Coach Scott Charland, Manager of Human Performance for Parkview Sports Medicine in Fort Wayne, Indiana, joins Nate Huffstutter on the Truth in the Arena podcast to discuss leadership, activism, and being invested enough in America to stand up and criticize our country when it fails to live up to its standards and founding principles.

Based on over 20 years in the trenches of collegiate strength and conditioning at Saint Louis University, Temple, and Butler, Charland shares insights into how the current policies of the Trump administration negatively impact the lives and career stability of coaches who, in many cases, may have voted against their own interests.

Charland’s core philosophy as a coach is to treat every athlete equally—regardless of the sport, regardless of their status on their team—and takes that view of valuing everyone equally beyond the athletic realm and into how he sees his role in society as having a fundamental willingness to stand up and fight for someone he doesn’t know...and who does not resemble him.

Charland discusses his experience creating the “Strength Coaches for Harris” group leading up to the 2024 presidential election and his thoughts on the information environment leading up to it. Ultimately, for a healthy media diet, coaches and athletes need to vet information the same way they vet online demos of exercise methods and techniques to see if it holds up to scrutiny. Meanwhile, Americans must be willing to hold their country to the same scrutiny—are the principles laid out in the US Constitution being upheld or are they being trampled on and cast aside?

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Coaching Values and Principles

08:25 The Evolution of Coaching Motivations

14:12 Connecting Coaching Values to Political Perspectives

20:52 Impact of Political Decisions on Coaching Careers

25:18 Activism and Advocacy in Coaching

33:16 Strength Coaches for Kamala Harris and Voter Engagement

33:43 Voting for Health: A Call to Action

42:01 Navigating Media: A Healthy Information Diet

49:12 Patriotism vs. Blind Faith: A New Perspective

58:57 Coaching Standards: Holding America to Its Values