Hilda Oltean: From $300 and No Job to Thriving in Youth Basketball

Hi there,

Our latest episode is now live—and this one brings a powerful international perspective on youth athlete development.

🎙️ Coach Hilda Oltean joins the podcast to share her journey from competing at the highest levels in Europe to building and leading youth basketball programs in the U.S.

As the manager of the San Marcos Basketball Organization—helping grow it since its founding in 2020—and an assistant coach with Prolific Basketball’s AAU Varsity and JV girls teams, Hilda is deeply involved in shaping the next generation of players.

Before that, she was a standout point guard for Romania’s junior national team, competing in Division A and contributing to multiple championships and medals between the ages of 13 and 18.

In this conversation, we explore:
  • The differences between European and U.S. player development systems
  • What young athletes really need to grow (beyond talent)
  • The role of coaches and parents in long-term development
  • Lessons from competing at an international level

Hilda brings clarity, honesty, and real-world experience to a conversation every sports parent and coach should hear.

👇 Listen to the full episode here:

As always, if this resonates, feel free to share it with someone in your community who’s on this journey.

🎙️ PODCAST: The Youth Sports Parenting Tribe
The only global podcast helping parents raise resilient athletes through world-class voices in sport.

A Smarter Way to Navigate Recruiting — Insights from Reid Meyer

The new episode is now live.

In this conversation, Reid Meyer shares a perspective that’s both personal and highly practical for anyone navigating the college recruiting process.

After attending four schools in four years and ultimately stepping away from the sport he loved, Reid experienced firsthand how fragmented and confusing the system can be. Instead of accepting it, he built a solution.

Through A2A Academy, he’s helping student-athletes and their families make clearer, more informed decisions — both on and off the field.

In this episode, we cover:
  • Why the recruiting process is often misunderstood
  • The hidden risks student-athletes face when choosing a college
  • How to think long-term about fit, development, and opportunity
  • What families should be doing differently today

If you’re an athlete, a parent, or someone involved in sports and education, this is a conversation worth your time.

👇 Full episode at

🎙️ PODCAST: The Youth Sports Parenting Tribe
The only global podcast helping parents raise resilient athletes through world-class voices in sport.

From Highlights to Legacy: Stone Melet on Capturing the Athlete’s Journey

What happens to the story behind an athlete’s journey once the games are over?

This week’s guest, Stone Melet, has built his work around answering that question.

Stone is the CEO and founder of BESTofLEGACY and the creator of BriteLegacy, a venture focused on helping elite athletes preserve the moments, values, and milestones that define their path through sports.

At the center of BriteLegacy is The Fold — a striking trifold memorabilia piece designed to bring an athlete’s story to life. It integrates a video highlights screen, an accolades page, photo mosaics, and curated press clippings and images into a single, lasting artifact.

In our conversation, we explore:

🏆 Why storytelling matters in sports
📖 How families shape an athlete’s journey
🎬 The idea of capturing legacy while the career is still unfolding
💡 The vision behind BriteLegacy and The Fold

It’s a thoughtful discussion about memory, identity, and what it means to preserve the journey behind performance.

👇 Full episode at

🎙️ PODCAST: The Youth Sports Parenting Tribe
The only global podcast helping parents raise resilient athletes through world-class voices in sport.

Girls drop out of sports at twice the rate of boys by age 14

In this week’s episode, I sit down with Madison Gates, VP of Marketing at i9 Sports and a former soccer player and coach, to talk about why that happens — and what youth sports organizations can do about it.

Madison brings a unique perspective, combining her experience as an athlete, a coach, and now a marketing leader helping shape one of the largest youth sports organizations in the U.S.

In our conversation we explore:
  • Why girls often leave sports earlier than boys
  • The role coaches and parents play in building (or hurting) confidence
  • How youth sports programs can create environments where kids actually want to stay
  • Why the real value of sports goes far beyond winning

Youth sports can be one of the most powerful environments for building confidence, resilience, and leadership — especially for girls.

But only if we design them the right way.

👇 Full episode at

🎙️ PODCAST: The Youth Sports Parenting Tribe
The only global podcast helping parents raise resilient athletes through world-class voices in sport.

AI, Youth Sports & The Long Game — with Luke Zaientz

Today’s episode is live — and it’s a powerful one.

I sat down with Luke Zaientz, CEO of Otto Sports AI — the smart operating system for youth sports.

Luke’s journey spans founding Reigning Camps (later acquired by IMG), operating at scale, and now building at the intersection of AI, youth development, and community infrastructure. He also serves as an operating partner at Rally Ventures.

But what makes this conversation different isn’t just the resume.

It’s the philosophy behind the work.

We explore:
  • Why youth sports are one of the most underestimated categories in tech
  • How AI can build confidence rather than replace human judgment
  • What scaling really teaches you about leadership
  • The long game of entrepreneurship — and family

Luke is also a father of two boys and has been married to Alice for 20 years. That perspective shapes how he thinks about building products that serve families, not just markets.

If you care about AI applied with intention, building durable companies, or the future of youth development, this episode is worth your time.

As always, I’d love to hear what resonates with you.

👇 Full episode at

🎙️ PODCAST: The Youth Sports Parenting Tribe
The only global podcast helping parents raise resilient athletes through world-class voices in sport.

Liz Pryor on Self-Judgment, Communication, and Healthier Relationships

This week on The Tribe, I sit down with Liz Pryor—author, relationship expert, and former Good Morning America advice guru—for a grounded, honest conversation about the relationship we have with ourselves and how it shapes every other relationship in our lives.

