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#468 Shane Battier, the "No Stats All Star" on his 2x NBA Championships, his All American High School and Collegiate Career, and the Importance of Modeling Championship Behaviors

Way of Champions Podcast

Release Date: 02/12/2026

#468 Shane Battier, the #468 Shane Battier, the "No Stats All Star" on his 2x NBA Championships, his All American High School and Collegiate Career, and the Importance of Modeling Championship Behaviors

Way of Champions Podcast

Over a distinguished NBA and collegiate career, Shane Battier established himself as a scholar-athlete, All-American, leader, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "No-Stats All-Star" by Michael Lewis in a New York Times Sunday Magazine cover story, Shane is regarded as one of the most successful, albeit atypical, basketball players in history for using his leadership, lockdown defense, and intellect to win championships at every level. After graduating with honors from Duke University with two Final Four appearances, one national championship, two All-American awards, & Naismith and John Wooden...

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#467 Katie Van Dyck, Antitrust Attorney, on the Negative Influence of Private Equity in Youth Sports Clubs, Leagues and Tournaments show art #467 Katie Van Dyck, Antitrust Attorney, on the Negative Influence of Private Equity in Youth Sports Clubs, Leagues and Tournaments

Way of Champions Podcast

Katherine Van Dyck (@capitalKVD) is an experienced antitrust lawyer and founder of KVD Strategies PLLC, with senior fellowships at the American Economic Liberties Project and UC Berkeley's Civil Justice Research Initiative. During the Biden Administration, she served as an Attorney-Advisor at the Federal Trade Commission. Katie's work focuses on how concentrated economic power harms consumers, workers, and small businesses. She has been involved in numerous instances of litigation, including a multimillion dollar judgement against Varsity Brands Cheerleading and their monopoly of the...

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#466 Brad Stulberg, Author of The Way of Excellence, on Redefining Excellence, the Mindset of High Performance, Building Effective Habits, and Finding Meaning in it All show art #466 Brad Stulberg, Author of The Way of Excellence, on Redefining Excellence, the Mindset of High Performance, Building Effective Habits, and Finding Meaning in it All

Way of Champions Podcast

Brad Stulberg researches, writes, and coaches on performance, well-being, and sustainable excellence. He is the bestselling author of The Practice of Groundedness and Master of Change, and coauthor of Peak Performance. Stulberg regularly contributes to the New York Times and his work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, among many other outlets. He serves as the co-host of the podcast “excellence, actually” and is on faculty at the University of Michigan. He is also the co-founder with Steve Magness...

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#465 What Would Your Yoda Say? Dr. Jim Loehr and Dr. Haley Perlus Join for a Conversation About Mindset, Coaching Your Inner Voice and the Importance of Gratitude  show art #465 What Would Your Yoda Say? Dr. Jim Loehr and Dr. Haley Perlus Join for a Conversation About Mindset, Coaching Your Inner Voice and the Importance of Gratitude

Way of Champions Podcast

Dr. Jim Loehr is a world-renowned performance psychologist, whose ground-breaking, science-based energy management training system has achieved worldwide recognition. He has authored 17 books and worked with hundreds of world-class performers from the arenas of sport, business, medicine and law enforcement, including Fortune 100 executives, FBI Hostage Rescue Teams, and military Special Forces. Dr. Loehr has worked with hundreds of elite sports clients including 17 number ones in the world in their respective sports, multiple clients from professional tennis, golf, basketball, football,...

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#464 Cara Stawicki, Mental Performance Coach and 2019 World Champion Rower show art #464 Cara Stawicki, Mental Performance Coach and 2019 World Champion Rower

Way of Champions Podcast

Cara Stawicki (@carastawicki)  is a World Champion rower with nearly 20 years of competitive experience, including multiple World Rowing Championships and national team selections. Drawing on her firsthand understanding of high-level athletic performance, she now supports high-striving athletes and professionals in reaching their full potential through executive and mental performance coaching. She is an ICF ACC-certified coach who has completed advanced PCC-level training and holds a Master’s degree in Health and Human Performance. Her approach blends evidence-based coaching methods...

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#463 Tom Farrey, Executive Director of Aspen Institute Sports and Society Program, on Achievable Steps to Get More Kids Playing Sports, Build Facilities, and Educate Coaches show art #463 Tom Farrey, Executive Director of Aspen Institute Sports and Society Program, on Achievable Steps to Get More Kids Playing Sports, Build Facilities, and Educate Coaches

Way of Champions Podcast

Tom Farrey is the founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports & Society Program, which he launched in 2011 to convene leaders, facilitate dialogue, and inspire solutions that help sports serve the public interest. He is best known for creating Project Play, the program’s flagship initiative that develops and shares knowledge to grow youth sports participation. Since 2013, Project Play has mobilized more than 20,000 organizations and helped unlock over $60 million in grants for grassroots programs. A former Emmy-winning investigative journalist at ESPN, Farrey...

