In this episode of Bound for Greatness, host Scott Garvis sits down with Joe Rubino (Special Education & Student Services Director) and Troy Spiker (Athletic Administrator) from Orville City School District (OH) to unpack a game-changing idea: integrating youth sports into the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) to identify and support student-athletes’ mental and emotional needs before they reach a breaking point.

You’ll hear how Orville is building a proactive mental health culture—powered by an in-house therapist, coach training, and a simple referral form that allows youth, middle school, and high school coaches to flag early warning signs. Joe explains how mental health indicators can be layered into existing MTSS data (academics, behavior, attendance) using a teacher “heat map,” while Troy makes the case for athletics as a “classroom without four walls”—where relationships, resilience, and real-life leadership are developed daily.

If you’re an athletic director, coach, principal, counselor, or district leader, this episode is a practical blueprint for turning sports into a Tier 1 support system and building a community-wide approach to student wellbeing.

Key topics: MTSS + athletics, early identification, coach referral systems, mental health stigma, youth sports partnerships, Positive Coach Alliance training, building a K–12 support pipeline.