The Captains Coach Podcast

Another Sports Philosophy series conversation coming at you today and with that comes another awesome guest for our audience. Dr. Cesar Torres is a professor of Philosophy of Sport at Brockport University. He also happens to be the mentor of our last guest-Dr. Adam Pflegor. If you listened to my conversation with Adam you will definitely hear the similarities and crossover between the two perspectives. But today Dr. Torres and I focus mostly on his opinion of the purpose of sport which he puts so simply and perfectly. We drive that purpose through the rest of our conversation on what effects the belief in that purpose have on how you play the sport to how you coach a sport; how to measure success, things players and coaches take for granted, the important difference between motivations to play sport and the purpose of sport, and so much more. I think today’s conversation with Dr. Torres is one of the most helpful for coaches specifically not just in this series but out of all my conversations on the show. If you buy in to this and explore some of these ideas it becomes pretty difficult to have a shallow or unfinished coaching philosophy. But I’ll get out of the way here and let you listen for yourself. Please enjoy on another episode of The Captains Coach Podcast.

We have another Sports Philosophy episode for you today. My guest is Adam Pflegor. Adam is a professor in the Sports Administration Department at Belmont University focusing primarily on the Philosophy of Sport and Sport Ethics. Our conversation today centers around Adam’s opinion on what the purpose of sport really is. I won’t give it away here but it leads us into a longer discussion on respect for one’s opponent and the effect your treatment of your opponent has on the rest of your game and approach to the game. The whole conversation really got me thinking about all the secondary and tertiary consequences of how we look at the opponent and what we tell ourselves about our opponents. All of that gets tied back into the larger sports philosophy conversation we are having so it was fun to bring through that lens and along that path. It was an awesome conversation, Adam was a blast to talk to, and we touched on what I think are some helpful ideas to coaches and athletes alike so please sit back and enjoy another episode of The Captains Coach Podcast.

Coming at ya with another conversation as a part of our Sports Philosophy Series today with my guest Dr. Michael Burke. Dr. Burke is a senior lecturer at Victoria University in Australia. He specializes in philosophy of sport and has a very pragmatic approach in his work. He is a member of both the International Sociology of Sport Association and the International Association for Philosophy of Sport. During our conversation we talk about a variety of things but focus on the purpose of sport and a coach’s role in that purpose, how to develop a coaching philosophy, some of the shortfalls in sports philosophy as well as common pitfalls of coaches. Just like the rest of my conversations during this series this one was so interesting to me and opened up some more thought pathways I otherwise wouldn’t encounter. If you want to learn more about Dr. Burke or his work please visit vu.edu.au and look for his name in the directory. So without further ado please enjoy my conversation with Dr. Michael Burke on The Captains Coach Podcast.

On our fourth episode of the Sports Philosophy Series I bring you my conversation with Pamela Sailors. Pam is a philosophy professor at Missouri State where she teaches mostly Philosophy of Sport Courses which I have become increasingly intrigued by through these conversations. Pam originally started in the bio-ethics world and moved into sport-ethics and philosophy of sport via the performance enhancing drug conversation. She is extremely passionate about sports and is something she has always loved as you’ll hear in our conversation. Today we’ll cover the three main purposes of sport as Pam sees it and why some other traditional answers may not fit the bill. We also discuss some of Pam’s biggest pet peeves and what she sees wrong in the sports world today, namely, sport as a business and the increasing reliance on technology. Pam also points out some things coaches and administrators may take for granted or may not even think about. She brought up a handful of ideas that are going to keep me occupied and wrestling with for the near future. It was an absolute blast having her on the show so please sit back and enjoy my conversation with Pam Sailors on another episode of The Captains Coach Podcast.

