Live from the 2nd Annual Soldiers to Sidelines Coaching Summit: the Ask the Coach panel, unscripted and unfiltered.

Moderator Johanna Zabal hands the mic to the room, and Tex, Nate Palin, and Kat Oswald field whatever comes, from youth lifting age and PVC-pipe progressions to burnout, creative play, and how the military trains athletes with no off-season. Real questions from real coaches, answered live.

Topics covered: youth strength training age, rep max vs. percentage-based programming, in-season maintenance for football and soccer, athlete burnout and cognitive recovery, creative play in long-term development, force plates and asymmetry testing in military athletes, and mental imagery for performance.

Education -  Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com

Training -     15 Min Dynamic Warm Up Flow - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/warmupflow Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

Erica Lowery is a strength and conditioning coach at South Alabama working with volleyball and soccer. She's also a former Division I libero, a two-time Apex Games competitor, and a USA Bobsled camp invitee. This episode covers all of it.

Erica walks through her transfer from Texas A&M to Liberty University and the confidence she rebuilt there. She talks about her first year as a college strength coach, the exhaustion of trying to be perfect, and the moment she stopped performing for her athletes and started showing up as herself. That decision changed everything about how she coaches.

This conversation is about the gap between who you think you should be and who you actually are, and what happens when you finally close it.

Education -  Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com

Training -     15 Min Dynamic Warm Up Flow - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/warmupflow Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

Live from the 2nd Annual Soldiers to Sidelines Coaching Summit in Nashville, this lacrosse roundtable tackles the coaching crisis head-on: the pathway from playing to coaching, why coaches are leaving the profession, and what it takes to stay in it for the long haul.

Joining Tex: Harrison Bernstein, Founder and CEO of Soldiers to Sidelines; Jon Basti, Head Coach at Sacred Heart University; Ryan Wellner, Defensive Coordinator at Notre Dame; and Chayse Ierlan, Director of Operations at Johns Hopkins.

The group unpacks why playing experience doesn't guarantee coaching skill, the pressures pulling young coaches out of the game, and the psychology behind why athletes, and coaches, stay committed. Harrison breaks down the research on self-efficacy, hope, and realistic optimism, and the group shares the mentors and moments that shaped how they lead today.

A conversation about why the best coaches never stop training, even at the top of their game.

Education -  Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com

Training -     15 Min Dynamic Warm Up Flow - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/warmupflow Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

Nick Winkelman wrote the book on coaching language. Literally. The Language of Coaching has become required reading for anyone who talks to athletes for a living.  

The Language of Coaching: https://amzn.to/4gUKhjU  

In this episode, recorded live at the NSCA National Conference, Nick breaks down the difference between informing and cueing. Most coaches give too much information and not enough focus. Nick explains why that gap kills performance in the moment that matters most.  We dig into internal versus external cues. 

Nick makes the case for external focus using a symphony conductor as the model. One clear idea organizes the whole system. Too many internal cues just create noise.  Nick also unpacks his 3D cueing model. Distance. Direction. Description. Three ingredients that turn a vague cue into something an athlete can actually use in real time.  

We close on analogy. Not as a coaching trick, but as the actual mechanism the brain uses to learn anything new. 

This episode applies whether you coach lacrosse, baseball, or the weight room. The language you use is the lens your athlete sees through. Choose it on purpose.

Education -  Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com

Training -     15 Min Dynamic Warm Up Flow - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/warmupflow Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

Advocacy + Inquiry = How Real Captains Lead

Where did you learn to lead? Most first-time captains never got taught. They just copied whatever they saw growing up, a parent, an older sibling, a coach from another sport. But copying what you saw isn't the same as leading well.

In this episode, Tex breaks down two models of leadership behavior from the research of Argyris and Schön: the self-protective Model 1, and the open, trust-building Model 2. You'll learn the difference between advocacy and inquiry, why single-loop learning keeps teams stuck, and three questions every captain needs to ask themselves this week.

If you're a first-time captain, or you coach one, this episode is for you.

Education -  Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com

Training -     15 Min Dynamic Warm Up Flow - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/warmupflow Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

Every coach has a shin splint kid. A low back kid. A concussion protocol they're guessing their way through. This episode fixes that.

Dr. Dylan Seeley joins Captains & Coaches live from Summerstrong 2026 to break down the injuries showing up on the lacrosse field and what's actually driving them. We cover anterior and posterior shin splints, the foot mechanics behind both, and why slides and cleats are working against your athletes. 

We get into spondylolysis, a low back injury lacrosse never used to see, and why oblique training is the missing piece for shooters and lifters. We break down hamstring mechanics and the one drill that got a state title sprinter back on the track in two days.

Then we go deep on concussions. Dylan shares the research behind vision training that cut concussion rates from 9.2 to 2.3 per season with zero extra neck work. He explains why cocoon therapy is outdated, how cardio actually speeds brain recovery, and why the parasympathetic nervous system might be the most overlooked piece of return to play.

No expensive gear. No abstract theory. Just mechanics, and the why behind them.

Education -  Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com

Training -    
15 Min Dynamic Warm Up Flow - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/warmupflow
Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

Sports don't teach lessons. Coaches do. This week, Tex breaks down transformational leadership theory's Four I's, connects them to social-emotional learning, and lays out the model anchoring his doctoral research on collegiate team captains.

Education -  Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com

Training -    15 Min Dynamic Warm Up Flow - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/warmupflow Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

Joey Bergles [@joeybergles] has trained NFL athletes, a top-60 pro tennis player, and lacrosse standouts like the Kavanaugh brothers. None of them got better because of a magic program. They got better because they chose consistent discomfort, over and over, long before any potential showed up.

Education -  Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com

Training -    15 Min Dynamic Warm Up Flow - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/warmupflow Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

Every coach has the athlete who's easy to reach, and the one who's checked out, arms crossed, wall fully up. This episode is about that second athlete, and why they're usually the one who needs you most.

Tex breaks down the Coach-Athlete Reinforcing Loop, the five-stage cycle of trust extended, coaching delivered, athlete response, outcome, and reinforcement, and explains why it never resets to neutral. 

We unpack the five real reasons athletes resist coaching, none of which are usually about defiance at all, and why treating resistance as data instead of a discipline problem changes everything about how a coach responds to it.

Education -  Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com

Training -   
15 Min Dynamic Warm Up Flow - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/warmupflow   
Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

It has to be earned. Not given.

Fairfax Hackley spent 34 years with the Arnold Classic. He trained with legends like Vince Gironda and Steve Maholic. He is the Senior Vice President for the International Sports Hall of Fame, now in its 15th year, inducting names like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronda Rousey, David Goggins, and Marcus Allen.

But this episode isn't about bodybuilding. It's about mentorship. It's about standards. It's about what happens when you hit rock bottom and have to decide who you are on the other side of it.

Fairfax shares the story of catching a falling Lou Ferrigno mid-collapse, getting tested by legends who didn't hand out respect, and the moment he had $69 to his name and asked the devil if that was the best he had.

This one stays with you.

Education -  Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com

Training -   15 Min Dynamic Warm Up Flow - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/warmupflow   Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com