#247 Manchester United's Tony Whelan and Tom Statham: Our Most Important Job is Protecting Childhood

Tom Statham and Tony Whelan have a combined 60 plus years coaching and leading the young players in Manchester United's Academy. Tony started out there as a schoolboy, eventually signing professional terms and playing for Man United, Manchester City, and in the US in the old NASL. He has been at United since 1990 in a coaching capacity, Head of Academy Coaching, and currently in an advisory role. With experience working under managers from Sir Matt Busby to Sir Alex Ferguson, Tony is deeply rooted in the history and culture of United, and has guided hundreds of players from the youth ranks to the pros.

Tom Statham is a long time friend of the podcast, and has been with Manchester United for nearly 30 years, currently working with the U9-U11s. Current Manchester United players such as Marcus Rashford, Jesse Lingard, Mason Greenwood and Scott McTominay all started as young players with Tom and other coaches at the Cliff, United's legendary training ground.

In our conversation today, we dive deeply into the history of the club, and the vital importance of youth coaches in protracting the childhood of our young athletes. We discuss being a life coach first, and a sport coach second. And we talk about the massive impact we can have on the lives of our young athletes on and off the field. This is a very special conversation for me, and reaffirms my belief that our influence is never neutral.

Today's Podcast is brought to you by the 2021 Way of Champions Conference. The conference videos have been made into an online course and are now available here: Click Here to Learn More. This includes sessions with Steve Kerr, Brad Stevens, Cindy Timchal, Jenny Levy, George Mumford, Tara VanDerveer, and Quin Snyder along with Anson Dorrance. It is hours of top level coach education on connecting with your athletes, building your culture, and winning the "Inner Game."

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