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101 - Hundo Highlight Reel
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Episode 100 was a milestone.
Episode 101 is the reflection.
This isn’t just a highlight reel—it’s a blueprint.
Over the past 100 episodes, we’ve sat down with elite coaches, athletes, and leaders to answer one question:
What actually builds leaders that last?
In this special clip episode, we’re pulling back the curtain on the moments that hit hardest—the ones that challenged how we think, coach, and lead.
You’ll hear:
- The real pressure of leadership—and why being the best player doesn’t make you the best captain
- How mindset and communication can shape an athlete’s identity in real time
- Why adversity isn’t an obstacle—it’s the forge
- The hard truth about youth athlete development (and what we’re getting wrong)
- And how great coaches prepare athletes for life after the game, not just the next game
From locker room stories to elite-level insights, these clips represent the heartbeat of Captains & Coaches.
If you’ve ever struggled to lead…
If you’ve ever questioned your voice…
If you’re trying to build something bigger than wins and losses…
This episode is for you.
Because leadership isn’t built in one moment—
It’s built in the reps.
*NEW* Education - Captains & Coaches course, "Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com
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C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com
Recommended
Transcript
Celebrating the Journey of Leadership in Athletics
00:00:00
Speaker
Action. So it's come to this, a podcast clip show. Welcome to the Captains and Coaches podcast where explore the art the science of leadership through the lens of athletics and beyond.
00:00:10
Speaker
I'm your host Texel Quilkin and today we are celebrating our first 100 podcast episodes. for the Captains and Coaches podcast. Over the course of this journey, we have explored expert interviews, inspiring stories, and infotainment to do exactly what we set out to do, help you raise your game and lead with competence.
00:00:33
Speaker
From cultivating strength, speed, and swagger to breaking down the psychology of peak performance and growing as social emotional leaders, we've had some truly game-changing conversations. And to celebrate 100, we're looking back at the core themes that have defined our show and sharing massive highlight reel from our favorite moments that archive in in line with five major themes. The first, the realities and pressures of leadership.
00:01:04
Speaker
Second, the power of mindset and communication. Third, forging resilience through adversity. Four, protecting and developing young athletes.
00:01:16
Speaker
And then last, building leaders for life. So I've highlighted 14 clips from 14 of my favorite interviews over the past 100. And there were many more that were left on the the table here, but they're still out there. And I encourage you to like, subscribe, rate, review, all that good stuff, and follow along.
00:01:39
Speaker
So in no order, i'm sticking with themes here, we're going to go through it. Our first theme, the realities and pressures of leadership. This has been a recurring pattern throughout this show that true leadership is rarely as simple as just being the best athlete on the field or the best athlete coaching a team.
Leadership Challenges and Growth
00:02:00
Speaker
We've talked extensively about the mental hurdles of competency, fighting complacency and guiding athletes to their own solutions for our first clip i'm highlighting episode 41 with professional lacrosse player jack hannah i completely lucked into this conversation very grateful for pivotal performance up there in colorado jack's one of their athletes i went in to interview their coach sit down with him and then jack was coming in for
00:02:34
Speaker
treatment and training and then 45 minute just powwow in the back room turned into a two hour podcast so this is one highlight from jack i'm very excited i'm actually going to be listening alongside of you so
00:02:53
Speaker
Let it rip. Coach Tierney told me, he's like, you would have been a phenomenal captain for me in 1995. Sometimes that feels like a positive thing. you're like, oh, heck yeah, like I'm tough. You know, like yeah I like being excited and fired up all the time, but also it also hurt too. You know, I'm like, oh goodness, like this is the first time in the last couple of years within this team where we're really telling me something that I'm really bad at. You know, it's like, I got a lot of those things out of the way when I was younger. I learned a lot of the skills and the IQ things in the field. it's like, I had a lot of those fingers out. And it was like all of a sudden when I'm at my most confident and most under control feeling on the field, I felt the least control I've ever had as a leader, as a, you know, a mentor to younger guys. I thought I could just be myself, lead by example. Guys are going to follow, obviously, like, you know, at the time too, like it's a selfish thought, but it's also, yeah, I'm a good player. Why wouldn't they do what I'm doing? Like, there's just so much take into account that it was such a learned, like,
00:03:49
Speaker
you know, you say learning lesson, but it's not really like one lesson. No, no, no. It's like kind of who you are and like how you handle things, how you handle adversity, how you handle those situations, because there's so much more pressure and stress as you and the captain of like, yeah, when I was younger and we get a bad call, yeah, i can go on the sideline and be like, what the hell, man?
00:04:06
Speaker
And, ah you know, you can be all mad about it or whatever it may be. Or it's like, I can miss a shot and, you know, say stuff under my breath to myself and get pissed. And it's like, but like when you are the leader of the ship,
00:04:17
Speaker
Everybody sees that. I love it the The leader of the ship, and he talks about his experience where he had a very high lacrosse IQ, but then leveling up into the role as team captain, that was incredibly challenging for him. And he went through this identity process that I see every single year when I have great athletes that then step into the role.
00:04:42
Speaker
So he took responsibility for that gap between where he was as a captain, where he knew he wanted to be compared to previous captains that he had.
00:04:53
Speaker
So super cool conversation. And I appreciate Jack for being a vulnerable and sharing this moment where a coach called
Building Winning Mindsets and Habits
00:05:03
Speaker
him out. and he was then willing to listen so love that podcast love that interview we talked about youth sports and development and some certain challenges that lacrosse is facing that I know other youth sports are facing as well so episode 41 check that out and Awesome highlight reel if you're watching on YouTube I put Jack's highlights into that clip and I'm also if you're watching on YouTube I'm gonna link up Jack's episode right here for quick reference there you go episode 41 Jack Hanna water dogs and the Colorado mammoth so that's who we're rooting for all right
00:05:46
Speaker
Clip 2, staying with theme 1 here, we travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to sit down with the head baseball coach for Louisiana State University, Jay Johnson.
