Are captains born, or are they made? And why do so many coaches get the pick wrong?

Tex sits down with Martin Rooney [@themartinrooney] bestselling author of Coach to Coach and High Ten, founder of Training for Warriors, and a coach who's worked with everyone from Army Rangers to UFC champions to high school track teams.

Martin makes the case that captains aren't selected, they emerge, and that handing the title to your best performer or most popular kid by default is one of the most common mistakes coaches make. He shares the story of a state championship team that won without ever naming a captain, and gets into why today's athletes respond to feedback so differently than they did even ten years ago.

Along the way: Tuckman's stages of team development, the "pat on the back vs. kick in the butt" line every coach needs to internalize, and the story of a kid who gave away his own shoes mid-competition, and what that taught an entire team about leadership.

If you're a coach wrestling with who to name captain, or how to lead a generation that speaks a different language than you do, this one's for you.

Learn more from Martin Rooney:
🔗 coachinggreatness.com
🔗 trainingforwarriors.com

Education - "Funishment: Reframing Discipline in Athletics" - https://fun.captainsandcoaches.com/

"Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com

Training - Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

In this episode of CJ & Vinny's Secret Podcast, Tex sits down with CJ Appenzeller (Active Personal Training, ATS Systems) and Vinny Maltz (author and host of the Evolving Athletes podcast) to tackle one of the hardest skills a captain ever has to learn: how to inspire and motivate a team without it coming off fake.

The boys dig into why "fake hype" gets sniffed out instantly by anyone who's competed at a high level, why real energy is more often an emerging property of competency and alignment than something you can force, and what it actually takes to get teenagers comfortable celebrating each other instead of hiding behind "too cool for this."

Education - "Funishment: Reframing Discipline in Athletics" - https://fun.captainsandcoaches.com/

"Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com

Training - Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com

What happens when a team stops playing to win and starts playing not to lose? Dr. Ben Freakley, Certified Mental Performance Consultant and founder of Ready Set Resilient, knows that shift firsthand. Over two decades, Ben has worked inside some of the highest-pressure locker rooms in sport and the military, serving as a college soccer head coach, Head of Mental Performance for the Toronto Blue Jays, and a mental performance coach with Atlanta United and the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment.

In this episode, Tex and Ben dig into the two balls every coach has to juggle (the team and the individual), the "sustain, stop, start" halftime framework that gives players ownership of the solutions, and what separates leadership in a locker room from leadership on a battlefield. It's a conversation about loss aversion, trust, and what it really takes to build a team that plays brave under pressure.

Education - "Funishment: Reframing Discipline in Athletics" - https://fun.captainsandcoaches.com/

"Why They're Not Listening - Coaching Today's Athlete": http://listen.captainsandcoaches.com

Training - Old Bull Program - 7 Day Free Trial - https://bit.ly/old-bull-train

C&C Merch - shop.captainsandcoaches.com