The Mental Approach To Youth Sports

Val Whiting is one of the most decorated college basketball players of her generation — two national championships at Stanford, Pac-10 Player of the Year twice, a pro career that took her from Italy and Brazil to the ABL and the WNBA. But behind the highlights was a player who was silently drowning, with no tools to combat performance anxiety, no one to talk to, and a coach who called her unmotivated. It took two hospitalizations, a pandemic, and a TikTok video for Val to turn her pain into purp

What happens when a million-dollar dream is derailed by a hidden addiction? In this candid episode of The Mental Approach, host Todd Arkell sits down with Jake Sanford—the highest MLB draft pick ever to come out of Nova Scotia (3rd round, New York Yankees). Jake takes us through his incredible journey from an unrecruited walk-on in small-town Nebraska to signing a $600,000 bonus with the most famous franchise in sports. But behind the scenes, a growing gambling addiction—sparked by innocent casi

Todd Arkell sits down with Brad Dalton—mental performance coach, educator, and bestselling author of DNA of a Winner: 8 Steps to Building the Soul Print of a Winner. In a youth sports culture increasingly obsessed with stats, rankings, and immediate outcomes, Brad makes a compelling case for shifting the focus away from what you achieve and back toward who you are becoming. Whether you are a young athlete trying to filter out the noise, a coach building team culture, or a parent supporting fr

Every parent of a competitive teenager knows this story: Your kid looks completely unstoppable in practice. They have the skill, the talent, and the drive to be the best in the room. But the moment the spotlight hits—the big tournament, the college scout in the stands, the high-stakes play—something flips. The mistakes start piling up, and a talented athlete gets completely trapped inside their own head. In this episode of The Mental Approach, host Todd Arkell sits down with Andrew Pardy, fou

Ever watch your kid completely fade out or lose focus in the fourth quarter, or during a grueling weekend tournament? Before you assume they lack mental toughness, ask yourself a different question: What did they eat today? In this episode of The Mental Approach, host Todd Arkell sits down with Jeremy Fouts—soil scientist, founder of Corviv sports nutrition, and dad to elite competitive athletes—to expose a quiet epidemic in youth sports: Our kids aren't soft. They are severely underfueled. We s

Walter Beede and I unpack the realities of the modern baseball recruiting landscape. Drawing on his experience as a former college coach and father of two recruited players, Walter explains why today’s parents are often stuck in an outdated mindset, chasing early exposure, showcases, and rankings instead of focusing on long-term development and honest evaluation. We talk about how the true recruiting window has shifted later, why time is the most wasted resource, and how strength, speed, nutr