Youth $ports

Episode 102: Round Table (The Coach- Aaron Rodgers, Ohio University women's soccer, The Player- Scout Murray, The Dad- David Murray) 🎙In this week’s episode, we have a unique round table discussion about college soccer. 3 different, but connected, perspectives… The coach. The player. The Dad.  Aaron Rodgers (Head Women’s Soccer Coach @ Ohio University) Scout Murray (Former D-1 soccer player @ Ohio...

Episode 101: Dr. Jeremy Alland (Sports Medicine Doctor & Team Doctor for the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls) 🎙In this week’s episode, sports medicine doctor Dr. Jeremy Alland joins me, who is the team doctor for the Chicago Bulls, Chicago White Sox, etc. In his own words, “I’m a sports doctor who doesn’t want to ever see you in my clinic.”  🔹 Dr. Alland explains that many conversations w...

Episode 100 (!!!): Colleen Leitner (My big sister) 🔹 My older sister Colleen joins for a special 100th Episode and proves that no one can humble you quite like your sister... From ACL injury roasts to podcast intro critiques and everything in between. 🔹 We dive into the older/younger sister dynamic and the childhood stories that shaped us… including assigning me my favorite color, to the legenda...

Episode 99: Where the guest is... The host New Episode 99:  🎙️ |  99 Problems, The Pod Ain’t Solved One x Myself No guest on today’s pod. Just me and my microphone, 99 episodes later, reflecting on the journey and some of the big takeaway lessons from the previous 98 episodes… A huge thank you to the 88 different guests who’ve sat down with me along the way and shared in some wonderful conversatio...

Episode 98: Dennis Bairos (Youth sports dad/Author) 🎙️ | Dennis Bairos knows the youth sports dad life well, raising 3 kids under the age of 10 while navigating the highs and lows of sports parenting. 🔹 Bairos built a career in fitness and admits he has an “all-in” personality that can quickly become obsessive when pursuing interests. 🔹 What started as a fun father-son golf hobby quickly acceler...

Episode 97: Taylor Roden (Soccer coach/Teacher) 🎙️ |  Taylor Roden is an elementary school teacher and girls soccer coach who loves coaching high school soccer, but has found it a challenge in recent years to land in the right spot at the club level. 🔹 As both a teacher and coach, Taylor is deeply focused on development and those “aha moments” for players  when confidence clicks and they realize...

Episode 96: Joe Foran (Long-time soccer official and mentor) 🎙 Joe Foran, a long-time soccer official, mentor, and author of Misusing the Young, joins the podcast to unpack the growing referee crisis in youth sports and why the entire system is leaning heavily on teenage officials to keep games alive. 🔹 Foran’s path into officiating started in the most ironic way possible: criticizing a referee h...

Episode 95: Abby Fleischer (Hospitality and Management Student at Kansas State)   🎙 Let’s talk youth sports megaplexes… You know, the massive, all-in-one complexes with endless turf fields, lights, indoor facilities, and yes… $50 parking. If you’ve been in youth sports long enough, you’ve probably lived a weekend (or 3 day weekend, because hey… Spend more MONEY!) inside one. 🔹 Abby Fleischer dug...

Episode 94: Harvey Araton (Sports Journalist/Author, New  York Times) 🎙 Harvey Araton, longtime The New York Times journalist and author, joins the podcast to reflect on decades of covering sports and how many of today’s youth sports issues were visible long before they exploded. 🔹 Araton shares that his most memorable assignment came during the 1998 NBA Finals, but what stuck with him most was a...

Episode 93: David Murray (Soccer Dad/Best-selling author/journalist) 🎙 David Murray, best-selling author and journalist, joins the podcast to unpack his new book Soccer Dad. It’s a brutally honest, often hilarious chronicle of his journey as a youth sports parent raising a future Division 1 soccer player. 🔹 Murray makes it clear from the start: “This conversation is not about sports… it’s about u...

Episode 92: Karen Walker (MLB Pitcher Walker Buehler's Mom) 🎙 Karen Walker, mother of MLB All-Star pitcher Walker Buehler, joins the show to share the behind-the-scenes journey of raising a son from neighborhood ballfields to the highest level of baseball…and why it was never part of some grand master plan. 🔹 Karen reflects on the universal question every youth sports parent quietly asks: “Could...

Episode 91: Kam Cox (Associate Director of Athletics, University of Illinois) 🎙 Kam Cox, Associate Director of Athletics at the University of Illinois, joins the podcast to break down how Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) has fundamentally reshaped college athletics and why the changes are still unfolding in real time. 🔹 Cox became the first NIL specialist in a Power 4 conference, stepping into a r...

Episode 90: Jordan Parker (Multi-time guest) 🎙 Jordan Parker returns to the pod, and as always, we start with a quick life update… including the latest installment of “old man” observations that somehow keep getting more relatable with age. 🔹 March Madness once again provides a fascinating lens into the current youth sports landscape, with themes that mirror conversations happening at the grassro...

