December 9, 2025 • 55 mins
Abby Wambach and Julie Foudy join Greg for a conversation that hits at the heart of modern parenting. In a world where kids are constantly being watched, tracked, and evaluated, Abby makes the case for something simple but powerful: kids need space. Space to play, to fail, to problem-solve, and to figure out who they are without always feeling eyes on them. They talk about why unsupervised play still matters, how too much oversight can quietly hold kids back, and what it really takes to raise confident, independent young people today.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Youth sports in America are at acrossroads and I'm here to help
lead the conversation forward. I'm Greg Olsen.
Each week we're sitting down with top athletes, coaches and
more to talk about what's working, what's broken and
what's next. Welcome to you think.
What's up everybody. Welcome back to another episode
here on You Think. And I have to just start out by
(00:21):
saying something. So As for all the guests that
we've had on here and we've had Super Bowl champions, we've had
Hall of Farmers, we've had some of the most famous people in the
world of sports. As I dove into the BIOS, of
course, two people that I'm familiar with, I've cheered for,
I've watched on TV. I'm not sure if we've had two
guests accomplish as much as ourtwo guests today.
(00:45):
Julie Foudy, Abby Wambach, two of the most accomplished
athletes in all sports, but of course, well known for Olympic
gold medals, college, All Americans professional.
We could go on and on about yourbio, but Amy, Abby, Julie, I
can't thank you guys enough for for being here today with us on
you think. That was nice.
(01:07):
Thanks, Greg. I can tell you I we are big like
Olympic people in our house, like we love cheering.
It could be the American rowing team, team sports we've never
even watched before. But of course men's and women's
soccer, swimming like the the ones that everyone rallies
around. I could like picture watching
(01:28):
the US women's, whether it's World Cup, Olympic like and
screaming at the top of our lungs.
In our household, we don't have soccer players.
My daughter doesn't play soccer,but we have always like followed
you guys. Julie, we watch you on TV now.
Like all of your broadcasting stuff.
I respect as a now broadcaster myself.
So I can't tell you how much respect we have for both you,
(01:49):
Abby and Julie, and everything you guys have accomplished.
Really nice. Yeah, so sweet.
Thanks for having us on. Really appreciate it.
I want to hear a little bit about the work that you guys are
doing. And, you know, I, I looked, you
know, familiar with welcome to the party.
Obviously Billie Jean King, one of the most iconic sports
figures in U.S. history. Just talk a little bit about
(02:09):
your show with her and the threeof you kind of yucking it up and
telling fun stories and diving into kind of your world and your
craziness of all the things you guys have experienced in sports.
Jules, come on, Abigail. All right.
Well. So just a little background, a
little context of like how this whole thing started.
Julie had a podcast of her own called Laughter permitted.
(02:33):
I've had a podcast of my own, not in sports, but it's called
We can do hard things. And I have taken kind of like a
A10 year break from sports. I, I really wanted to dive into
other things. I wanted to be a really present
parent. My youngest is going to college,
(02:54):
playing soccer actually in July of 2026.
And I started to get a little bit panicked because I thought,
what the hell am I going to do now?
I'm going to be an empty nester.I need to, I want to, I want to,
I want to stay involved and do things.
And I realized I missed sports. I missed women's sports in a
(03:15):
real big way. But I did need that the time
off. So Julie and I are both part
owners of the Angel City FC teamhere in Los Angeles for the end
of BSL League. And at the very first game this
last season, when we we both went, we were getting
recognized. They were recognizing some of us
old farts at the game. And when I showed up, Billie
(03:37):
Jean King also happened to be there because she's also a
minority owner like Julie and I.And the three of us found
ourselves in a room quietly witheach other.
And on the way to the game, I said to my wife Glennon.
And I said, I I think I want to start a women's sports podcast.
I want to get back into women's sports.
She said, oh, you, you should. That like sounds so fun, you
(03:58):
know? So Fast forward 30 minutes.
I'm in this room with Julie and Billy.
And I walked straight up to Julie and I said, do you want to
start a women's sports podcast with me?
And Julie was like, yeah, that'sso weird.
I was just talking about this with Billy.
So it's just like this weird kind of kismet moment where the
three of us found ourselves in the same moment wondering about
(04:20):
podcasting, about women's sports.
And, and it's true that women's sports needs more women
podcasters, especially women podcasters who have experience
playing women's sports, Right. And, and to me and I, and I can
speak for Julie, like to do anything with Billie Jean King
is a dream. And so we figured out and found
(04:43):
a way to, to do this. And we put a lot of time and
effort planning and prepping forit.
And now we're in our like secondmonth of recording and, and, and
putting episodes out. They drop every Tuesday and
Thursday. It's been a dream come true.
Julie has really bought, broughtme back to life and brought me
back to joy because women's sports is so much about joy.
But Jules, what? What?
(05:03):
What's your perspective? Yeah, it was Greg.
It was so crazy because there's,you know, getting like, a quiet
moment with the Kinger, as we call her Billie Jean King, is
impossible given that woman. Like, everyone wants to say hi
to her and take a picture with her as, you know, like, she's
just like the thread that runs through all of women's sports.
She's such an icon and a legend.And so we're having this really
(05:28):
quiet moment in this suite. No one's in the suite because
it's pregame and and Abby comes bounding up like the puppy that
she is and is like, what's up? You guys want to do a podcast?
It's crazy. So we we do laugh about that.
And as Abby said, to be able to do this with the most iconic
(05:53):
woman we know in in women's sports is, is a gift really.
And we really want to archive her voice and her stories.
And you know, she's, she just turned 82 this this past
weekend, November 22nd. Sorry, I won't put a timestamp
on you. She just turned 82.
And and yet she every day goes to bed like excited on what
(06:17):
she's going to do the next day to change the world.
And I'm like, I want, I want that energy at 82 because I
honestly think I'm just going tobe drinking margaritas on the
beach. But I don't, I don't, I'm like,
what how is how do you still have this energy for, for
wanting to to put good into thisworld?
But it is really authentic to her.
(06:39):
That is who she is. So it is such an honor for us to
be able to host it with her. Well, that's awesome and there's
so many cool synergies. That's why I wanted to start
there because here on you think we are all things youth sports
and men's sports and women's andthe cross section and the mental
health component. We've brought on everyone from,
you know, Tom Brady to Malcolm Gladwell to, you know, just
(07:01):
trying to capture the entire world, not just through the lens
of athletes, not just through the lens of coaches and parents,
but everyone mental health specialists and performance
coaches. And how do we train my 13 year
old daughter different than my 13 year old son?
Like is that different? Do we coach in the same?
Like these are all the things that we've tried to kind of
tackle and uncover here at you think So to hear that you guys
(07:24):
are on a very similar kind of mission.
Like what have you found? Like take us into some of your
more interesting conversations, Like what are you guys unpacking
state, you know, talk specifically about the world of
women's youth sports. Well, we actually have had a
youth sports episode and, and what is really, I think
(07:45):
fascinating to both Julie and I,given that we're both parents,
Julie has a daughter who is playing Division One soccer.
My daughter is going to be playing Division One soccer next
year. So we have a unique kind of
background in that we know what it's like to have gone through
it ourselves. And now we have this
(08:06):
interesting, like data point where we have just gone through
it with our actual daughters because the landscape has
changed over the last 30 years, right?
And the business of youth sport,in my mind, has kind of infected
the truth and what we really want our kids to gain out of
playing youth sports, right? Most of our kids are not going
(08:31):
to be playing at the collegiate level.
Most of our kids are going to belearning how to use their
bodies, right? Are going to be trying to dabble
with this sport or that sport tosee what what what sticks and to
see what they might want to continue playing as we get
older. You know, I think that I think
(08:51):
that sports is such a fascinating like experiment for
all of us. Like how can we play?
How can we learn how to actuallyjust play in our lives?
And if we can figure out how to do that at a young age, maybe
those elements of play can stickwith us in our adulthood, right?
And I think that we lose sight of that.
I think as athletes, we got to do this job for so long that
(09:15):
honestly, almost every single day I would go out there be
like, I can't believe I got I get paid to do this.
Like this is so amazing. And really, I think what I was
saying is like, I can't believe I get to play and also make
money. And, and, and what I want my
kids to take from from playing youth sports is not necessarily
even like the discipline or the motivation or it's like, how can
(09:39):
I try to maintain my youth Dom and my and my childlike awe that
I want to go out and see into the world.
Yeah. And we've had these episodes and
we're going to continue having these episodes because I think
that so many parents and, and I'll stop talking, and I've been
talking a lot, but so many parents get lost in their own
(10:01):
ego around what they what it will look like on upon them as a
parent with how good or bad their child might be at sports.
Like we have to separate the parents need to define
themselves through their children's experience or through
their through their, their, their sport.
Greg, you have, you have two kids at 13, you said, And any
(10:24):
oldest twins at 13, I have. A yeah.
So I have a 14 year old son who's in 8th grade and then I
have boy, girl twins. OK, so seeing sports do and so
back, I'll back up for one second.
So I grew up with all boys. My dad was our high school
football coach, like traditionalhigh school football that you
would imagine 20 years ago. And like all boys, my mom was a
(10:47):
softball coach and a PE teacher and then moved on.
She was a lifelong educator. So like sports was our world,
but it was all boy sports. It was all football and like
men's basketball. So I now have a daughter who was
late to getting into sports and probably didn't discover she
started playing like soccer and basketball at, I don't know,
(11:08):
like third grade, 4th grade, theboys did it, you know, since
they were babies. She we would introduce her.
She never wanted to get into it.So we never pushed it.
The light has gone on for her and she's Uber competitive,
still developing her skills and whatnot.
But like she's super competitiveand whatnot.
I have had a whole different sports experience.
So, Julie, I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you this, like teach me how
(11:31):
to be a girl. Sports.
Dad. Because I only know sports one
way. And like, I get into these
arguments with parents at schooland I'm like, these girls are
fine. Like, they can be coached.
We can hold them to high standards.
We don't need to baby them. Like, what do we do?
Am I crazy? Like, help me be a better girl
dad in sport? Well, I guess just a girl dad in
(11:53):
general, but a girl dad who's now trying to help a young
daughter navigate, you know, middle school sports, sports at
the moment. Yeah, well, and and I think it's
it's where your kid is too, right.
Like every kid is different. Like for example, my daughter in
high school did not want mom anddad, who played a lot of soccer,
(12:14):
to have any feedback and given to her.
And so we were like, well, OK, like, but we can help you, you
know? That's a hard one to.
Swap, Yeah. And you're like, we, but like
we've kind of played and, and myhusband coached at a high level.
And so it was like, we kind of know this sport a little bit.
Don't you want to like a little bit of information?
(12:36):
And she's like, no more information.
And so we honored that. And it wasn't until her like
senior year in high school, she was like, OK, I'm ready.
I'm ready now for information because I realized I need to
catch up on stuff, right? And then she wanted to to grow.
And I mean, she always wanted togrow, but I think it gets to a
point where it's like, I just don't want any more information
(12:57):
and I just want to play and all that.
So I think it's where your kid is in terms of what they're
feeling of the volume and the amount of information that
they're willing to absorb and honoring that, right?
But I also think, yes, I mean, that was the thing I loved about
the national team is like, I wasaround a bunch of competitive
(13:19):
women that it was OK to push them in a way that was like
really healthy. And I was like, hell yes, I'm
around people now that like understand like I don't, I don't
want to be babied. I want, I want to play, I want
to compete. I want to do these things.
I want to win. I want to win.
