Latest / The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast / #134: Gill1918 Presents Coach/Meet Director Steve Stowe "Celebrate Athletes While They're Young” Powered by Coach O

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#134: Gill1918 Presents Coach/Meet Director Steve Stowe "Celebrate Athletes While They're Young” Powered by Coach O · The Gill Athletics Track and Field Connections Podcast

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  Welcome to the Gill 1918 Project, a podcast series by
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  coaches for coaches, powered by Gill Athletics.
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  Think of it as the Ted Talks of track and field coaching.
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  Short, insightful, and packed with valuable strategies to help
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  you grow as a coach. This episode is part of the
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  Youth and Beginner Series, brought to you by Coach O.
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  In this series, we focus on topics relating to coaching
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  youth athletes, coaching beginner athletes of any age,
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  and supporting brand new coaches as they find their way.
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  With that in mind, let's grow. How's it going everybody?
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  My name is Steve Stone, and I'm the CEO of the Speedy Stone
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  Platform, a space built to highlight, rank, and celebrate
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  youth track and field athletes across the country.
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  First off, I want to take a second and thank cultural
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  platform and the team for putting together this youth and
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  beginner track series. Opportunities like this matter
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  because they give us a chance to talk about the foundation of the
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  sport, not just performance, but purpose.
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  And today I want to talk about something that's really at the
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  core of everything that I do. It's all about celebrating
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  athletes while they're young. You know, when you really sit
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  back and think about it, most athletes don't get recognized
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  until later, high school, college, maybe when they're
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  already elite. That's when their attention
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  comes. That's when the rankings matter.
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  That's when the people start paying attention.
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  But what about before that? What about when they're just
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  getting started? When they're 78910 years old,
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  waking up early, going to practice, running in the heat,
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  competing on weekends, learning discipline before they even
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  fully understand what discipline is?
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  That's where speedy store come from.
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  I saw a gap. I saw talented kids putting in
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  real work and nobody was documented.
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  Nobody was celebrating it. Nobody was saying, hey, this
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  matters right now. So I created a platform that
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  does exactly that. We give out weekly rankings for
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  12 you. We highlight performances,
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  giving the kids a chance to see their name and understand that
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  they're doing something special right now, right in this moment.
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  Because here's the truth. When a young athlete feels seen,
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  it changes everything. They've run different, they
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  train different, they carry themselves different.
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  Confidence starts to build early, and confidence is
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  powerful. It's not just about winning
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  races, it's about belief. I've seen kids go from just
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  showing up to actually believing that they belong.
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  And sometimes all it takes is recognition.
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  Just enough moment when somebody say, hey, I see you, you're one
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  of the best right now, you're on the right path.
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  And let's be real for a second, the sport of track and field,
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  this sport is hard. It's a demanding sport.
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  There's no hiding, there's no bench, there's no timeouts.
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  It's just you, your work, your preparation, your mindset.
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  So when these kids are showing up and doing that at a young
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  age, why would we wait to celebrate that?
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  We don't have to wait until they're ordered to give them
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  their flowers. We don't have to say, let's see
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  if you can keep it up. No, let's celebrate them right
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  now while they're building habits, while they're falling in
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  love with the sport, while they're becoming who they're
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  going to be. Because here's the bigger
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  picture. Not every kid gets going to go
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  pro, not every kid is going to get a scholarship, but every kid
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  can gain something from this sport.
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  Confidence, discipline, resilience, work ethic.
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  And when we celebrate them early, we reinforce those
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  things. We make them want to stay.
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  We make them want to grow. That's also a big part of why I
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  created the Speedy Stone Showcase.
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  It's happening on May 2nd in High Point, NC.
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  This meat isn't just about competition.
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  It's about giving these kids a stage, a moment, an experience
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  where they feel like what they're doing matters.
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  Where they're not just another athlete in the lineup.
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  They're part of something much bigger.
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  Because when kids feel that energy, when they feel
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  recognized, when they feel like people are watching, supporting,
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  and believing in them, it sticks.
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  It carries over. It builds something real, and I
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  say this too. Parents, coaching, even the
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  community, we all play a role in this.
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  It's not just about pushing them to be better, it's about
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  acknowledging when they're already doing well.
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  Even the small things, APR, a strong race, good effort,
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  consistency, that matters sometimes.
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  We move so fast in this sport, always chasing the next time,
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  the next meet, the next go. Then we forget to pause and say
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  you did something great today. And that moment, that
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  acknowledgement, that what keeps kids coming back, that's what
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  keeps them locked in. So when I talk about celebrating
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  athletes while they're young, it's not just about rankings,
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  it's not just about popes. It's about building a culture.
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  A culture where youth athletes are respected, where their work
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  is valued, where their journey matters right now, not just
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  later. Because these kids, they're not
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  just future stars, they're current athletes putting in real
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  work right now. And if we get this right, if we
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  continue to highlight them, support them, celebrate them
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  early, we're not just building faster athletes, we're building
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  stronger individuals. So if you're listening to this
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  and you're part of this space, parents, coach, athletes,
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  supporters, take a moment, celebrate the kids around you.
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  Give them that encouragement, give them that recognition
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  because it's matter more than you think.
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  And if you want to stay tapped in with everything that we're
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  doing over here, make sure you follow us on Instagram at Speedy
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  under score Stowe. That's at SPEEDY under score
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  STO. That's what we post weekly
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  rankings, highlights and everything youth track and
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  field. Again, I'm Steve Stowe, CEO of
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  Speedy Stowe. I appreciate Coach O team,
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  especially David Mitchell for this opportunity.
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  And remember, don't wait to give them kids their flowers.
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  Celebrate them now while they're young.
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  Thank you. Thanks Steve.
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  This is David Mitchell from Coach O Aren't discipline and
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  resilience and work ethic focus on improvement, effort,
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  consistency and self reflection really qualities that we desire
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  for every young person, for every adult around us,
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  particularly those who might be our employees or Co workers?
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  Well, that's what Steve's been talking about here today and
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  want to challenge you to dig into what he had to say and how
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  he's using recognition at a young age to help shape those
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  qualities in young people as they grow into mature adults.
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  And I also want to highlight for you that there's some potential
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  future collaboration between Speedy Stowe and Kocho that
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  we'll be releasing in the future, and we'll talk to you
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  about that more. In the meantime, again, you can
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  go to the Speedy Show Speedy Stowe Ranking Showcase meet on
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  coachoregistration.com to get signed up for his meet.
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  Thanks again. Hey gang, Mike Cunningham here.
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  Thanks for joining us for this episode in the Youth and
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  beginner series Powered by Coach O Powered by Coach O is more
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  than a platform. It's a movement to benefit track
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  and field by supporting coaches, athletes, parents, officials and
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  event directors and countless ways.
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  Find out more and get yourself plugged in to the Powered by
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  Coach O by visiting coacho.com today.