Youth Inc. with Greg Olsen

Episode: Top Athletes Give Best Youth Sports Advice of 2025
Date: December 30, 2025

Episode Overview

This special "Best of" episode of Youth Inc. with former NFL star, youth coach, and parent Greg Olsen brings together highlights from the year’s most insightful conversations with top athletes, coaches, and thought-leaders in youth sports. The focus is on actionable advice for parents, coaches, and young athletes navigating the complex and often high-pressure world of youth sports. Topics covered include leadership development, the benefits of multi-sport participation, fostering positive team culture, promoting self-motivation, balancing enjoyment vs. pressure, inclusion, female representation, and the crucial role of recovery.

Key Themes & Discussion Points

The Value & Virtues of Sport

• Sports as a Low-Risk Place for Personal Growth
  • Pete Miller (01:09) explains:

    “Sports are a low risk place to practice virtue. … It’s a space where I can go out with other young people and if I fail, and I will fail, I’m going to be OK.” (02:13)

  • Emphasis on growth through failure, not just physical or competitive development.
  • Life lessons about resilience, patience, teamwork, and courage are best learned on the field.

Failing Forward

• Alec (cohost) reflects,

  “All the life lessons that I’ve truly internalized … come because I lost or I failed and then you truly have that change, that catalyst.” (04:03)

Fostering Self-Motivation in Young Athletes

• The Role of Parents and Coaches in Motivation
  • Pete Miller (04:51):

    “One of the biggest squashers of self-motivation are coaches and parents, which is kind of depressing. … But the best thing for our kids to stay self-motivated is—it's the word ‘self’. It’s not me, it’s not dad-motivated, YOU-motivated.”

  • Parents must “let go” of their own expectations and encourage true autonomy (05:10–06:14).
  • Guidance and support should replace overbearing “preordained thoughts.”

Making Practice Fun & Gamified

• Innovation in Coaching: Gamifying Practice

  • Baseball Coach (06:45) shares an example from working with the Braves:

    “It was just to get their minds off of actual internally focused [thoughts] and like, get it out there. … Sometimes you gotta do that. Make it fun and make it competitive…” (07:32–08:27)

  • Gamifying drills for youth and pros alike keeps engagement and progress high.

• Alec on the value of this method:

  “Competition, even with grown men, brings out that kid in you.” (09:22)

The Dangers of Early Specialization

• Multi-Sport vs. Early Specialization

  • Basketball Coach (likely from a major program) challenges the current trend:

    “Any, I’d argue, I’d be in any debate with anybody telling me that specialization at an early age is the best way. No athletic development, okay? Competitive stamina … you learn all that from different sports.” (09:52–12:02)

  • Multiple examples (LeBron James, Gary Harris) illustrate that the best athletes played several sports.

• Greg Olsen (12:10):

  “I talk to so many coaches…they all give your answer about multisport, yet everything that you hear as a parent…is specialize, specialize, specialize.”

• Basketball Coach responds:

  “It’s an unbelievable disconnect. It’s an agenda… 78% of NFL draft picks were multiple sport athletes in high school.” (12:32)

Building “We” over “Me” Team Culture

• How to Encourage Unselfishness & Team Play

  • Basketball Coach on recruiting:

    “So let’s go find players that are unselfish, guys that are willing to switch positions, who are going to play really hard. … At the end of the day, it’s not just being a good player, it’s being a good teammate.” (15:54–17:51)

• College coaches look for coachability, team-first attitude, and willingness to take on roles—not just flashy stats.

Enjoying the Journey & The Power of Role Models

• Love of the Game vs. Pressure

  • Tennis Coach (19:33) on enjoyment:

    “For sure, as somebody who is around them, I prefer to work with somebody who is actually enjoying it…if I could pick…who do I work with? Of course I’m gonna choose somebody who is enjoying it … you can enjoy different things.” (19:33–21:26)

• Social support, relationships, and mentorship (both formal and informal) help sustain athletes through tough stretches.

  • Suggests intentionally building sports friendships from a young age for long-term well-being.

Culture & Communication: Handling Tough Conversations

• Managing Roles and Playing Time

  • Volleyball Coach (24:58) on team culture:

    “We cannot take for granted if our culture is good … we have to deal with [issues] right away. Dealing with it doesn’t have to be harsh…it’s pivoting, getting us…back on track.”

