to the exclusion of most other sports if he was to play hockey at all. I felt that was unfortunate and misguided. So, I became involved in coaching and coached my kids through their youth sports experience. Then I began to advocate about youth sports and try to keep an eye on what the purpose of youth sports is. You can pursue success, you can become the best athlete possible, and you can do so without sacrificing balance and diversity of experience. I think there's a lot that can be done today in the world of youth sports to create a healthier, more balanced experience for kids.

What do you hope changes in how we define "development" in youth sports over the next decade?

I'd like to see the perspective shift so that people view sports not so much in terms of wins and losses or peer-to-peer comparisons, but rather through the many benefits that are available through participation in sports. There's nothing wrong with wanting to win. There's nothing wrong with competing. But your ability to function under pressure, to deal with teammates, to support others, to navigate through difficult situations — that sort of thing we can draw upon every day of our lives. Sports, I think, is uniquely positioned to help our kids do that. Hopefully, kids a decade from now have the ability to play multiple sports until they make the choice to focus on a single sport.

Stay tuned for more content from Peter on Youth Inc.

Two games. Hold onto that number, because of the other number sitting right next to it.

According to a 111-page affidavit cited in Associated Press reporting and by ESPN's David Purdum, Sorsby placed bets totaling at least $90,000 over four years across three programs — Indiana, Cincinnati and Texas Tech. The AP reported the filings included at least 40 bets on Indiana football during his freshman year in 2022, when he was a Hoosier. Betting on your own team is supposed to be the one bright line in college sports; the NCAA's own rules treat it as grounds for permanent ineligibility. Sorsby crossed it, admitted it, and is going to play anyway.

First, the part that deserves to be said plainly: good for him. Sorsby's attorneys say he was diagnosed with gambling and anxiety disorders and completed a 35-day inpatient program in Arizona. Gambling addiction is a real clinical condition, and a 22-year-old getting treatment and a second chance is a good outcome. His coach, Joey McGuire, said he was proud of him for getting help. Nobody should want this kid's life defined by the worst stretch of it.

But step back from Lubbock for a second and look at what this ruling is sitting on top of.

Rewind to 2023. A statewide gambling investigation tore through the Iowa and Iowa State athletic departments and swept up dozens of athletes. Iowa State's starting quarterback, Hunter Dekkers, was accused of placing 26 bets on Cyclones events — including one Iowa State football game — out of roughly 366 total wagers worth a little over $2,799, according to the criminal complaint reported by CNN and the Des Moines Register. For that, the NCAA ruled him permanently ineligible in February 2024. He landed at a community college, trying to claw his way back to the field.

Read the two cases back to back. Dekkers: under $3,000 in total bets, banned for life. Sorsby: $90,000, dozens of wagers on his own team, back in two weeks of football. ESPN, writing about Dekkers last year, put the imbalance bluntly — athletes who gambled far more money, just not on their own sport, often kept some eligibility while he lost all of his.

So what changed? Not the conduct. The venue.

Sorsby didn't win an appeal inside the NCAA's own process. He went to court, hired heavyweight sports attorney Jeffrey Kessler, and got a judge to step in. And here's the uncomfortable part for the people who run college sports: the NCAA keeps losing these fights. As Sportico and CBS Sports have both noted, Sorsby's case follows the path Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia carved out — his actual trial won't happen until after the 2026 season it was supposed to decide. The NCAA called Monday's ruling a blow to the "integrity of sports." It may be right. It's also increasingly powerless to do anything about it.

That's the real story here, and it's the one that should matter to anyone with a kid in a recruiting pipeline.

We are living through a stretch where nobody — not the NCAA, not the schools, not the agents, not the players — can tell you with confidence what the rules will be twelve months from now. NIL money is real and barely regulated. Eligibility is being rewritten in courtrooms instead of committee rooms. The guardrails that existed five years ago are bending case by case, and the people who get caught in the gears are almost always the youngest and least protected.

If you're an athlete about to sign, or a parent about to hand your 17-year-old over to that machine, the lesson is not "you can gamble $90,000 and a lawyer will fix it." Sorsby is the exception, not the template — for every injunction that lands, there's a Hunter Dekkers at a junior college. The lesson is simpler and older than NIL: be careful what you put your name on, your money into, and your phone near.

Because the other thing this case proves is that all of it gets found. The NCAA learned about Sorsby's betting from a tip that ran from law enforcement to an online sportsbook. Iowa investigators used geofencing data to flag athletes placing bets inside their own stadiums. Every deposit, every account opened under a brother-in-law's name, every Venmo to a buddy — it leaves a trail, and the trail is permanent. What a 19-year-old does on an app today can surface in a courtroom three schools later.

College sports has never had more money in it or less certainty around it. For the young people walking into that, the smartest move isn't finding the loophole. It's not needing one in the first place.

If you or someone you know is struggling with a gambling problem, free and confidential help is available 24/7 through the National Problem Gambling Helpline at 1-800-GAMBLER.