Your players have a million things happening in their lives. And it's increasing all the time.  Family. Friends. Other sports. Academics.  Even when your players want to do the right thing... it's difficult. (most of them want to do the right thing, by the way)  I recorded this episode completely off-the-cuff. No real preparation, a couple notes on a piece of paper.  But it is very real. This is important stuff. Not the X's and O's. The stuff that matters.  I do a lot of surveys of coaches that use Joe Daniel Football and listen to The Football Coaching Podcast. The issues we address in this episode are at the top of your list of problems.  Players who want to play other sports. Single sport athletes are a big problem in the world today. Not because it's wrong to play one sport. But because it's wrong to play one sport if the kid wants to play other sports.  What about parents? That's the big issue. It's probably the one that keeps me from being a head coach. Parents are tough to deal with sometimes. They have unreasonable expectations.  Social life. Kids are getting into a lot more than we ever did. OK, maybe not. But it seems like it. Youth makes stupid decisions. We have to deal with that, and help as best we can. Expectations are sky high. Every kid, and every parent, thinks they're getting a scholarship. Any talented kid has heard from his uncle who used to play for a semi-pro team that he's definitely going to make it in The League. We have to deal with that, too.  Listen to Episode 168 of The Football Coaching Podcast for ideas on how to deal with all of this. And for lots more on building relationships that matter with your players, check out the Max Motivation for Peak Performance course that is an exclusive series for JDFB Insider members.  Timestamp: [04:03] What is a distracted player? [04:40] Distracted by other sports [08:50] Distracted by their own parents [12:32] Distracted by the social life [15:40] Distracted by expectations from the people around him [18:30] Get more ideas for helping your players