Episode 89: Jeffrey Hou (Founder of Granville Peak search fund) 🎙 Jeffrey Hou, founder of the search fund Granville Peak, joins the podcast to help explain the growing role of private equity in youth sports and what investors see when they look at the industry. 🔹 Regardless of how people feel about it, private equity has undeniably entered the youth sports space and is beginning to shape the futu...

Episode 88: Madison Gates (VP of Marketing for i9 Sports, Former Division 1 soccer player) 🎙 Madison Gates, VP of Marketing for i9 Sports, joins the podcast to talk about the organization’s mission of putting kids first and why their tagline “The way youth sports should be” feels more relevant than ever in today’s youth sports landscape. 🔹 Madison explains that organizations like i9 thrived 20 ye...

Episode 87: Josh Skillman (Co-host of a podcast with his 10 year old son) 🎙 This week on the Youth $ports Podcast: I sit down with Josh Skillman, co-host (alongside his 10-year-old son Luke) of the podcast Always Pick the Underdog, to talk about creativity, connection, and why youth sports don’t have to be the only bonding experience between parent and child. 🔹 What started as a simple weekly Fac...

Episode 86: Katie Wells (Mother of a senior...) 🎙️ A year and a half after appearing on one of the earliest episodes of the Youth $ports Podcast, Katie Wells returns and this time, the story hits differently. A LOT can change in a year and a half… 🔹 Back then, she detailed the jaw-dropping grind of her son’s lacrosse journey: 3-hour round trips to Cincinnati multiple times a week, coast-to-coast...

Episode 85: Wilder Treadway (Returning guest) 🎙 This week on the Youth $ports Podcast: I welcome back Wilder Treadway for Round 2. Honestly, the best way to describe this episode is a complete smorgasbord of women’s sports, youth athletics, culture, Olympic talk, creativity, and some truly unhinged (but necessary) hot takes. 🔹 The WNBA’s current turmoil, as the league and players association head...

Episode 84: Nate Tucker (Paralympic Gold Medalist, World Champion) 🎙 This week on the Youth $ports Podcast: I sit down with Paralympic World Champion & Paralympic Gold Medalist middle-distance runner Nate Tucker, whose story is equal parts shocking, inspiring, and unforgettable. 🔹 Nate grew up in a one-of-a-kind household  with two Olympian parents still actively competing, where hard work wa...

Episode 83: Greg Visinho (Former Division III Women's Soccer Coach/Current club coach) 🎙 This week on the Youth $ports Podcast: I sit down with Greg Visinho, a former Division III women’s soccer coach and current club coach, to pull back the curtain on the realities of Division III athletics and the pressure-filled recruiting culture surrounding youth soccer. 🔹 What the Division III experience ac...

Episode 82: Craig Skinner (University of Kentucky volleyball coach) 🎙 This week on the Youth $ports Podcast: I sit down 1-on-1 with Kentucky Volleyball head coach Craig Skinner, one of the most accomplished coaches in college sports. 🔹 Fresh off a national championship appearance, 9th straight SEC regular season title, 21st NCAA Tournament, and a 2020 national championship, Skinner reflects on ex...

Episode 81: Jordan Paker & Toni Cannon (Heated Rivals) Repeat guests Jordan Parker and Toni Cannon join host Ally Tucker to deliver the 2026 Youth Sports Ins & Outs. We want the Ins to stay and the Outs to go! ... And a special guest joins us for the 1st time to drop a few In/Out bombs.  A few teasers for the Ins: - Saying "no" to absurd youth sports travel, expenses, competition, etc.  -T...

Episode 80: Chris Collins (Ability to Include, Inc.) 🎙 In this episode: I sit down with Chris Collins of Ability to Include, a nonprofit focused on reducing disparities in education, recreation, and advocacy for children with special needs and their families. We talk about how Chris’s love of soccer and background in special education shaped his coaching philosophy, why sports are one of the most...

Episode 79: Jenna Filipkowski (Psychologist/Soccer Mom) 🎙 In this episode: I sit down with Jenna Filipkowski, a youth soccer parent and psychologist who offers a refreshingly honest look at the youth sports landscape. Jenna admits she never loved soccer growing up, becoming a “professional soccer mom by happenstance.” Together, we explore how quickly youth sports become intense, expensive, and all...

Episode 78: Leslie Davis (Cross Country and Track Coach at Lafayette HS) 🎙 In this episode: I sit down with Leslie Davis, former Kentucky state champion in the 800 and now a cross country and track coach (and English teacher) at Lafayette High School in Lexington, KY. We dig into why running may be the most inclusive and accessible sport in schools, how it teaches kids to choose hard things, and t...