Today's Play: Our guest discusses the differences between coaching young athletes and college players, emphasizing resilience, teamwork, and the mental side of softball. She also provides valuable insights into the recruiting process, including what coaches look for in players beyond athletic ability, and offers advice for parents on how to best support their children’s sports journey.
Today's Coach: CJ is the owner of CJ's perfect practice, a baseball and softball hitting instruction company. In college, CJ was the starting catcher for Western Washington's NAIA national championship team. After college, she was the assistant coach and head hitting instructor at University of Virginia for five seasons. During her time there, UVA hitters were ranked 15th in the nation among all NCAA division one schools. CJ was inducted into Western Washington's Hall of Fame in 2011.

Today’s Play: Amy and Keenan Hickton explore how parental support rooted in trust, humility, and awareness can unlock an athlete’s full potential. Keenan reflects on how his own parents supported his late transition to golf with unconditional encouragement—while also resisting the urge to overstep as knowledgeable former athletes. The conversation highlights the critical importance of letting coaches coach, staying grounded in reality, and helping student-athletes learn to take ownership of both their progress and setbacks.

Today's Coach: Keenan Hickton is the Head Men’s Golf Coach at The University of the South, Sewanee. He spent the last six years as assistant coach at Emory University, where the team achieved a No. 1 national ranking, placed in the top 5 nationally for most of his tenure, and won 22 tournaments—including three UAA championships. As a student-athlete at Emory, Keenan was a three-time UAA team champion, Tournament MVP, and two-time All-Scholar Team honoree, graduating in 2018 with a degree in Business Administration.

Today's Play: Gustavus Adolphus head coach Tommy Valentini shares the powerful story behind his team’s NCAA doubles national championship—one rooted in culture, gratitude, and perspective. Tommy highlights how his players prioritized team values, even in the highest-pressure moments, and honored a lost classmate in a deeply meaningful way. He offers insight into how true freedom in sport comes from knowing your worth isn’t defined by wins or losses—a mindset built over years, starting in youth sports. Tommy also reflects on the enduring legacy of his mentor, Steve Wilkinson, whose “double vision” approach—seeing people both as they are and as they could be at their best—informs Tommy’s coaching, parenting, and life.

Today's Coach: Dr. Tommy Valentini is in his 16th year as head coach of the where he holds an overall record of 273-104. The Gusties are the third winningest program in the history of Division III tennis with an all-time mark of 1303-532-3 (.710 winning percentage). Gustavus has claimed two NCAA Team Championships (1980, 1982), while also winning six national titles in doubles and four national titles in singles. Tommy has also coached at Emory University and University of Nebraska, written a book chapter titled: Love-Love: A Fresh Start at Finding Value and Virtue in Tennis and presented a . He's also a youth hockey coach and runs a coach education/team culture building education program for the Minnesota River Bulldogs. Last, but not least, Tommy is a professor in the philosophy department at where he teaches sport ethics and philosophy.

Mentioned in today's episode: Lot To Serve, by Steve Wilkerson