Radha Balani: Canada at a Crossroads, Affordability First & Building Healthier Nations

Radha Balani: Canada at a Crossroads, Affordability First & Building Healthier Nations

Canada needs change in its sport system; Radha Balani has seen this before. As an expert partner in strategy and leadership at Think Beyond, she spent decades inside the UK's sport system, including its radical 2015 overhaul. Since then, she's worked with several countries and companies directly, including Jumpstart and the Canadian Paralympic Committee. She knows exactly what it takes to change a national sport system at scale because she's lived it. In this conversation, Radha traces her own youth sports journey growing up in a small English village, playing every sport she could find, and the progressive PE teacher who simply refused to put kids in boxes. She's candid that her own success was luck, not design — the system wasn't built for someone who looked like her, and she knows it. Radha breaks down exactly why the UK's 2015 reform worked, why Canada's current moment looks similar but lacks a critical component that made the difference, and what it actually means to measure outcomes instead of outputs. She makes the case for a mixed economy of public, private and community sport, explains why affordability is the single biggest barrier in Canadian sport today, and lays out what model nations like Norway and Australia got right by treating sport as a vehicle for health and wellbeing rather than the end goal itself. Better Sports Parents is helping parents positively contribute to the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week. Chapters 00:00 Opening 02:04 Itroducing Radha Balani 03:11 Liverpool, Her Father & John Barnes 05:09 Youth Sport Was Luck, Not Design 07:18 Injury, Identity & Losing Sport at University 09:39 Why She Loved Sport: Safety, Repetition & Belonging 11:59 Inclusion, Exclusion & Growing Up Different 16:00 Survivor Bias and Realizing How Lucky She Was 18:48 The UK's 2015 Turning Point 21:27 Canada in 2026: Similar Crossroads, Missing Piece 23:52 Why NSOs Can't Carry This Alone 27:14 The System Is Fractured — Can It Be Fixed or Rebuilt? 30:05 Is Sport in Canada Truly Unaffordable? 34:16 What's Missing: A Strategy, Not Just Recommendations 40:26 Norway, Sport as a Vehicle, Not the End Goal 43:55 The UK Tied Funding to Changing the Rules 45:15 Outcomes vs. Outputs: What Actually Changes Lives 49:01 Travel Teams, Sport Sampling & the Cliff Edge 53:32 Duty of Care: The Governance Piece Missing in North America 56:36 Paying Coaches for Training 59:14 Trauma-Informed Coaching 1:03:09 The Mixed Economy: Public, Private & Community Sport Together 1:06:14 Canada's Biggest Issue: Affordability 1:07:00 What Progress Actually Looks Like Resources ⁠Think Beyond⁠ [https://thinkbeyond.global] ⁠Future of Sport in Canada Commission Report⁠ [https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/campaigns/future-sport/participate/final-report.html] ⁠Jumpstart⁠ [https://jumpstart.canadiantire.ca] ⁠Kick4Life [https://kick4life.org]

Worth Repeating: Angus Reid on Giving Children Agency in Their Sports Journey

Former CFL centre and Grey Cup champion Angus Reid is now a high school football coach, a keynote speaker, and recently authored his second book, "Teenager: A Story About Finding Your Way". In this segment, Angus shares why he refuses to charge kids for coaching, what children can teach coaches and parents if they take the time to listen, and the critical difference between being demanding and demeaning. Listen to the full episode: ⁠Spotify⁠ [https://open.spotify.com/episode/6V0frdUUk1w6bsLrZPgGJA?si=djrXCNe-T1iDBZNVs2t_6g] ⁠Apple⁠ [https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/angus-reid-dont-play-the-shame-game-choose-your-words/id1834970608?i=1000741499863] Watch on ⁠YouTube⁠ [https://youtu.be/SiIbadb4YaE?si=KOi-pjtMZeo3wX9e]

Greg Stewart: Do All the Sports, Encourage Failure & The Power of Self-Acceptance

