The Just Call Dad Podcast

Daily Over Decades | Faith, Fitness & Fatherhood with Dave Paczkowski JUST CALL DAD | A Conversation with Dave Paczkowski of Garage Gym Athlete What if becoming a better dad isn't about doing more, but being more intentional with what you're already doing? In today's call, I'm joined by my friend Dave Paczkowski from Garage Gym Athlete. We're talking about faith, fitness, f...

The Payphone | Who's Directing Your Steps? JUST CALL DAD | A Quick Call for Dads We have more ways to communicate than ever before. So why does it sometimes feel harder than ever to connect? In today's call, I'm taking a trip back to payphones, bag phones, and dial-up internet to talk about something I'm learning as a dad. DIRECTION — Don't let someone who doesn't know your...

Feedback. Form. Fight. | Breaking the Loop JUST CALL DAD | A Quick Call for Dads Ever feel like you're doing everything but not actually moving forward? In today's call, I'm sharing three lessons from coaching that I'm learning to apply to fatherhood, leadership, and everyday life. FEEDBACK — Who are you listening to? FORM — What habits are you building? FIGHT — Are you making deci...

The Dad Warm-Up | Just Call Dad Podcast We warm up before a workout, but how often do we prepare ourselves for the challenges of fatherhood? In this episode, I share how faith, fitness, coaching, and having the right team are helping me show up better for the people who need me most. The real workout is life. How are you warming up? 📓 Build Your Own Dad Warm-Up Routine Take what you heard in this...

IF YOU CAN'T RUN, WALK | Sprinting, Striding & Stretching Through Life Sometimes life calls you to sprint. Other times, all you can do is walk. In this episode of Just Call Dad, Coach Sean Patrick reflects on rediscovering videos he recorded in 2023, the challenges of accepting a slower season of life, and why personal growth isn't always about moving faster. From fatherhood and coachi...

CHOOSE YOUR HARD Sometimes the rain isn’t the problem. It’s how much we fight the fact that it’s raining. It was a rainy Friday morning. Cold. Wet. One of those mornings where everything just feels a little harder than it needs to be. And honestly, the weather wasn’t even the biggest problem. The morning had already been chaos. Missing glasses. Missing shoes. Kids to get where they needed to go. W...

PRAISE THE PERSON YOU’RE BECOMING What if praise shouldn’t only come after you get it right? We usually think of praise as a reward. You played well → praise.
You made the right decision → praise.
Your kid listened → praise.
Your athlete executed → praise. But lately, I’ve been thinking about praise differently. What if we used praise to help build the behavior we want to see—not just celebrate it...

75 | Anthony The Real Ketchup Guy From the archives here is an unreleased episode we only dropped on YouTube last year! Loved this talk with my friend Anthony! Healthy ketchup, a comeback story, and the kind of conversation that reminds dads why they started trying in the first place. Coach Sean Patrick sits down with Anthony Martins, better known as The Real Ketchup Guy, for a surprisingly powerf...

Brewing Awareness: Cultivating Intentional Behaviors Exploring how our habits, like coffee, take time to develop. Did you know that the average cup of coffee takes anywhere from one to five minutes to brew? As Sean Patrick reflects on this, he invites us to consider how we can use that brief moment to reset our minds and cultivate intentional thinking. The Brew of Intentionality In today’s episode...

Finding Your Dad Space: Embracing the Journey Exploring the challenges and joys of fatherhood in today’s world. Sometimes, the best encouragement comes from the stories of others—not just their successes, but their struggles as well. This week, Sean Patrick dives into the often chaotic yet rewarding journey of fatherhood, sharing his own experiences and insights on finding balance in the dad space...

What happens when structure becomes control—and teachers lose the freedom to truly teach? In this episode, Sean Patrick and Joe have an honest conversation about autonomy, creativity, collaboration, and perfectionism in education. They explore the tension between following a scripted curriculum and trusting teachers to use their experience, personality, and understanding of their students. Sean an...

71 | RECHARGED Recharge Your Battery: Finding Joy in Fatherhood Explore how to keep your energy up as a dad and find joy in everyday moments. In today’s episode, Sean Patrick shares his journey toward transforming the podcast into a platform for meaningful conversations rather than just content creation. This shift is aimed at fostering genuine connections, especially among fathers navigating the...

