Doug and Christy Sweaney Herrick built The Whole Athlete around a question they couldn't shake as former college athletes themselves: what if performance-based support isn't enough, and athletes need something more holistic? Doug, Christy and Noah walk through the stages where an athlete's identity can start to collapse into their sport alone, from parental pressure and early specialization through recruiting rejection, scholarship dependency, and the shame-based motivation that drives so many high performers.

Christy shares her own experience hitting a performance plateau in running during puberty with no explanation for why, and Doug talks about what it felt like locker-room-adjacent to a star player while quietly burning out on fear-based motivation. They get into the difference between guilt and shame, why self-belief has to come before self-criticism for it to actually work, and why having a steady, regulated person in your corner matters more than almost anything else when things go wrong.

This is More Than Minutes Played, where host Noah Cavanaugh has conversations with athletes, coaches, and sports psychologists about identity, purpose, and what life looks like inside and outside of sport.

New episodes weekly, subscribe if you enjoy these conversations!

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

01:09 - What We Wished We Had as Athletes

03:37 - The Eight Stages of Identity Foreclosure

05:39 - Parents Living Through Their Kids

07:26 - Her Dad With a Stopwatch

08:47 - “There’s So Much Out of Your Control as an Athlete”

12:15 - Optimising Until You’re Miserable

14:50 - People Will Go Far By Enjoying Their Sport

16:00 - The Implications of Specialising

18:10 - “The Pressure Was Overwhelming”

19:40 - Getting Attention For What You’re Good At

22:15 - The Puberty Plateau

26:40 - “Sports Are So Compelling”

29:15 - “Nobody Gives a Sh*t”

31:19 - Hitting the First Wall of Rejection

32:50 - The Reality of Competition in College Sports

34:54 - Not Rising to The Attention

35:54 - Why Flexibility Increases Creativity

38:10 - Finding it Difficult to Trust Non-Athletes

39:44 - “The Way We Define ‘Athletic’ is So Limiting”

42:33 - Creating Space from Athletics

43:50 - Learning to Let Go of Insane Obligations

46:07 - Scholarship Privilege in Sports

48:15 - Doing What We HAVE To Do

49:40 - Dangers of Suffering For a Better Life

51:57 - Realities of Pay in Pro Soccer

55:22 - Locker Next to Clint Dempsey

56:32 - “No One Cares How Much You Make”

57:12 - Mechanisms for Motivation

59:15 - Attaching Identity to Performance

01:01:32 - “You’re Literally Frying Your Nervous System”

01:04:17 - You Can’t Put Your Eggs in One Basket

01:06:30 - “It’s Essential to be Critical of Yourself”

01:09:08 - Having People Who Care About You No Matter What

01:11:53 - Where to Find The Whole Athlete

01:13:00 - The Last Four Stages

Carlos Angel Jr. grew up in Milton-Freewater, Oregon, hearing from people around him that he wasn't fast enough, tall enough, or skilled enough to play pro basketball. He and Noah talk about the mentors who changed that trajectory, including his longtime trainer, Stephen Garnett, and the coach who helped connect him to junior college and eventually Whitman. Carlos walks through his winding path through juco, a Division III program, a stint in England, and a showcase in Mexico that led to his first professional contract, plus the string of one-year deals and short-notice moves that have followed since. He gets into how his faith and a daily routine keep him grounded through that uncertainty, why he's always treated basketball as a vehicle rather than his identity, and what he's learned from his parents' immigration story about building something for the next generation.

This is More Than Minutes Played, where host Noah Cavanaugh has conversations with athletes, coaches, and sports psychologists about identity, purpose, and what life looks like inside and outside of sport.

New episodes weekly, subscribe if you enjoy these conversations!

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:42 - Everyone Told Him Why He Couldn’t

04:29 - The Showcase Nobody Came to Watch Him At

08:10 - 23 Points a Game in First Pro Season

09:50 - He Didn’t Know How to Believe in Himself

13:37 - Basketball as a Vehicle, Not an Identity

15:50 - “I’m Just a Regular Dude”

18:36 - Everyone’s Just a Human

19:07 - His Parents Don’t Know The Rules. They Show Up Anyway.

23:12 - The Thing That Finally Clicked

24:51 - Staying Process-Focused in a Results-Driven World

27:01 - He Stopped Negotiating With Himself

29:21 - A Cancelled Season, and a Chance Meeting at the Gym

32:38 - Start Working Like a Pro

35:30 - The Most Influential Relationship

39:13 - Fail 100 Times. Then Fail Again.