Greg Stewart spent the first 25 years of his life trying to prove to people that he wasn't disabled despite being born without half of his left arm. Once he changed his mindset, he found the sport of shot put and won two Paralympic gold medals. Greg is a three-time world champion in para standing volleyball, a U Sports Defensive player of the Year in able bodied basketball, and he stands seven foot two. But the most interesting thing about him isn't his resume. It's the path he had to walk to get there. A path that ran through able-bodied sport, university, rock bottom, two lost jobs, and an eventual breakthrough: accepting himself exactly as he was. In this conversation, Greg talks about what sport means when you spend years doing it for the wrong reasons, why failure is one of the most important things we can teach young athletes, and what the word inclusion actually means when you strip away the box-ticking. He shares the three values he brings to young athletes — trust, ownership and integrity — and makes a compelling case that the real problem in youth sports right now isn't the coaches or the kids. It's the parents... who he also believes are the solution. Greg is 40 years old, newly married, a brand new father of a three-month-old daughter, and studying for his master's in counseling. He has more to say about sport, identity and mental health than almost anyone we've had on this show. 🎙️ Better Sports Parents: helping parents positively contribute to the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week. Chapters 00:00 Opening 01:36 Introducing Greg Stewart 03:46 How Greg Got Into Sport 05:03 "You Can't Coach Height" — Using What You've Got 05:38 Starting in Grassroots: Soccer, Lacrosse and Everything Else 07:15 What His Parents Got Right: Encouragement Without Force 08:41 Did Sport Feel Like a Place He Belonged? 11:43 25 Years Trying to Prove He Wasn't Disabled 13:09 Leaning Into Able-Bodied Sport: What He Was Really Chasing 15:02 Having Success Without Having Joy 16:51 Chasing External Validation for 25 Years 17:16 Rock Bottom: Almost Failing Out, Fired From Two Jobs 19:36 How He Found Joy in Sport Again 20:26 Failure Is Important 22:26 How He Discovered Shot Put 25:24 Physical Health and Mental Health Are the Same Thing 28:12 Finding Flow State in Sport 30:07 What Greg Tells Young Athletes: Trust, Ownership and Integrity3 3:15 Are Parents Owning the Right Things? 35:19 Your Discomfort Is Leading the Way: A Message for Parents 38:17 Mental Health Support in Sport: What's Changed and What Hasn't 39:23 Why We Need to Let Kids Fail 41:20 Do All the Sports 43:18 Youth Sport Has Become Too Commercialized 44:13 The Coaches Who Shaped Greg 46:04 Ownership and Trust: Who Really Runs the Team? 48:38 What Inclusion Actually Means 52:03 Where Does Healthy Competition Belong in Youth Sport? 55:56 The Objective vs. The Purpose: A Crucial Distinction 57:42 Greg's Biggest Issue in Youth Sport Today: Parent Involvement 01:00:04 How to Bring Parents Along: Lead by Vulnerability 01:02:32 The Listeners We Really Need to Reach 01:03:30 The Mindfulete Resources Greg Stewart [https://athletics.ca/athlete/greg-stewart/] The Mindfulete [https://themindfulete.ca/] Jumpstart [https://jumpstart.canadiantire.ca/]

Worth Repeating: Jesse Marsch on How Parents and Coaches Can Create a Positive Environment

Jesse Marsch, coach of Canada's National Men's Soccer Team, has seen youth sports development from every angle: as a player, as a coach, and as a parent. Jesse doesn't give parenting advice: he gives coaching insights rooted in decades of professional experience and the lessons learned from watching his own three children navigate sports across the globe. In this segment, Jesse reveals the secret he learned as parent that made him a better coach, how coaches can bring parents alongside them in their child's sports experience, and why a positive environment produces the best results for players of all abilities. Listen to the entire episode: ⁠Spotify⁠ [https://open.spotify.com/episode/0HApKQvOkXUwSQSNQP8vzF?si=74a0c004a0584648] ⁠Apple⁠ [https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/jesse-marsch-over-emphasis-on-winning-community-through/id1834970608?i=1000743944688] Watch on ⁠YouTube [https://youtu.be/ZrW9rY-3WEY?si=NFsYmSOAMMrhNv2R]

