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From the outside, Adrien Plavsic had everything young athletes dream of: a long NHL career, Olympic success, and years competing at the highest levels of professional hockey. But internally, his experience was very different. In this episode, Adrien opens up about what it was really like to live in constant survival mode while performing at an elite level.

He shares how fear quietly drove his training, games, and even recovery, keeping his nervous system stuck on high alert. Despite appearing confident and composed, Adrien describes feeling trapped in his own head, disconnected from the moments he had worked his entire life to reach. Sleepless nights, racing thoughts, and an inability to truly relax turned the dream into something that felt more like a nightmare.

Together, this conversation explores the difference between performing from fear versus performing from presence, why so many driven athletes miss their peak experiences, and how over-control can actually block learning, growth, and freedom. Adrien reflects on his journey of rewiring his mind and nervous system, redefining his relationship with pressure, mistakes, self-awareness and why learning how to be, not just do, is essential for sustainable excellence.

This episode is a powerful listen for athletes, parents, and coaches who want more than just results who want performance that feels grounded, free, and fully alive.

Adrien Plavsic is a former NHL player who spent eight seasons with the St. Louis Blues, Vancouver Canucks, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Anaheim Mighty Ducks. A second-round draft pick in 1988, he won an Olympic silver medal with Team Canada in 1992 and later played many years in Switzerland’s top professional league. Today, he works as a Certified Mental Performance Coach, helping athletes regulate their nervous systems, reconnect with presence, and build lives rooted in freedom, excellence, and meaning.

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Getting cut is one of the rawest, most emotional moments in youth sports and for many families, tryout season feels more like heartbreak season. In this Q&A episode, Mariel and Jordan break down what really happens to an athlete’s confidence, identity, and motivation when they don’t make the team, and why a parent’s reaction in the first 10 minutes can shape everything that comes next.

They share their own stories of being cut, the shame, the tears, and the turning points, while unpacking how to help young athletes process disappointment without spiraling into victim mentality. Instead of blaming coaches or shielding kids from discomfort, the episode digs into how to validate the pain and redirect it into growth, emotional regulation, and a clearer understanding of what being an athlete truly requires.

This episode reframes being cut as an essential part of the athlete journey: a moment that can ignite self-awareness, leadership, accountability, and resilience when handled with the right mindset at home. Whether your child is devastated, angry, embarrassed, or ready to quit altogether, this conversation gives you the tools to anchor them, support them, and help them find their next step with confidence.

If your athlete was recently cut or if tryouts are looming, this is the episode you’ll want to hear together.

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Dr. Claire joins the podcast for a powerful conversation that every parent, coach, and athlete needs to hear. With a background in neuroscience, physiology, and youth mental health, she breaks down what’s actually happening inside the bodies and brains of young athletes and why so many are struggling with burnout, fatigue, chronic stress, and emotional overwhelm.

Throughout the episode, Dr. Claire explains how sleep, screen exposure, stress hormones, and daily nervous system health play a larger role in performance than most people realize. She shares why kids today are showing up more dysregulated, more exhausted, and more anxious than previous generations and how that directly impacts their ability to focus, recover, perform, and adapt to sport.

This conversation goes well beyond “mental toughness.” Dr. Claire offers a clear, compassionate look at how modern stress loads are shaping athlete development, why traditional coaching methods often fall short, and what adults need to understand about the brain-body connection if we want kids to succeed long-term.

If you’ve ever wondered why your athlete can’t sleep, can’t calm down, can’t recover, or can’t seem to feel confident consistently, this episode gives you the science and the solutions in a way that finally makes it all make sense.

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