Real Talk for Sport Parents w/ Samantha Livingstone

About Real Talk for Sport Parents w/ Samantha Livingstone

Welcome to Real Talk for Sports Parents (RTSP), the podcast where we pull back the curtain on parenting in the world of sports. Hosted by Olympic gold medalist, wife of a coach, and mother of four female athletes, Samantha Livingstone, this show weaves together a mix of expert insights, real-life stories, and practical advice to help parents—of athletes of all ages—feel less alone and more connected to what truly matters in supporting their kids. RTSP is your go-to space for honest, no-holds-barred conversations that empower you to cut through the noise and navigate the chaos of parenting in the world of sports. Whether it's solo episodes with Sam, interviews with experts, coaches, fellow sport parents, or advice from current and former athletes, you'll find the resources you need to thrive on this journey. Take what resonates, leave the rest, and remember—you're not alone in this!

Publisher

Samantha Arsenault Livingstone

Category

kids & family · sports

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

23 May 2025

Latest episode

1 May 2026

Latest episodes

27 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   1 May 2026

   Season One Finale: David Durand - The Brain Science Every Sports Parent Needs to Know

   Real Talk for Sport Parents Podcast Hosted by Samantha Livingstone This episode marks the final episode of the season! I'm so grateful to each + every person who poured time, energy + heart into these conversations — and to each + every person who listened, shared, and took part in building this sacred container. As this season comes to a close, I'm pausing to practice what I teach — taking space to reflect, listen, and allow what's authentically aligned to emerge. Thank you for listening, sharing, and being part of these conversations!! Ep. 26 - David Durand - The Brain Science Every Sports Parent Needs to Know In this episode, Samantha Livingstone welcomes mental performance coach and author David Durand to discuss adolescent athlete development through a nervous-system and psychology lens. Durand shares his upbringing near New Orleans, early sports obsession, perfectionism, pressure, an autoimmune diagnosis, and injuries that disrupted his athletic path, ultimately leading him into psychology and sports performance work. They explore how internal "demands" (I have to/should) can push athletes into a survival state, why timing matters when talking with frustrated teens, and how parents can ask about an athlete's internal experience. Durand explains basic brain concepts (upstairs/downstairs brain, "flipping the lid"), emphasizes bottom-up regulation before top-down tools, and outlines his BET framework—Breath (extended exhale and diaphragmatic breathing), Eyes (softening vision and widening peripheral awareness), and Touch (grounding and team connection). ·       02:57 David's Sports Journey ·       05:07 Helping Teens Thrive ·       07:04 Demands vs Desires ·       11:20 Talking After Tough Games ·       15:33 Hand Model Brain ·       24:27 Connection Action Shutdown ·       31:05 Top Down vs Bottom Up ·       37:37 BETS Breath Basics ·       42:40 Eyes and Nervous System ·       53:23 Unhealthy Climate Warning Signs ·       56:43 Stretch Not Stress ·       57:28 Social Media and Identity ·       01:03:49 Parent Guidelines and Boundaries Quotes • "I tell parents now, I think the hardest job right now is to be a, a teenager. Mm-hmm. And specifically a teenage girl. And I think the second hardest job is be a, a parent of a teenager. Um, I think specifically moms, if you have daughters." [07:27] •  " How it's not about getting dysregulated, it's about finding our way back home, finding our way back to connection mode." [26:47] •  " Who, who you are does not come from what you do, but it'ss. Mm-hmm. The opposite of like, what you do comes from who you are." [55:07] Social Media and Links ·       RTSP Instagram ·       samanthalivingstone.co ·       realdevelopment.org (https://realdevelopment.org/) ·       David's Substack (https://daviddurand.substack.com/) ·       David's Book "B.E.T On It" on Amazon (https://amzn.to/4tqSDTD) David's Bio: David Durand is a mental performance coach who works with adolescent athletes, coaches, and organizations to strengthen the psychological side of development and performance. His work focuses on helping young athletes build internal security, develop psychological skills, and better understand how their brains and bodies respond to pressure so they can learn more effectively, enjoy the process of sport, and perform at their best. David is the author of B.E.T. On It: A Psychological Approach to Coaching Gen Z and Beyond, a guide for coaches and parents who want to make a meaningful difference in the lives of modern athletes by understanding the psychological and nervous system factors that influence their behavior, development, and performance. He is also the author of Better Than Before: A Psychological Guide for Injured Athletes, which provides evidence-based tools and reflective practices to help athletes navigate the mental and emotional challenges of injury recovery and return to sport.

2. 

