Better Sports Parents

Chris Pronger:

Chris Pronger's NHL resume reads like a fairy tale: second overall pick, Stanley Cup champion, two Olympic gold medals, Hart Trophy, Norris Trophy, Hockey Hall of Fame. But ask him what the hardest thing he's ever done is, and the answer isn't hockey. It's parenting. In this conversation with Scott Rintoul, Chris draws a direct line between the low-pressure, multi-sport, creativity-driven childhood he had in Dryden, Ontario and the Hall of Fame career that followed. He talks candidly about the two rules he gave his own kids — work hard and have fun — and what happened when one of his sons stopped doing the second one. Chris doesn't mince words on the state of youth sport. He believes we've monetized and commoditized childhood sport to the point where the kids have been forgotten entirely. He's watched joy get extracted from talented players at every level, seen parents chase triple-A status for the wrong reasons, and watched super teams steamroll opponents while teaching kids nothing about adversity. His message is simple: fun comes first. The passion, the work ethic, the resilience... it all comes later. If it isn't fun, the rest of won't matter. 🎙️ Better Sports Parents: helping parents positively impact the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week. Chapters 0:00 Opening 01:35 Introduction: Chris Pronger 03:40 The Hardest Job of His Career: Parenting 04:48 Being a Parent vs. Being a Friend 06:00 How Chris Was Parented in Sport 08:08 Low Pressure, High Support: What His Parents Got Right 09:29 Unstructured Play and Why It Made Him Better 11:01 Multi-Sport: Why Chris Played Everything 12:41 Taking Breaks From Hockey, Even as a Pro 13:49 Are Kids on the Ice Too Long? 16:28 When It Should Be About Fun, Not Wins 19:22 Travel Sports: How Much Is Too Much, Too Soon? 23:31 His Two Rules as a Sports Parent 24:07 The Conversation He Had With His Son Who Wasn't Having Fun 26:12 Pressure to Have Kids in Hockey? 29:04 Studying the Game as a Kid 32:40 Passion vs. Fit: Follow What You Love 39:08 Parents: Who Are You Doing This For? 41:13 Triple-A or Bust: The Stigma That Kills the Joy 42:27 Even NHL Scouts Get It Wrong 48:58 Standards: Where Do They Come From? 49:37 Victimhood, Accountability and When His Game Turned Around 51:39 Blame Culture in Youth Sport and How to Fix It 53:33 The Monetization and Commoditization Problem 56:28 FOMO and the Genie That Won't Go Back in the Bottle 58:34 Super Teams: Why Chris Hates Them in Any Sport 59:01 Adversity as a Gift 01:05:07 What Youth Sport Teaches Future CEOs 01:09:44 Chris's Biggest Issue in Youth Sport Today Resources ⁠Chris Pronger's Book: Earned⁠ [https://www.amazon.com/Earned-Standards-Adversity-Opportunity-Chris/dp/XXXXXX] ⁠Chris Pronger: Hockey Hall of Fame⁠ [https://www.hhof.com/induction_archives/ind15Pronger.shtml]

Worth Repeating: Will Loftus on the Impact of Coaching

Will Loftus played more than a decade in the CFL, won two Grey Cups, and is enshrined in the BC Football Hall of Fame for his excellence on the field. But Will truly found his purpose once his days on the gridiron were over. Through Game Ready Fitness and the Washington Kids Foundation, he and his team are on a mission to ensure that every child has access to quality coaching and mentorship, regardless of background or skill level. In this segment, Will talks about the impact coaches have on people's lives and why that responsibility should not be taken lightly. Listen to the full episode: Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/episode/1dm9lIq1tg66BR26bCpgzZ?si=utpKM44LQ_yWIJrllkkY_A] Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/will-loftus-the-power-of-coaching-the/id1834970608?i=1000738299930] Watch on YouTube [https://youtu.be/OxvjkqfkJ6E?si=B1f00tB6O2TyZozy]

Adam Van Koeverden: The Alignment Issue, Fund Physical Literacy & Canada Wants to Win

Adam Van Koeverden has paddled over 120,000 kilometres in his lifetime. He's a four-time Olympian, a multiple world champion, and one of the most decorated kayakers Canada has ever produced. He's also Canada's Secretary of State for Sport, and that may be where his biggest race is being run. In this conversation, Adam traces the full arc of a sporting life that began with a mom who needed somewhere for her kid to go after school. The Oakville canoe club was affordable, it was welcoming, it ran on volunteers, and it changed everything. Adam wants every Canadian kid to have access to that same kind of experience, and he's now in a position to do something about it. He talks candidly about the $755 million federal investment in sport recently announced, and what it's actually designed to do. As Adam puts it, every world champion Canada has ever produced started out splashing around in swimming lessons or kicking a ball at a community center, and the foundation for elite sport is an active society. He also weighs in on the issues sports parents know too well: early specialization, the pressure to travel at young ages, the cost of living squeezing family budgets, and the gap between what the research says about youth development and what's actually happening on the ground. He shares his honest view on what a good youth coach looks like, what his own parents did right, and why the Norwegian model keeps coming up as the gold standard. And he makes the case that physical activity and play are human rights. Chapters 0:00 Opening 1:35 Introducing Adam Van Koeverden 5:11 The $755M Announcement: Largest Sport Investment in Canadian History 8:00 How Will the $755M Show Up in Your Community? 8:28 National Sport Organizations & the Alignment Problem 12:37 Hockey Canada and the Trust Deficit in Governance 14:30 Do We Need to Overhaul National Sport Organizations? 15:38 Underfunded at Every Level 16:39 Nation Building Through Sport: Why Adam Put His Name on a Ballot 18:24 What Parents Are Telling Him 21:46 The Case for Coed Sport Until Age 12 23:19 Can Government Incentivize Multi-Sport? 26:18 School-Based Sport vs. Club Sport: The Balance We've Lost 27:31 Not-for-Profit vs. For-Profit Sport 29:20 Sport Saves Kids 30:42 Adam's Youth Sports Journey 32:45 Why Kayaking? 34:12 Physical Literacy for All Canadians 37:12 Screens and the Generation That Stopped Moving 39:44 Competition vs. Participation 41:49 What Adam's Parents Did Right 43:05 The Norwegian Model: Kids Are Not Olympians 45:43 The Foundation for Success in Sport 46:39 What a Positive Sporting Environment Actually Looks Like 49:08 Valuing Coaching 54:48 Cost of Living, Sideline Pressure and Sport on the Chopping Block 56:05 What Does Success Look Like for Canada in 5, 10, 15 Years? 59:48 Adam's Biggest Issue: Declining Participation 1:00:46 Reasons for Optimism Resources ⁠Canada's $755M Investment⁠ [https://canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/sport-canada.html] ⁠Future of Sport in Canada Commission Report⁠ [https://futureofsport.ca] ⁠Canadian Tire Jumpstart Charities [https://jumpstart.canadiantire.ca]

