In this episode of Untapped Stories, we sit down with Izi Murray — NCAA Division I soccer player turned college recruiting coach, founder of Push The Goal, and one of the most refreshingly honest voices in youth soccer development — to talk about what it actually takes to play college soccer, why your performance is not your worth, and how kids can get better without burning out before they ever get there.

After being turned away by club after club as an 11-year-old who started later than most, Izi knows exactly what it feels like to be overlooked — and exactly what it takes to get seen anyway. She went on to play semi-professionally and earn her spot at NCAA Division I MTSU, and has since guided over 300 athletes through the recruiting process with a 90% success rate. Her message isn't about doing more. It's about doing the right things — for the right reasons — at the right time.

And it starts with one belief that runs through everything she does:

Your performance is not your worth.

In a youth sports culture that ties a child's identity to their last game, last result, or last coach's evaluation, Izi pushes back hard. Kids who grow up believing their value as a human being rises and falls with their soccer performance don't just burn out — they lose the game long before they've had a real chance to play it. The athletes who make it furthest are the ones who love the game for its own sake, not for what it can prove about them.

From there, the conversation opens up into something a lot of soccer families need to hear:

You don't have to sacrifice your entire childhood to play college soccer.

The pressure to specialize early, commit to elite club programs year-round, and dedicate every weekend from age nine onward to the recruiting pipeline is real — and largely overblown. Izi breaks down what college coaches actually want to see, what the recruiting timeline really looks like, and why the path to a college roster spot doesn't require a kid to give up everything else that makes childhood worth having. Strategy beats sacrifice every time.

She also gets practical in a way most coaches don't — sharing real workouts and training habits kids can build at home, on their own, without expensive gear or elite club access. The fundamentals that separate recruited players from overlooked ones are more accessible than the industry wants families to believe.

Throughout the episode, Izi covers the core principles behind her holistic approach to soccer development and recruiting:

- Why tying your identity to performance is the fastest way to fall out of love with the game

- How to pursue college soccer without over-specializing or burning out early

- Simple, effective at-home workouts that build real soccer skill

- What college coaches are actually looking for — and what they're not

- The recruiting timeline most families don't know exists until it's almost too late

- How to develop the whole athlete — mentally, physically, and emotionally

Izi's own story — overlooked at 11, D1 by her early twenties — is proof that the recruiting process has more room for late starters, underestimated athletes, and unconventional paths than most families are ever told.

This episode is a must-listen for soccer players and parents wondering whether college soccer is realistic, families feeling the pressure of the club soccer machine, and coaches who believe holistic development builds better athletes than early specialization ever could.

🎙️ Untapped Stories is presented by Athletes Untapped — the nation's leading platform for private sports coaching. We connect athletes and families with elite coaches who help players build strong fundamentals, confidence, leadership, and lifelong habits through sports.

👉 Follow Athletes Untapped for more conversations with elite coaches and athletes, and explore private soccer coaching to elevate your game and development.

In this episode of Untapped Stories, we sit down with Vanessa Kroll Bennett and Cara Natterson - authors, co-founders of https://lessawkward.com/, and two of the most trusted voices on raising tweens and teens — to talk about sports parenting, what we're getting wrong on the sidelines, and why girls are walking away from sports far too soon.

After working with thousands of parents, educators, and young people — and between them raising kids of their own — Vanessa and Cara have developed a perspective on youth sports that every sports parent needs to hear:

Your job on the sideline is smaller than you think. And that's actually a good thing.

Cheering, encouraging, and showing up matter enormously. But coaching from the stands, narrating every mistake, and turning the car ride home into a film session? That's where things go sideways fast. Vanessa knows this firsthand — her own son told her to zip it during a game. Not as a metaphor. Literally. And she'll be the first to tell you: he had a point.

Cara and Vanessa explain that one of the most powerful things a sports parent can do is create a clear boundary between the field and home — a space where kids can decompress, feel supported unconditionally, and come to you on their own terms rather than being debriefed the moment they get in the car. The research backs it up, and so does lived experience: kids perform better and stay in sports longer when they feel safe rather than evaluated.

From there, the conversation shifts to something both Vanessa and Cara feel urgently about:

Girls are leaving sports too early, and we need to stop it.

The dropout rate for girls in youth sports — particularly as they enter adolescence — is a quiet crisis with enormous long-term consequences. Girls who stay in sports longer develop more confidence, more resilience, more leadership skills, and a stronger sense of identity heading into the teenage years. But somewhere along the way, the experience stops feeling like theirs — and they leave.