40:24 - A Contract Pending in Mexico

41:14 - Dealing With the Uncertainty of Pro Basketball

43:30 - How He Wants to Look Back on his Career

44:49 - More Than Minutes Played

Eli Paton spent his early baseball career dominating, until UCLA humbled him with a position switch, a torn meniscus, and 112 straight games on the bench. He and Noah talk through how he handled that stretch, why he ultimately transferred to GCU to find playing time, and how those two years of watching from the dugout shaped him as much as any game he started.

Eli explains how a short, unpaid stint in independent ball led him to Banana Ball, what the constant travel and nonstop fan interaction demand of him physically and mentally, and how he works to stay recovered and grounded through it. He also opens up about College Prospector, the athlete-advising business he's building on the side, and what he's learned about staying at an even keel through both the highs and the lows of a career built on constant reinvention.

This is More Than Minutes Played, where host Noah Cavanaugh has conversations with athletes, coaches, and sports psychologists about identity, purpose, and what life looks like inside and outside of sport.

New episodes weekly, subscribe if you enjoy these conversations!

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:47 - The Most Important Question Today

03:57 - “Great Things Come From Hard Work & Perseverance”

05:08 - The One Person Who Changed It All

06:24 - Being Inspired by an Unbiased Third-Party

07:30 - Fall in Love With Your Sport

08:22 - Living Through Your Child’s Career

10:55 - “I Got Cleated in the Head”

13:04 - Josie Was Never Meant to Survive

17:00 - How Eli Got into Banana Ball

19:14 - “I Need to Invest in Myself”

22:26 - Remembering to Soak It All In

23:25 - Your Brand Has to be Authentic

25:43 - How Are You Able to Stay Grounded?

27:29 - Celebrities Aren’t Gods

31:34 - Adapting to the Insane Schedule of Banana Ball

33:49 - “I Sat 112 Games on the Bench”

39:45 - Understanding When to Move On

41:40 - Knowing How To Regulate Your Highs & Lows

44:11 - Giving Back to the Next Generation

47:47 - Teaching Kids Has Helped Me Grow As a Player

51:05 - Life in 10 Years

53:17 - What He Tells Athletes at Every Stage of Their Career

56:58 - Where To Connect With Eli

Sierra Caffo grew up with a beach volleyball in her hand, following her father's love for the sport from San Diego's sand courts all the way to a six-year, Division 1 college career. She and Noah talk about what it felt like getting recruited by top programs at just 14 and 15 years old, and how her parents' hands-off approach to winning and losing gave her the space to build her own relationship with the game.

Sierra opens up about her final collegiate match, a loss that came down to her court in the last set of her career, and the guilt she's carried and slowly processed in the time since. She and Noah dig into what being "in the zone" actually feels like and how the discipline and resilience she built on the court have shaped who she is now, well outside the sport.

This is More Than Minutes Played, where host Noah Cavanaugh has conversations with athletes, coaches, and sports psychologists about identity, purpose, and what life looks like inside and outside of sport.

New episodes weekly, subscribe if you enjoy these conversations!

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:54 - Her Dad Found Beach Volleyball & Never Let Go

04:30 - The Sport People Assume Nobody Plays

07:30 - The Rise of Social Beach Volleyball

09:20 - She Still Has to Beat Her Brothers at Everything

11:31 - When Did Volleyball Become Her Identity

14:02 - Was There Ever Parental Pressure to Excel?

17:20 - The Importance of Healthy Parenting

20:29 - Deciding Your Future at Fourteen

24:52 - Being Judged, Ranked, and Chosen at Fifteen

28:03 - The Incredible Feeling of Being in the Zone

29:59 - “Being In The Zone Means You’re Completely Free”

33:33 - The Pain of the Final Game of Her Career

37:40 - “I Felt Like a Failure”

40:36 - Emotional Impact on Noah

43:20 - “I Don’t Want to Disappoint Them”

47:50 - There’s No Perfect Science

49:20 - Sports Increase Your Ability To Adapt

51:57 - Understanding Your Role

54:06 - Resilience, Work Ethic & Constructive Feedback

58:45 - The Key To Willingness to Improve

01:00:32 - Being Proud of Her Athletic Career

Dr. Cassidy Preston has spent his career helping athletes rewire their mental game, and this conversation gets into the actual tools he uses to do it. He and Noah unpack the fantasy-nightmare trap that keeps high performers chasing wins and fearing losses, and why the word "acceptance" makes so many athletes flinch even though it's the thing that actually frees them up to perform.

