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

What began as a one-off summer camp to expose marginalized youth to hockey has grown into a national program that annually serves over 800 youth in nine cities across Canada. Hockey Education Reaching Out Society (HEROS) provides free hockey programming for at risk children and youth, offering a safe and stable environment for them to grow, connect and succeed.

In this episode of What's Working, HEROS Executive Director, Kevin Hodgson, explains how the program is empowering youth who never imagined they'd call themselves hockey players into confident, resilient adults who share a lifelong passion for the fastest game on ice. Kevin discusses how the HEROS and SuperHEROS approach differs from those in traditional minor hockey environments, why volunteers keep coming back year after year, and how learning to go "bar down" led one participant to a call to the bar as a future lawyer.

For more information on HEROS, visit the ⁠HEROS website⁠ and email Kevin at kevin@heroshockey.com.

Chapters

0:00 Opening

1:24 What is HEROS Hockey?

3:04 SuperHEROS and First Nations ball hockey

4:48 From summer camp to year-round program

7:26 The goal: smiles, not NHL players

10:54 From refugee camp to lawyer

12:03 Relationships first: the coaching approach

14:48 Playing the long game

16:47 The $1,000-per-player cost and funding

20:16 Finding and keeping volunteers

23:03 Alumni who give back

24:03 Why the goal is beer league players

27:06 How schools help find the kids

29:13 Reaching families of kids with disabilities

30:25 How to start a HEROS-style program

33:23 “Sport reveals character”

35:19 Adapting sport to the kid

Geroy Simon is one of the most decorated players in CFL history: three Grey Cup victories, a Most Outstanding Player award, and a place in the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Since retiring, he's built a front-office career that's taken him from scouting to the CFL front office and now back to where it started: Executive Director of Revenue Share and General Manager at his alma mater, the University of Maryland.

He's also a father of four with very different journeys through sport: sons who played college football at West Point and in Canada, daughters who pursued gymnastics and their own paths. Combine that with his career, and he's sat in multiple chairs around the recruiting table.

Geroy and Scott dig into recruiting in the NIL and transfer-portal era, the difference between coaching other people's kids and coaching his own son, why he wants his kids to experience real failure, and the lessons his parents and grandmothers imprinted on him that still guide how he talks to student athletes today. Geroy also tells the story of a player nobody expected much from who's still in football today, and opens up about the toughest stretch of his own career: getting cut seven times in two years before Winnipeg gave him a second chance.

Chapters:

0:00 Opening

1:35 Introducing Geroy Simon

3:12 Being Recruited by Maryland, Then and Now

5:30 The Other Side of the Recruiting Desk

6:18 How NIL Has Changed Recruiting

7:44 Transactional vs. Transformational Athletes

9:23 His Son's Choice: West Point Over the Ivy League

12:50 The Pressure of Carrying the Simon Name

14:12 Coaching His Own Son

17:21 Checking His Ego as a Youth Coach

19:16 His Daughters' Sports Experience

20:11 The Real Impact of Youth Sports on His Kids

21:37 Growing Up a Multi-Sport Athlete

23:39 Is Year-Round Specialization Hurting Kids?

25:29 Why Football Was the Right Fit

27:26 What Made His Love for the Game Endure

32:45 Lessons His Parents Imprinted on Him

34:39 Control What You Can Control

37:16 Giving Back: Lessons From His Grandmothers

38:40 How Family Dynamics Affect Recruiting

40:08 Has He Ever Walked Away From a Recruit?

41:01 Advice for Overly Involved Parents

42:32 NIL, the Transfer Portal, and Free Agency Culture

44:28 Building Culture in the Transfer Portal Era

47:14 Is This Bleeding Into Youth Sports?

