Way of Champions Podcast

Wim Van Zwam ( www. TwoWayCoaching.com ) is the former lead instructor for United States Soccer Federation Pro license, and currently is back in the Netherlands teaching the UEFA A Youth license. He works in a mentorship and instruction role with coaches at the professional academies in the Netherlands such as Ajax, AZ Alkmaar, Go Ahead Eagles and others. He is preparing to teach the UEFA B course...

Wim Van Zwam ( www. TwoWayCoaching.com ) is the former lead instructor for United States Soccer Federation Pro license, and currently is back in the Netherlands teaching the UEFA A Youth license. He works in a mentorship and instruction role with coaches at the professional academies in the Netherlands such as Ajax, AZ Alkmaar, Go Ahead Eagles and others. He is preparing to teach the UEFA B course...

Wim Van Zwam ( www. TwoWayCoaching.com ) is the former lead instructor for United States Soccer Federation Pro license, and currently is back in the Netherlands teaching the UEFA A Youth license. He works in a mentorship and instruction role with coaches at the professional academies in the Netherlands such as Ajax, AZ Alkmaar, Go Ahead Eagles and others. He is preparing to teach the UEFA B course...

Joe Towne (@MeJoeTowne) is an actor, producer, writer and performance coach and mentor for numerous athletes, actors, broadcast professionals and more. His professional journey has taken him from coast to coast and across the Atlantic. He graduated with a BA in Theater from The University of Southern California and interned at 20 th Century Fox. Joe then headed back east, where he pursued a career...

Joe Towne (@MeJoeTowne) is an actor, producer, writer and performance coach and mentor for numerous athletes, actors, broadcast professionals and more. His professional journey has taken him from coast to coast and across the Atlantic. He graduated with a BA in Theater from The University of Southern California and interned at 20 th Century Fox. Joe then headed back east, where he pursued a career...

Jack Leggett is currently the head coach of the Team USA 18U National Team baseball coach, and is best known as the former head coach of the Clemson Tigers from 1994 to 2015. While at Clemson his teams made 21 NCAA appearances, 9 Super Regional appearances, and 6 trips to the College World Series. Leggett also  served as head coach for five years at the University of Vermont and nine years at West...

2021 was a tough year for all of us. 2022 is not starting out any easier. So many coaches have told us that they feel exhausted, at wits end, burned out, frustrated, and more. That's why Jerry Lynch and I decided to kick off 2022 with one of our Fireside Chats and to discuss avoiding burnout, finding balance, and not just resetting but re-firing in 2022.  If you are new to our podcast, Dr. Jerry L...

Dr. Kristen Dieffenbach (@DrDCoachScience) is an associate professor of Athletic Coaching Education, director of the Center for Applied Coaching and Sport Science at West Virginia University and president of the United States Center for Coaching Excellence. She is an Association of Applied Sport Psychology certified consultant, public relations and outreach head on the AASP e-board and president o...

Nate Baldwin (@NBaldwin75) has nearly 20 years of recreational sports industry experience as an entrepreneur, program administrator, and advocate for inclusive, high quality sport experiences. Nate's diverse career has spanned from the creation and management of a successful adult recreation organization in Denver, CO, to the revitalization of the Appleton (WI) Parks & Recreation youth sports prog...

Nick Buonocore started The Reformed Sports Project to provide a platform for coaches and athletes from the highest levels to share their perspective and experiences with parents and kids. What started as a a few interviews and some social media posts with quotes from these athletes and parents has turned into a movement, a podcast, and a social media giant. Nick uses his experiences as a former NC...

Rob Gray (@ShakeyWaits) is a professor at Arizona State University who has been conducting research on and teaching courses related to perceptual-motor skill for over 25 years. He is also author of the incredible new book How We Learn to Move: A Revolution in the Way We Coach and Practice Sports Skills .   He received his MS and PhD from York University in Canada with a focus on the visual control...

Raymond Atteveld is a retired professional soccer player, enjoying a long career at stops such as Everton, West Ham and Bristol City in the UK, along with Haarlem, Vitesse and FC Groningen in Holland. He began his coaching journey as an assistant coach at ADO Den Haag, and has since enjoyed head coaching roles in Holland, Cyprus and Israel. He has also spent time as an Academy Director, Technical...