Philosophy of Sport: Key Questions-Emily Ryall

Endure-Alex Hutchinson

Into Thin Air-Jon Krakauer

Touching the Void-Joe Simpson

We are back to our regular program today interviewing a current Captain, shifting back from our Sports Philosophy Series. My guest today is Joe Delagrave. Joe has an amazing story and we had a great conversation. Joe grew up as a 3 sport athlete and played Division II Football at Winona State. When he was 19 he suffered a tragic accident and was paralyzed. Through his struggle and rehabilitation he ended up finding wheelchair rugby. He has attained the highest level of excellence in the sport playing for the U.S. National Team for over a decade and has also been the Captain of the team for about 8 years. The big theme throughout our conversation today is Communication and Servant Leadership. We talk about how culture has always been one of the focuses for him as a Captain and how he uses communication on and especially off the court to bring about a better culture. Joe also shares the story of how he has evolved as an individual athlete and leader throughout his time on the team and being a Captain as well his invaluable advice for Captains out there today. Again, it was a really awesome conversation full of actionable steps and bits you can apply today and tomorrow as a leader so I’ll get out of the way here and please enjoy on another episode of the Captains Coach Podcast.

This is our third installment of our Sports Philosophy Series and my guest today is Matt Dixon. Matt is an administrator and former athletic director at Trinity Classical Academy in California. Matt has a strong background in sports at all levels and finds his framework for sport and life through Christian Values. Today we talk about how those values shape what he sees as the purpose of Sports. We also talk about some of things he sees wrong in the sports world especially at the youth level as well as how to create a strong coaching philosophy to keep you on track while not falling into a one track mind of winning. It is conversations like this one that really validate my decision to host this podcast and why I believe this sports philosophy series is already so valuable. I hope you enjoy the conversation as much as I did here on another episode of The Captains Coach Podcast.

Welcome back to episode 2 of our Sports Philosophy Series. My guest today is David Papineau. David is a Philosophy Professor at King’s College in London as well as a professional paid philosopher. He has more recently delved into philosophy of sport with his book Knowing the Score. It is an extremely fascinating book that uses Sports to find the answers to common philosophical questions and using philosophy to answer common questions of sport. He has an extremely interesting and refreshing perspective that I really enjoyed during the conversation. We mostly discuss some of the topics in Knowing the Score, such as his control-action theory, morality, teamwork, and even amateurism. Again, it was a blast to have David on the show and I cannot stress enough to go and purchase his book Knowing the Score. The cover has ancient philosophers pictured with different athletic balls. Anyways please enjoy my conversation with David Papineau on another episode of the Captains Coach Podcast.

Today I have the pleasure of speaking to my first guest in this series. Heather Reid. Heather is currently a Scholar in Residence Exedra Mediterranean Center in Sicily and is also a professor of philosophy at Morningside University in Iowa. She is an expert in everything to do with the philosophy of sport going back to ancient history as well as the Olympics and Greek Mythology. She has published numerous articles and scholarly works along with a handful of books. Her books include Olympic Philosophy (2020), Introduction to the Philosophy of Sport (2012), Athletics and Philosophy in the Ancient World: Contests of Virtue (2011), and The Philosophical Athlete (2002, 2nd ed. 2019). Today we discuss the purpose of sport and how it relates to moral education, some assumptions that we make as athletes and coaches but may always not necessarily act on, and some things Heather thinks the sports world gets wrong. It was an absolute pleasure talking to her today and has set the stage for the ensuing conversations during this Sports Philosophy Series. I hope you all enjoy on another episode of The Captains Coach Podcast.

Today my guest is Simon Smith: A longtime referee in the sport of Rugby. He is originally from Great Britain where he played Rugby through his college days and has been refereeing since 1994 and specifically in the Northern Virginia area for last 10 years. Rugby is a sport with a very unique Captain-Referee relationship that is more of building a coalition and dialogue than an us vs. them mentality that you see in other sports. With that being said I believe there is more than a handful of specific actions that Captains in any sport can take away from this conversation. We focus mainly on the interpersonal dynamics and self-expression and go from the initial greeting of referee teams all the way to how late game decisions can be influenced by your relationship throughout the game. I learned a lot from this conversation and thoroughly enjoyed it so I hope you do as well on another episode of the Captains Coach Podcast.