00:05:59
Speaker
and amazing thing for me i could sit down with some of the best coaches in the biz and throw out share stories and experiences and when we were just palling around i brought up pat riley i'm a big pat riley guy he's on the wall of fame behind me and then i threw out a question for him about the disease of me and then jay did an old comedic callback when he answered another question He then rolled into the disease of me because LSU, they won two national championships within a three, four year period.
00:06:35
Speaker
But people kept on coming back for more. So this kit clip highlights him speaking about how he is managing These different ah per competitive egos with very limited playing time on the field. Let's check it out. Players come to LSU, yeah they want to win a national title, but they want to go to Major League Baseball also. yeah So you have to fight this this human nature desire to, now that we won ours, I'm going go get mine.
00:07:03
Speaker
like That can't be a part of the thought process. And if it is, you're in real, real trouble. And so I think... We try to be out ahead of, you know, the problems like I had a former staff member that would always say, if you can predict something, you can prevent it. Yeah. And so like those three areas we're trying to constantly be out in front of.
00:07:22
Speaker
So you don't get that disease of me. You know, that's kind of the last piece I was talking about, or you don't fall into, you know, the complacency, you know, Nick Saban, what is the biggest threat to excellence is complacency.
00:07:34
Speaker
And I try to revert all the way back to something I'd already said, the reason winning It feels so good is because when you know you've put everything in to try to get to that point. Yeah, I love learning about winning from winners.
00:07:46
Speaker
And Jay is an ultimate professional and example of that. So grateful for him to so take the time to sit down with me in his office, got to tour the LSU baseball facilities, walk onto the field, and then some former current pros former lsu tigers of his were out there so i got to meet them awesome awesome experience so thank you to jay i recommend recommend that full episode that has taken off the lsu baseball faithful have found that one incredibly supportive so that's been one of my most successful interviews so far so incredibly grateful and
00:08:26
Speaker
that mindset i aim to to think about the season ahead just like jay does of okay i know the certain beats i've been through 16 different lacrosse seasons personally so what can i anticipate at this particular time and in aim to If we can predict it, then we can prevent it.
00:08:46
Speaker
So having that feed forward mindset and trying to get ahead of certain things that occur. And I'm learning more and more what it takes to be that team captain as well. When you level up into this okay Here's the growing and growth pains for a team captain as they go through it.
00:09:05
Speaker
So a lot of the individual episodes that I do podcast-wise are tackling those lessons that I'm teaching my team captains aiming to get ahead of these potential problems that pop up in their competency.
00:09:19
Speaker
Love that word. All right. Clip three. Heading to UTSA, University of Texas at San Antonio's Go Roadrunners. Sit down with Coach K. I've admired his work for a long time and very grateful for him opening up the doors and sat down with ah Coach K and Coach Filo to talk about their strength conditioning program for utsa football get a a sense of the culture and i spent the whole day with them so we spent the whole day from 6 a.m weights to conditioning fun friday some biceps in there and then sat down with coach k and coach philo to to talk about the the culture and the program that they're building so incredibly rich time and coach k is an amazing interview so i highly recommend checking that out this is episode 34 i'll link that one up as well
00:10:11
Speaker
But here we hear it from the man himself. and we're We're not in here right now you know chasing numbers, we're chasing habits. The numbers will come. I believe in what we're doing. Coach Vogel and the rest of the staff does an amazing job. I always use this analogy a lot like Amazon. We're selling the same product.
00:10:26
Speaker
Thing that Amazon does really well is they dominate the delivery. And so I think when these guys see how much that we ah care for them, they're willing to listen. And so we have to listen first.
00:10:39
Speaker
That's not always the case, so I try to create that environment by asking questions. So it puts me in a position to listen. And then I'll lead them in a direction that they'll tell me really kind of what is that challenge, maybe what is the obstacle, and I'll give them a thought process. I don't really tell them what to do but how to think through that.
00:10:58
Speaker
for the end result when we talked about event, response, and outcome, it gives us a chance of have a perfect example to walk them through the thought process of going through the obstacle, because nowadays a lot of people want to go around it. you know They choose the easy path.
00:11:12
Speaker
And so we want to try to give them the skill set of how do I think through this? We spoke earlier, and and to be a high-level performer, you have to be a high-level thinker. So a lot of the things that we do challenges how they're thinking, not what they're thinking. Then they don't take it personal. And then the outcome of that is they figure it out on their own.
00:11:30
Speaker
Because a lot of times when I was a young coach, oh, I was a problem solver. I mean, I came in and had all the answers. i didn't even know the damn question. And so I'm solving it for them. But it's like with my kids, I mean, yes, I want to solve it for don't want to see them struggle, but struggle such a part of the process. I don't want to take it away from them. But how can I help them
Communication and Language in Coaching
00:11:47
Speaker
through that?
00:11:47
Speaker
Love it. Coach K is the man. Ultimately, when I talk about social emotional leadership, it's taking athletes working through developing these different skills so they can become responsible decision makers on their own. So I love that Coach K is taking the approach of asking them questions, guiding them through conversations and help leading them to how to think not necessarily leading them to the correct answer of what he would do he's teaching them how to think and get out there so continuing to follow along with their program fantastic utsa right up the road from me so go roadrunners whatever their symbol is
00:12:27
Speaker
Time out. Observation, new coaches getting into the field are really smart and intelligent when it comes to programming or understanding practice plans and their sport, and really bad at people.
