10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know with Kari Kampakis
Let's Talk TCA Podcast
A group of eighth-grade girls, led by MS Science Teacher CeCe Scott ’00, met throughout the school year to read and discuss the book 10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know by author Kari Kampakis. On this episode of the podcast, some of those TCA eighth-graders interview Kari and ask her questions about the book and about life. Kari shares some great advice that can be helpful not only for girls, but for parents who are raising daughters. You can learn more about Kari and her books, including 10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know, her new devotional Yours, Not Hers and the upcoming Is Your...
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Biblical Education with Jeremy Gregory
Let's Talk TCA Podcast
In this episode, Upper School Bible Teacher and Community Time Coordinator Jeremy Gregory talks about Upper School Bible classes, Chapel, apologetics and spiritual formation. As part of the new academic schedule for the 2025-26 school year, TCA is adding stand-alone Bible classes for freshmen and sophomores to go along with the existing Bible classes in other grade levels. Mr. Gregory explains how the new class sequence will teach students the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, over the course of three years. For senior year, students will be prepared to engage with others in college...
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Discover Week Trips with Zoe Ellen Azzi
Let's Talk TCA Podcast
Starting in February 2026, the week before spring break will be Discover Week—a week in which TCA Upper School and Middle School students can discover new passions, learn new skills and explore the world. Besides taking on-campus classes or having a local internship, one of the things that students can choose to do during Discover Week is to travel. In this episode of Let’s Talk TCA, Zoe Ellen Azzi joins the podcast to talk about plans for Discover Week trips. Mrs. Azzi, who teaches Modern Humanities in the Upper School, has led multiple trips over the years for TCA students and serves as...
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Summer@TCA 2025 with Justin Zappia
Let's Talk TCA Podcast
It may still officially be winter, but preparations for the upcoming summer are in full swing at TCA. In this episode, Director of Auxiliary Programs Justin Zappia joins host Cynthia Yanof to talk about the many different classes and camps available at TCA this summer. Listen to learn about the Summer@TCA options for 2025. From flying drones to flying discs, from playing board games to playing sports, and from taking classes for fun to classes for credit, there is something for every child from kindergarten through senior year. You can .
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Holiday Traditions with Emily Eyre
Let's Talk TCA Podcast
TCA’s Lower School Counselor Emily Eyre joins host Cynthia Yanof to talk about how families can set their own holiday traditions. Christmas is a popular time for setting family traditions, but you can have traditions around any holiday, as well as having traditions that do not focus on any holiday at all. Emily and Cynthia talk about why we have traditions, the benefits of keeping traditions simple and the importance of emotional memories. They discuss how to think through the messages that you are communicating to your family through your traditions. Since holidays are not always happy...
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Basketball Coaches Rodney Belcher and John Price
Let's Talk TCA Podcast
TCA’s varsity basketball coaches, Rodney Belcher and John Price, both join the podcast for this episode. This is Coach Belcher’s first year at TCA after years spent coaching at both the high school and college levels. Coach Price is in his fourth year at TCA and 26th year coaching overall. The coaches talk about their families, their faith and their coaching careers. Listen to hear how they leverage the lessons of winning and losing to prepare students for future successes and failures.
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Cindi Di Iorio and Craig Wilson
Let's Talk TCA Podcast
TCA’s Head of Middle School Cindi Di Iorio and Head of Upper School Craig Wilson join the podcast to talk about where they come from and what brought them to TCA. Get to know our new heads of schools better as they share about their families, their faith and their hearts for helping educate children.
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Let's Talk Turf
Let's Talk TCA Podcast
This summer, Tom Landry Stadium had new state-of-the-art turf installed that is arguably the best playing surface at any school, anywhere. In this episode, Steve Hayes, TCA’s football head coach and newly appointed athletic director, talks about the new playing field and other recent improvements to the athletics facilities. He is joined by TCA alum and former football player Jason Delph ’07, the co-founder (along with fellow ’07 classmate Nick Pavey) of ForeverLawn Texas, as well as ForeverLawn’s Director of Marketing Derek Taylor and Installation Support Team Leader Aaron Gressel....