And I don't, I don't, I don't need to hide the fact that I
want to win because this is likeall these women around me
(13:40):
understand that. So I do not need think you need
to baby them. I agree with that.
But I think the, the problem we have, and not just inherent to
the women's side of the game, but with youth sports, is that,
as Abby was saying, you know, my, my biggest take away, I have
a, a son who's 16 and now daughter who's playing at Oregon
(14:01):
in her first year as a freshman 18 year old, is that we, we have
a tendency as parents with the best of intentions to just suck
the joy out of it because we aretrying to, as Abby mentioned,
figure it out for ourselves. Like we want our kids to have
scholarships. We want our kids again, with the
(14:21):
best of intentions. We want them to be successful in
the sport. And so we push and we train and
we have them, you know, think, you know, just singular sports
and, you know, and specify and, and they end up doing just one
sport rather than trying different sports.
So I, I, when, when we talk about youth sports, I, I don't
(14:42):
talk about the kids. I talk about the parents because
they're the ones and the coacheswho are dictating the
experience. And we have to our North Star
has always been with our family.Like, do you like it?
Like, do you even enjoy it? And if you don't enjoy it, why
are you doing it? And the parent has to then frame
that for them to their behavior on the sidelines.
(15:05):
The way you're talking to a kid about their goals and
expectations, the way we're talking to them about like, you
know, I had a daughter who was like, so worried that her coach
would punish her because she wanted to go to prom.
I'm like, go to prom, like go doyour dances, like go have fun in
life. Like there will be more games,
there will be more tournaments. We don't have to miss every
(15:28):
family vacation because you're worried about a tournament or a
showcase or like like that perspective from a parent is
lost. I feel like nowadays in new
sports and we got to bring that back.
Greg, can I? Can I?
Give you like 1 little tip that.Was like 10 tips.
This is a good tip I've got. I got a lot of tips, but one
(15:49):
really good tip around the difference between coaching a
young young woman, young girl versus a young boy, young young
man is when when a coach or a parent is talking to a group in
a lot, Let's just say we're in alocker room and a coach is
talking to the team. If the coach says, you know, one
of you out there is just like really sucking it up, you're not
(16:12):
working as hard as you need to do.
A group of boys will think, Oh my God, he's talking to this guy
out here. He's not talking to me.
And a group of girls, a group group of young girls think the
coach is talking to them. So we do have to approach
psychologically the way that we talk to these kids.
Yes, I do think setting high standards and maintaining those
(16:33):
high standards is really important.
But especially with with young girls, they have to, they have
to set what that standard is, right?
Like having those conversations with these young girls is like,
what do you guys want out of theseason?
What do you want out of your individual accomplishments?
Like what kind of goals are you setting for yourself?
Because then you can hold them accountable to that stuff.
(16:56):
But parents set their own goals and their own standards for what
they want for their kids and they hold their children to that
standard. And the kids have not signed on
to that. They have not cosigned that
deal. So.
That's that is so spot on. Yeah, that and that's great
advice because I'll be honest, the first couple times I started
(17:16):
again, it was like introduction introductory, like young girls
basketball, like church league basketball.
We're teaching them where the free throw line is.
We're like we're talking very low level early on.
You know, this is, you know, elementary school type.
The first time I started coaching, my daughter and I was
coaching my son's travel baseball teams and tackle
(17:38):
football teams of 7th and 8th graders.
And they're 15 year old boys. And we're playing real football
and we're getting after it and we're competing.
And in practice we got our handson each other and we're
wrestling, you know, showing them how to hold off blocks.
And it's a very intense hands onexperience.
And then I walk in the gym with a bunch of 5th grade girls and
I'm like, OK, like I need to reframe to your point, Abby,
(18:02):
like how I talk to them, right? The message can be the same, but
I have to do a better job in my delivery.
So like I that what the example you just gave, the way you
framed, it's the best I've ever heard anyone.
I'm going to like sear that intomy brain going forward.
But Abby, I want to stick with you because I was on a pod the
other day being interviewed about youth sports and your name
(18:22):
came up and you you gave your opinion on parents involvement
at practice or not. So you know, you're shaking your
head. So you obviously know what I'm
talking about. So I got asked the same
question. So I want you to expand on that.
So you were asked, you said you do not want parents at practice.
Give your kids the space, let them explore, let them interact
(18:42):
with their coach. Dive a little deeper to that.
You've mentioned now in a multiple times like parents
goals, parents goals, but it's got to be the kid.
So just expand on that a little bit.
I find that very interesting. Yeah.
I mean, look, if your kid is four or five years old, like
this is age appropriate, right? Like I now understand that.
I do understand that parents, they want to be present for
(19:04):
their kids. A lot of parents, we work a lot
and sometimes this is the only time we get to see our kids
play. But in general, my feeling
around practice is that I think we need to create and carve out
the space for our children to figure out how to be people
without us watching them. I think that it is an important,
(19:25):
valuable asset for kids to not be looking over their shoulders
wondering if their parents just watched that play or saw that
play. I, I, I mean, honestly, the, the
10 years that I stepped away from, from sport after I
retired, I had to do a lot of like soul searching.
And so much of the reason why I played sport was external
(19:49):
motivation, right? This, this need for out out
there praise, this need for out out there validation.
And so I spent like the last 10 years figuring out how do I
internally motivate myself? Yes, I was motivated, but there
was an external component whether it was.
A financial reason, whether it was getting on a new Remember
(20:10):
when we were like, hoping to getinto the newspaper and that was
like such a big deal. You know, like, I want my kids
to feel like they have the agency within themselves to make
their own way in the world. And if we're sitting on the
sidelines at every single practice, first of all, who has
the time to do that? Nobody.
(20:32):
But what we're teaching our kidsis I'm here for you all the
time. And that's not a life skill that
they need to develop. They need to go to practice,
they need to be with their friends.
They need to figure out how to actually take instruction from
another adult figure. That of course, parents need to
be very diligent on the coaches that they put in front of their
(20:54):
kids, on what those coaches are teaching their kids.
And that's the responsibility ofthe parent.
But somebody's here, sorry guys,but at the end of the day, I
think it's so important that thethe kid gets to go figure out
how to be a person. And then when they get back into
the car, you can ask them what Ilike to say is the big three
questions. Did you have fun?
(21:17):
Did you learn anything? What was something that was
like? Did you see a kid out there do
something interesting, right? Like I don't think we need to
get into the XS and OS ever, right, Even for for me and Julie
and you, people who actually know what the XS and OS are,
people who know what they're talking about, they're our kids.
Experience is got to be their experience.
(21:39):
This is not has nothing to do with us, right?
Like we get to just then go to the games and watch them become
the person they're meant to become rather than us.
Like shape shift them into like little boxes that we we want
them to be, you know? No, I it's so funny.
So when I got asked the question, I'll give you my
answer. Yeah.
What is it? I said as a parent, I very
(22:01):
rarely go to practice the sportsthat I'm not actively coaching
with my kids. I might go watch the final 10
minutes because my kids are at an age where I still have to
pick them up or my wife has to pick them up.
So we'll like go pop in, watch the final 10 minutes, get an
idea of what the coach is doing,get an idea of how was practice
structured, but certainly not sit there for the entire two
(22:21):
hours. So from a parent perspective, I
completely agree. From a coach's perspective, I
want parents to come to my practice.
I'm one of the few. Every time I say that to people,
they look at me crazy because I know every coach wants parents.
I want parents at my practices. I do my team meetings after a
(22:41):
baseball game. We don't go in left field.
We do it right behind our dugoutand after football we do it
right up. You know, like I'm on the track,
like right in the front of the bleachers, like behind our
bench. We oh, I have found at the young
age again, I'm not into high school age or anything, so we're
still kind of young. I have found that by speaking
openly in front of parents at practice, after games, before
(23:05):
games, message to the team, corrections.
What was good, what was bad. Here are expectations.
Here's where we really need to put a lot more time and effort.
Here's where I have a coach havefailed you.
I I'm raising my hand saying hey, I can't always point out
Johnny and Sally. Hey, Abby's got to be better
here and Julie didn't do the inbounds play.
Sometimes the coach needs to sayI messed up and do it in front
(23:28):
of everybody. What I found is whether parents
agree with me or not, they at least there's no mystery.
They're not relying on a 12 yearold kid.
Hey, what did coach say after the game?
What did coach say? You have to work on if you're
anything, if you're kids or anything like mine, it's like
any or one out 10 minutes later,they don't remember what they
were even told to relay it. So I actually, as a coach, I
(23:51):
love parents stick. You can stand on the sideline
and listen to every word I say. You might not like it, you might
not agree with me, but you're never going to wonder what I'm
saying to your kid. It's never going to be a
mystery. It's never as a parent, I don't
go watch their practices, so I come at it from very two
different perspectives. I like it because it's what
(24:13):
you're saying is come. You can come if you've got
questions and you're wondering what we're doing in practice.
I love the idea of coming maybe for the last few minutes of the
of the practice and hearing whatthe coach is saying to the team
when when the the breakdown happens.
But I also think that there is something to be said around the
kids having their own unique period of time that's just
(24:36):
theirs. But you know, what's great about
that Greg, too, is you're, you're communicating.
I feel like that's a lost art bycoaches, right?
And, and, and especially to parents.
So if it isn't at practice, can you create a space that makes
sense that obviously everyone's got busy lives, but like have
(24:59):
those conversations of, hey, this is my philosophy on XY and
Z. So you know, right, This is what
our team, our club, our program stands for.
And that to me like the idea that like we're building these
athletes not just as athletes, but as fabulous human beings and
(25:22):
our club values this like leadership and all these things
that being a good teammate teaches you about life.
I would love a coach to have that conversation with parents
and tell us, because I don't think we do enough of that
right, of communicating to parents about what the club is
is teaching. And I don't want to know the X's
(25:44):
and O's, honestly. I want to know how are you
making my kid a better human? That's right.
Because sports is the best vehicle to do that.
And what are you teaching them? What seeds are you planting
along the way? That will help.
Because I want to sign my kid upwith that club, right?
Who values like balance? Who values all the things in
life that are going to make thembetter human beings and better
(26:05):
teammates? That's right.
That's good, Jules. I and the The thing is, we need
more people to value that right?It's it's very easy to isolate
Abby because she scored 200 goals.
Like that's easy, right? Like and now, and we could go
even to a deeper conversation about this, about like internal
and external motivators and living for outside praise.
(26:26):
It's no more prevalent than it is in today's society.
Our kids growing up in the middle school and high school
age it is almost virtually impossible to fight the urge to
see how many people like their Instagram reel or see how many
people friend like as much as wefight it and we tell them don't
value those people you would youever ask for their opinion.
(26:48):
So why do you care about like the more you but they're 12.
They're 13 year old girls. They're 14 year old boys.
They want to be accepted. Their friend across the street,
he scored the game-winning goal.I think it's so it's even more
prevalent. We were worried about getting
written up in the local high school.
You know, in high school, we're trying to get in the local
paper. You know, were you the athlete
of the week and like only your grandparents read it?
(27:11):
But nowadays the whole world knows what every middle school
soccer player, every middle school basketball player, we
know who these kids are from thetime they're in 6th grade.
And that's a whole nother ball game that these kids are dealing
with nowadays that I don't pretend to have the answers to
that. Yeah, it's, you know, the social
media world of it all. And that's the other thing,
(27:34):
right? Like, that's why I think parents
who are going to practice kids, everything that they're doing
right is it feels like it's being watched, right?
And like every post that they put online is there.
It's this weird consciousness that you're always, you're
always. Having to perform, it's
(27:57):
performing. Everything through this other
lens, like what will everybody else think?