Cassidy breaks down the difference between a confident mistake and a fearful one, walks through the reset routine he built to help athletes clear their heads mid-game, and explains how to construct an alter ego that works instead of just sounding cool, using real moments from coaching Noah through a professional setback. They close out talking about when this kind of mental training should start with kids, and what parents and coaches can do without needing a psych degree.

This is More Than Minutes Played, where host Noah Cavanaugh has conversations with athletes, coaches, and sports psychologists about identity, purpose, and what life looks like inside and outside of sport.

New episodes weekly, subscribe if you enjoy these conversations!

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:37 - Mindset First, Results Second

03:24 - From a Basement Hockey School to a PhD

06:33 - How Young is Too Young for Mental Performance

08:36 - Why Social Media Makes Comparison Inevitable

09:47 - Preventative Work vs. Putting Out Fires

14:11 - “A Lot of Our Job Is To Be a Mirror”

16:10 - Profiling Noah as an Athlete

18:06 - “If You Can’t Accept it, Don’t Play”

22:07 - Team Sports vs. Individual Sports

24:15 - When Acceptance Sounds Like Losing

27:20 - What Lobsters Can Teach Us About Growth

29:44 - Own the Mistakes, Own the Good Too

32:54 - Why High Performers End Up Miserable

35:40 - The Fantasy and the Nightmare

41:15 - Confident Mistake vs. Unconfident Mistake

46:13 - The Powerful One-Two Punch

50:20 - Bringing Your Alter-Ego to Life

52:52 - “Success is Boring Sometimes”

55:00 - Coaching His Own Seven Year Old

58:13 - “We’re Missing Opportunities to Connect”

01:00:43 - Noah’s Gift to Dr. Cassidy

01:01:44 - The Importance of Role Models

01:03:36 - CEP Mindset Work

Sophie Braun grew up small, playing catch-up against her younger brother Nico on the same backyard fields that would eventually send them both to Gonzaga. She talks about the mindset that got her through being overlooked as a kid, the phone call from Argentina's federation that pulled her onto their national team despite not speaking Spanish, and what it took to earn trust in a locker room where she didn't share a language with her teammates.

Sophie and Noah go deep on her winding path through pro rosters in Mexico, Kansas City, and Spokane, the World Cup goal she never saw coming as a defender, and why she walked away from a stacked NWSL team to get playing minutes. She also opens up about finishing her MBA mid-career, her long-term goal of becoming a GM, and what she thinks actually separates a healthy team culture from a toxic one.

This is More Than Minutes Played, where host Noah Cavanaugh has conversations with athletes, coaches, and sports psychologists about identity, purpose, and what life looks like inside and outside of sport.

New episodes weekly, subscribe if you enjoy these conversations!

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:53 - Most Important Relationship in Her Career

04:25 - “I Never Thought I Could Play Professional Soccer”

06:18 - Struggling With Confidence

08:15 - Controlling What You Can Control

10:23 - Playing For Others, Not Just Yourself

11:36 - For Those Who Don’t Believe in Themselves

13:35 - Recruited for Argentina at a Young Age

15:30 - Soccer is its Own Language

17:33 - “Give Yourself Grace”

19:12 - Adapting to New Environments/Phases of Life

24:05 - Doing It For The Love of the Game

25:37 - World Cup & The Olympics

27:29 - The Most Insane Goal in The World Cup

29:11 - The Growth of Women’s Football

32:36 - “It’s Hard When You Put Your Life Into Sport”

34:42 - “I’ll Go To War For the Person Next To Me”

37:18 - Dream Role as a GM

40:25 - Second Jobs Were Just The Reality For Women’s Soccer

45:02 - Her Responsibility To The Next Generation

49:32 - Fostering a Healthy Environment

52:10 - Transparency & Communication Are Keys to Success

54:58 - Advice For a 13-Year Old With a Pro Dream

57:00 - What She Learned From Mentors

58:46 - What The Game Taught Her About Life

01:00:52 - The Legacy She Hopes To Leave

Angelo Calfo spent his early teens the smallest player on every roster he made, watching bigger kids separate from him year after year while he waited on a growth spurt that wouldn't come. He talks about the anger that came with it, the mentors who kept him tethered to the game itself rather than the results, and the winding road that followed: Spain, a semi-pro men's team, Gonzaga, a string of tryouts that didn't pan out, and finally a contract in Flower City for less than a living wage.