  • On players not embracing their roles:

    “I try to give specific things of what they need to do…when they do it, they’re going to get a text from me…to reinforce, ‘I’m super proud of you.’” (28:40)

The Crucial Role of Representation

• Why Flag Football Needs Female Coaches

  • Flag Football Advocate:

    "When sports explode like this … we start to see less and less women at the top … I want to make sure that women and girls know … there is a place for them in all spaces on the sideline as coaches, as officials, as ATs.” (30:29–31:40)

  • On broader impact:

    “…if we want to see flag football do for girls what football has done for boys, then I think you have to show her what the future looks like. And you do that through coaching.” (31:57–33:03)

  • “If you can see her, you can be her”—empowerment, confidence, and modeling.

Honest Regrets & The Limits of Systemic Change

• Sports Parenting Reflection

  • Alec on regrets (34:32):

    “My only regrets are the times I didn’t take my advice … especially in the car, wanting to talk about the game and fix all the things he did wrong…”

  • Systemic reform in youth sports seems unlikely due to business interests, but families, individual coaches, and clubs can still create positive experiences.

Mistakes Coaches Make—and How To Do Better

• Coaching Pitfalls

  • Alec:

    “We have all these requirements now, hours of safe sport training and concussion … but a lot of times a volunteer youth coach gets four hours of training and we haven’t even talked about football or soccer, basketball, and what does a great practice environment look like?” (37:14)

  • Coaches should create enjoyable, challenging, well-organized practices—and focus on positive team dynamics and encouragement.

    • "The rule of one": one positive comment can sustain a kid’s motivation for a long time.

Recovery & Mental Health: Filling the Tank

• Youth Inc. Host:

  “All of it needs a reset. I call it filling your tank.” (40:07)

• Athletes need structured time for physical, social, and emotional recovery.

  • Early in college, recovery was unplanned—rest as needed. Later as a pro, it was scheduled, considered part of training (“rest is also training”).
  • Encouragement for young athletes to be attuned to their needs and communicate about rest.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Virtue and Failure

  • “Let’s give our kids a space to fail … a little failure is good for all of us.”
    Pete Miller, 02:13–04:03

• On Over-Parenting

  • “The best thing for our kids to stay self-motivated is—it’s the word ‘self’. It’s not me, it’s not dad-motivated, YOU-motivated.”
    Pete Miller, 05:12–06:14

• On Early Specialization

  • “I’d argue I’d be in any debate … that specialization at an early age is the best way. No athletic development, okay? Competitive stamina … you learn all that from different sports.”
    Basketball Coach, 09:52–12:02

• On Fun & Gamification

  • “Make it fun and make it competitive and you don’t have to be thinking about it.”
    Baseball Coach, 08:27

• On Inclusion & Opportunity

  • “I don’t want to say make room for women as coaches, because you don’t need to make room, you just need to ensure there’s opportunities available to everyone.”
    Flag Football Advocate, 30:29–31:40

• On Team Culture

  • “When things don’t go your way, we’re going to do the hard well. You might not like it, but we’re going to do it well.”
    Volleyball Coach, 24:58–28:04

• On Parental Regrets

  • “My only regrets are the times I didn’t take my advice in that book … when I was really disappointed … and wanted to talk about the game and fix all the things…”
    Alec, 34:32

Segment Timestamps

• Opening & Episode Purpose: 00:00–00:38
• Virtues and Failure in Sports: 01:09–04:28
• Parent/Coach Impact on Motivation: 04:51–06:14
• Gamifying Practice, Making Fun Competitive: 06:45–09:43
• Multi-Sport Advocacy & Specialization Myths: 09:52–14:15
• Building ‘We’ Culture on Teams: 14:18–19:10
• Joy, Passion, and Social Support in Sports: 19:33–24:40
• Culture Creation and Playing Roles: 24:58–30:23
• Female Leadership & Representation in Flag Football: 30:29–33:29
• Parenting Regrets & Limits of Systemic Change: 34:32–36:56
• Coaching Mistakes & Solutions: 37:14–40:07
• Recovery, Time Management, & Mental Health: 40:07–end

Conclusion

This “Best of 2025” episode of Youth Inc. delivers a wealth of perspectives for anyone involved in youth sports. The consistent message: Focus on the big picture—character, joy, inclusion, and growth over short-term wins or early specialization. Whether you’re a parent, coach, or athlete, these lessons and candid reflections are a must-hear blueprint for how to do youth sports right in 2026 and beyond.