Libsyn Directory

#447 Dr. Kristen Dieffenbach on the Difference Between Coaching Boys and Girls

Release Date: 09/18/2025

#498 "It's not who we are playing against. It's who we are playing for.": A Conversation on Values, Connection and Purpose with Kate Livesay, 8x NCAA Champion Coach of Middlebury Women's Lacrosse

Way of Champions Podcast

Kate Livesay was a two sport star at Middlebury in field hockey and lacrosse, twice earning All American honors and leading her Middlebury lacrosse teams to two NCAA titles. She is one of the most decorated coaches in college lacrosse history, leading Middlebury Women’s lacrosse to seven NCAA Championships (2016, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026) and Trinity Women's lacrosse to a single NCAA title. Her teams have set the program single-season wins record three times over, going a perfect 23-0 in 2023, 2024, and 2026 — a standard of excellence virtually unmatched in the modern era of...

#498 "It's not who we are playing against. It's who we are playing for.": A Conversation on Values, Connection and Purpose with Kate Livesay, 8x NCAA Champion Coach of Middlebury Women's Lacrosse

Way of Champions Podcast

#498 "It's not who we are playing against. It's who we are playing for.": A Conversation on Values, Connection and Purpose with Kate Livesay, 8x NCAA Champion Coach of Middlebury Women's Lacrosse

Way of Champions Podcast

#497 "Your relationship with your players is either growing or dying" with Stuart Lancaster, Head Coach of Connacht Rugby

Way of Champions Podcast

Stuart Lancaster is a world renowned rugby coach and is currently the Head Coach at Connacht in Ireland. He has previously coached England (2011-2015) when they hosted the 2015 Rugby World Cup, Racing 92, and Leinster. His England teams finished as Six Nations Runner Up four times, and he won the European Rugby Champions Cup and four PRO14/URC titles with Leinster. Prior to his time with the England National team, he won three Churchill Cup titles as Head Coach of England Saxons (2008, 2010, 2011) and National Division One title with Leeds Tykes (2006 to 2007). Stuart also runs Stuart...

#496 The Psychology of Leadership with Sébastien Page, Chief Investment Officer at T Rowe Price

Way of Champions Podcast

As Chief Investment Officer at T. Rowe Price, Sébastien Page leads a global team managing hundreds of billions and has been recognized with multiple research awards for his practical approach to finance and leadership. His journey is inspiring, from arriving in North America as a young Canadian immigrant barely speaking English to becoming one of the youngest Senior Managing Directors at State Street, then rising through senior roles at PIMCO and now T. Rowe Price. Sébastien’s new book, The Psychology of Leadership, bridges real-world executive experience with the science of performance...

#496 The Psychology of Leadership with Sébastien Page, Chief Investment Officer at T Rowe Price

Way of Champions Podcast

#495 Lessons on leadership and Performance Under Pressure from Rick Jordan, Podcaster and CEO

Way of Champions Podcast

Rick Jordan (@MrRickJordan) is CEO & Founder of ReachOut Technology, and is a nationally recognized voice on Cybersecurity, Business, and Ethics. He is the host of the All In with Rick Jordan Podcast reaching fans in 29 countries, and a frequent expert guest on ABC, NBC, CBS, and FOX. He is also a featured speaker at NASDAQ, Harvard, West-Point Military Academy, and the best-selling author of his book "Situational Ethics." Today on the podcast, John and Rick take a deep dive into performance under pressure, building resilient leaders and cultures, the qualities of the best leaders, and...

"You can't make a great athlete but you can screw one up" with Britt Lee and Brad Williams of Pure Athlete

Way of Champions Podcast

This week on the podcast, we are joined by Britt Lee and Brad Williams of pureathlete.com. Pure Athlete is a leading content creator and influencer focused on the world of youth sports. Their mission is to help young athletes, parents, and coaches successfully navigate the increasingly complex culture of youth sports in a healthy way, while being a catalyst for improving the culture. We connect with some of sports’ most iconic athletes and topical experts, enabling their insights, guidance and wisdom to better inform and inspire our audience to become the best versions of themselves on and...

#493 "Leadership is a skill, not a character trait" John, Jerry and Thom McDonald Discuss our new book Captain: The Athletes Guide to Being an Exceptional Team Leader

Way of Champions Podcast

As we close in on episode 500, John and Jerry recently participated in a webinar for hundreds of athletic directors and coaches through our great friends at Championship Productions. It was supposed to be a one-hour webinar, but we had so many questions and such rich discussion that it lasted 90 minutes. We thought it would be great to share this with all of our podcast listeners. Hosted by Coach Thom McDonald, our discussion delves into the origins of this book and some deeper questions around each section of the book. We talk about our favorite chapters from the qualities of leaders, the...

#492 Mental Mastery for Young Athletes with Phil Phillipou

Way of Champions Podcast

With over 20 years of coaching experience across the UK, USA, and Spain, Phil Phillipou (@mindsightsport) has developed a unique approach to youth football mindset training that combines practical coaching expertise with proven sports psychology principles. Phil's background includes working with grassroots academies, professional youth systems, and individual players at all levels. His methods focus on building confidence, developing mental resilience, and creating sustainable performance improvements. As a certified mindset coach and author, Phil has helped hundreds of young footballers and...

More Episodes

Dr. Kristen Dieffenbach (@DrDCoachScience) is an associate professor of Athletic Coaching Education, director of the Center for Applied Coaching and Sport Science at West Virginia University and president of the United States Center for Coaching Excellence. She is an Association of Applied Sport Psychology certified consultant, public relations and outreach head on the AASP e-board and president of the United States Center for Coaching Excellence. Dieffenbach is a professional coach with a category 1 (elite) USA Cycling license and Level II endurance specialization from USA Track and Field. She has coached for more than 20 years at the high school, collegiate, recreational and elite levels and works with coaching education at all levels of performance. Dieffenbach’s teaching interests include coaching techniques, professional development and professionalism in coaching, ethics and moral development in coaching, coaching theory, training theory, long term athlete development, long term coaching development, coaching education, sport psychology for coaching and gender and sport.

In our discussion today we touch upon an oftentimes controversial yet incredibly important topic for coaches: is there is difference between coaching boys and coaching girls? We discuss the research, the cultural differences, and so much more. There is a reason this is one of our most popular episodes ever.

Resources/People/Articles Mentioned in Podcast

Reviving Ophelia: Saving the Selves of Adolescent Girls by Mary Pipher Link
The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, by Naomi Wolf Link
The Beauty Myth, by Naomi Wolf Link
Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys, by Michael Thompson Link
Untangled: Guiding Teenage Girls Through the Seven Transitions into Adulthood, by Lisa Damour Ph.D Link
Boys Adrift, by Leonard Sax Link
Taking the Field: Women, Men, and Sports, by Michael A. Messner Link
Top Dog: The Science of Winning and Losing, by Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman, Link
US Center for Coaching Excellence www.uscoachexcellence.org
Dr. Kristen Nash
John Kessel, USA Volleyball

Connect With Dr. Dieffenbach

Website: https://www.uscoachexcellence.org/
Twitter: @DRDCoachScience
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristen-dieffenbach-b926843/

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This week’s podcast is brought to you by our friends at Sprocket Sports. Sprocket Sports is a new software platform for youth sports clubs. Yeah, there are a lot of these systems out there, but Sprocket provides the full enchilada. They give you all the cool front-end stuff to make your club look good– like websites and marketing tools – AND all the back-end transactions and services to run your business better so you can focus on what really matters – your players and your teams.

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