What will my? And so if your parents are
sitting on the sidelines, they don't even have that time to go
and to just be free and to make mistakes and to learn from them
interpersonally, right? And to be with their friends and
(28:19):
to be with their teammates and to be with another adult figure
who's helping lead them through this weird time of, of the
social media world like that. I mean, for me, sports and and
kids, like you got to get your kids in sports just so that they
can get those two hours a day away from their phones.
And it's like, I know that schools are starting to do it,
(28:39):
but sports is also a really goodvehicle for that.
Hey everyone, I'm Kim Stein withthe Gatorade Sports Science
Institute. One thing we hear a lot from
parents is how confusing hydration can be, how much kids
need what to drink and when. Our team studies hydration,
health and performance under various conditions, helping us
understand how athletes of all ages can hydrate the right way.
(29:00):
Greg recently had a virtual conversation with our scientists
to break that down, and we're thrilled to work with You Think
to help share those insights. I think back to when I was
playing, I remember we'd go in the cooler and there'd be like a
regular, just a traditional Gatorade.
Then there'd be like G2 or you know, any variance, but it was
just the traditional non seal. Then what the trainers would do
is they would take the cap off and they would put in the Gator
(29:21):
light packets. You know, they like the salt
packets. And then those would have big XS
on the top. And to your point, based on what
you were looking for at lunch inthe cafeteria, I probably wasn't
going to have one with the Gatorlight package with the X on it.
That was more like middle of practice.
I'm dying. Crush that, get the electrolytes
in your system fast and go. But then at lunch, you're just
going to have a traditional Gatorade because it was dining,
(29:43):
it was more for the taste. It was more just to drink
something cold and replenishing.What's so cool now is with our
kids and our teams, we're hey, drink your Gatorades at home,
but we bring them now because these products are so much more
easily accessible. We don't have to rely on making
them ourselves during training camp.
It's a game changer. When we think about like the
need for hydration and what people need to consume and how
(30:04):
detailed the plan needs to be, agood way to put this to the
public is that if you're talkingabout the recreational athlete,
then maybe A1 size fits all approach may be sufficient for
that person. Now, as you transition towards
the side of the spectrum of someone exercising for
(30:24):
performance, the one-size-fits-all approach
starts to become insufficient and you have to start tweaking
these details. For instance, the composition of
sweat in terms of electrolytes is very variable.
So some people are heavy salt sweaters.
They will have those white stains on their training gear
after training or even after a game.
(30:46):
And then you have those that don't have a sweat that's too
concentrated. And of course, if you get these
two athletes as an example, the strategy changes completely, not
only performance at the moment of the game or the race, but
also how fast the recovery is going to take place.
All this can be influenced by the composition of the drink and
whether they're taking sufficient electrolytes.
(31:08):
And I think what I like about Gatorade that is science based
is the fact that you almost havelike a menu full of products.
No matter which side of the spectrum of athletic Six you
are, you can find a product thatwill cover your need regardless.
If you'd like to learn more, youcan visit Youth dot Inc back
slash Gatorade. Julie, I want to ask you this
(31:31):
and forgive me, I always use these interviews.
I always take advantage of people who know things a lot
better than I do. So I turn my interviews almost
into like I'm like prodding for things that I can steal.
So pardon that I'm picking your guys brains here to take with
me, but one advantage my daughter does have is when she
walks into the gym, there's not as much of A connection between
(31:54):
here in Charlotte, especially when we go play.
I coach my two boys on our middle school football team.
And when we walk into the gym, like we walk onto the field like
in Charlotte, especially those two kids are Olsen's kids and
they're constantly being evaluated.
Are they good, bad, fast, tall, small score, touchdowns, throw
interceptions? Oh, he dropped the ball.
(32:14):
That's never going to change. And we talk about that all the
time. My daughter doesn't really get
it as much, Granted, she's playing sports that obviously I
have no connection to. But also there's I think a
difference between a daughter being compared to their father
versus 2 boys. And I could be right or wrong on
that. That's just my own internal kind
of observation. I say all of that to say, I
(32:37):
guess both of you, but I'll start with you, Julie.
You have a daughter who follows in your footsteps.
You both have daughters who are playing your sport at a high
level. Talk a little bit about that
journey, right? They're constant.
They're not just being compared to mom.
Yeah, played and was a nice player.
We're talking about generationally, historically
great figures that have transcended just that.
(33:00):
They scored a lot of goals. Both of you bring a different
element to the world of women's soccer than just on the field,
right? You've pioneered the sport into
large. You know, there's professional
leagues now and women's soccer players are international
celebrities. Like that was not the case 20
years ago. So talk a little bit about your
daughter growing up playing yoursport, being compared to you and
(33:24):
how you guys as a family manage that.
Yeah, well, first I tell her I'ma massive deal and she should
honor that. As you should.
Right. She should pay her respects to
you before every game. No, I think you and ABS I don't,
I don't know how you've handled this, but I from from the very
(33:44):
beginning, we have always said, and I've always said to her,
like, look, you don't have to play soccer like that.
You absolutely as and especiallyas she started to understand
like why why are you signing autographs for people, mom?
Like, why do people want your autograph on things?
And like they start to like as they get a little bit older,
like understand, maybe my mom played at a higher level than,
(34:08):
you know, than most other moms. And so that was always the thing
we said like, you don't have to play soccer.
You can quit any day. And I would say this like once a
week. And she's like, I get it, mom, I
get it. You don't have to keep telling
me that I can quit soccer. I'm like, no, I mean that like
it doesn't, doesn't matter to us, but you will play a sport
(34:28):
and it doesn't have to be soccer, but you will play
something right like that. That is that is mandatory that
you play. And I, and we obviously I'm a
big fan of team sports as well. Nothing against individual
sports, but that we came from a team sports environment.
So, and the other thing is, is we, we often said like, like,
(34:51):
let's be realistic. The percentage of people who are
going to be Abby Wambachs and the Billie Jean Kings, right,
are small in this world, right? Like the gift of sport is not
that you have to put an Olympic medal around your neck or stand
on a podium or be winning something.
The gift of sport is that you learn that your teammates are
(35:13):
going to be your ride or dies for the rest of your life.
Like I'm still friends with likemy soccer rats teammates, my go
Green machine teammates. Abby has to hear me do mine.
Nobody messes with the Green Machine chant all the time.
And literally as we did our livepodcast last week, one of my
teammates was in the audience. Go green machine, right?
(35:34):
Like they are ride or dies for the rest of your life.
The things you learn about life and you as a human being are the
things that I think we should befocusing on.
And that's what we constantly tell, tell our kids, tell my
daughter who's in soccer, who stayed in soccer, who's now
playing collegiately in soccer. And so and it doesn't, it
(35:57):
doesn't always work. Like she had that conversation.
If like it's hard being your kid, right?
And I said, I know I get it. Like, but to have that
conversation openly and say, butlike quit anytime you want to
like, like don't quit on your team, but like, if you don't
love the sport, then don't do the sport.
Like you have to find the joy init, not us.
(36:18):
And so as long as you're you're having those conversations and
not, not like you will do this, you know, until you know, until
we get it right, because it's soccer.
No. So I think, you know, just
having those constant conversations, Greg, with your
kids, and especially since, you know, they're they're playing
(36:41):
football and your what'd you say?
Your daughter's playing soccer. Right now she's she doesn't play
soccer. She does.
She plays basketball and she runs track.
OK, nice. Awesome.
Yeah. And again, it's just framed
around like not outcomes and northe fact that like, regardless
of what your parents did, like what do you want out of it and,
and how you be a great teammate out of it Because I think that's
(37:03):
the value because not everyone'sgoing to go on to play at a high
level. I know that.
And in some ways, I mean what wedid with our youngest, we have
three kids and the two oldest one did cross country in high
school, other did a little bit of soccer.
She's more into music now and our youngest was like full on
loved soccer and my wife was like, look, every week she she
(37:25):
basically offered Amma the opportunity to quit.
She's like, do you want to quit?Amma would be like, no, you can
stop asking me this kind of thing.
But early on I just sat her downand I said, look, this, this has
nothing to do with me. Like you, if you want to do
this, you can do it, but I you will not attach any of like what
(37:46):
you're doing with me wanting youto do it because I'm just as
happy watching you play chess oror swim or play a different
sport. I'll be just as happy I am.
You don't need to prove anythingto me, is what I'm telling you.
And I had that conversation withher very early on.
And because Glennon kept asking her every week if she wanted to
(38:08):
quit, and she said no. And so I'm certain that what she
like, really why she has gotten to where she's gotten to is
because of her. And that is all of her.
That is her honor. That is something she gets to
carry with her everywhere she goes.
And yeah, there's autographs andthis and that that she's got to
deal with, but there's also privilege that she gets from it
(38:29):
in many ways, right? Being able to go meet her idols
because they're my friends. Like, there's some really cool
stuff that happens from it. So I'm sure that your kids are
fine. My my son did say.
Thing is real. Yeah.
Sorry. Go ahead.
Julie. What'd you?
Say my son did say like at like 13, like this soccer stuff is
too much running. And I was like, I know.
(38:52):
And he's like, no, I'm done, mom.
I'm like, good, you're done. You're good.
You're fine. He's a football, basketball guy
now. Perfect.
And you said how old? 16 now. 16 Yeah.
So sophomore in high school. Yeah, sophomore and I was like,
dude, and then he got big and tall and I was like, you could
be a center back, you could be agoalkeeper.
He's. Say all this and then in the
(39:13):
back of your mind you're like, but you'd be really good at it
and mom can help. You.
No, no. Well, Abby, I want to follow up
on that. So like your youngest is in high
school, is just finishing high school.
Senior, Yeah. OK, so I'm the soccer coach and
I and you're sitting in the bleachers.
Just me personally. I'm coming up to you saying I
(39:34):
want you to help us. Like you're not going to offend
me. I don't take it personal.
Help me. She wants you to help, doesn't
want you to help. Are you doing your work in Group
settings? Is it at home just the two of
you like? What is your level of coaching
your daughter look like? So early days I coached our
middle daughters rec league team.
(39:55):
We won the championship that year and then I retired and I
just said. You got to go out on top and
youth sports. Exactly.
I'm just I'm a champion everywhere I go.
All I do is win. But I did have the conversation
with Glennon and I was just like, look, I think I just want
to be a parent, and that's really important.
Now all of the girls on Emma's team now her club team are are
(40:18):
all committed to play for Division One teams.
And her new coach this year, shecame up to me and she said and
all the coaches have done this and I've just been like, no,
this is your team. I really want AMA to learn from
you and get kind of gave them carte blanche.
But this coach came up and she said, listen, I think that these
(40:39):
girls would really gain a lot from from you coming out.
And I said, all right. And so I go out once a week and
I don't coach a lot. I just watch.
I give a little tip here or there, like little things that
that I noticed that could help them.
And we do a little bit of extra fitness because I do think that
(41:04):
the next level, the jump that they're going to all make in
July and and August is going to be quite large.
It's it is a different level. It is a different level of
commitment. And they just all have to be
more fit in the club game in theclub that my daughter plays in,
they kind of believe in like equal paying playing time, which
(41:24):
means they play 20 minutes everyhalf.
And I'm like, you are not gonna,you don't have the kind of
fitness base for for collegiate level.
So I go in. And.
So they now associate Abby with running fitness.
They're like coach. Why the hell did I wanted her to
teach me how to do like some fancy ball handling?
Now she's just running me into, they see.
