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Bill Damon: Youth Sports Can Be A Vehicle To Help Kids Find Their Purpose

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Listen in as Positive Coaching Alliance goes 1-on-1 in interviews with top pro and college players, coaches, executives and other major sports figures who provide tips, tools, information and inspiration for youth and high school sports coaches, parents and student-athletes.

This 1-on-1 interview features William (Bill) Damon, the Director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence. Damon is the author of Greater Expectations and is a professor of education at Stanford University (@Stanford). His research, teaching and publications focus on moral development and education, and Damon is a key figure in the growth of positive psychology.

Jim Thompson (@JimThompson18), PCA Founder, talks to Damon about how youth sports can be a vehicle for helping youth find their purpose, and Damon's latest book, The Path to Purpose. The main theme of the podcast delves into why purpose matters so much for people and why youth sports can provide purpose for kids.

Other highlights of the podcast include:

  • Purpose stabilizes people's lives through dedication and gives people sustained motivation

  • A purpose driven life makes people resilient

  • 20% of high school students feel like they have a well-developed sense of purpose

  • How to make sure teachers and coaches don't miss the purpose of learning or competing

  • How coaches can help athletes find purpose as 'elevaters' regardless of talent level.

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