00:12:40
Speaker
They have high IQ and low EQ. I spent the past 14 years traveling the world, teaching people how to teach people, lifting weights, understanding sport, but most importantly, connecting with people.
00:12:54
Speaker
I've taken all those lessons from all over the world and put them into a new course, Why They're Not Listening, Coaching Today's Athlete. If you want the first lesson free, head to the website, listen.captainsandcoaches.com to learn more.
00:13:09
Speaker
And now, back to the show. Ready, ready, and break. All right, moving on to theme two here, the power of mindset and communication. Coaching isn't just about X's and O's, it's about connection.
00:13:22
Speaker
We've discussed how vital it is to speak the language of your athletes and how the words we use can literally shape a person's reality. There is no one better than this next clip with this episode 50 with my friend and mentor, Raphael Ruiz.
00:13:42
Speaker
So, 2014, yes, went all in. I did an apprenticeship with Raph for months. And in podcast 50, I did, and 51 or 52.
00:13:53
Speaker
I forget. We did a back-to-back there. But I talked about a day in the life with Raph from... Goodness gracious, 5 a.m. m all the way to 8 p.m. And that rich and immersive experience. in the the I mean, so many takeaways from Raf.
00:14:11
Speaker
And I mean, that was the aim of the podcast, sit down and share and relive a lot of the experiences ah that I had during my time with him to share them with you.
00:14:22
Speaker
So this clip, we we talked about old school coaching and Raph played college football and then became a college football strength and conditioning coach and then went to professional football, baseball, Olympic level, had numerous NFL, MLB ah athletes, professional boxers. So wide gambit, a range of experiences and the timeframe.
00:14:50
Speaker
So we talked about his evolution as a coach as well. So this clip highlights that early thinking of when he was a coach and how he noticed things that he needed to adjust and have that that social awareness and then ability to then communicate what he needed from his athletes to go from there. So this clip highlights a bit of the evolution and thinking of Raf's experience in perspective. We as coaches are stuck between a rock and a hard place where we've got we've got that old school way of thinking where, hey, suck it up.
00:15:25
Speaker
Hey, you know, we did it this way, so you're going to do it this way. um But the the young athletes don't think that way. and And they speak a totally different language.
00:15:37
Speaker
And our inability or our ability to speak that language is going to be a paramount in terms of relaying to to these kids what we want. And sometimes Sometimes we do a terrible job of opening that dialogue where, you know, they they don't want to hear some of those stories about us. They don't care.
00:15:58
Speaker
um And so it's our our job is to figure out what pushes their buttons. That's just a clip from two hour podcast. So highly encourage that. I'll link that up. And man i i owe a lot to raf not the last interview going to sit down with him that's that's an annual experience i want to to give to you i mean i have this um this notebook from my time there that's one of my most prized possessions and we went through some of the first week lessons that i was there especially that day one stuff which i mean
00:16:36
Speaker
hilarious. I'll save the the funny stories, the jokes, and the memories for you on that show. So check that one out. Episode 50. fifty All right. Speaking of annual shows, Luke Summers. This is another annual goal is to to travel and grow with this Luke's books my longtime buddy We've been on six continents together to to teach seminars spend so much time together getting too many adventures and Grow together as as leaders and coaches so sitting down with Luke is always special to where his mind is at and
00:17:15
Speaker
so this was our first episode that we sat together and uh to set this one up is it is funny because we we worked together for man 10 years within the respect to strength conditioning company and then a child development company And so this lesson comes from Luke's experience in mind learning with him and then him growing as a father. So I want you to to take a listen about the power of words from our friend of the podcast, Luke Summers. The weight of words speak to us about the scientific approach to words. Well, it comes in three forms. Things you hear over and over get cemented as reality. The way to break the bond, the most effective is self-talk. You say it so much, you begin to believe it. It rewires the brain. The next one is like earshot. The way I've talked about is earshot praise. This is very important. or on the contrapositive that, the demeaning statements that you say about a kid within earshot, oh, he's shy. You're projecting and imprinting this belief about that kid's self just by saying it in earshot, not even to them. it's more It's more impactful, more influential. And then like the third least, you'll never amount to anything, kid. You know, you're just a you're a schlub. Take it on the other. Honey, you are brave. That's just the least effective way to do it. Not saying that you shouldn't, but if my daughter was next to me,
00:18:36
Speaker
and someone said oh so she's shy i'd say no she's she's not shy she's really outgoing it takes her a minute to warm up that's the best version of what i can do until she says i'm not sure and like that becomes her mantra this episode is 16 where we sat down with luke and talked about a lot of our experience together within the child development space and how he's really leaning into those tools to help grow his family and understand that and I mean, the same power of mindset, whether the kid we're working with is six or 16 exists.
Resilience and Overcoming Challenges
00:19:09
Speaker
So we highlight those tools and then I help bridge that gap to how it can be applied to the high school level age. And infotainment is always the best way to describe any time that Luke and I get together for some banter. So this clip is from episode 16, foreshadowing. I have another clip to share from Luke coming up.
00:19:31
Speaker
All right, moving on to our next theme here. Theme three, forging resilience through adversity. Whether it's dealing with physical limits of our bodies, pushing past biological barriers or handling hostile environments of competition, we've learned that struggle is a necessary part of the process.
00:19:53
Speaker
These next podcast clips highlight that struggle and that process. First episode within this theme is number 44 with my old pal Rudy Reyes.
