Healthy Sports Parents Giving Kids Ownership of Their Youth Sports Journey (with Leslie Osborne, retired USWNT)
What happens when we stop trying to control our kids' sports experience and start helping them own it?
In this episode, retired USWNT player and current youth coach / pro team owner Leslie Osborne shares why the healthiest sports journeys are the ones driven by kids, not adults. From playing multiple sports growing up to navigating injuries and life after soccer, Leslie reflects on how ownership, passion, and perspective shaped her career and now shape how she parents and coaches.
We also explore what it looks like to support kids without pushing them, how parents can balance competitiveness with emotional development, and why youth sports should be about developing confident, capable humans more than elite athletes.
Our job isn’t to control the journey.
It’s to give kids the tools, space, and confidence to own it themselves.
This conversation is about stepping back, trusting our kids, and remembering that sports are simply the vehicle. The real goal is helping them grow into resilient, confident adults who can handle whatever comes next, both on and off the field. That long term development mindset sits at the heart of Healthy Sports Parents and the idea that youth sports are ultimately about raising healthy adults, not just athletes.
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