About The Podcast
“The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you find out why”
- Mark Twain
What is our why?
It’s so important to understand why we do things. Why do we play sports? Why do we coach? Why did I decide to start this podcast and blog? I think about these questions all the time and while I’m always going to be working through what my “why” is, I do know a few valuable things to get me started.
Sports teach us lessons that we often don’t learn elsewhere.
We all should continually seek learning and improvement.
The benefits of athletic participation are clear and positive.
Access to those benefits is NOT equal.
I believe that stories can be powerful. I also believe that conversation is vital. My life has taught me that there is nothing wrong with competition and nothing wrong with trying to win, but along the way, we are losing the real reasons we play sports. Perhaps my why is helping create dialogue to rediscover why sports are so powerful in our communities. I look forward to exploring this topic with you all and engaging in powerful, positive, engaging, and respectful conversation.
Our MISSION is to use our platform to showcase the power of sports in our communities through conversations and positive dialogue with individuals, experts, and organizations to build and inspire a global movement of positive change and action.
Our VISION is to accelerate positive dialogue using the power of sports to engage, enrich, and enhance our global communities.
“The quality of strength lined with tenderness is an unbeatable combination.”
- Maya Angelou
Our Story
Sports have played an integral role in my life, from when I was born until today. I’ve been involved in every aspect of athletics for my entire life and I’ve met and learned from some incredible people along the way. This podcast was born because I truly believe we need to be engaged in more positive, powerful, and meaningful conversations about sports in our communities. We face many challenges and we have lots of work to do, but there are also some incredible stories out there and some amazing work being done throughout the world and we want to use this platform to talk openly and honestly about those challenges while also sharing those positive stories.
We should be learning from each other every single day and we hope this podcast can be a positive part of that process. Our journey to create a positive impact in our communities is one that is continual and multi-layered – but also exciting, humbling, challenging, and rewarding. One of the most powerful ways that we can connect with each other and create meaningful dialogue is through the power of sports.
While we often try and focus on our differences, we find that through sports, we have more in common than we do different. This podcast will explore the intersections of sports, culture, society. inclusion, and positivity.
Core Values
We believe strongly in the power of sports. Some of the things we like most translate into the core values of our podcast and blog. We believe that we are a global community and sports have the potential to bring us together. To help do so, we will always work within our core values to bring content, create dialogue and help inspire others to follow their passions and engage their community.
Meet The Host
Athlete. Coach. Advocate.
Hello everyone! My name is Ryan Plourde and I’m originally from Maine but grew up in Colorado. I’ve played sports his entire life, finishing my formal athletic career as a student-athlete at the University of Redlands, where I got my undergraduate degree in Business Administration. My life has revolved around sports- starting as an athlete and then as a coach and now as a career; though I still play and coach when I can. I have a Masters in International Relations from American University and whenever I have any spare time, you can find me on the basketball court trying to get in a good run.
For the past 10 years, I’ve worked both domestically and internationally in a variety of capacities. I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia where I started to work with Grassroots Soccer to implement the program throughout the country. After working with GRS for 3 years, I moved to Colorado as the Program Director for Soccer Without Borders, an organization that uses the power of soccer to work with refugee youth in the United States.
This incredibly rewarding and inspiring work led me to my current position with FHI 360, working as part of a dynamic team that oversees Sports-based exchange programs. In this capacity, I work with coaches and youth athletes from all over the world to put together meaningful programs that bring people together through the wonderful power of sports.
The athletic arena, more than almost any other venue, has the ability to bring people together despite real or perceived differences. In these arenas we are able to see that we have more in common than we have different
Send me a message!
Listen up.
Check out each episode as we engage in various conversations centered around the power that sports have in our communities. We will engage in topics ranging from sports for social justice to inequality of access to adolescent brain development to conflict resolution and much more. We chat with experts in the field, share stories from around the world, and learn from each other as we explore both the positive impact that sports can have and the challenges we face in the field.