The Safety Goals Podcast

Hey there Safety Goal Podcast listeners, I’m your host Justin Torres and I wanted to let all of you know that our first season has come to a close. While this is the last you’ll hear from us at The Safety Goals Podcast for 2023, I am happy to say that we will be back with new episodes in 2024 with new guests and perhaps some familiar voices. Until then, stay safe, stay healthy, and happy holidays...

On this week’s episode of The Safety Goals Podcast, we have Stephanie Kuzydym. Stephanie is a DuPont and Emmy-award winning sports reporter, covering both the good and bad of high school sports. With her career taking her to places such as Houston and Cleveland, Stephanie has seen quite a bit during her time reporting. Her ability to have seen different issues affect different regions gives her a...

On this week’s episode of The Safety Goals Podcast, we have Carlos Quentin. Carlos is a former MLB athlete who played with teams such as the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox, and San Diego Padres during his career. Setting records in both the minors and major leagues for being hit by a pitch, records which still hold to this day. The two-time MLB All-Star may have had injuries cut his caree...

On this week’s episode of The Safety Goals Podcast, we have Scott Gray. Scott works for Minnesota Hockey as their VP and SafeSport Coordinator, along with being the owner of the Gray Investigative Group. In this episode, we discuss how Scott works to help keep youth athletes safe through his many investigations into poor/improper behavior from both athletes and coaches. He recently sat in front of...

On this week’s episode of The Safety Goals Podcast, we have a short but informative episode where we take a look at injuries in professional sports and see how rule changes were made to reduce the chances of these injuries arising, along with how these rule changes have made their way down to the youth level. Often rule changes at the youth level derive from some sort of action being taken at the...

On this week’s episode of The Safety Goals Podcast, we have Nate Dalena. Nate is the Executive Director of Rugby NorCal Inc. while also maintaining a role as an insurance broker. In this episode, we discuss how Nate and all the members of Rugby NorCal are working to provide a safe space for youth athletes to grow themselves, along with their passion for the sport. Being a former Rugby athlete hims...

On this week’s episode of The Safety Goals Podcast, we have Josh Opiola who is the Senior Vice President of Business Development at InjureFree. In this episode, we discuss the importance of protecting youth athletes from abusive behavior, as well as how abuse prevention has progressed in recent years. Josh speaks on the importance of background checks and how having them completed can drastically...

On this Episode of The Safety Goals Podcast we have Executive Director of Jacksonville Sports Medicine Program (JSMP), Bob Sefcik joining us. Bob has worked in the athletic trainer space for quite sometime now and has been able to lead one of the pioneering programs in the country. JSMP works to place and manage AT’s throughout the state of Florida and in their time working with the state have ope...

Welcome to this edition of Safety Goals Podcast, where we have Jerry Stevens, LAT, ATC, who is an extremely well-respected individual in the world of Athletic Trainers’ (AT), as well as, the man behind Duval County Schools rapid advancement in AT integration. In this episode, we shed light on the world of AT’s, Duval County Schools, along with what Jerry Stevens is doing to revolutionize the way p...

Welcome to this edition of Safety Goals Podcast, where we bring on Jay Kimmel who is an extremely well-respected Orthopedic Surgeon, as well as, the Co-Founder and CEO of Upswing Health. In this episode, we shed light on the world of orthopedics, proper injury care/management, along with what Upswing Health is doing to revolutionize the way people receive medical assessments and treatments using t...

In this impromptu episode of The Safety Goals Podcast, Charlie and I breakdown the importance of being prepared for sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) in light of the most recent report that Bronny James suffered an incident Tuesday morning during a University of Southern California Basketball team practice.  SCA is the result of a structural or electrical disorder in the heart that can lead to a potenti...

Welcome to this edition of Safety Goals Podcast, where we dive deep into an important topic that deserves widespread attention. In this episode, we shed light on “The Jordan McNair Foundation: Fighting Heat Illness Awareness.” Join us as we explore the impactful work this foundation provides and the crucial mission it undertakes. The Jordan McNair Foundation embarks on a journey, driven by the mis...

On this episode of The Safety Goals Podcast, we speak with special guest, Megan Lukacs, of InjureFree. Since joining the InjureFree team in 2021, Megan has dealt with the data and analytical side of the business which allows for a greater understanding of how to assess and manage injuries. Her focus on improving youth sports comes from her passion for sports growing up but also her role as a mothe...

A fellow Arizona State alumni joins us this week during the latest episode of The Safety Goals Podcast, as we speak with the CEO of Dissinger Reed Insurance Agency, Christian Reed. After beginning his career in sales Christian made the move to Dissinger Reed where he has now been for the last twenty years. In that time he has seen so much of the sports industry shaken up with new rules/regulations...

In this episode of The Safety Goals Podcast, we speak with a special guest, Chris Brown, of InjureFree. Joining the team as their Sales Director in 2015 he has been able to drive InjureFree, along with the rest of the team, to the top of the youth sports market. His focus on improving youth sports comes from his passion for sports but also his role as a father. This episode will take us along Chri...

In this episode of The Safety Goals Podcast, we have the honor of speaking with the CEO of U.S. Youth Soccer, Skip Gilbert. Skip has had quite a career up to this point and it didn’t come without following his passion for sports, specifically soccer. He grew up playing organized soccer in his home state of New York. Here he worked on his game which he pursued throughout college, and joined the US...

In this episode of The Safety Goals Podcast, we speak with yet another special guest, Jessie Hoeck, of InjureFree. Being a former athlete and collegiate gymnast for the University of Maryland, she has always had her foot in the world of sports. Since joining InjureFree in 2015, Jessie has vaulted herself to the top of their account management department as well as taking on the challenge of leadin...

In this episode of The Safety Goals Podcast, we speak with a special guest, Cindy Chang, of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). Joining the league in April of 2022 as Chief Medical Officer (CMO), we look into her role and how things have developed in her first year at the helm. However, there is so much more to Cindy’s story, as she has broken barriers left and right throughout her fantasti...

Our first episode of The Safety Goals Podcast features a conversation between your two hosts (Justin Torres and Charlie Wund). We will take a deep dive into Charlie's history as the CEO of InjureFree, a technology service empowering child safety initiatives and risk management for youth sports organizations and schools. His passion stems from his experiences as an NCAA athlete in the sports of...

We're your hosts Justin Torres and Charlie Wund and we'd like to welcome you to The Safety Goals Podcast. The Safety Goals Podcast comes to you from the minds at InjureFree which provides a technology service empowering athlete safety initiatives and risk management for organized sports. Our own company goals have always aligned with doing what is best for the athlete, so we felt it was im...