(41:45):
Her and they're like damn it. I wanted to teach me the flying
header. We all watched her friggin head
500 goals in World Class Stadiumso now she's just making me run
coach. Why did you bring this legend
out to make us run she? Sucks.
But here's the thing. Worse, I'm not a Sprint for just
sprint's sake. I like to do, I like to do
(42:06):
fitness in a way that like they're playing, they're doing,
they're doing like. Real fun fitness is still
fitness. Abby, you are the fitness Nazi
coming in. Oh my God.
But. Also, we do relay races.
Have you ever seen high schoolers run relay races?
There's nothing more fun than doing a relay race.
Seriously. Like, no, it's true.
(42:27):
And your whole team is behind you and you got to all sit down.
It's like I do camp fitness, just we're doing 2015 minutes of
extra fitness. It's really easy.
And I'm also providing them withthe little tips that they're
gonna need. Yeah.
That's good right along the way.See my my problem is I either
have to completely remove myselfbecause the second I'm like I
(42:51):
cannot stand at the practice andgive like little whispers.
It's I just my body explodes. So I'm either I either can't go
and I have to like not even be at the school, not be at
practice and stay completely removed, or I have to jump all
in into the deep end and coach everybody every moment the
(43:13):
entire time. So that's my issue is I wish I
could just be involved and just augment here and there and just
leave it at that level. I I need to improve at that
because that sounds a lot more fun.
It is, it is, and and honestly, it makes me feel better because
I don't have to plan anything. I show up, she runs the
practice. Every once in a while I'll stop
(43:35):
a drill because they're sucking and I'll just be.
There you go. That's what I like to hear that.
See, She left that out, Julie. No, every once in a while, but I
you got to see this is where parent.
This is the same thing with parenting, especially teenagers.
You can't nag them about everything because nothing then
ever changes. You've got to wait.
You got to, you got to find the right moment and, and hold, hold
(43:58):
your breath until the thing thatyou're going to say is going to
land and then their behavior actually adjusts.
It's the same thing with youth sports.
Like you can't nag them every single play.
You just got to hold on. And then when the moment arises
and it's going to shit, you get to stop the practice and be
like, and, and honestly, all it takes is this.
(44:19):
You stop the practice and you just look around kind of like in
disgust. And you say, do we think that
this can get better? And they're like, yeah, we do.
And I say then do it. And then I go to the sideline.
And your daughter's reaction? Does she like you being
(44:40):
involved? Does she wish you got involved a
while back? Or is she happy that she waited
till her senior year? She's I think happy that she
waited. I think that.
And on the way to the first, thefirst practice I did this this
season, I said, look, look like Abby mom is different than Abby
soccer player. So like, see me as like the icon
your friends look at me as, not the mother that you know me as.
(45:06):
You just have to switch it in your brain.
And when we got back in the car the first time, I was like, how
was that? And she was like, you know, and
it's gotten better. It's gotten better.
Like it was a little intense. Yeah, well.
Like it's just hard cuz she's dealing with all of the social
implications, right? Of course.
Like that's my mom and she's kind of yelling at us and at my
(45:26):
friends. Like it's kind of weird.
But I know the feeling here I amwhen I the joke in our house is
when my, when my two sons, boy like friends come over, the boys
that I've coached since they were five in every sport,
they're like, hey, coach Greg, hey coach Greg because I've been
wearing them out. When my daughter, her name is
Talbot, when Talbot's little girlfriends come over, they're
(45:48):
in 7th grade now. But you know, Coach Greg, Coach
Greg, Oh my God, Coach Greg and the boys look and my wife's
like, I was like, practices werea little, I guess I was a little
different. When?
Their version of Coach Greg, I guess was a little different
than what the boys, but it's just funny, like the boy, I
don't know. I don't want my daughter's
(46:08):
girlfriends to think I'm like the crazy dad.
I guess I'm a little more comfortable like if the boys,
I'm like, hey, we got to be better at practice tomorrow
night, Johnny. Yeah, you're right.
But with the I guess I don't know, it's just it's something
I'm working through. But I am hard as hell on my
daughter now. Like I, I tell her, I say I'm
(46:28):
going to treat you like I treat your brothers.
I said we're not doing the wholelike now again, Is the delivery
a little different? Probably the boys think she's my
favorite child. But like we we, we're hard on
her. High expectations, toughness,
competitive spirit, heart, like all that stuff isn't we?
How's she take it? She like it.
(46:48):
She is tough as Nate. Yeah, see.
And again, it depends on your kid.
You'll know. You got to know.
You got to know your. Kid, she's tough as nails.
She's competitive. She's got a she.
She'll run till she'll get in the car with me after track
practice and I'm like, how was practice?
It was great. I was like, what did you do?
And then she'll rattle off like the ladders and the drills and
(47:10):
all the running and I'm just thinking to myself, like, that
sounds exhausting. I'm like, how did you do it?
She's like, I won. She's like I beat the boys.
I was like, OK, I said good. I said I don't even know what
else to say. I'm like, yeah, that sounds
great. Like young, what I found with
young girls, I'm gonna let you guys go after this, like some of
this, and you guys correct me ifyou find it wrong.
(47:32):
You've obviously worked with a lot more young girls than I
have. But like sometimes the skill
that like the real sport specific stuff, the dribbling,
the ball handling, the passing, the school is a little bit
delayed from where the boys are.But the attentiveness, the look
you in the eye, the want to do it the right way.
(47:52):
Whether they have success or not, whether their skills are
ready for them to do it right orwrong is completely besides the
point. There's a little bit more of a
willingness to be pleasers. They want to do what they're
being coached. They're giving it their best
attention, even if their skill set is a little behind.
There's a different, like, mental connection with the young
(48:14):
girls than there is the young. The young boys are a little bit
more aloof. Yeah, I found.
Yeah, I mean, definitely the skill set not behind for girls
and boys. It just depends on the type of
girl and the type of boy, right.Like your boys may have just
been more rough and tumble as young kids.
And and so it just depends on, you know, I because I was
(48:38):
absolutely probably the best athlete in like the Northeast at
my age, at every age, boy or girl, I played with the boys
because back then there weren't like elite women's soccer, like
club, like girls soccer club teams.
So it just kind of depends. Like, I do know that it is
(48:58):
probably easier coaching girls because there's more of an
innate desire, not just the pleasing component to it, but to
want to like work together and figure out a solution on how we
can get our group from where we are to where we ought to be.
And I think that there might be.And I do think that that has a
(49:20):
lot to do with like the macro components to the world, whether
it's patriarchy or the fact thatthese boys can watch more men
playing sport on television. And it's getting better with the
women's with women's sports, butyou know, these kids are
watching these these games day in and day out, whether it's
football, basketball, soccer, you know, baseball.
(49:43):
And they're seeing themselves inthe individual on the the screen
that they're watching, right? And girls, there's more of this
team component to the way that they approach the game.
So I think that that it is easier to coach girls from that
perspective just based on the culture that we've all been
raised in. They are very supportive of one
(50:04):
another prep, like good shot, bad shot.
There's no eye rolls. The boys pass the ball out of
bounds and it's a lot of like, yeah, come on, man.
It's so funny though, I. Have not experienced any of that
with the girls. It's so funny when you think
about that on on a macro level, though, right?
Like it, it does, I think, modela lot of what we see in like
(50:28):
culture and societal relevance of women are community builders.
They're unifiers. And you hear a lot of coaches
say, Oh my gosh, so much easier to coach women.
And again, like the beauty of sports is this canvas where we
can teach kids what that means, right?
(50:52):
And we can't teach kids and boysthe importance of community
building and all these things that I think come a little bit
more innately to women and whichis what I love the most about
the opportunity for coaching. Again, it's not the X's and O's.
It's what we're teaching our kids.
I would sign up to coach my daughter's team for the next
till she graduates high school in a minute.
(51:13):
Yeah, it would. There's something I don't know
we could go on and on. But there's something about and
again, from a guy who grew up with only boys, only brothers.
I don't know if I ever attended like it just was not how I just
wasn't in raised in a female sports environment.
I just wasn't and it's been probably one of the coolest like
sports, change of mind for, you know, mindset and different
(51:36):
perspective. It's been a really fun journey.
I wish I did it more to be. Honest, yeah.
And good on you, Greg, for jumping in and doing all this
like there's a. More if they'd let me.
Yeah, there's AI just I, I, I, Idid not have that that gene in
me where I wanted to get in there and coach and I and I
think it's great that you do. So I agree.
(51:58):
I love it. You know, like the parents that,
like, think they know everything, but like, they don't
ever sign up for anything. I refuse to be that guy.
Yeah, I will be the first one toraise my hand.
And I'm not a basketball guy. I'm not a baseball guy.
I mean, like, I don't know thesesports as intimately as I do,
you know, football. But like, I will be the first
(52:19):
guy to raise my hand and say I'll figure it out.
I'll run the team, I'll coach it, I'll handle it because I
don't want to be. It's easy to sit in the stands
and find fault with the guy who is coaching or the girl or
whoever. It's very easy.
And I've always vowed to say like, I'm never going to be the
guy who's saying this has nothing to do with me.
But then I sit there and have all the answers.
(52:41):
So I'm like worst if I think I have the answers, I'll do it and
I'll coach it and I'll do the best that I can.
And yeah, I have the time, I have the ability, and I'll do
it. This was my run one rule with my
husband because we said this. We said, listen, this is our
rule and this is this is for every sport.
If we're not volunteering our time to be coaching, then we
(53:04):
have no right to criticize the person who is giving of their
time. Even if they're getting paid,
they're giving of their time. So that was the thing that
became became our like North Stars, like, no, we're not
giving of our time. So we have no right to actually
criticize that person. And imagine if it was just hard,
(53:25):
right? But we would catch ourself and
say, remember, remember, that was the rule.
You cannot do that. And imagine if every parent did
that because all you hear is this negativity instead and that
transfers and the kids hear it sometimes and then that
transfers down, Yes. And I think one of the things
that we also try to do is as we try to, to do that as well.
(53:47):
But when the kid starts to complain about whatever it might
be playing time, time or coaching decision or whatever,
we say, wow, that sounds like something you really need to
talk to the coach about and justleave it at that.
And, and, and so if you are going to keep complaining about
it without talking to the coach,then that's just, that's just
cowardice, right? Like you can't complain about
(54:09):
something unless you have the guts to actually go confront the
coach and say, look, I'm not getting enough playing time or I
don't know, you know, like, don't complain to us.
We're not here for complaining. We're here for solutions.
Like if you want to talk to us and talk through the that
conversation you're going to have, we're here for that all
day long. Well.
Amen to that, because my first answer I I yeah, the answer to
(54:30):
that is you're speaking my language right now.
Our first answer. I'm like, well, have you, How
have you done a practice? Have you worked hard?
Maybe you need to practice more.Maybe you need to get better.
I don't know. If I was the coach, I wouldn't
play either. It's very simple.
Again, they're not 5. I'm talking about like at.
Yeah, exactly. But anyway, Julie, Abby, I could
(54:52):
go on and on and pick your guys brains, what you guys have
accomplished in your own careers, but now what you guys
are doing for sports in general.But of course, the area of
women's sports, as you probably now know, an area that I'm more
and more passionate about as I experienced this through the
eyes of my own young daughter. I just applaud what you guys are
doing. It's cool for her to be able to
turn on the TV and watch women'ssports and sit down and watch a
(55:14):
girls basketball game on ESPN ona Wednesday night.
That is cool for us to do as a father and a daughter.