Vanessa, who founded Dynamo Girl specifically to build girls' self-esteem through sports, brings a deeply personal lens to this conversation. The answer isn't pushing harder — it's listening better, creating more welcoming environments, and making sure girls feel like sports belong to them, not just to the scoreboard.

The episode also gets into one of the more entertaining debates in sports parenting right now:

Should moms let their kids play football?

Cara and Vanessa don't shy away from it. It's a real question, it deserves a real conversation, and the way families navigate it says a lot about how we weigh risk, autonomy, and a kid's right to choose their own athletic journey.

Throughout the episode, they highlight the core principles that define thoughtful, effective sports parenting:

- Staying quiet on the sideline — even when it's hard

- Creating a "no debrief zone" after games and practices

- Understanding why girls drop out of sports and what parents can do about it

- Letting kids own their athletic identity rather than borrowing yours

- Navigating the real conversations around contact sports and risk

- Building the kind of relationship where kids actually want to talk to you about sports

This episode is a must-listen for any parent navigating youth sports, anyone trying to raise confident, resilient girls, and anyone who's ever had to resist the urge to shout something from the stands — or gotten told to zip it when they didn't.

🎙️ Untapped Stories is presented by https://athletesuntapped.com/ — the nation's leading platform for private sports coaching. We connect athletes and families with elite coaches who help players build strong fundamentals, confidence, leadership, and lifelong habits through sports.

👉 Follow https://www.instagram.com/athletesuntapped/ for more conversations with elite coaches and athletes, and explore private coaching to elevate your game and development.

In this episode of Untapped Stories, we sit down with Nick Winkelman, PhD - Head of Athletic Performance & Science for the Irish Rugby Football Union, former director of education at EXOS, and author of the widely acclaimed book The Language of Coaching: The Art & Science of Teaching Movement - to talk about what separates great coaches from good ones, why the words you use matter more than you think, and what it really takes to build an elite athlete from the ground up.

After working with athletes across the NFL, NBA, MLB, international rugby, and beyond, Nick has arrived at a belief that reshapes how most people think about coaching:

The program is only half the job. The language is the other half.

X's and O's, training loads, and periodization plans all matter. But when it comes to actually changing how an athlete moves and performs in the moment, it's the words a coach chooses — the cues, the analogies, the feedback — that determine whether the message lands or gets lost. The best coaches in the world aren't just the most knowledgeable. They're the most engaging communicators in the room.

Nick explains that coaching language isn't about being flashy or entertaining. It's about meeting athletes where they are — building cues that connect to how the body actually learns movement, and creating environments where athletes can feel the difference, not just hear about it. Whether you're coaching elite rugby players in Dublin or youth athletes in a local gym, the principles are the same: speak to the body, not just the brain.

From there, the conversation shifts into something Nick feels strongly about outside the elite performance world:

Get kids moving early — and keep it varied.

In a world where early specialization has become the default, Nick makes a compelling case for mobility, physical literacy, and multi-sport participation as the foundation of long-term athletic development. Kids who develop broad movement vocabularies early don't just become better athletes — they become more coachable, more adaptable, and more resilient as they move through increasingly competitive environments. The body learns by doing many things, not one thing over and over again.

The conversation also explores one of Nick's most thought-provoking observations about elite athletes:

The best ones are almost always talented AND tested.

Across years of working with world-class performers, Nick has noticed a consistent pattern — the athletes who reach the highest levels rarely had it easy. Natural talent opened the door, but adversity, setbacks, and obstacles shaped what happened once they walked through it. The athletes who've had to fight for something tend to bring a quality to their training and their competition that raw talent alone simply can't produce.

Throughout the episode, Nick highlights the core principles that drive elite development at every level:

• Why coaching language and cueing are as important as programming
• Using analogies and external cues to unlock better movement
• The case for getting kids into mobility and physical literacy early
• Why multi-sport backgrounds build more complete, adaptable athletes
• How adversity and talent together create elite performers
• Bridging the gap between sports science and real-world coaching

This episode is a must-listen for coaches at every level, parents thinking about how to set their young athletes up for long-term success, and anyone who believes that how you say something matters just as much as what you say.

🎙️ Untapped Stories is presented by https://athletesuntapped.com/ — the nation's leading platform for private sports coaching. We connect athletes and families with elite coaches who help players build strong fundamentals, confidence, leadership, and lifelong habits through sports.

👉 Follow https://www.instagram.com/athletesuntapped/ for more conversations with elite coaches and athletes, and explore private coaching to elevate your game and development.