   17 Apr 2026

   When the Heat Rises: Keeping Kids Safe in a Win-At-All-Costs Culture

   Real Talk for Sport Parents Podcast Hosted by Samantha Livingstone Ep. 25 - When the Heat Rises: Keeping Kids Safe in a Win-At-All-Costs Culture In this episode, host Samantha Livingstone welcomes Melissa Fortenberry, a longtime competitor, mom of three, and former product leader at companies including Expedia, VRBO, and Philips, to discuss sports parenting, values, and athlete safety. Fortenberry describes growing up in Texas as an identical twin in a highly competitive sports family, becoming a four-year varsity soccer letterman, and carrying a "do your best" mindset into parenting, prioritizing effort and fun over outcomes while resisting early team politics, specialization, and constant travel. She shares how seeing intense youth-sports competition and experiencing heat sickness at a 107-degree Texas football game led her to research heat risk, learn limits of symptom-based guidelines and heat index, and found Heat Sense, a wearable and app/dashboard solution that estimates core body temperature and heat strain to prompt timely cooling breaks and support performance and safety, with a long-term goal of broader adoption and legislation. ·       02:56 Texas Roots and Twin Rivalry ·       05:47 Killer Instinct Athlete ·       07:45 Effort Over Outcomes ·       09:38 Competition Beyond Sports ·       18:40 Feeling Like Outsiders ·       26:11 Finding Play Again ·       30:35 Travel Teams and Balance ·       34:29 Breaking the Feedback Wall ·       39:57 Heat Scare at the Game ·       41:48 Why Heat Rules Fail ·       44:31 Launching Heat Sense ·       58:40 Dreaming of Fun Sports Quotes • " …their innate competitiveness, I think is something that we have had to learn about. If it's something they're kind of born with or something they might develop, I would say that, um, I was born with it. My dad used to call it the killer instinct. Like if you're born with it, like you will do anything to win, win and you hate losing." [05:54] •  "Because at the end of those games, you know what I said, I didn't say, did you try your best? I said, was it fun?" [29:36] •  "If your body, the 98.6 is actually that everyone knows it's actually your core body temperature. And so when your body goes up to 102, your reaction time is gonna slow by 10 to 15%." [48:45] Social Media and Links ·       RTSP Instagram ·       samanthalivingstone.co ·       heatsense.com (https://heatsense.com/) ·       LinkedIn: @melissa-turner-fortenberry (https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-turner-fortenberry-139b39/) ·       Instagram: @heatsenseapp (https://www.instagram.com/heatsenseapp/) Melissa's Bio: Melissa Fortenberry grew up wired to compete. A twin who played every sport through the YMCA, made boys' soccer teams until high school, and became a four-year letterman, she came to sports parenting with a deep love for competition—not reluctance. But she also came with a philosophy: sports should be fun, and effort matters more than outcomes. In a culture that can consume families with year-round travel teams and D1 dreams, she and her husband have held the line on letting their three kids try different things, do their best, and actually enjoy it. After 25 years leading product at Expedia, VRBO, and Philips, a 107-degree football game turned her into a founder. Watching her son in full pads on hot turf, she couldn't stop thinking: if I'm overheating in the stands, what's happening to him? What she found was a system built around weather and symptoms—not the athlete. HeatSense replaces that guesswork with real-time visibility, so coaches and parents can act before heat becomes a problem.

3. 

   3 Apr 2026

   Coaching with Courage: Chris DeSantis on Parenting, Boundaries, and Positive Sports Culture

   Real Talk for Sport Parents Podcast Hosted by Samantha Livingstone Ep. 24: Coaching with Courage: Chris DeSantis on Parenting, Boundaries, and Positive Sports Culture In this episode, host Samantha Livingstone welcomes coach, athlete, father, and Swim Brief Podcast host Chris DeSantis, the first athletic coach to earn an advanced degree in positive psychology from Penn's Master of Applied Positive Psychology program. Chris shares his upbringing in swimming, including nearly quitting after his first year until his mom showed him his progress, and how a coach at 14 changed his life and influenced his decision to coach. He discusses a difficult college coach relationship, bullying, and learning to set boundaries, then offers practical guidance for athletes and parents navigating coach power dynamics and recruiting through direct, calm communication. Drawing from coaching in Denmark, he contrasts U.S. competition culture with Denmark's low hierarchy and closer parent-coach proximity, advocating gracious assumptions, curiosity, partnership, and empowering kids to use their voice. ·       04:09 Childhood and Swimming ·       05:40 Mom's Progress Lesson ·       08:21 Coach Who Changed Everything ·       10:41 College Burnout Turning Point ·       12:33 Coach Conflict and Boundaries ·       15:57 How Athletes Set Standards ·       18:15 Recruiting Ask Directly ·       21:26 Returning to the Pool ·       39:04 Coaching Your Own Kid ·       41:09 Abby Wambach Debate ·       43:59 Finding Middle Ground ·       50:26 Partnership With Coaches ·       01:00:01 Speaking Up Against Abuse ·       01:10:51 Permission Slip For Parents Quotes • " I really wish somebody had said to me when I was starting like, Hey Chris, it's okay. You're, you're just getting started. Like, you know, yeah. This, this is a skill. It's gonna take a long time to acquire." [03:44] •  " Having a good relationship with your coach can be life changing. Having a bad relationship with your coach can be life changing." [13:08] •  "Don't, don't let anyone tell you that you can't give input because, you're not a coach, you're not an expert in the sport. Um, you, you still know right from wrong and you still have, um. Have a basic sense of humanity and, and how people should be with each other." [01:12:09] Social Media and Links ·       RTSP Instagram ·       samanthalivingstone.co ·       chrisdcoach.com (https://chrisdcoach.com/) ·       Instagram @chrisd_coach (https://www.instagram.com/chrisd_coach/) ·       The Swim Brief Podcast on Apple (https://podcasts.apple.com/tw/podcast/the-swim-brief/id1232748697)

Who has been a guest on Real Talk for Sport Parents w/ Samantha Livingstone

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Dr Andreas Stamatis
• Lindsay Mintenko
• Amanda Bayliss

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

2,768

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

9 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 45 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

51

Social presence

0

YouTube

68

Engagement

32