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Building Healthy Phone Habits with Joey Odom
Let's Talk TCA Podcast
Are you addicted to your phone? As parents, how should we be thinking about smartphone use? In this episode, host Cynthia Yanof talks with Joey Odom, co-founder of technology company Aro, about how to build a healthy relationship with your smartphone. Many of us often find ourselves distracted by our phones, focused on social media or other apps instead of interacting with the people around us. Phones can take our attention away from being present with our spouse or kids, and our kids themselves run the danger of being the first generation to die with more of other people’s memories than...
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College Prep at Any Age with Tracy Bartholomew
Let's Talk TCA Podcast
TCA is a college preparatory school, and that preparation begins long before college applications are filled out. In this episode, Tracy Bartholomew, part of TCA’s college counseling team, discusses how parents can help their children start thinking about the future and taking their first steps towards college and career decisions. Tracy and host Cynthia Yanof talk about: How parents can help their children discover God’s calling for their lives. How students can begin exploring different interests and fields of study. How TCA’s college counselors help students each year along the way....
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In today’s episode, our podcast host Cynthia Yanof connects with Head Football Coach Steve Hayes about the upcoming season. We hear about the Trojan football program, the theme for 2022, the players we have this year, our new division, and our coaching staff.
The theme for this year is Fear No Man. The players, after the spring game, vote on the theme. The theme gives the coaches guidance on how to coach the boys. This theme has two components:
1) You have to be in the right relationship with the Lord. This places the emphasis on the kids’
hearts and their relationship with Christ.
2) To have no fear, you must be extremely well prepared.
The coaching staff read the book Draw the Circle by Mark Batterson this summer. The team is divided into families; each coach prays for the athletes in their family group throughout the season. Coaches are very intentional about praying for players, and Coach Hayes believes when we pray, good things happen.
TCA football has six core values, one of which is that we are called to be standard chasers, not rule followers. God created us to excel and not be average. We want our kids to know they have what it takes and that high expectations require high commitment and sacrifice.
This year’s team is a young team. We had a lot of success last year and graduated many seniors. We have fourteen seniors this year, many of whom started last year, but we will see many new faces on the field this fall. We have talented juniors and sophomores. We had 45 college recruiters come through
our program last spring is a good indication of the talent you have on the team.
We have a good offensive line, a good running back core, and, with the addition of Defensive Coordinator Reid Waller, our defense has made huge strides and will be good this year.
We have been in TAPPS Division 5 for the last two years, and this year we have moved back to Division 1, which includes schools with the largest enrollment in the state. Our district includes Nolan, Parish, Prestonwood, and Bishop Lynch. It will be a very competitive schedule this year, and our goal is to win the state championship.
Our first game against ESD is on August 26 at 7 p.m. at Tom Landry Stadium. We have five home games and five on the road with one big road trip to Ft. Bend Christian.
We have ten varsity football coaches on our staff. Five of these coaches have been successful head coaches in other programs. The faith and testimonies of our coaches are incredible, as well as their ability
to coach and mentor kids. You should be excited about this program if you have sons in TCA athletics.
We highly encourage boys to play multiple sports. It is good for kids to be able to experience as much as possible and represent the mission of the school well.
Parents with children should be watching the leadership they put their kids under. We are limited on how long we can be an athlete, but athletics' impact on our character is lasting. We want our parents to live out the culture of our school. This is life-giving to the school and those around us.
Come out and cheer loud at the games and celebrate on the field after the games! We do that better than any other school.
This is Coach Hayes’ third season back at TCA. He was also here from 2004 through 2014. His wife Mendy teaches in Frisco, and they have a daughter who is a TCA freshman on the volleyball team. He has two older married kids, and both are expecting babies next year which will be Coach Hayes' first grandchildren!
See the season schedule here: https://www.trinitychristian.org/athletics/teams-schedules/t/~athletics-team-id/132
Follow TCA Athletics on Twitter: @TCA_Addison
Is there a topic you'd like to discuss on the podcast? Send your ideas and feedback to: [email protected]