Angelo and Noah dig into identity loss after sport, the alter ego he tried and abandoned as a college player, and what it actually felt like lining up against Eberechi Eze and Ivan Toney in a friendly against England's senior team. Angelo unpacks why he started Odyssey College Recruiting, how playing multiple positions reshaped his understanding of the game, and why he's finally found peace with the idea of eventually walking away from it.

This is More Than Minutes Played, where host Noah Cavanaugh has conversations with athletes, coaches, and sports psychologists about identity, purpose, and what life looks like inside and outside of sport.

New episodes weekly, subscribe if you enjoy these conversations!

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:54 - Hitting Puberty Years After Everyone Else

04:50 - Controlling What You Can Control

07:20 - The Importance of Role Models In Your Life

10:40 - What is the Philosophy Around Heroes?

12:11 - Are Heroes Still Untouchable?

13:44 - Meeting Jude Bellingham

14:56 - Is Having an Alter-Ego Needed in Pro Sport?

16:40 - The One Moment That Changed The Way He Plays

19:28 - Playing Against the English National Team

22:00 - “We Couldn’t Get Close To Eze”

24:50 - The Best Players in the World Know Their Role

28:45 - How To Avoid “Identity Death”

30:54 - You Should Learn To Play Multiple Positions

32:22 - Why Flower City Season Was Special

36:07 - Off-Field Experiences Were Life Changing

39:30 - The Importance of Having Passions Outside Sport

43:35 - His Failed Business Taught Him Valuable Lessons

45:23 - The Pure Love of Playing Sport

47:08 - “First Time I’m at Peace With Not Playing Anymore”

48:34 - Why Most Players Can’t Play With Freedom

52:41 - You’ll Remember the Incredible Experiences When Retiring

56:20 - Pro Athletes Can Live Two Lives

58:51 - Tony Robbins’ Three Fundamental Skills

01:00:02 - What is Odyssey College Recruiting?

#MoreThanMinutesPlayed #AthleteIdentity #LifeAfterSport

Lucas Meek spent an entire season on the bench. He was doing his best to stay positive and be the hype guy for everyone else, without playing a single minute. That same energy and mindset is what carried him through the scoring streak and took the University of Washington to a national championship.

Three days before the MLS draft, he tore his meniscus. Inter Miami took a chance on him, and five months later he was training next to Messi. He gets into what that was actually like day to day, and why he chose to walk away from that entire path to go play in New Zealand instead, knowing his career could suffer.

This is More Than Minutes Played, where host Noah Cavanaugh has conversations with athletes, coaches, and sports psychologists about identity, purpose, and what life looks like inside and outside of sport.

New episodes weekly, subscribe if you enjoy these conversations!

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

00:44 - The Most Important Question

02:10 - Current Greenville Life

03:04 - His Dad Signed Him Up For The Wrong Trial

05:05 - “My Parents Couldn’t Keep a Ball Away From Me”

06:16 - His Soccer Idols Becoming His Mentors

08:00 - Emailing Coaches Every Night For Hours

11:10 - Being Inspired by USMT Player Jordan Morris

15:00 - “Pride and Humility Can Be a Superpower”

18:52 - Valuing Education While Playing Soccer

21:52 - Status of Soccer Players in College

24:49 - The Positive Hype Guy on the Bench

28:08 - Six Goals in 50 Minutes

32:50 - Disaster Three Days Before The Draft

35:11 - The Struggle of Getting Past Mental Battles

37:50 - Having Passions Outside Your Sport

40:30 - What Wemby Teaches You About Balance

42:25 - You Don’t Have to Deal With Struggles Alone

45:55 - Inter Miami Securing His Future

47:10 - Training Alongside Messi

50:10 - “I Couldn’t Believe What Messi Could Do On The Pitch”

51:53 - How Much Better Are They Than MLS Players

54:46 - The Mental Ferris Wheel Of Being on the Second Team

58:30 - From MLS to Playing in New Zealand

01:01:34 - The Soccer World Runs on Perception, Not Talent

01:04:50 - What It’s Like Being So Far From Home

01:07:40 - “I Had a lot of Side Quests in Australia”

01:12:04 - Playing Back into the US and Slowing Down

01:14:20 - Debating Whether to Retire From Soccer

01:16:54 - What He Wants His Legacy To Be

01:19:26 - Sacrifices You Make Playing Professional Sports

You may recognize him by his muscles before you recognize his face. Ben Parker is a bodybuilding outfielder for the Loco Beach Coconuts, one of the newest teams in Banana Ball, a league that's now outdrawn every major U.S. pro sports franchise combined.

