Jason D'Rocha didn't plan to spend his career in youth sports. A blown knee in grade 12 ended his dreams of playing university basketball, and what followed — a degree in child psychology, a summer camp job that lit something up in him, and an introduction to Sportball — became a calling he's never walked away from. Jason's now the Vice President of Sportball, the author of multiple children's books, and a father of two daughters who are very much in the thick of the youth sports world he thinks about every day.

Jason brings something rare to this conversation: he's simultaneously a child development expert, a career coach, a sport administrator, and a parent sitting in the stands trying to get it right. He's also someone who grew up in Toronto's inner city, where organized sport wasn't always accessible, which gives him a perspective on cost and inclusion that isn't theoretical, it's personal.

Scott and Jason explore what it really means to build confidence in children through sport, why celebrating outcomes fails the 99% of kids who will never play at the elite level, and how a misalignment of expectations — from parents, coaches, and leagues — is at the root of so much of what's broken in youth sports today. Jason also shares what great coaching actually looks like, why getting parents out of the gym can be one of the most powerful things a program does, and what he tells his own daughters when sport gets hard.

If you're a parent trying to figure out how to support your child's athletic journey without stepping on it, this conversation is for you.

Chapters

00:00 Opening

01:35 Introducing Jason D'Rocha

03:47 From Injury to a Career in Youth Sport

05:14 Jason's Childhood: Pickup Ball & Access to Sport

08:33 His Parents Approach

14:17 Why Sportball?

26:31 Why Parents Should Leave the Gym

29:00 Competing Authority: Coaches vs. Parents

31:33 What Jason Looks for in a Coach

33:24 Age-Appropriate Development

38:15 What Physical Literacy Really Means

41:29 How Sportball Trains Its Coaches

44:43 Modeling Matters

46:19 What Booing at the Raptors Taught His Daughters

48:18 Taking Off the Coach Hat at Home

51:13 What He Wants His Kids to Get Out of Sport

52:31 The Recreational Gap for Teenagers

55:11 Recruiting & Retaining Great Coaches

59:08 Resources for Volunteer Coaches

59:49 Sportball, Cost & Accessibility

01:02:15 Why Multi-Sport Matters

01:04:01 The Danger of Outcome-Based Self-Worth

01:07:15 The Number One Issue in Youth Sports

01:09:24 Expectations & Social Media

Resources ⁠

Sportball⁠ ⁠

Canada Sport for Life⁠

⁠Jumpstart Canada⁠