Kevin Connors is the Managing Director at Susan Crown Exchange, where he oversees grant making, leads new initiatives, and co-develops organizational strategy. Kevin helped lead the Million Coaches Challenge, a national initiative launched by the Susan Crown Exchange in 2021 to transform youth sports by training one million coaches in evidence-based youth development practices. Backed by 18+ partners, including the Aspen Institute's Project Play and research led by the American Institutes for Research, the Million Coaches Challenge is transforming youth sports by equipping coaches with the information and tools to create positive, inclusive environments that help young people build confidence, belonging, and life skills through sport. Between 2021 and 2025, it collectively trained 1,173,354 coaches.
Previously, Kevin served as the Founding Director of Personalized Learning at Chicago Public Schools, where he led a $25M initiative and partnered with 120 schools to lead the nation's first large scale implementation of the Personalized Learning school model. Kevin has also written for Education Week, is a Teach for America alum, and presents regularly at local and national conferences. His work has been covered by CNN, The Today Show, and Vanity Fair.
Recently, with support from the Susan Crown Exchange, the Aspen Institute and Ohio State University LiFESports recently announced the National Coach Survey. The 15 minute online survey can be found at as.pn/coachsurvey. The goal is to reach 20,000 coaches through the survey, and is designed to provide value to the youth sports field writ large, as well as a valuable tool for individual organizations. Specifically, organizations with 25 or more responses are able to receive their own reports.
The #1 Bestseller CAPTAIN: THE ATHLETE'S GUIDE TO BEING AN EXCEPTIONAL TEAM LEADER is the book you need to develop your team captains and leaders! CLICK HERE TO ORDER
We are constantly asked "where have all the leaders gone?" Now more than ever, it is up to schools, clubs and coaches to develop our leaders, and this new book is a perfect guide to train and develop them. It is filled with stories of champion team captains on the professional and college level, Hall of Fame coaches, and more, and is a masterclass on leadership. Your athletes will learn from leaders such as Carles Puyol, Abby Wambach, Tim Duncan, Shane Battier, Richie McCaw, Carla Overbeck and Simone Biles. It will help your athletes understand the qualities needed to lead, the responsibilities they must accept, and the most common challenges they will face. The chapters are short and sweet and have discussion questions so that your leaders can work through them together and set your team up for great success. The book also comes with a FREE downloadable 10-session curriculum so you can guide your team or the leaders in your school or club through the entire book.
FOR ORDERS OF 10 OR MORE, WE OFFER A $5 PER BOOK DISCOUNT. EMAIL John@ChangingTheGameProject.com to place your order.
BOOK A SPEAKER: Interested in having John present to your school, club or coaching event, either in person or virtually? Looking for leadership training for your student athletes, a coach development workshop or parent education? We are still booking Fall 2026 events, please email us to set up an introductory call John@ChangingTheGameProject.com
PUT IN YOUR BULK BOOK ORDERS FOR OUR BESTSELLING BOOKS, AND JOIN 2026 CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS FROM SYRACUSE MENS LAX, UNC AND NAVY WOMENS LAX, AND MORE! These are just the most recent championship teams using THE CHAMPION TEAMMATE book with their athletes and support teams. Many of these coaches are also getting THE CHAMPION SPORTS PARENT so their team parents can be part of a successful culture. Schools and clubs are using EVERY MOMENT MATTERS for staff development and book clubs. Are you? We have been fulfilling numerous bulk orders for some of the top high school and collegiate sports programs in the country, will your team be next?
Click here to visit John's author page on Amazon
Click here to visit Jerry's author page on Amazon
Please email John@ChangingTheGameProject.com if you want discounted pricing on 10 or more books on any of our books. Thanks everyone.
This week's podcast is brought to you by our friends at Sprocket Sports. Sprocket Sports is a software platform for youth sports clubs. Yeah, there are a lot of these systems out there, but Sprocket provides the full enchilada. They give you all the cool front-end stuff to make your club look good– like websites, communication tools and marketing tools – AND all the back-end transactions and services to run your business better so you can focus on what really matters – your players and your teams.
Sprocket is built for those clubs looking to thrive, not just survive, in the competitive world of youth sports clubs. So if you've been looking for a true business partner – not just another app – check them out today at https://sprocketsports.me/CTG.
Become a Podcast Champion! This weeks podcast is also sponsored by our Patreon Podcast Champions. Help Support the Podcast and get FREE access to our Premium Membership, with well over $1000 of courses and materials. If you love the podcast, we would love for you to become a Podcast Champion, (https://www.patreon.com/wayofchampions) for as little as a cup of coffee per month (OK, its a Venti Mocha), to help us up the ante and provide even better interviews, better sound, and an overall enhanced experience. Plus, as a $10 per month Podcast Super-Champion, you will be granted a Premium Changing the Game Project Membership, where you will have access to every course, interview and blog post we have created organized by topic from coaches to parents to athletes.
Thank you for all your support these past eight years, and a special big thank you to all of you who become part of our inner circle, our patrons, who will enable us to take our podcast to the next level. https://www.patreon.com/wayofchampions