He won't miss a gym day, even on a schedule that has him signing autographs, rehearsing dance numbers, and playing games from 10 a.m. to midnight. He calls the reason "fear of regression," and he means it literally. Ben talks with Noah about what that pace actually costs, and what happens when someone who's built his identity around never slowing down has to sit with the question of what comes after.

This is More Than Minutes Played, where host Noah Cavanaugh talks with athletes, coaches, and sports psychologists about identity, purpose, and what life looks like inside and outside of sport.

New episodes weekly, subscribe if you enjoy these conversations!

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

01:11 - Banana Ball is a Concert Mixed in With Pro Baseball

02:45 - The Instagram DM That Changed His Career

05:09 - The League That Incentivizes You To Build a Brand

06:29 - Making an Impact On & Off The Field

08:51 - “I Was Undersized Growing Up”

10:20 - Does Bodybuilding Ruin Your Baseball Athleticism?

12:01 - Why Going D3 Was the Best Decision

14:13 - Red Carpet Treatment at a College I Never Heard Of

16:08 - “I’m Not Going to Let You Down”

17:59 - The Love of Sports Came from Zero Family Pressure

19:14 - Healthy Competition Growing Up

20:10 - “I Wasn’t Even Drafted”

21:47 - Banana Ball is Making a Special Impact

24:18 - Balancing Pro Baseball With The Performances

26:11 - “There’s Not Many Bodybuilding Baseball Players”

28:10 - I Want To Experience It All First

30:07 - Nothing Compares to The Banana Ball Schedule

31:54 - Learning to Take Rest When Needed

33:27 - Why Being Too Type A Doesn’t Work in Banana Ball

35:40 - “Fear of Regression”

37:12 - Defending Banana Ball to the Pro Baseball World

39:23 - The Legacy He Wants to Leave Behind

40:38 - Everyone Thinks, “This is Insane.”

#MoreThanMinutesPlayed #AthleteIdentity #LifeAfterSport

Kiley Norkus calls it “fight, bite, and a dog in her” that won't let anything decide her career for her. She started emailing every D1 coach in the country before she even had her driver's license, then followed up with cold calls because she figured no one else was going to make her case for her.

That stubbornness got her through Turkey, where she went four months without pay, ended up in the hospital twice, and needed FIFA and FIFPRO to get her out of a broken contract. It's the same instinct that eventually carried her to Canada's first pro women's league; one stop in a career that's taken her through seven countries.

This is More Than Minutes Played, where host Noah Cavanaugh talks with athletes, coaches, and sports psychologists about identity, purpose, and what life looks like inside and outside of sport.

New episodes weekly. Subscribe if you enjoy these conversations!

Chapters:

00:00 - Intro

01:04 - “Dad, Soccer is Dumb…”

02:29 - The Euphoria You Chase in Sport

04:22 - “Can You Control It? Yes or No?”

06:07 - Why Process Based Thinking is Sustainable

07:40 - What Playing in 7 Countries Teaches You

09:49 - A Lifetime of Experience Before Age 30

12:57 - The Team of “Nobodies” That Won Everything

15:06 - Four Hours Each Way, Skipping Class to Play

16:36 - She Emailed Every D1 Coach in the Country

20:26 - How One Shot Led to Recruitment

22:25 - When Soccer Became a Job Instead of Fun

24:12 - “I’ve Got That Fight, That Bite, That Dog in Me.”

25:53 - Transferring Before the Portal Existed

27:53 - Earning Respect as the New Kid in the Team

32:26 - Committed to Going Pro at 13

34:40 - Messaging Coaches on MySpace

37:11 - How Psychotic Do You Have to Be?

38:54 - You Just Need One Opportunity

41:53 - Integrating Into New Environments

44:22 - Playing in Iceland and Realising There’s More

50:00 - Fistfights at Training in Israel

52:56 - Learning to Push Through vs. Parting Ways

56:37 - “Turkey Was Literally the Death of my Existence”

01:00:26 - The Lengths We Go To For a Game

01:03:29 - Becoming Robotic to Survive

01:05:08 - A Second Family in Calgary, Then a Call to Halifax

01:08:16 - The Unbelievable Resilience in Pro Sport