In this episode, Boston Celtics guard Derrick White joins us to share his basketball journey from a multi-sport young athlete in Colorado to the NBA and the Olympics. Derrick shares how he has had to overcome the doubters at every level, not being recruiting by any D1 college coaches and never expecting to play professionally. Nevertheless, Derrick loved basketball and continued to work, receiving a partial scholarship to a D2 college, before transferring to D1 Colorado as a senior. Derrick shares great insights from his journey, even talking about the NBA coach who challenged him to quit being so hard on himself, which has been key to his emergence as an NBA star. Derrick also shares about his experience being added to the Olympic team, including what he learned on and off the court spending time with NBA legends LeBron, Step, and KD.

Fueling your body with the right fuel is critical to an athlete's ability to operate at peak performance. Professionals in every sport have discovered the value of regulating what they eat, how much they eat, and when they eat. Young athletes are no different...adapting strong nutritional habits can be a key factor in taking performance to elevated levels, impacting energy levels, stamina, and recovery for young athletes. On today's episode, former college basketball player and current sports nutritionist Kelsey Poulter shares her experience and expertise with us as we discuss the importance of nutrition to athletic performance, answer specific questions related to training, recovery, game preparation, and so much more as she shares information and practical advice for parents, coaches, and young athletes.

On this week’s episode, Jeff, Britt, and Brad sit down with 3x Pro Bowl Tight End, 14-year NFL veteran, and NFL on Fox Analyst Greg Olsen. Greg’s passion for youth sports began with his own journey as a young, multi-sport athlete and has continued as a dedicated dad, coaching his kids’ teams and experiencing firsthand the challenges of youth sports from a parent’s perspective.

These experiences led him to found @youthinc and in this conversation, Greg shares valuable advice on how to guide your kids, coach them effectively, and be a supportive presence as both a coach and a parent. He also opens up about his own journey on and off the field, which shaped his perspective on youth development through sports.

What do we do when a coach isn’t being fair to our kid? Or what if the coach only cares about winning, at the expense of development? Or maybe your kid has a coach that constantly yells and screams at the kids? On this week’s episode, the guys discuss a number of common scenarios that kids and parents face in youth sports, sharing their insights on when parents should step in, when we should stay out of it, and how we should leverage these situations to teach life lessons to our kids. The conversation and discussion is lively, informative, and designed to help listeners think through the situations they may encounter along the journey with their kids.

On this episode, we talk with ESPN college football analyst and current host of the popular "Always College Football" podcast Greg McElroy. Greg's unique journey to become a national champion QB at Alabama will inspire young athletes and his stories of playing for Coach Nick Saban are both interesting and will make you smile. His insights from his challenging youth sports days will encourage young athletes of all sports.

Join us as we dive deep into the world of travel sports. While travel has long been a crucial aspect of a young athlete's journey, it has slowly become an increasingly draining and expensive endeavor. How much is too much? What’s the right age to get started? What's the true cost? Are we doing it for our children or ourselves? Many athletes and parents are adamant that travel is one of the best parts of the youth sports experience— so let's keep it that way!

We're delving into all of these pressing questions and even reading through some listener comments as we guide you through the exhilarating yet rapidly evolving world of travel sports.

If you are a parent or coach of young athletes, you need to learn all you can about the common mental health challenges and issues experienced by many young athletes. On this episode, Dr Riley Nickols, counselor, sports psychologist, author, and founder of Mind, Body, Endurance shares his expertise and experience gained by working with many elite, young athletes. Dr Nickols discusses the the topic of performance anxiety in youth sports, providing perspective on the difference between normal nervousness vs true anxiety that can become crippling for a young athlete. the discussion includes the signs that parents and coaches can identify, and the reality that the physical discomfort of play that many athletes are used to ignoring often leads to trying to press through mental health issues that shouldn't be ignored. Dr Nickols also discusses the area of perfectionism that many athletes wrestle with, including how to have a healthy approach. In addition, Dr Nickols has deep expertise in the areas of disordered eating, eating disorders, and overtraining, which many young athletes wrestle with, both girls and boys. Finally, Dr Nickols discusses the mental health challenges that often accompany physical injuries that athletes experience, providing guidance on how to address these challenges and provide adequate attention to the overall mental health of your young athlete.

While rehabbing from a fractured rib, Cy Young winning pitcher Chris Sale joins the show to hang out with Jeff, Britt, and Brad and talk a little baseball, youth sports, and parenting. We've talked many times about how kids may be late bloomers in sports and Chris is a great example of that. Throughout youth and high school, no one expected Chris to be a big leaguer, though he loved baseball, as well as other sports, and had great support from his parents and coaches. As a skinny left-hander, Chris topped out around 87-88 mph in high school and didn't land a Division 1 scholarship. Instead, Chris pitched at Florida Gulf Coast University, where he had an average first two years. The summer before his junior year was a pivotal time for Chris and he shares all about what happened that led to his prolific big-league career. Chris also talks about arm care for young pitchers, when to begin throwing curveballs, his sports-parenting approach with his three boys, and much more. Plenty of great insights from Chris for kids, parents, and coaches.

Jeff and Britt launch Season 4 of the show looking back at some of the best moments in Season 3 and sharing some of the exciting plans for the next year. In addition, the guys have a rich discussion about the different phases of the youth sports journey...the Getting Started phase, the Getting Serious phase, and the All In phase. The guys share how they define each phase as well as what goals parents and kids should be pursuing in each of these phases. Too many times today, we tend to seek goals in the early phases that can't be realized until the latter part of the journey, robbing some of the fun out of the journey for both kids and parents. Taking the time to understand what the goals in each phase should be helps us gain perspective on how to be more effective sports parents. The guys also discuss the challenges in each phase - yes, each phase has them - and the wins, or positive opportunities that each phase provides for young athletes and families. As school starts back, this is a great topic to ponder and reset your priorities for sports parenting in the coming year, based on the phase your young athlete is in.

Joining us today is one of the world’s leading researchers and experts on injury prevention. Dr. Neeru Jayanthi, the Director of Emory Sports Medicine and Research, chats with the guys about healthy training models and sport specialization for young athletes. Dr. Jayanthi has been on HBO’s Real Sports, ESPN, ABC, NBC, CBS, while also working with MLB, NFL, US Soccer, ATP/WTA Tennis, among others. We discuss his research on thousands of young athletes on topics such as:

- high intensity sports impact on young athlete bodies

-research results on risk-rewards of early age sport specialization

-injury propensity for male vs female athletes

-load management advice by age

-benefits of multiple sport playing

-benefits of "free-play" sports activities

-benefits of multi-sport participation and breaks