49:19 Wanting His Own Daughters to Fail

51:37 How Great Coaches Make Every Player Feel Valued

53:18 Meeting Every Kid's Different "Why"

58:34 Comparison Culture and Highlight Reels

1:01:19 Educating Athletes on Gambling and Money

1:07:00 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today

1:08:06 Cut Seven Times: His Toughest Stretch

Resources:

Geroy Simon

Better Sports Parents

Hayley Wickenheiser says youth sports have lost the art of play, and parents can help bring it back. The five-time Olympic medalist, emergency physician and mom shares what she'd change for youth hockey and every kid in youth sports. Hayley is a pioneer of women's hockey. She won four Olympic gold medals and one silver, plus 13 medals at the Women's World Hockey Championships (seven gold, six silver). She is in the Hockey Hall of Fame, the International Hockey Hall of Fame and Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. She also played softball at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, played professional men's hockey in Sweden and Finland, worked eight years in the NHL including as an assistant general manager, and now works as an emergency room doctor. She founded Wick Fest, a hockey festival that has reached over 30,000 girls, and the Wick Hockey app. In this episode, Scott Rintoul talks with Hayley about growing up in small-town Saskatchewan, where she played hockey with the boys and heard that girls didn't belong. She explains why that made her resilient, why 70 to 80 percent of her skill came from unstructured play, and what she'd tell any parent worried their child is falling behind.

Hayley also explains:

• Why early specialization, year-round sport and early tiering often backfire
• How free play builds hockey sense and decision-making
• Why letting kids fail is one of the best things parents can do
• How coaches can skip the practice plan and just let kids play
• Why she'd choose the lower tier every time
• Why "movement is medicine" starts in youth sports

Chapters:

0:00 Opening

1:35 Introducing Hayley Wickenheiser

3:44 The hardest job of all: Parenting

7:04 Two rules: an instrument and a sport

9:10 Playing hockey with the boys in Saskachewan

10:39 "Girls don't play hockey"

14:14 Why parents lose their minds at the rink

16:50 We've lost the art of play

19:55 Why early specialization backfires

24:19 Early tiering and the Nordic model

27:06 The "little Johnny" pathway myth

29:21 Backyard rink creativity

31:03 Hockey robots

3:51 Why kids need to fail

35:47 Coaches: be brave, skip the practice plan

38:05 What a great youth coach looks like

40:07 Winning, losing and participation medals

44:07 Movement is medicine

47:28 Wick Hockey app and Wick Fest

50:56 Keeping hockey affordable

53:56 Swim, skate and daily school PE

56:45 The 1988 Olympics and the barn ski jump

1:01:07 Why every kid needs an off-season1

03:13 Choose the lower tier

1:05:47 The coaches who believed in her

1:08:07 What would she change in youth sports

Resources:

⁠Hayley Wickenheiser⁠

⁠WickFest⁠

⁠Better Sports Parents⁠

James Paxton pitched on some of baseball's biggest stages, battling through injuries to become one of only two Canadian pitchers to ever throw a no-hitter in the big leagues, and the only one to do it on Canadian soil. Earlier this year, he came out of retirement to pitch for Team Canada at the World Baseball Classic. However, these days, most of his innings are as a husband to Katie, a father to two young kids, and co-host of The Pitch podcast.

James and Scott dig into the catch-in-the-backyard relationship with his dad that shaped his love of the game, how getting cut from an all-star team at 10 years old became one of the best things that happened to him, and why he doubts the 2026 recruiting version of James Paxton would even get looked at today. They talk through the "allostatic load" youth athletes are carrying with school, friendships, and training stacked on top of each other without the recovery time James had as a kid. They also discuss why velocity gets over-indexed in youth baseball and what are we actually trying to teach kids through sport knowing that most will never become high performance athletes. James also opens up about untangling his identity from his performance on the mound, why he sought out a therapist, and the simple parenting shift he believes matters most: praise the effort, not the result.

If you've ever wondered how a former big-league starter thinks about raising his own kids through sport, this conversation is full of hard-earned, honest perspective.

Chapters:

0:00 Opening

1:35 Introducing James Paxton

4:11 Childhood Friendships Rooted in Youth Sports

5:33 Late Physical Growth

6:41 Getting Cut From the All-Star Team at 10

8:24 Baseball Was Always His Choice

9:25 Unstructured Backyard Play vs. Skills Clinics

12:05 Where Creativity Actually Comes From

16:12 Recruited to Division I Without Elite Velocity

18:28 Why Late Developers Outperform at the Pro Level

19:38 Why Velocity at 13 Doesn't Predict Anything

20:18 Building the Mental Game With a Sports Psychologist

21:13 Are We Over-Indexing on Velocity?