So I applaud what you guys do, applaud what you guys are out
there championing for and sharing your perspective as mom,
sharing your perspectives as former athletes and current
influencers in the space is sucha such a luxury for us here on
you think I can't thank you guysenough for joining us.
(55:36):
Thank you for having us, it's been fun.
Thanks, Greg.
Youth sports in America are at acrossroads and I'm here to help
lead the conversation forward. I'm Greg Olsen.
Each week we're sitting down with top athletes, coaches and
more to talk about what's working, what's broken and
what's next. Welcome to you think.
What's up everybody. Welcome back to another episode
here on You Think. And I have to just start out by
(00:21):
saying something. So As for all the guests that
we've had on here and we've had Super Bowl champions, we've had
Hall of Farmers, we've had some of the most famous people in the
world of sports. As I dove into the BIOS, of
course, two people that I'm familiar with, I've cheered for,
I've watched on TV. I'm not sure if we've had two
guests accomplish as much as ourtwo guests today.
(00:45):
Julie Foudy, Abby Wambach, two of the most accomplished
athletes in all sports, but of course, well known for Olympic
gold medals, college, All Americans professional.
We could go on and on about yourbio, but Amy, Abby, Julie, I
can't thank you guys enough for for being here today with us on
you think. That was nice.
(01:07):
Thanks, Greg. I can tell you I we are big like
Olympic people in our house, like we love cheering.
It could be the American rowing team, team sports we've never
even watched before. But of course men's and women's
soccer, swimming like the the ones that everyone rallies
around. I could like picture watching
(01:28):
the US women's, whether it's World Cup, Olympic like and
screaming at the top of our lungs.
In our household, we don't have soccer players.
My daughter doesn't play soccer,but we have always like followed
you guys. Julie, we watch you on TV now.
Like all of your broadcasting stuff.
I respect as a now broadcaster myself.
So I can't tell you how much respect we have for both you,
(01:49):
Abby and Julie, and everything you guys have accomplished.
Really nice. Yeah, so sweet.
Thanks for having us on. Really appreciate it.
I want to hear a little bit about the work that you guys are
doing. And, you know, I, I looked, you
know, familiar with welcome to the party.
Obviously Billie Jean King, one of the most iconic sports
figures in U.S. history. Just talk a little bit about
(02:09):
your show with her and the threeof you kind of yucking it up and
telling fun stories and diving into kind of your world and your
craziness of all the things you guys have experienced in sports.
Jules, come on, Abigail. All right.
Well. So just a little background, a
little context of like how this whole thing started.
Julie had a podcast of her own called Laughter permitted.
(02:33):
I've had a podcast of my own, not in sports, but it's called
We can do hard things. And I have taken kind of like a
A10 year break from sports. I, I really wanted to dive into
other things. I wanted to be a really present
parent. My youngest is going to college,
(02:54):
playing soccer actually in July of 2026.
And I started to get a little bit panicked because I thought,
what the hell am I going to do now?
I'm going to be an empty nester.I need to, I want to, I want to,
I want to stay involved and do things.
And I realized I missed sports. I missed women's sports in a
(03:15):
real big way. But I did need that the time
off. So Julie and I are both part
owners of the Angel City FC teamhere in Los Angeles for the end
of BSL League. And at the very first game this
last season, when we we both went, we were getting
recognized. They were recognizing some of us
old farts at the game. And when I showed up, Billie
(03:37):
Jean King also happened to be there because she's also a
minority owner like Julie and I.And the three of us found
ourselves in a room quietly witheach other.
And on the way to the game, I said to my wife Glennon.
And I said, I I think I want to start a women's sports podcast.
I want to get back into women's sports.
She said, oh, you, you should. That like sounds so fun, you
(03:58):
know? So Fast forward 30 minutes.
I'm in this room with Julie and Billy.
And I walked straight up to Julie and I said, do you want to
start a women's sports podcast with me?
And Julie was like, yeah, that'sso weird.
I was just talking about this with Billy.
So it's just like this weird kind of kismet moment where the
three of us found ourselves in the same moment wondering about
(04:20):
podcasting, about women's sports.
And, and it's true that women's sports needs more women
podcasters, especially women podcasters who have experience
playing women's sports, Right. And, and to me and I, and I can
speak for Julie, like to do anything with Billie Jean King
is a dream. And so we figured out and found
(04:43):
a way to, to do this. And we put a lot of time and
effort planning and prepping forit.
And now we're in our like secondmonth of recording and, and, and
putting episodes out. They drop every Tuesday and
Thursday. It's been a dream come true.
Julie has really bought, broughtme back to life and brought me
back to joy because women's sports is so much about joy.
But Jules, what? What?
(05:03):
What's your perspective? Yeah, it was Greg.
It was so crazy because there's,you know, getting like, a quiet
moment with the Kinger, as we call her Billie Jean King, is
impossible given that woman. Like, everyone wants to say hi
to her and take a picture with her as, you know, like, she's
just like the thread that runs through all of women's sports.
She's such an icon and a legend.And so we're having this really
(05:28):
quiet moment in this suite. No one's in the suite because
it's pregame and and Abby comes bounding up like the puppy that
she is and is like, what's up? You guys want to do a podcast?
It's crazy. So we we do laugh about that.
And as Abby said, to be able to do this with the most iconic
(05:53):
woman we know in in women's sports is, is a gift really.
And we really want to archive her voice and her stories.
And you know, she's, she just turned 82 this this past
weekend, November 22nd. Sorry, I won't put a timestamp
on you. She just turned 82.
And and yet she every day goes to bed like excited on what
(06:17):
she's going to do the next day to change the world.
And I'm like, I want, I want that energy at 82 because I
honestly think I'm just going tobe drinking margaritas on the
beach. But I don't, I don't, I'm like,
what how is how do you still have this energy for, for
wanting to to put good into thisworld?
But it is really authentic to her.
(06:39):
That is who she is. So it is such an honor for us to
be able to host it with her. Well, that's awesome and there's
so many cool synergies. That's why I wanted to start
there because here on you think we are all things youth sports
and men's sports and women's andthe cross section and the mental
health component. We've brought on everyone from,
you know, Tom Brady to Malcolm Gladwell to, you know, just
(07:01):
trying to capture the entire world, not just through the lens
of athletes, not just through the lens of coaches and parents,
but everyone mental health specialists and performance
coaches. And how do we train my 13 year
old daughter different than my 13 year old son?
Like is that different? Do we coach in the same?
Like these are all the things that we've tried to kind of
tackle and uncover here at you think So to hear that you guys
(07:24):
are on a very similar kind of mission.
Like what have you found? Like take us into some of your
more interesting conversations, Like what are you guys unpacking
state, you know, talk specifically about the world of
women's youth sports. Well, we actually have had a
youth sports episode and, and what is really, I think
(07:45):
fascinating to both Julie and I,given that we're both parents,
Julie has a daughter who is playing Division One soccer.
My daughter is going to be playing Division One soccer next
year. So we have a unique kind of
background in that we know what it's like to have gone through
it ourselves. And now we have this
(08:06):
interesting, like data point where we have just gone through
it with our actual daughters because the landscape has
changed over the last 30 years, right?
And the business of youth sport,in my mind, has kind of infected
the truth and what we really want our kids to gain out of
playing youth sports, right? Most of our kids are not going
(08:31):
to be playing at the collegiate level.
Most of our kids are going to belearning how to use their
bodies, right? Are going to be trying to dabble
with this sport or that sport tosee what what what sticks and to
see what they might want to continue playing as we get
older. You know, I think that I think
(08:51):
that sports is such a fascinating like experiment for
all of us. Like how can we play?
How can we learn how to actuallyjust play in our lives?
And if we can figure out how to do that at a young age, maybe
those elements of play can stickwith us in our adulthood, right?
And I think that we lose sight of that.
I think as athletes, we got to do this job for so long that
(09:15):
honestly, almost every single day I would go out there be
like, I can't believe I got I get paid to do this.
Like this is so amazing. And really, I think what I was
saying is like, I can't believe I get to play and also make
money. And, and, and what I want my
kids to take from from playing youth sports is not necessarily
even like the discipline or the motivation or it's like, how can
(09:39):
I try to maintain my youth Dom and my and my childlike awe that
I want to go out and see into the world.
Yeah. And we've had these episodes and
we're going to continue having these episodes because I think
that so many parents and, and I'll stop talking, and I've been
talking a lot, but so many parents get lost in their own
(10:01):
ego around what they what it will look like on upon them as a
parent with how good or bad their child might be at sports.
Like we have to separate the parents need to define
themselves through their children's experience or through
their through their, their, their sport.
Greg, you have, you have two kids at 13, you said, And any
(10:24):
oldest twins at 13, I have. A yeah.
So I have a 14 year old son who's in 8th grade and then I
have boy, girl twins. OK, so seeing sports do and so
back, I'll back up for one second.
So I grew up with all boys. My dad was our high school
football coach, like traditionalhigh school football that you
would imagine 20 years ago. And like all boys, my mom was a
(10:47):
softball coach and a PE teacher and then moved on.
She was a lifelong educator. So like sports was our world,
but it was all boy sports. It was all football and like
men's basketball. So I now have a daughter who was
late to getting into sports and probably didn't discover she
started playing like soccer and basketball at, I don't know,
(11:08):
like third grade, 4th grade, theboys did it, you know, since
they were babies. She we would introduce her.
She never wanted to get into it.So we never pushed it.
The light has gone on for her and she's Uber competitive,
still developing her skills and whatnot.
But like she's super competitiveand whatnot.
I have had a whole different sports experience.
So, Julie, I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask you this, like teach me how
(11:31):
to be a girl. Sports.
Dad. Because I only know sports one
way. And like, I get into these
arguments with parents at schooland I'm like, these girls are
fine. Like, they can be coached.
We can hold them to high standards.
We don't need to baby them. Like, what do we do?
Am I crazy? Like, help me be a better girl
dad in sport? Well, I guess just a girl dad in
(11:53):
general, but a girl dad who's now trying to help a young
daughter navigate, you know, middle school sports, sports at
the moment. Yeah, well, and and I think it's
it's where your kid is too, right.
Like every kid is different. Like for example, my daughter in
high school did not want mom anddad, who played a lot of soccer,
(12:14):
to have any feedback and given to her.
And so we were like, well, OK, like, but we can help you, you
know? That's a hard one to.
Swap, Yeah. And you're like, we, but like
we've kind of played and, and myhusband coached at a high level.
And so it was like, we kind of know this sport a little bit.
Don't you want to like a little bit of information?
(12:36):
And she's like, no more information.
And so we honored that. And it wasn't until her like
senior year in high school, she was like, OK, I'm ready.
I'm ready now for information because I realized I need to
catch up on stuff, right? And then she wanted to to grow.
And I mean, she always wanted togrow, but I think it gets to a
point where it's like, I just don't want any more information
(12:57):
and I just want to play and all that.
So I think it's where your kid is in terms of what they're
feeling of the volume and the amount of information that
they're willing to absorb and honoring that, right?
But I also think, yes, I mean, that was the thing I loved about
the national team is like, I wasaround a bunch of competitive
(13:19):
women that it was OK to push them in a way that was like
really healthy. And I was like, hell yes, I'm
around people now that like understand like I don't, I don't
want to be babied. I want, I want to play, I want
to compete. I want to do these things.
I want to win. I want to win.
And I don't, I don't, I don't need to hide the fact that I
want to win because this is likeall these women around me
(13:40):
understand that. So I do not need think you need
to baby them. I agree with that.