We talk about self-judgment, self-awareness, and why communication is often less about what we say and more about how we say it. Liz also shares insights from her work and personal experience around parenting adult children and the role competitive sports can play in shaping character, resilience, and commitment.

If you’re navigating relationships, personal growth, or the midlife recalibration that comes with both, this episode offers practical wisdom and a few powerful reframes.

Let me know what resonated with you most.

👇 Full episode at

🎙️ PODCAST: The Youth Sports Parenting Tribe
The only global podcast helping parents raise resilient athletes through world-class voices in sport.

An Award-Winning Journalist on Soccer, Parenting, and Communication

In this episode, I’m joined by David Murray, an award-winning journalist, author, and one of the most thoughtful voices on sports, parenting, and communication today.

David is the author of several books, including Soccer Dad and An Effort to Understand: Hearing One Another (and Ourselves) in a Nation Cracked in Half—works that go far beyond sports to explore identity, values, and how we show up for our kids and each other.

His writing has appeared in The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, The Atlantic, and many other leading publications. He is also the editor and publisher of Vital Speeches of the Day, one of the world’s oldest continuously published magazines, and the founder and executive director of the Professional Speechwriters Association.

In our conversation, we talked about:
  • What youth sports reveal about parenting and pressure
  • How listening—really listening—changes relationships with our kids
  • Why communication matters more than ever in a divided world
  • Lessons David learned as both a journalist and a soccer dad

David also writes daily about communication at Writing-Boots.com, bringing clarity and insight to how we speak, listen, and connect.

This episode is thoughtful, honest, and deeply relevant for parents, coaches, and anyone who cares about raising kids through sports—with perspective and purpose.

🎧 Tune in now and let me know what resonated with you most.

👇 Full episode at

🎙️ PODCAST: The Youth Sports Parenting Tribe
The only global podcast helping parents raise resilient athletes through world-class voices in sport.

Inside Youth Sports Psychology with Dr. Brenna Chirby and Dr. Virginia Jones

If you’ve ever stood on the sidelines watching your child compete and quietly asked yourself—

Are they actually enjoying this… or just pushing through it?

—you’re not alone.

Today’s episode speaks directly to that question.

We’re joined by Dr. Jones and Dr. Chirby, psychologists with over 20 years of experience and the founders of MindBalanceSPORT. Their work spans clinical psychology, university-level athletic performance, and decades of lived experience as sports parents themselves. Between them, they’ve raised six kids across youth sports, elite club teams, and collegiate athletics.

After more than 15 years on the sidelines, one thing became impossible for them to ignore:

In youth sports, we train bodies constantly—but we rarely train minds.

That missing piece shows up in ways many families recognize all too well: rising stress, emotional shutdown, fear of failure, burnout, and kids leaving sports they once loved.

In this conversation, we dig into what healthy development in sports actually looks like, why mental skills are just as trainable as physical ones, and how parents can support confidence, resilience, and joy—without adding pressure.

This is an episode for parents who care deeply, who want their kids to grow through sports rather than be worn down by them, and who believe that performance and well-being don’t have to be opposites.

👇 Full episode at

🎙️ PODCAST: The Youth Sports Parenting Tribe
The only global podcast helping parents raise resilient athletes through world-class voices in sport.

How to Keep Kids Loving the Game — Lessons from 30 Years of Coaching with Marty Schupak

A new episode is live, and this one goes straight to the heart of youth sports done right.

Today, we’re joined by Marty Schupak — a veteran youth-sports coach with more than 30 years of experience helping kids enjoy the game from their very first practice.

Marty is the author of 13 coaching books and the creator of 25+ instructional videos used by parents, coaches, and youth leagues across the country. His superpower?
Turning complex coaching ideas into simple, positive methods that build skills, confidence, and a lifelong love of sports.

In this conversation, we talk about:
  • Why fun is not a bonus — it’s the foundation
  • The most common mistakes adults make in early sports
  • How to coach (and parent) in ways kids actually respond to
  • What really matters in tee ball and beginner sports
  • How to create confidence instead of pressure

Marty also shares insights from his newest book, Tee Ball Myths & Solutions, where he breaks down what’s holding young players back — and how parents and coaches can fix it immediately.

Beyond the credentials, Marty is a father of three and a proud grandfather to plenty more, which gives him a rare, generational perspective on what kids truly need from the adults on the sidelines.

If you care about raising confident, resilient young athletes — and keeping the joy in the game — this episode is a must-listen.

👇 Full episode at

🎙️ PODCAST: The Youth Sports Parenting Tribe
The only global podcast helping parents raise resilient athletes through world-class voices in sport.

How a Mother and Son Built Structure Before Experience — with Carrie Kimmell

The latest episode of The Tribe Podcast is now live.

Today’s conversation is with Carrie Kimmell—a broker, investor, and builder who has renovated and built more than 100 homes, and a mother navigating athletic development in real time alongside her son.

Carrie brings a powerful perspective shaped by science, strategy, and long-term thinking. Her work has always focused on turning complexity into systems—and she applies that same lens to development, growth, and performance.

Together, we explore a simple but often overlooked truth:

Elite development doesn’t start with experience.
It starts with structure.

This episode walks through how small, consistent habits compound into confidence and capability, and how families can think ahead about development and NIL preparation without pressure, hype, or burnout. It’s a grounded conversation about building foundations early—so progress feels sustainable, not forced.

👇 Full episode at

🎙️ PODCAST: The Youth Sports Parenting Tribe
The only global podcast helping parents raise resilient athletes through world-class voices in sport.