Steve Kerr says every kid needs free play, multiple sports and coaches who build joy into the work. The five-time NBA champion as a player, four-time champion as Warriors head coach and 2024 Olympic gold medal-winning coach of Team USA shares what he’d tell every sports parent.

Steve played for the Bulls and Spurs, worked as a broadcaster and NBA general manager, but calls himself a son, brother, husband, father and grandfather first. In this episode, Steve talks to host Scott Rintoul about the wear and tear of early specialization, why late specializers catch up fast, and what Steph Curry and Steve Nash show about multi-sport athletes.

Steve also shares sports parenting stories like why his parents never said a word during his games, why he and his wife told their kids to fight their own battles, and how one club volleyball coach handled playing-time talks. He also covers building team culture with joy, lessons from Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich and Pete Carroll, making the 12th player feel valued, coaching alongside his son Nick, why the cost of youth sports leaves kids behind, and his one piece of advice for parents.

It's a must listen episode with one of the most respected people in all of sport.

Chapters

0:00 Opening

1:34 Introducing Steve Kerr

3:26 Growing up playing everything

4:18 Why multi-sport athletes thrive

6:28 Broadway singers and soft tissue injuries

7:28 Why parents choose early specialization

8:35 Steve as a sports parent

9:44 Hand-eye coordination and scouting

13:22 Lessons from Cairo

14:50 Choosing basketball over baseball

17:02 The lost art of free play

19:03 Parents who never said a word

21:59 The coach who banned playing-time talk

23:29 Coaching his son’s team

24:10 Coachable and approachable

25:37 Coaches who shaped him

27:04 Building culture with joy

31:21 Music, celebration and competition

32:41 Phil Jackson vs. Gregg Popovich

35:13 Be yourself as a coach

36:23 Valuing the last player on the bench

39:28 How Phil Jackson made players feel valued

41:35 What Steph Curry taught him

43:11 Steph’s joy

44:23 Watching Macklin Celebrini grow up

47:15 Coaching with his son Nick

51:14 Why he waited until 49 to coach

53:46 Lifelong learning and books

57:12 What he wants for his grandkids

59:15 The biggest challenge: burnout

1:00:06 When sports become a rich man’s game

1:01:18 His one thought for parents

1:02:19 Recess in Hawaii

1:03:01 Message for Canada

Resources

Steve Kerr (player)

Better Sports Parents

Camille Martens survived fear-based coaching and abuse to become a Canadian champion, Commonwealth Games champion and Olympian in rhythmic gymnastics. But she always knew there was a better way, so she now focuses on helping parents build healthy, loving sport environments.

Camille has spent four decades in sport as an athlete, coach and parent. She competed at the World Championships and Olympics, founded the Okanagan Rhythmic Gymnastics Club, and became president of Gymnastics BC, a master coach developer, and National Team Coaches Chair for 16 years. She's also the author of MVP in the Stands: Becoming the Parent Your Child Needs in Sport.

In this powerful episode, Camille talks to Scott Rintoul about moving away from home at 13, training in Russia and Bulgaria under coaches who normalized fear, weigh-ins and abuse, and competing at the Olympics on a torn labrum. She shares the toll it took on her body and relationships, why she stayed silent to protect her access, and how she tried, and sometimes failed, to build something different as a coach and parent.

You'll learn:

• The difference between "Red flags" vs. healthy "growth edges"
• Why emotional regulation is the parent's real job
• How intention and impact can be worlds apart
• Tools: keyword check-ins, a fridge scratchpad, the "buddy system"
• How to build a strong coach-parent-athlete relationship

Chapters:

0:00 Opening

1:34 Introducing Camille Martens

3:24 Early path into sport

4:54 Discovering rhythmic gymnastics

7:15 Moving to Vancouver to train

9:03 Making the national team at 13

11:01 Protecting an unhealthy environment

12:01 Fear-based coaching in Eastern Europe

13:48 The physical and emotional cost

16:14 A horrific Olympic Games

17:26 Starting a club to do it differently

18:41 Training in Russia and Bulgaria

20:34 Limited contact with her parents

22:32 Training alongside teammates in silence

23:14 The teddy bear story

24:11 Why she stayed

25:18 How the sport has changed

27:12 What a healthy environment looks like

28:35 "Red flags" vs "growth edges"

29:04 The coach-athlete-parent triangle

30:12 Spotting red flags as a parent

33:10 Founding her own club

34:06 Repeating ingrained patterns

37:11 A hard conversation with her daughter

38:02 Intention vs. impact

39:45 How her coaching evolved

41:19 Why she wrote MVP in the Stands

46:07 Parents: sport's biggest stakeholders

47:33 Emotional regulation as the real job

50:55 Buddy system and keyword check-ins

53:14 The fridge scratchpad

53:55 Coach-parent talks done right

56:29 Why she never coached her own kids

58:47 Early specialization in gymnastics

1:01:23 Gymnastics in Canada today

1:03:19 Her relationship with the sport now

1:05:15 The number one issue in youth sports

1:07:07 The compliments that mean the most

Resources:

⁠Camille Martens⁠

⁠MVP in the Stands⁠

⁠Better Sports Parents

Jesse Levine was a U.S. junior national champion and University of Florida standout who faced Rafael Nadal, trained with Roger Federer, and later coached tennis stars Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula. He says the best thing parents can do is let kids play, fail and find their own joy.

Jesse grew up in Ottawa playing soccer, basketball, baseball and tennis, and didn’t commit to one sport until he was 15 or 16. Today he’s a coach, club operator and tennis analyst for Sportsnet and ESPN. And he sees young kids specializing, training like pros and burning out.

In this episode, Scott Rintoul talks with Jesse about why early specialization leads to burnout and why quality beats quantity, even at the pro level. Jesse explains the red flags coaches notice in overbearing tennis parents, and how he brings them alongside instead of shutting them out. He shares what he sees the moment a kid stops enjoying the sport, including the 12-year-old who was training to make his dad happy. He also looks back on his own path: moving to Florida at 13, resisting pressure to give up other sports, and learning to stay grounded through wins and heartbreaking losses, including a match against Nadal.

Jesse offers advice on talking with your child after a win or a loss, and why giving them space matters. He also covers the cost of tennis, how accessible the sport is, and why he believes cheating is the biggest issue in junior tennis.

Chapters

0:00 Opening

1:34 Introducing Jesse Levine

3:00 Growing up multisport

5:22 Why early specialization leads to burnout

7:30 Coach-parent talks about specialization

9:09 Overbearing parents and red flags

12:18 Bringing parents alongside the coach

14:11 When his dad coached him

17:00 Why kids need normalcy

18:02 Quality over quantity: training with Federer

21:34 Moving to Florida at 13

24:03 Pressure to specialize at the academy

26:13 Choosing tennis on his own terms

27:52 “Dead eyes”: when kids lose the joy

29:24 The boy who played for his dad

31:09 The rain test

32:36 Why competing is joyful

35:19 Mental toughness and mentor Keith Williams

37:18 Outside interests and the Bryan family

41:29 Staying grounded with coach Andy Brandi

46:08 Why kids shouldn’t get too much too soon

46:31 Facing Nadal in Toronto

49:02 The losses that stay with you

51:06 Advice for parents after wins and losses

55:27 Moving into coaching Madison Keys

58:17 “The best coaches don’t need the job”

59:43 Coaching Jessica Pegula

1:02:58 The cost of tennis

1:06:32 Is tennis accessible?

1:08:03 Tennis, pickleball and padel

1:09:37 Number one issue: cheating in junior tennis

1:12:54 Teaching honesty through sport

Resources

⁠Jesse Levine⁠

⁠Better Sports Parents⁠