September 1st. There was something different in the air. Sitting outside early in the morning, I caught that familiar smell of fall—the kind that brings back memories and reminds you that seasons change whether you're ready for them or not. And it made me realize something: maybe the goal isn't to stop striving. Maybe it's to learn how to strive lighter . For the last two and a half years, Just Ca...

summary Sean Patrick shares personal insights on perseverance, identity, and the importance of surrounding yourself with the right support to overcome life's challenges. keywords motivation, perseverance, identity, support system, self-improvement, resilience, personal growth, mental toughness key topics The importance of perseverance and effort The role of self-identity in personal growth The sig...

68 | Find your crew ft. Evan Bush Evan Bush — More Than the Game What does professional sports teach you about being a dad? In this episode, I sit down with Columbus Crew goalkeeper Evan Bush to talk about much more than soccer. We talk about longevity, adversity, family, identity, leadership, and what happens when the game you’ve spent your life playing becomes something your kids get to watch yo...

67 | NOTES & PLANS Would You Take Your Own Advice? As dads, we give a lot of advice. Keep going. Be kind. Tell the truth. Put the phone down. Don’t worry about what everyone else thinks. Take care of yourself. Have courage. Say you’re sorry. Be present. But here’s the harder question: Are we listening to our own advice? In this episode, we talk about the gap between the things we tell our kids and...

66 | Nick DeMarinis  Episode Title: Chasing Greatness Without Losing Yourself | Nick DeMarinis on Fatherhood, Anxiety & Competing with Purpose Episode Description What does it look like to chase excellence without sacrificing what matters most? In this episode of the Just Call Dad Podcast , Coach Sean Patrick sits down with Nicholas DeMarinis ( Nicky Buckets ) —father of twin boys, corporate e...

65 | CONNECT Over the Fourth of July weekend, I found myself in one of those moments that reminds you what really matters. I watched a group of young men—guys I've coached and invested in over the years—playing with my daughters. They weren't just entertaining them. They were protecting them, encouraging them, and caring for them because years ago someone cared enough to invest in them. Th...

NEWSLETTER: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bUbidfXnwi4hKy_5rdNN3D7vfvXp0ZATvbXhKvEENAg/edit?usp=sharing What if becoming a better dad isn't about having better answers—but knowing who to call? In this episode, Sean reflects on the unexpected conversations the Just Call Dad Podcast has created with world champions, mental health professionals, educators, and everyday dads. Through those ex...

63 | DAD WIN | ft. JC Ingels You Have Permission to Win Most dads are losing a war they don’t even know they’re in. This week, Sean sits down with JC Ingels — F-16 fighter pilot, Air Force Special Warfare veteran, husband, and father — for a raw conversation about what it actually means to stay in the fight when life is coming at you from every direction. JC brings a framework that hits different:...

62 | NEW SEASON | ft. Sean Four years ago, Sean sat alone in a Tim Hortons atrium at Riverside Hospital — breakfast sandwich, coffee, and a camera pointed at himself — just trying to process. His wife was in a high-risk pregnancy room. His daughter was growth restricted. Nobody was watching. Nobody needed to be. That moment is where the Just Call Dad Podcast was born. This week, Sean gets real abo...

What happens when a season ends? In this episode of The Just Call Dad Podcast, Coach Sean Patrick reflects on the end of a coaching season, the final daycare drop-off with his daughter, and the emotions that come with realizing life moves faster than we want it to. This episode is about: • grieving small moments before they disappear • leadership through safety and trust • honoring the seasons beh...

What story are you really telling with your life? In this short coaching episode, Sean Patrick reflects on a moment at a track meet that sparked a deeper question about manhood, identity, and the artificial stories men often chase to impress others. From past versions of ourselves to the pressure of appearing successful, strong, or “cool,” this episode challenges dads and young men to stop buildin...

Episode 59 of the Just Call Dad Podcast is one of our most real and powerful conversations yet. We sit down with Jason Kolaczkowski to talk about fatherhood, fear, survival, and what it means to give yourself grace in the middle of life’s hardest moments. After climbing in the Himalayas to teach his sons about endurance and dreaming big, Jason was diagnosed with leukemia — and shortly after, the w...

Episode Description: We don’t need more time—we need to see the time we already have. In this episode of Just Call Dad, Coach Sean Patrick reflects on the small windows of life we often miss as dads, husbands, and leaders. In the middle of busy schedules, loud homes, and tired minds, there are moments—brief, powerful glimpses—that shape everything. From watching his daughters play during a rare, p...