00:20:08
Speaker
I had the opportunity to sit down with Rudy at SummerStrong 18, so recorded this one in person. I met Rudy nine years ago at SummerStrong 9, so I will be there this year, SummerStrong 19, I believe. So if you're there, please say hello.
00:20:26
Speaker
Hopefully Rudy's there too. But we sat down in the back room and 30 minutes, just an awesome, powerful conversation talking about Rudy and his growth as a leader from his times in the recon Marines all the way to starring in an awesome TV show where they put stars and normal people through a special forces training operative experience in front of the camera it's like fear factor but military so we we talked about that when he had to confront des bryant nfl freak athlete about the risk that he put one of his teammates lives in danger so that's one of the highlights this particular highlight we talk about the the powerful physiologic philosophical take on navigating
00:21:18
Speaker
the The drudges, the lows, the pitfalls of life and how he essentially is motivated by those and continues to grow. So and continues to to to forge himself into a leader.
00:21:34
Speaker
So let's go ahead and pull that little guy up. You're gonna tested. You're gonna fail over and over, even with the best intentions and best planning. You're gonna get sick or injured or your parents will one day or your brother will. You're gonna deal with loss. You're gonna be in the maelstrom of life.
00:21:56
Speaker
And a lot of it is hard. And quite possibly when we learn that the hardness and the pain is the anvil that we forge ourselves upon, we have so much more fulfillment and joy. Not necessarily all all always happy, but fulfilled.
00:22:18
Speaker
And I think that's our goal as coaches, as leaders, and as men, as human beings. I'm still working on that, as you said before, self-leadership. That's my goal for me too.
00:22:28
Speaker
That is a great perspective. And i I am challenged by this every year of how do you teach a kid what hard work is? or not to get, not allow the quicksand thinking of one thing goes wrong and then the whole opportunity we're presented with goes away.
00:22:47
Speaker
And getting out of that that approach and that mindset, that is always a challenge. so Rudy was cool to interview because he went into so many different flow states and then gave poetic answers for seemingly simple questions. questions So definitely check that out, episode 44. I'll link it up right here.
00:23:09
Speaker
cool stories from the show, excellent warrior poet experiences when he gets into his flow state. Check that out. All right. Very excited for this one.
00:23:21
Speaker
One of my longtime friends and was there at the beginning of my coaching career and schooling. So a friend of 20 plus years, Johanna Zabal, episode 22, Coach Joe and i we actually...
00:23:37
Speaker
got into the old weight room at our alma mater in college, Marymount University, and I mean, after hours, lights are off, we just sat down and where it started for both of us as athletes, collegiate athletes and coaches and went through our journeys and coach Joe shared her her rules of life.
00:23:59
Speaker
And this is an ever growing list. So every single year, Joe and I sit down and spend Christmas together. My sister's in Virginia. She's from Virginia. So travels there to see her family and I'm up there with my sister.
00:24:13
Speaker
So we make it a point to spend a day together. And this particular podcast, we just pressed record. So here's Coach Joe's seven rules for life. A lot of life lessons from your time here in this weight room and beyond. Number one is, i don't know yet. I want to keep learning. I want to be a lifelong learner. We're not ever going to be masters at at anything. What we can do is keep striving towards mastery. Number two, be honest with yourself and others. ill in the world comes from not being first honest with yourself. Number three, no one's coming to save you, princess. You got to be capable. You got to do things. Don't wait for somebody else to do it for you. Don't wait for somebody else to fill in the gap of something you want in your life. Number four, minor on the minors, major on the majors.
00:24:58
Speaker
Five, your lack of planning does not constitute my emergency. Where somebody is tasked with something and then all of a sudden it becomes my problem. And I'm like, that's so cute that you think I'm going to major on that right now. I respect organization and planning and a good con op. Give me a good con op every single day of the week. Otherwise, we're going to say, that's minor.
00:25:20
Speaker
We're going to minor her on that. Number six, GSD. Get stuff done. The PG version. ah We all know. Always be doing, always be taking a step in the direction of something that you want to do. You can't expect for life to fall in your lap. You have to be doing. Seven, feel the ends. When I talk about the ends, I mean like the ends of the the spectrum, the full feeling of all of the things of life, right? The good and the bad. And a lot of times, you know, we you and I have talked about this, where like you get into that bad end of the spectrum and you're like, not going to feel that anymore. Let's go ahead and pretend, right? And so we're raging with loud music, lifting weights, forgetting about it, not talking about it, pushing it down. We sort of forget how bad it feels and then we make the same mistake again because we forget that that really sucked. Feeling the ends in like that negative sense
00:26:12
Speaker
really helps us not return to the mistakes that we made before. It also helps us fully process it. It helps us help other people because we've gone through it before. And then feeling the ends, like the good, the joy, the like having these moments of this thing I've been saying lately is thank you more please. Drawing attention to the good things that happen. Feel the ends. My immediate thought was the end of something. You never want to stick around a place too long.
00:26:41
Speaker
is Then start to paint the picture as negative. Feel the endings. Because, I mean, look at us here. We didn't stick around here forever. This was a moment in time,
Building Team Culture and Relationships
00:26:51
Speaker
the right place. and They poured into us to grow. We outgrew this place, stepping into and out into the great unknown.
00:26:58
Speaker
We were ready and prepared because we were here. We also stepped out of someone else's spot because somebody else was then, that spot was freed up for somebody else to step into.