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#462 Joey Leonardo, 2026 Freeride World Tour Skier, on his Unique Pathway to Becoming a Professional Big Mountain Skier  show art #462 Joey Leonardo, 2026 Freeride World Tour Skier, on his Unique Pathway to Becoming a Professional Big Mountain Skier

Way of Champions Podcast

Joey Leonardo (@j.bag_) is a professional freeride skier from Edwards, Colorado, who has officially qualified as a rookie for the 2026 Freeride World Tour (FWT). Joey qualified for the 2026 tour by finishing second in the Americas series of qualifiers in the winter of 2025. in 2020, he won the Freeride Junior World Championships, and then spent the last 4 years getting a degree from Montana State University and largely disappearing from the freeride circuit. He came back with a vengeance in 2025, having to talk his way into an early qualifying event before his excellent skiing sent him on the...

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#461 Linda Flanagan: How Money and Mania Have Ruined Kids Sports, Why it Matters, and How to Take Back the Game (replay) show art #461 Linda Flanagan: How Money and Mania Have Ruined Kids Sports, Why it Matters, and How to Take Back the Game (replay)

Way of Champions Podcast

After a recent visit to the US House of Representatives, John has been thinking a lot about the business of youth sports and how we can fix the many issues plaguing it. In this replay of episode 293, John has a discussion with Linda Flanagan a freelance journalist, researcher, and former cross-country and track coach. A founding board member of the NYC chapter of the Positive Coaching Alliance and 2020-21 Advisory Group member for the Aspen Institute’s Reimagining Sports initiative, her writing on sports has appeared in The Atlantic, Runner's World, and NPR's education site Mind/Shift, where...

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#460 Joe Baker, Author of #460 Joe Baker, Author of "The Tyranny of Talent" on Defining, Identifying, and Developing Talent While Never Losing Sight of Long Term Engagement

Way of Champions Podcast

Dr. Joe Baker (@bakerjtoronto) is the Tanenbaum Research Chair at the University of Toronto, Canada. He is a world-leader in research on talent identification, developing sport expertise, relative age effect, and high performance athlete development and has held visiting researcher/professor positions in the United Kingdom, Australia and Germany. His research considers the varying influences on optimal human development, ranging from issues affecting athlete development and skill acquisition to barriers and facilitators of optimal aging. Joe is author/editor of 9 books and hundreds of peer...

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#459 Harrsion Bernstein, Founder of Soldiers to Sidelines, on Giving our Former Soldiers the Ability to Serve Again Through Coaching show art #459 Harrsion Bernstein, Founder of Soldiers to Sidelines, on Giving our Former Soldiers the Ability to Serve Again Through Coaching

Way of Champions Podcast

Harrison Bernstein is the founder of Soldiers To Sidelines (STS) and has served as executive director since May 2014. STS evolved from a passion project to a burgeoning nonprofit once Harrison resigned from coaching college and professional football to focus 100% on the STS mission. Harrison was able to attract key advisors and officers to help steward the mission. Since 2018, the board has grown to over 21 leaders in the military, sports, and business, and has built a staff of 9 employees. Harrison led his team to develop key partners and sponsors such as USO, Team RWB, Wounded Warrior...

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Over a distinguished NBA and collegiate career, Shane Battier established himself as a scholar-athlete, All-American, leader, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "No-Stats All-Star" by Michael Lewis in a New York Times Sunday Magazine cover story, Shane is regarded as one of the most successful, albeit atypical, basketball players in history for using his leadership, lockdown defense, and intellect to win championships at every level. After graduating with honors from Duke University with two Final Four appearances, one national championship, two All-American awards, & Naismith and John Wooden National Player of the Year awards, the Memphis Grizzlies selected Battier in the 2001 NBA draft. Battier went on to be part of the back-to-back 2012 and 2013 NBA championship Miami Heat team and a USA Basketball Men's Senior national team member. He understands that champions are made when no one is looking and that attention to the often-unnoticed intangibles makes the difference in building a championship culture.

In our conversation this week, John and Jerry unpack the highs and lows of Shane's remarkable journey, from his childhood and the role of his parents, to his high school and college days, to his introduction to the NBA, and finally his championship seasons. We also discuss his post basketball years, his struggles with the transition off the court, an dhow he has reinvented himself to become an advisor, speaker, and a better father and husband. 

BOOK A SPEAKER: Interested in having John or one of our speaking team come to your school, club or coaching event? We are booking November and December 2025 and Winter/Spring 2026 events, please email us to set up an introductory call John@ChangingTheGameProject.com

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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.

Sprocket is built for those clubs looking to thrive, not just survive, in the competitive world of youth sports clubs.  So if you’ve been looking for a true business partner – not just another app – check them out today at https://sprocketsports.me/CTG.

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