This Coachable Players episode features Jason Acquaye, an author, entrepreneur and former athlete, who discusses how lessons from football shaped his life beyond the game.

Jason shared his journey from playing multiple sports to finding his passion in football, where he learned discipline, perseverance and the importance of hard work. He reflected on pivotal moments, such as not qualifying for a D1 scholarship and instead attending Wilkes University, which he considered a life-changing decision. He emphasized that football taught him resilience, leadership and the value of getting back up after failures, lessons he applied in his business career in the medical device industry. Jason spoke about his entrepreneurial mindset, inspired by his father and his current focus preparing for fatherhood.

The conversation also touched on the importance of enjoying one's work, staying coachable and finding purpose in life, with Jason advising young athletes to stay open to new opportunities and not let setbacks define them.

This episode of the Coachable Players Podcast Jon sits down with Mark Nixon about coachability in educational settings.

Mark is a business student from Houston, Texas who mentors middle and high school students, and Mark discussed how being coachable applies beyond sports to academic and personal development. They explored the challenge students face in being coachable, including dealing with different life circumstances, building relationships with mentors and developing habits like asking for help, seeking feedback and managing social media's impact on self-worth.

Mark emphasized that great mentoring requires approaching students at their level, understanding their unique situations and modeling constructive communication and resilience. The conversation covered practical advice for students struggling with confidence or facing uncertainty about their future path after high school, with Mark suggesting tailored approaches based on interests and academic performance.

The episode concludes with Mark's final message to always keep showing up and staying coachable regardless of age or situation.

This episode of The Coachable Players Podcast features Julian Morales, who shares his journey as a standout high school football player who chose to attend Wilkes University, a smaller school, over larger programs.

Julian discusses his recruiting experience, the pressure of pursuing Division I opportunities and how he ultimately found success and personal growth at Wilkes. He reflects on the challenges of adjusting to college football, the importance of leadership and the valuable lessons he learned from his coaches and teammates.

Julian emphasizes the significance of being coachable, building relationships and focusing on effort and development over prestige. He offers advice to young athletes, encouraging them to make decisions based on where they feel valued and to embrace the grind of college athletes. The conversations highlights how smaller schools can provide significant opportunities for growth and leadership.

This episode of the Coachable Players features Lisa Nakamura where she discusses how martial arts builds leaders for life.

Lisa shares her 45-year journey in martial arts, starting as a white belt in 1981 and now as an eighth degree black belt in Kenpo Karate. She discusses the importance of the beginner's mindset, or shoshin, and how being comfortable with discomfort and embracing the process, not just the progress, is key to growth.

Lisa explains how martial arts develops physical, mental and emotional resilience, and how it instills leadership qualities like humility, adaptability and curiosity. The conversation explores how students of different ages benefit uniquely from martial, from self-regulation in children to stress management in adults and fall prevention in seniors.

The conversation highlights the parallels between martial arts and leadership in the workplace, emphasizing the value of feedback, leading by example and the importance of legacy and succession. Jon and Lisa agreed that maintaining a white belt mentality - staying humble, coachable and open to learning - is essential for continuos improvement in all areas of life.

This episode of Coachable Players features Michael Kuhn, president of Jendoco Construction, and his son Gabe, who also works at Jendoco. They discuss their experience with youth soccer and the value it provided beyond potential scholarships and professional careers.

Michael explains that when Gabe started playing at three, the initial goals were fun, friendship and burning energy, but as Gabe progressed the focus shifted to helping him discover his passion and develop life skills too.

Gabe shared his experience playing at elite levels, which included training in London, England and playing for the Columbus, Ohio Crew Academy, while in high school where he and his mom lived apart from the family attending school remotely.

Both father and son emphasized that the biggest returns on investment came from the friendships formed, quality family time during travel and transferable life skills like teamwork, discipline and leadership that extended beyond soccer into his career in construction. They discussed how playing goalkeeper taught Gabe important lessons about responsibility and how to handle pressure, stressing that the journey and experiences were worth it regardless of whether Gabe achieved his goal of becoming a professional soccer player.

Terrance Dennis' has been on a journey through football. In his youth sports days, he displayed a coachable attitude, doing whatever the team needed to succeed, which helped his high school team win three consecutive state championships. In college, he used that same positive team-first approach to drive him as a walk-on freshman at the University of Missouri to earn plays on the field as a long-snapper, special teams gunner and eventually wide receiver.

In this episode, Coach Terry discusses the importance of coachability, highlighted by his own willingness to accept any role to contribute to the team. He shares insights into the biggest adjustments from high school to college, emphasizing the commitment required at the collegiate level. As he talks about his journey to coaching, he reflects on his mentors and how they influenced his coaching philosophy.

Now on the coaching side at Cornell University, Coach Terry shares his thoughts on the recruiting process, the role of parents and the challenges of coaching today's athletes in the era of social media, NIL and the transfer portal.

From his youth days to playing big time D1 football to coaching and recruiting players, Coach Terry stresses the value in life of building genuine relationships with players and the lasting impact of a coach well beyond the X's and O's.

This episode of the Coachable Players Podcast features Noble 'Bud' Quandel, Chairman of Quandel Enterprises, a company founded in 1882. When Bud joined Quandel around fifty years ago, they were doing about one million dollars and he helped direct its growth to where it is today at nearly $500 million annually.

Before Bud was a highly respected construction executive, he was a youth athlete playing sports in Minersville, PA. Many lessons from the ballfields and hardwood court are still carried with him today, like discipline, teamwork and delayed gratification. In this interview he shares how his sports experiences translated into his business leadership philosophy, emphasizing the importance of intellectual curiosity, self-awareness, humility and building strong teams.

Bud explained the growth strategies of Quandel, including the need for vision, risk management and continuous improvement, while sharing his criteria for hiring successful leaders: intellectual curiosity, insight, engagement skills and fortitude.

The conversation concluded with Bud expressing hope that his legacy would be remembered for treating people with respect and integrity while upholding American values.

In this episode, we sit down with Drew Simpson, a former youth wrestling stud who would take his athletic talents to the University of Kentucky. This top recruit's collegiate career was cut short when UK ended its wrestling program. Now what???

With Plan A gone, Drew would eventually make his way to northeast Pennsylvania and become a carpenter. During this conversation, Drew discusses his journey from wrestling to construction, focusing on resilience and how athletic qualities translate to successful careers in construction.

When wrestling went away, Plan A, Drew built a better plan, a successful career in the Carpenters Union. He has ascended into a top leader in the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters. With retirement nearing in the future, Drew reflected on his career sharing a sense of pride on the quality construction projects he was involved with, supporting the Carpenter members' livelihoods and advising aspiring apprentices too - plus he stayed coachable along the way.

For information on joining the EAS Carpenters Union: https://eascarpenters.org/become-a-member/.