Coachable Players

Coachable Players is hosted by Jon O'Brien a lifelong sports fan and passionate advocate for small businesses. The qualities that make someone great on the field - humility, discipline, teamwork - are the same ones that build successful careers and thriving companies. In each episode, business owners, professionals and sports coaches will share life lessons that come from being coachable, like how to take feedback, improve under pressure and lead with purpose.

Coachable Players is a business podcast hosted by Jon, with 26 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80.

Jon hosts Coachable Players, a business show with 26 episodes published.

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  Coachable Players

  Coachable Young Minds Beyond the Sports World

  Sep 25, 20261h 6m

  This episode of the Coachable Players Podcast Jon sits down with Mark Nixon about coachability in educational settings. Mark is a business student from Houston, Texas who mentors middle and high school students, and Mark discussed how being coachable applies beyond sports to academic and personal development. They explored the challenge students face in being coachable, including dealing with different life circumstances, building relationships with mentors and developing habits like asking for help, seeking feedback and managing social media's impact on self-worth. Mark emphasized that great mentoring requires approaching students at their level, understanding their unique situations and modeling constructive communication and resilience. The conversation covered practical advice for students struggling with confidence or facing uncertainty about their future path after high school, with Mark suggesting tailored approaches based on interests and academic performance. The episode concludes with Mark's final message to always keep showing up and staying coachable regardless of age or situation.

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  Episode #1

  Not Every Athlete Goes Pro - Every Athlete Can Grow! The Michael & Gabe Kuhn Interview

  Sep 8, 202649 minS2

  This episode of Coachable Players features Michael Kuhn, president of Jendoco Construction, and his son Gabe, who also works at Jendoco. They discuss their experience with youth soccer and the value it provided beyond potential scholarships and professional careers. Michael explains that when Gabe started playing at three, the initial goals were fun, friendship and burning energy, but as Gabe progressed the focus shifted to helping him discover his passion and develop life skills too. Gabe shared his experience playing at elite levels, which included training in London, England and playing for the Columbus, Ohio Crew Academy, while in high school where he and his mom lived apart from the family attending school remotely. Both father and son emphasized that the biggest returns on investment came from the friendships formed, quality family time during travel and transferable life skills like teamwork, discipline and leadership that extended beyond soccer into his career in construction. They discussed how playing goalkeeper taught Gabe important lessons about responsibility and how to handle pressure, stressing that the journey and experiences were worth it regardless of whether Gabe achieved his goal of becoming a professional soccer player.

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  Episode #20

  The Noble 'Bud' Quandel Interview: Coachability Built This

  Jul 7, 202640 minS1

  This episode of the Coachable Players Podcast features Noble 'Bud' Quandel, Chairman of Quandel Enterprises, a company founded in 1882. When Bud joined Quandel around fifty years ago, they were doing about one million dollars and he helped direct its growth to where it is today at nearly $500 million annually. Before Bud was a highly respected construction executive, he was a youth athlete playing sports in Minersville, PA. Many lessons from the ballfields and hardwood court are still carried with him today, like discipline, teamwork and delayed gratification. In this interview he shares how his sports experiences translated into his business leadership philosophy, emphasizing the importance of intellectual curiosity, self-awareness, humility and building strong teams. Bud explained the growth strategies of Quandel, including the need for vision, risk management and continuous improvement, while sharing his criteria for hiring successful leaders: intellectual curiosity, insight, engagement skills and fortitude. The conversation concluded with Bud expressing hope that his legacy would be remembered for treating people with respect and integrity while upholding American values.

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  Episode #20

  Noble 'Bud' Quandel: Coachability Built This

  Jun 30, 202647 minS1

  This episode of the Coachable Players Podcast features Noble 'Bud' Quandel, Chairman of Quandel Enterprises, a company founded in 1882. When Bud joined Quandel around fifty years ago, they were doing about one million dollars and he helped direct its growth to where it is today at nearly $500 million annually. Before Bud was a highly respected construction executive, he was a youth athlete playing sports in Minersville, PA. Many lessons from the ballfields and hardwood court are still carried with him today, like discipline, teamwork and delayed gratification. In this interview he shares how his sports experiences translated into his business leadership philosophy, emphasizing the importance of intellectual curiosity, self-awareness, humility and building strong teams. Bud explained the growth strategies of Quandel, including the need for vision, risk management and continuous improvement, while sharing his criteria for hiring successful leaders: intellectual curiosity, insight, engagement skills and fortitude. The conversation concluded with Bud expressing hope that his legacy would be remembered for treating people with respect and integrity while upholding American values.

  ListenShow Notes
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  Episode #19

  Kaleigh Badecki: What Separates Coachable Athletes from Others

  Jun 16, 202650 minS1

  In this episode, Coachable Players welcomes Coach Kaleigh Badecki, a women's basketball coach at Gettysburg College for the past ten years. Coach Badecki sets the stage by first defining coachability as embracing constructive criticism, having a growth mindset and understanding that mistakes are opportunities to learn rather than failures. She explained that coachable athletes demonstrate humility, actively seek feedback and show body language that indicates they are receiving and processing coaching points. During the discussion, they covered how to identify coachable players through their relationships, interactions with teammates and how they handle feedback and criticism. Coach Badecki emphasized the importance of fail-forward thinking, where players aren't afraid to make mistakes as long as they are putting in effort and learning from experience. She shares how the most coachable athletes take ownership of their development, hold teammates accountable and maintain a grateful perspective that sees challenges as opportunities rather than threats. The conversation concludes with Coach giving practical advice for parents and young athletes about developing coachability, including allowing children to be coached, embracing failures as learning opportunities and maintaining an open mindset to receive feedback from coaches and peers.

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