This week we welcome back Stuart Armstrong (@stu_arm) to the podcast. Stuart is the Head of Coaching for Sport England and the host of one of our favorite podcasts, The Talent Equation., He spends his days helping to elevate the coaching profession, develop educational pathways for grassroots coaches, and so much more. This is his third solo visit to the podcast (Episodes 16 and 113). Prior to Spo...

Tom Statham and Tony Whelan have a combined 60 plus years coaching and leading the young players in Manchester United's Academy. Tony started out there as a schoolboy, eventually signing professional terms and playing for Man United, Manchester City, and in the US in the old NASL. He has been at United since 1990 in a coaching capacity, Head of Academy Coaching, and currently in an advisory role....

Alan Stein Jr. (@AlanSteinJr) is a world-renowned coach, speaker author and a father of three aspiring young athletes. He spent 15+ years working the highest performing basketball players on the planet, from Kevin Durant to Kobe Bryant, and now teaches audiences how to utilize the same strategies in business that elite athletes use to perform at a world-class level. His first book Raise Your Game...

David Epstein (@DaviidEpstein) is the author of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World , and of the New York Times bestseller  The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance . He has master's degrees in environmental science and journalism and has worked as an investigative reporter for ProPublica and a senior writer for Sports Illustrated. He is also one...

Trevor Ragan is one of my favorite people to speak with. He is the Founder of The Learner Lab (formerly Train Ugly) and host of the Learner Lab Podcast, two of the best resources for all things mindset, performance, and of course, learning and how to get better at getting better. I am most excited about his new book Learner , which he is currently releasing FOR FREE in audiobook form, four chapter...

Great cultures abound as examples of sporting success. The key is to build your own, using the success clues left by others as your guide. One such culture is the great FC Barcelona teams under Pep Guardiola. In this episode, originally aired in October 2018, author and professor Damien Hughes discusses his book The Barcelona Way and outlines the clues left by Barcelona and other great sports cult...

Coach Jerome Gumbs is a former collegiate and professional basketball player and the founder of Empower Me Academy ( www.empowermeacademy.net ). Founded in 2013, Empower ME Academy provides a holistic training experience. Student-Athletes develop better basketball skills — and in addition, improve their attitude, commitment, and discipline. The goal is for their Student-Athletes to become well-rou...

Ben Sherwood, founder and CEO of MOJO, and has coached his sons for the last 12 years in four sports. During that time, he also served as president of the Disney ABC Television Group and president of ABC News. Like many recreational coaches, he noticed that there were few if any resources to help the busy parent coach as he or she travelled from work to the practice field. So, he founded MOJO (@yo...

Anson Dorrance loves competition, and has spent decades understanding and creating relentless competitors in his teams. As the University of North Carolina Women's Soccer Coach, he has won over 1000 games, 21 NCAA Championships, and also led the US Women's National Team to the 1991 World Cup Championship. He has published 3 books ( Vision of a Champion, The Man Watching , and Training Soccer Champ...

Oliver Gage is the Director of Football at the Canadian Premier League and has a growing reputation for basing his footballing philosophy on a successful evidence-based approach to the sport and player development. Previously Head of Performance at the University of Virginia and Head of Performance Analysis and Technical Recruitment at Houston Dynamo, Oliver joined the Canadian Premier League as H...

James Clear (@JamesClear) is the international #1 bestselling author of Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones . Since its release in 2018, the book has sold over 5 million copies worldwide, and become mandatory reading for athletes, business leaders, and everyday people trying to change their life for the better. I first met James at a speaking engagement in...

Matthias Lochmann is a sport scientist in the field of training and coaching, a sports physician and a UEFA A licensed coach.  Since 2008, he has been working as a professor at the Department of Sports Science and Sport at the Friedrich-Alexander-University of Nuremberg. There, he is the head of the Division of Sport and Exercise Medicine. His current project is the reinvention of German youth soc...

Dr. Cassidy Preston (@CassidyPreston) is a mental performance coach and the founder of Consistent Elite Performance. He was a high level hockey player as a youth, played 5 years of university hockey, and five years of OHL major junior level before transitioning into coaching AAA Hockey. His own struggles as a player, especially when it came to the inner game, led him to get his PhD in Sports and P...