Captains & Coaches Podcast

Brianna Battles is an athlete, strength coach, mom of two, and the founder of Pregnancy & Postpartum Athleticism. She's coached at the Division I level, competes in jiu jitsu, and has spent her career helping women pursue a lifetime of athleticism. Today she's bringing that same lens to sport parenting.

In this episode, Tex and Brianna break down what it actually takes to raise gritty, multi-sport kids, from how you introduce competition early, to the car ride home after a tough loss, to knowing when to be a coach and when to just be a parent.

If you coach youth athletes, parent them, or both, this one's 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 roster goes through the same predictable stages of development, whether coaches and captains are aware of it or not. 

In this episode, Tex breaks down Bruce Tuckman's Five Stages of Team Development through the lens of athletics, from the optimism of Day 1 fall camp all the way through the grief of a season's end. 

You'll learn what each stage actually looks like in a locker room, why Storming is not a culture crisis but a growth opportunity, how your leadership style has to change as the team evolves, and exactly what coaches and captains should be doing differently at every stage of the season. 

If you've ever looked at your roster and thought 'we should be better than this,' 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

What does it take to build a leader? According to Jon Heck, it starts under the bar.

Jon played offensive tackle at UNC, two-time All-ACC, four-year starter, then spent nearly a decade coaching S&C for football at the NFL and Division-I level, including stops with the Houston Texans, Carolina Panthers and the Tar Heels. Now he runs Hammer & Chisel Performance, where he coaches athletes and everyday people to build strength, physique, and the discipline to back it up.

We also get into how Jon gives quiet leaders reps in their voice, why holding the standard the same for freshmen and seniors changes everything, and what walking the talk actually looks like when your athletes are following you on Instagram.

If you coach players, train athletes, or develop leaders, this one's 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

Most halftime adjustments aren't real adjustments, they're just louder versions of what wasn't working in the first half. In this episode, we break down double-loop learning, the concept developed by organizational theorist Chris Argyris, and why it's the cognitive skill that separates coaches who adapt from coaches who just react.

You'll learn the difference between single-loop thinking (fixing the error) and double-loop thinking (questioning the assumption behind the error) — and why the thermostat in your house is a better mental model for halftime than anything you learned in a coaching clinic. We also get into why your most elite, high-achieving athletes are often the worst at this, what Argyris called Model I thinking and the doom loop it creates, and why you cannot flip the double-loop switch at halftime if you haven't built it in the off-season.

This one is practical. Walk away with five concrete steps to build double-loop learning into your team's daily DNA before next season begins.

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

What if the secret to reducing ACL risk, unlocking elite speed, and fixing broken movement patterns starts at the bottom of your athletes' feet?

In this episode, we're live from Summerstrong with Cal Dietz, creator of Triphasic Training and the strength coach behind USA Women's Hockey's Olympic gold medal. 

Triphasic Training II - https://amzn.to/4iNvi9M

Cal pulls back the curtain on the methods he used with one of the most dominant teams in Olympic hockey history, and why he believes most coaches are overlooking the single most important muscle in their program: the big toe.

Cal breaks down his Spring Ankle protocol, the Three-Way Foot method, and how two simple muscle tests let him identify ACL risk before it happens. He's been texting coaches mid-game with names. He's been right every time.

Whether you coach high school athletes or Olympians, this conversation will change how you look at movement, foot strength, and injury prevention from the ground 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

Your athletes hear the word "conditioning" and the intent dies before the first rep. So stop calling it that.

In this episode, Tex shares the full presentation he gave at the Soldiers to Sidelines [@soliderstosidelines] Endurance Coaches Summit, a real-time breakdown of how he reframes fitness for high school athletes to actually get buy-in, raise intensity, and build something that matters beyond the stopwatch.

You'll hear why knowing who your athlete is matters more than your programming, the difference between work capacity and work efficiency (and why most coaches stay stuck in one), and three specific purposes of conditioning that filter every drill, every rep, and every decision on the field.

If your conditioning sessions feel like punishment disguised as preparation, this episode is the reframe you didn't know you needed.

Your job isn't to punish them. It's to prepare them to compete.

Soldiers to Sidelines: https://soldierstosidelines.org/

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

Most athletes think showing up is enough. Go to the tournaments, hit the showcases, get seen, and the offers will come. Nick Tintle has spent nearly two decades watching that belief cost athletes the opportunity they worked their whole career to earn.

Nick is a 2x All-American, MLL Champion, and founder of The Lacrosse Barn, the first lacrosse-exclusive training facility in Texas. In this episode, Nick breaks down what recruiting actually demands before a player ever steps on a showcase field, why his 8-person small group training model is developing smarter, more situationally aware athletes, and what it really means to grind in the dark when everyone else is chasing the spotlight.

We also get into the book he spent four years writing, a story born out of grief, finished through relentless consistency, and what that process revealed about resilience, gratitude, and the people who show up when you're running on empty.

If you coach athletes with college dreams, train players who think presence equals preparation, or you're an athlete trying to find your edge, this one is for you.

In this episode:

• Why tournaments are a needle in a haystack for recruiting
• The 8-person training model and why it beats privates
• Skill vs. situational awareness — and why the gap matters
• How to communicate hard work without dismantling effort
• Burnout — how to spot it, how to address it, and when to step back
• The book, the grief, and four years of showing up anyway

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/warmupflowOld Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

Matt Erdman spent 14 years in law enforcement before stumbling into a coaching opportunity he wasn't ready for. He'll be the first to tell you he didn't know a thing. So he learned.

Now he runs Veritas Athletic Performance in Scotts Bluff, Nebraska — a speed and performance facility built on one word: truth. Truth in faith. Truth in law enforcement. Truth in training. The stopwatch doesn't lie, and neither does he.

In this episode, Matt and Tex break down the real work of speed development — why athletes get slower before they get faster, how to sell that to a kid who just wants a PR, and the shift every performance coach eventually has to make from obsessing over the program to obsessing over the person.

Speed is a skill. Connection is the foundation. This one covers both.

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

Training - Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

Jim Davis is the founder of the Good Athlete Project and author of Get Steady: Essays at the Foundation of Sustainable High Performance. This conversation was recorded live at New Trier High School the day before we both presented at the Beyond Strength Summit in Chicago.

Grab Jim's Book, Get Steady here: https://amzn.to/4tgb6le

We cover Jim's High Order Performance Framework, from the physiological bedrock of sleep, nutrition, and movement, all the way up to gap capacities like grit, gratitude, and resilience. We also get into the inverted U curve, flow state theory, the three V's of communication, and a decision-making model called AUIRS that every coach needs in their toolkit.

If you believe sports don't teach lessons, coaches do, this one is for you.

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

Training - Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

Every season, coaches name captains. Hand out the 'C.' Fire everyone up.

And then the season hits, and half the time, those captains don't know what to do with it.

Not because they don't care. Not because they're bad leaders.

Because nobody ever taught them how.

This episode is the story of what happened when I decided to change that.

I'm in the middle of my doctoral program in educational leadership — and this past season, I took my five high school lacrosse captains and put them through the same process I was going through myself. Pre-assessments. Eight structured leadership lessons. Post-assessments.

What came back surprised me.

We talk about what the research says about why captain development fails, what we actually did differently this season, what changed — and what didn't. Including the moment late in the season when one of my captains walked up to me unprompted and said four words that told me everything I needed to know.

If you're a coach who's ever wondered why your leaders lead great in practice and disappear when it matters, this one's for you.

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

Training - Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com