00:27:08
Speaker
Coach Joe always gets the last word. So there you go. Yeah, the... the wonderful friend amazing person and just a a rich experience go ahead and watch that one and link it up this is episode 22 going into our alma mater and sitting down and just sharing paths and growth and lessons and yeah so she and I are always at the NSCA tactical actually be speaking at NSCA tactical this year so come hang out with me it'll be a practical I need some volunteers you heard it here first coach Joe will be there um but
00:27:51
Speaker
yeah wonderful wonderful person always looking forward to learning and experiencing more from her so check that out all right sticking with marymount and growth and the theme i had the opportunity to sit down with my former collegiate head coach who is still the head coach at marymount university john reynolds and I was there, i was on the hiring committee that got the chance to ah choose your next head coach. was one of the athlete representatives there. And so I met John, he was 28 years old, high school coach leveling up into the college collegiate coaching ranks.
00:28:33
Speaker
So he takes over our rambunctious team of 20 year olds as 28 year coach. rambunctious man himself and it it was an amazing growth experience i was one of his first team captains and he wanted to set the tone and the culture from he also went to marymount his alma mater in the late 90s early 2000s where they they were a dominant program and very competitive on the in the in the cac which no longer exists r.i.p cac so
00:29:05
Speaker
Yeah, and I got the the chance to reflect on some of those stories, but now get the the origin from it of what his perspective as he was leading us into the different sporting hostile environments that we did play in. And there's some fun places to play in at Division III. So this clip is is Coach Reynolds, we called him C-Ray,
00:29:30
Speaker
helping share his perspective of what he was like leading that first bunch of dudes that he had for his team. Here we go. We're gonna put you in the most hostile environments that we can. You are gonna be a pilgrim in an unholy land, and they're not gonna be there to make make friends. They're there to make enemies.
00:29:49
Speaker
Lynchburg. I'm having flashbacks. yeah They allowed their student body to put couches basically on the field. They don't do that anymore. It went a little too far. I don't know if it was was us or maybe ah an old ODAC matchup, but yeah, they don't allow that. But those were the days. you know That was awesome. Yeah, you could get hit in the face with... Red solo cups. I got hit in the face with a penny my senior year, and and we beat him. And I remember catching eyes with the guy. He looked right at me, and and he called my mother every name he could think of. And all I could think about at that moment in time was just clear the ball and we win the game. and and
00:30:21
Speaker
We did. Putting you guys in those things that, for me, were very they shaped me as a player. So I i knew i had the experience. Obviously, a lot of success as a player. So I think that that was what I knew i wanted to give you know you guys in the beginning and get back to what had been such a solid base for this program. built from nothing. We were very nomadic in in who we were. I think there was one year that you were here, we played at seven different home sites and that that just became part of the part of what it was. you know That was the culture. And for us to beat the teams that we did, you know to do the things, to have the successes that we had and to play the games, even if they weren't, that wins, but we took those teams all the way to the wire. We had our fair share of overtime wins and overtime losses as well, too, and against programs that had every single advantage over us, and it didn't matter. Hyped up. Great.
00:31:15
Speaker
Great time then in their conversation. This is episode 25 and playing for John and then coaching with John, starting my coaching career.
00:31:26
Speaker
So meaningful relationship and a big origin of this this whole rigmarole here this old mission of captains and coaches so it's it started with John and then the opportunity that he presented with me to grow and to level up as a man and a leader so super fun to sit down with him and explore the I mean the origins of the program and he's still there still there to this day so you know if you're at a program coaching in college for 20 years you're doing something right
00:31:57
Speaker
So thank you. C-Ray shout out, John. All right. Moving right on, theme four, protecting and developing young athletes. We spend a lot of time advocating for the physical and the mental health of young athletes. From building foundational respect to fighting back against dangerous, overworking kids, the poor leaders that step in and abuse their power, they are out there.
00:32:28
Speaker
So aiming to learn from the best of the best to help protect us from things are doing right. So I got to hand it back off to longtime pal Luke Summers. This is from episode 72.
00:32:42
Speaker
ah Most recently when I was up to visit Luke and he shares a relatable story as a father and now his oldest daughter is stepping into the world of athletics so this is a clip of him learning to gain independence when he's sending his kid out into the sporting world and he's high level coach i was furious ashamed embarrassed you know like all these things and you know like emotions are high and that's when logic is low and what do what do we call seven eight nine ten
00:33:17
Speaker
Boiling point. It's in your limbic. Limbic state. You're not listening to anything. Yeah. So i was like, I was borderline, like about to say, we're never cheerleading again, get in the car and you're never having ah like candy. And guess what? You're stuck in your room all day. And like, I hope you're happy. I hope you're happy. You ruined everything, you know? But I was just like, i realized at that point,
00:33:39
Speaker
i like, why do I feel this way? You've seen a million other times I've been with those kids and they're like crazy. And I don't feel that way because I want them to be wild. Well, think there's like a sacred relationship between athlete and coach and you respect your coaches, like more so than your parents. And I found like it finally snapped. And I said, Hey, you know, i pulled her out and I said, sorry, coach, I gotta talk to her. And like, she's like, please do. Cause this place is crazy. every, all the girls were melting down.
00:34:04
Speaker
And I want my, I explained like, Hey, you have a responsibility when you signed up for this squad. One is to your teammate. Like you don't let them down. And the other you will always respect your coach and you do what they say more so than mommy and daddy.
00:34:17
Speaker
When we're here, like, that's what you do. Your coach is, has, is sacrificing everything for you to get better. And you owe to them to listen. That's a great perspective and have it.
00:34:31
Speaker
Parents learning that lesson where they hand off their kid to a professional coach and not aim to be controlling. I view middle school as the most important sporting time between parent and kid because it's the first time kids parent is handing off their kid to that professional coach.
00:34:53
Speaker
and they're not dad coaching dad pitch.