Worth Repeating: Steve Kindel on Choosing Multisport in a Sport Specialized System

Steve Kindel is a former professional soccer player, the Technical Director of a youth soccer club (North Van FC), and the father of NHL forward, Ben Kindel. Steve not only had a front row seat to watch his son grow in various ways through multisport participation, but he also witnessed how NHL stars Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini benefited from playing soccer into their teens. In this segment, Steve describes the reality of year-round opportunities in so many youth sports, but advocates for families to hold firm to their beliefs and values with respect to multisport participation. Listen to the full episode here: Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/episode/323Op1GFaBuvrMUg9JgLsi?si=Uyfri3AhSIy7x911tfbjOw] Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/steve-kindel-the-triple-whammy-of-youth-sports-fears/id1834970608?i=1000740377898] Watch on YouTube [https://youtu.be/2AW_1hXJ16s?si=_sW22YHt3-9QTTOW]

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif: Two Worlds of Sport, Lessons from Andy Reid & Build Bigger Funnels

Laurent Duvernay-Tardif contains multitudes. He's a Super Bowl champion with the Kansas City Chiefs, a practicing physician in Quebec, a business owner, and the founder of a foundation dedicated to giving underserved children access to both sport and the arts. He is also one of the most thoughtful voices on youth sport you will find anywhere. In this conversation, Laurent traces the full arc of a remarkable life: from a childhood spent sailing with his family across the Caribbean, to playing badminton and violin alongside football as a teenager, to meeting with the Dean of Medicine before meeting a single NFL team, to sitting out a season to serve on the front lines of COVID relief. At every step, his story challenges the assumptions that dominate youth sports culture today. Laurent argues that sport and physical activity have quietly become two different things: one is an industry of performance, the other is a lifelong health behaviour. He believes the youth sports environment has tilted too far toward the former, narrowing the pipeline of kids who stay active. He talks about what Andy Reid understood about coaching that most coaches never do, describes the Kansas City locker room as a place where Travis Kelce's interest in fashion was treated with the same respect as a surgical reduction of a fracture, and how that culture of permission made the team better. He also opens up about his LDT Foundation, now active in over 60 schools & 400 summer camps across Quebec, which fuses sport and art to serve children who would otherwise have neither. And he makes a case that the goal of youth sport should not be to produce more elite athletes, but to produce more active humans. Chapters 00:00 Opening 01:36 Introducing Laurent Duvernay-Tardif 05:32 Why He Never Gave Up Medicine for the NFL 08:26 What Makes Andy Reid a Special Coach 09:57 Youth Coaches Who Let Him Stay Multi-Sport 11:30 How Martial Arts, Badminton Made Him a Better Lineman 12:50 His Parents' Approach 13:56 Two Years Away From Organized Sport 16:09 Being Left on an Island 17:06 Coming Back at 15: Hungry for Sport Again 17:58 Playing to Have Fun 19:32 What His Parents Asked After Games 20:47 The Contract Call: His Mom's Reaction 22:22 What Unconditional Love Looks Like in Sport 23:38 Why He's Not Ready to Coach Yet 24:02 What a Good Youth Coach Should Be 25:48 What to Look for in a Team Before You Enroll Your Kids 27:33 The Performance Industry vs. The Community 29:21 Building a Bigger Funnel 31:22 Importance of Elite Sport 33:17 Why More Participants Means More Champions 34:40 The LDT Foundation 37:10 Why Summer Matters Most for Kids Who Need It 38:09 How Playing Violin Made Him a Better Athlete 40:06 The KC Locker Room: Pokemon Cards, Fashion & Surgery 43:44 Why Football Became His Sport 46:08 Mahomes, Kelce and the Case for Multi-Sport 47:11 Were You Free to Play as a Kid? 48:01 Connecting People Through Sport 50:06 Why Kids Should Try Every Position 51:11 Affordability and Access: The Gap We're Creating 53:06 Don't Push Too Hard Too Soon 53:51 Where Should Money in Youth Sport Go? 55:39 Why Intergenerational Play Matters 57:15 The Most Influential Thing a Parent Can Do 57:56 Screen Time & Social Media 59:01 The Biggest Issue in Youth Sport 1:01:02 Jumpstart's Rethink Initiative Resources LDT Foundation [https://fondationldt.com] Jumpstart [https://jumpstart.canadiantire.ca] Jumpstart's Rethink Initiative [https://jumpstart.canadiantire.ca/pages/rethink]