But I think the, the problem we have, and not just inherent to
the women's side of the game, but with youth sports, is that,
as Abby was saying, you know, my, my biggest take away, I have
a, a son who's 16 and now daughter who's playing at Oregon
(14:01):
in her first year as a freshman 18 year old, is that we, we have
a tendency as parents with the best of intentions to just suck
the joy out of it because we aretrying to, as Abby mentioned,
figure it out for ourselves. Like we want our kids to have
scholarships. We want our kids again, with the
(14:21):
best of intentions. We want them to be successful in
the sport. And so we push and we train and
we have them, you know, think, you know, just singular sports
and, you know, and specify and, and they end up doing just one
sport rather than trying different sports.
So I, I, when, when we talk about youth sports, I, I don't
(14:42):
talk about the kids. I talk about the parents because
they're the ones and the coacheswho are dictating the
experience. And we have to our North Star
has always been with our family.Like, do you like it?
Like, do you even enjoy it? And if you don't enjoy it, why
are you doing it? And the parent has to then frame
that for them to their behavior on the sidelines.
(15:05):
The way you're talking to a kid about their goals and
expectations, the way we're talking to them about like, you
know, I had a daughter who was like, so worried that her coach
would punish her because she wanted to go to prom.
I'm like, go to prom, like go doyour dances, like go have fun in
life. Like there will be more games,
there will be more tournaments. We don't have to miss every
(15:28):
family vacation because you're worried about a tournament or a
showcase or like like that perspective from a parent is
lost. I feel like nowadays in new
sports and we got to bring that back.
Greg, can I? Can I?
Give you like 1 little tip that.Was like 10 tips.
This is a good tip I've got. I got a lot of tips, but one
(15:49):
really good tip around the difference between coaching a
young young woman, young girl versus a young boy, young young
man is when when a coach or a parent is talking to a group in
a lot, Let's just say we're in alocker room and a coach is
talking to the team. If the coach says, you know, one
of you out there is just like really sucking it up, you're not
(16:12):
working as hard as you need to do.
A group of boys will think, Oh my God, he's talking to this guy
out here. He's not talking to me.
And a group of girls, a group group of young girls think the
coach is talking to them. So we do have to approach
psychologically the way that we talk to these kids.
Yes, I do think setting high standards and maintaining those
(16:33):
high standards is really important.
But especially with with young girls, they have to, they have
to set what that standard is, right?
Like having those conversations with these young girls is like,
what do you guys want out of theseason?
What do you want out of your individual accomplishments?
Like what kind of goals are you setting for yourself?
Because then you can hold them accountable to that stuff.
(16:56):
But parents set their own goals and their own standards for what
they want for their kids and they hold their children to that
standard. And the kids have not signed on
to that. They have not cosigned that
deal. So.
That's that is so spot on. Yeah, that and that's great
advice because I'll be honest, the first couple times I started
(17:16):
again, it was like introduction introductory, like young girls
basketball, like church league basketball.
We're teaching them where the free throw line is.
We're like we're talking very low level early on.
You know, this is, you know, elementary school type.
The first time I started coaching, my daughter and I was
coaching my son's travel baseball teams and tackle
(17:38):
football teams of 7th and 8th graders.
And they're 15 year old boys. And we're playing real football
and we're getting after it and we're competing.
And in practice we got our handson each other and we're
wrestling, you know, showing them how to hold off blocks.
And it's a very intense hands onexperience.
And then I walk in the gym with a bunch of 5th grade girls and
I'm like, OK, like I need to reframe to your point, Abby,
(18:02):
like how I talk to them, right? The message can be the same, but
I have to do a better job in my delivery.
So like I that what the example you just gave, the way you
framed, it's the best I've ever heard anyone.
I'm going to like sear that intomy brain going forward.
But Abby, I want to stick with you because I was on a pod the
other day being interviewed about youth sports and your name
(18:22):
came up and you you gave your opinion on parents involvement
at practice or not. So you know, you're shaking your
head. So you obviously know what I'm
talking about. So I got asked the same
question. So I want you to expand on that.
So you were asked, you said you do not want parents at practice.
Give your kids the space, let them explore, let them interact
(18:42):
with their coach. Dive a little deeper to that.
You've mentioned now in a multiple times like parents
goals, parents goals, but it's got to be the kid.
So just expand on that a little bit.
I find that very interesting. Yeah.
I mean, look, if your kid is four or five years old, like
this is age appropriate, right? Like I now understand that.
I do understand that parents, they want to be present for
(19:04):
their kids. A lot of parents, we work a lot
and sometimes this is the only time we get to see our kids
play. But in general, my feeling
around practice is that I think we need to create and carve out
the space for our children to figure out how to be people
without us watching them. I think that it is an important,
(19:25):
valuable asset for kids to not be looking over their shoulders
wondering if their parents just watched that play or saw that
play. I, I, I mean, honestly, the, the
10 years that I stepped away from, from sport after I
retired, I had to do a lot of like soul searching.
And so much of the reason why I played sport was external
(19:49):
motivation, right? This, this need for out out
there praise, this need for out out there validation.
And so I spent like the last 10 years figuring out how do I
internally motivate myself? Yes, I was motivated, but there
was an external component whether it was.
A financial reason, whether it was getting on a new Remember
(20:10):
when we were like, hoping to getinto the newspaper and that was
like such a big deal. You know, like, I want my kids
to feel like they have the agency within themselves to make
their own way in the world. And if we're sitting on the
sidelines at every single practice, first of all, who has
the time to do that? Nobody.
(20:32):
But what we're teaching our kidsis I'm here for you all the
time. And that's not a life skill that
they need to develop. They need to go to practice,
they need to be with their friends.
They need to figure out how to actually take instruction from
another adult figure. That of course, parents need to
be very diligent on the coaches that they put in front of their
(20:54):
kids, on what those coaches are teaching their kids.
And that's the responsibility ofthe parent.
But somebody's here, sorry guys,but at the end of the day, I
think it's so important that thethe kid gets to go figure out
how to be a person. And then when they get back into
the car, you can ask them what Ilike to say is the big three
questions. Did you have fun?
(21:17):
Did you learn anything? What was something that was
like? Did you see a kid out there do
something interesting, right? Like I don't think we need to
get into the XS and OS ever, right, Even for for me and Julie
and you, people who actually know what the XS and OS are,
people who know what they're talking about, they're our kids.
Experience is got to be their experience.
(21:39):
This is not has nothing to do with us, right?
Like we get to just then go to the games and watch them become
the person they're meant to become rather than us.
Like shape shift them into like little boxes that we we want
them to be, you know? No, I it's so funny.
So when I got asked the question, I'll give you my
answer. Yeah.
What is it? I said as a parent, I very
(22:01):
rarely go to practice the sportsthat I'm not actively coaching
with my kids. I might go watch the final 10
minutes because my kids are at an age where I still have to
pick them up or my wife has to pick them up.
So we'll like go pop in, watch the final 10 minutes, get an
idea of what the coach is doing,get an idea of how was practice
structured, but certainly not sit there for the entire two
(22:21):
hours. So from a parent perspective, I
completely agree. From a coach's perspective, I
want parents to come to my practice.
I'm one of the few. Every time I say that to people,
they look at me crazy because I know every coach wants parents.
I want parents at my practices. I do my team meetings after a
(22:41):
baseball game. We don't go in left field.
We do it right behind our dugoutand after football we do it
right up. You know, like I'm on the track,
like right in the front of the bleachers, like behind our
bench. We oh, I have found at the young
age again, I'm not into high school age or anything, so we're
still kind of young. I have found that by speaking
openly in front of parents at practice, after games, before
(23:05):
games, message to the team, corrections.
What was good, what was bad. Here are expectations.
Here's where we really need to put a lot more time and effort.
Here's where I have a coach havefailed you.
I I'm raising my hand saying hey, I can't always point out
Johnny and Sally. Hey, Abby's got to be better
here and Julie didn't do the inbounds play.
Sometimes the coach needs to sayI messed up and do it in front
(23:28):
of everybody. What I found is whether parents
agree with me or not, they at least there's no mystery.
They're not relying on a 12 yearold kid.
Hey, what did coach say after the game?
What did coach say? You have to work on if you're
anything, if you're kids or anything like mine, it's like
any or one out 10 minutes later,they don't remember what they
were even told to relay it. So I actually, as a coach, I
(23:51):
love parents stick. You can stand on the sideline
and listen to every word I say. You might not like it, you might
not agree with me, but you're never going to wonder what I'm
saying to your kid. It's never going to be a
mystery. It's never as a parent, I don't
go watch their practices, so I come at it from very two
different perspectives. I like it because it's what
(24:13):
you're saying is come. You can come if you've got
questions and you're wondering what we're doing in practice.
I love the idea of coming maybe for the last few minutes of the
of the practice and hearing whatthe coach is saying to the team
when when the the breakdown happens.
But I also think that there is something to be said around the
kids having their own unique period of time that's just
(24:36):
theirs. But you know, what's great about
that Greg, too, is you're, you're communicating.
I feel like that's a lost art bycoaches, right?
And, and, and especially to parents.
So if it isn't at practice, can you create a space that makes
sense that obviously everyone's got busy lives, but like have
(24:59):
those conversations of, hey, this is my philosophy on XY and
Z. So you know, right, This is what
our team, our club, our program stands for.
And that to me like the idea that like we're building these
athletes not just as athletes, but as fabulous human beings and
(25:22):
our club values this like leadership and all these things
that being a good teammate teaches you about life.
I would love a coach to have that conversation with parents
and tell us, because I don't think we do enough of that
right, of communicating to parents about what the club is
is teaching. And I don't want to know the X's
(25:44):
and O's, honestly. I want to know how are you
making my kid a better human? That's right.
Because sports is the best vehicle to do that.
And what are you teaching them? What seeds are you planting
along the way? That will help.
Because I want to sign my kid upwith that club, right?
Who values like balance? Who values all the things in
life that are going to make thembetter human beings and better
(26:05):
teammates? That's right.
That's good, Jules. I and the The thing is, we need
more people to value that right?It's it's very easy to isolate
Abby because she scored 200 goals.
Like that's easy, right? Like and now, and we could go
even to a deeper conversation about this, about like internal
and external motivators and living for outside praise.
(26:26):
It's no more prevalent than it is in today's society.
Our kids growing up in the middle school and high school
age it is almost virtually impossible to fight the urge to
see how many people like their Instagram reel or see how many
people friend like as much as wefight it and we tell them don't
value those people you would youever ask for their opinion.
(26:48):
So why do you care about like the more you but they're 12.
They're 13 year old girls. They're 14 year old boys.
They want to be accepted. Their friend across the street,
he scored the game-winning goal.I think it's so it's even more
prevalent. We were worried about getting
written up in the local high school.
You know, in high school, we're trying to get in the local
paper. You know, were you the athlete
of the week and like only your grandparents read it?
(27:11):
But nowadays the whole world knows what every middle school
soccer player, every middle school basketball player, we
know who these kids are from thetime they're in 6th grade.
And that's a whole nother ball game that these kids are dealing
with nowadays that I don't pretend to have the answers to
that. Yeah, it's, you know, the social
media world of it all. And that's the other thing,
(27:34):
right? Like, that's why I think parents
who are going to practice kids, everything that they're doing
right is it feels like it's being watched, right?
And like every post that they put online is there.
It's this weird consciousness that you're always, you're
always. Having to perform, it's
(27:57):
performing. Everything through this other
lens, like what will everybody else think?