22:06 Baseball's Many Paths to the Pros

23:10 The Sacrifices of a Pro Career

24:22 "Treating Young Athletes Like Professionals"

25:35 Protecting Actual Childhood as a Parent

26:45 The Line Between Joy and Serious Development

28:00 What His Parents Actually Talked About After Games

30:36 His Dad Catching Bullpens in Steel-Toe Boots

32:57 Allostatic Load: Why Kids Are Burning Out

34:37 The Fear of Not Being Seen

36:39 Less Than 1% Go Pro, So What's the Real Goal?

37:11 What Youth Sports Actually Taught Him

38:22 Travel Sports and the "Free Agent" Problem

39:32 Is Money Driving the Pressure?

41:04 Why Every Kid Needs an Off-Season

42:50 Coming Out of Retirement for the World Baseball Classic

45:36 The Calm That Defined His Career

48:08 Teaching Kids to Reach Their Own Conclusions

48:56 Why You Learn More From Failure Than Success

50:47 The Mentors Who Shaped His Career

52:34 The Value of Playing Across Age Groups

53:46 Small Steps and Delayed Gratification

55:36 Growing Up Without Social Media Comparison

58:53 Separating James Paxton the Person From the Player

1:02:10 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today

1:03:53 Praise the Effort, Not the Results

1:05:03 Control the Controllables

Resources

The Pitch Pod

Better Sports Parents

Manny Malhotra is the Head Coach of the Vancouver Canucks and a central piece in a family that has an incredible amount of perspective and opinion on youth sports. Drafted seventh overall in 1998, Manny played nearly 1,000 NHL games across seven organizations, and built a reputation as one of the league's most respected leaders. His coaching career has seen him move from an NHL assistant to a Calder Cup winner as head coach of the AHL's Abbotsford Canucks to the bench boss of the NHL franchise he helped lead to the 2011 Stanley Cup Final as a player. He's also a father of four, including son Caleb, who was drafted by the Canucks this past summer, putting Manny on the verge of coaching his own son in the NHL.

Manny and Scott dig into the youth sports household that shaped him, and how that same philosophy now guides how he and his wife Joann, the younger sister of Steve and Martin Nash, raise their own four kids. They talk through the real challenges of coaching your own child, why he and Joann deliberately keep their kids multi-sport despite living in a city with ice available year-round, and why they believe producing good people through sport matters more than producing great players. Manny also shares the story that changed how he thinks about pressure in youth sports today, and closes with a simple truth every sports parent should hear: most of what your kid remembers won't be the score.

If you've ever wondered how a former first-round pick and now NHL head coach actually parents through youth sports, this conversation is full of practical perspective.

Chapters:

0:00 Opening

2:05 Introducing Manny Malhotra

3:45 Growing Up in a Competitive Household

6:52 Why His Parents Made Sports Central to Family Life

8:53 Never a Forced Issue

10:36 Passing These Lessons to His Own Four Kids

13:59 The Challenges of Coaching His Own Children

16:17 The Conversation That Changed His Coaching Approach

18:33 Stepping Back From Coaching Caleb

21:36 Coach Hat vs. Dad Hat

24:20 Why "He Was So Polite" Means More Than Stats

27:41 Growing Up the Youngest of Four

29:47 Married Into an Even More Competitive Family

32:08 How Monetization Changed Youth Sports

33:01 Intentionally Raising Multi-Sport Kids

37:25 "Don't Be That Parent"

41:29 The Foundational Lessons: Don't Be Late, Work Hard

43:21 Why Kids Specialize So Early Today

44:59 Steve Nash's Warning About Individual Training

45:57 Skill Level Is Up, Hockey IQ Is Down

48:00 The Lost Art of Pickup Shinny Hockey

50:28 What Should a Youth Coach's #1 Priority Be?

54:47 Chasing Plastic Trophies

57:17 Becoming a Role Player at the NHL Level

59:38 What Coaches Should Actually Praise

1:02:31 The Matheny Manifesto

1:04:38 Why Youth Sports Pressure Is Heavier Today

1:07:31 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports Today

1:07:43 "We're Just Buying Memories"

Resources

Manny Malhotra

Better Sports Parents