That number comes from a survey of students at high-achieving schools across the US. Researcher Jennifer Breheny Wallace spent years studying what she calls "toxic achievement culture" — the environment where performance becomes the lens through which children understand their own worth. And the finding that stopped me wasn't the anxiety statistics. It wasn't the burnout numbers. It was that one. 70% of kids believe their parents value them more when they succeed. Not know. Believe. These...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
A parent was Tasered on the sideline of a middle school basketball game. Not a fight outside a pub. A 12-year-old's basketball game. Slate Magazine investigated the trend last month. Police called to under-12s games. Adults throwing punches at school football. Parents screaming at teenage referees until they cried and quit. A 2023 survey found 68% of referees say fan sportsmanship is getting worse year on year. The US has lost 50,000 officials since 2019. In some regions, games are being...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader A new report just landed from the Million Coaches Challenge in the US. They've trained over one million coaches in youth mental health and development skills. And the results are striking. 90% of coaches felt more confident supporting life skills after the training. 72% believed their young athletes were more likely to stay in sport. 38 million children. Six million coaches. And the data says that when those coaches are trained to think about the whole child — not just the...
about 1 month ago • 1 min read
Norway just broke the all-time Winter Olympics record. 41 medals at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games. Three consecutive Olympic medal table victories. The most dominant run in modern sports history. And their secret? They removed all pressure from children's sport. No scores until age 13. No league standings. No national titles for kids. Parents are fined for posting youth results online. The whole system is built around one idea — that children should play because they love it. Not because...
about 2 months ago • 1 min read
He had everything a kid could dream of. Playing on the biggest stages in Australian football. Getting paid to do what he loved. Representing his club at the highest level. And then, in his mid-twenties, he just... stopped caring. I caught up with an elite AFL player recently, and he told me something that I haven't been able to stop thinking about. When I last saw him, he had just walked away from the sport. Not because of injury. Not because he wasn't good enough. Because the love was gone....
3 months ago • 1 min read
My favourite client came in on the weekend. And he said something that stopped me in my tracks. I'd been talking to his dad about the research I've been deep in lately — specifically around how much impact parents have on their kids' confidence and performance. Because here's the uncomfortable truth: the vast majority of challenges for kids in youth sports don't come from the kids themselves. They come from the parents. Not because they're bad parents. Far from it. Every single one of them...
3 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, I just published something I’ve been wanting to write for a long time: A complete, no-BS guide for parents looking for youth running coaches. Whether your child plays football, basketball, athletics, or any sport - this covers everything you need to know: Why running technique matters (even if they’re not a “runner”) What separates great youth coaches from average ones Red flags to watch out for How to find the right fit for YOUR child What to expect when you start After years of...
8 months ago • 1 min read
“You don’t rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” – James Clear Most runners blame the pain on: ❌ Bad shoes ❌ Bad knees ❌ Bad luck But here’s the truth: It’s not your body that’s broken. It’s your running mechanics. Every step you take is a skill. If you’re landing heavy… overstriding… collapsing at the hips… You’re putting 3x your bodyweight through fragile joints. No wonder it hurts. The fix? ✅ Re-learn running like a skill ✅ Build strength from the ground...
11 months ago • 1 min read
Hey Reader, Back in my early days of sport, there was one phrase I heard over and over again: “Pain is just weakness leaving the body.” You probably heard it too. And maybe, like me, you believed it. So we pushed harder. Ignored the warning signs. Trained through the twinges. Ran until something snapped — quite literally. Looking back now, it’s wild how normal that mindset was. Even celebrated. But here’s what I know now: 👉 Pain isn’t weakness. 👉 It’s communication. Your body is always...
11 months ago • 1 min read