What will my? And so if your parents are
sitting on the sidelines, they don't even have that time to go
and to just be free and to make mistakes and to learn from them
interpersonally, right? And to be with their friends and
(28:19):
to be with their teammates and to be with another adult figure
who's helping lead them through this weird time of, of the
social media world like that. I mean, for me, sports and and
kids, like you got to get your kids in sports just so that they
can get those two hours a day away from their phones.
And it's like, I know that schools are starting to do it,
(28:39):
but sports is also a really goodvehicle for that.
Hey everyone, I'm Kim Stein withthe Gatorade Sports Science
Institute. One thing we hear a lot from
parents is how confusing hydration can be, how much kids
need what to drink and when. Our team studies hydration,
health and performance under various conditions, helping us
understand how athletes of all ages can hydrate the right way.
(29:00):
Greg recently had a virtual conversation with our scientists
to break that down, and we're thrilled to work with You Think
to help share those insights. I think back to when I was
playing, I remember we'd go in the cooler and there'd be like a
regular, just a traditional Gatorade.
Then there'd be like G2 or you know, any variance, but it was
just the traditional non seal. Then what the trainers would do
is they would take the cap off and they would put in the Gator
(29:21):
light packets. You know, they like the salt
packets. And then those would have big XS
on the top. And to your point, based on what
you were looking for at lunch inthe cafeteria, I probably wasn't
going to have one with the Gatorlight package with the X on it.
That was more like middle of practice.
I'm dying. Crush that, get the electrolytes
in your system fast and go. But then at lunch, you're just
going to have a traditional Gatorade because it was dining,
(29:43):
it was more for the taste. It was more just to drink
something cold and replenishing.What's so cool now is with our
kids and our teams, we're hey, drink your Gatorades at home,
but we bring them now because these products are so much more
easily accessible. We don't have to rely on making
them ourselves during training camp.
It's a game changer. When we think about like the
need for hydration and what people need to consume and how
(30:04):
detailed the plan needs to be, agood way to put this to the
public is that if you're talkingabout the recreational athlete,
then maybe A1 size fits all approach may be sufficient for
that person. Now, as you transition towards
the side of the spectrum of someone exercising for
(30:24):
performance, the one-size-fits-all approach
starts to become insufficient and you have to start tweaking
these details. For instance, the composition of
sweat in terms of electrolytes is very variable.
So some people are heavy salt sweaters.
They will have those white stains on their training gear
after training or even after a game.
(30:46):
And then you have those that don't have a sweat that's too
concentrated. And of course, if you get these
two athletes as an example, the strategy changes completely, not
only performance at the moment of the game or the race, but
also how fast the recovery is going to take place.
All this can be influenced by the composition of the drink and
whether they're taking sufficient electrolytes.
(31:08):
And I think what I like about Gatorade that is science based
is the fact that you almost havelike a menu full of products.
No matter which side of the spectrum of athletic Six you
are, you can find a product thatwill cover your need regardless.
If you'd like to learn more, youcan visit Youth dot Inc back
slash Gatorade. Julie, I want to ask you this
(31:31):
and forgive me, I always use these interviews.
I always take advantage of people who know things a lot
better than I do. So I turn my interviews almost
into like I'm like prodding for things that I can steal.
So pardon that I'm picking your guys brains here to take with
me, but one advantage my daughter does have is when she
walks into the gym, there's not as much of A connection between
(31:54):
here in Charlotte, especially when we go play.
I coach my two boys on our middle school football team.
And when we walk into the gym, like we walk onto the field like
in Charlotte, especially those two kids are Olsen's kids and
they're constantly being evaluated.
Are they good, bad, fast, tall, small score, touchdowns, throw
interceptions? Oh, he dropped the ball.
(32:14):
That's never going to change. And we talk about that all the
time. My daughter doesn't really get
it as much, Granted, she's playing sports that obviously I
have no connection to. But also there's I think a
difference between a daughter being compared to their father
versus 2 boys. And I could be right or wrong on
that. That's just my own internal kind
of observation. I say all of that to say, I
(32:37):
guess both of you, but I'll start with you, Julie.
You have a daughter who follows in your footsteps.
You both have daughters who are playing your sport at a high
level. Talk a little bit about that
journey, right? They're constant.
They're not just being compared to mom.
Yeah, played and was a nice player.
We're talking about generationally, historically
great figures that have transcended just that.
(33:00):
They scored a lot of goals. Both of you bring a different
element to the world of women's soccer than just on the field,
right? You've pioneered the sport into
large. You know, there's professional
leagues now and women's soccer players are international
celebrities. Like that was not the case 20
years ago. So talk a little bit about your
daughter growing up playing yoursport, being compared to you and
(33:24):
how you guys as a family manage that.
Yeah, well, first I tell her I'ma massive deal and she should
honor that. As you should.
Right. She should pay her respects to
you before every game. No, I think you and ABS I don't,
I don't know how you've handled this, but I from from the very
(33:44):
beginning, we have always said, and I've always said to her,
like, look, you don't have to play soccer like that.
You absolutely as and especiallyas she started to understand
like why why are you signing autographs for people, mom?
Like, why do people want your autograph on things?
And like they start to like as they get a little bit older,
like understand, maybe my mom played at a higher level than,
(34:08):
you know, than most other moms. And so that was always the thing
we said like, you don't have to play soccer.
You can quit any day. And I would say this like once a
week. And she's like, I get it, mom, I
get it. You don't have to keep telling
me that I can quit soccer. I'm like, no, I mean that like
it doesn't, doesn't matter to us, but you will play a sport
(34:28):
and it doesn't have to be soccer, but you will play
something right like that. That is that is mandatory that
you play. And I, and we obviously I'm a
big fan of team sports as well. Nothing against individual
sports, but that we came from a team sports environment.
So, and the other thing is, is we, we often said like, like,
(34:51):
let's be realistic. The percentage of people who are
going to be Abby Wambachs and the Billie Jean Kings, right,
are small in this world, right? Like the gift of sport is not
that you have to put an Olympic medal around your neck or stand
on a podium or be winning something.
The gift of sport is that you learn that your teammates are
(35:13):
going to be your ride or dies for the rest of your life.
Like I'm still friends with likemy soccer rats teammates, my go
Green machine teammates. Abby has to hear me do mine.
Nobody messes with the Green Machine chant all the time.
And literally as we did our livepodcast last week, one of my
teammates was in the audience. Go green machine, right?
(35:34):
Like they are ride or dies for the rest of your life.
The things you learn about life and you as a human being are the
things that I think we should befocusing on.
And that's what we constantly tell, tell our kids, tell my
daughter who's in soccer, who stayed in soccer, who's now
playing collegiately in soccer. And so and it doesn't, it
(35:57):
doesn't always work. Like she had that conversation.
If like it's hard being your kid, right?
And I said, I know I get it. Like, but to have that
conversation openly and say, butlike quit anytime you want to
like, like don't quit on your team, but like, if you don't
love the sport, then don't do the sport.
Like you have to find the joy init, not us.
(36:18):
And so as long as you're you're having those conversations and
not, not like you will do this, you know, until you know, until
we get it right, because it's soccer.
No. So I think, you know, just
having those constant conversations, Greg, with your
kids, and especially since, you know, they're they're playing
(36:41):
football and your what'd you say?
Your daughter's playing soccer. Right now she's she doesn't play
soccer. She does.
She plays basketball and she runs track.
OK, nice. Awesome.
Yeah. And again, it's just framed
around like not outcomes and northe fact that like, regardless
of what your parents did, like what do you want out of it and,
and how you be a great teammate out of it Because I think that's
(37:03):
the value because not everyone'sgoing to go on to play at a high
level. I know that.
And in some ways, I mean what wedid with our youngest, we have
three kids and the two oldest one did cross country in high
school, other did a little bit of soccer.
She's more into music now and our youngest was like full on
loved soccer and my wife was like, look, every week she she
(37:25):
basically offered Amma the opportunity to quit.
She's like, do you want to quit?Amma would be like, no, you can
stop asking me this kind of thing.
But early on I just sat her downand I said, look, this, this has
nothing to do with me. Like you, if you want to do
this, you can do it, but I you will not attach any of like what
(37:46):
you're doing with me wanting youto do it because I'm just as
happy watching you play chess oror swim or play a different
sport. I'll be just as happy I am.
You don't need to prove anythingto me, is what I'm telling you.
And I had that conversation withher very early on.
And because Glennon kept asking her every week if she wanted to
(38:08):
quit, and she said no. And so I'm certain that what she
like, really why she has gotten to where she's gotten to is
because of her. And that is all of her.
That is her honor. That is something she gets to
carry with her everywhere she goes.
And yeah, there's autographs andthis and that that she's got to
deal with, but there's also privilege that she gets from it
(38:29):
in many ways, right? Being able to go meet her idols
because they're my friends. Like, there's some really cool
stuff that happens from it. So I'm sure that your kids are
fine. My my son did say.
Thing is real. Yeah.
Sorry. Go ahead.
Julie. What'd you?
Say my son did say like at like 13, like this soccer stuff is
too much running. And I was like, I know.
(38:52):
And he's like, no, I'm done, mom.
I'm like, good, you're done. You're good.
You're fine. He's a football, basketball guy
now. Perfect.
And you said how old? 16 now. 16 Yeah.
So sophomore in high school. Yeah, sophomore and I was like,
dude, and then he got big and tall and I was like, you could
be a center back, you could be agoalkeeper.
He's. Say all this and then in the
(39:13):
back of your mind you're like, but you'd be really good at it
and mom can help. You.
No, no. Well, Abby, I want to follow up
on that. So like your youngest is in high
school, is just finishing high school.
Senior, Yeah. OK, so I'm the soccer coach and
I and you're sitting in the bleachers.
Just me personally. I'm coming up to you saying I
(39:34):
want you to help us. Like you're not going to offend
me. I don't take it personal.
Help me. She wants you to help, doesn't
want you to help. Are you doing your work in Group
settings? Is it at home just the two of
you like? What is your level of coaching
your daughter look like? So early days I coached our
middle daughters rec league team.
(39:55):
We won the championship that year and then I retired and I
just said. You got to go out on top and
youth sports. Exactly.
I'm just I'm a champion everywhere I go.
All I do is win. But I did have the conversation
with Glennon and I was just like, look, I think I just want
to be a parent, and that's really important.
Now all of the girls on Emma's team now her club team are are
(40:18):
all committed to play for Division One teams.
And her new coach this year, shecame up to me and she said and
all the coaches have done this and I've just been like, no,
this is your team. I really want AMA to learn from
you and get kind of gave them carte blanche.
But this coach came up and she said, listen, I think that these
(40:39):
girls would really gain a lot from from you coming out.
And I said, all right. And so I go out once a week and
I don't coach a lot. I just watch.
I give a little tip here or there, like little things that
that I noticed that could help them.
And we do a little bit of extra fitness because I do think that
(41:04):
the next level, the jump that they're going to all make in
July and and August is going to be quite large.
It's it is a different level. It is a different level of
commitment. And they just all have to be
more fit in the club game in theclub that my daughter plays in,
they kind of believe in like equal paying playing time, which
(41:24):
means they play 20 minutes everyhalf.
And I'm like, you are not gonna,you don't have the kind of
fitness base for for collegiate level.
So I go in. And.
So they now associate Abby with running fitness.
They're like coach. Why the hell did I wanted her to
teach me how to do like some fancy ball handling?
Now she's just running me into, they see.
(41:45):
Her and they're like damn it. I wanted to teach me the flying
header. We all watched her friggin head
500 goals in World Class Stadiumso now she's just making me run
coach. Why did you bring this legend
out to make us run she? Sucks.
