Healthy Sports Parents

What happens when we stop trying to control our kids' sports experience and start helping them own it?

In this episode, retired USWNT player and current youth coach / pro team owner Leslie Osborne shares why the healthiest sports journeys are the ones driven by kids, not adults. From playing multiple sports growing up to navigating injuries and life after soccer, Leslie reflects on how ownership, passion, and perspective shaped her career and now shape how she parents and coaches.

We also explore what it looks like to support kids without pushing them, how parents can balance competitiveness with emotional development, and why youth sports should be about developing confident, capable humans more than elite athletes.

Our job isn’t to control the journey.

It’s to give kids the tools, space, and confidence to own it themselves.

This conversation is about stepping back, trusting our kids, and remembering that sports are simply the vehicle. The real goal is helping them grow into resilient, confident adults who can handle whatever comes next, both on and off the field. That long term development mindset sits at the heart of Healthy Sports Parents and the idea that youth sports are ultimately about raising healthy adults, not just athletes.

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FROM OUR SPONSORS:

Hour-a-thon
http://www.hour-a-thon.com

Smallside
http://www.smallside.co
New episodes every Wednesday.

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Get your Healthy Sports Parents gear:
https://www.healthysportsparents.com/shop

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Get your Weekend Playbook:
https://www.healthysportsparents.com/playbook

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Youth sports matter. We care because our kids care.

But somewhere along the way, it’s easy for that care to turn into pressure, stress, and taking things way more seriously than we ever intended.

In this episode, Jonathan sits down with comedian and sports dad Dustin Nickerson to talk about the realities of being a sports parent – the long tournaments, the awkward sideline dynamics, the pressure we feel to show up to everything and get it all right, and the moments when we realize we might need to take a breath and laugh a little.

Dustin shares what youth sports look like through the lens of an introvert, how he balances being on the road with being present for his kids, and why effort matters more than perfect attendance. They also get into failure, perspective, participation trophies, arguing with refs, and why kids notice our effort more than our perfection.

This is a conversation for parents who care deeply about their kids, want to support them well, and are trying to keep youth sports healthy for their family.

Youth sports are serious. Just not that serious.

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FROM OUR SPONSORS:

Hour-a-thon
http://www.hour-a-thon.com

New episodes every Wednesday.

---------

Get your Healthy Sports Parents gear:
https://www.healthysportsparents.com/shop

---------

Get your Weekend Playbook:
https://www.healthysportsparents.com/playbook

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Follow us on social:

https://www.instagram.com/healthysportsparents
https://www.tiktok.com/@healthysportsparents
https://www.facebook.com/healthysportsparents
https://www.threads.net/healthysportsparents
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Youth sports can feel heavier than it’s supposed to.

Not because parents don’t care.

But because they care so much.

In this episode, Jonathan sits down with former Nike sports marketer Jordan to pull back the curtain on what’s really shaping the youth sports experience today. From the way brands speak to us, to the rise of travel teams, to the pressure to keep up with other families, there’s more going on beneath the surface than most of us realize.

We talk about why so many good parents feel like they’re constantly second-guessing their decisions, how comparison and fear quietly drive a lot of what we do, and why the system feels harder to navigate than it used to.

We also get into:
The difference between being served and being sold to
Why youth sports keeps getting more expensive
What happens when kids don’t make the team
The loss of free play and what that means for kids
The truth about NIL and youth sports social media

This conversation is not about blaming parents but rather understanding the environment we’re parenting in.

When we can name the pressures we're facing, we can start to lead through it in healthier ways.

And that’s where things start to change.

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FROM OUR SPONSORS:

Hour-a-thon
http://www.hour-a-thon.com

Phenom Elite
https://phenomelitebrand.com/

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New episodes every Wednesday.

---------

Get your Healthy Sports Parents gear:
https://www.healthysportsparents.com/shop

---------

Get your Weekend Playbook:
https://www.healthysportsparents.com/playbook

-----------

Follow us on social:

https://www.instagram.com/healthysportsparents
https://www.tiktok.com/@healthysportsparents
https://www.facebook.com/healthysportsparents
https://www.threads.net/healthysportsparents
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Youth sports need more trustworthy adults in kids’ lives.

In this episode, Jonathan talks with Dr. Katlin Okamoto of the U.S. Soccer Foundation about the single biggest thing youth sports needs right now. It’s not better drills, more tournaments, or earlier specialization. It’s adults who understand that their influence goes far beyond the scoreboard.

They explore why coaches often become one of the most influential adults in a young person’s life, how the role of a coach is shifting from instructor to mentor, and why relationships are the foundation of healthy sports experiences for kids.

Dr. Okamoto also shares the thinking behind the Yes, Coach! campaign, a national effort to recruit, support, and celebrate the adults who step up to lead kids through sports in a healthy way.

If youth sports are going to change, it won’t start with policies or platforms. It will start with the adults who show up for kids every week.

In this episode we cover:
Why kids need multiple trustworthy adults in their lives
The hidden influence youth coaches have on young people
Why coaching is as much an art as it is a science
How youth sports have changed and why families feel more pressure
What the Yes, Coach! campaign hopes to change in youth sports

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FROM OUR SPONSORS:

Brite Legacy
https://britelegacy.com/

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New episodes every Wednesday.

---------

Get your Healthy Sports Parents gear:
https://www.healthysportsparents.com/shop

---------

Get your Weekend Playbook:
https://www.healthysportsparents.com/playbook

-----------

Follow us on social:

https://www.instagram.com/healthysportsparents
https://www.tiktok.com/@healthysportsparents
https://www.facebook.com/healthysportsparents
https://www.threads.net/healthysportsparents
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Youth sports development often focuses on skills, reps, and results. But there’s a missing piece that determines whether kids actually grow, last, and enjoy the journey.
In this episode, Jonathan sits down with Dr. Jonathan Jenkins, Team Clinical and Performance Psychologist for the New England Patriots and Behavioral Sport Psychologist for the Boston Red Sox, to talk about the mental side of youth sports that too often gets overlooked.

They dig into what kids really need to thrive, motivation versus willpower, why independence at practice matters, how fundamentals lead to confidence and flow, why resilience and finishing strong matter more than early success, and how parents can support their kids without making sports feel heavier than they need to be.
They also break down the four pillars from Dr. Jenkins’ new book Mentality Wins:

Focus. Learning to direct attention and filter distractions
Flow. Playing freely without overthinking
Finish. Responding to mistakes and setbacks with resilience
Flourish. Keeping identity bigger than sport

This conversation is for parents who care about development, not just performance. About raising confident, resilient kids, not just better athletes. And about making sure youth sports actually serve the kid, not the other way around.

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FROM OUR SPONSORS:

Brite Legacy
https://britelegacy.com/

--------
New episodes every Wednesday.

---------

Get your Healthy Sports Parents gear:
https://www.healthysportsparents.com/shop

---------

Get your Weekend Playbook:
https://www.healthysportsparents.com/playbook

-----------

Follow us on social:

https://www.instagram.com/healthysportsparents
https://www.tiktok.com/@healthysportsparents
https://www.facebook.com/healthysportsparents
https://www.threads.net/healthysportsparents
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.