Proper Training and Injury Prevention
00:34:58
Speaker
It's not dad coaching peewee football. Now for the first time they're a member of school and society and parents have to learn how to be in the stands and watching that kid.
00:35:09
Speaker
So it's it's very interesting to see Luke go through that journey and then establishing boundaries and expectations of respect and allowing his his daughter to grow as a leader within that respect. So fun journey, as always, with Luke infotaining on that episode as well. That's a two part.
00:35:30
Speaker
So that's 72. I'll link it up here. All right. next clip old school i'm back to summer strong i sat down with zach evanesh and the clip i'm about to show you blew up on uh instagram and tick tock just took off and we know zach's a very passionate speaker so it was fun to see him just Let a rip on this perspective.
00:35:58
Speaker
So listen here. I want to see this one resurface out there. But man, appreciate Zach and everything he's doing for the industry. So this is fun to sit down with him and and see what he's passionate about in each moment.
00:36:13
Speaker
Is it normal for a high school girl to have both ACLs torn in high school? No. We know it's not, but it happens all the effing time. What about a middle school kid breaking his elbow, pitching, or getting Tommy John surgery? Oh, my Should that happen?
00:36:28
Speaker
It does happen, and I'm going to tell you why it happens. We're looking at kids who are pitching, you know, throwing 60, 70, 80 per game. Yet they can't do a pushup, not 10 pushups, not 20. Now, here's what I say. i had a conversation with K-Star about this, Kelly Sturette. You know how how like this is like it's almost like criminal. We said if you're going to run a travel team.
00:36:53
Speaker
Do a dynamic warm-up with the kids. Do push-ups. Do band pull-aparts. Do walking lunges. My son started playing baseball at age five. I think I never saw a dynamic warm-up until eighth grade and never push-ups. And still dumb things like, hey, you lost the game, go run. So now they think exercise is punishment. A lot to unpack there.
00:37:15
Speaker
Dynamic warm-ups, exercise is punishment, and... I mean, the the travel ball challenge where they're so focused on, I guess, making trips or highlighting who has gone to college that's been through their program that they're forgetting about the kids right in front of them.
00:37:34
Speaker
so amazing conversation um man that yeah summer strong had a great time sitting down with interviewing a lot of different folks tough to choose which were the best but zach was definitely one of the very the passionate speakers and if you ever heard him speak it's a good time so check that out and when we talk about because he's high school strength conditioning coach owns a facility up in manisquan new jersey and we talked about less than six percent of
00:38:06
Speaker
high school athletes go on to play college division one two or three so then it's less than 1.5 percent go on to play division one and i can't even I don't even have statistics for what number of division one athletes make it past their freshman or sophomore year but imagine it's it's incredibly less so Burnout is real.
00:38:29
Speaker
The opportunity of injury at that youth from overtraining and overplaying is real. So we explore all that in that conversation. That's episode 42 with Zach Evan Esch.
00:38:42
Speaker
all right another very fun episode i went on the road i traveled to houston texas and met with a a phenomenal professional strengthening conditioning coach and he owns facility in houston and works with houston texans he works with an array of mlb players and his name's ben fairchild and this particular conversation we focused on youth development especially at the the 13 year old age range and Ben focuses his specialty is rejuvenating people's careers of professional athletes so their natural gifts got them to a point then they were injured
00:39:30
Speaker
and then he rehabilitates them to go and do amazing things. So great conversation mixing in that experience with how he works and operates with professional athletes.
00:39:41
Speaker
And at the same time, how does he use his powers for good to help prevent these long-term injuries at that level? So here's from Ben. A 13-year-old with too much intensity put on them can you can do some damage pretty quickly that may or may not show up at 13, by the way. And we see this with pitching with MRIs of elbows that are damaged or cross threshold at 22.
00:40:05
Speaker
But there's a history of overthrowing that never caused symptom, but it was causing underlying pathology. Understanding kind of where the the threshold for damage lies in each athlete.
00:40:16
Speaker
and uh it's much more about uh building habits movement wise as a as a young athlete and then uh being able to incrementally challenge those things whereas for an aging athlete we're probably trying to to cut corners to make them more efficient as they start to lose output very late in their career this is a one percent of one percent of the athletic training population the guy who's now so good at what he does but so old that he's starting to lose power a professional career which by the way never happens it's zero percent out of you know all the athletes that ever start get to get paid for playing sports if you're so privileged that you get to play to the point where you're starting to actually age that's a really unusual situation and and uh In that case, you know, the few dinosaurs that exist in professional sports, it's really about cultivating efficiency movement wise because output is no longer what it was and cultivating lack of symptom because if they just feel good enough at a certain age, you mentioned Lance Berkman earlier being 37 years old and becoming an all-star, he could go out in jeans and flip-flops and hit home runs if he just doesn't hurt. You know, the skill level is so high, you just need to get them feeling good enough.
00:41:31
Speaker
Shout out Lance Berkman grew up across the street from him during his first Houston contract so cool to just open up there and also cool that the Ben has worked with him in his career and helped rejuvenate him to to see him so Hall of Fame? i don't know. I'll root for them. Time out.
00:41:51
Speaker
I get two and a half This one's all about training. I'm talking about my old bull strength and conditioning program that I have available on Train Heroic. This is Training with Wisdom. It's the program that I am following. I understand who you are. You don't have a lot of time.
00:42:06
Speaker
You're a busy leader and you're beat up from years of athletics, years of training. Here in this program, we target hips, ankles, knee, back health with the barbell. We have fun variations of the squat and the programs, sexy Fridays, bodybuilding. It is an amazing time.