Jay Triano: Learning from Steve Nash, Practicing in a Parking Lot & Fun is Fundamental

Jay Triano has spent almost all of his 67 years in sport. He's a former captain of Canada's Men's Basketball Team, the first Canadian head coach in NBA history with the Toronto Raptors, and a current assistant with the Dallas Mavericks. He's also the son of a high school basketball coach and the father of three kids who all played youth sports, which means he's seen every side of the equation. In this conversation, Jay draws direct lines between how he was raised in sport in Niagara Falls and the NBA coach he became. He talks about playing basketball, volleyball, baseball and track until he was nearly 18, why Steve Nash never acted like the best player in the room despite being exactly that, and what a parking lot practice with no hoops taught him about fundamentals that individual skill sessions never could. Jay is direct about what he sees wrong in youth sports today: parent-driven environments that prioritize exposure over development, social media that skips all the steps, and a growing culture of selfish play filtering down from the professional game. And he's equally clear about the fix: fun, teamwork, open communication, and coaches who understand that they're coaching twelve kids, not just yours. 🎙️ Better Sports Parents: helping parents positively contribute to the youth sports environment. Subscribe for new episodes every week. Chapters 00:00 Opening 01:35 Introducing Jay Triano 03:18 A Life in Sport: 67 Years and Still Going 04:16 How Jay's Dad Shaped His Love of the Game 05:37 Multi-Sport Until 17: Basketball, Baseball, Volleyball & Track 06:44 Unstructured Play: Street Hockey and Stats in the Front Yard 07:20 How Multi-Sport Cross-Training Made Jay a Better Athlete 08:21 Raising His Own Kids: Let Them Love What They Love 10:00 What Youth Sport Looked Like When His Kids Were Young 11:32 What Jay Looked for in a Youth Coach 12:31 Youth Sport Today: Parent-Driven and Overspecialized 13:55 NIL, Agents at Young Ages & Money Changing the Game 14:17 Higher Skills, Lower IQ 15:47 Too Many Games, Not Enough Practice 18:25 Multi-Sport and Learning to Fill a Role 19:08 Steve Nash: The Best Player Who Never Acted Like It 22:14 The European Model: Growing Together 24:15 Canadian Basketball's Rise and the Affordability Problem 26:14 If You're Good Enough, You Will Be Found 28:04 What Jay Wanted His Kids to Get Out of Sport 29:51 Learning From Bad Coaches Too 29:58 The Coaches Who Shaped Jay 33:32 The Biggest Mistake Jay Made as a Young Coach 36:11 Number One Advice for New Coaches: Make It Fun 38:19 How to Recognize and Reward Every Role on a Team 40:16 Phil Jackson's Rule: Acknowledge the Screen, Not Just the Bucket 44:54 What Jay's Dad Said After the Games 47:15 The Volunteer Coach and Referee Crisis 48:07 No Secrets: Jay's Rule on Parent Communication 52:10 He Wasn't Going to Cut a Kid in Grade Seven 53:51 What a Good Youth Environment Actually Looks Like 58:23 Developing Canadian Coaches: A Missed Opportunity 01:00:14 A Simple Thank You Can Keep a Coach Coming Back 01:02:16 The Parking Lot Practice That Built His Fundamentals 01:04:06 Social Media Is Skipping All the Steps 01:06:01 Are We Over-Parenting? Kids Need Difficult Situations 01:07:38 Learning to Be Coached Hard 01:09:06 Jay's Biggest Issue in Youth Sports Today Resources Jay Triano [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Triano]