But here's the thing. Worse, I'm not a Sprint for just
sprint's sake. I like to do, I like to do
(42:06):
fitness in a way that like they're playing, they're doing,
they're doing like. Real fun fitness is still
fitness. Abby, you are the fitness Nazi
coming in. Oh my God.
But. Also, we do relay races.
Have you ever seen high schoolers run relay races?
There's nothing more fun than doing a relay race.
Seriously. Like, no, it's true.
(42:27):
And your whole team is behind you and you got to all sit down.
It's like I do camp fitness, just we're doing 2015 minutes of
extra fitness. It's really easy.
And I'm also providing them withthe little tips that they're
gonna need. Yeah.
That's good right along the way.See my my problem is I either
have to completely remove myselfbecause the second I'm like I
(42:51):
cannot stand at the practice andgive like little whispers.
It's I just my body explodes. So I'm either I either can't go
and I have to like not even be at the school, not be at
practice and stay completely removed, or I have to jump all
in into the deep end and coach everybody every moment the
(43:13):
entire time. So that's my issue is I wish I
could just be involved and just augment here and there and just
leave it at that level. I I need to improve at that
because that sounds a lot more fun.
It is, it is, and and honestly, it makes me feel better because
I don't have to plan anything. I show up, she runs the
practice. Every once in a while I'll stop
(43:35):
a drill because they're sucking and I'll just be.
There you go. That's what I like to hear that.
See, She left that out, Julie. No, every once in a while, but I
you got to see this is where parent.
This is the same thing with parenting, especially teenagers.
You can't nag them about everything because nothing then
ever changes. You've got to wait.
You got to, you got to find the right moment and, and hold, hold
(43:58):
your breath until the thing thatyou're going to say is going to
land and then their behavior actually adjusts.
It's the same thing with youth sports.
Like you can't nag them every single play.
You just got to hold on. And then when the moment arises
and it's going to shit, you get to stop the practice and be
like, and, and honestly, all it takes is this.
(44:19):
You stop the practice and you just look around kind of like in
disgust. And you say, do we think that
this can get better? And they're like, yeah, we do.
And I say then do it. And then I go to the sideline.
And your daughter's reaction? Does she like you being
(44:40):
involved? Does she wish you got involved a
while back? Or is she happy that she waited
till her senior year? She's I think happy that she
waited. I think that.
And on the way to the first, thefirst practice I did this this
season, I said, look, look like Abby mom is different than Abby
soccer player. So like, see me as like the icon
your friends look at me as, not the mother that you know me as.
(45:06):
You just have to switch it in your brain.
And when we got back in the car the first time, I was like, how
was that? And she was like, you know, and
it's gotten better. It's gotten better.
Like it was a little intense. Yeah, well.
Like it's just hard cuz she's dealing with all of the social
implications, right? Of course.
Like that's my mom and she's kind of yelling at us and at my
(45:26):
friends. Like it's kind of weird.
But I know the feeling here I amwhen I the joke in our house is
when my, when my two sons, boy like friends come over, the boys
that I've coached since they were five in every sport,
they're like, hey, coach Greg, hey coach Greg because I've been
wearing them out. When my daughter, her name is
Talbot, when Talbot's little girlfriends come over, they're
(45:48):
in 7th grade now. But you know, Coach Greg, Coach
Greg, Oh my God, Coach Greg and the boys look and my wife's
like, I was like, practices werea little, I guess I was a little
different. When?
Their version of Coach Greg, I guess was a little different
than what the boys, but it's just funny, like the boy, I
don't know. I don't want my daughter's
(46:08):
girlfriends to think I'm like the crazy dad.
I guess I'm a little more comfortable like if the boys,
I'm like, hey, we got to be better at practice tomorrow
night, Johnny. Yeah, you're right.
But with the I guess I don't know, it's just it's something
I'm working through. But I am hard as hell on my
daughter now. Like I, I tell her, I say I'm
(46:28):
going to treat you like I treat your brothers.
I said we're not doing the wholelike now again, Is the delivery
a little different? Probably the boys think she's my
favorite child. But like we we, we're hard on
her. High expectations, toughness,
competitive spirit, heart, like all that stuff isn't we?
How's she take it? She like it.
(46:48):
She is tough as Nate. Yeah, see.
And again, it depends on your kid.
You'll know. You got to know.
You got to know your. Kid, she's tough as nails.
She's competitive. She's got a she.
She'll run till she'll get in the car with me after track
practice and I'm like, how was practice?
It was great. I was like, what did you do?
And then she'll rattle off like the ladders and the drills and
(47:10):
all the running and I'm just thinking to myself, like, that
sounds exhausting. I'm like, how did you do it?
She's like, I won. She's like I beat the boys.
I was like, OK, I said good. I said I don't even know what
else to say. I'm like, yeah, that sounds
great. Like young, what I found with
young girls, I'm gonna let you guys go after this, like some of
this, and you guys correct me ifyou find it wrong.
(47:32):
You've obviously worked with a lot more young girls than I
have. But like sometimes the skill
that like the real sport specific stuff, the dribbling,
the ball handling, the passing, the school is a little bit
delayed from where the boys are.But the attentiveness, the look
you in the eye, the want to do it the right way.
(47:52):
Whether they have success or not, whether their skills are
ready for them to do it right orwrong is completely besides the
point. There's a little bit more of a
willingness to be pleasers. They want to do what they're
being coached. They're giving it their best
attention, even if their skill set is a little behind.
There's a different, like, mental connection with the young
(48:14):
girls than there is the young. The young boys are a little bit
more aloof. Yeah, I found.
Yeah, I mean, definitely the skill set not behind for girls
and boys. It just depends on the type of
girl and the type of boy, right.Like your boys may have just
been more rough and tumble as young kids.
And and so it just depends on, you know, I because I was
(48:38):
absolutely probably the best athlete in like the Northeast at
my age, at every age, boy or girl, I played with the boys
because back then there weren't like elite women's soccer, like
club, like girls soccer club teams.
So it just kind of depends. Like, I do know that it is
(48:58):
probably easier coaching girls because there's more of an
innate desire, not just the pleasing component to it, but to
want to like work together and figure out a solution on how we
can get our group from where we are to where we ought to be.
And I think that there might be.And I do think that that has a
(49:20):
lot to do with like the macro components to the world, whether
it's patriarchy or the fact thatthese boys can watch more men
playing sport on television. And it's getting better with the
women's with women's sports, butyou know, these kids are
watching these these games day in and day out, whether it's
football, basketball, soccer, you know, baseball.
(49:43):
And they're seeing themselves inthe individual on the the screen
that they're watching, right? And girls, there's more of this
team component to the way that they approach the game.
So I think that that it is easier to coach girls from that
perspective just based on the culture that we've all been
raised in. They are very supportive of one
(50:04):
another prep, like good shot, bad shot.
There's no eye rolls. The boys pass the ball out of
bounds and it's a lot of like, yeah, come on, man.
It's so funny though, I. Have not experienced any of that
with the girls. It's so funny when you think
about that on on a macro level, though, right?
Like it, it does, I think, modela lot of what we see in like
(50:28):
culture and societal relevance of women are community builders.
They're unifiers. And you hear a lot of coaches
say, Oh my gosh, so much easier to coach women.
And again, like the beauty of sports is this canvas where we
can teach kids what that means, right?
(50:52):
And we can't teach kids and boysthe importance of community
building and all these things that I think come a little bit
more innately to women and whichis what I love the most about
the opportunity for coaching. Again, it's not the X's and O's.
It's what we're teaching our kids.
I would sign up to coach my daughter's team for the next
till she graduates high school in a minute.
(51:13):
Yeah, it would. There's something I don't know
we could go on and on. But there's something about and
again, from a guy who grew up with only boys, only brothers.
I don't know if I ever attended like it just was not how I just
wasn't in raised in a female sports environment.
I just wasn't and it's been probably one of the coolest like
sports, change of mind for, you know, mindset and different
(51:36):
perspective. It's been a really fun journey.
I wish I did it more to be. Honest, yeah.
And good on you, Greg, for jumping in and doing all this
like there's a. More if they'd let me.
Yeah, there's AI just I, I, I, Idid not have that that gene in
me where I wanted to get in there and coach and I and I
think it's great that you do. So I agree.
(51:58):
I love it. You know, like the parents that,
like, think they know everything, but like, they don't
ever sign up for anything. I refuse to be that guy.
Yeah, I will be the first one toraise my hand.
And I'm not a basketball guy. I'm not a baseball guy.
I mean, like, I don't know thesesports as intimately as I do,
you know, football. But like, I will be the first
(52:19):
guy to raise my hand and say I'll figure it out.
I'll run the team, I'll coach it, I'll handle it because I
don't want to be. It's easy to sit in the stands
and find fault with the guy who is coaching or the girl or
whoever. It's very easy.
And I've always vowed to say like, I'm never going to be the
guy who's saying this has nothing to do with me.
But then I sit there and have all the answers.
(52:41):
So I'm like worst if I think I have the answers, I'll do it and
I'll coach it and I'll do the best that I can.
And yeah, I have the time, I have the ability, and I'll do
it. This was my run one rule with my
husband because we said this. We said, listen, this is our
rule and this is this is for every sport.
If we're not volunteering our time to be coaching, then we
(53:04):
have no right to criticize the person who is giving of their
time. Even if they're getting paid,
they're giving of their time. So that was the thing that
became became our like North Stars, like, no, we're not
giving of our time. So we have no right to actually
criticize that person. And imagine if it was just hard,
(53:25):
right? But we would catch ourself and
say, remember, remember, that was the rule.
You cannot do that. And imagine if every parent did
that because all you hear is this negativity instead and that
transfers and the kids hear it sometimes and then that
transfers down, Yes. And I think one of the things
that we also try to do is as we try to, to do that as well.
(53:47):
But when the kid starts to complain about whatever it might
be playing time, time or coaching decision or whatever,
we say, wow, that sounds like something you really need to
talk to the coach about and justleave it at that.
And, and, and so if you are going to keep complaining about
it without talking to the coach,then that's just, that's just
cowardice, right? Like you can't complain about
(54:09):
something unless you have the guts to actually go confront the
coach and say, look, I'm not getting enough playing time or I
don't know, you know, like, don't complain to us.
We're not here for complaining. We're here for solutions.
Like if you want to talk to us and talk through the that
conversation you're going to have, we're here for that all
day long. Well.
Amen to that, because my first answer I I yeah, the answer to
(54:30):
that is you're speaking my language right now.
Our first answer. I'm like, well, have you, How
have you done a practice? Have you worked hard?
Maybe you need to practice more.Maybe you need to get better.
I don't know. If I was the coach, I wouldn't
play either. It's very simple.
Again, they're not 5. I'm talking about like at.
Yeah, exactly. But anyway, Julie, Abby, I could
(54:52):
go on and on and pick your guys brains, what you guys have
accomplished in your own careers, but now what you guys
are doing for sports in general.But of course, the area of
women's sports, as you probably now know, an area that I'm more
and more passionate about as I experienced this through the
eyes of my own young daughter. I just applaud what you guys are
doing. It's cool for her to be able to
turn on the TV and watch women'ssports and sit down and watch a
(55:14):
girls basketball game on ESPN ona Wednesday night.
That is cool for us to do as a father and a daughter.
So I applaud what you guys do, applaud what you guys are out
there championing for and sharing your perspective as mom,
sharing your perspectives as former athletes and current
influencers in the space is sucha such a luxury for us here on
you think I can't thank you guysenough for joining us.
(55:36):
Thank you for having us, it's been fun.
Thanks, Greg.
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My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com