00:42:25
Speaker
It will keep you engaged, it will keep you involved, and keep you on a wise program that keeps you coming back for more instead of digging you a hole you can't come out of that affects life outside of training.
Life Skills Beyond Sports
00:42:38
Speaker
Come check us out for a seven-day free trial in the Old Bull program, a link in the show notes, or you're watching on YouTube, just click right here. All right, and now back to the show. Ready, ready, and break.
00:42:50
Speaker
Now we're in our final theme in our last few clips here. This is theme five, coaching athletes for life. The ultimate goal of any great captain or coach or team leader is preparing athletes for the real world when the final whistle blows.
00:43:09
Speaker
Everyone's athletic career ends. So what are we instilling? What are we providing for these kids, the tools that we're handing off for them to enter into the real world?
00:43:21
Speaker
And no one is doing it better than Good at the Athlete Project and Jim Davis. So this is a clip from episode 26, Good Athlete Project, Jim Davis. And we sat down at the and NSCA Coaches Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana.
00:43:41
Speaker
And there's a story for another time about how we got this podcast to go down. I'll save that, but very exciting to to sit down with Jim.
00:43:52
Speaker
And Jim is actually hosting a Beyond Strength Summit up in Chicago, Illinois, that I'll be speaking at. Once I know about that, I'll send some details out your way. But that is April 25th. It's a Friday, 2026.
00:44:07
Speaker
And it stellar lineup, including yours truly. So, um, Let's hear it from Jim, learn more about his mission and Good Athlete Project, and then as information about that speaking opportunity comes out, I'll share it with you guys. But here's Jim. To reach the pinnacle, you've got to go all in. But the more invested you are in your sport, the steeper the cliff is on the other side. You're so used to the rigor and clear directions of this environment and all of a sudden it doesn't exist.
00:44:37
Speaker
So when you said self-management, that is a skill. like Compliance is far different than self-management. Early on, there's a great window of opportunity to show how complying with team rules and regulations, which are appropriate and needed, and I am on every team I've ever coached, of course, but to explain the layers of it. like Here's how the decision impacts the rest of us.
00:44:57
Speaker
Opening up someone's awareness to does this decision that you're making Does it align with the goals that you have personally and that we have together instead of you did this wrong run a lap, which is different I want a emotion for my athletes so that way we can now articulate and label them specifically something that i aim to apply with them It's e emotion energy in motion now we get an opportunity if you're angry, okay Well, I don't want you to use your stick as a weapon I want you to turn that into an aggression, an intent, an urgency on the field. Redirect
Trust and Understanding in Coaching
00:45:28
Speaker
it. I'm thinking Waterboy. Use it on the field. For sure.
00:45:31
Speaker
Water sucks. Yeah, I love it. I mean, that conversation is is a rich one. And I look forward to more with Jim. Beyond Strength is his journal as well.
00:45:44
Speaker
also had a an article published in, um don't know what, edition this is but beyond strength journal psychology and sport journal check it out it's pretty awesome and jim's doing amazing things this one's episode 26 linked up right here if you're watching on youtube too all right last two i promise next up we have the triple h framework from coach ryan davis head strength and conditioning coach for maryland football had the opportunity to visit maryland which is my grandfather's alma mater so cool to sit down in an amazing beautiful facility and learn from ryan
00:46:31
Speaker
The nature of athletics nowadays rewarding, self-indulgent behavior. And so you've got to understand that before some of these guys come in and and how that would affect your culture and how you need to be able to build. We understand the nature of the landscape that we're in. The challenge becomes, how do we build a culture of of trust between these guys and and really be able to get a group to stay mission-centered that's all pulling in the same direction? Middle of the off-season workouts, we'll share what we call three H's. And we'll give every athlete the opportunity to stand up in front of the group and be able to talk about who their hero is in their life, the person they look up to,
00:47:10
Speaker
We give every athlete the opportunity to talk about a hardship that they've overcome. And we give them all the opportunity to talk about what a highlight is, what was one of their big highlights. And it's amazing what you learn about people in the model behavior we're gonna share first. And the thing I always tell the coaches is, I'm like, you better be real when you go up there.
00:47:28
Speaker
because they can see through it. Love it. Yeah, the the three H's, heroes, hardships, and highlights. This is an incredibly powerful tool that Ryan applies to his team and completely just underutilized when it comes to the the world of high school sports. It's so focused on performance wins and losses.
00:47:50
Speaker
but not necessarily what's going on behind the scenes. So I leaned into the Triple H framework as an opportunity to relate and connect to the kids and learn about them, but also share something about my career.
00:48:04
Speaker
A lot of the highlights and the fun stuff that I've accomplished means nothing to them. They have no idea who Louie Simmons is. So one of my career highlights is sitting down at a table with Louie Simmons and interviewing him Amazing, but that doesn't mean anything anything to them.
00:48:24
Speaker
So okay, how can I reframe and rethink about highlights that meant something to me that then can connect it where they're at. So the the Triple H's, it's learning about them, but also, I mean, truly digging deep, thinking about the different stages and phases of your own life and reflecting. And that's what Ryan was getting at, being honest about yourself, your journey, your path, your life.
00:48:50
Speaker
And then how can we help them understand that there is so much more than this moment? And hats off to Ryan. out there at UMD doing amazing things and he's got an amazing open door policy. i encourage you to one, listen to full episode, episode 13, click right here and reach out to Ryan to to learn from him and his staff. Great staff. All right.
