Oct 20, 2026 · 56 min · 15 segments
In this episode of *Raising Athletes*, Kirsten sits down with Megan and Nick Weisheipl to explore the often-overlooked mental side of sports and how the environments we create can shape an athlete’s…
Megan WeisheiplGuestI played all the way through college and then volleyball became, you're not going to make money.
But as I turned to pivot to the next thing, which ended up being Nike, thinking about coaching, thinking about leadership, I am impressed by how often I actually reflect back on the great coaches I had, but also the ones that really didn't support and invest or think I was the right one and how that shaped my leadership and my coaching style when I coached my own kids and everything.
How do you speak to me about your, your coaching influences and was it more positive than negative or where do you get your coaching style from?
Yeah, I think, uh, like you nailed on the head with you draw so many of your lessons from your great coaches you draw so many of your lessons from people that maybe fell short in spaces where you need a little bit support so whether it was a great experience or not so great experiences there was always a lesson within that space so that that's what i leaned into you know whether i felt i deserved more of an opportunity or not still allowed me to learn something so when i did you know put the coach pants on, I got to be the person and the coach that I needed in those moments where maybe a coach fell short for what I needed in that spot.
So definitely had some great coaches throughout my entire career and some mentors.
And one thing that I've been really fortunate with is, other than maybe a couple teams here and there, I've always been around winning.
And maybe that's luck, maybe that's by design, but I've been around winning, so that's You know, that's something that drives me.
And the thing that I always told, you know, one of my college teams was winning is the best because there are so many tentacles that come out from that statement that are far beyond just what happens between the lines.
But, you know, mentors for me, Rod Johnson, he was my longtime assistant at Cabrini University.
And, you know, if I pull into the driveway and I don't come in for 30 minutes.
And then I come in later, Megan says, you were talking to Rod, weren't you? And I'm like, yep, because we're always chopping it up.
We're always just going over, how do we get the most out of the people that we work with? So he was one of my greatest mentors.
And he was a guy that he allowed me to make mistakes as a young coach who was just trying to figure it out and was maybe trying to prove how much I knew more than being an actual good coach.
He allowed me to kind of hang it out there and make mistakes and then redirect me after the mistake was made because sometimes the best lessons that you can learn are the ones that are a product of maybe a bad choice or you know whether it was strategic or how you handle the situation with the player Eric was amazing in allowing me that space to kind of discover who I was as a coach and then Dale Varshow got to coach with Dale within the Northwoods League which is a premier summer collegiate league and he's from baseball royalty in our area.
His nephew Dalton Varsha was a very notable Major League Baseball player these days.
But Dale was very similar to Eric in that he allowed me space to discover my coaching acumen and how I was going to go about doing it rather than just being a clone or taking all of my cues from the things that he did.
So it was never one where I was an underling or worked under somebody with all of those guys.
So it was very organic and fluid and rather than just being head coach, you're the assistant, and a dynamic of that nature.
I played all the way through college and then volleyball became, you're not going to make money.
But as I turned to pivot to the next thing, which ended up being Nike, thinking about coaching, thinking about leadership, I am impressed by how often I actually reflect back on the great coaches I had, but also the ones that really didn't support and invest or think I was the right one and how that shaped my leadership and my coaching style when I coached my own kids and everything.
How do you speak to me about your, your coaching influences and was it more positive than negative or where do you get your coaching style from?
Yeah, I think, uh, like you nailed on the head with you draw so many of your lessons from your great coaches you draw so many of your lessons from people that maybe fell short in spaces where you need a little bit support so whether it was a great experience or not so great experiences there was always a lesson within that space so that that's what i leaned into you know whether i felt i deserved more of an opportunity or not still allowed me to learn something so when i did you know put the coach pants on, I got to be the person and the coach that I needed in those moments where maybe a coach fell short for what I needed in that spot.
So definitely had some great coaches throughout my entire career and some mentors.
And one thing that I've been really fortunate with is, other than maybe a couple teams here and there, I've always been around winning.
And maybe that's luck, maybe that's by design, but I've been around winning, so that's You know, that's something that drives me.
And the thing that I always told, you know, one of my college teams was winning is the best because there are so many tentacles that come out from that statement that are far beyond just what happens between the lines.
But, you know, mentors for me, Rod Johnson, he was my longtime assistant at Cabrini University.
And, you know, if I pull into the driveway and I don't come in for 30 minutes.
And then I come in later, Megan says, you were talking to Rod, weren't you? And I'm like, yep, because we're always chopping it up.
We're always just going over, how do we get the most out of the people that we work with? So he was one of my greatest mentors.
And he was a guy that he allowed me to make mistakes as a young coach who was just trying to figure it out and was maybe trying to prove how much I knew more than being an actual good coach.
He allowed me to kind of hang it out there and make mistakes and then redirect me after the mistake was made because sometimes the best lessons that you can learn are the ones that are a product of maybe a bad choice or you know whether it was strategic or how you handle the situation with the player Eric was amazing in allowing me that space to kind of discover who I was as a coach and then Dale Varshow got to coach with Dale within the Northwoods League which is a premier summer collegiate league and he's from baseball royalty in our area.
His nephew Dalton Varsha was a very notable Major League Baseball player these days.
But Dale was very similar to Eric in that he allowed me space to discover my coaching acumen and how I was going to go about doing it rather than just being a clone or taking all of my cues from the things that he did.
So it was never one where I was an underling or worked under somebody with all of those guys.
So it was very organic and fluid and rather than just being head coach, you're the assistant, and a dynamic of that nature.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.