Youth Sports — Podcast

Building the Leaders of Tomorrow - with Shakeel Nelson

Shakeel Nelson and the Inner City Ducks are using sports in very innovative ways to reach young people and ensure they are on the right path in life. They provide mentoring, a safe space to play and learn, discipline, and exposure to new experiences for the young people in his community. The players have participated in tournaments in Kansas City, Indianapolis, Chicago, Wisconsin, and South Dakota. Eating in restaurants, staying in hotels, and seeing new places expands their sense of what is possible in their lives and teaches them life skills they will apply in adulthood.

In this interview, Shakeel shares his personal experience growing up without a father and candidly shares the challenges he faced. Shakeel explains his inspiration for creating the Inner City Ducks and how he sees the organization and its players growing in the years to come. Shakeel also tells us about the creative ways he is introducing his kids to new experiences and teaching them life skills while developing athletes hungry for success.

At the young age of 25, Shakeel volunteers four days a week to support the youth of his community as a coach, role model, and mentor through the Inner City Ducks. Shakeel’s vision for the organization is to serve 150+ boys and girls and to provide a community center where the kids can go after school to play, study, work out, and receive mentoring.

Leadership Moment - Shakeel Nelson

Leadership Moment - Shakeel Nelson - Wisdom

“If you could trade lives with any other person in the world, who would it be?” I was curious to hear his response. I suspected it would fall in line with the average response from any other 12-year-old.

I had been Shakeel’s Big Brother for about three years at this point. We would get together two or three times a month spending our time playing basketball or cooking meals. Early on, I made a deal with him that he could ask me anything he wanted. He didn’t hesitate to explore all kinds of topics which led to a very candid relationship.

On this particular Sunday morning, Shakeel and I were driving to a gym to play basketball. Our conversation had varied throughout the drive and as we approached our destination I asked him the question I’d wanted to ask for a long time.

I could see the wheels in his head turning. He really processed the question. I was impressed. I thought he would choose to trade lives with an athlete or entertainer. Those were the people he and his friends talked about frequently.

After a minute, Shakeel looked at me. His head was slightly tilted to one side, one eye was closed and the other squinted at me with a slight bit of skepticism. He slowly and rather sheepishly gave his answer…

Hear his story here.

The Transgender Champion - An Interview with Team USA's Chris Mosier

Chris Mosier has been a life-long athlete, becoming an All-American Duathlete, and earning a spot on Team USA in 2015. Globally recognized as “The Man Who Changed the Olympics,” Chris became the first known transgender man to make a United States Men’s National Team and challenged the International Olympic Committee’s policies on transgender participation at the international level. In this interview, Chris shares his personal journey of transition, his quest to remain a competitive athlete, and his advocacy work educating and campaigning for LGBTQ+ equality. Chris also provides advice for individuals who are questioning their identities, or interested in becoming an ally. In this interview, Chris discusses:

A growing passion in athletics, becoming a duathlete and triathlete, competing at the national and international levels, discovering transgender identity, college athletics, coming out to his athletic and personal community, experiencing male privilege, representing his country, social justice achievements, making the decision to transition, understanding your identity, phases of transitioning, transitioning in the professional workplace, changing the Olympics, hormone therapy, trans athletics, advocating for trans rights both in athletics and in life, how to be open to people who are transgender, and children exploring gender identity.

People, Organizations, and resources mentioned:

Renée Richards, Northern Michigan University, Team USA, Martina Navratilova, All-American Athletes, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, GoAthletes, LGBTQ+ Community, Olympics, BBC, New York Magazine, International Olympic Committee (IOC), transathlete.com, Laverne Cox, Michael Jordan, Nike (Unlimited Courage Ad)

“If any person of any age has the courage to tell you who they are, whether they’re a family member or a friend, know that the life that they were living in secrecy, or not being able to be honest about who they were, is probably harder than the life that they’re going to face. So while there are very real challenges, discrimination, violence and harassment against the trans community and the queer community, not being able to be who you know you really are is incredibly painful.”

Chris Mosier on being an ally to members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Find Chris on social media @TheChrisMosier and at www.thechrismosier.com. For more information on Transgender athletics, go to www.transathlete.com.

12 Geniuses Podcast

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