00:49:14
Speaker
last clip clip number 14 14 is my magic number it was my number in college that's why we're doing 14 clips here if you haven't noticed I have 14 stuff here on my podcast guest and when guests come to my house to sit down with me they always ask me about these little guys and anyone in Texas understands what I'm holding in my hand So at the fast food restaurant Whataburger, better than In-N-Out, you heard it here, they hand off these little numbers. And so when I was in high school, this one's from high school, my buds and would go there ah far too often.
Coaching Styles and Power Dynamics
00:49:57
Speaker
And when you're having a great day and the stars aligned, your sport number would be your Whataburger number. And then these things would disappear.
00:50:10
Speaker
And there's I don't know the statute of limitations on these little things from Katy, Texas 20 plus years ago, but I lucked into number 14 with a couple of Whataburgers. So that's why we're doing 14 clips and why I'm anchoring in this one into that time growing up because High school sports, it was so defining for me. It was ah advantageous,
00:50:36
Speaker
um I mean monumental in respect. And my teammates and I, whether it was football or lacrosse, we had great relationships, great families that took one another in.
00:50:48
Speaker
So this 14 clip, this is from episode number 12 with Dr. Brad Kennington, and and he's a marriage and family therapist, but he's also the world renowned expert in male eating disorders. He works with Olympians, professional athletes, collegiate athletes, and helps solve a lot of their performance challenges, but also a lot of the health challenges that exist off of the court or the the field, the the sporting arena.
00:51:18
Speaker
So I sat down with Dr. Kennington and he explained to me the different family dynamic approach that he takes to guiding and leading these athletes.
00:51:30
Speaker
and he introduced a triangle. So it was parent, it coach, and kid in a very, very eye-opening conversation with Dr. Brad.
00:51:44
Speaker
And this particular clip, we talk about the power of the coach and how it affects this this group family dynamic relationship between athlete, athlete parent, and coach.
00:51:58
Speaker
and the power that a coach has. So more often than not, kid is projecting on coach. Parent is projecting on coach and kid and just this weird dynamic.
00:52:09
Speaker
So if a coach cannot rise above certain things, then they take it out on the kid and that negatively affects their performance and could negatively ah affect their life. So clip 14 from episode 12 with Dr. Brad kent Kennington.
00:52:27
Speaker
You as a coach, you're in a position of power. And how do you use that power? okay Are you more authoritarian or authoritative? Authoritarian uses fear. Yeah.
00:52:38
Speaker
Same. Authoritative going to be direct, but there's also going to be encouragement. Looking at what needs to improve, but also look what's going well. An authoritative voice is a voice that I think will earn more respect and trust.
00:52:55
Speaker
It all starts with trust. You trust this coach, this coach has got your best interest. Far too much at the high school level, we see the authority authoritarian.
00:53:06
Speaker
do Do you feel that's a lack of ability to connect or anxiety driven? Anxiety driven? My job depends on winning. Yeah. and We get anxious. We need results. Yeah. And I get coaches at high school and collegiate. These are kids.
00:53:20
Speaker
Yeah. And your job, you can pay the mortgage, the rent, your car payment depends on the actions of those kids. Well, that that's real. Your livelihood is depending on the decisions of 14 to 22 or 24 year old now.
00:53:37
Speaker
Wild. So a lot of the negative experiences from coaches applying to kids are anxiety driven. i would also argue it's deeper than that for a lot of the coaches that are volunteering or their assistants and they're not relying on that performance. They're they're in there because they love the sport, but then not necessarily how to coach.
00:54:01
Speaker
And we see this in the the travel ball arena. We have professionals that have careers and things outside of sports, but then they coach travel sports. So then we see a lot of the negative experiences applied to these student athletes, these athletes during the summer because they they don't know how to regulate themselves. They're pushing them.
00:54:24
Speaker
It's a whole nasty thing. Anyway, I highly recommend that's one of my first podcast episodes 12 with Dr. Brad. I want to get Dr. Brad back out here to talk about conflict and peer to peer relationships and yeah, building that team from
Engaging with the Coaching Community
00:54:42
Speaker
there. So awesome family dynamics is a heavy one, but I highly encourage you checking that one out. That's clip 14 and that's the winding down here.
00:54:53
Speaker
I want to to say that these 14 moments, they represent the heart of what Captains and Coaches is all about. Whether you've been with us since day one, with the the first podcast and the first interview with Callie, or just joining us for today, i encourage you just stick with it. There are so many golden nuggets back there. i have so many clips out here on the line. So I'm grateful for you being a part of our community. I encourage you to not just start here and keep going. Look back.
00:55:26
Speaker
at a lot of the fun interviews that I got out there. Be sure to like, subscribe, and if you want to receive notifications for new episodes, that's the best way to do it. and it shows support and allows us to continue to grow. So I'm grateful for you. And if you're able to leave a rating or review, I would appreciate that as well.
00:55:46
Speaker
And I'd encourage you sign up for our newsletter. It is weekly challenges that I'm facing with my team or within the industry, and then different thought process, research, or tools that I apply to then work through it. I imagine you're going through those same challenges with the team dynamics and the kids today.
00:56:06
Speaker
how do I reach these kids? So this newsletter is is how I'm managing that process within my coaching career. So thank you for tuning in. If you want to know more, head to captainsandcoaches.com, sign up for our newsletter, newsletter.captainsandcoaches.com.
00:56:21
Speaker
And I've got an awesome course that I have about connecting with kids and building their confidence so they become situationally aware team captains that is found at listen.captainsandcoaches.com or linked up right here. I like this new YouTube feature.
00:56:38
Speaker
All right. Thank you again for tuning in. i appreciate each and every one of you and we will continue this train rolling. Can't wait till episode 200 of Cliffs Show. Thank you.
00:56:49
Speaker
And see you.